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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| outside the monastery, above the chapter house, in which professional scribes could work without disturbing the monks and where they could earn money enough to feed them. |
I’m afraid not. There are two separate conjoinings going on here:
1. between the particular of St Albans and the general of the 'Anglo-Saxon/Early Conquest' period
2. between archaeology and history.
As we detail extensively in Forgeries the relationship between historians and archaeologists is always a shotgun marriage. This is the way the archaeologists see it in their latest, April 2018, report
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| Most intriguing, however, is that under the foundations of these 15th-century structures, even earlier evidence emerged: the foundations of apsidal chapels that are likely to date from the cathedral’s origins as a Norman abbey. Documentary evidence indicates that these were built by Paul de Caen, the first Norman abbot of St Albans, sometime between 1077 and 1088. |
Nothing about a scriptorium. No clues about scribes, who they do or do not disturb, and where their next crust is coming from. No wonder Ms Wiles moves swiftly on to...
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| Close examination of the manuscripts produced in scriptoria can tell us much about the places in which they were made, as well as those who made them. |
Have we given up on St Albans and the physical evidence already? Oh well, never mind. Where are we going now, Kate?
| Worcester Priory had a long tradition of manuscript production. |
Possibly so but not, I’m afraid, from the early medieval period because it didn’t exist then. You will remember the drill from all the previous examples we’ve covered. There might have been something there but oh no! it’s disappeared because of those danged Vikings.
| Oswald was appointed to the bishopric of Worcester in 961, and he built a new church, hallowed in honour of our Lady, with monastic buildings. (fn. 1) Oswald's church was burnt by the Danes in a general sack of the city in 1041, (fn. 2) but the walls were little injured, as will be shown below. No foundations of this building have ever been found https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/worcs/vol4/pp394-408 |
Yes, that's right, it's those special Vikings that always take the archaeology away with them. Plus, these particular Vikings were Christian Danes who were intermittently governing England and really shouldn't be going round burning major episcopal infrastructure. But what's this? Surely not our old friend the 're-used stonework' that can't be dated but by gum it can be re-used to show whatever you want it to show
| and the only remains of it are the capitals and bases of the wall arcade on the north side of the parlour, which are old material used up in the later work. |
No wonder Ms Wiles decides to turn to some actual, real, existing, bona fide, historically verified forged documents....
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| The consistency, quality and quantity of manuscripts made there indicate an established training centre with a regular turnover of scribes. |
Sounds promising.
| The earliest cartulary (a manuscript containing land charters and documents) to survive in England, known as the Liber Wigorniensis [the Book of Worcester], was produced in Worcester in the early 11th century. |
Not quite so promising. I’d better explain that when a historian uses a phrase like ‘early eleventh century’ it means ‘we haven’t got a date, otherwise we’d have used it, but if we say ‘early eleventh century’ we can claim it is sort of Anglo-Saxonish.’ Not too early in the eleventh century though because the whole place was torched in 1041. What’s that, you say? The Vikings were antiquarians and thought the earliest surviving cartulary in England should be carefully preserved? Fair enough. They’ll be bringing us IKEA before you know it. Unless there’s some other explanation why it was so carefully preserved ....
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| By compiling these documents in one manuscript the priory could ensure the organisation and preservation of its assets |
How thoroughly modern of it. A bit of a waste of time though because just a few years later the Norman Conquest came along and rendered all existing assets, land ownership in the case of priories, null and void. But they weren’t to know that ... were they?
| The land charters contained in it are arranged in geographic sections by county, within which they move around the area in a clockwise direction. Liber Wigorniensis was written by five scribes, who worked simultaneously on a section each, working on long stretches and all following the same system of ordering. |
That’s pretty nifty but I’m still worried it’s all going to be a waste of time because the Normans are due to show up any minute.
