Blair, Keyne Blair, Praise for the First Edition & Scragg & L Edited by by Edited “This volume is a major achievement of extensive and durable value. All students of Anglo-Saxon apidge, The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of England, at whatever level, will wish to have it at hand.” English Historical Review
“This is a great addition to the works of reference available to students of Anglo-Saxon England at s every level: one never opens the book without learning something.” - Notes and Queries Anglo Saxon
“Lapidge et al. have compiled a unique storehouse of knowledge, a synthesized compendium of Anglo The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of classic and contemporary research from a wide array of interdisciplinary fields withinA nglo-Saxon and medieval studies.” H-Net Reviews England
An essential reference work for this period of English history, The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Second Edition Anglo-Saxon England is now available in a new edition. It brings together more than 700 articles written by 150 leading scholars on the people, places, activities, and creations of the Anglo-Saxons. - Edited by Michael Lapidge, Saxon England It is the only reference work to cover the history, archaeology, arts, architecture, literatures, and John Blair, Simon Keynes & Donald Scragg languages of England from the Roman withdrawal to the Norman Conquest (c.450 - 1066).
This new edition has been thoroughly updated to include the latest scholarship, and features 52 brand-new entries and a new appendix detailing English archbishops and bishops from 597 to 1066. As in the first edition, the Encyclopedia includes maps, line drawings, photos, a table of rulers of the English from 450 to 1066, and a comprehensive classified index of headwords. With an accessible layout and authoritative content, this is indispensable reading, both for specialists in this interdisciplinary field and for students looking for a thorough grounding in key topics.
Michael Lapidge is Emeritus Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge.
John Blair is Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of The Queen’s College, Oxford.
Simon Keynes is Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of
Cambridge, and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Donald Scragg is Emeritus Professor of Anglo-Saxon Studies at the University of Manchester. Second Edition
hb_9780470656327.indd 1 21/8/13 12:57:19
The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England
Chapter No.: 1 Title Name:
The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England Second Edition
Edited by
Michael Lapidge, John Blair, Simon Keynes, and Donald Scragg
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Edition History: Blackwell Publishing Ltd (1e hardback 1999, 1e paperback 2001)
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Blackwell encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England The Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England / edited by Michael Lapidge, John Blair, Simon Keynes, and Donald Scragg. – Second edition. pages cm Revised edition of: The Blackwell encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-470-65632-7 (cloth) 1. Great Britain–History–Anglo-Saxon period, 449–1066–Encyclopedias. 2. England–Civilization–To 1066–Encyclopedias. I. Lapidge, Michael. II. Title. DA152.B58 2014 942.01–dc23 2013015800 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cover image: Gold mount resembling a stylized sea-creature, from the Staffordshire Hoard. Photo © Birmingham Museums Trust. Cover design by Nicki Averill Design.
Set in 9/10.5pt Minion by SPi Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
1 2014
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List of Illustrations vi List of Contributors viii Preface to the Second Edition xi Preface to the First Edition xiii List of Abbreviations xv
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES 1
Appendix I: Rulers of the English, c.450–1066 521 Appendix II: Archbishops and Bishops, 597–1066 539 Note on Maps 9–12 567
Index of Contributors 573 Classified Index of Head-words 579
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Plates
1 Aerial photograph of crop marks 11 Earls Barton tower. Photograph by showing cemetery. Copyright reserved, Simon Keynes 159 Cambridge University Collection of 12 The Gosforth Cross. © Department Aerial Photography 13 of Archaeology, University of Durham 219 2 The Alfred Jewel. AN1836p.135.371, 13 A hogback at Ingleby Arncliffe (Yorks.). Ashmolean Museum, University © Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone of Oxford 31 Sculpture. Photograph by 3 The Coppergate Helmet, York. T. Middlemass 245 Photograph © York Castle Museum 48 14 King Cnut and Queen Ælfgifu from the 4 Bradford-on-Avon church. © Crown New Minster Liber vitae. British Library, Copyright. English Heritage 77 Stowe 944 fol. 6r. © The British 5 A carpet page from the Lindisfarne Library Board 297 Gospels, London, British Library, 15 The Repton crypt. Photograph by Cotton Nero D.IV, fol. 94v. Dr John Crook 403 © The British Library Board 88 16 The Ruthwell Cross. © Corpus 6 A charter of Æthelwulf, King of Wessex of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture; and Kent, 843. London, British Library, photograph by T. Middlemass 415 Stowe Charter 17. © The British 17 The seal of Godwine (matrix and Library Board 100 impression), walrus ivory, eleventh 7 A writ of Edward the Confessor for century. © The Trustees of the monastery of St Denis (1053 × 1057). the British Museum 427 Cartons des rois, AE III 60 (K 19, no. 6). 101 18 The Winchester purse reliquary. 8 Anglo-Saxon coins from the Fitzwilliam Winchester Museums Service 435 collection. © The Fitzwilliam Museum, 19 The Kirkdale sundial and inscription. Cambridge 117 © Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone 9 Images of kingship on Anglo-Saxon Sculpture. photograph by coins from the Fitzwilliam collection. T. Middlemass 445 © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 119 20 Aerial view of Sutton Hoo. Photograph 10 ‘An Anglo-Saxon king dispenses by Nigel MacBeth 448 justice’. London, British Library, 21 Wall painting in the church of Nether Cotton Claudius B.IV, fol. 59r. Wallop. © Crown Copyright. © The British Library Board 131 English Heritage 484
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22 Winchester School decoration: the 24 Hatfield Forest, wood-pasture, New Minster Charter. London, British showing pollard trees cut for the Library, Cotton Vespasian A.VIII, fol. 2v. first time. Photograph by © The British Library Board 503 Dr Oliver Rackham 508 23 The church at Wing. Photograph © P. S. Spokes; source: English Heritage 504
Maps
1 Anglo-Saxon mills 319 7 Sutton Hoo in its European context 450 2 Offa’s Dyke 349 8 The Tribal Hidage 474 3 The main Scandinavian settlement- 9 The ‘Heptarchy’ (c.700) 569 names in southern Britain 377 10 The Mercian Supremacy (c.800) 570 4 Princely burials 385 11 The Kingdom of the 5 Barrows and barrow cemeteries 386 Anglo-Saxons (c.900) 571 6 Anglo-Saxon high-status sites 411 12 The Kingdom of the English (c.1000) 572
Figures
1 Brixworth: Anglo-Saxon phase (broken 11 Monastic sites and enclosures 327 line) in relation to the present church. 12 The spatial development By permission of Oxford University of Anglo-Saxon Mucking. Press 78 © English Heritage 333 2 Cheddar: palace and minster (plan). 13 Seventh- to ninth-century church © Philip Rahtz 104 groups 364 3 Cheddar: the Anglo-Saxon palaces. 14 The development of Anglo-Saxon © Philip Rahtz 105 Repton 402 4 The clothing of early Anglo-Saxon 15 The ecclesiastical re-use of Roman women (reconstruction). © Gale R. remains 409 Owen-Crocker 110 16 The Anglo-Saxon cemetery at 5 Deerhurst St Mary as it may have Sutton Hoo: burials known up been in the ninth century. © Rahtz to 1992 451 and Watts 142 17 Reconstruction of the burial deposit 6 Anglo-Saxon embroidery (drawn from in Sutton Hoo Mound 1 452 the Cuthbert stole and maniple). 18 Late Anglo-Saxon tiles from © Elizabeth Coatsworth 172 Winchester 465 7 An Anglo-Saxon fishweir at Colwick, 19 Planned towns, eighth to late ninth Notts. © C. R. Salisbury 190 centuries 470 8 The Fuller Brooch, housed at 20 The Old Minster, Winchester The British Museum 202 (re-construction). © Winchester 9 A selection of Anglo-Saxon Excavations Committee 487 jewellery types 264 21 Yeavering (Northumbria): the late 10 Anglo-Saxon watermill at Tamworth sixth- and seventh-century ritual (reconstruction). © Philip Rahtz 321 and assembly site and royal residence 518
