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Aelfric and the Homiliary of Haymo of Halberstadt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2016

Cyril L. Smetana
Cyril L. Smetana*
Affiliation:
St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia
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Extract

Besides the version of Paul the Deacon's Homiliary which Aelfric probably used for most of the patristic material in the Catholic Homilies, he also made use of a compilation of brief excerpts from the works of the Fathers by Smaragdus, and the homiliary of Haymo of Halberstadt. A re-examination of the sources of the Catholic Homilies has led to the conviction that Aelfric's debt to Haymo is considerably greater than has been recognized. Besides the two homilies where Aelfric specifically mentions Haymo as his source, we can point out some twenty-five more homilies where Aelfric's text is beholden to Haymo's work.

Type
Miscellany
Information
Traditio , Volume 17 , 1961 , pp. 457 - 469
Copyright
Copyright © Fordham University Press 

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References

1 See ‘Aelfric and the Early Medieval Homiliary,’ Traditio 15 (1959) 163–204, which shows that by far most of Aelfric's patristic sources are to be found in a version of Paul the Deacon's Homiliary.Google Scholar

2 In the Latin Preface to the first volume Aelfric enumerates the homilists from whom he has drawn material: ‘Hos namque auctores in hac explanatione sumus sequuti, videlicet Augustinum Hipponensem, Hieronimum, Bedam, Gregorium, Smaragdum et aliquando Haymonem; horum denique auctoritas ab omnibus catholicis libentissime suscipitur.’ The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church (2 vols., ed. Thorpe, Benjamin, London 1844–46). In subsequent references to Aelfric's homilies in Thorpe's edition we shall use the abbreviation Hom. with volume number, homily number and pages.Google Scholar

3 PL 102.15–552.Google Scholar

4 Haymo of Halberstadt, O.S.B. (778–853), was a pupil of Alcuin and a friend of Rhabanus Maurus. In 841 he was appointed bishop of Halberstadt. His works (PL 116–118) consist of commentaries on Scripture, homilies and the Historiae sacrae epitome (an abbreviated version of Rufinus's translation of Eusebius's Historia). The authorship of the scriptural commentaries has been justly questioned. Cf. Heurtebize, B., art. ‘Haymon,’ DThC 6 (1947) 2068f. Google Scholar

5 Förster, Max, ‘Über die Quellen von Aelfrics exegetischen Homiliae Catholicae,’ Anglia 16 (1894) 45: ‘Die homiliensammlung des Halberstädter bischofs Haymo, der nach Aelfric's vorrede ‘aliquando’ benutzt ist, hat den stoff zu zwei homilien geliefert, nämlich zu I, no. 8 und no. 34, wo er beidemal auch in der homilie ausdrücklich genannt ist. Sonst habe ich keine spur seiner benutzung gefunden.’Google Scholar

6 In both instances Aelfric mentions him by name: Hom. 1.8.120, ‘Se lareow Haegmon cweÐ on ðissere trahtnunge …’; Hom. 1.34.510, ‘Haegmon trahtnaÐ ϸis godspell, and segÐ …’Google Scholar

7 Of the 85 selections in Aelfric's two volumes of the Catholic Homilies 56 may be properly termed exegetical homilies. Topical sermons and expanded gospel texts form the material of 12 more, while 17 others are devoted to the lives of the saints.Google Scholar

8 PL 34.1229–37.Google Scholar

9 PL 118.778–781, a homily De martyribus. Google Scholar

10 Förster, Anglia 16.37, ascribes these passages (‘kleine moralisierende zusätze oder bibelcitate ‘) to Aelfric himself.Google Scholar

11 ibid. 14–15.Google Scholar

12 PL 76.1150–53. Most of these patristic sources were discovered by Max Förster, Anglia 16.1–61. Since we have already given credit to him in each particular case in the article in Traditio (cit. n. 1), we shall not encumber these notes with a reference in subsequent text or notes.Google Scholar

