SOURCE: "The English Cult of St. Bridget of Sweden," in Analecta Bollandiana: Revue Critique D'Hagiographie, Vol. 103, 1985, pp. 75-93.

[In the following essay, Johnston investigates the influence of St. Birgitta's writings in England following her death and canonization.]

The foundations of the gloria postuma of St Bridget¹ were laid by her familia immediately after her death in Rome in 1373². Her daughter, St Katherine, arranged for the translation of her remains to Sweden where they were enshrined with great ceremony and reports of miracles at Vadstena, the mother house of her new order, the Order of the Savious³. Her confessors, Peter of Alvastra and Peter of Skänninge, composed an account of her life as a preliminary to petitioning for her canonisation⁴. In 1377 Alfonso of Jaen published her Revelations with a preface, Epistola Solitarii ad Reges, defending their authenticity⁵. Her supporters gained their objectives when Urban VI approved the Regula Salvatoris as constitutions for the Order of the Saviour and granted the order the privilege of the Vincula indulgence in 1378⁶, and Boniface IX canonised her in 1391⁷.

St Bridget's fame in the following century rested mainly on the spread both of her order and her writings. The Revelationes Celestes consisted of a series of visions, seven hundred in all, which she began to receive after her husband's death in 1344 and continued for the rest of her life⁸. The key passage is in Chapter XLVII of the Revelationes Extravagantes, which describes the manner of the reception of the visions and their purpose⁹:

Transactis aliquibus diebus post mortem mariti, cum beata Birgitta solicita esset de statu suo, circumfudit earn spiritus Domini ipsam inflammans. Rapta in spiritu vidit nubem lucidam, et de nube audivit vocem dicentem sibi: 'Ego sum Deus tuus, qui tecum loqui volo … Noli timere. Ego sum omnium conditor, non deceptor. Scias, quia non loquor propter te solam sed propter salutem omnium Christianorum. Tu quippe eris sponsa mea et canale meum, audies et videbis spiritualia et secreta celestia, et spiritus meus remanebit tecum usque ad mortem.'

The contents of the Revelations, especially those contained in Book VII which concern St Bridget's pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1372, are neatly summarised in the first English life of the saint¹⁰:

Postea in Ierusalem in montem Calvarie eciam in sepulchro Christi … et in Bethlehem presepem Domini ostensum est ei per revelacionem Domini tota series nativitatis passionis et resurrectionis Christi de ascensione et adventu Spiritus sancti et multa occulta et mistica de ecclesia et apostolis et prophetis et de assumptione beate Marie Virginis et de reformatione Christianitatis et tocius mundi. De quibus Romam rediens plures libros mirabiliter scripsit et fidelibus commendavit.

She was however a prophetess rather than a mystic and had the moral purpose of the Old Testament prophets whose language she often recalls to us, often couching her warnings in lurid animal imagery and crude popular idiom¹¹. Besides meditations on theological subjects, the Revelations consist of warning or encouraging messages to individuals or groups and visions describing the judgment of deceased (or sometimes still living) persons and their sufferings in Purgatory or Hell¹². They became a standard textbook of devotion being well adapted to the fifteenth century taste for devotional rather than formal theological works, with particular emphasis on the Passion¹³. The influence of her writings on contemporary art is to be seen in paintings of the Nativity and the crucifixion¹⁴. At the Nativity Mary is depicted kneeling and adoring the Infant Jesus instead of in Childbed, whilst at the Crucifixion Christ is nailed to a previously raised cross and portrayed as the Man of Sorrows.

The foundation of the Bridgettine Order was due to another revelation received by St Bridget before she left Sweden¹⁵:

Hanc igitur religionem ad honorem amantissime Matris mee per mulieres primum et principaliter statuere volo. Cuius ordinem et statuta ore meo proprio plenissime declarabo.

The order was in fact to be a double order with each monastery headed by the abbess and having 60 nuns, 13 priests, 4 deacons and 8 lay brothers¹⁶. The sisters were to sing a special office in honour of the Blessed Virgin with lessons known as the Sermo Angelicus which were revealed to St Bridget in Rome¹⁷. It differs from the traditional Lady Office in that instead of changing in accordance with the seasons, the texts vary each weekday, relating the life of Our Lady until her Assumption and defining her contribution to the work of our redemption. During the first half of the fifteenth century monasteries of the order were founded in lands which had supported the Roman pontiffs during the Great Schism and they naturally became centres of St Bridget's cult.

One of St Bridget's early revelations brought her to the notice of the English court¹⁸. It concerned the Hundred Years' War, comparing the Kings of France and England to two ravening beasts who were devastating France and causing the loss of souls, and ordered the kings to make peace through a marriage alliance. Though a mission to urge the pope to act as mediator failed¹⁹, King Magnus sent a summary of St Bridget's message to England in 1348²⁰. The revelation had no immediate effect, but it was quoted by Hoccleve²¹ and mentioned frequently in English diplomatic memoranda in the following century²².

Whilst in Rome (1349-73) St Bridget lived in the Campo dei Fiori²³ next door to the English Hospice, yet there are no records of her meeting any of the pilgrims there. The Two Englishmen who were greatly impressed by her sanctity were both expatriates who had no influence on her cult in England. William de Guellesis, scutifer Anglie, met her in Cyprus, joined in her pilgrimage to the Holy Land and later came to Italy to testify to the fulfilment of her prophecies of punishment for the sins of the Cypriots²⁴. The Benedictine curial cardinal Adam Eston attributed his release from imprisonment to the prayers of St Bridget²⁵ rather than to the diplomatic intervention of Richard II²⁶ and wrote a Defense of her Rule²⁷, but did not include any of the saint's works among the books he gave to his brethren at Norwich²⁸.

