imported>Kmccook: /* History */ Early Modern English Parish Libraries

2025-05-25T02:56:42Z

History: Early Modern English Parish Libraries

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{{Short description|Chained library in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}
[[File:Trigge 01.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Plantin Polyglot|Antwerp Polyglot Bible]] (1569-73), edited by [[Benito Arias Montano|Arias Benedictus Montanus]] (1527-73)]]
The '''Francis Trigge Chained Library''' is a [[chained library]] in [[Grantham]], [[Lincolnshire]], England which was founded in 1598. Located in the [[parvise]], over the south porch of [[St Wulfram's Church, Grantham|St Wulfram's Church]], it has been claimed to be the first English [[public library]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Murray |first=Stuart |title=The library: an illustrated history |date=2009 |publisher=Skyhorse Pub |isbn=9781628733228 |location=New York, NY |pages=92}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Trigge 05.jpg|thumb|250px|Memorial plaque to Maud Bentley-Rudd; in her memory the porch and library were restored in 1871]]
In 1598 Francis Trigge, Rector of [[Welbourn]], near [[Leadenham]] in Lincolnshire, arranged for a library to be set up in the room over the south porch of [[St Wulfram's Church, Grantham]] for the use of the clergy and the inhabitants of the town and [[Soke (legal)|Soke]].<ref>Purdy, J. G. (2024). "Early Modern English Parish Libraries: Collecting and Collections in the Francis Trigge Chained Library and the Gorton Chest Parish Library". In ''Publishers, Censors and Collectors in the European Book Trade, 1650–1750.'' Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.</ref> The borough was responsible for furnishing the porchroom and Trigge undertook to supply books to the value of "one hundred poundes or thereaboutes".<ref>{{cite web |title=The Trigge Library |url=http://www.discoverstwulframs.org.uk/the-trigge-library.aspx |website=St Wulframs Church |accessdate=10 March 2020}}</ref> The two vicars of North and South Grantham, together with the master of the local grammar school (now [[The King's School, Grantham]]) were to control the use of the library, and took an oath to abide by the rules.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 Oct 1598 |title=Documents relating to the Trigge Library: Agreement |url=https://www.calmview.eu/lincolnshirearchives/calmview/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=GRANTHAM+ST+WULFRAM+PAR%2f23%2f1&pos=2 |access-date=2023-10-19 |website=Lincolnshire Archives}}</ref> The original documents still exist and are deposited within the [[Lincolnshire Archives]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lincolnshire Archives |url=https://www.calmview.eu/lincolnshirearchives/calmview/default.aspx |access-date=2023-10-19 |website=Lincolnshire Archives}}</ref> The library was the first in England to be endowed for use outside an institution such as a school or college. It is perhaps slightly misleading to call it "the first public library" but nevertheless its use was not the prerogative of a private group.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.discoverstwulframs.org.uk/virtual-tour/the-trigge-library.aspx |title=The Trigge Library |publisher=the friends of St Wulframs |accessdate=27 March 2013}} includes several good photographs</ref>

The library has always been in the [[parvise]] over the south porch, originally the dwelling chamber of one of the vicars, with a fireplace, a small sink and an [[oriel window]] that provides a view of the nave of the church. A list of books made up in 1608 and still extant, contains 228 titles, but some of these prove to be works bound together. There are now 356 separate items catalogued. Some of these have been added over the years, including the works of the [[Cambridge]] Platonist and Cartesian [[Henry More]], given by him during the 17th century. He was a native of Grantham and attended [[The King's School, Grantham|The King's School]] where, some forty years later, [[Isaac Newton]] was a pupil.

==Library contents==
{{More citations needed section|date=February 2014}}
[[File:Trigge 02.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Bestiary|Bestiarium]], by [[Conrad Gessner]], [[Zurich]] (1587) - showing a "gallina"]]
Most of the books were originally [[Chained Library|chained]], the chains made to a standard pattern by a local smith. They were riveted to the fore-edge of the front covers and many of them have been pulled away and lost. The 82 remaining chains run on rings along bars attached to the shelves; these attachments are modern and date from the restoration of the decaying porch room in 1884. Many of the volumes, which at that date were in a poor condition, were repaired locally between 1893 and 1894; but since the Second World War a number have been carefully renovated and rebound by professional conservators.

Canon Hector Nelson, who retired as Principal of the Lincoln Training College (now [[Bishop Grosseteste University]]) and came to live in Grantham until his death in 1896, directed the 1893 restoration.

