/2 Studies in Earlier Old English rose SIXTEEN ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS EDITED BY PAUL E. SZARMACH STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS Mere : Purs,, 15]os [2005Il King Alfred’s Letter as a Source on Learning in England in the Ninth Century Jennirer Morris Ascto-saxonists Have pousren the ultimate credibility of King Alfred's famous prose composition which precedes his translation of the Cura Pasoralis! Suspicion that his assessment of the state of learning in his time is excessively harsh in the text has nevertheless filed to prevent scholars from regarding the source 25 more of less reliable But to acept Alired's account of earning with so itl resistance isto ignore the literary form of the ext the purpose for which it appears to have been composed, and the written soures it echoes, The willingness to adopt Alfeed's bleak view has also impeded recognition ofthe important evidence which contradicts his asess- ment, The purpose of this short paper is to stimulate a more balanced approach to the problem of interpreting Alfred's lewer. I shall begin by examining the eter a literary text; [shall then identify qualifications which (believe) that evidence outside the letter itself places on Alfred's evaluation of learning * ‘The prose text which Alfted included before his tanslation of the Pasoral Care isnot a“preface” ot “Foreword” to Gregory's treatise, nor ist Preeminently a report trating of the state of learning in England, as the title given toe in Sweets Reader implies Ie san independent eter which stands before the translation something like a covering form-leuer. The text opens With a formula of greeting, ingredients of which appear in other Old English 878 JENNIFER Monssy documents of the period: “Alfred kyning hated gretan ... his wordum luflice ond freondlice: ond Be cyBan hate Bat... ” (tl. 1-2).8 According tg Wanley, one of the oldest surviving manuscripts of che text, London, RL. Cotton Tiberius B.xi, a copy which would appear not to have been distributed, preserved a lacuna in the salutation for the name of the addressee.® Before this manuscript was severely damaged in the fire of 1731, Wanley also noted that it contained a list of the bishops to whom copies of Alfeed's translation had been sent. In the earliest manuscripe of Alfred's leer and translation to survive intact, Oxford, Bodleian Library Hatron 20, che letter is addressed to Warferth of Worcester, the third bishop after Plegmund and Swithulf mentioned in the list of recipients that Wanley found in Tiberius B.xi.8 The paleography of Hatton 20 attests to the independence of Alfred’s letter from the translation it accompanies; it was copied on a separate bifolium immediately preceding the first quite of the translation, and the hand in which ehe letter was written docs not recur in the manuscript. Asa prose composition, Alfred's letter is a hortatory epistle which has two fanctions. Ie was designed both to explain the educational policy which Alfred wishes to adopt and also to encourage approval for that plan from the bishops to whom the letter is addressed. Afterall they were the ‘ones who were to be largely responsible for implementing the policy. ‘The primary objective of Alfred's educational policy was to teach a curriculum of Latin texts in English translation to speakers of the vernacu- lar. Certain texts had been translated from Latin into English before Alfred's time to ensure that they were fully understood and to maximize their dissemination, Bede stated that those Christians with no knowledge of Latin should be made to learn the Creed and the Lord's Prayer “sua lingua." Cuthbert records that Bede himself translated the Gospel of John and excerpts from Isidore into English, the former meant “ad utilitatem ecclesiae dei,” the latter for Bede's pupils.%° Ac the opening the Council of Cloveshoh in 747, letters from Pope Zacharius were read aloud in Latin and, for the benefit of those present, “in nostra quoque lingua apertius interpretata sunt.”"" The tenth decree of the same Council permitted priests to learn the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the services of Mass and Baptism in English. By the ninth century, two Mercian writers, Cynewulf and the author of the Old English Martyrology, were translat- ing texts based on Latin homily and saints’ legend, 3 Moreover, there were contexts in which the vernacular had always been preferred to Latin. King Athelberht of Kent modelled his code of laws “iuxta exempla Ro- ‘manorum” but wrote it “Anglorum sermone."# Like his predecessors, King Alfred concerned himself with the pub- lication in English of basic texts of practical and spiritual necessity. In the law code which he issued he maintained the traditional use of the vernaci- | | | King Alfie's Letter 89 Jar. It has been conjectured that part of the Anglo-Saxon prose psalter contained in the cleventh-century Paris manuscript, BN lat. 8824, traces jus origin t0 translation of the psalms which William of Maliuesbury tells 1s Alfred began. ‘5 What distinguishes King Alfred's interest in cranslation from that of his predecessors is that he also desired to provide English- speaking students with a corpus of translations of works of Latin litera- ture. The kind of books Alfred envisaged in the curriculum is indicated by the lst of translations attributed to him or to his helpers: the Consolation of Philosophy of Bocthius, the Dialogues of Gregory, the History of Orosius, and the Soliloquies of Augustine. William of Malmesbury wrote of Alfced’s achievement: “... plurimam partem Romanae bibliothecae Anglorum au sibus dedi." Whether other genuine translations of Alffed's existed which prompted William’s assessment remains an unanswered question, No less crucial to a program of education than a curriculum are students, Alfred wished instruction in reading the vernacular to be given to the sons of all freemen of sufficient means (II. 56—64).17 In his conviction that people distinct from those in holy orders and familiar only with English needed to know the contents of Latin texts, we find the most striking of Alfred's innovative ideas. Once students had mastered the reading of English, those whom their teachers wished to promote to holy orders were to be taught to read Latin (11. 64-66). ‘To translate Latin texts into English and to implement his scheme of education, Alfred needed assistance. His desire to encourage his bishops to give him their help accounts for the hortatory tone of his message to them Alfred's letter contains two explicitly hortatory sentences: For bon ic be bebiode det bu do swar ic geliefe But du wille, Bat bu Be dissa woruldbinga to dem geametige, swe Bu oftost mage, bet Bu Done wisdom be Be God sealde ber beer Bu hiene befestan mage, beleste (Il. 22-25). Fordy me byncd betre, gifiow sw byncd, Bet we eac sumat bec, babe niedbeBear- fosta sien callum monnum to wiotonne, dat we da on Bet gebiode wenden Be we calle geenawan mazgen ... (Il, 36-59). 