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Early Evidence for the Cult of Anne in Twelfth-Century England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2016

Kati Ihnat*
Affiliation:
University of Bristol

Abstract

Despite scholarly attention on its later medieval popularity, the feast of Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary, first appeared in the West in twelfth-century England. The earliest surviving liturgical texts for the feast were composed in the 1130s by Osbert of Clare, prior of Westminster, for Worcester Cathedral. They attest to the novelty of the celebration and the process by which a saintly identity was constructed for Anne, an apocryphal figure. To understand why Anne began to be celebrated at this time and how her liturgy was crafted, this article explores Osbert's texts in their devotional context. A lively monastic cult of the Virgin Mary in England provides an important backdrop to the emergence of the celebration of Anne. Debates about the Anglo-Saxon feast of Mary's Conception were especially influential, and a comparison between the liturgical texts for the feast of the Conception and the feast of Anne yields striking parallels. This suggests that the liturgy for Anne both drew on and supported the contentious feast of the Conception. At the same time, Anne was presented as a monastic role model, a virtuous and chaste woman with special appeal for nuns. The history and identity of Anne were therefore deeply embedded in trends of monastic devotion to Mary as Anne was shaped into a deserving mother of her illustrious offspring but also as a worthy saint in her own right.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Fordham University 

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References

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19 “Quam domino vovit pater ad templumque dicavit: Ecce patet partus quem [fu]derat Anna per artus aecclesie matrem genuit pregnando salutem.” Ibid., fol. 26v. For a digital image, see http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/cottmanucoll/j/largeimage75003.html, accessed 23 May 2014.Google Scholar

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28 Anselm of Canterbury, , Prayers and Meditations , trans. Ward, Benedicta (Harmondsworth, UK, 1973), 106–17; and S. Anselmi Opera Omnia , ed. Schmitt, F. S. (Edinburgh, 1946), 3:13–25. On this, see Fulton, Rachel, From Judgment to Passion: Devotion to Christ and the Virgin Mary, 800–1200 (New York, 2002), 195–205, 232–43.Google Scholar

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32 This was first noted by Bishop, , “Origins of the Feast,” 238–59, especially at 249. See also Heslop, T. A., “The Canterbury Calendars and the Norman Conquest,” in Canterbury and the Norman Conquest: Churches, Saints and Scholars 1066–1109 , ed. Eales, R. and Sharpe, R. (London, 1995), 53–62. Even Richard Pfaff, who has otherwise challenged the idea of a purge of English feasts, acknowledges the disappearance of the Conception. Pfaff, Richard W., “Lanfranc's Supposed Purge of the Anglo-Saxon Calendar,” in Warriors and Churchmen in the High Middle Ages: Essays Presented to Karl Leyser , ed. Reuter, Timothy (London, 1992), 95–108, at 104.Google Scholar

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34 “Mihi considerare volenti occurrit hodierna solemnitas, quae de conceptione beatae Matris Dei Mariae multis in locis festiva recolitur. Et quidem priscis temporibus frequentiori usu celebrabatur, ab iis praecipue in quibus pura simplicitas et humilior in Deum vigebat devotio. At ubi et major scientia et praepollens examinatio rerum mentes quorumdam imbuit et erexit, eamdem solemnitatem, spreta pauperum simplicitate, de medio sustulit; et earn quasi ratione vacantem redegit in nihil. Quorum sententia eo maxime in robur excrevit quod ii, qui earn protulerunt, saeculari et ecclesiastica auctoritate divitiarumque abundantia praeeminebant…. festum scilicet de conceptione ipsius sacratissimae dominae sua qua se pollere gloriabantur auctoritatis ratione abolere non timuerunt.” (Eadmer of Canterbury, Tractatus de Conceptione Sanctae Mariae , ed. Thurston, H. and Slater, T. [Freiburg, 1904], 1, 5.)Google Scholar

35 “Quod si quis earn primae originis peccato non omnimode expertem fuisse pronuntiat, cum illam ex legali conjugio matris et feminae conceptam verissime constet; si sententia catholica est, ego a catholicae et universalis Ecclesiae veritate nulla ratione volo dissentire. Magnificentiam tamen operationum virtutis divinae quadam quasi mentis lippitudine pro posse considerans, videor mihi videre quia si quid originalis peccati in propagatione matris dei et domini mei extitit, propagantium et non propagatae prolis fuit.” (Ibid., 9–10.) Google Scholar

36 On this, see Fournée, Jean, “Du De Conceptu Virginali de Saint Anselm au De Conceptione Sanctae Mariae de son disciple Eadmer ou de la Virgo purissima à la Virgo immaculata,” in Les mutations socio-culturelles au tournant des XIe–XIIe siècles , ed. Foreville, Raymonde (Paris, 1984), 711–21; Burridge, A. W., “L'Immaculée Conception dans la théologie de l'Angleterre médiévale,” Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique 32 (1936): 570–97. On the treatise more generally, see Lamy, , Immaculée conception (n. 8 above), passim.Google Scholar

