Old English Illustrated Hexateuch

Old English Illustrated Hexateuch

Not only does the Old English Hexateuch contain a rare translation of the first six books of the Old Testament written in Insular miniscule script, but the majority of its 300+ pages have a miniature, sometimes two or three to a page, and some combine scenes in bordered compartments. The miniatures are richly colored and detailed, especially with regard to garment fall of folds. Peculiarities of the artwork include figures with blue hair, peculiar architectures, and tents with colorful stripes. Many of the miniatures are in varying stages of completion: those towards the beginning of the manuscript are fully finished while later miniatures are often incomplete, with some elements showing pen outlines that have not been colored in, offering insights into the manuscript’s creation.

The Old Testament in Old English

The manuscript opens with a preface written by Ælfric of Eynsham (ca. 955 – ca. 1010), who translated the text, and addressed to the ealdorman and historian Æthelwærd (d. ca. 998), the chief benefactor of St. Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury at whose behest the translation project was begun. This preface mostly serves to clarify that the practices of the ancient Israelites are not acceptable for Christians. It is followed by the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua, which are furnished with notes in the Kentish dialect of Old English as well as excerpts from commentaries written in Latin including the Historia scholastica by Peter Comestor (d. 1178) as well as two works by Saint Jerome (ca. 342/347 – 420): Liber quæstionum hebraicarum in Genesim and a translation of De situ et nominibus locorum Hebraicorum by Eusebius (ca. 260/265 – 339/340). Ælfric did not translate the Latin word-for-word but attempted to encapsulate its meaning instead, which yielded a more natural and readable Old English text. The nearly one-thousand-year-old manuscript is thus a precious specimen of both Anglo-Saxon theology and Old English linguistics.

History of the Manuscript

The Old English Hexateuch originated in Canterbury and was housed in the library of St. Augustine’s Abbey according to a medieval catalogue of the library’s holdings. After its dissolution in 1533, the manuscript came into the possession of Robert Talbot (1505/06–58), an Anglo-Saxon scholar and scribe. It was then acquired by the famous antiquarian Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet of Connington (1571–1631) and remained in the Cottonian Library under the shelf mark Harley MS 6018 until it was bequeathed along with the entire collection by his grandson “‘for Publick Use and Advantage”. It was a cornerstone of the collections of the British Museum when it was founded in 1753 and passed into the holdings of the British Library when it was detached as a separate institution in 1973.