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Miscellany on the life of St. Edmund (MS M.736).

Collection in Focus: St. Edmund

Take a closer look at this 900 year old English manuscript with Dei Jackson, Assistant Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts as she tells the story of St. Edmund.

Accession number
MS M.736
Object title

Miscellany on the life of St. Edmund (MS M.736).

Created
Bury St. Edmunds, England, ca. 1130.
Binding

19th-century olive-brown morocco, gold-tooled to a Renaissance design and lettered on upper cover: Vita Martyrium et Miracula Sancti Eadmundi Regis Angliae Codex M.S. Saec. XII.

Credit line

Purchased by J.P. Morgan (1867-1943) in 1927.

Curatorial Comments

One of the earliest illustrated biographies of an English saint, this lavish volume was a testimonial to patron saint and abbey alike. Most miniatures are based on the passion text of Abbo of Fleury (945-1004); the posthumous miracles depend on Osbert of Clare's text, composed for Anselm shortly before this manuscript was made. In this image, eight thieves are miraculously paralyzed when they attempt to break into Edmund's burial place. The miniatures are attributed to the Alexis Master, founder of the St. Albans school. Named after his St. Alexis cycle in the St. Albans Psalter, he skillfully combined Anglo-Saxon, Ottonian, and Byzantine influences to create England's earliest Romanesque style.

Description

100 leaves (1 column, 32 lines), bound : vellum, ill. ; 274 x 187 mm

Provenance

Probably made at the Benedictine Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk; George Roche (16th-century signature on fol. 2); Walter Stonehouse (1597-1655; signature on fols. 2 and 5); Robert Parker (d. 1712), signed on fols. 1 and 5; Thomas Lister Parker (1779-1858); John Towneley (1731-1813; his sale, London, R.H. Evans, 8 June 1814, lot 904) to Booth; Sir George Osborne Page-Turner (1785-1848); his anonymous sale in London, Christie's, 17 March 1828, lot 173, bought by Booth; Payne & Foss (catalogue 1841, lot 1); sold to Robert Stayner Holford (1808-92), by descent to his eldest child; Sir George Lindsay Holford (1860-1926); purchased by J.P. Morgan (1867-1943) for the Pierpont Morgan Library from the Holford Estate in 1927.

Notes

Ms. miscellany on the life of St. Edmund; written and illuminated in the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, ca. 1130
Texts: Henry I, King of England, letter to Anselm, abbot of Bury St. Edmunds, forbidding him from going on a journey (fol. 2); Talebot, prior of Bury St. Edmunds, letter to Anselm, abbot of Bury St. Edmunds begging him to return from Normandy (fol. 2-3); records of pittances given to the monks by Anselm, abbot of Bury St. Edmunds (fol. 3-4); offices of the Catholic Church for St. Edmund (fol. 5-6); Miracula Sancti Edmuni regis et martiris (fol. 23-76); Passio Sancti Edmundi (fol. 77-86); offices of the Catholic Church for St. Edmund (fol. 87-100).
The Miracula Sancti edmundi regis et martiris has been attributed to Osbert of Clare, but it is based on an earlier compilation by Herman the Archdeacon--Cf. PML files.
Musical notation: the offices of St. Edmund contain 3-line staves in red ink with neumes.
Artist: the Alexis Master and his workshop.

Script
minuscule
Language
Latin
Classification