Liber Eliensis
Encyclopedia
The Liber Eliensis is a 12th-century English chronicle and history, written in Latin
. Composed in three books, it was written at Ely Abbey on the island of Ely
in the fenland
s of eastern Cambridgeshire
. Ely Abbey became the cathedral
of a newly formed bishopric
in 1109. Traditionally the author of the anonymous work has been given as Richard or Thomas, two monks at Ely, one of whom, Richard, has been identified with an official of the monastery, but some historians hold that neither Richard nor Thomas was the author.
The Liber covers the period from the founding of the abbey in 673 until the middle of the 12th century, building on a number of earlier historical works. It incorporates documents and stories of saints' lives
and is a typical example of a kind of local history produced during the latter part of the 12th century, similar to a number of books written at other English monasteries. The longest of the contemporary local histories, it describes the devastation caused by the disorders during the reign of King Stephen
as well an account of the career of Nigel, the Bishop of Ely
from 1133 to 1169, and his disputes with King Stephen. Other themes are the miracles worked by the monastery's patron saint, Æthelthryth
, and the gifts of land to Ely.
The two surviving complete manuscripts of the work are complemented by a number of partial manuscripts. A printed version of the Latin text appeared in 1963 and an English translation was published in 2005, although extracts had appeared in print earlier. The Liber Eliensis is an important source of historical information for the region and period it covers, and particularly for the abbey and bishopric of Ely.
The Liber Eliensis was written at Ely Abbey, which became Ely Cathedral
when it was converted into a bishopric in 1109. The historian Elisabeth van Houts believes that it was written in two stages: first under Bishop Hervey le Breton
, in office from 1109 to 1133; and continued under Bishop Geoffrey Ridel, who served from 1173 to 1189. For van Houts, the first stage was the translation of an Old English work into Latin, commissioned by Bishop Hervey. The rest of the work, van Houts argues, was composed in the 1170s. However, E. O. Blake, who edited the first Latin printing of the work, concludes that the Liber was probably composed in three parts, based on its contents; the first book of the Liber was begun after 1131, when one of the sources used in the Liber was completed. The second has a preface apologising for the delay in its completion, and could not have been started before 1154, as it records events from that year. The third and final book was completed between 1169, when Bishop Nigel died and whose death is mentioned in the book, and 1174, when a new bishop was appointed. As there is no mention of Nigel's replacement, Blake states that this suggests that book three was finished before the new bishop took office.
Traditionally the work was ascribed to either Thomas or Richard, two monks of Ely mentioned in the text. The historian Antonia Gransden
is inclined to believe that the work is by Richard, who is usually identified with the Richard who was recorded as sub-prior and prior
of Ely, holding the latter office from 1177 until some time between 1189 and 1194. Blake thinks that Richard was the author, but he considers the evidence to be inconclusive. Janet Fairweather, a classicist and a recent translator of the Liber, suggests that it may have been written by someone other than the traditional candidates. Whoever the author, the Liber specifically states that it was written at the bidding of some members of the monastic community at Ely.
The Liber is one of a number of monastic histories written during the middle and later 12th century, when a number of monasteries in northern and southern England produced works devoted to recording the histories of their religious houses and local areas. In the south, these included the Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis
of Abingdon Abbey
, the Chronicon Abbatiae Rameseiensis of Ramsey Abbey
, the Chronicon Angliae Petriburgense of Peterborough Abbey, a history of the see
of Bath and Wells
, and the Chronicon Monasterii de Bello of Battle Abbey
. The northern histories record the foundation stories of the various Cistercian houses in the north, along with other information relating to those houses. Those from the south, including the Liber Eliensis, mainly concern themselves with the various controversies involving their respective religious houses. The northern histories are less concerned with controversy, and overall are more prone to hagiography
.
's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
, a chronicle that was associated with Bede's De temporum ratione
, the Chronicon ex chronicis, and William of Poitiers
' Gesta Guillelmi II ducis Normannorum. Lesser-used sources include the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
, Orderic Vitalis
' Historia Ecclesiastica, Stephen of Ripon's Vita Sancti Wilfrithi
, William of Malmesbury
's Gesta pontificum Anglorum
, a list of the kings of Wessex, the Old English poem The Battle of Maldon
, and a number of saints' lives, including some written by Eadmer
, Felix, Abbo of Fleury
, Goscelin
, and Osbern of Canterbury. The work on Maldon was included because the hero of the work was Byrhtnoth
, a patron of the monastery.
