DOCSLIB.ORG

(I) Thomas Brinton of the Early Life of Thomas Brinton Comparatively Few Facts Have Come to Light

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
(I) Thomas Brinton of the Early Life of Thomas Brinton Comparatively Few Facts Have Come to Light INTRODUCTION Fifty years have elapsed since Cardinal Gasquet in his essay, ' A Forgotten English Preacher ',1 called attention to the important sermons of Thomas Brinton or de Brynton, one time Benedictine monk of Norwich and bishop of Rochester from 1373 until 1389, and expressed regret that these sermons had not been published. Interest in this ' forgotten preacher' has been revived by Professor G. R. Owst, who in his monumental works on the sermon literature of medieval England 2 has discussed at considerable length the sermons of Bishop Brinton and pointed out their historical and literary importance. A man who was no respector of persons, he adopted at the beginning of his episcopacy the motto ' Veritas liberabit ',3 and from that time until about 1383, when illness and the infirmities consequent upon old age forced him to become inactive, he fulfilled the command of Saint Paul to ' preach the word : be instant in season, out of season ; reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine'. At a time when, if we may believe his testimony, the voice of a bishop was seldom heard, he preached frequently both in his own diocese and at London, admonishing the prelates in their conclaves, rebuking the king and magnates, and urging penance and reformation of life to all classes, rich and poor alike. (i) Thomas Brinton Of the early life of Thomas Brinton comparatively few facts have come to light. He was born perhaps about 1320,4 and presumably at Brinton, a parish belonging to the manor of Thornage, situated about twenty-five miles north-west of Norwich and subject to the bishop of Norwich as its overlord until the 27th year of Henry VIII (1536) when it was given to Sir William Butt,5 the king's physician. Extant records of Thornage among the Bacon papers at the University of Chicago reveal a typical manorial community of the fourteenth century. If we may judge from the names of the people mentioned in Thomas Brinton's will,6 he was of humble extraction. 1 F. A. Gasquet, The Old English Bible and Other Essays (London, 1897), p. 67. 2 G. R. Owst, Preaching in Medieval England (Cambridge, 1926) ; Literature and Pulpit in Medieval England (Cambridge, 1923). 8 Sermon 108 (p. 497). 4 In Sermon 15 (p. 59) he refers to the election of John Sheppey as prior of Rochester (4 Dec. 1380) as ' gratum tempore vite mee '. In Sermon 108 (p. 497) of c. 1383 he says, ' Sencio me solito debiliorem et infirmum.' 6 F. Blomefield, History of Norfolk, ix.. 370. • See Appendix. ix Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.33.14, on 27 Sep 2021 at 23:00:20, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2042171000000030 x THE SERMONS OF THOMAS BRINTON His family name is unknown, but among the ' consanguinei' to whom he left legacies are such people as Ralph Mercer of London, Richard Maynard of London, Christina Maynard ' senior', Thomas Curteys, clerk, John Charyngton, clerk, and Matilda Pynsware. The last of these, whose relationship to Thomas Brinton is not evident, was fined vid. in 1373 in the court of the manor of Thornage, for brewing and selling beer contrary to the assize1; nothing at all is known of the others. It is likely that at an early age Thomas Brinton entered the Benedictine order at the priory of Holy Trinity, Norwich, and attended the school attached to the monastery. This priory was strong in religious discipline and fostered scholarship in the monks. The obedientiary rolls of the monastery show that practically every year monks were sent to study at one or the other of the great English universities. During the years immediately following the Black Death, a time when both religion and scholarship had fallen into a great decline, the Norwich priory was remarkable for its regularity in sending monks to Oxford and Cambridge.2 The monks, moreover, enjoyed the advantages of an unusually fine library. The extraordinary literary opportunities which the Norwich priory provided are attested by the number of manuscripts which the late