The Book of Cerne (Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS Ll. 1. 10) is an early ninth-century Insular or Anglo-Saxon Latin personal prayer book with Old English components. It belongs to a group of four such early prayer books, the others being the Royal Prayerbook, the Harleian prayerbook, and the Book of Nunnaminster. It is now commonly believed to have been produced sometime between ca. 820 and 840 AD in the Southumbrian/Mercian region of England. The original book contains a collection of several different texts, including New Testament Gospel excerpts, a selection of prayers and hymns with a version of the Lorica of Laidcenn, an abbreviated or Breviate Psalter, and a text of the Harrowing of Hell liturgical drama, which were combined to provide a source used for private devotion and contemplation. Based on stylistic and palaeographical features, the Book of Cerne has been included within the Canterbury or Tiberius group of manuscripts that were manufactured in southern England in the 8th and 9th centuries AD associated with the Mercian hegemony in Anglo-Saxon England.Brown 1991, pp. 211-212; Brown 1996, pp.15, 171-178; Brown 2001, pp. 278-291; Brown 2007, pp. 52-84. This Anglo-Saxon manuscript is considered to be the most sophisticated and elaborate of this group.Walker 2000, p. 193; Brown 1991, p. 211; Brown 2007, p. 53. The Book of Cerne exhibits various Irish/Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Continental, and Mediterranean influences in its texts, ornamentation, and embellishment.
Recent research of this manuscript by Michelle P. Brown suggests that the various Anglo-Saxon component sections of this book are conceptually inter-related and primarily associated with the doctrine of the Communion of Saints ("communio sanctorum").Brown 1991, p. 211; Brown 1996, pp.147-151; Walker 2000, p. 193. This doctrine is found in the Ninth Article of the Apostles' Creed ("Symbolum Apostolorum") and is based on the spiritual union between each Christian, living and dead, and Christ, and between each other Christian, which ultimately derives its origins in the "vita apostolica" and the inter-relationships or fellowship of the Early Christian congregations. This doctrine is found in the Anglo-Saxon Creed dating to the 9th century. However, in addition to the doctrine of the Communion of Saints, other themes are embedded in the texts and images that include a penitential and Paschal element that emphasizes baptism and communion (Eucharist), as well as notions of forgiveness and salvation.Brown 1996, p. 151.
Manuscript Organization and Contents
Contents and Organization The original early medieval Anglo-Saxon "core" of this codex is composed of six different, but conceptually inter-related sections or texts. In collational sequence, these sections are:
An Old English Exhortation to Prayer on folio 2 recto (r) Written in an Old English dialect, presumably Mercian, this text was to introduce the reader of this book to the main purpose of the following devotional texts. According to Brown the purpose of this exhortation was to emphasize the unity of the Communion of Saints in the form of the Roman Church on earth and in heaven.Brown 1996, p. 129. This introductory exhortation prayer is considered to be the earliest known extant example of Old English prose.Brown 2001, p. 289.
The New Testament Gospel Extracts on folios 2 verso (v) to 40r This section is composed of extracts of the Passion and Resurrection narratives from the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Kuypers noted that these extracts were from a Vulgate text with some anomalies or peculiarities.Kuypers 1902, pp. 226-231; cited in Brown 1996, pp. 130-131. They do have some affinities to Celtic Gospel books, but with corrections.Brown 1996, pp. 130-131. A full-page polychrome evangelist miniature with Latin inscriptions precedes each Gospel text (see below).
An Acrostic Poem on folio 21r This consists of a poem written in Latin with each line written in different alternating colored inks of red, purple, blue, and orange. This poem names Ædeluald Bishop ("Aedeluald episcopus"). It seems that this poem was placed to fill in a blank page caused by a scribal miscalculation.Brown 1996, pp. 131-136.
A series of Prayers and Hymns on folios 43r to 87v These seventy-one prayers and hymns, including the Lorica of Laidcenn (folios 43r-44v) were written in Latin, with Old English glosses. Thirteen prayers (Numbers 7, 10, 16, 26, 31–32, 63, 67–68, 70, and 72–74) exhibit Irish influences, seven prayers (Numbers 18–19, 53–54, 61–62, and 66) contain apocryphal content, and Marian devotion is found in six (Numbers 1, 15, 18, and 56–58) prayers.Brown 1996, pp. 136-141; see also Kuypers 1902, pp. 234-283; McNamara 1975.
A Breviate Psalter on folios 87v to 98r This section is composed of a selection of abbreviated Old Testament Psalm verses that are so ordered as to form a continuous prayer. The Book of Cerne only contains 272 verses, not the full 365 verses that are commonly found in these early Psalters. Psalms 118 to 136 are missing from this book, which may be due to errors in the exemplar from which it was copied, or these missing verses may not have suited the scribe's or patron's intentions.Dumville1972, pp. 384-385; Brown 1996, pp. 144. This form of abridged Psalm verses may suggest Irish influences, however, the Psalm texts used are from the Old Latin Romanum Psalter version, which supports the inference for an Anglo-Saxon composition. This section is introduced by a rubric in Latin "hoc argumentum forsorum [sic. versorum] oeðelpald episcopus decrepsit" ("Bishop Ædeluald has worn out these lines of proof").Brown 1996, pp. 143-145.
