Ripon Fragments

1 Introduction Medieval manuscripts survive in varying degrees of completeness. This is a study of the most vestigial survivors of medieval manuscript culture, the leaves from books which were dismembered during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and re-used to strengthen the bindings of early modern books. The focus of the study will be the fragments of medieval manuscripts preserved in a specific collection of books that belong to Ripon Cathedral Library. The aim of the study is to investigate the history of the fragments, using an appropriate methodology to hypothesise (if not establish) which manuscripts they were disbound from, and in which printed books they were recycled in the cases where they are no longer preserved in situ. The books of Ripon Cathedral Library have been held on long-term deposit in the Brotherton Library at Leeds University since 1980. The library of Ripon Cathedral was founded at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The nucleus of its collection was the bequest of Anthony Higgin, Dean of Ripon Cathedral.1 The physical components of this remarkable collection of early printed books reveal a hidden library of fragments that were once leaves of medieval manuscripts before being used as pastedowns and binding strips to strengthen the bindings. Since a nameless visitor to Ripon Cathedral started sorting and identifying the fragments in the 1920s, much work has been carried out, but much remains to be done. This dissertation will contribute to our understanding of the fragments by focusing on their relationship with the bindings in which they have been preserved. Determining the provenance of a binding and of an isolated scrap of text is far from straightforward, and the problems and challenges of identifying and interpreting fragments will be explored in a series of case studies. These case studies will be accompanied by an overview of the collection to provide context and data to sustain 1 Mortimer, Jean E., ‘The Library Catalogue of Anthony Higgin, Dean of Ripon (1608-1624)’, Proceedings of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society: Literary and Historical Section, 10 (1962), 1-75 (p. 2). 2 future directions of research. Being able to name previously unidentified texts where possible is one of the most common desired outcomes of research on manuscript fragments. However, even though it has not been possible to put a name to all of the fragments, the provision of a richer array of metadata in accordance with best practice in cataloguing this complex type of document will make the collection more useful and accessible to researchers interested in the afterlives of manuscripts, book binding history, and related fields. The unifying factor of Ripon Cathedral Library is its founder, Anthony Higgin. Born in Manchester, he went to St John's College, Cambridge, and became a fellow in 1574. He was ordained in Gloucester in 1572 but did not reside in a parish until he became rector of Kirk Deighton near Wetherby in 1583. He was appointed Dean of Ripon in 1608 by James I, and held the office until his death in 1624. Jean Mortimer, a librarian at Leeds University, catalogued the collection during 1950s while it was still held at Ripon Cathedral, and in 1962, she published the catalogue that Anthony Higgin compiled of his theological works in 1624 shortly before his death.2 The catalogue contains 758 items, but the whole collection came to more than two thousand books in a wide variety of subjects in addition to theology: classical authors, law, medicine, and astronomy.3 Many of the books were signed by Higgin, and he often gave indications of their origin.4 There is much information that can be gleaned about the relationships that Higgin had with his relatives, fellow clergymen and scholars, in Cambridge, Manchester and York. He obtained books from booksellers in Cambridge and later from York.5 Perusal of the catalogue reveals that most of the books were printed on the Continent, in Basel, 2 Mortimer, 'The Library Catalogue of Anthony Higgin'. 3 Mortimer, 'The Library Catalogue of Anthony Higgin'. 4 Mortimer, 'The Library Catalogue of Anthony Higgin', pp. 3-4. 5 Mortimer, 'The Library Catalogue of Anthony Higgin', p. 4. 3 Cologne, Paris, Lyon, Antwerp, Heidelberg, and other centres of production. Many of the books were bought from Cambridge booksellers, and fifty Cambridge bindings have been preserved, as well as many from Oxford and London, and Higgin also records books as having been bought from York booksellers.6 Unfortunately, although the collection is remarkable for containing such a high number of original bindings, a significant number of books have perished due to damp storage conditions within Ripon Cathedral Library.7 Some of the bindings of these perished books have been preserved, which will prove relevant to the project to catalogue the manuscript fragments. Even if the factors that caused the collection of fragments to coalesce in this form appear random, considering these slices