We've moved on to after the Norman Conquest, around the time of the Domesday Book and all that. I suppose it's lucky in a way they could show the Domesday people that they had sound title to their land. But what’s this?
| a second cartulary was produced, which was copied onto pages of Worcester’s Bible. |
I don’t get this at all. You’ll have to help me. They’ve got a perfectly good book recording everything in loving detail that can survive Danish incendiarists and Norman conquerors but they thought they’d desecrate the Holy Book by writing it all out again? I’m sorry, Kate, but I must insist on this occasion you provide us with surviving documentary evidence describing the circumstances in which this could possibly have happened.
| Unusually, documentary evidence survives describing the circumstances in which this happened. | |
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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What is most exasperating about academics is their sheer naivety. They truly believe that the world is made up of people just like themselves, slightly unworldly people not much motivated by money. Technically this condition is called 'projective identification'. But anyway this is how Dr Wiles interprets the evidence
| Unusually, documentary evidence survives describing the circumstances in which this happened. In a text called Enucleatio libelli, the monk Hemming describes Bishop Wulfstan’s (1062-95) desire to preserve those of Worcester’s documents that were ‘in danger of rotting away’ and how he had ordered them to be copied to save them from ‘oblivion’. |
How sweet of him. It’s as if he is moved with the desire to help out twenty-first century historians to sort out how their precious ‘contemporaneous documentation’ has survived for posterity. Dear sweet Kate has no idea what’s really going on. It never occurs to her that there is only one reason why people write in very old books and cite very famous figures being responsible for the writing and that is to establish a provenance. She's probably too young to remember Hitler’s Diaries. Fortunately everything was caught on medieval surveillance cameras and I’ve obtained a transcript....
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Official Looking Gent: We shall need a list of Worcester Cathedral’s land holdings.
Man in Cowl: Certainly, we have laid them out in this cartulary.
OLG: That’ll do nicely. I shall need to see the original deeds of course.
MiC: Of course. Unfortunately a lot of them have got destroyed in the, you know, political instability of recent times.
OLG: That is unfortunate.
MiC: But we do have this. It’s an old Bible in which Wulfstan -- you remember Wulfstan? – copied out the main provisions. Here, look for yourself.
OLG: Why did he do that then?
MiC: Apparently he was worried about them rotting away.
OLG: Not the political instability then?
MiC: That too, I’m sure.
OLG: It’s just that Bibles, being in daily use, don't usually last as long as title deeds and cartularies. In our experience.
MiC: I’m sure it would have been taken great care.of.
OLG: What, put with the other records for safekeeping, that sort of thing?
MiC: That sort of thing. Look, I don’t know the ins and outs but here’s the book, here’s the reference to Wulfstan, we pay our taxes, why rock the boat?
OLG: Absolutely, old chap. Absolutely.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Ms Wiles sees it rather differently.
| Only fragments of this cartulary remain, but in them can be seen the work of one scribe, who set the layout and wrote the red titles of each text, and two scribes who wrote the main body of the texts. Then, at some point after both the titles and the main text were written, another scribe made minor edits to the titles. These two manuscripts point to the existence of an efficient scriptorium at Worcester, with dedicated scribes fulfilling distinct roles in co-operation with each other. Their ability to produce long sections of work suggests that they were not required to balance their scribal work with other duties. |
You could be in an Oxford College! But let’s hope our own scholars have slightly more elevated morals. From Wiki
| Both the Liber Wigorniensis and Hemming's work contain a number of forged charters.[4] The historian Julia Barrow has determined that at least 25 of the 155 charters in the Liber are forged, but cautions that this is the minimum estimate.[11] Barrow identifies more than 30 of the charters in Hemming's work as forgeries, including some that are duplicates from the Liber.[17] |
Ooh-er, missus! Now lawyers have a phrase Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus -- “False in one thing, false in everything†but medievalists have another phrase, “Look, we know a lot of it’s bogus but we rely on these wretched things for the writing of medieval history itself so if we want to carry on being medievalists we'll have to admit a few are bogus, to demonstrate we’re on the ball, but allow most of them through so we can have some actual medieval history. What have we got to worry about -- there’s no way of telling them apart and we’re only going to be judged by other medievalists in peer review anyway -- so WTF.â€
Just kidding. Over to Ms Wiles...
