Steps to a priceless heritage collection

A narrow spiral stairway of stone off the main body of the Cathedral leads up to the glories of the library and its unique and internationally important collection of 9,600 volumes.

It represents the second largest collection of mediaeval manuscripts in cathedral libraries nationwide - next only to that at Durham - and is the most significant in academic terms and probably in the extent of its antiquities..

The magnificence of the library's long gallery, built in 1370s, provides the backcloth to this mecca for leading historians, university academics and mediaeval scholars, who come from around Britain and from all over the world to research among its valuable volumes.

These date from the year 980 to the present-day and line numerous wall-shelves, bookcases and cabinets below the library's timber beamed ceiling. The parchments, books and documents range from the rare, to the unique, to the priceless.

I recently had the privilege of being given a detailed insight into this literary treasure trove by the Cathedral's Canon Librarian, Canon Iain MacKenzie MA. BD. MTh.

The library and its priceless contents date back to 980, when a Benedictine monastery was established at Worcester Cathedral with a comparatively large number of monks - between 40 and 50.

Before England's universities were established (for example, Oxford in the early 13th Century), the monasteries were the nation's centres of higher learning, and thus it was that the Monastery of Worcester Cathedral enjoyed a very high educational profile from the 10th Century.

In those times, the monks copied out their manuscripts by hand on parchment (sheep's skin) or vellum (calf's skin), and such was the painstaking effort and intricacy of their superbly-penned script that most of the mediaeval manuscripts are masterpieces of craftsmanship.

Even so, not many of those in the Worcester Cathedral Library are illuminated (in other words, decorated with gold and coloured lettering or artwork such as that to be found in the famous Book of Kells).

However, Canon MacKenzie explains that the Worcester mediaeval monastic library was primarily an academic one, and therein lies its great significance to historians and scholars today.

Manuscripts of the 10th Century include the homilies of Pope Gregory the Great and the life of St Paul the Hermit, but by far the most impressive volume is the large-scale Worcester Antiphoner.

This contains the most complete record of Benedictine offices, with all the words, music and directions used for services in the Monastery and Cathedral of Worcester from 980, until 1220, when the monks completed the Antiphoner.

Somehow, this prize possession escaped the great bonfire on the Cathedral's College Green when the religious relics of Worcester's monastery were destroyed by order of Edward VI in the wake of his father, Henry VIII's Reformation and Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Another weighty treasure is the Worcester Liber Albus, or White Book, containing copies of all important letters, leases and records of the Cathedral and Monastery between 1301 and 1446.

Among its more fascinating entries is an apologetic letter to the Bishop for supplying him with the gift of a slimmer steed than the Cathedral would wish to have given.

Experts in the science of palaeography (the study of ancient writing and inscriptions) are nowadays able to deduce in which monastery a mediaeval manuscript was written. Clearly, there is something distinctive about the script of the Worcester monks that enables the palaeographers to identify their handiwork fairly easily!

However, Canon MacKenzie emphasises that the mediaeval manuscripts do not just cover theology but also encompass a considerable range of other subjects such as astrology, physics, mathematics, medicine, the law, and rhetoric (the art of persuasive language).

From the early 1200s, "quite a few" monks from Worcester either taught at Oxford University or studied there. This explains the significant number of academic "schools" books of the 13th to 15th Centuries in the Cathedral Library. "schools" were the faculties of Oxford University, and some of the books are inscribed with the names of the Worcester monks who used them in their studies.

A lot of the 13th Century manuscripts too, are translations of Arabic commentaries on the writings of the ancient Greek mathematicians and philosophers. These originally came to this country from Northern Italy, Spain and Sicily in the 12th and 13th Centuries. For example, several Aristotle texts appear in Latin, translated out of Arabic, which, in turn, would have been translated out of Greek!

Remarkably, most of the ancient manuscripts back to the 10th Century still have their original bindings of leather over oak boards.

One in particular, from the 13th Century, even has a patch of bristly cow hide on its cover. Thus, it is still possible to stroke the hair of a 700 years old cow!

The mediaeval manuscripts are at the heart of the Cathedral Library collection, but Canon MacKenzie stresses that its contents are far from confined to the Middle Ages.

There are dozens of extremely valuable early printed books from between 1450 and 1500, when printing was its infancy, and also 5,600 volumes dating from 1501 until the 19th Century, covering a vast range of subjects.

