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The penitential motif in Cynewulf's Fates of the Apostles and in his epilogues

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Robert C. Rice
Robert C. Rice
Affiliation:
The University of Michigan
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Extract

In the past few years a real advance has been made in the appreciation of Cynewulf's shortest signed poem, the Fates of the Apostles, extant in the Vercelli Book. For most of the century and more since this poem was first published critical opinion has been almost unanimously unfavourable about its literary merit and until recently scholarly attention has been limited mainly to textual and source investigations. Today, however, illuminating studies, such as those by James L. Boren and Constance B. Hieatt, have made us aware of the poem's subtleties of image and structure. In particular, now that we have begun to apprehend the depth of the poem's meaning, I believe that we can use this understanding to gain further insight into the thematic concerns of Cynewulf's other three signed poems. This can be achieved, I suggest, through recognizing how the basic theme of the Fates reappears as a motif linking Cynewulf's epilogues.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anglo-Saxon England , Volume 6 , December 1977 , pp. 105 - 119
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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References

page 105 note 1 The poem was first published, under the title Fata Apostolorum, in 1858 (Bibliothek der angelsächsischen Poesie, ed. Grein, C. W. M. (Göttingen) 2, 7–9)Google Scholar. Grein published only the first ninety-five lines, and it was not until Arthur S. Napier re-examined the Vercelli manuscript in 1888 that the epilogue with Cynewulf's runic signature was noticed; see Napier, A. S., ‘The Old English Poem The Fates of the Apostles’, Academy 34 (1888), 153.Google Scholar My citations from the Fates and other Old English poems are, unless otherwise noted, from The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, ed. George, Philip Krapp and Elliott Van, Kirk Dobbie, 6 vols. (New York, 1932–1953). Translations of the poetry are my own.Google Scholar

page 105 note 2 Boren, James. L., ‘Form and Meaning in Cynewulf's Fates of the Apostles’, Papers on Lang. and Lit. 5 (1969), 115–22Google Scholar, and Constance, B. Hieatt, ‘The Fates of the Apostles: Imagery, Structure, and Meaning’, Papers on Lang. and Lit. 10 (1974), 115–25.Google Scholar

page 106 note 1 A Critical Historj of Old English Literature (New York, 1965), p. 110.Google Scholar

page 106 note 2 Krapp, G. P., in his edition of Andreas and The Fates of the Apostles (Boston, 1906), p. 160Google Scholar, suggests that siδgeomor (Ib) has a figurative religious meaning rather than a literal sense, ‘weary of travel’. And Kenneth, R. Brooks, in his edition, Andreas and The Fates of the Apostles (Oxford, 1961), p. 119Google Scholar, notes the oddness of a literal interpretation in this context and suggests that it may mean ‘sad as a consequence of my experience’, i.e. ‘weary of life’. Constance Hieatt, ‘The Fates of the Apostles’, p. 118, n. 10, demurs. However, considering the common patristic notion of earthly life as a pilgrimage, i.e. travel in a foreign land, it seems reasonable to interpret the nominal prefix sið in this context as ‘pilgrimage’ or, metaphorically, ‘life's journey’, thus yielding essentially the same interpretation as Brooks's. The poet's weariness with life, thus expressed, is consistent with his mournful condition (geomrum, 89b) and need for prayers when he finally seeks out alone his eardwic uncuiδ (see esp. 88–95). Alternatively the siδ may be interpreted as his journey into the afterlife; siδgeomor then becomes ‘sad on account of, or in anticipation of, the journey of death’, which fits the theme of the poem perfectly.

page 106 note 3 ‘The Fates of the Apostles’, p. 118.

