Hi Bella
Thank you for the suggestion that I read the fourteenth century poem.
In fact I have already done so and found it very useful. However I'm
not too sure how I feel about Ruth Morse's interpretation of it as
she seems to suggest that there is a distinctly Pelagian element,
which frankly I think, although it is her opinion and must be
respected as such, is wrong. As she seems to miss the point that
baptism plays a key part, which raises notions that the pagan judge
has entered heaven by the grace of God, which I think is something to
which Pelagius would object, given that he felt that good works were
sufficient for eternal bliss. Hence the notion of the 'just pagan.'
I have also considered the similarities between this poem and the
Gregory/ Trajan legend, with a view (I think) to working out what
Erkenwald's view on doctrinal matters were. There are obvious
similarities. The only main difference being that Gregory is punished
for his presumptiousness in praying for a damned soul which questions
the authority of God. Erk on the other hand is successful in his
attempts to obtain redemption for the judge. Which I guess means that God
approved of what he was doing; the logical corollary of this being
that he must have adhered to the correct doctrinal procedure. Thereby
refuting Ruth Morse's notion of Pelagianism or perhaps semi
pelagianism..
Having said all this, and I'd be really glad if you'd let me have
your objections(!), it has to be remembered that the poem was written
in the fourteenth century looking back to the seventh century,
looking back to a period long before the birth of Christ (as you will
know the judge says as much). Immeadiately we are faced with the
different theological and philosophical standpoints of each period,
which kind of alters the way in which the poem can be interpreted.
In fact I am in the process of reading an article by Monika Otter 'St
Erkenwald, St Albans, and the medieval sense of the past - Journal of
Medieval and Renaissance Studies 1994 no.24. Hers is a long and
tortuous argument relating to, as you might have guessed, the past
looking at the past looking at the past and I am trying very hard to
extract some useful stuff from it.
I do accept that the poem is useful for considering the life of Erk
in the same way that Beowulf is useful for considering Hygelac, but
it would be even more useful if I could find a chronicle for example, where he
is mentioned even in passing.
Conway Churchill
University of Leeds
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