The Book Collection at St Guthlac’s Priory, Hereford, Before 1200: Acquisition, Adaptation and Use Christopher Ian Tuckley Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of PhD The University of Leeds Institute for Medieval Studies June 2009 The candidate confirms that the work is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have been particularly fortunate in having had the benefit of sponsorship throughout my research: the first three years of study were funded by the White Rose Consortium of universities, which also paid a stipend. A generous grant from the Lynne Grundy Trust allowed me to present a paper on the priory book collection at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo, Michigan, in May 2008. Thanks are due to a number of individuals within the academic community for their assistance and advice in the completion of this thesis. Debby Banham, Orietta Da Rold, Sarah Foot, William Flynn, Richard Gameson, Monica Green, Thom Gobbit, Michael Gullick, Juliet Hewish, Geoffrey Humble, Takako Kato, Bella Millet, Alan Murray, Katie Neville, Clare Pilsworth, Richard Sharpe, Rodney Thomson, Elaine Trehame, Karen Watts, and the staff of the Bodleian, Jesus College, Hereford Cathedral and York Minster libraries have all given guidance at one point or another. I also gratefully acknowledge the help of the Dean and Chapter of Hereford Cathedral. Julia Barrow’s advice has been especially valuable in making sense of a number of medieval charters relating to St Guthlac’s Priory, and I owe her a great debt of gratitude in this respect. Any errors and inconsistencies in the thesis are in spite of the abundance of help that has been offered to me over the last four years, and are entirely my responsibility. IT support was provided by Steve and Harry Shannon, whose help allowed me to be more flexible in my working habits than would otherwise have been possible. Help in this respect was also given by my parents, Ian and Judith, who have given me a lifetime of unstinting love and assistance in all of my endeavours. Thanks above all are due to my supervisors, Philip Shaw and Mary Swan. It was they who initially conceived the studentship that has allowed me to pursue my research interests at this level, and they have provided clear-sighted advice and guidance throughout. Finally, thanks go to my wife, Beth, for her forbearance and love over the last four years. Her support has made all other things possible. ABSTRACT This investigation into the history, content and nature of the book collection at the Priory of SS Peter, Paul and Guthlac, Hereford, constructs a detailed history of the priory and its two predecessors, St Guthlac’s Minster and St Peter’s Church, until 1200, by way of a context for the collection’s three earliest surviving manuscripts. The wider literary and cultural climate of the West Midlands in the period up until 1200 is also taken into account in this construction of context, as are any references to the book collection in primary or secondary sources. With a contextual framework thus established in the first section of the thesis, the second section goes on to describe the three study manuscripts (Hereford, Cathedral Library, O. VI. 11 and P. III. 2, and Oxford, Jesus College 37) in turn, with the contents and structure of each situated within the literary and cultural milieux outlined in the previous chapters. In providing both a fuller description of the study manuscripts and a more comprehensive history of the Hereford churches implicated in their use than have hitherto been available, the thesis sheds new light on the nature of the relationships that existed between the churches and between their book collections, clarifying their position within contemporary networks of book production and dissemination. The thesis suggests an earlier provenance and a common point of origin for the two earliest manuscripts from St Guthlac’s Priory: it argues that Hereford O. VI. 11 and Jesus 37 were produced at Gloucester Abbey, with the former sent to St Guthlac’s Minster and the latter to St Peter’s Church. It also suggests that the transmission of manuscripts from Gloucester to Hereford at the beginning of the twelfth century reflected Gloucester Abbey’s concern to extend its influence into the city of Hereford, to the detriment of Hereford Cathedral and in partnership with the local nobility. The thesis also identifies changes in the character of Gloucester Abbey’s daughter cell in Hereford, which became more independent after refoundation as the priory in 1143. This was reflected in patterns of book acquisition, as the priory developed into a noteworthy repository of books in its own right. The character of its growing collection owed as much to the influence of Hereford Cathedral as to that of its mother house, and numerous bequests by individual donors added considerable variety to its