Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

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Lot 32
  • 32

Defensor de Ligugé, Liber Scintillarum, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [England, late twelfth century]

Estimate
7,000 - 9,000 GBP
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Description

  • Vellum
89 leaves (plus an original endleaf at back), 217mm. by 140mm., wanting much of fol.7 (with loss of end of second chapter and opening of third) and last leaf from secondary text, else complete, collation: i-iv8, v10, vi-ix8, x10, xi5 (last torn away), single column, 29 lines in two tall and angular early gothic bookhands, rubrics in red, 2-line simple initials in red, blue or green (many with penwork to contrast), numerous medieval notes in ink and drypoint gloss (including those on fols.6v and 83v of human heads), stains to edges of leaves and some small holes (none with any effect to text), fols.1 and 9 once coming loose from volume, now restored with modern vellum, some leaves cockled, else good condition, modern red leather over pasteboards, slipcase

Provenance

provenance

1. Written in England in the late twelfth century, and probably used in a monastic library until the sixteenth century.

2. Solomon Pottesman (1904-78); his sale in our rooms, 11 December 1979, lot 34, to Alan Thomas (his cat.41, 1980, no.4).

3. Bergendal MS.3; bought by Joseph Pope from Thomas in December 1980: Bergendal catalogue no.3; Stoneman, 'Guide', pp.166-67; Pope, 'The Library', p.159.

Catalogue Note

text

Defensor compiled his Liber Scintillarum (literally 'book of sparks') so that "just as a fire emits sparks, one can see here glowing pithy sentences taken from numerous books of the Scriptures". The author was a monk in the abbey of St. Martin in Ligugé, near Poitiers, founded by St. Martin in the fourth century, and tells us that he wrote under the direction of his abbot and mentor, Ursinus (held office c.700). The work is a form of early encyclopaedia, and consists of 81 chapters on subjects as diverse as prayer and confession, penance and fasting, judges and doctors, bribes and gifts, rich and poor, master and slave, the brevity of life, beauty, laughing and crying, and curiosity.

Any work from the Merovingian dark ages is of significant value; but this text is especially so as it bears witness to the extent of the library of one of the very oldest monasteries of France. The author's purpose sidesteps any pagan classical literature, but does draw on an impressive range of sources from the Gospels to the Church Fathers, including Gregory the Great, Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose Cyprian, Caesarius of Arles, Clement, Ephraim, Hilary, Origen, and Eusebius, as well the greatest encyclopaedist of the Middle Ages, Isidore of Seville. There have been attempts to identify his sources (Rochais in Revue Mabillon 41, 1951, pp.77-86, and MacCoull in Revue Bénédictine 112, 2002, pp.291-300), but some nine remain which have no known "author nor parallel nor even an echo", and these may well be the remnants of texts that did not survive the early Middle Ages.

It was immensely popular, and survives in over 370 manuscripts (R. Bremmer, 'The Reception of Defensor's Liber Scintillarum', in ... tuo soto di fiori in monte recondo, 2008, p.77; the most complete list being H.-M. Rochais, 'Les manuscrits du Liber Scintillarum', Scriptorium 4, 1950, pp.294-309, where he numbers 285, not including the present manuscript).

On fol.82v there follows another related text, opening "Due sunt partes electorum ...", on subjects such as anger, luxury and fornication, with a long section on the "verba septem sapientum grecorum".