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

OR BROWSE BY

MANUSCRIPTS
WORKS
PEOPLE
PLACES

MSS. Junius 85-6

Summary Catalogue no.: 5196

Summary Catalogue no.: 5197

Seven homilies in Old English, fragments of a larger collection; England, mid-11th century

Physical Description

Collation

According to Ker: 1(seven; fols. 2, 12-17; 14-15 are a bifolium; fols. 12-17 are misbound and should come after fol. 2), 2(10-1, wants 10 after fol. 11), 3(8-1, wants 8 probably blank after fol. 24), 4(8), 5(three, fols. 33-5), 6(6), 7(10+1, leaf added after 6, fol. 48), 8(8+1, leaf added after 7, fols. 60), 9(10), 10(10). 2 and 7 in quire 8 are half-sheets. 'The division into two volumes is not likely to be medieval' (Ker).

Layout

13-20 long lines.

Hand(s)

Vernacular minuscule; Ker suggested two hands, the second on fols. 2v, 12r-16r, 25r-33v, 34r/1-4

Decoration

Initials and marginal ornaments. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 47)

History

Origin: 11th century, middle ; English

Provenance and Acquisition

Early scribblings include ‘teobaldus ade de richebor’, fols. 43v, and ‘odo de moteroil’, fol. 20v, both c. 1200. Title ‘pars psalterii greci’, fol. 1 (13th cent.?) and ‘parts psalterii saxonici’, fols. 2, 36 (17th cent.)

Isaac Voss; his shelfmarks C.29 (MS. 85) and F.29 (MS. 86).

Franciscus Junius, 1589–1677

Received by the Bodleian by 1677

MS. Junius 85

Contents

Language(s): Old English

fol. 2r
Anonymous Homily for Tuesday in Rogationtide (Cameron B.3.2.40, Napier 49, Blickling 9, Vercelli 10)
Incipit: || fol. 2r song 7 godes lof ⟨ … ⟩ | stan cynincges
Explicit: fol. 2r soðlice buton | ænde; AMEN

Fragmentary

Napier 1883, 265/13 (end of no. 49)
fols 2v, 12r–17r
Anonymous Homily for an unspecified occasion (Cameron B.3.5.14): Address of the Soul to the Body
Incipit: fol. 2v Men ða leofestan we gelornodon on godcundum gewritum þæt ⟨ … ⟩ æghwylces monnes sawul
Explicit: fol. 17 mid his gecorenum | ænglum; a in ealra wurulda wu|ruld; a buton ænde; amen
Part ed. Willard 1935
fol. 17r–v
Prose Charms (Cameron B.23.1.15)
Incipit: fol. 17r/5 wið | wif bearneacenu
Explicit: fol. 17v/17 [imperfect ending]
Language(s): Latin, with titles and directions for use in Old English
Cockayne 1864-66, I pp. 392-94
Storms 1948, 283, no. 45; 286, no. 49; 279, no.41
fols 3r–11v
Anonymous Homily for an unspecified occasion (Cameron B.3.5.1): Visio Pauli, Old English translation
Incipit: fol. 3r 7 .m(en ða leofestan). hit sægð her on ðisum halgum ge-|write
Explicit: fol. 11v 7 hio hin(e) ðan(ne) gegretað ðæs synfullan mannes
Healey 1978, pp. 63-73
fols 18r–24r
Ælfric, Second Series of Homilies [Catholic Homilies II]: First Sunday in Lent (Cameron B.1.2.8)
Incipit: fol. 18r MEN ÐA LEOFESTAN EOW EALLUM IS CUÐ.
Explicit: fol. 24r .Á. in ealra worulda woruld Amen

Fol. 24r/13-19, fol. 24v blank. Wilcox, 2009, suggests that fols. 18-24 were originally a separate booklet.

The incipit of a hymn for St Denis, Chevalier 6912, is scribbled in the margin of fol. 20v (c. 1200).

