Editing Hagiography (section)

=== Medieval England ===
Many of the important hagiographical texts composed in medieval England were written in the vernacular dialect [[Anglo-Norman literature#Hagiography|Anglo-Norman]]. With the introduction of [[Latin]] literature into England in the 7th and 8th centuries the genre of the life of the saint grew increasingly popular. When one contrasts it to the popular heroic poem, such as ''[[Beowulf]]'', one finds that they share certain common features. In ''Beowulf'', the titular character battles against [[Grendel]] and [[Grendel's mother|his mother]], while the saint, such as [[Athanasius]]' [[Anthony the Great|Anthony]] (one of the original sources for the hagiographic motif) or the character of [[Guthlac]], battles against figures no less substantial in a spiritual sense. Both genres then focus on the hero-warrior figure, but with the distinction that the saint is of a spiritual sort.

Imitation of the life of Christ was then the benchmark against which saints were measured, and imitation of the lives of saints was the benchmark against which the general population measured itself. In [[Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon]] and [[mediaeval|medieval]] England, hagiography became a literary genre par excellence for the teaching of a largely illiterate audience. Hagiography provided priests and theologians with classical handbooks in a form that allowed them the rhetorical tools necessary to present their faith through the example of the saints' lives.

Of all the English hagiographers no one was more prolific nor so aware of the importance of the genre as Abbot [[Ælfric of Eynsham]]. His work ''Lives of the Saints''<ref>{{cite book|title= The Lives of the Saints |author=Ælfric of Eynsham |author-link=Ælfric of Eynsham |access-date=1 December 2018 |url= http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Cotton_MS_Julius_E_VIIa}}</ref> contains set of sermons on saints' days, formerly observed by the English Church. The text comprises two prefaces, one in Latin and one in [[Old English language|Old English]], and 39 lives beginning on 25 December with the nativity of [[Christ]] and ending with three texts to which no saints' days are attached. The text spans the entire year and describes the lives of many saints, both English and continental, and harks back to some of the earliest saints of the early church.

There are two known instances where saint's lives were adapted into vernacular [[play (theatre)|plays]] in Britain. These are the [[Cornish language|Cornish-language]] works ''[[Beunans Meriasek]]'' and ''[[Beunans Ke]]'', about the lives of Saints [[Meriasek]] and [[Saint Kea|Kea]], respectively.<ref>{{cite book |title= Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia|last= Koch|first= John T. |year= 2006|publisher= ABC-CLIO|isbn=1851094407|pages= 203–205|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&q=Celtic+Culture|access-date=23 November 2009}}</ref>

Other examples of hagiographies from England include:
* the ''Chronicle'' by [[Hugh Candidus]]<ref>[[Barbara Yorke]], ''Nunneries and the [[Anglo-Saxon]] Royal Houses'' (Continuum, 2003) [https://books.google.com/books?id=6iXw3-r2hvkC&dq=Ealdgyth+of+Stortford&pg=PA22 p.&nbsp;22]</ref>
* the [[Secgan|Secgan Manuscript]]<ref>[http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=stowe_ms_944_f029v  Stowe MS 944] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20140103065303/http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=stowe_ms_944_f029v |date=3 January 2014 }}, British Library</ref><ref>G. Hickes, ''Dissertatio Epistolaris in Linguarum veterum septentrionalium thesaurus grammatico-criticus et archeologicus'' (Oxford 1703–05), p. 115.</ref>
* the list of [[John Leland (antiquary)|John Leyland]]<ref>[[John Leland (antiquary)|John Leland]], The [[John Leland (antiquary)#Editions of Leland's works|Collectanea of British affairs]], Volume 2. [http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=la&u=https://books.google.com/books%3Fid%3DN989AAAAcAAJ%26pg%3DPA408%26lpg%3DPA408%26dq%3DDomnanuerdh%26source%3Dbl%26ots%3DhHG8iIFtb4%26sig%3Djrz5GF0uGBswmJZ1tKK9h2LO0k8&prev=/search%3Fq%3DDomnanuerdh%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D596 p.&nbsp;408].</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=R. M. |last=Liuzza |url=http://www.oenewsletter.org/OEN/archive/OEN39_2.pdf |title=The Year's Work in Old English Studies |journal=Old English News Letter |publisher=Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University |year=2006 |volume=39 |number=2 |page=8}}</ref>
* possibly the book ''Life'' by [[Saint]] [[Cadog]]<ref>{{cite journal |last=Tatlock |first=J. S. P. |year=1939 |title=The Dates of the Arthurian Saints' Legends |journal=Speculum |volume=14 |number=3 |pages=345–365 |jstor=2848601 |doi=10.2307/2848601|s2cid=163470282 }} p. 345</ref>
* ''Vita Sancti Ricardi Episcopi et Confessoris Cycestrensis''/ Life of [[Richard of Chichester]] by [[Ralph Bocking]].<ref>{{Cite book|editor-first=David|editor-last=Jones|title=Saint Richard of Chichester : the sources for his life|year=1995|publisher=Sussex Record Society|location=Lewes|isbn= 0854450408|page=8}}</ref>
* The [[Margery Kempe|Book of Margery Kempe]] is an example of autohagiography, in which the subject dictates her life using the hagiographic form.