Editing Old English literature (section)

== Prose ==
The amount of surviving Old English prose is much greater than the amount of poetry.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=281}} Of the surviving prose, the majority consists of the [[homily|homilies]], saints' lives and biblical translations from Latin.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=275}} The division of early medieval written prose works into categories of "Christian" and "secular", as below, is for convenience's sake only, for literacy in Anglo-Saxon England was largely the province of monks, nuns, and ecclesiastics (or of those laypeople to whom they had taught the skills of reading and writing Latin and/or Old English). Old English prose first appears in the 9th century, and continues to be recorded through the 12th century as the last generation of scribes, trained as boys in the standardised West Saxon before the Conquest, died as old men.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=281}}

=== Christian prose ===
The most widely known secular author of Old English was King [[Alfred the Great]] (849–899), who translated several books, many of them religious, from Latin into Old English. Alfred, wanting to restore [[Culture of England|English culture]], lamented the poor state of Latin education:

{{blockquote|So general was [educational] decay in England there were very few on this side of the Humber who could...translate a letter from Latin into English; and I believe that there were not many beyond the Humber|[[Pastoral Care]], introduction, translated by [[Kevin Crossley-Holland]]{{sfn|Crossley-Holland|1999|p=218}}}}

Alfred proposed that students be educated in Old English, and those who excelled should go on to learn Latin. Alfred's cultural program aimed to translate "certain books [...] necessary for all men to know" from Latin to Old English. These included: [[Pope Gregory I|Gregory the Great]]'s ''[[The Pastoral Care|Cura Pastoralis]]'', a manual for priests on how to conduct their duties, which became the ''Hierdeboc'' ('Shepherd-book')<ref>{{Cite web|title=King Alfred's Translation of the Pastoral Care|url=https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/king-alfred-translation-of-the-pastoral-care|access-date=2021-05-15|website=The British Library|archive-date=2020-08-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803012151/https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/king-alfred-translation-of-the-pastoral-care|url-status=live}}</ref> in Old English; [[Boethius]]' {{Lang|la|[[The Consolation of Philosophy|De Consolatione philosophiae]]}} (the ''[[The Old English Boethius|Froforboc]]'' or 'book of consolation');<ref>{{Cite web|title=Alfred the Great's Burnt Boethius|url=http://ebeowulf.uky.edu/eBoethius/iconic/iconic.html|access-date=2021-05-15|website=ebeowulf.uky.edu|archive-date=2021-10-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211012145940/http://ebeowulf.uky.edu/eBoethius/iconic/iconic.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and the ''[[Soliloquies of Augustine|Soliloquia]]'' of Saint [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] (known in Old English as the ''Blostman'' or 'blooms').{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=284}} In the process, some original content was interweaved through the translations.{{sfn|Vernon|1861|p=129}}

Other important{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=284}} Old English translations include: [[Orosius]]' {{Lang|la|[[Orosius#Historiae Adversus Paganos|Historiae Adversus Paganos]]}}, a companion piece for St. Augustine's ''[[City of God (book)|The City of God]]''; the ''Dialogues'' of Gregory the Great; and [[Bede]]'s ''[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People]]''.<ref>On the Old English translation of Bede's ''Ecclesiastical History'', see {{harvtxt|Rowley|2011a}} and {{harvtxt|Rowley|2011b}}</ref>

[[Ælfric of Eynsham]], who wrote in the late 10th and early 11th centuries, is believed to have been a pupil of [[Æthelwold of Winchester|Æthelwold]].{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=281}} He was the greatest and most prolific writer of sermons,{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=284}} which were copied and adapted for use well into the 13th century.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=285}} In the translation of the first six books of the Bible (''[[Old English Hexateuch]]''), portions have been assigned to Ælfric on stylistic grounds. He included some lives of the saints in the ''Catholic Homilies'', as well as a cycle of saints' lives to be used in sermons. Ælfric also wrote an Old English work on time-reckoning, and pastoral letters.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=285}}

In the same category as Ælfric, and a contemporary, was [[Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York|Wulfstan II]], archbishop of York. His [[Works of Wulfstan of York|sermons]] were highly stylistic. His best known work is ''[[Sermo Lupi ad Anglos]]'' in which he blames the sins of the English for the Viking invasions. He wrote a number of clerical legal texts: ''Institutes of Polity'' and ''[[Canons of Edgar]]''.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=284-285}}

One of the earliest Old English texts in prose is the ''[[Martyrology]]'', information about saints and martyrs according to their anniversaries and feasts in the church calendar. It has survived in six fragments. It is believed to have been written in the 9th century by an anonymous [[Mercia]]n author.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=284}}

