London, British Library, Cotton Vespasian A. xxii

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Vespasian A. xxii

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Medieval Provenance

General Information

Summary

A small collection of late Old English homilies inserted into a Latin miscellany, making up Part 3 of the manuscript: an adapted version of Ælfric's First Series of Homilies [Catholic Homilies I]: De Initio Creaturae (fols 52ra/2-54rb/24); a parable of a king who rewards his friends and punishes his enemies (fols 54va/1-56ra/31); a description of the weapons needed by a Christian warrior (fol. 56va/1-56vb/5), and a version of Ælfric's First Series Catholic Homily for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (fol. 57va/1-24). The Old English is dated by Wilcox 2000 to the beginning of the thirteenth century (p. 46), although Treharne would date it to 'the last decade or so of the twelfth century' (Swan 2007).

Manuscript Items
  1. Item: fols 54r/1-56r/24

    • Title (B.1.1.2): Ælfric, First Series of Homilies [Catholic Homilies I]: De Initio Creaturae

      Incipit: (fol. 54r/1) Ure hlaford almihtiȝ god wile ˥ us hot. þat we hine lufie

      Explicit: (fol. 56r/24) ˥ alle þa ðe sawle efre underfenȝen arisað of deaðe hi toȝeanes ˥ elc ȝeelt after his ȝearnunge

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Clemos 1997, 178-89/6-291

      Morris 1867–68, I 216–31

  2. Item: fols 56v/1-58r/24

    • Title (B.8.6.1.EM): The Parable of a Rich King

      Incipit: (fol. 56v/1) Hit ȝelamp þæt an rice king wæs. strang ˥ mihiti

      Explicit: (fol. 58r/24) Al swa se he cweð. Ego sum vitis vera ˥ cetera

      Text Language: English

      Note: Combines passages from Anselm's Similitudes and the Liber Sententiarumattributed to Bernard of Clairvaux

      Bibliography:

      Morris 1867–68, I 230-41

      Hall 1920, I 278-9

  3. Item: fol. 58v

    • Title (B.8.6.2.EM): A Discourse on Ephesians 6:11

      Incipit: (fol.58v/1) Ur hlaford sanctes paulus þe is þeoden lareaw

      Explicit: (fol.58v/43) In omnibus sumentes scutum fidei. in quo possitis omnia tela nequissimi [ignea] extinguere

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Morris 1867–68, I 240-3

      Millett 2010, 229

  4. Item: fol. 59v

    • Title (B.1.1.26): Ælfric, First Series of Homilies [Catholic Homilies I]: Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

      Incipit: (fol. 59v/1) Erant adpropinquantes ad Iesum ˥ cetera

      Explicit: (fol. 59v/24) þan him si be nigon ˥ hund negontie rihtwisen þe ne beofiað nanre ded bote

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Note: Incomplete

      Bibliography:

      Clemos 1997, 371/1-15

      Morris 1867–68, 242-5

Object Description

Form

Form: Codex

Extent:

  • 225 mm x 153 mm (dimensions of all - size of leaves)
  • 165 mm x 110 mm (dimensions of Part 1 - size of written space)
  • 181 mm x 104 mm (dimensions of Part 2 - size of written space)
  • 170 mm x 53 mm (dimensions of Part 3 - size of written columns)
  • 162 mm x 100 mm (dimensions of Part 4 - size of written space)

Foliation and/or Pagination: There are several layers of foliation:

  • The parchment flyleaf containing the contents page is foliated '+*1' in pencil in the top right hand corner of the recto.
  • After the first contents page, an ink foliation in the top right hand corner of rectos (now crossed out in pencil) runs 1-33, 36-101, 105-33. In the top left hand corners of many versos are mirror images of the foliation where the ink transferred, as if the book were foliated in a great hurry.
  • A pencil foliation in the top right hand corner of the rectos starts at 1 on the chapter page and runs 1-34, 34-59, 59-74, (does not number fol. 75), 76-87, (does not number fol. 88), 89-129.
  • A pencil foliation in a different hand in the bottom right hand corner of the rectos is concurrent with the pencil foliation at the top. This hand numbers fols 75, 88.
  • In the top left hand corner of the versos in ink is an attempt to number every tenth folio: 10-80 are numbered correctly, fol. 91 is numbered '90', fol. 102 is numbered '100', fol. 112 is numbered '110' and fol. 122 is numbered '120'.