Works more directly related to Ely were also used. The primary one of these works was Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester
's Libellus, large parts of which were copied into the Liber Eliensis. Also incorporated into the Liber was an earlier Vita, or saints' life, on Æthelthryth, the founder and first abbess of Ely. A work on the benefactors of the abbey was also used, and the material from three surviving cartularies. These documents were translated from their original Old English into Latin by the compiler. Another source, as related in the Liber itself, was a work about Hereward written by a brother monk known as Richard. Modern historians have identified it with the Gesta Herwardi
known from a 13th-century manuscript. It is, however, unclear whether the compiler of the Liber used the exact text of the Gesta as it has come down to us, or a different, earlier manuscript.
Some of these sources may originally have been oral works. A number of the stories in the narrative parts of the Liber resemble Scandinavian sagas, including the story about King Cnut visiting the monastery and singing an Anglo-Saxon song to the assembled monks. It is possible that the information on Hereward and Byrhtnoth originally came from orally transmitted tales that were written down.
. Interspersed with the historical narrative are a number of documents and charters relating to the bishops.
The work also depicts the devastations caused by the disorders
during King Stephen's
(d. 1154) reign. The chronicler states that when the harvest failed this combined with the pillaging of the area to produce a famine. The work describes the area around the abbey for 20 – as being filled with unburied corpses, and that the price of a bushel of grain rose to 200 pence. The long descriptions of Nigel of Ely's disputes with King Stephen lead to a discussion of the Battle of Lincoln
and other matters not directly related to Ely. The Liber gives a detailed account of Nigel's career, although in general the chronicle's author favours Stephen over his own bishop. The ascension of King Henry II
to the English throne is considered to be an excellent event, and the Liber praises the new king.
An important part of the work was devoted to the miracles and glorification of Ely's patroness, Saint Æthelthryth. The very beginning of the work incorporates an earlier Vita, or Life, of Æthelthryth, which resembles the Vitae of other saints written by Goscelin in the 11th century; Goscelin is known to have visited Ely. The work may have helped to increase the number of pilgrims visiting Ely, as well as enabling the monks to better explain the history of earlier donations to the abbey. Many of the gifts to the abbey church are described, such as the altar cloth donated by Queen Emma (d. 1052), wife of both Æthelred II (d. 1016) and King Cnut (d. 1035), with a short history of the circumstances of the gift. The miracle stories frequently say that those who wished cures or miracles similar to those in the Liber would need to come to the monastery, where they could make a donation. The historian Jennifer Paxton argues that increasing pilgrimage to the monastery was one of the main goals of the compilers of the Liber.
Another concern of the chronicle was the acquisition of land by the abbey. The work incorporates three pre-existing inventories of the abbey's possessions, and records each gift to the abbey, giving the grantor and occasionally details of the grantor's life. This detailed record of the various rights and possessions of the abbey was useful if those possessions needed to be defended against outside or inside conflicts. The Liber was used by the monks to defend their claims to be the real heirs of the abbey's rights and property rather than the bishops, after the conversion of the abbey into a bishopric. The chronicle also records the division of property between the monks and the newly appointed bishop. According to the chronicler, the division took place during the episcopate of the first bishop, Hervey le Breton, and was characterised as barely adequate for the needs of the monks. Later the chronicle records documents from the bishops that defined the separation between the monks and the episcopate. The chronicle also records the conflict between the abbey and various Bishops of Lincoln
, which had continued until the abbey became a bishopric in 1109.
A third theme of the work is the stress on the importance and number of distinguished burials that took place at Ely. They would have increased the desire of others to be buried there, which would have benefited the community by the donations that would have flowed from those wishing to secure their burial. The Liber stresses the burials of Æthelstan
, a Bishop of Elmham, that of Ælfwine
, another Bishop of Elmham, and Wulfstan II, an Archbishop of York
.
