Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 190: Penitential
Abstract/Contents
- Summary
- CCCC MS 190 is a very complex and interesting volume, with multiple layers of additions and alterations. It was made over the course of the eleventh century, with at least some parts written at Exeter, where it has later provenance. At its core is a version of the collection known as "Archbishop Wulfstan's Handbook", a miscellany on largely ecclesiastical matters which seems to have been compiled by Wulfstan (d. 1023), archbishop of York, for use in his composition of law codes and homilies. This occupies most of pp. 1-294, and has a contemporary contents list which does not, however, correspond precisely to the volume's actual contents. It is in Latin, and has a number of interesting additions like a text assigning penances to those who had fought at the Battle of Hastings (1066). The second part of the book has many Old English texts, including translations of some of the material which is found in the first part, and more ecclesiastical material of a similar nature, such as law codes. The manuscript was valued by Parker for its insights into the Anglo-Saxon church.
- Contents
- Hymn for the consecration of the oils at the main Mass on Maundy Thursday -- Contents list -- Extract from Pope Gregory the Great -- De initio creature -- Poenitentiale pseudo-Theodori -- Texts concerning ecclesiastics -- Wulfstan's Canon Law Collection ('Excerptiones pseudo-Egberti', recension B, partial text) -- Ex decretis sancti Gelasii papae -- Old English charm for recovering stolen chattels -- Decree of Pope Leo -- Decree on jurisdiction over the clergy -- Table of consanguinity -- Texts on Christian warfare -- Expositio officium sacre missae -- Second Latin Pastoral Letter for Wulfstan -- Homily VIIIa -- Offices and related texts -- Epistola 17 -- Epistola 114 -- Extracts from Sententiae, book 3, chapters 36-38 (perhaps taken from pseudo-Amalarius, Institutio canonicorum, book 1, chapters 20, 29, and 30), and related texts -- Texts on ecclesiastical customs by Ælfric OSB, Hrabanus Maurus, Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and others -- Liber scintillarum (extracts) -- De ortu et tempore antichristi -- Capitula of the Council of Winchester 1070 -- Capitula of the Council of Windsor 1070 -- Penitential articles issued after the Battle of Hastings -- Letter to Wulfsige -- Catholic Homilies, Second Series, Apostles -- De ecclesiasticis gradibus -- Preface to his Old English Letters to Wulfstan -- First Old English Letter for Wulfstan -- Second Old English Letter for Wulfstan -- Second Old English Letter for Wulfstan (continued) -- On the Mass: Celebration of Vigils -- Anonymous Homily for Ash Wednesday -- Anonymous Homily In Cena Domini -- Canons on the punishment of sins -- De filiis presbyterorum -- Excommunication -- Old English formula of confession and absolution -- Confessionale pseudo-Egberti (Old English) -- Regula canonicorum, chapter 83 (Old English version) -- Confessionale pseudo-Egberti (Old English, extract) -- Poenitentiale pseudo-Egberti (Old English) -- Confessionale pseudo-Egberti (Additional section z) -- Formulas and Directions for the Use of Confessors -- Poenitentiale Theodori and Capitula d'Acheriana (partial) -- Anglo-Saxon Laws Mirce, Að, and Hadbot
Description
| Alternative title | Poenitentiale, etc. (Lat.-Sax.) |
|---|---|
| Type of resource | mixed material |
| Extent | ff. 2 + 4 + 212 + 2 |
| Date created | [ca. 1000 - 1099] |
| Language | Latin; English, Old (ca. 450-1100) |
| Material | Vellum |
| Layout | In two columns |
| Height (mm) | 285 |
| Width (mm) | 185 |
| Collation | 2 small flyleaves pasted together. a(4(?)) 1(8)-7(8) | gap | 8(8)-18(8) 19(?6) (wants 4, 5) || 20(4) 21(8)-24(8) (wants 7) | 25(8)-28(8) (wants 3, 7, 8) | 2 flyleaves. |
| Writing | in several fine hands |
| Foliation | pp. a-d + i-xii + 1-388 + 388a-b + 389-424 + e-h |
| Provenance | The book is from Exeter. At top of p. 1r (xvi) is: Ex ... us (probably for Exoniensis). |
| Research | This is identified by Wanley with the book presented by Leofric to the Church of Exeter and entered in the list of his gifts as Scrift boc on Englisc. In MS 265 certain passages supplied from it are said to be from a codex Exoniensis. A copy of this MS. made in 1656 by John Retchford for Mr. Cornelius Bee is MS. Harl. 438 (Miss Bateson, Engl. Hist. Rev. 1895, p. 715 note). In the article just cited Miss Bateson gives a most valuable study of this MS. on pp. 715-720, showing the many discrepancies between the table of chapters and the text. I have thought it well to append a summary of her account, as follows: Wilkins and Thorpe printed their version of the Excerptiones Egberti from the Cotton MS. Nero A. 1. Johnson translated them