Ælfric
Ælfric of Eynsham, often referred to as Grammmaticus, was a prominent Anglo-Saxon monk and scholar born around 950 CE in Wessex, England. He played a vital role in the monastic revival of the late 10th century, significantly contributing to the promotion of vernacular English as a medium for education alongside Latin. Educated at Winchester, he was influenced by Bishop Æthelwold’s initiatives to enhance learning in the vernacular. Ælfric became the Abbot of a Benedictine monastery at Eynsham, where he spent the remainder of his life until his death around 1020-1022 CE.
His literary legacy includes a collection of homilies and a volume documenting the lives of saints, both of which reflect his innovative use of rhythmic prose and alliteration. He also produced educational texts, such as a Latin grammar and a unique "Colloquium" that showcases conversations reflective of monastic life and broader medieval society. Notably, Ælfric initiated translations of biblical texts into English, contributing to versions of Genesis and several other books, which sought to instill a sense of cultural identity among the Anglo-Saxon people. His works remained influential in the development of English prose and religious education for generations.
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Ælfric
Writer
- Born: c. 950
- Birthplace: Probably Wessex, England
- Died: c. 1020
- Place of death: Eynsham, England
Biography
Ælfric of Eynsham, nicknamed Grammmaticus, was born in 950 c.e. or thereabouts, presumably in Wessex, England. He benefited from the monastic revival that occurred between 960 and 990 c.e., and became a leading influence in a subsequent revival and expansion of learning. He was educated at Winchester, which was then the capital and cultural centre of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom. The bishop of Winchester, Æthelwold, had breathed new life into a plan made by Ælfred (Alfred the Great) to cultivate the vernacular language and use it as a medium of education alongside clerical Latin; Ælfric became an enthusiastic recruit to this project.
Ælfric left Winchester between 987 and 989 c.e. to take charge of a new monastery at Cerne Abbas in Dorset. He left permanently when he was appointed Abbot of a Benedictine monastery at Eynsham, west of Oxford, which was founded by the Thane Æthelmær. He spent the rest of his life there until he died, probably in 1020 or 1022. His surviving works offer important insights into the beliefs of the early English Church, and his writings—many of which exist in both Latin and vernacular versions—were enormously influential in their day, assisting the cultivation of learning in the monasteries and facilitating the first growth of a literary class among the Anglo-Saxon nobility.
Ælfric’s most widely copied works were a collection of homilies whose first version was written between 990 and 994 c.e., and a volume of the lives of the saints, compiled between 993 and 996 c.e.. The former recycled ideas drawn from various Latin writers, but the individual items became gradually more adventurous in a literary sense, rendering their texts in a rhythmic form making conspicuous use of alliteration. The latter volume continued such stylistic experiments with increasing confidence, although historians of English literature are often dismissive of them, valuing his examples of early English prose more highly.
Utilitarian texts designed by Ælfric for use in education included a Latin grammar and glossary. The most interesting is a Colloquium whose original Latin is accompanied in one key manuscript by an English translation—a version subsequently reproduced and expanded by one of his pupils, Ælfric Bata. It provides a window on the monastic life of the period and the relationship between the English Church and its surrounding society, in the form of a series of conversations in which a teacher and his pupil exchange views with exemplary characters providing a cross-section of medieval society: a ploughman, a shepherd, a hunter and so on.
Ælfric also began work on the first attempted translation of the Bible into English. Although the latter part of Genesis and all of Exodus and Leviticus were done by someone else, Ælfric seems to have contributed the beginning of Genesis and seven further books. The translation is free, omitting some sections and reshaping others, adapting sections of the text to carry a patriotic gloss that elevated the English Saxons to the status of a chosen people. Alongside this work— probably completed shortly after 1000—he wrote various items in Latin, including commentaries on the Bible and homages to his first patron. The most significant of these is a treatise that was widely used as a scholarly introduction to Bible studies for generations after his death in 1020 or thereabouts.