Synopses & Reviews
The literature of Anglo-Saxon England is unique among contemporary European literatures in that it features a vast amount of saints' lives in the vernacular. This study analyzes the most important author Aelfric's lives of five important saints in the light of their cults in Anglo-Saxon England, providing the reader fascinating glimpses of 'Aelfric at work'. He adapts the cults and rewrites the received Latin hagiography so that each of their lives conveys a distinct message to the contemporary political elite as well as to a lay audience at large.
Review
"This is a masterly review of these five selected vitae by a scholar who has immersed herself deeply in the literature of the tenth-century Winchester reform movement. Its greatest achievements are the unfolding, through patient analysis of sources that were or could have been available to Aelfric..., of the varying strategies employed by Aelfric to commemorate his subjects and...the reinforcement of our appreciation of the importance of Aelfric of upholding the principles of the monastic reform of Aethelwold and of pastoral response to current events. Gretsch's facility in contemporary English is superb."
-Milton McC. Gatch, Union Theological Seminary, Journal of Medieval Studies
Synopsis
A study of 'lfric's saint's Lives in their contemporary political and intellectual setting.
Synopsis
The cult of saints was one of the most important aspects of life in the Middle Ages, and it often formed the nucleus of developing group identities in a town, a province or a country. The literature of Anglo-Saxon England is unique among contemporary European literatures in that it features a vast amount of saints' Lives in the vernacular. Aelfric is the most important author of these Lives. In this study, Mechthild Gretsch analyzes Aelfric's Lives of five important saints in the light of their cults in Anglo-Saxon England.
About the Author
Mechthild Gretsch is Professor in the Department of English at Gottingen University. Her previous books include The Intellectual Foundations of the English Benedictine Reform (also in the Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England series, 1999), and she has published articles in various English and German journals, including Anglo-Saxon England.
Table of Contents
1. 'lfric's Sanctorale and the Benedictional of 'thelwold; 2. Gregory: the Apostle of the English; 3. Cuthbert: from Northumbrian Saint to Saint of All England; 4. Benedict: Father of Monks - and what else?; 5. Swithun and 'thelthryth: Two 'Saints of our Days'; 6. Epilogue.