Hagiography in Anglo-Saxon England: Adopting and Adapting Saints' Lives into Old English Prose (c. 950-1150)

This volume gathers fourteen new essays devoted to Old English prose saints’ lives from the late Anglo-Saxon period. Moving from diverse methodological approaches and building on the most recent developments in primary and secondary scholarship, the contributions comprehensively consider the texts and contexts of the vernacular hagiographic output both by Ælfric, the major hagiographer of his day, and by anonymous authors. By means of a comprehensive scrutiny of the Latin source-texts, including the often neglected Vitas Patrum, as well as of both the historical and manuscript context, this collection contributes to outline the late Anglo-Saxon sanctorale and to advance our knowledge of the literary culture and intellectual history of pre-Conquest England and beyond.

Contributors:Roberta Bassi, Rolf H. Bremmer Jr., Claudio Cataldi, Catherine Cubitt, Giuseppe D. De Bonis, Maria Caterina De Bonis, Claudia Di Sciacca, Concetta Giliberto, Joyce Hill, Susan Irvine, Loredana Lazzari, Patrizia Lendinara, Rosalind Love, Winfried Rudolf.