Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 509
509
General Information
344
657
Heptateuch. A manuscript containing Ælfrician and other anonymous material (Ker 1957, pp. 422-23): fols 1r-3r, Ælfric's Preface to Genesis; fols 3r-98v include partial translations of the Pentateuch by Ælfric and other anonymous translators (Jost 1927, pp. 218-19; Raith 1952; Morrell 1965, pp. 12-13; Marsden 1994; Doane 2002, p. 72; for the text, see Crawford 1922, p. 76 passim, and Pope 1967-68, p. 85). Fols 98v-107r contain a translation of Joshua. Fols. 108v-15v, Ælfric's homily on Judges which is followed by Ælfric's letter to Wulfgeat (fols 115v-20v, see Assmann 1889). On fols 120v-41v, Ælfric's Libellus de veteri testamento et nouo addressed to Sigeweard (Crawford 1922, pp. 15-75). Latin glosses have been added on many leaves in a hand of s. xi/xii, as well as the English title word 'bǽcelinge', written above 'coctum in clibano' which itself glosses the Old English 'ofebacene hlafas' on fol. 66v (Ker 1957, p. 422) . This manuscript once formed a single volume with Vespasian D. xxi, fols 18-40, which was separated by Cotton between 1603 and December 1606 (Tite 1992, pp. 136-37).
Object Description
Codex
Support: Parchment
Extent:
- 211 mm x 138 mm (dimensions of all - size of leaves)
- 155 mm x 90 mm (dimensions of all - size of written space)
Foliation/Pagination: Fols iv + 141+ ii.
Collation:
Quires: 110 wants 6, fols 1-9; 2-78, fols 10-57; 88, 3 and 6 are half-sheets (fols 60-63), fols 58-65; 98, fols 66-73; 10-118, 3 and 6 are half-sheets (fols 76-79/84-87), fols 74-81/82-89; 128, 3 and 6 are half-sheets (fols 93-95), fols 90-97; 1310, 5 and 6 are half-sheets (fols 102-03), fols 98-107; 148, fols 108-15; 158, 3 and 6 half-sheets (fols 118-22), fols 116-23; 168, 3 and 6 half-sheets (fols 126-39), fols 124-31; 1710, 1 and 10 are half-sheets.
Note: Pricked and ruled for 29 lines on fols 1-33 and 26 lines on fols 34-141. Double bounding lines on the flesh side and in dry point. Outer marginal pricking to guide ruling 6 mm apart.
Hand Description
Number of Hands: 3
Summary: Mainly in one hand. A second hand wrote fol. 15/8-21 and fol. 15v/1-10 and a third wrote fol. 17/11-23.
Hand: Hand 1 main text
Scope: major
Script: English Vernacular Minuscule
Ker reference: Ker 344 SC1
Description: Fols 1-141, except fols 15r/8-21, 15v/1-10 and 17r/11-23. A small and regular rounded hand.
Summary of the characteristics of the hand:
- e: open-headed s low or long s used. The long s is used initially and medial, and has a broken shaft made in two strokes. The descender curves to the left.
- ð has a long upstroke tagged to the left at the top, the cross-stroke not transecting the upstroke.
- d: a small round back with a short tapered ascender curved to the right.
- Wedged ascenders.
- Tapered descenders to the left.
Other manuscripts: Vespasian D. xxi, fols 18-40
Date: s. xi2
Hand: Hand 2 additions
Scope: minor
Script: English Vernacular Minuscule
Ker reference: Ker 344 SC2
Description: Fols 15r/8-21, 15v/1-10. Another small and regular rounded hand, very similar to the main hand.
Summary of the characteristics of the hand:
- s short or long s used. The long s is used initially and medially, and the descender curves to the left. Short s with a hook-like ascender, stopping on the writing line.
- ð has a long upstroke occasionally tagged to the left at the top, occasionally it curves to the right.
- d: a small round back with a short tapered ascender curved to the right.
- Wedged ascenders.
- Descenders curving to the left with a serif.
Date: s. xi2
Hand: Hand 3 additions
Scope: minor
Script: English Vernacular Minuscule
Ker reference: Ker 344 SC3
Description: Fol. 17r/11-23. A fairly large rounded hand.
Summary of the characteristics of the hand:
- ð has a long upstroke tapered and curved to the right at the top.
- d: a small round back with a short ascender curved to the left.
- Long s with a flat foot.
- Wedged ascenders.
- Tapered descenders, which turn to the left.
Date: s. xi2
Plain green, red, purple initials with occasional decorations in green, fol. 65v. Black initials are also used (fol. 56). Red titles by the main hand. Titles are in red in the script and hand of the text, although the shade of red seems different, for instance on fol. 65v (Ker 1957, p. 424).
L'Isle corrected the manuscript from Claudius B. iv. He also annotated the manuscript, noting a misbound leaf, fol. 133, supplying catchwords on fols 132v and 133v, and numbered chapters and verses of Genesis up to fol. 12v (Doane 2002, p. 74). Modern signatures B, C, D, E, F are visible on the first recto of Quires 2, 3, 4 and 5. Others can still be visible after the trimming by the binder on Quires 10 and 11. A table of content, s. xvi, had been bounded upside down.
Leather binding of s. xvii1 bearing Laud's arms. The front and back covers have become detached (Doane 2002, p. 74). Graham suggests that the fragments of pasteboard stuck to the verso of fol. iv indicate that it served as a pastedown in the Cottonian binding. He argues that L'Isle removed Cotton's binding and had it rebound, retaining the Cottonian endleaves but turning them over and around in the process (2000, p. 293).