37 On Eadmer and the liturgy, see Rubenstein, Jay, “Liturgy against History: The Competing Visions of Lanfranc and Eadmer,” Speculum 74 (1999): 271301.Google Scholar

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39 Briggs, (“Life and Works,” 3, 194–96) cites paleographic evidence but also the fact that the Chichester chronicle, found before the letters, dates to ca. 1160. When the chronicle was attached to the letter collection is nevertheless unknown, leaving the date of the manuscript still unclear. For the dating of the letters themselves, see ibid., 7–10.Google Scholar

40 Osbert says himself: “If my appointment had prevailed with the king …” (“si mea olim coram rege praevaluisset electio”), indicating that he had been put forward and, it seems, elected for the position by the monks. (Ep. 1; Osbert of Clare, Letters , 47.) For Osbert's exile after his election was overturned, in his own words, see Ep. 4; ibid., 60, with translation at 8. With reference to the election, see also Mason, Emma, Westminster Abbey, 33.Google Scholar

41 On Osbert's attempts to promote Westminster, see Briggs, , “Life and Works,” 3762; for his involvement in forgery, 42–54; and on Edward's, canonization, 55–97. On the same, see also Mason, , Westminster Abbey, 89.Google Scholar

42 Osbert composed a number of hagiographical texts, all for Anglo-Saxon saints: Edburga (for Ely), Edmund (for Bury St Edmunds), Aethelbricht (for Hereford), and Edward the Confessor (for Westminster). Briggs, , “Life and Works,” 2223.Google Scholar

43 Ep. 7; Osbert of Clare, , Letters , 65.Google Scholar

44 John of Worcester, The Chronicle of John of Worcester , ed. Darlington, R. R. and McGurk, P. (Oxford, 1995), 186.Google Scholar

45 “Festivitas conceptionis sanctae Mariae in concilio apud Londoniam apostolica auctoritate confirmata est.” ( Annales de Theokesberia: 1066–1263 , ed. Luard, Henry Richards, Monastici, Annales 1, RS 36 [London, 1864], 45.) Darlington and McGurk indicated the shared similarities of this entry with that of the Worcester Chronicle in John of Worcester, Chronicle, 188.Google Scholar

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47 “Conceptio beatae Mariae primo celebratur in Anglia.” ( Annales Prioratus de Wigornia , ed. Luard, Henry Richards, Monastici, Annales 4, RS 36 [London, 1869], 377.) Paul Hayward's recent edition of the Winchcombe chronicle as a witness to that of John of Worcester points to the fact (Winchcombe and Coventry Chronicles, 115–16) that this particular entry derives from a Gloucester source. The late date of the manuscript witnesses might explain why the scribes, likely unfamiliar with the feast's pre-Conquest history, ascribed its first celebration in England to this time.Google Scholar

48 For the transition, see Barrow, Julia, “The Community of Worcester, 962–c. 1100,” in St Oswald of Worcester: Life and Influence , ed. Brooks, N. P. (London, 1996), 8499.Google Scholar

49 On Wulfstan's practices, see William of Malmesbury, Saints' Lives , ed. Winterbottom, Michael and Thomson, Rodney M. (Oxford, 2002), 111–13; Rankin, Susan, “Music at Wulfstan's Cathedral,” in St Wulfstan and His World , ed. Barrow, Julia and Brooks, N. P. (Aldershot, UK, 2005), 221; and Hughes, Anselm, ed., Portiforium of Saint Wulfstan, 2 vols. (London, 1960), 2:60–62. The Portiforium is Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 391. On the Conception feast entry, see Clayton, , Cult of the Virgin (n. 23 above), 44–46.Google Scholar

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54 It is doubtful whether these fragments ever represented actual use. One is found in a ninth-century manuscript from Naples, on which see Hall, , “Trinubium” (n. 5 above), 108; and Ortenberg, Veronica, The English Church and the Continent in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries: Cultural, Spiritual, and Artistic Exchanges (Oxford, 1992), 116–18, 208. The other is from the abbey of Saint-Vivant-sous-Vergy, Burgundy, from the eleventh century. Wilmart claims that the Saint-Vivant text demonstrates an earlier celebration of the feast of St. Anne in France than elsewhere in Europe. However, it is a fragmentary addition to the original manuscript. (Wilmart, André, “Sur les fêtes de la Conception et de Sainte Anne: Chants en l'honneur de Sainte Anne dans un manuscrit français du XIe siècle,” Ephemerides liturgicae 42 [1928]: 258–68.) Google Scholar

55 The abbot, Guy, died on 5 August, 1136 or 1137. Cf. Knowles, David, Brooke, C. N. L., and London, Vera C. M., The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales, 940–1216 , 2nd ed. (Cambridge, 2001), 59. Simon had been chancellor to Queen Adeliza, wife of Henry I, until he was made bishop in 1125. For more on him, see Bethell, D. L., “English Black Monks and Episcopal Elections in the 1120s,” English Historical Review 84 (1969): 681–98.Google Scholar

