Essays on Bede, Adomnán and Thomas Becket
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Also in the variorum collected studies series: JENNIFER O’REILLY, edited by CAROL A. FARR and ELIZABETH MULLINS Early Medieval Text and Image: The Codex Amiatinus, the Book of Kells and Anglo-Saxon Art (CS1080) JENNIFER O’REILLY, edited by CAROL A. FARR and ELIZABETH MULLINS Early Medieval Text and Image: The Insular Gospel Books (CS1079) JENNIFER O’REILLY, edited by MÁIRÍN MacCARRON and DIARMUID SCULLY History, Hagiography and Biblical Exegesis: Essays on Bede, Adomnán and Thomas Becket (CS1078) MICHAEL BRETT The Fatimids and Egypt (CS1077) HIROSHI TAKAYAMA Sicily and the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages (CS1076) STEPHEN KATZ Holocaust Studies Critical Refl ections (CS1075) JOHN W. WATT The Aristotelian Tradition in Syriac (CS1074) PEREGRINE HORDEN Cultures of Healing: Medieval and After (CS1073) DAVID LUSCOMBE Peter Abelard and Heloise: Collected Studies (CS1072) STEPHAN KUTTNER, edited by PETER LANDAU Gratian and the Schools of Law, 1140–1234 Second Edition (CS1071) JACQUES van der VLIET The Christian Epigraphy of Egypt and Nubia (CS1070) PETER MEREDITH, edited by JOHN MARSHALL The Practicalities of Early English Performance: Manuscripts, Records, and Staging Shifting Paradigms in Early English Drama Studies (CS1069) For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/ Variorum-Collected-Studies/book-series/VARIORUM VARIORUM COLLECTED STUDIES SERIES History, Hagiography and Biblical Exegesis : Essays on Bede, Adomnán and Thomas Becket Jennifer O’Reilly History, Hagiography and Biblical Exegesis Essays on Bede, Adomnán and Thomas Becket Edited by Máirín MacCarron and Diarmuid Scully Photo © Dermot Roantree. Dr Jennifer O’Reilly (1943–2016) Dr Jennifer O’Reilly lectured on medieval history in University College Cork between 1975 and her retirement in 2008. Her scholarly interests and publications lay principally in three areas: the iconography of early Irish and Anglo-Saxon art, the writings of Bede the Venerable and Adomnán of Iona, and the Lives of Thomas Becket. In these areas she explored the intimate relations between medi- eval texts and images and the traditions of biblical exegesis shaped by the Church Fathers. Her teaching inspired generations of students, many of whom went on to complete doctorates under her supervision. In retirement she continued to write extensively, and she gave numerous public lectures, including the Jarrow Lecture and the Brixworth Lecture. She was a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Her collected essays are published in the Variorum series in three volumes: History, Hagiography and Biblical Exegesis: Essays on Bede, Adomnán and Thomas Becket; Early Medieval Text and Image: The Insular Gospel Books; Early Medieval Text and Image: The Codex Amiatinus, the Book of Kells and Anglo-Saxon Art. First published 2019 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2019 selection and editorial matter, Máirín MacCarron and Diarmuid Scully; individual chapters, the estate of Jennifer O’Reilly The right of Máirín MacCarron and Diarmuid Scully to be identifi ed as the authors of the editorial material, and of Jennifer O’Reilly for the individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-18707-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-19776-5 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman VARIORUM COLLECTED STUDIES SERIES CS1078 CONTENTS List of illustrations xi Preface xii Introduction xiii Bede 1 Introduction to Bede. On the Temple 3 ([xvii–lv], in Translated Texts for Historians , vol. 21 tr. Seán Connolly [Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1995]) 2 Islands and idols at the ends of the earth: exegesis and conversion in Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica 3 6 ([119–45], in Bède le vénérable. Entre tradition et posterité , ed. Stephane Lebecq, Michel Perrin and Olivier Szerwiniack [Lille: Université Charles-de-Gaulle, 2005]) 3 Bede on seeing the God of gods in Zion 65 ([3–29], in Text, image and interpretation. Studies in Anglo- Saxon literature and its Insular context in honour of Éamonn Ó Carragáin , ed. Alastair Minnis and Jane Roberts [Turnhout: Brepols, 2007]) 4 The multitude of isles and the cornerstone: topography, exegesis and the identity of the Angli in Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica 8 8 ([201–27], in Anglo-Saxon Traces , ed. Jane Roberts and Leslie Webster [Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2011]) 5 St Paul and the sign of Jonah. Theology and Scripture in Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum 1 1 3 ([1–32], The Jarrow Lecture, 2014, published in 2018 by The Parish Church Council of St Paul’s Church, Jarrow.) ix CONTENTS 6 Bede and monothelitism 145 7 Bede and the dating of Easter 167 Adomnán 8 Reading the Scriptures in the Life of Columba 189 ([80–106], in Studies in the cult of St Columba , ed. Cormac Bourke [Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1997]) 9 The wisdom of the scribe and the fear of the Lord in the Life of St Columba 215 ([159–211], in Spes Scotorum. Hope of Scots , ed. Dauvit Broun and Thomas Owen Clancy [Edinburgh, T. and T. Clark (an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.), 1999]) 10 Adomnán and the art of teaching spiritual sons 256 ([69–94], in Adomnán of Iona: theologian, lawmaker and peacemaker , ed. Jonathan Wooding, Thomas O’Loughlin et al. [Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2010]) 11 Columba at Clonmacnoise 282 ([380–90], in Sacred Histories. A Festschrift for Máire Herbert , ed. John Carey, Kevin Murray and Caitríona Ó Dochartaigh [Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2015]) 12 The Bible as map, on seeing God and fi nding the way: pilgrimage and exegesis in Adomnán and Bede 293 ([210–26], in Place and Space in the Medieval World , ed. Meg Boulton, Jane Hawkes and Heidi Stoner [New York and London: Routledge, 2018]) Thomas Becket 13 Candidus et rubicundus : an image of martyrdom in the Lives of Thomas Becket 317 ([303–14], in Analecta Bollandiana 99 [Turnhout: Brepols, 1981]) 14 The double martyrdom of Thomas Becket: hagiography or history ? 327 ([185–247], in Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History 7 [New York: AMC Press, 1985]) Index 383 x ILLUSTRATIONS 5.1 The Codex Amiatinus. The Scribe and the Books of Scripture. MS Amiatino 1, fol. 5r. 115 5.2 The Codex Amiatinus. Prologue to the Book of Jonah (from Jerome, Epistle 53). MS Amiatino 1, fol. 664r. 117 10.1 Stuttgart Psalter. Stuttgart, Wuerttembergische Landesbibliothek, Cod. bibl. fol. 23, fol. 41v. 272 10.2 St Dunstan’s Classbook. The Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford. MS. Auct. F.4.32, fol. 1r. 275 10.3 The Eadui Psalter. London, BL Arundel MS 155, fol. 133. 278 10.4 Cycle of illustrations of Gregory the Great’s Vita Benedicti: Abbot Desiderius’s lectionary for Vigils, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Lat. 1202, fol. 80r. 280 xi PREFACE When she died in 2016, Jennifer O’Reilly left behind a body of published work in three areas of medieval studies: the writings of Bede and his older Irish contempo- rary, Adomnán of Iona; the early lives of Thomas Becket; and the iconography of the manuscript art of early medieval Ireland and Anglo-Saxon England. In these three areas, she explored the connections between historical texts, artistic images and biblical exegesis. This book brings together her studies of Bede, Adomnán and Becket. It is one of three volumes of her collected essays published in the Var- iorum series. The others are: Early Medieval Text and Image: The Insular Gospel Books , and Early Medieval Text and Image: The Codex Amiatinus, the Book of Kells and Anglo-Saxon Art. In each volume endnotes have been converted in to footnotes, and the pagination of the original publications is indicated in the text by bold numbers within square brackets. The editors wish to thank the National University of Ireland and the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Science in University College Cork for grants towards the costs of publication. They thank also those who have encouraged and helped them in their task, especially Professor Bernard Hamilton, Professor Jo Story, Dr Dermot Roantree, Professor Éamonn Ó Carragáin and Professor Ter- ence O’Reilly. They owe a particular debt of gratitude to Tom O’Reilly, who laid at their disposal his expertise as a publisher, and worked tirelessly to see the book through production. xii INTRODUCTION The essays by Jennifer O’Reilly that have been gathered in this book were writ- ten over a period of almost forty years. Seen together, they demonstrate her dis- tinctive approach to the intellectual culture of Britain and Ireland in the Middle Ages. Certain recurring themes give them unity, notably the interplay of medi- eval images and texts, and the shaping infl uence on both of biblical exegesis. Informing them all is a concern to trace the ways in which the intellectual and artistic traditions of Late Antiquity were transmitted from the world of the Med- iterranean to ‘the islands at the ends of the earth’, and there developed and trans- formed.