8 Alfred further encourages the bishops’ support by describing how he, the king, has managed to inaugurate the program of translation by rendering the Cura Pastoralis in English, an undertaking which, he does not fal to convey, meant considerable studying for him beforehand (Il. 68-77). Should verbal exhortations and stimulating example be insufficient to muster support for the policy he is recommending, Alfred offers his bishops a third compelling incentive in the work he is sending them, The text is Gregory's treatise on pastoral duty which asserts repeatedly that bishops have the responsibility to teach.2” Each copy of the Pastoral Care Alfved distributes is to be accompanied, moreover, by an “estel,” an object whose90 Jennirer Mons, nature we cannot positively identify but whose value we are told is consider. able at fifty mancuses (Il. 78~79). The significance of the “sxstel” was to indicate to recipients the value Alfred attached to the book." It is with the intention of justifying the policy he is actively promot ing that Alfred considers learning in the past and in his own time, Conse- quently the assertions he makes about the state of contemporary learning. are subordinate to his purpose in writing, a factor which must be borne in mind when estimating the historical veracity of his statements. To prove the necessity of education Alfred offers two arguments. He indicates that blessed times of a byegone age depended upon the existence of learned men “xgder ge godcundra hada ge woruldcundra” (I1. 3-4), and he suggests that the failure of the people of his own era to acquire knowledge hhas resulted in their being punished with the attacks of the Danes (1. 25— 29). To prove the necessity for education in the vernacular, Alfred offers the single argument that little choice can be had in the matter. He implies that the desolate state in which he found Anglo-Latinity by 874, the year of his accession, has continued to the time of his writing (I. 42-49), a condition of learning which, he suggests, the Danes’ total devastation of the places containing books (11. 3032) has aggravated. To prove the desirability of translating texts into the vernacular, Alfred cites a precedent for his proposal in the translations made by every other Christian people (11, 50-56). There is, as Alfred says, “thanks be to Almighty God,” some supply of teachers ¢o implement the educational policy (11. 20-22) Allfred’s statements about past and present learning form an effective argument in favor of the plan he is advocating. But scrutinized more closely, they seem persuasive rather than factual. Alfred makes generaliza- tions of such a magnitude that they inevitably strain belief. This is es- pecially crue of the statements he offers as his personal testimony. When Alfred describes the absence of Latin learning in 871, he writes Swe clane hio was oBfeallent: on Angeleynne dat swide feawa weeron behionan Humbre Se hiora deninga cuden understondan on Englisc obbe furbum an ‘erendgewrit of Ledene on Englise areccean; ond ic wene dette noht monige begiondan Humbre naren, Swe feawa hiora warron Bat ic furbum anne anlepne ne imag gedencean be suban Temese ba ba ic to rice feng (11. 14-20). Alfred asks us to accept the application of his statement to parts of England south of the Humber, north of the Humber, and south of the ‘Thames, in other words to the whole of the country, on the basis of the phrases “ic wene,” mere ascertainment, and the even weaker, “ic. . ne mag gedencean.” As a king in the south of England, Alfred would no doubt have been well acquainted with the land south of the Thames, thoneh whether he could have enumerated every literate individual living King Alfied’s Later oI even in that area is questionable. But Alfred could hatdly have known the rest of the country with anything like the thoroughness needed to make an accurate assessment of learning in those parts. When Alfred considers the destruction wrought by the Danes, he recalls of England “ser Saem be hit call forhergod ware ond forbemed, hu ba ciricean giond call Angeleynn stodon mabma ond boca gefylde” (Il. 31-32).23 As we shall sec, the evidence of surviving manuscripts and of communities which escaped destruction or recovered from it suggests that Alézed mast be exaggerat~ ing in his implication that the Danes left behind chem a charred and churchless England, Both these passages are remarkable pieces of persua- sive rhetoric. The first repeats the emphatic phrases “swa clene,” “swide feawa,” and “furbum an,” “furdum anne.” The second passage repeats the word al” and employs the hyperbolic gefylde” to create an impression of vast loss. But the claims Alfred is making arc too sweeping to be convincing * = oo No less damaging to the credibility of Alfied’s appraisal of learning in his time is the extent to which his leter is a mosaic of borrowings from ‘written sources, as Klacber demonstrated in 1923.25 Alfred’s account of the tot blessed age (1. 2-10) is indebted to he passage in the Historia Ecle siastca 1V2, in which Bede contemplates Theodote’s spreading the Gos Aen Aled blames be jess fo ncer vag wins ems allowing others to prize it (11. 25~27), he recalls the attitude of the Pharisees in the Gospel of Matthew 23:13. When he accuses his people of being Christians m name only (I, 27-29), he echoes a set found in Aue gusting, and more immediately, in Isidore.?° His command to his bishops to tenth wisn whcever they migh (2-25) auco none ga larly expressed in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:I4ff.) and the Rule of Chrodegang.?” The passage in which Alfred imagines the generation before him recalling their ancestors (11. 364) reiterates a biblical thought when it identifies prosperity as the concomitant of wisdom,?* The meta- phoric use of the word “swad” in the passage (1. 38) is reminiscent of the Historia Ecclesiastca (V3 and Gregory's Dialogues 1.9.3 Alfred's explanation of his method of translation (11. 71-72) “translates a well-known Latin tag,"° There are also numerous borrowings from the Pastoral Care itself in Ale’ Lat Because certs remarks which Alfed makes his own ime are echoes of carlier literature rather than straightforward reporting of temporary dense he seracy ws Hr eee cated into question. Moreover, learning cannot have been altogether destroyed in tench cary if lied ca poy lear alas edn se bereft of books and learned men # Furthermore the fact that Alffed addressed letters to Weerferth an Mp sig then to price nthe progea of anda opie that a traon of Latin lating had never died m Mercia The Bitho of2 JesnTren Monnise, Worcester was responsible for a translation of Gregory’s Dialogues. Peg. mand, who was said by Asser to be endowed with wisdom, was another Mercian; he became Archbishop of Canterbury during Alfred's reign. ike the vast generalizations and the literary borrowings in the text, Alfred's appeal to the Mercian bishops convinces us of the need to examine his letter alongside other evidence for the state of leaming in ninth-century England. ‘Most important is the evidence of the Latin manuscripts copied in England during the ninth century which survive ¢o the present day. So far | hhave found seventeen: 1 London, BL, Cotton Vespasian B.vi, fols. 104-10 Poetical Martyrology, Epochs chiefly in relation to the building and destruction of Solomon’s temple, Table of Epochs, Commonplace notes on the measurements of famous buildings, the Hebrew names of the months, weights, values of coins, measures, the ages of man, e cetera, Seven hexameter verses on the names of the days of the week, Lists of Popes, Names of 72 disciples of Christ, Lists of English bishops, Genealogies of English kings 805-14, Mercia; Additions, circa 838; probably the See of Lichfield's 2 Cambridge, University Library, LL1.10, the “Book of Ceme,” fols. 2-99 Exhortation to prayer in the vernacular, Extracts from the four Gos- pels, The Athelwald acrostic, Prayers and hymns, Breviate psalter, ‘On the harrowing of hell 818-30;2° Earlier glosses to Lorica of Lathcen, fols. 43—44v probably added 818-30;37 Manuscript probably copied at Lichfield ‘Might have been at Come Abbas, Dorset, sec. xviit* 3. Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 426, fols. 1-118 Philippus, Commentary on the Book of Job, Books I-I «circa 838-47, Winchester or Sherborne; ® some marginal glosses and corrections by the hand of the text or a contemporary hand At St. Augustine's, Canterbury, saec. xiv 4 London, BL, Cotton Domitian vii, fols. 15-45 ‘The Liber vitae of Durham circa 840, Lindisfarne® ‘At Chestersle-Street after 875; at Durham after 995, 5. Oxford, Bodleian Library, Digby 63, fols, 1-87 Easter tables followed by computistical texts King Alred’s Letter %3 867-92, Archdiocese of York*” ‘At Winchester circa 1000 London, BL, Harley 7653, fols. 1-7 Prayers London, BL, Harley 2965, the “Book of Nunnaminster,” fols. 1-41 Extracts from the Gospels, Prayers sae. ix, frst quacter The manuscrip belonged to Queen Ealhswith (. $05) and subsequently to the convent of Nunnaminster which she founded in Winchester fol 40, ten lines in a space at the for of this page contain boundaries of land in Winchester belonging, to Ealhswith saee. ix", Winchester!? Oxford, Bodleian Library, Hatton 93, fols, 2-41 ‘The exposition of the Mass known as “Primum in ordine” saee, ix, first quarter® At Worcester saec. xii, still at Worcester 16224 Salisbury, Cathedral Library 117, fols. 163-64 + Oxford, Bodleian Library, Lat. Bibl. c. 8 (P) + Geneva, Dr. M. Bodmer Collection S.N. (olim Cheltenham, Phillips Collection 36183) Numbers, Deuteronomy (Fragment) sae, i, fest quarter'® At Salisbury saec, xiii Cambridge, University Library, Additional 3330 + Oxford, Bodleian Library, Lat. Th. d, 24, fols. 1-2 and Don. fol. 458 + London, British Library, Additional 50485 K + Germany, Aachen, Dr. Peter Ludwig (clim Wilfrid Merton Collection 41) + United States, New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University Library 401 (olim Phillipps 8071) and 410A (olim Phillips 20688, fols. 9-10), and Philadelphia, Philadelphia Free Library, J.B Lewis Collection, Text Leaves, no. 121 Aldhelm, De laude vitginitats Read saec. ix, first half"? London, BL, Cotton Tiberius C.i, fols. 3-157 Bede, Historia Feclesiastica save, ix}, Archdiocese of Canterbury! Wile, KR We dd EM, ‘Wertarielic pitied b> Hecidiia'S: Gee 34 Jenstree Morris Latin-Old English glossaries probably added to the tables of chapters of Books I, Il, I, and at the end of Book 1V, sac. ix"? 12 London, BE, Royal 1.E.vi,fols. 1-77 + Oxford, Bodleian Library, Let, Bibl. b. 2 (P) + Canterbury, Cathedral Library, Additional MS. 16 Sospels, Acts of the Apostles (18:27—21:12) saec. ix, Archdiocese of Canterbury ACSt. Augustine's, Canterbury, saec. xiv? 13, London, BL, Royal 2.A.xx, fols. 2-5 Extracts from the Gospels, Prayers saec, ix Brst bal, 5 In Mercia, saec. x!, at Worcester, 16225 14 Paris, BN lat. 10861, fols. 1-123 Lives of Saints saec, ix first hal€, § ‘At Cathedral of Beauvais, sec, xii )* 15 Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 307, fols. 1-52 Felix, Vita Guthlaci saec, ix second half, §* 16 Bem, Biirgerbibliothek 671, fol. 74v ‘Two Alfred acrostics added saec. ix®* to a copy of the Gospels produced in Cornwall saee. ix beg.,5° ‘The manuscript was in the Church of Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, sae. x, in France, saec. xixii, subsequently in the library of Pierre Daniel of Orleans (@, 1603), possibly by way of Fleury or some neighboring 17 London, BL, Royal 5.Fii, fols. 1-40 Aldhelm, De laude virgnitatis sae. ix end,s® At Worcester, 162289 ‘Three observations can be made on the list of manuscripts. The first is that the number of ninth-century codices which have survived to the present day obviously must have existed in Alfred's time. Nor can the manuscripts copied in the ninth century have been the only books avail- able in the period, since the seventh- and eighth-century Anglo-Saxon manuscripts which have survived in England to our time must have existed in Alfred's. There were probably many more codices available in King Aljed’s Leuer 95, the ninth century which were subsequently lost in the later Middle Ages. Both the evidence Ker adduces and also the sucvival of so many fragments of Anglo-Saxon books in later medieval bindings indicate that such man- tuscripts Were particularly vulnerable co mutilation or destruction because the script in which they had been written was obsolete. What we can prove or surmise about the number of codices available in che ninth century undermines Alfred's generalization (I, 30~32) that all the books were burned by the Vikings. Secondly we may observe that the codices being copied in the ninch century were predominantly personal books or books containing sophisti- cated or unusual texts. Four manuscripts (nos. 2, 6, 7, and 13) were for the use of individuals in private prayer. They testify to the rapid development that was taking place in the tradition of private devotion and in the making of books for that purpose in the first third of the ninth century. Because no. 16 is a pocket gospel book, it probably belonged for some time to an individual. No. 5 is one reader's personal collection of computistical texts, The Commentary of Philippus on the Book of Job (no. 3), hardly a treatise to be ranked among the books most necessary for all men to know, implies the existence of a scholarly audience with a developed interest in scriptural exegesis. Aldhelm’s seventh-century Praise of Virginity (nos. 10 and 17) was composed in hermeneutic style, a Latin complicated in vocabulary and syntax.*? The copying of this text at the beginning (no. 10) and especially atthe end (no. 17) of the ninth century presupposes a continu- ity throughout the period of a readership whose Latin was sufficient to understand the text, While contradicting Alfred's view that learning had died in the ninth century, the nature of the Latin texts that survive from the period also implies that libraries must have had copies of more fundamental texts of general interest, If basic needs had not already been supplied, scribes would hardly have devoted energy and time to copying personal books and books containing specialist texts. The third observation we should make is that manuscripts were being copied in all parts of England in the ninth century. We know that two ‘manuscripts are Northumbrian in origin (nos. 4 and 5), that at least two were copied in Mercia (nos, 1 and 2), and that ewo come from the Southwest (nos. 3 and 16), Eleven manuscripts were produced in unknown locations in the southern half of England (nos. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 17). The ‘geographical distribution of the places in which books were copied indicates that learning was not confined to one region only. Beside the ninth-century manuscripts which contain contemporary ad ditions, there are nine earlier Latin codices to which additions were made in the ninth century, providing us with further evidence that Latin manuscripts were being read in the period. ® The charters offer additional evidence that laymen as well as clerics could96, Jensiree Moneisy, read Latin in the ninth century, Archbishop Walfted’s confirmation of the will of Aldorman Oswulf and his wife, Beombry®, which is dated betwoen 805 and 810, stipulates that the deacons of Christ Church must read “roe, passione” for the soul of Oswulf and ewo for Beombryb's soul. The “twa passione” are taken by Harmer to be “passages in the Gospels natrating Christ's passion.” The “Codex Aureus” inscription, which is thought to have been added to the manuscript see. ix", recounts Aldorman Alfred's donation to Christ Church of books bought “zt haednum herge.”® Alized gave the books “to diem gerade Bax heo mon arede eghwele monade for Aclfted 7 for Werburge 7 for Alhbryde.... ” (p. 12, 11. 25-27). Harmer has noted the use in the inscription of the plural of the word “boc,” and asks whether this is to be interpreted to apply to the four Gospels of the “Codex Aureus," or whether we are “to suppose that the Codex Aureus ‘was only one of a number of books recovered by Earl Alfred, and pre- sented by him to Christ Church.”¢? The latter is the more intriguing, if the less likely, explanation because it would indicate that the reading interests of the inhabitants of Christ Church extended beyond the Bible, possibly to the kinds of books King Alfted says filled the churches before the Danish attacks and remained inaccessible to most readers because they did not know Latin (11, 33-36). A text of 824 recording an exchange of land between Archbishop Wulfted and the familia at Christ Church asserts that the familia gave the Archbishop land at Barham and Suithberhtineglond in Kent “cam omnibus usis ad eam rite pertinentibus ct in se habentibus cum codem libertate quam in antiqua kartula cernentibus adscripta dino- scitur...."“8 The “discerning” are presumably those who could read the script and the Latin in which landbooks, ancient in 824, would have been written. A record of the Council of Cloveshoh in 824 states that Archbishop Wulfeed offered the assembly the charter proving his ttle to land at Easole "ad legendum."* Possibly the most interesting instance of reading men- tioned in the charters involves a layman, albeit a high-ranking one, and not a cleric. An authentic text of 897 preserved in Hemming’s cartalary observes that “AeDelwulf venerabilis dux recitavie et investigavit hereditarios libros Cenwalf regis.. ..”7° The word “recitare” means “to read out, to recite” but in the context of the charter the meaning of “read” is required, Aithelwulf consulted Cenwalf’s charters to determine the conditions under which land pertaining to Winchcombe might be leased. The landbooks of Cenwulf, who was the Mercian king during the years 7962821, were written in Latin. Evidence that Athelwulf did not stop at proper names but actually read the Latin prose of Cenwulf’s charters is provided by his finding the complicated terms under which the land in question could be granted In spite of the evidence that people read, translated, and copied Latin in the period, the ninth century produced no Englishman, with a minot exception, who employed Latin as a language for literary composition as King Alfied’s Letter 7 Aldhelm had used it in the seventh century and as Bede, Boniface, and ‘Aleuin had used it in the eighth. The exception, of course, is Ethelwulf, whose poem De ABhatibus was composed between 603 and 821.7 On the other hand, che ninth century is better represented than either che seventh century oF the eighth in what might be termed pragmatic Latin, the language ax used in charters and documents to record transactions of business.7? While most ofthe charters that survive as originals or contemporary copies belong to the carly and the middle years of the ninth century, the hand&il of documents that have been assigned to the later part of the century, together with the late authentic texts preserved in the cartularies, indicate thae prag matic Latin was employed throughout the period,”® The lack of contempo- rary Anglo-Latin prose makes the question of evaluating the ninth-century charter Latin problematic because we have no contemporary standard by which to judge the orthodoxy of given constructions. The charter Latin is often perplexing, sometimes inscrutable, but what remains striking amidst the inflicitous grammar is the consistency with which nouns and verbs are placed into the declensions and the conjugations to which they were tradi~ tionally assigned by the grammarians of antiquity. The ability of the authors ‘of the charters to recognize the traditional categories of nouns and verbs is significant. In the eighth century the grammatical teaching of Boniface had identified nouns and verbs as the fundamental components of language. “Partes orationis primus Aristoteles duas fertur tradidisse,” he wrote in his ‘opening remarks in his Grammar, “deinde Donatus octo definivit, sed omnes ad illa duo principalia revertuntur, idest nomen et verbum. . .” The Lati- nity of the writers of the charters implies that their priorities were rooted in such a principle as Boniface had cnunciated and that a tradition of learning. Latin survived in the ninth century, however tenuous that suevival might have been.” ‘The exaggeration in Alfred's letter is not limited to his remarks on Jeaming, Contrary to his assessment of the Viking devastation as total, we have no evidence that western Mercia was severely plagued by Ivar and Halfdan in the 870's.?6 Moreover, communities can be nastied which appar ently escaped the Vikings. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us that the “mare mynster” which Wilfrid had buile at Ripon stood until 948 when it was bumed by King Eadred.”” Among the contents of Hemming’s cartlary, there are authentic texts which span the ninth century in date and record ‘Worcester asthe beneficiary of land or a party in agreements or disputes; chey argue that Worcester remained intact throughout the period. Winehcomnbe in Gloucestershire was the “proprietary monastery” of the Mercian royal house and the repository for the family’s landbooks.” As we have noted, Achelwulf consulted those records at Winchcombe in 897 which suggests that the foundation had survived the ninth century. The authority upon which the ninth-century destruction of Much Wenlock in Shronshine &. Lent98, JENNIFER Moreisy, is evidently Tanner's Notitia Monastica in which we read, “it was destroyed by the Danes, but restored by Leoffic earl of Chester fomp. Ed, Conf. "7° § say that che destruction took place in a time prior to Edward the Confessor (1003-66) is not ¢o specify that the time was the nmth century. A contem= poraty chirograph of 901, on the other hand, proves that the community was functioning at the opening of the tenth century because it records Much Wenlock as entering into an exchange of lands with the rulers ofthe Mercians, A®theleed and thelfled.6? It is most probable that the commu. nity survived the ninth century. The chirogeaph demonstrates that know. edge of Much Wenlock’s past had certainly survived, for the Mercians are said to have given the community a chalice in honor of Mildburg, She was virtwally the founder of Much Wenlock following its inception circa 686 ‘When Asser describes the lack of interest which Alffed’s countrymen took in the regular life, he claims that many monastic buildings survived in spite of the decline in the way of lie. Probably these establishments were suficienty carly in date to have existed through the years of the Viking attacks because one may infer from Asser chat they were constructed in an age considerably prior to Alfred's founding of a monastery at Athelney some time after his sictory there in 878: in quo monasterio [Athelney] diversi generis monachos undique congregavit [Alfred] et in eodem collocavit, Nam primicus, quia nullum de sua propria gente nobilem ac liberum hominem, nisi infantes, qui nihil bon eligere nec mal respuete pro teneritudine invalidae aetats adhue posstnt, qui monasticam voluntarie vellet subire vitam, habebac, nimiram {quia per mula retroacta annorum curricula monasticae vitae desiderium ab illa tora ‘gente, nec non et a mulks ais gentibus, funditus desierat, quamvis perplurima adhe rmonasteria in illa regione consinucta permaneant, nullo tamen regulam illius vitae ‘ordinabiliter tenente, nescio quare, aut pro alicnigenarum infestationibus, qui ‘saepissime terra marique hostilite igrumpunt, aut etiam pro nimia ilius gents in ‘omni genere divitiarum abundantia, propter quam multo magis id genus despectae ‘monasticae vitae fri existime. .. 8" Not only does this passage inform us of the existence of foundations apparently built in an earlier age, but it also provides us with the interest- ing detail that Asser considered excess wealth to have had a more detri- mental effect than the Vikings upon monasticism. Although the inhabitants of these establishments which survived were not of a discipline Asser thought regular, they could well have had manuscripts at their disposal and fostered an interest in learning. Apart from mentioning these foundations, Asser also draws attention to the monasteries “in omni Saxonia ct Mercia”®? which received a portion of Alfied’s revenues, and to the monasteries of Congresbury and Banwell which he received from Alfred before 887. Asser gives us no indication of the age of these instita- King Alfred’ Letter 99. tions oF whether they are to be included among the establishments which wp tonger preserved the strict monastic life. But because he can take note ‘fthem at all, we may conclude that they either survived the ninth century Or chey recovered or Were begun mn the years following the critical period ofthe Viking raids ‘The potential which foundations had for recovery or continuity in spite of attack is worth considering in an assessment of the effect the Danes had on learning. D.J.V. Fisher has observed that in spite of the raid fon Lindisfarne in 793, the monastery was not evacuated until 875.*° In the interim, 2 period of considerable prosperity for the foundation, the “Co- dex Lindistaenensis” was preserved and the Liber vitae of Durham was produced. Because the latter contains the arliest example we find in insular manuscripts of the acanthus leaf ornament derived from Carolingian art, ninth-century Lindisfarne cannot have reinained ignorant of developments in continental book~decoration.8® There is evidence that life went on in other places the Vikings attacked. The period 867-92 to which we can assign the Oxford computistical manuscript, Digby 63 (no. 5), implies that this codex, produced in the Archdiocese of York, was made after the Vikings turned their attention northward. Apparently copied from an exemplar originating in St. Omer or St. Bertin, Digby 63 probably shows the {fluence of continental decoration in its initials, while it remains a ste ingly carly insular manuscript to exhibit signs of the influence of Car- olingian minuscule script. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us that Canterbury was attacked by Vikings in 851; nevertheless Christ Church continued to produce charters in the second half of the ninth century. Some years after Ely was struck in 870, eight members of the community re- tured.*? The nunnery at Warcham in Dorset was attacked by Vikings in 876 When Asser describes the incursion of the Danes into the founcation, he uses tenses of verbs in identifying the nunnery and explaining its location which suggest that the convent was still functioning in 893-94.88 London, which the Vikings had occupied since 872, was recaptured by Alffed in 886 and, eodem anno,” writes Asser, “Alfred, Angulsaxonum rex, post incendiz urbium stragesque populorum, Lundoniam civitatem honorifice restau ravit et habitabilem fect. «The evidence that the destruction wrought by the Danes had not permanently crippled England is supported by Alfred himself in his leter. In his readiness to send a copy of the Cur: Pastoralis “to ‘zlcam biscepstole on minum rice” (11. 77-78), and in his admonition that the book is not to be taken “from dam mynstre” (Il. 80-81), Alfred implies that both ecclesiastical organization and buildings existed at the Hime he wrote his letter.°” ‘The evidence which denies that learning was as vestigial in the ninth ‘century as Alfred's appraisal of it suggests raises two questions. Why did Alfred want to establish a program of education, and more to the point,100 Jennie Monn why did he need to? The answer to the first question must reside partly in Alfred's attempt to adopt the method Carolingian kings had ttied of producing a peaceful, stable, and God-fearing society throngh educating the people.® Charlemagne had insisted on the responsibility of bishops and priests for teaching the people. The Admonitio Gencralis of 789 ordered the bishops to ensure that the people understood the Lord's Prayer and the prayers of the Mass and made provision for setting up schools where boys of any social cank could be taught how to read.° Charlemagne's mandate to Abbot Baugulf of Fulda shows that he was concerned moreover to improve standards of learning in the monasteries. He also evinced an interest inthe vernaculat: Einhard tells us that he had vernacular poems written down so that they would be preserved and that he compiled a vernacular grammars Like Charlemagne, Alfred would also have found administrators in literate and educated people to cope with the documentation needed to goven effectively The answer to the second question lies in remarks Alfted made in his letter on the teaching of Latin and on the supply of teachers. He had begun his program of translation when he had recognized that “lat Ledengediodes” (L 69) had decayed. “Gode xlmihtegum sie done,” he wrote to his bishops “Daztte we nu znigne onstal habbad lareowa” (Il 20-22), By the second half ofthe ninth century the problem was not the lack of literate people and of books but of teachers, particularly those familiar with the new curriculum of Latin studies being taught on the Continent which focussed on the seven liberal arts.