Ronk.y/jS^ Gopghtl>I^. COPyRIGHT DEPOSIT. YALE STUDIES IN ENGLISH ALBERT S. COOK, Editor II ^LFRIC A NEW STUDY OF HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS CAROLINE LOUISA WHITE, Ph. D. LAMSON, WOLFFE AND COMPANY Boston, New York, and London 1898 ' We have a deep concern in preserving from destruction the thoughts of the past, the leading conceptions of all re- markable forms of civilization; the achievements of genius, of virtue, and of high faith/ 'Though these things may be individually forgotten, collectively they survive, and are in action still/ James Martineau. Copyright, 1898, By CAROLINE L. WHITE. All rights reserved. riA/.'\ PfADi cc ocrtriiyrr* PREFACE. The repeated efforts of scholars for the past three hundred years to discover the identity of ^Ifric, show the significant place that his writings hold; no history of Engiisli culture would be complete that left out of account the century that preceded the Norman Conquest, and in that century ^Ifric's writings are more iinportant than those of any other man. Transliterated copies of his homilies made in the Middle English period show that their practical use had not ceased at a time when men could no longer read the language in which tliey were first written. These Avritings are valuable, first, in reference to the bistoury of English literature and English culture; secondly, in refer- ence to the histor}^ and development of the English language; thirdly, as theological writings which throw light upon the beliefs of the church in the Old English period. It was this third value of ^Ifric's works that, in the six- teenth century, gave the first impulse to the modern study of Old English. The attempts made by such scholars as Wharton and Mores to identify ^Ifric, succeeded in bringing together a body of facts which finally proved useful in deciding the question. The modern author who has done most to illuminate this subject is Edward Dietrich, late professor at the University of Marburg, who in 1855 and 1856 published the results of his investigations in Niedner's Zeitschrift fur Ilistoru^che Tlieologie. His papers considered, first, ^Ifric's writings; secondly, the teachings of the Old English Church according to yElfric's writings; thirdly, iElfric's education and charac- ter; fourthly, ^Ifric's life. Of these studies, Dietrich writes thus: 'The great igno- rance as to ^Ifric's life and personality which has pre- 4 Preface. vailed in church histories up to the present time has led to the following investigations. They were preceded by several years' study of ^Ifric's writings, and of the earlier and later Old English literature, and a long stay in England gave op- portunity to study at the British Museum and at Oxford his yet unpublished works.' The chief results of Dietrich's investigations have been accepted as authoritative by German students of Old English, and are fundamental in all subsequent German ^Ifrician studies. But although almost half a century has passed since he wrote, his work is rarely noticed by English writers. Those who have studied at German universities are well acquainted with it, and perhaps many others. But in such works as the E ncydopcedia Britannica, and the Dictionary of National Biography which gives references to the most important authorities on each subject treated, Dietrich's work is entirely ignored. Cockayne, whose discussion of the subject of ^Ifric's identity is probably the most thorough and satis- factory of anything originally written upon it in English, makes no reference to Dietrich. Yet it is hardly to be doubted that he was indebted to him, although it may be indi- rectly. This study is based upon Dietrich's work in so far as that accords with the results of more recent investigations. Wliere- ever equally advantageous, his words are simply translated. Chapters five and six are chiefly translation. Such also is chapter seven, but with various additions, omissions and modifications, in order to bring the treatment of the subject up to the present day. In preparing the descriptions of ^Ifric's works I have re- written as far as possible Dietrich's different divisions, omit- ting some things, adding others, and treating the subjects with much freedom. The uncertainty which has been felt up to the present time as to who ^Ifric was, and where he lived, and his frequent identifications with others of the same name, make it very de- Preface. 5 sirable, now that the main ontline of his life is known, to take him away completely from the false surroundings in which he has been placed, and, as it were, to create his iden- tity anew. Hence the attempt has here been made to show his true relation to his age, and to embody in a connected whole the known facts of his life. As a complete biography the re- sult is of course inadequate. Some of the data are uncertain, but the degree of uncertainty is indicated. This account of ^Ifric's life incorporates the chief facts established by Dietrich, but is not a translation. In some few cases a result different from his has been reached. For instance, the view here given is that ^Ifric remained at Cernel from the time he left Winchester, in, or soon after 987, until he became abbot in 1005. Dietrich's view that he returned to Win- chester, and perhaps went elsewhere, is accounted for, in that he recognized no relationship between the two noblemen who were ^Ifric's patrons, and considered it necessary for him to return to Winchester in order to make the acquaintance of yEthelweard. The chapter on the monastic revival is added in order to explain ^Ifric's literary activity, and is not at all derived from Dietrich. No attempt has been made to give Dietrich's account of the views of the Old English Church according to ^Ifric's writings. The spirit in which he treats that subject is char- acteristic of all his work, and explains why the results of his studies are of permanent value. He says of the above subject: 'Whether it is Protestant or Catholic does not now concern me. I wish to ascertain from his collected expressions upon it, and through comparison of these, what that teaching is in itself, and what it is in comparison with that of the times just before and just after it.' In the last chapter are printed the prefaces of ^Ifric's writings. They afford material, not only for deciding various questions of fact in respect to his life, but when studied either separately or in comparison, they reveal much that is of in- terest in the character of ^Ifrie, the Christian man and the 1* 6 Preface. teacher of his people. These prefaces are complete in all cases except that of Genesis and the English preface of Catho- lic Homilies I. In those, the parts which are not of a personal nature are omitted. Also the autohiographical portions of the v/ork On the Old and Netv Testaments are given, and an extract from the charter of Eynsham Abbey. The bibliogTaphy is as complete as circumstances allow. It can hardly have" failed to omit some things which should find a place in it, since its subject is an author whose volumi- nous works have often been printed, and about whom much has been said by many writers. The original purpose of the present study was to render the most important parts of Dietrich's work accessible to English readers. The endeavor to fulfil that purpose showed the advisability of adding to these some of the results which have been reached by other scholars during the years which have elapsed since he published his papers. In those years nearly all of ^Elfric's writings which were before unpublished have been printed, and the authenticity of some hitherto doubtful ones has been conclusively established. It should be added that the many recent studies of ^Ifric's works have only rendered clearer and more certain the chief results ob- tained by Dietrich. In most cases where he can be shown to have been mistaken, the later 'judgments are derived from facts not easily accessible at the time when he wrote. I gladly acknowledge my indebtedness to the various schol- ars whose works are referred to or quoted in the following pages. To Professor Albert S. Cook I am grateful, not only for criticism and suggestion, but still more for encouragement and inspiration in this endeavor to render a little more dis- tinct the life and work of an English scholar of the past. C. L. W. New Haven, May, 1898. CONTENTS. Page Chronological Tables . . . . . 9 Chapter I. The Monastic Eevival ... 13 Chapter II. ^Ifric at Winchester ... 35 Chapter III. At the Abbey of Cemel ... 47 Chapter IV. At the Abbey of Eynsham . . 60 Chapter V. iElfric's Education and Character . 71 Chapter VI. ^^Ifric's Service and Inflnence . . 83 Chapter VII. Exploded Theories of .^Ifric's Iden- tity 88 Chapter VIII. .^Ifric's Homilies ... 101 Chapter IX. Grammatical and Astronomical Writ- ings ..... 119 Chapter X. The Lives of the Saints; Pastoral Let- ters or Canons .... 12G Chapter XL Translations from the Bible; On the Old and Kew Testaments . . 146 Chapter XII. Life of vEthelwold; De Consuetudine Monaehonim . . . . 156 Chapter XIII. Prefaces of ^Ifric's Works . . 165 Appendix I. Mores' Treatise on ^Ifric^s Identity . 183 Appendix II. Summary of Forstei*'s Study of the Sources of the Exegetical Hom- ilies ..... 185 8 Contents. PAGB Appendix III. Summary of Eeiim's Study of the Authorship of the De Tempori- bus 188 Appendix IV. Summaries of McLean's and Tess- mann's Studies of the Old Eng- lish Interrogations . . . 192 Appendix V. Ott's Study of the Sources of the Legendary Homilies in Lives of the Saints, I . . . . 195 Appendix VL Summary of Assmann's Study of ^Ifrie's Judith . . . 196 Bibliography . . . . . • . 199 Classified Bibliogi-aphy . . . . . 311 Index 313 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 449 The English land in Britain. 597 Augustine converts Kent. 597-681 Convei-sion of the English to Christianity. GG4 Council of Whitby. Victory of Roman Christianity. Cfedmon at Whitby 668 Theodore made Archbishop of Canterbury. 673 Birth of Bede, died 742(?). 789-855 England plundered by the Danes. 855-897 Danes invade England and make settlements. 871 Alfred, King of Wessex, bom 849, died 901. 878 Peace of Wedmore made with the Danes. 901 Edward the Elder, died 925. 925 .^thelstan, died 940. 940 Edmund, died 946. 945 (?) Dunstan made Abbot of Glastonbury, 946 Eadred, died 955. 952(?) .^thelwold made Abbot of Abingdon. 955 Eadwig, died 959. 956 Banishment of Dunstan. 957 Dunstan made Bishop of Worcester, and of London. 959 Edgar, died 975. Dunstan made Archbishop of Canterbury. 961 Oswald made Bishop of Worcester. 963 ^thelwold made Bishop of Winchester. 970 Restoration of Ely Abbey. 972 Restoration of Peterborough Abbey. Oswald made Archbishop of York. 975 Edward the Martyr, died 978. 979 ^thelred the Unready, died 1016. 980-2 Beginning of Danish inroads. 984 Alphege II. made Bishop of Winchester. 10 Chronological Table. 987 Founding of Cemel Abbey. 988 ^thelgar made Archbishop of Canterbury. Beginning of Danish settlements. 990 Sigeric made Archbishop of Canterbury. 991 Battle of Maldon. 992 Aldulf made Archbishop of York, 994 Danish inroads. 995 ^Elfric made Archbishop of Canterbury. 997-999 Eenewed attacks of the Danes. 998 Death of the ealdorman ^thelweard. 1003 Wulfstan made Archbishop of York. 1005 Founding of Eynsham Abbey. 1006 Alphege made Archbishop of Canterbury. Kenulph made Bishop of Winchester. 1007 ^thelwold II made Bishop of AVinchester. 1016 Accession of Edmund Ironside. Cnut, King of England. 1023 ^Ifric made Archbishop of York. 1035 Harold Barefoot, died 1040. 1040 Harthacnut, died 1042. 1042 Edward the Confessor, died 1066. 1066 Harold elected King; Battle of Senlac; Norman Con- quest. CHIEF DATES OF CLERIC'S LIFE. Some of these dates are conjectural. The degree of uncertainty is indicated in" the chapters that treat of jElfric's life. 955 Birth. 973-987 Life at Winchester. 987-1004 Life at Cemel. 990-991 The Catholic Homilies, I. 992 The De Temporibns. 991 The Catholic Homilies, II. 995 Grammar. 998 Lives of the Saints. 997-999 The Glossary 998 Translations from the Old Testament. 998-1001 Pastoral Letter for Wulfsige. 995-1005 The Colloquium. 1005 ^Ifric Abbot of Eynsham. 1005-1006 Tract composed for Wulfgeat. 1005 Excerpts from the De Consuetudine. 1006 Latin Life of ^thelwold. 1005-12 Treatise on the Old and New Testaments. 1007-1012 Sermon on Vigilate Ergo. 1014-1016 Pastoral Letter for Wulfstan. ' — 1020 Second edition of the Catholic Homilies. 1020-1025 Death. ' If we add to the consideration (of their belief in the approaching end of the world), the recollection how imperfect was the possession then retained of the literature of antiquity, the indifference with which that literature was regarded by the majority, and the difficulties under which it was studied and transmitted, it may perhaps occur to us that the censure and the sarcasm so often directed against these ages, might well give place to something more of reverence and grati- tude towards the heroic few who tended the lamp amid the darkness and the storm.' J. B. Mullinger, The University of Cambridge, p 46. CHAPTER I. THE MONASTIC EEVIVAL. The story of any life is incomplete which gives no glimpse of the human influences that have moulded it, and the other lives upon which it has impressed its personality. This is most truly the case when the man of whom the story is told is one who has spent his years in the service of his fellow-men. In the life of Abbot ^Ifric, the greatest of the Old English prose writers, we cannot find the real man by seeking him in the quiet cell of a mediseval monk. It is only when we place him in the midst of human interests, and in direct re- lation to the men of the period in which he actually lived, that the true ^Ifric "wnll appear. While history has given us only a few of the minor details of his life, our knowledge of its chief events, though imperfect, is now fairly certain. Enough is told to illuminate the time in which he lived, to ex- plain his various undertakings, and to give consistency to his literary work. But it is possible for us to understand in some measure his relation to his contemporaries, and it is absolutely essential that we should understand this in order to estimate correctly the nature and the value of his work. Therefore before recounting the story of the man himself, we will speak of the age in which he lived, and of the men whose influence upon their time made possible the activities of that life which we are to describe. The life and writings of ^Ifric belong to a cultural epoch of great significance; they are part of a movement which occupies a definite and important place in English his- tory. We propose in this chapter to show the historical rela- tion of this movement to earlier times, and some of its im- portant features as it was carried on by a few earnest men in the latter half of the tenth century. 2 14 The Monastic Hevival. The childhood and youth of ^Ifric fell in the reign of Edgar, the great-grandson of Alfred, a period of unwonted prosperity for England. Its few years of tranquility followed more than a century of disheartening struggles with the Northmen, when first as invaders, and then as inhabitants of the land, the Danes had been alternately defeated and victori- ous, and had for the time prevented the internal and social development of the nation. The unbroken peace of Edgar*B reign seemed the beginning of better things. Fortunately influences for higher culture, an intellectual and religious revival, had begun to work actively even before this, in the reigns of Edmund and Eadred, and it was Edgar's hearty co-operation with those men who were working for the moral uplift of the nation, that helped most to make the few years of his reign memorable. History represents Edgar as the weak slave of vice, and, on the other hand, as a wise and noble king. Some truth there is in both tradi- tions. Well authenticated inconsistencies appear in the king's life. And yet good in him must have had most power, for he showed wisdom and energy as a king, and chose as his chief counsellors men of undoubted righteousness, while he himself evidently loved goodnesBS and good men for their own sakes. This period of earnest effort to revive letters and purify life is usually spoken of as that of the Monastic Revival. It cen- ters chiefly in the lives of three men, Dunstan, .^thelwold, and Oswald, whose period of activity reaches from about the middle of the tenth century to the beginning of its last de- cade. Their names are great in the history of that day, and af- ter their deaths they were not only canonized, but remem- bered by the people as worthy of all love and reverence. For us their great significance lies more in the spirit in which they worked and in the ultimate ends they sought, than in the direct means which they employed, even though the means themselves were fruitful of good. Not as revivers of monas- ticism for its own sake do we specially honor them, but be- The Monastic Mevival. 15 cause they loved the ideal ends which that monasticism was meant to promote, and because they laid the chief stress on the ends rather than on the means. Various causes, how- ever, have given the monastic element an undue emphasis in the historic records. To the people of their own time they represented the higher ideals of living, and there gathered about them the men who cared for the things of the spirit, and gladly followed their leadership. Nowhere is there a better example of their power to train men to live patient, unselfish, laborious lives, than .'Ethelwold's pupil, ^Ifric, alumnus of Winchester. The tenth century is one of the most barren in original English historical documents. There remains much that we still need to know in order that an accurate and just under- standing of the time may be possible for us. Some light is given by three early biographies of the churchmen who have been named. Each was written within a few years of the death of the man whom it describes, by one who knew him personally. "While all of these biographies contain some ad- mixture of fable, they are for the most part trustworthy, and stand among 'the memorials of the best men of the time, written by the best scholars of the time.' In order to understand the reforms of Dunstan and his co-workers, and successors, among whom Abbot ^Ifric should be counted, it is necessary to appreciate the condition of the church and of monastic life when these men began to make their influence felt. And first of all, it must be remem- bered that the clergy formed the sole cultured class; that in their keeping was not only all religious teaching, but also the preservation of literature and the instruction of the young; in other words, the furnishing of nearly all the men- tal stimulus which comes to a people through the knowledge of the past, and the use of that knowledge in the preparation for the future. The numerous sermons and other writings of ^]lfric continually reminded his readers of this as of a well understood fact, and TEliTic's, choice of material in most 16 The Monastic Hevivdl. of his writings, which were designed for laymen, profess- edly takes this into account. From its early days, the English Church had combined episcopacy with monasticism. The limits of the first bishop- rics had corresponded with those of the different kingdoms that embraced Christianity, like those kingdoms changing their boundaries with the successes and defeats of the politi- cal rulers. Archbishop Theodore (688-690) sub-divided some of these large dioceses, added new ones, and gave to the church, with the co-operation of the rulers, a more complete and centralized organization. The parish system was of someM^hat later origin. It grew up in this way: the land was held by owners of large tracts, and the religious needs of the tenants were commonly provided for by the owner of the township, who built and endowed the village church, and provided it with a pastor ordained by the bishop. But from the very first, monasticism, although upon the whole subordinate to the episcopal organization, had been of great importance in England. The life of the English Church began with the founding of the monastery of Christ Church at Cante^bur}^ The conversion of the different English kingdoms was brought about by the patient work of the monks. The Celtic Church, the great instrument for the conversion of the North, was almost exclusively monastic in its tendencies, and though the Synod of Whitby (664) decided that the English Church was to belong to the Roman com- munion, it did not change the ideal of holy living which Columba and Aidan and Cuthbert had set forth by teaching and example, and which the Eoman Church not only did not discourage, but even promoted. Indeed, the century that followed Whitby was the great monastic century. Then were founded the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow by Benedict Biscop, Glastonbury, Peterborough, Abingdon, Ely, and a host of others. The brightest lights of this flourishing period axe Csedmon and Bede, and there might be added a list of many names, The Monastic Revival. 17 not indeed of poets, like Csedmon, or of great scholars like Bede, but yet of devoted Christian adherents of the monastic houses, who fostered piety and scholarship, and made their lives powerful for good. Libraries, indispensable in a Bene- dictine house, were gathered together, and schools were estab- lished by the monks. Evils and abuses there undoubtedly were. A system founded on a theory of society which makes it holier to withdraw from the common life of men than to live that life from the highest motives, is in itself so unnat- ural that it never long maintains itself free from abuse. Yet the monasteries of early mediseval England fostered indus- try, set a high standard for human conduct, and kept alive piety, literature and education. Our indebtedness to them is beyond calculation. Near the close of the eighth century began the invasions of the Danes, when, because of their wealth, churches and mon- asteries became special objects of plunder and destruction. Their inmates were driven away or killed on the spot, their books and other treasures were destroyed, and their walls were burned to the ground. Thus perished within a few years the monasteries of Lindisfarne (793), Wearmouth, Jar- row, Peterborough, Ely, Croyland and many others, together with many churches; while their monks, nuns and priests either abandoned their service or were barbarously put to death. At the beginning of this period of devastation Eng- land stood high among the nations of Europe in religion, education, and literary culture; at its close, the clergy, with- out books or teachers, were quite unfitted to be the guides of the people, and the people themselves had lost their Chris- tian ideals and become rude like the barbarians who were now finding homes for themselves through all the northern and eastern parts of the land. The monasteries had almost ceased to exist. It was in these distressing days that King Alfred, mindful of the wise and good men, and the great learning and devo- tion to the service of G-od which had abounded among the 18 The Monastic JRevival. English in the former days,' undertook to revive among his people religion and the love of letters. He made laws to check the prevailing immorality and to promote justice; he induced men of culture and piety to come from other coun- tries to assist him; and in every way, by example and by incentive, he endeavored to repair the losses suffered, and to set at work all possible instrumentalities for educating and enlightening the church and the people. He established at Winchester a school where not only his own cliildren, but also the sons of his nobles and others could be well instructed, and by his own study and by the work of his assistants, he furnished translations of useful books: of Bedels Ecclesiastical History, of Gregory's Pastoral Care, of Orosius' History of the World, and of Boethius' Consolations of Pliil- osopJiy. He collected the annals of English history and started the Saxon Chronicle. Alfred's efforts were still bearing fruit in the days when Dunstan and his friends imdertook their work. His books were read by the few who could read, and the tradition of better things was by no means forgotten. But there was need of revival and reformation. One has only to read the history of Alfred's royal successors, to see that while they desired the prosperity of the church and of scholarship, their energies were of necessity chiefly absorbed in preserving and enlarging the dominion of the Wessex kingdom, which bad come in the tenth century to mean the kingdom of all the English. That the work of Alfred and his immediate suc- cessors had thus failed to bring about even a tolerable state of morality and culture will appear from the following points: First, the religious and moral influence of the clergy was to a considerable extent degrading, not elevating. Following the teaching of St. Gregory, the clergy of the English Church, except the orders below the priest, were celibate from its I See the preface of Alfred's translation of Gregory's Cura Pastoralis. The Monastic Revival. 19 foundation, and so continued until the devastations of the Danes broke up the religious hoiises, and scattered the monks and the secular clergy. At the time when Dunstan began his work many of the officiating priests had asserted their right to marry, and had married, though not legally, of course, for they could not marry legally. Fiirthermore the immoral position in which they were thus placed, made it easy for them to take the next step and divorce one wife for another whenever they chose to do so. This practice had grown out of the demoralized state of the country and the dissoluteness of life which followed the overthrow of almost all the centers of religion and culture. The practice resulted not from a conviction of its reasonableness, but from the desire to be free from restraint. The same irksomeness of restraint made the services of the church distasteful, and the priests who drew the revenues often performed their church duties by proxy. In the monasteries and cathedral establish- ments the services were now performed by the secular clergy, often men of dissolute lives. No more severe commentary on the church of that day can be found, than the laws of the state and the canons of the church issued in respect to the clergy. Secondly, the education of the clergy and consequently of the people, had fallen with their morals, and from the same causes. The destruction of libraries, the absence of schools and teachers and centers of culture, had resulted in that state of illiteracy and indifference to learning of which ^Ifric speaks when he says, 'before Archbishop Dunstan and Bishop ^thelwold re-established the monastic schools, no English priest was able to compose or understand a letter in Latin.' Even if this were not true without exception, it must have been generally true. But there were many who longed for a healthier condition of affairs, and were ready to welcome and promote any change which promised to forward a better civilization. The mon- asteries, as has been said, were almost destroyed. It might 20 The Monastic Revival, well have seemed to those who cherished the tradition of the past, a feasible and promising enterprise to found anew the abbeys and the abbey schools. The actual change, however, came about like most genuine reforms, not by preordained, systematic arrangement, but by a natural train of circum- stances. At Glastonbury Abbey, perhaps the oldest seat of Christianity in England, there still lingered a few secular clergy who preserved the tradition of learning and piety unbroken. Dunstan, the son of a wealthy kinsman of Bishop Alphege of Winchester, was bom near Glastonbury about 922. This boy, of poetical temperament, and fond of study, was placed by his parents in the famous abbey, where he re- ceived the tonsure. There he studied and read so diligently that the fame of his learning reached the court of King .^thelstan, and he was summoned thither, but only to be- come an object of jealousy to his young companions, who conspired against him and brought about his banishment from court. At this crisis Bishop Alphege, who saw in his young relative a man whose brilliant qualities would help forward the cause of God and of the church, besought him to take the monastic vow, which, in accordance with the mon- astic practice of the English hitherto, meant the vow of celi- bacy and devotion to God, but did not insist upon the stricter regulations of the Benedictine order. Dunstan hesitated, but a little later, when the disgrace of banishment, and the ill treatment of the courtiers had been followed by a severe illness, he yielded to the persuasions of his friend, became a monk, and returned to his own abbey of Glastonbury. From there he was recalled to court by King Edmund, but envy once more drove him from the king's presence. A little later, about 945, the repentant Edmund, in atonement for his injustice, appointed DunstaJi, then scarcely more than twenty years old, abbot of Glastonbury, according to his biographer, 'the first abbot of the English nation.' The enterprising spirit of the young monk quickly brought disciples once more to Glastonbury who soon be- The Monastic Mevival. 21 came Benedictine brethren. New buildings were added to the monastery, manuscripts were gathered into its library, and a great enthusiasm for study possessed the abbey school with Dimstan as the teacher. The keynote of the life there can hardly have been strongly ascetic. What we see of Dunstan and his influence seems to forbid such a view. Not- withstanding the many marvellous tales which gathered around Dunstan's name soon after his death, the character of the man in its chief outlines is distinct, and we can see in this mediseval abbot a lover of literature, of music, of painting, a versatile and strong personality, wise and devout. As such, he made a lasting impression upon his pupils. "We can not doubt that those early students were picked men, elect by their own hunger for higher opportunities, attracted to this spot by a man who possessed that union of imaginative power, executive ability, and devotion to ideal ends, which is of all types of character the one most universally attractive to i^eekers after the ideal. But a short time passed before Dunstan's scholars were sought for as pastors and teachers in many different cities, so that the influence of Glastonbury was widely disseminated, and abbots, bishops, even archbishops, went forth from that monastery, and by useful lives, and in some instances by heroic deaths, attested the value of the instruction they had received. Among his disciples at Glastonbury was ^thelwold, a monk of about his own age,' a native of Winchester, and a pupil of his kinsman. Bishop Alphege, by whom both young men had been ordained on the same day to the priest's office. It is most probable that they had also been associated at the royal court, for ^thelwold was for a long time attached to the king's retinue, where, his biographer says, 'he learned many useful things from the king-'s counsellors.' His bril- liant record as a student at Winchester had, as in Dunstan's I Perhaps a few years older, but probably not born as early as 908, as some have thought. See Acta Sanctorum^ edited by Bollandus, Vol. 35, notes on iEthelwold's life. 22 The Monastic Mevival. case, led to the summons to attend upon the king. On join- ing the brethren at Glastonbury he devoted himself to 'grammatical and metrical science' and to the study of sacred letters; he was prayerful and self-denying, and made his in- fluence felt among the brethren of the monastery. At length he took the monastic vow and formally joined the Benedic- tine order, and still continued for some time longer at the abbey of G^lastonb^^ry, which was up to this time the only house of monks in England. In this quiet and holy life the appreciation of such advantages grew stronger within him, and he felt that he must learn more of the regular monastic discipline, and consult sacred writings not to be found in his own country, accordingly he decided to go abroad. Continental monasticism had a close connection with this new zeal in England. The foreign marriages of the English royal house had facilitated intercourse between the Flemish monasteries and the higher clergy of the English church, a connection which is important to notice here. But more than this, England, though separated from the Continent, was yet near enough to it to share in its general course of thought and development. The fall of the monasteries in England had not been an isolated fact. Those of France and other countries had also declined, and much the same antecedents appear in all cases. * Three prominent causes of the decline are the following: first, the Continent as well as England had suffered from barbarian invasions; second, on both sides of the Channel before the period of invasion, the church had lost much of its enthusiasm for monastic life, and the outward misfortunes only precipitated and rendered more complete a change that had already begun; third, the enor- mous gifts of land to the churches and monasteries had put great wealth and great secular interests under ecclesiastical I See E. Sackur Die Cluniacenser im Ihrer Kircklicken und Allgenteingeschichtlich- en Wirksaynkeit, I. Introduction; also Lingard's Hist, and Antiq.of the A.-S. Churchy II, 217. The Monastic Revival. 23 control,' and had withdrawn from the use of the kings and of the peoples too large a part of the territory of the king- doms. It is in consequence of this that in the period of mon- astic decline we see the temporal rulers taking into royal ownership a large part of the lands which had belonged to the religious establishments. As the monasteries declined in the different countries at about the same time, so the Benedictine revival in England corresponded with one on the Continent, and it can hardly be doubted that the first impulse in England came from abroad, or at least that the foreign influence gave shape to existing aspirations. The reformation of the French monasteries be- gan not far from 910, and Cluny, and Fleury on the Loire were influential centers of reform. Dunstan became a monk through the influence of Bishop Alphege, and Alphege's superior, Odo, Archbishop of Canter- bury (926-959), had taken the monastic vow at Fleury. Both Odo and Alphege. esteemed the life of a Benedictine monk the vocation most to be desired for their young kinsmen, as we have seen in Dunstan's case, and shall see in that of Oswald, Odo's nephew. Dunstan himself when he fled from the persecution of Eadwig (956), found refuge at St. Peter's abbey in Ghent, and there had opportunity for personal in- spection of a prosperous Flemish monastery, in which ^secular canons had been replaced by Benedictines about twelve years before Dunstan was received there, or in 9-i4.''' ^thelwold's after life proves that his plans at Glaston- bury for study abroad, had a practical aim. He was surely looking forward then to that extensive Avork of re-founding monasteries in which he himself was to take such an impor- tant part. When at last he made it known that he was to leave England, the king's mother, Eadgifu, the widow of 1 In making grants of land to churches and monasteries the donors were not influ- enced exclusively by religious motives, but 'chiefly by considerations of social and politica- utility.' Earle's Land Charters afid Saxonic Documents, p. Ixxxix. 2 E. W. Robertson, Historical Essays, p. 194. 24 The Monastic Bevival. King Edward, urged her son, King Eadred, not to permit it. ^thelwold's abilities and attainments had no doubt been reported to her since he entered upon his life at Glastonbury, and it is not unlikely that she sometimes visited Dunstan's abbey. It is certain that she would remember the promise of his early years when with other young men he was in attendance at ^thelstan's court. 'Such a man,' she said, 'must not be lost to England.' To Eadred the intimate friend and ardent admirer of Dunstan, ^thelwold also was no stranger. Eadred, prompted by his mother, saw plainly that the way to retain the energetic monk in his service was to forward his ideal ends by giving him an opportunity to put them into practice. A feasible plan was suggested to the king, and with ^thelwold's consent a new enterprise was undertaken which was singularly fitted to meet his desires and to engage his activities. Among the old-time abbeys almost destroyed by the Danes in Alfred's time, and noAv des- titute and forsaken, was Abingdon on the Thames river a few miles south of Oxford. Some wretched buildings and a small area of land were all that remained of the once well endowed abbey.' It is an instance of what was to be found all through England: much of the rich land of the monas- teries, the gifts of kings and of laymen in the more prosper- ous times, of the religious houses had been absorbed into the royal domain. But the tide had already begun to turn; King Edmund had given several grants of land to Glastonbury, and now, dating from the new endowment of Abingdon, for many subsequent years, the Codex Diphmaiicus abounds in char- ters and records of the re-endowment of the old abbeys. ^ 1 Cockayne is of the opinion that the abbey was not so poor as has been represented, because there are records of several grants of land to it in 930 and 931, and it was a rich abbey before Alfred's time. But these lands seem to have been under the king's control and not available for the use of the establishment until granted anew by Eadred. See Cockayne, Leechdoms^ Wortcunnings, etc.. III. 408-9. 2 A few donations to churches and monasteries had been made by every king who had ruled in the tenth century. In a charter signed by Edmund, Eadred and Eadwig (Cod. Dip. A .-S. 259-60) are these words ' Nos dei gratia reges reddimus tellures has, quas praedecessores nostri fratribus Christique aecclesia retrahere consueverunt.' The authen- ticity of such a document may be questioned, but the fact contained is doubtless true. The Monastic Hevival. 25 Thus we read in this case that 'it came to pass with Dunstan's permission, according to the king's will, that ^thelwold re- ceived in charge the monastery of Abingdon to promote the cause of God, and to ordain there monks serving God accord- ing to the Rule/ ' It is to be noticed that Dunstan's permis- sion is asked. This indicates not merely that he was ^thel- wold's superior at Glastonbury; already he had become Ead- red's chief adviser, and begun to take that active part in the government of the realm which did not cease for any length of time until ^thelred's reign, nearly thirty years later. The story of ^thelwold continues as follows: 'Then this servant of God came to the place entrusted to him, and there immediately followed him certain secular clergy from Glas- tonbury: Osgax, Foldbircht and Frith egar; also Ordbircht from Winchester, and Eadric from London, who all put themselves under his discipline; and in a short time he assem- bled a company of monks, and by the king's command was made their abbot.' The importance of this step is not likely to be overestimated. Its influence appears as a bene- ficent one all through the subsequent history of the English until the Norman Conquest, and indirectly in later times. We of the present age owe a large part of our knowledge of late Old English history and culture to its preservation by instrumentalities set in motion by the new foundation of Abingdon. It was by the labors of monks, especially of those trained by ^thelwold or his pupils, in the monasteries founded in imitation of this one or influenced by it, that books were composed or translated, manuscripts copied, and the minutiae of secular and religious history recorded. These results of their work are the original documents which open up the details of the life of the tenth, eleventh and later cen- turies. The initial movement Avas, as we have seen, given by Dunstan at Glastonbury. His later activity in the founding of monasteries was, like his earlier work, designed to further iLi/e of St. ALthelwold., in Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon, II. 257. 26 The Monastic Revival. education and religion, but not so much to emphasize the stricter Benedictine ideas. In this he was different from ^thelwold. Yet they worked together in entire harmony, and the work of each supplemented that of the other and made it more efficient. The migration of ^thelwold to Abingdon, and the re- opening of the old monastery was, we may be sure, a matter of concern to many. We have a hint of this in the different centers of interest represented by the men who followed to take part in the new undertaking: Glastonbury, London, and Winchester, as well as others, doubtless, of which we are not told. Queen Eadgifu contributed liberally of money. The king, the patron of the enterprise, gave his royal estate at Abingdon and its best buildings for the support of the new foundation. He helped too with money, and took a personal part in the arrangements for rebuilding. Coming to Abing- don he planned the construction of the new church, meas- ured with his own hands the foundations, and decided how the walls should be built. He did not however live to see the new abbey, but ^thelwold built in a later reign. Eadred's death seems to have delayed the work, for in another writing ' we are told that Edgar was the founder of the church. During the four years of Eadwig's reign, several grants of land were made by the king to ^thelwold for the abbey. Meanwhile, the abbot took pains to interest the young prince Edgar, and with such success that 'as soon as he was chosen to his kingdom (959) he was very mindful of his promise, which he made to God and to St. Mary, when as a young child in his princely estate the abbot invited him to the monastery.' 'He soon gave orders to have a glorious minster built there within the space of three years,' and 'commanded that same minster thus ornamented to be consecrated to St. Mary, to the praise and worship of God.' An interesting description of this round-apsed church and its parts is found T- Leechdoms^ IVoricunning, etc. III. 439. The Monastic Revival. 27 in the history of the abbots of Abingdon, ^thelwold him- self superintended its construction, built the organ, and made the bells. Above the altar he placed a tablet adorned with figures of the twelve apostles in pure gold and silver, at a cost of three hundred pounds, and there were many other beautiful and costly treasures.' ^Ifric himself, who also speaks of this in his life of yEthelwold, had evidently seen with admiring eyes the completed building. The success of the new work was now assured. In the chronicle of Abing- don there are recorded no less than fifteen royal grants of valuable lands to the church and monastery during the years of ^thelwold's administration, and in the few following years, up to 975, there are seven more. Although the abbot could not leave England himself, he did not forget his earlier designs. It is more than probable that the practical duties of his new office strengthened his purpose to obtain a fuller knowledge of the rules of his order, and of its administration in the better-organized ab- beys on the Continent. Accordingly when the opportunity came, he sent Osgar, one of his monks who had come with him from Glastonbury, who was later his successor as abbot of Abingdon, to the Benedictine house at Fleury, to study the system of the order, and to fit himself to teach it to the brethren at home. From this we must infer that the rule observed at Glastonbui-y was not the fully developed system of St. Benedict, but was derived probably from traditions of the earlier English monasteries, perhaps with admixture of Celtic tradition, since Dunstan's biographer says that he had studied 'Irish books."' In 903, after about ten years at Abingdon, ^thelwold was appointed by King Edgar, bishop of Winchester. In that city the episcopal seat was in the church of the Old Monas- tery, of which the bishop always acted as abbot. It was in the school of this monastery that .lithelwold had studied in 1 Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon II. 277-8. 2 Cf. E. W. Robertson, Historical Essays, p. 190. 28 The Monastic Revival, boyhood under Bisho^j Alphege. But now, when he returned to his old home, he found the change from the atmosphere of study and devotion in which he had been living quite in- tolerable. Thiis far there were no monks in England except at Glastonbur}^ and Abingdon, * and here at Winchester, among the secular clergy connected with the cathedral, were men who disgraced their office by vicious lives. Given up to avarice, luxury, and drunkenness, their influence only strengthened the evil in the world about them. They put away their illegal wives and took others; they sometimes dis- dained the sendees of the church, and refused to celebrate mass in their turn. But they must have known well by report the character of the new bishop and what his demands might be, and with no willing mind have awaited his coming among them. As for ^thelwold, he did not question what he ought to do. With the king's assistance, he expelled those of the disaffected clergy who would not take the monastic vow, and filled their places with monks from Abingdon. We do not know that he used persuasion or sought to appease opposition, so that his action here appears somewhat harsh. And now began for him a career of great activity. With peace and good order restored to his own monastery and cathedral establishment, he carried his reforms still farther: in the words of his biographer: 'He expanded his wings, and expelled the secular clergy from the New Monastery, or- dained ^thelgar his disciple as abbot there, and placed under him monks of the regular order (964).' This mon- astery and a convent of nuns adjoining had been found- ed by King Alfred. In the latter minster also, ^thelwold established the Benedictine discipline. It is to his influence too that we must ascribe the expulsion of the secular clergy in the same year at Chertsey and at Milton, and the introduc- tion of monks into their places. I This does not mean that all of the old monasteries were uninhabited; in some of them, as at Winchester, Ely and Worcester, the homes of the monks were taken by secu- lar clergy, who perhaps considered themselves as filling the places of the monks. The 3Ionastic Revival. 29^ i)nnstan, who meanwhile (959) had become archbishop of Canterbury, co-operated with ^thelwold in the reforms in his diocese, and seconded his other efforts to introduce bene- ficial changes. As primate and chief advisor of the king, Dunstan was now able to balance the interests of church and state with a view to the welfare of both, and so long as Edgar lived no serious obstacle hindered him from carrying for- ward his policy. * Hereafter ^thelwold too appears, not simply as bishop but as a chosen counsellor of the king. " At Winchester,, the royal capital, the bishop occupied a position of great poAver in a time when church and state were very closely united; and a man of ^thelwold's character and force, bent on certain definite results to be attained, was sure to use all the influence that his position allowed him. It accords then with a reasonable expectation when we read in a contemporary writer that 'The king was instructed in the knowledge of the true King by ^thelwokl, bishop of the city of Winchester, and that ^thelwold greatly incited the king, so that he sent the secular clergy away from the monasteries and brought in men of our order.' In 963, when ^thelwold became bishop, Edgar was but twenty years old. We have reason to believe that the king M^as not the hypocrite that he has been called by his enemies. But it is also impossible to doubt that much of his enthusiasm for reform, and his per- sonal activity in restoring the monasteries of England, was due to the careful instruction and earnest personal influence of Dunstan and ^thelwold. The labors of the Bishop of Winchester soon extended be- yond the limits of his diocese. He visited the almost de- I ' If we read the accounts of the hagiologists, all is done by Dunstan, and we see nothing of Eadgar. If we trust to the scanty records of the Chronicle Dunstan is unheard of, and the glory of the reign is wholly due to Eadgar. The contemporary charters supply the explanation of the seeming inconsistency; they show so far as their evidence goes, that the work was one, but that its oneness was the result of a common and unbroken action of the primate and the king.' Green, Conquest of England^ p. 306. 2 ' Erat Athelwoldus a secretis regis Eadgari.' Life of Aithelwold by .lEIfric, p. 262. ' Qui erat Confessor Domini Regis et secretorum conscius.' Wharton, Anglia Sacra, I. 603. 3 Historians of the Church of York and its Archbishops, I. 426-7. Rolls Series. 