Wulfstan
died May 28, 1023, York, Eng.
bishop of London, 996–1002, archbishop of
York, 1002–23, and bishop of Worcester, 1002–16,
the author of many Old English homilies,
treatises, and law codes. He was a product of
the Benedictine revival and probably had some
early connection with one of the Fenland abbeys,
but nothing is known of him with certainty
before he became a bishop.
Wulfstan wrote in a distinctive rhetorical
and rhythmic style, which has enabled the canon
of his work to be established. From 1008 he was
adviser to the kings Aethelred and Canute and
drafted their laws; it was probably he who
inspired the latter to reign as a Christian king
and thus prevented the Danish conquest from
being a disaster to Anglo-Saxon civilization. He
was interested in problems of government and the
arrangement of society, as is shown by the work
known as Institutes of Polity, which describes
the responsibilities of all classes, from the
king down, and defines the relative powers of
church and state. He was also deeply concerned
with the reform of the church. He studied
canonical literature, asked Aelfric to write two
pastoral letters for him, and was himself the
author of the text known as The Canons of Edgar,
a guide for parish priests. His most famous
work, the Sermo Lupi ad Anglos (“Sermon of Wolf
to the English”), is an impassioned call to his
countrymen to repentance and reform in 1014,
after Aethelred had been driven out by the
Danish invasions of King Sweyn.
