Add MS 49598

Extract from the Catalogue of Additions (2000): 'The Benedictional of St Æthelwold, 963-984. Latin. The MS. contains pontifical benedictions for use at mass on different days of the ecclesiastical year and a form for blessing candles on the feast of the Purification (f. 33), preceded by introductory verses relating to the execution of the MS. (ff. 4b-5). The local feasts provided for are those of Vedast (f. 36), Ætheldreda (f. 91) and Swithun (f. 98). The benedictions are given different gradings by the illumination and manner of writing (see further below). Prescott in 'The Text of the Benedictional of St Æthelwold', drawing on the work of D. H. Turner, has argued that the text of the present MS. is unusual in that it seems to be the result of the conflation of a benedictional of the 'Gregorian' tradition, derived from Boniface of Aniane's supplement to the Hadrianum, and an eighth-century Gallican benedictional of the long version, with the addition of a number of blessings composed at Winchester. Another copy of this hybrid form of benedictional is found in the 'Ramsey Benedictional', Paris Bib. Nat., MS. lat. 987, perhaps also written by Godeman. Prescott, op. cit., p. 147, suggests that Godeman compiled 'Ramsey' in accordance with general instructions given to him by Æthelwold, perhaps to be sent elsewhere, and that Æthelwold, pleased with Godeman's work, commissioned the present MS. for his personal use. The hybrid Winchester benedictional text was extremely influential in both England and France throughout the tenth and eleventh centuries: see further Prescott, 'The Structure of English Pre-Conquest Benedictionals'. Dumville, Liturgy and the Ecclesiastical History of Late Anglo-Saxon England, p. 77, has expressed some doubts about Prescott's reconstruction of the origins of the hybrid Benedictional, suggesting that this compilation may predate both the 'Ramsey Benedictional' and the present MS., and arguing that the relationship between the present MS. and the 'Ramsey Benedictional' requires further examination. The MS. presumably remained at Winchester after Æthelwold's death. Some pieces of a 15th cent. list of relics from Hyde Abbey were used to reinforce the binding (ff. 26*, 26**), suggesting that the MS. may have been at Hyde Abbey during the Middle Ages. It was in the possession of Henry Compton, Master of the Hospital of St Cross, Winchester, 1667-74, and Bishop successively of Oxford (1674) and London (1675), on his death in 1713. The MS. then passed to Bishop Compton's nephew and executor, General Hatton Compton, Lieutenant of the Tower, who, sometime between 1713 and 1720, gave it to William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire, from whose descendants it was acquired. Humfrey Wanley unsuccessfully tried to acquire the MS. for the Harleian Library in 1720-1: see further C. E. Wright, 'The Benedictional of St Ethelwold and Bishop Henry Compton', B.M.Q., xxvii, 1963-4, pp. 3-5; and The Diary of Humfrey Wanley, ed. C. E. and R. C. Wright, The Bibliographical Society, 1966, i, pp. 19, 42, 76, 77, 106-107. Vellum; ff. ii+119+26*, 26** (ff. ib and ii are paper laid on vellum). 292 x 225mm. Slightly cropped. Text space 210 x 140mm. Gatherings irregular, lacunae between ff. 20 and 21, 105 and 106, 107 and 108; two collations, differing slightly at some points, are in Deshman, Benedictional, p. 257, and Schipper, op. cit., p. 19. Written and illuminated probably at Winchester between 963 and 984. The circumstances of the execution of the MS. are given in the introductory verses on ff. 4b-5, which state, in translation, that: 'A bishop, the great Æthelwold, whom the Lord had made patron of Winchester, ordered a certain monk subject to him to write the present book . . . He commanded also to be made in this book many frames well adorned and filled with various figures decorated with many beautiful colours and with gold. This book the Boanerges aforesaid caused to be indited for himself . . . Let all who look upon this book pray always that after the term of the flesh I may abide in