The archbishop's passionate patriotism breaks forth
in the burning words with which he describes the desolation and
demoralisation of the people, scattered like frightened sheep
before the onset of the heathen, without a single leader to rally
them to resistance.
in the burning words with which he describes the desolation and
demoralisation of the people, scattered like frightened sheep
before the onset of the heathen, without a single leader to rally
them to resistance.
Cambridge History of English Literature - 1908 - v01
It is, perhaps, best to regard them as the
result of Aelfric's influence.
These school-books were followed in 996 or 997 by a third
1 The MS is Trin. Coll. Camb. R. 9. 17.
## p. 120 (#140) ############################################
120 From Alfred to the Conquest
series of homilies, The Lives, or Passions, of the Saints. These
homilies, also, are introduced by two prefaces, one in Latin
explaining the origin and occasion of the work, while the other is
an English letter addressed to the ealdorman Aethelweard, the
father of the founder of Cerne abbey.
“Thou knowest, beloved,” says Aelfric in the letter, that we translated
in two former books the passions and lives of the saints whom the English
nation honours with festivals; now, it has seemed good to us that we should
write this book concerning the sufferings and lives of the saints whom monks
in their offices 1 honour among themselves. ”
The Latin preface further states that only such lives have been
chosen from the Vitae Patrum as are suitable for narration to the
lay attendants at monastic services.
The best manuscript of this work contains thirty-three lives,
six general homilies and a narrative without title on the legend
of Abgarus, thus, like the two previous series, comprising forty
sermons in all. They are arranged in the order of the church
year, beginning with an address on the nativity of Christ, ending
with the life of St Thomas (21 December) and including an interest-
ing Rogation Sunday homily on auguries, witchcraft, etc. , and one
(25 August) in which we have an early appearance of the devil
of the later mysteries.
Besides the Vitae Patrum, which is the only source mentioned
by Aelfric in his preface, other authorities cited are Ambrosius,
Augustine, Jerome, Terentian, Abbo of Fleury, Bede and St Oswald.
The story of St Swithun is partly based on a letter of Lanferth, but
owes still more to local tradition.
- These homilies exhibit the style of Aelfric in its maturity;
only one, that on the Nativity, is in prose; the others are in the
loose alliterative rhythm which he had already used in some of
his previous sermons. In the long run, this excessive recourse
to alliteration became an obstacle to clear expression and was
alien to the true development of prose; but the monotonous
rhythm, closely akin to the ballad verse of the common people,
was, no doubt, very attractive to lay audiences. The Lives,
since they deal with fact and not theory, throw less light on
Aelfric's doctrine than the earlier homilies; but, on the other
hand, they provide many valuable side-lights on contemporary
manners, and on the life of the homilist himself. The most
1 i. e. the customary Divine Hours, daily chanted by the monks in choir, a publio
service which the secular clergy could not, of course, maintain. The offico-books for
the two, probably, also differed.
: Cott. Jul. E. VIL.
## p. 121 (#141) ############################################
The Works of Aelfric 121
interesting of all are those of the English saints, St Oswald,
St Edmund and St Swithun. In the first two we see portrayed
the ideal king of the Old English, protector and benefactor of his
people. Oswald breaks in pieces the silver dish on which his
meat is served, and commands Aidan to distribute the pieces
among the suppliants for his charity; St Edmund, after his
subjects have been slaughtered by the Danes, no longer desires
life. “This I wish in my mind, that I should not be left alone
after my dear thanes, who in their very beds, with their wives and
children, have, by these sea-goers, suddenly been slain. ” In the
life of St Swithun we have reminiscences of the happy time under
king Edgar, “when the kingdom still continued in peace, so that
no fleet was heard of save that of the folk themselves who held
this land. ”
The date of these Lives is known almost to the very year.
They are not dedicated, like the others, to archbishop Sigeric,
because he had died in 995; and they cannot have been written
earlier than 996, because in the sermon on Ash Wednesday
Aethelwold, who was canonised in that year, is spoken of as “the
holy bishop who now worketh miracles. ” But, as Aelfric says
that be borrowed his homily on St Edmund from Abbo of Fleury's
life of that saint (986), which came into his hands a few years after
it was written, they cannot well be much later than 997.
Appended to the best MSS of the Lives of the Saints is an
English version of Alcuin's Interrogationes Sigewulfi Presbyteri -
in Genesin. It begins with a preface and introduction on Alcuin
and the Latin text, which consisted of a series of catechetical
answers to questions on Genesis, asked by Alcuin's friend, Sige-
wulf. Then follow the translated interrogationes, abridged from
a hundred and seventy-eight to forty-eight essentials. The first
fifteen are on the moral law of the Creator and His creatures ;
the next five, relating to the material creation, contain an insertion
on the planets, derived from Bede by Aelfric, who was devoted to
the study of astronomy; then come four on the manifestations
of the Trinity in nature. These are succeeded by a series on
man's creation in the divine image and his end, followed by others
on the origin of evil. Last of all are questions on the ages of the
world, and the whole is concluded by a creed and the doxology.
Aelfric is nowhere stated to be the author, but the similarity -
of the translation to his acknowledged work in style, structure
and rhythm enables us to ascribe it to him with some confidence.
Two other works, closely connected in style and theme, also
## p. 122 (#142) ############################################
122
Alfred to the Conquest
From
unsigned, but attributed to Aelfric on the ground of style and
diction, were probably composed soon after the Lives of the
Saints. These are a translation of the Hexameron of St Basil,
and a version of the De Temporibus of Bede. The former, which
is a sermon on the six days of creation, the fall of the angels, the
day of rest, the expulsion from Paradise and the atonement of
Christ, is by no means a literal translation, but is partly original,
and partly derived from Bede's Commentary on Genesis. It is
found in the best MSS, refers to former sermons and has Aelfric's
loose alliterative rhythm. It shows a close resemblance to the
version of De Temporibus, which, as the compiler distinctly states,
is not to be considered a homily. It is, indeed, a scientific treatise,
adapted from Bede, but showing much independent learning in the
matter of astronomy, the entry on the feast of the circumcision
telling how the ancient year-systems began and were reckoned.
It is almost certainly Aelfric's, and was, probably, written between
991 and 995.
So far, all Aelfric's works had been of either a homiletic or an
educational character; but now, at the request of the ealdorman
Aethelweard, he embarked somewhat reluctantly on the task of
rendering the scriptures into the vernacular. For Aelfric had
already spent the best years of his life in the service of the church
and education, bringing nearer to his people the truths and sources
of their religion and morality. He was now in advanced middle life,
and felt keenly that these labours withdrew him from further study
and from the contemplation of the supernatural, towards which his
age, profession and, above all, the grievous state of earthly affairs,
that seemed indeed to foretoken the end of the world, now drew him.
At the same time, he had a mass of homiletic material ready, and,
at a time when scarce anyone could read, he felt that the living
voice of the preacher should be mainly used with the people.
Hence, we find his version of the Bible essentially meant to be
preached rather than read; he wrote for those who should teach the
as yet unlettered people. The version was intended to be of the
nature of a homily, and was not meant to be an accurate version
of Holy Writ. Name lists, genealogies and difficult passages were
left out.
Aelfi'ic's principal achievement in this department was editing
the paraphrase of the first seven books of the Bible. It is certain,
however, that his hand is not to be traced throughout. In the
prefatory letter, which he addressed to Aethelweard, he reminds
his friend how he had said that he need not labour any further in
## p. 123 (#143) ############################################
Aelfric's Biblical Translations 123
the book of Genesis than the story of Isaac, since another had
translated it from that point to the end. In the MS in the Cam-
bridge University Library only chapters i–xxiv of Genesis are given,
and Dietrich has observed that the style thenceforward to the end
of Leviticus is essentially different. In the fourth book of Moses
Aelfric's style is once more recognisable, and alliteration again
occurs. It is possible that Aelfric may have worked over another
translation of the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy; but he
himself tells us, in De Veteri et de Novo Testamento, that he had
translated Joshua and Judges at the request of Aethelweard. The
book of Judges was added afterwards : it was probably intended
originally to be included, like the homily on the Maccabees, in the
series of Saints' Lives. It is composed entirely in Aelfric's usual
rhythm, and ends with a short notice of the good kings Alfred,
Aethelstan and Edgar, who put to flight the Danes and fostered
religion and learning. With the exception of Daniel the work
consists merely of extracts. Since the Lives were written in 996, and
other homiletic work had followed, these paraphrases seem to date
from 997, and, in their completed state, from 998. It is important
to note in them that Aelfric merely signs himself as monk. They
were, probably, the last work done for Aethelweard, who is not
heard of after 999. But Aelfric's close friendship with his son
continued and bore important fruit in later years.
Three other biblical paraphrases or homilies may be traced
to Aelfric. In his tractate on the Old Testament he observes that
he formerly made in English a discourse or short exposition of
Job, and also that he had turned into English the book of Esther.
The MS of Job is lost, but a copy printed by L'Isle in 1638
shows unmistakable signs of Aelfric's workmanship, and the
theme resembles that of his other works; thus, a passage on
Antichrist is strongly reminiscent of some sentences in the preface
to the first series of homilies, and the whole treatment corresponds
to that of the thirty-fifth homily of the second series. Esther,
which also exists only in L'Isle's transcript, seems originally to
have belonged to the Saints' Lives. It is a series of extracts in
Aelfric's customary alliterative rhythm.
Aelfric also mentions, in the same place, a work on the apo-
cryphal book of Judith, but without claiming the authorship.
“It is also,” he says, “arranged in English in our manner, as an
example to you men, that you should defend your land with
weapons against the hostile host. " These words were formerly
supposed to refer to the beautiful poem Judith, which is found
## p. 124 (#144) ############################################
124
Alfred to the Conquest
From
in a fragmentary state in the Beowulf MS; but Assmann has
shown that an Old English version of the story contained in two
MSS has all the characteristics of Aelfric's style. Moreover,
it contains many passages parallel with others in his preface to
the Old Testament
About the year 998, Aelfric was asked by bishop Wulfsige
of Sherborne to compose a pastoral for him. It is written in
the bishop's name, and, after a short preface addressed to Wulfsige,
admonishing him to reprove his clergy more frequently for their
neglect of the ecclesiastical canons, it treats of celibacy, clerical
duties, synods and the Benedictine rule, ending with a warning
against clerical attendance at lykewakes. This concludes the first
part. The second is entirely concerned with the rite of the
presanctified and the proper length of time for the reservation
of the sacrament, and expresses the same views that Aelfric
had already advanced in the homilies, based upon St Augustine
(probably the Enarratio in Psalm xcviii), through the famous
Ratramnus, opponent of Paschasius Radbertus, abbot of Corbie.
It thus shows Aelfric as a keen follower of contemporary
"science" abroad. Aelfric sided, seemingly, against Radbertus ;
his opinions are nowhere exactly reflected to-day, though the
obscure Augustinian “spiritual,” rendered in English “ gāstlice," did
the good service of giving us editions of him in the sixteenth
century, when he was quoted by Foxe and others. It is an
anachronism to impute any fully developed modern opinion to
the tenth century.
About the same time must be dated Aelfric's Advice to a
Spiritual Son, translated from St Basil's work with the same title.
