The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220

described by Takako Kato

Oxford, Bodley, Hatton 38

Gospels

Date: s. xii/xiii

Summary:

The four Gospels in the West Saxon translation: Mark (fols 1-28), Luke (fols 29-61, 63-77), Matthew (fols 78-126), and John (fols 128-67). As Skeat 1874 first noticed, Luke 16.14 'ealle' - 17.1 'leorningcnihtum' is missing (fol. 61v), which shows that the manuscript is derived from Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 441, in which a leaf with this part of the text is also missing. Liuzza 1994, in his study of textual variants among manuscripts, has established that Hatton 38 is a copy of Royal 1 A. xiv, which is itself a copy of Bodley 441 (see his Introduction, pp. lix-xxiii).

Physical Description:

Object Description:

Form: Codex

Support: iii + 61 + i + 105 + iv leaves. Fol. i-iii and 168-171 are blank parchment flyleaves, probably medieval. Fol. 171 is now pasted to another modern paper flyleaf.

Extent:

238 x 158 (dimensions of all - size of leaves)

168 x 107 (dimensions of all - size of written)

Foliation and/or Pagination: Foliated (i-iii), 1-171.

Collation:

Quires: According to Liuzza 1995, the collation is as follows: 18 (fols 1-8), 28 (fols 9-16), 38 (fols 17-24), 44 (fols 25-28), 58 (fols 29-36), 68 (fols 37-44), 78 (fols 45-52), 88 (fols 53-60), 98+1, fol. 62 is a supply leaf (fols 61-69), 108, fol. 77v is blank (fols 70-77), 118 (fols 78-85), 128 (fols 86-93), 138 (fols 94-101), 148 (fols 102-09), 158 (fols 110-17), 1610, fols127r-v is blank (fols 118-27), 178 (fols 128-35), 188 (fols 136-43), 198 (fols 144-51), 218 (fols 152-59), 208 (fols 160-67).

*The binding is now disintegrated and the manuscript was too fragile to check the collation.

Condition:

The pattern of the wormholes on the flyleaves corresponds to those on the first and last pages of the text. Leaves are arranged HFHF throughout.

Layout description:

Each Gospel begins on a new quire.

Ruled in pencil, single bounding lines. 25 lines. As Liuzza 1995 has noted, the scribe is not consistent about which horizontal lines extend across the page: generally the first and third, last and antepenultimate; but often the first two and last two; the first and last two; or the first two, the forth from the last and the last. Rullings were done page by page, not across two leaves. The layout matches in open two pages within the quire. For example,

• 45r: one line at the top, two lines (with one-line space between the lines)
• 45v-46r: one line, two lines (2)
• 46v-47r: one line, two lines (2)
• 47v-48r: one line, two lines (2)
• 48v-49r: two lines (1), two lines (1)
• 49v-50r: two lines (1), two lines (3)
• 50v-51r: one line, one line
• 51v-52r: one line, one line
The space between lines is approximately two x minim height.

Hand Description:

Number of hands: 1 main hand, at least two others for some additions

Summary: Apart from some corrections, the manuscript is written in one hand, although the ink changes from black to brown and back again at several points. Some ink changes are probably due to the scribal corrections: for example, in fol. 152v/16-17, deleted letters are visible under the overwritten letters; the passages in different ink colour are in narrower and smaller letters in for example, 17v, 18r, 23r, 26v, and so on.

Methods of Correction: Correction is 'in a good hand' (Ker 1957, p. 387). Liuzza 1995 suggests that Hatton 38 was copied by 'an astute scribe', who was 'capable of correcting his text in isolation' (p. lxxiii). The main scribe also corrected the text he had copied too.

