Edited with a facing-page English translation from the Latin text by: Brooke, C. N. L.; Unknown function: Mynors, R. A. B.

The library at Hereford Cathedral is famous as one of the few surviving chained libraries'; but the contents of the books secured to the seventeenth century presses are less well known. There are 227 western manuscripts, of which about half have been at the cathedral since before the Reformation. They range in date from the eighth to the fifteenth century, and include finely-illustrated patristic books of the twelfth century, a large collection of Oxford University legal textbooks, and books of civil and canon law from the end of the thirteenth century. Over half the volumes survive in largely intact medieval bindings. The catalogue, begun by the late Sir Roger Mynors and completed by Professor Thomson, reflects the particular strengths of the collection. The many glossed books are described using a particularly effective system devised by Sir Roger Mynors. An introductory essay by Michael Gullick describes the medieval bindings, and the plates cover not only illumination and bindings, but medieval pressmarks and ownership inscriptions, as well as examples of scripts.

"Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People" was completed in 731 AD and still ranks among the most popular of history books. By the end of the 8th century, copies of it were to be found in many parts of England and on the Continent, some of which are still extant. If it were not for Bede's work, little would be known about the Anglo-Saxon invasion and the beginnings of Christianity in England, and such familiar names as Edwin and Oswald, Cuthbert and Chad, Hilda and Caedmon would be almost forgotten. This corrected reissue of the work makes use for the first time of a mid-8th-century manuscript discovered in Leningrad, provides a survey of the extant manuscripts and a new translation. It also attempts to bring up to date Plummer's edition of the work, published 80 years ago. It has been corrected to take into account J.M. Wallace-Hadrill's "Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People: A Historical Commentary" and to enable the reader to use the two in conjunction.

William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum Anglorum (The Deeds of the English Kings) is one of the great histories of England. Apart from its formidable learning, it is characterized by narrative skill and entertainment value. This edition, with facing-page English translation, provides for the first time a detailed commentary on all aspects of the work.

Virgil's Georgics, by common consent one of the greatest poems in western literature, purports to be a didactic poem on agriculture, but its true subject is man and his place in literature and society. It is also a landmark in the use of the natural world as material for literature, and in the history of man's attitude towards his environment. The object of this commentary is to present the poet's meaning and (as far as possible) his choice of expression in the hope of achieving fuller understanding and enjoyment of the poetry. The volume includes the late Sir Roger's Oxford Classical Text of the Georgics together with apparatus criticus, as well as an appendix of Greek sources. After Mynors's death (in 1989) R. G. M. Nisbet added a short Preface to the Commentary and compiled an index.

At the beginning of this volume, Erasmus leaves Louvain to live in Basel. Weary from the many controversies reflected in the letters of the previous volumes, he is also anxious to see the annotations to his third edition of the New Testament through Johann Froben's press. Above all he fears that pressure from the imperial court in the Netherlands will force him to take a public stand against Luther. Erasmus completes a large number of works in the span of this volume, including the Paraphrases on Matthew and John, two new expanded editions of the Colloquies, an edition of De conscribendis epistolis, two apologiae against his Spanish detractors, and editions of Arnobius Junior and Hilary of Poitiers. But the predominant theme of the volume remains 'the sorry business of Luther.' The harder Erasmus persists in trying to adhere to a reasonable course between Catholic and reforming zealots, the more he finds himself 'a heretic to both sides.' His Catholic critics appear the more dangerous. Among them are the papal nuncio Girolamo Aleandro, who is bent on discrediting him at both the imperial and papal courts as a supporter of Luther; the Spaniard Diego L pez Z iga, who compiles a catalogue of Blasphemies and Impieties of Erasmus of Rotterdam; and the Carmelite Nicholaas Baechem, who denounces Erasmus both in public sermons and at private 'drinking-parties.' Erasmus' refusal to counsel severity against the Lutherans is motivated chiefly by concern for peace and the common good of Christendom, and not by any tender regard for Luther and the other reformers. Still, many of the letters in this volume testify to his growing aversion to the reformers, and we see him moving perceptibly in the direction of his eventual public breach with them. A special feature of this volume is the first fully annotated translation of Erasmus' Catalogues Iucubrationum (Ep 1341 A), an extremely important document for the study of Erasmus' life and works and of the controversies they aroused. Volume 9 of the Collected Works of Erasmus series.