3 30 The 3Ionastic Hevival. serted shrine of St. ^thelclred at Ely and found it still rich in buildings and lands which now belonged to the royal ex- chequer. An arrangement was made with the king for the possession of the abbey, and a large number of monks, with Brithnoth, ^Ethelwold's pupil, as their abbot, was established there under the Benedictine rule.' From the king and the nobles he obtained Peterborough abbey (972), where he found remaining only 'old walls and wild woods.' This he founded anew under Aldulph, later archbishop of York. At about the same time the abbey of Thorney, not far from Peterborough, was also re-established by ^thelwold. From these foundations of the two famous houses of Ely and Peter- borough begins the second chapter in their history, which continues unbroken until the present day. Of the influence of the first of these upon subsequent history, Conybeare says: 'The above-mentioned restoration of Ely is an event of the first importance in the history of Cambridgeshire. Cam- bridge itself would probably but for Ely have remained an obscure provincial town instead of one of the great intellec- tual centres of the world. For from Ely we shall see, came almost certainly the earliest germs of our University life.' '^ The prompt and vigorous action of the reformers at this time is thus described by ^Ifric: 'and so it came to pass that partly by the advice and effort of Dunstau, and partly by those of ^thelwold, monasteries were founded everywhere among the English, with monks and nuns living according to the rule under abbots and abbesses. And ^thelwold went 1 Clericos quidem Monachilem habitum suscipere consentientes in Monasterium susce- it, renuentes de Monasterio expulit. Anglia Sacra, I. 604. 2 History 0/ Cambridgeshire, p. 71. From the same, p. 73, we take the following: ' The revenues and jurisdiction of the Isle (of Ely) were now restored to the Church and the ancient limits most accurately marked out afresh by Edgar, after consultation with the leading men of the whole neighborhood.' ' And the Isle, though for some civil purposes regarded as a part of Cambridgeshire, has this day its own County Council, within these same limits, and ecclesiastically is exempt from archdiaconal jurisdiction, being imme- diately under the Bishop as representing the Abbot of Ely ' See the accounts of the foundations of Ely and Peterborough in the Saxon Chronicle under the year 963. The Monastic Revival. 31 about from monastery to monaster}^ establishing their cus- toms.' With the work earned forward at Winchester, Ely, and elsewhere by ^thelwold and his friends, Oswald Bishop of Worcester was in full sympathy. The nephew of Odo, x\rch- bishop of Canterbury, Oswald had distinguished himself in youth by studious tastes, had remained for a time in a mon- astery at Winchester either as prior or canon, living there a luxurious life among the secular clergy, and later had at his own request been sent by Odo to study at Fleui-y. There his earnest character and winning traits made him a gen- eral favorite; indeed, all through his life he possessed rare power to win the love of the men about him. The length of his stay at Fleury is uncertain, but probably lasted several years. The school of Fleury, later celebrated for its fine library, even at this time offered unusual advan- tages. Oswald entered into its life with ardent desires for the best training. There he made himself a master of the secular and religious studies of the age. There also he studied music and trained his beautiful voice to sing the ser- vices of the church. His love of justice and of noble living, which was to become a light in his own country, shone brightly in this foreign monastery. He returned to England just after Odo's death (959), made Dunstan's acquaintance, and in 961 was appointed Bishop of Worcester. In the monastery connected with Worcester Cathedral he found secular clergy who had been left there undisturbed by Dun- stan, his predecessor. Neither here nor at York, of which he became archbishop in 972, did he replace the secular clergy with monks, nor did Dunstan, now Archbishop of Canter- bury (959), make any such change there.* I ' He held the See of Canterbury for nearly twenty-seven years, and never introduced a Benedictine into the diocese. Clerks accompanied ^thelwold from Glastonbury when he revived the monastery of Abingdon; clerks welcomed the new archbishop to Canterbury and remained in unmolested possession of Christ Church until the time of Abp. ^Ifric' E. W. Robertson, Historical Essays, p. 194. 32 The Monastic Revival. And now it happened in "Worcester, just as in the early days of Glastonbury and Abingdon, that many of the secular clergy were eager for instruction. Germanus, a friend of Oswald's whom he had left at Fleury on the occasion of his second visit there (960 or 961), was soon summoned home to teach the brethren at Worcester. Before long their num- ber was so large that Oswald provided a home for them at Westbury, a parish of his diocese, and there under the rule of Germanus they lived quietly for two or three years as a Bene- dictine house. But as interest increased, it was thought best to hold a council of '^all the authority of all Albion.' The king appears in the narrative as the chief actor in this assem- bly, but Oswald's part is suggested when it is said that the King 'acknowledged the fame of Saint Benedict through the narration of pious Bishop Oswald.' ' Dunstan and ^thel- wold were both present and took part in the deliberations. The council resulted in an order of the king's for the es- tablishment of 'more than forty monasteries' and the charge of accomplishing this was committed to ^thelwold and Oswald. This was before the re-founding of Ely, for when Oswald asked for a suitable home for his monks, Ely was one of the places suggested by the king. The earliest life of Oswald, written between 995 and 1005, is by a monk of Ram- sey, who shows how that place was at length decided upon as the site for the new abbey. This story, told with the inter- ested zeal of one who had had a share in the benefits of the house, relates how Oswald met by chance ^thelwin, the son of the great ealdorman, ^thelstan, the 'half-king' of East Anglia. yEthelwin gladly offered Oswald a place for settle- ment, the offer was accepted, and with the greatest enthusi- asm the new abbey was begun, necessary buildings were erected and the brethren from Westbury took possession, joined by others eager for the same religious and educational I The king's interest is well shown in a charter of 969. Kemble, Cod. Dt'/.A.-S., III. 40. The Monastic Revival, 33 advantages. Able teachers were invited to the abbey-school, among them Abbo of Fleury, later abbot in that monasteiy, and already a thorongh scholar. He came now to Eamsey and for two years gave instruction in Benedictine usages, to which he had been devoted from boyhood, and in the circle oi studies usually taught in the cloister-schools. Eamsey was a favorite foundation of Oswald's,' but he was instrumental in starting at least seven others. A few years later his sphere was made very broad by his appointment to the archbishopric of York (972-992). Thus in the last quarter of the tenth century, many op- portunities for education were offered to the English. These were most numerous in the midland districts, where were Abingdon, Worcester, Eamsey, Ely, Thorney, Peterborough, and others only less well-known. Of the schools in the south, Glastonbury and Winchester were the most famous. At that time' says AA^harton, 'almost none were held worthy to preside over monasteries or churches unless they had come from the schools of Dunstan, ^thelwold or Oswald,' and 'almost every one of the English bishops and abbots, from the beginning of Edgar's reign (959) till about 1000 A. D. were chosen from the three monasteries of Abingdon, Glastonbury, and AVinchester.' ^Elfric, who added to his name and title the words, 'alumnus of Winchester,' felt, no doubt, something of the same satisfaction in belonging to such a school, that a modern Englishman feels in his connection with one of the great English universities. The later history of this movement is involved in the po- litical history of the times. After Edgar's death at the early age of thirty-two, politics became confused, and the scanty records do far too little to unravel the tangled threads. The monkish historians relate much that is true but tell their stor}' from a partisan standpoint. Fortunately the history I ' Oswald stood in the place of abbot, and there was no Abbot of Ramsey as long as he lived.' Robertson, p. 182. 34 The Monastic Revival. of the work of the three leaders can be determined with toler- able certainty. Oswald during the thirty years of his activity exerted a strong and elevating influence through Middle Eng- land, and in the North where civilizing and educating forces were most needed. Dunstan's work in founding monasteries has been by some writers under-rated, perhaps in part because he showed a conciliatory policy in his dealings with the secu- lar clergy. But the new foundations owed to him much more than a passive consent. We read that in the work of refonn 'the king constajitly used the advice of Dunstan.' " ^Ifric, his contemporary, speaks of him in reference to the same re- forms as 'Dnnstan the Resolute,' and adds: 'Dunstan and ^thelwold were chosen of God, and they most of all exhorted men to do God's will, and advanced everything good to the pleasure of God.' ^ The constructive hand of ^thelwold seems to have done more than anything else to organize and give efficiency to the labors of all three. As their personal influence waned, efforts were made to undo the results of their work. But such efforts met with only partial success because these men had left behind them piipils imbued Avith the love of order, of learning and of religion. It was these disciples who preserved through the long troublous period of internal dissension and foreign conquests, the continu- ous chain of English culture. 1 Leechdoms. Wortcunning^ etc. III. 440. 2 Lives 0/ the Saints, I. 470. CHAPTER II. iELFRIC AT WINCHESTER. Among the students in the Old Monastery of AVinchester, probabiy in the early seventies of the tenth century, was the youth -^Ifric, afterwards the writer. His silence about Abingdon is sufficient proof that he was not one of the monks who came thence to ^thelwold in 964, and had he been at Winchester in the early years of ^thelwold's bishopric he would not have omitted from the life of his teacher the ac- count of the building and dedication of the new church, the story which Wulfstan, an eyewitness, has supplied in his re- vision of ^Ifric's biogi'aphy. What we know about iElfric seems to point to a younger man than the first monks of the Old Minster. There is found in his writings no trace of his early home and parentage. It can hardly be doubted that he was a Wessex boy, and born not far from the middle of the century. The first date in his life that can be fixed with certainty is 987, when he was sent by Bishop Alphege to the newly- founded abbey of Cernel. At that time by his own account he was a priest, and as it is not probable that he would have been sent on such an errand if Just ordained, it is reasonable to place the ordination yet earlier. If it were two years be- fore, at the age of thirty, the inferior limit for entering the priesthood, he was born in 955, and this date or one within the few previous years is doubtless correct. The view which places his birth as early as this is confirmed by his repeated praises of the reign of Edgar as a most blessed time for the nation and the church, a time whose fortunate conditions he himself had experienced and appreciated. Thus he says in a homily, 'We can remember well how happy we were when this island dwelt in peace, and abbeys were held in honor, and 36 ^Ifric at Winchester. the laity were prepared against their foes, so that our word spread far and wide over this land/' He seems to have belonged to a middle class of society. That he was not of high biiih is inferred from the fact that he remained simply a priest until at least his fiftieth year. At that time the high offices of the church were almost ex- clusively filled by men of the upper class, and it can hardly be doubted that such a man as yElfric would have been recognized by some promotion if his rank had corresponded to his ability and attainments. But, on the other hand, the absence of all servility toward those of high family or dignity, the independence of spirit joined with humility, that he maintained in intercourse with people of different ranks, lay and ecclesiastical, indicates that he was not of mean origin. He was not a child when he came to Winchester, and his so- cial bearing was probably determined, as in most cases, by his earlier associations. So far as we know, none of those who have sought to indentify him with ^Ifric of Canterbury, have found anything in his character inconsistent with the high birth ascribed to that archbishop. He had already received some training in books before he entered the school at Winchester, for he speaks in his preface to G-enesis of a certain half educated man who was his teacher. 'This teacher,' he says, 'a mass-priest, had the book of Genesis, and was able to understand some Latin, but he did not know the great difference between the Old Law and the Kew, nor did I at that time.' To the youth eager for knowledge, and with a deep sense of its practical value, the entrance to the Old Minster must have seemed the height of privilege. We can not fix the date of his arrival. He says only that he lived in ^thelwold's school 'many years,'" and as ^thelwold died in 984, it is not unlikely that he came there as early as 972, when he was about seventeen years old. Outwardly at Winchester there was much to attract the eye 1 Sermon On the Prayer of Moses, Lives oj" Saints, I., 294. 2 Preface to Extracts from ^thel wold's De Consuetudine. See ch. XIII. ^Ifric at Winchester. 37 in the days when he hegan his life there. The splendid new church of ^thelwold was dedicated in 971, perhaps just be- fore his axrival. The bishop himself had planned this build- ing, and lie and his monks had carefully watched its progress. His biographer says: '^thelwold was a great builder, both when he was abbot and after he became bishop.' This cathe- dral was consecrated with impressive ceremonies in the pres- ence of the King and Archbishop Dunstan, and its consecra- tion was made memorable by the removal of the bones of Bishop Swithun — bishop of Winchester when King Alfred was a boy — from a grave outside of the church to a new tomb by the high altar. Many years after ^Ifric wrote the story of the removal of the saint's bones to the church, and the miracles that followed. This very entertaining narrative, derived in part from the life of Swithun by Landferth,^ and in part from the writer's personal knowledge, is full of details that throw light upon the history of the monastery in the days when ^Ifric lived there. It shows the credulous spirit of the age, and how fully ^thelwold shared this; it tells how the secular canons who had been expelled shunned ^thel- wold and the monks in the minster, and makes it clear that I Who Landferth was, is uncertain. .^Ifric in his story of St. Swithun gives a long account of a miracle which, he says, was related to Bishop jEthelwold by the person to whom it happened, and was set down in writing by ' Landferth the foreigner.' The few years that followed the removal of Swithun's bones to the new church were not far from the time when Oswald sent for Abbo of Fleury to Ramsey, and gathered, it is said in his biography, teachers from various places. Landferth may have come to England at about the same time from a Flemish 'monastery. Two fragments of a Latin history of Swithun's miracles which are closely related to ^Ifric's homily, are extant (Acta S. July 2. 292-299), but (see Ott's dissertation, p. 47 f.) neither of them can have been just the form from which MUric translated the parts not original with him. ^Ifric's words in the preface of the Saints' Lives do not permit us to believe that he wrote the homily without an original before him. Otherwise we should ask the question : may not these frag- ments ascribed to Landferth be Latin re-workings of jElfric's homily, aided by sources not now ascertainable ? According to his custom, ^Ifric probably added something of his own ; thus, as Ott suggests, 11. 443-463. Whatever is true as to the authorship, it is im- possible to believe that ^Ifric lived ' many years ' at Winchester in JSthelwold's school, and did not know all about these stories ; and did not sing with the brethren, as the author of this homily says that he often did; and did not see the Old Minster hung round with the crutches and stools of the many who had been healed. Therefore it seems to us justifiable to use as his own the words of the homily which we have quoted in this chapter. 38 ^Ifric at Winchester. the reforming party in the chnrch was gaining the upper hand. During the early years of ^Ifric's hfe at Winchester, when Edgar was king/ many reports, no doubt, came to the monks and the young students of the king's kindness to the monas- teries, and well they remembered it all in the dark days that followed, for never while they lived did such prosperity come again to England. In after years, recalling his life at St. Swithun's, yElfrie writes: 'That time was blessed and happy in England when King Edgar furthered Christianity and built many monasteries, and his kingdom dwelt in peace so that we heard of no warlike fleet except that of our own peo- ple who held this land. Then moreover such wonders were wrought through St. Swithun as we have already spoken of, and as long as we lived there (?) miracles often happened." In coming to Winchester, ^Ifric entered no newly-founded school and church. Eor more than three hundred years the site of ^thelwold's cathedral had been devoted to the service of God. ^Ifric, whose writings show a strong historic sense of proportion, and a reverence for the good received from the past, could not have been indifferent to the associations con- nected with this ' ''Sanctuary of the house of Cerdic," and minster of the West Saxons.' A hundred years after ^thel- wold's death, the Normans rebuilt his church upon a site close at hand, transferring St. Swithun's bones to the new choir. To-day as we stand in the choir of Winchester cathe- dral, it is not difficult to carry the thought back nine hundred years to the days when ^Ifric sang there hymns to God in praise of great St. Swithun. Does it not say on the chest just before us, raised upon the choir-screen, 'in this tomb rests pious King Eadred, who nobly governed this land of Briton, and died A. D. 955'? and on the next chest, 'King Edmund, died A. D. 946'? ^Ifric saw their tombs, then in the crypt, for Eadred was the king who sent ^thelwold to Abing- 1 The quotation from the sermon On the Prayer oy Moses, implies that he was in the monastery during Edgar's reign; See p. 36. 2 And swa lange swa we leofodon Paer wurdon gelome wundra. Lives 0/ Saints, I, 468. ^Ifric at Winchester, 39 don, and died about the time of ^Ifric's birth, and Edmund was the father of King Edgar. St. Swithun's bones rested in peace until scattered in the sixteenth centuiy. But in Edgar's time, and for long after, they were the great attrac- tion of the church. ^Ifrie tells us that by the virtue of this saint so many ^vere healed that 'the burial-ground lay filled with crippled folk, so that people could hardly get into the minster;' and that 'the Old Minster was hung all round with crutches, and the stools of cripples who had been healed there, from one end of the church to the other on both walls, and yet they could not put up half of them.' In this minster zElfric found a well-established school taught by Benedictines, and closely connected with the im- portant cathedral. This was no time of decline and abuse of monastic customs. A strong hand and exact discipline ruled the daily life of every person who dwelt in this establishment. Every hour of the day Avas provided with its special duty. yEthelwold had taken care that his monks should know the Eule, and for those who could read Latin the manuscripts containing the laws which regulated their life were at hand. It was to serve the needs of those who could read only Eng- lish that, probably about the time of yElfric's coming, say 972-975, the Bishop translated the Eule.' In this orderly, busy life iElfric peTfomied the duties of the lower orders of the clergy, took part in the menial services, and learned his daily tasks in the studies prescribed. The acquisition of book-leaxning was of the greatest consequence in a Bene- dictine house. There are many proofs of it in regard to this one. Here at Winchester much inspiration came from the Bishop himself, and though his state and ecclesiastical duties called him, perhaps daily, to the king's side at Wolvesey Palace, and often to other parts of England, his influence did 1 ' This English translation is a necessity for unlearned secular men, who for fear of nell penalty and for love of Christ, quit this miserable life and turn unto their Lord, and choose the holy service of this Rule.' From tract appended to ^thelwold's translation. Seech. XIII. 40 yElfric at Winchester. not fail to be felt in the school. He must occaisionally have shared the duties of teaching, for ^Ifric writes: 'It was al- ways sweet to him to teach children and youth, both by ex- plaining books to them in English, and by exhorting them with pleasant words to better things. It is for this reason that it has happened that very many of his disciples have be- come abbots and bishops among the English.' Thus ^thel- wold's pupils were allured by sweet words and winning ways, and ^Ifric gained much incentive from association with such a teacher and such disciples. A literary atmosphere belonged by tradition and in fact to the Old Minster. In the scriptorium which had been founded by Swithun in ^thelwulf's reign, writing, translat- ing and the illumination of books, flourished under ^thel- wold. Here, not long before yElfric came, Godemann, one of the monks, made a beautiful illuminated Benedictional for the bishop's use.* Here too was prepared a little before ^thel- wold's death, the 'Tropary of Ethelred,' a MS. compiled for use with ^thelwold's new organ, which Ogives, in the musical notation of the period, the actual cadences and tones used in the services of St. Swithun's in the tenth century.' ^Ifric in his schooldays, and in the time of his novitiate, was accus- tomed to watch the progress of such work as done by others, and since in the abbeys there was always a place assigned for the younger members, he was doubtless learning here to work on manuscripts, perhaps to illuminate them, certainly to write them in Latin and in English. The ideal of the Benedictine monastery was that of a home, and its Bule provided for the strong and the weak, the edu- cated and the ignorant. It was intended that under this Rule men should gTow more manly and self-controlled, and more efficient in God's work in the world; and so they did I ' This gorgeously illuminated MS. is a folio volume of vellum iiJS4 in. by 8J< in. con- taining 119 leaves. It contains thirty illuminations, and thirteen other pages surrounded with profusely ornamented borders. It is written in a clear Roman hand, the capitals being in gold, alternate lines in gold, red and black sometimes occurring on the same page.' This is now the property of the Duke of Devonshire. It is reproduced in Archceologia^ XXIV. ^Ifric at Winchester. 41 when it was rightly administered. Unlike some forms of monachism, it sought to regulate more than to repress. St. Benedict recognized human nature in the foundation of the system. One cannot read ^]lfric's Colloquium, which he wrote afterwards for boys who were living in a monastery Just as he did at Winchester, without seeing that the cloister- youths lived a happy life, much the same as in any well-regu- lated school. If the requirements seem to us at first strict and severe, a little consideration somewhat modifies that view. That yElfric could write such a dialogue shows that he had sympathy with the spirit of play natural to boyhood, and that the play-spirit was not altogether banished from the monastery. Plenty of it we know there was, for every cathe- dral has expressed it in the grotesque carvings of gargoyle or choir-stall, and such can not have been its only form of ex- pression. The Colloquium has this interest for us at this point, that it has something to tell of ^Ifric^s own life at Winchester, for can we doubt that when he describes the way a boy spends his day in the monastery, he is recording one of his own days? It is a very simple narrative written for a different purpose, and leaving the gaps for us to fill in from other sources. This cloister-boy is asked how he has spent the day. From his replies are gathered these details of its author's life. He slept, he says, in the dormitory with the brethren, and at the sound of the bell arose and went with them to sing matins in the church. The drowsy boy would sometimes miss the signal that called him up thus at three o'clock in the morning, and so in the dialogue he answers just as might be expected, "^Sometimes I hear the bell and arise, and sometimes the master awakens me sharply with the rod.' At six o'clock he went to church to sing the service of prime, with its seven psalms and the litany and early mass. About nine he sang again the service of mass, and yet again at mid-day. After that came their first meal, and it is hardly to be wondered at that the boy says, 'I eat with great thank- fulness vegetables, eggs, fish, cheese, butter, beans and all 42 ^Ifrie at Winchester. clean things.' But lie adds that he does not have all these things at one meal. As to drink, he has ale if there is any, if not, water, but wine he says he is not rich enough to buy, and besides, Svine is not the drink for boys, but for their elders.' According to their custom a reader was appointed each week to edify the monks while they were at their meals, and the readers were appointed according to their ability as such. Good sense marks the details of the Benedictine life. So of the reader of the week the Rule says, 'Let him not take the book suddenly and begin to read there without any considera- tion.' Some preparation for the task was required. The Rule says further, 'If they who are eating or drinking have need of anything, let them ask for it by a sign and not speak with the voice.' ' After this midday meal, there was a chance for a nap, though not for a very long one. One might read if he would, but no one must make any noise to disturb the others who wished to sleep. At two they sang the service of none, and after that came a lesson hour, with study or recita- tion or instruction by the master. At four o'clock was the vesper service, and at seven the last of the canonical services of the day. In vElfric's dialogue, from which we have been quoting, the master asks the boy: 'Have you been punished to-day? and the boy answers, 'No, for I have been very care- ful;' and then comes the question: 'And how about your com- rades?' to which the reply is, 'Why do you ask me about that? I do not dare to tell you our secrets. Each one knows whether or not he has been whipped.' Such an answer betrays no ser- vile fear of his superior who asks the question. Yet it is plain that these youths had to walk warily, and to be strictly obedient. When the service bell rang there could be no lingering, but every one must drop whatever he had in hand and hasten to service, but hasten with circumspection, and not heedlessly, nor might he run and get out of breath, and if he were a little late he was not allowed to stand in his own See the Old English Bened. Rule; Grein, Bibliothek der A. S. Prosa, Part II., p. 62. ^Ifric at Winchester. 43 place in the choir, but 'last of all, or in that place apart which the ahbot has appointed for such careless ones.' ' It was when ^Ifric was at Winchester that St. Swithun's miracles laid extra duties on the monks, for ^thelwold had com- manded 'that as often as any sick one should be healed, the monks should go in procession to the church and sing the praises of the great saint.' This they did 'and sang the Te Deum sometimes three, sometimes four times in one night, and they began to be very reluctant to rise so often when they needed to sleep. At last they gave up the singing, for the bishop was all the time occupied with the king, and did not know that they were not singing the song of praise as before.' Then, the story says, the saint appeared in vision to a good man, and announced that if the monks ceased their praises the miracles would also cease. The dream was re- ported to ^thelwold, who 'immediately sent to the monks from the king's court, and bade that they should sing the Te Deum, and he that neglected it should atone for it by seven days fast.' 'Then always after that,' continues ^Ifric, 'they observed the custom, as we ourselves have seen very often, and we have not seldom sung the hymn with them.' The period that followed the death of King Edgar (975) was a time of gi-eat anxiety for Bishop ^5^thelwold and Ms friends; with the removal of the king came a disputed suc- cession and a period of interregnum. ^Ifhere the powerful ealdorman of Mercia, who advocated the claim of Edward the elder son of Edgar, headed a party which sought to overthrow the monks. Florence of Worcester says that 'blinded by presents of value, ^Ifhere and many other nobles, expelled the monk:s from the monasteries, and introduced clerks and their wives.' This was in ^Elfhere's territory. But, besides this, he threatened to do the same in the diocese of Dorches- ter. On the other hand ^thelwin of East Anglia, the friend and patron of Oswald at Eamsey, who put forward claims for I Bibliothek der A. S. Prosa, II.j 67-8. 44 ^Ifric at Winchester. ^thelred the younger prince, was the head of a monastic party. He, with Brithnoth tlie ealdornian of Essex, after- wards the brave leader of Maldon,took arms 'and declared that they would not permit the monks who possessed all the relig- ion of the kingdom to be driven out of it.' ' Dunstan and Oswald, the two archbishops, stood by vElfhere in behalf of Edward, which shows how completely the question was a po- litical one in its motives-, for there can be no question that these two were friendly to the monasteries. But there was a strong faction in England in favor of clerical marriage, and this party, many of whom hated the moral life advocated by the reformers, was ready to use any opportunity to bring back the old condition of things. "When we remember that that con- dition was the one which had had sway for a hundred years or more, the strength of the opposition is not to be wondered at, and we see why .^Ifric, who believed that it was contrary to Christ's teaching for priests to marry, was forced to say in his pastoral letter for secular clergy, 'We can not compel you, but we exhort you to chastity/ Eobertson says upon this subject: 'The Anglian population of the diocese probably looked upon the monks as "new men;" for the secular canons were at this period members of the leading provincial fami- lies, and it had long been customary to fill the sees and min- sters Avith bishops and abbots who, in return, leased out the church lands among their kindred. To support the secular canons therefore, was to uphold "the time-honored customs of the past," and in his inroads upon the monks ^Ifhere may have been moved less by any inveterate hostility .to the Benedictine rule, than by a desire to re-establish the old provincial families of Anglian origin.' Yet whatever of right the secular clergy had on their side in this struggle, whether derived from the customs of the past, or from the in- herent reasonableness of their position in regard to marriage, its weight as an argument was counteracted by their general I Florence of Wor., Chron. p. io6. Bohn ed. FVeeman's Norman Conquest, I, 177-9. ^Ifric at Winchester. 45 disregard for religion and education, and by the shocking coarseness and immorality of their lives. It is probably this determined struggle on the part of professedly Christian men to maintain the existing conditions, instead of trying to re- form them, which leads one writer to say that 'the tenth cen- tury is perhaps the most repulsive in Christian annals/ ' The moral earnestness, so far as the records tell us, was all on the side of the reformers who favored monasticism. In this at- tempt to overthrow the monks, which was partially successful, ^thelwold and his disciples at Winchester must have taken the keenest interest. We can reasonably trace the strength of yElfric's repeated insistence upon the celibacy of the priests to his life under ^thelwold in those years when party strife outside the monastery was waged upon that question, and when it must have seemed to the bishop and the monks that all the good to which they were devoting their lives was in danger of being destroyed. Eelieved from duties of the state by King Edgar's death, ^thelwold devoted the later years of his life to the interests of his diocese and his abbey. For several years before his death the Danes were plundering and burning along the coasts, coming in 981 as near Winchester as Southampton, where they slew or took prisoners most of the- inhabitants. Worn-out by long ill-health, which for years he had borne with fortitude and cheerfulness, he died in 984. His office was given to Alphege, a man chosen by Dunstan in opposition to the clerical party, which attempted to regain control of the cathedral. Alphege had proved his devotion to the cause of the monasteries by a life of self-denial at the abbey of Deer- hurst, and later at Bath. His courageous defense of the in- terests of England and of the church, and his martyr death for their sakes, show his fitness to succeed the resolute monk and bishop, ^thelwold. I H. C. Lea, Hist, of Sacerdotal Celibacy, p. 147. 4 46 yElfric at Winchester. Of yElfric during these years we know nothing directly/ but when it appears that at the request of ^tlielmcer, a pow- erful thane of Dorset, Alphege selects ^Ifric for a mission to that new abbey, perhaps to organize its life and to estab- lish the Eule there, no doubt can be felt that he had already at Winchester proved his efficiency as a teacher, and his un- derstanding of the methods and aims of the Benedictine life. I Dietrich suggests that ^Ifric was a dean at Winchester. He draws the idea from a letter in Cod. Dip. A.-S. IV, 261. We are not warranted in accepting it unless we can show that ^Ifric was an older man than he appears to have been. See Dietrich, pp. 245-6. CHAPTER III. AT THE ABBEY OF CERNEL. An old tradition of CerneP in Dorset relates that Augus- tine, the first missionary to the English (597-604), converted the people of that neighborhood, gave the place its name, and when it was time to baptize the converts caused the needed water to spring forth from the rock at the very place where the well is pointed out, even at the present day (1898). This story, which is told by William of Malmesbury, is doubtful in all of its details, and Augustine probably never visited that region. A later tradition makes Cemel and St. Augustine's well tlie scene of the hermitage of Eadwold, brother of Ed- mund, the king of the East Anglians who was murdered by the Danes (870). This tradition, though somewhat obscure, has perhaps a basis of fact. The third important event con- nected with this place, the founding of the abbey of Cemel, is well authenticated by the foundation charter of King iEthelred, which is still preserved." This abbey, said to have been begun in Edgar's reign (959-975), and as a me- morial of the pious Eadwold, was finished in 987, and dedi- cated by its founder, yEthelmasr, to St. Mary, St. Peter, and St. Benedict. This ^thelnifpr, and his father, ^thelweard, are so closely connected with the life of ^Ifric that it is wor-th while to say something here of their character and position in the Eng- land of that day. ^thelweard the ealdorman, there is no good reason to doubt, is that ealdorman whose name appears as such in many lists of witnesses attesting charters from 975 to 998. ^ 1 Now Cerne Abbas, five miles north of Dorchester. 2 Dugdale, Monasticon. II. 621; Kemble, Cod. Dip. A.-S. III. 224. 3 ^Ifric's friend jEthelweard was ealdorman in ggo or 991, when the first volume of Catholic Homilies was issued; according to the signatures of charters given by Kemble, but one man of that name was 'dux' from 975-99S; hence the identification. This is also emphasized by the fact that ^thelweard signs himself 'Occidentalium Provinciarum dux' (Cod. Dip. A.-S. III. 304), showing that he was ealdorman of the province in which were situated Cernel Abbey and several ancestral estates of ^Ifric's friend, yEthelma;r. 48 At the Abbey of Cernel. The office of ealdorman dated from an early time in West Saxon history, and in the tenth century it had become of ex- ceptional influence and importance. The man who held it was the king's representative in the district over which he pre- sided, and in case of war he led the king's forces as 'heretoga' (in the charters he signs as 'dux'). At the time of which we speak, all of the different ealdormanries were held by kins- men of the king, by whose influence, as centralization was far from complete, he strengthened his power in the different provinces of his kingdom. "When the king was a man of wis- dom and ability he controlled the ealdormen, but if he was weak or foolish their power worked for disunion and against the national cause. We have seen how, upon the death of Edgar, the great ealdormen worked against each other, seek- ing partisan ends.^ The district in which ^thelweard was ealdorman included probably Devon, Somerset and Dorset; and the lands in Dor- set which ^thelmger gave to Cernel Abbey were a part of the heritage of his family, whose estates lay in that region." ^thelweard is known as the author of a Latin chronicle of Saxon history, which ends with the death of King Edgar. It is written in a pompous style and in very faulty Latin, ' 1 For discussion of the position and power of the ealdorman, see Freeman, Nor. Cong. 5i"53i 79i 392-394, 420-423; Green, Cong. 0/ Eng. Ch. VII.; Robertson, Hist. Essays., The King's Kin; Bosworth-Toller, A.-S. Die. p. 229. For map of England under the ealdor- men, see Green, Cong. 0/ Eng: p. 302. 2 Of the lands given by ^thelmser to the abbeys of Cernel and Eynsham, Dietrich writes as follows : ' I have not spared pains to establish the identity of the places accord- ing to their shires, and the labor has been almost entirely successful, ^thelmaer's earliest home and his paternal estates at Cernel and Chesselborne were in Dorset. He gave the income of over thirty hides of land there to Cernel Abbey. His whole estate amounted to far above ninety hides.' ' Twelve hides assured the dignity of a great thane.' ' The lands with which he endowed the monastery of Eynsham lay for the most part in War- wickshire.' 3 This identification of the author of the Chronicle is so nearly certain that it is here stated as a fact. jEthelweard the author of the Chronicle was a descendant of King Alfred's brother ^thelred. He calls himself ' Patricius Consul.' ' The title Patricius seems to have been given in the eight century to the leading official in the Northumbrian kingdom, ranking next to the sovereign, and it may have been applied at the period when ^thel- weard wrote to the senior ealdorman,' which the ^thelweard of the charters was from 903 till his death, since his signature precedes those of all other ealdormen. (See Robertson's essay, The King's Kin; Green, Cong. 0/ Eng. p. 49). At the Abbey of Cernel. 49 and tells little that is not known by other means. But in an age when noblemen left learning to the clergy, such a work testifies to a taste for books, and this agrees well with what we know of ^thelweard in connection with ^Ifric. There are traditions which ascribe the founding of Cernel Abbey to ^thelweard. These, though false by the letter of the foundation charter, have this basis in fact, that ^thel- mfer had received from his father estates with which he en- dowed the abbey, and that the father was in accord with the son in this enterprise.^ Probably this was not the first under- taking of the kind on ^thelweard's part. The restoration of Pershore Abbey in Worcestershire by his means is noted by William of Malmesbury. This points back to the great assembly held by Oswald, probably at Winchester, when King Edgar decreed the establishment of many new monasteries. ' yEthelweard, not yet an ealdorman, was perhaps present and received at that time the strong impulse which led to the two foundations of Pershore and Cernel.' ^thelmser, the son, is mentioned as Earl of Cornwall and Devon, and by the Saxon Chronicle as ^thelmser the Great. In some way he was nearly related to the ealdorman Brith- noth of Essex. Cockayne speaks of ^thelweard as the son- in-law of Brithnoth. ■* Evidences of the connection will be mentioned later. a In the foundation charter of Cernel, ^thelmaer says: ' Tribui ilium locum qui vulgo Cernel nuncupatur, cum possessionibus quas ego ei subjugo cuncticreanti dec ad alrai onomatis ejus laudem, et ad honorem Sanctae Marie . . . . , ac sancti Petri . . . . , necnon et sancti Benedicti, pro meo carissimo hero basileo ^Selredo, et pro meme- tipso, necnon et pro dilecta mihi animula mei genitoris, et redemptione meorum praece- dentium patrum, qui propria coUa sponte fidei christianae subdiderunt suarura possessionum me haeredem baud ingratum relinquentes.' From the words used here in reference to his father, Mores and some others have inferred that jEthelweard was dead. The word 'ani- mula ' was used as a term of affection or contempt, here with dilecta as the former. Had the father been dead jEthelmaer would doubtless have used the term ' redemptione ' in respect to him, as well as in respect to his other ancestors. The jEthelweard who was 'dux' or ealdorman of just that part of England; who was constantly associated with ^thel- maer in -(Elfric's writings; who describes himself as a descendant of King ^Ethelwulf ; can- not be other than the father of ^thehtijer. For the genealogy of this family, see Robert- son, Hist. Essays, p. 190. 2 See p 32. 3 An ^thelweard, a thane, is a witness of charters at about that time. 4 Leeckdoms, Woricunning; etc. Ill, p. XXIII. 50 At the Abbey of Cernel. After 3'ears of preparation and delay the new monastery was ready for nse, and in the year of its dedication, we may believe, ^Ifric went thither from Winchester. It has some- times been said that he was the first abbot of Cernel/ This cannot be true, for there are many years after tliis before he speaks of himself as abbot. The idea is based only upon his statement that he was sent there at ^thelmser's request. It is worthy of notice that the first impulse to his great work of teaching the English laity came to him when he was sent on a special mission of instruction to Benedictine monks. Up to this time, responsible to the bishop and the prior of his abbey, he had lived a student life, teaching in the Old Min- ster the boys who in their turn were to be monastic or secu- lar clergy. Now, since his aptitude as a teacher, and his breadth of attainment according to the standard of his time, had been well proved, he was sent forth by the bishop, and came into a relation of responsibility with two laymen, the patrons of the abbey, and his position there, there is good reason to believe, was still that of a teacher. Just as Abbo' of rieury was summoned by Oswald to Ramsey to teach, so ^Ifric was summoned to Cernel. And now, in these new surroundings, all that he had gained by many years of study assumed a new value in his eyes; he thought of the uses to which it could be put, and he longed to share it with his people. They could not read the Latin books that he read, but it was possible for him to translate them into Eng- lish. Conscious of his own limitations, and well aware that some were better educated than he, he yet knew of no one who was ready to undertake the task. 'The people,' he said, 'have no books that teach in their own language the truth of God, save those that King Alfred translated. There are in- deed many English books that teach error, and the unlearned in their simplicity esteem them great wisdom.' What were the many heretical books to which he referred? It has been suggested that they were the Old English poets, such writings I Thus, Dugdale, Monasticon, II. 622. At the Abbey of Cernel. 51 as those of Cynewulf.^ Did ^Ifric know these poems? We find no certain proof of it, although he knew metrical writ- ings in English. He would not have called the poems as- cribed to Cfedmon heresy, nor the Judith, and probably not those of Cynewulf. He might have disapproved of secular poems as foolish or trivial, but scarcely as heretical. That age was not one of fine doctrinal distinctions, nor noted for theological controversy. The false doctrines probably had to do with matters of practice. Why should not the common custom of clerical marriage have called forth writings in its defense?' ^Ifric was accustomed to hear arguments in its favor, for he often quotes them and tries to refute them. It is not likely that the books of which he speaks, suiwive to the present day. The literature of that time has been chiefly preserved by transcription of the monks, who had no interest in writing anything contrary to their own teachings, and who did not think of saviiLg the doctrines of their opponents in order to furnish historical data for generations to come. But whatever heresy ^Ifric washed to oppose, his object Avas not controversial. He saw before him manuscript-writ- ings esteemed by all the Christian Chnrch, and yet inaccessi- ble to those who needed them most. Writing of this many Tears after, he looked back to the moment in which he first thought of making his translation as one in which he received the suggestion of God. He accepted it as such, and in the intervals of his daily duties began the new task, the prepara- tion of a volume of English sermons from the Latin church- fathers. Doubtless he consulted his abbot or prior; it ap- pears that ^thelweard and ^thelmeer also knew of the translation, for when the forty homilies were placed together 1 By Dietrich. 'What can the misleading books have been for which the unlearned, the worldlings, cared so much, if not poetry ? The abbey of Cernel was under the bishop of Sherborne, and near Crediton. From this region may have come the precious manu- scripts of Old English poems (the Exeter Codex) which soon after Leofric, Bishop of Cre- diton from 1046, afterwards of Exeter and Cornwall, bequeathed to his cathedral of Exeter.' 2 The words of his preface to Genesis imply that there were some who held that the Bible taught that a man might have more than one wife. Such belief can hardly have been common. See Pref. to Gen. p. 22: ' Hwilon .... p sere ni wan.' 52 At the Abbey of Cernel. in a volume, ^^thelweard asked that he might have forty-four in the copy which he had ordered for his own use. As lay- men, unhampered by the prejudices of the clergy, these men would take a special interest in the work of translation into English. As kindred of King Alfred, they would be follow- ing the traditions of their family when they encouraged it. ^ Wliether ^Ifric was acquainted with these noblemen be- fore he came to C^ernel is not known. Unquestionably he knew them well by report. In the preface to his first volume of homilies he speaks of iEthelmfer as 'the thane whose birth and goodness are known everywhere.' As ^thelweard's ofiicial duties had called him often to the king's court, he had certainly been acquainted with ^thelwold, and he had been for many years interested in the good that the monks were doing: all this affords strong presumption that ^Ifric had already made his acquaintance in the Old Minster. However this may be, ^thelweard had now recognized ^Ifric's ability, and so long as he lived stood always ready to urge him to new undertakings. It accords with ^Ifric's respect for authority that he should desire for his completed volume the amendment or ap- proval of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Sigeric, to whom it was dedicated, assumed that office in 990. We may conclude that the translation was finished by that year or the next, for before Sigerie's death, in October, 994, ^Ifric was to com- plete yet another volume, and to dedicate that also to the archbishop. The questions must be considered, did ^Ifric go back to Winchester? or go elsewhere? or remain at Cernel? The first positive statement as to his place of abode after this comes many years later, when he writes as abbot. We are thus left to conjecture, but not without many indications that enable us to decide what is the probable truth. The proba- bility, so strong as to amount almost to certainty, is that he I yEIfric was not the only translator whom ^thelweard incited to such work. See ^Ifric's preface to Genesis, Bibl. A.