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BATELY, Janet 1993: Anonymous Old English Homilies. A Preliminary Bib-

liography of Source Studies. Center for Medieval and Early Renais -

sance Studies, State University of New York (SUNY) at Binghamton. 

VI + 76 pp. (Free to Old English Newsletter suscribers).

This document of 5.5 x 8.5 inches was also handed out free of all charge to 

those attending the Tenth Open Meeting of the Project Fontes Anglo-Sax-

onici. A Register of Sources Used by Authors in Anglo-Saxon England,

which was held at King’s College, London, March 22nd 1994.

Though simply bound, this little book is a most useful tool of re search, an 

excellent example of scholarly integrity, and an encouraging path into new 

light for its providing readers with a fertile quarry of information only limited

by the notion that source work is never definitive, but a pro cess carried out 

festina lente by the gathering of many hands.

Thus, Professor Jane Bately’s compilation has been issued and given out 

thanks to the combined efforts of several people on both sides of the At-

lantic: Fontes Anglo-Saxonici and King’s College, London (UK), and

Sources of Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture, the CEMERS at SUNY-Bingham-

ton as mentioned above, and Old English Newsletter (USA).

This precious document will undoubtedly be welcomed by the profes sion

not only for its own excellent merits but also as the first sample of a series of 

monographs to be published as part of the Fontes Anglo-Saxonici Project. 

The aim of the series is “to aid the compilers of the ‘Regis ter of Written

Sources used by Authors in Anglo -Saxon England’, by providing details of 

potentially rele vant publications already in the public domain (...) a second 

aim is to provide a snap-shot of scholarship since source-studies first began, 

commemorating those early scholars who first blazed the trail for us in un-

charted territories.” (p. ii) Actually, the oldest reference here dates back to 

1705.



Reviews, Xavier Campos
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Material has been conceptually organized as an inverted pyramid. Thus, 

Section A is a broad base of prime val information under the title of Manus-

cript Collections, within which details of and references to the Blickling

Homilies, Bodley 343, Vercelli Homilies, and Vespasian Homilies are hand-

somely shown. Eight outstanding titles set up Section B, Major Modern Col-

lections. Section C General, contains the references to one hundred and six-

teen “studies relating to two or more homilies”. (p.4) Section D, Individual

Homilies, “Editions and Studies relating to Sources and Analogues” (p. 14), 

falls into a threefold division: 1) Homilies for Specified Occasions (fifty homi -

lies considered), 2) Homilies for Unspecified Occasions I (fifty eight

homilies), and 3) Homilies for Unspecified Occasions II (sixteen homilies). 

Section D also contains a considerable number of internal cross references, 

so that it is very easy to learn the existence and physical entity of manus-

cripts, facsimiles, and editions. In addition, further scholarly references to ar-

ticles already published, plus the refe rence to several unpublished disserta-

tions are inclu ded.

Appendix I fixes the relationship between Cameron (1973, 1975, 1979) and 

the anonymous Old English homilies here considered. Appendix II gives 

details mainly from Ker (1957), and Cameron (1973, 1975, 1979).

One hundred and fourteen scholars set up the final Index of authors, 

which is the top of this “inverted pyra mid”.

The Projects Fontes Anglo-Saxonici (Scragg, 1994) and Sources of An-

glo-Saxon Literary Culture (Biggs, Hill, Szarmach, with the assistance of 

Karen Hammond, eds, 1990) are invitations to highly selective research, a 

path and a compass into “uncharted territories”, highly refined tools that the 

profession can use with meticulous care, precise implements to feel proud of. 

So, Professor Janet Y. Bately and the institutions behind her are to be 

warmly congratulated for this particular achievement.

Xavier Campos Vilanova

Universitat Jaume I de Castelló



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REFERENCES

BIGGS, Frederick M., Thomas D. Hill, Paul E. Sza rmach with the asistance of 
Karen Hammond, eds., 1990: Sources of Anglo-Saxon Literary Cul-
ture: A Trial Version, Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance 
Studies, SUNY at Binghamton, New York.

CAMERON, Angus 1973: A List of Old English Texts, in Roberta Frank and 
Angus Cameron, eds., A Plan for the Dictionary of Old English ,
Toronto, pp 29-267

CAMERON, Angus 1975: Short Titles of Old English Texts, Anglo-Saxon
England 4: 107-21.

CAMERON, Angus 1979: Addenda and Corrigenda, Anglo-Saxon Studies 8: 
331-3.

KER, Neil R. 1957: Catalogue of Manuscripts containing Anglo-Saxon, Ox-
ford.

SCRAGG, Donald G. 1994: An Introduction to ‘Fontes Anglo-Saxonici’, an 
eight-page pamphlet given out in the Tenth Open Meeting at King’s 
College in March 1994. The pamphlet was printed as an appendix to 
Old English Newsletter, and a similar article also by Dr Scragg was 
published in Medieval English Studies Newsletter (Tokyo).

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