Aldhelm
(c. 639–709), West Saxon abbot of Malmesbury,
the most learned teacher of 7th-century Wessex,
a pioneer in the art of Latin verse among the
Anglo-Saxons, and the author of numerous extant
writings in Latin verse and prose.
Aldhelm
was trained in Latin and in Celtic-Irish
scholarship by Malmesbury’s Irish founder and
went on to study at the famous school at
Canterbury, where he was exposed to continental
influences. He read widely in Latin poetry and
prose, secular as well as sacred; he learned
Greek; he followed the arithmetic and astronomy
of his day; and he experimented with various
forms of poetic metre. About 675 he became abbot
of Malmesbury, where he remained, carrying on a
threefold career, as monk and priest, as
encourager of learning, and as Latin poet. In
705 he was consecrated bishop of Sherborne. He
was also a popular vernacular poet, though none
of his Old English verse survives.
In
addition to his pastoral duties, building
churches, and founding monasteries, Aldhelm
wrote vigorous letters of encouragement to other
scholars, the style of which betrays his Celtic
training. In similar prose he also wrote a
lengthy treatise on the celibate life for the
nuns of Barking. Its flood of learning and its
difficult style so delighted the community that
he made a second version of it in Latin
hexameters.
Metrical
science was Aldhelm’s special preoccupation, and
his most famous work is a treatise on metrics
sent to his friend Aldfrith, king of Northumbria
(685–704). It includes as examples 100 aenigmata
(riddles) of Aldhelm’s own invention in Latin
hexameters, which served as models for such
8th-century Saxon writers as Tatwine, archbishop
of Canterbury, and St. Boniface, apostle of
Germany.
