Materials for the Study of the Cult of Saint Agnes of Rome in Anglo-Saxon England

322 Pages·2013·26.45 MB·English

Materials for the Study ofthe Cult of Saint Agnes of Rome in Anglo-Saxon England:
Texts and Interpretations
Christine Phillips
Centre for Medieval Studies
PhD
2008
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
List of Tables and Illustrations iv
Acknowledgements v
Abstract vi
Abbreviations vu
INTRODUCTION 1
Thesis Outline 10
ThePassio Sanctae Agnetis: a precis 14
CHAPTER ONE A Literary Analysis of the Passio Sanctae Agnetls 16
1.1 Authorship and the date ofthe Passio Sanctae Agnetis 16
1.2 Virgin Martyrs and the Bible 28
1.3 ANew Reading of thePassio Sanctae Agnetis 35
CHAPTER TWO The Portrayal ofSt Agnes inAldhelm's De uirginltate 68
2.1 The Narrative Elements inthe Passio Sanctae Agnetis and 71
Aldhelm's De uirginitate
2.2 StAgnes inAldhelm's Two Accounts of herMartyrdom 74
2.2.1 The Use of IISm 6.6 inDe laude uirginitatis xlv.29-32 83
2.3 Aldhelm's Concept ofthe Christian Virtue of Virginity 94
CHAPTER THREE InterpretingJElfric's 'Translation' ofthe 102
Passio Sanctae Agnetls
3.1 The Relationship between fElfric's Theology and the 107
Principal Themes ofthe Passio Sanctae Agnetis
3.2 The Tropological Reading of fElfric's 'Life ofAgnes' 116
3.3 The Allegorical Reading offElfric's 'Life ofAgnes' 124
CHAPTER FOUR A Catalogue ofAnglo-Saxon Liturgical Sources 141
that Celebrate St Agnes
4.1 Church Rites and Prayers Unrelated to Agnes' Feast-Days 142
4.1.1 The Canon of the Mass 142
4.1.2 Litanies of the Saints 143
4.1.3 Medical Texts 147
...
III
4.1.4 Private Devotions 148
4.2 Calendars and Martyrologies 152
4.2.1 Calendars 152
4.2.2 Martyrologies 158
4.3 Mass Prayers for Agnes' Feast-Days 166
4.3.1 Sacramentaries andMissals 167
4.3.2 Benedictionals 172
4.4 The Divine Office 180
4.4.1 Hymns 181
4.4.2 Bede's Hymn to Agnes 186
CONCLUSIONS 201
APPENDIX ONE A New Working Edition ofthe PassioSanctaeAgnetis 205
1.1 Introduction 205
1.2 Edition and Facing Translation 214
1.3 Commentary 243
APPENDIX TWO Aldhelm's Deuirg;nitate 264
2.1 The Narrative Elements ofthe PSA and Aldhelm's De uirginitate 266
2.2 Aldhelm's Promotion ofTwo Contrasting Depictions of Female 268
Saints: theMiles Christi versus the Sponsa Christi
APPENDIX THREE Liturgical Texts 269
3.1 Prominent Anglo-Saxon Feast-Days 275
3.2 Female Saints Honoured in Anglo-Saxon Calendars 281
and Martyrologies
3.3 Female Saints with Proper Prayers inAnglo-Saxon Sacramentaries 285
3.4 Female Saints with Proper Prefaces in Anglo-Saxon Sacramentaries 286
3.S Saints Honoured inAnglo-Saxon Benedictionals 287
Bibliography 289
Illustrations 311
iv
LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS
TABLES Page
1.1 The Six Accounts of Agnes' Martyrdom 20
2.1 Agnes' Initial Appearance 74
2.2 The Suitor's Proposal 76
2.3 Agnes' Punishment and Torture 79
2.4 The Arrival of the Suitor at the Brothel 82
2.5 The Miraculous Cure of the Suitor and Agnes' Martyrdom 89
3.1 The Suitor's Proposal 118
3.2 The Suitor's Death 120
3.3 The Pyre Scene 136
3.4 Agnes' Final Prayer 137
3.5 Agnes' Angelic Protector at the Brothel 137
4.2.1 Prominent Anglo-Saxon Feast-Days 154
4.3.2 Blessings from Benedictionals Used on Agnes' Feast-Days 178
4.4.2 The Structure of Iluxit alma saeculis 191
ILLUSTRA nONS
Illustration 1 Site Plan of S. Agnese fuori le mura 311
Illustration 2 New Archaeological Findings at Santa Constanza 312
Illustration 3 Apse Mosaic, S. Agnese fuori Ie mura 313
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
lowe an immeasurable debtto my two supervisors,Dr Gabriella Corona and Dr
Mary Garrison, whose guidance, advice, encouragement and many kindnesses over the
years have gone farbeyondthe callof dutyand forthat Iam eternallygrateful.
No thesis could be completed without the help and support of many people and
this work is no exception. Particular thanks are due to Dr Matthew Townend, the third
member of my thesis panel, for many insightful comments on various drafts of this
dissertation. Iwould also liketo express my appreciation forthe assistanceprovided by
the librarians at the British Library and the Bibliotheque nationale de France. I am
likewise indebted to Suzanne Eward, the Librarian and Keeper of the Muniments at
Salisbury Cathedral for her hospitality and help during my visit to the Cathedral
archives. The Chancellor of Salisbury Cathedral granted permission to reproduce the
contents of manuscript Salisbury, Cathedral Library, 221 in Appendix One. Dr Bill
Schipper also kindly answered queries about computer programmes and formatting for
Latin editions.
The Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York has provided a
welcoming and inspiring atmosphere during the course of my PhD and I have benefited
greatly from having been part of such a lively and stimulating academic community. I
am also immensely grateful to the numerous members of the PhD workroom over the
last four years for their perceptive comments, moral support and, above all else,
friendship. Amongst this number, however, four people deserve special mention:
Christine Maddern, Lexi Ramsden,Pragya Vohra andmost of allHannahBurrows. My
parents have been a constant source of encouragement and reassurance throughout.
Special thanks must also go to my mother for never once complaining when my phone
call to demand an explanation of a particular Biblical passage interrupted her work yet
again, or indeed when I appropriated another one of her books. Needless to say, her
advice and knowledgehasproved invaluable.
Finally, this thesis is dedicated to my own personal guardian angel and partner
Chris, without whose support and love this work could not have been completed. No
words can ever properly express my gratitude and appreciation for his constant
encouragement, cheerfulness, (provision of countless cups of tea) and belief that I
would getthere inthe end.
This thesis was funded by a three-year doctoral award from the Arts and Humanities
Research Council. I am also grateful to the AHRC for the award of three additional
travel grants,which financedvisits to libraries inLondon, Paris and Salisbury.
vi
ABSTRACT
Throughout the Middle Ages, the late antique legends of the early Roman virgin
martyrs were frequently retold, translated and adapted by numerous authors for a
diverse range of audiences. This thesis seeks to offer some thoughts on the changing
symbolism and functions of the figure of the virgin martyr during this period. My
dissertation presents a case study of the reception of the legend of St Agnes of Rome
into Anglo-Saxon England and its subsequent transformation in the works of Insular
authors. The methodology employed in this discussion draws on one current trend in
hagiographical studies, which explores the deployment of Biblical themes and images in
such works. Many scholars have drawn attention to the use of these allusions which
breakdown the narrative boundaries between the hagiographical text and the Bible in
order to portray the saint as fulfilling the ultimate goal of all Christians: the perfection
of faith and union with Christ This study takes that approach one step further.
In the first part of the work I focus on one late antique work: the Passio Sanctae
Agnetis (RHL 156). Through an analysis not only of the more apparent Biblical
parallels in this text, but also numerous brief textual allusions, I explore how such
echoes can refract the martyrdom of one virgin martyr into a wide range of meanings. I
argue that due to the centrality of the Bible in the Christian faith, both author and
audience shared a common Scriptural vocabulary. The author could therefore deploy
Biblical allusions as part of a complex textual strategy to direct an audience to perceive
the relationship between the Bible and his or her text. In turn, these associations then
allow the hagiographical work to be interpreted on many different exegetical levels.
The level of knowledge and the culture milieu of each person who engaged with the text
would of course determine the signals that he or she perceived and lead to a diverse
range of possible interpretations for one passio. It is this phenomenon that I explore in
the second part of the study. Here I examine five Insular adaptations of the late antique
passion: the prose and verse narratives of Agnes' martyrdom incorporated into
Aldhelm's De uirginitate, Bede's hymn Illuxit alma saeculis, the entry for Agnes' feast-
day in The Old English Martyrology and the account of Agnes' legend in iElfric's Lives
of Saints. My analysis reveals how each author responded to a different set of Biblical
resonances present in the Passio Sanctae Agnetis and thus how the tale of one virgin
martyr could be retold in many different ways and for many different purposes.
vii
Abbreviations
AB Analecta Bollandiana
Add. Additional
ActaSS. Acta Sanctorum, ed. J. Bolland et al. (Brussels, 1643- )
ASE Anglo-Saxon England
. ASPR. Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, ed. G.P. Krapp and E. Van Kirk
Dobbie, 6vols. (New York, 1931-53)
Assmann B. Assmann, Angelsdchsische Homilien und Heiligenleben,
Bibliothek der angelsachsischenProsa 3 (Kassel, 1889;reprowith a
supplementary introduction by P. Clemoes, Darmstadt, 1964)
BAR British Archaeological Reports: British Series
BHG Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca, ed. F. Halkin, 3rd ed., 3 vols.
(Brussels, 1957)
BHL Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina, 2vols. (Brussels, 1899-1901),
with Nouum Supplementum by H. Fros (Brussels, 1986)
BL British Library
Bm Bibliotheque municipale
BnF Bibliotheque nationale de France
BSS Bibliotheca Sanctorum, ed. F. Caraffa (Vatican City, 1961-70)
CBP Corpus benedictionum pontiftcaltum, ed. E. Moeller, CCSL 162
(Turnhout, 1971-79)
CCCC Cambridge, Corpus Christi College
CCCM Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaeualis (Turnhout)
CCSL Corpus Christianorum Series Latina (Turnhout)
Cdu Aldhelm, Carmen de uirginitate, ed. R.Ehwald, MGH Auct. Antiq.
15(Berlin, 1914-19), pp. 350-471
CH lElfric, Catholic Homilies
CHI ./Elfric's Catholic Homilies: The First Series, ed. P. Clemoes, EETS
ss 17(Oxford, 1997)
CHII ./Elfric's Catholic Homilies: The Second Series, ed. M. Godden, EETS
ss 5(London, 1979)
CHIlI JElfric's Catholic Homilies: Introduction, Commentary and Glossary,
ed. M. Godden, EETS ss 18(Oxford, 2000)
CPL Clauis Patrum Latinorum, ed. E. Dekkers and A. Gaar, 2nded.
(Steenbrugge, 1961)
CSASE Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England
CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecc1esiasticorum Latinorum (Vienna)
DACL Dictionnaire d'archeologie chretienne et de liturgie, ed. F. Cabrol and
H. Leclercq, 15vols. in 30(Paris, 1907-53)
Diu Aldhelm, De laude uirginitatis, ed. R.Ehwald, MGH Auct. Antiq.
15(Berlin, 1914-19), pp. 226-323
EETS Early English Text Society
os Original Series
ss Supplementary Series
Epist. epistula
Enarrationes Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, ed. E. Dekkers and 1.Fraipont,
CCSL 38-40 (Turnhout, 1956)
GCS Die griechischen-christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei
. lahrhunderte (Leipzig, 1897-1941; Berlin, 1954- )
viii
Gneuss H. Oneuss, Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A List of
Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in
England up to 1100 (Tempe, AZ, 2001)
HBS Henry Bradshaw Society (London)
HE Bede, Historia ecclesiastica gentis anglorum, ed. B. Colgrave and
R.A.B. Mynors, Oxford Medieval Texts (Oxford, 1969)
JRS Journal of Roman Studies
Ker N. Ker, Catalogue ofManuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon
(Oxford, 1957)
L&S C.T. Lewis and C. Short,A Latin Dictionary: Founded on Andrew's
Edition ofFreund's Latin Dictionary (Oxford, 1879)
LS IElfric, Lives ofSaims, ed. W. Skeat, EETS os 76, 82, 94 and 114
(London, 1881-1900; reproin2 vols., Oxford, 1966)
LP Liber pontificalis, ed, L.Duchesne, 2 vols. (paris, 1886-92, with vol.
III, containing bibliography and indexes by C. Vogel, Paris, 1955-57)
MCH The Metrical Calendar 0/Hampson, ed. P. McGurk, AB 104
(1986), 79-125
MCR The Metrical Calendar of Ramsey, ed. M. Lapidge, RB 94 (1984),
326-69
MCY The Metrical Calendar of York,ed. A. Wilmart, RB 46 (1934),
41-69
MOH Monumenta Oermaniae Historica
Auct. Antiq. Auctores Antiquissimi
MH Martyrologium Hieronymianum, ed. I.De Rossi and L.Duchesne,
Acta SS. Nov 11.1(Brussels, 1894), pp. 1-195
NH New Hymnal
NM The New Minster Missal, ed. D.H. Turner, HBS 93 (Leighton
Buzzard, 1962)
n.s. New Series
NT the New Testament
oeD Of~rd Classical Dictionary, ed. S. Hornblower and A. Spawforth,
3r rev. ed. (Oxford, 2003)
OEM The Old English Martyrology, ed. G. Kotzor, 2 vols. (Munich, 1981)
OH Old Hymnal
OMT Oxford Medieval Texts (Oxford)
OT the Old Testament
PSA Pseudo-Ambrose, Passio Sanctae Agnetis
Pe. Prudentius' Peristephanon, ed. M.P. Cunningham, CCSL 126
(Turnhout, 1966), pp. 251-389
PO Patrologia Graeca, ed. J.P. Migne, 162vols. (Paris, 1857-66)
PL Patrologia Latina, ed. J.P. Migne, 221 vols. (paris, 1844-64)
RB Revue Benedictine
RG Ammianus Marcellinus, Res gestae, ed. W. Seyfarth, 2 vols.,
Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana:
Scriptores Romani (Leipzig, 1978)
SASLC Sources of Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture vol. 1:Abbo 0/Fleury, Abbo
of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, and Acta Sanctorum, ed. F.M. Biggs et al.
(Kalamazoo, MI, 2001)
UL University Library
ix
NOTE ON BIBLICAL REFERENCES, TRANSLATIONS AND NAMES
The Biblical quotations used throughout this dissertation are taken from the Stuttgart
Vulgate: Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam Versionem, ed. R. Weber et al., 4th ed.
(Stuttgart, 1994). All named individual books of the Bible are referred to by
abbreviated titles only and these references likewise follow Weber's edition.
Scriptural translations are from the Douay-Rheims Bible.
All non-Biblical translations of Latin and Old English texts are my own unless
otherwise stated.
Historical individuals are referred to by the modem form of their names, for
example, Aldhelm rather than Aldhelmus.
1
INTRODUCTION
For 21 January, the martyrology of the modem day Roman Catholic Church
contains this entry on the feast-day of the (7) third-century virgin martyr St Agnes of
Rome:
I
Romae passio sanctae Agnetis, Virginis et Martyris; quae, sub Praefecto Urbis
Symphronio, ignibus tniecta, sed iis per orationem eius exstinctis, gladio
2
percussa est...
This quotation encapsulates the two major themes of the thesis presented below. First,
it represents an extremely condensed version of a much longer Latin account of Agnes'
martyrdom: the Passio Sanctae Agnetis (BHL 156-7 and 2527-7a).3 This late antique
Latin passion, which was once attributed to the pen of Ambrose of Milan, forms the
focus of this dissertation," Second, the specific wording used by the Martyro!ogium
romanum replicates the entry for Agnes' feast from the eighth-century Martyro!ogium
of Bede.s In this thesis, I shall offer a literary case study of how Anglo-Saxon authors
received, adapted, transformed and incorporated the passion of St Agnes into their own
theological works.
I have alwaysbeen struck by the popularity ofthepassiones of the early Roman
virgin martyrs and how countless medieval authors were inspired to adapt and retell the
legends of suchsaintsfor a variety of different purposes. In order to shedsomelight on
the changing symbolism of the figure of the virgin martyr over time and between
1The question of Agnes' historicity remains open. Itiswidely accepted that the Passio Sanctae Agnetis
isprobably a fictional account of the events surrounding Agnes' martyrdom; nevertheless, avirgin martyr
of that name has been venerated in Rome since the fourth century (perhaps even the third century).
Consequently, the possibility should not be ruled out that this cult does indeed honour an authentic female
martyr, whose death islikely to have occurred during the persecutions of the third century. Whether or
not she was aconsecrated virgin or even called Agnes is,of course, avery different question. (On the
fictitious nature of the Passio Sanctae Agnetis, most scholars follow the views ofP. Franchi de' Cavalieri,
whose 1899 study of this work concluded that itdid not record any reliable historical details about Agnes'
death: "S.Agnese nella tradizione enella leggenda', Romische Quartalschrlft, Supplementheft 10(Rome,
1899); reproinhisScritti agiograflcl vol. I, Studi eTesti 221 (Vatican City, 1962), pp. 293-381. For the
early history of Agnes' cult on the via Nomentana, see pp. 2S1-4).
Z 'At Rome, the passion ofSt Agnes, virgin and martyr; who, under Simpronius the Prefect of the City,
after she had been consigned to the pyre, but the flames were extinguished through her prayers, was slain
with a sword.' The Roman Martyrology, Published by Order ofGregory XlII. Revised byAuthority of
Urban VIIIand Clement X,Augmented and Corrected in 1749 byBenedict XII,
http://www.breviary.netlmartyrology/mart.htm. accessed 31103/08.
The Passio Sanctae Agnetis is hereafter abbreviated to PSA. Throughout this thesis, allreferences to the
3
PSA refer to the lines numbers of the working edition presented in Appendix One. The BHL reference to
the PSA ishereafter abbreviated to 1S6 for convenience. CPL21S9.
For further discussion of the PSA's date and authorship see pp. 16-27.
4
5Bede's text reads: 'Romae, Sanctae Agnetis quae, sub praefecto urbis Sympronio, ignibus iniecta, sed
his per orationem eius extinctis, gladio percussa est.' The Latin istaken from H.Quentin, Les
martyrologues historiques du moyen age: Etude sur laformation du martyrologe romain (Paris, 1908),
pp.57-8.