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Manuscript, possibly 11th century, of the Gospels of Saints Mark and Luke, and part of the prologue of Saint John.

 Item
Identifier: Adv.MS.18.8.16

Scope and Contents

This manuscript was produced in Ireland and is an example of a pocket Gospel book. It was possibly written in the 11th century, based on the script. Schenkl has dated the work to the 9th century, and Borland has attributed it to the 13th century.

The manuscript is written in an Insular minuscule script with 23 or 24 lines to a page. There are brief scribal marginal glosses related to the text throughout, although some of these have been lost due to cropping.

There are two sets of foliation. One set is a modern library foliation and the other is in a later medieval hand in Roman numerals. The medieval foliation begins on folio 1r, running from [51] to 135. There are several gaps in this foliation, though the text is continuous. This indicates that the volume may have once been part of a larger set of Gospel texts but was at some point broken up and separated.

The contents are as follows:

Gospel of St. Mark. Folios 1r-32v.

Folio 33, is blank recto and verso, with later medieval numerical equations and inscriptions.

Gospel of St. Luke. Folios 34r-71r.

Prologue of the Gospel of St. John. Fragment. Folios 71v-72r.

Folio 72 verso is blank with later medieval numerical equations and inscriptions.

The manuscript is decorated with four large zoomorphic initials with beast and interlace motifs, present on folios 1r, 32r, 34r, and 71v. The colours used inclulde orange red, blue, brown, and yellow.

New chapters are introduced by initials coloured either red, yellow, or purple. Initials throughout the work are stroked with red and the marginal annotations are boxed with red.

There are various notes in later hands throughout the work, especially on folios 20r, 24rv, 33rv, 55r, 62rv, 71rv, and 72v. Some of these notes include numerical equations although it is unclear to what they relate.

Each folio has been lined and ruled in hardpoint, recto and verso.

Dates

  • Creation: ?11th century.

Conditions Governing Access

Normal access conditions apply.

Conditions Governing Use

Normal reproduction conditions apply, subject to any copyright restrictions.

Extent

1 Volumes ; 15.5cm x 11.2cm x 2.5cm

Language of Materials

Latin

Arrangement

72 folios, as well as 3 modern endpapers to the front and 3 modern endpapers to the rear.

Collation as recorded by Catherine Borland: a-d⁸, e⁶ (wants 5 and 6), f-h⁸, i¹⁰

Custodial History

There are several inscriptions in later hands which may point to possible ownership.

In the 17th century the manuscript belonged to a James Stewart. There is an inscription on folio 20r which possibly reads: 'James Stewart, Come Lay [?]akeu[?]'.

There is an inscription on folio 33v in a 17th-century hand which probably reads: 'Ex Libris Watt Come Lond'.

It is unclear how the volume came to be in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates. It is listed in the 1787 catalogue of the Library of the Faculty of Advocates. Ownership inscriptions for the Library are present on folio 1r and on an old endpaper now separate from the volume. On this endpaper is the previous shelfmark assigned to the item by the Library, 'W.7.28', since superseded.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Presented, 1925, by the Faculty of Advocates to the nation on the foundation of the National Library of Scotland.

Bibliography

Borland, C. R. 'Catalogue of Mediaeval Manuscripts in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh', 4 Volumes. (Unpublished manuscript, Edinburgh, 1906-1908). Volume I, folio 75. NLS Reference: FR.198a/1.

'Folio Catalogue of Manuscripts: Miscellaneous Manuscripts' (Unpublished manuscript, Edinburgh [after 1837]), folio 1. NLS Reference: FR.195.

Schenkl, H. 'Bibliotheca Patrum Latinorum Britannica: Zweites Bandes dritte Abtheilung, die schottischen Bibliotheken (Wien, 1896), page 9.

'Summary Catalogue of the Advocates' Manuscripts' (Edinburgh, 1971), page 104, number 1332.

Physical Description

Vellum.

The manuscript was boxed and rebound in 1967/8 by HMSO. The new binding is soft vellum with bevelled fore-edges, two leather ribbons, and 6 modern paper endleaves. The box also contains the front and back boards and two paper endleaves of the previous binding, probably of the 17th century. The previous binding was brown leather covering cardboard. The front and back boards have blind tooling on their edges. A piece of the back is still attached, on which there is a remnant of a library sticker at the tail end.

Title
National Library of Scotland Catalogue of Manuscripts Adv.MS.18.8.16
Author
National Library of Scotland Archives and Manuscripts Division
Description rules
International Standard For Archival Description General
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the National Library of Scotland Archives and Manuscripts Division Repository

Contact:
Archives and Manuscript Division
National Library of Scotland
George IV Bridge
Edinburgh EH1 1EJ
0131 623 3700