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Some Thirteenth-Century Sermons and their Authors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2011

Extract

The object of this paper is to draw attention to some of the English preachers and sermons of the thirteenth century. It is known that preaching gained new importance in this period, as a subject of study and as a means of evangelism, but we lack a comprehensive work on its development in England. The following pages are based on manuscripts in Oxford, Cambridge and London. In them I hope to indicate the contemporary attitude to preaching, to discuss some sermons whose authors can be identified, and to show something of the form and content of the sermons themselves.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1953

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References

page 27 note 1 de la Marche, Lecoy, La Chaire française au moyen âge, Paris 1886, 18.Google Scholar

page 27 note 2 On these artes predicandi see Charland, , Artes Praedicandi, Paris and Ottawa, 1936.Google Scholar

page 27 note 3 British Museum MS. Egerton 655, f. 142v, ‘Libentius ergo debemus ire ad audiendum predicacionem quam ad querendum aurum aut argentum aut aliquam aliam rem temporalem’.

page 27 note 4 Bodleian MS. Laud Misc. 511, f. 17. ‘Raro predicatur vobis verbum domini et quanto rarius annunciatur, tanto diligencius audiri debet, non tantum aure exteriore (sic) sed corde.’ I am inclined to think this reference to infrequency of preaching more typical than Miss D. W. Robertson's more optimistic view in ‘Frequency of Preaching in Thirteenth Century England’, Speculum 1949, 376–88, suggests.

page 28 note 1 Library of St. Paul's: Case B. 13, an unfoliated commentary on the Psalms. Ps. cxli. 6: ‘qui dicunt: venite, audiamus ilium et ilium suavia et decora predicationis sue verba volventem, veloces quidem ad audiendum sed tardi ad operandum’. I owe this quotation to the kindness of Miss B. Smalley. See also her recent paper A Commentary on the Hebraica by Herbert of Bosham’ in Recherches de Théologie ancienne et médiévale, xviii (January-June 1951)Google Scholar.

page 28 note 2 Bodleian MS. Bodley 406, p. 585.

page 28 note 3 B.M. MS. Egerton 655, f. 140.

page 28 note 4 Bodleian MS. Hatton 37, p. 272.

page 28 note 5 For lists of sermons and authors quoted see Appendix.

page 28 note 6 ‘Ille enim modernus modus (i.e. of preaching on a themd) praedicandi intravit postquam ordines fratrum ecclesiam intraverunt, sed praedicare materias assumptas declarando, et textum scripturae sacrae secundum ordinem textus postillando, seu exponendo, fuit modus praedicandi sanctorum patrum …’ Loci e Libro Veritatum: passages selected from Gascoigne's theological dictionary, ed. Rogers, J. E. Thorold, Oxford 1881, 44.Google Scholar

page 29 note 1 Ed. A. O. Belfour, Twelfth Century Homilies, Original Series 137, 1909.

page 29 note 2 MS. Laud Misc. 511, f. 118.

page 29 note 3 Ibid., f. 100v.

page 29 note 4 MS. Bodley 406, p. 536.

page 29 note 5 MS. Laud Misc. 511, f. 100v, ‘Scitis quoniam reges et principes terrarum qui etiam iusti et misericordes et liberales existunt, et etiam subditos diligunt et qui a subditis diliguntur, cum ad bella contra inimicos procedunt, ploratus et ululatus fit multus in omni provincia et per omnem circumquaque regionem…. Similiter rex regum, princeps orbis terrarum, Christus, filius Dei, hodie contra inimicum diabolum ad bellum processit; Unde canit ecclesia “Uexilla regis prodeunt”.’

page 30 note 1 MS. Laud. Misc. 511, f. 127. ‘Nuper tempore passionis dominice multa audiuimus de eius passione. Nunc, interiectis paschalibus solempniis, iterum memoratur eius passio. Canibus enim uenaticis sequentibus uestigia fere sauciate frequenter venator acclamat, ne forte insequi desistant aut tepescant. Fera nostra fortiter sauciata est Christus cuius uestigia sequi debemus, qui etiam passus est pro nob is.’

page 30 note 2 From a transcript made by A. G. Little of a MS. given to the Bodleian Library at his death and now MS. Lat. th. e 24, f. 2v.

page 30 note 3 Trinity College Cambridge MS. B. 15.38, f. 26 (James 373).

page 30 note 4 MS. Laud Misc. 511, f. 24v.

page 31 note 1 f. 25v. ‘Quis non amaret pedes Christi, et si posset oscularetur et etiam lauaret? Certe nullus. Quanto ergo debet amare pedes illos pro quibus pedes proprios clauis configi uoluit? Pedes isti sunt humiles pauperes de quibus dominus: “Qui uos recipit, me recipit”…. Item cum tantus honor exhibeatur pixidi in quo conseruatur corpus Christi, quantus debetur proximo in quo creditur Deus permanere? John xiii, “Ad eum ueniemus et mansionem apud eum faciemus”.’

