The dissolution of the monasteries

APPENDIX XIV LIST OF BOOKS AT BURTON ABBEY

Reading edition

(British Museum. Addit. MS. 23,944. See p. 200.)

The following list shows what books the Abbey of Burton possessed in the early part of the thirteenth century: it is not probable that many of them had disappeared by the sixteenth century. If we had a list of the books in the Abbey Library at the time of its Dissolution we should be able to form some idea as to the extent to which the Revival of Learning had influenced the monks there. Failing this we may notice with interest the number and character of English books at the end of this Catalogue, including Apollonius Anglicus (see note infra), which appears to be the only “pagan” book in the collection.

The list begins Hos habet Libros Ecclesia Burtonne, and the succeeding entries are therefore in the accusative case, e.g., “Bibliothecam in duobus codicibus.” I have, however, printed them in the nominative throughout.

Bibliotheca[267] in duobus codicibus

Omeliarum ab Adventu usque Pascham et Vita Sanctae Moduennae et Bernardus, super “Missus est [Angelus”][268] } in uno codice

Psalterium secundum Augustinum in tribus voluminibus

Augustinus, de Civitate Dei

Augustinus, super Johannem

Augustinus, de sermone Domini [in Monte] et de decem cordis[269] et contra quinque haereses et Ieronimus, super Josue in uno codice

Augustinus, Exameron[270]

Augustinus, Contra Iulianum [haeresis Pelagianae defensorem]

Augustinus, de Disciplina Christianorum et ejusdem epistola ad quendam comitem[271] in uno codice

Regula Sancti Augustini a quodam exposita et cantica psalterii et Hugo, de Disciplina Novitiorum[272] in uno codice

Hugo, super Ecclesiasten[273]

Gregorius, super Job, in tribus voluminibus[274]

Dialogus Gregorii[275] et liber qui vocatur scintillarum[276] in uno codice

Gregorius, super Ezechielem

Pastoralis Gregorii[277]

Liber xl omeliarum Gregorii[278]

Registrum [Epistolarum] Gregorii in duobus codicis

Ambrosius, super “Beati Immaculati”[279]

Ambrosius, de Officiis [Ministrorum] et Hugo, de Archa Noe[280] et Beda, de situ [urbis] Ierusalem in uno codice

Beda, super Lucam

Hystoria Anglorum secundum Bedam

Item alius liber vetustior

Decem collationes patrum et Liber qui vocatur Paradisus[281] in uno volumine

Vitae patrum

Robertus,[282] super Canticum Canticorum et Sinonima ysidori[283] et Liber Effrem[284] et Regula Sancti Basilii et Decessus Bedae presbyteri in uno codice

Item, Canticum Canticorum cujus auctorem ignoramus

Prognosticon futuri sacculi[285]

Ailredus, de Oneribus ysaiae[286] et Didascalion Hugonis[287] in uno codice

Speculum Karitatis

Prosper,[288] et Diadema Monachorum in uno volumine

Miracula Sanctae Mariae

Vita Sanctae Moduennae quam Martinus scripsit[289]

et alia quam Briennius scripsit[290]

Item alia antiquissima

Passionale Octobrii et Decembrii mensis Vita Sanctae Katerinae et Sancti Martini in uno codice

Sermones Yvonis carnotensis[291]

Leviticus glosatus[292]

Anselmus, Cur Deus Homo

Item Anselmus, de processione Spiritus Sancti

Rodbertus, de Corpore et Sanguine Christi[293]

Compotus[294]

Gaufridi Abbatis[295]

Interpretationes Hebraicorum nominum[296]

Quidam liber de Titulis Psalterii

Vita Sanctae Werburge

Vita Sancti Edwardi

Vita Sancti Basilii

Vita Sancti Blasii

Vita Sancti Nicholai

Vita Sancti Johannis eleymonis[297]

et liber qui vocatur Dominus vobiscum

et Vita Sancti Dunstani

Vita Sancti Leonardi

Passio Sanctae Agathae et aliorum, in magno quaternione[298]

Vita Sanctae Martae[299] Egyptiacae versibus insignita

Arator, super Acta Apostolorum[300]

Sinonima Ysidori in parvo libro[301]

Sex libri Sententiarum qui fuerant Bernardi Abbatis[302]

Duo capitularia[303] vetusta

Ymnarium cum aureis litteris

Epistolae Apostolorum Canonicae

Omeliarium vetustissimum

Sermones Paschales Sancti Cesarii[304]

Ernaldus, de Villico iniquitatis[305]

Martirologia duo vetera

et unum novum

Regula duo vetusta

Omeliarium anglicum

Psalterium anglicum

Passionale anglicum

Dialogus Gregorii[306]

et Historia Anglorum anglica

Apollonius anglicus[307]

Evangelistae anglicae

Ymnarium anglicum

Hugo Abbas Radingensis,[308] de quibusdam questionibus.