For instance, there are two books given by King James II when he visited Worcester in the 1600s and also, from around the same period, a portrait and books of the Very Rev George Hickes (1624-1715), an eminent Dean of Worcester. His friends included Samuel Pepys, who mentioned him in his famous diaries and also visited the Cathedral Library. Another celebrity visitor to the library was Samuel Johnson.

The library also has a "modern" section composed of books about Worcester, the Cathedral, the library and local personages, together with books and articles published by scholars who have used the library for their researches. "In this way, scholarship is kept up to date," explains Canon MacKenzie.

And as "perpetual guardian," the Cathedral Library also holds the historic former parish libraries of Great Malvern Priory, Feckenham, and St John's, Bromsgrove.

But back to the priceless possessions. The Cathedral Library is also home to "an extremely important part of the national musical heritage."

The Worcester Antiphoner contains the music for services of mediaeval times, and another rare legacy from around the same period are the internationally known Worcester Fragments - surviving parchments of ancient music composed at the monastery. The Fragments have been played and sung at the Cathedral on special occasions in modern times.

The Antiphoner, the Fragments and other contemporary musical manuscripts in the library form a large proportion of surviving 13th Century music in this country. The music collection also includes works by composers Thomas Tomkins (organist of Worcester Cathedral from 1596 to 1646), William Byrd, Henry Purcell and Sir Edward Elgar.

The latter, Worcester's most famous son, gave the Cathedral Library the original handwritten manuscripts of his short oratorio The Light of Life and of his Overture Froissart. However, these were passed some years ago to the Elgar Birthplace Museum at Lower Broadheath.

Canon MacKenzie sums up the library's overall collection of 9,600 volumes: "No monetary value can be placed on the unique holdings of the Worcester Cathedral Library.

The academic value of the collection and its place in the national heritage is beyond price

"The library is used by national and international scholars from universities and other institutions throughout the world, and we encourage public interest in the library, welcoming those who wish to carry out research."

The Canon Librarian and staff will also do everything possible to accommodate requests for group visits and tours of the Library, though these must of necessity be fitted around its primary role as a place of research by national and international scholars.

Canon MacKenzie stresses that, from its beginnings, the library has been an integral part of "the daily life, worship and witness of Worcester Cathedral in all areas of human endeavour."

Clearly, however, the library collection is hugely costly to possess, preserve and maintain, both in financial and manpower terms.

It is staffed by Canon MacKenzie as Canon Librarian and head of department, by Dr David Morrison, who has recently been appointed as Cathedral Librarian-Archivist, by Mrs Jan Barnes as Library Secretary, and by David Attwood as Computer Archivist.

But also "vital and wholly necessary to the running and maintenance of the library" is the band of volunteers who regularly come in to help with the care of the 9,600 volumes. Long-standing among them have been the honorary assistant librarian Ron Stratton and honorary assistant archivist Mrs Ruth Piggott, "both of whose knowledge of the library is immense".

The band of volunteers offer a range of expertise and undertake a variety of tasks from cataloguing and research to the simple dusting of volumes - crucial to keep away bugs and pests which aid deterioration. It is equally important that a close eye is kept on temperature and humidity gauges around the library.

A specialist conservator from Oxford has also begun to place the mediaeval manuscripts in special acid-free boxes to help in their preservation. This protective work and other restoration and maintenance costs have to rely to a degree on funding from specialist trusts and other bodies.

For the past seven years, Professor Rodney Thomson, Emeritus Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of Tasmania and an expert palaeographer and mediaeval scholar, has been thoroughly re-examining all the Cathedral Library's manuscripts. He has been helped by Michael Gullick, an expert in mediaeval bindings.

Prof Thomson's new catalogue of the library's mediaeval collection is to be published in June and July, and will be of international importance as the first thorough and scholarly examination of the manuscripts since 1910.

"Scholarship has obviously moved on since then, and a great deal of interesting information about the Worcester manuscripts and their writers will emerge in this new catalogue," says Canon MacKenzie.

Above all, the catalogue will make the Worcester manuscripts more accessible to scholars and researchers world-wide.

Prof Thomson's work has been funded by the Australian Government, and the Friends of Worcester Cathedral have kindly agreed to underwrite the expense of publication.

Even so, much work still needs to be done in the cleaning, cataloguing, restoration and conservation of the Cathedral Library collections to secure its future.

To this end, an Adopt A Book scheme has been launched to help raise urgent funds.