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The Church Fathers · c. 685–695
On Virginity
De Virginitate
Aldhelm · c. 639–709
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What it is
A double work in prose and verse for the nuns of Barking, praising virginity through a gallery of biblical and patristic examples, in an extravagantly ornate Latin.
Why it lasted
The founding work of Anglo-Latin literature, and evidence of learned women's communities in seventh-century England.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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