Beinecke MS 330               Eastern France or Germany, s. XII^^med
Bede, Historia ecclesiastica gentis anglorum

1.  f. 1r blank; ff. 1v-149v Incipit prologus uenerabilis bede presbiteri.
Gloriosissimo regi Ceolvvfo Beda famulus christi et prespiter.  Hystoriam
gentis anglorum ecclesiasticam quam...[text, f. 4r:] Britania oceani
insula.  cui quondam albion nomen erat...letentur insule multe et
confiteantur memorie sanctitatis eius.  Explicit liber .v. hystorie gentis
anglorum.

     B. Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors, eds., Bede's Ecclesiastical
History of the English People (Oxford, 1969) pp. 2-560.  MS 330 is noted on
p. lxvii when it was in the possession of Messrs. Quaritch in London.  The
editors state that the beginning portion of MS 330 (into Book III) belongs to
the German tradition, whereas the latter portion belongs to the French
tradition; at the conclusion of the manuscript is the work De sanguinitate
(see art. 4) which had been added to the M tradition in the ninth century.
Each of the four books is preceded by a table of contents in two columns, with
chapters indicated by Roman numerals in red.

2.  ff. 149v-151r Recapitulatio hystoriographi.  Verum ea que temporum
distinctione latius digesta sunt ob memoriam conseruandam breuiter recapitulari
placuit...edilbaldo rege merciorum .xv. agente annum imperii.  Explicit
recapitulatio. librorum.

     Colgrave and Mynors, op. cit., pp. 560-66.

3.  ff. 151r-152r Item.recensio.auctoris.  Hec de hystoria ecclesiastica
britanniarum et maxime gentis anglorum prout uel litteris antiquorum uel ex
traditione maiorum...quibus scriptura sancta contexta est.  [prayer added in
same hand immediately following text, without rubric:] Teque deprecor bone
ihesum ut cui...et parere semper ante faciem tuam.  Amen.  Explicit
Recensio librorum.

     Colgrave and Mynors, op. cit., pp. 566-70.

4.  f. 152r-v Incipiunt dicta Isidori.  Beatus hysidorus de
consanguinitate sic loquitur.  cuius series vi gradibus dirimeretur hoc modo. i
filius et filia...ut nostrum silentium uestrum fiat exitium.

     For the text and a discussion of the sources for this short passage
on consanguinity see L. Machielsen, "L'origine anglo-saxonne du supplement
canonique a l'Histoire ecclesiastique de Bede," Revue Benedictine
73 (1963) pp. 33-47, 314-16.

     Parchment (many holes and repairs), ff. 153 (foliated 1-152, with leaf
between 76 and 77 not numbered), 254 x 171 (209 x 121) mm.  Written in 30 long
lines; ruled in lead or crayon with single bounding lines; remains of prickings
(punctures) in upper, lower, and outer margins.
     I-XIII^^8, XIV^^10 (-2, 6 blanks), XV-XVI^^12, XVII^^8, XVIII^^10 (-10,
presumably blank).  Quires signed with majuscule letters (A-R; some trimmed)
in center of lower margin, verso, and minuscule letters (b-s) near gutter,
recto.
     Written by several hands of different appearances, perhaps by scribes
of varying ages of at different dates.  The scripts range from rounded to
angular minuscule.
     Plain orange initial, 7- to 2-line; heading and chapter notations (in
margins) in same shade.  Guide-letters and notes for rubricator.
     Binding:  s. xvi-xvii [?].  Sewn on three supports laced into wooden
boards.  The spine is slightly rounded and lined, the lining extending onto
the inside of the boards.  Covered with white pigskin, blind-tooled.  Two
fastenings, the catches on the upper board.  On the fore-edge of the lower
cover is a notation contemporary with binding:  "Gesta anglorum bede."

Written in Eastern France or Germany in the middle of the 12th century.
Belonged to the Benedictine abbey of St. Martin of Spanheim in the diocese
of Mainz where it appears to have been bound in the 16th or
17th century; ex-libris
on f. lr, contemporary with binding:  "Codex Sancti Martini In Spanheym."
Passed through the hands of Messrs. Quaritch in London before 1968 (see art. 1).
Acquired from H. P. Kraus (Cat. 117, no. 26) as the gift of Edwin J.
Beinecke in 1968.

secundo folio:  etiam in continguis

Bibliography:  T. E. Marston, "Two Bede Manuscripts," Gazette 43
(1968) pp. 82-84.

Barbara A. Shailor