This volume covers a number of significant events and issues in Erasmus' life and in the history of his times. He travels on horseback from Louvain to Basel to assist his publisher and friend Johann Froben during the crucial phases in the production of his revised New Testament, the edition that he feels will be his lasting contribution to the scholarly foundations of the Christian faith. Once it is in the hands of the public he feels he will be able to face the approach of old age more calmly. On the return journey to Louvain he falls gravely ill from what is diagnosed as bubonic plague, but recovers in a month and convalesces in the home of another publisher-friend, Dirk Martens. International politics continue to capture his attention. Requests for funds in support of a papal crusade against the Turks arouse the flames of German national sentiment. With the death of Maximilian I, friends of Erasmus such as Richard Pace, Ulrich von Hutten, and Guillaume Bude are involved in diplomatic negotiations concerning the imperial succession. When Prince Ferdinand arrives from Spain and requires a tutor, the question of Erasmus' own return to active court duties is raised. After the appearance of Luther's Ninety-five Theses on indulgences, purgatory, and papal authority, the question arises among conservatives whether Erasmus' work too is a threat to the traditional ways of the church and society. For the time being, Erasmus is prepared to commend Luther and defend the latter's right to be critical of the church. Erasmus' overriding conviction at this point is that he and Luther are both part of the great intellectual and spiritual renewal that is taking place in so many parts of Europe. As Luther's appearance lends a new kind of spiritual and patriotic vigour to German humanism, the cult of Erasmus-Erasmus the fellow German-becomes an integral part of that new enthusiasm, with Saxony and its elector, Frederick the Wise, at its center.

The year that began in August 1515 was the annus mirabilis of Erasmus' career, the year, notably of the epistles of St Jerome and the first edition of his New Testament. In the months following, covered in this volume of the CWE, from August 1516 to June 1517, the active exchange of letters that began with volume 3 continued, giving a vivid impression of the impact of Erasmus' great achievement upon his contemporaries. In his own words, "The New Testament has made me friends everywhere." To Erasmus, the most important event of these months was intensely private, the dispensation granted by Leo X allowing him to escape permanently from the restraints of his religious community, to earn his living with the freedom of a secular priest. In elucidating the complex circumstances surrounding this crucial development in Erasmus' career, Dr McConica advances a new view of the obscure circumstances surrounding Erasmus' illegitimacy. We are also given Erasmus' thinly veiled account of his boyhood in the "Letter to Grunnius," and, in an Appendix, the closely related account in the Compendium vitae, a vital if controversial document for our knowledge of his early life. In the background are the life and enterprise of the Low Countries. Pursuit of personal promotion, the politics of the Burgundian Court, and the emergence of the young Prince Charles-soon to be Charles V-in the European scene, provide further tuition for the great humanist in the use and abuse of princely power. In this volume Erasmus moves between the Burgundian court at Brussels and the domestic quiet of Pieter Gillis' household at Antwerp, where he was prearing further work for the Froben press at Basel. He is drawn to Louvain but avoids it, fearing a scrutiny of his works by the hostile theologians of the University. The England of Tunstall and More is always at hand, and the letters of volume 4 incidentally provide the most important chronicle for the publication of More's Utopia, over which Erasmus kept a watchful eye. This volume records important developments in Erasmus' many-faceted philosophy, especially in politics and education. There is the sharpest condemnation of princely power beneath the veil of rhetorical courtesy, with classical statements of Erasmus' programme for men of education and Christan principle, the rulers upon whom he rested his hope for the reform of Christiandom. Educated Europe now waited upon Erasmus' words, and, as a French humanist writes, "Words never fail him; and such words!" Volume 4 of the Collected Works of Erasmus series