Aelfric and the Cult of Saints in Late Anglo-Saxon England

Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England #34

by Mechthild Gretsch

The literature of Anglo-Saxon England is unique among contemporary European literatures in that it features a vast amount of saints' lives in the vernacular. This study analyzes the most important author Aelfric's lives of five important saints in the light of their cults in Anglo-Saxon England, providing the reader fascinating glimpses of 'Aelfric at work'. He adapts the cults and rewrites the received Latin hagiography so that each of their lives conveys a distinct message to the contemporary political elite as well as to a lay audience at large.

276 pages, Hardcover

First published January 30, 2002