Editions of two Legends of St Botulph and St Birinus taken from the South English Legendary
Including an explanatory introduction
St Birinus St Botulph
August 2006 By: Jasmijn van Huis (0241733) Student of the University of Utrecht Supervised by: Erik Kooper & Thea Summerfield of the Department of English Studies List of Contents
Preface ------page 1
Part One: Introduction to the Editions
The South English Legendary ------page 2
HISTORY
Brief history of Britain before the seventh century ------page3
The political structure of the seventh century------page5
Christianity in England ------page6
Early monasticism and the Benedictine rule ------page8
Saint Botulph ------page9
Saint Birinus ------page15
Part Two: About the Editions
The Vernon manuscript: Bodl. 3938-42 ------page19
Bodl. 779------page20
Textual note ------page 21
Works cited ------page24
Sources for the illustrations ------page26
THE EDITIONS
APPENDICES Preface
At the beginning of this academic year I followed a module at the University of Utrecht about how to make an edition of a late medieval text. I liked doing this so much that I decided to choose this module as a basis for my dissertation. Together with my lecturer, and later my supervisor, Erik Kooper, I finally found two short texts that had never been published before and that would make a real challenge for me. The texts came from the South English Legendary and were the lives of the relatively unknown saints Botulph and Birinus. I used two manuscripts to make the edition for St Botulph, namely Bodl. 779 and Bodl. 3938-42. For the life of St Birinus I used just Bodl. 779. After the transcriptions were made and the wordlist and the notes had been inserted it was time to make an introduction for the two stories. Since both saints are not well known and thus not well documented it took me a considerable amount of effort to find reliable information about them. Unfortunately I have not been able to acquire all the sources I wanted but, on the other hand, I also found sources which I did not use but which might be interesting for other people. Both categories will be listed at the end of this dissertation. I divided my dissertation into two parts. Firstly, there is the introduction which gives background information about almost every aspect of the two saints’ lives and which should help the reader to place the editions in part two in a wider perspective. The editions in part two are preceded by descriptions of the manuscripts and a ‘Textual Note’ which provides information on some major changes I made to the original text in an attempt to make it easier to read. Still, I must warn that, despite of the extra help and despite of the fact that the introduction is accessible to a wide audience, the editions were specifically made for an audience which is experienced in reading Middle English texts. For anyone interested in examining the original pages of the manuscripts on which the two saint’s legends are written, a photocopy of them can be found in appendices C, D and E. A note must be made here that the names of both saints can be spelled in multiple ways but that, for this dissertation, I eventually chose to use the two spellings I came across in my sources most frequently. Now it only rests on me to say that I hope you will enjoy reading this dissertation as much as I enjoyed working on it.
Jasmijn van Huis
1 Part one: introduction to the editions The South English Legendary The stories of St Botulph and St Birinus which were used for the edition were both taken from the South English Legendary, which is a medieval collection of saints’ lives and homiletic writings. Early in the Middle Ages saints’ lives circulated individually in the form of a codicological unit called a libellus. Their purpose was not only to honour a particular saint but also to instruct the audience on how to lead an exemplary life. By the middle of the eight century people started to bind together these separate libelli, thus forming collections that started small but gradually grew into elaborate books. The libelli were usually arranged in calendrical order according to the feast day of the saints, but sometimes according to ecclesiastical hierarchy. 1 These collections are called passionales or legendaries and the SEL is a typical example of one. The SEL was probably one of the most popular texts in the fourteenth and fifteenth century. This conclusion can be drawn by looking at the number of manuscripts that still exist and the large area in the Midlands and southern England in which they were distributed. The date of the earliest SEL manuscript is usually set around the year 1300. What is certain is that the earliest compilations must have been made after the year 1254 because this was the year in which Peter of Verona, whose vita is part of the major SEL manuscripts, was canonised. The collection probably originated in western England because here the highest concentration of early SEL manuscripts was found. Of the SEL there are still 25 major manuscripts, 19 fragments and 18 miscellanies with SEL items in them. Another four manuscripts are believed to be lost. Apart from what is in the legends of the SEL there is hardly any information about the collection. Most studies have focussed on the individual texts in the collection but not on the collection as a whole.2 Suggestions as to the author, the sources and the purpose of the SEL are all conjectural. What makes investigation of the SEL especially difficult is that no two manuscripts are the same. The collection was open to addition, omission and reordering by scribes. If they wanted to add the story of a local saint there was no problem, which results in there being some unusual contributions to the SEL.3 Because of the many differences between the manuscripts it is also difficult to determine the sources used to compile the original SEL. Many unsatisfactory suggestions have been made. Its structure was probably inspired by earlier breviaries but the separate texts of
1 Rosalind C. Love, ed., Three Eleventh-Century Anglo-Latin Saints’ Lives, (Oxford :Clarendon Press, 1996), pp.xiii-xiv. 2 Manfred Görlach, The Textual Tradition of the South English Legendary, (Leeds :Leeds texts and monographs, 1974), pp. viii-2. 3 Burke J. Severs, ed., A Manual of Writings in Middle English, (Hamden: Archon Books, 1970), pp. 410-39.
2 early SEL compilations do not seem to come from one source. Rather it seems that the individual texts were taken from a large variety of sources. One influence on the SEL that cannot go unnoticed is Jacobus de Voragine’s Legenda Aurea. However, as Görlach argues, the earliest SEL manuscripts show hardly any traces of the Legenda Aurea, which suggests that the SEL was influenced by it only at a later stage. The only thing that can be said about the author is that this person probably was in minor orders since many of the probable source materials are in Latin. The possibility of a monk has been put forward because monks had easy access to large libraries. However, the simple language and the popular treatment of the texts suggest that the SEL was directed at the still relatively unlearned laity. Why would an established monk make a text for the laity if he hardly has contact with them? If the author would have been a monk he would more likely have been a travelling and preaching friar. The popular style of the SEL suggests the work of a preacher. However, many texts are quite long and unsuitable for a preacher to work with and some texts in the SEL openly criticise priests. The single name ‘The South English Legendary’ for all these similar but different manuscripts suggest homogeneity. However, it is important to remember that this name was only given to the group quite recently by its editors and that contemporaries of the SEL would probably not have seen it as a fixed group.4 Thus the texts of the legends about St Botulph and St Birinus, the subject of this paper, were clearly added later and occur only in a few manuscripts.
History Next is a historical overview to give a better idea of what the world that St Birinus and St Botulph lived and worked in was like and how it developed.
Brief History of Britain before the Seventh Century Very little is known about the earliest inhabitants of the British Isles. It seems that after 800 BC, Celtic tribes settled in Britain and mixed with the original inhabitants. Then, in 55 BC, the Roman general Julius Ceasar landed in Britain on an expedition, fought and won a battle against the natives but left afterwards. Only in 43 AD did the Romans return under the
4 Anne B. Thompson, Everyday Saints and the Art of Narrative in the South English Legendary, (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003), pp. 189-197. These pages rely heavily on Görlach’s Textual Tradition of the SEL.
3 leadership of Emperor Claudius.5 The area that was then conquered was called Britannia and covered large parts of present-day England and Wales and was later extended northwards.6 The Romans never actually governed Britannia directly but used the Celtic aristocracy to do this, encouraging them to adopt Roman dress and speech. A road network was built and Roman landowners built villas. The Roman occupation brought a division between the Celtic tribes under Roman rule, namely the Britons in England and Wales, and the independent Celtic tribes in Scotland and Ireland. The Celts from the north had, for a long time, been troublesome to the Romans but in the fourth century matters got worse when they called in the help of Saxon pirates to attack the Romans. The Romans then promised land to Saxon mercenaries who promised to fight for the Romans. Saxons were thus already living in Britain before the later Germanic invasions.7 The Roman occupation of Britain ended in 410 AD when the last Roman legions were withdrawn to support defences along the Rhine. After the Romans left the Celtic chiefdoms that had long been overruled by the Romans returned and fought each other for power. So few sources of the fifth and the sixth century have survived that only very little is known about this period. There is some archaeological evidence and a few texts. The most famous contemporary work is De Excidio Britanniae or On the Ruin of Britain by a British monk called Gildas in which he criticises the world around him. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives unreliable information about this period. Around 430 AD large parts of Britain were ruled by King Vortigern. Gildas tells how the British were plagued by the Picts and the Scots from the north and how Vortigern, just like the Romans, hired Saxon mercenaries to help him fight the Picts and Scots. However, the same Saxons he invited refused to leave and started to invade parts of Britain. The British fought back which first resulted in a victory for the British. However, more Germanic tribes arrived at the south coast. The Germanic invaders, according to Bede Angles, Saxons and Jutes, continued to push the English inland and by the end of the sixth century they had firm control over almost half of Britain. The British fled north and into Wales and took Christianity with them. The Germanic tribes maintained their own religion of multiple gods.8
5 James O’Driscoll ed., Britain: The Country and its People, (Oxford :Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 15-17. 6 Kenneth O. Morgan, Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, (Oxford :Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 31. 7 David Nicholas, The Evolution of the Medieval World, 312-1500, (New York :Longman Publishing, 1992), pp. 64-5. 8 Kenneth O. Morgan ed., The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, (Oxford :Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 52-61.
