Robert Thornton ( fl. 1418 – 1456) was a

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

landowner, a member of the

landed gentry The landed gentry, or the gentry (sometimes collectively known as the squirearchy), is a largely historical Irish and British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. It is t ...

. His efforts as an amateur

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...

and manuscript compiler resulted in the preservation of many valuable works of

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

literature, and have given him an important place in its history.

Biography

Thornton's name is associated with two 15th-century manuscripts now held in different collections; Lincoln, Cathedral Library MS 91, the "Lincoln Thornton" manuscript, and

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

MS Additional 31042, the "London Thornton" manuscript. A number of candidates had been suggested for the scribe's identity, but he is now firmly identified as Robert Thornton, a relatively prosperous provincial landowner of the manor of East Newton,

Stonegrave Stonegrave is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. At the 2011 Census the population was less than 100 and so the details are included in the civil parish of Nunnington. By 2015, North Yorkshire County Council estimated the po ...

, in the

North Riding of Yorkshire The North Riding of Yorkshire was a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point was at Mickle Fell at . From the Restoration it was used as a lieutenancy area, having b ...

.See Thompson, J. J. ''Robert Thornton and the London Thornton Manuscript: British Library MS Additional 31042'', D. S. Brewer, 1987 The

armigerous In heraldry, an armiger is a (natural or juridical) person entitled to use a heraldic achievement (e.g., bear arms, an "armour-bearer") either by hereditary right, grant, matriculation, or assumption of arms. Such a person is said to be armig ...

(Argent a bend gules with three escarbuncles or thereon) Thornton family had possessed East Newton Hall since the time of

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...

; Robert's parents are commemorated in the church at Stonegrave.Stonegrave Parish
British History Online Thornton's father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all also named Robert. The family retained possession of East Newton until 1692.https://web.archive.org/web/20110525222807/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=64805 Stonegrave Parish East Newton Hall - geograph

Thornton appears to have started to compile a collection of works for his own and his family's pleasure and instruction; he was essentially a gentleman-amateur in a field usually dominated by professional

scrivener A scrivener (or scribe) was a person who, before the advent of compulsory education, could literacy, read and write or who wrote letters as well as court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or copying w ...

s and ecclesiastical scribes. Rather than copying works at random, he made some attempt to edit romances, religious works and works on medicine or herblore into different "booklets" within the manuscript.Hanna, R. ''Pursuing History: Middle English Manuscripts and Their Texts'', Stanford University Press, 1996, p.32 He wrote in a practised but rather untidy hand, adding a few simple decorative flourishes such as grotesque

drolleries A drollery, often also called a grotesque, is a small decorative image in the margin of an illuminated manuscript, most popular from about 1250 through the 15th century, though found earlier and later. The most common types of drollery images a ...

or ornamental scrollwork.Turville-Petre, T. ''Reading Middle English Literature'', Blackwell, 2007, p.46 Thornton's tastes were fairly wide-ranging; the Lincoln manuscript reveals a liking for

Arthurian romance The Matter of Britain (; ; ; ) is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. The 12th-century writer Geoffr ...

s, and he seems to have particularly appreciated

alliterative verse In meter (poetry), prosody, alliterative verse is a form of poetry, verse that uses alliteration as the principal device to indicate the underlying Metre (poetry), metrical structure, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly s ...

, resulting in the preservation of some of the finest examples of the genre (notably The ''

Alliterative Morte Arthure The Alliterative ''Morte Arthure'' is a 4346-line Middle English alliterative poem, retelling the latter part of the legend of King Arthur. Dating from about 1400, it is preserved in a single copy in the 15th-century Lincoln Thornton Manuscript, ...

'' and ''

Wynnere and Wastoure Wynnere and Wastoure ("Winner and Waster") is a fragmentary Middle English poem written in alliterative verse around the middle of the 14th century. Manuscript The poem occurs in a single manuscript, British Library Additional MS. 31042, also cal ...

''). The texts enable us to gain some insight into the way such manuscripts were used, perhaps with members of a family using it on one night to refer to a recipe, and on another to read a romance or even to take part in a dramatic performance.Turville-Petre, T. ''Reading Middle English Literature'', Blackwell, 2007, p.46 After Thornton's death, the manuscripts remained in the hands of his descendants for many years; the name of Thornton's son William appears on folio 49.v of the Lincoln manuscript, in addition to the names of other family members elsewhere. However, by 1700 (when it was seen there by the antiquary Bishop Thomas Tanner) it had reached the

Lincoln Cathedral Library The Lincoln Cathedral Library is a library of Lincoln Cathedral in Lincolnshire, England. It is housed in a building designed by Christopher Wren. Collections The collection includes 120 “incunabula”, that is books printed before 1500. ...

, probably having been obtained by the cathedral's Dean

Michael Honywood Michael Honywood DD (1597 – 7 December 1681) was an English churchman who was Dean of Lincoln from 1660. Honywood was a bibliophile and he founded and funded the Lincoln Cathedral Library. Life He was sixth son and ninth child of Sir Robert Ho ...

between 1660 and 1681.Thomson, R. M. ''Catalogue of the Manuscripts of Lincoln Cathedral Chapter Library'', Boydell and Brewer, 1989, p.69 As many libraries of manuscripts were lost during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Thornton's private anthology became an extremely rare survival.

Works preserved by Thornton

*Lincoln, Cathedral Library MS 91 *British Library MS Additional 31042

Biography

Works preserved by Thornton

References

Further reading