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Theme and Echo in an Anonymous Old English Homily for Easter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2016

Clare A. Lees*
Affiliation:
The University of Liverpool

Extract

Anonymous vernacular homilies of the later Anglo-Saxon period have recently proved a fruitful field of investigation for scholars. Work in this area has enabled the investigator to recover themes and topoi available to the Old English writer, and has helped reconstruct the intellectual milieu in which he worked. Indeed, late composite homilies may reveal how homilists such as Ælfric were received and understood by subsequent generations.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Fordham University Press 

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References

1 I should like to thank Professor Cross, J. E. for his help and guidance during the preparation of this paper. Dr. Joyce Hill has kindly read versions, offering valuable comments, and Professor Charles D. Wright provided some useful references to the Irish material. My thanks are also due to J. M. Bazire and Nick Davis for their advice.Google Scholar

2 Research into the anonymous homily has been stimulated by D. G. Scragg's survey of the extant material, ‘The Corpus of Vernacular Homilies and Prose Saints' Lives before Ælfric,’ Anglo-Saxon England 8 (1979) 223–78. For the use of Ælfrician homilies in the later Old English period see Richards, M. P., ‘Innovations in Ælfrician Manuscripts at Rochester,’ Annuale Medievale 19 (1979) 13–26; and ‘MS Cotton Vespasian A XXII: The Vespasian Homilies,’ Manuscripta 22 (1978) 97–103.Google Scholar

3 This homily has been edited previously by Schaefer, K. G., An Edition of Five Old English Homilies for Palm Sunday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday (Columbia University diss. 1972) 168–90. A fragment of the homily has also been printed by Willard, R., ‘The Apocryphon of the Seven Heavens,’ in Two Apocrypha in Old English Homilies (Beiträge zur englischen Philologie 30 (Leipzig 1935) 23 and n. 113; see below p. 132. I have adopted the sigla for manuscripts of the Catholic Homilies used by Pope and Godden: The Homilies of Ælfric: A Supplementary Collection, ed. Pope, J. C. (EETS os 259; London 1967) I xvii; and Ælfric's Catholic Homilies: The Second Series Text, ed. Godden, Malcolm (EETS ss 5; London, 1979) xiii–xiv. All references to the Second Series are to Godden's edition, by page and line number. For details of the manuscript see Ker, N. R., Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford 1957) item 38 art. 32. The manuscript was one of Archbishop Parker's collection and is entitled Primus liber homiliarum. A sixteenth-century table of contents appears on p. x of the manuscript. The page numbering is also saec. xvi, and a sixteenth-century marginal note to In die Sancto Pasce calls attention to one of Parker's works (see below p. 124). In addition, eleven leaves (pp. 139–60) have been inserted into the manuscript from MS Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 178, on Parker's instigation. The homily is written in standard late West-Saxon with little indication of its provenance. Ker points out that several conspicuously southeastern spellings occur in the later additions and corrections to the manuscript, and both Ker and Godden (pp. xxxii–xxxiii) suggest the southeast for the origin and early preservation of the manuscript. An early date of composition for the anonymous items in F, including In die Sancto Pasce, has been suggested by Pope I 23, and Scragg, , ‘The Corpus of Vernacular Homilies …,’ 242 and n. 3.Google Scholar

4 For the relationship between F and other Ælfrician manuscripts see Pope I 22–24; and Godden xxxi–xxxiii. As Pope notes, thirty-four of the fifty-five items in F are from Ælfric's Catholic Homilies, two are from the Lives of Saints, and five are for the five Fridays in Lent.Google Scholar

5 The anonymous Easter homilies in F (Ker item 38 arts. 28–32) have been edited by Schaefer, , An Edition of Five Old English Homilies …, and are considered as a group in my thesis on the traditions of Palm Sunday in Anglo-Saxon England. Other anonymous homilies in F include a version of the ‘Sunday Letter,’ Ker art. 4, ed. Napier, A. S., ‘Contributions to Old English Literature 1: An Old English Homily on the Observance of Sunday,’ An English Miscellany Presented to Dr. Furniuall, edd. Ker, W. P. and Napier, A. S. (Oxford 1901) 356–62; and a group of Rogationtide homilies (Ker, arts. 35–37), edd. Bazire, Joyce and Cross, James E., Eleven Old English Rogationtide Homilies (Toronto Old English Series 7; Toronto 1982) 3–55. All references to the Rogationtide homilies are to this edition, by page and line number.Google Scholar

