Manuscript, on parchment, in at least seven hands, containing the text of the wills of Jankyn (or John) Smyth and his wife, Margaret Odeham, detailing their bequests to the Candlemas Guild of Bury St. Edmunds, as well as to other religious foundations, and the funeral expenses for Smyth. Also included are the grant of probate for Smyth's second will, dated 1481; and lists of lands donated by the couple, by name and location
Description:
In Middle English and Latin., Numerous marginal annotations in both contemporary and later hands., Layout: single columns, mostly of 32 lines., Script: manuscript is in at least seven hands., Decoration: Rubricated. Large blue initial with red penwork (f. 8)., and Binding: contemporary binding of tawed white leather over bevelled wooden boards, sewn on four leather thongs. Remains of clasp; brass pin and mount on lower cover.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Bury St. Edmunds (England)
Subject (Name):
Odeham, Margaret, 1492., Smyth, Jankyn, 1481., and Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Finance, Charitable bequests, Endowments, Catholic Church, Legacies, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of the Vulgate Bible, with interpretations of Hebrew names
Description:
In Latin., Script: Copied in small Northern Gothica Textualis (Pearl Script), Decoration: Historiated initials, with a normal height of 6 lines, at beginning of each book (further on this, see the catalog description); 4-line foliate initials, half inserted, at the beginning of each prologue; running headlines and chapter numbers alternately in red and blue majuscules or roman numerals., and Binding: 18th or 19th century romantic binding by François Bozerian (Bozerian Jeune): red morocco over cardboard; both covers gold- and blind-tooled with cruciform and floral motifs; gold-tooled spine with four raised bands and a gold-tooled title, "BIBLIA SACRA."
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Remigius, of Auxerre, approximately 841-908.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Vulgate, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript fragment on parchment bifolium of Mark 15.46-16.20; text is continuous
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in large uncial script, with very fine strokes for vertical lines of N and for triangular shaped bow of a., and Unpainted initial, 2-line, on f. 1r, with rope and fish motif.
Manuscript fragment on parchment of Lamentations, 3.13-51 (52-56 obscured). Written at Luxeuil or one of its affiliated houses. Fifteen folios from the original codex survive, most of which may be traced to the Benedictine abbey of Admont in Austria. Most of the verses in the Beinecke fragment have received neumes, possibly added later (11th century?).
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in elegant Luxeuil minuscule, with headings in uncials., Large initial at beginning of each verse filled with yellow, red, and/or green; headings in green or red., and Removed from a bookbinding; text suffers from holes, stains, creases, and repairs.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Music
In Latin., Script: Written in tiny gothic textura by a single scribe., Good initials for the beginning of each book and prologue, 10- to 4-line, blue or pink, with various shades combined in a single letter, with white highlights, often with prominent floral serifs in blue, pink, red, orange, and yellow, against pink and blue grounds; grounds for body of letter and serifs in opposite colors. Elaborate descenders, ascenders, as serifs, but often with biting dragons. Letters filled with curling floral motifs, often with dragon-head terminals, and biting dragons. The initials on f. 214r (Esther) and f. 220r (Job) are more elaborate than the others. 2-line initials for each chapter, blue or red, with red or blue flourishes. Running headings and chapter numbers in red and blue, with flourishes. Rubrics throughout., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Printed vellum fragment, in large gothic letters, with portion of John 4.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of the Bible, with prologues to almost every book; also includes interpretations of Hebrew names
Description:
In Latin., Script: copied by several similar-looking hands writing in Northern Gothica Textualis Libraria., Decoration: each Prologue (except Jeremiah, f. 240rb) opens with a painted initial, decorated with interlace and hybrid animals, fishes, etc. Numerous large and small decorative initials in red and blue pen-work. Execution of decoration ascribed to the "Vie de Saint Denis Atelier." See catalog description for further detail., and Binding: Eighteenth century : rose-coloured parchment over wooden boards; both covers gold-tooled; brass bosses and clasps; arms of Johann Christoph Borzek on front cover; cartouche containing a peasant pruning a tree, with the motto "Cum tempore fructus," on rear cover.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval and Manuscripts, Medieval