Dr. M. R. James in his catalogue of the manuscripts of the libraries of England has identified as formerly belonging to this priory.3 Ninety-eight of the one hundred and nine manuscripts listed by Dr. James are of the fourteenth century or earlier, and include works of widely diverse character such as Regimen Principum of Egidius Colonnus, a copy of Liber Animalium of Aristotle, the Canones of Avicenna and a Hebrew diction- ary. The two greatest contributors to the library were Simon Bozoun, prior of the monastery from 1344 until 1352, and Adam Easton,4 a distinguished confrere of Thomas Brinton. The catalogue of the thirty-one books possessed by Simon Bozoun, which are recorded in his copy of the Polychronicon now in the British Museum (Royal MS. 14 C. xiii)? shows that he was a man of considerable catholicity in his choice of reading; his library included a wide range of works in theology, canon law, and history, a Summa Predicantium6 and a copy of the Koran. Like Bozoun, Adam Easton was a bibliophile. In 1363-4, when he was a student at Oxford, he had a large collection of books; in the rolls of the Pittancer of the monastery is the record: ' In expensis Ade de Eston versus Oxoniam et circa 1 Roll for the Manor of Thornage. 46 Ed. Ill (verso), Bacon Papers. Martin Ryerson Collection, University of Chicago. 2 Obedientiary Rolls of the Cathedral Priory of Norwich ; 348, Chamberlain, 1 Laurence, 1351-2 ; 44, Camera, 2-3 Laurence, 1352-3 ; 349, Chamberlain, 3 Laurence, 1354-5 ; 45, Camera, 5 Laurence, 1356-7 ; 46, Camera, 3 Nicholas de Hoo, 1359-60 ; 47, Camera, 5 Nicholas de Hoo, 1360—1 ; 243, Sacrist, 7-8 Nicholas de 1363—4. 3 H. C. Beeching, ' The Library of the Cathedral Church of Norwich with an appendix of Priory MSS. now in English libraries ', Norwich Archeology, xix, 72 ff. 4 For an account of the life of Adam Easton see Dictionary of National Biography, v. 334. 5 Beeching, op. cit., photostat illustration inserted between pp. 72 and 73. 8 If this is the Summa Predicantium of the Dominican John Bromyard, a work from which Thomas Brinton derived exempla and ideas which he used in his sermons, the date for this composition must be placed early in the fourteenth century, though J. Th. Welter, L'Exemplum dans la litterature religieuse et didactique du moyen age (Paris, 1927), p. 77, has dated it as 1360-68. See also G. R. Owst, Literature and Pulpit in Medieval England, p. 224. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.33.14, on 27 Sep 2021 at 23:00:20, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2042171000000030 INTRODUCTION xi cariacionem librorum eiusdem Cxiiis. iiiid.'* He was an eminent scholar and is credited with the authorship of seventeen books, among them a Latin version of the Hebrew Bible. Among the volumes which he left to Norwich, Dr. James assigns to him a Hebrew Dictionary (MS. St. John's, 218) which he is said to have compiled.2 Having received his early training in such an environment of learning and in the companionship of men like Simon Bozoun and Adam Easton, Thomas Brinton because of his marked ability was selected to be educated at both Cambridge and Oxford. In 1350 William Bateman, bishop of Norwich, founded at Cambridge, Trinity Hall, formerly a hostel belonging to the monks of Ely. He intended that the new college be called the ' College of the Scholars of the Holy Trinity of Norwich '. He himself was proficient in canon and civil law, and established the new foundation for students of canon and civil law and for such alone, in order to recruit men learned in these subjects to fill the ranks depleted by the Black Death.3 The priory of Norwich, probably supporting the new college of Bishop Bateman, sent monks to Cambridge in 1352-3 and 1356-7.4 The sermons of Brinton show his great interest in canon law5; moreover, since he received a degree of canon law,6 although not at Cambridge, it is reasonable to assume that he was one of the scholars whom the priory sent to Cambridge.7 Of his sojourn at Cambridge Brinton has left an interesting record in a sermon twenty years later. Preaching to a congregation at 1 Obedientiary Rolls of the Cathedral Priory of Norwich, 1056, Comm. and Pittancer, 7 Nicholas de Hoo. When he died, a cardinal, on 13 September 1397, he bequeathed his books to Norwich Priory. They came from Rome in six barrels (Beeching, op. cit., p. 72). If we may judge from the highest number under the press marks of those whose books came into the possession of the priory, Easton had at least 228 books (ibid., p. 79). 