Ælfric of Eynsham

The oldest sample in writing of Old Dutch happens to be scrawled in the margin of a manuscript stored in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The manuscript in which it sits is a copy of the Homilies of Ælfric of Eynsham.

Ælfric (c. 955 – c. 1010) was English and educated as a Benedictine. When the abbey of Cerne was finished, Ælfric was sent to teach the Benedictine monks there. While there he became friends with the abbey's chief benefactor, the ealdorman Æthelmær the Stout, and Æthelmær's father, Æthelweard.

While at Cerne, Ælfric thought to write series of homilies, he says because he found errors in existing writings.

I Ælfric, monk and mass-priest, ..., was sent, in king Æthelred's day, from bishop Ælfeah, Æthelwold's successor, to a minster which is called Cerne, at the prayer of Æthelmær the thane, whose birth and goodness are known everywhere. Then it occurred to my mind, I trust through God's grace, that I would turn this book from the Latin language into the English tongue; not from confidence of great learning, but because I have seen and heard of much error in many English books, which unlearned men, through their simplicity, have esteemed as great wisdom: and I regretted that they knew not nor had not the evangelical doctrines among their writings...

After writing two series of homilies, he wrote three works to help students learn Latin, basing a Latin grammar on the works of Priscian and Donatus. He wrote a grammar, a glossary (with words in groups by subject, not alphabetical order), and a colloquy, a conversational work to help students learn to speak Latin naturally.

He then wrote a Lives of the Saints, attached to which are two more homilies, including De falsis deis ("on false gods"). This work discusses the ongoing battle between Christianity and the religious beliefs of the native Anglo-Saxons and the Danish invaders. It tries to put the pagan beliefs into a Christian framework.

The "of Eynsham" that is usually attached to his name came about when Æthelmær asked him in 1005 to become the first abbot of a new monastery created by Æthelmær, at Eynsham in Oxfordshire.

Tomorrow I want to share some of the details in his writings. In the meantime, you can read some yourself with the Latin and a Modern English translation side-by-side at the Gutenberg Project.