The Life Of Saint Edward, King And Confessor

by Aelred of Rievaulx (Translator), Jerome Bertram (Translator)

St. Aelred of Rievaulx has become a best seller with his Spiritual Friendship, the Mirror of Charity and other works on prayer and the Christian life. Here he turns his hand to history, writing a Life of Saint Edward the Confessor which was to circulate widely for hundreds of years.

Neglected in more recent years, the text is now available in English for the first time. It tells us not so much about the shadowy figure of Edward - England's last great Saxon king, still remembered today as the founder of Westminster Abbey - as about later medieval devotion to him.

On this text were based the prayers and hymns to St. Edward used in medieval and modern worship.

Through Aelred's engaging narrative we learn not only of the legends associated with an eleventh century saint, but also how a great Christian mystic viewed the ideal of Christian kingship, an ideal which speaks to every age, including our own.

138 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1163

About the author

Aelred of Rievaulx (Latin: Aelredus Riaevallensis); also Ailred, Ælred, and Æthelred; (1110 – 12 January 1167) was an English Cistercian monk, abbot of Rievaulx from 1147 until his death, and known as a writer. He is regarded by Anglicans, Catholics, and other Christians as a saint.

Aelred was born in Hexham, Northumbria, in 1110, one of three sons of Eilaf, priest of St Andrew's at Hexham, himself a son of another Eilaf, treasurer of Durham.

Aelred spent several years at the court of King David I of Scotland in Roxburgh, possibly from the age of 14, rising to the rank of echonomus (often translated "steward" or "Master of the Household") before leaving the court at age twenty-four (in 1134) to enter the Cistercian abbey of Rievaulx in Yorkshire. He may have been partially educated by Lawrence of Durham, who sent him a hagiography of Saint Brigid.

From 1142 – 1143, Aelred served as novice master at Rievaulx. of a new daughter house of Rievaulx at Revesby in Lincolnshire. In 1147, he was elected abbot of Rievaulx itself, a position he was to hold until his death. Under his administration, the abbey is said to have grown to some 140 monks and 500 conversi and laymen.

Reviews

[Best British Biographies · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hagiography is defined simply as the life of a saint. Though today more often used pejoratively to describe overly idealized accounts of people’s lives, it still serves as a label for the genre of books that arose during the early Christian era about pious men and women produced to provide moral and spiritual examples for their audience. Never having read hagiography before, Aelred of Rievaulx’s Life of Saint Edward was my introduction to the form, and I knew it would prove interesting reading for this reason if for no other. But it proved even more fascinating for the contrast it provided with other accounts of his life, both for what it featured and how it portrayed the major figures in his life.

For the rest of my review, click on this link:
https://www.bestbritishbios.com/2020/...