Oxygen enhanced atomic chain formation

We report experimental evidence for atomic chain formation during stretching of atomic-sized contacts for gold and silver, that is strongly enhanced due to oxygen incorporation. While gold has been known for its tendency to form atomic chains, for silver this is only observed in the presence of oxygen. With oxygen the silver chains are as long as those for gold, but the conductance drops with chain length to about 0.1 conductance quantum. A relation is suggested with previous work on surface reconstructions for silver (110) surfaces after chemisorption of oxygen.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Franciscus Junius Reads Chaucer: but Why? and How?

Wetensch. publicati

Lincoln Cathedral Library MS 182: Bede, "Homilies on the Gospels"

160. Lincoln Cathedral Library MS 182 Bede, "Homilies on the Gospels" [Ker 124, Gneuss 274] HISTORY: A late 10c or early 11c English manuscript. Its origin is disputed: Gneuss (no. 274), following Bishop (1967: 73-74), believes that it was written at Abingdon, a claim which is disputed by Dumville (1993: 58, n. 259; 1994: 185-86), while Marsden (1995: 381) mentions Canterbury as a place of origin. It contains Bede's homilies on the Gospels, written between 730 and 735, towards the end of his life, but before the "Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum;' since he writes in HE 5.24 that his two books of Homilies have already been completed. The manuscript was listed as "Bedam xlix omeliarum'' in the 12c catalogue of the manuscripts of Lincoln Cathedral Library, and also occurs in a 15c catalogue of the same library (Ker, Cat., p. 158; 1964: 115; cf. Woolley 1927: v-xiv). The warrant for including this manuscript in the series is that on f. 27v there is an OE scribble, 'gepafa nu; glossing 'Sine modo', perhaps because of the potential ambiguity of the Latin phrase. At least two folios have been removed from the front of the book: the first folio of quire I and a 13c table of contents which is now f. 1 of Lincoln Cathedral Library 184. According to Thomson (1989: 147-48), the table of contents was still part of this manuscript in the 17c, but had been removed by ca. 1833, as indicated by Richard Garvey's manuscript catalogue

Antwerp Plantin-Moretus Museum MS 16.2: (47 [32]; Salle iii. 68) "Excerptiones de Prisciano" ; the Antwerp-London Glossary [Ker 2, Gneuss 775) (with London, British Library Additional 32246 [164)]

4. Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus Museum MS 16.2 (47 [32]; Salle iii. 68) "Excerptiones de Prisciano" ; the Antwerp-London Glossary [Ker 2, Gneuss 775] (with London, British Library Additional 32246 [164]) HISTORY: A late 10c or early 11c manuscript containing a 10c compilation of Donatus's "Ars maior" and Priscian's "Institutiones grammaticae", known as and entitled 'Excerptiones de Prisciano: existing in two other copies (Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale nouv. acq. lat. 586 [ 437] and Chartres, Bibliotheque municipale 56). It was compiled in the tradition of Carolingian adaptations of works of classical grammar (Law 1997: 201-2), presumably by Ælfric-either alone or together with others-whose method of cutting, pasting, and rearranging Latin source texts is clearly at the basis of this work (Porter 2002: 23-29). Ælfric used this adaptation as a basis for his OE "Grammar" (Law 1987; 1997: 203-6; Porter 2002: 31-33). Forster (1917) pointed out that the Plantin-Moretus copy could not have been Ælfric's exemplar; nevertheless, the method of its compilation, the presence of Ælfric's "Colloquy" in the margins, and a collection of OE glosses here that is also found in manuscripts of Ælfric's "Grammar" suggest a connection between the latter work and this manuscript. The manuscript (now divided between Antwerp and London [British Library, Add. 32246 (164)]) was, in all likelihood, written at Abingdon, although Gwara ( 1997) has recently shown connections of the "Abingdon group" with Canterbury. Ker (Cat., p. 3) notes that it is certainly from the same scriptorium as Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus MS 16.8 (Boethius) [5] and Brussels, Bibliotheque Royale 1650 (1520) [18] (a glossed Aldhelm), and may well have formed part of a single 242-folio manuscript. Moreover, a 'Wulfgar' addressed on f. 2 of the original undivided manuscript (now BL Add. 32246, f. 1) can be identified with Wulfgar, abbot of Abingdon between 989 and 1016. [Note: The link among the three manuscripts is the pointed forward-sloping hand which has added notes and commentary in the Boethius, the first layer of glosses in the Aldhelm, and rubrics and glossarial lists in the Priscian (see Ker, Cat., p. 6 and Porter 2002: 8-9).] If the three formed one volume, marginal notes in the two latter manuscripts indicate that the volume was still in England in the 15c. Presumably, it was brought to the continent during the reign either of Mary Tudor or of Edward VI; the Boethius was used by Poelman in his 1562 Antwerp edition; in 1571 he was said to have an edition of Aldhelm "De virginitate" ready though it was never printed (Ladd 1960: 356-57). There is no evidence about the precise whereabouts of the Priscian manuscript until 1592, when it appeared in the catalogue of the Plantin house, at the time owned by Johannes Moretus (1543-1610) (Stein 1886: no. 5). His son Balthasar Moretus (1574-1641) presumably put the manuscript at the disposal of his friend, the famous Antwerp painter Peter Paul Rubens, for which reason it used to be known as "The Rubens Manuscript''. After Rubens's death (1640), his son Albert (1614-1657) handed over the manuscript to Francis Junius, who copied the glossaries into what is now Oxford, Bodleian Library Junius 71 (5182). On account of a letter addressed to 'Ælf (Plantin-Moretus 16.2 f. 48v-49r), the text and glosses were considered to be by Ælfric (at the time no distinction was made between Archbishop Ælfric and Ælfric of Eynsham), but Junius named it 'Glossarium R', on the one hand to commemorate Rubens, its former owner who had been a close friend of his, and on the other hand to distinguish it from another "Ælfric glossary" (now London, British Library Harley 107 [261]). Junius's transcript in Junius 71 was printed by William Somner as an appendix to his Dictionariurn SaxonicoLatino- Anglicurn (1659). By 1650, the manuscript had been returned to the Plantin-Moretus collection, for it occurs in a catalogue of books belonging to Balthasar Moretus II (1615-1674), written around that year. Thereupon the manuscript vanished out of scholars' sight. Thomas Wright (1857) and after him Richard Wiilcker (1884) published the glossary, by then considered lost, from the Junius transcript. However, in 1884 the British Museum acquired 24 leaves of this manuscript from J. M. Sullivan (Ker, Cat. p. 3). By the time, in the 19c, the previous owner, Ludwig Nolte, described it on a sheet in the Antwerp manuscript (f. i), the London leaves were already gone from it (Diimmler 1884: 10, Ker, ibid.). Although E. M. Thompson (1885) and Friedrich Kluge (1887) recognized correspondences between the London leaves and Junius's transcript (cf. Forster 1917: 95), it was not until three years later that Julius Zupitza (1887) established definitively that an Antwerp manuscript mentioned in 1875 by Ferdinand Vanderhaeghen and the London were removed from the manuscript, but it is evident that the presence of Latin-OE glosses (see contents nos. 4b and 5) on what are now the London leaves must have been the reason (for further details of the manuscript's history, see Ladd 1960)

London, British Library, Cotton Faustina A. ix: Ælfric, from Catholic Homilies I & II and other OE Homilies

