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St John's College MS. 154

Ælfric and Ælfric Bata, grammatical texts

Language(s): Old English and Latin

1. Fols. 1–160:

Rubric: Incipit præfatio Huius Libri

Incipit: Ego ÆLFRICUS ut minus sapiens has excerptiones de prisciano

Explicit: [fol. 146] fif penegas gemaciað ænne scylling and þrittig penega ænne mancus

Final rubric: Incipi\un/t nomina multarum rerum anglice nomina

Incipit: Deus omnipotens þæt is god ælmihtig se wæs | [fol. 146^v] æfre unbegunnen and æfre bið ungeendod

Explicit: swa þeah ealle naman awritan ne forþon geþencan

‘donatus anglice scrip⟨....⟩ que […] ’ ’ (s. xiv), with the remainder illegible along the worn upper edge, i.e. ÆLFRIC, Grammar and Glossary (Sharpe, 26–7 [no. 53]), ed. from this copy by Julius Zupitza, Ælfrics Grammatik und Glossar (Berlin, 1880; rept. 1966). Our MS is described by Ker, Cat 436–7 (no. 362).

2. Fols. 160^v–98:

Rubric: Denique composuit pueris hoc stilum rite diuersum Qui BEATA ÆLFRICUS monachus breuissimus Qualiter scolastici ualeant resumere fandi Aliquod initium latinitatis sibi

Incipit: Surge frater mi ⟨...⟩ de tuo lectuo quia tempus

Explicit: [fol. 197^v] inter angelico choros gaudentes possidere a domino mereamur largiente ihesu cristo cui est [form ending] Amen

Final rubric: Explicit hic sermo latinus calce quiescens | a BATA ÆLFRICO dispositu monacho

ÆLFRIC BATA, Latin colloquy for beginning Latin Students (Sharpe, 27 [no. 54]), with sporadic Old English glosses from fol. 163 (most in the text hand, others s. xi ex.); the text ed. W. H. Stevenson (rev. W. M. Lindsay), Early Scholastic Colloquies, Anecdota Oxoniensia, Medieval and Modern Series 15, (Oxford, 1929), 27–66. For the glosses, see Arthur S. Napier (ed.), Old English Glosses, Anecdota Oxoniensia, Medieval and Modern Series 11 (Oxford, 1900), 222–3 (nos. 1–72). This and subsequent texts now ed. and discussed by Scott Gwara, Latin Colloquies from Pre-Conquest Britain, Toronto Medieval Latin Texts 22 (Toronto, 1996); and Gwara and David W. Porter, Anglo-Saxon Conversations: The Colloquies of Ælfric Bata (Woodbridge, 1997). Porter has argued on several occasions that the MS may be directly associable with Ælfric bata; see ‘Aelfric’s Colloquy and Aelfric Bata’, Neophilologus 80 (1996), 639–60; and ‘Anglo-Saxon Colloquies: Aelfric, Aelfric Bata and De raris fabulis retractata’, Neophilologus 81 (1997) 467–80.

3. Fols. 198–204:

Rubric: Adhuc ego BATA difficiliorem sente\nti/am addo

Incipit: O grate puer sterne meum gausape quia non habemus

Explicit: uranico basileo qui uiget et dominator \i/ per inmortalia saecula

ÆLFRIC BATA

a further Latin colloquy with frequent Old English glosses (almost all in the text hand, others s. xi ex.); ed. Stevenson and Lindsay, 67–74, and Napier, 223–8 (nos. 73–338).

4. Fols. 204–15:

Rubric: Hanc sententiam latini sermonis olim ÆLFRICUS abbas composuit qui meus fuit magister sed tamen ego ÆLFRIC BATA multas postea huic addidi appendices

Incipit: Nos pueri rogamus te magister \scilicet o/ obnixe ut doceas nos

Explicit: enarrare perlongum est Nec nobis nomina eorum scita sunt

ÆLFRIC and ÆLFRIC BATA, another Latin colloquy, with frequent Old English glosses (some drypoint) from fol. 207; ed. Stevenson and Lindsay, 75–101, and Napier, 228–30 (nos. 339–435).

5. Fols. 215–21^v:

Incipit: Surge amice de tuo lectulo Tempus est tibi si hodie surgas

Explicit: Satis est hac locutum et hic sermo ⟨.⟩ sufficiat nobis amen

ÆLFRIC BATA

another Latin colloquy, separated from the preceding only by a red capital; ed. Stevenson and Lindsay, 21–6. About half of fol. 221^v and 222^v blank (but ruled).

Added text:

fols. 221^v–2:

Incipit: O clerice ne dempseris umquam dipticas [glossed: eala þu clerc ne wana þu æfre wexbreda]

Explicit: nectar tibi esto memor tui gallonis [glossed: swetnisse þe beo þu gemyndig þines mædgildan]

ABBO OF ST GERMAIN, ‘Bella Parisiacae urbis’,

3:1–53 only, ed. Stevenson and Lindsay, 103–8 (from the analogous text in BL, MS Harley 3271, with collations from this copy). The text is written in caroline, the gloss, in fact a prosifying into Old English of the Latin, in insular minuscule (with caroline g and h), all in a half-sized script, two lines to a ruled line, the Latin text with a continuous Old English gloss above it. Punctuation by medial point only. On the text, see Patrizia Lendinara, ‘The third book of the Bella Parisiacae Urbis by Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Près and its Old English gloss’, Anglo-Saxon England 15 (1987), 73–89, with a reference to our MS at 85–6.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: ðeos boc mihte

Form: codex

Support: Vellum (HSOS/HFFH, not in insular fold).