56 “Quod de beata prius Anna conscripseram multis in legendo placuisse fidelibus, et quod per nonnullas iam solenni veneratione diffusus esset ecclesias ille tractatus.” (Ep. 13; Osbert of Clare, , Letters [n. 6 above], 80.) Google Scholar

57 “[Solennitas eius festiva singulis annis in Wigornensi recensetur ecclesia,] et quo propensiore possumus honoris indicio eius praerogativa dignitatis attolitur incremento; [duobus enim privilegiis in observando celebrior penes nos cunctis temporibus extitit; ego praelibo solennem fratribus refectionem in die prima, decanus vero praesens luce ministrat octava.]” (Ep. 12; ibid., 77.) Google Scholar

58 “In tantae festivitatis tripudio tui laboris ditescere postulamus augmento, ut in nocturnis solennibus sit nobis ad solatium quod sanctae praerogaveris ecclesiae cum historiae decantatione legendum,” to which Osbert answers: “tibique sequens opus quod petisti destinare curavi tuisque successoribus ad legendum; orationem praeterea quam rithmice ad beatam matrem Annam edidi, annectere scriptam non praetermisi historiam praetera et solennes hymnos.” (Ibid.) Google Scholar

59 Baugh, Albert C., “Osbert of Clare, the Sarum Breviary and the Middle-English Saint Anne in Rime Royal,” Speculum 7 (1932): 106–13, at 108. The same was argued by Wilmart, “Compositions” (n. 5 above), 7.Google Scholar

60 On this definition of hystoria, see Rankin, Susan, “Music” (n. 49 above), 223.Google Scholar

61 It was ultimately used as the text for the three lessons of the first nocturn of matins for Anne's feast in the Sarum Breviary. Baugh, , “Osbert of Clare,” 108. See also Pfaff, , Liturgy in Medieval England (n. 4 above), 213, who agrees that it may have been used for matins readings.Google Scholar

62 These are “O praeclara mater matris” (AH 15:186) and “O beata mater Anna” (AH 33:36).Google Scholar

63 Wilmart, , “Compositions,” 8.Google Scholar

64 This was overlooked by Pfaff, Richard ( Liturgy in Medieval England , 213–14), who nevertheless records most of the other evidence for the feast.Google Scholar

65 Caligula, A. xiv, fols. 71v–72v. It is found in both Analecta Hymnica , 34:155–56, and in Misset, E. and Weale, W. H. J., Thesaurus Hymnologicus (Bruges, 1892), 182–83. On the dating of the manuscript, see Hartzell, K. D., Catalogue of Manuscripts Written or Owned in England up to 1200 Containing Music (Woodbridge, UK, 2006), 238–43. Since both editions deviate from the Cotton Caligula text, based on later manuscripts, I have reproduced the full text in the appendix along with a chart of the melodies kindly provided by Lawrence, Frank. All subsequent references are to the line numbers assigned in this transcription. A copy of the manuscript pages, with music, is also provided in figure 1. The sequence is not found in the offices for Anne identified in liturgical manuscripts from the cathedral of St. Eusebius of Vercelli by Brusa, , “Un ufficio inedito per s. Anna a Vercelli,” 260–61.Google Scholar

66 My most sincere thanks go to Frank Lawrence, who provided me with his unpublished analysis of this text.Google Scholar

67 Rankin, , “Music,” 221.Google Scholar

68 On the development of the twelfth-century sequence, see Fassler, Margot, Gothic Song: Victorine Sequences and Augustinian Reform in Twelfth-Century Paris (Cambridge, 1993), especially at 58–82 and 72–73, which provide a particularly useful set of guidelines for analyzing the twelfth-century sequence.Google Scholar

69 For the complete list, see Misset, and Weale, , Thesaurus Hymnologicus , 183; and AH 34:156.Google Scholar

70 The legacy of Osbert's texts is evident in the late-medieval liturgies for Anne, as illustrated in Reames, , “Origins and Affiliations” (n. 4 above); and Baugh, , “Osbert of Clare” (n. 59 above).Google Scholar

71 The office is found in Paris, BNF MS Lat. 18168, fols. 105v-110v. For discussion and lists of liturgical texts for the feast from across Europe, see Corbin, Solange, “Miracula Beatae Mariae semper Virginis,” Cahiers de civilisation médiévale 39–40 (1967): 418–29. Osbert's sermon for the feast of the Conception was written only after his texts for Anne and therefore would not have provided a model, though the two share many of the same themes.Google Scholar

72 On the connections between Cluny and St. Pancras, with particular reference to Marian liturgical texts, see Steiner, Ruth, “Marian Antiphons at Cluny and Lewes,” in Music in the Medieval English Liturgy , ed. Rankin, Susan and Hiley, David (Oxford, 1993), 175204.Google Scholar

73 I would like to thank Thomas Waldman for very kindly sharing his as-yet unpublished paper, “Hugues d'Amiens et la Vierge Marie” (paper presented at the Autour de Lanfranc: Réformes et réformateurs dans l'Europe de l'Ouest [XIe–XIIe siècle] conference, Caen, , 29 September-2 October, 2010).Google Scholar

