A Note on the Library of Lesnes Abbey
LESNES ABBEY in Erith was dissolved by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525, in order that its revenues might be used to augment the endowment of his proposed colleges at Oxford and Ipswich; and it may be supposed that at this time the suppression would not involve that wholesale destruction and robbery which too often attended such proceedings in 1535-9. This would account for the fact that the Abbey library, alone among those of the smaller Kentish monasteries, has left appreciable remains.
Mr. A. W. Clapham (Lesnes Abbey, 1915) gives an account of eight extant MSS. which formerly belonged to the house, and as his catalogue is capable of enlargement it seems worth while to give a complete list of the MSS. so far identified, if only to encourage further research in a field where, no doubt, fresh discoveries yet remain to be made.
No catalogue of ancient date has been found, and as no system of press-marks appears to have been used, we are left in the dark as to the original extent of the library. It does not seem likely, however, that it was ever remotely comparable in size to those of Canterbury, Rochester, or even Dover ; and as no room which might have housed it bas been discovered in the course of excavations on the site of the Abbey, we may assume that the convent followed the very general practice of keeping their books in presses in the cloister.
The existing books from the library may be readily identified by an inscription, usually written at the top of the first leaf, to this effect : Bic liber est ecclesie beati Thome Martyris de Lesnes. Quem qui ei abstulerit a'ltt illi super eo fraudem jecerU, nisi eidem ecclesie plene satisfecerit, anathema sit maranatha. Sometimes the name of the donor is also given.
[fn1] The position of the site is shown on Fig. 6, p. 24.[pg71]
W1th the exception of the missal in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is a service-book for the altar rather than a library book, the existing MSS., though some of them are well Wt'itten and decorated, are on the whole a dull lot, sermons and outworn theological tracts predominating ; and they do not give one a very high idea of the level of culture and learning in the monastery. One must beware, however, of attempting to reach any conclusion on this point on the scanty evidence so far available.
The full list of MSS. so far identified as having belonged to the Abbey is as follows. I should be very glad to hear of any further identifications which may be known to readers of this note. Nos. 5, 6, and 12 were given to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, by William Moore (d. 1659), and Nos. 1, 2, and 10 to St. John's College, Oxford, by Richard Tilesbye, Archdeacon of Rochester, in 1619.
[pg72]number of hands. Donor, Abbot Thomas de Sandwich. Cent. xii. and :xiii. (G.C.C. MS. 135.)[pg73]
C.C.C. Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
G.C.C. Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
S.J.O. St. John's College, Oxford.
T.C.C. Trinity College, Cambridge.
British Museum : Catalogue of the MSS. in the Old Royal and King's Collections, 1921.
Jilms, M. R. : Catalogue of the MSS. at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
--- Cata.logue of the MSS. at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 1907.
-- Catalogue of the Western MSS. at Trinity College, Cambridge, vol. iD.
--- The MSS. at Lambeth Palace (Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 1900).
-- The Sources of Archbishop Parker's Collection of MSS. (Cambridge Antiqua.rian Society, 1899).
When this note was in proof my attention was drawn by the Librarian of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Dr. Z. N. Brooke, to a new list of MSS. from Lesnes in Medieval Li,lwaries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, Ed. N. R. Ker (Royal Historical Society, 1941).
Only the principal author and the <late of the MS. are given in each case, but there are sevf'lral books not in my list, viz. :
C.C.C. 810. P. Comestor, etc. Cent. xii.-,di.
Lambeth 144, ff. 164-814. Gregorius. Cent. xii.-xiii. (May originally have formed part of No. 9 above.)
Oxford Bodi. 656. P. Riga, etc. Cent. xii.-xiii.
Douce 287. W. filius Stephani, etc. Cent. xiii.
The only one of these MSS. of which I have had on opportunity of obtaining further details is the Corpus Christi volume, which contains part of the Allegorical History of P. Comestor, another traot, Honorii Gemina Animo.e, with further items. Dr. James assigns it to St. Albans, but from what can be distinguished of the erased inscription of ownership on f. 1 the Lesnes attribution seems very possible.
C. R. COUNCER.
[fn830] Borengaudus, etc. Cent. xii.[/fn]