Thursday, July 13, 2006

Some ideas I'm working on:
Aelfric is influenced by Genesis A, which may come from Aethelwold's school (the manuscript, not necessarily the texts), sometime between 960-987. Later Aelfric begins to differ from Aethelwold on some of the details, becoming more Augustinian.

Further, why did Aelfric write the Life of Aethelwold? Unverified and unchecked theory: after his Letter to the Monks and other texts in which he differs from Aethelwold, perhaps there was political need to reiterate his relationship with that school and tradition.

2 comments:

Derek the Ænglican said...

I'm assuming that you're suggesting influence in the hexameral territory? Is there a clear redactional link?

btw--are there are time of year clues in Sigeweard? Is there any reason to rule out midwinter?

theswain said...

Hey Derek,

Yes, I'm working right now on the whole hexameral section of the Sigeweard and I started out arguing that there is no connection only to find that I think there are some very strong connections between Aelfric and the Junius 11 texts. I'm not the first one to notice this unfortunately, but I think I'll be the first to treat it in some detail.

Time of year clues....I hadn't thought of that. My first reaction is to say no, that I recall, but now that you ask I'll certainly be keeping my eyes open for such things.