Although there is no reference to England among the countries to which copies of the Revelations were sent immediately after their publication²⁹, there was at least one copy in England before the end of the century³⁰. It is written in an English hand and includes in a different, but contemporary, hand an account of the saint's life which seems to have been composed by someone who knew her in Rome and which shows a refreshing independence of the standard Swedish lives—a characteristic of many of the lives written in England. This account includes one interesting detail not mentioned elsewhere, stating that St Bridget shortly before her death was planning to visit St Catherine of Sienna and then return to Sweden to join the Vadstena community³¹.

Early in the fifteenth century an English translation of the Revelations was made and again the text was accompanied by an account of her life³². The author of the life seems to have shared the interests of those who had rushed for copies in Rome and emphasises the saint's prophetical powers and her preaching of the need for church reform. He also gives some details of the Order of the Saviour and the foundation of Vadstena. Since he does not mention Syon it seems that the manuscript was written before 1415³³.

A second full English translation made in the same period³⁴ had two points of interest. The life which precedes the Revelations is an adaptation of the lessons in Birger's office for the saint's feastday³⁵. However the manuscript is of northern provenance showing that interest in the saint's works had spread beyond London and Oxford. The scribe writes in a northern dialect³⁶ and the volume was in the collection of mainly northern manuscripts made by Sir Henry Savile³⁷. It could well be that it originally belonged to Lord Scrope of Masham who mentioned a copy of the saint's works in his will, stating that he bought it at Beverley³⁸. He was a kinsman and friend of Sir Henry FitzHugh who planned the introduction of the Bridgettines into England.

In the mid-fifteenth century Bridgettine studies in England were dominated by Thomas Gascoigne, Chancellor of Oxford. Unfortunately much of his work has been lost. For example, he tells us that he wrote a life in Latin which he later translated into the vernacular for the use of the sisters of Syon³⁹. No trace of the vernacular life has been found. The Latin original may have been the item headed: 'Annotata quaedam de S. Birgitta et miraculis eius manu propria Thome Gascoigne' which was included in Cotton Ms. Otho A.xiv but has been destroyed by fire⁴⁰.

The chancellor certainly took a great deal of trouble in gathering his material. Not only was he familiar with Birger's Life and the Revelations themselves, as is shown by the annotations in his hand which occur in Balliol College Ms. ccxxv⁴¹, but similar notes in Digby Ms. 172 which contains the lives of St Katherine of Sweden and Peter Olavus⁴², show that his studies did not end with reading the ordinary sources. He also spent some time working in the library of Syon, where several members of the community were numbered among his friends⁴³. It was there that he saw a copy of the Process of Canonisation of which he had a copy made for the use of the Augustinians of Osney⁴⁴ to whom he also gave a relic of the saint to encourage the community to celebrate her feast⁴⁵. Some of his interest seems to have been passed on to his friends. John Robert who was a witness of his will wrote a brief life of St Bridget on the flyleaf of a volume of Homiliae Dominicales⁴⁶ and may have been the author of a Defensorium used at Basel⁴⁷. Another of his associates, Thomas Chaundler, is listed among the special benefactors of Syon⁴⁸.

Early in the sixteenth century a full life of St Bridget was included in Pynson's edition of the Nova Legenda Anglie and has been judged to be one of the best prose translations of the time⁴⁹. It must rank with More's Richard III as one of the earliest major biographies in the vernacular. The work may well have been composed at Syon which would be the only place where the source material was available. It is a skilful blend of the original life by the Two Peters, relevant extracts from the Revelations and a life known as the 'Vita Abbreviata' which was included in printed editions of the Revelations, the first of which was published at Liibeck in 1492. Most significant of all, it seems that she had become English by adoption, as the prologue to the original version puts it⁵⁰:

tanto diligentiori studio perlegamus, eorum vivendi exemplo ad sacra conversationis studia pertrahamur, quanto maiori parte ex nostris sunt et patria et gente.

Pynson lays great stress on her widowhood, an unusual theme in mediaeval hagiography. It was an aspect of St Bridget's life which had been noted by Boniface IX when he took as his text for the canonisation sermon: 'Viduam eius benedicens benedicam'⁵¹, and in England by the poet Audelay who, writing c. 1426, began his 'Salutatio Sancte Birgitte' with the words⁵²:

Hayle maydyn and wyfe, hayle wedow Brygytt.

Pynson lays even greater emphasis on this aspect of St Bridget's career⁵³:

St Bridget … a holy and blessed widow which life is right expedient for every manner of person to look upon most in especial for those that live in matrimony or in the state of widowhood that they may see what grace and virtue was in this blessed woman which lived in the same degree as they do and the rather to be encouraged to desire to have the like grace and virtue.

This literary interest in her married status links up with some of her most prominent admirers in England who were indeed of like status:—Margery Kempe and the two royal duchesses, Cecily of York and Margaret Beaufort⁵⁴. The Swedish lives stress the influence the saint had over her husband especially in helping him in the study of law necessary for his work as a provincial governor and a royal councillor, and on the religious side teaching him to recite the Hours of the Blessed Virgin. Besides this she did much to care for the sick and poor around her home in the castle of Ulvåsa⁵⁵. However as the lives were composed either to further the cause of her canonistion or for liturgical use afterwards they omit more awkward incidents such as Ulf's decision, for reasons of family aggrandisement, to marry their daughter, Martha, to a boorish knight, very much against his wife's wishes. She always referred to him as 'the Robber' and her judgement proved correct⁵⁶.