, who used it along with the Chronicon Abbatiae Rameseiensis of Ramsey Abbey in his own historical works. Another 13th-century English writer, Roger of Wendover
, was also aware of the Liber.
Some of the information contained in the Liber is important to historians. It is in the Liber that the first statement that Æthelwold translated the Benedictine Rule into Old English is made. The Liber is the longest of the local histories produced in England during the 12th century, and it contains a description of the royal chancery
, which might be the earliest evidence for the existence of that office in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom. The Liber describes how King Edgar (d. 975) granted the abbey the office of chancellor
(head of the chancery), but the authenticity of the passage is unclear. The existence of a formal chancery office in Anglo-Saxon England before the Norman Conquest
is a matter of some debate amongst historians.
The historian Dorothy Whitelock
says of the work that it is "unique among post-Conquest monastic histories". It was written to help buttress the claims of Ely to a judicial liberty, or the exercise of all the royal rights within a hundred. To do this, the Liber collected together earlier sources used to help the abbey evade episcopal control, prior to the abbey becoming a bishopric. These documents may have been forged or had their contents doctored to help the abbey's cause. Because of the tendentious nature of the collection, the work is used by historians with great caution. Despite the untrustworthy nature of the Liber and the documents preserved therein, it remains a valuable source for the history of the time period it covers, as well as the internal history of the abbey and bishopric. The historian Antonia Gransden characterises the Liber as "valuable for general history", but qualifies by saying that "the whole lacks unity and has errors and confusing repetitions".
MS O.2.1, usually known as the E manuscript; and one in the possession of Ely Cathedral Chapter
, usually known as the F manuscript. The E manuscript dates from the late 12th century, and shows three different scribal hands
. The F manuscript dates to the early 13th century, with four scribal hands. The E manuscript was given to Trinity College as part of the Gale Collection by Roger Gale
in 1738. The F manuscript has remained at Ely since its creation, and is the only manuscript at Ely still remaining from the medieval monastic library.
As well as the two complete manuscripts, a number of other manuscripts contain parts of the whole work. British Museum MS Cotton
Titus A.i, usually known as the G manuscript, has part of Book II, and dates from the late 12th or early 13th century. British Museum Cotton Domitian xv, known as the B manuscript, dates from the late 13th or early 14th century and includes some other material along with Book I and the same parts of Book II as in manuscript G. Another Cottononian manuscript, British Museum MS Cotton Vespasian A.xix, has parts of Book III, and dates to between 1257 and 1286. This manuscript is usually known as the A manuscript.
The relationships between the various extant manuscripts is complex, and a definitive scheme of how the various manuscripts relate to each other cannot be made. Blake, in his edition of the Liber, suggests that Book I once existed as a stand-alone work, which influenced the B manuscript. A separate Book II, with parts of Book III, was then written and combined with the stand-alone Book I, into either manuscript E or an earlier version of that manuscript. Book II was then revised, combined with parts of G, Book I, and parts of E to make manuscript F.
Related manuscripts include Bodleian Library
Oxford MS Laud 647, known as the O manuscript. This is based on the Liber, but reorganised into a listing of the acts of the various abbots and bishops. Blake, in his edition of the Liber, calls that and related works the Chronicon Abbatum et Episcoporum Eliensium. Another related work is contained in Trinity College, Cambridge MS O.2.41, which contains the Libellus of Æthelwold and an Ely cartulary. Two other related works containing just cartularies are British Library Cotton MS Tiberius A vi and Cambridge University Library Ely Diocesan Register Liber M.
in its Camden Third Series, edited by E. O. Blake. The edition contains the Latin text along with some Old English texts, but no translation. Janet Fairweather has produced a recent English translation of the Latin, published in 2005 by the Boydell Press. Parts of the Liber were edited by D. J. Stewart and published by the Anglia Christiana Society in 1848. Other extracts were published in various works, including parts of Book I that were included in Volume 2 of Jean Mabillon
's nine-volume Acta Sanctorum
, printed between 1688 and 1701. Another set of extracts, mainly consisting of parts of Book II, was compiled by Roger Gale's father Thomas Gale
, as part of his Historicae Britannicae Scriptores XV, published at Oxford in 1691.
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration. Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors,...
