Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Editor's Note
- 1 Contents, Authorship and Title
- 2 Ælfric’s Life and Career
- 3 Previous Editions
- 4 The Manuscripts
- 5 The Place of De temporibus anni in the Ælfrician Canon
- 6 Origins and Purpose
- 7 Sources
- 8 Medieval Cosmology
- 9 Calendar and Computus
- 10 Ælfric and the Bible
- 11 Ælfric’s Legacy
- 12 Arrangement of the Present Edition
- Text of De temporibus anni, with modern English translation
- Apparatus criticus
- Commentary
- Appendix 1. Ælfric’s Biblical Quotations and the Vulgate compared
- Appendix 2. List of Biblical References in the Text of DTA
- Appendix 3. Parallels between DTA and Other Ælfrician Works
- Appendix 4. List of Orthographic Variants, etc.
- Astronomical and calendrical terms
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - Contents, Authorship and Title
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 March 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Editor's Note
- 1 Contents, Authorship and Title
- 2 Ælfric’s Life and Career
- 3 Previous Editions
- 4 The Manuscripts
- 5 The Place of De temporibus anni in the Ælfrician Canon
- 6 Origins and Purpose
- 7 Sources
- 8 Medieval Cosmology
- 9 Calendar and Computus
- 10 Ælfric and the Bible
- 11 Ælfric’s Legacy
- 12 Arrangement of the Present Edition
- Text of De temporibus anni, with modern English translation
- Apparatus criticus
- Commentary
- Appendix 1. Ælfric’s Biblical Quotations and the Vulgate compared
- Appendix 2. List of Biblical References in the Text of DTA
- Appendix 3. Parallels between DTA and Other Ælfrician Works
- Appendix 4. List of Orthographic Variants, etc.
- Astronomical and calendrical terms
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
De temporibus anni is introduced to us as an lytel cwyde be gearlicum tidum (1), but as well as chronology, it covers cosmology and the sequence of Creation, the rudiments of computus, and elements of natural science, particularly meteorology. The work treats in order the following themes:
The six days of Creation
The relationship between the earth and the sun, moon and planets
The date of the anniversary of the earth's creation
Darkness, the orbit of the moon and the cause of eclipses
The course of the sun and moon through the zodiac, different customs in establishing the beginning of the year, and the seasons
The relationship between earth and heaven, and the position of the former at the centre of the universe
Equinoxes, solstices and the calculation of the date of Easter
Leap years
The so-called ‘moon's leap’, the correction of the medieval calendar required every nineteen years, and the moon's effect on tides
Stars and constellations
The four fundamental elements (air, fire, earth and water), and the names and characteristics of the principal winds
Precipitation and storms
Since the nineteenth century it has been accepted as an early work by Ælfric, but in fact we have only secondary evidence that it was written by him. Nowhere in the text does he identify himself as the author, and in only one manuscript, CUL, Gg. 3. 28 (hereafter referred to as G), where it immediately follows the two series of Catholic Homilies, does DTA appear in intimate association with Ælfrician material. However, the early date of this particular manuscript, its apparent proximity to Ælfric's own scriptorium, and the fact that it is carefully copied, make it a very important witness. The vocabulary, style and clarity of expression of DTA are characteristically Ælfrician, and as long ago as 1883, Maclean could state that ‘it is now universally and rightly conceded that Ælf. wrote De Temp.’ (sic).
The point may be illustrated by reference to Appendix 3, which sets out parallels between passages in DTA and in some other works which are unquestionably from the pen of Ælfric, namely his homilies, saints’ lives and Hexameron. The similarity of wording is often striking, as for instance in the following examples:
DTA, 8: þa cwæð he gewurðe leoht, 7 leoht wæs ðærrihte geworden. CH I. 1, 101–2: He cwæð; Geweorðe leoht. 7 ðærrihte wæs leoht geworden;
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Aelfric's De Temporibus Anni , pp. 1 - 4Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2009