Ordinary Encounters with Medieval Manuscripts: Practical Books of Pastoral Care
Dr Timothy Glover, Faculty of English
Parker Library Early-Career Researcher
Dr Timothy Glover's research examines the textual and material forms of medieval religious literature and the organisation of manuscripts. He has written on the 'sprawling prose forms' of the fourteenth-century hermit Richard Rolle, who became one of medieval England's most popular writers. Where past scholars have understood Rolle's prose as reflecting his idiosyncratic personality, Tim argues that it reflects traditions of medieval compilations and compendia, especially those produced outside of academic centres.
For his exhibition in the Parker Library Tim has selected items from the Parker Collection that demonstrate various strategies and methods of organisation in books and manuscripts.
He says, "There's a narrative that medieval books become increasingly better organised under the influence of the rising universities, which ultimately culminated in the kinds of books we read today, with tables of contents, and indexes and things like that. My main avenue is looking at priest's books, because that's a really clear strata of books which are outside the university and so are often organised in more ad hoc ways. These are pragmatic books, which were more about how to actually care for parishioners rather than academic theology.
"There's a lot of variety in these books despite the fact that they are about teaching the orthodoxy and priests could not change the theology. But at the same time there are many unique features and forms because the priests had to think of creative ways to teach and to counsel and to present information in a way that's accessible to less educated or less able readers. For example, in one book is written by a person who writes about pastoral care entirely in verse, as a way to offer material that can be memorised.
"A lot of priests' literature consists of guides to preaching, but one thing that surprised me was how often the greater emphasis is on teaching how to manage confession, which is when most priests engaged with individual lay people. It was very much a two-way sort of communication rather than preaching. So some pastoral manuals will give advice on not just the basics commandments, but how to deal with unusual cases, such as a confession of manslaughter or murder. There's one manuscript in Old English which was evidently the kind of thing you could use to help somebody to confess in their own language. So these books are very practical and make use of clever mnemonics and other tools so they could most effectively guide their parishioners spiritually."
The Manuscripts
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Illuminated Canon Law Book, with Tree of Consanguinity Some books pertaining to pastoral care were high-grade, sophisticated, and academic. The central text here is the Decretum, a collection of canon law by the Italian lawyer Gratian (fl. 1140). Canon law is the body of laws and principles decreed by the Church to govern its administration and members. While many priest’s manuals cover aspects of canon law, this luxury copy contrasts the humbler books usually owned by parish priests. Even so, its illumination includes a practical diagram: a ‘tree of consanguinity’ that depict someone’s relationship to members of their spouse’s family, to show whom they cannot marry if their spouse dies. |
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Tables and Flowcharts in a Priest's manual Some priest’s books teem with tables and flowcharts, reflecting practical use for teaching. This example is the Templum Domini (Temple of the Lord) by Robert Grosseteste (c. 1168–1253), a theologian, philosopher, and bishop. Grosseteste achieved a highly organised work of reference. Many writers invented mnemonic strategies for remembering core teachings, such as linking the Seven Deadly Sins with other sets of seven (e.g. the virtues, the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, the gifts of the Holy Spirit). Templum Domini represents such schema with extensive tables and flowcharts. A reader can look up any sin a parishioner confesses, follow the lines, and find the most relevant remedial virtue, petition of the Lord’s Prayer, and gift to be cultivated in its place. |
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A Verse Handbook with Notes Writers of pastoral literature exploited the mnemonic nature of verse to create handbooks that would stick in the memory. Verse made these texts easy to navigate and offered memorisable chunks. This is the Versarius (literally ‘made from verse’) by William de Montibus (d. 1213), a theologian who studied in Paris and later became master of the cathedral school in Lincoln. The Versarius is at the centre of the page, and the layout shows it is entirely in verse. Priests often used their handbooks as repositories for other notes that would be useful for pastoral care, and the margins here are full of added excerpts. |
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Colours in a Confessor’s Handbook One of the main contexts for priests to instruct lay-people was the confessional. Numerous authors wrote handbooks on how to teach while taking confession. The author of this handbook was Wulfstan (d. 1023), Archbishop of York and an adviser and legislator for King Æthelred the Unready (i.e. ‘ill-advised’!) and King Cnut. This 11th-century copy of Wulfstan’s Latin text includes a sample confession written in Old English, suggesting it could be read aloud to a layperson as a model. Different colours of ink are used to distinguish parts of the text, making it more navigable as a work of reference. |
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Alphabetical Index for a Priest’s Manual Medieval books for pastoral care are full of pragmatic tools—glossaries, indexes, contents pages—to make them usable for speedy reference. This alphabetical index is for a priest’s manual: the Pupilla oculi (The Pupil of the Eye) by John Burgh (fl. 1370–1398), a Chancellor of Cambridge University. His manual overhauled and updated the earlier Oculus sacerdotis (The Eye of the Priest) by parish priest William Paull (d. c. 1322). Here, the index was added later, enabling navigation by theme. It offers a snapshot of cases a priest might theoretically meet in confession, such as ‘fornicacio’ (fornication), ‘gula’ (gluttony), ‘homicidia’ (murder/manslaughter), and ‘iactantia’ (boasting). |
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Virtues Illustrated as an Angel’s Wings Medieval writers of spiritual literature used elaborate schema to structure their texts and to make them memorable. The virtues were variously imagined as a ladder, or staircase, or branches of a tree. This text pictures the virtues as an angel’s wings. It is titled De sex aliis cherubim (On the Six Wings of a Cherub), perhaps by Clement of Llanthony (d. c. 1176), prior of Llanthony Priory, Wales. The angel has six wings, each labelled with a virtue, then divided into five sub-categories, each written on a feather. For example, ‘puritas mentis’ (purity of mind) includes among its feathers ‘voluntatis discretio’ (discretion of the will) and ‘mentis in Domino delectatio’ (the mind’s delight in the Lord). This diagram thus offers a handy summary of the text’s contents. |
