Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/575

Rh ANGLO-SAXON 511 ANGLO-SAXON vided for Anclo-Saxon zeal in the northern lands of Denmark and Scandinavia. St. Sigfrid led the way under the protection of King Ohvf Trygg ve.s.son, but the accession of King Canute to the tlirone of Knghuid was an important factor in this new development. Although not much is known of the history of the mis.sions in Sweden and Norway, it has lately been shown by such scholars as Taranger and Freisen, alike from linguistic and liturgical considerations, that the impress of the Anglo-Sa.on Cluirch is every- where recognizable in the Christian institutions of the extreme North. VII. LiTKKATUKE AND Art. — Both literature and art among the Anglo-Saxons were intimately bound up with the service of the Church, and owed almost all their inspiration to her ministers. In the century or more which preceded the terrible Viking raiil of 7SM cxtratjrdinary [jrogre.sa waa made. Aldhelin, e.YpBopvuiis L»qumiii C]cii.va>ewi.vvesT erp.R.0lHS i;i cieRi-r.T«M% t.>iat qu .e cics NowcRec'Nt'ns iT>ihi qui ejn e.ViVo aeriB.vi.>T .iii>it- pRopieu e-v ucii now Mi.^n is qtii.v tWiV NOW osait; I^espow^^eR(.lNT u;i[({r uicoi eTc^i.veuiiwT ei wow we Pewe«>ioKMus wos qiit.v s..VRiTvwtis cs-u copy of the Gospel of St. John, now at Stonyhurst College, which was buried with St. Cuthbert and found in his tomb. But this precocious development of culture w.-us, as already explained above, terribly bliglitcd by the inroads of the Danes. With the era of King Alfred, hcjwever, there are many signs of recovery. His own -Vnglo-Saxon pro.se, mostly trans- lations, is conspicuous for its grace and freedom, aI.so the remarkable work of art known as the Alfred jewel bears witness, with rings and other oljjects of the .same epoch, to a very Tiipli level of technical skill in goldsmith's work. Within the centurj' of Alfretl's death we also find that in this i)eriod of comparative peace and religious revival an admirable scliool of calligrapliy and ilhiinination had grown up which seems to have had its principal home at Win- chester. The licneilictional of St. yEtliehvold and the so-called Mis.sal of Robert of Juniicges arc lamous pcVhowoRtpico pi-nieiT»oieua> frtwp iwKowoR.Tiso^c tN^O .vu itv«-v wow qiUV^RO l.;lclRLa^ ctifAcn esT q<.iic|tueniT enaOicA-r mqiiis seRa>owa^^o>eacl^ SeRil.Vliettir OH">R^^AT^ wowuii>t»i;n iw.veteawuoi KIUWC Cc.i;wouiOMlS > quii.cvccr»ONtuiciSSU(Uls »;eRirvow o-ietio-v seRu.vncRiT mow<^usu tinoioRitvi-i iN.verenwuoS. Wllo^C]Ult^•^ua^.VlOl^OS pxrp.et-io .VbraIwiv. qtiicnoRitias eST- - c^ pRopMe'i.vc o^oRiui siiMX k Gospel op St. John, foond in St. Cothbeiit's Tomb Bede, and .lcuin represented the high-water mark of Latin scliolarship in the Christian West of that day, and the native literature, so far as we can judge from the surviving poetry of C;pdmon and Cynewulf (if the latter, as seems likely, is really the author of the "Christ" ami the "Dream of the Hood") w;is of unparalleled excellence. With this high standard the arts introduced from Rome, especially by St. Wilfrid and St. Benedict Biscop, seem to have kept pace. Nothing could be more remarkable for grace- ful design than the ornamentation of the stone crosses of Northumbria belonging to this period, e. g. those of Bewcastle and Ruthwell. The surviving manuscripts of the s.ame epoch are not less wonderful in their way. We have spoken of the copy of the Bible written at Jarrow and taken to Rome oy Ceol- frid as a present for the Pope. Two other equally authentic relics are the Lindisfamc Gospels and the MSS. which may be regarded as typical of the period. In literature also this was a time of great develop- ment, the inspiring motive of which was almost al- ways religious. Considerable collections of homilies are preserved to us, many of them rhythmical in structure, which are specially connected with the names of yElfric and Wulfstan. Besides these we have a number of manuscripts which contain trans- lations, or at least paraphr.a-ses, of books of Scripture; Bcdc's lii-st work, as is well known, was to translate into his n.ative tongue the fio.spel of St. John, though this ha.s not survived. Still more commonly Latin texts were transcribed, and an. glo-Saxon glo.s3 written over each wortl as an aid t« the student. This was the c!i.so with the famous Lindisfamc (!os- Iiels, written and illuminated about the year 700, though the . glo-Saxon interlinear fran.slation was oiilj' added some 250 years afterwards. The manu-