THE MATERIALS.
The material of an early Literature is, above all, to be sought in
written Books and documents. But, besides these, there are other
available sources, which may be called in one word the Antiquities of
the nation; and these are of great value as illustrations, that is to
say, though the information they severally give may be uncertain and
inexplicit, yet when they are put side by side with the literature, they
greatly increase its informing power, and often draw, in return, a flow
of light upon themselves. Accordingly the present chapter will fall into
two parts: 1, of writings; 2, of subsidiary sources.
I.
There is a famous book that remains in the place where it was deposited
in the Saxon period. Leofric, who was the tenth bishop of Crediton, and
the first of Exeter, gave to his new cathedral about sixty books, and
the list of these books is extant in contemporary writing. One of them
is thus described:--"I. mycel englisc boc be gehwilcum thingum on leoth
wisan geworht." = One large English book about various things in lay
(song) wise wrought--that is to say, a large volume of miscellaneous
poetry in English. This is the valuable, or rather, invaluable, Exeter
Song Book, often quoted as "Codex Exoniensis." It is still where Leofric
placed it in or about 1050, and it is in the keeping of his cathedral
chapter. The others are dispersed; but many of them are still well
known, as the "Leofric Missal," in the Bodleian; and others are at
Cambridge.
The general break-up of monastic institutions between 1530 and 1540
caused the dispersion of many old libraries, whose forgotten treasures
were thus restored to air and light. No doubt many valuable books and
records were irrecoverably lost; as it is reasonable to suppose that
among the parchments then cast upon the world, there existed material
for a continuous and complete history of Anglo-Saxon times. This
reflection may make us the more sensible of our penury, but it will not
diminish the praise of those who saved something from the wreck.
Matthew Parker, the twentieth archbishop of Canterbury, 1559-1576, has
been called a mighty collector of books. He gave commissions for
searching after books in England and Wales, and presented the choicest
of his miscellaneous collections to his own college at Cambridge,
namely, Benet College (now Corpus Christi), where it still rests. In
this library are some unique books, such as the oldest Saxon chronicle,
which has been thought nearly as old as King Alfred's time. There is
also a fine vellum of the laws of King Alfred, with the elder laws of
King Ine attached in manner of appendix.
But the most famous book of this great collection is an illuminated
manuscript of the Gospels in Latin (No. 286), which Wanley thought to
be probably one of the very books that were sent to Augustine by
Gregory. Professor Westwood says that the drawings in this manuscript
are the most ancient monuments of Roman pictorial art existing in this
country, and he further proceeds to say that, excepting a fourth-century
manuscript at Vienna, these are the oldest instances of Roman-Christian
iconography of which he can find any notice.[11]
Parker had singular opportunities, by the time in which he lived, by the
advantages of his high office and personal character, by his power to
command the services of other men, and by their general willingness to
serve him. There were three distinguished searchers after books who were
of the greatest use to him, viz., Bale, Joscelin, Leland.
John Bale, the antiquary, had been a White Friar in Norwich, then,
changing his party, he became bishop of Ossory, but lived at length on a
prebend he had in the church of Canterbury, where he followed his
studies. Bale, in his preface to Leland's "New Year's Gift,"[12] says
that those who purchased the monasteries reserved the books, some to
scour their candlesticks, some to rub their boots, some they sold to the
grocers and soap-sellers, and some they sent over sea to the
book-binders,[13] not in small numbers, but at times whole ships full,
to the wondering of foreign nations.
John Leland had a commission under Henry VIII. to travel and collect
books; his Itinerary is a chief book for English topography. Of Joscelin
we shall have occasion to speak below.
With all his advantages, however, Parker was weighted with the care of
the churches, at a time, too, when that care was unusually heavy; and to
this, as in duty bound, he gave his first thought. Though his example
could not be exceeded, his collections were surpassed, and that by a
gleaner who came after him. Of all book collectors the greatest was
Robert Bruce Cotton, the founder of the Cottonian Library. He was born
at Denton, in Huntingdonshire, and educated at Trinity College,
Cambridge. Cotton's antiquarian tastes declared themselves early; the
formation of a library and museum was his life-long pursuit. Not that
his interests were all confined to this. He wrote on the revenue, warned
King James against the strained exaction of tonnage and poundage,
especially in time of peace; and he counselled the creation of an order
of baronets, each to pay the Crown £1,000 for the honour. In this way he
became a baronet himself in 1611, having been knighted at the king's
accession. Under Charles I. he was molested for his opinions, because he
dared to disapprove of government without parliaments; and he was
touched in his most sensitive part when his own library was sealed
against him. He died 6th May, 1631, and was buried in Conington Church,
where his monument may still be seen.
His library was further enlarged by his son, Sir Thomas Cotton; and it
was sold to the nation by Sir John Cotton, the fourth baronet, in 1700.
It was lodged in Ashburnham House, in 1731, when a disastrous fire
consumed or damaged many valuable books.[14] Annexed by statute to the
British Museum in 1753, it was moved thither in 1757.
Among the books that suffered without being destroyed by the fire of
1731, is the unique copy of the Beowulf.[15] One of the Saxon chronicles
was almost consumed; only two or three leaves of it are now extant. But,
happily, this particular chronicle had been printed by Wheloc, without
curtailment or admixture, and so it was the one that could best be
spared. This library also contains the Abingdon and Worcester
chronicles, and, indeed, all the known Saxon chronicles except two. This
collection is the richest in original Anglo-Saxon deeds and abbey
registers.
