'lfric's Letter to the Monks of Eynsham

Though best known today for his Old English homilies, the Anglo-Saxon scholar ?lfric also composed a Latin ‘letter’ to his fellow monks at Eynsham (Oxfordshire) containing a detailed outline of their daily and seasonal round of prayer and other duties. The document offers a rare glimpse of what ordinary monks in Anglo-Saxon England were expected to know and do. This book contains a new edition of the Latin letters a textual commentary, and a complete English translation of the work. Dr Jones also provides substantial introductory chapters which establish the exceptional importance of the Eynsham letter for our understanding of late Anglo-Saxon monasticism and liturgy. The book will interest students of early medieval culture, monasticism and Church history.

Though best known today for his Old English homilies, the Anglo-Saxon scholar Ælfric also composed a Latin 'letter' to his fellow monks at Eynsham (Oxfordshire) containing a detailed outline of their daily and seasonal round of prayer and other duties. The document offers a rare glimpse of what ordinary monks in Anglo-Saxon England were expected to know and do. This 1999 book contains an edition of the Latin letters a textual commentary, and a complete English translation of the work. Dr Jones also provides substantial introductory chapters which establish the exceptional importance of the Eynsham letter for our understanding of late Anglo-Saxon monasticism and liturgy. The book will interest students of early medieval culture, monasticism and Church history.

Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; 1. The Eynsham 'letter' and the study of Ælfric; 2. Structure and sources; 3. The manuscript; 4. Critical and editorial history; Editorial principles; Ælfric's Letter to the Monks of Eynsham: text and translation; Commentary; Appendix; Bibliography; Index of liturgical formae; General index.

The Anglo-Saxon scholar 'lfric composed an important set of Latin liturgical instructions for his fellow monks. This 1999 book contains an edition of the Latin text with a critical apparatus, and a complete English translation, along with a commentary and substantial introductory chapters.