• Brittany (probably)

• Library of King Athelstan
• Chester-le-Street
• Durham Cathedral Priory.

• Gospel-book

The four Gospels, of which only fragments survive.

• Probably written in Brittany

Most of this MS (including its additions in Old English) was destroyed in the Cotton Library fire of 1731. Thanks to an inscription that could be read in the MS before its destruction, we know that this codex was already in England around AD 934, when King Athelstan donated it to the community of Saint Cuthbert, then at Chester-le-Street (cf. Ker 1957: 223–4). Moreover, a hymn or prayer to Saint Cuthbert was added on fol. 1v, probably sometime in the tenth century. This MS has been ascribed to Brittany on the basis of its script (cf. Wormald 1957: 162–3), and it seems that most scholars consider this attribution probable (cf. e.g. ASM §354), although given the state of the MS—only 12 fragments of it remain—it is admittedly impossible to be certain. The dating indicated here is the one given by Bischoff (Kat. §2422).

ASM 277–8 (§354); EBGB 13; Fleuriot 1983: 104; Gretsch 2006: 83; ILLB In14; Ker 1957: 223–4 (§176); Keynes 1985: 170–9; McGurk 1987: 166, n. 2; OHLP 257; PMSB 301 (§41); Wormald 1957: 162–3.

• One damaged folio can be seen at https://fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-a4xm