Bibliomania in the Middle Ages Part 20

[357] Archaeolog. vol. xxiv.

[358] Regist. Priorat. S. Swithin Winton.--_Warton_ II, _Dissert._

[359] _Ibid._

[360] _Marked t.i.tus_, D. 27.

[361] It is called "_Calendarium, in quo notantur dies obitus plurimorum monachorum, abbatum, etc.; temp. regum Anglo-Saxonum_."

[362] It was a little cell dependant on the Abbey of Thorney.

[363] MS. _Harleian_, No. 3658, fo. 74, b. It will be found printed in _Dugdale's Monasticon_, vol. iv. p. 167. The catalogue was evidently written about the year 1350.

[364] Cottonian Charta, 11-16. I am sorry to observe so little attention paid to this curious fragment, which, insignificant as it may appear to some, is nevertheless quite a curiosity of literature in its way. Its tattered condition calls for the care of Sir Frederick Madden.

[365] Leland Script. Brit. p. 321, and MSS. Bibl. Lambeth, Wharton, L. p. 661. Libris Prioris Gregorii de Ramsey, _Prima pars Bibliothecae Hebraice_, etc. Warton Dissert ii. Eng. Poetry.

[366] Bale, iv. 41, et ix. 9. Leland. Scrip. Brit. p. 452.

[367] Ailward, Bishop of London, gave many books to the library of Ramsey monastery, _Hoveden Scrip. post. Bedam._ 1596, fol. 252.

Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. ii.

[368] In the year 1327, the inhabitants of Bury besieged the abbey, wounded the monks, and "bare out of the abbey all the gold, silver ornaments, _bookes, charters, and other writings_." Stowe Annals, p.

353.

[369] He particularly notices a Sall.u.s.t, a very ancient copy, _vetustis simus_.

[370] And also to Lanfranc, he was elected in the year 1065.

[371] Harleian MS. No. 2278.

[372] Or Atheldryth.

[373] The youngest son of Osway, King of Northumbria; he succeeded to the throne on the death of his father in the year 670.

[374] She seems to have been princ.i.p.ally encouraged in this fanatical determination by Wilfrid; probably this was one of the causes of Ecgfrid's displeasure towards him. So highly was the purity of the body regarded in the early Saxon church, that Aldhelm wrote a piece in its praise, in imitation of the style of Sedulius, but in most extravagant terms. Bede wrote a poem, solely to commemorate the chastety of Etheldreda.

"Let Maro wars in loftier numbers sing I sound the praises of our heavenly King; Chaste is my verse, nor Helen's rape I write, Light tales like these, but prove the mind as light."

_Bede's Eccl. Hist. by Giles_, b. iv. c. xx.

[375] Bede's Eccl. Hist. b. iv. c. xx.

[376] Saxon Chronicle translated by Ingram, p. 118. Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i. p. 458.

[377] Sharon Turner's Hist. of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. ii. p. 288.

[378] Strutt's Saxon Antiquities, vol. i. p. 83.

[379] _Dibdin's Bibliomania_, p. 228.

[380] Dibdin alludes to the "Harmony of the Four Gospels," preserved among the Cotton MSS. _Caligula_, A. vii. and described as "_Harmonia Evangeliorum, lingua Francica capitulis, 71, Liber quondam (dicit Jamesius) Canuti regis_." See also Hicke's Gram.

Franco-Theotisca, p. 6. But there is no ground for the supposition that it belonged to Canute; and the several fine historical illuminations bound up with it are evidently of a much later age.

[381] An entry occurs of 6s. 8d. for writing two processionals.

[382] Stevenson's Suppl. to Bentham's church of Ely, p. 52. "It is worth notice," says Stevenson, "that in the course of a few years, about the middle of the 14th century, the precentor purchased upwards of seventy dozen parchment and thirty dozen vellum."

[383] Spelman Antiquarii Collectanea, vol. iii. p. 273. Nigel, who was made bishop in 1133, was plundered by some of King Stephen's soldiers, and robbed of his own copy of the Gospels which he had adorned with many sacred relics; see _Anglia Sacra_, i. p. 622.

[384] _Warton's Anglia Sacra_, it is related that William Longchamp, bishop in 1199, sold them to raise money towards the redemption of King Richard, _pro Regis Ricardi redemptione_, tom. i. 633. Dugd.

Monast. i. p. 463.

CHAPTER XI.

_St. Alban's.--WilliG.o.d.--Bones of St. Alban.--Eadmer.--Norman Conquest.--Paul and the Scriptorium.--Geoffry de Gorham.--Brekspere the "Poor Clerk".--Abbot Simon and his "multis voluminibus".--Raymond the Prior.--Wentmore.--Whethamstede.--Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester.--Lydgate.--Guy, Earl of Warwick._

The efficacy of "Good Works" was a principle ever inculcated by the monks of old. It is sad to reflect, that vile deeds and black intentions were too readily forgiven and absolved by the Church on the performance of some _good deed_; or that the monks should dare to shelter or to gloss over those sins which their priestly duty bound them to condemn, because forsooth some wealthy baron could spare a portion of his broad lands or coffered gold to extenuate them. But this forms one of the dark stains of the monastic system; and the monks, I am sorry to say, were more readily inclined to overlook the blemish, because it proved so profitable to their order. And thus it was, that the proud and n.o.ble monastery of St.

Alban's was endowed by a murderer's hand, and built to allay the fierce tortures of an a.s.sa.s.sin's conscience. Ethelbert, king of the East Angles, fell by the regal hand of Offa, king of Mercia; and from the era of that black and guilty deed many a fine monastery dates its origin and owes its birth.

St. Alban's was founded, as its name implies, in honor of the English protomartyr, whose bones were said to have been discovered on that interesting site, and afterwards preserved with veneration in the abbey.

In the ancient times, the building appears to have covered a considerable s.p.a.ce, and to have been of great magnitude and power; for ruins of its former structure mark how far and wide the foundation spreads.

"The glorious king Offa," as the monks in their adulation style him, richly endowed the monastery on its completion, as we learn from the old chronicles of the abbey; and a succession of potent sovereigns are emblazoned on the glittering parchment, whose liberalty augmented or confirmed these privileges.[385]

WilliG.o.d, the first abbot, greatly enriched the monastery, and bestowed especial care upon the relics of St. Alban. It is curious to mark how many perils those shrivelled bones escaped, and with what anxious care the monks preserved them. In the year 930, during the time of Abbot Eadfrid, the Danes attacked the abbey, and after many destroying acts broke open the repository, and carried away some of the bones of St.

Alban into their own country.[386] The monks took greater care than ever of the remaining relics; and their anxiety for their safety, and the veneration with which they regarded them, is curiously ill.u.s.trated by an anecdote of Abbot Leofric, elected in the year 1006. His abbacy was, therefore, held in troubled times; and in the midst of fresh invasions and Danish cruelties. Fearing lest they should a second time reach the abbey, he determined to protect by stratagem what he could not effect by force. After hiding the genuine bones of St. Alban in a place quite secure from discovery, he sent an open message to the Abbot of Ely, entreating permission to deposit the holy relics in his keeping; and offering, as a plausible reason, that the monastery of Ely, being surrounded by marshy and impenetrable bogs, was secure from the approaches of the barbarians. He accompanied this message with some false relics--the remains of an old monk belonging to the abbey enclosed in a coffin--and sent with them a worn antiquated looking mantle, pretending that it formerly belonged to Amphibalus, the master of St. Alban.[387]

The monks of Ely joyfully received these precious bones, and displayed perhaps too much eagerness in doing so. Certain it is, that when the danger was past and the quietude of the country was restored, Leofric, on applying for the rest.i.tution of these "holy relics," found some difficulty in obtaining them; for the Abbot of Ely attempted by equivocation and duplicity to retain them. After several ineffectual applications, Leofric was compelled, for the honor of his monastery, to declare the "pious fraud" he had practised; which he proved by the testimony of several monks of his fraternity, who were witnesses of the transaction. It is said, that Edward the Confessor was highly incensed at the conduct of the Abbot of Ely.

I have stated elsewhere, that the learned and pious aelfric gave the monastery many choice volumes. His successor, Ealdred, abbot, about the year 955, was quite an antiquary in his way; and no spot in England afforded so many opportunities to gratify his taste as the site of the ancient city of Verulam. He commenced an extensive search among the ruins, and rescued from the earth a vast quant.i.ty of interesting and valuable remains. He stowed all the stone-work and other materials which were serviceable in building away, intending to erect a new edifice for the monks: but death prevented the consummation of these designs. Eadmer, his successor, a man of great piety and learning, followed up the pursuit, and made some important accessions to these stores. He found also a great number of gold and silver ornaments, specimens of ancient art, some of them of a most costly nature, but being idols or figures connected with heathen mythology, he cared not to preserve them. Matthew Paris is prolix in his account of the operations and discoveries of this abbot; and one portion of it is so interesting, and seems so connected with our subject, that I cannot refrain from giving it to the reader.

"The abbot," he writes, "whilst digging out the walls and searching for the ruins which were buried in the earth in the midst of the ancient city, discovered many vestiges of the foundation of a great palace. In a recess in one of the walls he found the remains of a library, consisting of a number of books and rolls; and among them a volume in an unknown tongue, and which, although very ancient, had especially escaped destruction. This n.o.body in the monastery could read, nor could they at that time find any one who understood the writing or the idiom; it was exceedingly ancient, and the letters evidently were most beautifully formed; the inscriptions or t.i.tles were written in gold, and encircled with ornaments; bound in oak with silken bands, which still retained their strength and beauty; so perfectly was the volume preserved. But they could not conceive what the book was about; at last, after much search and diligent inquiry, they found a very feeble and aged priest, named Unwon, who was very learned in writings _literis bene eruditum_, and imbued with the knowledge of divers languages. He knew directly what the volume was about, and clearly and fluently read the contents; he also explained the other _Codices_ found in the same library _in eodem Almariolo_ of the palace with the greatest ease, and showed them to be written in the characters formerly in use among the inhabitants of Verulam, and in the language of the ancient Britons. Some, however, were in Latin; but the book before-mentioned was found to be the history of Saint Alban, the English proto-martyr, according to that mentioned by Bede, as having been daily used in the church. Among the other books were discovered many contrivances for the invocation and idolatrous rites of the people of Verulam, in which it was evident that Phoebus the G.o.d Sol was especially invoked and wors.h.i.+pped; and after him Mercury, called in English Woden, who was the G.o.d of the merchants. The books which contained these diabolical inventions they cast away and burnt; but that precious treasure, the history of Saint Alban, they preserved, and the priest before-mentioned was appointed to translate the ancient English or British into the vulgar tongue.[388] By the prudence of the Abbot Eadmer, the brothers of the convent made a faithful copy, and diligently explained it in their public teaching; they also translated it into Latin, in which it is now known and read; the historian adds that the ancient and original copy, which was so curiously written, instantaneously crumbled into dust and was destroyed for ever."[389]

Although the attention of the Saxon abbots was especially directed to literary matters, and to the affairs connected with the making of books, we find no definite mention of a Scriptorium, or of ma.n.u.scripts having been transcribed as a regular and systematic duty, till after the Norman conquest. That event happened during the abbacy of Frederic, and was one which greatly influenced the learning of the monks. Indeed, I regard the Norman conquest as a most propitious event for English literature, and one which wrought a vast change in the aspect of monastic learning; the student of those times cannot fail to perceive the revolution which then took place in the cloisters; visibly accomplished by the installation of Norman bishops and the importation of Norman monks, who in the well regulated monasteries of France and Normandy had been initiated into a more general course of study, and brought up in a better system of mental training than was known here at that time.

But poor Frederic, a conscientious and worthy monk, suffered severely by that event, and was ultimately obliged to seek refuge in the monastery of Ely to evade the displeasure of the new sovereign; but his earthly course was well nigh run, for three days after, death released him from his worldly troubles, and deprived the conqueror of a victim. Paul, the first of the Norman abbots, was appointed by the king in the year 1077. He was zealous and industrious in the interest of the abbey, and obtained the rest.i.tution of many lands and possessions of which it had been deprived; he rebuilt the old and almost ruined church, and employed for that purpose many of the materials which his predecessors had collected from the ruins of Verulam; and even now, I believe, some remnants of these Roman tiles, etc., may be discerned. He moreover obtained many important grants and valuable donations; among others a layman named Robert, one of the Norman leaders, gave him two parts of the tythes of his domain at Hatfield, which he had received from the king at the distribution.

"This he a.s.signed," says Matthew Paris, "to the disposal of Abbot Paul, who was a lover of the Scriptures, for the transcription of the necessary volumes for the monastery. He himself indeed was a learned soldier, and a diligent hearer and lover of Scripture; to this he also added the tythes of Redburn, appointing certain provisions to be given to the scribes; this he did out of "charity to the brothers that they may not thereby suffer, and that no impediment might be offered to the writers." The abbot thereupon sought and obtained from afar many renowned scribes, to write the necessary books for the monastery. And in return for these abundant favors, he presented, as a suitable gift to the warlike Robert, for the chapel in his palace at Hatfield, two pair of vestments, a silver cup, a missal, and the other needful books (_missale c.u.m aliis libris necessariis_). Having thus presented to him the first volumes produced by his liberality, he proceeded to construct a scriptorium, which was set apart (_praeelectos_) for the transcription of books; Lanfranc supplied the copies. They thus procured for the monastery twenty-eight notable volumes (_volumina notabilia_), also eight psalters, a book of collects, a book of epistles, a volume containing the gospels for the year, two copies of the gospels complete, bound in gold and silver, and ornamented with gems; besides ordinals, const.i.tutions, missals, troapries, collects, and other books for the use of the library."[390]

Thus blessed, we find the monks of St. Albans for ages after constantly acquiring fresh treasures, and multiplying their book stores by fruitful transcripts. There is scarce an abbot, whose portrait garnishes the fair ma.n.u.script before me, that is not represented with some goodly tomes spread around him, or who is not mentioned as a choice "_amator librorum_," in these monkish pages. It is a singular circ.u.mstance, when we consider how bookless those ages are supposed to have been, that the illuminated portraits of the monks are most frequently depicted with some ponderous volume before them, as if the idea of a monk and the study of a book were quite inseparable. During my search among the old ma.n.u.scripts quoted in this work, this fact has been so repeatedly forced upon my attention that I am tempted to regard it as an important hint, and one which speaks favorably for the love of books and learning among the cowled devotees of the monasteries.

Pa.s.sing Richard de Albani, who gave them a copy of the gospels, a missal written in letters of gold, an other precious volumes whose t.i.tles are unrecorded,[391] we come to Geoffry, a native of Gorham, who was elected abbot in the year 1119. He had been invited over to England (before he became a priest) by his predecessor, to superintend the school of St.

Albans; but he delayed the voyage so long, that on his arrival he found the appointment already filled; on this he went to Dunstable, where he read lectures, and obtained some pupils. It was during his stay there that he wrote the piece which has obtained for him so much reputation.

_Ubi quendam ludum de Sancta Katarinae quem miracula vulgariter appellamus fecit_, says the Cotton ma.n.u.scripts, on the vellum page of which he is portrayed in the act of writing it.[392] Geoffry, from this pa.s.sage, is supposed to be the first author of dramatic literature in England; although the t.i.tle seems somewhat equivocal, from the casual manner in which his famous play of St. Catherine is thus mentioned by Matthew Paris. Of its merits we are still less able to form an opinion; for nothing more than the name of that much talked of miracle play has been preserved. We may conclude, however, that it was performed with all the paraphernalia of scenery and characteristic costume; for he borrowed of the sacrist of St. Albans some copes for this purpose. On the night following the representation the house in which he resided was burnt; and, says the historian, all his books, and the copes he had borrowed were destroyed. Rendered poor indeed by this calamity, and somewhat reflecting upon himself for the event, he a.s.sumed in sorrow and despair the religious habit, and entered the monastery of St. Albans; where by his deep study, his learning and his piety, he so gained the hearts of his fraternity, that he ultimately became their abbot. He is said to have been very industrious in the transcription of books; and he "made a missal bound in gold, _auro ridimitum_, and another in two volumes; both incomparably illuminated in gold, and written in a clear and legible hand; also a precious Psalter similarly illuminated; a book containing the Benedictions and the Sacraments; a book of Exorcisms, and a Collectaria."[393]

Geoffry was succeeded by Ralph de Gobium in the year 1143: he was a monk remarkable for his learning and his bibliomanical pursuits. He formerly remained some time in the services of Alexander, bishop of Lincoln, and gained the esteem of that prelate. His book-loving pa.s.sion arose from hearing one "Master Wodon, of Italy, expound the doctrines of the Holy Scriptures." He from that time became a most enthusiastic _amator librorum_; and collected, with great diligence, an abundant mult.i.tude of books.[394]