-S. Prosa, I. 22. At the Abbey of Cernel 53 remained at Cernel. So long as iEthelweard lived, that is, till near the close of the century, ^Ifric was in close rela- tions with him, writing for him and for ^Ethelmser even when his own desires would deter him from it. This agrees with the service of a monk, who, while in a sense independent of laymen, was yet bound by ties of friendship and of obliga- tion to the patrons of the abbey where he lived. Again, we find him some ten years later (probably about 998) commis- sioned by the bishop of the diocese in which Cernel lies, to write for him a pastoral letter to his clergy. Still further, we shall see that when next we can positively fix upon the place of his abode, he is living in another monastery in another part of England, but this time also in a monastery founded by ^thelmser. Thus there is good reason to believe that he continued quietly teaching and writing at Cernel until another foundation of ^thelmaer's called him to follow his friend to that place. The tone in which he viTites his life of ^thelwold is a very strong argument against his return to "Winchester for anything more than brief visits. Nor does there appear any reason to think that he went elsewhere. The negative argument speaks against it, and it is not to be lost sight of that it was the needs of the Dorset people which first deeply moved him to undertake the work of a translator. Those needs must still have called forth his interest and sym- pathy; his patrons certainly desired his presence and his ser- vices, and their wealth would provide for the library such books as he needed for his literary work. This quiet life in an obscure abbey during the period of his greatest literary activity, and in another abbey equally obscure during his de- clining years, explains, in part, at least, the mystery which has hidden his identity down to the present day. We see then our monk living, as at Winchester, according to the Rule of St. Benedict, teaching young boys the elemen- tary studies of a monastic school, instructing the monk:s in those more advanced, preaching sometimes in the parish church that belonged to the estates of ^thelmasr, and full of 54 At the Abbey of Cernel. interest in the people, and in his work as teacher and trans- lator. The first volmne of homilies was completed and forwarded to the Archbishop. Its teachings must have pleased Sigeric, for he praised the work, and ^Ifric promised to write a second. It may have been at this time, between the two vol- umes of homilies, that he translated the Be Temporihiis from Bede's scientific writings.^ The years 991 to 994, the period in which the second volnme of homilies was translated, were full of distress to the English people. In the first year (991), Brithnoth the ealdorman was slain at Maldon, and by counsel of Archbishop Sigeric, and of the ealdormen, ^thelweard and ^Ifric, the first Danegelt of ten thousand pounds bought off the invaders.'' The next year (992) died Oswald the arch- bishop, and ^thelwin of East Anglia. ^Ifric the ealdor- man of Mercia, the son of ^Ifhere, proved a traitor and tried to thwart the attempts of the English to overcome the Danes by battle. In 993, great evil was done to the northeast of England; Bamborough was captured and plundered. 'Then when a great army was gathered together against the enemy, the English leaders set the example of flight.' In 994 the kings of Norway and Denmark besieged London, and when turned aside by the citizens, 'they went thence,' the Chronicle says, 'and wrought the utmost evil that ever any army could do, by burning and plundering, and slaying of the people, both along the sea-coast and among the East Saxons, and in Kent, and in Sussex, and in Hampshire. And at last they took to themselves horses, and rode as far as they woidd, and continued doing unspeakable evil. Then the king and his council decreed that tribute and food should be given them if they Avould cease from their plunderings.' 'And all the (Danish) army came to Southampton and took up winter- 1 He speaks of the Sainis^ Lives as his fourth work. We should expect him to call it the fifth if the De Temporibzis were already translated. Possibly at that time he retained that in the monastery for the use of his monk?, and did not consider it as one of his pub- lished books. 2 Florence of Worcester, Chronicle, and the Sa.vo?i Chronicle, 992. At the Ahhey of Cernel. bb quarters; and there they were victualled from all the realm of the West Saxons, and were paid sixteen thousand pounds of money. And the king sent Bishop Alphege and ^thel- weard the ealdorman, to Olave (the Korwegian king) and they brought Olave to the king at Andover,' ""and he made a cove- nant with the king that he would never again come as an enemy against the English nation.' These were the circumstances of anxiety under which yElfric translated the second volume of the Catholic Homilies. and in the preface he says to the archbishop: 'With sorrowful mind, distressed hy the many evils received from wicked pirates, we have, lest we should be found a false promiser, completed this book' The date of this volume can not be placed later than 994, because of its dedication to Sigeric, nor would the labor necessary for its completion allow the date to be fixed much earlier. The reference just quoted from ^1- fric makes it almost certain that it was finished in that terri- ble year, whose horrors are sufficiently indicated by the words of the Saxon Chronicle given above. yElfric, like his contemporaries, believed that the end of the world was near at hand But instead of making this an excuse for inaction, he found in it an incentive to labor. Speaking of his first translation, he wrote: 'I undertook this IiT task because men have need of good instruction, especially at this time, which is the ending of this world.' 'There will be ma.ny calamities among mankind before the end cometh.' 'Everyone may more easily withstand the future temptation, through God's help, if he is strengthened by book-learning.' His next work was of a different character, and reminds us that ^Ifric was a teacher of children as well as of older peo- ple. He Avas probably not the first, as he is certainly not the last, of the teachers whom practical experience has induced to make a text-book; but, so far as we know, his Grammar is the first of book of this kind in English. The prefaces tell us that the book is designed for children, and give the 56 At the Abbey of Cernel. author's reasons for writing it. He is aware that his book will be looked upon as a foolish innovation. Men have learned Latin for hundreds of years without any such book, and why not now as well? But ^Ifric's practical experience as a stu- dent and as a teacher taught him the wisdom of adapting his work to the child's mind; he would answer his objectors, but he would not be guided by them. 'Whence/ he says, 'are to come wise teachers among God's people, unless they learn in youth?' My book is for young children, not for grown ]jeople; I have written in simple language so as not to dis- courage them. Let any one think as he pleases of my transla- tion, I am satisfied to put in practice the things which I learned in the school of ^thelwold my teacher, who instilled good into many minds. ^ The date of this work is about 995, for according to his English preface it followed the second volume of the Catholic Homilies. It would be a satisfaction if we could know who were some of xElfric's pupils in this school at Cernel. It was his inter- est in their progress that led him to write his Grammar, and what he says in his prefaces leads us to think that there were boys of noble promise in that school. There is one whom we may without very rash conjecture believe to have been among ^Ifric's pupils at this time, ^thelnoth, the son of ^thelmter, many years later than this was a monk, a dean of Christ Church at Canterbury, and in 1020 Archbishop of Canterbury. Thirty years earlier than 1020 he may have been at Cernel in his father's monastery, near his father's home. A glimpse into his character is afforded by the Saxon Chronicle of 1038, which records: 'This year died ^thelnoth, the good archbishop, and Bishop ^thelric in Sussex, who de- sired of God that he would not let him live long after his be- loved father, ^thelnoth; and accordingly, within seven days, he departed.' After 998 the name of ^thelweard no longer appears in I Compare with this what ^Ifric says of yEthelwold as a teacher, p. 40. At the Abbey of Cernel. 57 the charters.^ The inference is that he had died. As ^Ifric translated two hooks for the eaklorman after writing the Grammar, their dates must fall between 995 and 998. Of these, the Lives of the Saints, written at the earnest re- quest of ^thelweard and ^Ethelmger, was the first, for he says in its Latin preface, that it is the fourth of such translations. That it was at least as late as 996 is shown by his mention of yEthelwold as saint,'' for his name was not placed in the church calendar until that year. The Lives of the Saints is a long work, filling two hundred and thirty-six folio-pages in the manuscript, therefore it is reasonable to place the date as late as 997. Between this time and ^thelweard's death he translated the Genesis. Both of these works he undertook with much reluctance, not for lack of interest, but fearful lest he should weary his readers. It is plain that the judgment of laymen prevailed over the prejudices of the Eoman ecclesi- astic, and that the modest reluctance of the author was over- come by many assurances of appreciation, and of desire for the continuance of his work. By this time his writings were well known to many in the south of England. Probably copies of his different works were ordered for individuals and for monasteries. Among the few books remaining at Per- shore Abbey at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century, was a copy of ^Ifric's Grammar. It may possibly have been the gift of ^thelweard to that abbey. ' Wulfsige, Bishop of Sherborne (993-1001 or 3), to whose diocese Cernel belonged, was one of those who knew of 1 The difficulty in identifying this iEthelweard with the king's high steward, who, by the Saxon Chronicle, died in looi, lies in this disappearance of the name from the char- ters three years earlier, when the name of jEIfric of Mercia which before was second stands at the head. If the ealdorman were ill or infirm, so as to be no longer able to attend to his official duties, he would hardly have met his death in battle. As it is uncertain just what is signified by the term high-steward (heah-gerefa), and there were many men named yEthelweard, there does not appear now any way to settle the question positively. If it could be proved that the high-steward was ^Ifric's friend it would enable us to set the dates of the Gra>n>nai\ Saints' Lives and his translations from the Bible a little later. 2 Lives o/the Saints, I. 264. 3 See p. 49; also Dugdale, Monasticon, II. 413. 58 At the Abbey of Cernel. J^llfric's writings, for, about the time of ^thehveard's death, ^Ifrie wrote at Wulfsige's bidding a pastoral letter ad- dressed to the clergy of the diocese. Wiilfsige is said to have introduced Benedictines into his cathedral at Sherborne, which implies a sympathy with the doctrines taught by ^Ifric. This letter however is not written for monks, but for the secular clergy. As .^Ifric was well acquainted with the habits and needs of Dorset, we can discover in that letter the sins and abuses most common among the clerg}'^ there. The prefatory letter which yElfric addressed to the bishop himself shows that he did not fear to speak with boldness and independence, though he held no higher oiSce in the church than that of priest. There are no data that enable us to say positively whether yElfric wrote any other of his works at Cemel. MaeLean has called attention to the fact that the Glossary shows ^Ifric's use of Isidore. This indicates that it may date from the same period as that in which he wrote the Lives of the Saints, in which he probably used Isidore, or from that in which he wrote the work On the Old and New Testament, of which Isi- dore is tlie most important source. It is such a compilation as his actual work of teaching would call forth, and is per- haps to be assigned to the years 998-999. No book of iElfric's points more directly to his work in a school than the Colloquium, and that may have been written at Cemel sometime before 1005. These earnest years, filled with good deeds undertaken from patriotic love to the English people, must have brought their due rewards, and have been in many ways successful years. But there are passages scattered through his writings which disclose a keen sensitiveness to the evil condition of England in politics and in morals. He lamented that the English were not brave in defending their land; that the priests did not set a good example to the people; that the Gospel teachings were little known. He saw the country beset by heathen enemies whose power was constantly increasing; and the part of Eng- At the Abbey of Gernel. 59 land ill which he lived, siifLered year after year from such in- roads as those of 994. Yet he does not write as a man dis- conraged, but as one who believed that constant faithfulness to duty would in the end accomplish the high aims which he had set before him. CHAPTER IV. AT THE ABBEY OF EYNSHAM. The year 1000, long anticipated as that of the end of the world,' was safely past. In England the year had been pre- ceded not only hy a vague fear of unknown ill, but by terrible sufferings realized. Heathen invaders had spared neither sea- ports nor interior towns; there had been repeated plunder and slaughter; the incompetence and treacherous action of King -(Ethelred and some of the ealdormen had resulted in divided counsels; treachery again and again in the com- manders of the English armies and fleets had betrayed the hopes of the people. All these things answered well to the occurrences which prophecy declared should precede the end of the world. The passing of the dreaded year brought no cessation of ills, and many thought that the looked-for con- summation was only delayed for a brief time. But life is so strong a force that men can not cease to believe in its con- tinuance, and so the thought of the uncertain future event did not wholly paralyze their activities. It must have been at about the beginning of the century that vEthelmaer, who had succeeded his father as ealdorman, * began to build the new abbey of Eynsham.' The foundation charter, of the year 1005/ is of interest in connection with ^Ifric. It is not improbable that he composed it himself; * 1 The true strength of this belief is difficult to estimate. Its vagueness and uncer- tainty must have rendered it inoperative as a motive when compared with the definiteness and reality of the common affairs of life. Yet it must have had some weight if the docu- ments of that time mean anything. 2 Green, Cong, of Eng. p. 394; Robertson, Hist. Essays, p. 184-5. 3 Eynshara on the Thames (Isis) river, a few miles above Oxford. ' This place is considered to be of great antiquity, and to have formed a royal vill (manor) in the reign of King jEthelred.' 4 Cod. Dip. A.-S. p. 339-346; Dugdale's Monasticon, III. 11-13. 5 ' It is even to be supposed that M\ir\c composed the charter. The style is simple, well-considered, and coherent. A healthy tone prevades the whole of this long document, which has nothing of the bombast used by his brethen elsewhere.' Dietrich, p. 240. At the Abbey of Eynsham. 61 certainly it is a document that he read with interest and ap- proval, and one to which, there is every reason to believe, he added his own signature. It is of even more importance as the writing which tells nearly all the little that is known of the circumstances in which yElfric spent the last period of his life. The first part of it is written in the name of King ^thelred, and confirms to his 'beloved and faithful ^thel- mser" the rights and liberties of the abbey of Eynsham. After speaking of the great tribulation of those days, the charter continues: 'It especially behooves us upon whom the ends of the ages are come, to examine with diligent care the needs of our souls, that we may know how and with what merits we may in that world which is soon to appear be vic- torious with Christ, for here we have no dwelling place, but we seek one to come. Therefore we, with earthly riches, have great need to try with all our powers to obtain that future world.' The charter relates that ^thelmser obtained this monastery from his son-in-law ^thelweard, in exchange for three parcels of land. As there is no record of a monastery there before this time, this may possibly mean that the land upon which the new abbey was built was thus obtained. Of the many lands with which ^thelmaer endowed the abbey, two estates, Shipford and Micklantun (Mickleton), had for- merly been given by King Edgar to Brihtnoth, the ealdor- man of Essex. The first of these, ^thelmger inherited from a relative, Leofwine; the second was bequeathed to him by Brihtnoth, which is easily explained, if, as has been said, his mother was Brihtnoth's daughter." The family connections and inheritances of ^thelmaer, and his relations with the king, probably led him to build 1 In Cod. Dip. A.-S. VI. 174, ^thelmter is called ' the kinsman of King .lEthelred.' 2 ' Villam quoque quae Scipford dicitur, dedit vir praedictus ad monasterium antedic- tum, quam ei Leofwinus suus consanguineus spiritu in ultimo constitutus donavit, quam BirthnoSus antea dux praeclarus ab Eadgaro patre meo dignis praemium pro meritis accipere laetabatur; Micclantun similiter ad monasterium dedit, quam ille BirthnoSus dux praedictus ultimo coramisit dono ab Eadgaro quoque ei antea donatam et in kartula firmiter commendatam.' Cod. Dip. A.-S. III. 341. 62 At the Abbey of Eynsham. the new abl3ey at this place. The charter states that ^thel- mffir himself was to have his ov^ti home in the monastery, liv- ing as a father among the brethren. After the account of the boundaries of the lands which are secured to the abbey, are these words: 'I, ^thelmaer, make known to my dear lord, King zEthelred, and to all his counsellors, that I assure this gift to God, and to all his saints, and to St. Benedict.' ' 'And I desire that he who is now the superior may continue to hold that office so long as he lives, and after his death that the brethren may choose one from their own number accord- ing as the rule prescribes, and I myself will live with them, and enjoy the endowment as long as life lasts.'"' That ^Ifric is the superior of whom ^thelm{\}r speaks, is proved by his own words in the preface to his book of extracts from ^thelwold's Be Consududine, addressed to the monks of Eynsham. They are these: 'Abbot ^Ifric desires for the brethren of Eyn- sham salvation in Christ. Dwelling with you, I see that you need to be instructed either by spoken or written words in monastic usages, since recently by ^thelmfer's request you have been ordained as monks. '^ These words by themselves are sufficient proof that ^Ifric was the abbot whom ^thel- masr had appointed, even as might be expected from the warm friendship which existed between these two men. But further than this, there are two Abbot ^Ifrics who witness this charter. The sixteen abbots whose names appear here can all be identified as presiding over monasteries in the neigh- borhood of Eynsham, except one of these two ^Ifrics. It 1 See end of Ch. XIII. 2 Ego jESelredus . . . literarum apicibus insinuare curavi, quod ^Selmaro viro valde fidelissimo inihi quoque dilectissimo impetrante absolutissimum libertatis privi- legium constituo monasterio ejus in honore sancti salvatoris, omniumque sanctorum suorum jure dedicato in loco celebri juxta fluvium qui vocatur Tamis constituo, quod ab incolis regionis illius Egenesham nuncupatur vocabulo; quod quidem monasterium j'ESelmarus ab ^Selweard genero suo mutuando accepit. . . . Vitae igitur regularis monachos inibi constituens ipse patris vice fungens vivensque communiter inter eos abbatem sanctae monachorum congregatione preferre, se vivente, instituit, ut ita deinceps post ipsum quern constituit abbatem, abbatum electio secundum regulae praeceptum, ex eadem congregatione usu teneat perpetuc' Cod. Dip. A.-S. III. 340. 3 See that preface in Ch. XIII. At the Abbey of Eynsham. 63 was the custom then for an abbot to witness all documents which related to his own monasteiy. It is therefore to be inferred that ^Ifric was the name of the abbot of Eynsham. ' Of the various other English abbots of that name, it can be sliown that none of them would be likely to sign this charter, because either their dates or the location of their abbeys do not allow it." The words of the charter imply that when it ^\'as written, monks were already gathered, and the abbot was established in their midst. Thus it may be that ^Ifric came there some- what earlier than 1005, and perhaps had been active in making all the preparations for opening a new monastery. It was probably so. Some of his pupils from Cernel would have come with him, as those from Glastonbury followed ^thelwold to Abingdon. The first one of .'^Ifric's writings which is of this period, is, no doubt, the above-mentioned extract from ^thelwold's De Consuetudine Monaclwrum, and is probably of the year 1005. He was now in Mercia, a region where there was gi'eat opposition to his ideas on clerical marriage; and most of his monks, who had come from the ranks of the secular clergy, ^ had little acquaintance with monastic life. ^Ifric would not force upon them the long Eule with its many minute details, he would have defeated his own ends if he had done so. In- stead of this, he carefully selected from ^thelwold's Eng- 1 ' I have little hope that documents relating to the abbey of Eynsham by which the list of its first abbots can be determined, will ever be found in England. The Codex Diplornaticus published by Kemble, throws no light upon it. Having noted in Wanley, p. 105, that there was a codex in the library of Christ College, Oxford, which had records of Eynshara, I paid a visit to Oxford. There the dean and librarian of Christ Church kindly gave me the opportunity to inspect the manuscript. I have now convinced myself that the earlier abbots of Eynsham are not there. In the village of Eynsham there are no records, as also no longer an abbey. In order to leave nothing untried, I asked Dr. Ban- dinell of the Bodleian library if anything in reference to Eynsham had been found since the completion of the Monasticon^ and received an answer in the negative.' Dietrich, p. 241-2. 2 See Dietrich, p. 237-8, 248, n. 164. 3 Contrast in Kemble's Cod. Dip. A. -S. the charters of Oswald with those of the south of England: i. e. note that the former are attested by many clerks; the latter by few or none. 64 At the Abbey of Eynsham. lish translation those parts which were adapted to their need, adding to these those things 'from the book of Amalarius' which he thought would be useful for them to know. It is sometimes said that iElfric had little imagination; but he had an unusual ability of putting himself in the place of othea's. He was always feeling his way carefully so as to meet the exact needs of his readers, and not to surfeit them with super- fluous teachings. A long list of passages from his homilies could be cited in proof of this. The preface of his Grammar shows one instance; that of the Lives of the Saints yet an- other; and to these extracts from the De Consuetudine he might fitly have added the words of Paul: 'We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children;' 'I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.' Up to this time the friends of whom ^Ifric spealcs have been of the south of England. From now on they are those who can be identified as belonging to Mercia. The new mon- astery was well known to the king and his counsellors, and yEthelmaer's lay friends had probably heard of ^Ifric and his books. Those of that region who cared to read would be interested to have such a man and such an author come among them. He can not have been there long before he was solicited to lend his writings, for it was probably before 1006, or early in that year, that Wulfgeat of Ylmandune, ' a favorite thane of the king's, borrowed some of them. Afterwards he talked with yElfric about them, told him how I Fl. of Wor., 1006, ' King ^thelred stripped his'chief favorite, Wulfgeat, son of Leof sige, of his estates and honors, on account of his unrighteous judgments and arrogant deeds.' The Saxon Chronicle simply states the fact that he was deprived of his possessions. Greene, Cong, of E. 382, ' Wulfgeat probably directed the king's policy in the short interval of peace that followed Swain's departure at the end of 1004. But only two years, later the new minister was displaced by a revolution which seems to have been accom- panied by deeds of violence.' See Freeman, Nor. Cong. I. 220, 435-6; Cod. Dip. A.-S. III. 224-345; VI. 154, 160, 169. Leechdoms, Wortcjinning., etc. III. p. XXVII, ' Ylmandun here mentioned may be certainly interpreted as Ilmingdon, on the borders of Warwickshire and Gloucestershire, with the down close to it. Ilmingdon is the next parish to Mickleton where one of the Eynesham-foundation estates lay.' At the Ahbey of Eynsham. 65 much he liked them, and obtained from the abbot the prom- ise of more, a promise which was fulfilled by ^Ifric's sending him one of his sermons. Wulfgeat's name is attached to the charter of Eynsham, and he is to be identified, without doubt, as that thane of the king's who in 1006 was deprived of his estates and honors. In N^ovember, 1005, ^Ifrie, Archbishop of Canterbury, died, and early in the next year, Alphege, Bishop of Win- chester, became archbishop. Kenulph, Abbot of Peter- borough, succeeded at Winchester, but died within the year. As ^Ifric dedicated his life of ^thelwold to Bishop Ken- ulph, there can be no question as to its date. The words of the preface lead us to think that he may have visited Win- chester not long before he wrote it, possibly on his journey from Cernel to Eynsham. There his own remembrance of yEthelwold, who had been dead more than twenty years, had been refreshed, and he had noted down traditions of the monks and historical data ready for use when the opportunity to write should come. As we read the chronicles of these years, we can not help admiring the courage and constancy with which JElfric pur- sued his way, writing and teaching in the midst of national disasters that would have discouraged every patriotic citizen who did not look, as he did, far beyond the passing events of the hour. In this very year in which he wrote ^th el wold's biography, the Danish anny was burning towns and plunder- ing the land not far from Eynsham. The Saxon Chronicle tells how in mid-winter the army passed through Hampshire into Berkshire, to Reading, which they burned, and to Wal- lingford, about thirty miles farther down the Thames river than Eynsham, which they also burned, and, a little farther on, to Cholsey, which Florence of Worcester says had the same fate. 'Then were forces assembled at Kennet, and they there joined battle and put the EngHsh to flight.' 'Then the Winchester people could see an army that feared nothing, as it passed by their gates going on to the sea, carrying food and 66 At the Abbey of Eynsham. treasure from over fifty miles inland. The dread of the army became so great that no man conld think or discover how their foes conld he driven ont of the land, or how the land conld defend itself against them, for they had put their marks upon every shire in Wessex by burning and by plun- dering.' Then follows the old story of tribute and food un- willingly given. This was not the end; the chronicles tell a similar tale for the years that followed this, and it was only when the Danish victory was complete and Cnut was king, after ^thelred's death (1016), that anything like peace dawned upon England. Sometime within the few years after 1006 ^Ifric wrote his treatise. On the Old and Neiv Testaments. In this he refers to many of his writings, so that its date is determined as a late one. In the opening words of this work, and in two other passages, he addresses Sigwerd of Easthealon at whose request he prepared this writing. He speaks of having visited Sigwerd at his house, so that Sigwerd's home must have been not far from Eynsham. As land at East Healle was granted to the abbey of Abingdon in Mercia in 963,* it is certain that Sigwerd was a Mercian, and one of vElfric's neighbors. He is probably the thane Sigwerd who witnessed the foundation charter of Eynsham, and whose name often appears in docu- ments between 995 and 1012. As the name disappears after that, and his death is to be inferred, we may date this work of ^Ifric's somewhere between 1005 and 1012. As this work follows in one manuscript the letter to Wulfgeat, it may have been written soon after that. One little incident of yElfric's visit to Sigwerd, related near the end of this writ- ing, tells something of ^Ifric, and also of the spirit of the Benedictine life. ^Ifric says: 'When I was at your house you urged me to drink more than I was accustomed. You ought to know, dear friend, that if any one compels another to drink more than is good for him, and any harm result, the 1 See Chronicon Monasierii de Abingdon, II. 327-8. At the Abbey of Eynsham. 67 blame is upon him who caused it. Our Saviour Christ in his gospel has forbidden believers in Him to drink more than is necessary. Let him who will, keep the law of Christ.' Thus uElfrie was not ascetic for the sake of asceticism. This visit is an illustration of his friendly intercourse with the people in the neighborhood of the new abbey, and of the practical efforts that he no doubt was making all of the time to elevate the common life of the people about him. Strict as he was in regard to purity of life, his loving and unselfish spirit won him friends where\'er he went. One other instance of his intercourse with his neighbors is the writing addressed to Sigeferth, who may possibly be the thane of that nauie whose signature is attached to the charter of Eynsham and to other docimients from 1005 to 1024, but the name is a very common one. This Sigeferth had a private chapel on his estate, and his priest was ppenly teaching that it was quite right for the clergy to marry. ' Perhaps Sige- ferth was acquainted with ^Ifric, or it may be that he was known to ^tlielma^r. In any case,iElfric knew of the teaching of Sigeferth's priest, and the result was a carefully prepared sermon on chastity addressed to Sigeferth, which no doubt reached the priest, but we do not hear that he abandoned his teachings. Had the times been less confused and troubled, the efforts on the part of the secular clergy and their friends to carry this point, and ])rove their teaching correct, might, and probably would in time, have resulted in the modifica- tion of the teachings of such earnest men as ^Ifric. The course of Dunstan and Oswald is an indication of this. ^Ifric's Life of ^thelivold which he sent to the brethren at Winchester, can hardly have reached there much before the death of Bishop Kenulph. It may have been this fresh re- minder of the Winchester alumnus, that led to a request from the new bishop, ^thelwold II, that ^Ifric would write a sermon for him. It was in answer to this that a homily was translated, that on the text: 'Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour when your Lord 68 At the Abbey of JEJynsham. doth come/ and the date must fall in ^thelwold's term of office, that is, between 1007 and 1012. It was in this latter year, 1012, that the cruel death of ^Ifric's former bishop, Alphege, occurred at Greenwich. The contrast of unrest and terror outside the monastery, with calm steady purpose, and attention to every-day duties of life, is shown in the writings which TEUvic produced at this time, still mindful of the spiritual needs of the people when the outward circumstances were as disheartening as possible. The pastoral letter which ^Ifric wrote for Bishop Wulf- sige when in Dorset, suggested to Wulfstan, Archbishop of York and Bishop of Worcester, that such letters would be useful for his numerous clergy. Eynsham, though imder the Bishop of Ijondon, was not far from the Worcester diocese; Wulfstan was one of the signers of the Eynsham charter, and must have known its abbot and his writings, and among them that pastoral letter. His first request to ^Ifric was for letters in Latin, and the next year, for an English translation of the same. The date of these was probably not before 1014, for section 52' of the first letter is apparently taken from laws of yEthelred which were issued in that year. It is also probable that the date is not much later than that. Wulfstan's famous Address to the English shows how deeply he felt the calamities of the time, the sins of the people-, and the pressing need of a remedy; and so his request for these letters would hardly have been delayed until the last years of his life. The con- nection between these two most important writers of this period of Old English is worth noting here. If we judge by Wulfstan's homilies he would not have hesitated to re- buke the faults of his clergy. Nor did ^Ifric hesitate to use plain language when occasion demajided. He was gentle with the ignorant laity and the young, but the secular clergy had no excuse for their conduct. They were bound by their office to be an example to the people. Wulf- I Cf. with Section 52 a passage in Wilkins' Le^es Anglo-Saxonicae, p. nS- At the Abbey of Eynsham. 69 Stan's request was not made simply because ^Ifric was a scholar and a skillful writer of books. He recognized in him one who was working with his whole heart for the practical ends that he himself was seeking. There are marked differ- ences in the temper and in the literary work of these men, but they were manifestly in sympathy with each other. yEthelmaer was probably an older man than .^Ifric. This is indicated by the words of the charter in which he refers- to himself as being in the place of a father in the abbey. In the charters from 1006 to 1013 his name occurs but twice, and his life was probably spent in quiet retirement as the words already quoted would lead us to expect.' In 1013, the Saxon Chronicle, giving the account of Sweyn's conquest of the different paiis of England, says, 'Then went King Sweyn to Wallingford, and so over the Thames westward to Bath, and encamped there with all his forces. And ^thelmger the ealdorman came thither, and the western thanes with him, and they all submitted to Sweyn and gave hostages for them- selves.' Probably at this time yEthelma3r was an old man. The next year we hear of his death. Three years later, in 1017, his son ^thelweard was put to death by Cnut, but unjustly, according to Florence of Worcester. Again in 1020 his son ^thelnoth became archbishop of Canterbury, and his son-in-law ^thelweard was banished by the king. What do we know of ^Ifric in these years?" Little that is definite, and yet it is certain that the death of his friend and the fortunes of his family touched him very closely. We have a hint of literary work in the English preface of the first volume of Catliolic Homilies, in which he speaks of King ^thelred's day as if it were past. It was not far from 1020 1 From 983-1005 y^thelmser's name is found more than twenty times among the attend- ants of the king as witness of documents. 2 ' It is impossible to believe that M\{r\c became a bishop in these last years of his life. The only one of his name who is chronologically possible is the bishop of East Anglia who died in 1038. But the Mercian abbot would not have been sent to the eastern end of the country, to Elmham. It is yet more improbable that our /Elfric, who wrote his language with purity and force, could have written East Anglian as carelessly as did Bishop ^Elfric in the testament handed down from him.' Dietrich, p. 241. VO At the Abbey of Eynsham. that he revised his homilies and prepared a second edition, lie no longer wrote large new volumes of translation, but single sermons as occasion demanded, those writings, perhaps, for which no date can be suggested. His life was not simply that of a student, or a teacher in the cloister-school; as abbot his social rank was high, and social duties must have devolved upon him. His great interest in the secular clergy and the laity points to active eiforts on his part outside of the mon- astery. There is no record of the year of his death. In 1020 or 1021 an Abbot ^Ifric signed a charter of gift to St. Paul's Abbey in London.' That abbey, like the Old Minster of Win- chester, had no abbot: it stood directly under the Bishop of London. The abbot of Westminster at that time was named Wulnoth, and there is no Abbot yElfric under the Bishop of London nearer than Eynsham. The probability is that the ^Ifric whose name is found here is ^Ifric the abbot of that monastery. We may reasonably suppose that he died some- where between 1020 and 1025, as there is no longer any trace of him Of the monastery over which he presided few records re- main, and no list of its abbots begins earlier than 1115. The obscurity which involved his house concealed the identity of its most famous abbot. As we consider the confusion of the time, and the revolutions in state and church which were to come with the ISTorman Conquest, the mystery which" has sur- rounded the person of ^Ifric is easily explained. After ali, we may be thankful that so many facts of his life are cer- tainly known; there are men of greater note than he of whom we know less. Students of this period of history, which has sometimes been called 'the darkest of the dark ages,' will yet gather together more and more facts which will explain the life and the works of ^^Ifric, and make more clear his services to the English language, and to the higher life' of the Eng- lish people. 1 Cod. Dip. A. -S. IV. 304. 1 CHAPTER V. ^LFEIC'S EDUCATION AND CHAEACTEE. Had the tenth century not been filled with a constant, war- like unrest, which disturbed the peace of the cloister; had there been a love of learning as in the time of Aldhelm and Bede, protected, and incited, by kings like Alfred, and main- tained by more frequent associations with the scholars of other lands, the zeal of an ^Ifric would have reached a more many-sided perfection. Under such circumstances, his mind, which Avas open, clear and firm, desirons of everything good and noble, would have come to a higher degree of in- sight and independence than we see really attained by him. This is evident when we examine closely his writings and teachings, and comjiare him with the educated men of his century in other lands. Nevertheless, when Judged fairly according to the condi- tions of his time, he stands forth an eminent man among the Old English. But his chief excellence is not to be sought in special learnedness, nor in the distinguished place assigned him in relation to traditional Catholicism. Eather it is to be found in the fidelity with which he devoted whatever learn- ing his opportunities enabled him to acquire to the educa- tion of the people, adapting to their needs his whole thought and activity. It is not probable that he ever enjoyed a court-training, or travelled in foreign lands. His book education was nar- rowed to the Trivium and Quadrivium of the cloister-schools. Grammar and rhetoric he must have studied with a keen interest, and all the knowledge of these subjects that he was able to obtain, he transmuted into sap and blood. This is shown by his clear, vigorous, consistent use of language, both 72 ^Ifric's Education and Character. English and Latin, and by the flexibility and force of his rhetorical movement in the homilies. That he may also have been successful in the study of theory we can infer from his translation of Priscian; but classicism is not to be found in his Latin. It is free from the excessive ornamentation and the disjointed constructions of the writings of the preceding century, and from the barbarous importations from Greek and the modern languages of Western Europe which charac- terized the Latin of his own time; it is simple and correct according to the grammatical standard of that age. At the same time it is always the Latin of the Middle Ages, with its strange constructions and word-forms after the example of the Latin translations of the Bible. ^Ifric says, for example, 'interpretavimus,' and uses 'si' in the indirect question, Just as Bede does. It is not probable tliat he was acquainted with any language except Latin and the mother-tongue. The knowledge of Hebrew was not to be thought of, for since Jerome such learning had been transmitted only in his writings. The representation and explanation of the Hebrew words with which the separate books of the Pentateuch begin, and by which they are named; the interpretation of proper names of sacred history, and of other expressions, for example, of 'Hallelujah,' show only the diligent use of Jerome. If ^Ifric had obtained knowledge of Hebrew at first hand, perhaps through rabbis, he would not have explained Nain as 'agita- tion' {Horn. I. 492), or make Ananias signify sheep' {Horn. I. 390). He had read the Old Testament only in Latin, and so he is guilty of many little inaccuracies and mis- understandings. Thus he calls the queen who' came to Solomon 'Saba,' holding the uninflected genitive in 'in regina Saba' to be a proper name; and he says that the books of Kings and of Chronicles were written by 'Samuel and Mal- achim.' He might perhaps have known Greek, since the knowledge of it had never quite been lost in England. It is clear, how- jElfric^s Education and Character. 73 ever, that he did not, for he nowhere shows any independent acquaintance with the significance of Greek words. When he does give them he generally gives them correctly. 'The Holy Ghost/ he says, following Bede, 'is called in the Greek lan- guage "Paraclitns," that is, "Spirit of Comfort."' Once he writes a word of a Greek stem: the six jars at the marriage at Cana are called in his text Imjdriae, in which is the Greek word hydor, 'water.' In this etymology he follows Bede. He explains the name Stephen {Horn. I. 50), not by the Greek, bnt by the Latin, and not by corona, but by coronatus, which he translates into the Old English gewuldorleagod, 'crowned.' He gives as explanation of the name Gregorius, {Horn. II. 118) Vigilantius, and translates this again by the neuter of the comparative, wacolre, 'more watchful,' and offends by this the Latin as well as the Greek. Thus it appears that there is not the slightest ground for ascribing to him even the rudiments of Greek. At that time only Latin was deemed necessary for an understanding of the Bible. He says 'Jerome translated from Hebrew and from Greek into Latin, the language in which we learn.' It was the custom to join with the astronomy of that day teachings on physics, and on the reckoning of the calendar according to its movable feasts. In this branch ^Ifric had more than the usual knowledge, which appears to have been limited in the cloister-course to the finding of Easter-day, including whatever was necessary for that in the courses of the sun and of the moon. He had read of eclipses of the sun and moon, and of shooting stars. He knew that the moon rises daily about four points (fmver pricum) later, and so the tide of the sea comes so much later. AVhat a favorite subject, and how familiar astronomy was to him, is shown by the account of the different beginnings of the year with different nations which is found in a homily for the first of January, the beginning of the Roman year. Of general history he knew hardly more than the sum- mary of the Origenistic world-ages, to which he sometimes 74 ^Ifric's Education and Character. refers. It is true that he often quotes historical or geograph- ical observations with the words: 'historical writers (loyrd- wrlteras) say so and so;' but the contents of such quotations point only to acquaintance with Josephus, and with the native history, whose political and ecclesiastical events were recorded in Bede's oft-named work. As is to be expected, he was most familiar with church history, especially with the work begun by Eusebius and con- tinued after his time. He nowhere names Eusebius, nor, in this connection, Eufmus, the true translator of Eusebius' work into I^atin, for he understands Jerome to be its author, and ascribes the story of the finding of the cross to hmi. This is a confusion of the Ecclesiastical History with the Cltroniclc of Eusebius, of which Jerome translated the second part, and carried it forward to 378 A. D. ^Ifric had read many church-legends, but not with the critical spirit, in the modern sense of the term, that rarest of all spirits in the Middle Ages. His own lives of saints show knowledge and graphic talent, but he nowhere distinguishes by any law of inner probability that which is worthy of belief from that which is suspicious. His test of reliability was only the good- ness of the person from whom the history or tradition was received. He repeatedly says that he has taken diligent care for correct belief in his teachings, since he has followed those fathers whose authority is accepted by all Catholic churches. His theological education embraced Biblical knowledge and dogmatics, ecclesiastical history, customs, and statutes, and liturgical and pastoral theology. In these his education was extensive, and chiefly of a practical tendency. His hom- ilies sometimes approach dialectical development, yet he goes little beyond the Christian speculations of Augustine, and does not from principle allow himself individual, free doc- trinal development. Although he chooses his teachings with tolerable freedom, he is to be classed with divines who are adherents of tradition. It wa s his wish to use for the common people the doctrines which had been developed by the greatest ^Ifric's Education and Character. 76 Christian teachers, those teachings that the whole church preserved and held sacred, and which he himself received with full conviction. In the homilies he usually gives the exposition which is found in the Latin original, considering, first, the literal meaning of the Scripture-passage, and then the moral and typical meanings. Indeed he often makes the lesson of the types more important than the moral lesson. For this reason he sometimes has strange interpretations, for example, when he says that the five shillings which redeemed the first-born {Horn. I. 138) signify the five senses which should be dedicated to God; or, that the return of the Magi is to image our return to the true fatherland by another way pointed out by God.^ Even where he moves freely, and has ' not old homilies before him, as in the introduction to Genesis, lie shows that his thoughts follow easily the typical explana- tions of the old church-fathers. For the first word of the Old Testament, 'In the beginning,' he postulates a deeper and more spiritual understanding than the obvious one: it means 'in Christ God created the heavens and the earth,' an inter- pretation drawn from John 8, 25, of which his translation read, '1 who speak to you am the beginning." Likewise hirf explanation of the tabernacle and its single component parts, as a type of the church, to which men are to bring faith, virtues, and penitential deeds, is not his own, but that of the ancient church. In the New Testament, especially in the parables and other r addresses of our Lord, he held generally to the simplest literal explanation; he seeks here only the proper, obvious under- standing of the words. An example of simple, striking ex- egesis is his explanation of the parable of the different kinds of seeds, which he drew from Gregory and from Bede. The text which he comments on is always the Vulgate, though occasionally he mentions variations between different 1 In this he treats the subject as Otfried does, because he draws from similar sources. 2 The interpretation is an old one found in Isidore, in the Hexameron of Basil, in Ter- tullian, in Hilarius, in a fragment of Ariston of Pella, and in Bede's Commentary on Genesis. 76 u^lfric's Education and Character. Latin translations {Horn. I. 172; II. 446; cf. I. 436), and lie knew and used, besides the Vulgate, the translation by Jerome. He was acquainted with what Isidore's prefaces to the books of the Bible contain about the authors and the historj' of their times. The collection into a comprehensive whole of such knowledge as is now found in an introduction to the Scriptures, belongs to a time much later than ^Ifric, but his complete and hearty appropriation of the whole con- tents of the Bible itself appears everywhere, and he was able at need to reproduce it independently. He is incontestably N a master in the portrayal of Biblical story, understanding well how to weave into the narrative his own practical applica- tions and comments. Here and there he shows the influence of legend upon sacred history, of which he was perhaps un- conscious. Thus he tells of the creation of the angels and of the fall of Lucifer, as if they stood in the first book of Moses; and he makes Job the fifth after Abraham, Isaiali to be sawn asunder under Manassah, and Jeremiah to be stoned in Egypt, Just as if they all stood in the Bible. His historical and Biblical teachings always have reference to a moral effect, but he has not principles of morals developed by themselves. His pastoral letters show his comprehensive and accurate acquaintance with the canons of the ecumenical councils. In making profane and Biblical history accessible to his "' people, yElfric sought to adapt his material to the character and customs of the English, in order that it might either accord with that which they had experienced, or become by association with that comprehensible to them. With facile hand he makes plain also those things which could not be so brought home to them: now he suppresses that which is secondary in the foreign narrative, and again he inserts the familiar in so far as the truth is not prejudiced by it. This is seen especially in respect to the social stations of persons of high rank. He seeks to show that the relation of the saints to God is the same as that of thanes to their king: as thanes intercede with the king, so do the saints with God. ^I/He's Education and Character. 