The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220

Elaine Treharne

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 140

MS Items

fol. 1r, fol. 1r, fol. 1r, fol. 1r, fol. 1v, fol. 1v, fol. 1v, fol. 1v, fol. 1v, fol. 1v, fol. 1v, Gospels: Matthew fols 2-45v, Mark fols 46-71/12, fols 71-72v, Luke fols 73-114, fols 114v-115v and John fols 116-147/15.

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

Manumissions added to the Gospels; Homily

Date: s. xi2-xii

Summary:

A copy of the West-Saxon translation of the Gospels (s. xi1), fols 2-147, with added texts in the blank spaces before and between the gospels (s. xi2-xii). The additional texts comprise ten manumissions (fol. 1); Bath: Agreement of Prior between the prior of Bath Sæwi and his wife Þeodgyfu (fol. 1v); an Old English translation of the Sunday Letter homily (fols 71-72v); and lists and documents in Latin, fols 114v-15v and 147 (Ker 1957, pp. 47-48).

Manuscript Items:

Item: fol. 1r
Item: fol. 1r
Item: fol. 1r
Item: fol. 1r
Item: fol. 1v
Item: fol. 1v
Item: fol. 1v
Item: fol. 1v
Item: fol. 1v
Item: fol. 1v
Item: fol. 1v
Item: fols 2-45v
Item: fols 46-71/12
Item: fols 71-72v
Item: fols 73-114
Item: fols 114v-115v
Item: fols 116-147/15

Physical Description:

Object Description:

Form: Codex

Support: According to Budny, 'the leaves are mostly rather thick, with yellowish, soft, suède-like, and stiff or supple surfaces, some leaves have smooth and rather shiny surfaces' (1997, p. 577). On examination, the manuscript is composed of fine quality parchment, considering the volume’s size. Generally, there are no damaged areas, though there is one small oval hole at line 6, fol. 22v, and a small hole at fol. 25/7. Trimming to margins has occasionally damaged versals; e.g., fol. 23v, where the green enlarged initial at the foot of the folio has lost part of its floriate terminal.

Extent:

c. 304 mm x 211 mm (dimensions of all - size of leaves)

c. 263 mm x 152 mm (dimensions of all - size of written space)

Collation:

Quires:

3 and 6 in Quires 2-4, 8, 12, 13, 17 and 5 and 8 in Quire 15 are half-sheets (Ker 1957, p. 48).

Condition:

The manuscript has suffered a little damage in the form of stains, amp, cockling and corroded pigments. Some of the script and decoration has been trimmed by the binder, including some of Parker's annotations, which shows that the manuscript has been trimmed since Parker's work in the book. Placing the leaves of CCCC 111 adjacent to those of CCCC 140 shows that about 30-40mm. of the manuscript leaf has been trimmed. An attempt was made to colour the edges of the leaves after the final trimming of the margins, as can be seen by runny blue-grey stains on the outer edges of the leaves.

Note:

In each case, gospels begin on the second leaf of a new quire. The first leaf of the quire has been cut out before the gospels of Gospels: Mark, Gospels: Luke and Gospels: John.

The first words of Gospels: Matthew and Gospels: Luke and the initial letter of Gospels: Mark were left for the miniator and have not been filled in.

On fol. 1r, six or seven entries have been erased. On fol. 1v, the text is written on erasure, which Ker (1957, p. 47) suggests is probably of manumissions.

Layout description:

27 long lines. Fols 71-72 have been re-ruled in pencil with 34 long lines. The pricking has been cut off by the binder.

Hand description:

Number of hands:

Summary:

The gospels are s. xi1: each gospel is in a different hand, except that Mark 12:26-38 is in the same hand as Luke (Ker 1957, p. 48). On fol. 45v is the colophon 'Ego ælfricus scripsit' (altered to 'scripsi')' hunc librum in monasterio baðþonio [.] et dedit' (altered to 'dedi') 'brihtwold preposito. Qui scripsit uiuat in pace. in hoc mundo et in futuro seculo. et qui legit legator in eternum', which 'suggested to modern observers that the monk had executed the translation', although Budny argues that, as the colophon occurs only at the end of Matthew, and other unnamed scribes contributed to the other gospels, Ælfric of Bath must be the name of one of the scriptors and not the translator (1997, p. 578). Ker describes all the hands of the gospels as 'a late uncalligraphic type of square Anglo-Saxon minuscule': the a is flat-topped, the c is horned and the high e ligatures are clumsy (1957, p. 48). Quite what he means by 'uncalligraphic' is unclear.

