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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 September 2008
By the end of the Anglo-Saxon period six feasts of the Virgin were celebrated in England; this large number represents an honour granted to no other saint. The feasts in question – the Purification, Annunciation, Assumption, Nativity, Presentation in the Temple and Conception – did not originate in England, however. Before turning to the English evidence, therefore, it is necessary to consider the background of Marian feasts at Rome and elsewhere in the context of the development of ritual from the seventh century to the eleventh.
1 See Botte, D. B., Les Origines de la Noël et de l' Épiphanie, Textes et études liturgiques 1 (Louvain, 1932).Google Scholar
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7 A sermon of Abraham of Ephesus was most probably preached on this date between 530 and 550 (see Jugie, M., ‘Homélies mariales byzantines I’, Patrologia Orientalis 16 (1922), 425–589, at 434–9Google Scholar); and Romanus (fl. c. 540) wrote a hymn for the same feast (see Fletcher, R. A., ‘Three Early Byzantine Hymns and their Place in the Liturgy of the Church at Constantinople’, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 51 (1958), 53–65)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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10 Vailhé, ‘La Fête de la présentation de Marie au temple’, Échos d' Orient 5 (1901–2), 221–4; see also Kishpaugh, M. J., The Feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple (Washington, DC, 1941), p. 36.Google Scholar
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13 Jugie, ‘La Première Fête’, pp. 144–6.
14 Les Ordines romani du haut may en âge, ed. Andrieu, M., 5 vols. (Louvain, 1931–1961) 111, 95 and 175Google Scholar; see also Billet, B., ‘Culte et dévotion à la Vierge dans l'ordre monastiquc aux viii ix siècles’, De Cultu Mariano Saeculis vi–xi: Acta Congressus mariologici–mariani internationalis in Croatia anno 1971 celebrati (Rome, 1972), pp. 203–16.Google Scholar
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22 Aldhelmi Opera, ed. Ehwald, R., Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auct. antiq. 15 (Berlin, 1919), 17Google Scholar, lines 59–65: ‘With her own birth the Virgin Mary consecrated this very day, on which the dedication of Bugga's church gleams brightly – the day which the month of August perpetually renews, when torrid Sextilis [i.e. the Roman month of August] is divided in the midst of its rotation [i.e. on 16 August]. It restores once again the joys in our minds when the feast of St Mary returns at its accustomed time, and the holy altars are redolent with the holy gifts (of incense)’ (transl. M. Lapidge and J. L. Rosier, Aldhelm: the Poetic Works (Ipswich, forthcoming)).
23 See above, p. 213.
24 Sermo CCLXXXVII: In Natali S.Joannis Baptistae (ed. Patrologia Latina 38, cols. 1301–2, at 1301).
25 Aldhelmi Opera, p. 17, note to line 60: ‘Videmus igitur de festi die Aldhelmi temporibus nondum constitisse in ecclesia.’
26 The manuscript is described by Lowe, E. A., Codices Latini Antiquiores, 12 vols. (Oxford, 1934–1972) vGoogle Scholar, no. 605; the martyrology is edited in Martyrologium Hieronymianum, ed. Rossi, G. B. and Duchesne, L., Acta Sanctorum, Nov. 11.i (Brussels, 1894)Google Scholar. See also Delehaye, H., Commentarius Perpetuus in Martyrologium Hieronymianum, Acta Sanctorum, Nov. 11.ii (Brussels, 1931).Google Scholar
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31 Ibid. p. 219.
32 The Martyrology of Tallaght, ed. Best, R. I. and Lawlor, H. J., Henry Bradshaw Soc. 68 (London, 1931)Google Scholar, and Félire Oengusso Celt Dé: the Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee, ed. Stokes, W., Henry Bradshaw Soc. 29 (London, 1905).Google Scholar
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37 Commentarius Perpetutts in Martyrologium Hieronymianum, p. 445.
38 Aldhelmi Opera, p. 16, lines 38–43: ‘During his [i.e. Ine's] reign Bugga, a humble servant of Christ, built (this) new church with its lofty structure, in which holy altars gleam in twelve-fold dedication; moreover, she dedicates the apse to the Virgin. Therefore let us all rejoicing celebrate this present day and let us chant hymns in turn to Christ the Lord!’ (transl. Lapidge and Rosier, Aldhelm: the Poetic Works).
39 Wilson, , Calendar of Willibrord, p. 19.Google Scholar
40 See Jugie, , Le Mort et l' assomption de la Sainte Vierge, pp. 200–1.Google Scholar
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46 Lowe, , Codices Latini Antiquiores ixGoogle Scholar, no. 1417; Gamber, Codices Liturgici, nos. 1001 and 1101.
47 See Morin, G., ‘Le Plus Ancien Comes ou lectionnaire de l'église romaine’, RB 27 (1910), 41–74Google Scholar, and ‘Liturgie et basiliques de Rome au milieu du viic siécle d'après les Listes d'Evangiles de Würzburg’, RB 28 (1911), 296–330.Google Scholar
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50 The text, entitled De Laude Dei in manuscripts, has not been printed, but is discussed by Constantinescu, R., ‘Alcuin et les “libelli precum” de l'époque carolingienne’, Revue d'histoire de la spiritualité 50 (1974), 17–56Google Scholar. Constantinescu knew of only one manuscript of this collection (Bamberg, Stadtbibliothek, Misc. Patr. 17 (B. 2. 10), fols. 133–62), but another, Escorial B. 4. 17, has since been found. Donald Bullough is now preparing a full edition of this important florilegium.
