¹ A Literary History of England, ed. Baugh, A. G. (New York and London 1948) 74.Google Scholar

² Gradon, P. O. E., Cynewulf's Elene (London 1958) 20. All quotations from Old English poetry are from The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, edd. Krapp, G. P. and Dobbie, Elliott v. K. (New York 1931-1953).Google Scholar

³ Greenfield, Stanley B., A Critical History of English Literature (New York 1965) 114. Since the completion of this paper I have seen an interesting and sympathetic study of Elene, ‘Contrast and Conversion in Cynewulf's Elene,’ by Robert Stepsis and Richard Rand in Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 70 (1969) 273-82. The authors are for the most part concerned with the implications of light imagery in Elene, and their discussion seems to me to complement rather than conflict with the interpretation of Elene I am proposing in the present paper.Google Scholar

⁴ Greenfield, 116.Google Scholar

⁵ Ibid. Google Scholar

⁶ See for example Augustine's comment on Psalm 18.6 (Enarr. 1) in the Enarrationes in Psalmos (CCL 38.102; PL 36.155). Kaske, R. E. outlines the development of this commonplace in his article ‘ Gigas the Giant in Piers Plowman ,’ Journal of English and Germanic Philology 56 (1957) 177–85.Google Scholar

⁷ A convenient illustration of this illumination is found in Kendrick, T. D., Late Saxon and Viking Art (London 1949) plate xvi.Google Scholar

⁸ Probably the best introduction to the subject of ‘figural’ narrative in medieval literature is Eric Auerbach's article ‘Figura’ (trans. Manheim, Ralph ), in his Scenes from the Drama of European Literature (New York 1959) 1–76. For discussion of biblical and patristic typology, see Jean Daniélou, From Shadows to Reality, trans. Hibberd, Wulstan (London 1960) and The Bible and the Liturgy, trans. anon. (Notre Dame, Indiana 1956). For discussion of figuration in hagiographical literature, see Eric Auerbach's ‘St. Francis of Assisi in Dante's “Commedia”’ (trans. Catherine Garvin), op. cit. 79-98, and Jean Leclercq, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God, trans. Misrahi, Catherine (New York 1961) 166-68. There has been relatively little discussion of ‘figuration’ in Old English hagiographic poetry, but for a general treatment of Old English and Anglo-Latin hagiographic literature, see Charles W. Jones, Saints' Lives and Chronicles in Early England (Ithaca 1947); and I have argued that the conclusion of the Old English Andreas involves figural narrative, ‘Figural Narrative in Andreas: The conversion of the Meremedonians,’ Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 70 (1969) 261-72. Wittig, Joseph S., of the University of North Carolina, is at present preparing a study of the typology of the Old English poem Juliana. Google Scholar

⁹ Donahue, Donahue, ‘Beowulf and Christian Tradition; A Reconsideration from a Celtic Stance,’ Traditio 21 (1965) 86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁰ One immediate objection to the suggestion that Judas is a type of the Jewish people outside the Church, is that he is presented as converting the Jews after his own baptism, and at this point in the narrative he could hardly be a figure of the unconverted Jewish nation. But typological significance—unlike the more familiar varieties of allegory—is inherent in the situation rather than the individual. Thus Augustine describes Moses at one point in his dialogue with God as a type of the unbelieving Jews:Google Scholar

Cujus personam gerebat ille Moyses, quando ei dictum est, ‘Faciem meam non videbis’ sed ‘posteriora mea videbis’ et hoc ‘cum transieo’: ut autem non videas faciem meam ‘ponam super te manum meam.’ Faciem suam dixit, prima sua? et quodam modo posteriora sua, transitum de hoc mundo passionis suae. Apparuit Iudaeis; non eum cognoverunt, Eorum personam gerebat Moyses, quando ei dicebatur, ‘Faciem meam non potes videre.’ (Enarr. in Psalm. 138.8: CCL 40.1995-96; PL 37.1789)

Obviously Moses only bears this specific ‘person’ at this moment (Exodus 33.23), and I would suggest that similarly Judas is a figure of the unredeemed Jews in certain specific scenes. But I am not arguing that he bears this significance throughout the poem.

