Moore Bede


The Moore Bede is an early manuscript of Bede's 8th-century Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum. It was formerly owned by Bishop John Moore, whose collection of books and manuscripts was purchased by George I and donated to Cambridge University.

Physical description

The manuscript is written on parchment. It contains 128 s. Pages average approximately 293 × 215 mm with a writing surface of 250 × 185 mm. The manuscript has been copied in a single hand and shows signs of haste.

Contents

The Moore Bede contains one of the two earliest representatives of the m-type text of the Latin Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum.
The manuscript contains a copy of the Northumbrian aelda recension of Cædmon's Hymn on the last page of the manuscript, f. 128v. The poem is in the hand of a contemporary scribe, probably to be identified with that responsible for the so-called Memoranda on the same page.

Dating

The Moore Bede is traditionally dated to 734-737 on the basis of the so-called Moore Memoranda, a series of chronological notes preserved on f. 128v. Although the validity of these as evidence for the manuscript’s date has been challenged vigorously, the manuscript can be dated securely to the 8th century on palaeographic and codicological grounds.
The manuscript is now thought "likely to be English in origin". Bischoff has shown that the manuscript was at the Palace School at Aachen around CE 800. Parkes suggests that it may have been sent to there from York at the request of Alcuin.