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Cibrarjp  of  ^Ke  tlieolojical  ^tminaxy 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


PURCHASED  BY  THE 
MRS.  ROBERT  LENOX  KENNEDY 

r"XTTTl>r"TT    TTTC'T</-kT>xr     TiTTXTrv 

BR  7A6  .C58  v. 1 :2 

The  Church  historians  of 
England 


V 

FEB   9   is: 


THE  CHURCH  HISTORIANS 
OF  ENGLAND. 


VOL.  I.— PART  II. 


CONTAINING 


THE  HISTORICAL  WORKS  OF  THE 
VENERABLE  BEDA. 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  ORIGINAL  LATIN, 
WITH  A  PREFACE  ANI>  "NOTES, 

BY  THE  REV.  JOSEPH  STEVENSON,  M.A. 

OF  UNIVERSITY  COLLEGE,  DURHAM  ; 

VICAR    OF    LEIGHTON    BUZZARD. 


FLEET   STREET    and    HANOVER  STREET. 
MDCCCLin. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Preface  to  Beda i 

The  Ecclesiastical  History  op  the  English  Nation  : — 

Preface 305 

Book  1 307 

Book  II 351 

Book  III 389 

Book  IV 439 

BookV *     ...  492 

Chronological  Recapitulation 540 

The  Life  and  Miracles  op  Saint  Cudberct,  Bishop  of  Lindisfarne    .     .  546 

The  Lives  op  the  Abbots  of  Wearmouth  and  Jarrow 604 

The  Chronicle  op  the  Six  Ages  op  the  World 624 

The  Epistle  to  Bishop  Ecgberct 653 


THE    HISTOEICAL    WOEKS    OE 

THE  yeneea:ble  BEDA. 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 


§  1.  It  is  a  cause  for  deep  regret  that  no  contemporary  life  of 
the  Venerable  Beda^  has  reached  our  times.  Whilst  we  have 
detailed  and  authentic  information  respecting  his  less  important 
contemporaries,  St.  Guthlac  and  St.  Cuthbert,  St.  Columbanus  and 
St.  Wilfrid,  St.Wilbrord  and  St.  Willibald,  we  are  left  without  any 
such  guide  when  investigating  the  life  of  the  earliest  English  his- 
torian. Wliat  he  did  so  willingly  and  so  well  for  others,  others  did 
not  do  for  him.  No  biography  of  him  anterior  to  the  eleventh  or 
twelfth  century  is  known  to  exist ;  and  that,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  is  too  vague  to  be  of  any  critical  value. 

§  2.  Yet,  assuredly,  this  deficiency  in  our  early  literature  did  not 
arise  from  any  ignorance  on  the  part  of  his  contemporaries  respect- 
ing the  merits  of  Beda,  or  from  any  unwillingness  to  acknowledge 
them  with  due  respect  and  reverence.  Shortly  after  his  death  his 
sanctity  was  universally  admitted,  having  been  established  by  the 
miracles  said  to  have  been  wrought  by  his  relics.  His  works  w^ere 
circulated  far  and  wide  among  the  principal  churches  of  the  conti- 
nent, and  were  eagerly  sought  after  and  studied  by  the  most  learned 
men  throughout  Europe.  Nor  was  this  reputation  of  a  transitory 
character,  for  it  extended  with  each  succeeding  generation  ;  and  the 
history  of  our  early  church  exhibits  few  individuals  whose  character 
stands  higher,  either  for  moral  worth  or  literary  acquirements,  than 
does  that  of  the  Venerable  Beda. 

§  3.  We  must  therefore  look  elsewhere  for  the  reasons  of  this 
apparent  neglect ;  nor  will  it  be  difficult  to  find  them.  They  arise 
from  the  character  of  the  historian's  life,  which  passed  without  the 
occurrence  of  any  of  those  incidents  which  afford  the  chief  scope 
for  the  exercise  of  the  biographer's  occupation.  Had  a  life  of  Beda 
been  written  by  a  contemporary,  it  would  almost  necessarily  have 
been  scanty,  even  to  meagreness  ;  and  though  we  might  have  pos- 
sessed definite  information  upon  many  points  which  are  at  present 
obscure,  or  even  unknown  to  us,  yet  in  all  probability  we  should  not 
have  been  gainers  to  the  extent  which  at  first  might  be  anticipated. 
These  remarks,  let  it  be  remembered,  apply  only  to  the  external 
incidents  of  his  life.  Had  he  possessed  a  biographer  enabled,  by 
circumstances  and  kindred  feeling,  to  record  his  conversation  and 
the  tone  and  character  of  his  mind,  to  furnish  us  with  the  picture 

*  The  editor  has  not  hesitated  to  discard  the  erroneous  form  of  Bede,  and  to 
restore  to  our  historian  his  true  name  of  Beda.  Not  only  is  thjs  the  correct  and 
grammatical  termination,  but  by  this  designation  he  was  known  to  our  earlier 
English  writers,  such  as  Jewell,  (Works,  iv.  778,  779,)  Fulke,  (Rhemish  Testa- 
ment, 1  Epist.  John  iii.  annot.  4.  Apoc.  ix.  1,)  Featley,  (Clavis  Mystica,  p.  393,) 
and  many  others. 

Prcf.  to  Beda.  b 


11  PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 

of  his  every-day  occupations,  as  he  was  at  study  in  tlie  cell,  or  at 
prayer  in  the  church,  and  to  admit  us  to  communion  witli  liis  spirit 
as  his  days  passed  in  the  retirement  of  the  monasteiy,  this  indeed 
would  have  been  a  treasure.  Yet  we  scarcely  have  a  right  to 
expect  such  a  document.  Beda  was,  in  his  own  time,  no  prominent 
character.  The  placid  devotion  of  his  existence  in  this  world  v.as 
similar  to  that  of  thousands  of  others  whose  good  works  and  labours 
of  love  are  unrecorded,  and  whose  veiy  names  are  forgotten.  His 
learning,  extensive  as  it  was,  drew  no  very  marked  distinction  be- 
tween himself  and  his  fellows,  for  he  lived  in  a  learned  age,  and 
among  those  by  whom  learning  could  be  appreciated  ;  he  left 
behind  him  a  wide  circle  of  learned  scholars  ;  and,  generally  speak- 
ing, the  mere  possession  of  literature  affords  no  sufficient  scope,  in 
itself,  for  the  biographer.  His  peculiar  recommendation  as  the 
historian  of  the  English  church,  in  which  character  he  is  best  known 
to  later  generations,  arises  partly  indeed  from  the  merits  of  the  work 
itself ;  yet  not  entirely.  That  reputation  is,  in  some  measure,  the 
growth  of  the  centuries  which  have  passed  between  his  era  and  our 
own.  His  contemporaries  could  not,  in  their  day,  anticipate  the 
combination  of  circumstances  which  stamp  upon  every  page  of  that 
])recious  document  the  peculiar  value  with  which  time  has  invested 
it.  It  is  without  a  rival  in  the  literature  of  our  country.  However 
much,  therefore,  we  may  lament  the  absence  of  an  early  biography  of 
Beda,  we  ought  not  to  be  surprised  at  this  omission.  There  was  not 
much  to  record  beyond  his  birth  and  his  death,  his  prayers  and  his 
labours.  He  did  not,  like  St.  Guthlac,  retire  into  the  wilderness, 
and  wage  war  with  the  evil  spirits  by  which  it  was  haunted.  He 
did  not,  like  St.  Cuthbert,  lay  aside  the  bishop's  robe  for  the  hermit's 
cowl,  and  exchange  the  splendour  of  a  court  for  the  solitude  of  a 
rocky  island.  He  did  not,  like  St.  Columbanus,  carry  the  reputation 
of  his  native  church  into  foreign  countries,  and  establish  monaste- 
ries which  should  vie  with  each  other  in  recording  the  history 
of  their  founder.  He  did  not,  like  St.  Wilfrid  of  York,  plead  his 
cause  before  kings  and  synods,  and  strive,  through  all  opposition, 
to  raise  the  ecclesiastical  power  above  the  secular  authority.  He 
did  not,  like  St.  Wilbrord  and  St.  Willibald,  preach  Christianity 
among  the  heathen,  and  leave  home  and  kindred  for  the  extension 
of  the  everlasting  gospel.  Had  he  done  any  of  these  things  he 
would,  most  probably,  have  found  a  biographer ;  but  his  life  pre- 
sented no  such  salient  points,  and  it  was  unrecorded. 

§  4.  Yet  we  must  not  suppose  that  no  authentic  materials  re- 
main whereupon  a  life  of  Beda  may  be  founded.'      He  himself  has 

'  Tlie  earliest  of  these  appears  to  bo  the  "  VitaVenerabilis  Bedn?,  Presbytori,  et 
Oh'uensis  Mouachi,"  a  tran-slation  of  which  is  appended  to  this  Preface,  see  p.  xxxix. 

A  second  life,  ajtparently  of  the  thirteenth  century,  is  contained  in  the  Barlow 
MS.  39,  fol.  143  (see  §  82).  It  is  framed  on  Beda's  information  respecting  him- 
self, gleaned,  with  some  care,  from  his  various  writings,  and  it  conseqiuMitly 
supplies  us  with  no  new  facts,  as  the  writer  candidly  admits,  for  he  thus  humbly 
ex))resses  himself: — "  Nos  autem  novam  materiam  non  invenimus;  sed  more 
fabri,  Vetera  et  usu  ita  ac  particulatim  comminuta  in  ignem  reponeutes,  follium 
ac  incudis  sou  malleoli  adjutorio  in  unum  readunamus."  He  .states  that  Beda 
died  upon  the  7th  of  the  kalends  of  June,  a.u.  734,  being  Asceusiou-day.     The 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA.  Ill 

furnished  us  with  an  outhne  of  his  personal  history ;  a  few  other 
details  may  be  gleaned  from  his  writings  ;  and  the  aftectionate  regard 
of  one  of  his  scholars  has  preserved  a  minute  and  most  touching 
account  of  his  last  moments.  Upon  these  the  subsequent  sketch 
is  framed,  in  the  course  of  which  the  editor  will  avail  himself  of 
such  incidental  illustrations  as  may  be  gathered  from  other  credible 
autliorities. 

§  5.  Of  the  descent  or  family  of  Beda  nothing  is  known.  He 
gives  us  no  information  respecting  the  names,  circumstances,  or 
rank  of  his  parents ;  and  other  writers  leave  us  in  the  same  igno- 
rance upon  these  particulars.  But  hence  to  conclude  that  he  was 
of  lowly  origin'  would  be  no  fair  inference  ;  for  such  was  his  humility 
that  he  would,  doubtless,  have  lightly  esteemed  the  advantages  of 
birth,  had  he  possessed  them.  He  was  born,  according  to  the  most 
probable  calculation,  in  the  year  674,  although  other  writers  prefer 
A.D.  672  or  673.-  In  a  previous  work  the  editor  stated  his  belief 
that  the  arguments  preponderated  in  favour  of  the  year  674  ;  more 
recent  authors,  however,  have  conceived  that  this  date  is  certainly 
one,  possibly  two  years  too  late.  Yet  upon  a  renewed  examination 
of  the  question,  it  appears  to  have  lost  none  of  its  former  veri- 
similitude, and  he  has  seen  no  reason  to  abandon  it  for  any  otlier 

editor  considers  it  unnecessary  to  print  this  narrative.  It  commences  with  the 
words,  '•  Opersc  xirsetium  est  cognoscere  et  celebri  memoria  tenendum  posteritati 
mandare." 

Simeon  of  Durham,  notwithstanding  his  local  advantages,  contents  himself 
with  inserting  in  the  first  book  of  his  Ecclesiastical  History  of  that  see,  almost  in 
Beda's  own  words,  an  account  of  the  erection  of  the  monastery  at  Jarrow,  an 
extract  fi-om  the  introduction  to  the  Ecclesiastical  History,  a  list  of  his  writings, 
and  lastly,  the  letter  from  Cuthbert  to  Cuthwiu.  He  mentions,  incidentally,  the 
translation  of  Beda's  remains  at  Durham,  (of  which  we  know  from  other  authii- 
rity  that  he  was  an  eye-witness,)  and  that  the  "  porch  "  of  the  church  of  Jarrow 
had  been  dedicated  to  him.  From  this  writer  we  also  learn  that  there  existed, 
in  his  day,  a  "  mansiuncula "  of  stone,  in  which  report  said  that  our  historian 
had  been  \ised  to  study  and  meditate.  For  these  particulars  the  reader  is  referred 
to  Simeon's  own  history,  which  forms  part  of  the  present  series. 

JIabillon  (Act.  SS.  Ordinis  S.  Bened.  sec.  iii.  p.  i.  p.  501)  has  given,  from  a 
manuscript  which  formerly  belonged  to  De  Thou,  a  short  life  of  Beda,  which  pro- 
fesses to  have  been  written  by  one  Anthony,  his  disciple.  It  agrees  very  closely 
in  facts,  arrangement,  and  diction  with  the  production  of  Simeon ;  and  as  it  also 
contains  an  allusion  to  Beda's  removal  at  Durham,  it  must  have  been  written  or 
interpolated  after  the  occurrence  of  that  event ;  see  this  Preface,  (g  42.) 

The  compilers  of  the  Acta  Sanctorum  have  inserted  in  that  work  (Mali,  vi.  718) 
a  life  of  Beda,  which  is  only,  as  they  remark,  a  series  of  extracts  from  Simeon  of 
Durham  and  Beda  himself,  appended  to  which  is  Cuthbert's  letter  to  Cuthwin. 
They  refer  to  another  account,  which  they  did  not  think  it  advisable  to  print,  in 
consequence  of  the  fables  with  which  it  was  interspersed.  The  same  character 
may  be  assigned  to  the  legend  inserted  in  the  compilation  of  John  Capgrave, 
(Nova  Legenda  Angliae,  fol.  xxxiiii.b.  ed.  Lend.  1516.) 

Beyond  these  materials  we  have  no  other  information  respecting  the  life  of 
Beda,  excei^ting  a  few  particulars,  which  will  be  noticed  in  the  present  memoir. 

'  \\Tience  the  Magdeburg  Ceuturiators  obtained  their  authority  for  the  state- 
ment which  they  make  upon  this  point  does  not  appear. 

-  The  editor  is  aware  that  by  far  the  greater  number  of  authorities  ascribe  his 
birth  to  either  672  or  673.  The  author  of  the  Life  in  the  Biographia  Britannica, 
and  Mr. Wright  {-p.  264),  hesitate  between  these  two  years.  The  earlier  date  is  siijj- 
ported  by  Smith  in  his  edition  of  the  Hist.  Eccl.  (p.  222),  by  Cave  (Hist.  Eccl.  i. 
612),  by  Du  Pin,  cent.  viii.  p.  89  (fol.  Lond.  1693),  and  by  Natalis  Alexand.  vi.  30 
(fol.  Venet.  1778).  The  year  673  is  preferred  by  Fleury,  xlii.  §  13,  and  by  Arch- 
bishop Ussher,  Autiq.  Brit.  pp.  491,  53S. 

b  2 


IV  PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 

whicli  has  been  proposed.  It  becomes  necessan^  therefore,  that 
we  examine  in  detail  the  arguments  upon  which  each  theory  is 
founded. 

§  6.  Bcda  tells  us  (§451)  that  he  finished  his  History  in  the  year 
731 ;  and  in  an  appendix  to  that  work  (§  454)  he  states  that,  from  the 
time  when  he  received  the  presbyterate  until  his  fifty-ninth  year,  he 
had  devoted  himself  to  reading  and  writing,  and  that  he  was  the  author 
of  certain  books,  one  of  which  was  the  Historia  Ecclesiastica.  It 
has  been  customaiy  thence  to  assume  that  he  was  in  his  fifty- 
ninth  year  in  a.d.  731  ;  and  this  being  admitted,  we  are  carried 
back  to  672,  or  perhaps  to673,  for  the  date  of  his  birth.  The  position 
of  the  editor  however  is,  that  thus  to  synchronize  a.d.  731  with 
Beda's  fifty-ninth  year  is  a  hasty  assumption,  which  will  not  bear 
the  test  of  a  closer  scrutiny. 

§  7.  Let  us  bear  in  mind  the  circumstances  under  which  tlie 
History  was  written.  Having  finished  it  towards  the  middle  of  the 
year  731,  Beda  transmitted  a  copy  to  Ceolfrith,  king  of  Nortli- 
umbria,  with  the  request  that  he  would  read  it  carefully,  and  permit 
it  to  be  inscribed  to  himself.  Both  these  requests  were  granted, 
and  the  volume  was  returned  to  its  author,  who,  after  he  had  made 
a  f^w  additions,  sent  it  once  more  to  the  king,  in  the  form  in  which 
we  now  have  it.  It  is  important  for  us  to  bear  in  mind  the  in- 
ference, that  some  time  must  necessarily  have  been  occupied  in 
this  process,  and  the  fact  that  a  revision  of  the  whole,  embodying 
certain  alterations  and  additions,  was  actually  made  between  its 
first  and  its  second  presentation  to  Ceolfrith.  That  one  of  these 
additions  was  the  prologue  to  the  History,  in  the  form  of  a  letter 
addressed  to  that  sovereign,  is  self-evident ;  another  is  an  allusion 
to  the  victory  gained  in  October  732  (§  448)  by  Charles  Martel  over 
the  Saracens,  tiie  information  respecting  which  could  scarcely  have 
reached  Northumbria  before  the  end  of  that  year ;  and  a  third,  the 
editor  apprehends  is  the  Appendix,  which  contains  the  notice  of 
Beda's  age,  already  mentioned.  These  appear  to  him  to  have  been 
all  written  in  732  at  the  earliest.  One  certainly  was  ;  and  he  is  at 
a  loss  to  conceive  how,  under  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  the 
others  could  have  been  written  sooner.  Tlie  list  of  Beda's  writings, 
moreover,  which  is  embodied  in  that  Appendix,  includes  the  His- 
toria Ecclesiastica,  and  it  must  therefore  have  been  drawn  up  after 
that  work  had  received  Ceolfrith's  final  approbation  ;  for  until  that 
period  Beda  could  not  have  regarded  it  as  a  completed  work,  or  as 
entirely  out  of  his  hands.  There  seems,  then,  a  strong  body  of 
evidence  leading  us  to  the  inference  that  this  Appendix  was  written, 
not  in  731,  but  in  732  at  the  soonest,  and  that  tiiis  date  coincides 
with  Beda's  fifty-ninth  year  ;  and  so  we  are  carried  back  to  a.  d.  (574, 
for  his  birth.  And  this  ];)rings  into  harmony,  as  we  shall  presently 
see,  the  chronology  of  Florence  of  Worcester,  one  of  our  earliest 
and  most  valuable  historians,  which  otherwise  must  be  rejected,  for 
it  is  incompatible  with  any  other  date  than  that  for  which  we  have 
been  contending. 

§  8.  "When  Benedict  Biscop  returned  from  his  journey  to  Rome 
in  1)72,  he  obtained  from  Ecgfritli,  king  of  Northumbria,  tlie  gift  of 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA.  V 

a  large  tract  of  ground  lying  on  the  north  side  of  the  river  Wear, 
upon  which  he  forthwith  proceeded  to  erect  a  monastery.  "  The 
territoiy  of  this  monastery,"  as  Beda  himself  expresses  it,  was  his 
birth-place/  This  passage  is  so  rendered  by  king  Alfred  in  his 
Anglo-Saxon  version,  as  to  have  led  to  the  supposition  that  the 
present  town  of  Sunderland  was  the  exact  locality  which  Beda  had 
expressed  so  vaguely.  This  supposition  is  a  natural  one  ;  and  the 
temptation  to  hazard  it  is  certainly  very  great.  The  present  town 
of  Sunderland  stands  within  a  short  distance  of  the  spot  on  which 
the  ancient  monastery  of  Wearmouth  was  erected,  and  the  simi- 
larity of  the  name  to  that  mentioned  by  Alfred,  might  at  first  sight 
appear  conclusive  evidence  of  identity.  Yet  the  theoiy  is  attended 
with  difficulties  too  weighty  to  be  rejected.  The  present  Sunder- 
land stands  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  Wear ;  whereas  the  spot 
on  which  Beda  was  born  was  on  the  northern  bank,  as  Avas  the 
whole  district  granted  by  king  Ecgfrith.  King  Alfred,  moreover, 
as  is  obvious  from  the  sentence  in  which  it  occurs,  uses  the  word 
"  Sundorland,"  not  as  a  proper  name,  but  as  a  close  rendering  of 
Beda's  Latin  "  territorium  ;"  and  other  instances  occur  ^  in  which 
these  terms  are  explained  the  one  by  the  other.  We  cannot, 
therefore,  advance  beyond  the  information  which  Beda  himself  has 
given  us ;  and  we  must  be  satisfied  with  knowing  that  he  was  born 
somewhere  to  the  north  of  the  river  Wear,  and  probably  at  no  great 
distance  from  the  present  port  of  Wearmouth. 

§  9.  About  the  year  681  *  the  greater  part  of  England  was 
ravaged  by  one  of  those  devastating  pestilences  by  which  it  was  so 
frequently  visited.  It  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  the  parents 
of  Beda  fell  victims  to  this  scourge  ;  but  be  this  as  it  may,  it  would 
appear  that  at  this  time  he  was  already  an  orphan.  It  is  recorded 
by  himself  that  in  his  seventh  year,  which  (adopting  our  chronology 
as  to  the  period  of  his  birth)  corresponds  with  a.d.  681,  he  was 
handed  over  by  his  relatives  to  the  care  of  Benedict  Biscop,  that 
he  might  be  educated  in  the  newly-erected  monasteiy  of  St.  Peter 
at  Wearmouth.  From  the  earliest  period  of  the  history  of  the 
Benedictine  order,  its  monasteries  had  been  more  especially  dedi- 
cated to  the  advancement  of  learning.  It  could  scarce  be  other- 
wise ;  for  St.  Benedict  hesitated  not  to  take  upon  himself  the 
education  of  such  children  as  were  oflfered  through  him  to  God's 
service,  and  gladly  received  them  within  his  monasteiy,  thus  neces- 
sarily entailing  upon  himself  the  responsibility  of  their  education. 
No  sooner  was  he  settled  at  Subiaco,  than  Placidus  and  Maurus 
were  confided  to  his  instruction  ;  and  the  precedent  thus  established 

^  .  .  .  "natus  in  territorio  ejusdem  monasterii " . .  .(§  454.)  which  is  thus  ren- 
dered by  king  Alfred  : .  .  .  "  wtcs  ic  acenned  on  sundorlande  ]>xs  ylcan  mynstres." 
This  term  "  sundorland,"  as  its  etymology  shows,  means  land  set  apart,  or  sun- 
dered from  the  rest  for  some  particular  purpose,  as  this  district  was  for  the  use 
of  the  newly-founded  monastery. 

^  Lye  quotes  two  passages  from  an  ancient  glossary  in  the  Cottonian  MS. 
Julius  A.  ii.  fol.  5  and  1 52,  in  which  Sundorland  is  rendered  by  "  separalis  terra, 
prsedium,  fundus,  territorium."  No  other  instance  of  the  use  of  this  word 
occurs  in  Alfred's  version  of  Beda  besides  that  already  quoted. 

^  "  Eodem  fere  tempore  .  .  .  multas  Britanniaj  provincias  mortalitas  sa3va 
corripiebat."  Hist.  Eccl.  §  292 ;  Annales  Cambria;,  ap.  Petrie  and  Hardy,  p.  883.    ■ 


VI  PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 

having  been  sanctioned  by  the  provisions  of  his  rule,  was  perpe- 
tuated without  interruption.' 

§  10.  The  circumstances  which  attended  Beda's  renunciation  of 
the  world  and  the  solemn  dedication  of  himself  to  the  more  imme- 
diate sers^ice  of  God,  must  have  produced  a  deep  impression  on 
the  boy's  mind,  softened  as  it  probably  was  by  the  sorrow  occasioned 
by  the  death  of  his  parents.  The  rule  of  St.  Benedict  had  made 
ample  provision  for  such  occurrences,  and  they  were  by  no  means 
unfrequent.  The  parents  or  guardians  of  the  child,  as  the  case 
might  be,  led  him  up  to  the  altar ;  they  solemnly  swore  before 
witnesses  that  he  should  be  deprived  of  whatever  worldly  goods 
might  otherwise  become  his  ;  or  if  they  were  unwilling  to  do  this, 
an  offering  might  be  made  on  his  behalf  to  the  monastery  ;  the 
child's  hands  were  then  folded  in  the  covering  of  the  altar,  and  the 
rites  by  which  he  was  irrevocably  bound  to  the  service  of  that  altar 
were  completed.^ 

§  11.  Such  was  the  ceremony  in  the  case  of  those  who  were 
offered,  as  Beda  was,  by  relatives  ;  it  was  different,  however,  with 
those  who  had  arrived  at  years  of  maturity,  and  were  competent  to 
form  a  decision  for  themselves.  With  them  there  was  more  delay, 
difficulties  were  accumulated,  and  all  was  done  to  test  the  patience 
and  the  sincerity  of  the  candidate  for  admission.'  He  was  required 
to  apply  at  the  gates  of  the  monastery  during  five  successive  days  ; 
nor  was  he  tlien  permitted  to  enter  beyond  that  portion  of  the 
building  appropriated  to  the  use  of  the  laity.  Here  he  was  inter- 
rogated by  the  officer  whose  duty  it  was  to  investigate  the  character 
of  the  applicant,  by  whom  the  petition  was  conveyed  to  tlie  abbot. 
The  rule  of  St.  Benedict  was  then  read  and  explained  to  him,  aiid 
he  was  told  that  to  this  law  he  must  henceforth  be  subject.  If  he 
persevered  in  his  intention,  he  was  brought,  clothed  as  he  was  in 
his  secular  habit,  before  the  assembled  chapter,  and  the  abbot 
inquired  of  him  the  nature  of  his  request.  He  answered,  "  I  wish 
to  lay  aside  the  world,  and  to  serve  God."  The  abbot  replied, 
"  Hear,  brother ;  it  may  perchance  happen  that  you  are  unable  to 
observe  our  rule  ;  for,  having  pledged  yourself  to  it,  you  may  not 
return  to  the  world.  The  Canons  of  the  Council  of  Nice  say,  '  W 
any  one  return  to  the  world  after  having  laid  aside  his  arms,  he 
shall  be  a  penitent  for  ten  years.'     Therefore,  although  our  rule 

•  Mabill.  Annal.  Bcned.  ii.  §  3 ;  Act.  SS.  Eeued.  Prtcf.  sec.  iii.  §  39. 

^  See  Keg.  S.  Benedict!,  c:ip.  Ixvi.  '•  De  iiliis  nobilium  et  panpcrum  qui  offenin- 
ttir."  Care  was  tak(;ii  to  strip  the  child  of  all  his  temiioral  property,  that  ho 
might  thus  he  freed  from  one  temptation  to  which  he  would  otherwise  be  exjjoscd, 
and  have  less  inducement  to  return  to  the  world  which  he  had  abjured.  That 
this  dedication  bound  the  child  irrevocably  to  the  monasteiy,  will  appear  by  the 
following  extract  from  the  Rule  of  8t.  Isidore  (ap.  Menard.  Concordia  Kegularum, 
p.  991,  edit.  Par.  1G38)  : — "  Quicinuiue  a  parentibus  propriis  in  monasterio  fucrit 
delegatus,  noverit  se  ibi  perpetuo  permansurum."  The  same  is  confirmed  by  the 
49th  canon  of  the  Fourth  Council  of  Toledo  (a.d.  671,  ap.  Bruns,  Canones  Concil. 
i.  235) : — "  IMonaehum  aut  paterna  devotio  aut  propria  professio  facit ;  quidquid 
horum  fuerit,  alligatum  tencbit;  proinde  eis  ad  mundum  reverti  intercludimns 
aditnm,  et  omnem  ad  Beculura  intcrdicimus  regressum."  Here  return  to  the 
world  is  alike  forbidden  to  both. 

*  It  wius  ]irovided  by  the  Itulo  of  St.  Benedict  (cap.  Ixv.)  "  Ut  prwdicentur  ci 
omnia  dura  et  nspera,  per  (pia;  itur  ud  Deuni." 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 


does  not  enjoin  it,  yet  it  is  better  that  you  should  have  space  for 
dehberation."  The  candidate  was  then  dismissed  ;  but  if  he  con- 
tinued steadfast  in  his  resohition,  he  was  once  more  summoned 
before  the  abbot  and  convent,  and  having  solemnly  professed  that 
he  would  not,  on  any  account,  return  to  the  world,  he  laid  aside 
his  secular  dress,  his  hair  was  shorn,  he  was  clothed  in  the  garli 
appropriate  to  his  new  situation,  and  was  consigned  to  the  care  of 
the  master  of  the  novices. 

§  12.  The  regulations  of  the  monastery  required  that  the  novice 
should  remain  for  ten  months  under  the  instructions  of  this  indivi- 
dual. During  this  period  he  was  subjected  to  the  strictest  discipline. 
He  was  not  permitted  to  speak  with  any  secular  person,  nor  to 
leave  the  walls  of  the  convent,  except  when  forming  one  of  a  proces- 
sion, nor  to  taste  animal  food,  even  though  he  might  be  sinking 
under  bodily  weakness.  In  short,  all  was  calculated  to  test  the 
sincerity  of  his  attachment  to  the  monastic  institution,  before  that 
step  was  taken  which  could  not  be  recalled,  and  which  bound  him 
to  its  observance  for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  The  year  of  his 
probation  having  expired,  the  novice  who  resolved  to  continue 
steadfast  in  his  profession,  knelt  before  the  altar,  and  the  following 
was  the  ceremony  of  his  admission  as  a  monk. 

§  13.    The  abbot  addressed  the  novices  thus  : — - 

"  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  out  of  his  love  to  sinners,  humbled 
Himself  so  as  to  take  our  flesh  upon  Him,  and  was  willing  to  appear 
as  the  most  lowly  in  the  world,  yet  without  sin.  He  reconciled  us 
to  God  the  Father ;  and  us  who  were  the  children  of  wrath  He 
made  the  children  of  adoption.  By  baptism  He  has  given  us  the 
remission  of  all  our  sins  ;  and  the  anger  which  we  had  incurred  He 
has  turned  into  pity.  But  since  after  the  regeneration  of  baptism 
we  have  done  many  evil  things,  and,  departing  from  Him,  have  in 
a  sort  lost  the  adoption  of  sons,  of  his  free  love  He  has  shown  to 
us  the  way  of  humility  and  repentance,  by  which  we  may  again  be 
reconciled  to  God.  Let  none  of  you,  therefore,  although  oppressed 
by  the  weight  of  your  sins,  despair  of  his  love  ;  for  He  who  was 
willing  to  be  made  flesh  for  sinncKS,  daily  pleads  even  for  them  with 
the  Father. 

§  14.  "  You  therefore,  my  children,  who  having  left  the  world  have 
taken  refuge  with  God,  standing  before  Him  and  his  holy  altar,  and 
in  the  presence  of  your  assembled  brethren,  let  each  of  you  with 
your  own  mouths  declare  whether  you  are  willing  to  renounce  the 
world  and  its  pomps." 

The  answer. — "  We  will." 

The  abbot. — "Will  you  change  your  habits  of  life,  and  leave  and 
renounce  the  affection  of  your  kindred?" 

The  answer. — "  We  will." 

The  abbot. — "  Will  you  profess  obedience  according  to  the  rule 
of  St.  Benedict,  renouncing  even  your  own  inclinations?" 

The  answer. — "  We  will." 

Then  shall  the  abbot  say, — "  May  the  Lord  help  you." 

The  novice,  having  professed  obedience  to  the  rule  of  the  monas- 
tery, was  clothed  in  the  robe  which  the  abbot  had  blessed  upon  the 


VIU  PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 

altar  ;  he  then  received  the  kiss  of  peace  from  the  brethren,  and 
thus  became  a  member  of  their  society. 

§  15.  Beda  had  now  become  an  inmate  of  the  monastei-y  of 
Wearmouth ;  he  had  renounced  home  and  kindred,  perhaps  even 
the  name  by  which  he  had  previously  been  known  ;  and  had  entered 
upon  a  new  scene,  new  duties,  new  avocations.  That  he  devoted 
himself  to  these  with  such  assiduity  as  not  only  to  have  won  the 
love  of  his  equals,  but  to  have  earned  the  approbation  of  his 
superiors,  while  at  the  same  time  he  profited  largely  by  the  oppor- 
tunities of  improvement  afforded  him,  is  clear  from  what  we  know 
of  the  whole  tenor  of  his  life.  As  it  passes  before  us,  we  shall  have 
abundant  proof  of  the  estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by  those 
who  had  the  best  opportunities  of  forming  an  unprejudiced  judg- 
ment. Reading,  writing,  and  various  other  branches  of  study, 
pursued  so  far  only  as  was  consistent  with  the  higher  obligation  of 
due  attendance  upon  the  services  of  the  church,  now  chiefiy  occu- 
pied his  mind.  The  constitution  of  a  Benedictine  monastery  made 
ample  provision  for  the  training  up  of  youth  in  the  more  useful 
branches  of  education  ;  all  acquirements,  however,  being  viewed 
with  especial  reference  to  the  extension  of  God's  glory  and  the 
salvation  of  mankind. 

§  16.  It  is  not  easy  for  us  in  the  present  day,  amid  occupations  so 
difterent  from  those  which  engaged  the  attention  of  the  middle 
ages,  and  possessing  advantages  so  superior  in  most  respects  to 
those  which  men  at  that  time  enjoyed, — it  is  not  easy  for  us  to  form 
a  true  estimate  of  the  character  of  monachisra  ;  nor  is  it  the  inten- 
tion of  the  editor  to  enter  upon  the  examination  of  this  confessedly 
difficult  question.  Yet  if  it  be  possible  to  lay  before  the  reader,  in 
a  concise  form,  some  comprehensive  notice  by  which  he  may  be 
enabled  to  judge  of  that  condition  of  life  which  now  opened  upon 
Beda,  it  is  expedient  that  this  be  done  ;  for  we  hence  gain  an 
insight  into  the  system  by  which  the  mind  of  the  future  historian 
of  England  was  framed,  and  which  must  necessarily  have  exercised 
a  very  considerable  inHuence  upon  his  subsequent  character,  and 
given  a  tone  and  l)ias  to  his  writings. 

§  17.  The  Rule  of  St.  Benedict,  a  document  the  authenticity  of 
wliich  cannot  be  doubted,  and  of  which  the  authority  is  unques- 
tionable, affords  us  the  ready  means  of  depicting  the  character  which 
Benedict  sought  to  form  by  his  institutions.  The  first  chapter,  ' 
which  treats  of  the  duties  of  the  brethren,  is  so  important  and  so 
apposite  withal,  that  an  abridged  translation  of  it  is  here  introduced. 
According  to  St.  Benedict,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  monk,  "  in  the 
lirst  place  to  love  the  Lord  his  God  with  all  his  heart,  with  all  his 
soul,  and  with  all  his  strength  ;  and,  in  the  second  jjlacc,  to  love 
his  neiglibour  as  himself.  To  commit  no  murder,  nor  adultery , 
nor  theft ;  not  to  covet,  nor  to  bear  false  witness.  To  honour  all 
men.  To  do  unto  others  as  he  would  have  others  do  unto  him. 
To  deny  himself,  and  to  follow  Christ.  To  chasten  the  body  ;  not 
to  follow  after  pleasures ;  to  love  fasting ;  to  relieve  the  poor ;  to 
clothe  the  naked  ;  to  visit  the  sick  ;  to  bury  the  dead  ;  to  aid  the 
distressed,  and  to  comfort  the  sorrowing.  To  estrange  himself  from 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA,  IX 

the  doings  of  the  world,  and  to  prefer  nothing  to  the  love  of  Christ. 
Not  to  act  upon  resentment,  to  nourish  no  malice,  to  have  no 
treachery  in  the  heart ;  to  give  no  false  peace  ;  never  to  cease  from 
acts  of  charity ;  not  to  swear,  lest  he  become  forsworn.  To  have 
truth  in  the  heart  and  in  the  mouth.  Not  to  render  evil  for  evil. 
To  do  no  injury,  but  patiently  to  suft'er  injury.  To  love  his  enemies. 
Not  to  curse  those  who  curse  him,  but  rather  to  bless  them.  To 
endure  persecution  for  righteousness'  sake.  Not  to  be  proud  ;  to 
be  no  wine -bibber,  no  glutton,  no  sluggard,  not  lazy,  no  murmurer, 
no  backbiter.  To  place  his  trust  in  God.  To  refer  to  God  what- 
ever is  good  in  himself,  and  not  to  take  it  to  himself;  but  to  appro- 
priate whatever  is  evil.  To  fear  the  day  of  judgment,  to  dread 
liell,  and  desire  eternal  life  with  all  spiritual  longing.  Daily  to  have 
the  apprehension  of  death  before  his  eyes.  Hourly  to  watch  each 
action  of  life.  To  know  for  certain  that  God  sees  him  in  every 
place.  Straightway  to  throw  down  before  Christ  the  evil  thoughts 
which  enter  into  his  heart,  and  to  make  them  known  to  the  spiri- 
tual father.  To  guard  his  mouth  from  wicked  and  naughty  words. 
Not  to  love  to  speak  much.  To  utter  no  words  of  vanity,  or  which 
are  apt  to  provoke  laughter.  Not  to  love  much  merriment  or 
levity.  Willingly  to  hear  sacred  lessons ;  frequently  to  devote 
himself  to  prayer ;  daily  in  prayer  to  confess  to  God  his  past  evil 
deeds,  and  to  amend  them  for  the  future.  Not  to  fulfil  the  desires 
of  the  flesh.  To  hate  his  own  inclinations,  and  to  obey  the  abbot's 
commands  in  all  things,  even  should  he  do  otherwise  than  is  right, 
which  God  forbid  !  remembering  the  law  of  the  Lord,  '  All  there- 
fore whatsoever  they  bid  you  observe,  that  observe  and  do  ;  but  do 
not  after  their  works.'   [Matt,  xxiii.  3.] 

§  18.  "A  monk  ought  not  to  wish  to  be  called  holy  before  he 
is  so ;  but  first  to  become  what  may  truly  be  so  styled.  Daily  to 
fulfil  in  his  actions  the  commandments  of  God.  To  love  chastity  ; 
to  hate  no  one  ;  to  have  no  jealousy,  no  envy ;  to  dislike  discord, 
and  to  flee  pride.  To  reverence  his  elders,  to  love  his  juniors, 
and  in  the  love  of  Christ  to  pray  for  his  enemies.  To  be  at  peace 
Ijefore  the  setting  of  the  sun  with  those  with  whom  he  may  have 
disagreed.     And  never  to  despair  of  God's  mercy. 

§  19.  "  These,"  concludes  the  chapter,  "  are  the  instruments  of 
our  spiritual  occupation,  which,  if  they  be  performed  night  and  day 
without  ceasing,  and  ratified  at  the  day  of  judgment,  that  reward 
shall  be  given  us  of  the  Lord,  which  He  hath  promised  ;  and  which 
'  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the 
heart  of  man,  the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that 
love  Him.'  [1  Cor.  ii.  9.]  And  the  workshop  where  we  diligently 
perform  all  these  things,  is  the  cloister  of  the  monastery,  and 
constancy  in  the  congregation." 

§  20.  From  a  conviction  that  some  outline  of  the  discipline 
under  which  the  mind  of  Beda  was  trained  is  necessary  for  the 
formation  of  a  due  estimate  of  his  character,  the  editor  has  entered 
somewhat  fully  into  the  monastic  system  which  prevailed  in  Eng- 
land at  the  period  to  which  our  history  has  reference.  We  must  not 
look  at  Beda,  for  the  first  time,  when  his  character  has  been  formed 


X  PREFACE    TO    I3EDA. 

and  his  habits  of  thought  and  feehng  matured ;  if  we  do  so  wc 
shall  probably  form  a  faulty  as  well  as  an  imperfect  estimate.  The 
standing  point  which  we  take  must  be  such,  that  from  it  we 
command  a  comprehensive  view ;  we  must  be  in  such  a  position 
that  we  can  notice  the  growth  of  his  being,  and  understand  the 
influences  which  conspired  to  develope  and  ripen  the  germ  of  his 
intellect. 