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Richard Abels, United States Naval Academy, Laurence Cameron, University of Halifax Annapolis, Maryland James P. Carley, York University, Toronto Grenville Astill, University of Reading Martin Carver, University of York Mark Atherton, Regents Park College, Oxford Mary Clayton, University College, Dublin Richard N. Bailey, University of Newcastle Simon Esmonde Cleary, University of Birmingham Peter S. Baker, University of Virginia Elizabeth Coatsworth, Manchester Metropolitan Debby Banham, Newnham College, Cambridge University Julia Barrow, University of Leeds Julie Coleman, University of Leicester Martha Bayless, University of Oregon (†)H. E. J. Cowdrey, St Edmund Hall, Oxford Alex Bayliss, University College, London Barrie Cox, University of Nottingham Paul Bibire, Crail, Scotland Rosemary Cramp, University of Durham Martin Biddle, Hertford College, Oxford Sally Crawford, University of Birmingham Carole Biggam, University of Glasgow John Crook, Winchester (†)M. A. S. Blackburn, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge C. R. E. Cubitt, University of York John Blair, The Queen’s College, Oxford Maria Amalia D’Aronco, University of Udine C. J. Bond, Walton-in-Gordano (Somerset) R. J. Darrah, Hodnet (Shropshire) Martin Brett, Robinson College, Cambridge Tania M. Dickinson, University of York Mark Brisbane, University of Bournemouth Robert DiNapoli, University of the Third Age, Nicholas Brooks, University of Birmingham Melbourne Kevin Brown, English Heritage, Bristol Nicole Guenther Discenza, University of South Florida Michelle P. Brown, Institute of English Studies, University of London Daniel Donoghue, Harvard University Esther Cameron, Institute of Archaeology, Oxford Fiona Edmonds, Clare College, Cambridge
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Rosamond Faith, Finstock (Oxon.) Alan Kennedy, University of Sydney Dora Faraci, University of Aquila Simon Keynes, Trinity College, Cambridge Gillian Fellows-Jensen, University of Copenhagen (†)Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle, Oxford Sarah Foot, Christ Church, Oxford Anne L. Klinck, University of New Brunswick Paul Fouracre, University of Manchester Lucia Kornexl, University of Jena P. J. Fowler, University of Newcastle Michael Lapidge, Clare College, Cambridge Allen J. Frantzen, Loyola University (†)Vivien Law, Trinity College, Cambridge Richard Gameson, University of Durham Graeme Lawson, Corpus Christi College, George Garnett, St Hugh’s College, Oxford Cambridge Mary Garrison, University of York M. K. Lawson, St Paul’s School, London Richard Gem, Cathedrals Commission, London Patrizia Lendinara, University of Palermo Helen Gittos, University of Kent, Canterbury R. M. Liuzza, University of Tennessee Malcolm Godden, University of Oxford R. C. Love, Robinson College, Cambridge Diana E. Greenway, Institute of Historical K. A. Lowe, University of Glasgow Research, London Peter J. Lucas, University College, Dublin (†)Mechthild Gretsch, University of Göttingen Niels Lund, University of Copenhagen Michael Gullick, The Red Gull Press Arthur MacGregor, The Ashmolean Museum, (†)R. A. Hall, York Archaeological Trust Oxford Thomas N. Hall, formerly University of Patrick McGurk, formerly Birkbeck College, Notre Dame London Helena Hamerow, University of Oxford Helen McKee, Oxford Paul Antony Hayward, University of Lancaster Keith Manchester, University of Bradford Isabel Henderson, Newnham College, Cambridge Richard Marsden, University of Nottingham T. A. Heslop, University of East Anglia Audrey Meaney, Cambridge (†)John Higgitt, University of Edinburgh Sean Miller, formerly Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge N. J. Higham, University of Manchester (†)Bruce Mitchell, St Edmund Hall, Oxford Joyce Hill, formerly University of Leeds Marco Mostert, University of Utrecht Terry Hoad, St Peter’s College, Oxford Rory Naismith, Clare College, Cambridge Philip Holdsworth, Archaeology Section, Cumbria County Council, Kendal Janet Nelson, King’s College, London Stephanie Hollis, University of Auckland Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, St John’s College, Cambridge Carole Hough, University of Glasgow William Noel, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore Gillian Hutchinson, National Maritime Museum, Katherine O’Brien O’Keeffe, University of Greenwich California at Berkeley (†)George Jack, University of St Andrews Éamonn Ó Carragáin, University College, Cork Rohini Jayatilaka, formerly University of Oxford Andy Orchard, University of Oxford Joy Jenkyns, St Edmund Hall, Oxford Gale R. Owen-Crocker, University of Manchester S. E. Kelly, Portsmouth O. J. Padel, St Neots, Cornwall
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(†)R. I. Page, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Pauline Stafford, University of Huddersfield David Park, Courtauld Institute of Art, London Wesley M. Stevens, University of Winnipeg David Parsons, University of Leicester Matthew Stiff, Oxford David A. E. Pelteret, formerly University of Alan Thacker, Victoria History of the Counties of Toronto England, London Richard W. Pfaff, University of North Carolina at Rodney M. Thomson, University of Tasmania Chapel Hill David E. Thornton, Bilkent University, Ankara Kathryn Powell, formerly University of Manchester Elaine M. Treharne, Stanford University David Pratt, Downing College, Cambridge Elisabeth van Houts, Emmanuel College, Cambridge (†)Phillip Pulsiano, Villanova University (†) Alan Vince, City of Lincoln Archaeology Unit, Lincoln Oliver Rackham, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Keith Wade, Bury St Edmunds (†)Philip Rahtz, University of York Lorna Watts, Harome (Yorks.) Susan Rankin, Emmanuel College, Cambridge Leslie Webster, The British Museum, London Christine Rauer, University of St Andrews Jonathan Wilcox, University of Iowa Barbara C. Raw, Oxford Ann Williams, Wanstead, London Roger E. Ray, University of Toledo Tom Williamson, University of East Anglia Paul G. Remley, University of Washington D. R. Wilson, University of Keele Charlotte A. Roberts, University of Durham Ian Wood, University of Leeds Jane Roberts, King’s College, London (†)Patrick Wormald, Christ Church, Oxford David Rollason, University of Durham Margaret Worthington, formerly University Susan Rosser, formerly University of Manchester of Manchester Donald Scragg, University of Manchester Charles D. Wright, University of Illinois at Richard Sharpe, Wadham College, Oxford Urbana-Champaign Alice Sheppard, formerly Cornell University B. A. E. Yorke, King Alfred’s College, Winchester Jeremy J. Smith, University of Glasgow S. M. Youngs, The British Museum, London
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During the fifteen years which have elapsed since left the field altogether; some, indeed, have left this the publication of the first edition, this Encyclopedia life. We made a concerted effort to contact all the has remained constantly in print, and has sold in sat- original contributors, and succeeded in contacting isfying numbers. But inevitably there have been some 115 of them; and, with a very few exceptions, changes: Blackwell Publishers have become Wiley all were willing to undertake revision and updating Blackwell Publishers; the volume of publication in of their original entries. (In the case of the thirty-five the field of Anglo-Saxon studies has continued or so unlocatable or deceased contributors, the unabated; and many new discoveries, particularly in general editors have supplied updated references to the field of archaeology – one thinks especially of obvious secondary sources, such as ODNB or the Prittlewell princely burial and the Staffordshire OHASA, but have not thought it appropriate to Hoard – have brought many new Anglo-Saxon undertake more extensive revision without the orig- artifacts to light. And there have been huge advances inal authors’ permission.) The general editors have in fields relating to archaeological discovery, notably also written or commissioned some fifty-two new archaeobotany and palaeopathology. A number of entries, so as to fill perceived lacunae in the first edi- large-scale publications, such as the Oxford tion, and to