• Expositio in evangelium Mathei.

Extent:
  • 174 leaves : parchment ; 295 x 230 (220 x 155) mm bound to 300 x 240 mm.
Date:
  • 840-850
Language:
Author:
  • Rabanus Maurus, Archbishop of Mainz, 784?-856
Description:
  • Ms. codex.
  • Title from incipit (fol. 6r.)
  • List of Gospel sequences for Temporale, Sanctorale, and Common of Saints (fol. 1r.-4r.), folios 6-8, and some blank pages added in the 15th century.
  • Incipit: “Incipit expositio in evangelium Mathei. Expositionem itaque scripturus in euangelium beati Mathei oportunum esse paucis primum intimare…”
  • Explicit: “… conscientia sine doctrine sanctę pabulo|"
  • Collation: Parchment ; fol. 174 ; quires signed ; catchwords ; modern foliation in pencil.
  • Layout: 31 lines per page in two columns ; ruled.
  • Description: Written in Carolingian miniscule, later additions are in Gothic bookhand ; rubricated ; chapter numbers in red at the top of each recto.
  • Script: Carolingian minuscule (fols. 9r-174v) by several scribes, with a hierarchy of script for display, including Roman Square Capitals, Uncial, and Capitalis rustica.
  • Decoration: There is a 5-line initial E in red, blue, and green, and red penwork infilling; red and mauve pen flourishes extending into margin (fol. 6r). Other 9th-century 3- and 4-line Roman initials, painted black, at beginning of books 2-5, are not decorated.
  • Origin: Written in the scriptorium at Fulda, probably about 840-850.
Binding note:
  • Germany, 15th/19th century. The textblock is sewn on five split alum-tawed bands, with endbands and tie-downs. Treasure binding on upper cover consisting of a painting under glass in a metal frame, 8 enameled placques, and gemstone bosses on corners and along sides. Lower cover in pink velvet.
Provenance:
  • Owned by the Benedictine Abbey of St. Victor of Xanten in the 15th century. In the collections of Sir John Savile the Elder, Sir Henry Savile, and Sir John Savile the Younger. Part of the Savile collection sold by the London bookseller Joseph Lilly. Acquired by Bertram Ashburnham, 4th Earl of Ashburnham. His son sold it to Henry Yates Thompson, who sold it on to Sotheby's who sold it to Bernard Quaritch. Robert Garrett (1875-1961), of Baltimore, Maryland, Class of 1897, purchased the manuscript from Quaritch on 24 September 1903 and gifted the manuscript to the Princeton University Library, 1942.
Source acquisition:
  • Gift of Robert Garrett, 1942.
Former owner:
  • Ashburnham, Bertram Ashburnham, Earl of, 1797-1878
  • Savile, John, Sir, 1545-1607
  • Savile, Henry, Sir, 1549-1622
  • Thompson, Henry Yates, 1838-1928
  • Sankt Victor (Benedictine Abbey : Xanten, Germany)
Contributor:
  • Lilly, Joseph, 1804-1870
  • Princeton University. Library. Manuscript. Garrett MS. 72.
References:
  • Medieval & Renaissance manuscripts in the Princeton University Library, volume 1, pages 143-147.
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Associated name:
  • Abtei Fulda