Gospels in Old English; s. xii/xiii, perhaps Canterbury

Title

Gospels in Old English; s. xii/xiii, perhaps Canterbury

Shelfmark

MS. Hatton 38

Place of origin

England, perhaps Canterbury (palaeographical and art historical evidence)

Date

12th century, late, or 13th century, early

Language

Latin

Old English (ca. 450-1100)

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment. Leaves are arranged HFHF throughout.

Physical extent

iii + 61 + i + 105 + ivleaves. Fol. i-iii and 168-171 are blank parchment flyleaves, probably medieval. Fol. 171 is now pasted to another modern paper flyleaf.

Hands

Fols 1r–167v : Angular script which retains insular letter forms. Some letters are given hairlines. The following description is based on Liuzza (1994, pp. xxxiii-vi). a is Caroline. The height of a and e are the same in the combination æ. The initial æhas an uncial 'a'. d is insular. The same size and shape as ð. e is Caroline. f is insular. Both insular and Caroline gused before fol. 128. After fol. 133, Caroline gis used for the velar stop and the affricate and insular gis used from the palatal continuant and fricative. The insular gis in a shape of '3' with a flat top, and its loop finishes with a downward hairline to the left at the end of the loop, whereas the loop of the Caroline gis almost closed, and it also has a hairline at the upper right corner of the bowl. his insular in Old English, but the Caroline form appears in proper names and in the sequence ch for the palatal affricate. p the straight descender. r is insular in Old English, Caroline in Latin. Round s commonly. Caroline s and occasionally long s, where the descender finishes on the writing line with a serif. ð is the same size and shaped as d. The crossbar has a very distinct upward serif at the right end, and does not transect the upstroke. ascendersare shorter than the height of the minim, and sometimes split at the top. descenders turn to the left, except p. Descenders of the final lines of the page are sometimes very long and calligraphically emphasised. accents are few, but the forms icand ichare usually marked, as are some long monosyllables, the prefix a- and an inext to other minims. þætwith a crossbar, which slants from the upper right to the lower left. The head of ˥is curved and the downstroke is nearly vertical and sometimes turned up the right at the end. Its descender does not extend below the writing line. st ligatures are often used. s. xii/xiii

Fols 13v and 70v, margins: these two additions are contemporary and probably one annotator. Extra rulings are given in the margin. Caroline a. e often has a hairline elongated tongue. Insular g is '5'-shaped. ð is the same size and shaped as d. The crossbar extends only to the right of the ascender, and has a very distinct downward serif at the right end. ˥ has a very wavy head.xii/xiii

Fol. 119r: Liuzza (1994) identifies that a later hand has supplied an omission to Mathew 25:34 (p. xxxiv). Contemporary with the main hand. a is Caroline. e is Caroline, and its head is small. Insular gis in a shape of '5'. h is insular. High s, of which descender finishes on the writing line with a serif. ð: its crossbar has a very distinct upward serif at the right end, and does not transect to the left of the upstroke. ascendersare shorter than the height of the minim, and wedged. descenders turn to the left. s. xii/xiii

Decoration

Large decorated initials, alternately red or blue with pen ornament of the other colour. The text is indented where the large initial appears, and approximately 1/5 of the letter is placed in the margin. Green is used in the large initials at the beginning of each Gospel. They are of s. xii/xiii. Rubrics are sometimes in red, and some capital letters within the text are also coloured.

Binding

s. xviii binding is now disintegrated. Parchment flyleaves are probably medieval.

Acquisition

Acquired by the Bodleian Library with other Hatton manuscripts in 1671.

Provenance

Later medieval history is unknown.

John Parker(1548-1618), son of Archbishop Mathew Parker (his signature may be seen on the verso of fol. i)

Christopher, Lord Hatton, whose signature is on the recto of fol. ii; belonged to him when used by Francis Junius (1589-1677) for his 1665 edition of the Gospel.