provide coverage of new and important Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) and the subjects (notably the Prittlewell princely burial and Oxford Handbook to Anglo-Saxon Archaeology the Staffordshire Hoard). And Simon Keynes has (OHASA), have facilitated research on many aspects compiled a comprehensive list of all Anglo-Saxon of the wider field. Developments such as these archbishops and bishops as a new, second, appendix, suggested to Wiley Blackwell, and to Tessa Harvey to accompany the (now lightly revised) Appendix of in particular, that there was a strong case for pro Rulers of the English which formed part of the first ducing a second, revised, edition of the original edition. Encyclopedia. In many ways it is more difficult to revise a work In some ways the undertaking was relatively on this scale than it would be simply to begin afresh. straightforward: the original team of four general Particularly in the business of contacting original editors (John Blair, Simon Keynes, Donald Scragg contributors, we have had excellent help and support and myself) all agreed on the merits of a new edition from the desk editors at Wiley Blackwell, especially and all were willing to devote their time and ener- Anna Maria Mendell and Sally Cooper. At the copy- gies to achieving it. But there were problems. There editing stage, the volume has had the benefit of the were some 150 contributors to the first edition; acute and intelligent attention of Janet Moth, to the during the intervening fifteen years, a number of great improvement of its layout and stylistic consist- these have changed institutions, making it difficult ency. Throughout the several years of discussion, to locate their present whereabouts, and many have negotiation, and production, Tessa Harvey has been
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a wonderful pillar of support (as she was fifteen and somehow found time to help bring this revised more years ago with the first edition), and that the edition of the Encyclopedia to completion. revised edition appears at all is largely due to her unflagging enthusiasm for the project. Finally, I am very grateful for the support which I have had Michael Lapidge throughout from my three co-editors, each of whom (for the Editors) has many other academic commitments, but has January 2013
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The past generation has seen enormous advances The need for a single handbook which would in all aspects of Anglo-Saxon studies. Archaeology provide such orientation has long been felt. Some has brought to light hundreds of sites and thou- fifteen years ago, Blackwell Publishers took steps to sands upon thousands of artifacts (including address the need by establishing an editorial com- countless coins, which often provide indispensable mittee under the direction of R. I. Page, with the aim evidence for dating) and revolutionary new tech- of producing a single-volume companion to all niques have evolved to assist the analysis of this aspects of Anglo-Saxon studies. The editorial board unfathomable wealth of evidence; architectural consisted (at various times) of R. I. Page as general historians have identified innumerable new build- editor, together with Catherine Hills, Christine Fell, ings, secular and ecclesiastical; refinements in pal- Simon Keynes, Malcolm Godden, Fred Robinson, aeographical method have made it possible for the and myself. Many hours’ work went into devising first time to identify, list, and date all the manu- a list of head-words, drawing up guidelines for scripts likely to have been written or owned in contributors, drafting specimen entries, and com- Anglo-Saxon England; historians have developed missioning articles from specialists. Although many and perfected new skills in analysing the surviving invitations were sent out to contributors in 1984–5, documentary evidence; many new Anglo-Latin and although a number of contributions were authors and texts have been discovered; and even received, the project faltered, perhaps because of its the relatively stable corpus of literature in Old comprehensive scope, perhaps because the editors English has undergone waves of reassessment as had underestimated the amount of energy which new critical approaches gain ascendancy. The bur- would be required to see it to completion. geoning of knowledge – and ipso facto the vitality A number of years later, on the occasion of the of the subject – are witnessed by that fact that each ISAS meeting in Oxford (July 1993), I happened to year some 1,000 publications are recorded in the find myself in conversation with John Davey (then annual bibliography, covering all aspects of the chief editor of Blackwell Publishers, and one of the subject, which is printed in Anglo-Saxon England. initiators of the original conception of a compan- The time has long passed when any professional ion to Anglo-Saxon studies). We reiterated our scholar, let alone layman, could expect to control mutual conviction that the conception of the the whole of the field of Anglo-Saxon studies; and single-volume companion was an excellent one, so vast is the secondary literature in any particular and lamented that it had been abandoned. After field that hardly anyone is in a position to keep up some discussion I agreed to try to resuscitate the with it. Growing specialization in individual fields project, on the condition that a new editorial team has meant that it is increasingly difficult to find could be appointed, which would have the single- even basic bibliographical orientation in ancillary minded determination necessary to see the project disciplines. through to completion.
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That the book stands complete is due to the deter- which it was conceived: that of providing orienta- mination and dedication of my three co-editors: tion and guidance in ancillary disciplines within the John Blair, Simon Keynes, and Donald Scragg. It field as a whole. We could not expect that an expert would be difficult to find three more energetic and (say) on Anglo-Latin will find revolutionary new dedicated scholars anywhere in the field of Anglo- insights in the articles pertaining to Gildas or the Saxon studies. Although I have borne the responsi- Historia Brittonum; the more important criterion is bility for the general administration, in other whether an archaeologist might find helpful biblio- respects the burden of editorial responsibility has graphical orientation in these articles, and whether been quadripartite, and the exhilaration of working the expert in Anglo-Latin will be stimulated by together has been rewarding for all of us. We have had articles on less familiar matters – agriculture, for excellent support from Blackwell’s: in particular example, or codicology, mining, surgery, or what- from John Davey, Tessa Harvey, Sarah Howlett, and ever. Taken as a whole, the book provides eloquent Thelma Gilbert. We gratefully acknowledge our testimony to the range and interest of Anglo-Saxon debt to the original editorial team: without their studies today, and as editors we hope that it will groundwork, the project would have been even maintain and stimulate the interdisciplinary more time-consuming than it has been. Lastly, we approach which has invigorated the field for the past are grateful to all of the 150 contributors for their generation. patience in dealing with our requests for clarifica- tion and revision: their unhesitating willingness to participate in a project of this kind is another sign of Michael Lapidge the vitality of the subject. We all – contributors and (for the Editors) editors – want the book to serve the purpose for January 1998
