the uses of anglo-saxon manuscripts

282 Pages·2009·1.65 MB·English

by  Mark Faulkner

THE USES OF ANGLO-SAXON MANUSCRIPTS
C. 1066-1200

MARK JONATHAN FAULKNER

ST JOHN’S COLLEGE D. PHIL THESIS
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD TRINITY TERM 2008
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THE USES OF ANGLO-SAXON MANUSCRIPTS
c. 1066-1200

Mark Jonathan Faulkner D. Phil
St John’s College, Oxford Trinity Term 2008

This thesis examines the uses of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts in the 150 years immediately
following the Norman Conquest. By focusing on the most common types of use evident in
the manuscripts, it explores how readers actually interacted with books. It also treats
manuscripts as cultural artefacts through which it is possible to observe the literary and
social consequences of the Conquest.
The Introduction summarises our current understanding of the literary culture of this
transitional period. Chapter II, ‘Destruction and Conservation’, examines claims that
Norman elites destroyed Anglo-Saxon manuscripts; finding these claims unjustified, it
investigates the circumstances in which manuscripts were lost and identifies how readers
evaluated the contents of pre-Conquest books. Chapter III, ‘The Movement of Pre-
Conquest Manuscripts’, looks at the consequent loan, exchange and sale of pre-Conquest
manuscripts after 1066.
Chapter IV, ‘Updating Pre-Conquest Manuscripts’, discusses difficulties which
Norman readers encountered with pre-Conquest books, including script, abbreviation,
orthography and textual redaction, and examines how these technical features could be
modernised. It also investigates more practical modernisations to liturgical books, chronicles
and cartularies. Chapter V, ‘Glossing and Annotating’, concerns readers’ reactions to the
texts found in pre-Conquest manuscripts, particularly vernacular homilies and translations. It
argues that the post-Conquest classroom was essentially trilingual, though Latin became the
lingua franca.
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Chapter VI, ‘Record-Keeping in Pre-Conquest Manuscripts’, explores the use of pre-
Conquest manuscripts – copies of the gospels, liturgical books and patristic texts – as
repositories for records. Chapter VII, ‘The Veneration of Pre-Conquest Manuscripts’,
continues this exploration of the symbolic capital of pre-Conquest books by examining how
Norman churchmen supported the veneration of particular manuscripts as secondary relics,
and introduced new traditions regarding other books.
The Conclusion refocuses the findings of this thesis on two key issues: early
medieval reading practices and English literature between 1066 and 1200.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................... v
CONVENTIONS OF TRANSCRIPTION ................................................................................................ x
A NOTE ON TRANSLATIONS ............................................................................................................... x
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1
THE SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE NORMAN INVASION .......................................................................... 2
THE NORMAN CONQUEST AND ENGLISH BOOK COLLECTIONS ................................................................... 6
ENGLISH AND FRENCH IN ENGLAND AFTER 1066 ......................................................................................10
METHODOLOGIES ......................................................................................................................................18
OUTLINE ....................................................................................................................................................19
CHAPTER II: DESTRUCTION AND CONSERVATION .....................................................................22
DID NORMAN CHURCHMEN DESTROY ANY PRE-CONQUEST MANUSCRIPTS? ............................................22
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF MANUSCRIPTS DURING THE ANGLO-NORMAN PERIOD .30
EVALUATING AND CONSERVING PRE-CONQUEST BOOKS..........................................................................36
CHAPTER III: THE MOVEMENT OF PRE-CONQUEST MANUSCRIPTS .....................................49
THE MOVEMENT OF MANUSCRIPTS BEFORE 1066 .....................................................................................50
THE LOAN OF EXEMPLARS AFTER 1066 ....................................................................................................55
THE DONATION AND SALE OF PRE-CONQUEST MANUSCRIPTS AFTER 1066 ..............................................65
THE THEFT AND PLUNDER OF PRE-CONQUEST MANUSCRIPTS AFTER 1066 ..............................................66
CHAPTER IV: UPDATING PRE-CONQUEST MANUSCRIPTS ........................................................72
ALTERATIONS TO MAKE PRE-CONQUEST SCRIPT MORE EASILY LEGIBLE ................................................72
ALTERATIONS TO SPELLING ......................................................................................................................76
ALTERATIONS TO TEXTUAL REDACTIONS .................................................................................................87
ALTERATIONS TO REFLECT DIFFERENT LITURGICAL NEEDS .....................................................................95
TEXTUAL CONTINUATION .........................................................................................................................99
CHAPTER V: GLOSSING AND ANNOTATING .................................................................................107
ÆLFRIC’S GRAMMAR AND GLOSSARY AFTER 1066 ...................................................................................107
LATIN SCHOOL TEXTS AFTER 1066 .........................................................................................................113
PRE-CONQUEST VERNACULAR MANUSCRIPTS AFTER 1066 ....................................................................128
CHAPTER VI: RECORD-KEEPING IN PRE-CONQUEST MANUSCRIPTS .................................151
ADDING LEGAL RECORDS TO GOSPEL BOOKS .........................................................................................152
RECORDS IN LITURGICAL AND CEREMONIAL BOOKS...............................................................................163
RECORD-KEEPING IN OTHER MANUSCRIPTS ...........................................................................................168
ADDING LETTERS TO MANUSCRIPTS AT WORCESTER AND ELSEWHERE ..................................................172
CHAPTER VII: THE VENERATION OF PRE-CONQUEST MANUSCRIPTS ...............................178
POST-CONQUEST ATTITUDES TO ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS ......................................................................178
VENERATION IN PRACTICE: THE DURHAM LIBER VITAE ...........................................................................189
CHAPTER VIII: CONCLUSION: READING PRACTICES AND THE PLACE OF ENGLISH ....200
ENGLISH LITERATURE, 1066-1200 ..........................................................................................................203
READING THE BOOK, 1066-1200 .............................................................................................................208
QUO VADIS? ............................................................................................................................................212

BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................................................215
INDEX OF MANUSCRIPTS ..............................................................................................................258
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INDEX OF PRE-CONQUEST DOCUMENTS ..................................................................................268
INDEX OF POST-CONQUEST DOCUMENTS ................................................................................268
INDEX OF PAPAL DOCUMENTS ....................................................................................................269
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I have incurred many debts while writing this thesis. First, and most directly, I must
acknowledge the patience and assistance of the staffs of Cambridge University Library, of
the libraries of Clare College, Corpus Christi College, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Gonville and
Caius College, Jesus College, Pembroke College, St John’s College, Sidney Sussex College,
Trinity College and Trinity Hall, of Trinity College Dublin, of the British Library, of
Lambeth Palace Library, of the library of St John’s College, Oxford, of the Beinicke Library
and of the Pierpont Morgan Library, but above all, the staff of the Bodleian Library, and
Duke Humfrey’s Library in particular. It is difficult to imagine a better atmosphere in which
to have produced this thesis. I thank the many scholars who have answered my impertinent
queries: Julia Crick, Michael Fox, David Ganz, Tom Hall, Jonathan Harrison, Paul Hayward,
Matt Hussey, Patrick O’Neill, David Rollason, Winfried Rudolf, Rebecca Rushforth, Richard
Sharpe, Bill Stoneman, Elaine Treharne and Jon Wilcox. Several significant intellectual debts
must be also acknowledged here: Roger Dalrymple, without whom I’d never have read many
medieval texts; Margaret McDonald, without whom I’d never have read English; and my
parents, Jean and Jeff, without whom I’d never have read anything at all. I also thank the
Arts and Humanities Research Council, St John’s College, Oxford, the Oxford English
Faculty, and the Teachers of Old English of Britain and Ireland for financial support. The
graduate community at St John’s deserves thanks for its remarkable tolerance. I am most
grateful to my two supervisors, Malcolms Parkes and Godden. MBP took me under his wing
at an early stage; this thesis would have been inconceivable without his guidance. Malcolm
Godden saw the project to completion, and through his comments and support
immeasurably improved it. All errors that remain are of course my own. But my greatest
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thanks are due to Betsy, without whom this may have been possible but would not have
been nearly so enjoyable.
Twyford
In die sanctorum martyrum Marcellini et Petri
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ASC Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
Ā Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 173, fols. 1-56.
A (=G*) London, British Library, Cotton Otho B. xi, fols. 39-47.
B London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius A. vi, fols. 1-35 + Tiberius
A. iii, fol. 178.
C London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius B. i, fols. 112-164.
D London, British Library, Cotton Tiberius B. iv, fols. 3-9, 19-86.
E Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 636.
F London, British Library, Cotton Domitian viii, fols. 30-70.
H London, British Library, Cotton Domitian ix, fol. 9.
(translation from Garmonsway, G. N. (1953), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Everyman’s Library
624. Dent.)

AG Scott, J., ed. (1981), The Early History of Glastonbury: an edition,
translation, and study of William of Malmesbury’s De antiquitate Glastonie
ecclesie. Woodbridge.