4 Political Structure in the Seventh Century Seventh century England was a heptarchy of seven kingdoms. The South Saxons lived in Kent and Sussex, the West Saxons in Wessex, the East Saxons in East Anglia and Essex, the Mercians (including the Middle Angles) in Mercia and the Northumbrians in Northumbria (see Appendix A). Apart from the kings of these larger kingdoms there were many smaller peoples with their own kings, but they were usually sub-kings to the kings of larger kingdoms. Between the large kingdoms there was a continuous shifting of political power. Sometimes kingdoms even worked together to defeat others. The king that had authority over the other kings was at that point the Bretwalda.9 This term is probably derived from the Anglo-Saxons term Bretanwealda, meaning ‘Lord of Britain’.10 At the beginning of the seventh century King Raedwald of East Anglia became Bretwalda and after him the Northumbrian Edwin (616-32 AD) then Oswald (633-42 AD) and then his brother Oswy (655-70 AD). Kingdoms grew and kingdoms fell and once Bretwalda it was very difficult for a king to stay in that position. The main reason was that the power of the king rested on a very shaky basis: A king’s power and victory depended on the strength of his army and a good army could only be assembled when a king was able to give his followers satisfying rewards. However, in order to give rewards the king needed a good army to bring him victory and booty. In other words, continuous war was needed to maintain one’s kingship and to prevent this cycle from being disrupted.11 It was a time of warfare, mead-halls and Beowulf. Society was ruled via an efficient system of local governments. Each district had a royal manor house or tun which was maintained by a local official at times when the king was not visiting. Here the people of the districts paid their dues and went to look for justice if there was a dispute that needed to be solved. Around this time, most peasants were free peasants or curls and had only the king as their lord. However, there were also many peasants who borrowed land from lords lower in rank. 12
9 Kenneth O. Morgan ed., The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, (Oxford :Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 59-61. 10 Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. English version. Searched for “Bretwalda”. 31 July 2006
5 Christianity in England Christianity had already come to England before the Germanic invasion through contact with the Romans. After the Romans left the Celtic tribes returned to their old beliefs while at the same time holding on to Christianity. This resulted in an unusual mixture of both. At the same time, in 432 AD St Patrick came to convert Ireland and from there Christianity spread to Northern England and Scotland. However, the Saxons that settled in Britain in the fifth and sixth century were pagan. They continued their pagan beliefs while pushing the Celts with their mixed beliefs to the North and into Wales. Soon the paganism of the Saxons was noticed by Rome. Bede’s second book in chapter one has an account of St Gregory’s first encounter with Germanic pagans from Britain. He saw some boys from Anglia at a slave market with fair hair and white skins and wanted to know where they were from and if they were Christians or pagans. He was told that they were from Britain and that they were pagans. He then asked of what nation they came and was told that they were Angles. St Gregory replied that they were indeed angelic. When he heard they came from the province Deira he said that they had been ‘De ira’, withdrawn from wrath and called to the mercy of Christ. And to Aella, the name of their king he responded that ‘Hallelujah’ should be sung in the place where the boys came from. This incident became known as the Gregorian pun. Whether or not this truly happened, St Gregory was troubled by the paganism in Britain and as soon as he became Pope in 590 he sent St Augustine to Britain as a missionary. 13 Special tactics were needed to convert the Germanic pagans. St Gregory instructed his missionaries to assimilate as many of the local rituals and customs into Christianity as possible in order to reduce the impact of the difficult and complex step from the one religion to the other. Among the warlike Germanic tribes the missionaries emphasised the heroic deeds in biblical stories and Jesus’ power. In some old Germanic sculptures Jesus is even portrayed as a warrior. Churches were often built on pagan sacred sites. Also important for a successful conversion was to go to the king first, since once the king was converted many of his kin would follow. St Gregory knew that the queen of the Kentish king Aethelberht was a Christian so this was where he sent St Augustine first. However, when a king was converted, this did not mean that this was permanent. For the early Germanic kings religion had to be useful. If Christianity did not bring more victory and wealth to them than their old beliefs, kings often decided to forsake Christianity, whether they
13 David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English language, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), p 10.
6 had been baptised or not. 14 Sometimes, like king Raedwald of the East Angles, kings kept both religions. The plans of St Gregory were most successful in the Celtic church of Ireland and not so much in the Celtic churches of Scotland Northern Ireland and Wales probably because St Patrick arrived in Ireland. Already in 563 AD the Irish monk Columba had travelled to Scotland, converted the Northern Picts and built a monastery on the island of Iona. King Oswald had spent his exile among the Irish in Western Scotland so when he eventually became king in 633 he invited missionaries from the monastery of Iona to work for him. When Christianity had gained firm ground in Northumbria it started to spread to other kingdoms. This was helped by the subsequent Bretwalda-ship of Oswald and Oswy. It was under King Oswald’s influence that St Birinus baptised Cynegils, king of Wessex. A problem was that there were some differences between Roman Christianity and the Celtic or Irish variant, most importantly the calculation of the date for Easter. At the Synod of Whitby in 664 AD it was decided that all churches of the English kingdoms should follow Rome. This decision gave more unity to the Church in Britain. At the end of the seventh century the Church’s organisation was chaotic. This was ended when the Pope sent the new archbishop Theodore to the English kingdoms. Among other things he established a well-organised diocesan structure; bishops got extra training when necessary and at the synod of Hertford in 672 AD there came agreement on the first basic canons for church government. Still, around this time it were mainly the aristocrats who had been fully converted while the peasants were still instructed insufficiently. In the seventh and the eighth centuries there was no clear distinction yet between monks and parish priests. Both could do missionary work. The word ‘mynster’ could refer both to a Benedictine house, like Botulph’s ‘mynster’ as mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and to a community of priests. At the end of the eighth century many of these ‘mynsters’ had pastoral functions. Around these ‘mynsters’ people started to settle and in this way the first towns developed. Due to instructions from the Pope and the increased efforts of monks and priests, together with the necessary patronage of kings, Christianity started spreading quickly among the peasants. Under the influence of Christianity it became increasingly important for a king not just to engage in war but also to take care of his people and to organise justice, just like God would take care of His people.15
14 David Nicholas, The Evolution of the Medieval World, 312-1500, (New York :Longman Publishing, 1992), p. 73-4. 15 Kenneth O. Morgan ed., The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, (Oxford : University Press, 2000), pp. 67-72.
7 Early Monasticism and the Benedictine Rule As the Church expanded rapidly in the late Roman Empire its increasing wealth and worldliness dissatisfied a growing number of people. Particularly in Egypt, Syria and Palestine, individuals started to isolate themselves from the rest of society in an attempt to escape the material world. Some of these hermits were believed to be holy and to perform miracles, which led other hermits and lay people to settle near them, thus forming communities. In the fourth century such groups found a leader in the hermit St Anthony from Egypt. The small communities that the followers of St Anthony lived in are often seen as an early form of monasticism. St Anthony did not yet devise a rule for these early monks. The first person to do this was St Basil of Ceasarea, who especially emphasised the role of the abbot. The Eastern hermits and monks had a great influence on the ideal of the solitary life in the West and the idea of monasticism was taken over and many different rules were introduced. Two rules in particular were popular in the West, namely the Celtic or Irish type of monasticism that was brought to the Continent by St Columban (c. 540-615), and that of St Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-547). St Benedict was a Roman aristocrat who was troubled by his wealth and therefore decided to become a hermit. He eventually decided that complete isolation was not the right thing to do and established a monastery in Monte Casino. His rule was one of moderation; it was not as strict as the Irish rule but then again not as lax as the Italian rule. Poverty, humility, chastity, temperance and obedience were important aspects of a Benedictine monk’s life.16 Both St Botulph and St Birinus were Benedictine monks, although Birinus was later made a bishop. The two most important things in Benedictine rule was to keep the monks occupied so that they had no time for temptation, and to make sure the monastery was independent from secular authority. An abbot was elected by the monks and once chosen he had supreme power over his monastery till his death. Benedict emphasises in his rule that abbots should never abuse their power but use it for the good of the community. The manner of dress was to be decided by the abbot of each Benedictine monastery but should at least be cheap and homely. Till the eighth century Benedictine monks usually dressed in white. Study had an important place in the Benedictine rule. The useless manual work of some monasteries was substituted by study, just as long as the requirement of seven hours of
16 David Nicholas, The Evolution of the Medieval World, 312-1500, (New York: Longman Publishing, 1992), pp. 38-41.
8 divine service was met. Once the decision was made to enter a Benedictine monastery it was nearly impossible to undo that decision. On the other hand, admission to a Benedictine monastery was also more difficult. Persons above eighteen years could decide for themselves if they wanted to be admitted, but under that age they needed permission from their parents or an abbot of a monastery this person had already been in. Then they had a year or more of noviciate before they were fully accepted into the Benedictine order. Benedictine monasteries were not very widespread at first. Benedict never meant the rule to be used by affiliated houses. It was most importantly through the promotion of pope Gregory the Great, who admired the Benedictine rule, that it gained more popularity. Gregory wrote The Life of St Benedict and it was he who ordered Benedictine monks like St Augustine and St Birinus to re-Christianise Britain. 17
Saint Botulph Nowadays, St Botulph is not a very well known saint but although most people are not aware of it, he left many traces of himself in the modern world. The name of this seventh century pioneer of Christianity in England has, for example, perpetuated in the well-known city name Boston as well as in many names of smaller places like Botesdale, Bossal and Botolfston. In Britain there are still about seventy churches dedicated to St Botulph; they are still mostly situated in the eastern parts of England, which is where he settled after his arrival. Also interesting to know is that the four churches at the gates of London were dedicated to this saint, three of which are still standing today. 18 Apart from these visible remains, hardly any written information on St Botulph has survived. The venerable Bede and St Botulph the Anglo Saxon Chronicle only briefly mention St Botulph and the earliest actual vita on his life was written almost four centuries after his death. This vita and all later ones fail to draw a consistent picture of the story of his life. As a late nineteenth century researcher put it: “The notices of his life are meagre and contradictory in the extreme.”19
17 Gregory I. Smith, Christian Monasticism from the Fourth till the Ninth Century, (London, 1892), pp. 63-81. 18 Ryan, George E. “The man, his life, death and person.” Botolf of Boston 1971: 23-56 19 Francis Arnold-Foster, Studies in Church Dedications, or England’s Patron Saints, (London: Skeffington & son, 1899), vol II p.53.
