A collection of SAINTS’ LIVES in MIDDLE ENGLISH
verse (mainly seven-syllable couplets), The South
English Legendary was a very popular text, surviving
in 63 manuscripts, no two of which are identical.
The number of legends included varies from
manuscript to manuscript, from 55 to 135 in
those that are more or less complete. The earliest
known manuscript (Oxford Bodleian Library ms.
Laud Misc. 108)—which is clearly not the original—
is dated about 1270, while the latest was
compiled around 1500. The original version was
probably produced in southwest England in the
mid-13th century, and ultimately was copied
throughout the South and the Midlands. At one
time the work was attributed to the monk ROBERT
OF GLOUCESTER, but that attribution is no longer
accepted. Its original author, audience, and purpose
are unknown.
The textual history of The South English Legendary
is incredibly complex. Copied by scribes
throughout England for a variety of audiences,
each manuscript received some revision or alteration,
whether in the form of the addition of a
favorite local saint, the alteration of vocabulary
because of differences in dialect, the revision of
the order in which the lives are presented, or the
wholesale reworking of some of the lives: Some
lives (like that of St. Agnes) survive in two versions
that merely differ in length; others (Saint
Benedict, for example) exist in two radically different
versions because of completely different
sources.
Most of the lives included in the South English
Legendary probably have their sources in Latin
originals (it is possible that the GOLDEN LEGEND,
compiled about 1260, was an inspiration for the
South English Legendary), though most were
probably known to their audiences through long
oral and written traditions. Saints’ lives in general
tend to contain certain generic formulas, whatever
the details of the original legend, so that
many of the legends in this collection have similar
features. For example, because the ideal of
physical virginity had become synonymous in
Christian theology with spiritual purity, nearly all
of the female saints included in the collection are
depicted as virgin martyrs who reject the material
world, most often marriage in particular, as representing
the lusts of the flesh. Virginity is less of
an emphasis for male saints, but there are formulaic
aspects to their lives as well: The martyrs are
all persecuted by zealously anti-Christian emperors
or their surrogates, and all are tortured in a
dramatic manner. Later male saints are all admired
for miraculous events that surround their
lives as a result of their holiness.
Still, there is some interesting variety in the text.
The collection includes lives of New Testament figures
(such as Mary Magdalene and John the Baptist),
of early Christian martyrs (St. Agnes and St.
Cecilia), of important church figures (St. Francis
and St. Gregory), of Irish saints (St. Patrick and St.
Brendan), and of popular English saints (like
Thomas Beckett and Saint Frideswide). It also includes
a variety of other miscellaneous material,
such as information about feast days and Old Testament
history, as well as a detailed account of medieval
cosmogony. Two different prologues, one
longer than the other, survive in the extant manuscripts.
Both declare that the Legendary is made up
of the lives of holy men and women, and that the
lives should be read on the feast days appropriate
for the individual saints. Thus the chief concern of
the compilers of the manuscripts was to collect lives
for use chronologically throughout the church
year—in some manuscripts the lives are arranged
according to the calendar year, from January
through December, in some according to the Liturgical
Year, beginning with Advent in November.
Certainly this desire of a text for festival days
contributed to the widespread textual tradition of
the South English Legendary. But the popularity of
the text in its own time undoubtedly owes something
as well to its colloquial use of language and
its often humorous or even satirical narrative
voice.What could be a rather tedious didactic exercise
often becomes, in the Legendary, fascinating
and entertaining reading.
Bibliography
Boyd, Beverly. “A New Approach to the South English
Legendary,” Philological Quarterly 47 (1968):
494–498.
Görlach, Manfred. The Textual Tradition of the
South English Legendary. Leeds Texts and Monographs,
New Series 6. Leeds: University of Leeds,
1974.
Klaus, Jankofsky, ed. The South English Legendary: A
Critical Assessment. Tübingen, Germany: Francke,
1992.
The South English Legendary. Edited from Corpus
Christi College Cambridge MS 145 and British
Museum MS Harley 2277. Edited by Charlotte
d’Evelyn and Anna J.Mill. 3 Vols. EETS, 235, 235,
and 244. London: Oxford University Press, 1956.
Thompson, Anne B. “Narrative Art in the South English
Legendary,” JEGP 90 (1991): 20–30.