Conclusion
This chapter has highlighted the diversity of approaches to the translation, adaptation and interpretation of the Gospels in tenth-century England. The form of each Old English rendering of the Gospels is determined by its purpose: the formal-equivalence interlinear glosses were added to Latin Gospel books to guide monastic readers in understanding the Latin text and to aid them in the practice of
lectio divina; the functional equivalence
Wessex Gospels were probably originally intended for private reading, perhaps by a lay patron or priest, though they were later repurposed for liturgical use; and the anonymous and Ælfrician homilies were designed for the use of priests and for the edification of the unlearned laity.
1 As we shall see in the Conclusion, pp. 247–52, the Wessex Gospels and Catholic Homilies in particular enjoyed long afterlives, continuing to attract readers and influence English translations of the Bible into the late medieval and early modern periods.In the prayer appended to the second series of Catholic Homilies, Ælfric reflected on how this project would benefit the Angelcynn, before announcing that he had no intention to produce any further translations of the Gospels or homilies:
Ic ðancige þam Ælmihtigum Scyppende mid ealre heortan, þæt he me synfullum þæs geuðe, þæt ic ðas twa bec him to lofe and to wurðmynte
Angelcynne onwreah ðam ungelæredum; ða gelæredan ne beðurfon þyssera boca, for ðan ðe him mæg heora agen lar genihtsumian.
Ic cweðe nu þæt ic næfre heononforð ne awende godspel oþþe godspeltrahtas of Ledene on Englisc. Gif hwa ma awendan wille, ðonne bidde ic hine for Godes lufon þæt he gesette his boc onsundron fram ðam twam bocum ðe we awend habbað we truwiað þurh Godes diht. Sy him a wuldor on ecnysse.
2 CH II.40, p. 345 (with modifications).[I thank the Almighty Creator with all my heart, that he has granted me, a sinner, that, to his praise and honour, I have disclosed to the English race these two books, for the unlearned; the learned have no need of these books, because their own learning may suffice them. I say now that I never henceforth will translate gospel or gospel-expositions from Latin into English. If anyone wishes to translate more, then I will pray him, for love of God, that he set his book apart from the two books that we have translated, we trust through God’s direction. Be to him ever glory to eternity.] (Emphases added).
By urging future Gospel translators and interpreters to differentiate their efforts from his own work, Ælfric positions his Catholic Homilies as the authoritative source of biblical interpretation in English. Although he would never devote as much attention to the Gospels again, Ælfric’s career as a biblical translator was nevertheless far from over. In the next chapter, we will see how Ælfric’s abiding concern with the correct understanding (angyt) of Scripture, and his reservations about making Old Testament material available to the laity in English, would determine the course of his involvement in the Old English Heptateuch.