hero ic terms, as The Dream of the Roodhad,but without reconceiving heroism. Here
is the opening ofAndreasin the translation of C. W. Kennedy:
Lo! We have heard of twelve mighty heroes
Honoured under heaven in days of old,
Thanes of God.Their glory failed not
In the clash of banners, the brunt of war,
After they were scattered and spread abroad
As their lots were cast by the Lord of heaven.Eleven of the twelve heroic apostles were martyred – St Andrew by Mermedonian
cannibals,according to Andreas,the Acts of the apostle Andrew. Much Old English
prose and verse is given to the Saint’s Life, a genre popular with Anglo-Saxons ofAD
- Miraculous, sensational and moralistic stories still abound today in daily
newspapers, although they rarely feature heroic Christians. Sophisticated pagans of
Constantine’s day expected miracles just as much as simple Christians did.
Most of the official and popular writing of the medieval period is of interest to
later generations for historical and cultural rather than literary reasons – as is true
of most of the writing of any period.
Christian literature
The dedicated Christian literature of Anglo-Saxon England is of various kinds.
There are verse paraphrases of Old Testament stories, such as Cædmon’s:Genesis
and Exodus,Daniel and Judith. They emphasize faith rewarded. There are lives of
saints such as Andrew or Helena; or the more historical lives of contemporaries such
as St Guthlac (an Anglian warrior who became a hermit), of Cuthbert of
Lindisfarne, or of King Edmund (martyred by Danes). And there are sermons,
wisdom literature, and doctrinal, penitential and devotional materials – such as The
Dream of the Rood.
The New Testament is principally represented in translation and liturgical adap-
tation.Tr anslation of the Bible into English did not begin in the 14th or the 16th
ce nturies:the Gospels, Psalms and other books were translated into English
throughout the Old English period; parts of several versions remain. The Bible was
ORIENTATIONS 25The front of the Franks
Casket, a small carved
whalebone box given by Sir A.
Franks to the British Museum.
Runic inscription: ‘This is
whale bone. The sea cast up
the fish on the rocky shore.
The ocean was troubled where
he swam aground onto the
shingle.’ Right, Adoration of
the Magi (MAGI in runic,
above); left, Wayland.