"The Community of St. Cuthbert in the Late Tenth Century: The Chester-le-Street Additions to Durham Cathedral Library A.IV.19" reveals the dynamic role a seemingly marginalized community played during a defining period for the emergence of English religious identity. Based on her new critical edition of additions made to Durham Cathedral Library A.IV.19 and by questioning the purpose of those late tenth-century additions, Karen Louise Jolly is able to uncover much about the Chester-le-Street scribes and their tumultuous time, rife as it was with various political tensions, from Vikings and local Northumbrian nobles to an increasingly dominant West Saxon monarchy.
Why, for instance, would a priest laboriously insert an Old English gloss above every Latin word in a collection of prayers intended to be performed in Latin? What motivated the same English scribe to include Irish-derived Christian materials in the manuscript, including prayers invoking the archangel Panchiel to clear birds from a field?
Jolly's extensive contextual analysis includes a biography of Aldred, the priest and provost of the community primarily responsible for adding these unusual texts. Besides reinterpreting the manuscript's paleography and codicology, she investigates both the drive for reform evidenced by the added liturgical materials and the new importance of Irish-derived encyclopedic and educational materials."
Author(s): Karen Louise Jolly
Series: Text and Context
Publisher: The Ohio State University Press
Year: 2012
Language: English
Pages: XXVI+412
City: Columbus, Ohio
Abbreviations ix
Illustrations xiii
Preface and Acknowledgments xv
Chapter 1: History: The Temporal and Geographic Landscape in Northumbria 1
Northumbria and Wessex: English Identity and Christian Reform 4
Chester-le-Street in the Tenth Century: Land and Power 15
The Sociopolitical Landscape 17
The Natural World and the Built Environment 24
Chapter 2: Biography: Aldred and His World 37
Lindisfarne Colophon and Gloss: A Good Woman’s Son Earns a Place 41
Durham Colophon: Provost of Cuthbert’s family 60
Chapter 3: Paleography and Codicology: The Chester-le-Street Scriptorium 71
In the Scriptorium: Paleography and Codicology 73
Medieval Survival and Modern Antiquarians: The Later History of Durham A.IV.19 88
Chapter 4: Liturgy: The Community of St. Cuthbert at Prayer 110
Service Books 112
Office Materials 119
Prayer in the Divine Office 120
Readings 129
Hymns 131
Communal Services 136
Community of the Saints: Memorials for the Living and the Dead 137
Community Service: Blessing Things 143
Chapter 5: Scholarship and Education: The Textual Community at Chester-le-Street 151
Learning to Write and Writing to Learn: Scribe B 155
Thinking and Teaching: Aldred’s Glosses 162
Language Study at Chester-le-Street: Encyclopedic Additions 172
QXI.48 Notae Juris 175
QXI.49 De Octo Pondera 179
QXI.50–52 Official Lists 183
QXI.53–55 Places in Christian History 190
Chapter 6: Conclusion: Religious Formation and the Vocabulary of Prayer 200
In the Scriptorium, Schoolroom, and Library: Reading, Writing, and Study 202
In the Church and Cloister: Individual and Corporate Prayer 207
In the Field and On the Road: Blessings and Protection 210
A Sacramental World 214
The Texts: Additions to Durham Cathedral Library A.IV.19 217
Collation Diagrams 220
Codicological Map 223
Quire VIII 230
Quires IX–X Booklet + Fol. 76 246
Quire XI Booklet 280
Bibliography 361
Index of Texts 395
Index Verborum 397
General Index 402
