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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2017
Sulcard, a monk of Westminster in the eleventh century, is the author of the first history of his monastery, the unprinted Prologus de construccione Westmonasterii. In this brief tract he describes the foundation of Westminster in the days, as he claims, of King Æthelberht of Kent, and the patronage and endowment extended by various benefactors, notably Archbishop Dunstan of Canterbury and King Edward the Confessor. Sulcard also records the marvellous dedication of Westminster by St. Peter, patron of the church, and two other miracles worked in Westminster by the prince of the apostles. Another chapter is devoted to King Æthelred II and Alfred the Ætheling. It has nothing to do with Westminster and was obviously inserted to bridge the gap in the history of the monastery between the reigns of Kings Edgar and Edward the Confessor. It does, however, contain some information on Æthelred's siege of Rochester in 986 and a brief reference bearing on the question whether Edward or Alfred was the elder of Æthelred's two sons by Emma. The purpose of this paper is to examine the content of Sulcard's Prologus and to print for the first time the entire text.
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68 Sulcard was attracted to the present story because the incident embroiled Æthelred with Archbishop Dunstan. Dunstan, as the reader of his hagiographers knows, applied his remarkable gift of prophecy repeatedly and with considerable vehemence against the wickedness of King Æthelred (Memorials of Saint Dunstan 115, 215, 309, 320). The siege of Rochester wrung another prediction from the saint. According to Osbern of Canterbury, the first to relate the story, Dunstan told Æthelred through several messengers to give up the siege and to refrain from further havoc, lest he experience the power of the apostle. Yet he earned nothing but contempt from the king, who put an end to his violence only when Dunstan sent him a hundred pounds of silver. Whereupon the archbishop was prompted to foretell that after his death such evils would come over Æthelred, because he had preferred money to God, silver to the apostle, and his greed to Dunstan's will, as the English had not seen since they began to rule their island. Sulcard gives the same story in a slightly different form. His is probably the older version since Osbern's Vita Sancti Dunstani was written between 1080 and 1093 (Memorials of Saint Dunstan xxxi). According to Sulcard, the bishop of Rochester informed Dunstan of Æthelred's attack. Dunstan pointed out to the king that he had unjustly given the lands of St. Andrew to his man and that he had not acted in the manner of a king when he burnt his kingdom. As the archbishop had no success with his reproaches and the king became ever more enraged, Dunstan prophesied: ‘Since you have failed to show reverence to Andrew, the holy apostle, and since you did not shrink from burning his church and your kingdom, given to you by God, you will not lack fire and bloodshed as long as you live’ (below p. 89).Google Scholar
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page 82 note 1 Folcard of St. Bertin in his Vita S. Joannis Beverlacensis (shortly before 1066) begins his story with a similar chapter; cf. PL 147.1167.Google Scholar
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page 85 note 2 Offa's charter for Westminster (Birch, CS no. 245) mentions only Aldenham, Hertfordshire; see Gover, J. E. B., Mawer, Allen and Stenton, F. M., The Place-Names of Hertfordshire (English Place-Name Society 15; 1938) 59–60. Blakenham, Northamptonshire, occurs in Magna carta Dunstani (CS no. 1050), Magna carta Edgari (Crawford Charters no. 12) and a shorter version of the latter document (CS no. 1351).Google Scholar
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page 86 note 3 Dunstan was commended to the court of Athelstan shortly after 925 and he became a priest before the death of Athelstan in 939. The other six kings under whom he flourished were Edmund, Eadred, Eadwig, Edgar, Edward the Martyr, and Æthelred. Dunstan died on May 19, 988.Google Scholar
page 88 note 1 For the feasts of St. Peter see above p. 73.Google Scholar
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page 88 note 1 Edgar died in 975. Sulcard omits Edward the Martyr (975-78) murdered at Corfe. Æthelred succeeded his stepbrother Edward in 978. Æthelred's first wife was an Anglo-Saxon lady by the name of Ælfgifu, who gave him seven sons and three daughters. By Emma Æthelred had two sons, Edward and Alfred, and a daughter, Godgifu, who married first Drogo, count of Mantes, and then Eustace, count of Boulogne.Google Scholar
page 88 note 2 The bishopric of Rochester was ravaged in 986; Dunstan died in 988. The Danish invasion had begun within two years of Æthelred's accession, i. e. in 980. It subsided after 982. There was a landing in Somerset in 988, and the invasion became formidable with the arrival of the Norwegians under King Olaf Tryggvason in 991. In 1013 Æthelred fled to Normandy, to the court of his brother-in-law Richard, duke of Normandy. Swein Forkbeard was recognized as king in the same year but died in February 1014. Æthelred was asked to return; he died in 1016. Edward and Alfred left England with Æthelred. Alfred returned in 1036 and was killed; Edward came back in 1041 on the invitation of Harthacnut and succeeded to the throne in 1042.Google Scholar
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page 90 note 2 Ps. 101.14 Google Scholar
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page 90 note 4 The phrase ‘ne tanto hostilitate’ appears in the Prima carta Edwardi (Kemble CD no. 824).Google Scholar
page 90 note 5 For the description of the church see Vita Ædwardi Regis 44-46 and notes. Sulcard, echoes the description of the Vita but is briefer.Google Scholar
page 90 note 6 Is. 45.7 Google Scholar
page 90 note 7 Edward fell sick on Christmas Eve; he withdrew from the activities of the dedication on the day after Christmas. The church was consecrated on December 28 (Vita Ædwardi Regis 73, 72 n. 3); Edward died apparently on January 5 (Harmer, , AS Writs 560; Vita Ædwardi Regis 80 n. 2) and was buried on January 6.Google Scholar
