Ælfric
probably came from a parish near
Winchester where there is the
Cathedral and at the time of Aelfric, a
Benedictine Abbey. By the
time Aelfric joined the abbey it was
under the rule of Aelthelwold.
Aelthelwold was a reforming clergyman
who was a follower of the
Benedictine Rule. When he first went to
Winchester he was shocked by
the behaviour of the monks. Writing 40
years later Aelfric described
them as drunken and riotous with wives
and children!
Aethelwold
saw in Aelfric a right-thinking monk
and taught him carefully so that
he in turn could take on
responsibilities. When he was about
thirty
he was sent to Cerne Abbey in Dorset to
help establish the Rule of
Benedict in the way Aethelwold wished.
It was there that he did most
of his writing as well as teaching.
Aelfric saw his main purposes as
writing to instruct, and teaching. It
has been said that he brought
to his teaching a combination of
gentleness, severity and
artistry.
He
was very keen that his pupils should
know their Latin. They came from
English speaking
homes and therefore had to work
hard to learn a new language. Aelfric
did his best to make his
learning pleasant. He wrote a basic
Latin Grammar on traditional
lines as well as a list of
Latin/English words, rather like a
vocabulary/phrase book. The services
the monks attended were in Latin
so they needed to be able to
follow.
His
most famous book, the
Colloquy,
is written in both Latin and Anglo-
Saxon English. A colloquy means a
conversation and Aelfric's Colloquy
consists of conversations between
a master and his pupils, taking the
role of different tradesmen and
involving grammar, syntax and
vocabulary. It also had to be learnt by
heart.
Amongst
his other writings was 'The Lives of
the Saints' borrowing on the
writings of Augustine, Jerome, Gregory
the Great and Bede.
Aelfric
was sent to Eynsham to be its first
Abbot, when it was given its
foundation Charter in 1005. There had
been a place of worship in
Eynsham for many years but the holy men
who had been there had fled
from the Vikings when they came up the
Thames. Aethelmaer who gave
the money for the foundation of the
Abbey was a relative of the royal
family of the time and he bought and so
that the Abbey could have an
income from the rents of the lands. As
part of his preparation of the
monks for the new Abbey, Aelfric wrote
them a letter explaining how
he had come to be made Abbbot over them
and what he expected from
them, setting out his interpretation of
the Benedictine Rule.
Although he was serious about the
keeping of the Rule, he was not
severe. He also implied in his letter
that they had it easier than he
had had in his day. What's new!
Aelfric
died around 1010 when he was about 53
years old. The exact date is
not known, but there are no more of his
writings after that
date.
English
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