NOTES (continued 2)

53. efter, with an eye to, to extort; a use mostly with verbs of pursuit or desire, but comp. 60/12, 118/28. See Round, 214 note for instances of these extortions.

54. pining, notwithstanding the scribe’s punctuation, is a cognate acc. to pined; with the adj. it is practically equal to unutterably; comp. 8/108.

55. Comp. ‘Sumne hi onhengon be þan fotum ⁊ sumne be þan earmum,’ AS. Hom., ed. Assmann, 171/36. After henged the object heom is omitted as being the subject of the previous verb.

58. to ð, to the extent that, so far that, so that. OE. to þon þæt.

60. crucethus, torture house: the first element is L. cruciatus. Comp. ‘Heo deden heo in quarterne; in ane quale-huse,’ L 3769; ‘þis meiden wes bicluset | þe hwile in cwarterne | ⁊ i cwalmhuse,’ SK 600.

62. him . . . þe limes, his limbs. Emphatic is ‘þat his ribbes him to brake,’ KH 1077. lof ⁊ grim: the passage is corrupt: grī may be grin or grim; lof can only be for loþ, as Thorpe suggests in his translation, ‘loathly and grim,’ as if two adjectives for the name of the contrivance. Possibly grine has dropped out after grī; the words are associated in ‘Forðon he me alysde of laðum grine’ = ‘Quoniam ipse liberavit me de laqueo,’ Paris Psalter, xc. 3. But more probably the scribe has heard indistinctly an unfamiliar word such as, wæron loþ engins. It is true that engine, device, machine does not appear in English till 1300, but it is found in Anglo-Norman books in the last half of the twelfth century, and it must have come to England with the castle.

63. rachenteges, chains, fetters; but the gloss collario racentege (Napier, 2062) is noteworthy in the present connexion. ð . . . onne, one of which.

64. This may mean, ‘That was adjusted in this way, namely it is fastened,’ &c., but it is not clear. Perhaps it has been lost before is. The contrivance must have resembled that described in Reade’s It is Never too Late to Mend, ch. xi.

66. bæron: supply sculde out of myhte.

70. æure umwile, at regularly recurring times; it became a regular tax. tenserie, protection money. Round, 215, quotes from a letter of Pope Lucius to Archbishop Theobald, ‘Quidam etiam sub nomine tenseriarum villas et homines suos spoliant.’ LL. tensare means, to protect, and, through extortion of money on pretence of protection, to rob. See Round, 414 and NED s.v. Other references for tenserie, tenser are Wistasse le Moine, 2112; Roman de Rou, 9554.

71. Worcester was burnt in 1139, Nottingham in 1140 and 1153, Winchester in 1141, Oxford in 1142, Cambridge by Geoffrey in 1144.

72. Comp. ‘Ærst aswond þat corn here; ȝeond al þas kineriche. | þer after hit wes swa deore; & al folc gon to deȝen. | swa þat þu mihtes fare; fulle seouen nihte | ꝥ no mihtest þu þurh nene chep; finde neouwer na bred. | an burȝe and on londe,’ L 31793-31801; ‘ꝥ folc ut of londe; flah on ælche ænde. | monie hundred tunen; bi-læued weoren of monnen. | þat lut me uinde mihte; men uaren ȝeond londe,’ L 31845-50.

75. ieden on, ‘went about asking,’ Norgate. This meaning requires the verbal subst.; rather, ‘subsisted on,’ with on of manner.

78. ouer sithon is usually taken as, everywhere subsequently, which is not suitable here. Earle equates it with OE. ofer sīþum, as meaning times past reckoning, but ofer in the sense of surpassing requires an acc., and the phrase is without parallel. Perhaps sithon is a weak acc. sing. of sīþ, which is often weak in ME.; the phrase might then mean, contrary to experience. For ofer in that sense, comp. ‘ofer aþas ⁊ treowe’ = ‘contra fidem iurisiurandi,’ Bede, 148/10. William of Ypres burnt Wherwell, plundered Abingdon, and tried to burn S. Albans. Geoffrey de Mandeville sacked Ramsey in 1143; ‘nec ecclesiis nec coemiteriis parcebant,’ Ann. de Wintonia, 52; Malmesbury, ii. 540. forbaren, abstained from injuring; comp. ‘That the pore is thus i-piled, and the riche forborn,’ Pol. Songs, 337/312.

81. ouer, written for ower, anywhere. OE. āhwær. Gif, &c.: comp. ‘Ubicunque alter alterum in itinere conspicebatur, totus protinus contremiscere, meticulose visum effugere, vel prope in silva vel in divortio aliquo latere, usquequo, resumpto tandem spiritu, viam coeptam tutior carperet, et audacior,’ Gesta, 41.

83. leredmen: see 4/20.

84. oc—þarof, lit. but to them was nothing concerning that; it concerned them not at all. Comp. 46/292; ‘ne beo ham nawt of’ = let them be unconcerned, 70/167; ‘þe dead (d.) nis nout of, þauh he ligge unburied’ = the dead does not mind, AR 352/5; ‘þe deade nis nan more of scheome þen of men[s]ke,’ AR 352/29 (in both places Morton wrongly takes nis as ne wis); ‘Wha summ itt iss þatt mann, þatt niss | Nohht off to wurrþenn fullhtnedd,’ Orm 140/4074. Similarly 180/131; ‘lutel me is of ower luue, leasse of ower laððe,’ SJ 27/14. With of comp. 44/260, 164/256.

86. xpist slep. Said by the wicked, H. of Huntingdon, 277; by the good, W. of Newbury, i. 45. See Norgate, i. 335 note, and comp. ‘Sed . . . unicum mihi consilium superest, Deum hominem . . . exorare: qui velut in navi dormiens, fidelium precibus excitandus est, ut procellam componat naufragantis Ecclesiae,’ John of Salisbury, Metalogicus, 206.

89. suinc: ‘cum maximo labore abbatiam tenuit, sed adiuvabant eum monachi sui, et tamen invenit eis abbas, et hospitibus, quicquid necessarium fuit, et erat caritas magna in domo illa,’ Hugo, 76.

91. carited: d is written for ð: similar forms are ‘kariteþ,’ ‘cariteþ,’ Orm 3000, 3008; ‘kariteð,’ VV 19/34, &c.; ‘Natiuiteð,’ Chron. E 1116; ‘plenteð,’ GE 3709. This ð represents the final t (sometimes d) of the corresponding French words in the older texts, which had a voiced [ð] or a voiceless [þ] sound according to the beginning of the following word. This final t disappeared from Central French in the eleventh century; it lingers on in Anglo-Norman texts of the twelfth: see Behrens, Beiträge, 175, 6. The word may mean alms, but caritas had the technical meaning of commemoration feasts, ‘epulae solennes et extraordinariae’ ‘caritativae comestiones,’ Ducange, at the anniversaries of benefactors, &c., ‘gaudies.’ þoþwethere, nevertheless: ‘et in omnibus tribulationibus hiis operatus est in ecclesia,’ Hugo, 76. sette þarto, assigned for that purpose; ‘ad ecclesiam faciendam, villam Pilesgatam & omnes decimas & omnes offerendas . . . constituit,’ Hugo, 78.

92. Rentes are incomings generally, not rent. goded, endowed, i.e. with the aforesaid lands, tithes, and offerings. Comp. 72/190 for another meaning. læt it refen, had it covered (with lead). Thorpe translates ‘had it provided with vestments.’

94. The fire took place on August 4, 1116. The convent entered the church (Martin built the choir only and the transepts were added by his successor) on June 29th, 1140, according to the text and Hugo, but the Chronicon Petroburgense and John the Abbot say 1143.

95. fram, by. Comp. ‘wearð Romeburg getimbred from twam gebroðrum,’ Orosius, 64/21; ‘Her swealt Herodus from him selfum ofsticod,’ AS. Chron. A 3; ‘I sothlike set am for-þi | King fro him,’ Surtees Psalter, ii. 6 (= ‘constitutus sum rex ab eo’).

96. The termination of priuilegies is due to direct borrowing of the technical term from L. privilegium. The two documents are printed in Hugo, 78, 82, and the former also in Dugdale, Monasticon, i. 390. They are dated A.D. 1146: Eugenius was elected in 1145. The former protects the lands, property, and rights of the monastery in general, and these are given in detail: the latter recounts and confirms that part of the properties which was specially allocated for the expenses of the sacrist (ciricweard) (‘terras, quae ad sacristiam pertinent,. . . vel decimas, vel servitia plurimorum, & domus,’ Hugo, 82). of, for, relating to.

97. lien to, appertain to: a phrase of the charters. B-T. quotes, ‘mid eallon ðá[m] þingon ðe ðǽr fyrmest tólæg,’ Kemble, vi. 190; ‘ǽlc ðára landa ðe . . . læg intó Cristes cyrcean,’ id. iv. 232. gif, &c., if he might have lived longer, he meant to do the same for the office of store-keeper; ‘similiter & redditus cellerarii & camerarii affluenter augere & Romae confirmare, si posset vivere, cogitaverat,’ Hugo, 87. The camerarius had to keep the stores of clothes and bedding for the monastery, the thesaurarius was an officer in charge of the sacred vessels and the plate under the direction of the sacrist. Martin did assign two manors for the provision of clothes, but he did not live long enough to get the protection of a privilegium for the appropriation. Hordere is a word of wide application; in Wright, Vocabularies, 330/18, it glosses cellerarius; here it is the reilþein (vestiarius) of the Chronicle, 1131. For the purpose of these special appropriations see Plummer’s note, ii. 311.

98. He recovered property of the Abbey in the shape of lands which powerful men possessed by force. In Domesday the Abbey has holdings at Cotingeham (Cottingham, Bridges, ii. 208), Ascetone (Easton-Mauduit, id. 163), Erdiburne (Irthlingborough, id. 235), Stanwige (Stanwick, id. 195), and Eldewincle (Aldwincle, id. 208), all in Northamptonshire. They are all in one group in the first privilegium, duly protected under threat of excommunication. Malduit (Maledoctus; Hugo says Maledictus) was constable of the king’s castle of Rockingham and warden of the Forest. Rogingham is Roegingahám in a charter dated 811, Kemble, i. 243. Hugo has Rogingeham 43, Rochingham 88, Rokingham 89. Hugh de Waterville, lord of Adington Parva and Thorp Waterville, was probably kin of the succeeding abbot, 11/202. He paid to Peterborough sixty shillings per annum for Aldwincle (‘LX solidos de Aldewincle reddendos annuatim,’ Hugo, 88). Dele stop after sol in text.

102, 3. ‘Conventum quoque de viginti monachis augmentavit,’ Hugo, 88, 89. winiærd. For vine-growing in England see Plummer, Bedae Opera, ii. 5, and Anglia, Beiblatt, xvii. 208. The weorkes were domestic buildings, ‘cameram abbatis & aulam ad familiam aedificavit.’ wende, ‘Forum mutavit,’ Hugo, 88. He changed the site of the town and afterwards of the market, it is supposed, from the east to the west of the monastery.

106. Stephnes kinges: see 15/87 note.

107. iudeus is pl. of iudeu, Orm’s Judeow, Judew, OF. Judeu. English forms Judeas pl. a., Judea pl. g., occur in the early part of MS. E. bohton. In Thomas of Monmouth’s Life of S. William of Norwich, ed. Jessop and James, the mother of the boy is said to have been persuaded, by a gift of three shillings, into letting him go away with the supposed cook of the Archdeacon of Norwich, to be a helper in his kitchen, p. 17.

108. pining: see 7/54. ð, with which; see 46/292.

109. langfridæi: see 85/101. The date in the Life is Wednesday before Easter, March 22nd, 1144, but the chroniclers differ as to the year (Plummer, ii. 311). A miraculous light in the sky led to the discovery of the body. The charge of ritual murder at large has been investigated by Dr. Strack in Das Blut im Glauben und Aberglauben der Menschheit, München, 1900.

111. The body was first buried in the wood where it was found, then about a month after in the monks’ cemetery, and after six years it was translated to the chapter-house, probably the occasion referred to in the text. It was afterwards moved twice at least.

114. David crossed the Tweed in April, 1138. The battle of the Standard was fought at Cowton Moor on August 22nd.

116. Albamar: ‘Willelmus de Magna Villa, comes de Alba Mara apud Gisortum,’ Ricardus Divisiensis, 389; William of Albemarle (Aumale), recently created Earl of York. þe, to whom; see 46/292.

117. euorwic: OE. Eoforwic; see Zachrisson, 63. Other English captains were Walter Espec, Walter of Ghent, Ilbert de Lacy, and Robert Bruce. The English were greatly inferior in numbers to the invaders.

