A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Peterhouse ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF THE LIBRARY
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2010
Summary
A respect for books, that is to say, manuscripts, was one of the most striking characteristics of the Middle Ages; and writers of that period, whether secular or religious, vie with one another in inventing epigrammatic phrases to shew their sense of the value of such possessions, and of the duty of safeguarding them against injury or loss.
In the Rule of S. Benedict daily reading is specially inculcated as a remedy for “ idleness the enemy of the soul” in the following words :
Between Easter and the calends of October let brethren apply themselves to reading from the fourth hour till near the sixth hour….
From the calends of October to the beginning of Lent let them apply themselves to reading until the second hour… During Lent let them apply themselves to reading from morning until the end of the third hour…and, in these days of Lent, let them receive a book apiece from the library, and read it straight through….
As time went on, the distribution of the books of the House among the brethren at the beginning of Lent for use during that season was extended. Books were distributed as heretofore at the beginning of Lent, but each brother was allowed to keep his volume for a whole year. In the statutes which Lanfranc promulgated for the use of English Benedictines in 1070, and which, as he tells us, were based on common monastic practice, the keeper of the books is directed to bring all the volumes 1 under his charge into Chapter at the beginning of Lent, with the exception of those which had been assigned for reading a year previously, and to lay them out upon a carpet.
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- A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of PeterhouseWith an Essay on the History of the Library by J.W. Clark, pp. xvii - xxxiiPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1899