Quid Hinieldus cum Christo?
Alcuin, writing to “Speratus” (797):
Verba Dei legantur in sacerdotali convivio: ibi decet lectorem audiri, non citharistam; sermones patrum, non carmina gentilium. Quid Hinieldus cum Christo?
Let the words of God be read at the priestly dinner. It is appropriate that the reader, not the harpist, there be heard; the words of the Fathers, not the songs of pagans. What does Ingeld have to do with Christ?
Gregory to Abbot Mellitus (601):
We have been giving careful thought to the affairs of the English, and have come to the conclusion that the temples of the idols among that people should on no account be destroyed. The idols are to be destroyed, but the temples themselves are to be sprinkled with holy water, altars set up in them, and relics placed there. For if these temples are well built, they must be purified from the worship of demons and dedicated to the service of the true God. In this way, we hope that the people, seeing that their temples are not destroyed, may abandon their error and, flocking more readily to their accustomed resorts, may come to know and adore the true God.
Bede to Ecgberht (733):
But the uneducated, i.e. those who only have knowledge of their own language, make them learn these things [i.e. the Lord’s Prayer and Apostles’ Creed] in their own language, and make them repeat it carefully.
The Old Saxon Heliand
Sîmon Petrus thô,
thegan uuið is thiodanthrîstuuordun sprac
4675
bi huldi uuið is hêrron:“thoh thi all thit heliðo folc”, quathie,
“gisuîcan thîna gisîðos,thoh ik sinnon mid thi
at allon tharaƀontholoian uuilliu.”
The Old Saxon Heliand
“Ik biun garo sinnon,ef mi god lâtið,
that ik an thînon fullêstiefasto gistande;
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thoh sia thi an carcariesclûstron hardo,
thesa liudi bilûcan,thoh ist mi luttil tueho,
ne ik an them bendion mid thibîdan uuillie,
liggian mid thi sô lieƀen;ef sia thînes lîƀes than
thuru eggia nîðâhtian uuilliad,
4685
frô mîn thie guodo,ik giƀu mîn ferah furi thik
an uuâpno spil:nis mi uuerð iouuiht
te bimîðanne,sô lango sô mi mîn uuarod
hugi endi handcraft.”
Beowulf
Ac him Dryhten forgeaf
wigspēda gewiofu,Wedera lēodum,
frōfor ond fultum,þæt hīe fēond heora
ðurh ānes cræftealle ofercōmon,
700
selfes mihtum.Sōð is gecȳþed,
þæt mihtig Godmanna cynnes
wēold wīdeferhð.
Beowulf
Wæs se grimma gǣstGrendel hāten,
mǣre mearcstapa,sē þe mōras hēold,
fen ond fæsten;fīfelcynnes eard
105
wonsǣlī werweardode hwīle,
siþðan him Scyppendforscrifen hæfde
in Cāines cynne—þone cwealm gewreac
ēce Drihten,þæs þe hē Ābel slōg;
ne gefeah hē þǣre fǣhðe,ac hē hine feor forwræc,
110
Metod for þȳ mānemancynne fram.
710
Þā cōm of mōreunder misthleoþum
Grendel gongan,Godes yrre bær.
