Sermo Lupi ad Anglos

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The Sermo Lupi Ad Anglos (The Sermon of the Wolf) is an Old English homily composed by Wulfstan of York, who is commonly referred to as “the wolf.” (Szarmach 820) It is common interpretation that he used a homiletic style that was virtually unheard of at the time. He wrote his homilies as if he were writing a composition rather than a poem, a style favored by many of his contemporaries. The Sermo Lupi Ad Anglos is addressed to the English people. The text of this address has survived in five known manuscripts [1], and now forms part of the canon of Old English literature.

Contents

[edit] Why A Homily?

Homilies were written primarily to be read during Mass and were used to address the congregation. During the early 1000’s, Ælfric was the primary homilist of the time, composing over 130 homilies, while Wulfstan was a distant second with approximately twenty sermons. (Lapidge 241) Both homilies and sermons worked in similar ways, the difference was in how each was presented.

[edit] Who Was Wulfstan of York?

Wulfstan of York served as the Bishop of London and Worcester from 996-1016 and eventually rose to the rank of archbishop in 1002. He was well know as a distinguished statesman as well as homilist. (Szarmach 820) He had experienced some of the Danes worst destruction and at the same time was forced to watch King Æthelred and his army do virtually nothing. Wulfstan then moved to Worcester and completely immersed himself in Catholic writings, allowing for himself to further elevate his status as one of the most powerful Catholics in England.

[edit] The Sermo Lupi Ad Anglos

In the Sermo Lupi Ad Anglos, a speech made by Wulfstan in 1014, the bishop complained about the Viking occupation of England [2]. Wulfstan stated that God sent the Vikings as a punishment for the sins of the Anglo-Saxon people[[3]]. He vehmently chastised the Anglo-Saxons for their sins, among which he included the practices of slavery, the forced marriage of widows and the non-observance of church feasts and fasts [4]. However the sermon concludes with an entreaty for the Anglo-Saxons to repent their sins and abandon their evil ways.

[edit] Key Elements

In the sermon, Wulfstan addressed the entire English nation and held them all as accountable for the country's plight. A key element of Wulfstan’s sermon was the connection he made with the initial Anglo-Saxon rulers of England (who drove out the Britons from the country) and the Danes who were currently plaguing the country. According to Gildas, the Britons had been defeated because they had sinned against God. God had therefore allowed them to be vanquished. Wulfstan warns his listeners to learn from the past, and not share the fate of the Britons. This theory developed into one of the common themes in Wulfstan’s sermons.

Wulfstan’s Sermo Lupi Ad Anglos was made with the hope of helping the Anglo-Saxon people see the errors in their ways. He stresses that they placed too much faith in the King and not enough faith in God or the Church. Wulfstan laments the fact that 'Neither has any of us ordered his life just as he should, neither the ecclesiastic according to the rule nor the layman according to the law. But we have transformed desire into laws for us entirely too often, and have kept neither precepts nor laws of God or men just as we should'[5].

Finally, after outlining the dim reality of present suffering, the sermon's closing speaks of the Last Judgement, exhorting his listeners to take the chance to save themselves from Hell and, by leading a virtuous life, to gain the 'glories and delights which God has prepared for those who do His will in the world' (Liuzza 202). The sermon ends with this call for the congregation to change their ways.

[edit] References

  • Bethurum, Dorothy, ed. The Homilies of Wulfstan. 3rd ed. 1963.
  • Kirby. Early England. 107.
  • Lapidge, Michael, ed. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England. 1991.
  • Liuzza, R.M., ed. Beowulf: a New Verse Translation. Toronto: Broadview P Ltd., 1990. 196-202.(Appendix D contains a complete translation of the Sermo Lupi Ad Anglos)
  • Stenton, Frank M. Anglo-Saxon England. 445-9
  • Szarmach, Paul E., Teresa M. Tavormina, and Joel T. Rosenthal, eds. Medieval England: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland, 1998.