Abstract
Early twentieth-century English historians read the late tenth- and early eleventh-century Vitae Æthelwoldi and saw a monster: a capricious, arbitrary bishop who beat his monks and forced an over-achiever to put his hand into a pot of boiling water. However, the authors of the Vitae, Wulfstan of Winchester and Ælfric of Eynsham, had intended to glorify Æthelwold. They used the violent anecdotes to compare Æthelwold to the great monastic leader Benedict of Nursia and even to God, who ‘beats those whom he loves,’ according to Wulfstan’s citation of Hebrews 12:6. This essay traces how the cultural and social contexts of particular groups of scholars shaped these conflicting views of violence and of Æthelwold, bearing in mind Michael Camille’s exhortation to consider ‘the prism of modernity through which the Middle Ages is constructed.’
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Notes
Wulfstan seems to have been writing soon after Æthelwold’s translation in 996, while Ælfric seems to have abbreviated Wulfstan’s rather verbose life around 1006. He dedicated the work to Cenwulf of Winchester, who was only bishop during 1006 (Ælfric of Eynsham, 1979, 903; Lapidge and Winterbottom, 1991).
Regarding Ælfric’s Vita Æthelwoldi, a translation can be found in Whitelock, ed., English Historical Documents (1979). An additional edition as well can be found in Winterbottom (1972).
Unfortunately, the author was unable before this article was published to consult Katherine O’Brien O’Keeffe’s new book, Stealing Obedience (2012), which takes its title from this incident.
Here I am following Guy Geltner’s definition of corporal punishment, as laid out in a forthcoming article, which includes pedagogical violence on the grounds that such ‘disciplinary action reflects (and in the past has certainly informed) mechanisms, procedures, and power structures in the world outside.’ (Geltner, 2013).
‘et praesentes et futuros quosque fideles ad amorem et reuerentiam tanti patris humili deuotione incitaremus’ (Wulfstan of Winchester, 1991, 54–55).
At the end of chapter 27, Wulfstan described Æthelwold correcting his monks ‘with lashes’ (verberibus) (Wulfstan of Winchester, 1991, 44). Wulfstan notes that Æthelwold ‘intus paterna pietate dilexit quos foris quasi insequens castigauit’ (Wulfstan of Winchester, 1991, 44). Wulfstan quotes Hebrews 12:6 that ‘Dominus, sicut dicit scriptura, quem diligit corripit et omnem filium quem recipit flagellat’ (Wulfstan of Winchester, 1991, 46).
For the date of the letter and its relationship to Wulfstan’s Vita Æthelwoldi, see Lapidge and Winterbottom (1991, cxliv–cxlv).
On the usefulness of the charters in the Liber Eliensis for studies of the tenth century, see Keynes (2003) and Kennedy (1995).
‘Old English Penitential from Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 482 (Y),’ Anglo-Saxon Penitentials: http://www.anglo-saxon.net/penance/TOEP482_9b.html (Frantzen, 2006).
The Colloquium is also edited in Förster, 1917, 148: ‘Carius est nobis flagellari pro doctrina quam nescire.’
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the organizers of the Michael Camille Essay Prize, my supervisors, Lesley Abrams and Conrad Leyser, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council for all their support and help. Any remaining errors are entirely my own.
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Hudson, A. From medieval saint to modern bête noire: The case of the Vitae Æthelwoldi. Postmedieval 4, 284–295 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/pmed.2013.14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/pmed.2013.14