The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220
Orietta Da Rold
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 180

© 2010-13 The Production and Use of
English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220 |
Ed. by ODR, TK, MS & ET,
ISBN 095323195X |
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Boethius's De Consolatione Philosophiæ
Date:
s. xii1
Summary:
Translation in English of Boethius's De
Consolatione Philosophiæ, which includes the preface
and 42 chapters. The manuscript also contains a prayer in English.
Manuscript Items:
- Item:
fol. 1r
Title
(B.9.3.1.EM): Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy: Alfred's Preface: Alfred's Preface to De
Consolatione PhilosophiæIncipit:
ÆLFRED KYNING ǷÆS
ǷE | ALHSTOD ÐISSE BEC
Explicit:
forþæmðe
ælc mon sceal be his andgites mæðe and
be his æmettan sprecan ðæt he
sprecþ. and don
þæt
þæt he deþ
Text Language:
English
Hand:
main hand
Date:
s. xii1
Bibliography:
- Item:
fols 1r-3r
Title
(B.9.3.2.EM): Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy: Headings: Unnumbered table of chapters of De Consolatione PhilosophiæIncipit:
Ærest hu gotan geƿunnon romana
rice.
Explicit:
Nu ƿe sceoldan eallon mægne
spyrian æfter gode . ælc be his | andgites
mæþe
Text Language:
English
Hand:
main hand
Date:
s. xii1
Bibliography:
- Item:
fols 3v-94r/6
Title
(B.9.3.3.EM): Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy: Main text
Incipit:
ON ÐÆRE TIDE ÐE
GOTAN of Sciþþiu mægþe
ƿiþ romana rice geƿin upahofon
Explicit:
eall he hit gesihþ . and
eall he hit forgilt. AMEN . | FINIT.
Text Language:
English
Other versions of the text:
The text is closely affiliated with London, British Library, MS Cotton Otho A. vi, s. xmed (Sedgefield 1890, p.
xv). Junius made a copy of this manuscript, the text is laid out side by
side with the Latin printed edition (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Junius 12, see Madan 1895-1953, n. 5124, p. 965).
Hand:
main hand
Date:
s. xii1
Bibliography:
- Item:
fol. 94r/8-22
Title
(B.12.4.7): Prayer following Boethius translation
Incipit:
Drihten ælmihtiga god ƿyrhta
and ƿealdend ealra gesceafta
Explicit:
and ƿylder . nu .
and a. a.a taƿorulde | buton
oghƿilcum ende Amen .
Text Language:
English
Note:
Folio 94v is blank.
Hand:
This hand is the same hand as that which corrected the text, and most
probably the same hand as the main hand.
Date:
s. xii1, probably copied at a later stage than the main text.
Bibliography:
Physical Description:
Object Description:
Form: Codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: ii+ 94+ i leaves
c. 282 mm
x c. 193 mm
(dimensions of all - size of leaves)
Foliation and/or Pagination:
The manuscript is foliated i, ii, 1-95. Fols. i, ii, and 95 are
paper leaves probably dating from the time of binding.
Collation:
Quires: fols 1-94: 1-610, 7-812, 912, missing 11 and
12
Signatures: Quire 1: '.I.', fol. 10v; Quire 2: '.II.', fol. 11r;
Quire 4: '.IIII.', fol. 31r; Quire 5: 'V', fol. 41r; Quire 7:
'VII .', fol. 61r; Quire 8: 'VIII .', fol. 84v; Quire 9: 'IX',
fol. 85r on lower margins.
Condition:
The manuscript is in good condition; it is stained and there are
a number of holes, and other parchment irregularities, see fols
37, 58, 59, 81r, 83r; stitches, for example, on fol. 68.
Layout description:
- Layout:
- Layout type: LO7
- Columns: 1
- Written Lines: 24
- Locus: 1r-60v
- Locus: 73r-94v
- Dimensions: 210 mm x 150 mm; ruled
- Overview: Ruling in dry point consistently done on the flesh
side of the parchment. Double bounding lines on both sides of
the frame, ca. 7 mm apart. The lines are guided by two small
pricks at the top and bottom on the outer and inner margins of
the folio. Small pricks appear on the external margin ca. 80 mm
apart to guide line. The ruling is still visible. The writing is
above the line. See
diagram.
