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The Vengeance of Heaven and Earth in Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman Society, C Durham E-Theses 'Vengeance is mine': The Vengeance of Heaven and Earth in Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman Society, c. 900 - c. 1150 STEED, ABIGAIL,FRANCES,GEORGINA How to cite: STEED, ABIGAIL,FRANCES,GEORGINA (2019) 'Vengeance is mine': The Vengeance of Heaven and Earth in Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman Society, c. 900 - c. 1150 , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/13072/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 ‘VENGEANCE IS MINE’: THE VENGEANCE OF HEAVEN AND EARTH IN ANGLO-SAXON AND ANGLO-NORMAN SOCIETY, C. 900 – C. 1150 Abigail Steed Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History, Durham University December 2018 1 Abigail Steed ‘Vengeance is mine’: The Vengeance of Heaven and Earth in Anglo-Saxon and Anglo- Norman Society, c. 900 – c. 1150 Abstract This thesis examines vengeance as a concept and as a practice in late Anglo-Saxon and Anglo- Norman society, specifically in relation to the interplay between theological thought and social attitudes and practices. It brings together a wide variety of sources in which vengefulness and the pursuit of vengeance are prominent themes. These include homilies and theological treatises, narrative histories and chronicles, hagiographies and miracle collections, vernacular poetry, and documentary sources such as law codes. Much attention has been devoted to the prevalence and mechanisms of feud in medieval society, but in this body of source material, acts of vengeance were just as likely to come from heaven as they were to be inflicted by humans on each other. This thesis examines the theological concept of divine vengeance, the ways that God’s vengeance was observed and experienced in the world in historical events and in the form of vengeance miracles, and the extent to which religious considerations affected the perceived morality of vengeance undertaken by humans. Vengeance emerges as a complex theological, moral and social issue in a society in which levels of religious understanding, engagement and belief varied greatly between different groups and individuals. This thesis argues that the idea of divine vengeance was consistently used as a rhetorical tool to support certain moral standpoints, and that the interpretation of any event as divine vengeance was never inevitable. God’s right to take vengeance for sin was an integral part of the way that the relationship between heaven and earth was negotiated, the way that events on earth were interpreted and understood, and the way that the morality of human action was thought about. There was significant religious, cultural and institutional continuity in these respects in English society between the tenth and twelfth centuries. Changes were gradual and should largely be credited to wider European developments rather than the direct impact of the Norman Conquest. 2 3 CONTENTS List of Abbreviations............................................................................................................. 6 List of Figures ....................................................................................................................... 9 Statement of Copyright ....................................................................................................... 10 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 12 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 14 Chapter 1: The Theology of Divine Vengeance ................................................................... 38 Free will and obligation to God ................................................................................... 43 The nature of sin ......................................................................................................... 53 Recompense, forgiveness and purgative vs. vindictive punishment ............................. 57 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 70 Chapter 2: Seeing Divine Vengeance in History .................................................................. 72 King Æthelred and the vikings .................................................................................... 78 Narratives of 1066 ...................................................................................................... 88 The death of William Rufus ...................................................................................... 101 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 108 Chapter 3: Vengeance Miracles, Their Observation and Communication ........................... 111 Towards a typology of divine vengeance .................................................................. 113 Observing, experiencing and reporting divine vengeance .......................................... 123 The voice of the author .................................................................................... 123 The importance of lay piety and receptiveness ................................................. 127 Processes of observation and communication ................................................. 131 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 145 Chapter 4: Divine Vengeance and Religious Scepticism .................................................... 149 Resistance to preaching ............................................................................................. 150 Feast days and religious observances ........................................................................ 159 Monastic and clerical negligence .............................................................................. 166 Divine vengeance and politics ................................................................................... 172 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 182 Chapter 5: The Morality of Vengeance from Theological and Social Perspectives ............. 185 Heroic and Christian values in vernacular literature .................................................. 190 Enacting God’s will with honour and glory ............................................................... 200 ‘Justifiable in the sight of God and acceptable in the eyes of men’ ........................... 205 4 Withholding vengeance ............................................................................................ 211 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 220 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 222 Appendix: List of episodes of divine vengeance ................................................................ 229 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 252 5 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Arcoid, MSE The Saint of London: The Life and Miracles of St Erkenwald, ed. and trans. E. Gordon Whatley (New York, 1989) Augustine, De civitate dei St Augustine, Concerning the City of God against the Pagans, trans. Henry Bettenson (London, 2003) ASC [A] Janet M. Bately, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition, vol. 3, MS A (Cambridge, 1986) ASC [B] Simon Taylor, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition, vol. 4, MS B (Cambridge, 1983) ASC [C] Katherine O’Brien O’Keefe, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition, vol. 5, MS C (Cambridge, 2001) ASC [D] G.P. Cubbin, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition, vol. 6, MS D (Cambridge, 1996) ASC [E] Susan Irvine, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition, vol. 7, MS E (Cambridge, 2004) B, VSD B, ‘Vita S. Dunstani’ in The Early Lives of Dunstan, ed. and trans. Michael Winterbottom and Michael Lapidge (Oxford, 2012) Bosworth-Toller An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary based on the manuscript collections of the late Joseph Bosworth, D.D. F.R.S, ed. and enlarged by T. Northcote Toller (Oxford, 1898) Blickling The Blickling Homilies: Edition and Translation, ed. and trans. R. Kelly (London, 2003) CH 1 Ælfric’s Catholic Homilies: The First Series, ed. Peter Clemoes, Early English Text Society 17 (Oxford, 1997) CH 2 Ælfric’s Catholic Homilies: The Second Series, ed. Malcolm Godden, Early English Text Society 5 (London, 1979) CdR La Chanson de Roland, ed. Ian Short (Paris, 1990) 2nd edn. Clark Hall John R. Clark Hall, A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary for the Use of Students (New York, 1916) DOEC Dictionary of
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