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Friendship and Favour in Late Anglo-Saxon Élite Culture

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Friendship and Favour in Late Anglo-Saxon Élite Culture Friendship and Favour in Late Anglo-Saxon Élite Culture A Study of Documentary and Narrative Sources, c. 900–1016 2 Volumes Volume 1: Analysis Els Schröder Submitted for the degree of PhD in Medieval Studies University of York Centre for Medieval Studies May 2012 i ABSTRACT This thesis is a study of the textual representation of friendship in a selection of documentary and narrative sources, portraying the ideas circulating amongst the élite of late Anglo-Saxon England. Friendship as a reciprocal bond at the heart of both formal and informal power negotiations in the social structure of the late Anglo- Saxon kingdom has surprisingly been overlooked in research of this period. The aim of this study is to assess and reveal some of the ideological discourses which position friendship at the intersection of formal and informal bonds, public and private negotiation of power and authority, idealised and actual conceptualisations of social interaction, and secular and religious relations in an increasingly layered and complex society. A detailed study of sources in both Latin and the vernacular will be presented, opening up two linguistic modes channelling and negotiating this essentially reciprocal bond within a complex social interchange based on personal bonds and loyalty. Lawcodes, charters, wills, a selection of poetry, and a collection of hagiographical material will be assessed in close detail, demonstrating that friendship was both an ideological and practical notion at the heart of the social fabric of late Anglo-Saxon England. In doing so, friendship’s flexibility, multi- interpretability, and supplementary nature will prove to be its most valuable aspects for revealing ideas and commenting on various issues from within the construction of society, including the gendered vocabulary of social bonds. Friendship occurs as establishing and negotiating the bonds between the kings and their dependants alongside affective modes of behaviour, and as shaping and communicating the precarious relationship between the lay and religious élite. This in turn has important lessons to teach for the study of medieval friendship in a wider European context. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME 1: ANALYSIS Abstract..................................................................................................................... i Table of contents…………………………………………………………………... ii List of Tables Volume 1…………...………………………………………………. vi Notes on references and translations…………………………………………….. vii Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………... viii Author’s declaration………………...…………………………………………….. ix CHAPTER 1 An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Friendship……………………………………. 1 1.1 Introduction…………………………………………………..……………. 1 1.2 Terms and meanings…………………………………………….………… 5 1.2.1 Modern preconceptions and the boundaries of friendship…………….……. 5 1.2.2 Terminology……………………………………………………….………... 7 1.2.3 Latin – amicitia and its traditions……………………….………………….. 9 1.2.4 Old English – freond and wine…………………………………..………….. 13 1.2.5 Infringing interpretations? – some Old English and Latin terms…….……... 16 1.3 Context and Approach…………………………………..………………… 19 1.3.1 Interaction with other forms of bonding……………………….…………… 19 1.3.2 Friendship and late Anglo-Saxon society………………………….……….. 25 1.3.3 The historiography of medieval friendship – initiatives and approaches…... 29 1.3.4 Spiritual and affective friendship…………………………….……………... 32 1.3.5 Affection and gendered discussions of friendship………….………………. 34 1.3.6 Pragmatic and political friendship…………………………………….……. 36 1.3.7 A balance of power – formal, informal, public, and private dimensions….... 40 1.3.8 Beyond realities –idealised friendship and social imagery……….………… 43 1.3.9 Approach and limitations………………………………………….………... 43 1.4 Outline of the thesis……………………………………………..…………. 46 CHAPTER 2 Friendship in Anglo-Saxon Lawcodes…………………………………………… 49 2.1 Introduction……………………………………………..…………………. 49 iii 2.1.1 The nature and use of lawcodes …………………………………..………... 51 2.1.2 Lawcodes and the hand of Archbishop Wulfstan of York……...…………... 53 2.2 Discourses of friendship in ‘pre-Wulfstanian’ lawcodes…….…..…….. 56 2.2.1 Friendship ‘in action’ – representations of society….………..…………….. 56 2.2.2 Negotiating power: formal and informal friendships………...……………... 69 2.3 Discourses of friendship in ‘Wulfstanian’ lawcodes………..…………… 78 2.3.1 Friendship and Wulfstan’s ‘Holy Society’.....….………………..………….. 78 2.4 The dynamics of friendship and the dynamics of change………...…....... 91 CHAPTER 3 Friendship Discourses in Anglo-Saxon Charters………………………………... 95 3.1 Introduction……………...………………………………….……..………. 95 3.2 Friendship discourses in royal diplomas………..……………………….. 97 3.2.1 Diplomas and their use as evidence ……………………...