120. Robert landed with the empress at Arundel in September, 1139. Leaving her at Arundel he rode across the south of England to Bristol with a few followers; ‘ediscensque [Stephanus] a veris exploratoribus comitem cum suis evasum Bristoam sub nocturno silentio tetendisse . . . ipse ad capiendum comitem totus intendit,’ Gesta, 55.

122. wart it war: comp. 48/330, 203/204; it = of it, may be regarded as an acc. of reference, comp. 192/518, 200/116.

124. March 20th, 1140.

125. William of Corbeil died in 1136; Theobald was elected Dec. 24th, 1138, and consecrated, Jan. 8th, 1139.

126. the bec: the monastery of Le Bec-Hellouin; the village and commune of to-day have the same name. It is stated that the article appears where bec means a beak or wedge of land at the junction of two streams, but not where it is the Scandinavian loan-word meaning stream. The rule does not hold here, for the monastery was built ‘in vallem ad rivum, qui Beccus dicitur,’ Robert de Torigni, 27.

128. The king gave Ranulf des Gernons all that he asked for, save the earldom of Carlisle, which was held by Henry of Scotland. William de Roumare (de Rollonis mara: o for ou is Anglo-Norman) was his elder half-brother. The king appears to have made him Earl of Lincoln about this time. The brothers got into Lincoln Castle by a trick, and Stephen at the appeal of the men of Lincoln besieged them there. The battle was fought on Feb. 2nd, 1141.

135. Comp. ‘plurimis autem antequam manus consererent, ut comes Mellonensis et Willelmus ille de Ypra, proh pudor! fugitantibus,’ Gesta, 70; ‘Capto itaque rege, tota Anglia concussa obstupuit,’ id. 71.

137. þer efter com. She had been in England more than four months. The news of Stephen’s capture reached her at Gloucester, and her brother joined her there with his royal captive on Feb. 9th. The interview with Bishop Henry (9/140) took place before Winchester on March 2nd. The empress was elected queen, with an interim title of ‘domina,’ on a second visit to Winchester on April 8th at the Great Council summoned by the bishop (Round, 70). At this meeting was pronounced the excommunication of l. 143. The empress reached London some time in June and fled from it on the 24th. She reached Winchester on July 31st, and laid siege to the bishop’s stronghold, but was herself besieged by Stephen’s queen (l. 145), and fled on the 14th of September, when Robert of Gloucester was taken.

139. Angou: the scribe has made a better attempt in Angæu 10/167, 176. His predecessor wrote Angeow at 1111 E and eleven times after (ge = Fr. j).

150. minstre. She was at Ludgershall, Devizes and Gloucester in her flight. The last is, no doubt, meant.

151. The negotiators were Stephen’s wife and Mabel, Countess of Gloucester.

152. Early in 1142, when Stephen was on his way to York, he was met at Stamford by Ranulf and William de Roumare. There the king and the earl bound themselves by oath to mutual fidelity (Round, 159). But the barons compelled the king to proceed against him at Northampton in 1146. He was seized and only regained his freedom at the price of surrendering his castles. He gave up Lincoln at any rate. On his release he attacked Lincoln and Coventry. The Gesta (p. 124) calls the ‘wicci ræd’ of the barons ‘sanum consilium.’

154. treuthes fæston, made solemn declaration of fidelity: comp. ‘To the kyng Edward hii fasten huere fay,’ Pol. Songs, 214/9; ‘treowðe staðeluæste,’ L 9819.

155. hamtun, Northampton: p in the modern spelling is parasitic.

157. to ð forewarde, on condition: comp. ‘Al Denemark i wile you yeue, | To þat forward þu late me liue,’ Havelok, 485, 6. This rare use of to has probably developed from the notion of associated with.

159. dide . . . sculde: ‘did worse here than he should,’ Thorpe. For hær sculde, read ær dide: comp. her, 11/190.

163. Oxford Castle was surrendered to Matilda in the summer of 1141, and Stephen’s men entered the city, Sept. 26th, 1142. Matilda escaped a few days before Christmas 1142; she left England early in 1147.

164. sægen, if a noun, OE. sægen, means report; it is a verb at 8/106, and may be here.

165. mid rapes, a detail peculiar to the Chronicle.

167. By 1144 Geoffrey of Anjou was completely master of Normandy. The Angevin house was not popular there. here thankes, with their goodwill, willingly: thankes is an adverbial genitive, here, poss. adj. Comp. 116/155, 153/70: with gen. noun, ‘warschipes vnþonkes,’ 118/42; with gen. of possessive pron. ‘þines þonkes,’ OEH i. 17/35; ‘hares unþances,’ 14/56: absolutely, ‘sume þances sume unþances,’ AS. Chron. MS. C 1066: uninflected, ‘unþonc hise teð,’ HM 47/26, comp. ‘þat him wes mucheles unðonc,’ L 22370; ‘mid his gode þonke,’ 34/69.

170. suster, Constance, sister of Louis VI of France. The betrothal took place in 1140 when Eustace was about ten years old. The attempt to secure Normandy took place in 1151. Just before his death, Aug. 18th, 1153, Eustace ravaged East Anglia and tried to extort money from Bury St. Edmunds.

174. Canteberi: see 1/14.

176. rixan: Stephen sought in vain to have Eustace crowned in 1152. Geoffrey of Anjou died Sept. 7th, 1151; Matilda of Boulogne, May 3rd, 1152. Louis VII was divorced from Eleanor of Aquitaine, March 18th, 1152; she married Henry of Anjou at Whitsuntide. She sent for Henry, and he hastened to Poitiers where the marriage took place; ‘ad nuptias ducis quas concupierat convolavit,’ Ann. Monast. iv. 28.

180. Henry landed in England Jan. 6th, 1153. He captured Malmesbury, demolished Stephen’s tower at Wallingford, took Stamford and Nottingham. By Nov. 6th he had come to terms with Stephen at Wallingford.

184. ‘Rex Stephanus ipsum ducem . . . adoptavit in filium,’ Gervase, 1375; ‘Ducem siquidem Normannorum rex in filium arrogavit,’ R. de Diceto, 527. sib ⁊ sæhte: comp. ‘betere weore sæhte; þene swulc vnisibbe,’ L 9844, and see 70/158.

188. lundene, L. Lundonia: Lundone 656 E, but generally with -en.

190. Comp. ‘Annis enim iam plurimis fere nudo regis nomine insignis, tunc recipere visus est huius rem nominis, et quasi tunc primo regnare coepit,’ W. of Newburgh, 91. æuert, ever as yet: comp. 218/135, 221/248, with her (ǣr), ever at any time previously.

194. fauresfeld, Faversham, where Stephen and his queen founded a Clugniac abbey in 1147, is meant: in the charters Febresham, Feferesham, Ferresham. Lambard, Perambulation, 270, says it is called in Saxon Fafresfeld, a statement probably founded on this place. The mistake was probably due to confusion with the place now called Fairfield, a manor once belonging to Christ Church, Canterbury, which Hasted (iii. 486) says was anciently called Feyrsfelde.

196. Comp. 6/22.

198. sunnen dæi, December 19th. Martin died Jan. 2nd.

201. innen dæis: Thorpe translates ‘within a day’; that is the sense required: comp. ‘Eodem vero die, quo [Martinus] obiit, convenit omnis congregatio in unum, ut quempiam ex suis eligerent . . . ne propter moram aliquis extraneus per pecuniam se inmitteret,’ Hugo, 89. But the text does not give that sense, and innen with a gen. is strange: read, ‘in an dæis wile,’ within the space of oneday.

202. William de Waterville was one of Henry’s chaplains at the time of his appointment. He belonged to a family founded by Ascelin (Azzelino) de Waterville, who was a tenant of Peterborough in 1086 at Thorp Waterville in Northamptonshire. Hugo, 8/100, was a descendant of his. William de Waterville was deposed in 1175 for sheltering a relation who had incurred the king’s displeasure (Hoveden, ii. 86).

204. sone: on the day after his election.

206. bletcæd: by Robert of Chesney, bishop of Lincoln. The new abbot made a tour of the surrounding monasteries, which had many interests in common with his own: Ramsey, Benedictine Abbey in Huntingdonshire (Dugdale, ii. 546); Thorney, Benedictine Abbey in Cambridgeshire (D. ii. 593); Spalding, Benedictine Priory in Lincolnshire (D. iii. 206). The gap before Spallding may be filled by Bourn, that after it by Sulby baresworth. Sulby Priory, to the south-west of Peterborough, is said to have been founded about 1155; it was connected with the Waterville family and had extensive possessions in Baresworth; possibly the abbot’s visit was connected with its inauguration. The last gap may have held Croyland. In the last two lines the italics indicate letters in the MS. which are very faint and doubtful. Ramesæie corresponds to L. Rameseia, Fr. Rameseie, in contemporary documents: Torney is mostly Torny in Domesday; sometimes in L. Torneia.

Phonology: ... þat (9), at (5), -masse (3) (5) -masse

æ, wæs (9), þæt (once) æ misprinted as bold instead of italic

æ in bæron 63, 66 œ

... eo, umlaut of i i misprinted as italic instead of bold

ā + w gives au “au” misprinted as plain (non-italic)

For w ... þumbes 56 (þūma) has inorganic b inorganic m

In wurtscipe 93 &c., wart 122, t has displaced þ “wart 122” added by author

Most of the adjective inflections ... onne 63 “onne” misprinted as bold

Strong verbs .. I c. warth, uuard, ward, wærd, wart “wart” added by author

pt. pl. usually ends in -en “-en” misprinted as italic

V. helden, heolden, hengen: iafen 44, bræcon 62 braecon

Weak verbs ... gæde 58 is pt. s. subj. final . invisible

Noteworthy among the Anomala are myhtes 2 pt. s.; muhten pt. pl.; cunnen 1 pr. pl.; durste pt. s. final . missing in first “pt. s.”, invisible in second

Dialect: ... representation by a of ǣ₂ before r æ₂

9. ... exceptions being Octabus sc͞i superfluous comma after “sc͞i” deleted by author

20. þe mihte: comp. 8/81. Author’s Corrigenda: Dr. Bradley’s restoration in M. L. Review, xii. 73, þa þestreden sona þas landes, appears to me certain.

95. fram, by. “by” printed in bold

97. ... B-T. quotes, ‘mid eallon ðá[m] þingon ðe ðǽr fyrmest tólæg,’ ðær

201. ... ‘in an dæis wile,’ within the space of one day. corrected by author from “hwile”

IV. CHARTER OF HENRY THE SECOND

Manuscript: Harleian Charter 111 B. 49, British Museum. The upper half contains a version in Latin, excepting the passage ‘sacha . . . frimþa,’ which is in English; the names of six witnesses are appended. On the lower half is the present text; on the back, ‘carta reḡ. H. ii de sacha & socne.’ The document is in a French record hand, and the writer was evidently little versed in the insular script. He uses both þ and th, ƿ and w.

Facsimile: Keller, plate xiii.

Editions: Hickes, G., Linguarum Vett. Septentrionalium Thesaurus, i. p. xvi; Dugdale, W., Monasticon, i. 111; Birch, W. de Gray, Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature, New Series, xi. 312; Stratmann, F. H., Anglia, vii. 220; Earle, J., A Handbook to the Land Charters, 346 (with the Latin); Kluge, F., Mittelenglisches Lesebuch, 5.

Phonology: The language is not contemporary, for the drafter, who was not the scribe, used as a model a charter (H²) in the same terms, granted to William of Corbeil (see 6/28) and the monks of Christ Church by Henry the First in 1123 A.D., a copy of which exists in Campbell Charter, xxi. 6, B.M., reproduced in Facsimiles of Royal and other Charters in the British Museum, i. no. 6, and printed in Lye’s Dictionary, ii. appendix. H² differs from our text in its dialect, which is mainly Southern, with some Kentish forms, in greater regularity of grammar, in details of names and relationships, but in little else. It was derived from a charter (H¹) granted to S. Anselm and Christ Church by Henry the First, c. 1107 A.D., extant in Campbell Charter, xxix. 5, and Cotton Charter, vii. 1, printed in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association, xxix. 242, also imperfectly in Hickes and in Dugdale, i. 109, 111. It also shows traces of its Kentish origin. But it was ultimately based on the Charter (E) granted by Edward the Confessor to Archbishop Stigand, c. 1052 A.D., Campbell Charter, xxi. 5, reproduced in Facsimiles of Ancient Charters in the British Museum, part iv, no. 38, and printed in Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature, i., New Series; and the chain extended back to the first extant example of the formula, the charter (C) of Cnut to Æthelnoth, A.D. 1020, preserved by a copy in a Canterbury book, the MacDurnan Gospels (now at Lambeth), and printed in Earle, 232.

There is another copy of the present document, but fragmentary and decayed, in the muniment room of Canterbury Cathedral.

