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Cotton MS Caligula A VII, ff 11–175
- Record Id:
- 041-001102326
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001101582
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001630.0x000155
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100058833590.0x000001
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Cotton MS Caligula A VII, ff 11–175
- Title:
- Heliand
- Scope & Content:
-
These folios contain a copy of the Heliand, an Old Saxon Biblical epic copied perhaps in England in the middle or 2nd half of the 10th century (ff. 11r–175v). It is the longest Old Saxon text that survives. Apart from fragments, only one other substantial medieval copy of the Heliand survives (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cgm 25). There is an unfoliated, blank leaf between ff. 175 and 176.
Decoration: Zoomorphic initials in blue, red, yellow, pink and green (ff. 11r, 21v, 35r, 36v, 39r, 41v, 43v, 132r). Zoomorphic initial in black (f. 46r). Display capitals in red on yellow and blue backgrounds (ff. 11r, 132r). Initials with red and yellow fills and decoration (ff. 13r, 15r, 17r). Initials in black, some with penwork decoration (ff. 19v, 24r, 26v, 28v, 30v, 32v, 49r, 51v, 54r, 56v, 58r, 60r, 62v, 64v, 66v, 68v, 70r, 72r, 74r, 77r, 79r, 81v, 84r, 87r, 89r, 91v, 93v, 95r, 96v, 99r, 101v, 105r, 107r, 109v, 112r, 114r, 116v, 119v, 122r, 124v, 127r, 129v, 134v, 137v, 139v, 142v, 145v, 148v, 150v, 152v, 154v, 157r, 159v, 162v, 165r, 167v, 170v, 172r, 174v). Small initials in red (f. 12v) and black (f. 112v). Capitals filled in red and yellow (ff. 11r-19r, 36v, 132r). Numbers in red (ff. 13r, 15r, 17r). Numbers in red on blue or yellow backgrounds (ff. 35r, 36v, 39r, 41v, 43v, 132r). Numbers in black (ff. 19v, 21v, 24r, 26v, 28v, 30v, 32v, 46r, 49r, 51v, 54r, 56v, 58r, 60r, 62v, 64v, 66v, 68v, 70r, 72r, 74r, 77r, 79r, 81v, 84r, 87r, 89r, 91v, 93v, 95r, 96v, 99r, 101v, 105r, 107r, 109v, 111v, 114r, 116v, 119v, 122r, 124v, 127r, 129v, 134r, 137r, 139v, 142v, 145v, 148v, 150v, 152v, 154v, 157r, 159v, 162v, 165r, 167v, 170v, 172r, 174v). Stylized letters at the end of text blocks (ff. 40v, 74r, 74v, 175v).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Cotton Collection
England and France 700-1200 Project - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001101582
040-001102323
041-001102326 - Is part of:
- Cotton MS : Cotton Manuscripts
Cotton MS Caligula A VII : Heliand and a charm
Cotton MS Caligula A VII, ff 11–175 : Heliand - Hierarchy:
- 032-001101582[0495]/040-001102323[0003]/041-001102326
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Cotton MS
- Record Type (Level):
- Item
- Extent:
-
Part of Cotton MS Caligula A VII
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- Saxon, Old
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 0950
- End Date:
- 0999
- Date Range:
- 2nd half of the 10th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Southern England.
Provenance:
?England, or an English scribe, second half of the 10th century. The decoration appears to be English, and Latin notes on the side are written in Anglo-Saxon square minuscule (see ff. 12v, 112v and Ker, Catalogue (1957), p. 172).
- Publications:
-
Arthur, Ciaran, 'Ploughing through Cotton Caligula A. vii: Reading the Sacred Words of the Heliand and the Æcerbot', The Review of English Studies, 65, 2014, 1–17 [available online at https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgt019].
Cathey, James, Heliand: Text and Commentary (Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Press, 2002).
Cathey, James, 'The Historical Setting of the Heliand, the Poem, and the Manuscripts', in Perspectives on the Old Saxon Heliand: Introductory and Critical Essays, with an Edition of the Leipzig Fragment, ed. by Valentine A. Pakis (Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Press, 2010), pp. 3-33 (pp. 26-33).
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. 308.
Gretsch, Mechthild, The Intellectual Foundations of the English Benedictine Reform (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 389.
Ker, N. R., Catalogue of Manuscripts containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957; repr. 1990), no. 137 (p. 172).
McKendrick, Scot, and Kathleen Doyle, Bible Manuscripts: 1400 Years of Scribes and Scripture (London: British Library, 2007), fig. 36.
Mertens, Andre, The Old English Lives of St Martin of Tours (Göttingen: Universitätsverlag Göttingen, 2017), p. 121.
Murphy, G. Ronald, The Heliand: The Saxon Gospel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992) [includes translation].
Priebsch, R., The Heliand Manuscript, Cotton Caligula A. VII, in the British Museum (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1925).
Remley, Paul G., Old English Biblical Verse: Studies in Genesis, Exodus and Daniel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 17-18.
Roberts, Jane, A Guide to Scripts Used in English Writings Up to 1500 (London: The British Library, 2005), p. 59.
Rudolf, Winfried, ‘On the Italian provenance of the Vercelli Book’, in Manuscripts in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Cultures and Connections, ed. by Claire Breay and Joanna Story with Eleanor Jackson (Dublin: Four Courts, 2021), pp. 154-167 (p. 166).
Schmid, Hans Ulrich, ' Ein neues 'Heliand'-Fragment aus der Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig', Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur, 135 (2006), 309-23.
Sievers, Eduard (ed.), Heliand (Halle: Waisenhaus, 1878) [includes edition].
Stokes, Peter A., English Vernacular Minuscule from Æthelred to Cnut circa 990-1035 (D.S. Brewer: Cambridge, 2014), p. 160.
Taeger, Burkhard, Der Heliand: Ausgewählte Abbildungen zur Überlieferung (Goppingen: Kümmerle Verlag, 1985), p. viii.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Subjects:
- Literature, Medieval
- Places:
- Southern England