Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 319 (2226) Isidore, "De fide catholica contra iudaeos"

Abstract

357. Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 319 {2226)

Isidore, "De fide catholica contra iudaeos"

[Ker 308; Gneuss 5 68]

HISTORY: A complete copy of Isidore's "De fide catholica" (also known as "De miraculis christi") with an OE gloss on the last chapter. The primary text was written probably in the third quarter of the 10c by the main scribe of the 'Exeter Book' of OE poetry (Exeter Cathedral Library 3501) (130] and London, Lambeth Palace 149 (311] (Flower in Chambers et al. 1933: 85; Ker 1933: 230; Ker, Cat., 360). The origin of these manuscripts is not known; arguments for Exeter, Glastonbury, Crediton, Tavistock, and Canterbury have been made (Conner 1993: passim; Gameson 1996: 179; Butler 2004; Swanton 1974: ii; Dumville in Rosenthal, ed. Ramsay et al. 1992: 147-48 and Dumville 1994: 132, n. 23). Bodley 319's OE gloss was added in the 11c (Napier 1889: 25; Napier 1900: xxi; Ker, Cat., 360) and has lexical and stylistic links to the OE glossing of Dunstan, Æthelwold, and their circle (Hussey 2009). The early history of the manuscript is unclear. It may have been one of the books listed in Leofric's 1072 donation to Exeter (Ker, Cat., 360; Conner 1993: 80-81) and it is possible that a donation inscription on the last original folio (f. 75) is now lost, as more than half of the leaf has been cut out. The book may have been used as an exemplar for London, BL Royal 5.E.xvi in Salisbury in the later l lc (Webber 1992: 68). The 1327 inventory of Exeter's books includes an 'Ad Florentinam de Miraculis Christi' though this likely represents Oxford, Bodi. Lib., Bodley 394 (Oliver 1861: 303; Conner 1993: 34 and 81; Gameson 1996: 169-70). A 14c hand has entered a psalm verse at the top center of the last leaf, verso (f. 75v), suggesting perhaps some 14c use. The 1506 inventory of Exeter almost certainly includes Bodley 319, as the entry 'Liber de Miraculis Christi 2 fo. "Quare mortuus"' nearly matches the secundo folio of Bodley 319 'Quia mortuus' (Oliver 1861: 367; Conner 1993: 34, 81; Gameson 1996: 169, n. 162). The book may have been rebound with new parchment flyleaves in 1411-12; the boards show signs of being chained (in two positions), probably in the late medieval library of Exeter (Clarkson 1996: no. V). The book was among the 81 manuscripts given to the Bodleian Library by the Dean and Chapter of Exeter in 1602, perhaps effected in part by Thomas Bodley's brother Lawrence Bodley, a canon ofExeter (Philip 1983: 18). It was rebound in the late 16c or early 17 c with its current cover and was rebacked in the 19c before Nicholson's notes on the modern flyleaf(f. i recto).