From  what  we  read  of  Benedict  Biscop,  the  abbot  of  Wear- 
mouth,  when  Beda  became  its  inmate,  there  is  every  reason  to 
conclude  that  in  his  practice  he  would  endeavour  fully  to  cany  out 
the  theory  of  his  Italian  namesake.  The  information  respecting 
him  which  has  descended  to  us,  is  derived  almost  exclusively  from 
the  writings  of  our  historian,  and  through  him  we  become  possessed 
of  an  outline  of  the  life  of  the  person  whose  example  and  admo- 
nitions had  such  an  influence  upon  his  own,  and  by  whose  labours 
he  so  a1)undantly  profited.  We  learn  from  this  authority,'  that 
Benedict  Biscop  was  of  noble  descent,  and  at  an  early  period  of  his 
life  became  a  resident  at  the  court  of  Osuiu,  king  of  Bernicia, 
from  whom  he  received  a  grant  of  land  corresponding  to  his 
rank  and  condition.  About  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  his  age  he 
renounced  the  world  and  its  possessions ;  and  having  resolved  to 
devote  himself  to  the  service  of  Christ,  he  received  the  tonsure, 
and  was  instructed  in  the  Benedictine  rule  at  the  celebrated 
monastery  of  Lerins,  which  he  visited  in  a.d.  665,  when  making 
his  second  journey  to  Rome.  Here  he  remained  for  two  years, 
after  which  he  completed  his  mission  to  the  tlien  metropolis  of  the 
world.  He  was  resident  in  that  city  in  669,  when  Ecgberct,  king 
of  Kent,  sent  thither  Wighard,  that  he  might  receive  ordination  at 
the  hands  of  the  pope,  as  archbishop  of  Canterbury  :  but  before 
this  ceremony  could  be  performed,  the  whole  of  the  English 
deputation  was  cut  off  by  pestilence.  The  pope  nominated 
Theodore,  a  native  of  Tarsus,  to  the  vacant  archbishopric,  and 
having  associated  with  him  Adrian,  an  Italian  abbot,  he  committed 
both  to  the  care  of  Benedict,  fully  sensible  of  the  advantages  which 
the  foreigners  would  derive  from  his  guidance,  advice,  and  intro- 
duction. They  arrived  in  safety  at  the  end  of  their  journey  ; 
Theodore  took  possession  of  his  see,  and  Benedict  was  entrusted 
with  the  rule  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Peter's  at  Canterbury.  Here, 
however,  he  remained  no  longer  than  two  years ;  he  then  transferred 
the  care  of  his  monks  to  Adrian,  and  for  the  third  time  visited 
Rome.  The  more  peculiar  object  of  this  expedition  at  this  time 
appears  to  have  l)een  the  acquisition  of  books  ;  at  least,  the  fact  of 
such  an  acquisition  is  brought  prominently  forward  by  Beda. 
Having  amassed  a  valuable  collection,  partly  by  gift,  partly  by 
purchase,  some  at  Rome,  some  at  Vienne  in  Gaul,  he  returned 
iiomewards  ;  but  on  his  arrival  in  England,  he  heard  of  the  un- 
expected death  of  Coinuualch,  king  of  Wessex,  whom  he  had 
intended  to  visit. 

§  21 .  His  plans  having  been  thus  thwarted,  instead  of  returning  to 
Kent,  he  bent  his  footsteps,  after  a  long  absence,  to  his  birth-place. 
'  See  the  present  voluino,  p.  604. 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA.  XI 

Here  he  was  cordially  received  by  Ecgfrith,  who  shortly  before  had 
ascended  the  throne  of  Northumbria.  The  king  listened  attentively 
to  the  conversation  of  the  pilgrim  monk  ;  heard  him  discourse  of 
what  he  had  seen  in  Kent,  Gaul,  and  Italy  ;  looked  with  respect 
upon  the  volumes  which  he  had  collected,  and  with  reverence  upon 
the  relics  of  the  saints  which  he  exhibited  ;  and,  as  we  have  already 
mentioned,  he  gave  him  that  tract  of  land  upon  which  he  resolved 
to  build  the  monastery  of  Wearmouth. 

§  22.  This  donation,  and  the  duties  which  it  involved,  called 
into  exercise  the  untiring  zeal  of  the  abbot.  Resolving  to  construct 
his  m.onastery  in  the  best  and  most  solid  style  of  masonry,  so  that 
it  should  be  adapted  to  the  Roman  system  of  ritual  and  worship, 
to  which  he  was  warmly  attached,  in  contradistinction  to  the  more 
simple  form  introduced  by  the  Scoto-Irish  monks  at  Lindisfarne, 
he  went  over  to  France,  and  returned  with  skilful  workmen,  fully 
qualified  to  carry  out  the  designs  of  the  architect.  Such  was  the 
energy  with  which  their  labours  were  conducted,  that  within  the 
space  of  one  year  from  the  time  when  the  foundations  had  been  laid, 
the  work  was  so  far  advanced  as  to  be  roofed  over,  and  mass  was 
then  celebrated  within  the  completed  building. 

§  23.  But  though  the  building  was  completed,  its  decorations 
were  not  such  as  satisfied  Benedict's  exalted  ideas  of  ecclesiastical 
splendour ;  and  he  resolved  that  no  pains  should  be  spared,  no 
expense  grudged,  in  the  attainment  of  this  his  favourite  object. 
France  once  more  supplied  him  with  workmen,  who  filled  the 
windows  of  the  church  with  glass,  an  art  hitherto  unknown  to  the 
English ;  and  from  the  same  country  he  obtained  such  vessels  and 
vestments  necessary  for  the  service  of  the  altar,  as  could  not 
be  procured  at  home.  Yet,  unsatisfied  with  the  treasures  he  had 
thus  acquired,  he  once  more,  and  for  the  fifth  time,  visited  Rome, 
determined  to  possess  himself  of  whatever  he  conceived  to  be  yet 
wanting  in  that  degree  of  splendour,  to  which  he  sought  to  raise 
his  monastery  of  Wearmouth.  Beda  gives  us  an  interesting  ac- 
count of  his  acquisitions  upon  this  occasion.  As  might  have  been 
expected,  he  assigns  the  first  place  to  the  books,  which  were  veiy 
numerous,  and  of  all  kinds.  The  relics  of  the  apostles  and  martyrs 
are  next  mentioned.  A  most  important  feature  was  the  intro- 
duction of  the  Roman  system  of  church-music,  and  of  conducting 
the  church-service  generally,  pope  Agatho  having  sent  with  him 
into  Britain  for  this  purpose,  John  the  chanter ;  who  not  only 
trained  the  English  monks  in  the  Roman  method  of  singing,  but 
moreover  composed  some  treatises  upon  this  art,  which  Beda 
mentions  as  being  still  preserved  in  his  time,  in  the  library  of  the 
monastery.  Benedict  brought  also  with  him  on  his  return  a  papal 
bull,  by  which  the  new  foundation  was  exempted  from  all  external 
interference.  And,  lastly,  he  imported  various  works  of  art  for  the 
ornament  of  the  new  church.  Its  middle  division  was  adorned 
with  paintings  representing  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary,  and  the  twelve 
Apostles  ;  the  southern  portion  was  devoted  to  the  representation 
of  the  gospel  history ;  on  the  wall  towards  the  north  were  depicted 
subjects    taken    from   the   book    of  the    Revelation    of   St.  John. 


Xll  I'KEFACE    TO    UEDA. 

"  Thus,"  says  Beda,  "  whosoever  entered  the  church,  even  though 
unable  to  read,  had  before  their  eyes,  wherever  they  looked,  the 
representation  of  the  loving  countenance  of  Christ  and  his  saints  ; 
or  their  minds  were  stirred  up  by  recollecting  the  grace  of  our  Lord's 
incarnation  ;  or  liaving,  as  it  were,  before  them  the  strictness  of  the 
last  judgment,  they  might  remember  the  duty  of  still  stricter  self- 
examination." 

§  24.  Such  was  the  residence  in  which  Bcda  now  found  himself, 
such  the  instructor  to  whose  guidance  he  was  intrusted.  If  the 
rule  of  St.  Benedict,  in  defining  the  duties  of  a  monk,  strove  to 
impress  deeply  on  his  mind  the  importance,  or  rather  the  necessity, 
of  humility  and  obedience,  it  no  less  earnestly  urged  upon  the 
abbot  the  duty  of  affectionate  forbearance  towards  those  over  whom 
he  was  placed ;  and  it  solemnly  and  repeatedly  urged  him  to 
consider  the  responsibility  of  his  station.  He  was  admonished  that 
he  should  neither  teach,  nor  command,  nor  do,  anything  contrary 
to  the  law  of  the  Lord,  but  that  he  should  show  forth  whatever  is 
good  and  holy,  and  that  by  deeds  rather  than  by  words.  He  should 
be  no  respecter  of  persons,  or  if  any  preference  be  shown,  it  should 
be  in  favour  of  those  who  excel  in  good  actions,  in  humility  and 
obedience.  Remembering  how  difficult  is  the  task  which  he  has 
undertaken,  he  should  adapt  himself  to  the  varied  tempers  of  those 
over  whom  he  is  placed,  so  as  to  win  some  by  kindness,  and  to 
constrain  others,  when  necessary,  by  severity.  Throughout  his 
whole  administration  he  should  constantly  bear  in  mind  that  he  is 
responsible,  not  so  much  for  the  things  of  time  as  those  of  eternity  ; 
and  that  since  he  has  taken  on  himself  the  care  of  immortal  souls, 
for  them  he  must  hereafter  render  an  account  to  God. 

§  25.  The  liberality  of  Ecgfrith,  king  of  Northumbria,  was  not 
exhausted  by  his  endowment  of  the  monastery  of  Wearmouth, 
munificent  though  this  had  been  ;  for  eight  years  afterwards  he 
made  a  grant  of  forty  hides  of  land  for  the  establishment  of  a 
second  institution  of  a  similar  character.  This  gift  enabled  Benedict 
to  build  the  monastery  of  St.  Paul's,  at  Jarrow.'  A  little  colony  of 
monks  set  out  from  the  parent  establishment  to  take  on  themselves 
the  cares  and  the  responsibilities  of  the  new  foundation  ;  in  number 
they  were  twenty-two,  of  whom  ten  only  were  tonsured  monks, 
the  other  twelve  yet  looked  forward  to  the  attainment  of  that  rank. 
One  of  these,  it  would  appear,  was  Beda.  It  is  certain  that  he  was 
transferred  by  Benedict  Biscop  to  the  care  of  Ceolfrith,  abbot  of 
Jarrow,  and  it  is  highly  probalile  that  the  change  took  place  upon 
this  occasion.  Yet  it  could  hardly  be  called  a  change.  Tiie  two 
monasteries  were  situated  at  no  great  distance  from  each  other  ; 
the  monks  were  united  by  those  ties  which,  by  giving  unity  of 
feelings  and  interests,  produce  mutual  attachments;  and  so  ideu- 
tiricd  were  they  in  all  respects,  that  Beda  regarded  them  as  one 
single  monastery. 

§  26.   In  the  year  G86  England  was  visited  with  anotiier  ])csti- 

'  I  know  iKit  upon  what  authority  some  modern  writers  have  changed  this  name 
into  "  Van-Dw."  The  spelling  and  pronunciation  of  the  neighbourhood  is  decidedly 
.larnjw. 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA.  XIU 

lence,  which,  devastated  tlie  monastery  of  which  Beda  was  an  inmate. 
It  swept  away  every  monk  instructed  in  the  choral  service,  with  the 
exception  of  Ceolfrith  and  one  httle  boy,  who  still  continued,  in  the 
midst  of  his  tears  and  sorrows,  to  chant  the  canonical  hours.  Dr. 
Lingard  supposes  that  this  "  little  boy  "  was  no  other  than  Beda 
himself;  and  the  conjecture  is  probable.  The  mortality  which  was 
so  fatal  to  others  spared  him,  and  in  this  monasteiy  he  spent  the 
remainder  of  his  days.  The  situation  in  which  he  was  thus  placed 
was  well  calculated  to  strengthen  that  taste  for  literature  which  he 
had  probably  derived  from  his  earliest  instructor  Benedict,  whose 
choice  and  extensive  collection  of  books  would  at  once  stimulate 
and  gratify  his  thirst  for  knowledge.  On  his  death-bed  the  abbot 
gave  particular  instructions  as  to  the  preservation  of  his  collection 
of  books  ;  and  not  only  were  these  instructions  attended  to,  but 
additions  were  made  from  time  to  time  to  the  monastic  library  by 
his  successors.  A  Benedictine  monasteiy,  consisting  of  more  than 
six  hundred  monks,^  endowed  with  princely  revenues,-  and  governed 
by  an  abbot  deeply  interested  in  the  promotion  of  literature,  must 
in  all  probability  have  produced  many  learned  men,  whose  studies 
and  example  were  likely  to  have  an  influence  on  a  young  and 
enthusiastic  scholar. 

§  27.  Such  then  was  Jarrow,  where  Beda  spent  the  greater  por- 
tion of  his  life.  His  earlier  years  were  occupied,  as  he  himself 
tells  us,  in  studying  the  Holy  Scriptures,  in  observing  the  duties 
required  by  the  monastic  rules,  and  in  joining  in  the  psalmody 
which  formed  a  prominent  part  of  the  daily  services  of  the  church. 
It  is  highly  probable  that  he  profited  by  the  instructions  of  John, 
the  arch-chanter,  who  had  accompanied  Benedict  Biscop  from 
Rome  to  England,  and  who  afterwards  resided  at  Wearmouth  for  a 
considerable  period.^  It  has  also  been  conjectured  that  he  was 
educated  by  some  of  the  disciples  of  Theodore  and  Adrian,  of 
Canterbury,  whose  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  Greek  and  Latin 
languages  he  mentions  in  terms  of  the  highest  admiration.*  It  is 
more  certain,  for  we  have  it  upon  his  own  authority,  that  one  of 
his  instructors  was  Trumberht,^  who  had  studied  under  Ceadda, 
bishop  of  Lichfield. 

§  28.  "  In  my  nineteenth  year,"  says  Beda,"  "  I  received  dea- 
con's orders,  and  in  my  thirtieth  I  entered  into  the  office  of  the 
priesthood;"  circumstances  which  show  not  only  that  he  had  made 
considerable  progress  in  his  studies,  but  that  his  piety  was  well 

1  See  this  volume,  p.  617,  §  17. 

-  It  is  stated,  in  the  anonymous  histoiy  of  the  Abbots  of  Wearmouth  and 
Jarrow,  that  these  monasteries,  at  the  time  of  Ceolfrith's  death,  had  Land  be- 
longing to  them  which  was  nearly  equivalent  to  the  support  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  families ;  a  mode  of  reckoning  which,  when  employed  in  Beda's 
"Historia  Ecclesiastica,"  is  rendered  in  the  Saxon  paraphrase  by  "hides."  The 
term  "hide"  is,  it  is  true,  somewhat  indefinite;  but  it  signifies  at  least  as  much 
land  as  one  plough  could  cultivate  in  one  year,  which,  at  the  lowest  calculation  of 
the  early  glossarists,  is  one  hundred  acres.  (Thus  Brompton,  Decern  Script,  col. 
887: — "  Hida  autem  Anglice  vocatur  terra  unius  aratri  culture  sufficiens  per 
annum.")  Thus,  then,  it  appears  that  at  this  time  Wearmouth  and  Jarrow 
possessed  at  least  15,000  acres  of  land. 

3  Eccl.  Hist.  §  306  ;  Life  of  St.  Benedict,  §  6. 

^  Eccl.  Hist.  §§  253,  254,  25G.  ^  ly^ij.  g  2G3.  «  ILid.  §  454. 


XIV  PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 

known  to  his  abbot,  who  presented  him  for  ordination,  and  to  tlie 
bislioj)  of  his  diocese.  For  it  had  been  decreed  by  several  coun- 
cils,' the  authority  of  which  was  acknowledged  in  England,'  that 
none  should  be  admitted  to  the  order  of  deacon  until  twenty -five 
years  old  ;  and  the  few  exceptions  which  were  made  to  this  rule  were 
always  in  favour  of  individuals  of  acknowledged  intellectual  attain- 
ments and  sanctity  of  life.  It  may  be  added,  that  the  priesthood 
was  conferred  upon  Beda  as  soon  as  he  could  canonically  receive 
it,  that  is,  at  the  age  of  thirty;  and  that  he  w'as  ordained  both 
deacon  and  priest  by  the  celebrated  John  of  Beverley,  bishop  of 
Hexham,  within  whose  diocese,  and  not  that  of  Lindisfarne,  the 
monastery  of  Jarrow  must  have  been  situated. 

§  29.  The  historian,^  William  of  Malmesbury,  informs  us  that 
so  widely  had  Beda's  reputation  extended,  that  pope  Sergius  was 
anxious  to  have  the  advice  of  our  countryman  in  the  decision  of 
certain  questions  of  more  than  ordinary  importance  and  difficulty. 
In  confirmation  of  this  statement  he  cites  portions  of  a  letter 
addressed  by  that  pontiff  to  Ceolfrith,  abbot  of  Jarrow,  in  which  he 
is  requested  to  lose  no  time  in  sending  Beda  to  Rome.  Vv'c  have, 
however,  his  own  authority  for  asserting  that  he  was  not  one  of  the 
monks  of  Jarrow  who  visited  Rome  in  701  ;*  and  also  for  stating 
that  the  letters  which  he  inserted  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History  were 
procured  for  him  from  the  papal  Regesta,  by  the  kindness  of 
Nothelm,^  whose  services  would  not  have  been  required  had  Beda 
himself  been  upon  the  spot.  He  also*^  tells  us  distinctly  that  the 
whole  of  his  life  was  spent  at  Jarrow  and  within  its  immediate 
neighbourhood.  These  conflicting  statements  have  given  rise  to 
much  difference  of  opinion ;  some  writers,  as  the  BoUandists,' 
rejecting  the  letter  introduced  by  Malmesbury,  as  if  it  were  a 
palpal)le  forgery;  while  others*  are  inclined  to  receive  it  as  true, 
U})on  the  supposition  that  Beda's  stay  in  the  papal  court  was  too 
short  to  be  regarded  as  any  interruption  to  his  residence  in  his 
own  country. 

§  30.  In  an  edition  of  the  Historia  Ecclesiastica,  published  by 
the  English  Historical  Society  in  1838,  the  editor  of  the  present 
work  endeavoured  to  solve  this  difficulty  by  the  supposition  that 
this  statement  originated  with  Malmesbury  ;  who,  having  met  witli 
a  copy  of  a  letter  from  Sorgius  to  Ceolfrith,  in  which  the  pope 

'  As  for  example,  the  Fourth  Council  of  Aries  (a.d.  524,  ap.  Labbe,  iv.  1022), 
§  1,  and  the  fourth  canon  of  the  Quiui-Sext  Council  (a.D.  680-1,  ibid.  vi.  IMti). 
Soo  also  Bingham,  II.  xx.  §  20. 

■■*  See  the  Excorptiones  Ecgberti,  arch.  Ebor.  ap.  Thorpe's  Ancient  Laws  and 
Institutes  of  England,  g  xciii.  vol.  ii.  p.  110. 

■>  Gesta  Regum,  §  57,  vol.  i.  p.  85,  ed.  Hardy,  Lend.  1840  ;  fol.  11,  C,ed.  Savillc, 
Lond.  1596. 

■*  De  Temporum  Rationc,  cap.  xlv.  0pp.  ii.  154,  ed.  Basil.  1563.  "Denique, 
anno  ab  Ejus  Incarnationo  juxta  Dionysiura  septingentesimo  primo,  indiotione 
quartadecima,  patres  nostri,  qui  tunc  fuero  Romre,  hoc  modo  se  in  Natali  Domini 
in  cereis  S.  Mariic  sci'iptuni  vidisse,  et  indc  descripsisse  referebant,  '  A  passione 
Domini  nostri  Jesu  Christi  auui  sunt  dclxviii.'  " 

*  See  Eccl.  Hist.  §  2.  "  Ibid.  §  454. 

?  Acta  SS.  Maii,  vi.  719,  §  8. 

8  Mabillon,  Vit.  Bedse,  ap.  Acta  SS.  ord,  S.  Bened.  III.  i.  509,  §  10;  Annal.  ord. 
S.  Bened.  xviii.  g  2. 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA.  XV 

requested  that  the  abbot  would  send  one  of  his  monks  to  Rome, 
hastily  concluded  that  Beda  must  have  been  that  individual ;  and 
without  adverting  to  the  chronological  difficulties  which  attended 
such  a  supposition,  unjustifiably  interpolated  Beda's  name  into  his 
text;  and  further,  that  he  designated  him  as  "presbyter,"  a  rank  to 
which  he  did  not  attain  until  some  time  after  the  death  of  Sergius. 
In  confirmation  of  this  theory,  the  present  editor  then  printed  a 
copy  of  the  letter  as  it  stands  in  a  manuscript,^  written  in  the 
eleventh  century,  which,  therefore,  presents  us  with  an  authority 
earlier  and  better  than  that  of  Malmesbury ;  and  he  stated  that  in 
this  version  of  the  letter,  the  name  of  Beda,  and  his  designation 
as  "  presbyter  "  does  not  occur.  The  letter  is  so  important  for  the 
illustration  of  what  is  obviously  a  most  interesting  question  con- 
nected with  the  life  of  our  historian,  that  no  apology  is  made  for 
presenting  the  following  translation  of  it  to  the  reader,  that  he  may 
be  enabled  the  more  readily  to  form  his  own  conclusion  upon  the 
question.     It  is  here  translated  from  the  Cotton  manuscript : — 

§  31.  "  Sergius,  the  bishop,  the  servant  of  the  servants  of 
God,  to  Ceolfrith,  the  holy  abbot  and  priest,  sendeth  greetiny : — • 
With  what  words  and  in  what  manner  can  we  declare  the 
kindness  and  unspeakable  providence  of  our  God,  and  return 
fitting  thanks  for  his  boundless  benefits  towards  us,  who  has  led 
us  out  of  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death  to  the  light  of  the 
knowledge  of  Himself?  ....  We  give  you  to  understand  that 
we  have  received  the  favour  of  the  offering  which  your  devout 
piety  has  sent  to  us  by  the  present  bearer,  with  the  same  joy  and 
good -will  with  which  it  was  transmitted ;  and  we  offer  up  our 
prayers  to  God  and  his  apostles  for  the  preservation  of  the  purity 
of  your  conscience,  that  He,  by  whose  preaching  we  have  come  to 
the  light  of  the  truth,  would  grant  great  favours  in  return  for  small 
ones,  and  an  everlasting  reward  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

"  Yielding  to  the  timely  and  worthy  prayers  of  your  laudable 
anxiety  with  the  closest  devotion,  we  entreat  of  your  pious  good- 
ness, so  acceptable  to  God,  that  since  there  have  occurred  certain 
points  of  ecclesiastical  discipline,  which  should  not  be  published 
without  more  matured  deliberation,  which  have  made  it  necessary 
for  us  to  confer  with  a  person  skilled  in  the  literature  of  the  arts, 
as  becomes  an  assistant  of  God's  holy  catholic  mother- church,  you 
would  not  delay  paying  ready  obedience  to  this  our  admonition, 
but  would  send  without  loss  of  time  to  our  lowly  presence  at  the 
venerable  church  of  the  chief  apostles,  your  friends  and  protectors, 
the  lords  Peter  and  Paul,  a  religious"  servant  of  our  God,  belonging 
to  your  venerable  monastery,  whom,  God  willing,  you  may  expect 
to  return  in  safety,  when,  by  God's  permission,  the  necessaiy 
discussion  of  these  aforesaid  points  shall  have  been  solemnly  com- 
pleted. For  whatever  shall  be  advantageously  added  to  the  church 
at  large,  and  to  the  holy  and   devout  college,  will,  we  trust,  be 

1  MS.  Cotton.  Tiber.  A.  xv.  fol.  6.  b. 

-  Malmesbury  here  reads,  "  Beda,  a  religious  servant  of  God,  a  venerable  priest 
of  yo\u'  monastery." 


XVI  PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 

profital)]e  to  all  those  persons  also  who  are  committed  to  your  own 
immediate  care."' 

§  32.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  contended  by  Hardy,  and  from 
him  by  Wright  and  Giles,  that  before  it  can  be  admitted  as  a  just 
inference  that  Malmesbury  interpolated  the  passage  in  question,  it 
must  be  shown  that  this  same  Cottonian  manuscript  was  the  iden- 
tical copy  of  the  letter  which  he  used  ;  a  conclusion  which,  as  they 
affirm,  cannot  be  fairly  drawn,  since  it  is  incredible  but  that  other 
copies  of  the  letter  must  have  been  extant  when  Malmesbury  wrote. 
They  maintain  edso  that  it  ought  rather  to  be  contended  that  the 
one  which  he  saw  must  have  contained  the  passage  in  dispute  ;  for 
that  historian  (whose  great  integrity  is  admitted  by  all  writers) 
several  times  expressly  declares,  that  he  declines  inserting  anything 
into  his  narrative  for  which  he  had  not  the  best  authority.  The 
present  editor  willingly  admits  the  weight  of  these  arguments,  and 
accepts  the  solution  which  was  long  ago  proposed  by  Alford,^  and 
from  him  by  Cressy^  and  Wilkins.*  Admitting,  therefore,  that 
Malmesbury's  version  of  the  letter  is  correct,  and  that  Beda  was 
invited  by  name,  we  may  suppose,  along  with  these  authors,  that 
the  death  of  pope  Sergius^  —  intelligence  of  which  must  have 
reached  England  shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the  letter — released 
him  from  the  labours  of  the  journey. 

§  33.  It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  that  Beda's  reputation  as  a 
scholar  and  divine  would  draw  around  him  a  crowd  of  disciples. 
The  names  of  some  of  his  more  favoured  pupils  are  preserved  by 
himself,  in  the  dedications  to  such  of  his  works  as  were  undertaken 
at  their  suggestion,  or  for  their  especial  benefit.  Among  these  we 
may  notice  Huaetberht,  to  whom  he  dedicated  his  treatise  "  De 
Ratione  Temporum,'"^  and  his  "  Exposition  upon  the  Revelation  ;' 
Wigberct,'  for  whom  he  wrote  his  book  "  Upon  the  Art  of  Poetry ; " 
Constantine,^  for  whose  use  he  composed  a  dissertation  concerning 
the  division  of  numbers  ;  and,  lastly,  Nothelm,"  presbyter  of 
London,  and  afterwards  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  at  whose  request 
he  solved  thirty  questions  which  have  reference  to  the  books  of 
Kings.  Although  there  were  probably  other  disciples,  whose  names 
he  does  not  speciiy,  yet  we  can  by  no  means  agree  with  Vincent  ot 
Beauvais  (Speculum  Histor.  xxiii.  173),  in  including  among  the 
number  Rliabanus  Maurus,  who  was  not  born  until  fifty  years  after 
Beda's  death,  nur  the  more  celebrated  Alcuin,  as  some  writers 
erroneously  have  done  ;  a  question  for  the  investigation  of  which  a 

'  Baronius  (Annal.  A.n.  701,  §  2.)  prints  the  same  letter,  apparently  from  a 
manuscript  copy  of  Mahuesbury,  but  the  variations  are  nniniportant.  Another 
copy  is  also  extant  in  a  MS.  at  Durham,  but  a  compari.wn  of  its  text  with  th;it 
U-uin  which  the  translation  above  giveu  is  made,  and  with  Malmesbury,  leads  to 
no  results  worthy  of  notice. 

2  Annal.  a.d.  701,  §  3. 

•■•  Church  History  of  Britanny,  a.d.  720,  §  13. 

*  Concil.  Magn.  Brit.  i.  63. 

*  He  died  early  in  September,  701;  Jaffo,  Kegcst.  Tout.  U<ini.  p.  172;  Pape- 
broch.  Conatus  ad  Catal.  Pontiff,  p.*iii. 

«  0pp.  ii.  49.  7  Oi.p.  V.  10:,S 

*  Oi)p.  i.  34.  '■>  Ibid.  ICO. 
'»  0pp.  viii.  232,  ed.  Giles. 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA.  XVU 

more  appropriate  opportunity  will  occur  when  we  are  employed  in 
tracing  the  histoiy  of  that  eminent  scholar. 

§  34.  Beyond  the  few  circumstances  which  have  now  been 
mentioned,  there  is  little  of  any  moment  to  state  respecting  the 
life  of  Beda.  By  identifying  the  histoiy  of  the  monasteries  of 
Wearmouth  and  Jarrow  with  his  biography,  it  might  be  easy  to  lay 
before  the  reader  a  summary  of  the  events  in  which  Beda  probably 
took  a  share ;  but  these,  however  interesting  in  themselves,  are  rather 
the  history  of  the  times  than  the  individual ;  for  we  have  no  ground 
for  supposing  that  he  took  any  prominent  part  in  the  public  trans- 
actions of  either  establishment.  We  are  justified  in  concluding 
that  his  life  glided  on  in  the  undisturbed  tranquillity  of  monastic 
seclusion,  occupied  alternately  in  the  duties  of  religion  and  in  the 
service  of  literature,  and,  consequently,  diversified  by  none  of  those 
changes  of  scene  or  occupation  which  furnish  the  legitimate  mate- 
rials for  biography.  His  death  was  as  quiet  as  his  life  ;  and  in 
speaking  of  it  we  cannot  do  better  than  lay  before  our  readers  the 
touching  picture  which  has  been  drawn  by  one  of  his  own  disciples 
who  was  present  at  his  decease,  and  by  him  transmitted  to  another. 

§  35.  "To  Cuthwin,^  his  most  dearly -beloved  felloiv -student  in 
Christ,  his  felloio- disciple,  Cudberct,^  wishes  eternal  health  in  the  Lord. 
I  most  gladly  received  the  gift  which  you  sent,  and  most  grate- 
fully did  I  read  the  letters  written  by  your  devotion  and  learning, 
in  which  I  found  (what  indeed  I  chiefly  desired),  that  you  would 
diligently  celebrate  holy  masses  and  prayers  for  Beda,  the  beloved 
master  and  father  of  us  both,  in  God.  Wherefore,  out  of  my  affec- 
tion for  him,  it  is  the  more  gratifying  to  me  to  comply  with  your 
request,  and  to  tell  you  briefly,  but  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  the 
manner  in  which  he  passed  from  this  present  world. 

"  He  had  been  labouring  under  a  severe  attack  of  difficulty  of 
breathing,  yet  without  pain^  for  nearly  two  weeks  before  the  day 
of  our  Lord's  Resurrection  [April  17],  and  in  this  state  continued, 
cheerful,  and  rejoicing,  and  giving  thanks  to  Almighty  God,  both 
day  and  night,  even  every  hour,  until  Ascension-day,  the  seventh 
day  before  the  kalends  of  June^  [26th  May].  He  daily  instructed 
us,  his  disciples,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  the  day  in  the  singing 
of  psalms,  and  continued  awake  during  the  whole  night,  in  joy  and 
thanksgiving,  excepting  when  interrupted  by  a  moderate  sleep.  On 
awaking  he  returned  to  his  accustomed  occupations,  and  with  out- 
stretched hands  ceased  not  to  give  thanks  to  God.  He  was,  in  truth, 
a  blessed  man.  He  chanted  the  passage  from  St. Paul,  '  It  is  a  fear- 
ful thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God  '  [Heb.  x.  31],  and 

'  This  letter  has  been  repeatedly  printed,  with  various  degrees  of  aeciu-acy,  and 
may  be  found  in  Leland's  Collect,  iii.  84 ;  Simeon  of  Durham,  p.  8 ;  Mabillon,  Acta 
i-S.  ord.  S.  Bened.  III.  i.  503;  in  the  preface  to  Whelock's  Beda;  Barouii  Annal. 
A.D.  731,  §  20;  Ep.  Bonif.  cxiii.;  0pp.  Beda;,  viii.  1135,  ed.  1563;  Acta  SS.  Mali, 
■^  i.  721.  It  is  here  translated  from  a  collation  of  the  above  texts  with  MS. 
Burney,  297;  Harl.  3680;  Digby,  211;  Fairfax,  12;  and  Digby,  59. 

2  Another  letter  written  by  this  Cuthbert  occurs  among  the  Epistles  of  Boni- 
face, in  which  he  speaks  with  the  greatest  affection  of  his  master  Beda. 

^  There  has  been  some  misapprehension  as  to  the  exact  day  of  Beda's  death, 
but  the  chronological  details  of  the  text  are  too  clear  to  admit  of  dispute  or 
difficulty. 

Pref.  to  Beda.  C 


XVIU  PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 

many  other  passages  of  Holy  Writ,  in  wliich  he  admonished  us  to 
rise  from  the  sleep  of  the  soul,  by  anticipating  the  last  hour.  And 
being  skilled  in  our  poetry,  he  thus  spoke,  in  the  Saxon  language,  of 
the  awful  departure  of  the  soul  from  the  body  : — ■ 

Before '  the  need-fare, 

No  man  becometh 

Of  thought  more  prudent 

Than  is  needful  to  him 

To  consider 

Before  his  departure 

What,  to  his  spirit, 

Of  good  or  evil 

After  his  death-day 

'WUl  be  adjudged. 

§  36.  "  He  also  sang  anthems,  as  well  for  our  consolation^  as  his 
own,  one  of  which  was  the  following  : — '  O  King  of  glor}%  God  of 
might,  who  didst  ascend  to-day  in  triumph  above  all  heavens,  leave 
us  not  orphans,  but  send  upon  us  the  promise  of  the  Father,  the 
Spirit  of  truth.  Halleluiah!'  And  when  he  came  to  the  words, 
'  Leave  us  not  orphans,'  he  burst  into  tears  and  wept  much  ;  and 
after  the  space  of  an  hour,  he  resumed  the  repetition  of  what  he 
had  begun  :  as  we  heard,  we  wept  along  with  him.  One  while  we 
read,  another  while  we  wept ;  and  our  reading  was  always  mingled 
with  tears.  In  such  kind  of  joy  as  this  we  passed  the  quinqua- 
gesimaP  days  between  Easter  up  to  the  day  which  I  have  mentioned  ; 
and  he  rejoiced  exceedingly,  and  thanked  God,  who  had  thus  thought 
him  worthy  of  suffering.  He  frequently  repeated  the  text,  '  God 
scourgeth  every  son  whom  He  receiveth,'  [Heb.  xii.  6,]  and 
many  other  passages  of  holy  Scripture.  He  also  quoted  the  senti- 
ment of  St.  Ambrose  : — '  I  have  not  so  lived  that  I  am  ashamed  to 
continue  longer  among  you  ;  nor  do  I  fear  to  die,  because  our  God 
is  merciful.' 

§  37-  "  In  addition  to  the  lessons  which  we  received  from  him, 
and  the  singing  of  psalms,  he  strove  all  this  time  to  linish  two  very 
important  works — the  Gospel,  namely,  of  St.  John,  which  he  was 
translating  into  Saxon  for  the  use  of  the  church,  and  certain 
extracts  from  the  books  of  the  Rotse  of  St.  Isidore.*  '  I  am 
unwilling,'  he   said,    '  that  my  children  should  read  what  is  not 

'  The  Saxon  verses  from  which  these  lines  are  translated  occur  only  in  a  few 
copies,  and  in  these  they  are  very  considerably  modernized  and  reduced  to  the 
dialect  used  in  Wessex.  But  a  MS.  of  great  antiquity,  and  probably  of  Northum- 
brian origin,  now  belonging  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Gall,  in  Switzerland,  ha.s 
]>ri;sorved  them  in  a  much  piirer  and  earlier  form,  approaching  very  closely  to 
the  language  used  by  Beda  himself.  I  am  indebted  to  John  M.  Kemble,  Esq., 
for  a  transcript  of  this  precious  document. 

2  Dr.  Liugard,  hero  adopting  a  diftercnt  text,  reads,  "  He  also  chanted  the 
antiphons  according  to  his  and  our  custom;"  and  appends  the  following  note: — 
"  I  conceive  that  by  these  words — 'his  and  our  custom' — Cuthbert  alludes  to  the 
ditference  in  the  choral  services;  the  Roman  course  having  been  introdticed  at 
Vt'earmouth  and  Jarrow,  and  the  Scottish  being  probably  retained  in  Cuthwin's 
monastery.  The  antiphon  in  the  letter  is  that  for  the  Magnificat  on  the  feast 
for  the  Ascension  according  to  the  Koman  course." — Anglo-Saxon  Church,  ii.  197, 
cd.  184.5. 

/  The  quinquagesimal  day.s  were  the  fifty  days  between  Easter  and  Whitsunday, 
and  were  ordered  to  be  kept  as  days  of  joy  and  triumj)!!  in  honour  of  the  resur- 
rection.   Lingard,  ibid.     See  also  Martene,  De  Antiip  Monach.  Kitibus,  III.  xviii. 

*  This  work  has  not  been  identified. 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA.  XIX 

true,  and  after  my  death  should  labour  unprofitably  in  this  matter.' 
But  when  the  third  day  of  the  week  before  our  Lord's  Ascension 
[24th  of  May]  had  arrived,  his  breathing  became  more  laborious, 
and  a  slight  swelling  appeared  in  his  feet ;  yet,  during  the  whole  of 
that,  he  taught  and  dictated  cheerfully,  and,  among  other  remarks, 
sometimes  said,  '  Learn  quickly,  for  I  know  not  how  long  I  may 
abide,  nor  how  soon  He  who  created  me  may  take  me  away.'  To 
us  it  appeared  that  he  was  well  aware  of  his  departure  ;  and  so  he 
passed  the  night  wakefuUy  in  the  giving  of  thanks  to  God. 

§  38.  "  At  the  dawn  of  the  fourth  day  of  the  week  [M^ednesday], 
he  commanded  us  to  write  diligently  that  which  we  had  begun,  and 
this  we  did  until  the  third  hour  [nine  o'clock].  From  that  hour 
we  walked  in  procession  with  the  relics  of  the  saints,  as  the  custom' 
of  that  day  demanded.  But  one  of  us  remained  with  him,  and  said 
to  him,  '  Dearly  beloved  master,  one  chapter  is  still  wanting  ;  and 
it  appears  to  be  painful  to  you  that  I  should  ask  any  further  ques- 
tions.' But  he  said — '  It  does  not  trouble  me.  Take  your  pen, 
and  be  attentive,  and  write  quickly.'  At  the  ninth  hour  he  said  to 
me,  '  I  have  a  few  things  in  my  cofter  which  are  of  some  value  ; 
namely,^  spices,  and  stoles,  and  incense  ;  but  run  quickly,  and 
bring  to  me  the  presbyters  of  our  monastery,  that  I  may  distribute 
among  them  these  presents,  trifling  ones  indeed,  yet  such  as  God 
hath  given  me.  Tlie  rich  men  of  this  world  are  anxious  to  make 
presents  of  gold  and  silver,  and  other  precious  things  ;  but  I,  with 
much  love  and  joy,  give  to  my  brethren  what  I  have  received  from 
God.'  And  this  I  did  with  trembling.  He  addressed  each  of  the 
brethren  individually,  admonishing  and  entreating  them  that  they 
should  be  diligent  in  celebrating  masses  and  praying  for  him  ;  and 
this  they  readily  promised. 

§  39.  "  They  all  mourned  and  wept,  chiefly  because  he  told 
them  that  they  should  no  longer  see  his  face  in  the  world  ;  but 
they  rejoiced  when  he  said,  '  It  is  time  that  I  returned  to  Him  who 
made  me — who  created  me,  and  formed  me  out  of  nothing.  I  have 
had  a  long  life  upon  the  earth  ;  the  merciful  Judge  has  also  been 
pleased  to  ordain  for  me  a  happy  life.  The  time  of  my  departure 
is  at  hand,  for  I  have  a  desire  to  depart,  and  to  be  with  Christ.' 
And  with  many  such  like  remarks  he  passed  the  day  until  eventide. 
Then  the  boy  whom  we  have  already  mentioned  said  to  him,  '  Still 
one  sentence,  dear  master,  remains  unwritten.'  He  replied,  '  Write 
quickly.'  After  a  little  while,  the  boy  said,  '  Now  the  sentence  is 
finished.'  He  answered,  '  You  have  spoken  the  truth — it  is  indeed 
finished.  Raise  my  head  in  your  hands,  for  it  pleases  me  much  to 
recline  opposite  to  that  holy  place  of  mine  in  which  I  used  to  pray, 
so  that,  while  resting  there,  I  may  call  upon  God  my  Father.'  And 
being  placed  upon  the  pavement  of  his  cell,  he  said,  '  Glory  be  to 
the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost' — and  as  soon 
as  he  had  named  the  name  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  breathed  out  his 
own  spirit,  and  so  departed  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven.^ 

1  "  That  is,  the  rubric  for  the  Wednesday  in  Rogation  week."  Lingard,  ii.  199. 
-  Instances  of  the  distribution  of  similar  gifts  occur  in  the  Epistles  of  Boniface. 
^  This  seems  to  require  a  little  explanation,  for  it  is  said  that  Beda  died  un 

c2 


XX  PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 

§  40.  "  All  those  persons  who  either  witnessed  the  death  of  our 
blessed  father,  or  have  heard  of  it,  affirm  that  they  have  never  seen 
any  one  meet  death  with  so  great  devotion  and  tranquillity.  For,  as 
you  have  just  heard,  so  long  as  the  spirit  was  in  the  body  he  con- 
tinued to  sing  '  Glory  be  to  the  Father,'  and  other  spiritual  songs, 
and  ceased  not,  with  outstretched  hands,  to  render  thanks  to  the 
living  and  the  true  God.  Be  assured  of  this  also,  dearest  brother, 
that  I  could  tell  you  many  other  things  of  him ;  but  want  of  skill 
constrains  brevity." 

