List of manuscripts of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica

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This list of manuscripts of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica gives the location and name of known surviving manuscripts of Bede's most famous work, the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People).

Contents

The c and m texts

The majority of the manuscripts of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica fall into one of two groups, known to scholars as c and m. The distinction between these two groups was first noticed by Charles Plummer, in his Baedae Opera Historica, published in 1896. Plummer gives five significant differences between the two: [1]

  1. In the m text, Bede asks for the prayers of his readers at the end of his preface; in the c text this comes at the end of the whole work.
  2. Chapter 14 of book IV only appears in the m manuscripts.
  3. There are three words in the m text near the beginning of book IV, chapter 18, which are omitted in the c text.
  4. There is a variation between the texts in the annal for 731 given in the recapitulation at the end of the work; and in addition, the c text adds annals for 733 and 734 which do not appear in the m text.
  5. The list of Bede's works in the c text omits his excerpts from Jerome on the prophets.

Colgrave, in his 1969 edition of the text, adds one more to this list, though he attributes this distinction to Plummer also: [2]

  1. The account of the miracles of St. Cuthbert in chapters 31 and 32 differs in that at the end of book IV, chapter 30, the m text uses "quaedam quae", where the c text has "unum quae"; the Latin in the c text implies only one miracle will be related, instead of the two that follow. In addition, the list of chapter headings in the c text has the headings for chapters 31 and 32 reversed.

The c text is now thought to be an earlier form of the work, since it is unlikely Bede (or any reviser) would have removed IV.14.

In Britain, only the c text circulated, whereas almost all the copies on the continent were of the m form.

Important early manuscripts

There are three early manuscripts of the c text, and five of the m text, which are regarded as the basis of these versions of Bede's work. The letters at the start of each manuscript description are used by scholars to refer to the main manuscripts; these were mostly assigned by Plummer, with some modifications by Colgrave. The "CLA" number quoted refers to the Codices Latini Antiquiores , a published series of manuscripts that includes several of the Bede manuscripts. [3]

The following are c text manuscripts.

The following are m text manuscripts.

The m text in England

Only one manuscript of the m type remained in England. [4]

The c text in England

The numerous c text manuscripts in England can be assigned to groups with greater or lesser certainty according to the correspondences between the manuscripts, though how they are derived from the original is not always clear.

Two manuscripts may have direct lineal relationship with C: [5]

Durham group

This group, so named by Plummer, consists of a manuscript from Durham cathedral and eight further manuscripts that are derived from it. [7] The parent is:

The derived manuscripts are:

Winchester group

This group consists of three manuscripts, the earliest of which is from Winchester. [8]

Manuscripts of the c text containing the miracle of St. Oswald

One of the distinguishing marks of the c text is the omission of IV.14, which tells of a miracle performed by St Oswald. However, by the end of the 11th century the missing chapter had been recovered from an m text manuscript. The following groups of manuscripts are all of c type but contain IV.14.

Gloucester group

This group shares with B, above, a pair of additions to the text. [9]

  • British Library, Royal MS 13 C. v. Dates from the second half of the 11th century; in multiple hands. The manuscript is missing the last leaf. There are two ex-libris marks: that of Gloucester Abbey, and also that of Richard Hanley, abbot there from 1457 to 1472.
  • Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 368. An early 12th-century copy from Winchcomb Abbey, near Gloucester. Bede's text is followed by a life of St. Kenelm, the patron saint of the abbey; hence the copy was probably made for Winchcomb. Colgrave obtained both this manuscript and Royal MS 13 C. v, and compared them to determine if it were a copy of the British Library manuscript, but was unable to find any evidence to settle the question.
  • Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, Peniarth 381. First half of the 12th century; the manuscript has been damaged, apparently by rats. There is a pressmark which has not been identified, and the manuscript also has two signatures: John Canon and Clement Burdett, both of whom owned the manuscript after the dissolution of the monasteries.
  • Oxford, New College 308. A late 12th-century manuscript.
  • Oxford, Pembroke College 3. Also late 12th century, but the manuscript is missing much material. Nothing is known of its history; it is signed in three places with a 17th-century name, "Anthonye Cole of Cadwych".
  • Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Barlow 39 (6462). A 13th-century manuscript missing the first thirteen leaves; also missing a leaf after f. 39. Plummer believed this was a copy of the Winchcomb manuscript, MS. Douce 368, above. The origin of this manuscript is unknown.

Other manuscripts

Other copies that include the chapter on St Oswald exist, but for the relationships with other manuscripts are more obscure. [10]

  • Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Laud Misc. 243. First half of the 12th century; multiple scribes. The chapter recording the miracle of St Oswald is marked out with a heading that makes it clear the intention was for the chapter to be read out loud.
  • British Library, Stowe MS 104. Dates from the end of the 12th century.
  • London, College of Arms. This copy is from the second half of the 12th century; it bears a pressmark from Chichester Cathedral.
  • British Library, Add MS 14250. From the late 12th or early 13th century. The manuscript is marked with the ex libris of Plympton Priory; there are annals dealing with Plympton affairs which follow Bede's text.

