St. Erkenwald is a poem of the Alliterative Revival of the fourteenth century, thought to have been composed in 1386. Usually attributed to the Pearl poetof Gawain poet, it takes as its subject the bishop of London between 675 and 693.
It exists in only one manuscript, Ms. Harley 2250 in the British Museum. The first line in the manuscript begins with a rubricated letter "A" two lines high and line 176 begins with a similar letter "T". The first modern edition was published by HL Savage and I Gollancz in 1926.
Poetics
The poem consists of 352 lines.. Alliteration is used consistently throughout the poem, usually with three alliterating words per line..
Subject
The poem’s narrative line presents an incident in the life of St. Erkenwald. During the construction of a cathedral on the site of a former pagan temple, a sarcophagus (engraved with untranslatable runes) containing an uncorrupted body (dressed in the garments of a king) is unearthed. St. Erkenwald is summoned; after praying to God that he may resolve this mystery, the corpse revives. In response to St. Erkenwald’s questions, it is revealed that he was an eminently just judge who was honored with royal garb because of his many impartial decisions. St. Erkenwald’s tears baptize him and the corpse dissolves into dust as the soul of this just man enters eternal peace..
Theme
By presenting an exemplum , this poem addresses the question of whether salvation was possible to persons who lived morally admirable lives without having the opportunity to receive Christian Baptism. The miracle in the story demonstrates graphically that salvation was possible for such persons.
References
Editions
- Malcolm Andrew and Ronald Waldron. 'The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript' (Berkeley: University of California Press. Fourth ed. 2002) ISBN 0859895149.
Translations
- Casey Finch, Trans. The Complete Works of the Pearl Poet (Berkeley: University of California Press. 1995) ISBN0520078713.
Commentary and criticism
- Larry D. Benson , 1965 “The Authorship of St.Erkenwald.” Journal of English and Germanic Philology 64: 393-405.
- Christine Chism, Alliterative Revivals (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylavania Press. 2002) ISBN 0-8122-3655-6.
- J. R. Hulbert, 1918 - 1919 “The Sources of St. Erkenwald and the Trental of Gregory,” Modern Philology 16: 485 - 93.
- T. McAlindon, 1970 “Hagiography into Art: A Study of St. Erkenwald.” Studies in Philology 67: 472 -94.
- William A. Quinn, 1984 “The Psychology of St. Erkenwald.” Medium Aevum 3, No. 2: 180 - 93.
