London, British Library, Harley 5915, f. 13: Ælfric, Catholic Homilies (First Series), "Homily for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost" (fragments) (with Cambridge, Magdalene College, Pepys 2981 (no. 16) (66])

277a. London, British Library, Harley 5915, f. 13 Ælfric, Catholic Homilies (First Series), "Homily for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost" (fragments) (with Cambridge, Magdalene College, Pepys 2981 (no. 16) (66]) [Ker 243, Gneuss 442] HISTORY: Harley 5915 assembles unconnected fragments from manuscripts and printed books ( the latter removed to the Library's Department of Printed Books) from the collection of John Bagford (1650-1716), on whom see Johnson 1970, Gatch 1985, and Birrell 1988. Folio 13, in the same early llc hand and in the same format as Cambridge, Magdalene College, Pepys 2981, no. 16 [66], is the lower part of a leaf subsequently used as a pastedown, pasted on the verso side; Ker compares the script with Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 340 [358]. At the bottom of the recto side of Harley 5915, f. 13 is the 16c inscription 'Thomas Dayly vicari<us> de M<ar>cham p<ro>pe abe<n>doniam: Marcham is a village in Ock Hundred, Berkshire

London, British Library, Harley 5915, folios 8-9 : Ælfric, "Grammar" (fragments) (with Bloomington, Indiana, Lilly Library Additional 1000 [14])

277. London, British Library, Harley 5915, folios 8-9 Ælfric, "Grammar" (fragments) (with Bloomington, Indiana, Lilly Library Additional 1000 [14]) [Ker 242, Gneuss 441] HISTORY: Harley 5915 assembles unconnected fragments from manuscripts and printed books (the latter removed to the Library's Department of Printed Books) from the collection of John Bagford (1650-1716), on whom see Johnson 1970, Gatch 1985, and Birrell 1988: 29-32.T he bifolium numbered ff. 8-9 is in the same hand (d, g, ð are particularly distinctive) as Bloomington, Indiana University, Lilly Library, Add. 1000 [14] (formerly Sigmaringen, Ker, Cat. 384 & Supp.; Collins 1964, and 1976: no. 4) and they are likely fragments from the same codex. The Harley fragment was written in the first half of the l lc, but subsequently used as a binding pastedown, the inner side, ff.8v/9r, showing the offset of a (?leather) board-cover, especially at the bottom. The edges and top have been trimmed, the top so severely that text is lost. The outer side, ff. 8r/9v, has 16c(?) scribbles 'Thoma: 'd: 'g', 'h', etc

Cambridge, University Library, Hh.1.10 : Ælfric's "Grammar" and fragment of the "Glossary"

97. Cambridge, University Library, Hh.1.10 Ælfric's "Grammar" and fragment of the "Glossary" [Ker 17, Gneuss 13] HISTORY: This very regular manuscript of Ælfric's "Grammar" and "Glossary;' written in the second half of the 11 c in Exeter, shows a clear and unified structure, albeit now incomplete at the end. It is written in four hands: (1) ff.lr-20v, 22r-64v; (2) ff.2lr-v; (3) ff.65r-72r; (4) ff.72v-93v, and it is on the grounds of scripts that it is assigned to l lc Exeter (Ker/Watson 1987: 36). Its medieval provenance is uncertain. There are notes by Robert Talbot (ca. 1505-1588) and John Joscelyn (1529-1603). lt occurs in the list of"Libri Scripti" given by Archbishop Matthew Parker to Cambridge University in 1574, where it is no. 23. According to the printed donation list to be found in some copies of Parker's De Antiquitate Britannicre Ecclesire Cantuariensis (1572/4), sig. ⊛2v, the manuscript contained 290 pages, i.e. 145 leaves, 52 more than at present, and Ælfric's "Glossary" was followed by a "Hist Anglire Saxon:' Ker suggests that this last item may now be the Christ Church manuscript London, BL, Cotton Domitian viii, ff. 30-70 (189], now consisting of 41 leaves, but imperfect at the end; it contains the A-S Chronicle (ASC F), is of a suitable format, and, like Hh. 1. 10 (see under Contents below), is annotated by Talbot. If MS Hh. 1. 10 and Cotton Domitian viii were bound together in the 16c, then Hh. 1. 10 may have been in Christ Church, Canterbury (Ker, Cat., 22). MS Hh. 1. 10 was lost after Parker's gift, but subsequently recovered by Abraham Wheelock (librarian 1629-1653), as recorded in a note at the top of f. lr. It was used as the exemplar for the 16c supply leaves (ff. 1-2) in Cambridge, Trinity College R. 9. 17 (819) (83]. Ker records an 18c binding. The present binding is of 1969 from the binding shop of Douglas Cockerell & Son of Grantchester, incorporating the pastedown from an earlier binding, being a page from a 16c printing of Paulus de Sancta Maria, bishop of Burgos, Scrutinium Scripturarum (Paris, Anthonius Bonne Mere, colophon falsely dated 1472 but recte c.1515), sig. M5r = fo. lxiii (pastedown not on film). Moderate cropping presumably occurred on the occasion of the earlier binding, as ink foliation numbers and 17c annotations have suffered

