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St. Erkenwald(poem)

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St Erkenwald
by? The Pearl Poet
Saint Erkenwald, statue in St Albans Cathedral
First published inMid to late 15th century
CountryEngland
LanguageEarly Modern English
Subject(s)Theology and statecraft
Genre(s)alliterative verse
Meteror

St Erkenwaldis a fourteenth-centuryalliterativepoem inMiddle English,perhaps composed in the late 1380s or early 1390s.[1][2]It has sometimes been attributed, owing to theCheshire/Shropshire[3]/StaffordshireDialectin which it is written, to thePearlpoetwho probably wrote the poemsPearl,Patience,Cleanness,andSir Gawain and the Green Knight.[4][5]

St Erkenwaldimagines an encounter in the seventh century between the historicalErkenwald,Bishop of London675 to 693, and a corpse from an even earlier period,the periodbefore theRoman conquest of Britain.The poem's themes revolve around the complex history of Britain and England, and the possibility in fourteenth-century Christian thought of the salvation of virtuous pagans.

St. Erkenwald instructing monks. A historiated initial from the Chertsey Breviary (Bodley Ms Lat. liturg. d. 42, f. 46rv).

Manuscript[edit]

St Erkenwaldsurvives in only one manuscript,British LibraryMSHarley2250.[6]The document was discovered in 1757 byThomas Percy;the manuscript had been in the possession of Sir Humphrey Pitt of Balcony House,Shifnal,and Priorslee,Shropshire.[7]Other important ancient literary materials narrowly avoided being burnt as kindling by household staff in the circumstances[clarification needed]in which Percy was discovering this important cultural survival.[8]

Priorslee Hall, an address in Shropshire occupied by Sir Humphrey Pitt from whom the only known copy was recovered

This is a composite manuscript, created by binding together two pre-existing manuscripts which were originally unrelated.[9]One of the other texts in the part which containsSt Erkenwald,copied by the same scribe, ends with a scribalcolophonnoting the year, 1477; since this note is by the same scribe, the copy ofSt Erkenwaldtherefore dates from in or around 1477, roughly a century after the poem's probable composition.[10]

The first line of the surviving copy of the poem begins with a rubricated large initial "A", and line 177 begins with a similar letter "T".[11]Since this copy of the poem as a whole has 352 lines, the line 177 marks the beginning of its second half, and the marking of this point in the poem is probably intentional. Modern editions have therefore tended to reproduce the division.[12][13]

The rest of the related part of the manuscript contains many other works of a pious and devotional sort, including at least ten otherstories about saintsin Middle English verse (albeit rhyming verse rather than alliterative verse): althoughSt Erkenwaldhas usually been edited or anthologised in isolation, the surviving copy appears to have been transmitted as part of a collection of saintly writings.[14]

The title of the poem in its manuscript copy is the Latin "De Erkenwaldo" ( "About Erkenwald" ); the poem's present-day title,St Erkenwald,is a modern imposition.[15]

A window at Wells Cathedral; the heads depict: Pope Stephen, St Blaise, St Erkenwald, and Pope Marcellus.

Poetics[edit]

The poem is written inalliterative verse.[16]

A typical line divides into two half-lines, each containing two primary beats; the beats are usually the lexical stresses of open-class words. The first three beats—that is, both beats of the first half-line and the first beat of the second half-line—normally alliterate together, while the fourth beat normally does not alliterate with the others. Sometimes the fourth beat may alliterate with the first three beats of the following line, possibly as a point of deliberate construction.[17]

Beat syllables which have no initial consonant and begin with any vowel (syllables withzero onset) alliterate with beat syllables beginning with any other vowel so that, for example, in the line "InEsex was SerErkenwolde || anabbay to visite "the" e- "and" a- "sounds alliterate together.[18]

All of these features of the poem's form are conventional for later fourteenth-century alliterative verse.

Summary[edit]

The most important collection of early materials concerning Erkenwald is theMiracula Sanct Erkenwaldi,preserved as a 12th century manuscript in theMatthew Parkercollection (Parker 161) atCorpus Christi College, Cambridge.[19]The miracle in the poem is not in these materials, suggesting the story post-dates this manuscript.