. Composed in three books, it was written at Ely Abbey on the island of Ely
Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about by road from London. It is built on a Lower Greensand island, which at a maximum elevation of is the highest land in the Fens...
in the fenland
The Fens
The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....
s of eastern Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
. Ely Abbey became the cathedral
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...
of a newly formed bishopric
Diocese of Ely
The Diocese of Ely is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury. It is headed by the Bishop of Ely, who sits at Ely Cathedral in Ely. There is one suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon. The diocese now covers Cambridgeshire and western Norfolk...
in 1109. Traditionally the author of the anonymous work has been given as Richard or Thomas, two monks at Ely, one of whom, Richard, has been identified with an official of the monastery, but some historians hold that neither Richard nor Thomas was the author.
The Liber covers the period from the founding of the abbey in 673 until the middle of the 12th century, building on a number of earlier historical works. It incorporates documents and stories of saints' lives
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
and is a typical example of a kind of local history produced during the latter part of the 12th century, similar to a number of books written at other English monasteries. The longest of the contemporary local histories, it describes the devastation caused by the disorders during the reign of King Stephen
Stephen, King of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
as well an account of the career of Nigel, the Bishop of Ely
Bishop of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire , together with a section of north-west Norfolk and has its see in the City of Ely, Cambridgeshire, where the seat is located at the...
from 1133 to 1169, and his disputes with King Stephen. Other themes are the miracles worked by the monastery's patron saint, Æthelthryth
Æthelthryth
Æthelthryth is the proper name for the popular Anglo-Saxon saint often known, particularly in a religious context, as Etheldreda or by the pet form of Audrey...
, and the gifts of land to Ely.
The two surviving complete manuscripts of the work are complemented by a number of partial manuscripts. A printed version of the Latin text appeared in 1963 and an English translation was published in 2005, although extracts had appeared in print earlier. The Liber Eliensis is an important source of historical information for the region and period it covers, and particularly for the abbey and bishopric of Ely.
Background and authorship
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...
when it was converted into a bishopric in 1109. The historian Elisabeth van Houts believes that it was written in two stages: first under Bishop Hervey le Breton
Hervey le Breton
Hervey le Breton was a Breton cleric who became Bishop of Bangor in Wales and later Bishop of Ely in England. Appointed to Bangor by King William II of England, when Normans were advancing into Wales, Hervey was unable to remain in his diocese when the Welsh began to drive the Normans back from...
, in office from 1109 to 1133; and continued under Bishop Geoffrey Ridel, who served from 1173 to 1189. For van Houts, the first stage was the translation of an Old English work into Latin, commissioned by Bishop Hervey. The rest of the work, van Houts argues, was composed in the 1170s. However, E. O. Blake, who edited the first Latin printing of the work, concludes that the Liber was probably composed in three parts, based on its contents; the first book of the Liber was begun after 1131, when one of the sources used in the Liber was completed. The second has a preface apologising for the delay in its completion, and could not have been started before 1154, as it records events from that year. The third and final book was completed between 1169, when Bishop Nigel died and whose death is mentioned in the book, and 1174, when a new bishop was appointed. As there is no mention of Nigel's replacement, Blake states that this suggests that book three was finished before the new bishop took office.
Traditionally the work was ascribed to either Thomas or Richard, two monks of Ely mentioned in the text. The historian Antonia Gransden
Antonia Gransden
Antonia Gransden, English historian and medievalist, is former Reader in Medieval History at the University of Nottingham. She is author of a number of works in medieval historiography, most notably the large two volume study Historical Writing in England....
is inclined to believe that the work is by Richard, who is usually identified with the Richard who was recorded as sub-prior and prior
Prior
Prior is an ecclesiastical title, derived from the Latin adjective for 'earlier, first', with several notable uses.-Monastic superiors:A Prior is a monastic superior, usually lower in rank than an Abbot. In the Rule of St...
of Ely, holding the latter office from 1177 until some time between 1189 and 1194. Blake thinks that Richard was the author, but he considers the evidence to be inconclusive. Janet Fairweather, a classicist and a recent translator of the Liber, suggests that it may have been written by someone other than the traditional candidates. Whoever the author, the Liber specifically states that it was written at the bidding of some members of the monastic community at Ely.
