Number and Measurement in Anglo-Saxon Christian Culture
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NUMBER AND MEASUREMENT IN ANGLO-SAXON CHRISTIAN CULTURE: EDITIONS AND STUDIES OF NUMERICAL NOTES IN EIGHT ANGLO-SAXON MANUSCRIPTS, C. 800-C.1150 BIRTE WALBERS PHD UNIVERSITY OF YORK CENTRE FOR MEDIEVAL STUDIES MARCH 2012 ABSTRACT This two-part thesis explores aspects of Anglo-Saxon number culture through a detailed examination of numerical encyclopaedic notes. The first part (Chapters I-III) is an edition of seventy-two notes transmitted in eight Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. These manuscripts are London, British Library, MS Cotton Vespasian B.vi, British Library, MS Royal 2.B.v, British Library, MS Cotton Tiberius A.iii, British Library, MS Harley 3271, British Library, MS Cotton Julius A.ii; Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 183 and Corpus Christi College, MS 320; Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS, lat.2825. The edition in Chapter III is preceded by the manuscript descriptions and discussions in Chapter II where the notes are placed in their manuscript contexts in order to explore questions about the codicological context and the cultural standing of these texts. The second part consists of three chapters, Chapters IV to VI. Chapter IV is an extensive commentary divided into four parts corresponding to the subject matter of the notes, which is chronological, spatial, enumerating and miscellaneous. Chapter V provides a series of case studies on metrology and the value of money in Anglo-Saxon monastic and lay culture. In Chapter VI, the computistical notes in British Library, MS Harley 3271 are discussed in the wider context of the study of computus. The two parts of the thesis demonstrate the rich culture of number symbolism these encyclopaedic notes are witnesses to and provide further evidence to the medieval belief of divine order based on Wisdom 11.21: ‘but thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight’. It further reveals how inextricably connected the spiritual and practical uses of number were, thereby pointing to an all-encompassing number culture which governed early medieval Christianity. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vi NOTES ON REFERENCES viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix DECLARATION x PART ONE THE MANUSCRIPTS AND EDITIONS I INTRODUCTION 1 II INTRODUCTION TO THE EDITIONS 33 1 Textual Description and Distribution of Texts among the 36 Manuscripts 2 The Manuscripts 50 3 A Summary of the Manuscripts 102 4 Editorial Procedure 105 III EDITIONS AND TRANSLATIONS 1 London, British Library, MS Cotton Vespasian B.vi 109 2 Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 183 (Cambridge, 123 Corpus Christi College, MS 320; London, British Library, MS Royal 2.B.v; Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS lat. 2825) 3 London, British Library, MS Harley 3271 134 4 London, British Library, MS Cotton Tiberius A.iii 143 5 London, British Library, MS Cotton Julius A.ii 149 iii PART TWO THE COMMENTARIES IV COMMENTARY TO THE EDITIONS 151 1 Chronological Notes 158 1.1 The Ages of the World and the Ages of Man 158 1.2 Chronological Notes 177 1.3 Time: Its Calculation and Use 181 1.4 On Biblical Personae 184 2 Spatial Notes 193 2.1 Scriptural Buildings and St. Peter’s in Rome 193 2.2 Geographical Texts 210 2.3 Metrological Texts 212 3 Enumerative Notes 215 4 Miscellaneous Notes 217 4.1 On Jerusalem 218 4.2 The Women in the Bible and On Noah and his 223 Sons 4.3 The Apocryphal Text on the Two Thieves 227 4.4 The Gold at Solomon’s Temple and the Alleluia 228 5 Brief Summary 232 iv V FIRST EXTENDED CASE STUDY METROLOGY AND MONEY 1 Metrology 235 1.1 Metrological Texts in 246 1.2 MS Cotton Vespasian B.vi 1.3 Biblical Commentary 269 2 Money in Anglo-Saxon Society 277 2.1 The Thirty Pieces of Silver 279 2.2 Aspects of the Uses and Value of Money 282 3 Measures of Length 294 VI SECOND EXTENDED CASE STUDY COMPUTUS AND THE MATERIAL IN 300 LONDON, BRITISH LIBRARY, MS HARLEY 3271 1 Gerim and Computus 301 2 The Early Middle Ages and Easter Calculation 315 3 The Notes and Their Comparisons 319 3.1 Bede’s De temporum ratione 319 3.2 Ælfric’s De temporibus anni 321 3.3 Byrhtferth’s Enchiridion 323 3.4 Ælfwine’s Prayerbook 326 3.5 BL, MS Harley 3271 328 4 Gerim, Computus and BL, MS Harley 3271 350 VII CONCLUSION 353 ABBREVIATIONS 360 BIBLIOGRAPHY 362 v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Chapter I TABLE I.1 List of Manuscripts 2 Chapter II TABLE II.1 List of Texts and their Occurrence 38 within the Manuscripts TABLE II.2 List