Mechthild Pörnbacher and David Hiley, eds., Balther von Säckingen, Bischof von Speyer: Historia sancti Fridolini (ca. 970), Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen 65/26. Lions Bay, BC, Canada: Institute of Mediaeval Music, 2016. xxvii + 33 pp. €68. ISBN 978 1 926664 39 2.

Abstract

monasteries, a usage that was clearly intended to maintain and preserve ancient English practice. This is a work not only of great technical erudition and acumen in matters liturgical but also of historical learning. Billett’s interpretation of his liturgical evidence is placed firmly in the context of the historical development of the religious life in Anglo-Saxon England; he is not only impressively up to date in his historical learning but also admirably judicious in his assessment of complex historical matters. As a historian one might quibble with some details in his account, for example, his tendency to emphasise the Alfredian period as the possible date when new continental books and customs were imported at the expense of the reign of Athelstan, a ruler known for continental contacts and intellectual and cultural ambitions. The usage of neumes of a ‘Breton’ type would point to the latter reign as a likely time, when links to Brittany are well evidenced. Billett’s history of the office places the practice of the daily office at the heart of the experience of the religious life and particularly of reformed monasticism. It is an important reminder to historians of how their understanding of monasticism can be skewed by their reliance upon narrative sources such as hagiography or on the documentary record of charters. To be sure, the cult of the saints and landholding were fundamental parts of the religious life but the daily experience of a monk was shaped by his frequent participation in the liturgy and his training and role within the community decided by his aptitude for performance. I have indicated above how his analysis of the tenth-century liturgy illuminates the competing claims of tradition in English Benedictine Reform. His discussion of how Anglo-Saxon liturgy continued to retain ancient Roman texts long after Roman practice had in fact moved on illuminates how deeply embedded in the identity of the English church was its devotion to Rome: its tradition was both Roman and English. Students of the medieval liturgy, of the English church and of Anglo-Saxon religious and intellectual culture are greatly in Dr Billett’s debt for this lucid and important book.