In these two volumes, Veronica O’Mara and Virginia Blanton demonstrate just how much can be learned in the study of a single manuscript, CUL Add. 2604. They offer us a rich, previously unpublished, collection of medieval English saint’s lives. Their work on the manuscript has extended over several years and involves multiple methodological approaches. In simple terms, Volume 1 analyzes the manuscript and Volume 2 provides the edition and commentary on the saints’ lives.
The central questions facing the authors of this work are who wrote the manuscript and for whom. In seeking answers to these questions, O’Mara and Blanton examine the material nature of the manuscript, the language and dialect of the lives, the potential convents that might have commissioned or received the lives, the hagiographical context, and the potential Latin sources or analogues of the English lives. They then reflect on how the manuscript was read (communally, individually, etc.). In some sense, Volume 1 offers a tutorial on how to approach a medieval manuscript that has not previously been studied and is not clearly identified with any specific institution or person.
The detailed description of the manuscript covers the usual matters of materials, hands, date, decoration, collation, and content. Additionally, the authors examine various ownership notations in great detail, looking for clues about the origin of the volume from its post-medieval history. The eight color plates are a very helpful adjunct to this discussion. From this analysis, the authors conclude that Add. 2604 “is an example of East Anglian work from the later fifteenth century or beyond that is heavily influenced by Flemish style. (I: 20) There are twenty-two saints lives contained in the manuscript, nineteen of which are women. The authors distinguish between the eleven “universal” saints and the eleven “native” (or insular) saints. The presence of so many women saints, many of them abbesses and nuns, leads the authors to conclude that the manuscript was created for a nunnery.
A detailed linguistic analysis grounds the authors’ work in Chapter 2, using the 280 diagnostic features in the Linguistic Atlas of Late Mediaeval English. They conclude that while there is no decisive evidence for a specific localization within East Anglia, the area around Bury St. Edmunds is the most likely milieu. In Chapter 3, they then examine possible convents in the area of East Anglia to see which ones might be likely candidates to have owned the volume. When an examination of the dedication of convents, the libraries of the selected group, and other features do not lead to a definitive conclusion, the authors move to consider the post-medieval owners of the book. While they ultimately land on the house at Thetford as their choice, they acknowledge that there is no definitive proof.
In Chapters 4 and 5, the authors turn to the hagiographical content of Add. 2604, attempting to find the Latin text(s) from which the translator/scribe created the middle English texts. Much of the material that is covered here forms the basis for the detailed analysis of each text found in Volume. 2. Despite being able to track sources for many of the lives, the authors are not able to localize a specific source that the medieval translator worked from. In the final chapter, the authors look at the way the translator shaped these well-known stories and speculate on their use in a nunnery.
One of the most fascinating aspects of this book is that again and again the authors track down small minutiae in order to find answers to the questions they raise and they end up without definitive answers. This experience is of course not uncommon for scholars of medieval manuscripts. O’Mara and Blanton take us along on their journey to understand Add. 2604 and I enjoyed the ride.
Volume 2 opens with a short introduction recapping the conclusions of the first volume. It is then divided into two main parts: the edition of “the Lyves and Dethes” (p. 16–158) and the ‘Overviews and Commentaries (p. 159–432). The lives themselves take the reader into the world of medieval hagiography in a very accessible way. The Middle English is quite readable for the modern English speaker and a selective glossary at the back offers translations for some of the less obvious words. Some of the saints are well known (e.g., John the Baptist) whereas others are known only to those who study medieval English history (e.g., Saint Werburgh). The overviews provide useful information about both the saints and the sources of their lives. The commentaries are exceedingly detailed, offering in many cases the Latin text on which certain lines are based.
Overall, this is a beautifully produced book starting with its colorful cover. The index of Volume 1 is not always easy to navigate. For example, one heading is “Religious Houses, male/dual,” whereas the corresponding female houses are listed under “Convents, female, in East Anglia and Beyond.” I noticed a few issues with numbering in Volume 2: the header for the Life of Seynt Audry of Hely is mislabeled as 6 instead of 7 (p. 58–64) which is especially confusing because in the commentaries she is called by her Anglo-Saxon name Æthelthryth; on p. 72 the header lists “A Shorte Life Seynt Erkengoode” as 1 instead of 11. However, these are small quibbles about the production of this attractive publication.
While the two volumes form a set, each volume also can stand alone. For those who are interested in manuscript studies, Volume 1 demonstrates several methodological approaches. For those whose focus is hagiography, the introduction to Volume 2 situates their lives efficiently and effectively.
