Ceolfrid: history, hagiography and memory in seventh- and eighth-century Wearmouth–Jarrow
This article investigates the manner in which Wearmouth–Jarrow was able to define itself as a religious community through the manner in which it remembered the activities of its former abbot, Ceolfrid. Ceolfrid's memory was cultivated in two written texts: the anonymous Vita Ceolfridi and Bede&...
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| Published in: | Journal of medieval history 1999-06, Vol.25 (2), p.69-86 |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
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| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | This article investigates the manner in which Wearmouth–Jarrow was able to define itself as a religious community through the manner in which it remembered the activities of its former abbot, Ceolfrid. Ceolfrid's memory was cultivated in two written texts: the anonymous
Vita Ceolfridi and Bede's
Historia Abbatum. The article explores the nodal points around which both texts constructed Ceolfrid's memory paying particular attention to the gifts he made to the community and his involvement in liturgy. It also contextualises the two
Lives by analysing texts from Frankish Gaul which they used as models or which shared similar concerns. The article concludes by considering the differences between the two texts and argues that Bede consciously sought deliberately to forget certain aspects of Ceolfrid's career as a response to the threat he perceived Bishop Wilfrid had presented to the late seventh- and early eighth-century Northumbrian Church. |
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| ISSN: | 0304-4181 1873-1279 |