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in small, neat, gothic bookhand; note in his hand on f. 209r, too trimmed to be legible., Approximately half the historiated initials have been excised. The initials, 51- to 9-line, painted gold, red and blue with white highlights and punctuated with gold dots, terminate in spiralling floral serifs, often with biting animal heads, with long projecting stems against cusped grounds. The figures are red, blue, orange and grey, against red or blue grounds, some of them diapered and decorated with groups of three white dots and gold dots. Illuminated initials, 51- to 5-line, occasionally for books (f. 74v [Joshua] and f. 175r [Nehemiah]), for the most part for the prologues, similar to the historiated initials, except infilled with interwining and angular vines with biting head terminals, red and/or blue against red or blue grounds with gold dots and set in frames of painted gold. 2-line calligraphic initials for chapters, red or blue with blue or red penwork, each attached to a column of superimposed I's, red and blue, running the full length of the text column, with penwork flourishes, especially at the terminals. Capitals for verses stroked in red. Running headings and chapter numbers in alternating red and blue letters or numbers., and Binding: Date? Resewn on four single, round, vegetable fiber cords which are frayed out and adhered inside the oak boards. There are no endbands, but traces of alum tawed endband cores and sewing supports remain in the holes in the boards. The spine is square. Some lettering in ink on the fore-edge. Covered in red-brown calf, with an exceptionally large stamp of the Virgin and child in an aureole within concentric frames, one with an inscription, on the upper board and diamonds filled with crosses, roses and IHS in circles on the lower. The latter ornaments are also stamped on the turn-ins underneath the pastedowns. Rebacked and edges repaired. Upper board detached. Not the original and possibly not an early binding. Rebacked in the Yale Conservation Studio in 1982. The upper and lower covers are lined with single leaves, pasted down, of a missale plenum (11th century?). Portions of Dominica VI post Pentecosten, Feria IV of that week (upper cover), an unidentified mass of the Sanctorale, Dominica III post Pentecosten (lower cover). Where they occur, the texts of the proper chants are notated in German neumes in campo aperto. Some of the chants are cited by incipit; these are usually not noted. The Alleluia for DMC III is Domine in virtute; that for DMC VI is Eripe me. (We thank K. D. Hartzell for his assistance with these fragments.)
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Missals
In Latin., Script: Text written in similar styles of gothic bookhand mostly by two scribes who may also have ruled the segments each copied. Scribe 1) ff. 7r-13v, 171v-296r, 307r-409r; running titles. Scribe 2) ff. 15r-171v, 297r-306v. A later hand of the 15th century wrote before and after Scriptural text in a less formal style of gothic; at least four other persons of the 14th-15th centuries have annotated the text in various styles of cursive., Decoration by two distinct hands whose division of work does not correspond precisely to that noted for the scribes. 1) ff. 7r-220v, 325r-340r. Large flourished initials, body divided red and blue, with interior designs primarily in red, and small blue circles added; first line of text in blue capitals decorated with simple red pen strokes. Many rubrics missing. 2) ff. 221r-324v, 341r-409r. Flourished initials similar in design to those by 1, but somewhat smaller in size and mostly without small blue circles; first line of text in blue and red capitals alternating; chapter divisions decorated with long herringbone pendants in red and blue. Running titles and marginal chapter divisions in alternating red and blue letters throughout codex. Notes to rubricator, some perpendicular in gutter., and Binding: 15th-16th centuries. Original sewing on five double, tawed supports laced straight and in V's into back-cornered wooden boards and pegged. The spine is square, the sewing supports prominent. Braided tawed skin (?) endbands. The first covering is brown calf with corner tongues. Next is a chemise of pink, tawed skin with an outer cover sewn to it with diagonal stitches of blue thread. Outer and inner covers are adhered to each other and to the boards with extending edges cut off. Two strap-and-pin fastenings with foliate pin bases on the lower board and stubs of kermes pink straps. Green discoloration on pastedowns. Trace of lettering in ink on the spine.
