This 12th-century manuscript contains De Tabernaculo (On the
Tabernacle) and the Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum
(Ecclesiastical History of the English People) by Bede the
Venerable (d. 673, d. 735), an English Benedictine monk,
theologian, and historian, followed by a letter about his death,
written by Cuthbert, a disciple of Bede. A contemporary table of
contents, added by another hand (f. 4v), suggests that the
manuscript originally contained more works, including a life of St
Malachy, the Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons), and a
number of eschatological works. These include a work on the
resurrection of the dead at the Last Judgement, and three
well-known visions of heaven and hell: the Vision of Wetti, Vision
of Barontus, and Vision of Orm. The original contents suggest that
the scribes who composed the manuscript or their intended readers
were especially interested in Bede's Historia for the visions of
the afterlife that it includes (e.g. the Vision of Dryhthelm).
However, the manuscript's readers also appear to have used the
Historia as a source for devotional or liturgical reading. This is
indicated by the subject headings they have added in the margins of
passages about St Augustine and the Northern saints Chad, Cuthbert,
Hild, Oswald, and Oswine. These passages may have been read as
lections during the communal worship on these saints' feast days
(see Webber, 'Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica as a Source of
Lections’ (2015), pp. 56, 68). Contents: f. 2r: Bede, De
Tabernaculo . ff. 2v-4r: A work about the Invention and Translation
of St Ragener of Northampton, with the rubric ‘Incipit Revelatio
S. Ragneri martyris’. ff. 5r-91r: Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica
Gentis Anglorum , a prologue (ff. 5r-5v) followed by Books I-V
(with separate tables of contents). ff. 91r-91v: Cuthbert, Epistola
de Obitu Venerabilis Bedae (Letter on the Death of Bede the
Venerable). The manuscript contains a number of additions:f. 4v: A
table of contents, added in the 12th century: ‘In hoc volumine
continentur hii libri. Ecclesiastica historia Gentis anglorum –
Vita gloriosa Malachie archiepiscopi – Historia britonum a Gilda
sapiente composita – visiones a mortuis resurgentium – visiones
Wettini – De XII . per annum chorolanntibus – Visiones Baronti
monachi . defuncti . Visiones Orm pueri XIII . diebus defuncti’.
f. 1r: A 16th-century letter to a member of the Savile family in
which ‘Henry Meggeson’ explains that he has sent the manuscript
to Savile through ‘Thomas Lather', beginning ‘M r Sawill After
my hartiest commendations’. ff. [iii] and [v] are leaves from a
16th-century printed book of Psalms. [ff. 1v, 91r, and 91v are
blank].Decoration:1 large diagram illustrating the architectural
plan of the tabernacle of Moses as described by Bede, in red, blue
and yellow on f. 2r. 1 large zoomorphic initial with interlace
decoration filled with blue, green and red on f. 5r; 1 large
interlace initial with knotwork and foliate decoration in green and
red against a background in blue, with the head of a hybrid figure
and a roundel displaying the head of a monk (Bede) on f. 6r; 1
large initial in blue with arabesque penwork decoration in red and
green on f. 2v; 2 large initials in green with penwork decoration
in red and blue (ff. 52v, 72r); medium and small initials in green
and red, occasionally in blue, some with arabesque penwork
decoration in red, or green and red. Display script (capitals in
brown ink) highlighted in red and green (f. 5r). Rubrics in red and
green. Quotation marks in red and green or red and blue. Roman
numerals in red. Paraph markers in brown ink. A drawing of a human
head added in pencil or faint black ink on f. 63v. Some manicules
in brown ink have been added to the margins throughout the
manuscript.