Among the Cottonian treasures (Vespasian A.I.) is a glossed psalter,
which was edited by Mr. Stevenson for the Surtees Society, in two vols.,
1843-7, as containing a Northumbrian gloss, which is now, however,
supposed to be Kentish.[16] A facsimile of this manuscript by the
Palæographical Society, part ii., 18, has a description, from which the
following is taken:--"Written about A.D. 700, the gloss at the
end of the ninth, or beginning of the tenth, and the later additions in
the eleventh century. It formerly belonged to the Monastery of St.
Augustine of Canterbury, and corresponds with Thomas of Elmham's
description of one of the two psalters stated to have been acquired from
Augustine; though the character of the ornamentation clearly shows that
it is of English origin." It is sometimes called the Surtees Psalter;
Professor Westwood calls it "The Psalter of St. Augustine."
The book which, to the eye of the artist and palæographer, forms the
glory of the Cottonian Library, is that which is marked, Nero D. iv.,
and is commonly called the Lindisfarne Gospels. Other names which it has
borne, are:--The Durham Book, because it was long preserved in Durham
Cathedral, and the Gospels of St. Cuthbert, as having been written in
honour of that saint. It is the most elaborately-ornamented of all
Anglo-Saxon manuscripts; it is quite entire, and tells its own origin
and date. Two entries enable us to fix the date of the original Latin
book about 710; the interlinear Saxon gloss may be of the ninth century.
Locally connected with the Cottonian is the Harleian collection which
was formed by Robert Harley (1661-1724), Earl of Oxford; and it was
purchased for the British Museum in 1753. It contains, without name of
author (Harl. 3,859) the most ancient manuscript (tenth century) of that
"History of the Britons" which now bears the name of Nennius; a few
originals or good early copies of Saxon charters; some abbey registers,
and some Early-English poetry, especially a manuscript of Chaucer's
"Canterbury Tales" (Harley, 7,334), which some have thought to be the
oldest and best.
A name second only to Cotton is that of Archbishop Laud. He was a
collector of old and rare books in many languages, and we are indebted
to his care for some of the most valuable monuments of the
mother-tongue. He was president of St. John's College, Oxford, and he
had been educated there. Some valuable books he gave to his college, but
his larger donations were to the library of his university, of which he
became vice-chancellor in 1630. These books rest in the Bodleian
Library.
THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY
dates from the year 1598; and here we have an admirable guide in the
"Annals of the Bodleian Library," by Rev. W.D. Macray, whose annalistic
order we will follow.
1601.--The Library bought the copy of the Anglo-Saxon Gospels, from
which John Foxe had printed the edition of 1571.[17] It is marked Bod.
441.
1603.--Some manuscripts were given by Sir Robert Cotton, and one of them
(Auct. D., ii. 14:--Bod. 857) is an ancient volume of Latin Gospels,
written probably in the sixth century, which shares with the illuminated
Benet Gospels described above, the traditional reputation of being one
of the books that were sent by Gregory to Augustine. It has no
miniatures, but it has rubrication, and it is in a similar style of
writing with that splendid volume. Thomas Elmham, who was a monk of St.
Augustine's at Canterbury, and wrote a history of his monastery, about
A.D. 1414, gives a list of the books of his house; and there
are two entries of "Textus Evangeliorum," each being particularly
described. Humphrey Wanley (p. 172) identified our two books as those
known to Elmham; and Westwood pronounces them to be two of the oldest
Latin manuscripts written in pure Roman uncials that exist in this
country.
1635-1640.--In these years Archbishop Laud gave nearly 1,300
manuscripts, among which there is one (E. 2) that enjoys pre-eminently
the title of "Codex Laudianus." This is a famous manuscript of the Acts
of the Apostles, which has been variously dated from the sixth to the
eighth century. It is the only known manuscript that exhibits certain
irregular readings, seventy-four in number, which Bede, in his
"Retractations on the Acts," quoted from his copy. Wetstein surmised
that this was the very book before Bede when he wrote his
"Retractations."[18] At the end is a Latin Creed, written in the same
uncial character, though not by the same hand, and Dr. Heurtley says it
is one of the earliest, if not the very earliest, of what he calls the
"Manuscript Creeds." He has given a facsimile of it.[19]
Another of these was the Peterborough chronicle (No. 636), a celebrated
manuscript, containing the most extensive of all the Saxon chronicles.
1675.--Christopher, Lord Hatton, gave four volumes of Saxon Homilies,
written shortly after the Conquest. These are now among the Junian MSS.
(Nos. 22, 23, 24, 99), simply because Junius had them on loan. Being
among his books at the time of his death, they came back to the
Bodleian, as if part of the Junian bequest. This explains why Hatton
manuscripts, which contain sermons of Ælfric and of Wulfstan, bear the
signatures Jun. 22 and Jun. 99.
Other Hatton manuscripts, and very precious ones, have retained the name
of their donor, as--
Hatton 20.--King Alfred's Translation of Gregory's "Pastoral Care," of
which the king purposed to send a copy to each cathedral church, and
this is the copy sent by the king to Werfrith, bishop of Worcester.
