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Cotton MS Vitellius A VI

Record Id:

040-001102938

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-001101582

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000001273.0x000224

LARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100058093813.0x000001

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Cotton MS Vitellius A VI

Title:

Gildas, De excidio Britanniae (imperfect)

Scope & Content:

This codex contains one of the earliest surviving copies of the fifth or sixth century churchman Gildas's account of De excidio Britanniae, copied in the mid-10th century. (A fragment, possibly copied in the late 9th or early 10th century, survives in Bibliothèque Carnegie de Reims, MS 414.) This codex was partially burnt in the Ashburnham House fire of 1731. According to Thomas Smith's catalogue, this manuscript originally contained liturgical material pertaining to St Augustine and others, but that has now been lost (Smith, Catalogus (1984), p. 81).

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Cotton Collection

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-001101582
040-001102938

Is part of:

Cotton MS : Cotton Manuscripts

Cotton MS Vitellius A VI : Gildas, De excidio Britanniae (imperfect)

Hierarchy:

032-001101582[0796]/040-001102938

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Cotton MS

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 parchment codex

Digitised Content:

https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100058093813.0x000001

Thumbnail:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

0930

End Date:

0970

Date Range:

Mid 10th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Condition: leaves damaged by fire in 1731.

Materials: parchment and ink.

Dimensions: binding 265 × 215 mm (folios range from 130 x 80 mm to 200 x 140 mm).

Foliation: ff. 37 (+ 2 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and 2 at the end).

Binding: BM/BL in-house; rebound in 1866.

Custodial History:

Origin: Southern England (? The Benedictine abbey of St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury), possibly copied from a Welsh or Cornish exemplar (see Dumville, 'English Square minuscule script: the mid-century phases' (1994), p. 140, n. 38).

Provenance:

The Benedictine Abbey of St Augustine's, Canterbury: this codex originally contained liturgical material pertaining to St Augustine and others, which was lost after the fire (see Smith, Catalogus (1984), p. 81). It was held at St Augustine's in the 16th century, according to John Joscelyn's edition of the text (see Joscelyn, De Excidio (1567)).

? John Dee (b. 1527, d. 1609), mathematician, astrologer, and antiquary: possibly annotated (f. 13r; see Barker-Benfield, St Augustine's (2008), II, 922).

William Camden (b. 1551, d. 1623), historian and herald: owned (according to Smith, Catalogus (1984), p. 81).

Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (b. 1571, d. 1631), 1st baronet, antiquary and politician: owner. Cotton’s collection was augmented by his son, Sir Thomas Cotton (b. 1594, d. 1662), 2nd baronet, and his grandson, Sir John Cotton. Sir John Cotton (b. 1621, d. 1702), 3rd baronet: bequeathed the entire Cotton collection of books and manuscripts to trustees ‘for Publick Use and Advantage’, 12 and 13 William III, c. 7. Formed one of the foundation collections of the British Museum in 1753.

Information About Copies:

Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk.manuscripts.

Publications:

Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War, ed. by Claire Breay and Joanna Story (London: The British Library, 2018), no. 4 [exhibition catalogue].

Barker-Benfield, St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 3 vols(London: British Library, 2008), II, pp. 921-22.

Dumville, David, 'English Square minuscule script: the mid-century phases', Anglo-Saxon England, 23 (1994), pp. 133-164 (p. 140, n. 38).

Gneuss, Helmut and Michael Lapidge, Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014), no. 396.

Joscelyn, John (ed.), De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (London: J. Davis, 1568) [includes edition].

Ker, N. R. (ed.), Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, 2nd edn (London: Royal Historical Sociey, 1964), p. 43.

Larpi, Luca, 'Reims MS 414: A 'New' Witness of Gildas Sapiens' De excidio Britanniae', Filologia Mediolatina, 18 (2011),1-21 (pp. 6-8, 19-20).

Larpi, Luca, Prolegomena to a New Edition of Gildas Sapiens "De Excidio Britanniae" (Florence: Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2012).

Mommsen, T. (ed.), Chronica minora saec. IV. V. VI. VIII., Monumenta Germania Historica, 3 volumes (Berlin,1892-98), III (1898), pp. 25-85 [includes edition; available online at http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb00000825_00009.html?sortIndex=010:010:0013:010:00:00] (accessed 17 February 2016).

O'Sullivan, Thomas D., The De Excidio of Gildas: Its Autheticity and Date (Leiden: Brill, 1978), pp. 3, 72.

Smith, T., Catalogus Librorum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Cottoniae, ed. by C.G.C. Tite, 2nd edn (Cambridge: Brewer, 1984), p. 81.

Winterbottom, Michael (ed. and trans.), Gildas: The Ruin of Britain and Other Documents (London: Philliomore, 1978) [includes edition and translation].

Exhibitions:

Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War, British Library, London, 19 October 2018 - 19 February 2019

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)