17 Saint Sebastian is represented as a truth-loving, wise inter- cessor, as a good English thane of God; and the gi-eat men of Egypt are called Pharaoh's thanes, or his witan, 'counsel- lors.' The English prince next below the king was called the ^theling. Thus Christ is named by ^Ifric, as he had been by the earlier poets. Moses he calls the mighty duke (liereioga), and sometimes he gives the judges this title: Pilate is King Herod's ealdorman; Holof ernes and Sisera. are Syrian ealdormen. The Je^^'ish high-priest is. always the elder bishop (ealdorhisceop), not exactly archbishop, and not, as in the gospels, high-priest. As over the prisons of an English shire there was placed an official called the high sheriff (healigerefa), so ^Ifric gives that title to Valerian in his life of Lawrence, and, again, to an Agrippa by whose counsel Nero had caused Paul to be beheaded. The English reeves had to receive rents and customs for their lords. So Joseph in Egypt is called a reeve because he filled the king's granaries. The publicans in the gospels are introduced as reeves, and thus they were much more intelligible and more alive than if they had been called tax-gatherers, or publicans as they are in the New Testament. To the English the Welsh men and women (wealh and wylen) were servants by birth, hence the Egyptians are made to say 'the Israelites are our wealas/ and it is said that Abimelech took 'welas and wylna.' The free servant as an assistant is gingra, with the Judge he is the beadle (hydel), a word which also meant herald, and so John is introduced as Christ's beadle. In Old English law, reparations for crime or neglect were graded according to locality, in short, according to the rank of the authority which hallowed the place. How living to the people must have been the passage which shows that transgressions under the New Covenant are more to' be dreaded than those under the Old, where ^Ifric explains: 'One thing is the regulation which the king ordains through his nobles or officials, but another is the edict issued when 6 78 ^Ifric's Education and Character. he is present' {Horn. I. 359). The instigator of murder for- feited his property even as did the doer. This ^Ifrie used in reference to the property which Satan had in mankind, and especially in reference to Satan's instigation of the Jews to the killing of Christ {Horn. I. 216). From early times every English province was spoken of in relation to jurisdiction by the name of shire. By the use of this term ^Ifric transfers that which was foreign to domestic ground, as when he calls Csesarea the fortress of the Cappa- docian shire. One of the duties accompanying the use of land in England was the repair of the walled towns: so the spies under Caleh were required to see whether the walls of the towns were in repair. How distinctly the country, the domestic concerns, and the manner of life of the Old English, come before the eye in many passages from iElfric; as in the words: 'Foolish is the traveller who turns into the level path that leads him astray, and forsakes the steep path which leads to the walled-town;' or where tar, honey, frankincense, and also acorns and nuts, are sent from Palestine to Egypt; and where every fruit- garden figures as an apple-orchard (wppeltun). Again, the Old English dwelling-house had the guest-room under a sep- arate roof, hence we read that Abraham received the three angels in his guest-house (on Ms gest liuse). The feasts of the patriarchs are called beer-drinkings (gebeorscipas), and it is said that John drank neither wine, nor beer, nor ale, but ate fruit and 'what he could find in the wood;' the locusts, as strange, are omitted. Thus — and it might be illustrated much further — the assimilation of that which was foreign reached from the most important legal relations to the smallest features of daily life. This method of .i^lfric's, by which he enlivens foreign material with the native colors and tones, may be less the artistic impulse, so praiseworthy in the author of the Heliand, than the desire to cherish and enoble the native culture and manners. Not only the poetical clothing of his thought, but ^Ifric^s Education and Character. 79 also such, transformations as these, were intentional; they show that he wished to be a man of the people, notwithstanding his monkish education by means of Latin literature, and all his zeal for ecclesiasticism in Roman forms. Perhaps some are inclined to pre-suppose in monks, especially in those who are zealous for celibacy, ouly a mind for asceticism, or, at least, for repression of the people. To such it must be agree- able and surprising to find ^Ifric full of patriotic love fork his whole fatherland. The way in which he cites a list of victorious English kings, Alfred, ^thelstan, and Edgar, as examples of leaders of the people conducted by God to great- ness and power, makes it easy to see his joy in the welfare of the whole nation. In his time, courage to bear arms against foreign pirates had weakened, was even asleep. He used the Biblical history over and over to arouse that courage. 'There is a righteous war,' he says, 'war against raging pirates, or against other peoples who wish to destroy the fatherland.^ But his love for his nation shows itself most in activity for the spiritual good and education of the laity. He was in- cited to make several of his translations by men of high rank, who desired religious readings for themselves and their subor- dinates, but his first undertaking was of his free choice, and arose from sympathy with the people. It was with this spirit that he wrote: 'It is good and right to minister to God's poor, and especially to the se'rvants of God, but it is greater to spealv heavenly lore to the unlearned, and to feed their souls' {Horn. II. 442). Besides the translation of the Lord's Prayer and the greater and smaller formulas of belief, ^Ifric put before the people other prayers, distinguished by their depth and brevity, and entirely suited to the common need. The whole manner of his exposition and use of Scripture, which he brings so near to the common man that he can, as it were, grasp it with his hands, shows that he never forgot his aim, to give sound nutriment to the untaught, and that he remained always under the control of the inner pressure to help his 'English people' (Angclcyn). 80 ^Ifric's Education and Character. I cannot trace, consistently with. ^Ifric's character, his teaching upon election, .and his use of Gregoiy's authority upon the same, to a lax conception of church belief; but only to his love for the people and to his desire to win as many as possible. He explains the frightful words, 'Few are chosen,' in the mildest way, referring to the words of Christ in Matt. 8, 11; and that no doubt may remain upon the subject, he brings forward as a church authority for the not small num- ber of those Avho shall be saved, a passage from Gregory, which scanned more closely, scarcely Justifies the conclusion of ^Ifric. He says, 'though the chosen of God seem few in the present life, among the carnally-minded, yet they are not few when they are gathered together' {Horn. II. 82). Thus he precludes the thought that a whole people which had come into such dire need as the Old English were in, should be represented as rejected of God. That his love for the people was the true love which is bound up with moral earnestness, is shown sufficiently in his reproofs of their darling sins, foremost, that of di'unken- ness. The Old English had great pleasure in alliterative verse; and if so small a thing may be allowed to count as a token of pure love of the people, yElfric's introduction of the popu- lar metrical discourse into his homilies, which, so far as I know, no other preacher in German lands had done, is an evidence that he wished to penetrate directly to the hearts of his hearers. Though Aldhelm had used his poetical powers for oral delivery of sacred history itself, yet it had not been undertaken for church discourse. ^Ifric appropriated the universally favorite form in order that the proclamation of salvation might take hold upon hearts with the power of the song of the old heroes, who had been hitherto the moral exemplars of that which was noblest. The subjects of those selections which he has handled poetically, lead one to believe that this was probably his aim. They were in most cases histories of saintly warriors, either of those of the Old Eng- ^I/He's Education and Character. 81 lish who had fallen fighting for the everlasting treasure, or heroes and deeds of sacred story. Even the homily on the Passion is purely narrative, and aims to impress upon the soul the glory of the victorious Jesus in his struggle and death. ^Ifric's humility is to he estimated in accordance with the time and the monastic condition to which he belonged. His numerous expressions of humility are not for the sake of calling attention to himself, hut are signs of true self-knowledge. The English preface of Catholic Hom- ilies, I. shows well this trait of his character. If one notes also how strictly he keeps his own opinions and devices out of the Avay when he has to do with the divine word and with the teaching of correct belief, one cannot deny that he has the right self-restraint, heart-felt veracity, and the concurrence of his inmost thinking with his outer expression of thoughts and motives. Yet even if complete humility was only an object aimed at, and not yet fully acquired, who could hold an Egyptian death-trial in the innermost santuary of another soul? Wlio would not put up with some self-satisfaction in a good author? More questionable are his requests to those who are more learned than he that they will forgive the simplicity of his instruction, and not blame his abridgments. What does it mean, except that they are not to attribute it to ignorance and a low standpoint of knowledge and of faith on his pai-t. Similar to this is the declaration which he sometimes makes, that he will not translate more, and does not wish to be asked to do it. Yet he. allows himself again and again to be deter- mined to the undertaking of new works, which he could not avoid with true love to the people and the church. Could he not have known this beforehand? It should no more be called a fault in ^Ifric than in any other author that he wishes to preserve the meaning and outward form of his texts pure and unaltered. We know how carelessly the writings of others of that time were treated, 82 y^lfric's Education and Character. how much was transcribed only in order to remodel and en- large. ^Ifric makes it a matter of conscience with the scribes to write with care and to correct mistakes. If anyone seeks to find in that a little literary vanity, it will be only the vanity of a man who wishes to appear always in a good and pure garment. CHAPTER VI. ^LFEIC'S SERVICE AND INFLUENCE. There may be a question in many minds whether the ser- vice and influence of ^Ifric were of much importance to his people. This doubt may be felt because he took no promi- nent part in ecclesiastical or doctrinal controversy, and did not rise above the traditional theology of his day; still more, because he did not attain to any position of control in the affairs of the national church. As an author, considered in the general sense of that term, we cannot rank him with those who have promoted the de- velopment of knowledge. He belonged to an age in which there was almost nO' struggle for the formulation of doctrine, and in which all learning languished. His aim was chiefly a practical one; his writings were to serve the church of his time, and were called forth by pressing needs. Thus the i- questions may be fairly asked: in what degree was he fortu- nate in the choice of his material? independent in his treat- ment of it? and successful in promoting practical ends? Already, by the ninth century, the Germanic countries of Western Europe had received a store of poetical works: among them the Heliand, the works ascribed to Caedmon, and the writings of Cynewulf. The tenth century demanded de- cidedly more appropriation of knowledge, such as would be furnished by homilies in the mother tongues, and by trans- lations and paraphrases of the books of the Bible. Germany has still some fragments of sermons of the tenth century to show, as well as a German psalter and German gospels. But only the Old English of that time has handed down such a commentary as ^Ifric's three collections of doc- trinal and historical homilies. Besides these works he provided translations of Genesis and of portions of nearly all of the historical books of the Old Testament, and 84 .'Elf He's Service and Influence. made accessible to the people a considerable part of the text of the gospels and epistles, in the prescribed readings for Sundays and festival days of the year. These writings, to- gether with his introductory work On the Old and New Testa- ments, gave just the material which was urgently needed. In his use of the homilies and treatises of the most distinguished writers of the ancient church he follows the custom of his own and earlier times. Bede worked almost exclusively in the church fathers. The before-mentioned German homilies were, so far as can be judged by their fragments, translations of old sermons, especially of tliose of Gregory the Great, whose writings Alfred had found especially practical, and whom ^Ifric has often used. In a very modest way ^^Ifric has designated himself as a mere translator; but, in fact, even where he has followed the foreign originals, he has not simply translated. He has some- times extended and more often abridged, and in both cases he has shown great tact. His homilies are freely-adapted re- visions in M'hich he has omitted whatever was abstruse, subtle, and wearisome in his originals. He often says, ''this may be sufficient for you, laymen,' or, 'it would be tiresome for you to go more deeply.' Thus his hearers were made to under- stand the simple, obvious meaning of the truth taught, and at the same time to. feel that they had not exhausted its deep treasures. The literary aspect of our author is attractive in its noble simplicity, clearness and vigor of expression. We see that he has taken Alfred's writings as his pattern. Both of these authors have written religious poetry, and in this Alfred stands higher; but in prose ^Elfric is more exact, finished and jDleasing. As a theologian, he was always striving for intelligent and practical apprehension of dogma, and he received with vital freshness and sincerity the mystery of redemption and of the person of the Eedeemer. A true teacher of the people has always to struggle. So JElfric^s Service and Influence. 85 we find ^Ifric contending against coarse and subtle supersti- tions. In the nortliem and eastern parts of England much heathenism may still have existed openly, and as, especially since Edgar's time, the Scandinavians had found access to the whole land, the old propensity of the Saxons and Angles to the customs of their forefathers was fostered anew. ^Ifric included in his Saints' Lives a sermon on the false gods. In this he identifies the Roman gods with those of the Scandi- navians, but not with those of the heathen English. From this we may conclude that the English themselves were now quite free from coarse idolatry, and that he feared for his people on account of contact with the Danes. But various forms of magic were still practised among the English. Against these he speaks in the Catholic Homilies (I. 366, 474, 476), and preaches a special sermon against them in the Lives of the Saints. ' iElf ric, in accordance with the custom of the church, allowed various incantations, if only the Triune God were invoked, and not an idol {Horn. I. 150, 218). He re- jected the curse as wrong, but allowed that it had power {Horn. II. 30-36). A part of the old popular belief had passed over under changed names into church belief: the veneration of Mary be- side God the Father and the Son, had taken the place of that of Friga beside Wodan and Thonar; and the veneration of saints and of the cross, that of heroes and demi-gods and of the tree. In respect to the invocation of Mary and of the saints, ^Elfric held by the tradition of the church, but he did not wish such address to be mistaken for worship." Of the cross, he says, 'The sign of the cross is our blessing, and we pray to the cross, yet not to the tree, but to the Almighty One who for us hung upon it, {Horn. II. 240). He had no belief in a mechanical influence of good works, but all his teaching and exhortation aimed to bring men to strive after righteousness of heart (Horn. II. 314, 432). 1 On Auguries; Lives of the Saints, I. 364-382. 2 See Horn. I. 174. 80 ^Ifric's Service and Influence. ^Ifric labored miAveariedly for the culture and elevation of secular clergy and monks. Not only did he rebuke their ignorance and evil example, but he undertook the work of their education, roused them from their careless lives, and overcame all the excuses with which they tried to free them- selves from these burdensome demands. His zeal against the marriage of priests has not been regarded by Protestant judges as a merit. But the laws which were directed against the English clergy of that time appear to Justify some restraint. In the practical carrying out of the celibacy of the officiating priests, ^Ifric was more mild than some of his predecessors. He did not wish that already existing marriages should be severed. He permitted the marriage of the members of the lower orders of the priesthood, and appealed to Gregory in confirmation of this {Horn. II. 94); but he demanded that priests who officiated at the holy eucharist, and those who were monks should make up their minds to complete chastity. This was by all evidences the opinion of the best and most distinguished laymen among the Old English: men like yEthelweard and iEthelmger, yEthelwin of East Anglia, Sig- werd of ISTorihumbia,, Leofric of Mercia, and Brithnoth who fell at Maldon. Of ^Ifric's pupils, we learn the name of but a single one; but all the clergy of the following period who wished to culti- vate themselves were obliged to go- to school to him: his books were the most easily accessible means of instruction. Of direct influence, we hear that in accordance with the regulations prescribed by him, the priests were obliged to pos- sess at least ten books; and to preach in English. It is of more importance that they, following his example, learned to preach independently. To all appearance he had in his own time influenced suggestively the literary activity of Arch- bishop Wulfstan. From the time of the Danish wars, far on into the period after the Norman Conquest, ^Ifric's sermons were copied again and again, as their altered language betrays; and the ^If Tic's Service and Influence. 87 manuscripts noted below as mixed, contain Old English homi- lies which originated with other authors, but are modelled after his. His work does not stand alone; we must remember that such sermons as the Blickling Homilies were written a little earlier than his, and that the Old English translations of the gospels were made near the close of the tenth century. But he was the most efficient of the writers of his time; none be- fore him had written such urgent, impressive reproofs to the shepherds of the people; none had attained to such dignity, fullness, and power of discourse. It was reserved for him to establish the reformatory movement among the English, and to gather its fruits. His fame is to be compared with that of an Aldhelm in an earlier time, and with that of a Wyclif in a later riper age. CHAPTER VII. EXPLODED THEORIES OF CLERIC'S IDENTITY. The answers to the questions: Who was ^Elfric, the once distinguished ecclesiastical author? What offices did he fill? Where and how long did he live? were so completely forgot- ten in the twelfth century, that William of Malmeshur}', librarian and historian, could claim our author as that abbot of his own monastery who in 979' became bishop of Credi- ton.^ But, as was shown by Wharton, this was impossible. ^Ifric, Bishop of Crediton, died four years before the acces- sion of Sigeric, Archbishop of Canterbury, to whom .^Ifric the aiithor dedicated his Catholic Homilies, and eighteen years before the accession of Archbishop Wulfstan of York, to whom ^Ifric dedicated stiU another of his undoubted works. The fall of Old English culture, which yielded to that of the Normans soon after ^Ifric's time, is probably the chief cause that almost no information has been received from those early centuries concerning his life and works. In the sixteenth century attention was directed anew to .^Ifric. The reformers began to honor him as their first forerunner, and gave themselves to scholarly investigation of his personality, which older writers had left undetermined. These investigations were quickened by the publication of ..^Ifric's Sermon on the Paschal Lamh, first, in 1566, by Par- ker,^ the second protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, the father of Old English studies in England; and again by John Fox, in 1571. It seemed most probable that the highly-val- ued scholar who had written so much had held an important 1 Perhaps a year or two earlier. 2 See W. Malmesberiensis, Gesta Pontifictim. (Rolls Series), p 406. '*ij 3 The first edition is attributed to Parker (1504-1575), whose secretary, Joscelin, wrote its preface. In the Biog. Brit.y Lond. 1747, fol., in the article Parker, this rare book is described, and ^Ifric is named as Abbot of St. Albans, about 996. Exploded Theories of ^I/Tic's Identity. 89 position in the chiircli. iElfric the author was a pupil of St. ^thelwold. But .^Ifric, Bishop of Wilton (989-995), and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, was also a pupil of St. ^thelwold; in him they thought they could find ^Ifric the author. This view was brought forward by Bale and by Pits in their works on the authors of Britain, and was strength- ened by the opinions of historians like Camden and Bishop Usher. It Avas introduced by Junius into manuscripts and catalogues, ' and after the Civil War was accepted by Wanley (1691), Elstob, Lewis, and others. Still later it was defended in a learned treatise by Edward Eowe Mores, De JElfrico Doroverniae (Cantuariae) Archiepiscopo Commentarius, pub- lished by Joseph Thorkelin, London, 1789. This opinion was the prevailing one up to the middle of this century, and has been repeated again and again in more recent years. It was that of Henry, the historian, of Watt, the bibliographer, and also of writers who have drawn up more in detail the circumstances of ^Ifric's life, such as Norman, and Thomas Wright, the author of the Biographia Britannia Literaria. ^ The larger encyclopaidic works of Germany and France allowed themselves to be deceived by it. The Halle Ency- clopaedia based its short article of 1819 only upon Mores' Treatise; and the Biographie Universelle in the first supple- mentary volume of 1834, where ^Ifric's writings are treated very inadequately; the Nouvelle Biographie Generale, 1855; and Meyer's Conversations-Lexikon, 1879, all accepted the same theory. This identification of ^Ifric the author with the Arch- bishop of Canterbury who died in 1005, is indeed unten- able.^ Whari;on in 1691, in his thorough study of the sub- 1 In the catalogue of manuscripts found in the second part of Hickes' Thesaurus (1705). 2 Lingard at first adopted this theory, but writes later : ' A more minute and patient inquiry has convinced me, that there exists no sufficient reason to believe that jElfric the translator was ever raised to the episcopal bench, much less to either of the archiepiscopal thrones.' Hist, and Antiqs. of the A. -S., Ch. II, 453, London, 1845. syElfric: monk at Abingdon, and there pupil of ^thelwold; probably Abbot of St. Albans, 969-989 or 990 ; Bishop of Wilton, 989 or 990-995 ; Archbishop of Canterbury, 995- 1005 (Nov. j6). 90 Exploded Theories of ^-ElfHc's Identity. ject, Dissertatio de Elfrico Archiepiscopo Cantuar, utrum is fueril Elfricus Grammaticus/ disproved it from the pre- face to ^-Elfric's Life of /Ethelwold. This biography is dedi- cated to Bishop Kenulph, who in 1006 succeeded Alphege at Winchester, when the latter, on the death of iElfric, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, became primate. As Kenulph could not receive a dedication addressed to him as bishop earlier than 1006, the Abbot ^Ifrie who there addresses him could not be the ^Elfric who died in the previous year after ten years' service as archbishop. After Wharton explained this the defenders of the opinion were obliged to deny the Vita /Ethehvoldi to the author ^Elfric, who so often boasted of his education by ethelwold, and that, too, in spite of the direct testimony of the manuscript and of William of Malmes- bury. They were also forced tO' reject ^Ifric's authorship of the Pastoral Letters for Wulfstan/ which in themsel-ves bear every mark of authenticity. The letters to Archbishop Wulfstan were written by an Abbot y5^]lfrie. But Wulfstan did not become archbishop until ^Ifric of Canterbury had been archbishop seven years. If we compare more closely ^Ifric the scholar with ^1- fric the Archbishop, their identity is in the highest degree improbable. The noble love which the author felt for the fatherland he expressed by constant efforts for the education of the clergy and the laity, and for their elevation he devoted himself as a scholar to the production of numerous writings in the language of the people. What we know of him with certainty from his own mouth shows him as a humble, con- scientious and diffident nature. JElirie the archbishop, ac- cording to the testimony of Antiquitates Britannicce, stood at the head of the citizens of Canterbury against the Danes for the defence of his church and city.^ His last will, which has 1 See Appendix I. 2 Mores and Wright. 3 'Alfricius, ubi plures annos Cantuariensis ecclesiara ab incursu crudeli Dacorum pie fortiterque defendisset.' Matt. Parker, Ve Antiq. Brit. Eccles., p 136. Exploded Theories of JElfric's Identity. 91 fortunately been preserved/ helps us to know him better. In this will he bequeaths to the king sixty helmets, sixty hauberks, and his best ship; to the cities of. Canterbury and Wilton, each one ship; to the monastery of St. Albans, three estates, his books and his tent. What remains is to be dis- posed of at the discretion of Bishop Wulfstan and Abbot Lfeo- fric, probably his own brother. There follow some smaller bequests of valuables, among which is a psalter which his friend Bishop Wulfstan is to receive. But there is not a word of mention of any of those writings for whose preser- vation the Grammarian ^Ifric was most solicitous. In short, either everything which we learn from ^Elfric's works as to his chaxacter and education is false, or this rich, warlike archbishop, with his splendid household in Canterbury, is quite another man. Furthermore, in all else that has come down to us there is not a trace that /Elfric the Archbishop shone in his time as an author, or even as a scholar. Gervasius names him only as a man of distinguished holiness. The sole witness that the friends of this opinion have known how to bring forward is that of the anonymous biographer of Dunstan, a contempo- rary of both ^Ifrics. But what witness does he bear? He dedicates his life ( f Dunstan to the Archbishop, but only in general terms, 'on account of his very great wisdom, which is known to all, and the extremely great kindness with which he adorned his distinguished office.'^ In this there is witness borne to such an education and ex- perience as befitted a pupil of yEthelwold who had risen to the archbishopric, but there is nothing about remarkable scholarship; nothing, in brief, about the services which an \Y^^rx^\e^^ Codex Diplomat. Anglo-Saxonum III, 351: also, in Earle's Land Char- ters and Saxonic Documents, pp. 222-224. In this will the cloisters and cities in which the archbishop had previously lived, are remembered in due succession ; Abingdon, where he was a monk and a pupil of ^thelwold ; St. Albans, where he was Abbot (according to Ranulf de Diceto and Eadmer's Li/c of Oswald); Wilton, where he was bishop ; and Canterbury. 2 'Ob enormitatem divulgatae peritiae, perque magnificam placidam privilegii digni- tatem.' From Preface to Li/e of Dunstan : Memorials of St. Dunstan. (Rolls Series) , p. 3- 92 Exploded Theories of JElfric^s Identity. author would have been able to extol in ^^Ifric, the great preacher, biographer, and teacher of the people, not even that which William of Malmesbury knew how to praise in iElfric the writer. Tradition ascribes no writing to the Archbishop except a liturgy, which was still in use at St. Al- bans in Leland's time.' But there are besides, authentic data in the life of yElfric the theologian, which can in no way be reconciled with the known career of the southern archbishop. The author of the Catholic Homilies conceived the first idea of them at the Ab- bey of Cernel, whither he was sent by Alphege II, Bishop of Winchester (984-1006). This must have happened in or after 987, for in that year Cemel was founded anew by ^thelmser, and the same thane had requested that a good Benedictine be sent there to train the monks. At this time the ^Ifric who was later archbishop was already Abbot of St. Albans, and by 989 or 990 he was Bishop of Wilton, The monastery of St. Albans in Mercia was under the Bishop of Dorchester. How then came a Mercian abbot to be sent on a mission to AYessex, not by his superior, the Bishop of Dorchester, but by the Wessex bishop? not to mention that, by ecclesiastical law, an abbot was not allowed to be absent a long time from his monastery. Our ^Ifric was at this time, as we have seen, nothing beyond a priest, and lived in Winchester itself, so that his spiritual superior, Alphege, was the one who sent him. Other and more important historical allusions in ^Ifric's works, which exclude the southern archbishop, are spoken of else- where. Yet what has been brought forward here is quite sufficient to preclude forever the opinion which has been dis- cussed. It has been possible to defend it only by repeated dictatorial statements. Whoever ascribes to the Archbishop of Canterbury the writings of Abbot ^Ifric, has to declare two of the least suspicious works, and the homily written for I 'Alfricum * * * quem constat D. Albani Liturgiam, qua etiam nunc monachi ibidem utuntur, exarasse.' Leiand, De Script. Brit, I, 170; but see Die. Nat. B. I. 162. Exploded Theories of jElfric's Identity. 93 Bishop ^thelwold II, who became bishop in 1007, not to be genuine; to strike ont well-attested facts in the life of the Archbishop, and to bring the strangest inconsistencies into the character of the author ^Ifric. Another current theory, that vElfric Archbishop of York from 1023 till 1051, was the author, is defended in detail and with great discretion by Wharton in the treatise mentioned above. It commends itself in that the designations priest and abbot which ^Ifric gives himself in his prefaces remain undisturbed. According to this supposition his archbishopric fell after the completion of all or nearly all of his literary works. Only we must reject, in order not to stretch the life of the author to an improbable length, Wharton's theory that he was the ^Ifric born in 952, who worked on the Saxon Chronicle, a theory improbable also from internal evi- dence. But indeed the liistorical character of the northern arch- bishop looks very unlike the gentle mind of the author of the Homilies. ^Ifric of York was especially 'detested by the people.' William of Malmesbury' says that by his coun- sel Hardioanute caused the body of his brother Harold to be beheaded and thrown into the Thames; and he says, fur- ther, that when vexed against the people of Worcester, who did not receive him to that bishopric, he incited the same king, on the occasion of a resistance to the royal officers, to plunder Worcester and to set it on fire. We have these facts from the mouth of an inhabitant of Worcester, and of a Norman writer who is most to be believed when he says any- thing unfavorable of the clergy. ^ Such an JEXhic could not I '^Ifricus habetur in hoc detestabilis, quod Hardacnutus ejus consilio fratris sui Haroldi cadavere, etc. Quin et Wigorniensibus pro repulsa episcopatus infensus, auctor Hardacnuto fuit, ut, quia pertinatuis illi exactoribus regiorum vectigalium obstiterant, urbera incenderet, fortunasciviumabraderet.' William of Malmesbury, ''Gesta Pontifictim,^ III, us. See also Matt. Paris, Chronica Majora I, 513, Rolls Series. 2 The first, Florence of Wor.; the second, Wm. of Malmes. 'Rex ^Elfricura Ebora- censem archiepiscopum, Godwinum comitem, etc. Lundoniam misit, et ipsius Haroldi cor- pus effodere, et in gronnam projicere jussit.' 'Rex, ira commotus, Thuri, Leofricum, et caeteros, ^Ifrico Wigornensem pontificatura tenente, illo misit, mandans ut omnes viros, occiderent, civitatem depraedatam incende- rent.' Florence of Worcester's Chronicle^ Thorpe's edition, I, 194, 195-6. 7 94 Exploded Theories of .■Slfric's Identity. have gone forth from the training of /Ethehvold, the noble friend of the people. To such actions that ^Ifric could not sink who had dedicated his whole previous life to the culture of the people as no one before him had done. One of the last defenders of Wharton's view, Thorpe, the editor of the Catholic Homilies, has therefore placed in contrast with those stories about the archbishop a passage of the Saxon Chronicle, where he is called a reverend and wise man. It is indeed possible that tradition has given him a worse character than he deserves, but that any one could in- vent such stories about him would be sufficient ground for keeping him at a distance from the popular author who was of such a different spirit, and manifestly worthy of praise. It is a suspicious circumstance that the Archbishop ^Ifric of York has the surname Puttoc, while not a single one of all the extant manuscripts of ^Ifric's works has any title ap- pended to the author's name save that of abbot. But if it be allowed that learning and literary activity may have been passed over or forgotten in ^Ifric of York, the fact remains that his earlier life does not agree with that of the monk and abbot ^Ifric. The succession of bishops in England is now satisfactorily known; their chronology is in most instances in the tenth and eleventh centuries, well as- certained. In 1023, the year that ^Ifric became archbishop, no bishop's seat which had been filled by an ^Ifric became vacant. Thus he became archbishop immediately after being abbot, or perhaps prior or provost. Relying upon Ralph de Diceto and Florence of Worcester, who say that ^Ifric Put- toc, Provost of Winchester, became Archbishop of York, Wharton maintains that this ^Ifric may have been abbot at Winchester. This in general would fit the pupil of ^thel- wold. But this can be proved false from still existing docu- ments. ^Ifric, the writer, as Wliarton admits, must have been settled as abbot in 1005. At that time there were but three abbeys in Winchester, and in none of these was there an abbot of the name of /Elfric who could have become arch- Exploded Theories of /Elfric^s Identity. 95 bishop in 1023. By the testimony of the historians he was provost at Winchester when he received the call to York. Thus, without degradation from the abbacy held in 1005, he could not have been provost in 1033. He appears to have been one of those who through the favor of a king have been quickly lifted from a lower ecclesiastical position to the high- est, and who then have become either tools without wills of their own, or ambitious incumbents, and he has nothing in common with the teacher of the people, Abbot ^Ifric. This last theory, which proceeded, as it appears, from Spelman, has been widely received. It was defended by Wharton in the seventeenth century and accepted by many without fur- ther investigation, especially by German scholars. It was re- peated in 1830, by Anna Gumey, the author of A Dissection of ilie Saxon Chronicle.' Even in 1885, the Dictionary of National Biography declared it not to be impossible.^ Yet it must be noted that there have always been conserva- tive scholars who have hesitated to accept either theory with- out more adequate proof. Such are William L'Isle, the edi- tor and publisher of ^Ifric's work On the Old and New Testament;^ Cave, the bibliographer; and Lingard, in his later writings. /Elfric's writings are the chief sources of definite informa- tion concerning his person and his position. If we trace in his prefaces his own testimony, we find that he introduces himself in the Homilies, his acknowledged first writing, as monk and priest, and 'alumnus Ethehooldif that he gives himself merely the title of monk in the prefaces to the second part of the Homilies and to his Genesis; that he calls him- self 'humilis f rater' in the introduction to the Pastoral Letter 1 Miss Gurney attempted to prove that yElfric was Abbot of Peterborough. 2 Note also from T. D. Hardy, Cat. of Brit. Hist. (1862), Vol. I. Pt. II. 587 : ' Mores holds .«lfric the Grammarian to have been Archbishop of Canterbury, and iElfric, Abbot of Eynshara, afterwards Archbishop of York, to have been the writer of the Life of /Eiheiuold ; and this is probably correct.'' 3 ' Thus as well in his owne Epistles, as in all other books of Sermons in the Saxon tongue that I have scene, I finde him alwais called Abbod and onely so called.' Sermo Paschalis or Testimony ^ etc. Preface by W. L'Isle. 96 Exploded Theories of uiElfric^s Identity. for Wulfsige, and 'humilis servulus ClirisW in the Latin pref- ace to the second volume of Homilies. In the Grammar, and in the Saints' Lives, he gives only his name ^Ifric, but his subordinate position shows itself in the latter, where he greets the ealdorman ^thelweard, not ^friendlily' but 'dutifully/ for abbots as well as bishops were the equals of the ealdormen, and indeed sometimes take precedence of them in the docu- ments of the time. In his five other writings which have dedications he gives himself the title of abbot. As such he sends to the Eeverend Bishop Kenulph of Winchester, to Archbishop Wulfstan of York, and to the brethren of Eynsham, his greeting in Christ, and greets 'friendlily' the thanes Sigeferth and Wulfgeat. As has been shown, these last five books belong to the eleventh century, the ones before-named to the last decade of the tenth. Thus there is an historical advance in iElfric's titles; up to a certain time he calls himself monk or mass-priest, after that abbot. The position of abbot, we must believe, is the highest that he ever occupied, but English scholars have repeatedly as- serted that he! designates himself as bishop. It is true that a copyist of a manuscript calls him such, but in contradiction of the author's own words. And again, the copy of ^Ifric's Pastoral Letter for Wulfstan, prepared in the seventeenth cen- tury by Junius and now in Oxford, has the rubric, Insigne fragmentum epistolae ah JEIfrico Episcopo scriptae to gehad- edum mannum h. e. ad jam nunc ordinatos. But this super- scription is modem in its whole content. It is plainly nothing but the conclusion of Juniusor his scribe from the opening words of the Pastoral Letter, ^JJ^ bisceopum gedafenaS' ('It is fitting for us bishops'). It was said by Wharton that a codex of yElfric's Pastoral Letter for Wulfstan in the librarj'- of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, named yElfric in the superscription as bishop. But Wharton probably confused the original with the copy, the manuscript prepared by Junius from the Cambridge one, and now at Oxford.' The I Bodl. Lib. Jun. 45. cf. Bodl. 4. 12 ; C. C. C. C. B. 4. Exploded Theories of ^Ifric's Identity. 97 original has neither superscription nor prologue. All the other old manuscripts which have the prologue, begin, Prologus venerabilis JElfrici dbbatis. JElfricus ahhas Wulfstano ven- erahili Archiep. salutem, etc. The matter is explained very simply by the consideration that the letter was written for and in the name of Wulfstan, who as Archbishop of York and Bishop of Worcester, was to send it forth to his clergy. In the words, ^it is fitting for us bishops,' the spiritual head speaks, not the abbot who had been commisioned by Wulfstan to give in Old English tlie earlier Latin hortatory letter. ^Ifric again clearly designates himself as subordinate in the words with which the preface begins: 'Since I have rendered obedience to the commands of Your Grace and trans- lated the two letters.' That is not the address of one who has the episcopal dignity. If we could decide from this let- ter that he held that position, we could conclude with equal justice from the sentence in the first pastoral letter, that for Wulfsige: 'We bishops decided when we were convened,' that ^Ifric who calls himself monk in the preface was al- ready a bishop. Indeed, the expression 'humilis fratei-^ used in this last connection has been adduced as a proof that he was a bishop addressing a bishop, but this is quite against the sense of this expression and contradicts the testimony of the whole preface, and his plain statement to Wulfsige: 'Nos vero scriptitavimus banc epistolam, quae anglice sequitur, quasi ex tuo ore dictata sit.' It has even been ascribed to modesty that /Elfric gives himself no higher titles, but Wharton and his followers forbore to make any such preposterous claim for the simple, unaffected sense of yElfric's words. We con- fess that we do not understand the modesty which, instead of continuing to remain hidden behind the title of monk, is immodest enough to appear always after a definite time with the title of abbot, which conferred no small honor among the Old English. The opinion that he held a higher rank after the period of his literary activity is doubtful when viewed in the light of 98 Exploded Theories of yElfric's Identity. external testimony. At a time when his whole life was mani- fest, a time not too far removed from his death, when men could not yet have forgotten him, they mnst necessarily call him hy his latest title, both on account of propriety, and to distinguish him from the many clergy of the same name. But to the writers and transcribers of those early centuries he was known only by the title of abbot, there is no dissenting voice. The last ray of possibility of episcopal or archiepis- copal position for ^Ifric disappears in the testimony of a man who positively could not have forgotten who ^Ifric was, that of yElfric Bata, the pupil of our much mistaken ^Ifric, whose unquestionably reliable witness comes to us in a manu- script from the eleventh century itself. This man says in the enlarged glossed dialogue of his teacher: 'This Latin composition Abbot ^Ifric, who was my teacher, wrote some time ago (olim), but I, ^Ifric Bata, have never- theless added to it many things.' The use of olim does not permit us to suppose that the teacher was still alive, for he would then have been called venerahilis or honordbilis. Finally, unlike Dunstan and ^thelwold, there were no kings among .^Ifric's patrons. Unusual education and lit- erary influence were not combined in him with a strongly aspiring tendency. Besides, among the Old English the priest had a considerable dignity, he stood in the ranks of the thanes or landed gentry, and abbots were equal to dukes, and were always independent of the bishops and respected at the king's court. Bede, who was more significant as a theologian than ^Ifric, and to whom seventy manuscripts are ascribed, never advanced further than the office of mass-priest. The chief points of refutation of the theories which have been considered, we summarize as follows: 1. ^Ifric, Bishop of Crediton, cannot have been yElfric the scholar, for the following reasons: (a) He died in 985, four years before the accession of Archbishop Sigeric, to whom the first writings of yElfric were dedicated; and Exploded Theories of ^Ifric's Identity. 99 (b) Seventeen years before the accession of Archbishop Wnlfstan, for whom ^Ifric wrote a pastoral letter. 2. yElfric cannot have been the Archbishop of Canter- bury, for these reasons: (a) He dedicates his Life of JEthelwold to Bishop Kennlph of Winchester, who became bishop after the death of ^Ifric of Canterbnry. (b) As Abbot ^Ifric he writes a pastoral letter for Archbishop Wnlfstan, who became Archbishop of York in 1002. It was then at least twelve years since ^Ifric of Canterbury left his abbacy at St. Albans, and seven years since he became archbishop. (c) The character of yElfric does not correspond with that of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The first was a scholar and taught especially that the clergy should not bear arms; the second was warlike, and possessed armor and ships to bequeath to his king and his cities. (d) jSTone of the cities mentioned in Archbishop ^Ifric's will are those associated with the author ^Ifric, nor does the will mention the writings for whose preservation Abbot ^Elfric was solicitous. (e) Tradition does not ascribe special scholarship to the Archbishop of Canterbury. 3. ^Ifric cannot have been Archbishop of York, for these reasons: (a) ^^Ifric of York died in 1051. Had the author lived until that time he would have been about ninety- six years old, but no notice of such gi'eat age is found in any of the records of the Archbishop of York. (b) The Archbishop of York was hated by the people, and was the ready serv-ant of an unpopular king. yElfric the writer was a friend of the people in all that Ave know of him, until sixty years of age. It is incon- ceivable that when more than eighty years of age he 100 Exploded Theories of JElfric^s Identity. was actively engaged in cruel treatment of the people, or even that such cruel stories could have been in- vented about him. (c) The archbishop's surname, Puttoc, is never joined to the name of Abbot ^Ifric. (d) There is no evidence whatever that the Arch- bishop of York ever held an abbacy, but every proba- bility is against it. CHAPTER VIII. ^LFRIC'S HOMILIES. ►-t 'T? ^Ifric, monk and priest, although less able ^ , .. than is fitting for such offices, was sent in King TT .J. ^thelred's day, by Bishop Alphege, ^thelwold's successor, to a monastery called Cemel, at the re- quest of ^thelmrer the thane, whose birth and goodness are known everywhere. Then the thought came to me, I trust through God's grace, that I would translate this book from Latin into English; not from confidence of great learning, but because I saw and heard of much error in many English books, which unlearned men in their simplicity esteemed great Avisdom; and I was grieved that they neither knew, nor had the gospel teachings in their language, except those who knew Latin, and except the books which King Alfred wisely turned from Latin into English.' Thus yElfric relates the origin of his first and most im- portant writing. It was the direct outcome of his practical life as an educator and preacher. This work, the great collection of homilies for Sundays and the general feast-days of the year, was appropriately named by Wheloc, Catholic Homilies, in distinction from those which were written for festivals celebrated only in the mon- asteries. It is divided by ^Ifric into two parts, each one of which has a Latin preface addressed to Archbishop Sigeric, and an English preface on the origin and plan of the work. The volumes are not divided according to the two halves of the church year, but each runs through the whole year. Yet not all the common Sundays are provided with homilies. For example, there are in the two parts only ten for the twenty- seven Sundays after Trinity, here called Sundays after Pente- cost. On the other hand, there are nine feast-days doubled, 102 ^I/He's Homilies. or provided with a separate homily in each book. Except these nine, the second volume takes np Sundays and feast- days which are not considered in the first. ^Ifric gives the number of homilies as forty in each part, and eighty in all, although in the preface to the first he says that ^thelweard wished to have forty-four in his copy of that volume. The manuscripts do not show exactly eighty in all. Thorpe in his edition gives forty in the first part, and forty-five in the second. This last number is made up of thirty-nine of the original collection, with six appended. Following the thirty-ninth is the author's apology, in which he writes: 'Many excellent gospels we omit in this work. These he may translate who will. We dare not lengthen this book much more, lest it be out of due proportion, and repel men by its size. "We will nevertheless include in it a few discourses of a general nature, about apostles, and martyrs, confessors, and holy women, to the Saviour's praise.' Then follow six homilies of the kind described. ^Ifric's repeated assertions make it certain that the sec- ond part once contained just forty homilies. The fortieth may have been the second discourse on Midlent Sunday, or the one on St. James the apostle included in the numbering with that for Philip and James. The four which ^thel- weard wished to have may perhaps be found in the supple- ment to the second part. No strict line separates the subjects treated in the second volume from those in the first. Yet it can be said of the first, that it has a larger proportion of scriptural and exegetical content; of the second, that it contains more of legend and of history. Eight homilies of the first are legend- ary, sixteen of the second. More instruction directly from the Bible is found in the first, which is especially devoted to teaching about God the Creator, the Trinity, the person and work of Christ, and the sin and redemption of man. The second part especially sets forth ecclesiology and the ^If Tic's Homilies. 