The Use Of Hereford

The Use of Hereford, a local variation of the Roman rite, was one of the diocesan liturgies of medieval England before their abolition and replacement by the Book of Common Prayer in 1549. Unlike the widespread Use of Sarum, the Use of Hereford was confined principally to its diocese, which helped to maintain its individuality until the Reformation. This study seeks to catalogue and evaluate all the known surviving sources of the Use of Hereford, with particular reference to the missals and gradual, which so far have received little attention. In addition to these a variety of other material has been examined, including a number of little-known or unknown important fragments of early Hereford service-books dismembered at the Reformation and now hidden away as binding or other scrap in libraries and record offices.

The Use of Hereford, a local variation of the Roman rite, was one of the diocesan liturgies of medieval England before their abolition and replacement by the Book of Common Prayer in 1549. Unlike the widespread Use of Sarum, the Use of Hereford was confined principally to its diocese, which helped to maintain its individuality until the Reformation. This study seeks to catalogue and evaluate all the known surviving sources of the Use of Hereford, with particular reference to the missals and gradual, which so far have received little attention. In addition to these a variety of other material has been examined, including a number of little-known or unknown important fragments of early Hereford service-books dismembered at the Reformation and now hidden away as binding or other scrap in libraries and record offices. This is the fullest examination of Hereford liturgical sources ever undertaken and may stimulate similar and much-needed studies of other diocesan uses, in particular Sarum and York. As well as describing in detail the various manuscript sources, the rare single edition printed Hereford texts, the missals and breviaries, are also discussed. Unlike books of the Sarum and York rites, these ’one-offs’ were never revised and reissued. In addition to the examination of these sources, William Smith discusses the possible origins of the rite and provides an analysis of the Hereford liturgical calendar, of the festa, including those of the cathedral’s patron St Ethelbert and the no less famous St Thomas Cantilupe, that helped to make Hereford use so distinctive.

The Use of Hereford, a local variation of the Roman Rite, was one of the principal diocesan liturgies of medieval England before their abolition and replacement by the Book of Common Prayer after 1549. Unlike the widespread Use of Sarum, the Use of Hereford was confined mainly to its cathedral and diocese, which enabled it to maintain its individuality until the mid sixteenth century. This monograph examines the Use of Hereford in the context of the British diocesan rites in general, as well as considering its possible Lotharingian origins during the late eleventh century and its surviving sources, both manuscript and printed. In addition to its more familiar missals, breviaries and gradual, lesser known sources include fragments of early Hereford service-books dismembered at the Reformation, and now hidden away as binding or archival scrap in libraries and record offices. The distinctiveness of the Use of Hereford is also discussed as well as the possible reasons for its continuation, due probably to its cathedral's unique constitutional and liturgical identity, which enabled it to maintain its integrity in a Province largely dominated by Sarum Use.

The book of common prayer, and administration of the sacraments, and other rites and cermonies of the church, according to the use of The Church of England, together with the Psalter or Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be sung or said in churches.