Hand: Main text
• Scope: Major
• Script: Gothic
• Ker reference: Ker 325 SC1
• Description: Angular script which retains insular letter forms. Some letters are given hairlines. fols 1r-167v.
• Summary of the characteristics of the hand: The following description is based on Liuzza 1994, pp. xxxiii-vi.
• a is Caroline.
• The height of a and e are the same in the combination æ. The initial æ has an uncial 'a'.
• d is insular. The same size and shape as ð.
• e is Caroline.
• f is insular.
• Both insular and caroline g used before fol. 128. After fol. 133, caroline g is used for the velar stop and the affricate and insular g is used from the palatal continuant and fricative. The insular g is in a shape of '3' with a flat top, and its loop finishes with a downward hairline to the left at the end of the loop, whereas caroline g's loop is almost closed, and it also has a hairline at the upper right corner of the bowl.
• h is insular in Old English, but the caroline form appears in proper names and in the sequence ch for the palatal affricate.
• p the straight descender.
• r is insular in Old English, caroline in Latin.
• Round s commonly. Caroline s and occasionally long s, where the descender finishes on the writing line with a serif.
• ð is the same size and shaped as d. The crossbar has a very distinct upward serif at the right end, and does not transect the upstroke.
• ascenders are shorter than the height of the minim, and sometimes split at the top.
• descenders turn to the left, except p. Descenders of the final lines of the page are sometimes very long and calligraphically emphasised.
• accents are few, but the forms 'ic' and 'ich' are usually marked, as are some long monosyllables, the prefix a- and an i next to other minims.
• Abbreviations:
• þæt with a crossbar, which slants from the upper right to the lower left.
• The head of ˥ is curved and the downstroke is nearly vertical and sometimes turned up the right at the end. Its descender does not extend below the writing line.
• Ligatures:
• st ligatures are often used.
• Date: xii/xiii

Hand: Marginal
• Scope: Minor
• Script: Gothic
• Ker reference: not in Ker
• Description: fols 13v and 70v, margins.
• Summary of the characteristics of the hand: These two additions are contemporary and probably one annotator. Extra rulings are given in the margin.
• Caroline a.
• e often has a hairline elongated tongue.
• Insular g is '5'-shaped.
• ð is the same size and shaped as d. The crossbar extends only to the right of the ascender, and has a very distinct downward serif at the right end.
• Abbreviations: ˥ has a very wavy head.
• Date: xii/xiii

Hand: Addition
• Scope: Minor
• Script: Gothic
• Ker reference: not in Ker
• Description: fol. 119r. Liuzza 1994 identifies that a later hand has supplied an omission to Mathew 25:34 (p. xxxiv). Contemporary with the main hand.
• Summary of the characteristics of the hand:
• a is caroline.
• e is caroline, and its head is small.
• Insular g is in a shape of '5'.
• h is insular.
• High s, of which descender finishes on the writing line with a serif.
• ð: its crossbar has a very distinct upward serif at the right end, and does not transect to the left of the upstroke.
• ascenders are shorter than the height of the minim, and wedged.
• descenders turn to the left.
• Date: s. xii/xiii

Decoration Description:

Large decorated initials, alternately red or blue with pen ornament of the other colour. The text is indented where the large initial appears, and approximately 1/5 of the letter is placed in the margin. Green is used in the large initials at the beginning of each Gospel. They are of s. xii/xiii. Rubrics are sometimes in red, and some capital letters within the text are also coloured.

Additions:

Missing text (Luke 16.12-17.1) is supplied on fol. 62, which is a supply leaf of s. xvi. Parker's red pencil marks Gospel name and chapter numbers in the upper right hand corners. There were probably also ribbons attached at the beginning of each Gospel: the trace of ribbons are visible, although the ribbons are now lost.

Binding Description:

s. xviii binding is now disintegrated. Parchment flyleaves are probably medieval.

History:

Origin:

Palaeographical evidence suggests a Canterbury origin.