2 The compilation of a Hebrew dictionary by Adam Easton, and the possession of a copy of the Koran by Simon Bozoun presumably reflect the influence of the study of Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and Chaldaic, which was commanded by Pope Clement V as a result of the Council of Vienne (1311-12). According to a decree issued in 1320 by Henry Burghersh, Bishop of Lincoln, the Council had ordered that at Oxford, Paris, Bologna, and Salamanca should be ' viri Catholici sufficientem habentes Hebraicae, Graecae, Arabicae, Caldae linguarum notitiam. Duo videlicet uniusque linguae periti, qui scolas regnant inibi, et libros de linguis ipsis fideliter transferant in latinam et alias singulas ipsas .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Southern Defences of Rochester Revisited
    The southern defences of Rochester revisited Early in 1344, the king was presented with a petition from the prior and convent of Rochester. The monks had come up with a plan to reconfigure the defences around the south-east side of the city. Since the city belonged to the king, they needed the king's permission; but that was not all they wanted. The king, they suggested, should give them the existing city ditch, outside the existing city wall, between the east gate of the city towards Canterbury (i.e. towards the east) and the prior's gate towards the south. If the king was willing to do that, the monks, in return, would build a new city wall, at their own expense, on their own land, outside the old ditch (which they intended to fill up), and dig a new ditch, outside the new wall; and they would undertake, for themselves and their successors for ever, to keep the new wall in repair. The monks' petition (doc 1) does not survive in the original,* but the gist of it is known from three documents which do. These are they: (doc 2) a letter from the king to the constable of the castle, John de Cobham, dated 28 Apr 1344, ordering him to convene a jury of citizens to inquire into the matter; (doc 3) the report of this inquiry, dated 12 May 1344, to the effect that the jurors see no reason why the king should not approve the monks' proposal; (doc 4) an open letter from the king, dated 23 Apr [sic]† 1344, letting it be known that he has given the monks permission to proceed.
    [Show full text]
  • Parish Churches in the Diocese of Rochester, C. 1320-C. 1520
    http://kentarchaeology.org.uk/research/archaeologia-cantiana/ Kent Archaeological Society is a registered charity number 223382 © 2017 Kent Archaeological Society PARISH CHURCHES IN THE DIOCESE OF ROCHESTER, c. 1320 - c. 1520 COLIN FLIGHT The core of this article is an alphabetical list of the parish churches belonging to the diocese of Rochester in the fifteenth century. Their distribution is shown by the accompanying map (Fig. 1). More precisely, the list as it stands describes the situation existing c. 1420; but information is also provided which will enable the reader to modify the list so that it describes the situation existing at any other chosen date between c. 1320 and c. 1520. Though many of the facts reported here may seem sufficiently well-known, the author is not aware of any previously published list which can claim to be both comprehensive in scope and accurate in detail. The information given below is all taken from primary sources, or, failing that, from secondary sources closely dependent on the primary sources. Where there is some uncertainty, this is stated. Apart from these admittedly doubtful points, the list is believed to be perfectly reliable. Readers who notice any errors or who can shed any further light on the areas of uncertainty should kindly inform the author. Before anything else, it needs to be understood that a large part of the diocese of Rochester did not come under the bishop's jurisdict- ion. More than thirty parishes, roughly one quarter of the total number, were subject to the archbishop of Canterbury. They constit- uted what was called the deanery of Shoreham.