6 Godden 150–60; see below pp. 120–21 for a collation with Ælfric's homily. TITLE: IN DIE SANCTO PASCE margin] Apocrifum. 2. Easter] over erasure. 3. ϸisum] one page is missing. 6. mihte] ‘mihte’. 7. deaÐe] over erasure. 8. tælmete] tælmete ‘strængde’. 11. forheold] heold ‘gægde’. 12. bebead] ne bebead followed by caret, right hand margin ‘ϸurh ϸæs deofles lare’. 13. hreowe] hreow ‘sunge’. 18. ariend] ariende ‘e’. helpend] helpend ‘e’. And 2] ‘and’. 19. dæge] dæg ‘e’. and on] and ‘he’ on. 32. wurÐungdæg] wurÐung ‘e’ dæg. 37. heofon] ‘heofon’. 40. gesette] gesett ‘e’. 43–44. ræste]> reste. 45. dæg ure] dæg ‘e’ ure over erasure. 45–46. Drihten ws gefullodhe ge] superscript final lines of the page F. 46. dæg] dæg ‘e’. 74–75. heora] heor'a'. 76. se, se<.>. 77. Isaiam] isaiam's'. 88–92. Se æresta … alysde] underlined in pencil, Parkerian? 98. ϸicgan] ϸwn'c'gan, n partially erased. 99. beo] underlined. He halgode … twynung (I. 132) marked in margin; right-hand margin, pag. 10 versum 2 pencil, In Libello impresso, sixteenth-century hand in red pencil. COLLATION WITH K 101. and ϸus cwæÐ] ϸus cweÐende. 103–4. ϸæt biÐ] ϸæt Ðe biÐ. 105. Eft syÐÐan ϸa apostolas] ϸa apostoli. 106. to husle and wín] and wín to husle. eft siÐÐan. 107. ealle bisceopas and sacerdas] and ealle sacerdas. 117. bletsunge] F omits: Nu smeadon gehwilce men oft. and gyt gelóme smeagaÐ. hu se hlaf ϸe biÐ of corne gegearcod and Ðurh fyres hætan abacen. mage beon awend to cristes lichaman. oÐÐe ϸæt wín Ðe biÐ of manegum berium awrungen. weorÐe awend ϸmrh ænigre bletsunge to drihtnes blode; Nu secge we swilcum mannum. ϸæt sume Ðing sind gecwedene be criste ϸurh getacnunge. sume Ðurh gewissum Ðinge; SoÐ ϸing is and gewiss. ϸæt crist wæs of mædene acenned. and silfwilles Ðrowade deaÐ. and wæs bebyriged. and on Ðisum dæge of deaÐe arás; He is gecweden hláf ϸurh getacnung. and lamb. and leo. and genú elles; He is hlaf geháten. for dan hé is ure líf. and engla; He is lamb gecweden. for his unscaeÐÐignysse; Leo for Ðære strencÐe. ϸe he oferswiÐde ϸone strangan deofol; Ac swa Ðeah æfter soÐum gecynde. nis crist naÐor ne hlaf. ne lamb. ne leo; Hwí is Ðonne ϸæt halige husel gecweden cristes lichama. oϸϸe his blód. gif hit nis soÐlice ϸæt ϸæt hit gehaten is; (Godden 152/86–153/101). 111. modum] mo<.>d<.>um. 113. halgunge] u over erasure. COLLATION WITH K 109. ϸurh heora mæssanl Ðurh sacerda mæssan. 113. gastlice, gastlicere K, gastlice E M. 113–14. Haden cild pe man fullaÐ] hæÐen cild biÐ gefullod. 114–18. ne bryt hyt… gastlice mihte] K, ac hit ne bret na his hiw wiÐutan. Ðeah Ðe hit beo wiÐinnan awend; Hit bid gebroht synfull ϸurh adames forgægednysse to Ðam fantfæte. ac hit biÐ aÐwogen fram eallum synnum wiÐinnan. ϸeah Ðe hit wiÐutan his híw ne awende; Eac swilce ϸæt halige fantwæter ϸe is gehaten lífes wylspring. is gelic on híwe oÐrum wæterum. and is underϸeod brosnunge. ac ϸæs halgan gastes miht genealæhÐ ϸam brosniendlicum wætere. Ðurh sacerda bletsunge. and hit mæg siÐÐan lichaman and sawle aÐwean fram eallum synnum. Ðurh gastlicere mihte; (Godden 153/107–16). 118. mihte] F omits Efne nu we geseoÐ twa ding on Ðisum anum gesceafte. sefter soÐum gecynde. ϸæt wæter is brosniendlic wta. and sefter gastlicere gerynu hæfÐ halwende mihte; Swa eac gif we sceawiaÐ ϸæt halige husel sefter lichamlicum andgite. ponne geseo we ϸæt hit is gesceaft. brosniendlic and awendedlic; Gif we Ða gastlican mihte Ðæron tocnawaÐ. Ϸonne undergyte we ϸæt Ðær is líf ón. and forgifÐ undeadlicnysse Ðam ϸe hit mid geleafan picgaÐ; Micel is betwux ϸære ungesewenlican mihte ϸæs halgan husles. and ϸam gesewenlican hiwe agenes gecyndes; Hit is on gecynde brosniendlic hláf. and brosniendlic wín. and is sefter mihte godcundes wordes. soÐlice cristes lichama and his blód. na swa Ðeah lichamlice. ac gastlice; Micel is betwux ϸam lichaman ϸe crist on drowade. and dam lichaman pe to husle biÐ gehalgod; Se lichama soÐlice Ðe crist on Ðrowade wæs geboren of Marian flsesee. mid blode. and mid banum. mid felle. and mid sinum. on menniscum limum. mid gesceadwisre sawle gelíffsest. and his gastlica lichama Ðe we husel hataÐ is of manegum cornum gegaderod buton blode. and bane. limleas. and sawulleas. and nis for Ði nan Ðing ϸæron to understandenne lichamlice. ac is eall gastlice to understandenne; Swa hwæt swa on Ðam husle is pe us lífes edwist forgifÐ. Ϸset is of Ðære gastlican mihte. and ungesewenlicere fremminge; For Ði is ϸæt halige