¹¹ a wæs agangen geara hwyrftumGoogle Scholar

tu hund ond reo geteled rimes,

swylce XXX eac, inggemearces,

wintra for worulde, æs be wealdend god

acenned wearǒ, cyninga wuldor,

in middangeard urh mennisc heo,

soǒfæstra leoht. a wæs syxte gear

Constantines caserdomes

æt he Romwara in rice wearǒ

ahæfen, hildfruma, to hereteman. (1-10)

Again, when Judas is pressed by Elene to reveal the Cross, he answers that the crucifixion occurred so long ago that he can hardly be expected to know about it.

Hu mæg ic æt finden æt swa fyrn gewearǒ

wintra gangum? Is nu worn sceacen,

CC oǒǒe ma geteled rime.

Ic ne mæg areccan, nu ic æt rim ne can.

Is nu feala, siǒan forǒgewitenra

frodra ond godra e us fore wæron,

gleawra gumena. Ic on geoguǒe wearǒ

on siǒdagum syǒǒan acenned,

cnihtgeong hæleǒ. Ic ne can æt ic nat,

finden on fyrhǒe æt swa fyrn gewearǒ. (633-41)

This dating is, of course, incorrect, but it was intended presumably to be historically accurate.

¹² Regan, Catharine, in her dissertation, Wisdom and Sin: Patristic Psychology in Old English Poetry (Univ. of Illinois 1966), analyzes Judas' development in terms of the patristic commonplace of the contrast between sapientia and scientia (103-109). But while this topos may well describe Judas' conversion, it does not motivate it.Google Scholar

¹³ Augustine, , Enarrationes in Psalmos 108.1 (CCL 40.1585; PL 37.1432).Google Scholar

¹⁴ Gregory, Gregory, Moralia in Iob 2.29 (PL 75.578).Google Scholar

¹⁵ Augustine, , De civitate Dei 17.24 (CCL 48.591-92; PL 41.558-59).Google Scholar

¹⁶ Augustine, , Enarrationes in Psalmos 58 Serm. 2.22 (CCL 39.744; PL 36.705).Google Scholar

¹⁷ This characterization of Christianity as deep and mysterious obviously derives from Pauline usage, for example, Romans 11.33: ‘O altitudo divitiarum sapientiae, et scientiae Dei: quam incomprehensibilia sunt iudicia eius, et investigabiles viae ejus,’ or Ephesians 3.4, 5: ‘prout potestis legentes intelligere prudentiam meam in mysterio Christi: quod aliis generationibus non est agnitum filiis hominum, sicuti nunc revelatum est sanctis Apostolis ejus, et Prophetis in Spiritu….’ Google Scholar

¹⁸ Jerome, for example, maintained at various times three different positions on the question of the ultimate salvation of the Jews in the last times: Commentarii in Isaiam 3.6 (CCL 73.93-94; PL 24 [1845] 100AB, [1865] 102BC), 17.42 (CCL 73.718-19; PL 24 [1845] 608CD, [1865] 632AB); and Commentarii in Ieremiam 4.18 (CCL 74.180; PL 24 [1845] 798BC, [1865] 829B). See Parkes, Parkes, The Conflict of Church and Synagogue (London 1934) 153–95, for discussion of Jerome's various opinions on this point.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Thus Bede's comment on Tobias 11.13 ff.:Google Scholar

Habet ergo populus Judaeorum adhuc velamen ante faciem cordis, ut non intelligat gratiam Christi. Habet albuginem, quia sibimet candidus et justus prae omnibus videtur. Sed habet eamdem albuginem quasi membranam ovi; quia caecitatem sustinet mentis, sub spe stultissima et supervacua nascituri in carne Christi, atque eos liberaturi eisque regnum magnum daturi per orbem. Sed quibuscunque eorum ablata fuerit erroris caligo, agnoscent quia Christus jam venit, et mundum suo sanguine redemit. (PL 91.934-35)

²⁰ Kennedy, Charles W., Early English Christian Poetry (London 1952) 176.Google Scholar

