Penflourish initial D at the beginning of the commentary on John
Pembroke Coll. 38, f. 1r
Aquinas, Catena on the Gospels of John and Mark
East Anglia, Bury St Edmunds?, ca 1300

Image reproduced by kind permission of the Master and Fellows of Pembroke College

This copy of the Catena on John and Mark comes from the Benedictine library of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds as indicated at the top of the page with the pressmark and at the bottom with the inscription that it was bequeathed by Magister Stephen de Haslingfield. The latter inscription ends with a commonly found anathema against anybody who alienates it from the library. It is more simply decorated than the preceding two volumes which belonged to Christ Church Canterbury. The penflourish initial and partial border of the prologue to the commentary on John is filled with interlacing foliate scrolls in red and blue ink. As yet there has been insufficient study of the thirteenth and fourteenth century books in the Bury library to ascertain whether the book was produced in East Anglia or acquired by Stephen de Haslingfield from elsewhere.