It is not known what the date of this binding is, and it is likely enough that the extraordinary state of preservation in which it still is may be due either to very careful keeping, or else that the seventh century work has been carefully copied on one or other of the many occasions during which such copy could easily have been made.
Mr. Gordon Duff inclines to about the tenth century, but I should imagine that the most likely time for such a copy to be made was when the tomb of St. Cuthbert was opened in 1105, and the book, then some four hundred years old, was removed. It is likely enough that the authorities of the Cathedral library treasury at Durham would have admired the binding, which was probably much out of condition, and had it carefully copied in new leather.
Even if it were made then, it would still be the earliest decorative English binding left, apart from blind tooled work, and it is undoubtedly a most decorative and effective example. But it is permissible to think and hope that at all events it preserves the colour and designs of the seventh century binding, which was the first cover of the old manuscript.
Another very early English binding, covering a Latin Psalter of the early twelfth century with interlinear Saxon version, is now kept in the British Museum among the Stowe collection.
It is bound in oaken boards nearly an inch thick, the central portion of which is hollowed into a rectangular depression. On the lower board is a bronze figure of our Lord in the attitude of the Crucifixion. The figure has been gilded, but most of the gold has now worn off. The corners have small bosses set in triangular pieces of thin metal, which are impressed with a design of a fleur-de-lys in outline within a circle. The boards are covered with brown leather, much worn and faded, probably deer skin, and the brass fastenings for a clasp still remain in situ.
Fig. 88.—English binding of the twelfth century, with bronze figure of Christ.
The history of the book is as curious as the book itself; there are several manuscript notes in it, and also much has been written about it.
It appears to be the original book on which our sovereigns took their coronation oath, and it seems to have been so used from the coronation of Henry I. to that of Henry VII.
Powell in his Repertory of Records mentions this as a fact, and it was repeated by Thos. Madox, historiographer, and also by Thos. Astle, Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London, to whom it belonged, and it is believed to have been written and bound for the coronation of Henry I.