The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church

In this edition accented letters are denoted as ['a] etc. Aesc, eth and thorn have been expanded to ae, dh and th. The equals signs, eg S[=CI], denote scribal abbreviations by overlining (for SANCTI in this case).

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Page numbers enclosed by curly braces (example: {25}) have been incorporated to facilitate the use of the Table of Contents.

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THE HOMILIES OF

THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH.

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THE FIRST PART,

CONTAINING

THE SERMONES CATHOLICI,

OR

HOMILIES OF AELFRIC.

IN THE ORIGINAL ANGLO-SAXON, WITH AN ENGLISH VERSION.

VOL. I.

BY BENJAMIN THORPE, F.S.A.

[Illustration]

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR THE AELFRIC SOCIETY.

MDCCCXLIV.

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PRINTED BY RICHARD AND JOHN E. TAYLOR, RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.

[Illustration]

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{v}

PREFACE.

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The work now presented to the Members of the Aelfric Society, the first fruit of its praiseworthy attempt to rescue from oblivion the literary remains of our forefathers, was selected for the earliest publication of the Society, on account both of its valuable matter and the beautiful medium by which it is conveyed.

Of the author of the SERMONES CATHOLICI we know nothing with certainty beyond his name, though from the words of his own preface, where he speaks of king Aethelred's days as past, and informs us that in those days he was only a monk and mass-priest, it follows that he was not Aelfric archbishop of Canterbury, who died in the year 1006, or ten years before the death of king Aethelred.

With better foundation we may assume him to have been Aelfric archbishop of York, who presided over that see from the year 1023 to 1051[1]. Against this supposition there seems no objection on the score of dates, and that the composer of the 'Sermones' was a person of eminence during the life of archbishop {vi} Wulfstan, of whom, according to our hypothesis, he was the immediate successor, is evident from the language of his Canons, and of his Pastoral Epistle to Wulfstan, in which he speaks as one having authority; though in the first-mentioned of these productions he styles himself simply "humilis frater," and in the other "Aelfricus abbas[2]," and afterwards "biscop."

Of Aelfric's part in these Homilies, whether, as it would seem from his preface, it was that of a mere translator from the several works he therein names[3], or whether he drew aught from his own stores, my pursuits do not enable me to speak, though it seems that no one of his homilies is, generally speaking, a mere translation from any one given Latin original, but rather a compilation from several. Be this, however, as it may, his sermons in either case equally exhibit what were the doctrines of the Anglo-Saxon church at the period in which they were compiled or translated, and are for the most part valuable in matter, and expressed in language which may be pronounced a pure specimen of our noble, old, Germanic mother-tongue. Of those doctrines it would not be consistent with the object of the Society, nor am I qualified to hazard an opinion: my labour has, {vii} consequently, been limited to that of a faithful transcription of what I believe to be the most complete manuscript, and to a conscientiously correct translation of that transcript, as literal as my acquaintance with the language and my notions of good taste permitted[4]; and I venture to hope that such a translation, though unattended by a commentary, will be regarded with interest by the members of each of the great communities into which the Christian world is divided.