full. But whether hee were or no, to this our present purpose is not greatly materiall, for so much as the sayd Ælfricus, and Ælfricus, althoughe they were diuerse persons, yet were they both in one age, and liued in one tyme together.

Furthermore,  

the same Ælfricus (of whom now we speake) of what callyng so euer he was, yet notwithstandyng he was of such estimation and good lykyng in those dayes among the most learned, that for his learning, authoritie, and eloquence, MarginaliaThe writings of Ælfricus authentike.his writyngs were accepted & authorised among the Canons & constitutions of þ^e Church in that tyme, as hereby may appeare: MarginaliaA booke of Canons in the Saxons tongue.For where as the Byshops and Priestes before the commyng of William Conquerour had collected together a certeine booke of Canons and Ordinaunces, to gouerne the Clergie, gathered out of generall and particular Councels, out of the bookes of Gildas, out of the pœnitentiall bookes of Theodorus Archbyshop of Caunterbury, out of the writynges of Egberthus Archbyshop of Yorke, and out of the Epistles of Alcuinus, as also out of the writynges of þ^e old fathers of þ^e primitiue Churche. &c. among the same Canons and constitutiōs be placed these ij. Epistles of the sayd Ælfricus here vnder folowyng, wherof þ^e one was sent to Wulfsinus Byshop of Scyrburne, the other to Wulfstane Archbyshop of Yorke, as yet are to bee seene in ij. bookes belongyng to the Library of the Church of Worceter, MarginaliaEx Archiuis Ecclesiæ Wilgornensis.the one written in the old Saxons tongue intituled Be preost Sinoþe, the other for þ^e most part in Latine, with this title: Admonitio spiritualis doctrinæ. Whiche booke of Saxon Canons and constitutions belongyng somtyme to Wulfstane Byshop of Worceter, was geuen by hym as for a great iewell, to the Church of Worceter, as by the same booke appeareth.

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Moreouer, besides  

this boke of Worceter aboue touched, there is yet extant also an other lyke boke of Canons belonging to þ^e Church of Exeter, MarginaliaEx archiuis ecclesiæ Exoniensis.wherin þ^e same two Epistles of Ælfricus be cōteined in þ^e olde Saxon tongue, and also in Latine, and prescribed yearely to bee read to the Clerkes and Priestes of that Churche: Which booke in lyke maner was giuen to the Church of Exeter by Leofricus the first, and most famous Bishop of that Sea.

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MarginaliaThe bookes of Sermons trāslated by Ælfricus out of Latin, into the Saxons speach.Of thys Ælfricus further  

is to bee vnderstand, that he translated two bookes of lxxx. Sermons out of Latin, into the Saxon speach, vsed then orderly to be read in Churches on Sondayes and other festiuall daies of the yeare, as by his own wordes may appeare in the end of one of þ^e sayd bookes of Sermons, whose wordes bee these: Fela fægere godspell we forlætað on þisum dihte . þa mæg awendan se ðe wile ; Ne durre we ðas boc na micle swiþor gelængan . ðyles þe heo ungemetegod sy . & mannum æþræt ðurh hire micelnysse astirige ; We let passe manye good gospels whiche he that lyste, maye translate. For we dare not enlarge this booke much further, leste it be ouer great, and so bee a cause of lothsomnes to men, through the byggnes therof. &c.

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Also in an other place he cōfesseth þ^e same of him self: whose words, in þ^e preface before his Grāmer be these. Ic Ælfric wolde ðas listlan boc awendan to engliscum gereorde of ðam stæf cræfte ðe is gehaten grammatica . syþþan ic twa bec awende on hund eahtatigum spellum ; MarginaliaLxxx. Sermons translated by Ælfricus, into the Englishe or Saxon tongue.I Ælfricke was desyrous to turne into our Englishe tongue from the arte of letters, called grammer, this litle booke, after that I had translated the two bookes of fourescore Sermons. &c.