Notes in this chapter

Note 1 · This was a common name for the Bible down to the fourteenth century.Note 2 · Four homilies on the text, “missus est angelus” (St. Luke i, 26), composed by St. Bernard about the year 1120 (cf. Morison, p. 49).Note 3 · A treatise on the Ten Commandments.Note 4 · Probably ascribed wrongly to St. Augustine instead of to St. Ambrose.Note 5 · Epistola Augustini ad Iulianum comitem.Note 6 · Hugh of St. Victor, near Paris (A.D. 1097–1141). His works include In Ecclesiasten homiliae, de Institutione Novitiorum, and Mystica archae Note 7 · See last note.Note 8 · Expositio in beatum Job, seu Moralium libri xxxv, by Pope Gregory the Great.Note 9 · Dialogorum libri iv de vita et miraculis patrum, by the above.Note 10 · Scintillarum seu sententiarum catholicorum Patrum, a collection of extracts from the Fathers, by Defensor, a monk of Ligugé, near Poitiers, Note 11 · Liber Regulae Pastoralis, by Pope Gregory.Note 12 · Libri duo in Evangelia, viz., 40 Homilies on the Gospels for the day, by the above.Note 13 · Beati immaculati, i.e., Ps. cxix.Note 14 · See Note 6 supra.Note 15 · The work of Albertus Magnus (1193–1280) with this title can have been hardly yet written when the list was drawn up. The “book” is therefore Note 16 · There was a Robert, Abbot of Burton from 1150 to 1159, when he was deposed. In 1175 he was re-elected, and died in 1177.Note 17 · Synonyma de lamentatione animae peccatricis, by St. Isidore of Seville (died 636). The book in question is a dialogue between Homo, bewailin Note 18 · St. Ephraem Syrus (died c. 373), a voluminous writer.Note 19 · Liber Prognosticorum futuri saeculi, by Julian of Toledo, died 690.Note 20 · An English writer, born at Hexham, 1109, Abbot of Rievaulx, died 1166. He wrote many historical and theological works, the latter in the sty Note 21 · De Eruditione Didascalica, by Hugh of St. Victor, in six books. It is a kind of encyclopædia of sciences, and obtained for its compiler the Note 22 · St. Prosper, of Aquitaine, born c. 403.Note 23 · A monk of Burton named Martin is mentioned in the time of Abbot Bernard (1160–75) in the Burton Chartulary.Note 24 · Briennius, monk and subprior, of Burton, in the time of Abbot Robert (1150–77), is mentioned in the Burton Chartulary.Note 25 · St. Ivo of Chartres, died 1115.Note 26 · i.e., Leviticus with notes.Note 27 · Radbertus was Abbot of Corbie, near Amiens, from 844 to 851. The book which is here named was one of the early arguments in favour of “trans Note 28 · i.e., Account Book.Note 29 · Geoffrey was Abbot of Burton from 1114 to 1150. His life of St. Modwen is mentioned supra, p. 220.Note 30 · By St. Jerome.Note 31 · Joannes Eleemosynarius, or Misericors, Patriarch of Alexandria, 609–616; the original patron saint of the Hospitallers.Note 32 · “The quires or gatherings of which the book was formed generally consisted, in the earliest examples, of four sheets folded to make eight le Note 33 · St. Martha the Egyptian.Note 34 · Historia Apostolica ex Luca expressa, a poem in Latin hexameters, which is described as bad in style and treatment, filled with far-fetched Note 35 · See Note 17 supra.Note 36 · See Note 23 supra.Note 37 · i.e., Chapter Books.Note 38 · St. Caesarius of Chalons, died 542. He wrote a large number of “sermons,” which show a wide knowledge of the Bible and are eminently practic Note 39 · Villicus Iniquitatis—the unjust Steward (cf. St. Luke xvj. 8, Vulgate).Note 40 · See Note 9 supra.Note 41 · Perhaps (1) Apollonius of Tyre, a Greek love-story of the 3rd or 4th century, perhaps translated into Latin verse in the fifth century, and Note 42 · Hugh, the eighth Abbot of Reading, who founded, in the year 1190, a hospital for twenty-six poor people and for the entertainment of travell