page 107 note 1 ‘Indeed, it behoves each man that he consider for himself his soul's journey, how awful it will be when death shall come and sunder the association that once was one, body and soull Long it will be until the spirit takes at the hand of God himself either torment or glory, just as his earthly vessel before deserved in the world.’ The soul-and-body theme with its eschatological–penitential implications was widespread in both eastern and western literature from about the fourth century and throughout the Middle Ages. For studies on sources and distribution of the theme, with special reference to the Old English period, see Batiouchkof, T., ‘Le Débat de l'âme et du corps’, Romania 20 (1891), 1–55 and 513–78CrossRefGoogle ScholarJulius, Zupitza, ‘Zu “Seele und Leib”’, ASNSL 91 (1893), 369–404Google Scholar; Louise, Dudley, ‘An Early Homily on the “Body and Soul” Theme’, JEGP 8 (1909), 225–53Google Scholar; Rudolph, Willard, ‘The Address of the Soul to the Body’, PMLA 50 (1935), 957–83Google Scholar; O.S.A., Cyril Smetana, ‘Second Thoughts on Soul and Body I’, MS 29 (1967), 193–205.Google Scholar

page 108 note 1 For the pervasiveness of this orthodox doctrine in Old English poetry, the following studies may be consulted: Abbetmeyer, C., Old English Poetical Motives Derived from the Doctrine of Sin (Minneapolis, 1903)Google Scholar; Waller, Deering, The Anglo-Saxon Poets on the Judgment Day (Halle, 1890)Google Scholar; Whitbread, L., ‘The Doomsday Theme in Old English Poetry’, BGDSL (Halle) 89 (1967), 452–85Google Scholar; and Caie, Graham. D., The Judgment Day Theme in Old English Poetry, Publ. of the Dept of Eng. Univ. of Copenhagen 2 (1976)Google Scholar. Godden, M. R., ‘An Old English Penitential Motif’, ASE 2 (1973), 221–39Google Scholar, traces in detail the appearance of a specific Old English verbal formula expressing the relation of confession and penance to the soul's condition on the day of judgment, which appears in Christ III and in certain Old English homilies and libri poenitentiales.

page 108 note 2 A settled term for purgatory, i.e. for a place where souls are purified by expiation after death in preparation for heaven, was not current in Old English, though the concept and the belief were far advanced in the west by the seventh century. See, e.g., Gregory the Great, Dialogorum Libri IV, Migne, Patrologia Latina 77, cols. 393–6. See also Biscbof Wærfertbs von Worcester Übersetrung der Dialoge Gregors des Grossen, ed. Hans, Hecht (Hamburg, 1907; repr. Darmstadt, 1965), p. 327Google Scholar, where purgatory is referred to as ‘þæt clæsiende fyr’. In Ælfric's ‘Sermo ad Populum in Octavis Pentecosten Dicendus’, based on Julian of Toledo's Prognosticon Futuri Saeculi, it is ‘δæt witniendlice fyr’ (Homilies of Ælfric, ed, John, C. Pope, Early Eng. Text Soc. 259–60, no. XI, line 226).Google Scholar The vividness of the belief in monastic circles is evident from Bede; see esp. the vision of Drihthelm, discussed below.

page 109 note 1 ‘The valley that you saw, with its awful flaming fire and freezing cold, is the place in which those souis have to be tried and chastened who delayed to confess and make restitution for the sins they had committed until they were on the point of death; and so they died. But because they did repent and confess, even though on their deathbed, they will all come to the kingdom of heaven on judgement day; and the prayers of those who are still alive, their alms and fastings and specially the celebration of masses, help many of them to get free even before the day of judgement.’ Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, ed. Bertram, Colgrave and Mynors, R. A. B. (Oxford, 1969), pp. 494Google Scholar (Latin) and 495 (translation). Commutation, or the application of penances to the souls of the departed, was an Irish practice approved by Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury (668–90). See Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents relating to Great Britain and Ireland, ed. Arthur, West Haddan and William, Stubbs (Oxford, 1871) III, 283Google Scholar, item xii. A number of forms of commutations for ‘rescuing a soul out of hell’ appear in ‘The Old-Irish Table of Commutations’ in The Irish Penitentials, ed. Ludwig, Bieler and Binchy, D. A., Scriptores Latini Hiberniae 5 (Dublin, 1963), 277–83.Google Scholar Cf. the similar commutations in two Anglo-Saxon penitentials in Medieval Handbooks of Penance, ed. McNeil, John. T. and Helena, Gamer (New York, 1938), pp. 32–3, 231–3 and 236.Google Scholar

