13th York Manuscripts Conference – Cathedral Libraries and Archives in the British Isles (2014)

The 13^th York Manuscripts Conference, entitled ‘Cathedral Libraries and Archives in the British Isles’, was held jointly at York Minster and Kings Manor, University of York from Wednesday 2 to Friday 4 July 2014. It was convened by Brian Cummings, Linne Mooney, Bill Sherman and Hanna Vorholt (all University of York) and brought together an international array of scholars from Australia, Austria, the Netherlands, the UK and the US, to discuss the formation and housing of cathedral library collections, books and archival materials produced by members of the cathedrals or acquired through acquisitions and donations, as well as the dispersal caused by the Reformation.

The conference also served to mark the 600th anniversary of the re-founding of York Minster Library, and included a display of manuscripts in the present library; a special commemoration at Evensong in York Minster; and tours of York Minster and the original library space, led by Sarah Brown (York Glaziers Trust and University of York), Stuart Harrison (Cathedral Archaeologist, York Minster), and Christopher Norton (University of York).

The conference was hosted by the Centre for Medieval Studies and the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies at the University of York, in association with the Cathedral Libraries and Archives Network. It was generously supported by the Department for English and Related Literatures and the Department of History of Art at the University of York, by the Society for Renaissance Studies, and by the Association for Manuscripts and Archives in Research Collections (AMARC).

Research presented at the conference provided a basis for a number of contributions to the online resource 1414: John Neuton and the Re-Foundation of York Minster Library, which was published on the History of Art Research Portal (University of York) in 2016.

Brian Cummings gave the Welcome and an introduction to the Cathedral Libraries and Archives Network.

Keynote speakers were:

Christopher Norton (University of York): 'John Neuton and Intellectual Culture in York, c. 1400'
Chair: Hanna Vorholt (University of York)

Nigel Morgan (University of Cambridge): 'York Minster Library and Manuscripts of the Use of York'
Chair: Bill Sherman (University of York)

Rodney Thomson (University of Tasmania): 'English Cathedral Libraries then and now: a Conspectus'
Chair: Linne Mooney (University of York)

Magnus Williamson (Newcastle University): 'Finding, Writing, Keeping: Polyphonic Sources in English Cathedrals, 1440s-1640s'
Chair: Brian Cummings (University of York)

Other speakers were:

Session 1: Foundation and Refoundation
Chair: Mark Ormrod (University of York)

Mary Garrison (University of York): 'Treasures of Books, Treasures of Wisdom: The Earliest History and Cultural Significance of the Eighth-Century Library at York Minster'

Claire Cross (University of York), 'Frances Matthew and the Re-foundation of York Minster Library'

Session 2: John Newton and the Bequest of 1414
Chair: Helen Fulton (University of York)

Michele Campopiano (University of York), 'From Rome to York: Some Observations on John Newton's Italian Manuscripts'

Sarah Rees-Jones (University of York), 'Administrative Archives of the Dean and Chapter c. 1400'

Session 3: Early Histories and Textual Communities
Chair: Mary Garrison (University of York)

Robert Gallagher (University of Cambridge): 'Latin Hagiography in Early Tenth-Century England: The Evidence of Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Latin 5574, fols. 1-39'

Christine Voth (University of Cambridge): 'Creating Libraries before the Reform: The Development of Textual Communities in England during the First Half of the Tenth Century'

Zara Burford (University of York): 'Inter-textual Relationships between the Cathedral Community of Worcester and Evesham Abbey in the Mid-eleventh Century'

Session 4: After the Conquest: Script and Illumination
Chair: Hanna Vorholt (University of York)

Erik Kwakkel (University of Leiden): 'When in England, Do as the English Do: Oppressed Continental Script in Rochester Cathedral Priory, 1100-1150'

Harry Stirrup (University of York): 'Manuscript Gilding at Twelfth-Century Winchester: Sensing the Presence of Henry of Blois?'

George Younge (University of York): 'Patronage, Language and Identity in post-Conquest Canterbury'

Session 5: Relics and Inventories
Chair: Michele Campopiano (University of York)

Charlotte Gray (Harvard University): '"Unus reby et alter viridis": Valence and Reference in the Trinity Chapel, Christ Church, Canterbury'

Bradford Lee Eden (Valparaiso University, Indiana): 'A Variety of Relics: Medieval English Relic-lists and the Feast of Relics in England'

Alexander Devine (University of Pennsylvania): 'Sacred Inventories: Locating Thirteenth-Century Bibles inside and outside the Libraries of Medieval Religious Communities'

Session 6: Feasts and the Liturgy
Chair: Sarah Rees Jones (University of York)

Sherry Reames (University of Wisconsin-Madison): 'Conscious Diocesan Departures from Sarum Use? Evidence from Cathedral Libraries'

Eleanor McCullough (University of York): 'York Books of Hours and the Origins of the Cult of the Wounds'

Session 7: Transmission of Texts and Dispersal of Libraries
Chair: Linne Mooney (University of York)

Edit Anna Lukács (University of Vienna): 'Manuscripts of Thomas Bradwardine's De causa Dei at Cathedral Libraries in England'

Helen Fulton (University of York): ‘Hereford Cathedral Library and the Medieval March of Wales’

Ian Doyle (Durham University): 'The Survival of the Books from Durham Cathedral Priory'

Session 8: Cathedral Libraries as a Resource for History and Science
Chair: Bill Sherman (University of York)

Stefania Merlo Perring (University of York): 'The Cathedral Lease Registers, 16th-17th Centuries: A Resource for the Study of Social History, Landscape and Environment'

Rebeca Cubas-Peña (University of Birmingham): 'Reverend Edward Churton and York Minster Library MS XVI.E.32

Sarah Fiddyment (University of York): ‘Archaeozoology in the Ecclesiastical Archive’