Hebrew and Judaica Manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford University

MS. Laud Or. 174

Oriental Manuscripts Laud Oriental Collection

Contents

Ketuvim (Tehilim)

ff. 1r-62v
Ketuvim (Tehilim)כתובים (תהלים)

Psalter divided into 131 chapters; Ps. 33 begins with הודו ; Ps. 34=ch. 35, 34 omitted; Ps. 113=ch. 114; Ps. 135=ch. 116, 115 omitted.

The first word of each chapter is translated into Latin in the margin.

Colophon: "כ"ג טבת רל"א לאלף השישי למניין שאנו מנין כאן קהיל(!) וירשלאר, ואני הכותב יצחק" (fol. 14r)

Ff. 59-61r are blank, on fol. 61v erased but still visible Latin notes, on fol. 62r guide to numerical value of Hebrew characters, and a drawing of a lion.

Language(s): Hebrew

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: ff. 62
Dimensions (leaf): 124 × 168 mm.
Foliation: Modern foliation in Arabic numerals from right to left, old foliation in old Arabic numerals form left to right in the middle of the upper margin

Collation

6 quires: i-iii 12, iv 8, v 12, vi 6 Latin characters, numbered from left to right, not always visible catchwords are at the end of the quires

Condition

Acceptable condition.

Hand(s)

Ashkenazi square script

Decoration

Decorated initial words, chapter numbers.

Additions:

Latin marginal notes.

Binding

Leather, half and marble paper.

History

Origin: [France?]; [early 13th century]

Provenance and Acquisition

Belonged to the library of the monastery of St. Edmundbury as owner's inscription proves: "Hoc psalteriu[m] ebraycu[m] est de bibliotheca ven[er]abilis monasterii Sancti Eadmundi acomodatu[m] fratri Ricardo Bryngkelei ordinis minorum sacreque theologie humilissimo professori 1502 ". Owner's inscription on fol. 1v: "Liber Guilielmi Laud Archiepi[scopi] Cantuar[iensis] et Cancellarii Universitatis Oxon[iensis] 1633"

Donated to the Library by Archbishop William Laud (see Summary Catalogue, vol.II, part 1, pp.13-14).

Record Sources

Manuscript description based on Catalogue of the Hebrew Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, vol. I, by Adolf Neubauer, Oxford 1886, (No. 117, Catalogue of the Hebrew manuscripts in the Bodleian Library; Supplement of Addenda and Corrigenda to Vol. I No. 117, and on the data of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts, National Library of Israel with additional enhancements by the cataloguer.

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card (for admissions procedures contact Bodleian Admissions). Contact specialcollections.enquiries@bodleian.ox.ac.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript.

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)

Microfilm

MSS R.R. Film No. F 16181

Bibliography

    Kennicott, Benjamin, Dissertatio generalis in Vetus Testamentum Hebraicum: cum variis lectionibus, ex codicibus manuscriptis et impressis. Recudi curavit et notas adiecit Paulus Iacobus Bruns. Brunovici: Orphanotrophei, 1783.
    Neubauer, Adolf, Catalogue of the Hebrew Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library (Oxford, 1886), no. 117
    Cf. M.R. James, On the Abbey of St. Edmund at Bury (Cambridge: Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 1895), pp. 87-88, no. 268
    Beit-Arié, Malachi and R.A. May (eds), Catalogue of the Hebrew manuscripts in the Bodleian Library; Supplement of Addenda and Corrigenda to Vol. I (A. Neubauer’s Catalogue) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), no. 117
    Skemer, Don C. Binding Words: Textual Amulets in the Middle Ages (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006), 113 n116
    Hillaby, Caroline, ed. The Palgrave Dictionary of Medieval Anglo-Jewish History (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 70-71, fig. 3

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