London, British Library, Royal 2. B. v

Present Location
Repository
Collection
Shelfmark

2. B. v

Contents
Date
Medieval Provenance

General Information

Ker

249

Gnuess/Lapidge

451

Summary

A tenth-century Latin psalter and canticles of the Roman version with continuous interlinear gloss in s. xmed. There are several additions in Old English from s. x to s. ximed. The additions from s. ximed are two maxims and two proverbs on fol. 6r, lines 14-20 and an 'Oratio' on fol. 6v beginning 'Min drihten leof for þinre þære micelan mildheortnysse'. There is also a note from s. ximed on fol. 198v referring to 'Christes cyrcan', associating the manuscript with Christ Church, Canterbury.

Old English glosses, s. xii, are on fols 9r, 29v, 62v and 69r, over erasures of earlier glosses.

Digital Surrogate

https://em1060.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj24871/f/styles/large-scaled/public/royal_7_c_iv.png?itok=VlkXjome

Manuscript Items
  1. Item: fol. 6r

    • Title (B.7.3): Proverbs

      Incipit: (fol. 6r) Selre byð oft feðre ;

      Explicit: (fol. 6r) only one sentence

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  2. Item: fol. 6v

    • Title (B.12.4.3.1): Confessional Prayers Oratio pro peccatis

      Incipit: (fol. 6v) Min drihten leof for þinre þære | micelan mildheortnysse

      Explicit: (fol. 6v) Si þe lof ˥ ƿuldor a butan ende amen

      Text Language: English

      not sure about this attribution, but incipit is close

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  3. Item: fols 8r-171r

    • Title (C.7.9): Gloss to Psalms

      Incipit: (fol. 8r) EADIG | ƿer se þe na eode on geþeahte | ˥ arleasra on ƿeg | synfylra na stod ˥ on heahsetle ˥ cƿyldes ƿaƿan | set (incipit of the first psalm)

      Explicit: (fol. 171r) ælc gast herige drihten (explicit of the final psalm)

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Date: s. xmed

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  4. Item: fol. 171v

    • Title (C.11.9.1.EM): Gloss to Canticles of the Psalter

      Incipit: (fol. 171v) Ic andette þe ðu eorsodes | gecyrred is hatheortes | þin ˥ þu frefredest me

      Explicit: (fol. 171v) gefægena ˥ here eardung ecclesię | forðon micel on middele þinum | halig

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  5. Item: fols 172r-73r

    • Title (C.11.9.2.EM): Gloss to Canticles of the Psalter

      Rubric (initial):

      Incipit: (fol. 172r) ic cwæð on middele daga minra | ic gange to gatum helle | ic sohte lafe geara

      Explicit: (fol. 173r) hale us þu do ˥ sealmas | ure ƿe singað eallum | dagum lifes ures on huse drihtnes

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  6. Item: fols 173r-74v

    • Title (C.11.9.3.EM): Gloss to Canticles of the Psalter

      Incipit: (fol. 173r) gefægnode heorte min | on

      Explicit: (fol. 174v) ˥ he gemærsað horn cyning his

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  7. Item: fols 174v-75v

    • Title (C.11.9.4.EM): Gloss to Canticles of the Psalter

      Incipit: (fol. 174v) uton singan drihtne ƿuldorfullice | soþlice he gearƿeorþod is | hors

      Explicit: (fol. 175v) ˥ he in | lædde ofer hy wæteru sæs | bearn eodon drigum fotum ðurh middel sæs

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  8. Item: fols 175v-77v

    • Title (C.11.9.5.EM): Gloss to Canticles of the Psalter

      Incipit: (fol. 175v) ic gehyrde gehyrnesse ðine

      Explicit: (fol. 177v) ˥ ofer heahnessa gesette me þæt ic | ofersƿiðe on beorhtnesse his

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  9. Item: fols 117v-81v

    • Title (C.11.9.6.EM): Gloss to Canticles of the Psalter

      Incipit: (fol. 177v) begim þu heafon ˥ ic sprece

      Explicit: (fol. 181v) ˥ | þam þe hatedom hine he agyldeþ | ˥ geclæsnade eorðan | folces his

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  10. Item: fols 181v-82v

    • Title (C.11.9.7.EM): Gloss to Canticles of the Psalter

      Incipit: (fol. 181v) bletsiað ealle ƿeorc drihtnes

      Explicit: (fol. 182v) þu gebletsod eart on trumnesse heofones | ˥ heriendlice ˥ oferupahafen | on ƿorulde

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  11. Item: fols 183v-83r

    • Title (C.11.9.8.EM): Gloss to Canticles of the Psalter

      Incipit: (fol. 182v) gebletsod getreoƿra | forðon he neosode ˥ he dyde alysednesse | folces his

      Explicit: (fol. 183r) onlyhtan þæm ðe on þystrum | ˥ on scade deaþes sittæth to ge | reccanne fet ure on ƿeg | sybbe

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  12. Item: fols 183r-v

    • Title (C.11.9.9.EM): Gloss to Canticles of the Psalter

      Incipit: (fol. 183r) gemiclað saƿl min drihten

      Explicit: (fol. 183v) sƿa sƿa he spræc to fæderum urum ˥ sædsƿorne his on ƿoruld +'+' is a cross aƿoruld

