Wulfstan (died 1023) - Works

Works

Wulfstan wrote some works in Latin, and numerous works in Old English, then the vernacular. He has also been credited with a few short poems. His works can generally be divided into homiletic, legal, and philosophical categories.

Wulfstan's best-known homily is Sermo Lupi ad Anglos, or Sermon of the Wolf to the English. In it he proclaims the depredations of the "Danes" (who were, at that point, primarily Norwegian invaders) a scourge from God to lash the English for their sins. He calls upon them to repent of their sinful ways and "return to the faith of baptism, where there is protection from the fires of hell." He also wrote many homilies relating to the Last Days and the coming of the Antichrist. Age of the Antichrist was a popular theme in Wulfstan's homilies, which also include the issues of death and Judgment Day. Six homilies that illustrate this theme include: Secundum Matheum, Secundum Lucam, De Anticristo, De Temporibus Antichrist, Secundum Marcum and "De Falsis Deis". De Antichristo was the "first full development of the Antichrist theme", and Wulfstan addressed it to the clergy. Believing that he lived at the time right before the Antichrist was to come, he felt compelled to diligently warn and teach the clergy to withstand the dishonest teaching of the enemies of God. These six homilies also include: emphasis that the hour of the Antichrist is very near, warnings that the English should be aware of false Christs who will attempt to seduce men, warnings that God will pass judgement on man's faithfulness, discussion of man's sins, evils of the world, and encouragement to love God and do his will. He wrote the Canons of Edgar and The Law of Edward and Guthrum which date before 1008. The Canons was written to instruct the secular clergy serving a parish in the responsibilities of their position. The Law of Edward and Guthrum, on the other hand, is an ecclesiastical law handbook. Modern editors have paid most attention to his homilies: they have been edited by Arthur Napier, by Dorothy Whitelock, and by Dorothy Bethurum. Since that publication, other works that were likely authored by Wulfstan have been identified; a forthcoming edition by Andy Orchard will update the canon of Wulfstan's homilies. Wulfstan was also a book collector; he is responsible for amassing a large collection of texts pertaining to canon law, the liturgy, and episcopal functions. This collection is known as Wulftan's Commonplace Book. A significant part of the Commonplace book consists of a work once known as the Excerptiones pseudo-Ecgberti, though it has most recently been edited as Wulfstan's Canon Law Collection. This work is a collection of conciliar decrees and church canons, most of which he culled from numerous ninth and tenth-century Carolingian works. This work demonstrates the wide range of Wulfstan's reading and studies. He sometimes borrowed from this collection when he wrote his later works, especially the law codes of Æthelred. There are also a number of works which are associated with the archbishop, but whose authorship is unknown, such as the Late Old English Handbook for the Use of a Confessor.