TheAberdeen Breviary (Latin:Breviarium Aberdonense) is a 16th-centuryScottishCatholicbreviary. It was the first full-length book to be printed in Edinburgh, and in Scotland.
The creation of the Aberdeen Breviary can be seen as one of the features of the growing Scottishnationalism and identity of the early sixteenth century.[1] In 1507,King James IV, realizing that the existingSarum Breviary, or Rite, wasEnglish in origin, desired the printing of a Scottish version. Since Scotland had noprinting press at that time, booksellersWalter Chepman andAndrow Myllar ofEdinburgh were commissioned to “bring home a printing press” primarily for that purpose.[2]
To create the breviary itself, James sought outWilliam Elphinstone,Bishop of Aberdeen, who had received the king's permission to establish theUniversity of Aberdeen twelve years before.[3] To help him with the undertaking, Elphinstone, in turn, tapped the man who had helped him found the university, Scottish philosopher and historianHector Boece.[4] The two began their work in 1509, and the first copy, produced as a smalloctavo, came off the press in 1510.[5]
Like theSarum Rite, which had been in use since the twelfth century, the Aberdeen Breviary contained brief lives, or biographies, of the saints as well as theliturgy andcanonical hours which were to conform toRoman practice and serve as the standard ofChristian worship throughout the country. The saints’ lives, or biographies, in the breviary were all written by either Elphinstone or Boece.[5]
Boece once noted that Elphinstone collected legends of saints from everydiocese in Scotland, including both national heroes and local saints. He also noted that Elphinstone devoted time to the study of ancient Scottish histories, especially in theWestern Isles, where “tombs of the ancient kings” lie. In addition, some material, such asLessons for StCuthbert, came from the writings ofBede. Some of the collected materials were included verbatim in the breviary, and some were re-written.[6]
However, unlike the Sarum Rite, the Aberdeen work also contained lives of the nation's saints—Scottish saints such asKentigern,Machar, andMargaret of Scotland. Indeed, historian Jane Geddes has gone so far as to call the Aberdeen Breviary a work of “religious patriotism,” pointing out Scotland's sixteenth-century efforts to establish its own identity. She writes that both Elphinstone and the king “were attempting to direct the apparently growing interest in local cults ... toward a range of saints that they identified as Scottish.”[7]
Along with focusing on Scottish saints, Elphinstone sometimes “Scotticized”Irish andcontinental saints, one of the most interesting being the office of an Irish missionary inFrance namedFiacre. Historian Steve Boardman speculates Fiacre appealed to the Scots because of their traditional military alliance with France and long history of wars against the English Crown. Furthermore, the Irish-born French saint is associated with the death of England's invading KingHenry V.[8] After theBattle of Agincourt, Henry had allowed his army to pillage Fiacre's monastery andChristian pilgrimageshrine in thetown bearing his name, but Fiacre supernaturally prevented the English soldiers from carrying their loot beyond the boundaries of hismonastery. Henry V died ofhaemorrhoids on 30 August, St Fiacre'sfeast day.[9]
Boardman points out, however, that there are a few cases in which Elphinstone and Boece included saints associated with Scotland, but introduced as otherwise. One example is StConstantine the Great, for whom there were dedicated places of worship in Scotland—atKilchousland inKintyre and atGovan—and whomGlasgow even claimed as a native son.[10]
The breviary, which was composed in Latin, includes at the back a small, 16-page book entitledCompassio Beate Marie, which has readings about the relics ofSt Andrew, Scotland'spatron saint.[2] In addition, at the end of each volume were thePropria Sanctorum, containing prayers and readings to be used only on the feast day of the particular saint.[11]Hymns,responsories, andantiphons were composed for most of the saints in variousmetres and styles. There arepoems as well, although, except for the poem for the office of St Fiacre, they are not high in quality. All these were to be used as acts ofworship.[12]
Only four copies of the Aberdeen Breviary are extant: one in theUniversity of Edinburgh; one in the Library of theFaculty of Advocates, Edinburgh; one in the library ofKing's College, Aberdeen; and one recently purchased by theNational Library of Scotland from the private collection of theEarl of Strathmore inGlamis,Angus.[5][2]
A facsimile of one copy was published in two parts (Pars estiva andPars hyemalis) in 1854 & 1855, edited byWilliam Blew; this facsimile was issued to members of theBannatyne,Maitland andSpalding Clubs.[13] The copy held by the University of Edinburgh has been entirely digitised, and is available for viewing online.[14]