CERNE, BOOK OF. — This is a collection of private prayers, formerly belonging to the abbey of Cerne, in Dorsetshire, England, now preserved in the University of Cambridge. The manuscript consists of three parts, of which the second, written under Aethelwold, bishop of Lichfield from 818 to 830, is the most interesting because it contains the prayers, whose archetype may date back to the 7th century. The contents of this book are particularly significant for the history of private devotion.
BIBL.: The text has been published by A. B. Kuypers, *The Prayer Book of Aethelwold the bishop commonly called the Book of Cerne*, Cambridge 1902, and annotated by E. Bishop; F. Cabrol, *Le Book of Cerne et les liturgies celtiques*, in *Revue des questions liturgiques*, 46 (1904), p. 210 sq.; id., s. V. in *DACL*, II, II, cols. 3308-3309.