Mediaeval Books. The services of these Hours were called by the Anglo-Saxons (circ 1000), uhtsang, primesang, undernsang, middaysang, noonsang, evensang, and nightsang.1 They were called generally 'The The Divine Divine Office,' or 'The Canonical Hours ;' and were formed with Prayers, and Psalms, and Hymns, and Canticles, with Lessons out of Scripture, and writings of the Fathers. Office. rium, 15. The book containing this course began to be called the BreviaBreviary towards the end of the eleventh century, when the ancient offices were arranged and shortened by the authority of Pope Gregory VII. (1073-1086).2 In its full and settled state it contained the whole offices of the Canonical Hours throughout the year, arranged in order under their respective days, with Rubrics directing to certain prayers and hymns and anthems which occurred frequently, and to the Psalter, which formed a portion of the volume. The usual contents of the Sarum Breviary are given by Mr. Maskell, in his Dissertation on the Prymer.3 Its title is Portiforium seu Breviarium; and it appears that as soon as the name 'Breviary' was used abroad, the Book was called 'Portiforium' in England, with common English names, such as Portfory, Portehors, Portuary, Portuis, Porthoos, Porterre, Portasse. called Pertiforium' in England. Parvum, 16. Not only were the greater services of the Breviary ap- Hora. pointed for the Canonical Hours, but smaller offices were prepared, to be used at the same time for greater devotion. Such were the Hours of the Holy Spirit, of the Blessed Trinity, of the Cross, and the most complete of all, the Hours of the Blessed Virgin. This was commonly called the Little Office, and before Officium the middle of the sixth century was ordered by the Popes Gregory III. and Zachary to be said by certain orders of monks in addition to the Divine Office. The observance having gradually fallen away, it was restored, and the office itself revised, by Peter Damian (1056). This office was very much used by the laity; and as prepared for them, the books did not commonly contain the rules for the variations of the service on different days. It appears to have been held sufficient and praiseworthy, if they recited the 1 Canons of Ælfric (957) xix., Wilkins, 1. 252; Johnson, I. 393. Each hour had a mystical reference to certain sacred events in the life of Christ. These are given in the Hora and Prymers in verses, English or Latin. See examples in Maskell, 11. pp. x. sqq. [1. p. ix. sqq.]. 2 The writer of the book called Micrologus (circ. IC80) is the earliest author who uses the word Breviary 1882]. much used by the laity Devotional Laity. same office unvaried throughout the year. Being not so much a Books for the Service-book of the Church, as a compilation for the devotion of the people, the Hora varied much in its contents. Sometimes it contained only the Hours of the Virgin, sometimes the Litany and occasional prayers were added; sometimes it was a considerable volume, and contained also the Dirge, the seven Penitential Psalms, and various offices and prayers: sometimes English prayers were mingled with the Latin. Many copies of this book exist in MS. and in printed editions: some are most beautifully illuminated with miniatures and armorial bearings of the owners, pictures of the life and sufferings of our blessed Lord, of the saints and martyrs, or descriptive of the offices, such as of the Vigils, or Burial.1 The Prymer 17. English versions of the Horæ and occasional devotions, the Litany, the Dirge, &c., may be certainly traced to the fourteenth century, under the name of The Prymer. This word is peculiarly English; and it is highly probable that it was derived from some small manuals, which were spread among the people, of the first lessons of religious belief and practice and in its first state the Prymer may have been known among the Anglo-Saxons as containing the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments.2 There are still remaining in manuscript many short expositions in the vulgar tongue, of these elements of Christian knowledge, to which are often added the seven Works of Mercy, the seven Sacraments of Grace, the two Precepts of the Gospel, and such like.3 Springing from such early manuals, the Prymer received its gradual additions in successive ages, until we find it commonly mentioned in the fifteenth century as a well-known book of private devotion, containing certain set prayers and offices. It was in English, or in English and Latin, and sometimes in Latin, 1 See Maskell, 'Dissert. on Service-Books,' ch. IX. Mon. Rit. 1. p. clii. [clxxxiii.] and a full table of contents of a complete edition (Paris, 1507), p. clv. [clxxxvi]. 2 Cf. Bed. Epist. ad Ecgbert § 3. 3 Mon. Rit. II. pp. xlv. sqq. [III. p. 1.]; Hardwick, Middle Ag, p. 420. The Seven Works of Mercy (bodily); To clothe the naked; To give drink to the thirsty; To feed the hungry; To visit the sick and prisoners; To give alms to the poor; To harbour the harbourless; To bury the dead: (ghostly); To give counsel to them that have need; To teach the ignorant; To correct them that have offended; To comfort them that are in heaviness; To forgive injuries; To suffer reproof patiently: To pray for our neighbour. The seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost: Understanding, Wisdom, Counsel, Knowledge, Strength, Pity, Dread. The seven principal Virtues: Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance 2 he seven deadly Sins: Pride, Envy, Wrath, Covetousness, Sloth, Gluttony, Lechery. with occasional portions or collects in English. The title was, 'This Prymer of Salisbury use,' or 'The Prymer both in English and Latin,' or 'The Prymer set forth by the King's Majesty.' The earliest known copy, belonging most probably to the latter part of the fourteenth century, has been printed by Mr. Maskell; and comparing it with the famous Prymer of King Henry VIII. (1545), we may say that, for 150 years preceding the Reformation, and probably for a much longer period, the Prymer was the book authorized by the English Church for the private devotion of the people. Devotional Books for the Laity. The Prymer in English, before the Reformation. 