Ecclesiastical Historiography of the English People - Revised

8/7/2019 Ecclesiastical Historiography of the English People - Revised

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Ecclesiastical Historiography of the English People

The A.D. 44 entry of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the A.D. 113 entry of the

Second Continuation of the Peterborough Chronicle represent two very different

styles of writing. The difference lies not merely in the language or in the linguistic

changes that took place in the intervening period, but also in style. In addition to these

two texts, it would be worthwhile to consider two other texts: the Account of the

Coming of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes from Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the

English People and the Sermon of the Wolf to the English by the homilist, Wulfstan.

Bedes work poses a problem as we cannot tell for certain when the original Latin

was translated into Old English. It may be safe to assume that the persons in charge of

writing the Chronicles within monastery walls knew Latin and did have access to

Bedes text, whether in Latin or in Old English.

The A.D. 449 entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle follows a simple mode of

narration. It appears to be an account of the events that took place in Britain at the

time.

Her Martianus and Valentinus onfengon rice, and ricsodon seofon winter. And on

hiera dagum Hengest and Horsa, fram Wyrtgeorne gelaode, Bretta cyninge, gosohton

Bretene on m stede e is genemned Ypwines-fleot, rest Brettum to fultume, ac hie

eft on hie fuhton.

Interestingly, one finds it difficult to comment on a piece of prose as utilitarian as this

because of its sparse nature without reference to something more complex.

is gre for e king Stephne ofer s to Normandi, and ther wes underfangen fori at

hi wenden at he sculde ben alswic alse the eom wes and for he hadde get his tresor

ac he todeld it and scatered sotlice.

The difference between the two is remarkable, although both are claiming to be

historical records. In the 449 entry we hear that In that year Martianus and

Valentinus assumed kingdom and reigned [for] seven winters. And in their days

Hengest and Horsa, invited by Vortigern, king of the Britons, came to Britain to that


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place that is called Ebbsfleet, first to give help to the Britons, but soon they fought

them (the Britons). In the 1137 entry, we are told that King Stephen went over sea

to Normandy, and was received there because they believed that he should be just

such as the uncle was and because he had got his treasure but he distributed it and

scattered foolishly.

In the 449 entry, even though we learn later on that Hengest and Horsa had

understood the Breta-weala nahtnesse and s landes cyste, the reason is not given

when Hengest and Horsa first start fighting the Britons. This observation is presented

later, when they ask the Angles for reinforcements. Conjunctions (And on hiera

dagum , ac hie eft on hie fuhton) are used to form coordinate clauses in the

449 entry time and again, to form compound sentences, two or more parts of which

are given equal grammatical weight. In the 1137 entry we are told that King Stephen

was received by the Normans for a reason. There is a causal connection between the

beliefs of the Normans and their reception of King Stephen. This psychological

connection is almost never made in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entries.

A little further into the 1137 entry, we are told: a the swikes undergton at he

milde man was and softe and god and na justice ne dide, a diden hi alle wunder.Like the fori at in the earlier extract, here too we find an attempt to locate

motivation for action. The qualities of one man prompt action on the part of others.

There are comments on the nature of the characters in the 1137 entry. In the 449

entry, however, we hear of the uselessness of the Britons and the richness of the land,

but that is an observation of someone else that is reported by the historian and not the

latters personal observation. The subordinate adverbial clause of time is also used in

the 1137 entry: and ar he nam e biscop Roger of Serebyri, and Alexander biscop

of Lincol and te canceler Roger, hise neves, and dide lle in prison til hi iafen up

here castles (italics are mine), or for instance: a e wrecce men ne hadden

nammore to given, a rveden hi and brendon alle the tunes, at wek u myhtes faren

al a dsis fare, sculdest thu nevre finden man in tune sittende, ne land tiled. Not only

does the latter example illustrate the use of the adverbial clause of time, it also grants

the reader a point of view, positioning him/her in the place itself. This again is rarely

(if ever) found in the earlier entries in theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle.