heaven – Godeman the scribe, as a suppliant, earnestly asks this'. St Æthelwold was consecrated Bishop of Winchester 29 November 963 and died 1 August 984. Wilson (Warner and Wilson, op. cit., pp. lvi-lvii) thought that the reference to miracles in the benediction for St Swithun in the MS. implied that the benediction was composed after the saint's translation on 15 July 971. In any case, the prominence given to Ætheldreda in the MS. suggests that it was not executed before the refoundation of Ely by Æthelwold in 970. Deshman, Benedictional, pp. 260-1, argues that the influence of the present MS. is apparent in the figure style and ornament of drawings added circa 979 to the Leofric Missal, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 579, giving a terminus ante quem for the execution of the Benedictional of circa 979. On the basis of iconographical evidence linking the Benedictional with the coronation of King Edgar in 973, Deshman has further proposed that the Benedictional was executed in that year: ibid. The entry in Liber Vitae: Register and Martyrology of New Minster and Hyde Abbey, Winchester, ed. W. de G. Birch, Hampshire Record Society, 1892, p. 24, apparently referring to Godeman suggests that he was a monk of the Old Minster, the cathedral monastery, to which Æthelwold introduced monastic observance in 964. It is possible therefore that Godeman was one of the monks from Abingdon put by Æthelwold in the place of the canons at Winchester Cathedral. A number of authorities state that Godeman was a monk of Abingdon (e.g. B. Yorke in Bishop Æthelwold, p. 11n; D. Knowles, The Monastic Order in England, Cambridge, 1950, p. 50, n. 5), without giving firm supporting evidence. Godeman is described in the Red Book of Thorney as having been a chaplain of St Æthelwold: Warner and Wilson, op. cit., p. xiii. Godeman was appointed by Æthelwold to preside over the new foundation at Thorney, established in 973 (or possibly 972). The exact date of Godeman's arrival at Thorney cannot be determined. Godeman may at first have acted as Æthelwold's representative, with Æthelwold retaining the nominal Abbacy: see further D. Knowles, C. Brooke and V. London, The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales, 940-1216, Cambridge, 1972, pp. 73-4. Whatever Godeman's status at Thorney during Æthelwold's lifetime, he continued as Abbot at Æthelwold's death. He probably died circa 1012-1013: Knowles, Brooke and London, op. cit., p. 74. Godeman's hand also occurs in a fragment of a Gospel book, London, College of Arms, MS. Arundel 22, ff. 84, 85: see The Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art, no. 38 and colour pl. VII. The first part of the 'Ramsey Benedictional' is also clearly from the same scriptorium and may possibly have been written by Godeman himself. T. A. M. Bishop, English Caroline Minuscule, Oxford, 1971, no. 12, suggests that the script is also closely related to those of Besançon, Bibliothèque Municipale, 14 (Evangelia) and Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS. lat. 272 (Evangelia). Written with normally 19 lines to a page. Dry-point ruling, made more than one sheet at a time, with double vertical guide lines, 12mm. apart, the boundary lines of the text space being reinforced by pencil lines apparently contemporary with the MS. Schipper, op. cit., pp. 18-21 draws attention to double prickings and misrulings, suggesting that Godeman was reusing sheets of vellum that had been prepared earlier. He points out that these features, combined with the variety evident in the structure of the gatherings, 'creates the impression that the planning and assembly of the Benedictional was not a clear-cut process, and that the compiler improvised in a number of places'. The main text is in a large Caroline minuscule. The first lines of benedictions are written in rustic capitals, square capitals or uncials, depending on the importance of the occasion (see further below). Small uncial characters are used for the rubricated headings of the benedictions, except for the heading of the first benediction