Bibliomania in the Middle Ages Part 19

We find an instance of this, and a proof of their fondness for the Bible, in the catalogue of the books in Depying Priory,[362] in Lincolnshire; which, containing a collection of twenty-three volumes, enumerates a copy of the Bible first on the humble list. The catalogue is as follows:--

These are the books in the library of the monks of Depying.[363]

The Bible.

The first part of the Morals of Pope St. Gregory.

The second part of the Morals by the same.

Book of Divine Offices.

Gesta Britonorum.

Tracts of Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, on Confession, with other compilations.

Martyrologium, with the Rules of St. Benedict; Pa.s.sion of St. James, with other books.

Const.i.tutions of Pope Benedict.

History of the Island of Ely.

Hugucio de dono fratris Johannis Tiryngham.

Homilies of the blessed Gregory.

Const.i.tutions of Pope Clement XII.

Book of the Virtues and Vices.

Majester Historiarum.

Sacramentary given by Master John Swarby, Rector of the Church of St. Guthlac.

One great Portoforium for the use of the Brothers.

Two ditto.

Two Psalters for the use of the Brothers.

Three Missals for the use of the Brothers.

There is not much in this scanty collection, the loss of which we need lament; nor does it inspire us with a very high notion of the learning of the monks of Depying Priory. Yet how cheering it is to find that the Bible was studied in this little cell; and I trust the monk often drew from it many words of comfort and consolation. Where is the reader who will not regard these instances of Bible reading with pleasure? Where is the Christian who will not rejoice that the Gospel of Christ was read and loved in the turbulent days of the Norman monarchs? Where is the philosopher who will affirm that we owe nothing to this silent but effectual and fervent study? Where is he who will maintain that the influence of the blessed and abundant charity--the cheering promises, and the sweet admonitions of love and mercy with which the Gospels overflow--aided nothing in the progress of civilization? Where is the Bible student who will believe that all this reading of the Scriptures was unprofitable because, forsooth, a monk preached and taught it to the mult.i.tude?

Let the historian open his volumes with a new interest, and ponder over their pages with a fresh spirit of inquiry; let him read of days of darkness and barbarity; and as he peruses on, trace the origin of the light whose brightness drove the darkness and barbarity away. How much will he trace to the Bible's influence; how often will he be compelled to enter a convent wall to find in the gospel student the one who shone as a redeeming light in those old days of iniquity and sin; and will he deny to the Christian priest his grat.i.tude and love, because he wore the cowl and mantle of a monk, or because he loved to read of saints whose lives were mingled with lying legends, or because he chose a life which to us looks dreary, cold, and heartless. Will he deny him a grateful recollection when he reads of how much good he was permitted to achieve in the Church of Christ; of how many a doubting heart he rea.s.sured; of how many a soul he fired with a true spark of Christian love; when he reads of how the monk preached the faith of Christ, and how often he led some wandering pilgrim into the path of vital truth by the sweet words of the dear religion which he taught; when he reads that the hearts of many a Norman chief was softened by the sweetness of the gospel's voice, and his evil pa.s.sions were lulled by the hymn of praise which the monk devoutly sang to his Master in heaven above. But speaking of the existence of the Bible among the monks puts me in mind of the Abbey of Ramsey and its fine old library of books, which was particularly rich in biblical treasures. Even superior to Reading, as regards its biblical collection, was the library of Ramsey. A portion of an old catalogue of the library of this monastery has been preserved, apparently transcribed about the beginning of the fourteenth century, during the warlike reign of Richard the Second. It is one of the richest and most interesting relics of its kind extant, at least of those to be found in our own public libraries; and a perusal of it will not fail to leave an impression on the mind that the monks were far wealthier in their literary stores than we previously imagined. Originally on two or three skins, it is now torn into five separate pieces,[364] and in other respects much dilapidated. The writing also in some parts is nearly obliterated, so as to render the doc.u.ment scarcely readable. It is much to be regretted that this interesting catalogue is but a portion of the original; in its complete form it would probably have described twice as many volumes; but a fragment as it is, it nevertheless contains the t.i.tles of more than _eleven hundred books_, with the names of many of their donors attached. A creditable and right worthy testimonial this, of the learning and love of books prevalent among the monks of Ramsey Monastery. More than seven hundred of this goodly number were of a miscellaneous nature, and the rest were princ.i.p.ally books used in the performance of divine service. Among these there were no less than seventy Breviaries; thirty-two Grails; twenty-nine Processionals; and one hundred Psalters! The reader will regard most of these as superst.i.tious and useless; nor should I remark upon them did they not show that books were not so scarce in those times as we suppose; as this prodigality satisfactorily proves, and moreover testifies to the unceasing industry of the monkish scribes. We who are used to the speed of the printing press and its fertile abundance can form an opinion of the labor necessary to transcribe this formidable array of papistical literature.

Four hundred volumes transcribed with the plodding pen! each word collated and each page diligently revised, lest a blunder or a misspelt syllable should blemish those books so deeply venerated. What long years of dry tedious labor and monotonous industry was here!

