1. (fols. 1r-94v) Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah, in six books: 'Incipit explanatio sancti ieronimi presbiteri; in ieremiam prophetam. Post: explanationes: duodecim prophetarum ysaie. Danielis. ezechielis. ... Sed iam propositum opus est. aggrediendum. Explicit prologus. Incipit liber primus. Uerba iheremie filii helchie … [Jeremiah 1:1-3] Ceteri prophete ut ysaias. osee. iohel. fuerunt ante captiuitatem decem tribuum israel; … ut apostolus ait dedit dona hominibus.' (Lambert, BHM, II (1969), no. 211, citing the present manuscript at p. 107; Dekkers, CPL, no. 586; ed. CSEL, 74, pp. 1-440).
2. (fol. 95r-v) Paschasius Radbertus, Commentary on Lamentations; a rubric, a decorated initial M, and the start of the prologue (from 'Multo cogor longoque …' to '… tamen nequeo') is erased on fol. 94v; the prologue therefore starts imperfect on fol. 95r: '|| illa decipiente que admisi … qui et senectute coequaris. & cotidianis precum fletibus antecellis.' (Migne, PL, CXX, 1059C-1060C); 'Incipit in lamentationibus; ieremie paschasii radberti monachorum omnium per \ip/sima uotorum liber primus fletibus explicandus seni seuero obdilmanno opere pretio consecratus. Sicut diuersa leguntur cantica. ita & spiritu sancto reserante lamentationes duerse. ...', ending imperfect after only one leaf at '... detrimenta plangere non desistant ||' (ed. Beda Paulus, CCSM, 85; Migne, PL, CXX, 1061-1256, here ending at 1062D); a scrap of one more leaf survives (fol. 96); another (containing PL, CXX, 1109-10) is now bound as MS. 389B, no. 1; and with the volume are four photostats made at the Bodleian in June 1953 of leaves from Horsell Churchwarden's accounts, 1600-1748 (Horsell is very close to Woking; cf. under Provenance), recognised as part of the present manuscript by Prof. G. D. Kilpatrick, as recorded on a paper wrapper formerly used to cover the manuscript.
One good eight-line arabesque initial in red and green at the start of the main text (fol. 1v); one large green initial with a lines of green and a line of red display capitals at the start of the volume (fol. 1r); other initials, four- to six-lines high, in combinations of red and/or brownish, at the start of each remaining book (fols. 17r, 33r, 48r, 79v, 95r) and the prologue to book 6 (fol. 79r); one other erased (fol. 94v). Run-over marks are in the form of a dog's head (fols. 70v, 76r).
Parchment, c. 395 x 280 mm., good quality; the lower margins of fols. 43, 45, 63, 78, 81-86, and the fore-edge margins of fols. 44, 66, 85, cut away.
ff. 95, plus small fragments of another, foliated sporadically in 19th-century pencil, becoming increasingly inaccurate after fol. 33: incorrectly foliated leaves refoliated correctly in modern pencil: 1-96; new flyleaves foliated i-iii and 97-99 after rebinding.
Quires of eight leaves each: 1-118 (fols. 1-88), 128-1 (8th leaf missing) [further quires missing; one of the leaves from Horsell has a quire signature '.XVII.']; decorative quire signatures in upper-case roman numerals frequently survive, especially in the later quires.
Ruled in leadpoint, frequently brown, with 2 columns of 38 horizontal lines, usually with the top three, middle three, and bottom three extending the full width of the page, each column between single vertical bounding lines, with an extra inter-columnar line; the ruled space c. 305 x 195 mm.; prickings in the inner margin.
Written with 38 lines per page, above top line, in a fine bookhand, using point, tick-and-point, and question mark (e.g. fol. 34r, 2nd column, lines 8 and 10 from the top, lines 5, 6, 9, and 10 from the bottom) punctuation, hyphens at line-endings, and 'quote marks' to the left of the text.
Secundo folio: 'solum ierusalem.'
Resewn and bound in 2000-1 by Christopher Clarkson; before this there was very little sewing, part of the headband, but no boards. The outermost pages are dirty, the end of the book missing, and inscriptions including the 1622 donation note (see under Provenance), which one might expect on a flyleaf are instead on fol. 1r: all of which suggests that the book has had no binding since at least the early 17th century.
1. Written and corrected throughout in England; the style of the arabesque initial suggests the north or north midlands, and a date of s. xiii ex., according to Michael Gullick; numerous passages marked with 'D.M.' or '.N.A.' in the margins, which appear to be by the original scribe, and are therefore perhaps copied from the exemplar. On D.M. (i.e 'dignum memorie') marks see Teresa Webber, Scribes and scholars at Salisbury cathedral (Oxford, 1992), pp. 132 etc.
2. 'Nota' signs, marginal notes, and futher 'D.M.' marks were added by several early hands; running titles in red e.g. 'liber primus' added in the 13th century, on rectos (fols. 3r-78r).
3. John Shaw (1559-1625), of Queen's College, minister of Woking, Surrey (on whom see DNB); who also gave MS. 309 in 1617.
4. Queen's College, given by Shaw in 1622: inscribed 'Ex dono Johannis Shaw okiensis. Anno dni. 1622.' (fol. 1r; cf. MS. 309, which he had given to the College in 1617; both are listed in the Library Benefactors book, MS. 556: 'Jo. Shaw Alumnus 1617 moriens legavit | Augustinum verbis Domini MS. Fol. | Hieronymum in Jeremiam MS. Fol.'); inscribed below this by another later hand 'Explanatio Hieronimi | in Ieremiam Prophetam.'; included in Langbaine's mid 17th century catalogue and in MS. 555, with the shelfmark Arch. B. 3. 1.; included in Bernard, CLM, p. 29. no. 932 (MS. 8); inscribed with former shelfmarks '3. 1' (fol. 1r); 'S. 2' (fols. 1r, 2r), and the top of the former spine with a small paper label printed '2'.
Coxe, Catalogus, p. 73.
Alexander & Temple, College libraries, no. 81.
