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Virgin spouses as model Christians: the legend of Julian and Basilissa in Ælfric's Lives of Saints

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2006

Robert K. Upchurch
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Extract

Of the three legends of virgin spouses in Ælfric's Lives of Saints, Julian and Basilissa would have been the least familiar to an Anglo-Saxon audience. Yet it is the most useful among the stories of chaste marriage and martyrdom for demonstrating how Ælfric uses them to emphasize the importance of constancy in the Christian faith. Altering verbally and structurally his Latin source, he rewrites Julian and Basilissa to model the asceticism and orthodoxy he feels are lacking among his flock. As odd a choice as the legend may seem, his selection suits his aim of rekindling the faith of the English laity with the Lives and is consistent with the larger goals of his programme of pastoral care.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anglo-Saxon England , Volume 34 , December 2005 , pp. 197 - 217
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

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