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| A different kind of scriptorium emerges from studying a group of manuscripts from 12th-century Malmesbury, produced by up to 54 different scribes, including the historian and chronicler William of Malmesbury (1115-c.1140). |
I don’t want to carp but we were promised an account of Anglo-Saxon (and, um, early Conquest) scriptoria. With the best will in the world, this (and the remainder of the article) is not just not Anglo-Saxon, it’s scarcely even Norman. It’s also complete bollocks but it’s irrelevant bollocks. However, I’ll leave it there in case you want to browse it all yourselves https://www.historytoday.com/kate-wiles/secrets-scriptoria and make suitable observations. Be charitable! Ms Wiles gave Forgeries more help than you lot ever did!
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Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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It's widely known (among medievalist historians) that Worcester was a forgery centre. Julia Barrow wrote an essay on the chronology of Worcester's forged charters, but there are many other academic references to ecclesiastical uses and misuses of charters.
Of course historians can't dismiss the evidence that Julia Barrow and co-academics cite but manage to get round it by insisting early charters are genuine despite the later forgeries with their tendency to 'historicise features'. This is tantamount to saying a forged painting is genuine because the artist used a colour scheme that fits the period.
| Two essays explicitly mine this material. Julia Barrow offers a new perspective on charters in her "The chronology of forgery production at Worcester from c. 1000 to the early twelfth century." Moving past "credulousness and indifference" (105), Barrow argues that forgeries can be important sources for information concerning polemical or propagandistic preoccupations as well as for the historical awareness on the part of their fabricators. She compares the Liber Wigornensis, Hemming's cartulary, and a thirteenth century Worcester cartulary (MS A 4 in the cathedral library, dated to c. 1240). |
The fabricators are of course 'historically aware' but the gist is that, forged or not, charters are historical sources for monkish 'preoccupations'. The habit of inserting clauses into their records of land boundaries and gifts etc. is a clue.
| In the end, she detects three distinct emphases in the documents: an early phase (Liber Wigornensis) dominated by monastic interests in Hermeneutic Latin, liturgical innovations, and the literary style influenced by the texts of Brythferth of Ramsay; a second phase (Hemming's cartulary) influenced by Domesday and by interest in historicization; and the third, belonging to the later thirteenth century, characterized primarily by its historicization, possibly as Worcester monks' contributed to the studies of the contemporary historians, William of Malmsbury and Eadmer. |
So in the end forgery becomes 'historicization'. Which is presumably just what the monks intended.
Eadmer rings bells because he came up in the discussion of how Canterbury acquired a St Bartholomew's arm, Eadmer's account being the only reliable or at least historicised source.
[As an afterthought, the Kate Wiles article on A-S scriptoria is in History Today's Medieval section. A tacit admission seemingly that scriptoria are not as early as we've been led to believe?]
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Here's something for us
| A Beatus Manuscript is a copy of a commentary on the Apocalypse of St John, written by a monk called Beatus in the 8th century. About 35 copies survive, including The Urgell Beatus. It was probably written in the 10th century, at a monastery in La Rioja, northern Spain. |
If this is true we might as well all pack up and go home. Aux armes, citoyen(ne)s.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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...and then on Sunday turn your attention to this
What did the Anglo-Saxons ever do for us?
On the eve of a British Library exhibition showcasing some of the greatest treasures of Anglo-Saxon England, Michael Wood outlines 10 ways in which these northern European migrants changed the course of British history |
Since the correct answer is presumably 'nothing' you might care to peruse his list https://www.historyextra.com/period/anglo-saxon/michael-wood-what-did-anglo-saxons-do-us/ in case anything leaps out, knocks you on the head and/or changes your mother tongue when you're not looking.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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The South door in Staplehurst Church, Kent. A genuine Viking door, this has been dated to 1050. It has some of the oldest ironwork in England still in situ. It tells the story of the Norse day of Judgement.