192. London, British Library, Cotton Faustina A. ix Ælfric, from Catholic Homilies I & II and other OE Homilies [Ker 153, Gneuss --] HISTORY: A collection of homilies written in the first half of the 12c. The manuscript is dated by Ker to the first half of the 12c, which is further narrowed down by Treharne (2000: 21) to "the end of the first quarter of the century:' Nothing is known about the origin and provenance of the manuscript. Treharne (2000: 23) sees a slight correspondence with a St. Albans manuscript on account of a "flourished initial M;' but makes no claim. The cycle of homilies was intended for Sundays and festivals other than saints' days, and runs from the second Sunday after Epiphany (the first homily beginning imperfectly) to Pentecost. A missing quire at the beginning would, in all likelihood, have contained an additional homily, and one missing quire after f. 50 presumably contained the homily for Ash Wednesday (Ker, Cat.). No other items are thought to have followed at the end (Clemoes 1997: 31). All except five of the homilies in this manuscript derive from Ælfric's "Sermones Catholici": eleven from the First Series and ten from the Second. The five items from another source are the homilies for the fifth, sixth, and seventh Sundays after Epiphany (the seventh Sunday does not actually exist in the calendar), and those for the Tuesday (or Monday) and Thursday in Holy Week. [Note: T he manuscript has been described by Pope (1967: 48-51), Godden (1979: xlvii-1), Clemoes (1997: 30-32), and Teresi (2007: 285-310). Faustina A. ix is known as MS N in the JElfrician tradition, related closely to M (Cambridge University Library li.4.6 [101]) and O (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 302 [48]), both because they share many items by .tElfric and because they all contain (parts of) items not by .tElfric. Clemoes (1997: 32) and Teresi (2007: 291-97) provide item-byitem comparisons of MSS M, N, and 0. The homilies of the First Series belong to the cS line of transmission, together with MSS CUL li.4.6. and CCCC 302 ( Clemoes 1997: 109, 112-13). T he homilies of the Second Series belong to an advanced stage of the first recension, although the exact relation between manuscripts M and N is difficult to ascertain: Godden (1979: xlix) believes that "[o]ne can only assume that M and Ngo back independently to a source within .tElfric's scriptorium and that the shared readings, including the errors, arose there:' The verdict by Clemoes (1997: 71-76) and Godden (1979: lxiv-lxv) on the entire collection in this manuscript is that it derives from a separate collection set up by Ælfric himself as a series of homilies for occasions other than saints' days from Christmas to the Sunday after Pentecost, to which later some other items were added first in this manuscript. Teresi (2007: 309-10), on the other hand, argues that the manuscript is too far removed from Ælfric, and that therefore this collection was probably made by others, away from Ælfric's scriptorium.] From the erased title on f. 2 it appears that, in 1565, the manuscript belonged to William Bowyer (d. 1670) of Wimbledon, Surrey, bailiff of Westminster and keeper of the records in the Tower, whence it came in the possession of Henry Elsynge (1577-1635), also keeper of the records in the Tower and Clerk of the Parliament. In 1597 Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (1571-1631) acquired the manuscript from Elsynge (Kleist 2007: 475,478). It was used by John Joscelyn for his collation of Ælfric's letter to Sigeferth, and mentioned by him in a prefatory note, which was subsequently transcribed and printed by Wanley in the latter's Catalogue (1705: 199; cf. Ker, Cat., p. 193). Before Robert Cotton became the owner the manuscript had been rebound and supply leaves added, in line with the policy of Parker's library. There is an owner's mark of(Sir) Thomas Cotton (1594-1662) on f. 2r (bottom)

Sondershausen, Schlossmuseum, Hs Br. 1: Binding strip from a glossed Anglo-Saxon Psalter ("Sondershauser Psalter") With Cambridge, Pembroke College 312 C 1-2 [72] and Haarlem, Stadsbibliotheek [137]

466a. Sondershausen, Schlossmuseum, Hs Br. 1 Binding strip from a glossed Anglo-Saxon Psalter ("Sondershauser Psalter") With Cambridge, Pembroke College 312 C 1-2 [72] and Haarlem, Stadsbibliotheek [137] [cf. Ker 79 and Supp. 79; cf. Gneuss 141] HISTORY: A strip from a single leaf cut down to 300 x 77-100 mm., from a mid-1 lc A-S psalter in the Gallican version and with a continuous interlinear OE gloss, which came to general notice only in 1997 (Pilch). It was taken from a binding but it is not known when or from what book the strip was abstracted. The fragment is kept with several others. It carries two stamps at the bottom of the recto side. The first reads: 'FÜRSTL. SCHWARZBURG. LANDESBIBLIOTHEK SONDERSHAUSEN: which indicates that it belonged to the princes of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. The second stamp reads 'Thiiringische Landesbibliothek', which harbored the princely library after its expropriation in 1918. Pilch (1997: 313) and Gneuss (1998: 274) suggest that the fragment might have come from the collegiate church of Jechaburg, close to Sondershausen in Thuringia. It has fairly recently been crudely repaired with ordinary cellulose tape

Cambridge, Pembroke College 312 C 1-2: Two binding strips from a glossed Anglo-Saxon Psalter With Haarlem, Stadsbibliotheek [137] and Sondershausen, Schlossmuseum, Hs Br. 1 [466a]