But the other portion of the catalogue fully compensates for this vast proportion of ecclesiastical volumes. Besides several _Biblia optima in duobus voluminibus_, or complete copies of the Bible, many separate books of the inspired writers are noted down; indeed the catalogue lays before us a superb array of fine biblical treasures, rendered doubly valuable by copious and useful glossaries; and embracing many a rare Hebrew MS.

Bible, _bibliotheca hebraice_, and precious commentary. I count no less than twenty volumes in this ancient language. But we often find Hebrew ma.n.u.scripts in the monastic catalogues after the eleventh century. The Jews, who came over in great numbers about that time, were possessed of many valuable books, and spread a knowledge of their language and literature among the students of the monasteries. And when the cruel persecution commenced against them in the thirteenth century, they disposed of their books, which were generally bought up by the monks, who were ever hungry after such acquisitions. Gregory, prior of Ramsey, collected a great quant.i.ty of Hebrew MSS. in this way, and highly esteemed the language, in which he became deeply learned. At his death, in the year 1250, he left them to the library of his monastery.[365] Nor was my lord prior a solitary instance; many others of the same abbey, inspired by his example and aided by his books, studied the Hebrew with equal success. Brother Dodford, the Armarian, and Holbeach, a monk, displayed their erudition in writing a Hebrew lexicon.[366]

The library of Ramsey was also remarkably rich in patristic lore. They gloried in the possession of the works of Ambrose, Augustine, Anselm, Basil, Boniface, Bernard, Gregory, and many others equally voluminous.

But it was not exclusively to the study of such matters that these monks applied their minds, they possessed a taste for other branches of literature besides. They read histories of the church, histories of England, of Normandy, of the Jews; and histories of scholastic philosophy, and many old chronicles which reposed on their shelves. In science they appear to have been equally studious, for the catalogue enumerates works on medicine, natural history, philosophy, mathematics, logic, dialects, arithmetic and music! Who will say after this that the monks were ignorant of the sciences and careless of the arts? The cla.s.sical student has perhaps ere this condemned them for their want of taste, and felt indignant at the absence of those authors of antiquity whose names and works he venerates. But the monks, far from neglecting those precious volumes, were ever careful of their preservation; they loved Virgil, Horace, and even Ovid, "heathen dogs" as they were, and enjoyed a keen relish for their beauties. I find in this catalogue the following choice names of antiquity occur repeatedly:--

Aristotle.

Arian.

Boethius.

Claudius.

Dionysius.

Donatus.

Horace.

Josephus.

Justin.

Lucan.

Martial.

Macrobius.

Orosius.

Ovid.

Plato.

Priscian.

Prudentius.

Seneca.

Sall.u.s.t.

Solinus.

Terence.

Virgil.

Here were rich mines of ancient eloquence, and fragrant flowers of poesy to enliven and perfume the dull cloister studies of the monks. It is not every library or reading society even of our own time that possess so many gems of old. But other treasures might yet be named which still further testify to the varied tastes and literary pursuits of these monastic bibliophiles; but I shall content myself with naming Peter of Blois, the Sentences of Peter Lombard, of which they had several copies, some enriched with choice commentaries and notes, the works of Thomas Aquinas and others of his cla.s.s, a "Liber Ricardi," Dictionaries, Grammars, and the writings of "Majestri Robi Grostete," the celebrated Bishop of Lincoln, renowned as a great _amator librorum_ and collector of Grecian literature. I might easily swell this notice out to a considerable extent by enumerating many other book treasures in this curious collection: but enough has been said to enable the reader to judge of the sort of literature the monks of Ramsey collected and the books they read; and if he should feel inclined to pursue the inquiry further, I must refer him to the original ma.n.u.script, promising him much gratification for his trouble.[367] It only remains for me to say that the Vandalism of the Reformation swept all traces of this fine library away, save the broken, tattered catalogue we have just examined. But this is more than has been spared from some. The abbey of St. Edmunds Bury[368] at one time must have enjoyed a copious library, but we have no catalogue that I am aware of to tell of its nature, not even a pa.s.sing notice of its well-stored shelves, except a few lines in which Leland mentions some of the old ma.n.u.scripts he found therein.[369] But a catalogue of their library in the flourishing days of their monastery would have disclosed, I imagine, many curious works, and probably some singular writings on the "_crafft off medycyne_," which Abbot Baldwin, "_phesean_" to Edward the Confessor,[370] had given the monks, and of whom Lydgate thus speaks--

"Baldewynus, a monk off Seynt Denys, Gretly expert in crafft of medycyne; Full provydent off counsayl and right wys, Sad off his port, functuons off doctryne; After by grace and influence devyne, Choose off Bury Abbot, as I reede The thyrdde in order that did ther succeade."[371]

