The Divine Office in Anglo-Saxon England, 597-c.1000 (Henry Bradshaw Society Subsidia) (Volume 7)

At the heart of life in any medieval Christian religious community was the communal recitation of the daily "hours of prayer" or Divine Office. This book draws on narrative, conciliar, and manuscript sources to reconstruct the history of how the Divine Office was sung in Anglo-Saxon minster churches from the coming of the first Roman missionaries in 597 to the height of the "monastic revival" in the tenth century. Going beyond both the hagiographic "Benedictine" assumptions of older scholarship and the cautious agnosticism of more recent historians of Anglo-Saxon Christianity, the author demonstrates that the early Anglo-Saxon Church followed a non-Benedictine "Roman" monastic liturgical tradition. Despite Viking depredations and native laxity, this tradition survived, enriched through contact with varied Continental liturgies, into the tenth century. Only then did a few advanced monastic reformers conclude, based on their study of ninth-century Frankish reforms fully explained for the first time in this book, that English monks and nuns ought to follow the liturgical prescriptions of the Rule of St Benedict to the letter. Fragmentary manuscript survivals reveal how monastic leaders such as Dunstan and Æthelwold variously adapted the native English liturgical tradition - or replaced it - to implement this forgotten central plank of the "Benedictine Reform". Jesse D. Billett is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Divinity, Trinity College, Toronto. First full-scale survey and examination of liturgical practice and its fundamental changes over four centuries. At the heart of life in any medieval Christian religious community was the communal recitation of the daily "hours of prayer" or Divine Office. This book draws on narrative, conciliar, and manuscript sources to reconstruct the history of how the Divine Office was sung in Anglo-Saxon minster churches from the coming of the first Roman missionaries in 597 to the height of the "monastic revival" in the tenth century. Going beyond both the hagiographic "Benedictine" assumptions of older scholarship and the cautious agnosticism of more recent historians of Anglo-Saxon Christianity, the author demonstrates that the early Anglo-Saxon Church followed a non-Benedictine "Roman" monasticliturgical tradition. Despite Viking depredations and native laxity, this tradition survived, enriched through contact with varied Continental liturgies, into the tenth century. Only then did a few advanced monastic reformers conclude, based on their study of ninth-century Frankish reforms fully explained for the first time in this book, that English monks and nuns ought to follow the liturgical prescriptions of the Rule of St Benedict to the letter. Fragmentary manuscript survivals reveal how monastic leaders such as Dunstan and thelwold variously adapted the native English liturgical tradition - or replaced it - to implement this forgotten central plank of the "Benedictine Reform". Jesse D. Billett is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Divinity, Trinity College, Toronto. First full-scale survey and examination of liturgical practice and its fundamental changes over four centuries.At the heart of life in any medieval Christian religious community was the communal recitation of the daily'hours of prayer'or Divine Office. This book draws on narrative, conciliar, and manuscript sources to reconstruct the history of how the Divine Office was sung in Anglo-Saxon minster churches from the coming of the first Roman missionaries in 597 to the height of the'monastic revival'in the tenth century. Going beyond both the hagiographic'Benedictine'assumptions of older scholarship and the cautious agnosticism of more recent historians of Anglo-Saxon Christianity, the author demonstrates that the early Anglo-Saxon Church followed a non-Benedictine'Roman'monasticliturgical tradition. Despite Viking depredations and native laxity, this tradition survived, enriched through contact with varied Continental liturgies, into the tenth century. Only then did a few advanced monastic reformers conclude, based on their study of ninth-century Frankish reforms fully explained for the first time in this book, that English monks and nuns ought to follow the liturgical prescriptions of the Rule of St Benedict to the letter. Fragmentary manuscript survivals reveal how monastic leaders such as Dunstan and Æthelwold variously adapted the native English liturgical tradition - or replaced it - to implement this forgotten central plank of the'Benedictine Reform'. Jesse D. Billett is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Divinity, Trinity College, Toronto. At the heart of life in any medieval Christian religious community was the communal recitation of the daily "hours of prayer" or Divine Office. This book draws on narrative, conciliar, and manuscript sources to reconstruct the history of how the Divine Office was sung in Anglo-Saxon minster churches from the coming of the first Roman missionaries in 597 to the height of the "monastic revival" in the tenth century.
Going beyond both the hagiographic "Benedictine" assumptions of older scholarship and the cautious agnosticism of more recent historians of Anglo-Saxon Christianity, the author demonstrates that the early Anglo-Saxon Church followed a non-Benedictine "Roman" monasticliturgical tradition. Despite Viking depredations and native laxity, this tradition survived, enriched through contact with varied Continental liturgies, into the tenth century. Only then did a few advanced monastic reformers conclude, based on their study of ninth-century Frankish reforms fully explained for the first time in this book, that English monks and nuns ought to follow the liturgical prescriptions of the Rule of St Benedict to the letter. Fragmentary manuscript survivals reveal how monastic leaders such as Dunstan and Æthelwold variously adapted the native English liturgical tradition - or replaced it - to implement this forgotten central plank of the "Benedictine Reform".