Turning back to the early years of the fifteenth century we find that English theologians were greatly involved in the controversies which centred round the Revelations and the Order of the Saviour. Though few of the works of the critics have survived, the Defensoria show the general lines of attack which they had to meet.

The first of these defences was composed by Adam Eston⁵⁷. The attack was mainly directed against the Regula Salvatoris and the fact that a woman had been commissioned to found a new order. Eston pointed out the prominent role of women in the gospels as witnesses of the Resurrection and as receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Against a criticism of the style of the rule he argued that such documents should be in language suitable for their readers and literary style was a minor consideration. He went on to show that her teaching about the Blessed Virgin in the Sermo Angelicus was in accord with the church's doctrine and that the holiness of the saint's life was proof that her visions were genuine.

Ten years later a further defence was composed by Geoffrey, Abbot of Byland⁵⁸. He had read a copy of the Revelations and was concerned to defend their orthodoxy. His work is divided into twenty-seven propositions, each concerned with a specific passage and the doctrine contained in it. In the fifth proposition, for example, Geoffrey pointed out the teaching of the Doctors on the doctrine of the Immaculate Concep tion was neutral, and that since the feast was celebrated in some parts of Christendom there was nothing unorthodox in the saint's assertion of it.

St Bridget caught the attention of the fathers assembled at the Council of Constance. In response to a petition from the King of Sweden her canonisation was confirmed with lengthy ceremonies, probably the last official act of John XXIII⁵⁹. However there were virulent attacks on new religious orders⁶⁰ and an attack on revelations by the great French theologian, Gerson⁶¹. No details of the outcome of these onslaughts seem to be known, but it seems very probable that diplomatic pressure by King Eric and his wife, Philippa who was the sister of Henry V, was successful⁶². Certainly Henry went on with his plans for Syon Abbey and the new pope, Martin V, again confirmed the canonisation in 1419⁶³.

Opponents returned to the attack at the Council of Basel. Though specific attacks were made on one hundred and twenty three passages of the Revelations⁶⁴, the indulgences and the whole concept of double orders⁶⁵, these were only facets of more fundamental theological issues. The attacks may have been part of the continuing Thomist-Occamist disputes of the philosophers⁶⁶, but they were certainly at the centre of the debates about the powers of the pope. It is noteworthy that the leader of the critics was Matthias Doring, the author of the 'Confutatio Primatus Papae'⁶⁷, whilst the saint's chief defenders were the papal theologians Haimerich of Kempen and the Dominican, Turrecremata⁶⁸. An English bishop, Reginald, took part in the controversy and wrote two short defensoria⁶⁹, in which he argued that prophecy was a gift of the Holy Ghost and did not end with the revelation of the New Testa ment. It had been possessed by many women and St Bridget's holy life was proof of the authenticity of her visions which contained nothing that was not either orthodox theology or at least the probable teaching of the church. He pointed out that such works were often couched in obscure language because our spiritual faculties need exercise as well as food. The outcome of the debate was that the Revelations were saved from condemnation, but the privileges and indulgences of the Order were curtailed⁷⁰.

The Defensoria show that English theologians were studying St Bridget's works carefully, a fact further demonstrated by the interest shown by the Carmelite Richard Lavenham, Confessor to Richard II⁷¹, and the Dominican Thomas Stubbs⁷², both Doctors of Divinity. These must be the type of men who used the full Latin texts of the saint's writings during the first half of the fifteenth century, whilst in the second half several Carthusian monasteries, including Shene and London, obtained copies⁷³. Other learned writers early in the century knew her works well enough to quote relevant passages in their own treatises. The editor of the Speculum Christiani, a guide for parish clergy, chose a passage concerning our duty to consider our neighbour's spiritual welfare as well as our own⁷⁴. Richard Ullerston, Chancellor of Salisbury, found a piece about the virtue of endowing new churches to support his case for the canonisation of St Osmund⁷⁵, whilst Gascoigne naturally quoted many sections which confirmed his gloomy view of the times:

Sancta Birgitta, vidua et sponsa Christi, de regno Suecie, verba sancta et terribilia dixit contra peccatores⁷⁶.

St Bridget's writings were also of use to priests responsible for the spiritual direction of religious women whether within the cloister or outside. Two manuscripts containing lengthy extracts from the Revelations in the vernacular which discuss the virtues of the active and contemplative ways of life would have been suitable for this purpose⁷⁷. Morevover about the year 1400 a local priest, Peter of Swine, gave a number of books including 'Liber S. Brigide' to the Cistercian nuns of that place⁷⁸. But the most outstanding example of the influence of the Swedish saint was the way in which she affected the whole life and writing of Margery Kempe who came to regard herself as an English St Bridget and whose autobiography was composed about 1436⁷⁹. Born at Lynn, the chief port for trade with Sweden, Margery probably heard people speaking of the saint almost from the time of her birth, and the influence must have been further strengthened by one of her principal confessors, the Carmelite friar Alan of Lynn, the composer of the 'tabulae' to the Revelations which is now Lincoln College, Oxford, Ms. lxix⁸⁰. During a pilgrimage to Rome Margery talked to St Bridget's maid and visited the saint's house⁸¹. In her own autobiography Margery claimed that Christ would speak to her as he had to St Bridget and also that she had seen the sacrament in the priest's hands take the form of a dove and assure her of the truth of St Bridget's Revelations⁸². Her autobiography also sheds interesting light on the reactions of English prelates to such private revelations. Arundel, the Primate, and Repingdon, Bishop of Lincoln, appear to have been quite kindly disposed towards her, and even prelates who, like Bowet, did not view her with any great favour, took no stronger action than ordering her to leave their dioceses.