§  41.  Beda's  remains  were  interred  at  Jarrow,  and,  according  to 
Malmesbury,'  the  following  lines  were  placed  over  his  tomb  : — 

"  Presbyter  hie  Beda  requiescit  came  sepultiig. 
Dona,  Christe,  animam  in  ccclis  gaudere  per  sevum : 
Daqne  illi  sophiaj  debriari  fonte,  cui  jam 
Siispiravit  ovan.s  intento  semper  amore." 

Besides  this  epitaph,  Mabillon  ^  has  printed  a  second,  from  a  manu- 
script formerly  belonging  to  De  Thou  ;  and  others  probably  are  in 
existence. 

§  42.  The  relics  of  such  a  man  as  Beda  soon  became  of  the 
greatest  importance,  even  in  a  pecuniar)^  point  of  view,  to  the 
establishment  in  which  they  wore  preserved,  by  attracting  to  his 
shrine  a  crowd  of  visitors  with  offerings.  The  cupidity  or  the 
jealousy  of  tlie  neighbouring  church  of  Durham  was  excited,  and  a 
presbyter,  named  iElfred,  the  son  of  Westou,  stole  ^  the  bones  of 
our  historian,  and  deposited  them  in  the  cathedral  church,  in  which 
they  now  remain.  When  the  relics  of  St.  Cuthbert  were  translated 
in  the  year  1104,  the  bones  of  Beda  were  discovered  in  the  same 
coffin,''  from  which  they  were  then  removed  ;  ^  and  some  few  years 
afterwards  were  placed  by  Hugh  Pudsey,  bishop  of  Durham,  in  a 
casket  of  gold  and  silver,  and  by  him  deposited  in  that  part  of  the 
cathedral  called  the  Galilee,''  the  building  of  which  he  had  just  then 
completed.  He  caused  the  following  lines  to  be  inscribed  over 
them  : — 

"  Continet  hroc  tlieca  Bedfc  Venerabilis  ossa ; 
Sensum  factori  Christns  dedit,  cesque  datori, 
Petrus  opus  fecit ;  praesnl  dedit  hoc  Hugo  donum. 
Sic  in  utroque  suum  veneratus  utrumque  patronum."' 


Tloly  Thursday,  and  yet  the  narrative  plainly  informs  us  that  the  event  took 
l)lace  on  the  evening  of  Wednesday.  This  apparent  difficulty  will  vanisli  if  we 
remember  that  the  Saxons  calculated  their  days  from  sunset  to  sunset,  conse- 
quently Beda's  dissolution  having  occurred  after  the  sunset  of  Wednesday,  waa 
referred  by  Cuthbert  to  the  Thursday,  which  had  then,  according  to  this  esti- 
mate, actually  commenced. 

'  Do  Pvegibus,  i.  92,  §  G2,  ed.  Hardy.  2  Acta  SS.  III.  i.  §  504. 

*  This  theft  was  perpetrated  between  the  years  1021  and  10-11,  and  is  con- 
firmed as  well  by  writers  of  considerable  antiquity  and  authority,  (Acta  SS.  Mart, 
iii.  133;  Maii.  vi.  723;  Reginald.  Dunelm.  57,  ed.  1835,)  as  by  the  received  tradi- 
tion of  many  centuries.  We  hence  gain  an  approximation  to  the  date  of  the 
Saxon  poem  on  the  city  of  Durham,  printed  by  Hickes  in  his  Thesaurus,  (Gram. 
Anglo-Sax.  p.  179,  ed.  1703,)  since  it  speaks  of  the  remains  of  Beda  as  resting  in 
that  church  when  these  lines  were  written. 

'  Acta  SS.  ut  supra,  p.  139.  *  Ibid.  p.  110. 

•*  Crodwin,  De  Pncsulibus  Anglire,  p.  73G. 

''  From  a  co])y  in  the  handwriting  of  Stowo,  the  antiquary,  in  the  llarlcian 
MS.  307,  fol.  70. 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA.  XXI 

Another  translation  would  seem  to  have  taken  place  in  the  year 
1370,  the  record  of  which  is  preserved  in  the  following  inscription, 
copied  from  the  same  volume  of  transcripts  made  by  Stowe  : — ' 

"  Anno  milleno  tercentum  septuageno 

Postquam  Salvator  carnem  de  Virgine  sumpsit, 

Transtulit  hoc  feretrum  Cuthberti  de  prope  tumbam 

Istius  ecclesi£e  prior  hue ;  poscente  Ricardo, 

De  Castro  dicto  Bernardi,  cujus  et  ossa 

Non  procul  hinc  lapide  sub  marmoreo  requiescunt." 

§  43.  In  November,  1541,  the  shrine  of  Beda,  along  with  other 
relics,  was  removed  from  the  cathedral  church  of  Durham.  It  is 
not  difficult  to  anticipate  the  fate  of  the  rich  casket  of  bishop 
Pudsey's  donation  ;  the  stone,  however,  on  which  it  rested  still 
remains,  and  is  now  transferred  to  the  south  side  of  the  nave.^ 
"  The  portion  of  the  tunic  of  St.  Beda  the  doctor,"  which  is 
mentioned  in  the  elaborate  catalogue  ^  of  the  relics  there  deposited, 
disappeared  at  the  same  time.  Of  greater  interest  are  the  personal 
memorials  of  a  literary  character,  with  which  the  name  of  Beda  is 
associated,  but  considerable  doubt  hangs  over  the  whole  of  them. 
At  least  two  manuscripts  are  still  extant,  which  claim  the  honour 
of  having  been  transcribed  by  his  pen.  In  the  Cottonian  *  library 
are  a  few  leaves  written  in  a  very  ancient  hand,  an  early  possessor 
of  which  has  stated  that  they  formed  a  portion  of  St.  Paul's 
Epistles,  of  which  Beda  was  the  copyist.  Durham, — in  which 
tlie  smaller  monastic  establishments  of  Jarrow  and  Wearmouth 
merged, — contains  another  treasure  of  the  same  character,  namely, 
a  copy  of  Cassiodorus^  upon  the  Psalter,  (MS.  B,  ii.  30,)  the 
penmanship  of  which  is  ascribed  by  a  hand  of  the  fourteenth 
century  to  Beda ;  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  this  tradition,  origi- 
nating in  such  a  locality,  and  corroborated  by  the  appearance 
of  the  manuscript  itself,  which  is  of  his  age,  is  entitled  to  some 
degree  of  credit.  Wanley  '^  mentions  that  he  had  heard  it  reported 
that  the  celebrated  Rushworth  copy  of  the  Gospels  had  once  be- 
longed to  our  historian  ;  but  he  does  not  inform  us  of  the  evidence 
(if  any,)  upon  which  this  statement  was  supported.  All  which  we 
can  assert  is,  that  the  manuscript  is  certainly  of  Beda's  own  time, 
and  that  the  language  in  which  it  is  glossed  is  Northumbrian.  ^ 

§  44.  It  took  no  long  time  for  Beda's  reputation  to  extend  itself 
over  Europe.  Boniface,  the  apostle  of  Germany,  Beda's  con- 
temporar)^  designated  him  as  the  candle  sent  by  God  for  the 
spiritual  illumination  of  the  church,  and  requested  to  be  furnished 
with  copies  of  some  of  his  writings  for  his  own  edification.'  The 
like  request  was   frequently  urged  by    Lullus,    the    successor    of 

1  From  a  copy  in  the  handwriting  of  Stowe,  the  antiquary,  in  the  Harleian 
MS.  367,  fol.  76. 

2  See  Rame's  St.  Cuthbert,  (4,  Durh.'1828,)  pp.  98, 178,  and  also  pp.  60,  94, 168. 

3  Smith's  Beda,  p.  742. 

«  MS.  Cott.  Vitell.  C.  viii.  fol.  83.  Wanley,  in  his  Catalogue  of  Saxon  MSS. 
appended  to  Hickes'  Thesaurus,  when  describing  this  fragment  (p.  241),  remarks 
that  he  had  formerly  seen  a  copy  of  St.  Paul's  Epistles  written  by  the  same  hand, 
and  at  that  time  deposited  in  the  library  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge. 

5  Rud's  Catalogvie  of  the  Durham  MSS.  p.  128. 

e  Catalogue  of  Saxon  MSS.  p.  82.  '  Epp.  37,  38. 


XXU  PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 

Boniface  in  the  see  of  Mentz,  who  presented  to  Cuthbert,  abbot 
of  Jarrow,  (the  author  of  the  letter  which  has  been  translated  above,) 
a  cloth  of  silk  in  which  to  place  the  relics  of  his  sainted  master.* 
Towards  the  end  of  the  same  century  in  which  Beda  died,  his 
praises  were  frequently  and  warmly  celebrated  by  Alcuin  ;^  and  his 
sanctity  was  supposed  to  be  established  by  the  miracles  which  were 
believed  to  have  been  performed  by  his  relics.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  cite  the  testimonies  to  the  same  effect  which  miglit  be  collected 
from  the  writings  of  Benedict  of  Anagni  (a.d.  801),  Hildewin 
(a.d.  814),  Lupus  (a.d.  830),  Walafrid"  Strabo  (a.d.  842),  Pas- 
chasius  Radbert  (a.d.  844),  Hincmar  of  Rheims  (a.d.  845),  and 
many  others.  The  epithet  of  "venerable,"  by  which  he  has  been 
so  universally  distinguished,  and  which  alone  is  sufficient  to  testify 
the  estimation  in  which  he  was  held,  appears  first  to  have  been 
bestowed  upon  him  in  the  ninth  century,  and  is  frequently  employed 
by  Amalarius  of  Treves  (a.d.  810),  Jonas,  bishop  of  Orleans  (a.d. 
821),  and  other  authors  of  the  same  period. 

§  45.  Beda's  high  reputation  was  not  unmerited ;  for  the 
writings  which  he  has  left  behind  him  give  proof  that  he  was  dis- 
tinguished alike  by  diversified  genius,  extensive  reading,  and  sincere 
piety.  He  has  left  commentaries  upon  many  of  the  books  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  exhibiting  an  intimate  acquaintance  with 
tlie  Scriptures  and  the  writings  of  the  early  fathers  ;  and  which  are 
of  great  value  in  showing  both  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  church.  His  treatises  upon  chronology,  arithmetic, 
astronomy,  and  cosmography,  are  more  clear,  comprehensive,  and 
accurate,  than  those  of  his  contemporaries  or  immediate  successors ; 
he  was  skilled  in  the  theoiy  and  practice  of  music,  and  was  no 
mean  adept  in  the  arithmetic  and  mathematics  of  his  age.  But  we 
are  more  especially  concerned  in  ascertaining  his  qualifications  as 
the  author  of  the  historical  works  now  brought  before  the  public, 
which  we  shall  proceed  to  consider  in  their  order  as  they  occur  in 
the  present  volume. 

§  46.  The  scope  of  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  English 
Nation'  is  sufiiciently  indicated  by  its  title.  After  some  obser- 
vations upon  the  position,  inhabitants,  and  natural  productions  of 
Britain,  the  author  gives  a  rapid  sketch  of  its  history  from  the 
earliest  period  until  the  arrival  of  Augustine  in  a.d.  597,  at  whicli 
era,  in  his  opinion,  the  ecclesiastical  histoiy  of  our  nation  had  its 
commencement.  After  that  event,  he  treats,  as  was  to  be  expected, 
for  a  time  exclusively  of  tlic  circumstances  which  occurred  in  Kent; 
but,  as  Christianity  extended  itself  over  the  other  kingdoms  into 
which  England  was  then  divided,  he  gradually  includes  their  history 
in  his  narrative,  until  he  reaches  the  year  731.  Here  he  concludes 
his  work,  which  em])races  a  space  of  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  years,  with  a  general  outline  of  the  ecclesiastical  state  of  the 
island. 

'  Bonif.  Epp.  114,  117,  121,  123. 

^  Poenm  De  Pontiff.  Ecclesuc  Ebor.  1.  1315,  iw.  Alcuiui  Ojtn.  ii.  254. 

'  See  gS  81,  90,  453. 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA.  XXlll 

§  47.  The  Introduction,  which  extends  from  the  commence- 
ment of  the  work  to  the  conversion  of  the  Saxons  to  Christianity, 
(§§4 — 51,)  is  gleaned,  as  Beda  himself  informs  us  (§  2),  from 
various  writers.  The  chief  sources  for  the  description  of  Britain 
(§§  4 — 9)  are  Pliny,  Sohrius,  Orosius,  and  Gildas  ;  St.  Basil  is  also 
cited  (§  5)  ;  and  the  traditions  which  were  current  in  Beda's  own 
day  are  occasionally  introduced  (§7).  The  history  of  the  Romans 
in  Britain  (§§  9 — 34),  is  founded  chiefly  upon  Orosius,  Eutropius, 
and  Gildas,  corrected,  however,  in  some  places  by  the  author,  appa- 
rently from  tradition  or  local  information  (§§  9,  13,  28 — 30),  and 
augmented  by  an  account  of  the  introduction  of  Christianity  under 
Lucius  (§  12),  of  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Alban,  copied  apparently 
from  some  legend  (§§  16 — 20),  and  of  the  origin  of  the  Pelagian 
heresy  (§  25), — all  of  them  circumstances  intimately  connected 
with  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  the  island.  The  mention  of 
Hengist  and  Horsa,  and  the  allusion  to  the  tomb  of  the  latter  at 
Horstead,  render  it  probable  that  the  account  which  Beda  gives  of 
the  arrival  of  the  Teutonic  tribes,  and  their  settlement  in  England 
(■§§  35,  36),  was  communicated  by  Albinus  and  Nothelm.  It 
must,  however,  be  received  with  considerable  caution,  its  chief 
value  consisting  in  this,  that  it  represents,  not  so  much  the  historv, 
as  the  tradition,  of  the  Jutish  kingdom  of  Kent,  as  appears  from, 
circumstances  mentioned  elsewhere  in  this  work  (§  44),  as  well  as 
from  the  authorities  there  quoted.  The  two  visits  of  Germanus  to 
England  (§§  39 — 49),  so  important  in  the  history  of  its  religion, 
are  introduced  in  the  very  words  of  Constantius  Lugdunensis,  and 
must  therefore  have  been  copied  from  that  author.  The  ante- 
Augustine  portion  of  the  histoiy  is  terminated  by  extracts  from 
Gildas,  relative  to  the  conflicts  between  the  Saxons  and  Britons 
(§§  39,  50). 

§  48.  As  the  mission  of  Augustine  in  a.d.  596  (§51)  is  the 
period  at  which  Beda  ceases  to  speak  of  himself  as  a  compiler,  and 
assumes  the  character  of  an  historian,  it  becomes  incumbent  upon 
us  to  examine  into  the  sources  upon  which  he  has  founded  this,  by 
far  the  most  interesting  portion  of  his  history.  The  materials 
which  he  employed  seem  to  have  consisted  of  (i.)  written  docu- 
ments, and  (11.)  verbal  information,  (i.)  The  written  materials 
may  be  divided  into  (1.)  Historical  information  drawn  up  and 
communicated  by  his  correspondents  for  the  express  purpose  of 
being  employed  in  his  work ;  (2.)  documents  pre-existing  in  a 
narrative  form,  and  (3.)  transcripts  of  official  documents. 

§  49.  (1.)  That  Beda's  correspondents  drew  up  and  communi- 
cated to  him  information  which  he  used  when  writing  this  historv, 
is  certain  from  what  he  states  in  its  prologue  ; '  and  it  is  highly 
probable  that  to  them  we  are  indebted  for  many  particulars  con- 
nected with  the  history  of  the  kingdoms  situated  to  the  south  of  the 
river  Humber,  with  which  a  monk  of  Jarrow,  from  his  local  posi- 
tion, was  probably  unacquainted.  Traces  of  the  assistance  which 
he  derived  from  Canterbury  are  perceptible  in  the  minute  acquaint- 

'  The  passages,  for  instance,  in  which  he  acknowledges  his  obligations  to 
Nothelm  and  Cyniberct. 


XXIV  PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 

ance  which  he  exhibits  not  only  with  the  topography  of  Kent 
(§  54),  but  with  its  condition  at  the  time  when  he  wrote  (§§  148, 
449)  ;  and  the  san:ae  remark  is  apphcablc,  although  in  a  more 
limited  degree,  to  most  of  the  other  southern  kingdoms  (§§  289, 
298,  300,  314). 

§  50.  (2.)  Documents  pre-existing  in  an  historical  form  are 
seldom  quoted  :  amongst  those  of  which  use  has  been  made  may 
be  numbered  the  Life  of  Gregory  the  Great,  written  by  Paulus 
Diaconus  (§  82)  ;  the  Miracles  of  Ethelburga,  abbess  of  Barking 
(§§  275—282)  ;  the  Life  of  Sebbi,  king  of  the  East  Saxons  (§  283)  ; 
the  Legend  of  Furscy  (§§  204—208)  ;  and  that  of  Cuthbert  of  Lin- 
disfarne  (§  34G'),  formerly  written  by  Beda,  but  now  augmented 
by  himself,  with  additional  facts.  These,  together  with  some 
extracts  from  the  treatise  of  Arcuulf  de  Locis  Sanctis  (§§  404 — 
407),  are  all  the  written  documents  to  which  the  author  refers. 

§  51.  That  other  narratives,  however,  were  in  Beda's  posses- 
sion, of  which  he  has  made  liberal  use,  is  certain  from  his  express 
words  (§  2),  and  may  also  be  inferred  from  internal  evidence. 
Albinus  and  Nothelm  appear  to  have  furnished  him  with  materials, 
in  which  he  found  accurate  and  full  information  upon  the  pedigrees 
(§  101),  accessions  (§§  172,  252,  271,  342),  marriages  (§§  54,  102), 
exploits  (§§  55—57,  104,  105,  &c.),  descendants  (§§  HI,  172), 
deaths  (§§  101,  172,  252,342),  and  burials  (§  101,  &c.)  of  the 
kings  of  Kent.  From  the  same  source  he  derived  his  valuable 
account  of  the  archbishops  of  Canterbury,  both  before  and  after 
their  ordination  (§  375),  the  place  and  date  of  consecration  (§§  140, 
209,  375),  even  though  it  took  place  abroad  (§§  58,  274),  the 
days  on  which  they  severally  took  possession  of  that  see  (§§  256, 
375),  the  duration  of  their .  episcopate  (§§  209,  256,  374),  their 
deaths  (^^^  1^^'  1^0'  209,  252,  374),  burial-places  (§§  107,  374), 
and  the  intervals  which  elapsed  before  the  election  of  a  successor 
(§  209).  It  is  evident  that  the  minuteness  and  accuracy  of  this 
information  could  have  been  preserved  only  by  means  of  contem- 
porary written  memoranda.  That  such  records  existed  in  the  time 
of  the  Saxons  cannot  be  doubted,  for  Beda  introduces  a  story  by 
which  it  appears  (§§  294,  295)  that  the  abbey  of  Selsey  possessed 
a  volume  in  which  were  entered  the  obits  of  eminent  individuals  ; 
and  the  same  custom  probably  prevailed  throughout  the  other 
monastic  establishments  of  England. 

§  52.  The  history  of  the  diocese  of  Rochester  was  communicated 
by  Albinus  and  Nothelm.  It  is  exceedingly  barren  of  particulars 
(§§  209,  287,  375),  and  probably  would  have  been  even  more  sn, 
had  not  it  been  connected  with  the  life  of  Paulinus  of  York  (§§  149. 
187),  concerning  whom  Beda  appears  to  have  obtained  information 
from  other  quarters. 

§  53.  The  early  annals  of  East  Anglia  are  equally  scanty,  as  we 
have  little  more  than  a  short  pedigree  of  its  kings  (§  134),  an 
account  of  its  conversion  to  Christianity  (§§  134,  135),  the  history 
of  Sigebert  and  Anna  (§§  199,  201),  and  a  few  particulars  regarding 
its  bishops,  Felix,  Thomas,  Bertgils,  and  Bisi  (§^  209,  271),  whicli 

'  S?e  also  the  preface  to  the  present  vohime,  §  95. 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA  XXV 

details  were  communicated  in  part  by  Albinus  and  Nothelm 
(§  2). 

§  54.  The  history  of  the  West  Saxons  was  derived  partly  from 
the  same  authorities  (§  2),  and  partly  from  the  information  of 
Daniel,  bishop  of  Winchester  (§  2).  It  relates  to  their  conversion  by 
Birinus  (§§  167 — 171),  the  reigns  of  Caedualla  and  of  Ini  (§§  372, 
373),  and  the  pontificate  of  Uuini  (§  243),  Aldhelm,  and  Daniel 
(§410).  To  this  last-named  bishop  we  are  indebted  for  a  portion 
of  the  little  of  what  is  known  as  to  the  early  history  of  the  South 
Saxons  and  the  Isle  of  Wight  (§  2),  the  last  of  the  Saxon  kingdoms 
which  embraced  the  Christian  faith.  It  relates  to  the  conversion 
of  those  districts  by  the  agency  of  Wilfrith  (§§  289— 291 ).  A  few 
unimportant  additions  are  afterwards  made  in  a  hurried  and  inci- 
dental manner  (§§  342,  411),  evidently  showing  that  Beda's  infor- 
mation upon  this  head  was  neither  copious  nor  definite. 

§  55.  The  monks  of  Laestingaeu  furnished  materials  relative  to 
the  ministry  of  Cedd  and  Ceadda,  by  whose  preaching  the  Mercians 
were  induced  to  renounce  paganism  (§  2).  The  history  of  this 
kingdom  is  obscure,  and  consists  of  an  account  of  its  conversion 
(§  211),  the  succession  of  its  sovereigns  and  its  bishops.  The 
neighbouring  state  of  Middle  Anglia,  which,  if  ever  independent  of 
Mercia,  soon  merged  in  it,  is  similarly  circumstanced  ;  and  we 
are  perhaps  indebted  to  its  connexion  with  the  princes  and 
bishops  of  Northumbria  for  what  is  known  of  its  early  history 
(§§  210—212). 

§  56.  Lindsey,  part  of  Lincolnshire,  although  situated  so  near  to 
the  kingdom  of  Northumbria,  was  both  politically  and  ecclesiastically 
independent  of  it,  and  Beda  was  as  ignorant  of  the  transactions  of 
that  province  as  of  those  which  were  much  more  remote  from 
Jarrow.  He  received  some  materials  from  bishop  Cyniberct  (§  2), 
but  they  appear  to  have  been  scanty,  for  the  circumstances  which 
relate  to  Lincolnshire  are  generally  derived  from  the  information  of 
other  witnesses  (§§  2,  136,  180—183). 

§  57.  The  history  of  East  Saxony  is  more  copious,  and  is 
derived  partly  from  the  communications  of  Albinus  and  Nothelm 
(§  2),  and  partly  from  the  monks  of  Laestingaeu  (§  2).  To  the 
first  of  these  two  sources  we  must  probably  refer  the  account  of 
the  pontificate  of  Mellitus  (§§  95,  99,  105),  and  the  apostasy  of  the 
sons  of  Saberct  (§  103), — circumstances  too  intimately  connected 
with  the  see  of  Canterbury  to  be  omitted  in  its  annals.  To  the 
latter  we  are  indebted  for  the  history  of  the  re-conversion  of  East 
Saxony  (§§  213,  216), — an  event  in  which  the  monks  of  Laest- 
inghaeu  were  interested,  as  it  was  accomplished  by  their  founder 
Cedd  (§§  217 — 219).  From  them  Beda  also  received  an  account 
of  the  ministry  of  Ceadda  (§§  220,  244,  258,  259).  Some  further 
details  respecting  its  civil  and  ecclesiastical  affairs  (§§  250,  251), 
the  life  of  Earconuuald,  bishop  of  London  (§  273),  and  the  journey 
of  Offa  to  Rome  (§  412),  conclude  the  information  which  we  have 
respecting  this  kingdom. 

§  58.  In  the  history  of  Northumbria,  Beda,  as  a  native,  was 
particularly  interested,  and  would  probably  exert  himself  to  procure 


XXVI  PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 

the  most  copious  and  authentic  information  regarding  it.  Althougli 
he  makes  no  allusion  to  having  had  access  to  previous  historical 
documents,  when  speaking  of  his  sources  of  information  (§  2),  yet 
there  seems  reason  to  believe  that  he  has  made  use  of  such 
materials.  We  may  infer  from  what  he  says  of  the  mode  in  which 
Osuald's  reign  was  generally  calculated  (§§  151,  175),  that  in  this 
king's  time  there  existed  Annals  or  Chronological  Tables,  in  which 
events  were  inserted  as  they  occurred,  the  regnal  year  of  the 
monarch  who  then  filled  the  throne  being  at  the  same  time  specified. 
These  annals  appear  to  have  extended  beyond  the  period  of  tlie 
conversion  of  Northumbria  to  Christianity  (§§  80,  94),  although  it 
is  difficult  to  imagine  how  any  chronological  calculation  or  record 
of  events  could  be  preserved  before  the  use  of  letters  had  become 
known.  But  the  history  of  Eadwin,  with  its  interesting  details, 
shows  that  Beda  must  have  had  access  to  highly  valuable  materials 
which  reached  back  to  the  very  earliest  era  of  authentic  history  ; 
and  we  need  not  be  surprised  at  finding  information  of  a  similar 
character  throughout  the  remainder  of  his  history  of  Northumbria. 
Accordingly  we  have  minute  accounts  of  the  pedigrees  of  its  kin^s . 
(§§  133,  146,  148,  150,  180,  187,  188,  322,  323,  327.  &c.),  the'ir 
accession  (§§  187.  267,  340,  341,  409.  &c.),  exploits  (§§  150,  151, 
187,  188,  &c.),  anecdotes  of  them,  and  sketches  of  their  character, 
(§§  152,  156,  165,  166,  189,  &c.),  their  deaths,  and  the  duration 
of  their  reigns  (§§  151,  175,  188,  &c.), — details  too  minute  in  them- 
selves, and  too  accurately  defined  by  Beda,  to  have  been  derived  by 
him  from  tradition.  Similar  proofs  might,  if  necessar)',  be  drawn 
from  the  history  of  its  bishops. 

§  59.  (3.)  The  Historia  Ecclesiastica  contains  various  transcripts 
of  important  official  documents.  These  are  of  two  classes,  either 
such  as  were  sent  from  the  papal  court  to  the  princes  and  eccle- 
siastics of  England,  or  were  the  production  of  native  writers.  The 
first  were  transcribed  from  the  Papal  Regesta  by  Nothelm  of 
London,  during  a  residence  at  Rome,  and  were  scut  to  Beda  by 
tlie  advice  of  his  friend  Albinus  of  Canterbury  (§  2).  They  relate 
to  the  histor)'  of  the  kingdoms  of  Kent  (§§  52,  53,  59—73,  74—76. 
108,  141)  and  Northumbria  (§§  115,  120,  139.  246).  The  letters 
of  archbishops  Laurcntius  and  Honorius,  concerning  the  proper 
time  for  celebrating  Easter  (§§  98,  143),  were  probably  furnished 
by  the  same  individual.  The  proceedings  of  the  councils  of 
Hcrutford  (§  268)  and  Haethfeld  (§  302)  may  have  been  derived 
from  the  archives  of  Beda's  own  monastery,  since  it  was  customary 
in  the  early  ages  of  the  church  for  each  ecclesiastical  establishment 
to  have  a  "  tabularium,"'  in  which  were  deposited  the  synodal 
decrees  by  which  its  members  were  governed. 

§  60.  (ii.)  A  considerable  portion  of  the  Historia  Ecclesiastica, 
especially  that  part  of  it  which  relates  to  the  ancient  kingdom  of 
Northumbria,  is  founded  upon  local  information  which  its  author 
derived  from  various  individuals.  On  almost  every  occasion  Beda 
gives  the  name  and  designation  of  his  informant,  being  anxious, 

'  Augiisti,  Handbuch  tier  Christl.  Archiiolope,  iii  699,  ed.  1837;  Thomassin, 
Vetus  et  Nova  Ecclesiaj  Disci plina,  i.  561,  ed.  Lugd.  1706. 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA.  XXVU 

apparently,  to  show  that  nothing  is  inserted  for  which  he  had  not 
the  testimony  of  some  respectable  witness.  Many  incidents  he 
doubtless  related  upon  his  own  authority  ;  for  the  truth  of  some 
(§  400)  he  himself  vouches  from  his  own  observation.  Some  of 
his  witnesses  are  credible  from  having  been  present  at  the  event 
which  they  related  (§§  83,  363  &c.);  others,  from  the  high  rank  which 
they  held  in  the  church,  such  as  Acca,  bishop  of  Hexham  (§  185); 
Guthfrith,  abbot  of  Lindisfarne  (§  359)  ;  Bercthun,  abbot  of 
Beverley  (§§  362,  364)  ;  and  Pecthelm,  bishop  of  WHiithern 
(§  399).  The  author  received  secondary  evidence  with  caution  ; 
for  he  distinguishes  between  the  statements  which  he  received  from 
eye-witnesses,  and  those  which  reached  him  through  a  succession  of 
informants.  In  the  last  of  these  instances  the  channel  of  informa- 
tion is  always  pointed  out  with  scrupulous  exactness,  whatever 
opinion  we  may  entertain  (as  in  the  case  of  some  of  the  visions  and 
miracles)  of  the  credibility  of  the  facts  themselves. 

§  61.  If  it  be  important  to  inquire  into  the  sources  whence 
Becla  derived  his  information,  it  is  no  less  necessary  to  endeavour 
to  ascertain  how  far  he  employed  them  with  judgment  and 
fidelity.  That  he  wrote  candidly  and  conscientiously  will  appear 
from  the  following  considerations.  The  work  was  undertaken  at 
the  suggestion  of  Albinus  and  Nothelm,  from  whom,  as  the  sub- 
jects of  another  kingdom  and  the  residents  in  another  diocese,  he 
could  expect  no  political  or  ecclesiastical  advantages.  His  History, 
though  inscribed  to  Ceolwulf,  the  reigning  king  of  Northumbria,  is 
remarkably  free  from  flatter}' ;  and  yet  it  is  obvious  that,  had  he 
been  so  inclined,  there  could  have  been  no  difficulty  in  its  intro- 
duction. Had  the  writer  been  pleased  to  administer  it,  he  might 
have  done  so  in  a  more  subtle  form  by  expatiating  upon  the  exploits 
of  the  ancestors  of  his  patron,  if  not  upon  his  own,  since  in  his 
person  a  new  dynasty  became  seated  on  the  throne  of  Northumbria ; 
but  so  far  from  this  being  the  case,  the  ancestors  of  Ceolwulf  are 
unknown  to  us  as  far  as  Beda  is  concerned,  and  his  slight  mention  of 
that  sovereign  is  cold,  almost  to  censure  (§  448).  And,  as  he  did 
not  condescend  to  feed  the  vanity  of  his  sovereign,  so  neither  did  he 
give  any  partial  account  in  favour  of  his  own  kingdom ;  for  had  such 
been  his  intention,  he  would  have  drawn  a  less  just  character  of 
Ecgfrith  (§  340),  the  monarch  by  whom  the  monasteries  of  Jarrow 
and  Wearmouth  were  founded  and  endowed. 

§  62.  Beda  tells  us  that  he  had  laid  down  for  himself  this  funda- 
mental maxim,  that  it  was  incumbent  for  him,  as  for  eveiy  historian, 
simply  to  recount  those  circumstances  which  he  had  received  upon 
credible  authority  (§  2);  and  he  more  than  once  reminds  his  readers 
that  he  continued  throughout  his  narrative  to  act  upon  this 
principle  (§§  197,  399).  It  is  also  observable  that,  although  a  firm 
adherent  to  the  church  of  Rome  in  regard  to  the  warmly-disputed 
questions  concerning  the  observance  of  Easter,  the  tonsure  and 
confirmation,  yet  he  does  ample  justice  to  the  merits  of  those  who 
embraced  the  opposite  doctrines  (§§  155,  162,  163,  191,  197,  &c.). 
These  considerations  seem  to  warrant  us  in  coming  to  the  conclusion 
that  Beda  was  diligent  in  collecting  and  faithful  in  employing  his 


XXVlll  PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 

materials,  both  written  and  oral ;  and  although  he  is  sparing  in  his 
observations  upon  the  causes  of  events  and  the  motives  of  the 
actors,  yet  the  narrative  of  the  events  itself  is  generally  clear,  tem- 
perate, and  impartial. 

§  63.  It  is  unnecessary  for  our  present  purpose  that  we  should 
give  any  extended  bibliographical  list  of  the  various  editions  of  the 
"Historia  Ecclesiastica."  The  earliest  has  neither  date,  nor  name 
of  place  or  printer;  but  it  issued  (apparently)'  from  the  press  of 
Eggesteyn,  of  Strasburg,  about  the  year  1473.^  Stroth  mentions 
editions  printed  at  the  same  place  in  1483,  and  at  Spires  in  HOS,"* 
the  existence  of  which  is  somewhat  doubtful,  but  the  statement  is 
repeated  by  Heinichen  in  his  edition  of  Eusebius.*  The  Strasburg 
impression  of  1500  (which  Smith  considered  the  first)  is  a  reprint, 
with  a  few  unimportant  variations,*  of  that  of  Eggesteyn,  as  is  also 
that  dated  at  Hagenau  in  1506.  All  these  editions  are  printed  in 
black  letter,  in  small  folio,  and  are  given  as  a  sequel  to  the  transla- 
tion, by  Ruffinus,  of  the  "  Ecclesiastical  History"  of  Eusebius.  The 
first  critical  revision  of  the  text  is  found  in  the  Antwerp  edition  of 
1 550,  in  the  formation  of  which  good  manuscripts  were  employed  ; 
the  conclusion  of  chapter  xxiv.  of  book  v.,  which  had  hitherto  been 
wanting,  was  now  supplied,  and  the  chronological  epitome  appended 
to  the  work  was  extended  to  a.d.  767-  (See  §  91.)  This  became 
the  basis  of  the  editions  of  Louvaine,  1566  ;  Basle,  1563  ;  Cologne, 
1601,  1612,  and  1688;  none  of  which  deserve  particular  notice. 
It  is  also  included  in  the  collection  issued  by  Commeline,  at  Heidel- 
berg, in  1587,  where  the  text  is  revised  by  a  good  manuscript,  which 
belonged  to  Pithou. 

§  64.  It  was  not  until  the  year  1643  that  an  edition  of  the 
"  Historia  Ecclesiastica  "  appeared  in  England  ;  it  was  then  pub- 
lished by  Abraham  Wheloc,  professor  of  the  Arabic  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  languages  in  the  university  of  Cambridge.  He  added  to  it 
the  Anglo-Saxon  version  by  King  Alfred,  and  a  large  body  of 
notes,  which,  however,  are  rather  theological  than  historical.  The 
Latin  text,  according  to  Hardy,  seems  to  have  been  taken  from  the 
Cologne  edition  of  1612,  collated  with  the  Cotton  MS.  Tiber.  C.  ii. 
(see  §  68),  with  a  manuscript  now  in  the  Library  of  Trinity  College 
(R.  5.  27),  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  with  another  belonging  to 
Dr.  Ward,  Master  of  Sidney  Sussex  College  (marked  A  5.  17),  of 

*  Petrie  and  Hardy  attribute  it  to  the  press  of  Conrad  Fyner,  at  Eslingeu, 
between  1471  and  1475. 

2  Lord  Spencer's  copy,  the  first  known  in  England,  cost  him  forty  guineas. 
This  was  for  some  time  considered  unique;  but  a  more  extended  search  upon 
the  continent  has  brought  several  other  copies  to  light;  still,  however,  the  book 
is  a  scarce  one.  In  1835  Mr.  Heber's  sold  for  45/.  In  Payne  and  Foss's  catalogue 
of  the  same  year,  (No.  361,)  is  a  copy  marked  at  16/.  16s.;  and  it  is  there  attri- 
buted to  the  press  of  Eggesteyn,  and  supposed  to  have  been  printed  about  1470. 
Copies  are  in  the  British  Museum  and  in  the  Royal  Library  .at  Paris.  For  all 
criticiil  purposes  the  edition  is  valueless.  The  proper  names  are  very  incorrectly 
given,  and  the  text  ends  at  the  beginning  of  chapter  xxiv.  of  book  v. 

^  In  his  edition  of  Eusebius,  Praif.  p.  xxix.  ed.  Halle,  1779.  Petrie  and  Hardy 
mention  an  edition  of  Spires,  in  1490. 

*  Prref.  p.  XXX.  8vo.  Leips.  1827. 

^  These  have  reference  chiefly  to  the  headings  of  the  cha2)ter3,  and  the  cor- 
rcctiou  of  a  few  obviuus  errors  of  the  press. 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA.  XXIX 

the  end  of  tlie  fourteenth  century.  This  was  succeeded  hy  an 
edition  issued  byF.  Chifflet  (4to.  Paris,  1681),  founded  upon  a  copy 
formerly  belonging  to  St.  Maximin,  at  Treves,  apparently  the  same 
which  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Sir  Thomas  Phillipps.  (See  §  91.) 
In  its  turn  this  was  superseded  by  the  admirable  edition  of  Smith 
(fol.  Cantab.  1722),  the  text  of  which,  with  some  modifications,  was 
repeated  in  the  editions  issued  by  the  English  Historical  Society  in 
1 838,  by  Professor  Hussey  in  1 846,  and  by  Petrie  in  the  first  volume 
of  his  "Materials  for  the  History  of  Britain."  Since  Smith's 
edition  was  the  first  which  represented  what  may  now  be  called  the 
textus  7'eceptus  of  the  "  Historia  Ecclesiastica,"  it  becomes  necessary 
that  its  nature  and  merits  should  be  stated  somewhat  in  detail. 

§  65.  The  great  value  of  Smith's  edition  consists  in  this — that  it 
is  based  upon  the  celebrated  manuscript  which  formerly  belonged  to 
More,  bishop  of  Ely,  and  which  is  now  deposited  in  the  public 
library  at  Cambridge  (K.  k.  5.  16).  Appended  to  this  copy  of 
the  Ecclesiastical  History  are  certain  chronological  notes,  which 
exhibit  the  length  of  the  reigns  of  various  kings  of  Northumbria, 
from  Ida  to  Ceolwulf,  together  with  the  relative  dates  of  several 
other  incidents.  Five  of  these  concur  with  the  year  737,  and  would 
thus  seem  to  lead  to  the  inference  that  this  manuscript  was  tran- 
scribed in  that  year ;  but  there  are  others  which  cannot  be  brought 
into  harmony  with  this  calculation,  but  which  point  at  the  years 
734,  738,  741,  and  748  respectively.  But  even  admitting  the  full 
weight  of  this  difficulty,  we  may  fairly  assume  that  More's  copy  was 
transcribed  from  one  which  itself  had  been  written  in  737,  and  that 
the  year  748  is  the  period  beyond  which  we  cannot  venture  to  place 
its  date.  We  thus  have  the  satisfaction  of  referring  to  a  text 
which  was  copied  within  fifteen  years  of  the  death  of  the  venerable 
Beda. 

§  66.  Appended  to  the  Ecclesiastical  History,  More's  manu- 
script contains  a  copy  of  Caedmon's  hymn  in  Anglo-Saxon,  the 
dialectal  peculiarities  of  which  are  so  clearly  defined  that  we  have 
no  hesitation  in  affirming  that  they  are  of  Northumbrian  origin  ;* 
hence  we  have  an  indication  not  only  of  the  time  when,  but  also  of 
the  locality  in  which,  this  copy  was  written.  The  volume  is  of  a  large 
quarto  size,  and  consists  of  128  leaves,  copied  by  at  least  two 
scribes,  who  were  employed  simultaneously  upon  the  work.  Their 
transcript  was  carefully  revised  immediately  after  its  completion, 
and  various  errors  were  then  corrected.  A  specimen  of  this  book  is 
given  by  Petrie  and  Hardy  (plate  xxvi.)  Shortly  after  its  transcrip- 
tion it  appears  to  have  been  carried  into  France,  and  to  have  be- 
longed to  some  monastery  dedicated  to  St.  Julian,  which,  as  has  been 
conjectured,  may  possibly  signify  the  monasteiy  of  St.  Julian  at 
Angers,  or  that  at  Tours. ^  It  continued  abroad  until  the  reign  of 
William  III,  when  it  was  bought  at  a  public  auction,  and  passed 
into  the  hands  of  More,  bishop  of  Ely,^  who  bequeathed  it,  along 

'  This  precious  fragment  is  printed  in  Wanley's  Catalogue,  p.  287;  Smith's 
Beda,  p.  597 ;  and  Thorpe's  Caedmon,  preface,  p.  xsii.  (see  §  74).  See  also  Dr. 
Latham,  "  The  English  Language,"  p.  546,  ed.  1850. 

