The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220

Takako Kato

London, British Library, Additional 46204

Worcester Cartulary Fragments

Date: s. xi2

Summary:

One leaf and two strips of a second leaf from a Worcester cartulary, a portion of which is preserved in Nero E. i, fols 181-84. Old English text appears on the recto, column 1, lines 1-15, and both recto and verso of the two strips. The Latin and Old English contents of these fragments (British Library Catalogue) are printed in Stevenson (1911, pp. 199-212).

Manuscript Items:

1. Item: complete leaf, recto/col. 1

   Title (B.15.5.1): Charters: Miscellaneous Texts: Memorandum on Land at Bromsgrove, Worcs Sawyer 1432

   Incipit: he his ærendgewrit to wulfhearde

   Explicit: syþþan a oþ his daga ende . gode gefultimendum :-

   Text Language: English

   Note: Continues from BL Cotton Nero, E. i. part 2, Item 7.

   Sawyer 1432, dated 822×823. 'Memorandum concerning King Ceolwulf's request for land at Bromsgrove, Worcster, from Bishop Heahberht and his community, and a consequent attempt by Wulfheard to obtain possession of Inkberrow, Worcester' (Sawyer and Keynes 2013).

   Bibliography:

   Herold 2004

   Sawyer and Keynes 2013

2. Item: complete leaf, recto/col. 1

   Incipit (Latin): Flædanbyrig Apostolus paulus de extremo iudicio domini manifestissime loquens ita refert.

   Explicit (Latin): Ego berhtred. Ego oftfor episcopus donationem quam a rege accepi propria manu subnoto.

   Text Language: Latin

   Note: Sawyer 76, dated 691×699

   Bibliography:

   Herold 2004

3. Item: complete leaf, recto/cols 1-2

   Rubric (initial): Flædan byrig.

   Incipit (Latin): Reuerentissime memorie pontificis ostfori.

   Explicit (Latin): Æþelric. æþelƿard æþelbriht. omuling. abbas. hi sunt confirmatores et testes huiusce donationis.

   Text Language: Latin

   Note: Sawyer 1252, dated 699×717

   Bibliography:

   Herold 2004

4. Item: complete leaf, recto/col. 2

   Rubric (initial): Cenylfes freols.

   Incipit (Latin): In nomine dei excelsi qui est spes omnium finium terre. et in mari longe.

   Explicit (Latin): Ego mucel dux. Ego ceolfƿulf consensi.

   Text Language: Latin

   Note: Sawyer 172, dated 814

   Bibliography:

   Herold 2004

5. Item: complete leaf, verso/col. 1

   Rubric (initial): Fledebyrig

   Incipit (Latin): Ego etiam cenulf rex merciorum eodem honorabili episcopo deneberhto et eius familiæ ƿeogornensis æcclesiæ post uite meæ do terram.

   Explicit (Latin): Si uero quod non optamus aliquis hoc in aliquo frangere uel minuere temptauerit. sciat se alientum a deo in die magno. nisi ante hic correctus cum satisfactione. emendauerit et ad dignam penitentiam uenerit.

   Text Language: Latin

   Note: Sawyer 185, dated 798×824

   Bibliography:

   Herold 2004

6. Item: complete leaf, verso/cols 1-2

   Rubric (initial): Breodun.

   Incipit (Latin): In nomine imnipotentis dei et domini nostri iesu christi qui uiuit et regnat in saecula.

   Explicit (Latin): Signum eadboldi principis. Signum eadboldi ducis.

   Text Language: Latin

   Note: Sawyer 116, dated 780

   Bibliography:

   Herold 2004

7. Item: complete leaf, verso/col. 2

   Rubric (initial): Stoltun. and ƿassaburna. and kineburhtun and tateringtun and codeswæl

   Incipit (Latin): Alto etiam agio deo nostro ac sanctæ ac gloriose trinitati uirtus honor et potesta sit in euum.

   Explicit (Latin): Ego kineberht dux . Ego sigered dux .

   Text Language: Latin

   Note: Continues to BL Cotton Nero, E. i. part 2, Item 8.

