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The Leofric Missal is an
illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...
, not strictly a conventional
missal
A missal is a liturgical book containing instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the liturgical year. Versions differ across liturgical tradition, period, and purpose, with some missals intended to enable a priest ...
, from the 10th and 11th century, now in the
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...
at
Oxford University
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
where it is catalogued as MS Bodl. 579.
Origins and history
The origins of the manuscript date to around 900 AD when a
sacramentary
In the Western Christianity, Western Church of the Early Middle Ages, Early and High Middle Ages, a sacramentary was a book used for Christian liturgy, liturgical services and the Mass (liturgy), mass by a bishop or Priest#Christianity, priest. Sa ...
was produced in
Lotharingia
Lotharingia was a historical region and an early medieval polity that existed during the late Carolingian and early Ottonian era, from the middle of the 9th to the middle of the 10th century. It was established in 855 by the Treaty of Prüm, a ...
.
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
parts were added to the manuscript during the 10th and 11th centuries, including a calendar of church feasts as well as other information on celebrating the
Mass
Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
, and some legal records in
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
. The last of these additions date to the episcopate of
Leofric, who was
Bishop of Exeter
The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The current bishop is Mike Harrison (bishop), Mike Harrison, since 2024.
From the first bishop until the sixteent ...
from 1050 to 1072.
[Pfaff "Liturgical Books" ''Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England'' pp. 290–291]
The ''Missal'' gained its name from the dedication on the first
folio
The term "folio" () has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging Paper size, sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for ...
(f) that the book was given by Leofric to his cathedral. This is written in an 11th-century
scribal hand, that has been identified as originating at
Exeter Cathedral
Exeter Cathedral, properly known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Exeter, Devon, in South West England. The presen ...
.
[Deshman "Leofric Missal" ''Anglo-Saxon England'' pp. 145–146]
Contents
The ''Missal'' consists of three basic sections. The first, named "A" by one of the editors of the manuscript, F. E. Warren, is the sacramentary, probably created in the last half of the ninth century. It contains a large initial (f 154
verso
''Recto'' is the "right" or "front" side and ''verso'' is the "left" or "back" side when text is written or printed on a leaf of paper () in a bound item such as a codex, book, broadsheet, or pamphlet.
In double-sided printing, each leaf h ...
(v)) with human and animal heads and
interlace that is thought to have been added in England in the first half of the 10th century.
[Deshman "Leofric Missal" ''Anglo-Saxon England'' pp. 147–148]
Warren called the second section "B" and identified it as 21 folios of material relating to a calendar, other computus-related material, and four pages of illustrations on both sides of folios 49 and 50.
[ These illustrations, which are full-page and mostly drawings in several colours of ink, were added around 970 in England in a different style to the initial in section A. They are an early instance of the influence from the school of Reims that was part of the formation of the Winchester style through works like the ]Utrecht Psalter
The Utrecht Psalter (Utrecht, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS Bibl. Rhenotraiectinae I Nr 32.) is a ninth-century illuminated manuscript, illuminated psalter which is a key masterpiece of Carolingian art; it is probably the most valuable manuscript ...
.[Deshman "Leofric Missal" ''Anglo-Saxon England'' throughout. On pp. 156–157 he considers whether the Utrecht Psalter was a specific influence on the Missal, a view he finds "hard to maintain".] Their style has been compared to the slightly earlier Winchester
Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...
manuscript, the Benedictional of St. Æthelwold, though the miniatures there are mostly fully painted.[Deshman "Leofric Missal" ''Anglo-Saxon England'' pp. 159–166] Folio 49r depicts the Hand of God giving the paschal cycle
The Paschal cycle, in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is the cycle of the moveable feasts built around Pascha (Easter). The cycle consists of approximately ten weeks before and seven weeks after Pascha. The ten weeks before Pascha are known as ...
, followed by pages showing standing figures of ''Vita'' and ''Mors'' ("Life" and "Death"), illustrating the Apuleian Sphere, a method of divination
Divination () is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a should proceed by reading signs, ...
to discover if a patient would live or die, that ultimately originated in Coptic Egypt. Folio 50 v has diagrams with decorations and a bust in a roundel showing the calculation of the date of Easter
Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
. There is decoration, in one case a full border, of acanthus foliage, and all the drawings are badly faded.[Dodwell ''Pictorial Arts'' p. 100] The entire "B" section appears to have originated at Glastonbury Abbey
Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Its ruins, a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument, are open as a visitor attraction.
The abbey was founded in the 8th century and enlarged in the 10th. It wa ...
, and seems to have formed a coherent whole. The lack of mention of Edward the Martyr
Edward the Martyr ( – 18 March 978) was King of the English from 8 July 975 until he was killed in 978. He was the eldest son of King Edgar (r. 959–975). On Edgar's death, the succession to the throne was contested between Edward's sup ...
, who died in 979, would place the addition of this material before that date.[
The rest of the manuscript, which is named "C" by Warren, is a collection of a variety of texts written by over thirty different scribes throughout the 10th and 11th centuries. The information relates to the Mass, manumissions, and other notes and were all written by English scribes. The "C" information is not in one coherent block, as it is not only added at the beginning and the end of the manuscript, but also occupies blank spaces throughout the other two sections.][Deshman "Leofric Missal" ''Anglo-Saxon England'' pp. 146–147]
Warren suggested that section "A" was brought by Leofric to England in the 1040s when Leofric returned from the Continent. Warren felt that Leofric then added "B", which was a pre-existing manuscript that Leofric acquired, and "C", which were notes that Leofric had accumulated. Other scholars, however, including Robert Desham, feel that section "A" was in England by about 940 or so. Desham then argues that "B" was specifically composed before 979 to bring a foreign and older sacramentary up to date. "C", according to Desham, was composed over time during the 10th and 11th centuries, and thus Leofric had little hand in the creation of the ''Missal''.[
]
Citations
References
* ; reprinted in
*
*
Further reading
*
*
External links
Digitized copy of the Missal
from the Bodleian Library
MS Bodl. 579
in the Catalogue of Western Medieval Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries
including a bibliography
{{Use dmy dates, date=July 2017
11th-century illuminated manuscripts
10th-century illuminated manuscripts
Later Anglo-Saxon illuminated manuscripts
10th-century Christian texts
Texts of Anglo-Saxon England
Illuminated missals
Bodleian Library collection