Cambridge Corpus Christi College 265: "Wulfstan's Commonplace Book': a Canon Law Collection, including the OE "Directions for a Confessor " and A-S Law IV Edgar; Liturgical Texts; Hugo of Fleury, "Historia Ecclesiastica"

45. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 265 "Wulfstan's Commonplace Book': a Canon Law Collection, including the OE "Directions for a Confessor " and A-S Law IV Edgar; Liturgical Texts; Hugo of Fleury, "Historia Ecclesiastica" [Ker 53, Gneuss 73 (Part A only)] HISTORY: A challenging composite manuscript, consisting of Part A, Booklets 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 (pp. 1-268), a mid-1 lc collection in part known as "Wulfstan's Commonplace Book", Part A, Booklet 2 (pp. 269-442), a later 11c and early 12c collection mainly of liturgical material added on to the first booklets, and Part B (pp. 443-550), a 12c copy of Hugo of Fleury's "Historia Ecclesiastica''. The contents offer considerable difficulty in some details, particularly in Part A, which contains an early version of"Wulfstan's Commonplace Book' ' (for the earliest and formative definitions of the tradition, see Bateson 1895 and Whitelock 1942; but cf. Wormald 1999: 218 and Orchard 2012: 696). The so-called "Commonplace Book'' is in fact a nimbus of numerous manuscripts in which Wulfstan, bishop of London (996- 1002), Worcester (1002-1016) and York (1002-1023) collected, excerpted, edited and revised canon law, letters, liturgical texts, penitential guidelines, and other doctrinal material in the early 11c for the education and regulation of the A-S church and state (on which see esp. Sauer in Szarmach 2000: 339-93, as well as Jones 1998: 71-79 and Elliot 2012: 1-11). Many of the individual texts included are themselves chrestomathic tissues of multiple texts, making for difficult-for the modern scholar, if not for Wulfstan himself- division of textual units in the "Commonplace Book''. Four manuscripts primarily reflect the "Commonplace Book'; the three others being Oxford, Bodi. Lib. Barlow 37, London, BL Cotton Nero A.i [202], and Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 190 [38], though several other manuscripts reflect the tradition as well (see Elliot 2010: 8-9). Part A, Booklet 2 is a collection of liturgical and paraliturgical texts, including excerpts from Amalarius of Metz' "Liber Officialis" (9c), the Romano-German Pontifical, and Bernold of Constance's "Micrologus" (c. 1085). Part A appears more or less to be the result of stages of growth over several generations, with the primary core being the "Commonplace Book" written by a single scribe (pp. 3-208), subsequently added to by numerous other scribes, with some of these later additions closer to the l l/12c segments of booklets 1.2 and 1.3 and Part B than the initial collection of the "Commonplace Book''. Part B is a separate addition of the later 12c consisting of Hugo's "Historia" ( c. 1109), attributed to lvo of Chartres as in other MSS. The compilation of the "Commonplace Book" along with the numerous additions means that altogether (including over 100 grouped sub-items) there are in the region of 400 items or sub-items, a few of which have yet to be identified. All parts have been attributed to Worcester on grounds of script (Ker, Cat.; Bishop 1971: 20; Dumville 1992: 137-38), as several of the hands are typical of Worcester style in the 11 c and 12c, though the first scribe of pp. 1-208 does not show strong Worcester traits (Jones 1998: 75). Furthermore, decorated initials are similar in style to other initials in known Worcester