Making books for pastoral care in late eleventh-century Worcester: Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius MS 121 and Hatton MSS 113 + 114

During the episcopate of St Wulfstan of Worcester (1062-1095) a large number of books, many in English, were produced by Worcester scribes; some related to efforts to record the Worcester community’s Anglo-Saxon past, others were connected with Worcester’s spiritual, theological and practical needs. Wulfstan provides one point of continuity in the English Church during the political, institutional and spiritual developments of the late eleventh century. His episcopal career (just) spans both sides of the Norman Conquest in 1066; his time in office coincided with substantial political developments and subsequent changes in personnel in the English Church, but it also saw further-reaching ecclesiastical reforms associated with Pope Gregory VII. This essay focuses on two books produced near the beginning of St Wulfstan’s episcopate which offer important evidence for the ways in which material was gathered, organised and copied to create resources for pastoral care, primarily in the vernacular. These books survive as three manuscripts, now Oxford, Bodleian Library, Junius MS 121 and Hatton MSS 113 + 114, and have close connections to Wulfstan himself, perhaps reflecting his own concerns: Wulfstan’s particular interest in pastoral care is described in some detail in the Life written about him in the twelfth century by William of Malmesbury (d. c. 1143), drawing on an earlier, Old English Life by the Worcester monk, Coleman (d. 1113). Detailed codicological analysis of the manuscripts reveals both the various stages of planning and production of the volumes, and significant changes to the original plan during the course of copying. Close examination of the texts included in the volumes, and the way that they were reorganised, adapted and edited as part of the process of compilation and copying, casts light on the intended uses and users of the books, and a concern to provide appropriate and effective resources for Worcester’s episcopal and pastoral needs. Importantly, these Worcester volumes therefore allow an exploration not only of how pastoral care and episcopal duties were performed, but also of the detailed decisions about the planning and production of books for these tasks.