Blickling homilies

The Blickling Homilies are the second largest collection of anonymous homilies written in Old English. The Blickling Homilies are written in prose and said to have been written down by possibly two different scribes before the end of the 10th century. This might be one of the oldest collection of homilies to survive.

The Blickling Homilies are incomplete. The majority of the study surrounding them has been focused on finding their origin, which is still mostly unknown. The dozens of anonymous homilies written in Old English are compared to one another to draw parallels in an attempt to find common origins or authors. Old English scholar D. G. Scragg has developed a manuscript sigla to organize, list, and evaluate the numerous collections of anonymous writings.

The Blickling homilies were first edited and translated in the 19th century by Richard Morris, whose work is still considered definitive. A more recent translation and edition by Richard J. Kelly was widely panned by scholars and critics upon publication.

Manuscript

The Blickling Homilies, simply named ‘B’ in the list compiled by Scragg, are officially called the Princeton University Library, W.H. Scheide Collection, The Blickling Homilies. They contain 19 quires or gatherings of vellum leaves. The 11th quire is missing and there are probably four more missing at the very beginning of the text. The first quire opens in the middle of a sentence (Scragg 299). Not much of the text in these homilies overlaps with other homilies, but the study of how and where they overlap is still very much in progress.

The homilies were named for Blickling Hall in Norfolk, England, formerly the seat of the Marquess of Lothian. The first known account of the manuscript reports that it was used as an oath book in the city of Lincoln. Then in 1724 the officials in Lincoln gave the manuscript to William Pownall, who in turn sold it to Richard Ellys of Nocton, Lincolnshire who was an ancestor of the Marquess of Lothian. The manuscript was then kept in the library of Blickling Hall. In 1932, the 11th Marquess sold the homilies (to relieve his debt) to Cortlandt Field Bishop, who in 1938, sold them to the Scheide family of Titusville, Pennsylvania who in turn donated them to the Princeton University Library, where they have remained ever since.

Interpretation

There is little known about the homilies and their origin or the homilist, so the purpose and principles behind the homilies will never be fully known. The scribe(s) who put them together had a plan in choosing the sermons and wrote with a fairly consistent religious philosophy. The homilies in this collection deal primarily with Lent, but only include Sundays which the compiler saw fit. The second and fourth Sundays in Lent are not discussed, but the first and third are. Passion Sunday, Palm Sunday, and Holy Week are also included. There are three homilies dealing with Rogation Days. Ascension Day is the eleventh, and the twelfth day is Pentecost. The rest of the homilies in the collection are saints’ feast days.

The main focus of these homilies is concentrated on the immediate connection of the readers and their moral lives. The writings begin by stating the greatness of Christ’s power and glory and lets the reader know that God is everything, and that all people should be more God-like. It attempts to persuade readers of this in a very straightforward manner. The homilies in this collection are mostly not exegetical (meaning that they do not explain the gospels) but rather they straightforwardly give instructions. Attempts at in-depth interpretation or explanation of the gospels are often not as clearly written. The Blickling Homilies essentially convey the idea that fasting, almsgiving, and resisting temptation are the best preparation for the Lenten season.

The Homilies

1. Incarnation of the Lord (In Natali Domini)
2. Quinquagesima/Shrove Sunday (Dominica Prima in Quinquagesima)
3. The First Sunday in Lent (Dominica Prima in Quadragesima)
4. The Third Sunday in Lent (Dominica Tertia in Quadragesima)
5. The Fifth Sunday in Lent (Dominica V in Quadragesima)
6. Palm Sunday (Dominica VI in Quadragesima)
7. Easter Day (Dominica Pascha)
8. Rogation Monday (To Þam Forman Gangdæge), called "Soul's Need" by Morrris
9. Rogation Tuesday (To Þam Oþerum Gangdæge), called "Christ the Golden-Blossom" by Morris
10. Rogation Wednesday (To Þam Þriddan Gangdæge), called "The End of This World is Near" by Morris
11. Ascension Thursday (On Þa Halgan Þunres Dei)
12. Pentecost Sunday (Pentecostent - Spiritus Domini)
13. Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Sancta Maria Mater Domini Nostri Iesu Cristi)
14. The Birth of John the Baptist (Sancte Iohannes Baptista Spel)
15. The Story of SS Peter and Paul (Spel Be Petrus ond Paulus). Compare Passio sanctorum Petri et Pauli.
16. A Fragment
17. The Feast of St Michael the Archangel (To Sancte Michaheles Mæssan), called "Dedication of St Michael's Church" by Morris
18. The Feast of St Martin (To Sancte Martines Mæssan)
19. St Andrew (S. Andreas); lacks beginning and ending.

Bibliography

Editions and translations

• Kelly, Richard J. (ed. and tr.). The Blickling Homilies. London & New York: Continuum, 2003.
• Morris, R. (ed. and tr.). The Blickling Homilies of the Tenth Century. Early English Texts Society [EETS] os 58, 63, and 73. London: Oxford UP, 1874–80. Reprinted as one volume in 1967. Available from Google Books.
• Goodwin, C. W. (ed. and tr.). Anglo-Saxon Legends of St Andrew and St Veronica. Cambridge Antiquarian Society. Cambridge, 1851. Edition of St Andrew's Legend (Blickling Homily 19). Available from Google Books here (Harvard scan) and here (Oxford scan).

Secondary literature

• Jeffrey, J. Elizabeth. Blicking Spirituality and the Old English Vernacular Homily. Studies in Medieval Literature. 1989.
• Kelly, Richard J. The Blickling Concordance. London & New York: Continuum, 2009
• Lapidge, Michael ed., Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1999. 241-42.
• Scragg, D.G. "The Homilies of the Blickling Manuscripts." Learning and Literature in Anglo-Saxon England, ed. by Michael Lapidge and Helmont Gneuss. 299-316.
• Scragg, D.G. "The Corpus of Vernacular Homilies and Prose Saints." In Old English Prose: Basic Reading, ed. Paul E. Szarmach. 73-150.
• Szarmach, Paul E., Teresa M. Tavormina, Joel T. Rosenthal (eds.). Medieval England: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Pub, 1998. 132.

External links

• In Parentheses: Old English Series - The Blickling Homilies, translated by R. Morris, online PDF