Overview

Awarded 2019 Best Edition or Translation of an Anglo-Saxon (or Anglo-Latin) Text by the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists St. Æthelwold (904/9 –984), abbot of Abingdon and bishop of Winchester, made the first translation of the Rule of Saint Benedict into English (or, indeed, into any vernacular language) as part of the tenth-century English Benedictine Reform. This movement dramatically affected the trajectory of religious life in early medieval England and influenced the ways in which secular power was conceived and wielded in the kingdom. Æthelwold's translation into Old English reworks Benedict’s Latin text through numerous silent additions, omissions, and instances of explanatory material, revealing an Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical and political reformer intent on making this foundational Latin text more readily accessible to the new monks and nuns of the Reform and to the laity. Presented with related texts composed in Old English, this volume makes Æthelwold’s transformation of Benedict’s Rule available in Modern English translation for the first time.  

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9780879072643

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This terrific book will be a boon both to scholars of the history of Benedictine monasticism and to those who seek to explore the spirituality of St. AEthelwold and his reform. The scholarly apparatus will facilitate deep study of the Old English Rule as well as its affinity with the Latin Rule. The translation, while eloquent, is faithful to AEthelwold's own language and to his intentions for the education of monastics. Julie Ann Smith, Senior Lecturer in Medieval History, University of Sydney Dr. Riyeff's book performs a valuable service for all who are interested in the medieval reception of Benedict's Rule. Most usefully, Riyeff's fluent translation of the often difficult Old English version of the Rule encloses in angled brackets all of the more substantial additions and alterations that the tenth-century translator, Bishop AEthelwold of Winchester, made to the Latin original. Such marking, combined with Riyeff's lucid commentary, allows readers to appreciate at a glance the many differences, often small but telling, that make AEthelwold's version worth study in its own right. Christopher A. Jones, Ohio State University

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Jacob Riyeff teaches in the English department at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Specializing in Old English poetry and medieval monastic culture, he also translates Old English, Middle English, and French poetry and writes original verse. Jacob is a Benedictine oblate of Osage Deanery in Sand Springs, Oklahoma.

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