The Care of Books Part 21

K. Dortoir.

L. Refectoire.

M. Cuisine.

Z. Dortoir des Hotes.

I now pa.s.s to Cathedrals, which vied with monasteries in the possession of a library; and, as might be expected, the two sets of buildings throw light on each other. I regret that it has now become impossible to discover the site or the extent of such a library as that of York, which was well stocked with books so early as the middle of the eighth century; or of that of Notre Dame de Paris, which was a centre of instruction as well as of learning; but some good examples of capitular libraries can be found in other places; and, like those of the monasteries, they were for the most part built in the fifteenth century. I will begin with the library of Lincoln Cathedral, part of which is still in existence[242].

The Cathedral of Lincoln was founded at the close of the eleventh century, and in the middle of the twelfth we find the books belonging to it kept in a press (_armarium_). We learn this from the heading of a list[243] of them when placed in the charge of Hamo, Chancellor 1150-1182, written on the first page of a copy of the Vulgate, the first volume in the collection:

Quando Hamoni cancellario cancellaria data fuit et librorum cura commissa, hos in armario invenit libros et sub custodia sua recepit, scilicet:

Bibliothecam in duobus voluminibus [etc.].

The list which follows enumerates 42 volumes, together with a map of the world. To this small collection there were added in Hamo's time, either by his own gift or by that of other benefactors, 31 volumes more; so that before his death the press contained 73 volumes, probably a large collection for that period. Besides these, there were service-books in the charge of the bursar (_thesaurarius_), and song-books in that of the precentor. The three collections were probably kept in the church.

The first indication of a separate room to contain books is afforded by the gift of a volume by Philip Repyndon, Bishop 1405-1419, in which year he resigned. It is given after his resignation, "to the new library to be built within the Church of Lincoln." Again, Thomas Duffield, formerly Chancellor, who died in 1426, bequeathed another book "to the new library of the aforesaid church." The erection of the new library may therefore be placed between 1419 and 1426.

A catalogue, now in the muniment room at Lincoln, which, on internal evidence, may be dated about 1450, enumerates 107 works, of which 77 (more or less) have been identified as still in the library. The heading, which I will translate, refers to a chaining of the books which had recently taken place, possibly after the construction of the cases which I shall describe in a subsequent chapter.

It is to be noted that in this indenture are enumerated all the books in the library of the church of blessed Mary of Lincoln which have lately been secured with locks and chains; of which indenture one part is st.i.tched into the end of the black book of the aforesaid church, and the other part remains in ...[244].

The library--a timber structure--was placed over the northern half of the east walk of the cloister. At present only three bays at the north end remain; but there were originally two bays more, at the south end, between the existing structure and the Chapter-House. These were destroyed in 1789, when the following Chapter Order was made (7 May):

That the old Library adjoining to the Chapter House shall be taken down, and the part of the Cloysters under it new leaded and the walls compleated, and the Stair case therto removed, and a new Stair Case made, agreable to a plan and estimate of the Expence thereof.

I will now briefly describe the room, with the a.s.sistance of the plan (fig. 38)[245], and the view of the interior (fig. 39).

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 39. Interior of the Old Library, Lincoln Cathedral.

The open door leads into Dean Honywood's Library, as described in Chapter VIII.]

The walls are 9 ft. 8 in. high, from the floor to the top of the wall-plate. They are divided into bays, each 7 ft. 9 in. wide, by vertical shafts, from which, at a height of 5 ft. 9 in. from the ground, spring the braces which support the tiebeams of the roof. These are ma.s.sive beams of oak, slightly arched, and molded on their under-surface. Their position is indicated by dotted lines on the plan (fig. 38). The whole roof is a splendid specimen of fifteenth century work, enriched with carving in the finest style of execution. There is a bold ornament in the centre of each tiebeam; and at the foot of the central joist in each bay, which is wider than the rest, and molded, while the others are plain, there is an angel, projecting horizontally from the wall. The purlin, again, is molded, and where it intersects the central joist a subject is carved: an angel playing on a musical instrument--a bird--a rose--a grotesque figure--and the like. Below the wall-plate is a cornice, 12 in. deep, ornamented with a row of quatrefoils above a row of battlements. Beneath these there is a groove, which seems to indicate that the walls were once panelled or plastered.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 38. Plan of the Old Library, Lincoln Cathedral.]

It is probable that there was originally a row of equidistant windows in the east and west walls, one to each bay on each side; but of these, if they ever existed, no trace remains. There must also have been a window at the north end, and probably one at the south end also. The present windows are plainly modern. The room is known to have suffered from a fire, which tradition a.s.signs to 1609; and probably the original windows were changed during the repairs rendered necessary at that time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 40. Plan of the Cloister, etc., Lincoln Cathedral.]

