The transmission of classical and patristic texts in late Anglo-Saxon and early Norman England

Abstract

This thesis consists of a general introduction to the historical and palaeographical background to the subject of the transmission of Classical and Patristic texts in late Anglo-Saxon and early Norman England, followed by five chapters each dealing with a classical or patristic author. Each chapter lists the information we have available on manuscripts containing the author's work, and conclusions are drawn as to the transmission of that work. In the case of five texts, Persius, Satirae; Augustine, Enchiridion; Gregory, Cura pastoralis and Moralia and Isidore, Synonymar portions of each MS are taken and compared in detail with each other and with the modern printed edition, and a stemma is constructed on the basis of evidence thus obtained. A conclusion draws together the information on the transmission of such manuscripts throughout the eighth to twelfth centuries. There are two appendices: the first contains brief notes on texts by Classical and Patristic authors of which there are not enough copies to form stemmata, while the second takes the form of a short analysis of the use of the letter k in the margins of some insular MSS studied. There are also indices nominum et manuscriptorum. The work is divided into two volumes after Chapter Three.