Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 422: The Red Book of Darley

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Title:
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 422: The Red Book of Darley
Alternate Title:
Salomon and Saturn. Missale
Language:
Latin and English, Old (ca. 450-1100)
Extent:
ff. 13 + 281 + 1
Dimensions:
190 Height (mm) and 130 Width (mm)
Approximate Date:
[ca. 900 CE - 1099]
Provenance:
On the last page (p. 586) are inscriptions of cent. xvi: a. The rede boke of darleyeHitherto read as 'darbye.' Apparently the parish of Darley near the Peak, and not the Augustinian Priory of Darley or Derley, is to be understood in the peake in darbyshire (ill-written). b. This booke was sumtime had in such reverence in darbieshire that it was comonlie beleved that whosoeuer should sweare vntruelie vppon this booke should run madd. c. This booke giuen by Richard Flendesley (or Hend-) esquier to M. Cant. The main portion of the volume seems to have been written at Winchester in the New Minster (where St Grimbald was specially honoured). Mr Edmund Bishop On the Bosworth Psalter, 1908 (p. 61 note), speaks of the Kalendar as being certainly of Sherborne.
Table of contents:
  • Solomon and Saturn
  • Missal
Description:
CCCC MS 422 consists of two parts, which were together by the twelfth century. The first, a tenth-century volume, contains two Old English texts about the dialogue between Solomon and Saturn, one in poetry (also found in CCCC MS 41) and one in prose. This is an example of a type of Old English wisdom literature which was influenced by Old Norse examples. The second part is a Missal, known as The Red Book of Darley because of its later provenance at the church of St Helen, Darley Dale, in the Lake District. Its Easter table suggest that it was written in the 1060s, probably circa 1061. Its calendar contains rare feasts pertaining to Sherborne in Dorset, and the manuscript was probably written there. It has been suggested that it is associable with Ælfwold, bishop of Sherborne 1045–1062. The Missal section contains ornamental initials and drawings of Christ between angels and of the Crucifixion. This manuscript was given to Parker by Richard Wendesley.
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