Lincoln Cathedral Library MS 182 Bede, "Homilies on the Gospels"

Abstract

160. Lincoln Cathedral Library MS 182

Bede, "Homilies on the Gospels"

[Ker 124, Gneuss 274]

HISTORY: A late 10c or early 11c English manuscript. Its origin is disputed: Gneuss (no. 274), following Bishop (1967: 73-74), believes that it was written at Abingdon, a claim which is disputed by Dumville (1993: 58, n. 259; 1994: 185-86), while Marsden (1995: 381) mentions Canterbury as a place of origin. It contains Bede's homilies on the Gospels, written between 730 and 735, towards the end of his life, but before the "Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum;' since he writes in HE 5.24 that his two books of Homilies have already been completed. The manuscript was listed as "Bedam xlix omeliarum'' in the 12c catalogue of the manuscripts of Lincoln Cathedral Library, and also occurs in a 15c catalogue of the same library (Ker, Cat., p. 158; 1964: 115; cf. Woolley 1927: v-xiv). The warrant for including this manuscript in the series is that on f. 27v there is an OE scribble, 'gepafa nu; glossing 'Sine modo', perhaps because of the potential ambiguity of the Latin phrase. At least two folios have been removed from the front of the book: the first folio of quire I and a 13c table of contents which is now f. 1 of Lincoln Cathedral Library 184. According to Thomson (1989: 147-48), the table of contents was still part of this manuscript in the 17c, but had been removed by ca. 1833, as indicated by Richard Garvey's manuscript catalogue.