Thayer abstract

Mary in the Margins: Thomas Swalwell’s Annotations on the Virgin

Anne Thayer

Lancaster Theological Seminary

Thomas Swalwell, an English Benedictine monk (d. 1539), was an avid reader and annotator of books of sermons, theology and biblical studies. His marginalia reveal him to be very diligent, reading carefully and selecting material for detailed study and subsequent use in his various pastoral tasks, especially preaching. This paper will examine Swalwell’s selections of materials pertaining to Mary. Swalwell highlights a variety of traditional tropes pertaining to Mary, such as the various ways she is “blessed among women” and the ways she is “a ue,” without woe. At the same time, Swalwell skips over whole treatises and selected chapters pertaining to Mary in his volumes, focusing on biblical material over devotional enthusiasm. Although he recognizes Mary’s usefulness in theological argument (e.g. the real presence in the eucharist is like the two natures of Christ in her womb), he ultimately stresses her exemplary life for Christians (e.g. going to visit Elizabeth teaches the importance of keeping good company). While Alan Piper has argued that Swalwell’s “temperament remains stubbornly hidden” despite his diligent annotations, his treatment of Mary suggests a tempered and Christocentric piety, guided by the feasts of the Church, fitting for one who practiced his devotions, according to the Rites of Durham, in a chapel “hauing in it an altar and the roode or picture of our sauiour ... the said Rood hauing marueilous sumptuous furniture for festiuall dayes belonginge to it.”