Contents

Data Source: Mmmonk

• Manuscript 49 contains a collection of sermons on the Song of Songs written by Gilbert of Hoyland (d. 1172), an English abbot and member of the Cistercian Order. His sermons were a continuation of the sermon-commentary left unfinished by the death of Bernard of Clairvaux; following Gilbert's own death the series was completed by John of Ford. This manuscript dates to the first quarter of the thirteenth century: decorated initials have been added in green and red ink, while the latter colour is used also for rubrics and chapter numbers. The first decorated initial has a width of nearly the full column, and portrays a coronated woman carrying a goblet and staff, identified as the 'sponsa Christi', standing on top of a dragon, that forms the left site of the first letter, U(ita). Possibly the text was copied in Flanders, perhaps even in Bruges. An index of three leaves, written in a different yet contemporary hand, is bound before the main body of text. One of these leaves holds the cross-shaped stamp of Ten Duinen. The leather binding is post-medieval, probably 16th- or 17th century. [Summary by Dr. Mark Vermeer]