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Royal MS 8 E XV
- Record Id:
- 040-002106386
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002105724
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000277.0x00035b
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100065009187.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Royal MS 8 E XV
- Title:
- Alcuin of York, Epistulae
- Scope & Content:
-
This 9th-century manuscript consists of a collection of 66 letters by Alcuin of York (d. 804). Its contents are similar to those of St Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 271.
Contents:
ff. 1v-80v: Alcuin, Epistulae (Letters).A collection of 66 letters, preceded by capitula (ff. 1v-2v), beginning with an epistle to Æthelhard (d. 805), bishop of Canterbury: 'Pio patri et sanctae sedis praesulli Aedilhardo archiepiscopo humilis levita Albinus salute. Audiens vestrae salutationis verba dulcissima et prosperitatis vestrae sanitatem multis per necessariam'; ending with an epistle addressed to his Anglo-Saxon friends for recommending Fordrad, a priest (ff. 80r-v): 'Fraternae dilectionis amicis per diversas nominum dignitates Albinus conservus in Christo vester salutem'; ends: 'Qui est via vita et veritas vobis viam vestrae salutis ostendere et veritatem aeternae gloriae tribuere et beatissimam vitam concedere dignetur'.
The manuscript contains a later addition:
f. 1r: a 10th-century extract from a charter whereby Megenhardus conveys land at Vinciacum (La Cense de Vinci, in Crèvecoeur, near Cambrai) and property in Idelcinae (?), Caraciniacum [Crecy?], and elsewhere to Lantarius, Adhal[mus], Odgrimus, Ostemannus, and Maginbertus (?). The witnesses include Sefredus, Herebertus, Fulchardus; partly related to the use of the altar of Saint-Omer.
Decoration:
Rubric and numbers in red (ff. 1v, 2v).
Numbers in red. Rubrics in uncial.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- England and France 700-1200 Project
Royal Collection - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002105724
040-002106386 - Is part of:
- Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X : Royal Manuscripts
Royal MS 8 E XV : Alcuin of York, Epistulae - Hierarchy:
- 032-002105724[0619]/040-002106386
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
A parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100065009187.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 0850
- End Date:
- 0874
- Date Range:
- 3rd quarter of the 9th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 225 x 150 mm (text space: 170 x 110 mm).
Foliation: ff. 80 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 3 at the end).
Script: Caroline minuscule.
Binding: Post-1600. Royal library parchment binding.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: ? Arras, Northern France.
Provenance:
? The Benedictine abbey of Saint-Vaast, Arras, founded in 667: based on the script, according to Steigmann and Wemhoff, Kunst und Kultur (1999); and Bischoff, Katalog (2004).
? The Benedictine abbey of Saint Bertin, Saint-Omer, founded in the 7th century: a 10th-century extract from a charter, partly for the use of the altar of Saint Omer (see Bischoff, Katalog (2004).
John Bridges (b. 1535/6, d. 1618), Bishop of Oxford: erased inscription possibly in his hand, 'ex dono Jo. Bridges' (f. 1r) (see Warner and Gilson, Catalogue (1921)).
Winchester Cathedral, founded in 642: given by John Bridges, according to Ker, Books, Collectors and Libraries (1985).
Patrick Young (b. 1584 d. 1652), librarian and scholar: his annotations and corrections throughout (e. g., ff. 5v, 10r; 45r).
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): in the 1698 catalogue of the library of St James’s Palace (see [Edward Bernard], Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae (Oxford: Sheldonian, '1697', but 1698?), no. 8664).
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library.
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk.manuscripts/.
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
- Publications:
-
George F. Warner and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1921), I, p. 256.
Edward Kennard Rand, A Survey of the Manuscripts of Tours, Studies in the Script of Tours, 1, 2 vols (Cambridge, MA: Mediaeval Academy of America, 1929), I, p. 203.
Stephen Allott, Alcuin of York: His Life and Letters (York: Sessions, 1974) [for a translation of the text].
Neil R. Ker, Books Collectors and Libraries: Studies in the Medieval Heritage (London: Hambledon Press, 1985), p. 181.
David Ganz, 'A Fragment of Alcuin's Letters in the Newberry Library', Anglo-Saxon England, 22 (1993), 167-78 (p. 169).
Donald A. Bullough, 'Alcuin's Cultural Influence: the Evidence of the Manuscripts', in Alcuin of York: Scholar at the Carolingian Court, ed. by Luuk A. J. R. Houwen and Alasdair A. MacDonald (Groningen: Forsten, 1998),1-26.
Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit: Karl der Grosse und Papst Leo III in Paderborn, 3 vols, ed. by Christoph Steigmann and Matthias Wemhoff (Mainz: Zabern, 1999), I, pp. 42-43, no. II.5 [exhibition catalogue].
Marie-Hélène Jullien et Françoise Perelman, Clavis des Auteurs Latins au Moyen Age: Territoire français 735-987, Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Medievalis, 2 vols (Turnhout: Brepols, 1994-1999), II: Alcuin (1999), pp. 171-355.
Bernhard Bischoff, Katalog der festländischen Handschriften des neunten Jahrhunderts (mit Ausnahme der wisigotischen), 3 vols (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998-2014), II (2004): Laon-Paderborn, ed. by Birgit Ebersperger, no. 2494.
Donald A. Bullough, Alcuin: Achievement and Reputation: Being Part of the Ford Lectures Delivered in Oxford in Hilary Term 1980 (New York: Brill, 2004), p. 62.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Notes:
- This manuscript is part of The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project: Manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 700-1200.