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  13. Item: fols 183v-84r

    • Title (C.11.9.10.EM): Gloss to Canticles of the Psalter

      Incipit: (fol. 183v) nu forlæt ðeoƿ þinne

      Explicit: (fol. 184r) leoht to aƿrigennesse þeoda | ƿuldor folces ðines

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  14. Item: fols 184r-86v

    • Title (C.11.9.11.EM): Gloss to Canticles of the Psalter

      Incipit: (fol. 184r) sƿa hƿa sƿa ƿile hal ƿesan | toforon eallum þearf is soþlice | þæt he nime þone fulfremedan geleafan

      Explicit: (fol. 186v) þis is geleafa ciriclic þone numðe | hƿylc getreoƿlice ˥ trumlice gelyfe| hal ƿesan na he mæg

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  15. Item: 186v-87r

    • Title (C.11.9.12.EM): Gloss to Canticles of the Psalter

      Incipit: (fol. 186v) ƿuldor on heahnessum gode

      Explicit: (fol. 187r) mid halgum gaste on ƿuldre | godes ˥ fæder gea la gę + '+' is a crosssy sƿa

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  16. Item: fols 190v-92r

    • Title (B.11.9.3.2.1.EM): Forms of Confession and Absolution

      Incipit: (fol. 190v) Myn drihten god ælmihtig . ic þe eomandetta | minra synna þara þe ic in minre geme | lęste ƿiþ þe geƿorhte

      Explicit (Latin): (fol. 192r) Per te Ihesu Xriste saluator | mundi qui in trinitate perfecta uiuis et regnas in secula seculorum amen

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  17. Item: fols 192r-96v

    • Title (B.12.4.3.3): Confessional Prayers

      Incipit: (fol. 192r) Min drihten ælmihtig si þe | ƿuldor ˥ þonc þæs þe ðu me oððe ænigum men æfre | to miltsumfogeafe

      Explicit: (fol. 196v) Se man þe þis gefæst ne þerf he na

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  18. Item: fols 197r-98r

    • Title (B.11.9.3.2.2.EM): Forms of Confession and Absolution [second part] Confessio et oratio

      Incipit: (fol. 197r) Eala þu ælmihtiga god unasecgendlicere mildheortnesse

      Explicit: (fol. 198r) Hælend crist gehyr þas ƿord þu ðe | leofast ˥ rixast mid þam ælmihtigan fæder ˥ þam halgan gaste butan a | nginne ˥ ende. AMEN:

      Text Language: English

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

  19. Item: fol. 198r

    • Title (B.12.4.3.2): Confessional Prayers

      Incipit: (fol. 198r) Man mote hine gebiddan sƿa sƿa he mæg ˥ can

      Explicit: (fol. 198r) Ac seþe þis singan | ƿylle . ne secge he na mare on þære andetnysse þonne he ƿyrcende wæs . | forþanðe ure hælend nele þæt man on hine sylfne leoge . ne eac | ealle menn on ane ƿisan ne syngiað

      Text Language: English and Latin

      Bibliography:

      Ker 1957, pp. 318-20

Object Description

Form

Form: Codex

Support: Parchment, flyleaves are modern paper.

Extent:

  • 272 mm x 184 mm (dimensions of all - size of leaves)
  • 196 mm x 125 mm (dimensions of all - size of written space)

Foliation and/or Pagination: Fols iv + 198 + iv, foliated (i-iv), 1-198 (199-202). The original modern foliation is off by one number, with '107' repeated on fol. 108 and continuing to the end of the codex. This foliation has been crossed out and corrected. Psalms are numbered in modern pencil 1-70 and 84-86 (Pulsiano 1994, p. 58).

Collation:

  • Quires: Current binding is tight and it is hard to see the quire structure. According to Pulsiano 1994, 16+1 (fols 1-7, leaf inserted after 6), 2-248, 258(fols 192-198, wants 8).
     

     

  • Signatures: Medieval quire signatures can be seen in the bottom margins, on the last page of quires: 'i' (fol. 15v), 'ii' (fol. 23v), 'v' (fol. 47v, erased but visible), 'vi' (fol. 55v), 'vii' (fol. 63v), 'viii' (fol. 71v) and traces of 'v' can be seen on fol. 79v.

Layout description:

  • Layout:
    • Fols 1-7 are ruled for 21 lines except for fol. 6v, which is ruled for double columns, 48 lines for additional material. The psalms are ruled for 19 widely-spaced lines, allowing space for the gloss. Single column with double bounding lines and extra columns, which allow additional glosses, at both sides. Ker 1957 notes that ruling is on two or four leaves at a time.

