Traditionally, the Saint Petersburg Bede is attributed on palaeographic grounds to Bede's monastery at Wearmouth-Jarrow. It is also traditionally dated to 731/732 × 746 on the basis of the so-called Memoranda, a series of retrospective dates found in the margins of Bede's recapitulo in Book V Chapter 24. The validity of these Memoranda (and similar notes in the Moore Bede) as evidence for the precise year in which the manuscript was copied has been vigorously challenged. While it may not be possible to assign the manuscript to a specific year, it seems unlikely that it was copied much after the middle of the eighth century.
Physical description
The Saint Petersburg Bede contains the oldest historiated initial known, from the 8th century (shown above)
The manuscript is written on parchment. It contains 162 folios (numbered 161, but with f. 51 repeated—the correct foliation is given on the last folio in the bottom right corner). Pages average approximately 270 × 190mm (Writing Space: 230 × 150mm in two columns of 27 lines). The pages have been trimmed at some point. The manuscript has been copied by four hands, with textual "accessories" (colophons, chapter numbers, and the like) in a fifth (Parkes 1982, 6-11).
The opening three letters of Book 2 of Bede are decorated, to a height of 8 lines of the text, and the opening h contains a bust portrait of a haloed figure carrying a cross and a book. This may be intended to be St. Gregory the Great, although a much later hand has identified the figure as St. Augustine of Canterbury in the halo. The figure is identified as a saint, rather than Christ, by his clerical tonsure.[2] Although the letter decoration is essentially Insular in style, the figure shows Mediterranean influence, as do other elements of the illuminations, such as the foliate decoration filling in the B shown above.
Contents
The Saint Petersburg Bede contains one of the two oldest surviving examples of the "m-type" text of the Latin Historia ecclesiastica (Colgrave and Mynors 1969, xliv). The manuscript also contains one of two copies of the vernacular text of the Northumbrian aelda recension of Cædmon's Hymn in the bottom margin of "f. 107r" (actually f. 108r; see Cædmon's Hymn). The poem has been copied in the fourth hand of the main Latin text (Parkes 1982, 6).
Notes
↑ Schapiro, p.199 & T. Voronova and A Sterligov, p. 198
↑ Meyer Schapiro, p. 199 and pp. 212-214, For the view that it represents Gregory, see here.
Bibliography
The oldest historiated initial known, full page view
The Saint Petersburg Bede is a frequently studied manuscript. The following is a partial bibliography of significant studies and catalogue entries:
Re Illuminations:
Meyer Schapiro, The Decoration of the Leningrad Manuscript of Bede, in Selected Papers, volume 3, Late Antique, Early Christian and Mediaeval Art, 1980, Chatto & Windus, London, ISBN0-7011-2514-4 (originally Scriptorium, xii, 2, (1958), also JSTOR etc.).
T. Voronova and A Sterligov, Western European Illuminated Manuscripts (in the St Petersberg Public Library), 2003, p198, Sirocco, London.
Re Texts:
Anderson, O. S. 1941. Old English material in the Leningrad manuscript of Bede's ecclesiastical history. Skrifter utgivna av Kungl. humanistiska vetenskapssamfundet i Lund/Acta reg. societatis humaniorum litterarum Lundensis, 31. Lund: Gleerup.
Arngart, O. S. 1952. The Leningrad Bede: an eighth century manuscript of the Venerable Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum in the Public Library, Leningrad. Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile, 2. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
————. 1973. "On the dating of early Bede manuscripts". Studia Nordica 45: 47-52.
Bévenot, M. S. J. 1962. "Towards dating the Leningrad 'Bede'." Scriptorium 36: 366-9.
Colgrave, B. and R. A. B. Mynors 1969, Bede's ecclesiastical history of the English people. Oxford Medieval Texts. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. xliv.
Dobbie, E. v. K. 1937. The manuscripts of Cædmon's Hymn and Bede's Death Song with a critical text of the Epistola Cuthberti de obitu Bedæ. Columbia University Studies in English and Comparative Literature, 128. New York: Columbia University Press. pp.16–17.
Dobiache-Rojdestvensky, O. 1928. "Un manuscrit de Bède à Léningrad". Speculum 3: 314-21.
Gillert, K. 1880. "Lateinische Handschriften in Saint Petersburg". Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde 5: 243-625 [correctly 243-265]
Ker 1990. Catalogue of manuscripts containing Anglo-Saxon. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Art. 122.
Lowe 1934-, Codices latini antiquiores: a palaeographical guide to Latin manuscripts prior to the ninth century. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Art. 1621.
————. 1958a. "A key to Bede's scriptorium: Some observations on the Leningrad Bede". Scriptorium 12: 182-90.
────. 1958b. "An autograph of the Venerable Bede?" Revue Bénédictine 68: 200-2.
Meyvaert, P. 1961. "The Bede 'signature' in the Leningrad colophon". Revue Bénédictine 71: 274-86.
O'Donnell, D. P. 2005. Cædmon's Hymn, A multimedia study, edition, and witness archive. SEENET A. 7. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer. §§ 4.37-4.38.
────. 2002. "The accuracy of the Saint Petersburg Bede." Notes and Queries 247: 4-6.
Parkes, M. B. 1982. The scriptorium of Wearmouth-Jarrow. Jarrow Lectures. Jarrow: [St. Paul's Rectory]. 5-12.
Robinson, F. C. and E. G. Stanley 1991. Old English verse texts from many sources: a comprehensive collection. Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile, 23. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger. [Facsimile of "f. 107r" on pl. 2.3].