- Layout:
- Layout type: LO8
- Columns: 1
- Written Lines: 27
- Locus: 61r-72v
- Dimensions: 235 mm x 145 mm; ruled
- Overview: This is Quire 7 which was ruled for 27 lines, but 2
or 3 lines have been left blank on each folio, both on the recto
and the verso. However, the ruling technique is the same as the
one used for the other quires; that is, ruling in dry point
consistently done on the flesh side of the parchment. Double
bounding lines on both sides of the frame, ca. 7 mm apart. The
lines are guided by two small pricks at the top and bottom on
the outer and inner margins of the folio. Small pricks appear on
the external margin ca. 8 mm apart to guide line. The ruling is
still visible. The writing is above the line. See diagram.
Hand description:
Hand: main text
- Scope: major
- Script: English Vernacular Minuscule
- Ker reference: Ker 23
- Description: An English vernacular minuscule of the twelfth-century, which
retains features of the first half of the century, such as headless
a and tapered ascenders still upright.
Insular g is used throughout, whilst insular s alternates with long s and
no ligatures appear to be used. The writing is regular and large in
aspect. Ker argued that this manuscript was 'not well written' (Ker 1957, p. 359), but the scribe controls
his or her hand throughout the quires, spacing minims and individual
letters well. The height of the minims is regularly 3 mm. The prayer at
the end is written most likely by this hand. Sedgefield suggests
that: 'A close examination decides against the identity of two
hands, which however may belong to the same school of
handwriting' (Sedgefield 1890, p.
xv). The hand of the prayer is different in aspect, because the
scribe seems to write faster and pays less attention to the
formation of the individual letters and the pen is cut with a
thinner nib, but it is very likely that these two types of script
belong to the same scribe. Probably this text was copied at a later
stage, but certainly at the same time as the corrections were
inserted. Brown Ink.
- Summary of the characteristics of the hand:
-
a: insular, with a large lobe, occasionally the head
protrudes on the left;
-
b: with wedged, slightly forked ascender with a straight
back and a rounded lobe;
-
c: one broken stroke with a curled head;
-
d: two broken strokes and a thick upright back stroke,
which tapers at the top end, but curls to the right at the point
of junction with the left stroke of the bowl.
-
e: insular small rounded and closed with a little tongue
on the right side, more evident in final position.
-
f: a distinctive insular form: straight upward shaft
finishing occasionally with a little curl towards the right,
otherwise closing with a fourty-five degree angle. Two
dot-like-strokes form the horizontal strokes on the left. A
little serif protrudes from the top of the back of the
shaft.
-
g: insular, with an s shaped descender
which curves towards the right just after the writing line, and
turns flat into an open lobe on the right topped by a flat
horizontal stroke.
-
h: Caroline with a thick wedged and slightly forked
ascender and a right limb which sometimes curls under the
line.
-
i, m, n and u: minims are traced
one at a time, regular in shape and their feet always finish
with a small serif to the right.
-
l: Caroline form with a tall wedged straight ascender,
the shaft ends on the line with a foot curling to the right.
-
o: rounded, oval shaped closed.
-
p and ƿ are mainly distinguishable
through meaning. However, ƿ is formed with a
wedge-like head and a tailed descender curving towards the left
and a closed elongated lobe.
-
r: insular form, with a well defined bow and a descender
which ends curving on the left, but finishing with a square or
perpendicular angle.
-
s: insular form, with a straight descender below the line of writing, occasionally
curving to the left.
-
t: straight head-stroke and straight shaft which curls to
the right.
-
y: is always dotted and the descender curves to the left
finishing in a thin tail. The second stroke to the right is done
quite high up near the start of the shaft.
-
æ: formed by an insular a and an e which sits on the shoulder of the a and terminates with a tail on the top
right.
-
ð is formed like d, with rounded bowl
and upright ascender, but the median stroke is not always
straight; it mostly curves from the left to the right finishing
with a tail and then a dot below the tail itself, but still
attached to the stroke. There is another type of ð which appears more frequently
towards the end of the manuscript. The basic formation is the same,
but the scribe forms the left side stroke of the bowl to meet the
ascender and then continues to finish with a tail curling leftwards.
