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
	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.