Paris, BnF, lat. 3852
Library | Bibliothèque nationale de France |
---|---|
Shelfmark | lat. 3852 |
Century | s. XI-XII |
General region of origin | Angers |
Collection | Collectio XXX capitulorum (De ratione matrimonii) |
Collection 2 | [[Pseudoisidore, False Decretals]] |
Main author | Bruno Schalekamp |
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 3852 is an eleventh or twelfth-century manuscript of 238 folios (1-236 + 6bis and 6ter) in 2 cols. (355 x 265 mm (300 x 205 mm)). It is made of parchment. Its codicological composition reads as follows: 31 quires: (III + 2)8 + 7 x IV64 + II68 + 4 x IV100 + II104 + IV112 + (IV – 2)118 + IV126 + (IV – 1)133 + (IV + 1)142 + 2 x IV158 + (IV + 1)167 + (IV + 2)178 + 3 x IV202 + (IV – 1)209 + IV217 + (IV – 1)224 + IV232 + II236, quire signatures on every verso side of the last folio of quires 1 through 8 (I-VIII), 10-28 (XI-XXVIIII) and 30 (XXXI). Modern foliation in Arabic numerals on every recto side. It was written by multiple hands, all with in the particular Angers-script. The manuscript's origins are from Angers according to Kéry. Its provenance is only first documented first documented as part of Jacques-Auguste de Thou’s (1553-1617) library, later purchased by Étienne Baluze (1630-1718) for Jean-Baptiste Colbert’s (1619-1683) personal library. In 1732 transferred to the Bibliothèque du Roi together with the colbertine collection.
Contents
Paris lat. 3852 is a large-sized manuscript and contains almost exclusively canonical material. This composition is mostly dominated by Pseudoisidore's False Decretals. Another collection, the Collectio XXX capitulorum (De ratione matrimonii), has been split up into two separate parts, in which St. Augustine strikingly functions as the introductory authority of the second part. The codex also includes two decretals by pope Gelasian I, as well as several decretals by Symmachus. Lastly, an unknown ordo on the excommunication of infidels is included and - being the only non-canonical material - a version of the Notitia Galliarum.
TO FINISH The codex is a very well-preserved work, with structured columns, Roman numbering of canons, as well as occasional non-illuminated capitals introducing new texts. Sometimes titles of works can be found at the top of a folio side, but these seem to have been cut off at a later stage. Some marginalia can be found in both medieval and early modern hands. While the former were probably added not much later after the manuscript's composition, the latter must assumedly be of Baluze. The lack of black spots of fingers or tears on the sides of the folios point to its exclusive use in small circles, probably not much outside of its patron's own group of associates. It may even be speculated the codex remained exclusively within their private collection.
See the digitized version: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b105452787.
folios | texts |
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Front cover and four flyleaves | |
Ir-v | Blank pages |
1ra-2rb | Pseudoisidore's False Decretals, praefatio |
2va-3ra | Collectio XXX capitulorum (De ratione matrimonii) |
3ra-68vb | Pseudoisidore's False Decretals, first volume (epistolae pseudographae) |
68vb | 'Collectio XXX capitulorum (De ratione matrimonii), here introduced as 'St. Augustine on matrimony' |
69ra-220rb | Pseudoisidore's False Decretals, third volume |
220rb-224ra | Decretal of pope Gelasian I (no. 636, chapters 1-28) |
224v | Blank page |
225ra-231ra | Multiple decretals of pope Symmachus |
232va-234ra | Decretal of pope Gelasian I, titled De Damnatione Acatii |
234ra-vb | Ordo qualiter episcopus excommunicare debet infideles |
235r-236v | Blank pages |
Three flyleaves and back cover |
Literature
Jasper and Fuhrmann, Papal Letters (2001), p. 178 n. 154; Kéry, Canonical Collections (1999), p. 76, 82, and 103; Reynolds, Studies on Medieval Liturgical and Legal Manuscripts (2009), cited in sources; Rohr, Der Theoderich-Panegyricus des Ennodius (1995), p. 145; Williams, Codices Pseudo-Isidoriani (1971), p. 55, 66, 109, 113-114, 123, 125, 128, 129, and 131.
An edition of the Collectio XXX capitulorum (De ratione matrimonii) is currently being prepared by Sven Meeder, Gideon de Jong, and Bruno Schalekamp.