A hand of s. xii wrote the agreement on fol. 1v, and many hands of s. xi2 wrote the manumissions.

The hand that wrote the Sunday Letter homily at fols 71r-72v (ruled in drypoint for 34 lines) also wrote the third manumission on fol. 1r and the first four manumissions at p. 8 of CCCC 111 (Compare this scribe's hand between these manuscripts as an exemplification of the differences that the size of the handwriting can make to appearance). The Sunday Letter is twice deliberately addressed to 'Men þa leofestan', since at the homily's opening these words are inserted above the red decorated initial h. These additions are important, and form anchor texts for scribal characteristics, inasmuch as the manumissions can be dated before 1087, when Abbot Ælfsige died, while the scribe of the homily can be dated to post-1077 by the evidence of the Confraternity Agreement, to which this scribe added a small amount of text. In general terms, the duct evinces a relatively thin pen; the overall aspect is upright and somewhat angular. Very few ligatures (st on fol. 72v).

Hand:

Scope: major
Scribe: Ker 35 art 2 and 4
Script: eleventh-century
Description: The Sunday Letter homily at fols 71r-72v (item 14 above); the third manumission on fol. 1r (item 3 above).
a is formed with two strokes, the first u-shaped and then a relatively straight, hairline headstroke.
Notably, c is horned.
d is round-backed with a short upstroke that tapers to the right slightly. Very rounded bowl.
e is horned with a tongue that sometimes curves slightly upwards.
The tongue of f is consistently longer than the headstroke.
The tail of g is not closed, and is quite rounded; the downstroke starts from towards the left of the headstroke.
k is very very distinctive: it is a c with a stem attached by a small ligature. 'Cyþað' is spelled 'kyþað' (see fol. 72v).
The ascender of l has a mannered finial.
minims have small feet. Shoulders of n and m are quite angular, as if (and they may be) formed with three strokes: the downstroke, the shoulder and the next limb from the shoulder.
r is quite angular with a distinctive hook at the end.
s is low, but like a Caroline r with a descender. Also high, but not with the well-developed rounded shoulder.
The ascender of þ has a tag to the left.
ð has the longest ascender, with the crossstroke halfway and through the upstroke, with an occasional tick down at upper end.
y is straight-limbed and dotted, with a curve round to the right at bottom.
ascenders all slightly curve to the left.
descenders occasionally have a tag to the left.
accents at 45º with a slight thickening at the end.
abbreviation include þ with a zig-zag line through it (see also Harley 2110, Faustina A. ix and Hatton 115, fols 148-55). In general, the abbreviation mark is like a loose zig-zag. 'Drihten' is abbreviated with a line above the t (like Hatton 116).
Punctuation includes a punctus just above the line; hairline hyphens, which are straight and placed medially or on the line.
correction at fol. 72v by subpunctus and interlinear correction: 'nanu[m] mæn' corrected at line 12 to 'na’ne’ m’an’'. Distinctive sweeping insertion mark like a backward c.
Date: 1077-87
Other manuscripts: the first four manumissions at p. 8 of CCCC 111

Decoration Description:

Openings are in rustic capitals. Initials are in green, blue or red (two shades), often decorated with foliate, geometric or interlace motifs in Late Anglo-Saxon style, with some elements of earlier Anglo-Saxon style (Budny 1997, p. 579). Red initials with blue linings are found on fols 7v, 45 (Ker 1957, p. 48). From fol. 39v, the enlarged initials seem no longer to be in colour and are composed of thicker lines, black ink, and, when corresponding with the beginning of a new line on the page, offset into the double vertical bounding lines.

Additions:

Annotated in the sixteenth century, perhaps by a member of Bath Cathedral Priory. A note at the top of fol. 147v is in the same hand as annotations to some leaves in CCCC 111, for example pp. 4-5, 97-98, 132, to which two leaves from this manuscript now belong.