^  Petrie  and  Hardy,  preface,  §  158.  ^  Smith's  preface  (p.  4). 


XXX  PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 

with  liis  other  vakiable   collections,  to  the  public  librar)^  of  the 
university  of  Cambridge. 

§  67.  The  text  from  which  the  present  edition  is  a  translation, 
is  Smith's,  as  re-collated  by  Petrie.  But  the  following  additional 
manuscript  copies  have  been  examined,  and  occasiontdly  consulted, 
though  for  the  most  part  without  conferring  any  very  important 
benefit  upon  the  text  as  exhibited  in  the  Cambridge  manuscript. 

§  68.  The  Cottonian  MS.  Tiberius,  C.  ii,  written  apparently  in 
the  eighth  century,  in  Northumbria.  It  is  a  large  quarto  in  double 
columns,  of  great  beauty  and  accuracy.  A  facsimile  of  its  writing 
is  given  in  the  edition  published  by  the  English  Historical  Society, 
in  1838.  It  varies  in  the  division  of  the  chapters  of  the  fourth 
book  from  the  Cambridge  MS.,  omitting  chap.  xiv.  (fol.  104  in 
the  MS.)  ;  but  in  other  respects  they  agree  very  closely.  The 
numerals  liave  unfortunately  been  in  many  cases  tampered  with  bv 
erasure  and  superscription.  The  original  handwriting  ends  with 
the  words  "  certaminis,  vel  sub  quo  principe  "  (not  judice),  (Smith, 
223.  10),  which  words  stand  at  the  bottom  of  the  page,  the 
remainder  of  the  text  being  inserted  in  the  margin  of  the  leaf  by  a 
hand  of  the  twelfth  century.  The  preface'  ends  with  the  words 
"  mandare  studuimus  "  (Smith,  39.  13). 

§  69.  The  Cottonian  MS.  Tiberius,  A.  xiv,  considerably 
damaged  by  the  fire  of  1731,  but  recently  inlaid  and  rebound. 
It  is  of  equal" antiquity,  beauty,  and  accuracy,  with  the  former; 
but  the  prologue,  the  commencement  of  the  first  book,  the 
passages  from  §  303  to  §  340,  and  from  §  427  to  the  end,  are 
destroyed.  It  contains  chapter  xiv  of  book  iv.  (fol.  130).  The 
orthography  of  the  proper  names  is  Northumbrian,  but  in  several 
places  the  more  familar  West  Saxon  forms  are  superscribed.  A 
facsimile  of  this  MS.  is  given  in  the  edition  of  1838. 

§  70.  The  Harleian  MS.  4978,  of  foreign  execution,  probably 
French,  written  apparently  during  the  tenth  century.  It  also  con- 
tains the  chapter  regarding  the  miracle  of  St.  Oswald.  Prefixed 
are  some  obits,  from  which  we  obtain  an  insight  into  the  liistoiy  of 
this  copy.  It  belonged  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Mary  de  Caritate, 
in  the  diocese  of  Auxerre,^  connected  with  which,  as  its  cells,  were 
St.  Andrew's,  Northampton,^  Wenloc,*  and  Bermondscy,^  in  Eng- 
land. The  body  of  the  manuscript  was  written  on  the  continent ; 
but  it  seems  to  have  found  its  way  into  this  country  as  early  as  the 
twelfth  century,  since  one  gathering,  which  had  been  lost,  is  sup- 
plied by  an  English  scribe  at  that  period.  It  preserves  its  North- 
umbrian orthography.  A  facsimile  of  this  copy  is  given  by  Petrie 
and  Hardy,  plate  xxvii. 

•  Smith's  description  of  this  copy  is  calculated  to  mislead  the  inquirer  in  two 
particul.ars,  which,  though  apparently  unimportant  in  themselves,  consideraMy 
affect  any  attempt  at  a  chwsification  of  the  manuscinpts  of  the  "  Historia  Eccle- 
siastica."  He  states  that  there  is  in  this  manuscript  a  blank  for  the  remainder 
of  the  preface;  there  is  no  such  blank.  He  speaks  of  the  passage  beginning  with 
the  words  "  Pncterea  omnes,"  as  if  they  were  by  the  first  hand,  whereas  they  are 
in  a  hand  of  the  twelfth  century.  The  same  remarks  apply  iu  reference  to  the 
words  "Hie  deest  folium"  (Smith,  p.  157,  note^. 

2  Gallia  Chri.st.  xii.  403.  =>  Monast.  Anglic,  i.  679. 

*  Ibid.  013.  '  Ibid.  639. 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA.  XXXI 

§  71.  The  Hatton  MS.  43  (formerly  81),  now  in  the  Bodleian 
Library,  of  the  tenth  century,  apparently  written  at,  or  for,  the 
monastery  of  Glastonbury  (see  fol.  2).  It  terminated  its  preface 
originally  with  the  words  "  mandare  studuimus  ;  "  but  a  hand  of 
the  twelfth  century  has  appended  our  §  3.  The  book  ends  with 
the  words  "  intercessionis  inveniam."  The  orthography  was  origi- 
nally Northumbrian  (copied  doubtless  from  an  Anglian  proto- 
type) ;  but  it  has  been  altered  to  the  Western  Saxon  by  erasure  and 
superscription.      It  does  not  recognise  the  history  of  Oswald. 

§  72.  The  Bodley  MS.  163,  (formerly  N.  E.  B.  iv.  10,  or 
2016),  a  fine  copy  of  the  eleventh  centur)^  in  quarto.  Tlie 
prologue  ends  with  the  words  "  mandare  studuimus,"  and  the 
book,  "  intercessionis  inveniam."  The  history  of  St.  Oswald  occurs, 
and  is  divided  into  eight  lessons.  The  proper  names  retain  their 
primitive  forms. 

§  73.  Tlae  Royal  MS.  13  C.  v.,  in  the  British  Museum,  written 
in  the  eleventh  century,  and  formerly  belonging  to  St.  Peter's, 
Gloucester.  It  also  contains  book  iv.,  chap.  xiv.  The  preface 
ends  with  the  words  "  mandare  studuimus."  A  single  leaf  has 
been  cut  out  from  the  end  of  the  volume.  The  proper  names  are 
reduced  to  the  West  Saxon  dialect. 

§  74.  The  Laud  MS.  243  (formerly  H.  38),  in  the  Bodleian 
Libraiy,  once  the  property  of  Archbishop  Ussher.  This  copy  is  of 
the  twelfth  century,  and  is  imperfect  both  at  beginning  and  end,  all 
being  wanting  before  the  list  of  chapters  prefixed  to  the  first  book,  and 
after  the  words  "  Teque  deprecor  "  (§  456).  It  appears  to  have  been 
written  for  some  monastery  dedicated  to  St.  Oswald,^  whose  histoiy 
it  contains,  converting  the  passage  into  a  Lectionary,  (like  Bodley 
MS.  163,  see  §  72,)  and  in  other  instances  ^  directing  attention  to 
that  individual.  The  Northumbrian  forms  are  retained  in  the  proper 
names.  Considerable  interest  attaches  to  this  MS.  from  the  fact 
of  it  containing  a  copy  of  the  fragment  of  Caedmon,'  similar  in 
extent  to  that  which  occurs  in  More's  MS.,  but  modernized. 

§  75.  The  Harleian  MS.  4124,  a  folio  volume  of  the  twelfth 
century,  formerly  belonging  to  Rawlinson,  and,  at  the  time  of  its 
suppression,  to  the  monastery  of  Wirksop.  It  omits  chap.  xiv.  of 
book  iv.  The  preface  ends  with  the  words  "  mandare  studuimus  ;" 
the  rest  is  added  at  the  end  of  the  history. 

§  76.    The  Digby  MS.  211,  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  a  folio 

'  Possibly  Nostel,  in  Yorksliire,  Mouast.  Angl.  ii.  33. 

2  See  fol.  41  b,  42,  and  50. 

*  See  §  66.  For  the  benefit  of  tho»e  who  are  interested  in  the  history  of  our 
language,  the  editor  subjoins  these  lines,  that  they  may  be  compared  with  the 
copy  contained  in  the  Cambridge  MS. 

Nu  pe  sceolon  herian  heofon  to  hrofe 

heofonrices  jieard  \>a,  middan-geard 

Metudes  mihte  moncynnes  j'eard 

t  his  mod-gehanc  ece  drihten 

peorc-j'ulder  fader  asfter  teode 

fpa  he  pundra  geh]\T3s  fyrum  on  folden 

ece  drihten  frea  selmihtig 

l>a  he  ajrest  soeoij  halig  scyp — Fol.  82,  b, 

eorSe-bearnum 


XXXU  PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 

volume  of  the  twelftli  century,  formerly  belonging  to  the  church  of 
the  Holy  Cross  at  Waltham.  It  contains  the  account  of  Oswald's 
miracles.  The  preface  ends  with  the  words  "  mandare  studuimus." 
The  proper  names  are  reduced  to  tlie  West  Saxon  orthography. 

§  77.  The  Fairfax  MS.  12,  in  the  Bodleian  Librarj',  a  folio  of  the 
twelfth  century,  formerly  belonging  to  the  monaster)'  of  St.  German 
at  Selby.  It  passed  through  the  hands  of  "  W.  Santclair  of  Roislin, 
knecht,  anno  1591,  2  Jan.,"  and  came  into  the  possession  of  "  W. 
Fairfax,  1650,  mense  Septembri,  ex  dono  magistri  Walteri  Cant, 
civitate  Edensi  advocati."  The  preface  ends  with  the  words  "  man- 
dare  studuimus."     It  contains  the  passage  about  Oswald. 

^  78.  The  Laud  MS.  78  (formerly  F.  68),  a  folio  manuscript, 
written  about  the  year  1163,  for  some  monastery  of  the  Cistercian 
order.* 

§  79.  The  Harleian  MS.  3680,  a  manuscript  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  formerly  belonging  to  Hubert,  precentor  of  Rochester,  and 
by  him  given  to  the  cloister  of  that  church.  It  contains  chap.  xiv. 
of  book  iv.     The  preface  ends  with  "  intercessionis  inveniam." 

§  80.  The  Durham  MS.  B.  ii.  35,  written  about  the  year  1166. 
The  preface  ends  with  the  words  "  mandare  studuimus."  Its  earlier 
readings  have  frequently  been  altered  by  erasure  and  superscription, 
and  its  text  is  by  no  means  correct. 

§  81.  The  Additional  MS.  14,250,  in  the  British  Museum,  a 
folio  MS.  of  the  thirteenth  centuiy,*  formerly  belonging  to  the 
monastery  of  Plympton.  The  preface  ends  with  the  words  "  man- 
dare studuimus,"  and  it  contains  the  histor)' of  Oswald  ;  it  retains 
nothing  of  its  original  Northumbrian  orthography  in  the  proper 
names. 

§  82.  The  Barlow  MS.  39,  in  the  Bodleian  library,  of  the  tliirteenth 
or  fourteenth  centuiy  ;  it  is  mutilated  at  the  beginning,  having  lost 
all  before  chap,  xviii.  book  i.  §  42.  The  histor}'  ends  with  the  words 
"  intercessionis  inveniam."  Its  proper  names  are  reduced  to  the 
West  Saxon  standard. 

§  83.  The  Royal  MS.  13,  B.  xviii.  in  the  British  Museum, 
written  during  the  reign  of  king  Henry  III.  The  preface  ends  with 
the  words  "  intercessionis  inveniam,"  and  it  omits  the  §  456.  It 
retains  the  Northumbrian  peculiarities  of  spelling. 

§  84.  The  Bodleian  MS.  712,  (formerly  known  as  Sup.  Art.  D.  20, 
or  Arch  F.  20,)  u  fine  volume  in  folio,  written  about  the  year  1320, 
for  Robert  de  Wiville,  bishop  of  Salisbury.  The  prologue  ends 
with  the  words  "mandare  studuimus,"  §  3  forming  the  conclusion 
of  the  history.     The  proper  names  are  Saxonized  throughout. 

§  85.  The  Digby  MS.  101,  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  a  quarto 
MS.  of  the  fourteenth  century,  written  apparently  (judging  from  a 
few  marginal  notes)  in  the  diocese  of  P21y.  It  contains  the  history 
of  St.  Oswald,  The  arrangement  of  the  preface  corresponds  with 
the  copy  last  described.  All  trace  of  Northumbrianism  in  the 
proper  names  has  vanished. 

§  86.    The  Bodley  MS.  302,   (formerly  NE.  C.  iv.  3,  or  2086, 

»  Secff.  101b,  103  b. 

^  Purchased  at  the  sale  of  Dean  Milles's  library,  15th  April,  1843,  (lot  1168.) 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA.  XXXIU 

or  E.  V.  7,)  a  copy  written  in  the  fourteenth  century.*  The  preface 
is  similar  in  its  arrangement  to  the  last  copy,  and  the  same  remark 
may  be  made  in  reference  to  its  spelling. 

§  87.  The  Burney  MS.  310,  in  the  British  Museum,  written  by 
William,  called  "  du  Stiphel,"  for  Uctred,  monk  of  Durham,  at 
Finchale,  and  finished  28  August,  1381.^  The  preface  ends  with 
the  words  "  mandare  studuimus,"  and  the  book,  "  intercessionis 
inveniam."  Apparently  a  transcript  of  the  Durham  MS.  B.  ii.  35 
(see  §  80). 

§  88.  The  Arundel  MS.  74,  in  the  British  Museum,  a  folio  of 
the  fifteenth  century.  The  §  3  is  repeated  as  well  at  the  end  of 
the  preface  as  at  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  history.  Its  ortho- 
graphy is  West  Saxon. 

§  89.  The  Royal  MS.  13.  C.  vii.  (fol.  19),  in  the  British  Museum, 
a  copy  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  §  3  is  thrown  to  the  end  of 
the  whole  work. 

§  90.  The  Additional  MS.  10,949,  in  the  British  Museum,  a 
late  but  valuable  copy,  upon  paper,  transcribed  towards  the  middle 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  in  Germany,  but  from  a  manuscript  of 
considerable  authority.  The  preface  includes  §  3,  and  the  whole  his- 
tory ends  with  §  456.  The  proper  names  retain  their  Northumbrian 
form,  though  they  are  not  always  correctly  copied  by  the  scribe. 
The  chronological  abstract  reaches  the  year  766,  this  being  the 
only  copy  in  the  British  Museum  which  contains  that  summary. 

§  91.  Besides  these  manuscripts,  all  of  which  have  been  examined 
by  the  editor,  there  are  others  to  which  reference  may  be  made  upon 
the  present  occasion ;  namely,  at  Oxford,  in  the  collection  of  the  late 
Mr.  Douce,  and  in  the  libraries  of  Baliol,  Merton,  New  College,  Lin- 
coln, All  Souls,  Magdalen,  and  St.  John's  ;  concerning  which  Coxe's 
catalogues  of  these  colleges  may  be  consulted.  Also  at  Cambridge, 
in  the  libraries  of  Emmanuel  (18) ;  Trinity  (257,  282,  521)  ;  Sidney 
(8  K  11,  and  K  5.  15).  The  collection  of  Sir  Thomas  Phillipps 
contains  at  least  four  copies,  one  of  the  ninth  or  tenth  centuiy, 
one  of  the  eleventh,  (see  §  64,)  one  of  the  twelfth,  and  one  of  the 
fourteenth,  to  which  last  two  Petrie  refers  on  account  of  their 
having  a  continuation  of  the  concluding  epitome,  from  a.d.  733  to 
A.D.  766.  They  are  the  only  copies  of  the  kind  which  occurred  to 
him,  (but  see  §  90,)  and  he  thinks  that  the  latter  of  the  two  was 
probably  used  for  the  Antwerp  edition  of  1550.      (See  §  63.) 

§  92.  There  are  several  MSS.  of  the  "  Historia  Ecclesiastica  " 
in  foreign  libraries,  which  are  of  considerable  antiquity,  and  of 
which  a  collation  would  be  desirable.  The  copy  at  St.  Gall,  men- 
tioned (at  §  35,  note  3),  is  said  to  be  nearly  as  old  as  the  Cambridge 
MS.  ;  a  specimen  from  one  of  the  ninth  century  is  engraved  in 
Walther's  Lexicon  Diplomaticum ; '  and  another,  of  the  tenth 
century,  is  described  by  Mone.*  The  Royal  Library  at  Paris 
contains  thirteen  manuscripts,  of  different  ages.^ 

1  Written  apparently  about  1356.     See  fol.  137b. 

2  See  fol.  178  b;  and  concerning  this  Uctred,  see  Tanner's  Bibliotheca,  p.  74S. 
»  Plate  IV.  fol.  Gotting.  1745. 

"*  Qiiellen  und  Forschungen,  p.  443,  ed.  8vo.  Leipz.  1830. 

*  From  the  variations  which  have  been  pointed  out  in  the  above  list  as  existing 

Pref.  to  Beda.  d 


XXXIV  PREFACE    TO    HEDA. 

§  93.  The  text  being  settled  upon  these  autliorities,  a  few  re- 
marks upon  tlie  translation  here  given  become  necessar)^  It  is 
based  upon  the  publication  of  which  the  following  is  the  title  : — 
"  The  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  English  Nation,  from  the 
coming  of  Julius  Caesar  into  this  Island,  in  the  sixtieth  year  before 
the  Incarnation  of  Christ,  till  the  year  of  our  Lord  731  ;  written 
in  Latin  by  Venerable  Bede,  and  now  translated  into  English 
from  Dr.  Smith's  Edition."'  This  translation  is  usually  attributed 
to  Stevens,  better  known  by  his  English  version  of  Dugdale's 
Monasticon  ;  but  upon  what  authority  it  is  so  ascribed  to  him 
is  uncertain.  It  is  painful  to  be  compelled  to  state  that  the 
title-page  asserts  what  is  not  the  truth,  as  to  the  original  text  from 
which  the  translation  is  made  ;  for  it  varies  in  so  many  and  such 
important  respects  from  Smith's  text,  as  to  prove  that  it  was  not 
derived  from  that  edition.  The  fact  would  seem  to  be  this, — that 
the  translator,  whoever  he  was,  having  completed  his  task  shortly 
before  the  publication  of  Smith's  edition  (which  was  issued  in 
1722),  took  advantage  of  the  interest  occasioned  by  that  work,  and 
unscrupulously  introduced  the  name  of  its  most  respectable  editor 
upon  his  own  title-page.  Stevens's  rendering  is  far  from  satis- 
factoi-y  :  sometimes  it  is  too  lax ;  sometimes  it  is  close  even  to 
obscurity;  sometimes  it  fails  altogether  in  representing  the  mean- 
ing of  the  author ;  and  many  of  these  imperfections  have  been 
suftered  to  remain  uncorrected  in  the  subsequent  reprints  of  it  which 
have  appeared.  It  became  necessary,  therefore,  that  the  whole 
work  should  undergo  a  strict  revision  ;  and  this  having  been  done, 
it  is  now  presented  to  the  reader  in  the  belief  that  it  lays  before 
the  English  public  the  most  accurate,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the 
most  readable  translation  of  "  Tlie  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the 
Venerable  Beda"  which  has  yet  appeared  in  our  language. 

§  94.  Of  the  notes,  the  editor  must  speak  with  diffidence. 
They  embody  all  that  appeared  to  him  to  be  really  valuable  in  the 
excellent  annotations^  of  Smith,  together  with  such  additional 
information  as  had  escaped  the  notice  of  that  accomplished  scholar, 
or  had  been  brought  to  light  by  the  researches  of  inquirers  during 
the  last  century.  In  a  publication  like  the  present,  discussion  or 
lengthened  inquiry  are  inadmissible  :  the  reader  is  requested,  there- 
fore, to  bear  in  mind  that  the  remarks  of  the  present  editor  are  in 
most  cases  suggestive  rather  than  illustrative,  and  that  in  not  a  few 

among  the  copies  here  described,  it  would  appear  that  there  have  heen  two  edi- 
tions or  recensions  of  the  Historia  Ecclesiastica,  not,  indeed,  varying  fi-om  each 
other  in  any  very  important  resijects,  yet  mai-ked  by  a  line  of  separation  suffi- 
ciently distinct  to  warrant  the  conclusion  which  the  editor  has  ventureil  to  express. 
There  is  also  a  third  chiss  or  family  of  eclectic  copies,  which  fluctuate  between 
the  two,  the  scribes  of  which  attempted  to  blend  together  the  peculiarities  of  each 
<eparate  recension ;  these  of  course  must  be  excluded  from  any  claasiiication  of 
the  texts. 

'  8vo.  Lond.  1723. 

^  Several  of  these  notes  are  transcribed  from  archbishop  Ussher's  "Britanni- 
carum  Ecclesiarum  Antiquitates,"  (fol.  Lond.  1687,)  and  many  of  the  others  were 
written  by  Gale,  who  had  made  extensive  preparations  for  a  new  edition  of  the 
•Historia  Ecclesiastica"  (which  are  preserved,  among  his  other  manuscript'^, 
in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  O.  ii.  63,  64);  but  enough  remain  to  show  the 
learning,  judgment,  and  industry  of  the  two  Smiths. 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA.  XXXV 

instances  he  has  been  constrained  to  satisfy  himseU"  with  indicating 
the  sources  from  which  additional  information  may  be  gained. 

§  95.  We  now  pass  to  the  consideration  of  Beda's  minor  histo- 
rical works  ;  and  the  first  which  claims  our  notice  is  the  Life  of 
St.  Cuthbert. 

Beda  himself  informs  us,  in  the  list  of  his  writings  appended  to 
his  Ecclesiastical  History,  that  he  had  twice  employed  his  pen  in 
recording  the  biography  of  this  individual ;  once  in  verse,  and  once 
in  prose.  We  do  not  print  the  former  of  these  narratives,  because 
it  is  entirely  superseded  by  the  latter,  which  not  only  embodies  in  an 
extended  form  all  the  incidents  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  Metrical 
Life,  but  introducesmuchsupplementalinformation.  The  short  preface 
to  the  metrical  life,  which  has  all  the  characteristics  of  a  private  letter, 
will  be  found,  along  with  Beda's  correspondence,  in  another  volume. 

§  96.  The  prose  life  of  Cuthbert,  the  later  and  more  important 
of  the  two  legends,  is  dedicated  to  Eadfrid,  bishop  of  Holy  Island, 
and  the  monks  there  resident;  a  fact  which  of  itself  would  have 
been  a  sufficient  security  for  the  general  accuracy  of  the  narrative. 
The  historian,  anxious  apparently  to  bear  no  further  responsibility 
than  that  which  fairly  devolved  upon  him  as  the  exponent  of  infor- 
mation which  he  had  received  upon  credible  testimony,  takes  care 
to  record  the  authorities  upon  which  his  work  is  founded,  and  the 
successive  examinations  to  which  it  had  been  subjected.  Having 
formed  his  narrative  upon  tlie  information  of  those  who  had  the  best 
means  of  knowing  the  truth  of  what  they  stated,  the  unpublished 
work  was  submitted  as  well  to  the  inspection  of  one  who  had 
attended  Cuthbert  during  his  last  illness,  as  of  others  equally  well 
informed  respecting  the  incidents  of  his  life  ;  and  corrections  and 
additions  were  made  in  accordance  with  their  suggestions.  A  fair 
copy  of  the  legend  was  then  sent  to  Lindisfarne,  and  during  two 
days  it  underwent  a  rigid  scrutiny  by  the  oldest  and  most  judicious 
brethren  of  that  monastery.  When  it  had  obtained  their  final 
sanction,  and  had  been  augmented  by  the  addition  of  certain  sup- 
plemental insertions,  for  which  they  were  the  vouchers,  the  work 
was  declared  to  be  worthy  of  circulation,  and  was  accordingly 
handed  over  to  the  transcribers. 

§  97.  After  so  much  precaution  employed  by  men  who  had  such 
favourable  opportunities  of  knowing  the  truth,  we  may  feel  assured 
that  we  are  liere  put  in  possession  of  an  authentic  account  of  the 
principal  facts  in  the  life  of  this  early  bishop  of  Lindisfarne.  Our 
faith  in  its  historiccd  veracity  is  increased  by  observing  a  fact  of 
which  Beda  himself  has  not  informed  us,  namely,  that  it  is  founded 
upon,  and  in  many  parts  transcribed  from,  an  earlier  life  of  Cuth- 
bert, a  translation  of  which  will  be  given  in  its  proper  course. 

§  98.  We  are  not  able  to  decide  with  any  accuracy  as  to  the  precise 
time  when  this  legend  was  composed  ;  but  as  it  is  dedicated  to 
Eadfrid,  it  cannot  be  referred  to  a  later  date  than  a.d.  721,  in 
which  year  that  individual  died. 

The  text  from  which  the  translation  is  given  is  founded  upon 
Smith's  text  collated  with  the  following  manuscripts  :— 
d2     ■ 


XXXVl  PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 

The  Harleian  MS.  1117,  a  volume  written  at  latest  in  the  tentli 
century,  in  a  rough  and  bold  hand.  At  the  end  are  four  Latin 
lines,'  stating  that  the  volume  had  been  written  by  the  command 
of  a  certain  abbot,  named  Wigbeorht,  and  probably  presented  by 
him  to  the  church  over  which  he  presided. 

§  99.  The  Cottonian  MS.  Vitell.  A.  xix.,  a  manuscript  of  the 
tenth  century,  elegantly  and  correctly  written. 

The  Digby  MS.  59,  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  of  the  twelfth 
century. 

The  Bodley  MS.  109,  (formerly  NE.  B.  i.  20,  and  1692,)  of  the 
eleventh  century;  a  valuable  copy,  but  imperfect,  the  scribe  having 
ceased  his  labours  in  the  middle  of  a  page,  with  the  words  "  me- 
mento, frater  Herebercte,  ut  modo,"  (ch.  xxviii.  p.  105,  ed.  E.  H.  S.) 
and  more  than  one  copyist  has  been  employed  upon  the  portion 
previously  transcribed. 

The  Bodley  MS.  596,  (formerly  NE.  F.  iii.  9,)  of  the  twelftli 
century,  originally  belonging  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Augustine, 
Canterbury.  This  copy  also  is  slightly  imperfect,  ending  with  the 
words,  "  tabulis  minus  diligenter,"  (ch.  xlvi.  p.  135,  ed.  E.  H.  S.) 

The  Fell  MS.  1,  (fol.  57,)  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  of  the  twelfth 
century. 

The  Fairfax  MS.  6,  in  the  Bodleian  Library.  This,  though  a 
late  copy,  being  of  the  fourteenth  century,  is  of  importance  as 
having  formerly  belonged  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Cuthbert  at 
Durham. 

It  may  be  sufficient  to  state,  in  general  terms,  that  the  variations 
afforded  by  these  copies  are  neither  numerous  nor  important. 

§  100.  The  lives  of  the  abbots  of  the  monasteries  of 
Wearmouth  and  Jarrow  next  follow.  This  interesting  narrative 
furnishes  us  with  an  account  of  the  foundation  of  that  ecclesiastical 
establishment  in  which  Beda  had  been  mntured,  and  whose  history 
he  here  traces  onwards  from  that  period  to  his  own  time.  The  greater 
part  of  the  events  here  recorded  must  have  passed  under  his  own 
immediate  observation,  or  have  been  derived  from  the  information 
of  the  actors  themselves;  hence  perhaps  it  is  that  he  is  less  explicit 
than  elsewhere  in  pointing  out  the  sources  of  his  infomiation.  Yet 
we  find  that  this  treatise  is  based  upon  one  of  an  earlier  date,  a 
translation  of  which  will  be  given  in  its  due  place. 

§  101.  In  addition  to  its  historical  value,  this  piece  of  biography 
is  of  importance  in  another  respect ;  for  it  ])laces  before  us,  more 
clearly  than  any  of  his  other  writings,  an  exemplification  of  Bcda's 
own  mode  of  dealing  with  a  narrative  of  events.  We  here  find  him 
unfettered  by  authority  to  which  he  thought  it  incumbent  upon 
him  to  defer,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Life  of  St.  Cuthbert,  where  the 

'  "  Jusserat  ecclesitc  Uuigbeorhtus  scribere  nabla  hoc 
Abbas  bujuM,  cunctoa  rogitat  qui  hie  psallere  captant, 
Utque  sui  meniores  cantus  cumulamine  coustent, 
Quo  Deus  omnipotens  sibi  crimina  euncta  rclaxet." 
The  word  "  nabla,"  or  "  nabhim,"  simplifies  a  psaltery  or  psalter,  see  Bedre  Opera, 
viii.  1061,  ed.  Basil.  1563.     It  seems  probable,  therefore,  that  these  lines,  written 
originally  in  a  copy  of  the  Psalms,  were  transcribed  into  this  manuscript  without 
reference  to  its  subject-matter. 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA.  XXXVU 

bishop  and  the  elder  brethren  of  Lindisfarne  forced  upon  him  state- 
ments, which,  had  he  been  left  to  the  exercise  of  his  own  free 
judgment,  he  would  possibly  have  rejected.  The  same  remark 
applies,  in  a  great  measure,  to  the  Ecclesiastical  History.  In 
his  preparation  for  that  work  his  numerous  correspondents  fur- 
nished him  with  materials  of  various  degrees  of  accuracy ;  but 
as  he  had  no  means  of  testing  their  truth  severally,  he  accepted 
and  inserted  all.  But  in  the  instance  now  before  us  he  is 
under  no  such  disadvantage  ;  and  the  result  is,  that  he  has  pro- 
duced a  work  which  warrants  us  in  forming  a  higher  opinion  of  his 
qualifications  as  an  historian  than  we  should  be  inclined  to  do  were 
we  deprived  of  the  insight  which  it  gives  us  into  the  tone  and  bent 
of  his  mind.  We  may  hence  infer  that  had  he  been  more  favour- 
ably circumstanced, — had  he,  for  instance,  been  less  dependent  for 
his  facts  than  he  was  upon  the  information  furnished  by  others, 
men  less  critical,  perhaps  less  truth-loving  than  himself, — had  he 
been  enabled  to  write  with  the  same  precision  upon  other  matters 
as  upon  the  history  of  his  own  monastery,  his  great  work,  the 
Ecclesiastical  History,  would  have  been  even  more  valuable  than  it 
is,  and  would  have  presented  fewer  of  those  narratives  which  detract 
so  materially  from  its  acknowledged  merits  and  general  credibility. 

§  102.  This  piece  of  biography  was  first  printed  by  Sir  James 
Ware,  (8vo.  Dublin,  1664,)  and  reprinted  by  Henry  Wharton,  (4to. 
Lond.  1693,)  both  editors  using  a  single  Cottonian  manuscript. 
Smith  complained  of  the  great  incorrectness  of  this  text,  and 
corrected  it  by  three  copies  :  one  at  Durham,  one  at  Pembroke 
College,  Cambridge,  and  one  at  Merton  College,  Oxford.  From  this 
text,  collated  with  the  Harleian  MS.  4124,  fol.  87  b.  of  the  twelfth 
century  (which,  however,  ends  imperfectlv  with  the  words  "  crucem 
qua"— Smith,  297,  16,)  and  the  Fairfax  MS.  vi.  fol.  174,  (see  §  99,) 
the  present  translation  is  made.  No  important  results  were  gained 
by  this  collation. 

§  103.  The  Sermon  upon  the  nativity  of  Benedict  Biscop,  pro- 
nounced in  the  monastery  of  Wearmouth  (or  Jarrow)  upon  the  day 
of  his  commemoration,  is  printed  from  the  Harleian  MS.  3020,  col- 
lated with  the  text,  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  Basle  edition  of 
Beda's  works,  (vii.  462.)  The  information  which  it  contains  is 
scanty,  and  it  adds  no  new  facts  to  what  Beda  had  already  written 
respecting  his  master  Benedict ;  but  it  is  here  inserted  in  order  to 
complete  the  series  of  his  historical  writings  upon  the  subject  of 
the  monasteries  of  Wearmouth  and  Jarrow. 

§  104.  The  Chronicle  of  Beda,  or  his  treatise  upon  the  Six 
Ages  of  this  World,  being  a  general  summary  of  history  from  the 
creation  to  the  year  729,  necessarily  contains  a  consideralDle  portion 
of  matter  in  no  way  connected  with  English  histoiy.  It  has  been 
thought  expedient  therefore,  in  the  present  instance,  to  depart  from 
the  authority  of  Smith,  who  printed  the  whole  of  the  Six  Ages  ;  and, 
like  the  edition  published  by  the  English  Historical  Society,  to 
limit  our  extract  to  the  sixth  age,  which  commences  with  the 
Christian  era ;    prefixing,  however,  the  general   summary  of   the 


XXXVlll  PREFACE    TO    BEDA. 

contents  of  the  passages  so  omitted.  Tlie  text  adopted  by  Smith 
was  founded  upon  four  manuscripts  ;  one  in  the  Bodleian  Librar)-, 
(N.  E.  F.  iii.  5;)  one  belonging  to  Magdalen  College,  Oxford;  a 
third  in  the  Royal  Library,  then  at  Westminster,  and  now  in  the 
British  Museum  ;  and  a  fourth  in  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge. 
Petrie  has  adopted  this  text,  collating  it  with  two  copies  of  the 
eleventh  century,  belonging  to  Sir  Thomas  Fhillipps.  An  exami- 
nation of  Smith's  edition  with  the  Royal  MSS.  13  A.  xi.  fol.  89, 
12  D.  iv.  fol.  79,  and  12  F.  ii.,  all  of  the  twelfth  centuiy,  shows  its 
general  accuracy,  and  warrants  its  adoption  as  the  basis  of  the 
present  translation. 

§  105.  The  Epistle  to  Ecgberct,  abounding  with  curious  notices 
illustrating  the  state  of  monachism  in  England,  as  it  existed  when 
Beda  wrote,  is  given  from  Smith's  text,  the  present  editor  not 
having  had  the  opportunity  of  collating  it  with  any  manuscript 
copy. 

J.  s. 

Vicarage,  Leighton  Buzzard, 
2mh  April,  1853. 


THE 

LIFE  OF  THE  VENERABLE  BEDA.> 

BY    AN    UNKNOWN   WRITER,    OF   GREAT   ANTIQUITY. 


The  Prologue. 
§  1.  Among  the  Catholic  Expositors  of  Holy  Scripture  who  have  shoue 
forth  as  lights  of  the  world  next  after  the  Apostles,  Beda,  a  presbyter, 
versed  in  biblical  learning,  and  a  monk  of  exemplary  life,  holds  a  name 
and  place  of  distmgiiished  honom-.  And  justly  doth  the  holy  church 
admit  him  into  the  number  of  tliose  doctors,  whose  diligence  of  appli- 
cation in  the  study  of  the  holy  Scriptures  the  true  Israelite  sets  before 
him  as  an  example,  by  which  he  is  encouraged  both  in  his  contemplations 
and  in  his  writings,  to  consecrate  the  greater  part  of  his  sacred  functions 
to  the  defence  and  ornament  of  the  house  of  God.  For  he  has  published 
many  volumes  in  explanation  of  holy  Writ,  which  are  seasoned  with 
apostolic  salt ;  and  these  being  founded  ujaon  the  rock  of  steadfast  faith, 
cannot  be  shaken  by  all  the  violence  of  the  gates  of  hell.  The  name  of 
this  person,  indeed,  previous  to  his  decease,  seeing  that  he  resided  out  of 
the  world,  in  an  island  of  the  ocean,  was  veiled  in  obscurity  ;  but  after  his 
death,  when  God,  as  the  Scripture  saith,  brought  the  clouds  from  the  ends 
of  the  earth,  wheresoever  the  voice  of  the  apostles  has  reached,  he  lives, 
by  his  works,  in  the  memory  of  believers ;  and  as  a  candle  set  upon  the 
candlestick  of  the  church,  he  gives  light  to  all  that  are  in  the  house  of  God, 
that,  through  the  grace  of  God  cooperating  with  his  writings,  he  miglit 
illuminate  the  church,  his  mother,  who  by  regenerating  him  in  Chiist 
Jesus,  had  illuminated  him.  So  that  while  he  takes  his  seat  on  high,  on 
the  score  of  his  learning,  along  with  the  most  eminent  men  of  the 
churches,  and  occupies  amongst  them  a  glorious  throne,  everywhere 
speaking  aloud  witli  them,  and  lilting  uj)  the  voice  of  the  gospel  like 
a  trumpet,  even  then  the  vast  renown  of  a  person  so  illustrious  might 
seem  to  be  obscured  by  a  cloud  of  depression,  if  his  origin,  or  his  cha- 
racter, or  his  life,  or  the  end  of  his  hfe,  should  pass  the  ears  of  the 
church  unheard,  like  something  unprofitable,  or  even  ignoble,  which  had 
better  not  be  told.  Far  be  the  breath  of  such  a  susjjicion  from  that 
vessel  of  election  and  instrument  of  the  HoLy  Spirit ;  for,  as  feith  is 
strengthened  by  knowledge,  so  by  the  example  of  his  hfe  (provided  it  be 
made  known)  the  love  of  faith  shall  yet  be  the  more  ardently  inflamed. 
Planted  from  his  very  cracUe  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  through  the 
influence  of  grace  he  put  forth  the  blossoms  of  righteousness,  hke  an 
expanding  palm-tree,  daily  setting  forth  the  mercy  and  faithfuhiess  of  God 
on  a  psaltery  of  ten  strings,  joining  with  the  anthem  of  words,  the  harp  of 

1  It  is  not  easy  to  decide  when  or  where  this  ]ife  of  Beda  was  written  ;  but 
there  seems  reason  to  believe  that  it  is  the  production  of  an  author  who  lived  on 
the  south  of  the  river  Humber,  and  who  wrote  before  Beda's  remains  were  trans- 
lated at  Durham  in  1104,  (see  Preface,  §  42.)  no  allusion  being  made  to  this  cir- 
cumstaiice.  The  information  which  it  furnishes  is  of  little  value,  for  it  only 
retails,  in  inflated  language,  the  particulars  mentioned  by  Beda  regarding  himself 
and  the  monastic  establishment  with  which  he  was  connected.  Yet  it  seemed  to 
merit  a  i)laGe  in  our  collection  as  the  earliest  of  the  various  lives  of  Beda  with 
which  we  are  acquainted.  It  is  here  translated  from  Smith's  text,  (p.  815,)  col- 
lated with  MS.  Harl.  526,  fol.  28  ;  Harl.  367,  fol.  76;  Harl.  4124,  fol.  82  b  ;  MS. 
Cott.  Nero,  E.  1,  fol.  394  ;  all  of  the  twelfth  century  ;  and  MS.  Harl.  322,  fol.  153, 
of  the  thirteenth  centiuy.  Some  of  these  copies  omit  the  prologue ;  in  other 
respects  the  variations  are  unimportant. 


Xi  LIFE    OF    THE    VENERABLE    BEDA. 

good  works.  For,  brought  up  among  saints,  and  by  saints,  under  monastic 
discipline,  and  imbued  with  polite  literature,  holy  with  the  holy,  and 
innocent  with  the  innocent,  he  trod  the  path  of  life,  and  aimed  with  all  his 
might  to  keep  himself  unspotted  from  the  world. 

§  2.  In  testimony  of  the  certain  truth  of  these  assertion>s,  we  have  laid 
together,  in  our  description  of  a  perfect  man  in  Christ,  both  what  he  him- 
self as  well  as  others  have  written  concerning  him  ;  for  we  have  drawn  our 
facts  from  various  sources,  like  the  different  parts  of  the  members  com- 
pacted into  one  body.  For  the  series  of  recorded  facts,  which,  by  being 
interrupted  here  and  there  in  the  works  of  various  writers,  had  deprived 
the  reader  of  an  acquaintance  with  this  remarkable  man  ;  by  being  linked 
together,  as  the- order  of  the  incidents  requires,  more  vividly  depicts  his 
character  by  the  force  of  a  composition  lucidly  arranged.  And  assuredly 
the  difficulty  of  this  task,  which  even  the  unflinching  diligence  of  able 
writers  will  readily  acknowledge,  far  exceeds  our  abilities,  who  have 
nothing  to  boast  of  either  in  eloquence  or  learning.  But  as  all  things  are 
possible  to  him  that  beheveth,  we  will  not  shrink  from  the  word,  who 
beheve  in  the  Word,  I  mean  in  Christ  the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of 
God  ;  and  that  we  may  be  thought  worthy  to  have  Him  for  the  beginning 
and  end  of  our  work  and  discourse,  may  his  mercy  vouchsafe  to  prevent 
with  its  inspiration,  and  to  further  with  its  help  all,  that  we  shall  do 
and  say. 

Here  begins  the  Life  of  the  Venerable  Beda,  Presbyter,  and 
Monk  of  Jarrow. 


