Calendars and Obits

A register of the surviving records of liturgical commemoration in Anglo-Saxon England: the libri vitae, martyrologies, obituaries and calendars in which religious houses entered the names and death-days of their bishops, abbots, monks, benefactors and kings, arranged by the houses where the records were kept.

0religious houses
0records of commemoration
0catalogued by Gerchow
0lost or untraced

The purpose of these pages is to provide a list of the principal surviving products of liturgical commemoration, arranged according to the religious houses where the various records were kept. Obits, and records of benefactions; includes groups of 'Anglo-Saxon' obits which occur in necrologies, etc., compiled after the Conquest, on the assumption that such obits were derived from pre-Conquest sources. All in need of further analysis and refinement. Importance of this material for historical purposes, in relation to the dating of charters, details of episcopal and abbatial succession, and histories of the religious houses concerned. Etc., etc.

By kind: Martyrology 7 · Calendar 7 · Manuscript 7 · Liber Vitae 5 · Obituary 2 · Chronicle 1 · Custumary 1 · Breviary 1

Abingdon

3 records
  • MartyrologyG 18Martyrology with obits (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 57)Extensive collection of obits in the margins: G 18 ; LV, p. 59, n. 89.
  • Calendars. xiiiCalendar (Cambridge, University Library, Kk.i.23)Includes a few pre-Conquest obits (abbots and kings).
  • CalendarMissal and calendar (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Digby 226)Includes a few pre-Conquest obits (abbots and kings).

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Canterbury, Christ Church

6 records
  • Obituarys. xiiG 22Obituary (BL Cotton Nero C. ix, fols. 19-21, + Lambeth Palace MS. 430, flyleaves)G 22 ; Fleming, pp. 124-6; LV, p. 60, n. 91.
  • Martyrologys. xii'Old Martyrology' (BL Royal 7 E. VI)LV, pp. 60, n. 91, and 61, n. 103 .
  • ManuscriptBL Cotton Galba E. iii, pt 2, fols. 32-4Fleming, pp. 126-30; LV, p. 60, n. 91.
  • Martyrologys. xiiiG 25'New Martyrology' (BL Cotton Nero C. ix, fols. 3-18)G 25 ; Fleming, pp. 130-48; LV, p. 60, n. 91.
  • Martyrologys. xvMartyrology (BL Arundel 68, fols. 12-52)Incorporates numerous 'Anglo-Saxon' obits
  • Martyrologys. xviMartyrology (London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS. 20, fols. 157-248)

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Canterbury, St Augustine's abbey

2 records
  • MartyrologyMartyrology with obits (BL Cotton Vitellius C. xii)Wormald, English Drawings , pp. 55, 61; LV, pp. 60, n. 92, and 61, n. 104.
  • Manuscripts. xiiiCanterbury, Chapter Library, MS. E. 19, fols. 32-7C. L. Feltoe, Three Canterbury Kalendars (London, 1922)

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Crowland

1 record
  • CalendarG 14Obits in a calendar (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Douce 296)Obits of Edward the Exile (d. 1057) and other æthelings. G 14 .

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Ely

1 record
  • CalendarG 24Obits in a calendar (Cambridge, Trinity College, MS. O.2.1)Obits of bishops, abbots, monks, and benefactors. G 24 ; LV, p. 60, n. 93.

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Glastonbury

3 records
  • CalendarObits from a calendar (William of Malmesbury)Scott, p. 138; LV, p. 61, n. 99.
  • Custumarys. xiiiObits in a custumary (BL Add. 17450)Blows, 'Glastonbury Obit-List', pp. 263-9.
  • Liber VitaeLiber Vitae (lost)See LV, p. 59, n. 84

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Lindisfarne, Chester-le-Street, and Durham

1 record
  • Liber VitaeG ALiber Vitae (BL Cotton Domitian A. vii)G A .

Peterborough

2 records
  • Manuscripts. xiii/xivLondon, Society of Antiquaries, MS. 59, fols. 26-31Obits of abbots.
  • Liber VitaeLiber Vitae (lost)See LV, p. 59, n. 85

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Winchester, New Minster

3 records
  • Liber VitaeG BLiber Vitae (BL Btowe 944)G B .
  • CalendarG 17Obits in a calendar (BL Cotton Titus D. xxvi + xxvii)G 17 .
  • BreviaryMonastic Breviary of Hyde Abbey (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Gough Liturg. 8)Obits in a calendar. J. B. L. Tolhurst, The Monastic Breviary of Hyde Abbey, Winchester , vol. 5, Henry Bradshaw Society (London, 1934)

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Worcester

2 records
  • ManuscriptG 20Oxford, Bodleian Library, Hatton 113G 20 ; LV, p. 59, n. 86.
  • ManuscriptG 21Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 391Obits connected with Bishop Wulfstan II and his circle. G 21 .

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Bibliography 7
  • Blows , Matthew, 'A Glastonbury Obit-List', The Archaeology and History of Glastonbury Abbey , ed. L. Abrams and J. P. Carley (Woodbridge, 1991), pp. 257-69
  • Fleming , Robin, 'Christchurch's Sisters and Brothers: an Edition and Discussion of Canterbury Obituary Lists', The Culture of Christendom , ed. Marc Anthony Meyer (London, 1993), pp. 115-53
  • Gerchow , Jan, Die Gedenküberlieferung der Angelsachsen. Mit einem Katalog der libri vitae und Necrologien , Arbeiten zur Frühmittelalterforschung 20 (Berlin and New York, 1988), cited below as <G>, with number
  • Keynes , Simon, Handbook of British Chronology , 3rd ed., ed. E. B. Fryde, D. E. Greenway, S. Porter, and I. Roy (London, 1986), pp. 211-12 (obits)
  • Keynes , Simon, ed., The Liber Vitae of the New Minster and Hyde Abbey, Winchester , Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile 26 (Copenhagen, 1996), pp. 49-65, on liturgical commemoration in Anglo-Saxon England, cited below as LV
  • Knowles , David, et al ., ed., The Heads of Religious Houses England and Wales 940-1216 (Cambridge, 1972)
  • Wormald , Francis, ed., English Kalendars before A.D. 1100 , Henry Bradshaw Society 72 (1934, reptd 1988); vol. 2, with 'an appendix of obits', was never published.

Transferred from the earlier Kemble website (Trinity College, Cambridge, 2000), where the list was headed “Liturgical commemoration in Anglo-Saxon England” and marked under construction; reformatted here with the wording unchanged. “G” numbers refer to the catalogue in Gerchow (1988); “LV” to Keynes, The Liber Vitae of the New Minster (1996). The provisional list in the Handbook of British Chronology (1986), pp. 211–12, remains to be incorporated.