H¹, H², and the Harley Charter (H³) here printed, have been accepted by Dölle in his book, Zur Sprache Londons vor Chaucer (Morsbach’s Studien, xxxii), as specimens of the English of the London Chancellery. As the editors of the Facsimiles of Royal and other Charters point out, H¹, H² are in a book hand, not that of an official court scribe; they are without witnesses or place of execution. Their seals do not prove them to be the original grant, for both H¹ and its duplicate Cotton Charter, vii. 1, have seals, and a note on the back of the latter appears to indicate that it is one of four copies. The duplicate of H³ also has its seal, attached, like the others, in an unusual way to the left side of the document, as if to show that both documents and seals are replicas of the original. They are, in fact, copies, and the natural assumption is that they were made at Canterbury to provide against risk of loss or damage to the actual grant.

H³ is on a different footing: it is properly attested, its place of origin is given, and its seal is attached in the usual way at the foot. But it is not in a charter hand, and its language shows that it was prepared by a Canterbury scribe to be placed before the king for his acceptance.

It should be noted that the English words from saca to frimtha also appear in the Latin version with the following variants: Sacha, Wude, felde, tolnes, grithbreches, thiofes, flemene.

The charter is then a patchwork of old and new; its phonological position may be defined by an attempt at a version in Late West-Saxon. Ic Henric · þurh Godes gife Englalandes cyng · grēte ealle mīne bisceopas ⁊ ealle mīne scīrgerēfan ⁊ ealle mīne þegnas frencisce ⁊ englisce · on þām scīrum þe Þeobald ærcebisceop ⁊ se hīrēd æt xpīstes cyrican on Cantwarabyrig habbað land inne frēondlice · ⁊ ic cȳðe ēow þæt ic hæbbe heom geunnen ꝥ hi bēon ǣlc þāra landa wurðe þe hi hæfdon in Ēadweardes cynges dæge · ⁊ on Willhelmes cynges mīnes furðor ealdefæder · ⁊ on Henrices cynges mīnes ealdefæder · ⁊ sace ⁊ sōcne · on strande ⁊ on streame · on wudum ⁊ on feldum · tolles ⁊ tēames · griðbryces · ⁊ hāmsōcne · ⁊ fōrstealles · ⁊ infangeneþēofes · ⁊ flȳmena fyrmðe · ofer heora āgene menn · binnan burgum ⁊ butan · swā ful ⁊ swā forð swā mīne āgene wīcneras hit sēcan sceoldon · ⁊ ofer swā fela þegnas swā ic heom tolǣten hæbbe · And ic nelle ꝥ ǣnig mann ǣnig þing þǣrof tēo · butan hī ⁊ heora wīcneras þām þe hi hit betǣcan willað · ne frencisce ne englisce · for þām þingum þe ic hæbbe Crīste þās gerihta forgifen minre sāwle to ēcere ālȳsednesse · ⁊ ic nelle geþafian ꝥ ǣnig mann þis ābrece be mīnum fullan frēondscipe. God ēow gehealde.

It will be seen that the OE. phonetic position is largely maintained; noteworthy divergences are: æ as e in hebbe, ercebisceop; as a in habbe (occasionally in OE.), ealdefader; as ea (= e) in eafdon, æ + g in deȝe. ænglelandes (also in H¹, H²) shows a survival of primitive æ, characteristic of the south-east. en 12/6 for on is due to loss of stress; Layamon 8059 has æn; e + g is ei in þeinas. y is e in grithbreces of the Latin text and H¹, H² (but grithbrices is OE. griðbrice); i in Cantuarabirȝ. ǣ is e in bitechan, enig, eni, echere, toleten, þer; ȳ, e in keþe. ea before l + cons. is a in forstalles; frimtha is descended from fiermð with metathesis of r: the others have fermþe and H¹ also feormþe, forms without umlaut: giefu appears as ȝefu, but giefan, forgifan. heora is heara (early Kentish hiara) beside heore; scolden answers to a non-diphthonged OE. form. flīema gives flemene in the Latin text (so E, H¹, H², the latter also flæmene) and fleamene: alisendnesse is OE. ālīesednesse (but once ālȝsendnesse), the others have alysednesse. ēo is e in frenscipan: io in thiofes of the Lat. text, ia in thiafes; ā + w is au in saule; ēo + w appears as geau (ȝeu, Poema Morale, Digby MS.) with ȝ borrowed from the nom., helped, no doubt, by the general tendency exemplified in gearfoþe, ungeaþe of the MK. gospels.

w is written u in Cantuarabirȝ; an inorganic n is inserted in alisendnesse; f is u in geþauian, scirereuan. The dentals are confused: þ for t, t for þ, t for d, d for þ appear in theames, theo, teobalt, hiret, habbad, ford; d is omitted in frenscipan, as in stan, halen, &c., of the MK. gospels; č is written ch in chyrchen, bitechan, echere, ich, grithbriches; the scribe apparently uses ch for [k] in Sacha of the Latin text; h is omitted in eafdon; cht for ht in gerichtan is an attempt to indicate the guttural sound.

The inflections of OE. are largely preserved, but levelling of a to e is shown in fele, fleamene, fullen, heore, lande (pl. g.), þare, Wicneres, while a is written for older e in frimtha, saca, wurþa, and o for e in geunnon. OE. um is an in burgan, feldan, minan, sciran, þingan, wudan; þām appears as þan. Weak forms are gerichtan, frenscipan; ȝefu is nom. form for accusative.

Dialect: The levelling of y, ȳ, æ, ǣ to e; ea as a, the old Kentish io, ia in thiofes, thiafes, heara point to Kent. The absence of v, z for f, s initial, the retention of a in lande, strande, and of n final either mark an early stage in the dialect, or show the conservative influence of the older documents.

Introduction: King Henry the Second grants, or rather confirms, to Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the monks of Christ Church their lands and privileges of jurisdiction. The date is February, 1155 (Eyton, Itinerary of Henry II. 5) and the place York. For alisendnessee 12/15, read alisendnesse.

1. gret . . . mine, verb of the third person, pronoun of the first: so CE; it is formal, and not a scribe’s error as Stratmann thinks; H¹, H² have grete. bissceopas, &c.: in Latin, ‘Episcopis · Comitibus · Baronibus · Justiciariis · Vicecomitibus · Ceterisque suis fidelibus.’

3. þe . . . inne, in which; see 1/3 note. E has þær . . . inne.

4. Cantuarabirȝ; see 1/14.

5. ꝥ = þet. ælc, each of them: the archbishop and the monks severally, as well as jointly; so H¹, H²; E omits.

6. kinges: see 15/87 note.

7. saca and the other genitives are, like lande, dependent on wurþa. Each of these words has a threefold aspect: (1) the simple meaning of the word itself; (2) the right to adjudicate in connection with that; (3) the right to profit by fee or fine arising out of such jurisdiction. Sacu and sōcn are glossed, litis, contestatio and quaestio, inquisitio respectively. Sōcn is the leading word and sacu was added to round off the phrase; together they express a single idea, inquisition into a disputed matter (sometimes the area of jurisdiction); then the right to adjudicate privately within one’s own jurisdiction on certain cases which arise within it, and the right in consequence to appropriate the proceeds in fines, &c. Toll, tax on merchandise, sometimes exemption from such, the right to collect it, the profit arising therefrom. Sometimes merely the right to tallage one’s villeins. Tēam, vouching to warranty, right to adjudicate in cases which involved the production of a guarantor (getēama), right to forfeitures, &c., arising out of such processes (see B-T. s.v.). Griðbryce, breach of a special peace, that is, a protection accorded specially to a person, place, or period of time by the king, the right to try such cases and fine. Hāmsōcn, in Domesday hāmfare (OE. hāmfaru), attack on a man’s house, trial for the offence and fine. Fōrsteall, assault on the king’s highway; in Norman law, ‘assultus excogitatus de veteri odio’ (PM. ii. 453). Infangeneþēof, thief caught red-handed in a privileged area, the right to judge and hang him. In = within, adverb: fangene = fangenne, s. acc. of the participle agreeing with þēof: as the phrase was almost always acc. after a verb of granting, these formed a compound regarded as the nom. as well, but a nom. by form is sometimes found as acc., ‘infangenðeóf,’ Kemble, iv. 226. The dat. ‘mid infangenumþeofe’ occurs, id. 227, but usually ‘mid infangeneðéf,’ id. 190; gen. ‘infangeneðeófes,’ id. 193. C, E, H¹, H² all have both words inflected gen. as here: I have not found the double inflection elsewhere. Ūtfangeneþēof was the right to hang one’s own thief wherever caught, if he were found in possession of the stolen property: it appears to have been rarely granted. Flȳmena fyrmð, the harbouring or supporting of a wrongdoer or fugitive from justice. (Liebermann, Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen; Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law.)

10. binnan Burgan, &c.: a phrase for everywhere. Comp. ‘on ǽlce styde, be lande and be strande,’ Earle, 344/11; ‘be wætere and be lande,’ id. 344/21; ‘inne tíd and út of tíd, binnen burh and búten burh, on stráte and of stráte,’ id. 340/21.

11. swa ful ⁊ swa ford: ‘in tantum et tam pleniter,’ as fully and extensively as my own officers are in duty bound to exact: comp. ‘swá wel and swá freolíce swá ic hit meseolf betst habbe,’ Earle, 343/16.

12. habben: read habbe as in H¹, H²; C, E have hæbbe. For toleten, granted, E, H¹, H² have to gelæten. The Latin has ‘super tot theines; quot eis concessit Rex Willelmus proauus meus,’ which is probably the correct version.

13. þeron theo: ‘þær on teo,’ C, E; ‘þær on tyo,’ H¹; ‘þer on tyo,’ H². The Latin ‘se intromittat,’ meddle (also in H¹, H²), is not an equivalent, but rather ‘subtrahere,’ ‘exigere,’ ‘ad se trahere’ of similar documents. The meaning is, take any thing from these lands and rights: for þer on, comp. ‘ne teó se hláford ná máre on his ǽhte butan his rihtan heregeate,’ Schmid, Gesetze, 308. Fuller expressions are ‘ænig þæra sócna him to hánda drægen,’ Kemble, iv. 222: ‘fram honde téo,’ id. 212, 196: ‘of handa átéo,’ id. 226. þe, to whom: see 46/292.

14. for þan þingan, for the reason that, because: see the examples of the phrase in B-T., p. 1060. C has for þā; H¹ for þam þingan; E, H², as in the text.

15. to echere alisendnesse, for the eternal salvation of my soul; comp. ‘to ecere alysednysse,’ Ælfric, Lives, 258/320, ii. 154/178. Keller prints eche, treating the curl attached to the final e as a mere flourish, but the scribe’s model, H², had æcere: see 23/161.

16. bi, as concerning, having regard to, i.e. on pain of losing. Comp. ‘unrihtwisan deman þe heora domas awendað æfre be þam sceattum,’ Ælfric, Lives, 430/233; ‘bebead eallum his folce, be heora life, þæt hí sceoldon feallan adune,’ Ælf. Hom. Cath. ii. 18/23; ‘þat ælc mon bi his liue; comen to him swiðe, | bi heore liue & bi heore leme,’ L 19434.

The charter is then a patchwork ... land inne frēondlice printed as shown: expected form “frēondlīce”

binnan burgum ⁊ butan ... butan hī ⁊ heora printed as shown: expected form “būtan”

... alisendnesse is OE. ālīesednesse (but once ālȝsendnesse) initial ā in both words corrected by author from “a”

ā + w is au in saule ā corrected by author from a

7. ... Ūtfangeneþēof was the right to hang one’s own thief wherever caught Utfangeneþēof

V. A PARABLE

Manuscript: Cotton Vespasian A 22, British Museum. It is composite; a second MS., 224 × 153 mm. in two columns, begins at f. 54 with the pieces printed in OEH i. 217-45. It is written in a small and crabbed hand unlike that of a professed scribe. The use of the contraction marks is unsystematic and the readings are sometimes uncertain. The other articles bound up with this MS. before and after are historical and largely connected with Rochester Monastery.

Editions: Morris, R., Old English Homilies, i, pp. 231-41 (with translation), and Specimens of Early English.

Literature: Vollhardt, W., Einfluss der lateinischen geistlichen Litteratur auf einige kleinere Schöpfungen der englischen Übergangsperiode, Leipzig, 1888; Lauchert, F., Englische Studien, xiii. 83; Heuser, W., Anglia, xvii. 82.

