Editing Aldhelm (section)

==Writings==
Aldhelm's collected works were edited by Rudolf Ehwald, ''Aldhelmi opera'' (Berlin, 1919). An earlier edition by [[J. A. Giles]], ''Patres eccl. Angl.'' (Oxford, 1844) was reprinted by [[Jacques Paul Migne|J. P. Migne]] in his ''[[Patrologia Latina|Patrologiae Cursus]],'' vol. 89 (1850).

===Contemporary reputation===
Aldhelm's fame as a scholar spread to other countries. [[Artwil]], the son of an Irish king, submitted his writings for Aldhelm's approval, and [[Cellanus]], an Irish monk from [[Péronne, Somme|Peronne]], was one of his correspondents. Aldhelm was the first [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]], so far as is known, to write in [[Latin language|Latin]] verse, and his letter to Acircius ([[Aldfrith]] or Eadfrith, king of [[Northumbria]]) is a treatise on Latin [[prosody (poetry)|prosody]] for the use of his countrymen. In this work he included his most famous productions, [[Anglo-Saxon riddles#Aldhelm|one hundred and one riddles]] in Latin hexameters. Each of them is a complete picture, and one of them, ''[[De creatura]]'', runs to 83 lines.<ref name="EB1911"/>

That Aldhelm's merits as a scholar were early recognised in his own country is shown by the encomium of [[Bede]] (''[[Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum]]'' 5.18), who speaks of him as a wonder of erudition. His fame reached Italy, and at the request of [[Pope Sergius I]] he paid a visit to Rome, of which, however, there is no notice in his extant writings. On his return, bringing with him privileges for his monastery and a magnificent altar, he received a popular ovation.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Aldhelm wrote in elaborate, grandiloquent and very difficult [[Latin]], known as [[hermeneutic style]]. This ''verborum garrulitas'' shows the influence of Irish models and became England's dominant Latin style for centuries,<ref>The Oxford Companion to English Literature, 6th Edition. Edited by Margaret Drabble, Oxford University Press, 2000 p. 15</ref> though eventually it came to be regarded as barbarous.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=535}} His works became standard school texts in monastic schools, until his influence declined around the time of the Norman Conquest.

===Modern reputation===
Modern historians have contrasting views of his writings. [[Peter Hunter Blair]] compares him unfavourably to Bede: "In the mind of his older contemporary, Aldhelm, learning of equal depth produced little more than an extravagant form of intellectual curiosity...Like Bede he drank deeply from the streams of Irish and Mediterranean scholarship, but their waters produced in him a state of intellectual intoxication which delighted its beholders, but which left little to posterity."{{sfn|Hunter Blair|2003|p=326}} However, [[Michael Lapidge]] praises his immense learning, observing that his knowledge of Latin texts is greater than any other pre-Conquest Anglo-Saxon writer, and that "the originality and importance of his corpus of Latin writings well justifies his status as the first English man of letters".{{sfn|Lapidge|2004}}

===Prose===
*'''''De Laude Virginitatis''''' (the prose ''De Virginitate''), a Latin treatise on virginity addressed to the nuns of the double monastery at [[Barking Abbey|Barking]], is Aldhelm's best-known work. After a long preface extolling the merits of virginity, he commemorates a great number of male and female saints. Aldhelm later wrote a shorter, poetic version (see below).
*'''''[[Epistola ad Acircium]]''''', a Latin treatise dedicated to one Acircius, understood to be King [[Aldfrith of Northumbria]] (r. 685-704/5). The chief source of his ''Epistola ad Acircium'' (ed. A. Mai, ''Class. Auct.'' vol. V) is [[Priscian]]. The acrostic introduction gives the sentence, 'Aldhelmus cecinit millenis versibus odas,' whether read from the initial or final letters of the lines.<ref name="EB1911"/> After an address to King Aldfrith, the letter consists of three treatises:
**''De septenario'', treatise on the number seven in [[arithmology]]
**''De metris'', treatise on metre, including the ''Enigmata'' (see below).
**''De pedum regulis'', didactive treatise on [[metrical feet]], such as iambs and spondees.
*[[Epistola ad Geruntium]], a letter written in Latin to [[Geraint of Dumnonia|Geraint]], [[List of kings of Dumnonia|King of Dumnonia]] concerning articles of the [[Council of Hertford]]. It was supposed to have been destroyed by the Britons ([[William of Malmesbury]], ''[[Gesta pontificum Anglorum]]'' p.&nbsp;361), but was discovered with others of Aldhelm's in the [[Codex Vindobonensis 751|correspondence]] of [[Saint Boniface|St Boniface]], [[archbishop of Mainz]].<ref name="EB1911" />
*Other '''Letters'''. Correspondents include Bishop [[Leuthere]], [[Adrian of Canterbury|Hadrian]], [[Eahfrid]], Cellanus, Sergius and Aldhelm's pupils Wihtfrith and Æthelwald who was responsible for part of the ''Carmen Rhythmicum''.<ref>{{PASE|10418|Æthelwald 17|accessdate=2009-01-18|cw=1}}</ref>
**A long letter to [[Eahfrid]], a scholar just returned from Ireland (first printed in Usher, ''Veterum Epistt. Hiber. Sylloge,'' 1632), is of interest as casting light on the relations between English and Irish scholars.<ref name="EB1911" />

===Poetry===
*'''''Carmen de virginitate''''' (the poetic ''De Virginitate''). Aldhelm wrote a shorter, poetic version of ''De Laude Virginitatis'', which closes with a battle of the virtues against the vices, the ''De octo principalibus vitiis'' (first printed by Delrio, Mainz, 1601). The two works are what is sometimes called an ''opus geminatum'' or "twin work".
*'''''Carmen Rhythmicum''''', rhythmic poem which describes a travel through western England and the way a wooden church was affected by a storm.
*'''''Carmina ecclesiastica''''' (modern title), i.e. a number of Latin ''tituli'' designed for inscription on a church or altar. They are: (1) ''In Basilica Sanctorum Petri et Pauli'', for a church dedicated to St Peter and St Paul, possibly the church which Aldhelm founded at Malmesbury, (2) ''In Basilica Beatae Mariae Semper Virginis'', St Mary's Church, possibly also at Malmesbury, (3) ''In Ecclesia Mariae a Bugge Extructa'', for the church built by Bugga, that is [[Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet|Eadburh of Minster-in-Thanet]], a royal lady of the house of Wessex, (4) the twelve ''tituli'' known collectively as ''In Duodecim Apostolorum Aris'' and (5) ''In sancti Matthiae Apostoli Ecclesia''.
*'''''Aenigmata''''', one hundred riddles included in the ''[[Epistola ad Acircium]]''.

===Lost works===
According to [[William of Malmesbury]], Aldhelm also wrote poetry in [[Old English language|Old English]] and set his own compositions to music, but none of his songs, which were still popular in the time of [[Alfred the Great|Alfred]], have survived. Finding his people slow to come to church, he is said to have stood at the end of a bridge singing songs in the vernacular, thus collecting a crowd to listen to exhortations on sacred subjects.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref>{{Cite book| publisher=Yale University Press| last = Aldhelm| others = James Hall Pitman (trans.)| title = The riddles of Aldhelm| location = New Haven| series = Yale studies in English, 67| year = 1925| page = 69}}</ref>