The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220

Mary Swan

London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius B. i

MS Items

fols 3r-7r, fols 7-28, fols 28-42, fols 42-63, fols 63-83, fol. 83, fols 84-96, fols 96-97, fols 97-111, fols 112-14, fol. 115, fols 115-64 and fol. 164.

Physical Description

Object Description

Hand Description

Decoration Description

Additions

Binding Description

History

Additional Information

Administration Information

Surrogates

Bibliography

Back to List of MSS and Descriptions

Annotations to Orosius, Chronicle

Date: s. ximed-xiii1

Summary:

A composite manuscript containing the Old English translation of Orosius copied in s. xi1, the Menologium and some gnomic verses copied in s. ximed, and the C-text of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, mostly copied in s. ximed, and for 1056 and 1066 copied between c. 1066 and s. xi2. On fol. 164, 8 lines might date from s. xi/xii.

The Old English Orosius is annotated with alterations to grammar and spelling and textual emendations. Ker (1957, p. 252) dates these annotations to s. xi/xii. However, the characteristics of the annotating hand(s) resemble those of the Tremulous Hand in some respects.

Manuscript Items:

Item: fols 3r-7r
Item: fols 7-28
Item: fols 28-42
Item: fols 42-63
Item: fols 63-83
Item: fol. 83
Item: fols 84-96
Item: fols 96-97
Item: fols 97-111
Item: fols 112-14
Item: fol. 115
Item: fols 115-64
Item: fol. 164

Physical Description:

Object Description:

Form: codex

Extent:

c. 280 mm x 195 mm (dimensions of all - size of leaves)

215-224 mm x 130-136 mm (dimensions of all - size of written space)

Foliation and/or Pagination:

Fols v + 163 + ii, foliated in pencil (i-iii), (i), 1-165, (166, 167). Ker 1957 counts seven preliminary flyleaves in his foliation (p. 253), but the manuscript was rebound in 1957, and this removed some flyleaves (O'Brien O'Keeffe 2003, p. 2). Fols 3-164 were foliated by Planta 1-162. Flyleaves: three at the front; two of thick modern paper and not numbered, and one paper from the post-medieval period which O’Brien O’Keeffe notes is ‘pasted in with with a contents list almost identical to that in the 1706 Catalogue’ (2003, p. 2). This flyleaf is numbered ‘I’ and labelled in pencil 'Tiberus [sic] B. i. | VIII F'. O’Brien O’Keeffe (2003, p. 2) reports Andrew Prescott identifying this as ‘a Montague pressmark in use from about 1810-27’. There are two parchment flyleaves which are now foliated 1 and 2. Fol. 1r contains a contents list, s. xvii and fol. 2r is an engraved title page from Robert Cotton's library.

Collation:

Collation of fols 3-165: 1-118 (fols 3-90), 128 + 1 leaf after 8 (fols 91-99), 1310 + 1 leaf after 9 (fols 100-110), 141 (fol. 111), 15-208 (fols 112-59), 214 (fols 160-63), 222 (fols 164- 65).

The final quire – Quire 22, a quire of two – was added in s. xii. Fol. 164r contains a supplement to the Chronicle entry for 1066, in mid-twelfth-century script. The text which precedes it on fol. 162v runs as far as middle of the battle of Stamford Bridge, and one or more folios appears to have been lost (O'Brien O'Keeffe 2003, p. 3).

Note:

O'Brien O'Keeffe 2003

Hand description:

Number of hands:

Summary:

Worcester

med

Hand:

Scope: major
Script: English Vernacular Minuscule
Ker reference: Ker 191 SC1
Description: Fols 160-162. Round and small minuscule
Summary of the characteristics of the hand:
a is Caroline.
Long s with tapered descender and a hooked head which at times almost closes on itself.
small d with short ascender.
back-stroke ð with long ascender ending with a tail to the left and a cross-bar with a right-side dot to the right.
Date: xi2

Hand:

Scope: major
Script: English Vernacular Minuscule
Ker reference: Ker 191 SC2
Description: Fols 162r/7-162v. Round and small minuscule very similar to the one immediately preceding it.
Summary of the characteristics of the hand: Retains the special insular letter-forms:
a is insular.
Long s with short descender, finishing just below the line of writing and a short hooked head.
Small d with short ascender almost upright.
Back-stroke ð with long ascender ending with a very short tail to the left. At times especially in double ð, the ascender curves slightly to the right.
Date: xi2