and compared them with the collections in MS 265. Lord Selborne in his Ancient Facts and Fictions about Tithes compared these two latter MSS. in further detail. The MS. 190 forms an interesting link between the two. It appears to have escaped attention owing to the misleading nature of the table of contents. Thorpe printed as far as the 43rd (44th) chapter de Reconciliatione. No break here, p. 94; then follows Item de reconc. and a passage from a Nicene Canon. Two long passages not noted in the index: a. Rubric. In nomine Domini. Primo omnium admonemus omnes homines ut super omnia ... percipere mereatur sempiternam. Amen. b. Space for Rubric. Ecclesia sponsa Christi est et omnium domina. Against the spoilers of the church: cases of Pompey and Alaric quoted. p. 97. cap. 45. Clerus grece, sors latine (cf. Nero A. 1, f. 127r). 46 resembles Thorpe's Excerpt § 161. 45-50 are concerned with election and ordination of bishops and priests. 47 resembles closely MS 265, pp. 4-7. 49 excerpts from the first Nicene Council: contains Thorpe Excerpt 98, 99. 50 from the Council of Agde 544, cap. 35. 51 quotes Beda on the history of the pallium. p. 105. 52 resembles Thorpe 44: a passage from Gregory added. 53. Council of Chalcedon cap. 2, with Thorpe 33. 54. Quicunque dignitatem gradus non custodierit, with quotations from O. T. 55 quotes Popes St Alexander and Felix. p. 109. 56. From Gregory to Johannes Defensor (P. L. LXXVII 1294). 57. Sunt quidam sancte dei ecclesie inimici, complains that some deny force to the clerical oath: quotes Pope Pelagius. 58. Gregorius ait. Scimus itaque quia vita presulum nulli; breaks off. Capp. 59, 60, 61, 62, 63 lost. p. 111. Latter half of Thorpe, 60. Thorpe, 61-85. Three sentences, beginning Si homo uexatus a diabolo, which resemble the genuine Theodore, Lib. II x § 1, 2, 3; also in MS 265, p. 71. Thorpe, 86-97. Passage on tithes, de jure sacerdotali; also in MS 265. Thorpe, 101-127. Rubrication begins again at cap. 104, Thorpe. p. 124. Quotation from Pope Leo to Rusticus of Narbonne. Excerpts 128-130, 134, 146 (called Can. Bonan. for Roman.), 135-140. Then the break; 2 pages left blank and subsequently filled in; see above, p. 458, arts. 5-9. p. 134-8. Excerpts 132, 133, 147-160. p. 138. 1st Nicene council, cap. 3, more fully than in excerpt 31. Excerpt 32. From this point there is no further resemblance to the excerpts. Passages with rubric Alia. Multis autem declaratur exemplis (that clerics should not bear arms). De militia et victoria christianorum etc. p. 139. On the captivity of the Jews, followed by the Alcuin passages; see above. Then the nature of the contents changes. Miss Bateson proceeds to show that the index of the MS. is discrepant with the contents, a discrepancy of much interest, since the index tells us that what is missing is that mysterious work Capitula de sacerdotali jure Egcberti archiepiscopi. After cap. 63 (64), on the analogy of Nero A. 1 and MS 265 we expect that titles applicable to the Capitulary in 21 chapters will follow, but this does not happen. The list (of 25 chapters) begins with 1. Item Canones Sanctorum and ends with 25. Ut ab alterius episcopo nullus crisma accipiat. The index proceeds 26 De coniugio and here the contents of the MS. begin to answer the description of the index. This title may well cover the excerpts 113-20. The next, 27. Item de legitimo coniugio = Exc. 121-125 28 = 126 29 = 127 30. Leonis pape (cf. Hinschius, Ps. Isidor, p. 615, cap. 4) is not in Nero A. 1. 31 = 128-9 32 = 130 33 = 146 34 = 134-140 35 = 132-3 Here again the index breaks down, making no note of Exec. 147-151. 36 = 152-3 No note is made of Exec. 154-160. The rest of the titles in the index tally with those of the text. The meaning of these discrepancies, and especially the relation of capp. 1-25 to the title which alleges them to be of Egbert's authorship, I cannot explain. But no discussion of the authorship of the work De Iure Sacerdotali is complete without a reference to this manuscript. |
| Additions | In large letters on the verso of the flyleaf (p. i): Penitencialis Theodori archi. epi. The word Theodori has been in part re-written. |
Bibliographic information
| M.R. James Date | xi |
|---|---|
| Downloadable James Catalogue Record | |
| Superseded Interim Catalogue Record | |
| Contains |
|
| TJames | 133 |
| Stanley | L. 12 |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/dm156pk7342 |
| Location | MS 190 |
| Repository | UK, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Parker Library |
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- Use and reproduction
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- License
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Collection
Parker Manuscripts
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