The Joy of Language & the Power of Words

English saint nearly complete by day at the tiller (7)

Aldhelm is a forgotten hero of the faith being even more obscure today than Dunstan, who I wrote about last time. When Aldhelm died in 709 in the village of Doulting in Somerset, it was another two hundred years before Dunstan was born half a day’s walk away – about ten miles - in Baltonsborough. This places Aldhelm firmly in the extremely dim and distant past.

Left: Aldhelm, installed in Saint Aldhelm's Church, Malmesbury Right: AI obvs

There is nothing dim or distant about Aldhelm. A great intellectual, particularly skilled in languages, he mastered Latin and even pioneered new poetic forms of it. Educated in Canterbury, he may have had some ability to understand Greek, which was extremely rare at the time. Some call him a ‘scholar-poet’. But where is his great literary masterpiece?

Aldhelm, commemorated by the Church of England on 25th May is, perhaps, best remembered for his riddles and playful puzzles giving clues to everyday objects, animals and birds. He also wrote De Metris and De Pedum Regulis, both of which addressed metre and rhythm in poetry.

What a waste.

That was the verdict of Peter Hunter Blair, a notable Anglo-Saxon scholar whose words have survived into the Third Edition of An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England (2003):

“Aldhelm… produced little more than an extravagant form of intellectual curiosity...Like Bede he drank deeply from the streams of Irish and Mediterranean scholarship, but their waters produced in [Aldhelm] a state of intellectual intoxication which delighted its beholders, but which left little to posterity."

Hunter Blair suggests that Aldhelm should be ashamed of himself, for squandering his talents and education on trivial fripperies.

Effortless Genius

It reminds me of the verdict on Peter Cook, a truly great comedian and satirist who died in 1995. Educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, like Edmund Spenser, William Pitt the Younger and Rab Butler, Cook was posthumously accused of wasting his education and immense talent, leaving behind little in the way of great work which truly displays his dazzling comic brilliance. Meanwhile, his shorter, less talented, club-footed genial partner in comedy, Dudley Moore, went on to become one of the highest paid movie stars in Hollywood. In the early 1980s, Moore was deemed more bankable than Richard Gere, Paul Newman and Harrison Ford.

Critics forget that Cook was a key figure in the 1960s satire boom and probably the most talented member of Beyond the Fringe, much of which is still funny today, especially the sketch about the Great Train Robbery. Cook set up a comedy club called The Establishment which, being a private club, enjoyed free expression on its stage without the need for script approval from the Lord Chancellor. The club may have gone, but Private Eye, has not. He purchased the magazine in 1962, giving it financial stability and contributed to it many other ways behind the scenes. It continues to this day and Britain is the richer for it. (And Dudley Moore’s movies, like Arthur, have not really stood the test of time.)

Likewise, Aldhelm’s great achievements are easily forgotten and, dare I say it, will prove to be longer lasting. He was the founder of Malmesbury Abbey, one of the few religious houses in England to be a continuous Benedictine monastery from its founding (in c.676) until its dissolution in 1539. 850 years or so seems like a good run to me.

Meanwhile, in Sherborne

He was also the first Bishop of Sherborne. The Diocese of Winchester had become too large and unwieldy so it was split in half, the Bishop of Winchester retaining the eastern half and the west was based in Sherborne, which was to cover Dorset, Somerset and Devon. Aldhelm did not particularly want to be the bishop but he was persuaded to serve in that way. It is while he was doing his rounds as the bishop that he died in Doulting in Somerset in 709.

Much about Aldhelm’s life has been lost. We are confident he went to Rome at one point. He is also credited with miracles. But we will finish with the accusation that he “produced little more than an extravagant form of intellectual curiosity.”

Aldhelm, like Cook, clearly revelled in language. Let’s take Riddle 63 from his Enigmata in which the first of “flying things” flew out over “new-made oceans” who “would not bend my neck beneath the patriarch’s rule”. There are allusions to a bird that flew out from Noah’s ark and did not return. “One letter take away, and barren shall I be of progeny.” Remove the first letter from corvus, Latin for ‘raven’, and you have ‘orbus’ meaning ‘childless’ (the ‘v’ and ‘b’ are kind of the same letter.) It’s practically a cryptic crossword clue.

The Fundamental Importance of Words

Words matter. In my latest stand-up theology show God, the Bible and Everything (in 60 minutes), I talk about the cosmic significance of words. Not only did God speak the universe into existence, he gave us a book of words about his Son, known as the Word. It seems that Peter Hunter Blair has fallen for the lie of postmodernism: that words are not important, and merely mean other words. No, words do not just describe reality, but are reality. They create reality. Jesus, the Word, keeps saying ‘It is written’, quoting words from the scriptures. That is how he resists temptation. And with words, he calmed the storm.

Moreover, Jesus told riddles, more commonly known as parables. He did that so we would lean in, listen, think and understand; or shake our heads, decide it wasn’t worth the bother and wander away. These parables were not hifalutin tales of mystical creatures and heavenly beings. They were beguiling simple stories about everyday, earthy things like lost coins, sheep and sparrows. In Jesus’ parables, farmers sow seeds and bridesmaids attend weddings. Aldhelm’s joy in riddles and puzzles is profoundly Christian.

Harping On

Stories are told of Aldhelm lurking on roadsides with a harp, singing folks songs and telling tales that would engage those who had not yet seen the value of these Christian centres of worship springing up all over England. In the 7^th century, it was not compulsory to attend church. If Aldhelm was in anyway effective in this ministry among his fellow Anglo-Saxons, introducing them to Christ the King, showing people the way from death to life, then he has a legacy that will last into eternity.

That legacy is available to all of us, if we are prepared to engage with our friends, family and neighbours about the gospel of Christ. We would do well to learn from Aldhelm’s methods.

Why not celebrate Aldhelm on 25^th May by doing a crossword with a friend - and telling them about: King Pat’s cat all over you (5)?

Pat’s Cat = Jess. ‘All over’ U. JES[U]S = King.

Sorry.

Oh, and: English saint nearly complete by day at the tiller (7)

Nearly complete = ALL; day = D; tiller = HELM. AL-D-HELM = English Saint.

If you enjoyed that, there’s another entry in the Almanac along next week. You can have it in your inbox if you subscribe. Just put your email in here:

---

If you’d like to see my show, God, the Bible and Everything (in 60 minutes), dates are on my website. I’m coming to Eastbourne, Nailsea, Bath, Bristol and Finchley in June. Maybe also consider booking me for your church. People seem to really like the show.

---

Want to support Cary’s Almanac?

If you enjoy the weekly instalments of the Almanac, you could support me via The Wycliffe Papers. There’s a paid membership over there starting on Thursday next week which is, of course, Ascension Day. The benefits of membership are all laid out here - along with some jokes:

Temple of Baal in Samaria branded ‘alternative worship space’ by Queen Jezebel

Did you see my video about St Dunstan?