University of Wales, Lampeter: Collected Medieval Manuscripts

The manuscripts comprise an illuminated vulgate Bible written in 1279 for use at the monastery of Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives in Normandy; a Theological Distinctiones, being a series of alphabetically arranged articles on theological subjects, written in England during the thirteenth century; a Flores Psalmorum, being a fifteenth century copy of a Latin commentary by Lethurtus; a Book of Hours written in Italy and illuminated in Florence during the early fifteenth century; an illuminated Book of Hours written during the second half of the fifteenth century for use by Franciscan monks; an illuminated Book of Hours, known as the Boddam Hours, written in France during the second half of the fifteenth century for use in the diocese of Rouen; a Brigittine Ordinal written at around 1481 at the Vadstena convent, Sweden, for use by the nuns; an illuminated Preces, being a collection of prayers and suffrages, written in France during the late fifteenth century; and a leather Hebrew scroll of the Book of Esther.

Medieval manuscripts donated to the library of the University of Wales, Lampeter.

The papers may be consulted through application to Peter Hopkins, Curator, Roderic Bowen Library and Archives, Trinity Saint David, Ceredigion, SA48 7ED. Tel 01570 424716, email: rodericbowenlibrary@tsd.ac.uk

Two manuscripts, comprising the Vulgate Bible and the Preces, were donated to the library by the founder of St. David's College, Bishop Thomas Burgess, in 1837; five manuscripts, comprising the Theological Distinctiones, the three books of hours and the Briggittine Ordinal, and the Hebrew scroll were donated by Thomas Phillips during the 1840s, and the donor of one manuscript, the Flores Psalmorum, is unknown.

Description compiled by Rhian Phillips, Archives Hub project archivist, with reference to N R Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, Vol.III: Lampeter-Oxford, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), pp. 1-14, and R C Rider, 'The Library of St. David's College', Trivium, vol.1 (1966), pp. 36-39.

See N R Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, Vol.III: Lampeter-Oxford, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), pp. 1-14, for descriptions of the eight manuscripts, bar the scroll.

See N R Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, Vol.III: Lampeter-Oxford, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983); R C Rider, 'The Library of St. David's College', Trivium, vol.1 (1966); M Hedlund, 'The Ordinal of the Vadstena Nuns: the Latin text found in St. David's University College Library, Lampeter, Wales (MS 5)', Eranos: acta philologica Suecana, vol.79 (1981); C Hewerdine, 'Symbolic Decoration in a Fifteenth-Century Book of Hours', Trivium, vol.18 (1983) and C Hewerdine, 'A Study of the Hours of Charles Boddam, Lampeter, MS vii', (Lampeter, MA 1988). The illuminations from the Boddam Hours are available on-line at http://www.lamp.ac.uk/founders_library/boddam/index.htm.