Aelfric and the Cult of Saints in Late Anglo-Saxon England (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780521855419)

The literature of Anglo-Saxon England is unique among contemporary European literatures in that it features a vast amount of saints' lives in the vernacular. This study analyzes the most important author Aelfric's lives of five important saints in the light of their cults in Anglo-Saxon England, providing the reader fascinating glimpses of 'Aelfric at work'. He adapts the cults and rewrites the received Latin hagiography so that each of their lives conveys a distinct message to the contemporary political elite as well as to a lay audience at large.

Author: Mechthild Gretsch
ISBN-10: 0521855411
ISBN-13: 9780521855419
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 03/20/2006
Pages: 276
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.30lbs
Size: 9.26h x 6.34w x 0.92d