London, British Library Cotton Julius A.ii Bede, "Chronicon"; Ælfric, "Grammar and Glossary"; "Adrian and Ritheus;' etc.

Abstract

198. London, British Library Cotton Julius A. ii

Bede, "Chronicon"; Ælfric, "Grammar and Glossary";

"Adrian and Ritheus;' etc.

[Ker 158/159, Gneuss 336]

HISTORY: Remains of three separate codices, all damaged by fire and repaired by vellum inlays; associated, if not always bound together, since at least the time of the Cotton table of contents (early 17 c). The first part, ff. 2-9 (Bede), is 12c. The second part, ff. 10-135, a copy, imperfect at the beginning, of Ælfric's "Grammar and Glossary" (Ker 158), is mid-llc, the text collated by Zupitza as "J"; the third part, "Adrian and Ritheus" and other short texts (Ker 159), is early or mid-12c. The present contents of the three parts appear in the ca. 1638 catalogue-list in BL Add. 36683, f. 14r, the contents of the third part added in the hand of Sir Thomas Cotton, owner of the collection from 1631 (Tite 1994; fig. 14). "There is a loans record, probably of this ms, to Henry Spelman in about 1615 (BL, Harley 6018, fol. l 59r: 'Grammatica Ælfrici in latine and Saxon in 4to unbound' which indicates that the volume was not bound up at that time" (Colin Tite, p.c.; Tite elsewhere [1994: 105-6] has noted that at the time of their acquisition, many of Cotton's manuscripts were unbound). Richard James' characteristic table of contents, following the Add. 36683 wording, appears on f. 1r. A penciled note by Wanley opposite Julius A. ii in the volume photographed for the 1984 reprint of Smith's 1696 Catalogue of the Cotton manuscripts says "Cod. membran. in 4to constans foliis 149. quorum plura lacerata cernuntur:' In view of all this, and given the patterns of fire- and water-damage, there is a possibility that the book was "in some way unbound" in 1731 (Tite, p.c.). Inscription (late 12c), 'thorn of hamton' on f. 135v. According to a note-slip in the volume, the historical annotations on ff. 4r-6r are in the hand of Patrick Young (1584-1652). Pressmark on f. 1 ,. is of the 1820s. In the mid-17c Franciscus Junius, in Junius MS. 72 (5183), made a transcript of ''Adrian and Ritheus:' "Distichs of Cato;' and the subsequent "Notes" in Oxford, Bodleian Junius 45 (5157), pp. 1-8, before the fire damage to this part; he also made a transcript of Ælfric's "Glossary;' collated with the copy. On inside of front cover in Junius's hand: 'gl Ælfrici, est glossarium in Cottonianre bibliothecre manuscripta Ælfrici grammatica ipsi grammaticre sic adnexum, ut cuius liquere possit ipsum prresulem Ælfricum has glossas huic sure adjecisse grammticre' ; his note on f. 1, upper right: 'Quredam hujus Glossarii loca contulimus cum fragmento D'ewsiano' (i.e., Harley 107).