    [Show full text]
  • Parish Priests and Their People in the Middle Ages in England
    Parish Priests and Their People in the Middle Ages in England By Cutts, Edward L. English A Doctrine Publishing Corporation Digital Book This book is indexed by ISYS Web Indexing system to allow the reader find any word or number within the document. PARISH PRIESTS AND THEIR PEOPLE. [Illustration: FROM THE XV. CENT. MS., EGERTON 2019, f. 142.] PARISH PRIESTS AND THEIR PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLAND. BY THE REV. EDWARD L. CUTTS, D.D., AUTHOR OF “TURNING POINTS OF ENGLISH CHURCH HISTORY,” “A DICTIONARY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND,” “A HANDY BOOK OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND,” ETC. PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OE THE TRACT COMMITTEE. LONDON: SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C. 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C. BRIGHTON: 129, NORTH STREET. NEW YORK: E & J. B.YOUNG AND CO. 1898. PREFACE. A great mass of material has of late years been brought within reach of the student, bearing upon the history of the religious life and customs of the English people during the period from their conversion, in the sixth and seventh centuries, down to the Reformation of the Church of England in the sixteenth century; but this material is still to be found only in great libraries, and is therefore hardly within reach of the general reader. The following chapters contain the results of some study of the subject among the treasures of the library of the British Museum; much of those results, it is believed, will be new, and all, it is hoped, useful, to the large number of general readers who happily, in these days, take an intelligent interest in English Church history.
    [Show full text]
  • The Heads of Religious Houses England and Wales III, 1377-1540 Edited by David M
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-86508-1 - The Heads of Religious Houses England and Wales III, 1377-1540 Edited by David M. Smith Frontmatter More information THE HEADS OF RELIGIOUS HOUSES ENGLAND AND WALES 1377–1540 This final volume of The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales takes the lists of monastic superiors from 1377 to the dissolution of the monastic houses ending in 1540 and so concludes a reference work covering 600 years of monastic history. In addition to surviving monastic archives, record sources have also been provided by episcopal and papal registers, governmental archives, court records, and private, family and estate collections. Full references are given for establishing the dates and outline of the career of each abbot or prior, abbess or prioress, when known. The lists are arranged by order: the Benedictine houses (independent; dependencies; and alien priories); the Cluniacs; the Grandmontines; the Cistercians; the Carthusians; the Augustinian canons; the Premonstratensians; the Gilbertine order; the Trinitarian houses; the Bonhommes; and the nuns. An intro- duction discusses the use and history of the lists and examines critically the sources on which they are based. david m. smith is Professor Emeritus, University of York. © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-86508-1 - The Heads of Religious Houses England and Wales III, 1377-1540 Edited by David M. Smith Frontmatter More information THE HEADS OF RELIGIOUS HOUSES ENGLAND AND WALES III 1377–1540 Edited by DAVID M. SMITH Professor Emeritus, University of York © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-86508-1 - The Heads of Religious Houses England and Wales III, 1377-1540 Edited by David M.
    [Show full text]
  • The Heads of Religious Houses England and Wales –
    Cambridge University Press 0521802717 - The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales, 1216-1377 Edited by Professor David M. Smith and Vera C. M. London Frontmatter More information The Heads of Religious Houses England and Wales – This book is the long-awaited continuation of The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales –, edited by David Knowles, C. N. L. Brooke, and Vera London, which itself is now reissued with substantial addenda by Professor Brooke. This present volume continues the lists from to . In this period further record sources have been provided by episcopal registers, governmental enrol- ments, court records, and so on. Full references are given for establishing the dates and outline of the career of each abbot or prior, abbess or prioress, when known, although the information varies considerably from the richly documented lists of the great Benedictine houses to the small cells where perhaps only a single name or date may be recorded in a chance archival survival. The lists are arranged by order: the Benedictine houses (independent, depen- dencies, and alien priories); the Cluniacs; the Grandmontines; the Cistercians; the Carthusians; the Augustinian canons; the Premonstratensians; the Gilbertine order; the Trinitarian houses; the Bonhommes; and the nuns. An introduction dis- cusses the nature, use, and history of the lists and examines critically the sources on which they are based. . is Professor and Director of the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, University of York. . is co-editor, with David Knowles and Christopher Brooke, of The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales – (). © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521802717 - The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales, 1216-1377 Edited by Professor David M.
