![Trigge 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Trigge_01.jpg)
The Francis Trigge Chained Library is a
chained library
A chained library is a library where the books are attached to their bookcase by a chain, which is sufficiently long enough to allow the books to be taken from their shelves and read, but not removed from the library itself. The practice was usua ...
in
Grantham
Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...
,
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
, England which was founded in 1598. Located in the
parvise
A parvis or parvise is the open space in front of and around a cathedral or church, especially when surrounded by either colonnades or porticoes, as at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It is thus a church-specific type of forecourt, front yard or a ...
, over the south porch of
St Wulfram's Church, it has been claimed to be "the first
public library
A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants.
There are ...
" in Britain.
History
![Trigge 05](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Trigge_05.jpg)
In 1598
Francis Trigge
Francis may refer to:
People
*Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome
*Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
*Francis (surname)
Places
*Rural Mu ...
, Rector of
Welbourn
Welbourn is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 647. The village is situated on the A607 road, south from Lincoln and north-west from ...
, near
Leadenham
__NOTOC__
Leadenham is a village and civil parish in North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 410. It lies north from Grantham, 14 miles (22 km) south of Lincoln and ...
in Lincolnshire, arranged for a library to be set up in the room over the south porch of
St Wulfram's Church, Grantham
St Wulfram's Church, Grantham, is the Anglican parish church of Grantham in Lincolnshire, England. The church is a Grade I listed building and has the second tallest spire in Lincolnshire after Louth's parish church.
In his book ''England's ...
for the use of the clergy and the inhabitants of the town and
Soke. The borough was responsible for furnishing the porchroom and Trigge undertook to supply books to the value of "one hundred poundes or thereaboutes". The two vicars of North and South Grantham, together with the master of the local grammar school (now
The King's School, Grantham
The King's School is a British grammar school with academy status, in the market town of Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. The school's history can be traced to 1329, and was re-endowed by Richard Foxe in 1528. Located on Brook Street, the sch ...
) were to control the use of the library, and took an oath to abide by the rules. The original documents still exist and are deposited within the
Lincolnshire Archives
Lincolnshire Archives is the county record office of Lincolnshire, England. It was established as a county service in 1948 by the Lincolnshire Archives Committee, which had been formally constituted on 24 October 1947 with Sir Robert Pattinson as ...
. 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.
The library has always been in the
parvise
A parvis or parvise is the open space in front of and around a cathedral or church, especially when surrounded by either colonnades or porticoes, as at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It is thus a church-specific type of forecourt, front yard or a ...
over the south porch, originally the dwelling chamber of one of the vicars, with a fireplace, a small sink and an
oriel window
An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found pro ...
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
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
Platonist and Cartesian
Henry More
Henry More (; 12 October 1614 – 1 September 1687) was an English philosopher of the Cambridge Platonist school.
Biography
Henry was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire on 12 October 1614. He was the seventh son of Alexander More, mayor of Gran ...
, given by him during the 17th century. He was a native of Grantham and attended
The King's School where, some forty years later,
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...
was a pupil.
Library contents
![Trigge 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Trigge_02.jpg)
Most of the books were originally
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
Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) is one of two public universities in the city of Lincoln, England (the other being the University of Lincoln). BGU was established as a teacher training college for the Diocese of Lincoln in 1862. It gained t ...
) 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
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, 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. 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
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
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
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
in 1476, is the only copy recorded in any library. The volumes were probably bought in the first place because they were offered cheaply.
The theological mix is also indiscriminate. There are
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
propaganda,
Calvinistic
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calv ...
preaching, bitter attacks on
papist
The words Popery (adjective Popish) and Papism (adjective Papist, also used to refer to an individual) are mainly historical pejorative words in the English language for Roman Catholicism, once frequently used by Protestants and Eastern Orthodox ...
ry and equally bitter refutation of Protestant
heresies
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
. What survives is the whole history of the
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
, 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.
The collection includes:
*Medical works of
Celsus
Celsus (; grc-x-hellen, Κέλσος, ''Kélsos''; ) was a 2nd-century Greek philosopher and opponent of early Christianity. His literary work, ''The True Word'' (also ''Account'', ''Doctrine'' or ''Discourse''; Greek: grc-x-hellen, Λόγ ...
,
Galen
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus ( el, Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; September 129 – c. AD 216), often Anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Considered to be one of ...
and others, printed from early manuscripts in 1528.
*The four books of the ''
Sentences
''The Four Books of Sentences'' (''Libri Quattuor Sententiarum'') is a book of theology written by Peter Lombard in the 12th century. It is a systematic compilation of theology, written around 1150; it derives its name from the ''sententiae'' o ...
'' of
Peter Lombard
Peter Lombard (also Peter the Lombard, Pierre Lombard or Petrus Lombardus; 1096, Novara – 21/22 July 1160, Paris), was a scholastic theologian, Bishop of Paris, and author of '' Four Books of Sentences'' which became the standard textbook of ...
(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
John Duns Scotus ( – 8 November 1308), commonly called Duns Scotus ( ; ; "Duns the Scot"), was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher, and theologian. He is one of the four most important ...
. 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
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
, the other by the Oratorian
Caesar Baronius
Cesare Baronio (as an author also known as Caesar Baronius; 30 August 1538 – 30 June 1607) was an Italian cardinal and historian of the Catholic Church. His best-known works are his ''Annales Ecclesiastici'' ("Ecclesiastical Annals"), wh ...
. The second was written expressly to confute the conclusions of the first.
Library today
The library, staffed by volunteers, is open to visitors between April and the end of September.
See also
*
Chetham's Library
Chetham's Library in Manchester, England, is the oldest free public reference library in the English-speaking world.Nicholls (2004), p. 20. Chetham's Hospital, which contains both the library and Chetham's School of Music, was established in ...
*
Kedermister Library
The Kedermister Library, at Langley, Slough, Langley near Slough in the England, English county of Berkshire (formerly Buckinghamshire), is a rare surviving example of an early 17th-century parish library, preserved in situ in the decorated cupboar ...
*
Plume's Library
References
External links
The Trigge Library (The Friends of St. Wulfram's Church)19th century photo of the library
{{Authority control
Libraries in Lincolnshire
1598 establishments in England
Buildings and structures in Grantham
Education in Grantham