St Petersburg Bede
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The Saint Petersburg Bede (Saint Petersburg,
National Library of Russia The National Library of Russia (NLR, russian: Российская национальная библиотека}), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked amo ...
, lat. Q. v. I. 18), formerly known as the Leningrad Bede, is an
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...
, a near-contemporary version of
Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
's 8th century history, the ''
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum The ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' ( la, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum), written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict be ...
'' (''Ecclesiastical History of the English People''). Although not heavily illuminated, it is famous for containing the earliest
historiated initial A historiated initial is an initial, an enlarged letter at the beginning of a paragraph or other section of text, that contains a picture. Strictly speaking, a historiated initial depicts an identifiable figure or a specific scene, while an inh ...
(one containing a picture) in European illumination. It is so named because it was taken to the Russian National Library of
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
in
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
at the time of the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, by
Peter P. Dubrovsky Peter Petrovich Dubrovsky russian: Пётр Петрович Дубровский (born December 9, 1754 in Kiev, died January 9, 1816 in Petersburg), was a Russian bibliophile, diplomat, paleographer, secretary of the Russian Embassy in France, c ...
.


Dating

Traditionally, the Saint Petersburg Bede is attributed on
palaeographic Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...
grounds to Bede's
monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
at Wearmouth-Jarrow. It is also traditionally dated to 731/732 × 746 on the basis of the so-called Memoranda, a series of retrospective dates found in the margins of Bede's ''recapitulo'' in Book V Chapter 24. The validity of these Memoranda (and similar notes in the Moore Bede) as evidence for the precise year in which the manuscript was copied has been vigorously challenged. While it may not be possible to assign the manuscript to a specific year, it seems unlikely that it was copied much after the middle of the eighth century.


Physical description

The manuscript is written on
parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of ...
. It contains 162
folio The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...
s (numbered 161, but with f. 51 repeated—the correct foliation is given on the last folio in the bottom right corner). Pages average approximately 270 × 190 mm (Writing Space: 230 × 150 mm in two columns of 27 lines). The pages have been trimmed at some point. The manuscript has been copied by four hands, with textual "accessories" ( colophons, chapter numbers, and the like) in a fifth (Parkes 1982, 6-11). The opening three letters of Book 2 of Bede are decorated, to a height of 8 lines of the text, and the opening h contains a bust portrait of a
halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...
ed figure carrying a cross and a book. This may be intended to be St.
Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregori ...
, although a much later hand has identified the figure as St.
Augustine of Canterbury Augustine of Canterbury (early 6th century – probably 26 May 604) was a monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597. He is considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founder of the English Church.Delaney '' ...
in the halo. The figure is identified as a saint, rather than Christ, by his clerical
tonsure Tonsure () is the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion or humility. The term originates from the Latin word ' (meaning "clipping" or "shearing") and referred to a specific practice in ...
.
Meyer Schapiro Meyer Schapiro (23 September 1904 – 3 March 1996) was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for developing new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art. An expert on earl ...
, p. 199 and pp. 212-214, For the view that it represents Gregory, se
here
Although the letter decoration is essentially Insular in style, the figure shows Mediterranean influence, as do other elements of the illuminations, such as the foliate decoration filling in the B shown above.


Contents

The Saint Petersburg Bede contains one of the two oldest surviving examples of the "m-type" text of the Latin ''Historia ecclesiastica'' (Colgrave and Mynors 1969, xliv). The manuscript also contains one of two copies of the vernacular text of the Northumbrian recension of ''Cædmon's Hymn'' in the bottom margin of "f. 107r" (actually f. 108r; see
Cædmon's Hymn ''Cædmon's Hymn'' is a short Old English poem attributed to Cædmon, a supposedly illiterate and unmusical cow-herder who was, according to the Northumbrian monk Bede (d. 731), miraculously empowered to sing in honour of God the Creator. The p ...
). The poem has been copied in the fourth hand of the main Latin text (Parkes 1982, 6).