72. Cambridge, Pembroke College 312 C 1-2 Two binding strips from a glossed Anglo-Saxon Psalter With Haarlem, Stadsbibliotheek [137] and Sondershausen, Schlossmuseum, Hs Br. 1 [466a] [Ker 79 and Supp. 79; Gneuss 141] HISTORY: Four fragments, the remains of a mid-1 lc A-S psalter with continuous interlinear OE glosses (gloss siglum "N"; cf. Pulsiano 2001: xxvi), consisting of four parchment strips which were removed from the bindings of unidentified books; two owned by the Library of Pembroke College, Cambridge (henceforth Cl and C2; housed in the Cambridge University Library); one in the Haarlem Stadsbibliotheek ([137] henceforth H); and one in the Sondershausen Schlossmuseum ([466a] henceforth S). The glosses are contemporary with the text, although the writing is smaller. The original psalter manuscript contained the Gallican version, with occasional readings from the Romanum (Derolez 1972: 406-7). Dietz (1968: 275) argues that the OE glossator had an ultimate source in the Roman Psalter becasue 'narrabimus' is glossed by 'ic cype: which clearly points to narrabo, as in the Roman version. Whereas Dietz (1968: 275-76) concludes that the scribe had a West Saxon D-type ("Royal") psalter as his exemplar for the glosses, Derolez (1972: 408) holds that the N exemplar came closest to G, the "Vitellius Psalter:' Gneuss concludes on the basis ofS that N is closest to D but might have influences from another exemplar as well (Gneuss 1998: 278-81)

Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodley 381 (2202): John the Deacon, "Life of Gregory the Great"

360. Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodley 381 (2202) John the Deacon, "Life of Gregory the Great" [Ker 311, Gneuss 570, 570.1) HISTORY: A 10c manuscript containing John the Deacon's "Life of St. Gregory the Great" (BHL 3641). John the Deacon (ca. 825-880/882) compiled a life of Gregory the Great in 873-876 at the instigation of Pope John VIII, whom he commemorates in his preface. The life is interspersed with letters from the papal register and provides a representation of Pope Gregory as the spiritual leader of the Christian world and a model of sanctity (Leonardi 1991: 5.569). At the same time, John the Deacon's description of Gregory as the "pontifex et Anglorum gentis apostolus" (Hayward 2004: 29) underlines the importance for the cult of Gregory in England. This manuscript is one of three copies ofJohn the Deacon's "Life of Gregory" in England (Whatley 2001: 243). Another indication of the presence in England of what is presumably a copy of this work derives from a booklist that has been linked to Peterborough (Lapidge 1994: 156). The origin of this book is not entirely clear: Dumville (1994: 183) classified the book as "non-English;' while Gneuss (no. 570.1) believes it may have been written in England or by an English scribe on the Continent. There are OE glosses: 'theod ware' on f. 18v; 'ic ) þingige | satago' on f. 185r. A set of prayers to St. Augustine on f. 192v shows that the manuscript was at Canterbury in the 12c. Further information regarding the provenance of this manuscript can be gleaned from a now separate binding sheet (Bishop 1953: 438), consisting of one sheet of a Bible manuscript written in 'an artificial type of AngloSaxon majuscules; probably at St. Augustine's Canterbury, at the end of the 8c (Lowe 1935: 2.244). The leaves, which derive from a large quarto manuscript, contain parts of the Acts of the Apostles. The binding sheet was removed in January 1897, and is now Oxford, Bodleian Library, Lat. bib. b. 2 (P), belonging with British Library Royal l.E.vi, an incomplete part Bible (Gneuss, no. 448). A reference to the binding sheet is found on the inside of the front cover of Bodley 381, where it reads: 'Formerly belonging to St. Augustine's. Canterbury. see MS. Lat. bib!. b. 2 (P), I which was taken out of this volume by me in Jan. 1897. E.W. B. Nicholson: This removed binding sheet has 14c(?) shelf marks of St. Augustine's (for details see BarkerBenfield 2008: 3 .17 4 7) and an inscription showing that the manuscript was given to Sir Thomas Bodley in 1601 by the mathematician and manuscript collector Thomas Allen (l 540?-1632) of Gloucester Hall (Ker, Cat., p. 376). Other sheets from the same Bible, Royal MS 1 E vi, and Canterbury Cathedral Library and Archives, Additional MS 16+, show that the abbey regularly used discarded leaves for binding purposes (Budny 1997: 1.695; see also Barker-Benfield 2008: 1.442-43 [no. 190]). Ff. i and ii of Bodley 381 (Gneuss, no. 570.1) are from a Liber comitis, or comes book, being a capitulary containing the prophecies, epistles, and gospels read at mass, a predecessor of the later lectionary (referred to as a lectionary by Lenker 1999: 151). According to Bischoff (2004: 361) and Lapidge (2006: 171), these folios were written in north-eastern France, in the third quarter of the 9c; Bishop (1949-1953: 438) dated them to ca. 840- 880, and allocated them to Corbie (cf. Gneuss, no. 570.1)