Draft:Burginda's letter

Burginda (possibly a Latinisation of Burgyth) was an early medieval Englishwoman. Her Anglo-Latin letter addressed to an unknown young man, believed to have been written around 710 in Bath, was copied in an 8th-century manuscript that survives in Boulogne.

Text
Latin: O inclite iuuenis uenturique eui inscius – utrum gloriosa Felicitas tibi uehat sub astris delicias saeculi, an spurnas agit ore cruento Miseria – et ideo toeis contendere uiribus, ut tibi clara lux nitet in caelo, spiretque salubrior aura aeternasque dies atque inmutabile tempus, et secreta Deo regnaris ditissima campis beata nimis, sereno in cardine sedis. 'Solus, agius sanctusque Deus', uox omnibus una est.

Accipe animoque tuo quod Spiritus alme bis ueniens per corda crest, et duo iusa colas tabulis conscripta lapideis: 'Deligite mente Deum feruenti plenus amore'; rursum sit: 'Carus sit tibi quoque proximus ut tu'. Hoc pactum ius omne tene, et semper quandocumque ad Deum uiuentem in excelso animum funderis in praces (sic), et nimius rorarent numina fletu, [memoria] mei nominis Burgindae digna tuis meritis, ut digna sit oratio uotis.

English (translated by Patrick Sims-Williams) Illustrious young man, you are ignorant of the future, whether glorious Felicity might bring to you the delights of the world beneath the stars, or Misery spew from her bloody mouth: so strive with all your might that the bright light might shine for you in heaven and the health-giving breeze may blow for everlasting days and unchanging time, and you may reign over God’s remote places which are exceedingly blessed and rich in lands, in the serene heights of his abode. 'Go alone holy and blessed' is the single message proclaimed by all.

Receive in your soul what the Spirit, kindly coming twice, creates in our hearts as to keep the two commandments inscribed on the tablets of stone, 'Love God with a fervent mind and be filled with love' and again 'May your neighbour be as dear to you as you yourself.' Keep this whole law and always whenever you pour out your soul in your prayers to the living God on high and your eyes become soaked in tears, may the memory of my name, Burginda, merit your good deeds so that your prayers may deserve to be fulfilled.

Historiography
Patrick Sims-Williams

Florence H R Scott of the University of Leeds, writing in their Substack newsletter Ælfgif-who?, gave Sims-Williams credit for bringing attention to the letter but felt his criticisms of Burginda's Latin, "neither remarkably good nor remarkably bad", were overstated and that it would be a mistake to analyse the letter through that lens or dismiss the rest of the letter's contents because of it. On the contrary, the letter suggested Burginda was "highly educated and well-read" with a "wide range and breadth of... literary knowledge".