Chad's Gospels

Summary.  Chad’s Gospels, written early 8th-century, are unique. It is the oldest book in the UK in use, and could be the second oldest Gospels written in England.

           Chad’s Gospels,[1] also called Lichfield Gospels, St Teilo Gospels or Llandeilo Gospels, (MS Lichfield 001). On the first page is Textus euangelii sanctii Cedde, probably its 13th-century name. To the cathedral it is known as St Chad’s Gospels. The cathedral Sacrist’s Roll of 1345/6[2] listed two most ancient books of Chad and some have thought this meant the Gospels were in two volumes, but it is most likely a second book now missing, was a Psalter. A list of the cathedral’s jewels drawn up in 1433 included a silver-gilt book cover for the gospels and epistles which depicted St Chad.[3] This suggested one book in a special cover; it would be unusual for Gospels to be in two volumes.

St Chad’s Gospels. It was cut into single leaves and pages and trimmed during the rebinding of 1707. It is now 308 mm x 235 mm having lost a few centimetres. Present binding was by Roger Powell, 1961, in modern oak boards with white pigskin and oak case.

 

It is the oldest book still being used in the UK; new Bishops of Lichfield swear on the book their oaths of allegiance to the Crown and to give obedience and fidelity.[4] The Gospels bring together artwork which is Celtic, Mercian and Pictish. Most likely it was made in Mercia, but does have some correspondence with artwork of Northumbria (Hiberno-Saxon)[5] and possibly East Anglia.[6] The lettering on the first page of Mark is considered by some to be reminiscent of runes.[7] Its primary role must have been to impress pilgrims seeing it on the altar of the first cathedral of St Peter. With its intricate artwork it was an ‘illuminated gospel’ and the illumination was there to shine on all people.[8]

 Date

Its date is uncertain and could have been on the altar anytime between the years 700 and 780,[9] but a date of 720–740 is both convenient and widely used.[10] Endres favoured around 730. If early, it could have been supervised by Bishop Headda and if late by any of five following bishops. Its correspondences with the Lindisfarne Gospels, such as its possible commission for the shrine of St Chad like the Lindisfarne and Cuthbert,[11] suggest an earlier time. The conventional dating for the commissioning of the Lindisfarne Gospels is c. 700, though it is not agreed by everyone. A date of 100 years after Chad’s death, 772, has also been suggested,[12] which would place it into King Offa’s reign, but this is speculative. Early conjectures had the Gospels written in the early part of the 7th century.[13] It has been suggested 8 months would be needed to copy the four Gospels.[14] It is unknown how long the artwork and bookbinding would take. Then a king had to present the book.

 Features

The book has 236 pages, 118 leaves, of calf vellum containing the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and the beginning of Luke up to chapter 3, v9. Eight pages have artwork, four being framed pages. 224 pages have plain text with each page having 20 lines of mixed uncial[15] lettering. The rest of Luke, the whole Gospel of John, its wooden cover and the jewels that undoubtedly would be fixed to the cover have been lost. The suspicion is they were removed sometime in the troubles when the Vikings arrived in Lichfield early in the year 875. The separation at Luke and loss of a section suggests the book was at some time in uncaring hands.

          There is a relative absence of holes in the vellum from parasites that infect calves. One explanation is the herd was raised in an area free of cattle pests and suggests an isolated area such as Lichfield. Each double page is the skin of one calf so the Gospels in its present form have been calculated to be made from the skins of at least 50-60 calves.[16] The original book with all Gospels present would have possibly needed over 100 skins. Many skins would have been rejected because of parasitic holes so the slaughter of more calves was even higher. The type of cow for the vellum is unknown but would have been very different from modern breeds and closer to the ancestral cow with features of an auroch. It must have required an extensive farm with many oblates working and having to be careful separating the young calves from their wild or semi-wild mothers. It is thought the vellum came from young calves, 8 to 40 days old. Skin thickness ranges from 0.005 to 0.034 inch and its colour varies from pale brown to cream.  

The Celtic Insular script has the diminuendo feature of each line tapering down in height from left to right until a normal height was reached. It integrated the large initial letter into the rest of the sentence by gradually reducing the height. The reduction in height sometimes extends the length of the line and sometimes stops part way along the line. There are 20 lines to each page and lines are pricked out with holes at each side margin. The vellum would have been scored between the pinpricks to guide the writer in reducing the height of letters. Red dots to decorate capital letters were added later. Why write with diminuendo; was it to show dedication and vocation to God? Did it help to shape the text and thus make it easier to read? It is a distinctive Insular[17] innovation began in the Cathach of St Columba manuscript (Royal Irish Academy, MS 12 R33), late 6th-century, and later used in the Book of Durrow, 7th-century, which in time influenced Continental illumination style. This was an innovative way of laying out the text invented by 6th-century Irish monastic scribes. It shows the Gospels are Celtic in form reflecting Chad’s theology.

