The Old English Bede survives in five extant manuscripts: Oxford, Bodleian Library, Tanner 10; London, British Library, Cotton Otho B. xi; Oxford, Corpus Christi College, 279; Cambridge, University Library Kk. 3.18 and Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 41, (CCCC41) the last of which is the focus of this web resource. A brief codicological review of the five extant manuscripts will illustrate why CCCC41 merits critical attention.

Oxford, Bodleian Library, Tanner 10.

Oxford, Bodleian Library, Tanner 10, is dated to the first half of the tenth century and measures 9¾ by 6½ inches. Miller describes this manuscript witness of the EH as defective at both the beginning up to line 16 of Book I and at the end from line 14 of Book V (Miller xiii). The Tanner Bede was written by five scribes and features fine examples of initial illumination up until Book Four (with the exception of a particularly ornate headpiece in Book Five) with the manuscript concluding with more inferior illumination (Miller xv).

London, British Library, Cotton Otho B. xi.

The London, British Library, Cotton Otho B. xi, which is dated to the mid-tenth century, was badly damaged in a fire in 1731; however Laurence Nowell made a transcription of the manuscript in 1562 (British Library Additional 43703). Fortunately some of the extant leaves of the manuscript were not severely damaged in the fire and in instances where continuous leaves occur, the manuscript has been used to supplement previous editions of the vernacular version, while one of the leaves in particular preserves a list of bishops that may suggest a southern origin.

Oxford, Corpus Christi College, 279b.

The second part of Oxford, Corpus Christi College, 279, is dated to the beginning of the eleventh century and measures to 101⁄6 by 61⁄2 inches. Similar to the Tanner, this manuscript is defective at the beginning up to Book I line 25 and at the end after Book V line 19. Miller observes that the writing in this manuscript changes frequently, even more than once per page and proposes that the manuscript was written in a southern scriptorium where “there was an abundance of trained scribes, relieving one another frequently at the desk occasionally for a few lines only” (Miller xviii).

Cambridge, University Library Kk. 3.18.

The manuscript witness, Cambridge, University Library Kk. 3.18, is thought to date from the second half of the eleventh century and measures 125⁄8 by 83⁄4 inches.This manuscript is not only complete but is the only manuscript witness of the Old English Bede to exhibit page headings and chapter numbers. It also appears to have been written by one scribe and contains several interlinear Latin and English glosses. There appears to be a connection between Oxford, Corpus Christi College, 279 and Cambridge, University Library Kk. 3.18, Miller suggests that Cambridge, University Library Kk. 3.18 is a faithful copy of Oxford, Corpus Christi College 279, in that it preserves the evident omissions and emendations in its text (Miller xix).

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 41.

CCCC41 contains the B text of the Old English Bede and according to the Old English inscription on page 488, the book was given by bishop Leofric to St Peter’s Church in Exeter: “Ðas boc gef leofric biscop into sancte petres mynstre on exancestre…”(CCCC41 OEB 488). This particular manuscript is dated to the first half of the eleventh century and measures 14 by 8½ inches. Therefore, CCCC41 has the widest margins of all the manuscripts, and is uniquely suited for the extensive Old English and Latin marginalia that distinguishes it from the other surviving manuscript witnesses of the Old English Bede.

Works Cited

Miller, Thomas, ed. The Old English Version of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. London: N. Trübner, 1890. Print. EETS nos 95, 96, 110, 111.