I

CHAPTER III.

SHALL now attempt to give some account of the contents of the Service Books, the names of which we have met with. And first, those which occur in the last-cited statute of Archbishop Winchelsey demand our attention, because they were the books which the parishioners were bound, as we have seen, to furnish : and others may be looked upon either as essential to the performance of duties, higher in degree if not in kind, than those which concerned the parish-priest, or intended only for the more solemn worship performed in the Choirs of Abbeys and Cathedrals. There is no reason why we should not follow the order, in which they are given in the Statute.

1. The "Legenda," as Lyndwood" tells us, was the book in which were written the Lections to be read "in officiis Matutinis," at the Matin offices. These sometimes were taken from the Prophets, as for example, from Isaiah in Advent, with some exceptions, as at second Nocturns on the Sundays during Advent, and certain solemnities of the same season. Sometimes the Lections were taken from the Epistles of St. Paul, as from the first Sunday after the octave of the Epiphany, to Septuagesima, on which day the three first were from the book of Genesis. In Lent were read portions of the Homilies of S. John Chrysostom, and Pope Leo, and other Fathers, together with a conti

33 Lib. iij. Tit. 27. Ut Parochiani. verb. Legendam.

nuation of the books of Genesis, and Exodus. On Passion Sunday, the first Lections were from Jeremiah, and in the week within the octave of the Ascension, from the Acts of the Apostles. On the first Sunday after Trinity the Histories" as they were called began, which regulated the succeeding Lections: thus, during the History "Peto Domine," the book of Tobias was read: during, “Adonai" the book of Judith: and so on. The above shews generally the character of the Lections: certain great Festivals interrupted the usual course, which was composed not only from the Holy Scriptures, but from Homilies, and Lives of the Saints. Upon All Souls' day, all nine lections were taken from the book of Job.

The Legenda as thus explained by Lyndwood, comprehends an arrangement of the six books mentioned by Durandus and Du Cange: viz. the Legendarius, the Lectionarius, and the Sermologus: the Passionarius, the Homiliarius, and the Bibliotheca. The first of these as a distinct book contained the Acts of the Saints arranged for the yearly reading: "per anni totius circulum." 35 Durand's words are, "Legendarius vocatur liber ille, ubi agitur de vita et obitu confessorum, ut Hilarii, Martini, et aliorum confessorum, et legitur in festis eorum, dum tamen authenticatus

"Historiæ, dicuntur Scriptoribus de Offic. divinis Lectiones, desumptæ ex libris historicis veteris Testamenti, et aliis, quæ in Ecclesia statis diebus recitantur." Du Cange. And again: "Istoria, de Responsoriis post Lectiones decantandis dicitur in veteri Cæri

moniali MS. B. M. Deauratæ." More correctly Gerbert: "Antiphonæ vel ex Scripturis, vel ex Sanctorum Actis compositæ vocari solebant historia." De cantu et musica sacra. Tom. I. p. 573.

35 Du Cange. Glossarium.

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sit." 36 The second contained the Lections only from the Scriptures, and in another sense the Epistles which were read at Mass: the third, the Sermologus, the sermons of the Popes and other Fathers; the Passionarius, as its name imports, the passions of the martyrs: the Homiliarius, the homilies of the Fathers: and lastly the Bibliotheca, the Bible. "Bibliorum liber, seu utrumque Testamentum, vetus et Novum.” 39 "Volumen ex omnibus libris veteris et Novi Testamenti a Hieronymo compositum."

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In the Exchequer chamber of the Cathedral of Exeter is still preserved a noble MS. Legenda, given by Bishop Grandisson."1 It is in two volumes, large Folio, on vellum: the leaves not foliated, neither is there a calendar. Both volumes have the bishop's autograph on the margin of the first page. In the first it has been partly destroyed by damp, and there can now only be read, "Ego. I. —,, — istum, cum suo pari Anno consecrationis meæ .xxxix. In festo Annuntiationis dominicæ, manu mea." But in the second we have perfect; "Ego, I. de G. Exon. Do ecclesiæ Exon. librum istum cum pari suo manu mea."

The title, if it may be so styled, of these volumes

fully expresses their contents, and completely answers Lyndwood's description of the Legenda. "Incipit legenda de usu Exoniensis ecclie, secundum ordinationem et abbreviationem Johis de Grandissono epĩ. Et dividitur in tres partes. Prima pars: continet quidquid legitur de biblia. In qua fiunt saltus non mutato textu bibliæ. Ut quia omnia non possunt legi: saltem illa legantur quæ magis tempori correspondent. Secunda pars continet sermones et omelias: quæ pertinent ad temporale cum lectionibus bē marie, et dedicationis ecclie: cum oct: et collacaconum quadragesimalium: necnon lectionum post primam in capitulo. Tertia pars, in alio volumine continet lectiones proprias scorum, de quibus fit in usu Exo". cum com scor et lec. de commemorationibus apostolorum petri et pauli et legenda quorundam: de quibus fit in ecclia exon. tantum. Dominica prima adventus dñi. lectio prima. Visio ysaie: filii amos:" &c.

Among the Lambeth MSS. there is an English Lectionary, not so full however, as the above of Bishop Grandisson, No. 86, in the Catalogue of that collection. In the British Museum, there are several of various dates: the Lansdown MS. Appendix xxiij, for example: which contains the Lections of the Canonical Hours. In the same collection, N°. 2889 though so called is not a Lectionary: but an Epistolarium, having only the Epistles read at Mass. This is a most noble manuscript, and in the middle, occupying four folios, is the full order of the Service on some certain Saints'-days: i. e. the first words of the Introit, Epistle, Gradual, &c. (as the case may be) Gospel, Offertory, and Communion. At the end, whence possibly the mistake in the Catalogue, are the Lections of the Office of the Dead. These are a clear addition to the

original book, and begin, “Quando celebramus diem fratrum defunctorum."

The Legenda of Salisbury Use was printed in 1518, in folio of which the title is from the Bodleian copy; "Legende totius anni tam de tempore quam de sanctis secundum ordinem Sarum." And the colophon;

Legende festivitatum tam temporalium quam sanctorum per totum annum secundum ordinationem ecclesie Sarum." 42

2. The " Antiphonarium," says Lyndwood, is so named from its containing the Antiphons which were sung at the Canonical Hours, arranged properly under the respective hours and days. Such, doubtless, originally were the whole contents of the book, but as time went on, it gradually collected other portions of the Divine Office, and we generally now find in the old Antiphoners, not only the Antiphons, but as Lyndwood goes on to explain, the Invitatories, Hymns, Responses, Verses, and Little Chapters. (Capitula.) Some copies have more, some less of these additions: the Antiphonarium did not cease to be properly so called, though it contained them, or omitted them.

I think it open to some question, how far parishes were bound under Winchelsey's Constitution to provide the Antiphonarium in its strict and more limited sense, or according to the full meaning which the Gloss gives

42 In Gutch Collectanea Curiosa, Vol. 2. No. x. is a short account of old English Service Books, written by Lewis, the Editor of Wicklif's Testament. &c. I did not include it above, as I was extracting from those authors only,

usually appealed to. Of the value of it, the reader may judge from the fact that Lewis explains the Legenda, or Lectionary to be the same as Capgrave's "Legenda Nova," and the famous "Golden Legend."