Ælfrician Texts and Contexts

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Special Session

Organizer Name

Rachel E. Grabowski

Organizer Affiliation

Cornell Univ.

Presider Name

Rachel E. Grabowski

Paper Title 1

The Spiritual Sense of Ælfric’s Temporale Homilies

Presenter 1 Name

Jacob Hobson

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Univ. of California-Berkeley

Paper Title 2

Old English Saints' Lives: Collecting and Compiling

Presenter 2 Name

Ruth H. Mullett

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Cornell Univ.

Paper Title 3

Updating and Imitating Ælfric around the Year 1200

Presenter 3 Name

Stephen Pelle

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Univ. of Toronto

Paper Title 4

Ælfric and His Roaring Doubters: Revisiting Leofstan in The Passion of Saint Edmund

Presenter 4 Name

Matthew Spears

Presenter 4 Affiliation

Cornell Univ.

Start Date

15-5-2016 8:30 AM

Session Location

Schneider 1120

Description

Ælfric’s importance and influence were established in his lifetime by his correspondence with both religious and secular rulers. He is also one of the only Anglo-Saxon writers whose importance is evidenced after his death by the continual use of his works throughout the Middle Ages and their importance in confessional debates during the English Reformation. This panel is interested in work that advances scholarship on the writings of Ælfric or in defining and theorizing spheres of influence in which he worked and that he shaped. Towards this end the panel is comprised of papers on the following topics and related subjects: Carolingian reform and debates, the Benedictine Reform, Ælfrician homilies and saints lives, the connection between his writings and the larger Old English corpus, the shift between the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman church, and the use of Ælfric in the later Middle Ages and beyond.

Best,

Rae Grabowski