It is possible the plot of the poem is a development of an (in its time) well-known story relating to the discovery of the head of a dead judge andJohn de Beromyarde,a famous Dominican of the later 1300s; a source beingSumma Praedicantum.[20]

St Erkenwald's story appears to come in two distinct sections, matching the division made by large initials in the surviving manuscript, noted above. The first provides a brief, historical context for the poem. The first section also depicts the discovery of an awe-inspiring sarcophagus and the concern and confusion of those that found it. The second focuses on St Erkenwald's dialogue with the re-animated corpse.

The poem begins with a brief historical description of England's shift from pagan belief to Christendom. The poem says that when, after the passing of theRoman Empire,the paganSaxonsinvaded Britain, they drove the British intoWalesand established pagan beliefs in the newly created England. StAugustine of Canterburywas sent to convert the English and to purify the pagan temples, replacing them with churches. The poem says that London was then called "NewTroy".

The poem proceeds to an incident in the life of St Erkenwald. During the construction ofSt Paul's Cathedralin London on the site of a former pagan temple, a mysterious tomb is uncovered. Adorned withgargoylesand made of grey marble, the tomb is inscribed with a series of golden characters, but no scholar is able to decipher them.

Once granted permission by the sextons, the mayor takes control of the sanctuary and tomb for further investigation. As they open the lid of the tomb, they find a perfectly preserved body and the garments of a king. Since those present are mystified, St Erkenwald is summoned to the tomb.

After Erkenwald prays, hoping to learn the identity of the body, and performs a mass, a "goste-lyfe" animates the corpse, and it begins to reply to his questions. The corpse reveals that he is a pre-Christian Briton, a just judge who lived under the rule of the mythological KingBelinus.He was given royal attire in his burial to honour his impartial rulings throughout his time as a judge, and after his death God preserved his clothing and his body on account of his righteousness.

This prompts Erkenwald to ask the judge about the state of his soul. The corpse says that his soul languishes inLimbo.All present weep to hear this, and one of Erkenwald's tears falls on the corpse. Erkenwald promises to prepare water to baptise the corpse, but because he has just invoked theTrinity,his tear accidentally already constitutes baptismal water,[21]and the corpse immediately dissolves into dust, as the soul of the man finally entersheaven.

Themes[edit]

By presenting anexemplum,this poem addresses, in an accessible and vivid way, the question of whether salvation was possible to persons who lived morally admirable lives without having the opportunity to receivebaptism.This was a question which interested and troubled Christians in the period.[22]The story ofSt Erkenwaldsuggests that a physical body is necessary for baptism and salvation. It is implied that the judge's body miraculously remained intact only to enable its salvation, since the body dissolved immediately following its baptism. Critics have compared it to theBeowulfpoem for reasons allied to this.[23]

The poem is also engaged with fourteenth-century England's sense of its own complicated religious history, as a land which was thought to have been pagan (before the coming of the Romans and for much of the Roman period), Christian (in the late Roman period), pagan (under the earliest English) and then Christian again (after evangelisation by Augustine of Canterbury).

The Curfew Tower of Barking Abbey The Curfew Tower was one of the three gateways to Barking Abbey, founded in 666 by Erkenwald, later Bishop of London.

Sources[edit]

There is no direct source for this poem. The known lives of Erkenwald do not contain a miracle concerning the salvation of a pagan judge. The closest analogue is the story ofPope Gregory the Greatand the Roman EmperorTrajan.In several versions of the story, Gregory learns of Trajan's just life, and is able to help Trajan's soul enter heaven. This might be the inspiration forSt Erkenwald.

