Lost Manuscript

Babel MS 41

A single fragment is at present known from this manuscript but it does provide the full width of a folio with text of the Decretals and extensive commentary. It appears to have been imported into England soon after production and to have survived into the early seventeenth century.

Textual information

Subject: 
Law
Canon Law
Author of work: 
Gregory IX, pope 1227-41
Title of work: 
Decretals (with commentary)
Language: 
Latin

Palaeography

Type of script: 
Gothic
Script detail: 
textura rotunda
Place of production: 
Italy

Material information

Material: 
Parchment
Layout: 
Bicolumnar with gloss
Ruling: 
lightly in plummet

Dimensions

Page: 

278?+mm (h) x 185mm (w)

Number of lines: 
23?
Height of minims: 
3mm
Space between lines: 
5mm
Height of written space: 
105?mm
Upper margin: 
35mm
Lower margin: 
10 + 105 [gloss] + 23mm
Inner margin: 
20mm
Width of text 1: 
20 [gloss]mm
Reservation 1: 
10mm
Width of text 2: 
70mm
Reservation 2: 
10mm
Width of text 3: 
45 [gloss]mm
Outer margin: 
20mm
Space between lines (gloss): 
3mm
Height of minims (gloss): 
2mm

History and further information

Provenance: 

There are annotations, both textual and figurative (faces drawn next to the main body of the Decretals); these show anglicana features (s. xiii/xiv), demonstrating that this manuscript was used in England in the Middle Ages.

Information on dismantling: 

Used as a wrapper, presumably in England, for a pamphlet printed in Venice in 1611, the manuscript from which it came would appear to have survived into the seventeenth century before being dismantled.

Number of folios represented: 
2
Date last updated: 
Tuesday, June 13, 2017 - 14:44

Constituent Fragments