Old English Libraries | Page 4

to Mr. W. T. Carter, Public Librarian of Warwick; also to my
brother, V. M. Savage, for his drawings. The general editor of this
series, the Rev. J. Charles Cox, LL.D., F.S.A., gave me much help by
reading the manuscript and proofs; and I am grateful to him for many
courtesies and suggestions.
ERNEST A. SAVAGE

CONTENTS
I. THE USE OF BOOKS IN EARLY IRISH MONASTERIES
II. THE ENGLISH MONKS AND THEIR BOOKS
III. LIBRARIES OF THE GREAT ABBEYS--BOOK-LOVERS
AMONG THE MENDICANTS--DISPERSAL OF MONKISH
LIBRARIES
IV. BOOK MAKING AND COLLECTING IN THE RELIGIOUS
HOUSES
V. CATHEDRAL AND CHURCH LIBRARIES
VI. ACADEMIC LIBRARIES: OXFORD
VII. ACADEMIC LIBRARIES: CAMBRIDGE
VIII. ACADEMIC LIBRARIES: THEIR ECONOMY
IX. THE USE OF BOOKS TOWARDS THE END OF THE
MANUSCRIPT PERIOD
X. THE BOOK TRADE
XI. THE CHARACTER OF THE MEDIEVAL LIBRARY, AND THE
EXTENT OF CIRCULATION OF BOOKS

OLD ENGLISH LIBRARIES

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY--THE USE OF BOOKS IN EARLY IRISH
MONASTERIES
"What tyme pat abbeies were first ordeyned and monkis were first

gadered to gydre." --Inscribed in MS. of Life of Barlaam and Josaphat,
Peterhouse, Camb.
Section I
To people of modern times early monachism must seem an unbeautiful
and even offensive life. True piety was exceptional, fanaticism the rule.
Ideals which were surely false impelled men to lead a life of idleness
and savage austerity,--to sink very near the level of beasts, as did the
Nitrian hermits when they murdered Hypatia in Alexandria. But this
view does not give the whole truth. To shut out a wicked and sensual
world, with its manifold temptations, seemed the only possible way to
live purely. To get far beyond the influence of a barbaric society,
utterly antagonistic to peaceful religious observance, was clearly the
surest means of achieving personal holiness. Monachism was a system
designed for these ends. Throughout the Middle Ages it was the
refuge--the only refuge--for the man who desired to flee from sin. Such,
at any rate, was the truly religious man's view. And if monkish retreats
sheltered some ignorant fanatics, they also attracted many
representatives of the culture and learning of the time. This was bound
to be so. At all times solitude has been pleasant to the student and
thinker, or to the moody lover of books.
By great good fortune, then, the studious occupations which did so
much to soften monkish austerities in the Middle Ages, were
recognised early as needful to the system. Even the ascetics by the Red
Sea and in Nitria did not deprive themselves of all literary solace,
although the more fanatical would abjure it, and many would be too
poor to have it. The Rule of Pachomius, founder of the settlements of
Tabenna, required the brethren's books to be kept in a cupboard and
regulated lending them. These libraries are referred to in Benedict's
own Rule. We hear of St. Pachomius destroying a copy of Origen,
because the teaching in it was obnoxious; of Abba Bischoi writing an
ascetic work, a copy of which is extant; of anchorites under St.
Macarius of Alexandria transcribing books; and of St. Jerome
collecting a library summo studio et labore, copying manuscripts and
studying Hebrew at his hermitage even after a formal renunciation of

the classics, and then again, at the end of his life, bringing together
another library at Bethlehem monastery, and instructing boys in
grammar and in classic authors. Basil the Great, when founding
eremitical settlements on the river Iris in Pontus, spent some time in
making selections from Origen. St. Melania the younger wrote books
which were noted for their beauty and accuracy. And when Athanasius
introduced Eastern monachism into Italy, and St. Martin of Tours and
John Cassian carried it farther afield into Gaul, the same work went on.
In the cells and caves of Martin's community at Marmoutier the
younger monks occupied their time in writing and sacred study, and the
older monks in prayer.[1] Sulpicius Severus (c. 353-425), the
ecclesiastical historian, preferred retirement, literary study, and the
friendship and teaching of St. Martin to worldly pursuits. At the famous
island community of Lerins, in South Gaul, were instructed some of the
most celebrated scholars of the West, among them St. Hilary. "Such
were their piety and learning that all the cities round about strove
emulously to have monks from Lerins for their bishops."[2] Another
centre of studious occupation was the monastery of Germanus of
Auxerre; while near Vienne was a community where St. Avitus (c. 525)
could earn the high reputation for holiness and learning which won him
a metropolitan see. Many other facts and incidents prove the literary
pursuits of the Gallic ascetics; as, for example, the reputation the nuns
of Arles in the sixth century won for their writing; and the curious story
of Apollinaris Sidonius driving after a monk who was carrying