How England Learnt Old English
In the 16th and 17th centuries, as scholars first started to translate and study Old English, they struggled to reconcile England’s past with its present.
In 1573 the lawyer and antiquary William Lambarde wrote a Latin note to posterity in the margins of an ancient manuscript of Old English texts. It reads: ‘You should greatly value this book, whoever you are that has stumbled upon it’, signed ‘W.L. for the grace of antiquity’. The work that so excited him might surprise modern students of history. It was not the manuscript containing the sole copy of the epic poem Beowulf (written down around the year 1000), nor the beautiful eighth-century Lindisfarne Gospels – although Lambarde knew both those volumes. Rather, Lambarde’s note appears in the Textus Roffensis, a 12th-century collection of pre-Conquest law codes and legal records, possibly compiled at the request of Bishop Ernulf of Rochester and still surviving in Rochester Cathedral library today. Happily, Lambarde’s advice was heeded. The Cathedral, which translated Lambarde’s note, features Textus Roffensis in an exhibition in its crypt, and the shop sells souvenirs celebrating the volume.
To continue reading this article you need to purchase a subscription, available from only £5.
Start my trial subscription now
If you have already purchased access, or are a print & archive subscriber, please ensure you are logged in.
Please email digital@historytoday.com if you have any problems.