   Sawyer 192, dated 840

   Bibliography:

   Herold 2004

8. Item: strips, recto

   Title (B.15.5.8): Miscellaneous Texts: Settlement of a Dispute, Bishop Wærferth and Eadnoth Sawyer 1446

   Addition: ... minre a ... | ... presbyter ... | ... presbyter ... | ... presbyter ... |

   Text Language: English

   Note: Fragmentary, only few words. Sawyer 1446, dated 903. 'Settlement of a dispute between Wærferth, bishop, and Eadnoth, concerning land at Sodbury, Gloucs' (Sawyer and Keynes 2013).

   Bibliography:

   Herold 2004

   Sawyer and Keynes 2013

9. Item: strips, recto

   Addition: ... ndan gen ... | ... STOCE. ÆÐEL ... | ... þegn clericus... |

   Text Language: Latin with English bounds.

   Note: Fragmentary text. Sawyer 1346, dated 984.

   Bibliography:

   Herold 2004

10. Item: strips, recto

    Title (B.15.3.20): Charters: Bishop's Charters: Bishop Oswald to Æthelweard Sawyer 1317

    Incipit: ... ÆÐELWE ...

    ... go christi ...

    Text Language: Latin with English and English bounds.

    Note: Fragmentary, only few words. Sawyer 1317, dated 969. Oswald, bishop, to Æthelweard, his minister; lease, for three lives, of 2 hides (mansae) at Stoke Bishop, Gloucs., with reversion to the bishopric (Sawyer and Keynes 2013).

    Bibliography:

    Herold 2004

11. Item: strips, verso

    Title (B.15.3.35): Charters: Bishop's Charters: Archbishop Oswald to Æthelmær Sawyer 1362

    Incipit: ... oman. Ic ... | ... ge sumbe

    Explicit: ... æs croftes þærto ... | ... on þæt ilce gerad ...

    Text Language: English with bounds.

    Note: Fragmentary. Sawyer 1362, dated 990. 'Oswald, archbishop, to Æthelmær, his man; lease, for three lives, of 1 hide at Compton Greenfield and 1 at Marsh, Gloucs., in return for 2 pounds of silver and livestock, with postscript granting the worthig at Brynes hamme which Æthelm owned. Bounds of Marsh' (Sawyer and Keynes 2013). [xx]

    Bibliography:

    Herold 2004

    Sawyer and Keynes 2013

12. Item: strips, verso

    Incipit (Latin): ... sul dominicæ incarnationis ...

    Explicit (Latin): ... forde . of stanforda

    Text Language: Latin with English bounds.

    Note: Fragmentary. Sawyer 1304, dated 963. [xx]

    Bibliography:

    Herold 2004

Physical Description:

Object Description:

Form: One leaf + two fragments

Support: Parchment

Extent:

436 mm x 292-95 mm (dimensions of leaf - size of leaf, trimmed)

378-82 mm x 13-14 mm (dimensions of all - size of strips)

Condition: The leaf, which was cut in half for a binding, is now taped together. Two strips are from a single leaf. The fragments are kept in a wooden frame between two sheets of plastic.

Note:

Double columns, 44 lines.

The original position of the leaf was between fols 182 and 183 of Nero E. i, part 2. The fragments have an 'unusually large format' (Webster and Backhouse 1991, p. 123), suggesting that they formed part of a cartulary which was written and inserted into a Bible, perhaps the one reported to have been given to Worcester by King Offa (Atkins and Ker 1944, pp. 77-79).

Layout description:

• Layout:
• Layout type: LO20
• Columns: 2
• Written Lines: 44
• Dimensions: ca. 345mm x ca. 95mm; ruled

The outer pricking is visible. The large capital letters are placed in the double lines on the left side of the writing space.

See diagram.

Hand description:

Number of hands: 1

Summary: The scribe makes a clear distinction between English and Latin in terms of script. Round and compact.