Phonology: a is a, fram 38, maniȝe 54, lange 83, sandon 30, but o in longe 155, sonden 161. æ wavers between e (28 times), feder 42, hwet 17, stef creft 89, þes 72, &c., wes 1, 94, 96, and a (16), fader 40, hwat 49, þas 43, was 19, 27, water 46. e is regularly e, engel 41, menn 31, but æ in ængles 166 (ængel), mæn 22, 78, næmmie 112, and a in anglene 139, angles 146, man, pl. 23, 76. i is i, for which y is written in cyldren 42, cyrce 108, scyft 117: it is e in ȝeðe (= iþe) 165, þeser 74, þeses 113, repen 169 (= ripon), swepen 13; u in swupen 132. o is o, but a, an 4, &c. (= on), þann 120, þáleð 123 (comp. the dialectic taal, Dan. taale, EDD). u is u, but o in come 7, icome 115, sonne 46, all associated with m or n. y is regularly e, berie 7, ded 73, drench 46, euel 41, ferst 167, gelty 153, senne 91, 95, 151, but i in þrimsettles 36, (dier)chin 45; y in cyme 87 (? cime); o in formest 50, 72. mycel is represented by mucele 129, 137, moche 90: king 1, drihte 52 have i, as often.

ā is mostly a, fa 25, na 55, þa 106; but o in anon 12, cofe 27, cofer 17, gefo 22, go 22, more 97, 120, non 38, soriȝe 104, to 147, þo 140. clone 15, an isolated form, represents clāne. ǣ₁ is mostly e, arerde 80, clene 103, elc 112 (3), er 117, geð 157, helendes 87 (4), þer 139 (4); the traditional æ appears in ælc 91, 152, ær 18, 99, æer 21, ærst 69, ærndraches 16, 69; but it is a in halende 93, lat 124, stanene 81, þar 19 (7), unwraste 23; ea in unwreaste 79, 100, 104, 130, and eo once in leorde 109 (lǣrde) between l and r. ǣ₂ is uniformly e, adredeð 147, letes 129. ē is regularly e, but dieð 51 (= deð). ī is i; written y in tyme 77: gescung 54 is apparently gītsung. ō is o without exception. ū is u; but uncoðe 22. ȳ is normally e, ceðen 16, 70, 113, fer 46, 143, 155, scred 42; but litl 160, leoðre 169.

ea before r + cons. is a in arme 51, barn 60, middenard 39 (5), widerwardnesse 24; ea in bearn 50, 159, ȝearceon 6, ȝearnede 27; æa, gæarced 156; æ in ærfeð 3, and e in merchestowe 124. ea before l + cons. is regularly a, alle 4 (21), manifald 79; but manifeald 46, 90. The i-umlaut of ea is represented by weregede 131 (wiergod). eo before r + cons. is eo in eorðe 36 (4), heorte 72, leorninchnihtes 106; e in sterren 47; æ in ærlen 20. In the wur group, wur is written in wurð 143, otherwise wr = wur, derewrlice 10, wrð 77, 123, wrðeð 108, wrhmint 65, 93. The i-umlaut is represented by birne 154, abernð 143, sterfeð 163, werpð 45 (wierpð), werpeð 142, ?stiarne 13 (stierne). eo before l + cons. is seen in self 61 (7), sielfe 48. eo, u-umlaut of e is e in heuene 107, 163, hefenen 36, but heofene 171; å-umlaut is seen in fele 83; eo, umlaut of i, is e in clepeien 49, ȝeclepien 6, lefede 102, 155, lefie 155, seþe 51, 76, 170; eo in neowelnesse 36; i in silure 92 (silofr); u after w in cwuce 162, wude 47. Here also belong tolie 44, teolian and hare 85, 172, hares 56 from heora through heara, both with shifted accent. ea after palatals is a in gat 13, 117; e in scel 135; eo in sceol 147, ea in ȝesceafte 93, ia in ȝiaf 97; scandlice 151 is sceandlice, before nasal, ȝescepe 56 is gesceapen. ie after g is i in gife 86, ȝife 88, 109; ie in gief 98, ȝief 119, ȝiefe 11, forȝiet 60, underȝeite 4; e in forȝeten 59, 61, bigeten 55; scieppend gives sceappend 65, 93, sceppend 40, 41. The conj. gif is gief 12 (EWS. gief), ȝief 60, gif 63, ȝef 9. eo after g is seen in iunglenges 107 (geongling); eo after sc in sceolde 7, 25, 87, sceolden 12, 160; heom is ham 18, 55, heom 5; eom is am 162, ham 63.

ēa is ea in bread 162 (4), lean 135, deade 115, deaþe 123 (4), abreað 83; a in admoded 104, brad 29 (4), ȝecas 81, grate 6, hafed 51, hafedmen 108; e in eðelice 124; æ in ære 166. niatt 45 represents nēat, ȝie 49, gēa. The i-umlaut of ēa is represented by unhersamnesse 84. ēo medial is eo in beoð 108, &c., ibeoð 70, beon 69, bitweone 9, underþeod 6, 66, underþeoden 3, 17, leoem 45 written for leome (lēoma); e in betwenen 169, befel 3, 4, ȝede 95, fend 5 (8), frend 5 (9), frenden 28, 157, lefe 96, prestes 111; ie in bieð 54, 65, bienn 135, to bienne 43, diefles 95, dierchin 45, frienden 21, lief 59, underþiede 137; io in þiode 91. Final ēo is i, hi 50 (4), ibi 135, isi 55 (4), si 50 (6), þri 99, 101, and ie, besie 14 (besēon). The i-umlaut of ēo is seen in dierewurð 20, istriened 96, þiestre 53, þiesternesse 14; but derewrþe 138, derewrlice 10, fendes 133, aþestreð 144, þesternesse 27. īe gives ie in giet 53, ȝeiet 56, ȝie 24, 26. ēo from ō after sc is eo, ȝesceod 8, toȝesceodeð 117, ȝesceop 33, 39; but ȝescod 74, ȝescop 54.

a + g, h, is ag, lage 71, &c.; muȝe 49 has u by imitation of other pret. presents. æ + g is ei, deie 126, 137, meide 139, meiden 141, meidenes 166, neiles 146, seið 158, seieð 153; eȝ in deȝe 108, isegd 27, seȝð 163; eiȝ in seigd 34; e in sede 117, 119, seden 69, 160 (= sǣdon), ȝesed 114, mede 94 (= mæden); ai in mai 152, maie 148. The peculiar spellings dȝeie 68, dȝeies 52, dȝei 134 show the development of a y sound, but deȝie 7, 8, 116, maȝie 59, maȝi 34 appear to be for deiȝe, maiȝe, maiȝ. e + g is ei, þeinen 21, rien 47, written for rein: þenið 142, þeninge 46 go back to þēnian, þēnung: ongegn is represented by aȝen 101, aȝenes 24. A y sound has developed in ȝeie 43, 142 (ege); aȝeie 64 seems to have been influenced by OWScand. agi. ig is preserved in niȝen 138; ih in dihte 39, 41: exceptional is forðteh 42 (forðtihþ). o + g is seen in abroden 134, 156, abruden 27; heretoche 80; u + g in ȝebugon 25; y + h in drihte 52. ā + g, h give oge 59, ogen 60, oȝeð 64, aȝen 88, ah 43, fa 5. ǣ₁ + h, echte 55, tehten 110: ō + h, brochte 101, ibrocht 146, innoh 152: ū + h, þuhte 11.

ea + h, ht is ea in leahtrum 79, a in wax 81; miht, niht have uniformly i. eo + ht is i in cnihten 20: the i-umlaut is represented in isecgð 148, iseȝð 150 (= siehð), ȝesecðe 134, 156 (gesiehð). ēa + g, h is ag, ah, hagefaderen 140, hahes 171, þah 112, þahhweðer 60. ēo + h is e in wex 168; ih in rihtwisnesse 40, richtwise 147, 148, brictnesse 145, with ct for ht: lichte 50, 53; loht 45 is lēoht with shifted accent: īe + h gives nixtan 73. ā + w, daw 47, ȝesawen 165, sawe 44, sawle 42 &c., but feawe 96, scewie 22: ahte 122, nahte 33, ahct 49 come from āht, nāht. ǣ₁ + w occurs in ȝecnowe 71: ēa + w in unþeawes 132: ēo + w in ableow 42, bleowu 168, treowe 92, fierðe 105 (fēowerða), ȝeu 24, 113, ȝehw 119, ȝiu 117, ȝiure 52.

The vowels of the inflections are generally levelled to e, but a few remain from the scribe’s original; inf. wunian 159; pr. s. blissið 50, pr. pl. þenið 142; cwaciað 147; pt. pl. arerdon 85; pl. dunan 37, lagan 70, sandon 30; s. d. nixtan 73; pl. d. leahtrum 79; buton 38, 72, 95, bufon 149. Among vowels of minor stress are noteworthy ie in laðienge 6 (laðung), ȝelaðieres 82 (*laðere); a for e, þina 37; æ for e, anæ 6, ȝæarced 156; e for æ, rigtleceden 86, 103; e for i, iunglenges 107; e for o, hefenen 36, 107, sicernesse 128; i for e, adiligde 79, 84; eo for ie, ȝearceon 6; ei for i, clepeien 49. ableow 42 possibly represents onblēow. e is lost in ærndraches 16 (4), witȝin 89, and added in seneȝeden 153: seneȝden 154 is for senȝeden. The prefix ge, once written ge, gelest 2, is largely retained, but it is reduced to i in pp. ibroht, icome 115, idon, imaced, isent, istriened; inf. ibite, isi; ibruce 25, ibeoð 70, isecgð 148, iseȝð 150, innoh 152, uniredlice 131, iwiss 37; noteworthy is unitald 47.

w is lost in sa 54, se 86, alse 115; it represents wu in the wur group, wrð 77, wrhmint 65, derewrlice 10 &c., and similarly wlcne 145: u is written for it in uin 160, wu in bleowu 168, hwu 99. l is lost in swice 75, wic 142: final ll often becomes l, befel 3, bispel 31, ful 102. mm is simplified in wiman 59. The loss of final n in inflections is characteristic: it occurs also in bine 90 (binnan), bitweone 9, bute 17, morȝe 119, to fore 138, to for 22, upe 132: n is assimilated to m in næmmie 112, it is added in hesne 98, doubled in bienn 135, sennenn 132, þann 120 &c. on is weakened to a 126 (an 153). bb is simplified to b in habe 161; it is u in sweueð 53, perhaps influenced by Scand. svefja. For f the scribe writes þ in sielþe 48, selþ 61, 149, which perhaps represents an individual pronunciation. The voiced sound between vowels is represented by f, not u. The added t in mistlice is found in OE., that after n in berient, melstanent 170 is local, as sarment, suddent, varmint in the SE. modern dialects: t is doubled in fett 14; ts is s in milsi 59, c in milce 102. In an 130 d is lost (and 145), as in hlafor 21: it is written for þ in dierewurd 20, had 152, hafd 56, sede 170. For þ, f is written in of 11, 15, 108, ft in oft 134, 136; t in to 36 (?), 147 after ⁊ = ant: æt þǣre is eter 13, 117: it is lost after h in forðteh 42, and intrudes before h in awiðhst 37. sc is [š] in biscopes 111, sceolde 7, scandlice 151; ss is written for it in wasse 10, 123. c is palatalized in cheðen 70 (ceðen 16), dierchin 45 (fiscynn 46), ærndraches 16, machede 41 (macede 91). c is doubled in accenned 94. g is lost in witien 140 and final in almihti 32, ȝegen 156, leornin (ch[n]ihtes) 106: it is ch in heretoche 80, c in strencþe 97. The scribe generally uses ȝ for ġ: exceptions are gelest 2, gife 86, gief 98, gif 63, bigeten 55, iunglenges 107. The development of a y sound is seen in ȝeðe (= iþe), ȝeie 43; ȝ in ȝeu 24, ȝiu 117, ȝehw 119 has been adopted from the nom. ȝe. Initial h before a vowel is often omitted, abben 160, afeð 150, alste 36, is 28 &c., us 167; before consonants, laford 12, 61, wa 4, wat 24 (hwet 17), wic 142, wile 82: it is added in her 160, his 128 &c., hofne 170, hur 65, hure 44, hus 43, and hwe 69, which helps to the understanding of ȝehw 119. For ht, cht is written in echte 55, ibrocht 146, lichte 50, richtwise 147: ahct 49 is for acht (= āht); ct in brictnesse 145.

