- Title:
- Emotional Rhetoric in Aelfrics Letter to the Monks of Eynsham
- Creator:
- Cherrett, Edith Elizabeth
- Date Created:
- 2019
- Degree Awarded:
- Master of Arts
- Subjects:
- Medieval
- Geographical Focus:
- England
- Supporting Materials:
- n/a
- Description:
- The Epistola Alfrici de consuetudine monachorum (‚àö√úlfric's Letter to the Monks of Eynsham) is a monastic customary written in the form of a letter in 1005 CE by ‚àö√úlfric, a key figure in the Anglo-Saxon Benedictine sphere. ‚àö√úlfric's Letter displays a powerful rhetorical strategy, by which ‚àö√úlfric seeks to influence the emotional community of Anglo-Saxon monasticism in the eleventh century. This thesis explores his rhetorical use of pathos, ethos, and logos in the Letter to show that the layers to Aelfric's seemingly bland injunctions persuaded the reader, and displayed the emotional community he envisioned for Eynsham. I also argue that while ‚àö√úlfric's audience was primarily the monks of Eynsham, the intended audience for this customary included a broader readership of reform-minded monks. The rhetoric presented in the Letter would have resonated with ‚àö√úlfric's colleagues from his formative years at Winchester Abbey.
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- Cherrett, Edith Elizabeth. 2019. "Emotional Rhetoric in Aelfrics Letter to the Monks of Eynsham", Department of History, Carleton University
- Link to this page:
- https://cuhistory.github.io/grads/items/hist_28.html
Rights
- Rights:
- Copyright the author, all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.