The story of Trajan was popular, and can, for example, be found inLangland'sPiers Plowmanand in an early commentary onDante'sDivine Comedy.[24][25]In Langland's version of the Trajan story Trajan was saved simply by Gregory's desires and weeping, but in the Dante-commentary tradition the specific sacrament of baptism was necessary; by describing a specific baptism,St Erkenwaldaligns itself more closely with this second view on the question of the salvation of righteous pagans.[26]

Shrine of St Erkenwald in St Paul's Cathedral, relics removed 1550, lost as a monument in the Great Fire of London

Language and dialect[edit]

Past scholarship agrees that the language of the circa 1477 manuscript copy ofSt Erkenwaldcan be placed somewhere in the north-westMidlands.[27][28]The evidence at least strongly suggests that it can be more precisely placed inCheshire.[29]

However, the language of one late surviving copy—created roughly a century after the poem's composition—cannot be taken as a wholly accurate representation of the poem's original language.[30]

The two obsolete characters within theSt Erkenwaldexcerpt below are the lettersyogh(ȝ) andthorn(þ).

Example passage[edit]

Opening Lines ofSt. Erkenwald[31]

Contemporary engagement with the material[edit]

The poetry has been engaged with in current culture and scholarship in the several ways, including:

References[edit]

  1. ^Frank Grady, "St. Erkenwaldand the Merciless Parliament ",Studies in the Age of Chaucer22 (2000), pp. 179–211.
  2. ^Ruth Nissé, "'A Coroun Ful Rich': The Rule of History inSt. Erkenwald",English Literary History65 (1998), pp. 277–95.
  3. ^Austin, Sue (23 February 2024)."Shropshire Day: Natural beauty and culture help county celebrate its own patron saint's day".shropshirestar.Retrieved23 February2024.
  4. ^Marie Borroff, "Narrative Artistry inSt. Erkenwaldand theGawain-Group: The Case for Common Authorship Reconsidered",Studies in the Age of Chaucer28 (2006), pp. 41–76 (arguing for common authorship).
  5. ^Larry Benson, "The Authorship ofSt. Erkenwald",Journal of English and Germanic Philology64 (1965), pp. 393–405 (arguing against common authorship).
  6. ^London, British Library, MS Harley 2250, ff. 72v to 75v.
  7. ^"Middle English Alliterative Poetry".mediakron.bc.edu.Retrieved10 September2023.
  8. ^Hales, John W.; Furnivall, Frederick J., eds. (1867).Percy's Folio Manuscript: Ballads and Romances.Vol. I. London: N. Trübner & Co.Retrieved20 November2017.
  9. ^Saint Erkenwald,edited by Clifford Peterson (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977), pp. 1–2.
  10. ^Saint Erkenwald,edited by Clifford Peterson (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977), p. 2.
  11. ^London, British Library, MS Harley 2250, ff. 72v and 74r.
  12. ^e.g.Saint Erkenwald,edited by Clifford Peterson (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977), p. 77.
  13. ^e.g.A Book of Middle English,edited by J. A. Burrow and Thorlac Turville-Petre, 3rd edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005), p. 228.
  14. ^Saint Erkenwald,edited by Clifford Peterson (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977), pp. 3–6.
  15. ^London, British Library, MS Harley 2250, f. 72v.
  16. ^https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4630&context=etd
  17. ^Saint Erkenwald,edited by Clifford Peterson (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977), pp. 34–5.
  18. ^Saint Erkenwald,edited by Clifford Peterson (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977), line 108.
  19. ^Gollancz, Sir Israel (1923).Selected Early English Poems IV St Erkenwald.Oxford University Press.
  20. ^Gollancz, Sir Israel (1923).Selected Early English Poems IV St Erkenwald.Oxford University Press.
  21. ^A Book of Middle English,edited by J. A. Burrow and Thorlac Turville-Petre, 3rd edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005), p. 233, n. to line 316.
  22. ^A Book of Middle English,edited by J. A. Burrow and Thorlac Turville-Petre, 3rd edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005), p. 221.
  23. ^Weiskott, Eric, ed. (2016),"The Erkenwald Poet's Sense of History",English Alliterative Verse: Poetic Tradition and Literary History,Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 127–147,ISBN978-1-316-76834-1,retrieved10 September2023
  24. ^William Langland,The Vision of Piers Plowman: A Complete Edition of the B-Text,edited by A. V. C. Schmidt, Passus XI, lines 141–69; Passus XII, lines 281–92.
  25. ^A Book of Middle English,edited by J. A. Burrow and Thorlac Turville-Petre, 3rd edition (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005), p. 221.
  26. ^Gordon Whatley, "Heathens and Saints:St Erkenwaldand its Legendary Context",Speculum61 (1986), pp. 330–63.
  27. ^Saint Erkenwald,edited by Clifford Peterson (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977), pp. 23–6.
  28. ^Friedrich Knigge,Die Sprache des Dichters von "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", der sogenannten "Early English Alliterative Poems" ", und de" Erkenwalde "(Marburg: Elwert, 1885), pp. 118–20.
  29. ^Saint Erkenwald,edited by Clifford Peterson (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977), pp. 23–4.
  30. ^Saint Erkenwald,edited by Clifford Peterson (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977), p. 23.
  31. ^Gollancz, I., St. Erkenwald (Bishop of London 675-693) an alliterative poem, 1922, Oxford University Press, p. 1.
  32. ^"Search | RSC Performances | SAI199707 - Saint Erkenwald | Shakespeare Birthplace Trust".collections.shakespeare.org.uk.Retrieved10 September2023.
  33. ^Doom, Pop Medieval-Professor Awesome and the Minions of."Pop Medieval – Professor Awesome and the Minions of Doom - Pop Medieval Ep 37: The Tears of St. Erkenwald".Google Podcasts.Retrieved10 September2023.
  34. ^"Sung Eucharist for the Feast of Erkenwald, Bishop of London".St Paul's Cathedral.Retrieved10 September2023.

