South English Legendary
Encyclopedia
The South English Legendary is a Middle English
(13th to 14th century) hagiographic manuscript, best preserved in MS Harley 2277 and CCCC 145, which contain 92 narrative lives
, extremely varied in length, usually including one of two prologues and often including a life of Christ and/or temporal items. The collection is so comprehensive as to include lives of "anti-saints" Judas
and Pilate. It is written in verse with a line of fourteen syllables and seven stresses but with much irregularity and deviation, the same metre as the Chronicle attributed to Robert of Gloucester
, with certain lives appearing in both, suggesting complex forms of textual entanglement. The South English Legendary grew as it was copied, and later manuscripts often add in new saints' lives.
Over forty-five manuscripts containing all or part of the South English Legendary survive. Dialect and affiliations are the main evidence for the origin of a given manuscript, because for many of these manuscripts the provenance is lacking.
The Bodleian Library
houses the oldest manuscript (Laud 108), which is estimated to have been written in 1265, although its editor (Horstmann
) dates it 1280-90. It is likely that the manuscript elements were being worked on for many years in advance of its compilation. Some of the other major manuscripts are:
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud 108
London, British Library, Harley 2277
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ashmole 43
London, British Library, Egerton 1993
Cambridge, Magdalene College, Pepys 2344
London, British Library, Stowe 949
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Eng. poet. a.1 (Vernon MS)
London, Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth 223
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 779
Determining who first compiled the Legendary is made difficult by two characteristics of the text. The first is its popular style, emphasizing narrative over theological concerns. The second is its wide distribution, which does not correspond clearly to any particular clerical order. Gorlach provides a succinct and accurate summary of the theories put forward before his own assessment in 1974.1 According to Gorlach, in 1887 C. Horstmann first suggested the larger Benedictine house in Gloucester as the origin of the Legendary. J. E. Wells in his 1916 Manual of the Writings in Middle English 1050-1400, which was influenced by Horstmann, also suggested Benedictine monks. G.H. Gerould, in his 1916 Saints' Legends, agreed with the theory that Benedictine monks created the Legendary. In 1927, B. D. Brown in the EETS Southern Passion (EETS 169) argued instead that friars created the text. M. E. Wells, in two articles, agreed with Brown as did Hinnebusch in 1951. In 1960, Kasmann allowed the possibility of a Cistercian origin for the Legendary. T. Wolpers, in his Heiligen legende in 1964, allowed the possibility of either Benedictines or Cistercians, but found the evidence strongest for a mendicant origin, presumably intended for preaching to a lay audience. L. Braswell in 1971, while acknowledging the possibility of either Benedictine monks or Cistercians, also suggested that the Legendary may have originated among secular clergy, but more probably Augustinian canons. Finally, Gorlach makes a tentative argument in favour of a smaller 'core' Legendary compiled for a Benedictine house of either monks or nuns and acquiring layers of influence as it spread first to other religious houses and from there to a lay audience.
There is general agreement that the Legendary was adapting its text from multiple sources, sometimes with large sections of original material or material with no known source. Original material often appears in the forms of asides to the audience and expanded dialogue. Manfred Gorlach has argued that the probable sources of the Legendary are a legenda close to the Sarum Use (while there are notable similarities, there is no surviving legenda matching closely enough to have been the actual text used), a copy of some Summa such as Belet's used as a reference for the facts in the entries for the movable feasts, general knowledge of the Bible, and some texts of native saints. The Legenda Aurea was also used as a source for the Legendary, but Gorlach dates the earliest version of the Legendary earlier than the arrival of the Legenda Aurea to England and argues that, while it was then used as a source for the Legendary, it had less influence than was previously assumed. Gorlach has pointed out in support of his argument that the Legendary's longer narratives are written as one continuous life, and not in sections as in the Legenda Aurea; he has also pointed out that the stated beginning of the collection, in either of its prologues, is January 1 and not 29 November as in the Legenda Aurea.
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
(13th to 14th century) hagiographic manuscript, best preserved in MS Harley 2277 and CCCC 145, which contain 92 narrative lives
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
, extremely varied in length, usually including one of two prologues and often including a life of Christ and/or temporal items. The collection is so comprehensive as to include lives of "anti-saints" Judas
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
and Pilate. It is written in verse with a line of fourteen syllables and seven stresses but with much irregularity and deviation, the same metre as the Chronicle attributed to Robert of Gloucester
Robert of Gloucester (historian)
Robert of Gloucester wrote a chronicle of British, English, and Norman history sometime in the mid- or late-thirteenth century. The Chronicle survives in some 16 manuscripts, ranging in date from the early fourteenth to mid-fifteenth centuries, and was of considerable interest to contemporaries...