Sections showing diminuendo and red dots.

 

Examination of the handwriting[18] with new technology concluded there were at least four different ways certain letters were written suggesting it was written in sections by at least four different scribes. The latest conclusion is the script was the product of a well-orchestrated effort by multiple scribes directed by a master scribe. Indeed, with powerful lighting and lens, names have been found dry scratched with a stylus (dry point glosses) into the vellum and they could be associated with the writing or making of the Gospel. Three of the names, Berhtfled, Elfled and Wulfild, were women. This adds to believing a mixed-sex scriptorium existed on the site at Lichfield in the 8th-century. If true, the nature and layout of the scriptorium like elsewhere is unknown for the 8th-century.  There is a myth that scribes writing each day was a devotion and an enjoyment but there is evidence it was hard and tedious work and scribes are known to have moaned about their conditions. 

          The gospel was mostly a copy of a bible by St Jerome, known as the Vulgate,[19] c. 383. Over 1,200 small changes have been identified.[20] Where there are word changes it appears to be in passages that would have been repeatedly recited and thus remembered incorrectly. Clearly, the scribes had their own ideas on how to present the gospels. The gospels nearest in text are the Hereford Gospels and they too could have been written at Lichfield.

AI rendition of St Jerome presenting the Vulgate to Pope Damasus. From a miniature from the c. 1150 Gospel Book of Lund Cathedral (Cod. Ups. 83). The layout of Jerome’s original text is unknown.

 

 

There are eight pages of artwork which are positioned at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the Gospels. The Lindisfarne Gospels artwork shows around 90 different hues made by mixing around 40 infusions from lichens, plants and minerals. The Gospel’s artwork is much less colourful, mainly yellow, pink and pale blue and very pastel in tone. Remarkably, the paint was made by layering the pigment on the vellum, not on a side palette; it is the oldest surviving Insular manuscript to extensively use layered pigments.[21] Even the pH of the pigment is thought to have been changed to obtain the right tint; if so, this is unique. The pigments are common to those found on the Lichfield Angel stonework. No gold or silver used in the illumination has been found, so technically it is not an illuminated Gospel. It is possible flakes of these metals have since fallen off the vellum having had almost constant use. There is very little gold in the Lindisfarne Gospels, so it is unsurprising none has been found. Recent spectroscopy has revealed the following list of pigments: Red (red lead), Orange (Red lead plus an unidentified pigment), Yellow (orpiment or yellow arsenic sulphide), Green (vergaut a mixture of arsenic trisulphide and indigo), Blue (indigo from Dyer’s woad a brassica/mustard plant), Purple (probably orcein from a lichen with alkali needed to turn the red dye bluish), Brown (gallo-tannic acid) and Black (gallo-tannic acid). There appears to be a different blue pigment on the Chi-Rho page and could indicate this image was drawn elsewhere, such as at Lindisfarne.

Ink was soot in a colloidal suspension, possibly dispersed in a medium such as fish oil or egg white. The soot being obtained from an oil-lamp, burnt wood or most likely burnt bone, with a binder such as a plant resin. Consequently, colours have faded, but the elemental black carbon text has not.

Production would have required men and women working in one or several buildings dedicated to producing vellum, ink, feather pens (swan or goose), cover-boards and metal embellishments and fastenings. Lichfield is a likely site, but alternative locations have been suggested. All of the pigments could have been sourced locally.

Resemblances with the carpet page, three incipit pages and the Chi-rho page with the equivalent in the Lindisfarne Gospels led Brown[22] to believe the artist, perhaps called a limner,[23] must have studied the Lindisfarne book at first hand. This supports the notion of continuous communication occurring between the monastic centres and Lichfield being a daughter church of Northumbria.

Inevitably, the Gospels have odd features. There is angular lettering on the incipit pages reminiscent of runic letters and if significant, indicates against any origin in Wales where ogham writing predominated. The feet of Luke are strikingly similar in position and shape to those of the archangel Gabriel on the Lichfield Angel stone. Hidden in the image of Mark is a stylus, any reason for being there is uncertain. Above Luke is his symbol of a calf and the animal has a circle with a spot above the hind leg. Its significance can only be conjectured. The middle of the Chi-rho has a white bird in contrast to all the others in pastel colour. All the symbols for the four evangelists are winged, even the lion for Mark. Presumably, this shows a connection between the words of the evangelists and with heaven.[24]

Calf with a spot.                          