Collation:

  • Quires: According to Wilcox 2000, the collation as follows is tentative for all but the centre quires, as the manuscript is bound very tightly (p. 49): 1-48, fols 1-32, 53, fols 33-34, 34*, 6-78, fols 35-50, 810, fols 51-59*, 98, fols 60-67, 108+1, fols 68-76, fol. 75 is an added slip. 118, fols 77-84, 126+1, fols 85-91, fol. 88 is an added slip; fols 85, 86 are singletons with their stubs visible after fol. 91. 136, fols 92-97, 1410, fols 98-107, 14-168, fols 108-23, 176, fols 124-29.

    Wilcox 2000 argues that it appears from the old foliation that two leaves are missing between fols 34 and 34*(presumably blank) and three leaves are missing between fols 100 and 101 (p. 49).

  • Signatures: Quire 9 has the signature '.XI.' (fol. 67v) and Quire 10 has the signature ':XII:' (fol. 76v), suggesting that Part 4 was once part of a fuller book (Wilcox 2000, p. 48).

Note:

  • The manuscript is in four parts, with Part 3 containing the Old English texts in a single quire. All four texts are incomplete, with blank spaces at the end of each of them, as if the scribe's intention were to write more (Swan 2002). The quire is surrounded by a bifolium which forms fols 51 and 59* of the manuscript.
  • Layout:
  • Columns: 1 main writing column, 3 ruled columns
  • Written Lines: 31
  • Locus: Part 1: fols 1-34
  • Dimensions: 165 mm x 20 mm; first column and third column- space for annal numbers
  • Dimensions: 165 mm x 62 mm; main column
  • Overview: The leaves are ruled for three columns: left, middle and right, but only there are only two columns of text on each page. The main column of text has double bounding lines, left and right. On the outside of the bounding lines are columns ruled to allow space for the annal numbers on both the rectos and versos. The left column is used for the annal numbers, and the main text extends to the outer line of the right column.
  • Layout:
  • Columns: 1
  • Written Lines: 28
  • Locus: Part 2: fols 35-51
  • Dimensions: 181 mm x 104 mm; written space
  • Overview: The first and third, last and antipenultimate lines extend to the edges of the leaves.
  • Layout:
  • Columns: 2
  • Written Lines: 32-37
  • Locus: Part 3: fols 52-57
  • Dimensions: 170 mm x 53 mm; columns
  • Overview: The folios are ruled for two columns (4 mm apart) unlike almost all of the rest of the manuscript, and also unlike almost all other Old English homiletic prose (Swan 2007). Columns are ruled for 33-38 lines per page. There are double bounding lines on either side of the outside of the columns and the top two lines are generally continued into the margin. Some coloured initials are between the bounding lines. Fols 57v-59v have been re-ruled for subsequent material.
  • Layout:
  • Columns: 1
  • Written Lines: 22
  • Locus: Part 4: fols 58-129
  • Dimensions: 162 mm x 100 mm; written space
  • Overview: Double bounding lines on either side. The top and bottom lines often extend into the margin.

Hand Description

Hand
  • Number of hands: 1 in Old English
  • Methods of Alteration: The scribe provides corrections above the line (e.g. at fols 54va/2, 54vb/23) and in the margin (fol. 54va/28).
  • Hand: Old English texts
    • Scope: major
    • Script: English Vernacular Minuscule
    • Description: Fols 52r-57v.
    • Summary of the characteristics of the hand: Described by Wilcox 2000 as a 'small, cramped early 13th century hand' . The writing becomes 'bigger and less disciplined' towards the end of First Series of Homilies [Catholic Homilies I]: De Initio Creaturae (particularly from fol. 54ra/14) then switches to smaller script at fol. 57va/19 (p. 48).
    • d and ð are of the same size and shape.
    • Both insular and Caroline g are used.
    • p and ƿ are very similar.
    • Both tall and long s are used.
    • y is dotted.
    • Use of ˥.
    • þ with a cross-bar is used for 'þæt'.
    • macrons are used.
Decoration Description

The initial letter 'V' of First Series of Homilies [Catholic Homilies I]: De Initio Creaturae is enlarged and supplied in red. It appears that there was the same intention for the other items, as there is space left at the beginning of each item, but the illuminated letters were never supplied.

