the letter of honorable dismissal which a monk carried with him when he transferred from one monastery to another. It is interesting, as illustrating the continuity of our intellectual life and legal procedure, to compare these three forms with the modern forms for releasing parentage of a child for adoption by another, any form of modern vow, and the letter of honorable dismissal given a college student leaving one college to enter another.

(a) Form of offering a Child to a Monastery

The dedication of children to the service of God is sanctioned by the example of Abraham and of many other holy men, as related in the Old and the New Testaments. Therefore, I, (name) now offer in the presence of abbot (name), this my son, (name), to omnipotent God and to the Virgin Mary, mother of God, for the salvation of my soul and of the soul of my parents. I promise for him that he shall follow the monastic life in this monastery of (name), according to the rule of St. Benedict, and that from this day forth he shall not withdraw his neck from the yoke of this service. I promise also that he shall never be tempted to leave by me or by anyone with my consent.

(b) The Monastic Vow

I hereby renounce my parents, my brothers and relatives, my friends, my possessions and my property, and the vain and empty glory and pleasure of this world. I also renounce my own will, for the will of God. I accept all the hardships of the monastic life, and take the vows of purity, chastity, and poverty, in the hope of heaven; and I promise to remain a monk in this monastery all the days of my life.

(c) Letter of Honorable Dismissal from a Monastery

This our brother (name), has desired to dwell in another monastery where it seems to him that he can best serve the Lord and save his own soul. Know ye, therefore, that we have given him permission by this letter of dismissal to betake himself thither.

54. The Copying of Books at a Monastery

(From Abbot Heriman's account of the restoration of the monastery of Saint Martin, at Tournay, in Flanders; trans. in Maitland, S. R., The Dark Ages, pp. 413-14. London, 1844)

The writer here relates how the first Abbot, who was installed in 1993, not being much of a manager, turned the organization and direction of the work of the monastery over to the Prior, with good results.

The abbot greatly rejoiced, and used to thank God, who had given him a man that had relieved him from the anxiety and bustle of worldly

affairs. For, committing to him the whole charge of the external affairs of our monastery, he gave himself up so entirely to the duties of a monk, and to silence, that frequently he did not go out of the monastery for a month together, but, being devoted to reading, he took the utmost pains to promote the writing of books. He used, in fact, to exult in the number of writers which the Lord had given him; for if you had gone into the cloister, you might in general have seen a dozen young monks sitting on chairs in perfect silence, writing at tables carefully and artificially constructed. All Jerome's Commentaries on the Prophets, all the works of Saint Gregory, and everything that he could find of Saint Augustine, Ambrose, Isidore, Bede, and the Lord Anselm, then Abbot of Bec, and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, he caused to be diligently transcribed. So that you would scarcely have found such a library at any monastery in that part of the country, and everybody was begging for our copies to correct their own. Our monastery was at that time in great reputation, and in a high state of discipline; for in the whole province of Rheims there were at that period only three monasteries which followed the customs of Clugni — namely, Anchin, Afflighem, and our own. The monastery of Clugni at that time excelled all others belonging to the kingdom of the Francs in monastic order; for the rigor of the Cistercians had not then sprung up, and the Lord Norbert had not as yet been heard of.

55. Work of a Monk in writing and copying Books (From Othlonus' De ipsius tentationibus, varia fortuna, et scriptis; trans. in Maitland, S. R., The Dark Ages, pp. 417–19. London, 1844)

Othlonus, a monk of Saint Emmeram's, at Ratisbon, born about 1013 A.D., has left us an interesting picture of his work as author and copyist, which shows how he disposed of the books produced. Just what books he copied he does not say, and we do not know.

For the same reason I think it proper to add an account of the great knowledge and capacity for writing which was given me by the Lord in my childhood. When as yet a little child, I was sent to school, and quickly learned my letters; and I began, long before the usual time of learning, and without any orders from the master, to learn the art of writing. But in a furtive and unusual manner, and without any teacher, I attempted to learn that art. From this circumstance I got a habit of holding my pen in a wrong manner; nor were any of my teachers afterwards able to correct me in that point; for I had become too much accustomed to it to be capable of altering. Many who saw this unanimously decided that I should never write well; but, by the grace of God, it turned out otherwise, as is known to many persons. For, even in my

childhood, and at the time when, together with the other boys, the tablet was put into my hands, that I might learn to write, it appeared that I had some notion of writing, to the no small surprise of those who saw it. Then, after a short time, I began to write so well, and was so fond of it, that in the place where I learned, that is, in the monastery of Tegernsee, (in Bavaria, almost in a line between Munich and Innsbruck,) I wrote many books. And being sent into Franconia while I was yet a boy, I worked so hard at writing while I was there, that before I returned I had nearly lost my sight. This I resolved to mention, in the hope that I may excite some others to a similar love of labour; and that, by recounting to others the grace of God which had granted to me such benefits, I may lead them to magnify that grace of God with me. And the better to do this, I think it proper to relate how I laboured in writing afterwards, when I had returned from Franconia, for I was there when the Emperor Henry died, and Conrad came to the throne (in the year 1024).

