Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 326: Aldhelm, De laudibus uirginitatis
Description
Abstract/Contents
- Summary
- CCCC MS 326 is an interesting manuscript which attests to Latin learning at the cathedral priory of Christ Church, Canterbury at the end of the tenth century and the beginning of the eleventh. It contains the unique text of the macaronic poem Aldhelm, which switches from Latin (with Greek vocabulary) to Old English, phrase by phrase; but its main contents are two particularly difficult Latin texts with glosses. The prose De laudibus uirginitatis by Aldhelm (d. 709), and the third book of Bella Parisiacae urbis by Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Prés (d. 921), were both very influential on the so-called hermeneutic style of Anglo-Latin, which arose in the second half of the tenth century in association with the Benedictine Reform Movement. The manuscript also contains a poem in the shape of a wheel. Provenance at Christ Church, Canterbury is assured by the two surviving classmarks of that house, and the identification of this manuscript in the early fourteenth-century Christ Church catalogue of Henry of Eastry OSB. An origin at the same house seems certain since T. A. M. Bishop identified the scribe as one of those from his large network of Canterbury manuscripts.
- Contents
- De laudibus uirginitatis -- Bella Parisiacae Urbis --
Bibliographic information
- M.R. James Date
- x-xi
- Downloadable James Catalogue Record
- https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:fc038kd3559/MS_326.pdf
- Superseded Interim Catalogue Record
- https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:tk691gk4285/326.pdf
- Contains
-
- Aldhelm, De laudibus uirginitatis. 1-133
- James
- Aldhelmus. 1-133
- Author
- Aldhelm
- Rubric
- (1) Incipit capitula libri de laude uirginitatis
- Note
-
(black capitals)
Followed on p. 5 by a paragraph printed by Napier Old English Glosses, p. xiv
(5) Þus me gesette. sanctus et iustus. beorn boca gleaƿ.bonus auctor. ealdelm æþele sceop. etiam fuit ipseloson æðel ange̊l sexna byscop onbretene. biblos. Ic nu scealponus et pondus. pleno cum sensu. geonges geanoðe geomres iam iamque secgan soð nalles leas þæt him symle ƿæseuthenia oftor onfylste æne on eðle ecðon ðe
(6) se is yfel ongesæd. etiam nusquam. ne seal ladigan laborquem tenet encratea. ac he ealne sceal bo-ethia biddangeorne þurh his modes gemindmicro in cosmo þæt him drihten gyfe dinam(i)son eorðan fortis factor þæt he forð simle
Prologue - Incipit
- (6) Reverentissimis Christi uirginibus
- Note
-
(P. L. LXXXIX 237)
Fine initial in black with dragons' heads and broken lines
Text - Incipit
- (7) Iamdudum ad pontificale
- Note
-
Similar initial, mostly in red
The glosses are all given by Napier, Old English Glosses
Initials to chapters, uniformly plain, in red
Ends - Explicit
- (133) Christi margaritę. paradisi gemmę. et caelestis patrię participes
- Abbo Saint-Germain-des Prés, Bella Parisiacae Urbis, Book III (extract). 133-134
- Author
- Abbo Saint-Germain-des Prés
- Note
-
There follows in the same hand
(C)onperias lector litteras tam grecas (so far in red capitals) quam latinas superpositas quibusdam lineis istius codicelli suas habere significationis. et super gręca nomina gręcas quere signifi (unfinished: 5 lines blank)
Pertz, MGH. Scriptores II 806, P. L. CXXXII 753, by Abbo of Fleury
Clerice, dipticas lateri ne dempseris umquam. Corcula [princeps ludi] labentes fugias ludifere ne te Laetetur fędus [obscenus] sandapila [turpis baccalus] neque toparcha [princeps unius loci .i. diabolus erebi] Machia [φ pugna] sit tibi quo gerarchia [sacer principatus non .i. fossa tartari] nęc que cloaca Non enteca [pecunia] nec alogia [conuiuium] uerum absida [lucide] tecum Con maneat mentes acrimonia [uigor animi co(r)poris industria siue ferocitas] non quia mordet Agonithęta [preliator] tuus fiat ambasilla [uenter] tui mens
(134) Neuranium [caelestem] praeter croma [colorem] legat. is quia multis Esse deus solet anodiam [φ medicinam] sectare gemellam Sistere sincophante [k. n. calumniator] uerere boba [uehe nons (!) robustus] tamen adsis Gripphia(t) [φ scriptura] te tangat carchesia [uaso (!) pastoralia] togaque crebro [uestis poetalis] Grammaton [litterarum] sinteca [compositio] frequens sistat tibi longe Absistat vero glauconia [caligo oculorum] criminis offa [massa] Brathea blatta [auri lamina purpura] dehinc enclitica [inclinatiua] prosapiaque Militiae Christi per te nullatenus absint Amphitappa laon [tapetum undique uillosum. laicorum populorum] extat badanola [lectus in itinere] nec non Effipiam [ornamentum decorum valde amant. vestem pictam claram potionem perlinteum] diamant stragulam pariterque propoma