The Harrowing of Hell text on folios 98v to 99v The text of this liturgical drama is in a form of an apocryphal dialogue between the narrator, Adam, and Eve, with a choir/chorus that is indicated in the text by alternating black and red inks.Dumville 1972, pp. 380-381. This extra New Testament story tells of when Jesus went into Hell between the Crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection for the salvation of all the righteous who had died since the beginning of the world. However, the existing text may be incomplete with its ending now lost.Dumville 1972, pp. 380. According to Dumville this liturgical drama seems to be one of the earliest known examples of this text, influenced by the text of the Descensus ad Infernos found in the Latin version of the extra New Testament Gospel of Nicodemus, as well as a now lost Latin pseudo-Augustinian homily that has survived in an Old English version found in the Blickling Homilies (Princeton, Princeton University Library, W.H. Schelde Collection, Blickling Homilies), and the Roman Psalter.Dumville 1972, pp. 374-386; Brown 1996, p. 145. There is a conceptual or compositional relationship between this section and the preceding Breviate Psalter verses, as this Harrowing of Hell is a pastiche of verses from the Psalms. An Irish influence is suggested by the metrical structure of the hymns as well as the inclusion of the Breviate Psalter.Dumville 1972, pp. 382, 384, 385.
Later Accretions This early medieval core is sandwiched between two later sets of accretions dating from the 14th to the early 16th century AD that relate to the Benedictine Cerne Abbey in Dorset, and have provided this codex with its current name. The top set of accretions preceding the core is composed of 26 leaves containing between forty and fifty charters pertaining to the Abbey at Cerne Abbas and a prayer attributed to St. Augustine that date to the 14th century.Brown 1996, p. 28; see Davis 1958, p. 26. The bottom set of accretions following the core is composed of 28 leaves that include a text of the De Beata Maria and an inventory of the relics contained within the abbey dating between the 14th century and the early 16th century (pre-Dissolution).Brown 1996, p. 28.
Script The basic script in the Book of Cerne uses a Southumbrian/Mercian pointed minuscule that is consistent with Phase II Minuscule type identified by T.J. Brown.Brown 1982; cited in Brown 1996, p. 51. Throughout the original ninth century Anglo-Saxon texts there is little variation seen in the relatively high quality script, conforming to a "cursive media" grade script or basic cursive minuscule lettering.Brown 1996, pp. 51-52. Although minuscule letters are found throughout the majority of the text, there are variant examples that were used on higher grade letters, such as capitals, uncials, and half-uncials, that are occasionally embedded within the text to emphasize certain points, such as indicating punctuation marks to emphasize pauses.Brown 1996, p. 53. Based on the palaeographical evidence in this codex, it is inferred that only a single scribe was involved in the writing of the original Anglo-Saxon text.Brown 1996, p. 65.
Illumination and Decoration This manuscript was decorated and embellished with four painted full-page miniatures, major and minor letters, continuing panels, and litterae notibiliores. The ornamental elements include zoomorphic/animal, floral, interlace, and curvilinear motifs and designs. The color palette employed by the artist/illuminator consisted of pigments of gold, purple, blues, red, red/brown, yellow, green, white, and black. The pigment binding medium was clarified egg white or clarea.Brown 1996, pp. 70, 73.
The Evangelist Miniatures In the Book of Cerne the illuminations of the four evangelists precede each Gospel section containing the selected extracts from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These miniatures are found on the verso (v) sides of folios 2 (Matthew), 12 (Mark), 21 (Luke), and 31 (John). All four illuminations are consistent using the same format, but with nuanced variations that help to visually discern and introduce each Gospel section. The miniatures exhibit a more linear figural style.Webster 2012, p. 136. In the top center set within a circular medallion or roundel is a partial frontal human bust of the Evangelist who is beardless and has a halo or nimbus. He holds his Gospel book in his left hand, while the right hand is variable in each image. This medallion is located at the apex of an arched frame that is supported by two verticals or columns with capitals. These rest on or without a base on a bottom horizontal floor. Each set of capitals in these illuminations is different from each other. Set within the arch is a full-length figure is the particular tetramorph beast symbol of each particular Evangelist – Human/Angel (Matthew), Lion (Mark), Ox/Calf (Luke), and Eagle (John) – inspired by the vision found in the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel 1.10. All four evangelical beast symbols are all winged and haloed or nimbed, and each beast symbol holds a book in its fore or hind limbs. Each miniature is also accompanied by a set of two Latin inscriptions written in capital letters, one at the top flanking the human bust and the other at the bottom flanking the beast symbol.
The Gospel of Matthew Miniature on folio 2v