% Alfred’s need to import teachers corroborates this hypothesis. The ninth-century gloss in the “*Vespasian Psalter” was pre- sumably used in teaching the Latin of that text, but it is the only man- uscript evidence we have relating to the teaching of Latin in the period: on the whole, the ninth-century books are copies of devotional or sophisti- cated texts used by individuals. ‘At least two reasons can be advanced for a decline in teaching. The Vikings undoubtedly had a disruptive influence on education when they attacked and destroyed communities in which teaching took place. They would certainly have cut southem England off from the developments taking place on the Continent in the Latin curriculum, But however detrimental the Vikings were to teaching, itis likely that the decline had set in before their presence became a significant problem. Boniface re- cruited many teachers from England to help him on the mission field in Germany, and the exodus continued after he died in 754.°7 The secondary and tertiary effects of this depletion of the teachers on education in England must have been severe, for the loss of one teacher would have affected scores of students, some of whom would have gone on to become teachers themselves. How few Latin scholars there were in England, and whether those were fewer than before, are intriguing issues in the study of King Alfeds Letter 101 the cultural history of the ninth century. The more important questions seem (0 be: How few, and how well-qualified were the teachers? Norss 1. In writing chs article, Iam especially gratefal to Professor J. E. Cross for cncouraging me co prepare the piece for publication and also for valuable ctivcsm on specific points. Mr. Malcolm B. Parkes has likewise given most generously of his time and has made many helpful suggestions. For valuable discussion on the list of manuscripts (sce pp. 92-94), | am indebted +o Professor Helmut Gneuss. For their comments and their encouragement, 1 should also like to thank: Nick Banton, Linda Brownrigg, Mary Clayton, ‘Tevor Morse, Elizabeth Revell, and Pamela Robinson. Iam solely responsi befor deficiencies in the article and for the views expressed therein 2, Cf. Nicholas P. Brooks, “England in the Ninth Century: the Crucible of Defeat,” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Series 5, 29 (1979), 1-20, 3. Fora detailed discussion, sce my thesis, “An Examination of Literacy and Learning in England in the Ninth Century,” submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Oxford University, 1982. 4. “On the State of Learning in England,” Sweers Anglo-Saxon Reader in Prose and Vere, rex. Dorothy Whitclock (Oxford, 1967), pp. 4-7. The line numbers in my text refer to this edition, 5. CE Abba’s will, printed Sweers Reader, rev. Whitelock, pp. 199-200, 6. Antique iteratrae Septentrionalis ber ater seu Eumphredi Wali Libram Vet. Septentrionivm . . Caalogus Histrica-Criteus. .. (Oxford, 1705) p.217, on Tiberius B.xi, sce Ker, Catalogue, no. 195 and The Pastoral Care: King Aled Translation of St. Gregory's Regula Pastorais, fac. ed. Neil R. Ker, EMP 6 (Copenhagen, 1956) 7. See Dorothy M, Horgan, “The Relationship between the O.E, MSS. of King Altied’s Translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care,” Anglia, 91 (1973), 133-69 ‘On Hatton 20, see Ker, Catalogue, no, 324 and The Pastoral Cre, fc. ed. Ken “Epistola Bede ad Eogbertum Episcopum,” Vnerabilis Bacdae Opera historic, ed. Carolus Plammer (Oxford, 199), 1,409. 10. “De obitu Bacdac,” Beedae Opera, ed. Plummer, I, chit, M1, Printed Councils and Ecclesiastical Docament relating to Great Britin end Iteland, ed. A.W. Haddan and W. Stubbs (Oxford, 1871), Il, 362. 12 Printed Councils and Ercesiasical Documents, ed. Haddan and Stubbs, Il, 366, 13. On Cyncwulf, see Kenneth Sisam, “Cynewlf and his Poetry,” Sie fn te History of Old English Literature (Oxford, 1953), pp. 1-28; Pamela O.E. Gradon, ed. Cynuif's Elene (London, 1958), pp. 9-23; Rosemary Woolf, ed Jaliana (London, 1955), pp. 1117. On the author of the Old English Mar- tyrology see Celia Sisamn, “An Early Fragment of the Old English Martyrol- ogy,” Review of English States, N.S. 4 (1953), 209-20, esp. 213; James E. ‘Cross, ““Leginus in Beclesiasticts Historiis": A Sermon for been102 JENNIFER Moris Use in Old English Prose,” Taditio, 33 (1977), 101-35, esp. 134; Das a, renglische Martyrologiun, ed. Giinter Kotzor, Bayerische Akademie day Wissenschaften, Philologisch-historische Klasse, Abhandlungen, nf, gy (1980, Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, ed. Bertram Colgrave ang Rloger] A. B. Mynors (Oxford, 1969), 15, p. 150 See Kenneth and Bertram Colgrave, EEMF 8 (Copenhagen, 1958), pp. 1 Willen: Mabsivinsis monachi de gestis regum Anglonum, Series (1887-88), I 132, See also Dorothy Whitelock, “William of Malmes. bury on the Works of King Alfred," Medieval Literature and Civilization 16. Jia Sisam, “The Psalm Texts,” in The Paris Psalter, fac of 4. W. Stubbs, Rolly | Suudier in Memory of G.N. Garmonsway, ed. Derek A. Pearsall and RAL } ‘Waldron (London, 1969), pp. 78-93 On “sped (1, 62), see Donald A. Bullough, “The Educational Tradition in England from Alfred to Afric: Teaching Utriusque linguae,” La Scuola nl ccdente latino delV'alto medioevo, Settimane di Stadio del Centro Italiano d Studi Sull'Alto Medioeva, 19 (Spoleto, 1972), 458-94, esp. 458, note 10. “And therefore [ charge you to do, as I believe you are willing, detach | ‘yourself as often as you can from the affairs of this world, to the end that ‘you may apply that wisdom which God has granted you wherever you may be able to apply it." The translation is taken from Dorothy Whitelock, “The (Old English prose and verse prefaces to King Alfted’s cranslation of Gre- gory's “Pastoral Care," English Historical Documents c, 500-1042 (London, 1985), no. 226, which I follow hereafter. ‘Tr. Whitelock, no, 226: "Therefore it seems better to me, i it seems so 10 you, that we also should tam into che language that we can all understand some books, which may be most necessary for all men to know. Allzed was not the first to recommend the Cura Pastorals as prescribed reading for bishops. See Rosamond McKitterick, The Frankish Church and the Car lingian Reforms, 789-895 (London, 1977), pp. 12-14 and 88-90. See Bruce Harbert, “King Alfted’s astel,” ASE, 3 (1974), 103-10 and the bibliography cited cher ‘Tr, Whitelock, no, 226; “So completely had they (ie. “wisdom ond lare,” 1 13) decayed in England that there were very few men on this side the Humber who could apprehend their services in English or even translate letter from Latin into English, and I think that there were not many beyond the Humber. There were so few of them that I cannot even recollect a single fone south of the Thames when I succeeded to che kingdom.” With the exception of the wording of the first principal clause, the translation it Whitelock’s, On the use of one pronoun (ce. “hio,” 1. 