The School of Abingdon in Early Medieval England

Abstract

This essay examines the literary heritage associated with the school of Abingdon Abbey, re-assessing its role as a major intellectual centre in England between the late tenth and the eleventh centuries. It proposes the case for a ‘School of Abingdon’, characterised by a curriculum that encompassed the study of grammar, orthography, and dialectics, the copying and commentary of works by Aldhelm and Abbo, and a distinct inclination for exploring Greek lexicon belonging to diverse registers and semantic fields, often with interpretations in Old English. The essay also analyses the content of manuscripts linked to Abingdon during this period.