I.38 - Ælfric of Eynsham, Preface to the First Series of CatholicHomilies

Summary

Ælfric, abbot of Eynsham, wrote a number of important works in both Latin and Old English. Here he writes a Latin preface for his first series of forty Catholic homilies in Old English which were intended to be read aloud to the congregation or read privately by the laity. He dedicates the work to Sigeric of Canterbury, explaining that he is basing the homilies on the works of the Church Fathers and more recent Latin theologians from the Continent, and that he believes in the need for Latin works to be translated into English. Ælfric makes use of the modesty topos in his elegant preface.