During the second half of the century several copies of the Revelations were owned by well-to-do widows, Elizabeth Sywardby⁸³, and Margaret Purdans of Norwich⁸⁴. Such widows lived lives almost as nuns and were the most important readers of devotional works in the vernacular as they would not know Latin⁸⁵. The most prominent of this class was Cecily, Duchess of York, who in 1495 bequeathed to her daughter Anne, Prioress of Syon, a book of the 'Revelations of Saint Burgitte'⁸⁶. The survival of a document giving the routine of Cecily's household shows that her books were not merely ornamental, but were put to daily use⁸⁷. Her day was arranged on monastic lines, very similar to St Bridget's routine in Rome, and included a 'lecture of holy matter' at dinner and a discussion of what had been read during supper.

Cecily's devotion to St Bridget impressed itself on her family. One of her daughters, Anne, became Prioress of Syon. Her son, Edward IV, not only chose the then very unusual name of Bridget for one of his daughters⁸⁸, but was regarded by the Syon community as their second founder because he restored much of the property they had lost through defective titles during the reign of Henry VI⁸⁹. Another of Cecily's daughters, Margaret, married Charles of Burgundy, at whose court she would meet ladies whose piety equalled her mother's⁹⁰, and would find copies of the Revelations in the ducal libraries⁹¹. She herself seems to have been greatly interested in the Bridgettine house of Gouda where she was named as one of the trustees⁹² and caused a history of the abbey to be written⁹³. Her death is noted in the necrology of the monastery at Termonde⁹⁴. This Yorkist interest may also be linked with the use of passages of the Revelations to support their claims to the throne as in the prophecies given in Cotton Vespasian Ms. E. VII and Ashmole Ms. 27, where passages relating to Sweden are adapted to English politics.

The interest of the continental printers in the saint's works was both earlier and greater than the English ones. Extracts of her writings first appeared in 1481 when Johannes Torsch's 'Onus Mundi', a book of prophecies taken largely from the Revelations, was printed in Nuremberg⁹⁵. A full edition of her works was prepared at Vadstena and printed at Lübeck in 1492, to be followed by similar editions at Nuremberg in 1500 and 1517. Extracts were also issued in German and Dutch before the end of the century.

The first mention of St Bridget by English printers seems to be in the additional material added to the 1491 edition of Mirk's Festial in a sermon entitled 'Hamus Amoris' which may well have been composed by one of the Syon brethren⁹⁶. However it was not until 1530 that Godfray issued a volume made up of the Epistle of St Bernard and Four Revelations of St Bridget⁹⁷. A further selection of four revelations was edited by Richard Whytford, the Wretch of Syon, and published in 1531⁹⁸.

The use of the Revelations in English politics has been mentioned in connexion with the Hundred Years War and the Yorkist claims to the throne. Such use continued into the sixteenth century. The best known case is that of Elizabeth Barton, the Holy Maid of Kent. It has been claimed that her visions condemning Henry VIII's plan for divorce caused Wolsey and Warham to delay the proceedings⁹⁹. Later she visited Syon and it was alleged when she was attained that the community of Syon 'daily rehearsed matter enough into her out of St Bridget and St Catherine of Senys revelations, to make up her fantasies and counterfeit visions'¹⁰⁰.

A further case occurs in a report on the state of Ireland in 1515. The writer quotes a passage in which St Bridget asked her good angel: 'Of what Christian lands were most souls damned?'. The angel showed her a land in the west part of the world, 'for there is most continual war, root of hate and envy … and without charity souls cannot be saved.' The writer concluded that it could not be denied by the very estimation of man, but that the angel did understand the land of Ireland¹⁰¹.

The question remains as to what effect the activities of the Order of the Saviour had on the cult of their foundress. Even excluding Vadstena and Sweden where she was the national patron, devotion to the saint spread in districts where were monasteries of the order¹⁰². At Dantzig her cult was particularly popular¹⁰³. After the foundation of an abbey at Cologne evidence of the development of the cult is seen in the dedication of new altars, windows and lights in honour of St Bridget and the inclusion of her name in German calendars¹⁰⁴. All this was in addition to the literary activity of copying manuscripts and the growth of an apocryphal literature under her name¹⁰⁵. Little of this type of activity is to be found connected with Syon apart from the production of texts. However there are several important features in its history which affect the cult¹⁰⁶.

The foundation of Syon Abbey was the work of a group of soldier statesmen. The idea was first put forward by Sir Henry FitzHugh when he visited Vadstena in 1406 when he was a member of the company escorting the Princess Philippa to Sweden for her marriage. At first the plan made little progress through lack of money. An endowment was finally provided from the property of the alien priories which had been sequestrated during the troubles with France. Henry V probably needed little prompting from FitzHugh since he was personally devoted to St Bridget, possessing a relic and naming her among the saints to whom he specially committed his soul in a will made before the invasion of France. As with the Yorkists there seems to have been some family interest. His sister, Philippa, was married to the Swedish king, visited Vadstena, became a member of the chapter and a benefactor, besides cooperating with her brother in defending Bridgettine interests at the Council of Constance.

The foundation charters shows that Syon was to be primarily a Lancastrian chantry; there is no mention of the famous incident of the penance for the murder of Archbishop Scrope, and throughout its history the monastery was visited by royalty until the last grim scene when Henry VIII's corpse lay there overnight and the coffin burst. The choice of site meant that Syon would always attract the attention of the rich and powerful, lying as it did midway between Westminster and Windsor with the river on one side and the main road on the other. The effect of this seems to be shown by the recruitment of the sisters from courtier and London merchant families, typical of the pattern in convents of recruiting from prosperous local families¹⁰⁷. Yet despite the opportunities for worldly vanities all the references in contemporary accounts speak of the reputation of the community for austerity and learning.

