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• 1 2022-10-20T15:52:18-07:00 MS C189 Inner Cover 15 plain 2022-12-10T13:05:16-08:00 Inner Cover
  Text: “De misericordia” (On Mercy)
  Author: John Chrysostom
  Script: late Caroline minuscule
  Description:
  • Two columns of 38 lines, ruled in drypoint
  Condition:
  • The upper margin of the bifolium (now the fore-edge turn-in of the front cover) is trimmed
  • No loss of text
  
  John Chrysostom
  (c.347 - 407 C.E.)
  Born: Antioch, Turkey
  Died: Comana, Turkey
  
  “De misericordia”
  The text on the inner cover of MS C189 is from a sermon credited to John Chrysostom, the Archbishop of Constantinople at the end of the fourth and early fifth century. He was called Chrysostom or “golden mouth'' due to his impactful messages. The sermon on MS C189 is titled, “De misericordia” (On Mercy). It begins, “Tria sunt quae in misericordiae opera” (“There are three things in the works of mercy… ”) This opening passage is not visible on the fragment. 
  
   
• 1 2022-10-20T15:51:14-07:00 MS C189 Outer Cover 12 plain 2022-12-10T13:01:27-08:00 Outer Cover
  Text: Sententiae (Sentences)
  Author: Isidore of Seville 
  Script: late Caroline minuscule 
  Description:
  •  Two columns of 38 lines, ruled in drypoint.
  • The repurposed parchment bifolium used for the cover likely comes from a homiliary, dated to the second half of the eleventh century.
  Condition: Fragile
  • The cover is warped due to extensive water damage.
  • The cover and the flyleaves are cockled.
  • The cover and flyleaves have minor bookworm damage.
  • Trimmed upper margin
  • There seems to be no loss of text due to trimming
  • Most of the text is still readable on the cover and the turn-ins. 
  
  Isidore of Seville
  ( c. 560 - 636)
  Born: Cartagena, or Seville, Spain
  Died: Seville, Spain
  
  Sententiae 
  Instead of scraping away the text to reveal a blank surface, the scriptorium preserved the text as a protective wrapping. The parchment leaf that forms the outer cover (the recto side of the first of the two folios)  likely comes from a homiliary, dated around the second half of the eleventh century. A homiliary, is a set of short texts and sermons on a moral theme. The cover contains text from  Isidore of Seville's  Sententiae, Book 10.11 "De angelis" (On the Angels.) Isidore of Seville’s Sententiae was popular and there are many copies from the Middle Ages. MS C54 is another manuscript at the Spencer Research Library that contains the Sententiae. 
• 1 media/MS_C189_front_cover_010.jpg 2022-10-20T14:00:59-07:00 MS C189 8 plain 1252053 2022-10-21T10:30:06-07:00
  Binding
  Country: France? 
  Language: Latin
  Assigned Date: s. XII
  Searchable Date Range: 1100 - 1199
  Script: Caroline minuscule
  Number of texts: 1
  Description: 
  •  Parchment - 325 x 213 mm - 2 columns of at least 35 lines; ruled in hardpoint
  • Religious text
   
  Medieval Recycling
  During the middle ages, manuscript pages were made from parchment, or in some cases vellum. Parchment is a writing surface made from stretched sheep or goatskin, whereas vellum is made from calfskin. Vellum is a smooth, even writing surface that surpasses parchment in both quality and cost. Parchment is sturdy but it is also difficult and costly to produce. Older manuscripts were sometimes recycled for the production of new books. A scraping device such as pumice was commonly used to erase text and reuse pages, this creates what is known as a palimpsest. Occasionally, the bindery would use manuscript fragments for a book spine. In some cases, old manuscript leaves were cut and folded to fit the cover of a new book.  
   
  Don’t judge a book by its cover
  The cover, the front flyleaves and the back flyleaves of MS C189 are made up of parchment leaves from three different manuscripts. This manuscript is placed inside fragments of two manuscripts and then wrapped with a third one. Parchment was folded in half to produce a limp binding, this is known as a bifolium. Two folios (singular pages) were folded in half to form flyleaves at the front and back of the manuscript. Flyleaves act as barriers, protecting the main text from pest damage such as worming. 
  
  The parchment cover is attached to the book block by exposed leather split laces. The split laces exit through single slits and each lace returns through two separate slits to create a V shape. The split laces are mostly intact. All edges of the cover are large enough to allow for turn-ins. The upper margin of the bifolium was trimmed to form what is now the fore-edge turn-in for the front cover. The cover has lapped miters; the fore-edge turn-ins lie on top of the head and tail turn-ins at the corner of the miters.
• 1 2022-10-21T11:02:36-07:00 MS C189 Introduction 7 plain 2022-12-10T12:56:07-08:00 Medieval Recycling
  
  During the middle ages, manuscript pages were made from parchment, or in some cases vellum. Parchment is a writing surface made from stretched sheep or goatskin, whereas vellum is made from calfskin. Vellum is a smooth, even writing surface that surpasses parchment in both quality and cost. Parchment is sturdy but it is also difficult and costly to produce. Older manuscripts were sometimes recycled for the production of new books. A scraping device such as pumice was commonly used to erase text and reuse pages, this creates what is known as a palimpsest. Occasionally, bookbinders used fragments of manuscripts as book spines. In some cases, old manuscript leaves were cut and folded to fit the cover of a new book.  
  
  Don’t judge a book by its cover
  
  The cover, the front flyleaves and the back flyleaves of MS C189 are made up of parchment leaves from three different manuscripts. This manuscript is placed inside fragments of two manuscripts and then wrapped with a third one. Parchment was folded in half to produce a limp binding, this is known as a bifolium. Two folios (singular pages) were folded in half to form flyleaves at the front and back of the manuscript. Flyleaves act as barriers, protecting the main text from pest damage such as worming. 
  
  The parchment cover is attached to the book block by exposed leather split laces. The split laces exit through single slits and each lace returns through two separate slits to create a V shape. The split laces are mostly intact. All edges of the cover are large enough to allow for turn-ins. The upper margin of the bifolium was trimmed to form what is now the fore-edge turn-in for the front cover. The cover has lapped miters; the fore-edge turn-ins lie on top of the head and tail turn-ins at the corner of the miters.