103 means of gi'ace through the church. It is in this that in- struction on baptism and on the Lord's Supper are found. Here, too, are the stories of Gregory, and the founding of the Enghsh Church; of Cuthbert, one of the great apostles of the English; of Benedict, whose monastic foundations had been strengthened anew in ^Ifric's own days. Three of the homilies of the appendix relate to Christ's second coming in judgment, and the final purification of the church.' From the Latin and English prefaces it is clear that ^Ifric himself issued at least two editions. The Latin prefaces ad- dressed to Archbishop Sigeric of Canterbury, who assumed that office in 990, with their requests for Sigeric's correction of the manuscripts, must have been written as early as 994, the year in which the Archbishop died. But the English preface to the first volume Avas probably written or revised in a time long subsequent to 994. ^Ifric says in this, that he was sent to Cernel in the day of King ^thelred, as if that day were now past. yEthelred died in 1016. Again, the tone in which he writes is not that of one who speaks of a work Just completed, but of one who surveys his own action in past time. In the passage quoted above he says, 'I was grieved that they neither knew nor had the gospel teachings in their language.' Were his work one not yet given to the public, he would have used the present tense. The same can be said of another passage in the preface: 'For this cause I presumed, trusting in God, to undertake this task.' Yet at the same time it is true that several particulars of the preface are especially suitable for the first edition. Such is the emphasis placed upon the expected end of the world; the defense, by a passage in Ezekiel, of his presumption in undertaking so ex- alted a work; and what is there written of the need of book- learning to strengthen men against temptation. Still further, it is not improbable that the appended sermons of the second I Many of the homilies are wholly or in part metrical. Such are Hotn. I, 156 f; Horn. II, 132 f, 212 f, 240 {, 298 f, 302 f, 308 f, 314 f, 332 f, 498 f. 104 ^Ifric's Homilies. volume were added to an edition later than the first, when yElfric had on hand sermons not incorporated in any collec- tion. ^Ifric makes no claim to originality in his homilies. In the Latin preface to Volume I he names six authors as sources of his work: Augustine, Jerome, Bede, Gregory, Smaragdus and Haymo. He also gives the original author in the case of individual homilies. A careful investigation of his sources has been made by Dr. Max Forster, who reaches the follow- ing results:' 1. 'The Catholic Homilies of Abbot ^Elfric are derived in the largest measure from Gregory's homilies. Next to Greg- ory in the amount contributed stand Bede, Augustine and a number of legends, which include, beside single legends, the Abdias collection. In the third degree of importance aa sources are Smaragdus, Jerome and Haymo. To these should be added occasional contributions from Alcuin, Amalarius, Cassian, Ratramnus, Gregory of Tours, Eufinus, and the Vitae Patrum. 2. ^Ifric, in comparison with other translators — for ex- ample. King Alfred and the translator of the Blickling Hom- ilies — has preserved a complete independence and freedom, even where he follows an original. He often derives from his sources the substance of thought, but clothes it entirely in his own language. 3. So long as no other sources are pointed out, we must admit that ^Ifric, in additions and in longer explanations than his originals show, made much use of traditional teach- ings current in his time.'^ It was .^Ifric's earnest desire that these two volumes should be kept intact, not mingled with the writings of others, and not carelessly transcribed. The only liberty he allows is that of arranging the sermons of the two volumes together according to the church year. In the preface of \Anglia i6, 59-60. 2 See Appendix II. yElfric's Homilies. 105 Yohime II he says: 'I have placed the translations which 1 have made in two books, because I thought it would be less tedious to listen if one book were read in one year and the other in the next/ 'Before each homily we have placed the argument in Latin; nevertheless, if any one wishes, he may arrange the chapters each according to its preface.' The last sermon of the second volume is followed by a prayer of thanksgiving. 'With all. my heart I thank the" Almighty Creator, that he has granted to me, a sinner, to unfold, for his praise and honor, these two books to the un- learned among the English people. The learned have no need of them, for their own learning will suffice them. I say now, that hereafter I will not translate the gospel or gospel exposi- tions from Latin into English.' If any one chooses to trans- late more, I beg him for the love of God, to keep his book separate from the two books which we have translated, as we trust by the guidance of God. To Him be glory to eternity.' These desires of yElfric in regard to his books were observed by copyists with considerable fidelity. But as the personal tradition of ^Ifric faded, his request came to have less weight, and the makers of manuscripts became less careful to keep his homilies apart from those of others. There are ac- cordingly to be distinguished three classes of manuscripts of this work. I. Manuscripts which preserve the two volumes of homilies separate from each other. These must be the oldest, or, if not, copies of the oldest. The best of these is the one upon which Thorpe has based his edition — that of the University Library at Cambridge. It contains both parts, with all of ^Ifric's prefaces and some of his later writings. Another manuscript in this class is that in the British Museum, Reg. 7, C.XIL This gives only the first volume and no prefaces. The ser- mons are the same as in the first manuscript, but the thirty- eighth is divided into two, making forty-one in all. The I This thanksgiving may have been added to the second edition. 106 JElfric^s Homilies. above named manuscripts belong to ^Ifrie's own time. MS. 188 (eariier JS^o. S. 7), Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, contains Volume I, but without prefaces. Instead of the first sermon on the Creation stands another on the same subject; a few sermons are divided into two parts, and one, On the Birthday of the Virgi7i, is inserted after the one on the be- heading of John the Baptist. As an appendix is one On the Birthday of a Confessor; not the one in the appendix of the second volume, but that from the text 'Vigilate ergo' which is published by Assmann in the third volume of Grein's Bihliothek der Angelsdchsischen Prosa.^ These additions ap- pear to justify the claim that ^Ifric caused a third edition of his homilies, in which he provided for that feast of Mary which had been before passed over, and added the last homily, of which lie expressly states that although it was written at the request of Bishop iEthelwold II of Winchester, yet he was to have a copy for himself.^ II. Manuscripts in which all the sermons of the two volumes are arranged together according to the order of the church year. The Cotton Codex, Vitell. C. 5, contains a better arrange- ment than that of any other manuscript of this class. It extends through the whole church year, from Christmas to the Second Advent. It has the first sermon of ^Ifric's first volume, De Init. Creat., but that is preceded by a homily on the Trinity and the Feast-days of the Year; it contains a new Christmas sermon, several additional ones for Sundays after Pentecost, and then the usual ones to Second Advent. From there begins an appendix of Lenten sermons for week days, which are probably ^Ifric's. The Bodl. Lib. MSS. NE. F. 4, 10 and 11, contain a re- arrangement of the two volumes. The second manuscript, wliich contains forty-six sermons, is arranged with especial care and accuracy, and from the second edition of the Hom- 1 'This MS., written before the Conquest, was once ^Ifric's own property.' Wanley. Even if this is not the case, it is without doubt copied from one of his own. 2 See p. log. uElfric's Homilies. 107 ilies, since it contains its appendix. The first manuscript has but thirty-four sermons. III. Mixed manuscripts. This class, the most numerous of all, places ^Ifric's homilies indiscriminately among those of other authors. Here belong Bodl. Lib. Jun. 22; 24, and NE. F. 4. 12; the Cott. MSS., Yesp. D. 14; Vitell. D. 17; Faustina A. 9; Cambridge MSS. C. C. C. 1G2 (S. 5); (S. 8); 302 (S. 9); and others. Noteworthy is one of the Ck.mbridge manuscripts, C. C. C. 178 (S. G). Its scribe explains that he has placed twenty-four sermons in two books; tliat he has enlarged two of the first twelve from other sermons, but has left the other twenty-two entirely according to their old arrangement. Of the second book, he explains that they are from the books which Abbot ^Ifric translated into English, and comparison shows that they are all to be found in Thorpe's edition of the Homilies. The homilies of this second book are arranged together in reference to the life of Christ, from the AnBunciation to the day of Pentecost. Some of the sermons in the first book are taken from the Catholic Homilies, some from the Saints' Lives, and it is most probable that all are ^Ifric's work. From the description of this manuscript by G. E. MacLean (Anglia 6. 438-9) we quote the following paragraphs. 'It is quite possible that in this well-compacted and ar- ranged Codex we have a manual edition of selected works, such as the practical ^Ifric later in life authorized. The evidence for this theory is not wanting. The older Benedic- tine Bides bound in the Codex show its use as a hand-book.' 'The arrangement of Codex C finely combines an ideal order of thought with the ecclesiastical year. The first ser- mons of the first Book, (1) De Initio Creaturae,(2) Exameron, (3) Interrogationes, are logically enough placed at the be- ginning, and in their order set forth (1) creation, (2) its progress, (3) its philosophy and practical trials for man. Then (4) Dom. IIII, post Pen., in which the publicans and sinners draw near to Christ, and the lost are sought by Him, 108 JElfric^s Homilies. speaks of sympathy and help for man. The course then goes on to prayer, and finally to the field of morals, closing with the immoralities, and the crowning of immorality in 'De, Falsis Diis.' Here the need of the manifestation of the true God leads to the second Book. The Annunciation, XVIII (as now numbered), is first, and then the Birth of Christ. 'ISText, in contrast with the pure One, a New Year's sermon upon the vices is inserted. The regular course of sermons upon the Life of Christ follows, illustrating and pledging the redemption of the world, and culminating upon the day of Pentecost, in the beginning of the new creation.' When it is remembered that ^Ifric lived many years after the Catholic Homilies were written, preaching and teaching all his life long, it will not seem strange that single sermons should have been added later to those volumes, or should also be found not placed in any collection, nor will it seem impos- sible that he may have authorized the arrangement of other volumes. Whether or not the order of this last manuscript is due to ^Ifric, it belongs to a time not far removed from him. According to MacLean, the manuscript may be as- signed to about 1075. Thorpe's edition is the only one, but separate homilies are printed in many books. In an edition of the first volume of Homily on the Qatholic Homilies, that found in MS-. Birth of the Virgin. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^gg ^^^^^^ ^^^ g 7),^lfric has inserted a homily for the Birthday of the Virgin (see p. 106). He had confessedly omitted this day in his first edition: Sve have not written about it,' he says (Hom. II, 446), 'lest we- fall into some error. The gospel of this day is very difficult for laymen to understand.' When at length he decides to provide a homily for this festival, he guards against the afore- mentioned heresy thus: 'we will not give the false story which heretics have told of Mary's birth, for wise teachers have forbidden it; nor speak of her death, for holy writers do not permit it. Her holy father was named Joachim, and her ^Ifric's Homilies. 109 mother, Anna. They lived in honorable marriage under Moses' law/ 'This day is sacred to the honor of Mary throughout all Christendom.' 'We observe the birthdays of none others in our church, save of Christ, his pure mother, and St. John, who baptized him.' After the introduction follows the sermon, 'De Sancta Virginitate.' Its theme is. The Holy Church the Bride of Christ. 'The Church ever imitates the mother of her Lord,, who was a virgin and yet bare the Christ.' The sermon is an elaborate plea for celibacy. Its last ninety-two lines con- sider the rewards of righteous living. They give first an ex- planation of the penny-reward in the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, and then treat of the eight beatitudes prom- ised by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. These ninety- two lines are found also as the conclusion of the third edition of the sermon On Holy Chastity, in MS. Vitell. C. 5. (see p. 111). There are three manuscripts of this homily: (1) Corpus Christi College, Camb. 188 (S. 7); (2) C. C. C. C. 303 (S. 17); (3) Bodl. Lib., Oxford, Jun. 24. This sermon is edited by Assmann in Grein's BibliotheJc der Angels dchsiscJien Prosa, Part III. A homily from the text, 'Vigilate r , r\1m f ^^'^^•' 6tc.,' bears the nibric, 'We have a Confessor. lately translated this sermon into English at the request of Bishop ^thelwold the Younger (of Winchester, 1007 to 1012), and have had it written in this book, that it may not be lack- ing to us when he shall have it.' The homily follows the thought of the text closely. It shows the forbearance of God by many instances. 'God punishes those who despise him, sometimes sooner, sometimes later.' 'Sometimes he waits, as Ave said before, for his great patience, that a man may turn from his sins if he will.' 'Prophets and wise teachers are set to rouse stupid men to action, that if the foolish man does not dread the anger of his Lord, he may perhaps have coirec- 110 ^Ifric's Homilies. tion in this world, that thus he niay not perish altogether. Everything, even wild beasts, have some terror in this life.' 'The beasts are subject to man, and we should be subject to God.' Rhythmical form and position in the manuscripts with ^Ifric's homilies, render ^Ifric's authorship almost certain. The rubric points to the same, and the language and style are ^Ifric's. The manuscripts are the following: (1) C. C. C. C. 188 (S. 7); (2) C. C. C. C. 178 (S. 6); (3 and 4) Bodl. Lib: Jun. 22 and 24; (5) Bodl. Lib. 343 = NE. F. 4. 12; (6) Cott. Vitell. D. 17, almost destroyed. This, also is edited by Assmann in Grein's BihliotheTc der Angels a chsischen Prosa, Part III. 'TElivic, Abbot, sends friendly greeting to „ °7 Sigeferth. It was told me that thou saidest of Chastity. ^ . me, that I taught one thing m English writings, and that the anchorite on your manor teaches another; for he says openly that priests are allowed to marry, and my writings deny this. Now I tell thee, dear sir, that I do not like to blame my own good friend if he follows the law of God. But we ought to utter the divine doctrine which the Saviour taught, and we dare not keep silence. His teaching can easily reconcile us.' With these words of greeting and explanation, ^Ifric sends to his friend Sigeferth a homily on chastity, which opens with these words: 'Our Saviour Christ declared plainly that he loved holy chastity in his servants, when he chose a maiden to be his mother.' The writer illustrates his teaching by the lives of Christ and the Apostles, and contrasts it with the permission to marry under the old law. The line of thought which he pursues further is this: 'There are three orders which are entirely pleasing to God, marriage, widowhood, and chastity.' 'They who live wisely in marriage will have thirty-fold reward from Christ.' 'They who remain widows for Christ's sake will have sixty-fold re- ^Ifrid's Homilies. Ill ward/ and 'they who in the service of Christ live in chastity, and in purity of heart from childhood, shall receive an hnn- dred-fold reward forever with him.' 'We read of countless bishops and monks who lived thus, even as Martin and Gregory, Augustine, Basil and Cuthbert, and many others.' 'And none of them gave permission for any one who was to consecrate the eucharist to have a wife.' Also there were many holy priests like Bede and Jerome, and wise fathers who dwelt in the desert, many thousand, as the Vitce Patrum tells us, who served Christ in purity of heart. This writing is extant in four manuscripts: (1) Brit. Mus.. Cott. Vesp. D. 14- (2) Cott. Faust. A. 9; (3) Cott. Vitell. C. 5; (4) Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 302 (earlier No. S. 9). The first of these, a MS. of the twelfth century, is the only one which contains the preface. In MSS. 2 and 4 the writing appears simply as a homily; in MS. 3 it is altered and is much longer (seep. 109). Also there is a transcript of the first of these, made before it was injured by fire. The work as it is found MS. 1 may be a first edition; as in MSS. 2 and 4, a second; and in MS. 3, a third. The only edition is that of Assmann, in Grein's Bihliothek der AngelsdcTisiscTien Prosa, Part III. Six lines of personal address to Wulfgeat . °"^^J of Ylmandune introduce a discourse in two "Wulfeeat. parts, which is in substance, first, a summary of Christian doctrine, and second, a sermon. In the opening lines -^Ifric speaks of English writings which he had formerly lent to Wulfgeat, and of his promise to send him more. From 11. 7-85 he gives an outline of the teachings which Wulfgeat had received already. They treat first of the Trinity; then of the creation and fall of angels; of the creation and fall of man; of redemption through the incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ; of the ascen- sion of Christ; and of the general resurrection and last judg- ment. The writings thus summarized may be, as Assmann suggests, from the Homilies — perhaps Horn. I., 8-28, which follows the same line of thought. 112 yElfric's Homilies. The second part is a sermon from the text, 'Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art with him in the way.' Matt. 5, 25. The teaching is ascribed to Augustine. The adversary' of the text is described as the word of God which we ought to obey. The word will work in us like the healing power of a physician, like the instruction of a good teacher. The adver- sary is really thy friend. Thou lovest drunkenness. This our Saviour forbids. Deceive not thy neighbor; it were better that each should help the other. God's word forbids all sins in this life. This life is the path in which we are to agree with our adversary, the word. After it there will be no way left us to correct our misdeeds. The word is to be our judge. The Saviour bids us all who labor come to Him. He did not command us to work in another world, nor to work great miracles, but to be gentle in life and meek in heart. "We ought to teach the foolish and the careless, else God will require their souls at our hands. God grant to us to tell you often of his holy love, and to you obedience to turn the teach- ing into works. This letter is contained in a manuscript in the Bodleian library, Oxford, Laud. Misc. 509, formerly Laud. E. 19. An- other manuscript in the Bodleian library, Jun. 121, contains the second part, the sermon. Still a third one at Oxford, Jun. 23, has the whole writing except the seven introductory lines to Wulfgeat. This writing is found edited by Assmann, in Grein's Bibliothelc dcr Angdsdclisisclien Prosa, Part III. „ ., T , Three manuscripts of the third class, ' Homdy on John ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ xi 47-54 * ' Faust. A. 9, preserve a homily whose style arid language are altogether those of ^Ifric. Its superscrip- tion, and the gospel reading from which the text is taken, assign it to the Friday before Palm Sunday. The theme is I See p. 107. ^Ifric's Homilies. 113 the prophecy littered by Caiaphas, which is explained and applied in the metrical language which ^Ifric often uses in his homilies. The sermon shows how the Jews were over- taken by the very evils which Caiaphas described. It tells of their sufferings in the siege of Jerusalem, when the Romans cam.e and destroyed their place and nation, and scattered their people. The second part of the sermon considers, first, the last clause of John XI, 52, and shows how Christ gathered together a people for himself from the heathen nations; secondly, the tenure of office of the Jewish high priest in the older time and in that of Caiaphas, and the estab- lishment of the new priesthood that it might offer the holy eucharist 'as a pledge of the purification of our souls.' The sermon concludes with Christ's depari;ure for the city of Ephraim, by which he gave an example to his disciples, that they might flee from persecutors and yet be sinless. Assman's edition is printed in Grein's Bihliothek der Angelsdchsischen Prosa, Part III. __ ,, _ , An alliterative sermon which is doubtless liomdy on John _, , . , ^ , , . , . ^ ^ ,, /iilinc s bears the superscription: For the ^^^' ~ ' third Sunday after Easter.' It contains a ref- erence to an earlier writing on 'the great sorrows which came upon the Jews after the slaying of Christ,' and the reference may be to the homily last described, or to any one of several others, or a general reference to all, since the sub- ject was a favorite one with ^Ifric' 'For 11. 1-148, the text is John XVI, 16-22; for 11. 149- 161, he uses Matt. XXVII, 66, and XXVIII, 11-15. For the conclusion, beginning with 1. 162, the author gives as his source a cranic of Jerome.' 'It must have been an apoc- ryphal gospel, apparently related to the Gesta Pilati (cf. Tischendorf: Evangelia Apoc. Leipsic, 1876.')^ The first part discourses of the sorrows of the disciples i' Many woes and great sorrows befell the Jews, as books tell us, and we have already related in English writings how they perished.' 2 Assmann, Bi'i/. der. A.-S. Prosa III, 255. 114 jElfric^s Homilies. and the joy of Christ's persecutors when he was crucified; then of the church, the bride of Christ, whose martyrs and confessors have suffered, but now dwell with Him. The second part gives the Biblical narrative from the texts; and the third part tells how Joseph, who buried Jesus, was imprisoned by the Jews and rescued by a miracle. There is one manuscript of this homily: Trinity College, Camb., B. 15, 34, earlier class, a dextra ser. suprem., 163, 26, fol. 79-90. This sermon is edited by Assmann, in Grein's Bibliotliek der Angelsdchsisclien Prosa, Part III. Homily on the Among the sermons which ^Ifric wrote Sevenfold Gifts of before his work On the Old and New Tes- the Spmt. laments, is one on the Sevenfold Gifts of the Holy Spirit. 'Sevenfold gifts he grants mankind, of which I wrote once in another English writing, even as Isaiah the prophet placed it in his prophecy.' This reminiscence of ^Ifric's in the treatise On the Old Testament is recalled by the opening words of a homily on the gifts of the Spirit found in several manuscripts, and ascribed by Wanley to Archbishop Wulfstan. The words are: 'Isaiah the prophet wrote in his prophecy about the Holy Spirit and his seven- fold gifts.' Wanley's opinion in regard to the authorship of this sermon is derived from the superscription found in sev- eral manuscripts: 'Incipiu7it sermones Lupi Episcopi.' It has been shown by Napier that in each of the three manu- scripts in which this superscription appears, it is followed by two sermons: the first, an historical summary of Christian teaching; the second, De Fide Catholica. The sermons which follow these two in the three different manuscripts do not make three corresponding lists: several of them are the same in all, while others are different, and there is no cor- respondence in relative position. Some of these are to be ascribed to Wulfstan, some to ^Ifric, some to other authors. I Thus the homily, De Faisis Dii's, is a paraphrase of a part of >EIfric's homily of the same title. ^If Tic's Homilies. 115 and still others are mere compilations pnt togetlier by the transcriber. Thus the authorship of the sermon in question is not decided by the rubric' In Napier's edition of the homilies ascribed to Wulfstan, the seventh and eighth homilies are on the Sevenfold Gifts of the Spirit. The second of these is an abridgment of the first, which it follows sentence by sentence, for the most part literally. It abbreviates the sentences by omitting every- thing not necessary for the simplest expression of the thought; it omits almost all explanatory and amplifying words and clauses, and leaves out entirely the last two-fifths of the sermon. Thus the revision is not half as long as the original. In the attempt to abridge the homily the reviser has sometimes varied constructions, added new words, and supplied a closing sentence not found in the first. The homily first explains the effect of each of the seven gifts upon the man who receives it, and then tells of the seven opposite gifts which the devil sends to the hearts of men. The last part, not contained in the abridgment, shows the bitter evil of hypocrisy and the deceits of antichrist. Tbese two forms of the treatise have been studied by D. Zimmermann. He decides that I. is an independent sermon of ^Ifric's, composed in four-stressed verse, which is to be regarded as a supplement to his homily for the day of Pente- cost, and may have been written between 1000-1008, per- haps in 1005. Zimmermann decides, further, that II. is a revision of I. by the same man who arranged in their present form many of the seraions which have been ascribed to Wulf- stan. ^ The first form of the sermon is found complete in MS. Bodl. Lib. Jun. 99; in part in C. C. C. C. 201 (S. 18); the second form in Bodl. Lib. NE. F. 4, 12; Jun. 23 and Jun. 24; Cott. Tib. C. VI; Cambridge, Trinity Coll. 1 See Napier's Uber die Werke des AHenglischen Erzbisckofs JVu!/stan, pp. 7-9. 2 See Anglia. 11. 535 f. 116 ^Ifric's Homilies. The sermon on penitence which Thorpe has printed at the end of Catholic Homilies II., is a free Penitence, ^.g^^^gpij^g ^f ^ part of Hom. I. 274-294; it is con- tained in MSS. which have besides it only works of ^Ifric; and its author says that he has written in another place of the Lord's praj'^er and of the creed. Accordingly Thorpe decided that it belonged among ^Ifric's Avorks. A long sermon, called by Wanley the Hexameron of St. Basil, was ascribed to JElfric by Norman, xameron.-^g publisher, and yElfric is doubtless the author. The style of address to the reader in different parts of this homily is the colloquial one so common with ^Ifric. Many passages are almost the same as are found elsewhere in his works, and there are several references to former writings on the same subject. The sermon begins as follows: 'In another discourse we said sometime since that the Almighty God created everything in six days and seven nights; but it is so great and complex a subject that we could not say as much as we wished in the former treatise.' Again, lie speaks of the creation of the angels, and says, 'we spoke sometime ago more plainly of them.' Such passages as these remind us of ^Ifric's frequent references to his former writings. Other indications of authorship are its alliterative metre, and its presence in manuscripts of the first class. The Hexameron contains an introductory address to the reader; an account of the works of each of the six days of crea- tion; of the fall of the angels before the creation of man; of the seventh day of rest; of the temptation, and sin of man; of his expulsion from Paradise; and of his redemption through Christ. Of the sources of this homily, Norman says, 'it is by no means a literal translation of the well-known work of that father (Basil), but is partly original, and partly compiled from that work and from the commentaries of Bede upon Genesis.' The arrangement of the material is no doubt ^^Ifric's; and that the author has drawn from Bede's work which is men- u^lfric's Homilies. 117 tioned above, is seen when the two writings are definitely compared. The scientific passages are indebted to Bede's scientific writings. What iElfric has taken from Basil's Hexameron mnst be determined by a careful comparison of Bede's Commentary on Genesis with the writing by Basil, and then of both with the work in question. Such a comparison has not, so far as we know, been made. It can hardly be cor- rect to call /Elfric's Hexameron a Version' of that of St. Basil. The reference to a former work on the creation seems to point to the sermon, De Initio Creaturae, in the first volume of Catholic Homilies, in which also the angels are described 'more plainly' than here. These references, and scientific matter similar to that of the De Temporihus, incline us to place the composition at some time between 991 and 998. The following passage which perhaps refers to his writing On the Old Testament may point to a much later date. He says, •^All the Old Testament (gesetnyss) of which we spoke before {mr), and the Saviour Himself, in His holy gospel, declare the Holy Trinity in a true unity.' The manuscripts of the Hexameron are these: Cott. Otho B. X, London; Bodl. Lib. Jun. 23 and Jun. 24, Oxford; C. C. C. S 6 and S 7, Cambridge. MS. Jun. 47 is a transcript made after collation of Jun. 23 and Jun. 24. Norman's edition is based on Jun. 23. There can be no doubt as to Elfric's author- ship of the Old English version of St. Basil's Advice to a Spiritual Son. Its preface, which 'does not give Elfric's name, refers to earlier writings on Basil, thus to those found in the first volume of Catholic Homilies (p. 448 f) and in the third homily of the Lives of the Saints; it gives a brief account of Basil's life, similar in style to the sketch of Alcuin's which opens the In- terrogationes; it speaks of Basil's Hexameron in almost the same words as those with which ^Ifric prefaces his account of the six days of creation in the homily called the Hexam- eron. We learn from this preface that the writer was a Bene- 118 JElf Tic's Homilies. dictine monk who was familiar with the written Eule of St. Benedict. Still further, the two-fold mention of chastity as belonging to the service of God, and the expression: 'We will say it in English, for those who care for it,' are char- acteristic of iElfric. All these things, together with the lan- guage and the metrical form used by him in other writings assure his authorship. The work, which is not quite complete, follows the original for the most part closely. Its character and the 'us' of the preface, show that it was written for Benedictine monks. The preface by iElfric is followed by a short one by the original author, and by sections on Spiritual "Warfare; on the Virtue of the Soul; on the Love of God; on the Love of our JSTeighbor; on the Desire for Peace; on Chastity; on Avoiding the Love of the World; on Avoiding Avarice. The date of this writing is probably sometime after 1005, that is, after his preparation of extracts from ^thelwold's De Consuetudine, and, like that, it was designed for the monks of Eynsham. There is one manuscript of this work: Bodl. Lib. Hatton 100. Jan. 68 lias a transcript of the same. The only edition is that of Norman. CHAPTER IX. yELFKIC'S GEAMMATICAL AND ASTKONOMICAL WRITINGS. The Grammar. The spirit which prompted yElfric to pre- pare his Latin grammar, and the practical uses which it was meant to serve, may be learned from the two prefaces of the book. In the second he writes: 'It behooves the servants of God and the monks to take heed lest holy learning grow cold and fail in our days, even as hap- pened among the English only a few years ago, so that before the time of Archlushop Dunstan and Bishop iEthehvold no English priest was able to compose or understand a Latin epistle.' The purpose of the book, which is probably the first Latin grammar in the English language, ^Ifric tells in the preface. 'I have endeavored to translate these extracts from Priscian for you, tender youths, in order that, when you have read through Donatus' eight parts* in this little book, you may be able to appropriate the Latin and English languages for the sake of attainment in higher studies.' The following extract will illustrate the method of instruction in this grammar of the two languages: 'partes ORATiONES SUNT OCTO eahta daelas s^'^nd leden- sprjiece: nomen, pronomen, verbum, adverbium, participium, coNJUNCTio, PRAEPOsiTio, iNTERjECTio. NOMEN is iiama, mid t5am we nemnaS ealle Sing gegSer ge synderlice ge gem»ne- lice: synderHce be figenum naman: Eadgarus, ^thelwol- dus; gemjenelice: rex cyning, episcopus bisceop.' In the author's mind this book was closely connected with I The grammar of Priscian (;co) consists of two parts : Bks. I-XVI (Priscian Major) treat of sounds, word-formation, and inflexion ; Bks. XVII-XVIII (Priscian Minor) of syntax. Among various sources of this work viz.sV)omilM%' Ars Grantmatica. Donatus (350) wrote two grammars. The shorter work, Wri- ^Wwor, which teaches of the eight parts of speech (de octo partibus), was especially used as an elementary text book during the Middle Ages. 120 ^Ifric's Gramtnatical and Astronomical Writings. the Catholic Homilies. He writes: 'I wished to translate this little book into English after I had translated two books con- sisting of eighty homilies, for grammar is the key which un- locks the sense of those books.' So too, in the minds of ^Ifric's readers his Grammar has an added importance when considered in connection with his other works. Only then does it appear what it really is, an intrinsic part of a system- atic effort to educate the minds and hearts of the English people. Fifteen extant manuscripts of the Grammar show its popu-. larity as a textbook. y, Seven of these fifteen manuscripts contain a glossary appended to the Grammar. It is in- troduced by the rubric, Incipiunt multarum reriim nomina anglice, and is followed by these words, ex- pressive of its incompleteness, Sve can neither write nor even imagine all names.' This Latin-English dictionary consists of Latin nouns and adjectives with their English equivalents, classified, not alphabetically, but according to subject. It begins with God and the creation, defines parts of the body, names of birds, beasts, fishes, etc., and ends with characteris- tics of men. Wright suggests that this and similar vocabula- ries were designed for teachers as well as pupils. He says: 'In the earlier and better period, no doubt the teacher had such lists merely in Latin, or glossed only in cases of diffi- cult}'', and he was sufficiently learned in the language to ex- plain them; but now the schoolmaster required to be re- minded himself of the meaning of the Latin word.' Tradition and the nature of the work, as well as its position in the manuscripts render ^Ifric's authorship of the Glossary probable. It is specially adapted to promote the aims of his Grammar, and the words defined belonged to J^lfric's voca- bulary. ' I MacLean has called attention to ^Ifric's indebtedness in the Glossary to Isidore. Cf. e. g. Isidore's Etymologiariivi^ Lib. XII. Cap. II, VI. (Migne, Patrologia Latina., 82. ed. 1850). ^Ifric's Grammatical and Astronomical Writings. 121 The glossary entitled Archhishop Alfric's Vocabulary printed in Anglo-Saxon and Old English Vocabularies, pp. 106-167, is not the one found so often in the manuscripts with iElfric's Grammar. The latter is printed in the above- named book, pp. 306-336. Its presence in the Oxford manu- script which contains Alfric's Colloquium as revised by his pupil, ^Ifric Bata, and its use by ^Ifric Bata in that re- vision, strengthen the probability given by its frequent associ- ation with the Grammar, that it is the authentic vocabulary of zElfric. The Oxford manuscript (no. 8 below) is the one which Zupitza has taken as the basis of his edition of the Grammar and Glossary. The best edition is that of Zupitza (1880), which gives the text, and variant readings from all of the manuscripts. As enumerated by him they are the following: 1. All Souls' Coll., Oxford; 2. Corpus Christi Coll., Cam- bridge; 3. Cathedral Lib., Durham; -1. Cotton, Faustina, Lon- don; 5-6. Harleiana, London; 7. Cotton, Julius, London; 8. John's Coll., Oxford; 9. Paris; 10-11. MSS. of MSS. Reg., London; 12. Sigmaringen; 13. Trinity Coll., Cambridge; 14. Univ. Lib., Cambridge; 15. Cathedral Lib., Worcester. Besides the above MSS., three transcripts are mentioned by Wanley: 1. (p. 102) Jun. 7, Oxford; 2. (p. 308) transcript in the possession of Simonds D'Ewes of Stow-Langton, Suf- folk; 3. (p. 84) Bodl. Lib., Oxford.^ MSS. nos. 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 14, 15 contain the Glossary. Alfric's Colloquium is a Latin dialogue CoUo uLm. '^^'^^^ English glosses above the lines. Its opening words, 'Nos pueri rogamus te, Mag- ister, ut doceas nos loqui latialiter rede' ('We boys request thee. Master, to teach us to speak Latin correctly'), indicate its purpose, to serve for practice in Latin in the cloister- schools. Its elementary character and the nature of the con- versations show that ^Ifric had in mind the same 'tender 1 See Wiilcker's Gruneiriss der Angehiichsischen Litterafur, p. 462. 122 jElfric's Grammatical and Astronomical Writings. youth' for whom he prepared his Grammar. After a pre- liminary talk with the first speaker, who professes to be a monk, the Master asks: 'What do these your comrades know?' The boy replies: 'Some of them are plowmen, some shepherds, some oxherds, others are hunters, fishers, birdcatchers, mer- chants, shoemakers, salt-dealers, bakers, and cooks.' There follows then a conversation of the master with the plowman, the shepherd, the oxherd, and the rest, in which each tells something about his daily tasks. The master praises these worthy companions of the monk, and questions him about others. Comrades of other crafts come forward, and also a wise counsellor whom the master addresses thus: 'Wise man, what calling seems to you the highest among all these?' Then the counsellor discusses the question with the smith and the carpenter, and concludes with the sage advice, that every one should fulfil his own task with diligence, 'for it is a great disgrace and shame for a man not to be willing to be that which he both is and ought to be.' The master again converses with the first youth, who tells of his high aspira- tions and describes his life in the cloister-school. The agree- able whole is concluded by the master with an exhortation to his pupils. This work is found in two manuscripts: (1) Cott. Tib. A. HI, from which it has been printed by Thorpe, who has been followed by Wright and others; (2) Oxford, St. John's Col- lege. In this there is found the following explanation, which is a sufficient guarantee of authorship: 'Hanc sentenUam latini sermonis olim /Elfricns ahbas composiiit, qui meusfuit magister, sed tamen ego /Elfric Bata multas posieajmic addidi appendices.'^ As no such words are found in the Cotton I This sentence comprises about all that we know of JFAinc Bata. A few words in Osbern's Li'/e of St. Dunstan, written in the time of Lanfranc, say that St. Dunstan declared in a vision to one who sought his shrine, that ^Ifric Bata tried to overthrow the church of God (Memorials of St. Dunstan p. 136). This indicates that X.\ix\c Bata was living after the Conquest. It is thus not unlikely that he was a pupil at Eynsham, rather than earlier at Cernel. It may be, as Schroder suggests, that the above-mentioned O-xford MS. was wholly prepared by him. It is certainly true that his fame is most of it gratu- itous. ^Ifric's Grammatical and Astronomical Writings. 123 manuscript, and the form there given is briefer and more concise, the presimiption is that we have in that the original work as written by ^Ifric. This view is confirmed by the comparison of the two manuscripts made by Zupitza.' He finds in the Oxford manuscript most of the matter that is in the other. The only omission is the concluding exhortation, for which a different ending is substituted. But there are, indeed, many additions; additions made in such a way as to spoil the direct, vigorous style of ^^Ifric the abbot. Even if no other indications were given, it would be clear that some other hand than its author's had revised it. Two passages are here cited, as given by Zupitza from the Oxford manu- script, to show ^Ifric Bata's method of adding appendices. The italics show the part common to the two manuscripts; the remainder is ^Elfric Bata's addition. 'Quales autem feras maxime capis? Capio utique cervos et cervas et vulpes et vulpiculos et muricipes et lupos et ursos et simias et fibros et lutrios et feruncos, taxones et lepores atque erinacios et aliquando apros et damnas et capreos et sepe lepores.' And again, 'Quid facis de tua venatione? Ego do regi, quicquid capio, quia sum venator ejus. Quid dat, ipse tibi? vel cujus honoris es inter tuos socios? Primum locum teneo in sua aula, vestitum autem et victum satis milii tribuit et aliquando vero anulum mihi aureum reddit et vestit me bene et pascit et aliquando dat mihi equum ant armillam, ut libentius artem meam exerceam.' The work of ^Ifric Bata, as compared with that of his teacher, shows useless repetitions, unwise choice of material, and lacks all sense of proportion and literary fitness. 'It is in the highest degree probable that this work was written after the Grammar and Glossary to serv^e as an exer- cise for practice. It is evident that the arrangement of the Glossary is pre-supposed in the Colloquium, for example in the choice of certain groups of words, such as the names of I Zeitschrift fiir Deutsches Alterthum, 31, 32-45. 124 y£lf Vic's Grammatical and Astronomical Wi'itings. animals and fishes/' Schroder, from whom we have Just quoted, shows that the lists of words in the Colloquium of the Cotton manuscript preclude the idea that there is any im- mediate literary dependenee of the latter work upon the former; hut that, on the other hand, ^Ifric Bata must have had the Glossary immediately before him when he made his revision, as is seen by comparison of his additions to the lists of fishes and of animals, with the lists of the same in the Glossary., It is not probable that the Old English gloss of the Cotton manuscript is by JElfric. It has been urged by Zupitza that the author of the glosses showed strange ignorance and shal- lowness in putting Latin into English; and by Schroder that many of the Old English words used here are not those which ^Ifric used in his Glossary to define the same Latin words; and further, that the character of the vocabulary makes it probable that the gloss was not added till two generations later. The Colloquium in the Oxford manuscript has few glosses, and the fragment of the Colloquium as revised by ^Ifric Bata, found in a recently-discovered manuscript (Brit. Mus. add. 32246), has none. The Colloquium has been often printed. A good edition is that of the Wright-Wulcker Anglo-Saxon and Old English Vocahularies (1884). That of the Oxford manuscript has not yet been printed. De Temporibus, the Old English compila- Temporibus. ^^°^ ^^°"^ Bede's writings, is in its first part an astronomical treatise upon the earth, sun, moon and stars; its second part treats briefly of atmospheric phenomena. Both its content and its position in the manu- scripts lead us to ascribe it without question to ^Ifrie. Wright noted the fact that the ^Ifrician lament over the ig- norance of the priests is found here, and ^Ifric's acquaint- ance with Bede's astronomical writings, shown in one of his \ Zeitschri/t fiir Deutsches AiUrthuin, 41, 283-290. ^Ifric's Grammatical and Astronomical Writings. 125 homilies, should also be noted. In the homily for the day of the circumcision of Christ, Horn. 1, 100 ff., we find a discus- sion of the different beginnings of the year among ancient nations, and an appeal to Bede's authority. The matter here brought forward corresponds with the second section of the Old English De Temporibus. Moreover, the rest of the con- tents of the De Temporibus agree with ^Ifric's other efforts, for the instruction of the youths of the cloister. The external evidences are no less clear. In the Cam- bridge manuscript, which contains ^Ifric's two books of Catholic Homilies, the treatise which we are considering fol- lows the last homily of the first book, and is preceded by this sentence of explanation: 'Here follows a brief writing upon the times of the year, which is not to be accounted a homily, but is to be read by whomever it pleases.' All except the introductory clause is found again in the beginning of the treatise itself. It would indeed be possible that ^Ifric announced there a translation not his own, which he had in his keeping, but that idea is rendered improbable by its posi- tion in another manuscript, the very gradually compiled Codex Cott. Tib. B. V., where it follows a catalogue of bishops in which Sigeric is the last Archbishop, and immedi- ately follows an account of the archbishop's stay in Rome, which can only have taken place in the first year of his office (990). ^Ifric dedicates both volumes of his homilies to Sigeric. The preface of the treatise, in which the 'V of the author is prominent, the ascription of the work to Bede, the content of the book, and the reverent postscript, all agree with the style of J^liric as we find it in his undoubted works.' The manuscripts of the De Temporibus are these: (1) Cott. Tibe- rius, A. Ill; (2) Cott. Tiberius, B. V; (3) Cott. Titus, XV. (imperfect). It is printed in the third volume of Leech- doms, Wortcunning, etc. I See Appendix III. 9 CHAPTER X. THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS; CANONS OR PASTORAL LETTERS. '^Ifric humbly greeteth yEthelwerd ealdor- ^, o • ^ man. I bring thee word, dear sir, that I have the Saints. '^ ' ' now collected in this book such passions of the saints as I have had leisure to translate into English. I have done this, my friend, at thy request and at that of ^thel- mser, who have both earnestly jDrayed me for such writings. Ye have already received from my hands, for the strengthen- ing of your faith, writings which ye never before had in your language. Thou knowest, friend, that in the two former books we translated the passions and lives of those saints which the English nation honoreth with festival days. Now, however, it hath seemed good to us to write this book about the passions and lives of those saints whom the monks cele- brate among themselves.' ^Ifric, in his Latin preface of the Saints' Lives, and in the English preface of the same, whose opening words we have given, carefully distinguishes this, his third volume of homilies, from the two preceding. Like each book of Cath- olic Homilies, this is a collection of forty sermons for the church year, beginning with Christmas. A part of the Cath- olic Homilies are written in alliterative form, but nearly all of the Saints' Lives are metrical. Scattered through this book of Saints' Lives are many dis- courses of more general character. The first of these, that for Christmas day, which begins the book, is an abstract treatment of the nature of God, and of the soul of man. This is followed by eight narratives appropriate to eight saints' days — the stories of saints Eugenia, Basil, Julian and Basil- issa, Sebastian, Maurus, Agnes, Agatha, and Lucy. The tenth sermon, for February 22d, the day in the calendar on which The Lives of the Saints. 127 St. Peter became bishop of Antioch, according to the Antioch reckoning, is composed chiefly of scriptural incidents of St. Peter's life, and is the second of the general sermons men- tioned above. After the legend of the forty Cappadocian soldiers, who 'suffered for Christ in the Emperor Licinius' days,' the third and fourth general discourses follow. These are, one for Ash-Wednesday, which warns and exhorts men to keep Lent and to live a zealous, progressive Christian life; and one for Mid-Lent, on the Prayer of Moses. The four- teenth and fifteenth homilies are legends of St. George and of St. Mark, but the second and longer division of St. Mark's homily treats of the four evangelists and is chiefly scriptural in content. Number sixteen, De Memoria Sanctorum, 'a ser- mon for any occasion,' from the text, 'I am Alpha and Omega,' etc., tells how 'we may take good examples, first from the holy patriarchs, how they in their lives pleased God, and also from the saints who followed the Saviour.' The last third of this discovirse treats of 'the eight deadly sins, which sorely fight against us,' and 'the eight cardinal virtues, which may overcome these aforesaid devils through the Lord's help.' To this sermon of catholic content succeeds still another, one for Eogation-Sunday, on Auguries. The general introduc- tion on Galatians 6, 15, leads to a sermon by St. Augustine, which discourses on auguries, witchcraft, and similar super- stitions. In yElfric's work, De Veteri Testamento, are these words: 'there are many kings in the books of Kings, about whom also I wrote a book in English.' This reference is probably to the eighteenth sermon of the Saints' Lives. It tells briefly of Saul and David, more at length of the history of Israel in the days of Elijah and Elisha, then of Hezekiah and several later kings, and ends with Josiah. Numbers nineteen, twenty and twenty-one tell the stories of three English saints: Saint Alban, not of the English race, who perished in the persecu- tion of Diocletian; Saint ^theldred, wife of King Egfrith, a founder of the monastery of Ely, and a noted one among 128 The Lives of the Saints. the cloister saints; and Saint Swithim, Bishop of Winchester, ^Ifric's own city, and especially famous in King Edgar's days — that is, when ^Ifric himself was living in Swithun's own monastery. The next three are also legends of saints: of Saint Apollinaxis, of the Seven Sleepers, and of Abdon and Sennes. Then comes still another referred to by ^Ifric in the De Veteri Testamento, that about the books of Macca- bees, of which he wrote: '1 turned them into English; read them if ye will, for your own admonition.' The Maccabees is rather a historical book than a sermon. Its divisions are preceded by references to the chapters from which they are taken in the books of Maccabees, and the whole is very long. At the end a passage set off from the preceding portions treats of three orders of men — laborers, beadsmen and soldiers. 