Jesse D. Billett is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Divinity, Trinity College, Toronto. "At the heart of life in any medieval Christian religious community was the communal recitation of the daily 'hours of prayer' or Divine Office. This book draws on narrative, conciliar, and manuscript sources to reconstruct the history of how the Divine Office was sung in Anglo-Saxon minster churches from the coming of the first Roman missionaries in 597 to the height of the 'monastic revival' in the tenth century. Going beyond both the hagiographic 'Benedictine' assumptions of older scholarship and the cautious agnosticism of more recent historians of Anglo-Saxon Christianity, the author demonstrates that the early Anglo-Saxon Church followed a non-Benedictine 'Roman' monasticliturgical tradition. Despite Viking depredations and native laxity, this tradition survived, enriched through contact with varied Continental liturgies, into the tenth century. Only then did a few advanced monastic reformers conclude, based on their study of ninth-century Frankish reforms fully explained for the first time in this book, that English monks and nuns ought to follow the liturgical prescriptions of the Rule of St Benedict to the letter. Fragmentary manuscript survivals reveal how monastic leaders such as Dunstan and Æthelwold variously adapted the native English liturgical tradition - or replaced it - to implement this forgotten central plank of the 'Benedictine Reform'."-- From the back cover Part I. The historical development of the divine office in England to c. 1000 -- Towards a "new narrative" of the history of the divine office in Anglo-Saxon England -- The divine office in the Latin West in the early Middle Ages -- The divine office in England from the Augustinian mission to the first Viking invasions, 597-c.835 -- The divine office in England from the first Viking age to the abbacy of Dunstan at Glastonbury, c.835-c.940 -- The divine office and the tenth-century English Benedictine reform -- Part II. Manuscript evidence for English office chant in the tenth century -- A methodology for the study of Anglo-Saxon chant books for the office -- Two witnesses to the chant of the secular office in England in the tenth century : Durham, Cathedral Library, A. IV. 19 and Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 41 -- A fragment of a tenth-century English Benedictine "breviary" : London, British Library, Royal 17., C. XVII, fols. 2-3 and 163-6 -- A fragment of a tenth-century English Benedictine chant book : Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawl. D. 894, fols. 62-3 -- Conclusion : ways of making a Benedictine office.;First full-scale survey and examination of liturgical practice and its fundamental changes over four centuries. Part I. The Historical Development Of The Divine Office In England To C. 1000 -- Towards A New Narrative Of The History Of The Divine Office In Anglo-saxon England -- The Divine Office In The Latin West In The Early Middle Ages -- The Divine Office In England From The Augustinian Mission To The First Viking Invasions, 597-c.835 -- The Divine Office In England From The First Viking Age To The Abbacy Of Dunstan At Glastonbury, C.835-c.940 -- The Divine Office And The Tenth-century English Benedictine Reform -- Part Ii. Manuscript Evidence For English Office Chant In The Tenth Century -- A Methodology For The Study Of Anglo-saxon Chant Books For The Office -- Two Witnesses To The Chant Of The Secular Office In England In The Tenth Century : Durham, Cathedral Library, A. Iv. 19 And Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 41 -- A Fragment Of A Tenth-century English Benedictine Breviary : London, British Library, Royal 17., C. Xvii, Fols. 2-3 And 163-6 -- A Fragment Of A Tenth-century English Benedictine Chant Book : Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawl. D. 894, Fols. 62-3 -- Conclusion : Ways Of Making A Benedictine Office. Jesse D. Billett. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 389-417) And Indexes. When did Anglo-Saxon monks begin to recite the daily hours of prayer, the Divine Office, according to the liturgical pattern prescribed in the Rule of St Benedict? Going beyond the simplistic assumptions of previous scholarship, this book reveals that the early Anglo-Saxon Church followed a non-Benedictine Office tradition inherited from the Roman missionaries; the Benedictine Office arrived only when tenth-century monastic reformers such as Dunstan and Æthelwold decided that "true" monks should not use the same Office liturgy as secular clerics, a decision influenced by eighth- and ninth-century Frankish reforms. The author explains, for the first time, how this reduced liturgical diversity in the Western Church to a basic choice between "secular" and "monastic" forms of the Divine Office; he also uses previously unedited manuscript fragments to illustrate the differing attitudes and Continental connections of the English Benedictine reformer, and to show that survivals of the early Anglo-Saxon liturgy may be identifiable in later medieval sources