St. Erkenwald
A fourteenth century alliterative poem in which a pagan judge's corpse speaks to a bishop of London. Sometimes linked to the Pearl poet; author unknown.
- Original byline
- Anonymous
- Published
- Date not recorded
- Form
- Poems
- Authorship
- Still unknown
- Reason for anonymity
- Unrecorded
- Copyright
- Public domain
- Reference
- Wikipedia · Wikidata
The authorship story
St. Erkenwald tells how workmen enlarging St. Paul's uncover an incorrupt corpse in splendid robes, a just pagan judge who cannot rest, until Bishop Erkenwald's tear baptizes him and frees his soul. The poem survives in one manuscript and names no poet. On stylistic grounds it has sometimes been grouped with the works of the Pearl poet, an attribution scholarship debates and has largely set aside, and the Pearl poet is in any case unidentified. Either way the author is unknown: the question is only which anonymous master wrote it.
Questions readers ask
Who wrote St. Erkenwald?
Nobody knows. No author for St. Erkenwald has been identified in the documented record.
Can I read St. Erkenwald for free?
Yes. St. Erkenwald is in the public domain and the full text is free to read at the Internet Archive.
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