Aelfric and the Cult of Saints in Late Anglo-Saxon EnglandThe 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. |
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Aelfric and the Cult of Saints in Late Anglo-Saxon England Mechthild Gretsch No preview available - 2009 |