74 Ibid. See also Freeburn, Ryan P., Hugh of Amiens and the Twelfth-Century Renaissance (Aldershot, UK, 2011), 37.Google Scholar

75 Found in Cambridge, UL MS Ii. 4.20, fols. 197r–198r. On the manuscript, which is argued to have offices notably for saints that had a special connection to Ely, see Pfaff, , Liturgy in Medieval England (n. 4 above), 224–25.Google Scholar

76 “Quicquid enim in insigni genealogia Christi ad evangelicam respicit hystoriam, totum ex abundanti recurrit ad Annam ut ipsa sit quasi quaedam meta legis et gratiae, per quam dignitas humanae videtur in Christo refloruisse naturae.” (Wilmart, , “Compositions” [n. 5 above], 17.)Google Scholar

77 “Genitrix de styrpe David.” (AH 15:186.)Google Scholar “Salomonis patris David Vite Privilegium deus istud reservavit Ut esses de carne sua et Christus de carne tua In forma mortalium.” (AH 33:36.)Google Scholar

78 “Multi et sancti reges et egregii sacerdotes…. Sedile tuum in excelso caelorum fastigio eorum exornat assessio.” (Wilmart, , “Compositions,” 29.)Google Scholar

79 “David autem pater tuus in cythara laudes tuas psallit, et coram archa testamenti domini manibus plaudens spiritualiter saltat et ludit.” (Ibid., 31.)Google Scholar

80 Appendix, lines 5–6.Google Scholar

81 “Maria plena gratia styrpe concepta regia assistentes tue laudi miserando nos exaudi.” (BNF MS Lat. 18168, fol. 109r–v.) Google Scholar

82 Responsory: “Abrahe stirpe generosa virgo prodit gloriosa que nullius per exemplum se sacravit deo templum.” (Ibid., fol. 106r.) Sequence: “Qua sacra concipitur Maria progenie David ex gregia.” (Ibid., fol. 110r.) Google Scholar

83 “Conceptio gloriose virginis Marie ex semine Abrahe concepta de tribu Juda clara ex stirpe David.” (Ibid., fol. 197r.) Google Scholar

84 “In columnis vero summorum patriarcharum Abrahae et David soliditas principalis ostenditur, ad quos de Christo facta promissio specialiter declaratur. Ezechias et Iosias gloriosi reges et incomparabili sanctitate fulgentes, quasi preciosi lapides immensos vibrant radios: et in regiae genitricis dei domus artificio, fulgore mirabiliter preminent copioso. Salomonis aurum quod insignis Annae vestit aedificium, ita preciosos lapides circundat in opere: ut dulcis eius eloquii vernet sublimiter eximia claritate. Colores preterea diversi resplendentes in hac aula regia genitricis dei, sacra nimirum prophetarum series apparet: quae de mysterio incarnationis Christi una eademque fide diversa vaticinia preconari solet. Duodecim autem filii Iacob huius fundamenti supportant materiam, et in sublime regiam insigniter erigunt structuram. In illis Iuda et Levi potissimum preminent, ex quibus regnum et sacerdotium eiusdem gentis prodiit: eosque quasi duos parietes lapis Christus angularis in beatae matris Annae celebri formatione colligavit. Ceterum pro marmore quod aream pavimenti condecorat in aedificatione huius regalis palacii, omnium pene regum Iuda in sacra genealogia series est conputata. Quorum quidam quamvis essent in perversis operationibus coram domino reprobi: extiterunt tamen insignes praecelsa maiestate sanguinis generosi. Et haec est preclara et sublimis structurae tantae materia, ex quorum propagine deus pater gloriosae genitricis unigeniti sui singulare et novum fabricavit palacium. Quod quidem iure beatam Annam dixerim, in cuius thalamo ornaretur sancta et perpetua virgo: ut prima caelestium idonea fieret copulae nuptiarum.” (Wilmart, , “Compositions,” 1617.)Google Scholar

85 “Tu namque es quasi superni legis palatium, Maria vero genitrix eius totius divinitatis insigne sacrarium. Te etiam licet opinari imperatoris aeterni per quod mundum ingressus est extitisse vestibulum, illam vera scimus splendidum eius in virgineae carnis integritate prefulsisse pariter et templum et thalamum. Templum quia in illo omnia quae divini iuris sunt summus pontifex dedicavit, thalamum quia in eo rex fabricator caeli et terrae requiescere voluit.” (Ibid., 31.) Google Scholar

86 “In te collocata est testamenti domini inpreciabilis archa, de domo et familia David quam edidisti felix: puerpera virgo Maria. In cuius sacratissimo corpore illa videlicet urna aurea habens manna delituit.” (Ibid.) Google Scholar

87 Appendix, lines 17–24.Google Scholar

88 If Osbert does not address any letters to Eadmer, it is likely because the latter was no longer alive in late 1127, the date of Osbert's letter to Anselm on the subject of the Conception feast. For Eadmer's biography, see Southern, Richard W., Saint Anselm and His Biographer: A Study of Monastic Life and Thought (Cambridge, 1966), 229–40.Google Scholar