husel gehaten gerynu. for Ðan Ðe oÐer Ðing is Ðseron gesewen. and oÐer Ðing undergyten; ϸæt ϸæt Ðær gesewen is hæfÐ lichamlic híw. and ϸæt ϸæt we Ðæron understandaÐ hæfÐ gastlice mihte; Witodlice cristes lichama Ðe deaÐ Ðrowade. and of deaÐe arás. ne swylt næfre heononforÐ. ac is ece and unÐrowiendlic; Ϸæt husel is hwilwendlic. na éce; Brosniendlic. and biÐ sticmælum todled; Betwux toÐum tocowen. and into Ðam buce asend. ac hit biÐ peahhwseÐere sefter gastlicere mihte. on ælcum dæle eall; Manega underfoÐ ϸone halgan lichaman. and he biÐ swa Ðeah on ælcum dæle eall sefter gastlicere gerynu; ϸeah sumum men gesceote læsse dæl. ne biÐ swa Ðeah na mare miht on Ðam maran dæle ponne on dam læssan. for Ðan Ðe hit biÐ on æghwilcum menn ansund sefter Ðære ungesewenlican mihte; ϸeos gerynu is wedd. and híw. cristes lichama is soÐfæstnyss; Dis wed we healdaÐ gerynelice. oÐ ϸæt we becumon to Ðsere soÐf æstnysse. and Ðonne biÐ ϸis wedd geendod; SoÐlice hit is swa swa we r cwædon cristes lichama and his blód. na lichamlice. ac gastlice; Ne sceole ge smeagan hu hit gedón sy. ac healdan on eowerum geleafan ϸæt hit swa gedon sy; (Godden 153/117–154/158). 126. swutelunge, ‘ge’ swutelunge. 128. swutelunge] ‘ge’ swutelunge. COLLATION WITH K 120–21. ϸa æfter ϸær béne hi gestodon] æfter Ðære bene gestodon. 121–22. on Ðam weofde an cild] an cild on Ðam weofode ϸe se mæssepreost set mæssode. 122. mid numsexe] mid handsexe. 124. geat and ϸa] ageat. Eft Ða Ða. 125. amend sona to] awend to. 127. we rædaÐ ϸæt Sanctus] sehal ga. 128. micle swutelunge be ϸam halgan husle] embe his gerynu. micele seÐunge. 129. husle tweonigendum] husle mid twynigendum. 129. ϸa ab æd se halga Gregorius] and gregorius begeat. 132. blodig] geblodgod. 132. sona gerihtlæceÐ] Ða gerihtlæced. 132. gerihtlæced] the extracts from Ælfiic end here. 135. pur fæsten] ‘ϸur’ fæsten. 138. gedafenaÐ] ‘men Ða leofestan’ margin. 139. andswarigende] andswarigend'e'. 148. swa] swa ‘dus’. 152. ponne cwyÐ] ϸonne underlined. 159. eall] eal. 161. swa] swa ‘geϸuht’. 164. hehstan] hehstan ‘and ϸam æÐelestan’. 165–66. swa wæÐer swa] ‘swa’ <s> wæÐer ‘swa’. 166–67. he laÐaÐ] h'g'elaÐaÐ. 172. mid heahsittendum] underlined. 175. ϸæt] <… r?>. reste. 45. dæg ure] dæg ‘e’ ure over erasure. 45–46. Drihten ws gefullod … he ge] superscript final lines of the page F. 46. dæg] dæg ‘e’. 74–75. heora] heor'a'. 76. se, se<.>. 77. Isaiam] isaiam's'. 88–92. Se æresta … alysde] underlined in pencil, Parkerian? 98. ϸicgan] ϸwn'c'gan, n partially erased. 99. beo] underlined. He halgode … twynung (I. 132) marked in margin; right-hand margin, pag. 10 versum 2 pencil, In Libello impresso, sixteenth-century hand in red pencil. COLLATION WITH K 101. and ϸus cwæÐ] ϸus cweÐende. 103–4. ϸæt biÐ] ϸæt Ðe biÐ. 105. Eft syÐÐan ϸa apostolas] ϸa apostoli. 106. to husle and wín] and wín to husle. eft siÐÐan. 107. ealle bisceopas and sacerdas] and ealle sacerdas. 117. bletsunge] F omits: Nu smeadon gehwilce men oft. and gyt gelóme smeagaÐ. hu se hlaf ϸe biÐ of corne gegearcod and Ðurh fyres hætan abacen. mage beon awend to cristes lichaman. oÐÐe ϸæt wín Ðe biÐ of manegum berium awrungen. weorÐe awend ϸmrh ænigre bletsunge to drihtnes blode; Nu secge we swilcum mannum. ϸæt sume Ðing sind gecwedene be criste ϸurh getacnunge. sume Ðurh gewissum Ðinge; SoÐ ϸing is and gewiss. ϸæt crist wæs of mædene acenned. and silfwilles Ðrowade deaÐ. and wæs bebyriged. and on Ðisum dæge of deaÐe arás; He is gecweden hláf ϸurh getacnung. and lamb. and leo. and genú elles; He is hlaf geháten. for dan hé is ure líf. and engla; He is lamb gecweden. for his unscaeÐÐignysse; Leo for Ðære strencÐe. ϸe he oferswiÐde ϸone strangan deofol; Ac swa Ðeah æfter soÐum gecynde. nis crist naÐor ne hlaf. ne lamb. ne leo; Hwí is Ðonne ϸæt halige husel gecweden cristes lichama. oϸϸe his blód. gif hit nis soÐlice ϸæt ϸæt hit gehaten is; (Godden 152/86–153/101). 111. modum] mo<.>d<.>um. 113. halgunge] u over erasure. COLLATION WITH K 109. ϸurh heora mæssanl Ðurh sacerda mæssan. 113. gastlice, gastlicere K, gastlice E M. 113–14. Haden cild pe man fullaÐ] hæÐen cild biÐ gefullod. 114–18. ne bryt hyt… gastlice mihte] K, ac hit ne bret na his hiw wiÐutan. Ðeah Ðe hit beo wiÐinnan awend; Hit bid gebroht synfull ϸurh adames forgægednysse to Ðam fantfæte. ac hit biÐ aÐwogen fram eallum synnum wiÐinnan. ϸeah Ðe hit wiÐutan his híw ne awende; Eac swilce ϸæt halige fantwæter ϸe is gehaten lífes wylspring. is gelic on híwe oÐrum wæterum. and is underϸeod brosnunge. ac ϸæs halgan gastes miht genealæhÐ ϸam brosniendlicum wætere. Ðurh sacerda bletsunge. and hit mæg siÐÐan lichaman and sawle aÐwean fram eallum synnum. Ðurh gastlicere mihte; (Godden 153/107–16). 