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Add MS 34890
- Record Id:
- 032-002087895
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002087895
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000052.0x0003c9
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 34890
- Title:
-
Gospels (The 'Grimbald Gospels'); a copy of a letter from Fulco, Archbishop of Reims, to King Alfred concerning Grimbald
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 1r-2v: Jerome, Epistle to Damasus, incipit: 'Beato papae damaso';
ff. 2v-4r: Jerome, Prologue to the Gospels, incipit: 'Plures fuisse';
ff. 4r-5r: Eusebius, Epistle to Carpianus, incipit: 'Eusebius carpiano fratri';
ff. 5r-5v: Jerome, 2nd Epistle to Damasus, incipit, 'Sciendum etiam nequem ignarum'.
ff. 5v-7r: Victor, Bishop of Capua, Preface, incipit, 'Cum fortuitu in manus meas';
ff. 7v-144v: The Four Gospels, in the Vulgate version, each preceded by an incipit page, the prologue, and capitula; with the Ammonian sections and references to the Eusebian canons in the margins. The following passages are missing: Matthew 7:22 (two leaves lost after f. 17); Mark 1:1-16 (two leaves lost after f. 46); Luke 1:1-2 (the text within the border not filled in).
ff. 145v-157v: A table of lessons or 'Capitulatio Evangeliorum' for the year, incipit, 'In vigilia Domini de nocte'. The names of no specially English saints are included.
ff. 158r-160v: An added copy of a letter from Fulk, Archbishop of Reims, to King Alfred, in an English hand of the late 11th century. The letter recommends Grimbald, a monk of St Bertin, who was invited by Alfred to England (c. 893), where he became Alfred's 'mass-priest' (according to the prose preface of the Old English Pastoral Care), and may have been an abbot.
Decoration:
3 full-page framed miniatures in colours with gold and silver (ff. 10v, 73v, 114v) and 3 incipit pages, each with a large decorated initial and full border in colours with gold and silver at the beginning of each Gospel (miniatures and incipit for Mark's Gospel are missing); 1inhabited initial, added in the second quarter of the 11th century (f. 158r). Large and small initials in gold throughout.
f. 10v: Matthew, writing at a desk with his symbol of a winged man in the upper right, holding a scroll;
f. 11r: Ornamental border with the incipit to the Book of Matthew within; the large 'L' of 'Liber' an inhabited initial with interlace;
f. 73v: Luke, seated beside a writing desk with his symbol of a winged bull in the upper right, with an open book between its forelegs;
f. 74r: Ornamental border with a large decorated 'Q', the first letter of the Book of Luke, within;
f. 114v: John, seated beside a writing desk with his symbol of an eagle in the upper right. The border contains eight medallions, within which are depictions of Christ in Majesty (in the upper three medallions), the apostles (in the middle two medallions), clergy and angels (in the bottom three medallions); the rectangular frames within the border contain representations of kings (identifiable by their crowns), looking up towards Christ;
f. 115r: Ornamental border with the incipit to the Book of John; a large decorated 'I' of 'in principio', with interlace. At the top of the large 'I' kneels an angel holding (along with three other angels) a medallion in which is depicted the Virgin and Child in a mandorla. Seven other medallions within the border contain depictions of angels and other figures, all gazing towards the Virgin and Child; the rectangular frames within the border contain representations of kings (identifiable by their crowns), also gazing at the Virgin and Child;
f. 158r: Inhabited initial 'G'; a man thrusts a sword into the hybrid creature from whose body the 'G' is constructed; a dog is on its hind legs beside him.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
Royal Manuscripts Digitisation Project - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-002087895", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 34890: Gospels (The 'Grimbald Gospels'); a copy of a letter from Fulco, Archbishop of Reims, to King Alfred concerning Grimbald" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002087895
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-002087895
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
Parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_34890 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1012
- End Date:
- 1023
- Date Range:
- 1012-1023
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 320 x 245 mm (text space: 220 x 150 mm).
Foliation: ff. 161 (f. 161 is a parchment flyleaf + 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf at the beginning and 2 unfoliated parchment flyleaves at the end).
Script: Caroline minuscule.
Binding: Rebound in January 1957 with medieval wooden boards and refurbished spine; the former spine is attached to a lower flyleaf (f. [iii]).