It is not easy to decide how this library was approached. It has been suggested that the stone newel stair at the north-west corner of the Chapter-House was used for this purpose; but, if that be the case, how are we to explain the words in the above order "the Stair Case thereto removed"; and an item which occurs in the Cathedral Accounts for 1789, "taking down the old stairs, strings, and banisters, 14_s._"? It appeared to me, when examining the building, that there had been originally a door on the east side, now replaced by a window, as shewn on the plan (fig.

38). Possibly the staircase destroyed in 1789 led to this door, which was conveniently situated in the centre of a bay. The staircase built in 1789 is the one still existing at the north-east corner of the old library (fig. 40, A).

At Salisbury Bishop Osmund (1078-99) is stated to have "got together a quant.i.ty of books, for he himself did not disdain either to write books or to bind them after they had been written"[246]; but the library, as elsewhere, was a work of the fifteenth century. The foundation is very clearly recorded in an act of the Chapter, dated 15 January, 1444-45. The members present decide that as it is desirable, "for divers reasons, to have certain schools suitable for lectures, together with a library for the safe keeping of books and the convenience of those who wish to study therein--which library up to the present time they have been without--such schools and library shall be built as soon as possible over one side of the cloister of the church, at the cost of William [Ayscough] now Bishop of Salisbury, the Dean, and the Canons of the aforesaid church[247]."

Accordingly, a building was erected, extending over the whole length of the east cloister, conveniently approached by the staircase at the south-west corner of the south transept, which originally led only to the roof. This library was curtailed to its present dimensions, and otherwise altered, in consequence of a Chapter Order dated 25 November, 1758, part of which I proceed to quote:

That the southern part of the library be taken down as far as the part.i.tions within which the ma.n.u.scripts are placed, the whole being found much too heavy to be properly supported by the Cloysters, which were never designed originally to bear so great a weight.

That the roof of the northern part of the library (where the Theological lecture antiently used to be given by the Chancellor of the Church) be taken down; the walls lowered, and a new and lighter roof be placed in its room; and that the same be fitted up in a neat and convenient manner for the reception of the present books and any others which shall hereafter be added to them.

The appearance of the library, as the execution of the above order left it, will be understood from the view (fig. 41), taken from the roof of an adjoining alley of the cloister. Internally the room is 66 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 12 ft. 9 in. high. It has a flat plaster ceiling, part of the "new and lighter roof" imposed on the lowered walls in 1758. The fittings are wholly modern.

The library attached to S. Paul's Cathedral, London, by which I mean the medieval cathedral commonly called Old S. Paul's, was in a similar position. Its history is succinctly recorded by Dugdale. After describing the cemetery called Pardon Church Hawgh, with the cloister that surrounded it, he proceeds:

_The Library._

Over the East quadrant of the before mentioned Cloyster, was a fair _Library_ built, at the costs of _Walter Shiryngton_, Chancelour of the Duchy of Lancaster in King Henry the 6th's time: But in the year MDXLIX. 10.

_Apr._ both Chapell, Cloyster, and Monuments, excepting onely that side where the _Library_ was, were pulled down to the ground, by the appointment of _Edward_ Duke of Somerset, then Lord Protector to King _Edward_ 6. and the materialls carried into the Strand, towards the building of that stately fabrick called Somerset-House, which he then erected; the ground where they stood being afterwards converted into a Garden, for the Pettie Canons[248].

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 42. Plan of the Library in Wells Cathedral.

Scale 1/10 inch=1 foot.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 41. Exterior of the Library at Salisbury Cathedral, looking north-east.]

Nothing is known of the dimensions or arrangement of the above room; but, as it was over a cloister, it must have been long and narrow, like that which still exists in a similar position at Wells Cathedral, which I will briefly mention next.

The Chapter Library at Wells Cathedral occupies the south end of a long, narrow room over the east pane of the cloister, approached by a spiral staircase from the south transept. This room is about 162 feet long by 12 feet wide; the portion a.s.signed to the library is about 106 feet long (fig. 42). The roof was originally divided into 13 s.p.a.ces by oak princ.i.p.als, very slightly arched, resting on stone corbels. There were two windows on each side to each s.p.a.ce. In the part fitted up as a library the princ.i.p.als have been plastered over to imitate stone, and the joists between them concealed by a ceiling. There is a tradition that this room was fitted up as a library in 1472. The present fittings, which I shall have occasion to mention in a subsequent chapter, were put up when the library was refitted and stocked with books after the Restoration[249].