118. mihte] F omits Efne nu we geseoÐ twa ding on Ðisum anum gesceafte. sefter soÐum gecynde. ϸæt wæter is brosniendlic wta. and sefter gastlicere gerynu hæfÐ halwende mihte; Swa eac gif we sceawiaÐ ϸæt halige husel sefter lichamlicum andgite. ponne geseo we ϸæt hit is gesceaft. brosniendlic and awendedlic; Gif we Ða gastlican mihte Ðæron tocnawaÐ. Ϸonne undergyte we ϸæt Ðær is líf ón. and forgifÐ undeadlicnysse Ðam ϸe hit mid geleafan picgaÐ; Micel is betwux ϸære ungesewenlican mihte ϸæs halgan husles. and ϸam gesewenlican hiwe agenes gecyndes; Hit is on gecynde brosniendlic hláf. and brosniendlic wín. and is sefter mihte godcundes wordes. soÐlice cristes lichama and his blód. na swa Ðeah lichamlice. ac gastlice; Micel is betwux ϸam lichaman ϸe crist on drowade. and dam lichaman pe to husle biÐ gehalgod; Se lichama soÐlice Ðe crist on Ðrowade wæs geboren of Marian flsesee. mid blode. and mid banum. mid felle. and mid sinum. on menniscum limum. mid gesceadwisre sawle gelíffsest. and his gastlica lichama Ðe we husel hataÐ is of manegum cornum gegaderod buton blode. and bane. limleas. and sawulleas. and nis for Ði nan Ðing ϸæron to understandenne lichamlice. ac is eall gastlice to understandenne; Swa hwæt swa on Ðam husle is pe us lífes edwist forgifÐ. Ϸset is of Ðære gastlican mihte. and ungesewenlicere fremminge; For Ði is ϸæt halige husel gehaten gerynu. for Ðan Ðe oÐer Ðing is Ðseron gesewen. and oÐer Ðing undergyten; ϸæt ϸæt Ðær gesewen is hæfÐ lichamlic híw. and ϸæt ϸæt we Ðæron understandaÐ hæfÐ gastlice mihte; Witodlice cristes lichama Ðe deaÐ Ðrowade. and of deaÐe arás. ne swylt næfre heononforÐ. ac is ece and unÐrowiendlic; Ϸæt husel is hwilwendlic. na éce; Brosniendlic. and biÐ sticmælum todled; Betwux toÐum tocowen. and into Ðam buce asend. ac hit biÐ peahhwseÐere sefter gastlicere mihte. on ælcum dæle eall; Manega underfoÐ ϸone halgan lichaman. and he biÐ swa Ðeah on ælcum dæle eall sefter gastlicere gerynu; ϸeah sumum men gesceote læsse dæl. ne biÐ swa Ðeah na mare miht on Ðam maran dæle ponne on dam læssan. for Ðan Ðe hit biÐ on æghwilcum menn ansund sefter Ðære ungesewenlican mihte; ϸeos gerynu is wedd. and híw. cristes lichama is soÐfæstnyss; Dis wed we healdaÐ gerynelice. oÐ ϸæt we becumon to Ðsere soÐf æstnysse. and Ðonne biÐ ϸis wedd geendod; SoÐlice hit is swa swa we r cwædon cristes lichama and his blód. na lichamlice. ac gastlice; Ne sceole ge smeagan hu hit gedón sy. ac healdan on eowerum geleafan ϸæt hit swa gedon sy; (Godden 153/117–154/158). 126. swutelunge, ‘ge’ swutelunge. 128. swutelunge] ‘ge’ swutelunge. COLLATION WITH K 120–21. ϸa æfter ϸær béne hi gestodon] æfter Ðære bene gestodon. 121–22. on Ðam weofde an cild] an cild on Ðam weofode ϸe se mæssepreost set mæssode. 122. mid numsexe] mid handsexe. 124. geat and ϸa] ageat. Eft Ða Ða. 125. amend sona to] awend to. 127. we rædaÐ ϸæt Sanctus] sehal ga. 128. micle swutelunge be ϸam halgan husle] embe his gerynu. micele seÐunge. 129. husle tweonigendum] husle mid twynigendum. 129. ϸa ab æd se halga Gregorius] and gregorius begeat. 132. blodig] geblodgod. 132. sona gerihtlæceÐ] Ða gerihtlæced. 132. gerihtlæced] the extracts from Ælfiic end here. 135. pur fæsten] ‘ϸur’ fæsten. 138. gedafenaÐ] ‘men Ða leofestan’ margin. 139. andswarigende] andswarigend'e'. 148. swa] swa ‘dus’. 152. ponne cwyÐ] ϸonne underlined. 159. eall] eal. 161. swa] swa ‘geϸuht’. 164. hehstan] hehstan ‘and ϸam æÐelestan’. 165–66. swa wæÐer swa] ‘swa’ wæÐer ‘swa’. 166–67. he laÐaÐ] h'g'elaÐaÐ. 172. mid heahsittendum] underlined. 175. ϸæt] <… r?>.' 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7 Archbishop Parker's interest in Ælfric's Sermo de sacrificio in die Pascae is discussed by Leinbaugh, T. H., ‘Ælfric's Sermo de Sacrificio in Die Pascae: Anglican Polemic in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,’ Anglo-Saxon Scholarship: The First Three Centuries, edd. Berkhout, C. T. and Gatch, M. McC. (Boston 1982) 5168. See also Page, R. I., ‘The Parker Register and Matthew Parker's Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts,’ Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society 8 (1981) 1–17.Google Scholar