Hatton 76.--Translation by Werfrith, bishop of Worcester, of Gregory's
"Dialogues," with King Alfred's Preface (in Wanley this is Hatton 100).
Hatton 65.--The Gospels in Saxon, written about the time of Henry II.
1678.--Franciscus Junius died at Windsor. He was born at Heidelberg, in
1589, and his vernacular name was Francis Dujon. He lived much in
England, as librarian to Howard, Earl of Arundel. He bequeathed to the
Bodleian his Anglo-Saxon and Northern collections. Among these is a
beautiful Latin Psalter (Jun. 27) of the tenth century, with grotesque
initials and interlinear Saxon. This book has been called "Codex
Vossianus," because Junius obtained it from his relative, Isaac Voss.
Among these also is the unique Cædmon, a MS. of about A.D.
1000, which had been given to Junius by Archbishop Usher, and of which
the earlier history is unknown. Usher, a scholar of European celebrity,
founded the library of Trinity College, Dublin; and in his enquiries
after books for his college he picked up this famous manuscript. It
became a favourite with Junius, who edited the Editio Princeps,
Amsterdam, 1655. Another book (Jun. 121) is a collection of Canons of
the Anglo-Saxon Church, which belonged to Worcester Cathedral. In this
book, fol. 101, the writer describes himself: _Me scripsit Wulfgeatus
scriptor Wigorniensis_ = Me wrote Wulfgeat of Worcester, a writer. This
Wulfgeat is said by Wanley (p. 141) to have lived about A.D.
1064. Junius 22 seems to be written by the same hand; so does Junius 99.
The former contains writings by Ælfric; the latter, some by Ælfric and
some by Wulfstan. Another book of the Junian bequest, hardly less
singular and unique, is the "Ormulum," a poetical exposition of the
Gospels, a work of the thirteenth century, of singular beauty, as
poetry and as English.
1681.--This is probably the year in which John Rushworth, of Lincoln's
Inn, the historian of the Long Parliament, presented to the library the
book (Auct. D., ii. 19) which is still known as Codex Rushworthianus. It
contains the Gospels in Latin, written about A.D. 800, by an
Irish scribe, who has recorded his name as Macregol, and it is glossed
with an interlinear Anglo-Saxon version by Owun and by Færmen, a priest,
at Harewood. It is described by Westwood.
1755.--Richard Rawlinson was born in 1690, son of Sir Thomas Rawlinson,
who was lord mayor of London in 1706; was educated at St. John's
College, Oxford, of which he always remained an attached member, and to
which he left by will the bulk of his estate. Though he passed for a
layman, he was a bishop among the Nonjurors, having been ordained deacon
and priest by Bishop Jeremy Collier in 1716, and consecrated bishop 25th
March, 1728. He was through life an indefatigable collector; he
purchased historical materials of all kinds, heraldry, genealogy,
biography, topography, and log-books. He was a repeated benefactor to
the library during his life, but after his death his books and
manuscripts came in overwhelming quantity, so that the staff of the
library could not possibly catalogue them; and it was not until Henry
Octavius Coxe became Bodley's librarian that the extent of the Rawlinson
collection was ascertained. This benefactor founded the Anglo-Saxon
professorship which bears his name.
1809.--Richard Gough, the eminent topographer and antiquary, died 20th
February; he had bequeathed to the Bodleian all his topographical
collections, together with all his books relating to Saxon and Northern
literature. The following is from his will:--"Also I give and bequeath
to the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars, of the University of Oxford,
my printed Books and Manuscripts on Saxon and Northern Literature,
mentioned in a Catalogue of the same, for the Use of the Saxon professor
in the said University when he shall have occasion to consult them, with
liberty to take them to his Apartments on condition of faithfully
returning them."
I close these Bodleian notes with the remark that three of the books
above noticed may be easily seen even by the casual visitor. The late
librarian, Henry Octavius Coxe, devised the happy plan of exhibiting
under a glass case a chronological series of manuscripts written by
English scribes, so as to exhibit the progress of the arts of
calligraphy and illuminating in England. This case is in the north wing,
at the further end from the entrance door. Among the selections for this
series occur Alfred's gift-book to Worcester, the "Codex Vossianus," the
"Cædmon," and a fourth book, one that has not yet been described. It is
a volume of Latin Gospels in Anglo-Saxon writing, of about the end of
the tenth century. This book appears, from an entry at the end of it, to
have belonged to the abbey of Barking.[20]
CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD,
though not endowed with treasures equal to those of its namesake in
Cambridge, has a few books of very high quality and value. Among these a
Saxon Bede of the tenth century, wanting at the beginning and end, but
otherwise in excellent condition.
A remarkably interesting manuscript of the Rule of St. Benedict, Latin
and Saxon, which has never yet been published.[21] Mr. H.O. Coxe, in his
catalogue of the manuscripts of the colleges, assigned this book to the
close of the tenth century. The interest of the volume is greatly
increased by some pages of entries, which also tend to fix the date of
the book with greater precision. It was written for the monastery of
Bury St. Edmunds, and it appears to have been still there in the
fourteenth century. It was given by William Fulman, who was a fellow of
this college, to the college library. The same donor gave them their
"Piers Plowman" and their famous manuscript of the "Canterbury Tales."
ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD,
has an important manuscript containing (1) Ælfric's Grammar, (2)
Glossary, and (3) the Colloquy of Ælfric Bata, in usum puerorum (for the
boys). On fol. 202, the writer calls himself, "I Ælfric Bata," and says
that his master "Ælfric abbot" was the original author. The writing of
(1) and (2) is in the round, strong, professional hand of the tenth
century; the sequel is in later writing. On the first page is written
in a hand of the fourteenth century "Liber Sci Cuthberhti de Dunelmo" (a
book of St. Cuthbert, of Durham); and next thereto, but in a hand nearly
as old as the MS. itself, "de armario precentoris, qui alienaverit de eo
anathema sit" (is kept in the precentor's chest; whoever alienates it
therefrom, let him be anathema). It was given to the college by
Christopher Coles, who took his degree in 1611. The grammar has been
recently edited by Dr. Zupitza.
THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AT CAMBRIDGE
possesses the oldest manuscript of the ecclesiastical history of Bede
(K.K. 5. 16). It is supposed to have been written shortly after the
death of the venerable author, which happened in 735. This book came
into that library in 1715, with the fine collection of 30,000 volumes
collected by Dr. More, bishop of Ely. This collection was purchased by
George I. for 6,000 guineas, and presented to the University by the
king. This invaluable book is distinctively called Bishop More's
manuscript.
In the Cathedral Library at Canterbury there are some valuable Saxon
charters;[22]--many more whose natural home was there are in the British
Museum among the Cottonian collections.
In the library of Lambeth Palace there is an interesting book, which
belonged to Archbishop Parker, and has been well scored by him: but it
is not entered either in the Lambeth catalogue of 1812, or in that of
Benet College. This is the "Gospels of MacDurnan," in Irish calligraphy
of the ninth century, and it contains some valuable Anglo-Saxon
entries.[23]
RESEARCH, DISCOVERY, AND RECONSTRUCTION.
Hitherto we have been describing the collection of material; this it was
that rescued our early history and literature from hopeless oblivion.
The old parchments contained much knowledge that ought to be recovered
and diffused; but this would require preparation and labour. Among the
labourers, Matthew Parker comes first as he does among the collectors.
This prelate was an earnest student in the ancient history of the
country and especially in whatever had relation to the Church. He was
the first editor of a Saxon Homily. It was printed by John Day, and was
entitled, "A Testimony of Antiquity showing the Ancient Faith of the
Church of England touching the Sacrament, &c." The interest of this
publication as understood at the time, lay in its witness against
transubstantiation. It was reprinted at Oxford by Leon Lichfield, 1675.
In 1571 the Saxon Gospels were published by John Fox, who acknowledges
obligations to Parker in his preface. This book was reprinted at Dort,
in 1665, by Marshall, who was afterwards rector of Lincoln College, in
Oxford.
In 1574 appeared Parker's edition of Asser's Life of Alfred, and we read
in Strype that "of this edition of Asserius there had been great
expectation among the learned." We can add, that of this edition the
interest is not yet extinct.
How far Parker's books were done by himself and how far he was dependent
on his literary assistants, is a question of little importance. No
doubt, a great deal of it was the work of his secretary, Joscelin. We
look at Parker as a master builder, not as a journeyman. The name of
Joscelin meets us often when we are following the footsteps of those
times. His writing is seen on many a manuscript, and we have to thank
him for much valuable information. It is chiefly through his annotations
that we know the external and local relations of our several Saxon
chronicles.[24] In August, 1565, he was at St. Augustine's, Canterbury;
and there he found the old transcript of the first life of St. Dunstan,
which is now in the Cotton Library.[25]
But the chief labourers and reconstructors of the first movement were
William Camden (b. 1551--d. 1623), and Sir Henry Spelman (b. 1562--d.
1641). The name of Camden's "Britannia" is still alive, and is familiar
as a household word with all who explore even a little beyond the beaten
track. But it is otherwise with Sir Henry Spelman, whose studies were
more recondite, and to whom Abraham Wheloc looked back as to "the hero
of Anglo-Saxon literature." His "Glossary" was a work of vast compass,
and for it he corresponded much with learned men abroad; among others
with the famous Northern antiquary, Olaus Wormius, the author of
"Literatura Runica," of which he sent Spelman a copy in October,
1636.[26] His son, Sir John Spelman, wrote the "Life of King Alfred."
Before he died, Sir Henry Spelman founded an Anglo-Saxon chair at
Cambridge; and the first occupant of it was Abraham Wheloc, who edited
Bede in 1643 and with it that Saxon Chronicle which was burnt in 1731.
In 1644 he edited the Anglo-Saxon Laws. His successor was William Somner
(b. 1606--d. 1669), who produced the first Anglo-Saxon dictionary. So
this foundation was not unfruitful. But the chair fell into abeyance,
until it was restored by Dr. Bosworth, and filled by Professor Skeat.
