A Catalogue of Relic Lists from English Religious Houses: Before 1300

Return to Index
Catalogue of Relic Lists: All Lists
Interpreting ListIDs
Relic List-Adjacent Texts

This page catalogues basic metadata for relic lists with a close connection to English ecclesiastical history which have a composition date of ca. 1300 or before, based on palaeographic and internal evidence. This catalogue was initially based on ‘Appendix I: A Catalogue of Relic-Lists from English Religious Houses’, cataloguing initially done by I. G. Thomas in his dissertation ‘The Cult of Saints’ Relics in Medieval England’ (University of London, 1974, 341–350). This list is also indebted to Julian Luxford’s ‘The Nature and Purpose of Medieval Relic Lists’, in Saints and Cults in Medieval England: Proceedings of the 2015 Harlaxton Symposium (2017), 58–79. Please note that the tabular catalogues are continually updated, refined, and extended as my own work continues. If you are looking for a list or list-like text and cannot find it here or on the main list page, try Relic List-Adjacent Texts; some of Thomas' sources are not considered a relic list under Loca Sanctorum's definition and can be found at there as well. Relic lists are organised alphabetically by their msID, which is based on their monastic house or locale. The table also includes complete listIDs for any lists witnessed in that manuscript, correspondence to I. G. Thomas' sigla, witness manuscripts' shelfmarks, and name/locale of religious houses associated. For brief descriptions of the items, hover your cursor over the manuscript shelfmark. To view more detailed information on some manuscripts and their lists, click the corresponding '📝' in the column labeled Manuscript Notes. Please be aware that this table shows only lists which predate ca. 1300.

Rather than traditional sigla, the system uses 'msIDs' and 'textIDs', which when combined form a 'listID'. This system is meant to account for the challenges of editing this type of text. A brief summary of conventions is given below, but for more details on this system, see Interpreting ListIDs.

msID Thomas Siglum Witnessed listIDs Manuscript shelfmark(s) MS Notes Religious House or Locale Printed Editions
A1 A A1_1α
London, British Library MS Cotton Claudius B VI, ff. 156v-157r Recension of a list, 1116, in abbey chronicle.
Abingdon, Benedictine Abbey J. Stevenson, ed., Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon, vol. 2, 2 vols, Rolls Series (1858), 155–8. [Link].
A2 A A2_1β
London, British Library MS Cotton Claudius C IX, ff. 163v–164r Recension of a list, 1116, in abbey chronicle.
Abingdon, Benedictine Abbey J. Stevenson, ed., Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon, vol. 2, 2 vols, Rolls Series (1858), 155–8. [Link].
B1 B B1_1.A
B1_1.B
B1_1.C
Corpus Christi College MS 111, pp. 6–7 / (Corpus Christi College MS 140) 11th–12th c. lists on leaves evulsed from Old English gospel book, now bound in miscellany containing cartulary.
📝 Bath, cathedral priory W. Hunt, ed., Two Chartularies of the Priory of S. Peter at Bath, Somerset Record Society 7 (1893), lxxv–lxxvi. [Link].
CaSA1 CSA CaSA1_1
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 286, f. i, verso Additions, probably 12th. c., on a flyleaf of Latin evangeliary.
Canterbury, Benedictine abbey of S. Augustine M. R. James, ‘286. Evangelia Cantuariensia’, in Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Corpus Christi College Cambridge, vol. 2, 2 vols (1912), 52–56, at 55. [Link].
D1 D1 D1_1α
Cambridge, Trinity College Cambridge MS O. 3. 55, f. 2r–v Witness of a 12th c. list in MS of collected Bedan works.
📝 Durham, cathedral priory C. F. Battiscombe, ‘A Twelfth-Century List of Durham Relics’, in The Relics of Saint Cuthbert, ed. C. F. Battiscombe (1956), 113–4.
D2 D1 D2_1β
Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Digby 41, ff. 91, 91*, 92, 101 / (London, British Library MS Harley 1924) Witness of a 12th c. list originally in MS of collected Bedan works.
