Bury st Edmunds: Medieval Art Architecture Archaeology and Economy (The British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions, 20)

This book focuses on art, palaeography, bindings and the monastic library. It is based on lectures given at the Association's Annual Conference, the 20th in the present series, which was held at Bury St Edmunds, from 16 to 20 April 1994: three specially commissioned articles are also included. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 Preface 8 List of Abbreviations 10 Some Manuscript Sources 13 The Romanesque Church of Bury St Edmunds Abbey 14 Aspects of the Romanesque Church of Bury St Edmunds Abbey in their Regional Context 29 The West Front of the Abbey Church 35 The Architectural Setting of the Cult of St Edmund in the Abbey Church 1095–1539 47 A Scientific Examination of the Relics of St Edmund at Arundel Castle 58 The Saint Edmund Cycle in the Crypt at Saint-Denis 70 Medieval Metalworking and Bury St Edmunds 82 The Planning of the Town of Bury St Edmunds: a Probable Norman Origin 94 The Medieval Town of Bury St Edmunds 111 The Mint at Bury St Edmunds 124 St Edmund in Lincolnshire: the Abbey's Lands at Wainfleet and Wrangle 135 Mid-13th-Century Accounts from Bury St Edmunds Abbey 141 The Abbey Woods 152 The Lost Canterbury Prototype of the 11th-Century Bury St Edmunds Psalter 174 The Production and Artistry of the Bury Bible 185 The Provision of Books for Bury St Edmunds Abbey in the 11th and 12th Centuries 199 Some 12th-Century Bindings from the Library of Bury St Edmunds Abbey: preliminary Findings. Appendix, Descriptions of Four Bindings from the Exhibition Catalogue (below) 207 Reconstructing the Medieval Library of Bury St Edmunds Abbey: the Lost Catalogue of Henry of Kirkstead 217 The Bury Artists of Harley 2278 and the Origins of Topographical Awareness in English Art 232 Some Manuscripts in Cambridge from Bury St Edmunds Abbey: Exhibition Catalogue 241 PLATES 300 archaeology,architectural setting,artistry,Arundel Castle,Bury Bible,Bury St Edmunds Abbey,Canterbury prototype,Lincolnshire,medieval metalworking,regional economies,Relics of St Edmund,Romanesque Church,Saint Edmund Cycle,Saint-Denis The abbey of Bury St. Edmund's was one of the richest and most powerful of the monasteries of medieval England. The Libert of the Eight and a Half Hundreds, over which the abbot exercised the authority of Sherriff, covered all west Suffolk and survived as a separate administrative district until the country reorganisation of 1974. As its centre was an even more privileged area, the town and suburbs of Bury St. Edmunds, which grew up to service the abbey's worldly needs and remained under the abbot's absolute control; today it survives as the prosperous borough of Bury St. Edmunds. The abbey church itself was larger than Durham cathedral and housed the shrine of St. Edmund, king and martyr, who had been killed by the Danes in 870 when they invaded East Anglia, and whose cult was the abbey's raison d'etre . In April 1994 the British Archaeological Association held a four day conference at Culford School, near Bury St. Edmunds, which was devoted to the study of the abbey and town. Most of the conference papers are printed in the preent Transactions, with the addition of three specially commissioned papers. They cover a wide range of subjects and break much new ground. There are papers on the abbey's architecture and on the layout of the medieval town, studies on St. Edmund's shrine, relics and cult, and on the abbey's administration and economic history, including papers on the mint, which the abbot administered, on the abbey's woodlands, and on its salterns in Lincolnshire. An especial feature of the volume are the papers on the abbey's manuscripts, comprising studies on their art, palaeography, and bindings, and on the monastic library. The volume ends with the catalogue prepared for the exhibitions held in Cambridge for delegates to the conference, of Bury manuscripts owned by a number of Cambridge colleges and by Cambridge University Library. In all, these transactions make an important contribution to the study of medieval Bury St. Edmunds and will no doubt stimulate further research.