The Reversal of the Jordan in Vercelli Homily 16 and in Old English Literature
Three Epiphany homilies survive in Old English, two by Ælfric and one numbered sixteenth among the anonymous homilies in the late tenth-century Vercelli Book. True to early medieval convention for this feast, the homilies by Ælfric are devoted principally to the adoration of the magi and to Christ&#...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
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| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
1990
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| In: |
Traditio
Year: 1990, Volume: 45, Pages: 53-86 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Three Epiphany homilies survive in Old English, two by Ælfric and one numbered sixteenth among the anonymous homilies in the late tenth-century Vercelli Book. True to early medieval convention for this feast, the homilies by Ælfric are devoted principally to the adoration of the magi and to Christ's Baptism, the two earliest manifestations of Christ's divinity. The Vercelli homily stands apart from these in several respects, perhaps most obviously in that it opens with a Gospel lection from Mt 3.13–17 (on the Baptism) rather than Mt 2.1–16 (on Herod's meeting with the wise men), and is the only medieval vernacular Epiphany homily to do so. As other scholars have noted, this pericope associates the homily with Gallican or Neapolitan rather than Roman use and links it liturgically to a small group of early Insular texts that include the Lindisfarne Gospels, St. Cuthbert's Gospels, and St. Burchard's Gospels — all of which contain lists of Gospel lections derived from a Neapolitan lectionary system. In addition, though a portion of the text has been lost, the Vercelli homily covers a range of themes seemingly out of place with Ælfric's more sober reflections on the feast, and the central portion of the homily in particular recounts a series of marvels associated with Christ's Baptism that has no parallel in medieval vernacular homiletic literature. The focus of that passage is a dialogue between Christ and John the Baptist, beginning just after the lost folio. Christ and John discuss the wonders of the Baptism, and the homilist interrupts them to explain this miraculous event as the fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy: |
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| ISSN: | 2166-5508 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Traditio
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S036215290001268X |