Accidence: Strong decl. of m. and neut. nouns. Sing. n. halende 93, helende 109, 163, sceppende 41 with participial terminations (sceppend 40), endedeie 118, gate 117 have added e: tacne 145 is tacen; drihte 52 has lost n. Gen. -es. Dat. -e: exceptions, anginn 115, bearn 50, barn 60, fer 155, gat 13 (gate 117), ȝegen 156, innoð 60, godspel 161 (godspelle 165), hlaford 65, licht 53 (lichte 50), mancyn 99, sceappend 65 (sceappende 93), þing 53. Acc. as nom.: accennende 103, a participle used as noun, fultume 47 with added e. Plur. n. m. -es: deade 115 has adj. term., wude 47 (wuda); neut. wlcne 145. Dat. -en, as apostlen 139, bearnen 159, bredene 81, cnihten 20, aldren 20, esten 158, kingen 32, martiren 140, melstanent 170, þeinen 21: exceptions, had 139 (= hādum), leahtrum 79, meiden 141, neiles 146, write 85, and ME. repples 13. The accent on hlafordé 32 may be a contraction mark. Acc. m. -es: neut. folc 68, niatt 45, þing 33, 101, 109; þrimsettles 36 has masc. form. Weak are anglene 139, pl. g., esten 159 pl. n., hefenen 36 s. g. comp. hefene 163. Strong decl. of fem. nouns: blisse 125, eorðe 45, lare 90, mihte 38, þiode 91, underþiede 137 (treated as compound of þēod), witnisse 149 have added e in the nom. sing.: ȝefered 138 has lost en; its dat. is ȝeferede 20. The other cases sing. and pl. which occur end in e, as merche (stowe) 124, rode 145, s. g.; echte 55 (possibly pl.), gife 86, 88, 109, s. d.; hesne 98, laðienge 6, lage 80, s. a.; senne 80, 91, 151, pl. d.; ahte 122, pl. a. Exceptions are wrldes 77, a masc. form, berient 170 (= byrgenne), ȝescung 54, gief 98 (possibly for gife), hand 37, nicht 53, s. d.; wrhmint 65 (wrhminte 93), s. a.; ceðen 16, 70, 113, underþeoden 17, pl. d.; hand 14, pl. a. underþeod, 6 is adj. used as noun. Weak forms are dunan 37, pl. a., lagan 70, pl. n., sennenn 132, pl. a., underþeoden, pl. n. 3.

Weak declension: Sing. nom. halege 126, mone 47, sonne 46, tyme 77, witiȝe 35: d. ære 166, heorte 72, heretoche 80, time 84, witie 57, uuantruce 122, acc. deme 148, lichame 41, 126: leoem 45 is probably for leome. Plur. nom. ȝeferen 15, sterren 47, 144; dat. swepen 13, swupen 132, witȝin 89, witien 140; acc. witiȝe 85, ȝefo 22. ærndraces 69, pl. n., 16, pl. a. have adopted a strong inflection: nixtan 73, s. d. is adj. used as noun.

Minor declensions: burh 166, berie 7, s. d.; fader 40, 44, feder 42, s. n., feder 48, s. d., hagefaderen 140, pl. d.; fett 14, pl. a.; frienden 21, 28, 157, pl. d.; mannes 72, 118, s. g.; man 76, s. d., 41, s. a.; menn 31, hafedmen 108, man 23, 76, pl. n.; mannen 153, pl. d., 159, pl. g.; mæn 22, mænn 78, pl. a.

Adjectives: Remnants of the strong decl. linger in ecer 128, s. d. f., soðe 65, grate 6, s. a. f.; and perhaps hage(faderen) 140 (= hēagum); of the weak decl. in fulle 127, gode 121, s. n. m., lefe 96, s. n. f., mucele 137, s. d. m., 129, s. d. f., richtwise 148, soriȝe 104, s. a. m., unwreaste 104, s. a. neut. hahes 171 is a strong form for weak; haliȝe 102 a strong fem. qualifying lif, neut. The pl. inflection in all cases is -e, so ȝeredie 131, stanene 81. Longer words are often uninflected, as manifald 79, 90, dierewurd 20 (derewrþe 138), wrldlic 55; also ful 54, gelty 153, hali 122, 140. Adjectives used as nouns are senfulle 147, s. n.; fa 25, fo 156, latst 8, 69, nixtan 73, s. d.; innoh 152, s. a.; richtwise 147, pl. n.

Pronouns: Noteworthy are hwe 69, ȝie 24, 26 (ȝe 116); ȝeu 24, 113, ȝiu 117, 160, ȝehw 119. The pronoun of the third person is, Sing. n. he, m. hi 50, 51, 59, 60, f.; hit, neut.; d. him, m.; a. hine 10 &c., him 14, m. hit, n. Plur. n. hi, i in combinations icome 17, ibeoð 70, mihti 55; d. heom 5, ham 18, 55, 147; a. m. hi 117. From *seo f. are his 81 s. a. f. (= is) and his 117, pl. a. m. (= is), es in letes 129, pl. a. n., for which forms see Anglia, Beiblatt vii. 331, xi. 302. The dat. s. pl. with self uninflected occurs as definitive adj. 61, 81, 149; s. and pl. with selfe as reflexive, 55, 91, 151, 152; us sielfe 48. Possessives are mine 64, mi 63, s. n. m., mine 25, 156, s. d. m., mire 24 (with rice neut.) 26, 154, mine in other cases; þina 37, s. d. f.; ure, hure, ur, hur 65, with ures 87, 106, s. g. m.; is, his, hire; ȝiure 52, ȝeur 153; hare 85, 172, hares 56, s. g. m. his 21, 29, pl. d. is used as noun, his men. The def. article is, Sing. n. m. se, once seo 66; f. si, with neut. tacne 145, but rode is fem., gate 117; neut. þat 143: g. m. þes, with wrldes 77, ses 87, by analogy from se; neut. þes: d. m. þa, þe, (to) ðe 22; f. þare 93, with neut. gate 129, þar 19, þer 139, (i)þer 123, with m. 141, with neut. 13, 117; neut. þam, þan 118, 158, þe 50, 145, (i)þe 161, ȝeðe 165, þa 110, probably for þan: a. m. þann 120; f. þa 54 &c., neut. þat 168. Pl. n. m. þa, þe, (⁊) to 147; d. m. þa, þo: a. m. þe 85. Used pronominally si 83, s. n. f.; þat 97, s. n. neut.; þa 26, pl. n. m.; þan 141, pl. d. m. The compound demonstrative is, Sing. n. m. þes; f. þes; neut. þis: d. m. þese 48; f. þisser, þesser, þeser; neut. þese 118, 163: a. f. þas 80; neut. þis. Pl. n. þes, þas: g. þeses: d. þesen: a. þes. Exceptional is þas 43, s. n. neut. (OE. occasional þæs). The relative is þe 26, 32, 97; wam 48, 96, s. d.; introducing dep. questions, wa 4, 66, hwa 67: interrogatives, hwat, hwet, wat 24, wic 142: indefinites are n. m. an 1; d. m. ane 68, neut. ane 164, ene 7, an 53; a. m. ænne 7, f. anæ 6, neut. a 57; n. m. f. ælc, elc; g. m. elces 118; a. m. elce 116; swice, pl. n. m.; nahte 33, s. d. n. Sum 17, s. n. has oblique cases in e 56, 82, but sum 92, pl.: fele 83, maniȝe 54, 109 are plurals: oðre (once oðere) is constant: eall is sing. n. all, al; d. f. alle 66, neut. 4, 24 (rice is regarded as fem.); a. f. alle 96, neut. all, al 47. The plural is alle; but all 15, al 141.

The infinitive of verbs ends mostly in e, fandie 130: noteworthy are besie 14, isi 55: ȝief 119 has lost e before him. wunian 159 is a survival; others in n are ȝearceon 6, ȝeclepien 6, clepeien 49, don 88, finden 173, forȝeten 59, abben 160. Dat. inf. with inflection, bienne 43, donne 152; without inflection abiden 11, bigeten 55, don 51, fulforðie 98, ȝelaðie 17, 78, isi 137, sawe 44, tolie 44. Pres. s. 1. forȝete 61, lefie 155, nell(ic) 60; 2. awiðhst 37, belocest 37, halst 36; 3. blisseð 52 and 8 others, but contracted forms predominate, abernð 143, belimpð 128, cumþ 114, 121, 129, ett 163, fett 42, fet 171, ȝemet 133, ȝestrenð 112 (gestrengeþ), isecgð 148, iseȝð 150 (siehð), lat 124 (lǣdeþ), sit 138 and 9 others. Exceptional are blissið 50, had 152 (hæfð), scred 42 (scrȳt), scyft 117, forðteh 42 (tyhð). Subjunctive pr. s. forȝiet[e] 60, habbe 74, letes 129 (lete + es), milsi 59, underfo 126. Pres. pl. 1. habbeþ 48, siggeð 114, wene (we) 49; 3. adredeð 147, aþestreð 144 &c.; but cwaciað 147, þenið 142 (Archiv lxxxix, 160-6). Subj. pr. pl. næmmie 112, scewie 22. Imp. pl. understandeð 31, 99, witeð 155, wite (ȝe) 125. Past of Strong Verbs: Sing. I a. cweð 21, et 28, ȝiaf 97; I b. com 19, nam 5; I c. dranc 28, ȝelamp 1; II. astah 162, wratẹ 81 (wrāt); III. abreað 83, ȝecas 81; IV. ȝesceop 33; V. ableow 42, bleowu 168, befel 3, wex 168. Pl. I a. cweðe 18, 1. pl.; I b. come 9; I c. sturfe 28; II. repen 169; III. ȝebugon 25. Subjunctives are I b. come 12, 20; V. ȝewold[e] 55. Pp. I b. icome 115; I c. abruden 27, abroden 134, 156; II. begripe 95; III. belocen 16; IV. ȝescepe 56, understande 116; V. beswapen 151, ȝesawen 165, ȝewasse, uniwasse 123. Past of Weak Verbs ends in -de, -ede, arerde 80, clensede 103 &c.: diht 41, gelest 2, send 78, sett 72 have dropped final e. Pl. -den; once arerdon 85: sede 117, 119, lefede 155, acolede 90, ȝearnede 27 have lost n. The pp. ends in -ed, -d, -t; once acende 101, beside accenned 94: unwemmede 94, weregede 131 are inflected. Minor groups: wat 54, pr. s.; ah 43, pr. s., oȝeð 64 (āgon), 1 pr. pl.; scel 135, sceol 147, pr. s., scule 26 &c., pr. pl., once sculen 161, sceolde 87, pt. s., sceolde 7, sceolden 12, 160, pt. pl.; mai 152, pr. s., but maȝi 34, maie 148, maȝie 59, pr. s. are subjunctive in form; muȝe (we) 49, 1 pr. pl., mihtí (mihte hi) 55, mihten 86, pt. pl.; am 162, ham 63, 1 pr. s., his 33 &c., is 36, pr. s., beoð 70, 108, 146, bieð 54, 65, pr. pl., beon 69, bienn 135, pr. pl. subj., was 19, wes 1 &c., pt. s., were 99 &c., wer 69, 75, pt. pl., were 5, 10 &c., pt. s. subj., 8, 15, 16 &c., pt. pl. subj., ibi 135 (*gebion), pp.; don 72, 73, pr. s. subj. but plural in form, ded[ė] 73, pt. s.; to gað 145, pr. pl., go 22, 1 pr. pl. subj.

Accents are used extensively, but on no consistent principle, so láge 79, lage 80; arerde 80, arérdon 85; áȝenes 34, aȝénes 24. They are mostly placed over long vowels, but they are used to indicate separate pronunciation of the vowels in méé 158, bethléem 167, besíé 14. Similarly they show that a vowel is not to be slurred in belocést 37, clénséde 103, macéde 91, ?Æér 21; that i is to have its full vowel value (not y) in ȝeclepíen 6, ȝelaðíe 17, halíe 85, 107, halíȝe 140, maníȝe 54, 109, witíe 57, 62, witíge 85; and that final e is to be pronounced in forté 137, mihté 38. Sometimes the accent has been exchanged with a contraction mark, as hlafordé 32, acénde 101. It is only a diacritic, answering to the printed dot, in íunglenges 107, ímaced 164, þenínge 46 &c., and over y written for i in scýft 117, cýme 87, týme 77. In diphthongs it marks the stressed element, séo 66, unterþéod 6, líef 59, níatt 45; in leóem 45 it shows shifted accent (as in loht 45), so feáwe 96, ?bleówu 168, ?leórde 109: sónne 46, féce 7 are hard to understand. In unwēmmed 139, the contraction mark has been kept, although m has been added; hīne 133 is curious.

Dialect: There is a considerable survival of older spellings from the West-Saxon original. The scribe’s language is South-Eastern strongly affected by Kentish, a mixed dialect such as might be current on the south-eastern border of Kent, or used by a southern man, not of Kentish extraction, but resident in the county, possibly at Rochester.

Introduction: This piece, like its predecessor in the MS., which is a transcription of Ælfric’s De Initio Creaturae, is, at least in part, an adaptation of an older, probably pre-Conquest homily, as is shown by the occurrence of archaic inflections and constructions (comp. to 8, hungre 28, hatrede 24, &c.; the extensive use of the subj. mood), and by its OE. vocabulary (þrimsettles 36, hagefaderen 140 &c.) almost free from any foreign element. Vollhardt suggested as its source the 46th chapter of the Liber de S. Anselmi Similitudinibus, a collection of parables and sayings of S. Anselm recorded by his biographer Eadmer, probably after the death of his master in 1109 A.D. This is printed in Anselmi Opera, ed. Gerberon, App. 161; Migne, P. L. clix., 625 and Vollhardt, 25. That the two versions are related cannot be doubted, but a consideration of dates compels the conclusion that they have a common source, or that the Latin is not S. Anselm’s.