Manuscript on parchment (trimmed). The codex is probably a normal French Bible but is so badly bound, with lacunae throughout, that we cannot be certain
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in a neat, but slightly round, gothic bookhand, on the top line. Notes for initials and chapter numbers in margins, in an informal cursive script. Numerous corrections between rulings in lower margin; the corrections were then written in a neat gothic bookhand next to the text., The surviving historiated initials, 8-, 7-, 6-, and 5-line, are of varied design, and are all badly damaged. In type and style they are somewhat comparable to initials in mid-13th century Parisian manuscripts. For the most part, the initials are red or blue, with white highlights; the body of the letter on a dark blue, pink, or grey ground, with white dots; curling floral and dragon serifs, some with cusps (orange, red, and green); descenders (up to 2/3 of text column) same color as body of letter, with adjoining strips of pink, blue, or grey, often with cusped floral terminals, rampant dragons; all sections thickly edged in black. Other historiated initials, blue or pink, with cusped serifs, against a brown ground with delicate floral filigree in white; thick black edging. Three historiated initials (ff. 25r, 90v, and 117v) in architectural settings, in dark blue, blue, red, pink, and gold, with elaborate floral pendants below. The historiated initials for two books, f. 1r (Proverbs) and f. 63v (Philippians) were cut out; script and decoration have been restored with unusual care (15th century); large floral buds (green, orange, yellow, and/or pink) on short green stems against purple or black grounds., Illuminated initials, 4- to 2-line for prologues, pink or blue with white highlights, occasionally with gold; otherwise, diminutive versions of historiated initials types (f. 63 [Prologue to Philippians] with a small bird); one initial of this type f. 35v (John), originally historiated, has also been restored. 4- to 2-line initials for chapters, set into text columns, red and blue with blue and red penwork flourishes running along column into margins, some with animal-head terminals; some initials in bottom line with unusual penwork pendants. Capitals in text stroked in red. Chapter numbers, red and blue, often with flourishes; running headings, red and blue; rubrics in red throughout; corrections surrounded by undulating red lines, occasionally with trailing penwork flourishes., and Binding: 18th-19th centuries. Vellum case. Paper boards are composed of fragments of several French legal documents of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in a neat gothic bookhand. Marginal notes and/or corrections by original scribe and several later ones., Historiated initials, 8- to 5-line, many excised, with figures (red and blue) in the summary, linear style characteristic of early 14th century French manuscript illumination; blue or pink with white highlights, with figures against gold grounds; descenders composed of dark blue, blue and red segments, often decorated with gold balls; long cusped floral serifs with gold balls, occasionally with additional trailing foliage, rabbits, birds, etc., Illuminated initials, 7- to 5-line (larger for I initials) for prologues, blue or pink with white highlights, cusped serifs, filled with curling vines, red trilobe leaves, and dragon heads, against red, orange, and gold grounds. 5-, 4-, and 2-line initials for chapters in red and blue with blue and red penwork, with elaborate calligraphic extensions running the full length of the text column; extensions composed either of two thick red lines with a thin blue one in between or two thick blue lines with a thin red line, the arrangement alternating for successive initials; with adjacent superimposed J's, alternating red and blue, also running the full length of column; elaborate vertical terminal flourishes. The more elaborate calligraphy for initials between ff. 360v and 370v appears to be by a different hand. Chapter numbers in margins, in alternating red and blue figures, with blue and red vertical hatching and red, blue, and occasionally purple flourishes. Running headings in similar manner. Marginal corrections boxed in red; glosses frequently underlined in red., First folio badly mutilated., and Binding: 19th-20th century. Original sheepskin covering of spine and part of boards, blind-tooled, adhered on a recent binding. Wooden boards also probably original. Stubs of three (originally four) fastening straps, reinforced with vellum, on upper cover.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
