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

OR BROWSE BY

MANUSCRIPTS
WORKS
PEOPLE
PLACES

MS. Laud Misc. 509

Summary Catalogue no.: 942

The Old English Heptateuch, with Ælfric's letter to Wulfgeat and Libellus de veteri testamento et nouo. s. xi2

Contents

Summary of Contents: The 'Old English Heptateuch' is the name given by modern scholarship to a compilation extant only in the present manuscript, most recently edited by Marsden (2008). It comprises Ælfric's preface to Genesis, followed by translations of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua and a homiletic version of Judges. The translations of Genesis 1-24:26, of the second half of Numbers, and of Joshua, and the homily on Judges, are by Ælfric; the other portions are anonymous. The text of Genesis-Joshua, with Ælfric's preface, is also extant in British Library, Cotton MS. Claudius B. IV, known as the 'illustrated Old English Hexateuch'. The Heptateuch is followed in the present manuscript by Ælfric's letter to Wulfgeat (fols 115v-20v) and his Libellus de veteri testamento et nouo addressed to Sigeweard (fols 120v-41v). Latin glosses have been added on many leaves in a hand of s. xi/xii, as well as the English title ‘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).

Language(s): Old English

1. fols 1r–3r
Heptateuch: Preface to Genesis
Rubric: INCIPIT PREFATIO GENESIS ANGLICE
Incipit: fol. 1r ⟨Æ⟩LFRIC MUNUC GRET ÆÐELWÆRD EALDORMANN EAD(MOD)|lice.
Doane 2002, pp. 72-78
Ker 1957, pp. 422-24
Wilcox 1994, pp. 116-19
2. fols 3r–37r
Heptateuch: Genesis
Rubric: INCIPIT LIBER GENESIS ANGLICE
Incipit: fol. 3r ON ANGINNE GESCEOP GOD HEOFENAN AND EORÐAN.
Doane 2002, pp. 72-78
Ker 1957, pp. 422-24
Withers 1999, pp. 116-18
3. fols 37r–65v
Heptateuch: Exodus
Incipit: fol. 37r ellesmoth on hebrisc. exodus on grecisc. exit(us) | on lyden. utfæreld on englisc. | ÞYS SYND ISRAELA BEARNA NAMAN ÐE MID IACOBE || foron on egipta land hig foron ealle mid hira hiwun.
Doane 2002, pp. 72-78
Ker 1957, pp. 422-24
4. fols 65v–72r
Heptateuch: Leviticus
Incipit: fol. 65v Her onginneð seo þridde boc. þe is genemned. on ebreisc uaiecra. 7 leviticus.
Doane 2002, pp. 72-78
Ker 1957, pp. 422-24
5. fols 72r–82v
Heptateuch: Numbers
Incipit: fol. 72r Her onginð seo boc þe ys genemned on | ebreisc. uagedaber þ⟨æ⟩t ys on lyden numerus. | 7 on englisc getel.
Doane 2002, pp. 72-78
Ker 1957, pp. 422-24
6. fols 82v–98v
Heptateuch: Deuteronomy
Incipit: fol. 82v Her onginð seo boc þe ys genemned on ebreisc. | helleadabarim 7 on grecisc. deut(e)ronomiu(m). 7 on | lyden secunda lex. 7 on english. seo æftre æ.
Doane 2002, pp. 72-78
Ker 1957, pp. 422-24
7. fols 98–107
Heptateuch: Joshua
Rubric: INCIPIT LIBER IOSVE
Incipit: fol. 98v Hit wæs geworden æfter moyses forðsiþe. drihten spræc to iosue | nunes suna
Doane 2002, pp. 72-78
Ker 1957, pp. 422-24
8. fols 108–15
Heptateuch: Homily on Judges
Rubric: DE LIBRO IUDICUM ANGLICE
Incipit: fol. 108r ÆFTER ÐAM ÐE MOYSES SE MÆRA HERETOGA þæt | godes folc gelædde of pharanones þeowetter ofer | ða readan sæ
Doane 2002, pp. 72-78
Ker 1957, pp. 422-24
9. fols 115–20
Aelfric, Letters: Letter to Wulfgeat

(Cameron B.1.8.6)

Incipit: fol. 115v Nis þis gewrit be anu(m) | men awriten ac ys be eallum.
Assman 1889, no. 1
Doane 2002, pp. 72-78
Ker 1957, pp. 422-24
10. fols 120–41
Aelfric, Letters: Letter to Sigeweard (Libellus de veteri testamento et novo)

(Cameron B.1.8.4)

Rubric: Incipit libellus de ueteri testamento et nouo
Incipit: fol. 120v Ðis gewrit wæs to anu(m) men gediht ac hit mæg swa ðeah | manegum fremian.
Doane 2002, pp. 72-78
Ker 1957, pp. 422-24
Wilcox 1994, pp. 124-25

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Dimensions (leaf): 211 × 138 mm.
Dimensions (written): 155 × 90 mm.
Foliation:

Fols iv + 141+ ii.

Collation

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.

Layout

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(s)

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.

Fols 1–141, except fols 15r/8–21, 15v/1–10 and 17r/11–23: A small and regular rounded 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. . Also wrote British Library MS. Cotton Vespasian D. xxi, fols 18-40. s. xi2

Fols 15r/8–21, 15v/1–10: Another small and regular rounded hand, very similar to the main 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 tappered ascender curved to the right. Wedged ‘ascenders’. ‘descenders’ curving to the left with a serif. s. xi2

Fol. 17r/11–23 A fairly large rounded 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. s. xi2

Decoration

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).

Additions:

William L'Isle (see Provenance) 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.

Binding

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).

History

Origin: 11th century, second half ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

"M. R. James tentatively attributed a twelfth-century hand repsonsible for some of the Latin material ... to Christ Church, Canterbury, and this prompts speculation that the whole volume belonged to that house" (Marsden 2008, p. xxxv); not in MLGB3.

Henry VIII, Royal Library: 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'.

Robert Cotton (see Ker 1938, p. 132).

William Lisle, d. 1637. 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).

William Laud, 1638. Ker notes: 'The dates of ownership and gift suggest that Laud obtained the manuscript from L'Isle (cf. Laud misc. 201, 381, 636)'.

Part of Laud's third donation to the Bodleian, 1639. Former Bodleian pressmark Laud E. 19' (Ker 1957, p. 424).

Record Sources

Description created for The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220 by Orietta Da Rold with the assistance of Hollie Morgan (2010) and Owen Roberson (2012); revisions to summary and provenance by Matthew Holford (Jan. 2024). Previously described in the Quarto Catalogue (H. O. Coxe, Laudian Manuscripts, Quarto Catalogues II, repr. with corrections, 1969, from the original ed. of 1858–1885).
Quarto Catalogue, col. 368
Quarto Catalogue, p. 567
Summary Catalogue, vol. 2, part 1, p. 39

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Digital Bodleian (7 images from 35mm slides)

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"

Bibliography

    Online resources:

    Electronic Gneuss-Lapidge (entry 657)
    The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220

    Print:

    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)
    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/; accessed in 2009)
    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

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2025-04-22: Sebastian Dows-Miller. Corrected typo in dimensions type.