The Cult of the Virgin Mary in Anglo-Saxon England

Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England #2

by Mary Clayton

The cult of the Virgin Mary is associated by most medievalists with the twelfth and succeeding centuries. This book, however, provides a wide-ranging exploration of the cult in England from c. 700 to the Conquest. Interest in and devotion to Mary flourished in the late seventh and eighth centuries and, especially, in the period of the Benedictine reform from the mid-tenth century onwards. In this latter period Mary, as patron saint of almost all of the reformed houses, was the most important saint of the monastic movement. Dr Clayton describes and illustrates the development of Marian devotion and doctrine from the early church to the Carolingians, by discussing Anglo-Saxon feasts of the Virgin, liturgical texts, prayers, monastic dedications, art and vernacular poetry and prose. This is a topic which has never before been examined in any detail but has significant bearing on the history of church liturgy and Anglo-Saxon literature. The book will appeal to Anglo-Saxonists with a special interest in literature, art history and theology.

Genres: Nonfiction, Theology, Religion, History

299 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

A lecturer in English lit., University College, Dublin.

Education: Nat. Univ. of Ireland, Univ. College, Cork, B.A., 1975; attended Univ. of Munich, 1975-76; Oxford Univ., D. Phil., 1983.

She is on the Advisory Editorial Board of Anglo-Saxon England and is President of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists. She is a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Reviews

[J Grimsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a very interesting survey though I needed the translation of both Latin and Anglo Saxon.
It was very readable though.

[Waldo Varjak · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book, and even more so now that I have had a couple of months to digest it putting my notes into the commonplace book I keep for my writing. "It was OK" and "I liked it" though it was entirely not what I expected. Confession: I am not Catholic.

The title of the book, The Cult of the ..... , led me to believe I would be reading about some subversive sect within Christian religion - and this is a topic I am researching for my novel. Instead I learned about the beginnings and popular acceptance of the current doctrine of the Virgin Mary inside the Catholic church today. Rather than reading about a cult, I was reading about the workings of the Roman Catholic Church! Well, that's not very interesting to me.

What I did find interesting was the truthfulness in the presentation of the doctrine as heretical and even apostate. At some point I twigged that rather than condemning the Catholic Church for its acceptance of extraneous anonymous writings as "gospel" the book was simply a road map, impartial to the route you take.

Now this I found interesting, as I would were I to read how L. Ron Hubbard sold his religion to the mainstream. But this was of little use to me as a writer. For most of the read I put down my pencil and highlighter and just soldiered on. What I read had little consequence to me. I am not Catholic and have no interest in Catholicism. If I did, I would either be in awe at this point or ready to leave the Church.

What I did find interesting was the timeline of the events leading to Mary being the intermediary between Man and Christ. From the words "I am the Way..." to the prayer soliciting Mary to intercede with Christ on behalf of the sinner (in Anglo-Saxon England) is about 7 - 8 centuries. That's useful to me. The doctrine of Mary being the everlasting virgin, and how that nonsensical sophistry works, was interesting and useful for judging the gullibility of people accepting a big lie repeated often. (I refer to the doctrinal belief that the perfect sinless man, Jesus, was preceded by the perfect sinless woman, Mary, because God could not achieve His ends otherwise.) And the part about bees was both fascinating and ironic. All of these points I found interesting were made in passing, briefly touched on in the translation and explanation of original documents presented as evidence to the true topic, which I had no interest in. From this, I gained a tremendous insight into the allegorical church of my story.

IF I would have known what I was getting myself in to, I would never have read this book. I am not a theologian. But I am "blessed" that I had no idea because I like this book for what it did give me and for what has already been decided will be used in my own creative writing. Read, read, read, they say. Who knew?!

Caveat emptor, this is not about a cult but about how an idea takes shape and propagates within a larger church. "A little leaven" if you will. (1 Corinthians 5:6-8 & Galatians 5:9) But within that story you may be surprised and even fascinated with what you learn.

[Becca Edney · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Cult of the Virgin Mary in Anglo-Saxon England by Mary Clayton is a dense but interesting study of the early days of the cult’s arrival in England, as well as some study of how it was viewed by - at the time - mainstream Christianity. The highlight for me was a study of the changes in how Mary was shown in art as she became a more widespread centre of devotion in her own right, along with how apocrypha about her developed and became widely accepted.

It’s very much written for an academic audience and can be difficult to read in places. I wish I’d taken more notes before sending it back to the library, since that’s probably the way to get the most benefit from it. However, it was a very informative study of a new - at least to me - area of history and religious development.