for the first Sunday after Pentecost (f. 70), which is in gold square capitals with a historiated initial. Small uncials are also used for text initials and Amens, which are also in red, except in the benediction for St Ætheldreda, where the Amens are in gold. Schipper, op. cit., pp. 21-28 drew attention to the appearance of dry-point notes on ff. 27, 27v, 58v, 60-63v, 104, 105, 106. These comprise headings of blessings or notes of feast days, and were evidently intended to assist the scribe in ensuring that blessings were copied in the correct order. However, some of the dry-point notes differ from the text as it stands in the completed MS., suggesting that either the leaves were reused from an earlier, abandoned benedictional, or that Godeman was still in the process of ordering his text while he was preparing the leaves for writing. On the palaeography and codicology of the MS., see further Warner and Wilson, op. cit., pp. x-xii; Bishop, op. cit.; Deshman, Benedictional, op. cit., pp. 257-66; Schipper, op. cit. The binding was described in 1910 (see Warner and Wilson, op. cit., p. x) as mellowed red morocco with a richly tooled back and a simple panel on the sides, dating from circa 1670, and attributed to Samuel Mearne, bookbinder to Charles II. The MS. was rebound in 1925 by Sybil Pye, who stated in her notebook that it was 'Rebound in reddish-brown morocco, to match sides of a former binding, probably by Samuel Mearne c. 1670, which were preserved. The back, etc., gold-tooled' (ex info. Miss Louise Hamilton, letter, 16 Feb. 1979: Add. MS. 73524 F). This was apparently the only rebinding ever undertaken by Miss Pye and is the present binding of the MS. It is in dark brown (probably originally reddish-brown) niger. Although the MS. was given a completely new binding, the old sides were lifted and on-laid. The boards are edged with simple double gilt lines; gold tooling (by Sybil Pye) on spine. The decoration of the MS. consists of twenty-eight full-page miniatures, all, except the last, with either rectangular or arched decorative frames, and twenty pages with decorative frames, again either rectangular or arched, which occur on the pages facing miniatures nos. 8-13, 16-27 and on ff. 21 and 108, which probably faced pages with full-page miniatures now lost. One of the pages with a decorative frame contains a historiated initial (f. 91) and there is also one historiated initial alone (f. 70). It is likely that the MS. originally contained forty-three full-page miniatures and twenty-one text pages with decorative frames (see further below). The surviving full-page miniatures represent:– 1. f. 1. The Choir of Confessors. Seven crowned saints. Three are identified by inscriptions as Gregory the Great, Benedict and Cuthbert. 2, 3. ff. 1b-2. The Choir of Virgins, in one group of seven and another of six, the second including St Ætheldreda and, apparently, the Blessed Virgin Mary. 4-7. ff. The twelve Apostles, in groups of three. On f. 3b St Paul can be identified by his appearance and on f. 4 St Peter by his attribute of the keys. 8. f. 5b. First Sunday in Advent. The Annunciation. 9. f. 9b. Third Sunday in Advent. The Second Coming of Christ. 10. f. 15b. Christmas Day. The Nativity of Christ. 11. f. 17b. St Stephen. The Martyrdom of Stephen. 12. f. 19b. St John the Evangelist. John with his gospel and his symbol, an eagle. 13. f. 22b. Octave of Christmas. Above, the Virgin and Child; below, three men seated and talking. 14. f. 24b. Epiphany. The Adoration of the Magi. 15. f. 25. Epiphany. The Baptism of Christ. 16. f. 34b. The Purification. The Presentation of Christ in the Temple. 17. f. 45b. Palm Sunday. The Entry into Jerusalem. 18. f. 51b. Easter Sunday. The Women at the Sepulchre. 19. f. 56b. First Sunday after Easter. The Incredulity of Thomas. 20. f. 64b. Ascension Day. The Ascension of Christ. 21. f. 67b. Pentecost. The Descent of the Holy Spirit. 22. f. 90b. St Ætheldreda. Ætheldreda standing. 23. f. 92b. The Nativity of St John the Baptist. Above, St Elizabeth lying on a couch and the infant John in a crib; below, Zacharias writing John's name on a tablet. 