Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 579 / The Leofric Having
been amended and extended over a period of more than two
centuries at three different churches, the Leofric Missal
contains an almost unique combination of materials and is the
product of a complex history. The core of the book, which modern
scholars have designated ‘Leofric produced in northern France at
the end of the ninth century. This book was then imported to
England and taken to Canterbury where many additions, including
a brief collection of computistical materials and a calendar,
were inserted between the first quarter of the tenth century and
the first third of the eleventh. These additions are now known
as ‘Leofric B’. Bodley 579 was then acquired for Exeter
Cathedral by Bishop Leofric (1050–1072), after whom the book is
named, and further insertions were made over a period extending
probably into the early twelfth century, this time known as
‘Leofric C’. In Orchard’s edition the three ‘layers’, as it
were, are helpfully distinguished wit