Standard abbreviation: Fates Apost.
Other titles: none
Clavis numbers: ECCA 286
VIAF: 2447158188260320260006
Category: Lists of Apostles and Disciples
Related literature: various apocryphal acts; List of the Apostles and Disciples (Anonymus II)
Compiled by: Tony Burke, York University ([email protected]) and Brandon W. Hawk, Rhode Island College ([email protected]).
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony, and Brandon W. Hawk. “Fates of the Apostles.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/fates-of-the-apostles/.
Created April 2022. Current as of January 2024.
1. SUMMARY
The Fates of the Apostles is a work in alliterative verse by the ninth-century Old English poet Cynewulf. In a preamble, Cynewulf states that he discovered the poem and now wishes to share it widely. It then begins with mention of the apostles drawing lots and then each of the men are named along with descriptions of their evangelistic journeys: Peter and Paul died in Rome under Nero, Andrew was crucified in Achaea at the command of Aegeates, John worked in Ephesus, James was martyred before Herod, Philip was crucified in Hierapolis, and Bartholomew was decapitated by Astrages in Albanum because he refused to worship other gods. More detail is provided about Thomas: he preached in India, where he brought Gad, the brother of the king, back to life, and later was killed by the sword. Matthew preached in Ethiopia before being put to death by the king Irtacus, James (combining the son of Alphaeus and the brother of Jesus) was clubbed to death in Jerusalem, and Simon and Thaddaeus died on the same day in Persia. The poem closes with several entreaties, including one passage that incorporates Cynewulf’s name in runic symbols—a technique used in all four of his surviving poems.
2. RESOURCES
2.1 Web Sites and Other Online Resources
Hostetter, Aaron K., trans. “The Fate of the Apostles.” Old English Poetry Project.
“The Fates of the Apostles.” Sacred Texts (Anglo-Saxon text).
“The Fates of the Apostles.” Wikipedia.
Kennedy, Charles W., trans. “Cynewulf: The Fates of the Apostles.”
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Old English
Vercelli, Biblioteca Capitolare di Vercelli, MS CXVII (the Vercelli Book), fols. 52v–54r (10th cent.)
Bjork, Robert E., ed. and trans. The Old English Poems of Cynewulf. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2013.
Brooks, Kenneth R. Andreas and the Fates of the Apostles. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961.
Krapp, George Philip. Andreas and the Fates of the Apostles. Boston: Ginn, 1906 (text of Andreas, pp. 1–68; notes, pp. 75–159).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
Bjork, Robert E., ed. and trans. The Old English Poems of Cynewulf. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2013.
Kennedy, Charles W., trans. The Poems of Cynewulf Translated into English Prose. London: Routledge, 1910
3.3 General Works
Allen, Michael J.B., and Daneil G. Calder. “The Fates of the Apostles.” Pages 35–39 in Sources and Analogues of Old English Poetry: The Major Latin Texts in Translation. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1976. [For translations of Latin sources.]
Boren, James L. “Form and Meaning in Cynewulf’s Fates of the Apostles.” Papers on Language and Literature 5 (1969): 115–22.
Cross, J. E. “Cynewulf’s Traditions about the Apostles in Fates of the Apostles.” Anglo-Saxon England 8 (1979): 163–75.
Elliott, R. W. V. “Cynewulf’s runes in Juliana and Fates of the Apostles.” English Studies 34 (1953): 193–204.
Gleason, Raymond. “The Riddle of the Runes: The Runic Passage in Cynewulf’s Fates of the Apostles.” Essays in Medieval Studies 9 (1992): 19–32.
Hieatt, Constance B. “The Fates of the Apostles: Imagery, Structure, and Meaning.” Papers on Language and Literature 10 (1974): 115–25.
McCulloh, John M. “Did Cynewulf Use a Martyrology? Reconsidering the Sources of The Fates of the Apostles.” Anglo-Saxon England 29 (2000): 67–83.
O’Leary, Aideen M. “Apostolic Passiones in Early Anglo-Saxon England.” Pages 103–19 in Apocryphal Texts and Traditions in Anglo-Saxon England. Edited by Kathryn Powell and Donald G. Scragg. Publications of the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies, 2. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2003.
_____. “‘Soldiers strong in the strife’: passiones as Cynewulf’s Sources on the Apostles.” Anglo-Saxon 4 (2010): 121-43.
_____. Trials and Translations: The Latin Origins of the Irish Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. Celtic, Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian Studies, 2. Aberdeen: Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies and the Centre for Celtic Studies, 2013.
Rice, Robert C. “The Penitential Motif in Cynewulf’s ‘Fates of the Apostles’ and His Epilogues.” Anglo-Saxon England 6 (1977): 105–19.