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The 1137 account takes a turn that entries like that of 449 had not prepared us for.

The Anarchy is described in detail. The language is rhetorically enriched.

Me henged up bi the fet and smoked heom mid ful smoke. Me henged bi the umbes

other bi the hefed and hengen bryniges on her fet. Me dide enotted strenges abuton

here hved and wrythen it at it gde to e hrnes.

The anaphora is employed to telling effect. Rhetorical devices such as these are

entirely absent in the 449 entry. Later on in the 1137 entry we find the author

declaring: I ne can ne I ne mai tellen alle e wunder ne alle e ines at hi diden

wrecce men on is lande. We realize that not only is he able to, but he also knows

very well how to recount the tales of misery that befell the poor people of the

kingdom. It appears that the author uses a rhetorical device, (inaccurately) akin to

Aposiopesis, where the author denies the ability to speak (as though overwhelmed by

emotion, or due to lack of skill) only to prompt greater demand on the part of his/her

audience for the words following. (This is similar to the device most notably used by

Antony inJulius CaesarIII.ii: I am no orator, or My heart is in the coffin there

with Caesar,/ And I must pause till it come back to me.) What is also important to

note is the use of the first person I. The detailing is almost baroquial. The excess

detailing, it may be argued, is used in order (as in Counter-Reformist Baroque art) to

impassion the mind so as to make it easier to turn towards faith.

Gif twa men oer iii coman ridend to an tun, al e tunscipe flugn for heom; wenden

at hi wron rveres

This reference to the general paranoia that is created by the Anarchy is probably one

of the first references to the psychology of a community in the Chronicles. The most

celebrated phrase comes shortly afterwards: hi sden openlice at Crist slep, and his

halechen. The account draws to a close, with the kingdom relatively stable. Almost as

an after-thought, the historian adds the story of young Williams crucifixion and

Gods deeds thereafter.

The Old English translation of BedesEcclesiastical History begins, ws ymb

fower hund wintra and nigon and fowertig fram res Drihtnes menniscnysse t

Martinus csere rce onfng and VII gar hfde, as opposed to the sparse Hr

Martinus and Valentnus onfngon re, and rcsodon seofon winter of the Anglo-

Saxon Chronicle. Bedes Latin text was available before the time of the composition


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of theAnglo-Saxon Chronicles, even if the Old English translation (usually dated late

10th century) were not available. We cannot tell for certain whether or not the Anglo-

Saxon Chronicle drew upon Bede. The fundamental difference between the two lies

in Bedes elaborate description (present both in the Latin and in the OE) of the

cruelties that were meted out to the Britons. Bede, however, draws heavily upon De

Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae by Gildas, a 6th century British cleric. Gildas prose

is richer in rhetoric even compared to Bede or his translator. Gildas writes:

Then all the councilors, together with that proud tyrant Gurthrigern, the British king,

were so blinded, that, as a protection to their country, they sealed its doom by inviting

in among them (like wolves into the sheep-fold), the fierce and impious Saxons, a race

hateful both to God and men, to repel the invasions of the northern nations. Nothing

was ever so pernicious to our country, nothing was ever so unlucky. What palpable

darkness must have enveloped their minds--darkness desperate and cruel!

Bedes translation (fairly true to the Latin) gives us:

Sume for hunger heora fondum on hand odon and cne owdm gehton wi on

e him mon andlyfne forgafe; sume ofer s sorgiende gewiton.

While Gildas writes:

others, constrained by famine, came and yielded themselves to be slaves for ever to

their foes, running the risk of being instantly slain, which truly was the greatest favor

that could be offered them: some others passed beyond the seas with loud

lamentations instead of the voice of exhortation.