Manuscript[edit]

Editions[edit]

  • J.A. Burrowand Thorlac Turville-Petre.A Book of Middle English,2nd ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996)ISBN0-631-19353-7
  • Clifford Peterson (ed.) and Casey Finch (trans.). InThe Complete Works of the Pearl Poet(Berkeley: University of California Press. 1995)ISBN0-520-07871-3(with facing page Modern English translation).
  • Ruth Morse.St. Erkenwald(Cambridge: D.S. Brewer Ltd, 1975)ISBN0-87471-686-1.
  • Henry L. Savage.St. Erkenwald(Hampden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1972)ISBN0-208-01136-6
  • Clifford Peterson.St. Erkenwald(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977)ISBN0-8122-7723-6

Commentary and criticism[edit]

  • Larry D. Benson, 1965 “The Authorship of St. Erkenwald.”Journal of English and Germanic Philology64: 393–405.
  • Christine Chism,Alliterative Revivals(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2002)ISBN0-8122-3655-6.
  • Seeta Chaganti,The Medieval Poetics of the Reliquary: Enshrinement, Inscription, Performance(New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 47 - 71.
  • J. R. Hulbert, 1918 - 1919 “The Sources of St. Erkenwald and the Trental of Gregory,”Modern Philology16: 485 - 93.
  • T. McAlindon, 1970 “Hagiography into Art: A Study of St. Erkenwald.”Studies in Philology67: 472 -94.
  • Ruth Nissé, "'A Coroun Ful Riche': The Rule of History inSt. Erkenwald."ELH65.2 (1998): 277–95.
  • Monika Otter, "'New Werke':St. Erkenwald,St. Alban's, and the Medieval Sense of the Past, "Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies.24.3 (1994): 387–414.
  • William A. Quinn, 1984 “The Psychology of St. Erkenwald.”Medium Aevum3, No. 2: 180 - 93.
  • G. Whatley, “Heathens and Saints: St. Erkenwald and its Legendary Context.”Speculum61.2 (1986): 330–63.
  • Helen Young, 2007 "Refusing the Medieval Other: A Case Study of Pre-Modern Nationalism and Postcoloniality in the Middle English" St Erkenwald "." 'The Politics and Aesthetics of Refusal.' Eds Caroline Hamilton, Michelle Kelly, Elaine Minor, Will Noonan. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 140 - 65.

External links[edit]

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