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E. Elstob, An English-Saxon Homily on the Birth-day of St Gregory (1709)

Elizabeth Elstob, An English-Saxon Homily on the Birth-day of St. Gregory: Anciently Used in the English-Saxon Church, Giving an Account of the Conversion of the English from Paganism to Christianity (London: W. Bowyer, 1709). 




This is an edition of Ælfric's homily for the 'birthday' (i.e. deathday) of St Gregory the Great (12 March), the ninth homily in the second series of Ælfric's Catholic Homilies. The editor, Elizabeth Elstob (1683-1756), is known as a pioneer female Anglo-Saxon scholar. This is her first book, while her second and last book was an Old English grammar, Rudiments of Grammar for the English-Saxon Tongue, published in 1715, when her brother, William Elstob, died and she began to suffer poverty. One of her main purposes of publishing these books were to make the learning in the Anglo-Saxon language and literature known to a wide public including women, who were generally supposed to stay away from this and other kind of learning. 

Another purpose of this volume seems to defend Christianity in England. In the lengthy preface, she argues for the orthodoxy of Christianity in England, saying that the orthodox Christian faith was brought to the Anglo-Saxons by Gregory the Great and it is preserved in the Church of England, whereas the Catholic people 'have forsaken the ways of their Fathers St. Gregory and St. Peter, by bringing in so many Novelties and Absurdities; having let in all the Errors, Superstitions, and Impieties of Idolatry and Transubstantiation, and those other Blemishes, which so much at this Day, deface the Roman Church' (p. lv). 


As a pioneer feminist, Elstob also writes at the end of the preface about women playing important roles in the history of various peoples' conversion to Christianity. She mentions Bertha, King Æthelberht of Kent's wife, as a key person in the Anglo-Saxon (Kentish) conversion to Christianity, while she regards Æthelburg, her sister and the second wife of King Edwin, as playing the same role in Northumbria. She takes some more examples from other countries, and concludes that 'It were endless to repeat all the Instances of illustrious Women, that might be enumerated, as contributing to the Advancement of Religion, in their several Ages', and continues that 'But we may content our selves with late, and domestick, Eaxmples, of two of the greatest Monarchs that the World has known: for Wisdom and Piety, and constant Success in their Affairs, QUEEN ELIZABETH, and ANNE QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN. And I think it some farther Apology for me, to the Ladies of Great Britain; that this is publish'd in the Reign of so highly Excellent a Lady: who, as She surpasses all her Royal Predecessors, in all noble and royal Accomplishments; so is She Peculiarly eminent, in being both an Example, and Encourager, of all Virtues, and laudable Qualities in those of Her Sex (pp. lix-lx). 





The main body of the volume consists of the Old English text of the homily put side by side with its English translation, followed by a text of a Latin version. Several letters of Gregory the Great and notes to the homily are also added as appendices. The Old English text and English translation both begin with St Gregory's name, whose initial is printed in miniatures depicting St Gregory (at the beginning of the Old English text) and Elstob (at the beginning of the English translation).

My copy was owned by L. Langley in the nineteenth century, who probably left many neat inscriptions in it. L. Langley is most probably Larret Langley, an Anglo-Saxonist and the author of Principia Saxonica: An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Reading (London, 1839), which features Ælfric's homily on the 'birthday' of St Gregory the Great; he seems to have used this copy for his own book. 

For more information about Elizabeth Elstob, see D. Douglas, English Scholars 1660-1730, 2nd, revised ed. (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1951), pp. 72-76. The homily is edited in Malcolm Godden, ed., Ælfric's Catholic Homilies: The Second Series, EETS ss 5 (London: OUP, 1979), pp. 72-80. 

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