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Cotton MS Vespasian A XIV, ff 114–179

Record Id:

041-001103183

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-001101582

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000001630.0x000321

LARK:

SLARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100063238427.0x000001

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Cotton MS Vespasian A XIV, ff 114–179

Title:

Letter-book of Wulfstan (d. 1023), bishop of Worcester and archbishop of York

Scope & Content:

The collection compromises a selection of letters of Alcuin (d. 804), abbot of St Martin, Tours and royal advisor, of Wulfstan (d. 1023), bishop of Worcester and archbishop of Canterbury, and others, and various ecclesiastical decrees and documents from England. There are minor corrections made throughout in a hand which has been identified with Wulfstan himself. On f.171v, the same hand has insterted a short letter of Alcuin to Paulinus in a blank space, and the poem on f. 148v may also be in Wulfstan's hand (see Mann, 'Development', p. 240). There is an Old English gloss on f. 153r.

The contents of this collection have been summarized by Mann, 'Developement ', pp. 239-241. These folios include:

ff. 114r-118v: Alcuin to King Aethelred, the 'patrician Osbald' and dux Osbert;

ff. 118v-123r: Alcuin to the brothers of Wearmouth-Jarrow;

ff. 123r-125v: Alcuin to Bishop Higbald and the church of Lindisfarne;

ff. 125v-129v: Alcuin to Æthelred and all his nobles;

ff. 129v-130r: Alcuin to Æthelred;

ff. 130r-133r: Alcuin to the brothers of the church at York;

ff. 133r-136r: Alchfrid the Anchorite to Higelac;

ff. 136r-142r: Alcuin to Archbishop Eanbald II of York;

f. 142r-v: Alcuin to 'Simeon' (Archbishop Eanbald II of York);

ff. 142v-148v: Alcuin to Archbishop Æthelhard of Canterbury;

f. 148v: verses praising Wulfstan in Wulfstan's hand;

ff. 149r-153v: Canons of the Synod of Chelsea, 816;

ff. 154r-155v: Alcuin to Æthelhard;

ff. 155v-157r: Alcuin to Æthelhard;

ff. 157r-158r: 'B' to Archbishop Æthelgar of Canterbury (r. 988-990);

f. 158r-v: Landferth to the brethren of the Old Minster, Winchester;

ff. 158v-159r: Fulrad, abbot of Saint-Vaast to Archbishop Æthelgar (r. 988-990);

f. 159r-v:Odbert, abbot of Saint-Bertin, to Archbishop Sigeric of Canterbury;

f. 160r: Odbert to Æthelgar (r. 988-990);

ff. 160v-162v: Alcuin to Calbinus;

ff. 162v-163r: Alcuin to brothers of 'Candida Casa';

f. 163r: Pope Paul I to Archbishop Ecgbert of York and King Eadberht (imperfect);

f. 163v: Alcuin to Abbot Wulfhard;

ff. 164r-165r: Alcuin to Dodo;

f. 165r-v: Bishop Arn of Salzberg to Cuculus;

ff. 165v-166v: Alcuin to Abbot Ethelbald of Wearmouth-Jarrow;

ff. 166v-167v: Alcuin to Colcu;

ff. 167v-168r: Alcuin to Joseph;

ff. 167v-168r: Alcuin to Bishop Arn;

ff. 168v-169r: a 'get well' message by Alcuin;

f. 169r: an message by Alcuin noting a safe arrival;

f. 169r-v: a message of thanks and congratulations by Alcuin;

f. 169v: instructions to a priest by Alcuin;

ff. 169v-170r: a message offering excuses and explanations by Alcuin;

f. 170r: Alcuin's acknowledgement of an archbishop's letter;

f. 170r-v: Alcuin's advice to a priest;

f. 171r: Alcuin's letter to thank a lady;

f. 171r-v: Abbot Wido of Blandinium to Dunstan;

f. 171v: Alcuin to Paulinus, Patriarch of Aquileia;

ff. 172r-173r: Canons of the Council of Hertford;

f. 173v: text entitled 'De rapinis aecclesiasticarum rerum';

ff. 174r-175r: Pope Leo III to Coenwulf, king of Mercia;

ff. 175r-177v: Oda's Constitutiones;

f. 177v: text entitled 'De activa vita et contemplativa';

ff. 178r-179r: Wulfstan's 'letter of protest' to the papacy;

f. 179r-v: letter to Wulfstan while he was bishop of London.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Cotton Collection

