1. The heritage of the book in Devon and Exeter
D-12
The book and writing in
Saxon Devon
A series of presentations
to celebrate the designation
of Exeter
as UNESCO city of literature
in 2019
The book fool, from The ship of fools,
translated by Alexander Barclay in 1509.
The first book by a Devon writer
to appear in print.
2. British Library Cotton Ch XI 11
Date: 15th century
Title: Grant of King Æthelstan of England (924–939) to the minster of Saints Mary and
Peter, Exeter
Content: King Æthelstan grants five hides (cassati) at Culmstock, Devon, to the minster of
Saints Mary and Peter, Exeter; dated 670 for 924 × 939, with English bounds (Sawyer, no.
386). Endorsed in various hands, ‘to Culumstoce’; ‘Regis Æðelstani donatio Qulumstoc’;
‘Carta de Columstoke’.
3. Boniface – the patron saint of Devon
675? Born, perhaps in Crediton.
690? Entered monastery of St Mary and St Peter in Exeter.
695? Moved to monastery at Nursling.
700? Teaches at abbey school.
705? Consecrated priest.
716 Mission to Frisia
717 Pope Gregory II renames him as Bonifatius
720? Fells the Donar oak tree near Fritzlar
723 Under the protection of Charles Martel
732 Pope Gregory III appoints him Archbishop of Germany.
735? Founds monastery at Tauberbischofsheim
737 Appointed papal legate to Germany
742 Abbey of Fulda founded by Boniface and disciple Sturm
743 Organises Concilium Germanicum
745 Appointed Archbishop of Mainz by Charles Martel
754 Mission to Frisia
754 Martyred in Frisia, buried in Fulda
4. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
Codex latinus monacensis
8112.
Mainz, ca. 800.
The manuscript contains one of the
earliest and most authoritative
collections of the correspondence
of Boniface and his circle.
5. Bavarian State
Library in Munich
Codex latinus
monacensis 8112),
ca 800
Folios 106r-106v
Letter from Leoba
to Boniface,
ca. 732
The correspondence of Boniface
The only surviving letter from Leoba to Boniface, written in Latin about 732 when she was still a nun
at Wimborne Abbey, Dorset. Leoba introduces herself to Boniface, who was related to her through her
mother, Æbbe and includes some Latin verses she had composed. Boniface later established
a convent in the Franconian town of Tauberbischofsheim, where she became the abbess.
7. British Library Add MS 7138
Date: 2nd half of the 10th century
Title: The Plegmund Narrative or Crediton Claim
Content: Statement of Crediton’s claim to certain estates in Cornwall, giving an
account of the purported creation of new bishops and their consecration in 905
(Winchester, Ramsbury, Sherborne, Wells, Crediton, Selsey and Dorchester), and
statement of the assignment to Crediton, on that occasion, of land at Pawton in St
Breock, Cællincg, and Lawhitton, Cornwall. Spurious.
8. Bishops of Crediton 909-1050
909 Diocese of Crediton separated from Sherborne
909-939 Eadwulf
939-953 Aethelgar
953-973 Aelfwold I
973-978 Sideman
978-986 Aelfric
986-987 Aelfwold II
987-1013 Aelfwold III
1013-1027 Eadnoth
1027-1046 Lyfing
1046-1050 Leofric
1050 Seat of the diocese moved to Exeter by Leofric
(The dates are often uncertain)
9. British Library Stowe Charter 34.
Date: 997
Content: King Æthelred grants two hides (cassati) at Sandford, Devon, to Bishop Ælfwold; dated 25 July
997, with English bounds (Sawyer, no. 890).Endorsed in a contemporary hand, ‘þis is ðara tƿeira hida land
boc æt sand forda þe æðelred cinge het gebocian algƿolde bisceope on ece yrfe.’; and in a 13th-century
hand, ‘Carta Eadel/redi regis de samforda quam dedit ealwoldo episcopo. Anno domini. dcccc
nongentesimo/ xcvii nonogesimo septimo/.’
10. British Library Cotton MS Augustus II 31
Date: 975/1025
Title: Grant of King Æthelstan of England (r. 924–939) to the bishopric of Crediton
Content: King Æthelstan grants privileges to the bishopric of Crediton in return for 60 pounds of silver; dated 933
(Sawyer, no. 421).Endorsed in a contemporary hand, ‘Libertas totius Cridiensis æclesiæ episcopatus.’Also
endorsed in a 13th-century hand, an early 14th-century hand, and in a hand of 1608.
11. 3. Penitential of Egbert. Canterbury or Sherborne, 950/1000.
Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 718.
Folio 1 recto. The illustration shows the start of the prologue of Egbert
to his Penitential (beginning: ‘Institutio illa quae fiebat). It has an
elaborate initial I made up of interlaced grotesque creatures.
The main item in the volume is an early medieval penitential handbook
composed around 740, possibly by Archbishop Egbert of York. The
volume is made up as follows : —
a (fol. viii) ‘ Incipiunt capitula libri Paenitentialis ’, 20 in number:
b (fol. i) after the title quoted above, which is on folio viii, the prologue of
Egbert to his Poenitentiale (begins: ‘Institutio illa quae fiebat ).
c (fol. 3) ‘ Haec sunt lura Sacerdotum quae tenere debent’ with the twenty-
one capitula of the Sacerdotal laws.
d (fol. 5) the actual Penitential of Egbert, the last chapter (‘xviii’) ending
‘si uolunt confiteri cum lacrimis’.
e (fol. 14) an Order of Confession, counting as chapter xix and with part of
it entitled ‘Ordo Confessionis secundum Hieronimum’. There are prayers,
litany (in which ‘Sancta’ is found), and several forms of confession, &c.
At end ‘Finis libri Paenitentialis Ecgberhti archiepiscopi’.
The twentieth chapter does not occur.
f (fol. 22) books ii, iii, and iv of a work believed to be the De Vita
Sacerdotum of Halitgarus bishop of Cambrai (d. 831), written here as if
they were bks. ii-iv of Egbert’s Excerptio.
The style of the writing and capitals of this book closely resembles that of
the Sherborne pontifical.
12. Exeter working papers
in book history
This talk is one of a series produced
during Lockdown 2020 to celebrate the
designation of Exeter as UNESCO city
of literature in 2019.
Most of them are also accessible
through the
Exeter working papers,
Devon bibliography and
Etched on Devon’s Memory
websites as part of the
World Book Heritage
initiative.
The book fool from Alexander Barclays’ translation of
The ship of fools (1509)