89 “Patereturne, quaeso, ipsius palatii fundamentum invalidum fieri vel lutulentum, et structurae quae foret aedificandae incongruum, et non cohaerens? Non puto … hoc enim habitaculum illud sacrarium spiritus sancti esse fatemur, in quo et per quod eadem sapientia humanae naturae conjungi voluit et incorporari, et omnibus se pura mente confugientibus parcere et misereri; quod sacrarium, aula videlicet universalis propitiationis, cum operante spiritu sancto construeretur, fundamentum illius initium, primordium conceptionis beatae Mariae, quam ipsam aulam nominamus, prout intelligo, extitit.” (Eadmer of Canterbury, Tractatus [n. 34 above], 14–15.) Google Scholar

90 “Dominus possedit me initio viarum suarum antequam quidquam faceret a principio ab eterno ordita sum et ex antiques antequam terra fieret nec dum erant abyssi et ego iam concepta eram.” (BNF MS Lat. 18168, fol. 109r.) Google Scholar

91 “Felix Anna, quae in operatione redemptionis nostrae veluti radix videtur in arbore: de qua caelestis virga egressa est beatissima virgo Maria…. Ex Bethleem siquidem civitate David et radice Iesse oriunda prodiit, cuius beata soboles Maria videlicet Christum peperit.” (Wilmart, , “Compositions” [n. 5 above], 15.)Google Scholar

92 “Exultant etiam patriarche, quibus figuris premonstratum est et oraculis quod virga de radice Iesse deberet florem ligni vitae producere: cuius fructus et angelos et homines sua posset refectione saciare.” (Ibid., 29.) Google Scholar

93 “[Per te mater affluit] de qua virga floruit Tollens mundi scandalum germinans amigdalum.” (AH 33:36.)Google Scholar

94 Appendix, lines 9–12.Google Scholar

95 “Hic est dominicus ager balsamorum caelestium floribus circumseptus.” (Wilmart, , “Compositions,” 15.)Google Scholar

96 For the key role of Fulbert of Chartres in popularizing this association, particularly in his sermon for the feast of Mary's Nativity, Approbate Consuetudinis, see Fassler, Margot, “Mary's Nativity, Fulbert of Chartres and the Stirps Jesse: Liturgical Innovation circa 1000 and Its Afterlife,” Speculum 75 (2000): 405–16.Google Scholar

97 See ibid., 410–12.Google Scholar

98 “Virga Iesse de radice genus duxit inclitum oraculum prophetarum quod fuerat proditum inde virgam egressuram florem Christi parituram.” And “Egredietur virga de radice Iesse et flos de radice ejus ascendet et erit justitia cingulum lumborum ejus et fides cinctorium renum ejus.” (BNF MS Lat. 18168, fols. 106v, 109r.) Google Scholar

99 “Virga Aaron fructifera Marie typum gesserat que nobis fructum attulit nostram qui famem dispulit.” (Ibid., fol. 106r.) Google Scholar

100 Lesson 6: “Flos vel fructus illius virga sacerdotalis in tabernaculo domini incarnatione nostri salvatoris prefiguraverit.” Lesson 7: “Beatam ergo dei genitricem ac perpetuam virginem Mariam cuius annua conceptionis festa veneramur de radice Iesse concipiendam sancto repletus spiritu vates cecinit. Radix vero Iesse est familia Iudeorum. Virga quoque Maria que florere odoriferum virgineo de corpore sancto spiritu cooperante veraciter carnem factum mundo protulit dominum nostrum Ihesum Christum.” (BNF MS Lat. 18168, fol. 107r–v.) This latter text is used for lesson 6 in the Ely office (CUL Ii.4.20, fol. 197v).Google Scholar

101 “Ego ex ore altissimi prodivi primogenita ante creaturam ego quasi Libanus incisus vaporavi habitationem meam et quasi balsamum non mixtum odor meus et quasi Terebinthus extendi ramos meos et rami mei honoris et gratie.” (BNF MS Lat. 18168, fol. 109v.) Google Scholar

102 Appendix, lines 14–16.Google Scholar

103 “Hunc nobis fructum fertilis Anna non sterilis peperit, hanc benedictionis perpetuae copiam de rore caeli ministravit.” (Wilmart, “Compositions” [n. 5 above], 19.) Google Scholar

104 “Ex illa preciosa superne benedictionis terra, caelestis figulus ollam spei nostre composuit.” (Ibid., 15.) Google Scholar

105 “Et de choncha Gedeonis mystica illam meis sensibus instilla dulcedinem, quae vellus et aream infudit arentem.” (Ibid., 30.) Google Scholar

