Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.2.4
De cura pastorali, in Old English
Contents
The text ends imperfectly, corresponding to Sweet (1871-72), p. 467, line 25.
- Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 12
- Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.5.22
- London, British Library, MS Cotton Otho B.ii
- London, British Library, MS Cotton Otho B.x
- London, British Library, MS Cotton Tiberius B.xi + Kassel, Landesbibliothek, Anhang 19
- Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Junius 53 (a transcription made by Franciscus Junius (1589-1677) in the seventeenth century, based on Tiberius B.xi)
Physical Description
Parchment (HHFF) (ff. 5-146). Folios 3-4, 150-51 are post-medieval parchment. Folio 149 is a medieval parchment endleaf. Folio 149bis is a modern paper leaf onto which documents have been pasted. Folios 2bis and 151bis are modern parchment leaves.
- One 16th-century parchment leaf, now the front pastedown (f. 1)
- One modern parchment flyleaf (f. 2bis)
- Two 16th-century parchment leaves (ff. 3-4)
- One medieval parchment flyleaf (f. 149)
- One modern paper leaf. Two letters from John Jewel to Matthew Parker, previously pasted on f. 149v, are pasted to the recto (f. 149bis)
- One 16th-century parchment leaf with part of a document on the verso, originally pasted to f. 151 (151r shows the offset) (f. 150)
- One 16th-century parchment stub (f. 150bis)
- One 16th-century flyleaf (f. 151)
- One modern parchment flyleaf (f. 151bis)
- One 16th-century parchment leaf, now the rear pastedown (f. 152)
19th-century foliation:
1, 2bis, 3-4 + 5-146 + 149, 149bis, 150, 150bis, 151, 151bis, 152
Numbering in pencil in the top right-hand corner of the recto side of each leaf, written mainly by Henry Bradshaw (1831-1886), and supplemented by at least two hands of the 20th century. Note that the front pastedown, as the first in a gathering of endleaves, has been numbered as folio '1' - and that the rear pastedown, as the last in a similar gathering, has been numbered as folio '152r'.
Folio numbers 2 and 147-148 assigned to leaves judged to be no longer present in the volume (as per historic foliation practice at Cambridge University Library).
16th-century pagination
1-287 (for ff. 3-149)
Numbering in in Parkerian red/orange crayon in the top right-hand corner of the recto side of each leaf only (see Provenance for further details).
Collation
The manuscript consists of 18 quires as follows:
- Quires 1-178 (ff. 5-140): the 2nd and 7th leaves in Quire 3 (ff. 22 and 27) are half-sheets)
- Quire 188 (ff. 141-146): 7th and 8th leaves missing)
Condition
Folios 1, 3-4, 149, 150-52 show evidence of damage caused by the four metal bosses that were once attached to the upper and lower boards.
Folios 5-28 show evidence of tears and missing portions now repaired with modern paper; f. 13 was particularly badly damaged with losses to the upper and right-hand margins resulting in some loss of text.
There are small holes in some leaves which the scribe has written around, e.g. f. 130.
Layout
280 × 160 mm. Ruled in hardpoint, frame and line, with double bounding lines on both sides of the frame, c. 10mm apart. Single columns, 24 lines to the page, written above top line. Pricking in the outer margins only, mostly trimmed but still visible e.g. on f. 82r.
Hand(s)
Written in English vernacular minuscule by a single scribe throughout. The script is round and upright, sharing many of the principal characteristics of the Exeter type. Drage calls it 'the most calligraphically accomplished piece of insular minuscule produced at Exeter. When Latin is used, the letter forms are distinctly different' (Drage (1975), p. 173)
Decoration
Coloured initials at the start of each chapter, two or three lines in height, are alternately red, blue and green. They usually have guide-letters, and half of the initial is usually indented to the left.
Titles are in metallic red in the script and hand of the text.
Additions
Ker notes 'some faintly pencilled Latin glosses, e.g. on f. 30, which appear to be of s. xiii' (Ker (1957), p. 28). See the top of the page. See also, for example, f. 92r, line 23.
Latin translations of Alfred's prefatory letter and the metrical preface are copied on ff. 3v-4v in a 16th-century hand. A hand of similar date has added an interlinear modern English gloss to those two texts on ff. 5r-7r Graham suggests that this gloss probably served as a model for the gloss accompanying the edition of the prose and metrical prefaces included in Matthew Parker's 1574 edition of Asser's life of King Alfred, Ælfredi regis res gestae (Graham (1995), pp. 633-34).