The original books seem to have been bought in [[Cambridge]], since there are some second-hand volumes whose provenance has been traced to that town and a number whose bindings have been linked to Cambridge binders of the 16th century.<ref>Stagg, Brian (2019). "God's Librarian: Francis Trigge and the Grantham Chained Library." [[The Book Collector]] 68 no3 (autumn): 513-519.</ref> One of them, Garrett Godfrey, used his initials in the design he often stamped on the leather; another was Thomas Thomas, a binder who later became printer to the university. He probably added two of the books, which have Trigge's signature in a neat italic hand, at the time. Twenty volumes were added to the library from his own books under the terms of his will when he died in 1606.

The books were collected without much discrimination, probably by an agent sent down to Cambridge by carrier's cart. 14th-century legal cases under Roman law decided in central Italy and printed in [[Venice]] before 1500 cannot have been of much use to a provincial vicar in the Soke of Grantham in the early 17th century, although such works are now among some of the rarest items. One, printed in [[Naples]] in 1476, is the only copy recorded in any library. The volumes were probably bought in the first place because they were offered cheaply.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2009|title=The Trigge Library|url=http://www.discoverstwulframs.org.uk/the-trigge-library.aspx|access-date=March 15, 2021|website=Discover St. Wulframs}}</ref>

The theological mix is also indiscriminate. There are [[Lutheran]] propaganda, [[Calvinistic]] preaching, bitter attacks on [[papist]]ry and equally bitter refutation of Protestant [[heresies]]. What survives is the whole history of the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]], set out in the writings of the men who brought it about or set themselves to oppose it. The collection was considered unique for the time period as it reflected the opposing ideas of the Reformation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Stuart |title=The Library: An Illustrated History |date=2009 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |location=New York, NY |isbn=9781628733228 |page=143}}</ref>

The collection includes:
*Medical works of [[Celsus]], [[Galen]] and others, printed from early manuscripts in 1528.
*The four books of the ''[[Sentences]]'' of [[Peter Lombard]] (d. 1160). This was the work that began the systematic attempt to correlate faith and reason in the Middle Ages.
*The ''Commentaries on the Sentences'', by [[Duns Scotus]]. They were written in Oxford c.1300, and argued the limitations of reason in matters of theology. This copy was printed in Venice in 1497.
*Two multivolume ''Histories of the Church'', one from a Lutheran viewpoint and printed in [[Basel]], the other by the Oratorian [[Caesar Baronius]]. The second was written expressly to confute the conclusions of the first.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-first=John |editor1-last=Glenn |editor2-first= David |editor2-last=Walsh |title=Catalogue of the Francis Trigge Chained Library, St Wulfram's Church, Grantham |date=7 April 1988 |isbn=0-85991-258-2 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |location=Woodbridge, Suffolk}}</ref>

==Library today==
[[File:Francis Trigge library 02.jpg|thumb|350px|The chains in the library were cast and made in [[Grantham]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-04-06 |title=‘This library was where Isaac Newton studied’ |url=https://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/this-library-was-where-isaac-newton-studied-9307389/ |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=Grantham Journal |language=en}}</ref>]]
The library, staffed by volunteers, is open to visitors between April and the end of September.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Francis Trigge Chained Library |url=https://www.stwulframs.org.uk/page/45/francis-trigge-chained-library |website=The Parish Church of St. Wulfram, Grantham |accessdate=10 March 2020}}</ref> There are only 82 chains remaining in the library now, though the rods to which they attach are late Victorian, as are the shelves.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-08-09 |title=The Francis Trigge Chained Library, St Wulfram’s, Grantham |url=https://mrphoebus.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/the-francis-trigge-chained-library-st-wulframs-grantham/ |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=Mr Phoebus |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Chetham's Library]]
*[[Kedermister Library]] 
*[[Steeple_Ashton#Religious sites|The Samuel Hey Library, St. Mary's Church, Steeple Ashton]]
*[[Thomas Plume#Plume Library|Plume's Library]]
*[[Wimborne Minster (church)#The chained library|Wimborne Minster Chained Library]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Francis Trigge Chained Library}}
*[http://www.discoverstwulframs.org.uk/the-trigge-library.aspx The Trigge Library (The Friends of St. Wulfram's Church)]
* [http://www.francisfrith.com/grantham/photos/st-wulframs-church-the-chained-library-1889_22285 19th century photo of the library]

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[[Category:Libraries in Lincolnshire]]
[[Category:1598 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Grantham]]
[[Category:Education in Grantham]]

Francis Trigge Chained Library - Revision history

imported>Kmccook: /* History */ Early Modern English Parish Libraries