One important attraction for visitors was the Pardon of Syon, the indulgences to be gained by pilgrims especially at Lammastide and the feast of St Peter's Chains, obtained by Henry V from the pope:

'devote visitantibus magnas indulgencias concedi a summo pontifice procuravit.'¹⁰⁸

It was of course the indulgence that formed the main theme of Audelay's Salutation and surviving manuscripts show that both the general theology of indulgences and the special privileges granted to Syon were a frequent theme in the sermons of the brethren who were bound to preach in the vernacular on Sundays and feasts¹⁰⁹. Odd references tell of pilgrims both high and low. The king, queen, Clarence and Gloucester went for the pardon in 1472¹¹⁰, whilst Elizabeth, wife of John Lowe, visited the abbey in 1490¹¹¹.

Especially after the introduction of printing the brethren were able to promote the cult by their writings. Though Syon did not have its own press as some of the continental houses did, the brethren, particularly Richard Whytford, supplied material to the commercial printers. Apart from the extracts from the Revelations and the Life of St Bridget it was natural that their devotional writings should contain quotations from her works. Mention must also be made of the Jesus Psalter¹¹², a prayer very much in the Bridgettine spirit, which was edited by Whytford and remained a very popular devotion among Recusants during the sixteenth century¹¹³.

The abbess was responsible for many appropriated churches and some evidence remain to show that work in this connexion promoted the cult. At Angmering in Sussex St Bridget appears on a new tympanum"¹¹⁴, at Mount St Michael's, Cornwall, there was a cloth with an image of the saint¹¹⁵, whilst at Lancaster the whole church was rebuilt, earning the gratitude of at least one modern commentator"¹¹⁶:

'We have reason to be profoundly grateful to these nuns of Syon for their zeal and munificence … under their hands the building arose in increased size and beauty, to be pride of many generations.'

The normal evidence of a cult is very slight in England. St Bridget's feast day, July 23rd"¹¹⁷, does not appear in the calendars of either Sarum or York. Nor are there any church¹¹⁸ or chantry dedications or even stained glass windows, wall-paintings or statues in her honour, with the possible exception of a marble statue still in the possession of the Syon community¹¹⁹. Artistic representations of the Swedish saint seem to be limited to several rood-screens in East Anglia and Devon¹²⁰.

Naturally St Bridget occurs in both liturgical and private prayer books connected with Syon Abbey¹²¹, one rather unusual feature being a 'little office' in her honour in a Horae Sanctae Trinitatis¹²². Memoriae are found in a few private prayer books sometimes with a miniature, as in the late fifteenth century English Horae now in the FitzWilliam Museum¹²³.

One sign of the popularity of a writer is the appearance of apocryphal works. In St Bridget's case the most popular of the apocrypha was the devotion of the Fifteen Oes which is found in many manuscript Horae and came to be included in the printed editions¹²⁴. The prayers also occur in some private prayer books such as the Preces Variae now at Stonyhurst College¹²⁵. An interesting feature of the prayers is that their attribution to St Bridget is by no means universal. When attributions do occur they seem to take the form of an illumination showing the revelation of the prayers to the saint, or of a long introduction detailing the rewards to be gained by daily recitation of the prayers, mainly the release of souls from purgatory¹²⁶.

Two brief references must be made to the rosary. First there was the so-called Bridgettine Rosary of sixty three beads in honour of the sixty three years of the life of the Blessed Virgin¹²⁷. An anonymous pamphlet printed in Bruges in 1834 entitled 'Oersprong des Rosenkreynkens onder den Naem van de H. Brigitta'¹²⁸ attributes the use of the devotion to Henry VII who asked for the prayers of the Bridgettines in times of difficulty. This may well link up with the special faculties for blessing rosaries granted to the brethren by the pope in 1500¹²⁹. The second reference is to the sole surviving English pre-Reformation rosary. It is of gold and each side of each bead is engraved with the figure of a saint. The third decade is arranged to exhibit canonised women, including St Bridget portrayed as a crowned nun carrying a book¹³⁰.

Illuminations of the saint appear in a few manuscripts. The text of the Revelations in B. L. Cotton Claudius Ms. B.i contains several. At the beginning of Book III a miniature depicts the saint dressed in black with a white wimple, sitting writing in a book on her knee. To her left stands a bishop and above the drawing are the words 'Bryde and a byscop'¹³¹. At the beginning of Book VII she is again shown dressed in black with a white headdress, kneeling adoring the Holy Child. In the background the manger is shown with the ox and ass. To the left of the manger there is standing a lady with a halo, wearing a red dress with a blue mantle over it¹³². Both the miniatures illustrate the main topics of the books; Book III consists mainly of messages addressed to bishops and Book VII deals with the life of Christ with special emphasis on the Incarnation.

The early printers used several wood-cuts of the saint to illustrate books connected with her. The main theme is to show her receiving her Revelations with her pilgrim's staff, cap and purse included in the illustration. Each printer had his own variation on the theme. The earliest example seems to be Pynson's Calendar of the New Legend in 1516¹³³. De Worde pictured her in his edition of the Horae in 1519 and Fawkes in the Mirror of Our Lady, Pepwell in the Dyetary of Ghostly Helthe and Treveris in his edition of Whytford's Werke for Householders¹³⁴.

