Notes have been renumbered to reflect the new layout; in the original, they were numbered by page (a new page meant a new note 1); here, they have been sequentially numbered.
1. Dorobernensium: i.e. of Canterbury. Dunstan was archbishop from 960 to 988
2. Floriacensis, of Fleury
3. irriguum … inferius: sc. dat (cf Jude 1:15)
4. monasterium: i.e. Ramsey
5. degui: as though from degeo (a medieval form: see Thesaurus Linguae Latinae s.v. 384.47 ff)
6. Rofensis, of Rochester
7. Mealmesbyri, Malmesbury
8. Aethelstano, king of Wessex and England, 924-39
9. Cuthberhtus, prior and later bishop of Lindisfarne (died 687); the body was much travelled, but it had reached Durham by the end of the tenth century.
10. asciti: for this, see Bede Historia Ecclesiae 1.15
11. interdiu: apparently meaning 'for some while'
12. praesidii: one would expect praesidio (Surius' emendation)
13. bello: against the Picts
14. illi: the British
15. quae ad …: the word order is highly contorted, and the text may be unsound
16. Eastengle: the name does not seem to have suggested to Abbo that his account of the division might be mistaken
17. sortis funiculo: cf Esther 13:17, Michah 2:5, and especially Psalms 77:54
18. aggere: probably the Devil's Dyke, which cuts across the Icknield Way in Cambridgeshire (illustration in P. Hunter Blair An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England (Cambridge 1956) 32)
19. ubere glebae: Virgil Aeneid 1.531
20. quibus …: Abbo thinks especially of Ramsey, but also of Ely and Peterborough. The phrase is modelled on Sulpicius Severus Vita Sancti Martini. 10.4.
21. atauis regibus aeditus: Horace Odes 1.1.1 (also employed by Abbo in PL 139.470)
22. non est …: cf Sulpicius Severus Vita Sancti Martini. 10.1
23. eius minima: his least qualities
24. columbinae … serpentinae: cf Matthew 10:16
25. antiqui hostis: i.e. the devil
26. gradiensque …: cf Numbers 21:22 with Deuteronomy 2:27
27. principem: Ecclesiasticus 32:1
28. inimicus: i.e. the devil
29. in faciem bene diceret: cf Job 1:11
30. qui: i.e. Lucifer (Isaiah 14:14)
31. uaticinium: Jeremiah 1:14
32. sicut …: 'as those who have experienced the savagery of the northern peoples … have learned all too well.'
33. perperam perhaps = 'to their cost'
34. Antropofagi: Abbo perhaps knew about them from Isidore Etymologiae 9.2.132 (where they are in the east). For the Hyperborean mountains see Isidore 14.8.7.
35. qui caracterem …: cf Apocalypse 20:4. It was thought that the Antichrist would appear first in the East before extending his sway to the whole world (Sulpicius Severus Dialogus. 2.14.2).
36. nimium uicini: cf Vergil Eclogae 9.28
37. pueros senes: this sort of asyndeton is characteristic of Abbo: cf below in ch. 9 sumat consumat, caducum fragile. Descriptions of looted cities have a long history; cf especially Vergil Aeneid. 2 passim and Gildas 24.
38. impius miles: Vergil Eclogae 1.70
39. Achimeniam, Persian
40. Haegilisdun: apparently Hellesdon in Norfolk
41. existimans: looking back to the subject of festinabat
42. regius occursus: i.e. the king, should he approach him
43. expeditum, free
44. succenturiatus: apparently = 'reinforced' (the word is also used by Abbo in PL 139.461)
45. remouet: sc. nos
46. parcere …: a favourite quotation of Abbo's from Vergil Aeneid 6.853; cf PL 139.473, 477
47. alto cordis dolore: cf Aeneid. 1.209
48. obstippo … terras: cf Persius 3.80
49. ora resoluit: Vergil Georgica 4.452
50. uiui …: Vergil Eclogae 9.22 ff; the speech begins with a string of Virgilian echoes that equate the plight of Edmund with that of the expropriated shepherds of Eclogae 1 and 9
51. quondam felix: Eclogae 1.74
52. dulcibus aruis: Eclogae 1.3
53. dimidium animae meae: Horace Odes. 1.3.8
54. honestum: cf Horace Odes. 3.2.13
55. anulum fidei: for the ring as a token of baptism see Tertullian De Pudicitia 9 and Ambrose Poenitentia. 2.3.18
56. abrenuntiato: cf Ambrose De Sacramentis 1.5
57. ob conpendium, as a means of gaining
58. stola: the white robe given after baptism (cf Ambrose De Mysteriis 34)
59. perfunctoria, transitory. For the election of kings, see W. Stubbs The Constitutional History of England (Oxford 1874) I 135-36; in our passage uestra alludes to the bishops.
