Lost Manuscript

GF 04

While only one leaf has been identified from this codex, that gives us enough information to say something of the lost manuscript's life. The folio's text comes early in the first book of the Decretals, and it is likely that it was the fifth leaf of the first quire (see Notes). The addition of several levels of annotation shows it was well-studied -- and may militate against it having been on Guernsey in the Middle Ages. The terminus post quem non for its arrival on the island is early in the seventeenth century.

Textual Information
Subject
Canon Law
Author of work
Gregorius IX
Title of work
Decretals, glossed
Language
Latin
Palaeography
Type of script
Gothic
Script detail
Textura rotunda
Date of production
s. xiii 2
Material Information
Material
Parchment
Decoration

Simple blue and red initials

Dimensions
Page

mm (h) x mm (w)

Number of lines
40
Number of columns
2
History and further information
Information on dismantling

The surviving leaf was reused on Guernsey to bind a set of court records which begin in 1617 and end in 1631. No other fragment of the manuscript has been identified, so it is not clear whether this folio arrived on the island alone or as part of the whole manuscript.

Number of folios represented
1
Notes

The proposal that this provide the fifth leaf of the first quire is based on the number of words: in a modern edition of the Decretals, the text of the folio is 2441 words, while what precedes it is 9905 words. A rough estimate would suggest, therefore, that the preceding text occupied four leaves.

Two layers of glossing, the later in an anglicana.

Author: David Rundle
Last Revised by David Rundle
Constituent Fragments
St Peter Port: Guernsey Island Archives, AQ 0372/02 inside
St Peter Port: Guernsey Island Archives, AQ 0372/02 (a)
St Peter Port: Guernsey Island Archives, AQ 0372/02 outside
St Peter Port: Guernsey Island Archives, AQ 0372/02 (a)