         End Of Chi-rho snakes   

 

  Crane with three legs.

 The Chi-Rho page has a snake/ serpent head shown in plan profile, much like the gold snake wires in the Staffordshire hoard, hidden at the foot of the ‘P’ (rho) letter. Symbolically this is the foot of the cross and could show the snake as a force of primitive evil; the lowest form of life. The birds in the carpet pages look like cranes but have been drawn with three legs. Cranes were prized for hunting and eating. Paragraphs can be divided with a / symbol and sentences can be separated with three dots. Much punctuation has been added later in time. 

Three dots

                    

Removal

The gospels were thought to have been taken from Lichfield sometime around the arrival of the Vikings in 875.[25] By the 9th-century, the book was in Carmarthenshire, mid-South Wales and this was a far western part of Mercia having been secured between c. 850 and the battle of Conwy in 881. Assuming the book was written at Lichfield,[26] it does make sense to take it to one of the early churches set up by St Teilo for safekeeping. The churches were in the middle of South Wales, in a remote part of Mercia, away from the coast and therefore farthest from the raiding Vikings. When the Gospels returned to Lichfield, the name of Wynsige was added to the first page (+ Wynsige presul). This is thought to be Bishop Wynsige (Winsey or Winsius), 963–975.[27] A Saxon became bishop of Teilo c. 930 and at some time the group of churches came under the authority of Canterbury and this might have been the spur to return the book.

Marginalia

Overtime, the Gospels has gained eight items of marginalia, as people have wanted to add something personal to the holy book. On page 4 there is a note “Godwine son of Earwig had at Lichfield cleared himself of a charge of unlawful marriage” and this charge was made by Leofgar who became bishop c. 1020.

The Gospels were being used as an ‘oath book’ when the earliest written Old Welsh (Brythonic) appeared in two places at the end of St Matthews Gospel.[28]

 

End of St Matthews Gospel showing marginalia. Above the text is the Surexit inscription and below is a list of names.

 

It concerns a land transaction needing to be kept and was written after the Gospel words, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age”. In the margin is an entry in Old Welsh,[29] known as the Surexit memorandum, describing a land dispute between Tutfwlch and Elgu, the son of Gelli, thought to be dated 830–50.[30] It was settled when a horse, three cows and three newly calved cows were given to reach a settlement so that there was no hatred between them from the ruling till the Day of Judgement.[31]

 

AI gen, showing Tutfwlch and Elgu settling a conflict with one giving to the other a horse, three cows and three newly calved cows.

 

Another entry explains how Gelli, son of Arihtuid, bought the book from Cingal (Guchal) for the price of his best horse[32] and gave the book, for the good of his soul, to be placed on the altar of St Teilo, now the church of Llandeilo Fawr. This could have been an act of atonement since Gelli had done a shady land deal. If this confession is believed, and there is some doubt, the book’s ownership changed before it was returned to a church; probably a family church. Gelli may have been trying to make reparation before his death.

On the page with St Luke is a list of places within 15 miles of Llandeilo, including a farm thought to be in Ammanford, which has led to some thinking this was originally a Welsh Gospel. Another at the bottom of Luke’s page concerned the freedom, or manumission, granted to Bleiddudd ap Sulien and his progeny forever from slavery; thought to be the earliest British reference for a liberation from serfdom.[33]

There is a possibility these marginalia were copied from earlier oaths and have little to do with the gospel’s time at Llandeilo, but then why needs explaining.

           Sometime early in the Civil War the Gospels were removed for a second time. It is presumed Canon William Higgins removed the book from the cathedral to some unknown hiding place.[34] A letter from Higgins dated 15 August 1658 to William Dugdale stated he had St Chad’s own book.

Around thirty years later Francis, Duchess of Somerset, was asked to return books to the cathedral. They arrived in a box with a letter to say she gave back this gem (presumed to be the Gospels[35]) compared with which gold is uncommon. Why they would go to London needs explanation.

AI generated image of William Higgins 1646 holding the returned St Chad's Gospels.

 

Conjecture   

1.     King Æthelheard gained the West Saxon throne c. 726 which included territory in Kent. King Æthelbald of Mercia, 716­­-57, seems to have had authority over Æthelheard. Did he cause Gospel’s scribes to move from Canterbury to Lichfield?  