²¹ Elene does speak explicitly of the crucifixion to Judas just before he is thrust into the pit (lines 670-82), but her references to Christ up to this point are indirect (lines 288-319; 364-76; 386-95; 558-64; 574-84; 621-26. Google Scholar

²² The standard discussion of this theme is Hiram Pflaum, ‘Der allegorische Streit zwischen Synagogue und Kirche in der europäischen Dichtung der Mittelalters,’ Archivum Romanicum, 18 (1934) 243–340. See also Margaret Schlauch, ‘The Allegory of Church and Synagogue,’ Speculum 14 (1939) 448-64.Google Scholar

²³ In the fifth century dialogue, De altercatione ecclesiae et synagogae, which is a very influential work according to Pflaum, the Church addresses the Synagogue as follows: ‘Audi, Synagoga, audi vidua, audi derelicta: ego sum quod tu esse non potuisti; ego sum regina quae te de regno deposui, …’ (PL 42.1135). [For the more recent edition of G. Seguí-Vidai and J. Hillgarth, see Dekkers, E., Clavis patrum latinorum ² (Sacris erudiri 3 ²) No. 577.]Google Scholar

²⁴ Gregory, , Moralia in Iob 35.15 (PL 76.764-65). Obviously the Church is a vehicle for grace from the first Pentecost throughout the rest of history and similarly Elene is the means by which Judas is brought into a state of grace. But the point of the delay for Elene's reception of the Holy Ghost might be that while the Church is a vehicle for grace through its history, it will only attain a state of perfection as a whole, comparable to that attained by Judas, in the last times after the conversion of the Jews.Google Scholar

²⁵ The parallel between ‘urh witgena wordgeryno’ and ‘verba sapientium et aenigmata eorum’ is not exact. But if we assume asyndetic parataxis in the half-line and read ‘urh witgena word, geryno’ then the parallel is more precise. Google Scholar

²⁶ Cf. Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 47.16–17: ‘et impletus es [Solomon] quasi flumen sapientia, et terram retexit anima tua. Et replesti in comparationibus aenigmata: ad insulas longe divulgatum est nomen tuum, et dilectus es in pace tua.’Google Scholar

²⁷ Super parabolas Salomonis 1 (PL 91.939B).Google Scholar

²⁸ Greenfield, , op. cit. (supra n. 3) 114.Google Scholar

²⁹ Schlauch, Margaret, op. cit. (supra n. 22) 453.Google Scholar

³⁰ This misattribution occurs in the Latin versions of the legend and is most probably a deliberate misattribution for the sake of chronological symmetry: Moses-David-Isaiah rather than Isaiah-David-Isaiah. Google Scholar

³¹ The citation of Old Testament prophecies of Christ is the most commonly used argument against Judaism in patristic writings. Thus the treatise Adversus Iudaeos (once attributed to Cyprian in PL 4.919-26; see Dekkers, Clavis [cit. supra n. 23] No. 75) consists largely of Old Testament texts to be used against the Jews, and Augustine uses this argument continually. (On this point, see Bernhard Blumenkranz, ‘Augustin et les Juifs,’ Recherches Augustiniennes 1 [1958] 255-341). Google Scholar

³² Etymologiae 7.8.20 (ed. Lindsay, W. M. [Oxford 1911]); ‘Zacharias memoria Domini. Septuagesimo enim anno desolationis templi conpleto, … memoratus est Dominus populum suum.’ For discussion of the use of name etymologies in Old English poetry, see Fred C. Robinson, ‘The Significance of Names in Old English Literature,’ Anglia 86 (1968) 14–58.Google Scholar

³³ Etymologiae 7.9.6.Google Scholar

³⁴ Ibid. 7.9.10. A further argument for the suggestion that Judas is presented as a typological figure representing the Jewish people as a whole, is that, according to Isidore, ‘Iudaei confessores interpretantur’ (Étym. 8.4.1.).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

³⁵ It is possible that Judas' descent into the pit might be taken as a figure of the descent in humility before conversion. Cf. Augustine Confessiones 4.12 (PL 32.701). Google Scholar

