Liber Eliensis

Liber Eliensis
Book of Ely
early 19th century print of Ely Cathedral, which produced the Liber Eliensis
Also known as	Historia Eliensis
Author(s)	unknown
Ascribed to	Thomas or Richard, monks of Ely
Language	medieval Latin
Date	early through second quarter 12th century
Provenance	Ely Abbey
Manuscript(s)	Trinity College, Cambridge MS O.2.1 (E)
one in Ely Cathedral Chapter (F)
British Museum MS Cotton Titus A.i (G)
British Museum Cotton Domitian xv (B)
British Museum MS Cotton Vespasian A.xix (A)
Genre	Chronicle
Subject	Account of the history of Ely Abbey and the Bishopric of Ely
Sources	Æthelwold of Winchester's Libellus Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum Florence of Worcester's Chronicon ex chronicis among others

Liber Eliensis (sometimes Historia Eliensis^[1] or Book of Ely) is a 12th century English chronicle and history, written in medieval Latin. Composed in two parts, one between 1109 and 1133 and the other between 1173 and 1189, it was written on the island of Ely in the fenlands of eastern Cambridgeshire. Ely Abbey became the cathedral of a newly formed bishopric in 1109.

The Liber covers the time from the founding of the abbey in 673 until the middle 12th century. It builds on a number of previous historical works, as well as incorporating documents and stories of saints' lives. The two surviving complete manuscripts of the work are complemented by a number of other partial manuscripts. A printed version of the Latin text appeared in 1963 and an English translation was published in 2005. The Liber Eliensis is an important source for historical information for the region and time-frame covered, particularly for the abbey and bishopric.

Background and authorship

Liber Eliensis was written at the abbey-turned-cathedral church of Ely Abbey.^[2][3] It was written in two stages: at first under Bishop Hervey le Breton, who was bishop from 1109 to 1133; and secondly under Bishop Geoffrey Ridel, who was bishop from 1173 to 1189.^[4] Traditionally the work was ascribed to either Thomas or Richard, two monks of Ely mentioned in the text; the evidence for their authorship however has been dismissed by historians, and today the work is usually regarded as anonymous.^[5]

The historian Dorothy Whitelock said of the work that it is "unique among post-Conquest monastic histories".^[6] It was written to help buttress the claims of Ely to a judicial liberty. It also collected together earlier sources used to help the abbey evade episcopal control, prior to the abbey becoming a bishopric. These documents may have been forged or had their contents doctored to help the abbey's cause. Because of the tendentious nature of the collection, the work is used by historians with great caution.^[7] Despite the untrustworthy nature of the Liber and the documents preserved therein, it remains a valuable source for the history of the time period covered as well as the internal history of the abbey and bishopric.^[8]

Sources

To a large extent, the work is composite; that is, it is a compilation borrowing or at least using earlier sources. These include the early medieval writer Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, a chronicle that was associated with Bede's De temporum ratione, Florence of Worcester's Chronicon ex chronicis, and William of Poitiers' Gesta Guillelmi II ducis Normannorum. Lesser used sources of information include the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Orderic Vitalis' Historia Ecclesiastica, Stephen of Ripon's Vita Sancti Wilfrithi, William of Malmesbury's Gesta pontificum Anglorum, a list of the kings of Wessex, the poem about the Battle of Maldon, and a number of saints' lives, including some written by Eadmer, Felix, Abbo of Fleury, Goscelin, and Osbern of Canterbury.^[9]

Works more directly related to Ely were also used. The main source for this was Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester's Libellus, large parts of which were copied into the Liber Eliensis.^[10] Also incorporated into the Liber was a an earlier Vita, or saints' life, on Saint Æthelthryth, or Ethelreda, the founder of the Abbey of Ely and also its abbess.^[11] Along with those works, a work on the benefactors of the abbey was used.^[12] The material from three surviving cartularies is incorporated too.^[13]