9 Only very few events in his life have been agreed upon. The barest biography would be that he was born at the beginning of the seventh century somewhere in Britain from noble parents. He and his brother Adulph decided to travel to the Continent to study the gospel. It is unclear where exactly they went. After some years of learning and hard work, the king of that country was so impressed by the brothers that he appointed Adulph as bishop of Utrecht or Maastricht. However, this is not supported by any records. The king meant to make Botulph a bishop as well, but Botulph declined the offer and decided to go back to England to set up a monastery instead. In the religious house where he stayed during his time on the Continent he met two sisters of king Ethelmund, king of the East Angles, who advised him to go to their brother to ask for land for his monastery. When Botulph arrived in England he went to Ethelmund with the request for land and after an initial refusal and some negotiation the king finally granted Botulph a piece of worthless and wild land called Ikenhoe. “After chasing away demons and other foul creatures” that lived there according to his vita he built a monastery and invited monks into it. Having settled down as abbot of his own monastery he led an exemplary life and had a reputation for being very learned and very wise. He died in 680 AD and was buried at his own monastery. This overview of Botulph’s life is only brief but an entire book could be written on the contradictions around his person. It is certain that Botulph was an actual historical personage. The venerable Bede in his Historia Abbatum tells how Bede’s master Ceolfrith “journied to the East Angles in order that he might see the foundation of abbot Botulphus, whom fame had proclaimed far and wide to be a man of remarkable life and learning, full of the grace of the Holy Spirit.” Bede continues to tell how Ceolfrith, “having been abundantly instructed, so far as was possible within a short time, returned home so well equipped that no one could be found more learned than he either in ecclesiastical or monastic tradition.”20 Bede was born just before the death of Botulph, which makes his account a reliable one. His master Ceolfrith met Botulph in person and thus would have been able to give Bede good information about him. Bede’s account confirms that it was the East Angles among whom Botulph lived.
20 Charles Plummer, Venerabilis Baedae: Historiam Ecclesiasticam, Gentis Anglorum, Historia Abbatum, Epistolam ad Ecgberctum una cum Historia Abbatum Auctore Anonymo, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1896), p. 389. Historia Abbatum auctore anonymo, page 389: “4. Peruenit et ad Anglos Orientales, ut uideret instituta Botuulfi abbatis, quem singularis uitae et doctrinae uirum, gratiaque Spiritus plenum, fama circumquaque uulgauerat ; instructusque abundanter, quantum breui potuit, domum rediit, adeo ut nemo per id temporis uel in aecclesiastica, uel in monasteriali regula, doctior illo posset inueniri ;”
10 Another useful early source is the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, which tells how in the year 654 Botulph began to construct a ‘mynster’, or Benedictine order, at Ikenhoe.21 However, the best sources still leave numerous contradictions. Where, for instance, was Botulph born? The earliest existing vita on Botulph was written by the eleventh century abbot of Thorney, Folcard. In his vita, Folcard tells how Botulph and his brother were born of noble Saxon parents and how they were sent into Saxony for their further education. 22 However, a sixteenth century vita in the Schleswig breviary mentions that he was an Irish Scot of royal descent who refused to accept the throne after his father’s death and instead devoted himself to religion. 23 It is not possible to prove which one of the two sources is right. Botulph’s name gives no help because there are so many different versions of it that it is impossible to know what his original name was like. Besides, it was common for names to change in accordance with somebody’s new identity. Folcard’s vita is much earlier than the one in the Schleswig breviary and should, therefore, logically be the more reliable one. However, supporters of his Scottish origin argue that Botulph had indeed some popularity in Scotland. Here his feast was celebrated on the 25th of June instead of on the 17th of June, as was the custom in England. Still, it seems more likely that the explanation for the cult in Scotland lies somewhere else. Another major point of discussion is the site of St Botulph’s monastery. Ikenhoe, which means ‘ox-hill’ or ‘ox-island’24, is described by abbot Folcard as a piece of desolate land surrounded by water. Although many people claim to know where the spot of Botulph’s monastery is, it is difficult to give an answer that can be proven right. Nowadays two places especially are in the competition for being potential sites of the Botulph’s monastery. These are Iken in Suffolk and Boston in Lincolnshire. On the internet a number of sites can be found which either support Iken or are in favour of Boston and which are interesting examine.25 Arguments in favour of Iken would, first of all, be that Iken lies right in the middle of what used to be East Anglia. Although most sources say that King Ethelmund was king of the
21 Katherine O’brien-O’keeffe ed., The Anglo Saxon Chronicle: A collaborative Edition, (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2001), p. 39, gives the Old English text: “Botulf ongan þæt menster timbrian æt Ycenhoe.” 22 The vita by Folcard is described by Thomas Duffus Hardy’s A Catalogue of Materials for British History which is to be found in the Rerum Britannicarum Medii Aevi Scriptores, (i.e Rolls Series), part 26, pp. 373-75. 23 The Schleswig breviary can be found in Acta Sanctorum, June Vol. 4: p329. 24 “Saint Botulph” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. English version. 5 March 2006
11 Southern Angles, Bede tells how Botulph stayed with the East Angles. Since Bede is almost a contemporary source it would be more sensible to rely on him rather than on the vitae which were written centuries later and which, besides, were copied from earlier texts. Another strong point in favour of Iken is that the St Botulf’s church at Iken is built on a hill on a former island. This would match Folcard’s description of Ikenhoe as being surrounded by water, and the translation of Ikenhoe as ‘ox-hill’. Also Iken was built on marshland, which would support the point that every vita emphasises, that Ikenhoe is a place in a wilderness where nothing much grows. The arguments in favour of Boston are a quite a bit weaker. Boston falls just outside the territory of East Anglia and it is not certain whether a king of the East Angles would have had the authority to give away a piece of land in that region. It is true that Boston is a corruption of ‘Botulph’s town’ but this does not mean much since there are at least a dozen other places which have names that are corruptions of Botulph. Another much heard argument is that Botulph’s cult was popular around Boston. Appendix B shows a map of the sites of all the churches dedicated to St Botulph that still exist today. Most of St Botulph’s churches are still in or around East Anglia. Around Boston there is a far smaller density of Botulph churches than that there is around Iken. Another mystery is the location of St Botulph’s relics. Many shrines have been built for his relics and they all claim to have the real ones. After Botulph’s death he is said to have been buried in his own monastery at Ikenhoe but in order to save his bones from the invasions of the Danes they were moved. However, it is not known where they were taken. In 970 King Edgar gave permission to St Aethelwold, then still bishop of Winchester, to move Botulph’s bones from his tomb. This was probably on the 1st of December, which is the day on which the translation of Botulph is celebrated. From here things get especially unclear. His body was divided into three parts and each part was given to either the monastery at Ely, the monastery at
Botulph’s coat of arms Thorney, where Folcard became Abbot later on, or to the king. The number of parts and the places the relics went to is usually the same; however, what part went to what place varies with each account. 26 The part that went to the king was used for his private chapel but was later presented to Westminster Abbey by Edward the Confessor. To
26 St Botolphs.com Text on the site was taken from St Botolph, His Life and Times. by Professor Kenneth Keenan, 31 july 2006, Printed the page out on 5march 2006.