Additions

On the pastedown at the front in the bottom left-hand corner is '29.G' in pecil, now crossed-out, with '18a' in pencil above it. The stamp on the recto of the first paper flyleaf says 'COTTON MS. | VESPASIAN A. XXII'. The recto of the second paper flyleaf has the note '2.3W COTTON' in pencil. The verso of this flyleaf is shiny and bears a negative impression of fol. 1.

Binding Description

Reddish-brown leather binding with Cotton's coat of arms on the outside. The spine reads 'Chronicles, etc. | Brit. Mus. | Cotton MS. VESPASIAN A. XXII'.

Accompanying Material

There is no accompanying material.

Additional Information

Administration Information

Surrogates EM Project facsimile Wilcox, Jonathan, Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2000), vol. 8

History

Origin

Origin:

Written in Rochester (Watson 1979, p. 108; Richards 1978, p. 97).

Provenance:

A fourteenth-century ownership inscription at the foot of fol. 2r places the manuscript in Rochester at that time: 'Liber .ii. de consuetudinibusecclesie Roffensis per benedictum monachum | quem qui alien-auerit anathema sit. amen'. 'Liber .ii.' corresponds with '.II.' written at the top of the page (Wilcox 2000, p. 46).

Acquisition:

Belonged to William Lombarde (d. 1601) who signed a note beneath the inscription on fol. 2r 'W L 1598'. Robert Cotton signed his name 'Ro. Cotton Bruceus' over an earlier name or monogram, now illegible. Acquired by the British Museum along with the rest of the Cotton collection.

Provenance

Rochester

Bibliography

Clemoes, Peter, ed., Ælfric's Catholic Homilies: The First Series. Text, EETS, SS 17 (London: Oxford University Press, 1997)

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

Hall, Joseph, Selections from Early Middle English, 1130-1250, 2 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1920)

Hardy, Thomas Duffus, Descriptive Catalogue of Materials Relating to the History of Great Britain and Ireland to the End of the Reign of Henry VII, Rolls Series, 26 (London: Longman, 1871), vol. 3

Le Patourel, John, 'The Reports on the Trial on Penendon Heath', in Studies in Medieval History Presented to Frederick Maurice Powicke , ed. by R. W. Hunt, W. A. Pantin and R. W. Southern (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1948)

McColl Millar, Robert, and Alex Nicholls, 'Ælfric's De Initio Creaturae and London, British Library, Cotton Vespasian A.xxii: omission, addition, retention and innovation', in The Preservation and Transmission of Anglo-Saxon Culture , ed. by Paul C. Szarmach and Joel T. Rosenthal (Kalamazoo: Publications of the Center for Medieval Studies, 1997), pp. 431-64

Millett, B, 'Change and Continuity: the English Sermon Before 1250', in The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Literature in English, ed. by Elaine Treharne and Greg Walker (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp. 221-39

Morris, Richard, Old English Homilies and Homiletic Treatises, EETS, OS 29, 34 (London: Trübner, 1867)

Richards, M. P., 'Innovations in Ælfrician Homiletic Manuscripts at Rochester', Annuale Medievale, 19 (1979), 13-26

---, 'MS Cotton Vespasian A. XII: The Vespasian Homilies', Manuscripta, 22 (1978), 97-103

Rye, W. B., 'Catalogue of the Library of the Priory of St. Andrew, Rochester A.D. 1202', in Archaelogia Cantiana (1860), 3, 47-64

Stubbs, William, The Historical Works of Master Ralph de Diceto, Dean of London, Rolls Series, 68, 2 vols (London Longman, 1876)

Swan, Mary, 'Preaching Past the Conquest: Lambeth Palace 487 and Cotton Vespasian A. XXII', in The Old English Homily: Precedent, Practice, and Appropriation, ed. by Aaron J. Kleist (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007), pp. 403-23

Watson, Andrew George, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts, c. 700-1600 in the Department of Manuscripts, The British Library, 2 vols (London: British Museum, 1979)

Wells, John, A Manual of the Writings of Middle English (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1916)

Wilcox, Jonathan, Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile, Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2000), vol. 8

Catalogue Entry Authored By

Hollie Morgan

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