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Textual Representations of Almsgiving in Late Anglo-Saxon England

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Textual Representations of Almsgiving in Late Anglo-Saxon England Textual Representations of Almsgiving in Late Anglo-Saxon England Aleisha Olson Submitted for the degree of PhD in History University of York Department of History June 2010 Abstract This thesis is a study of the textual representations of almsgiving in the homiletic and documentary sources of late Anglo-Saxon England. Almsgiving, a fundamental part of lay Christian devotional practice, has been primarily ignored by scholars as a subject for study in its own right, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon period. The aim of this thesis is to assess the textual references to almsgiving in the homilies, law codes, wills and charters of the tenth and eleventh centuries in order to determine first, how almsgiving was conceptualised by ecclesiastical authorities, and second, how almsgiving by the laity was understood to function in society. It examines the interdependence of alms-givers and alms-receivers, shedding light on the complementary relationship between rich and poor in society. It also utilises the anthropological concepts of reciprocal gift-exchange and secular display of wealth in order to contextualise the Anglo-Saxon sources within a wider cultural milieu. In doing so, this thesis demonstrates not only that almsgiving played a vital part in lay devotional practice, but also that references to almsgiving embedded in the documentary sources reflected a wide network of social practices and interactions. This in turn indicates the central social significance of almsgiving in late Anglo- Saxon England, and has important implications for the understanding of early medieval Christian piety. 2 Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................. 2 Table of Contents ................................................................................................................. 3 Abbreviations ....................................................................................................................... 5 A Note on Translations ....................................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 8 Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 9 Almsgiving in Anglo-Saxon England ................................................................. 15 Historiography ....................................................................................................... 20 Wealth and Poverty.................................................................................... 20 Studies in Almsgiving – Late Antiquity.................................................. 29 Studies in Almsgiving – Medieval England .......................................... 46 Secular Display of Wealth ......................................................................... 54 Gift-Exchange ............................................................................................. 63 Outline and Methodology ................................................................................... .. 69 Limitations .................................................................................................. 72 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 74 Chapter 2: The Promotion of Almsgiving .................................................................... 76 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 76 Homilies as Sources ............................................................................................... 80 The Gift of Alms ..................................................................................................... 92 For God or for Glory? – Conspicuous Almsgiving ........................................ 105 Almsgiving and the Forgiveness of Sin ........................................................... 111 3 Almsgiving in the Liturgical Year .................................................................... 128 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 142 Chapter 3: The Legislation of Almsgiving ................................................................ 146 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 146 Archbishop Wulfstan and the Formulation of Law ....................................... 149 Royal Responsibility and Spiritual Welfare ..................................................... 152 From Homily to Law ........................................................................................... 158 Rendering to God – Almsgiving and Church Dues ....................................... 172 Almsgiving – Moral Duty or Legal Obligation? ............................................. 178 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 193 Chapter 4: The Perception of Almsgiving ................................................................. 197 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 197 The Wills ............................................................................................................... 198 The Anglo-Saxon Testament .................................................................. 201 Exchanging Alms for Salvation ............................................................. 210 A Language of Almsgiving? .................................................................. 226 The Charters ......................................................................................................... 229 Formula or Free Will? – Discerning Religious Motives ..................... 237 Protecting One’s Alms – the Evidence of Anathemae ...................... 246 Giving Land in Alms .............................................................................. 250 A Spiritual Network? – Possibilities of a Continental Comparison .. 256 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 258 Chapter 5: Conclusion ................................................................................................... 262 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 278 4 Abbreviations ASC Anglo-Saxon Chronicle B W. de G. Birch (ed.), Cartularium Saxonicum: A Collection of Charters Relating to Anglo-Saxon History, 3 vols. and index (London, 1885-1889). BAR British Archaeological Reports CCSL Corpus Christianorum Series Latina CH Catholic Homilies CR W. D. Macray (ed.), Chronicon Abbatiae Rameseiensis Rolls Series 83 (London, 1886). CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum C&S D. Whitelock, M. Brett and C. N. L. Brooke (eds.), Councils and Synods with other Documents Relating to the English Church, I: A.D. 871-1204 (Oxford, 1981), I, part 1: 871-1066. EEMF Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile EETS Early English Text Society EHD D. Whitelock (ed.), English Historical Documents c. 500-1042 (2nd edn., London, 1979). HE B. Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors (eds. and trans.), Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Oxford, 1969). K J. M. Kemble (ed.), Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici, 6 vols. (London, 1839-1848). LE E. O. Blake (ed.), Liber Eliensis Camden Third Series 92 (London, 1962). R Documents by number in A. J. Robertson (trans. and ed.), Anglo-Saxon Charters, 2nd edn. (Cambridge, 1956). PG Patrologia Graeca PL Patrologia Latina 5 S Documents by number in P. H. Sawyer (ed.), Anglo-Saxon Charters: An Annotated List and Bibliography (London, 1968). SC Sources Chrétiennes SEHD Documents by number in F. E. Harmer (trans. and ed.), Select English Historical Documents of the Ninth and Tenth Centuries (Cambridge, 1914). W Documents by number in D. Whitelock (trans. and ed.), Anglo-Saxon Wills (Cambridge, 1930). A note on formatting Throughout this thesis I have abbreviated the titles of homilies, law codes, wills and charters in order to facilitate easy referencing. I have included the titles of homilies where available, and wills and charters are referred to by their Sawyer number as well as a reference to the volume in which they appear, if applicable. For the law codes, I have followed the abbreviations utilised by Liebermann. 6 A Note on Translations As published translations exist for many of the sources utilised in this thesis, I have used these where appropriate and noted them in the relevant footnotes. For the remainder of the translations, I have primarily drawn on the published translation but have modified vocabulary and tone as I felt appropriate to the passage in question. These translations are my own, but they overlap with the published translations and I must acknowledge my debt to them here. For the Catholic Homilies, I have used Thorpe; for the Lives of Saints, I have used Skeat; for the Blickling Homilies, I have used Morris; for the Vercelli Homilies, I have used Nicholson; for the laws, I have used both Attenborough and Robertson; for the charters, I have used Robertson; for the writs I have used Harmer; I have also used Harmer’s SEHD for
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