Aldhelm
Aldhelm (639–709), abbot of Malmesbury, bishop of Sherborne. A member of the Wessex royal family, he became a monk at Malmesbury but completed his education at Canterbury under Adrian, companion of Theodore. In c.675 he became abbot of Malmesbury and combined the skills of administrator and writer. Possibly he introduced the Rule of St. Benedict; certainly he made foundations at Frome and Bradford-on-Avon (whose surviving Anglo-Saxon church incorporates elements from his time). When the Wessex diocese was divided in 705, he became first bishop of Sherborne, but without ceasing to rule Malmesbury as well. He built churches at Sherborne, Wareham, Langton Matravers, and Corfe. The nearby Dorset headland, commonly called St. Alban's Head, is in reality St. Aldhelm's Head, being presumably part of his Dorset estates.
His OE verses, which were sung with harp accompaniment to draw people to church, were praised by King Alfred, but have not survived: we can judge this first notable Anglo-Saxon writer only by his Latin works. These are more appreciated recently for their articulate skill. Their style was praised but not imitated by Bede; they influenced Boniface and the writers of later charters. They were read on the Continent as well as in England up to the 11th century. They include treatises on Virginity in prose and verse (summaries of the Lives of biblical and early Christian saints); grammatical works, sacred poems and letters. One of these praised the school of Canterbury as superior to those of Ireland, another was written to the British King Geraint about the dating of Easter, while a third exhorted the clerics of Wilfrid on loyalty in adversity. At least once he visited Rome, to obtain privileges for his monastery and to bring back a marble altar. A fine chasuble, woven with roundels, was kept at Malmesbury and believed to be his.
Aldhelm died at Doulting (Somerset) and was buried at Malmesbury by Egwin; stone crosses were built at seven-mile intervals along the road between the two towns. His cult was ancient: a fine 10th-century tomb at his shrine depicted episodes from his life, and an Anglo-Saxon drawing survives of him presenting his treatises to Hildelith, abbess of Barking. His cult was questioned and discontinued by Lanfranc, but Osmund, bishop of Salisbury, authorized its resumption with the translation of his relics in 1078. Feast: 25 May; translation, 5 May (to commemorate a translation of 986) and 3 October (for 1078).
Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.
- Bede, H.E., v. 18; G.P., pp. 330–443; Life by Faricius in P.L., lxxxix. 63–84; see also R. S. Cook, Sources for the biography of St. Aldhelm (1927); M. R. James, Two Ancient English Scholars (1931); E. S. Duckett, Anglo-Saxon Saints and Scholars (1958); M. Lapidge and M. Herren, Aldhelm: the Prose Works (1979); M. Lapidge and J. L. Rosier, Aldhelm: the Poetic Works (1985); M. Lapidge and H. Gneuss, ‘Learning and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England’, A.S.E., xiv (1985), 205–26. M. Winterbottom, ‘Aldhelm's prose style and its origins’, A.S.E., vi (1977), 39–76
