Description
Book SynopsisText with facing translation of two important Old English texts. The texts edited in this volume are Ælfric's vernacular versions of two highly influential early medieval ethical treatises. The first, De duodecim abusiuis, is his Old English version of a seventh-century Hiberno-Latin tract dealing with the twelve abuses of the world. The second, De octo uitiis et de duodecim abusiuis, is a composite text; it combines a treatment of the eight vices and the complementary eight virtues, also found as the lastpart of Ælfric's Lives of Saints XVI, with the twelve abuses. The main source for the virtues and vices is Alcuin's ninth-century De uirtutibus et uitiis. Both texts were composed in Ælfric's hallmark rhythmical, alliterative prose. This new edition provides, for the first time, critical editions of both texts, with a facing translation, presented with full apparatus; it also includes an extensive discussion of the sources and how theyare treated. MARY CLAYTON is Professor of Old and Middle English, University College Dublin.
Trade ReviewThis is a valuable book, not only for its presentation and reanalysis of an overlooked pair of texts, but for its exceptionally careful consideration of the Latin texts on which Ælfric relied, which are discussed here in almost as much depth as the vernacular texts themselves. Two Ælfric Texts is an excellent addition to the growing body of work on this important figure. * THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW *
These two tracts had been underserved in previous scholarship, a deficit that Clayton amply remedies in the present volume. Clayton provides an edition of each tract alongside a parallel translation; a substantial introduction with details on the manuscripts, a useful account of the traditions, and extensive tracing of the sources; and an edition of the Latin De duodecim abusiuis as an appendix, drawn from a single twelfth-century English manuscript that preserves a text like that which served Ælfric as his source. * SPECULUM *
Will no doubt be the standard edition of these two texts for many years. * CHOICE *
Table of ContentsEditorial Conventions The Old English Manuscripts and the Transmission of the Texts The Two Versions of the Old English Text: Authorship and Dates De duodecim abusiuis The Vices and Virtues Editorial Introduction to De duodecim abusiuis De duodecim abusiuis Notes to De duodecim abusiuis Editorial Introduction to De octo uitiis et de duodecim abusiuis gradus De octo uitiis et de duodecim abusiuis gradus Notes to De octo uitiis et de duodecim abusiuis Appendix: Latin De duodecim abusiuis [Oxford, Jesus College, MS 3] Bibliography