📝 Durham, cathedral priory See C. F. Battiscombe, ‘A Twelfth-Century List of Durham Relics’, in The Relics of Saint Cuthbert, ed. C. F. Battiscombe (1956), 113–4.
D3 D1 D3_1γ
Dijon, Bibliothéque municipale MS 657 (396), f. 39r Witness of a 12th c. list in MS of collected Bedan works, of Citeaux provenance.
📝 Durham, cathedral priory See C. F. Battiscombe, ‘A Twelfth-Century List of Durham Relics’, in The Relics of Saint Cuthbert, ed. C. F. Battiscombe (1956), 113–4.
D4 D2 D4_2
York, York Minster MS XVI. I. 12, ff. 13r–14v 13th c. list in miscellaneous volume.
Durham J. Raine, ed., Historiae Dunelmensis Scriptores Tres, Gaufridus de Coldingham, Robertus de Graystanes, Etc Willielmus de Chambre, Publications of the Surtees Society 9 (1839), ccccxxvi–ccccxxx. [Link].
D5 N/A D5_1.A
Cambridge, Cambridge University Library MS Ff. 1. 27, p. 194 An extract from the similar lists D1_1α, D2_1β, and D3_1γ relating to the early Northumbrian saints copied in a hand of the third quarter of the 12th c. at the end of a copy of Symeon of Durham's Libellus de exordio, also known as the Historia Dunelmensis Ecclesiae.
📝 Durham (a) T. Arnold, ed., Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia: Historia Ecclesiæ Dunhelmensis, vol. 1, 2 vols, Rolls Series (1882), 168–169;
(b) See also Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, ed. J. Smith (1722),740–5. [Link];
(c) See also J. T. Fowler, ed., Extracts from the Account Rolls of the Abbey of Durham, vol. 2, 2 vols, Publications of the Surtees Society 100 (1899), 425–35. [Link].
E1 E1 E1_1
Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Auct. D. 2. 16, ff. 8r–14r Old English list inserted into Old English gospel book in script dating to second half of 11th c.
Exeter, secular cathedral (a) W. Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum, ed. J. Caley, H. Ellis, and B. Bandinel, vol. 2, 6 vols (1846), 528–31. [Link].
(b) M. Förster, Zur Geschichte des Reliquienkultus in Altengland, Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Abteilung 8 (1943), 63–80;
(c) P. W. Conner, Anglo-Saxon Exeter: A Tenth-Century Cultural History, Studies in Anglo-Saxon History 4 (1993), 176–187.
E2 E2 E2_2α
Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodley 579, f. 6r–v Later half of llth c., Latin list in sacramentary known as the ‘Leofric Missal’.
Exeter (a) F. E. Warren, ed., The Leofric Missal (1883), 3–5;
(b) N. Orchard, ed., The Leofric Missal, vol. 2, 2 vols, Henry Bradshaw Society 114 (2002), 8–13;
(c) P. W. Conner, Anglo-Saxon Exeter: A Tenth-Century Cultural History, Studies in Anglo-Saxon History 4 (1993), 192–198.
E3 E3 E3_3
Exeter, Exeter Cathedral MS 2861, recto and verso of scroll Late 12th c. Latin list on scroll.
Exeter (a) I. G. Thomas, ‘The Cult of Saints’ Relics in Medieval England’ (PhD Diss., University of London, 1974), 478–485;
(b) P. W. Conner, Anglo-Saxon Exeter: A Tenth-Century Cultural History, Studies in Anglo-Saxon History 4 (1993), 201–205.
E4 N/A E4_2β
London, British Library MS Royal 6. B. VII, ff. 54v–55r Late 11th c. Latin list in a copy of Aldhelm’s prose De Virginitate, a copy of the earlier list in Bodleian MS Bodley 579 that incorporates a few new additions to the relic collection.
Exeter P. W. Conner, Anglo-Saxon Exeter: A Tenth-Century Cultural History, Studies in Anglo-Saxon History 4 (1993), 192–198.
G1 G1 G1_1
Cambridge, Trinity College Cambridge MS R. 5. 33, ff. 104r–105v 13th c. list bound with chronicles.
