Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 140: The Bath Old English Gospels

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Title:
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 140: The Bath Old English Gospels
Alternate Title:
Evangelia Saxonice
Language:
English, Old (ca. 450-1100) and Latin
Extent:
ff. 147
Dimensions:
305 Height (mm) and 210 Width (mm)
Approximate Date:
[ca. 1000 - 1099]
Provenance:
From Bath Abbey, see the colophon at the end of Matthew (f. 45v).
Table of contents:
  • West-Saxon translation of the Gospel
  • Manumission of Ælfwig the Red
  • Manumission of Sægifu and her children
  • Manumission of Ælfric Scot and Ægelric Scot
  • Manumission of Sydeflæd
  • Manumission of Gunnhild
  • Manumission of Sæwig Hagg
  • Manumission of Leofgyth and her two children
  • Agreement between the prior and brothers of Bath and Sæwig and his wife Theodgifu
  • Manumission of Sæthryth
  • Manumission of Ælfgyth
  • Manumission of Wynric
  • Homily on The Sunday Letter
  • Archbishops of Canterbury
  • Archbishops of York
  • Bishops of the West Saxons
  • Bishops of Sherborne
  • Bishops of Ripon
  • Bishops of Hexham
  • Bishops of Whithorn
  • Bishops of Wells
  • Bishops of the Hwicce after Seaxwulf
  • Bishops of London
  • Bishops of Lindsey after Seaxwulf
  • Bishops of Rochester
  • Bishops of Mercia
  • Grant by Walter Hosatum to the bishop and monastery of Bath
  • Agreement between Bath and Worcester concerning Peter Croke
Description:
CCCC MS 140 contains the four gospels in Old English, specifically in West-Saxon Old English, written in the second half of the eleventh century at Bath Abbey in Somerset. Each of the gospels was written by a different scribe in codicologically separate sections, but this was probably for speed of production rather than because the gospels were originally kept separately. The scribe of Matthew ended with a colophon naming himself as one Ælfric, and stating that he wrote at Bath for the benefit of a certain Brihtwold. The manuscript attracted early additions, especially of documents, in the manner typical of Latin gospel books, suggesting that its language gave it no lower status. These include many manumissions of slaves and an agreement between the prior of Bath and some townspeople. Some of MS 140 was moved by Parker into CCCC MS 111, which contains among other things the twelfth-century Bath cartulary, presumably to keep the Bath documents together; these leaves now constitute pp. 7-8 and 55-56 of MS 111, and contain further manumissions and two lists of Bath's relic-collections. These displaced pages also include a very interesting agreement of confraternity between various West Country houses including Bath, dating from the time of Bishop Wulfstan II (1062-1095).
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