Contents

The work is traditionally divided into three books. Book I also contains a prologue and a preface. It discusses the founding of the Abbey of Ely as well as the background of the foundress, Æthelthryth. Further information in the first book deals with the history of the abbey and its abbesses up until the Danish invasions. A description of the destruction of the abbey by the Danes and a further description of King Edgar's rule concludes the book.^[14] The second book, Book II, begins with the restoration of the abbey during Edgar's reign, under Bishop Æthelwold. Events for the following abbots up until the last abbot, Richard, are included in Book II, along with numerous charters and other documents.^[15] The final book, Book III, contains information on the conversion of the abbey to a bishopric, and information on the first few bishops, and concludes with a description of the martyrdom of Thomas Becket. Interspersed with the historical narrative are a number of documents and charters relating to the bishops.^[16]

Manuscripts

The work survives in two complete manuscripts, that of Trinity College, Cambridge MS O.2.1, usually known as the E manuscript; and one in the possession of Ely Cathedral Chapter, usually known as the F manuscript. The E manuscript dates from the late 12th century, and shows three different scribal hands. The F manuscript dates to the early 13th century, with four scribal hands.^[17]

Besides the two complete manuscripts, a number of other manuscripts contain parts of the whole work. British Museum MS Cotton Titus A.i, usually known as the G manuscript, has part of Book II, and dates from the late 12th or early 13th century. British Museum Cotton Domitian xv, known as the B manuscript, dates from the late 13th or early 14th century and includes some other material along with Book I and the same parts of Book II as in manuscript G. Another Cottononian manuscript, British Museum MS Cotton Vespasian A.xix has parts of Book III, and dates to between 1257 and 1286.^[18] This manuscript is usually known as the A manuscript.^[19]

The relationships between the various extant manuscripts is complex, and a definitive scheme of how the various manuscripts relate to each other cannot be made.^[20] Blake, in his edition of the Liber suggests that Book I once existed as a stand-alone work, which influenced the B manuscript. A separate Book II, with parts of Book III, was then written, and then combined with the stand-alone Book I, into either manuscript E or an earlier version of that manuscript. The Book II work was then revised, combined with parts of G, Book I, and parts of E to make manuscript F.^[21]

Related manuscripts include Bodleian Library Oxford MS Laud 647, known as the O manuscript.^[19] This is based on the Liber, but reorganized into a listing of the acts of the various abbots and bishops. Blake, in his edition of the Liber, called this work, and related works, the Chronicon Abbatum et Episcoporum Eliensium.^[22] Another related work is contained in Trinity College, Cambridge MS O.2.41, which contains the Libellus of Æthelwold and an Ely cartulary. Containing just cartularies are British Library Cotton MS Tiberius A vi and Cambridge University Library Ely Diocesan Register Liber M.^[19]

Printing history

Liber Eliensis has been published by the Royal Historical Society in their Camden Third Series, edited by E. O. Blake. The edition contains the Latin text along with some Old English texts.^[23] A more recent version is the translation by Janet Fairweather, published in 2005 by the Boydell Press.^[24]

Editions

• Blake, E. O., ed (1962). Liber Eliensis. Camden Third Series. London: Royal Historical Society. 
• Fairweather, Janet (trans.), ed (2005). Liber Eliensis. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell. ISBN 978-1-84383-015-3. 

See also

• English historians in the Middle Ages

Notes

References

• Blake, E. O. (1962). Blake, E. O.. ed. Liber Eliensis. Camden Third Series. London: Royal Historical Society. pp. xxiii-lx. 
• Fairweather, Janet (2005). "Introduction". in Fairweather, Janet (trans.). Liber Eliensis. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell. pp. xiii-xliv. ISBN 978-1-84383-015-3. 
• Royal Historical Society (1983). Texts and Calendars II:An Analytical Guide to Serial Publications 1957–1982. Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks No. 12. London: Royal Historical Society. 
• Stafford, Pauline (1989). Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries. London: Edward Arnold. ISBN 0-7131-6532-4. 
• van Houts, Elizabeth (2002). "Historical Writing". in Harper-Bill, Christopher and Elizabeth van Houts. A Companion to the Anglo-Norman World. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell. pp. 103–121. ISBN 978-184383-341-3.