DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14714#0039
DESCRIPTION OF MSS.
THE BENEDICTIONAL OF ST. iETHELWOLD,
IN THE POSSESSION OE THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE.
AND THE PSALTER, NUMBERED 83, IN THE ARUNDEL COLLECTION,
IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
The Benedictional* of St. .ZEthelwold is one of the finest remaining monuments of the arts of the tenth century; and its being
undoubtedly the production of an English artist gives it an additional interest in this country. The singular and marked style, both of
the composition and colouring of the ornaments of this manuscript, are peculiar to Anglo-Saxon works of the tenth century; and it is
conjectured that it is this school of ornamental design which attained to so high a reputation among continental nations as to be sought
in preference to the productions of their own countrymen, under the general name of " English work " (opus Anglicum). Some have
thought that the earlier Anglo-Saxon, or rather British, style of the seventh and eighth centuries, as exhibited in the famous Durham
book, was the celebrated "opus Anglicum ;" but that style of ornament was also practised, in variously modified manners, in several
parts of the continent, the Lombardic illuminations of the same period bearing a very strong resemblance to it in general character.
But of the marked Anglo-Saxon style of the tenth century, as exhibited in the Benedictional of St. iEthelwold, no authenticated
continental examples occur, that I am aware of, which seems to favour the idea that the works of this class were the famous " opera
Anglica," above referred to, for the style was not confined to the art of illumination only, the works of the architect and the jeweller
of this period exhibiting sometimes the same style. The capitals of John's Church, Chester, and Steetly Church, Derbyshire, might
be cited as examples,! and the crozier found in the tomb of the Archbishop Ataldus, who died in 933, and was buried in the cathedral
of Sens. The Benedictional of St. iEthelwold, as appears by the metrical dedication, in letters of gold, was written for iEthelwold,
bishop of Winchester, from 963 to 984, by the scribe Godeman, whom Mr. Gage considered also to be the illuminator.^
Some of the miniatures are conceived in a very grand style, and if the powers of execution of the artist in this department had
been equal to his intention, they would have been honourable to any period of art, the one representing Christ descending to judge
the world, accompanied by a host of angels, bearing the instruments of his passion, may be especially distinguished. The ornaments
are not open to the objection of inefficient knowledge of drawing or imperfect execution, and with their rich but chaste colouring
and judiciously introduced masses of burnished gold, form a series of the most brilliantly illuminated pages that can be conceived. In
the metrical dedication above mentioned the style of the work is alluded to ; it is stated that iEthelwold " commanded a certain monk
subject to him to write the present book; and ordered also to be made in it many arches, elegantly decorated, and filled up with various
ornamental pictures, expressed in divers beautiful colours and gold." Our specimen represents one of the subjects thus formed of "arches
elegantly decorated, filled up with ornamental pictures." The pictures "filling up" being composed of a group of the confessors,
which doubtless corresponded with an opposite page, now lost, containing another similar group, which perhaps completed the imperfect
title " Confessoru-" making it " Chorus Confessoru-" as in the two following pages, "Chorus Virginum." The costumes of the
confessors are interesting, as early records of clerical costume, and exhibit the confessors as wearing the chasuble over the dalmatic and
tunic, with the stole, which appears beneath. Above the chasuble hangs the superhumerale, joined with the rationale; and, over all,
the pallium, spotted with crosses. Some of the miniatures are contained in a square framework of remarkable design, of which our
second specimen, in a similar style, from the Arundel manuscript, in the British Museum, will convey a good idea, the place of the
miniature alluded to being occupied, in the present instance, by a capital letter in the same feeling, a feature not to be found in the
-Kthclwold Benedictional.
The public library of Rouen possesses two manuscripts of this period, both English works, which found their way to that city
during the union of Normandy with England ; the finest of them is known as the Benedictional of the Archbishop Robert. They are
both evidently of the same school, and were most likely executed by the monks of Winchester.
Trinity College, Cambridge, possesses also a fine copy of the Gospels, in a closely similar style, and the British Museum,
in addition to the Psalter, containing our second specimen, possesses the fine manuscript known as Gospels of Canute, the Cottonian
Psalter, Tiberias C. 6 ; and in the Cottonian manuscript Vespasian A. VIII., a frontispiece, with surrounding ornaments in the same
style ; and some other manuscripts, in which a similar description of framing to the square miniatures is found, but only in outline.
* The book contains forms of Episcopal Benedictions for one hundred and sixteen festivals,
f Westwood, Paleographia, &c.