Notes


Bibliography

The Saint Petersburg Bede is a frequently studied manuscript. The following is a partial bibliography of significant studies and catalogue entries: Re Illuminations: *
Meyer Schapiro Meyer Schapiro (23 September 1904 – 3 March 1996) was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for developing new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art. An expert on earl ...
, ''The Decoration of the Leningrad Manuscript of Bede'', in ''Selected Papers, volume 3, Late Antique, Early Christian and Mediaeval Art'', 1980, Chatto & Windus, London, (originally Scriptorium, xii, 2, (1958), also JSTOR etc.). *T. Voronova and A Sterligov, Western European Illuminated Manuscripts (in the St Petersberg Public Library), 2003, p198, Sirocco, London. Re Texts: *Anderson, O. S. 1941. ''Old English material in the Leningrad manuscript of Bede’s ecclesiastical history''. Skrifter utgivna av Kungl. humanistiska vetenskapssamfundet i Lund/Acta reg. societatis humaniorum litterarum Lundensis, 31. Lund: Gleerup. *Arngart, O. S. 1952. ''The Leningrad Bede: an eighth century manuscript of the Venerable Bede’s Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum in the Public Library, Leningrad''. Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile, 2. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger. *————. 1973. "On the dating of early Bede manuscripts". ''Studia Nordica'' 45: 47-52. *Bévenot, M. S. J. 1962. "Towards dating the Leningrad 'Bede'." ''Scriptorium'' 36: 366-9. *Colgrave, B. and R. A. B. Mynors 1969, ''Bede’s ecclesiastical history of the English people''. Oxford Medieval Texts. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. xliv. *Dobbie, E. v. K. 1937. ''The manuscripts of ''Cædmon's Hymn'' and ''Bede's Death Song'' with a critical text of the ''Epistola Cuthberti de obitu Bedæ''.'' Columbia University Studies in English and Comparative Literature, 128. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 16–17. *Dobiache-Rojdestvensky, O. 1928. "Un manuscrit de Bède à Léningrad". ''Speculum'' 3: 314-21. *Gillert, K. 1880. "Lateinische Handschriften in Saint Petersburg". ''Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde'' 5: 243-625 orrectly 243-265*Ker 1990. ''Catalogue of manuscripts containing Anglo-Saxon''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Art. 122. *Lowe 1934-, ''Codices latini antiquiores: a palaeographical guide to Latin manuscripts prior to the ninth century''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Art. 1621. *————. 1958a. "A key to Bede’s scriptorium: Some observations on the Leningrad Bede". ''Scriptorium'' 12: 182-90. *────. 1958b. "An autograph of the Venerable Bede?" ''Revue Bénédictine'' 68: 200-2. *Meyvaert, P. 1961. "The Bede 'signature' in the Leningrad colophon". ''Revue Bénédictine'' 71: 274-86. *O'Donnell, D. P. 2005. ''Cædmon’s Hymn, A multimedia study, edition, and witness archive.'' SEENET A. 7. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer. §§ 4.37-4.38. *────. 2002. "The accuracy of the Saint Petersburg Bede." ''Notes and Queries'' 247: 4-6. *Parkes, M. B. 1982. ''The scriptorium of Wearmouth-Jarrow''. Jarrow Lectures. Jarrow: t. Paul's Rectory 5-12. *Robinson, F. C. and E. G. Stanley 1991. ''Old English verse texts from many sources: a comprehensive collection.'' Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile, 23. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger. acsimile of "f. 107r" on pl. 2.3 *Staerk, A. 1910, ''Les manuscrits latins du Ve au XIIIe siècle conservés à la bibliothèque impériale de Saint-Pétersbourg'', I. Petrograd: Publichnia Biblioteka. Art. 26. Art. xlii *Wright, D. H. 1961. "The date of the Leningrad Bede". ''Revue Bénédictine'' 71: 265-73.


External links


More information at Earlier Latin Manuscripts
{{Bede Illuminated histories Medieval literature National Library of Russia collection 8th-century illuminated manuscripts Bede manuscripts