'Laborers are they who obtain with toil our sub- sistence; Beadsmen are they who intercede with God for us; Soldiers are they who protect our towns, and defend our soil against an invading army.' The twenty-sixth sermon, for August 5th, is the stoiy from Bede's Ecclesiastical History, of St. Oswald, the English king and martyr. Ten legends follow: those of the Holy Cross, St. Maurice and the Theban Legion, St. Denis, St. Eustace, St. Martin, the English St. Edmund, St. Euphrasia, St. Cecelia, Crisantus and Daria, and St. Thomas the Apostle. .^Ifric's translation of Alcuin's Interrogationes is the thirty- seventh discourse, and the last two are. Of False Gods and Of the Twelve Abuses. The placing of St. Euphrasia, whose day is February 11th, among the November saints may be due to a mistake of the transcriber. The only good manuscript, that which Professor Skeat has taken as the foundation for the text of his edition, is the Cottonian Codex, Julius E. VII, British Museum. But single lives and parts of the collection are found in others. ' From the description by MacLean of the one good manu- I Cf. A. Napier, A Fragment of Mlfric's Lives of Saints. Mod. Lang. Notes, 1887, 378-9- The Lives of the Saints. 129 script (Anglia 6. 441) is quoted the following: 'The MS. table of contents is printed accurately in Professor Skeat's Edition of The Lives of the Saints, pp. 8-10, giving the entire number of articles as XXXIX. Wanley, carefully printing from the titles distributed through the Cod., has XLVIII, without counting the last and missing sermon, which would make XLIX. Subtract Wanley's articles (VIII, XVII, XXII, XXV, XXIX, XXX, XXXII, XXXIV, XXXV = 9) and we have forty remaining. These nine are not mentioned in the MS. index, and are variations of the same narratives, a note, and a sermon inserted with an 'item.' Add Wanley's XXVIII, or, it may be, count some 'Item Alia,' and we have forty in the MS. list and in that of Professor Skeat.' 'We may call forty ^Ifric's ideal number for a volume of homilies. And it fits his character to be just so exact.' Inserted between The Seven Sleepers and Abdon and Sennes stands a long homily on the Death of St. Mary of Egypt, which is not mentioned in the table of contents. This 'may have been bound into this codex many years later.' 'The question cannot be determined until some one makes re- searches with reference to the portion of the codex involved, and with reference to the origin of the A. S. JEgyptian St. Mary.'^ The language and expressions of this homily seem to be inconsistent with ^Ifric's authorship. Many passages are to be found in the Saints' Lives which illustrate the life and times in which TElfric lived. Such there are worthy of especial note in the homilies on The Prayer of Moses; on Auguries; on St. Swithun; and for Ash- Wednesday. It is indeed true that saints' lives preponderate in this volume, even as the preface leads us to expect, but written as it was, especially for the laity, at the request of two laymen, ^thelweard and ^thelmeer, the teaching of catholic truth was an important part of its purpose. It does not read quite I MacLean. 130 The Lives of the Saints. like a book of legends of the saints, but as one of Christian in- struction, illustrated largely by those who had exemplified Christian faith. Its character is not so different from the first two volumes as its title might indicate. Viewed from this - standpoint, the presence of such chapters as the De Interroga- tiones, the False Gods, and the Ttvelve Abuses, which have been sometimes regarded as an appendix, becomes clear and consistent. We must believe that not more than three or four years elapsed from the completion of the second volume of homi- lies, before ^Ifric was ready with the third. As we read his translations we cannot feel that the work was an uncongenial one, and its ready acceptance with those whose desires it satisfied must have made him eager to gratify them yet more. In the library to which he had access there were still other Latin books which would be of interest to his friends and to English Christians. Hence whatever grammatical writings he had on hand after his second volume was put forth, it is not likely that he altogether ceased from the sort of transla- tions that he had first undertaken. We can imagine that one thing after another which was later to find place in the Saints' Lives, was put into English before the definite plan of a third volume came to his thought. Then with the entreaties of his friends who were aware of his work, came the new idea, that he should make still another book. The saints' lives already translated suggested the prominent fea- ture of the book, and into the volume he could fit whatever renderings he now had completed, and also other pieces which he desired especially to write. The words of the pre- faces do not forbid some such origin as this, and the charac- ter of the work in detail and as a whole suggests it. As regards sources, those of particular sermons are often indicated by .(^Ifric. The preface, however, mentions only "the Vitae Patrum, and leaves it uncertain whether that is really one of his sources. 'I do not promise to write very many (passions of saints) in this tongue, because it is not fitting The Lives of the Saints. 131 that many should be translated into our language, lest perad- - vent lire the pearls of Christ be had in disrespect. And there- fore I hold my peace as to the book called Yitae Patrum, wherein are contained many subtle points which ought not be laid open to the laity, nor indeed are we ourselves quite able to fathom them." The only complete edition of this work is that by Professor Skeat.^ Single lives are found in many books. Queries of The Old English translation and revision Sigewulf the of Alcuin's treatise on Genesis has been Priest. usually ascribed to ^Ifrio. The slight uncertainty which has been felt because, contrary to his cus- tom in works of importance, he does not name himself as the author, has been more than balanced by the strong inteimal and external evidences in his favor. Such evidences are the position of this work in the manuscripts with other writings of ^Ifric; its style; its subject matter, and its alliterative form. The investigations made by MacLean have settled the question conclusively. The omission of the author's name is now accounted for by the fact that ^Ifric did not issue the piece as a separate work, but as one of a series of homilies which is opened by two prefaces in which he writes in his own name. In all of the five manuscripts that contain it, it is found associated with sermons from the Saints^ Lives, and in the chief manuscript of that work it stands as sermon number thirty-seven. From MacLean's dissertation we take the following para- graphs descriptive of the purpose and origin of the work: 'Alcuin, the celebrated English scholar, and teacher of Charlemagne, compiled in Latin, at the end of the eighth century, a Handbook upon Genesis. The immediate occa- sion of the work was the questions upon certain difficulties in Genesis, which his inseparable pupil and friend, the presby-^ ter Sigewulf, had at different times put to him. Therefore 1 See Appendix V. 2 Only three parts are yet published, but the fourth is soon to appear. 132 The Lives of the Saints. the little volume, written in cathechetical form, was dedi- cated, in an affectionate preface, to Sigewulf, whose name it has since borne, — Interrogationes Sigewulfi Preshyteri. The aim of Alcuin was, in his words, "to gather from heavy tomes pretiosas sapientiae margaritas, which the weary traveller might carry with him, and with which he might recreate himself." The testimony for this work is that it lived. 'Two hundred years later, another Englishman, the A-S. author ^Ifric, the teacher, not of a Charlemagne, but of a country, translated Alcuin's work "on Englisc." ^Ifric ■abridged the two hundred and eighty questions and answers of Alcuin to sixty-nine, lie added a preface upon the "illustrious teacher," Alcuin, inserted an astronomical page, probably appended a creed and doxology, and in many points impressed the production with his winning personality. 'With great skill he retained the catechetical form, while he adorned the work with a rhetorical, if not poetical, semi- metrical alliteration. 'The Interrogationes Sigeivulfi retained its old name and was issued as a sermon in a series of homilies entitled Pas- siones Sanctorum.' The following analysis of the work is that of MacLean: I. Introduction. The life of Alcuin, and the origin of the Latin work, 11. 1-17. II. Questions I-XV, inclusive. Difficulties in the Creator's moral government, or in the rational crea- tion. III. Questions XVI-XXI. The physical creation. This scientific division is crowned by yElfric's inser- tion from Bede about the planets. IV. Questions XXII-XXVI. The Father, Christ, the Spirit, and the Trinity as manifested in creation. V. Questions XXVII-XXXIV. The Origin of man; his divine image and possible destinies. The Lives of the Saints. 133 YI. Questions XXXV-XXXYI. The Origin of evil. VII. Questions XXXVIII-XLVIII. The first Age in the History of the World. — The Adamic Age. VIII. Questions XLIX-LVIII. The second Age of the World's History, from Noah to Abraham. IX. The third Age of the World's History, continued, not to its end, but to its culmination in the offering of Isaac. X. Lines 511-541. A creed or confession of the one Creator in a Holy Trinity. XI. Lines 541-545. A Doxology. yElfric begins this writing wdth these words: 'There was m England a remarkable teacher named Albinus (Alcuin), and he had great reputation. He taught many of the English in the sciences contained in books, as he well knew how, and afterwards went across the sea to the wise King Charles, who had great wisdom in divine and worldly matters, and lived wisely. Albinus the noble teacher came to him, and, there a foreigner, he dwelt under his rule, in St. Martin's monastery, and imparted to many the heavenly wisdom which the Saviour gave him. Then at a certain time, a priest, Sigewulf, questioned him repeatedly from a distance about some difficulties which he himself did not understand in the holy book called Genesis. Then Albinus said to him that he would gather together all his questions, and send him answers and their explanations. Sigewulf questioned him first in these words; What is to be understood by this: The Almighty ceased from his works on the seventh day, when he created everything; but Christ said in his gospel, my Father worketh until now and I work? Albinus answered him: God ceased from the new creation, but he renews the same nature every day, and will guide his work until the end of this world.' The al>ove quotation not only shows something of the methods of Alcuin and of MMvic, but it is also an example of 134 The Lives of the /Saints. ^Ifric's practical mind, which always connected the past with the present, and sought if possible to give a reason for each of his new undertakings.' This book, with the Latin original, is printed by MacLean in Anglia 7. 1-59. The Old English life of St. ISTeot may have origi- nated with ^Ifric. In the one manuscript in which it is found complete, Cott. Vesp. D XXI, its language is that of the twelfth century. Different writers have ascribed it to vElfric. Sharon Turner says: 'It follows an account of Furseus, an East Anglian saint, and some reli- gious essays of ^Elfric' ''As ^Ifric wrote the lives of many saints in Saxon, it is most probably his composition.' Wiilcker says that the style of narration and the choice of material point to iElfric as its author. The homily has been several times printed. The most re- cent edition is in an article by Wiilcker, in Anglia 3. 103-114. Fl"om that article axe taken the few facts here given. Notes on the text published by Wiilcker are found in Englische Studien, 6, 450-1 (by E. Kolbing). The Old English prose translation of the Vita ^*^^ °^ GutJiIaci, found in MS. Cott. Yesp. D. XXI, was as- Guthlae. cribed by Wanley to ^Elfric. In favor of this claim are the free style of the translation, the discreet abridgment, and the change from the bombast of the original to simple, straightforward language. The language must give the final decision. Since that shows older forms than those of ^Ifric's time, it is probably by an earlier writer. From (xoodwin who published an edition in 1848, we take the fol- lowing: 'The Life of St. Guthlae, Hermit of Crowland, was originally written in Latin by one Felix, of whom nothing is with certainty known.' 'When and by whom this transla- tion was made is unknown; the style is not that of ^Ifric, to whom it has been groundlessly ascribed.' 'The writer often 1 See Appendix IV. Canons, or Pastoral Letters. 135 paxaphrases rather than translates, and in truth sometimes quite mistakes the sense of the original.' Besides the manuscript that has been mentioned, the Codex Vercellensis has two chapters of this Old English prose Life of Guthlac. The Latin Life of Guthlae is printed in the Acta Sanc- torum under the eleventh of April, CAMONS, OR PASTORAL LETTERS. Wulfsige, Bishop of Sherborne Pastoral (993-1001), requested ^Ifric to com- Letter for Wulfsige of ^^^^ ^^^ ^-^ ^ p^^^^^^j ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ex rne. clergy of his diocese. ^Ifric accord- ingly writes the letter, not in hie own name, but in that of the bishop. He prefaces it with a short personal letter to Wulfsige. 'We have not dared,' he says, 'to write anything about the episcopal office, because it belongs to you to know in what way you should be an example to all by the best prac- tices, even as it is yours to know how to exhort your subordi- nates with constant admonitions to seek the salvation which is in Christ Jesus. I say, nevertheless, those things which you ought again and again to say to your clergy, and in regard to which you should show their remissness, since through their frowardness the canon laws, and the religion and doc- trine of holy church are destroyed. Free your mind, there- fore, and tell them what ought to be regarded by the priests and ministers of Christ, lest you yourself perish likewise, if you are accounted a dumb dog. We verily have written this letter which follows in English, as if it were dictated by your own mouth, and you had spoken to your subordinate clergy.' The pastoral letter is divided into two parts. The first con- sists of thirty-five sections. Sections 1-9 inculcate celibacy. Sec. 1 begins with a peremptory address: 'I say to you, priests, that I will not endure the carelessness of your ser- 136 Canons, or Pastoral Letters. vice, but I will tell you truly what the laws are eoneerning priests. Christ himself established Christianity and chastity.' Sec, 2. Persecutions after the days of the apostles pre- vented any synod of the church until Constantine convened one at Nicea. Sec. 3. The Nicene Council was assembled for the con- firmation of the faith. (Note the superscription of this letter: 'Be synoSe preosta'). Sec. 4. 'At this synod were appointed the holy church services, the mass-creed, and many other things, respecting God's worship and servants.' Sec. 5. This synod unanimously decreed that no bishop, priest, deacon, or regular canon, should have in his house any woman save his mother, sister, or aunt. Sec. 6. 'This will seem strange to you, because ye have brought your wretchedness into a custom.' 'Priests often say that Peter had a wife, but he forsook his wife and all worldly things.' Sec. 7. The old law allowed bishops to marry. But that was before Christ appointed the eucharist and the mass. Sec. 8. The same synod determined that no man might enter the priesthood or any order who had been married to a widow or a divorced woman. Sec. 9. N"o priest may countenance or bless any second marriage, although a layman may marry a second time if his wife desert him. Sec. 10. Seven degrees are established in the church: ostiarius, lector, exorcista, acoluthus, subdiaconus, diaconus, presbyter or priest. Sec. 11-16 define the duties of six orders. Sec. 17-32 define the duties of the priests. Sec. 17. The priest must hallow the eucharist. He must instruct the people, and give an example to Christians. There is no difference between a priest and a bishop — although the bishop takes precedence — save that a bishop is appointed for Canons, or Pastoral Letters. 137 the ordination of priests, confirmation of children and conse- cration of churches, and to take care of God's dues. Sec. 18. Monkhood and abbothood are not reckoned with these orders, but are also holy orders 'and bring to heaven the souls of those priests who observe them.' Sec. 19. The priest should officiate in his church, and sing there the seven canonical hours. Sec. 20. He should ferv^ently pray for the king, his bishop, his benefactors, and all Christians. Sec. 21. He should also, before he is ordained, possess as instruments for spiritual work the following holy books: a psalter, a book of epistles, a book of gospels, a missal, a hymnary, a manual, a ritual book, a pastoralis (i. e., of St. Gregory), a penitential, and a lectionary. Sec. 22. The priest's vestments must not be soiled or torn, and the altar cloths and vessels of the service must be good, and in good condition, as befits Christ's service. Sec. 23. 'The priest ought on Sundays and mass-days to tell the people the sense of the gospel in English, and about the Pater Noster and the creed as often as he can, as a stim- ulus to men, that they may know the faith and hold fast their Christianity.' 'Blind is the teacher if he know not book- learning.' 'Therefore take heed against this, as ye have need.' Sec. 24-26 speak briefly of tithes, mass and baptism of chil- dren. Sec. 27. No priest shall perform God's service for money; nor. Sec. 28, for covetousness go from one minster to another; nor. Sec. 29, drink immoderately; nor, Sec. 30, live as men of the world live. Sec. 31. He shall shrive sinners and administer the eucharist to the sick; and. Sec. 32, he shall anoint the sick according to St. James' command. 138 Canons, or Pastoral Letters. Sec. 33. There were four synods for the true faith against heretics. Their decrees are to be observed, even as the four books of Christ. Sec. 34. 'How dare ye despise all their ordinances, while monks hold the ordinances of one man, the holy Benedict? Ye also have a rule, if ye would read it. But ye love worldly conversations, and wish to be reeves, and neglect your churches, and the ordinances altogether.' Sec. 35. 'We will, however, recite the ordinances to you. lest we ourselves also perish. Eejoice not at the death of men, nor attend the coq^se unless invited. AVhen so invited, forbid the heathen songs of the laymen, and their loud cachinnations; nor eat nor drink there lest ye be imitators of the heathenism which is there committed.' Dress well, not proudly, but suitably to your order. This section closes with the doxology. Sec. 36. The second part of the letter, which is of about one-third the length of the first, is devoted for the most part to instructions about the eucharist: first, in reference to the services on Good Friday, when the elements are not allowed to be consecrated, and on the following days; secondly, against the long keeping of the consecrated bread; thirdly, of the significance of the consecrated bread, which 'is Christ's body, not bodily, but spiritually; it is not the body in which he suffered, but that about which he spoke when he blessed bread and wine for the eucharist on the night before his passion.' 'Understand now that the same Lord who could, in a spiritual sense, change the bread into his body before his passion, and the wine to his blood, daily blesses through the hands of his priests the bread and wine to his spiritual body and blood.' Fourthly, instruction is given as to correct rites in the celebration of the eucharist, and as to the observance of the Easter festival; and finally, new ordinances of the assembly of bishops are stated. Sec. 37. 'Now ye have heard positively what ye have to do, and what to forego.' 'God grant you to take such resolu- tion as shall be for your good.' 1 Canons, or Pastoral Letters. 139 The whole of this letter is alliterative. Thorpe in his edition, prints as a footnote a metrical passage, which is found in the second of the two manuscripts named below, inserted near the beginning of Sec. 35. It treats of conduct in the House of God. Its authenticity is uncertain. ^Ifric's authorship of this letter is undoubted. The style, the subjects, and ^Ifric's introductory letter, show the writer of the Homilies and the disciple of Dunstan and ^thelwold. The secular clergy, not bound by Benedictine rules, are bidden to remember that they are not free from the laws of the church. The strong insistence upon celibacy aims to thwart the persistent effort of the secular clergy to establish their right to marry. There are two manuscripts of this work: (a) A MS. which is believed to be the Serif tide on Englisc mentioned among the books which Bishop Leofric (1046-71) gave to his cathedral of Exeter. It is Corpus Christi Col- lege, Cambridge, 190 (L. 12). Besides the letter to Wulf- sige, the manuscript contains ^Ifrie's pastoral letters for Wulfstan, various penitentials, and the Old English Confes- sional of Egbert., Archbishop of York (735-766). (b) The other manuscript is the Oxford Bodl. Lib. Jun. 121, called also, because it came from Worcester, the Wigor- ner Codex. It is a very large collection of canonical writ- ings and some homilies. According to Thorpe, it belongs to the tenth century. The best edition is that of Thorpe, Ancient Laws and In- stitutes of England. „ , , T XX A second series of canons was pre- Fastoral Letters ^ . _,, . ,. -.t » , pared by Ai^lfnc for Wulfstan, Arch- "W If t f Y k l^ishop of York and Bishop of Worces- ter, near whose diocese ^'Elfric's abbey of Eynsham was situated. He wrote first, two pastoral let- ters in Latin for Wulfstan's use among his secular clergy, and a year later, at Wulfstan's request translated them into English, 'not always following the same order, and not word 140 Canons, or Pastoral Letters. for word, but sense for sense.' This he tells us in the Latin preface to the English translation, which he closes with the characteristic sentence, "if the herald keep silence, who shall announce that the judge is about to come?" The subjects of the first of these letters are, in general and in particular, almost the same as those of the letter for Wulf- sige, but they are treated more in detail, and the arrangement is different. The line of thought is as follows: 'We bishops dare not be silent, but must teach you priests in English the divine doctrine which our canon prescribes, for ye cannot all understand Latin. Yet I know that this admonition will displease many of you.' After a general exhortation to worthy administration of the priest's office, the three periods of the world — before the Law, under the Law, and under Christ's grace — are described. Of the last he says: 'Christ came and established Chris- tianity in chastity, both by his example and that of his disci- ples. The Old Law is different from the New.' 'In old days, before Christ's advent, men lived too much after their own lusts, but He said that we should live more rigorously.' There is express admonition to chastity in his words, 'Let your loins be girded.' 'So was Christ seen in vision by John and by Daniel the prophet.' 'God will have in his spiritual service holy ministers, who with chastity of body and mind may offer to him the holy eucharist.' After the outpouring of the Holy Ghost the church was increased, and the disciples had all things in common, mon- astic life was established, and the gospel was earned to dis- tant places. Then arose a very great persecution, but the faith increased. There were four great synods, and 'they appointed all the services which we have in God's ministry, at mass, and at matins, and at all the canonical hours; and they forbade all marriages forever to ministers of the altar, and especially to priests.' The great office of the priest is to I See Horn. II, 536, 374, and prefaces of the Homilies. Canons, or Pastoral Letters. 141 celebrate the mass, 'a memorial of Christ's great passion.' To that belongs purity, which by the canons allows no women, save mother, sister or aunt, in the house of a priest. 'This seems grievous to you, priests, because your customs are evil.' 'We cannot now compel you, but we exhort you to chastity.' There are seven orders in Christ's ministry. The highest order includes both priest and bishop; but the bishop is appointed for greater benediction than is the priest, whose duties would be too multifarious if he had the bishop's also. The priest is to be subject to the bishop. The bishops in the old law must marry, because descent from Aaron was a necessary qualification for the priesthood, but now the bishop may be of any race. The letter gives, lastly, rules for the service and the life, about marriages, books, vestments, the cup at the Lord's Sup- per, preaching and visitation of the sick, and funeral feasts. The priest must not be given to drink, nor be too boastful, nor be showy in dress. He must be a man of peace, he can- not lawfully bear arms. It is not true that because Peter had a sword, therefore Christ's servants may do the same. The original text of the second letter is not yet printed in full, and the question of its authenticity and original form can only be decided later by a study of its language and style in comparison with ^Ifric's other works. ]S[evertheless we are not in ignorance of its content. A short selection from the Latin original was published by the early editors of the Easter sermon, and has been repeatedly reprinted. Again, the first part of the Old English text, about one-eighth of the^ Avhole, was published in 1721, by Wilkins, and in 1840, by Thorpe, the first accompanied by a Latin translation, the sec- ond by an English. Again, in 1856, an English translation of the whole letter was printed in the appendix of Soames'^ Anglo-Saxon Church . The letter begins: '0 ye priests, my brothers, we will now say to you what we have not said before, because to-day Ave are to divide our oil, halloAv^ed in three ways, holy oil, chrism, and sick men's oil.' 10 142 Canons, or Pastoral Letters. Then follow directions for the nse of oil, for the admin- istration of the Lord's SnpjDor to the sick and to children, and a few metrical lines which forbid ill conduct in a church. In the editions of Wilkins and Thorpe the letter ends abruptly at this point. But the custom of ^Ifric and others of his time makes us sure that there must have been some more formal ending than this, a doxology or a prayer. Even of this brief portion Tliorpe says that the latter half "has apparently been added to the tract about chrism by mistake, having no connection with it.' But the superscrip- tion does not exclude it more than does that of the letter for Wulfsige, Of the Synod of Priests; nor is there wanting a close connection in the subject matter, in that the priest who anoints the sick also administers the eucharist to the same. Thorpe's view of the letter seems to have been derived from the manuscript (C. C. C. C. 190) from which he took the text. In Wanley's catalogue of that manuscript a little note added to this writing says: ^this letter, which appears to be one in the other codexes, in this is divided into two.' Accordingly, here we find, first, the tract printed by Thorpe; and second, what purports to be a sermon, under the super- scription, Sermo Coena Domini et Feria et Sabbato Sancto. In the two manuscripts of the Bodleian Library where the let- ter is found, the above named tract and sermon are found to- gether, with no break in text,' and the whole ends with the customary doxology. This, there is good reason to believe, is the second of the letters of which our author speaks in his prefatory address to the archbishop. The subject matter of the part not found in Thorpe con- sists, first, of minute directions for the ceremonial observ- ances of Passion Week, and for the celebration of the mass at other seasons, together with instructions on the spiritual I 'Neither in the Bodleian MS. (Jun. 121), from which the transcript now published was made, nor in another in that library, is there any break, even after the metrical lines. The whole epistle, as it is called, is perfectly suited to one single occasion, that of giving useful advice and information to a body of clergymen brought together for receiving the annual supplies of consecrated oil and chrism.' Soames, Anglo-Saxon Church, p. 263. Canons, or Pastoral Letters. 143 significance of the eucharist. Then the priests are bidden to explain the Ten Commandments to the people, even as, for example, the writer of the letter explains them, one by one, in this letter, with special reference to their spiritual mean- ing. The writer expounds, too, the eight deadly sins, which 'undo unwary people.' Then follow directions for Ash AYednesday, and Palm Sunday, and exhortations to truth, love, and the keeping of the two great commandments, and the letter closes with the words: 'May the Saviour aid us for his holy commandments. He that liveth with his beloved Father and the Holy Ghost, in one Divinity, the Triune God ever reigning. Amen.' The Latin originals of these two letters to Wulfstan, not yet published (the Latin translation in Wilkins' edition is not the original), are preserved in two Cambridge manu- scripts: C. C. C. 190 (L. 12); and C. C. C. 265 (K. 2). Of the Old English text there are the following: (1) C. C. C. C. 201 (S. 18), which contains only the first letter without its preface, and is apparently of the middle of the eleventh century;' (2) Bodl. Lib. NE. F. 4, 12, contains both letters and the preface, and is of the twelfth century; (3) C. C. C. C. 190 (L. 12) also contains all; (4) London, Cott. Tib. A. 3, contains the second letter; (5) Bodl. Lib. Jun. 121, has only the second letter. MS. 1 is the foundation for the text in Wilkins' and in Thorpe's edition. Thorpe gives the Latin preface and the second letter from MS. 3. MS. 5, according to Wanley, does not contain nearly all of the second letter, but ends with the words, Vespere autem Saibati.^ These letters for Wulfstan have been denied to ^Ifric by those Avho have ascribed our author's writings to ^Ifric of Canterbury, and ^Ifric Bata has been brought forward to fill the vacant place; not because there is any positive argu- ment in his favor to balance the positive arguments against 1 According to Thorpe. MS. Jun. 45 is a copy of this. 2 See Soames' Anglo-8axo7i Church., p. 267. 144 Canons, or Pastoral Letters. him, but because the work must have been by some ^Ifric, and the pupil must have taught the same doctrines as his master. But the correct theory of ^Ifric's identity leaves no room for doubt of his authorship (of the first letter at least), when this writing is examined in the light of his other works, [ts relation to the earlier letter for Wulfsige is such as we find elsewhere in ^Ifric's writings. It is that of a free re- vision of the earlier letter, with such additions and rearrange- ment as a new demand for an old work Avould suggest to an author, and there are many instances in ^Ifric's works of similar revisions. It is one of his most prominent traits to view the subjects that he treats from a new standpoint, not chiefly of doctrine, but of application. He tells the same story over and over, as in St. Martin, The Seven Sleepers, The Life of Stephen; but when he revises a former work he always sees something to add or to change, or some new way to make it applicable to his hearers. If he ^mtes a new Christmas sermon, the lessons appropriate to the day are taught in a new way. If he issues a new volume of homi- lies, he carries into it a neAV central idea, and thus differen- tiates the work from those which have preceded it, while yet keeping the body of Christian truth consistent and com- plete. This is made real to us when in the study of his works we try to detach ourselves from our modern thinking and reproduce in thought as far as possible the life and cir- cumstances of our author. This re-working of the first compilation of canons is that of a skilful writer, but ^Ifric Bata has given no evidence of skill in the one work which can be fairly ascribed to him. Also he speaks of Abbot ^Ifric as his teacher, but does not call himself abbot. The preface announces this work as that of Abbot iElfric, not Abbot ^Ifric Bata, as, if we judge by the note affixed to the Glossary, we should expect to find in any works of his if he held the position of abbot. This theory has really no importance, save as an historical feature of yElfrician criticism. Canons, or Pastoral Letters. 145 The author speaks as one who is well-known by his writ- ings; he says that he has given offence by snch instruction in the past. The offensive teachings are no doubt those of his first pastoral letter. This is not the only insta.nce in which .-Elfrie says that he has been blamed, but that his good intentions make him above caring for it. Let any one study the preface, the language of the letters, the subject matter, the treatment of details, the spirit and the emphasis of the teachings; let him compare these with the prefaces of the Homilies, of the Grammar, and of Genesis. and with the language, tone, matter, and method of ^Ifric's writings, and no doubt of his authorship of the first letter can longer remain. The best edition of the Old English text is that of Thorpe, Ancient Laics and Institutes of England. CHAPTER XL TRANSLATIONS FROM THE BIBLE; ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. The The so-called Heptateuch was not intended by Heptateuch, its aiithor to be a strict translation. Rather it is translation interchanging with epitomes of the his- tory found in the Pentateuch, Joshua, and Judges. The prin- ciple of omission with JElfric is here unmistakable. He wishes to furnish a practical, easily-understood rendering of the parts which are most important for the laity to know. All else he passes over. He omits, first, almost all catalogues of names: for example, the descendents of Noah, Genesis 10; the genealogies. Gene- sis 11; the list of kings, Genesis 36; the numbering of the tribes, Numbers 1, 2, and 26; the names of camping-places. Numbers 33; and of the boundaries. Numbers 34, Joshua 13- 22. In the last-named passage ten chapters are compressed into a few lines. Again, the abstruse passages in the practical portions are omitted; the blessing of Jacob, Genesis 49; the speeches of Balaam, Numbers 23-24; the blessing of Moses, Deuteronomy 33, — the preceding easier song of praise is included, — and the song of Deborah, Judges 5. The other omissions are either short passages which repeat what is given elsewhere, or parts less essential for carrying forward the history: thus Gen- esis Y, 13-16; 24, 12-14, 16-60. Also the circumstantial de- scription of the Tabernacle, and of the clothing of the priests, and most of the single Levitical laws, are omitted, and the book of Judges, except the life of Samson, is given only in brief abstracts. With no manuscript authority for the name, Thwaites, the first publisher, called the work the Heptateuch. ^Ifric him- self did not, we believe, join with the six books, the Booh of Translations from the Bible. 147 Judges which Thwaites published with them. But Wanley noted that it was added by the scribe of the Bodleian manu- script. In one codex it is contained among many homilies, and the author calls it a sermon. Still another fact speaks for the pro^^riety of placing it among the historical homilias, rather than among the translations of the Old Testament: namely, that, like otiier tracts and homilies of ^Ifric, it is written in metrical form. It is also to be noticed that its author placed among the Saints' Lives an alliterating homily similar to the Judges in form and matter, drawn from the Book of Kings. Still further, to the JSook of Judges is added an appendix, in which are brought together Roman, Byzantine, and Old Eng- lish brave war-leaders and princes, who were victorious through God's help. To the famous judges of Israel ^Ifric parallels the last victorious kings of England, Alfred, ^Ethel- stan, and Edgar. It was always a shock to the mediaeval Roman ecclesiastic to render the divine Scripture into the language of the people. In his first work, the Catholic Homilies, ^Ifric translated the scripture passages for the Sunday or Saint's day to which each homily belonged, and of these passages the homily is an expo- sition. If this was a bold act, it Avas nevertheless easier to justify than the translation of the books of the Bible. The latter task would hardly have been undertaken by a beginner. There is reason to question whether ^Ifric wrote the whole of the Heptateuch. A long introductory address to ^thel- weard prefaces the whole, and begins as follows: '^'Elfric, monk, greeteth humbly ^thelweard, Ealdorman. Thou didst request me, dear friend, to translate the Book of Genesis from Latin into English. Then it seemed to me irksome to grant it to thee, and thou saidest that I needed only to translate to Isaac, the son of Abraham, for another had translated from Isaac to the end of the book.' Now two manuscripts contain only that part of Genesis that JEthelweard requested: one, twenty-three chapters; the other, twenty-four. Add to this, that from the end of the twenty-fifth chapter of Genesis to 148 Translations from the Bible. the end of the Pentateuch, except the book of Numbers, the language shows a marked difference from that which precedes. Words and constructions which are strange to iElfric else- where appear here, and his favorite expressions are not found. But the language of Joshua and Judges is his own. Nevertheless it is certain that ^Ifric added the remaining books of the Pentateuch to his translation, that he translated Joshua for ^thelweard, and that he wrote about the Judges. For in his work On the Old and Nexo Testaments, he men- tions the three facts separately, and his summary of Joshua is not separated from the Pentateuch by even a superscription. The preface itself treats of the typical explanation of Gene- sis, but it also extends to the contents of Exodus and Leviti- cus, and speaks in detail of the typical meanings of the Tab- ernacle and of sacrifice. The following maybe jjresumed as to the gradual formation of the work. At first JElfric received command from the ealdorman only in respect to Genesis, which was to furnish good material for instruction in the history of creation, and of the patriarchs. But he saw difficulties in the way of grant- ing even this; the people might take offence at the marriages of the patriarchs; they might see in the book only a bare his- tory of events. To overcome this reluctance his friend limits the commission to the first half of Genesis. In its preface ^If ric takes pains to guard against false inferences, he insists upon the deep spiritual meaning of the book, and emphasizes the difference between the Old Law and the New. It was not his custom to mix the works of others with his own, but here, where it was mere translation, he took that which had been completed by some one else, perhaps by the one whose trans- lation JEthelweard refers to, and annexed it to his own, to the end of Leviticus, and perhaps to the end of Deuteronomy. First, however, he revised the translation, improved it, and struck out whatever appeared to be unnecessary for his pur- pose, yet did not at the same time, alter the language so as to make it completely his own. The fourth book, if indeed it Translations from the Bible. 149 existed before his work, he revised more strenuously, because he wished to give the alliterative form to its historical portion. He decided later to extend the work through the book of Joshua. With this Avhole extension, the preface received those additions which relate to Exodus. The Cotton Codex com- posed as earl}^ as the first half of the eleventh century con- tains this second authentic edition, which consists of the Pen- tateuch and Joshua. It seems improbable that yElfric caused a third edition provided with the book of Judges. The trans- lation is made from the Vulgate of Jerome. The following are the manuscripts of the Heptateuch: 1. Oxford, Laud, E. 19; 2. Cott. Claudius B. IV.; 3. Cambridge, Univ. Lib., a MS. written long after 1066; 4. Cott., Otho B. X.; 5. Lincoln. Thwaites edition is from MS. 1; this alone contains the seven books. In MS. 2 the Book of Judges is wanting. A copy of MS. 3 is found in Camb. C. C. C. (Wanley, 151). ' Queen Esther, who saved her people, has also a book among these; ... I translated it into English. ^Ifric writes this in his work On the Old Testament. A copy of such a translation is contained in a manuscript of the seventeenth century, which was prepared by William L'Isle (Bodl. Lib. Laud. E 381, earlier, Laud. E 33), Assmann, who has edited this, says, ' Its method and style, with its additions and omissions, its rhythmical form, and its whole phraseology, show it to be the translation which ^Ifric made. ' In Assman's dissertation upon this book, the following sub- jects are discussed: I. Dialect: 1. Phonology; 2. Inflection ; the conclusion is drawn that ' the dialect is late West Saxon, such as is found especially in the works of ^Ifric;' II. L'Isle's manuscript; still further, in treating of the question of author- ship, A. Method and style of the work; B. Rhythmical form; C, Vocabulary and phraseology. The text is printed in the Bihliothek der Angelsdchstschen Prosa^ Part III, and in Anglia 9, 25-38. 150 Translations from the Bible. Job. In the brief account of Job found in ^Ifric's work On the Old Testament, there are these words: 'Be Mm ic fiwende on Englisc cwide iii:, 'concerning whom I once translated a sermon.' The work to which this quotation refers has been supposed by some to be the writing on Job published with Thwaites edition of the Heptateuch and Judges. But there stands among the Catholic Homilies one on the same subject {Horn. 11. 446-460)' which is identical with the first, except that that contains a few additional sentences. As a translation, the Job is more free than JElfric's other transla- tions from the Bible, and was evidently meant to be what its author calls it, a sermon, 'cwide.' We know of no writings of ^Ifric earlier than the Catho- lic Homilies. It is most probable that the scripture reading for the first Sunday in September suggested this work to ^Ifric, and that later, on account of its large proportion of scripture translation, it was issued as a separate work. Dr. Forster, who has investigated the sources of the Catho- lic Homilies, says of the Job: ' The homily is almost entirely taken from the Bible. I know no source for the explanatory additions.' Thwaites edition is made from a copy by William L'Isle, of Bodl. Laud. E. 381 (earlier no. E. 33). Other MSS. are: Bodl. NE. F. 4. 12; two MSS. of the University Library, Cambridge, (Wanley, 159, 164); Cott. Cleopatra B. 13. 'Judith, the widow who overcame Holofernes the ^^ ' Syrian Prince, has a book of her own among the books which tell of their victories : it also has been translated into English in our fashion, as an example for you men, that ye may defend your land with weapons against a contending army.' Thus in the work On the Old Testament does ^Ifric mention a translation of Judith, but leaves his claim to author- ship unsettled. What presumption is there in favor of such a claim for him ? Several points in the passage above quoted make I'^lfricus * * * scribat se de Jobahomiliam olim transtulissetquamquidemhomil- iam in secundo serraonurn catholicorura libro, etc.'— Mores, De ^-El/rico Co7nmentarius. Translations from the Bible. 151 it probable that ^Ifric is referring to a translation of his own. The sentence which precedes this passage says in respect to the book of Esther 'this I translated briefly into English in our fashion.' The 'also into English in our fashion' of the Judith suggests that he is consciously speaking of another work of his own. Again, ^Ifric's metrical homilies were his OAvn in- vention. He could reasonably say of such an one 'on ure wisan/ 'in our fashion.' Still more, this passage is to be noted in comparison with the following passage of the same work, in which ^Ifric describes the book of Judges. He says, 'The book tells us plainly that they lived in peace as long as they worshipped the heavenly God, and as often as they forsook the living God they were harried and abased by the heathen nations who dwelt about them. When again they called earn- estly on God with true repentance, then he sent them hel}) through some judge, who overcame their enemies and freed them from their misery, and they long dwelt thus in their land. Men who care to hear this can read it in the English book which I translated concerning this. I thought that through the wonderful story j^e would turn your mind in earnest to the will of God.' When we remember that England was repeatedly devastated by the Danes during the years of iElfric's chief literary activity, and that he says in substance 'I wrote the book of Judges to make you patriotic citizens of your country,' we must surely find in his expressed knowledge of the motive which led to the translation of the Judith, and in that motive itself, strong arguments in favor of his authorship of the same. Such a Judith exists in two manuscripts, and bears every internal evidence of iElfric's writing. It tells its story in metri- cal form; it has ^Ifric's forcible style; it extols chastity in his characteristic manner; and its allegorical explanations are like those found in many places in his writings.' I See Appendix VI. 162 Translations from the Bible. On the The Old English work On the Old and New Old and New Testaments was written at request of one Sigwerd Testaments, at Easthealon. It has the colloquial style of an eijistle, even when the address is not directly made to Sigwerd. At the head stand these words: 'This writing was composed for one man, but nevertheless it may benefit many.' At the beginning of each of the two divisions indicated by the title, and near the end of the second, there is a personal address to Sigwerd, and at the close, JElfric's usual warning to the scribe. Notwithstanding the variety of matter treated, the work might be called a sermon on the text, *Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.' Its first words are, '^Ifric Abbot sends friendly greeting to Sigwerd at Easthealon. I say to thee in truth that he is very wise who speaks by works.' This is the key-note of the whole. The occasion of the writing is given in the following words addressed to his friend: 'Thou didst very often ask me for English writings, and I did not consent quicklyj until thou didst strive for it with works, when thou besoughtest me earn- estly, for the love of God, that I would speak with thee at home, at thine house, and then when I was with thee, thou lamentdst much because thou couldst not obtain my writings.' The work as a whole is a practical, historical introduction to the Holy Scriptures. It ti'eats of the books and their authors, and inasmuch as it is designed for laymen, is popular in its character, and considers neither the history of the canon, nor the fundamental principles of exposition. As the author takes up the different books of the Bible, he designates himself suc- cessively as the translator of the Pentateuch, of Joshua, and of Judges; as a writer on the Kings, and on Daniel; and as a tran- slator from Job, Esther and the Maccabees; and refers incident- ally to other writings of his on Old Testament subjects. He speaks, too, of an English translation of Judith, but does not say that it is his. Thus ^Ifric's work is evidently intended to direct his readers to the Old English translations of books of the Bible, that each may read for himself. Translations from the Bible. 