§  3.  Jesus  Christ,  the  author  of  man's  salvation,  was  sending  forth  his 
labourers  into  the  harvest  of  that  multitude,  which  would  give  ear  to  their 
holy  preaching  ;  and  the  grace  of  the  gospel  was  already  shining  upon  every 
creature  throughout  the  whole  world,  v;heu  the  province  of  Northumber- 
land also,  though  ftxr  removed  to  the  very  outskirts  of  the  globe,  became  a 
partaker  of  divine  knowledge,  and  even  in  the  frozen  region  of  the  north 
it  glowed  with  the  Saviour's  holy  fire.  For  the  Lord  came  to  send  upon 
earth  the  fire  of  his  Holy  Spirit ;  and  because  no  one  can  hide  himself 
from  the  heat  thereof,  it  darts  into  remotest  nations,  and  enkindles  the 
flames  of  its  love  in  the  hearts  of  men,  that,  departing  from  the  old  life, 
they  may  become  a  new  creature  in  Christ.  And,  at  length,  when  faith 
had  supplanted  infidelity,  which,  as  the  Scripture  testifieth,  hath  its 
dwelling  in  the  apostate  "north,  [Ezek.  xxxii.  30,]  even  there  was  founded 
the  city  of  the  great  King,  which,  rejoicing  with  exultation,  proclaims,  f o 
the  whole  world,  in  praise  of  its  Foimder,  "  Great  is  the  Lord,  and  highly 
to  be  praised  in  the  city  of  our  God."  [Ps.  xlviii.  1.]  For,  to  begin  with 
the  rulers — the  very  kings  of  that  province,  as  soon  as  they  acknowledged 
their  Creator,  held  their  crowns  the  more  securely,  by  how  much  the  more 
devotedly  they  rejoiced  in  being  the  subjects  of  Christ, the  King  eternal; 
and  the  citizens  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  which  was  to  come  became 
the  servants  of  Babylon  by  bearing,  In'  a  constrained  service,  the  bui'dens  of 
public  government.  Witness  the  fervency  of  king  Edwin,  and  his  pious 
regard  for  religion.  Witness,  too,  Oswald's  invincible  constancy  in  the 
faith,  who,  while  he  gloried  in  nothing  but  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  by  that  cross  triumphed  over  the  foes  of  the  holy  cro.ss  ;  and  by 
devoting  his  treasures  to  the  su]3port  of  the  needy,  entered  heaven  adorned 
with  the  double  crown  of  charity  and  martyrilom.  In  his  brother  Oswy 
was  kindled  the  zeal  of  God's  house,  insomuch  that  those  tares,  which  the 
enemy  had  sown  among  the  good  seeds  of  the  gospel  by  means  of  heretics 
and  schismatics,  he  cut  away  with  the  sickle  of  catholic  truth,  and  pulling 
them  up  by  the  roots,  wholly  cast  them  out  of  his  kingdom.  I  p;iss  over 
the  labours  of  his  son  Ecgfrid  ;  I  pass  over  his  wisdom  and  goodness 
exhibited  in  founding  monasteries  in  various  parts  of  his  kingdom. 
Authentic  records  attest  that  be  was  a  man  of  eminent  piety,  and  beloved 
of  God.  To  omit  other  things,  this  alone  raises  him  to  the  higlie.st  pinnacle 


LIFE    OF    THE    VENERABLE    BEDA.  Xll 

of  fame,  tliat  he  caused  that  excellent  man,  of  angelic  hfe,  St.  Cuthbert,  to 
be  elevated  to  the  episcopate. 

§  4.  I  may  say  that  the  condition  of  that  province  was  then  happy,  and 
indeed  blessed,  to  which  the  holiness  of  life  and  the  learning  of  Christ's 
priests,  and  of  those  who  held  high  stations  in  the  church,  were  at  once  an 
ornament  and  a  defence.  For,  to  pass  over  those  prelates  of  distinguished 
sanctity  whom  that  province  enjoyed  before,  or  subsequently,  it  was 
blessed  with  glorious  fathers  of  its  illumination  and  salvation,  I  mean 
Wilfrid,  Eata,  Cuthbert,  John,  who  were  contemporaries,  and  illustrious 
bishoj)S  of  incomparable  merit.  Under  those  double  rulers  of  church  and 
state,  while  a  zeal  for  religion  daily  gathered  strength,  churches  and  monas- 
teries were  everywhere  freely  erected,  in  which  the  future  citizens  of  the 
holy  places  and  the  servants  of  God  being  united  together,  that  they  might  live 
spiritually  in  the  flesh,  denying  themselves  and  all  that  belonged  to  them, 
carried  their  Saviour's  cross  in  their  conversation,  and  wholly  consumed 
themselves  in  the  flames  of  heavenly  love,  as  a  bumt-offeriug  of  a  sweet 
savour  unto  the  Lord. 

§  5.  Among  those  sworn  soldiers  of  Christ,  who  fought  against  the  world 
and  the  prince  of  the  world,  one  of  the  most  eminent  for  his  distinguished 
acts  in  Christ  was  abbot  Benedict,  having  received  from  the  Lord  the 
grace  of  benediction  which  is  implied  in  his  name  ;  for,  in  order  that  when 
he  should  be  ready  to  enter  into  the  joy  of  his  Lord,  he  might  increase  the 
number  of  the  talents  that  had  been  committed  to  him,  he  founded  two 
monasteries,  which,  nevertheless,  by  the  indissoluble  bond  of  peace  and 
love,  were  made  one  :  of  these  he  caused  one  to  be  constructed  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Wear,  in  honour  of  Peter,  the  blessed  chief  of  the  apostles  ; 
the  other  at  Jarrow,  in  honour  of  Paul,  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  It  is 
needless  to  add  more.  After  the  example  of  holy  Abraham,  many  of  the 
sons  of.  God  that  had  been  dispersed  abroad,  quitting  the  world  and  all 
connexion  with  the  old  and  worldly  life,  there  met  together,  and  with  a 
view  to  the  erection  of  the  tower  of  evangelical  perfection  by  hohness  of 
life,  voluntarily  renouncing  all  they  had,  followed,  as  paupers,  a  penniless 
Christ.  And  thus  a  numerous  and  noble  swarm  of  monks  speedily  united 
together  as  soon  as  it  had  experienced  the  delightful  charm  of  that  hapj^y 
brotherhood  of  which  the  psalmist  speaks,  "  How  good  and  jjleasaut  a  thing 
it  is  for  brethren  to  live  together  in  vmity  !"  [Ps.  cxxxiii.  1.] 

§  6.  ]\loreover,  the  pious  care  of  parents  commended  their  hopeful  ofi"- 
spring  to  Benedict,  to  be  by  him  brought  up  for  God,  that  being  trained 
by  holy  discipline,  they  might  forget  their  people,  and  their  father's  house  : 
and  that  thus,  while  in  tender  age  they  were  presented  as  a  living  sacrifice, 
holy,  pleasing  unto  God,  they  might  begin  to  serve  the  Spirit  before  they 
could  know  the  things  that  pertain  to  flesh  and  blood.  Of  these,  one  little 
child,  nay,  the  only  one,  in  comparison  with  the  rest,  of  a  virtuous  disposition, 
was,  while  yet  in  his  seventh  year,  carried  by  his  parents  to  the  monastery, 
and  committed  to  the  aforesaid  holy  person,  to  be  specially  qualified  for 
the  holy  ministry.  For  he  was  a  native  of  an  inconsiderable  village  in  the 
territory  of  Jarrow,  past  which  sweeps  the  deep  river  Tyne,  which  falls 
into  the  ocean  at  no  great  distance. 

§  7.  The  year  of  his  birth,  as  we  gather  from  chronological  computation, 
is  found  to  be  the  677th  year  of  the  Incarnate  Word ;  which  was  the 
seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  Egfrid,  king  of  the  nation  of  Transhumbria, 
and  the  fourth  from  the  commencement  of  the  aforesaid  monastery  of 
St.  Peter.  And  here  at  first,  but  afterwards  in  the  monastery  of  the  apostle 
Paul,  his  infant  age  was  trained  under  the  curb  of  discipline  ;  and  after  the 
examjjle  of  blessed  Samuel,  who  was  of  old  "  lent  imto  the  Lord,"  the  child 
of  God  abode  in  the  temple,  that  he  might  afterwards  declare  to  the  people 
the  secrets  of  God's  word,  which  had  been  told  to  him  in  the  ear  of  his 
heart.  But  though  at  that  period  of  life  little  or  no  advantage  might  be 
expected  from  his  literary  studies,  yet  even  at  that  age,  through  the 
blessing  of  God,  sparks  of  singular  intelligence  discovered  themselves,  from 
the  force  of  natural  genius.  But  as  soon  as  he  had  acquired  a  knowledge 
of  the  liberal  arts,  and  had  cultivated  his  understanding  by  habituating  it 
to  the  grasp  of  loftier  subjects,  he  likewise  set  himself  to  pierce  into  the 


Xlu  LIFE    OF    THE    VENERAULL    BEDA. 

mysteries  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  aud  upon  their  investigation  he  expended 
all  his  powers  with  untiring  energy,  adding  prayers  to  the  prayer  of  the 
})salrnist,  "Open  thou  mine  eyes,  that  I  may  see  the  wondrous  things  of 
thy  law."  [Ps.  cxix.  18.]  And  as  he  asked  in  faith,  nothing  doubting,  there 
was  bestowed  upon  him  by  the  Father  of  lights  that  best  gift  and  perfect 
gift  of  wisdom ;  but  not  the  wisdom  of  this  world,  wliich  cometh  to 
nought,  but  that  wisdom  of  God  which  the  apostle  declares  to  be  hid  in 
mysteries.  For  he  received,  for  the  furtherance  of  his  work  of  continual 
meditation  in  the  law  of  the  Lord,  a  wakeful  eye,  endowed  with  amazing 
perspicacity  ;  to  which,  along  with  stores  of  religious  books,  there  was 
joined  the  careful  and  uniuternipted  instruction  of  masters,  di.stinguished 
for  their  ecclesiastical  learning.  And  thus  were  the  earlier  years  of  this 
memorable  person  cultivated  by  those  who  had  planted  and  watered  in  hope 
of  good  fruit  ;  and,  while  God  gave  the  increase,  a  fruitful  olive-tree  is 
preparing  in  the  house  of  God,  that  is,  the  church. 

§  8.  But  all  this,  perhaps,  some  incredulous  people  will  scarcely  believe, 
since,  as  even  the  author  of  secular  eloquence  affinus.  Everybody  leailil}' 
assents  to  what  he  thinks  he  can  easily  perform  ;  but  regards  as  fiction  all 
that  exceeds  it.  For  who  will  not  stand  amazed,  or  even  consider  it  as 
beyond  belief,  that  such  spiritual  gifts  should  abound  even  to  overflowing 
in  a  remote  comer  of  the  world  ;  that  there  the  holy  Scriptures  were  not 
only  read,  but  their  mysteries  explained,  and  thence  diffused  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  globe  !  where,  if  the  naiue  of  Chri.st  had 
never  been  heard,  certainly  it  would  have  been  no  wonder  ;  whither,  to 
speak  j)oetically, — 

"  Boreas  comes  with  droopiug  wing." 

But  hence  piety  lends  strength  to  tottering  faith,  which  declares  that  the 
majesty  of  the  Omnipotent  Spirit  is  extended  by  no  amplitude  of  space, 
is  limited  by  no  boundaries,  but  is  everywhere  present  to  all ;  whose 
Almighty  power  bestows  the  grace  of  its  inspiration  where  it  i)leti.ses. 
"  Whither,"  says  he,  "shall  I  go  from  thy  Sj^irit,  aud  whither  shall  I  flee 
from  thy  presence  ? "  [Ps.  cxxxix.  7. 

§  !).  I  will  briefly  relate,  then,  by  whose  ministiy  the  breath  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  breathed  the  riches  of  his  mercy  ujion  these  remote  shores  of  the 
ocean,  so  that  where  they  had  known  nothing  else  than  to  speak  like  l)ar- 
barians,  there  those  that  searched  into  the  wondrous  testimonies  of  the 
Lord,  pronounced  with  their  hps  all  the  judgments  of  God's  mouth.  That 
man  of  venerable  life  whom  I  mentioned  above,  Benedict  by  grace  and 
name,  while  he  was  making  several  visits  to  Rome  (for  he  made  five 
journeys  thither,  for  the  sake  of  the  monastery),  carried  back  thence, 
i)esides  many  ornaments  which  he  had  brought  for  the  beautifying  of  the 
liouse  of  God,  a  vast  collection  of  books,  as  is  reported,  of  every  sort.  For 
whatever,  in  the  way  of  ecclesia.stical  utility  or  decoration,  could  not  bo 
had  in  England,  that  France  orRome  either  had  voluntarily  presented  to  the 
l)ious  merchantman,  by  his  friends,  or  offered  it  to  him  for  purchase  at  an 
easy  price.  Besides,  he  experienced  the  liberal  munificence  of  those  glorious 
l)ontiffs  of  the  apostolic  see,  Vitalian,  and  afterwards  Agatho,  towards  the 
protection  of  the  mona-stery  which  he  had  built,  and  towards  the  magnifi- 
cence of  the  pul^lic  worship  of  the  church.  And  lie  likewise,  at  the  com- 
mand of  pope  Vitalian,  brought  to  England  archbishop  Theodore,  and  his 
colleague,  abbot  Hadrian,  truly  apost(  lie  men,  and  very  fit  ministers  of  the 
word  of  God,  seeing  that  they  were  well  versed  in  the  knowledge  both  of 
secular  and  ecclesiastical  philosophy,  and  that,  too,  in  both  languages — 
Greek  and  Latin.  AVho,  having  traversed  the  whole  island,  wheresoever 
the  race  of  the  Angles  inhabited,  and  having  collected  crowds  of  disciples, 
daily  poured  forth  the  streams  of  saving  knowledge  for  the  watering  of 
their  hearts  ;  so  that,  besides  the  volumes  of  holj'  writ,  they  imparted  to 
their  hearers  the  knowledge  of  poetry,  astronomy,  and  ecclesiastical  arith- 
metic. And  such  as  desired  instruction  in  holy  learning  had  mastei's  at 
hand  to  teach  them.  And  an  a  proof  of  this  it  may  be  observed,  that 
many  of  their  disciples  survived  them,  v.-ho  were  as  well  acc^uainted  with 
the  Greek  and  Latin  languages  as  with  their  mother  tongue. 


LIFE    OF    THE    VENERABLE    BEDA.  xUii 

§  10.  I  have  thought  it  necessary  to  say  thus  much,  lest  in  the  remote 
corners  of  the  world,  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  Scriptures  should 
appear  incredible  in  our  theologian,  Beda, for  whose  education  the  providence 
of  God's  superintendence  had  provided  an  ample  store  of  sacred  books,  and 
the  assiduous  care  of  distinguished  teachers  in  every  science.  For,  at  the 
very  time  when,  through  the  light  that  was  shed  upon  the  church  of 
England  by  the  forementioned  doctors  and  their  disciples  after  them,  the 
study  of  both  [secular  and  ecclesiastical]  literature  was  flourishing,  this 
docile  youth,  penetrated  with  a  love  of  the  sciences,  devoted  himself  with 
heart  and  soul  to  the  same  study.  And  by  the  time  that  he  had  acquired 
a  knowledge  of  Latin,  equal  to  that  which  he  had  of  his  vernacular  tongue, 
he  attained  likewise  no  slight  acquaintance  with  Greek.  Besides,  both  he 
and  the  church  of  the  apostles  with  which  he  was  connected,  had  for  an 
instructor,  both  in  reading  and  singing,  abbot  John,  archchanter  of  the 
holy  Roman  church,  who  had  been  sent  for  that  very  purpose  by  pope 
Agatho,  at  the  request  of  Benedict,  who  had  brought  him  thither.  He  also 
tells  us  himself  that  he  had  for  his  instructor  in  the  holy  Scriptures,  a 
monk  named  Tunbert,  who  had  been  educated  under  the  care  of  bishop 
Ceadda,  a  truly  pious  man,  and  well  versed  in  the  Bible.  He  had  many 
other  guides  in  the  path  of  the  Scriptures,  for  he  was  one  who,  while 
living  among  six  hundred  fellow-soldiers  in  the  holy  monastic  warfare,  (for 
this  was  the  number  that  the  forementioned  monastery  of  the  apostles 
Peter  and  Paul  contained,)  emulated  the  better  gifts  of  each  ;  insomuch 
that,  whatever  spiritual  wisdom  each  of  them  had  acquired,  he,  by  hard 
study,  drank  the  whole  from  all  of  them,  so  that  he  was  satiated  with  the 
plentifuhiess  of  God's  house,  and  of  the  river  of  his  pleasure  the  Lord  gave 
him  to  drink.  And  thus  this  eminently  wise  bee  of  the  chiu'ch,  thirsting 
for  that  sweetness  that  is  gi'ateful  to  God,  gathered  flowers  all  over  the 
held  that  the  Lord  had  blessed,  with  which  making  honey,  as  it  were,  by 
the  alchemy  of  wisdom,  he  indited  compositions  that  are  sweeter  than 
honey  and  the  honeycomb.  While  he  was  thus  burning  after  the  study  of 
divine  philosophy,  with  the  increase  of  years,  grew  also  the  grace  of  spiri- 
tual gifts  ;  so  that,  along  with  the  sjairit  of  wisdom  and  understanding, 
he  received  also  the  spiiit  of  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  by  which  he  kept  imder 
his  body  and  brought  it  into  subjection,  and  learnt,  like  the  apostle,  to 
possess  his  vessel  in  sanctification  and  honovir. 

§  11.  And  now,  when  he  was  in  his  nineteenth  year,  this  holy  Levite 
was  chosen,  as  it  were,  from  the  rest  of  the  tribes  to  minister  in  sacred 
things :  that  serving  at  the  altar  of  the  Lord,  he  might  have  our  Lord, 
with  the  true  Levites  of  the  true  sanctuary,  for  the  lot  and  portion  of  his 
inheritance,  which,  earnestly  longing  for,  with  the  psalmist,  with  sighs,  he 
cried  out,  as  he  sighed,  and  said,  "  The  Lord  is  the  portion  of  mine  inherit- 
ance, my  hope  and  my  portion  in  the  land  of  the  living."  [Ps.  xvi.  5.] 
Wherefore,  as  a  deacon,  he  solemnly  read  the  gospel,  and  in  order  that  he 
might  conform  to  his  evangelical  lessons,  he  framed  his  hfe  by  evangelical 
j)recepts,  having  the  loins  of  his  mind  girt  up,  and  his  feet  shod  with  the 
preparation  of  the  gospel  of  peace.  And  now,  being  thirty  years  of  age, 
this  blessed  person  Avas  aj^plying  himself  vigorously  to  the  study  of  a 
contemplative  life,  when,  lo  !  he  is  advanced  a  step  higher-  at  the  holy  altar, 
where,  with  the  sacrifice  of  a  t^ubled  spirit  and  a  contrite  heart,  the  Son 
is  daily  offered  up  to  the  Father  as  an  offering  of  peace  and  reconciliation. 
From  which  time,  that  is  to  say,  from  the  period  when  he  took  upon  him 
the  order  of  presbyter,  he  devoted  the  whole  of  his  acute  intellect  to  the 
exposition  of  the  holy  Scriptures  ;  and  in  the  composition  of  many  books 
of  catholic  erudition,  whatever  this  clean  animal  had,  up  to  this  time, 
ruminated,  either  by  learning,  reading,  or  meditation,  he  brought  it  aU 
up  for  holy  use  by  writing  and  teaching.  His  expanding  mind  daily 
advanced  in  mystic  lore  to  such  a  degree,  that,  through  the  direction  of 
divine  grace,  to  most  of  the  very  persons  whom  he  had  had  for  his  guides 
in  the  paths  of  the  Scripture,  he  himself;  now  more  skilful  than  they, 
became  a  guide  through  the  fathomless  depths  of  deeper  knowledge. 
Having  thus  laid  open  the  inner  mysteries,  he  gazed,  with  the  eye  of  a 
clean  heart,  upon  the  Holy  of  Holies,  while  He,  in  whom  are  hidden  all  the 


xllV  LIFE    OF    THE    VENERABLE    BEDA. 

treasures  of  ^vi.sdom  and  knowledge,  manifested  to  hiui  the  dark  and 
hidden  things  of  his  wisdom,  in  order  that  what  he  had  learnt  in  darkness, 
he  might  preach  iu  the  light,  and  what  he  had  heard  in  the  ear,  he  might 
declare  from  the  church  tops.  [Luke  xii.3.]  "Whose  fiery  word,  as  the  psalmist 
says, [Ps.  cxix.  140,]  he  sought  earnestly,  because  sublimely,  to  understand; 
and  so  he  drew  near,  as  it  were,  to  that  flaming  mount,  in  which  the  law  was 
written  with  the  finger  of  God,  where,  while  he  searches  into  the  secret  things 
of  the  sacraments,  he  enters  with  Moses  into  the  cloudy  darkness.  That 
brightness  of  Moses'  countenance,  upon  which,  in  the  understanding  of  the 
law,  the  carnal  Israel  could  not  look,  our  spiritual  Israehte,  removing  the 
veil  of  ignorance  which  is  placed  upon  the  heart  of  imbelievers,  freely 
gazed  upon  with  the  eye  of  the  intellect.  For  where  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  is,  there  is  intellectual  liberty  ;  which,  because  he  saw  it  in  the  law 
of  perfect  liberty,  his  speech  and  doctrine,  according  to  the  apostle,  was 
not  in  the  learned  words  of  human  wisdom,  but  in  the  words  of  faith, 
comparing  spiritual  things  with  spiritual,  so  that  the  deep  of  the  Old 
Testament  called  to  the  deep  of  the  gospel,  with  the  voice  of  many  waters, 
that  is,  with  the  voice  of  the  prophets  and  apostles. 

§  12.  And  now,  while  the  grace  of  God  towered  so  subUmely  in  him, 
fame  spread  the  name  of  this  celebrated  man  in  every  direction,  which 
poured  his  eminence  in  the  Scriptures  in  the  ears  of  the  church.  There 
might  you  see  the  zeal  of  the  queen  of  Sheba,  who  came  from  the  ends  of 
the  earth  to  hear  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  because  many  thronged  together 
from  far  to  hear,  by  his  interpreter,  the  wisdom  of  the  true  Solomon,  that 
is,  of  our  Peacemaker,  who  hath  made  of  both  one.  Some  cleaving  to  him 
by  intimate  companionship,  heard  the  master  himself ;  others,  who  could 
not  pei-sonally  visit  him,  addressed  him  by  letter,  soliciting  his  solutions 
of  knotty  questions  touching  chapters  in  the  Bible,  and  his  explanation  of 
obsciu-e  ones.  He  also,  at  the  request  of  some  persons,  expounded  some 
entire  books  of  canonical  authority,  "from  head  to  foot,"  as  they  say, 
treading  in  the  footsteps  of  the  fathers,  while  he  handled  the  subject  in 
a  plainer  manner.  In  this  way,  among  others,  he  put  forth  a  plain  expo- 
sition of  the  Gospel  of  St.  Luke  in  six  books,  at  the  entreaty  of  the  most 
I'everend  Acca,  bishop  of  Hexham,  whose  letter  conveying  this  request 
begins  in  these  terms  : — "I  have  often — both  absent  in  writing,  and  present 
in  conversation — suggested  to  you,  my  holy  brother,  that  after  your  exposi- 
tion of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  you  would  be  so  good  as  to  write  upon  the 
Gospel  of  Luke  also.  This  you  have  as  yet  chosen  rather  to  jnit  oft'  with 
a  paodest  apology,  than  to  execute."  Again,  in  the  course  of  the  letter  : — 
"Ex])ound  St.  Luke  in  simple  style.  And  as  St.  Ambrose  has  passed  over, 
without  notice,  several  things  which  seemed  plain  and  undeserving  of 
disquisition  to  a  man  of  such  profound  learning,  mind  that  you  carefully 
explain  these  too  ;  after  looking  into  the  work  of  other  Fathers,  either  iu 
your  own  words  or  in  theirs.  I  am  sure,  too,  that  to  your  most  heedful 
study,  who  spend  wakeful  days  and  nights  in  meditating  in  the  law  of  the 
Loi-d,  the  Author  of  hght  will  reveal  the  true  sense  of  those  passages  that 
have  been  passed  over  by  him.  For  it  is  very  right,  and  accordant  with 
the  administration  of  the  goodness  and  equity  which  is  from  above,  that 
you  who  have  wholly  withdrawn  yourself  from  worldly  occupations,  and 
pursue  with  unwearied  mind  the  eternal  spid  true  light  of  wisdom,  should 
here  obtain  a  fragment  of  that  ])urer  intelligence,  and  hereafter  contem- 
plate with  a  pure  heart  the  King  himself  in  his  glory,  in  whom  are  hid  all 
the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge."  In  these  words  the  holy  mau 
l)oth  gives  us  a  hint  of  the  sanctity  of  this  venerable  doctor,  and  shows 
that  he  w'as  alwaj's  free  from  worldly  oiTU])atioi:s,  and  devoted  to  busy 
leisure  in  the  contemplation  of  true  and  ciirnal  wisdom. 

§  13.  Finally, — and  this  also  Beda  mcnt  inns  ut' himself, — during  his  whole 
life,  which  he  spent  in  his  dwelling  in  the  t)ft-mentioned  monastery  of  the 
blessed  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  he  gave  up  all  his  time,  as  is  apparent 
Ironi  what  has  been  already  said,  to  meditation  upon  the  Scriptures,  and 
iu  the  interval  between  the  observance  of  the  regular  discipline  and  the 
daily  duty  of  singing  at  church,  he  counted  it  his  delight  to  be  always 
either  studying,  or  teaching,  or  writing.     And  so  after  his  works  had  been 


LIFE    OF    THE    VENERABLE    BEDA.  xlv 

finished  with  the  greatest  labour,  and  with  blameless  application  for  niue- 
and-twenty  years,  having  received  the  reward  of  his  holy  conversation  and 
pious  labour  in  the  church,  he  groaned,  being  burdened  with  the  weight 
of  the  body  of  this  death,  desiring  that  the  house  of  his  earthly  taber- 
nacle being  dissolved,  he  might  be  deemed  worthy  to  have  "  a  dwelling  of 
God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens."  [2  Cor.  v.  1.] 
And,  therefore,  as  a  precaution  that  they  might  not  be  forgotten,  having 
specified  by  their  titles  all  the  books  that  he  had  written,  when  the  laying 
down  of  his  tabernacle  was  at  hand,  he,  with  the  ardour  of  incredible 
longing,  panting  for  the  fountain  of  water  that  springeth  up  unto  life 
eternal,  uttered  this  short  prayer  : — 

"  1  beseech  Thee,  merciful  Jesu,  seeing  that  Thou  hast  graciously  granted 
me  sweetly  to  taste  the  words  of  thy  wisdom,  to  grant  me  also,  of  thy  good- 
ness, to  come  at  last  to  Thee,  the  fountain  of  all  wisdom,  and  to  appear  for 
ever  before  thy  face." ' 


Here  begins  the  Secoxd  Book. 


in  the  fire  of  divine  love,  wished,  yea  fainted,  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord, 
that,  beholding  the  God  of  gods  in  Sion — having  cast  off  that  which  is  in 
part,  he  might  apprehend  that  which  is  perfect — and  that  which  he  here 
saw  in  a  glass  darkly,  he  might  there  see  face  to  face.  The  Godhead  was 
present  in  mercy  to  the  wishes  and  prayers  of  his  suppliant  servant,  and 
willed  that  he,  who  in  mercy  and  pity  was  to  be  crowned,  should  be  purged 
with  the  discipline  of  holy  castigation,  in  order  that  no  spot  or  wrinkle  of 
sin  might  remain  in  him  ;  so  that,  being  purer  than  the  purest  gold,  puri- 
fied in  the  furnace  of  a  long  sickness,  he  might  shine  as  a  precious  stone  in 
the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  which  is  built  as  a  city. 

§  1.5.  At  last  he  was  seized  with  a  severe  attack  of  tightness  of  the  chest, 
insomuch  that,  owing  to  difficulty  in  the  passage  of  the  throat,  his  voice 
became  scarcely  audible,  being  checked  by  a  gasping  for  breath.  And  this 
suffering  from  nearly-intercepted  breathing  continued  to  afflict  him  for 
many,  that  is  to  say,  for  fifty-three  days ;  but  as  virtue  is  made  perfect  in 
weakness,  he  gladly,  with  the  apostle,  gloried  in  his  infirmities  [2  Cor. 
xii.  5]  :  for,  unless  when  lassitude,  by  httle  and  httle,  obliged  him  to  slum- 
ber, neither  the  sun  by  day  nor  the  moon  by  night  saw  him  abstaining 
from  the  praises  of  God ;  so  that,  even  then  upon  the  bed  of  pain,  he  would 
break  forth  into  expressions  of  exultation  or  confession  : — "  I  will  confess 
unto  Thee,  O  Lord,  in  the  uprightness  of  my  heart,  who,  in  chastising, 
chastisest  me,  that  Thou  mayest  not  deliver  me  over  unto  death,  that 
when  I  enter  the  gates  of  righteousness,  I  may,  with  the  blessed  that  dwell 
in  thine  house,  be  thought  worthy  to  praise  Thee  for  ever  and  ever."  The 
saving  doctrine,  too,  namely  the  flow  of  that  river  which  was  wont  to  make 
glad  the  city  of  God,  that  is,  the  holy  church,  although  it  grew  languid, 
still  did  not  even  then  cease  to  flow  from  his  hps — that  is,  the  pipe  of 
living  water. 

§  16.  This  is  attested  in  his  letter  to  his  fellow-disciple,  Cuthwin,  by 
Cuthbert,  who  with  others  never  for  a  moment  quitted  the  bed-side  of  his 
sick  and  dying  master.  "  Day  after  day,"  says  he,  "  he  would  read  the 
holy  Scriptures  to  us  his  disciples,  and  expound  to  us  their  mystic  mean- 
ing. And  after  reading,  he  would  pass  the  rest  of  the  day  in  singing  with 
the  spirit,  singing  with  the  understanding  also  :  for,  instructed  by  the 
teaching  of  holy  David,  he  at  once  praised  and  prayed  to  the  Lord  "  that 
He  would  deliver  him  from  his  enemies,  because  the  Lord  is  nigh  unto  all 
that  call  upon  him  in  truth  ;  that  he  would  do  the  will  of  them  that  fear 
Him,  and  hear  their  cry,  and  save  them."  He  had  already,  a  long  time 
before,  very  carefiilly  corrected  his  works  ;  and  now,  too,  though  he  was 
constantly  swooning  from  shortness  of  breath,  he  again  and  again  set  him- 

1  See  the  Eccl.  Hist.  §  456. 


Xlvi  LIFE    OF    THE    VENERABLE    BEDA. 

self  to  amend  stime  minor  matters  that  had  been  overlooked  while  he  was 
occupied  with  things  of  greater  moment,  in  order  that,  when  reposing  in 
peace  from  his  lal)uurs  in  the  place  which  was  i)repared  for  him,  not  only 
no  sentiment  of  his  might  offend  any  ecclesiaxtical  person,  but  no  expres- 
sion either  gaping  with  vowels  or  rugged  with  consonants  might  occasion 
imeasiness  to  the  learned  grammarian.  For,  as  has  been  remarked,  how- 
ever elegant  and  disciplined  the  genius  may  he,  and  however,  by  long  prac- 
tice, the  language  may  glide  smoothly  on,  still,  imless  it  be  smoothed  and 
poHshed  by  the  author's  hand,  the  rust  of  negligence  will  betray  itself. 

§  17.  While  thus  engaged,  the  memorable  doctor  was  convulsed  witli 
still  more  violent  pantiugs  ;  and  now,  on  the  verge  of  a  happy  triumpli 
after  his  departure,  he  was  vehemently  urged  on  to  pay  the  debt  of  death 
by  a  difficulty  of  breathing  ;  while  a  swelling  that  indicated  the  commence- 
ment of  mortification  had  already  appeared  in  the  lower  parts  of  his  body. 
And  he,  like  a  branch  abiding  in  Christ,  the  vine,  although  he  had  already 
brought  forth  the  fruit  of  a  sweet  odour,  yet  did  God,  the  husbandman, 
purge  him  by  scourging  him  more  severely,  that  he  might  bring  forth  a 
greater  abundance  of  wholesome  fruit.  But  lest  he  should  curse  God  to 
his  face,  by  murmuring  against  the  will  of  his  Lord,  he  draws  from  the 
mercy-seat  of  God's  word  sayings  to  confirm  his  hoj^e  and  exultation : — 
"  My  son,  despise  not  thou  the  chastening  of  the  Lord,  nor  faint  when  thou 
art  rebuked  of  Him.  For  whom  the  Lord  loveth  He  chasteueth,  and 
scourgeth  every  son  whom  He  receiveth.  For,"  saith  the  apostle,  "  what 
sou  is  he  whom  the  father  chasteueth  not  V  [Heb.  xii.  5, 6.]  And  again, 
of  those  that  are  predestinated  for  the  kingdom  of  God,  he  says  : — "  He 
who  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  gave  Him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall  He  not 
with  Him  also  freely  give  us  all  things  ?  "  "  When,"  said  he,  "  this  promise 
shall  be  fulfilled,  what  shall  we  be,  what  manner  of  persons  shalLwe  be, 
what  blessings  shall  we  receive  in  that  kingdom,  seeing  that,  througli 
Christ  dying  for  us,  we  have  already  received  such  a  pledge  V  On  the 
other  hand,  he  thought  that  nothing  was  so  xmhappy  as  the  happiness  of 
sinners  who  pass  their  days  in  pleasure,  and  in  a  moment  go  down  into 
hell  ;  who  are  not  occui^ied  in  the  labours  of  men,  and  are  not  scourged 
with  men,  that  they  may  be  tormented  for  ever  with  deviLs.  And  truly 
the  divine  severity  allows  such  jjersons  the  desires  of  their  heart  without 
stint,  because  it  condemns  them  with  terrible  and  righteous  sentence  ;  and 
against  them,  under  the  character  of  undone  and  lost  Jerusalem,  is  that 
tremendous  sentence  passed  by  God  when  he  is  forsaking  them  : — "  I  will 
make  my  fury  toward  thee  to  rest,  and  my  jealousy  shall  depart  from 
thee."  [Ezek.  xiv.  42.]  But  as  for  those  whom  He  hath  predestinated  as 
vessels  of  mercy,  "He  visits  their  offences  with  a  rod,  and  their  sins  with 
scourges ;"  upon  whom  He  will  bestow  the  blessing  of  the  predestinated 
inheritance,  "when,"  as  the  Scripture  saith,  "He  giveth  his  beloved  sleep." 
|P.s.  cxxvii.  2.]  And  that  saying  of  St.  Ambrose,  "I  have  not  so  hved  as  to 
1)0  ashamed  to  have  lived  amongst  you  ;  neither  am  I  afraid  to  die,"  is  a 
brief  commendation,  but  enough  for  a  man  whose  walk  was  perfect.  Nor 
is  it  to  be  set  down  as  a  mark  of  arrogance  that  what  was  imitable  by  all, 
he  affirmed  of  himself,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  heard  him,  that  they 
might  "  glorify  our  Father  who  is  in  heaven :  "  and  this,  too,  when  he  was 
just  at  his  last  gasp.  When  the  praise  of  virtue  puft's  not  up  the  praised 
heart  with  pride,  and  when  the  hearers  are  the  more  inflamed  with  a  zeal 
for  virtue,  the  condition  of  the  body  sets  before  their  eyes  the  absolute 
unavoidableness  of  death  ;  wherefore  the  apostle,  (who  had  said  just  before, 
"  I  am  the  least  of  the  apostles,  that  am  not  meet  to  be  called  an  apostle, 
])ecause  I  persecuted  the  chm-ch  of  God,"  [1  Cor.  xv.  9,] )  when  the  hour  of 
his  departiU'C  was  at  hand,  commending  himself,  but  still  in  tlie  Loi'd,  that 
"  lie  tliat  glorieth  let  him  glory  in  the  Lord,"  saith,  "  I  have  fought  a  good 
fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith ;  henceforth  there  is 
laid  up  for  me  a  crowu  of  righteousness."  [2  Tim.  iv.  8.] 

§  1«.  With  these  and  similar  passages  of  Scripture,  he,  in  a  mea.sure, 
deadened  his  sense  of  pain  in  the  midst  of  all  his  infirmities,  whilst  with 
tears  of  love  he  drew  in  "the  nudtitudc  of  thy  mercy,0  Lord,  which  Thouhast 
laid  up  for  them  that  fear  Thoo  ;  which  Thou  hast  wrought  for  them  that 


LIFE    OF    THE    VENERABLE    BEDA.  xlvii 

trust  in  Thee."  [Ps.  xxxi.  19.]  Meanwhile  began  the  annual  order  of  the  sea- 
sons to  bring  round  the  festive  day  of  the  church,  on  which  the  Son  of  God, 
ascending  with  triumph  into  the  highest  heaven,  by  his  power  led  our 
captivity  captive  :  a  day,  I  say,  longed  for  by  Beda,  which  was  to  bring  to 
a  close  his  transient  day,  and  to  give  a  beginning  to  that  which  lasteth  for 
ever  and  ever.  V/herefore  he,  it  would  appear,  forewarned  of  the  hour  of 
his  departure,  on  the  day  before  his  death  commanded  his  disciples  to 
come  near,  that  they  might  deliberately  ask  for  his  solution  of  any  doubts 
that  were  still  lingering  in  their  minds,  and  commit  his  solutions  to 
wi'iting,  lest  they  should  forget  them.  And  then  there  was  the  interro- 
gation of  the  inquirer  mixed  with  weeping  ;  aye,  and  the  voice  of  eager 
questioners  choked  with  sobs.  And  while  unrestrained  grief  cannot  be  sated 
with  tears,  it  checks  the  issue  of  the  breath  in  the  very  throat.  And  no 
wonder  ;  for  when  once  they  shall  have  lost  such  a  master,  they  must 
abandon  all  hope  of  ever  receiving  instruction  like  his. 

§  19.  And  soon  after  an  affectionate  circle  of  brethren  encompass  the 
dying  man,  who  exhorts  them,  that,  forgetting  those  things  that  are  behind, 
and  reaching  forward  to  those  things  that  are  before,  they  should  obtain 
the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God,  and  bear  in  mind  the  lesson  taught  by 
the  example  of  Joseph's  Egyptian  mistress,  namely,  that  the  cloak  to  worldly 
concupiscence,  that  is,  the  ensnaring  ties  of  things  secular,  must  be  cast 
aside  ;  that  while  they  rid  themselves  of  her  unchaste  embraces  by  flight, 
by  bringing  the  sinful  flesh  into  subjection,  they  must  subdue  the  kingdom 
of  Egypt,  that  is,  the  sway  of  their  vices.  He  tells  them  that  they  can  in 
no  otherwise  give  an  experimental  proof  of  Christ  dwelling  in  them  than 
by  the  spirit  of  holy  charity,  which  cannot  be  sundered.  That  they,  who, 
by  communion  of  the  bread  from  heaven,  are  made  one  body  in  Christ, 
must  not  be  divided  from,  the  unity  of  the  same  body  hj  the  spirit  of 
dissension.  And,  "  Oh,"  said  he,  "  my  most  beloved  brethren,  since  I  must 
now  pay  the  debt  of  nature,  I  beseech  you  to  implore  the  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father  of  mercies,  that,  through  Him  in  whom  the 
prince  of  this  world  foimd  nothing.  He  would  send  the  angel  of  peace 
to  meet  me  for  my  good,  encompassed  by  whose  guardian  care  I  shall 
not  be  confounded  when  I  speak  with  mine  enemies  in  the  gate.  For 
hideed  I  long  to  be  dissolved,  and  to  be  with  Christ,  whose  death  having 
destroyed  death,  I  firmly  trust  that  I  shall  pass  from  death  to  life.  And 
if  I  have  in  any  measure  toiled  on  your  behalf,  if  I  have  brought  to  the 
church  any  fruit,  however  small,  I  ask  of  you  no  other  return,  than  that, 
when  I  am  gone,  you  will  not  forget  me  in  that  place  where  Christ  is  at 
once  the  priest  and  the  peace-ofiering."  This  touched  the  affectionate 
hearts  of  the  brethren,  who  at  last  gave  full  vent  to  their  tears — the  result, 
on  the  one  hand,  of  exceeding  joy  ;  on  the  other,  of  boundless  grief.  They 
rejoiced  that  they  had  had  a  share  in  cherishing  him  who  was  now  on  the 
point  of  going  to  heaven  ;  they  mourned,  because  in  him  a  hght  of  the 
church  was  about  to  be  extinguished.  But  because  faith  hath  sometimes 
no  perception  of  its  loss,  however  great  that  loss  may  be,  they  did  not  so 
much  deplore  their  bereavement,  as  congratulate  themselves  upon  his 
entering  upon  his  abode  with  God,  to  whom  all  things  live. 

§  20.  All  this  time,  while  he  was  in  joyful  expectation  of  the  hour  of 
death,  or  rather  of  the  beginning  of  life  eternal,  there  remained  one  portion 
of  Scripture,  respecting  which  his  disciples  felt  themselves  constrained  to 
ask  their  master's  opinion.  When  they  had  obtained  this  from  him,  and 
it  had  been  written  down,  and  when  the  transcriber  said,  "  It  is  finished," 
catching  at  the  word  of  consummation  with  more  than  his  usual  cheerful- 
ness, he  joyfully  exclaimed,  "  Well  and  truly  hast  thou  spoken  :  B  isfinishedr 
That  was  all :  he  begged  to  be  laid  upon  the  floor  of  his  little  cell,  in  which 
he  had  been  wont  to  write,  to  dictate,  to  study,  and  teach  ;  and  there  he 
lay,  with  his  head  raised  a  little  by  the  hands  of  his  friends,  so  that,  with 
the  oratory  facing  him,  in  which  he  had  been  accustomed  to  pray  in  secret, 
and  the  very  sight  of  which  now  afforded  him  pleasure,  he  might  "worship 
toward  thy  holy  temple,  and  confess  thy  name,  O  Loi'd."  Preparing  him- 
self in  this  way  for  his  journey  heavenward,  and  for  his  approach  to  God  the 
Fountain  of  living  water,  he  said,  "  IMy  heart  said  unto  Thee,  O  Lord,  I  have 


XlVUl  LIFE    OF    THE    VENERABLE    BEDA. 

sought  thy  face.  O  Lord,  I  beseech  Thee,  turn  not  away  from  thy  face, 
upon  which  the  angels  desire  to  gaze." 

§  21.  Now  came  the  festive  day  of  memorable  solemnity — the  day  on 
which  oiu"  Head  and  Chief  went  before  us  into  heaven,  that  thither  the 
members  of  his  believing  people  might  follow  Him  :  when  this  holy  person, 
as  if  his  eyen  were  fixed  upon  Jesus  now  ascending,  sighed  through  all  his 
frame  to  follow  Him,  the  breath  now  panting  in  his  hands,  with  his  hands 
stretched  out  in  praise  of  the  ascension  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  one  who  was 
himself  on  the  point  of  ascending,  he  exclaimed,  "  O  King  of  gloiy.  Lord 
of  power,  who  didst  ascend  this  day,  a  victor,  above  all  heavens,  leave  us 
not  destitute,  leave  us  not  destitute,  but  send  to  us  the  promise  of  the 
Father,  even  the  Spirit  of  truth.  Hallelujah."  When  he  had  added  the 
l)raise  of  the  holy  and  imdivided  Trinity,  "  Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to 
the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost,"  as  he  was  naming  the  Holy  Spirit,  his 
spirit  was  loosened  from  the  flesh,  and  was  instantly  carried  to  heaven  by 
a  blessed  company  of  holy  spirits,  where  minghng  with  the  hymning  choir 
in  the  new  Jerusalem,  the  blessed  man  joins  for  ever  in  praising  the  King 
eternal,  the  Lord  of  hosts.  One  in  substance.  Three  in  Persons. 

§  22.  Thus  went  the  way  of  his  fathers  that  pillar  and  Doctor  of  the  church, 
the  venerable  Beda  ;  and  thereupon  the  devoted  affection  of  the  brethren, 
after  bemoaning  with  tears  the  lot  of  our  mortality,  and  testifying  their 
joy  in  the  hojie  of  a  resurrection,  with  anthems,  that  re-echoed  from  every 
side,  reverently  celebrated  his  obsequies,  and  solemnly  committed  to  the 
tomb  the  remains  of  him  who  had  been  at  once  their  pupil  and  their 
instructor.  He  entered  upon  his  sleep  of  eternal  repose  in  the  reign  of 
Ceolwulf,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  seven  hundred  and  thirty-five,  and  in  the 
fifty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  which  was  the  hundred  and  first  year  after  the 
church  of  Christ  had  been  founded  and  established  in  the  province  of  the 
Bernicii  by  a  most  illustrious  king  and  a  most  holy  bishop,  I  mean  Oswald 
and  Aidan,  which  still  exists,  and  exults  in  the  catholic  faith,  under  its 
author  and  ruler  God,  the  Son  of  God,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whom,  living 
and  reigning  for  ever  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  every  spirit 
praises  and  worships  as  the  Lord. 


THE 

ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTOEY 

OF 

THE    ENGLISH    NATION, 


BY  THE  VENERABLE  BEDA. 


BOOK  I. 


PREFACE. 


To  the  most  glorious  King  Ceolwulph,^  Beda,  the  Servant  of  Christ, 
and  Presbyter. 

I  FORMERLY,  at  your  request,  most  readily  transmitted  to  you  the 
Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  English  Nation,  which  I  had  lately 
published,  that  you  might  read  it,  and  give  it  your  approbation  ; 
and  I  now  send  it  again  to  be  transcribed,  and  more  fully  considered 
at  your  leisure.  And  I  cannot  but  commend  the  sincerity  and 
zeal,  with  which  you  not  only  diligently  give  ear  to  hear  the  words 
of  Holy  Scripture,  but  also  industriously  take  care  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  actions  and  sayings  of  former  men  of  renown, 
especially  those  of  our  own  nation.  For  when  history  relates  good 
things  of  good  men,  the  attentive  hearer  is  excited  to  imitate  that 
which  is  good;  or  when  it  mentions  evil  things  of  wicked  persons, 
nevertheless  the  religious  and  pious  hearer  or  reader,  by  shunning 
that  which  is  hurtful  and  perverse,  is  the  more  earnestly  excited  to 
perform  those  things  which  he  knows  to  be  good,  and  worthy  of 
God.  Of  which  you  also  being  most  deeply  sensible,  are  desirous 
that  the  said  histoiy  should  be  more  fully  made  familiar  not  only  to 
yourself,  but  also  to  those  over  whom  the  Divine  Authority  has 
appointed  you  governor,  from  your  great  regard  to  their  general 
welfare. 

1  Ceolwulf,  king  of  Northumbria,  succeeded  Osric  9  May,  729,  and  in  737  he 
resigned  his  crown,  and  became  a  monk  at  Lindisfarne.  The  date  of  his  death 
is  uncertain.  Mabillon,  (Act.  SS.  ord.  S.  Bened.  III.  ii.  159,)  following  Florence, 
assigns  it  to  a.d.  760;  but  a  preference  should  apparently  be  given  to  the  authority 
of  the  northern  historians,  Symeon  of  Durham  and  Hoveden,  who  refer  it  to  764. 
An  outline  of  his  history  may  be  seen  in  the  Acta  Sanctorum  of  the  Bollandists, 
Jan.  tom.  i.  p.  1081,  and  in  the  Acta  Sanctorum  ord.  S.  Bened.  III.  ii.  158. 
VOL.   I.  X 


306  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND. 

§  2.  But  to  the  end  that  I  may  remove  both  from  yourself  and 
other  readers  or  hearers  of  this  history  all  occasion  of  doubting  as 
to  what  I  have  written,  I  will  take  care  briefly  to  intimate  from 
what  authors  I  chiefly  learned  the  same. 

My  principal  authority  and  assistant  in  this  work  was  the  most 
learned  and  reverend  Abbot  Albinus  ;'  who,  educated  in  the  church 
of  Canterbury  by  those  most  venerable  and  learned  men,  archbishop 
Theodore  of  blessed  memory,  and  the  abbot  Adrian,  carefully 
transmitted  to  me  by  Nothelm,^  the  pious  priest  of  the  church  of 
London,  either  in  writing,  or  by  word  of  mouth  of  the  same 
Nothelm,  all  that  he  thought  worthy  of  memory,  that  had  been 
done  in  the  province  of  Kent,  or  in  the  adjacent  parts,  by  the 
disciples  of  the  blessed  pope  Gregory,  as  he  had  learned  the  same 
either  from  written  records,  or  the  traditions  of  his  ancestors.  The 
same  Nothelm,  afterwards  going  to  Rome,  having,  with  leave  of  the 
pope  Gregor}^^  who  now  presides  over  that  church,  searched  into  the 
archives  of  the  holy  Roman  see,  found  there  some  epistles  of  the 
blessed  pope  Gregory,  and  other  popes  ;  and  returning  home,  by 
the  advice  of  the  aforesaid  most  reverend  father  Albinus,  he  brought 
them  to  me,  to  be  inserted  in  my  history.  Thus,  from  the  beginning 
of  this  volume  to  the  time  when  the  English  nation  received  the 
faith  of  Christ,  we  have  learned  what  we  have  stated  from  the 
writings  of  our  predecessors,  and  from  them  gathered  matter  for 
our  history;  but  from  that  time  till  the  present,  what  was  transacted 
in  the  church  of  Canterbury,  by  the  disciples  of  St.  Gregory  or 
their  successors,  and  under  what  kings  the  same  happened,  has 
been  conveyed  to  us  by  Nothelm,  through  the  care  of  the  aforesaid 
abbot  Albinus.  They  also  partly  informed  me  by  what  bishops, 
and  under  what  kings,  the  provinces  of  the  East  and  West  Saxons, 
as  also  of  the  East  Angles,  and  of  the  Northumbrians,  received  the 
faith  of  Christ.  In  short,  I  was  chiefly  encouraged  in  venturing 
to  undertake  this  work,  by  the  persuasions  of  the  same  Albinus. 
In  like  manner,  Daniel,'*  the  most  reverend  bishop  of  the  West 
Saxons,  who  is  still  living,  communicated  to  me  in  writing  some 
things  relating  to  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  that  province,  and 
that  next  adjoining  to  it  of  the  South  Saxons,  as  also  of  the  Isle  of 
Wight.  But  how,  by  the  pious  ministry  of  the  religious  priests  of 
Christ,  Cedd  and  Ceadda,  the  province  of  the  Mercians  was  brought 
to  the  faith  of  Christ,  which  they  knew  not  before,  and  how  that  of 
the  East  Saxons  recovered  the  same,  after  having  renounced  it,  and 

'  Albinus,  abbot  of  Canterburj',  must  not  be  Confounded,  as  some  writers  have 
done,  with  his  more  celebrated  namesake,  Albinus,  or  Alcuin,  of  York,  who  died 
in  804.  A  letter  from  Beda  to  this  correspondent  of  his,  thanking  him  for  the 
transmission  of  documents  to  be  inserted  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History,  will  be 
found  in  its  proper  place. 

^  This  Nothelm  succeeded  Tatwyne  as  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  died  in 
739  or  741. 

^  Possibly  Gregory  II,  who  filled  the  papal  chair  from  19  May,  715,  to  11  Feb. 
731,  but  more  probably  Gregory  III,  who  succeeded  to  the  vacant  throne  .and 
occu]iied  it  until  741. 

*  Daniel,  bishop  of  the  West  Saxons,  resigned  his  see  in  744 ;  the  date  of  his 
death  is  vmcertain.  Many  of  hia  letters  will  be  found  in  the  correspondence  with 
Boniface. 


BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK  I.  307 

how  those  fathers  Hved  and  died,  we  dihgently  learned  from  the 
brethren  of  the  monastery,  which  was  built  by  them,  and  is  called 
Laestingaeu/  What  ecclesiastical  transactions  took  place  in  the 
province  of  the  East  Angles,  was  partly  made  known  to  us  from 
the  writings  and  tradition  of  our  ancestors,  and  partly  by  the 
relation  of  the  most  reverend  abbot  Esi.  Wliat  was  done  towards 
promoting  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  what  was  the  sacerdotal  succession 
in  the  province  of  Lindissi,  we  learned  either  from  the  letters  of  the 
most  reverend  prelate  Cyniberet,  or  by  word  of  mouth  from  other 
persons  of  good  credit.  But  what  was  done  in  the  church 
throughout  the  different  districts  in  the  province  of  the  Northum- 
brians, from  the  time  when  they  received  the  faith  of  Christ  till 
this  present,  I  received  not  from  any  one  particular  author,  but  by 
the  faithful  testimony  of  innumerable  witnesses,  who  might  well 
know  or  remember  the  same ;  in  addition  to  what  I  had  of  my  own 
knowledge.  Wlierein  it  is  to  be  obsei'ved,  that  what  I  have  written 
concerning  our  most  holy  father,  bishop  Cuthbert,^  either  in  this 
volume,  or  in  my  treatise  on  his  actions,  I  partly  took,  and  faith- 
fully copied  from  what  I  found  previously  written  of  him  by  the 
brethren  of  the  church  of  Lindisfarne,  yielding  simple  faith  to  the 
narrative,  which  I  read  ;  partly,  at  the  same  time,  taking  care  to 
aSd  sucl#  things  as  I  could  myself  have  knowledge  of  by  the  most 
certain  testimony  of  faithful  men.  And  I  humbly  entreat  the 
reader,  that  if  he  shall  in  this  writing  of  mine  find  anything  not 
delivered  according  to  the  truth,  he  will  not  impute  the  same  to 
me,  for  I  (as  the  true  rule  of  histoiy  requires),  have  laboured 
sincerely  to  commit  to  writing  such  things  as  I  Could  gather  from 
common  report,  for  the  instruction  of  posterity. 

§  3.  JNIoreover,-''  I  beseech  all  men  who  shall  hear  or  read  this 
history  of  our  nation,  that  for  my  manifold  infirmities  both  of  mind 
and  body,  they  will  remember  to  offer  up  frequent  supphcations  to 
the  throne  of  Grace.  And  I  further  pray,  that  in  recompense  for 
the  labour  wherewith  I  have  recorded  those  events,  connected  with 
each  province,  or  Higher  Places,*  which  were  most  worthy  of  note, 
and  most  grateful  to  the  ears  of  their  inhabitants,  I  may  for  my 
reward  find  the  benefit  of  their  pious  prayers. 


Chap.   I.' — Of  the  situation  of  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  of  their 

ANCIENT    inhabitants. 

§  4.  Britain,  an  island  in  the  ocean,  formerly  called  Albion,  is 
situated  between  the  north  and  west,  opposite,  though  at  a  consider- 
able distance,  to  the  coasts  of  Germany,  France,  and  Spain,  which 
form  the  greatest  part  of  Europe.     It  extends  800  miles  in  length 

1  Probably,  near  Whitby ;  but  its  exact  locality  is  uncertain. 

2  Beda's  own  narrative  of  the  life  of  St.  Cuthbert,  and  the  earlier  narrative  to 
which  he  here  alludes,  will  be  found  in  their  own  jjroper  places  in  this  collection. 

*  The  greater  number  of  the  MSS.  place  this  paragraph  at  the  end  of  the  wort, 
but  the  arrangement  which  is  here  adopted  has  the  authority  of  the  earliest 
known  copy. 

*  Beda  here  refers  to  his  treatise  upon  Holy  Places. 

^  This  chapter  is  a  compilation  from  various  authors,  chiefly  from  Pliny, 
Solinus,  Orosius,  and  Gildas. 

X  2 


308  CHURCH     HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND. 

towards  the  north,  and  is  200  miles  in  breadth,  except  where  several 
promontories  extend  further  in  breadth,  by  which  its  compass  is 
made  to  be  3675  miles.  To  the  south,  as  you  pass  along  the 
nearest  shore  of  the  Belgic  Gaul,  the  first  place  in  Britain  which 
opens  to  the  eye,  is  the  city  of  "  Rutubi  Portus,"  by  the  English 
corrupted  into  "  Reptacestir.'"  Tlie  distance  from  hence  across  the 
sea  to  Gessoriacum,'^  the  nearest  shore  of  the  Morini,  is  fifty  miles, 
or  as  some  write,  450  furlongs.  On  the  back  of  the  island,  where 
it  opens  upon  the  boundless  ocean,  it  has  the  islands  called 
Orcades. 

§  5.  Britain  is  an  island  rich  in  grain  and  trees,  and  is  well  adapted 
for  feeding  cattle  and  beasts  of  burden.  It  also  produces  vines  in 
some  places,  and  has  plenty  of  land  and  water-fowl  of  several  sorts  ; 
it  is  celebrated  also  for  rivers  abounding  in  fish,  and  for  plentiful 
springs.  It  has  the  greatest  profusion  of  salmon  and  eels  ;  porpoises 
are  also  frequently  taken,  and  dolphins,  as  also  whales  ;  besides 
many  sorts  of  shell-fish,  such  as  muscles,  in  which  are  often  found 
excellent  pearls  of  all  colours,  red,  purple,  violet,  and  green,  but 
mostly  white.  There  is  also  a  veiy  great  abundance  of  cockles, 
from  which  the  scarlet  dye  is  made  ;  the  most  beautiful  colour  of 
which  never  fades  with  the  heat  of  the  sun  or  the  washing  of  the 
rain,  but  the  older  it  is  the  more  lovely  it  becomes.  It  has  both 
salt  and  hot  springs,  and  from  tliem  flow  rivers  which  furnish  hot 
baths  adapted  for  all  ages  and  sexes,  and  locally  distributed 
accordingly.  For  water,  as  St.  BasiP  says,  receives  the  quality 
of  heat  by  running  along  certain  metals,  and  becomes  not  only  hot, 
but  even  scalding.  Britain  has  also  many  veins  of  metals,*  as 
copper,  iron,  lead,  and  silver ;  it  produces  much  and  excellent  jet, 
which  is  black  and  sparkling,  glittering  when  placed  near  the  fire ; 
when  heated  it  drives  away  serpents  ;  being  warmed  with  rubbing, 
it  holds  fast  whatever  is  applied  to  it  like  amber.  The  island  was 
formerly  embellished  with  twenty-eight  noble  cities,^  besides  innu- 
merable castles,  which  were  all  strongly  secured  with  walls,  towers, 
gates  and  locks. 

§  6.  And,  since  Britain  is  situated  almost  under  the  North  Pole, 
the  nights  arc  light  in  summer,  so  that  at  midnight  the  beholders 
are  often  in  doubt  whether  the  evening  twilight  still  continues,  or 
that  of  the  morning  has  already  come  on;  for  the  sun,  in  the  night, 
returns  eastward  under  the  earth,  through  the  northern  regions  at 
no  great  distance  from  them.  For  this  reason  the  days  are  of  a 
great  length  in  summer,  as,  on  the  contrary,  the  nights  are  in 
winter,  for  the  sun  then  withdraws  into  the  southern  parts,  so  tliat 
the  nights  are  eighteen  hours  long.  Thus,  also,  the  nights  arc 
extraordinarily  short  in  summer,  as  are  the  days  in  winter,  that  is, 
of  only  six  equinoctial  hours  ;  whereas,  in  Armenia,  Macedonia, 
Italy,  and  other  countries  of  the  same  line,  the  longest  day  or  night 
extends  l)ut  to  fifteen  hours,  and  the  shortest  to  nine. 

1  Now  llichborough,  iu  Kent.  ^  Boulogne. 

'  In  Hesaein.  torn.  i.  p.  39,  ed.  Bened.        *  See  Camden's  Britan.  col.  90S. 
'  An  attempt  to  identify  these  cities  may  be  seen  in  Ussher's  Antiq.  Brit, 
p.  33,  ed.  1087. 


BEDA  S    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY. BOOK  I.  301> 

§  7.  This  island  at  the  present  time,  foUowing  the  number  of  the 
books  in  which  the  Divine  Law  was  written,  contains  five  nations, 
the  Angles,  Britons,  Scots,  Picts,  and  Latins,  each  in  its  own 
peculiar  dialect  cultivating  one  and  the  same  sublime  study  of 
Divine  truth  and  true  sublimity.  The  Latin  tongue,  by  the  study 
of  the  Scriptures,  has  become  common  to  all  the  rest.  At  first 
this  island  had  no  other  inhabitants  but  the  Britons,  from  whom  it 
derived  its  name,  and  who,  carried  over  into  Britain,  as  is  reported, 
from  the  tract  of  Armorica,  possessed  themselves  of  the  southern 
parts  thereof.  When  they,  beginning  at  the  south,  had  made 
themselves  masters  of  the  greatest  part  of  the  island,  it  happened, 
that  the  nation  of  the  Picts,  from  Scythia,  as  is  reported,  putting  to 
sea,  in  a  few  long  ships,  were  driven  by  the  winds  beyond  all  the 
shores  of  Britain,  and  arrived  on  the  northern  coasts  of  Ireland, 
where,  finding  the  nation  of  the  Scots,  they  begged  to  be  allowed 
to  settle  among  them  in  those  parts,  but  could  not  succeed  in 
obtaining  their  request.  Ireland  is  the  greatest  island  next  to 
Britain,  and  lies  to  the  west  of  it ;  but  as  it  is' shorter  than  Britain 
to  the  north,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  it  runs  out  far  beyond  it  to  the 
south,  opposite  to  the  northern  parts  of  Spain,  though  a  spacious 
sea  lies  between  them.  The  Picts,  as  has  been  said,  arriving  in 
this  island  by  sea,  desired  to  have  a  place  granted  them  in  which 
they  might  settle.  The  Scots  answered  that  the  island  could  not 
contain  them  both ;  but  "  We  can  give  you  good  advice,"  (said 
they,)  "  what  to  do ;  we  know  there  is  another  island,  not  far  from 
ours,  to  the  eastward,  which  we  often  see  at  a  distance,  when  the 
days  are  clear.  If  you  will  go  thither,  you  will  obtain  a  settlement ; 
or,  if  any  should  oppose  you,  you  shall  have  our  assistance."  The 
Picts,  accordingly,  sailing  over  into  Britain,  began  to  inhabit  the 
northern  parts  of  the  island,  for  the  Britons  were  possessed  of  tlie 
southern.  Now  the  Picts  having  no  wives,  they  asked  them  of  the 
Scots,  who  would  not  consent  to  grant  them  upon  any  other  terms 
than  that  when  any  difficulty  should  arise,  they  should  choose  a 
king  from  the  female  royal  race  rather  than  from  the  male  ;  which 
custom,  as  is  well  known,  has  been  observed  among  the  Picts  to 
this  day. 

§  8.  In  process  of  time,  Britain,  after  the  Britons  and  the  Picts, 
received  a  third  nation,  the  Scots,  who,  migrating  from  Ireland 
under  their  leader,  Reuda,^  either  by  fair  means,  or  by  force  of  arms, 
secured  to  themselves  those  settlements  among  the  Picts  which 
they  still  possess.  From  the  name  of  their  commander,  they  are 
to  this  day  called  Dalreudini;  for,  in  their  language,  "  Daal  "  signi- 
fies a  part.  Ireland,  in  breadth,  and  for  wholesomeness  and  serenity 
of  climate,  far  surpasses  Britain;  for  the  snow  scarcely  ever  lies  there 
above  three  days :  no  man  makes  hay  in  the  summer  for  winter's 
provision,  or  builds  stables  for  his  beasts  of  burden.  No  reptile  is 
found  there,  and  no  snake  can  live  there ;  for,  tliough  often  carried 

^  Eeuda  is  considered  by  Ussher  and  his  authorities  to  have  been  the  son  of 
Chonar  II.  (p.  320) ;  but  Lappenberg  is  inclined  to  identify  him  with  Historeth, 
the  son  of  Historin,  whom  Nennius  (cap.  viii.)  designates  as  the  leader  of  this 
people. 


310  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [B.C.  55— 

thither  out  of  Britain,  as  soon  as  the  ship  nears  the  shore,  and  the 
scent  of  the  air  reaches  them,  they  die.  Qn  the  contrary,  almost 
all  the  produce  of  the  island  is  good  against  poison.  In  short,  we 
have  seen  that  when  some  persons  have  been  bitten  by  serpents,  the 
scrapings  of  leaves  of  books  that  had  been  brought  out  of  Ireland, 
being  put  into  water,  and  given  them  to  drink,  have  immediately 
expelled  the  spreading  poison,  and  consumed  and  assuaged  the 
swelling  of  the  inflated  body.  The  island  abounds  in  milk  and 
honey,  nor  is  there  any  want  of  vines,  fish,  or  fowl;  and  it  is 
remarkable  for  the  hunting  of  deer  and  goats.  It  is  properly  the 
country  of  the  Scots,  who,  migrating  from  thence,  as  has  been  said, 
added  a  third  nation  in  Britain  to  the  Britons  and  the  Picts.  There 
is  a  very  large  gulf  of  the  sea,  which  formerly  divided  tlie  nation 
of  the  Picts  from  the  Britons;  which  gulf  runs  from  the  west  very 
far  into  the  land,  where,  to  this  day,  stands  the  strong  city  of  the 
Britons,  called  Alcluith.  The  Scots,  arriving  on  the  north  side  of 
this  bay,  as  we  have  said,  settled  themselves  there  as  in  their  own 
country.  ' 


Chap.  II.  [b.c.  55.] — Caius  Julius  Caesar,  the  first  RoiiAX  that  came  into 
Britain. 

§  9.  This  same  Britain  had  never  been  visited  by  the  Romans, 
and  was,  indeed,  entirely  unknown  to  them  before  the  time  of  Caius 
Julius  Caesar,  who,  in  the  year  693  after  the  building  of  Rome,  but 
the  sixtieth'  year  before  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord,  being  consul 
with  Lucius  Bibulus,  and  aftenvards  while  he  made  war  upon  the 
Germans  and  the  Gauls,  which  were  divided  only  by  the  river 
Rhine,  came  into  tlie  province  of  the  Morini,  from  whence  is  the 
nearest  and  shortest  passage  into  Britain.  Here,  having  provided 
about  eighty  ships  of  burden  and  vessels  with  oars,  he  sailed  (b.c.  55) 
over  into  Britain ;  where,  being  first  roughly  handled  in  a  battle, 
and  then  meeting  with  a  violent  storm,  he  lost  a  veiy  considerable 
part  of  his  fleet,  no  small  number  of  foot,  and  almost  all  his  horse 
soldiers.  Returning  into  Gaul,  he  put  his  legions  into  winter- 
quarters,  and  gave  orders  for  building  six  hundred  sail  of  both  sorts, 
with  which  he  again  passed  over  early  in  spring  into  Britain;  but, 
whilst  he  was  marching  with  his  army  towards  the  enemy,  the  ships, 
riding  at  anchor,  were  by  a  tempest  either  dashed  one  against 
another,  or  driven  upon  the  sands  and  wrecked.  Forty  of  them 
perished,  the  rest  were,  with  much  difficulty,  repaired.  Ccesar's 
cavalry  was,  at  the  first  charge,  defeated  by  the  Britons,  and 
Lal)ienus,^  the  tribune,  slain.  In  the  second  engagement,  he,  with 
great  hazard  to  his  men,  put  the  conquered  Britons  to  flight. 
Thence  he  proceeded  to  the  river  Thames,  where  an  immense 
multitude  of  the  enemy  had  posted  themselves  on  the  farther  side 

'  Cscsar's  first  expedition  into  Britain  was  in  the  yeax*  B.C.  55;  his  second,  and 
longer  one,  in  B.C.  54. 

■'  Beda  here  meant  to  refer  to  Q.  Laberius  Dums,  -whose  death  is  mentioned  1iy 
Ca>sar.  See  Exccrpta  de  Britannia,  p.  xxxiii.  in  Petrie's  Monmn.  Hist.  Brit. 
(Jamd.  Brit.  col.  '.il7. 


A.D.  46.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK  I.  311 

of  the  river,  under  the  command  of  Cassobellaun/  and  fenced 
the  bank  of  the  river  and  almost  ah  the  ford  under  water  with  sharp 
stakes:  the  remains  of  which  are  to  be  seen  to  this  day,  each 
apparently  about  the  thickness  of  a  man's  thigh,  and  being  cased 
with  lead,  were  fixed  immovably  in  the  bottom  of  the  river. ^  This, 
being  perceived  and  avoided  by  the  Romans,  the  barbarians,  not 
able  to  stand  the  shock  of  the  legions,  hid  themselves  in  the  woods, 
whence  they  grievously  and  frequently  galled  the  Romans  with 
repeated  sallies.  In  the  meantime,  the  strong  city  of  Trinovantum,' 
with  its  commander  Androgens,*  surrendered  to  Caesar,  giving  him 
forty  hostages.  Many  other  cities,  following  their  example,  came 
into  compact  with  the  Romans.  By  their  guidance,  Ceesar  at 
length,  with  much  difficulty,  took  Cassobellaun's  town,^  situated 
between  two  marshes,  fortified  by  the  adjacent  woods,  and  plenti- 
fully furnished  with  all  necessaries.  After  this,  Caesar  returned 
from  Britain  into  Gaul,  but  he  had  no  sooner  put  his  legions 
into  winter-quarters,  than  he  was  suddenly  beset  and  distracted 
with  wars  and  tumults  raised  against  him  on  every  side. 


Chap.  111.6  [^^^d,  45.] — Claudius,  the  second  op  the  Romans  wno  came  into 
Britain,  brought  the  islands  Orcades  into  subjection  to  the  Roman 
Empire;  and  Vespasian,  also  sent  by  him,  reduced  the   Isle  of  Wight 

UNDER  their  DOMINION. 

§  10.  In  the  year  of  Rome,  798,  [a.d.  46,]  Claudius,  the  fourth 
emperor  from  Augustus,  being  desirous  to  approve  himself  a  useful 
prince  to  the  republic,  and  eagerlybentupon  war  and  conquest,  under- 
took an  expedition  into  Britain,  which  seemed  to  be  stirred  up  to  re- 
bellion by  the  refusal  to  give  up  certain  deserters.'  He  was  the  only 
one,  either  before  or  after  Julius  Caesar,  who  had  dared  to  approach  the 
island;  yet,  within  a  very  few  days,  without  any  fight  or  bloodshed, 
the  greatest  part  of  the  island  surrendered  into  his  hands.  He  also 
added  to  the  Roman  empire  the  Orcades,*  which  lie  in  the  ocean 
beyond  Britain,  and  returning  to  Rome  the  sixth  month  after  his 
departure,  he  gave  his  son  the  name  of  Britannicus.  This  war  he 
concluded  in  the  fourth  year  of  his  empire,  which  is  the  forty-sixth 

'  In  the  Latinized  form,  Cassivellanua,  we  probably  recognise  the  British 
Caswallon,  i.e.  the  prince  of  the  Cassii. 

2  The  spot  at  which  the  Romana  crossed  the  river  Thames  is  uncertain. 
Camden  supposed  it  to  have  been  at  Cowey  Stakes,  near  Laleham.  Brit.  col. 
183,  366. 

*  Probably  London.     See  Camd.  col.  363. 

*  From  a  comparison  of  this  narrative  with  that  of  Caesar,  it  would  appear  that 
Mandubratius  is  here  meant.     See  Petrie's  Excerpta,  p.  xxxiii.  Camd.  col.  363. 

5  It  seems  agreed  among  antiquarians  that  we  are  here  to  understand  St.  Alban's. 
— Camd.  col.  351. 

6  The  date  a.d.  46,  here  assigned  to  the  invasion  of  Claudius,  is  derived  from 
Beda'a  own  computation,  §  452.  Lappenberg  places  it  three  years  earlier.  Pagi 
thinks  it  occurred  a.d.  44,  (ad  an.  §  3.)  Besides  Orosius  and  Eutropius,  this  expe- 
dition is  illustrated  by  Dio  Cassius,  Ix.  19,  and  Suet,  de  Claud,  cap.  17. 

'  These  deserters  were  probably  Beric  and  his  associates,  concerning  whom  see 
Dio,  as  above  cited;  Petrie,  p.  54. 

8  According  to  the  narrative  of  Tacitus,  (cap.  xiv.)  these  islands  were  first 
subdued  by  Agricola ;  but  Beda's  statement  is  supported  by  the  authority  of 
Eutropius. 


312  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  156— 

from  the  Incarnation  of  our  Lord.  In  which  year  there  happened 
a  most  grievous  famine  in  Syria,  which  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
is  recorded  to  have  been  foretold  by  the  prophet  Agabus.  [Acts  xi.  28.] 
§  11.  Vespasian,  who  was  emperor  after  Nero,  being  sent  into 
Britain  by  the  same  Claudius,  brought  also  under  the  Roman 
dominion  the  Isle  of  Wight,'  which  is  next  to  Britain  on  the 
south,  and  is  about  thirty  miles  in  length  from  east  to  west,  and 
twelve  from  south  to  north ;  being  six  miles  distant  from  the 
southern  coast  of  Britain  at  the  east  end,  and  three  at  the  west. 
Nero,  succeeding  Claudius  in  the  empire,  attempted  nothing  what- 
ever in  martial  affairs ;  and,  therefore,  among  other  innumerable 
detriments  brought  upon  the  Roman  state,  he  almost  lost  Britain  ; 
for  under  him  two  most  noble  towns-  were  tliere  taken  and 
destroyed. 


Chap.  IV.  [a.d.  156.]— Lucius,  King  of  Britain,  -writing  to  Pope  Eleutherus, 

DESIRES  TO   BE   MADE   A   CHRISTIAN. 

§  12.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord's  Incarnation  156,  Marcus  Anto- 
ninus Verus,  the  fourteenth  from  Augustus,  was  made  emperor, 
together  with  his  brother,  Aurelius  Commodus.^  In  their  time, 
whilst  Eleutherus,  a  holy  man,  presided  over  the  Roman  church, 
Lucius,  king  of  Britain,  sent  a  letter  to  him,  entreating  that  by  his 
command  he  might  be  made  a  Christian.  He  soon  obtained  the 
effect  of  his  pious  request,  and  the  Britons  preser\^ed  the  faith,  which 
they  had  received,  uncorrupted  and  entire,  in  peace  and  tranquil- 
lity until  the  time  of  the  emperor  Diocletian. 


Chap.   V.    [a.d.  189.]  —  How  the   Emperor  Severus  divided  that  part  of 
Britain,  which  he  subdued,  from  the  best  by  a  Rampart. 

§  13.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  189,  Severus,  an  African,  born  at 
Leptis,  in  the  province  of  Tripolis,  received  the  imperial  purple. 
He  was  the  seventeenth  from  Augustus,  and  reigned  seventeen 
years.  Being  naturally  stern,  and  engaged  in  many  wars,  he 
governed  the  state  vigorously,  but  with  much  trouble.  Having 
been  victorious  in  all  the  grievous  civil  wars  which  happened  in  his 
time  [a.d.  208],  he  was  drawn  into  Britain  by  the  revolt  of  almost  all 
the  confederate  tribes;  and,  after  many  great  and  dangerous  battles, 
he  thought  fit  to  divide,  from  the  other  unconqucrcd  nations,  that 
part  of  the  island  which  he  had  recovered,  not  with  a  wall,  as  some 

'  Sec  Dio  Cassius,  Ix.  20;  Eutrop.  vii.  10. 

*  Camelodunum  ia  generally  supposed  to  be  the  town  of  Maldon  (Camd.  Brit, 
col.  416) :  but  Manncrt  argues  successfully  foi*  Colchester.  See  Geog.  der 
Greich.  u.  Komer.  p.  157;  Archa^olog.  iii.  165. 

*  The  chronology  of  Beda  is  here  confused  and  erroneous.  The  reader  who  is 
interested  in  its  elucidation,  may  consult  Stillingfleet's  Orig.  p.  xiv.;  Alford.  Aunal. 
i.  49 ;  and  the  passages  referred  to  by  Ussher,  in  his  Index  Chronolog.  appendeil 
to  his  Antiq.  Britan.  Eccl.  a.d.  176  and  179.  The  conversion  of  Lucius  may  safely 
be  assigned  to  a  period  limited  by  the  poutificate  of  Eleutherus  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  death  of  Aurelius  on  the  other. 


A.D.  305.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK  I.  313 

imagine,  but  with  a  vallum.  For  a  wall  is  made  of  stones,  but  a 
vallum,  with  which  camps  are  fortified  to  repel  the  assaults  of 
enemies,  is  made  of  sods,  cut  out  of  the  earth,  and  raised  high  above 
the  ground  all  round  like  a  wall,  so  that  there  is  in  front  the  ditch 
whence  the  sods  were  taken,  and  strong  stakes  of  wood  fixed  before 
it.  Thus  Severus  drew  a  great  ditch ^  and  strong  rampart,  fortified 
with  frequent  towers,  from  sea  to  sea ;  and  was  aftenvards  taken 
sick  and  died^  at  York.  He  left  two  sons,  Bassianus  and  Geta  ;  of 
whom  Geta  died,  adjudged  a  public  enemy ;  but  Bassianus,  having 
taken  the  surname  of  Antoninus,  obtained  the  empire. 


Chap.  VI.^  [a.  d.  286.]— The  reign  of  Diocletian,  and  how  he  persecuted  the 
Christians. 

§  14.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord's  Incarnation  286,  Diocletian,  the 
thirty-third  from  Augustus,  being  chosen  emperor  by  the  army, 
reigned  twenty  years,  and  created  INiaximian,  surnamed  Herculius, 
his  colleague  in  the  empire.  In  their  time,  [a.d.  287 — 94,]  one 
Carausius,  of  very  mean  birth,  but  prompt  of  head  and  hand,  being 
appointed  to  guard  the  sea-coasts,  then  infested  by  the  Franks  and 
Saxons,  acted  more  to  the  prejudice  than  to  the  advantage  of  the 
commonwealth  ;  and  from  his  not  restoring  to  its  owners  the  booty 
taken  from  the  robbers,  but  keeping  all  to  himself,  it  was  suspected 
that  by  intentional  neglect  he  suffered  the  enemy  to  infest  the 
frontiers.  Maximian  having  ordered  that  he  should  be  put  to  death, 
he  took  upon  him  the  imperial  robes,  and  possessed  himself  of 
Britain,  and  having  most  valiantly  retained  it  for  the  space  of  seven 
years,  he  was  at  length  put  to  death  by  the  treacherj'  of  his  associate, 
Allectus.  The  usurper,  having  thus  got  the  island  from  Carausius, 
held  it  three  years  afterwards,  and  was  then  vanquished  by  Ascle- 
piodotus,  the  captain  of  the  Praetorian  bands,  who  thus  at  the  end 
of  ten  years  restored  Britain  to  the  Roman  empire. 

§  15.  IVleanwhile,  Diocletian  in  the  east,  and  IMaximian  Her- 
culius in  the  west,  commanded  the  churches  to  be  destroyed, 
and  the  Christians  to  be  persecuted  and  slain.  This  persecution 
was  the  tenth  since  the  reign  of  Nero,  and  was  more  lasting  and 
bloody  than  all  the  others  before  it ;  for  it  was  carried  on  incessantly 
for  the  space  of  ten*  years,  with  burning  of  churches,  outlawing  of 
innocent  persons,  and  the  slaughter  of  martyrs.  At  length,  it 
reached  Britain  also,  and  many  persons,  with  the  constancy  of 
martyrs,  died  in  the  confession  of  their  faith. 

'   Concerning  this  line  of  defence,  see  Lappenberg,  i.  43  ;  Camd.  Brit.  col.  1045. 

2  a.d.  211;  see  Pagi  ad  an.  211,  §  2. 

^  The  whole  of  this  chapter  is  taken  from  Orosius.  See  Petrie's  Excerpta, 
p.  Ixxix. 

*  From  a.d.  303  to  313,  in  which  latter  year  the  emperor  Constantino  embraced 
Christianity.  Within  these  two  dates  occurred  the  events  mentioned  in  the  fol- 
lowing chapter,  probably  in  304  or  305. 


314  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF   ENGLAND.  [a.D.  305- 

CiiAP.  VII.  [a.D.  304  or  305.] — The  Passion  of  St.  Alban  and  his  Companions, 

,AVIIO    AT   THE   SAME    TIME    SHED   THEIR   BLOOD    FOR    OUR    LOBD. 

§  16.  In  that  persecution  suffered  St.  Alban,  of  whom  the  priest 
Fortunatus,  in  his  poem  on  the  Praise  of  Virgins,  wliere  he  makes 
mention  of  the  blessed  martyrs  that  came  to  the  Lord  from  all  parts 
of  the  world,  says — 

"  In  Britain's  isle  was  holy  Alban  born." ' 

Tliis  Alban,  being  yet  a  pagan,  at  the  time  when  the  edicts  of 
wicked  princes  were  raging  against  Christians,  gave  entertainment 
in  his  house  to  a  certain  clergyman,  flying  from  the  persecutors. 
This  man  he  observed  to  be  engaged  in  continual  prayer  and  watching 
day  and  night ;  when  on  a  sudden  the  Divine  grace  shining  on  him, 
he  began  to  imitate  the  example  of  faith  and  piety  which  was  set 
before  him,  and  being  gradually  instructed  by  his  wholesome  admo- 
nitions, he  cast  off  the  darkness  of  idolatry,  and  became  a  Christian 
in  all  sincerity  of  heart.  The  aforesaid  clergj^man  having  been  some 
days  entertained  by  him,  it  came  to  the  ears  of  the  wicked  prince, 
that  this  holy  confessor  of  Christ,  whose  time  of  martyrdom  had  not 
yet  come,  was  concealed  at  Alban's  house.  Whereupon  he  sent 
some  soldiers  to  make  a  stricter  search  after  him.  Wlien  they 
came  to  the  martyr's  cottage,  St.  Alban  immediately  presented 
himself  to  the  soldiers,  instead  of  his  guest  and  master,  clothed  in 
the  habit  or  long  coat  which  he  wore,  and  was  led  bound  before 
the  judge. 