2.     St Jerome, c. 342 or 47-420, was an early priest known for his teachings on having a Christian moral life. He was appalled at the lavish texts wealthy Roman patrons wanted and wrote, ‘parchments are dyed purple, gold is melted into lettering, manuscripts are decked with jewels, while Christ lies at the door naked and dying.’ He loved his ‘poor pages and copies which are less remarkable for beauty than for accuracy.’[36] The Gospels have much copied from St Jerome’s Vulgate Bible. So, were they deliberately kept minimal with pastel tones and few colours to keep in with Jerome’s mores? Are they also in keeping with Chad’s ascetism?   

3.     Might the simplicity of the Gospels mean the text was written earlier than thought, such as at the end of the 7th-century and in line with Chad’s shrine. This included the simple artwork showing the saints. Then the complex Chi-Rho and Carpet pages with affinity to the Lindisfarne Gospels were added later. Later still the capitals were added. Clearly the Gospels have been altered over time, so might it have several dates.

1.     4.   A simplified, minimalist Gospels does not accord with Bishop Wilfrid, between 669–678, commissioning a Gospel book at Ripon which was described as having pages decorated with an expensive purple pigment, gold lettering, and illuminations (artwork). It was in a casing covered with precious gems. If so, then Wilfrid was not involved in commissioning the Chad’s Gospels when at Lichfield and Bishop of the Middle Angles. Wilfrid had a close relationship with Mercia for 11 years, between 691/2 to 703, and, perhaps, this was not when the Gospels in its form was commissioned.

    5.    The location of Chad’s grave and shrine, the Lichfield Angel stonework, Offa’s placement for his archbishopric and diverse manuscript linkages indicates Lichfield has to be considered a centre for Insular Art.[37] So did it have its own scriptorium, stone carving and metal workshops? Perhaps, the best evidence for this is the Book of Cerne which is now thought to be a product of Lichfield. It was written in a dialect thought to be Mercian and has an acrostic poem, f. 21r, written in Latin with each line written in different alternating inks of red, purple, blue, and orange that names Bishop Ædeluald of Lichfield, now written Æthelwold. This book, early 9th-century, has artwork showing winged figures and the wings are very similar to those of the Archangel Gabriel on the Lichfield Angel stonework. Decoration in the Staffordshire Hoard has similarities with decoration in St Chad’s Gospels and the hoard was most likely to have been archived in Lichfield.[38] 

     6.  There are 9 books and manuscripts with similar features to St Chad’s Gospels which have been listed as belonging to a ‘Mercian School’, perhaps within Offa’s kingdom. Features included, codicology or makeup of a book, its script and textual apparatus, its palaeography, and its decoration,[39] Creatures have tapering ribbon-like bodies with either thick black outlines or white on black. The list includes:

Barberini Gospels (Vatican, Bibl. Apost., Barb. lat. 570)

             B.L., Harl. MS 7653

B.L., Royal MS 2.A.xx

B.L., Harl. MS 2965

Salisbury Cathedral Lib., MS 117 (etc.)

B.L., Cotton MS Vespasian B.vi (ff. 104-9)

Bodleian Lib., Hatton 93

Book of Cerne (Camb. Univ. Lib., MS Ll.1.10)

St Petersburg Gospels (St Petersburg, State Lib., Cod. F.v.1.8). 

      7. Minute fragments can be scraped with an eraser from the surface of a manuscript and its mitochondrial DNA and lipid determined. This technique, called biocodicology, can determine the skin used. Potentially this will give more information on the animal.

[1] The word is Saxon for God-spell meaning good news.

[2] J. C. Cox and W. H. S. J. Hope, ‘Sacrist's Roll of Lichfield Cathedral A.D. 1345’, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal (1882), 4, 107–138. The Rolls listed ‘two most ancient books which are called the books of Blessed Chad.’

[3] D. Lepine, ‘Glorius Confessor: The cult of St Chad at Lichfield Cathedral during the Middle Ages’. SAHS transactions, (2021), 41. Lepine references, Swanson, ‘Extracts from Lichfield Chapter Act Book’, 140; Wharton, Anglia Sacra, I, 455.

[4] In 1694, every person admitted to an office in the cathedral had to take an oath on the Gospels to serve faithfully. By 1875, it was reserved for the bishop, dean and canons. In 1905, it was abolished all together. It is known Bishop Burghill gave an oath on the Gospels in front of King Richard II.

