A Note on the Library of Lesnes Abbey

70 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. A NOTE ON THE LIBRARY OF LESNES ABBEY. LESNES ABBEY in Erith was dissolved by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525, in order that its revenues might be used to augment the endowment of his proposed colleges at Oxford and Ipswich; and it may be supposed that at this time the suppression would not involve that wholesale destruction and robbery which too often attended such proceedings in 1535-9. Thjs would account for the fact that the Abbey library, alone among those of the smaller Kentish monasteries, has left apprecfable remains. 􀃥Ir. A. W. Clapham (Lesnes Abbey, 1915) gives an account of eight extant MSS. which formerly belonged to the house, and as his catalogue is capable of enlargement it seems worth while to give a complete list of the MSS. so far identified, if only to encourage further research in a field where, no doubt, fresh discoveries yet remain to be made. No catalogue of ancient date has been found, and as no system of press-marks appears to have been used, we are left in the dark as to the original extent of the library. It does not seem likely, however, that it was ever remotely comparable in size to those of Canterbury, Rochester, or even Dover ; and as no room which might have housed it bas been discovered in the course of excavations on the site of the Abbey, we may assume that the convent followed the very general practice of keeping their books in presses in the cloister. The existing books from the library may be readily identified by an inscription, usually written at the top of the first leaf, to this effect : B ic liber est ecclesie beati Thome Martyris de Lesnes. Quem qui ei abstulerit a'ltt illi super eo ' ' 1 The position of the site ie"sbowri on Fig. 6, p. 24. MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 71 fraudem jecerU, nisi eidem ecclesie plene satisfecerit, anathema sit maranatha. Sometimes the name of the donor is also given. W1th the exception of the missal in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is a service-book for the altar rather than a library book, the existing MSS., though some of them are well Wt'itten and decorated, are on the whole a dull lot, sermons and outworn theological tracts predominating ; and they do not give one a very high idea of the level of culture and learning in the monastery. One must beware, however, of attempting to reach any conclusion on this point on the scanty evidence so far available. The full list of MSS. so far identified as having belonged to the Abbey is as follows. I should be very glad to hear of any further identifications which may be known to readers of this note. Nos. 5, 6, and 12 were given to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, by William Moore (d. 1659), and Nos. 1, 2, and 10 to St. John's College, Oxford, by Richard Tilesbye, Archdeacon of Rochester, in 1619. 1. AUGUSTINE: Homilies on Psalms lxxi-cxviii. Donor, Thomas de Sandwich, Abbot of Lesnes in 1314. A page of the works of St. Benedict is bound up with the front cover. Cent. xiv. (S.J.O. MS. 19.) 2. AUGUSTINE on the Annunciation, together with thirty anonymous sermons on theological subjects. Cent. xili.-xiv. (S.J.0. MS. 134.) 3. BEDE on the Parables, written in a hand like that in use at Christ Church, Canterbury. Cent. xii. (Lambeth Palace MS. 147.) 4. BLOIS, Peter de, Archdeacon of Bath 1175-91 and afterwards of London c. 1192-1204: Letters, Sermons, and other works. Five illuminated initials and others in red and blue. Cent. xiii. (Brit. Mus. Royal MS. 8.F.xvii.) 5. CoMESTOR, Peter: -Allegorical History, together with sermons, proverbs from Latin authors, etc., in a 72 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. number of hands. Donor, Abbot Thomas de Sandwich. Cent. xii. and :xiii. (G.C.C. MS. 135.) 6. FoLmTO, Hugo de : Concerning the Cloister of the Soul. Late cent. xii. (G.C.C. MS. 121.) 7. GREGORY : Moralia. Inscription at end : " Dompnus Eudo de Mere fecit scribere huno librum et dedit domui beati thome martyris. Anima eius et anima patris eius Geruasii et omnium filelium anime per misericordiam dei requiescant in pace. Amen." Cent. xii. late. (T.C.C. MS. 1236.) 8. M:rssAL. English, cent. xii. Fine illumination. The pikes or luces which occur in the arms of the Abbey and of the de Lucy family, its founders, are prominently featured in the ornament. The canon of the mass presents unusual features and has been printed by the Woolwich Antiquarian Society. A list of relics owned by the Abbey, including part of Our Lady's handkerchief, parts of the chasuble and handkerchief of St. Thomas Becket, and a piece of the sere-cloth in which the latter's body was wrapped before its translation, is written on a fly-leaf. (Viet. and Albert Mus. MS. L.404-1916.) 9. PAUL: Epistles, with gloss. English. Good outline initials. Cent. xii. (Lambeth Palace MS. 207.) 10. PETER, Augustinian canon of Holy Trinity, Aldgate: Pamheowgi. Finely -written with large initials and scroll-work in red, blue, green, and brown. Cent. xiii. (S.J.O. MS. 31.) 11. ROLLE, Richard, of Rampole : on the Psalms. Latin text of the Psalter with commentary in English. Well written with good English ornament. Cent. xv. Note: Iste Uber const,at dompno Joh. Oo'ftman abbati monasterii de Lesnes.1 The book afterwards belonged to Archbishop Parker. (C.C.O. MS. 387.) 1 He waa Abbot 1460-74. MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 73 12. SERMONS. Cent. xii. Red initials. (G.C.C. MS. 426.) 13. SERMONS, with miscellaneous tracts and notes, including a description of Jerusalem, tracts on the Creation, canon law, and the Decretals, Exposition of the mass, notes on arithmetic, the Calendar, the Council of Chalcedon, and a list of Roman emperors, in a number of hands. Cent. xii. and xiii. (G.C.C. MS. 151.) ABBREVIATIONS USED. C.C.C. Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. G.C.C. Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. S.J.O. St. John's College, Oxford. T.C.C. Trinity College, Cambridge. BIBLIOGRAPHY. BRITISH MUSEUM : Catalogue of the MSS. in the Old Royal and King's Collections, 1921. Jilms, M. R. : Catalogue of the MSS. at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. --- Cata.logue of the MSS. at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 1907. -- Catalogue of the Western MSS. at Trinity College, Cambridge, Vol. ID. --- The MSS. at Lambeth Palace (Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 1900). -- The Sources of Archbishop Parker's Collection of MSS. (Cambridge Antiqua.rian Society, 1899). POSTSCRIPTUM. When this note was in proof my attention was drawn by the Librarian of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Dr. Z. N. Brooke, to a new list of MSS. from Lesnes in Medieval Li,lwaries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, Ed. N. R. Ker (Royal Historical Society, 1941). Only the principal author and the