page 31 note 2 MS. Laud Misc. 511, f. 7v.

page 32 note 1 Trinity College Cambridge MS. B. 15.38, f. 204v.

page 32 note 2 f. 201.

page 32 note 3 MS. Laud Misc. 511, f. 100v.

page 32 note 4 Ibid., f. 101v.

page 32 note 5 Ibid., f. 127.

page 32 note 6 MS. Laud Misc. 511, f. 98.

page 32 note 7 f. 91v.

page 32 note 8 f. 108.

page 33 note 1 f. 74v. ‘Sicut lotrix uestimentum lauat cum laxiua que conficitur ex urina hominum et de stercore auium et de cinere que de fetore et amaritudine multum habet, sic homo de amara recordatione peccatorum uilium et fetidorutn debet facere aquam lacrimarum et laxiuam unde suas sordes lauet.’

page 33 note 2 Trinity College Cambridge MS. B. 15.38, f. 34.

page 33 note 3 On collections of Mary legends see Poncelet: Analecta Bollandiana 21, 1902.

page 33 note 4 MS. Hatton, 102, f. 253–4. ‘Set numquid licet clericis libros corrigere aut literas componere et scribere in huiusmodi diebus? Respondeo, lam patet quod licet si pietate suadente aut necessitate urgente … Item … sanquinem minuere aut balneum intrare … licet si necessitas hoc exegerit … Idem patet hoc quod Extra, lib. 2 de feriis scribitur: istud indulgemus ut liceat parochianis uestris diebus dominicis et aliis festis preterquam in maioribus anni solempnitatibus si allecia terre se inclinaverint, eorum captioni ingruente necessitate, intendere.’

page 33 note 5 MS. Hatton 107, f. 232. ‘Tenentur ergo curam animarum habentes docere et sacramenta conferre. Sed respondet aliquis quod ipse puer est et ideo non potest ilia, et talis respondet propter temeritatem quod prius assumpsit officium curationis spirituals quam scienciam et potestatem haberet. Sed dicit “Multi sunt similes”. Fateor: “Verum est set hec allegacio non diminuit culpam”.’

page 34 note 1 Ibid., f. 232v, ‘nisi forte de licencia prelatorum suorum uel studio litterarum uel pro aliis honestis causis’.

page 34 note 2 Ibid., f. 233. ‘Saltern pauperes predicatores a deo missos permittas bonum facere parochie tue.’

page 34 note 3 MS. Laud Misc. 511, f. 46v–47. ‘Post modicum temporis uocauit eum dominus Bituricensis et contulit ei prebendam in ecclesia sua. Ipse uero oblatam recepit, et priorem, scilicet Parisiensem retinuit. Cum autem Parisius rediret et lecciones continuaret habens conscienciam quod non fecerat ut docuerat, quadam die dixit scholaribus suis: “Ego aliquando dixi uobis quod non licuit retinere plura beneficia ecclesie. Nunc autem quicquid uobis dixerim, dico quod (MS. non) licet, et quando hoc dicebam nesciebam quid dicerem”. Nonne prebenda Bituricensis excecauit istum?’

page 34 note 4 MS. Hatton 107, f. 43vb. ‘Si Parisius vel Oxonia esset magister aliquis de quo audissetis … quod de tota philosophia Aristotelis nulla lateret eum difficultas … et uenisset ad uniuersitatem istam aliquis qui scienciam istius magni magistri precaret in scripto redactam, si iste per Uniuersitatem preconis voce fecerit nunciari se recitaturum quod de sapiencia illius magistri habuisset in scripto redactum … cum quanta affeccione et quam attente (auditores) attenderent in ipsum illius sapientis magistri verba referentem?’

page 35 note 1 MS. Laud Misc. 511, f. 75v. ‘Ideo docuit Jero, i.e. Ieronimus, quod cuidam puero debuit fieri alphabetum non tantum superficiale scriptum et visibile set et corporate, incisum, et tangibile.’

page 35 note 2 Ibid., ‘ut astronomi speram vel astrolabum sutores soleant’.

page 35 note 3 MS. Lat. th. e 24, f. 6v, ‘figura crucis in principio describitur ante alphabetum in libro elementario’.

page 35 note 4 MS. Hatton 107, f. 177. Sermon of ‘R. de Baumburg’: ‘Sed si magister in scolis uerberat unum uel 2 uel 3, alii timent; ita Deus uindicauit de camerario suo Lucifero, et de preposito suo Adam, et de reliqua familia ut patet in diluuio.’