15) co refer to antecedents of moze than one gender, see T. Northcote Toller’s article on “he” in Av Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Base onthe Manuscript Collections of Joseph Bosworth: Supplement (Oxford, 1921), p. $12, Hl, 12~2. "Tr, Whitclock, no, 226: ".,. how, before everything was ravaged and burnt, the churches throughout all England stood filled with treasures and books. Sce FM. Stenton, Anglo-Sexon Eugland, 3rd ed. (Oxford, 1971), p. 270; foe As Ler BS BOB ee 3. Es 38 a. 38, 103 RUHLC. Davis, “Aled the Great: Propaganda and Truth,” History, 56 (1972, 169-82, esp. 175 Fricderich Klacber, "Zu Kénig Aelfeeds Voreede au sciner Ubersetzung det Gara Pastoral” Anglia, 17 (1923), 55-65, James E. Cross, "The Name and not the Deeds," The Modem Language Review, 54 (1959), 66, Klacber, "Zu Kénig Aelfeeds Vorcede,” p. 57 Klacher,p. 58. On the passage (11, 36-42), see Thomas A. Shippey, “Wealth and Wisdom in King Alfeed's Price to the Old English Pavoral Care,” English Hisorial Review, 94 (1979), 346-35, Klacber,p. $8, note 1 Dorothy Whielock, ed. Sweets Reader, p. 224, lace, pasin. On the Latinity of Cynewulf, se above p. 88 and the works cited in note 1, On the Latinity of the Martyrologist, see the article by J. E. Cross below, pp. 275-98. ‘user's Life of King Aled, tether with the Annals of Sant Neots eroncously ‘ascribed 1 Asser, ed. Willam Henry Stevenson, tex Dorothy Whitlock (Ox- ford, 1959), 77, 12 ‘The following ls is based on material presented in my thesis cited above in note 3. The reasons forthe dates and the localizations of the books an for my departures ftom views Lowe exprescd in Codices Lani Antiguores are di cussed filly there. The bibliography here is selective; full bibliographical deals can be found in my thesis aalgue of Ancewt Mamusrips in the Brisk Museum, Part If, Latin, ed. E Maunde Thompson (London, 1884), pp. 79-80; Raymond I. Page, "Anglo~ Saxon Episcopal Liss, Part land Il," Natingham Medieval Studies, 9 (1965), 11-95, sp. 74~76: André Walmart, "Un témoin anglo-saxon da calendier aétrique d'York,” Revue Benéiatine, 46 (1954), 41~69; Morrish, “An Exam- ination of Literacy and Leaming in England inthe Ninth Ceneuey,” esp. pp. 99-100, 130; Helmut Gneuss, “A Preliminary List of Manuscripts Written or Owned in England up to 1100," ASE, 9 (1981), 1-60, no. 385, Kenneth Sisam, "Canterbury, Lichfield, and the Vespasian Psalter,” Review of English Suis, ns. 7 (1936), 1-10, esp. 9-10 and by the same author, “Cynewulf and his Poctry.” Sidis in the History of Old English Literate, pp. 1-28, csp. pp. 3-6; Moctsh, esp. pp. 100-1; Gneuss, no. 28 A.B. Kuypers, ed, The Prayer Book of Acdluald the Bishop commonly called The Book of Ceme (Cambridge, 1902), p. xii; Ker, Catalogue, no. 27 Pierre Chaplais, “The Origin and Authenticiey of the Royal Anglo-Saxon Diploma," Prica Munimonta: Studies in Archival & Adwinistrative History pre- sented to Dr. AE. Hollander, e. Felicity Ranger (London, 1973), pp. 28-42, «sp. 38-39; T Julian Brown, “Late Antique and Farly Anglo-Saxon Books,” Maamseipts et Oxford: an Eshibition in Memory of Richard Wiliam Hint (1308— 1979), e4. Albina C. de la Mare and Bruce C. Barker-Benficld (Oxford, 1980), no. I, 3; Morrish, esp. pp. 91, 104, 132; Codies Latin Antiquions: A Padeecgrephical Guide to Latin Manuscripts Pro tothe Ninth entry, cE. A. Lowe, I, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1972), no, 234 and p. xi; Gneuss, no, 576,44 JENSIEER Mona Catalogue of Ancient Manns in the Brith Musca, pp. 81~845]. Steven, ea Lier sue este Duele; nec non biuara i usd ees, See Society, 13 (184), esp. vit-xit Mortis, exp. pp. 101-02, 122; Gneuis 32> Edmund Bishop, “Addenda,” The Bosworih Pate, ed. EA. Gasquet anf Eaimund Bishop (London, 158), pp. 145-78, csp. pp. 158-60; Ken, Ca | logue, no. 319; Mortish, esp. pp. 102, 132-33; Gneuss, no. 611. q Mortish, exp. pp. 104-03, 201-18; Colies Latin) Amguiors, T, no. 2g Geass, wo. 448 Mocish, esp. p. 104-05, 20118; Codie: Latin Antiguo, I, n0. 198 Key Caratoge, no, 257; Gneuss, no. 432 André Wilmart, “Exposiio Misa,” Disiomie darchélogiechrétinne a ‘igi, ed Fernand Cabrol and Henti Lecleea, 5 (1922), columns 1014-21, esp. 101416; André Wilmare, “Un trait sur la Messe copiéen Angler, vets Tan 800," Eplemares Linge, 50 (1939, 133-39, Mortis, esp p 87-91, 129, 136-37; Coes Latin: Antiguions, Ik no. 241; Gneuss, no. Catalgus liberi manescriporum Bibithcae Wigorionis, mae in 1622-102) by are Young, Librarian to King James I, ed. Wor Atking and Nel R Ke (Cambridge, 1948), p. 6, no, 223, p. 49. Morrish sp. pp 87-88, 90-92, 129, 186~37; Cader Lain’ Antigo, no 259; Gneuss, no 646 Nail R. Ker, “Salsbury Cathedral Manuscripts and Pateick Young's Cate logue,” The Wilshire Archacolegial ond Natural Hisory Magazine, 3 (1949. 50), 153-83, esp. 174 E. A. Lowe, “Membradisieeta, no 89," Reoue Bnédiine, 391927 Mortis, esp. pp. 108,128, 136-37; Gneuss, no. 857 David M. Wilson, Anglo-Saxon Omnamental Metalwork 700-1100 jn he Bris ‘Museum (London, 1964), pp. 21~35; Mortsh, esp. pp. 105-7, 131; Coie Lavi Antguiores, I, no. 19% Gnewss, no. 377 Ker, Catalog, no. 198 Wikon, AngloSexon Ornamental Metalrork, pp. 21-35; Mortsh, esp. pp 105-07, 131; CodicesLatini Antiquiors, Il, no. 2143, Gnews, no, 448 Morssh esp. pp. 10405, 201-18 and Figures 1~4; Cie: Lani Angi, 1, no, 215; Gress, no. 430 Catalogs hiboram manusrgtonan Biblitheae Wigominsis, ed. Atkin and Ke pp. 18, 35, 67 Av the request of. Cross, whois using the legendary for his work on he sources ofthe Old English Mareryology, Bernhard Bischoff commented: " in angelsichsischee Schrift geschricben ME in England (cro Pergament nd cht Vellum,” and again, ltr: In meinen flicugen (wel niche spi teressicrten) Notizen atch von siidenglischer Hand auf dem Festand chricbn auf Parchrnent, nicht Vellum) die Scheifehat mich an das Book of Cerne evinnert das wire also sacc IX'.” Professor Cross showed me bis ticrofiim ofthe manuscript, nd {have now confirm Professor Bischo"s ‘emification by studying the manuscript. Moris, esp. pp. 104,129, 135-31 Gevss 0, 898 "gig All's Later 105 4 Jonathan J G. Alexander, ilar Manseits 6h 1 the Sth Century (Condon, 1978), v0. 