Table Of ContentTHE ANGLO-SAXON LIBRARY
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THE ANGLO-SAXON
LIBRARY
Michael Lapidge
OXPORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 0x2 6op
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© Michael Lapidge 2005
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First published 2005
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ISBN 0-19-926722-7 978-0-19-926722-4
i 3579 10 8642
Typeset by Anne Joshua, Oxford
Printed in Great Britain
on acid-free paper by
Biddies Ltd., King's Lynn, Norfolk
To Helmut Gneuss
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Preface
THE core of the present book derives from three lectures delivered as
the E. A. Lowe Lectures in Palaeography to the University of Oxford
in Hilary term 2002. The lectures were delivered in the Examination
Schools, but were hosted by Corpus Christi College, and I am
extremely grateful to the President of Corpus, Sir Tim Lankester,
and the Fellows of Corpus for their warm hospitality on those
occasions. During my brief period of residence in Corpus I derived
great pleasure from discussing libraries, ancient and modern, with the
Fellows of Corpus most concerned with these matters, in particular
Ewen Bowie, Stephen Harrison, David Rundle, and Michael Win-
terbottom. Members of the audience also made many helpful
suggestions, and I should like to acknowledge the comments of
Lesley Abrams, John Blair, Henry Chadwick, David Ganz, Stephen
Harrison, Barbara Harvey, Simon Keynes, Henry Mayr-Harting,
Richard Sharpe, James Willoughby, and Michael Winterbottom.
At an early point it was suggested by Oxford friends and colleagues
that the lectures might be published in the form of a book, and I am
very grateful to the Oxford University Press, and to Ruth Parr in
particular, for their continuing interest in the project. In preparing
the text for publication, I have retained the structure and often the
wording of the original lectures, so that Chapters 1-3 are based on the
first lecture, Chapter 4 on the second, and Chapter 5 on the third.
The text of the lectures has been fully annotated. It was felt by the
Press and its readers that the text of the lectures might be too slight to
be viable as a monograph, and I was invited by Ruth Parr to consider
whether I might 'usefully add a chapter or chapters on any other
aspects of the subject'. The result of Ruth's invitation is that I have
added five Appendices relevant to the discussion, as well as the
'Catalogue of classical and patristic authors and works composed
before AD 700 and known in Anglo-Saxon England'. This 'Catalogue',
which now forms a substantial part of the book and is intended as a
replacement for Ogilvy's Books Known to the English 597-7066, has
taken far longer to compile than I originally anticipated, and explains
why the Lowe Lectures see publication several years after they were
first delivered.
Vlll PREFACE
The research which underlies the 'Catalogue' was mostly done
during teaching terms at the University of Notre Dame. It would be
difficult to imagine a more convenient library anywhere in the world
for this kind of research than the library of the Medieval Institute
there, where computer terminals with access to all relevant electronic
databases are placed adjacent to the principal series of patristic texts
(CSEL, CCSL, PL, etc.) and reference works. I also received
unstinting help from two of the Institute's Librarians, David Jenkins
and Linda Major. Various friends and colleagues, British and North
American, have been generous with advice and information: Harry
Hine, Simon Keynes, Leslie Lockett, Tom Noble, Michael Reeve,
Richard Sharpe, Dan Sheerin, Stephanie West, and Michael Win-
terbottom. Both David Ganz and Rosalind Love kindly made
available to me papers then unpublished on aspects of Anglo-Saxon
books and libraries. At the copy-editing stage Bonnie Blackburn
brought her formidable learning and clear vision to bear on an unruly
typescript, and succeeded in making the presentation much more
user-friendly. And it is always a pleasure for an author to be the
beneficiary of Anne Joshua's typesetting skills. Finally, Helmut
Gneuss is a friend and colleague who has always generously shared
information on Anglo-Saxon manuscripts and fragments as they came
to his notice, and I dedicate this book to him in gratitude for thirty
years' help and support.
M.L.
75 January 2005
Contents
Abbreviations xi
Introduction i
1. Vanished Libraries of Classical Antiquity 5
2. Vanished Libraries of Anglo-Saxon England 31
3. Reconstructing Anglo-Saxon Libraries (I):
The Evidence of Inventories 53
4. Reconstructing Anglo-Saxon Libraries (II):
The Evidence of Manuscripts 63
5. Reconstructing Anglo-Saxon Libraries (III):
The Evidence of Citations 91
Conclusions 127
Appendices
A. Six Inventories of Latin Books from Anglo-Saxon
Libraries 133
B. Eighth-Century Inventories of Latin Books from the
Area of the Anglo-Saxon Mission in Germany 148
C. Surviving Eighth-Century Manuscripts from the Area
of the Anglo-Saxon Mission in Germany 155
D. Ninth-Century Manuscripts of Continental Origin
Having Pre-Conquest English Provenance 167
E. Latin Books Cited by the Principal Anglo-Saxon Authors 174
Catalogue of Classical and Patristic Authors and Works
Composed before AD 700 and Known in Anglo-Saxon England 275
Bibliography 343
Index of Manuscripts 365
General Index 381
Description:The cardinal role of Anglo-Saxon libraries in the transmission of classical and patristic literature to the later middle ages has long been recognized, for these libraries sustained the researches of those English scholars whose writings determined the curriculum of medieval schools: Aldhelm, Bede,
