The Durham Liber Vitae is a confraternity book produced in north-eastern England in the Middle Ages. It records the names of visitors to the church of the bishopric of Durham, and its predecessor sees at Lindisfarne and Chester-le-Street. In England, it is the oldest book of this type, although it is paralleled by later English confraternity books, most notably the New Minster Liber Vitae.[1]
The text was originally of the 9th century, but was continually supplemented thereafter by entries made in the 10th century and later.[2]
The 9th-century core constitutes folios 15–45, with folio 47.[3] It is generally believed by scholars that it was produced in the church of Lindisfarne, though Monkwearmouth-Jarrow monasteries have also been suggested.[4] This had been composed c. 840. It has been damaged over time, and the original binding is now lost.[5] It consisted of parchment sheets on which were written lists of names, followed by blank sections for future additions.[6]
The book was at Durham by the later 11th century, as indicated by the list of Durham monks on folio 45 from the episcopate of Ranulf Flambard.[4] Later additions to the early core were made to folios 24r, 36r, 44v and 45r.[7]
The book was reorganised in the third quarter of the 12th century, and it is likely that many of the names originally there did not survive.[6] The form it attained at that point appears to be the one it kept until the 15th century, although it was continually updated with new entries.[6] After 1300 very few names were added to the original core.[8]
The Liber Vitae is currently in the British Library, where it is classified as BL, MS Cotton Domitian vii. The manuscript itself is 205 x 142 mm.[9]
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