Ælfric of Eynsham

• c. 950–c. 1010
• Educated at Winchester
• Entered the Benedictine abbey at Cerne Abbas (987+)
• First abbot of Eynsham (1005)
• Most productive named Anglo-Saxon author

• Catholic Homilies and additional homilies
• Lives of Saints
• A grammar of Latin
• A Latin colloquy
• Epistles

• Translations of Scripture:
  • Half of Genesis
  • Part of Numbers
  • Part of Joshua (in paraphrase)
  • Part of Judges (in paraphrase)
  • Selections from Kings
  • Job (in paraphrase; or take under “homilies”)
  • Maccabees (condensed, rearranged, and commentarized)
  • Judith (in paraphrase; or take under “homilies”)
  • Esther (in paraphrase)

From the Preface to ÆCHom I

Þa bearn me on mode ic truwige ðurh godes gife. þæt ic ðas boc of ledenum gereorde to engliscre spræce awende. na þurh gebylde micelre lare. ac for ðan ðe ic geseah ⁊ gehyrde mycel gedwyld on manegum engliscum bocum. ðe ungelærede menn ðurh heora bilewitnysse to micclum wisdome tealdon. ⁊ me ofhreow þæt hi ne cuðon ne næfdon ða godspellican lare on heora gewritum. buton ðam mannum anum ðe þæt leden cuðon. ⁊ buton þam bocum ðe ælfred cyning snoterlice awende of ledene on englisc. ða synd to hæbbene.

From the Preface to Alfred’s CP

me com swiðe oft on gemynd, hwelce wiotan iu wæron giond Angelcynn, […] ⁊ hu man utanbordes wisdom ⁊ lare hieder on lond sohte, ⁊ hu we hie nu sceoldon ute begietan gif we hie habban sceoldon. Swæ clæne hio wæs oðfeallenu on Angelcynne ðæt swiðe feawa wæron behionan Humbre ðe hiora ðeninga cuðen understondan on Englisc, oððe furðum an ærendgewrit of Lædene on Englisc areccean; ⁊ ic wene ðætte noht monige begiondan Humbre næren.

Ða gemunde ic hu sio æ wæs ærest on Ebreisc geðiode funden, ⁊ eft, ða hie Creacas geliornodon, ða wendon hie hie on hiora agen geðiode ealle, ⁊ eac ealle oðre bec. ⁊ eft Lædenware swæ same, siððan hie hie geliornodon, hie hie wendon ‹ealla› ðurh wise wealhstodas on hiora agen geðiode. Ond eac ealla oðræ Cristnæ ðioda sumne dæl hiora on hiora agen geðiode wendon. Forðy me ðyncð betre, gif iow swæ ðyncð, ðæt we eac sumæ bec, ða ðe niedbeðearfosta sien eallum monnum to wiotonne, ðæt we ða on ðæt geðiode wenden ðe we ealle gecnawan mægen […]. Lære mon siððan furður on Lædengeðiode ða ðe mon furðor læran wille ⁊ to hieran hade don wille.

Alfred’s Translation Programme

• Gregory’s Pastoral Care (c. 590, on pastoral duties)
• Gregory’s Dialogues (593–94, on Italian saints)
• Augustine’s Soliloquies (c. 387, on the soul)
• Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy (c. 524, on transience)
• Orosius’s Historiae adversus paganos (c. 417, on pagan history and geography)
• Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People (731, on Christian England)
• Psalms 1–50

C7 Ordo Romanus XIV Vigils Readings

Quinquagesima to Palm Sunday	Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges
Holy Week	Isaiah, Jeremiah
Eastertide	Epistles, Acts, Revelation
Pentecost to October	Kings, Chronicles
October to Advent	Solomon, Judith, Esther, Maccabees, Tobit
December to Epiphany	Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel
Epiphany to Quinquagesima	Ezekiel, Minor Prophets, Job