67 5. Bertram Colgrave, ed, Flix’ Life f Sant Guhla (Cambridge, 1956), pp. 26 77, 46-82; Morvsh, esp. pp. 108, 129, 136-37. Gncuss, ne 88 6, Onthe authorship ofthe arostcs, see Michael Lapidge, "Some Latin Pocins as Evidence for the Reign of Athelsta,” ASE, 91981), 61-98, esp. 81-83 1 am graf to Dr. Lapidge fr allowing me to ste his article in prow 57. W.M. Lindsay, Early Mesh Script (Oxford, 1912), pp. 10-16: H. D. Met, “OM English Entries in a Manuscript at Betn,” onal of Engl and Ger manic Phiblegy, 33 (1934), 343-51; Motrish, esp. pp. 102, 130-31, Ke Catalogue, no. 6: Gnas, no, 794, 58, Francs Wormald, “Decorated Intals in English MSS. from A.D. 900 «0 1100," Archaeoagia, 91 (1945), 107~35, xp. 113-14; Morris, esp. pp. 107= 03,128, 136-37; Gneuss, no. 462, 59. Catlgs ovum manusriporum Biblioteca Wigeminss, ed Atkins and Ker, pp. 18,51 67 60. Ker, Catan, p.xbx. G1 See atrck McGurk, “The lsh Pocket Gospel Book,” Sees Eni, 8 (1956), 249-70, esp. 269 (62, Michael Lapidge, “The Heemeneutic Style in Tenth-Centuey Anglo-Latin Literature" ASE, 4 (1975), 67-111 48. Cots Latni Anciguios, TI, no. 123, Malcolm B, Parkes, “The Palacogeaphy of the Patker Manuscript ofthe Chronicle, Laws and Sedulia, and tinte- riography at Winchester in the Late Ninth and Tenth Centutsea™ AGES 5 (1976), 149-71, esp. 136 and place, See alsoCLA, Il no. 133; Ker Catalogue, 0, 88, See also CLA, Ino, 193; Ker, no. 205, Se also CLA, Tl, no. 216, Ker to, 251, See also CLA, I, no 230. See also CLA, Ino. 240;Ker no. 327 See ako CLA, VI, no, 714; Ker, no. 5, See also CLA, Xl, no. 1642; Ker no. 385. See abo CLA, XI, no. 1661; Ker, no. 287 A Printed Sele English Historical Docments ofthe Ninth and Toth Centuries, Forence E, Harmer (Cambridge, 1914), no. I, p. 21.20, Pete. Sayer, Anglo-Saxon Charters: An Anvoated List and Biligaphy (Condon, 1968), no 188 65, Harmer, Selea English Hisoncal Documents, p 75, not to 120 66 Printed Harmer, no. IX, p. 12, 18-19, The page and line numbers in my text refer this edition. On the date of the inscription, see Ker, Catalogu, no 35, 67. Harmer p. 88, note toL 18 8 Printed Caraeivm Sasonicum: A Collection of Charters lating to Angle: Saxon Histo, ed. Walter de Gray Birch (London, 1885-95), no. 381; Sawyer, Anglo Sexon Chaners, no. 1266 6% Printed Bitch, no. 378; Sawyer, no, 1434 70, Printed Birch, no. 875; Sawyer no. 142 71. Alistair Campbell, ed, Ache: De Abbatibus (Oxford, 1967), p. xxit 72. On “pragmatic” literacy, se Malcolm B, Parkes, “The Literacy ofthe Laity.” Literature end stom Civilisation: The Medieval Wo, ed. Davad Daiches sed Anthony Thorlby (London, 1973), pp. 355-77, esp. » 555,2, 53, 85, Single sheets which survive from the second half of the ninth centug include: Sawyer, nos. 316, 328, 332, 388, 350, 1196, 1203, 1204 Ars Donsti Bonifecii Archiepisopi et Martyr, ed. Angelo Maio, Classic aug totes e Viticaniscodicibus edi, 7 (Rome, 1835), p. 47 For another view of the charter Latin, see Nicholas P. Brooks, “Anglo-Saroq Charters: the Work of the Last Twenty Years,” ASE, 3 (1974), 211~31, cap 2, Stenton, Angle-Sexon England, p. 271 : Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel with supplementary extracts rom the other, | John Earle, re. Charles Plummer (Oxford, 1892), D-version, sub anno 944, | ‘Wilhelm Levison, Englend and the Continent in the Eighth Century (Oxford, | 1946), p. 253 4 ‘Thomas Tanner, Notiis Monastic (London, 174), p. 444. On sources for he | descruction of Much Wenlock, see David Knowles and R. Neville Hadcock | Medieval Religious Houses: England and Wales (London, 1971), p. 101 | Sawyer, no, 2 Asser’ Life of King Alfed, 92, 15-93, 16, The translation is taken from Dorothy Whitelock, “From Asser's ‘Life of King Allred, Documents, no. 7 “in this monastery he collected monks of various races from every ‘quarter, and set them herein, For at first he had no noble or freeman of his own nation who would of his own accord enter the monastic life—apart from children, who by reason af their tender age could not yet choose good or refuse evil—for indeed for many ‘yeats past the desire for the monastic life had been wtterly lacking in all hat People, and also in many other nations, although there still remsin many monasteries founded in that land, but none properly observing the rule ofthis ‘way of life, I know not why; whether on account of the onslaughss of forcigners, who very often invaded by land or sei, ot on account of the nation’s too great abundance of riches of every kind, which Lam much more inclined to think the reason for that contempt of the monastic life.” Asser's Life of King Alf, 102, 20 DJ.V. Fisher, "The Church in England between the Death of Bede andthe Danish Invasions,” Transactions of che Royal Historical Society, Series 5, 2 (1952, 1-19, esp, 2-3, ‘On the history ofthe Lindisfarne Gospels beeween the time the community ‘was evacuated and subsequently re-established at Ducham, see: Sper ‘monachi opera omnia, Historia ecesie Dunhelmensis, ed. Thomas Arnold, Roll Series (London, 1882), pp. 63~68: Evangelion Quattuor Codex Lindsfamens, fac. ed. Thomas D. Kendrick, T Julian Brown, eal. (Olten-Lausanne, 1956+ 60), Il, 20-24 ‘An observation of Francis Wormald as reported by T: Julian Brown, ur published Lyell Lectures (1977), “The Insular System of Scripts € 6000~¢ 850." Fora review of Professor Brown's lectures, see Bruce C. Barker Benfield, “The Insular hand,” Tomes Literary Supplement, Janoary 27, 1978 p. 100, On the exemplar of Dighy 63, see the notes of E.W.B, Nicholson in the "English Historie | Afe’s Leter| 107 “Official Annotated Copy” in the Bodleian Library, Oxford of Catalog cod- eum manscriptonm Bibliothecae Bodleianae, Pars nona, Codices a vito elarissima Kenelm Digby, ed. Gulielmus D. Mactay (Oxford, 1883), columns 64-6, (The shelf mack of ue catalogue is R. Ref, 728.) On the script of Digby 63, © see Morrish, p. 151 7, Liber Elensis, xd fdem codicom varionum, ed. David J. Stewart (London, 1848), I, 3-84 BL Aser’s Life of King Alfd, 49, 410. On the date Asser wrote the Life of Allred, see Stevenson, ed. and Whitelock, re, pp. luxxii, exlix-el g). Aver's Life of King Aled, 83, 1-3, 9). On dates of English bishops, see Mary Anne O'Donovan, “An Ineerim Revision of Episcopal Dates for the Province of Canterbury, 850-950: Pare 1" ASE, | (1972), 23-44 and... Pare Il,” ASE, 2 (1973), 91-113, 91. CE. C. Patrick Wormald, “The Uses of Literacy in Anglo-Saxon England and its Neighbours,” Tiansactians of the Royal Historical Society, Series 5, 27 (1977, 95-114, esp. 107, See McKiteerick, The Frankish Church, passim. 9, Printed Capitularia regum Francorum, ed, Alfedus Boretius, MGH, Legum | sectio Il (Hannover, 1883), 1, 59, cap. 70, 72 “94 Printed Paul Lehmann, Fuldaer Suudien, Neve Folge, Siteungsberichte det ~_ Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-philologische und | historische Klasse (1927), 2 Abh., 8-9. Einhard! vite Karoli magni, ed. O, HolderEgger, MGH, Scriptores rerum __ Germanicarum in usum scholarum (Hannover, 191), XXV, 33, cap. 28 “%. The fragment, Cambridge, Magdalene College, Pepys Library 2981(5) isthe | earliest surviving manuscript evidence for the direct influence ofthe continent tal developments in the teaching of Latin to reach England. Maleolm 3. Parkes has identified the text of the feagment as a copy of the Commentary of Remigius of Auxerre on the De nuptis philolagiae et mercui? by Martianus Capella, Parkes considers that the fragment belongs to the Parker group of ‘manuscripts which were copied at Winchester and he believes that ie was copied in the reign of Edward the Elder. On the Patker group of manuscripts, sce Patkes, “The Palaeogeaphy of the Parker Manuscript,” ASE, 5 (1976), 449-71, and "A Fragment of an Early-Tenth-Century Anglo-Saxon M. uscript and Its Significance,” ASE, 12 (1983), 129-40 and pl. TL 97. Levison, England and the Continent, pp. 70-93.