§  17.  It  happened  that  the  judge,  at  the  same  time  when  Alban 
was  carried  before  him,  was  standing  at  the  altar,  and  offering  sacri- 
fice to  devils.  When  he  saw  Alban,  being  much  enraged  that  he 
should  thus,  of  his  own  accord,  put  himself  into  the  hands  of  the 
soldiers,  and  incur  such  danger  in  behalf  of  his  guest,  he  com- 
manded him  to  be  dragged  up  to  the  images  of  tlie  devils,  before 
which  he  stood,  saying,  "  Because  you  have  chosen  to  conceal  a 
rebellious  and  sacrilegious  person,  rather  than  to  deliver  him  up  to 
the  soldiers,  that  his  contempt  of  the  gods  miglit  meet  with  the 
penalty  due  to  such  blasphemy,  you  shall  undergo  all  the  punish- 
ment that  was  due  to  him,  if  yo"u  atteni})t  to  abandon  the  worship 
of  our  religion."  But  St.  Alban,  who  had  voluntarily  declai'ed 
liimself  a  Christian  to  the  persecutors  of  the  faith,  was  not  at  all 
daunted  at  the  prince's  threats,  but  girt  in  the  armour  of  spiritual 
warfare,  he  publicly  declared  that  he  would  not  obey  the  command. 
Then  said  the  judge,  "  Of  what  family  or  race  are  you?" — "  ^\^lat 
does  it  concern  you,"  answered  Alban,  "  to  know  of  what  stock 
I  am  ?  If  you  desire  to  hear  the  truth  of  my  religion,  be  it  known 
to  you,  that  I  am  now  a  Christian,  and  bound  by  christian  duties." 
— "  I  ask  your  name,"  said  the  judge  ;  "  tell  me  it  immediately." — 
"  I  am  called  Alban  by  my  parents,"  replied  he ;  "  and  I  worship 
and  adore  the  true  and  living  God,  who  created  all  things."  Then 
the  judge,  inflamed  with  anger,  said,  "  If  you  will  enjoy  the  happi- 
ness of  eternal  life,  do  not  delay  to  offer  sacrifice  to  the  great  gods." 

'  Forluuivlus,  De  Lamle  Virgimun,  p.  IDO,  ed.  1C17. 


I 


A.D.  305.]  BEDA  S    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY. BOOK  I.  315 

Alban  rejoined,  "  These  sacrifices,  which  by  you  are  offered  to  devils, 
neither  can  avail  the  subjects,  nor  answer  the  wishes  or  desires  of 
those  that  offer  up  their  supplications  to  them.  On  the  contraiy, 
whosoever  shall  offer  sacrifice  to  these  images,  shall  receive  the 
everlasting  pains  of  hell  for  his  reward." 

§  18.  The  judge,  hearing  these  words,  and  being  much  incensed, 
ordered  this  holy  confessor  of  God  to  be  scourged  by  the  execu- 
tioners, believing  he  might  by  stripes  shake  that  constancy  of  heart, 
on  which  he  could  not  prevail  by  words.  He,  being  most  cruelly 
tortured,  bore  the  same  patiently,  or  rather  joyfully,  for  our  Lord's 
sake.  Wlien  the  judge  perceived  that  he  was  not  to  be  overcome 
by  tortures,  or  withdrawn  from  the  exercise  of  the  christian  religion, 
he  ordered  him  to  be  put  to  death.  Being  led  to  execution,  he 
came  to  a  river,  which,  with  a  most  rapid  course,  ran  between  the 
wall  of  the  town  and  the  arena  where  he  was  to  be  executed.  He 
there  saw  a  multitude  of  persons  of  both  sexes,  and  of  various  ages 
and  conditions,  who  were' doubtlessly  assembled  by  Divine  command, 
to  attend  the  blessed  confessor  and  martyr,  and  had  so  taken  up  the 
bridge  on  the  river,  that  they  could  scarce  pass  over  that  evenmg. 
In  short,  almost  all  had  gone  out,  so  that  the  judge  remained  in  the 
city  without  attendance.  St.  Alban,  therefore,  urged  by  an  ardent 
and  devout  wish  to  arrive  quickly  at  martyrdom,  drew  near  to  the 
stream,  and  on  lifting  up  his  eyes  to  heaven,  the  channel  was 
immediately  dried  up,  and  he  perceived  that  the  water  had  departed 
and  made  way  for  him  to  pass  on  foot.  Among  the  rest,  the  execu- 
tioner, who  was  to  have  put  him  to  death,  observed  this,  and  moved 
by  Divine  inspiration  hastened  to  meet  him  at  the  place  of  execution, 
and  casting  down  the  sword  which  he  had  carried  ready  drawn,  feD 
at  his  feet,  praying  that  he  rather  might  suffer  with  the  martyr, 
whom  he  was  ordered  to  execute,  or,  if  possible,  instead  of  him. 

§  19.  Whilst  he  thus  from  a  persecutor  was  become  a  com- 
panion in  the  faith,  and  there  was  a  considerable  delay  among  the 
other  executioners,  (the  sword  all  the  while  lying  on  the  ground), 
the  reverend  confessor  of  God,  accompanied  by  the  multitude, 
ascended  a  hill  about  500  paces  from  the  bank  of  the  river, 
adorned,  or  rather  clothed  with,  all  kinds  of  flowers,  having  its 
sides  neither  perpendicular,  nor  even  craggy,  but  sloping  down  into 
a  most  beautiful  plain,  worthy  from  its  lovely  appearance  to  be 
dedicated  by  a  martyr's  blood.  On  the  top  of  this  hill,  St.  Alban 
prayed  that  God  would  give  him  water,  and  immediately  a  living 
spring  broke  out  before  his  feet,  the  course  being  confined,  so  that 
all  men  perceived  that  the  river  eQso  had  been  dried  up  in  conse- 
quence of  the  martyr's  presence.  Nor  was  it  likely  that  the 
martyr,  who  had  left  no  water  remaining  in  the  river,  should  want 
some  on  the  top  of  the  hill,  unless  he  thought  it  suitable  to  the 
occasion.  The  river  having  performed  the  holy  service,  returned 
to  its  natural  course,  leaving  a  testimony  of  its  obedience.  Here, 
therefore,  the  head  of  our  most  courageous  martyr  was  struck  off, 
and  here  he  received  that  crown  of  life,  which  God  has  promised  to 
those  who  love  him.  But  he  who  gave  the  wicked  stroke  to  the 
neck  of  this  just  one,  was  not  permitted  to  rejoice  over  the  deceased; 


316  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  305— 

for  his  eyes  dropped  upon  the  ground  together  with  the  hlessed 
martyr's  head. 

§  20.  At  the  same  time  was  also  belieaded  the  soldier,  who 
before,  through  the  Divine  admonition,  refused  to  give  the  stroke 
to  the  holy  confessor.  Of  whom  it  is  apparent,  that  though  he  was 
not  washed  in  the  fountain  of  baptism,  yet  he  was  cleansed  by  the 
washing  of  his  own  blood,  and  rendered  worthy  to  enter  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  Then  the  judge,  astonished  at  the  novelty  of  so  many 
heavenly  miracles,  ordered  the  persecution  to  cease  immediately, 
beginning  to  honour  the  death  of  the  saints,  by  whicli  he  before 
thought  they  might  have  l^een  diverted  from  the  christian  faith. 
The  blessed  Alban  suffered  death  on  the  tenth  of  the  kalends  of 
July  [22d  June],  near  the  city  of  Verulam,'  which  is  now  by  the 
English  nation  called  Verlamacaestir,  or  Vaetlingacaestir,  where 
afterwards,  when  peaceable  christian  times  were  restored,  a  church 
of  wonderful  workmanship,  and  suitable  to  his  martyrdom,  was 
erected.  In  which  place,  there  ceases  not  to  this  day  the  cure  of 
sick  persons,  and  the  frequent  working  of  wonders.^ 

§  21.  At  the  same  time  suffered  Aaron  and  Julius,  citizens  of 
the  Urbs  Legionum,  and  many  more  of  both  sexes  in  several  places; 
who,  when  they  had  endured  sundry  torments,  and  their  limbs  had 
been  torn  after  an  unheard-of  manner,  having  completed  their 
sufferings,  yielded  up  their  souls  to  enjoy  in  the  heavenly  city  a 
rewai-d  for  the  tortures  through  which  they  had 


Chap.  VIII.^  [a.d.  313.] — The  persecution   ceasing,  the  Church  in    Britain 

ENJOYS   PEACE   TILL   THE   TIME   OF   THE  ArIAN   HERESY. 

§  22.  When  the  storm  of  persecution  ceased, [a.d. 313, ]the  faithful 
Christians,  who,  during  the  time  of  danger,  had  hidden  themselves 
in  woods  and  deserts,  and  secret  caves,  appearing  in  public,  rebuilt 
the  churches  which  had  been  levelled  with  the  ground  ;  founded, 
erected,  and  tinishcd  the  temples  of  the  holy  martyrs,  and,  as  it 
were,  displayed  their  conquering  ensigns  in  all  places  ;  they  cele- 
brated festivals,  and  performed  their  sacred  rites  with  clean  hearts 
and  mouths.  This  peace  continued  in  the  churches  of  Christ  in 
Britain  until  the  time  of  the  Arian  madness,  which,  having  corrupted 
the  whole  world,  infected  this  island  also,  so  far  removed  from  the 
rest  of  the  globe,  v.'ith  the  poison  of  its  errors  ;  and  when  the  plague 
was  thus  conveyed  across  the  sea,  all  the  venom  of  eveiy  heresy 
immediately  rushed  into  the  island,  ever  fond  of  something  new, 
and  never  holding  firm  to  anything. 

§  23.  At  this  time,  Constantius,  who,  whilst  Diocletian  was  alive, 
governed  Gaul  and  Spain,  a  man  of  extraordinary  meekness  and 
courtesy,  died  in  Britain.  This  man  left  his  son  Constantine,  born 
of  Helen  his  concubine,  emperor  of  the  Gauls.  Eutropius  writes, 
that  Constantine,  being  created  emperor  in  Britain,  succeeded  his 
father  in  the  sovereignty.     In  liis  time  the  Arian  heresy  broke  out, 

'  See  Canid.  Brit.  col.  350. 

^  The  history  of  St.  Alban  will  he  cousiiicred  tipon  a  future  occasion. 

^  This  chapter  is  a  compilatiou  from  Gildas  and  Orosius. 


A.D.  394.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK  I.  317 

and  although  it  was  detected  and  condemned  in  the  Council  of 
Nice,  yet  it  nevertheless  infected  not  only  all  the  churches  of  the 
continent,  but  even  those  of  the  islands,  with  its  pestilent  and  fatal 
doctrines. 

Chap.  IX.   [a.d.  377.] — How,  duri^^jg  the  eeign  of  Gratian,  Maximus,  being 
CREATED  Emperor  in  Britain,  returned  into  Gaul  with  a  mighty  army. 

§  24.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord's  Incarnation  377,  Gratian,  the 
fortieth  from  Augustus,  held  the  empire  six  years  after  the  death  of 
Valens  ;  though  he  had  long  before  reigned  with  his  uncle  Valens, 
and  his  brother  Valentinian.  Finding  the  state  of  the  common- 
wealth much  impaired,  and  almost  gone  to  ruin,  for  the  purpose  of 
re-invigorating  the  state,  he  invested  Theodosius,  a  Spaniard,  with 
the  royal  robes,  at  Sirmium,  and  made  him  emperor  at  once  of  Thrace 
and  the  eastern  provinces.  At  which  time  [a.d.  383]  Maximus,  a 
man  of  valour  and  probity,  and  worthy  to  be  an  emperor,  if  he  had 
not  broken  the  oath  of  allegiance  which  he  had  taken,  was  made 
emperor  by  the  army  in  Britain,  almost  against  his  own  consent; 
he  passed  over  into  Gaul,  and  there,  by  treacheiy,  slew  the  emperor 
Gratian,  who  was  in  consternation  at  his  sudden  invasion,  and 
attempting  to  escape  into  Italy.  His  brother,  Valentinian,  expelled 
from  Italy,  fled  into  the  East,  where  he  was  entertained  by  Theo- 
dosius with  fatherly  aftection,  and  soon  restored  to  the  empire. 
Maximus  the  tyrant,  being  shut  up  in  Aquileia,  was  there  taken 
and  put  to  death,  [a.d.  388.] 


Chap.  X.   [a.d.  394.] — How,  in  the  reign  op  Arcadius,   Pelagius,   a  Briton, 
insolently  attacked  the  Grace  oe  God. 

§  25.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  394,  Arcadius,  the  son  of  Theodosius, 
the  forty-third  from  Augustus,  taking  the  empire  upon  him,  with  his 
brother  Honorius,  held  it  thirteen  years.  In  his  time.  Pelagius,  a 
Briton,  spread  far  and  wide  the  infection  of  his  perfidious  doctrine 
against  the  assistance  of  the  Divine  Grace,  being  seconded  therein  by 
his  associate,  Julianus  of  Campania,  whose  anger  was  kindled  by  the 
loss  of  his  bishopric,  of  which  he  had  been  formerly  deprived.  St. 
Augustine,  and  the  other  orthodox  fathers,  quoted  many  thousand 
catholic  authorities  against  them,  but  yet  they  would  not  correct 
their  madness  ;  but,  on  the  contrai-y,  their  folly,  instead  of  being 
purged,  was  rather  increased  by  contradiction,  and  they  refused  to 
embrace  the  truth.  This,  Prosper,  the  rhetorician,  has  beautifully 
expressed  thus  in  heroic  verse  : — 

"  A  scribbler  vile,  inflamed  with  hellish  spite, 
Against  the  great  Augustine  dared  to  write ; 
Presumptuous  serpent !  from  what  midnight  den 
Durst  thou  to  crawl  on  earth  and  look  at  men  ? 
Sure  thou  wast  fed  on  Britain's  sea-girt  plains, 
Or  in  thy  breast  Campanian  sulphur  reigns." ' 

1  Allusion  here  is  probably  intended  to  be  made  to  Pelagius,  whose  British 
name  was  Morgan,  under  the  term  "aequorei  Britanni,"  and  to  Julian  of  Cam- 
pania, by  "  Campanum  gramen."  Beda  has  entered  into  the  history  of  this  Julian 
at  greater  length  in  the  Preface  to  his  Treatise  upon  the  Canticles,  0pp.  iv.  984, 
ed.  fol.  Basil. 


318  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  407— 

Chap.  XI.  [a.d.  407.] — How,  during  the  reign  of  Honorius,  Qratian  and  Con- 

STANTINE    WERE   CREATED   TYRANTS  IN   BRITAIN  ;   AND  SOON  AFTER,  THE  FORMER 

WAS  SLAIN  IN  Britain,  and  the  latter  in  Gaul. 

§  26.  In  the  year  407,  Honorius,  the  younger  son  of  Tlieodosius, 
and  the  forty-fourth  from  Augustus,  being  emperor,  (two  years 
before  the  invasion  of  Rome  by  Alaric,  king  of  the  Goths,  when  the 
nations  of  the  Alani,  Suevi,  Vandals,  and  many  others  with  them, 
having  defeated  the  Franks  and  passed  the  Rhine,  ravaged  all  Gaul,) 
Gratianus  Municcps  was  set  up  as  tyrant,  and  killed.  In  his  place, 
Constantine,  one  of  the  meanest  soldiers,  only  for  the  hope  occa- 
sioned by  his  name,  and  without  any  worth  of  his  own  to  recommend 
him,  was  chosen  emperor.  As  soon  as  he  had  taken  upon  him  the 
command,  he  passed  over  into  France,  where  being  often  imposed 
upon  by  the  barbarians  with  faithless  treaties,  he  caused  much  injur)' 
to  the  commonwealth.  Whereupon  count  Constantius,  by  the  com- 
mand of  Honorius,  immediately  marching  into  Gaul  with  an  army, 
besieged  him  in  the  city  of  Aries,  and  put  him  to  death.  His  son 
Constans,  whom  of  a  monk  he  had  created  Caesar,  was  also  put  to 
death  by  his  own  count,  Gerontius,  at  Vienne. 

§  27.  Rome  was  taken  by  the  Goths,  in  the  year  from  its  founda- 
tion 1164  [a.D.  409].  Then  the  Romans  ceased  to  rule  in  Britain 
almost  470  years  after  Caius  Julius  Caesar  entered  the  island.  They 
resided  within  the  vallum,  which,  as  we  have  mentioned,^  Severus 
made  across  the  island,  on  the  south  side  of  it,  as  the  cities,  temples, 
bridges,  and  paved  roads  there  made,  testify  to  this  day ;  but  they 
had  a  right  of  dominion  over  the  farther  parts  of  Britain,  as  also 
over  the  islands  that  are  beyond  Britain. 


Chap.  XII.  [a.d.  414 — 416.] — The  Britons,  being  ravaged  bt  the  Scots  and  Picts, 

SOUGHT  succour  FROM  THE  ROMANS,  WHO,  COMING  A  SECOND  TIME,  BUILT  A  WALL 
ACROSS  THE  ISLAND  ;  BUT  THE  BRITONS  BEING  AGAIN  INVADED  BY  THE  AFORESAID 
ENEMIES,   wfibE   REDUCED   TO   GREATER  DISTRESS  THAN   BEFORE. 

§  28.  From  that  time,  the  south  part  of  Britain,  destitute  of  armed 
soldiers,  of  martial  stores,  and  of  all  its  active  youth,  which  had 
been  led  away  by  the  rashness  of  the  tyrants,  never  to  return  home, 
was  wholly  exposed  to  rapine,  as  being  totally  ignorant  of  the  art  of 
war.  Whereupon  they  suddenly  suffered  many  years  under  two  very 
savage  foreign  nations,  the  Scots  from  the  west,  and  the  Picts  from 
the  north.  We  call  these  foreign  nations,  not  on  account  of  their 
being  seated  out  of  Britain,  but  because  they  were  remote  from 
that  part  of  it  which  was  possessed  by  the  Britons  ;  two  friths  of  the 
sea  lying  between  them,  one  of  which  runs  in  far  and  broad  into 
the  land  of  Britain,  from  the  Eastern  Ocean,  and  the  other  from  the 
Western,  though  they  do  not  reach  so  as  to  touch  one  another.  The 
eastern  has  in  the  midst  of  it  the  city  Giudi ;  ^  the  western  lias  on 
it,  that  is,  on  the  right  hand  thereof,  the  city  Alcluith,'  which  in 

'  At  §  13. 

2  Giudi ;  "  an  ancient  town  or  monastery  upon  Incli  Keth,  probably  built  of 
wood,  as  no  vestige  of  it  has  been  seen  for  ages."  Mac  Pherson's  Geog.  Illustr.  of 
Scottish  History.     See  also  Canid.  Brit.  col.  \\\)0. 

'  Dumbarton,  on  the  frith  of  Clyde.     Camd.  Brit.  col.  1218. 


A.D.  416.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK  I.  319 

their  language  signifies  the  Rock  Chiith,  for  it  is  close  by  the  river 
of  that  name. 

§  29.  On  account  of  the  irruption  of  these  nations,  the  Britons 
sent  messengers  to  Rome  [a.d.414]  with  letters  in  mournful  manner, 
praying  for  succours,  and  promising  perpetual  subjection,  provided 
that  the  impending  enemy  should  be  driven  away.  An  armed  legion 
was  immediately  sent  them,  which,  arriving  in  the  island,  and  engaging 
the  enemy,  slew  a  great  multitvide  of  them,  drove  the  rest  out  of 
the  territories  of  their  allies,  and  having  delivered  them  from  their 
cruel  oppressors,  advised  them  to  build  a  walP  between  the  two 
seas  across  the  island,  that  it  might  secure  them,  and  keep  off  the 
enemy ;  and  thus  they  returned  home  with  great  triumph.  The 
islanders  raising  the  wall,  as  they  had  been  directed,  not  of  stone, 
as  having  no  artist  capable  of  such  a  w^ork,  but  of  sods,  it  was  of  no 
use.  Howev-er,  they  drew  it  for  many  miles  between  the  two 
friths^  or  inlets  of  the  seas,  which  we  have  spoken  of;  to  the  end 
that  where  the  defence  of  the  water  was  wanting,  they  might  use  the 
vallum  to  defend  their  borders  from  the  irruptions  of  the  enemies. 
Of  which  work  there  erected,  that  is,  of  a  vallum  of  extraordinary 
breadth  and  height,  there  are  most  evident  remains  to  be  seen  at 
this  day.  It  begins  at  about  two  miles'  distance  from  the  monas- 
tery of  Abercurnig,^  on  the  west,  at  a  place  called  in  the  Pictish 
language,  Peanfahel,"*  but  in  the  English  tongue,  Penneltun,  and 
running  to  the  westward,  ends  near  the  city  Alcluith. 

§  30.  But  the  former  enemies,  when  they  perceived  that  the 
Roman  soldiers  were  gone,  immediately  coming  by  sea,  broke  into 
the  borders,  trampled  and  overran  all  places,  and  like  men  mowing 
ripe  corn,  bore  down  all  before  them.  Hereupon  messengers  are 
again  sent  to  Rome,  imploring  aid,  lest  their  wretched  country 
should  be  utterly  ruined,  and  the  name  of  a  Roman  province,  so 
long  renowned  among  them,  overthrown  by  the  crulties  of  bar- 
barous foreigners,  might  become  utterly  contemptible.  A  legion 
is  accordingly  sent  again,  and,  arriving  unexpectedly  in  autumn, 
made  great  slaughter  of  the  enemy,  obliging  all  those  that  could 
escape,  to  flee  beyond  the  sea ;  whereas  before,  they  were  wont 
to  carry  off  their  yearly  booty  beyond  the  seas  without  any  oppo- 
sition. Then  the  Romans  declared  to  the  Britons,  that  they  could 
not  for  the  future  be  wearied  with  such  troublesome  expeditions 
for  their  sake,  advising  them  rather  to  handle  their  weapons  like 
men,  and  themselves  undertake  the  charge  of  engaging  their 
enemies,  who  would  not  prove  too  pow^erful  for  them,  unless  they 
were  enervated  by  cowardice.  Thinking,  too,  that  it  might  be 
some  help  to  the  allies,  whom  they  were  forced  to  abandon,  they 
built  a  strong  stone  wall  from  sea  to  sea,  in  a  straight  line  between 
the  towns  that  had  been  there  built  for  fear  of  the  enemy,  and  not 
far  from  the  older  trench  of  Severus.  This  famous  wall,  which  is 
still  to  be  seen,  was  built  at  the  public  and  private  expense,  the 
Britons  also  lending  their  assistance.     It  is  eight  feet  in  breadth, 

'  On  the  history  of  this  wall  the  reader  m,iv  consult  Lappenb.  i.  60. 

=  The  friths  of  Forth  and  Clyde. 

^  Now  Abercorn,  on  the  river  Carron.  *  See  Camd.  Erit.  col.  1222. 


320  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  423— 

and  twelve  in  height,  in  a  straight  line  from  east  to  west,  as  is  still 
visible  to  beholders.  This  being  speedily  finished,  they  gave  that 
dispirited  people  good  advice,  and  supply  them  with  patterns  to 
furnish  them  with  arms.  Besides,  they  built  towers  on  the  sea- 
coast  to  the  southward,  at  proper  distances,  where  their  ships  were, 
because  there  also  the  irru})tions  of  the  barbarians  were  appre- 
hended ;  and  so  took  leave  of  their  friends,  never  to  return  again. 

§  31.  After  their  departure,  the  Scots  and  Picts,  understanding 
that  the  Romans  had  declared  they  would  come  no  more,  speedily 
returned,  and  growing  more  confident  than  they  had  been  before, 
occupied  all  the  northeni  and  farthest  part  of  the  island,  as  far  as 
to  the  wall.  Hereupon  a  timorous  guard  was  placed  upon  the 
fortification,  where  they  pined  away  day  and  night  in  stupefied  fear. 
On  the  other  side,  the  enemy  attacked  them  unceasingly  with 
hooked  weapons,  by  which  the  cowardly  defendants  were  dragged 
from  the  wall,  and  dashed  against  the  ground.  At  last,  the  Britons, 
forsaking  their  cities  and  wall,  took  to  flight  and  were  dispersed. 
The  enemy  pursued,  and  the  slaughter  was  greater  than  on  any 
former  occasion  ;  for  the  wretched  natives  were  torn  in  pieces  by 
their  enemies,  as  lambs  are  torn  by  wild  beasts.  Thus,  being 
expelled  their  dwellings  and  possessions,  they  saved  themselves 
from  starvation  by  robbing  and  plundering  one  another  ;  augmenting 
foreign  calamities  by  their  own  domestic  broils,  till  the  whole 
country  was  left  destitute  of  food,  except  such  as  could  be  procured 
in  the  chase. 


Chap.  XIII.  [a.d.  423.] — In  the  reign  op  Theodosius  the  younger,  Palladius 
WAS  sent  to  the  Scots  that  believed  in  Christ;  the  Britons  begging 
assistance  of  Aetids,  the  consul,  could  not  obtain  it. 

§  32.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  423,  Theodosius,  the  younger,  next 
after  Honorius,  being  the  forty-fifth  from. Augustus,  governed  the 
Roman  empire  twenty-six  years.  In  the  eighth  year  of  his  reign, 
Palladius'  was  sent  by  Celestinus,  the  Roman  pontift',  to  the  Scots 
that  believed  in  Christ,  to  be  their  first  bishop.  In  the  twenty- 
third^  year  of  his  reign,  Aetius,  a  renowned  person,  being  also  a 
patrician,  discharged  his  third  consulship  with  Symmachus  for  his 
colleague.  To  him  the  wretclied  remains  of  the  Britons  sent  a 
letter,^  which  began  thus  : — "  To  Aetius,  thrice  Consul,  the  groans 
of  the  Britons."  And  in  the  sequel  of  the  letter  they  thus  expressed 
their  calamities: — "The  barl)arians  drive  us  to  the  sea;  the  sea 
drives  us  back  to  the  barbarians  :  between  them  we  are  exposed  to 

'  A  vast  fund  of  information  i-especting  Palladium  and  his  mission  has  been 
collected  by  Ussher  in  his  Brit.  Eccl,  Antiq.  in  the  passages  referred  to  under  the 
year  431,  in  the  Index  Chronolog.  His  mission  was  a  short  one,  having  begun  and 
terminated,  by  his  death,  in  that  year. 

'  Baronius,  (a.D.  446,  §  1,)  followed  by  Camden,  here  accuses  Beda  of  faulty 
chronology  in  thus  associating  the  23d  regnal  year  of  Thedosius  with  the  con- 
sulate of  Aetius  and  Symmachus ;  but  Us.sher  has  successfully  vindicated  the 
accuracy  of  our  historian  in  this  respect.  See  Brit.  Eccl.  Antiq.  p.  199.  Pagi 
ad  an.  446,  §  2. 

'  Polydore  Virgil  gives  the  whole  of  this  letter,  without  stating  whence  he 
obtained  it.     It  is  most  pi-obably  spurious. 


A.D.  446.J  BEDA'S    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    I.  321 

two  sorts  of  death ;  we  are  either  murdered  or  drowned."  Yet 
neither  could  all  this  procure  any  assistance  from  him,  as  he  was  at 
that  time  engaged  in  most  dangerous  wars  with  Bledla  and  Attila, 
kings  of  the  Huns.  And  though,  the  year  before  this,  Bledla  had 
been  murdered  by  the  treacheiy  of  his  brother  Attila,  yet  Attila 
himself  remained  so  intolerable  an  enemy  to  the  Republic,  that  he 
ravaged  almost  all  Europe,  invading  and  destroying  cities  and  castles. 
At  the  same  time  there  was  a  famine  at  Constantinople,  and  shortly 
after,  a  plague  followed,  and  a  great  part  of  the  walls  of  that  city, 
with  fifty-seven  towers,  fell  to  the  ground.  Many  cities  also  went 
to  ruin,  and  the  famine  and  pestilential  state  of  the  air  destroyed 
many  thousands  of  men  and  cattle. 


Chap.  XIV.  [a.d.  446.]  The  Britons,  compelled  by  a  remarkable  famine,  drove 
THE  Barbarians  out  of  their  territories  ;  soon  after  there  ensued  plenty 
of  corn,  luxury,  plague,  and  the  subversion  oe  the  nation. 

§  33.  In  the  meantime,  the  aforesaid  famine  distressing  the  Britons 
more  and  more,  and  leaving  to  posterity  lasting  memorials  of  its 
mischievous  eft'ects,  obliged  many  of  them  to  submit  themselves  to 
the  depredators ;  though  others  still  held  out,  confiding  in  the 
Divine  assistance,  when  none  was  to  be  had  from  men.  These 
continually  made  incursions  from  the  mountains,  caves,  and  woods, 
and,  at  length,  began  to  inflict  severe  losses  on  their  enemies,  who 
had  been  for  so  many  years  plundering  the  country.  Tlie  bold  Irish 
robbers  thereupon  returned  home,  in  order  to  come  again  soon  after. 
Tlie  Picts,  both  then  and  afterwards,  remained  quiet  in  the  farthest 
part  of  the  island,  save  that  sometimes  they  would  do  some  mischief, 
and  carry  ofi:'  booty  from  the  Britons. 

§  34.  When,  however,  the  ravages  of  the  enemy  at  length  ceased, 
the  island  began  to  abound  with  such  plenty  of  grain  as  had  never 
been  known  in  any  age  before  ;  with  plenty,  luxury  increased,  and 
this  was  immediately  attended  with  all  sorts  of  crimes  ;  in  particular, 
cruelty,  hatred  of  truth,  and  love  of  falsehood ;  insomuch,  that  if 
any  one  among  them  happened  to  be  milder  than  the  rest,  and  at  all 
inclined  to  the  truth,  all  the  rest  abhorred  and  persecuted  him,  as 
if  he  had  been  the  overthrower  of  Britain.  Nor  were  the  laity 
alone  guilty  of  these  things,  but  even  our  Lord's  own  flock,  and  his 
pastors  also,  addicting  themselves  to  drunkenness,  animosity,  liti- 
giousness,  contention,  envy,  and  other  such  like  crimes,  cast  oft'  the 
light  yoke  of  Christ.  In  the  meantime,  on  a  sudden,  a  severe 
plague  fell  upon  that  corrupt  generation,  which  soon  destroyed  such 
numbers  of  them,  that  the  living  were  scarcely  sufficient  to  bury 
the  dead:  yet  those  that  survived  could  not  be  withdrawn  from 
the  spiritual  death  which  their  sins  had  incurred,  either  by  the 
death  of  their  friends,  or  the  fear  of  their  own.  Wliereupon,  not 
long  after,  a  more  severe  vengeance,  for  their  horrid  wickedness, 
fell  upon  the  sinful  nation.  They  consulted  what  should  be  done, 
and  where  they  should  seek  assistance  to  prevent  or  repel  the  cruel 
and  frequent  incursions  of  the  northern  nations  ;  and  they  all  agreed 

VOL.    I.  V 


322  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  449— 

with  their  King  Vurtigern  to  call  over  to  their  aid,  from  the  parts 
beyond  the  sea,  the  Saxon  nation  ; '  which,  as  the  event  still  more 
evidently  showed,  appears  to  have  been  done  by  the  appointment  of 
our  Lord  himself,  that  evil  might  fall  upon  them  for  their  wicked 
deeds. 


Chap.  XV.  [a.d.  449.]— The  Angles,  being  invited    into    Britain,  at  fiust 

OBLIGED  the  ENEMY  TO  RETIRE;    BUT  NOT  LONG   AFTER,  JOINING   IN  LEAGUE    WITH 
THEM,  THEY  TURNED  THEIR  WEAPONS  UPON  THEIR  CONFEDERATES. 

§  35.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord's  Incarnation  449,  Martian  being  made 
emperor  with  Valentinian,  and  the  forty-sixth  from  Augustus,  ruled 
the  empire  seven  years.  Then  the  nation  of  the  Angles,  or  Saxons, 
being  invited  by  the  aforesaid  king,  arrived  in  Britain,  with  three 
long  ships,  and  had  a  place  assigned  them  to  reside  in,  by  the  same 
king,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  island,  that  they  might  thus  appear 
to  be  fighting  for  the  country,  whilst  their  real  intentions  were  to 
enslave  it.  Accordingly,  they  engaged  with  the  enemy,  who  had 
come  from  the  north  to  give  battle,  and  obtained  the  victory ; 
which,  being  known  at  home  in  their  own  countr)',  as  also  the  fer- 
tility of  the  country,  and  the  cowardice  of  the  Britons,  a  more  con- 
siderable fleet  was  quickly  sent  over,  bringing  a  still  greater  number 
of  men,  which,  being  added  to  the  former,  made  up  an  invincible 
army.  The  new  comers  received  from  the  Britons  a  place  to  inhabit 
among  themselves,  upon  condition  that  they  should  wage  war  against 
their  enemies,  for  the  peace  and  security  of  the  country,  whilst  the 
Britons  agreed  to  furnish  them  with  pay. 

§  36.  Those  who  came  over  were  of  the  three  most  powerful 
nations  of  Germany,  that  is,  of  the  Saxons,  the  Angles,  and  the 
Jutes.  From  the  Jutes"  are  descended  the  people  of  Kent,  and 
of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  those  also  in  the  province  of  the 
West  Saxons,  who  are  to  this  day  called  Jutes,  seated  opposite 
to  the  Isle  of  Wight.  From  the  Saxons,^  that  is,  the  country 
which  is  now  called  Old  Saxony,  came  the  East-Saxons,  the  South - 
Saxons,  and  the  West- Saxons.  From  the  Angles,*  that  is,  tlie 
country  which  is  called  "  Angulus,"  and  which  is  said,  from  that 
time,  to  remain  desert  to  this  day,  between  the  provinces  of  the 
Jutes  and  the  Saxons,  are  descended  the  East-Angles,  the  Midland- 
Angles,  Mercians,  all  the  race  of  the  Northumbrians,  that  is,  of 
those  tribes  that  dwell  on  the  north  side  of  the  river  Humber,  and 
the  other  nations  of  the  English.  The  two  first  commanders  are 
said  to  have  been  Hengist'  and  Horsa  ;  of  whom  Horsa,  being  after- 
wards slain  in  battle  by  the  Britons,  was  buried  in  the  eastern  parts 
of  Kent,  where  a  monument,^  bearing  his  name,  is  still  in  existence. 
They  were  the  sons  of  Victgils,  son  of  Vitta,  whose  father  was  Vecta, 

•  There  seems  reason  to  believe  that  the  Saxons  ilid  not  arrive  in  one  body  at 
one  time,  but  that  their  incursions  extended  over  a  considerable  period.  Hence 
we  may  possibly  obtain  a  solution  to  the  want  of  consistency  in  the  calculation  of 
dates  counting  onwards  from  that  event.  The  instructive  note  of  Lappeuberg, 
i.  62,  63,  may  be  consulted  with  advantage. 

>  See  Lappcnberg,  i.  96.  ^  i^  pp  88,  89.  *  Id.  p.  90.         «  Id.  p.  78. 

*  The  local  tradition  of  the  county  ascribes  this  to  Horstead,  in  Kent.  Camd. 
Brit.  col.  230:  Hasted's  Kent,  c.  177. 


A.D.  466.]  BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. — BOOK    I.  323 

son  of  Woden ;  from  whose  stock  the  royal  race  of  many  provinces 
deduce  their  original. 

§  37-  In  a  short  time,  swarms  of  the  aforesaid  nations  came 
over  into  the  island,  and  they  began  to  increase  so  much,  that 
they  became  terrible  to  the  natives  themselves  who  had  invited 
them.  Then,  having  on  a  sudden  entered  into  a  temporary  league 
with  the  Picts,  whom  they  had  by  this  time  repelled  to  a  distance 
by  the  force  of  their  arms,  they  began  to  turn  their  weapons 
against  their  confederates.  At  first,  they  obliged  them  to  furnish  a 
greater  quantity  of  provisions  ;  and,  seeking  an  occasion  to  quarrel, 
protested,  that  unless  more  plentiful  supplies  were  brought  them, 
they  would  break  the  confederacy,  and  ravage  all  the  island.  Nor 
were  they  at  all  backward  in  putting  their  threats  in  execution.  In 
short,  the  fire  kindled  by  the  hands  of  these  pagans  proved  God's 
just  revenge  for  the  crimes  of  the  people  ;  not  unlike  that  which, 
being  once  lighted  by  the  Chaldeans,  consumed  the  walls  and  the 
whole  city  of  Jerusalem.  For  the  barbarous  conquerors  acting  here 
in  the  same  manner,  or  rather  the  just  Judge  ordaining  that  they 
should  so  act,  they  plundered  all  the  neighbouring  cities  and  country, 
spread  the  conflagration  from  the  eastern  to  the  western  sea,  with- 
out any  opposition,  and  covered  almost  every  part  of  the  devoted 
island.  Public  as  well  as  private  structures  were  overturned  ;  the 
priests  were  everywhere  slain  before  the  altars  ;  prelates  and  people, 
without  any  respect  of  persons,  were  destroyed  with  fire  and  sword  ; 
nor  was  there  any  to  bury  those  who  had  been  thus  cruelly  slaugh- 
tered. Some  of  the  miserable  remainder,  being  taken  in  the  moun- 
tains, were  butchered  in  heaps.  Others,  spent  with  hunger,  came 
forth  and  submitted  themselves  to  the  enemy  for  food,  being  des- 
tined to  undergo  perpetual  sei'vitude,  if  they  were  not  killed  even 
upon  the  spot.  Some,  with  sorrowful  hearts,  fled  beyond  the  seas.' 
Others,  continuing  in  their  own  country,  led  a  miserable  life  among 
the  woods,  rocks,  and  cliffs,  with  scarcely  enough  food  to  support 
life,  and  expecting  every  moment  to  be  their  last. 


Chap.  XVI.  [a.d.  466.] — The  Britons  obtained  their  first  victory  over  the 
Angles,  under  the  command  of  Ambrosids,  a  Roman. 
§  38.  When  the  victorious  army,  having  destroyed  and  dis- 
persed the  natives,  had  returned  home  to  their  own  settlements, 
the  Britons  began  by  degrees  to  take  heart,  and  gather  strength, 
sallying  out  of  the  lurking  places  in  which  they  had  concealed 
themselves,  and  unanimously  imploring  the  Divine  assistance,  that 
they  might  not  utterly  be  destroyed.  "  They  had  at  that  time  for 
their  leader,  Ambrosius  Aurelius,-  a  modest  man,  who  alone, 
probably,  of  the  Roman  nation,  had  survived  the  storm  in  which 
his  parents,  who  were  of  the  royal  race,  had  perished.  Under  him 
the  Britons  revived,  and  offering  battle  to  the  victors,  by  the  help 
of  God,  came  off  victorious.    From  that  day,  sometimes  the  natives, 

'  The  largest  body  of  these  fugitives  fovind  shelter  in  Armorica,  conceraing  the 
colonization  of  which  by  the  Britons,  see  Ussher,  p.  224;  Pagi,  a.d.  460,  §  9,  10. 
'  See  Lappenb.  i.  101. 

Y    2 


324  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  429. 

and  sometimes  their  enemies  prevailed,  till  the  year  of  the  siege  of 
"  Mons  Badonicus,"'  when  they  made  no  small  slaughter  of  those 
invaders,  about  forty-four  years  after  their  arrival  in  England.  But 
of  this  hereafter.^ 


Chap.  XVII.^  [a.d.  429.]— How  Germanus,  the  Bishop,  sailing  into  Britain 
WITH  Lupus,  first  quelled  the  tempest  of  the  sea,  and  afterwards  that 
OF  the  Pelagians,  by  Divine  power. 