Yorkshire group

This group is identified by the omission of the text from part way through V.24 onwards; the manuscript from which these manuscripts derive was presumably damaged or unfinished. [11]

There are also four copies recorded in medieval catalogues that may have been related to this group. These are: [13]

Southern text

These manuscripts are described by Colgrave as representing "the common text of southern England in the later Middle Ages". [13] It is characterized by several changes made to the manuscripts; Colgrave gives several examples from chapters in book I of the text. This group falls into two parts, with each set characterized by commonalities in the text. [13]

Digby group

The first set, named the "Digby group", [14] consists of: [15]

  • Hereford Cathedral P. v. 1. A fragment of this manuscript is separated and is in Bodleian MS. E Museo 93 (3632). Early 12th century. It was annotated by John Price in the 16th century, and later that century was owned by Walter Herbert. On f. 116 an omission has been corrected using Bodleian MS. Laud. misc. 243.
  • Oxford, Magdalen College lat. 105. A mid-12th-century copy of unknown history; see the Bury St. Edmunds manuscript below in this list.
  • Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Digby 211 (1812). From the second half of the 12th century. The manuscript bears the ex libris of Waltham Abbey, which was founded in 1177.
  • Cambridge, St. John's College B. 5 (27). A 14th-century copy which at one time belonged to the college at Pleshey, in Essex.
  • Oxford Bodleian Library, MS. Digby 101 (1702). Early 14th century.
  • Cambridge, Trinity College R. 5. 22 (717), part 1. A 14th-century copy.
  • Oxford, Merton College 95 (K. 3. 6). A 14th-century copy which is truncated part way through V.20. Merton College received it in the will of Robert Ketrynham in 1374.
  • Oxford, Bodleian Library, Tanner 348 (10,175). A 15th-century manuscript that contains a list of archbishops of Canterbury found also in British Library MS. Stowe 104.
  • Oxford, All Souls College 31. 15th century.
  • Bury St. Edmunds, Cathedral Library. 15th century. It was given to Syon Abbey in 1490; in 1575 it was in the possession of Augustine Stywarde, who gave it to the church library in Bury. It shares several lines of verse with Oxford, Magdalen College lat. 105, above.

Colgrave suggests that a manuscript known to have been given to Pembroke College, Cambridge by Hugh Damlett in 1476 was probably in this group also.

Rochester group

The second group is characterised by, among other things, the inclusion of an Old English text on the resting places of English saints (known as the Secgan ). It consists of: [16]

  • British Library, Harley MS 3680. Early 12th century. This was probably written at Rochester. The manuscript is listed in a Rochester catalogue in 1202. Colgrave suggests that this might be the parent of all the manuscripts that include the text on the resting places of the saints.
  • Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. e Museo 115 (3537). A 12th-century manuscript missing a leaf at the start and several at the end. It finishes part way through V.21. The same John Prise who owned Hereford Cathedral P. v. 1 also wrote a note on this manuscript.
  • Dublin, Trinity College E. 2. 23 (492). Second half of the 12th century. This manuscript comes from Bury St Edmunds Abbey.
  • Oxford, Christ Church 99. From the first half of the 14th century. A 15th-century name, "Thomas Spaine", is written on the inside of the cover.
  • Cambridge, Trinity College R. 7. 3. Early 14th century. The binding is decorated with a coat of arms, which Colgrave was unable to identify.
  • British Library, Arundel MS 74. Late 14th century. This contains the coat of arms of Henry le Despenser, who was the bishop of Norwich from 1370 to 1406.

Three others in this group may be listed separately; one is now lost, and the other two are less closely related to the manuscripts listed above.

  • Oxford, Merton College. Merton still owns one copy of Bede in Merton College 95 (K. 3. 6), listed above in the Digby group, but at one time, according to a catalogue, it owned another copy. John Leland, the 16th-century antiquary, asserted that a Merton manuscript contained the text concerning the resting places of the saints. That text was never a part of the remaining manuscript, so it is likely to have been the other. That manuscript would have fallen into this group.
  • Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Holkham misc. 7. In a late 15th-century hand. Once owned by the Earl of Leicester and kept at his library at Holkham Hall.
  • Worcester Cathedral F. 148. Second half of the 14th century. Twenty two quires of this book are now lost, including Bede's text up to the end of I.14. There are two further gaps in the manuscript, of one leaf and six leaves.

Uncertain lineage

Several English manuscripts, though clearly c texts, have not been placed in relationship to the other surviving manuscripts. These include: [17]

Manuscripts not clearly of m or c type

Other manuscripts exist that cannot be traced to the m or c texts. [20] [21] [22]

A record survives in a catalogue of Glastonbury manuscripts from 1247 of a copy titled Historiae Anglorum scriptae a Beda, but it is not known what became of it.

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References

  1. Plummer, Baedae Opera Historica, pp. xcivxcv.
  2. Colgrave, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, pp. xlxli.
  3. Colgrave, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, pp. xlivxlv.
  4. Colgrave, Bede's Ecclesiastica Historia, pp. xlvixlvii.
  5. Colgrave, Bede's Ecclesiastica Historia, pp. xlviixlviii.
  6. "254". St. John's College, University of Cambridge. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  7. Colgrave, Bede's Ecclesiastica Historia, pp. xlixl.
  8. Colgrave, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, pp. lli.
  9. Colgrave, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, pp. lilii.
  10. Colgrave, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, p. liii.
  11. Colgrave, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, pp. liiilv.
  12. Thomson, Catalogue, p. viii.
  13. 1 2 3 Colgrave, Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica, p. lv.
  14. So named by E. van K. Dobbie; see Dobbie, The manuscripts of Cædmon's hymn, p. 76.
  15. Colgrave, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, pp. lvlvii.
  16. Colgrave, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, pp. lviilix.
  17. Colgrave, Bede's Ecclesiastica Historia, p. xlviii.
  18. Plummer, Bedae Opera Historica II, p. 118. Colgrave mentions this also (Bede's Ecclesiastical History, p. lv) but does not give the modern name of the manuscript: the Phillipps collection has been dispersed since Plummer's day.
  19. Atherton, Norwich Cathedral, p. 334.
  20. Colgrave, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, pp. xlvxlvi.
  21. Colgrave, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, p. xlvii.
  22. Colgrave, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, pp. lixlxi.

Sources