[2] Work of this grand
character is the best testimony to the noble spirit of
monachism in the days of Ethelwold.
[1] Archaeologia, xxiv. I9.
[2] B. M. Cott. Vesp., A. viii., written 966.
One of Ethelwold's pupils was Aelfric, who became
Archbishop of Canterbury in 995. He was responsible for
the canon requiring every priest, before ordination, to have
the Psalter, the Epistles, the Gospels, a Missal, the Book
of Hymns, the Manual, the Calendar, the Passional, the
Penitential, and the Lectionary. On his death he bequeathed
all his books to St. Albans.[1]
[1] Hook, Archbishops, i. 453 (1st ed.).
Another pupil of the same name is still more famous.
This scholar's grammar, with its translated passages, his
glossary--the oldest Latin-English dictionary--and his
conversation-manual of questions and answers, with interlinear
translations, suggest that he must have done much
to make the study of Latin easier and more congenial;
while his homilies display his art in making knowledge
popular, and prove him to be the greatest master of
English prose before the Conquest.
Several other interesting and suggestive facts belonging
to this period have been preserved for us.
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