Leaf from a commentary on Matthew 2:11-18, England c.1200

Leaf from a commentary on Matthew 2:11-18, in Latin, from a large decorated manuscript on parchment[England, c. 1200] Single leaf, with double column of 45 lines in a handsome English gothic bookhand (textualis libraria), capitals touched in red and sometimes with leafy vine-stem terminals, one small red initial, marginalia including diagrams for the words “fuga” and “Moratus”, recovered from a binding and with staining to margins on recto, some tears to edges of leaves and small holes, overall in fair and presentable condition, 345 by 245mm.; in cloth-covered binding and with report by Prof. Marvin Colker Provenance: 1. The presence of punctus flexus punctuation indicates an origin in a Cistercian community, somewhere in England at the end of the twelfth century and the opening of the thirteenth.2. Sotheby’s, 12 November 1987, lot 12. 3. Bernard Rosenthal (1920-2017), San Francisco, California, I/266 (1987). 4. Quaritch cat. 1088, Bookhands of the Middle Ages III, 1988, no. 65. 5. Schøyen Collection, London and Oslo, their MS 107, acquired June 1988. Text:This text is a compilation of other commentaries, including those of Anselm of Laon (1050-1117) and the Historia Scholastica of Peter Comestor (1100-78; signalled with the marginal note in red “Hyst. ca. xi”), the latter citing Chrysostom on the assertion that a new star had appeared for an entire year before the birth of Jesus. Here the scribe has annotated this statement with a marginal addition: “Hec sententia minus est usitata”, indicating that this idea is not usually held. Published: H.R. Woudhuysen, ‘Manuscripts at Auction: January 1988 to December 1988’, in English Manuscript Studies 1100-1700, vol. 2, eds. P. Beal and J. Griffiths, Blackwell, Oxford, 1990, pp. 311, 315-317. J. Griffiths, ‘Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection Copied or Owned in the British Isles before 1700’, in English Manuscript Studies 1100-1700, vol. 5, eds. P. Beal and J. Griffiths, British Library, London, 1995, pp. 36-42.