Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 449 Ælfric, "Grammar" (incomplete) and "Glossary"

Abstract

61. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 449

Ælfric, "Grammar" (incomplete) and "Glossary"

[Ker 71; Gneuss 115]

HISTORY: Composite of two distinct manuscripts comprising Ælfric's "Grammar" and "Glossary". Part A (ff. 1-41) is a 16c supply of the missing first half of the "Grammar''. Part B (ff. 42-96) is of A-S origin, written in the first half of the l lc by a single scribe, with some corrections in the main hand; the vernacular minuscule shows the features of the first half of the llc (Scragg 2012: nos. 180-81) while the Latin script is an anglo-caroline style I, with features associated with Æthelwold of Winchester, perhaps suggesting a date closer to 1000 (Stokes 2014: 69). By the 16c, the manuscript came into Matthew Parker's possession and much of the l lc book must have been missing. Parker had Part A added with text copied in imitative script from London, BL Royal 15 B.xxii (303) (Ker, Cat., 121; Page 2003: 183; Hill 2007: 286); conversely, CCCC 449 supplied the missing ending of the "Grammar" in Royal 15 B.xxii (see Doane 2007: 47). James (1912: l.xvi) suggests that these a dditions were by 'Lyly'; if so, this would have been Peter Lyly (d. 1569), registrar of Parker's consistory court who was skilled in imitating old scripts (Crankshaw and Gillespie 2011). Parker also repaired the book by the addition of strips of membrane grafted on to the existing leaves. Furthermore, he had supplied a half page of membrane with 16c text pasted onto the bottom half off. 42r (see "Codicological Description" below). He marked up the book in in a red ochre crayon characteristic of his usage and added 16c tags marking content. Bequeathed by Parker (Register, §19) to Corpus Christi College in 1575 (N.19 on f. i verso). Modern foliation and quire numbers added. Bound in the 18c, it appears, as Ker reports an 18c binding (Ker, Cat., 121) and subsequently rebound in 1956 by John P. Gray of Cambridge, but this binding is no longer present as the manuscript was disbound in the first half of 2009. Each quire is now stored in a separate fascicule. The gray binding is retained separately.