The parable and its application is in the Latin brief and direct, in marked contrast to the vivacity, fullness of detail, and diffuseness (comp. 3. 19, 136) of the English. The latter has also expanded the application of the parable by much extraneous matter: i. The Creation Theme, 31-66; ii. The Five Ages of the World; iii. The Doomsday Theme, 136-156; iv. The Living Bread, 160-173, all of which is wanting in the Latin.

For filii 58 read filio, and for descendit 162, descendi.

There is no title in the MS.: Rex Suos Judicans is from Anselm’s title.

2. gelest, extended; probably the earliest example of the word in this sense. OE. gelǣstan, to accomplish, follow, last. With wide ⁊ side, spacious, extensive, comp. ‘Ðu leof cyningc leod-scipas ðine wide and side þu hætst,’ Ælf. Lives, i. 496/145; ‘⁊ ta wass Romess kinedom | Full wid ⁊ sid onn eorþe,’ Orm 9173.

3. ærfeðtelle, difficult to number; comp. ‘earueðhealde,’ 48/311; ‘Earfoðfynde,’ Ælf. Lives, i. 492/82; ‘arueðwinne,’ OEH ii. 49/14. OE. earfoðe, ēaðe, unēaðe are usually followed by the dat. of the infinitive, ‘earfoðe is ænegum men to witanne,’ Cura Past. 51/5, to which corresponds, ‘Hit is arfeð to understonden,’ OEH ii. 205/14; but they are also associated with a kind of verbal noun having a dat. termination in e, in imitation of the Latin supine in u, as earfoðlǣre, ēaþlǣre, unēaþlǣce, and the two words come to be treated as a compound adjective. For the acc. inf. comp. ‘Ac þe ben swo fele ꝥ hie ben arfeð tellen,’ OEH ii. 201/30.

4. ꝥ—befell, lit. that it occurred to him in purpose, that he formed a resolution: comp. ‘Ich wilnie a mine þonke; to walden al Rome,’ L 25091; ‘þat him wes on þonke,’ id. 13258.

5. nam him to rede, lit. took to himself for counsel, adopted the plan: comp. 110/298; ‘nam him to ræde,’ Ælf. Lives, i. 64/230; ‘let him to ræde,’ id. 506/319; ‘hwæt him to ræde þuhte,’ id. 244/113; ‘him to ræde fand,’ BH 201/25. See Minot vi, 68 note. For omission of subject after ꝥ, see 6/18 note.

7. berie was meant to supersede curt, but the scribe forgot to put dots under the latter. He uses berie regularly afterwards. With ꝥ comp. ‘& swa he nom enne dai; þat come heore drihtlice folc,’ L 2550.

8. be þe latst, at the latest; so 14/69. to, at: comp. 14/68; ‘to þan dæie heo comen,’ L 13187.

9. mistlice, variant of mislice (Bülbring § 535). It means, diversely, of different sorts, friends and foes. But note fastlice, 16/114.

10. derewrlice, so as to confer honour on him.

11. formemete, first meat, breakfast, the ‘morȝemete’ of 16/125; ‘mixtum cibi,’ Ans. With to lang, comp. 4/38.

12. none, after formemete is probably for nonemete, midday meal, dinner: though to might mean at, as at l. 8. See 206/323.

13. stiarne swepen: ‘strong whips,’ Morris: ‘stiff (strong) whips,’ Specimens: comp. 16/132. But the adj. is rarely applied to a thing: perhaps stearce or smerte would suit better.

14. besie, look to, provide for, handle: comp. underfangeð 16/131; ‘Euele thai gonnen him bisen,’ Seuyn Sages, 507 (said of a whipping); bisen, 202/195 is similar, look after.

15. abide, inf. depends on he sceolde understood from sceolden 12. clone, without exception, entirely: comp. ‘Ne dude hit noht þe king ane; ah duden we alle clæne,’ L 8825; ‘mare ich habbe ane; þane þa oðere al clæne,’ id. 13059, 13264.

17. hwet bute icome, lit. What but they came? i.e. What did they but come? they came of course. Comp. ‘nis þer bute þonken God.’ AR 382/26 with ‘Hwæt magon we secgean buton ꝥ hi scotedon swiðe,’ AS. Chron. E 1083. Similar in effect but exclamatory is ‘Hwæt þá se casere cwæð him tó andsware,’ Ælf. Lives, i. 46/358; OEH i. 229/26.

18. bi ham, with reference to them, in their case: comp. ‘gif þu witan wille hwæt be Criste gedón wæs on Iudea lande,’ BH 177/1.

23. wente he hin, ‘then turned he,’ Morris, as though for hine. But hin is rather for in.

24. lacede: Morris altered to makede, but the text means, of what did you feel the want?

25. ȝewinne, with the rare meaning of contend; usually, to conquer. It takes wið in OE., but comp. ‘wunnen aȝean,’ AR 238/17. ȝebugon, not ‘bow to, be obedient to,’ Morris, but, turned aside from me and to my foes; L. declinare: comp. ‘hi alle to rede gebuȝon,’ OEH i. 219/27. Swa ibruce &c., As surely as I possess my kingdom: brūcan usually takes a genitive; here with dative or accusative.

26. mete ibite: comp. ‘ne moste he nauere biten mete,’ L 15340; KH MS. L 1131 note.

28. þe: conj. = þæt consecutive, with the result that: see 50/334 note. sturfe hungre: contrast 7/75: the construction, like that of the dat. ‘hatrede ⁊ widerwardnesse’ 24, is OE., ‘menn . . . lætað cwelan hungre Cristes ðearfan,’ Cura Past. 326/5. Morris translates nam hit him, betook himself: for the correction in the text comp. 17/157, 213/539 note.

30. sandon, courses: comp. 207/349; ‘þas beorn þa sunde; from kuchene to þan kinge,’ L 24601. For the meaning of vii. comp. ‘Id enim frequens & usitatum est in sacris Litteris, ut septenarius numerus interpretetur dona illa, quae perfecta sunt, & quae desursum sunt,’ Gilbert of Hoyland in S. Bernardi Opera, ii. col. 120.

31-39. A parallel passage is ‘He is ealra cyninga Cyning, and ealra hlaforda Hlaford. He hylt mid his mihte heofonas and eorðan, and ealle gesceafta butan geswince, and he besceawað þa niwelnyssa þe under þyssere eorðan sind. He awecð ealle duna mid anre handa, and ne mæg nan þing his willan wiðstandan,’ Ælf., Hom. Cath. i. 8: comp. OEH i. 219, 1-3 for a modernization of the first half to geswince. Our writer was acquainted with the De Initio Creaturae, but he has translated ‘Qui celorum,’ l. 35, independently. The ultimate source is the antiphons, &c., at vespers in October and November. ‘Benedictus dominus qui creavit celum et terram,’ York Breviary i. 597; ‘Domine rex omnipotens in ditione tua cuncta sunt posita: et non est qui possit resistere voluntati tue,’ id. 599; ‘Qui celorum contines thronos et abyssos intueris, domine rex regum, montes ponderas, terram palmo concludis,’ id. 610.

34. wiðstande has double construction (1) with aȝenes, (2) with him: for the former comp. ‘Ic wiðstande ongen eow,’ ‘Ponam faciem meam contra vos,’ Levit. xxvi. 17; for the latter the quotation from Ælfric in the preceding note. him seigd: this use of the dative pronoun, mostly in the third person, with intransitive verbs to reinforce the subject, is seen in ‘warschipe hire easkeð,’ 119/75; ‘Affrican hire feader wundrede him swiðe,’ 141/62; ‘ȝe schulen . . . sinken . . . ow,’ 146/111; ‘He is him ripe,’ 159/167; 197/16; ‘ꝥ word him herde Androgeus,’ L 8525; ‘þer him cumeþ iudas,’ OEM 42/174, 38/31; ‘men sullen . . . hem þar bidden,’ OEH ii. 23/21; KH 137 note: with acc. exceptionally, ‘And gon hyne to abidde,’ OEM 41/156. See also 54/27, 81/90, 215/25.

35. witiȝe: the antiphon is drawn from Isaiah xl. 12, Daniel iii. 55; see 14/57.

36. to: Morris altered to tho without necessity, if it is the art. (see 17/47); but it is probably a preposition, see 124/249 note.

37. · iii · prou.: Morris read in pon. The reference is to the Third Book of the Proverbs (the division into books, as in Bede’s commentary, preceded that into chapters), and probably to ch. xxx. 4.

38. for þan þe is the usual expression: for þat þe may be right.

42. sawle ableow: comp. ‘God þa geworhte ænne mannan of láme, and him on ableow gast,’ Ælf. Hom. Cath. i, 12/28; ‘him on bleow gast’, OEH i. 221/17; ‘him anbleow sawle,’ id. 223/9; ‘And his licham of erðe he nam, | And blew ðor-in a liues blast,’ GE 200; ‘dû bliese im dînen geist în,’ MSD i. 81/7. fett &c.: comp. ‘he scryt me wel and fett,’ Wright’s Vocabularies, i. 93/27.

43. þas: Morris read [vel as].

44. his as a correction is not inevitable, but it improves the rhetorical effect.

45. werpð, lit. casts, i.e. sends forth: comp. 151/45. leoem ⁊ lif: comp. ‘to lif ⁊ to leomen,’ SK 1046.

48. of wam: from ‘In ipso enim vivimus et movemur et sumus,’ Acts xvii. 28.

49. acht, acc. used as adv., in any wise, at all: comp. ‘Ne mihte he neuere finden mon; þe him oht wolde fulsten,’ L 6601. moder: comp. ‘Sed et tu, Jesu, bone Domine, nonne et tu mater? Annon es mater qui tanquam gallina congregat sub alas pullos suos?’ Anselmi Opera, 300.

50. chereð. The MS. reading cheteð is explained, console, cheer, as possibly from OWScand. kǣta, but this is rejected by Björkman, 260. There is no other instance of the word. be = mid, l. 52, with.

52. All this doth your lord.

53. Comp. ‘Est autem noctis umbra mortalibus ad requiem corporis data, ne operis avida continuato labore deficeret ac periret humanitas,’ Bedae Opera, ed. Giles, vi. 158.

55. ȝewold, for omission of subject see 6/18 note.

56. hares unþances, see 10/167 note.

57. word: Morris reads worden, in wonderful words, which may be right: the same scribe writes wordon once, wordum twice elsewhere. Numquid &c. The Vulgate has ‘Numquid oblivisci potest mulier . . . ut non misereatur filio?’ Isaiah xlix. 15.

59. la lief, O beloved: comp. ‘Eala men þa leofoston,’ BH 165/32; ‘La leof ic bidde eow,’ Ælf. Lives, i. 522/580; ‘Eala, leof hlaford’ = O mi domine, Thorpe, Analecta, 19. his: OE. wīmman is masculine.

61. be — is, as regards his being father.

62. In the Vulgate, ‘Si ergo Pater ego sum ubi . . . et si Dominus ego sum’ &c., Malachi i. 6.

63. manscipe, the first occurrence of the word in the sense of homage. In OE. it means humanity, courtesy.

64. G. m., Gode men.

70. fif lagan: the five laws correspond to five ages of the world. The division here is unusual. The English writers mostly follow S. Augustine, who gives six, so Bede, Alcuin, Ælfric, de vetere Testamento; but Wulfstan has seven, Anselm and Herbert de Losinga eight. In another place Ælfric has five, but different from those of our writer; see Hom. Cath. ii. 74.

71. ȝecnowe, revealed.

74. ȝescod, discretion, reason: see 122/176.

77. nas tid &c. Comp. ‘he fram frymðe middaneardes oð his geendunge ne ablinð to asendenne bydelas and láreowas to lǽrenne his folc,’ Ælf. Hom. Cath. ii. 74/10, which is probably from ‘a mundi huius initio usque in finem ad erudiendam plebem fidelium praedicatores congregare non destitit,’ S. Greg. Hom. i. xix.

79. adiligde, was destroyed: passive use, OE. ādīlegian, to destroy. unwreaste leahtrum: see 118/30 note.

81. wrate &c. Comp. ‘God awrát ða ealdan ǽ mid his fingre on ðam stǽnenum weax-bredum,’ Ælf. Hom. Cath. ii. 204/1. his, the law.

82. ȝelaðieres: comp. ‘sende hire his sondesmen biforen, þet weren þe patriarkes ⁊ þe prophetes of the Olde Testament,’ AR 388/14.

83. fele; see 132/9.