[5] There are twenty-eight gospel manuscripts written in Irish script, and a further ten manuscripts which are related to this tradition, but written outside of Ireland of which the St Chad’s Gospels is one.

[6] S. M. Kuhn, 'Some Early Mercian Manuscripts', Review of English Studies 8 (1957), 355-74, placed five manuscripts in or near Lichfield during the 8th and 9th century. M. P. Brown identified 10 manuscripts belonging to a Mercian school. See M. P. Brown ‘Mercian Manuscripts: the implications of the Staffordshire Hoard, other recent discoveries, and the ‘new materiality’, Inaugural Lecture to the Chair of Medieval Manuscript Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, in E. Kwakkel, ed., Writing in Context: Insular Manuscript Culture,500-1200 (Leiden: 2013), 23-66.

[7] H. E. Savage, The St Chad’s Gospels. Unpub. article in the Cathedral library, 1931, 15. The presence of Germanic-like lettering is one reason why the Gospels would not have had a Welsh origin. Runes would have been culturally impossible in Wales where the alternative lettering was Ogham.

[8] Illumination is also used to describe reflective gold and silver decoration, but this has not been found.

[9] Early 9th century has been suggested.

[10] The earliest known is the Book of Durrow c680, but could be later, and the Lindisfarne Gospel from Northumbria was completed around 721. Michelle Brown has offered a date of 740–750. Hereford Gospels were c. 780 and the Book of Kells 800. eHive (website for global treasures) favours c. 720. https://lichfield.ou.edu/ has 730.

[11] The Chi-rho page has similarities to the same page in the Lindisfarne Gospel.

[12] P. James, ‘The Lichfield Gospels: the question of provenance’, Paregon (1996), 13, 2, 51–61.

[13] See note 5. Savage (1931), 17. Savage mentioned the idea Bishop Diuma brought the manuscript from Lindisfarne in the mid-7th century, but said this was pure conjecture.

[14] P. Brown, The rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200-1,000. (Chichester: 2013). 357-8.

[15] Uncial means rounded, unjoined, flowing letters, not angular. It was common from the 4th to the 8th-century. Modern capital letters derived from uncial.

[16] Ibid, 54. See also, https://llandeilofawr.org.uk/gosp.htm

[17] Insular script has distinctive wedge shaped tops to ascenders and red dots surrounding large capital letters. There are gaps between words unlike earlier Roman-influenced manuscripts.

[18] B. Endres, ‘The St Chad Gospels: Ligatures and the division of hands’. Manuscripta (2015), 59, 2, 159–186. See also, https://lichfield.ou.edu/cc-download

[19] Michelle Brown believed a variety of texts were used, un like the Lindisfarne Gospels.

[20] Some writers have claimed up to 20% of the text has been altered. See L. Hopkin-James, The Celtic Gospels: their story and their text. (Oxford: 1934).

[21] “The only other surviving Insular gospel book that extensively layers pigments is the later Book of Kells, and as with other Insular techniques, the Book of Kells’ artists take this practice to lavish extremes, layering up to four pigments. Layering pigments has significance because it adds texture, depth, and an added element of perspective and play of light to an illuminated manuscript, one that 2D images do not capture well.” Taken from, W. Endres, ‘More than Meets the Eye: Going 3D with an Early Medieval Manuscript. Proceedings of the Digital Humanities Congress 2012, ed. C. Mills, M.Pidd and E. Ward. Studies in the Digital Humanities. Sheffield: HRI Online Publications, 2014.

[22] M. P. Brown, ‘The Lichfield/Llandeilo Gospels reinterpreted’. In R. Kennedy and S. Meecham-Jones (eds) Authority and Subjugation in writing of Medieval Wales. (New York: 2008), 57–70.

[23] The word artist does not appear until after the medieval period. In the medieval period manuscript artists were called limners, derived from Latin lumen, meaning bringer of light. It is unknown if this applies to the 8th-century, but the painter would see him/herself as devoted to illuminating the Gospels.

[24] The four symbols, man for Matthew, lion for Mark, ox for Luke and eagle for John are derived from Ezekiel’s vision of the four living creatures with four faces (Ezekiel 1 v5‑11) and from John’s vision of the four living creatures before the throne (Revelation 4 v6­­‑8). From early times these symbols were linked with the four evangelists.

[25] The internecine skirmishes across the Wales-England border cannot be ruled out, but are less likely.

