Abstract
ABSTRACTThis article reads the early texts of the cult of the Mercian saint, Guthlac, in light of succession to the Mercian throne in the eighth and ninth centuries, considering evidence for the patronage of Guthlac’s cult by the Mercian kings Æthelbald (r. 716-57) and Wiglaf (r. 827-9; 830-9). First it provides an overview of materials of the Guthlac cult produced in Anglo-Saxon England, and then it examines the perspectives of the two earliest works, Felix’s Vita sancti Guthlaci and the Old English poem, Guthlac A. It then argues for a connection between King Wiglaf and Guthlac, and analyzes the later Old English Guthlac texts within the narrative proposed. This argument offers a new interpretation of ninth-century Anglo-Saxon succession politics as well as a fresh discussion of the composition of Old English literature before Alfred, inviting further enquiry into the origins of Old English prose and verse.
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