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England (Christ Church Cathedral, Canterbury). The hand is usually identified as that of Eadwig [Eadui] Basan, a scribe of Christ Church, Canterbury who was active between about 1012 and 1023 (see Gameson, 'Eadwig' (2004)).
Provenance:
New Minster, Winchester: added late 11th-century copy of a letter from Fulk, Archbishop of Reims, recommending the monk Grimbald (d. 901?) to King Alfred (ff. 158r-160v). Grimbald was revered as a saint and his relics were held at the New Minster, Winchester (see Stowe MS 944, ff. 8v, 38v). The scribe of the addition to the Grimbald Gospels also made additions to the New Minster Liber Vitae (Stowe MS 944, ff. 41r, 59r) and a Psalter (Arundel MS 60, ff. 133r-142r). See Wormald, 'Late Anglo-Saxon Art' (1963), p. 21.
Early modern and modern inscriptions (ff. 1r, 161r).
Thomas Ford, Prebendary of Wells (d. 1747): inscriptions (ff. 1r, 161r), including 'Tho Ford his Book' (f. 161r).
The Carew family, Crowcombe Court, Somerset (see Catalogue of Additions (1901), p. 112).
Purchased by the British Museum from Quaritch, 13 April 1896 (f. ii-r).
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
- Publications:
-
Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the years 1894-1899 (London: British Museum, 1901), pp. 110-12.
[George Warner], Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series I (London: British Museum, 1907), pl. 5.
O. Homburger, Die Anfaenge der Malschule von Winchester im X. Jahrhundert (Studien ueber Christliche Denkmaler, Leipzig, 1912), p. 15 n.3, p. 44 n.2, p. 70 n.1.
Schools of Illumination: Reproductions from Manuscripts in the British Museum, 6 vols (London: British Museum, 1914-1930), I: Hiberno-Saxon and Early English Schools A. D. 700-1100, pl. 14.
[J. A. Herbert], British Museum: Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 1, 3rd edn (London: British Museum, 1923), pl. V.
[J. A. Herbert], Illuminated Manuscripts and Bindings of Manuscripts Exhibited in The Grenville Library, Guide to the Exhibited Manuscripts, 3 (Oxford: British Museum, 1923), no. 10, pl. 1.
Eric. G. Millar, English Illuminated Manuscripts from the Xth to the XIIIth Century (Paris: Van Oest, 1926), pl. 16, 17.
O. Homburger, 'Review', Art Bulletin, 10 (1928), p. 402.
H. H. Glunz, History of the Vulgate in England from Alcuin to Roger Bacon (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1933), no. 35.
Theodor Klauser, Das roemische capitulare evangeliorum: Texte und Untersuchungen zu seiner aeltesten Geschichte, Liturgiegeschichtliche Quellen und Forschungen 28 (Munster: Aschendorffschen, 1935), p. L no. 158.
G. L. Micheli, L’enluminure du haut moyen âge et les influences irlandaises (Brussels: Editions de la connaissance, 1939), p. 190.
Ernst Kitzinger, Early Medieval Art with Illustrations from the British Museum Collection (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1940), pl. 28.
T. D. Kendrick, Late Saxon and Viking Art (London: Methuen & Co., 1949), no. 10, pls VI, VII.
D. Talbot Rice, English Art 871-1100 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952), pp. 194-6, pl. 56.
Neil R. Ker, Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957), p. 266.
Hans Swarzenski, 'The Role of Copies in the Formation of the Styles of the Eleventh Century', in Studies in Western Art: Acts of the Twentieth International Congress of the History of Art, 4 vols (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), I: Romanesque and Gothic Art, pp. 7-18, p. 11 n. 10.
Francis Wormald, 'Late Anglo-Saxon Art: Some Questions and Suggestions', in Studies in Western Art: Acts of the Twentieth International Congress of the History of Art, 4 vols (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963), I: Romanesque and Gothic Art, pp. 19-26 (p. 21).
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by Neil R. Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), Hyde.
Illuminated Manuscripts Exhibited in the Grenville Library (London, British Museum, 1967), no. 4.
Jonathan J. G. Alexander, Norman Illumination at Mont St Michel 966-1100 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970), p. 60 n. 4, pp. 139-40, p. 160 n. 3, p. 169.
