Il pubblico delle traduzioni anglosassoni

What we know and think of the audiences of Medieval translations is entirely dependent on the texts in which we see them constructed for us. This is especially true for the au- diences of Old English prose translations: the difficulty we have in getting a sense of them depends on the fact that the works were ideally intended for the English Christian community as a whole. This lack of historical specificity is especially true for Ælfric, whose translations were addressed to a mixed audience of monks, clerics and laity. His effort to restore monasticism to its pristine condition demanded a redrawing of boundaries among those groups and a new approach to the language and style of translation.