The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220

Elaine Treharne

London, British Library, Cotton Claudius B. iv

Annotations to an Illustrated Old English Hexateuch

Date: main text in s. xi1; annotations in s. xiimed

Summary:

A lavishly-illustrated English Heptateuch, datable to the second quarter of the eleventh century, and localised to Canterbury, probably St Augustine's. Its later medieval provenance is certainly St Augustine's. It was annotated extensively in s. xii by two hands, one of which wrote English notes in a Kentish dialect on fols 4, 5v, 7v, 8v, 9-12, 14r, 15v, 16v, 17r, 19v, 34v, 40v, 44r, 51, 155v (Crawford 1922) and a note on fol. 8r, 'Efter fyftene wintra; ˥ is súster chalmana' (Doane 1998, p. 37). The same hand has added a few words to the main text, for example 'abrhames breþer' (fol. 39), '7 áne dohter' (fol. 80v) (Ker 1957, p. 179).

Manuscript Items:

1. Item: fols 1r-v

   Title (B.8.1.4): Illustrated Old English Heptateuch, Ælfric, Preface to Genesis, Letter to Æthelwærd

   Incipit: (fol. 1r) [1 leaf missing before fol. 1r] [...] ondsylð us synna forgyfnysse ærest ðurh wæter on ðam fulluhte

   Explicit: (fol. 1v) Ic bidde nu on Goddes naman gyf hƿa ðas boc aƿritan ƿille ðæt he hi gerihte ƿel be ðære bysne for ðan ðe ic nah geƿeald ðeah ðe hi hƿa to ƿoge gebringe ðurh lease writerasondhit bið ðonne his pleoh na min micel yfel deð se unƿritere gyf he nele his geƿrit gerihtan

   Note: facsimile increasingly unreadable; explicit checked against DOE Corpus

   Bibliography:

   Crawford 1922

   Dodwell and Clemoes 1974

   Wilcox 1994, pp.116-19

2. Item: fols 1v-72v

   Title: Illustrated Old English Heptateuch, Genesis

   Incipit: (fol. 1v) On angynne gesceop god heofonanondeorðan se eorðe soðlice wæs idelondæmti

   Explicit: (fol. 72v) Iosep forþferde þa he wæs anhund wintraondtinwintreondhine man bebyrigde mid wyrtgemange he wæs gelæd of his stowe of egypta lande

   Bibliography:

   Crawford 1922

   Dodwell and Clemoes 1974

   Wilcox 1994, pp.116-19

3. Item: fols 72v-105r

   Title: Illustrated Old English Heptateuch, Exodus

   Incipit: (fol. 72v) Ðis sind israhela bearna naman þe mid iacobe foron on egypta land

   Explicit: (fol. 105r) Mosys cƿæþ to eallum israhela folce ðis synd þa þinc þe drihten bebead wyrceað six dagasondfreolsiaþ þone seofoþan gode to ƿurþminte se þe ƿyrcþ on þam seofoþam dæge sy he ofslagen ne onæle ge nan fyr on þam dæge.

   Note: An inserted leaf appears on fol. 74, detailing genealogical lists in Latin, written in two late 12th-century hands

   Bibliography:

   Crawford 1922

   Dodwell and Clemoes 1974

   Wilcox 1994, pp.116-19

4. Item: fols 105v-10v

   Title: Illustrated Old English Heptateuch, Leviticus

   Incipit: (fol. 105v) Her ongynð seo ðridde boc ðe is genemned on ebreis uaiccraondleuiticus on greciscondministerialis on leden ðæt is ðenungboc on englisc for ðan ðe ðæra sacerda ðenunga synd ðæron aƿritene. Drihten clypode to moyse on þære halgan ƿurþungstoƿeondðus cƿæð

   Explicit: (fol. 110v) Ðis sind ða beboduonddomasondlaga ðe drihten gesette betƿux himondisrahela folce on sinai dune.