-
þ is upright with wedged
ascender and a tailed descender, and a pointed head-stroke.
- Capitals are enlarged form of the minuscule with the exception of
A, which sometimes is a large two-compartment letter.
- Litterae Notabiliores of the main chapters
of the table of content are decorated with dots, but written in the
same ink as the text by the main hand.
- Abbreviations: Use of tironian nota; crossed through þ
for þæt; a macron usually abbreviates m, n.
- Punctuation: Punctus mostly median, but
also on the line.
- Ligatures: No ligature.
- Language: West Saxon spelling retained, with occasional Kentish
features (Sedgefield 1890, pp. xv,
xxxv-xxxvi)
- Correcting technique: The manuscript was corrected by the main hand. Some
minor corrections appear for, example, on on fols 1r, 2r/v, 3r/v,
4r/v, 6r/v, 7v, 8v, 9r/v, 10r/v, 13r and 14r/v. More substantial
corrections appear, for example, on fols 12v, 14v, 55v, 58v, 62v.
Method of correction: erasure and expuncture, a small comma-like
sign indicates insertion of corrections inserted interlinearly. On
fol. 24v, the signe de renvoi is a seven like comma is followed by a
punctus, with the correction inserted in
interlinear position; see also fol. 19r, where the correction
appears on the left margin. On fol. 55r, the signe de renvoi is a
punctus, followed by a comma and the
correction inserted in interlinear position. Erasure on fol. 90v
left blank.
- Date: s. xii1
Decoration Description:
Initials:
Red, blue, purple, or green initials. They mark sections and
paragraphs, mainly at the beginning of chapters. They are inserted
against guiding letters left by the main hand in the external
margins of the manuscript. Not all the gaps have been decorated, see
fols 11r (no guiding letter in the margin), 29r, 30r, 31r, 45r, 64v
and 92v.
-
fol. 1r, four-line ornamental capital in red.
-
fol. 1r, four-line capital in blue.
-
fol. 3v, four-line ornamental capital in
green with pen-ink decorations in red.
-
fol. 4r, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 4r, two-line capital in blue with
pen-ink decoration in red.
-
fol. 5v, three-line ornamental capital in red
with pen-ink decorations in blue and green.
-
fol. 5v, two-line ornamental capital in red.
-
fol. 7v, three-line ornamental capital in
red.
-
fol. 8r, two-line capital in blue.
-
fol. 11v, three-line capital in blue.
-
fol. 12r, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 13r, two-line capital in purple.
-
fol. 13r, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 15r, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 15r, two-line capital in green.
-
fol. 15v, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 15v, two-line capital in purple.
-
fol. 16v, two-line ornamental capital in red.
-
fol. 17r, two-line capital in purple.
-
fol. 19v, four-line capital in red with
pen-ink decorations in green.
-
fol. 19v, two-line ornamental capital in
blue.
-
fol. 20r, two-line ornamental capital in red
with pen-ink work in blue.
-
fol. 20r, two-line ornamental capital in
green with pen-ink decorations in red.
-
fol. 23r, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 23v, two-line ornamental capital in red
with pen-ink decorations in green.
-
fol. 23v, four-line ornamental capital in
blue with pen-ink decorations in red.
-
fol. 24v, four-line capital in red with
pen-ink work in red.
-
fol. 24v, three-line ornamental capital in
red with pen-ink decorations in red.
-
fol. 24v, four-line capital in green.
-
fol. 25r, two-line ornamental capital in
purple.
-
fol. 25r, two-line ornamental capital in red.
-
fol. 29r, two-line capital in green.
-
fol. 31v, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 31v, two-line capital in blue.
-
fol. 31v, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 32r, two-line ornamental capital in blue
with pen-ink decorations in red.
-
fol. 34v, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 34v, two-line ornamental capital in
blue.
-
fol. 35v, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 35v, two-line capital in blue.
-
fol. 36r, two-line ornamental capital in red
with pen-ink decorations in green.
-
fol. 36r, two-line capital in green.
-
fol. 36r, one-line capital in red.
