The Chronology and Canon of Ælfric of Eynsham

Description

A thousand years and more ago, with Vikings ravaging the coastlines and the millennium drawing nigh, a monk named Ælfric embarked on studies that would make him the most erudite, prolific, and influential author writing in English before Chaucer. What drove Ælfric was no desire to leave his mark on history, however, but the belief that he held a treasure on which the temporal and eternal welfare of his contemporaries depended: knowledge of the rich moral teachings of the early Christian church. What he produced was an astonishing synthesis of some of the finest minds in history, conveyed with remarkable authorial transparency and an elegantly simple style. While there is much we know about Ælfric, both from his own self-disclosure and the wealth of surviving manuscripts containing work by him, there is also much that muddies the waters: his feverish pace of simultaneous composition, his habit of reshaping and repurposing his writings, the staggering complexities of textual transmission, and competing scholarly interpretive voices. This volume seeks to take it all into account, setting forth a comprehensive picture of work and the manuscripts in which it may be found. Integrating scholars' best understanding to date and framing new avenues for inquiry, it offers a launching point for new research into this pivotal figure of early England. List of Illustrations vi Acknowledgements vii List of Abbreviations viii Ælfrician Manuscript Sigla ix Introduction 1 1. Ælfric’s Chronology 5 Key Dates 6 The Development of the Catholic Homilies 20 Appendices 1–3 51 2. The Ælfrician Canon 66 1. Homilies 71 2. Separate Works 119 3. Non-Liturgical Narrative Pieces 131 4. Letters 149 5. Prefaces 165 6. Epitomes and Abridgements 166 7. Miscellanea 186 8. Notes 198 3. Ælfrician Manuscripts 207 Manuscript Descriptions Manuscripts Referenced by Clemoes, Godden, and/or Pope 208 Other Manuscripts Containing Works by Ælfric 249 Witnesses to the Grammar and Glossary 258 Witnesses to The Old English Ely Privilege 262 Transcriptions 265 The Manuscript Distribution of Ælfric’s Works 269 Appendix 4: Compendium 276 Works Cited 309 Index 336