The Liber is one of a number of monastic histories written during the middle and later 12th century, when a number of monasteries in northern and southern England produced works devoted to recording the histories of their religious houses and local areas. In the south, these included the Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis
Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis
The Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis or History of the Church of Abingdon was a medieval chronicle written at Abingdon Abbey in England in the 12th century.-Background:The Historia is one of a number of monastic histories...
of Abingdon Abbey
Abingdon Abbey
Abingdon Abbey was a Benedictine monastery also known as St Mary's Abbey located in Abingdon, historically in the county of Berkshire but now in Oxfordshire, England.-History:...
, the Chronicon Abbatiae Rameseiensis of Ramsey Abbey
Ramsey Abbey
Ramsey Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey located in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, England, southeast of Peterborough and north of Huntingdon, UK.-History:...
, the Chronicon Angliae Petriburgense of Peterborough Abbey, a history of the see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
of Bath and Wells
Diocese of Bath and Wells
The Diocese of Bath and Wells is a diocese in the Church of England Province of Canterbury in England.The diocese covers the county of Somerset and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells is located in the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew in the tiny city of...
, and the Chronicon Monasterii de Bello of Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey is a partially ruined abbey complex in the small town of Battle in East Sussex, England. The abbey was built on the scene of the Battle of Hastings and dedicated to St...
. The northern histories record the foundation stories of the various Cistercian houses in the north, along with other information relating to those houses. Those from the south, including the Liber Eliensis, mainly concern themselves with the various controversies involving their respective religious houses. The northern histories are less concerned with controversy, and overall are more prone to hagiography
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
.
Sources
To a large extent the work is composite; that is, it is a compilation borrowing or at least using earlier sources. These include the early medieval writer BedeBede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
The Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum is a work in Latin by Bede on the history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between Roman and Celtic Christianity.It is considered to be one of the most important original references on...
, a chronicle that was associated with Bede's De temporum ratione
De temporum ratione
The Reckoning of Time is an Anglo-Saxon era treatise written in Latin by the Northumbrian monk Bede in 725. The treatise includes an introduction to the traditional ancient and medieval view of the cosmos, including an explanation of how the spherical earth influenced the changing length of...
, the Chronicon ex chronicis, and William of Poitiers
William of Poitiers
William of Poitiers was a Norman chronicler most famous for his eulogistic account of Duke William of Normandy , called the Gesta Guillelmi II ducis Normannorum.-Life:...
' Gesta Guillelmi II ducis Normannorum. Lesser-used sources include the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
, Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis was an English chronicler of Norman ancestry who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th and 12th century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. The modern biographer of Henry I of England, C...
' Historia Ecclesiastica, Stephen of Ripon's Vita Sancti Wilfrithi
Vita Sancti Wilfrithi
The Vita Sancti Wilfrithi or Life of St Wilfrid is an early 8th-century hagiographic text recounting the life of the Northumbrian bishop, Wilfrid. Although a hagiography, it has few miracles, while its main concerns are with the politics of the Northumbrian church and the history of the...
, William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. C. Warren Hollister so ranks him among the most talented generation of writers of history since Bede, "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in the literature of classical,...
's Gesta pontificum Anglorum
Gesta pontificum Anglorum
The Gesta Pontificum Anglorum or Deeds of the English Bishops was a medieval literary work by William of Malmesbury covering the history of the English episcopate...
, a list of the kings of Wessex, the Old English poem The Battle of Maldon
The Battle of Maldon
The Battle of Maldon is the name given to an Old English poem of uncertain date celebrating the real Battle of Maldon of 991, at which the Anglo-Saxons failed to prevent a Viking invasion...
, and a number of saints' lives, including some written by Eadmer
Eadmer
Eadmer, or Edmer , was an English historian, theologian, and ecclesiastic. He is known for being a contemporary biographer of his contemporary archbishop and companion, Saint Anselm, in his Vita Anselmi, and for his Historia novorum in Anglia, which presents the public face of Anselm...
, Felix, Abbo of Fleury
Abbo of Fleury
Abbo of Fleury , also known as Abbon or Saint Abbo was a monk, and later abbot, of the Benedictine monastery of Fleury sur Loire near Orléans, France....