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-001101582
040-001103180
041-001103183

Is part of:

Cotton MS : Cotton Manuscripts
Cotton MS Vespasian A XIV : Calendar, Latin-Old Cornish Glossary, 'Vita Sanctorum Wallensium'; excerpts from Bede, Historia ecclesiastica…

Cotton MS Vespasian A XIV, ff 114–179 : Letter-book of Wulfstan (d. 1023), bishop of Worcester and archbishop of York

Hierarchy:

032-001101582[0912]/040-001103180[0003]/041-001103183

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Cotton MS

Record Type (Level):

Item

Extent:

Part Cotton MS Vespasian A XIV

Digitised Content:

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

Thumbnail:

Languages:

English, Old
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1000

End Date:

1024

Date Range:

1st quarter of the 11th century

Era:

Access:

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Custodial History:

Origin: England (? Worcester or ? York or ? Canterbury): This volume's later connection to Wulfstan may suggest that it was made at one of his sees, and Wulfstan himself added to it (see, for example, ff. 148v and 171v). Alternatively, its contents echo those of Cotton MS Tiberius A XV, which may have been produced at Christ Church, Canterbury (see Mann, 'Developments', p. 266).

Provenance:

Wulfstan 'Lupus' (d. 1023), bishop of Worcester and archbishop of York: annotated, corrected, and added (see ff. 116r-118v, 148v, 171v, 173v, 177v; see Ker, Books (1985), pp. 20-21).

13th-century title added (f. 114r).

John Joscelyn (b. 1529, d. 1603), Old English scholar and Church of England clergyman: annotated throughout (see, for example, f. 118r).

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. 140 [exhibition catalogue].

Bullough, D., Alcuin: achievement and reputation : being part of the Ford lectures delivered in Oxford in Hilary Term 1980 (Leiden: Brill, 2004), pp. 97-101.

Chase, C., (ed.), Two Alcuin Letter-Books (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1975) [includes an edition].

Dümmler, E. (ed.), 'Alcuini Epistolae', in Epistolae Karolini Aevi, Monumenta Germaniae Historica,6 vols (Berlin, 1985), II, 1-493 [includes an edition].

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. 383.

Ker, N. R., Catalogue of Manuscripts containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957; repr. 1990), no. 204.

Ker, N. R., Books, Collectors and Libraries: Studies in the Medieval Heritage (London: Hambledon Press, 1985), pp. 20–21.

Keynes, Simon, ‘The “Canterbury letter-book”: Alcuin and after’, 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. 119-140 (pp. 120, 133-4, 135, 136-9; fig. 9.6).

Mann, Gareth, ‘The development of Wulfstan’s Alcuin manuscript’, in Wulfstan, Archbishop of York: The Proceedings of the Second Alcuin Conference, ed. by Matthew Townend, (Turnhout: Brepols, 2004), pp. 235–78.

Orchard, A. 'The Library of Wulfstan of York', in The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, 6 vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999-2012), I: 400-1100 (2012), ed. by Richard Gameson, pp. 694-700 (p. 698).

Schaller, Dieter and Ewald Könsgen, Initia carminum Latinorum saeculo undecimo antiquiorum: Bibliographisches Repertorium für die lateinische Dichtung der Antike und des früheren Mittelalters (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1977).

Vanderputten, Steven, ‘Canterbury and Flanders in the late tenth century’, Anglo-Saxon England, 35 (2006), 219–44.

Watson, Andrew G., Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 700-1600 in The Department of Manuscripts The British Library, 2 vols (London: British Museum, 1979), no. 564.

Wilcox, Jonathan, ‘The Wolf at work: uncovering Wulfstan’s compositional method’, 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. 141-153 (pp. 142, 143; fig. 10.1).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)