Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 277: Adam of Barking, Carmen de serie sex aetatum

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Abstract/Contents

Summary
CCCC MS 277 contains the unique surviving copy of Adam of Barking's Carmen de serie sex aetatum, a poem narrating and commenting on biblical history. The copy in this manuscript is incomplete, dealing with only four of the six ages alluded to in the title, and is almost certainly Barking's (fl. twelfth century) own working copy. The Tudor antiquarian John Leland (1506-52) records that he saw a copy of the same work in Sherborne Abbey in Dorset, though it has been disputed that this is the same manuscript as the one now in Corpus Christi and, as a result, it is not certain how this manuscript came to be in Parker's collection.
Contents
Carmen de serie sex aetatum

Description

Alternative title Adam of Barking
Type of resource mixed material
Extent ff. 1 + 141
Date created [ca. 1100 - 1299]
Language Latin
Material Vellum
Layout 56-60 lines to a page
Height (mm) 270
Width (mm) 110
Collation 1 flyleaf, 1(8) 2(8) 3(12) 4(10) 5(8)-8(8) (+ 6*) 9(4) (+ slip) 10(8) 11(14) (+7*: 10, 11 canc.) 12(10)-15(10) 16(8) (wants 6-8).
Writing in more than one very neat hand
Foliation ff. a-b + i + 1-75 + 75a + 76-141 + c-d
2 fo. Dum christum

Bibliographic information

M.R. James Date xii-xiii
Downloadable James Catalogue Record
Title
https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:tq120by6937/MS_277.pdf
Superseded Interim Catalogue Record
Title
https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:tt082jv6804/277.pdf
Contains
Title
Adam of Barking, Carmen de serie sex aetatum. 1r-141v
Author
Adam of Barking
Note
It begins
Rubric
(1r) Auctor huius operis de sex etatum serie tractare proponens breuiterque concludere que leuiter transierunt carptim tangit in prologo precedenti de quibus latius est tractaturus in opere subsequenti dicens se otio iam diu deditum torpore deposito iam ad studia reuersum se de magnis breuiter tractaturum promittens et unde tractaturus hec (hic?) seriatim capitula premittens
Incipit
(1r) Scribere decreui decursum labilis euiClaudere fine breui fine peracta leui
Explicit
(1r) Que lux leticie . quis sit fons philosophieQuid caput ecclesie . que uia . duxque uie
Incipit
(1r) Tempora patris ade renouante stilo mihi tradeMusa stilo trade tempora patris ade
Note
(3v) The story of the Creation is begun on f. 3v
Rubric
(3v) Auctor huius operis a summo omnium auctore deo narrationis seriem inchoans etc.
Incipit
(3v) Ante creaturas tot secula totque figurasTot generum formas tantas per tot loca normas
Note
On f. 15r the Flood is reached. Here is a gap. After 12 lines, ending
Explicit
(15r) Nil alibi tutum nihil est a morte solutumNulla foris tuta morti sunt queque tributa,
Note
(15r) the rest of the page is blank
a.
Incipit
(15v) Nuper eram locup(l)es multisque beatus amicisEt risere mihi fata secunda diu
Note
(Hildebert P. L. CLXXI 1418)
Explicit
(16r) Ille potens mitis tenor et concordia rerumQuicquid uult in me digerat. eius ero
Note
b.
Incipit
(16r) Si supplex hominum tibi seruiat ordo. quid inde
Explicit
(16r) Tam cito pretereunt hec omnia quod nihil inde
Note
(6 lines)
c.
Incipit
(16r) Ridentis iocus est fortune copia rerumMobilis hec nescit continuare iocum
Explicit
(16v) Ergo cum proles mihi sit bona. non nihil indeNam sine prole pater est sine sole dies
Note
(24 lines)
Rest of 16v blank
Rubric
(17r) Auctor ad materie seriem redit
Incipit
(17r) Hiis interiectis uti decet amodo rectisAd seriem recti recto decet ordine flecti
Note
(17r) with a sign referring to a passage on f. 75v
Story of Abraham begins f. 21r
On f. 38r is a break and reference to a passage which occurs on f. 80v
On f. 38v a fresh beginning
Incipit
(38v) Dum uigil inquiro de lacte simulque butiro
Note
which only occupies this page
On f. 39r change of hand and entirely new exordium: a very long address to Christ for all estates of men On f. 47v-48r in a prayer for kings is a disquisition on the meaning of the several Regal ornaments, and a still longer disquisition on the Incarnation, the Virgin, and the types referring thereto
Incipit
(39r) Ad titulum Christi titulo nota competit isti
Note
Quire 9, ff. 72r-75v, in the first hand, is an insertion containing various supplements
From f. 92r onwards we have a very full treatment of the story of Genesis from Gen. xviii to the end
On f. 134r sqq. a much shorter account of the Plagues, Exodus, the Law, the Priestly vestments
(141r) Ending (after a few lines about David)
Explicit
(141r) Sunt modo cras ut heri nequeunt diuina moueriSic manet immotum manet immutabile totum
Note
The work is unfinished: only four ages out of the six have been treated. The confused state of the work suggests that this copy may be the author's autograph
On f. 141v, in another hand, after 3 erased lines
Incipit
(141v) Manducare potes formicam si capud aufers
Explicit
(141v) In cruce sum pro te qui peccas desine pro meDesine do veniam do vitam corrige culpam
TJames 91
Stanley H. 9
Location https://purl.stanford.edu/jy445fd9276
Location MS 277
Repository UK, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Parker Library

Access conditions

Use and reproduction
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License
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Collection

Parker Manuscripts

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