• Brittany

Abbey of Marchiennes (Northern France)

• Gospel-book

The four Gospels, preceded by prefaces and canon tables.

• Probably written in Brittany
• Certainly written by Breton scribes

A detailed colophon at fol. 135r reveals that this MS was written by the two Breton scribes Luiesguethen (responsible for fols 1v–119v) and Lioscar (responsible for fols 120r–135v): Luiesguethen istum coepit scribere librum, sed tamen Lioscar consummauit istis uilibus grammis, et ideo quicumque lectoris inque Lioscar Luiesguethen teneant fidem spem et caritatem, ut cælibem æterni regis habeant mansionem. Amen. Infrunitus est qui uituperat hoc quod non potest iterare. This information as well as the palaeography and the decoration of this MS all concur to indicate that an origin in Brittany is most likely. According to Guillotel (1985: 30), the text of the Gospels in this MS is particularly close to that of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 45-1980 ('ces deux volumes appartiendraient à un même groupe quant à la transmission des textes évangéliques'), whereas the decoration of these two codices differs. Unfortunately, it is not possible to narrow down the origin of this MS to any specific foundation in Brittany, although Guillotel (1985: 32) is surely right in pointing out that this Gospel-book was written in a scriptorium 'aux ambitions assez nettes et qui comptait au moins deux copistes voire plus.' As a final note, it should be mentioned that Fleuriot was not been able to see this MS at the time when he prepared his dictionary of Old Breton (cf. DGVB 7), although he was aware of the existence of the colophon mentioning the two Breton scribes.

Bénédictins du Bouveret 1965–82: IV, 92 (§12833); CCfr; CGM 6 (series in quarto): 10–11; Deuffic 2008: 128 (n. 220); DGVB 7; Fleuriot 1983: 105 (erroneously listing this MS as 'Douai, ms 12', which is a late eighth-century Gospel-book from Saint-Amand); Guillotel 1985: 30–3, 35, ; ILLB In10; Initiale; Lemoine 2008: 192–3; McGurk 1987: 175, n. 45; OHLP 256; PMSB 298 (§28).

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