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Peter Comestor (d. 1178). Historia scholastica.
Manuscript on paper. [Switzerland?]: dated 1466.
Folio 317 x 225 mm: 347 leaves, 42
lines of text in two columns. Wanting last few
paragraphs at end of Acts; small repairs to margins.
Initials rubricated in red throughout.
Binding: 19th-century half calf, with damaged
corner.
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A native of Troyes, Peter Comestor became Chancellor of Notre Dame
in Paris in 1168. His best-known work, written toward the end of his
life, was the Historia scholastica. Filling out gaps in the
scriptural narrative with explanations provided by the Church
Fathers, this massive work traces biblical history from Genesis to
the end of the Acts of the Apostles, including the Gospels (combined
into one “Gospel History”), but without treating the non-historical
books of the Psalms, several of the Prophets, the Epistles, or
Revelation. Frequently published with appended commentaries, the
Historia scholastica became one of the most important teaching
texts of the Middle Ages.
According to several inscriptions by its scribe, Bridwell Library’s
manuscript of the Historia scholastica was written in 1466.
The section on Genesis was finished on 14 March, Exodus on 28 March,
Leviticus on 11 April, Kings III on 10 June, Kings IV on 14 June,
Esther on 2 July, and the Gospel History on 9 August 1466. The last
section on the Acts of the Apostles must have been completed soon
thereafter, indicating that the whole manuscript of 692 pages was
written in a period of about six months. Exhibited is the end of
Leviticus, with the date “die xi mensis Apprilis Anno 1466.” Another
inscription at the beginning of the manuscript records that it came
from the “S. Leud. Lucerna,” the Benedictine Monastery of St. Legér
(Leodegar) in Luzerne, Switzerland.
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Acquired in 2006
Elizabeth Haluska-Rausch, PhD, and Eric Marshall White, PhD, Curator of Special Collections
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