Sacrament an Alter / The Sacrament of the Altar

A critical edition with translation

edited by D. H. Frost

Book cover: Sacrament an Alter / The Sacrament of the Altar

Extent: 336 pages

Publisher: University of Exeter Press

Subjects: Early Modern & Renaissance Studies, Medieval Studies, Religious Studies

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(January 2023)

ISBN: 9781804130308

6.1 x 9.17 inches

Price: $109.00

In stock

This first ever critical edition of a pivotal Cornish-language text opens to the Tudor historian-and the general reader-a new window onto a crucial example of the reception of John Foxe, and gives fascinating insights into a possible alliance between Church Papism and recusancy in Tudor Cornwall.


‘Sacrament an Alter’ (The Sacrament of the Altar) is a Cornish patristic catena selected and translated from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, which is attached to the translation of Bishop Bonner’s Homilies in the Tregear Manuscript (BL Add. MS 46397). No complete critical edition of the Tregear Homilies has been published since the manuscript’s discovery, yet it is the longest surviving example of Cornish prose. The so-called thirteenth homily, ‘Sacrament an Alter’ is a work in its own right, of a later period than the other twelve homilies, and represents a distinctive form of Cornish. In addition to establishing authorship, date, sources and historical context of this important text, the present book offers a complete and accurate transcription of the manuscript, along with an edited version thereof, a translation and all the relevant source passages-largely taken from the account of the 1555 Oxford Disputations given in John Foxe’s ‘Acts and Monuments’. A full commentary then explores hermeneutical, theological and dialectic issues arising from the text. Extensive notes concentrate on interesting features of the Cornish-making a significant contribution to the study of the late evolution of Cornish, since the language can be dated to around 1576, halfway between that of John Tregear and William Jordan, author of the Creation of the World. This first ever critical edition of a pivotal Cornish-language text opens to the Tudor historian-and the general reader-a previously closed window (due to its language) on a crucial example of the reception of Foxe, and gives fascinating insights into a possible alliance between Church Papism and recusancy in Tudor Cornwall.

  • Edited by D H Frost

"This first critical edition of the Cornish text Sacrament an Alter is a tour-de-force, clearly identifying the manuscript's context and theology, as well as greatly contributing to our knowledge of the Cornish language as spoken at the start of the last quarter of the 16th century. Historians of Catholic recusancy in Western Britain will also find it a key text, hitherto obscured by the lack of a widely available translation and commentary." Matthew Spriggs, Robyn Doohan Visiting Fellow in Celtic Studies, University of Sydney "This splendid scholarly edition provides major new insights into Cornish language, literature and history. The text is a very complex one, and Dr Frost has done it proud, taking great care to investigate thoroughly all aspects of its background. Only he could have treated so authoritatively all the areas - historical, theological, and linguistic; local, national and international - which need to be covered for a full understanding of this text. Oliver Padel, Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic, University of Cambridge This volume makes an excellent initial contribution to Exeter's major new series of academic editions of Cornish literature. This hitherto little-studied and misunderstood text, which marks the transition from Middle to Modern Cornish, benefits for the first time from a full scholarly edition, the culmination of over twenty years' study by Frost." Andrew Hawke, Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies "Frost has produced one of the finest works of scholarship I have seen for a long time." Fr John Hunwicke, Mutual Enrichment "This is an excellently produced volume containing a wealth of learning and scholarship which extends far beyond the text in question, but at the same time keeps the text at the center of the discussion." Paul Russell North American journal of Celtic studies