The Aelfric Society (Ælfric Society) was a

text publication society A text publication society is a learned society which publishes (either as its sole function, or as a principal function) scholarly editions of old works of historical or literary interest, or archival documents. In addition to full texts, a text p ...

founded in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and active from 1842 to 1856, which published the

Homilies A homily (from Greek ὁμιλία, ''homilía'') is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture, giving the "public explanation of a sacred doctrine" or text. The works of Origen and John Chrysostom (known as Paschal Homily) are considered ex ...

Ælfric of Eynsham Ælfric of Eynsham ( ang, Ælfrīc; la, Alfricus, Elphricus; ) was an English abbot and a student of Æthelwold of Winchester, and a consummate, prolific writer in Old English of hagiography, homilies, biblical commentaries, and other genres ...

(perhaps Archbishop of Canterbury, during 996–1006)"Aelfric (c.955-1020)", Medievalchurch.org.uk, web
MC-Aelfric
and other works by Anglo-Saxon writers. It is also known as ''Aelfric Society Publications''. The Ælfric Society was named in honor of

, a

Benedictine monk The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict ( la, Ordo Sancti Benedicti, abbreviated as OSB), are a Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), religious order of the Catholic Church following the Rule of Saint Benedic ...

who wrote a Saxon

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...

and dictionary (glossary). He had also translated a number of homilies and the

Heptateuch The Heptateuch (seven containers) is a name sometimes given to the first seven books of the Hebrew Bible. The seven books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua and Judges. The first four of these are sometimes called the ...

into

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

. For the society, the Anglo-Saxon scholar

Benjamin Thorpe Benjamin Thorpe (1782 – 19 July 1870) was an English scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature. Biography In the early 1820s he worked as a banker in the House of Rothschild, in Paris. There he met Thomas Hodgkin, who treated him for tuberculosis. A ...

(1782–1870) edited the homilies, during 1844–1846. Ælfric's Saxon grammar and glossary had been printed, nearly two hundred years earlier, at Oxford in 1639 and 1698. The

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

branch of the society operated from 87 Princes Street and was run by T G Stevenson.Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1845 __TOC__

Publications

The Aelfric Society published several works, including: :* ''The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church'', containing ''Sermones Catholici or Homilies of Ælfric'' (2 volumes, 1844/1846) :* ''The Legend of Chrysanthus and Daria in Ælfric's Lives of Saints'' (1846) :* ''The Dialogue of Salomon and Saturnus'' (John M. Kemble, 1848) :* ''The Poetry of the Codex Vercellensis, with an English Translation '' (John M. Kemble, 1843, 212 pages)

References

{{Authority control Book publishing companies based in London Anglo-Saxon literature Defunct learned societies of the United Kingdom 1842 establishments in England 1856 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Text publication societies History of literature in England 19th century in London

Publications

See also

References