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Sometime between 992 and 1002, the Anglo-Saxon monk Ælfric (c.955-c.1010) translated part of the Latin Vulgate version of Genesis into Old English and wrote a vernacular Preface to his work.1 During this same time period, he also translated the Quaestiones in Genesim by Alcuin of York (c.735-804)2 and composed an Old English Hexameron on the six days of Creation.3 With such concerted interest in Genesis, Ælfric became one of the earliest translators of the Bible into the English language and joined the legacy of patristic and medieval scholars who had previously written about the biblical book.4 Prominent figures in this legacy who wrote works on Genesis influential for Ælfric include Basil of Caesarea (329/30-379), Ambrose of Milan (c.340-397), Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Bede of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow (672/3-735), and Alcuin - authors whom Ælfric judiciously echoes at the same time that he supplements them with his own contributions, synthesizing biblical exegesis up to his own time. This article examines one aspect of Ælfric's engagement with sources, arguing for his use of Bede's work on Genesis as a model for his own exegesis and translation.
In his Preface to Genesis, Ælfric gives a clear statement about his reason for translating only the first part of the biblical book. According to his claims, the practical reason is that his patron Æthelweard already had possession of a translation for the latter part of the book. Yet there is good reason to believe that Ælfric's assertions in such instances have more complicated explanations behind them. For example, Malcolm Godden and Joyce Tally Lionarons have demonstrated that certain claims in Ælfric's Preface to his Catholic Homilies rest on comments made by the Carolingian monk Paul the Deacon (c.720-799) about compiling his Homiliarium, which served as a model for the later Anglo-Saxon's preaching collection.5 In other words, Ælfric is no stranger to adapting existing tropes to his own needs. I propose that another suitable explanation for Ælfric's translation stopping point is found in reference to Bede's Commentarius in Genesim and the author's note about this text at the end of his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum.6 The implications of this proposed source allow for exploring two related aspects of Ælfric's work on Genesis: first, a set of relationships between Ælfric's work on Genesis and...