Bibliomania in the Middle Ages Part 14

The priory of St. Mary's was founded by Leofricke, the celebrated Earl of Mercia and his good Lady G.o.diva, in the year 1042. "Hollingshead says that this Earl Leofricke was a man of great honor, wise, and discreet in all his doings. His high wisdome and policie stood the realme in great steed whilst he lived.... He had a n.o.ble ladie to his wife named Gudwina, at whose earnest sute he made the citie of Couentrie free of all manner of toll except horsses, and to haue that toll laid downe also, his foresaid wife rode naked through the middest of the towne without other couerture, saue onlie her haire. Moreouer partlie moued by his owne deuotion and partlie by the persuasion of his wife, he builded or beneficiallie augmented and repared manie abbeies and churches as the saide abbie or priorie at Couentrie--the abbeies of Wenlocke, Worcester, Stone, Evesham, and Leot, besides Hereford."

The church of Worcester, which the good Earl had thus "beneficiallie augmented," the Saxon King Offa had endowed with princely munificence before him. In the year 780, during the time of Abbot Tilhere, or Gilhere, Offa gave to the church Croppethorne, Netherton, Elmlege Cuddeshe, Cherton, and other lands, besides a "large Bible with two clasps, made of the purest gold."[294] In the tenth century the library of Exeter Church was sufficiently extensive to require the preserving care of an amanuensis; for according to Dr. Thomas, Bishop Oswald granted in the year 985 three hides of land at Bredicot, one yardland at Ginenofra, and seven acres of meadow at Tiberton, to G.o.dinge a monk, on condition of his fulfilling the duties of a librarian to the see, and transcribing the registers and writings of the church. It is said that the scribe G.o.dinge wrote many choice books for the library.[295] I do not find any remarkable book donation, save now and then a volume or two, in the annals of Worcester Church; nor have I been able to discover any old parchment catalogue to tell of the number or rarity of their books; for although probably most monasteries had one compiled, being enjoined to do so by the regulations of their order, they have long ago been destroyed; for when we know that fine old ma.n.u.scripts were used by the bookbinders after the Reformation, we can easily imagine how little value would be placed on a mere catalogue of names.

But to return again to G.o.diva, that ill.u.s.trious lady gave the monks, after the death of her lord, many landed possessions, and bestowed upon them the blessings of a library.[296]

Thomas Cobham, who was consecrated Bishop of Worcester in the year 1317, was a great "_amator librorum_," and spent much time and money in collecting books. He was the first who projected the establishment of a public library at Oxford, which he designed to form over the old Congregation House in the churchyard of St. Mary's, but dying soon after in the year 1327, the project was forgotten till about forty years after, when I suppose the example of the great bibliomaniac Richard de Bury drew attention to the matter; for his book treasures were then "deposited there, and the scholars permitted to consult them on certain conditions."[297]

Bishop Carpenter built a library for the use of the monastery of Exeter Church, in the year 1461, over the charnal house; and endowed it with 10 per annum as a salary for an amanuensis.[298] But the books deposited there were grievously destroyed during the civil wars; for on the twenty-fourth of September, 1642, when the army under the Earl of Ess.e.x came to Worcester, they set about "destroying the organ, breaking in pieces divers beautiful windows, wherein the foundation of the church was lively historified with painted gla.s.s;" they also "rifled the library, with the records and evidences of the church, tore in pieces the Bibles and service books pertaining to the quire."[299] Sad desecration of ancient literature! But the reader of history will sigh over many such examples.

The registers of Evesham Monastery, near Worcester, speak of several monkish bibliophiles, and the bookish anecdotes relating to them are sufficiently interesting to demand some attention here. Ailward, who was abbot in the year 1014, gave the convent many relics and ornaments, and what was still better a quant.i.ty of books.[300] He was afterwards promoted to the see of London, over which he presided many years; but age and infirmity growing upon him, he was anxious again to retire to Evesham, but the monks from some cause or other were unwilling to receive him back; at this he took offence, and seeking in the monastery of Ramsey the quietude denied him there, he demanded back all the books he had given them.[301] His successor Mannius was celebrated for his skill in the fine arts, and was an exquisite worker in metals, besides an ingenious scribe and illuminator. He wrote and illuminated with his own hand, for the use of his monastery, a missal and a large Psalter.[302]

