IMC 2009: Sessions

Session 320: Attitudes towards Religion from the Anglo-Saxon Era to the Later Middle Ages, I: Understanding and Interpreting Anglo-Saxon Religious Beliefs

Monday 13 July 2009, 16.30-18.00

Sponsor:	Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies, University of Manchester
Organiser:	Kathrin Prietzel, School of English, Queen's University Belfast
Moderator/Chair:	Hugh Magennis, School of Arts, English & Languages, Queen's University Belfast
Paper 320-a	Finding Faith in the Landscape: The Lands of St Chad (Language: English) Andrew Sargent, Department of History, Keele University Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - Old English, Religious Life
Paper 320-b	Æthelwold's Translation of the Rule of St Benedict: Scribes, Manuscripts, and Interpretations (Language: English) Francisco José Álvarez López, School of Advanced Studies, University of London Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Language and Literature - Old English, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Religious Life
Paper 320-c	'The end of the world is nigh': The Religious Response to Æthelred's Reign (Language: English) Kathrin Prietzel, School of English, Queen's University Belfast Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Sermons and Preaching
Abstract	The main issue that comes to the fore in all three papers is that of ecclesiastical authority as well as the preservation and assertion of orthodox beliefs. The first paper discusses the use of saints' legends, here St Chad, to construct episcopal authority and the issue of various saints' cults within the same region. The second paper focuses on the Rule of St Benedict in particular in regard to its manuscript transmission. The last paper deals with the troubled reign of Ethelred and how the calamities were interpreted by the clergy, hereby focusing on Aelfric and Wulfstan.