I'm going to ignore the astrology question, although I've passed it
along to a postgrad who is looking at astrology in the early MAs.
As to the slaves and concubines,
> 1. were such multiple sexual relationships practised by English and Celtic Christians this late?
And indeed long after. I've been told of examples of Norman lords
keeping slaves or `servants' for sexual purposes. The issue was rather
one of lordship and the ability to impose yourself on others. As long as
there are slaves they will be sexually taken advantage of by their
masters. And the powerful often maintain a `love-interest' to supplement
their arranged marriages.
>2. were they sanctioned by the church.
No. Not forbidden by canon law, perhaps, but irregular relationships
were disapproved of as part of a general emphasis on chastity. There
records of various monks and priests chastising people for irregular
behaviour. Gildas's description of Maglocunus's `rape' may well be a
(rather lurid) description of an irregular marriage or concubine
relationship.
>3. when were they forbidden?
11th C, I beleive. John St.Lawrence concurs in his reply.
4. John wrote that he was "more concerned with how they were supposed to
be acquainted with the Old Testament during the 7c."
There is a tendency to view Britain in the 7th C as culturally and
intellectually isolated from the rest of Europe. However, western
Britain (including Wales, Ireland, Dal Riata, and the Picts) clearly had
contacts with the Mediterranean world, while the Saxons were part of the
Frankish sphere of influence (as shown by the trade links). British
intellectuals from Pelagius to Gildas clearly were familiar with the old
testament, even if they did not necessarily have a single coherent
edition. Later hagiography also contains allusions and stories that
appear to have been lifted from or written in imitation of old testament
originals. In Ireland in particular there appears to have been a
continuous transmission of this kind of knowledge. I suspect that in
Wales the break in transmission of the physical documents themselves
occurs either following the Synod of Whitby (664), or more likely
following the initial Norman conquest in the 11th C. In England the
break is probably cleaner and earlier, begining with the Saxon
oppression of the Church from 450-600 (or at least withdrawal of
patronage), and concluding with the hostility of the Augustinian mission
to any remaining `British' clergy within Saxon England. (Karl Baus
discusses the transmission of the old testament in the `History of the
Church', Vols 1-2; Nerys Patterson discusses the role of the `learned'
families in Ireland in `Cattle-Lords and Clansmen'; Wendy Davies gives a
good overview of the sources for early medieval Wales in `Wales in the
Early Middle Ages').
Ron R.
--
Dr. Ronald A. Ross
School of History and Welsh History
University of Wales (Bangor)
Siliwen Road
Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. LL57 2DG
Telephone 01248-382154
E-mail [log in to unmask]
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