Provenance:

Later medieval history is unknown. The manuscript belonged to John Parker (1548-1618), son of Archbishop Mathew Parker (his signature may be seen on the verso of fol. i) and Christopher, Baron Hatton( 1605?-1670), whose signature is on the recto of fol. ii; used by Francis Junius (1589-1677) for his 1665 edition of the Gospel.

Acquisition:

Acquired by the Bodleian Library with other Hatton manuscripts in 1671.

Additional Information:

Administration Information:

Manuscript described by Takako Kato with the assistance of Molly Hogan and Hollie Morgan (August 2010).

Surrogates:

Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile, ed. by R. M. Liuzza and A. N. Doane (Binghamton, NY: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1995), vol. 3: Anglo-Saxon Gospels

Roberts, Jane, Guide to Scripts Used in English Writings up to 1500 (London: British Library, 2005), photo reproduction of fol. 80r (Colour pl. C4 and Plate 29)

Bibliography:

Grunberg, M., The West-Saxon Gospels: A study of the Gospels of St. Matthew with Text of the Four Gospels (Amsterdam: Scheltema and Holkema NV, 1967

Hardwick, Charles ed., Gospels According to Saint Matthew in Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian Versions, Synoptically Arranged, with Collations of the Best Manuscripts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1858)

Junius, Francis and Marshall, Thomas ed., Quatuor D. N. Jesu Christi Evangeliorumversiones perantiquae duae, Gothica scil. et Anglo-Saxonica: Quarum illam ex celeberrimo Codice Argenteo nunc primum depromsit Franciscus Junius F. F. Hanc autem ex Codicibus MSS. collatis emendatius recudi curavit Thomas Mareschallus, Anglus: cujus etiam Observationes in utramque Versionem subnectuntur. Accessit + Glossarium Gothicum cui praemittitur Alphabetum Gothicum, Runicum +c. opera ejusdem francisci Junii., 2 vols (Dordrecht: Henricus and Essaeus, 1665)

Ker, N. R., Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957; repr. 1990)

Lenker, Ursula, Die Westsächsische Evangelienversion und die Perikopenordnungen im angelsächsischen England, Münchener Universitäts-Schriften, Philosophische Fakultät, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Englischen Philologie, 20 (Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1997)

Liuzza, R. M., '378. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Hatton 38 (4090): "West Saxon Gospels"', in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile, ed. by R. M. Liuzza and A. N. Doane (Binghamton, NY: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1995), vol. 3: Anglo-Saxon Gospels, pp. 32-33

---, ed., The Old English Version of the Gospels: Notes and Glossary, EETS, OS 314 (London: Published for the Early English Text Society by Oxford University Press, 2000)

---, ed., The Old English Version of the Gospels: Text and Introduction, EETS, OS 304 (London: Published for the Early English Text Society by Oxford University Press, 1994)

---, 'Scribal Habit: The Evidence of Old English Gospels', in Rewriting Old English in the Twelfth Century, ed. by Mary Swan and Elaine M. Treharne (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 143-65

Madan, Falconer, and others, A Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895-1953), item 4090

Reimann, Max, Die Sprache der mittelkentischen Evangelien (Codd. Royal I A xiv und Hatton 38) (Berlin: W. Portmetter, 1883

Roberts, Jane, Guide to Scripts Used in English Writings up to 1500 (London: British Library, 2005)

Skeat, Walter W., ed., The Gospel According to Saint John: in Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian Versions, Synoptically Arranged, with Collations Exhibiting all the Readings of All the MSS (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1878)

---, The Gospel According to Saint Luke: In Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian Versions, Synoptically Arranged, with Collations Exhibiting all the Readings of all the MSS (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1874)

---, The Gospel According to Saint Mark: In Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian Versions, Synoptically Arranged, with Collations Exhibiting all the Readings of all the MSS (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1871)

---, The Gospel According to Saint Matthew : In Anglo-Saxon, Northumbrian, and Old Mercian Versions, Synoptically Arranged, with Collations Exhibiting all the Readings of all the MSS (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1887)