Works of St. Jerome (1516)

Lower Library A.5.4

This copy of St. Jerome's works came to the College for a somewhat unusual reason. There were, in the sixteenth century, frequent faction fights between northerners and southerners. In 1541 the students of Gerard's Hostel, mostly of the northern faction, in an assault instigated by their principal, William Tate, burnt the western gate of the College which was opposite their hostel. They invaded the buttery, pouring out all the liquor, and may have taken off the silver had it not been hidden by the butler.

Dr Caius’s entry in the College Annals tells us that William Tate later left many books 'in penitence for the injury he had formerly committed against the College'.

Our copy is also notable for the numerous manicules and notations inked in the margins. These may be seen particularly in the Appendix; largely (but not exclusively) in relation to the Hebrew text.

Cambridge bindings (1503, 1509) << Works of St. Jerome (1516) >> Works of Euripides (1537)