Aelfric and the Cult of Saints in Late Anglo-Saxon England

A study of Ælfric's saint's Lives in their contemporary political and intellectual setting.

Mechthild Gretsch (Author)

9780521855419, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 January 2006

276 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.58 kg

'Gretsch's study of AElfric and the cult of saints offers a fascinating insight not only into AElfric's technique as a hagiographer, but also his place in the development and evolution of saints' cults and attendant hagiographies in Anglo-Saxon England. While this book is certainly concerned with AElfric, it is concerned with much more.' Medium Aevum

The cult of saints was one of the most important aspects of life in the Middle Ages, and it often formed the nucleus of developing group identities in a town, a province or a country. The literature of Anglo-Saxon England is unique among contemporary European literatures in that it features a vast amount of saints' Lives in the vernacular. Of these Lives, Ælfric is the most important author, and his saints' Lives have never previously been explored in their contemporary setting. In this study, Gretsch analyses Ælfric's Lives of five important saints in the light of their cults in Anglo-Saxon England. This gives the reader fascinating glimpses of 'Ælfric at work': he adapts the cults and rewrites the received Latin hagiography of the five saints, with the result that each of their English Lives conveys a distinct message to the contemporary political elite and to a lay audience at large.

1. Ælfric's Sanctorale and the Benedictional of Æthelwold
2. Gregory: the Apostle of the English
3. Cuthbert: from Northumbrian Saint to Saint of All England
4. Benedict: Father of Monks - and what else?
5. Swithun and Æthelthryth: two 'Saints of our Days'
6. Epilogue.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], British & Irish history [HBJD1]