Cambridge Corpus Chrsiti College 188 Ælfric's "Catholic Homilies" I

Abstract

37. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 188

Ælfric's "Catholic Homilies" I

[Ker 43, Gneuss 58]

HISTORY: A handsome manuscript written by a single scribe of the first half of the l lc (perhaps the second quarter, see Stokes 2014: 152), containing Ælfric's "Catholic Homilies:' Series I, lacking nos. 1 ("De initio creaturae") and 21 ("In ascensione Domini"), as well as the "Preface:' This copy of the first series represents a revised and supplemented version, based on a now lost exemplar produced probably in Ælfric's own scriptorium (Sisam 175-78; Pope 59-62; Clemoes 1959: 234). There is a correction in the hand of the scribe on p. 119, as are probably the additions of Latin texts on pp. 81, 123, 138. Two-line corrections by the scribe occur at the bottom of pp. 383, 432. In the possession, perhaps, of one 'Sawulf' whose name occurs (written in the second half of the 11 c) in the right-hand margin on p. 61. On p. 408 there occurs an addition in the bottom margin from the beginning of the 13c: 'þi ne mot ihc meyde sweete. | lef wine mot hi'. Quire signatures were added in the 13c or 14c, before quires VI and VII had been misplaced and bound in the wrong order, and material after p. 210 had been lost. At least two quires (probably the first and the quire following p. 210) went missing after the later medieval quire signatures.

James (1912: xxix-xxx, lviii, 445) suggests that the manuscript may have been sent to Parker from Hereford by John Scory, bishop of Hereford (1559-85). Wright (1951: 221-222) follows in this, and Budny (1997: 1. 572-73) notes that this manuscript, if any, would be among the most likely to have been sent from Hereford, the upshot being that the later medieval additions could have been made there. The manuscript came to Parker, and was worked over by a Parkerian scribe; some portions of some homilies were transcribed and a partial list of contents, paginations, and other notations, including a supply of lost material were added; see further below.

Probably rebound by Parker. Several items were copied by William Lisle (who marked the passages in the manuscript) before 1638 (Lee 2000: 235,238). An embryonic index by Abraham Wheelock (1593-1653) occurs on pp. ii-vii; also excerpted and consulted by Wheelock for his production of A-S type designs (Lucas 2006). Rebound or refurbished in the summer of 1748 (Budny 1997: 1.573-74) and rebound in 1953 by John Gray in Cambridge. Previous descriptions by James 1912: 1:445-8, and by Budny 1997: 1.571-5, no. 37.