The Life of Saint Guthlac

by Felix, Bertram Colgrave (Editor)

Written around 730-740, the Life of Guthlac by the monk Felix is an important and colourful source for the obscure early history of East Anglia and the Fens. It describes how the youthful Guthlac (674 714) won fame at the head of a Mercian warrior band fighting the British on the borders of Wales before entering the monastery at Repton at the age of twenty-four.

Distinguished from the first by his piety and asceticism, Guthlac moved on around 700 to a solitary life on Crowland, an uninhabited island accessible only by boat deep in the wild and desolate marshland separating Mercia and East Anglia. Here he built a shelter cut into the side of a burial-mound in which he lived austerely, skin-clad in the manner of the Desert Fathers, for the rest of his life. Tormented by demons but consoled by visions of angels, Guthlac gained a reputation for sanctity and miraculous healing which spread far afield and continued to grow after his death. This Life vividly reflects the cult of St Guthlac as it existed in East Anglia only a generation later.

Genres: Medieval, Classics, History, Christianity

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 740

Reviews

[Miki Persson Caracciolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

basically Beowulf but about an Anglo Saxon Saint !! read as revision for my Anglo Saxon paper and provided a really interesting insight on Anglo Saxon society

[Florence Ivy · Rating 4 out of 5]

guthlac battles his literal demons on an island in a lincolnshire fen, pretty interesting

[Emily Bishop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old-English snow white who can't decompose, what a slay.

[Ed Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Life of St Guthlac is a medieval text written around 740 detailing the life of a warrior who gave up his ways and devoted his life to Christianity. Guthlac became a hermit on the English fenlands and the tale highlights the spiritual guidance he provided to those in need in his 15 years a recluse. With an expected religious focus, the text very quickly skipped over the earlier and seemingly more interesting aspects of Guthlac’s life, the religious focus being largely unexciting. Guthlac himself seemed to be nothing remarkable either. As a whole, the text wasn’t particularly inspiring nor is there much for me to comment on.

[Lulu]

c. 730-740


c. 1175-1215 (or c. 1210-20?) The guthlac roll http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisp...