Scribal rhetoric in Anglo-Saxon England

This study explores the relationship between the classical rhetorical tradition and the development of Anglo-Saxon literature, including Anglo-Latin and Old English works. Its Introduction seeks to clarify the nature of that tradition by identifying the rhetoric of Anglo-Saxon England as a type of Christian rhetoric best described as "scribal rhetoric" in recognition of the scribes who adapted classical, pagan rhetoric to meet the needs of medieval, Christian composition. Chapter One explores the transmission of rhetorical knowledge to Anglo-Saxon England, arguing against the assumption that this rhetoric was little more than a grammatical adjunct concerned exclusively with style. It suggests that Anglo-Saxon scribes were aware of a complete rhetorical system, and that they made use of rhetorical invention and arrangement to produce literature that informed their audience of Christian truth while persuading men to live righteously. While direct transmission of such a system is possible through classical, technical treatises or medieval grammatical and encyclopedic commentaries, it proposes that it was more probably transmitted to England through the institutionalization of the ancient progymnasmata, augmented by the virtuosity of teachers. It also establishes the indebtedness of scribal rhetoric to St. Augustine's appropriation of rhetoric in works such as De doctrina christiana and De catechizandis rudibus. Chapter Two provides a context for understanding the progymnasmata before illustrating how progymnasmatic exercises seem to underlie the "Unferb Episode" of Beowulf. With this model established, Chapters Three, Four, and Five show how progymnasmatic elements combined with Christian subject matter and purpose were a part of the invention and arrangement of much Anglo-Saxon Literature, including Bede's story of Caedmon and Caedmon's Hymn; Bede's Death Song and De die judicii; Judgment Day I & II; Soul and Body I & II; and the Old English Phoenix. The conclusion describes some prior rhetorical studies of Anglo-Saxon literature and suggests some possible future studies of the subject.