Friday, November 16, 2007

guthlac

In a continued effort to make my blog more boring - I've decided to talk about a specific document from the 12th century: the Guthlac Roll. The manuscript itself is presently located at the British Library, and it details the life of St. Guthlac, a hermit that lived in eastern England in the 7th century. The roll was made shortly after the Norman conquest of England. Details of the manuscript are depicted in circular form that possibly were meant as templates for stained glass windows. Stained glass windows with artwork similar to the Guthlac Roll can be found in the window of the North Rose at Lincoln Cathedral.


Guthlac was born the son of a local noble, and after being inspired by heroes of old, fought in the army of Æthelbald of Mercia. He became a monk at twenty-four and then moved out to an island where he lived the rest of his life as a hermit. Guthlac gained notoriety as people sought his spiritual guidance, and later gave refuge to the future king of Mercia, who built Crowland Abbey in his honor. The Abbey itself still stands today, though it has fallen into disrepair since the 16th century.

Many details of Guthlac's life come from The Vita sancti Guthlaci written by Felix after his death. Guthlac endured many temptations and hardships during his life, and was rescued by St. Bartholomew from demons that tormented him (see above). He dressed in animal skins, lived off of scraps of bread, and drank a cup of muddy water before sunset. This no doubt attributed to his declining health and illness that accompanied him towards the end of his life. Two Old English poems known as Guthlac A and B from the Exeter Book are possibly based on Felix's work. Both are derived from orally transmitted tales, much like Beowulf, that were of interest to Anglo-Saxon audiences of the time. Much information regarding Guthlac and his sister Pega were lost over time after the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
sources:
http://www.bl.uk/
http://www.umilta.net/pega.html by Alexandra Olsen
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/history.hti
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guthlac

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Interesting..

"Guthlac endured many temptations and hardships during his life, and was rescued... from demons.."

What were these temptations I wonder?

and did he really drink sludge every night..

cool post man..

Davy J said...

I'm guessing his problems with malaria and malnutrition may have led to some sort of altered state.

The pictures dipicting his life were made about400 years later, so I'm sure there was room for whatever the artist wanted to add.
Aparently Bartholomew gave Guthlac a scourge to protect himself and after his death it became a religious relic, which has since been lost to time.

JethRobyn said...

thank you for that educational post. I give it an A-. Ok, so I only read the first paragraph. What do you do.

Davy J said...

Bah! How can you ignore the artistic qualities of such an old document! I even included a water color from the 19th century depicting the abbey! I guess Middle Age art is lame.

Natalie Kay said...

I didn't even read the first paragraph. I knew that it was going to be boring by the title!!! BOO!!!

However, I'm sure your professors would love it... they love everything you do!

Davy J said...

Boring? If it isn't a stupid dancing show, or if tyra banks isn't involved, you could care less. I don't care.