8 Professor Cross first indicated the importance of memory to homilists' methods of composition in ‘The Literate Anglo-Saxon — On Sources and Disseminations’ (Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture) Proceedings of the British Academy 58 (1972) 67100 (86–93).Google Scholar

9 See above p. 117.Google Scholar

10 The phraseology of the homilist's description is reminiscent of many of the brief vernacular accounts of creation; see, for example, Ælfric's De Initio creaturæ in The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church: The First Part, Containing the Sermones Catholici, or Homilies of Ælfric, ed. Thorpe, B. (London 1844) I 14/2729. All references to the First Series of the Catholic Homilies are to this edition, by page and line number.Google Scholar

11 See, for example, pseudo-Bede, Quaestiones super Genesim, PL 93.257.Google Scholar

12 See, for example, pseudo-Isidore, De ordine creaturarum liber 10.1, PL 83.938: ‘… etiam terrae ejus habitatio iisdem cuncta feliciter absque ullo labore ministraretur … .’ For a discussion of the use of this text by Old English writers see Cross, J. E., ‘De Ordine Creaturarum Liber in Old English Prose,’ Anglia 90 (1972) 132–40.Google Scholar

13 See, for example, pseudo-Isidore, De ordine creaturarum liber 10, PL 83.938–42.Google Scholar

14 See also Wulfstan's Sermo de cena Domini in The Homilies of Wulfstan, ed. Bethurum, D. (Oxford 1957) 236/1819. Bethurum provides the source for this homily in her Appendix 1, 367–73. The equivalent of ‘7 Ðurh deofles lare breac forbodenes’ (236/19) does not appear in the source.Google Scholar

15 Gregory, , Moralia in Job 4.27.44, PL 75.661 (cf. Gen. 3.8–24).Google Scholar

16 The Prose Solomon and Saturn and Adrian and Ritheus, edd. Cross, J. E. and Hill, T. D. (McMaster Old English Studies and Texts 1; Toronto 1982) 7072. All references to The Prose Solomon and Saturn and Adrian and Ritheus are to this edition, by page number.Google Scholar

17 Cross and Hill 70–72. For a further discussion of the age of resurrection see Gatch, M. McC., ‘MS Boulogne-sur-Mer 63 and Ælfric's First Series of Catholic Homilies,’ Journal of English and Germanic Philology 65 (1966) 482–90 (486–87).Google Scholar

18 Cross, and Hill, 7072.Google Scholar

19 Rome, MS, Vat. Reg. lat. 76, saec. viii–ix, fol. 47v, reads: ‘Qua aetate factus est Adam, id est, xxx quia non erant parentes ut nutirent eum.’ See also MS Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale 11561 fol. 19r. Professor Cross discusses the importance of the so-called Irish Reference Bible in ‘Towards the Identification of Old English Literary Ideas — Old Workings and New Seams,’ Proceedings of the Kalamazoo Symposium (1985 for 1983).Google Scholar

20 Hill, T. D., ‘The Seven Joys of Heaven in Christ III and Old English Homiletic Texts,’ Notes and Queries 214 n.s. 16 (1969) 165–66. The paucity of vocabulary to describe earthly paradise in Old English makes it likely that motifs for heavenly paradise were adopted; see Roberts, Jane, ‘A Preliminary “Heaven” Index for Old English,’ Sources and Relations: Studies in Honour of J. E. Cross, edd. Collins, Marie, Price, Jocelyn, and Hamer, Andrew; Leeds Studies in English n.s. 16 (1985) 208–19 (211–12).Google Scholar

21 Hill, 165–66; Bazire, and Cross, 11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

22 Bazire, and Cross, 12.Google Scholar

23 Lines 6–7 are based on the ‘x without y’ formula but show contamination from other sources; see above p. 125.Google Scholar

24 For the complete list see Levy, I., ‘La Recommandation du Vendredi,’ Mélusine 4 (1888–89) 133–35; see also 204–5 The manuscript is dated saec. xv. by Omont, H., ‘Catalogue des mss. celtiques et basques de la Bibliotheque Nationale,’ Revue Celtique 11 (1890) 389–423 (405). I am grateful to Charles D. Wright for this information. Another undated list is printed by Douglas Hyde in Religious Songs of Connacht (London and Dublin 1906) II 218–19.Google Scholar

25 Carney, M., ‘The Works of the Sixth Day,’ Ériu 21 (1969) 148–66. The list is taken from the end of the poem; text 158, translation 163.Google Scholar

26 Levy, , 133: ‘Au jor dou vendredi ocist Chayn Abel son frère. Au jour [sic] dou vendredi entrerent li fil Israel en terre de promission. Au jor dou vendredi fu mors Moyses li prophetes el mont de Albaron.’ See also Moland, L., ‘Calendrier français du treizième siècle,’ Revue archéologique n.s. 5 (1862) 87104. The list appears on 104.Google Scholar

27 Moland 103–4; for a discussion of the dies males see Henel, H., ‘Altenglischer Mönchsaberglaube,’ Englische Studien 69 (1934–35) 329–49. See also Hyde, , Religious Songs II 220–21.Google Scholar

28 The Pembroke collection, Cambridge, MS, Pembroke College 25, is discussed by Professor Cross in ‘An Unpublished Story of Michael the Archangel and Its Connections,’ Magister Regis: Studies in Honor of Robert Earl Kaske, edd. Groos, A. et al. (New York 1986) 2335. The list appears on fol. 72r–v .Google Scholar

