TWO FRAGMENTS FROM COTTON MS. OTHO B. X - British Library

SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS
TWO FRAGMENTS FROM COTTON MS. OTHO B. X
IN his Catalogue of Manuscripts containing
Anglo-Saxon,^ N. R. Ker notes for British
Library, Cotton MS. Otho B. X^ (his no. 177^)
that ff. 52 and 54 can not be identified. Any
subsequent work by other scholars involving
the use of this manuscript has also failed to
identify these two folios and their contents
have remained a mystery.
That they have presented a problem is
perfectly understandable. The manuscript has
suffered tbe most unfortunate of histories. It
was almost destroyed in the fire of 1731^
subsequently being bound in the wrong order,
with some leaves reversed or even upside down
and others alien to the manuscript as a whole.
In reassembling tbe texts the palaeographer is
indebted to the work of Humphrey Wanley and
his Catalogus,^ which lists the original contents
in their correct order.
Cotton Otho, in its present day condition,
contains sixty-seven card-bound leaves. Of
these ff. 6 and 50 are really one, as are ff. 34
and 35, bringing the total down to sixty-five.
However, f. 67 is in fact two separate leaves
wrongly placed together bringing the sum of
the leaves back up to sixty-six. Several leaves
from outside are alien to the manuscript, namely
ff- 29, 30, 51, 55, 58, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66,-^
numbering ten in all. If tbese are removed from
Cotton Otho then the resulting sum of extant
leaves is fifty-six. Taking the best preserved
leaves as a guide, the original size of each page
could be estimated as c. 195 x 150 mm., with
written space measuring c. 175 x 115 mm.
S. D. Lee
The pages are numbered in lead on the top
rigbt of the recto of the card surround. It was
foliated presumably at the same time as the
modern headings were added. Titles are
written in red, and dabbing in the same colour
occurs on the first letter of the sentence and
most Tironian signs.
As with so much of the manuscript as a
whole, the two leaves in question are very badly
damaged and contain only a fragment of each
original folio. However, with successive readings
under the ultra-violet lamp at the British
Library over several weeks, these two fragments
can now be identified as containing parts
of tbe lives of St Sebastian^ St Eufrosma^ and
St Eugenia^ from the Lives of Saints^ partly
written by ^lfric.
At its maximum f. 52 measures c. 60x95
mm., whilst f. 54 reaches c. 55 x no mm. As
with all the leaves of the manuscript they are
bound in card surrounds, show bad signs of
burn damage, are much shrunken, and have
numerous holes and taping all over tbeir
surface. However, under the ultra-violet lamp
the following letters could be discerned i*'
F.
fram
acwea Heo weard
hib .]?aw
nysse set byrge
licere g
beofo .M

meh
blysse 7m
d
on
F. 52V
geseab
he s lfa ferde geond maniga e wenunga
hwilcne godes man findan
ge nnion mibte. j'a x
e |^3ES minstres ae wa;s swij^e m^re be
7 I'a m )'xr in gesealde
I'eodrae to6am ab ude 7 to ]'am
ter mi j^am
ge
dam
gel
bastianus c
eas ydclnes swa
te. Manega men adrin
e. 5eonmisl ti
de comon. Oft on a
for wel mscnige de
ngle on £er ed
leo
I'on
sum
F. S4V
lcna
se 06
leas
him
].>aes
wurde godes wil
gen beg irdon. hi
a hund. micclutn
a us haefde b his di
Care was taken when examining these
fragments to complete transcription before
checking them against any possible correlating
text, in case sections from the already edited
text might suggest their own presence on the
page.
The method of identification was straightforward.
It was clear that f. 52V contained the
most complete text and was therefore chosen as
a starting point. Several words deemed to be
the least used throughout the corpus were
noted and checked against the Toronto Microfiche.^
This invaluable tool has the advantage
of giving the location of words in context.
Consequently, the passage could be identified
as belonging to the life of St Eufrosina, and
corresponding to 11. 10-19 of Skeat's edition^
(II, pp. 334-6). As this was at the beginning of
the text, it followed that f 52r might contain
material from the preceding saint's life.
Wanley's catalogue revealed this to be St
Eugenia., and the transcription was found to
correspond to 11. 413-24 of Skeat's edition (I,
pp. 48-50).
Folio 54 proved more troublesome, for the
leaf is in a marginally worse condition than f
52. However, on the third reading the partial
form 'bastianus' was identified on the fourth
line of the recto. As the manuscript was known
to have originally had a version of the life of St
Sebastian it was evident that, at the very least,
the recto off 54 contained some material from
that text. Subsequent research revealed it to
correspond to 11. 270—8 of Skeat's edition (I, p.
134). However, the material found on the verso
corresponds to that of Skeat's II. 242-50,
showing that the leaf was unfortunately reversed
when bound in card.
Furthermore, Ker notes that ff. 2 and 8 of
Cotton Otho also contained some parts of St
Sebastian, and f 13 could be identified as
containing the title of St Eufrosina. Examination
of f 8 revealed that it contained the
beginning of tbe life 0^ St Agnes and 11. 469-74
of St Sebastian, and was not therefore closely
connected with f 54. However f 2r contains c.
11. 280-94 of St Sebastian and f. 2v c. 11.

