* * * * *
The work now presented to the Members of the Aelfric Society, the first
fruit of its praiseworthy attempt to rescue from oblivion the literary
remains of our forefathers, was selected for the earliest publication of
the Society, on account both of its valuable matter and the beautiful
medium by which it is conveyed.
Of the author of the SERMONES CATHOLICI we know nothing with certainty
beyond his name, though from the words of his own preface, where he speaks
of king Aethelred's days as past, and informs us that in those days he was
only a monk and mass-priest, it follows that he was not Aelfric archbishop
of Canterbury, who died in the year 1006, or ten years before the death of
king Aethelred.
With better foundation we may assume him to have been Aelfric archbishop of
York, who presided over that see from the year 1023 to 1051[1]. Against
this supposition there seems no objection on the score of dates, and that
the composer of the 'Sermones' was a person of eminence during the life of
archbishop {vi} Wulfstan, of whom, according to our hypothesis, he was the
immediate successor, is evident from the language of his Canons, and of his
Pastoral Epistle to Wulfstan, in which he speaks as one having authority;
though in the first-mentioned of these productions he styles himself simply
"humilis frater," and in the other "Aelfricus abbas[2]," and afterwards
"biscop."
Of Aelfric's part in these Homilies, whether, as it would seem from his
preface, it was that of a mere translator from the several works he therein
names[3], or whether he drew aught from his own stores, my pursuits do not
enable me to speak, though it seems that no one of his homilies is,
generally speaking, a mere translation from any one given Latin original,
but rather a compilation from several. Be this, however, as it may, his
sermons in either case equally exhibit what were the doctrines of the
Anglo-Saxon church at the period in which they were compiled or translated,
and are for the most part valuable in matter, and expressed in language
which may be pronounced a pure specimen of our noble, old, Germanic
mother-tongue. Of those doctrines it would not be consistent with the
object of the Society, nor am I qualified to hazard an opinion: my labour
has, {vii} consequently, been limited to that of a faithful transcription
of what I believe to be the most complete manuscript, and to a
conscientiously correct translation of that transcript, as literal as my
acquaintance with the language and my notions of good taste permitted[4];
and I venture to hope that such a translation, though unattended by a
commentary, will be regarded with interest by the members of each of the
great communities into which the Christian world is divided.