Description
Book SynopsisGoscelin, monk of Saint-Bertin, who came to England in the early 1060s, was one of the most prolific hagiographers of the Anglo-Saxon saints. William of Malmesbury described him as ''second to none since Bede in the celebration of the English saints''. Part of his career was spent in wandering exile, and one of the places Goscelin stayed briefly was Ely, who twelfth-century house-history portrays him working late at night on verses commemorating Ely''s patroness, St Æthelfryth.By the late tenth century, the cult of Æthelfryth, the seventh-century virgin-queen whose two unconsummated marriages were recounted in Bede''s Historia Ecclesiastica, had been combined with that of her sister Seaxburh, and of another supposed sister, Wihtburh (whose relics were ''translated'' from East Dereham in Norfolk to Ely in 974). To this group were added Seaxburh''s daughter Eormenhild, and Eormenhild''s daughter Wærburh.A collection of the Lives of these female saints - some probably the work of Goscelin
Trade ReviewThe Latin is splendidly translated by Love, whose English is a treat to read. She also provides informative notes, in which reference is made to earlier Anglo-Saxon and patristic sources; biblical quotations and allusions are likewise noted...informative and accessible. * Augustine Casiday, Sobornost *
Table of ContentsIntroduction ; Texts and Translations ; Appendices ; Index