Then, after I came to be a monk in the monastery of St. Emmeram, I was soon induced, by the request of some of them, again to occupy myself so much in writing that I seldom got any interval of rest, except on festivals, and at such times as work could not be performed. In the meantime, there came more work upon me; for, as they saw that I was generally reading, or writing, or composing, they made me the schoolmaster. By all which things I was, through God's grace, so fully occupied, that I frequently could not allow my body the necessary rest. And when I had a mind to compose anything, I very commonly could not find time for it, except on holydays, or by night, being tied down to the business of teaching the boys, and the transcribing which I had been persuaded to undertake. Therefore, beside the books which I composed myself, which I wrote to give away for the edification of those who asked for them, and of others to whom I gave them unasked, I wrote nineteen missals - ten for the abbots and monks in our own monastery, four for the brethren at Fulda, five for those in other places; three books of the Gospels, and two with the Epistles and Gospels, which are called Lectionaries; beside which I wrote four service books for matins. Afterwards, old age and infirmity of various kinds hindered me; especially the tedious interruption which lasted for a very long time through various anxieties, and the grief which was caused by the destruction of our monastery; but to Him who is the Author of all good, and who alone governs all things, and who has vouchsafed to give many things to me unworthy, be praise eternal, be honour everlasting.

I think it right also to relate, as far as I am able to recollect, how many books I have given to different monasteries and friends; and first I would mention the monks at Fulda, because, as I worked a great deal in their monastery, writing many books which I sent to our monastery, so in ours I wrote out some books which they had not; and, if I

remember right, I sent them seven. To the monks of Hirschfeld, two books; and when I returned from those parts and came to Amarbach, I gave one to the abbot of that place. Afterwards, being under obligation to brother William, I gave him four books, among which there was a very valuable missal. To the abbot of Lorsch, one book; to certain friends dwelling in Bohemia, four books; to a friend at Passau, one book; to the monastery of Tegernsee, two books; to the monastery of Pryel, near us, one volume, in which were three books. And also I gave one book, and various epistles, to my sister's son, who was living there. To the monastery of Obermunster I gave three books; and to that of Nidermunster, one book. Moreover, to many others I gave or sent, at different times, sermons, proverbs, and edifying writings.

56. Work of a Nun in copying Books

(An account by a monk of Wessobrunn, in Bavaria, written in 1513; trans. in Maitland, S. R., The Dark Ages, pp. 419-21. London, 1844)

The following selection describes the rather extraordinary labors of a nun in copying books, and the type of books she copied.

Diemudis was formerly a most devout nun of this our monastery of Wessobrunn. For our monastery was formerly double, or divided into two parts, that is to say, of monks and nuns. The place of the monks was where it now is; but that of the nuns where the parish church now stands. This virgin was most skilful in the art of writing. For though she is not known to have composed any work, yet she wrote with her own hand many volumes in a most beautiful and legible character, both for divine service and for the public library of the monastery, which are enumerated in a list written by herself in a certain plenarius (missal). For in that list the following books pertaining to divine service are enumerated:

A Missal, with the Gradual and Sequences.

Another Missal, with Gradual and Sequences, which was given to the Bishop of Treves.

Another Missal, with the Epistles, Gospels, Gradual and Sequences. Another Missal, with the Epistles and Gospels for the whole year; and the Gradual and Sequences, and the entire service for Baptism. A Missal, with Epistles and Gospels.

A Book of Offices.

Another Book of Offices, with the Baptismal Service, which was given to the Bishop of Augsburgh.

A Book with the Gospels and Lessons.

A Book with the Gospels.

A Book with the Epistles.

These books she wrote, as I have said, for the use and ornament of divine service. With the following she adorned our library, of which

only those which are marked thus § still remain there. For the others, either through the burning of the monastery, (which is said to have happened twice,) or by the negligence and sloth of subsequent monks, have perished and are lost; for the list already mentioned specifies the following books belonging to the library:

A Bible, in two volumes, which was given for the estate in Pisinberch. A Bible, in three volumes..

The Morals of Saint Gregory, (that is, his Commentary on Job,) in six volumes, the first and third of which are lost.

Saint Gregory ad Regaredum.

Saint Gregory on Ezechiel, and some other things, in one volume. Sermons and Homilies of Ancient Doctors, three volumes.

Origen on the Old Testament.

on the Canticles.

Augustine on the Psalms, iii volumes.

on the Gospel, and the First Epistle of Saint John, ii volumes; the first missing.

Epistles, to the number of lxxv.

Treatises, 'De verbis Domini,' 'De Sermone Domini in Monte,' 'De Opere Monachorum,' and 'De Agone Christiano,' 'De Adorando,' 'De Professione Viduitatis,' 'De Bono Conjugali,' 'De Virginitate.'

Saint Jerome's Epistles, to the number of clxiv.

The Tripartite History of Cassiodorus, (that is, the compendium of ecclesiastical history which he made, in the sixth century, from Epiphanius's Latin Version of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret.) Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History.

Saint Augustine, Fifty Sermons; The Life of Saint Sylvester; Jerome against Vigilantius, and 'De Consolatione Mortuorum'; The Life of Saint Blaise; The Life of Saint John the Almoner (Patriarch of Alexandria early in the seventh century. I presume, from the way in which they are put together, that these formed only one volume, as also the following:)

Paschasius on the Body and Blood of Christ; The Conflict of Lanfranc with Berengarius; the Martyrdom of Saint Dionysius; The Life of Saint Adrian, pope, &c.

Saint Jerome 'De Hebraicis Quæstionibus,' and many other works by him and other writers.

Saint Augustine's Confessions.
Canons.

The Gloss, alphabetically arranged. (I suppose this is meant by 'Glossa per A.B.C. composita.')

These are the volumes written with her own hand by the aforesaid

1 I translate as it stands; but I do not see that any books in the list are so marked, or in any way distinguished from the others. (Maitland.)