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AB Analecta Bollandiana Acta SS. Acta Sanctorum, ed. J. Bolland et al. (Antwerp and Brussels, 1643–) Æthelwold Bishop Æthelwold: His Career and Influence, ed. B. Yorke (Woodbridge, 1988) AJ Antiquaries Journal Alexander, J. J. G. Alexander, Insular Manuscripts, 6th to the 9th Century (London, 1978) Insular MSS Alfred the Great Alfred the Great. Asser’s Life of King Alfred and other Contemporary Sources, trans. S. Keynes and M. Lapidge (Harmondsworth, 1983) ALL see Lapidge, ALL ANS Anglo-Norman Studies ASC The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ed. C. Plummer, Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1892–9); trans. D. Whitelock et al., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: a Revised Translation (London, 1961) ASE Anglo-Saxon England ASPR The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, ed. G. P. Krapp and E. V. K. Dobbie, 6 vols. (New York, 1931–42) ASSAH Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History AST Anglo-Saxon Texts (Cambridge) Atlas S. Keynes, An Atlas of Attestations in Anglo-Saxon Charters, c.670–1066, ASNC Guides, Texts & Studies (Cambridge, 2002); also available at www.kemble.asnc.cam.ac.uk BAR British Archaeological Reports Bassett, Origins The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, ed. S. Bassett (London, 1989) Bately FS Alfred the Wise. Studies in Honour of Janet Bately on the Occasion of her Sixty-Fifth Birthday, ed. J. Roberts et al. (Cambridge, 1997) BCS W. de G. Birch, Cartularium Saxonicum, 3 vols. plus index (London, 1885–99) BEC Bibliothèque de l’École des Chartes Bede, HE Bede, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, ed. B. Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors (OMT, 1969) BHL Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina, 2 vols. (Brussels, 1899–1901), with Supplementum by H. Fros (Brussels, 1986) Blair, AS Oxon J. Blair, Anglo-Saxon Oxfordshire (Stroud, 1994)
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Blair, ‘Handlist’ J. Blair, ‘A Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Saints’, in Local Saints and Local Churches in the Early Medieval West, ed. A. Thacker and R. Sharpe (Oxford, 2002), pp. 495–565 Blair, The Church J. Blair, The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society (Oxford, 2005) Blair and Sharpe, Pastoral Care before the Parish, ed. J. Blair and R. Sharpe (Leicester, 1992) Past. Care BL London, British Library BLJ British Library Journal BM Bibliothèque municipale BNF Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris) Bolton, ALL W. F. Bolton, A History of Anglo-Latin Literature, I. 597–740 (Princeton, NJ, 1967) Brooks, Canterbury N. Brooks, The Early History of the Church of Canterbury (Leicester, 1984) Butler and Morris, L. A. S. Butler and R. K. Morris, ed., The Anglo-Saxon Church. Papers on AS Church History, Architecture and Archaeology in Honour of Dr H. M. Taylor (London, 1986) CamComp The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature, ed. M. Godden and M. Lapidge (Cambridge, 1991) Campbell, Essays J. Campbell, Essays in Anglo-Saxon History (London, 1986) CASSS Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture CCCC Corpus Christi College, Cambridge CCCM Corpus Christianorum: Continuatio Mediaevalis CCSL Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina CHELang Cambridge History of the English Language CLA Codices Latini Antiquiores, ed. E.A. Lowe, 11 vols. and supplement (Oxford, 1934–71; 2nd ed. of vol. ii, 1972) Clemoes FS Learning and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England. Studies Presented to Peter Clemoes, ed. M. Lapidge and H. Gneuss (Cambridge, 1985) CMCS Cambridge [later: Cambrian] Medieval Celtic Studies Councils & Synods Councils & Synods with other Documents Relating to the English Church, I. AD 871–1204, ed. D. Whitelock, M. Brett and C. N. L. Brooke, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1981) CSASE Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England Cuthbert St Cuthbert, his Cult and his Community to ad 1200, ed. G. Bonner, D. Rollason, and C. Stancliffe (Woodbridge, 1989) DACL Dictionnaire d’archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, ed. F. Cabrol and H. Leclercq, 15 vols. in 30 (Paris, 1907–53) DHGE Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. A. Baudrillart (Paris, 1912–) DOML Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library (Cambridge, MA, and London) Dornier, MS A. Dornier, ed., Mercian Studies (Leicester, 1977) Dumville, Britons D. N. Dumville, Britons and Anglo-Saxons in the Early Middle Ages (Aldershot, 1993) Dumville, Histories D. N. Dumville, Histories and Pseudo-Histories of the Insular Middle Ages (Aldershot, 1990) Dumville, Wessex D. N. Dumville, Wessex and England from Alfred to Edgar (Woodbridge, 1992) Dunstan St Dunstan, his Life, Times and Cult, ed. N. Ramsay, M. Sparks and T. Tatton-Brown (Woodbridge, 1992) Early Lives The Early Lives of St Dunstan, ed. M. Winterbottom and M. Lapidge (Oxford, 2012) EEMF Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile EETS Early English Text Society —, os —, original series —, ss —, supplementary series
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EHD i D. Whitelock, English Historical Documents, I. c.500–1042, 2nd ed. (London, 1979) EHD ii D. C. Douglas, English Historical Documents, ii. 1042–1189, 2nd ed. (London, 1981) EHR English Historical Review ELN English Language Notes EME Early Medieval Europe Ep. Epistula(e) ES English Studies Fernie, Architecture E. Fernie, The Architecture of the Anglo-Saxons (London, 1983) Frank–Cameron A Plan for the Dictionary of Old English, ed. R. Frank and A. Cameron (Toronto, 1973) Freeman, NC E. A. Freeman, History of the Norman Conquest, 6 vols. (Oxford, 1867–79) Golden Age of AS Art The Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art, ed. J. Backhouse, D. H. Turner and L. Webster (London, 1984) Gneuss FS Words, Texts and Manuscripts. Studies in Anglo-Saxon Culture Presented to Helmut Gneuss, ed. M. Korhammer (Cambridge, 1992) H&S, Councils Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, ed. A. W. Haddan and W. Stubbs, 3 vols. (Oxford, 1869–78) Hart, Danelaw C. Hart, The Danelaw (London, 1992) Haslam, Towns J. Haslam, Anglo-Saxon Towns in Southern England (Chichester, 1984) HBB i The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, I. c.400–1100, ed. R. Gameson (Cambridge, 2012) HBS Henry Bradshaw Society Publications HE Historia ecclesiastica Heads The Heads of Religious Houses: England & Wales, I. 940–1216, ed. D. Knowles, C. N. L. Brooke, and V. C. M. London, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, 2001) Hill, Atlas D. Hill, An Atlas of Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford, 1981) Hill and Rumble, D. Hill and A. R. Rumble, ed., The Defence of Wessex: The Burghal Hidage and The Defence of Wessex Anglo-Saxon Fortifications (Manchester, 1996) HSJ Haskins Society Journal JBAA Journal of the British Archaeological Association JBS Journal of British Studies JEGP Journal of English and Germanic Philology JEH Journal of Ecclesiastical History JMH Journal of Medieval History JTS Journal of Theological Studies JW The Chronicle of John of Worcester, ed. R. R. Darlington and P. McGurk (OMT, 1995–) JWCI Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes Ker, Catalogue N. R. Ker, Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford, 1957) Kirby, Kings D. P. Kirby, The Earliest English Kings (London, 1991) Lapidge, ALL i M. Lapidge, Anglo-Latin Literature 600–899 (London, 1996) Lapidge, ALL ii M. Lapidge, Anglo-Latin Literature 900–1066 (London, 1993) Liebermann, Gesetze F. Liebermann, Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, 3 vols. (Halle, 1903–16) LLEL Latin Learning and English Lore. Studies in Anglo-Saxon Literature for Michael Lapidge, ed. K. O’Brien O’Keeffe and A. Orchard, 2 vols. (Toronto, 2005) Loyn, Governance H. R. Loyn, The Governance of Anglo-Saxon England 500–1087 (London, 1984) LSE Leeds Studies in English MÆ Medium Ævum MArch Medieval Archaeology Making of England The Making of England. Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture ad 600–900, ed. L. Webster and J. Backhouse (London, 1991)