106 “[Hermon namque anathema dicitur. Sion vero speculatio interpretatur.] Quicquid enim puritatis et munditiae de reprobis regibus Iuda carnaliter succedentibus remanere potuit, totum in gloriosae et felicis Annae sancta et egregia carne stillavit. Et hic est ros anathematis, eorum videlicet generatio carnalis, qui velut in specular descendit in Annam: quia gratia Mariam nobis maris stellam parturivit, quae in solo naufragantis mundi quassatis lumen aeternae claritatis infundit.” (Ibid., 19; PL 23:822, 819.) Google Scholar

107 “Mariam maris stellam” (ibid., 3031).Google Scholar

108 Appendix, lines 7–8.Google Scholar

109 “Verbum patris mundo fulsit virginis per uterum cuius mentem non gravavit onus premens scelerum ut super vellus pluvia hodie descendit in Maria.” (BNF MS Lat. 18168, fol. 107v.) Google Scholar

110 “Rorate celi desuper et nubes pluant justum aperiatur terra et germinet salvatorem.” (BNF MS Lat. 18168, fol. 109v.) Google Scholar

111 “Haec est illa stella maris per quam fulsit lux solaris cuius festum celebremus adiuvamen imploremus” and “O Maria clausus ortus naufragantes mundi portus placa nobis qui te fecit matrem sibi quam elegit.” (Ibid., fol. 105v.) Google Scholar

112 “Stella maris o Maria tibi presens contio, odas solvit vota fundit summo cum tripudio, ad conceptum te provexit hodiernum conditor, per quam mundo caro factum subveniret perditum, ergo pia commenda tua prece filio, Alvo tuo virginali qui sponsus ut proprio processit thalamo.” (Ibid., fol. 109r.) Google Scholar

113 “Loquantur alii de alia famae celebris et nominis Anna, quae filium suum petivit a domino: ego de hac loquar ut dignum est sublimius, et eius praedicabo dignitatem excellentius. Illa mater fuit Samuelis, ista dei genitricis. Illa prophetae, ista beatae semper virginis Mariae. Illa Nazareum domini peperit, ista matrem Nazareni qui Nazareos consecrat generavit. Anna mater prophetae nato Samuele cecinit canticum, proles felix Annae et mater salvationis nostre timphanistria concentuum facta est supernorum. Anna namque gratia dicitur, et hereditas patris nostris Iacob in eadem magnificentius insignitur.” (Wilmart, , “Compositions,” 1819.) Osbert no doubt derived the interpretation of Anne as meaning “grace” from Jerome's, Hebrew Names (PL 23:811): “Anna, gratia ejus.” Google Scholar

114 “[Haec igitur nobis per Annam profluxit benedictio,] ut ex illa unguenti salutaris emanaret copia: cuius adhuc hodie barba Aaron adipe et pinguedine madet infusa.” (Wilmart, , “Compositions,” 20.)Google Scholar

115 “Sicca tellus aruit tamen vellus maduit Et siccato vellere locus madet areae Sic Iudea primitus est infusa celitus Aruit quae propere suo cocta scelere Sed turba gentilium sequens dei filium Madet tincta crismate et Iota baptismate Ista nobis unctio ista benedictio Per te mater affluit.” (AH 15:186.)Google Scholar

116 See nn. 86 and 109 above.Google Scholar

117 “Angelo annuntiante Ioachim cognovit ante Quod Mariam pareres.” (AH 33:36.)Google Scholar

118 The prayer opens the office of matins in the Saint-Martin liturgy and closes it in the Ely one, and also constitutes the chapter for terce in the former. It is also found in both the Leofric Missal and the Winchester Missal, both providing eleventh-century evidence for the Conception feast, on which see n. 25 above.Google Scholar

119 “O utinam o parens illustris, utinam inquam beatum Ioachim sponsum tuum in illa sanctorum videam gloria, ubi super omnes choros angelorum filia eius exaltata est perpetua virgo MARIA. Desidero namque ipsius candentis barbe coram virginis filio albedinem inspicere et quo eum dignum honore inter summos yerarchas nepos eius et dominus habeat considerare…. Igitur o Ioachim pater excelse, grandeve senex herosque venerande: fac ut antiquus dierum qui rerum finis est omnium idemque principium, fac quibus prevales meritis apud eum: ut meorum indulgentiam mihi conferat peccatorum.” (Wilmart, , “Compositions” [n. 5 above], 3132.)Google Scholar

120 For skepticism about the apocrypha already in the Anglo-Saxon period, see Clayton, , “Aelfric” (n. 12 above), 287.Google Scholar

121 “Sed utrum ita proxime nascitura quovis oraculo aut angelo nuntiata sit, sicut dominus Christus filius ejus, aut beatus Joannes … in divina pagina non habetur, in canonica scriptura non reperitur.” (Eadmer of Canterbury, Tractatus [n. 34 above], 5.) “Nec enim ecclesia dei inconcussae auctoritatis ducit ipsam scripturam, quae ortum illius ab angelo praenuntiatum refert.” (Eadmer of Canterbury, De excellentia virginis Mariae, PL 159:560.) Google Scholar