-
fol. 36r, one-line capital in blue.
-
fol. 36v, one-line ornamental capital in red.
-
fol. 36v, one-line capital in purple.
-
fol. 37r, one-line capital in red.
-
fol. 37r, one-line capital in purple.
-
fol. 37r, one-line capital in red.
-
fol. 38r, two-line capital in blue.
-
fol. 38r, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 39r, one-line capital in red.
-
fol. 39v, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 39v, two-line capital in blue.
-
fol. 41r, two-line capital in blue.
-
fol. 41v, two-line ornamental capital in red.
-
fol. 41v, two-line capital in blue.
-
fol. 41v, three-line capital in red.
-
fol. 42v, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 43r, two-line capital in purple.
-
fol. 43r, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 43v, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 43v, two-line capital in blue.
-
fol. 45v, two-line decorated capital in red.
-
fol. 49r, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 51v, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 51v, two-line capital in green.
-
fol. 55v, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 59r, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 65v, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 65v, three-line capital in green.
-
fol. 69v, two-line ornamental capital in blue
with decorations in red.
-
fol. 70r, two-line capital in red.
-
fol. 77v, four-line ornamental capital in
purple with decorations in red.
-
fol. 85r, two-line ornamental capital in red
with decorations in purple.
-
fol. 87v, five-line capital in red.
-
fol. 89r, three-line capital in red.
-
fol. 89r, three-line capital in purple.
-
fol. 92v, two-line ornamental capital in red.
-
fol. 94r, two-line capital in purple.
Additions:
A s. xiv hand has inserted marginal annotations and headings to guide
through books and chapters of the text, see for example fols 6v, 9r,
10v, 87v. The same hand wrote numbers, probably of chapters and books,
on the lower margin of fol. 29v.
Binding Description:
Accompanying Material:
Former 12 binding leaves of the manuscript now Oxford, Bodleian Library, Add. MS. D. 98 (see Madan 1895-1953, n. 2079, p. 201) contain a
fourteenth-century copy of the Digest of Justinian
(bks 19, 20) in a large hand. One of them, fol. 3r, bears
an inscription, s. xvi: 'Boecius de consolatione
philosophie translated into the Saxonie tong by King
Ælfred'. These leaves were bound separately in 1884.
They were acquired according to Madan not later than 1602.
An old Bodleian shelfmark 'NE.C.3.11.', which was cut from the
former binding, is pasted onto the backcover.
History:
Origin:
The manuscript was written 'perhaps in the South East of England' (see
Madan 1895-1953, p. 200).
Acquisition:
Given to the Library by Thomas Draper in
1601
'Translation quædam Alfrædi.'
Additional Information:
Administration Information:
Manuscript described by Orietta Da Rold (August 2010).
Thanks are due to to Susan Irvine
for sharing information about this manuscript with the author.
Surrogates:
Bibliography:
Gibson, Margaret T., Lesley Smith, and Joseph Ziegler, Codices Boethiani: A Conspectus of Manuscripts of the Works of Boethius, Warburg Institute Surveys and Texts, 25, 3 vols (London: Warburg Institute, University of London, 1995), vol. 1, p. 18 (mainly
general information on the English tradition)
Godden, Malcolm, and Susan Irvine, eds., The Old English Boethius: An Edition of the Old English Versions of Boethius's 'De Consolatione Philosophiae' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)
Godden, Malcolm, and others, The Alfredian Boethius Project 2002 (Faculty of English, University of Oxford, http://www.english.ox.ac.uk/boethius/AlfredianBoethiusIndex.html; accessed Jan 2010),
a complete bibliography on the work, editions and manuscripts can be found here.
Ker, N. R., Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957; repr. 1990), item 23
Kiernan, Kevin, and Ionut Emil Iacob, Electronic Boethius: Alfred the Great’s Old English Consolation of Philosophy (Electronic Facsimiles & Texts, http://beowulf.engl.uky.edu/~kiernan/eBoethius/mainpage.html; accessed Jan 2010)
Madan, Falconer, and others, A Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895-1953)
Sedgefield, Walter John, ed., King Alfred's Old English Version of Boethius De consolatione philosophiae (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1899), n. 2079, pp. 200-01