AELFFLED, ABBESS OF WHITBY, IN ANGLO-SAXON HAGIOGRAPHIC TRADITION AT THE TURN OF THE 7TH AND 8TH CENTURIES
Keywords:
the 7th and 8th century England, Anglo-Saxon Church, Anglo-Saxon monastic orders, Anglo-Saxon hagiographic tradition, Whitby, abbess AelffledAbstract
The paper focuses on the representation of Aelffled, abbess of Whitby, in hagiographical works of Anglo-Saxon church writers at the turn of the 7th and 8th centuries. The research is based on Stephen of Ripon’s live of Saint Wilfred of York and two lives of Saint Cuthbert, composed by an anonymous monk of Lindisfarn and Bede the Venerable. Within the first centuries after the Christianization of England, the authority of noble Anglo-Saxon abbesses was based on their kin relations with the ruling houses. A member of Northumbrian royal dynasty, Aelffled was one of the most powerful women in England of her time. She took interest in written culture, succession strategies, and church politics. Her circle of social contacts stretched far beyond the monastery walls. In the life of Saint Wilfred, Aelffled is shown as a prominent public figure. The hagiographic tradition devoted to Cuthbert of Lindisfarn reveals her emotional world, personal interaction with the wonderworker and her involvement in the affairs of Northumbrian royal house. Literary portraits of the second abbess of Whitby illustrate the high social position of noble ladies who were at the head of Anglo-Saxon double houses, as well as the dubious attitude of church milieu towards their political activities. Among other factors that determined Aelffled’s portrayal by her contemporaries were the circumstances of their works’ composition, individual biographic features of the saints to whom the vitae were devoted to, and the narrative’s micro-context. Based on the comparative and contextual analysis, the author attempts to revise the attitude expressed by modern gender historians about Bede’s hostility towards abbess Aelffled.References
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