ABSTRACT
In the early decades of the eleventh century, Archbishop Wulfstan of York (d.1023) declared that those who were ignorant of the creed and the pater noster were not good Christians, and therefore should be deprived of certain Christian rights such as burial in consecrated ground. Wulfstan was a scholar: he was widely read, his ideas were informed by theology and canon law, and he was one of the leading English clergy. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he presents a top-down approach of what it meant to be Christian: he stands high up in the institutional ecclesiastical hierarchy, with the responsibility for many souls, and he was a vigorous advocate for reform and high standards.2 Scholars like Wulfstan viewed beliefs and practices surrounding death and burial in the light of Christian theology, learning and tradition, but these were of course never isolated from the world in which they existed. Wulfstan’s decree highlights the tensions which might occur as theology negotiated and influenced the social context in which it was worked out, just as it also throws up many questions which illustrate the complexities of early medieval religious belief. How far, for example, does this decree reflect a response to a genuine problem of people who lacked basic Christian knowledge but still sought inclusion in Christian practices? Are knowledge and understanding of the creed and pater noster enough to consider someone a Christian, if there is not also belief, faith or conviction? Why would someone who did not know such basic Christian prayers have any desire for burial in hallowed ground in any case? What did this mean to Wulfstan, and to those who sought it? And, ultimately and perhaps most importantly, what did it mean to be a Christian (or to be a good Christian) in the changing social contexts of Anglo-Saxon England?
