Early English Illustrated Miscellany

Early English Illustrated Miscellany

This compendium consisting of two manuscripts from the British Library with the respective shelf marks of Ms. Cotton Tiberius B.V/1 and Ms. Cotton Nero D.II represents one of four surviving copies of the so-called Anglian Collection, which consists of four manuscripts contains the genealogies of royal houses, regnal lists, and more information regarding Anglo-Saxon England. The aside from another manuscript in the British Library, the others belong to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and Rochester Cathedral, the latter now deposited with the Medway Archives. All are believed to have a common origin in Mercia from ca. 796.

A Historical Record of Anglo-Saxon England

Originating from southern England during the second quarter of the 11th century, this manuscript was originally copied at Canterbury from a now-lost manuscript held at Christ Church before it was taken to Winchester an expanded further. A royal pedigree for the Kingdom of Wessex appears to have been added at Glastonbury. The genealogies and regnal lists have a quirky arrangement and many errors, most notably a deletion that splices together the Northumbria and Mercian regnal lists, though these seem to have originated earlier on the course of transmission.
The contents of this manuscript include genealogies for the kingdoms of Deira, Bernicia, Mercia, Lindsey, Kent and East Anglia as well as a West Saxon genealogy, and regnal lists for Northumbria and Mercia. These genealogies are presented in reverse order, beginning with a ruler at the time it was composed and naming each successive generation back to Wōden, and in the Lindsey and Wessex pedigrees, beyond. The papal and episcopal lists, to a greater or lesser extent, have been updated during the course of transmission of the individual copies, but with the exception of the Wessex pedigree, the genealogies have largely remained unchanged except for errors made by scribes while copying the texts.

The Cotton World Map

One of the most interesting items to be included in this compilation is a Mappa Mundi created ca. 1040 that appears to be based on a classical work of geography but also incorporates material from other sources including some with the most up-to-date information available. However, the map is more than a merely symbolic interpretation of the world like most contemporary maps and also does not appear to be based on the work of Ptolemy. Although it is east oriented, Jerusalem was not at the center of the map and there is no depiction or mention of the Garden of Eden. While most maps of the period color the Red Sea literally, this specimen paints all of the rivers of Africa in red. The British Isles are depicted fairly accurately, although Cornwall’s size is exaggerated, and the cartographer depicted Island twice: it appears both to the northwest of England labelled as “Thule” and to the east with the rest of the Scandinavian lands as “Island”.