1. Alfred (848–900). Though there were some prose writings of an official nature (such as the laws of Ine, who died about 730) before the time of Alfred, there can be little objection to the claim frequently made for him, that he is “the father of English prose.” As he tells us himself in his preface to the Pastoral Care, he was driven into authorship by the lamentable state of English learning, due in large measure to the depredations of the Danes. Even the knowledge of Latin was evaporating, so the King, in order to preserve some show of learning among the clergy, was compelled to translate some popular monastic handbooks into his own tongue. These works are his contribution to our literature. As he says, they were often “interpreted word for word, and meaning for meaning”; but they are made much more valuable by reason of the original passages freely introduced into them. The books, four in number, are an able selection from the popular treatises of the day: the Universal History of Orosius; the Ecclesiastical History of Bede; the Pastoral Care of Pope Gregory; and the Consolation of Philosophy of Boëthius. His claim to the translation of Bede is sometimes disputed; and there is a fifth work, a Handbook or commonplace book, which has been lost. The chronological order of the translations cannot be determined, but they were all written during the last years of the reign.
We add a brief extract to illustrate his prose style. It is not a highly polished style; it is rather that of an earnest but somewhat unpracticed writer. When it is simplest it is best; in its more complicated passages it is confusing and involved. The vocabulary is simple and unforced.
| Swa clæne heo wæs oðfeallen on Angelcynne [-þ] swiðe feawa wæron be-heonan Humbre þe hira þe-nunge cuðon understanden on Englisc, oððe furðon an ærend-ge-writ of Ledene on Englisc areccan; and ic wene [-þ] naht monige be-geondan Humbre næron. Swa feawa heora wæron [-þ] ic furbon anne ænlepne ne mæg geþencan be-suðan Thamise þa þa ic to rice feng. Gode Ælmightigum sy þanc, [-þ] we nu ænigne an steal habbað lareowa. For þam ic þe beode, [-þ] þu do swa ic gelyfe [-þ] þu wille. | So clean [completely] has ruin fallen on the English nation, that very few were there this side the Humber that could understand their service in English or declare forth an Epistle [an errand-writing] out of Latin into English; and I think that not many beyond Humber were there. So few such were there, that I cannot think of a single one to the south of the Thames when I began to reign. To God Almighty be thanks, that we now have any to teach in stall [any place]. Therefore I bid thee that thou do as I believe that thou wilt. |
| Preface to “Pastoral Care” |
2. Ælfric (955–1020) is known as “the Grammarian.” Of his life little is known. It is probable that he lived near Winchester, and he was certainly the first abbot of Eynsham, near Oxford, in 1006. A fair number of his works, both in Latin and English, have come down to us. Of his English books, two series of homilies, adapted from the Latin, seem to have been composed about the year 990. A third series of homilies, called The Lives of the Saints, is dated approximately at 996. Several of his pastoral letters survive, as well as a translation of Bede’s De Temporibus and some English translations of Biblical passages.
Ælfric’s style is interesting, for it is representative of the scholarly prose of his time, a century after Alfred. It is flowing and vigorous, showing an almost excessive use of alliteration. In many cases it suggests a curious hybrid between the poetry and prose of the period.
3. Wulfstan was Archbishop of York from 1003 till his death in 1023. In his prose, which survives in more than fifty homilies and in his famous Letter to the English People (Lupi Sermo ad Anglos), he shows the effects of “style” to a marked degree. His Letter in particular is a fervid epistle, detailing with considerable power and fluency the dreadful plight of the English nation in the year 1014. The alliteration and rhythm are exceedingly well marked, much more so than in the case of Ælfric.
4. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was probably inspired by King Alfred, who is said even to have dictated the entries dealing with his own campaigns. The Chronicle has come down to us in four versions, all of which seem to have sprung from a common stock. The four versions are preserved in seven manuscripts, of which the most notable are those connected with Canterbury and Peterborough. From the period of the English invasions till the year 892 the books are fairly in accord. At the latter year they diverge. Each introduces its local events and miscellaneous items of news, and they finish at different dates. The last date of all is about the middle of the twelfth century.
The style of the Chronicle varies greatly; it ranges from the baldest notes and summaries to quite ambitious passages of narrative and description. Of the latter class the well-known passage on the horrors of Stephen’s reign is a worthy example. We give a brief extract, dated 1100, just at the close of the Old English period, which is a fair average of the different methods:
| On þisum geare aras seo ungeþwærnes on Glæstinga byrig betwyx þam abbode Ðurstane and his munecan. Ærest hit com of þæs abbotes unwisdome [-þ] he misbead his munecan on fela thingan, and þa munecas hit mændon lufelice to him and beadon hine [-þ] he [`s]ceolde healdan hi rihtlice beon and lufian hi, and hi woldon him beon holde and gehyrsume. | In the year arose the discord in Glastonbury betwixt the Abbot Thurstan and his monks. First it came from the Abbot’s unwisdom: In that he mis-bade [ruled] his monks in many things and the monks meant it lovingly to him and bade him that he should hold [treat] them rightly and love them and they would be faithful to him and hearsome [obedient]. |