This, the first movement of reconstruction, had its seat in Cambridge,
under the shadow of Archbishop Parker's library. The next advance,
dating from the middle of the seventeenth century, grew in Oxford, and
was connected with the sojourn of Junius in this place. He was much at
the Bodleian, and he is said to have lodged opposite Lincoln College. He
was a fellow-labourer with Dr. Marshall, the rector of that college, in
the Mæso-Gothic and Anglo-Saxon Gospels which they printed at Dordrecht,
1665. This Oxford period may be said to have culminated in the work of
George Hickes, Nonjuror and Saxonist (b. 1642--d. 1715), the author of
the massive "Thesaurus Linguarum Septentrionalium," Oxford, 1705, a
monument of diligence and insight, to which was appended a work of the
greatest utility and necessity,--the idea was Hickes's, as was also much
of the sustaining energy,--Humphrey Wanley's catalogue of Anglo-Saxon
manuscripts. We must not omit Edmund Gibson (b. 1669--d. 1748), who in
early life produced his admirable "Chronicon Saxonicum," amplifying the
work of Wheloc, and embodying for the first time the Peterborough
manuscript. He was afterwards bishop of London. In 1750 Richard
Rawlinson gave rents of the yearly value of £87. 16s. 8d. to the
University of Oxford, for the maintenance and support of an Anglo-Saxon
lecture or professorship for ever.
Up to this time it might still be said of the collections that they were
just stored in bulk as goods are stored in great magazines; there was
much to explore and to learn. Important discoveries still remained to be
made by explorers in these and other collections. Wanley's catalogue had
somewhat the effect of running a line of road through a fertile but
unfrequented land; and Conybeare's "Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon
Poetry," published in 1826, fruit of the Oxford chair, had a great
effect in calling the attention of the educated, and more than any other
book in the present century has served as the introduction to Saxon
studies.
It was not until the close of the eighteenth century that the "Beowulf"
was discovered. Wanley had catalogued it, but without any idea of the
real nature of the book. Thorkelin was, however, attracted from Denmark;
he came and transcribed it, and prepared an edition which was nearly
ready in 1808, when his house was burnt in the bombardment of
Copenhagen. But he began again, and lived to see his name to the Editio
Princeps of "Beowulf," at a time when there were few who knew or cared
for his work. He left two transcripts, which are now our highest source
in many passages of the poem. The original having been scorched in the
fire of 1731, the edges of the leaves went on cracking away, so that
many words which were near the margins and which are now gone, passed
under the eye of Thorkelin.
In 1832, a learned German, Dr. Blume, discovered at Vercelli, in North
Italy, a thick volume containing Anglo-Saxon homilies, and some sacred
poems of great beauty. The poems were copied and printed under the care
of Mr. Thorpe, by the Record Commission, in a book known as the
"Appendix to Mr. Cooper's Report on the Fœdera," a book that became
famous through the complaints that were made because of the long years
during which it was kept back. A few privileged persons got copies, and
when Grimm, in 1840, published the two chief poems of the new find, the
Andreas and the Elene, which he had extracted from Lappenberg's copy, he
had a little fling at "die Recorders," as if they kept the book to
themselves for a rarity to deck their own shelves withal. The poems are
six in number: 1. A Legend of St. Andrew; 2. The Fortunes of the Twelve
Apostles; 3. The Departed Soul's Address to the Body; 4. A Fragment; 5.
A Dream of the Holy Rood; 6. Elene, or The Invention of the Cross.
In 1851 the first notice of a book of homilies older than Ælfric,--the
property of the Marquis of Lothian, and preserved in the library of
Blickling Hall, Norfolk,--was made public by Mr. Godwin in the
transactions of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society.[27]
In 1860 was discovered the valuable fragment of an epic poem on King
Waldhere, and the manner of the find shall be told in the words of
Professor George Stephens, which I quote from the Editio Princeps of
"Waldhere," published by him in the same year. "On the 12th of January,
1860, Professor E.C. Werlauff, Chief Librarian of the Great National
Library, Cheapinghaven [Copenhagen], was engaged in sorting some bundles
of papers, parchment leaves, and fragments, mostly taken from books, or
book-backs, which had not hitherto been arranged. While thus occupied,
he lighted upon two vellum leaves of great antiquity, and bearing an Old
English text. He kindly communicated the discovery to me, and the
present work is the result."
II.
INSCRIPTIONS
of the Anglo-Saxon period exist both in the learned and the vernacular
language. It is peculiarly interesting, when an inscription is exhumed
that gives us back a contemporary monument, however slight, of that
Anglian Church which was the first-fruit of Christianity in our nation.
About twenty years ago, a stone was found at Wearmouth which had been
buried in the ruins of the monastery ever since the ninth century, and
which came up fresh and clear in almost every letter, bearing, "Hic in
sepulcro requiescit corpore Hereberecht prb.[28] (Here in this tomb
Hereberecht presbiter rests in the body)." A fine inscription from
Deerhurst, in Gloucestershire, is now among the Arundel Marbles at
Oxford. It is printed in Parker's "Glossary of Architecture," and in my
Saxon Chronicles. Often the interest of these Latin inscriptions is
enhanced by a strong touch of the vernacular showing through. This is
the case on a fine monumental stone in Mortimer Church.
OF VERNACULAR INSCRIPTIONS
there is one at Lincoln, in the tower of St. Mary-le-Wigford Church.
Into this tower, which is of early date, a Roman pagan monument (Diis
Manibus, &c.) is walled, and, on the triangular gable of the stone, a
Saxon inscription has been carved. It is imperfect, but the general
sense is clear. It must be read from the lowest and longest line upwards
to the apex. It says: "Eirtig caused me to be made and endowed in honour
of Christ and St. Mary." Perhaps the tower, or even the church, is the
speaker. The founder's name is much defaced: I have adopted the reading
of Rev. J. Wordsworth, who has bestowed attention on this stone.
