Yesterday the University of Reading played host to “Reading,
Scholarship and the Art of the Book at Reading Abbey” which considered a wide
variety of aspects Reading abbey’s history, primarily through its literacy and
scholarship.
Lindy Grant (Reading) began the day with her paper on Reading Abbey in a cultural and
intellectual, international context.
She spoke about Reading’s lack of grand recognition in
Britain and in the wider academic world despite it being one of the most
important ecclesiastical institutions in medieval Europe.
She then went on to
present a short history of the abbey and its early abbots, presenting the case
that Reading’s early abbots were pivotal pieces within the machinery of the
Cluniac order; in turn, the importance of the abbots reflects the importance of
the abbey which saw the burial of Henry I shortly after its construction.
Reading abbey would go on to influence a series of abbeys
across Britain including Jedburgh in Scotland and the English Romsey whose
arcaded naves share an aesthetic with that of the now ruined Reading abbey.
Tess Webber (Cambridge) followed, speaking on Reading in the Refectory at Reading Abbey.
Her paper was accompanied by some wonderfully crisp images
from Oxford St John’s College MS 11. She
discussed the importance of reading at mealtimes which is outlined in the
Benedictine Rule, Chapter 38, which states:
Reading must not be wanting at the table of the brethren when they are
eating. Neither let anyone who may chance to take up the book venture to read there;
but let him who is to read for the whole week enter upon that office on Sunday.
After Mass and Communion let him ask all to pray for him that God may ward off
from him the spirit of pride. And let the following verse be said three times
by all in the oratory, he beginning it: Domine, labia mea aperies, et os meum
annuntiabit laudem tuam, and thus having received the blessing let him enter
upon the reading.
Let the deepest silence be maintained that no whispering or voice be
heard except that of the reader alone. But let the brethren so help each other
to what is needed for eating and drinking, that no one need ask for anything.
If, however, anything should be wanted, let it be asked for by means of a sign
of any kind rather than a sound. And let no one presume to ask any questions
there, either about the book or anything else , in order that no cause to speak
be given [to the devil], unless, perchance, the Superior wisheth to say a few
words for edification.
Let the brother who is reader for the week take a little bread and wine
before he beginneth to read, on account of Holy Communion, and lest it should
be too hard for him to fast so long. Afterward, however, let him take his meal
in the kitchen with the weekly servers and the waiters. The brethren , however,
will not read or sing in order, but only those who edify their hearers.
The refectory itself was alone amongst the claustral
buildings in rivalling the church in size and accommodated a pulpit and stairs
often in the walls of the church and the cycle of the monastic year was
punctuated by careful chosen texts read aloud to the monks.
Unfortunately the customary for Reading (a document that
essentially laid out the ideal day-to-day operation/customs of a monastery) has
been lost although parts of it may have been copied into Oxford, St John’s College, MS 11 and although the readings for only
two months survive in St John’s 11, but it gives us a hint of how the year
progressed. These readings are even highlighted by rubrics at the top of the
page (writing in red ink), for example stating that the text is intended for
the Saturday during the third week of Lent.
Michael Gullick (Independent) then followed speaking on Reflections on the Reading Abbey Romanesque
Book Collections and Documents. He discussed the actual manufacture of
books at Reading abbey, beginning with its late twelfth century catalogue. The
‘catalogue’ is essentially a book list of all the books owned by the abbey
including ‘library’ and ‘liturgical’ books. This is unusual as such lists usually
containing one, or the other.
The books themselves were viewed as ‘spiritual capital’ as
the owning of them was seen not only as material possession, but also impacted
the spiritual welfare of the monastery. He then discussed possible reasons for
the creation of the book list, suggesting that it was produced in part to reinforce
the power and wealth of the monastery (look at how many books we have – aren’t
we great).
His evidence for tracing the Reading scribes comes from
illuminated capitals, or ‘arabesques’. To sum up his conclusions, it has
previously been thought that one style of capital was indicative of a ‘Reading
style’ but in fact, it is actually the work of a single scribe as pre-1200 you
do not tend to see stylistic imitations between scribes. This particular scribe
seems to have been the most prolific (or his works survives the best) as his
style is the most recognisable in the Reading books. Thus, this was not a house
style, but the style of artists who arrived already trained at the abbey and
practised their own style.
Lauren Cleaver (Dublin) spoke next on History Books at Reading and Bec.
She was interested in what historical books were kept by
Reading abbey but also what was being produced by the abbey and amongst the
abbey’s collections were copies of the lives of Charlemagne and deeds of
Alexander the Great. She again used similarities between illuminated capitals
in different manuscripts to infer the scribe as either the same scribe for both,
or a scribe that had seen the other manuscript, from which she postulated that
there was a historian/scribe/monk at Reading either actively seeking out other
histories as resources for his own, or maybe even travelling.