The author is not expressly named, but, from internal evidence,
we know that he was a Benedictine monk, and that he had already
written about Basil. It speaks of St Basil's Hexameron in al-
most the very words Aelfric used earlier; it contains passages on
St Basil closely resembling some in the Interrogationes Sige-
wulfi Presbyteri; and, inclusive of the preface, it is composed in
Aelfric's loose rhythm. The subject is the admonition of a spiritual
father to his son to lead a righteous life.
In a manuscript in the Bodleian, under the general heading
Sermones Lupi, occurs a homily on the sevenfold gifts of the
Holy Ghost, which, owing to its presence in that manuscript,
was formerly ascribed to Wulfstan. But that Aelfric com-
posed a homily on this subject we know from his own state-
* Corpus Christi Coll. 303 and Cott. Oth. B. 10. Junius 99.
## p. 125 (#145) ############################################
's Minor Works
125
ment? : “Sevenfold gifts he giveth yet to mankind, concerning
which I wrote formerly in a certain other writing in the English
speech. ” This homily is seventh from the superscription, which
only seems to apply to those immediately following it (two in
number). We are, therefore, as Napier in his work on Wulfstan
pointed out, justified in rejecting the ascription of the seventh
homily to Wulfstan, and it may be by Aelfric.
In 1005, Aelfric was called from Wessex to Mercia. The thane
Aethelmaer, who had formerly invited him to Cerne, and for whom
many of his works had been composed, had recently acquired
two estates in Oxfordshire, which he, in turn, presented to his
newly founded abbey of Eynsham. These are interesting on account
of their connection with the hero of Maldon, himself a patron
of learning, who had fallen, some fourteen years before, fighting
against the Danes? Hither Aethelmaer retired for the rest of his
life, and hither he summoned Aelfric as first abbot. The monastery
followed the Benedictine rule, and it was for the instruction of its
inmates that Aelfric wrote, soon after his instalment there, the
Latin Letter to the Monks of Eynsham, to which reference has
already been made. His object was to give an account of the rule
as practised at Winchester, and he says that the source of his
information is bishop Aethelwold's De Consuetudine Monachorum,
by which title, as we have already seen, he refers, in all probability,
to Aethelwold's Regularis Concordia.
It is in the preface to this letter that Aelfric speaks of the
years spent by him in the school of Aethelwold, and, as a further
acknowledgment of the debt he owed his great master, he com-
posed soon afterwards, in Latin, his Vita Aethelwoldi. In the
preface to this Life, Aelfi'ic calls himself abbot and alumnus of
Winchester, and, greeting Kenulph, bishop of Winchester, and the
brethren of the monastery there, he says that it now seems right
to him to recall to men's memory some of the deeds of their father
and great teacher, St Aethelwold (d. 984), who had been dead for
twenty years. Since Kenulph was not appointed to the see till
1006, and died either the same year or the next, the Life must
have been finished about this time. Of the two recensions of the
Life, one, by Aelfric alone, shows his usual characteristics ; the
other is apparently Aelfric's life, “written over” by Wulfstan,
precentor of Winchester, with additional matter concerning post-
humous miracles.
i De Veteri et de Novo Testamento, preface.
See p. 144.
## p. 126 (#146) ############################################
126
Alfred to the Conquest
From
Besides these Latin works, in the first year of his office as
abbot, Aelfric wrote an English letter addressed to a thane
called Wulfgeat, “at Ylmandun," a place which has been identified
with Ilmington, about thirty miles from Eynsham. It begins with
a six line address to Wulfgeat, in which Aelfric refers to former
English writings, lent to the thane, and to his promise to lend
him more. Since he calls himself abbot, and since in 1006 Wulfgeat
fell into disgrace and lost all his possessions, being supplanted by
Eadric the famous traitor, the letter was evidently written in
1005 or 1006.
It was probably two or three years after this that Aelfric
composed his treatise on the Old and the New Testaments De
Veteri et de Novo Testamento. It begins with a long address
to Sigferth or Sigweard, a thane living at Easthealon, the modern
Asthall, which is only twelve miles distant from Eynsham. Aelfric
begins by saying that Sigferth had very often asked him for
English books, but that he would not grant his request till the
thane had proved his sincerity by good deeds. But, since he had
complained to Aelfric that he could not obtain his works, the
abbot had written this especially for him. The tractate, which is
based on St Augustine's De Doctrina Christiana, is, in substance,
a popular introduction to the contents of the Bible, and falls into
two parts. The first, on the Old Testament, is especially valuable
because, in the course of his summary of the various books, Aelfric
gives the particulars to which we have already referred, concerning
his translations from the Bible. The second part, on the New
Testament, begins with the story of John the Baptist, treats of
the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the epistles and the
book of Revelation, and, after certain allegories, some words on
the duties of the three stations of life, workers, praying folk and
fighters, and a description of the capture of Jerusalem by Titus,
ends with an admonition against the Teutonic habit of setting
folk to drink beyond their measure-a native pleasantry which, it
seems, Sigferth bad endeavoured to impose upon Aelfric when
visited by him.
It was to the same nobleman that Aelfric, about the same time,
addressed his letter on the celibacy of the clergy, for Sigferth
entertained among his household an anchorite who affirmed that
the marriage of mass-priests (i. e. full priests as distinguished from
“preostas," a generic name including deacons and minor orders
as well) was permissible. But Aelfric, though loth to differ from
this “good friend,” if he were a God-fearing man, could not refrain
cuse, in the course on the Old Testamente Bible, and falls
## p. 127 (#147) ############################################
Aelfric's Later Works
127
from pointing out that the earlier usage of the church required
celibacy from all the clergy, and the letter is a prolonged argument
on this theme.
Aelfric's last important work was a pastoral letter written for
Wulfstan, who, from 1002 to 1023, was archbishop of York,
and, till 1016, held also the see of Worcester, being thus a
neighbour of the abbot of Eynsham. It falls into two parts,
of which the first speaks of the three periods of the law, and goes
on to the theme already treated in the letters to Wulfsige and
Sigferth. The subject of the marriage of the clergy is reviewed
from a historical standpoint, and the letter further admonishes the
clergy on the celebration of the Eucharist, as their great function,
and treats of the seven grades of holy orders. The second part
deals with the use of the holy oils and the administration of the
last sacraments to the dying. Mass was not to be said in
laymen's houses, nor churches used for worldly purposes. The
work must have been composed after 1014, since it contains a
quotation from Aethelred's laws of that date; and, probably, before
1016, when Wulfstan's connection with Worcester came to an end.
The epistles were written in Latin and translated into English
by Aelfric himself, at Wulfstan's request, in the following year.
Aelfric's life was now drawing to a close. The exact date of
his death is not known, but he died, probably, soon after 1020.
His last years were passed in times not favourable for literary
work. They were eventful years for England, for they witnessed
the Danish sack of Canterbury in 1011, the murder of St Alphege
by the Danes at Greenwich, the flight of Aethelred before Sweyn,
the strife of Edmund Ironside and Canute and Canute's final
triumph.
Aelfric was not only the greatest prose writer, he was also /
the most distinguished English-writing theologian, in his own time,
and for five centuries afterwards. Yet he was in no sense an
original thinker; his homilies, as he frankly states, are borrowed
from others, and in them he reflects the thought of the west,
especially the teaching of St Augustine its great Father. His chief
object was to convey to the simple and unlearned the teaching
of the Fathers; and in this he was pre-eminently successful. If
Dunstan and Aethelwold first kindled the flame, it was Aelfric who,
through dark years of strife and warfare, when men's thoughts
were absorbed by the pressing anxieties of their daily life, kept
the lamp alight and reminded them of spiritual ideals. His
influence lasted long after his death, as is shown by the many late
## p. 128 (#148) ############################################
128 From Alfred to the Conquest
manuscripts of his writings, some of which date from the twelfth
century; and if it had not been for his faithful, modest labour, the
difficulties of Lanfranc and Anselm would have been even greater
than they were.
As he himself tells us, he took Alfred for his model, but, in
ease and grace, his style far surpasses that of his great predecessor.
Both Aelfric and Wulfstan write and translate in a free style, but
it is no longer the gossiping colloquialism of Alfred. English had
become a literary language, polished in the cloisters with long
use as a vehicle for translation and original works. In the cloisters
Latin was still a living language and, hence, Latin constructions
became common. The necessity of having to express difficult
ideas in a form intelligible to ignorant men helped Aelfric in his
choice of words and in his effort after lucidity, while, with the
instinct of a true teacher, he refused to be led astray by the
example of Latin syntax and preferred simple constructions.
Unfortunately, as time went on, he deferred more and more
to the preferences of his audience, and debased his prose
by throwing it into the rhythmical alliterative form popular
with the vulgar. Perhaps it was felt that a more pompous,
rhetorical style than that of ordinary speech should be used in
treating of solemn themes. However that may be, the later,
florid manner which Aelfric affected in the Saints' Lives, and
in some of his other treatises, is distinctly inferior to that of
the first two series of homilies. His prose is seen at its best in
simple narrative, and, to appreciate the difficulties under which
he laboured, the homilies on the Eucharist and on the Creation
(both philosophic subjects) should be read together. The first
is confused and complex, compared with the flowing ease of the
great Father upon whose work it was based and, obviously, the
language was not, at this time, equal to abstruse metaphysical
speculation. The second, which deals with a simpler subject, is
clear and comprehensive. Aelfric shows power in his treatment
of pathos as well as of philosophy, when both are simple; as may
be seen in the homilies on the Holy Innocents and on the Creation.
But, whatever his theme, he is always logical and persuasive ; and
the "sweet reasonableness” of his methods especially distinguishes
his sermons from the fiery denunciations, and the direct, strenuous
language, of his contemporary and friend, archbishop Wulfstan,
who goes to the point without any of the abstract moralising to
be found in Aelfric. Wulfstan delivers his Christian doctrine as
a statement of facts, and his phrases have a legal smack about
## p. 129 (#149) ############################################
Aelfric and Wulfstan
129
them; while Aelfric loves what has some philosophy in it, for even
his simplicity is often profound. In a word, Wulfstan is a judges
and legalist, Aelfric a contemplative student.
This difference in tone is explained partly by temperament,
partly by the circumstances of their lives. Aelfric, following the
quiet industrious routine of duty behind the shelter of the abbey
walls, heard only the rumours of the strife that raged without;
Wulfstan, absorbed in practical, political life, was brought face
to face with the anguish and the practical needs of the time. He
was already bishop of Worcester, when, in 1002, he was appointed, --
also, to the see of York. In 1014, he assisted in the compilation of
the laws of Aethelred, drawn up at the synod of Eynsham ; he
died on 28 May 1023. Thus, his period of office coincided with
that of the most disastrous and devastating invasions of the
country.
It is extremely difficult to determine exactly which of the
homilies in the Bodleian · are really Wulfstan's. Owing to the
superscription at the beginning of the first : Hic incipiunt
sermones Lupi, all were ascribed to him by Wanley. Napier has
pointed out, however, that this heading was, probably, taken from
another manuscript of the archbishop's sermons, which were copied
into a miscellaneous collection containing many others, of which
the authorship is uncertain, or certainly not his. Of the fifty-three
homilies in the Bodleian MS, only five are indisputably by Wulfstan.
