Add MS 57337

The wrappings found with this codex have been kept separately, as Add MS 57337/1 (formerly Add MS 57337*).

From The British Library Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts: New Series 1971-1975, 3 parts (London, 2001), I, pp. 72-75:

'THE ANDERSON PONTIFICAL: Pontifical and Benedictional, with some neumatic notation perhaps added by 11th cent. hands, written at Winchester or Canterbury; England; circa 1000. Latin with a few Old English glosses. The Benedictional section (ff. 103-144v) represents a slightly modified first generation copy of the Benedictional of St. Æthelwold (Add. 49598) confirming the view of D. H. Turner that the manuscript was a Winchester product (see A. Prescott, 'The Structure of English Pre-Conquest Benedictionals', British Library Journal, 13 no. 2, 1987, pp. 121-23). Textual adaptations include some reordering (especially in Lent and with the Advent blessings being moved from the beginning to the end of the collection), the addition of vigils to some feasts, and some additional blessings, including that for the feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury, which may well be highly relevant (for a tabulation of the sources of the blessings, see Prescott, pp. 134-141). Only one new English blessing, probably a new composition, is amongst the additions: an alternative form for All Saints' day, replacing another English blessing in the Benedictional of St. Æthelwold. However, the use of a Winchester exemplar does not necessarily preclude copying by a Canterbury scribe. A possible Christ Church Canterbury origin has been favoured (see N. R. Ker, 'A Supplement to 'Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon', Anglo-Saxon England 5, 1976, p. 127) following T. A. M. Bishop's association (personal communication to Ker) of the script with that of the Arenberg Gospels (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS. 869), and on orthographical grounds (use of e for West Saxon y in storcellan) For textual comparisons, cited below, with the Pontifical of Lanalet (Rouen, Bibl. Mun., MS. 368), made in Wessex during the second quarter of the 11th cent., see G. H. Doble, ed., 'Pontificale Lanaletense', Henry Bradshaw Soc. 74, 1937. On the script (a monumental Style II Anglo-Caroline minuscule) and its Canterbury context, see D. N. Dumville, 'On the Dating of some Late Anglo-Saxon Liturgical Manuscripts', Trans. Cambridge Bibl. Soc. 10, 1991, pp. 45-6 where Bishop's views are reiterated; see further H. Gneuss, 'Liturgical Books in Anglo-Saxon England and their Old English Terminology', in Learning and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England, M. Lapidge and H. Gneuss, edd., 1985, p. 132. For a discussion of the litany, see M. Lapidge, ed., Anglo-Saxon Litanies of the Saints, 1991. Glossed headings on ff. 15r-v and 16r (with others on ff. 35v and 39) agree nearly with those in the Benedictional of Archbishop Robert (Rouen, Bibl. Mun., MS. Y.7; ed. H. A. Wilson, Henry Bradshaw Society 24, 1903, p. 94). In these eucharistalis is glossed huslbox, thuribuli is glossed storcellan and incensi is glossed stores. Some additions and marginal annotations by near-contemporary hands, of which those on ff. 56r-v, in two hands, were noted by Dumville as particularly worthy of further study. In Morayshire since at least circa 1700, possibly earlier as manuscript notes of 17th-cent. date mention 'Peeterhead harbour' (Peterhead, Aberdeenshire ?), see Add. MS. 57337*, f. 2v. Ownership inscriptions (f. 1, dated 1700, and on upper cover ?, dated 1707) of Hugh Anderson, Minister of the parish of Drainie, near Elgin, Morayshire, 1698-1749. Anderson also wrote two notes of bequest of the MS.: 'I leave this Booke for Mr. Wm Mercer or his son Hugh wittnes my hand att Kinn[edar] May 5th 1741 Hugh Anderson' (inside upper cover, deleted, and accompanied by the valuation of £15 dated 1722 and the signature 'Hugh: H', Add. MS. 57337*, f. 13v) and 'I leave this book to Sir Robert Gordon his Librairie, wittness my hand att Kineddar Octobris 6to an[no] AE. C. 1741' (f. 144). Mercer is unidentified, Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstoun, 4th Bart, was patron of the living of Drainie. His great, great grandfather, Sir Robert Gordon (1647-1704) obtained a reputation as a 'warlock' and owned a notable library (sold in London, 14 Mar. 1816) and it has been suggested that he may have given the MS. to his minister, Anderson. Alternatively, an important early ecclesiastical site and seat of the Bishops of Moray until the 13th cent., Kinnedar, was absorbed into the parish of Drainie and may have attracted the volume during the Middle Ages. Found in the stables at Brodie Castle, Forres, near Elgin, in June 1970. Sold at Sotheby's, 12 July 1971, lot 35. Purchased 18 Sept. 1971.

