Oxford, Bodleian Library Corpus Christi 75 – Ox

Previous descriptions: Wilson (2011, 11).

Reproductions: –

Family: d²

Siglum: Ox

Shelfmark: Oxford, Bodleian Library Corpus Christi 75

Date: First three decades of the 15th century

Format: paper, 215×142 mm, II + 161 ff.

Material: good state of conservation.

Binding: not original, 18th century.

Watermarks: the watermarks have been thoroughly examined by Wilson (2011, 11) and make it possible to date the manuscript to the first three decades of the 15th century.

Scribes: the manuscript was written by two scribes. A: ff. 1–20, 23–67; B: ff. 21–2; 68–161 possibly Iohannes ChionopulusIohannes Chionopulus (RGK I 190 = II 251 = III 314; see Stefec 2012, 41).

Annotations: Wilson suggests that some marginalia were added by the English humanist William Grocyn (ca. 1446–1519).

1 (ff. 1r‒159r) Pollux, Onomasticon. No title. Incipit: ὦ παῖ πατρὸς ἀγαθοῦ (1.1). Explicit: κόρημα, κιβωτόν, καὶ λήινον (10.192). It contains all ten books of the work: 1 (ff. 1r–29v), 2 (ff. 29v–49v), 3 (ff. 49v–59v), 4 (ff. 60r–74r), 5 ( ff. 74r–82v), 6 (ff. 82v–99r), 7 (ff. 99r–110v); 8 (ff. 110v–127v), 9 (ff. 127v–143v), and 10 (ff. 144r–159r). On f. 1r there is the Prefatory EpigramPrefatory epigram (Pollux), on f. 159r the Closing EpigramClosing epigram (Pollux).

2 (ff. 159v–161r) <Johannes Pediasimus>. Poem on bad and good women. Title: Βουλγαρίας χαρτοφύλακος πόθος. Edited in Miller (1848, 76–9).

Manuscript Ox was copied directly or indirectly from Vaticanus graecus 2226Vat. gr. 2226 (G), of which it is the earliest extant descendant, as far as it is possible to ascertain. If one of the scribes was Iohannes Chionopulus, as it is possible, the manuscript could have been copied in Crete (see Stefec 2012, 41 with further bibliography). It was later owned by William GrocynWilliam Grocyn (ca. 1446–1519), an English humanist and cleric who studied Greek and Latin in Florence under Angelo Poliziano and Demetrius Chalcondylas. It should be noted that a Pollux owned by the latter (Bruxellensis 11350Brux. 11350, Br) seems to derive from Ox. The manuscript was donated to Corpus Christi College by John ClaymondJohn Claymond (1468–1537), according to the note on f. 1r orate pro anima Johannis Claymondi primi presidis collegi Corporis Christi qui hunc librum eidem condonavit ‘prey for the soul of John Claymond, the first headmaster of Corpus Christi College, who gifted it with this volume’.