60. seruire: Matthew 6:24
61. deuouerim: at the coronation. For the oath see Stubbs I 146 ff.
62. uas fictile: Ecclesiasticus 21:17, with e.g. Proverbs 26:23
63. ratiocinando, drawing conclusions
64. ex repugnantibus … consequentia: 'the consequences of the dilemma being drawn from the conflicting evidence.' For complexio = 'dilemma' see e.g. Rhetores Latini Minores p. 253.6 Halm. For arguments ex (re)pugnantibus e.g. Quintilian 5.10.74 (with the example 'qui est sapiens stultus non est'). Here the 'conflict' seems to be between the search for liberty and the reaction of the superior.
65. suo contemptu: i.e. because of the lack of respect shown him
66. ac si, as if. For regnandi dira cupido see Vergil Georgics 1.37
67. expuat, colaphis caedat: Abbo thinks of the treatment of Christ (Matthew 26:67). The parallel is made explicit in the next chapter.
68. obuius …: 'met (the soldier) and told him to be brief in expounding to him all the intimate details of the king's last words'
69. teneant: the construction changes (contrast circumfundi)
70. illuditur: again like Christ (Matthew 27:31)
71. Sebastiano: cf Acta Sancti Sebastiani martyris (= PL 17.1056) 'Tunc iratus Diocletianus iussit eum duci in medium campum et ligari quasi signum ad sagittam, et iussit ut sagitarii eum figerent. Tunc posuerunt eum milites in medio campo et hinc inde eum ita sagittis repleuerunt ut quasi hericius ita esset hirsutus ictibus sagittarum.'
72. duodecimo: 20 November (870)
73. examinatus: cf e.g. Psalms 65:10
74. purus sceleris, integer uitae: Horace Odes 1.22.1
75. purus sceleris, integer uitae: Horace Odes 1.22.1
76. quoquo locorum, all over the place
77. infra = intra (a common Medieval Latin usage; so below 15/12, 26)
78. rudenti asellae: Balaam's ass (Numbers 22)
79. illi uiro desideriorum: i.e. Daniel (Daniel 9:23, 10:11). For the lions, see Daniel 14:30 ff.
80. uilla regia: Bury (later Bury St. Edmunds)
81. Bedricesgueord: -gueord = OE geard 'yard, enclosure'
82. riga, line (cf Niermeyer s.v.) rather than = ruga, crease
83. Theodredus, bishop of London in the first half of the tenth century; for his also controlling a see in Suffolk v. D. Whitelock English Historical Documents I (London 1955) 509-11
84. unde, so
85. qui … uenisset: put in to contrast with palam
86. obuius: the sacristan rather than the fragor; the grammar is a little astray
87. eos qui: Proverbs 24:11
88. Helisaei prophetae: 4 Kings 6:18 ff
89. ad propria, homewards
90. preceptum: the force of non reducens ad memoriam continues
91. saecularia: 1 Corinthians 6:4
92. canonum auctoritas: so later Decretal Gregorii IX lib. 3 tit. 50 cap. 9 'Sententiam sanguinis nullus clericus dictet aut proferat, sed nec uindictam sanguinis exerceat, aut ubi exerceatur intersit.'
93. mandat, mandando: for this figure, cf below remoueant, remouendo and in the preface to Abbo's Quaestiones grammaticales (PL 139.521) 'perlegendo discutiat, discutiendo perlegat.'
94. sacrificio: Psalms 50:19
95. incongruo: apparently the body, though now placed in a church befitting it, still had an unsatisfactory tomb
96. mirabilis: Psalms 67:36
97. tradidit: Romans 1:28
98. Gregorius: see PL 70.701-02
99. prolixior: the brevity common-place (Curtius European Literature 487 ff)
100. de eo …: 'from him he has the power of being able to do whatever he wishes'
101. suae …: 'in their books concerning the attainment of the exceptional privilege granted to virginity' (?). Incorruption is related of many saints; cf at random St. Jerome's account of the translation of St. Hilarion – the body was still 'quasi adhuc uiueret integro tantisque fragrante odoribus ut delibutum unguentis putares' (PL 23.52) – and especially Bede Historia Ecclesiae 4.17 'Nam etiam signum diuini miraculi, quo eiusdem feminae sepulta caro corrumpi non potuit, indicio est quia uirili contactu incorrupta durauerit.'
102. uirgines: Apocalypse 14:4
103. in terra: Isaiah 26:10