of evidence of social history sandwiched together incongruously is to analyse the layers of a palimpsest which was shaped by a combination of faith, technology and politics. The literature written so far about the Ripon collection as a whole has focused on its collector, taking the inventory and evidence of use contained in the books as its starting point. The literature written about the fragments has focused on their textual contents in order to draw conclusions about the rate at which medieval manuscripts were dismantled during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This study seeks to draw the threads of previous research together. One area of enquiry, which is not the main focus of the dissertation but underlines the importance of carrying out more research on Higgin's collection, is the light that the collection throws on the relationships that he had with his family, fellow scholars and fellow theologians through the various stages of his life in Cambridge and then in Yorkshire. Higgin is not known to have published any work, but an avenue for future research lies in the sixteen manuscript notebooks in which he wrote, dating from the 6 Mortimer, 'The Library Catalogue of Anthony Higgin', p. 4 7 Mortimer, 'The Library Catalogue of Anthony Higgin', pp. 8-9. 4 1550s to 1617, and conserved at Leeds University Library.8 The notebooks illustrate the way in which Higgin made use of this collection to prepare sermons. They mirror his interests and may give some indication of his religious views; MS 22 contains summaries of 'contemporary controversial religious works.'9 Interestingly, many of the notebooks are also written in by more than one hand, which complements the evidence of collaborative scholarship, sharing and circulation of texts that is provided by the inscriptions in his collection of printed books. Anthony Higgin was not building his collection in isolation, and many of his contemporaries were amassing similar collections. Two books in the collection were presented to Higgin by the celebrated Yorkshire book collector Henry Savile.10 The multi-volume series edited by R. J. Fehrenbach and E. S. Leedham Green, Private Libraries in Renaissance England: a Collection and Catalogue of Tudor and Early Stuart Book-Lists, contains hundreds of examples of personal libraries built up by scholars, clergy and others.11 Most of the examples of private collecting it describes are carried out by people who lived in or near London, Oxford and Cambridge, which is perhaps to be expected, but it certainly gives the impression that Higgin's ability to create his library was all the more remarkable given that he was relatively remote from most centres of book production in the later stages of his career. It also suggests that more attention should be paid to book collectors outside of the south and east of England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. To take one example of a near contemporary collector, David Pearson has published the list of books donated by 8 Leeds University Special Collections, Ripon Cathedral Library MSS 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40. 9 Leeds University, Library catalogue for Ripon Cathedral Library MS 22 <http://lib.leeds.ac.uk/record=b2239058 > [accessed 27th August 2011]. 10 Mortimer, 'The Library Catalogue of Anthony Higgin, p. 5. 11 R. J. Fehrenbach and Rives Nicholson, 'Edward Higgins, Scholar (M.A.): Probate Inventory. 1588', in Private Libraries in Renaissance England: a Collection and Catalogue of Tudor and Early Stuart Book-Lists, ed. by R. J. Fehrenbach and E. S. Leedham-Green, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 271, 6 vols (Tempe, Arizona: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1992- 2004). 5 Cambridge-educated clergyman Peter Shaw to Trinity College in 1603.12 Shaw studied at Trinity College during the 1560s and he continued acquiring books all through his life;13 the collection of 140 volumes is twice the average size of a Cambridge scholar according to Sears Jayne,14 and described as one of the 'most substantial benefactions' received at the beginning of the seventeenth century by Trinity College Library.15 Again, seen in comparison with the average number of books owned by a Cambridge scholar, the size of Higgin's collection of more than two thousand books collected over a fifty year period from the 1570s to the 1620s seems an impressive achievement. Of course, Ripon Cathedral Library collection only began as a private collection, and it has been characterised by Andrew Cambers as both a personal and a public library.16 He points out that it was common for parish libraries to originate as bequests from donors who wished to perpetuate their religious identity through making such a gift,17 but it seems that the evidence of the lending out of Higgin's books during his lifetime showed that the Dean was already allowing it to be used if not as a public library, then as an amenity for those in his clerical circle.

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