   Bibliography:

   Crawford 1922

   Dodwell and Clemoes 1974

   Wilcox 1994, pp.116-19

5. Item: fols 111r-28r

   Title: Illustrated Old English Heptateuch, Numbers

   Incipit: (fol. 111r) Her ongynð seo boc ðe is genemned on ebrisc ualedaber ðæt is on leden numerus and on englisc getel for ðan ðe israhela bearn ƿæron on ðære getealde. Drihten spræc ƿitodlice to moyse on sinai dune on ðære halgan stowe

   Explicit: (fol. 128r) Heora fæderas ealle forðferdon on ðam ƿestene buton calephondiosue hi comon to ðam landeondmid israhela bearnum þone eard geeodonondhim betwynan dældon sƿa sƿa him dihte iosue

   Colophon (Latin): (fol. 128r) unreadable

   Bibliography:

   Crawford 1922

   Dodwell and Clemoes 1974

   Wilcox 1994, pp.116-19

6. Item: fols 128v-39r

   Title: Illustrated Old English Heptateuch, Deuteronomy

   Incipit: (fol. 128v) Her ongynð seo boc ðe is genemned on ebreisc helle adabarim and on grecisc deuteronomiumondon leden secunda lexondon englisc seo æfre æ. Ðis synd ða ƿord ðe moyses spræc to eallum israhela folc begondan iordane on ðam feldƿestene ƿið ða readan sæ

   Explicit: (fol. 139r) ondeall ða strangan mihtaondða miclan ƿundra þe moyses ƿorhte ætforan israhela folce

   Note: full text pages; no illustrations fols 128v-138r, 139r. fols 139v-140r contain no Old English, rather Latin commentary and full page illustrations

   Bibliography:

   Crawford 1922

   Dodwell and Clemoes 1974

   Wilcox 1994, pp.116-19

7. Item: fols 140v-55v

   Title: Illustrated Old English Heptateuch, Joshua

   Incipit: (fol. 140v) Hit ƿæs geƿorden æfter moyses forðsiðe drihtnes ðeowan ðæt drihten spræc to iosue nunes sunaondcƿæð him to moyses min ðeowa forðferde aris nuondfar ofer ðas ea iordanen ðuondeal ðis folc mid ðe to ðam lande ðe ic forgyfe israhela bearnum

   Explicit: (fol. 155v) ondhit ƿæs gehloten to iosepes bearna lande

   Note: fol. 147 is an inserted leaf containing Latin notes which continue notes from fol. 146v/25.

   Bibliography:

   Crawford 1922

   Dodwell and Clemoes 1974

   Wilcox 1994, pp.116-19

Physical Description:

Object Description:

Form: Codex

Support: Parchment

Extent:

325 mm x 215 mm (dimensions of all - size of leaves)

260 mm x 160 mm (dimensions of all - size of written space)

Foliation and/or Pagination: Two foliations. The oldest is s. xvi/xvii, done in ink after the loss of the original first leaf, and omits number '32' (fols 1-31, 33-157). The later foliation, in pencil, is from 1884 and corrects this by renumbering the old '33' as '32' and cancelling old foliation from '33' on (fols 1-156 [157-61]) (Doane 1998, p. 38).

Collation:

Quires: Collation: 18 wants 1 (fols 1-7); 28 (fols 8-15); 34+1 2 added (fols 16-20); 4-98 (fols 21-68); 106+1 . Fol. 74 an unrelated insertion after 5 (fols 69- 76); 11-148 (fols 77- 108); 159 5 added (fols 109-117); 16-188 (fols 118- 141); 198+1 fol. 147 an unrelated insertion after 5 (fols 142- 152); 208+1 sheets 6-8 gone, unrelated sheet inserted after fol. 155.

Condition:

Note:

Fols 152 and 153 were reversed before the first foliation was done and correctly reordered in the nineteenth century. A sixteenth century note on fol. 153 advises 'read this leafe after the next'.

Pasteboard inner cover, two modern vellum flyleaves, seventeenth century paper fly with shelf mark, five final flyleaves (foliated 157-61), followed by pasteboard inner cover.

Pricking on left and right of writing area on each leaf, and ruled on hair side for 38 lines, occasionally re-ruled on the flesh side. Double bounding lines. Arranged HFHF. Illustrations are drawn over the rules, and frames and borders (always square) follow the pre-existing rules and verticals as guides. Most pages have water damage at the top edge.

Hand description:

Number of hands: 1 hand in English from the period 1050-1220

Summary: Two hands are responsible for the main text, and in s. xii 'the text was annotated, mainly by two hands' (Ker 1957, p. 178). The hand from s. xiimed writes in both Latin and English.