This survey has not mentioned the many spiritual miscellanies which contain short passages from the saint's writings, nor has it attempted to solve such mysteries as to why a workman should have been given a 'Book of St Bridget' in payment for repairs to Warwick deanery¹³⁵. However the evidence produced suggests that there was a widespread cult though mainly a literary one based on her writings, since even the artistic evidence is connected with books and would therefore influence the literate classes. It will be suitable to end by recalling the finest tribute of all to St Bridget from her followers, that when the crises came in 1539 and 1558 many of the community of Syon preferred to go into exile in order to continue living under her Rule rather than surrender to the Tudor Despotism¹³⁶.

Notes

¹ 'Birgitta quam vulgares Brigidam appellant' (Canonisation Bull in Acta Sanctorum, Oct., IV (1780), 624.

² Cf. P. Debongnie, Ste Brigitte, in Dict. d'Hist. et de Géog. Ecclés. (1938), VI, 719.

³ R. Steffen, Den Heliga Birgittas Uppenbarelser (1909), xxx.

⁴ Printed in I. Collijn, Acta et Processus Canonizationis Beatae Birgittae (1922).

⁵ K. B. Westman, Birgitta Studier (1911), 44.

⁶ H. M. Redpath, God's Ambassadress (1947), 154.

⁷ Cf. I. Collijn, Till 550-Årsminnet av Birgittas Kanonisation, in Fornvännen, 1941.

⁸ J. Wordsworth, The National Church of Sweden (1910), 127. The textual problems are discussed in B. Klockars, Birgitta och Bökerna (1973) and Den Heliga Birgittas Revelationes Extravagantes, ed. L. Hollman (1956).

⁹ Hollman, 162.

¹⁰ Written at the end of the fourteenth century and now Merton College, Oxford, Ms. ccxv, f. 238.

¹¹ W. A. Purdy, Santa Brigida, la sua Epoca e la nostra, in Brigitta, Una Santa Svedese (1974), 75.

¹² Klockars, op. cit., 251.

¹³ F. R. H. Du Boulay, An Age of Ambition (1970), 143; P. Janelle, L' Angleterre Catholique à la veille du Grand Schisme (1935), 15; E. F. Jacob, Gerard Groote and the Beginning of the Devotio Moderna, in Journal of Eccles. Hist. 1952; Studies in Pastoral Theology, ed. A. Murray (1961), 1, 87.

¹⁴Revelationes Celestes, Book VII, ed. B. Bergh (1967), Ch. xv and xxi; H. Cornell, St Bridget, the Changing Ideas of her Time, in Brigitta, Una Santa Svedese; cf. A. Wilmart, Œuvres Spirituelles et Textes Dévots du Moyen Age (1932), 62; M. D. Anderson, Imagery of British Churches (1951), 101.

¹⁵ A. Andersson, Böken on Birgitta (1977), 66; the growth of the order is described in T. Nyberg, Birgittinische Klostergründungen des Mittelalters (1965) and the legal and financial problems in H. Cnattingius, Studies in the Order of St Bridget of Sweden (1963).

¹⁶ Andersson, op. cit., 66.

¹⁷Sermo Angelicus, ed. S. Eklund (1972); H. J. Collins, The Bridgettine Breviary of Syon Abbey (1969); T. Lunden analyses the text in Kyrkohistorisk Årsskrift 1973.

¹⁸Revelationes Celestes, Book IV, Chaps. 103-5.

¹⁹ Andersson, op. cit., 52, 85.

²⁰ A copy is in Corpus Christi Col., Cambridge Ms. 404. A Swedish copy is mentioned in B. Klockars, Birgittas Svenska Värld (1976), 125.

²¹The Regement of Princes, ed. J. J. Furnival (1897), 194.

²² Cf. J. H. Wylie, The Reign of Henry V (1914), I, 440; J. C. Dickinson, The Congress of Arras (1955); H. Nicholas, Acts of the Privy Council (1835), V, 352;Letters and Papers Illustrative of the Wars of the English in France, ed. J. Stephenson (1861), I, 1.

²³ In the Casa di S. Birgitta now the headquarters of the new branch of the order.

²⁴Acta et Processus, VI, 432.

²⁵ In his letter to Vadstena in Bodley Ms. Hamilton 7, f. 248; cf. W. A. Pantin, The Defensoria of Adam Eston, in Eng. Hist. Review 1936, 779 et seq.

²⁶ The Diplomatic Correspondence of Richard II, ed. E. Perroy (1993), 63.

²⁷Infra.

²⁸M. R. James and the Dean of Norwich, The Library of Norwich Cathedral, in Norfolk Archaeology 1917, 67 et seq.

²⁹ The list by Magnus Petri, Confessor General of Vadstena, is in Lincoln Cath. Ms. 114, f. 16, and includes the Emperor, the King of France, the Queens of Naples, Cyprus and Castille as well as the Teutonic Order and the University of Prague.

³⁰ Merton Coll., Oxford, Ms. ccxv (H. O. Coxe, Cat. cod. Mss in Collegiis Aulisque Oxon. (1852), I, 71).

³¹Ibid., f. 238.

³² B. L. Cotton Ms. Julius F.ii; cf. Cat. of the Mss. in the Cottonian Library (1802), 18. The life is printed in J. G. Aungier, History and Antiquities of Syon Monastery (1840), 19 et seq.

³³ Julius F.II. f. 254.

³⁴ Cotton Ms. B.i.; cf. Cat. of the Cottonian Library, 191. Details of the missing leaves are in W. P. Cumming, The Revelations of St Birgitta (1929), XVII.

³⁵ Printed in Act. Sanct., Oct. IV.

³⁶ Cumming, op. cit., XX.

³⁷ J. P. Gilson, The Library of Sir Henry Savile of Banke, in T.B.S., IX, 135 et seq.

³⁸ C. L. Kingsford, Two Forfeitures of the Year of Agincourt, in Archaeologia (1918), 82.

