The Libellus de exordio atque procursu istius, hoc est Dunhelmensis, ecclesie (), in short Libellus de exordio, is a historical work of marked literary character composed and compiled in the early 12th-century and traditionally attributed to Symeon of Durham. It relates the history of bishopric and church of Durham and its predecessors at Lindisfarne and Chester-le-Street (Cunecacestre). It is sometimes also known as the Historia Dunelmensis ecclesiae (English: History of the Church of Durham).
Manuscripts
The following is a list of manuscripts containing the text. Each manuscript has its own history, and contains different interpolations and notes. In brackets is the letter or letters used by Rollason, its latest editor, to refer to the manuscript in shorthand:
Durham, University Library, Cosin V.II.6, (C) London, British Library, Cotton Faustina A.V, (F) Cambridge University Library, Ff. i.27, (Ca) Durham, Durham Cathedral Library, A.IV.36, (D') Oxford, Bodleian Library, Holkham misc. 25, (H) London, British Library, Cotton Titus A.II, (T) London, British Library, Cotton Vespasian A.VI, (V) York, Minster Library, XVI.I.12, (Y) Oxford, Bodleian Library, Fairfax 6, (Fx) Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud misc. 700, (L)
Authorship and dating
According to the Libellus's preface, the work was carried out on the orders of the monastic leadership of Durham Priory; probably it was Prior Turgot himself who commissioned it. The latest datable contemporary event mentioned in the core of the text (albeit obliquely) is the opening of the tomb of St Cuthbert for his translation into the new cathedral of Durham, on 29 August 1104. Manuscripts "C" and "F" are the earliest witnesses of the text, with "C" and "F" written in the same scriptorium while Turgot was prior of Durham, a position Turgot gave up before 1115 at the latest, but perhaps before 1107. The text can therefore be said to have been completed at some point between 1104 and 1107 x 1115.
The work is traditionally attributed to Symeon of Durham, the precentor of Durham Cathedral. The evidence for this are rubrics in manuscript "Ca" and a rubric in manuscript "H". These date respectively to the late 12th century and to around 1300. Though there is nothing in either "C" or "F", modern scholarship has largely reaffirmed the traditional authorship of the text. David Rollason, the text's most recent editor, sees Symeon's role more as that of a lead author and compiler than sole author.
Published versions
The text has been published four times:
Roger Twysden (ed.), Historiae Anglicanae Scriptores Decem, (London, 1652), vol. i Thomas Belford (ed.), Symeonis monachi Dunhelmensis, Libellus de exordio atque procursu Dunhelmensis ecclesie, (London, 1732) Thomas Arnold (ed.), Symeonis monachi Opera omnia, (Rolls Series lxxv; 2 vols., 1882—5), vol. i David Rollason (ed.), Libellus de exordio atque procursu istius, hoc est Dunhelmensis, ecclesie = Tract on the origins and progress of this the Church of Durham, (Oxford, 2000)
Twysden's edition was based wholly on "Ca". Bedford uses "C" mainly, though consulted "F" and "Ca" for variant readings and chapter headings. Arnold's edition made use of all the manuscripts except "D", "H" and "V".
An English translation has been published in The Church Historians of England, Vol. 3, Part 2, trans. by Joseph Stevenson (London: Seelays, 1855); reprinted as Simeon of Durham, A History of the Church of Durham, Felinfach: Llanerch Publications, 1993. Rollason's edition includes a facing English-language translation.