The oldest collections of church sermons is the ''[[Blickling homilies]]'', found in a 10th-century manuscript.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=284}}

There are a number of saint's lives prose works: beyond those written by Ælfric are the prose life of Saint Guthlac (Vercelli Book), the life of [[Margaret the Virgin|Saint Margaret]] and the life of [[Saint Chad]]. There are four additional lives in the earliest manuscript of the ''Lives of Saints'', the Julius manuscript: [[Seven Sleepers of Ephesus]], [[Saint Mary of Egypt]], [[Saint Eustace]] and [[Euphrosyne of Alexandria|Saint Euphrosyne]].{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=285}}

There are six major manuscripts of the [[Wessex Gospels]], dating from the 11th and 12th centuries. The most popular, ''[[Old English Gospel of Nicodemus]]'', is treated in one manuscript as though it were a 5th gospel; other apocryphal gospels in translation include the ''[[Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew]]'', ''Vindicta salvatoris'', ''[[Vision of Saint Paul]]'' and the ''[[Apocalypse of Thomas]]''.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=285}}

=== Secular prose ===
The ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' was probably started in the time of King Alfred the Great and continued for over 300&nbsp;years as a historical record of Anglo-Saxon history.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=284}}

A single example of a Classical [[Romance (heroic literature)|romance]] has survived: a fragment of the story of ''[[Apollonius of Tyre]]'' was translated in the 11th century from the ''[[Gesta Romanorum]]''.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=285}}{{sfn|Vernon|1861|p=121}}

A monk who was writing in Old English at the same time as Ælfric and Wulfstan was [[Byrhtferth of Ramsey]], whose book ''[[Handboc]]'' was a study of mathematics and rhetoric. He also produced a work entitled ''[[Date of Easter|Computus]]'', which outlined the practical application of arithmetic to the calculation of calendar days and [[movable feasts]], as well as tide tables.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=284}}

Ælfric wrote two proto-scientific works, ''[[Hexameron]]'' and ''[[Interrogationes Sigewulfi]]'', dealing with the stories of Creation. He also wrote a grammar and glossary of Latin in Old English, later used by students interested in learning [[Old French]], as inferred from glosses in that language.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=285}}

In the Nowell Codex is the text of ''[[Wonders of the East|The Wonders of the East]]'' which includes a remarkable map of the world, and other illustrations. Also contained in Nowell is ''[[Epistola Alexandri ad Aristotelem|Alexander's Letter to Aristotle]]''. Because this is the same manuscript that contains ''Beowulf'', some scholars speculate it may have been a collection of materials on exotic places and creatures.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=285-286}}

There are a number of interesting medical works. There is a translation of ''[[Apuleius's Herbarium]]'' with striking illustrations, found together with ''Medicina de Quadrupedibus''. A second collection of texts is ''[[Bald's Leechbook]]'', a 10th-century book containing herbal and even some surgical cures. A third collection, known as the ''[[Lacnunga]]'', includes many [[spell (paranormal)|charms]] and [[incantation]]s.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=286}}

Legal texts are a large and important part of the overall Old English corpus. The Laws of [[Æthelberht of Kent|Aethelberht I of Kent]], written at the turn of the 7th century, are the earliest surviving English prose work.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=English literature – Prose|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/English-literature|access-date=2021-05-15|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|archive-date=2015-07-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701022508/https://www.britannica.com/art/English-literature|url-status=live}}</ref> Other laws wills and charters were written over the following centuries.<ref name=":0" /> Towards the end of the 9th, Alfred had compiled the law codes of Aethelberht, [[Ine of Wessex|Ine]], and [[Offa of Mercia|Offa]] in a text setting out his own laws, the ''[[Doom book|Domboc]]''. By the 12th century they had been arranged into two large collections (see ''[[Textus Roffensis]]''). They include laws of the kings, beginning with those of Aethelbert of Kent and ending with those of [[Cnut the Great|Cnut]], and texts dealing with specific cases and places in the country. An interesting example is ''[[Gerefa]]'', which outlines the duties of a [[Reeve (England)|reeve]] on a large manor estate. There is also a large volume of legal documents related to religious houses. These include many kinds of texts: records of donations by nobles; wills; documents of emancipation; lists of books and relics; court cases; guild rules. All of these texts provide valuable insights into the social history of Anglo-Saxon times, but are also of literary value. For example, some of the court case narratives are interesting for their use of rhetoric.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=286}}