84. wat, until: comp. 217/102: often with al, 215/26; ‘al hwat hie hine fordemden,’ VV 51/12 and frequently: wat is relative conj. substituted for þat, with same meaning; see 72/179, 108/245: so þen exchanges with hwanne, þer with hwær. þe, when, so þa 93.

85. arerdon, set up, established: comp. ‘þæt is þonne ǽrest þæt ic wylle þæt man rihte laga upp arǽre,’ Schmid, Gesetze, 270.

87. hlafordes . . . helendes . . . cristes: this appositional construction is OE.; comp. ‘on drihtnes naman ures hælendes cristes,’ Ælf. Lives, i. 366/46: it is fairly common in early ME.; comp. 8/106, 9/121, 9/137, 12/6, 7.

89. stef creft: OE. stæf cræft, the art of letters, and hence, book learning.

90. Eft bine fece ⁊: with this superfluous and connecting a phrase to the main sentence, comp. ‘Him þa gyt sprecendum ⁊ soþlice þa beorhtwolcn hig oferscean,’ S. Matt. xvii. 5. (= ‘Adhuc eo loquente, ecce nubes lucida obumbravit eos.’) acolede, cooled, lost its vigour: comp. ‘⁊ forþam þe unryhtwisnys rixað manegra lufu acolaþ,’ S. Matt. xxiv. 12 (= ‘refrigescet charitas multorum’). See 159/161.

91. hur ⁊ hur, especially: a doubling for emphasis of OE. hūru, at least: comp. 149/11.

92. awente &c.: ‘Qui commutaverunt veritatem Dei in mendacium: et coluerunt et servierunt creaturae potius quam Creatori,’ Romans i. 25.

95. begripe, seized, in the grip of: comp. ‘seo sawul bið micele atelicor, gif heo mid mislicum leahtrum begripen bið,’ Ælf. Hom. Cath. i. 122/23. diefles muðe: comp. 17/150. Mediaeval art gave a very literal rendering of ‘infernus . . . aperuit os suum absque ullo termino: et descendent fortes eius, et populus eius, et sublimes, gloriosique eius ad eum,’ Isaiah v. 14; see Wright, History of Caricature, 69-71.

97. sette, ordained, established: comp. ‘þis synd þa . . . laga þe drihten gesette betwyx him and Israhela folc,’ Levit. xxvi. 46.

99-104. Comp. ‘Triplici morbo laborat genus humanum: principio, medio et fine, id est nativitate, vita et morte. Nativitas immunda, vita perversa, mors periculosa. Venit Christus, et contra triplicem hunc morbum attulit triplex remedium. Natus est enim, vixit, mortuus est: atque eius nativitas purgavit nostram, mors illius destruxit nostram, et vita eius instruxit nostram,’ S. Bernardi Op. ii. 776. The Liber Sententiarum, from which this passage comes, is placed by Mabillon among the doubtful works. There can be little doubt that it is the source of the English passage.

100. ful: comp. 29/33. grislic: inspiring terror and shrinking: see 120/94.

101. þer aȝen, to remedy these blemishes of our nature: L. remedium.

102. efer þurh, ever through, throughout, perpetually. milce, not the active mercy, compassion, but meekness, patience.

103. acennende, the being born, birth: present participle with the same meaning as the new verbal noun acenneng, 100. The OE. noun is ācennednes or ācennes.

104. admoded, submissive: ‘Humiliavit semetipsum factus obediens usque ad mortem,’ Philippians ii. 8. The contrast is between man’s shrinking from death and His voluntary acceptance of it.

105. ȝelice: read grislice as suggested by W. H. Brown, Mod. Lang. Notes, vii. 226.

106. Omit þer, put full stop after iunglenges, and understand from the previous sentence were ærndraces.

110. þa may be dat. sing of the article as at 14/57, but more probably it = þan, then. folce to freme, for benefit to the folk; see 176/24 note. bedeles, heralds: comp. ‘Þa halgan apostolas, þe ðam hælende folgodon, wæron þa getreowan þeowan ⁊ ða fyrmestan bydelas, þe godes lare geond þas land toseowon,’ AS. Hom. ed. Assmann, 56/141; ‘wearð se halga iohannes ætforan him asend swa swa heofonlic bydel,’ Ælf. Lives, i. 342/94; Orm 19/633.

112. They are all one in God’s purpose. For on comp. ‘Alle hie bieð forsakene on godes awene muðe,’ VV 3/2.

114. fastlice, in steady flow, or, corresponding to ‘þicce þringeð,’ 116, crowding. It sometimes means vigorously, as in ‘hi fengon togadre fæstlice mid wæpnum,’ Ælf. Lives, ii. 98/489; sometimes firmly, ‘þing ðe godd fastliche ðe forbett,’ VV 37/23. See 12/9.

117. his, them. scyft, separates, is a mere synonym of ‘to ȝesceodeð.’ Perhaps scryft = scrifeþ, fixes their destiny.

119. morȝe mete, the ‘forme mete’ of 12/11.

120. more mete, the ‘fulle mete’ of 16/127; ‘none,’ 12/12; ‘vii sandon,’ 13/29.

121. witetlice of the MS. may represent OE. witodlīce, assuredly.

122. uuantruce, failure; as being compounded of wan, wanting, and the noun of trucian, to fail, it should mean absence of failure. hað: for omission of nom. see 6/18.

123. For the pain of dying as penance, comp. ‘Quidam autem electi in fine suo purgantur a levibus quibusdam peccatis,’ Isidore vi. 361; ‘Nullus tui Ordinis peribit, si Ordinem amaverit; aut in morte purgabitur, aut in brevi post mortem,’ Arnulf of Boheries in S. Bern. Opera, ii. 802.

124. eðelice lette, easy hindrance, i.e. slight delay. merchestowe: Morris suggests ‘merthestowe, a place of mirth,’ or alternatively translates the MS. reading, place marked out, place of separation. The word is not found elsewhere; it is probably a special coinage for the intermediate state, the place of the soul waiting for the body, the place of the ‘morȝemete,’ the limited joy of which the soul is capable in its severed state (‘requies ei, sed in anima sola, interim datur,’ Anselm, in Eadmer, 161 col. 2 B); the banquet of perfect felicity, ‘se fulle mete,’ follows when soul and body meet again at the resurrection, 17/157 (‘in anima simul & corpore laetabuntur,’ Ans.). Comp. March, ‘myddys be-twyn ij cuntreys,’ Prompt. Parv. ed. Mayhew, 282.

128. belimpð hit: a superfluous nominative, as if, what is it that happens?

129. letes in Specimens is resolved into lete + his, the latter being gen. of hit, governed by fandie, and so like ‘ȝif we his abiriȝdon,’ OEH i. 223/22. But support is lacking for enclitic es = his: it seems better to take letes as lete + es, pl. acc., them, or even as s. a. f. used incorrectly as neuter.

131. anu is taken by Morris as for anum, but neither his ‘at once,’ Specimens, nor ‘only,’ OEH, is satisfactory. Probably the original had anūge (= ānunge) gerǣde, entirely, quite ready, very keen.

132. hade, a past among the presents, is probably a mistake for habe subj. pres. of indefinite comparison, Howsoever many vices he has on him, just so many fiends he there encounters: fele has dropped out after swa 133.

135. In Specimens [habbeþ] is inserted after hi, with the translation, ‘and they shall have for their reward the home that long shall last.’ The text given means, they shall be thrust from his sight and into their reward which must last long for them. For hin = in, comp. 13/23, and for abroden into, 13/27. But the original may have had, ⁊ higien him to hire lēan þe lange sceal gelǣstan.

136. a þa mucele deie: comp. ‘on þam miclan dæge,’ Christ 1049, and often; ‘in iudicium magni diei,’ S. Jude, 6. See Deering, W., The Anglo-Saxon Poets on the Judgment Day, 8.

138. niȝen anglene had: ‘Novem esse distinctiones, vel ordines angelorum sacrae scripturae testantur: id est, Angelos, Archangelos, Thronos, Dominationes, Virtutes, Principatus, Potestates, Cherubim et Seraphim,’ Isidore, vi. 137.

141. þer midenarde . . . werpeð abec. The article is s. d. fem., the noun s. d. masc. The phrase might mean, with all those who for his love turn backwards to the world, but not, ‘put aside the world,’ Morris. It seems to be without parallel: such expressions as, ‘projecerunt legem tuam post terga sua,’ ii Esdras ix. 26, suggest the acc. þes midenard here.

142-146. The ultimate source is Ephraem Syrus, ‘Quomodo sustinebimus, Fratres, quum videbimus igneum fluvium . . . comburentem omnem terram et quae in ea sunt opera? Tunc, dilecti, ab illo igne flumina deficient et fontes evanescent, stellae cadent, sol extinguetur, luna abibit, coelum plicabitur ut volumen, sicut scriptum est . . . Quomodo sustinebimus tunc, Christo dilecti, quum videbimus terribilem thronum praeparatum et signum crucis apparens, in quo affixus est Christus voluntarie pro nobis,’ ed. Lamy, ii. 192. Comp. with the present passage BH 91.

144. With aþestreð comp. 123/230.

145. to gað, should ordinarily mean, parts in sunder, but in view of plicabitur in the quotation above (‘et complicabuntur sicut liber caeli,’ Isaiah xxxiv. 4), it may mean here, is rolled up. Comp. ‘& on þæm dæge heofon biþ befealden swa swa boc,’ BH 91/25. si hali rode tacne usually means, the sign of the cross, 130/65; BH 237/21; AR 106/9; here and OEH i. 121/9 it is the cross itself as a sign. Comp. ‘et tunc parebit signum Filii hominis in caelo,’ S. Matt. xxiv. 30, ‘and seo hea ród | Ryht aræred rices to beacne,’ Christ 1063. See also Deering, 42.

147. cwaciað: comp. 34/94; ‘oðe dom of Domesdai, þer þe engles schulen cwakien,’ AR 116/19. senfulle: comp. ‘þer þe crysmechild for sunnes sore schal drede,’ OEM 90/11. The passage bears considerable resemblance to ‘hinc erunt accusantia peccata, inde terrens justitia: subtus patens horridum chaos inferni, desuper iratus judex: intus urens conscientia, foris ardens mundus. Justus vix salvabitur; peccator sic deprehensus in quam partem se premet?’ S. Anselmi Op. 208.

148. bechece is translated in Specimens, ‘gainsay’ and connected with cigan, which is difficult both as to form and sense: probably it is written for beceche, deceive. beswice, get the better of.

151. beswapen, clothed: ‘et induit maledictionem sicut vestimentum,’ Ps. cviii. 18; ‘Qui oderunt te, induentur confusione,’ Job viii. 22.

152. an himselfe, concerning himself: comp. ‘Eft ne mot nan mann . . . secgan on hine sylfne,’ Ælf. Lives, i. 274/177.

153. ecenesse is strangely said of man’s earthly existence. Perhaps recelesnesse.

158. esten, dainties: comp. 50/359; metaphorically, it means delight, at 159. Delicie &c.: Prov. viii. 31; sunt is not in the Vulgate.

160. litl her, a little time ago.

161. Ego &c.: S. John vi. 51; in Vulgate, descendi.

162. astah: OE. astīgan is a neutral word the direction of which is indicated by an adverb. When alone, it is generally used of rising; but comp. ‘Ah crist . . . asteh of heuene riche,’ OEH i. 17/25; ‘he (Christ) asteh to þisse liue,’ id. 19/7.

164. alswa se, not, ‘as he also,’ Morris, but, just as, even as, 17/173: so alswa alse, 17/169; alse, 13/42, alswa, 17/170 = as.

165. ⁊ c.: ‘cadens in terram mortuum fuerit, ipsum solum manet,’ S. John xii. 24. was ȝesawen, at the Annunciation. The fanciful comparison is common in mediaeval writers: comp. ‘Elegit autem sibi quasi granum tritici Deus corpus de Spiritu sancto in utero virginali conceptum . . . in cruce illa [grana] moluit, in resurrectione cribravit,’ Petri Cellensis Sermones (Migne, P. L. ccii), 808.

167. com, sprang up; a common use in mod. dialects. ꝥ cweð us of breade is translated in Specimens, ‘which speaketh to us by bread.’ It means, of course, that is called house of bread: comp. ‘Bethleem is gereht “Hlaf-hús,” and on hire wæs Crist, se soða hlaf, acenned, þe be him sylfum cwæð, “Ic eom se liflica hláf,”’ Ælf. Hom. Cath. i. 34/14; ‘In coelis erat panis angelorum, set in bethleem factus est panis hominum. Merito igitur locus iste domus dicebatur panis, unde angelorum et hominum carnaliter fuerat oriundus panis,’ H. de Losinga, ii. 12; Orm 121/3528-35.