………………… 97 3.2.2 Friendship in proems………………..…………………………….………… 100 3.3.3 Friendship in other parts of diplomas…………..…………………………... 107 3.3.4 Discourses of friendship in royal diplomas………….………..…………….. 116 3.3 Friendship discourses in wills……..……………………………...………. 119 3.3.1 Wills within power structures………..……………………………………... 119 3.3.2 Friendship and the mediation of power…………..………………………… 122 3.3.3 Pious trafficking, moveable wealth and female agency…………………….. 129 3.3.4 Friendship and the limitations of language…………...…………………….. 135 3.4 The negation of formal and informal power in charters………………... 137 CHAPTER 4 Representations of Poetic Friendships…………………………………………… 140 4.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………... 140 4.2 Beowulf – the lasting resonance of the heroic past……………………… 143 4.2.1 Beowulf – a model of the past……………………………………………… 143 4.2.2 Friendship, affection, and gendered discourses…………………………….. 145 4.3.3 The centrality of friendship…………………………………………………. 162 4.3 Brunanburh – the creation of history.…………………………………… 164 4.3.1 The Battle of Brunanburh – traditions remodelled………………………..... 164 4.3.2 Inclusion and exclusion and interpersonal bonds……..……………………. 167 4.3.3 The perfect solution – a future in submission……………………………..... 171 iv 4.4 Maldon – remembering the past………………………………………….. 173 4.4.1 The Battle of Maldon – nostalgia and remembrance……………………….. 173 4.4.2 Friendship and power negotiation…………………………………………... 176 4.4.3 A new hope in a return to former behaviour?................................................. 182 4.5 Poetic friendships and the importance of social platforms...……….…... 184 CHAPTER 5 Friendship in a Religious Landscape…….………………………………………. 188 5.1 Introduction………………………………………….……………….……. 188 5.2 Æthelwold, Winchester and the absence of friends…………...………… 191 5.2.1 Wulfstan and Winchester………………………………………..………….. 191 5.2.2 Social imagery and identity…………………………………..……………... 195 5.2.3 Friendship regulated……..….………………………...…………………….. 203 5.3 Oswald, Ramsey and the friends of God.……..…………………...……... 205 5.3.1 Byrhtferth and Ramsey………………………………….….…………...….. 205 5.3.2 Spiritual friendship as ennobling marker of laymen……..…………………. 208 5.3.3 Friendship celebrated……………………………….…..…………………... 217 5.4 Dunstan, favour and patronage……………...……..…………………….. 219 5.4.1 The cleric B…………………………………………..……………….…….. 219 5.4.2 Friendship, patronage, and gender………………….…….………………… 221 5.4.3 Friendship mediated……………………….…….....……..……….………... 231 5.5 Religious discourses of friendship………..………………………………. 232 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………….. 237 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………….. 246 Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………… 275 v VOLUME 2: APPENDICES Table of Contents…..……………………………………………………………… i List of Tables Volume 2….…………………………………...…………………… ii Appendix A – Friendship in Anglo-Saxon Lawcodes…………………………… 1 Quotations of lawcodes containing friendship vocabulary………….……………… 4 Appendix B – Friendship in Anglo-Saxon Diplomas……………………………. 20 Quotations of diplomas containing friendship vocabulary…………………………. 24 Appendix C – Friendship in Anglo-Saxon Wills………………………………… 37 Quotations of wills containing friendship vocabulary……………………………… 42 vi LIST OF TABLES VOLUME 1 Table 1: Wine in context in Beowulf………………………………………...……… 147 Table 2: Freond in context in Beowulf………………………………………...…… 147 vii NOTES ON REFERENCES AND TRANSLATIONS Abbreviations used throughout this study have been provided at the back of this volume, conform the regulations of the University of York regarding the presentation of theses. Quotations from the Bible are taken from the edition prepared by Robert Weber, B. Fischer, J. Gribomont, H. F. D. Sparks, W. Thiele, and Roger Gryson for the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft and are indicated in the text with book, chapter and verse references. All English translations of the Vulgate are taken from the Douay-Rheims translation. Wills and charters are referred to by their Sawyer number and cited from the appropriate editions as indicated in the footnotes. All references to the lawcodes have been taken from Felix Liebermann’s edition, and his abbreviations have been used for short references in both text and footnotes. As published translations exist for many of the sources mentioned in this thesis, these have been used where appropriate. My debt to these translations is reflected in the footnotes upon first use. Where no translation exists, I have produced my own. For passages in the lawcodes, new translations have been provided in Appendix A. These translations are my own, but they may overlap with the published translations by Felix Liebermann, A. J. Robertson, and F. L. Attenborough which have all been consulted. All mistakes introduced are naturally my own. Full citations for above-mentioned translations and editions have been included in the bibliography. Citations
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