A knowledge of the intellectual acquirements of the middle ages must be
mainly formed upon a consideration of the writings which directed them,
or emanated from them. Unfortunately such materials are very imperfect,
our knowledge of the existence of works often resting only upon their
place in some loosely-entered catalogue--and of the catalogues
themselves, the proportion still remaining must be small indeed. Under
these circumstances the following documents, which are now for the first
time printed, or even noticed, will be found to be of considerable
interest. The first is, in modern language, a Power of Attorney,
executed by the Prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, appointing two of
the monks of his church to be his procurators for the purpose of
receiving from the convent of Anglesey, in Cambridgeshire[1], a book
which had been lent to the late Rector of Terrington. Its precise date
is uncertain, but it must be of about the middle of the thirteenth
century (1244-1254), as Nicholas Sandwich, the Prior of Christ Church,
was the second of four priors who presided between the years 1234 and
1274.
"N. Prior Ecclesiæ Christi Cantuariensis discretis viris et
religiosis Domino Priori de Anglesheya et ejusdem loci sacro
conventui salutem in Domino. Cum sincera semper caritate
noverit faternitas vestra nos constiuisse fratres Gauterum de
Hatdfeld et Nicolaum de Grantebrigiense Ecclesiæ nostræ monachos
latores precencium procuratores nostros ad exigendum et
recipiendum librum qui intitulatur. Johannes Crisestomus de
laude Apostoli. In quo etiam volumine continentur Hystoria vetus
Britonum quæ Brutus appellatur et tractatus Roberti Episcopi
Herfordiæ de compoto. Quæ quondam accommodavimus Magistro
Laurentio de Sancto Nicholao tunc Rectori ecclesiæ de Tyrenton.
Qui post decessum præfati Magistri L. penes vos morabatur et
actenus moratur. In cujus rei testimonium has litteras patentes
nostro sigillo signatas vobis transmittimus."
The contents of the book which is the subject of this special embassy
are of the character usually found to have formed the staple of monastic
libraries, though the particular treatises included in it are not
common.
In the Reverend Joseph Hunter's valuable treatise upon _English Monastic
Libraries_[2] occurs a notice of an indenture executed in A.D. 1343,
whereby the priory of Henton lent no less than twenty books to another
monastic establishment. The deed is described, but not printed. It will
be seen that the instrument we have given above is nearly a century
earlier; and the minute description of the book given in this document
supplies some very curious facts illustrative of the mode of putting
together ancient books, which have not hitherto been remarked, for the
simple reasons that no opportunity for comparison like that presented by
the present case has yet been noticed. Among the Cottonian MSS. (Galba
E. iv.) is a perfect specimen of an ancient Library Catalogue, which,
although not altogether unnoticed, deserves a more careful examination
than it has yet received. It relates to the magnificent monastic
foundation from which emanated the deed we have printed above, and is
headed "Tituli librorum de libraria Ecclesiæ Christi Cantuariensis et
contenta in eisdem libris tempore H. Prioris." It is written in that
bold hand which prevails so extensively in ecclesiastical MSS., with but
little variation, from the middle of the fourteenth century, to the end
of the fifteenth,--a hand which is not always clearly written, and which
therefore, in itself, does not materially assist in the distinction of a
date. Now having first assigned the credit of this noble {22} Catalogue--in
which are entered about 600 volumes, in nearly every one of which,
besides the substantive (or initial?) work, are particularised numerous
detached writings, varying from two or three to five-and-forty distinct
"tracts"--to Prior Henry Chichely (1413--1443), the founder of All
Souls' and St. John's Colleges, Oxford, and who, "built the library of
the church, and furnished it with books," we will see whether the book
"qui intitulatur Johannes Crisestomus," &c. was returned to Canterbury,
and had a place in the list;--and this, we think, is satisfactorily
shown by the following entry:--
"Johannes Crisostomus de laude Apostoli.
In hoc volumine continentur
Idem de laude Redemptoris.
Brutus latine.
Nomina Regum Britanniæ sicut in ordine successerunt.
Nomina Archiepiscoporum Cantuariensis sicut in ordine successerunt.
Tabula et questiones Bede de ratione temporum.
Tabula ejusdem et expositio super tabulam de lunationibus.
Descriptio Britanniæ Insulæ.
Expositio super Merlinum, imperfecta."
It may perhaps be supposed that this proves too much, as, besides the
direct title of the volume, _eight_ "tracts" are here entered, while in
the Power of Attorney only _two_ are noticed. But we would maintain,
nevertheless, that it is the identical book, and explain this variation
in the description by the circumstance that the library having, in the
space of nearly two centuries, been materially enriched, numerous works,
consisting in many cases only of a single "quaternion," were inserted in
the volumes already existing. An examination of the structure of books
of this period would confirm this view, and show that their apparent
clumsiness is to be explained by the facility it was then the custom to
afford for the interpolation or extraction of "sheets," by a contrivance
somewhat resembling that of the present day for temporarily fixing loose
papers in a cover, and known as the "patent leaf-holder."
The second document is a list of certain books, belonging to the
monastery of Anglesey, early in the fourteenth century, allotted out to
the canons of the house for the purpose of custody, or, perhaps, of study
or devotion.
"Isti libri liberati sunt canonicis die ... anno regni Regis Edwardi
septimo"[3] (7 Edw. II. A.D. 1314.)
Penes Dominum Priorem; Parabelæ Salomonis; Psalterium cum ...
Penes Dominum J. de Bodek.; Epistolæ Pauli...; Quædam notulæ super
psalter et liber miraculorum ... Mariæ cum miraculis sanctorum.
Penes Sub-priorem; Liber vitæ Sancti Thomæ Martiris.
Penes E. de Ely; Quartus liber sententiarum cum sermo...; Liber
Reymundi; Liber de vitiis et virtutibus et pastorale.
Penes R. Pichard; Liber Alquini; Liber Johannis de Tyrington cum
Catone et aliis.
Penes Henrici Muchet; Liber de vita Sanctæ Mariæ Magdalenæ et
remediarum (?)
Penes Walteri de Yilwilden; Liber S ... ligatus in panno ymnaro
glosatus cum constitutionibus; Belet ligatus et vita sanctorum.
Penes Ricardi de Queye; Omeliæ Gregorii (?) super Evangelistos ligatæ
in nigro corio.
In commune biblia; Decreta; Decretales; Prima pars moralium Job; Liber
de abusionibus.
Liber justitiæ; penes Magistrum Adam de Wilburham.
Penes Walteri de Wyth; Liber Innocentii super sacramenta cum Belet et
introductione in uno volumine.
Item penes Sup-priorem; Psalterium glosatum duod fuit in custodia
Magistri Henrice de Melreth.
Item aliud psalterium glosatum inpignoratum penes Isabellam Siccadona.
Several of these descriptions are highly curious; particularly the last
item, which describes one of the "glossed" psalters as being "_in
pawn_," a fact which, in itself, tells a history of the then condition
of the house.
The first document, taken in connection with that referred to by Mr.
Hunter would seem to establish the existence of a system of
interchanging the literary wealth of monastic establishments, and
thereby greatly extending the advantages of their otherwise scanty
stores. Both are executed with all the legal forms used in the most
important transactions, which would support the opinion of their not {23}
being special instances: but they are, in either case, curious and
satisfactory evidence of the care and caution exercised by the monks in
cases where their books were concerned; and one cannot but regret that
when the time came that the monasterias were destined to be dissolved,
and their books torn and scattered to the winds, no attention was paid
to Bale's advice for the formation of "one solemne library in every
shire of England."