These four examples--at Lincoln, Salisbury, S. Paul's, and Wells--are typical of Cathedral libraries built over a cloister. I will next notice some that were detached.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 43. Plan of the Library at Lichfield Cathedral.

From _History and Antiquities of Staffordshire_, by Stebbing Shaw, fol.

Lond. 1798, Vol. 11. p. 244.]

The library of Lichfield Cathedral[250] stood on the north side of the cathedral, west of the north door, at some little distance from the church (fig. 43). It was begun in 1489, when Thomas Heywood, dean, "gave 40 towards building a library of brick," and completed in 1493. It was about 60 feet long by 15 feet wide, approached by a flight of stairs. As the Chapter Order (9 December, 1757) which authorised its destruction speaks of the "Library, Chapter Clerk's House, and Cloisters," I suspect that it stood on a colonnade, after the manner of the beautiful structure at Noyon, a cathedral town in eastern France, at no great distance from Amiens.

This library--which I have carefully examined on two occasions--was built in pursuance of the following Order of the Chapter, 16 November, 1506.

Le 16. iour de Nouembre audit an, l'affaire de la Librairie se remet sus. Le sieur Doyen offre cent francs pour cet oeuure. Et le 20. iour de Nouembre, ouy le Maistre de Fabrique et Commissaires a ce deputez, fut arrestee le long de l'allee qui meine de l'Eglise a la porte Corbaut; et a cet effect sera tire le bois a ce necessaire de nos forests, et se fera ladite Librairie suiuant le pourtrait ou patron exhibe au Chapitre le sixiesme iour de Mars 1506. Le Bailly de Chapitre donne cent sols pour ce bastiment, a condition qu'il en aura une clef[251].

This library (fig. 44) is, so far as I know, an unique specimen of a library built wholly of wood, supported on wooden pillars with stone bases, so that it is raised about 10 feet above the stone floor on which they rest, probably for the sake of dryness. There is a legend that a market used to be held there; but at present the s.p.a.ces between the pillars have been filled in on the south side. The one here represented (fig. 45) stands on the north side, in a small yard between the library and the cathedral.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 44. Chapter-Library at Noyon, France.]

The site selected for the building is on the south side of the choir of the cathedral, with its longest axis north and south. It measures 72 feet in length by 17 feet in width between walls, but was originally longer, a piece having been cut off at the south end, where the entrance now is, and where the library is now terminated by a stone wall of cla.s.sical character. Tradition places the entrance at the opposite end, by means of an external staircase; an arrangement which would have been more convenient for the members of the Chapter, as they could have approached it through their vestry, which is on the south side of the choir. There are now nine windows on the east side--originally there were at least ten; but none on the west side, and it is doubtful if there ever were any, as they would be rendered useless by the proximity of other structures. The fittings are modern and without interest.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 45. A single pillar of the cloister beneath the Chapter Library at Noyon.]

At Bayeux also the Chapter-library is a detached building--of stone, in two floors, about 40 feet long by 26 feet wide, but I have not been able to discover the date at which it was built; and at York a detached library was built 1421-22 at the south-west corner of the south transept. This building, in two floors, the upper of which appears to have held the books, is still in existence.

The Cathedral library at Troyes, built by Bishop Louis Raguier between 1477 and 1479, to replace an older structure, was in an unusual position, and arranged in an unusual manner. It ab.u.t.ted against the south-east angle of the south transept, from which it could be entered. It was nearly square, being 30 feet long by 24 feet broad; and the vault was supported on a central pillar, from which radiated the six desks which contained the books (fig. 46). It was called _La Theologale_, because lectures on theology were given in it, as in the library at Salisbury. The desks were taken down in 1706, and the whole structure swept away in 1841-42, by the Departmental Architect, in the course of "a thorough restoration[252]."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 46. Plan of the Library at the south-east angle of the south transept of the Cathedral at Troyes.

A, B, C, D, Library; E, Entrance from vestibule in front of south transept door. The room on the east side of this pa.s.sage was used to keep records in.]

At this point I cannot refrain from mentioning a somewhat anomalous library-foundation at Worcester, due to the zeal of Bishop Carpenter (1444-76), though both structure and foundation have been long since swept away[253]. In 1464 he built and endowed a library in connexion with the charnel-house or chapel of S. Thomas, martyr, a detached building on the north side of the cathedral. The deed in which this foundation is recorded contains so many interesting particulars that I will state briefly the most important points insisted upon[254].

The Bishop begins by stating that by ancient arrangement the sacrist of the cathedral, a.s.sisted by a chaplain, is bound to celebrate ma.s.s daily in the charnel-house or chapel aforesaid, to keep it in repair, and to supply it with ornaments and vestments. For this purpose an annual endowment of 15 marks has been provided. He then describes his own foundation.