29 See redaction IIId in Silverstein, T., Visio Sancti Pauli (Studies and Documents 4; London 1935) 195. The list appears after a lengthy Sunday List, which suggests the automatic association of the two lists in later tradition.Google Scholar

30 The near relative of the list of the Evils of the Sixth Day, the Sunday list, also has a core of common items; see my ‘The Sunday Letter and The Sunday Lists,’ Anglo-Saxon England 14 (1985) 129–51.Google Scholar

31 A similar question also appears in the prose Solomon and Saturn; see Cross, and Hill, 28.Google Scholar

32 Discussed by Cross and Hill 129; see also Ælfric's De Passione Domini (Godden 148/323 – 149/334). A variant example of the Evils of the Sixth Day can be found in a homily attributed to Eusebius of Alexandria; see MacCulloch, J. A., The Harrowing of Hell (Edinburgh 1930) 180, and PG 62.722: ‘Et quod mirum est, dilecti, sexta die Adamum formavit Dominus, et sexta die ille ex paradiso ejectus est. Ideo Dominus sexta die paradisum aperuit et latronem induxit.’ Google Scholar

33 This item is excluded only from ‘The Works of the Sixth Day’ and the Pembroke list.Google Scholar

34 Joseph is sold for twenty, not thirty, pieces of silver (line 24); this is an error probably occurring in the transmission of Roman numerals, or influenced by Judas' price for Christ.Google Scholar

35 The Sunday Lists and the Sunday Letters are discussed by Whitelock, D., ‘Bishop Ecgred, Pehtred and Niall,’ Ireland in Early Mediaeval Europe: Studies in Memory of Kathleen Hughes, edd. Whitelock, D., McKitterick, R., and Dumville, D. (Cambridge 1982) 4768; and Lees, , ‘The Sunday Letter’ 129–51.Google Scholar

36 Lees, , ‘The Sunday Letter’ 139–40 (tables 1–5).Google Scholar

37 See ibid. 148; the two lists are the Epistil Ísu , ed. and trans. O'Keefe, J. G., ‘Cain Domnáig,’ Eriu 2 (1905) 189214, and McNally II, ed. McNally, R. E., ‘Dies Dominica,’ Scriptores Hiberniae minores (CCL 108b; Turnhout 1973) 183–84.Google Scholar

38 See above, pp. 118–19, lines 48–65.Google Scholar

39 See, for example, Haymo, , Expositio in Apocalypsin 2, PL 117.1009; and Bede, , Explanatio Apocalypsis 1, PL 93.143–44.Google Scholar

40 The mulier of this verse is usually identified with the Church; see Bede, , Explanatio Apocalypsis, PL 93.165. For a discussion of the pictorial evidence for the identification of Mary with the woman of the Apocalypse, see Cross, J. E., ‘The Virgin's Quia Amore Langueo,’ Studies Presented to Tauno F. Mustanoja on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday, Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 73 (1972) 3744 (43–44).Google Scholar

41 See Lees, , ‘Sunday Letter’ tables 3 and 4.Google Scholar

42 See Lees, , ‘Sunday Letter’ table 4. The Irish List which also includes this item is McNally III, ‘Dies Dominica’ 185–86.Google Scholar

43 Lees, , ‘Sunday Letter’ 145. The other list which includes this item is pseudo-Wulfstan LVII, ed. Napier, A. S. in Wulfstan: Sammlung der ihm zugeschriebenen Homilien nebst Untersuchungen über ihre Echtheit, I: Text und Varianten (Berlin 1883) 291–99.Google Scholar

44 Lees, , ‘Sunday Letter’ 145.Google Scholar

45 Lees, , ‘Sunday Letter’ tables 1–5.Google Scholar

46 The motif of the nine ranks of angels, ultimately derived from pseudo-Dionysius, is common in Old English. It is known to Isidore, Etymologiae 7.5.4, PL 82.272; and Gregory, , Hom. 34 in Evang. 7, PL 76.1249–50. Gregory's homily is the source for Ælfric's Dominica III post Pentecosten (Thorpe 342–44), identified by Förster, M., ‘Über die Quellen von Ælfrics exegetischen Homiliae Catholicae,’ Anglia 16 (1894) 4 § 46. See also Genesis B, without identification of the ranks, in The Junius Manuscript , ed. Krapp, G. P. (Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records 1; New York 1931) 10/246–51.Google Scholar

47 Willard, , ‘The Apocryphon of the Seven Heavens’ 630.Google Scholar

48 For the identification of palms with victory see, for example, Ælfric's In Dominica Palmarum (Thorpe 218/1–17). The homily on the Assumption is edited by Tristram, H., Vier altenglische Predigten aus der heterodoxen Tradition (Kassel 1970) 127/2022. Tristram also prints the source, Transitus Mariae B, 128/23–24: ‘Ecce, inquit, ramum palmae; de paradiso tibi attuli.’ Google Scholar

49 The most recent and most general survey of the Harrowing of Hell in Old English literature is Jackson Campbell, J., ‘To Hell and Back: Latin Tradition and Literary Use of the “Descensus ad Inferos” in Old English,’ Viator 13 (1982) 107–58.Google Scholar

50 The Blickling Homilies , ed. Morris, R. (EETS os 58, 63, 73; London 1874–80, repr. as one vol. 1967) 85/3–9. All references to the Blickling Homilies are to this edition, by page and line number. Blickling Homily 7 provides important evidence for the dissemination of the theme of the Harrowing: the relationship between the Cerne fragment, The Book of Cerne, ed. Kuypers, A. B. (Cambridge 1902) 196–98, pseudo-Augustine, sermo 160, PL 39. 2059–61; and Blickling Homily 7 was first noted by Förster, M., ‘Altenglische Predigtquellen I,’ Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen 116 (1906) 301–14. For a subsequent discussion of Blickling Homily 7 see Campbell 136–38.Google Scholar

