Section VI
What was the extent of circulation of books during the
manuscript age? For the period before the Conquest we
can only offer the merest conjecture, which does not help
us materially. The rarity of the extant manuscripts of
this age is no guide to the extent of their production.
During the raids of the northmen the destruction and loss
must have been very great indeed. After the Conquest
the indifference and contempt with which the conquerors
regarded everything Saxon must have been responsible for
the destruction of nearly every manuscript written in the
vernacular. But, on the other hand, we find suggestions of
a greater production than is commonly credited to this
period. Religious fervour to make books was not wanting,
as some of our most beautiful relics--works exhibiting
much painstaking and skilful and even loving labour,
calligraphy, and decoration aflame with high endeavour--
belong to the Hiberno-Saxon period and the days of
Ethelwold. Nor after Alfred's day was regard lacking
for vernacular literature itself rather than for the glory of
a faith: how else are we to explain the precious fragments
of Anglo-Saxon manuscript which have been preserved for
us, especially the Exeter book and the Vercelli book? That
the production was considerable is suggested by the records
we have.
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