153 In the introduction, he tells of the creation of the world by the Tri-une God; of the traditional creation and fall of the angels with their mighty leader, Lucifer; and of the creation and fall of man. Then are given in brief outline the contents of the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth; of the four books of the Kings, and of Chronicles regarded as the fifth. Something is told of the individual kings: Saul, David, Solo- mon, Hezekiah and Josiah, of the capture of Zedekiah and the Babylonian captivity, and of the return to Palestine. The Psalter, 'placed in the Bible by David,' the three books which bear Solomon's name, and the Books of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus, whose contents resemble Solomon's writings, 'but were written by Jesus the Son of Sirach,' all are mentioned in their proper connection with their authors, or with their position in the Bible. Then follows discourse about the prophets: of Isaiah, who prophesied 'very wisely about Christ;' of Jeremiah, who lived a celibate, was persecuted, wrote -with spiritual understanding about the Saviour, and was, according to Augustine, visited by Plato, 'the wisest man among the heathen;' of Ezekiel, and Daniel carried to Babylon, who, also, were prophets of the Christ. Lastly follow in order accounts of the minor prophets, of the Sibyls 'who prophesied of the Saviour Christ, but their books are not in the Bible,' and of Esdras, Job, Tobias, Esther, Judith and the Maccabees. yElfric explains the object of the second part of the work in these words: 'I will now tell thee briefly of the new covenant after Christ's coming, that thou be not deprived of any under- standing of it, although thou canst not receive fully all the record of the true writing. Nevertheless, thou wilt be helped by this little example.' The story begins with John the Baptist, 'the end of the Old Law,' and the forerunner of Christ. 'As the day-star at dawn rises before the sun, so shone John before the Saviour.' The first of the four books of Christ was written by Matthew in the Hebrew tongue in Judea; the second by Mark from the teachings of Peter. Luke learned his gospel from Paul. John 154 Translations from the Bible. wrote at request of the bishops in Asia. After an explanation of the animal symbols of the evangelists, ^Ifric gives a short narrative of Christ's life. 'I tell this briefly,' he says, 'for I have written indeed about these four books, forty homilies in the English language, and an addition thereto. Thou canst read this story more fully in those than I tell it here. The letters of the apostles are enumerated as follows : Peter, two; James the Just, one; John, three; Paul, fifteen, among which are not onl}' the letter to the Hebrews, but also the not-accepted letter to the Laodiceans. Last are consid- ered the Acts of the Apostles, and the Revelation of St. John. With the account of the former are incorporated the tradi- tional stories of the fates of the Apostles. To that of the latter is appended a long episode from Eusebius' Church history, the account of a young man who was saved by John. After this historical record there is a three-fold appendix. The first contains a comparison of the two covenants with the two Seraphim whom Isaiah saw in vision; a warning to teach- ers who do not draw their instructions from 'these holy books;' a comparison of the seventy-two books of the Bible with the seventy-two nations after the flood and the seventy-two dis- ciples who ended the fifth age of the world; something about the sixth, seventh and eighth ages of the world; and finally, ex- hortations to all men: workmen, warriors, and men of prayer, to fulfill their duties. The second appendix tells of the judg- ment which fell upon the unbelieving Jews in the destruction of Jerusalem. The third, brief appendix is a personal address to Sigwerd upon excessive drinking. There is no reason to believe that this work is a translation. It moves freely in the epistolary style, and works out an origi- nal line of thought in the material. One may ask, what Avere the sources used ? Appparently -^Ifric had before him Augus- tine's De Doctrina Christiana, Bk. II. Ch. 13, and drew from this some general information about the books of the Bible; but the details so far as they have to do with the con- tents of the books are his own. Besides this, the chief source Translations from the Bible. 155 seems to be a writing of Isidore's, in which the latter also is indebted to Augustine. This work is entitled In Libros Veteris ac JVovi Testamenti Proemia? With the order of books found there, ^Ifric agrees almost entirely. Ilis comparison of the two testaments with the two Seraphim of Isaiah; the explanation of the animal symbols of the evangelists, and Avhat he says of the Avise steward who brings forth things new and old out of his treasure, correspond with this Avork of Isidore's. Still other correspondences between the two works could be named. JElfric's comparison of the seventy-two books of the Bible with the seventy-two languages of the earth is found in another short writing of Isidore's: De Veteri et Novo Testamento Qucmtlonesr There have been three complete editions of this writing: two issued by LTsle (1623 and 1638); and one by Grein, (1872). Of these, Professor Sweet says, 'The text given by De L'Isle, on which that of Grein is based, is full of omissions and wanton alterations, which I have carefully supplied and corrected,' (that is, in Professor Sweet's ^elfric on the Old Testament, in his Anglo-Saxon Reader). Parts of this work have been printed several times. There is one manuscript, Bodl. Laud, E 19, Oxford. 1 Migne, Patrologia Latiiia, 83. 155 ff. 2 Migne, Pairoiogia Latina^ 83. 200 ff. CHAPTER XII. THE LIFE OF ST. ^THELWOLD; CLERIC'S DE CONSUETXTDINE MONACHORUM. The Life The authenticity of the Latin life of St. of ^thelwold which bears ^Ifric's name is St. ^thelwold. hardly questioned at the present day. The doubt which once existed was due to mistaken ideas of JElfric's identity. The only circumstance which could now lead any one to question his authorship is that the writer says so little of his own acquaintance with ^thelwold, and yet -^Ifric must have known him personally. It may perhaps be accounted for in this way: more than twenty years had passed since ^thelwold's death, and mean- while he had in a measure been set apart from ordinary men by his canouization, and by the reverence in which he was held. ^Ifric when he knew him was a young man, ^thelwold a ven- erable bishop. The acquaintance need hardly have been one of very much personal familiarity. But this objection to ^Ifric's authorship has little weight in comparison with the external and internal evidence on the other side. The prologue of the work is as follows: '^Ifric abbot, an alumnus of Winchester, desires for the honorable Bishop Kenulph and the brethren of Winchester salvation in Christ. It seems to me worthy now at last to call to mind some of the deeds of our father and great teacher, ^thelwold, for twenty years have passed since his departure. With my narrative, brief indeed and unadorned, I gather into this writing those things which I have learned either from you or from other faithful ones, lest perchance they pass into utter oblivion for want of writers.' This dedication, addressed to Bishop Ken- ulph who became bishop of Winchester in 1006, and died in the same year, is by an ^Ifric who was an alumnus of Win- chester; who was acquainted with the Winchester brethren; The Life of St. yEthehoold. 157 and who had already become an abbot: conditions which suit our author. William of Malmesbmy ascribes the work, ap- parently in agreement with the unquestioned traditions of his time, to ^Ifric the well-known writer/ Even more assuring are the style and the tone of this life. It is rare to find among the writers of that day any one who wrote with ^dElfric's simplicity and directness. He knew what he wished to say, and Avhen to stop, and could write without bombast. All this is true of the author of this life of ^thel- wold. He writes with the historical spirit of one who has tried to find out what the truth is, and to tell it in clear, simple lan- guage so that others may understand it also, but he does not expand it for the sake of expansion. The work contains sev- eral references to the author's personal acquaintance with ^thelwold, and shows sympathy for the work in which -^thelwold spent his life. Yet it is not written in a partisan spirit, and the author keeps himself well in the background. The ^Ethelwold whose life and character are described here is the same man who appears in chronicles and other writings of that day, 'terrible as a lion to the disobedient, but gentler than a dove with the meek and humble,' the great founder of monasteries, the trusted friend of Dunstan and King Edgar. A second life of ^tbelwold bears the name of Wulfstau, a monk and precentor of Winchester, who is mentioned as such by ^Ifric in iEthelwold's life. This book, which is longer than the first, is not an original production, but ^Elfric's work re-written, with expansions and additions, so that it is more than twice as long. Wulfstan claims to write from personal knowledge of his subject (' ea quae praesentes ipsi vidimus'), but makes no acknowledgment of his debt to ^Ifric. In some cases he has added interesting details not found in ^Ifric: for example, where he tells of iEthelwold's work in the garden at Glastonbury, and of his preparing fruit and vegetables for the table; and again, when he speaks of Eadred's special love for the Old Monastery at Winchester, and of his gifts to Win- chester Church. In many places he does little more than ex- I Gesta Poiiiificu7n, 406. Rolls Series. 11 158 The Life of St. JEthelwold. pand JElfric's ideas. Thus ^Ifric says of ^Etlielwold at Glas tonbury: ' Didicit iiamque inibi grammaticam artera et me- tricam,' but Wulfstan: 'Didicit namque inibi liberalem grammaticae artis peritiam, atque mellifluam metricae rationis dulcedinem.' The last chapter of Wulfstan's book gives a de- scription of the dedication of ^thehvold's new church at Winchester, whicli is not found in ^Ifric's, and into this chap- ter he introduces a poetical passage of his own on the subject just named. He also relates two miracles not told in the first life. That ^Ifric's work is not simply an abridgment of Wulf- stan's is certain. He says distincth^ that he writes lest the matter should be utterly forgotten. This he could not have done if the brethren at Winchester were alreadj'^ in possession of a life written by one of their own number. The deceit would be quickly found out in such a case. But, aside from the straightforward tone of JElfric's life, such dishonesty does not belong to him; he was always careful to give his sources. Wulfstan seems to have been of a different mind, for not only does he fail in the preface of this work to say anything of a former writing, but in the story of St. Swithun written by him he makes no acknowledgment of Landferth from whom he copies. Wulfstan's additions to iElfric's life are such as might be expected from a later writer in a bombastic age who had something of his own to add, but who did not undei'take to write an independent work. He follows ^Ifric's order, often uses his language, though with variations, and keeps close to the original in the substance of the story. His work is never- theless of value, for it adds something to the original life; his facts are in part derived from his own knowledge, and most or all of them are doubtless from reliable sources. It is unnecessary to speak here of the claims that have been put forward for ^Ifric Bata." ^Ifric's life is printed by Stevenson in the appendix of the I Cf. pp, go, 143-4, App. I. Excerpts from the De Consitetudine. 159 second volume of Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon, from MS. Lat. 5362, of the Imperial Library at Paris. The Codex Fiscannensis is named by Mabillon as the source of ^Ifric's preface, which he prints in Acta Sanet. JBened. Saec. V. p. 606. Wulfstan's life is printed by Mabillon in the above-named book, and also in the Acta Sanctorum (edited by J. Bollan- dus), Vol. 35. Excerpts from Every newly-organized monastery in the iEthclwoId's tenth century needed instruction in the Rule De Consuetudine. of the Benedictine order. For this reason ^thelwold, first of all, sent Osgar to Fleury to learn to teach it to the brethren at Abingdon; and Oswald sent thither for Germanus to come and teach those at Worcester. ^Ifric was sent to Cernel for a similar purpose; and Bishop yEthelwold himself went from abbey to abbey giving instruction in the same Rule. For a like reason iElfric when he had become Abbot of Eynsham arranged for the use of his monks an abridgment of the compilation, De Consuetudine Monachoritm, which had been prepared by ^"Ethelwold. He says in his in- troduction: ' I give in writing these few things from the book of monastic usage which, in the time of Edgar, most happy king of the English, St. ^thelwold, Bishop of Winchester, with his felloAV-bishops and abbots, collected from all quarters, and instituted to be observed by monks.' ^Elfric speaks here from personal knowledge of the antecedents of JEthelwold's writing; and that writing which he mentions, is apparently not a translation into English, but a compilation in Latin,' What do we know of xEthelwold in connection with the Rule of St. Benedict ? A passage in the anonymous Historia Ecclesiae Eliensis (Bk. I, ch. 49)^ says that King Edgar and iElfthryth o-ave the manor of Southborne to ^thelwold for the abbey of Ely 1 1 thus correct the statement made on pp. 63-4, that /Elfric's excerpts were from the English translation. 2 1691. Historiae Bn'taiinicae, Sa.ronicae, etc., ex vetustis Codd. MSS. editi opera Thomae Gale. 160 Excerpts from the De Consuetudine. on condition that he would translate the Benedictine Rule into English, and that ' he did it." From what has been said it is to be inferred that -^thel wold made both a translation into English and a compilation in Latin. We will speak first of the translation. No manuscripts, so far as we know, have come down from ancient times with ^thelwold's name attached. But as thei-e are several anonymous English versions of about his date, there is no reason to suppose that his work has been lost. On the contrary, his position as the king's chief minister in re- establishing monasteries, must have led to the spread of his work, and all of the different English versions of this period are undoubtedly, directly or indirectly, indebted to him. It has long been a matter of much interest to ascertain the authorship of the Old English Benedictine Rule, which has been ascribed to Dunstan as well as to ^thelwold. A translation which follows the Latin Rule of St. Benedict chapter by chapter, is found in the following manuscripts: MS. A: C. C. C. C. 178 (S. 6), End of 10th or begin, of 11 th Cent. MS. O: C. C. C. C. 197, End of 10th or begin, of 11th Cent. MS. T: Brit. Mus. Cott. Tit. A. IV, 2d half of llth Cent. MS. F: Brit. Mus. Cott. Faust. A. X, End of llth or begin, of 12th Cent. MS. W: Wells Fragment. This work, which has been edited by Professor Schroer, is ascribed by him to iEthelwold.'* One strong evidence in favor of this claim is the following: MS. F contains an his- torical postcript which by internal evidence is of ^thelwold's composition.^ Its beginning is wanting. The writing tells of the refounding of Abingdon by Edgar, and of his zeal in purifying the holy places and establishing right life in the monasteries. It speaks also of his commanding a translation of the Rule from Latin into English. Up to this point the 1 As ^thelwold refounded Ely in 970, and Edgar died in 975, this translation was probably made between those years. 2 Printed in Grein's BM. der A .-S. Prosa, Pt. II. 3 Printed, with English translation, in Cockayne's LeechdomSy IVortatnninff^ etc. III. 432-445. Excerpts from the De ConsuetucUne. 161 text is written in the third person ; but now, with no change of subject, it passes into the first person in a way that indicates that the writer of the tract is the author of the translation. Tlie passage: 'We also teach abbesses, etc.,' suggests an author who was in a position of authority in respect to nunneries, such an one as ^thelwold held and exercised con- spicuously when bishop. Moreover, the modest but inde- pendent way in which the author in the last part of this tract speaks of the translation, would be appropriate in a preface or postscript by JEthelwold. To ^thelwold is also ascribed the compilation, Concordia Regularis, found (with Old English glosses) in MS. Cott. Tib. A. Ill, fol. 3-27.' From its Preface we learn that it was pre- pared at the king's desire, as expressed at the Council of Win- chester, in order that the monasteries of his kingdom might have a correct and uniform Rule.' There is a manifest con- nection between this Preface and the tract mentioned as found in MS. F, above. It treats, though more fully, some of the same subjects, and so nearly in the same order that the like- ness cannot have happened by chance. Yet it is not the same writing. As the Preface belongs to the compilation, so the tract may well be a preface by the same author to the transla- tion of St. Benedict's Rule, which would easily get separated from that, since it was not the important part to be transcribed for actual use. From the investigation of the subject by Mr. F. Tupper: History and Texts of the Benedictine Reform of the Tenth Century,'' we take the following in reference to the Concordia Regularis. He says: 'I paraphrase portions of the "Preface." In his opening address to the churchmen assembled at Win- chester, the King advised them to observe the same customs 1 Printed by W. S. Logeman in A nglia 13. 365-454, with an introduction in A nglia 15. 20-40; also (without the glosses) in Dugdale's Monasticon, I. xxvii, ff., and in Migne's Patrologia Latina \yj. 47s ff. 2 The date of this Council of Winchester is not certain. It has been variously given as 967, 968, and 969. See Mod. Lang. Notes 1893, 351. 3 Mod. Lang. Notes, 1893, 344-367. 162 Excerpts from the De Gonsuetudine. in order that an unequal and diverse observance of one rule might be avoided. ' Written constitutions were, however, necessar}"^ to produce such a concord, and their drafting is described at some length. The sources of the Concordia seem to have been three: 1. The teachings of the Benedictine Rule. 2. The monastic customs of Continental Monasteries. 3. Native monastic customs.' 'It should be stated that the Concordia Preface and the evidence of ^Ifric prove that many hands were concerned in the compilation of these Constitutions. One figure, however, stands out distinctly from among the drafters; one man, I believe, brought cosmos into the chaotic mass of collected materials. My object will be to sustain the view that the prelate who held the pen and stamped the document with some of his own personality, was not Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, but ^thelwold, Bishop of Winchester.' Tapper then quotes ^Ifric's Eynsham Letter (see ch. XIII), and continues as follows: 'Upon this, two arguments can be based to show that -^thelwold was the Author of the Concordia. I. The description of ^thelwold's Liher Consuetudinum, given here by ^Ifric, proves beyond question that it was the Concordia. II. ^Ifric's " Abridgment" which follows the "Eynsham Letter" in the MS. was clearly compiled from the Concordia., cf. Breck, p. 8.' Tupper supports his view by ' internal evidence,' ' tradition,' and ' historical and documentary evidence.' We can hardly agree with him in the contrast that he draws between ^thelwold and Dunstan. He says: 'I might add that the careless way in which the Concordia writer alludes to the lax morals of Edgar, is certainly not what we should expect fi'om the purist Dunstan who had dragged Edwy from the embraces of his mistress, and condemned Edgar to seven years' penance for a carnal offence.' But neither should we Excerpts from the De Gonsuetudine. 163 expect it from ^thelwold. This passage viewed by itself alone is, we think, an argument against the authorship of ^thelwold. It is probably to be explained thus: the relation between the bishop and the king was about like that of a father and a favorite son, and in this case the father yielded to the natural impulse to make excuses for the faults of the son in consideration of his winning qualities and actions, especially when the son showed by word and deed sincere interest in the welfare of the nation, which was the father's dearest interest. To us the ' high-handed policy of the Bishop of Winchester' does not indicate ' mildness' ' associated with zeal,' even though we accept fully vElfric's statement that he was ' gentler than a dove with the meek and obedient'; what is told of him shows that with all his winning traits, and his unusually attractive personality, he could be, and often was, ' terrible as a lion to the disobedient.' Contrast his treatment of the secular clergy with that of Dunstan or Oswald. We come now to the question of ^Ifric's excerpts. His Eynsham letter, found only in MS. C. C. C. C. 265, fol. 237, is followed by thirty-one pages of rules of monastic life. These have not yet been printed, except one page in Dr. Breck's dis- sertation. From the preface we must conclude that what was to follow was not an abridgment of ^thelwold's transla- tion, but of the Concordia Regidaris. Position in the manu- script, closely connected with the unquestionably genuine letter of JElfric, is the strongest possible external evidence that we have here ^If ric's work for the Eynsham brethren, and Dr. Breck accepts it as such. He says that his personal examina- tion of this Cambridge manuscript 'showed this to be a Latin letter of ^Ifric's.' ' My next step was to discover ^thel- wold's work JJe Consuetudine Monachorum, the book from which ^If ric's Abridgment was compiled. That this searched- for work could not be the Benedictine Monastic Rule pub- lished by Schroer was evident from a mere examination of ^Ifric's letter, the subject-matter being so different in nature and arrangement as to make this impossible. In the MS., 164 Excerpts from the De Conmetudine. however, which occupies the^^rs^ place in the volume Tib. A. III. of the Cottonian Library, I am convinced that I have dis- covered the De Gonsuetudine Monachorum of ^thelwold from which ^Ifric's epistle was compiled.' From ^Ifric's preface (see ch. XIII.) two points are clear in reference to his work: first, that it was relatively a short .one (' haec pauca de Libro Coiisuetudiniim'') , and, secondly, that to excerpts from the De Consuetudine he added * some things which the Rule does not touch,' and ' also some things from the book of Amalarius." Therefore the Avork found in MS. C. C. C. C. 265, will approve itself as ^Ifric's work if it answers to the following tests: first, it must show additions from Amalarius, and also from other sources besides the Concordia Regxdaris; secondly, it must show -^Ifric's manner of making abridgments or compends; and, thirdly, the language must be his. Fragments of the Concordia Regularis translated into the Old English of this period are still extant. Is there reason to think that any of these are ^Ifric's work ? Dr. Breck has endeavored to show that the one found in MS. Tib. A. III. fol. 174a ff., is by our author.'' He writes: 'The fragment is plainly in the ^Flfrician dialect and manner with the exception of a few phrases seemingly foreign to the Abbot's style; but these are amply accounted for when one remembers that the Frag- ment is a literal translation.'' ' It is either a product of his own hand, or that of some one of his contemporaries, or per- haps pupils.' On the other hand, Zupitza writes of this same 'Fragment': 'Its author's gross misunderstandings of the original forbid us to ascribe it to the author of the Latin Grammar and the Colloquium.'^ 1 Amalarius' De Ecclesiasticis Officiis, in Migne's Patrologia Lathta, Vol. 105. 2 Aversion of 11. 170-257 of C. /?., printed by Professor Schroer in Englische Studien, g, 294-296, and by Dr. Breck in his dissertation (see Bibl. 1887). 3 Herrig's Archiv fur Neuere Sprachen,Z^. 24. Zupitza printed in this article an Old English translation of 11. 612-753 of the C. R., found in MS. C. C. C. C. 201 (S. iS)- This is not ascribed to yElfric. CHAPTER XIII. PEEFACES OF vELFEIC'S WORKS. LATIN PREFACE OF THE CATHOLIC HOMILIES I, IN NOMINE DOMINI. Ego ^Ifricus, alumnus ASelwokli, benevoli et venerabilis Presulis, salutem exopto Domno Archiepiscopo Sigerico in Domino. Licet temere vel presumptuose, tamen transtulimns liunc coclicem ex libris Latinorimi, scilicet Sancte Scripture in nostram consuetam sermocinationem, ob fedificationem siniplicinm, qui banc nornnt tantummodo locutionem, sive legendo sive audiendo; ideoque nee obscura posuimus verba, sed simplicem Anglicam, quo facilius possit ad cor pervenire legentium vel audientium, ad ntilitatem animarnm snarnrn. quia alia lingua nesciunt erudiri, quam in qua nati sunt. Nee ubique transtulimns verbum ex verbo, sed sensnm ex sensu, cavendo tamen diligentissime deceptivos errores, ne invenire- mur aliqua liajresi seducti sen fallacia fuscati. Hos namqne anctores in hac explanatione sumns sequnti, videlicet Augus- tinum Hippouensem, Hieronimum, Bedam, G-regorinm, Smaragdum, et aliqnando Haymonem; hornm denique auctoritas ab omnibns catliolicis libentissime suscipitur. Nee solum Evangeliornm tractatns in isto libello exposuimns, verum etiam Sanctorum passiones vel vitas, ad ntilitatem idiotarum istius gentis. Quadraginta sententias in isto libro posuimus, credentes boc sufficere posse per annnm fidelibus, si integre eis a ministris Dei recitentur in ecclesia. Alterum. vero librum modo dictando liabemus in manibus, qui illos tractatns vel passiones continet quos iste omisit; nee tamen omnia Evangelia tangiinns per circulum anni, sed ilia tantum- modo quibus speramns sufficere posse simplicibus ad animarnm emendationem, quia secnlares omnia neqneunt capere, quamvis ex ore doctorum audiant. Duos libros 166 Prefaces of ^Ifric's Works. in ista traiislatione facimiis, persuadentes ut legatur uniis per annum in ecclesia Dei, et alter anno sequenti, nt non fiat tedium auscnltantibus; tamen damns licentiam, si aliciii melius placet, ad unum librum ambos ordinare. Ergo si alieui displicit, primum in interpretatione, quod non semper verbum ex verbo, aut quod breviorem explicationem quam tractatus auctorum habent, sive quod non per ordinem ecclesi- astici ritus omnia Evangelia tractando percurrimns; condat sibi altiore interjoretatione librum, quomodo intellectui ejus placet: tantum obsecro, ne pervertat nostram interpreta- tionem, quam speramus ex Dei gratia, non causa Jactantiae, nos studiose secuti valuimus interpretari. Precor modo ob- nixe almitatem tuam, mitissime Pater Sigerice, ut digneris corrigere per tuam industriam, si aliqnos nevos malignae haeresis, aut nebulosae fallaciae in nostra interpretatione rep- peries: te adscribatur dehinc hie codicillus tuae auctoritati, non utilitati nostrae despicabilis personae. Vale in Deo Omnipotenti jugiter. Amen. ENGLISH PEEFACE OF CATHOLIC HOMILIES L Ic ^Ifric raunuc and mjessepreost, swapeah wacere ]?onne swilcum hadum gebyrige, weart5 fisend on JEthelredes dajge cyninges fram ^Ifeage biscope, AiSelwoldes jeftergengan, to sumum mynstre ])e is Cernel gehaten, ])urh ^Selmferes bene Soes ))egenes, his gebyrd and godnys sind gehwaer cu])e. pa beam me on mode, ic truwige ])urh Godes gife, ]?8et ic Saes boc of Ledenum gereorde to Engliscre sprsece awende; na }nirh gebylde mycelre lare, ac for]jan ]>e ic geseab and gehj^rde raycel gedwyld on manegum Engliscum bocum, )>e ungelSrede raenn ]mrh heora bilewitnysse to micclum wisdome tealdon; and me ofhreow pnet bi ne cu|ion ne m^fdon ])a godspellican lare on heora gewritum, bfiton Jnlm mannum anum Se ])aet Leden ci'itSon, and bfiton pam bocum Se Alfred cyning snoter- lice awende of Ledene on Englisc, ])a synd to hcebbenne. For ]>isum antimbre ic gedyrstlaehte, on Gode truwiende, ffet ic Sas gesetnysse undergann, and eac forSam ])e menn beh6fiat5 Prefaces of ^Ifric's Works. 167 godre lilre swiSost on pisum timau ]>q is geendung J)yssere worulde, and bee's fela frecednyssa on raancynne ser'San fe se ende became, swa swa ure Drihten on his godspelle cwaeS to- his leorning-cnilitum, ' Donne bco6 swilce gedreccednyssa swilce nseron neefre &v frain frymSe middangeardes. Manega lease Cristas cumaS on minum naraan, cweSende, " ic eom Crist," and wyrcaS fela tucna and wundra, to bepeecenne mancynn, and eac swylce ])a gecorenan men, gif hit gewurjjan moeg: and butan se vElraihtiga God Sa dagas gescyrte, eall mennisc forwurde; ac for his gecorenum he gescyrte ptl dagas.' Gehwa m£eg )>e eatJelicor Sa toweardan costnunge acuman, 6urh Godes fultum, gif he biS ])urh bodice hire getryramed; fortian Se p»a beo]) gehealdene ]>e oS ende on geleafan purh- wuniaS. Fela gedreccednyssa and earfoSnysse becumaS on pissere worulde aer hire geendunge, and Jnl synd Sa bydelas ]>ses ecan forwyrdes on yfelum mannura, j>e for heora mfin- dsedum siSSan ecelice j)rowiaS on 'Saere sweartan helle. . . . lire Drihten behead his discipulura j^tet hi sceoldon Iseran and tsecan ealhini feodum Sa Sing J>e he sylf him tsehte; ac J»eera is nil to lyt Se wile wel tsecan and wel bysnian. Se ylca Drihten clypode Jnirh his witegan Ezechiel, 'Gif ]'u ne ge- stentst pone nnrihtwisan, and hine ne manast, ptet he fram his arleasnysse gecyrreand lybbe, ponne swelt searleasa on his iin- rihtwisnysse, and ic wille ofgfin a^t Se his blod', ])a3t is his lyre. 'Gif Su Sonne J»one firleasan gewarnast, and he nele fram his firleasnysse gecyrran, )ni alysdest ]nne sawle mid peere mynegunge, and se arleasa swylt on his unrihtwisnysse.' Eft cwffiS se JElmihtiga t(3 }nim witegan Isfiiam, ' Clj'^pa and ne geswic Su, ahefe ]nne stemne swa swa byme, and cyS miaum folce heora leahtras, and Jacobes hirede heora synna.' For swylcum bebeodum wearti me geSuht piet ic nsere unscyldig wis God, gif ic nolde oSrum raannum cy^an, oSSe ])urh, tungan oSSe purh gewritu, pa godspellican sofiBstnysse pe he sylf gecwffiS, and eft halgum lareowum onwreah. For wel fela ic wat on pisum earde gelseredran ponne ic sy, ac God geswu- telaS his wundra purh Sone pe he wile. Swa swa telmihtig 168 Prefaces of ^Ifric's Works. wyrhta, he wja-c^ his weorc ]mrh his gecorenan, na swylce he behofige ures fultumes, ac ]>oet we geearnion ])?et ece lif Jnirh his weorces fremminge. Paulus se apostol cwce^, ' We sind Godes gefylstan,' and swfi Seah ne do we nau }nng to Gode, buton Godes fultume. Nu bidde ic and halsige on Godes uaman, gif hwii ]>as boo fiwrltan wylle, )'9et he hi geornlice gerihte be ]>aere bysene, ]>yl£es J)e we ]>urh gymelease writeras geleahtrode beoii. Mycel yfel det5 se8e leas writ, bilton he hit gerihte, swylce he gebringe ))a soSan lure to leasum ge- dwylde: for]n sceal gehwa gerihtlsecan ]rxl j'ret he ser to woge gebigde, gif he on Godes dome unscj^dig beon wile. Quid necesse est in hoc codice capitula ordinare, cum prediximus quod xl. sententias in se contineat ? excepto quod JE))elwerdus dux vellet habere xl. quattuor in suo libro. LATIN PREFACE OF THE CATHOLIC HOMILIES II. IN NOMINE CHRISTI OMNIPOTENTIS. ^Ifricus, humilis servulus Christi, honorabili et amando Archiepiscopo Sigerico perpetuam sospitatem optat in Domino. Fateor Almitati tuae, Domne venerabilis, omnimodis me in- dignum, et quasi superstitiosum, quod presumpsi tibi alloqui divinis sermocinationibus, videlicet per codicellum quern nuper tufe auctoritati direximus: sed quia nostrum studium nimium laudasti, gratanter illam interpretationem suscipiens, festiuavimus hunc sequentem librum, sicuti Omnipotentis Dei gratia nobis dictavit, interpretare, non garrula verbositate, aut ignotis sermonibus, sed puris et apertis verbis linguae hujus gentis, cupientes plus prodesse auditoribus simplici locutione quam laudari artificiosi sermonis compositioue, quam nequa- quam didicit nostra simplicitas; et licet multis injuriis infes- tium piratarum concutiebaraur, postquam prrefatum libellum tuae Sanctitati transmisimus, tamen nolentes repperiri falsidici promisores, dolente animo hoc opus perfecimus. Igitur in anteriore opere ordinavimus xl. sermones, in isto vero non minor nuraerus sententiarum invenitur, quamvis aliquae illarum brevitate angustentur. Hoc quoque opus commendamus ture Prefaces of yElfric's Works. 169 auctoritati corrigendum, quemadmodum et precedens, precantes obnixe ne parcas oblitterare, si aliquas maligiKe hueresis maculas in eo repperies, quia malo apud Benignita- tem tuam reprehendi quam iucauta seductione apud inscios laudari. Perlegat queso Benignitas vestra banc nostram interpretationem, quemadmodum et j^riorem, et dijudicet si fidelibus catholicis habenda est, an abicienda. Nequaquam DOS invidorum reprebensio raovet, si boc raunus tua3 benigne auctoritati non displicuerit. Vale in Cbristo jugiter. Amen. ENGLISH PREFACE OF THE CATHOLIC HOMILIES II, Ic ^Ifric munuc aweude ]'as boc of Ledenum bocum to Eno-liscum gereorde, ]nlm mannura to rsedenne ])e ]nBt Leden ne cunnon. Ic hi genam of bfdgum godspelhim, and jefter geSungenva Ifireowa trabtnungum bi asraeade, J^sera klreowa naman ic awrat on Ssere serran bee, on Ssere Ledenan fore- spruce. Ic gesette on twam bocum ]'a gereccednysse Se ic awende, forSan 6e ic Sohte ])ffit bit w£ere Isesse aeSrjt to ge- byrenne, gif man 6a ane boc rset on fines geares ymbryne, and 6a 66re on 6am geftran geare. On ^g6er fsera boca sind f eowertig cwyda, buton 6sere foi-espreece, ac hi ne sind na ealle of godspelhim genumene, ac sind forwel fela of Godes halgena life o66e ]n-6wunge gegaderode, J>aera aura pe Angel- cynn mid freols-dagum Avur8a6. ^tforan selcum cvvyde we setton 6a swutelunge on Leden, ma3g swa-6eah se 6e wile pa capitulas ajfter 6£ere forespraece geendebyrdian. Nii bidde ic and halsige, on Godes naman, gif hwa 6as boc awrltan wylle, ])?et he hi geornlice geribte be 6£ere bysne, pe-l^s 6e we, jnirb gymeleasum writerum, geleahtrode buon. Micel yfel de6 se 6e leas writ, bi'iton he bit geribte, swilce he gebringe 6a so6an lare to leasum gedwylde: for6l sceal gebwa cje- rihtleecan |)a3t f^et he ser to woge gebigde, gif he on Godes dome unscyldig beon wile. ADMONITION WHICH FOLLOWS THE ENGLISH PREFACE IN THE CATHOLIC HOMILIES II. Unum adbuc vellem preponere buic libello, non quasi pre- fationem, sed quasi amraonitionem: scilicet, cavende ebrie- 110 Prefaces of ^Ifric's Works. tatis, sicut Dominus in Levitico and Aaron his verbis locutus est, 'Dixit Dominus ad Aaron, Vinum et omne quod inebri- ari potest non bibes tu et filii tui, quando intratis taberna- culum testimonii, ne moriamini, quia preceptura est sempi- ternum in generationes vestras, et ut babeatis scientiam dis- cernendi inter sanctum et prophanum, inter poUutum et mundum.' In Novo Testamento quoque Dominus ammo- nivit discipulos suos, liis verbis, dicens, 'Adtendite autem vobis, ne forte graventur corda vestra in crapula et ebrietate et curis hujus vitre, et superveniat in vos repentina dies ilia." Tantum vitium est ebi'ietas, ut Paulus apostolus et doctor gentium adtestetur, "Ebriosos regnum Dei possidere non posse.' O quam beati sunt qui Deo vivunt, et non seculo, virtutibus, et non vitiis; et quamvis sanctorum patrum jejunia vel abstinentiam non valeamus imitari, nequaquam tamen debemus enerviter succumbere nefandis crapulis et aebrie- tatibus, Domini nostri et Dei terribilibus commoniti com- minationibus. Sufficiunt hsec monita docibilibus, nam in- docibilibus et duris corde nulla sufficiunt hortamenta. Iterum Togo et opto ut valeas, venerabilis Archiepiscope Sigerice, jugiter in Christo. Amen. LATIN PREFACE OF THE GRAMMAR. Ego ^Ifricus, ut minus sapiens, has excerptiones de Pris- ciano minore vel maiore uobis puerulis tenellis ad uestrara linguara transferre studui, quatinus perlectis octo partibus Donati in isto libello potestis utraraque linguam, uidelicet Latinam et Anglicam, uestrae teneritudini inserere interim, usque quo ad perfectiora perueniatis studia. noui namque multos me reprehensuros, quod talibus studiis meum ingenium occupare uoluissem, scilicet grammaticam artem ad Anglicam linguam uertendo. sed ego deputo banc lectiouem inscientibus puerulis, non senibus, aptandam fore, scio raultiraodis uerba posse interpretari, sed ego simplicem interpretationem sequor fastidii uitandi causa, si alicui tamen displicuerit, nostram in- "iterpretationem dicat, quomodo unit: nos contenti sumus, sicut Prefaces of JSlf tic's Works. IVI didicimus in scola ASelwolcli, uenerabilis praesulis, qui multos ad bonum imbuit. sciendum tamen, quod ars grammatica multis in locis non facile Anglicae linguae capit interpreta- tionem, sicut de pedibus uel metris, de quibus hie reticemus, sed aestimaraus ad inchoationeni tamen banc interpretationem paruulis prodesse posse, sicut iam diximus. miror ualde, quare multi corripiunt sillabas in prosa, quae in metro breues sunt, cum prosa absoluta sit a lege metri; sicut pronuntiant pater Brittonice et nialus et similia, quae in metro babentur breues. mihi tamen uidetur melius inuocare Deum patrem lionorifice producta sillaba, quam Brittonice corripere, quia nee Deus arti grammaticae subiciendus est. Ualete, o jjueruli, in Domino. ENGLISH PREFACE OF THE GRAMMAR. Ic ^Ifric wolde ]>iis lytlan buc fiwendan to engliscum gereorde of 'Sam stafcriTefte, ])e is gebfiten grammatica, sy'SSan ic 'Sfi twa bee awende on hundeahtatigum spellum, forSan 'Se sta^fcra^ft is sco ceeg, Se Sgera boca audgit unlicS; and ic pohte, jJtet 'Seos boc mibte fremian jungum cildum to anginne ])oes craeftes, oSSret In to maran andgyte becumon. ffilcum men gebyra'S, ]ie Snigne godne cra^ft ba^fS, J'ret he 'Sone do nytne oSrum mannum and bef ajste ]>iet pund, ]>e him god befaeste, sumum oSrum men, pget godes feoh ne fetlicge and be beo lySra ])eowa gebfiten and beo gebunden and geworpen into Seostrum, swaswa ]>xt bulige godspel segS. jungum mannum gedafenaS, ]>pet lil leornion sumne wisdom and 6am ealdum gedafenaS, j'a^t bi tsecon sum gerad heora junglingum, fort^an ■Se Surli lare byS se geleafa gebealden. and eelc man, Se wisdom lufa'S, byS gesaelig, and se Se naSor nele ne leornian ne tsecan, gif he maeg, ])onne acolaS his andgyt fram Seere hiilgan lare, and he gewit swa lytlum and lytluni fram gode. hwanon sceolon cuman wise lareowas on godes folce, buton hi on jugo^e leornion ? and hfi mjeg se geleafa beon forSgenge, gif seo lar and Sa lareowas ateoriaS ? is nil for Si godes j^eowum and mynstermannum georne to warnigenne, ]>set see halige lar on iirum dagum ne acdlige oSSe ateorige, swaswa hit wnes 172 Prefaces of ^If tic's Works. gedon on Angelcynne nii for anuni feawum gearum, swa ])get nan Englisc preost ne cu6e dibtan ot5t5e asmeagean uoue pistol on Leden, o6|)ffit Dunstfm arcebisceop and A6elwold bisceop eft J>a lure on munuclifum arserdon, ne cwe6e ic na for Si, past 6eos boc msege micclum to lare freraian, ac heo byS swa 'Seah sum angyn to aegSrum gereorde, gif beo bwarn licaS, Ic bidde nu on Godes naman, gyf bwa Sas boc awritan wylle, poet he hi gerihte wel be Ssere bysne; forSan 6e ic nab geweald, peab bi bwa to woge gebringe purb lease writeras, and bit bi(5 t5onne bis pleob, na min. micel yfel deS se unwrltere, gyf be nele bis wob geribtan. INTRODUCTORY SENTENCES OF DE TEMPORIBUS. I wolde eac, gyf ic dorste, gadrian sum gbewSde andgyt of 6^re bee }'e Beda se snotera lareow gesette and gaderode of manegra wisra lareowa bocum be Saes geares ymbrenum fram anngiune middan eardes. piet nis to spelle ac elles to ratdenne ]nlm J'e bit llcaS. Postscript of tbe same. Sy" ]>eos gesetnj^s ]nis ber geendod. God belpe minum ban- dum. LATIN PREFACE OF THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS. HUNC QUOQUE CODICEM TBANSTULIMUS DE LaTINITATE AD usitatam Anglicam sermocinationem, studentes aliis prodesse edificaudo ad fidem lectione buius uarrationis quibus-cumque placuerit huic operi operam dare, siue legendo, sen Audiendo; quia estirao non esse ingratum fidelibus. Nam memini me in duobus anterioribus libris posuisse passiones uel uitas sancto- rum ipsorum, quos gens ista caelebre colit cum ueneratione festi diei, et placuit nobis in isto codicello ordinare passiones etiam uel uitas sanctorum illorum quos non uulgus sed coeno- bite officiis uenerantur. Nee tamen plura promitto me scrip- turum bac lingua, quia nee conuenit buic sermocinationi plura inseri; ne forte despectui babeantur margarite cbristi. Ideo- que reticemus de libro uitae patrum, in quo multa subtilia babentur quae .non conueniunt aperiri laicis, nee nos ipsi ea Prefaces of ^Ifric's Works. 173 quimus implere. Ilia uero que scriptnrus sum suspicor non offendere audientes, sed magis fide torpentes recreare horta- tionibus, quia martyrum passiones nimium fidem erigant languentem. XJnum cupio sciri hoc uoluraen legentibus, quod nollem alicubi ponere duos imperatores siue cesai'es in hac narratione simul, sicut in latinitate legimus; sed unum impera- torem in persecutione maiytrum ponimus ubiqiie; Sicut gens nostra uni regi subditur, et usitata est de uno rege non de duobus loqui. Nee potuimus in ista translatione semper uerbum ex uerbo transferre, sed tamen sensum ex seusu, sicut inuenimus in sancta scriptura, diligenter curauimus uertere Simplici et aperta locutione quatinus proficiat Audientibus. Hoc sciendum etiam quod prolixiores passiones breuiamus nerbis, non adeo sensu, ne fastidiosis ingeratur tedium si tanta prolixitas erit in propria lingua quanta est in latina; et non semper breuitas sermonem deturpat sed multotiens honestiorem reddit. Non mihi imputetur quod diuinam scrip- turam nostrae lingue infero, quia arguet me praecatus mul- torum fidelium et maxime ^pelwerdi ducis et -^Selmeri nostri, qui ardentissime nostras interpretatioues Amplectuntur lecti- tando; sed decreui modo quiescere post quartum librum A tali studio, ne superfluus iudicer. ENGLISH PREFACE OF THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS. ^Elfric gret eadmodlice -^felwerd ealdorman, and ic secge J>e, leof, J)£et ic hiebbe nu gegaderod on ]>yssere bee p^ra halgena Jn-owunga ])e me to onhagode on englisc to fiwen- dene, for pan ]'e Su, leof, swKost, and yE^elrajer, swylcera gewrita me bsedon, and of handum gelaehton eowerne geleafan to getrymmenne mid ] sere gerecednysse fe ge on eowrum gereorde noefdon aer. Du wast, leof, \>vqX we awendon on jnlm twam ^rrum bocura j^sera halgena prowunga and lif \q angel- cynn mid freols-dagum wurHS. Nu ge-wearS fis }>net we ]nls hoc be I'sera hfilgena Srowungum and life gedihton pe mjmster-menn mid heora penungum betwux him wurSiaS, 12 174 Prefaces of ^If Vic's Works. Ne secge we nan ])incg niwes on ])issere gesetnysse. forj'an Se hit stoci gefyrn awriten on ledenbocum ]>eah ]:>e ]ni Isewedan men })fet nyston. Nelle we eac raid leasungum J'yllic liccetan. for]>an pe geleaffulle ftederas and halige lareowas Lit awi'iton on leden-sj)i"eece. to langum geraynde. and to tiymmincge )>ani towerdum maunum. Sura witega clypode ]jurh ]?one halgan gast and cwae^. Mirabilis Deus in Sanctis suis. et cet. Wundorlic is God on his halgum. he sylf forgifS mihte and strengSe his folce. geblet- sod is he God. We awrite^ fela wundra on ]nssere bee. for- j'an ]'e God is wundorlic on his halgum swa swa we eer sSdon. and his hfilgena wundra wurSiaS hine. forj'an ))e he worhte ]k\ wundra ]'urh hi. An woruld-cynincg htefS fela j'egua and mislice wicneras, he ne mreg beon wurSful cynincg buton he hrebbe pa ge)nnct5e ]'e him gebyriaS. and swylce ]'ening-men. ]'e j'eawfa^stnysse him gebeodon. Swa is eac ))am lelmihtigan Gode pe ealle ])incg gesceop. him gerisS paet he hsebbe halige fenas ]'e his willan gefyllaS. and ]'^ra is fela on raannum ilnura ])e he of middau-eard geceas. )'tet nan bocere ne moeg ])eah he raycel cunne. heora naman awriten. for]'an )'e hi nat nfin man. Hi synd ungerjme swa swa hit gevisS Gode. ac we woldon gesettan be suinura fas boc. mannura to getrymrainge. and to munde us sylf um j'aet hi ils J'ingion to ]'am relmihtigan gode. swa swa we on worulde heora wundra cySaS. Ic bidde nu on Godes naraan gif hwa Jnis boc awritan wille. j^set he hi wel gerihte be ])£ere bysne. and ]'£er naraare betwux ne sette j'onne we awendon. UALE IN DOMINO. Rubric of Homilt, In Natale JJn'ms Confessoris. Hunc serraonera nuper rogatu venerandi episcopi Athelwoldi, scilicet 111 Prefaces of ^If Tic's Works. 175 Junioris, Anglice transtulimus, quem huius libelli calci inscribi fecimus, lie nobis desit, cum ipse habeat. — PREFACE OF HOMILY ON CHASTITY. ^Ifric abbod grOt SigefyrS freondlice! Me is gesaed, ])ret ]ni sffidest be me, ]'a3t ic 68er tfehte on Eiigliscum gewritum, 6t5er eower ancor set ham mid eow tsehS, forSan ])e he swutelice sregC, ]7jet hit sy alyfed, ])8et ma3sse2:)i'costas wel motan wifian, and mine gewritu wiScweSaS ))ysum. Nxi secge ic J)e, leof man, ]>8et me is IfiS to tselenne agenne Godes freond, gyf he Godes riht diift5, ac we sceolon secgan and forswigian ne durron In! halgan lare, ]'e se hSlend taehte: Seo lare maeg ea6e unc emlice seman. PREFACE OF .ELFRIC'S HOMILY ADDRESSED TO WULFGEAT. Ic JElfric abbod on t5isum Engliscum gewrite freondlice grete mid Godes gretinge Wulfget ret Ylmandiine! Beffim }>e wit nii her spraecon be 6am Engliscum gewritum, 6e ic ])e alrende, {)?et ]'e wel llcode |)sera gewrita andgit, and ic seede, ])a?tic wolde pe sum asendan git. INTRODUCTION TO THE HEXAMERON. On sumum OSrum spelle we ssedon hwilon ser. hil se -iElmihtiga God ealle tSing gesceop binnon six dagum, and seofon nilitum. ac hit is swa menigfeald and swa mycel on andgite 'Soet we ne mihton secgan swa swiSe embe tioet swa swa we woldon on Sam aerran cwyde. Ne we gyt ne magon swa micclum eow secgan on 6am deopan andgite swa swa hit gedafenlic weere. We willaS Seah eow secgan sum 6ing deoplicor be Godes weorcum on 6ysumso6um gewrite. 6a)t ge wislicor magon witan eowerne Scyppend mid su6um geleafan. and eow sylfe oncnawan. 176 Prefaces of yElfric^s Works. PROLOGUE OF THE TRANSLATION OF ST. BASIl's ADVICE TO A SPIRITUAL SON. Basilius se eadiga be Sam we ser awriton. woes swiSe halig bisceop on Cessarean byrig, on Gi'eciscre 6eode, God lufigende swiSe, on clsennesse wunigende on Cristes SeowdOme, manegra munuca feeder, munuchades him sylf. He wses swySe gelaeved and swy6e mibtig Ifireow, and he munuc regol gesette mid swySlicre drohtnunge, swa swa 6a Easternan and Sa Greciscean munecas libbaS hyra llf, Gode to lofe wide. He woes ser Benedictus 8e tls boc awrat on Ledenre sprsece, leohtre be daele Sonne Basilius, ac he tymde swa Seah to Basilies tsecinge for his trumnysse. Basilius awrat ane wun- dorlice boc be eallum Godes weorcum Se he geworhte on six dagum, " Exameron " gehaten, swiSe deopum andgite. And he awrat Sa lare Se we nu willaS on Englisceum gereorde secgean Sam he his recceaS. Heo gebyraS to raunecum. and eac to mynecenum Se regoUice libbaS for hyra drihtnes lufe under gastlicum ealdrum, Gode Seowiende, gehealdenre clSnnysse, swa swa Cristes Segenas campiende wiS dooflu doeges and nihtes. FROM PREFACE OF GENESIS. ^Ifric munuc gret ^Selweard ealdormann eadmodlice. Du bsede me, leof J»oet ic sceolde awendan of Ledene on Englisc ])a boc Genesis: f'fi ])uhte me hefigtime \h to tidienne poes and |)u cweede ]'a, poet ic ne porfte na mare awendan feere bee bilton to Isaace Abraharaes suna, for))am ])e sum oSer man pe hoefde awend fram Isaace ])a boc oS ende. Nu ]nncS me, leof, })oet foet weorc is swiSe pleolic me oSSe senigura men to underbeginnenne, forj^an fe ic ondreede, gif sum dysig man pas boc rset oSSe rsedan gehyrS poet he wille wenan, poet he mote lybban nxi on psere niwan se swa swa pa ealdan fsederas leofodon pa on psere tide, ser pan pe seo ealde ^ gesett wsere, oSSe swa swa men leofodon under Moysesse. Hwilon icwiste poet sum moessepreost, se pe min magister woes on pam timau, hoefde pa boc Genesis and he cuSebe dSle Lyden understandan; Prefaces of ^If tic's Works. Ill ]Ki cwieS be be ]mm beabfoedere Jacobe, jnnet be bfefde feower wif, twa geswustra and beora twfi ]nnena. Ful so6 be s^de, ac be nyste ne ic ])a gTt,bu micel todalj^sbetweobx psere ealdan se and ]'aere niwan. . . , We durron na inure awrltan on Englisc, )>onne ]'pet Liden b»ft5, ne ]»a endebirdnisse awendan buton ))am anum, ]>viit ]mt Leden and ])oet Englisc nabbat5 na fine wisan on paere spruce fandunge. iEfre se }'e awent oSSe se ]'e tsecS of Ledene on Englisc, veh-e be sceal gefadian bit swa, ]>vet ]'tet Englisc bjebbe bis agene wIsan : elles bit bit5 swi6e gedwolsuni to raedenne )'am ]'e ]nv8 Ledenes wIsan ne can. Ic cweSe nti, ])fet ic ne dearr ne ic nelle nane boc refter jus- sere bee of Ledene on Englisc awendan, and ic bidde pe, leof ealdorman, ]jfet ]ni me ]>8es na leng ne bidde, ))i laes ]>e ic beo ])e ungebirsum o6t5e leas gif ic do. God ]k' sig milde a on ecnisse! Ic bidde nu on Godes naman, gif bwa pas boc awritan wylle, ]>?et be big geribte Avel be j^sere bj-sne, for ]>an ]>e ic nab geweald, ])eab ])e big bwa to woge bringe ]mrh lease writeras, and bit byS ponne bis pleob na min: mycel yfel deS se unwritere, gif be nele bys wob geribtan. EXTRACTS FROM ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. I. ON THE OLD TESTAMENT. JElfric abbod grett freondlice Sigwerd vet Eastbeolon. Ic secge ]>e to soSan pjet se biS swipe wis, se pe mid weorcum spric^, and se bsefS forpgang for Gode and for worulde, se pe mid godura weorcum bine sylfne geglengS, and ]>vet is swiSe geswutelod on balgum gesetnissum poet pa balgan weras, pe gode weorc beeodon, ptet bi wurSfulle wseron on pissere worulde, and nu balige sindon on beofenan rices mirbpe, and beora gemynd purbwunaS nil a to worulde for beora anrSdnisse and beora tryw^e wiS God. Da gimeleasan menu pe beora lif adrugon on ealre idelnisse, and swa geendodon, beora gemynd is forgiten on balgum gewritum, btiton pa?t secgatS pa ealdan gesetnissa beora yfelan dseda, and pset ]>xt big fordemde sin- don. Du beede me for oft Engliscra gewrita, and ic pe ne 178 Prefaces of ^Ifric's WorTxS. getlSode ealles swii tiralice, aer jnim ])e fu mid weorcura ])oes gewilnodest aet me, pa Sa ])u me bsede for Godes lufan georne feet ic ]?e sBt ham oet ])inum huse gesprgece, and )>ti fa swl6e meendest, ]'a ]'a ic mid Jje wa^s, ])a3t Jul mine gewrita begitan ne mihtest. Nu wille ic ]>8et ]>ii bagbbe huru \\% litle, nu \h wisdom gelicaS and ]?ii hine habban wilt, J'aet ]hi ealles ne beo rainra boca bedseled. . . . Se Halga Gast . . . spraec furh witegan, ])e witegodon ymbe Crist, for ))an ]>e he ys se willa and witodlice Infn ]>fes Feeder and )>fes Suna, swa swa we ssedon aer. Seofonfealde gife he gift5 mancynne git, be ])am ic awrat aer on sumum 66rum gewrite on Engliscre sprsece, swa swa Isalas se witega hit on bee sette on his witegunge. Fif bee he (Moises) awrat mid wundorlicum dihte. Seo forme ys Genesis. . . . We secgaS nii mid ofste ]nis endebird- nisse, for j^an Se we oft habbaS ymbe ])is awriten mid maran andgite, Jnl ]ni raiht sceawian, and eac Sa getacnunge ]>!Tet Adam getacnude. . . . On ])£ere ylcan ylde mann araerde heeSengild wide geond Jnls woruld, swa swa we awriton aeror on oSrum larspellum to geleafan trymminge. . . On })iim fif bocum ]>e Moyses awrat. . Da twa bee we nera- nodon: Leviticus is seo ]?ridde, Numerus feorSe, seo fifte ys gehaten Deuteronomium. . . . On ealre jnire race, )'e we habbaS awend witodlice on Englisc, on ])am mann mreg gehi- ran hu se heofonlica God sproec mid weorcum and mid wun- drum him to. . . . Liber Josue. . . . Dis ic awende eac on Englisc hwilon ^Selwerde ealdormennn. . . . Liber Judicum. . . . Dis man mteg rsedon, se ])e his recS to gehlrenne, on faere Engliscan bee ]'e ic awende be jnsum. Ic f ohte poet ge woldon ])urh Sa wundorlican race eower mod awendan to Godes willan on eornost. . . . Nu standaS manega cyningas on paera cininga bocum, be ])am ic gesette eac sume boc on Englisc. . . . Daniel se witega. . . . His boc is swISe micel on Prefaces of ^If tic's Works. 