Walter, who was abbot in the year 1077, gave also many books to the library,[303] and among the catalogue of sumptuous treasures with which Reginald, a succeeding abbot, enriched the convent, a great textus or gospels, with a mult.i.tude of other books, _multa alia libros_, are particularly specified.[304] Almost equally liberal were the choice gifts bestowed upon the monks by Adam (elected A. D. 1161); but we find but little in our way among them, except a fine copy of the "Old and New Testament with a gloss." No mean gift I ween in those old days; but one which amply compensated for the deficiency of the donation in point of numbers. But all these were greatly surpa.s.sed by a monk whom it will be my duty now to introduce; and to an account of whose life and bibliomanical propensities, I shall devote a page or two. Like many who spread a l.u.s.tre around the little sphere of their own, and did honor, humbly and quietly to the sanctuary of the church in those Gothic days, he is unknown to many; and might, perhaps, have been entirely forgotten, had not time kindly spared a doc.u.ment which testifies to his piety and book-collecting industry. The reader will probably recollect many who, by their shining piety and spotless life, maintained the purity of the Christian faith in a church surrounded by danger and ignorance, and many a bright name, renowned for their virtue or their glory of arms, who flourished during the early part of the thirteenth century; but few have heard of a good and humble monk named Thomas of Marleberg. Had circ.u.mstances designed him for a higher sphere, had affairs of state, or weighty duties of an ecclesiastical import, been guided by his hand, his name would have been recorded with all the flourish of monkish adulation; but the learning and the prudence of that lowly monk was confined to the little world of Evesham; and when his earthly manes were buried beneath the cloisters within the old convent walls, his name and good deeds were forgotten by the world, save in the hearts of his fraternity.

"But past is all his fame. The very spot Where many a time he triumph'd, is forgot."

In a ma.n.u.script in the Cotton Library there is a doc.u.ment called "The good deeds of Prior Thomas," from which the following facts have been extracted.[305]

From this interesting memorial of his labors, we learn that Thomas had acquired some repute among the monks for his great knowledge of civil and canon law; so that when any difficulty arose respecting the claims or privileges of the monastery, or when any important matter was to be transacted, his advice was sought and received with deference and respect. Thus three years after his admission the bishop of Worcester intimated his intention of paying the monastery a visitation; a practice which the bishops of that see had not enforced since the days of abbot Alurie. The abbot and convent however considered themselves free from the jurisdiction of the bishop; and acting on the advice of Thomas of Marleberg, they successfully repulsed him. The affair was quite an event, and seems to have caused much sensation among them at the time; and is mentioned to show with what esteem Thomas was regarded by his monkish brethren. After a long enumeration of "good works" and important benefactions, such as rebuilding the tower and repairing the convent, we are told that "In the second year of Randulp's abbacy, Thomas, then dean, went with him to Rome to a general council, where, by his prudence and advice, a new arrangement in the business of the convent rents was confirmed, and many other useful matters settled." Here I am tempted to refer to the _arrangements_, for they offer pleasing ill.u.s.trations of the monk as an "_amator librorum_." Mark how his thoughts dwelt--even when surrounded by those high dignitaries of the church, and in the midst of that important council--on the library and the scriptorium of his monastery.

"_To the Prior belongs the tythes of Beningar the both great and small, to defray the expenses of procuring parchment, and to procure ma.n.u.scripts for transcription._"

And in another clause it is settled that

"_To the Office of the Precentor belongs the Manner of Hampton, from which he will receive five shillings annually, besides ten and eightpence from the tythes of Stokes and Alcester, with which he is to find all the ink and parchment for the Scribes of the Monastery, colours for illuminating, and all that is necessary for binding the books_."[306]

Pleasing traits are these of his bookloving pa.s.sion; and doubtless under his guidance the convent library grew and flourished amazingly. But let us return to the account of his "good works."

"Returning from Rome after two years he was elected sacrist. He then made a reading-desk behind the choir,[307] which was much wanted in the church, and appointed stated readings to be held near the tomb of Saint Wilsius.... Leaving his office thus rich in good works, he was then elected prior. In this office he buried his predecessor, Prior John, in a new mausoleum; and also John, surnamed Dionysius; of the latter of whom Prior Thomas was accustomed to say, 'that he had never known any man who so perfectly performed every kind of penance as he did for more than thirty years, in fasting and in prayer; in tears and in watchings; in cold and in corporeal inflictions; in coa.r.s.eness and roughness of clothing, and in denying himself bodily comforts, far more than any other of the brethren; all of which he rather dedicated in good purposes and to the support of the poor."