A fragment of a similar inscription, but much more copious, was found at
St. Mary's, York, and is described in Hübner, No. 175.
But the most characteristic of the vernacular inscriptions are those on
sun-dials. There are no less than three of these in the North Riding of
Yorkshire; viz., at Old Byland, and at Edstow near Pickering, and at
Kirkdale.[29] The last is fullest and most perfect, and is, moreover,
dated. It bears: "+ Orm Gamalson bought the minster of S. Gregory when
it was all to broken and to fallen, and he it let make anew from ground
for Christ and S. Gregory in the days of Edward the King and Tosti the
Earl. + and Hawarth wrought me and Brand presbiter. + This is day's
sun-marker, hour by hour."
The poetical inscription in Runes, on the Ruthwell Cross, is too large a
subject for this place.[30]
JEWELLERY.
The Anglo-Saxons retained an old tradition of decorative art, and they
had among them skilful jewellers. Several specimens have been found, and
are to be seen in museums; but the noblest of all these is that which is
known as the Alfred Jewel.
The Alfred Jewel was discovered in Newton Park, near Athelney, in the
year 1693, and it found its way to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford by the
year 1718, where it still rests. It consists of an enamelled figure
enshrined in a golden frame, with a golden back to it, and with a thick
piece of rock crystal in front to serve as a glass to the picture.
Imagine a longitudinal section of a pigeon's egg, and let the golden
plate at the back of our jewel represent the plane of the egg's
diameter. From this plane, if we measure three-quarters of an inch in
the girth of the egg, and then take another section parallel to the gold
plate at the back, we obtain the front surface of the crystal through
which the enamelled figure is visible. The smaller end of our oval
section is prolonged and is fashioned like the head of a boar. The snout
forms a socket, as if to fit on to a peg or dole; a cross-pin, to fix
the socket to the dole, is still in place. Around the sloping rim, which
remains, the following legend is wrought in the fabric: ÆLFRED MEC HEHT
GEWYRCEAN (Alfred me commanded to make). The language of the legend
agrees perfectly with the age of King Alfred, and it seems to be the
unhesitating opinion of all those who have investigated the subject that
it was a personal ornament of the great West Saxon king. As to the
manner of wearing it, and as to the signification of the enamelled
figure, there has been the greatest diversity of opinion. Sir Francis
Palgrave suggested that the figure was older than the setting. Perhaps
it was a sacred object, and perhaps one of the presents of Pope Marinus,
or some other potentate; and that the mounting was intended to adapt it
for fixture in the rim of a helmet or crown over the centre of the royal
brow. By its side, in the same glass case, there lies a gold ornament
of far simpler design, but of like adaptation.
DRAWING AND ILLUMINATION OF BOOKS.
This is the branch of Saxon art which is best represented by extant
remains. That the specimens are numerous may be gathered from what has
been said above in the description of manuscripts. There are two
periods, and the change takes place with the revival of learning in the
reign of Edgar. In the earlier period, the drawings and the decorations
are of the same general type as the Irish illuminated books, and it has
been thought that our artists had learnt their art from the Irish; but
now there is a disposition to see in this art a type common to both
islands, and to call it British. The Lindisfarne Gospels (A.D.
710) offer the best example of this kind. In the tenth century, Frankish
art was much imitated, and the Saxon style was altered. But the Saxons,
in their imitations, displayed originality; and they developed a
gorgeous form of decoration, which was recognised as a distinct style,
and was known on the Continent as English work (_opus Anglicum_). The
typical specimen of this kind is the Benedictional of Æthelwold (between
963 and 970). From the same cause, the character of the penmanship also
passes through a corresponding change, but more gradually and
indistinctly.[31]
ARCHITECTURE.
Of Saxon architecture there are many traces; we will take but a few.
The cathedral at Canterbury was an old church, which had been built by
Christians under the Romans, and which Augustine, by the king's help,
recovered, and consecrated as the Church of St. Saviour;[32] in later
times it came to be called Christ Church. This building lasted all
through the Saxon period; it was enlarged by Abbot Odo, about 950, and
was finally pulled down by Lanfranc, in 1070. But there exists a written
description of this old church by a man who had seen it,--namely, Eadmer
the Precentor, who was a diligent collector of traditions concerning his
cathedral. What makes his description especially valuable to the
architectural historian is the fact that he compares it to St. Peter's
at Rome, and he had been to Rome in company with Anselm. Now, although
the old Basilica at Rome was destroyed in the sixteenth century, yet
plans and drawings which were made before its demolition are preserved
in the Vatican: and, with all these data before him, Professor Willis
reconstructed the plan of the metropolitan church of the Saxon
period.[33] In certain features he used, moreover, the evidence of the
ancient Saxon church at Brixworth.[34]
Not only from models left in Britain by the Romans, but also through
the frequent visits of our ecclesiastics to Rome, it naturally happened
that the Saxon architecture was imitated from the Roman. Nevertheless,
the Anglo-Saxons appear to have developed a style of their own. Sir
Gilbert Scott in his posthumous Essays characterises this early church
architecture by two features--the square termination of the east end,
and the west end position of the tower. This was quite insular, and not
to be found in Roman patterns. In Professor Willis's plan of the first
cathedral at Canterbury the east and west ends are both apsidal, and the
two towers are placed on the north and south sides of the nave.
