Ælfric's Letter to the Monks of Eynsham

by Christopher A. Jones

Overview

Though best known today for his Old English homilies, the Anglo-Saxon scholar Ælfric also composed, in a "letter" to his fellow monks, a set of Latin liturgical instructions that offer a rare glimpse of what ordinary monks were expected to know and do. This book contains a new edition of the Latin text with a critical apparatus, and the only complete English translation. Commentary and substantial introductory chapters establish the letter's exceptional importance for our understanding of late Anglo-Saxon monasticism and liturgy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521630115
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/25/1999
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England , #24
Pages:	266
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

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.

Editorial Reviews

"...extensive commentary..." Theology Digest

"...impressive scholarly introduction...This text gives a remarkable insight into what was read, sung, and enacted in an Anglo-Saxon monastery at the turn of the previous millennium." Church History

"Jones gives any student much to learn in this wide treatment...The Cambridge University Press and the series editors deserve thanks and congratulations for publishing this excellent work, which will illuminate its readers while extending the reputation of the house further." Speculum

From the Publisher