Letters of the Chancellor of the University of Oxford and the archbishop of Canterbury; petitions of the clergy of the province of Canterbury; a letter of Pope John XXII; sermons on the Seven Deadly Sins, the Ascension (macaronic), and All Saints; Richard Rolle, Emendatio Vitae ; Simeon of Durham, De Exordio Ecclesiae Dunelmensis ; Pseudo-Jerome, De Quindecim Signis ante Diem Iudicii ; Liber de Antichristo ; sermons on the Assumption of Mary and Luke 12.12 (partially macaronic)
This composite manuscript contains five parts that were written in
England during the 12th and 14th centuries (ff. 3-12; 13-24; 25-98;
99-102; 103-106). The larger part of the manuscript (ff. 25r-97r),
copied in the first quarter of the 12th century, contains the De
Exordio Ecclesiae Dunelmensis (Concerning the Beginning of the
Church of Durham), including 'Bede's Death Song' in Old English.
that Simeon of Durham (fl. c. 1090–c. 1128), Benedictine monk and
historian of Durham Priory, wrote between 1104 and 1109. This
manuscript and Durham, Cathedral Priory, Cosin V. II. 6 are the
earliest witnesses of this work. It has been suggested that Cotton
MS Faustina A V, ff. 25r-97r may have been produced at Durham
Priory for Ranulf Flambard (b. c. 1060, d. 1128), Bishop of Durham
(see Gullick, ‘The Two Earliest Manuscripts’ (1996), p. 119 n.
34). However, ownership inscriptions indicate that this part was at
the Cistercian monastery of Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire
around the year 1200. It is here that the manuscript may have been
combined with its other parts: a 14th- or 15th-century inscription
concerning the Libellus (‘Lege et perlege de exordio dunelmensis
Ecc[les]ie’ c[hathe]dralis’) on f. 106v indicates that the
manuscript's final part (ff. 103-106) had been bound together with
ff. 25-98 by that time. The manuscript was then still at Fountains
Abbey, and may have remained there until the monastery's
dissolution in 1539, as it contains a memorandum (f. 98r)
concerning the entry of six lay brothers in 1512. 14th-century
ownership inscription of Fountains Abbey on f. 13r also suggests
that ff. 13-24 may have been part of this manuscript at this time.
It is unknown, however, whether these parts were produced at
Fountains Abbey as well. Gullick suggests that the manuscript’s
copy of De Quindecim Signis ante Diem Iudicii (On The Fifteen Signs
before the Day of Judgement) on ff. 99r-99v may have been written
in Winchester (see Lucas, ‘Bede’s Death Song’ (1997), p. 43).
The manuscript originally contained an additional section, now
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 114. This section was removed by Henry
Savile the Elder (b. 1547, d. 1622) when he donated the manuscript
to Thomas Allen (b. 1542, d. 1632) in 1589. Contents:ff. 3r-4v:
Letters of the Chancellor of the University of Oxford and the
archbishop of Canterbury. ff. 4v-6r: Petitions of the clergy of the
province of Canterbury.f. 6r: A letter of Pope John XXII (r.
1316–1334).ff. 6v-12v: Sermons on the Seven Deadly Sins, the
Ascension, and All Saints; the sermon on the Ascension (ff.
10r-10v) is macaronic (Middle English-Latin). ff. 13r-24v: Richard
Rolle (b. 1305x10, d. 1349), Emendatio vitae (The changing of one's
own life). ff. 24r-97r: Simeon of Durham, De Exordio Ecclesiae
Dunelmensis, including 'Bede's Death Song' in Old English. ff.
99r-99v: Pseudo-Jerome [here attributed], De Quindecim Signis ante
Diem Iudicii (On The Fifteen Signs before the Day of Judgement).
ff. 99v-102r: Anonymous, Liber de Antichristo (Book of the
Antichrist), beginning: ‘De antichristo scire volentibus primo
dicemus quare sic vocatur’ [Patrologia Latina, 40 cols
1131-1134]. ff. 103r-106v: Anonymous, sermons; including a
macaronic (Middle English-Latin) section on ff. 105v-106r
concerning the Raising of Lazarus.The manuscript contains a number
of additions:f. 97v: A short history of the bishops of Durham, from
Aidan (r. 635-651) to Wilgred (r. c. 925-? 942), entitled
‘Episcopi dunhelmenses’, added in the (?) 15th-century. f. 98r:
A memorandum for the year 1512, concerning the entrance of six lay
brothers at Fountains Abbey, added in the early 16th century. f.
1r: The inscription ‘Textus Evangelij – 106’, in an early
modern script. f. 2 r: A table of contents, added by Richard James
(b. 1592, d. 1638), librarian for Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (b. 1571,
d. 1631).f. 107v: an index for this manuscript (?) with references
to (?) page numbers, added in the 17th century.[ff. 1v, 2v, 102v
are blank].Decoration:See the separate descriptions for Cotton MS
Faustina A V, ff. 3–12, ff. 13–24, ff. 25–98, ff. 99–102,
and ff. 103–106.