Glastonbury, Benedictine abbey (a) T. Hearne, ed., Johannis Glastonieneis Chronica, vol. 2, 2 vols (1726), 445–454;
(b) M. Howley, ‘Relics at Glastonbury Abbey in the Thirteenth Century: The Relic List in Cambridge, Trinity College R.5.33 (724), Fols. 104r-1205v’, Mediaeval Studies 71 (2009): 197–234 at 221–234.
H1 H H1_1.A
H1_1.B
London, British Library MS Stowe 944, ff. 55v, 57v–58v 11th c. list with Old English headline, and 12th c. purely Latin lists, in Liber Vitae.
Hyde, Benedictine abbey (a) W. de Gray Birch, ed., Liber Vitae: Register and Martyrology of New Minster and Hyde Abbey Winchester (1892), 147–53, 158–63 [Link];
(b) M. Förster, Zur Geschichte des Reliquienkultus in Altengland, Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Abteilung 8 (1943), 115–120.
Lm1 Lm Lm1_1
Hereford, Herefordshire Record Office AL19/2 [Register of Richard de Swinfield] List, 1286, alongside various other kinds of legal documents, in personal register of bishop Richard Swinfield, at Hereford.
📝 Leominster, Benedictine priory W. W. Capes, Registrum Ricardi de Swinfield, Episcopi Herefordensis, A.D. MCCLXXXIII–MCCCXVII., vol. 2, 2 vols, Diocese of Hereford (1909), 124–5.
N1 N N1_1
London, National Archives, Patent Rolls Henry III A.D. 1232–1247, C66/44, membrane 16 Acknowledgement by Henry III of receipt of relics from Norwich cathedral priory, 1234.
Norwich, cathedral priory Calendar of the Patent Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office, Henry III. A.D. 1232–1247 (1906), 39.
P1 P P1_1α
London, British Library Additional MS 39758 12th c. list in chronicle, which was transcribed into registers of bishops Swaffham (at Peterborough) and Whittlesey (London, British Library Additional MS 39758).
Peterborough, Benedictine abbey W. T. Mellows, ed., The Chronicle of Hugh Candidus (1949), 53–56.
P2 P P2_1β
Cambridge, Cambridge University Library MS Dd. XIV. 28 Witness of P1_1α surviving in 17th c. transcript.
Peterborough, Benedictine abbey W. T. Mellows, ed., The Chronicle of Hugh Candidus (1949), 53–56.
R1 R R1_1
London, British Library MS Egerton 3031, ff. 6v–8r List, about 1200, in cartulary.
Reading, Benedictine abbey (a) B. R. Kemp, ed., Reading Abbey Cartularies, vol. 1, 2 vols, Camden Fourth Series 31 (1986), 186;
(b) See also D. Bethell, ‘The Making of a Twelfth-Century Relic Collection’, in Popular Belief and Practice: Papers Read at the Ninth Summer Meeting and Tenth Winter Meeting of the Ecclesiastical History Society, ed. G. J. Cuming and D. Baker (1972), 61–72.
Sh1 Sh Sh1*_1
Manuscript unknown Late 12th c. list, manuscript unknown.
Shrewsbury, Benedictine abbey Owen and J. B. Blakeway, A History of Shrewsbury, vol. 2, 2 vols (1825), 42–3. [Link].
SP1 SP1 SP1_1
London, London Metropolitan Archives, CLC/313/B/021/MS25509, ff. 5v–8v (olim 'Statuta Majora', Cathedral MS W. D. 9; Guildhall MS 25509) Part of inventory, 1245.
S. Paul's, London, secular cathedral W. Sparrow Simpson, ‘Two Inventories of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, London, Dated Respectively 1245 and 1402’, Archaeologia 50, no. 2 (1887): 439–524 at 469–71. [Link].
SP2* SP3 SP2*_2
From the lost 'Liber B' of S. Paul's cathedral Gifts of Ralph of Diceto, in the lost Liber B of the cathedral.
S. Paul's W. Dugdale, The History of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, ed. H. Ellis (1818), 337. [Link].
