New Acquisition: Sermons of Robert Pullen
Robert Pullen (d.1146) was one of the outstanding English churchmen of the twelfth century, and the Library has acquired a series of 26 of his sermons on the communal of saints, preached in a monastic context. One of three principal surviving manuscripts of Pullen sermons, this may be the earliest, dating from the late twelfth century, and was formerly in the collection of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Southwark.
Pullen was one of the first recorded lecturers at Oxford. He taught afterwards in Paris and became the first English Cardinal. His role in Rome as Chancellor of the Roman Church increased the English presence there, which included his pupil John of Salisbury and Nicholas Breakspear, afterwards Pope Adrian IV.
Pullen was the subject of a full biographical study by Francis Courtney, and his principal theological work, the Sentences, has long been available in print. His sermons however have remained largely unpublished and unexplored. Two series survive, the first comprising 19 sermons preached before young students engaged in study. The Library has held the earlier of the two surviving manuscripts of this first series since its foundation in 1610 (MS 458).
The second series of sermons is that which has been acquired. Its attribution to Robert Pullen has sometimes been questioned, despite Courtney's emphasis on resemblances of thought and style in the two series and the presence of one sermon in both collections. The Library's new acquisition provides further evidence. At the head of folio one a very early owner attributed the sermons to ‘Magister Robertus Pu .....' [remainder cropped away]. This is a significant early witness to the authorship of the text and in this respect too the manuscript has special importance.
Pullen was a friend of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and the Library's new acquisition is almost certainly of Cistercian provenance, its limited decoration being consistent with the austere requirements for manuscripts within the order. It is now accessible in the Library for public use as Lambeth Palace Library MS. 4776.
Pullen was one of the first recorded lecturers at Oxford. He taught afterwards in Paris and became the first English Cardinal. His role in Rome as Chancellor of the Roman Church increased the English presence there, which included his pupil John of Salisbury and Nicholas Breakspear, afterwards Pope Adrian IV.
Pullen was the subject of a full biographical study by Francis Courtney, and his principal theological work, the Sentences, has long been available in print. His sermons however have remained largely unpublished and unexplored. Two series survive, the first comprising 19 sermons preached before young students engaged in study. The Library has held the earlier of the two surviving manuscripts of this first series since its foundation in 1610 (MS 458).
The second series of sermons is that which has been acquired. Its attribution to Robert Pullen has sometimes been questioned, despite Courtney's emphasis on resemblances of thought and style in the two series and the presence of one sermon in both collections. The Library's new acquisition provides further evidence. At the head of folio one a very early owner attributed the sermons to ‘Magister Robertus Pu .....' [remainder cropped away]. This is a significant early witness to the authorship of the text and in this respect too the manuscript has special importance.
Pullen was a friend of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and the Library's new acquisition is almost certainly of Cistercian provenance, its limited decoration being consistent with the austere requirements for manuscripts within the order. It is now accessible in the Library for public use as Lambeth Palace Library MS. 4776.
