The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220

Elaine Treharne

London, Society of Antiquaries, 60, fols 6-73

Black Book of Peterborough or Liber Niger

Date: s. xii2/4

Summary:

Fols 6-73 contains the cartulary of Peterborough Abbey, which includes a list of books, lands, vestments etc. given to Peterborough Abbey by Bishop Æthelwold (fols 39v-40v), a list of sureties for lands (fol. 46) (Robertson 1939, nos. XXXIX, XL) and a further five Old English documents (at fols 46v-55v). The manuscript's Latin contents--charters and land tenure materials--are apparent copies of texts dating from 664 to the twelfth century. The rest of the manuscript contains charters and other documents in many different thirteenth- and fourteenth-century hands, with some fifteenth-century additions. Fols 209-19 contains Les estabilissemenz le Roy Edward. The manuscript, together with its sources, its analogues, and its historical context, are analysed by Morris 2006.

Manuscript Items:

1. Item: fols 39v-40v

   Title (B.15.5.10): Charters: Miscellaneous Texts: Record of Gifts of Bishop Æthelwold Sawyer 1448

   Incipit: (fol. 39v) Þis synd þa madmas þe Adeluuold bisceop sealde into þam mynstre þe is Medeshamstede gehatan

   Explicit: (fol. 40v) Þa Ætheluuine aldorman ˥ Ealdulf biscop sealdan Æthestane ˥ Alfwolde for Iacesle ˥ Faresheued þone latostan penig for þan lande into Burch. þa weron þer festermen. Frana... ˥ Sumerlyda preost.

   Text Language: English

   Bibliography:

   Robertson 1939, pp. 72-74

2. Item: fol. 46rv

   Title (B.15.5.3): Charters: Miscellaneous Texts: Agreement between Ceolred and Wulfred Sawyer 1440

   Incipit: (fol. 46v) In nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti. Ceolred abbod ˥ ða higan on Medeshamstede sellað Wulfrede ðet land

   Explicit: (fol. 46v) Ic Ceolred abbod þas ure selene mid Cristes rode tacne trymme ˥ festnie.

   Text Language: English and Latin

   Bibliography:

   Robertson 1939, pp. 12-13

   Thorpe 1865, pp. 104-06

3. Item: fols 47r-49r

   Title (B.15.5.37): Charters: Miscellaneous Texts: List of Sureties for Peterborough estates

   Incipit: (fol. 47r) Þis synd þa festermen þe Osferð swade beard funde. Adeluuolde biscop. ˥ Eadulfe abbod ˥ Sumerlydan preoste

   Explicit: (fol. 49r) ... ˥ on his wedde gesealde þet land æt Wermingtune æfter his dæg into sancte PETRE for his saule on hyra gewytnesse.

   Text Language: English

   Bibliography:

   Robertson 1939, pp. 74-83

4. Item: fol. 50r

   Title (B.15.8.606): Bounds in English: The Bounds of Oundle Sawyer 1566

   Incipit: (fol. 50r) Þis sint þa landgemæro to Undelan

   Explicit: (fol. 50r) ˥ þat land on beringa feld swa swa hit is mid land ge mærum. liggæð into Vndelan.

   Text Language: English

   Bibliography:

   Birch 1885-93, no. 1129

5. Item: fols 50v-51r

   Title (B.15.6.53): Charters: Wills: The Will of Ulf and Madselin (1066 x 1069)

   Incipit: (fol. 50v) Þis is se feorewearde þe Vlf ˥ Madselin his gebedda worhtan wið ˥ wið sancte PETER. þa hig to Ierusalem ferdon.

   Explicit: (fol. 51r) ˥ Lindbeorhge habban mine cnihtas gif ic ham ne cume. ˥ þæt land æt Lohtune þæt heo hafað þæt erinne [sic]. into Þornege.

   Text Language: English

   Bibliography:

   Whitelock 1930, pp. 94-96

6. Item: fols 52r-54v

   Title (B.16.26.4): Northamptonshire Geld Roll (1072-1078)

   Incipit: (fol. 52r) Ðis is into Suttenes hundred, þat is an hundred hida swa hit wæs on Æduuardes deige kynges

   Explicit: (fol. 54v) ˥ þerof is wered I ˥ IL hide ˥ III syðe twenti hide inland ˥ VIIII ˥ XL hide weste

   Text Language: English

   Bibliography:

   Robertson 1939, pp. 213-17

7. Item: fols 54v-55r

   Title (B.15.3.44): Charters: Bishops' Charters: Bishop Æthelwold and Wulfstan Uccea Sawyer 1377

   Incipit: (fol. 54v) Her sutelað on þyssum gewrite þet Aþelwold bisceop ˥ Wulfstan Uccea hwyrfdon landa.

   Explicit: (fol. 55r) ˥ Wulstan Uccea his sunu hit sealde eft Adeluuolde bisceope. swa swa hit her bufan sægð.

   Text Language: English

   Bibliography:

   Birch 1885-93, no. 1131

   Robertson 1939, pp. 68-69

   Thorpe 1865, pp. 229-30

Physical Description:

Object Description:

Form: Codex

Extent:

253 mm x 170 mm (dimensions of all - size of leaves)

194 mm x 107 mm (dimensions of all - size of written space)

Foliation and/or Pagination: Fols 66, foliated i- lxvi.