Die Ottonische Kolner Malerschule, ed. by Peter Bloch and Hermann Schnitzler, 2 vols (Dusseldorf: L. Schwann, 1967-1970), II: Textband, p. 112.
T. A. M. Bishop, English Caroline Minuscule (Oxford, 1971), p. XV, no. 24.
Charles R. Dodwell, Painting in Europe: 800 to 1200 (London : Penguin Books, 1971), p. 145.
Carl Nordenfalk, Codex Caesareus Upsaliensis: An Echternach Gospel-Book of the Eleventh Century, 2 vols (Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell, 1971), commentary volume, pp. 99 n. 2 [with facsimile volume].
C. M. Kauffmann, Romanesque Manuscripts 1066-1190, Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 3 (London: Harvey Miller, 1975), p. 55.
Graham Pollard, 'Some Anglo-Saxon Bookbindings', The Book Collector, 24 (1975), 130- 59 (pp. 150-52).
Elzbieta Temple, Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts 900-1066, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 2 (London: Harvey Miller, 1976), no. 68; pp. 20, 23, 50, 60, 67, 69, 79, 85, 86, 88, 93, 96, 101, 103, 109, 120, 121.
Janet Backhouse, D. H. Turner and L. W. Webster, The Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art ( London: British Museum, 1984), no. 55. [exhibition catalogue]
T. A. Heslop, 'The Production of De Luxe Manuscripts and the Patronage of King Cnut and Queen Emma', in Anglo-Saxon England, 19, ed. by Michael Lapidge and others (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp. 151-98 (p. 166).
Peter Lasko, Ars Sacra 800-1200, 2nd edn (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), p. 293 n. 9.
Carl Nordenfalk, Book Illumination: Early Middle Ages (Geneva: Editions d'art Albert Skira, 1995; originally printed as Early Medieval Painting, New York: Skira, 1957), p. 103, pl. on p. 99.
Richard Marsden, ' "Ask What I am Called": The Anglo-Saxons and Their Bibles', in The Bible as Book: The Manuscript Tradition, ed. by John L. Sharpe III and Kimberly Van Kampen (London: British Library, 1998), pp. 145-76 (p.175).
Michelle P. Brown and Patricia Lovett, The Historical Source Book for Scribes (London: British Library, 1999), pls. on pp. 82, 83.
Peter Kidd, 'A Re-examination of the Date of an Eleventh-Century Psalter from Winchester (British Library, MS Arundel 60)', in Studies in the Illustration of the Psalter, ed. by B. Cassidy and R. M. Wright (Stamford, Lincs.: Shaun Tyas, 2000), pp. 42-54 (p. 46 n. 22).
Helmut Gneuss, Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A List of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 241 (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2001) no. 290.
Richard Gameson, ‘L’Angleterre et la Flandre aux Xe et XIe siecles: le temoignage des manuscrits’, in Les échanges culturels auMoyen Âge, Serie Histoire Ancienne et Médiévale , 70 (Paris: Sorbonne, 2002), pp. 165-206 (p. 174, fig. 11).
Richard Gameson, ‘Eadwig Basan (fl. c.1020)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: University Press, 2004) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/55374, accessed 20 Feb 2017].
Richard W. Pfaff, ‘Grimbald [St Grimbald] (d. 901?)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11634, accessed 20 Feb 2017].
Katherine L. Brown and Robin Clark, 'Analysis of key Anglo-Saxon manuscripts (8–11th centuries) in the British Library: pigment identification by Raman microscopy', Online Journal of Raman spectroscopy (2004)[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jrs.1127/epdf, accessed 19 October, 2017].
Scot McKendrick and Kathleen Doyle, Bible Manuscripts: 1400 Years of Scribes and Scripture (London: British Library, 2007), p. 57, fig. 44.
Sacred: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and their Sacred Texts (London: British Library, 2007), p. 121 [exhibition catalogue].
Richard Gameson, The Earliest Books of Canterbury Cathedral: Manuscripts and Fragments to c. 1200 (London: Bibliographical Society, 2008), p. 49, n. 12.
Scot McKendrick, John Lowden and Kathleen Doyle, Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 10 [exhibition catalogue].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)