I See Archeologia, vol. 24.
THE BENEDICTIONAL OF ST. iETHELWOLD,
IN THE POSSESSION OE THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE.
AND THE PSALTER, NUMBERED 83, IN THE ARUNDEL COLLECTION,
IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
The Benedictional* of St. .ZEthelwold is one of the finest remaining monuments of the arts of the tenth century; and its being
undoubtedly the production of an English artist gives it an additional interest in this country. The singular and marked style, both of
the composition and colouring of the ornaments of this manuscript, are peculiar to Anglo-Saxon works of the tenth century; and it is
conjectured that it is this school of ornamental design which attained to so high a reputation among continental nations as to be sought
in preference to the productions of their own countrymen, under the general name of " English work " (opus Anglicum). Some have
thought that the earlier Anglo-Saxon, or rather British, style of the seventh and eighth centuries, as exhibited in the famous Durham
book, was the celebrated "opus Anglicum ;" but that style of ornament was also practised, in variously modified manners, in several
parts of the continent, the Lombardic illuminations of the same period bearing a very strong resemblance to it in general character.
But of the marked Anglo-Saxon style of the tenth century, as exhibited in the Benedictional of St. iEthelwold, no authenticated
continental examples occur, that I am aware of, which seems to favour the idea that the works of this class were the famous " opera
Anglica," above referred to, for the style was not confined to the art of illumination only, the works of the architect and the jeweller
of this period exhibiting sometimes the same style. The capitals of John's Church, Chester, and Steetly Church, Derbyshire, might
be cited as examples,! and the crozier found in the tomb of the Archbishop Ataldus, who died in 933, and was buried in the cathedral
of Sens. The Benedictional of St. iEthelwold, as appears by the metrical dedication, in letters of gold, was written for iEthelwold,
bishop of Winchester, from 963 to 984, by the scribe Godeman, whom Mr. Gage considered also to be the illuminator.^
Some of the miniatures are conceived in a very grand style, and if the powers of execution of the artist in this department had
been equal to his intention, they would have been honourable to any period of art, the one representing Christ descending to judge
the world, accompanied by a host of angels, bearing the instruments of his passion, may be especially distinguished. The ornaments
are not open to the objection of inefficient knowledge of drawing or imperfect execution, and with their rich but chaste colouring
and judiciously introduced masses of burnished gold, form a series of the most brilliantly illuminated pages that can be conceived. In
the metrical dedication above mentioned the style of the work is alluded to ; it is stated that iEthelwold " commanded a certain monk
subject to him to write the present book; and ordered also to be made in it many arches, elegantly decorated, and filled up with various
ornamental pictures, expressed in divers beautiful colours and gold." Our specimen represents one of the subjects thus formed of "arches
elegantly decorated, filled up with ornamental pictures." The pictures "filling up" being composed of a group of the confessors,
which doubtless corresponded with an opposite page, now lost, containing another similar group, which perhaps completed the imperfect
title " Confessoru-" making it " Chorus Confessoru-" as in the two following pages, "Chorus Virginum." The costumes of the
confessors are interesting, as early records of clerical costume, and exhibit the confessors as wearing the chasuble over the dalmatic and
tunic, with the stole, which appears beneath. Above the chasuble hangs the superhumerale, joined with the rationale; and, over all,
the pallium, spotted with crosses. Some of the miniatures are contained in a square framework of remarkable design, of which our
second specimen, in a similar style, from the Arundel manuscript, in the British Museum, will convey a good idea, the place of the
miniature alluded to being occupied, in the present instance, by a capital letter in the same feeling, a feature not to be found in the
-Kthclwold Benedictional.
The public library of Rouen possesses two manuscripts of this period, both English works, which found their way to that city
during the union of Normandy with England ; the finest of them is known as the Benedictional of the Archbishop Robert. They are
both evidently of the same school, and were most likely executed by the monks of Winchester.
Trinity College, Cambridge, possesses also a fine copy of the Gospels, in a closely similar style, and the British Museum,
in addition to the Psalter, containing our second specimen, possesses the fine manuscript known as Gospels of Canute, the Cottonian
Psalter, Tiberias C. 6 ; and in the Cottonian manuscript Vespasian A. VIII., a frontispiece, with surrounding ornaments in the same
style ; and some other manuscripts, in which a similar description of framing to the square miniatures is found, but only in outline.
* The book contains forms of Episcopal Benedictions for one hundred and sixteen festivals,
f Westwood, Paleographia, &c.
I See Archeologia, vol. 24.