medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear all,
When this topic was first raised by Jimm, I asked some colleagues at my
university whether they might have some information to add. Without having
read any of the replies (such as Jon's), my colleague Elaine Treharne has
offered the following: 'There are no Old English poems about St George;
neither are there any records of such poems having existed to my knowledge.
There is a relic of St George that Athelstan's tenth-century relic-hunters
apparently procured for Exeter, but otherwise, the evidence of his cult in
Anglo-Saxon England is illustrated principally by the prose hagiographic
texts, as discussed by Joyce Hill in her article.'
Best wishes to all,
(non-saint) George
On Fri, 21 Apr 2006 00:04:39 +0100, Jon Cannon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>My notes refer to a Passion of St George written by Aelfric, Archbishop
>of York in the early eleventh century. I believe I got this from
>'Martyrdom in East and West: the Saga of St. George of Nobatia and
>England', in D. Wood (ed.) Martyrs and Martyrologies: Studies in Church
>History 30 (Oxford, 1993), 47-56; and/or Hill, J. "Aelfric, Gelasius,
>and St. George", Mediaevalia 11 (1985), 1-17. Both sources I found on
>David Wood's website at http://www.ucc.ie/milmart/grgbibliog.html
>
>I feel sure I read chunks of this Passion, either in one of these
>articles or by following a citation in Bengston, J. 'Saint George and
>the Formation of English Nationalism', Journal of Medieval and Early
>Medieval Studies 27 (1997), 317-40.
>
>But I do note that my article itself referred only to George being known
>in England by the c8, but not to the vernacular lives of him mentioned
>in the email. I find that my notes on Anglo-Saxon material are a little
>bare: my focus was very much post-Conquest: it was enough to establish
>that the Anglo-Saxons knew of him. Apart from the mention in passing of
>the above passion, I also listed a few other Anglo-Saxon references to
>St George cited by Bengston, and that the New Advent website lists
>various pre-Conquest English church dedications to him.
>
>I do hope this is of some help.
>
>Jon
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
>culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jimm
>MacGregor
>Sent: 20 April 2006 15:06
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: [M-R] Saint George and Vernacular Literature (was St George)
>
>
>At 01:55 AM 4/20/2006 +0100, you wrote:
>
>"St George was known to the Anglo-Saxons; there are even vernacular
>poems
>about him."
>
>I see this claim made frequently, but I have yet to discover any
>vernacular Anglo-Saxon poems about Saint George. I am aware of the
>saint's legend in the Old English Martyrology and Aelfric's Lives of
>Saints, but these are the only vernacular sources about the saint of
>which I am aware. I have also read Joyce Hill's excellent article on
>Saint George's cult in England before the Norman Conquest and she makes
>no mention of any vernacular texts other than OEM and Aelfric. I would
>therefore be much obliged to anyone who can direct me to other
>vernacular Anglo-Saxon sources about Saint George.
>
>Regards,
>
>Jimm MacGregor, Ph.D.
>Assistant Professor of History
>Department of History, Philosophy, and Geography
>Missouri Western State University
>4525 Downs Drive
>St. Joseph, MO 64507
>[log in to unmask]
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