De Falsis Deis

De falsis deis, also known as "”Homily XII"” and "”On False Gods””, is one of the homilies written in the early eleventh century by Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York and was an expansion of part of one of Ælfric of Eynsham’s homilies. Both works also drew on the writing of Martin of Braga. The sermon was written in Old English and a single manuscript copy survives in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, in the homiliary, or collection of sermons MS Hatton 113.

De falsis deis, also known as Homily XII and On False Gods, is one of the homilies written by Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York and was an expansion of part of one of Ælfric’s homilies. Both works also drew on the earlier writing of Martin of Braga; all three served to condemn the heathen practices that had survived into Christian times. Wulfstan’s insistence on demythologizing and demonizing heathen gods was not an original idea, but he, and the Church, found that the continuation of pagan beliefs and practices was a pressing issue, even for several centuries to follow. What made Wulfstan’s approach unique was his calculated use of poetic devices and rhetorical style. This not only lead to the widespread dissemination of his manuscripts during his own lifetime, but his words and style were utilized and imitated for years afterwards, making him a significant figure in the study of Anglo-Saxon times.

There is evidence indicating that Wulfstan’s homilies, such as De falsis deis, were copied at Winchester, Canterbury, Exeter, West Midlands and an unidentified library somewhere in the southeast. This suggests that during Wulfstan’s own lifetime, and shortly afterwards, his manuscripts were influential enough to merit the labor-intensive process of copying them by hand. It is impressive to also note that there were several major churches/libraries copying his works, proving that Wulfstan’s works were not just popular in one centralized location, rather they were spread to many major cultural centers of England. Another impressive fact is that many later homilists continued to copy segments of Wulfstan’s homilies into their own works. This was still happening even two centuries after Wulfstan had written them, which “suggests either that particular kudos attached to echoing the wording of Archbishop Wulfstan or that subsequent compilers recognized the stylistic power of Wulfstan’s work”. The fact that Wulfstan’s manuscripts were distributed so widely and were so frequently used in later works points to the significance of his message.

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