, Goscelin
Goscelin
Goscelin of Saint-Bertin was a Benedictine hagiographical writer, born between 1020–1035 and who died shortly after 1107...
, and Osbern of Canterbury. The work on Maldon was included because the hero of the work was Byrhtnoth
Byrhtnoth
Byrhtnoth was a 10th century Ealdorman of Essex. His name is composed of Old English beorht and noth ....
, a patron of the monastery.
Works more directly related to Ely were also used. The primary one of these works was Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester
Æthelwold of Winchester
Æthelwold of Winchester , was Bishop of Winchester from 963 to 984 and one of the leaders of the tenth century monastic reform movement in Anglo-Saxon England....
's Libellus, large parts of which were copied into the Liber Eliensis. Also incorporated into the Liber was an earlier Vita, or saints' life, on Æthelthryth, the founder and first abbess of Ely. A work on the benefactors of the abbey was also used, and the material from three surviving cartularies. These documents were translated from their original Old English into Latin by the compiler. Another source, as related in the Liber itself, was a work about Hereward written by a brother monk known as Richard. Modern historians have identified it with the Gesta Herwardi
Gesta Herwardi
The Gesta Herewardi is the name of a Latin text probably written around 1109-31, recounting the deeds of Hereward the Wake. The Latin text of about 1109-31 claims to be a translation of an earlier work in Old English, with gaps in the damaged original filled out from oral history...
known from a 13th-century manuscript. It is, however, unclear whether the compiler of the Liber used the exact text of the Gesta as it has come down to us, or a different, earlier manuscript.
Some of these sources may originally have been oral works. A number of the stories in the narrative parts of the Liber resemble Scandinavian sagas, including the story about King Cnut visiting the monastery and singing an Anglo-Saxon song to the assembled monks. It is possible that the information on Hereward and Byrhtnoth originally came from orally transmitted tales that were written down.
Contents
The work is traditionally divided into three books. Along with the history in Book I the first section also contains a prologue and a preface. It discusses the founding of the Abbey of Ely and the background of the foundress, Æthelthryth. The first book also deals with the history of the abbey and its abbesses until the Danish invasions of the 9th century. A description of the destruction of the abbey by the Danes and of King Edgar's (reigned 959–975) rule concludes the book. The second book, Book II, begins with the restoration of the abbey during Edgar's reign, under Bishop Æthelwold. Accounts of the subsequent abbots until the last, Richard, are included in Book II, as well as numerous charters and other documents. The final book, Book III, contains information on the conversion of the abbey to a bishopric, and on the first few bishops; it concludes with a description of the martyrdom of Thomas BecketThomas Becket
Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...
. Interspersed with the historical narrative are a number of documents and charters relating to the bishops.
The work also depicts the devastations caused by the disorders
The Anarchy
The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter was a period of English history during the reign of King Stephen, which was characterised by civil war and unsettled government...
during King Stephen's
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
(d. 1154) reign. The chronicler states that when the harvest failed this combined with the pillaging of the area to produce a famine. The work describes the area around the abbey for 20 – as being filled with unburied corpses, and that the price of a bushel of grain rose to 200 pence. The long descriptions of Nigel of Ely's disputes with King Stephen lead to a discussion of the Battle of Lincoln
Battle of Lincoln (1141)
The Battle of Lincoln or First Battle of Lincoln occurred on 2 February 1141. In it Stephen of England was captured, imprisoned and effectively deposed while Empress Matilda ruled for a short time.-Account:...
and other matters not directly related to Ely. The Liber gives a detailed account of Nigel's career, although in general the chronicle's author favours Stephen over his own bishop. The ascension of King Henry II
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
to the English throne is considered to be an excellent event, and the Liber praises the new king.
An important part of the work was devoted to the miracles and glorification of Ely's patroness, Saint Æthelthryth. The very beginning of the work incorporates an earlier Vita, or Life, of Æthelthryth, which resembles the Vitae of other saints written by Goscelin in the 11th century; Goscelin is known to have visited Ely. The work may have helped to increase the number of pilgrims visiting Ely, as well as enabling the monks to better explain the history of earlier donations to the abbey. Many of the gifts to the abbey church are described, such as the altar cloth donated by Queen Emma (d. 1052), wife of both Æthelred II (d. 1016) and King Cnut (d. 1035), with a short history of the circumstances of the gift. The miracle stories frequently say that those who wished cures or miracles similar to those in the Liber would need to come to the monastery, where they could make a donation. The historian Jennifer Paxton argues that increasing pilgrimage to the monastery was one of the main goals of the compilers of the Liber.