- Glosses on words beginning with B and C. 134-135
- Note
-
(134) Bassium est (quod) uxori datur. osculum filio. suauium scorti. Biduuium ... Bigama ... Biuira ... blax uel blas. i. stultiloquax Blenni. tetri. Blicea i. stulta. bobinator inconstans. ceco igni. oculto amore. calorate ardenter
Ama deum. diligent te omnes
V. flumina abluunt peccata ... Praeconia inferni
(135) Tres species odit deus ... Septies in die cadit iustus ... Septies in die resurgit ...Tres infelices leguntur in lege qui scit et non docet. qui docet et non facit et qui nescit nec interrogat
- Apocryphal account of Adam, perhaps derived from II Enoch. 135-136
- Note
- Change of hand: red capitals
- Rubric
- (135) Dic mihi frater unde fuit factus adam
- Note
-
Ego dico tibi de octo partibus fuit factus. prima pars de limo terre ... (Septima pars de spiritu sancto erased.) Octaua pars de luce mundi. si uis exercere subsequi sententiam. prima pars de limo terre inde est caro eius
(136) viiia pars de luce mundi quod interpretatur Christus. Si de limo terre supertraxerit eritque piger in omni parte ... Si de luce mundi supertraxerit erit electus et preclarus. Cum factus fuit adam et non erat nomen eius uocauit dominus iiiior angelos suos et dixit eis. Ite querite nomen istius hominis. Angelus michael habiit in oriente
(The names given are Anatholim, Disscis, Archtus, Mensebrion)
Ends - Explicit
- et dixit ad uriel dominus. lege litteras. et dixit uriel ADAM et dixit dominus sic uocabitur nomen eius
- Note
-
Cf. Slavonic Enoch xxx 13, Rituale Dunelmense, p. 192, Salomon and Saturn, p. 178 (ed. Kemble)
Cf. MS 439, p. 140
This text has been edited, with variants from other MSS. and an elaborate examination of kindred documents, by Dr Max Förster, of Würzburg, in Archiv für Religionswissenschaft XI (1908), 477 sqq.
- Latin proverbs and epigrams. 137-138
- Note
-
In a smaller hand
(137) N) auta rudis pelagi ut seuis ereptus ab undis (P. L. CI 728) I) n portum veniens pectora leta tenet S) ic scriptor fessus calamum sub colle laboris D) eponens habeat pectore laeta quidem I) lle deo dicat grates pro sospite uita P) roque laboris agat iste sui requie C) entum oues uniuersitas est angelorum et hominum etc. E) brietas autem est tota imbecillitas. primum abluit memoriam etc. Quid est terra. mater crescentium ... quid est erba ... quid sunt olera ... quid est mirum. nuper uidi hominem stantem mouentem ambulantem qui nunquam fuit. quomodo pote(s)t esse. imago est in aqua
- Notes on Latin nouns and verbs. 138-140
- Note
-
(138) Omnes nominatiui singulares corripiuntur nisi quinte declinationis. Omnes primae personae cuiuscumque fuerunt coniugationis corripiuntur ...
p. 139 blank except for a scribble: Fot geƿæ du
On p. 140 are the runes mentioned above; the rest of the page is occupied by a large rota with eight spokes and consisting of 18 concentric circles. The tire and spokes are inscribed in small capitals. At the end of each spoke and in the centre is a large O
From top
Omnibus in terris egO sum notissima p...nd(O) (mundo) Omnipotens genitor. O(lim me signat amand)(O) Omnibus in membris sOluit me crimine dir(O) Ordine quadrifido collidens cornua nat(O)
Spokes, beginning with the vertical
Orbita de (me) cruceo defOrmis comprimit alvO Left: O crux quae dominum pOrtasti robore sacrO horizontal: Omnia set curvo concOrdant a[rdu]a plectrO O crux alma dei meritO recolenda triumphO
A copy of the same rota is in MS. Lambeth 204, f. 130, whence I have restored some words
- Aldhelm, De laudibus uirginitatis. 1-133
- TJames
- 117
- Stanley
- K. 12
- Location
- https://purl.stanford.edu/bp151fr4113
- MS 326
- Repository
- UK, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Parker Library
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction:
- Images courtesy of The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For higher resolution images suitable for scholarly or commercial publication, either in print or in an electronic format, please contact the Parker Library directly at parker-library@corpus.cam.ac.uk
- License:
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC).