Hard-coded id of currently selected item: . JSON version of its record is available from Blacklight on e.g. ??

Metadata associated with selected item should appear here...

Cotton MS Nero A I, ff 70–177

Record Id:

041-001102580

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-001101582

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000001630.0x0001e6

LARK:

SLARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100109137606.0x000002

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Cotton MS Nero A I, ff 70–177

Title:

Wulfstan of York, Institutes of Polity; Wulfstan of York, Homilies, including Sermo lupi ad Anglos; various additions, including an Easter-table for 1100–1152, Anglo-Saxon law-codes I Æthelstan, I Edmund, III Edgar (imperfect), V Æthelred, law-code on Grið, VIII Æthelred, excerpts on the role of a bishop (imperfect), Excerptiones Ecgberti (1st recension), excerpts on canon law

Scope & Content:

These folios contain a series of legal texts copied in the early eleventh century in the circle of Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester and archbishop of York. Wulfstan's own hand has been detected adding to and correcting texts, for example on f. 120r (see Ker, Catalogue (1957), p. 164). Later 12th century to 13th century additions can be found on 83v, 98v, 105v–108v, 120v–121v, 148r–149r, 167v, 174v–177v. There are Old English texts between ff. 70r–121v, and texts on Latin ff. 83v–85r, 98v, 105v–108v, 120v–121v, 122r–177v.

Texts in these folios include:

ff. 70r–76v, 97r–98v, 102r–105v, 109r–v, 120r: Wulfstan of York, Institutes of Polity;

ff. 76v–86v, 110r–116r: four homilies of Wulfstan of York, including Sermo lupi ad Anglos (ff. 110r–115r);

ff. 83v, 98v, 105v–108v, 120v–121v, 148r–149r, 167v, 174v–177v: miscellaneous additions;

ff. 86v–87v: Anglo-Saxon law-codes I Æthelstan;

f. 87v: I Edmund (imperfect);

ff. 88r–89r: III Edgar (imperfect);

ff. 89r–92v, 116v–119v: V Æthelred;

ff. 92v–95v, 96v: Grið (law code in the style of Wulfstan of York);

ff. 95v–96v: VIII Æthelred;

ff. 120v–121v: an Easter-table, 1100–1152;

ff. 122v-127r: excerpts on the role of a bishop and texts related to ecclesiastical institutes (imperfect);

ff. 127v-154v: Excerptiones Pseudo-Ecgberti (Recension B, ff. 127v-148r) and excerpts on canon law, sometimes known as Wuflstan's Canon Law Collection;

ff. 155r-74v: Latin texts, including abbreviated sermons of Abbo of Saint-Germain of Saint-Germain-des-Prés;

ff. 172r-v: the hymn 'O redemptor sume carmen', with musical notation;

ff. 172v- 174v: Latin texts on penance and the four 'tempora';

ff. 174v-177v: later medieval additions in Latin, including verses (f. 175r) and a text entitled 'De ordinacione ab heretico facta' (f. 177r).

Decoration: Decorative capitals and initials filled with colour washes (ff. 70r-76v, 84r, 86v, 87v, 89r, 92v, 95v, 97r, 98v, 99r, 102r, 103v, 105r, 109r, 110r, 115v, 116v, 119v, 120r-122v, 125r, 126r, 127r-v, 147r, 149v, 151v-159v, 162v, 163v-164r, 168r, 169r, 170v, 172r-173v); rubric in red or brown (f. 110v); marginal sketches of an animal with claws (ff. 153v, 166r, 177r); unidentified marginal sketches (ff. 122v, 154r, 166v); musical notation (172r-v); letters filled with colour washes throughout.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Cotton Collection

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-001101582
040-001102576
041-001102580

Is part of:

Cotton MS : Cotton Manuscripts
Cotton MS Nero A I : Early modern index; Anglo-Saxon law codes I Cnut, II Cnut, II-III Edgar, the law codes of Alfred and of Ine (imperfect),…

Cotton MS Nero A I, ff 70–177 : Wulfstan of York, Institutes of Polity; Wulfstan of York, Homilies, including Sermo lupi ad Anglos;…

Hierarchy:

032-001101582[0604]/040-001102576[0004]/041-001102580

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Cotton MS

Record Type (Level):

Item

Extent:

Part of Cotton MS Nero A I

Digitised Content:

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Cotton_MS_Nero_A_I (digital images currently unavailable)

Thumbnail:

Languages:

English, Old
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1000

End Date:

1299

Date Range:

1st quarter of the 11th century-13th century

Era:

Access:

Please request the physical items you need using the online collection item request form.

Digitised items can be viewed online by clicking the thumbnail image or digitised content link.

Readers who have registered or renewed their pass since 21 March 2024 can request physical items prior to visiting the Library by completing
this request form.
Please enter the Reference (shelfmark) above on the request form.

If your Reader Pass was issued before this date, you will need to visit the Library in London or Yorkshire to renew it before you can request items online. All manuscripts and archives must be consulted at the Library in London.

This catalogue record may describe a collection of items which cannot all be requested together. Please use the hierarchy viewer to navigate to individual items. Some items may be in use or restricted for other reasons. If you would like to check the availability, contact our Reference Services team, quoting the Reference (shelfmark) above.

User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Custodial History:

Origin: Worcester or York: one of the annotating hands in this manuscript (see, for example, ff. 100v, 102r, 120r, and 125v) has been associated with Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester and archbishop of York, and so the manuscript seems to have been made for his use, at one of his sees, by four main scribes (see Ker, Catalogue (1957), p. 215).

Provenance:

Wulfstan (d. 1023), bishop of Worcester and archbishop of York: annotated and corrected (ff. 100v, 102r, 120r, and 125v).

12th and 13th-century additions on ecclesiastical issues (ff. 174v-177r).

Later medieval marginal additions and sketches throughout.

13th or 14th century accounts inscribed in the margin (f. 149r).

Draft of a letter in a 13th or 14th century hand, from 'Robertus Corbet clericus' to 'Magistro Waltero de Driston' (f. 124r).

Robert Talbot (b. c. 1505, d. 1558), antiquary: annotated (ff. 71v-74v).

Publications:

Backhouse, Janet and others (eds), The Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art, 966-1066 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984), no. 159.

Bethurum, Dorothy (ed.), The Homilies of Wulfstan, ed. by Dorothy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957), pp. 6, 200-10, 267-77 [includes edition of the homilies].

Cross, J. E., ‘Missing folios in Cotton MS. Nero A. I’, British Library Journal, 16 (1990), 99–100.

Cross, J.E. and Alan Brown, 'Wulfstan and Abbo at Saint-Germain-des-Prés', Mediaevalia 15 (1993 for 1989), 71-91 [includes partial edition].

Cross, J.E. and Andrew Hamer, 'Source Identification and Manuscript Recovery: The British Library Wulfstan MS Cotton Nero A.i, 131v-132v', Scriptorium, 50 (1996), 132-37.

Cross, J.E. and Andrew Hamer, Wulfstan's Canon Law Collection (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 1999), pp. viii, x, 3-7, 10, 13-18, 22-26, 35-38, 55-57, 65, 176-77, 180 [includes partial edition].

Dumville, David N., 'English Libraries Before 1066: Use and Abuse of the Manuscript Evidence', in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: Basic Readings, ed. by Mary P. Richards, 2nd edn (New York: Routledge, 2001), pp. 169-220 (pp. 175, 201).

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. 341.

Gneuss, Helmut, ‘Addenda and corrigenda to the Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts’, Anglo-Saxon England, 32 (2003), no. 341.

Hartzell, K. D., Catalogue of Manuscripts Written or Owned in England up to 1200 containing Music (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2006), no. 138.

Jost, Karl (ed.), Die “Institutes of Polity, Civil and Ecclesiastical”: Ein Werk Erzbischof Wulfstans von York (Bern: Francke, 1959) [includes partial edition].

Ker, N. R., Catalogue of Manuscripts containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957; repr. 1990), no. 164.

Kéry, Lotte, Canonical Collections of the Early Middle Ages (ca. 400-1140): A Bibliographical Guide to the Manuscripts and Literature (Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1999), p. 239.

Liebermann, Felix, Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, 3 vols (Halle, 1903-16), I, pp. xxv-xxvi, 146-48, 184, 200-04, 236-46, 263-64, 470-73 [includes edition].

Napier, A.S. (ed.), Wulfstan. Sammlung der ihm zugeschriebenen Homilien nebst Untersuchungen über ihre Echtheit, 2nd edn (Dublin and Zurich, 1967), pp. 65-76, 130-34, 156-67, 190-91 [includes edition of some of the homilies].

Robinson, P.R., 'Self-Contained Units in Composite Manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxon Period', in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: Basic Readings, ed. by Mary P. Richards, 2nd edn (New York: Routledge, 2001), pp. 25-37 (pp. 29-30).

Stokes, Peter A., English Vernacular Minuscule from Æthelred to Cnut circa 990-1035 (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2014), pp. 14, 29-30, 59, 99-102, 108.

Tally Lionarons, Joyce, The Homiletic Writings of Archbishop Wulfstan (Woodbridge: D.S. Brewer, 2010), pp. 15-16.

Torkar, Roland, Eine altenglische Übersetzung von Alcuins de Virtutibus et Vitiis, KAP. 20: Liebermanns Judex Untersuchungen und Textausgabe mit einem Anhang: die Gesetze II und V Aethelstan nach Otho b. xi und Add. 43703 (Leipzig: Wilhelm Fink, 1981), pp. 161-85.

Watson, Andrew G., Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 700-1600 in The Department of Manuscripts The British Library, 2 vols (London, 1979), no. 538.

Wormald, Patrick, 'Archbishop Wulfstan and Holiness of Society', in Anglo-Saxon History: Basic Readings, ed. by David A.E. Pelteret (New York: Garland, 2000), pp. 191-224.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)