    [Show full text]
  • Download 2014 Transactions (Volume XIX, Part 1)
    MBS Transactions 2014 Outer Cover_Mon Brass Soc trans cover 20/09/2014 09:54 Page 1 TRANSACTIONS OF THEBRASS MONUMENTAL SOCIETY 1, 2014 XIX, PART VOLUME Monumental Brass Society Volume XIX, Part 1, 2014. ISSN 0143-1250 Monumental Brass Society Editorial 1 2014 The Brass and Seal of John Trillek (d. 1360), Bishop of Hereford: some comparative thoughts 2 Elizabeth New ‘Pause and pray with mournful heart’: Late Medieval Clerical Monuments in Lincoln Cathedral 15 David Lepine John Waryn and his Cadaver Brass, formerly in Menheniot Church, Cornwall 41 Paul Cockerham and Nicholas Orme The Victor of St. George’s Cay: Commander John Ralph Moss, R.N. (1759-99) 57 Michael Harris Conservation of Brasses, 2013 81 William Lack Contributors are solely responsible for all views and opinions contained in the Transactions, which do not necessarily represent those of the Society. © Monumental Brass Society and the authors, 2014 Registered Charity No. 214336 www.mbs-brasses.co.uk TRANSACTIONS MBS Transactions 2014 Inner Cover_Mon Brass Soc trans cover 28/09/2014 12:18 Page 1 Monumental Brass Society Monumental Brass Society Volume XIX, Part 1, 2014. ISSN 0143-1250 (Founded in 1887 as the Cambridge University Association of Brass Collectors) President H.M. Stuchfield, M.B.E., J.P., F.S.A., F.R.Hist.S. Editorial 1 Vice-Presidents Rev. Fr. J.F.A. Bertram, M.A., F.S.A. The Tomb and Seal of John Trillek, Bishop of Hereford: P.D. Cockerham, M.A., Ph.D., Vet.M.B., F.S.A., M.R.C.V.S. Prof. N.E.
    [Show full text]
  • Estate Maps of County Limerick the Following Started Life As
    Estate Maps of County Limerick The following started life as a simple listing of estate maps of county Limerick, but has evolved to include sale catalogues, rentals etc. We are working on including all the names of tenants, lessees etc. and hope this will make it an important resource especially for those researching their family history. There are more maps yet to be found. If anybody using this list knows of other maps then I am happy to add them, providing a proper reference is given. Please contact Email: [email protected] All entries that can be viewed online have been linked to the relevant sites. If there is no link the map or rental can only be viewed at the relevant institution. I intend to update this site as and when new information becomes available, so will keep a log of changes on this page. Abbreviations used in the text can be found on the last page. N.B. For accessing files from the Limerick City Archives (LCA) it will be necessary to go to their website and download the djVU programme to enable you to view. Brian Hodkinson 13th May 2011 Log. 23rd May 2011; addition of 2 Trinity College Maps, and Jephson and Erasmus Smith maps 1st June 2011; addition of names from the Kenmare maps (courtesy Margaret Moore, John Crowley and Tim Schinnick) 13th June 2011. Added Wyndham reference. 27th June 2011. NLI references added; more to come. 29th June 2011. Tenants list added to Limerick estate sale (courtesy Margaret Moore) 14th July 2011. Addition of some tenant names taken from Limerick City Archive references and tenants of the 1823 Limerick estate (courtesy of Margaret, John and Tim).