Graham notes the name 'Johannes Parker' in red crayon in the top right-hand corner of f. 5r, probably in Matthew Parker's hand (Graham (1995), pp. 636-37). He suggests that the archbishop wrote the names of his two sons in several of his volumes, probably indicating which of them should inherit it. One of his other copies of the Pastoral Care (Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.5.22) is inscribed 'Matthaeus Parker'.
Other 16th-century additions include the underlining of two lines in red crayon on f. 146v and the addition of the word ‘finis’ at the foot of the same page.
The text on the 16th-century flyleaf, f. 150v, and readable from the offset on f. 151r, is a document in Latin from Richard Lyell, Doctor of Law and vicar-general to Thomas Thirlby, Bishop of Westminster concerning a matrimonial case. The document contains a date in 1543, probably the year in which it was issued. For more details see Graham (1995), p. 632.
References to chapter numbers in the Latin text have been added throughout by an early modern hand.
Abraham Wheelocke (1593-1653) notes in the upper margin of the front pastedown that he began to read the text on 3 September 1638 and finished it on 17 July 1639. Interlinear annotations by his hand, in pencil, are found on ff. 32r, 36r, 40r, 41r, 47v, 50r, 56v, 74v, 78v, 80r-84v, followed by scattered notes in pen on f. 150r.
Former and current classmarks were added to the front pastedown (‘253’, ‘D.β.3’ and ‘Ii-2-4’) and f. 150r (‘4:2.3’).
Collation formula and notes by the hand of Henry Bradshaw (1831-1886), University Librarian 1867-1886 (152r, i.e. rear pastedown). Bradshaw also added notes concerning missing leaves to ff. 1v (i.e. front pastedown), 4v (later crossed out) and 146v.
Quire signatures ('a-s') in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire, and '+' in the same position on the first leaf after the centre of the quire, written in pencil by H.L. Pink.
Binding
Sixteenth-century binding of dark brown leather over wooden boards, blind-tooled frame and central ornament, with a boss at each of the four corners (now gone). Brass fittings from two clasps and one strap remain, and there are metal fittings to the top and bottom corners of both covers. On the spine in gold letters: ‘Gregorii regula pastoralis’ and the classmark. A label formerly attached to the rear cover has been preserved on the front pastedown (having formerly been attached to f. 3r, when N.R. Ker examined the manuscript in the 1950s). The label reads: ‘Pastoral: Gregorii ex Versione Aluredi regis saxon'’, written in a 16th-century hand. Other manuscripts donated by Matthew Parker were bound in the same way (see Acquisition). Monochrome photographs taken by Douglas Cockerell when the pastedowns were lifted in the course of repairs show that the boards had been used in a previous binding. These boards may be Anglo-Saxon (ex inf. Michael Gullick). On the fore-edge of the book is written ‘Gregori Pastorale, Alfred R Saxon’ in black ink.
Rebacked by Douglas Cockerell and Son, Grantchester, May 1967.
Accompanying Material
Two letters from John Jewel (1522-1571) , Bishop of Salisbury, to Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, dated January 1568, were pasted on to f. 149v when Ker examined this manuscript and are now pasted to a modern paper leaf (f. 150bis). They refer to an Old English manuscript sent to Parker from Salisbury, almost certainly Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.5.22, which also contains a copy of Alfred's translation of the Pastoral Care.
A copy of the photographs of the boards are preserved in the box in which the manuscript is kept (see Binding).
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Acquired by Matthew Parker (1504-1575) , archbishop of Canterbury, probably before 1568 and presumably directly from the chapter library at Exeter. Parker owned several Exeter manuscripts: for example, Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.2.11, which contains an inscription recording its donation to Parker by Gregory Dodds, Dean of Exeter, by 1566.
Presented to the University Library in 1574 by Matthew Parker (1504-1575) , archbishop of Canterbury. No. 6 in the list of 25 'Libri Scripti in pergameno' published to commemorate Parker's gift (see Early catalogues of manuscripts, up to c. 1600.
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.