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Memorials, ed. Stubbs Memorials of St Dunstan, ed. W. Stubbs, RS (London, 1874) MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica —, AA —, Auctores Antiquissimi —, Epist. —, Epistolae (in quarto) —, ES —, Epistolae Selectae —, PLAC —, Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini —, SS —, Scriptores (in folio) MidH Midland History MLN Modern Language Notes MP Modern Philology MS Mediaeval Studies NA Neues Archiv Nelson, Politics J. L. Nelson, Politics and Ritual in Early Medieval Europe (London, 1986) NH Northern History NM Neuphilologische Mitteilungen ODNB The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. H. G. C. Matthew and B. Harrison, 60 vols. (Oxford, 2004) OE Old English OEN Old English Newsletter OHASA The Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology, ed. H. Hamerow, D. A. Hinton and S. Crawford (Oxford, 2011) Ohlgren T. H. Ohlgren, Insular and Anglo-Saxon Illuminated Manuscripts: an Iconographic Catalogue c. ad 625 to 1100 (Binghamton, NY, 1986) OMT Oxford Medieval Texts Oswald of Worcester St Oswald of Worcester: Life and Influence, ed. N. Brooks and C. Cubitt (London, 1996) P&P Past & Present PBA Proceedings of the British Academy PL Patrologia Latina, ed. J.-P. Migne, 221 vols. (Paris, 1844–64) Plummer, VBOH Venerabilis Baedae Opera Historica, ed. C. Plummer, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1896) PMCASS Publications of the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies (Cambridge) PMLA Publications of the Modern Language Association of America RB Revue Bénédictine RES Review of English Studies RS Rolls Series Rumble, Cnut The Reign of Cnut, King of England, Denmark and Norway, ed. A. R. Rumble (London, 1994) S P. H. Sawyer, Anglo-Saxon Charters. an Annotated List and Bibliography (London, 1968) [cited by document no.] Saints R. Rushforth, Saints in English Kalendars before a.d. 1100, HBS 117 (London, 2008) Sawyer FS People and Places in Northern Europe 500–1600. Essays in Honour of Peter Hayes Sawyer, ed. I. Wood and N. Lund (Woodbridge, 1991) Settimane Settimane di studio del Centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioevo Sharpe, Handlist R. Sharpe, A Handlist of the Latin Writers of Great Britain and Ireland before 1540 (Turnhout, 1997) SM Studi medievali SN Studia Neophilologica SP Studies in Philology SR, VSW Stephen of Ripon, Vita S. Wilfridi, in The Life of Bishop Wilfrid by Eddius Stephanus, ed. B. Colgrave (Cambridge, 1927) Stafford, Unification P. Stafford, Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries (London, 1989) Stenton, ASE F. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd ed. (Oxford, 1971)
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Taylor and Taylor, H. M. and J. Taylor, Anglo-Saxon Architecture, 3 vols. (Cambridge, 1965–78) AS Arch TCBS Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society Temple, AS MSS E. Temple, Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts, 900–1066 (London, 1976) TRHS Transactions of the Royal Historical Society UL University Library VCH Victoria County History (London, 1900–75; Oxford, 1976–) Verfasserlexikon Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters: Verfasserlexikon, 2nd ed., ed. K. Ruh et al. (Berlin and New York, 1977–) Whitelock, Bede to Alfred D. Whitelock, From Bede to Alfred: Studies in early Anglo-Saxon Literature and History (London, 1980) Whitelock, History D. Whitelock, History, Law and Literature in 10th–11th Century England (London, 1981) WHR Welsh Historical Review Wilson, Archaeology D. M. Wilson, ed., The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England (London, 1976) WMalm, GP William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum Anglorum / The History of the English Bishops, ed. M. Winterbottom with R. M. Thomson, 2 vols. (OMT, 2007). WMalm, GR William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum, ed. R. A. B. Mynors, M. Winterbottom and R. M. Thomson (OMT, 1998) YES Yearbook of English Studies Yorke, Kingdoms B. Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England (London, 1990) Yorke, Wessex B. Yorke, Wessex in the Early Middle Ages (London, 1995) ZCP Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie An asterisk (*) preceding a word indicates a relevant article elsewhere in the Encyclopedia under that (or a closely similar) heading
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Encyclopedia Entries to The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England Chapter No.: 1 Title Name:
ABBO OF FLEURY (d. 1004) was one of the great computus to his English pupils, and the impact of scholars of tenth-century Europe, who spent two this teaching is reflected in Byrhtferth’s own compu- years (985–7) at the abbey of *Ramsey, and exerted tistical writings. It was also probably at Ramsey that considerable influence on English learning, both he composed his Passio S. Eadmundi (BHL 2392), an through books and disciplines which he brought account of the murder of King *Edmund of East with him, and through students whom he trained at Anglia by the Danes in 869. Other compositions Ramsey, notably *Byrhtferth. Abbo was born in the which date to his stay in England include a small vicinity of Orléans; the precise date of his birth is corpus of *acrostic poems. While in England he vis- unknown (c.945–50), but he is known to have stud- ited *Dunstan and *Oswald, as well as influential ied at Paris, Rheims and Orléans, as a result of which secular persons such as King *Æthelred. he became a many-sided scholar, expert in subjects When the abbacy of Fleury became vacant in 987, of both the trivium and the quadrivium, and has left Abbo returned to take up the position, and was abbot writings on *computus, logic, *grammar, and *canon of Fleury from 988 until his death. After returning to law, as well as historical and hagiographical works. Fleury he composed his Quaestiones grammaticales, Together with Gerbert of Aurillac, with whom he a detailed treatise on the scansion of Latin verse, at studied at Rheims, he was one of the first scholars in the request of his former students at Ramsey. He Europe to know the treatises of logic of Boethius remained in close touch with colleagues in England, and to have composed a comprehensive treatment and was asked by the abbot of St Augustine’s, of syllogisms. Canterbury, to convert the Vita S. Dunstani by the In 985, having been unsuccessful in an attempt to unknown cleric B. into hexameters, but he died obtain the abbacy of *Fleury, Abbo consented to before he was able to undertake this task. Abbo was come to England to teach at Ramsey Abbey. He murdered by insurgent monks during an inspection regarded his time spent in England as an exile, and, of the abbey of La Réole on 13 November 1004. according to the Vita S. Abbonis by his hagiographer Sharpe, Handlist, 1; ODNB i.10–11; PL cxxxix.417–578; Aimoin (BHL 3), became fat from drinking English A. Van de Vyver, ‘Les oeuvres inédites d’Abbon de Fleury’, beer; but a short poem on Ramsey which is pre- RB 47 (1935), 125–69; A. Guerreau-Jalabert, Abbo served in Byrhtferth’s Vita S. Oswaldi shows that Floriacensis: Quaestiones Grammaticales (Paris, 1982); Abbo was not wholly impervious to the charms of Abbo von Fleury, De syllogismis hypotheticis, ed. F. Schupp the fenland. During his stay at Ramsey he taught the (Leiden and New York, 1997); Abbo of Fleury and Ramsey:
The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England, Second Edition. Edited by Michael Lapidge, John Blair, Simon Keynes, and Donald Scragg. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Commentary on the Calculus of Victorius of Aquitaine, ed. 3 miles away; a late legend that the minster itself was A. M. Peden (London, 2003); M. Winterbottom, ed., Three relocated possibly explains the shift of the name. Lives of English Saints (Toronto, 1972), pp. 67–87 [Passio S. Early charters hitherto ascribed to it are now thought Eadmundi]; R. B. Thomson, ‘Two Astronomical Tractates to relate to the minster of Bradfield (Berks.), of of Abbo of Fleury’, in The Light of Nature. Essays presented which Abingdon may, however, have been a depend- to A. C. Crombie (Dordrecht, 1985), pp. 113–33; G. R. Evans and A. M. Peden, ‘Natural Science and the Liberal ency under an eponymous abbess Æbbe. A late leg- Arts in Abbo of Fleury’s Commentary on the Calculus of end that the female community was at Helnestoue, Victorius of Aquitaine’, Viator 16 (1985), 109–27; the area around St Helen’s church in a corner of the M. Mostert, ‘Le séjour d’Abbon de Fleury à Ramsey’, BEC Iron Age rampart, is supported by the discovery 144 (1986), 199–208; idem, The Political Theology of Abbo there of an eighth-century cruciform pin. of Fleury (Hilversum, 1987); E.