254-65. This discovery implies two things; formed the lower section of the original leaf
first, that the leaf was mistakenly reversed and f. 13 the upper. Using this new inwhen
bound, and, second, that f 54 and f 2 formation, the figure fifty-six for the extant
were originally the same leaf" leaves given earHer found in Cotton Otho
Similarly, f. 13 was found to be reversed and should now be modified to fifty-four,
also to have been originally part of the same Finally, the following passages give the
leaf as f 52. Folio 13V contains 11. 393-412 of relevant passages in Skeat with the letters
St Eugenia and f. i3r contains 11. 1-9 of St corresponding to those of the two new frag-
£«/ro5/M£J, both of which immediately preceded ments underlined. In the footnotes I identify
the text contained on f. 52rv. Thus, f. 52 the new spelling variants.'^
F.
asend fram J^am casere.and he fx.t m^den acwealde.
Heo weard ]^a gemartyrod. and cristene menn hi bebyrgdon.^^
Da weop seo modor.mid mycelre sarnysse.
^ hyre byrgene.o)^ yxt heo hi geseah.
on gastlicre^^ gesihde.mid golde gefreetwode
mid dam heofonlicum werode.)>us hi' frefigende.
Mm modor claudia.me hgfd gebroht
min haelend crist to his haigena blysse.
7 minne faeder gelogode on J^aere heah-fkdera getele.
and y>u cymst to lis.nii on sunnan-daeg.
Seo modor gewat 6a of worulde to heofonum
on'^ dam sunnan-d^Ege. and |^a suna hi be-stodon.
{Life ofSt Eugenia, 11. 413-24; I> PP-
F. 52V
geseah hire weres sarignysse. and he sylf^^ eac ferde geond manige^'
stowa.gif he weninga^^ hwilcne godes man findan mihte )'aet his
gewilnunga gefultumian'^ mihte. L'a aet nyhstan becom he to sumum
mynstre. y^fES mynstres faeder wass swyde maere beforan gode. and
]>z micelne dael feos )nder''^^ in-gesealde. and miccle ^eodraedene
] g ^
nam to Vam abbode.^'^ and to V>am gebrodran. and ]^a aefter micelre
tide cydde he V'am abbode his gewilnunge. se abbod J^a him efnsargode.
and bsed god geornlice J^aEt he ]>zm ]?egne forgeafe bearnes
wxstm. )^a gehyrde^^ god heora begra bene.and forgeaf him ane
dobtor.Mid y-y pafnuntius geseah p^s abbodes mxran drohtnunge.
(Life of St Eufrosina, II. 10-19; H^ PP-
F- 54*-
to gearlicum tidum . and tunglena ymbrynum.
Policarpus saede pis we for-seod.
85

on ]?am is sodfest-nysse gelicnys . ac hit is leas swa J^eah.
Sebastianus cwxp^^ . ]?is is swutol ge-dwyld.
and leas ydelnyss^^ . swa swa we ieornodon act criste.
Manega menn'^"^ adrincad . on anum dxge togaedere.
t>e on mislicum tidum to middan-earde comon.
Oft on anum gefeohte feallad for wel
under anum tungle . nxron^^ asr akennede.
{Life of St Sebastian^ \\. 270-8; I, p.
F- 54V
t>a l^e habbad geleafan . and Ieornodon to campienne.
ongean Vone swicolan feond . unforhte ]?urh god.
and habbad cristes byrnan . hi magon to-brecan da godas.
Chromatius da cwted . to f^am cenum godes pegnum.
gewurde godes willa and eower eac aet ]?ysum.
Hi J>a sona begen be-gyrndon^^ hi" cafiice.
and to gode gebaedon . and to-braecon da anlicnyssa
ma l^one twa hund . micclum gode f^anciende.
Chromatius haefde behydd . on his digolnysse.
{Life of St Sebastian., 11. 242-50; I, p.
1 (Oxford, 1957), pp. 224-9.
Finally, f 66 is in fact part of the eleventh
2 Hereafter 'Cotton Otho'.
century Life of St Machutus and belongs in
3 See also nos, 168, 175, 178-81 for other parts of Cotton Otho A. VIII.
the manuscript.
6 Due to the nature of these fragments, there is no
4 An earlier description of the original contents of attempt to show the numbers of missing or
the manuscript can he found in Thomas Smith's illegible letters in the gaps.
Calalogus Librorum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecie 7 For this, and indeed all the transcriptions, the
Cottonice (Oxford, 1696), p. 70. There are spacing as printed in this article should not be
discrepancies between his and Wanley's table of viewed as being to scale.
contents, but the latter provides a fuller de- 8 A. Dipaolo Healey and R. L. Venezky (eds.), A
scription, giving the beginning and the end few Microfiche Concordance to Old English (Uni-
words of each section.
versity of Toronto), for which the letters C and D
5 Ff 29 and 30 contain ^Elfric's homily on the have now been edited.
Book of Judith which can be assumed to he alien 9 W. W. Skeat (ed.), Mfnc's Lives of Saints,
to the original manuscript as they are the only E.E.T.S. (London, 1881, 1900), 2 vols.
two folios to have glosses in the 'tremulous 10 I.e., 11. 270-8 found on f. 54r lie between those
hand'. F. 51, part of the West Saxon gospels, is found on both sides off 2. The text should thus
from the early to middle part of the eleventh read f 54V, f 2v, f 54r, and f. 2r. F. 54 originally
century. Its correct placing is as f 8 in BL, formed the upper half of f 2.
Cotton MS. Otho C. I. Ff 55, 58 and 62 are of
the mid-tenth century and are in fact from
11 I have used Skeat's manuscript sigla throughout
the following passages. The notation is as
Bede's Historia ecclesiasttca gent is anglorum.
Cotton MS. Otho B. XI. Ff 61, 63 and 64 are
from the late tenth to the early eleventh century,
containing part of Alfred's Pastoral Care. They
should be placed after f 51 of Cotton Otho B. II.
follows: J = BL, Cotton MS. Julius E. VII, O
- Cotton MS. Otho B. X, and V = Cotton MS.
Vitellius D. XVII. For all four excerpts, Skeat
was obviously not aware of the contents of the
two relevant leaves in O, and the footnotes I give
86