, with certain lives appearing in both, suggesting complex forms of textual entanglement. The South English Legendary grew as it was copied, and later manuscripts often add in new saints' lives.
Over forty-five manuscripts containing all or part of the South English Legendary survive. Dialect and affiliations are the main evidence for the origin of a given manuscript, because for many of these manuscripts the provenance is lacking.
The Bodleian Library
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
houses the oldest manuscript (Laud 108), which is estimated to have been written in 1265, although its editor (Horstmann
Horstmann
Horstmann can refer to:* Horstmann suspension - Type of armoured fighting vehicle suspension.* Horstmann technique - Therapeutic massage technique working with blocked "energy".* Horstmann Cars - a British car manufacturer....
) dates it 1280-90. It is likely that the manuscript elements were being worked on for many years in advance of its compilation. Some of the other major manuscripts are:
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud 108
London, British Library, Harley 2277
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ashmole 43
London, British Library, Egerton 1993
Cambridge, Magdalene College, Pepys 2344
London, British Library, Stowe 949
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Eng. poet. a.1 (Vernon MS)
London, Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth 223
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 779
Determining who first compiled the Legendary is made difficult by two characteristics of the text. The first is its popular style, emphasizing narrative over theological concerns. The second is its wide distribution, which does not correspond clearly to any particular clerical order. Gorlach provides a succinct and accurate summary of the theories put forward before his own assessment in 1974.1 According to Gorlach, in 1887 C. Horstmann first suggested the larger Benedictine house in Gloucester as the origin of the Legendary. J. E. Wells in his 1916 Manual of the Writings in Middle English 1050-1400, which was influenced by Horstmann, also suggested Benedictine monks. G.H. Gerould, in his 1916 Saints' Legends, agreed with the theory that Benedictine monks created the Legendary. In 1927, B. D. Brown in the EETS Southern Passion (EETS 169) argued instead that friars created the text. M. E. Wells, in two articles, agreed with Brown as did Hinnebusch in 1951. In 1960, Kasmann allowed the possibility of a Cistercian origin for the Legendary. T. Wolpers, in his Heiligen legende in 1964, allowed the possibility of either Benedictines or Cistercians, but found the evidence strongest for a mendicant origin, presumably intended for preaching to a lay audience. L. Braswell in 1971, while acknowledging the possibility of either Benedictine monks or Cistercians, also suggested that the Legendary may have originated among secular clergy, but more probably Augustinian canons. Finally, Gorlach makes a tentative argument in favour of a smaller 'core' Legendary compiled for a Benedictine house of either monks or nuns and acquiring layers of influence as it spread first to other religious houses and from there to a lay audience.
There is general agreement that the Legendary was adapting its text from multiple sources, sometimes with large sections of original material or material with no known source. Original material often appears in the forms of asides to the audience and expanded dialogue. Manfred Gorlach has argued that the probable sources of the Legendary are a legenda close to the Sarum Use (while there are notable similarities, there is no surviving legenda matching closely enough to have been the actual text used), a copy of some Summa such as Belet's used as a reference for the facts in the entries for the movable feasts, general knowledge of the Bible, and some texts of native saints. The Legenda Aurea was also used as a source for the Legendary, but Gorlach dates the earliest version of the Legendary earlier than the arrival of the Legenda Aurea to England and argues that, while it was then used as a source for the Legendary, it had less influence than was previously assumed. Gorlach has pointed out in support of his argument that the Legendary's longer narratives are written as one continuous life, and not in sections as in the Legenda Aurea; he has also pointed out that the stated beginning of the collection, in either of its prologues, is January 1 and not 29 November as in the Legenda Aurea.
Editions
- D'Evelyn and Mill, The South English Legendary, edited from Corpus Christi College Cambridge MS. 145 and British Museum MS. Harley 2277 (1956), review: Dorothy Bethurum, SpeculumSpeculum (journal)Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies is a quarterly academic journal published by the Medieval Academy of America. It was established in 1926. The journal's primary focus is on the time period from 500-1500 in Western Europe, but also on related subjects such as Byzantine, Hebrew, Arabic, and...
(1959). - Horstmann, Carl, ed. The Early South English Legendary, EETS, OS 87 (London: Trübner, 1887).
Scholarship
- Gorlach, Manfred. The Textual Tradition of the South English Legendary (Leeds: University of Leeds, 1974).
- Jankofsky, Klaus P, ed. The South English Legendary: A Critical Assessment (Tübingen: Francke, 1992).
- Pearsall, Derek, ed. Studies in The Vernon Manuscript (Cambridge: DS Brewer, 1990).
- Samson, Annie. 'The South English Legendary: Constructing a Context', in Thirteenth Century England I, ed. by P.R. Cross and S. D. Lloyd (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1985).