Catalogs of the Manuscript Books of England and Ireland Collected into One Volume

...of those books which are held in the Lambeth Library The library of the Archbishops of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace, belonging to the Reverend Archbishops of Canterbury: and perhaps others as well.

Regarding the Indexes: this task was assigned to me by my superiors (whom I was bound to obey) almost immediately after I arrived at this University The University of Oxford; at least within the first year. I set myself to this work willingly. They desired that (as far as was practical) I should be brief; that I should arrange the Names of the Authors in alphabetical order (adding a reference to where their writings might be found), without listing every specific treatise they wrote. Indeed, doing so would have made the Index nearly equal in size to the entire Catalog.

At that time, almost the entire Catalog had already been printed, except for certain additions made to the Bodleian manuscripts, the collection of Oriental manuscripts belonging to the Most Reverend Archbishop of Dublin, Lord Narcissus Marsh, and certain catalogs of private libraries brought here later.

I had thought from the beginning to encompass the whole matter in a single Index; but I quickly discovered the plan had to be changed. This was because the numbering of both pages and treatises was not continuous, but began anew in each section. This was done so that anyone might, according to his own preference, bind the different parts separately (inserting blank pages for future additions), with each part having its own Index.

When I began the first part, which consists of the manuscripts of the Bodleian Library, and specifically the Baroccian A collection of over 240 Greek manuscripts donated by William Herbert, originally belonging to the Venetian humanist Francesco Barocci collection, I felt myself unequal to such a great task. To produce an accurate Index, the work demanded a man equipped with all kinds of languages, arts, and sciences; one who well knew the characters and titles by which authors were distinguished, which treatises they had published, and other matters pertaining to this. Indeed, I would have thought the man best suited for this task would be the one who had been occupied in compiling the Catalog itself. Nor am I ashamed to make this frank confession of my own inability, as one who had only then recently arrived here from elsewhere, where I had been occupied with other business.

As the work proceeded, I perceived the difficulty increase. Because of the various designations for the same author, I found it difficult to assign each work to its proper writer. For example, when I encountered Anastasius, Patriarch of Antioch original: "Theopolitanus", an ancient name for Antioch, Anastasius the Sinaite, Anastasius the Martyr, Anastasius, Patriarch of Antioch, Anastasius the Monk, Anastasius the Priest, or simply Anastasius; I was prone to think these were many different authors. However, when I consulted the treatises themselves, I discovered they were one and the same man. Meanwhile, there were indeed several men named Anastasius. Similarly, there were several men named Constantine, among whom were Constantine the Monk, Constantine of Monte Cassino, Constantine the African, and Constantine the Physician; all of whom I discovered to be titles of the same man. I found similar situations with other titles. Conversely, it happened not infrequently that two or more people were distinguished by the same Name and Title. For instance, two named Simeon the Master, two named Simeon the Logothete, two named Simeon the Theologian,
Scholarius

two named Gennadius Scholarius Likely referring to the 15th-century Patriarch of Constantinople and his namesake, and so on. Thus, one must be very cautious not to assign the work of one to another, or to make the same man into several different people.

And indeed, I finally discover that I have sometimes erred in these matters. For instance, when I thought (at the start) that Jacobus of Genoa original: "Jacobum Januensem" and Jacobus de Voragine The 13th-century author of the famous 'Golden Legend' were different men, when they were in fact the same; this has been corrected in the subsequent Indexes. So too with Peter Comestor and Peter the Eater original: "Petrus Manducator"; 'Comestor' is Latin for 'Eater', a nickname given to this scholar because he "devoured" books; and perhaps other similar cases, which I would guard against more carefully if the work were to be started over now.

But other difficulties also occurred. For example, when general titles are used in the Catalog, such as: His Papal Holiness, Royal Majesty, The Catholic King, His Excellency the Ambassador, The Lord Bishop, etc. In these cases, deliberation was needed to see who that specific Pope, King, Bishop, or Ambassador mentioned there actually was, so that I could properly assign the matter to his True Name. I have done this, however, whenever it could be conveniently accomplished.