Milred of Worcester's collection of Latin epigrams and its continental counterparts
Patrick Sims‐Williams
Milred, who was bishop of Worcester from 743 × 745 to 774 775, is almost as shadowy a figure in the history Anglo-Latin literature today he sixteenth century when John Leland recorded his Commentarii de Scriptoribus Britannicis : ‘invidiosa vetustas Milredi monumenta destruxit’. The only composition by Milred that has come light, single ninth-century continental manuscript, letter consolation sent Lull Mainz after St Boniface's martyrdom. Apart its inherent interest, this letter, with elegant use Vergilian echoes, valuable indication Milred's literary interests and aspirations. Better still, it ends tantalizing glimpse world which lived: postscript apologizes for failing send copy picture poems Optatianus Porphyrius because Cuthbert, archbishop Canterbury, had failed return them. It perhaps very served model decoration Codex Aureus (Stockholm, Kungliga Biblioteket, A. 135), may have been produced at Augustine's, during Cuthbert's time.
Anglo-Saxon England