There are the two immediately following the superscription, dealing
with the Bible story', and with the catholic faith'; next follows a
sermon* of which only parts are by Wulfstan, and which Napier,
rejecting the passages he considers unauthentic, has divided into
four portionsº: on the Christian life, on Christ's death, on Christ
as the true friend and on the duties of Christians. Then comes
the famous Address to the English', and, last of all, a short
exhortation? with the superscription Sermo Lupi, on the duty of
Christians, full of metrical fragments, which can be separated
from the context and show signs of sung verse united by alliteration
or assonance. Of the remaining homilies, some, which occur in
the same order in various manuscripts, are, possibly, by Wulfstan ;
many, such as the paraphrase of the poem called Be Domes Daege,
and The Address of the Soul to the Body, must be entirely rejected;
while othergs appear also among the Blickling Homilies or the
, Napier 2.
1 Junius 99.
1 Wanley 1, Napier 2.
• Wanley 4.
5 Napier XIX, XX, XXI, XXI.
; Wanley 6, Napier 84.
E. L. I. CH. VII.
3 Wanley 2, Napier 3.
6 Wanley 5, Napier 83.
8 XLIX, LIV and LV.
## p. 130 (#150) ############################################
130 From Alfred to the Conquest
works of Aelfric. It is noteworthy that the homilies referred to
above as possibly by Wulfstan are very similar in phraseology
to the Old English laws drawn up at the council of Eynsham in
1014; and, as we know from his own statement that Wulfstan was
responsible for the Latin paraphrase of these statutes, it is probable
that the English version was his also.
Of the five homilies which can certainly be ascribed to Wulfstan,
the most powerful is the one entitled in the Bodleian MS Sermo
Lupi ad Anglos quando Dani maxime persecuti sunt eos, quod
fuit in die Aethelredi regis, to which another MS adds more
explicitly that this was in anno millesimo wiiii ab incarnatione
Domini nostri Jesus Christi, and another, in anno millesimo viii.
But it is, indeed, applicable to any year in the ill-fated reign of
Aethelred. The vices, evil deeds and cowardice of the English
are scourged with a heavy hand; the English are likened to the
Britons whom they have turned out, and are threatened with the
same fate.
The archbishop's passionate patriotism breaks forth
in the burning words with which he describes the desolation and
demoralisation of the people, scattered like frightened sheep
before the onset of the heathen, without a single leader to rally
them to resistance. Villages are destroyed by fire, the new
minsters are stripped of their holy things; father is turned against
son and brother against brother; even the ancient bond of thane
and thrall becomes loosened in this time of universal disintegration.
And, like some Hebrew prophet, Wulfstan refuses to believe that
the Almighty would have laid so heavy an affliction upon an
innocent people; he sees in the crimes of the nation the cause,
rather than the effect, of the long strife; this evil has come upon
them for their sins; they have provoked the wrath of Heaven,
and, unless they repent and reform, a worse evil shall befall them.
But there is still room for penitence, and the sermon ends on a
gentler note:
“Let us creep to Christ,” says the preacher, “and call upon Him un-
ceasingly with trembling hearts, and deserve His mercy; let us love God and
His laws, and faithfully perform what our sponsors promised for us at our
baptism. Let us order rightly our words and our deeds, and keep faith with
one another without guile, and frequently think upon the great judgment
that awaits us all; and protect ourselves against the flaming fire of hell; and
let us earn for ourselves the glory and the joy which God has prepared for
those who do His will on earth. So God help us. Amen. "
Here and there are traces of metrical character sometimes
assonant, sometimes alliterative, which may have been part of
some pessimistic folk-ballads on England's downfall.
## p. 131 (#151) ############################################
Wulfstan and Byrhtferth
131
Wulfstan's style is much more vehement than that of Aelfric.
He is preacher rather than teacher, appealing more to the emotions
than to the reason of his hearers, fertile in concrete illustrations,
and avoiding the subtle symbolism in which Aelfric delighted.
His sentences, though not deficient in lucidity, are very long ;
synonym is heaped on synonym and clause upon clause; yet the
chanting sense of rhythm is always present; epithets are balanced,
and the effect is often heightened by the use of antithesis. But,
as might be expected from one whose life was so much absorbed
by the administration of public affairs, his style is that of the
rhetorician rather than of the philosopher.
In addition to the homilies already mentioned, several isolated
tracts of the same nature by unknown authors survive. Among
these may be noted the Life of St Guthlac and of St Swithun,
the former translated from the Latin of Felix of Croyland, and,
on the ground that one MS is in the same handwriting as
Aelfric's Pentateuch? , often attributed to him; the latter a mere
fragment, also supposed by some scholars to be his. There are
also the Life of St Neot, and of St Mary of Egypt, which may,
possibly, be his.
Another renowned contemporary of Aelfric was the monk
Byrhtferth, whose writings are chiefly concerned with mathematics.
He lived about 980, and is said to have been a pupil of Abbo.
Leland says he was called Thorneganus. He seems to have known
some of Dunstan's earlier disciples, and to have lived at Canterbury
for a time. His reputation as an English writer rests on his
Handboc or Enchiridion, a miscellany preserved in only one MSS.
It begins with a descriptive calendar, and then follow short
treatises of a mathematical and philological nature. After these,
come three theological tracts, on The Ages of the World, The
Loosing of Satan and The Seven Sins. The collection concludes
with two homilies, one entitled Ammonitio Amisi paet is freondlic
mynegungʻ, and the other on the four cardinal virtues. The sermon
on the loosing of Satan seems to indicate that it was composed
towards the close of the tenth century, and this date is corroborated
by what other information we possess about the author.
Like Aelfric, Byrhtferth was a product of St Aethelwold's
i Cott. Vesp. D. XXI.
• Bod. Laud. E. 19.
3 Oxf. Ash. 328.
reminder.
* Besides these English treatises, Byrhtferth was also responsible for Latin com.
mentaries on Bede's De Temporum Ratione and De Natura Rerum and two essays
entitled De Principiis Mathematicis and De Institutione Monachorum; & Vita Dunstani
has also been attributed to him.
9_2
## p. 132 (#152) ############################################
132 From Alfred to the Conquest
monastic reform, but his scientific leanings differentiated him
remarkably from the greater homilists.
Besides these homilies and scientific treatises, there were com-
posed, during the tenth century, three English versions of the
Gospels, known as the Lindisfarne, Rushworth and West Saxon
glosses. The Latin text of the Lindisfarne Gospels', contained
in a magnificent manuscript, adorned with beautiful illuminations,
was written about the year 700; and it was not till at least two
hundred and fifty years later, when it had been removed to
Chester-le-Street, near Durham, for safety, that the interlinear
North Northumbrian gloss was added by Aldred, a priest of that
place. The gloss gives many variant English equivalents for the
Latin words. Aldred himself, however, seems to have written only
the latter part of the gloss, that beginning at St John v, 10 in
a new hand, though the earlier portion was, probably, made under
his supervision. The gloss is of the greatest importance from a
philological point of view, since it is our most valuable authority
for the Northumbrian dialect of the middle of the tenth century.
Equally interesting are the Rushworth Gospels. The Latin
text, which differs very slightly from that of the Lindisfarne MS,
was, perhaps, written in the eighth century, while the gloss dates
from the second half of the tenth. It falls into two distinct
portions, the first of which, in the dialect of north Mercia, was
written by Farman, a priest of Harewood, seven miles north-east
of Leeds. This portion, which includes the gospel of St Matthew
and part of chapters i and ii of St Mark, begins as a gloss, and,
later, becomes again a gloss, but, in the main, it is a fairly free
version of the Latin text. The second part, in a dialect which
has been called South Northumbrian by Lindelöf, was written by
Owun, and shows, very strongly, the influence of the Lindisfarne
glosses, which must have been before the writer as he worked,
since he often goes astray from the Latin text to follow Aldred's
version. It seems probable that Farman, who was a good Latin
scholar, had made his gloss as far as St Mark ii, 15, when the
Lindisfarne MS came into his hands. He then entrusted the task
to Owun, who was a less accomplished linguist, and who, whenever
he was confronted by a difficulty, resorted to the Lindisfarne gloss
for its solution. It may be that Farman chose Owun as one know-
ing a dialect closely akin to that of Lindisfarne.
i Cott. Nero D. iv.
• so called because the MS in which they are contained was formerly owned by
J. Rushworth, clerk to the House of Commons during the Long Parliament.
## p. 133 (#153) ############################################
Legends of the Holy Rood 133
There also exists in six MSS a West Saxon version of the
Gospels, which, owing to a note in one MS_ego Aelfricus scripsi
hunc librum in monasterio Baðhonio et dedi Brihtwoldo pre-
posito—was formerly ascribed to Aelfric of Eynsham. If we
suppose this Brihtwold to be the same as the bishop of that
name, who held the see of Sherborne from 1006—1046, as he is
here called prepositus, we may conclude that the Corpus MS
was written before 1006. It certainly belongs to the first quarter
of the eleventh century and is not of Aelfric's authorship, for it in
Do wise agrees with his description of his own work on the New
Testament. He tells us that he had translated pieces from the
New Testament; but this is a full version. The other MSS are
later, and one of them, in the Cambridge University Library, con-
tains also the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, which provided
legendary material for later medieval homilists and for the growth
of the Arthurian legend in respect of Joseph of Arimathaea.
The early Christian legends, indeed, and, more particularly,
such as mark the continuance of Jewish traditions and the gradual
diffusion of Christianity in the east, seem to have had a special
attraction for English writers of this period. There are two
legends connected with the Holy Rood-one with the growth of its
wood, the other with the history of the cross after the crucifixion.
The legend of the Holy Rood itself is the same as the original
story of Cynewulf's poem. It will be remembered that St Helena
was reputed to be of British origin.
The oldest English version of the legend of the growth of the
wood is found in a MS in the Bodleian (343), which contains also
fifty-one homilies by Aelfric. The manuscript dates only from
the twelfth century, but, as the other contents are copies of
eleventh century originals, it is reasonable to suppose that the
cross legend also was composed at an earlier period. This theory
is borne out by the language, which Napier considers too archaic
for the twelfth century. From a literary point of view, as well as
linguistically, the version is of the greatest interest, as showing
the development of English prose. In its original eleventh century
form, it represented, perhaps, the best tradition of the literary
West Saxon language developed in the cloisters, and the grace and
ease of the story show considerable mastery of the art of narrative.