The idea of God sending the foreigners in order to punish His people is there even in

Gildas. Perhaps it is possible to locate a linear progression of utilitarian prose in the

three accounts of Gildas, Bede (original and translation), and The Anglo-Saxon

Chronicle. However, this would perhaps be a shallow reading. Gildas has greater

personal attachment to the events he describes, being born in the year of the Siege of

Bath-hill [which was (as I am sure) forty-four years and one month after the landing

of the Saxons, and also the time of my own nativity.]. This perhaps explains his

passionate prose. Bede (original and translation) retains the idea of divine

punishment, but cuts down on the employment of rhetorical devices (compared to

Gildas account), such as the simile, switching to direct speech, and erotesis.


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While Bedes history seems almost to serve the purpose of an Apologue, Wulfstan

addresses his audience directly. The notion of God sending punishment in the form of

one or the other national crisis is carried forward by Wulfstan in his Sermon. The

Sermon (which owes a good deal to Gildas account) comes at a time when the

country is under threat from the Vikings. To blame, of course, are the degenerate

ways of Britons, their turning away from God, and their moral indiscipline. The

Sermon of course does not try to represent history. It is wholly an exercise in rhetoric

of a very high order.

The common thread running through all the four selections is a nation in crisis. There

is an obvious attempt in Bede to connect the sufferings of the people to their fallen

ways; his is after all, an ecclesiastical history. The A.D. 449 entry in the Anglo-Saxon

Chronicle does not make this connection. It will be remembered that events in the

particular entry are merely subsequential, not consequential. The 1137 entry in the

Peterborough Chronicle, however, proves an interesting case. Its method of recording

history is somewhere midway between Bedes and theAnglo-Saxon Chronicles1. The

author gestures tantalizingly towards causality by the accounts he offers, without

stating it. Lawrence Stone writes:

Narrative is taken to mean the organisation of material in a chronologically

sequential order, and the focusing of the content into a single coherent story, albeit

with subplotsThe kind of narrative which I have in mind is not that of the simple

antiquarian reporter or annalist. It is narrative directed by some 'pregnant principle',

and which possesses a theme and an argumentAnd finally, they are deeply

concerned with the rhetorical aspects of their presentation. Whether successful or

not in the attempt, they certainly aspire to stylistic elegance, wit and aphorism.

TheAnglo-Saxon Chronicle entry seems to present us with apparently objective facts,

and in that, one gets the feeling, there is an attempt at secularization of historical data.

It seems to be led by no particular theme or principle.

The Peterborough Chronicle, on the other hand, it seems was guided by some

pregnant principle. The story of the fall of the kingdom with the degeneracy of men

1 As far back as the fourth century A.D. Eusebius of Caesarea compiled two works:

a Historia Ecclesiastica, which was translated into Latin, French and Armenian (it

perhaps served as a model for Gildas or Bede); and the Chronicon whose second

part appears to be a tabular account of historical events, much like theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle.


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and subsequent rise with their turning to faith was perhaps leading up to the story of

martyrdom. It is noteworthy that even earlier in the account we are told: for ne

wren nvre nan martyrs swa pined alse hi wron, and Swilc and mare anne we

cunnen sin we oleden xix winter for ure sinnes. The martyrdom of William and of

the people, then, becomes a key factor in the revival of the kingdom, even though this

is not explicitly declared in the text. These are symbolic of the fact that God has not

forsaken the kingdom altogether. They suffer for their sins and then reawaken

eventually, but by the grace of God. There is use of rhetorical devices, there is

stylistic elegance, wit. The rise and fall of the kingdom and Gods active hand, as

illustrated through the story of St William, are thus juxtaposed and they create

meaning in conjunction, even without the obvious statement of the author. It is a

historical account, like Bedes and like the 449 entry, but it is neither an explicitly

ecclesiastical history, nor an attempt at recording facts; rather it is an attempt at

convincing us that facts, recorded objectively align themselves to point in the

direction of Gods grace.

_____

Sujaan Mukherjee

U.G. III, Roll. 06

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Ecclesiastical Historiography of the English People - Revised