12 honour the arrival of Botulph’s relics a church dedicated to him was built at each of the four gates of the city. Another version tells how Edgar gave the permission to have all of Botulph’s bones moved to Burgh where they remained for fifty years until Cnut gave permission to have them moved to a tomb in Bury St Edmunds. Eventually they were moved to Thorney, although his head was sent to Ely and other parts to Westminster and several other places.27 Yet other sources claim that the relics never reached their earlier destinations. When they were transferred by St Aethelwold to their three resting places, for unclear reasons, they were left in churches on the way. Unfortunately it will always remain a mystery where Botulph’s real relics are nowadays or even if they still exist at all. Being a saint St Boyulf has a number of miracles on his record. His best-known miracle occurred at his arrival at Ikenhoe where Botulph made the devils that occupied the place flee with terror by making the sign of the cross, or according to an other account, by just showing himself. Another miracle is recorded in the Schleswig breviary in which he was reported to be giving food and drink to the poor. On finding out that he had run out of both he told everybody to trust in God to provide for them, which indeed happened in the shape of two ships full of food and drink. Two lesser known miracles took place after Botulph’s death. Abbot Folcard wrote in his vita that when the monastery at Ikenhoe had been established, Botulph’s brother Adulf came back to England to live at Ikenhoe. Both Botulf and Adulf died on the 17 June 680 and both were supposedly buried at Ikenhoe. According to the miracle, when Aethelwold wanted the relics taken from their unidentified tomb to Thorney the relics could not be moved without also moving Adulph’s28. The other miracle tells how on the night that Botulph’s relics were removed from Grundisburgh (where the relics would be according to the theory that they never reached Thorney, Ely or London but were left in churches on the way) light came from the funeral bier at night and a sweet fragrance was smelled all around.29 Miracles prove a saint useful and therefore us Botulph is a patron saint of several groups of people as well. Most importantly he is a patron saint of travellers. This probably due to his reputation as an exorcist of devils and demons. Some people have even suggested
27 “Saint Botulph” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. English version. 5 March 2006
13 that since saint Christopher was degraded by the Vatican in 196930 St Botulph should replace him. Botulph does have another resemblance with St Christopher apart from also being the patron saint of travellers. Botulph’s emblem used to be a dog or a wolf. 31 Similarly St Christopher used to be portrayed sometimes with a dog’s head. Because St Botulph was the patron saint of travellers churches may have decided to dedicate the churches at the gates of London to him. Each traveller going in or out of the city would pass by a church dedicated to St Botulph. Secondly, for many people he was (and perhaps is) the patron saint of crops, the weather and farming in general. When Botulph asked for land from king Ethelmund he specifically asked for land that was useless. In most vitae the land is described as a St Christopher wilderness where nothing can grow. Nevertheless, he built his monastery there and thrived, and it was probably this success that made him a patron saint of farming for people. Botulph had a small cult in Denmark as well where seven churches were dedicated to him in the Middle Ages.32 Three days ending in 17 June were known as Botelmas or “Botulph’s mass”. In Denmark he was also the patron saint of weather and crops. It is not entirely certain how Botulph came to be known in Denmark. One explanation is that when the Danish invaders had become Christians they took elements of English Christianity back to Denmark, including stories of St Botulph. 33 Another explanation is that the cult of St Botulph reached Denmark later during the reign of king Cnut, who was Danish. However, these two explanations rest almost entirely on assumptions. Although Botulph isn’t very well-known today, he seems to have been relatively popular in the eastern parts of England. This is not only shown by the number of churches but also by the number and location of streets, colleges and public buildings that have been dedicated to Botulph shows that Botulph is still all around the eastern parts of England although people are perhaps not aware of it.
30 “St Christopher” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia English version. 5 March 2006
14 Four SEL manuscripts contain the legend of St Botulph of which the Vernon manuscript and MS Egerton 1993 are the most reliable. It is not clear what the source for Botulph’s legend is. His vita in the Latin Nova Legenda Anglie contains the same story but in a different form. Folcard’s Latin vita and a Latin vita in Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antique et mediae aetatis 1428 are not related with the SEL version. 34 For the Botulph edition at the end of this thesis SEL legends from Bodl. 779 and the Vernon manuscript, also known as Bodl. 3938-42, were used.
Saint Birinus St Birinus' life is not as mysterious as that of St Botulph. This might be explained by his worldly and public career as opposed to Botulph's solitary and secluded career in his monastery. Birinus, “the apostle of Wessex”, was born probably around the same time as St Botulph, i.e. around 600 AD. He was probably Frankish and eventually became a Bendictine monk at the monastery of St Andrew at Rome.35 Bede in his Historia Ecclesiastica tells how in 634 Pope Honorius I sent him to Britain to convert the people in Mercia or, in other words, "to sow the seed of the holy faith in the inner parts beyond the English".36 Before he left he was consecrated missionary bishop in Genoa by St Birinus Asterius, bishop of Milan. However, when he arrived in Britain and was on his way to Mercia, he found that the West Saxons were just as much in need of conversion and decided to stay with them in order to preach Christianity to them. This is confirmed by the Anglo- Saxon Chronicle, which has an entry at the year 634 which says: "In this year bishop Birinus preached baptism to the West Saxons."37 He was brought before the West-Saxon king Cynegils and managed to impress him so much with his preaching that Cynegils allowed him to preach in his country. Cynegils only became a Christian himself when he was trying to make an alliance with king Oswald of Northumbria. Together with him he hoped to defeat the
34 Manfred Görlach, The Textual Tradition of the South English Legendary, (Leeds: Leeds Texts and Monographs, 1974), p. 174. 35 William Smith and Henry Wace eds, A dictionary of Christian Biography, (London: John Murray, 1877). Volume 1 (A-D) 36 Charles Plummer, Venerabilis Baedae: Historiam Ecclesiasticam, Gentis Anglorum, Historia Abbatum, Epistolam ad Ecgberctum una cum Historia Abbatum Auctore Anonymo, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1896), Cap.VII, p.139. 37 Dorothy Whitelock ed., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A revised Translation, (London: Eyre and Spottiswood, 1961), p. 18. The original old English text is given in: Katherine O’brien-O’Keeffe ed. The Anglo Saxon
15 Mercians. However, Oswald refused to ally himself with a pagan, so Birinus was sent for to baptise king Cynegils. To strengthen their alliance Oswald married Cynegils’ daughter Kyneburg, though other sources state that Cynegils married Oswald's daughter. The baptism of Cynegils is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle at the year 635: “In this year king Cynegils was baptised by bishop Birinus in Dorchester and Oswald stood sponsor to him.”38 The two kings then decided to give Birinus the town of Dorchester (i.e. Dorchester-on-Thames). What is certain is that Birinus had a cathedral built in Dorchester, which made him the first bishop of the West Saxons, and which was the beginning of the see of Wessex. After king Cynegils had Birinus baptising king Cynegils been baptised, most of his people followed his example and agreed to be baptised as well. There is a story that on the way to Dorchester to see the new cathedral a large number of members of the royal party suddenly felt the desire to become Christian. Birinus, who was with the party, then organised a mass baptism for those retainers. This supposedly happened at Brightwell.39 When the cathedral in Dorchester was finished Birinus started to concentrate on other parts of Wessex and established more churches. After Cynegils’ death in 643 AD his successor Coenwalch asked Botulph to build a cathedral at Winchester.40 On 3 December 649 AD (or sometimes 650 AD) Birinus died and was buried in Dorchester. His feast of translation is on 4 September, probably because this was the day in 980 AD that part of the Winchester cathedral had been renovated and Birinus’s relics were moved next to the high altar by St Aethelwold.41 Also for Birinus there were two places claiming to have his relics. These are Dorchester and Winchester. Around the year 668 bishop Haedde translated Birinus’ body to Winchester. The reason for the translation can only be guessed, but probably it was done because Dorchester had fallen into the hands of the Mercians because of which the
Chronicle: semi-diplomatic edition with introduction and indices, (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2001), p. 37: “AN.dcxxxiiii. Her Bisceop bodade Westseaxum fulwiht.” 38 Dorothy Whitelock ed., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A revised Translation, (London: Eyre and Spottiswood, 1961), p. 18. The original old English text is given in: Katherine O’brien-O’Keeffe ed. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: semi-diplomatic edition with introduction and indices, (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2001), p. 37: “AN dcxxxv. Her Cynegils king wearð gefullad fram byrino þæm bisceope of Dorkeceastre,¬ Oswald his onfeng.” 39 “Birinus” Britanica Online. Encyclopaedia Britanica. Used page 12 March 2006.
16 ecclesiastical see had been moved to Winchester. It would be inappropriate that the first bishop of Wessex was not buried there. Bede in his Historia Ecclesiatica briefly mentions the translation. However, in the 13th century the canons of Dorchester claimed to have the relics of St Birinus in their church and that not St Birinus but St Byrnstan had been translated. However, this seems unlikely because Byrnstan lived long after Bede, who could therefore never have mixed him up with Birinus. Pope Honorius III investigated the matter but could come to no conclusion since miracles had been reported in both places.42 Today, it has been generally accepted that the relics are in Winchester. Many miracles have been attributed to St Birinus, but two of them stand out. The first reportedly happened after Honorius I had ordered Birinus to go across the sea to convert the English people inland and had given Birinus the Host in a linen cloth to be able to celebrate mass there. While on the voyage suddenly a fierce tempest arose and everybody on the ship was about to drown. Then Birinus remembered that he had left behind the linen cloth and bade the sailors to turn back to fetch it. They refused to do this. Then St Birinus stepped on the sea and walked back to land to get the linen cloth with the Host, and then returned back to the ship, which lay at a complete standstill. When Birinus stepped back on the ship he was completely dry. The sailors marvelled at this and Birinus preached Christianity to the pagans among them. Then a drowsiness came from heaven, which made all sailors fall asleep leaving Birinus to watch over them. Having suddenly acquired skills to sail a ship he sailed the ship to a safe haven. The second miracle occurred when Birinus had just arrived in Britain and was preaching to groups of people before travelling further inland. An old woman, both deaf and blind, had a vision while asleep in which she was told to go to St Birinus to get cured. When she met Birinus he made the sign of the cross over her ears and eyes and indeed made her see and hear. Some vitae tell how he even restored her youth as well. It is always difficult to say how popular a saint was long ago. It seems that Birinus was relatively popular in and around Wessex. Already before Bishop Haedde moved Birinus’ relics from Dorchester to Winchester his tomb was a popular destination for pilgrims. When Birinus was translated to Winchester he became the patron saint of the city and Winchester became the centre for his cult. This was long before St Swithun would take Birinus’ place as Winchester’s patron saint. 43 His feast on 3 December can be found on a ninth century
42 William Smith and Henry Wace eds, A dictionary of Christian Biography, (London: John Murray,1877), Volume 1 (A-D) and Rosalind C. Love ed, Three Eleventh-Century Anglo-Latin Saints’ Lives, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), page lx. 43 Rosalind C Love. ed. Three Eleventh-Century Anglo-Latin Saints’ Lives (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), p.lxi
17 liturgical calendar which might indicate that his cult was well known at the time. However, this cannot be said for certain since several saints in the calendar were not popular but were added because Bede spoke of them approvingly and Birinus might be one of them. Six SEL manuscripts contain the legend of St Birinus and all versions are very similar. With its small deviations from the other texts Trinity College Oxford 57 is the best text. The story has many parallels with the Latin text about Birinus in BL Landsdowne 436, but since the SEL legends contain some details that are not in the Latin version it is believed that the SEL versions and the Latin version come from a shared source.44 For the edition of Birinus’ SEL legend at the end of this thesis the Birinus text from Bodl. 779 has been used.