The great discovery, a few years ago, of the Saxon chapel at
Bradford-on-Avon, and the successful way in which it was cleared and
detached from other buildings by Canon Jones, has not only given us so
complete an example of Saxon church architecture as we had nothing like
it before, but it has also improved our faculty of recognising Saxon
work in fragmentary relics, and, if I may so speak, of pulling them all
together. A remarkable passage in William of Malmesbury records that
Aldhelm built a little church (_ecclesiola_) in this place; and the
possibility that this may be that very church is not rejected by the
best judges. Aldhelm died in 709.
Of Saxon construction a chief peculiarity is that which is called "longs
and shorts." It occurs in coins of towers, in panelling work, and
sometimes in door jambs.[35] Of the latter, a fine example occurs at
Laughton, near Maltby, not many miles distant from Sheffield. What makes
this latter instance more peculiarly interesting, is the fact that over
the churchyard wall on the west, in a small grass field, traditionally
called the Castle Field, there is the well-preserved plan of a Saxon
lordly mansion. The circuit of the earthwork is almost complete, and at
a point in the enceinte there rises the mound on which was pitched the
garrison of the little castle. I use the term castle, as the habits of
the language now require, and as it is expressed in the name of the
spot. But, indeed, castles were little known in England before the
Conquest; had it been otherwise, the Conquest would not have been so
easy.[36] The name and the thing came in with the Normans. Yet there
were ancient places of security, and their great feature was an earthen
mound, upon which a wooden building was pitched. The Saxon mounds often
became, to borrow a phrase from Mr. Freeman, the kernel of the Norman
castle. And there was a traditional method of fortification for the
houses of great men of which Laughton is an example.
SCULPTURE.
There are several pieces of Anglo-Saxon sculpture extant; and they are
not hard to recognise, because of the peculiar lines of drawing with
which we are already familiar in the illuminated manuscripts. In the
Saxon chapel at Bradford-on-Avon there are two angels, of life size, or
larger, carved in relief on stone. They appear in the wall high above
the chancel arch, towards the nave; and it is supposed from the distance
between them, and from their facing one another, that there was once a
holy rood placed between them, towards which they were in attendance.
In Bristol Cathedral there is a remarkable piece of Saxon sculpture,
representing a human figure, life size, apparently the Saviour,
delivering a small figure, as it were a soul, out of the mouth of the
dragon. This is carved on the upper side of the massive lid of a stone
coffin. It was discovered about forty years ago, and it may be seen in
the vestry within the Norman chapter-house, where it is masoned into the
wall over the chimney-piece.
BURIALS.
The Saxon graves have yielded many illustrative objects, especially
weapons and personal ornaments, pottery, and glass.[37]
The Saxon graves were first systematically explored by Bryan Faussett,
of Heppington, in Kent (b. 1720--d. 1776); who was called by his
contemporaries "the British Montfaucon." He is unequalled for the extent
of his excavations, and the distinctness of his well-kept chronicle.
After him, in the next generation, came an interpreter, who was also a
great excavator; James Douglas, author of "Nenia Britannica," 1793. The
Faussett collection is in Liverpool, the Douglas collection (most of it)
in Oxford.
In more recent times the general accuracy of the results has been
established by means of comparative researches. The tumuli in the old
mother country of the Saxons have been examined, and their affinity with
our Saxon graves has been determined beyond question; while a parallel
comparison has also been instituted between the Frankish graves in
France, and the ancestral Frankish graves in old Franconia over the
Rhine. Thus it is well known what interments are really Saxon.
The chronology of the varieties of interment is not, however, so
completely ascertained. In the boundaries of property from the tenth
century and onwards we find repeated mention of "heathen burial-places,"
and it has perhaps been too readily inferred that all the Saxon graves
in the open country unconnected with churches are older than the
Conversion. Mr. Kemble investigated this subject, and he came to the
conclusion that the cinerary urns were heathen, but that the whole
interments were Christian. His observations were made chiefly in the old
mother country, which lies between the Rhine, the Elbe, and the Main. He
identified the change from cremation to inhumation with that from
heathenism to Christianity.
The tumular relics of different parts of England suggest old tribal
distinctions of costume and apparel. In Kent the fibulæ are circular and
highly ornamented, but these are sparingly found beyond the area of the
earliest settlers. From Suffolk to Leicestershire the fibulæ are mostly
bridge-shaped. A third variety, the concave or saucer-shaped, is found
in Berkshire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, and Gloucestershire. It is,
however, possible that these distinctions may be partly chronological.
The most splendid fibula known is of the first kind. It was exhumed by
Bryan Faussett, 5th August, 1771, on Kingston Down in Kent, from a deep
grave containing numerous relics, and such as indicated a lady of
distinction. The Kingston fibula is circular, entirely of gold, richly
set with garnets and turquoise; it is 3½ inches in diameter, ¼ inch
in thickness, and weighs 6 oz. 5 dwt. 18 gr. This is the gem of all
Saxon tumular antiquities, and it rests with the other Faussett finds in
the Mayer collection at Liverpool. Near it was found a golden
neck-ornament, weighing 2 dwt. 7 gr. These and other like examples,
though less splendid, from the graves of Saxon ladies, are good
illustrations of the poetic epithet "gold-adorned," which is repeatedly
applied to women of high degree.