-M. Engelen, Zeit, Zahl und The minster declined, and was annexed, possibly Bild. Studien zur Verbindung von Philosophie und by Alfred’s reign, to the West Saxon crown. In 954 Wissenschaft bei Abbo von Fleury (Berlin and New York, King *Eadred gave it to *Æthelwold, who re-founded 1993); S. Gwara, ‘Three Acrostic Poems by Abbo of Fleury’, it as a reformed abbey and built up its estates. The Journal of Medieval Latin 2 (1992), 203–35; A. Gransden, ‘Abbo of Fleury’s Passio S. Eadmundi’, RB 105 Æthelwold’s church lay apart from Helnestoue, (1995), 20–78; M. Lapidge and P. S. Baker, ‘More Acrostic though still within the Iron Age fort; a later descrip- Verse by Abbo of Fleury’, The Journal of Medieval Latin 7 tion suggests that it was a rotunda based on the (1997), 1–32; L. M. Gantier, Un histoire des papes, en l’an Aachen chapel, and its magnificent furnishings mil. L’abregé du Liber Pontificalis d’Abbon de Fleury (vers included precious objects made by Æthelwold him- 950–1004) (Louvain-la-Neuve, Leuven and Brussels, self. The abbey remained rich and successful, and 2004); M. Lapidge, The Anglo-Saxon Library (Oxford, stimulated the growth of a small town around it: 2006), pp. 242–7; Abbon. Un Abbé de l’An mil, ed. A. *Domesday Book mentions ‘ten merchants dwelling Dufour and G. Labory (Turnhout, 2008). before the gate of the church’. marco mostert T. Allen, ‘Abingdon’, Current Archaeology 121 (1990), 24–7; ABERCORN (West Lothian). During the period of F. M. Stenton, The Early History of the Abbey of Abingdon aggressive Northumbrian expansion under King (Reading, 1913); M. Gelling, ‘The Hill of Abingdon’, *Ecgfrith (670–85), the English established tempo- Oxoniensia 22 (1957), 54–62; M. Biddle, G. Lambrick and J. N. L. Myres, ‘The Early History of Abingdon, Berkshire, rary control over southern Pictland, as far as the and its Abbey’, MArch 12 (1968), 26–69; A. Thacker, Firth of Forth. In order to consolidate this expansion, ‘Æthelwold and Abingdon’, Æthelwold, pp. 43–64; Blair, AS Archbishop *Theodore took the decision to establish Oxon, pp. 64–5, 113–14; Charters of Abingdon Abbey, ed. a bishopric in Pictland, which would have as its base S. E. Kelly, Anglo-Saxon Charters 7–8 (Oxford, 2000–1). a minster church (monasterium) at Abercorn, which john blair is located on the Firth of Forth about 3 km west of the eastern terminus of the Antonine Wall. The first ABLAUT: see Sound Changes bishop appointed to this see was one Trumwine. However, following the death and destruction of ACCA (d. 740), bishop of *Hexham from 710 until Ecgfrith and his army at Dunnichen (near Forfar in he was deposed in 732. Acca was a disciple of both Angus) in 685, the English monks at Abercorn were Bishop *Bosa and Bishop *Wilfrid and was an inti- forced to withdraw from Pictland, and the minster mate friend of *Bede, who composed a number of church was abandoned (Trumwine spent the remain- exegetical treatises at Acca’s prompting and dedi- der of his life at *Whitby). Several pieces of stone cated several of them to him. Acca supplied Bede sculpture are the only surviving remnants of this with the materials in HE iii.13 and iv.13; he also short-lived Anglo-Saxon church. supplied material on Wilfrid to *Stephen of Ripon for use in his Vita S. Wilfridi, which is similarly ded- HE i.12, iv.24; J. Romilly Allen, The Early Christian icated to Acca. Of Acca’s own writings nothing sur- Monuments of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1903), pp. 418–20; R. Cramp, County Durham and Northumberland, CASSS 1 vives except for part of a letter to Bede preserved in (Oxford, 1984), 17, 24, 174 with pls. 266–7. the prologue to Bede’s Commentarius in Lucam; but michael lapidge arguments have recently been advanced that Acca composed the (lost) exemplar of the *‘Martyrology’ ABINGDON (Berks.), an Iron Age valley-fort and (OE) The reasons for his deposition from the small Roman town in the upper Thames, was prob- bishopric of Hexham are unknown, but were pre- ably re-used for a double monastic community in sumably politically motivated. the late seventh or eighth century. The name (Æbban Sharpe, Handlist, 2; ODNB i.133; Bede, HE v.20; Bedae dūn, ‘Æbbe’s hill’) originally described high ground Venerabilis Opera Exegetica III, ed. D. Hurst, CCSL cxx
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(Turnhout, 1960), 5–10; Bolton, ALL, pp. 202–4; of the twelve canons that constituted the community M. Lapidge, ‘Acca of Hexham and the Origin of the Old of secular clerics at *Harold Godwineson’s founda- English Martyrology’, AB 123 (2005), 29–78. tion at *Waltham (Essex). Adelard was responsible michael lapidge for instituting at Waltham the rules and observances ACROSTICS are a form of (Greek or Latin) verse in of the Lotharingian church and, although he left no which, in simplest form, the individual letters of the writings, is a representative of the influence of conti- first line of the poem also supply the first letters nental, especially Lotharingian, scholars in England (hence acros, the ‘point’, and stichos, ‘verse’) of each during the reign of *Edward the Confessor. successive line of the poem, so that the poem will The Waltham Chronicle, ed. L. Watkiss and M. Chibnall have as many lines as there are individual letters in its (OMT, 1994); Freeman, NC ii.442, 584–5; Vita Haroldi, ed. first line. More complex acrostic verses may also W. de G. Birch (London, 1885), pp. 17–19. include a mesostich and/or telestich (in which the michael lapidge median and/or final letters of the verses also spell out a legend). The earliest surviving Greek acrostic ADOMNÁN (d. 704), ninth abbot of *Iona, was poem, having the legend ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΕΙΣΤΟΣ famous in his own time as the author of ‘the Law of ΘΕΟΥ ΥΙΟΣ ΣΩΤΗΡ (‘Jesus Christ, Son of God, Innocents’, promulgated to protect women and chil- Saviour’: the first letters here spell out ΙΧΘΥΣ, the dren from involvement in warfare. He is now best Greek word for ‘fish’, and a widespread early Christian known as the author of the Life of St *Columba. The symbol of Christ), was quoted in Latin translation by two were distant kinsmen, both belonging to Cenél *Aldhelm, and was possibly translated by him as well Conaill, the lineage which in their time provided the (an illustration of the Greek learning which was kings of the Northern Uí Néill. We meet him first as available at *Theodore’s school at *Canterbury, where a monk of Iona in the time of Abbot Failbe (669–79), Aldhelm was trained). Aldhelm composed acrostic another distant kinsman. Adomnán was chosen as verses as prefaces to his Enigmata and Carmen de vir- his successor, ninth abbot of Iona and the seventh ginitate, and one of his imitators, *Tatwine, used a to come from the saint’s lineage. In 685 the forty-letter acrostic structure to link together all the Northumbrian king *Ecgfrith was defeated and forty poems which constitute his Enigmata; another killed in battle against the *Picts in eastern Scotland, imitator, *Boniface, composed twenty poems on the and his elder half-brother *Aldfrith inherited the virtues and vices in acrostic form. Aldhelm thus crown. Aldfrith, the son of King *Oswiu, was born established a model for later Anglo-Latin poets, and before 634 during his father’s exile among the Irish. in the tenth century, both *Dunstan and *Abbo of He was a scholar and a friend of Adomnán, and it Fleury composed complex acrostic verses. A particu- appears that he may have been in Iona when Ecgfrith larly complex form of acrostic, the ‘carmen figura- was killed. Within the year Adomnán acted as tum’, in which not only the initial, median and final ambassador for the Southern Uí Néill king, visiting verses bear legends, but other legends woven into the King Aldfrith in Northumbria and seeking the poem create various shapes and forms, was pio- return of Irish captives held by the late King neered in Latin by the Late Latin poet Porphyrius Ecgfrith. He visited *Northumbria a second time, (fl. c.325), a copy of whose poems is mentioned in a in 687 or 688, when he spent some time with Abbot letter from Bishop *Milred of Worcester to *Lul on *Ceolfrith at *Jarrow. It is possible that Adomnán the occasion of Boniface’s martyrdom (754); one of and King Aldfrith may have hoped for a return of the the greatest practitioners of carmina figurata in the Iona community to *Lindisfarne, from where they Middle Ages was Hrabanus Maurus (d. 856), lavish had withdrawn in 664 because of controversy over copies of whose poems were copied in Anglo-Saxon the date of *Easter. During these visits he was per- England (e.g. in Cambridge, Trinity College, B.16.3). suaded that Roman practice over the date of Easter should prevail, and Bede tells us that he was instru- DACL i.356–72; MGH, AA xv.97–9, 350–2 [Aldhelm], ES mental in spreading this view in northern Ireland, i.245 [Milred]; CCSL cxxxiii.167–208 [Tatwine]; 283–343 though he was unable to convert the seniors of his [Boniface]; S. Gwara, ‘Three Acrostic Poems by Abbo of own community. In 692 Adomnán made a visitation Fleury’, The Journal of Medieval Latin 2 (1992), 203–35; M. of the monasteries of his community in Ireland, and Lapidge and P. S. Baker, ‘More Acrostic Verse by Abbo of in 697 the ‘Law of Innocents’, also known as the ‘Law Fleury’, The Journal of Medieval Latin 7 (1997), 1–32; Early Lives, pp. 166–72 [Dunstan]. of Adomnán’, was adopted at a major synod of the michael lapidge rulers and clergy of Ireland held at Birr. His Life of St Columba is a fundamental source for Irish monastic ADELARD of Utrecht (fl. s. ximed), a German scholar life in the seventh century. His only other extant with a reputation for skill in *medicine who was one work of scholarship was a book De locis sanctis,
