Coelius Sedulius (fl. 5th century); Alcuin of York (d.804)
Carmen Paschale, and Hymns; Conflictus Veris et Hiemis; in Latin, manuscript on paper [Italy, 15th century].
A rare manuscript of the great Christian poet Sedulius’ ‘biblical epic’, the Carmen Paschale, a fundamental literary work of the Middle Ages and a precursor to Milton’s Paradise Lost.

216 x 147mm. 38 leaves, complete: 1¹⁰, 2-3¹², 4⁴, modern foliation, 29 lines, ruled space: 155 x 92mm, watermark, a basilisk, is Briquet 2628 (Perugia, 1370), catchwords survive, old annotations in the margins, spaces for large initials left blank, but with marginal instructions (opening leaves almost loose from the binding and somewhat soiled, edges frayed, marginal foxing). Contemporary limp vellum binding, title on spine (yellowed and cockled, edges torn).

Provenance:
(1) Contemporary and early (16th-century) inscriptions on inside upper cover, including mention of how this very work was approved by Gelasius I in his Decretum Gelasianum, where he states: ‘[...] item venerabilis viri Sedulii pascali opus quod heroicis descripsit versibus insigni laudare praeferimus’.
(2) Colker MS 9; acquired in 1944 from Maggs (Cat. 687, Manuscripts of Asia, Africa, and Europe, in thirty different languages (1940), no. 235A); Faye & Bond, Supplement to de Ricci’s Census (1962), p. 517.

Content:
Sedulius, Carmen Paschale ff.1-32v; Sedulius, Cantemus socii Domino, in elegiac distichs in epanaleptic form, here beginning: ‘Cantemus d[omi]no sotii can[n]temus [...]’, ff.33-34v; Alcuin, Conflictus Veris et Hiemis, beginning: ‘Conveniu[n]t subito cu[n]ctide mo[n]tibus altis’ ff.34v-35v; Sedulius, A solis ortus cardine, an alphabetic composition in iambic dimeter quatrains, ff.33-36v.

Little is known of Sedulius’ life, but his works enjoyed incredible popularity for over a thousand years after he lived and wrote, being read and acclaimed by everyone from Bede to Alcuin, Isidore of Seville, Petrarch and Martin Luther (who translated Sedulius’ hymns into the vernacular). His masterpiece, the Carmen Paschale, a life of Christ composed in dactylic hexameters, is one of the earliest examples of ‘biblical epic’, a genre of which John Milton’s Paradise Lost is perhaps the most famous representative example in the English language (see C.P.E. Springer, ‘The Manuscripts of Sedulius; A provisional handlist’, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 85 (1995), p.1). Although one of the reasons for Sedulius’ popularity in the Middle Ages was the use of this text in medieval schools, it is also clear, as Springer states, that his work was not only appreciated as a ‘successful example of Christian appropriation of a Classical literary form [...] but also as a respected work of biblical interpretation’ (Springer, p.4). Some 80 manuscripts of the text survive, but they are extremely rare on the market. At the end of the present manuscript are two hymns by Sedulius and one by Alcuin. The first of Sedulius’ hymns, Cantemus socii Domino, is an invitation in 110 lines to praise Christ: it was widely known during the Middle Ages - indeed when Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury (959-988) was blessed with an ecstatic vision of a chorus of virgins in the church of St Mary, this is the heavenly music he heard them singing. The second hymn, A solis ortus cardine, is an alphabetic hymnic form popularised by Ambrose recounting in 23 stanzas the life of Christ from birth to ascension (from A-Z). It is quoted in its entirety by Alcuin (Off. per. Fer. 609-611) and is included in Anglican, Roman Catholic and Lutheran hymnals to this day.
The Colker manuscript is described by Springer, p.46.

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