London, British Library, Cotton Domitian i Part 1: Isidore, Abbo, Priscian, Bede, etc. with Old English Glosses, Recipe, Book List; Part 2: Geraldus Cambrensis, "Annales Cambriae," etc.

Abstract

187. London, British Library, Cotton Domitian i

Part 1: Isidore, Abbo, Priscian, Bede, etc. with Old English Glosses, Recipe, Book List;

Part 2: Geraldus Cambrensis, "Annales Cambriae," etc.

[Ker 146 (Part 1), Gneuss 326 (Part 1)]

HISTORY: A composite manuscript consisting of an 11c A-S Latin compilation of school-texts and a 13c Latin compilation of materials of Welsh origin and interest. The present book comprises four distinct parts: 1a, ff. 1-39; lb, ff. 40-55; 2a, ff. 56-137; 26 ff. 138-160. Part 1a is second half of 10c, 1b is mid-10c (glosses of 10c and llc); 2a and b are of the 13c. Part 1 is from St. Augustine's, Canterbury (no. 434 in its 15c catalogue, the pressmark, 'Dist<inctio> .v. G<radus>. iiii', is on f. 2v Uames 1903: lvii, 237, 517J The inscription on f. 2r, 'K<ari>s<si>mo arnico suo et d<orni>no .A. D<e>i gr<ati>a abb<at>i s<anc>ti Aug<ustini>. Cant<uariensis>', most likely refers to Alexander, abbot of St. Augustine's, 1213-1220 (Dimock 1868: xvi). The contents list on f. 2v shows that la and lb were joined by the 13c (Lendinara 1990: 135), but probably much earlier, if the book list of the late 10c or early 11c at the end of Part 1b (Item 9c) refers to the "De natura rerum" in Part 1a. The A-S owner of the book was one "ÆÞestan," a grammarian or teacher, to judge by the contents of the list. Part 2 is from St. David's, Pembrokeshire (Ker 1955: 10, 16), written in the mid- and late 13c. It was in the possession of Sir John Prise (d. 1555), one of Cromwell's visitors and a collector of manuscripts, by 1539 (dated note, f. 141r), who says it was taken from the treasury of St. David's cathedral by the Treasurer, John Lewis and sent to him (Roberts and Watson 1990: 120). John Dee owned Part 2, as shown by notes in his hand in "Annales Cambriae," and may have acquired it through Prise's eldest son Gregory, mayor of Hereford, in 1574, when he is known to have visited him, but it is not listed in his 1583 catalogue (Cambridge, Trinity College 0.4.2). Dee also possessed Part 1, which has occasional annotations in his hand (e.g., f. 53r) and is identified by the "Canterbury" contents in his 1583 catalogue (Item M 94 in Roberts and Watson 1990; cf. also 120, 162). Both parts came to Cotton by sale along with other Dee manuscripts. Domitian i is mentioned in the 1621 Cotton catalogue (London, British Library, Harley 6018, f. 145v, no. 412).