24. f. 95b. St Peter and St Paul. The martyrdoms of Peter (above) and Paul (below). 25. f. 97b. St Swithun. Swithun, in mass vestments. 26. f. 99b. The Translation of St Benedict. Benedict seated, holding a book on his knee with his right hand and a crown in his left hand. 27. f. 102b. The Assumption. The Dormition of the Blessed Virgin. 28. f. 118b. Dedication of a Church. A bishop, perhaps St Æthelwold, pronouncing an episcopal blessing. Since the miniatures of the Choir of Virgins (nos. 2, 3) and the Twelve Apostles (nos. 4-7) form diptychs on facing pages, it is likely that the miniature of the Choir of Confessors (no. 1) faced another miniature showing seven crowned saints which is now lost. There were probably also other miniatures at the beginning of the MS. showing further heavenly choirs. By analogy with the Æthelstan Psalter, Cotton MS. Galba A. XVIII (see The Golden Age, no. 4), it has been argued that six leaves containing twelve miniatures are missing at the beginning of the Benedictional and that their subjects were as follows:- i. Christ in Majesty;- ii, iii. Choir of Angels;- x, xi. Choir of Martyrs;- xii. First part of Choir of Confessors: see further F. Wormald, The Benedictional of Ethelwold, 1959, pp. 12-13; Warner and Wilson, op. cit., p. xv. The leaves removed between ff. 20 and 21, 105 and 106, 107 and 108 probably also contained miniatures. Folios 21 and 108 contain pages with decorative frames which elsewhere in the MS. always face full-page miniatures, while the leaves between ff. 105 and 106 apparently contained the opening of the benedictions for the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, which is likely to have been marked by a full-page miniature. The subjects of these lost miniatures can be determined from the benedictions immediately following the gaps in the MS. The most probable reconstruction of these lost leaves is as follows (see Wormald, Benedictional of Ethelwold, p. 11; Warner and Wilson, op. cit., pp. xxi, xxix, app. I; Prescott, 'The Text of the Benedictional of St Æthelwold', pp. 127-32; Deshman, Benedictional, pp. 259-60):- (1) Between ff. 20 and 21. Recto. Second benediction for the feast of the Nativity of St John the Evangelist, beg. 'Deus qui tuis apostolis'. Verso. Miniature of the Massacre of the Holy Innocents;- (2) Between ff. 105 and 106. First leaf, recto. Blank. First leaf, verso. Miniature of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. Second leaf, recto. Opening of first benediction for the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, beg. 'Omnipotens deus sua uos dignetur', with decorative frame. Second leaf, verso. Conclusion of previous benediction and opening of second benediction for the same feast, beg. 'Omnipotens deus qui per incarnatum uerbum';- (3) Between ff. 106 and 107. Recto. Conclusion of benediction 'Sabbato mense septimi'. Verso. Miniature of single figure of St Michael. The decoration and manner of writing are used in the MS. to grade the benedictions according to the relative importance ascribed to different festivals. The categories are, in descending order of importance, as follows:- (1) Full-page miniature, decorative frame for opening of benediction, historiated initial, opening of benediction in golden uncials and rustic capitals, with the golden uncials running on to the first two lines of the next page. Used only for Ætheldreda (ff. 90b-91b);- (2) Full-page miniature, decorative frame for opening of benediction, opening words of benediction in golden square capitals, rustic capitals and uncials, varied occasionally by lines in red. Used for e.g. Swithun (f. 98) and Benedict (f. 100);- (3) First line of benediction in gold capitals. Used for e.g. Agnes (f. 31), Agatha (f. 35b) and Cecilia (f. 111b);- (4) First line of benediction in gold uncials. Used for e.g. Bartholomew (f. 104), Andrew (f. 113) and Thomas (f. 114);- (5) First line of benediction in plain black uncials, unless it is the second benediction for a particular festival, when it is in minuscule.'