44 Manfred Görlach, The Textual Tradition of the South English Legendary, (Leeds: Leeds texts and monographs, 1974), pp. 208-09.
18 Part two: about the editions The Vernon Manuscript: Bodl. 3938-42 (see appendix C) 45 One of the legends of St Botulph has been taken from the Vernon manuscript, which was named after the seventeenth century owner who donated the manuscript to the Bodleian library. The manuscript is both in size and in the number of texts the largest surviving volume of Middle English texts (it also contains a small number of Anglo-Norman and Latin texts). For some texts it has the earliest versions, for some the sole version. The folios are made of calfskin and are 544mm x 393mm in size, and of the approximately 424 original leaves, 350 survive. The loss of some of the pages are the result of the 1535 and 1538 decrees by Henry VIII. Somebody went through the content list and erased or crossed out the word ‘pope’ everywhere. It is likely that this same person also got rid of some text material or pictures about persons who were condemned by the Protestants. Clues from the texts and the manuscript itself date the manuscript around the year 1390 The Vernon manuscript is, as Manfred Görlach calls it, ‘a typical medieval one volume library’ which contains not only the complete SEL but also other major texts like The Northern Homily Collection, The Pricke of Conscience and Piers Plowman. Apart from these texts the manuscript also has a large number of various types of minor texts like ‘The Sayings of St Bernard’ or ‘Disputation between Mary and the Cross’ in it. The SEL text in the Vernon manuscript is a mixture of four, possibly five SEL manuscripts. The whole manuscript has been written by only two scribes and probably took a long time to complete, especially because scribe A made only a small contribution while the great majority of the work was done by scribe B. The rubrications are mostly the work of scribe A. Both scribes worked accurately and only a few corrections have been made by either them or later hands. The Botulph text that was used for this dissertation was entirely written by scribe B, who writes in a cursive, round Anglicana without any influence of Secretary or Textura. Punctuation consists of dots and will be elaborated on in the ‘Textual Note’. In the SEL part of the manuscript, each new legend is indicated with a large foliated initial in pink, blue, white, green and brown, with branches extending from it into the margin. Two-line capitals indicate the beginning of chapters. It is a high-quality and therefore expensive manuscript. The dialect of the manuscript is consistent and is probably the dialect of the scribe and not of the exemplar. Various suggestions have been made for the location of this dialect.
45 This section has been based on: Manfred Görlach, The Textual Tradition of the South English Legendary, (Leeds: Leeds texts and monographs, 1974), pp. 102-04. and A. I. Doyle ed., The Vernon manuscript: A Facsimile of Bodleian Library Oxford, (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1987), pp. 1-16.
19 Staffordshire, Shropshire or Herefordshire have been mentioned but also Worcestershire. Some evidence has been found that the manuscript belonged to an abbey, possibly the former Bordesley Abbey in Redditch Borough. It was probably was made for an audience which had enough time and interest to read and not just leaf through the great quantity of texts. Very little can be said for certain about the manuscript since almost nothing is known about its history.
Bodl. 779 (See Appendix D and E) 46 St Birinus’ legend and the second legend on St Botulph were taken from Bodl. 779. This manuscript contains the SEL only and is the most complete version of all SEL manuscripts. It contains some sole versions of some texts, and some later texts as well. Of the 135 texts 37 are unique while some other texts have unique additional material. All the texts that are in the list of contents are present. The arrangement of the legends is disorderly at times and the scribe even copied two texts twice. The manuscript has 314 paper pages which are 290mm x 200mm in size. There are watermarks in the paper but they offer no clues as to where and when the paper was made. The whole text has been written by one scribe whose style is a late untidy cursive Anglicana. Small two-line capitals indicate the beginnings of legends and sometimes chapters. Many corrections have been made by the scribe himself but none by later hands. He used several other manuscripts to compile this work and probably imposed his own dialect on all texts, which is probably a North Hampshire dialect. Görlach argues that the quality of the manuscript is low and that if the manuscript had not had so many unique texts it would probably not have been of much value. Hardly anything is known about the history of this manuscript.
46 This section has been based on: Manfred Görlach, The Textual Tradition of the South English Legendary Leeds (Leeds texts and monographs), 1974, pp. 75-77
20 Textual Note The edition of the text of St Botulph and St Birinus is aimed at an audience of people who are experienced in reading Middle English texts. This is not only because both texts are early Middle English texts and thus too difficult for beginners, but also because the quality of the texts taken from Bodl. 779 is considerably lower than that of the text taken from Bodl. 3938-42. This can sometimes hinder the understanding of the text. When both versions of St Botulph’s legend are placed next to each other this difference is clearly visible. Although the text in Bodl. 3938-42 comes from the same period as the text from Bodl. 779, the former is much easier to follow. The texts Bodl. 779 have some incorrect sentence structures and sometimes words have accidentally been left out, which makes certain scenes unclear. A good example of this is line 23 in which king Aþelwold’s sisters tell Botulph to go to their brother to ask for land. Bodl. 779 has here “Þese sustrin bede seint Botolf ; þat here broþer wende”. Particularly the second part of the line is difficult to understand if you do not know beforehand what is happening. Opposed to this Bodl. 3938-42 has in this same line “Þe kynges sustren bede Botulf . that he to heore broþur wende.” Using Bodl. 3938-42 makes it easier to understand Bodl 779. Another example of an ill-constructed sentence is in the vita of St Birin in Bodl. 779. Pope Honorius gives Birin a piece of linen cloth with the host in it, like a purse, so that he can carry it with him. In Bodl. 779 says here: “Þe pope alyte lynycloth ; as it a pors were, Toke to hym with oure Lordes flesch ; þat he with hym it bere”. Again words are missing here, the word order is strange and ‘Toke to hym’ is not exactly a suitable phrase here and was probably meant to mean something like ‘gave him’. A number of changes have been made in order to make the text more accessible to a modern audience. First of all, all abbreviations have been expanded. This especially applies to the texts from Bodl. 779 which had many more abbreviations than the text from the Vernon manuscript. Secondly, punctuation has been made to conform with modern punctuation. The texts from Bodl. 779 had originally no other punctuation than a punctus elevatus (upside- down semi-colon) that divided each line in two. Since they had only been added out of convention but did not serve any purpose they have been removed. Also there were red marks in the margin of every fourth to eighth line of Bodl. 779 but they did not seem to function as punctuation marks. These marks have been removed as well. In the text from Bodl. 3938-42 the single dots that divided each line have been removed while the dots at the end of most lines have been kept as long as they corresponded to modern full stops or commas. Apart from the dots the text has no other form of punctuation. A warning must be given that it was
21 not always clear where the writer of the text intended sentences to end or to begin. In such cases the option that was easiest to understand was chosen. Sometimes this means that there is a full stop in the middle of a line. Thirdly, modern capitalisation was added to the text. Since the texts are in verse all first letters of each line have been capitalised. Also all names of people and places have got capitals, and words like God, Lord, Jesus, Christianity and all words derived from them. All surplus capitals have been removed. Variations in the spelling of personal names have been maintained. Word division was also made to conform with modern usage, for instance, ‘he for 3at be hinde’ was changed into ‘he for3at behinde’. Words like ‘I songe’ or ‘I now3’ have been contracted to ‘isonge’ and ‘inow3’. Fourthly, ‘u’s were turned into ‘v’s whenever necessary, as in ‘ouer sprong’ and some ‘v’s were changed into ‘u’s as in ‘vs’ and ‘vp’. To illustrate the changes the text went through an extract will be shown below of the original manuscript, followed by the diplomatic edition and of that the final edition. In the extract Birinus has just noticed that he left his linen cloth with the Host in it on the shore and decides to go and fetch it:
Manuscript
Diplomatic Edition 39. he step out of þe schip ; and tok to goddes sonde 40. and went forþ on þe depe see ; as it were alonde 41. and fette oure lordes flesch ; and þat cloþ al so 42. and wente a 3en on þe see ; as he hadde er I do 43. to þe schip he com a3en ; and fond it ry3t þere 44. for al þe tempest gret ; þer he left it ere 45. wel softe he stept in a 3en ; al dry3e and clene 46. þer ne was was so lyte clout on hym ; þat was wet one 47. alle þat in þe schip were ; þo þey þis sey3e 48. held hym for an holy man ; some wep with here y3e
22 Final Edition He step out of þe schip and tok to Goddes sonde acted like God’s disciple 40 And went forþ on þe depe see as it were alonde, on land And fette oure Lordes flesch and þat cloþ also fetched And wente a3en on þe see, as he hadde er ido. again; done before To þe schip he com a3en and fond it ry3t þere, For al þe tempest gret þer he left it ere. in spite of; before 45 Wel softe he stept in a3en, al dry3e and clene. Þer ne was so lyte clout on hym þat was wet ene. little patch; at all Alle þat in þe schip were, þo þey þis sey3e, saw Held hym for an holyman. Some wep with here y3e. eyes
The footnotes have been divided into two: the upper footnotes give information on the text itself and indicate, for instance, interesting features of the manuscript that are not visible in the edition. The lower footnotes provide comments on the contents of the text. The small changes, together with the wordlists and notes, should help the reader understand, and hopefully enjoy, the texts without the loss of the medieval style and tone. The texts of the St Botulph legends have been placed opposite each other in order to give the reader the opportunity to compare them more easily. However, the two texts can also be read separately.