Hand:

Scope: major
Script: English Vernacular Minuscule
Ker reference: Ker 191 SC3
Description: Fol. 164r. A larger minuscule with letter forms of squarish proportion, which retain the special insular letter-forms.
Summary of the characteristics of the hand: Retains the special insular letter-forms except:
a is Caroline.
g is insular.
d: round back with curved ascender to the left.
Litterae Notabiliores:
Tironian Nota is, in two cases, short with curved descender to the right and almost sitting on the line of writing.
Other manuscripts:
- Elaine Treharne (private communication) identifies this hand as the same hand as that of CCCC 391, fol. 617. CCCC 391 has been firmly localised to Worcester.
Date: xi/xii

Hand:

Scope: minor
Scribe: Tremulous Hand
Script: English Vernacular Minuscule
Description: The Old English Orosius is annotated with alterations to grammar and spelling and textual emendations. They are either in two hands or in two phases of a single hand. The characteristics of the annotating hand(s) resemble those of the Tremulous Hand in some respects.
Date: xiii1

Decoration Description:

On fol. 112r the body of initial capital C is decorated with interlaced biting beasts and fol. 115v the initial Æ is ornamented with two biting beast-heads, interlacing and foliage (Wormald 1945, pp. 121-22). Other initials are in metallic red or purple-red (Ker 1957, p. 253). In part 1, chapter headings and ornamental capitals are in a range of colours, including red, metallic red, orange, green and ivory, mauve and black (O'Brien O'Keeffe 2003, p. 3).

Additions:

On fol. 164v is the notation 'Cons. Fol. 162', which O'Brien O'Keeffe presumes is the annotation for the 1706 Catalogue suggests that the last quire has been reversed and that fol. 164v was at some point the last sheet (2003, p. 2).

On fol. 3 Robert Talbot has written 'Rex Alfredus Orosium interpretatus est Boetium et Bedam de historia ecclesiastica'. He has also underlined names and marginal annotations throughout (O'Brien O'Keeffe 2003, p. 1).

John Joscelyn (1529-1603) filled in lacunae in the Chronicle at the years 1055, 1065 and 1066, added 'Humbran' and 'mid ðreom hund scypum', to the 1066 entry and 'god man 7 clæne 7 swᵗiðe æðele' to the incomplete end of the 1056 entry (O'Brien O'Keeffe 2003, p. 1).

On fol. 112r Robert Cotton wrote 'Cronica Saxonica Abbingdoniæ ad annum 1066'

Binding Description:

Repaired and rebound in 1839. Rebound in 1865 and again in 1957.

History:

Origin:

Unknown. Ker notes that from 977 onwards there are local entries relating to Abingdon (1957, p. 253), although O'Brien O'Keeffe argues that the ascription of an Abingdon provenance is mainly due to tradition and is difficult to sustain (2001, pp. lxxiv-xcii and 2003, p. 1) . Considering the analysis of some of the hands, it likely that there is also a layer of production in Worcester.

Provenance:

May have been in Abingdon from s. ximed (Ker 1957, p. 253).

Acquisition:

O’Brien O’Keeffe reports that the manuscript was owned by Robert Talbot, prebendary of Norwich (d. 1558), during which time Robert Recorde (d. 1558) made extracts from the Chronicle (2003, p. 1). John Leland (d. 1552) copied some of Talbot’s annotations and glosses into his Collectanea. Laurence Nowell copied part of Chronicle in London, British Library, Add. 43704. William Bowyer (d. 1576), Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London. Robert Cotton acquired the manuscript as a result of an exchange with Robert Bowyer by exchange, as recorded in the 1621 Cotton catalogue (British Library, Harley 6018, fols 154v, 158r). Acquired by the British Museum along with the rest of the Cotton library.

Additional Information:

Administration Information:

Manuscript described by Mary Swan with the assistance of Hollie Morgan and Sanne van der Schee, hand descriptions by Orietta Da Rold; ed. by Takako Kato (2010; 2013).