The Saxon pottery is known to us by the burial urns. These are marked by
a local character for the various districts, but still with a generic
resemblance, which is based upon the comprehensive fact that although
they appear like inferior copies from Roman work, yet they are at the
same time like the urns found in Old Saxony and Franconia.
The glass drinking-vessels are very peculiar, and they are noticed as
such in the poetry.[38] The hooped buckets that have been found in men's
graves only, seem also to answer to expressions in convivial
descriptions.
Of the tumular remains this general remark may be made, that they richly
illustrate the elder poetry. The abundance and variety of the objects
which remain after so long a time unperished, give a strong impression
of the lavish generosity with which the dead were sent on their way.
Answering to these finds there are two descriptions in the "Beowulf,"
one in the beginning where the mythic hero Scyld Scefing is (not buried
but) shipped off to sea; and the other the funeral of Beowulf with which
the poem closes.
The graves also afford illustration negative as well as positive. The
comparative rarity of swords is a fact that has been particularly
remarked. This too agrees with the poetry in which there are swords of
fame, which are known by their own proper names, and which have an
established pedigree of illustrious owners at the head of which often
stands the name of the divine fabricator, Weland. Perhaps it would not
be too much to say that affinity with the tumular deposits is one of the
notes of the primary poetry.
FOOTNOTES:
[11] "Palæographia Sacra Pictoria."
[12] "Leland's laboryouse journey and serche for Englandes antiquities,
given as a newe years gifte to King Henry VIII., enlarged by John Bale."
London. 1549.
[13] This is curiously confirmed by the discovery of Waldhere, described
below.
[14] As this fire is one that the student is only too often reminded of,
a few details may be acceptable. A committee was appointed by the House
of Commons to view the Cotton Library after this disaster, and we learn
from their Report (1732, folio) that "114 volumes are either lost,
burnt, or entirely spoiled, and 98 others damaged so as to be defective;
so that the said library at present consists of 746 entire volumes and
98 defective ones." The collection when purchased had contained 958
volumes. Of late years great pains have been taken for the preservation
of the fragments by careful mounting.
[15] Photographed by the Early English Text Society, 1883.
[16] "Die Sprache des Kentischen Psalters," von Rudolf Zeuner. Halle,
1882. Referring to Mr. Sweet, in Transactions of Philological Society,
1875-6.
[17] "The Gospels of the fower Evangelistes, translated in the olde
Saxons tyme out of Latin into the vulgare toung of the Saxons, newly
collected out of Auncient Monumentes of the sayd Saxons, and now
published for testimonie of the same." At London. Printed by Iohn Daye,
dwelling ouer Aldersgate, 1571.
[18] See Scrivener, "Introduction to Criticism of New Testament," ed. 2,
p. 147.
[19] "Harmonia Symbolica," Oxford, 1858, p. 61.
[20] Westwood, "Facsimiles," p. 123.
[21] It was to have been edited by Professor Buckley for the Ælfric
Society, but that society closed its career too soon.
[22] They were arranged by Kemble; and have recently been facsimiled by
the Ordnance Survey, under the editorship of Mr. W. Basevi Sanders.
[23] Fully described by Mr. W.B. Sanders in the "Annual Report for 1873
of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records," p. 271 ff.
[24] See the particulars in "Two Saxon Chronicles Parallel." Clarendon
Press, 1865. Introduction, pp. vii., xxv., xxviii.
[25] Stubbs, "Memorials of Saint Dunstan," p. xxx.
[26] "The Englishman and the Scandinavian," by Frederick Metcalfe, M.A.,
1880, p. 11.
[27] In 1880 these Homilies were edited by Dr. Morris, for the Early
English Text Society, under the name of "The Blickling Homilies."
[28] Hübner, 197.
[29] Hübner, 179, 180, 181.
[30] Kemble, "Archæologia," Anno 1843; Stephens, "Runic Monuments," p.
405.
[31] Westwood, "Palæographia Sacra Pictoria," and "Facsimiles of
Miniatures from Irish and Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts."
[32] Beda, "Church History," i., 33.
[33] "The Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral," 1845, p. 27.
[34] "The church at Brixworth has plainly had its walls raised, and a
clerestory with windows added, even in the Saxon period; assuming that
midwall baluster-shafts are to be received as characteristics of this
period, for a triple window with such shafts was inserted in the western
wall when the walls were so raised." _Ibid._, p. 30. See also Haddan and
Stubbs, i., 38.
[35] Some of the churches in which these features may be observed are
Deerhurst in Gloucestershire; Earl's Barton, Northants; Benet church in
Cambridge; Sompting in Sussex. Figured illustrations may be seen in
Parker's "Introduction to Gothic Architecture."
[36] Freeman, N.C., ii., 605; "Reign of Rufus" i., 49.
[37] These are described and figured in Bryan Faussett's "Inventorium
Sepulchrale," ed. Roach Smith; Wylie, "Fairford Graves"; Neville, "Saxon
Obsequies"; Akerman, "Pagan Saxondom"; Kemble, "Horæ Ferales."
[38] "The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon," by T. Wright, p. 424.