holdings. CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS 9 INTRODUCTION 10 PART 1: THE HISTORY OF ST GUTHLAC’S, HEREFORD Chapter 1: St Guthlac’s Minster 23 Chapter 2: St Peter’s Church, Hereford 45 Chapter 3: The Priory of SS Peter, Paul and Guthlac until 1200 59 Chapter 4: The Contemporary Literary Scene 71 Chapter 5: Documentary and Material Evidence for a Book Collection and Scribal Activities at St Guthlac’s Priory 113 PART 2: THE MANUSCRIPTS Chapter 6: Hereford, Cathedral Library, O. VI. 11 Observations on the Structure of the Manuscript 136 Contextualising Structure and Contents 151 Chapter 7: Oxford, Jesus College 37 Observations on the Structure of the Manuscript 169 Contextualising Structure and Contents 180 Chapter 8: Hereford, Cathedral Library, P. III. 2 Observations on the Structure of the Manuscript 200 Contextualising Structure and Contents 213 CONCLUSION 222 APPENDICES 229 Appendix 1 : St Guthlac’s Minster: Domesday entries 230 Appendix 2: Oxford, Balliol College 271, fol. 78r: charter confirming an exchange of land between the monks of St Peter’s, Hereford, and the clerks of St Guthlac’s (1130 x 1139) 235 Appendix 3 : Charter of Roger de Port (1143) 236 Appendix 4: Charter of Bishop Bernard of St David’s (1143?) 237 Appendix 5 : Charter of Robert de Béthune, giving notice of the unification of St Guthlac’s and St Peter’s (1143) 238 Appendix 6: Letter of Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of Hereford, to Pope Eugenius III, asking for a papal privilege to confirm the union of St Guthlac’s and St Peter’s, Hereford (1148x 1153) 240 Appendix 7: St Peter’s, Hereford: Domesday entries 241 Appendix 8: Gloucester Chronicle records of Walter de Lacy’s gifts to St Peter’s, Hereford (1101) 243 Appendix 9: Oxford, Balliol College 271, fol. 77v: charter recording a sale of land enacted at St Peter’s, Hereford (1125) 244 Appendix 10: Oxford, Balliol College 271, fols 15v-16r: charter recording the resolution of disputes between the cathedral canons and the monks of St Peter’s, Hereford, over Ocle Pychard (1132) 245 Appendix 11 : Composition between the bishop and chapter of Hereford and the abbot and monks of Gloucester (1134) 246 Appendix 12: Oxford, Balliol College 271, fol. 49v: charter of Richard de Cormeilles (1141 x 24th December 1143) 247 Appendix 13: Oxford, Balliol College 271, fol. 1 lv: a footnote by Sir John Prise 248 Appendix 14: Hereford, Cathedral Library, O. VI. 11, fol. 119v: two responsories 249 Appendix 15: Oxford, Jesus College 37, fol. 156r: medical recipes 250 Appendix 16: Oxford, Jesus College 37, fol. 157v: prayer against fevers and chills 251 Appendix 17: Stockholm, Kungliga Biblioteket, A. 148, fol. 290v: prayer against fevers 252 Appendix 18: Hereford, Cathedral Library, P. III. 2, fol. 39r: formula for excommunication 253 Appendix 19: Map showing the relative locations of Hereford’s medieval churches 254 Appendix 20: Plates I and II 255 BIBLIOGRAPHY 256 9 ABBREVIATIONS BHL Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina Antiquae et Mediae Aetatis, ed. by the Society of Bollandists, 3 vols (Brussels: the editors, 1898- 1901 and 1986). CCCC Cambridge, Corpus Christi College CTH Cambridge, Trinity Hall CPL Clavis Patrum Latinorum, ed. by E. Dekkers, 3rd edn (Steenbrugge: Brepols, 1995). HD Herefordshire Domesday, circa 1160-1170, ed. by V. H. Galbraith and James Tait, Publications of the Pipe Roll Society: New Series, 25 (London: Printed for the Pipe Roll Society by J. W. Ruddock & Sons, 1950). EEA VII English Episcopal Acta VII, Hereford 1079-1234, ed. by Julia Barrow (Oxford: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 1993). FEA VIII Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300, VIII, Hereford, ed. by Julia Barrow (London: University of London, 2002). LCGF The Letters and Charters o f Gilbert Foliot, ed. by Z. N. Brooke, Dom Adrian Morey and C. N. L. Brooke (London: Cambridge University Press, 1967). MLGB Medieval Libraries o f Great Britain: A List o f Surviving Books, ed. by N. R. Ker (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964). PL Patrologia Latina, ed. by J. -P. Migne, 221 vols (Paris: the editor, 1841-64). RRAN Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 1066-1154, ed. by C. Johnson and H. A. Cronne, 4 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913-69). 10 INTRODUCTION C o n t e x t This thesis aims to examine the history, the content and the nature of the book collection held at the Priory of SS Peter, Paul and Guthlac, Hereford, with particular reference to the period before 1200. It is especially concerned with the origins of the book collection, and it therefore attempts to establish the extent to which the priory inherited its manuscripts (as well as any other distinctive institutional characteristics) from its two predecessor churches, St Guthlac’s Minster and St Peter’s Church, both of Hereford.