Bibliography

R. M.
Thomson

5 publications between 1999 and 2011 indexed

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A descriptive catalogue of the medieval manuscripts of Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Thomson, R. M., A descriptive catalogue of the medieval manuscripts of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2011.

abstract:

The College of Corpus Christi, Oxford, was a 'Renaissance' institution both as to its foundation date (1517) and the intention of its founder, Richard Fox, bishop of Winchester. Both Fox himself and his choice as the College's first President, John Claymond, were friends of Erasmus, who approved of the foundation and especially of its library. Fox intended his foundation to be a conduit of Italian humanism to Oxford and to the English clergy. In its extraordinary variety, this collection is a challenge to the cataloguer. Some manuscripts relate to the programme of the College's founder and first President, but most of the manuscripts reflect the particular interests of collectors from the late sixteenth century onwards. John Dee's books for example, mostly small, unpretentious and often fragmentary or made up of fragments, constitute a gold-mine for the historian of medieval chemistry and alchemy. These are supplemented by an important group of astronomical, arithmetical and medical texts. There is a substantial clutch of twelfth- and thirteenth-century manuscripts from Lanthony Priory. Noteworthy, too, is the large number of manuscripts in several vernaculars: Old and Middle English and French, Old Irish, Catalan, and even a few words of fifteenth-century Czech. The bindings of the Corpus manuscripts have been wholly neglected. Many books retain important medieval bindings, some as early as the twelfth century, and a substantial number of beautiful blind-stamped bindings of the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A special place in the collection is occupied by the approximately 1, 200 manuscript fragments, taken from bindings of books in the library in the late nineteenth century.

abstract:

The College of Corpus Christi, Oxford, was a 'Renaissance' institution both as to its foundation date (1517) and the intention of its founder, Richard Fox, bishop of Winchester. Both Fox himself and his choice as the College's first President, John Claymond, were friends of Erasmus, who approved of the foundation and especially of its library. Fox intended his foundation to be a conduit of Italian humanism to Oxford and to the English clergy. In its extraordinary variety, this collection is a challenge to the cataloguer. Some manuscripts relate to the programme of the College's founder and first President, but most of the manuscripts reflect the particular interests of collectors from the late sixteenth century onwards. John Dee's books for example, mostly small, unpretentious and often fragmentary or made up of fragments, constitute a gold-mine for the historian of medieval chemistry and alchemy. These are supplemented by an important group of astronomical, arithmetical and medical texts. There is a substantial clutch of twelfth- and thirteenth-century manuscripts from Lanthony Priory. Noteworthy, too, is the large number of manuscripts in several vernaculars: Old and Middle English and French, Old Irish, Catalan, and even a few words of fifteenth-century Czech. The bindings of the Corpus manuscripts have been wholly neglected. Many books retain important medieval bindings, some as early as the twelfth century, and a substantial number of beautiful blind-stamped bindings of the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A special place in the collection is occupied by the approximately 1, 200 manuscript fragments, taken from bindings of books in the library in the late nineteenth century.

William of Malmesbury

Thomson, R. M., William of Malmesbury, rev. ed., Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell and Brewer, 2003.

Contents: Front matter; Part I: Context, character and achievement: 1. William of Malmesbury and his environment; 2. William as historian and man of letters; 3. William’s reading; 4. William’s ‘scriptorium’; 5. The earliest books from the library of Malmesbury Abbey; Part II: Studies of the writer at work: 6. William’s edition of the Liber Pontificalis; 7. William’s Carolingian sources; 8. William and the letters of Alcuin; 9. William and some other western writers on Islam; 10. William as historian of crusade; 11. William and the Noctes Atticae; Appendix I: The date of William’s birth; Appendix II: List of works known to William at first hand; III. Contents and significant readings of the Gellius florilegium; Back matter.

abstract:

William of Malmesbury (c.1090-c.1143) was England's greatest historian after Bede. Although best known in his own time, as now, for his historical writings (his famous Deeds of the Bishops and Deeds of the Kings of Britain), William was also a biblical commentator, hagiographer and classicist, and acted as his own librarian, bibliographer, scribe and editor of texts. He was probably the best-read of all twelfth-century men of learning. This is a comprehensive study and interpretation of William's intellectual achievement, looking at the man and his times and his work as man of letters, and considering the earliest books from Malmesbury Abbey library, William's reading, and his "scriptorium". Important in its own right, William's achievement is also set in the wider context of Benedictine learning and the writing of history in the twelfth century, and on England's contribution to the "twelfth-century renaissance". In this new edition, the text has been thoroughly revised, and the bibliography updated to reflect new research; there is also a new chapter on William as historian of the First Crusade.

Contents: Front matter; Part I: Context, character and achievement: 1. William of Malmesbury and his environment; 2. William as historian and man of letters; 3. William’s reading; 4. William’s ‘scriptorium’; 5. The earliest books from the library of Malmesbury Abbey; Part II: Studies of the writer at work: 6. William’s edition of the Liber Pontificalis; 7. William’s Carolingian sources; 8. William and the letters of Alcuin; 9. William and some other western writers on Islam; 10. William as historian of crusade; 11. William and the Noctes Atticae; Appendix I: The date of William’s birth; Appendix II: List of works known to William at first hand; III. Contents and significant readings of the Gellius florilegium; Back matter.

abstract:

William of Malmesbury (c.1090-c.1143) was England's greatest historian after Bede. Although best known in his own time, as now, for his historical writings (his famous Deeds of the Bishops and Deeds of the Kings of Britain), William was also a biblical commentator, hagiographer and classicist, and acted as his own librarian, bibliographer, scribe and editor of texts. He was probably the best-read of all twelfth-century men of learning. This is a comprehensive study and interpretation of William's intellectual achievement, looking at the man and his times and his work as man of letters, and considering the earliest books from Malmesbury Abbey library, William's reading, and his "scriptorium". Important in its own right, William's achievement is also set in the wider context of Benedictine learning and the writing of history in the twelfth century, and on England's contribution to the "twelfth-century renaissance". In this new edition, the text has been thoroughly revised, and the bibliography updated to reflect new research; there is also a new chapter on William as historian of the First Crusade.

William of Malmesbury. Saints’ lives: lives of SS. Wulfstan, Dunstan, Patrick, Benignus and Indract

Winterbottom, Michael, and R. M. Thomson, William of Malmesbury. Saints’ lives: lives of SS. Wulfstan, Dunstan, Patrick, Benignus and Indract, Oxford Medieval Texts, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002.

[1] Vita Wulfstani: The Life of Wulfstan (ed. and tr. on pp. 7–156); [2] Vita Dunstani: The Life of Dunstan (165–304); [3] The fragmentary Lives: Vita Patricii: The Life of Patrick (315–343); Vita Benignii: The Life of Benignus (344–367); Vita Indracti; The Life of Indract (368–383).

Gesta regum Anglorum = History of the English kings

Mynors, R. A. B., R. M. Thomson, and Michael Winterbottom, Gesta regum Anglorum = History of the English kings, 2 vols, Oxford Medieval Texts, Oxford, New York: Clarendon Press, 1998–1999.

Vol. 1: text and translation (by R. A. B. Mynors, completed by R. M. Thomson and M. Winterbottom). Vol. 2: general introduction and commentary (R. M. Thomson, with M. Winterbottom).

In reference works

Oxford dictionary of national biography, Online: Oxford University Press, 2004–present. URL: <http://www.oxforddnb.com>.

comments: General editors include Lawrence Goldman, et al.

Contributions: Malmesbury, William of (b. c. 1090, d. in or after 1142)