Hand Description

Hand
  • Number of hands: possibly 3 in s. xii
  • Summary: 3 hands from s. ximed. As Ker 1957 notes, glosses of s. xii appear on fols 9r, 29v, 62v and 69r on erasure of earlier glosses. There are probably three or more hands.
  • Hand: gloss
    • Scope: minor
    • Script: English Vernacular Minuscle
    • Description: fol. 9r/4. 'anƿaldnesse'
    • Summary of the characteristics of the hand:
    • a is insular, triangular.
    • insular d has a tall and upright ascender, which curls back to the right at the end.
    • minims have distinct feet.
    • insular s is high in position, with a wavy head, and its descender, which curves to the left, extends only slightly below the writing line.
  • Hand: gloss
    • Scope: minor
    • Script: English Vernacular Minuscle
    • Description: fols 29v/16 and 62v/4. 'Falleð' and 'godes' might be by a same hand.
    • Summary of the characteristics of the hand:
    • a is Caroline.
    • the ascender of insular d is at 45º, and curves backwards.
    • g has an open loop, and the vertical line joins the head in the middle.
    • insular s is short and has a straight descender.
  • Hand: gloss
    • Scope: minor
    • Script: English Vernacular Minuscle
    • Description: 69r/11. 'deafe'.
    • Summary of the characteristics of the hand:
    • a is round insular.
    • insular d's ascender is at 30º and finishes straight.
    • insular f is high.
Decoration Description

Psalm divisions at fols 8r, 64r and fol. 117r have initials in green, blue and green. Initials to psalms are coloured with green, red and yellow ochre and yellow ochre is used most for initial letters throughout.

Binding Description

Binding is nineteenth-century red leather.

Additional Information

Administration Information

Manuscript described by Takako Kato with the assistance of Hollie Morgan and Sanne van der Schee (2010; 2013).

Surrogates

Digital surrogate: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=royal_ms_2_b_v_fs001r (accessed 18 July 2018)

Pulsiano, Phillip, 'London, British Library, Royal 2. B. v', in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile (Binghamton, NY: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1994), vol. 2: Psalters I

History

Origin

Origin: Probably written at Winchester, as the saints Machutus and Eadburga are invoked in a prayer added in fol. 1, in s. xi1 (Ker 1967, p. 320). 

Provenance: The notes on fol. 198v and the letter mark 'r' on fol. 8r show that it was at Christ Church, Canterbury in s. xi and later. In the sixteenth century the manuscript belonged to Archbishop Thomas Cramner and then Lord Lumley (d. 1609).

Provenance

Winchester;Canterbury Christ Church

Bibliography

Davey, William J., 'The Commentary of the Regius Psalter: Its Main Source and Influence on the Old English Gloss', Mediaeval Studies, 49 (1987), 335-51

---, 'An Edition of the Regius Psalter and Its Latin Commentary' (unpublished, Unibersity of Ottawa, 1979)

Dewick, E. S., ed., Facsimiles of Horae de Beata Maria Virgine from English Mss. of the Eleventh Century, Henry Bradshaw Society, 21 (London: Harrison and Sons, 1902)

Dobbie, Elliott van Kirk, ed., The Anglo-Saxon Minor Poems, The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, 6 (New York: Columbia University Press London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1942)

Förster, Max, 'Beiträge zur mittelalterlichen Volkskunde III', Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, 121.30 (1908), 30-46

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 451

Henel, H., Studien zum altenglischen Computus , Beitrage zur englischen Philologie (Leipzig: Tauchnitz, 1934)

Ker, N. R., Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957; repr. 1990), item 249

Logeman, H., 'Anglo-Saxonica Minora', Anglia, 11 (1889), 97-120

Meritt, Herbert Dean, Old English Glosses, The Modern Language Association of America, General Series, xvi (1945)

Morrell, Minnie Cate, A Manual of Old English Biblical Materials (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1965)

Napier, A. S., 'Altenglische Kleinigkeiten', Anglia, 11 (1889)

O'Neill, Patrick, 'A Lost Old-English Charter Rubric: The Evidence from the Regius Psalter', Notes and Queries, 33, no. 3 (1986), 292-94

Pulsiano, Philip, 'The Latin and Old English Glosses in the "Blickling" and "Regius" Psalters', Traditio, 41 (1985), 79-115

Pulsiano, Phillip, 'London, British Library, Royal 2. B. v', in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile (Binghamton, NY: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1994), vol. 2: Psalters I, pp. 57-64)

Roeder, Fritz, ed., Der altenglische Regius-Psalter: Eine Interlinearversion in Hs. Royal 2. B. 5 des Brit. Mus. (Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1904)

Scragg, Donald, Alexander Rumble, and Kathryn Powell, C11 Database Project(Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies, http://www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/mancass/c11database/; accessed in 2009)

Sisam, Celia, and Kenneth Sisam, eds, The Salisbury Psalter, Edited from British Library Ms. Additional 37517, EETS, OS 242 (London: Oxford University Press, 1959)

Wanley, Humfrey, Antique Literature Septentrionalis Liber Alter (Oxford: Sheldonian Theatre, 1705)

Wülcker, R. P, 'Aus englischen Bibliotheken', Anglia, 2, no. 354 (1879)

Zupitza, Julius, 'Eine weitere Aufzeichnung der Oratio pro peccatis', Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen, 84.1 (1890), 327-29

Catalogue Entry Authored By

Takako Kato

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