Anne Lawrence
(Reading) led the last paper before lunch on The Reading Abbey computus manuscript and its context. Anne has
been working for several years on Reading’s computus manuscript which allowed
you to calculate Easter (amongst other uses) and has dated it to 1132-5.
11.25 x 7.75 inches in dimensions, the computus features 15
gatherings of 8 folios, and it is apparent that a great deal of care has gone
into the writing of it.
Amongst other items of note, Anne highlights that the
original text that the scribe was copying from had an error in its chapter
headings which the Reading monk had attempted to correct. Alongside this, the text
is also accompanied by a gloss where the monk has tried to help the trainee
monk in understanding Bede’s original text.
Reading’s computus was created to be used and read and
became not only a classical text to be studied within the monastery, but also a
text used on a day to day basis. Whether the 1130s scribe was a Reading monk,
or someone brought in we simply do not know. We just know that they knew what
they were doing and that they understood the text they were transcribing and
annotating.
Nigel Morgan launched
the afternoon’s session with a discussion of Reading abbey’s liturgy in The Calendar and Litany of Reading Abbey.
The surviving liturgical manuscripts for Reading are surprisingly small in
comparison to other houses yet Morgan in particularly wanted to address the
nature of Reading’s liturgy in relation to its quasi-Cluniac status.
As a bit of context, Reading was never officially linked to
Cluny as Cluniac houses had to be (they all were subject to the mother house).
This was due in part to Reading’s foundation as a royal abbey which granted it
far more autonomy than most Cluniac monasteries enjoyed.
Using Reading’s calendar which lists the various saints
celebrated throughout the year, he argues that Reading was celebrating not only
Reading saints, but also Cluniac saints throughout the Middle Ages. He
concluded by stating that a Cluniac monk arriving at Reading in the late
twelfth century would have been as familiar with the liturgy being practised as
a monk arriving in the fifteenth. The liturgy remained Cluniac in his opinion
and therefore, so did the monks.
Cynthia Johnston followed
with an examination of manuscript decorations in ’In the custom of this country’: The transmigration of Bolognese
decorative style in thirteenth-century Oxford and Reading Abbey Manuscripts.
Examining and tracing pen strokes and flourishes she
convincingly argued for the migration of these manuscript decorations from
Italy to Reading; Using their identifying thin lines and barley head
decorations to determine their presence in a manuscript.
Catherine Leglu (Reading) began the last session of the day
with Reading Abbey’s Anglo-Norman French
bible: London British Library Royal MS 1 CIII.
Catherine took us on a whirlwind tour of Reading’s
Anglo-Noman bible with particular attention paid to annotations and changes to
it. There are no marginal annotations as would be easily recognisable but there
are spaces where additional words have been added later. She postulates that perhaps this edition of
the bible may have been used as a French teaching aide for the monastery but
also that as only Genesis to Tobit are covered in it, it is apparent that it
was originally part of (or intended to be) part of a larger work (possibly up
to 5 volumes).
Her conclusions are that 3 separate scribes were involved in
its creation and that they attempted to correct an unsatisfactory exemplar.
Their efforts are apparent and their translations are more concerned with definitions
rather than doctrine, accuracy is their focus. For example they clarify
potentially confusing French terms, or substitute more accurate French words
than the ones offered in the exemplar.
Brian Kemp (Reading) brought the day to a close with his
discussion of The Reading Abbey Formulary.
The formulary itself came into the possession of the
Berkshire Record Office fairly recently and while it cannot be conclusively
proved that it was Reading Abbey’s, analysis of its text demonstrates that it
was definitely made for someone senior either at or working for the abbey and
Kemp argues that it was actually produced at the abbey.
A formulary is a compendium of forms/formulae, and is
basically a guide for legal document writers for how to write different letters
and other formal documents. This formulary consists of 100 folios and measures
5 x 8 inches. Written in a single, fourteenth century hand, small excerpts are
written in medieval French, with the majority in Latin.
It is a practical business like handbook but does not seem
to have suffered that much damage, therefore suggesting it was not in constant
use. Yet, the material within gives us a
fascinating insight into the holdings and workings of the abbey and future work
on this exciting text will likely prove to be not only illuminating, but add
significantly to the history of the abbey.
The day was a great success and it was satisfying to see what a wealth of research has been done and is being done upon Reading's old abbey. I first stumbled across the history of the abbey in during my 2nd year as an undergraduate and it is one of the primary reasons I ended up becoming interested in the Middle Ages. It really is a fascinating and important site and its history is alive and well.
If you want to know more and learn about a project aiming to open up the ruins to the public, please go here and support it in any way you can:
Notes
Formulary
photo:
Reading abbey:
All other images were taken on the day by me, or
in the case of Jedburgh, taken in 2011.
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