51 Campbell (158) makes a similar observation about the relationship of the vernacular accounts of the Harrowing to the Gospel of Nicodemus. The manuscript of the Gospel of Nicodemus generally regarded to be the oldest and most reliable is the Codex Einsidlensis, MS Einsiedeln Stiftsbibliothek 326, ed. by Kim, H. C., The Gospel of Nicodemus (Toronto Medieval Latin Texts 2; Toronto 1973). All references to the Gospel of Nicodemus are to this edition, by page and line number.Google Scholar

52 See, for example, Ælfric's De initio creaturæ: ‘and Crist on Ðære hwile to helle gewende, and Ϸone deofol gewylde, and him of-anám Adám and Euan, and heora ofspring, Ϸone dl Ðe him ær gecwemde’ (Thorpe 26/35–28/3). Ælfric consistently uses this kind of phraseology to refer to the Harrowing (see Thorpe 216/26–32 and 228/1–6), even though his views on the Apocrypha are well known; see, for example, Gatch, M. McC., Preaching and Theology in Anglo-Saxon England: Ælfric and Wulfstan (Toronto 1977) 1415.Google Scholar

53 The speeches of Eve, for example, re-work Biblical passages concerning Eve; see Dumville, D., ‘Liturgical Drama and Panegyric Responsory from the Eighth Century? … of The Book of Cerne,’ Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 23 (1972) 374406 (382); and Cross, J. E., ‘The Use of Homilies in The Old English Martyrology,’ Anglo-Saxon England 14 (1985) 107–28 at 117–20.Google Scholar

54 See Campbell, 119.Google Scholar

55 Kim 36/13–18. The various translations into Old English of the Gospel of Nicodemus are edited and discussed by Hulme, W. H., ‘The Old English Version of the Gospel of Nicodemus,’ Publications of the Modern Language Association 13 (1898) 457541; and ‘The Old English Gospel of Nicodemus,’ Modern Philology 1 (1904) 579–614. The Advent Antiphons are discussed by Burlin, R. B., The Old English Advent: A Typological Commentary (New Haven 1968) especially 157 and n. 6.Google Scholar

56 Kim 41 § 3/7–12. The Junius Descent homily was first and most comprehensively ed. Raynes, E. M. (Edwards), Unpublished Old English Homilies (Oxford D. Phil. diss. 1955) 7286. The homily has been printed by Luiselli Fadda, A. M., “‘De Descensu Christi ad Inferos”: Una inedita omelia anglosassone,’ Studi Medievali 13 (1972) 998–1011. All references to the Junius Homily are to this edition, by page and line number. Further editions are by Schaefer, An Edition of Five Old English Homilies 141–67; and Downs, Y., An Edition of An Old English Easter Day Homily on the Harrowing of Hell (Manchester M.A. diss. 1980). See Fadda 1010/197–201: ‘ϸa cwædan hi, “Hwæt is ϸes wuldres cyning?” Ne cwædan hig hit na Ðy ϸæt hi nystan hwæt he wære, ac hi wundrigende ϸæt cwædan be him. Dsa answeredan heom ϸa halgan 7 ϸus cwædan, “Hit is ælmihtig Drihten. He is wuldres cyning 7 he Ðas herehuÐe of helle generede.”’ The ultimate source for this passage, Ps. 23.10, is noted by ÐRaynes.Google Scholar

57 See, for example, The Monastic Breviary of Hyde Abbey, ed. Tolhurst, J. B. L. (Henry Bradshaw Society 70; 1933) fols. 99v and 106v. This psalm is also used in the service to consecrate a church; see The Pontifical of Egbert , ed. Greenwell, W. (Surtees Society 27; 1853) 30–31.Google Scholar

58 See, for example, the Three Utterances homily where Satan is described: ‘Se liÐ innan helle gebunden onbæc mid fyrenum raceteagum’ (Willard, , ‘The Apocryphon of the Seven Heavens’ 25, lines 14–15).Google Scholar

59 See, for example, Hulme, , ‘The Old English Gospel of Nicodemus’ 606.Google Scholar

60 Schaefer 168–69; Emmerson, R. K., Antichrist in the Middle Ages: A Study of Medieval Apocalypticism, Art, and Literature (Seattle 1981) 21 and note 25. See also Gregory, , Moralia in Job 4.9.16, PL 75.646.Google Scholar

61 Campbell 114–25 discusses the Biblical ‘evidence.’ Isaiah 27.1 is another important verse for the identification of Leviathan with the devil.Google Scholar

62 Jocelyn Price notes the traditional association of the devil with Leviathan (amongst others) in The Virgin and the Dragon: The Demonology of Seinte Margarete,' Sources and Relations 337–61 (338 and n. 7). She has also informed me that Aldhelm uses the word Leviathan for devil in his prose De virginitate ; Lapidge, M. and Herren, M., trans., Aldhelm: The Prose Works (Cambridge 1979) 109. The Old Norse version of the Harrowing, NiÐrstigningarsaga, contains an interpolated passage describing the devil as a serpent encompassing the world and swallowing the bait offered by Christ; see Aho, G. H., ‘NiÐrstigningarsaga: An Old Norse Version of Christ's Harrowing of Hell,’ Scandinavian Studies 41 (1969) 150–59; and Marchand, J., ‘Leviathan and the Mousetrap in the NiÐrstigningarsaga,’ Scandinavian Studies 47 (1975) 328–38.Google Scholar