manuscripts (Budny 1997: 1.602). Early Worcester provenance is clear from an added formula for the profession of a monk written in a hand of the second half of the 11c on p. 1 that ends 'dom[i]no | presule uulstano presente', probably a reference to Wulfstan II, bishop of Worcester (1062-95) (Ker, Cat.). Moreover, the manuscript was sporadically glossed in OE by the Worcester scribe and scholar, Coleman, Wulfstan II's chancellor and author of a now lost OE life ofWulfstan II (Ker 1949; on Coleman, see also Stoneman 1987: 78, Johnson and Rudolph 2010: 1, Scragg 2012: no. 87). The manuscript, combining originally separate books, Parts A and B, must have been together from early times, as the contents of Part B are included in the 13c, contents-list on p. 2. The manuscript almost definitely remained in Worcester through the later medieval period, where it was annotated in the 13c and notes on contents jotted in the 15c. There is considerable evidence of use, perhaps in Worcester, from the 16c. Annotations in the hand of John Joscelyn (1529-1603, Parker's Latin Secretary) occur on pp. 175, 177, and his attention-mark in the form of a triquetra on pp. 37 (beside the heading for Item 9) and 176. Joscelyn may have consulted this, along with several other manuscripts, in Worcester in the mid-1560s (Budny 1997: 1.603-604). The annotation on p. 177 reads 'quida(m) papista hie ablraserat tres lineas I sed restituu(n)tur e I veteri libro Exolniensis bibliothecae I in quo etia(m) hie I habetur tractatus'. It refers to an erasure of material (subsequently replaced with different text) that Joscelyn was able to restore from another former Worcester book (CCCC 190), as indicated in the Testimonie of Antiquitie (1566), A5r (see further below, "Contents': item). There is a reference to where this erasure occurs in Parkerian red crayon on p. 2; the erased text concerned the nature of the eucharist, a matter of supreme importance to Archbishop Matthew Parker and the new Church of England. Parker owned, annotated, paginated, and perhaps rebound the manuscript. Membrane tags have been attached no doubt by the Parkerian team, to ease finding what they wanted. The Parkerian red crayon appears in both underlining as well as in the pagination. Part A was foliated a second time, subsequent to Parker's foliation. 'K.2' on p. 1 is the number of the book in the list of those bequeathed in 1575 to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge by Parker. Humfrey Wanley consulted the MS for his "Librorum Vett. Septentrionalium" (1705). The manuscript may have been rebound or refurbished in the mid-18c by the college, and apparently rebound again in 1952 (Budny 1997: 1. 604). Modern quire numbers in pencil occur at the bottom right-hand corner of relevant recto leaves. The present binding dates from c.1980 and was done by George Bolton, according to a note interleaved in the book by R.I. Page, former Parker librarian (Budny 1997: l. 604-05). [Note: Despite the previous descriptions and analyses by Wanley 1705: 109, James 1912: 2.14-21, Andrieu 1931-61: 1.99-101 (pp. 228-442 only), Sauer 1978: 45- 50, Sauer 1980/2000 (Part A only), Budny 1997: 1.599-608 (Part A= pp. 1-330 + 341-442), and Cross and Hamer 1999: 41-8 (Part A, Booklet 1.1, parts only), Lionarons 2010: 19 (notice on homiletic material), this description offers some new information, and hopefully provides a firm basis for further advances.

Milan, Ambrosiana M.79 sup.: "Miscellania varia ecclesiastica;' including Biblical Glosses sourced to Theodore and Hadrian of Canterbury (Items 39, 42, 44)

