Mary Clayton

Ælfric's Judith : manipulative or manipulated?

AElfrics Judith is one of the few Anglo-Saxon works for which we have explicit authorial guidance on how it is to be interpreted. In the often-quoted Letter to Sigetveard , AElfric says: Iudith seo wuduwe, be oferwann Holofernem pone Siriscan ealdormann, haefð hire agene boc betwux pisum bocum be hire agenum sige; seo ys eac on Englisc on ure wisan gesett eow mannum to bysne, pae ge eowerne eard mid waemnum bewerian wið onwinnendne here.

The Old English Promissio regis

Abstract The Old English Promissio regis is a translation of the threefold promise made at their coronations by Anglo-Saxon kings in the tenth and eleventh centuries followed by two paragraphs on the duties of kingship; it is preserved in one eleventh-century manuscript and we have two copies of a second. This article reviews discussions of the text, looks at the manuscript evidence for what it can tell about its authorship and history, examines its sources and function and suggests a close connection with Wulfstan, archbishop of York. A new edition of the text concludes the piece.

« The Transitus Mariæ : The tradition and its Origins »

This article discusses recent attempts to classify the early transitus texts and to determine which group of texts is the earliest. The Syriac Obsequies, which belongs to the same textual family as the Greek R and related texts, is of crucial importance here. This family emphasized Marys fear of death and described her assumption to a paradise separate from heaven, where her body was placed under the tree of life and the soul replaced; a descensus followed, describing the visit of Mary and the apostles to hell and, perhaps, heaven. The development of the tradition is traced through R, the Latin texts and the Old English narratives.