63 Woolf, R., ‘Doctrinal Influences on the Dream of the Rood,’ Medium Ævum 2728 (1958–59) 143 and note 17. See also Illustration 15, Leviathan as hell-mouth (saec. xii), in Boase, T. S. R., Death in the Middle Ages: Mortality, Judgement and Remembrance (London 1972) 27; and Illustration 1, taken from the Liber Floridus, of Antichrist seated upon Leviathan, in Emmerson, Antichrist in the Middle Ages. Google Scholar

64 Krapp, , The Junius Manuscript 153/57378.Google Scholar

65 MacCulloch, , The Harrowing of Hell 146–48.Google Scholar

66 MacCulloch, 148–49.Google Scholar

67 See, for example, Bückling Homily 7 (Morris, 8297).Google Scholar

68 This technique is also found in an anonymous Old English Rogationtide homily: Homily 11 (Bazire and Cross 141/50–143/105).Google Scholar

69 úngeféan (line 141) provides a neat contrast to on ϸpa ecan gefean (line 168), describing the joys of heaven.Google Scholar

70 The wording of the Vulgate differs slightly, however: ‘Venite, benedicti Patris mei, possidete paratum vobis regnum a constitutione mundi.’ Google Scholar

71 The thousand-year duration of the Day of Judgement (see lines 159–61), probably based on Apoc. 20.3 with 2 Pet. 3.8, is rare but not unusual in homiletic material. For examples see Catéchèses celtiques, ed. Wilmart, A. (Studi e Testi 59; Rome 1933) 36, line 34, and Robinson, Fred C., ‘The Devil's Account of the Next World: An Anecdote from Old English Homiletic Literature,’ Studies Presented to Tauno F. Mustanoja 365.Google Scholar

72 Bazire and Cross provide a useful summary of the theme of the terrors of Doomsday on 137–38.Google Scholar

73 Godden, M. R., ‘An Old English Penitential Motif,’ Anglo-Saxon England 2 (1973) 221–39 (222).Google Scholar

74 Godden, , ‘An Old English Penitential Motif’ 238–39.Google Scholar

75 Fadda, , “‘De descensu Christi ad Inferos”’ 1000/59–60.Google Scholar

76 Tristram, , Vier altenglische Predigten 164/62–64.Google Scholar

77 Godden, , 'An Old English Penitential Motif 221–22. Irish examples of the motif are found in the Tokens of Doomsday and the Tripartite Life of Patrick; see Stokes, Whitley, ‘The Fifteen Tokens of Doomsday,’ Revue Celtique 28 (1907) 323–24, 49, and The Tripartite Life of Patrick , ed. Stokes, (Rerum Britannicarum Medii Aevi Scriptores; London 1887) I 118–19.Google Scholar

78 It is clear that these extracts are taken from Ælfric and not his sources: see Förster, M., ‘Über die Quellen von Ælfrics exegetischen Homiliae Catholicae’ § 130, § 139; Rosenthal, C. L., The Vitae Patrum in Old and Middle English (Philadelphia 1936) 5859; Godden, M. R., ‘The Sources for Ælfric's Homily on St. Gregory,’ Anglia 86 (1968) 88. Leinbaugh is most suggestive about Ælfric's use of the sources; see ‘Ælfric's Sermo de Sacrificio in Die Pascae’ 51–68.Google Scholar

79 See the collation above, pp. 120–21.Google Scholar

80 The lines in the Sermo depend on an understanding of the corruptible nature of the water, which is transformed by the power of the Holy Ghost, through the blessing of the priest. The reviser, in simplifying, lessens the impact of this complex change.Google Scholar

81 See Ælfric's comments about the transmission of the Catholic Homilies, for example, Thorpe 8/9–16; see also Gatch, , Preaching and Theology 15.Google Scholar

82 Other vernacular homilies for Easter deal with the Harrowing of Hell, some linking it typologically with the Last Judgement, some with the Resurrection. See, for example, Blickling Homily 7 (Morris 82–97); and an anonymous homily in MS Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 41, ed. Hulme, , ‘The Old English Gospel of Nicodemus’ 610–14.Google Scholar

83 See above, pp. 128–33.Google Scholar

84 A similar reminder of the importance of Easter is found in the final theme of the Last Judgement, lines 151–54.Google Scholar

85 A reminder of the typological association of Christ and Adam, together with an exhortation to penitence, concludes the theme of the Harrowing (lines 86–93; cf. 1 Cor. 15.47) and enables the homilist to introduce the section on the Mass. The homilist has already mentioned Adam and Christ (lines 67–70), and this linking is also implicit in the list of the Evils of the Sixth Day, see above, p. 129. A Biblical quotation (lines 137–38; cf. Eccl. 3.33) and a few general comments on penitence preface the theme of the Last Judgement, concluding the section on the Mass (lines 133–38).Google Scholar

86 The formulation of lines 133–38 is standard to many anonymous homilies: see Vercelli 14 and 16, Vercelli Homilies IX–XXIII, ed. Szarmach, P. E. (Toronto Old English Series 5; Toronto 1981) 30/6971 and 46/155–58. For the use of Biblical quotations in passages of penitence in Old English homilies see, for example, Rogationtide Homily 10 (Bazire and Cross 133/71–72); and Nativitas Sanctae Mariae Virginis, in Angelsächsische Homilien und Heiligenleben , ed. Assmann, B. (Bibliothek der ags. Prosa 3; Kassel 1889, repr. 1964) 36/304–5 (cf. Eccl. 3.33).Google Scholar

87 See Godden, xxxiixxxiii and lxii.Google Scholar

88 See, for example, Richards, , ‘Innovations in Ælfrician Manuscripts at Rochester’ 1326.Google Scholar

89 As suggested by Richards, 1326.Google Scholar

90 N. Brooks discusses the impact of the Reform at Canterbury in The Early History of the Church of Canterbury (Studies in the Early History of Britain; Leicester 1984) 255310.Google Scholar