Lot 44: The Rules of St. Augustine about 1350, from an English priory

[MANUSCRIPT]

AUGUSTINE of HIPPO, Saint. [REGULA]. De Vita Clericor[um] cum Expositione [catch-title]. England, possibly written at Llanthony [Lanthony] Secunda Priory in Gloucestershire: circa second or third quarter of the fourteenth century. 18^th century brown calf, covers tooled in blind, spine gilt with the name of [Anthony] Gifford at the foot (see below). 9 x 5 5/8 inches (22.75 x 14 cm), the leaf size is somewhat variable throughout. Text consists of 2 ff., a pair of preliminary leaves functioning as endpapers with a text written in a English cursive bookhand of the period, a repurposed document; 48 ff., f.1 recto with a fine large six-line populated initial H of St. Augustine at his desk, writing; each Regula followed by a commentary marked Expositione, this text probably by pseudo HUGH of St. Victor Expositio regulae Sancti Augustini; the whole written in Latin in black-brown ink in a highly legible formal Gothic bookhand, 26 lines to the page, the section headings and paragraph marks in red, initials in red and blue with decorative penwork in contrasting colors, pricking marks evident on some leaves, the verso of the final leaf with another text in a different and rather fine hand headed Explicit explication brevissima orationes…; 4 terminal ff. functioning as endleaves in a 14^th or 15^th century English cursive bookhand, the rubricated heading on the recto of the third of these leaves stating “Lanthon ex Gloucestri” and the text on these leaves with extensive mentions of Llanthony and the De Bohun family, who were traditionally buried in the Chapter House at Lanthony. Front joint cracked through, holding on two cords, the binding worn but probably restorable, the vellum of the text with occasional natural holes that are coeval with the text (carefully avoided by the scribe), some moderate soiling and wear to the preliminary and terminal leaves, the Regula itself generally clean, occasional annotations in mostly early hands, a few leaves trimmed or short well clear of the text, and perhaps originally thus. The origin of the manuscript is indicated (as noted above) at the rear—in the approximately coeval addenda—as being from the monastery of Llanthony Secunda, i.e. the second establishment (founded 1136) in Gloucester after the destruction of the original monastery in Wales by "barbarous peoples." It is possibly from the donation of John Leeche, who bequeathed 57 manuscripts to Llanthony in 1361, but is perhaps more likely to be a domestic production of the Priory. Later owned by the 18th century antiquary Anthony Gifford, with his bookplate on the recto of the front free endpaper, with what are likely his notes on the work on the paste-down; apparently sold in 1776 at auction by Baker & Leigh (the predecessor firm to Sotheby's) to Dr. John Campbell (see old note at head of paste-down); later with the Library of the Baptist College, Bristol, early 19th century.

The Rule of St. Augustine is among the earliest of all monastic rules, written about 400, and it was an influence on all that succeeded it. The commentary, presented in parallel with each of the separate Regula, was widely circulated as writings by Hugh of Saint Victor (circa 1096-1141), although an exact attribution has not yet been settled. These two texts were naturally to be found in many religious establishments, but here we have a specimen that was used in a small Augustinian priory in Gloucestershire that had been driven out of its original setting on the Welsh Marches by border unrest. The walls of Llanthony still exist today, although it was suppressed during the Dissolution. English manuscripts of this type are quite rare, and the present example deserves careful research, especially for the ancillary texts that have been used as endsheets.