Additional Information
Manuscript described by Orietta Da Rold with the assistance of Hollie Morgan (2010) and Owen Roberson (2012).
Surrogates:
Doane, Alger Nicolaus, Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile, Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2002), vol. 7: Anglo-Saxon Bibles and "The Book of Cerne"
Ker, N. R., Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957; repr. 1990), plt. VI, fol. 134v
Marsden, Richard, ed., The Old English Heptateuch and Ælfric's Libellus de Veteri Testamento et Novo, EETS 330 (Early English Text Society, 2008) fol. 72r
Images of Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud. Misc. 509 are available on LUNA at the Bodleian Library, details of fols 3r, 5v, 24r, 37r, 58v, 80r, 100v (accessed 24 July 2018)
History
Unknown
Provenance: In the 1542 catalogue of the old Royal Library, it was number 159 (fol. 2, top), and it is described as 'the pentatuik and saints Lyues'. It belonged later to Cotton (see Ker 1937, p. 132). Cotton 'lent the part now at Oxford, 'Liber Genesis et pentatuchum Saxonice' bound withe my arms and clapses in 4to' to 'Mr. Lyll of Cambrig' before 23rd of April 1621, as appears from the list of Cotton's loan of books in MS. Harley 6018, fol. 148v' (Ker 1957, p. 424).
Acquisition: Ker notes: 'The dates of ownership and gift suggest that Laud obtained the manuscript from L'Isle (cf. Laud misc. 201, 381, 636). Former Bodleian pressmark Laud E. 19' (Ker 1957, p. 424).
Unknown
Assmann, Bruno, ed., Angelsächsischen Homilien und Heiligenleben, Bibliotek der angelsächsischen Prosa, 13 (Kassel: Wigand, 1889; repr. 1964)
Barnhouse, Rebecca, and Benjamin C. Withers, eds, The Old English Hexateuch: Aspects and Approaches, Publications of the Richard Rawlinson Center (Kalamazoo, Michigan Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University, 2000)
Carley, James C. , 'The Royal Library as a Source for Cotton's Collections: A Preliminary List of Acquisitions', British Library Journal, no. 18.1 (1992), 52-73
Crawford, S. J., ed., The Old English Version of the Heptateuch, Aelfric's Treatise on the Old and New Testament, and his Preface to Genesis, EETS, OS 160 (London: Oxford University Press, 1922)
Doane, Alger Nicolaus, Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile, Medieval & Renaisance Studies (Series) (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2002), vol. 7: Anglo-Saxon Bibles and "The Book of Cerne"
Graham, Timothy, 'Early Modern Users of Claudius B. iv: Robert Talbot and William L'Isle ', ed. by Rebecca and Withers Barnhouse, Benjamin C. (2000), pp. 271-316
Jost, K., 'Unechte Ælfrictexte (Fortsetzung)', Anglia, 51 (1927), 177-219
Ker, N. R., 'Membra Disiecta', in British Museum Quarterly, 12 (1937-38), pp. 130-35
---, Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957; repr. 1990), item 344
Lisle, William, Divers Ancient Monuments (1623)
LUNA (http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/luna/servlet; accessed 23 July 2018)
Marsden, Richard, 'Old Latin Interventions in the Old English 'Heptateuch'', in Anglo-Saxon England 23 (1994), pp. 229-64
---, 'Translation by Commitee? The 'Anonymous' Text of the Old English Hexateuch', in Haxateuch, ed. by Rebecca and Withers Barnhouse, Benjamin C. (2000), pp. 41-85
---, 'Latin in the Ascendant: The Interlinear Gloss of Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 509', in Latin Learning and English Lore: Studies in Anglo-Saxon Literature for Michael Lapidge, ed. by K. O'Brien O'Keeffe and A. Orchard (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005), vol. 2, pp. 132-52
--- ed., The Old English Heptateuch and Ælfric's Libellus de Veteri Testamento et Novo, 330 (Early English Text Society, 2008)
Morrell, Minnie Cate, A Manual of Old English Biblical Materials (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1965)
Pope, John C., ed., Homilies of Aelfric: A Supplementary Collection, EETS, OS 259 and 260 (London: Oxford University Press, 1967-68)
Raith, Joseph, 'Ælfric's Share in the Old English Pentateuch', in Review of English Studies (1952), vol. 3, pp. 305-14
Scragg, Donald, Alexander Rumble, and Kathryn Powell, C11 Database Project (Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies, http://www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/mancass/c11database/). Available for limited viewing on the Internet Wayback Machine.
Smith, Andrea B., The Anonymous Parts of the Old English Hexateuch: A Latin-Old English / Old English-Latin Glossary (Cambridge and Dover, 1985)
Thwaites, Edward, ed., Heptateuchus, Liber Job, et Euangelium Nicdemi: Anglo-Saxonice; Historiæ Judith Fragmentum: Dano-Saxonice, edidit nunc primum ex MMS codicibus. (Oxford Sheldonian Theatre, 1698 )
Tite, Colin G.C, '"Lost or Stolen or Strayed":A Survey of Manuscripts Formerly in the Cotton Library', The British Library Journal, 18, no. 2 (1992), 107-47
Wanley, Humfrey, Antique literature septentrionalis liber alter (Oxford: Sheldonian Theatre, 1705)
Wilcox, Jonathan, ed., Aelfric's Prefaces, 9 (Durham: Durham Medieval Texts, 1994)
Withers, Benjamin C., 'Unfulfilled Promise: The Rubrics of the Old English Prose Genesis', Anglo- Saxon England, 28 (1999), 11-39
Orietta Da Rold