LITURGICAL COMMEMORATION
IN ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND

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The purpose of these pages is to provide a list of the principal surviving products of liturgical commemoration, arranged according to the religious houses where the various records were kept. Obits, and records of benefactions; includes groups of 'Anglo-Saxon' obits which occur in necrologies, etc., compiled after the Conquest, on the assumption that such obits were derived from pre-Conquest sources. All in need of further analysis and refinement. Importance of this material for historical purposes, in relation to the dating of charters, details of episcopal and abbatial succession, and histories of the religious houses concerned. Etc., etc.

Bibliography

Blows, Matthew, 'A Glastonbury Obit-List', The Archaeology and History of Glastonbury Abbey, ed. L. Abrams and J. P. Carley (Woodbridge, 1991), pp. 257-69
Fleming, Robin, 'Christchurch's Sisters and Brothers: an Edition and Discussion of Canterbury Obituary Lists', The Culture of Christendom, ed. Marc Anthony Meyer (London, 1993), pp. 115-53
Gerchow, Jan, Die Gedenküberlieferung der Angelsachsen. Mit einem Katalog der libri vitae und Necrologien, Arbeiten zur Frühmittelalterforschung 20 (Berlin and New York, 1988), cited below as <G>, with number
Keynes, Simon, Handbook of British Chronology, 3rd ed., ed. E. B. Fryde, D. E. Greenway, S. Porter, and I. Roy (London, 1986), pp. 211-12 (obits)
Keynes, Simon, ed., The Liber Vitae of the New Minster and Hyde Abbey, Winchester, Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile 26 (Copenhagen, 1996), pp. 49-65, on liturgical commemoration in Anglo-Saxon England, cited below as LV
Knowles, David, et al., ed., The Heads of Religious Houses England and Wales 940-1216 (Cambridge, 1972)
Wormald, Francis, ed., English Kalendars before A.D. 1100, Henry Bradshaw Society 72 (1934, reptd 1988); vol. 2, with 'an appendix of obits', was never published.
etc. etc.

Abingdon

• Martyrology with obits (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 57)
  Extensive collection of obits in the margins: G 18; LV, p. 59, n. 89.
• Calendar (Cambridge, University Library, Kk.i.23) (s. xiii)
  Includes a few pre-Conquest obits (abbots and kings).
• Missal and calendar (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Digby 226)
  Includes a few pre-Conquest obits (abbots and kings).

Burton

• Chronicle of the abbots of Burton (untraced)
  Dugdale, Monasticon, pp. 271-2.

Canterbury, Christ Church

• Obituary (BL Cotton Nero C. ix, fols. 19-21, + Lambeth Palace MS. 430, flyleaves) (s. xii)
  G 22; Fleming, pp. 124-6; LV, p. 60, n. 91.
• 'Old Martyrology' (BL Royal 7 E. VI) (s. xii)
  LV, pp. 60, n. 91, and 61, n. 103.
• BL Cotton Galba E. iii, pt 2, fols. 32-4
  Fleming, pp. 126-30; LV, p. 60, n. 91.
• 'New Martyrology' (BL Cotton Nero C. ix, fols. 3-18) (s. xiii)
  G 25; Fleming, pp. 130-48; LV, p. 60, n. 91.
• Martyrology (BL Arundel 68, fols. 12-52) (s. xv)
  Incorporates numerous 'Anglo-Saxon' obits
• Martyrology (London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS. 20, fols. 157-248) (s. xvi)

Canterbury, St Augustine's abbey

• Martyrology with obits (BL Cotton Vitellius C. xii)
  Wormald, English Drawings, pp. 55, 61; LV, pp. 60, n. 92, and 61, n. 104.
• Canterbury, Chapter Library, MS. E. 19, fols. 32-7 (s. xiii)
  C. L. Feltoe, Three Canterbury Kalendars (London, 1922)

Crowland

• Obits in a calendar (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Douce 296)
  Obits of Edward the Exile (d. 1057) and other æthelings. G 14.

Ely

• Obits in a calendar (Cambridge, Trinity College, MS. O.2.1)
  Obits of bishops, abbots, monks, and benefactors. G 24; LV, p. 60, n. 93.

Evesham

• BL Lansdowne 427 (ex Cotton Vitellius E. xii)
  G 26; LV, p. 60, n. 97.

Exeter

• Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 579
  G 19.

Glastonbury

• Obits from a calendar (William of Malmesbury)
  Scott, p. 138; LV, p. 61, n. 99.
• Obits in a custumary (BL Add. 17450) (s. xiii)
  Blows, 'Glastonbury Obit-List', pp. 263-9.
• Liber Vitae (lost)
  See LV, p. 59, n. 84

Lindisfarne, Chester-le-Street, and Durham

• Liber Vitae (BL Cotton Domitian A. vii)
  G A.

Peterborough

• London, Society of Antiquaries, MS. 59, fols. 26-31 (s. xiii/xiv)
  Obits of abbots.
• Liber Vitae (lost)
  See LV, p. 59, n. 85

Ramsey

• Obits from a calendar (untraced)
  Leland; Dugdale. G 23; LV, p. 61, n. 100.

St Albans

• Belvoir Martyrology (Cambridge, Trinity College, MS. O.9.25)
  LV, p. 60, n. 96.

Thorney

• Liber Vitae (BL Add. 40,000)
  G C.

Winchester, New Minster

• Liber Vitae (BL Btowe 944)
  G B.
• Obits in a calendar (BL Cotton Titus D. xxvi + xxvii)
  G 17.
• Monastic Breviary of Hyde Abbey (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Gough Liturg. 8)
  Obits in a calendar. J. B. L. Tolhurst, The Monastic Breviary of Hyde Abbey, Winchester, vol. 5, Henry Bradshaw Society (London, 1934)

Winchester, Old Minster (St Swithun's)

• BL Add. 29436, fol. 44
  Fragment of an obituary. LV, pp. 54, n. 39, and 60, n. 98.

Worcester

• Oxford, Bodleian Library, Hatton 113
  G 20; LV, p. 59, n. 86.
• Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 391
  Obits connected with Bishop Wulfstan II and his circle. G 21.

NOT LOCATED

• Cambridge, University Library, MS. Kk.5.32
  Some added obits. Wormald, English Kalendars, no. 6 (west country?).

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