³⁹Loci e Libro Veritatum, ed. J. Thorold Rogers (1881), 139.

⁴⁰ W. A. Pronger, Thomas Gascoigne, in Engl. Hist. Rev. LIII (1938), 619, 625.

⁴¹ Balliol Coll., Oxford, Ms. CCXXV, esp. fols. 173-6 and 191-217.

⁴² W. D. Macray, Cat. of Digby Manuscripts (1883), Col. 180.

⁴³ Pronger, op. cit., 625.

⁴⁴Loci e Libro Veritatum, 169.

⁴⁵Martiloge of Syon, Br. Libr. Add. Ms. 22, 285, flyleaf.

⁴⁶ J. Denucé, Musaeum Plantin-Moretus. Cat. des Mss. (1927), 112, and Registrum Cancellarii Oxon., ed. H. E. Salter (1932), I, 406.

⁴⁷ Cf. Act. Sanct., Oct. IV, 472. The texts are in Uppsala Ms. C. 518.

⁴⁸Martiloge, f. 70.

⁴⁹ G. H. Gerould, Saints' Legends (1916), 288.

⁵⁰Nova Legenda Anglie, ed. C. Horstman (1901), I, 3.

⁵¹ Lincoln Cath. Ms. 114, f. 49.

⁵² Printed in Cumming, op. cit., XXXI et seq.

⁵³ Printed 1516 and reprinted without the conclusion in J. H. Blunt, The Myroure of Oure Ladye (1873), XLVII et seq.

⁵⁴ Cf. infra.

⁵⁵ The fullest account of her married life is in the office composed by Nicholas Hermansson who was tutor in her household before becoming Bishop of Linköping. It was printed by H. Schück in Lund Universitäts Årsskrift, Vol. 28.

⁵⁶ J. Wordsworth, The National Church of Sweden (1910), 126.

⁵⁷ There are texts in Bodley Ms. Hamilton 7 and B. L. Ms. Harley 612.

⁵⁸ Probably at Oxford in 1393 (Snappe's Formulary, ed. H. E. Salter (1924), 9); Abbot of Byland in 1397 (Cal. of Papal Regs., V, 329 and V. C. H., Yorks, III, 134.). His Defence is in B. L. Harley Ms. 612.

⁵⁹ Urich von Richtental, Chronik des Konstanzer Conzils, ed. M. R. Buck (1882), 53.

⁶⁰ H. Finke, Acta Concilii Constanciensis (1923), II, 597.

⁶¹ H. von der Hardt, Magnum Oecumenicum Constancie Concilium (1700), III, 28.

⁶² A. Lindblom, Kult och Konst i Vadstena Kloster (1965), 53.

⁶³ The bull 'Excellentium Principum' in Acta Sanct., t. cit., 476.

⁶⁴ Wordsworth, 138.

⁶⁵ Concilium Basiliense, Studien und Quellen zur Geschichte des Conzils von Basel (1936), VIII, 126.

⁶⁶ Westman, 278.

⁶⁷ P. Albert, Die Confutatio Primatus Papae, Ihre Quelle und Ihre Verfasser, in Hist. Jahrbuch, 1890, 439 et seq.

⁶⁸ Their treatises are in Uppsala Ms. C. 518. Turrecremata's defence is in the printed editions of the Revelations.

⁶⁹ In B. L. Harley Ms. 612, Col. 777 et seq.

⁷⁰ Westman, 286.

⁷¹D.N.B., XI, 652; J. Bale, Index Britanniae Scriptores, ed. R. L. Poole (1902), 354.

⁷²D.N.B., XIX, 121; Bale, 454.

⁷³ E. K. Thompson, The Carthusian Order in England (1930), 320, 326, 329.

⁷⁴Speculum Christiani, ed. C. Holmstedt (1932), clxxx.

⁷⁵ A. R. Malden, The Canonisation of St Osmund (1901), 240.

⁷⁶ Quoted from Lincoln Coll. Ms. CXVII in N. D. Hurnard, Studies in the Intellectual Life of England from the Middle of the Fifteenth Century till the Time of Colet (unpublished Oxford D. Phil, thesis), 353.

⁷⁷ Garrett Ms. 145 was edited by Cumming, op. cit.; cf. also B. L. Ms. Arundel 197.

⁷⁸ M. R. James, Cat. of the Mss. in the Library of King's College, Cambr. (1895), 35.

⁷⁹The Book of Margery Kempe, ed. W. Butler-Bowden (1936); The Book of Margery Kempe, ed. S. B. Meech and H. E. Allen, Vol. I (1940).

⁸⁰ Coxe, op. cit., I, 38.

⁸¹ The house and its associations with St Bridget are described in Civiltà Cattolica (1895), 471 et seq.

⁸² Meech and Allen 47.

⁸³Testamenta Eboracensia, ed. J. Raine (1864), III, 161.

⁸⁴ H. Harrod, Extracts from Early Wills in the Norwich Registries (1855), 336.

⁸⁵ A. I. Doyle, in The Age of Chaucer (1954), 99.

⁸⁶Wills from the Doctors Commons, ed. Nichols and Bruce (1863), 3.

⁸⁷ M. Noble, Some Observations upon the Life of Cecilly, Duchess of York, in Archaeologia (1800), 7.

⁸⁸ In view of this paragraph I disagree with the view E. G. Withycombe, Oxford Diet, of English Christian Names (1977) that Edward meant St Bridget of Kildare.

⁸⁹ References to Syon are taken from the account of the abbey in V. C. H. Middlesex, I.

⁹⁰ F. Ingham, Philippe-le-Bon (1944), 183.

