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The Historical Works (Cistercian Fathers Series) (Volume 56) - Softcover

Rievaulx, Aelred Of

 
9780879072889: The Historical Works (Cistercian Fathers Series) (Volume 56)

Synopsis

Aelred of Rievaulx was an heir of Saxons living under Norman rule, a native speaker of English daily speaking French and Latin, a descendant of generations of married priests in an age when priests were forbidden to wed, an English monk in a French order, an abbot bred to service in the church but trained for service in the court. His sermons and treatises reflect Aelred the monk, the novice-master, and abbot. His historical works ’concerned with the political world of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman England’ seek to explore the past as a guide for the present and assurance of the future. Drawing on the Bible, the Fathers of the Church, classical writers like Cicero, and medieval historians such as the Venerable Bede and Symeon of Durham, Aelred insisted on the importance of history for guiding human action, declaring that the meaning of the past can only be known in the present and that only at the end can one understand the beginning. In this volume are four of Aelred’s seven historical works: Lament for David, King of the Scots (1153), The Genealogy of the Kings of the English (1153-1154), The Life of Saint Edward, King and Confessor (1162-63), and The Battle of the Standard (1153-54).

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About the Author

Marsha Dutton, the executive editor of Cistercian Publications, is a scholar of twelfth-century Cistercian thought and writing, best known for her work on Aelred of Rievaulx. She also writes regularly on medieval history and literature. She has most recently published Embracing God: Essays on the Spiritual Treatises of Aelred of Rievaulx (Cistercian Publications, 2025) and “Nuns as Chaplains in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods” (The Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies, 2025).

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