324. Milan, Ambrosiana M.79 sup. "Miscellania varia ecclesiastica;' including Biblical Glosses sourced to Theodore and Hadrian of Canterbury (Items 39, 42, 44) [Ker App.20; Gneuss --] HISTORY:Almost certainly written in Piacenza (Northern Italy, in the Piedmonte) in the last quarter of the l lc by two main scribes working in collaboration, with additions by other hands, this manuscript is aptly described as "Miscellania Varia Ecclesiastica." Its main contents are Latin biblical glossaries, including some relics of specifically A-S material (Items 39, 42, 44). The terminus post quern for the date is the inclusion of the record of a Council held at Rome under Gregory VII in 1078 (Item 50). The terminus ante quern is the addition of the record of the Council held at Piacenza under Pope Urban II in 1095 (Item 59). The Calendar (Item 55) includes saints that were venerated particularly at Piacenza, so this feature and the fact that the first addition (Item 59) concerns Piacenza strongly suggests the manuscript's origin there. It comprises three separate booklets, the second beginning at f. 156, the third at f. 191. Scribe 1 wrote quires I-XIII, and the first column of f. 105r, the first leaf of quire XIV, leaving the lines at the bottom of the column blank. Scribe 2 wrote quires XIV-XXXI from f. 105rb up to f. 250rb. Both scribes prepared the membrane in much the same way ( details below), but while the first scribe wrote rubrics in red but without decorated initials, the second scribe drew initials in pen, which he then colored in red. On f. 245v in the bottom margin there is a trial ornamental capital F on its side in brown ink. There are annotations by a later hand (?13/14c) in the bottom margins of ff 81 v, 82v, 85r, 103v, showing that the manuscript was read with interest. On f. 144 a thin cord tag has been sewn into the outside edge of the leaf, presumably to assist a reader find his place. On f. 2r there is an added inscription (?16c): 'Iste liber est meij francisci de raynerij de brixia | cum duobus aliis libris et erat iste liber quo<n>dam | habbatis de gaijbo in territorio brixiensi', indicating subsequent provenance in Brescia; 'Gaijbo' may be Borgo S. Giacomo, near Brescia (Mazzuconi 1983: 202). The same hand may have written over some faded text on f. 32r. The manuscript underwent "Restaurato" at "Badia Monumentalis di Santa Maria di Grottaferrata" in December 1953 with a new binding of polished oak boards and spine of brown calf which also covers the adjacent one third of the boards, and there are two clasps with leather straps to hold the book closed. New paper endleaves, one at the front (f.i), and one at the back, were added at the same time. Leaves that were separate before the restoration have been fused together, hopefully in a correct reconstruction of the original state

Cambridge, Trinity College R.7.28 (770): ''Annals of St. Neots" ( with Bede's " Death Song"); Geoffrey of Monmouth, "Historia Regum Britanniae"; episcopal documents

82. Cambridge, Trinity College R.7.28 (770) ''Annals of St. Neots" ( with Bede's " Death Song"); Geoffrey of Monmouth, "Historia Regum Britanniae"; episcopal documents [Ker 88, Gneuss -] HISTORY: Three booklets probably brought together for the first time in the 16c. Booklet A was written in Bury St Edmunds in the first half of the 12c (1120 x 1140 according to Dumville 1985: xiv) and was the copy seen and annotated by John Leland (1506?-52) at St Neats (1709: 152; 1770: 3. 214-9). How or when Booklet A went from Bury to St Neots remains a mystery (for discussion see Dumville 1985: xix-xxi). Part A contains the unique copy of the so-called "Annals of St. Neats;' a Latin chronicle (60 B.C.-A.D. 914) derived from the "A-S Chronicle;' A-S regnal lists, Asser and other hagiographical and continental historical materials. Booklet B, containing Geoffrey of Monmouth's "Historia Regum Britanniae" is 12c/13c; Booklet C contains accumulated episcopal entries dated 14c-16c. The combined manuscript belonged to John Parker (1548-1618/9), son of the archbishop (who probably owned it before the son), and was given to Trinity College by Thomas Nevile (d.1615), whose brother Alexander was a member of the Parker household (Strongman 1977-80: 6-7, 10, no.7). It was used by Thomas Gale for his edition (1691). The volume is relatively small in size, having been heavily cropped by the binder. It probably suffered this fate on more than one occasion, since in the second half of the 16c the missing top line of p. 36 was supplied at the bottom of p.35, and the Parkerian pagination and marginal notes have also been trimmed (Stevenson 1904: 113; Hart 1981: 250, 271; Dumville 1985: xix). Interest in the contents of Booklet A is shown by the transcripts made ofit in the 16c or 16c/17c: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Top.gen.c.2 (3118), pp. 190-94 (extracts by Leland, printed 1770: 3.214-19); Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 100, pp. 261-319 (written under the aegis of Matthew Parker, archbishop of Canterbury 1559-75); London, British Library, Cotton MS Vitellius E. xiv (extracts by Parker's secretary, John Joscelyn [1529-1603]); Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, MS lat. 6236 (written by William Lambarde [1536-1601)); and perhaps slightly later, 16c/17c, London, British Library, MS Harley 685, ff. 1-45r (cf. Dumville 1985: xxiii-xxvii)

