Ælfric's Letter to the Monks of Eynsham

This 1999 book contains an edition of the Latin text and complete English translation of Ælfric's liturgical 'letter'.

Christopher A. Jones (Author)

9780521630115, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 March 1999

266 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.505 kg

'Jones provides a lucid and rather accurate English translation of Ælfric's letter, which is the first complete English translation of this work, and his textual commentary is full of illuminating liturgical and historical information. In short, Christopher A. Jones' Ælfric's Letter to the Monks of Eynsham will undoubtedly become an indispensable tool for any student of the mastic liturgy of Anglo-Saxon England, and it deserves a very warm welcome indeed.' Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire

Though best known today for his Old English homilies, the Anglo-Saxon scholar Ælfric also composed a Latin 'letter' to his fellow monks at Eynsham (Oxfordshire) containing a detailed outline of their daily and seasonal round of prayer and other duties. The document offers a rare glimpse of what ordinary monks in Anglo-Saxon England were expected to know and do. This 1999 book contains an edition of the Latin letters a textual commentary, and a complete English translation of the work. Dr Jones also provides substantial introductory chapters which establish the exceptional importance of the Eynsham letter for our understanding of late Anglo-Saxon monasticism and liturgy. The book will interest students of early medieval culture, monasticism and Church history.

Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
1. The Eynsham 'letter' and the study of Ælfric
2. Structure and sources
3. The manuscript
4. Critical and editorial history
Editorial principles
Ælfric's Letter to the Monks of Eynsham: text and translation
Commentary
Appendix
Bibliography
Index of liturgical formae
General index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]