SP3* SP4 SP3*_3
Manuscript unknown ‘Other relics’ in ‘old manuscript’ at cathedral, unidentified.
S. Paul's W. Dugdale, The History of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, ed. H. Ellis (1818), 337–9. [Link].
Te1 Te Te1_1
London, British Library MS Cotton Cleopatra A VII, ff. 38v–39r Bequest of Isabella Marshal, 1239, in 13th c. annals.
Tewkesbury, Benedictine abbey H. R. Luard, ed., Annales Monastici, vol. 1, 5 vols, Rolls Series (1864), 113–4. [Link].
To1 To To1_1+
London, British Library Additional MS 40,000, ff. 11v–12r List added to by several hands over the 12th c. in Thorney Liber Vitae, which is bound with early 10th c. Latin evangeliary.
Thorney, Benedictine abbey (a) F. Wormald, ed., English Benedictine Kalendars after A.D. 1100, vol. 1, Henry Bradshaw Society 77 (1939), 129–30;
(b) L. Rollason, ed., The Thorney Liber Vitae: London, British Library, Additional MS 40,000, Fols 1–12r: Edition, Facsimile and Study (2015), 113–114.
Tw1 Tw Tw1_1.A
Tw1_1.B
London, British Library MS Cotton Tiberius D VI, Part II, ff. 149v–150r [Catalogue Record] Relics in altar dedications performed in 1196 and 1214 (1.A), and in 1221 (1.B), in cartulary. The earlier two lists seem both to have been written down between 1214 and 1221.
Twynham, Augustinian priory of Christchurch (a) S. Marritt, ‘Scottish Bishops and the Relic-Lists of the Cartulary of Christchurch Priory, Twynham, Hampshire, 1200–1221 (with an Edition and Translation of the Text by John Reuben Davies)’. The Innes Review 65 (2)(2014): 128–52. https://doi.org/10.3366/inr.2014.0072;
(b) I. G. Thomas, ‘The Cult of Saints’ Relics in Medieval England’ (PhD Diss., University of London, 1974), 524–528.
Ty1 Ty Ty1_1
Oxford, Corpus Christi College MS 134, f. 2r [Catalogue Record] 12th c. list on flyleaf of a Life of Oswin, king and martyr; the volume also contains an office for Oswin and a hymn.
Tynemouth, Benedictine priory I. G. Thomas, ‘The Cult of Saints’ Relics in Medieval England’ (PhD Diss., University of London, 1974), 528–529.
Wa1 Wa Wa1_1
London, British Library MS Harley 3776, ff. 31r–35v 13th c. list in volume of hagiographical works.
Waltham, Augustinian abbey I. G. Thomas, ‘The Cult of Saints’ Relics in Medieval England’ (PhD Diss., University of London, 1974), 529–547.
Wimb1* N/A Wimb1*_1
Manuscript unknown List of relics printed in English translation, originally found in a ‘very curious Latin manuscript’, list probably late 13th c.
📝 Wimbourne Minster J. Hutchins, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset, 3rd edn., vol. 3, 4 vols (1868), 225.
Win1 Wi Win1_1
London, British Library Additional MS 29436, ff. 46v–48r [Catalogue Record] 12th c. list of gifts of bishop Henry of Blois in cartulary.
Winchester, cathedral priory (a) E. Bishop, ‘The Gifts of Henry of Blois, Abbot of Glastonbury, to Winchester Cathedral’, Downside Review 3, no. 1 (Jan. 1884): 33–44;
(b) Idem, reprinted in Liturgica Historica: Papers on the Liturgy and Religious Life of the Western Church, by E. Bishop (1918), 392–401 at 398–401.
Y1 Y Y1_1
York, York Minster MS Additional 1, ff. 166v–167r. 13th c. list on flyleaf of Latin evangeliary known as the 'York Gospels'.
York, secular cathedral (a) J. Raine, ed., The Fabric Rolls of York Minster, Publications of the Surtees Society 35 (1859), 150–53. [Link].
(b) J. Raine, ed., The Historians of the Church of York and Its Archbishops, vol. 3, 3 vols, Rolls Series (1894), 106–10.
Return to Index