PREFACE.

The work now presented to the Members of the Ælfric 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 Æthelred'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 Ælfric archbishop of Canterbury, who died in the year 1006, or ten years before the death of king Æthelred.

With better foundation we may assume him to have been Ælfric 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

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 "Ælfricus abbas[[2]]," and afterwards "biscop."

Of Ælfric'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,

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.

Besides the Homilies, the chief works attributed to our Ælfric are,—

I. A Grammar of the Latin tongue, printed at the end of Somner's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, with a Glossary of Anglo-Saxon words[[5]].

II. A short astronomical treatise, entitled De Temporibus Anni[[6]].

III. An abridgment in Anglo-Saxon of the Pentateuch, the book of Joshua, and the book of Judges, printed by Thwaites[[7]].

IV. A Treatise on the Old and New Testaments[[8]].

V. Excerpta ex Libro Æthelwoldi de Consuetudine Monachorum[[9]].

VI. A Latin Dialogue, with an interlinear Anglo-Saxon gloss[[10]].

VII. Ecclesiastical Canons, addressed to Wulsine, bishop of Sherborne.

VIII. A Pastoral Epistle, written by command of archbishop Wulfstan.

IX. An Epistle entitled "Quando dividis Chrisma[[11]]."

X. A Collection of Homilies on the Saints' days observed by the Anglo-Saxon Church.

Though the present is the first edition of these most ancient sermons in any of the Germanic tongues, it may be interesting to some readers to be informed that two attempts at publishing them were made in the early part of the last century by Mrs. Elizabeth Elstob, which failed through want of encouragement, a few leaves only having been printed[[12]].

In assigning to Ælfric, archbishop of York, the honour of being the author of the Homilies and other works enumerated above, it would have been gratifying to add, that the character of that prelate given by the chroniclers was beyond a doubt all that could be desired, and such as to render it highly probable that to him we are indebted for those noble and holy labours. Unfortunately the case is otherwise, the few facts recorded of Ælfric of York being for the most part quite irreconcileable with the portrait of the pious student which our imagination spontaneously draws, on calling to mind the exertions in the cause of religion and learning attributed to our Ælfric. Of the archbishop, Malmesbury speaks in terms of

no ordinary severity, asserting, that at his instigation Hardacnut caused the corpse of his brother Harald Harefoot to be taken from the grave and decapitated, and afterwards thrown into the Thames; also, that being exasperated against the people of Worcester, who had rejected him for their bishop, he again instigated the same king to burn their city and confiscate their property, under the pretext of their having resisted the royal tax-gatherers[[13]]. The better testimony of Florence of Worcester, with regard to the first of these transactions, is, however, less prejudicial to the character of Ælfric: he says merely, that Ælfric, archbishop of York, with others was sent to London by the king for the purpose of digging up the body of Harald and casting it into a fen[[14]]. Of the second transaction Florence makes no mention. But the earliest account is that in the Saxon Chronicle[[15]], and in this it is simply said, that "he (Harthacnut) caused the dead body of Harald to be taken up, and had it cast into a fen:" to Ælfric and the others there is no allusion whatever. In the same record his death is mentioned in the following terms of respect: "This year (1052) died Ælfric, archbishop of York, a very venerable and wise man." It is also stated that he was the accuser of earl Godwine, of the earl of Kent, and of Living, bishop of Worcester, as the murderers of the young Ælfred, the son of Æthelred[[16]].

The manuscript from which the text of the present volume is taken belongs to the Public Library at

Cambridge. It is a small folio and probably coeval with its author, though hardly, as it has been supposed, his own autograph copy[[17]]. It is not perfect, having suffered mutilation in several places, but its defects are all supplied in the present work from another MS. in the British Museum[[18]]. For the most liberal use of the Cambridge manuscript, I beg leave, on the part of the Ælfric Society, to express the sincerest thanks to the Syndics of that University.

To W. E. Buckley, Esq., Fellow of Brasenose College, and Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Oxford, I return my sincere thanks for his kindness in removing my doubts of the integrity of the text by collation with the Bodleian manuscript; also to my greatly respected friend, the Reverend Daniel Rock, D.D., I acknowledge myself much indebted for the kind promptness with which he at all times satisfied my inquiries respecting the ancient observances of the Church, as well as other points of doubt, which his deep knowledge of ecclesiastical antiquities so well qualifies him to solve.

The second volume, containing Homilies for another year, is in preparation, and will, it is hoped, be laid before the Members of the Society in the course of the year 1845.

B. T.