Coronation Gospels (British Library, Cotton MS Tiberius A.ii)
The Athelstan Gospels, or
The page size is 235 x 180mm. The manuscript "is a concrete example of the type of Continental illuminated manuscript, imported into England in the early tenth century, which was available to the artists who laid the foundations of the Winchester school" of illumination.
Early history
The Gospel book was probably written on the Continent, possibly at Lobbes Abbey (Belgium), in the late 9th or early 10th century.[2] A few inscriptions entered into the manuscript reveal something of its subsequent history.
It was presented by King Athelstan to Christ Church Priory, Canterbury, in the early 10th century, as a lengthy inscription on f. 15v records.[3] The language and style of the inscription recall some of the king's charters and as in some of these charters, Athelstan is styled "ruler of the English [Anglorum basyleos] and ruler of the whole of Britain [curagulus totius Bryttanie]", associating the king with "an imperial past and the glories of the heirs of Rome".[4]
Athelstan, in turn, may have received the book from his brother-in-law
In the middle of the 10th century, the manuscript's portrait of St Matthew served as an exemplar for an Anglo-Saxon artist, who copied it into a manuscript which is classified today as Oxford, St John's College, MS 194.[1]
During the 11th and 12th century, blank spaces in the manuscript were used to record a number of texts in Old English and Latin bearing on the properties of Christ Church, Canterbury.
Robert Cotton
In the early 17th century, the manuscript was acquired by Sir Robert Cotton, who reused a late medieval manuscript leaf to add a title page (f. 1r) with a gold-lettered Latin poem written on it.[7] Written as though uttered by the book itself, the poem was probably specially composed for the title page[9] and possibly by Cotton himself.[4] It puts forward the spurious claim that Athelstan had intended the gospel book to be "sacred to kings, whenever they were contemplating the initial responsibilities of rule", apparently since Cotton assumed that kings were to swear their coronation oaths on it. A letter of his time reveals that in 1626 Cotton had presented the book to Charles I precisely for such purposes.[9] Although it seems that Cotton's hopes were not fulfilled, it is possible that the manuscript had served its imagined purpose at the coronation of James II in 1685.[10]
Notes
- ^ a b c d Backhouse, "The Coronation Gospels", p. 20.
- ^ a b c Keynes, "King Athelstan's books", p. 147.
- ^ Keynes, "King Athelstan's books", pp. 147, 149–50.
- ^ a b Karkov, Ruler portraits of Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 54–5. Google books link
- ^ Cannon, The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy, pp. 28–29
- ^ "King Athelstan's books", pp. 150–151.
- ^ a b "King Athelstan's books", p. 151.
- ^ Berkhofer III, "The Canterbury forgeries revisited", p. 49; "Royal", 103
- ^ a b "King Athelstan's books", p. 152.
- ^ "King Athelstan's books", p. 153.
References
- Backhouse, Janet (1984). "3. The Coronation Gospels". In ISBN 0-7141-0532-5.
- Berkhofer III, Robert F. (2006). "The Canterbury Forgeries Revisited". The Haskins Society Journal. 18: 36–50.
- British Library Catalogue entry (mostly in Latin)
- Cannon, John; Ralph Griffiths (1997). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-822786-8.
- Karkov, Catherine E. (2004). The Ruler Portraits of Anglo-Saxon England. Anglo-Saxon Studies 3. Woodbridge.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Keynes, Simon (1985). "King Athelstan's Books". In Michael Lapidge; Helmut Gneuss (eds.). Learning and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England. Cambridge. pp. 143–201.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)