UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones Spring 2010 Ælfric and the Orient Jacqueline Geaney Elkouz University of Nevada Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Repository Citation Elkouz, Jacqueline Geaney, "Ælfric and the Orient" (2010). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 19. http://dx.doi.org/10.34870/1343391 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ÆLFRIC AND THE ORIENT by Jacqueline Geaney Elkouz Bachelor of Arts Beirut College for Women, Lebanon 1972 Master of Arts American University of Beirut, Lebanon 1978 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in English Department of English College of Liberal Arts Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2010 Copyright by Jacqueline Geaney Elkouz 2010 All Rights Reserved THE GRADUATE COLLEGE We recommend the dissertation prepared under our supervision by Jacqueline Geaney Elkouz entitled Ælfric and the Orient be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English John C. Unrue, Committee Chair Joseph B. McCullough, Committee Member Richard L. Harp, Committee Member Jacimaria R. Batista, Graduate Faculty Representative Ronald Smith, Ph. D., Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate College May 2010 ii ABSTRACT Ælfric and the Orient by Jacqueline Geaney Elkouz Dr. John C. Unrue, Examination Committee Chair Professor of English University of Nevada, Las Vegas This dissertation examines why Ælfric‘s choice of texts included in his Lives of Saints differs so radically from contemporaneous lists of saints venerated by Anglo- Saxons. Writing between 992 and 1002, while England faced a second wave of invasions from the North, Ælfric selected saints predominantly from the Orient. A close analysis of several of these lives reveals four major agents of persecution: Paganism, Judaism, Heresy, and Satan. Faced with such trials, most of the saints included in Ælfric‘s Lives commonly suffer a violent death and always stand firm in their faith in the face of persecution. For Ælfric, the orthodox teacher, their example of heroic behavior could only serve to bolster his own audience confronted with many of the same dangers. Ælfric‘s decision to offer such models of virtue and steadfastness to the English laity in this threatening time of physical violence and spiritual trial ultimately expresses a profound knowledge of his Church‘s Eastern roots and his unwavering belief in its unity and universality. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It gives me great pleasure to thank the many persons who have supported me during the writing of this dissertation. My first debt of gratitude must really go to Ælfric himself. Although this monk still remains largely unknown to me, his extensive knowledge and his unaffected language have kept him a most appealing and absorbing subject of study over the years. Moreover, the unswerving assurance and hopefulness expressed in his writings made my frequently arduous task of writing this dissertation much easier. I would like to thank Professor Richard Harp and Professor Jacimaria Batista, members of my committee, who were always supportive of my project. Special thanks go to Professor John Unrue, my committee chair, and to Professor Joseph McCullough, both of whom agreed to join my committee very late in the process, after I encountered several external and unforeseen impediments to the completion of this dissertation. Their kindness and willingness to help enabled me to finish this project in a timely manner. In a matter of weeks, and despite his other pre-existing obligations, Professor Unrue thoroughly read and commented on the entire draft, providing me with the guidance and insights necessary to complete this dissertation. I would also like to thank Professor P. Jane Hafen for her good advice and direction in difficult times, and Dr. Patrice Hollrah, Director of the Writing Center, for her unfailing words of encouragement throughout the past five years during which I have had the pleasure of working with her. iv I also owe great thanks to my adult children, Sandra, Natalie, and Mark, who have always gladdened my heart and made me proud. Over the last few years, they have had less of my time and attention, but have consistently given me their support and understanding. No one, however, has understood me better than my husband. Nearly twenty-five years after obtaining my Master‘s degree, when I decided to go back to school for my Ph.D., Elie understood. He changed his life to make it possible, and for that and countless other reasons, I dedicate this dissertation to him. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 ÆLFRIC AND THE NORTHMEN ......................................................... 21 CHAPTER 3 ÆLFRIC AND PAGANISM .................................................................... 47 CHAPTER 4 ÆLFRIC AND JUDAISM ....................................................................... 79 CHAPTER 5 ÆLFRIC AND HERESY ....................................................................... 111 CHAPTER 6 ÆLFRIC AND SATAN ......................................................................... 142 CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION....................................................................................... 171 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 179 VITA ............................................................................................................................... 194 vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Chapter One of the Gospel according to John speaks of Jesus as ―the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness: and the darkness did not comprehend it.‖1 The symbolism of light continues in the fourth-century Nicene Creed, referring to Jesus Christ as ―light of light,‖2 and, as the sun rises from the East, early Christians turned to the West to renounce Satan, oriented themselves and their churches to pray to God and profess their faith, and had their feet pointed East in the grave. For a while, some Roman basilicas kept their high altar on the western end of the structure,3 but by the eighth century, all Christian churches, including Anglo-Saxon ones,4 faced East towards the rising sun, the symbol of Jesus, the light in their darkness. It is the purpose of this study of Ælfric‘s Lives of Saints to determine and examine the author‘s decision to look 1 John 1:4-5. All Bible verses in this study come from the Douay-Rheims translation (reprint, Fitzwilliam, NH: Loreto, 2002). 2 In the words of Umberto Eco in Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986), ―The image of God as light had an ancient pedigree, from the Baal of Semitic paganism, from the Egyptian Ra, from the Persian Mazda – all personifications of the sun or of the sun‘s beneficent action – to the Platonic ‗Sun‖ of the Ideal, the Good‖ (47). 3 Prior to the Edict of Milan of AD 313, granting Christians and all others the freedom to observe the religion of their choice, there existed no particular style for Christian churches, ―their design tending to confirm the view that before 313 Christian architecture was essentially utilitarian and discreet‖ (20). Roger Stalley‘s Early Medieval Architecture (Oxford: OUP, 1999) covers this period in detail. Basilicas, which served as general meeting halls in Roman cities before Christians adopted their design for their official places of worship, generally faced the East. An exception to this rule appears in the plans of Rome‘s Old St Peter‘s that, Stalley notes, ―lay outside the walls of Rome and was not initially designed as a regular place of worship. It corresponds to the site of a Christian cemetery, where the apostle Peter had been buried after his execution.... St Peter‘s was also a cemetery church where Christians could bury their dead and celebrate their anniversaries‖ (25). 4 According to Stalley, despite the close contacts between England and Rome, ―most of the stone churches of seventh-century England were simple, aisleless buildings.... To the Anglo-Saxons, whose natural building material was timber, the very use of stone was regarded as a ‗Roman custom‘‖ (34). 1 predominantly to the Orient5 in his selection of saints, presented as models of virtue and steadfastness to the English laity facing a second