London. British Library, Royal MS 5 E XI

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Source
The British Library, Polonsky Pre-1200 Project
Library
London. British Library
Shelfmark
  • British Library, Royal MS 5 E XI
Biblissima authority file
Language
  • Latin
  • Old English
Title
  • Aldhelm of Sherborne, De virginitate (prose)
Agent
  • Preferred form
    • Aldhelm (saint, 0639?-0709)
    Original form
    • Aldhelm of Sherborne, c 639-709, Saint, Bishop of Sherborne
    Other form
    • Aldhelmus
    • Aldhelm (0639?-0709 ; saint)
    • Aldhelmus Scireburnensis episcopus
    • Aldhelm 0639?-0709 saint
    • Aldhelm van Sherborne
    • Aldhelmus Schireburnensis
    • Aldhelm, saint, 640?-709
    • Aldhelm, sant, 640?-709
    • Aldhelmo, Santo, 640?-709
    • Aldhelmus Schireburnensis 640-709
    • Aldhelm van Malmesbury
    • Author: Aldhelmus, Schireburnensis
    • Aldhelm
    • St Aldhelm (640?-709)
    • Aldhelmus Schireburnensis, 640?-709
    • Adelmus, évêque
    • see more
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    Biblissima authority file
Description
  • 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).
Place
Rights
  • Public domain in most countries other than the UK
License
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