Another concern of the chronicle was the acquisition of land by the abbey. The work incorporates three pre-existing inventories of the abbey's possessions, and records each gift to the abbey, giving the grantor and occasionally details of the grantor's life. This detailed record of the various rights and possessions of the abbey was useful if those possessions needed to be defended against outside or inside conflicts. The Liber was used by the monks to defend their claims to be the real heirs of the abbey's rights and property rather than the bishops, after the conversion of the abbey into a bishopric. The chronicle also records the division of property between the monks and the newly appointed bishop. According to the chronicler, the division took place during the episcopate of the first bishop, Hervey le Breton, and was characterised as barely adequate for the needs of the monks. Later the chronicle records documents from the bishops that defined the separation between the monks and the episcopate. The chronicle also records the conflict between the abbey and various Bishops of Lincoln
Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...
, which had continued until the abbey became a bishopric in 1109.
A third theme of the work is the stress on the importance and number of distinguished burials that took place at Ely. They would have increased the desire of others to be buried there, which would have benefited the community by the donations that would have flowed from those wishing to secure their burial. The Liber stresses the burials of Æthelstan
Athelstan (bishop)
Athelstan was a medieval Bishop of Elmham.He was consecrated between 995 and 997 and died in office on 7 October 1001.-External links:*...
, a Bishop of Elmham, that of Ælfwine
Ælfwine of Elmham
Ælfwine was a medieval Bishop of Elmham.He was consecrated before 1019 and died on 12 April between 1023 and 1038.-External links:*...
, another Bishop of Elmham, and Wulfstan II, an Archbishop of York
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
.
Influence
The Liber was familiar to the 13th-century chronicler Matthew ParisMatthew Paris
Matthew Paris was a Benedictine monk, English chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire...
, who used it along with the Chronicon Abbatiae Rameseiensis of Ramsey Abbey in his own historical works. Another 13th-century English writer, Roger of Wendover
Roger of Wendover
Roger of Wendover , probably a native of Wendover in Buckinghamshire, was an English chronicler of the 13th century.At an uncertain date he became a monk at St Albans Abbey; afterwards he was appointed prior of the cell of Belvoir, but he forfeited this dignity in the early years of Henry III,...
, was also aware of the Liber.
Some of the information contained in the Liber is important to historians. It is in the Liber that the first statement that Æthelwold translated the Benedictine Rule into Old English is made. The Liber is the longest of the local histories produced in England during the 12th century, and it contains a description of the royal chancery
Chancery (medieval office)
Chancery is a general term for a medieval writing office, responsible for the production of official documents. The title of chancellor, for the head of the office, came to be held by important ministers in a number of states, and remains the title of the heads of government in modern Germany,...
, which might be the earliest evidence for the existence of that office in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom. The Liber describes how King Edgar (d. 975) granted the abbey the office of chancellor
Chancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
(head of the chancery), but the authenticity of the passage is unclear. The existence of a formal chancery office in Anglo-Saxon England before the Norman Conquest
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
is a matter of some debate amongst historians.
The historian Dorothy Whitelock
Dorothy Whitelock
Dorothy Whitelock was an English historian. Her best-known work is English Historical Documents, vol. I: c. 500-1042, which she edited...
says of the work that it is "unique among post-Conquest monastic histories". It was written to help buttress the claims of Ely to a judicial liberty, or the exercise of all the royal rights within a hundred. To do this, the Liber collected together earlier sources used to help the abbey evade episcopal control, prior to the abbey becoming a bishopric. These documents may have been forged or had their contents doctored to help the abbey's cause. Because of the tendentious nature of the collection, the work is used by historians with great caution. Despite the untrustworthy nature of the Liber and the documents preserved therein, it remains a valuable source for the history of the time period it covers, as well as the internal history of the abbey and bishopric. The historian Antonia Gransden characterises the Liber as "valuable for general history", but qualifies by saying that "the whole lacks unity and has errors and confusing repetitions".
