MS. Laud Misc. 636
Summary Catalogue no.: 1003
The Peterborough Chronicle (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS. E); Peterborough, c. 1121-31, c. 1155, and s. xiii/xiv
Contents
Fol. 91v is very badly worn and the final lines of the chronicle are virtually illegible.
The text is written to the end of the last line of fol. 91v, so the manuscript may 'possibly but not very probably' (Ker) be incomplete.That the manuscript was compiled and written at Peterborough is shown by local entries not found in other manuscript of the Chronicle; local entries for 1041 and 1052 were added in the margin "in the ink and hand of the text" (Ker). The production of the chronicle to 1131 is discussed in more detail by Irvine (2010).
Pr. Irvine 2004Added, late 13th century or perhaps early 14th century.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Written in 30 long lines (fol. 91, 29 lines)
Fols 2-7 written in two columns.
Ruled in leadpoint.
Quire 1, fols 1-10, partly ruled in hard point.
Hand(s)
Two main scribes, the first copying at intervals in the period 1121-1131, the second c. 1155.
Fols 1r-88v/9: the scribe wrote the text in different stages. Fols 1r-81r/10 was written at the same time. After that the writing changes in aspect and colour of ink, inidicating that the annals up to fol. 88v/9 were probably written in six blocks: 1122, 1123, 1124, 1125-6 ‘lande’, 1126 ‘On þes’- 1127, 1128-31. The hand is a round English vernacular hand which uses both Caroline and insular letter-forms (see, also Ker 1957, p. 425; Whitelock 1954, pp. 14-17; O'Brien O'Keeffe 2003, p. 42; Irvine 2004 , pp. xix-xxii) ‘a’: insular for English and Latin. ‘d’: insular with ascender slightly curving to the right ‘f’: insular. ‘g’: insular. ‘r’: insular. ‘s’: insular. The low and high form of ‘s’ are used indifferently. ‘ð’: the same size as ‘d’, with a median stroke starting usually on the ascender and concluding with a dot to the left. Short and tapered ‘descenders’ curving to the left. Abbreviations infrequent (see, for a full analysis Irvine 2004, pp. xxiv-xxviii) The head of nota ‘˥’ is curved. Other manuscripts copied by this scribe: BL Cotton MS. Tiberius C. i (Clark 1954 and Ker 1957, p. 425); BL Harley MS. 3667 (Clark 1954)
Fols 88v/10-91: Scribe 2 writes in a clear upright and compressed minuscule, using mainly Caroline letter forms (Ker 1957, p. 425; Whitelock 1954, pp. 14-17; Irvine 2004, pp. xxi-xxiii). ‘f’: with a descender often below the line. ‘r’: with a descender often below the line. ‘s’: with a descender often below the line. ‘þ’ used along with ‘th’. ‘ð’ used along with ‘th’. ‘u’ often used instead of ‘ƿ’. ‘ƿ’ used with ‘u’ or ‘uu’. ‘Ƿ’ capital ‘W’ always stands instead of ‘Ƿ’. ‘descenders’ often descend below the line, as they would not normally do in a Latin literary text of this date, and turn to the left at the end. Abbreviations more frequent than Scribe 1 (see, for a full analysis Irvine 2004, pp. xxiv-xxviii) Other manuscripts copied by this scribe: corrections in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 134 (Bishop 1953, p. 440); London, Society of Antiquaries, MS 60, fols 6-71. (Bishop 1953, p. 440)
The addition on fols. 86v-90v in textualis.
Decoration
Ornamental arabesque initial ‘B’ on fol. 1r, green with decoration in red.(Pächt and Alexander iii. 88)
Years in red; first letter of each annal usually stroked with red.
Plain coloured red initials from fol. 83v onwards (1124) and in the added text on fols. 86v-90v.
'The occasional marginalia in Latin and notas of s. xiii/xiv (e.g. on f. 18) show that the OE text was read and to some extent understood at this date by someone with an interest in local affairs.' (Ker)
Binding
Standard binding of the Laudian collection, calf over pasteboard with Laud's arms in gilt; rebacked.
Accompanying Material
Paper leaves were added to the manuscript at the beginning and end, and between the leaves of the manuscript, in the early seventeenth century. Fols 92r-97r contain transcripts by William Lisle from the The Parker Chronicle (CCCC 173, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, A version). The quire also contains seventeenth-century tables of contents of nine Parkerian homilaries and miscellaneous notes in various hands (O'Brien O'Keeffe 2003, p. 41).
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Peterborough, Northamptonshire, Benedictine abbey of St Peter, St Paul, and St Andrew: (MLGB3: evidence from locally specific contents, including obits, scribbles, etc.). Not identifiable in the surviving catalogues from the abbey.
On fol. 1r there is an erased inscription, s. xiv: ‘alienauerit...sit...et a celesti consolacione alienatus’ (Ker 1957, p. 426).
William Cecil, Lord Burghleigh (1520-1598); in his possession when Laurence Nowell (d. 1576) made a transcription, now London, British Library, Add. 43704 in 1565 while he was in residence at Burghleigh House.
Probably owned by Matthew Parker (d. 1575) by 1566/67, as Parkerian underlinings, scoring in the margin and pointing fingers agree closely with the citations of the Chronicle in A Defence of Priestes Mariages of that date (Whitelock 1954, p. 23).
William Lisle (d. 1637); his annotations throughout.
William Laud, 1638 (fol. 1r).
Part of Laud's third donation to the Bodleian, 1639 (Hunt in the revised Quarto catalogue).
Record Sources
Availability
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Please note that this manuscript is on loan for the exhibition Die Normannen / The Normans (Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen Mannheim) from 18 Sept. 2022 to 26 Feb. 2023. It cannot be ordered between those dates or for a short period before and after.
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Digital Bodleian (full facsimile from 35mm slides)
Bibliography
Online resources:
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Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2022-02-16: Description revised for publication on Digital Bodleian.