page 109 note 2 ‘When in winter time the broken pieces of ice were floating round him, which he himself had had to break in order to find a place to stand in the river or immerse himself those who saw him would say, “Brother Dryhthelm,” – for that was his name – “however can you bear such bitter cold?” He answered them simply, for he was a man of simple wit and few words, “I have known it colder.” And when they said, “It is marvellous that you are willing to endure such a hard and austere life”, he replied, “I have seen it harder.” And so until the day he was called away, in his unwearied longing for heavenly bliss, he subdued his aged body with daily fasts and led many to salvation by his words and life.’ Ibid. pp. 498 (Latin) and 499 (translation). Penances of similar severity, and some rather bizarre, may be found prescribed in ‘The Old-Irish Table of Commutations’ (see reference in preceding note).

page 110 note 1 ‘Indeed, I have need of gracious friends on the journey, when I must seek alone the long home, the unknown dwelling … I must [go] far hence, [fare] forth elsewhere alone, I myself know not whither, from this world. Unknown are the habitations, land and home; thus it will be for every man unless he enjoys a holy spirit.’

page 110 note 2 It is interesting to note that Sidney Lanier, Shakspere and His Forerunners: Studies in Elizabethan Poetry and Its Development from Early English (New York, 1908), pp. 33–45Google Scholar, compares the lamenting soul of Soul and Body I with Hamlet's ghost and contrasts ‘the unquestioning faith of the poem and the uneasy scepticism of Hamlet’ (p. 37). I do not mean to imply that Cynewulf was a sceptic, but there is a hint of doubt as to the efficacy of his penitence to bring him salvation. I am indebted to Stanley Greenfield for this reference, as I am, more generally, for his encouragement in the writing of this article.

page 111 note 1 Text from Three Northnmbrian Poems, ed. Smith, A. H. (London, 1933, p. 43)Google Scholar. In its brevity, Bede's Death Song is rather complex and enigmatic in thought and expression, defying adequate translation. But see Huppé, B. F., Doctrine and Poetry (New York, 1959), pp. 78–98Google Scholar, where Huppé relates its theme to the penitential poems, De Die Judicii and Be Domes Dæge. On doubt as to Bede's authorship, see, e.g., Gerald, Bonner, ‘Bede and Medieval Civilization’, ASE 2 (1973), 81, n. 3.Google Scholar

page 111 note 2 ‘Before the need-peril [or, necessary journey, death] no one becomes more wise in thought than is necessary for him in considering, before his departure, what good or evil may be adjudged for his sptrit after death henceforth.’

page 112 note 1 This process reflects five of the twelve modes of remission of sin which appear in the Paenitentiaie Cummeani and in the Confessionale Pseudo-Egberti. They include the fifth mode, ‘criminum confessio (andetnys fyrena)’, the sixth, ‘adflictio cordis (geswencednys heortan)’, the seventh, ‘abrenuntiatio vitiorum (þeawas bete for gode)’, the eighth, ‘intercessio sanctorum (haligra gebede for þone fyrenfullan)’, quoting James v.14–16, and the tenth, ‘conversio et salus aliorum (þæt man oerne hwyrfe fram fyrenum to godes willan)'. See Irish Penitentials, ed. Bieler, and Binchy, , pp. 108–10Google Scholar; Das Alienglisthe Bussbuth (Sog. Confessionale Pseudo-Egberti), ed. Robert, Spindler (Leipzig, 1934), pp. 174–5Google Scholar; and Die Allenglische Version ks Halitgar'sthen Bussbuches, ed. Josef, Raith, 2nd ed. (Darmstadt, 1964), p. xlvi.Google Scholar

