Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lantfred
LANTFRED or LAMFRID (fl. 980), hagiographer, was a priest and monk of Winchester, being a disciple of Bishop Æthelwold. He wrote:
- 'De Miraculis Swithuni,' the first forty-six chapters of which are printed in the Bollandists' 'Acta Sanctorum,' 1 July, pp. 292–9, together with a narrative of the saint's translation. The whole work is contained in Cotton. MS. Nero E. i. ff. 35–53, and Reg. 15, C. vii. ff. 1–50, both being of nearly contemporary date.
- 'Epistola præmissa historiæ de Miraculis Swithuni,' a prefatory letter prefixed to the foregoing. It is printed in the 'Acta Sanctorum,' 1 July, p. 28, and in Wharton's 'Anglia Sacra,' i. 322.
It is often found in manuscripts of Alcuin's letters, e.g. in Cotton. Vesp. xiv., and Tiberius, A. xv. Lantfred says he had little knowledge of Swithun's life, and wrote only of his miracles. His style is inflated and obscure, and words of Greek origin are frequent in his diction.
John Joscelyn [q.v.] says he had an Anglo-Saxon book containing 'Depositio Swithuni per Lantfredum.' Tanner suggests that this was a translation by another hand. Thomas Rudborne cites from a 'Liber de fundatione ecclesiæ Wentanæ' by Lantfred two hexameters, and also some verses, which are given at the end of the manuscripts of the treatise 'De Miraculis.' Bale and Pits wrongly ascribe to Lantfred a 'Life of Swithun.'
[Bale, ii. 37; Pits, p. 178; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. p. 463; Leyser's Hist. Poet. et Poem. medii ævi, p. 286; Wright's Biog. Brit. Litt. Anglo-Saxon, p. 469.]