Hand: main text
• Scope: major
• Script: English Vernacular Minuscule
• Summary of the characteristics of the hand:
• æ has e higher than a.
• Insular d is round-backed and its ascender is horizontal.
• Insular f; the end of the descender curves to the left.
• Insular g is 5-shaped.
• Insular h.
• Larger n is used at the end of the line to fill in the space.
• Insular r.
• Insular s is used, as well as long s, which has an extended head. The descender of long s sometimes stops on the writing line.
• þ is used.
• ð has a tall ascender, and its cross bar is mostly a straight horizontal line, which extends only to the right of the ascender. The cross-bar sometimes curls downwards at the right end.
• y is dotted, and its descender extends to the left under the previous letter.
• descenders are straight and shorter than the height of the body of the letter and slightly curve to the left at the very end.
• Abbreviations:
• ˥ mark is high, and extends to the length of the descender. The horizontal head is straight or slightly curved backward.
• The cross-bar of þ for the abbreviation of þæt is a straight horizontal line, which extends only to the right of the ascender.
• macrons are straight horizontal lines, and the ends sometimes curls upwards. The same for the cross bar of ƀ.
• Punctuation: · is used.

Decoration Description:

Red initials; some rubrics are also in red.

Additions:

The seventeenth-century handwriting on the leaf might be that of the naturalist Francis Willoughby (1635-72), who is suggested to have rescued the leaf from a bundle of estate documents at Wollaton Hall (Stevenson 1911, p. 197).

History:

Origin:

Presumed to have been written at Worcester (British Library Catalogue).

Provenance:

Appears to have remained in Worcester.

The Willoughby family (of Middleton Hall) acquired documents from Worcester when it was dissolved in 1540.

The fragments were used in the binding of the 'Colpyt Book from the Natyvitie of Our Lorde in anno regni Regis Edwardi Sexti secundo' at Middleton Hall and the leaf was discovered in a bundle of estate documents at Wollaton Hall, one of the seats of the Willoughby family.

The trace of the binding is clearly visible. The leaf was cut in half and was used as pastedowns of covers. The two strips were probably used on the spine of the book.

Acquisition:

It was acquired from Lord Middleton by the British Library with the aid of a contribution from Neil Ker.

Additional Information:

Administration Information:

Manuscript described by Takako Kato with the assistance of Hollie Morgan (2010; 2013).

Surrogates:

Herold, Jonathan, 'The Wulfstan Cartulary a.k.a. The Nero-Middleton Cartulary, or The St. Oswald Cartulary', in Early Medieval Record Keeping: Exploring the Preservation of Medieval Memoranda, ed. by Jonathan Herold (2004; http://individual.utoronto.ca/emrecordkeeping/Pages/StWulfstanCartMain.html, accessed in 2010)

Webster, Leslie, and Janet Backhouse, eds, The Making of England: Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture AD 600-900 (London: British Museum Press for the Trustees of the British Museum and the British Library Board, 1991), verso of the fragment in p. 123

Bibliography:

Atkins, Ivor, 'The "Oswald" Cartulary', Antiquaries Journal, 20 (1940), 220-22

---, and Neil R. Ker, eds, Catalogus Librorum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecae made in 1622-1623 by Patrick Young, Librarian to King James I (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1944)

Birch, Walter de Gray, ed., Cartularium Saxonicum: A Collection of Charters Relating to Anglo-Saxon History (London: Whiting and Company; Chas J. Clark, 1885-93)

British Library, Manuscripts Catalogue (British Library, http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/manuscripts/; accessed in 2010)

Herold, Jonathan, 'The Wulfstan Cartulary a.k.a. The Nero-Middleton Cartulary, or The St. Oswald Cartulary', in Early Medieval Record Keeping: Exploring the Preservation of Medieval Memoranda, ed. by Jonathan Herold (2004; http://individual.utoronto.ca/emrecordkeeping/Pages/StWulfstanCartMain.html, accessed in 2010)

Sawyer, P. H., Anglo-Saxon Charters: An Annotated List and Bibliography (London: Royal Historical Society, 1968)

Sawyer, Peter, and Simon Keynes, The Electronic Sawyer: Online Cataogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters (CCH, King's College London, http://www.esawyer.org.uk/, 2013)

Stevenson, W. H., Report on the MSS. of Lord Middleton (Historical Manuscripts Commission, 1911)

Thomson, Rodney Malcolm, and Michael Gullick, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts in Worcester Cathedral Library (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Published on behalf of the Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral by Brewer, 2001)

Turner, C. H., Early Worcester MSS: Fragments of Four Books and a Charter of the Eighth Century Belonging to Worcester Cathedral (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1916)

Webster, Leslie, and Janet Backhouse, eds, The Making of England: Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture AD 600-900 (London: British Museum Press for the Trustees of the British Museum and the British Library Board, 1991)