51 Ibid. p. 55.
52 Ibid. p. 42.
53 See above, p. 212.
54 Ed. Wilmart, A., ‘Un Témoin anglo-saxon du Calendrier Métrique d'York’, RB 46 (1934), 41–69Google Scholar. The lines quoted are 9, 17, 47–8 and 51–2 of Wilmart's edition. See also Quentin, , Les Martyrologes historiques, pp. 120–30.Google Scholar
55 Æthelwulf ‘De Abbatibus’, ed. Campbell, A. (Oxford, 1967).Google Scholar
56 Ibid. p. 39, lines 468–9.
57 Ibid. p. 37, lines 460–4.
58 Ibid. p. 36, n. 5.
59 Mayr-Harting, , Coming of Christianity, p. 308Google Scholar, n. 70.
60 Das altenglische Martyrologium, ed. Kotzor, G., 2 vols., Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil.-hist. Klasse n.s. 88 (Munich, 1981)Google Scholar. For the date, see the discussion by Cross, J. E., ‘Legimus in Ecclesiasticis Historiis: a Sermon for All Saints and its Use in Old English Prose’, Traditio 33 (1977), 101–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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68 On these feasts, see Gasquet, F. A. and Bishop, E., The Bosworth Psalter (London, 1908), pp. 43–53Google Scholar; Bishop, E., ‘On the Origins of the Feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary’, Liturgica Historica (Oxford, 1918), pp. 238–59Google Scholar; Mildner, F. M., ‘The Immaculate Conception in England up to the Time of John Duns Scotus’, Marianum 1 (1939), 86–99Google Scholar; Davis, H. F., ‘The Origins of Devotion to Our Lady's Immaculate Conception’, Dublin Rev. 228 (1954). 375–92Google Scholar; and S. J. D. Van Dijk, ‘The Origin of the Latin Feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary’, Ibid. pp. 251–67 and 428–42.
69 London, British Library, Cotton Vitellius E. xviii is described by N. R. Ker, Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford, 1957), pp. 298–301; the calendar is printed by Wormald, English Kalendars, no. 12. BL Titus D. xxvii is described Ker, Catalogue, pp. 264–6 and its calendar is ptd Wormald, English Kalendars, no. 9. CCCC 391 is described Ker, Catalogue, pp. 113–15 and its calendar is ptd Wormald, English Kalendars, no. 17.
70 Liturgica Historica, p. 239, n. 1.
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77 Bishop, , Liturgica Historica, p. 258.Google Scholar
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80 Harley 2892 is ed. Woolley, R. M., The Canterbury Benedictional, Henry Bradshaw Soc. 51 (London, 1917)Google Scholar, and contains benedictions for the feasts of the Presentation and the Conception of Mary (see pp. 116 and 118–19). Le Havre 330 is ed. Turner, D. H., The Missal of the New Minster, Winchester, Henry Bradshaw Soc. 93 (London, 1962)Google Scholar and contains a mass for the feast of the Conception of Mary (see p. 190). This manuscript has not hitherto been regarded as evidence for the introduction of the feast of the Conception, as it was dated by Delisle to 1120 and was, therefore, used as a witness to the re-introduction of the feast in twelfth-century England. Bodley 579 is ed Warren, F. E., The Leofric Missal (Oxford, 1883)Google Scholar and contains a mass for the feast of the Conception (see p. 268). BL Add. 28188 is dated Ker, , Catalogue, p. lviiGoogle Scholar, and Drage, E., ‘Bishop Leofric and the Exeter Cathedral Chapter (1050–1072): a Re-Assessment of the Manuscript Evidence’ (unpubl. D.Phil. dissertation, Oxford Univ., 1978), p. 81Google Scholar. It contains benedictions for the feast of the Conception of Mary, as quoted by Bishop, , Liturgica Historica, p. 240.Google Scholar
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82 Bishop, (Liturgica Historica, p. 239)Google Scholar argues that the Exeter benedictional follows pre-Conquest Winchester usage; see also Hohler, C., ‘Some Service-Books of the later Saxon Church’, Tenth-Century Studies, ed. Parsons, D. (London and Chichester, 1975), pp. 60–83, at 73, and 224Google Scholar, n. 56.
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85 Ibid. p. 254.
86 Liturgica Historica, p. 239.
87 Ibid. p. 240.
88 Bishop, , The Bosworth Psalter, p. 64Google Scholar, n. 3.
89 Freeman, E. A., The Norman Conquest, 6 vols. (Oxford, 1867–1879) iv749–52Google Scholar (Appendix P), and Southern, R. W., ‘The English Origins of the “Miracles of the Virgin”’, Med. and Renaissance Stud. 4 (1958), 176–216.Google Scholar
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91 Decreta Lanfranci (The Monastic Constitutions of Lanfranc), ed. Knowles, D. (London, 1951).Google Scholar
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95 I should like to thank Dr Malcolm Godden, Mr Malcolm Parkes, Mr Terry Dolan and Dr Michael Lapidge for their help with this paper.
