Explores Wulfstan’s world through his sermons, uncovering style, sources, and the craft behind the texts.
This nonfiction work surveys the homilies attributed to Archbishop Wulfstan, explaining which pieces are likely his and how editors have judged authorship. It begins with a short life sketch and a look at the era, then builds a careful case for analyzing style and sources. The study also maps how these sermons relate to royal laws and ecclesiastical texts, offering a window into medieval religious writing and its transmission.
- How Wulfstan’s distinctive sentence openings and intensifying phrases shape his rhetoric
- Connections between the accepted homilies and laws or governance texts
- A method for classifying the remaining sermons and attributing authorship
- Editorial decisions and manuscript evidence used in reconstructing the collection
Ideal for readers of medieval English literature, church history, and linguistic style, this edition clarifies a complex body of work and explains how scholars approach authorship concerns.