The theme ultimately depends on the Jewish legends con-
tained in the Book of Adam and the Book of Enoch, and it had
originally no connection with Christianity. The story frequently
1 Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, oxL.
ease of the language dew ps, the best to bal eleventh cent
www. considerab) the cloistention of the
## p. 134 (#154) ############################################
134 From Alfred to the Conquest
occurs in medieval literature (as, for instance, in the South English
Legendary and the Cursor Mundi), and a brief outline of it may,
therefore, be given here. Unfortunately, the earlier part of the
legend in its Latin form, treating of the history of the rood to
the time of Moses, is missing in the English text. The story
shapes itself as follows. Adam being on the point of death, Eve and
Seth go to Paradise to ask the guardian angel for the healing oil
of life. Seth, as fallen man, is denied entrance to Paradise, and,
instead of the oil, the angel gives him three pips of cedar, cypress
and pine. When Seth returns to his father, he finds Adam
already dead; he places the three pips under Adam's tongue,
and, God having given Adam's body to Michael, it is buried by
the four archangels in Paradise. The pips fructify in the ground,
and from them spring three rods, which remain green till the time
of Moses. The Old English version begins at this point and tells
how Moses, having led the Children of Israel over the Red Sea,
lies down to rest, and, in the morning, finds that three rods have
sprung up, one at his head, and one at each side. With these
rods he makes sweet the bitter waters, and the host continues
its journey to Arabia. Hither David, whom the legend represents
as contemporary with Moses, is sent to demand the rods, and it is
revealed to him in a vision that they betoken the Trinity? He
carries them to Jerusalem, where there is a pit of water so bitter
that none can taste of it. The rods are placed in it, and they join
together into a mighty tree, the growth of which is marked by
silver rings. After the death of David, Solomon attempts to use
the tree for the building of the Temple; but, owing to the fact that
it continually alters in length, this proves impossible, and it remains
untouched within the sanctuary. Finally, when the Jews seek for
a tree on which to crucify Christ, they remember this rood, and
use part of it for the cross.
The legend of the finding of the cross by St Helena is entirely
Christian in origin, and is cognate to the version in The Golden
Legend of Jacobus a Voragine, and in the Bollandist Acta Sanc-
torum for the fourth of May, and it is the same theme as that
treated so beautifully by Cynewulf in his Elene.
An important legend cycle, to which attention has recently
been drawn, is that of the letter sent from Heaven on Sunday
observance. It is found in Old English in four of Wulfstan's
homilies, and in two separate versions (C. C. C. C 140 and 162).
1 "Cypressus taonær þone fæder ; Cedrus tacnæf pone suna; Pinus tacnef bone
balze gast. "
## p. 135 (#155) ############################################
Legends of the East
an
135
Of the legends printed by Cockayne, that of Jamnes and Mambres
has quite a modern “psychical” flavour. The fact of its being
a mere fragment, and breaking off when just about to become dull,
saves it in the eyes of all lovers of ghost-tales.
In addition to other legends of a sacred character there are
others of a more worldly nature, the most remarkable being the
(suppositious) Letter from Alexander to Aristotle', The Wonders
of the East2 and the story of Apollonius of Tyres. The first two
are closely connected with the eastern legend of Alexander the
Great, which had taken shape before the Christian era in a work
known as the pseudo-Kallisthenes, which was translated into Latin
before 340 by the so-called Julius Valerius. The two Alexander
legends, as we have them, are very faithful translations from Latin
originals, each chapter of The Wonders of the East being preceded
by a copy of the text on which it is founded. They are important
in the history of literature as proving the interest taken by the
educated clergy of the eleventh century in the Latin legend
cycles. Rather later than these two works, and also of eastern
origin, is the Old English version of Apollonius of Tyre, of which
only half is extant, a version of the same theme as that treated
in the 153rd chapter of Gesta Romanorum. It tells of the
wooing of the king of Antioch's daughter by Apollonius of Tyre,
and how her father, to prevent her marriage, required her suitors
to solve a riddle or to be beheaded. The early appearance of this
legend in the vernacular is especially interesting, since Gower's
version of the story in his Confessio Amantis provided the theme
for Pericles of Tyre. The presence of these legends in Old English
is peculiarly significant as indicating the on-coming flood of foreign
literature. Hitherto, the priest had been the story-teller, after
the heroic minstrelsy of earlier days had passed away; henceforth,
the lighter touch of the deliberate tale-teller was to be heard
in English.
From these we must turn to consider the quasi-scientific
works of this period, which have all been printed by Cockayne
in his Leechdoms, Wortcunning and Starcraft in Early England.
As might be expected, they have little literary value, but are
extremely interesting from a historical standpoint, since they
throw many valuable side-lights on the manners and social
conditions of the time. Cockayne's collection begins with the
Herbarium that passes under the name of Apuleius, a work
1 M8. Vitell. A. IV.
• Oott. Tib. B. v.
: 0. 0. C. C. 8. 18.
in bis Con Pecially intearly appear
## p. 136 (#156) ############################################
136 From Alfred to the Conquest
stating the various ills for which each plant is a remedy. It
appears in four MSS, the one printed by Cockayne dating
from the first half of the eleventh century. Following this
is an English version of the Medicina de quadrupedibus of
Sextus Placidus, about whom nothing is known, which describes
the various kinds of animals and the use of their bodies in
medicine.
Even more interesting is the leech-book in Cockayne's second
volume? The author was evidently acquainted with the Greek
and Latin authorities on medicine, for the work is full of their
prescriptions, and Helias, patriarch of Jerusalem, is mentioned as
having sent such prescriptions to king Alfred.
Lastly, Cockayne printed in his third volume two collections
of miscellaneous recipes, and a number of prognostications, inter-
pretations of dreams and a horologium. The first collection is
extremely interesting on account of the heathen nature of many
of the prescriptions, which require for their efficacy the repetition
of charms. Some of these are mere gibberish, in which, however,
fragments of Greek, Latin and Hebrew may be traced; others,
such as the celebrated charm against the stitch, show close con-
nection with Scandinavian mythology; while in some, such as the
charm to bring home straying cattle, there is a curious mingling
of Christian nomenclature and heathen superstition. All these
works are deeply tinged with poetic feeling; and the desire to
propitiate the powers that distribute storm and sunshine is visible
throughout. The date of these compositions is not known, but
most of the manuscripts belong to the eleventh century.
From the foregoing survey of English prose literature during
the eleventh century, it is clear that the language had attained
considerable development as a literary medium. In the hands of
Aelfric its vocabulary became less concrete, its constructions
more logical, and, though it was still seen to best advantage in
simple narrative, it was moulded by him with fair success to
philosophic requirements. But, in the years that followed the
Norman conquest, the development of English prose met with a
great check, and four hundred years elapsed before the vernacular
was again employed with the grace and fluency of Aelfric.
The decline of Old English poetry cannot be so directly
attributed to the Norman conquest. During the course of the
tenth and eleventh centuries the classical rhetorical metre bad
i Cott. Vitell. O. m.
· Printed from MS Reg. 12 D. XVI.
* M8 Harl. 685 and M8 Harl. 6258. • Chiefly from MS Oott. Tib. A. II.
## p. 137 (#157) ############################################
The Ballads and Poems in the Chronicle 137
already begun to deteriorate, and was being gradually replaced
by the sung metre of the popular ballad. For the whole of our
period we have only two great poems, the fragment of Judith
in the Beowulf MS and the East Anglian poem of Byrhtnoth’s
death at Maldon. Both poems deal with the struggle against the
same foe and both are in the alliterative rhetorical metre. Judith
contains a fair number of lines which are undoubtedly clear types
of sung verse, such as is found in the thirteenth century in
Layamon's Brut. The Battle of Maldon also contains two much
alike'. The adoption of this metre, which, although ancient, here
exhibits what are practically its first known traces in Old English
literature, is carried to much greater lengths in the poems em-
bedded in the Chronicle; and some observations upon this new
metre, called the “sung" or four-beat verse, as opposed to the
declamatory or two-beat metre of the older poems, will be found
in an appendix at the end of the volume.
The first poem in the Chronicle occurs under the year 937, and
celebrates the glorious victory won by Aethelstan at Brunanburh.
It is a markedly patriotic poem and shows deep feeling; its
brilliant lyrical power, and the national enthusiasm evident
throughout, have made it familiar, in one form or another, to
all lovers of English verse. Great care was taken with the metre,
which is the ancient rhetorical line.
Under the year 942 another poem in alliterative rhetorical
metre occurs. It consists only of a few lines, and its subject is
the liberation of the five boroughs, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham,
Stamford and Derby, “which were formerly Danish, constrained
by need in the captive bonds of the heathen,” by Edmund, son
of Edward the Elder. It has little poetic value; but it is dis
tinguished by the same intense patriotism as the verses on the
battle of Brunanburh.
The first poem in sung verse contained in the Chronicle is that
for 959, on the accession of king Edgar. It contains forty-nine half
lines, making twenty-four and a half full lines, connected, of which
only about eight show alliteration. The lines are connected in the
earlier form of rimeless rhythm, not strictly alliterative, though
* But the reader must be cautioned against assuming that every rimed verse was
also sung verse. The shorter types of rimed verse in such poems as Judith and The
Battle of Maldon were almost certainly not. The only sure oriteria are (1) conformity
to the metrical schemes given in the Appendix, (2) a tendency to neglect the rhetorio
stress and turn the two-beat rhythm into a four-beat, as shown by the riming use of
syllables pot carrying the full stress. Examples are: Judith, l. 231, (écgum geoósto)
slógon éornostè; Maldon, 1. 309, Býrhtwold máþetode bórd bắfēnode.
## p. 138 (#158) ############################################
138
From
Alfred to the Conquest
assonance is sometimes found. Metrically, it is our best preserved
example. The theme is the prosperity of Edgar; how his wise
rule was honoured far and wide, how he established peace in the
land and how he was rewarded by God with the willing submission
of kings and earls. Of one fault, however, says the chronicler,
he was too often guilty, namely that he loved foreign ways and
enticed outlanders into his dominions. The poem ends with a
prayer that God may be more mindful of the king's virtues than of
his evil deeds, and that they may shield his soul from harm on its
long journey hence.
The delight of the English in the peaceful rule of Edgar is
still further shown by a poem in the old rhetorical metre which
is variously given in the different recensions of the Chronicle
under the years 972, 973 and 974, and relates the coronation of
Edgar. The Peterborough chronicle has some lines which have
been written as verse, but scansion seems to raise insurmount-
able difficulties. It can only be scanned on the assumption
that we have an attempt to combine two stress lines with four-
stress rhythm, or an attempt to put a ballad into the form of the
“higher” poetry. They tell how kings came from afar to do
homage to Edgar, and how there was no fleet so daring as to
threaten his dominions, or host so strong as to ravage the land
while he ruled over it.
Another interesting ballad poem, on the troubles caused by
Aelfhere and other rebels in the reign of Edgar's son Edward,
is found in the MS known as Cott. Tib. B. IV. It is of 19 half
lines or 9} full lines. The linking system seems to be mostly
alliteration, but rime and assonance show themselves most clearly
where alliteration becomes absent or weak, as in
Godes wibersăecan
Godes lage brãecon
and
mynstra tostaencton,
and
munecas todraefdon.
The verse is sung ballad-verse, and the alliteration what would
be called irregular in rhetorical verse. It is uncertain whether
what seems an opening verse really belongs to the song.
The murder of Edward son of Edgar, at Corfesgeat, is
related in a peculiarly distinctive poem, which is quite clearly in
sung verse, and shows traces of strophic arrangement. Some lines,
possibly, show the earliest English seven-beat verse; some lines
have, obviously, been lengthened, and the last six printed as verse
do not scan as such, being, possibly, only rhythmic prose added
## p. 139 (#159) ############################################
The Ballads and Poems in the Chronicle 139
afterwards. They are exactly like the irregular lines on Edgar's
death. Probably the chronicler took a popular ballad or ballads,
broke it up, and attempted to destroy its sing-song character by
the addition of end verses.
result of Aelfric's influence.
