Ælfric of Eynsham

The oldest sample in writing of Old Dutch happens to be scrawled in the margin of a manuscript stored in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The manuscript in which it sits is a copy of the Homilies of Ælfric of Eynsham.Ælfric (c. 955 – c. 1010) was English and educated as a Benedictine. When the abbey of Cerne was finished, Ælfric was sent to teach the Benedictine monks there. While there he became friends with the abbey's chief benefactor, the ealdorman Æthelmær the Stout, and Æthelmær's father, Æthelweard.While at Cerne, Ælfric thought to write series of homilies, he says because he found errors in existing writings.I Ælfric, monk and mass-priest, ..., was sent, in king Æthelred's day, from bishop Ælfeah, Æthelwold's successor, to a minster which is called Cerne, at the prayer of Æthelmær the thane, whose birth and goodness are known everywhere. Then it occurred to my mind, I trust through God's grace, that I would turn this book from the Latin language into the English tongue; not…