Walters Ms. W.12, On Christian rulers

W.12

On Christian rulers

Liber de rectoribus Christianis

Authority name: Sedulius, Scotus, fl. 848-860

Known as: Sedulius Scottus

Created in the mid twelfth century in Germany, this manuscript contains the much earlier writings of the Irish scholar Sedulius Scotus. Writing in the mid ninth century at St. Lambert in Liège, Scotus famously penned this treatise on the duties and ideals of the Christian king or prince. It is the earliest version of a genre that would become popular in the later medieval and Renaissance periods, often known as "mirrors for princes." This manuscript is the second oldest copy of Scotus' treatise known, the earliest being from the ninth century (Bremen, Stadtbibliothek Ms. C. 36). The text is virtually complete, missing only its first and last folios, and is written in a clear Romanesque Caroline minuscule script. The nine inhabited initials, which include dragons and cranes, as well as the seven decorated initials, have been left unfinished. In its script and decoration the manuscript is similar to a benedictional made in Constance (Folter, et al. Cimelia, p. 144, no. 33).

Mid 12th century CE

Westphalia(?), Germany

Book

Theological

Philosophical

The primary language in this manuscript is Latin.

Parchment

Cream-colored, velvety parchment

Foliation: ii+117+ii

Modern pencil foliation in upper right corners; fol. 117 originally a pastedown; missing text leaves before fols. 1, 47, 95, and 117

Formula: ii, 1(8,-1), 2-5(8), 6(8,-8), 7-12(8), 13(8,-1), 14-15(6), 16(6,-2,5), ii

Catchwords: None

Signatures: Small letters in bottom margins on versos

Comments: Quires begin on fols. 1(1), 8(2), 16(3), 24(4), 32(5), 40(6), 47(7), 55(8), 63(9), 71(10), 79(11), 87(12), 95(13), 102(14), 108(15), 114(16); fifth leaf of the final quire (now missing) formerly a singleton; text complete from fols. 114-115

10.8 cm wide by 17.1 cm high

6.4 cm wide by 10.1 cm high

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 14
3. Ruling in lead; prickings visible on fore-edge

fols. 1r - 116v:

1. Title: Liber de rectoribus Christianis
2. Text note: Incomplete; missing first folio
3. Hand note: Written in a late Caroline minuscule script
4. Decoration note: Inhabited and decorated initials throughout in various states of finish, from fully colored at the beginning, to underdrawing, to only blank space by the end; some crude, later pen decoration around the initials in an attempt to finish them; large initials ranging in size (3-8 lines high); first line of each chapter in red rustic capitals; occasional small initials in red (1-2 lines high); crudely etched faces and eagle in margins by a later owner; text in black ink

fols. 1r - 2r:

1. Title: Prologue
2. Incipit: ... indiget artis opis sic et res publica felix
3. Text note: Begins imperfectly
4. Decoration note: Red initials beginning each sentence

fols. 2r - 4r:

1. Title: Chapter list
2. Rubric: Incipiunt capitula
3. Incipit: De eo quod pium rectorem
4. Text note: Complete; list of twenty chapters (unnumbered)
5. Decoration note: Red initials beginning each sentence

fols. 4v - 116v:

1. Title: De rectoribus Christianis
2. Rubric: Incipit liber de rectoribus Christianis et regulis quibus est res publica rite gubernanda
3. Incipit: Postquam regale sceptrum regnique gubernacula
4. Text note: Incomplete; missing last folio

fols. 117r - 117v:

1. Title: Hymn
2. Incipit: [O] quam felices per te sanctissima
3. Text note: Fragment; thirteenth-century hymn reused as a pastedown, with neumes on a five-line staff; text on recto from the Office of Matins for St. Catherine; text on verso unknown
4. Hand note: Written in a pre-Gothic script with neumes

fol. 2r:

1. 
2. Title: Decorated initial "D"
3. Form: Decorated initial "D," 3 lines
4. Text: Liber de rectoribus Christianis: Chapter list

fol. 4v:

1. 
2. Title: Inhabited initial "P" with dragon
3. Form: Inhabited initial "P," 9 lines
4. Text: Liber de rectoribus Christianis: Incipit

fol. 9v:

