This manuscript contains the De laudibus virginitatis (On the
Praise of Virginity) a didactic work in 60 chapters extolling
virginity, composed by Aldhelm of Sherborne (d. 709). Two leaves
(ff. 116-117) have been replaced in the 11th century and now
function as flyleaves. Contents: ff. 3r-7v: A table of chapters for
Aldhelm, De Laudibus virginitatis. ff. 7v-8r: Preface to the De
laudibus virginitatis. ff. 9r-119v: Aldhelm, De Laudibus
virginitatis with numerous Latin and Old English interlinear
glosses, added in the 1st quarter and middle of the 11th century
(see Ker, Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (1957).
The manuscript contains a number of additions: f. [iv] recto: Two
strips of parchment have been pasted on a paper flyleaf showing
earlier titles in capitals with interlocked letters referring to
the De laudibus virginitatis and its author. f. [v] recto. A
fragment of the scribe's pen trial with an alphabet and the words
'Omnium inimicorum' in red and yellow ink. ff. 1, 120: Leaves with
a part of De laudibus virginitatis have been used as flyleaves at
the beginning and at the end. These extracts are similar to the
text on ff. 116, 117; these leaves were originally part of this
manuscript but probably replaced because of the defects in their
parchment: ff. 1r-1v contain an extract from Aldhelm, De laudibus
virginitatis chapter 59, beginning: '[obsta]culo tricabatur. Que
meorum fenus votorum actenus infectum arguebat'; ff. 120r-120v
contain an extract from chapter 60 with interlinear Latin glosses:
'[...] sequentis eulogiae munusculum non aliter me spopondisse
memento (sic)'. Decoration:Two large initials in colours with
zoomorphic and interlace decoration of Wormald's type II, at the
beginning of the prologue and the text (ff. 7v, 9r). One smaller
initial in ink with zoomorphic and interlace decoration of the same
type (f. 36r). Initials in red. A late 12th-century or early
13th-century drawing of Aldhelm standing at a lectern with a book
opened on the first words of his treatise 'Iam / dudum ad
pon/tifica/le pro/fisciscens', with an inscription 'Sanctus
Aldelmus Episcopus' (f. 2v).
