The Opus Ruralium Commodorum is a horticultural and agricultural guide, written by Petrus de Crescentiis (c. 1233–c. 1320) between 1304 and 1309. After working as a jurist in Bologna, where he was also educated, Crescentiis retired to his country estate just outside the city walls, the Villa dell’Olmo. There he wrote his book, which draws on his own experience running the villa as well as classical and medieval texts. One of the most important of these was Palladius’ De Agricultura (4^th century AD), a copy of which is the in Fellows’ Library (see MS40). Made up of twelve books, Crescentiis’ text gives advice on how to manage an estate. The Fellows’ Library also holds a 15^th-century English copy of the work (see MS44).

This manuscript was written in France, but the presence of marginalia in a 15^th-century English hand indicates that it was transported there not long after it was made. There are large red and blue initials throughout, some with elaborate pen work that extends up and down the margins.

 

Literature: Neil R. Ker and Alan J. Piper, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, Volume IV: Paisley–York (Oxford, 1969), p. 610; Paul Yeats-Edwards, Winchester College (Warden and Fellows’ Library) Medieval Manuscript Collection: Brief History and Catalogue (London, 1978), p. 4; James M. W. Willoughby, The Libraries of Collegiate Churches, Vol. 2 (London, 2013), pp. 850–51.

Provenance: Given to College by Richard Andrew (1452–77), dean of York; recorded in Winchester College’s Donation Book as a gift from Andrew in 1569, which is perhaps when the transfer occurred.

Location: Fellows’ Library