'Instructional Manuscripts in England: the Tenth- and Eleventh-Century Codices and the Early Norman Ones'

The essay offers a definition of the kind of manuscript which might have been employed for instructional purposes in late Anglo-Saxon England. The work is based on a complete survey of the content of the Anglo-Saxon manuscripts dating from the tenth to the twelfth century; a full list of such mss is provided in the Appendix. The educational texts in use in the Middle Ages generally occurred within a distinctive category of miscellaneous codices. As far as Anglo-Saxon England is concerned, it is possible to single out a number of ‘instructional’ manuscripts, with diverse but somehow consistent items. The range of educational texts comprised grammar primers as well as some classical and several Christian works, a few Carolingian and some native writers, and a constellation of short, anonymous compositions. The new and wider sense given to grammar was responsible for the creation of a specific type of manuscript where artes and auctores formed a coherent collection. It also influenced the lay-out of manuscripts in which the auctores were usually accompanied by interpretational frames in the form of glosses. The production of this kind of manuscripts increased throughout the tenth century, peaking around 1100, to drop off sharply in the Norman period. This study is part of a collection of nineteen essays by both Italian and international contributors that focuses on educational works and the layout and contents of the manuscripts in which these texts survive. The volume has been published within the series ‘Textes et Études du Moyen Âge’ of the Fédération Internationale des Instituts d’Études Médiévales’ published by Brepols (Turnhout). The volume, coedited by Lendinara with L. Lazzari and M.A. D’Aronco, is one of the major spinoffs of the research project ‘Form and Contents of Instruction in Anglo-Saxon England in the Light of Contemporary Manuscript Evidence’ (PRIN 2004).