In our search for non-linguistic evidence which could confirm the suspicion (grounded on lexical and stylistic considerations) that Æthelwold played a leading part in vernacular Aldhelm glossing, we must first address a question which thus far has not been satisfactorily answered, namely in what historical and intellectual context the origins of the late Anglo-Saxon fascination with Aldhelm and the hermeneutic style may be sought.

KING ÆTHELSTAN'S COURT

The resuscitation of the hermeneutic style first becomes tangible during the reign of Æthelstan (924–39), the first monarch to rule over a unified England and the first to extend the territory of a southern king beyond the Humber. From Æthelstan's charters and his coinage, where, from 927 onwards (after the annexation of Northumbria), he is referred to by the royal style rex totius Britanniae, or by some similar formula, it is abundantly clear that the king and his entourage were well aware and proud of what had been achieved. It may not be out of question, therefore, to suspect that, from its beginnings, there was a strong political and national component in the tenth-century revival of the hermeneutic style. After all, Aldhelm (c. 640–709×710), the principal source of inspiration for tenth-century Anglo-Latinity, was an author who had been held in great esteem and had been much imitated by Anglo-Saxon (and continental) writers before the production of Latin literature seems to have come to a complete standstill in England in the wake of the Viking depredations in the ninth century.