'The Manuscript Tradition, Presentation, and Glossing of Isidore’s Synonyma in Anglo-Saxon England: The Case of CCCC 448, Harley 110 and Cotton Tiberius A. iii'

This essay presents a survey of the Anglo-Saxon manuscript tradition of the Synonyma by Isidore of Seville, as well as investigating their pedagogical aspects and the possibility that they were put to some didactic use in Anglo-Saxon England. In doing so, it is taken into account both the internal evidence of the text, that is the specific content and style of the Synonyma, and the context of their Anglo-Saxon manuscript tradition. In particular, the analysis focuses on two glossed witnesses of the Synonyma, that is Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 448 and London, British Library, Harley 110, as well as on London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius A. iii, one of the most important codices of the late Benedictine Reform. The latter manuscript is a crucial witness since it contains a vernacular epitome of the Synonyma and it has been associated with Ælfric Bata, whose Colloquia are heavily indebted to the Synonyma. The evidence surveyed shows that in both of the two major centres of the Benedictine Reform movement, Canterbury and Winchester, the Synonyma appear to have been alive and well. Their appreciation per se cannot of course be taken as positive evidence for their use within the Anglo-Saxon classroom (and without more discoveries it is hard to imagine how such proof could be furnished). However, the evidence provided by manuscripts such as CCCC 448 and Harley 110, on the one hand, and the knowledge of the Synonyma on the part of Aldhelm, ‘the first English man of letters’, as well as of Æthelwold, ‘the decisive force behind the development of [the Winchester vocabulary]’, and Ælfric Bata, a late representative of the Benedictine Reform pedagogy, on the other, allow us to conclude that the Anglo-Saxon literati were well aware of the pedagogical potential of the Synonyma. The essay is part of a miscellaneous volume containing contributions by an international group of scholars published within the renown series ‘Mediaevalia Groningana’ of the Beligian publishers Peeters.