Patrick McBrine - Biblical Epics in Late Antiquity and Anglo-Saxon England: Divina in Laude Voluntas

The purpose of this book is to provide an accessible introduction to the Latin biblical epics of late Antiquity (c. 300600) that were known in Anglo-Saxon England (c. 6001100). The first five chapters introduce the poetry of Juvencus, Cyprianus, Sedulius, Avitus, and Arator, whose work was read and studied throughout the Anglo-Saxon period. These chapters form the core of the book and focus on the Latin approach to biblical versification and the evolution of the genre over the course of late Antiquity. turns to the reception of this literature in Anglo-Saxon England, in the writings of Aldhelm, Bede, and Alcuin, whose poetry bears witness to the pervasive influence of Latin biblical epic on Anglo-Latin literature. The discussion concludes with analyses of episodes in Old English biblical verse, specifically in Genesis A, B, and Exodus, in order to consider how poets of the two traditions, Latin and English, approach the same scenes. Above all, the purpose of this book is to promote knowledge of a body of writing that was important to the Anglo-Saxons and played a vital role in the instruction of Latin verse and the dissemination of biblical lore.

In the course of finishing this book, I am grateful to a number of people. First, thank you to Suzanne Rancourt at the University of Toronto Press for her support in the publication of this book and to Michel Pharand for his careful attention to the manuscript. Thank you to George Clark at Queens University for years of guidance and friendship. Thank you to George Rigg at the University of Toronto for weekly readings in late antique Latin verse over the course of a year. Those sessions led to many insights and a translation of the Carmen paschale of Sedulius. To David Townsend, I am grateful for support in the early stages of this project and for his friendship and guidance over the last decade. To Toni Healey and the Dictionary of Old English, I owe my knowledge of the corpus and its resources. Tonis (Old English Biblical Verse) have been invaluable. Thank you to Gernot Wieland at the University of British Columbia for reading early drafts of this book in my dissertation and for serving as my external examiner, and thank you to Julia Warnes at the University of Toronto for proofreading early drafts of the chapters on late Antiquity. Thank you also to Yale University for access to Sterling, Beinecke, and Divinity during my years in New Haven, and to Southern Connecticut State University and the English Department for supporting this project. Thank you to Roy Liuzza, Damian Fleming, and Mark Sundaram for reading a draft of my chapter on Old English biblical verse and for their thoughtful suggestions. And thank you especially to Andy Orchard for suggesting this project initially and for years of teaching and friendship. Much of what is good about this book is owing to his influence, and (as Arator would say) si quid ab ore placet, laus monitoris erit.

Finally, thank you to my family and above all to my wife, Caroline, for enduring these last ten years. I do not think that she will read Sedulius again, but to her and our children, Kieran, Ellie, and William, I dedicate this book.

Patrick McBrine (Toronto, 31 January 2017)