Anglo-Saxon Era
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘Anglo-Saxon Era’
The eighth-century English bishop and poet Cynewulf explores a prophecy from the Song of Solomon.
In these lines from ‘Christ’ by Cynewulf (possibly the 8th century bishop Cynewulf of Lindisfarne), the poet reflects upon some beautiful words from the Song of Solomon, which he understands as a prophecy of Jesus Christ.
Cynewulf reflects on the mystery of the appearance of the angel Gabriel to Mary.
‘Christ’ is an Anglo-Saxon poem in three parts by Cynewulf (possibly the 8th century bishop Cynewulf of Lindisfarne, in the Kingdom of Northumbria). In this extract, the poet reflects on the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary, to tell her that she is to become the earthly mother of the Son of God.
Athelstan confirmed himself as King of the English, and also reawakened a feeling that all Britain should be a united people.
The Battle of Brunanburh in 937 - location unknown — confirmed Athelstan, a grandson of Alfred the Great, as the first King of a united England. It also saw him accorded (albeit rather grudgingly) an almost imperial authority across Great Britain, and for the first time since the Romans left in 410 people began to think of Britain as a single political entity again.
Chad, the seventh-century Bishop of Mercia, seemed to be making a lot of music for one man.
After St Chad was consecrated Bishop of Mercia in 669, he took up residence in Lichfield at a monastery of his own foundation, and soon people were coming from miles around for his advice and healing prayers. He also built himself a little private chapel, and spent many hours there alone.
The Northumbrian saint warned of an enemy who would stop at nothing to silence the good news.
While he was a monk at Melrose in the Scottish Borders, then part of the Kingdom of Northumbria, St Cuthbert used to visit lonely villages to tell people about a God very different from the capricious pagan spirits they feared and worshipped. He became a popular figure, able to draw surprising crowds.
One of England’s most precious artefacts, the Lindisfarne Gospels, was nearly lost at sea.
Just before the Danes sacked the monastery at Lindisfarne in 793, the monks smuggled out the body of St Cuthbert, carrying it on their shoulders all over Northumbria in the hope of finding a place free from violence. Eventually, their successors led by Bishop Eardulf and Abbot Eadred lost heart, and decided to take refuge in Ireland.