Lanfranc imported a large quantity of books from the Continent. He would
labour day and night at correcting the work of his scribes; and Anselm,
when he succeeded to the See, used often to deprive himself of rest to
finish the transcription of a manuscript. Lanfranc, we are told, was
especially generous in lending his books: among a set which he sent to
St. Alban's we find the names of twenty-eight famous treatises, besides a
large number of missals and other service-books, and two 'Books of the
Gospels,' bound in silver and gold, and ornamented with valuable jewels.
A historian of our own time has said that England in the twelfth century
was the paradise of scholars. Dr. Stubbs imagined a foreign student
making a tour through the country and endeavouring to ascertain its
proper place in the literary world. He would have seen a huge multitude
of books, and 'such a supply of readers and writers' as could not have
been found elsewhere, except perhaps in the University of Paris.
Canterbury was a great literary centre. At Winchester there was a whole
school of historians; at Lincoln he might listen to Walter Map or learn
at the feet of St. Hugh. 'Nothing is more curious than the literary
activity going on in the monasteries; manuscripts are copied; luxurious
editions are recopied and illuminated; there is no lack of generosity in
lending or of boldness in borrowing; there is brisk competition and open
rivalry.'
The Benedictines were ever the pioneers of learning: the regular clergy
were still the friends of their books, and 'delighted in their communion
with them,' as the Philobiblon phrased it.
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