Manuscripts
The work survives in two complete manuscripts (MS), that of Trinity College, CambridgeTrinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
MS O.2.1, usually known as the E manuscript; and one in the possession of Ely Cathedral Chapter
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...
, usually known as the F manuscript. The E manuscript dates from the late 12th century, and shows three different scribal hands
Hand (handwriting)
A Hand, in calligraphy and palaeography refers to one of several historical varieties of formal, impersonal, generic and exemplary writing styles...
. The F manuscript dates to the early 13th century, with four scribal hands. The E manuscript was given to Trinity College as part of the Gale Collection by Roger Gale
Roger Gale (antiquary)
Roger Gale was an English scholar and antiquary as well as a Member of Parliament for Northallerton. His father was an ecclesiastic and professor at Cambridge, which the younger Gale also attended. After his graduation, Gale briefly served as a diplomat in France, as well as holding a position as...
in 1738. The F manuscript has remained at Ely since its creation, and is the only manuscript at Ely still remaining from the medieval monastic library.
As well as the two complete manuscripts, a number of other manuscripts contain parts of the whole work. British Museum MS Cotton
Cotton library
The Cotton or Cottonian library was collected privately by Sir Robert Bruce Cotton M.P. , an antiquarian and bibliophile, and was the basis of the British Library...
Titus A.i, usually known as the G manuscript, has part of Book II, and dates from the late 12th or early 13th century. British Museum Cotton Domitian xv, known as the B manuscript, dates from the late 13th or early 14th century and includes some other material along with Book I and the same parts of Book II as in manuscript G. Another Cottononian manuscript, British Museum MS Cotton Vespasian A.xix, has parts of Book III, and dates to between 1257 and 1286. This manuscript is usually known as the A manuscript.
The relationships between the various extant manuscripts is complex, and a definitive scheme of how the various manuscripts relate to each other cannot be made. Blake, in his edition of the Liber, suggests that Book I once existed as a stand-alone work, which influenced the B manuscript. A separate Book II, with parts of Book III, was then written and combined with the stand-alone Book I, into either manuscript E or an earlier version of that manuscript. Book II was then revised, combined with parts of G, Book I, and parts of E to make manuscript F.
Related manuscripts include Bodleian Library
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
Oxford MS Laud 647, known as the O manuscript. This is based on the Liber, but reorganised into a listing of the acts of the various abbots and bishops. Blake, in his edition of the Liber, calls that and related works the Chronicon Abbatum et Episcoporum Eliensium. Another related work is contained in Trinity College, Cambridge MS O.2.41, which contains the Libellus of Æthelwold and an Ely cartulary. Two other related works containing just cartularies are British Library Cotton MS Tiberius A vi and Cambridge University Library Ely Diocesan Register Liber M.
Printing history
Liber Eliensis has been published by the Royal Historical SocietyRoyal Historical Society
The Royal Historical Society was founded in 1868. The premier society in the United Kingdom which promotes and defends the scholarly study of the past, it is based at University College London...
in its Camden Third Series, edited by E. O. Blake. The edition contains the Latin text along with some Old English texts, but no translation. Janet Fairweather has produced a recent English translation of the Latin, published in 2005 by the Boydell Press. Parts of the Liber were edited by D. J. Stewart and published by the Anglia Christiana Society in 1848. Other extracts were published in various works, including parts of Book I that were included in Volume 2 of Jean Mabillon
Jean Mabillon
Jean Mabillon was a French Benedictine monk and scholar, considered the founder of palaeography and diplomatics.-Early career:...
's nine-volume Acta Sanctorum
Acta Sanctorum
Acta Sanctorum is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, which is organised according to each saint's feast day. It begins with two January volumes, published in 1643, and ended with the Propylaeum to...
, printed between 1688 and 1701. Another set of extracts, mainly consisting of parts of Book II, was compiled by Roger Gale's father Thomas Gale
Thomas Gale
Thomas Gale was an English classical scholar, antiquarian and cleric.-Life:He was born at Scruton, Yorkshire...
, as part of his Historicae Britannicae Scriptores XV, published at Oxford in 1691.