[26] See note 7, P. James (1996) concluded the type of vellum, pigmentation and style of text showed the most likely place of origin was Lichfield. S. Zaluckyj. Mercia. The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of central England, (Logaston: 2001) wrote its name is misleading as the book was not written at Lichfield, nor does it have any direct link with St Chad. The problem with the notion the Gospels was written in Wales is the many resemblances to the Lindisfarne Gospels can be traced through Chad and early bishops of Mercia, whereas there was no link between Wales and Lindisfarne. Michelle Brown has noted early Welsh manuscripts show a style derived from late Roman Britain and this is absent in the Gospels.

[27] There is another reference to Bishop Leofric, 1020–6. Wynsige could have signed his name when the Gospels returned or when he was made bishop.

[28] The earliest Old Welsh is believed to be two short inscriptions for two women on the Cadfan Stone at St Cadfan’s church, Tywyn, Gwynedd. Thought to be 8th century. See I. William, The Beginnings of Welsh Poetry. (Cardiff: 1972), pp. 25-40.

[29] Old Welsh is the period from the mid-eighth century down to the middle of the twelfth century. The memorandum written in the Gospel margin is the earliest known Welsh writing; with Latin used for the legal wording. See, The St. Chad Gospel Marginalia (maryjones.us)  Also, https://exploringcelticciv.web.unc.edu/prsp-record/text-surexit-memorandum/ 

[30] D. Jenkins and M. E. Owen, ‘The Welsh marginalia in the Lichfield Gospels. Part 1. Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 5. (1983), 37–65.

[31] Tudfwlch son of Llywyd and son-in-law of Tudri arose to claim the land of Telych, which was in the hand of Elgu son of Gelli and the tribe of Idwared. They disputed long about it; in the end they judged Tudri's son-in-law by law. The goodmen said to each other 'Let us make peace'. Elgu gave afterwards a horse, three cows, three cows newly calved, in order that there might not be hatred between them from the ruling afterwards till the Day of Judgement. Tudfwlch and his kin will  not want it for ever and ever.

[32] The price of the book seems moderate and might indicate it had been stolen.

[33] The Royal Æthelstan Gospels is associated with King Æthelstan, 924‑39, has an inscription on f.15v in which ‘King Æthelstan freed Eadhelm straight away, as soon as he became king’. This is the earliest known manumission of a slave in an English document.

[34] H. Clayton, Loyal and Ancient City. The Civil War in Lichfield. (Lichfield: self-published 1987), 69, ‘Precentor William Higgins saved the Lichfield Gospels’. Also note 52 p241, ‘Prebendary William Higgins hid the Gospels of St Chad’, in N. Ellis and I. Atherton, ‘Griffith Higg’s account of the siege of and iconoclasm at Lichfield Cathedral in 1643. Midland History, 32:2, 233–245. Also W. Beresford, Diocesan Histories. Lichfield. (London: 1883), 147. From N. J. Tringham, ‘Two seventeenth-century surveys of Lichfield Cathedral Close,’ South Staffs. Archaeological and Historical Society Trans. 1983‑4. (1984), 25, 44 note 24, William Higgins, the precentor, was among those taken prisoner at the battle of Edgehill (1642) and was imprisoned at Coventry for three months. He was again taken prisoner in 1646 when the Close surrendered to the Parliamentary forces; at first he was allowed to support himself by teaching, but that was forbidden in 1655 and he is stated to have been reduced to penury. Together with the chapter clerk (see 38), Higgins rescued some of the cathedral MSS. in 1646, including the St. Chad gospels. He was one of the first canons to return to residence in 1660. The extract of Higgin’s letter is from, The Life, Diary and Correspondence of Sir William Dugdale, W. Hamper, ed. (London:1827), 334.

[35] Alas, the story is repeated on the cathedral website, but there is no evidence.

^[36] S. J. Charles, The Medieval Scriptorium. Making books in the Middle Ages. (London: 2024). 51.

^[37] M. P. Brown, ‘The Lichfield Angel and the Manuscript Context: Lichfield as a Centre of Insular Art’, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, (2007),160:1, 8-19.

^[38] R. F. Sharp, The Hoard and its history. Staffordshire's secrets revealed. (Studley: 2016).

^[39] M. P. Brown, ‘Mercian Manuscripts: the implications of the Staffordshire Hoard, other recent discoveries, and the ‘new materiality’, Inaugural Lecture to the Chair of Medieval Manuscript Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 22 June 2010, in E. Kwakkel, ed., Writing in Context: Insular Manuscript Culture,500-1200 (Leiden: 2013), 23-66.