13 PL 118.327–336.Google Scholar

14 CCL 122.73–79.Google Scholar

15 PL 118.90–107.Google Scholar

16 CCL 122.200–206.Google Scholar

17 PL 118.353–358.Google Scholar

18 Förster, Anglia 16.52, 53.Google Scholar

19 PL 118.75–82.Google Scholar

20 PL 76.1294–1301.Google Scholar

21 PL 118.653–661.Google Scholar

22 PL 76.1092–99.Google Scholar

23 PL 118.747–755.Google Scholar

24 PL 76.1135–38.Google Scholar

25 PL 118.190–203.Google Scholar

26 Förster, Anglia 16.44–45, gives a passage from Jerome, Comm. in epist. ad Ephesios (3.6.11 [PL 26 (1845) 544a]), which also interprets Satan's name as ‘deorsum fluens’; and the same interpretation is found in his Liber interpretationis Hebraicorum nominum, sect. ‘De apocalypsi Johannis’ (ed. de Lagarde, P., CCL 72.60): ‘Diabolus deorsum fluens.’ The passage quoted above from Haymo is noteworthy in that it actually uses the words ‘deorsum ruere’ found in Aelfric.Google Scholar

27 PL 76.1110–14, 65.732–737, 102.71–75 respectively.Google Scholar

28 PL 118.107–115.Google Scholar

29 PL 118.499–506.Google Scholar

30 PL 76.1127–30.Google Scholar

31 CCL 122.128–133.Google Scholar

32 PL 39.1657–59.Google Scholar

33 The Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also called Candlemas Day.Google Scholar

34 PL 118.90–107.Google Scholar

35 CCL 122.95–104.Google Scholar

36 Hom. 2.4.60: ‘Precor humiliter quosque peritos, ne nos uituperent, eo quod historiam propter ignorantes tam aperte hic ponimus.’Google Scholar

37 PL 118.126–137.Google Scholar

38 Bede, CCL 122.156–160; Smaragdus, PL 102.130–132.Google Scholar

39 PL 118.226–232.Google Scholar

40 PL 92.205–208.Google Scholar

41 PL 92.205c: ‘Hoc vero typice inter hanc refectionem et illam quinque panum ac duorum piscium distat, quod ibi littera Veteris Instrumenti spiritali gratia plena esse signata est, hic autem Novi veritas ac gratia Testamenti fidelibus ministranda monstrata est.’Google Scholar

42 PL 118.634–640.Google Scholar

43 PL 92.34–36. 44 PL 118.680–684.Google Scholar

45 Gregory, PL 76.1160–70; Bede, CCL 122.318–327, 328–334; Augustine, PL 39.2111–13.Google Scholar

46 PL 118.755–759.Google Scholar

47 Gregory, PL 76.1154–59; Haymo, PL 118.154–163. The texts are as follows: Is. 5.7 - Haymo 155a; Mt. 21.47 - Haymo 154c; Lk. 23.43 - Haymo 160a; Mt. 8.11 - Haymo 161a.Google Scholar

48 PL 76.1082–86.Google Scholar

49 PL 118.179d.Google Scholar

50 PL 38.618–625.Google Scholar

51 PL 118.535D.Google Scholar

52 PL 76.1077–81.Google Scholar

53 PL 118.17–25.Google Scholar

54 PL 76.1131–34.Google Scholar

55 PL 118.163–172.Google Scholar

56 This appears in Paul the Deacon's Homiliary as no. 61 of the Pars Aestiva. For the text see Klostermann, E. and Benz, E., ‘Zur Überlieferung der Matthaeus-Erklärung des Origenes,’ TU 47.2 (1931) 1–136, 47.4 (1932) 1–11.Google Scholar

57 PL 118.640–646.Google Scholar

58 PL 76.1265–74.Google Scholar

59 PL 118.601–608.Google Scholar

60 Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Lk. 19.41–48.Google Scholar

61 PL 76.1294–1301; PL 92.664–667.Google Scholar

62 PL 118.653–661.Google Scholar

63 See sec. I par. 2 supra. Google Scholar

64 PL 118.327–336.Google Scholar

65 See. sec. I par. 5 supra. Google Scholar

66 PL 118.75–82.Google Scholar

67 PL 118.818–874, Historiae sacrae epitome, libri decem.Google Scholar

68 Förster, Anglia 16.53 n. 1: ‘Die Rufinsche Kirchengeschichte citiert er immer als ‘Aecclesiastica Historia’ … ein titel, den auch die lateinischen kirchenväter gebrauchen …’Google Scholar