170. melstanent: ‘Pastor farinam moluit in cruce tanquam in molendino,’ P. Cellensis, 807. berient: the tomb as the oven is original. Comp: ‘Iste est ille, qui seipsum coxit in clibano passionis,’ Bede, vii. 369 (Cologne ed.); ‘Et sicut panis igne coquitur, ita Christus in camino passionis assatur,’ Elucidarium Honorii Augustodun., 1129; Adam. Praemonstr. 178 (Migne, P. L. cxcviii); Petrus Blesensis, iv. 33.

173. Ego sum &c.: S. John xv. 1.

Phonology: ... y in cyme 87 (? cime) cyme,

.... ǣ₂ is uniformly e æ₂

ē is regularly e, but dieð 51 (= deð) text unchanged: error for “dēð”?

... Final ēo is i, hi 50 (4), ibi 135, isi 55 (4), si 50 (6) (4) si 50

... æ + g ... eiȝ in seigd 34 seigð

e in sede 117, 119, seden 69, 160 (= sǣdon) corrected by author from sædon

ǣ₁ + h æ₁

Minor declensions: ... feder 48, s. d. d. s.

... man 76, s. d., 41, s. a. 41.

The infinitive of verbs ... Pres. s. 1. forȝete 61 1:

ȝestrenð 112 (gestrengeþ) ȝestrend

V. ableow 42, bleowu 168 V ableow

oȝeð 64 (āgon), 1 pr. pl. 1. pr. pl.

muȝe (we) 49, 1 pr. pl. 1. pr. pl.

26. ... KH MS. L 1131 note. Ms.

28. ... see 50/334 note. final . missing

37. · iii · prou. anomalous spacing unchanged

VI. THE PROVERBS OF ALFRED

Manuscript: Jesus College, Oxford, E 29, formerly Arch. i. 29 (J). It consists of two distinct MSS. bound in one; the second begins at f. 217 r. (new foliation) and was written not long after 1276 (Anglia xxx, 222). Its contents are best described in the Owl and the Nightingale, ed. J. E. Wells, Boston, 1907, at pp. ix-xiii. Our piece is written continuously as prose, each stanza forming a paragraph, but iv and v are in one without l. 54, which is here supplied, while l. 43 is written at the end of the preceding paragraph and similarly the lines beginning viii-xvii, xix-xxiii. The scribe was evidently struggling with an original which he could not always read; see footnote to l. 105.

Another MS. is B. 14. 39, Trinity College, Cambridge (T): see The Western Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, by M. R. James, vol. i. p. 438. It gives a much longer text very badly copied by a scribe little skilled in English.

A third copy in MS. Cotton Galba A. xix was destroyed in the fire at Dean’s Yard in 1731. But Wanley had printed a specimen (W), corresponding to ll. 1-21 of this edition, in his Catalogue (published in 1705), p. 231; and Richard James (1592-1638) had copied, from a transcript furnished to Thomas Allen (1542-1633), Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, by Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (1571-1631), in what is now MS. James 6, Bodleian Library (RJ), p. 68, pieces corresponding to ll. 1-23; 27-49; 52, 53; 55-64; 78-85; 168, 9; 173, 4; 211-13; 204-206; 236, 7; 307, 8, and two fragments which correspond to the text in MS. T, ll. 516-32; 652, 3, but are not in MS. J. Allen’s MSS. passed into the possession of Sir Kenelm Digby, who presented them to the Bodleian in 1638. But the transcript was not among them. It is a curious mistake to think that it ever formed part of MS. Digby 4, which has been caused by Langbaine’s calling the copy of the Poema Morale in that MS., Alfredi Regis Parabolae. This is clear from MS. Rawlinson D 325, which consists of Hearne’s notes to Spelman’s Life of Alfred; it contains the note printed on p. 131 of the Life, which is immediately followed by a cancelled extract from the Poema Morale in the Digby version. Allen’s transcript has disappeared.

The Cotton MS. was again used by Sir John Spelman (1594-1643) for his Life of Alfred. He says that ‘by the Courtesy of Sr Thomas [Cotton, 1594-1662] I am provided of a Copy of them.’ Apparently he was himself the copyist, for he speaks of the MS. as ‘faulty and ill writ, in a mungrel Hand (as well as Language).’ He gives what corresponds to ll. 1-64, and a paraphrase of six stanzas more. It is hard to say what Spelman actually wrote, for his own MS., which was probably University Coll. MS. 136. 8, has disappeared, and the three versions of it differ considerably. They are (1) Hearne’s transcript (SH¹) of Spelman prepared for the printer, now MS. Rawlinson D 324 (p. 225); (2) the Life of Alfred in English (SH²), published in 1709; (3) the Latin translation (SL) published in 1678. A fragment of the latter was copied in MS. Stowe 163, B. M. ff. 101-135; of the English poem it has ll. 1-19. The evidence which is to be got from the Spelman sources as to the text of MS. Galba is suspect. S signifies their agreement.

Editions: Wright, T., in Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 170 (J,T): Kemble, J. M., Salomon and Saturn. (T only). This book, without title-page, is dated in pencil in my copy, 1845, 6. It seems a first attempt for the following: Kemble, J. M., The Dialogue of Salomon and Saturnus. Ælfric Society, London, 1848, p. 225. Morris, R., An Old English Miscellany, 1872 (J; and T from Wright and Kemble), p. 53: *Skeat, W. W., The Proverbs of Alfred, Oxford, 1907 (J,T); *Borgström, E., The Proverbs of Alfred, Lund, 1908 (J,T).

Literature: Wülker, R., Ueber die neuangelsächsischen Sprüche des Königs Ælfred. Paul-Braune, Beiträge, i. 240: Gropp, E., On the Language of the Proverbs of Alfred, Halle, 1879: Zupitza, J., Anglia, iii. 570; Holthausen, F., Archiv, lxxxviii. 370-2 (emendations). Ekwall, E., Anglia, Beiblatt, xxi. 76-8. Skeat, W. W., Transactions of the Philological Society, 1895-8, p. 399. For Proverbs: Förster, M., in ES xxxi. 1-20: Kellner, L., Alteng. Spruchweisheit, Wien, 1897: Kneuer, K., Die Sprichwörter Hendyngs. Leipz. Dissert. 1901: Skeat, W. W., Early English Proverbs, Oxford, 1910; Tobler, A., Li Proverbe au Vilain, Leipzig, 1895: Catonis Disticha, in Baehrens, Poetae Latini Minores, iii. 205-42: Senecae Monita, ed. Woelfflin: Publilii Syri Sententiae, ed. Woelfflin, Lipsiae, 1869: Alanus de Insulis, ed. C. de Visch, Antwerpiae, 1654: Arnulf, Deliciae Cleri, Romanische Forschungen, ii. 211: Columbani Monostichon, Poetae Lat. Aevi Carolini, i. 275: Fecunda Ratis, ed. Voigt, Halle, 1889: Florilegium Gottingense, Rom. Forsch. iii. 281, 461: Florilegium S. Omer, id. vi. 557: Florilegium Vindobonense, Müllenhoff u. Scherer, Denkmäler, xxvii: Otloh, Beda, i. 1080: Proverbia Heinrici, MSD: Proverbia Rustici, Rom. Forsch. iii. 633: Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum, ed. Croke, Oxford, 1830: Wipo, ed. Pertz., Hannoverae, 1853.

Phonology: Oral a is a; a before nasals and lengthening groups, o, but can 231, manyes, 295, fremannes, 299: me, indef. pron. < man is due to loss of stress: þanne, þane, þan, hwanne are usual, but þenne 72, 91, hwenne 254. æ is mostly a, as always in after, at, fader, hwat, war 16, but e in eþelyng 44, gedelyng 214, gled 209, glednesse 30, gres 81, heuedest 187, queþ 19, &c., þet 154 (once), þes 63 (once), wes 4 and always; Ealured 6 occurs beside Alured 12, &c. e and e before lengthening groups is e, but ny 124 < ne: imulten 276 represents myltan. i is i, often written y, mostly in conjunction with n, but wule 91, 254, 286 (beside wile 154, wille 142), nule 69, after w, nele 254, OE. nele. o is o, but on is weakened to a 112, 200; ðone is þane 247, 248, þene 114, 116, 198 (LWS. ðane, ðæne). œ is represented in seorewe 151, 233, serewe 156. u is u, but bycome 138, where o is associated with m. y is u: munye 25 is OE. mynian; vordrye 227, OE. fyrþrian, is a French spelling; king, kyng, dryhten with y for i are exceptions as usual; steorne 207 is corrupt.

ā is o; a remains in bihat 245, mayþenes 130, madmes 133, 276. ǣ₁ is e: exceptions are vyches 276, euer uyches 54, which descend from ylc, agoþ 146, ouergoþ 143, without umlaut: nenne 296 is nænne. ǣ₂ is also e, but þar 4 &c., always. ē is e, but doþ 81. ī is i, often written y, but me 140 (mīn) is due to loss of stress. ō is o, but reowe 96 (rōwan), a French spelling. ū is u: for it w is written in hw 11, 22, 42. ȳ is u in byhud 163, cuþe 254, cuþeþ 170, lutel 215, 277, 312, luþre 257, but litel 281; þȳ has i in forþi 304, e in þe 82.

ea before r + cons. is e in erewe 156, a in arewe 152, þarf 108, 244; before length. groups, e in bern 311; its i-umlaut is seen in churreþ 53 (cierran), and, before length. group, yeorde 328 (gierd): ea before l + cons. is a, as al 105, &c.; before length. groups, e in weldan 130 &c., awelde 320, o in cold 237, holde 42, 102, 280, 304, &c., vpholde 113; its i-umlaut is seen in ealde 319, 330, elde 68, 71, 72 (ieldo), ildre 125 (ieldran). eo before r + cons. is eo in heorte 163, 166, smeorte 164, but e in werk 15, werke 16; before length. groups, eo in cheorl 58, eorl 4, eorþe 81, &c., yeorne 66, 69, leorne 170 &c., but furþ 113; its i-umlaut is shown in durlyng 7, hurde 6, vrre 136. The wur group has invariably u. eo before l + cons. is eo in seolf 308 &c., but sulue 284 (sylfe). ea, u-umlaut of a, is wanting in balewe 282, baleusyþes 189. eo, å-umlaut of e, is shown in feole 2, 249, and weole 78 (5), but fele 2, 132, 302 is without change; vale 300 is feala with shifted accent. eo, u- and å-umlaut of i, is seen in heonne 115, heore 11, seoluer 121, 134, but is wanting in huntseuenti 79; leofian appears only as libben 135. ea after palatals is a in schal 35 (8), gesc(e)apen is ischapen 92; ie after g is e in foryeteþ 137, yeue 90: eo after g is o in yong 195, yonge 328, yongmon 87; youþe 105, youhþe 66, 69, 98 (geogoð) show combination with the following g: eo after sc is o in scolde 87 &c., scholden 11: heom is heom 9.

ēa is normally a, but reade 80, lyen (= lēan) 289; its i-umlaut is e, foryemeþ 137, ilef 132, 248, nexte 265, iherest 251, but u in ihure 10, ihurd 205. ēo is normally eo, but e in forleseþ 137, fremannes 299, o in wolde 278, loþ 234, the latter miswritten for leoþ, r. w. forteoþ; the rhyme istreon 125 : lone (lān) is noteworthy: neode 141, 217, 265 is LWS. nēod arising beside nied by confusion with nēod, desire. īe in scīene, gesīene gives schene 213, isene 75.

a + g is aw, but seye 152, seyþ 234, 246, sayþ, 305: æ + g is ay, but seyde 24, iseyd 236, ised 230: e + g is always ey: ayeyn 95 = ongegn: o + g always ow: u + g gives mvwe 113 (LWS. muge), doweþes 118 (duguða).

ā + g is always ow: ā + h is ah in ahte 79: ǣ₁ + g occurs in feye 113; ǣ₁ + h in ayhte 125, 171, 274, but eyhte 145: ī + h in lyeþ 109 (lihþ): ō + g in inowe 133, plouh 61, brouhte 181: ū + g in buwe 201.

ea + h occurs in wexynde 112, 113, iauhteþ 171 (geeahtian), probably a miswriting of iachteþ in the scribe’s exemplar (T has hachte for æht, nocht, &c.): eo + h in bryht 211, rihtwis 34, mixe 276 (meox), vouh 129 is feoh; in case it corresponds to fēo, dative; Skeat and Borgström read veoh. ēa + h gives þeih 88 (9), þey 79. ā + w is ow in mowe 53, 60, sowen 59, isowen 80, au in saule 23, ou in nouht 35 &c. and ey in iseye 186 (gesāwe): ēa + w is ew in fewe 301, þewes 195, 312, vnþewes 262, eu in glev 256, vnþev 198, eaw in gleaw 30: ēo + w is eow in greowe 81, reowe 330, treowe 202, ew in rewe 71: the pron. ēow is ou 21, eu 142, ēower ower 141, eure 20, 23.