23 Works Cited
Printed Sources
- Acta Sanctorum, 1863-1940, June Vol. 4: p329
- Arnold-Foster, Francis. Studies in Church Dedications, or England’s Patron Saints. Vol II London: Skeffington & son, 1899.
- Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
- Doyle, A. I. ed. The Vernon manuscript: A Facsimile of Bodleian Library Oxford. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1987.
- Görlach, Manfred. The Textual Tradition of the South English Legendary. Leeds: Leeds texts and monographs, 1974.
- Love, Rosalind C. ed. Three Eleventh-Century Anglo-Latin Saints’ Lives. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1996.
- Morgan, Kenneth O. Oxford Illustrated History of Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
- Nicholas, David. The Evolution of the Medieval World, 312-1500. Longman publishing:New York, 1992.
- O’brien-O’keeffe, Katherine, ed. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle: A collaborative Edition. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2001.
- O’Driscoll, James ed. Britain: The Country and its People. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
- Plummer, Charles. Venerabilis Baedae: Historiam Ecclesiasticam, Gentis Anglorum, Historia Abbatum, Epistolam ad Ecgberctum una cum Historia Abbatum Auctore Anonymo. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1896
- Severs, Burke J. ed. A Manual of Writings in Middle English. Hamden: Archon Books, 1970.
- Smith, Gregory I .Christian Monasticism from the Fourth till the Ninth Century London, 1892.
- Smith, William and Henry Wace eds. A dictionary of Christian Biography London: John Murray,1877. Volume 1 (A-D)
- Thompson, Anne B. Everyday Saints and the Art of Narrative in the South English Legendary Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003.
- Hardy, Thomas Duffus. A Catalogue of Materials for British History in Rerum Britannicarum Medii Aevi Scriptores (i.e. Rolls Series), 26, London,
- Whitelock, Dorothy ed. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A revised Translation. London: Eyre and Spottiswood. 1961.
Online Sources
- The Antiochian Orthodox Parish in the City of London Last updated in 2006. Used 5 march 2006.
- Britanica Online. Encyclopaedia Britanica. Search for “Birinus” Used page 12 March 2006.
- St Botolphs.com Text on the site was taken from St Botolph, His Life and Times. by Professor Kenneth Keenan. Printed the page out on 5march 2006.
24 - St Patrick’s Church-Washington DC. Index of Saints. Last updated 24 February 2004. The page was used on 5 March 2006. Information about Botulph under “Adulph” and “Botulph”.
- Newton, Sam dr. Dr. Sam Newton Wuffing’s Website. Gives information about Iken and St Botulph. Last update 25 March 2002. The page was used 5 march 2006.
- Viking Heritage Magazine Who is Who: “Botolf” Last updated in 2005. Used 5 march 2006
- Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. English version. Used between 5 March and 31 Juli 2006
Sources found but not cited in this dissertation:
- Townsend, David. “An Eleventh-Century Life of Birinus of Wessex”. Analecta Bollandiana 107 (1989), pp. 129-159. Gives a semi-diplomatic edition of a Latin vita on St Birinus with a small introduction on the 5 manuscripts that were used.
- Townsend, David. “The Vita Sancti Birini of Henry of Avranches”. Analecta Bollandiana 112 (1994), pp. 309-338. Gives another semi-dilpomatic edition of a different Latin vita on St Birinus for which two manuscripts were used. Sources that I wanted to have but was not able to find:
- Stevenson, F.S. “St Botolph (Botwulf) and Iken” Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archeology and History. 18 (1924) Pp. 30-42. Gives one of the most thorough accounts written about Botulph’s life.
- Acta Sanctorum, Juni iii. Pp. 402-403. These pages should give the actual text, and not the summary, of the vita on St Botulph by abbot Folchard.
- There should be some pages on St Birinus in Acta Sanctorum but I did not manage to find them.
25 Sources for the Illustrations
- St Botulph ……………………………………………………………………………page 9
- St Botulph’s coat of arms …………………………………………………………..page 12
- St Christopher with a wolf’s head ………………………………………………….page 14
- St Birinus …………………………………………………………………………….Page 15 < http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/birinus.html> The title of the website is ‘Nash Ford’s Royal Berkshire History’ on which Nash Ford informs his audience of the ‘fascinating past’ of Berkshire. The page was last updated in 2005.
- Birinus baptising king Cynegils ……………………………………………………Page 16 - This illustration was taken from the same page as the illustration of ‘St Birinus’
26 The Editions of two Legends of St Botulph and St Birinus taken from the SEL St Birinus’ legend in Bodl. 779 on fol. 270r-271v
1 Seint Birrin þe comfessour, þat goodmon was inow3, very much In þe toun of Rome was bore and to ech goodnes drow3. born; drew towards To clennesse he drou wel 3ong and to penaunce also. purity Þerinne he wax so alwey so he my3te do. continually; as much as he could 5 And ech day had sumdel newe þat him oversprong, somewhat; he got better at And þe later day more and more, ner he nou3t so long. however long that day would last Me þinkeþ his grace was good, for soþ withoute no. truly without doubt Wide sprong his gode los, as it most nedes do, reputation; like it should of necessity To þe pope Honore, þat was þo it sprong. when it happened 10 Þe pope hym let sone ofsend, hym þou3t er wel longe. send for;it seemed very long to him Þo þe goodmon to hym com he honoured him inow3 when; came; very much And most in his prevites aboute he hym drow3, he took him in his confidence So þat he mad hym bysschop in þe lond þer besyde. nearby Þe los of his goodnes, 3if it sprong er wyde, reputation; if it already spread widely 15 It wax þo more inow, aboute fer and nere, then grew even more; far and near So þat in no lond þo me ne fond his per. then ;one; equal Seþþe þe pop undirstood þat he most send his sonde then; messenger For to amende Cristindom here in Ingelonde. For þe folk of Ingelonde belevid nou3t a ry3t. 20 Anon he þou3t seint Biryne to make Goddes kny3t. he had the idea He sent hym to Ingelond to preche Cristindom. Seint Byrin, in Goddes name, þe wey hedirward nom. the way to there took Þe pope a lyte lynyncloþ, as it a pors were, some linen cloth; as [if]; purse Toke hym with oure Lordes flesch, þat he with hym it bere gave him; (i.e. the Eucharist) 25 Aboute his nekke wher he com, þe folk for to lere. to teach [Christianity] For of no þing þe devil naþ on erþe so gret fere. has not Þo seint Biryn com to þe se he nold hym nou3t in do when; would not go in [the ship] Or he had his masse isonge oþer his bedis also. before; or said his rosary Þo þe masse was ido in so gret hast he was 30 Þat he for3et behinde his cloþ, as it were by cas, as it happened And oure Lordes flesch and His blood þat þer in was ibrou3t, Þat he and his felawis ek dere almost abou3t. also; almost bought it very dearly Whanne þey come into þe see þe tempest wax anon grew [stronger] And cast here schip wel grisliche þat þey wend dreinche echon 35 Seynt Byrin beþou3te anon þat he for3at behinde
Line 1: In the manuscript, the rubricator forgot to fill in the space left open for a 3-line capital ‘s’. The guideletter is still visible. The legend starts on folio 270 recto Line 12: Here the story continues on folio 270 verso Line 13: MS In corrected to in. Lines 23-24: This is one of the typical ill-phrased and unclear sentences of the scribe of the Bodl. 779 manuscript. Tok to him is not a suitable phrase here but is probably meant to mean ‘gave him’.
Line 16: me in Middle English means something like people in general and can be compared to the Dutch word ‘men’ Line 34: ‘and cast their ship very horribly so that they thought to drown each one’ And bed þe schipmen torne a3en 3if he it my3t fynde. implored; again; so that Ac þat bone wold þey here nou3t, so ful of sorw3 þey wore. but; request; not hear of Whan seint Byrin sey non oþer he took al to Goddes lore. He step out of þe schip and tok to Goddes sonde acted like God’s disciple 40 And went forþ on þe depe see as it were alonde, on land And fette oure Lordes flesch and þat cloþ also fetched And wente a3en on þe see, as he hadde er ido. again; done before To þe schip he com a3en and fond it ry3t þere, For al þe tempest gret þer he left it ere. in spite of; before 45 Wel softe he stept in a3en, al dry3e and clene. Þer ne was so lyte clout on hym þat was wet ene. little patch; at all Alle þat in þe schip were, þo þey þis sey3e, saw Held hym for an holyman. Some wep with here y3e. eyes And þey þat were mysbelevid and of þe olde lawe 50 Tornyd to Ihesus Crist, as þey au3te fawe. turned to; ought to gladly Þey honourid þis holymon as þey au3t wel echone. each one For among mony fayre meraklis me þinkiþ þis was one So þat for þe gret travayl þat þey in had be hardship; that they had been in Þey were fave of reste and pes, and þat þey my3t þe tyme se very glad 55 So þat þey begonne slepe and cau3t reste echon; Þer ne wakid nou3t on but seynt Birin alon. was awake And naþeles þei spedde wel inow3 bet þan þu þey woke. had good luck; better; than For anon so þey wok and gonne about hem loke, as soon as; when; themselves Þey fond here schip wel softelich at an havin stond, softly 60 As oure Lord it hadde sent here in Ingelond. [just] as Þey were nou3t þo a lyte glad; þey held up alle here honde not a little (i.e. very much) And honourid seint Byrin and oure lordis sonde. grace Þe holy man seint Byrin in oure lordes name Went hym forþ wel baldelich and began a new3 game. boldly 65 As oure Lordes hardy kny3t prechid Cristindom. bold Þe folk sone herd hym wel and þikke about hym com. gladly; in great numbers Moche folk þat þorw3 seint Austin Cristenid was before through Þikke com aboute hym to fastene bet þe more. confirm [their belief]; better So þat seint Austin began and fulfillid nou3t that [what]; had begun; had not completed 70 Seint Birryn Cristindom folliche to ende brou3t. fully
A woman boþe blind and def wonyd þer besyde; Bote ne my3t 3he finde non, þou 3he it sou3t wyde. remedy; she; though she So þat in a visioun any3t to here it com a vision; at night; her; came Þat 3he schold seke seint Byrin þat spak of Cristindom.
