The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220

Orietta Da Rold

Lawrence, Kansas, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, Pryce MS C2:2 (with Oxford Bodleian Hatton 115)

Fragment of Ælfric's Sermo in Natale Unius Confessoris

Date: s. xi2

Summary:

One folio from Hatton 115 after fol. 82. It contains a fragment of Ælfric's Sermo in Natale Unius Confessoris. Recto: '[...] dóm underfon be þam ðe ƿe geeornodon ær on | lífe...sƿa sƿa ge gehyrdon | [nú forþan ðe he ana is anes mannes sunu] 7 he [...]' (Assman 1889, pp. 53/88-55/120). Verso: '[...] cƿæð þæt we nyston hƿænne he cuman ƿolde. forþan...on urum tíman. elles | ƿe beoð [gehatene yfele ðeowan 7 unnytƿyrðe...]' (Assman 1889, pp. 55/120-57/150; Colgrave and Hyde 1962, pp. 69-70).

Glosses, s. xiii, by the Tremulous hand.

Manuscript Items:

1. Item: fol. 104

   Title (B.1.5.11): Ælfric, Remaining Homilies by Ælfric: Homily for the Common of a Confessor

   Incipit: (fol. 104r) dom underfon be þam ðe we gecomodon ær on life

   Explicit: (fol. 104v) on urum timan elles we beoð [gehatene yfele ðeowan ond unnytwyr]ðe

   Note: Fragment

   Bibliography:

   Ker 1976, p. 125

   Colgrave and Hyde 1962, pp. 69-70

   Assmann 1889, pp. 55-57

Physical Description:

Object Description:

Form: single leaf

Extent:

214 mm mm x 157 mm mm (dimensions of all - size of leaves)

190 mm mm x 98 mm mm (dimensions of all - size of written space)

Note:

Folio ruled with double bounding lines. Glue present on the recto from the binding.

Hand description:

Number of hands: 2

Summary: One hand writes the main text. The Tremulous Hand provides glosses in Latin in the early thirteenth century.

Hand: main text
• Scope: major
• Script: Insular script
• Ker reference: Ker supplement
• Description: An insular minuscule of the end of the s.xi2.The same hand who wrote Hatton 115, fols 1-64v, 66-139v (see Franzen 1998, pp. 44-52) and remarkably similar to BL, Faustina A. x
• Summary of the characteristics of the hand:
• a is Caroline in the combination æ.
• Long s is regular initially and medially but not finally.
• The cross-bar of ð is usually nearly horizontal and sometimes inclines slightly downwards from left to right. Tall tapered ascender curving to the left.
• descenders: tapered descenders with a serif which turns to the left, except p, which ends with a flat foot.
• Other manuscripts:
  • BL, Faustina A. x, fols 3-101 (see also Ker 1957, p. 403).
• Date: s. xi2

Hand: additions
• Scope: minor
• Scribe: Tremulous Scribe
• Script: English Vernacular Minuscule
• Description: Latin glosses Tremulous Hand (Colgrave and Hyde 1962, pp. 74-5).
• Date: s. xiiiex

Decoration Description:

No decoration.

Binding Description:

The leaf was found by John Siedzik, Curator of Manuscripts of the Spencer Library, in a copy of Kingsmill Long's translation of Barclay his Argenis (2nd ed., London: Henry Seile, 1636). The cover is dated to 'ca. 1636 x 1656' (Colgrave and Hyde 1962, p. 68). The sheet was found between the cover and a thin piece of pasteboard (Ker 1976, p. 125; Doane 1998, p. 32).

History:

Origin:

Originally in Bodleian Library, Hatton 115. Doane suggests Worcester as the place of production (Doane 1998, p. 31).

Provenance:

Christopher, Lord Hatton had the manuscript before 1644.

Acquisition:

The manuscript was acquired by the Bodleian library in 1675. At some point a few leaves were removed. This sheet is one of six that were removed between fols 82-3 of the second booklet (Franzen 1998, p. 50 and Colgrave and Hyde 1962, p. 68). The book containing the sheet was acquired by the Spencer library in 1957 from Pearson's Book Rooms, Cambridge (Collins 1976, pp. 48-9).

Additional Information:

Administration Information:

Manuscript described by Orietta Da Rold with the assistance of Hollie Morgan and Johanna Green (2010; 2012) with reference to facsimiles and published scholarship.

Surrogates:

Doane, Alger Nicolaus, 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'

Colgrave, Bertram and Anne Hyde, 'Two Recently Discovered Leaves from Old English Manuscripts', Speculum 37 (1962), pp. 60-78

Bibliography:

Assmann, Bruno, ed., Angelsächsischen Homilien und Heiligenleben, Bibliotek der angelsächsischen Prosa, 13 (Kassel: Wigand, 1889; repr. 1964)

Colgrave, Bertram and Anne Hyde, 'Two Recently Discovered Leaves from Old English Manuscripts', Speculum 37 (1962), 60-78

Collins, Rowland, Anglo-Saxon Vernacular Manuscripts in America, Exhibited at the Pierpoint Morgan Library, 1 April-9 May 1976 (New York: The Scheide Library; The Pierpont Morgan Library, 1976), vol. 7

Doane, Alger Nicolaus, 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'

Franzen, Christine, Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile (Tempe, AZ: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1998), vol. 6: Worcester Manuscripts

Godden, Malcolm, ed., Ælfric's Catholic Homilies: The Second Series, EETS, SS 5 (London: Oxford University Press, 1979)

Ker, N. R., 'A Supplementary Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon', Anglo-Saxon England, 5 (1976), 121-31, item 332

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