These school-books were followed in 996 or 997 by a third
1 The MS is Trin. Coll. Camb. R. 9. 17.
## p. 120 (#140) ############################################
120 From Alfred to the Conquest
series of homilies, The Lives, or Passions, of the Saints. These
homilies, also, are introduced by two prefaces, one in Latin
explaining the origin and occasion of the work, while the other is
an English letter addressed to the ealdorman Aethelweard, the
father of the founder of Cerne abbey.
“Thou knowest, beloved,” says Aelfric in the letter, that we translated
in two former books the passions and lives of the saints whom the English
nation honours with festivals; now, it has seemed good to us that we should
write this book concerning the sufferings and lives of the saints whom monks
in their offices 1 honour among themselves. ”
The Latin preface further states that only such lives have been
chosen from the Vitae Patrum as are suitable for narration to the
lay attendants at monastic services.
The best manuscript of this work contains thirty-three lives,
six general homilies and a narrative without title on the legend
of Abgarus, thus, like the two previous series, comprising forty
sermons in all. They are arranged in the order of the church
year, beginning with an address on the nativity of Christ, ending
with the life of St Thomas (21 December) and including an interest-
ing Rogation Sunday homily on auguries, witchcraft, etc. , and one
(25 August) in which we have an early appearance of the devil
of the later mysteries.
Besides the Vitae Patrum, which is the only source mentioned
by Aelfric in his preface, other authorities cited are Ambrosius,
Augustine, Jerome, Terentian, Abbo of Fleury, Bede and St Oswald.
The story of St Swithun is partly based on a letter of Lanferth, but
owes still more to local tradition.
- These homilies exhibit the style of Aelfric in its maturity;
only one, that on the Nativity, is in prose; the others are in the
loose alliterative rhythm which he had already used in some of
his previous sermons. In the long run, this excessive recourse
to alliteration became an obstacle to clear expression and was
alien to the true development of prose; but the monotonous
rhythm, closely akin to the ballad verse of the common people,
was, no doubt, very attractive to lay audiences. The Lives,
since they deal with fact and not theory, throw less light on
Aelfric's doctrine than the earlier homilies; but, on the other
hand, they provide many valuable side-lights on contemporary
manners, and on the life of the homilist himself. The most
1 i. e. the customary Divine Hours, daily chanted by the monks in choir, a publio
service which the secular clergy could not, of course, maintain. The offico-books for
the two, probably, also differed.
: Cott. Jul. E. VIL.
## p. 121 (#141) ############################################
The Works of Aelfric 121
interesting of all are those of the English saints, St Oswald,
St Edmund and St Swithun. In the first two we see portrayed
the ideal king of the Old English, protector and benefactor of his
people. Oswald breaks in pieces the silver dish on which his
meat is served, and commands Aidan to distribute the pieces
among the suppliants for his charity; St Edmund, after his
subjects have been slaughtered by the Danes, no longer desires
life. “This I wish in my mind, that I should not be left alone
after my dear thanes, who in their very beds, with their wives and
children, have, by these sea-goers, suddenly been slain. ” In the
life of St Swithun we have reminiscences of the happy time under
king Edgar, “when the kingdom still continued in peace, so that
no fleet was heard of save that of the folk themselves who held
this land. ”
The date of these Lives is known almost to the very year.
They are not dedicated, like the others, to archbishop Sigeric,
because he had died in 995; and they cannot have been written
earlier than 996, because in the sermon on Ash Wednesday
Aethelwold, who was canonised in that year, is spoken of as “the
holy bishop who now worketh miracles. ” But, as Aelfric says
that be borrowed his homily on St Edmund from Abbo of Fleury's
life of that saint (986), which came into his hands a few years after
it was written, they cannot well be much later than 997.
Appended to the best MSS of the Lives of the Saints is an
English version of Alcuin's Interrogationes Sigewulfi Presbyteri -
in Genesin. It begins with a preface and introduction on Alcuin
and the Latin text, which consisted of a series of catechetical
answers to questions on Genesis, asked by Alcuin's friend, Sige-
wulf. Then follow the translated interrogationes, abridged from
a hundred and seventy-eight to forty-eight essentials. The first
fifteen are on the moral law of the Creator and His creatures ;
the next five, relating to the material creation, contain an insertion
on the planets, derived from Bede by Aelfric, who was devoted to
the study of astronomy; then come four on the manifestations
of the Trinity in nature. These are succeeded by a series on
man's creation in the divine image and his end, followed by others
on the origin of evil. Last of all are questions on the ages of the
world, and the whole is concluded by a creed and the doxology.
Aelfric is nowhere stated to be the author, but the similarity -
of the translation to his acknowledged work in style, structure
and rhythm enables us to ascribe it to him with some confidence.
Two other works, closely connected in style and theme, also
## p. 122 (#142) ############################################
122
Alfred to the Conquest
From
unsigned, but attributed to Aelfric on the ground of style and
diction, were probably composed soon after the Lives of the
Saints. These are a translation of the Hexameron of St Basil,
and a version of the De Temporibus of Bede. The former, which
is a sermon on the six days of creation, the fall of the angels, the
day of rest, the expulsion from Paradise and the atonement of
Christ, is by no means a literal translation, but is partly original,
and partly derived from Bede's Commentary on Genesis. It is
found in the best MSS, refers to former sermons and has Aelfric's
loose alliterative rhythm. It shows a close resemblance to the
version of De Temporibus, which, as the compiler distinctly states,
is not to be considered a homily. It is, indeed, a scientific treatise,
adapted from Bede, but showing much independent learning in the
matter of astronomy, the entry on the feast of the circumcision
telling how the ancient year-systems began and were reckoned.
It is almost certainly Aelfric's, and was, probably, written between
991 and 995.
So far, all Aelfric's works had been of either a homiletic or an
educational character; but now, at the request of the ealdorman
Aethelweard, he embarked somewhat reluctantly on the task of
rendering the scriptures into the vernacular. For Aelfric had
already spent the best years of his life in the service of the church
and education, bringing nearer to his people the truths and sources
of their religion and morality. He was now in advanced middle life,
and felt keenly that these labours withdrew him from further study
and from the contemplation of the supernatural, towards which his
age, profession and, above all, the grievous state of earthly affairs,
that seemed indeed to foretoken the end of the world, now drew him.
At the same time, he had a mass of homiletic material ready, and,
at a time when scarce anyone could read, he felt that the living
voice of the preacher should be mainly used with the people.
Hence, we find his version of the Bible essentially meant to be
preached rather than read; he wrote for those who should teach the
as yet unlettered people. The version was intended to be of the
nature of a homily, and was not meant to be an accurate version
of Holy Writ. Name lists, genealogies and difficult passages were
left out.
Aelfi'ic's principal achievement in this department was editing
the paraphrase of the first seven books of the Bible. It is certain,
however, that his hand is not to be traced throughout. In the
prefatory letter, which he addressed to Aethelweard, he reminds
his friend how he had said that he need not labour any further in
## p. 123 (#143) ############################################
Aelfric's Biblical Translations 123
the book of Genesis than the story of Isaac, since another had
translated it from that point to the end. In the MS in the Cam-
bridge University Library only chapters i–xxiv of Genesis are given,
and Dietrich has observed that the style thenceforward to the end
of Leviticus is essentially different. In the fourth book of Moses
Aelfric's style is once more recognisable, and alliteration again
occurs. It is possible that Aelfric may have worked over another
translation of the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy; but he
himself tells us, in De Veteri et de Novo Testamento, that he had
translated Joshua and Judges at the request of Aethelweard. The
book of Judges was added afterwards : it was probably intended
originally to be included, like the homily on the Maccabees, in the
series of Saints' Lives. It is composed entirely in Aelfric's usual
rhythm, and ends with a short notice of the good kings Alfred,
Aethelstan and Edgar, who put to flight the Danes and fostered
religion and learning. With the exception of Daniel the work
consists merely of extracts. Since the Lives were written in 996, and
other homiletic work had followed, these paraphrases seem to date
from 997, and, in their completed state, from 998. It is important
to note in them that Aelfric merely signs himself as monk. They
were, probably, the last work done for Aethelweard, who is not
heard of after 999. But Aelfric's close friendship with his son
continued and bore important fruit in later years.
Three other biblical paraphrases or homilies may be traced
to Aelfric. In his tractate on the Old Testament he observes that
he formerly made in English a discourse or short exposition of
Job, and also that he had turned into English the book of Esther.
The MS of Job is lost, but a copy printed by L'Isle in 1638
shows unmistakable signs of Aelfric's workmanship, and the
theme resembles that of his other works; thus, a passage on
Antichrist is strongly reminiscent of some sentences in the preface
to the first series of homilies, and the whole treatment corresponds
to that of the thirty-fifth homily of the second series. Esther,
which also exists only in L'Isle's transcript, seems originally to
have belonged to the Saints' Lives. It is a series of extracts in
Aelfric's customary alliterative rhythm.
Aelfric also mentions, in the same place, a work on the apo-
cryphal book of Judith, but without claiming the authorship.
“It is also,” he says, “arranged in English in our manner, as an
example to you men, that you should defend your land with
weapons against the hostile host. " These words were formerly
supposed to refer to the beautiful poem Judith, which is found
## p. 124 (#144) ############################################
124
Alfred to the Conquest
From
in a fragmentary state in the Beowulf MS; but Assmann has
shown that an Old English version of the story contained in two
MSS has all the characteristics of Aelfric's style. Moreover,
it contains many passages parallel with others in his preface to
the Old Testament
About the year 998, Aelfric was asked by bishop Wulfsige
of Sherborne to compose a pastoral for him. It is written in
the bishop's name, and, after a short preface addressed to Wulfsige,
admonishing him to reprove his clergy more frequently for their
neglect of the ecclesiastical canons, it treats of celibacy, clerical
duties, synods and the Benedictine rule, ending with a warning
against clerical attendance at lykewakes. This concludes the first
part. The second is entirely concerned with the rite of the
presanctified and the proper length of time for the reservation
of the sacrament, and expresses the same views that Aelfric
had already advanced in the homilies, based upon St Augustine
(probably the Enarratio in Psalm xcviii), through the famous
Ratramnus, opponent of Paschasius Radbertus, abbot of Corbie.
It thus shows Aelfric as a keen follower of contemporary
"science" abroad. Aelfric sided, seemingly, against Radbertus ;
his opinions are nowhere exactly reflected to-day, though the
obscure Augustinian “spiritual,” rendered in English “ gāstlice," did
the good service of giving us editions of him in the sixteenth
century, when he was quoted by Foxe and others. It is an
anachronism to impute any fully developed modern opinion to
the tenth century.
About the same time must be dated Aelfric's Advice to a
Spiritual Son, translated from St Basil's work with the same title.