Matthew Parker entered the running titles, the modern gospel chapter numbers and the originally omitted initial I of John 15:1 (fol. 138r). He also added L-shaped marks with the text- block and corresponding sideways S-shaped marks in the margins to indicate the paragraphing of CUL Ii. 2. 11. He probably entered the modern verse numbers, written in ink above the opening words, in the text of John to the end of chapter 15 (Budny 1997, p. 580).

Binding Description:

The manuscript shows traces of its Parkerian binding in the partly coloured stains and impressions on fols 1r and 147v of unevenly-trimmed, alum-tawed leather turn-ins. It was sent to the binders in 1748, in a group of 24 manuscripts 'Taken out to be repaired in ye Binding', according to the records in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Archives B. 3, fols 88v-89r. The manuscript was rebound again in 1953 with a full binding of native undyed goatskin over millboards by John P. Gray & Son of Cambridge (Budny 1997, pp. 581-82).

History:

Origin:

Written at Bath Abbey, according to the colophon on fol. 45v. The shared format, layout and decoration suggest that the gospels were made in the same place. The additional texts also relate to Bath.

Provenance:

The sixteenth-century annotator's interest in the texts' references to Bath suggest that it remained in Bath perhaps until the dissolution of the Priory in 1539.

Acquisition:

Owned by Matthew Parker, and passed as membra disiecta to the keeping of Corpus Christi College by Parker's indenture of 1757 (Budny 1997, p. 581).

Additional Information:

Administration Information:

Manuscript described by Elaine Treharne with the assistance of Hollie Morgan, Simon Patterson, Takako Kato and Johanna Green (2010; 2012).

Surrogates:

EM Project facsimile

Liuzza, R. M., ed., The Old English Version of the Gospels: Text and Introduction, EETS, OS 304 (London: Oxford University Press, 1994)

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and Stanford University, Parker Library on the Web (http://parkerweb.stanford.edu/parker/; accessed in 2010)

Bibliography:

Bosworth, J., and G. Waring, The Gothic and Anglo-Saxon Gospels, with the Versions of Wycliffe and Tyndale (London: Smith, 1865)

Bright, James Wilson, ed., The Gospel of Saint Matthew in West-Saxon (Boston, MA and London: Heath, 1904)

Budny, Mildred, Insular, Anglo-Saxon, and Early Anglo-Norman Manuscript Art at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge: An Illustrated Catalogue, 2 vols (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications Western Michigan University in Association with Research Group on Manuscript Evidence the Parker Library Corpus Christi College Cambridge, 1997), I, pp. 577-92

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and Stanford University, Parker Library on the Web (http://parkerweb.stanford.edu/parker/; accessed in 2010)

Delehaye, H., Academie Royale de Belgique, Bulletin de la classe des lettres (Brussels: Academie Royale de Belgique, 1899)

Earle, John, A Hand-Book to the Land-charters and Other Saxonic Documents (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1888)

Gameson, Richard, 'The Scribe Speaks? Colophons in Early English manuscripts', in H.M. Chadwick Memorial Lectures, 12 (Cambridge: Department of ASNC, 2001)

Gneuss, Helmut, 'A Preliminary List of Manuscripts Written or Owned in England up to 1100', Anglo-Saxon England, 9 (1981), 1-60, item 44

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)

Hunt, W., Two Chartularies of the Priory of St. Peter at Bath, vii (London: Harrison and Sons, 1893)

James, Montague Rhodes, Matthew Parker, and A. Rogers, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 2 vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1912)

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

Ker, N. R., Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957; repr. 1990), item 35

Liuzza, R. M., ed., The Old English Version of the Gospels: Notes and Glossary, EETS, OS 314 (London: Oxford University Press, 2000)

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

---, 'The Texts of the Old English Riddle 30', JEGP, 87.1 (1988), 1-15

Page, R. I., 'New Work on Old English Scratched Glosses', in Studies in English Language and Early Literature in Honour of Paul Christophersen, ed. by P. M. Tilling, Occasional Papers in Linguistics and Language Teaching, 8 (Coleraine: New University of Ulster, 1981), pp. 105-15

Priebsch, R, 'The Chief Sources of some Anglo-Saxon Homilies', Otia Merseiana, 1 (1899), 129-47

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)

Scragg, D. G., 'The Corpus of Vernacular Homilies and Prose Saints' Lives before Ælfric', Anglo-Saxon England, 8 (1979), 223-77

Skeat, Walter W., ed., 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)

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