122 Eadmer of Canterbury, Tractatus , 1415.Google Scholar

123 Ep. 7; Osbert of Clare, Letters (n. 6 above), 66.Google Scholar

124 “Dicere tamen non audeo quod de hac sancta generatione corde concipio.” (Ep. 13; ibid., 79.) Google Scholar

125 Ibid., 80.Google Scholar

126 “Ut aliquis aemulus cynico me dente incipiat rodere et detractionibus perversis integritatem fidei meae lacerans infestare.” (Ibid., 79.)Google Scholar

127 See Lamy, , Immaculée conception (n. 8 above), 4952.Google Scholar

128 Ep. 42; Osbert of Clare, Letters , 155–57, 175–77. On the De armatura castitatis, see Briggs, , “Life and Works” (n. 38 above), 144–49.Google Scholar

129 Ep. 42; Osbert of Clare, Letters , 160–61. Briggs (“Life and Works,” 151) notes that this distinguishes Osbert's vision of women from that of men, seeing as he advocates virginity to his female correspondents much more forcefully than he does to his male ones.Google Scholar

130 Prayer 1: “Et hoc est, o virago conspicua, quod in igne species eius quasi species electri conspicitur.” Prayer 2: “His oriunda virago excrevisti parentibus talibusque velut quedam aurora…. Cum hoc reminiscens dico preciosa virago, quod te totus mundus venerari debeat evidenter intelligo…. Omnibus inclita virago diebus et noctibus horis atque momentis me tuae defensioni protegendum committo.” (Wilmart, , “Compositions” [n. 5 above], 28, 29, 30.) Google Scholar

131 “Fac ut vitam castitatis teneam cum candidatis.” (AH 15:186.)Google Scholar

132 “Sed per continentiam fiam quasi viola Inter sacras virgines floream ut lilium.” (AH 33:36.)Google Scholar

133 “Quae conservet in me gratum celibemque famulatum. … Sed reformet signis datis ornamentum castitatis Quod a morte liberat.” (Ibid.) Google Scholar

134 “Si me nequit humilis salvare virginitas Casta licet fragilis me salvet humilitas.” (Ibid.) Google Scholar

135 “Ne desperent peccatores si convertant pravos mores Penitentes dent exemplum sintque gratum deo templum.” (AH 33:36.)Google Scholar

136 “Qui fons patens domus David peccatores multos lavit.” (AH 15:186.)Google Scholar

137 “In hoc fonte Petrus lavit quod negando iam peccavit Et res partiens Zacheus rapuitque quod Matheus Et de Magdalo Maria per exemplum vitae via Et latro pendens in cruce diluit se Christo duce.” (Ibid.) Google Scholar

138 “Et me semper illibatam sponsam sibi consecratam Homo deus habeat.” (Ibid.) Google Scholar

139 Newman, Barabara, “Flaws in the Golden Bowl: Gender and Spiritual Formation in the Tweltfth Century,” in From Virile Woman to WomanChrist: Studies in Medieval Religion and Literature (Philadelphia, 1995), 1945, at 23; and Morton, Vera and Wogan-Browne, Jocelyn, Guidance for Women in 12th Century Convents (Woodbridge, UK, 2003).Google Scholar

140 Briggs, , “Life and Works” (n. 38 above), 1416.Google Scholar

141 Ep. 22, 40, 42; Osbert of Clare, Letters (n. 6 above), 91, 139, 155. On Osbert's relationship with Adelidis, see Morton, and Wogan-Bowne, , 16–17, and on his letters to his nieces, see 109–11.Google Scholar

142 Ep. 40, 42; Osbert of Clare, Letters , 139, 155.Google Scholar

143 “Clarissima virgo, immo generosa virago, beata Cecilia.” (Ep. 42; ibid., 155.) Google Scholar

144 “Festinandum itaque est tibi virgo sacra, virago devota, ut ad illas nuptias occurras cum corusca lampade ubi perennis diei perfruaris claritate.” (Ep. 40; ibid., 139.) Google Scholar

145 The image of weaving was already associated with Mary in the sermons of the fifth-century Proclus of Constantinople. See Constas, Nicholas, “Weaving the Body of God: Proclus of Constantinople, the Theotokos and the Loom of the Flesh,” Journal of Early Christian Studies 3 (1995): 169–94.Google Scholar

146 “Haec itaque gloriosa et felix Anna ad opus genetricis Christi purpura preciosa contexitur: ex qua divina providentia secta virgo puerpera, tanquam candida perpetuae virginitatis linea summo caelorum opifici splendidius adornatur.” (Wilmart, , “Compositions” [n. 5 above], 15.)Google Scholar

147 “Chananeus namque negotiator interpretatur. Syndonis autem huius candor niveus puritas est et munditia virginalis, quam beata mater Anna manibus suis quasi contexuit: dum genitricem dei Mariam ad diem temporalis ortus in forma humana de palatio uteri sui corporaliter eduxit. Hanc ad redemptionem generis humani deo patri vendidit, ut in illo commertio incarnatum patris verbum matris fieret precium.” (Ibid., 18.) Google Scholar

