This work, a letter from St. Aelfric to Wilfinus, bishop of Sherborne, is perhaps amongst the earliest works of Anglo-Saxon literature. He is writings to his episcopal peer relating some questions of church government which have been long standing in the English church. The canons themselves, thirty-five in total, relate the moral behavior of the clergymen, and what behavior should be officially sanctioned by the English Church, and what requires discipline on the part of the local bishop. This work included both the English translation and the original medieval Latin text.