Item Summary

Descriptive Information

Title
In ecclesiastica historia gentis Anglorum / Bede Presbiteri.
Call Number
Kane MS. 16
Identifier
ark:/88435/dc9593v5407
Publisher
[Germany], [15th century?]
Language
Latin
Date Created
1400-1500
Extent
146 leaves : parchment ; 248 x 170 (180 x 120) mm bound to 261 x 185 mm.
Provenance
Early provenance uncertain. Intermediate provenance unknown until it was in the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps. Sold at Sotheby's, London in 1895 to H.S. Nichols & Company on behalf of Harold Baillie-Weaver. Sold from his collection at Christie's, London in 1898 to Maggs Bros. who sold it later that year to Sidney Graves Hamilton. Sold from his collection in London in 1917 to Maggs Bros. Purchased by Grenville Kane in 1918. Princeton University Library acquired the manuscript from Kane's heirs in February 1946.
Source Acquisition
Acquired; Estate of Grenville Kane, 1946.
References
Medieval & Renaissance manuscripts in the Princeton University Library, volume 2, page 24-26.
Rights Statement
No Known Copyright
Notes
Incipit: "Incipit prefatio Bede presbiteri in ecclesiastica historia gentis anglorum. Gloriosissimo regi geoluulfo, Beda Christi famulus et presbiter. Historiam gentis Anglorum ecclesiasticam quam nuper edideram ..."
Explicit: "... dones etiam benignus aliquando ad te omnis sa pientie fontem peruenire, et apparere semper ante faciem tuam. Expliciunt gesta anglorum venerabilis bede presbiteri"
Ms. codex.
Title from incipit (fol. 1r)
Anonymous 8-line epitaph for Bede the Venerable (fol. 145v).
Collation: Parchment ; fol. i + 146 + i ; modern foliation in pencil.
Layout: 30-37 lines per page in two columns ; ruled.
Decoration: The preface, books I-V, and the list of chapters for book V each open with a 6-to 8-line decorated initial of red or blue or parti-colored red and blue on green and ochre fields, with foliate penwork and flourishes. Chapter lists for books I-IV open with smaller initials in red or blue and chapters within each book open with 2- to 3-line initials alternating red and blue. Some simple line-fillers in red ink consist of dots, crosses, and series of H-like vertical and horizontal lines.
Origin: Uncertain whether it dates from the 15th or possibly the 14th century, likely in Northwest Germany.
Binding Note
Contemporaneous? binding. Germany, 15th century (?). Cushioned wooden boards (10 mm thick), covered in blind-tooled dark brown calf. Roundel stamps include Lamb of God, Evangelist symbols, and rooster. 2 bronze clasps (likely modern replacements). Endbands.

Discovery Information

Subject
Great Britain—Church history—449-1066—Early works to 1800
Great Britain—History—Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066—Early works to 1800
Manuscripts, Latin (Medieval and modern)—New Jersey—Princeton
Wooden boards
Blind tooled bindings
Clasps
Headbands
decorated initials

Physical Characteristics

File Count
296

Institutional Information

Collection
Medieval and Renaissance Mediterranean Manuscripts
IIIF Manifest URL

https://figgy.princeton.edu/concern/scanned_resources/639b058c-a12a-4d5c-8e15-8f1f3cab3444/manifest