The Interlinear Glosses to the <i>Regula Sancti Benedicti</i> in Manuscript London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius A. iii: A Workshop on Textual Criticism

Abstract

The interlinear glosses to the Regula Sancti Benedicti (RSB) in manuscript London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius A. iii (T), produced around the middle of the eleventh century, include Old English as well as Latin interpretamenta and letters of the alphabet, which are designed to draw attention to lexical and grammatical features of RSB in T (TRSB). The glossator-scribes not only entered the glosses, they also made extensive corrections to the TRSB. Along their work, they produced or reproduced a wide variety of mistakes and misinterpretations of the Rule, and translated T’s exclusive readings. Because of that, working on the interlinear glosses to TRSB means undertaking a workshop on textual criticism. This article focuses on a few case studies of the interlinear glosses to TRSB and on my innovative critical approach compared to those adopted in the previous editions by Henri Logeman (1888) and Janna Müller (2013). My new critical edition helps the readers to understand the multiple functions of the glosses by highlighting the interventions of the glossator-scribes on the Latin text and making them graphically distinct from the interventions of the scribes who copied TRSB.