148 “In illa enim superni imperatoris aula erunt paranymphi tui angeli, cives dei, ut te ad regis introducant cubiculum, et investiant purpura et bysso coloribus intinctis, sanctorum praerogativa meritorum.” (Ep. 22; Osbert of Clare, Letters , 91.)Google Scholar

149 “Byssus et purpura indumentum eius, quia carnem suam virgo sine macula integra conservavit, eandemque sanguine suo purpuream angelorum regi et domino dedicavit.” (Ep. 42; ibid., 155.) Google Scholar

150 Morton, and Wogan-Browne, , Guidance (n. 139 above), 2, 3.Google Scholar

151 There is some evidence (Osbert of Clare, Letters, 198–200) that there was a female religious community on land bishop Wulfstan owned, at least in 1086, although its history is obscure.Google Scholar

152 Honorius's polemical Offendiculum against married priests was inspired by Anselm's De presbyteris concubinariis seu offendiculum sacerdotum, on which see Flint, V. I. J., “Place and Purpose in the Works of Honorius Augustodunensis,” Revue Bénédictine 87 (1977): 97127; and eadem, Honorius Augustodunensis of Regensburg: Authors of the Middle Ages (Aldershot, UK, 1995), 132–33.Google Scholar

153 The Winchester manuscript is London, BL Cotton MS Vitellius E. xviii; the Christ Church benedictional (in which both Anne and the Conception feasts were copied simultaneously) is London, BL Cotton MS Tiberius B. iii; the St. Augustine's psalter is Oxford, Bodleian Ashmole MS 1525; and the Ely missal is Cambridge University Library MS Ii.4.20. For all these calendars, see Wormald, Francis, English Benedictine Kalendars after A.D. 1100 (London, 1939); as well as Pfaff, , Liturgy in Medieval England (n. 4 above), 224–25 for Ely.Google Scholar

154 Annales Prioratus de Wigornia , ed. Luard, Henry Richards, Monastici, Annales 4, RS 36 (London, 1869), 432. See Pfaff, , Liturgy in Medieval England, 214 and 210–12 for a description of the antiphoner.Google Scholar

155 See Pfaff, , Liturgy in Medieval England , 213–14 on the Worcester litanies, and 218 for Evesham. The Reading psalter is Oxford, Bodleian Auct. MS D. 4. 6, fol. 247v. On the litanies, see more generally Morgan, Nigel, English Monastic Litanies of the Saints after 1100, 2 vols. (London, 2012).Google Scholar

156 London, BL Cotton Nero, C. iv, fols. 4r, 8r. On the Psalter, see Haney, Kristine Edmondson, The Winchester Psalter: An Iconographic Study (Leicester, UK, 1986); Wormald, Francis, The Winchester Psalter (London, 1973); and Crown, Carol Uhlig, “The Winchester Psalter: Iconographic Sources and Themes of the Virgin Mary, Kingship and Law” (PhD diss., Washington University, 1975). For digitized images, see http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=cotton_ms_nero_c_iv_fs001r, accessed 23 May 2014.Google Scholar

157 Haney, Kristine Edmondson, “The Immaculate Imagery in the Winchester Psalter,” Gesta 20 (1981): 111–18, at 111 and 115. Mara Witzling has pointed out differences in the depiction of Joachim, who looks like a young man in the Winchester image, suggesting it is David instead. (Witzling, Mara R., “The Winchester Psalter: A Re-Ordering of its Prefatory Miniatures according to the Scriptural Sequence,” Gesta 23 [1984]: 17–25.) This does not alter the interpretation of the second image in which Anne features.Google Scholar

158 Haney, , “Immaculate Imagery,” 112–13.Google Scholar

159 See n. 153 above.Google Scholar

160 William of Malmesbury, Miraculis (n. 29 above). A new edition and translation is in preparation by Thomson, Rodney and Winterbottom, Michael, who have very kindly shown me earlier drafts.Google Scholar

161 On the historical basis of the story, see de Gaiffier, Baudouin, “A propos de Guido, évêque de Lescar et du culte de Ste Anne,” Analecta Bolandiana 88 (1970): 74.Google Scholar

162 “Si exorares me, pro amore sanctae Annae, dilectae genitricis meae, et praecordialibus votis, ipsam interventricem tibi adquireres apud unigenitum filium meum, a vinculis carceralibus solutus recederes, et libertatis corporeae gratiam citius obtineres.” (William of Malmesbury, Miraculis , 91.)Google Scholar

163 “Benedicta sit mater Anna, quae, virgo, te genuit, et benedictus venter de quo redemptio prodiit orbis terrae.” (Ibid.) Google Scholar

164 For the popularity of miracle collections in Anglo-Norman England as a way to preserve a memory of the saints, see Koopmans, Rachel, Wonderful to Relate: Miracle Stories and Miracle Collecting in High Medieval England (Philadelphia, 2011); and Yarrow, Simon, Saints and Their Communities: Miracle Stories in Twelfth-Century England (Oxford, 2006).Google Scholar

165 Reproduced by permission. © British Library Board.Google Scholar