Bibliography
Editions:
The pastoral care, edited from British Museum MS. Cotton Otho B.ii, Part II: Ff. 25va/4-end Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis. Stockholm studies in English, (Stockholm, Almqvist & Wiksell international, 1975) The pastoral care, edited from British Museum MS. Cotton Otho B.ii, Part I: Ff.1-25va/4 Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis. Stockholm studies in English, (Stockholm, Almqvist & Wiksell international, 1975) King Alfred's Old English translation of Pope Gregory the Great's Regula pastoralis and its cultural context: a study and partial edition according to all surviving manuscripts based on Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 12 Münchner Universitätsschriften. Texte und Untersuchungen zur englischen Philologie, (New York, Lang, 2003)Bibliography
Manuscript descriptions:
A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the library of the University of Cambridge, (Cambridge, 3: Gg-Kk, Cambridge University Press, 1858) Notes on Cambridge Manuscripts, Part II and Part III: MSS connected with Exeter Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Bishop, T.A.M. (2, 2, 185-199, 1955, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41154356) Catalogue of manuscripts containing Anglo-Saxon, Ker, N.R. (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1957) The relationship between the Old English manuscripts of King Alfred's translation of Gregory's <hi rend="italics">Pastoral Care</hi> Anglia: Zeitschrift fur Englische Philologie, Horgan, Dorothy M. (91, 153-169, 1973) Middle English in Old English manuscripts Chaucer and Middle English studies in honour of Rossell Hope Robbins, Cameron, A.F. (London, 218-229, Allen & Unwin, 1974) Bishop Leofric and the Exeter Cathedral Chapter, 1050-1072: A reassessment of the manuscript evidence, Drage, E. (1978, PhD) Theodulfi Capitula in England: die altenglischen Übersetzungen, zusammen mit dem lateinischen Text Texte und Untersuchungen zur englischen Philologie, (München, Fink, 1978) The lexical and syntactic variants shared by two of the later manuscripts of King Alfred's translation of Gregory's 'Cura Pastoralis' Anglo-Saxon England, Horgan, Dorothy M. (9, 213-221, 1981) 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, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, 1985) The Old English Pastoral Care: the scribal contribution Studies in earlier Old English prose: sixteen original contributions, Horgan, Dorothy M. (Albany, N.Y., 108-127, State University of New York Press, 1986) Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 737-1600 in Cambridge Libraries, Robinson, P.R. (Cambridge, D.S. Brewer, 1988) Old English verse texts from many sources: a comprehensive collection Early English manuscripts in facsimile, Robinson, Fred C.Stanley, E.G. (Copenhagen, Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1991) Anglo-Saxon Exeter: a tenth-century cultural history Studies in Anglo-Saxon history, Conner, Patrick W. (Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 1993) Matthew Parker and the conservation of manuscripts: the case of CUL MS Ii.2.4 Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Graham, Timothy (10, 5, 630-641, 1995) The origin of the Exeter Book of Old English poetry Anglo-Saxon England, Gameson, Richard (25, 135-85, 1996) 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) Bookbindings Cambridge history of the book in Britain, Gullick, Michael (Cambridge, 1: c. 400-1100, 294-309, Cambridge University Press, 2011, https://doi-org.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/10.1017/CHOL9780521583459.012) 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) A catalogue of western book illumination in the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Cambridge colleges Illuminated manuscripts in Cambridge, (London, 1: Insular and Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, c. 700-c. 1100, Harvey Miller, 2013)Bibliography
Secondary studies:
The tremulous hand of Worcester: a study of Old English in the thirteenth century, Franzen, Christine (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1991) Scribes and scholars at Salisbury Cathedral, c.1075-c.1125 Oxford historical monographs, Webber, Teresa (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1992) Matthew Parker and his books: Sandars lectures in bibliography delivered on 14, 16, and 18 May 1990 at the University of Cambridge Sandars lectures, Page, R.I. (Kalamazoo, Mich.; Cambridge, Medieval Institute Publications; Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, 1993) English book collections in the late eleventh and early twelfth century: Symeon's Durham and its context Symeon of Durham: historian of Durham and the North Studies in North-Eastern history, Gameson, Richard (Stamford, 230-253, Shaun Tyas, 1998) Abraham Wheelock and the Presentation of Anglo-Saxon: From Manuscript to Print Beatus vir: studies in early English and Norse manuscripts: in memory of Phillip Pulsiano Medieval and Renaissance texts and studies, Lucas, P.J. (Tempe, 383-439, ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies), 2006) Leofric of Exeter and his Lotharingian connections: A bishop's books, c. 1050-72, Corradini, Erika (Leicester, 2008, PhD) The objects of knowledge: reconstructing medieval communities through a material analysis of manuscripts New Medieval Literatures, Corradini, Erika (13, 199-220, 2011) Exeter scribes in Cambridge, University Library, MS Ii.2.11 + Exeter Book folios 0, 1-7 New Medieval Literatures, Kato, Takako (13, 5-21, 2011)Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