⁹¹ Cf. Bibl. Prototypographique … des Fils du Roi Jean (1830), 165, 285.

⁹² M. Van Hattum, Nog eens het Brigittenklooster te Gouda, in Nederlandsch Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis (1945), 259.

⁹³Ibid., 258.

⁹⁴ A. De Vlaminck, Nécrologie du Double Monastère de Ste Brigitte à Termonde, in Cercle Arch. de Termonde (1901), 34.

⁹⁵ For printed editions cf. G. E. Klemming, Heliga Birgittas Uppenbarelser (1883), V; I. Collijn, Katalog der Incunabeln der Kgl. Universitäts-Bibliothek zu Uppsala (1907).

⁹⁶ Wordsworth and Littlehales, The Old Service Books of the English Church (1904), 144.

⁹⁷ Extracts are printed in J. E. G. De Montmorency, Thomas a Kempis, His Age and Book (1907), 10-12. The extracts are from Book VI and describe the judgment of certain souls. Cf. G. E. Klemming, op. cit., 56.

⁹⁸ Klemming, loc. cit.

⁹⁹ E. J. Devereux, Elizabeth Barton and Tudor Censorship, in Bull of the John Rylands Library (1966), 98.

¹⁰⁰ L. E. Whatmore, Sermon against the Holy Maid, in Engl. Hist. Rev. (1943), 469.

¹⁰¹ C. Maxwell, The Foundations of Modern Ireland (1921), 18.

¹⁰² T. Höjer, Till Kännedomen om Vadstena Klosters Ställning såsom religiös Institut in Historiska Studier tillagnade Professor Harald Hjarne (1908), 59 et seq.

¹⁰³ Cf. Ο. Gunther, Die Handschriften der Kirchenbibliothek von S. Marien in Dantzig (1921).

¹⁰⁴ Höjer, op. cit., 78.

¹⁰⁵ Cf. C. Jungmark, Eine Pseudo-Birgittische Christus-Passion (1916).

¹⁰⁶ Unless otherwise stated references to Syon are based on the accounts in V. C. H. Middlesex, I. and T. Höjer, Studier i Vadstena Klosters och Birgittinordens Hist. (1905).

¹⁰⁷ H. T. Jacka, The Dissolution of the English Nunneries (London M. A. thesis, 1917), 120.

¹⁰⁸ Thomas De Elmham, Vita et Gesta Henrici Quinti, ed. T. Hearne (1727), 25.

¹⁰⁹ Simon Winter's sermon is in B. L. Harley Ms. 2321 and discussed in M. A. Hughes, A Syon Pardon Sermon (Liverpool Μ. Α., 1959).

¹¹⁰ Paston Letters (Everyman Ed.), II, 115.

¹¹¹Henrici VI Angliae Regis Miracula Postuma, ed. P. Grosjean (1935), 57.

¹¹² The Jesus Psalter arranged by a monk of Ampleforth (1973).

¹¹³ Cf. An Elizabethan Recusant House, ed. R. C. Southern (1952), 82.

¹¹⁴ Black's Guide to Sussex (1886), 132.

¹¹⁵ A. L. Rowse, Tudor Cornwall (1941), 186.

¹¹⁶ Guide to Lancaster Priory and Cathedral Church, n. d., 16.

¹¹⁷ Changes in her feast day are noted in Acta Sanct., Propylaeum Decembris (1940), 441.

¹¹⁸ Dedications refer to St Bridget of Kildare, cf. F. Arnold Foster, Studies in Church Dedications (1899), II, 147.

¹¹⁹A Royal Foundation, Syon Abbey Past and Present (1946), 12.

¹²⁰ M. R. James, Norfolk and Suffolk, 97, 107, 152; C. Keyser, On the Panel Paintings of Saints on Devonshire Screens, in Archaeologia (1898), 197, 221.

¹²¹ Full texts of the offices are in Officia Propria Sanctorum … Ordinis Salvatoris (16).

¹²² A fifteenth century mss. in the possession of the Syon community.

¹²³ M. R. James Cat. of the Mss. in the FitzWilliam Museum (1895), 146.

¹²⁴The Prymer, ed. H. Littlehales (1897), II, XLI; H. Thurston, Uses that are really Superstitious, in The Month 1919, 56; The Fifteen Oes, ed. S. Ayling (1869). Dr H. Toldberg studied the variant forms of the introductions and prayers but unfortunately his conclusions were never published.

¹²⁵ Stonyhurst College Ms. A. VII, 5, fol. 77 sq.

¹²⁶ Cf. M. R. James, Cat. of the Western Mss. in the John Rylands Library, II, pi. 175. For the introduction cf. B. L. Harley Ms. 172, fol. 3-5.

¹²⁷ H. Thurston, The so-called Bridgettine Rosary, in The Month (1902), 189et seq.

¹²⁸ A copy is said to be in the Bibliothèque des Bollandistes, Brussels.

¹²⁹ F. W. Nettelbla, Nachricht von einigen Klöstern der h. Schwedischen Birgitte (1764), 12.

¹³⁰ E. Maclagan and G. C. Oman, An English Gold Rosary of about 1500, in Archaeologia (1935), 1 et seq.

¹³¹ f. 116.

¹³² f. 269.

¹³³ E. Hodnet, English Woodcuts 1480-1535 (1935), 323.

¹³⁴Ibid, 178, 447.

¹³⁵ J. Harvey Bloom, Introduction to the Cartulary of St Mary's, Warwick, in Trans, of the Bristol and Gloucester Arch. Soc. (1914), 88.

¹³⁶ The history of their exile is given in J. R. Fletcher, The Story of the English Bridgenines (1933).