Aristocratic identification in Felix’s Life of Guthlac

Abstract

Recent scholarship often sees high-born monastics and clerics in early Christian England as part of the aristocratic class. Modern identity theories, however, suggest that social identity could be dynamic, situational, processual and discursive. In light of this concept, the present article reads Felix’s Life of Guthlac as a text that constructs an aristocratic identity for Guthlac, a high-born hermit, and explores the social contexts of this identification. This case study demonstrates how the concept of social identification could help to deepen our understanding of the dynamic and complex relationships between aristocracy and the church during this period.