Cambridge, Magdalene College Pepys 2981, no. 16: Ælfric, Catholic Homilies (First Series), Homily "De fide catholica" (fragments) (with London, BL Harley 5915, f. 13 [277a])

66. Cambridge, Magdalene College, Pepys 2981, no. 16 Ælfric, Catholic Homilies (First Series), Homily "De fide catholica" (fragments) (with London, BL Harley 5915, f. 13 [277a]) [Ker 243(1), Gneuss 442] HISTORY: Pepys 2981 is Volume I of the "Calligraphical Collection" of Samuel Pepys the diarist (1633-1703), who possessed it certainly by 1700, probably by purchase from John Bagford (Gatch 1985: 96-7). No.16 is in the same early 11c hand and in the same format as British Library, Harley 5915, folio 13 [277a]. Ker, Cat., compares the script with Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 340 [358]. It is pasted on to p. 9, so that the verso side can hardly be seen. The inscription around the fragment is written by Paul Lorrain, Pepys's library clerk, taken from Humphrey Wanley's notes (McKitterick [and Whalley] 1989: 4. iv, 6)

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 12: The Alfredian OE translation of Pope Gregory's "Regula Pastoralis"

23. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 12 The Alfredian OE translation of Pope Gregory's "Regula Pastoralis" [Ker 30; Gneuss 37] HISTORY: A large format copy of the Alfredian OE translation of Gregory's "Regula Pastoralis" written in the second half of the 10c by a single scribe in a large script, probably intended for display purposes (cf. Horgan 1986: 116; Schipper 2003: 159; on the large format size see Gameson 2012: 23-24). The OE text agrees with London, BL Cotton Tiberius B.xi [230] a 9c copy perhaps from Winchester, rather than Oxford, Bodl. Lib. Hatton 20 [377], the copy sent by Alfred to Worcester (Angstrnm 1937: 37; Sisam 1953: 146; Horgan 1973 and 1982; Schreiber 2003: 51-82). Budny (1997: 1.188) suggests a Worcester origin, though this is countered by Schreiber (2003: 79-82); Angstrnm (1937: 156) suggested connections to Winchester on dialectal grounds. The last six Latin chapter headings added in the outer margin off. 8r (13c) are in the same hand as occurs in Oxford, Bodi. Lib. Hatton 114 [384b], f. l0r, another manuscript of Worcester provenance. There are spaces left for (unprovided) chapter headings and no alterations or corrections to the text (though an unsuccessful attempt at correction on f. 123v is noted by Ellis 1998). The title 'PASTORAL£' (llc) added at the top of f. l r has been imperfectly erased; a similar title occurs in Oxford, Bodi. Lib. Hatton 20 (4113) [377], f. 48v. Probably one of the two 'pastorales englisce' in the Worcester booklist of c. l 050 in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 367 [54] (ed. Lapidge 2001: 131-32). Budny (1997 1.193) indicates there are dry point drawings (f. 4r) of the 10c and 12c or 13c and marks (ff. 54r, 82r, 141v, 193r) of the 12c or 13c (cf. Schreiber 2003: 56).] The central bifolium of quire XXVIII (between ff. 218/219) is missing and some cropping occurred before the manuscript was glossed throughout by the "Tremulous Hand" when at Worcester in the 13c (Graham 2009: 183-84; Collier 2000: 202-05; Franzen 1991: 60-63; Page 1987). Annotated by John Joscelyn (1529-1603), perhaps in the 1560s, most likely in Worcester (Budny 1997: 1.190). Many leaves (38 altogether) were repaired in the 16c by the addition of late medieval membrane patches (from a manuscript or manuscripts flourished in red and gold, probably a 14c breviary) where the original wide margins had been cut out (Graham 1998: 195-200). Membrane endleaves front and back were probably added at the same time, when the book was probably bound for Matthew Parker (1504-1575). Book numbers at the top of pages and chapter numbers in the margins were added in Parkerian red ochre crayon in the 16c; rubrics in Parker's hand in red ochre occur on ff. 26r, 30r, 72r, 74v, 220v; Parkerian inscriptions visible on f. lr as well (see James 1909-12: 12 and Schreiber 2003: 56). Glosses by the "Tremulous Hand" lost when cropping took place have been made good by Parker himself in his own hand, e.g. on f. l 74v/l l- 12. Occasional short hair-line strokes at the top of the letter-body to mark word-division have been added, presumably in the 16c to assist a copyist, e.g. on f. 4v/14-15, '.XI. Hwelc selbeon sceal . selorerltolcu II manlnelsceal:'. Tape tags have been fixed over the top of leaves on ff. 55 ( end of part 1, start of part 2), 72 (end of part 2, start of part 3), 79 (last leaf of quire X), 95 (last leaf of quire XII), 144 (first leaf of quire XIX), 151 (last leaf of quire XIX), 215 (last leaf of quire XXVII). Note affirming the text as an example of Alfred's impetus added in the 16c on f. iv recto. Bequeathed by Parker to Cambridge, Corpus Christi College in 1575. No doubt Parker had it bound, as the modern binding preserves 16c paper endleaves at front and back (ff. i-ii and iii-iv) with ff. i and iv showing signs of previously being pastedowns. New paper endleaves were added with the binding of 1953, done by John P. Gray, as noted on first paper leaf (Budny 1997: 1.192 and Schreiber 2003: 56). At one time this manuscript was used to house the unique copy of the first item to be printed with 'Queen Elizabeth's Irish Types: Pilip Bocht Ó hUiginn's poem "Tuar ferge foighide Dhe" known as the "Irish Broadside" ([Dublin, William Kearney], 1571; STC 19844.5; Dickins 1949), but that is now kept separately between glass. Previous descriptions by James 1912: 1:32-3, Budny 1997: 187-93, no.13, and Schreiber 2003: 55-57 and 79-82

