List of manuscripts of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica

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).

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 ms description are used by scholars to refer to the main mss; 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 mss.[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 ms. 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]

Other mss

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

Yorkshire group

This group is identified by the omission of the text from part way through V.24 onwards; the manuscript from which these mss 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]

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 characterized 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]

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

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.

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

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