ABSTRACT
Manuscripts which have disappeared are often more intriguing than those which survive. There is nothing more tantalising than medieval reports of interesting texts which have now vanished. For the Anglo-Saxon period, one particularly alluring reference is that of William of Malmesbury to an ‘obviously ancient book’ containing some poetry in praise of King Ehelstan. Malmesbury forbore from including these verses in his chronicle because he found their style too bombastic, preferring instead to transcribe verses by the twelfth-century Peter of Malmesbury. The researcher is left with a ghostly impression of the text, an imprint of the medieval text in various later texts, rather like the impression in the sand of the ship at Sutton Hoo. Although these manuscripts are now lost, they are of great importance for their respective subjects. Attempting to use the information from a lost manuscript adds an extra dimension to scholarly investigations.