Vercelli, Biblioteca Capitolare CXVII: "The Vercelli Book": Vercelli Homilies I-XXIII, "Andreas", "Fates of the Apostles': "Soul and Body 1 ': "Homiletic Fragment 1 ': "Dream of the Rood': "Elene"

482. Vercelli, Biblioteca Capitolare CXVII "The Vercelli Book": Vercelli Homilies I-XXIII, "Andreas", "Fates of the Apostles': "Soul and Body 1 ': "Homiletic Fragment 1 ': "Dream of the Rood': "Elene" [Ker 394; Gneuss 941] HISTORY: Written in the late 10c by a single scribe, probably over a period of time that included intervals between the different parts of the manuscript. There are three distinct Booklets, A (ff. 1-24), B (ff. 25-120), and C (ff. 121-135), but they were probably not planned in this order. Linguistic evidence suggests that the manuscript had its origins in the SE of England (Scragg 1973: 206; see further Scragg 2008; cf. Treharne 2007). If the suggestion of O Carragain (1998: 96-7) that the book was the work of a secular canon is followed, then Rochester is a plausible place of origin, as the cathedral there had five secular canons attached to it up to 1080 (Knowles and Hadcock 1971: 74, also 435). Others favor St. Augustine's, Canterbury (Scragg 1992: lxxviii-lxxix). [Note on Compilation: Several scholars have written on the compilation of the Vercelli Book, notably Scragg 1973, Sisam 1976: 40, and Szarmach 1979: 184-7. Scragg's divisions have the merit of following the codicological structure of the manuscript, so giving Groups A, B and C corresponding to Booklets A, B and C. Only his Group B is subdivided, thus: 1a HomilyV 1 b "Andreas" and "The Fates of the Apostles" 2a Homilies VI-X 2b Homilies XI-XIV 3 Homilies XV-XVIII 4a "Soul and Body 1 '; "Homiletic Fragment 1 '; and "The Dream of the Rood" 4b Homilies XIX-XXI 4c Homily XXII. Group lb contains distinctive (provision for) decorated initials. Apart from the content, Group 2a is suggested by the numbering in the manuscript of Homilies as 'ii' -'v: and is drawn from a south-eastern homiliary of the second half of the tenth century. Group 2b is suggested by the rubrics, 'Spel to forman gangdrege: 'spel to clam oorum gangdrege' and 'spel to priddan gangdrege'; Wright (2002: 212-24) has argued that Homilies XI-XIII were written (or adapted) with secular clergy in mind. Group 3 derives from a Mercian homiliary of unknown date. And Group 4b, which shows distinctive (provision for) decorated initials, is drawn on a late West-Saxon collection. This kind of analysis of how the texts in the manuscript were compiled shows that they are drawn, probably in groups, from a variety of sources and presumably from a number of exemplars, and that, just as the scribe took over aspects of lay-out and display, he also preserved linguistic features that he found in his exemplars. Other commentators have remarked on the scribe as a faithful copyist (Sisam 1976: 44; North/Bintley 2016: 9, 21). For a table showing the arrangement and contents of the Vercelli Book see Lucas 2011: 173-4. Zacher 2009: 287-90 ( = Appendix 2) sets out a table showing exemplar (Scragg) in relation to quire (Sisam).]  On f. 111 v, the last page of quire XV, the last line is left blank and the writing on the penultimate line is spaced out as if to fill the whole space of the line. This evidence suggests that the scribe was copying an exemplar quire by quire at this stage. The manuscript was corrected, at least in part, contemporaneously, as indicated by excision marks suprascript on f.14r/23-4 (cf. Scragg 1973: 204, n.2). On f. 49v there is a trial animal drawing, perhaps a practice for a capital. At the bottom of f. 63v (the last leaf of quire VIII) an 11c hand has written 'writ þus', presumably an instruction to a copyist to carry on from one quire to the next. At the bottom of f. 135v, set in a little from the outer edge of the written area, probably the same annotator has written 'writ pis'. The words may possibly have been preceded by a few others, but, if so, they are now irrecoverable, as the area is one affected by reagent and the letters of the text on the other side show through. They may also be an indication that there was