Line 54-55: This is another ill-constructed sentence. ‘þe tyme’ is possibly a mistake by the scribe for ‘betyme’ meaning ‘promptly’ or ‘on time’. Line 57: þu is probably a mistake by the scribe for þo which would make this sentence: ‘And nonetheless they had a lot of good luck, better than when they were awake’ Line 60: Here the story continues on folio 271 recto
Line 38: ‘When St Birin saw no other [way] he trusted God’s teachings.’ Line 39-40: Here St Birin walks on the water like St Paul. Line 49: They believed in the wrong manner and were of the old law, i.e. Jews. 75 Þis womon whan 3he awok ne for3ete it nou3t. forgot Rest wold 3he non have or 3he were tofore hym brou3t. before; before 3he cride on hym to helpe here 3if it his wille were. implored Seynt Byrin mad here have here sy3t and ek for to here. and also her hearing He helid here afore al þe folk þat men wondrid inowe before; so that; marvelled very much 80 And honourid hym ek and þikke about hem drowe, For þis merakle and mony oþer tornyd to Cristindom [and] for this miracle And þorw seint Birrines preching þe ry3t wey nom. took the right way
Seint Byrinus into Ingelond him drow3 forþer more. travelled further into England In þe contre of Oxinford he prechid Goddes lore. teachings 85 Kenolf was þe king ihoot þat was of þat ende. called; region To hym went þis holymon his þou3t for to wende. his ideas, to turn (i.e to amend) For heþin mon he was þo he and alle his. heathen, then, all his [following] Seint Byrin hem told anon þey beleved amys them, wrongly And prechid hem of Cristindom þat þey gonne withdrawe withdrew [from misbelieve] 90 And tornyd hem out of mysbeleve to oure Lordes lawe. away from Seint Oswold was þo king of Norþ Hombirlond In þe contre he com þo and seint Byrin fond. found (i.e. came across) Of þe fontston he nom þe king and his godfadir becom. bapstismal font; he (i.e. Birin) His dou3ter he weddid soþþe and to wyve nom. his (i.e. Birin’s); he (i.e. Kenolf) 95 And naþeles it was a wondir cas and a wondir couple in bed, astonishing situation Whan þe king was his godsone, his dou3ter to wed. For now wold nou3t holy cherche soch þing soffre iwis. tolerate; certainly Þerfore, God be þonkid, Cristindom ever þe strenger is. Christianity; stronger Þe twey kinges nom here reed er þey partid a-two conferred; before 100 To 3eve seyn Byrin sum place, his previteis in to do. business Þey 3eve him þe toun of Dorchestre þat is wid couþ, well known Syx myle be3ind Oxinforde, al in þe est souþ. beyond A chirche þere noble and hy seynt Birrin leet arere, high; let build And þe se of a bysschopryche he began þere, see; bishopric 105 And was þer seþþe long inow3, þo grete se iwys, then a great see indeed Þe bysschopriche of mony a schyre þat nou at Lincolne is. Seint Byrin tornyd þer þat lond to oure lordes lay law And seþþe as Goddes wille was he endid þer his day, And went to þe ioy of hevin out of þis erþ anon. 110 Nou God for þe love of hym ; bring us þedir echon . Amen there; each one
Line 81: In the manuscript this line is not divided by a punctus elevatus but by two dots.
Line 89: gonne means something like ‘did’ and indicates that the thing was happening in the past. Such constructions can still be found in languages related to English such as Dutch, in which it is possible to say ‘he did the door open’ meaning ‘he opened the door’. Here þey gonne withdrawe means ‘they withdrew’ Lines 94-98: Surprisingly this passage mentions Birinus’ daughter, which seems strange since monks and bishops were expected to lead chaste lives. However, in early Christianity rules on marriage and children were not as strict for monks and high placed Christians as they became later. Either this passage has escaped Christian censorship, which tried to turn all saints into perfect examples for the people or the person that checked the text was satisfied by the phrase explaining that such a situation is certainly no longer tolerated.
St Botulph’s legend in Bodl. 779 on fol. 305v-306r St Botulph legend in ‘Vernon Manuscript’ (Bodl. 3938-42) on fol. 33r
Seint Botolf
1 Seint Botolf þe holy monk and ek his broþer, also 1 Seint Botulf þis holy monk and Adulf his broþer Bore were in Ingelond, as is many anoþer. born I-bore weore in Engelonde, as was moni anoþer. born, many Þey begonne boþe 3ong to ech goodnesse drawe, each, be attracted to Heo bigone boþe 3onge to uche godnesse drawe they; each be; attracted to And at on conseyl þey were boþe to love Goddes lawe. fully agreed And o counseil boþe to loven Godus lawe. fully agreed 5 So þat þey nome hem to reed over þe se to wende decided to; across the sea; go 5 So þat heo nomen to rede over þe see to wende decided to; across the sea; go To lerne bet of Goddes lere, as oure Lord hem wold sende. to learn; teachings To lerne bet of good Ordre, as ur lorde grace hem wolde sende. priestly life Be3inde þe see þey wente anon and longe wonyd þere. at once; lived ¶ Bi3onde þe see heo wenten and longe liveden þere. they went; lived In an hous of ordre among monkes þey were, religious order In a house of Ordre . among monkes heo were religious order For to lerne þe ordre ary3t, þat no defaute nere. the priestly life; correctly; so that no knowledge was missing Forte lerne þe Ordre ariht, þat no defaute nere. the priestly life; correctly; so that no knowledge was missing 10 Here good los so faste sprong, fro 3er to 3ere, their; reputation; spread; year to year 10 Heore goode los faste sprong from 3ere to 3ere, their; reputation; spread year to year So þat þe king of þe lond preysyd here lyf fast soon praised their manner of living So þat þe kyng of þe lond preysede heore lyf faste. soon praised their manner of living And for here grete holynes uppon hem his hert cast. their; he became fond of them For heore grete holyness his herte uppon hem he caste. their; became fond of them Þe elder he made þer bysschop, seint Adolf, there (i.e. of that place) Þe eldore broþur he made þere bisschop, seynt Adelf there (i.e. of that place) And whan he sey his tyme he þou3t on seint Botolf. had the opportunity; had the idea (to make B. bishop too) And also he þouhte to make seint Botulpf . had the idea (to make him a bishop too) 15 And seint Botolf ne þou3te nou3t þer wel longe astonde. to stay 15 Ac seint Botulf þou3te not þer longe astonde. to stay He desyrid to do his ordre at hom in Ingelonde. lead his priestly life He wilnede don his Ordre a tom in Engelonde. he was inclined to lead his priestly life; at home Þo his broþer bysschop was his leve he nom to wend when, took leave to go Þo his broþur Bisschop was he nom leve to wende when; took leave to go Into an ordire in Ingelond and þer his lyf end. Into his Ordre to Engelonde and þere his lyf to ende. In þe hous þat he in was twey sostrin þer were (Botulf is still on the continent here) In þe hous þat he inne was twey sustren þer were (Botulf is still on the continent here) 20 Bore her Ingelond, þat 3are hadde be þere here [in]England; for years had been there 20 I-boren here in Engelonde, þat longe hedden beo þere [and that for] long had been there Þe kinges soustren. Aþelmound, as I onderstond, Þe kynges sustren. Aþelwold, þat as ich undurstonde, as I understand Kyng was þat tyme of þe souþ end of Ingelond. Kyng was þo of þe souþ ende of Engelonde. Þese sustrin bede seint Botolf þat here broþer wende implored; that [he should] go [to] their brother ¶ Þe sustren bede seint Botulf þat he to heore broþur wende implored; their And to dame Sywas þe quen. Letteris to boþe hem sende both [of] them [they] sent And to Dame Sare þe qweene. Lettres to heom heo sende them; they 25 Þat þey grantid þis holyman in sum stede a place at some spot 25 Þat heo graunteden þis holymon in sum stude a place at some spot Wherin he my3t an holy ordre begynne þorw Goddes grace. through Where he mihte an Ordre biginne þorwh ur Lordus grace through Þis holy man seyn Botolf to þe king wende Þis holymon seint Botulf to Engelonde wende And tok þe king and þe quen þe letteris þat men hym sende. delivered; by him And bitok hem lettres þat me bi him sende. delivered; by him Þe king it withseyde anon and wernyd here þou3t. rejected and refused their idea Þe king hit wiþseide and nolde hit graunte nouht, rejected; would not 30 Ac þe quene þat was evere good 3he dede nou3t. but; she did not [do that] (i.e reject the idea) 30 Ac þe qwene þat was good tornde anon his þouht. amended For wemen beþ good and eþe, to ech goodnesse bring. are comforting; everyone For wimmin beoþ eþe to uche goodnesse to bringe. are comforting; everyone Çhe criid boþe ny3t and day on here lord þe king. implored Heo criede boþe . niht . and . day . on hire lord þe kynge. implored Þo þey my3t of þis king have non oþer grace, when they (i.e. the queen and Birin) Þo heo ne mihte þerof habbe non oþur grace when they (i.e. the queen and Botulph) Seint Botolf bad hym at þe last grant hym a place requested; [to] grant him Seint Botulf bad atte laste graunte him a place requested; [to] grant him 35 Sumwher in wildirnesse þer no good grew, where nothing good grew 35 Sumwhere in sum wildernesse þer no mon ne knewe, that nobody knew Ne þer men telid no frut ne no god sew. grew no fruit; neither sowed anything good Þer nouþur treo ne fruyt ne no good onne grew. neither; nothing good on it grew Þe king grantid hym to beleve sumwher in soch an ende to stay; in such a region ¶ Þe kyng grauntede hym to bileve in such an ende to stay; in such a region Þo he sey þat it nold to non harm hym wende. when he saw that it would not bring him harm Þo he sauh þat hit nolde to non harm him wende. when he saw that it would not bring him harm