page 112 note 2 Though the question of audience cannot he treated here, the character of the Vercelli Book suggests that it was prepared by and for monks, containing, as it does, twenty-two homilies largely devoted to the themes of penance, death and the Last Judgement, six poems of a religious nature, also with a predominant concern for penance and the four last things, and a prose vita of St Guthlac. For a recent study of the manuscript's origin, see Scragg, D. G., ‘The Compilation of the Vercelli Book’, ASE 2 (1973), 189–207.Google ScholarGatch, Milton. McC., ‘Eschatology in the Anonymous Old English Homilies’, Traditio 21 (1965), 145Google Scholar, states: ‘the penitential system or, at the very least, a penitentially-oriented monasticism in the traditions of John Cassian and of the Irish is implicit on almost every page of the codex’. The Vercelli Book thus appears to be a devotional collection designed for clerics, probably monks, especially suitable for Lenten penitential reading. Cf. the Benedictine Rule, ch. 48, on reading a single book ‘straight through’ during Lent.

page 113 note 1 ‘It is greatly necessary that the saint [Juliana] grant me help when the united pair [body and soul], greatest in affection, shall be parted in twain. My soul must depart from the body on a journey – I myself know not whither – to an unknown land [or, state of being]; from this [world] I must seek another according to my previous works, journey according to my earlier deeds.’

page 114 note 1 See, e.g., the confessional prayers in Henri, Logeman, ‘Anglo-Saxonica Minora’, Anglia 11 (1889), 97–120Google Scholar, and in Hallander, Lars-G., ‘Two Old English Confessional Prayers’, Studier i Modern Språkvetanskap 3 (1968), 87–110.Google Scholar The attempt to be all-inclusive in these confessions obviates their strict adherence to the actual sins committed by any given penitent.

page 114 note 2 Ferdinand, Holthausen, ‘Altenglische Interlinearversionen Lateinischer Gebete und Beichten’, Anglia 65 (1941), 234 and 240.Google Scholar

page 115 note 1 This sense is evident from its exclusive use in penitential contexts. See, e.g., The Blickling Homilies, ed. Morris, R., EETS o.s. 58, 63 and 73 (repr. as one vol., 1967), pp. 25, 97, 99, 101 and 103Google Scholar; also Die Vercelli-Homilien, ed. Max, Förster (Hamburg, 1932; repr. without homily IX, Darmstadt, 1964), pp. 51 and 53Google Scholar; Dos Allenglische Bussbuch, ed. Spindler, , pp. 170 and 175Google Scholar; and Die Altenglische Version des Halitgar’ schen Bussbuches, ed. Raith, , pp. xli and 9Google Scholar

page 115 note 2 The necessity of penance in preparation for the second coming is a major theme in a number of Old English homilies, including, e.g., Blinkling I–V, VII, VIII, X and XI and Vercelli II–IV, VIII, IX and XV.

page 116 note 1 Cf. Colin, Chase, ‘God's Presence through Grace as the Theme of Cynewulf's Christ II and the Relationship of This Theme to Christ I and Christ III’, ASE 3 (1974), 87–101, at 89.Google Scholar

page 116 note 2 Die Vercelli-Homilien, ed. Förster, , pp. 150–1.Google Scholar

page 118 note 1 ‘The sinful, tainted with wickedness, men sad in mind, will be punished in the middle, covered with smoke in the hot surge…. They shall be purified, sundered from sins, as refined gold that in the flames is completely deansed of every blemish through the oven's fire, purified and purged. Thus will each man be set free and cleansed of every guilt, of profound crimes, through the fire of judgement. They might then enjoy happiness thereafter, eternal blessedness. To them the guardian of angels will be mild and gracious, because they renounced every wickedness, each work of sin, and turned with words to the Son of God.’