once more material after the present end of the manuscript. Perhaps the manuscript was copied before being removed to the continent. On f. 24v an llc Italian hand has added the liturgical heading 'R[esponsio] Adiutor meus esto domine ne derelinquas me deus salutaris meus• V[ersus]' (Ps. 26:9) with neumes above. On the basis of this addition and its distinctive form, K. Sisam (1953: ll3-16) concluded that the manuscript was in Italy in the l lc, most likely at Vercelli itself (see further C. Sisam 1976: 44). There, in the Biblioteca Capitolare, it has stayed until the present day. In the early 19c it was provided with a binding of brown calf on medieval boards blind-stamped with a double ornamental border in a pattern found in other Vercelli books in the Biblioteca Capitolare, with membrane pastedown and endleaves. The spine is inscribed 'HOMILIARUM | LIBER | IGNOTI IDIOMATIS | 41 | SÆCULO XI CXVII' ['41' is a former Vercelli number]. In 1834 the manuscript was copied by Johann Christian Maier (1791-1835), and his transcription and notes now comprise London, Lincoln's Inn, MS misc. 225, which is to be relied upon for some readings (Ker 1950: 22-5, and C. Sisam 1976: 51-3), as well as for indications of the structure before the restaurazione (see below). This transcript, probably edited by Benjamin Thorpe, was printed in 1836 but not issued by the Public Record Office until it appeared in Cooper in 1869. In the meantime copies were not made public, much to the annoyance of other scholars such as John Kemble (Wiley 1979: 223); however Richard Cleasby acquired a copy in 1837 on which he made extensive notes (Fell 1981). At the same time as he made his transcript, Maier applied a reagent called Gallaepfel-tinktur 'gall-nut-tincture' ( cited from Maier's own testimony by Halsall 1970: 4, 6, repr. C. Sisam 1976: 48; for a recipe see Bock 2015: 257), which was rich in tannins and, while intended to enhance legibility over a short period, had the effect of staining brown the areas to which it was applied, and some of the writing was obliterated. The first leaf, which contained the beginning of the unique text of a homily for Good Friday on Jo. 18-19 (Item 1 below), is now virtually illegible. Elsewhere the damage is less. At least twenty-nine other places are affected (most still legible): f. 2r/24, f. 25r/29, f. 26r/12-24 (in a streak), f. 36v/7-ll (patch), f. 37v/14- 16 (blot), f. 37v/21-4 (another blot), f. 38r/4-ll, f. 38v/l-2, f. 42v/l-3, f. 54r/l-17 (blot), f. 54v/l, f. 55r/10, f. 55v/20-2 and 24-5, f. 57r/l, f. 65r/2 and 15 (blots), f. 67v/21-2, f. 75v/l-6 and 8-24 (i.e., the whole page except for the writing in red), f. 77r/4-5 and 10-24 (streak), f. 84r/13-24 (streak), f. 86r/20-4, f. 86v/23-4, f. 103v/7, f. 106v/27-9, f. 119r/28-31 (blot), f. 120v/17, f. 12lr/21, f. 134r/24-9 (blot), f. 135r/23-30 (blot), f. 135v/17-28 (patch); see further Bock 2015: esp. 260-74, who finds a total of 33 leaves affected and notes that Maier treated 17 out of 89 erasures. In 1910-11 the manuscript was sent for a heavy restaurazione carried out at the Vatican. For example, the last quire (ff. 129-135) lacks leaf 8 but f. 136 has been fused to it to form an apparent bifolium. But as noted by Ker (1957/91: 463) the pattern of wormholes indicates that f. 136 once stood back to front and the other way up at the front of the manuscript and the heading on the verso 'CVM PERU ENISSE[T]' (probably from Lk. 22:40 and associated with Homily I for Good Friday) being presently upside down confirms this deduction. F. 136 was once at the beginning of the volume, perhaps put there for protection, but was possibly originally the last leaf of quire XVIII, in which case it would have been the other way round, with hair side outside. There are paste-marks on f. 135v that suggest it was next to the binding, and these are consonant with f. 136 having been at the front of the volume when the manuscript received its medieval binding (assuming it did receive one). Nearly all scholars who have studied the manuscript in any detail have done so not knowing its state before the 1911 restaurazione

Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Reg. lat. 204: Bede's verse "Life of St. Cuthbert" with glosses, etc.

477. Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Reg. lat. 204 Bede's verse "Life of St. Cuthbert" with glosses, etc. [Ker 389; Gneuss 913] HISTORY: Written at St. Augustine's, Canterbury, at the beginning of the 11c (cf. Bishop 1963: 413,417, but the attribution is queried by Barker-Benfield 2008: 3.1818; see also Sole 1998: 124-28, Lapidge 1995: 143, Stokes: 2014: 70). There are sixteen contemporary glosses in OE in the same hand as sporadic Latin glosses; all of these glosses except 'stif ' also appear among the 47 glosses found in Harley 1117 [268] printed by Meritt 1945: no. 7. The office relating to Cuthbert on f. lr was probably added by the glossator. Owned in the 14c by the abbey of Bonneval (nr. Chartres), France: 'Hie lib<er> est s<an>c<t>o<rum> florentini hil<arii> 7 m<art>i<ru>m. bonevall<is>' (f. 24v/14). Subsequently it was in the collections of the French antiquaries Paul Petau (1568-1614) and his son Alexandre (d. 1672), as Paul's classmark 'Y.42: occurs at the top f.lr (and his handwriting on f.1r-v; see below), although Alexandre's class-mark (926) is no longer present. All the manuscripts in the Petau library were sold in 1650 ( the sale catalogue being now Leiden University Library, Voss. lat. Q 76) to Queen Christina of Sweden, whose note of accession, '1651; occurs cropped on f. lr, and crossed through on f. 2r; she died in Rome in 1689 and the manuscript went with the rest of her collection to the Vatican in 1690, where it received the stamp of Pope Alexander VIII (1689-91) on f. lr (for the Petau's see Callmer 1977: 156, 170-1; for the transfer of Christina's library in Rome to the Vatican see Callmer 1977: 217-34; for the subsequent history of the manuscripts in the Vatican 1690-1814, see Callmer 1977: 220-22). Binding of brown calf with gold tooling on the spine provided in the Vatican. Annotations at the top of ff. 1-2 cropped by the binder. Modern foliation in ink in the top right-hand corner of recto leaves