Surrogates:

EM Project facsimile

O'Brien O'Keeffe, Katherine, 'London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius B. i: OE Orosius; "Menologium," "Maxims II," Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (C-text)', in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2003), vol. 10: Manuscripts Containing the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Works by Bede, and Other Texts, pp. 1-6

Bibliography:

Bately, Janet M., 'Manuscript Layout and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle', Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, 70 (1988), 21-43

---, ed., The Old English Orosius, EETS, SS 6 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980)

Classen, E., and F. E. Harmer, An Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1926)

Conner, Patrick W., ed., The Abingdon Chronicle, A.D. 956-1066 (MS. C, with Reference to BDE), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition, 10 (Cambridge: Brewer, 1996)

Cubbin, G. P., ed., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition MS D, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition (Bury St. Edmunds: St Edmundsbury Press, 1996), vol. 6

Dickins, Bruce, 'The Late Addition to ASC 1066 C', in Proceedings of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, Literary and Historical Section, 3 (1940), vol. 5, pp. 148-49

Dobbie, Elliott van Kirk, ed., The Anglo-Saxon Minor Poems, The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, 6 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1942)

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 370

Graham, Timothy, 'Robert Talbot's "Old Saxonice Bede": Cambridge University Library MS Kk. 3. 18 and the "Alphabetum Norwagicum" of British Library, Cotton MS Domitian A. IX', in Books and Collectors 1200-1700, ed. by James C. Carley and Colin G.C Tite (London: The British Library, 1997), pp. 295-316

Hearne, Thomas, ed., Joannis Lelandi Antiquarii de Rebus Britannicis Collectanea, 2nd edn, 6 vols (London: Benj. White, 1774; Westmead, Farnborough, Hants: Gregg, 1970)

Keller, Wolfgang, Angelsaechsische Paleographie, Palaestra 43, 2 vols (Berlin: Mayer & Mueller, 1906)

Ker, N. R., Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957; repr. 1990), item 191

Lendinara, Patrizia, 'Versi Gnomici anglosassoni', Annali, 14 (1971), 117-38

Lutz, Angelika, 'Das Studium der Angelsächsischen Chronik im 16. Jahr-hundert: Nowell und Joscelyn', Anglia, 100 (1982), 301-56

---, 'Zur Entstehungsgeschichte von William Somners Dictionarium Saxonico-Latino-Anglicum', Anglia, 106 (1988), 1-25

O'Brien O'Keeffe, Katherine, ed., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS C, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition, 5 (Cambridge: Brewer 2001)

---, 'London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius B. i: OE Orosius; "Menologium", "Maxims II", Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (C-text)', in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2003), vol. 10: Manuscripts Containing the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Works by Bede, and Other Texts, pp. 1-6

---, 'Reading the C-Text: The After-Lives of London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius B. i', in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts and their Heritage, ed. by Phillip Pulsiano and Elaine Treharne (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998), pp. 137-60

Onions, C. Talbot, 'Some Early Middle-English Spellings', Modern Language Review, 4 (1908-09), 505-07

Plummer, Charles, ed., Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel, repr. with a bibliographical note by Dorothy Whitelock, 2 vols (1892-99; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1952)

Prescott, Andrew, '"Their Present Miserable State of Cremation": The Restoration of the Cotton Library', in Sir Robert Cotton as Collector: Essays on an Early Stuart Courtier and his Legacy, ed. by C. J. Wright (London: British Library, 1997), pp. 391-446

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

Rositzke, Harry August, ed., The C-Text of the Old English Chronicles, Beiträge zur englischen Philologie, 34 (Bochum-Langendreer: H. Pöppinghaus OHG, 1940; New York: Johnson Reprints, 1967)

Scragg, Donald, Alexander Rumble, and Kathryn Powell, C11 Database Project (Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies, http://www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/mancass/c11database/; accessed in 2009)

Temple, Elzbieta, ed., Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts, 900-1066, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 2 (London: Harvey Miller, 1976)

Thorpe, B., ed., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Rolls Series, 23 (London: Longman, 1861)

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

Toswell, E. Jane, 'The Metrical Psalter and The Menologium: Some Observations', Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 94 (1993), 249-57

Wanley, H., Librorum Veterum Septentrionalium Catalogus (Oxford, 1705)

Watson, Andrew George, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts, c. 700-1600 in the Department of Manuscripts, the British Library, 2 vols (London: British Museum, 1979)

Whitelock, Dorothy, ed., The Peterborough Chronicle: The Bodleian Manuscript Laud Misc. 636, with an appendix by Cecil Clark, Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile, 4 (Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1954)

Wormald, F, 'Decorated Initials in English MSS from A.D. 900-1100', Archaeologia, 91 (1945), 107-35

Wright, C. E, 'Robert Talbot and Domitian A.ix', Medium Aevum, 6 (1937), 170-71