RANK LINK 8

Class attitudes in the Colloquy

This is a quotation from Section 123 of the Colloquy (remember that this entire text is in SEAFARER in the TEXTS section):

The counselor says: Yes, companions and good workers, let us set aside these disputes the more speedily, and let there be peace and harmony amongst us, and let everyone help the other with his craft, and always agree with the plowman, from whom we have food for ourselves and fodder for our horses. And I give this advice to all workers, that each one should diligently practice his craft, because if he neglects his craft, then he is forsaken by his craft. Whichever you are, a masspriest, a monk, a peasant/ceorl, or a warrior, practice or instruct yourself in this, and be what you are, because it is great humiliation and shame for a man not to wish to be that which he is and that which he is obliged to be.

• What view of social class is taken here? What is the significance of this view as the view of a member of the clergy? What is the relationship between skilled labor and social standing?

There is an essay on this topic by John Ruffing in The Work of Work, a collection of essays: The Labor Structure of Aelfric's Colloquy, The Work of Work: Servitude, Slavery and Labor in Medieval England. Eds. Allen J. Frantzen and Douglas Moffat. Glasgow: Cruithne Press, 1994. 55-70. (on reserve)

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