Deux homélies de Pâques en anglais ancien

Abstract

A French translation with notes and commentaries of two Old-English Easter homilies probably from the middle of the Xth century, copied in manuscripts of the end of the Xth and the Xlth centuries. They combine thematically in an original way the theme of the Harrowing of Hell and the theme of the Judgement. No direct Latin source has yet been found for either. The Harrowing sections belong to the general tradition of the Acts of Pilate, but do not derive from them directly. That in the first one especially contains elements unknown elsewhere, such as the long speeches of Adam and Eve to the Lord, but found in other Old-English texts of the IXth century and even before. The Judgement sections are in the tradition of the Apocalypse of Thomas (see R. FAERBER, « L'Apocalypse de Thomas en vieil-angiais », Apocrypha 4 (1993), p.125-139). Both homilies are probably original compositions, with a Hiberno-English background.