Title

Vitae Patrum

Anonimous

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

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Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

The origin of the library of the monastery of San Sebastián de Silos, later called Santo Domingo de Silos, can be found in the reconstruction carried out by the Castilian Count Fernán González in the middle of the 10th century. In 954 the count donated numerous lands and possessions to the monastery, as well as some books relevant to the cult (Senra, 2002). However, the peak of the monastery took place with the abbot Domingo Manso, who had been a monk of San Millán de la Cogolla. In 1041 Fernando I put him in charge of San Sebastián de Silos and under his mandate the monastic complex grew considerably. The library increased thanks to the donations received and the productions of the scriptorium itself (Castro, 2020), reaching its peak at the end of the eleventh and beginning of the twelfth century (Sánchez Mariana, 1984; Boylan, 1992).

Precisely, the Vitae Patrum was one of the volumes produced in the 11th century (Férotin, 1912; Vivancos, 2007). The Silense library suffered great losses throughout its history, such as this copy. Rodrigo Echevarría, the last abbot of the monastery before the exclaustration of 1835, was in charge of jealously preserving the manuscripts that were still treasured in Silos. According to Besse (1897), he was a manof"uncommon prudence and firmness, combined with an extensive knowledge, a great knowledge of the world and noble and distinguished manners". There is no doubt that his decision to protect the manuscripts helped to prevent them from being dispersed at first. However, their fate changed when he was appointed bishop of Segovia in 1857. Echevarría had to leave the monastery, and from then on the codices fell into disrepair.

Anastasio Rodrigo y Yusto, archbishop of Burgos, was impressed when he visited the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos. Its dilapidated state led him to appeal to the former monks of the abbey. It was at that moment that Sebastián Fernández, one of the exclaustrated monks and vicar of the church of San Martín (Madrid), intervened. Although he was responsible for protecting the manuscripts in the capital, he failed to appreciate their true value, which led him to contact a marquis in Madrid "plus ou moins authentique" who worked with Aunt Jesusa, a woman well known for selling antiquities (Besse, 1897; Ruiz and Gonzalez de Linares, 1978). Thus it was that in 1877 she sold 69 manuscripts for 16,000 pesetas, a figure that undoubtedly pleased the parish priest.

The Vitae Patrum were among these codices sold in Madrid. A year later, they appeared in number 30 of the Catalogue de libres rares parmi lesquels on remarque la Bible Mazarine premier livre imprimé par Gutenberg et des manuscrits du XIe au XVIIIe siècle rédigé par M. Bachelin-Deflorenne cited as follows:

Sententiae SS. Patrum. Manuscrit sur vélin. Petit in-4, rel. à ais de bois recouv. de peau de v.

Manuscript from the 10th to the 11th century, in small wisigothic letters; titles of chapitres in colored majuscules. Numerous large painted initial letters, including many with figures of a very primitive art. The text includes 143 long-line letters: the end is missing.

It is not surprising that the volume ended up in the hands of Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, since he was an antiquarian specializing in the sale of antique and rare books. Although his main store was located in Paris, at 10 Boulevard des Capucines, he had branches in London and Madrid. That is how he learned that Sebastian Fernandez was selling the Silensian manuscripts. The Vitae Patrum were offered for sale in Paris on June 1, 1878 at the Hotel des Commissaires-Priseurs (Paris) and were purchased on the 15th by Bernard Quaritch (Fernández de la Cuesta, 1985) for the British Museum (Whitehill, 1976). In the Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years 1876-1881 they are mentioned as follows:

"Liber geronticon: sayings of the Egyptian fathers, in two books. Latin. Begins, "Quidam frater, quemadmodum in cella propria degere deberet"; but not identical with the "Verba seniorum, interprete Paschasio," (Migne, Patrologia, vol. lxxiii., col. 1025), a collection which begins in the same way. f. 3.

Sententia (sic) patrum Egyptiorum quas de Greco in Latino transtulit Martinus Dumiensis episcopus." See Migne, vol. lxxiv. col. 381. f. 94 b.

3. Sayings of the fathers, in two books, beg." 1. De vincendo desiderium guile (sic). Abbas Zenon dum ambularet in Palestina." Imperfect f. 114.

Vellum; ff. 142. In Visigothic characters, with coloured initials, XIth cent. Small Folio.

Finally, in 1973 the Vitae Patrum became part of the collection of the British Library (London), where they are preserved today.

Description

The Vitae Patrum consist of 142 folios and have been dated to the 11th century (Millares, 1999). They appear in the Index of what is contained in the codices of the library of Santo y S. Rodrigo, of the primitive edicc(io)n and reserved in the Camera Santa (1772) cited as "Yt(em) otro codice titulado Sententiae SS. Patrum" (Boylan, 1992).

Locations

• XI^th c. - 1857

  monastery

  Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos, Santo Domingo de Silos (Spain)

• Mid XIX^th c. - 1877

  parish priest

  Sebastián Fernández, Madrid (Spain)

• ca. 1877 - ca. 1878

  dealer/antiquarian

  "Aunt Jesusa", Madrid (Spain) *

• ca. 1878

  dealer/antiquarian

  Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Paris (France) *

• ca. 1878

  dealer/antiquarian

  Bernard Quaritch, London (United Kingdom) *

• 1878 - ca. 1973

  museum

  The British Museum, London (United Kingdom)

• ca. 1973 - present

  study center

  The British Library, London (United Kingdom)