Thus did many an old monk live, practising all this with punctilious care as the essence of a holy life, and resting upon the fallacy that these cruel mortifyings of the flesh would greatly facilitate the acquisition of everlasting ease and joy in a better world; as if G.o.d knew not, better than themselves, what chastis.e.m.e.nts and afflictions were needful for them. We may sigh with pain over such instances of mistaken piety and fanatical zeal in all ages of the church; yet with all their privations, and with all their macerations of the flesh, there was a vast amount of human pride mingled with their humiliation. But He who sees into the hearts of all--looking in his benevolence more at the intention than the outward form, may perhaps sometimes find in it the workings of a true christian piety, and so reward it with his love. Let us trust so in the charity of our faith, and proceed to notice that portion of the old record which is more intimately connected with our subject. We read that

"Thomas had brought with him to the convent, on his entering, many books, of both canon and civil law; as well as the books by which he had regulated the schools of Oxford and Exeter before he became a monk. He likewise had one book of Democritus; and the book of Antiparalenion, a gradual book, according to Constantine; Isidore's Divine Offices, and the Quadrimum of Isidore; Tully's de Amicitia; Tully de Senectute et de Paradoxis; Lucan, Juvenal, and many other authors, _et multos alios auctores_, with a great number of sermons, with many writings on theological questions; on the art and rules of grammar and the book of accents. After he was prior he made a great breviary, better than any at that time in the monastery, with Haimo, on the Apocalypse, and a book containing the lives of the patrons of the church of Evesham; with an account of the deeds of all the good and bad monks belonging to the church, in one volume. He also wrote and bound up the same lives and acts in another volume separately. He made also a great Psalter, _magnum psalterium_, superior to any contained in the monastery, except the glossed ones. He collected and wrote all the necessary materials for four antiphoners, with their musical notes, himself; except what the brothers of the monastery transcribed for him. He also finished many books that William of Lith, of pious memory, commenced--the Marterologium, the Exceptio Missae, and some excellent commentaries on the Psalter and Communion of the Saints in the old antiphoners. He also bought the four Gospels, with glosses, and Isaiah and Ezekiel, also glossed;[308] the Pistillae upon Matthew; some Allegories on the Old Testament; the Lamentations of Jeremiah, with a gloss; the Exposition of the Ma.s.s, according to Pope Innocent; and the great book of Alexander Necham, which is called _Corrogationes Promethea de partibus veteris testamenti et novae_.... He also caused to be transcribed in large letters the book concerning the offices of the abbey, from the Purification of St. Mary to the Feast of Easter; the prelections respecting Easter; Pentecost, and the blessings at the baptismal fonts. He also caused a volume, containing the same works, to be transcribed, but in a smaller hand; all of which the convent had not before. He made also the tablet for the locutory in the chapel of St. Anne, towards the west. After the altar of St. Mary in the crypts had been despoiled by thieves of its books and ornaments, to the value of ten pounds, he contributed to their restoration."

Thomas was equally liberal in other matters. His whole time and wealth were spent in rebuilding and repairing the monastery and adding to its comforts and splendor. He had a great veneration for antiquity, and was especially anxious to restore those parts which were dilapidated by time; the old inscriptions on the monuments and altars he carefully re-inscribed. It is recorded that he renewed the inscription on the great altar himself, without the aid of a book, _sine libro_; which was deemed a mark of profound learning in my lord abbot by his monkish surbordinates.

With this I conclude my remarks on Thomas of Marleberg, leaving these extracts to speak for him. It is pleasing to find that virtue so great, and industry so useful met with its just reward; and that the monks of Evesham proved how much they appreciated such talents, by electing him their abbot, in 1229, which, for seven years he held with becoming piety and wisdom.

The annals of the monastery[309] testify that "In the year of our Lord one thousand three hundred and ninety-two, and the fifteenth of the reign of King Richard the Second, on the tenth calends of May, died the venerable Prior Nicholas Hereford, of pious memory, who, as prior of the church of Evesham, lived a devout and religious life for forty years." He held that office under three succeeding abbots, and filled it with great honor and industry. He was a dear lover of books, and spent vast sums in collecting together his private library, amounting to more than 100 volumes; some of these he wrote with his own hand, but most of them he bought _emit_. A list of these books is given in the Harleian Register, and many of the volumes are described as containing a number of tracts, bound up in one, _c.u.m aliis tractatibus in eodem volumine_. Some of these display the industry of his pen, and silently tell us of his Christian piety. Among those remarkable for their bulk, it is pleasurable to observe a copy of the Holy Scriptures, which was doubtless a comfort to the venerable prior in the last days of his green old age; and which probably guided him in the even tenor of that _devout and religious life_, for which he was so esteemed by the monks of Evesham. He possessed also some works of Bernard Augustin, and Boethius, whose Consolation of Philosophy few book-collectors of the middle ages were without. To many of the books the prices he gave for them, or at which they were then valued, are affixed: a "_Summa Praedicantium_" is valued at eight marks, and a "_Burley super Politices_" at seven marks. We may suspect monk Nicholas of being rather a curious collector in his way, for we find in his library some interesting volumes of popular literature. He probably found much pleasure in perusing his copy of the marvelous tale of "Beufys of Hampton," and the romantic "Mort d'Arthur," both sufficiently interesting to relieve the monotonous vigils of the monastery. But I must not dwell longer on the monastic bibliophiles of Evesham, other libraries and bookworms call for some notice from my pen.