    [Show full text]
  • The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle;
    f III LIBRARY OF WELLES LEY COLLEGE PURCHASED FROM LIBRARY FUNDS BOHN'S ANTIQUARIAN LIBRARY THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE G. BELL AND SONS, LTD. LONDON : PORTUGAL ST., KINGSWAY CAMBRIDGE : DEIGHTON, BELL AND CO. NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN CO. BOMBAY : A. H. WHEELER AND CO. ^^ boc l«en • tfiit Vtfion t»U5««d |nib» TAf C01T1AJ1 I'tiJ^iUi oj: •pcttntAU 'imb lAir5u fayri o(^ c^otib hc|t be ^djbm* ytit^tnuijoti cAft^tun ^if^ -jt vtUoJJ'^^tf t)p<t coy jtS jWnr«j^t <of pjlcumtii. J»' t^1>ir ^i^<m Jnf Uni^ nopj><m yM|i^ **! ]^)?<m^Hdf n^ hon b|itct»f. lya t^ <qi cyc^on • Atw ^a. ^syhrnT b«om Abcr ^In3tat|iotib«o^» don pf^ («r'p:anitm.<mJ>a.3C|uib kync em 44 (m|?A.pp he<Uf«i« pn bcot^<m |^ Uii5t 4\inv ^iCl 5e yaz of^ ^be|iiit<in on b^inxene ^^ j^ Un M ^Cf4ttm5<el3e«)bon'^ yepiCDiid liqiiito^a |iw^t^ ct5Ttm ynrcfiu^cc^iyiCyc qu{tr |^ .wemicb^at tiili yi0max\tL\cAyt^tnii^hvmh^him^ (Vniu/f^A'. Ox 6^H-/ FACSIMILE OP THE FIRST PAGE OP THE LAUD MS. PROM THOBPE'S EDITION. (Scale « of the original.) THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE EDITED, FROM THE TRANSLATION IN MONUMENTA HISTORICA BRITANNICA AND OTHER VERSIONS, BY IHE LATE J. A. GILES D C.L. NEW EDITION LONDON G. BELL AND SONS, LTD. 1914 111^ \_ReprinUd from Sieve ot^jpe 'plaUs.'] J?/V PREFACE The work which is commonly known as the Saxo!i or Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a chronological record of important events, chiefly relating to the English race, from the earliest period of the Christian era to the XII.
    [Show full text]
  • 282Main Text.Pdf
    Kent Academic Repository Full text document (pdf) Citation for published version Holland, Alexander (2018) John Bromyard's Summa Praedicantium: An Exploration of Late-Medieval Falsity through a Fourteenth-Century Preaching Handbook. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Kent,. DOI Link to record in KAR https://kar.kent.ac.uk/68440/ Document Version UNSPECIFIED Copyright & reuse Content in the Kent Academic Repository is made available for research purposes. Unless otherwise stated all content is protected by copyright and in the absence of an open licence (eg Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher, author or other copyright holder. Versions of research The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record. Enquiries For any further enquiries regarding the licence status of this document, please contact: [email protected] If you believe this document infringes copyright then please contact the KAR admin team with the take-down information provided at http://kar.kent.ac.uk/contact.html JOHN BROMYARD’S SUMMA PRAEDICANTIUM: AN EXPLORATION OF LATE-MEDIEVAL FALSITY THROUGH A FOURTEENTH-CENTURY PREACHING HANDBOOK Alexander William Holland Doctor of Philosophy in Medieval and Early Modern Studies University of Kent 91,417 words May 2018 1 CONTENTS Abbreviations – p. 2 Introduction – p. 3 PART 1 – p. 19 Chapter 1 – The life and works of John Bromyard, p. 19 Chapter 2 – The manuscripts and printed editions, p.
