ABSTRACT
The triumph of Christianity in England had literary effects which went beyond the composition of vernacular religious poems. The new faith, and the southern culture which came to the English with that faith, brought about great changes in the treatment of secular themes as well, and led to the use of themes not characteristic of the old native tradition. Such a theme is the encomium urbis exemplified in the Durham Poem,1 a 20-line fragment in praise of the city of Durham. The fragment as we have it belongs to the early twelfth century, in all likelihood, but it may represent a revision of the earlier composition referred to in line 19 of the text.2 The verses have little merit, but are worthy of mention as the only surviving Old English example of a type of poem familiar in classical antiquity.