We may equally deplore the loss of the catalogue of the monastery of Ely, which, during the middle ages, we have every reason to suppose possessed a library of much value and extent. This old monastery can trace its foundation back to a remote period, and claim as its foundress, Etheldredae,[372] the daughter of Anna, King of the East Angles, she was the wife of King Ecgfrid,[373] with whom she lived for twelve long years, though during that time she preserved the glory of perfect virginity, much to the annoyance of her royal spouse, who offered money and lands to induce that ill.u.s.trious virgin to waver in her resolution, but without success. Her inflexible determination at length induced her husband to grant her oft-repeated prayer; and in the year 673 she retired into the seclusion of monastic life,[374] and building the monastery of Ely, devoted her days to the praise and glory of her heavenly King. Her pure and pious life caused others speedily to follow her example, and she soon became the virgin-mother of a numerous progeny dedicated to G.o.d. A series of astounding miracles attended her monastic life; and sixteen years after her death, when her sister, the succeeding abbess, opened her wooden coffin to transfer her body to a more costly one of marble, that "holy virgin and spouse of Christ" was found entirely free from corruption or decay.[375]

A nunnery, glorying in so pure a foundress, grew and flourished, and for "two hundred years existed in the full observance of monastic discipline;" but on the coming of the Danes in the year 870, those sad destroyers of religious establishments laid it in a heap of ruins, in which desolate condition it remained till it attracted the attention of the celebrated Ethelwold, who under the patronage of King Edgar restored it; and endowing it with considerable privileges appointed Brithnoth, Prior of Winchester, its first abbot.[376]

Many years after, when Leoffin was abbot there, and Canute was king, that monarch honored the monastery of Ely with his presence on several occasions. Monkish traditions say, that on one of these visits as the king approached, he heard the pious inmates of the monastery chanting their hymn of praise; and so melodious were the voices of the devotees, that his royal heart was touched, and he poured forth his feelings in a Saxon ballad, commencing thus:

"Merry sang the monks of Ely, When Canute the king was sailing by; Row ye knights near the land, And let us hear these monks song."[377]

It reads smoother in Strutt's version; he renders it

"Cheerful sang the monk of Ely, When Canute the king was pa.s.sing by; Row to the sh.o.r.e knights, said the king, And let us hear these churchmen sing."[378]

In addition to the t.i.tle of a poet, Canute has also received the appellation of a bibliomaniac. Dibdin, in his bibliomania, mentions in a cursory manner a few monkish book collectors, and introduces Canute among them.[379] The illuminated ma.n.u.script of the four Gospels in the Danish tongue, now in the British Museum, he writes, "and once that monarch's own book leaves not the shadow of a doubt of his bibliomanical character!" I cannot however allow him that t.i.tle upon such equivocal grounds; for upon examination, the MS. turns out to be in the Theotisc dialect, possessing no illuminations of its own, and never perhaps once in the hands of the royal poet.[380]

From the account books of Ely church we may infer that the monks there enjoyed a tolerable library; for we find frequent entries of money having been expended for books and materials connected with the library; thus in the year 1300 we find that they bought at one time five dozen parchment, four pounds of ink, eight calf and four sheep-skins for binding books; and afterwards there is another entry of five dozen vellum and six pair of book clasps, a book of decretals for the library, 3s., a Speculum Gregor, 2s., and "_Pro tabula Paschalis fac denova et illuminand_,"

4s.[381] They frequently perhaps sent one of the monks to distants parts to purchase or borrow books for their library; a curious instance of this occurs under the year 1329, when they paid "the precentor for going to Balsham to enquire for books, 6s. 7d." The bookbinder two weeks' wages, 4s.; twelve iron chains to fasten books, 4s.; five dozen vellum, 25s. 8d.

In the year 1396, they paid their librarian 53s. 4d., and a tunic for his services during one year.[382]

Nigel, Bishop of Ely, by endowing the Scriptorium, enabled the monks to produce some excellent transcripts; they added several books of Ca.s.siodorus, Bede, Aldelem, Radbert, Andres, etc., to the library;[383]

and they possessed at one time no less than thirteen fine copies of the Gospels, which were beautifully bound in gold and silver.[384]

FOOTNOTES:

[351] Those learned in such matters refer the foundation of Winchester cathedral and monastery to a remote period. An old writer says that it was "built by King Lucius, who, abolishing Paganisme, embraced Christ the first yere of his reigne, being the yeere of our Lord 180."--_G.o.dwin's Cat._ p. 157. See also _Usher de Primordiis_.

fo. 126.

[352] "Ecclesiarum ac diversorum operum magnus aedificator, et dum esset abbas et dum esset episcopus."--_Wolstan. Vita aethelw. ap.

Mabillon Actae S. S. Benedict, Saec._ v. p. 614.

[353] Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i. p. 614.

[354] MS. belonging to the Society of Antiquaries, No. 60, fo. 34.

See Dugdale Monast. vol. i. p. 382. He gave to the monks of Abingdon a copy of the Gospels cased in silver, ornamented with gold and precious stones.

[355] _Archaeologia_, vol. xxiv. p. 22; and _Dibdin's_ delightful "_Decameron_," vol. i. p. lix.

[356] Wuls. Act. S. S. Benedict. p. 616.