Anselmi Opera Schmitt, F. S., ed. (1940), S. Anselmi Cantuariensis archiepiscopi opera
omnia. 6 vols. Edinburgh.

ANTS Anglo-Norman Text Society.

BAR British Archaeological Reports.

Bates Bates, D., ed. (1998), Regesta regum Anglo-Normannorum: the acta of
William I (1066-1087). Oxford.

BHL (1898-1901), Biblioteca hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis.
Society of the Bollandists. 2 vols. Brussels.

BL British Library.

BM Bibliothèque Municipale.

BNF Bibliothèque Nationale Française.

Cant CC Christ Church, Canterbury.

Cant StA St Augustine’s, Canterbury.

CCCC Cambridge, Corpus Christi College.

CCCM Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis.

CCM Corpus Consuetudinum Monasticarum.
v i

CCSL Corpus Christianorum Series Latina.

Cdv Aldhelm, Carmen de uirginitate ed. Ehwald, R. (1919), Aldhelmi Opera.
MGH Auctorum Antiquissimorum 15. Berlin. 350-471.

CH 1 Clemoes, P., ed. (1997), Ælfric’s Catholic Homilies: the first series: text.
EETS s. s. 17. London.

CH 2 Godden, M. R., ed. (1979), Ælfric’s Catholic Homilies: the second series:
text. EETS s. s. 5. London.

CL Classical Latin.

CPL Dekker, E., ed. (1995) Clavis Patrum Latinorum. 3rd ed. Turnhout.

CSASE Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England.

CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum.

CUL Cambridge, University Library.

D&C Dean and Chapter.

DML Latham, R. E., et al., eds. (1975-), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from
British Sources. 11 fascicles to date. London.

EEMF Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile.

EETS Early English Text Society.

fd. Founded.

GASA Riley, H. T., ed. (1867), Gesta abbatum monasterii Sancti Albani: a Thoma
Walsingham, regnante Ricardo Secundo, ejusdem ecclesiae praecentore, compilata.
RS 28. 3 vols. London.

GDB Great Domesday Book.

GGWP Davis, R. H. C. and M. Chibnall, eds. (1998), The Gesta Guillelmi of
William of Poitiers. OMT. Oxford.

GP Winterbottom, M. and R. M. Thomson, eds. (2007), William of
Malmesbury, Gesta pontificum Anglorum. 2 vols. OMT. Oxford.

GR Mynors, R. A. B., R. M. Thomson and M. Winterbottom, eds. (1998-
1999), William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum Anglorum. 2 vols. OMT.
Oxford.
v ii

HA Greenway, D. A., ed. (1996), Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon: Historia
Anglorum. OMT. Oxford.

HBS Henry Bradshaw Society.

HCY Raine, J. ed. (1879), The Historians of the Church of York and its
Archbishops. RS 71. 3 vols. London.

HE Colgrave, B., and R. A. B. Mynors, eds. (1969), Bede’s Ecclesiastical
History of the English People. OMT. Oxford.

Hemingi Hearne, T., ed. (1723), Hemingi chartularium ecclesiae Wigorniensis. 2 vols.
Oxford.

HN Rule, M., ed. (1884), Eadmeri Historia novorum in Anglia. RS 81.
London.

JW McGurk, P., R. R. Darlington, and J. Bray, eds. (1995-), The Chronicle
of John of Worcester. OMT. 2 vols. to date. Oxford.

J-W Jaffé, P. and W. Wattenbach (1885-1886), Regesta pontificum
Romanorum, ab condita Ecclesia ad annum. mcxcviii. Leipzig.

LDB Little Domesday Book.

LDE Rollason, D. W., ed. (2000), Symeon of Durham, Libellus de exordio atque
procursu istius, hoc est Dunelmensis eccleisiae. OMT. Oxford.

LE Blake, E. O., ed. (1962), Liber Eliensis. Camden Society 3rd Series 92.
London.

Lewis & Short Lewis, C. T. and C. Short (1958), A Latin Dictionary. Rev. ed. Oxford.

LoS Skeat, W. W., ed. (1966), Ælfric’s Lives of Saints. EETS o. s. 76, 82, 94,
114. Reprinted as 2 vols. London.

Magennis Magennis, H., ed. (2002), The Old English Life of St Mary of Egypt.
Exeter.

ME Middle English.

MED Kurath, H., S. M. Kuhn and R. E. Lewis, eds. (1952-2001), Middle
English Dictonary. Ann Arbor, MI.

Memorials Arnold, T., ed. (1890), Memorials of St Edmund’s Abbey. RS 96. 3 vols.
London.