The author is not expressly named, but, from internal evidence,
we know that he was a Benedictine monk, and that he had already
written about Basil. It speaks of St Basil's Hexameron in al-
most the very words Aelfric used earlier; it contains passages on
St Basil closely resembling some in the Interrogationes Sige-
wulfi Presbyteri; and, inclusive of the preface, it is composed in
Aelfric's loose rhythm. The subject is the admonition of a spiritual
father to his son to lead a righteous life.
In a manuscript in the Bodleian, under the general heading
Sermones Lupi, occurs a homily on the sevenfold gifts of the
Holy Ghost, which, owing to its presence in that manuscript,
was formerly ascribed to Wulfstan. But that Aelfric com-
posed a homily on this subject we know from his own state-
* Corpus Christi Coll. 303 and Cott. Oth. B. 10. Junius 99.
## p. 125 (#145) ############################################
's Minor Works
125
ment? : “Sevenfold gifts he giveth yet to mankind, concerning
which I wrote formerly in a certain other writing in the English
speech. ” This homily is seventh from the superscription, which
only seems to apply to those immediately following it (two in
number). We are, therefore, as Napier in his work on Wulfstan
pointed out, justified in rejecting the ascription of the seventh
homily to Wulfstan, and it may be by Aelfric.
In 1005, Aelfric was called from Wessex to Mercia. The thane
Aethelmaer, who had formerly invited him to Cerne, and for whom
many of his works had been composed, had recently acquired
two estates in Oxfordshire, which he, in turn, presented to his
newly founded abbey of Eynsham. These are interesting on account
of their connection with the hero of Maldon, himself a patron
of learning, who had fallen, some fourteen years before, fighting
against the Danes? Hither Aethelmaer retired for the rest of his
life, and hither he summoned Aelfric as first abbot. The monastery
followed the Benedictine rule, and it was for the instruction of its
inmates that Aelfric wrote, soon after his instalment there, the
Latin Letter to the Monks of Eynsham, to which reference has
already been made. His object was to give an account of the rule
as practised at Winchester, and he says that the source of his
information is bishop Aethelwold's De Consuetudine Monachorum,
by which title, as we have already seen, he refers, in all probability,
to Aethelwold's Regularis Concordia.
It is in the preface to this letter that Aelfric speaks of the
years spent by him in the school of Aethelwold, and, as a further
acknowledgment of the debt he owed his great master, he com-
posed soon afterwards, in Latin, his Vita Aethelwoldi. In the
preface to this Life, Aelfi'ic calls himself abbot and alumnus of
Winchester, and, greeting Kenulph, bishop of Winchester, and the
brethren of the monastery there, he says that it now seems right
to him to recall to men's memory some of the deeds of their father
and great teacher, St Aethelwold (d. 984), who had been dead for
twenty years. Since Kenulph was not appointed to the see till
1006, and died either the same year or the next, the Life must
have been finished about this time. Of the two recensions of the
Life, one, by Aelfric alone, shows his usual characteristics ; the
other is apparently Aelfric's life, “written over” by Wulfstan,
precentor of Winchester, with additional matter concerning post-
humous miracles.
i De Veteri et de Novo Testamento, preface.
See p. 144.
## p. 126 (#146) ############################################
126
Alfred to the Conquest
From
Besides these Latin works, in the first year of his office as
abbot, Aelfric wrote an English letter addressed to a thane
called Wulfgeat, “at Ylmandun," a place which has been identified
with Ilmington, about thirty miles from Eynsham. It begins with
a six line address to Wulfgeat, in which Aelfric refers to former
English writings, lent to the thane, and to his promise to lend
him more. Since he calls himself abbot, and since in 1006 Wulfgeat
fell into disgrace and lost all his possessions, being supplanted by
Eadric the famous traitor, the letter was evidently written in
1005 or 1006.
It was probably two or three years after this that Aelfric
composed his treatise on the Old and the New Testaments De
Veteri et de Novo Testamento. It begins with a long address
to Sigferth or Sigweard, a thane living at Easthealon, the modern
Asthall, which is only twelve miles distant from Eynsham. Aelfric
begins by saying that Sigferth had very often asked him for
English books, but that he would not grant his request till the
thane had proved his sincerity by good deeds. But, since he had
complained to Aelfric that he could not obtain his works, the
abbot had written this especially for him. The tractate, which is
based on St Augustine's De Doctrina Christiana, is, in substance,
a popular introduction to the contents of the Bible, and falls into
two parts. The first, on the Old Testament, is especially valuable
because, in the course of his summary of the various books, Aelfric
gives the particulars to which we have already referred, concerning
his translations from the Bible. The second part, on the New
Testament, begins with the story of John the Baptist, treats of
the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the epistles and the
book of Revelation, and, after certain allegories, some words on
the duties of the three stations of life, workers, praying folk and
fighters, and a description of the capture of Jerusalem by Titus,
ends with an admonition against the Teutonic habit of setting
folk to drink beyond their measure-a native pleasantry which, it
seems, Sigferth bad endeavoured to impose upon Aelfric when
visited by him.
It was to the same nobleman that Aelfric, about the same time,
addressed his letter on the celibacy of the clergy, for Sigferth
entertained among his household an anchorite who affirmed that
the marriage of mass-priests (i. e. full priests as distinguished from
“preostas," a generic name including deacons and minor orders
as well) was permissible. But Aelfric, though loth to differ from
this “good friend,” if he were a God-fearing man, could not refrain
cuse, in the course on the Old Testamente Bible, and falls
## p. 127 (#147) ############################################
Aelfric's Later Works
127
from pointing out that the earlier usage of the church required
celibacy from all the clergy, and the letter is a prolonged argument
on this theme.
Aelfric's last important work was a pastoral letter written for
Wulfstan, who, from 1002 to 1023, was archbishop of York,
and, till 1016, held also the see of Worcester, being thus a
neighbour of the abbot of Eynsham. It falls into two parts,
of which the first speaks of the three periods of the law, and goes
on to the theme already treated in the letters to Wulfsige and
Sigferth. The subject of the marriage of the clergy is reviewed
from a historical standpoint, and the letter further admonishes the
clergy on the celebration of the Eucharist, as their great function,
and treats of the seven grades of holy orders. The second part
deals with the use of the holy oils and the administration of the
last sacraments to the dying. Mass was not to be said in
laymen's houses, nor churches used for worldly purposes. The
work must have been composed after 1014, since it contains a
quotation from Aethelred's laws of that date; and, probably, before
1016, when Wulfstan's connection with Worcester came to an end.
The epistles were written in Latin and translated into English
by Aelfric himself, at Wulfstan's request, in the following year.
Aelfric's life was now drawing to a close. The exact date of
his death is not known, but he died, probably, soon after 1020.
His last years were passed in times not favourable for literary
work. They were eventful years for England, for they witnessed
the Danish sack of Canterbury in 1011, the murder of St Alphege
by the Danes at Greenwich, the flight of Aethelred before Sweyn,
the strife of Edmund Ironside and Canute and Canute's final
triumph.
Aelfric was not only the greatest prose writer, he was also /
the most distinguished English-writing theologian, in his own time,
and for five centuries afterwards. Yet he was in no sense an
original thinker; his homilies, as he frankly states, are borrowed
from others, and in them he reflects the thought of the west,
especially the teaching of St Augustine its great Father. His chief
object was to convey to the simple and unlearned the teaching
of the Fathers; and in this he was pre-eminently successful. If
Dunstan and Aethelwold first kindled the flame, it was Aelfric who,
through dark years of strife and warfare, when men's thoughts
were absorbed by the pressing anxieties of their daily life, kept
the lamp alight and reminded them of spiritual ideals. His
influence lasted long after his death, as is shown by the many late
## p. 128 (#148) ############################################
128 From Alfred to the Conquest
manuscripts of his writings, some of which date from the twelfth
century; and if it had not been for his faithful, modest labour, the
difficulties of Lanfranc and Anselm would have been even greater
than they were.
As he himself tells us, he took Alfred for his model, but, in
ease and grace, his style far surpasses that of his great predecessor.
Both Aelfric and Wulfstan write and translate in a free style, but
it is no longer the gossiping colloquialism of Alfred. English had
become a literary language, polished in the cloisters with long
use as a vehicle for translation and original works. In the cloisters
Latin was still a living language and, hence, Latin constructions
became common. The necessity of having to express difficult
ideas in a form intelligible to ignorant men helped Aelfric in his
choice of words and in his effort after lucidity, while, with the
instinct of a true teacher, he refused to be led astray by the
example of Latin syntax and preferred simple constructions.
Unfortunately, as time went on, he deferred more and more
to the preferences of his audience, and debased his prose
by throwing it into the rhythmical alliterative form popular
with the vulgar. Perhaps it was felt that a more pompous,
rhetorical style than that of ordinary speech should be used in
treating of solemn themes. However that may be, the later,
florid manner which Aelfric affected in the Saints' Lives, and
in some of his other treatises, is distinctly inferior to that of
the first two series of homilies. His prose is seen at its best in
simple narrative, and, to appreciate the difficulties under which
he laboured, the homilies on the Eucharist and on the Creation
(both philosophic subjects) should be read together. The first
is confused and complex, compared with the flowing ease of the
great Father upon whose work it was based and, obviously, the
language was not, at this time, equal to abstruse metaphysical
speculation. The second, which deals with a simpler subject, is
clear and comprehensive. Aelfric shows power in his treatment
of pathos as well as of philosophy, when both are simple; as may
be seen in the homilies on the Holy Innocents and on the Creation.
But, whatever his theme, he is always logical and persuasive ; and
the "sweet reasonableness” of his methods especially distinguishes
his sermons from the fiery denunciations, and the direct, strenuous
language, of his contemporary and friend, archbishop Wulfstan,
who goes to the point without any of the abstract moralising to
be found in Aelfric. Wulfstan delivers his Christian doctrine as
a statement of facts, and his phrases have a legal smack about
## p. 129 (#149) ############################################
Aelfric and Wulfstan
129
them; while Aelfric loves what has some philosophy in it, for even
his simplicity is often profound. In a word, Wulfstan is a judges
and legalist, Aelfric a contemplative student.
This difference in tone is explained partly by temperament,
partly by the circumstances of their lives. Aelfric, following the
quiet industrious routine of duty behind the shelter of the abbey
walls, heard only the rumours of the strife that raged without;
Wulfstan, absorbed in practical, political life, was brought face
to face with the anguish and the practical needs of the time. He
was already bishop of Worcester, when, in 1002, he was appointed, --
also, to the see of York. In 1014, he assisted in the compilation of
the laws of Aethelred, drawn up at the synod of Eynsham ; he
died on 28 May 1023. Thus, his period of office coincided with
that of the most disastrous and devastating invasions of the
country.
It is extremely difficult to determine exactly which of the
homilies in the Bodleian · are really Wulfstan's. Owing to the
superscription at the beginning of the first : Hic incipiunt
sermones Lupi, all were ascribed to him by Wanley. Napier has
pointed out, however, that this heading was, probably, taken from
another manuscript of the archbishop's sermons, which were copied
into a miscellaneous collection containing many others, of which
the authorship is uncertain, or certainly not his. Of the fifty-three
homilies in the Bodleian MS, only five are indisputably by Wulfstan.