Staerk, A. 1910, Les manuscrits latins du Ve au XIIIe siècle conservés à la bibliothèque impériale de Saint-Pétersbourg, I. Petrograd: Publichnia Biblioteka. Art. 26. Art. xlii
Wright, D. H. 1961. "The date of the Leningrad Bede". Revue Bénédictine 71: 265-73.
Bede, also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable, was an English monk and an author and scholar. He was one of the greatest teachers and writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most famous work, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, gained him the title "The Father of English History". He served at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom of Northumbria of the Angles.
Old English literature refers to poetry and prose written in Old English in early medieval England, from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066, a period often termed Anglo-Saxon England. The 7th-century work Cædmon's Hymn is often considered as the oldest surviving poem in English, as it appears in an 8th-century copy of Bede's text, the Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Poetry written in the mid 12th century represents some of the latest post-Norman examples of Old English. Adherence to the grammatical rules of Old English is largely inconsistent in 12th-century work, and by the 13th century the grammar and syntax of Old English had almost completely deteriorated, giving way to the much larger Middle English corpus of literature.
Cædmon is the earliest English poet whose name is known. A Northumbrian cowherd who cared for the animals at the double monastery of Streonæshalch during the abbacy of St. Hilda, he was originally ignorant of "the art of song" but learned to compose one night in the course of a dream, according to the 8th-century historian Bede. He later became a zealous monk and an accomplished and inspirational Christian poet.
Symeonof Durham was an English chronicler and a monk of Durham Priory.
The Old English Bible translations are the partial translations of the Bible prepared in medieval England into the Old English language. The translations are from Latin texts, not the original languages.
The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between the pre-Schism Roman Rite and Celtic Christianity. It was composed in Latin, and is believed to have been completed in 731 when Bede was approximately 59 years old. It is considered one of the most important original references on Anglo-Saxon history, and has played a key role in the development of an English national identity.
Saint Ceolfrid was an Anglo-Saxon Christian abbot and saint. He is best known as the warden of Bede from the age of seven until his death in 716. He was the Abbot of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey, and a major contributor to the project to produce the Codex Amiatinus Bible. He died in Burgundy while en route to deliver a copy of the codex to Pope Gregory II in Rome.
The Codex Amiatinus is considered the best-preserved manuscript of the Latin Vulgate version of the Christian Bible. It was produced around 700 in the northeast of England, at the Benedictine Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey in the Kingdom of Northumbria, now South Tyneside, and taken to Italy as a gift for Pope Gregory II in 716. It was one of three giant single-volume Bibles then made at Monkwearmouth–Jarrow, and is the earliest complete one-volume Latin Bible to survive, only the León palimpsest being older; and the oldest Bible where all the biblical canon present what would be their Vulgate texts.
British Library, MS Cotton Tiberius C. II, or the Tiberius Bede, is an 8th-century illuminated manuscript of Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum. It is one of only four surviving 8th-century manuscripts of Bede, another of which happens to be MS Cotton Tiberius A. XIV, produced at Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey. As such it is one of the closest texts to Bede's autograph. The manuscript has 155 vellum folios. This manuscript may have been the Latin text on which the Alfredian Old English translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History was based. The manuscript is decorated with zoomorphic initials in a partly Insular and partly Continental style.
The Battle of Chester was a major victory for the Anglo-Saxons over the native Britons near the city of Chester, England in the early 7th century. Æthelfrith of Northumbria annihilated a combined force from the Welsh kingdoms of Powys and Rhôs, and possibly from Mercia as well. It resulted in the deaths of Welsh leaders Selyf Sarffgadau of Powys and Cadwal Crysban of Rhôs. Circumstantial evidence suggests that King Iago of Gwynedd may have also been killed. Other sources state the battle may have been in 613 or even as early as 607 or 605 AD.
The Moore Bede is an early manuscript of Bede's 8th-century Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum. It was formerly owned by Bishop John Moore (1646–1714), whose collection of books and manuscripts was purchased by George I and donated to Cambridge University.
The Grandes Chroniques de France is a vernacular royal compilation of the history of the Kingdom of France, most manuscripts of which are luxury copies that are heavily illuminated. Copies were produced between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, the text being extended at intervals to cover recent events. It was first compiled in the reign of Saint Louis, who wished to preserve the history of the Franks, from the coming of the Trojans to his own time, in an official chronography whose dissemination was tightly controlled. It was continued under his successors until completed in 1461. It covers the Merovingian, Carolingian, and Capetian dynasties of French kings, with illustrations depicting personages and events from virtually all their reigns.
Leningrad manuscript may refer to:
Cædmon's Hymn is a short Old English poem attributed to Cædmon, a supposedly illiterate and unmusical cow-herder who was, according to the Northumbrian monk Bede, miraculously empowered to sing in honour of God the Creator. The poem is Cædmon's only known composition.
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Monkwearmouth–Jarrow, known simply as Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey, was a Benedictine double monastery in the Kingdom of Northumbria, England.
The Vita Sancti Cuthberti is a prose hagiography from early medieval Northumbria. It is probably the earliest extant saint's life from Anglo-Saxon England, and is an account of the life and miracles of Cuthbert, a Bernician hermit-monk who became bishop of Lindisfarne. Surviving in eight manuscripts from Continental Europe, it was not as well read in the Middle Ages as the prose version by Bede. It was however Bede's main source for his two dedicated works on Cuthbert, the "Metrical Life" and the "Prose Life".
Bertram Colgrave was a medieval historian, antiquarian and archaeologist, specializing on the lives of the early saints in Anglo-Saxon England.
Bede's Death Song is the editorial name given to a five-line Old English poem, supposedly the final words of the Venerable Bede. It is, by far, the Old English poem that survives in the largest number of manuscripts — 35 or 45. It is found in both Northumbrian and West Saxon dialects.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
