Heaven and Earth in Anglo-saxon England: Theology and Society in an Age of Faith

411 Pages·2013·0.86 MB·English

by  Helen Foxhall Forbes

Studies in Early Medieval Britain
Series Editor: Joanna Story, University of Leicester, UK
About the series
Studies in Early Medieval Britain illuminates the history of Britain from the start
of the fifth century to the establishment of French-speaking aristocracies in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries, for historians, archaeologists, philologists and
literary and cultural scholars.
Studies in Early Medieval Britain explores the origins of British society,
of communities, and political, administrative and ecclesiastical institutions. It
was in the early Middle Ages that the English, Welsh and Scots defined and
distinguished themselves in language, customs and territory and the successive
conquests and settlements lent distinctive Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian and
Norman elements to the British ethnic mix. Royal dynasties were established
and the landscape took a form that can still be recognised today; it was then too
that Christian churches were established with lasting results for our cultural,
moral, legal and intellectual horizons.
Studies in Early Medieval Britain reveals these roots and makes them
accessible to a wide readership of scholars, students and lay people.
About this volume
Christian theology and religious belief were crucially important to Anglo-
Saxon society, and are manifest in the surviving textual, visual and material
evidence. This is the first full-length study investigating how Christian theology
and religious beliefs permeated society and underpinned social values in early
medieval England. The influence of the early medieval Church as an institution is
widely acknowledged, but Christian theology itself is generally considered to have
been accessible only to a small educated elite.
This book shows that theology had a much greater and more significant impact
than has been recognised. An examination of theology in its social context, and
how it was bound up with local authorities and powers, reveals a much more subtle
interpretation of secular processes, and shows how theological debate affected the
ways that religious and lay individuals lived and died.
This was not a one-way flow, however: this book also examines how social
and cultural practices and interests affected the development of theology in Anglo-
Saxon England, and how ‘popular’ belief interacted with literary and academic
traditions. Through case-studies, this book explores how theological debate and
discussion affected the personal perspectives of Christian Anglo-Saxons, including
where possible those who could not read. In all of these, it is clear that theology
was not detached from society or from the experiences of lay people, but formed
an essential constituent part.
Also in this series
Veiled Women
Volume I: The Disappearance of Nuns from Anglo-Saxon England
Sarah Foot
Veiled Women
Volume II: Female Religious Communities in England, 871–1066
Sarah Foot
Carolingian Connections
Anglo-Saxon England and Carolingian Francia, c.750–870
Joanna Story
Alfred the Great
Papers from the Eleventh-Centenary Conferences
Edited by Timothy Reuter
St Wulfstan and his World
Edited by Julia Barrow and Nicholas Brooks
Early Medieval Studies in Memory of Patrick Wormald
Edited by Stephen Baxter, Catherine Karkov, Janet L. Nelson and David Pelteret
Sustaining Belief
The Church of Worcester from c.870 to c.1100
Francesca Tinti
Women’s Names in Old English
Elisabeth Okasha
Bede and the End of Time
Peter Darby
Heaven and eartH in
anglo-Saxon england
To my parents
II
Heaven and earth in
anglo-Saxon england
theology and Society in an age of Faith
Helen FoxHall ForbeS
Durham University, UK
© Helen Foxhall Forbes 2013
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Helen Foxhall Forbes has asserted her moral rights under the Copyright, designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing Company
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Union road Suite 3-1
Farnham burlington, vt 05401–3818
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Foxhall Forbes, Helen.
Heaven and earth in anglo-Saxon england : theology and society in an age of faith / by
Helen Foxhall Forbes.
pages cm. -- (Studies in early Medieval britain)
includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4094-2371-3 (hardcover) -- ISBN 978-1-4094-2372-0 (ebook) -- ISBN
978-1-4094-7437-1 (epub) 1. england--Church history--449-1066. 2. theology--england--
History--early church, ca. 30-600. 3. theology--england--History--Middle ages, 600-1500.
i. title.
br749.F69 2013
274.2'03--dc23
2012049943
ISBN 9781409423713 (hbk)
ISBN 9781409423720 (ebk – PDF)
ISBN 9781409474371 (ebk – ePUB)
Contents
List of Figures and Tables ix
Foreword xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Abbreviations xv
1 I Believe in One God 1
2 Creator of All Things, Visible and Invisible 63
3 And He Will Come Again to Judge the Living and the Dead 129
4 The Communion of Saints and the Forgiveness of Sins 201
5 The Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting 265
Epilogue 329
Bibliography 335
General Index 385
Index of Manuscripts 393
This page has been left blank intentionally
List of Figures and Tables
Figures
2.1 The ‘Harley Psalter’ © The British Library Board
(Harley 603, fol. 72r, detail) 95
5.1 Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 41, p. 433, detail 295
Tables
2.1 Anglo-Saxon manuscripts containing liturgical forms for baptism 105
2.2 Anglo-Saxon manuscripts containing rites for the sick 114
3.1 Anglo-Saxon manuscripts containing rituals for ordeals 163
3.2 Manuscripts containing material collected by and associated
with Archbishop Wulfstan of York, and works written by him 174
3.3 The effects of Wulfstan’s injunctions forbidding oaths and
ordeals on days and seasons of feasting and fasting
(I Cnut 16–17), as applied to the year 1020 191
5.1 Anglo-Saxon manuscripts containing funerary rites and rituals
for the dead 284