There are the two immediately following the superscription, dealing
with the Bible story', and with the catholic faith'; next follows a
sermon* of which only parts are by Wulfstan, and which Napier,
rejecting the passages he considers unauthentic, has divided into
four portionsº: on the Christian life, on Christ's death, on Christ
as the true friend and on the duties of Christians. Then comes
the famous Address to the English', and, last of all, a short
exhortation? with the superscription Sermo Lupi, on the duty of
Christians, full of metrical fragments, which can be separated
from the context and show signs of sung verse united by alliteration
or assonance. Of the remaining homilies, some, which occur in
the same order in various manuscripts, are, possibly, by Wulfstan ;
many, such as the paraphrase of the poem called Be Domes Daege,
and The Address of the Soul to the Body, must be entirely rejected;
while othergs appear also among the Blickling Homilies or the
, Napier 2.
1 Junius 99.
1 Wanley 1, Napier 2.
• Wanley 4.
5 Napier XIX, XX, XXI, XXI.
; Wanley 6, Napier 84.
E. L. I. CH. VII.
3 Wanley 2, Napier 3.
6 Wanley 5, Napier 83.
8 XLIX, LIV and LV.
## p. 130 (#150) ############################################
130 From Alfred to the Conquest
works of Aelfric. It is noteworthy that the homilies referred to
above as possibly by Wulfstan are very similar in phraseology
to the Old English laws drawn up at the council of Eynsham in
1014; and, as we know from his own statement that Wulfstan was
responsible for the Latin paraphrase of these statutes, it is probable
that the English version was his also.
Of the five homilies which can certainly be ascribed to Wulfstan,
the most powerful is the one entitled in the Bodleian MS Sermo
Lupi ad Anglos quando Dani maxime persecuti sunt eos, quod
fuit in die Aethelredi regis, to which another MS adds more
explicitly that this was in anno millesimo wiiii ab incarnatione
Domini nostri Jesus Christi, and another, in anno millesimo viii.
But it is, indeed, applicable to any year in the ill-fated reign of
Aethelred. The vices, evil deeds and cowardice of the English
are scourged with a heavy hand; the English are likened to the
Britons whom they have turned out, and are threatened with the
same fate.
The archbishop's passionate patriotism breaks forth
in the burning words with which he describes the desolation and
demoralisation of the people, scattered like frightened sheep
before the onset of the heathen, without a single leader to rally
them to resistance. Villages are destroyed by fire, the new
minsters are stripped of their holy things; father is turned against
son and brother against brother; even the ancient bond of thane
and thrall becomes loosened in this time of universal disintegration.
And, like some Hebrew prophet, Wulfstan refuses to believe that
the Almighty would have laid so heavy an affliction upon an
innocent people; he sees in the crimes of the nation the cause,
rather than the effect, of the long strife; this evil has come upon
them for their sins; they have provoked the wrath of Heaven,
and, unless they repent and reform, a worse evil shall befall them.
But there is still room for penitence, and the sermon ends on a
gentler note:
“Let us creep to Christ,” says the preacher, “and call upon Him un-
ceasingly with trembling hearts, and deserve His mercy; let us love God and
His laws, and faithfully perform what our sponsors promised for us at our
baptism. Let us order rightly our words and our deeds, and keep faith with
one another without guile, and frequently think upon the great judgment
that awaits us all; and protect ourselves against the flaming fire of hell; and
let us earn for ourselves the glory and the joy which God has prepared for
those who do His will on earth. So God help us. Amen. "
Here and there are traces of metrical character sometimes
assonant, sometimes alliterative, which may have been part of
some pessimistic folk-ballads on England's downfall.
## p. 131 (#151) ############################################
Wulfstan and Byrhtferth
131
Wulfstan's style is much more vehement than that of Aelfric.
He is preacher rather than teacher, appealing more to the emotions
than to the reason of his hearers, fertile in concrete illustrations,
and avoiding the subtle symbolism in which Aelfric delighted.
His sentences, though not deficient in lucidity, are very long ;
synonym is heaped on synonym and clause upon clause; yet the
chanting sense of rhythm is always present; epithets are balanced,
and the effect is often heightened by the use of antithesis. But,
as might be expected from one whose life was so much absorbed
by the administration of public affairs, his style is that of the
rhetorician rather than of the philosopher.
In addition to the homilies already mentioned, several isolated
tracts of the same nature by unknown authors survive. Among
these may be noted the Life of St Guthlac and of St Swithun,
the former translated from the Latin of Felix of Croyland, and,
on the ground that one MS is in the same handwriting as
Aelfric's Pentateuch? , often attributed to him; the latter a mere
fragment, also supposed by some scholars to be his. There are
also the Life of St Neot, and of St Mary of Egypt, which may,
possibly, be his.
Another renowned contemporary of Aelfric was the monk
Byrhtferth, whose writings are chiefly concerned with mathematics.
He lived about 980, and is said to have been a pupil of Abbo.
Leland says he was called Thorneganus. He seems to have known
some of Dunstan's earlier disciples, and to have lived at Canterbury
for a time. His reputation as an English writer rests on his
Handboc or Enchiridion, a miscellany preserved in only one MSS.
It begins with a descriptive calendar, and then follow short
treatises of a mathematical and philological nature. After these,
come three theological tracts, on The Ages of the World, The
Loosing of Satan and The Seven Sins. The collection concludes
with two homilies, one entitled Ammonitio Amisi paet is freondlic
mynegungʻ, and the other on the four cardinal virtues. The sermon
on the loosing of Satan seems to indicate that it was composed
towards the close of the tenth century, and this date is corroborated
by what other information we possess about the author.
Like Aelfric, Byrhtferth was a product of St Aethelwold's
i Cott. Vesp. D. XXI.
• Bod. Laud. E. 19.
3 Oxf. Ash. 328.
reminder.
* Besides these English treatises, Byrhtferth was also responsible for Latin com.
mentaries on Bede's De Temporum Ratione and De Natura Rerum and two essays
entitled De Principiis Mathematicis and De Institutione Monachorum; & Vita Dunstani
has also been attributed to him.
9_2
## p. 132 (#152) ############################################
132 From Alfred to the Conquest
monastic reform, but his scientific leanings differentiated him
remarkably from the greater homilists.
Besides these homilies and scientific treatises, there were com-
posed, during the tenth century, three English versions of the
Gospels, known as the Lindisfarne, Rushworth and West Saxon
glosses. The Latin text of the Lindisfarne Gospels', contained
in a magnificent manuscript, adorned with beautiful illuminations,
was written about the year 700; and it was not till at least two
hundred and fifty years later, when it had been removed to
Chester-le-Street, near Durham, for safety, that the interlinear
North Northumbrian gloss was added by Aldred, a priest of that
place. The gloss gives many variant English equivalents for the
Latin words. Aldred himself, however, seems to have written only
the latter part of the gloss, that beginning at St John v, 10 in
a new hand, though the earlier portion was, probably, made under
his supervision. The gloss is of the greatest importance from a
philological point of view, since it is our most valuable authority
for the Northumbrian dialect of the middle of the tenth century.
Equally interesting are the Rushworth Gospels. The Latin
text, which differs very slightly from that of the Lindisfarne MS,
was, perhaps, written in the eighth century, while the gloss dates
from the second half of the tenth. It falls into two distinct
portions, the first of which, in the dialect of north Mercia, was
written by Farman, a priest of Harewood, seven miles north-east
of Leeds. This portion, which includes the gospel of St Matthew
and part of chapters i and ii of St Mark, begins as a gloss, and,
later, becomes again a gloss, but, in the main, it is a fairly free
version of the Latin text. The second part, in a dialect which
has been called South Northumbrian by Lindelöf, was written by
Owun, and shows, very strongly, the influence of the Lindisfarne
glosses, which must have been before the writer as he worked,
since he often goes astray from the Latin text to follow Aldred's
version. It seems probable that Farman, who was a good Latin
scholar, had made his gloss as far as St Mark ii, 15, when the
Lindisfarne MS came into his hands. He then entrusted the task
to Owun, who was a less accomplished linguist, and who, whenever
he was confronted by a difficulty, resorted to the Lindisfarne gloss
for its solution. It may be that Farman chose Owun as one know-
ing a dialect closely akin to that of Lindisfarne.
i Cott. Nero D. iv.
• so called because the MS in which they are contained was formerly owned by
J. Rushworth, clerk to the House of Commons during the Long Parliament.
## p. 133 (#153) ############################################
Legends of the Holy Rood 133
There also exists in six MSS a West Saxon version of the
Gospels, which, owing to a note in one MS_ego Aelfricus scripsi
hunc librum in monasterio Baðhonio et dedi Brihtwoldo pre-
posito—was formerly ascribed to Aelfric of Eynsham. If we
suppose this Brihtwold to be the same as the bishop of that
name, who held the see of Sherborne from 1006—1046, as he is
here called prepositus, we may conclude that the Corpus MS
was written before 1006. It certainly belongs to the first quarter
of the eleventh century and is not of Aelfric's authorship, for it in
Do wise agrees with his description of his own work on the New
Testament. He tells us that he had translated pieces from the
New Testament; but this is a full version. The other MSS are
later, and one of them, in the Cambridge University Library, con-
tains also the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, which provided
legendary material for later medieval homilists and for the growth
of the Arthurian legend in respect of Joseph of Arimathaea.
The early Christian legends, indeed, and, more particularly,
such as mark the continuance of Jewish traditions and the gradual
diffusion of Christianity in the east, seem to have had a special
attraction for English writers of this period. There are two
legends connected with the Holy Rood-one with the growth of its
wood, the other with the history of the cross after the crucifixion.
The legend of the Holy Rood itself is the same as the original
story of Cynewulf's poem. It will be remembered that St Helena
was reputed to be of British origin.
The oldest English version of the legend of the growth of the
wood is found in a MS in the Bodleian (343), which contains also
fifty-one homilies by Aelfric. The manuscript dates only from
the twelfth century, but, as the other contents are copies of
eleventh century originals, it is reasonable to suppose that the
cross legend also was composed at an earlier period. This theory
is borne out by the language, which Napier considers too archaic
for the twelfth century. From a literary point of view, as well as
linguistically, the version is of the greatest interest, as showing
the development of English prose. In its original eleventh century
form, it represented, perhaps, the best tradition of the literary
West Saxon language developed in the cloisters, and the grace and
ease of the story show considerable mastery of the art of narrative.
