Leofric Missal
| Leofric Missal | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Paschal Hand illustration from the Leofric Missal | |
| Date | 10th and 11th century |
| Provenance | Lotharingia and England |
| State of existence | surviving |
| Manuscript(s) | Bodleian Library Bodley 579 |
| Genre | Missal |
The Leofric Missal is an
Origins and history
The origins of the manuscript date to around 900 AD when a sacramentary was produced in Lotharingia. Anglo-Saxon 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, and some legal records in Old English. The last of these additions date to the episcopate of Leofric, who was Bishop of Exeter from 1050 to 1072.[1]
The Missal gained its name from the dedication on the first
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
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.
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.[6]
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.[6]
Citations
- ^ Pfaff "Liturgical Books" Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England pp. 290–291
- ^ a b c Deshman "Leofric Missal" Anglo-Saxon England pp. 145–146
- ^ Deshman "Leofric Missal" Anglo-Saxon England pp. 147–148
- ^ 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".
- ^ Deshman "Leofric Missal" Anglo-Saxon England pp. 159–166
- ^ a b c Deshman "Leofric Missal" Anglo-Saxon England pp. 146–147
- ^ Dodwell Pictorial Arts p. 100
References
- Deshman, Robert (1977). "The Leofric Missal and Tenth-Century English Art". Anglo-Saxon England. 6: 145–173. ISBN 978-1-58044-121-6.
- Dodwell, C. R. (1993). The Pictorial Arts of the West: 800–1200. Pellican History of Art. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-06493-4.
- Pfaff, Richard W. (2001). "Liturgical Books". In ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1.
Further reading
- Orchard, N. A., ed. (2002). The Leofric Missal. Henry Bradshaw Society, 2 vols. Vol. 1. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell & Brewer. pp. 113–14. ISBN 978-1-870252-17-1.
- Warren, F. E., ed. (1883). The Leofric Missal, as Used in the Cathedral of Exeter. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
External links
- Digitized copy of the Missal from the Bodleian Library
- MS Bodl. 579 in the Catalogue of Western Medieval Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries
- Additional details on the Missal including a bibliography
- Seminar information, Lancaster University
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