Godden 1979, pp. 60-66
fols 25r–35v
Anonymous Homiliy for an unspecified occasion (Cameron B.3.5.5)
Incipit: fol. 25r Geherað nu mæn ða leofestan hu us | godes bec moniegaþ. 7 myndigað to | ures lifes clænnesse 7 lichaman | 7 saule
Explicit: fol. 35 continued in Junius 86
Fadda 1977, pp. 6-31

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: i (later paper) + 1 (medieval endlef) + 34
Dimensions (leaf): 160 × 115 mm.
Foliation: i, 1-35

Layout

Written space 130 × 80 mm. ; c. 140 × 100 mm. on fols. 18-24

Binding

17th-century binding, uniform with MS. Junius 86.

Accompanying Material

Fol. 1, a binding leaf, is part of a closely written early-twelfth-century liturgical text in Latin.

MS. Junius 86

Contents

Language(s): Old English

fols 36r–40r
Anonymous Homiliy for an unspecified occasion (Cameron B.3.5.5)
Incipit: fol. 36 continuation of Junius 85
Explicit: fol. 40r wuniað ðon(ne) mid criste | ðam ðe nu lyfað. 7 ricsað. mid god | fæder. ðam sie wuldor. 7 lof. a in eal|ra. worulda. woruld. a buten ænde
Fadda 1977, pp. 6-31
fols 40v–61v
Anonymous Homiliy for an unspecified occasion (Blickling 4, 3rd Sunday in Lent)
Incipit: fol. 40v/1 GEHERAÐ NU mæn ða leofestan. hwæt | her sægþ on ðissum bocum. be | manna teoðungceapa
Explicit: fol. 61v/14 ends imperfectly
Morris 1880, pp. 39-53/2, 195, 52/2-end no. 4 and 16
Willard 1949, pp. 72-78
fols 62r–81r
Anonymous Homiliy, Sanctorale: Saint Martin (Cameron B.3.3.17, Blickling 17, Vercelli 18)
Incipit: fol. 62r/1 HER we magon hwylcum|hwega wordum secgan be | ðære arwyrðan gebyrda. 7 be þam | halgan life 7 forðfore ðæs eadi|gan weres. s(an)c(tu)s martinus
Explicit: fol. 81r/11 to ðan us gefultumige ure | drihten. se leofað. 7 ricsað a | butan ænde. AMEN

Fol. 81r/12-15, fol. 81v blank.

Scragg 1992, pp. 291-308, no. 18

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
i (later paper) + 46 + i (later paper)
Dimensions (leaf): 155 × 100 mm.
Foliation: i, 36-82

Layout

Written space 130 × 80 mm.

Binding

17th-century binding, uniform with MS. Junius 85.

Accompanying Material

A former endleaf contained a fragment of the Old English translation of Boethius; its current location is not known. See Ker no. 337.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Adapted (April 2022) from description by Owen Roberson (August 2010) for English Manuscripts 1060-1220, and from Ker, Manuscripts containing Anglo-Saxon, no. 336. Previously described in the Summary Catalogue.
Summary Catalogue, vol. 2, part 2, p. 982
Summary Catalogue, vol. 2, part 2, p. 983

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile) [MS. Junius 85]
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile) [MS. Junius 86]

Bibliography

    Printed descriptions:

    Ker, N. R., Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957; repr. 1990), item 336
    Wilcox, J., Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2008), vol. 17: Homilies by Ælfric and other Homilies

    Editions:

    Fadda, Luiselli, and Anna Maria, eds, Nuove Omelie Anglosassoni della Rinascenza Benedettina, Filologia germanica. Testi e studi, 1 (Firenze: F. Le Monnier, 1977)
    Willard, Rudolph, 'The Blickling-Junius Tithing Homily and Caesarius of Arles.', in Philologica: The Malone Anniversary Studies, ed. by Thomas A. Kirby and Henry Bosley (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1949), pp. 65-78
    Morris, Richard, ed., Old English Homilies of the Twelfth Century, EETS, OS 53 (London: N. Trübner, 1873)
    Scragg, D. G., ed., The Vercelli Homilies and Related Texts, EETS, OS 300 (Oxford: Published for the Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1992)

    Online resources:

    Electronic Gneuss-Lapidge (entry 642)
    Electronic Gneuss-Lapidge (entry 643)
    The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220
    The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2019-10-31: Toby Burrows/Mapping Manuscript MigrationsProvenance and acquisition information added using https://github.com/mapping-manuscript-migrations/oxford-tei-updates/blob/master/update_oxford_prov.rb in collaboration with the Mapping Manuscript Migrations project.