    [Show full text]
  • How an Early Medieval Historian Worked
    How an Early Medieval Historian Worked: Methodology and Sources in Bede’s Narrative of the Gregorian Mission to Kent by Richard Shaw A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Medieval Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Richard Shaw (2014) ii How an Early Medieval Historian Worked: Methodology and Sources in Bede’s Narrative of the Gregorian Mission to Kent Richard Shaw Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Medieval Studies University of Toronto 2014 Abstract This dissertation examines the methods and sources employed by Bede in the construction of his account of the Gregorian mission, thereby providing an insight into how an early medieval historian worked. In Chapter 1, I begin by setting out the context for this study, through a discussion of previous compositional analyses of Bede’s works and the resulting interpretations of the nature and purpose of his library. Chapters 2-4 analyze the sources of the narrative of the Gregorian mission in the Historia ecclesiastica. Each of Bede’s statements is interrogated and its basis established, while the ways in which he used his material to frame the story in the light of his preconceptions and agendas are examined. Chapter 5 collects all the sources identified in the earlier Chapters and organizes them thematically, providing a clearer view of the material Bede was working from. This iii assessment is then extended in Chapter 6, where I reconstruct, where possible, those ‘lost’ sources used by Bede and consider how the information he used reached him. In this Chapter, I also examine the implications of Bede’s possession of certain ‘archival’ sources for our understanding of early Anglo-Saxon libraries, suggesting more pragmatic purposes for them, beyond those they have usually been credited with.
    [Show full text]
  • Palmer 1899 GH Palmer, the Cathedral Church of Rochester, 2Nd
    Palmer 1899 G. H. Palmer, The cathedral church of Rochester, 2nd ed. (London, 1899). <i> BELL’S CATHEDRAL SERIES EDITED BY GLEESON WHITE AND EDWARD F. STRANGE ROCHESTER <ii> <blank> <iii> <blank> <iv> NORTH-EAST VIEW, WITH RUINS OF GUNDULF’S TOWER (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY MESSRS. CARL NORMAN AND CO.). <v> THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ROCHESTER A DESCRIPTION OF ITS FABRIC AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL SEE BY G. H. PALMER, B.A. WITH THIRTY-EIGHT <shield> ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1899 <vi> First Published, April, 1897. Second Edition, Revised, 1899. <vii> GENERAL PREFACE. This series of monographs has been planned to supply visitors to the great English Cathedrals with accurate and well illus- trated guide books at a popular price. The aim of each writer has been to produce a work compiled with sufficient knowledge and scholarship to be of value to the student of archæology and history, and yet not too technical in language for the use of an ordinary visitor or tourist. To specify all the authorities which have been made use of in each case would be difficult and tedious in this place. But amongst the general sources of information which have been almost invariably found useful are: – firstly, the great county histories, the value of which, especially in questions of genealogy and local records, is generally recognized; secondly, the numerous papers by experts which appear from time to time in the transactions of the antiquarian and archæological societies; thirdly, the important documents made accessible in the series issued by the Master of the Rolls; fourthly, the well- known works of Britton and Willis on the English Cathedrals; and, lastly, the very excellent series of Handbooks to the Cathedrals, originated by the late Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • Leeds Studies in English
    Leeds Studies in English New Series XLI 2010 Essays in Honour of Oliver Pickering Edited by Janet Burton, William Marx, and Veronica O’Mara Leeds Studies in English <www.leeds.ac.uk/lse> School of English University of Leeds 2010 Thinking Afresh about Thomas Wimbledon’s Paul’s Cross Sermon of c. 1387 Veronica O’Mara There are approximately 1,480 Middle English prose sermons in one hundred and sixty-two manuscripts from the late thirteenth to the late fifteenth century. Yet, of these, only the names of seven definite authors are known: Richard Alkerton, John Gregory, Hugh Legat, John Mirk, John Russell, William Taylor, and Thomas Wimbledon, and three probable authors: James Gloys, Thomas Spofford, and Simon Winter.1 Virtually the only other clues about dates and venues are those that may be ascertained from the scribal hands and the dialectal variants used in the manuscripts. Even in the early printed era pre-1500 we know of only two authors’ names: John Alcock and Richard Fitzjames.2 Although this anonymity may seem a little strange, it can mostly be explained by the fact that the vast majority of English sermons are parochial ones, often produced for the priest’s own benefit. In this respect there was no need to identify the sermons either authorially or scribally. Yet, in fact, it is more complicated than this. Essentially the real answer has as much to do with the issue of language as anything else. It would seem that in order to get noticed as a preacher it was essential to have a reputation built on Latin credentials.
    [Show full text]