The Historia scholastica is a universal history completed around 1173 by Petrus Comestor (c. 1148–78), a Latin name meaning ‘Peter the Devourer’ (of knowledge). Sometimes referred to as a ‘Biblical paraphrase’, the text tells the story of the Bible as a chronological narrative. In addition to the Bible, Petrus drew from multiple sources, including the writings of classical scholars and the Fathers of the Church. He wrote the text for his students at the cathedral school of Notre Dame in Paris and dedicated it to the Bishop of Sens, Guillaume aux Blanches Mains (1169–76).

This copy of the Historia scholastica is one of two in Winchester’s collection (see MS14B) with very different styles of decoration. At the very beginning of the text is an initial showing Petrus Comestor supported by two monks offering his book to the Bishop of Sens. Below is a large ‘I’ initial in which a king holding a scepter stands beneath an architectural canopy. Rising from the base of the page is an initial ‘I’ in the form of a column surmounted by a seraph. Within the column are illuminated medallions containing Biblical scenes, from the Creation at the top to scenes from the New Testament below. Shown in chronological order, the illuminated column gives a summary of the text to come.

 

Literature: Walter Oakeshott, ‘Winchester College Library Before 1750’, The Library, vol. IX. no. 1 (1954), pp. 1–16, 14; Neil R. Ker and Alan J. Piper, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, Volume IV: Paisley–York (Oxford, 1969), p. 612; Paul Yeats-Edwards, Winchester College (Warden and Fellows’ Library) Medieval Manuscript Collection: Brief History and Catalogue (London, 1978), p. 4.

Provenance: Given to Winchester College by Stephen Potter, 1614.

Location: Fellows’ Library