Answers and echoes: the Libellus responsionum and the hagiography of north-western European mission

ABSTRACT

This article examines three aspects of Augustine of Canterbury's Libellus responsionum. Through recent scholarship it provides a summary of the Libellus's textual context. It also clarifies the very contentious issue of just how familiar the Libellus was to missionaries, not only those preaching in England but also on the Continent, and specifically Augustine of Canterbury and Boniface. Finally, in light of the pastoral and textual circumstances, it explores the largely neglected question of just how the Libellus may (or may not) have illuminated the various literary features and strata of Augustinian and Bonifatian biography.