Table Of ContentÆLFRIC’S CATHOLIC HOMILIES
I N T R O D U C T IO N , C O M M E N T A R Y A N D G L O S S A R Y
E A R L Y E N G L I S H T E X T S O C IE T Y
S.S. 18
2000
ÆLFRIC’S CATHOLIC
HOMILIES
INTRODUCTION, COMMENTARY
AND GLOSSARY
BY
M ALCO LM GO DDEN
Published for
THE EARLY ENGLISH T E X T SOCIETY
by the
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
2000
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PREFACE
This is the third and final volume in a project which began with the
publication of my edition of the Second Series of Ælfric’s Catholic
Homilies in 1979 and continued with the publication of Peter Clemoes’
edition of the First Series in 1997. It was originally conceived as a
collaboration between Peter Clemoes and myself, and we mapped out
the general content and structure together in the early 1970s, but Peter
was in the end still embroiled in revising his edition of the text when he
died in 1996, and this final volume was left to me. The extensive and
complex manuscript tradition of the two series, together with Ælfric’s
continuous revision of the text and his reissuing of the homilies from
time to time in different kinds of collections, is discussed in detail in the
introductions to the previous two volumes. This volume provides a brief
general introduction, dealing with the composition of the text and the
treatment of sources, a commentary on each homily which summarises
its main concerns and sources and gives all the source-passages I have
been able to trace, together with comments on any necessary points of
detail; and a glossary. An analysis of the language of the text, though
long customary in EETS volumes, was excluded from the original plan
since even then it seemed impractical: this is by far the longest extant
text in Old English (some twelve per cent of the extant corpus of prose
and verse in Old English), it has been available in print for 150 years and
has been the focus of countless philological studies and textbooks, and
although much remains to do, and the Royal MS which forms the basis
for the text of CH I has been relatively little studied, it is clear that at
least another lengthy volume, and many more years, would be needed to
do justice to the language.
I first embarked on the work for this volume in 1970 and have
acquired many debts to friends and colleagues over the years. I
acknowledge with pleasure the support of Pembroke College, Cam
bridge, where I was a research fellow 1969-72; the University of
Liverpool, where I was a lecturer 1972-5; the University of Oxford,
where I have been a lecturer and subsequently professor since 1976,
together with Exeter College where I held a tutorial fellowship 1976-91
and Pembroke College where I have held a professorial fellowship since
1991. The officers and council members of the Early English Text
VI PREFACE
Society have been their usual patient and supportive selves, from
Pamela Gradon who was editorial secretary at the outset to her current
successor Dr Helen Spencer, and Professor Janet Bately, who read the
typescript for the Society and made countless suggestions for change
and improvement. Of the work of others, I have profited especially from
the work of Professor Mary Clayton of University College Dublin and
Dr Susan Irvine of University College London, both former graduate
students; and, it goes without saying, from the work of Professor J.E.
Cross, who was a generous and supportive head of department at
Liverpool. Gordon Whatley of Queen’s College, New York, was ex
tremely generous in giving me an advance copy of his massive work on
the saints’ lives known in Anglo-Saxon England, and my use of it will be
evident throughout the volume. Professor Simon Keynes was prompt
and generous in responding to my queries and arguments about the
dating and background of Ælfric’s work. Brad Bedingfield of Oxford
University helped on the glossary, and his work on the relation of the
homilies to the liturgy has much influenced my thinking. Other debts to
colleagues and former students are noted in the text and footnotes. The
biggest debt, however, is to Dr Rohini Jayatilaka, who made sure that I
could and would access the latest electronic resources, found articles
that I could not trace, checked endless references and quotations,
queried dodgy arguments, and reduced an enormous variety of citations
to order. The book would not have been finished without her.
My introduction to this project came from Peter Clemoes, who
signed me up to it when I was an undergraduate in 1965. I hardly dare
imagine that he would have liked the result; but his humanity and
generosity is behind it all.
CONTENTS
ERRATA IN CH I AND II ix
ABBREVIATIONS AND SHORT TITLES X
INTRODUCTION xxi
Ælfric of Eynsham xxi
The nature of the Catholic Homilies xxi
The date and origin of the Catholic Homilies xxix
The alliterative style xxxvi
Ælfric’s sources xxxviii
Biblical sources xliv
Ælfric’s working methods xlv
Summary List of Sources xlvi
COMMENTARY i
GLOSSARY 671