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Illustrations of Bible Stories The plain illustrations of this manuscript indicate its suitability as a teaching aid for laypeople who could not read. It contains the Biblia pauperum (The Pauper’s Bible), which consists of a series of depictions from the life of Christ on the right-hand pages (as seen here), accompanied by pictures of events from the Old Testament on the left-hand pages, which were understood as foreshadowing the relevant events in Christ’s life. There is very little text: the pictures are the focus here. This book was probably made in the Netherlands, but was in England by 1492, when it was purchased by the dean of Wells Cathedral. |
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Woodcuts of Bible Stories The Biblia pauperum (The Pauper’s Bible) was a popular work for early printed books, especially in Germany and the Netherlands. The invention of the printing press enabled the use of woodcuts (relief printing from a design cut into a block of wood). In this case, a single woodcut was used for the entire page, including text and illustrations. While medieval manuscripts remained too expensive for many ordinary people, the technological developments of the printing press made spiritual materials like the Biblia pauperum available to a wider audience, realising the aspirations of its medieval forebears. |
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A Calendar of Saints’ Days Tables and calendars offer a glimpse into the practical side of running church services. This is the calendar for Norwich Cathedral Priory, with the saints’ days to be celebrated, including local East-Anglian Saint Etheldreda (d. 679) on 23 June. Later notes include calculations of when eclipses would occur (in the upper corners of each page). This manuscript was owned by Adam of Easton, Norfolk (d. 1397), a monk at Norwich, who later became a cardinal in 1381. He bequeathed to Norwich Cathedral Priory hundreds of books from his extensive personal library, and after he died in Rome in 1397, these books (including this one) were shipped from Italy to Norwich in six barrels. |
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Diagrams of Genealogies in a Biblical Textbook Theologians wrote textbooks to offer a handy synthesis of the Bible with accessible commentary. This book contains several examples, including two different verse paraphrases of the entire Bible. This text is by Peter of Poitiers (d. 1205), a theologian at the cathedral school of Notre Dame. It is sometimes called the Compendium veteris testamenti (Summary of the Old Testament). It uses Biblical genealogies to outline the history of Scripture, depicting the familial relationships between Old Testament characters, culminating in Christ. Different colours indicate different family trees. The strong visuals suggest use as a classroom teaching aid for training future priests and theologians. |
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A Giant Book for Group Teaching The enormous size of this book suggests its use in teaching groups of people. It contains De cura pastorali (On Pastoral Care) by Pope Gregory I (d. 604), translated into Old English by the Anglo-Saxon King, Alfred the Great (d. 899). Alfred left an astonishing body of writings in his efforts to revive learning in England. He outlined his plans for educational reform in this text’s prologue. This copy dates from the 11th century, from Worcester Priory It also contains the famous Tremulous Hand of Worcester: a monk who evidently suffered a tremor. Writing in the 13th century, he must have been one of the last people familiar with Old English: he glosses Alfred’s translation with Latin for his fellow monks, showing its continued usefulness centuries later. |
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A Tiny Book for an Itinerant Priest The diminutive size of this book suggests it was designed to be portable, perhaps for an itinerant priest or friar. It contains the Summa de casibus penitentie (Summary of Cases of Penitence) by the Catalan friar Raymond of Penyafort (d. 1275), a popular confessor’s handbooks across Europe. It discusses doctrines, canon laws, and suitable penances for a variety of sins. The picture on this page depicts a bishop chastising a boy holding a bag of money, representing the sin of simony (buying ecclesiastical privileges or offices). |
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Pages of Notes in a Priest’s Manual Priests did not simply passively absorb their reading material; they were active readers, excerpting and collecting notes from their reading. The handbooks they owned often doubled as notebooks. Their practices of note-taking served as inspiration for new compositions, as collections of notes evolved into new texts, ultimately feeding an emergent body of English spiritual literature. This manuscript contains the priest’s manual Memoriale presbyterorum (Memoranda of Priests), and an owner used these originally blank pages to write a collection of rough notes for future use, including a flowchart and verses on the virtues. |
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Letter Book of a Notary Nicholas Collys was a notary, proctor-at-law of New College and Merton College in Oxford, and a proctor of the court of Canterbury. Notaries performed legal formalities, such as the drawing up of contracts, principally in ecclesiastical courts and administration. His personal letter book contains notarial instruments and other judicial documents, as well as papal letters, petitions to the Pope, and other letters about the papal court, reflecting his role at Canterbury. |
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Doodles in a Psalter Pages like these evoke ordinary moments of distracted reading. This book is an English translation and commentary on the Psalms by Yorkshire hermit Richard Rolle (d. 1349). It was an important early translation of a major biblical book into English. But this page suggests a bored or distracted reader. It contains pen trials, scribbled faces, and the statement ‘John Coxe is a good son’. Other doodles have a devotional character, including the first words of the Hail Mary prayer (‘Ave Maria’) and a drawing of Christ holding his side wound. Whether these reflect sincere moments of devotion, or simply the permeation of religious imagery in medieval culture, is hard to say. |
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Pen Trials, Gothic Script, and Music This spiritual miscellany was probably used for reading in a monastic refectory, suggesting a context of oral teaching. Most of the book is in informal, medium-grade scripts, but this page contains a high-grade, gothic script, perhaps suggesting it was added later to practice the letters. It records some liturgical phrases commonly spoken in prayers and hymns. Music has been scribbled onto the opposite page. In support of interpreting this page as idle notes or letter practice, we also find a name and the simple phrase ‘my mother’. |