1. 
2. Title: Inhabited initial "Q" with dragon
3. Form: Inhabited initial "Q," 3 lines
4. Text: Liber de rectoribus Christianis: Chapter 2

fol. 13v:

1. 
2. Title: Inhabited initial "R" with dragon
3. Form: Inhabited initial "R," 4 lines
4. Text: Liber de rectoribus Christianis: Chapter 3

fol. 18r:

1. 
2. Title: Unfinished decorated initial "O"
3. Form: Decorated initial "O," 4 lines
4. Text: Liber de rectoribus Christianis: Chapter 4

fol. 23r:

1. 
2. Title: Unfinished inhabited initial "R" with dragon
3. Form: Inhabited initial "R," 5 lines
4. Text: Liber de rectoribus Christianis: Chapter 5

fol. 30r:

1. 
2. Title: Unfinished inhabited initial "I" with dragon
3. Form: Inhabited initial "I," 6 lines
4. Text: Liber de rectoribus Christianis: Chapter 6

fol. 35r:

1. 
2. Title: Unfinished decorated initial "N"
3. Form: Decorated initial "N," 4 lines
4. Text: Liber de rectoribus Christianis: Chapter 7

fol. 36v:

1. 
2. Title: Unfinished inhabited initial "M" formed from two dragons
3. Form: Inhabited initial "M," 3 lines
4. Text: Liber de rectoribus Christianis: Chapter 8

fol. 42v:

1. 
2. Title: Unfinished inhabited initial "S" with beast head
3. Form: Inhabited initial "S," 5 lines
4. Text: Liber de rectoribus Christianis: Chapter 9

fol. 47v:

1. 
2. Title: Unfinished decorated initial "C"
3. Form: Decorated initial "C," 4 lines
4. Text: Liber de rectoribus Christianis: Chapter 11

fol. 54r:

1. 
2. Title: Unfinished inhabited initial "O" with birds and fish
3. Form: Inhabited initial "O," 4 lines
4. Text: Liber de rectoribus Christianis: Chapter 12

fol. 62r:

1. 
2. Title: Unfinished inhabited initial "N" with dragon
3. Form: Inhabited initial "N," 4 lines
4. Text: Liber de rectoribus Christianis: Chapter 13

fol. 67v:

1. 
2. Title: Unfinished decorated initial "S"
3. Form: Decorated initial "S," 8 lines
4. Text: Liber de rectoribus Christianis: Chapter 14

The binding is not original.

Modern white leather over boards, Walters Art Museum, 1998; earlier binding preserved and housed separately (images included here) in red and yellow brocade by Gruel after 1906, to replace a leather binding with clasp and a pastedown from a thirteenth-century Gospel (binding no longer extant)

Created in Germany, possibly Westphalia, in the mid twelfth century

Gustav Ritter von Emmich sale, Vienna, March 15, 1906, no. I, pl. VIII

Gruel and Engelmann collection no. 609, Paris

Henry Walters, Baltimore, purchased from Gruel before 1931

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

Olschki, L. S. "Vendite Pubbliche: Vendita della biblioteca Gustavo R. v. Emich." La Bibliofilia 8 (1906-1907): 229 (fol. 54r).

De Ricci, Seymour. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935, p. 820, no. 384.

Austin, Gerard. "Bibliographie: Liturgical Manuscripts in the United States and Canada." Scriptorium 28 (1974): 99.

Doyle, Edward. The De Rectoribus Christianis and Poems of Sedulius Scottus. Binghamton, N.Y.: Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, State University of New York at Binghamton, 1982.

Folter, Roland, et al. Cimelia: A Catalogue of Important Illuminated and Textual Manuscripts Published in Commemoration of the Sale of the Ludwig Collection. New York: H. P. Kraus, 1983, p. 144, no. 33.

Principal cataloger: Herbert, Lynley

Cataloger: Walters Art Museum curatorial staff and researchers since 1934

Editors: Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William

Copy editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Bockrath, Diane; Davis, Lisa Fagin; Dutschke, Consuelo; Emery, Doug; Hamburger, Jeffrey; Noel, William; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.

The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.