An Annotated Bibliography of Printed and Online Primary Sources for the Middle Ages


Arnold, Thomas, ed., Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey. (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 3 vols., (Rolls Series, No. 96), 1890-96).

Text name(s): Passio Sancti Eadmundi, De Miraculis Sancti Eadmundi, De infantia sancti Aedmundi, Chronica, Phlycraticus; Gesta Sacristarum; Cropnica Buriensis

Number of pages of primary source text: 995

Medieval Author(s): Abbo of Fleury Aston, Andrew Jocelin of Brakelond John of Salisbury Piramus, Denis Samson

Dates: 841 - 1477

Archival Reference: Registrum Album; Codex Diplomaticus; BL MS. Harl. 447; BL Cotton Titus A. VIII.;

Original Language(s): Anglo-Norman; Latin;

Translation: Original language included.

Translation Comments:

Geopolitical Region(s): England;

County/Region: Bury St. Edmund's; Suffolk; Beodricsworth

Record Type(s):
Account Roll - Bailiff/Reeve
Charters, Deeds
Chronicle, Annals
Hagiography
Letter
Literature - Verse
Register - Notarial
Subject Heading(s):
Agriculture
Architecture and Buildings
Clergy - Monks, Nuns, Friars
Clergy - Priests, Bishops, Canons
Economy - Crafts and Industry
Economy - Trade
Family / Children
Government
Law - Canon
Literature - Devotional
Literature - Folklore, Legends
Magic / Witchcraft
Material Culture: Food, Clothing, Household
Monasticism
Nobility / Gentry
Papacy
Piety
Religion - Institutional Church
Royalty / Monarchs
Saints
Saints - Cults / Relics
Towns / Cities
Travel / Pilgrimage
Vikings
War - Chivalry
War - Military History
Women / Gender

Apparatus: Index Glossary Appendices Introduction

Comments:

The abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, founded before 869, was once one of the wealthiest Benedictine monasteries in England. This volume contains an assortment of documents that are intended to enrich our knowledge of this important site by allowing “the founders and continuators, the ruling ideas and cardinal institutions of St. Edmund’s abbey” to speak for themselves (iv). The first volume is contains three Lives of St. Edmund and a chronicle from the abbey. It also contains exerpts from other chronicles and from the Domesday book. The second volume contains a chronicle terminating in 1212, three naratives of abbatial elections, a French metrical biography of St. Edmund, an account of the expulsion of the Franciscans from Bury, and an account of the Great Riots in 1327. The third volume contains another chronicle (the Cronica Buriensis), a collection of papers compiled by a hosteller of Bury in 1426, and excerpts from several other documents including charters, fifteenth-century letters, monastic registers and the by-laws for the weavers.

Introduction Summary:

Each volume has its own introduction. The first gives a brief history of the abbey and surveys the types of documents that survive in relation to it. He does on to discuss the similarities between the cults of St. Cuthbert and St. Edmund before outlining the legend of St. Edmund. The editor goes on to discuss a few of the works in the volume. The next two introductions focus on the contents of those volumes and give a brief history of the abbey.

Cataloger: SES