of Corresponding Texts 45 TABLE II.3 Content of London, BL, MS Cotton 52 Vespasian B.vi TABLE II.4 Content of Paris, BN, MS lat. 2825 60 TABLE II.5 Content of Cambridge, CCC, MS 183 63 TABLE II.6 Content of Cambridge, CCC, MS 320 73 TABLE II.7 Content of London, BL, MS Royal 75 2.B.v TABLE II.8 Content of London, BL, MS Harley 79 3271 TABLE II.9 Content of London, BL, MS Cotton 90 Tiberius A.iii TABLE II.10 Content of London, BL, MS Cotton 99 Julius A.ii TABLE II.11 Notes Shared by all Eight Manuscripts 103 Chapter IV TABLE IV.1 Chronological Texts 152 TABLE IV.2 Spatial Texts 155 TABLE IV.3 Enumerating Texts 156 TABLE IV.4 Miscellanea 157 TABLE IV.5 The Ages of the World in Cambridge, 169 CCC MS 183 TABLE IV.6 Comparison on Adam, the first Man, in 190 London, BL, MS Cotton Tiberius A.iii and in the Prose Solomon and Saturn vi and Adrian and Ritheus TABLE IV.7 ‘On Jerusalem’ in Cambridge, CCC 220 MS 320 and comparative manuscripts Chapter V TABLE V.1 Hebrew Weights 251 TABLE V.2 Greek Weights 252 TABLE V.3 Roman Weights 254 TABLE V.4 Hebrew Measures 257 TABLE V.5 Greek Measures 259 TABLE V.6 Roman Measures 261 TABLE V.7 Most Frequent Weights 265 TABLE V.8 Monetary Values 287 Chapter VI TABLE VI.1 The Horologium in London, BL, MS 342 Harley 3271 and Ælfwine’s Prayerbook TABLE VI.2 Epacts and Concurrents in London, BL, 345 MS Harley 3271 and Ælfwine’s Prayerbook TABLE OF FIGURES Chapter V FIGURE V.1 The ell and foot at the Bamberger Dom 237 FIGURE V.2 Detail of a lion’s head at the Bamberger 238 Dom FIGURE V.3 The Speyerer Normalschuh 239 FIGURE V.4 The Altpörtel at Speyer 240 Chapter VI FIGURE VI.1 Orm Gamalson’s Sundial 339 vii NOTES ON REFERENCES All Biblical Quotations are taken from Biblia Sacra Vulgata, ed. by Robert Weber, 5th edn by Roger Gryson (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2007). All Biblical Translations are taken from the Douay-Rheims Version. All non-Biblical translations are my own, unless otherwise stated. Where possible, modern name forms have been used: Augustine instead of Augustinus, for example. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The work and effort required to complete a doctoral thesis do not just lie with the authors themselves. They rather instil a feeling of gratitude towards those who sometimes put the need of the one above the need of the many. Therefore, I would like to thank a number of people for assisting me in the completion of my thesis. I am grateful to the Arts and Humanities Research Council for funding my doctoral studies. Without their help, this thesis could not have been written. I also thank the community at the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York for making the past few years a great pleasure. I am exceedingly grateful to Dr Matthew Townend for supervising me all the way, first for my MA and then for my PhD. Without his encouragement, his wisdom, his diligence, his caution and his ability to steer me back onto the right track, I would not have made it very far. I am also greatly indebted to Dr Mary Garrison who came to the project after the half-way point and still agreed to supervise me. Her enthusiasm, her ability to see the finer points as well as the greater context, and her quick comprehension has injected new life and added a healthy dose of erudition. Warm thanks also to Dr Catherine Cubitt who has always been willing to lend an ear and point me in the right direction. Special thanks need to go to my partner who has supported me in more ways than one and to my friends, old and new, especially Dr Fernando Guerrero, Nele Wied, Alaina Schmisseur, Hazel Daniells and Dr Chloe Morgan who continued to believe in me, especially when I doubted myself. As always, I am grateful to my mother for her support even during difficult times. Last but not least, this thesis is dedicated to the people I cannot thank any more but who deserve it just the same, in particular my father, my grandmothers and my grandfather. Quid est quod est? ipsum quod fuit. Quid est quod fuit? ipsum quod est. Nihil sub sole novum. (Giordano Bruno) ix AUTHOR’S DECLARATION The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. x I INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION numerorum etiam imperitia multa facit non intellegi translate ac mystice posita in scripturis.1 This thesis edits and discusses Anglo-Saxon encyclopaedic notes in order to provide new insights into the practical and spiritual uses of number in Anglo-Saxon England. My research into medieval number symbolism began when I stumbled across one short sentence in London, British Library, MS Cotton Tiberius A.iii, fol.