179 manegum getiicnungum, langsum her to secgenne be hire gesettnyssum and hu he wses aworpen ]nlm wildura leonum, be I'am we awriton on Euglisc on sumum spelle hwllon. . . . Job wa^s gebaten sum heah Godes |'egen on ))am lande Chus, swij'e geleafful wer, welig on sehtura; se wearS afandod jmrh ])one swicolan deofol, swil swa his boc lis segt5, ])e he sylf gesette si])pan he afandod waes: be j'am ic awende on Englisc sumne cwide iii Hester seo cwen, ]'e hire kynn ahredde, hrefS eac ane boc on J'isum getele, for 5an J)e Godes lof ys gelogod ]>aeron ; 6a io awende on Englisc on fire wisan sceortlice. Judith seo wuduwe, pe oferwann Holofernem ])one Siriscan ealdormann, hoefS hire agene boc betwux |)isuni bocuui be hire agenum sige; seo ys eac on Englisc on ure wisan gesett Sow mannura to bysne, ]>v&t ge eowerne eard raid wsemnum bewe- rian wi6 onwinnende here. Twa bee synd gesette oefter cyrclicum ]'eawum betwux pisura bocum, j^e gebiriatS to Godes lofe, Machabeorum gehatene, for heora micclum gewinne, for San ])e hig wunnon mid wseranum ]nl swiSe wi6 ])one hseSenan here J^e him on wann swKe. . . . Hig noldon na feohtan mid foegerum wordum finum, swa ])iBt hi wel sprsecon, and awendon jjset eft. ... 'Ac uton wyrcean mihte on ]>oue mihtigan God, and he to nahte gedeS ure deriendli- canfynd.' Machabeus jni gefylde t5as foresffidan word mid stranglicum weorcum, and oferwann his f}" nd, and sint for t5I gesette his sigefjestan deeda on ])ara twam bocum on bibliothe- can Gode to AvurSmynte; and ic awende hig on Englisc, and rsedon, gif ge wyllaS, eow sylfum to rsede! 11. ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. Ic secge fe nil SiferS, pa3t ic her gesett hsebbe j'as feawa bysna of jnln ealdan bocum on ptere ealdan gecySnysse under Moyses ae and hi"i, gif ])ri wiltest ealne ]>one wisdom, ]>e on para bocum stynt, ]'onne woldest ]n\ gelyfan, })ffit ic na ne wa3ge on ]>isum gewrite. 180 Prefaces of ^Ifric's Works. Ic wille nil secgaii eft sceortlice )>e be ])£ere niwan geoySnisse fefter Cristes tocyme, )'2et Sii mid ealle ne beo paes andgites bedaeled ])eah 1)8 ]n"i be fullan underfon ne mage ealle pa gesetnissa ]>res soSan ge writes: bist swu ])eah gebet J'urh pas litlan bysne. Das feower bee kySaS, hfi Crist com to mannum. Ic secge ])is sceortlice, for pan pe ic gesett hrebbe of pisum feower bocura wel feowertig Ifirspella on Engliscum gereorde and sumne eacan paer to, ])a pii miht rSdan be j'issere race on mfiran andgite, ponne ic her secge. . . . Du w^oldest me laSian, pii pa ic wa^s mid pe, paet ic swiSor drunce swilce for blisse of er minum gewunan : ac wite pii, leof man, piet se pe oSerne neadaS ofer his mihte to drincenne, pset se mot aberan heora begra gilt, gif him aenig hearm of pam drence becym^. tTre hselend Crist on his halgan god- spelle forbead pone oferdrenc eallura gelyfedura mannum: healde, se pe wille, his gesetnysse! and pa halgan lareowas after para haelende aledon pone unpeaw purh heora lareowdom and tShton, poet man drince, swa swa him ne derede, for pan pe se oferdrenc forded untwilice paes mannes sawle and his gesundfulnysse and unh^l becymS of ]"ain drence. Loca, hwa pas boc awrite, write hig be paere bysne and for Godes lufon hi gerihte, pjet heo to leas ne beo ]'am writere to plihte and me to tale! PREFACE OF PASTORAL LETTER FOR BISHOP AVULFSIGE. ^Ifricus humilis frater venerabili episcopo Wulfsino salu- tem in Domino. Obtemperavimus jussioni tuae libenti anirao, sed non ausi fuimus aliquid scribere de episcopali gradu, quia vestrura est scire, quomodo vos oporteat optimis moribus exemplum omnibus fieri, et continuis admonitionibus siibditos exhortari ad salutem, quae est in Christo Jesu. Dico tamen, quod saepius deberetis vestris clericis alloqui, et illorum negligentiam arguere, quia pene statuta canonum, et sanctae ecclesiae religio vel doctrina, eorum perversitate deleta sunt: ideoque libera animam tuam, et die eis quae tenenda sunt Prefaces of ^Ifric's Works. 181 sacerdotibus et ministris Christi, ne tu pereas pariter, si rautus habearis canis. Nos vero scriptitamus banc epistolam, quae Ano-lice sequitur, quasi ex tuo ore dictata sit, et locutus esses ad clericos tibi subditos, boc modo iucipiens. PREFACE OF PASTORAL LETTER FOR ARCHBISHOP WULFSTAN. ^Ifricus Abbas Wulstano venerabili Arcbiepiscopo salutem in Cbristo. Ecce paruimus vestrae Almitatis jussionibus trans- ferentes Anglice duas Epistolas quas, Latino eloquio descriptas, ante annum vobis destinavimus; non taraen semper ordinem se- quentes, nee verbum ex verbo, sed sensum ex sensu proferentes, quibus speramus nos quibusdara prodesse ad correctionem, quamvis sciamus aliis miuime placuisse: sed non est nobis con- sultum semper silere, et non aperire subjectis eloquia divina; quia si praeco tacet, quis judicem venturum nuntiet ? Vale feliciter in Christo. PROLOGUE OP THE LIFE OF SAINT JETHELWOLD. Alfricus abbas, Wintoniensis alumnus, bonorabili episcopo Kenulfo, et fratribus Wintoniensibus, salutem in Christo. Dignura ducens denique aliqua de gestis patris nostri et magnifici doctoris Athelwoldi memoriae modo commendare, transactis videlicet viginti annis post ejus migrationem, brevi quidem narratione mea, turn sed et rustica, quae apud vos vel alios a fidelibus didici buic stylo ingero, ne forte penitus propter inopiam scriptorum oblivioni tradeutur, Valete. PREFACE or EXCERPTS FROM ^THELWOLd's DE CONSUETUDIXE. Alfricus Abbas Egneshamensibus Fratribus salutem in Christo. Ecce video vobiscum degens, vos necesse habere quia nuper rogatu ^thelmeri ad Monachicum habitum ordinati estis, instrui ad mores Monachiles dictis aut scriptis. Ideoque haec pauca de libro Consuetudinum, quem Scs, ^thelwoldus Wintoniensis episcopus cum Coepiscopis et Abbatibus tempore Eadgari felicissimi Regis Anglorum undique collegit, ac monachis instituit observandum scriptitando demonstro. Eo 182 Prefaces of ^If tic's Works. quod hactenus praedictus libellus urae fraternitati incognitus habetur. Fateor me valde timide idipsum sumere, sed nee audeo omnia vobis intimare quae in Scola ejus degens multis annis, de moribus seu consuetudinibus didici, ne foi'te fasti- dientes districtionem tantae observantiae nee saltem velitis praebere narranti, tamen ne expertis tarn salubris doctrinae remaneatis aliqua quae Regula nostra uon tangit huic cartulae insero vobis quae legenda committo, addens etiam aliqua de libro Amalarii Presbiteri. Valete feliciter in Cbristo. FROM THE FOUNDATION CHARTER OF EYNSHAM. ' Ic -^Selmaer cySe minan leofan hlaforde JESelrede cynge, and eallon his witon, 6set ic an Sysse are Gode and sancta Marian, and eallon his halgon, and sancte Benedicte into Egnesham, ofer mine dseg aefre to brice, Sam Se Benedictus regol aefre rihtlice healdaS. And ic wille Sere beon ofer hi caldor Se Sger nu is, Sa hwTle Se his llf beo, and siSSan gif hit hwiBt getymaS, S?et hi ceosan heom ealdor of heora geferaedne eal swa hrera regol him tsecS.' 'And ic me sylfe wylle mid Ssere geferrserdne gem^nelice libban, and Ssere are mid liim notian Sa hwile Se min llf biS.' Cod. Dip. III. 344. APPENDIXES. I. The work of Mores, De ^Ifrico Commentarius, written 'some years' before 1760, was published by Thorkelin in 1789. Mores treats the subject as follows: Chapter I. The views held by Leland, Bale, Parker, Foxe, Pits, Spel- man, Usher, Cave, and Wharton, are successively considered. Three points of Wharton's argument are answered: 1. Wharton asserts that ^Ifric could not have been at Abingdon with ^thelwold, for by the Saxon Chronicle he was not eleven years old when ^thelwold left Abingdon for Winchester. In reply. Mores argues that we know nothing of ^Ifric's age from the Saxon Chronicle, for the passage in question refers, not to an ^Ifric, but to King Alfred. 3. Wliarton urges that ^Ifric was probably Abbot of Winchester in 1005, when he dedicated his Life of Mthelwold to Bishop Kenulph, for he calls himself ' Wintoniensis alum- nus' and 'abbot,' but is silent about the seat of the abbacy. In reliance upon Florence of Worcester and others, who say that ^Ifric Puttoc, Provost (or Prior) of Winchester, was pro- moted to the Archbishopric of York, Wharton concludes that the author of the Life of JEthelwold, Abbot ^Ifric, was yElfric Puttoc. Mores replies, that the monastery at Winchester had only priors, not abbots. 3. By a poem which celebrates a bishop, and by a letter addressed to a high official in the church, both joined to the manuscript of ^Ifric's Glossary, Wliarton tries to show that ^Ifric the Grammarian was the Bishop of York. Mores shows that the letter in question does not suit ^Ifric of York, and that the poem applies only to ^Ifric of Canterburv. 1 84 Appendixes. To this chapter are appended items collected by Ballard, an Oxford friend of Mores, to prove the opposite of Whar- ton's essay. Chapter II. ^Ifric, monk at Abingdon and pupil of ^thelwold, ac- companies yEthelwold to Winchester, Chapter III. ^Ifric devotes himself to studies at Winchester, and trans- lates the Pentateuch and other books of the Old Testament, and writes a Pastoral Letter for Wulfsige. Chapter IV. ^Ifric is sent to Cernel, and writes one volume of hom- ilies. Chapter V. ^Ifric is made Abbot of St. Albans, and there writes On the Old and New Testaments, a,nd in it he refers to the Jobj which he publishes later among other homilies. He writes also the letter on chastity addressed to Sigeferth. Chapter VI. ^Ifric is made Bishop of Wilton. There he writes a sec- ond volume of homilies. He does not call himself bishop, but in explanation "^many parallel examples of such humility can be adduced.' Here probably he wrote the Grammar, and possibly the Saints' Lives, but the latter may have a later date. Chapter VII. ^Ifric is made Archbishop of Canterbury. Several writers are quoted, to show the high esteem in which the Archbishop was held. Chapter VIII. ^Ifric Bata was Abbot of Eynshaan, and wrote Excerpts from ^thelwold''s De Consuetudine; the Life of JEthehoold; and Pastoral Letters for Wulfstan. This ^Ifric Bata was Appendixes. 1 85 probably the later Archbishop of York, although some ques- tion it. Chapter IX. Of ^Ifric of Malmesbury. Chapter X. Of other iElfrics. There is an appendix, consisting of charters, ^Ifric of Canterbury's will, and other legal documents. Mores' method of proof, if such it can be called, is the following: he states known facts in the life of yElfric of Canterbury, and weaves in with these such known facts in the life of the scholar ^Ifric as can be consistently placed there. To these he adds other more uncertain data, such as the order of the production of ^Ifric's most important works. Facts which cannot possibly be reconciled with the theory are assigned to .^Ifric Bata, namely: the authorship of the Life, of ^ilielivold; the Extracts from tlie De Consuetudine; and the Canons written for Wulfstan of York. "We fail to see that he establishes any connection between ^Ifric the scholar and ^Ifric of Canterbury. The certainty which he felt in his own mind was to him a proof, and made a connec- tion between the two men which fails to appear in his disser- tation. It is, however, of special significance that he places the author of three of iElfric's important works in the monastery of Eynsham. II. The results here given are from Dr. Forster's investigation of the exegetical homilies.' I. By far the chief source of ^Ifric's exegetical homilies is Gregory the Great's collection of homilies. In Ham. 1, fifteen, perhaps sixteen, in Horn. II, twelve, perhaps thirteen homilies are derived from twenty-seven of Gregory's forty I See Bibliography, 1892. 186 " Ajypendixes. homilies. iElfric often takes one homily from two of Greg- ory's: thns are derived I. 15, 22, 23, 28; II. 5, 42. Of Greg- ory's homilies, Nos. 10, 12, 16, 26, 34, 39, 40, have each given material for two of ^Elfric's, and No. 34 for three. II. Nest to Gregory in the amount of material furnished stands Bede. Indeed, it may be a question whether Bede is not the author most often referred to by ^Ifric, although the actual translations from his works occupy less room than those from Gregory. We find everywhere in our homilies single sentences which more or less closely correspond with passages in Bede. Often the agreement is so slight, or the thought so obvious, that it is difficult to decide whether ^Ifric has the original before him or quotes from memory. In general his treatment of Bede's writings is freer than of Gregory's. A. From Bede's Homilies ^Ifric has taken material for Horn. I. 6, 9, 12, 13, 14, 22, 25, 27, 32; Horn. II. 4; but only in two cases: I. 12 and 13, are Bede's Homilies the only source. B. From Bede's Scripture Commentary is derived Horn. I. 33; II. (12), 29, 30, 33, 36. C. From Bede's three Mathematical-Scientific writings are taken the chronological and astronomical parts of Horn. I. 6 and 40. D. From the Historical works of Bede are taken parts of of Hom. 11. 9, 10, 23, 24. III. Augustine stands third in importance. ^Ifric's homilies betray acquaintance with only Augustine's Sermons, ■Commentary on John, De Sermone Domini in Monte, De Civitate Dei, and De Trinitate. A. From the Sermons ^Ifric derives five whole homilies: I. 3, 18, 19; II. 28, 34; the chief part of I. 18; probably part ■of I. 19; II. 28, 34, 44; and perhaps of II. 7, 9, and 27. From the pseudo-Augustinian sermon No. 42, Hom. I. 3, is taken. B. From the Commentary on John is derived Hom. II. 3. 25; part of II. 13, (28). Ap2)endixes. 187 C. From the De Sermone Domini in Monte is derived Horn. I. 36, second part. D. From the De Trinitate is derived Horn. I. 20. E. From the De Civitate Dei is derived Horn. II. 2. IV. Smaragdus is next in importance of ^Ifric's sources. Of his works ^Ifric has used only his Commentarius sive Collectio Evangelia et Epistolas. Smaragdus' chief sources were Gregory, Bede, Jerome and Augustine. Hence it is difficult in some cases to tell whether ^Ifric quotes Smarag- dus or his originals, and this is the more the case as there are not critical editions of either. From Smaragdus are probably talcen in part Horn. I. 5, 27, 39; II. 8, 14. V. Jerome is mentioned by ^Ifric in the second place among his sources, but his actual contribution is relatively small. To ^Ifric, however, he seemed to contribute more than he really did, because the authorship of Rufin's Church History was ascribed to him. From Jerome's Commentary on Matthew are probably derived parts of Horn. I. 13, 26, 36. VI. From the homilies of the Halberstadt bishop, Haymo, is derived material for Horn. I. 8, 34, second part. Smaragdus, Jerome and Haymo may be called sources of the second class; the remaining sources are those of the third class. VII. From Alcuin is derived part of Horn. II. 12, p. 219 ff. A^III. From Cassian comes part of Horn. II. 12, p 219 ff., but his share cannot be wholly distinguished from that of Alcuin; also II. 7, p. 106, 11. 116-132. IX. From Amalarius' De Ecclesiasticis Officiis are taken some liturgical remarks in Horn. I. 18, 22; II. 5. X. A writer Hilarius is once cited, Horn. I. 21, p. 168 ff. Of the many bishops, etc., of this name, the one mentioned must be either the Bishop of Aries ( f 449) or the more famous Bishop of Poitiers; it is uncertain which. 188 Appendixes. XI. Eatramniis, a monk of Corbie, furnished the material for the famous Easter sermon, Horn. II. 15. ^Ifric follows Eatramnus very closely. Lingard says: 'There is scarcely a sentence in the homily which may not be traced to the work of Bertram' (i. e., Eatramnus).' XII. In the illustration of Biblical narrative by profane history, ^Ifric has confined himself mostly to what others had used before him, as he found it in the commentaries at hand. He has drawn directly from Eufin's translation of Eusebius of Caesarea's Ecdesiastical History in Horn. I. 5, 28, 32; II. 28. (Two of the legendary homilies are wholly taken from Eufin: Horn. II. 18, 19). XIII. The Vitae Patrum, an anonymous collection of pious narratives, had great popularity in the Middle Ages. In Horn. I. 36, and II. 15, iElfric mentions it as the source of some remarks found in those homilies. Of Horn. I. 1; II. 1, 25, 45; no sources have been found. Finally, it is uncertain whether ^Ifric chose his material himself, or used a collection of homilies already in use." Since there were many such collections at that time, and some must have been accessible to ^Ifric, he may have taken one as a model. But that he simply translated appears to be improbable. His great self-dependence in translating from the books of the Bible and from legends speaks against it. The fact also that the greater number of his homilies are de- rived from more than one source, and that among the sources are books like Vitae Patrum, the church histories of Eufin and Bede, Bede's scientific writings, etc., renders it yet more improbable. III. A. Eeum, in De Temporihus Ein EcMes WerTc des AUes yElfric, makes a more extended study of the question.^ Start- 1 Hist, and Antiq. oj^ AS. Ch. II, 460. 2 'It is plain that there is a common source behind both sets of sermons; the well estab- lished series of topics for each occasion seems clearly to point to some standard collection of Latin homilies now lost.' Earle, Anglo-Saxon Lit., p. 215. 2 See Bibliography, 188S. Appendixes. 189 ing with the probability established by Dietrich, that ^Ifric is the author, Eeum compares this work in its details with the undoubted works of ^ifric. I. There are three peculiarities characteristic of ^Ifric's treatment of his sources; first, he lays stress upon the authors whom he uses and puts himself in the background; secondly, while he gives the thoughts of his authors with conscientious accuracy, he is independent and free in his method of con- veying thought; thirdly, he separates the important from the unimportant, and produces a new whole. These three characteristics belong to the author of the De Temporxbus. His modest acknowledgment of his source appears in the introduction. On comparison of the De Temporxbus with Bede's three books, De Temporihus, De Temporum Batione, and De Natura Rerum, it is found that the author of the Old English De Temporxbus has studied carefully all three of Bede's works, and has selected from them all, those things which were of most interest and im- portance for the laity, and has omitted what would confuse them; he has made a new whole according to his own arrange- ment. II. Characteristics of ^Elfric's language in his known works are compared with those of the De Temporxbus. A. His language as a translator : 1. He took pains to translate Latin terms and quota- tions into correct Old English, and proved by this the verbal richness and flexibility of his language. 2. He united the short, disconnected sentences char- acteristic of Alfred's style, into longer sentences by relative constructions, parentheses, adverbs and con- junctions. 3. He arranged his words with reference to rhythm and alliteration. B. His language as a teacher: 1. Even as ^Ifric selected the most important matters from great compends to form his books, so the 13 1 90 Appendixes. weightiest matters of all he enforces and makes prom- inent by the use of very emphatic adverbs. 2. He enlivens his discourse by rhetorical questions and apostrophes. 3. He imparts to his language the freshness of nature by pictorial expression, and enlivens his discourse by excellent illustrations. The beauty of Old English poetry rests in part upon its pictorial character. But ^Elfric borrows his images from quite another range, for they are to serve a different end. They gave spirit and power to heroic song, but with him their first purpose was to enlighten, and their second to en- liven and adorn. Hence he took them from every- day life, so that they could always influence the lan- guage in its common use. C. His language as a preacher: 1. Formal announcements of the subjects which he is about to treat, show ^Ifric's desire to be clear and to be understood by the many. 2. Formal concluding sentences close the separate sec- tions of his work. 3. He brings Bible words and discourse into scientific treatises. A, B and C are illustrated by detailed comparisons of the De Temporalis with ^Ifric's works, and the result is a strong confirmation of vElfric's authorship of the former. III. There are other striking agreements between the De Temporibiis and other works of ^Elfric's: 1. The Glossary made by ^Ifric, and completed by his pupil, ^Ifric Bata, contains many words from the De Temporihus, some of which may not have been found elsewhere in Old English. 2. Marked coincidences in phrases, sentences, and ma- terial introduced, appear in the De Temporihus and ^Ifric's books. 3. ^Ifric's interest in the subjects treated of in the Appendixes. 191 De Temporilus is seen in many places in his other writings. 4. In Inter. Sig. 68, 114, ^Ifric refers to a former writing on the planets, which must be accoimted for by such a work as this. IV. The appendix to the De Temporibus printed in Cockayne's edition is examined, and is decided to be an imi- tation of JEltvic's writing in the De Temporibus by some other monk, perhaps ^Ifric Bata. The decision rests on these grounds: a. While the colloquial language resembles ^Ifric's, its tone differs from his. b. The material differs from that which he chooses. c. ^Ifric's favorite words are not found. d. The author's use of Latin words does not correspond with ^Ifric's. V. The date of the work. It cannot be ^Ifric's first writing, because he designates the first volume of CatJiolic Homilies as the first, and also be- cause the De Temporibus refers in its opening words to a former writing. The following points make it probable that it was written just after the first volume of homilies: 1. Its position in the Cambridge manuscript, where it is joined to the last homily by an announcement of what is to follow, and is closely connected with the preceding by its introductory sentence. 2. There is far more discourse on astronomical and scientific matters in the first volume of homilies than in the second. Therefore ^Ifric must have thought it worth while, after sending out the first volume, to give the contents of the De Temporibus to the laity. 3. In the second volume of homilies, ^Ifric, when he refers to astronomical questions, expresses himself briefly, in the manner of one who is refemng to that which is well-known. 192 Appendixes. 4. The unusual brevity used by ^Ifric in his Grammar in referring to the signs of the Zodiac indicates that he considers the subject a familiar one. 5. The connection of this writing with the words 'on geares ymbryne' in Horn. I, 98. If ^Ifric had al- lowed a long time to pass between this sermon and the De Temporihus, he would have followed Bedels order and arrangement of chapters; but he still remembered the chief matters which were referred to in the ser- mons and joined to the first volume a new work, the De Temporiius. Hence the De Temporihus grew immediately out of the first volume of homilies, gave it scientific complete- ness, and was joined to it. He probably finished it while the scribe of the Cambridge manuscript was doing his work, and was able to deliver it to him when the last homily was transcribed. According to Dietrich, ^Ifric wrote the first volume of homilies in 990-991, and this latter year is probably the date of the De Temporihus. IV. "We extract from MacLean's dissertation' the following: I. The manuscripts in which the Old English Inter. Sige. in Gen. is contained are described in detail. They are these: 1. MS., originally a part of Cod. 178 (S. 6), Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, but removed from that, probably in the sixteenth century, and now bound in C. C. C. C, 162 (S. 5). 2. Cottonian Cod., Julius E. VII, Brit. Mus. (Wanley, p. 186), Inter. Sige. in Gen. is here found as No. 37 of ^Ifric's Saints Lives. This Cod. probably belongs in the second quarter of the eleventh century. 3. Cod. Junii 23, Bodleian Lib. Oxford (Wanley, p. 36). I See Bibliography, 1883. Appendixes. 193 The contents are selected from the Cath. Horn. I-II, the Saints' Lives, and the sermons, probably by ^Ifric, in C. C. C. C, Cod. 162. This Cod. was evidently written when ^Ifric's original order was being forgotten. The date is undoubtedly in the last quarter of the eleventh century. 4. Cod. Junii 24, Bodleian Lib. Oxford (Wanley, p. 40). This Cod. is a volume of sermons for saints' and week-day festivals, taken with a few exceptions from ^Ifric. Inter. Sige. in Gen. is here associated with three others from the Saints' Lives. 5. C. C. C. 303 (S. 17), (Wanley, p 133). A mixed Cod. of the twelfth century, mutilated at the beginning. The aim of the scribe must have been to make a full edition of ^Ifric's homilies. Inter. Sige. is in a group from the Saints' Lives. Besides the above five MSS.i there is a transcript by Junius (Cod. Junii 104, Bodl. Lib.) of the third of these. Two MSS. of Alcuin's Latin Inter. Sige. are in the Bodl. Lib. MSS. Barlow 35, and Laud. 437 (Laud. F. 134). In the latter are the lives of five saints. These Latin Codd. add to the testimonies that the Inter, was long and widely used in theological school-books, and further, that it had in some way become connected with the lives of saints. The 0. E. MSS. of Inter. Sige. are all of L. W. S. and in- dicate the composition of the work as about 1000 A. D. II. The final Creed and Doxology are contained in only two of the MSS. But the contents of the appendix favors its authenticity. It is alliterative and thus harmonizes in form with the Inter, and the Saints' Lives. The subject matter could almost be replaced word for word from other passages in ^Ifric. The probable indirect source of this * form of the creed Avas Isidore, an author whom ^Ifric used during this period of his life in his Glossary and in his treatise On the Old and New Testaments. It is most probable that some early copyist, knowing of ^Ifric's repetitions about the Trinity, or wishing to save labor and parchment, ended 194 Appendixes. his copy at the good stopping-place afforded by the remark; *We will not speak further about this, because we have now written the most necessary questions.' III. The Question of Authorship. The chief dijSiculties of the critics sprang from their treatment of the Inter, as an independent treatise. 1. The External Evidence. The Inter, is bound without exception with ^Ifric's Codd. The best hypothesis to explain all the phenomena of the MSS. is that ^Ifric wrote the Inter. 2. The Internal Evidences. The form of the Inter., in its alliteration, poetic passages, and even punctuation, is a strong argument for the integrity of the longer version and the ^Ifrician authorship. The language and dialect, so thoroughly L. W. S., and with- out any substantial traces of early L. W. S., show that Bouter- wek's supposition that it dates from a monk in the ninth cen- tury, is untenable. A comparison of its vocabulary and forms of expression Avith those of the BlicTding Homilies, a speci- men of pre-^lfrician literature, renders it probable that no earlier date than ^Ifric's time can be assigned for it. In the light of the exigencies of translation and allitera- tion, the correspondences between the Inter, and the parallel passages from ^Ifric make a deep impression as to common authorship. There is a probable direct reference in the Inter., in one of those personal explanatory remarks so characteristic of ^1- fric, to a similar remark in his De Temporihus. At Inter., 1. 114, he writes, 'I will say noiv that about which I kept silent some time iefore on account of the unwontedness of the lay understanding.' He then gives, 11. 115-144, a translation of cap. XII, De Cursu Planetarum, of Bede's Be Natura Rerum. In the De Temp, the author is folloMang closely cap. XI, De Stellis, of the same book of Bede's. He closes the chapter with: 'Though we should speak more of the heavenly constel- lations, still the unlearned may not learn their luminous Appendixes. 195 course/ In the Inter, it must be the same author who, upon the simple mention by Alcuin of the counteracting influence of the heavens and the planets, reverts to his former omission in the De Temp. He makes his longest insertion in Alcuin from Bede, at the very point where he began to omit in the De Temp. In the Saints' Lives, according to the preface, he was opening more than ever before subjects with which the laity were unacquainted. 3. The Translation is ^Ifrician. It shows a masters hand in its general literalness, combined with freedom of ar- rangement and English idioms. 4. The Subject. The Creation was a favorite subject with -^Ifric. The choice of questions and passages from Alcuin displays an author of ^Elfric's caution about giving all the narratives of Gen. to the public of his time. Also the inser- tions from other authors are ^Ifrician. 5. The Sources are Alcuin and Bede. Traces of Gregory the Great and Isidore appear. The translator of Inter, was thoroughly at home among the sources of Alcuin's originals. A. Tessman has compared the texts of the five manuscripts of the Interrogationes in regard to the following points: 1. Characteristics common to the language of all the manuscripts: a. vowels of root syllables; b. vowels of middle and final syl- lables; c. consonants; d. inflection. 3. Peculiarities of the single manuscripts. 3. Eelation of the manuscripts to each other. He has also considered the metrical form of the work. The text of MacLean is criticised in accordance with Tess- man's collation of the manuscripts. The fragment in Codex Harley 3271, British Museum, is printed,' and the text of the whole is given, with variant readings in footnotes. • Y. An investigation of the sources of the legendary homilies of the flrst volume of the Lives of the Saints has been made 1 See Moii. Lang. Notes, 1887, 378-g. 196 Appendixes. by J. H. Ott.' Of the twenty-three homilies in this volume, enumerated on page 9, there are therefore omitted from the study >sTos. I, XII, XIII, XVI, XVII, and XVIII. From the dissertation by Ott we take the following: ^Ifric names as sources, Ambrose, in the life of St. Agnes; Terence, in the Superscription of the life of Gallicanus; Mar- cellus, in the life of Petronilla; Jerome, in the life of the four evangelists; Bede, in the life of ^theldred; Landferth, in the life of Swithun. No collection of Latin legends furnished ^Ifric with originals, but he has gathered from different books. His additions are of three sorts: (1) metrical, the most common; (2) explanatory; (3) homiletic. The results in respect to each of the seventeen homilies considered are given on pp. 8-60 of Dr. Ott's dissertation. VI. The authorship of the Old English homily on the book of Judith is considered by Assmann in Anglia, 10. 76 ff., where he gives in detail the reasons for claiming ^Ifric as its author. The subject is treated in the following order: I. Introduction. Dietrich concludes that this homily does not belong to ^Ifric, because in the work on the Old Testament he makes no claim for it, but says only of the book of Judith, 'seo ya eac on Englisc on tire wisan gesett.' These last three words both Dietrich and Assmann understand to refer to poetical expression, but the former understands iElfric to refer in all that he says to the well-known poem of Judith, first published by Thwaites. Assmann reaffirms what he has said in his study of iElfric's Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges and Job. Pp. 76- 257: Old English Biblical quotations from ^Ifric's Homilies with the corresponding Latin of the Vidgate. 114. Catholic Homilies, a. A. Napier. A Fragment of yElfric's Delnit. Creat., Mod. Lang. K, 1893, 398-400, b. E. Menthel: Zur Gesch. des Otfrid. Verses in Etngl., Anglia. 8. 50-53. c. A. S. Cook: Notes on the Vocalism of L. W. S., Trans, of Amer. Phil. Assoc. 1889, 175-6. 115. Colloquium, a. J. Zupitza: Die Ursprilngliche Gestalt von ^Ifric's C, Zs.f. J). A,.^ 31. 32-45. b. E. Schro- der: Colloquium ^Ifric, Zs.f. D. A.,^ 41. 283-290. 116. The Lives of the Saints, a. A.Napier: A Frag- ment of the Life of St. Basil, Mod. Lang. iV, 1887, 378-9. b. J. Zupitza: Bemerkungen zu yElfric^s L. of S. L., edited by SJceat, Zs.f. D. A.' 17. 269-96. c. B. Wells: List of Strong Verbs in L. of S. L, IL, Mod. Lang. JST. 1888, 1. 18-185, 256- 262. d. A. S. Cook: A List, of the Strong Verbs in L. of S. IL, 3£od. Lang. JST. 1897, 117-8. e. E. Holthaus: ^Ifric's L. of S. I. (an examination of their metrical form), Anglia 6, Anz.104-117; cf. E. Einenkel: Schipper, Fnglische Metrick,Ang- lia 5. Anz. 31 f.; M. Trautmann: Otfrid in England, Anglia 7. Anz. 211-5; E. Menthel: Zur Geschichte des Otfridischen Verses in Englischen, Anglia 8. Anz. 52-53. 117. Job. a. B. Ass^AT!ij!i: ^Ifric's A.- S. Bearbeitung I. Zeitschri/t /ilr Deutsches Alterthum, Classified Bibliography. 211 (les JBuches Hioh (comparison of Grein's text with the MS.), Anglia 9, 39-42; b. M. Forster. Comparison of the Job in Grein's text with Horn. II. 446 if., Anglia 15. 473-Y. 118. Judith, a. B. Wells: Strong Verbs in J., Mod. Lang. N"., 1888, 13-15. b. A. S. Cook: Comparison of the O.E. poem Judith with ^Ifric's homily on the same subject, Judith, pp. LXXI.-LXXIII. CLASSIFIED BIBLIOGRAPHY. I. Biographical and Critical: Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 13, 15, 20, 23, 30, 37, 40, 41 a, 50, 54, 57, 58, 61, 64, 68, 71, 73, 88, 113. II. Grammatical: Nos. 89, 90, 98, 99, 100, 104, 107, 108, 110, 111, 114 b, c, 116c, d, e, 118 a. III. JElfric's Writings: 1. Catholic Uoinilies: Complete edition: No. 41 b; Separate homilies: Nos. 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 17, 18, 29, 31, 33, 35, 38, 43, 49, 52, 56, 62, 65, 67, 71, 72, 74, 76, 77, 87; Miscellaneous: 27, 41 a, 57, 88, 99, 102, 103, 107, 108, 110, 111, 113, 114. 2. De Temporibus: Editions: Nos. 39, 59, 64; Criticism: No. 96. 3. Grammar : Editions: No. 10, 34, 66, 78, 79. 4. Glossary : Editions: Nos. 10, 34, 78, 84. 212 Classified Bibliography. 5. Colloquiimi: Editions of the whole or of a part: Nos. 30, 31, 33, 43, 45, 48, 56, 77, 84, 109; Critical: No. 115. 6 Lives of the Saints: Complete edition: No. 81 (see p. 131 n, 2); Separate homilies: Nos. 32, 43, 44, 47, 52, 53, 55, 59, 65, 69, 72, 80, 82, 116 a; Critical: 82, 97, 98, 101, 105, 116 b, c, d, e. 7. Homilies which do not belong to any volume: Editions: Nos. 26, 50, 63, 83, 85. 8. Translations of the Bible : Editions: Nos. 14, 16, 22, 24, 31, 33, 42, 52, 56, 70, 75, 76, 80, 85, 86, 95, 106, 109, 112; Critical: 89, 104, 113, 117, 118. 9. On the Old and New Testaments: Editions of the whole or of a part: Nos. 6, 8, 25, 28, 48, 70, 72. 1 0. Canons or Pastoral Letters : Editions of the whole or of a part: a. Letter for Wulfsige: Nos. 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 19, 20, 36, 48, 51, 54, 71; b. Letters for Wulfstan: Nos. 2, 3, 6, 8, 19, 36, 58, 71. 11. Life of ySthelwold: Edition: No. 60. INDEX. Abbey, of Glastonbury, 20-2; of Abing'don, 24-7; of Winchester, 27-8, 36-43; of Ely, Peterbor- ough, and Thorney. 30, 33; of Ramsey, 32-3; of Cernel, 47-9; of Eynsham, 60-3. Abbo, see Fleury. Abdias Legends, a source of ^1- fric's Homilies, 104. Ahdon and Sennes, homily on, 128. Abgarus, see Bibliography, no. 55. Abingdon Abbey, destroyed by Danes, founded anew, 24; ^thelwold abbot of, 25-7; monks of, 28; school of, 33. -^Ifhere, of Mercia, seeks to over- throw the monks, 43-4. ^Ifric, his life, 35-70; education, 71-6; characteristics as a writer, 56. 64, 71-2, 76-9, 83, 84, 134, 144, 148-9, 157, 188, 189-90, 194-5, 197-8; as a teacher, 74-81, 84-6; his patriotism, 58, 78-9, 90, 151; his humility, 81. iElfric, Archbishop of Canter- bury, .^Ifric identified with, 89-93, 99. MUric Bata, quoted, 98; Collo- quium revised by, 122-124; what is known of, 122; -^Ifric's writ- ings ascribed to, 143-4, 184; perhaps author of appendix of the Be Temponhus, 191. ..Elfric Puttoc, Archbishop of York, ^Ifric identified with, 93-95, 99-100. .^Ifric, Bishop of Creditou, ^Ifric identified with. 88, 98-9. ^tJieldred, St., homily on, 127. ^thelmser, endows Cernel Abbey, 47-50; founds Eynsham Abbey, 53, 60-62, 182; ^Ifric writes for. 53, 57; death, 69. -^thelnoth, perhaps pupil of iElfric, 56; Archbishop of Can- terbury, 56, 69. jEthelstan, King mentioned by ^Ifric, 79, 147; Dunstan and ^thelwold at court of, 20, 24. ^thelweard. friend of ^Ifric, his identity, 47-8, 57; ^Ifric writes for, 51-3, 57, 102, 126, 147-8; counsels payment of Danegelt, 54: sent by King ^thelred to King Olave, 55; death, 57. ^thelwin, of East Anglia, patron of Oswald, 32; heads a monas- tic party, 43-4, 86; death, 54. ^thelwold I., 14, 19; his early life, 21; life at Glastonbury, 21-4, 157; Abbot of Abingdon, 25-7; Bishop of Winchester, 27- 31, 33, 34, 36-7, 43-5; as a teach- er, 39-40, 56; his connection with the Benedictine Rule, 27, 39, 159-64; biographies of, 65, 90, 156-9. ^ethlwold II., ^Ifric writes homily for, 67, 93, 106, 109. Alban, St., homily on, 127. Alcuin, his treatise on Genesis, 131-2; a source of .Ji]lfric's Eomilies, 104, 187. Aldhelm, .^Ifric compared with, 80, 87. Alfred, his educational work, 17- 18, 50, 52; translations, 18; men- tioned by ^Ifric, 50, 79, 147. 214 Index. Alphege I., Bishop of Winchester, kinsman and friend of Dunstan, 20, 21, 23; teacher of ^thel- wold, 21. Alphege II., Bishop of Winches- chester, 45; sends ^Ifric to Cernel, 46, 92; death, 68. Amalarius, quoted by .^Ifric, 64, 104, 164, 187. Ambrose, source of Life of St. Ag- nes, 196. Apollinaris, St., homily on, 128. Ash Wednesday, homily for, 127, 129. Assmann, B. , quoted, 149; on ^Ifric's JuditJi, 196 8. Astronomy, jElfric's interest in, and acquaintance with, 73, 124-5, 190-1, 194-5. * Auguries, homily on, 128, 129. Augustine, a source of .^Ifric's Homilies, 104. 186-7. Bale, J., identified jElfric with the Archbishop of Canterbury, 89. Bade, mentioned, 16, 71, 73, 75, 98, 111; source of ^Ifric's writings, 18, 74, 116-7, 124, 186, 189, 196. Benedictine Rule, sought by ^thelwold, 27; introduced into monasteries, 28 30, 159; taught by Abbo, 33, translated by ^thelwold, 39, 159 161; preface of, 161; abridged by ^Ifric, 159- 164; see Concordia Regularis. Benedictional of ^thelwold, 40. Bertram, see Ratramnus. Breck, E., quoted, 163 4. Brihtnoth, of Essex, takes arms in behalf of the monks, 44; father-in-law of JSthelweard 49; lands owned and bequeathed by, 61; slain at Maldon, 54. Canons, for Wulfsige, writing and date of, 57-8; description of, 135-9; for Wulfstan, writing and date of, 68, description of, 139- 145. Cappadocian Soldiers, homily on, 127. Cassian, a source of ^Ifric's Homilies, 104, 187. Cave, W., uncertain of ^Ifric's identity, 95. Cecilia, St., homily on, 128. Celtic Church, monastic, 16; its tradition, 27. Cernel, traditions of, 47; abbey founded, 47-9; ^Ifric at, 50-59. Chastity, Holy, homily on, 110-1. Clergy, secular, celibacy of, 18; illegal marriages of, 19, 28; ex- pelled from Winchester, Chert- sey and Milton, 28; from Ely, 30 n. ; treatment of, by Oswald and Dunstan, 31, n.; party in favor of marriage of, 43-4, 51, 67; ^Ifric views of marriage of, 44- 5, 86, 109, 110 1, 135-6, 139, 140; witness Oswald's charters, 63. Cockayne, O., quoted, 24, 49, 64n. ; writes of ^ifric's life, 4. Colloquium, life in the monastery according to, 41-2; date of, 58; described, 121-4. Concordia Regularis, 161-2, 164. Confessor, Homily for Birthday of, 109-10. Conybeare, E., quoted, 30. Crisantus and Daria, homily on, 128. Cross, Holy, homily on, 128. CutJibert St., homily on, 103. Danes, invasions of, 14, 17, 19, 45, 54-55, 65-66, 69; influence of their idolatry feared, 85. *De Consuetudine, see Benedictine Rule; Concordia Regularis. Index. 215 Denis, St. , homily on, 128. Be Temporibus, ^Ifric writes, 54, n; description of, 124-5; Reum's dissertation on, 188-92. Deuteronomy, ^Ifric's, see Hepta- teuch. Dietrich, E,, investigation of, 3-5; quoted, 48, 51, 60, 63, 69. Donatus, grammar of, 119n. Dunstan, 14, 19; life and charac- ter, 20-21 of; adviser of Eadred, 25; primate, 29; treatment of secular clergy, 31, n. ; present at counsel, 32; influence over Edgar, 29, 34; his work in the monastic revival, 25-26, 30. Eadgifu, widow of King Edward, patronizes ^thelwold, 23-4, 26. Eadred, his reign, 14; patron of iEthelwold, 24-26; death, 26; his tomb, 38; his love for the Old Minster, 157. Eadwig, 23, 24 n. ; endows Abing don, 26. Ealdorman, position of, 48, n. Edgar, character of his reign, 14, 35, 38; patron of ^thelwold, 26- 30; builds new monasteries, 33 his character, 14, 29, 162-3 events after his death, 33, 43 mentioned by ^Ifric. 38, 79. Edmund, his reign, 14; his rela- tions with Dunstan, 20; his tomb, 38-9. Edmund, St., homily on, 128. Education in England, 7th to 10th centuries, 17-9; revived, 20-1, 82-3, 39-40. 83-4, 86. Ely Abbey, founded, 16; destroyed, 17; refounded, 30,32,33; influence of restoration of, 30. Esther, ^Ifric's, its authenticity, Assmann's dissertation on, 149. Euphrasia, St., homily on, 128. Eusebuis, his Ecclesiastical History known by iElfric, 75, 188. Eustace, St., homily on, 128. Eynsham Abbey, founded, 60-3; ^Ifric at, 62-70; extracts from its charter, 62, 182. Exeier Codex, 51 n. Exodus, ^Ifric's, see Heptateuch. False Oods, sermon on, 85, 114n., 128. Fleury, Odo monk of. 23; Osgar sent to, 27; Oswald sent to, 31; school of, 31; Abbo of, 33, 37n., 50. Forster, M. , quoted, 104; on the Sources of the Homilies, 185-8. Oenesis, ^Ifric's, see Heptateuch. Oeorge, St., homily on, 127. Germanus, summoned by Oswald from Fleury, 32, 159. Glastonbury, Abbey founded, 16; birthplace of Dunstan, 20; abbey under Dunstan, 20 29; land granted to abbey, 24; rule ob- served at, 27; pupils of, 33. Glossary, date of, 58; description of, 120-1. Godemann, made Benedictional, 40. Grammar, yvviiing and date of, 55- 6; described, 119-20; manu- scripts of, 121. Gregory, his Pastoral Care trans lated by Alfred, 18; and required by pi-iests, 137; his teaching, 18; a source of ^Ifric's Homilies, 84, 104, 185-6. Gregory of Tours, a source of ^Ifric's Homilies, 104. Outhlac, St., Life of, 134-5. Haymo, a source of ^Ifric's Hom- ilies, 104, 187. Heptateuch, description of, 146-9; date of, 57. 216 Index. Hexamercm, its authorship, de- scription, sources, 116-7. Hilarius, a source of ^Ifric's Homilies, 187. Homilies, Catholie, writing and date of, 50 2. 54-5, 92; descrip- tion of, 101-8; Orammar asso ciated with, 119-20; sources of exegetical, 185 8. Interrogationes Sigewulfi, in Lives of the Saints, 128; account of, 131-4 ; MacLean's dissertation on, 193 5; Tessmann's disserta- tion on, 195. Isidore, source of jElfric's writings, 58, 120, 155. Jerome, 72, 74, source of iEIfric's writings, 104. 187, 196. Job, .^Ifric's homily on, 150. John XI. 47-54; homily on, 112 3. John XVI. 16-22, homily on, 113-4. Joshua, .^Ifric's, see Heptateuch. Judges, ^Ifric's, see Heptateuch. Judith, Mliv'ic's, its authenticity and character, 150-1 ; Assmann's dissertation on, 196-8. Kenulph, ^Ifric dedicates his lAfe of yEthelwold to, 65, 67, 90, 96, 99, 156. Kings, hook of, homily on, 127. Landferth, wrote life of Swithun, 37, 158. Language of ^Ifric, in the Gram- mar, 56; etymologies, 723; words used to render foreign customs intelligible to the Eng- lish, 76-8; metrical, 80, 103 n., 110, 113, 118, 123, 126, 132, 139. 142, 149, 151, 193. 195, 196. 198; as a translator. 84 104, 134, 188, 189, 195, 198; terms used in speaking of himself, 95-7; his Latin, 71 2. Law, Old and New, contrasted by ^Ifric, 36, 77, 140. 148. Leland, quoted, 92. Leviticus, ^Ifric's, see Heptateuch. Lingard, J., quoted, 89; uncertain of ^Ifric's identity, 95. L'Isle, W., editor of ^Ifric writ- ings, quoted, 95. Maccabees, homily on, 128. MacLean, G. E., quoted, 107-8, 120 n., 129, 131-3; dissertation of, 192-5. Malmesbury, William of, quoted, 47, 49, 88, 90, 92-3, 157. Marcellus, source of Life ofPetro- nilla, 196. Mark, St. , homily on, 127. Martin, St., homily on, 128, 144. Mary, St., of Egypt, homily on, 129. Maurice, St., and the Theban Legion, homily on, 128. Memoo'y of the Saints, homily on, 127. Monasticism, early importance of in England, 16 7; decline of, 17, 22; revival of, 20, 23, 32; beneficent influence of, 25, 30; Bendictine, 17. 39-43, 66; oppo- sition to, 43-5; continental, 22-3; see Benedictine Bule. Mores, E. R., wrote treatise on ^Ifric's identity, 89; outline of his treatise, 183-5. Napier, A., quoted, 114. Neot, St., Life of, 134. Norman, H. W., quoted, 116. Numbers, ^Ifric's, s&q Heptateuch. Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, took monastic vow, 23; sent Oswald to Fleury, death of, 31. Osgar, follows ^thelwold to Ab- ingdon, 25; sent to Fleury, 27, 159; Abbot of Abingdon, 27. Index. 217 Oswald, 14; his life, 31-3; founds Ramsey abbey, 33 4; Bishop of Worcester, 31; Archbishop of York. 33; his influence. 34; his death, 92. Oswald, St., homily on, 128. Parish system, 16. Parker. Matthew, publishes Easter Sermon, 88; quoted, 90. Pastoral Letters, see Canons. Penitence, homily on, 116. Pershore Abbey, founded by ^thelweard, 49; ^Elfric's Oram- mar found there, 57. Peterborough Abbey, founded, 16; destroyed, 17; refounded, 30, 33. Prayer of Moses, homily on, 127, 129. Priscian, grammar of, 119 n. Ramsey Abbey, founded, 32-3. Ratramnus (Bertram), source of ^Ifric's Easter Sermon, 188; cf. Bibliography, No. 7. Reum, A., on the De Temporibus, 196-8. Robertson, E. W., quoted, 31, 33, 44, 48. Rufinus, a source of ^Ifric's Homilies, 104, 188. Saints, Lives of, writing and date of, 57; description of, 126-131; sources of. 195 6. Schroder, E., on the Colloquium, 124. Sevenfold Oifts of the Spirit, hom- ily on, 114-5. Sewn Sleepers, homily on. 128, 144. Sigeferth, ^Ifric writes homily On Chastity for, 67, 110-1; teach- ing of priest of, 67. Sigeric, ^Elfric dedicates Catholic Homiliesto, 52, 55, 88,98,101.103; counsels payment of Danegelt, 54; mentioned in manuscript, 125. Sigwerd of Easthealon. ^Ifric writes for and visits, 66. Smaragdus a source of ^Ifric's Homilies. 104, 187. Soames, H., 141; quoted, 142. Spelman, Henry, identifies u3i^lfric with the Archbishop of York, 95. Spiritual So7i, Advice to, account of 117-8. Swithun. his life by Landferth, 37, 158; his tomb and miracles 37- 9; scriptorium founded by, 40; homily on by ..^Ifric, 37, 128-9. Tenth century, its character, 15, 51. 83; the year 1000 the ex- pected end of the world, 55,60, n. Tessmann, A., on the Interroga- tiones, 195. I'estaments, On the Old and New, writing and date of, 66; de- scription of, 152-4; sources of, 154-5; usefulness of, 84. Thomas, St., homily on, 128. Thorpe, B., defends Wharton's view, 94; editor of .^Ifric's works, 94, 107, 139, 145. Tropary of Ethelred, 40. T^cehe Abuses, homily on, 128, 130. Virgin. Homily for Birthday of, 106, 108-9. Virgin invocation of, 85. Vitae Pati'iim, referred to or quoted by iBlfric, 104, 130-1, 188. Wharton, J., 88; his treatise on .^Ifric's identity, 93; quoted, 33. Winchester a school established at, 18; Old Monastery of, 27-8; importance of bishop of, 29; school of, 33, 39-43; ^Ifric teacher at, 46; new churches at, 218 Index. 33, 37, 38, 158; New Monastery of, 28; nunnery at, 28. Worcester Cathedral, its secular clergy left undisturbed, 81. Worcester, Florence of, quoted, 43, 54, 65, 69, 93. Wright, T., held ^Ifric to be Archbishop of Canterbury, 89; quoted, 120; editor, 122. Wulfgeat of Ylmandune, borrows ^Ifric's writings, 64-5; MUric sends a homily to, 65, 111; de- graded by the king, 64 n., 65. Wulfslge, .^Ifric writes Pastoral Letter for, 57 8, 68, 97, 135. Wulfstan, Archbishop of York, connection with ^Ifric, his character, 68-9; see Canons. Wulfstan, monk of Winchester, wrote life of ^thelwold, 35, 157-9. Ylmandune, see Wulfgeat. Zimmermann, D., quoted, 115. Zupitza, J , quoted, 123 4, 164. ERRATA. P. 29, 1. 20, add inverted comma at end of quotation. P. 37, n., 1. 5, insert * to come' before 'to.' P. 39, n., for *ch. XIII,' read