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ostensibly based on the experiences in the Holy Land pp. 317–40; P. Clemoes, Interactions of Thought and and in Constantinople of a Frankish traveller named Language in Old English Poetry, CSASE 12 (Cambridge, Arculf; written sources account for much in this trea- 1995), 371–80; Old English Poems of Christ and His Saints, tise, which in turn was the main source of Bede’s ed. and trans. M. Clayton, DOML (Cambridge, MA, and London, 2013). more popular work on the same subject. Bede as a donald scragg child may have met Adomnán and would surely have heard about him from Ceolfrith. He described the ADVENTUS SAXONUM (also known as the Irish abbot as ‘a good and wise man with an excellent ‘Adventus Anglorum’). The first arrival of Germanic knowledge of the scriptures’ and as ‘a champion of invaders or settlers in Britain, supposed in historical peace and unity’. tradition to be an event which took place towards Sharpe, Handlist, 49; ODNB i.353–6; Bede, HE v.15–17; the middle of the fifth century; in effect, however, Adomnán’s Life of Columba, ed. and trans. A. O. and M. O. the first recorded non-event in English history Anderson, 2nd ed. rev. M. O. Anderson (OMT, 1991); (cf. Anglo-Saxon *settlement). The notion of the Adomnán of Iona: Life of St Columba, trans. R. Sharpe ‘Adventus Saxonum’ originated in *Gildas’s need to (Harmondsworth, 1995); Adomnán’s De Locis Sanctis, ed. present the arrival of Germanic peoples in Britain as D. Meehan (Dublin, 1958); J. M. Picard, ‘The Purpose of a sudden and dramatic event, which in accordance Adomnán’s Vita Columbae’, Peritia 1 (1982), 160–77; A. D. S. with his polemical ends could be interpreted as a MacDonald, ‘Aspects of the Monastery and Monastic Life in manifestation of divine punishment for the sins of Adomnán’s Life of Columba’, Peritia 3 (1984), 271–302; the British. It was adopted from Gildas by *Bede, M. Lapidge, ‘The Career of Aldhelm’, ASE 36 (2007), 15–69, at 22–30; Adomnán of Iona: Theologian, Lawmaker, Peacemaker, who located it during the joint reigns of the emper- ed. J. Wooding (Dublin, 2010); T. O’Loughlin, ‘The Library of ors Marcian and Valentinian (449–56), and thus Iona in the Late Seventh Century: the Evidence from gave it a measure of historical respectability; see HE Adomnán’s De locis sanctis’, Eriu 45 (1994), 33–52; idem, ‘The i.15, 23, ii.14, and v.23. It was adopted in turn by the Library of Iona at the Time of Adomnán’, HBB i.570–9. compiler of the *Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in the late richard sharpe ninth century, and placed in the annal for 449; and in this form it was taken over by the Anglo-Norman ADRIAN AND RITHEUS: see Solomon and Saturn, chroniclers, and so entered the mainstream of his- Prose. torical tradition. The ‘Adventus Saxonum’ endures to this day in the Library of Congress Cataloging-in- ADVENT LYRICS. The Advent Lyrics (also called Publication Data, which defines the Anglo-Saxon Advent, Christ I and Christ A) are twelve short poems period as extending from 449 to 1066. which begin the *Exeter Book, formerly seen collectively as the opening 439 lines of *Christ. The P. Sims-Williams, ‘The Settlement of England in Bede group, assumed now to be the work of a single and the Chronicle’, ASE 12 (1983), 1–41; N. Higham, The English Conquest: Gildas and Britain in the Fifth Century anonymous poet, begins imperfectly because of the (Manchester, 1994); OHASA, pp. 3–311. loss of a leaf, and it is thought that perhaps three more simon keynes poems may have preceded these. Each of the poems is based upon an antiphon, the ‘O’ antiphons (or choric ÆDILUULF (fl. 803–21), Anglo-Latin poet and responses, invocations involving biblical quotations) author of a poem of 819 hexameter lines entitled sung in the *liturgy during Advent and at Christmas, Carmen de abbatibus concerning the abbots and and each begins with the Old English equivalent, Eala. monks of an unidentified monastery in *Northumbria The poet, surely a religious, shows considerable famil- which was subservient to the church of *Lindisfarne iarity with patristic writings, and uses the antiphons (the poem is dedicated to Ecgberht, bishop of merely as a starting-point for each of his poems. They Lindisfarne, 803–21). Nothing is known of Ædiluulf are elaborate constructs, each self-standing, but build- save what can be gleaned from his poem, but the ing into an extended narrative sequence in which the diction of the verse shows clearly that his technique thought is complex, and the language and imagery of composition was informed by (and possibly appropriate to it. The seventh antiphon, which con- learned at) the school of *Alcuin at *York, which sists largely of a dialogue between Mary and Joseph, is may imply that the monastery in question was at regarded as especially fine. Crayke, some 12 miles north of York and a depend- ASPR iii.3–15; The Advent Lyrics of the Exeter Book, ed. J. J. ency of Lindisfarne. The poem contains much of Campbell (Princeton, NJ, 1959); R. B. Burlin, The Old interest in its descriptions of the accomplishments English Advent: a Typological Commentary (New Haven, of the various monks and abbots, and for its descrip- CT, 1968); S. Rankin, ‘The Liturgical Background of the tions of various *visions (some of them involving Old English Advent Lyrics: a Reappraisal’, in Clemoes FS, interesting architectural detail).
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Sharpe, Handlist, 69; MGH, PLAC i.582–604; A. Campbell, to a tonsure), in which case he was in some sense a ed., Æthelwulf De Abbatibus (Oxford, 1967); H. J. forerunner of the monastic revival which took place Kamphausen, Traum und Vision in der lateinischen Poesie in later tenth-century Winchester under the impetus der Karolingerzeit (Bern, 1975), pp. 86–114; H. M. Taylor, of Bishop *Æthelwold. Ælfheah is known to have ‘The Architectural Interest of Æthelwulf’s De Abbatibus’, consecrated both *Dunstan and Æthelwold; he was ASE 3 (1974), 163–74; M. Lapidge, ‘Aediluulf and the School of York’, in Lateinische Kultur im VIII. Jahrhundert. buried in the choir of the Old Minster, Winchester. Traube-Gedenkschrift, ed. A. Lehner and W. Berschin (St Wulfstan of Winchester, Vita S. Æthelwoldi, c. 8 (ed. M. Ottilien, 1990), pp. 161–78, repr. in Lapidge, ALL i.381–98. Lapidge and M. Winterbottom (OMT, 1991), pp. 12–13); michael lapidge WMalm, GP i.258–61. michael lapidge ÆLBERHT, archbishop of *York (767–78), known principally to history as the mentor of *Alcuin, who ÆLFHEAH (Alphege), St, archbishop of *Canterbury inherited Ælberht’s vast library and who commemo- (1006–12). Initially a monk at *Deerhurst (Glos.), rated his beloved teacher at length in his poem on the and perhaps for a while at *Glastonbury, Ælfheah bishops, kings and saints of York. On Alcuin’s evi- moved to *Bath in the early 960s and became abbot dence, Ælberht established a curriculum in the *school there soon afterwards. He was appointed bishop of at York which, in its range, was without parallel in *Winchester in October 984, in succession to St Europe at that time, in its concern not only with *gram- *Æthelwold, and held that office until 1006. In his mar, *rhetoric and *computus, but with *astronomy, early years as bishop, Ælfheah brought to comple- geometry, arithmetic – and, to judge from the books he tion the vast programme of building works at the bequeathed to Alcuin – logic. According to Alcuin he Old Minster, initiated by his predecessor, including made one trip to *Rome (presumably to collect his the eastern porticus and a crypt, a tower and a huge *pallium). An