Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

collections of sermons in Arles, and included instructions with each package to
disseminate them further: ‘To clerics located far away in the Frankish lands, Gaul, Italy,
Spain, and other provinces, he sent through their bishops sermons they could preach in
their own churches.... In this way he diffused the fragrance of Christ far and wide’. 4 One
such collection existing in a manuscript from the eleventh century, Zwifalt. ms. 49,
contains twenty-seven sermons, with a preface stating that ‘By our paternal piety and
pastoral care, we have collected in this little book simple admonitions necessary in
parishes, which holy priests and deacons ought to recite on the greater feasts of the
church’. 5 Further, he requires that ‘if it does not displease you, you can and should make
copies, according to your means, in a fair hand and on parchment, and give [the sermons]
to be copied in other parishes’. 6 Using scribes to take down his sermons as he delivered
them, Caesarius then reworked these to produce generic sermons which would have
wider applicability than solely to the citizens of Arles. 7 The production of copies of
Caesarius’ sermons appears to have been something of a cottage industry for the nuns of
St John, to whom was given the task of making multiple copies of the sermons in their
scriptorium. As one might expect from such a new community, the nuns were initially
inexperienced at the work; indeed, Caesarius asked the recipients of his collections to
pardon any errors the nuns might have made. 8 The vita of Caesarius, commissioned by
Caesaria II, takes a more positive view: ‘[Caesaria II]’s work with her companions is so
outstanding that in the midst of psalms and fasts, vigils and readings, the virgins of Christ
beautifully copy out the holy books, with their mother herself as teacher.’ 9 Such tasks
provide a further context for the requirement of the Regula virginum that all of the nuns
should learn to read; 10 clearly, for some, this would also include learning to write. 11
4
V. Caes, I.55. Tr. W.E. Klingshirn (ed.) Caesarius of Arles: Life, Testament, Letters (Liverpool, 1994),
37.
5
Klingshirn, Caesarius, 231-2.
6
Serm. 2 (preface), ed. Morin, CCSL 103, 18; present author’s translation.
7
Klingshirn, Caesarius, 9-10.
8
Sermon 2, preface. See also Klingshirn, Caesarius, 232.
9
V.Caes, I.58. Tr. Klingshirn, Life, Testament, Letters, 39.
10
RV 18.
11
On nuns’ scriptoria, see R. McKitterick, ‘Nuns’ scriptoria in England and Francia in the eighth century’,
Francia 19/1 (Sigmarigen: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 1989) 1-35; eadem, ‘Women and literacy in the early
middle ages’, eadem, Books, Scribes and Learning in the Frankish Kingdoms, 6 th – 9 th Centuries
(Aldershot: Variorum, 1994) 1-43.
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