Vellum; ff. ii+144+4*. 305 x 225mm. Collation, as assessed during disbinding in Jan. 1978, as gatherings of 8, except 1 (begs imperf.), 610 (wants 3; 7 and 9 are added leaves), 88 (wants 3), 98 (wants 8), 1310 (9 and 10, conjoint, are contemporary additions), 148 (wants 1), 19 (ends imperf.). Sarah Keefer is preparing a collation as part of her description for the Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche project. Pricked and ruled (double bounding lines) in hard-point for single columns of 22 lines. Written space 212 x 150mm. Script is a large, round Style II Anglo-Caroline minuscule, incorporating some Anglo-Saxon features such as pointed a and uncial N, e.g. f. 2, and an elegant g with open lower bow, and a 'thorn-like' a with bulbous bow to its left-hand leg (e.g. f. 8, first rubric), akin to contemporary Canterbury hands. Coloured square capitals for display script. When found in 1970 the MS. was contained in limp wrappers composed of fragments of printed books pasted together (now removed and bound separately as Add. MS. 57337*, ff. 26), mostly from Louis Daniel Le Comte's Nouveaux mémoires sur l'état présent de la Chine (1st edn, 1696, others shortly after; see Add. MS. 57337*, ff. 18-26), with further leaves from a folio work on Civil Law (? Italy, circa 1500; see Add. MS. 57337*, ff. 4-13) and a 17th-cent. Orlando Furioso (see Add. MS. 57337*, ff. 14-17). Some manuscript notes of 17th-cent. date also occur (Add. MS. 57337*, ff. 2-3). Between the printed leaves were two sheets of vellum which had formed part of an earlier, medieval limp vellum binding of the MS. (Add. MS. 57337, ff. i-ii), labelled on the back wrapper in two hands of the 14th cent. 'Benedictionale et pontificale 2o fo Sancte bartholomee' (Add. MS. 57337, f. ii verso). 'Sancte Bartholomee' opens the present f. 2, so the MS. must already have lost leaves from its front by this date.

Contents:

1. ff. 1-36v. Order for the Consecration of a Church (begs imperf.; see Doble, Lanalet, p. 6), with benedictions for liturgical vestments and vessels (f. 12v; Lanalet 15) and the Order for the deposition of relics (f. 17; Lanalet 22), for the dedication of a church (f. 22; Lanalet 40) and the consecration of a cemetery (f. 34; Lanalet 21).

2. ff. 36v-52. Order for the conferment of the 7 ecclesiastical orders, from doorkeeper to bishop (Lanalet, 48), with an addition for the consecration of an archbishop (f. 50).

3. ff. 52v-57. Benediction of a shrine (Lanalet 128), reconciliation of a holy place after the shedding of blood (f. 53v; Lanalet 21), reconciliation of a church (f. 54v; Lanalet, 28 and 38), benediction of chrism and oil (f. 56; Lanalet 81).

4. ff. 57-64v. Coronation of a king and queen (the kingdom described as 'regnum Anglorum vel Saxonum'; ff. 57, 63; Lanalet 59, 41; see also P. E. Schramm, A History of the English Coronation, trans. L. G. Wickham Legg, 1937), followed by a Mass for a king after his coronation (f. 64).

5. ff. 65-69. Consecration of a cross (Lanalet, 18), and a bell (f. 67; Lanalet 19).

6. ff. 69-76v. Benediction of a virgin, a widow (f. 72; Lanalet 43) and a newly tonsured cleric (f. 73v; Lanalet 44).

7. ff. 77-88v. Order for the judgement by water and iron (Lanalet 116), exorcism of bread and cheese (f. 80v; Lanalet 123), benediction of a well, a vine and new crops (f. 83), exorcism of salt and water (f. 83v; Lanalet 111).

8. ff. 88v-95v. Order for the ordination of an abbot (Lanalet, 48, and the profession of a monk (f. 92; Lanalet 45).

9. ff. 96-102v. Benedictions of Palms (Lanalet, 73), and forms of episcopal absolution (f. 98; Lanalet 75), with a long added absolution (f. 101v; Lanalet 78).

10. ff. 103-144v. Benedictional (ends imperf.), containing benedictions for the liturgical year from Christmas to Christmas (see Prescott, 1987). Benedictions for saints' days as far as Easter are placed before the Septuagesima, those after Easter are placed at the end of the year (f. 139). The final benediction is now that for St. Andrew's day, those for Dec. saints, for the Common of Saints, and one leaf with Aug. and Sept. saints are missing (see Lapidge, 1991).

Decoration consists of simple single-coloured initials, some with foliate flourishes and bipartite bodies (e.g. f. 4v), and litterae notabiliores in black, purple, green, orange / red and blue, the colours often alternating (as in many Canterbury manuscripts, e.g. the Eadui Psalter, B.L., Arundel 155). Rubrics also occur in these colours, an unusual feature.'