³⁶ Bede, , In Pentateuchum, Gen. 37–38 (PL 91.264B). Bede's comment is paralleled almost word for word in a sermon of Caesarius of Arles — Serm. 89.2, ed. Morin, G., CCL 103.366; formerly Ps. Aug. Serm. 13 (PL 39.1765). See also Rabanus Maurus' comment on this pas sage, In Genesim 3.27 (PL 107.624).Google Scholar

³⁷ See Woolf, Woolf, ‘Saints' Lives ,’ in Continuations and Beginnings, ed. Stanley, E. G. (London and Edinburgh 1966) 47–48.Google Scholar

³⁸ PL 91.1121-22. Google Scholar

³⁹ In librum Tobiae (PL 91.935A).Google Scholar

⁴⁰ The fact that wisdom and treasure are frequently metaphorically equated probably explains the figurative usage in the following lines in which Judas is asking that the Cross be revealed to him: ‘æt me æt goldhord, gasta scyppend / geopenie, æt yldum wæs / lange behyded’ (790-793). Cf. Ælfric's use of the figure: ‘mid golde witodlice biǒ wisdom getacnod swa swa Salomon cwæǒ, ‘Gewilnigendlic goldhord liǒ on ǒæs witan muǒe’ (B. Thorpe, ed., Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church I [London 1844] 117).Google Scholar

⁴¹ One significant detail in the account of the resurrection of the youth by the wood of the Cross, which has not been adequately discussed, is the fact that the miracle was performed at ‘a nigoǒe tide’. (lines 869, 873). The ninth hour or the liturgical time of ‘nones’ is the time that Christ dies on the cross (Matth. 27.45; Mark 15.34; Luke 23.44) and is also the time Peter healed the lame men in the temple (Acts 3.4). Thus a popular pseudo-Ambrosian hymn identifies nones as the time Christ freed the world from death. A prayer in the Antiphonary of Bangor describes nones as the hour of miracles. ‘Nona agitur diei hora ad te, Domine, directa supplicatione, qua cultoribus tuis divina monstratur miracula….’ (The Antiphonary of Bangor, ed. Warren, F. E. [HBS 10; London 1895] 21). This prayer occurs in almost identical form in the Durham Ritual as well (Rituale Ecclesiae Dunelmensis, ed. Hamilton Thompson, A. and Lindelöf, U. [Surtees Society 140; London 1927] 144). See also Tertullian, De oratione, 25 (CCL 1.272; PL 1.1191-93), for the hour of nones specifically associated with miraculous healing. While it would probably be an exaggeration to speak of a typology of the hour, these quotations do suggest why nones is a suitable time for the miraculous revelation of the true Cross through the resurrection of a youth from the dead.Google Scholar

⁴² The renunciation of the devil was one of the central themes of the liturgical process of baptism, and was, performed by the catechumen some time before the actual baptism as well as at the baptism itself. For discussion of this theme see Daniélou, Daniélou, The Bible and the Liturgy (cit. supra n. 8) 20-34, et passim. Google Scholar

⁴³ Heo [Elene] a rode hehtGoogle Scholar

golde beweorcean ond gimcynnum,

mid am æǒelestum eorcanstanum

besettan searocræftum ond a in seolfren fæt

locum belucan. ær æt lifes treo,

selest sigebeama, siǒǒan wunode

æǒelum anbræce. ær hi a gearu

wraǒtu wannhalum wita gehwylces,

sæce ond sorge. Hie sona ær

urh a halgan gesceaft helpe finda, godcunde gife. Swylce Judas onfeng æfter fyrstmearce fulwihtes bæǒ, … (1022-33)

⁴⁴ Cf. for instance Isidore, , De fide catholica contra ludaeos 2.5 (PL 83.508-10). This treatise is a useful compilation of traditional Christian polemic against the Jews.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ See for example Christ III, lines 1083ff. Albert S. Cook comments at some length on the similarity between this passage and the vision of Constantine in Elene (The Christ of Cynewulf [Boston 1900] 190-93).Google Scholar