150 years The Commendations.* The Psalms of the Passion.5 The Passion of our Lord. Certain godly prayers for sundry known to the Eastern Church: Free- 3 Ps. cxx.-cxxxiv. 2 These were referred to the seven deadly sins: Ps. vi. contra iram: xxxii. contra superbiam: xxxviii. contra gulam: li. (called yaλμòs ¿§oμoλoyhoews) contra luxuriam: cii. contra avaritiam: cxxx. contra invidiam: cxliii. contra acediam. This collec- 5 Ps. xxii., lxix. lxxxviii,, ii., and tion of Psalms does not seem to be lix. 4 Ps. cxix. Devotional Books for the Marshall's Primer. Hilsey's Primer 18. Use was made of this well-known name in the time of Henry VIII. to attempt the circulation of a similar book, but with alterations showing a great advance in reformed doctrines. Thus Marshall published a Prymer before 1530,1 in which he omitted the Litany, because of the invocations of saints which it contained, and a second edition in 1535,2 in which he inserts the Litany with its invocations, but with a warning against their very possible abuse. This book contains the offices for the hours of prayer: but a considerable portion of the volume is occupied with an exposition of Psalm li., and a harmony of the Gospel narrative of our Saviour's Passion. It has also a doctrinal instruction in the form of a dialogue between a father and his child. It contains the Dirge and Commendations: but with an admonition and warning prefixed against prayer for the dead, and showing the true meaning of the Psalms and Lessons read in that service. This book was strictly suppressed.3 19. In 1539, Hilsey, Bishop of Rochester, published a book more nearly resembling the Primer, and with some authority.a This was intended to introduce as much doctrinal improvement as the King's Vicegerent in ecclesiastical matters could venture upon. It has the form of bidding of the beads, by the King's commandment,' 5 and 'the Abrogation of the Holydays.' Many of the psalms, anthems, lessons, and hymns, are changed for others of more plain sentence: also a great number of the saints invoked in the Litany are omitted, according to the Injunctions of 1536. Prayer for the dead is retained in the bidding of the beads and 1 Burton, Three Primers put forth in the Reign of Henry VIII. (Oxf. 1834), Pref. p. vii. 2 Reprinted by Dr. Burton, pp. I-300. It is entitled 'A goodly Primer in English, newly corrected and printed, with certain godly Meditations and Prayers added to the same, very necessary and profitable for all them that right assuredly understand not the Latin and Greek Tongues. Cum privilegio regali. Maskell, II. p. xxxviii. [111.p. xli.]; Wilkins, III. 769. The book, however, was extensively circulated (1534-1539), and was known to Cranmer, who transferred whole sentences from it into The Institution of a Christian Man (1537). Lathbury, Hist. of Prayer-Book. p. 4. Set 4 This was entitled 'The Manual of Prayers, or the Primer in English, set out at length, whose contents the Reader by the Prologue next after the Kalendar shall soon perceive, and therein shall see briefly the order of the whole Book. forth by John, late Bishop of Rochester, at the commandment of the right honourable lord Thomas Crumwell, lord Privy Seal, Vicegerent to the King's Highness.' Burton, Three Primers, pp. 305-436. This was carefully ordered by Henry, to omit all mention of the Pope, and to teach the people that the king was the supreme head immediately under God of the spiritualty and temporalty of the Church of England. Devotional Books for the in the 'Dirige;' but the Lessons of this service are changed for others, declaring the miserable state of man's life, the condition of the dead, and the general resurrection. It contains an instruction of the manner of hearing of the mass,' opposing the doctrine of the sacramentaries. The book follows three main divisions, faith, prayer (the Hours, with the xv. Oes,1 the vii. and the xv. Psalms, and the Litany, &c.), and works, concluding after passages of Scripture upon the relative duties, with an extract from 2 Pet. ii., headed, ‘The bishop of Rome with his adherences, destroyers of all estates.' This with al preceding Primers was superseded in 1545 by 'The Primer set forth by the King's Ma- K. Henry's jesty, and his Clergy, to be taught, learned, and read; and none other to be used throughout all his dominions.' 2 1 These were fifteen meditations on Christ's Passion, each beginning with 'O Jesu,' 'O blessed Jesu,' &c., composed and said daily by St. Bridget before the crucifix in St. Paul's church at Rome: Hortulus Animæ, p. 175. They occur in the larger Prymers Maskell, II. xli. 255 [111. xliv. 275]. Marshall rejected them as superstitious, and they were not placed in K. Henry's Primer (1545). Bishop Hilsey retained them in their usual place, before the vii. Psalms and the Litany, with an admonition prefixed: 'The xv. prayers following, called commonly the xv. Oes. are set forth in divers Latin primers, with goodly printed prefaces, promising to the sayers thereof many things both 2 Burton, Three Primers, pp. 437 Primer. C. |