Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 044: Pontifical

purl.stanford.edu/sx200wv7668

Title:

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 044: Pontifical

Alternate Title:

Pontificale (Canterbury—Ely)

Language:

Latin and English, Old (ca. 450-1100)

Extent:

ff. 1 + 201

Dimensions:

330 Height (mm) and 245 Width (mm)

Approximate Date:

[ca. 1000 - 1099]

Provenance:

It is probable to my mind from this (the hand reminiscent of St Augustine's, Canterbury) and from the invocations in the Litany that the book was written at Canterbury. But, as we shall see, it belonged in cent. xv to Ely.

Table of contents:

Pontifical

Description:

This handsome manuscript contains a Pontifical. On script grounds it has been attributed to Canterbury, probably St Augustine's rather than Christ Church; however its text has been held to show that it was made for use at Christ Church, Canterbury. The script of CCCC MS 44 shows it to have been written at some point during the middle two quarters of the eleventh century, but a more precise dating is arguably possible given the association of the coronation ordo it contains (the third recension of the second ordo) with William the Conqueror. This association is by no means generally accepted. The distinctive mark on f. 3 shows that the manuscript was at Ely in the later Middle Ages. It has been suggested that it might have been part of the treasure of Archbishop Stigand (1052-72), with which he fled to Ely shortly before his death in 1072; clearly this again depends on how one interprets the dating evidence of the manuscript's text.