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ALDHELM (c. 640-709)

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 536 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ALDHELM (c. 640-709) , See also:bishop of See also:Sherborne, See also:English See also:scholar, was See also:born before the See also:middle of the 7th See also:century. He is said to have been the son of Kenten, who was of the royal See also:house of Wessex, but who was certainly not, as Aldhelm's See also:early biographer Faritius asserts, the See also:brother of See also:King Me. He received his first See also:education in the school of an Irish scholar and See also:monk, Maildulf, Mnldubh or Meldun (d. c. 675), who.had settled. in the See also:British stronghold of Bladon or Bladow on the site of the See also:town called Mailduberi, Maldubesburg, Meldunesburg, ' &c., and finally See also:Malmesbury,' after him. In 668 See also:Pope Vitalian sent See also:Theodore of See also:Tarsus to be See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury, and about the same See also:time came the See also:African scholar See also:Hadrian, who became See also:abbot of St See also:Augustine's at Canterbury. Aldhelm was one of his disciples, for he addresses him as the " See also:venerable See also:preceptor of my See also:rude childhood." He must, nevertheless, have been See also:thirty years of See also:age when he bega,n to study with Hadrian. His studies included See also:Roman See also:law, See also:astronomy, See also:astrology, the See also:art of reckoning and the difficulties of the See also:calendar. He learned, according to the doubtful statements of the early lives, both See also:Greek and See also:Hebrew. He certainly introduces many Latinized Greek words into his See also:works. See also:Ill-See also:health compelled him to leave Canterbury, and he returned to Malmesbury, where he was a monk under Maildulf for fourteen years, dating probably from 661, and including the See also:period of his studies with Hadrian. When Maildulf died, Aldhelmwas appointed in 675, according to a See also:charter of doubtful authenticity cited by See also:William of Malmesbury, by Leutherius, bishop of See also:Dorchester from 671 to 676, to succeed to the direction of the monastery, of which he became the first abbot.

He introduced the See also:

Benedictine See also:rule, and secured the right of the See also:election of the abbot to the monks themselves. The community at Malmesbury increased, and Aldhelm was able to found two other monasteries to be centres of learning at See also:Frome and at See also:Bradford on See also:Avon. The little See also:church of St See also:Lawrence at Bradford See also:dates back to his time and may safely be regarded as his. At Malmesbury he built a new church to replace Maildulf's modest See also:building, and obtained considerable grants of See also:land for the monastery. His fame as a scholar rapidly spread into other countries. Artwil, the son of an Irish king, submitted his writings for Aldhelm's approval, and Cellanus, an Irish monk from Feronne, was lone of his correspondents. Aldhelm was 'the first Englishman, so far as we know, to write in Latin See also:verse, and his See also:letter to Acircius (Aldfrith or Eadfrith, king of See also:Northumbria) is a See also:treatise on Latin See also:prosody for the use of his countrymen. In this See also:work he included his most famous productions, 101 See also:riddles in Latin hexameters. Each of them is a See also:complete picture, and one of them runs to 83 lines. That his merits as a scholar were early recognized in his own See also:country is shown by the encomium of See also:Bede (Eccl. Hist. v. 18), who speaks of him as a wonder of erudition.

His fame reached See also:

Italy, and at the See also:request of Pope See also:Sergius I. (687-701) he paid a visit to See also:Rome, of which, however, there is no See also:notice in his extant writings. On his return, bringing with him privileges for his monastery and a magnificent See also:altar, he received a popular See also:ovation. He was deputed by a See also:synod of the church in Wessex to remonstrate with the Britons of Domnonia (See also:Devon and See also:Cornwall) on their See also:differences from the Roman practice in the shape of the See also:tonsure and the date of See also:Easter. This he did in a See also:long and rather acrimonious letter to their king Geraint (Geruntius), and their ultimate agreement with Rome is referred by William of Malmesbury to his efforts. In 705, or perhaps earlier, Haddi, bishop of See also:Winchester, died, and the See also:diocese was divided into two parts. Sherborne was the new see, of which Aldhelm reluctantly became the first bishop. He wished to resign the See also:abbey of Malmesbury which he had governed for thirty years, but yielding to the remonstrances of the monks he continued to See also:direct it until his See also:death. He was now an old See also:man, but he showed See also:great activity in his new functions. The See also:cathedral church which he built at Sherborne, though replaced later by a ' For the disputed See also:etymology of Malmesbury, which some connect with Aldhelm's name, see Bishop See also:Browne, St Aldhelm: his See also:Life and Times, p. 73. See also:Norman church, is described by William of Malmesbury.

