Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 176: Printed Books Edited by Matthew Parker

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Title:
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 176: Printed Books Edited by Matthew Parker
Language:
Latin and English, Old (ca. 450-1100)
Dimensions:
297 Height (mm) and 195 Width (mm)
Approximate Date:
[ca. 1574]
Table of contents:
  • Ælfredi regis res gestae
  • Historia breuis
  • Ypodigma Neustriae
Description:
CCCC "MS" 176 consists of three printed books bound together and, although the policy of the Parker on the Web project was not to image printed material, an exception was made in this instance because of the particular interest of the first and last items. All three parts were printed in 1574 and were edited by (or under the auspices of) Archbishop Matthew Parker from his own manuscript collections. Two were printed by the famous evangelical printer John Day (d. 1584), who produced Parker's most important publications, and one by John Bynneman (d. 1583), who was also patronised by Parker. Part A is Parker's important editio princeps of Asser's Life of Alfred, containing parallel Latin and Old English material, printed in a special Insular typeface. Because the only medieval manuscript of this work was completely destroyed in the Cottonian fire of 1731, modern editions have had to depend on transcripts and the early printed editions, most of which descend in some way from Parker's work. Parker interpolated Asser's life with material from the Annals of St Neots, and thus popularised the famous story of Alfred burning the cakes while hiding in the Somerset marshes. This book was an important part of the early modern cult of Alfred the Great. Parts B and C are Thomas of Walsingham's Historia breuis, and the Ypodigma Neustriae also often attributed to him. The latter is taken from the unique surviving copy in CCCC MS 240, which cannot be completely digitised due to the delicate state of its early modern binding. It consists of a chronicle of events in Normandy and England from 911 AD to 1416 AD and written, perhaps, as a flattery to Henry V's successful conquests in France. This book is mentioned in the Parker register and came to Corpus with the majority of Parker's collection. The three sections are also found bound together in the Cambridge University Library copy, in the three British Library copies, and in another which came into the possession of Corpus in the nineteenth century, suggesting that Parker had the three texts circulated together.
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