Extent: Fols. ii + 222 + ii (numbered iii–iv).

Dimensions (leaf): 208 × 160 mm.

Dimensions (written): 162–5 × 120 mm.

Collation

1⁶⁺¹ (+7, glued to 6) 2–13⁸ 14⁶ 15–26⁸ 27⁸⁺¹ (+4, fol. 209; its stub before fol. 212) 28⁸. No catchwords (as expected at this date); early on, signatures for quires, mostly cut away, at top of the outside bounding line on first pages of quires (fols. 32 e, 48 g, 56 h, 72 k, 80 the foot of l?, 110 p at the page foot).

Layout

In long lines, 22 lines to the page. Prickings, especially early; bounded and ruled in stylus.

Hand(s)

Two hands, fols. 1–116^v written in insular square minuscule; succeeded by a second scribe in the same, but writing fols. 160^v–221^v in caroline. Punctuation by medial point (scribe 1); by medial point and occasional punctus versus (scribe 2, in his insular portions); by point, medial point, punctus elevatus, and punctus versus (scribe 2, in his caroline portions).

Decoration

At the fullest, headings in red in rustic capitals and 2- or 3-line red initial capitals.

After fol. 73, rubrics simply in text ink. Rustic capitals for first lines of sections.

In items 2–4, red capitals for initia fols. 160^v–7, 206^v–end only, with guide letters visible (two unfilled, one supplied in text ink fol. 210^v, the second fol. 220^v blank).

Also red-slashed capitals at heads of sentences fols. 163^v–6, 189^v–90, 197^v–8 (with headings in red rustic capitals and red capitals at major divisions), 205^v–6.

Fairly frequent marginal corrections and occasional bits of Old English through all texts (for the Old English in item 1, s. xi ex., see Zupitza passim ).

Binding

The manuscript was rebound in 2014, as discussed here.

The following is a description of the previous binding: A modern replacement. Sewn on five thongs. At the front, a marbled paper leaf and a modern paper flyleaf; at the rear, a modern paper flyleaf and another marbled leaf (iii–iv).

History

Origin: s. xi in., xi ex. ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

‘liber sancti Cuthberti de Dunelmo’ [Durham Cathedral] (s. xii ex.), with an addition by a later hand, ‘et de armario prece⟨n⟩toris qui alienauerit ab eo anathema si⟨t⟩’. Preceded by an illegible reading above the shelfmarks ‘2^a 7ⁱ N’ and ‘E’ (all fol. 1). In the Durham catalogues of 1391 and 1416 as ‘Librari grammatice’ E: ‘Donatus Anglice, ii fo., “i. de’or hoc milite” ’; see [James Raine (ed.)], Catalogi veteres librorum ecclesiae cathedralis Dunelm., Surtees Society 7 (1838), 33, 111 (Ker, MLGB 75; Watson, Suppl. 32).

‘istum librum’ at the end of an otherwise defaced line (s. xi) and ‘librum’ beneath in another hand (fol. 222^v).

The old shelfmark ‘Abac: ij.—N^o. 2’ (fol. 1, lower margin and the top of fol. 1^v; cf. fol. 2^v ‘No. 2’).

‘Liber Collegii Sancti Iohannis Baptistae Oxon ex dono Christopherj Coles Artium Bacchalaurej ejusdem Collegii conuictoris 1611^o’ (fol. 2); a further notation of college ownership (s. xvii) appears on fol. 220^v.

Record Sources

Ralph Hanna, A descriptive catalogue of the western medieval manuscripts of St. John's College, Oxford (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) with corrections to typographical errors in the transcriptions for item 1 and the added text, and with an updated binding note in light of subsequent conservation work.

Availability

For enquiries relating to this manuscript please contact St John's College Library.

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)

Bibliography

Scott Gwara, Latin Colloquies from Pre-Conquest Britain, Toronto Medieval Latin Texts 22 (Toronto, 1996).

Scott Gwara and David W. Porter, Anglo-Saxon Conversations: The Colloquies of Ælfric Bata (Woodbridge, 1997).

N. R. Ker, Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford, 1967).

N. R. Ker, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books. Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks. 2nd edn. (London, 1964), extended by Andrew G. Watson, MLGB: Supplement to the Second Edition. RHS Guides and Handbooks 15 (1987).

Patrizia Lendinara, ‘The third book of the Bella Parisiacae Urbis by Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Près and its Old English gloss’, Anglo-Saxon England 15 (1987).

Arthur S. Napier (ed.), Old English Glosses, Anecdota Oxoniensia, Medieval and Modern Series 11 (Oxford, 1900), 222–3.

David W. Porter ‘Aelfric’s Colloquy and Aelfric Bata’, Neophilologus 80 (1996), 639–60.

David W. Porter, 'Anglo-Saxon Colloquies: Aelfric, Aelfric Bata and De raris fabulis retractata’, Neophilologus 81 (1997) 467–80.

[James Raine (ed.)], Catalogi veteres librorum ecclesiae cathedralis Dunelm., Surtees Society 7 (1838).

Richard Sharpe, A Handlist of the Latin Writers of Great Britain and Ireland before 1540. Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin 1 (Turnhout, 1997).

W. H. Stevenson (ed.) (rev. W M. Lindsay), Early Scholastic Colloquies, Anecdota Oxoniensia, Medieval and Modern Series 15, (Oxford, 1929).

Julius Zupitza, Ælfrics Grammatik und Glossar (Berlin, 1880; rept. 1966).

Funding of Cataloguing

Conversion of the printed catalogue to TEI funded by the Thompson Family Charitable Trust

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2023-03: First online publication

A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges