Priests and their Books in Late Anglo-Saxon England: 34

298 Pages·2019·19.613 MB·English

by  Gerald P. Dyson

160 160
20
Priests were ubiquitous figures in the Anglo-Saxon world: they acted as educators, agents
of royal authority, scribes, and dealers in real estate. But what set priests apart from the
society in which they lived was the authority to provide pastoral care and their ability
to use the written word. Early medieval bishops saw books as indispensable to a priest’s
duties and episcopal legislation frequently provided lists of books that priests were to
have: tools of the trade for the secular clergy. These books are not only an exceedingly
valuable window into pastoral care, but also a barometer for the changes taking place in
the English church of the tenth and eleventh centuries.
This first full-length study of Anglo-Saxon priests’ books examines a wide array of
evidence, including booklists, music, liturgy, narrative, and, crucially, the surviving
manuscripts. The volume opens with a consideration of the context of a priest’s life and
work, moving on to investigate the issues of clerical literacy and the availability of books
to priests, uncovering avenues for priestly education and elucidating the role that the
secular clergy played in channels of manuscript production and distribution. The second 2
3
4
part analyzes the documentary and manuscript evidence for certain classes of priests’
books, challenging existing thought and arguing that two poorly understood manuscripts
are in fact books for priests.
GERALD P. DYSON is Assistant Professor of History at Kentucky Christian University.
Cover image: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Junius 85, fol. 34v. Reproduced with permission of the
Bodleian Libraries, the University of Oxford.
Anglo-Saxon Studies 33 G
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GERALD P. DYSON
Anglo-Saxon Studies 34
PRIESTS AND THEIR BOOKS
IN LATE ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND
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Anglo-Saxon Studies
ISSN 1475-2468
GENERAL EDITORS
John Hines
Catherine Cubitt
‘Anglo-Saxon Studies’ aims to provide a forum for the best scholarship on
the Anglo-Saxon peoples in the period from the end of Roman Britain to
the Norman Conquest, including comparative studies involving adjacent
populations and periods; both new research and major re-assessments of
central topics are welcomed.
Books in the series may be based in any one of the principal disciplines
of archaeology, art history, history, language and literature, and inter- or
multi-disciplinary studies are encouraged.
Proposals or enquiries may be sent directly to the editors or the pub-
lisher at the addresses given below; all submissions will receive prompt
and informed consideration.
Professor John Hines, School of History, Archaeology and Religion,
Cardiff University, John Percival Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff, Wales,
CF10 3EU, UK
Professor Catherine Cubitt, School of History, Faculty of Arts and
Humanities, University of East Anglia, Norwich, England, NR4 7TJ, UK
Boydell & Brewer, PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, IP12 3DF, UK
Previously published volumes in the series are listed at the back of this book
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PRIESTS AND THEIR BOOKS
IN LATE ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND
Gerald P. Dyson
THE BOYDELL PRESS
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© Gerald P. Dyson 2019
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner
The right of Gerald P. Dyson to be identified as
the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
First published 2019
The Boydell Press, Woodbridge
ISBN 978-1-78327-366-9
The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620–2731, USA
website: www.boydellandbrewer.com
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy
of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate
This publication is printed on acid-free paper
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To faithful shepherds, past and present
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Contents
List of Illustrations viii
Acknowledgements x
Introduction 1
1 Priests, Books, and Pastoral Care 17
2 “Ne cunnon þæt leden understandan”: Issues of Clerical
Literacy 43
3 Demand and Supply: Production and Provision of Books for
Priests 80
4 Preaching and Homiletic Books for Priests 110
5 Performing the Liturgy: Priests’ Books for the Mass and
Office 146
6 Locating Penitentials, Manuals, and Computi 193
Conclusions 227
Appendix 235
Bibliography 240
Index 277
vii
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Illustrations
Plates
Plate 1. Bern, Burgerbibliothek 671, f. 76v. Reproduced with
permission of the Bern Burgerbibliothek 68
Plate 2. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Auct. D. 2. 19, fol. 168v.
Reproduced with permission of the Bodleian Libraries, the
University of Oxford 72
Plate 3. The Taunton Fragment, SHC DD\SAS/C1193/77,
p. 7. Reproduced with kind permission of the Somerset
Archaeological and Natural History Society 133
Plate 4. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Junius 85, fol. 19r.
Reproduced with permission of the Bodleian Libraries, the
University of Oxford 137
Plate 5. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 41, p. 482.
Reproduced with permission of the Parker Library and the
Master and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge 173
Plate 6. Warsaw, Biblioteka Narodowa, I. 3311, f. 17v.
Reproduced with permission of the National Library of
Poland 177
Plate 7. Warsaw, Biblioteka Narodowa, I. 3311, f. 38r.
Reproduced with permission of the National Library of
Poland 183
Plate 8. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Laud Misc. 482, fol. 28r.
Reproduced with permission of the Bodleian Libraries, the
University of Oxford 211
Plate 9. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 422, p. 41.
Reproduced with permission of the Parker Library and the
Master and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge 220
The author and publisher are grateful to all the institutions and indi-
viduals listed for permission to reproduce the materials in which they
hold copyright. Every effort has been made to trace the copyright
holders; apologies are offered for any omission, and the publisher
will be pleased to add any necessary acknowledgement in subsequent
editions.
viii
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Illustrations
Tables
Table 1. A comparison of Anglo-Saxon and Carolingian lists of
texts for priests 36
Table 2. Contents of Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius 85 and 86 139
Table 3. The structure of the mass with the liturgical books
needed for each section 156
Table 4. The contents of the Winchester computus 208
Table 5. Tabulation of pericopes from Warsaw, Biblioteka
Narodowa, I. 3311 235
ix
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