There are a number of texts that do not fall under the Loca Sanctorum definition of the term ‘relic list’: A relic list must be cleanly seperable as a unit from its surrounding text, and it must name specific relics that belong to an individual or single institution. Thus, texts such as the Old English ‘Secgan be’, a resting-place list, or ecclesiastical inventory texts that refer to relics but do not clearly set aside a specific section in which relics themselves are specifically tallied, do not fall under this heading. Some of these texts were specifically considered by I. G. Thomas in his dissertation ‘The Cult of Saints’ Relics in Medieval England’ (University of London, 1974, 341–350). Rather than ignore these items completely, I have begun assembling them on this page in the name of completeness.
| Thomas Siglum | House or Locale | Manuscript & Source Description | Exclusion Reason | Printed Editions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP2 | S. Paul’s. | Inventory, 1295, in London, London Metropolitan Archives, CLC/313/L/F/002/MS25516 (olim Guildhall MS 25516; Liber I, Cathedral MS W. D. 16) ff. 6v–23r. | Relics are scattered throughout the inventory and do not appear as a group. | W. Dugdale, The History of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, ed. H. Ellis (1818), 310–35. [Link]. |
| WRC | Windsor, royal chapel. | Various 14th, 15th, and 16th c. individual mentions of relics in Bodleian MS Ashmole 16, as a distinct text from the lists organised under headings. | These relics are scattered throughout the inventory and do not appear as a group, unlike those organised under headings in the same manuscript. | M. F. Bond, Inventories of St. George’s Chapel Windsor Castle (1947), passim. [Link]. |
| Common Name/Title | Manuscript & Source Description | Exclusion Reason | Printed Editions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Secgan be þam Godes sanctum þe on Engla lande ærost reston ('Secgan be') | Old English resting place list in two manuscripts, Cambridge Corpus Christi College MS 201, pp. 149–51, and London, British Library, Stowe MS 944, 34v–39r. | This is a resting place list, and therefore includes bodily remains of holy persons across a large geographic area, not relics or remains under possession of a single institution or religious house. | (a) F. Liebermann, Die Heiligen Englands (1889), 9–19; (b) D. W. Rollason, ‘Lists of Saints’ Resting-Places in Anglo-Saxon England’, Anglo-Saxon England 7 (Dec. 1978): 61–93. [Link]. |
| More to be added! | More to be added! | More to be added! | More to be added! |