The Missal of Robert of Jumiges

Early 11c service book containing many masses commemorating English and Continental saints. The `Missal of Robert of Jumiges' is one of the most important, and also most beautifully written and decorated, service books which have survived from the late Anglo-Saxon period. Probably written at Canterbury in the early years of the eleventh century, it eventually came into the possession of Robert, bishop of London (1044-51), who gave it to the abbey of Jumiges in France, where it remained until 1791. From a liturgical point of view, the manuscriptis notable for the large number of masses commemorating not only native English, but also continental, and particularly Flemish, saints culted in late Anglo-Saxon England; the book is thus an important witness to the cultural links between England and the Continent at that time. The text, first published in 1896, has a still-valuable introduction by its editor and is accompanied by fifteen black and white plates, which give some impression of the original, lavish decoration. There are also full indexes of liturgical forms and subjects.