are thus meant to supplement his own. It should
be noted that variations between ']?' and '6',
and *y' and 'i' have not been noted.
12 O does not appear to have enough space to fit in
the whole of * hehyrgdon' unless abbreviations
were used.
13 Skeat has 'gastlicre'; O has 'licere*.
14 It is possible that the visible letters 'on' in O
may, in fact, be from 'heofonum'.
15 The section in Skeat is based solely on the
readings from J.
16 O has the ending 'lfa' which one assumes was
originally 'sylfa'.
17 O has 'maniga'.
18 O has 'wenunga'.
19 O has 'nnion'. In the gap between the 'ge' and
the ending 'nnion' the ascender of the T is
clearly visible.
20 O has a Tironian sign before '|^a'.
21 O omits 'has l*aer' instead of'>'ider'.
22 O has the ending 'ude'.
23 At some point here (the exact place is impossible
to gauge) O has an additional '6am'. As it is
clearly on a separate line to the visible 'ge', its
possible correspondence with 'he dam J^egne'
has been discounted as it appears too soon in the
spacing of the text.
24 The relevant section in Skeat is based entirely on
readings from J.
25 Possible abbreviation above 'c' indicating
'cwaej^' in O.
26 O has 'ydelnes'.
27 O has 'men'.
28 O has 'msenige'.
29 O has 'on[]^r'.
30 The relevant section in Skeat uses readings from
both J and V.
31 O has 'beg irdon' with a possible abbreviation,
but more above the 'r' than centred over the 'i',
indicating the insertion of an 'n'.
32 The relevant section in Skeat is based on
readings from both J and V.
^IMPORTUNATE CRIES OF MISERY': THE CORRESPONDENCE
OF LUCIUS HENRY HIBBINS AND THE DUKE OF
NEWCASTLE, 1741-58
DEEP in the papers of the Duke of Newcastle,
the Whig 'ecclesiastical minister', lie the thirty
or so letters written by tbe Rev. Dr Lucius
Henry Hibbins^ to the Duke from 1741
onwards. It is a remarkable collection, spanning
eighteen years, and one overlooked by historians
who have considered Newcastle's exercise
of Churcb patronage. Mary Bateson
ignores the correspondence, even though her
aim was to exemplify the Duke of Newcastle's
dealing with place-seeking clergy. More curiously
Norman Sykes also ignores the collection
and Daniel Hirschberg dismisses it in passing."
The omission is significant since, among other
things, the correspondence indicates that the
censorious attitude of historians to placeseeking
and self-reeommendation for preferment
should be reconsidered. Hibbins's
William T. Gibson
appeals for a place represent the claims of a
clergyman who had worked for the Church
through a political 'interest', which he felt had
then deserted him.
The first surviving letter from Lucius Henry
Hibbins to the Duke of Newcastle is dated 9
January 1741, though it is clearly not their first
communication. The letter, written from
Norton near Chichester, one of the Duke's
Sussex boroughs, indicates tbat Hibbins bad
already petitioned the Duke for a living but had
been disappointed. Hibbins had organized and
presented a petition from some residents of
Chichester promising to vote for the Duke's
candidates in the coming elections. Hibbins
also indicated to Newcastle that the Dukes of
Aneaster and Richmond were well-disposed
towards him; this was a customary way of