SOURCE: Greenfield, Stanley B., and Daniel G. Calder. “Ælfric, Wulfstan, and Other Late Prose.” In A New Critical History of Old English Literature, pp. 68-106. New York: New York University Press, 1986.

In the following excerpt, Greenfield and Calder briefly survey Wulfstan's major writings, largely comparing his work with that of his Anglo-Saxon contemporary Ælfric.

Wulfstan first appears in the historical records as bishop of London from 966 to 1002; from 1002 to his death in 1023 he was archbishop of York and bishop of Worcester, though he relinquished the latter see in 1016, or, perhaps, appointed a suffragan. While he was at York, he instituted reforms in the northern Church, which had suffered severely from Danish depredations, and probably helped rebuild the York library by encouraging the collection of manuscripts. Though there is no record of his belonging to any of the eleventh-century monastic houses, Wulfstan was a Benedictine. He died at York...