The Anglo-Saxon Library

Michael Lapidge (Fellow Emeritus, Clare College, Cambridge)

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English

Oxford University Press
01 December 2005

Library & information services; British & Irish history; Early history: c 500 to c 1450&1500; History of ideas; Antiques & collectables: books, manuscripts, ephemera & printed matter

The cardinal role of Anglo-Saxon libraries in the transmission of classical and patristic literature to the later middle ages has long been recognized, for these libraries sustained the researches of those English scholars whose writings determined the curriculum of medieval schools: Aldhelm, Bede, and Alcuin, to name only the best known.

Yet this is the first full-length account of the nature and holdings of Anglo-Saxon libraries from the sixth century to the eleventh.

The early chapters discuss libraries in antiquity, notably at Alexandria and republican and imperial Rome, and also the Christian libraries of late antiquity which supplied books to Anglo-Saxon England. Because Anglo-Saxon libraries themselves have almost completely vanished, three classes of evidence need to be combined in order to form a detailed impression of their holdings: surviving inventories, surviving manuscripts, and citations of classical and patristic works by Anglo-Saxon authors themselves.

After setting out the problems entailed in using such evidence, the book is provided with appendices containing editions of all surviving Anglo-Saxon inventories, lists of all Anglo-Saxon manuscripts exported to continental libraries during the eighth century and then all manuscripts re-imported into England in the tenth, as well as a catalogue of all citations of classical and patristic literature by Anglo-Saxon authors. A comprehensive index, arranged alphabetically by author, combines these various classes of evidence so that the reader can see at a glance what books were known where and by whom in Anglo-Saxon England. The book thus provides, within a single volume, a vast amount of information on the books and learning of the schools which determined the course of medieval literary culture.

By: Michael Lapidge (Fellow Emeritus Clare College Cambridge)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 224mm, Width: 145mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 637g
ISBN: 9780199267224
ISBN 10: 0199267227
Pages: 422
Publication Date: 01 December 2005
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

1: Introduction 2: Vanished Libraries of Classical Antiquity 3: Vanished Libraries of Anglo-Saxon England 4: Reconstructing Anglo-Saxon Libraries (I): The Evidence of Inventories 5: Reconstructing Anglo-Saxon Libraries (II): The Evidence of Manuscripts 6: Reconstructing Anglo-Saxon Libraries (III): The Evidence of Citations 7: Conclusions Appendix A: Six Inventories of Latin Books from Anglo-Saxon Libraries (Excluding Biblical and Liturgical Books) Appendix B: Eighth-Century Inventories of Books from the Areas of the Anglo-Saxon Mission in Germany Appendix C: Surviving Eighth-Century Manuscripts from the Area of the Anglo-Saxon Mission in Germany Appendix D: Ninth-Century Manuscripts of Continental Origin Having Pre-Conquest English Provenance Appendix E: Books Cited by the Principal Anglo-Saxon Authors Catalogue of Classical and Patristic Authors and Works Composed before AD 700 and Known in Anglo-Saxon England Index of Manuscripts General Index

Michael Lapidge was Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Cambridge (1991-8) and Notre Dame Professor of English at the University of Notre Dame (1999-2004); he is now Fellow Emeritus of Clare College, Cambridge. He has published widely on the literature of the Anglo-Saxons (both Old English and Latin). His most recent book was The Cult of St Swithun (OUP, 2003). He is a Fellow of the British Academy, and Corresponding Fellow of the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften and of the Accademia dei Lincei (Rome).

Reviews for The Anglo-Saxon Library

This book is an essential resource... Early Medieval Europe ...this is a deeply learned study ... a masterly treatment of its subject. Richard Gameson, The Library For its sheer range and impeccable erudition, The Anglo-Saxon Library will likely long remain one of the books most needful to know for all serious scholars and students of Anglo-Saxon England. Andy Orchard, Notes and Queries Michael Lapidge has performed a signal service to scholarship for documenting so carefully the movement of books and scholars between England and the Continent...' Andy Orchard, Notes and Queries ...splendid volume, so evidently the product of decades of work and synthesized scholarship ... Andy Orchard, Notes and Queries ...this book is an asset in the library of any Anglo-Saxonist...[it] belongs to a set of essential reference works that provides a researcher with a measure of support in navigating the uncertainties of Anglo-Saxon learning. English Studies, Vol. 88, No. 1, Feb 2007 Its learning is immense... Tom Shippey, LRB