Bod-Inc: A-444
Ars Moriendi
Ars moriendi ‘Cum de praesentis exilii miseria mortis transitus . . .’
Analysis of Content
A1r [Title-page.]
A2r Ars moriendi. Incipit: ‘[C]um de presentis exilii miseria mortis transitus propter moriendi imperitiam multis non solum laicis . . .’ See Bloomfield 1076.
C2r ‘Ad omnes angelos et precipue ad sanctum Michaelem.’ [Also known as Ad S. Michaelem carmen.] Incipit: ‘[I]nclyte celigena Michael fulgoris amena | Alta colens regna plusquam dulcedine plena'; 9 strophes of 4 leonine hexameters each. AH 33, 158-9 no. 180. See Walther, Initia, 9233; Chevalier, Rep. hymn., 28177.
C3r De meditatione mortis. Incipit: ‘[Q]uacunque impugnatione aut tentatione inpugnaris vel pigricia torpescis . . .’
C7v De meditatione mortis carmen. Incipit: ‘[M]ortales dominus cunctos in luce creauit | Ut capiant meritis gaudia summa poli'; 7 distichs. See Walther, Initia, 11284; Chevalier, Rep. hymn., 29704. Chevalier attributes authorship to Bruno Carthusiensis.
C7v [Dionysius Carthusiensis(?)]: ‘Lex est ista mortis.’ [Iudicium mortis et eius casus | Elegia de iudicio mortis et variis casibus eius]. ‘[L]ex metuenda premit mortales omnibus vna | Mors cita sed dubia nec fugienda venit'; 28 distichs. Dionysius Cartusiensis, Opera omnia, 41 (Tournai, 1912), 597-8. See Opera selecta, ed. Kent Emery, IA, CCCM, 121 (Turnhoult, 1991), 144-8; 256 no. 199, Walther, Initia, 10280; Chevalier, Rep. hymn., 29153. On authorship see ed. Emery, as above.
C8v [Augustinus pseudo-; Bernardus Claravallensis pseudo-]: Speculum peccatoris. PL XL 983-92. See Bloomfield 4918. Bloomfield attributes authorship to Pseudo-Augustinus, Pseudo-Bernardus ‘etc.’
D6r Bernardus [Claravallensis pseudo-]: De contemptu mundi. Incipit: ‘O miranda vanitas, o diuitiarum amor | Lamentabilis, o virus amarum'; 56 lines of rhythmic verses. PL CLXXXIV 1313-16. See Bloomfield 3540; Walther, Initia, 12783; Chevalier, Rep. hymn., 13279. Bloomfield attributes authorship to Pseudo-Bernardus Cluniacensis. In this edition, this and the following item are regarded as being one work.
D7r [Bernardus Claravallensis pseudo-]: Meditatio mortis. Incipit: ‘Dic homo cur abuteris discretionis gratia | Cum vite viam deferis et tendis ad supplicia'; 25 lines of rhythmic verses. PL CLXXXIV 1315-16. See Bloomfield 1570; Walther, Initia, 4353; Chevalier, Rep. hymn., 4562.
D7r Bernardus [Claravallensis pseudo-: De morte et iudicio.] Incipit: ‘O Christi longanimitas et longa expectatio | O mira Christi bonitas, o quanta miseratio'; 52 lines of rhythmic verses. PL CLXXXIV 1315-18. See Bloomfield 3519; Walther, Initia, 12543; Chevalier, Rep. hymn., 12790.
D8r [Colophon.]
D8v [Valedictory notice.] Incipit: ‘Nos dicimus duplicem esse vitam . . .’
D8v [Verse.] Incipit: ‘Non est quo possit melius caro viua domari | Mortua qualis erit, quod semper premeditari'; 2 hexameters. See Walther, Proverbia, 17706a.
Imprint
Imprint: Paris: Guy Marchant, Apr. 1490. 4°.
Collation
Collation: A–D8.
References
ISTC: ia01095600
GW: GW 2607;
Hain: H 1844;
Proctor: Pr 7984;
Others: CIBN A‑593; O'Connor, Art of Dying, 149; Sheppard 6206.
LCN: 13980588
Copies
Copy number: A-444(1)
Bound with:
1. Cordiale quattuor novissimorum. [Paris: Philippe Pigouchet, c.1495] (C‑450(1));
2. Johannes Gerson, De cognitione castitatis. [Cologne: Johann Guldenschaff, c.1480] (G‑098);
4. Bernardus Claravallensis, Floretus. [Paris: Philippe Pigouchet, c.1492] (B‑191);
5. Bernardus Claravallensis, Epistola de gubernatione rei familiaris. [Paris]: Philippe Pigouchet, [c.1498] (B‑190).
Binding: Nineteenth-century English half calf; marbled pastedowns, bound for Douce.
Size: 198 × 140 × 25 mm.
Size of leaf: 188 × 130 mm.
Early marginal annotations, possibly in French: the same ‘nota' marks appear in one contemporary hand in items 1, 3, and 4, thus suggesting that these items travelled together before they were bound in the present binding; item 2 is of a different size.
Two four-line initials are supplied in interlocked red and blue; other two-line initials and paragraph marks are supplied in red or blue.
Provenance: Francis Douce (1757-1834); armorial book-plate. Bequeathed in 1834.
SHELFMARK: Douce 57(3).
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