exchange of letters between one ‘Koaena’ organ, all of which are described in detail by (which may be a nickname of Ælberht) and *Lull *Wulfstan of Winchester in a poem dedicated to survives as part of the Bonifatian correspondence. Ælfheah (the Narratio metrica de S. Swithuno). In June 993 (by which time the programme was pre- Sharpe, Handlist, 65; ODNB i.378–9; MGH, PLAC i.200–7, sumably complete), Ælfheah was host to a major ES i.261–2 (nos. 124–5); P. Godman, ed., Alcuin: the Bishops, Kings, and Saints of York (OMT, 1982); M. Lapidge, royal assembly at Winchester, which marked a ‘Surviving Booklists from Anglo-Saxon England’, Clemoes turning-point in the reign of King *Æthelred the FS, pp. 33–89, esp. 45–9. Unready (978–1016): it was acknowledged that michael lapidge Æthelwold’s death in 984 had ushered in a period of wrongdoing, and the king undertook, at this meet- ÆLFFLÆD of *Whitby (d. 713), was the sister of ing, to mend the errors of his ways. Not long after King *Aldfrith of *Northumbria and spent most of the assembly, eight bishops were among those who her life as a nun at Whitby, from the time of Abbess gathered again at Winchester to celebrate the second *Hild, whom she succeeded as abbess in 680. From dedication of the church. In 1006 Ælfheah was that time Ælfflæd ruled Whitby jointly with her appointed archbishop of Canterbury. As archbishop, mother, *Eanflæd. She was the confidante of in succession to *Sigeric (990–4) and *Ælfric (995– both *Cuthbert and *Wilfrid, and is described by 1005), Ælfheah would have been expected to take *Stephen of Ripon in his Vita S. Wilfridi as ‘always a lead in the face of Danish invasions now occur- the source of consolation for the entire kingdom, ring on an unprecedented scale. In 1008, following and the best of advisers’. Of her writings a brief letter the invasion of 1006–7, Archbishop Ælfheah and his of introduction addressed to an abbess of Pfalzel colleague *Wulfstan, archbishop of York, were (near Trier) is preserved among the corpus of responsible for framing the royal law-code known as Bonifatian correspondence. The anonymous Vita S. V Æthelred. Their best intentions were, however, Gregorii was written at Whitby while she was abbess. frustrated by the arrival in August 1009 of the force known as ‘Thorkell’s army’, which caused great dis- ODNB i.379–80; Sharpe, Handlist, 51; Bede, HE iii.24, iv.24; Stephen of Ripon, Vita S. Wilfridi, cc. 43, 59, 60; MGH, ES ruption thereafter until 1012. i.3–4 (no. 8); Bolton, ALL, pp. 199–200; P. Hunter Blair, In September 1011 Canterbury was besieged by ‘Whitby as a Centre of Learning in the Seventh Century’, Thorkell’s army, and Ælfheah was captured. In the Clemoes FS, pp. 3–32. words of a contemporary chronicler, ‘He was then a michael lapidge captive who had been head of the English people and of Christendom’ (ASC, MSS CDE, s.a. 1011). The ÆLFHEAH I, bishop of *Winchester (934–51), was Danes kept Ælfheah in captivity for the next seven possibly a monk (his nickname ‘the Bald’ may refer months, probably at Greenwich (or Blackheath) on
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the south side of the Thames. Ealdorman *Eadric Rumble, pp. 283–315; M. K. Lawson, Cnut: England’s Viking ‘and all the chief councillors of England’ made a King (London, 2004), pp. 140–2 and 165–7. large payment of tribute to the Danes soon after simon keynes Easter (13 April) in 1012; but Ælfheah refused to make any payment on his own account, or to allow ÆLFHELM of Ely (fl. 946–55), cleric of the church himself to be ransomed. In a drunken stupor the of *Ely in the reign of King *Eadred, and author of enraged Danes brought Ælfheah to their assembly at an account of the miracles of St *Æthelthryth which Greenwich, on Saturday 19 April, and put him to has not survived, but which was used as a source and death: ‘They pelted him with bones and with ox- is quoted in extenso in the late twelfth-century Liber heads, and one of them [named Thrum] struck him Eliensis (i.43–9). on the head with the back of an axe, that he sank Liber Eliensis, ed. E. O. Blake (London, 1962), pp. xxxii, down with the blow, and his holy blood fell on 57–61. the ground, and so he sent his holy soul to God’s michael lapidge kingdom’ (ASC). On the next morning Ælfheah’s body was taken upriver to *London, and buried in ÆLFHERE, ealdorman of *Mercia (956–83), was a St Paul’s. The German chronicler Thietmar of member of one of the well-connected families which Merseburg provides a fuller and in certain respects a came to prominence in the tenth century across the rather different account of Ælfheah’s martyrdom, on nascent kingdom of the English. Other such families the authority of a certain Sewald (EHD i, no. 27); we are represented by *Æthelstan ‘Half-King’ and his are told, for example, that Earl Thorkell tried to son *Æthelwine of *East Anglia; by *Æthelweard intervene on the archbishop’s behalf, without suc- of the western shires; and by Ælfgar, ealdorman cess. In 1023 King *Cnut authorised a public display of *Essex, father-in-law of Byrhtnoth, ealdorman of of veneration for the martyred archbishop: on 8 June Essex. Ælfhere was son of Ealhhelm, ealdorman of Ælfheah’s body was raised from its tomb in St Paul’s, Mercia (940–51). He was appointed an ealdorman taken first across the river to Southwark, thence to in 956, soon after the beginning of *Eadwig’s reign. *Rochester, and so to Canterbury, where it arrived Following the division of the kingdom in 957, he on 11 June and was reburied on 15 June (ASC, MS was accorded primacy among the ealdormen at D). It may be that in the manner of his death Edgar’s court; significantly, he retained this domi- Ælfheah had become a symbol of English resistance nant position after the reunification of the kingdom to the Danes, and that Cnut was concerned to move in 959. The death of Edgar, on 8 July 975, precipi- the focal point of his cult from London to tated a crisis of a kind which had been seen 20 years Canterbury, where it might not be so highly charged; before, but in this case with effects which reverber- or it may be that Cnut, having recently come to ated into the 990s. Advantage was taken of the terms with Earl Thorkell in Denmark, was able to youthfulness first of King *Edward (975–8) and then countenance the promotion of a cult in a way which of King *Æthelred (978–1016), and deep-rooted dif- might help to reconcile the English to his rule. The ferences found expression locally in active resent- tale of Ælfheah’s martyrdom in 1012, and especially ment of the growing wealth of religious houses, and of his translation to Canterbury in 1023, was retold no doubt at another level in political faction. Ælfhere in the late eleventh century by Osbern, monk of seems to have been involved in the reaction against Christ Church, Canterbury. The cult of St Alphege recently established or reformed religious houses in prospered, but was presently eclipsed by that of St his own ealdordom of Mercia; reactions of a similar Thomas. kind are attested at *Abingdon, *Rochester, *Ely, and Brooks, Canterbury, pp. 278–81, 283–5; ODNB i. 382–3; elsewhere. The murder of King Edward on 18 March M. Lapidge, The Cult of St Swithun, pp. 372–551 (Wulfstan 978 brought Æthelred to the throne, and perhaps of Winchester, Narratio metrica de S. Swithuno); Early Lives, focused the collective mind on the need for a greater pp. cxxxix–cxli (Missal of Robert of Jumièges as Ælfheah’s degree of order. As principal ealdorman Ælfhere book). S. Keynes and R. Naismith, ‘The Agnus Dei Pennies played the leading part, in February 979, in the cer- of King Æthelred the Unready’, ASE 40 (2012), 175–223, emonial translation of Edward’s (supposed) remains at 181–8; S. Keynes, ‘Church Councils, Royal Assemblies, from Wareham to a more honourable place of burial and Anglo-Saxon Royal Diplomas’, Kingship, Legislation and Power in Anglo-Saxon England, ed. G. R. Owen- in Shaftesbury Abbey, paving the way for the coro- Crocker and W. B. Schneider, PMCASS 13 (Woodbridge, nation of King Æthelred at *Kingston-upon-Thames 2013), 17–182, at 106–19. For Osbern’s Passio S. Ælfegi on 4 May 979. Ealdorman Ælfhere died on 22 (BHL 2518) and Translatio S. Ælfegi (BHL 2519), see A. R. October 983; his leading position in the hierarchy of Rumble with R. Morris, ‘Textual Appendix’, Cnut, ed. ealdormen was assumed by Ealdorman Æthelwine.
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