Ælfric of Eynsham is the most prolific vernacular writer known to us from the Anglo-Saxon period. Born c. 950, he was educated under Bishop Æthelwold at Winchester and, after becoming a monk and priest there, was sent to the abbey of Cerne Abbas in 987. In 1005, he became the first abbot of Eynsham, a monastery refounded by the thegn Æthelmær. Ælfric's career was characterised by a close relationship with local nobles, the family of Æthelmær in particular. Not only did they endow the foundations in which Ælfric worked, but they also commissioned many of his English works.
Ælfric's literary career began with the Sermones Catholici, two sets of forty homilies on the Gospels, saints and doctrinal themes, a project commissioned by Æthelmær's father and encouraged by Sigeric, archbishop of Canterbury. These were followed by the Lives of Saints, of which The Life of St Edmund is part. The Lives, written at the request of Æthelmær and his father, were apparently designed for private reading rather than preaching. Ælfric also wrote a grammar of Latin in Old English, several biblical translations and was a notable authority on canon law. He also wrote several works in Latin (Sharpe 2001 §53), including a colloquy on trades and an abridged and simplified version of Wulfstan Cantor's Vita Æthelwoldi.
Further Reading: The best summary of Ælfric's life is the introduction to Wilcox 1994. Gatch 1988 is an interesting attempt to contextualise these writings. The corpus of Ælfric's works is outlined by Clemoes 1959, and Reinsma 1987 provides bibliographical orientation.