The Intellectual Foundations of the English Benedictine Reform

by Mechthild Gretsch

Overview

This book explores the foundations of the intellectual renaissance in late-tenth-century England, including both the English Benedictine reform and the establishment by Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester, of his influential school. The early stages of Æthelwold's scholarly career are explored and new light is shed on the role which King Æthelstan's cosmopolitan court played. Two widely influential Old English texts are definitively attributed to Æthelwold and his circle, which attest to the importance that the reformers attached to the vernacular.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521581554
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/11/1999
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England , #25
Pages:	484
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.18(d)
Lexile:	1780L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

Preface; List of abbreviations; 1. Introduction; 2. Psalters and psalter glosses in Anglo-Saxon England; 3. The vocabulary of the Royal Psalter; 4. The Royal Psalter and the Rule: lexical and stylistic links; 5. The Aldhelm glosses; 6. Word usage in the Royal Psalter, the Rule and the Aldhelm glosses; 7. Æthelwold and the Old English Rule; 8.Æthelwold and the Royal Psalter; 9. Æthelwold and the Aldhelm glosses; 10. French and German loan influence; 11. Conclusion; Appendices; Bibliography; Indexes.

Editorial Reviews

"Gretsch shows that two other glosses can be attributed to Aethelwold and his circle: a continuous interlinear version of the Psalter preserved in London and a corpus of interlinearand marginal glosses to Aldhelm's De Virginitate preserved in Brussels." Theology Digest

"This fine and painstaking study of Æthelwold's literary and lexical production is an excellent example of the precept that God is in the details...this study significantly advances the scholarship of late Anglo-Saxon England and serves as a fitting tribute to the rigorous scholarhsip of a teacher such as Æthelwold." Journal of Religion

"...richly detailed and densely argued...a study strong and clear in the unfolding of its specifics...Gretsch has illuminated the late-tenth-century cultural milieu by her careful research into its bilingual relations. She has herself constructed a foundation for new directions in the field." Speculum - A Journal of Medieval Studies

From the Publisher