"The Blickling Homilies" date from the end of the 10th century and form one of the earliest extant collections of English vernacular homiletic writings. The homiletic texts survive in a composite codex consisting of "Municipal Entries for the Council of Lincoln" (14th - 17th century), a "Calendar" (mid 15th century), "Gospel Oaths" (early 14th century), and the eighteen homiletic texts that are based on the yearly liturgical cycle. The Blickling Homilies are an important literary milestone in the early evolution of the English prose. The manuscript, in the collection of William H. Scheide housed in Princeton University Library, was published in facsimile by Rudolph Willard in 1960 as Volume 10 of "Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile", Copenhagen. It is the only Anglo-Saxon manuscript still in private ownership, and together with "The Blickling Psalter", the only two Anglo-Saxon manuscripts in the Americas.The only previous edition of The Blickling Homilies is by Richard Morris, published in three volumes in 1874, 1876, and 1880 (reprinted as one volume in 1967). This new edition makes a number of corrections where Morris's manuscript reading is in error. The English translations are modernized and made more accurate. The original text and facing-page translation have been formatted into paragraphs, which will further aid comprehension. Finally, the text and translation are accompanied by a general introduction, textual notes on each homiletic text, tables and charts, and a select bibliography.

Table of Contents

General introduction - Text and facing page translation in modern English - Textual notes - Tables and charts - Select bibliography

Author Biography

Richard J. Kelly is a professor at the Faculty of Cross-Cultural Studies, Kobe University, and a visiting professor at the Faculty of Language and Culture, Osaka University, and at the Graduate School of Humanities, Konan University, Kobe, Japan.