The theme ultimately depends on the Jewish legends con-
tained in the Book of Adam and the Book of Enoch, and it had
originally no connection with Christianity. The story frequently
1 Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, oxL.
ease of the language dew ps, the best to bal eleventh cent
www. considerab) the cloistention of the
## p. 134 (#154) ############################################
134 From Alfred to the Conquest
occurs in medieval literature (as, for instance, in the South English
Legendary and the Cursor Mundi), and a brief outline of it may,
therefore, be given here. Unfortunately, the earlier part of the
legend in its Latin form, treating of the history of the rood to
the time of Moses, is missing in the English text. The story
shapes itself as follows. Adam being on the point of death, Eve and
Seth go to Paradise to ask the guardian angel for the healing oil
of life. Seth, as fallen man, is denied entrance to Paradise, and,
instead of the oil, the angel gives him three pips of cedar, cypress
and pine. When Seth returns to his father, he finds Adam
already dead; he places the three pips under Adam's tongue,
and, God having given Adam's body to Michael, it is buried by
the four archangels in Paradise. The pips fructify in the ground,
and from them spring three rods, which remain green till the time
of Moses. The Old English version begins at this point and tells
how Moses, having led the Children of Israel over the Red Sea,
lies down to rest, and, in the morning, finds that three rods have
sprung up, one at his head, and one at each side. With these
rods he makes sweet the bitter waters, and the host continues
its journey to Arabia. Hither David, whom the legend represents
as contemporary with Moses, is sent to demand the rods, and it is
revealed to him in a vision that they betoken the Trinity? He
carries them to Jerusalem, where there is a pit of water so bitter
that none can taste of it. The rods are placed in it, and they join
together into a mighty tree, the growth of which is marked by
silver rings. After the death of David, Solomon attempts to use
the tree for the building of the Temple; but, owing to the fact that
it continually alters in length, this proves impossible, and it remains
untouched within the sanctuary. Finally, when the Jews seek for
a tree on which to crucify Christ, they remember this rood, and
use part of it for the cross.
The legend of the finding of the cross by St Helena is entirely
Christian in origin, and is cognate to the version in The Golden
Legend of Jacobus a Voragine, and in the Bollandist Acta Sanc-
torum for the fourth of May, and it is the same theme as that
treated so beautifully by Cynewulf in his Elene.
An important legend cycle, to which attention has recently
been drawn, is that of the letter sent from Heaven on Sunday
observance. It is found in Old English in four of Wulfstan's
homilies, and in two separate versions (C. C. C. C 140 and 162).
1 "Cypressus taonær þone fæder ; Cedrus tacnæf pone suna; Pinus tacnef bone
balze gast. "
## p. 135 (#155) ############################################
Legends of the East
an
135
Of the legends printed by Cockayne, that of Jamnes and Mambres
has quite a modern “psychical” flavour. The fact of its being
a mere fragment, and breaking off when just about to become dull,
saves it in the eyes of all lovers of ghost-tales.
In addition to other legends of a sacred character there are
others of a more worldly nature, the most remarkable being the
(suppositious) Letter from Alexander to Aristotle', The Wonders
of the East2 and the story of Apollonius of Tyres. The first two
are closely connected with the eastern legend of Alexander the
Great, which had taken shape before the Christian era in a work
known as the pseudo-Kallisthenes, which was translated into Latin
before 340 by the so-called Julius Valerius. The two Alexander
legends, as we have them, are very faithful translations from Latin
originals, each chapter of The Wonders of the East being preceded
by a copy of the text on which it is founded. They are important
in the history of literature as proving the interest taken by the
educated clergy of the eleventh century in the Latin legend
cycles. Rather later than these two works, and also of eastern
origin, is the Old English version of Apollonius of Tyre, of which
only half is extant, a version of the same theme as that treated
in the 153rd chapter of Gesta Romanorum. It tells of the
wooing of the king of Antioch's daughter by Apollonius of Tyre,
and how her father, to prevent her marriage, required her suitors
to solve a riddle or to be beheaded. The early appearance of this
legend in the vernacular is especially interesting, since Gower's
version of the story in his Confessio Amantis provided the theme
for Pericles of Tyre. The presence of these legends in Old English
is peculiarly significant as indicating the on-coming flood of foreign
literature. Hitherto, the priest had been the story-teller, after
the heroic minstrelsy of earlier days had passed away; henceforth,
the lighter touch of the deliberate tale-teller was to be heard
in English.
From these we must turn to consider the quasi-scientific
works of this period, which have all been printed by Cockayne
in his Leechdoms, Wortcunning and Starcraft in Early England.
As might be expected, they have little literary value, but are
extremely interesting from a historical standpoint, since they
throw many valuable side-lights on the manners and social
conditions of the time. Cockayne's collection begins with the
Herbarium that passes under the name of Apuleius, a work
1 M8. Vitell. A. IV.
• Oott. Tib. B. v.
: 0. 0. C. C. 8. 18.
in bis Con Pecially intearly appear
## p. 136 (#156) ############################################
136 From Alfred to the Conquest
stating the various ills for which each plant is a remedy. It
appears in four MSS, the one printed by Cockayne dating
from the first half of the eleventh century. Following this
is an English version of the Medicina de quadrupedibus of
Sextus Placidus, about whom nothing is known, which describes
the various kinds of animals and the use of their bodies in
medicine.
Even more interesting is the leech-book in Cockayne's second
volume? The author was evidently acquainted with the Greek
and Latin authorities on medicine, for the work is full of their
prescriptions, and Helias, patriarch of Jerusalem, is mentioned as
having sent such prescriptions to king Alfred.
Lastly, Cockayne printed in his third volume two collections
of miscellaneous recipes, and a number of prognostications, inter-
pretations of dreams and a horologium. The first collection is
extremely interesting on account of the heathen nature of many
of the prescriptions, which require for their efficacy the repetition
of charms. Some of these are mere gibberish, in which, however,
fragments of Greek, Latin and Hebrew may be traced; others,
such as the celebrated charm against the stitch, show close con-
nection with Scandinavian mythology; while in some, such as the
charm to bring home straying cattle, there is a curious mingling
of Christian nomenclature and heathen superstition. All these
works are deeply tinged with poetic feeling; and the desire to
propitiate the powers that distribute storm and sunshine is visible
throughout. The date of these compositions is not known, but
most of the manuscripts belong to the eleventh century.
From the foregoing survey of English prose literature during
the eleventh century, it is clear that the language had attained
considerable development as a literary medium. In the hands of
Aelfric its vocabulary became less concrete, its constructions
more logical, and, though it was still seen to best advantage in
simple narrative, it was moulded by him with fair success to
philosophic requirements. But, in the years that followed the
Norman conquest, the development of English prose met with a
great check, and four hundred years elapsed before the vernacular
was again employed with the grace and fluency of Aelfric.
The decline of Old English poetry cannot be so directly
attributed to the Norman conquest. During the course of the
tenth and eleventh centuries the classical rhetorical metre bad
i Cott. Vitell. O. m.
· Printed from MS Reg. 12 D. XVI.
* M8 Harl. 685 and M8 Harl. 6258. • Chiefly from MS Oott. Tib. A. II.
## p. 137 (#157) ############################################
The Ballads and Poems in the Chronicle 137
already begun to deteriorate, and was being gradually replaced
by the sung metre of the popular ballad. For the whole of our
period we have only two great poems, the fragment of Judith
in the Beowulf MS and the East Anglian poem of Byrhtnoth’s
death at Maldon. Both poems deal with the struggle against the
same foe and both are in the alliterative rhetorical metre. Judith
contains a fair number of lines which are undoubtedly clear types
of sung verse, such as is found in the thirteenth century in
Layamon's Brut. The Battle of Maldon also contains two much
alike'. The adoption of this metre, which, although ancient, here
exhibits what are practically its first known traces in Old English
literature, is carried to much greater lengths in the poems em-
bedded in the Chronicle; and some observations upon this new
metre, called the “sung" or four-beat verse, as opposed to the
declamatory or two-beat metre of the older poems, will be found
in an appendix at the end of the volume.
The first poem in the Chronicle occurs under the year 937, and
celebrates the glorious victory won by Aethelstan at Brunanburh.
It is a markedly patriotic poem and shows deep feeling; its
brilliant lyrical power, and the national enthusiasm evident
throughout, have made it familiar, in one form or another, to
all lovers of English verse. Great care was taken with the metre,
which is the ancient rhetorical line.
Under the year 942 another poem in alliterative rhetorical
metre occurs. It consists only of a few lines, and its subject is
the liberation of the five boroughs, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham,
Stamford and Derby, “which were formerly Danish, constrained
by need in the captive bonds of the heathen,” by Edmund, son
of Edward the Elder. It has little poetic value; but it is dis
tinguished by the same intense patriotism as the verses on the
battle of Brunanburh.
The first poem in sung verse contained in the Chronicle is that
for 959, on the accession of king Edgar. It contains forty-nine half
lines, making twenty-four and a half full lines, connected, of which
only about eight show alliteration. The lines are connected in the
earlier form of rimeless rhythm, not strictly alliterative, though
* But the reader must be cautioned against assuming that every rimed verse was
also sung verse. The shorter types of rimed verse in such poems as Judith and The
Battle of Maldon were almost certainly not. The only sure oriteria are (1) conformity
to the metrical schemes given in the Appendix, (2) a tendency to neglect the rhetorio
stress and turn the two-beat rhythm into a four-beat, as shown by the riming use of
syllables pot carrying the full stress. Examples are: Judith, l. 231, (écgum geoósto)
slógon éornostè; Maldon, 1. 309, Býrhtwold máþetode bórd bắfēnode.
## p. 138 (#158) ############################################
138
From
Alfred to the Conquest
assonance is sometimes found. Metrically, it is our best preserved
example. The theme is the prosperity of Edgar; how his wise
rule was honoured far and wide, how he established peace in the
land and how he was rewarded by God with the willing submission
of kings and earls. Of one fault, however, says the chronicler,
he was too often guilty, namely that he loved foreign ways and
enticed outlanders into his dominions. The poem ends with a
prayer that God may be more mindful of the king's virtues than of
his evil deeds, and that they may shield his soul from harm on its
long journey hence.
The delight of the English in the peaceful rule of Edgar is
still further shown by a poem in the old rhetorical metre which
is variously given in the different recensions of the Chronicle
under the years 972, 973 and 974, and relates the coronation of
Edgar. The Peterborough chronicle has some lines which have
been written as verse, but scansion seems to raise insurmount-
able difficulties. It can only be scanned on the assumption
that we have an attempt to combine two stress lines with four-
stress rhythm, or an attempt to put a ballad into the form of the
“higher” poetry. They tell how kings came from afar to do
homage to Edgar, and how there was no fleet so daring as to
threaten his dominions, or host so strong as to ravage the land
while he ruled over it.
Another interesting ballad poem, on the troubles caused by
Aelfhere and other rebels in the reign of Edgar's son Edward,
is found in the MS known as Cott. Tib. B. IV. It is of 19 half
lines or 9} full lines. The linking system seems to be mostly
alliteration, but rime and assonance show themselves most clearly
where alliteration becomes absent or weak, as in
Godes wibersăecan
Godes lage brãecon
and
mynstra tostaencton,
and
munecas todraefdon.
The verse is sung ballad-verse, and the alliteration what would
be called irregular in rhetorical verse. It is uncertain whether
what seems an opening verse really belongs to the song.
The murder of Edward son of Edgar, at Corfesgeat, is
related in a peculiarly distinctive poem, which is quite clearly in
sung verse, and shows traces of strophic arrangement. Some lines,
possibly, show the earliest English seven-beat verse; some lines
have, obviously, been lengthened, and the last six printed as verse
do not scan as such, being, possibly, only rhythmic prose added
## p. 139 (#159) ############################################
The Ballads and Poems in the Chronicle 139
afterwards. They are exactly like the irregular lines on Edgar's
death. Probably the chronicler took a popular ballad or ballads,
broke it up, and attempted to destroy its sing-song character by
the addition of end verses.