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You can see it here https://twitter.com/wordcurlz/status/1049197626661507072 but a pic would would be nice if anyone can manage it. It's not so much the ironwork as the carvings. Let me see: south-facing exterior door, prevailing southerly winds (and rain) for one thousand years, Cuprinol invented in twentieth century ... what do we reckon?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Actually, as I would think the only Viking door in Britain, this surely deserves more attention than the occasional piece in the parish gazette or on Twitter. For instance, 'dated to 1050' must surely be, if anything, an understatement since the last Viking (I suppose Danish qualifies) administration departed these shores in 1042. Unless some real Vikings came back on a penitential crusade to replace stuff they had previously burnt down. I know the parish loves its door but I think, under the circumstances, they will have to put up with a discreet borehole for dendrochronological purposes. Don't they want to put Staplehurst on the map for something other than a famous Dickensian rail disaster?
As for this ironwork, I am intrigued by the phrase "some of the oldest in England still in situ". This suggests that there are other candidates hanging around. Which is good to hear because the funny thing about iron, especially when it's out there in situ facing the elements, is a tendency to rust. Indeed it's a constant struggle of Forth Bridge proportions to ensure it doesn't go all spongey and brittly and other conditions I won't bore a non-metallurgical audience with. But that's modern iron. Clearly the Vikings had a secret formula. But I'm afraid, people of Staplehurst, this means another assault. We'll have to take samples of this miracle iron of yours in case we need it for the post-Brexit export drive. A shaving or two will reveal, just by way of example, whether it's coal-fired and post-1800 or charcoal-fired and pre-1800.
Let us prey.
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Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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The Staplehurst door is in competition with Westminster Abbey's oldest door though the Abbey door is said to be Anglo-Saxon i.e. of the time of the Confessor.
| The boards were cut from a single tree and the visible rings on them represent growth during the years from AD 924 to 1030. Because the bark and some of the sapwood was trimmed away when the planks were made into a door, the exact year of felling cannot be determined, but it can be calculated as falling within the period 1032-1064. A date in the 1050s for the manufacture of the door is most likely. |
The archaeologist in charge says this is the only verifiably Anglo-Saxon door in Britain.
The use of animal hides and iron hinges made me wonder if ships timbers had been recycled to make the door
There is a suggestion, merely a hint, that it might be Norman
| Hitherto, such doors have only been known from drawings in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, and from later Norman derivatives. |
https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-news/the-oldest-door/
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| The boards were cut from a single tree and the visible rings on them represent growth during the years from AD 924 to 1030. |
This seems to be reasonably secure. Although dendrochronology relies on comparative sequencing and the sequencing in turn relies on historical records, the sequencing going back to c 1000 is pretty complete.
| Because the bark and some of the sapwood was trimmed away when the planks were made into a door, the exact year of felling cannot be determined, but it can be calculated as falling within the period 1032-1064. |
This is not so secure. I doubt whether such a famous door would have been handed over to science so we are probably talking about one, maybe two, measurements. I don't know enough about medieval carpentry to judge what 'trimmed away' represents but for such a prestigious door presumably quite a lot. It's kinda important whether it's pre-1066 or post-1066 for our thesis about a Norman-founded Christianity though of course Edward the Confessor considered himself a Norman.
| A date in the 1050s for the manufacture of the door is most likely. |
I think this should probably read 'is most consistent with our understanding of history'.
| The archaeologist in charge says this is the only verifiably Anglo-Saxon door in Britain. |
Clearly then the Staplehurst door stands or falls by its carvings!
| The use of animal hides and iron hinges made me wonder if ships timbers had been recycled to make the door |
Isn't this rather unlikely given the state of ships' timbers after even a short time of immersion? Not just the brine but the worms!
There is a suggestion, merely a hint, that it might be Norman
Hitherto, such doors have only been known from drawings in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, and from later Norman derivatives. |
Norman Bishop: What are you proposing for the doors?
Norman Church Designer: I thought I'd scour Anglo-Saxon manuscripts for inspiration.
Bishop: What, for our all-new, all-singing, definitely not Anglo-Saxon, Norman Romanesque church?
Designer: People like a bit of tradition.
Bishop: Oh, all right then.
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