Hand: annotations
• Scope: major
• Scribe: Ker 1957 SC1
• Script: Late English Vernacular Minuscule
• Description: fols 4, 5v, 7v, 8, 9-12, 14r, 15v, 16v, 17r, 19v, 34v, 40v, 44r, 51, 155v. This s. xiimed scribe writes in a brownish ink in both Latin and English, and is generally very careful to avoid overwriting the illustrations; often, indeed, adhering to the ruling of the illustration frames, or preferring to write in the upper and lower margins. When necessary, though, the scribe will write within the frames themselves, adding explicatory text around and between the figures (such as fol. 7v). As a result of the additions, pages that would have been filled with white space (if such a description might be permitted), are now crowded in the manner of twelfth-century scholastic manuscripts. In the English additions, Ker states that 'the orthography is strange and dialectal forms are Kentish' (Ker 1957 p. 179), but this is not always the case, and there are many West Saxon forms. To the main text, the hand has added a large number of additional accents, usually acute, but c-shaped on 'god' and its case-forms, and on a few other short vowels. Similar c-shaped accents are found in Canterbury, Christ Church manuscripts, and books from Exeter.
• Summary of the characteristics of the hand: 'A poor hand' (Ker 1957, p. 179), usually Caroline in both Latin and English. Ker (1957) is incorrect in stating that this scribe uses only insular g and r, and it unclear what criteria are being employed in describing the hand as 'poor'. Characteristics of the hand are as follows (based on the extensive addition in English, contemporary with the note at fols 51rv, relating to Genesis 34):
• Caroline a.
• The ascender of round-backed d is long.
• ð occurs in earlier folios, with an ascender as long as that of d, and with the cross-stroke extending only from the left and flicking down at the end in a 40º stroke.
• e often has a very extended tongue at word end.
• f has a crossbar which sits on the line and is slightly longer than the head-stroke; the former stroke sometimes curves over onto the crossbar (as in the hand of the scribe of CCCC 367, Part II and CUL Ii. 1. 33).
• g is insular, loosely written, with a generous open tail that flicks to the left.
• minims are angular, with small feet to the right.
• r is insular.
• s is low, and might easily be confused with r.
• þ has quite a rounded bowl, but also has a line through the ascender (in a bizarre hybrid form of eth and thorn?) in earlier folios.
• ƿ has a very slightly pointed bowl.
• y is rounded and dotted.
• Capital O (fol. 51v) has a decorative line in the middle.
• ascenders are tagged to the left.
• descenders are straight or slightly curved to the left or ending with a 45º serif to the right.
• accents are frequent and are either c-shaped or are at a 45º angle with a firm stroke down at the end.
• Abbreviations:
• The ˥ occurs, with a very prominent 45º onset stroke, and the nota swoops below the line at 60º.
• Ligatures:
• Two-shaped r occurs in ligature with a preceding o
• st ligature occurs in this hand.
• Other manuscripts:

  For some palaeographical similarities, the flick at the end of the tail of g, the curved head-stroke of f, the decorated capital O, and capitulum-shaped run-over insertion marks, see the latter folios of Cotton Vespasian D. xiv.

Decoration Description:

Text initials in green, blue, orange and turquoise with different coloured borders, apparently striving for variety and non-repetition on each opening. The manuscript contains 394 coloured illustrations in 'the first Winchester Style' (Wormald 1952, pp. 26-29). According to Withers (1994, 1996), the pictures follow the sections of text they illustrate, as visual recapitulations. Titles are in red, rustic capitals or the script of the text.

Additions:

Some alterations in William Lisle's hand as the result of a collation with Laud Misc. 509. The words 'ex. XXXVII' at the head of fol. 53 are in the hand of Robert Talbot. Talbot's extracts from this manuscript are found in Cambridge, CCC, 379.

Binding Description:

Previous binding by Charles Tuckett, Sr., between 1825 and 1865. New binding of dark green calfskin provided in 2006 after the manuscript was disbound for digitisation.

History:

Origin:

Probably produced at Canterbury (Dodwell and Clemoes 1974, p. 16).

Provenance:

Robert Talbot (1505?-1558) was probably the first private owner of the manuscript after the dissolution of St. Augustine's, Canterbury in 1538. He transcribed some of the material in his commonplace book. Cotton probably acquired the manuscript after 1603. William Lisle borrowed it from Cotton and had it out in April 1623, and wrote some alternative readings into the manuscript.

