Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 3206
Wulfstan, Canons of Edgar and Institutes of Polity (fragments)
Contents
Text begins imperfectly and concludes at the end of Polity 20.
Text ends imperfectly.
- Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale, MS 8558-62 (2498)
- Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.1.33
- Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 201
- Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 265
- London, British Library, Cotton MS Tiberius A.iii
- London, British Library, Cotton MS Claudius A.iii
- Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Junius 121
- Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Laud Misc. 482
Line of text partially cropped at the foot of 3, and further text lost before its resumption on 4.
Text ends imperfectly.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
1-2, written space 151 × 108 mm.
3-4, written space 162 × 98 mm.
No pricking marks visible. Ruled in hardpoint, most visible in the lower right-hand corner of the first page.
Hand(s)
English vernacular minuscule. According to N.R. Ker, 'a neat, rather pointed hand: 'e' round-backed: long and low forms of 's' used indifferently: long ascenders and descenders: the ends of the descenders are usually seriffed.' The aspect is broad but pointed and slightly backward-leaning. Rustic capitals are used at the beginning of sections.
Summary of the characteristics of the hand (from Takako Kato):
- Insular single compartment a is triangular, but rounded.
- The a component of æ is rounded triangular, and the same height as or slightly higher than e.
- Insular d is round-backed, with the short upstroke at 45º, and tapering backward to the right.
- e is round and its horizontal line goes up to the right and often finishes with a tongue.
- Insular f: the downstroke is straight with a wedged top and finishes with a serif that turns up to the right, and the tongue is longer than the shoulder. The shoulder consists of a upright diagonal and a short downward vertical line.
- Insular g has a flat top; the vertical stroke joins the horizontal bar towards the left, and the lower lobe is closed. The sizes of the upper and lower lobes are the same.
- Insular h: the ascender has a split top; both limbs are straight and have distinct serifs that turn up to the right at 45º.
- minims have distinct serifs that turn up to the right at 45º.
- r is insular.
- There are two kinds of s: insular s with a straight descender with a serif to the right, and a long s with a descender which descends slightly below the writing line. The descender of long s tapers slightly to the left at the end.
- t is round-backed and its head-stroke is horizontal. The back-stroke joins the head-stroke at the left side.
- The ascender of ð is tall at 45º and tapers slightly backward to the right. The prominent cross-bar has an upward serif to the right at its left end, and downward serif to the left at its right end.
- The ascender of þ is wedged or has a split, and its descender is short and has a serif to the right.
- The descender of ƿ is straight and finishes with an upward serif to the right.
- y is dotted and the first stroke is thick, whereas the second stroke is a thin line with a wedge of a split at the top, and its descender finishes with a upward serif to the right.
- ascenders are often split or wedged at the top (see b, l, þ).
- descenders: straight descenders are as long as the height of the body, or sometimes shorter, and often finish with distinct serifs that turn up to the right at 45º. (See insular low r, low s, ƿ).
Abbreviations:
- the cross-bar of þæt has an upward serif to the right at its left-hand end, and a downward serif to the left at its right-hand end.
- macron has an upward serif to the right at its left-hand end, and a downward serif to the left at its right-hand end.
- the descender of ˥ is straight and usually has a serif to the right at the end. Its head slightly curves inwards. Sometimes a larger ˥ is used at the beginning of sentences.
Punctuation: The punctus is used.
Decoration
There is a three-line initial in red on 4 at the beginning of the Canons of Edgar ('R' in 'Riht').
Some initial capital letters are black and coloured with red.
Binding
The fragment is currently kept in a loose black cover, together with notes by Felix Liebermann and N.R. Ker (the latter dated May 1938).
Accompanying Material
A fragment of a printed book, which was probably also used for the binding, is attached to the second leaf (pp. 3-4). Some letters of the printed fragment are visible on the right-hand side of p. 3.
A note in the handwriting of Felix Liebermann, which explains the contents of the leaves, is kept with the fragments.
Another note signed by 'The Librarian University Library' (i.e. Francis Jenkinson ) contains information about the most recent sale: 'Add. 3206 Saxon Homilies. Ab. 1050 two leaves. 1893. Sotheby's Bateman Sale lot. 1528'.
History
The palaeography suggests possibly South-West England.
Provenance and Acquisition
The leaves were pastedowns in the binding of a book of octavo size. Formerly part of Cambridge University Library, MS Add. 4166, a collection of fragments bought by Samuel Sandars in the Bateman sale at Sotheby's, 25 May 1893, lot 1528.
Bequeathed to Cambridge University by Sandars in 1894.
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
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Bibliography
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Ancient laws and institutes of England: comprising laws enacted under the Anglo-Saxon
kings from
Aethelbirht to Cnut, with an English translation of the Saxon; the laws
called Edward the Confessor's; the
laws of William the Conqueror, and those ascribed to Henry the First; also,
Monumenta ecclesiastica Anglicana,
from the seventh to the tenth century; and the ancient Latin version of
the Anglo-Saxon laws; with a ...
glossary etc Ancient laws and institutes of England, ([London, s.n.], 1840)
Catalogue of manuscripts containing Anglo-Saxon, Ker, N.R. (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1957)
Die "Institutes of polity, civil and ecclesiastical": Ein Werk Erzbischof Wulfstans
von
York Die "Institutes of polity, civil and ecclesiastical." Schweizer anglistische
Arbeiten, (Bern, Francke, 1959)
Councils & synods: with other documents relating to the English Church Councils &
synods, (Oxford, 1, Clarendon, 1964)
A Late Old English Handbook for the Use of a Confessor Anglia - Zeitschrift für englische
Philologie, Fowler, Roger (83, 1-34, 1965, http://www.digizeitschriften.de/dms/img/?PID=PPN338212566_0083%7Clog7)
Wulfstan's Canons of Edgar Early English Text Society, (London, Oxford University Press for the Early English Text Society, 1972)
Manuscripts from Anglo-Saxon England: an exhibition in the University Library Cambridge
to mark
the conference of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists, August 1985
Manuscripts from Anglo-Saxon England, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, 1985)
The manuscripts of early Norman England (c.1066-1130), Gameson, Richard (Oxford, Published for the British Academy by Oxford University
Press, 1999)
The Barrow knight, the Bristol bibliographer, and a lost Old English prayer Transactions
of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Rushforth, Rebecca (13, 372-392, 2004)
Bishops and their texts in the later eleventh century: Worcester and Exeter Essays
in manuscript geography: vernacular manuscripts of the English West Midlands from
the
Conquest to the sixteenth century Medieval texts and cultures of Northern
Europe, Treharne, Elaine M. (Turnhout, 13-28, Brepols, 2007)
Summary catalogue of the additional medieval manuscripts in Cambridge University Library
acquired
before 1940 Summary catalogue, Ringrose, Jayne (Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 2009)
Cambridge, University Library, Add. 3206 - The Production and Use of English Manuscripts:
1060 to
1220 The Production and Use of English Manuscripts: 1060 to 1220, Kato, Takako (2010, 2015-01-02T18:24:09Z, http://www.le.ac.uk/english/em1060to1220/mss/EM.CUL.Add.3206.htm)
A conspectus of scribal hands writing English, 960-1100 Publications of the Manchester
Centre for Anglo-Saxon studies, Scragg, D.G. (Cambridge, D.S. Brewer, 2012)
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