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Marginalia4. Epistles written of Ælfricus in the Saxon or Englishe tongue.Of his Epistles especially  

we read of foure, which he wrote. One to the Monkes of Egnesham, De consuetudine monachorum. An other to Wulfstane Archb. of Yorke, wherin is touched the matter of the Sa-crament. The thyrd he wrote agaynste priestes mariage, to one Sygeferth, with whom there was a certeine Anker abydyng, which defended þ^e mariage of priestes, affirmynge it to be lawfull. The fourth, he wrote to Wulfsinus Bishop of Scyrburne, touching the matter of þ^e Sacrament. In the which Epistle he takyng occasion by a certeine abuse in hys tyme, which was, that Priestes on Easter day filled their housell boxe, and so kept it for the space of the whole yeare, till Easter came agayn, for sicke persons, writeth vpon that occasion, in these wordes as follow, in his own Saxons tongue.

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MarginaliaThe wordes of Ælfricus written to Wulfsinus Byshop of Scyrburne, agaynst trāsubstantiation.  

Man sceal healdan þæt halige husel mid mycelre gymene & ne forhealdan hit . ac halgian oþer edniwe to sceocum mannum . a . embe . vii. niht . oððe embe xiiii . niht þ^t hit huru fynig ne sy . forðon ðe eal swa halig bið þ^t husel ðe nu to dæg wæs gehalgod . swa þ^t þe on easterdæg wæs gehalgod ; Ðæt husel is Cristes lichama na lichamlice ac gastlice ; Na se lichama ðe he on ðrowode . ac se lichama ðe he embe spræc . ða ða he bletsode hlaf and win to husel anre nihte ær his ðrowunge . & cwæþ be ðam gebletsode hlafe . ðis is min lichama . and eft be ðam halgan wine . ðis is min blode þe bið for manegum agoten on synna forgyfenesse ; Vnderstandaþ nu þ^t se drihten ðe mihte awendon ðone hlaf ær his ðrowunge to his lichaman . and þ^t win to his blode gastlice . ðæt se ylca dæghwamlice bletsaþ ðurh sacerda handa hlaf & win to his gastlican lichaman . and to his gastlican blode .

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MarginaliaAn Epistle of Ælfricke to Wulfsine.Men shall reserue more carefully that holy housell, and not reserue it to long, but hallowe other of new for sicke men alwayes within a weeke or a fortnight, that it be not so much as hory. For so holy is the housell which to day is hallowed, as that which on Easter day was hallowed. MarginaliaThe Sacrament is the Lordes body, not bodilye, but ghostly.That housell is Christes bodye not bodyly, but ghostlye. Not the body which he suffred in, but the body of which he spake, when he blessed bread and wyne to housell the night before his suffring, and sayd by the blessed bread: thys is my bodye, and agayne by the holy wyne, this is my bloud, which is shedde for many in forgeuenes of sinnes. Vnderstand nowe that the Lord, who could turne that bread before his suffring to his body, and that wyne to his bloude ghostly, that the self same Lord blesseth dayly through the priestes hands, bread & wine to his ghostly body, and to his ghostly bloud.

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After this Epistle aboue prefixed of Ælfricus, written to Wulfsinus Byshop of Shyreburne, concernyng the Sacramentall bread, howe it is not Christes body, lichamlice, that is bodily, or (as we terme it now) really: & also how the same ought not to be ouerlong kept in þ^e pixe: here foloweth further an other Epistle of þ^e sayd Ælfricus written to Wulfstane Archb. of Yorke, both reprehendyng the sayd abuse aboue touched, and also cōteynyng matter more at large agaynst the bodely presence, in the Sacramentall bread. The copie of his Epistle, both in his owne Saxon, and in our Englishe here foloweth.  

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MarginaliaAn Epistle of Ælfricke to Wulfstane

SVme preostas gefyllað heora husel box on eastron . and healdað ofer twelf monaþ to untrumum mannum . swylce ðæt husel