A stede þat was al wildirnes þat me clepid þo Þorney spot; then called A stude per was in wildernesse þat me cleped þorwh Ei3e a spot; called
Title: Unlike the Vernon manuscript Botulf’s vita in Bodl. 779 starts with a short title. This title has not been enlarged or Line 1: The story of saint Botulf in the Vernon manuscript can be found in its entirety on folio 33 verso. The first letter of decorated and is in the same hand as the rest of the story. Botulf’s vita starts on folio 305 verso. the story is a wonderfully decorated foliated initial with leaves and branches extending from it into the left margin. Line 1: The first word of Botulf’s story, ‘Saint’, starts with a three-line capital. Line 4: MS o counseil. Probably a þ has been left out before the o. This would makes the line mean ‘and then they fully Line 15: MS and but perhaps this should have been ac, meaning ‘but’. See line 15 of the Vernon manuscript. agreed….’ Line 19: MS þey corrected to þer. Line 39: This line starts with a two-line capital to indicate a turningpoint in the story. Line 6: ‘where it pleased God to send them’ Line 6: ‘Where it pleased God to send his grace’ Line 28: me in Middle English means something like ‘people in general’ and can thus be compared to the Dutch word Line 28: me in Middle English means something like ‘people in general’ and can thus be compared to the Dutch word ‘men’. Here me or in this case men indicates the sisters. ‘men’. Here me or in this case men indicates the sisters. Line 33: ‘…no other favour but a rejection’ Line 33: ‘………..no other favour but a rejection’. 40 Þat ful was of þinges leþer. Þis mon hym besey. evil things; saw it around him 40 Þat ful was of luþer þinges. Þis mon hit ise3. evil things; saw it For develen and luþur gostes heore ese hedden þere had peace there For fendes and leþer gostes ; here ese hadde alle þare had peace there And here wonyng oþer whyle, for no men þer nare and their dwelling sometimes; no men were there And woneden þere at wille for none men þer nere. lived there voluntarily; no men were there Þo seynt Botolf þis holy mon þat stede grauntid was, when Þo to seint Botulf þis stude I-graunted was, when Boldeliche he wente þedir agast noþing he nas. boldly; thither; was not at all Baldeliche he wende þidere. Agast noþing he nas. boldly; thither; was not 45 He went to seche hym a fayr stede wherin he my3t be. search; live 45 He wende to cheosen him a stude wherinne he miht beo. choose; live Þe develin þo þey sey hym come began anon to fle Þo þe Develen se3en him come heo bigonne to fleo when And with sorw3 gonne 3elle and cry3e and wel grisly grede. cry out horribly And bigonne to crie and grisliche to grede. cry out horribly “Botolf, Botolf, what dostow3 her? What is us now3 to rede? are you doing here; now; to do “Botulf, what wolt þou her! A! what is us to rede? what do you want here; to do Acorssid worþ þilke god þat þedir þe gan lede! that same; thither, lead ………………………………………………………… 50 For we netiþ wher beleve now3 but in sorw3 and wrechede! know not where to live 50 ………………………………………………………… Þis haþ be 3are oure ry3t hom and wend her sykir have be, for years; would surely have been here Þis haþ 3are be ur home we wenden siker beo for years; we would surely have continued to be here As in oure oune til domesday but now nyte we whedir fle! as our own [place]; know not where As in ur owne forte domes day. We nuteþ whoder to fleo! as in our own fort (till); know not where Þow are to us a lyþer gest and to strong also! evil guest; too strong Þou art to us a luþur gist and a strong fo also! evil guest; strong foe Why woldistou us henne dryve? We ne have þe nou3t mysdo? do you want; never wronged you Whi wolstou us henne drive? We nabbeþ þe nout misdo? do you want; never wronged you 55 Þu hast ofte be in mery stede ioyful and cler inow3, jolly places; joyful and light [ones] 55 Þow hast I-beo in murie studes and in Ioyful I-nouh. jolly places; joyful [ones] enough And a derk place þis is. Here me þinkeþ þu hast wow3! it seems to me; woe And wrecchedhede þis is her. Me þinkeþ þou dost wouh! it seems to me; woe What wolt þou in oure wretche stede whan þu my3t beter be? be better off What wolton don here Whon þou miht beter beo? do you want to; be better off Ac we ne dorre þe nou3t abyde we moot heþin fle!” but; dare not; hence We ne dorre þe nout abyde hennes we mote fleo!” dare not; hence we must He was to hem a lyþir gest, non harm it was wit alle. guest; [but] no harm; at all ………………………………………………………… 60 He my3t segge as me seyþ in game ‘newe king in halle’. as is said in jest; new king in [the] hall 60 ………………………………………………………… Seint Botolf, in oure Lordes name, wente forþ anon, at once ¶ Seint Botulf in ur Lordes nome wende forþ anon. at once Wel baldeliche as in his owe. Þe fendes flewe echon. boldly as if it was his own; each one Baldeliche and His nome þe develen flowen uchon. boldly and [in] his name; each one Now a devil wey moot hy fle, fro norþ and fro souþ. ………………………………………………………… ‘Amen’ alle segge 3e. Why ne ope 3e 3oure mouþ? open ………………………………………………………… 65 Seynt Botolf made an holy plas of a wikke stede þere. place; wicked spot 65 Seint Botulf made an holy place of a luþur þere, wicked An abbey of monkis he leet þere arere, let built there And Abbeye of monkes he lette sone arere let built soon And nom monkes in to hym and gret covent made inow3. (i.e. into his abbey, convent) And nom monkes to him. A gret covent I-nouh. (i.e. into his abbey); very much And hymself here abot was and to holy lyf hem drow3 drew He himself was abbot and to good lyf hem drouh. drew And of here oune wonyng þe fendes out cast from their own dwellings And out of heore wonyinge þe develen he caste. from their dwellings 70 And made þer an holy stede þat longe schal last. 70 He made þer an holy stude þat longe schal laste. And þer in oure Lordes name his lyf he brou3t to ende And in ur lordes nome his lyf he brouhte to ende. And to þe blysse of hevene his soule gan henne wende. went away And to þe blisse of hevene his soule gon þeonne wende. goes then Now3 God for seynt Botolf is love such grace us sende Botulph his love (i.e. Botulph’s love) Now God for þe love of him his grace Þou us sende. his (i.e Botulph’s) Þat we to þilke ioy3e come and so þe devil schende. Amen that same; disgrace Þat we mote to þat joye come and so þe develes schende Amen. may; disgrace
Line 57: It is not clear here if the manuscript says wrecche or wretche. Line 74: In the manuscript ‘amen’ has been outlined with a double line. Lines 49, 50, 59, 50, 63, 64, 70: These lines are in the Bodl. 779 but not in the Vernon manuscript. It seems likely that they were left out because everything in these lines has been said before and they add no new information to the story. Another important indication that the lines where deliberately left out is that fact that the lines that are left out are rhyming pairs and Line 60: In St Botulph’s time, the hall was where the seat of the king would be and from where he would rule his country. their removal has not disturbed the rhyming pattern of the remaining text. Botulph is now the ruler of the place. Line 74: In the manuscript ‘Amen’ is written in a slightly bigger hand. Line 63: A medieval expression: ‘a great distance’
APPENDICES
- Appendix A: A map of the position of the Germanic kingdoms at the beginning of the seventh century made with the help of The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain page 60
- Appendix B: A map of all the churches dedicated to Botulph in Britain. Made with the help of
- Appendix C: A photocopy of St Botulph’s legend in Vernon manuscript (Bodl. 3938- 42) on fol. 33r.
- Appendix D: A Photocopy of St Birinus’ legend in Bodl 779 on fol. 270r-271v.
- Appendix E: A Photocopy of St Botulph’s legend in Bodl. 779 on fol. 305v-306r.