The Old English Martyrology is a collection of over 230

hagiographies A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...

, probably compiled in

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

, or by someone who wrote in the

Mercian dialect Mercian was a dialect spoken in the Anglian kingdom of Mercia (roughly speaking the Midlands of England, an area in which four kingdoms had been united under one monarchy). Together with Northumbrian, it was one of the two Anglian dialects. ...

of the

Old English language Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo- ...

, in the second half of the 9th century. The sources of the Old English Martyrology include the works of

Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...

Aldhelm Aldhelm (, ; 25 May 709), Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey, Bishop of Sherborne, and a writer and scholar of Latin poetry, was born before the middle of the 7th century. He is said to have been the son of Kenten, who was of the royal house of Wessex ...

, Eddius,

Adomnán Adomnán or Adamnán of Iona (; , ''Adomnanus''; 624 – 704), also known as Eunan ( ; from ), was an abbot of Iona Abbey ( 679–704), hagiographer, statesman, canon jurist, and Christian saint, saint. He was the author of the ''Life ...

Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I (; ; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great (; ), was the 64th Bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 until his death on 12 March 604. He is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission from Rom ...

, and

Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville (; 4 April 636) was a Spania, Hispano-Roman scholar, theologian and Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seville, archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of the 19th-century historian Charles Forbes René de Montal ...

, showing that the scribe had access to a significant library. He even have had access to the Syriac ''Acts of Mar Milus'' or an otherwise unknown

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

translation of it, since he includes the Persian martyr Milus of Susa (15 November). This work could have been brought to England by

Theodore of Tarsus Theodore of Tarsus (; 60219 September 690) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 668 to 690. Theodore grew up in Tarsus, but fled to Constantinople after the Persian Empire conquered Tarsus and other cities. After studying there, he relocated to ...

. Five principal manuscripts survive, all fragmentary. Parts of January, and much of February and December are missing. The standard modern edition is by Günter Kotzor, ''Das altenglische Martyrologium'' (Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, volumes 88/1 and 88/2, 1981). Earlier editions, replaced by Kotzor's work, include Herzfeld's ''An Old English Martyrology'' (

Early English Text Society The Early English Text Society (EETS) is a text publication society founded in 1864 which is dedicated to the editing and publication of early English texts, especially those only available in manuscript. Most of its volumes contain editions of ...

, no. 116, 1900). An English translation by Christine Rauer became available in 2013.

References

* Lapidge, Michael, "Martyrology, OE" in Michael Lapidge et al. (eds), ''The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England.'' Oxford: Blackwell, 1999. * * * Rauer, Christine, ''The Old English Martyrology: Edition, Translation and Commentary''. Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer, 2013. {{Old English prose Martyrologies Old English literature