He was on his rounds in his diocese when he died in the church of Doulting on the 25th of- May 709. The See also:

body was taken to Malmesbury, and crosses were set up by the pious care of his friend, Bishop Ecgwine of See also:Worcester, at the various halting-places. He was buried in the church of St See also:Michael. His biographers relate- miracles due to his sanctity worked during his lifetime and at his See also:shrine. Aldhelm wrote See also:poetry in Anglo-Saxon also, and set his own compositions to See also:music, but none of his songs, which were still popular in the time of See also:Alfred, have come down to us. Finding his See also:people slow to come to church, he is said to have stood at the end of a See also:bridge singing songs in the See also:vernacular, thus See also:collecting a See also:crowd to listen to exhortations on sacred subjects. Aldhelm wrote in elaborate and grandiloquent Latin, which soon came to be regarded as barbarous. Much admired as he was by his contemporaries, his fame as a scholar therefore soon declined, but his reputation as a See also:pioneer in Latin scholarship in See also:England and as a teacher remains. Aldhelm's works were collected in J. A. See also:Giles's Patres eccl. Angl.

(See also:

Oxford, 1844), and reprinted by J. P. See also:Migne in his Patrologiae Cursus, vol. 89 (285o). The letter to Geraint, king of Domnonia, was supposed to have been destroyed by the Britons (W. of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum, p. 361), but was discovered with others of Aldhelm's in the See also:correspondence of St See also:Boniface, See also:arch-bishop of See also:Mainz. A long letter to Eahf rid, a scholar just returned from See also:Ireland (first printed in Usserii Veterum Epistt. Hiber. Sylloge, 1632), is of See also:interest as casting See also:light on the relations between English and Irish scholars. Next to the riddles, Aldhelm's best-known work is De Laude Virginitatis sive de Virginitate Sanctorum, a Latin treatise addressed about 705 to the nuns of See also:Barking,2 in which he commemorates a great number of See also:saints. This was afterwards turned by Aldhelm into Latin verse (printed by Delrio, Mainz, 16o1). The See also:chief source of his Epistola ad Acircium sive See also:liber de septenario, et de metris, aenigmatibus ac pedum regulis (ed.

A. See also:

Mai, Class. Auct. vol. v.) is, See also:Priscian. For the riddles included in it, his See also:model was the collection known as Symposii aenigmata. The See also:acrostic introduction gives the See also:sentence, " Aldhelmus cecinit millenis versibus odas," whether read from the initial or final letters of the lines. His Latin poems include one on the See also:dedication of a See also:basilica built by See also:Bugge (or Eadburga), a royal See also:lady of the house of Wessex. An excellent See also:account of his ecclesiastical importance is given by W. See also:Bright in Chapters on Early English Church See also:History (Oxford, 1878). For his position as a writer of Latin verse consult A. See also:Ebert, Allgemeine Geschichte d. Literatur See also:des Mittelalters See also:im Abendlande, 2 Cuthburga, See also:sister of King See also:Ine of Wessex, and therefore related to Aldhelm, See also:left her See also:husband Aldfrith, king of Northumbria, to enter the nunnery at Barking. She afterwards founded the nunnery of See also:Wimborne, of which she became See also:abbess.

vol. i. new edition (1889); M. Manitius, Geschichte der christlichlateinischen Poesie &c. (See also:

Stuttgart, 1891), pp. 487-496; also H. See also:Hahn, Bonifaz and Lul ihre angelsachsischen Korrespondenten, See also:chap. i. (See also:Leipzig, 1883). The two last-named works contain many further See also:bibliographical references.

End of Article: ALDHELM (c. 640-709)

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