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Public penance in Anglo-Saxon England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2003

Brad Bedingfield
Brad Bedingfield
Affiliation:
Columbia Law School
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Extract

In a sermon for Ash Wednesday, after general exhortations to prayer, church-going, and almsgiving during Lent, Wulfstan discusses what is to be done with those guilty of ‘high’ sins:

And sume men syndon eac Þe nyde sculan of cyricgemanan Þas halgan tid ascadene mid rihte weorðan for healican synnan, ealswa adam wearð of engla gemanan Þa ða he forworðe Þa myclan myrhðe Þe he on wunode ær ðam Þe he syngode … Leofan men, on Wodnesdæg, Þe byð caput ieiunii, bisceopas ascadað on manegum stowan ut of cyrican for heora agenan Þearfe Þa ðe healice on openlican synnan hy sylfe forgyltan. And eft on Ðunresdæg ær Eastran hy geinniað into cyrican Þa ðe geornlice Þæt Lencten heora synna betað, swa swa hym man wissað; Þonne absolutionem bisceopas ofer hy rædað [agus] for hi Þingiað [agus] mid Þam heora synna Þurh Godes mildheortnesse myclum gelyhtað. And Þæt is Þearflic gewuna, ac we his ne gymað swa wel swa we scoldan on ðisse Þeode, [agus] hit wære mycel Þearf Þæt hit man georne on gewunan hæfde.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anglo-Saxon England , Volume 31 , December 2002 , pp. 223 - 255
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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