Textual Community and Linguistic Distance in Early England by Emily Elisabeth Butler A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Medieval Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Emily Elisabeth Butler 2010 Textual Community and Linguistic Distance in Early England Emily Elisabeth Butler Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Medieval Studies University of Toronto 2010 Abstract This dissertation examines the function of textual communities in England from the early Middle Ages until the early modern period, exploring the ways in which cultures and communities are formed through textual activities other than writing itself. I open by discussing the characteristics of a textual community in order to establish a new understanding of the term. I argue that a textual community is fundamentally based on activity carried out in books and that perceptions of linguistic distance stimulate this activity. Chapter 1 investigates Bede (c. 673–735) and his interest in multilingualism, coupled with his exploration of the boundaries between the written and spoken forms of English. Picking up on an element of Bede‘s work, I argue in Chapter 2 that Alfred (r. 871–899) and his grandson Æthelstan (r. 924/5–939) found new ways to make textuality the defining quality of the emerging West Saxon kingdom. In Chapter 3, I focus on the intralingual distance in the textual community surrounding the works of Ælfric (c. 950–1010) and Wulfstan (d. 1023). I also discuss the role of contemporary or near- contemporary manuscript use in forming a textual community at the intersection of ecclesiastical and political power. In Chapter 4, I examine the activities of a textual community in the West Midlands in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. By glossing Old English texts and rethinking English orthography, this textual community both renewed the work of Anglo-Saxon writers and enabled the activity I discuss in Chapter 5. ii Chapter 5 argues for a more constructive rationalization of the curatorial and editorial activities of Matthew Parker (1504–1575) than has been presented hitherto. I argue that Parker‘s cavalier methods of conserving and editing his books in fact represent responses to the textual models he found in those manuscripts. An appendix presents the text and translation of the preface to Parker‘s edition of Asser‘s Life of King Alfred. I close with a discussion of the production and use of books, followed by an illustration of the ongoing importance of textual community in England by highlighting the layers of use in a single manuscript (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 20) that links together the chapters of this dissertation. iii Acknowledgments I must thank first of all the members of my advisory committee, all of whom contributed widely differing, yet equally useful, comments on my work from the preparations for my major field exam through to my thesis defense. Alexandra Gillespie and David Townsend pushed me farther towards intellectually challenging rigour than I would ever have gone by myself, and Andy Orchard was an exemplary supervisor, both astonishingly generous with his time and painstakingly careful in his reviews of my work, even when he read successive drafts of my dissertation for several weekends in a row. Carol Percy and Ian McDougall both brought helpfully new perspectives to my final oral examination and proved themselves to be both sharp- sighted and generous examiners. I owe particular thanks also to Professor Murray McGillivray, not least because he made the trip to Toronto to be present as the external examiner at my oral exam. His kind words and challenging, insightful criticisms have already left their mark on my dissertation, and they will continue to influence my future work. A number of my fellow students kindly took the time to read chapters of this dissertation: Peter Buchanan, Danièle Cybulskie, Michael Elliot, Emma Gorst, and Tristan Major all helped me to find weaknesses that I have done my best to shore up. In addition, George Rigg offered detailed and illuminating comments on my translation of Matthew Parker‘s Latin, and James Carley caught errors and shared insights related to my work on sixteenth-century antiquarians. In this project, as in all else, I owe thanks to my family for their interest and unquestioning support. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ v Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. viii Introduction: Forming Textual Communities ................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: Language, Textuality, and Theology: Bede‘s Redemptive History ............................ 21 Chapter 2: Crafting a Textual Kingdom in Wessex ...................................................................... 49 Chapter 3: Ælfric, Wulfstan, and the Use of Manuscripts ............................................................ 76 Chapter 4: Old and Newer English in the West Midlands .......................................................... 112 4.1 The Tremulous Hand ...................................................................................................... 117 4.2 Bodley 343 ...................................................................................................................... 130 4.3 Ancrene Wisse ................................................................................................................. 144 Chapter 5: Shewing the Auncient Fayth: An Elizabethan Sequel .............................................. 154 Appendix: Preface to the Parkerian Edition of Ælfredi regis res gestae .................................... 185 Text 185 Translation ...................................................................................................................... 191 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 198 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 206 v Abbreviations AM Copenhagen, Arnamagnæanske Institut ANQ American Notes and Queries ASE Anglo-Saxon England BL London, British Library Add. London, British Library, MS Additional Cotton London, British Library, MS Cotton Harley London, British Library, MS Harley Bodley Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley CCCC Cambridge, Corpus Christi College CH I Clemoes, Peter, ed. Ælfric’s Catholic Homilies: The First Series. EETS s.s. 17. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. CH II Godden, Malcolm. Ælfric’s Catholic Homilies: The Second Series. EETS s.s. 5. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979. CUL Cambridge, University Library DDC Green, R. P. H., ed. and trans. Augustine: De Doctrina Christiana. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995. EEMF Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile EETS Early English Text Society o.s. original series s.s. supplementary series EHR English Historical Review ES English Studies Hatton Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton HE Colgrave, Bertram, and R. A. B. Mynors, eds. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969. JEGP Journal of English and Germanic Philology Junius Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Junius Ker, Catalogue Ker, N. R., ed., Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957; reissued 1990). LS Skeat, Walter W., ed. Ælfric’s Lives of Saints. 2 vols. EETS o.s. 76 and 82, 94 and 114. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1881–1900. Reprinted in two volumes 1966. LSE Leeds Studies in English vi MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica AA Auctores Antiquissimi PLMA Poetae Latini Medii Aevi NM Neuphilologische Mitteilungen NQ Notes and Queries OEN Old English Newsletter PMLA Publications of the Modern Language Association RES Review of English Studies S Sawyer, P. H. Anglo-Saxon Charters: An Annotated List and Bibliography. London: Royal Historical Society, 1968. sig. signature STC Pollard, A. W., and G. R. Redgrave. A Short-title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad, 1475–1640. 2nd ed. revised and enlarged by W. A. Jackson and F. S. Ferguson, completed by Katharine F. Pantzer. London: Bibliographical Society, 1976–1991. vii List of Figures Figure 1. A Testimonie of Antiquitie, sig. C3v–4r.......................................................................165 Figure 2. A Testimonie of Antiquitie, sig. A1r.............................................................................169 viii 1 Introduction Forming Textual Communities All but one of the major Anglo-Saxon authors catalogued by Michael Lapidge in his survey of Anglo-Saxon libraries cite at least one (but generally far more than one) work by Augustine of Hippo.1 Conversely, Lapidge lists 74 works of Augustine that were probably known either directly or indirectly in Anglo-Saxon England, based on Lapidge‘s inventories of books from Anglo-Saxon libraries, books from Anglo-Saxon missions to Germany, and textual citations by Anglo-Saxon