Ælfric's Life of St Edmund from the Old English Literature: A Hypertext Coursepack.

Ælfric's Life of St Edmund

Part I: Deeds in Life (lines 126-222)

126 Sum swyðe gelæred learned (nsm) munuc com suþan south ofer sæ fram sancte Benedictes The prestigious French monastery of Fleury (now Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire) which possessed the relics of the founder of Western monasticism, St Benedict. It was active in the cause of monastic reform, and consequently became a popular destination for travelling English scholars in the second half of the tenth century. See also Catholic Encyclopaedia entry. stowe place (ds) on Æþelredes Æthelred was king between 978 and 1016. It was a period blighted with Viking attacks, which had resumed in 980 after a twenty-five year absence. cynincges dæge to Dunstane ærcebisceopeDunstan, earlier abbot of Glastonbury and bishop of Worcester and London, was archbishop of Canterbury between 959 and his death in 988. He led the tenth-century Benedictine reform movement. See a portrait of St Dunstan., þrim three (dp) gearum ær he forðferdedied (pret 3s); and se munuc hatte is called (pass pres) Abbo.

128 Þa wurdon hi æt spræce M-R gloss: 'they came into conversation' oþþæt Dunstan 'Dunstan rehte' - Abbo describes Dunstan telling the story of St Edmund's martyrdom while tears suffused his eyes (oculos suffusus lacrimis). rehte explained (pret 3s) be sancte Eadmunde, swa swa Eadmundes swurdbora sword-bearer (ns) hit rehte Æþelstane cynincge þa þa Dunstan iung man wæs, and se swurdbora wæs forealdod elderly (nsm) man.

131 Þa gesette composed (pret 3s) se munuc ealle þa gereccednysse narrative (as) on anre bec The Passio Sancti Eadmundi martyris. , and eft ða þa seo boc com to us binnan feawum gearum It is interesting that Ælfric had such a copy so soon. The Lives of Saints are generally thought to have been written between 995 and 1000, when Ælfric was in charge of teaching the novices at Cerne in Dorset. The earliest extant manuscripts of Abbo's work (both c. 1050) seem to been written at Bury-St-Edmunds. Aside from Ælfric's use of the text, and the copy presumably sent to Dunstan, there's no evidence the text had a wide circulation this early. þa awende translated (pret 1p) we hit on Englisc, swa swa hit heræfter stent remains (pres 3s) .

134 Se munuc þa Abbo binnan twam gearum gewende returned (pret 3s) ham to his mynstre and wearð sona to abbode geset appointed (p ptc nsm) on þam ylcan mynstre.