The place to begin in discussing A-S liturgical minutae is with the state of primary sources—what are they and how may they be categorized? How will I know where to find what items?
The most comprehensive resource I know of is a 1985 article printed in a festschrift for Peter Clemoes: Helmut Gneuss, “Liturgical books in Anglo‑Saxon England and their Old English terminology,” pages 91-141 in Learning and literature in Anglo-Saxon England : studies presented to Peter Clemoes on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday, edited by Michael Lapidge and Helmut Gneuss (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985).
What makes this article invaluable is that Dr. Gneuss has laid out the major types of books according to liturgical use, then categorized every surviving A-S liturgical sources known to him within his typology. Here are his headings from page 99:
BOOKS FOR THE MASS | |
A | Missal and Sacramentary |
B | Gradual |
C | Troper |
‑ Mass Lectionaries ‑ | |
D | Gospel‑Book and Gospel Lectionary |
E | Epistolary |
BOOKS FOR THE OFFICE | |
F | Breviary |
G | Collectar |
H | Psalter |
J | Antiphoner |
K | Hymnal |
‑ Office Lectionaries ‑ | |
L | Bible |
M | Homiliary |
N | Legendary |
O | Books with special offices |
BOOKS FOR THE CHAPTER OFFICE | |
P | Martyrology |
Q | Regula S. Benedicti and Chrodegang’s Regula canonicorum |
EPISCOPAL BOOKS AND RITUALS | |
R | Pontifical |
S | Benedictional |
T | Manual |
OTHER BOOKS | |
U | Consuetudinary |
W | Prayer‑Books and Private Prayers |
X | Liturgical Calendar |
Y | Confraternity Book |
This set of typologies is incredibly helpful for thinking through different kinds of liturgical materials. The danger in seeing a typology like this, however, is assuming that since these categories exist epistemologically that they exist in reality—that each section represents a kind of book one might find in a monastic library. This is not the case… Inevitably, certain kinds of material travel together. For instance, it is quite common for a “Psalter” to be much more than Gnuess’s category H. Indeed, most physical psalters contain H (the Book of Psalms) but this is preceded by X (a liturgical kalendar) and followed by K (a hymnal).
Nevertheless, Gneuss’s categories are a great place to begin for learning about the range of early medieval liturgical materials.