Acquisition:

Acquired by the British Museum along with the rest of the Cotton Library.

Additional Information:

Administration Information:

Manuscript described by Elaine Treharne with the assistance of Hollie Morgan and Johanna Green (August 2010; September 2012).

Surrogates:

Doane, Alger Nicolaus, Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile, Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies (Series) (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1998), vol. 7: Anglo-Saxon Bibles and 'The Book of Cerne'

Withers, Benjamin C., The Illustrated Old English Hexateuch, Cotton Claudius B. iv: The Frontier of Seeing and Reading in Anglo-Saxon England (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007)

Bibliography:

Barnhouse, Rebecca, 'Text and Image in the Illustrated Old English Hexateuch' (unpublished dissertation, University of North Carolina, 1994)

Barnhouse, Rebecca and Withers, Benjamin C., The Old English Haxateuch: Aspects and Approaches., Publications of the Richard Rawlinson Center (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University, 2000)

Crawford, S. J., ed., The Old English Version of the Heptateuch, Ælfric's Treatise on the Old and New Testament, and his Preface to Genesis, EETS, OS 160 (London: Oxford University Press, 1922)

Doane, Alger N., Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile, Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1998), vol. 7: Anglo- Saxon Bibles and 'The Book of Cerne'

Dodwell, C. R., and P. Clemoes, eds, The Old English Illustrated Heptateuch British Museum Cotton Claudius B. IV, Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile, 18 (Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1974)

Gneuss, Helmut, Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A List of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100 (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2001), item 315

Graham, Timothy, 'Early Modern Users of Claudius B. iv: Robert Talbot and William L'Isle ', in The Old English Hexateuch: Aspects and Approaches, ed. by Rebecca Barnhouse and Benjamin C. Withers (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University, 2000), pp. 271-316

s

James, Montague Rhodes, The Ancient Libraries of Canterbury and Dover (Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1903)

Johnson, David F., 'A Program of Illumination in the Old English Illustrated Hexateuch: "Visual Typology"?', in The Old English Hexateuch: Aspects and Approaches, ed. by Rebecca Barnhouse and Benjamin C. Withers (Kalamazoo: West Michigan University, Medieval Institute Publications, 2000), pp. 165-99

Jost, K., 'Unechte Ælfrictexte (Fortsetzung)', Anglia, 51 (1927), 177-219

Ker, N. R., Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957; repr. 1990), item 142

Mellinkoff, Ruth, 'Serpent Imagery in the Illustrated Old English Hexateuch', in Modes of Interpretation in Old English Literature: Essays in Honour of Stanley B. Greenfield, ed. by Phyllis Rugg Brown, Georgia Ronan Crampton and Fred C. Robinson (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1986), pp. 51- 64

Morrell, Minnie Cate., A Manual of Old English Biblical Materials (Knoxville, TN.: University of Tennessee Press, 1965)

Raith, Joseph, 'Ælfric's Share in the Old English Pentateuch', in Review of English Studies, 3 (1952), 305-14

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

Smith, Andrea B., The Anonymous Parts of the Old English Hexateuch: A Latin-Old English / Old English-Latin Glossary (Cambridge and Dover, 1985)

Tite, Colin G.C., The Manuscript Library of Sir Robert Cotton, The Panizzi Lectures (London: The British Library, 1994)

Wanley, Humfrey, Antique literature septentrionalis liber alter (Oxford: Sheldonian Theatre, 1705)

Wilcox, Jonathan, ed., Ælfric's Prefaces (Durham: Durham Medieval Texts, 1994)

Withers, Benjamin C., 'Present Patterns, Past Tense: Text and Illustration in London, British Library Cotton Ms. Claudius B. iv' (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Chicago, 1994)

Withers, Benjamin C., 'Unfulfilled Promise: The Rubrics of the Old English Prose Genesis', Anglo- Saxon England, 28 (1999), 11-39

Withers, Benjamin C., The Illustrated Old English Hexateuch, Cotton Claudius B. iv: The Frontier of Seeing and Reading in Anglo-Saxon England (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007)

Wormald, Francis, English Drawings of the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries (London: Faber and Faber, 1952)