Note:

24 long lines that average nine or ten words per line. Fols 1-5 are endleaves.

Hand description:

Number of hands: 1

Hand: main text
• Scope: sole
• Script: English Vernacular Minuscule
• Ker reference: Ker 289 p. xiv
• Description: fols 6-73. The hand is relatively round, with well-developed thick-and-thin strokes, and it is regular and upright. It is likely to be the same hand as that of the second scribe in the famous manuscript, Laud Misc. 636, The Peterborough Chronicle, datable to the mid-twelfth century. It is also possibly the hand of the corrector in CCCC 134, a copy of Berengaudus, Expositio super septem uisiones libri Apocalypsis. In English text, the scribe uses the Old English graphs æ, þ, ð and ƿ, but in general the letter-forms are caroline. Versals are off-set within the vertical bounding lines, when they correspond to a new line.
• Summary of the characteristics of the hand:
• The two elements of æ are of equal height, and the a has a small bow.
• f is high, though it often descends just below the line in English. Its mid-stroke is at minim-height and often ligatures with a following letter.
• g is an easily identifiable characteristic of this hand. It is caroline, with a flattish top-stroke that often ligatures to the following letter. Its tail is a slightly angular backward c that extends further to the right that the bowl of the graph.
• minims are rounded, with slight feet to the right.
• r is generally caroline, but occasionally 2-shaped r is used in the English, as it frequently is in Latin.
• s is high, but on occasion, descends below the line a little.
• þ has a pointed bowl that sits just above the line, and a tall, wedged ascender, with a short, slightly kinked descender.
• ð has a long ascender that slightly curves to the right at the top. The cupped cross-stroke goes through the ascender.
• y is straight-limbed, dotted and somewhat tilted to the right. It has a short tail that is angled towards the preceding letter.
• ascenders are wedged at the top, with a tag to the right on occasion.
• descenders are straight and tapering.
• Ligatures:
• Ligatures include st.
• Punctuation:
• Punctuation is comprised of a punctus placed at medial position in relation to the x-height.
• accents are placed at an angle at line-ends.
• Abbreviations:
• Abbreviation consists of a curved marked mark that is higher on the right.

Binding Description:

Nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, blind-tooled. Dark green slipcase (National Archives).

Accompanying Material:

On fol. 2v is the note 'Iste Liber vocatur Niger Liber anglice The black bowke', s. xvi.

History:

Origin:

Written in Peterborough.

Provenance:

Remained in Peterborough until at least s. xvi. At some point the manuscript was owned by Sir Robert Wingfield of Upton (d. 1636). Wingfield also owned two Peterborough registers: London, BL, Cotton Vespasian E. xxi, fols 45- 106 and London, BL, Cotton Vespasian E. xxii (Robinson 2003, p. 69).

Acquisition:

Presented to the Society of Antiquaries in 1778 by Brownlow, 9th Earl of Exeter.

Additional Information:

Administration Information:

Manuscript described by Elaine Treharne with the assistance of Hollie Morgan and George Younge (2010; 2013).

Surrogates:

A facsimile of fol. 35 is found in Robinson, Pamela R., Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 888-1600 in London Libraries (London: The British Library, 2003), pl. 11

Bibliography:

'Black Book of Peterborough SAL/MS/60', in The National Archives (Richmond, 2009), http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=118-sal_1&cid=57#57

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)

Bishop, Terence Alan Martyn, 'Bibliographical Notes. Notes on Cambridge Manuscripts', Transaction of Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 1 (1949-53), 432-41

Davis, G. R. C., Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain: A Short Catalogue (London: Longmans Green, 1958)

Gransden, Antonia, Historical Writing in England: c.550 - c.1307 (c. 1974; London: Routledge, 1998)

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

King, Edmund, 'The Peterborough "Descriptio Militum" (Henry I)', English Historical Review, 84 (1969), 84- 101

Martin, Janet, 'The Cartularies and Registers of Peterborough Abbey', Northampton Record Society, 28 (1978), 108- 26

Mellors, W. T., 'Henry of Pytchley's Book of Fees', Northampton Record Society, 2 (1927), xxv, xxxiii

Morris, Avril Margaret, 'Forging Links with the Past: The Twelfth-Century Reconstruction of Anglo-Saxon Peterborough ' (unpublished, University of Leicester, 2006)

Robertson, A. J, Anglo-Saxon Charters, 2nd edn (1939; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1939)

Robinson, Pamela R., Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 888-1600 in London Libraries (London: The British Library, 2003)

Roffe, D., 'The Descriptio Terrarum of Peterborough Abbey', Historical Research, 65 (1992), 1-16

Stapleton, T., ed., Chronicon Petroburgense, Camden Society (London: Sumptibus Societas Camdenensis, 1849), vol. 47

Thorpe, Benjamin, Diplomatarium Anglicum Ævi Saxonici: A Collection of English Charters, from the Reign of King Æthelberht of Kent, A.D. DC.V. to that of William the Conqueror, with a Translation of the Anglo-Saxon by Benjamin Thorpe (London: Macmillan, 1865)

Willetts, P. J. , Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Society of Antiquaries of London (Woodbridge: Brewer, 2000)

Whitelock, Dorothy, ed., Anglo-Saxon Wills (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1930)