E05860: The Calendar of Willibrord, in its earliest version, records the feasts of various saints in October. Written in Latin at Echternach, Frisia (north-east Gaul), 703/710.

https://doi.org/10.25446/oxford.13875728

online resource

posted on 2018-06-22, 00:00 authored by bsavill

The Calendar of Willibrord records in October the feasts of the following saints: *Remigius (bishop of Reims, ob. 533, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13738684">S00456</a>) *Germanus (bishop of Auxerre, ob. c. 448, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13738678">S00455</a>) *Hewald and Hewald (priests and martyrs in Saxony, 7th c., <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13734913">S02095</a>) *Gereon and 318 martyrs (martyrs of Cologne, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13734994">S02122</a>) *Edwin (king of the Northumbrians, ob. 633, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13735117">S02159</a>) *Paulinus (bishop of York and Rochester, ob. 644, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13735042">S02136</a>) *Luke (the Evangelist, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13730332">S00442</a>) *Simon Kananaios, the Zealot (Apostle, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13731268">S00835</a>) *Jude Thaddaeus (Apostle, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13731199">S00792</a>) *Quintinus (martyr of Saint-Quentin, <a href="https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/_/13730167">S00379</a>) Paris, Bibliothéque nationale de France, Lat. 10837, f. 39 Kalendas octobris natale remedi et germani vi nonas v iiii natale sanctorum heuualdi iii ii nonas viii idus vii vi natale gereonis cum cccxviii martyrum v iiii iii ędwini regis ii paulini episcopi in cantia idus xvii xvi xv lucae euangelistae xiiii xiii xii xi x viiii viii vii vi v natale apostolorum simonis et iudae iiii iii ii sancti quintini martyris '1 October - Feast of Remigius and Germanus 2 3 4 - Feast of the Saints Hewald 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Feast of Gereon with 318 martyrs 11 12 13 - Edwin, king 14 - Paulinus, bishop in Kent 15 16 17 18 - Luke the Evangelist 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 - Feast of the Apostles Simon and Jude 29 30 31 - Saint Quintinus, martyr' Text: Wilson 1918, 12 (adapted: Wilson's 'first hand' in roman type, 'second hand' in italics, later annotations omitted). Translation: B. Savill.

History

Evidence ID

E05860

Saint Name

Remigius, bishop of Reims, ob. 533 : S00456 Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, ob. c. 448 : S00455 Hewald and Hewald, priests and martyrs, seventh century : S02095 Gereon, martyr of Cologne, 4th cent. : S02122 Edwin, king of the Northumbrians (northern

Saint Name in Source

Remedus Germanus Heuualdus Gereon Ędwinus Paulinus Lucas Simon Iudas Quintinus

Related Saint Records

Image Caption 1

Paris, BnF, Lat. 10837, f. 39 (source: gallica.bnf.fr)

Type of Evidence

Liturgical texts - Calendars and martyrologies Late antique original manuscripts - Parchment codex

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

703

Evidence not after

710

Activity not before

703

Activity not after

710

Place of Evidence - Region

Gaul and Frankish kingdoms

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Echternach

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Echternach Tours Tours Toronica urbs Prisciniacensim vicus Pressigny Turonorum civitas Ceratensis vicus Céré

Major author/Major anonymous work

The Calendar of Willibrord

Cult activities - Festivals

Saint’s feast

Source

A liturgical calendar directly associated with Willibrord (archbishop of the Frisians, 695-739; abbot of Echternach, 697/8-739) survives as a contemporary manuscript in Paris, BnF, Lat. 10837, ff. 34v-40, where it immediately follows a version of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum of approximately the same date and provenance. Although it exceeds our database’s cut-off point of AD 700 by some three to ten years, the Calendar of Willibrord is included here since it almost certainly provides a key witness to cultic and liturgical practices in Britain and Ireland at the close of the 7th century – something not afforded by the relatively meagre contemporary Insular evidence. Willibrord was born in Deira, Northumbria (northern Britain) in 657/8, and given as an oblate to the monastery of Ripon in 664. He left Britain for Ireland in 678, possibly under compulsion after the sudden fall from power that same year of his abbot and mentor, Bishop Wilfrid. He lived at the Irish monastery of Rath Melsigi until 690, before travelling to north-east Francia and embarking on his missionary career as 'apostle of the Frisians'. Pope Sergius I ordained Willibrord as archbishop in Rome in 695, and although he appears to have based his see at Utrecht, most sources suggest that his new monastic foundation at Echternach (near the modern-day Germany-Luxembourg border) served as his main ecclesiastical centre. Echternach’s early scriptorium almost certainly produced the Calendar. A lunar cycle for the years 703-21 appended to the text indicates the widest possible time frame for its original composition, and moreover suggests a date within that cycle’s first few years. Meanwhile, the absence of any entry for Willbrord’s mentor Bishop Wilfrid (ob. 24 April, 710), whom we know was cultivated as a saint almost immediately after his death, strongly suggests against any date later than 710. The Calendar includes no identifiable saints later than Pope Sergius I (ob. 701) and Lambert, bishop of Maastricht and patron saint of Liège (ob. c. 701/5). On palaeographical grounds, we can date the so-called 'first' and 'second' Insular uncial hands of the Calendar, plus two entries in Frankish uncial, to the early 8th century, and we have treated these here as comprising the effectively 'original' form of the Calendar. The manuscript does, however, also include numerous later interpolations and annotations (including an autobiographical entry by Willibrord himself, from 728), which belong to various hands from across the 8th and 9th centuries, and cannot always be dated precisely (Hen 1995). We have, therefore, not included these later entries in our database.

Discussion

Hewald and Hewald (Oct. 4): Willibrord's fellow missionaries, with whom at least some members of the Echternach community must have been personally familiar. See Bede's entry in his Martyrology (Oct. 3), where he describes them as following Willibrord in Germaniam (E05631). Edwin (Oct. 13): Bede records his death as falling on Oct. 12, 633 (Ecclesiastical History, ii. 20). Paulinus (Oct. 14): according to Bede he died on Oct. 19, 644 (Ecclesiastical History, iii. 14). See Wilson, 1918, 40-42, for a full commentary.

Bibliography

Edition: The Calendar of St. Willibrord from Paris Lat. 10837: A Facsimile, with Transcription, Introduction and Notes, ed. H.A. Wilson (London, 1918). Further reading: Costambeys, M., "Willibrord [St Willibrord] (657/8-739)," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004), https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/29576 Hen, Y., Culture and Religion in Merovingian Gaul, AD 481-751 (Leiden, 1995), 102-6. McKitterick, R., "Frankish Uncial: A New Context for the Work of the Echternach Scriptorium," in: A. Weiler and P. Bange (eds.), Willibrord zijn wereld en zijn werk (Nijmegen, 1990), 374-88; repr. in R. McKitterick, Books, Scribes and Learning in the Frankish Kingdoms, 6th-9th Centuries (Aldershot, 1994), part V. Netzer, N., "The Early Scriptorium at Echternach: The State of the Question," in: G. Kiesel and J. Schroeder (eds.), Willibrord. Apostel der Niederande, Gründer der Abtei Echternach (Luxembourg, 1990), 127-34.