FOOTNOTES:

[245] "Rediens autem, ubi Viennam pervenit, erupt.i.tios sibi quos apud amicos commendaverat, recepit." p. 26. _Vit. Abbat. Wear. 12mo.

edit. Ware._

[246] The youngest son of Oswy, or Oswis, king of Northumbria, who succeeded his father in the year 670, Alfred his elder brother being for a time set aside on the grounds of his illegitimacy; yet Alfred was a far more enlightened and talented prince than Ecgfrid, and much praised in Saxon annals for his love of learning.

[247] "Magna quidem copia voluminum sacrorum; sed non minori sicut et prius sanctorum imaginum numere detatus." _Vit. Abb._ p. 38.

[248] "Bibliothecam, quam de Roma n.o.billissimam copiosessimanque advenaret ad instructionem ecclesiae necessariam sollicite servari integram, nec per incuriam foedari aut pa.s.sim dissipari praecepit."

[249] Bede says that he was "learned in Holy Scriptures." Dr. Henry mentions this anecdote in his _Hist. of England_, vol. ii. p. 287, 8vo. ed. which has led many secondary compilers into a curious blunder, by mistaking the king here alluded to for Alfred the Great: even Didbin, in his Bibliomania, falls into the same error although he suspected some mistake; he calls him _our immortal Alfrid_, p.

219, and seems puzzled to account for the anachronism, but does not take the trouble to enquire into the matter; Heylin's little Help to History would have set him right, and shown that while Alfrede king of Northumberland reigned in 680, Alfred king of England lived more than two centuries afterwards, pp. 25 and 29.

[250] The reader may perhaps smile at this, but it has long been my custom to carry some 8vo. edition of a monkish writer about me, when time or opportunity allowed me to spend a few hours among the ruins of the olden time. I recall with pleasure the recollection of many such rambles, and especially my last--a visit to Netley Abbey. What a sweet spot for contemplation; surrounded by all that is lovely in nature, it drives our old prejudices away, and touches the heart with piety and awe. Often have I explored its ruins and ascended its crumbling parapets, admiring the taste of those Cistercian monks in choosing so quiet, romantic, and choice a spot, and one so well suited to lead man's thoughts to sacred things above.

[251] Bede, _Vit. Abb. Wear._ p. 46.

[252] The fine libraries thus a.s.siduously collected were destroyed by the Danes; that of Jarrow in the year 793, and that of Wearmouth in 867.

[253] Emer, Vita. ap. Mab. Act. SS. tom. iii. 199.

[254] Bede's Eccles. Hist. b. iii. c. xxv.

[255] "Idemque vir Dei quatuor Evangelica et Bibliothecam pluresque libros Novi et Veteris Testamenti c.u.m tabulis tectis auro purissimo et pretiosis gemmis mirabili artificio fabricatis ad honorem Dei."

Dugdale's Monast. vol. ii. p. 133.

[256] In 665 he was raised to the episcopacy of all Northumbria.

[257] He was deprived of his bishopric in the year 678, and the see was divided into those of York and Hexham. But for the particulars of his conduct see _Soame's Anglo. Sax. Church_, p. 63, with _Dr.

Lingard's Ang. Sax. Church_, vol. i. p. 245; though without accusing either of misrepresentation, I would advise the reader to search (if he has the opportunity), the original authorities for himself, it is a delicate matter for a Roman or an English churchman to handle with impartiality.

[258] His Saxon name was Winfrid, or Wynfrith, but he is generally called Boniface, Archbishop of Mentz.

[259] The mere act of baptizing const.i.tutes "_conversion_" in Jesuitical phraseology; and thousands were so converted in a few days by the followers of Ignatius. A similar process was used in working out the miracles of the Saxon missionary. He was rather too conciliating and too anxious for a "converting miracle," to be over particular; but it was all for the good of the church papal, to whom he was a devoted servant; the church papal therefore could not see the fault.

[260] Ep. iii. p. 7, Ed. 4to.--_Moguntiae_, 1629.

[261] Ep. iv. p. 8.

[262] Ep. xiii.

[263] Ep. vii. p. 11.

[264] Ep. xiv. See also Ep. xxviii. p. 40.

[265] Ep. viii. p. 12.

[266] Ep. lx.x.xv. p. 119.

[267] Ep. ix. p. 13.

[268] Ep. xxii. p. 36.

[269] Ep. xcix. p. 135.

[270] Ep. cxi. p. 153.

[271] The accusation is not a groundless one. Foxe, in his _Acts and Monuments_, warmly upbraids him; and Aikins in his _Biog. Dict._, has acted in a similar manner. But the best guides are his letters--they display his faults and his virtues too.