§  39.  SoME^  few  years  before  their  arrival,  the  Pelagian  heresy, 
brought  over  by  Agricola,  the  son  of  Severianus,  a  bishop,  had 
sadly  corrupted  the  faith  of  the  Britons.  But  whereas  they  abso- 
lutely refused  to  embrace  that  perverse  doctrine,  so  blasphemous 
against  the  grace  of  Christ,  and  were  not  able  of  themselves  to 
confute  its  subtilty  by  force  of  argument,  they  thought  of  an  excel- 
lent plan,  and  that  was  that  they  should  crave  aid  of  the  Gallican 
prelates  in  that  spiritual  war.  Hereupon,  having  gathered  a  great 
synod,^  they  consulted  together  what  persons  should  be  sent  thither 
for  the  aid  of  the  faith,  and  by  unanimous  consent,  choice  was 
made  of  the  apostolical  priests,  Germanus,  bishop  of  Auxerre,"  and 
Lupus  of  Troyes,  to  go  into  Britain  to  confirm  it  in  the  faith 
respecting  the  doctrine  of  God's  grace.  With  prompt  devotion  they 
complied  with  the  request  and  commands  of  the  holy  church,  and 
putting  to  sea,  sailed  half  way  over  from  Gaul  to  Britain  with  a  fair 
wind,  and  in  safety.  Then,  on  a  sudden,  they  were  obstructed  in 
their  way  by  the  malevolence  of  demons,  who  were  jealous  that 
such  men  should  be  sent  to  bring  back  the  Britons  to  the  faith. 
They  raised  storms,  and  darkened  the  sky  and  the  light  with  clouds. 
The  sails  could  not  bear  the  fury  of  the  winds,  the  sailors'  skill  was 
forced  to  give  way,  the  ship  was  sustained  by  prayer,  not  by  strength, 
and  as  it  happened,  their  spiritual  commander  and  bishop,  being 
spent  with  weariness,  had  fallen  asleep.  Then  the  tempest,  as  if 
the  person  that  opposed  it  had  given  way,  gathered  strength,  and 
the  ship,  overpowered  by  the  waves,  was  ready  to  sink.  Then  the 
blessed  Lupus  and  all  the  rest  in  their  distress  awakened  their 
elder,  that  he  might  oppose  himself  to  the  raging  elements.  He, 
showing  himself  the  more  resolute  in  proportion  to  the  greatness 
of  the  danger,  called  upon  Christ,  and  having,  in  the  name  of  the 
Holy  Trinity,  sprinkled  a  little  water,  he  quelled  the  raging  waves, 
admonished  his  companion,  encouraged  all,  and  all  with  one  moutli 
fell  to  prayer.     The  Deity  heard  their  cry,  the  enemies  were  put  to 

'  Concerning  the  locality,  see  Camden,  Brit.  col.  89.  Beda  here  copying  Gilda.'?. 
§  26,  has  misunderstood  that  writer,  and  placed  the  battle  in  the  forty-fourth  year 
after  the  arrival  of  the  Saxons,  i.e.  in  492.  The  true  date  is  that,  probably,  which 
is  mentioned  in  the  Annales  Cambrirc,  a.d.  516.  See  Petrie,  p.  830.  The  question 
i.s  fully  examined  by  Pagi,  a.d.  494,  §  12.  2  See  §  50. 

^  The  chapters  from  xvii.  to  xxi.  inchisive,  are  borrowed,  with  some  few  alter- 
ations, from  a  life  of  Gennanu.s,  written  within  forty  year.s  of  his  death,  l)y 
Con.stantius  Lugdunensis.     See  Act.  Sancton  Jul.  tom.  vii.  p.  213. 

*  The  date,  a.d.  429,  is  supported  by  the  authority  of  Ussher,  Pagi,  Lappenberg, 
and  others. 

*  Probably,  according  to  Labbe,  at  Troyes,  in  429.     Concil.  iii.  1508. 

*  Germanus,  bishop  of  Auxerre,  was  born  about  378,  and  died  in  448.  Lupus, 
bishop  of  Troyes,  was  born  about  383,  and  died  29  July,  479. 


A.D.  429.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    I.  325 

flight,  a  calm  ensued,  the  winds  veering  about  applied  themselves  to 
fonvard  their  voyage,  and  having  soon  traversed  the  ocean,  they 
enjoyed  the  quiet  of  the  wished-for  shore.  A  multitude  flocking 
thither  from  all  parts,  received  the  priests,  whose  coming  had  been 
foretold  by  the  predictions  even  of  their  adversaries.  For  the 
wicked  spirits  declared  what  they  feared,  and  when  the  priests 
afterwards  expelled  them  from  the  bodies  they  had  taken  possession 
of,  they  made  known  the  nature  of  the  tempest,  and  the  dangers 
they  had  occasioned,  nor  did  they  deny  that  they  had  been  over- 
come by  the  merits  and  authority  of  the  saints. 

§  40.  In  the  meantime  the  apostolical  priests  speedily  filled  the 
island  of  Britain  with  their  fame,  their  preaching  and  their  miracles ; 
and  the  word  of  God  was  by  them  daily  preached,  not  only  in  the 
churches,  but  even  in  the  streets  and  fields,  so  that  the  faithful 
Catholics  were  everywhere  confirmed,  and  those  who  had  gone  astray 
were  corrected.  Like  the  apostles,  they  had  honour  and  authority 
through  a  good  conscience,  obedience  to  their  doctrine  through 
their  sound  learning,  whilst  the  reward  of  miracles  attended  upon 
their  numerous  merits.  Thus  the  generality  of  the  people  readily 
embraced  their  opinions  ;  the  authors  of  the  erroneous  doctrines 
kept  themselves  in  the  back-ground,  and,  like  evil  spirits,  grieved 
for  the  loss  of  the  people  that  were  rescued  from  them.  At  length, 
after  mature  deliberation,  they  had  the  boldness  to  enter  the  lists, 
and  appeai-ed  for  public  disputation.  They  present  themselves, 
conspicuous  for  riches,  glittering  in  apparel,  and  supported  by  the 
flatteries  of  many;  choosing  rather  to  hazard  the  danger  of  the 
combat,'  than  to  undergo  the  dishonour  among  the  people  of  having 
been  silenced,  lest  they  should  seem  to  condemn  themselves  by 
their  own  silence.  An  immense  multitude  was  there  assembled 
with  their  wives  and  children.  The  people  stood  round,  at  once 
the  spectators  and  the  future  judges ;  but  the  parties  present 
differed  much  in  appearance  ;  on  the  one  side  was  Divine  faith,  on 
the  other  human  presumption ;  on  the  one  side  piety,  on  the  other 
pride ;  on  the  one  side  Pelagius,  on  the  other  Christ.  Tlie  holy 
l)riests,  Germanus  and  Lupus,  permitted  their  adversaries  to  speak 
first,  who  took  up  much  time,  and  filled  the  ears  with  empty  words. 
Then  the  venerable  prelates  poured  forth  the  torrent  of  their  apo- 
stolical and  evangelical  eloquence.  Their  discourse  was  interspersed 
with  scriptural  sentences,  and  they  supported  their  most  weighty 
assertions  by  reading  the  written  testimonies  of  writers.  Vanity 
was  convinced,  and  perfidiousness  confuted  ;  so  that  at  every  objec- 
tion made  against  them,  not  being  able  to  reply,  they  confessed 
their  errors.  The  people,  who  were  judges,  could  scarcely  refrain 
from  violence,  but  signified  their  judgment  by  their  acclamations. 

'  See  Camden'.?  Brit.  col.  353,  for  the  locality  of  this  dispute. 


326  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  429. 

Chap.  XVIII.  [a.d.  429.] — The  same  Germanus  gave  sight  to  the  blind 
Daughter  op  a  Tribune,  and  then  coming  to  St.  Alban's,  there  received 
SOME  OF  his  Relics,  and  left  others  of  the  blessed  Apostles,  and  other 

MARTYRS. 

§  41.  After  this,  a  certain  man,  who  had  the  quahty  of  a  tribune, 
came  for^vard  with  his  wife,  and  presented  his  blind  daughter,  ten 
years  of  age,  for  the  priests  to  cure.  They  ordered  her  to  be  set 
before  their  adversaries,  who,  being  convinced  by  guilt  of  conscience, 
joined  their  entreaties  to  those  of  the  child's  parents,  and  besought 
the  priests  that  the  girl  might  be  cured.  The  priests,  therefore, 
perceiving  their  adversaries  to  yield,  made  a  short  prayer,  and  then 
Germanus,  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  invoked  the  Trinity,  and  taking 
into  his  hands  a  casket  with  relics  of  saints,  which  hung  about  his 
neck,  applied  it  to  the  girl's  eyes,  which  were  immediately  delivered 
from  darkness  and  filled  with  the  light  of  truth.  The  parents 
rejoiced,  and  the  people  were  astonished  at  the  miracle  ;  after  which, 
the  wicked  opinions  were  so  fully  obliterated  from  the  minds  of  all, 
that  they  ardently  embraced  the  doctrine  of  the  priests. 

§  42.  This  damnable  heresy  being  thus  suppressed,  and  the 
authors  thereof  confuted,  and  all  the  people's  hearts  settled  in  the 
])urity  of  the  faith,  the  priests  repaired  to  the  tomb  of  the  martyr, 
St.Alban,  to  give  thanks  to  God  through  him.  There  Germanus, 
having  with  him  relics  of  all  the  apostles,  and  of  several  martyrs, 
after  offering  up  his  prayers,  commanded  the  tomb  to  be  opened, 
that  he  might  lay  up  therein  some  precious  gifts  ;  judging  it  conve- 
nient, that  the  limbs  of  saints  brought  together  from  severed  countries, 
as  their  equal  merits  had  procured  them  admission  into  heaven, 
should  be  preserved  in  one  tomb.  These  being  honourably  depo- 
sited, and  laid  together,  he  took  up  a  parcel  of  dust  from  the  place* 
where  the  martyr's  blood  had  been  shed,  to  carr)^  away  witli  him  ; 
which  dust  having  retained  the  blood,  it  appeared  that  the  slaughter 
of  the  martyrs  had  communicated  a  redness  to  it,  whilst  the  perse- 
cutor was  struck  pale.  In  consequence  of  these  things,  an  innu- 
merable multitude  of  people  was  that  day  converted  to  the  Lord. 


Chap.  XIX.  [a.d.  429.] — How  the  same  holy  man,  being  detained  there  by  an 
indisposition,  by  his  prayers  quenched  a  fire  that  had  broken  out  among 
the  houses,  and  was  himself  cured  of  a  distemper  by  a  vision. 

§  43.  As  they  were  returning  from  thence,  Germanus  fell  into  a 
hidden  pitfcJl,  and  broke  his  leg,  by  the  contrivance  of  the  devil, 
who  did  not  know  that,  like  Job,  his  merits  would  be  enhanced  by 
the  affliction  of  his  body.  Wliilst  he  was  thus  necessarily  detained 
some  time  in  the  same  place  by  illness,  a  fire  broke  out  in  a  cottage 
neighbouring  to  that  in  which  he  was  ;  and  having  burned  down 
the  other  houses,  which  were  thatched  with  reed,  was  carried  on  by 
the  wind  to  the  dwelling  in  which  he  lay.  Tlie  people  all  fiocked 
to  the  prelate,  entreating  that  they  might  lift  him  in  their  arms,  and 

'  Germanus  built  a  church  in  Auxerre,  which  he  dedicated  to  St.  Alban,  and 
there  he  deposited  these  relics.  See  Mirac.  S.  Germani  auctore  Herico,  §  17,  Act. 
SS.  mens.  Julii,  vii.  258. 


A.D.  429.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    I.  327 

save  him  from  the  impending  danger.  He,  however,  rebuked  them, 
and  relying  on  faith,  would  not  suffer  himself  to  be  removed.  The 
multitude,  in  despair,  ran  to  oppose  the  conflagration  ;  however,  for 
the  greater  manifestation  of  the  Divine  power,  whatsoever  the  crowd 
endeavoured  to  save,  was  destroyed ;  but  what  he  who  was  disabled 
and  motionless  protected,  the  flame  avoided,  sparing  the  house  that 
gave  entertainment  to  the  holy  man,  and  raging  about  on  every  side 
of  it ;  whilst  the  house  in  which  he  lay  appeared  untouched,  amid 
the  general  conflagration.  The  multitude  rejoiced  at  the  miracle, 
and  praised  the  superior  power  of  God.  An  infinite  number  of  the 
poorer  sort  watched  day  and  night  before  the  cottage  ;  some  to  heal 
their  souls,  and  some  their  bodies.  It  is  impossible  to  relate  what 
Christ  wrought  by  his  servant,  what  wonders  the  sick  man  performed : 
for  whilst  he  would  sufier  no  medicines  to  be  applied  to  his  own 
distemper,  he  one  night  saw  a  person,  in  garments  as  white  as  snow, 
standing  by  him,  who,  reaching  out  his  hand,  seemed  to  raise  him 
up,  and  ordered  him  to  stand  boldly  upon  his  feet ;  from  which 
time  his  pain  ceased,  and  he  was  so  perfectly  restored,  that  when 
the  day  came  on,  he,  without  any  hesitation,  set  forth  upon  his 
journey. 


Chap.  XX.  [a.d.  429.] — How   the  same  Bishops   procured   for  the  Britons 

ASSISTANCE  FROM  HeAVEN  IN  A  BATTLE,  AND  THEN  RETURNED  HOME.. 

§  44.  In  the  meantime,  the  Saxons  '  and  Picts,  with  their  united 
forces,  made  war  upon  the  Britons,  who,  being  thus  by  fear  and 
necessity  mutually  compelled  to  take  up  arms,  and  thinking  them- 
selves unequal  to  their  enemies,  implored  the  assistance  of  the  holy 
bishops  ;  who,  hastening  to  them  as  they  had  promised,  inspired  so 
much  courage  into  these  fearful  people,  that  one  would  have  thought 
they  had  been  joined  by  a  mighty  army.  Thus,  these  holy  apostolic 
men  being  leaders,  Christ  Himself  commanded  in  their  camp.  The 
holy  days  of  Lent  were  also  at  hand,  and  were  rendered  more  religious 
by  the  presence  of  the  priests,  insomuch  that  the  people  being  every- 
where instructed  by  daily  sermons,  resorted  in  crowds  to  the  grace 
of  baptism  ;  for  most  of  the  army  desired  admission  to  the  saving 
water ;  a  church  was  prepared  with  boughs  for  the  feast  of  the 
Resurrection  of  our  Lord,  and  so  fitted  up  in  that  martial  camp,  as 
if  it  were  in  a  city.  The  army  advanced,  still  wet  with  the  baptismal 
water  ;  the  faith  of  the  people  was  strengthened  ;  and  human  power 
being  despised,  the  Divine  assistance  was  now  relied  upon. 

§  45.  The  enemy  received  advice  of  the  state  and  position  of  the 
army,  and  not  questioning  their  success  against  an  unarmed  multi- 
tude, hastened  forwards,  but  their  approach  was,  by  the  scouts, 
made  known  to  the  Britons  ;  the  greater  part  of  whose  forces  being 
just  come  from  the  font,  after  the  celebration  of  Easter,  and  pre- 
paring to  arm  and  cany  on  the  war,  Germanus  declared  he  would 

'  We  here  learn,  that  long  before  the  period  usually  assigned  for  the  invasion 
of  England  by  the  Saxons,  that  nation  had  acquired  a  footing  in  this  island. 
See  Pagi,  a.  d.  429,  §  8 ;  and  Lappenb.  i.  62,  note. 


328  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.447. 

be  their  leader  to  the  battle.  He  picked  out  some  light-armed 
troops,  viewed  the  country  round  about,  and  observing  in  the  way 
by  which  the  enemy  was  expected,  a  valley  encompassed  with  hills,' 
in  that  place  he  drew  up  his  new  army,  himself  acting  as  their 
general.  A  multitude  of  fierce  enemies  presently  appeared,  whom 
as  soon  as  those  that  lay  in  ambush  saw  approaching,  Germanus, 
bearing  in  his  hands  the  standard,  instructed  his  men  all  in  a  loud 
voice  to  repeat  his  words,  and  the  enemy  advancing  securelv,  as 
thinking  to  take  them  by  surprise,  the  priests  three  times  cried. 
Hallelujah.^  A  universal  shout  of  the  same  word  followed,  and  the 
clefts  of  the  hills  resounding  the  echo  on  all  sides,  the  enemy  was 
struck  with  dread,  fearing,  that  not  only  the  neighbouring  rocks, 
but  even  the  very  skies,  were  falling  upon  them  ;  and  such  was  their 
terror,  that  their  feet  were  not  swift  enough  to  deliver  them  from  it. 
They  everywhere  fled  in  disorder,  casting  away  their  arms,  and  well 
satisfied  if,  with  their  naked  bodies,  they  could  escape  the  danger ; 
many  of  them,  in  their  precipitate  and  hasty  flight,  were  swallowed 
up  by  the  river  which  they  were  passing.  The  Britons,  without  the 
loss  of  a  man,  beheld  their  vengeance  complete,  and  became  inactive 
spectators  of  their  victoiy.  The  scattered  spoils  were  gathered  up, 
and  the  pious  soldiers  rejoiced  in  the  success  which  Heaven  had 
granted  them. 

§  46.  The  prelates  thus  triumphed  over  the  defeated  enemy 
without  bloodshed,  and  gained  a  victory  by  faith,  without  the  aid  of 
human  force.  Thus  having  settled  the  aflairs  of  the  island,  and 
restored  tranquillity  by  the  defeat,  as  well  of  the  invisible  as  of  the 
carnal  enemies,  the  bishops  prepared  to  return  home.  Their  own 
merits,  and  the  intercession  of  the  holy  martyr  Alban,  obtained  for 
them  a  safe  passage,  and  the  happy  vessel  restored  them  in  peace 
to  their  own  people. 


Chap.  XXI.  [a.d.  447  ?]— The   Pelagian   heresy  again   reviving,  Germanus, 

RETDRNING  INTO  BRITAIN  WITH  SeVERUS,  FIRST  HEALED  A  LAME  YOUTH,  THEN 
HAVING  CONDEMNED  OR  GONVERTED  THE  HERETICS,  THEY  RESTORED  SPIRITUAL 
HEALTH  TO  THE  PEOPLE  OF  GoD. 

§  47.  Not  long'  after,  advice  was  brought  from  the  same  island, 
that  certain  persons  were  again  attempting  to  set  forth  and  spread 
abroad  the  Pelagian  heresy.  The  holy  Germanus  was  once  more 
entreated  by  all  the  priests,  that  he  would  again  defend  the  cause  of 
God,  which  he  had  before  asserted.  He  speedily  complied  with 
their  request ;  and  taking  with  him  Severus,  a  man  of  singular 
sanctity,  who  was  disciple  to  the  most  holy  father.  Lupus,  bishop 

'  According  to  Usshcr,  p.  179,  at  Mold,  in  Flintshire,  neai- which  place  is  Maes- 
Garmon,  or  German's  Field.     See  also,  Camd.  Brit.  col.  826. 

^  Gregory  the  Great,  whoso  thoughts  had  long  been  directed  to  the  state  of 
religion  in  England,  evidently  refers  to  this  victory  in  his  Commentary  upon  the 
book  of  Job,  xxvii.  cap.  6  (0pp.  i.  779,  ed.  1675).  Beda,  H.  E.  ii.  1,  and  others 
after  him,  suppose  that  in  this  passage  he  alluded  to  the  conversion  of  the  Saxons 
under  S.  Augustine ;  but  this  event  had  not  occurred  when  Gregory  wrote  his 
Exposition  upon  Job. 

^  This  second  mission  took  place  in  446  or  447. 


A.D.  447.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    I.  329 

of  Troyes,  and  at  that  time,  naving  been  ordained  bishop  of  Treves, 
was  preaching  the  word  of  God  to  the  tribes  of  "  Germania 
Prima,"  he  put  to  sea,  and  was  calmly  wafted  over  into  Britain. 

^  48.  In  the  meantime,  the  wicked  spirits  flying  about  the  whole 
island,  foretold  by  unwilling  prophecies  that  Germanus  was  coming; 
insomuch,  that  one  Elafius,  a  chief  of  that  region,  hastened  to  meet 
the  holy  men,  without  having  received  any  certain  news,  carrying 
with  him  his  son,  who  laboured  under  a  lamentable  weakness  of  his 
limbs  while  in  the  very  flower  of  his  youth  ;  for  the  nerves  being 
withered,  his  leg  was  so  contracted  that  the  limb  was  useless,  and 
he  could  not  walk.  All  the  country  followed  this  Elafius.  The 
priests  arrived,  and  were  met  by  the  ignorant  multitude,  whom 
they  forthwith  blessed,  and  preached  the  word  of  God  to  them. 
They  found  the  people  constant  to  the  faith  in  which  they  had  left 
them ;  and  learning  that  but  few  had  gone  astray,  they  found  out 
the  authors,  and  condemned  them.  Then  Elafius  suddenly  cast 
himself  at  the  feet  of  the  priests,  presenting  his  son,  whose  distress 
was  visible,  and  needed  no  prayers  to  express  it.  AH  were  grieved, 
but  especially  the  priests,  who  offered  their  prayers  for  him  before 
the  throne  of  mercy ;  and  Germanus,  at  once  causing  the  youth  to 
sit  down,  gently  passed  his  healing  hand  over  the  leg  which  was 
contracted ;  the  limb  recovered  its  strength  and  soundness  by  the 
power  of  his  touch,  the  withered  ner\'es  were  restored,  and  the 
youth  was,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  people,  delivered  whole  to  his 
father.  The  multitude  was  amazed  at  the  miracle,  and  the  catholic 
faith  was  firmly  implanted  in  the  minds  of  all ;  after  which,  they 
were,  in  a  sermon,  warned  and  exhorted  to  make  amends  for  their 
error.  By  the  judgment  of  all,  the  originators  of  the  heresy,  who 
had  been  expelled  the  island,  were  brought  before  the  priests,  to  be 
conveyed  into  the  continent,  that  the  country  might  be  rid  of  them, 
and  they  corrected  of  their  errors.  Thus  the  faith  in  those  parts 
continued  long  after  pure  and  untainted. 

§  49.  All  things  being  settled,  the  blessed  prelates  returned  home 
as  prosperously  as  they  came.  But  Germanus,  after  this,  went  to 
Ravenna,  to  intercede  for  the  tranquillity  of  the  Armoricans,  where, 
being  very  honourably  received  by  Valentinian  and  his  mother, 
Placidia,  he  departed^  to  Christ;  his  body  was  conveyed  to  his 
own  city  with  a  splendid  retinue,  and  numberless  miracles  accom- 
panied him  to  the  grave.  Not  long  after,  Valentinian  was  murdered 
by  the  followers  of  Aetius,  the  Patrician,  whom  he  had  put  to 
death,  in  the  sixth  year  of  the  reign  of  Martian,  and  with  him 
ended  the  empire  of  the- West. 

*  At  whatever  time  the  second  expedition  of  Gei-manus  began,  it  cei-tainly 
terminated  in  447,  or  early  in  448,  for  he  died  in  Italy  on  31  July  in  that  year. 


330  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.U.  447. 

Chap.  XXII.  [a.d.  447  ?] — The  Britons,  being  for  a  time  delivered   from 

rOREIGN    INVASIONS,  WASTED  THEMSELVES  BY  CIVIL  WARS,  AND  THEN    GAVE  THEM- 
SELVES DP  TO  MORE  HEINOUS  CRIMES. 

§  50.  In  the  meantime,  in  Britain'  there  was  some  little  respite 
from  foreign  but  not  from  civil  wars.  There  still  remained  the 
ruins  of  cities  destroyed  by  the  enemy,  and  abandoned  ;  and  the 
natives,  who  had  escaped  the  enemy,  now  fought  against  each  other. 
However,  the  kings,  priests,  private  men,  and  the  nobility,  still 
remembering  the  late  calamities  and  slaughters,  in  some  measure 
each  kept  within  their  own  bounds ;  but  when  these  died,  and 
another  generation  succeeded,  which  knew  nothing  of  those  times, 
and  was  only  acquainted  with  the  present  peaceable  state  of  things, 
all  the  bonds  of  truth  and  justice  were  so  entirely  broken  up  and 
overthrown,  that  there  was  not  only  no  trace  of  them  remaining, 
but  \erf  few  persons  seemed  to  be  aware  that  such  virtues  had  ever 
existed.  Among  other  most  wicked  actions,  not  to  be  expressed, 
which  their  own  historian,  Gildus,  mournfully  takes  notice  of,  they 
added  this — that  they  never  preached  the  faith  to  the  Saxons,  or 
English,  who  dwelt  amongst  them.  The  goodness  of  God,  however, 
did  not  forsake  his  people,  whom  he  foreknew,  but  sent  to  the 
aforesaid  nation  much  more  worthy  preachers,  to  convert  it  to  the 
faith. 

Chap.  XXIII.  [a.d.  582.] — How  Pope  Gregory  sent  Augustine,  with  other 

MONKS,  TO  preach  TO  THE  ENGLISH  NATION,  AND  ENCOURAGED  THEM  BY  A  LETTER 
OF  EXHORTATION,  NOT  TO  CEASE  FROM  THEIR  LABOUR. 

§  51.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  582,  Mauritius,  the  fifty-fourth 
from  Augustus,  ascended  the  throne,  and  reigned  twenty-one  years. 
In  the  tenth  year  of  his  reign,  [a.d.  592,]  Gregory,  a  man  renowned 
for  learning  and  activity,  was  promoted  to  the  apostolical  see  of 
Rome,  and  presided  over  it  thirteen  years,  six  months,  and  ten 
days.  He,  being  moved  by  Divine  inspiration,  in  the  fourteenth 
year  of  the  same  emperor,  and  about  the  one  hundred  and  fiftieth 
after  the  coming  of  the  Angles  into  Britain,  sent  the  servant  of 
God,  Augustine,  and  with  him  several  other  monks,  who  feared  the 
Lord,  to  preach  the  word  of  God  to  the  English  nation.  They 
having,  in  obedience  to  the  pope's  commands,  undertaken  that 
work,  when  they  had  advanced  a  short  way  on  their  journey,"  were 
seized  with  a  sluggish  fear,  and  began  to  think  of  returning  home, 
rather  than  proceed  to  a  barbarous,  tierce,  and  unbelieving  nation, 
to  whose  very  language  they  were  strangers  ;  and  this  they  unani- 
mously agreed  was  the  safest  course.  In  short,  they  sent  back 
Augustine,  who  had  been  appointed  to  be  consecrated  bishop  in 
case  they  were  received  by  the  English,  that  he  might,  by  humble 
entreaty,  obtain  of  the  holy  Gregory,  that  they  should  not  be  com- 
j)elled  to  undertake  so  dangerous,  toilsome,  and  uncertain  a  journey. 
The  pope,  in  reply,  sent  them  a  hortatory  epistle,  persuading  them 

'  0x1  the  state  of  Britain  immediately  after  tlie  departure  of  the  Romans,  see 
Lajnienb.  i.  60. 

'■'  On  the  route  of  the  missionaries  through  France,  see  Mabillon,  Annal.  Bened. 
A.D.  5!)6,  §  34. 


A.D.  596.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history.  —  BOOK    I.  331 

to  proceed  in  the  work  of  the  Divine  word,  and  rely  on  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Almighty ;  the  purport  of  which  letter  was  as 
follows  : — 

§  52.  "  Gregory,  the  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  to  the  servants 
of  our  Lord.  Forasmuch  as  it  were  better  not  to  begin  a  good  work, 
than  to  think  of  desisting  from  that  which  has  been  begun,  it 
behoves  you,  my  beloved  sons,  to  accomplish  the  good  work,  which, 
by  the  help  of  our  Lord,  you  have  undertaken.  Let  not,  therefore, 
the  toil  of  the  journey,  nor  the  tongues  of  evil-speaking  men,  deter 
you  ;  but  with  all  possible  earnestness  and  zeal  perform  that  which, 
by  God's  direction,  you  have  undertaken  ;  being  assured,  that  much 
labour  is  followed  by  greater  eternal  reward.  When  Augustine, 
your  provost,  returns,  (whom  we  also  have  constituted  your  abbat,) 
humbly  obey  him  in  all  things  ;  knowing,  that  whatsoever  you  shall 
do  by  his  direction,  will,  in  all  respects,  be  profitable  to  your  souls. 
May  Almighty  God  protect  you  with  his  grace,  and  grant  that  I 
may,  in  the  heavenly  country,  see  the  fruits  of  your  labour  ;  inas- 
much as,  though  I  cannot  toil  with  you,  I  may  partake  in  the  joy 
of  the  reward,  because  I  am  willing  to  labour.  God  keep  you  in 
safety,  my  most  beloved  sons.  Dated'  the  10th  of  the  kalends  of 
August,  [23d  of  July,]  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  our 
pious  and  most  august  lord,  Mauritius  Tiberius,  the  thirteenth 
year  after  the  consulship  of  our  said  lord ;  in  the  fourteenth 
indiction." 


CuAF.  XXIV.  [a.d.  596.] — How  he  wrote  to  the  Bishop  op  Arles  to  entertain 

THEM. 

§  53.  The  same  venerable  pope  also  sent  a  letter  to  iEtherius,' 
bishop  of  Aries,  exhorting  him  to  give  favourable  entertainment 
to  Augustine  on  his  way  to  Britain  ;  which  letter  was  in  these 
words  : — 

"  To  his  most  reverend  and  holy  brother  and  fellow -bishop  jEtherius, 
Gregory,  the  servant  of  the  servants  of  God.  Although  religious 
men  stand  in  need  of  no  recommendation  to  those  priests  who 
have  the  charity  which  is  pleasing  to  God ;  yet  as  a  proper  oppor- 
tunity is  offered  me  to  write,  we  have  thought  fit  to  send  you  this 
our  letter,  to  inform  you  that  we  have  directed  thither,  for  the  good 
of  souls,  the  bearer  of  these  presents,  Augustine,  the  servant  of 
God,  of  whose  industry  we  are  assured,  with  other  servants  of  God, 
whom  it  is  requisite  that  your  holiness  should  assist  with  priestly 
affection,  and  afford  him  all  the  comfort  in  your  power.  And  to 
the  end  that  you  may  be  the  more  ready  to  render  him  assistance, 
we  have  enjoined  him  to  inform  you  particularly  of  the  occasion  of 
his  coming ;  knowing  that,  when  you  are  acquainted  with  it,  you 
will,  as  the  matter  requires,  for  the  sake  of  God,  zealously  afford 

^  A  vindication  of  the  chronological  accuracy  of  Beda  at  this  point,  may  be 
seen  in  Pagi,  a.d.  596,  §  4. 

^  An  error  has  here  crept  into  Beda's  narrative,  (arising,  probably,  from  the 
inaccuracy  of  the  extracts  made  by  Nothelm  from  the  papal  registers ;)  for  Vir- 
gilius  was  at  this  time  bishop  of  Aries,  and  not  iEtherius.  The  subject  is 
examined  at  considerable  length  by  Pagi,  a.  d.  596,  §  5. 


332  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  5lt7. 

liim  your  relief.  We  also  in  all  things  recommend  to  your  charity, 
Candidus, '  the  priest,  our  common  son,  whom  we  have  transferred 
to  the  government  of  a  small  patrimony  in  our  church.  God  keep 
you  in  safety,  most  reverend  brother.  Dated  the  10th  of  the  kalends 
of  August,  [23d  of  July,]  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  our 
most  pious  and  august  lord,  Mauritius  Tiberius,  tlie  thirteenth  year 
after  the  consulship  of  our  lord  aforesaid ;  in  the  fourteenth 
indiction." 


Chap.  XXV.  [a.d.  597.] — Augustine,  coming  into  Britain,  first  preached  in 
THE  Isle  of  Thanet  to  the  King  of  Kent,  and  so,  having  obtained  licence 

FROM  HIM,  ENTERED  THE  KINGDOM  OF  KeNT,  IN  ORDER  TO  PREACH  THEREIN. 

§  54.  Augustine,  thus  strengthened  by  the  confirmation  of  the 
blessed  father  Gregory,  returned  to  the  work  of  the  word  of  God, 
with  the  servants  of  Christ  who  were  with  him,  and  arrived  in 
Britain.  The  most  powerful  /Edilberct^  was  at  that  time  king  in 
Kent ;  he  had  extended  the  boundaries  of  his  dominions  as  far  as 
to  the  great  river  H  umber,  by  which  the  peo])le  of  the  southern 
Angles  are  divided  from  the  northern.  On  the  east  of  Kent  is 
Thanet,^  a  considerable  island,  containing,  according  to  the  English 
custom  of  reckoning,  600  families,  divided  from  the  main  land  by 
the  river  Vantsumu,  which  is  about  three  furlongs  in  breadth,  and 
fordable  only  in  two  places,  for  both  ends  of  it  run  into  the  sea. 
In  this  island  landed-*  the  servant  of  our  Lord,  Augustine,  and  his 
companions,  being,  as  is  reported,  nearly  forty  men.  They  had, 
by  order  of  the  blessed  pope  Gregory,  taken  interpreters  of  the 
nation  of  the  Franks,  and  sending  to  /Edilberct,  signified  that  they 
were  come  from  Rome,  and  brought  a  joyful  message,  which  most 
undoubtedly  assured  to  all  that  took  advantage  of  it  the  everlasting 
joys  of  heaven,  and  a  kingdom  that  would  never  end,  with  the  living 
and  true  God.  The  king  having  heard  this,  ordered  them  to  stay 
in  the  island  in  which  they  had  landed,  and  that  they  should  be 
furnished  with  all  necessaries,  till  he  should  consider  what  to  do 
with  them.  For  he  had  before  heard  of  the  christian  religion, 
having  a  christian  wife  of  the  royal  family  of  the  Franks,  called 
Bercta,'^  whom  he  had  received  from  her  parents  upon  condition 
that  she  should  be  permitted  to  retain  her  religion  with  the  bishop 
Liudhard,®  who  was  sent  with  her  as  an  assistant  to  preserv^e  her 
laith. 

'  Candidus  was  employed  by  Gregory  in  liis  laudable  endeavours  for  the 
redemption  of  English  slaves.  A  letter  from  hira  to  Candidus  upon  the  subject 
may  be  seen  in  Greg.  Epist.  lib.  v.  ep.  10,  (0pp.  iL  653.)  See,  also,  MabilL  Armal. 
Bened.  A.  D.  596,  §  5. 

■  The  reign  of  Ethelbert  of  Kent  extended  from  568  to  616. 

^  The  island  of  Thanet  is  now  divided  from  the  rest  of  Kent  by  a  narrow 
brook. 

*  At  a  place  called  Retesburgh,  according  to  Thome,  (col.  1759.) 

*  Bertha  was  the  daughter  of  Charibert,  king  of  Paris,  and  queen  Ingoberga, 
and  is  mentioned  as  such  by  Gregory  of  Tours,  lib.  ix.  cap.  26.  Gregory  addresses 
her  imder  the  name  of  Adilberga.     Ep.  xi.  29,  cd.  Bcned. 

^  See  Acta  Sanct.  mens.  Feb.  tom.  iii.  p.  468.  Thorne  and  Sprott,  two  early 
Kentish  writers,  call  hiiu  bishop  of  Scnli.s,  concerning  his  claims  to  which  title 
see  Gallia  Christ,  x.  1382. 


A.D.  597.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    I.  333 

§  55.  Some  days  after,  the  king  came  into  the  island,  and  sitting 
in  the  open  air,  ordered  Augustine  and  his  companions  to  be 
brought  to  him,  that  they  might  converse  together.  For  he  had 
taken  precaution  that  they  should  not  come  to  him  in  any  house, 
lest,  according  to  an  ancient  superstition,  if  they  practised  any 
magical  arts,  they  might  impose  upon  him,  and  so  get  the  better 
of  him.  But  they  came  furnished  with  divine,  not  with  magic 
power,  bearing  a  silver  cross  for  their  banner,  and  the  image  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  painted  on  a  board  ;  and  singing  Litanies,  they 
offered  up  their  prayers  to  the  Lord  for  the  eternal  salvation  both 
of  themselves  and  of  those  to  w-hom  they  had  come.  Wlien  they 
had  sat  down,  pursuant  to  the  king's  commands,  and  preached  to 
him  and  his  attendants  there  present  the  word  of  life,  the  king 
answered  thus  : — "  Your  words  and  promises  are  very  fair  ;  but  as 
they  are  new  to  us,  and  of  uncertain  import,  I  cannot  approve  of 
them  so  far  as  to  forsake  that  which  I  have  so  long  followed,  wnth 
the  whole  English  nation.  But  because  you  strangers  are  come 
from  far  into  my  kingdom,  and,  as  I  conceive,  are  desirous  to 
impart  to  us  those  things  which  you  believe  to  be  true  and  most 
beneficial,  we  will  not  molest  you,  but  rather  give  you  favourable 
entertainment,  and  take  care  to  supply  you  with  your  necessary 
sustenance  ;  nor  do  we  forbid  you  to  preach  and  gain  as  many  as 
you  can  to  your  religion."  Accordingly  he  gave  them  a  residence' 
in  the  city  of  Canterbury,  which  was  the  metropolis  of  all  his  do- 
minions, and,  pursuant  to  his  promise,  besides  allowing  them  sus- 
tenance, did  not  refuse  them  liberty  to  preach.  It  is  reported  that, 
as  they  drew  near  to  the  city,  after  their  manner,  with  the  holy 
cross,  and  the  image  of  our  sovereign  Lord  and  King,  Jesus  Christ, 
they,  in  concert,  sang  this  Litany:  "  We  beseech  thee,  O  Lord,  in 
thy  great  mercy,  that  thy  anger  and  wrath  be  turned  away  from 
this  city,  and  from  thy  holy  house,  because  we  have  sinned. 
Hallelujah." 


Chap.  XXVI.  [a.d.  597.] — St.  Augustine  in  Kent  followed  the  doctrine  and 

MANNER  OF  LIVING  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH,  AND  RECEIVED  HIS   EPISCOPAL  SEE 
IN  THE  ROYAL  CITY. 

§  56.  As  soon  as  they  had  entered  the  dwelling-place  assigned 
them,  they  began  to  imitate  the  course  of  life  practised  in  the  primi- 
tive church  ;  applying  themselves  to  frequent  prayer,  watching,  and 
fasting ;  preaching  the  word  of  life  to  as  many  as  they  could  ; 
despising  all  worldly  things,  as  not  belonging  to  them  ;  receiving 
only  their  necessary  food  from  those  whom  they  taught ;  themselves 
living  in  all  respects  conformably  to  what  they  prescribed  to  others, 
and  being  always  disposed  to  suffer  any  adversity,  and  even  to  die, 
for  that  truth  which  they  preached.  In  short,  several  believed  and 
were  baptized,  admiring  the  simphcity  of  their  innocent  life,  and  the 
sweetness  of  their  heavenly  doctrine.     Tliere  was,  near  the  east  side 

1  TTiorne,  apparently  from  local  tradition,  says  that  they  were  flomiciled  in  the 
parish  of  S.  Alphege,  at  a  place  called  Stablegate.   See  Decern.  Scriptt.  col.  1759. 


334  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    KNGLAND.  [a.D.  597. 

of  tlie  city,  an  ancient  church  dedicated  to  the  honour  of  St.  Martin,' 
built  whilst  the  Romans  were  still  in  the  island,  wherein  the  queen, 
who,  as  has  been  said  before,  was  a  Christian,  used  to  pray.  In 
this  they  first  began  to  meet,  to  sing,  to  pray,  to  say  mass,  to  preach, 
and  to  baptize,  till  the  king,  being  converted  to  the  faith,  allowed 
them  to  preach  more  openly,  and  to  build  or  repair  churches  in 
all  places. 

§  57.  When  the  king,  among  the  rest,  induced  l)y  the  unspotted 
life  of  these  holy  men,  and  their  delightful  promises,  (which  they 
proved  to  be  most  certain,  by  many  miracles,*)  believed  and  was 
baptized,  greater  numbers^  began  daily  to  flock  together  to  hear  the 
word,  and,  forsaking  their  heathen  rites,  to  associate  themselves,  by 
beheving,  to  the  unity  of  the  church  of  Christ.  Their  faith  and 
conversion  the  king  is  reported  so  far  to  have  encouraged,  as  that 
he  compelled  none  to  embrace  Christianity,  but  only  showed  more 
affection  to  the  believers,  as  to  his  fellow-citizens  in  the  heavenly 
kingdom.  For  he  had  learned  from  the  instructors  and  leaders  of 
his  own  salvation,  that  the  servdce  of  Christ  ought  to  be  voluntary, 
not  by  compulsion.  Nor  was  it  long  before  he  gave  his  teachers  a 
settled  residence*  in  his  metropolis  of  Canterbury,  consistent  with 
their  position,  together  with  such  possessions  of  different  kinds  as 
were  necessary  for  their  subsistence. 


Chap.  XXVII.  [a.d.  597.]— St.  Augustine  being  siade  bishop,  sends  to  acquaint 
Pope  Gregory  with  what  had  been  done  in  Britain,  and  receives  his 

ANSWER  to  the  NECESSARY  DOUBTS  HE  HAD  PROPOSED  TO  HIM. 

§  58.  In  the  meantime,^  Augustine,  the  man  of  God,  repaired  to 
Aries,  and,  pursuant  to  the  orders  received  from  the  holy  father, 
Gregory,  was  ordained  archbishop  for  the  English  nation,  by  iiithe- 
rius,**  archbishop  of  that  city.  Then  returning  into  Britain,  he  sent 
Laurentius  the  priest,  and  Peter  the  monk,  to  Rome,  to  acquaint 

'  The  church  of  St.  Martin  is  said  to  have  been  the  seat  of  a  suffragan  bishop 
until  the  time  of  Lanfnmc.  See  Hasted's  Kent,  iv.  497.  The  following  extract 
from  Mr.  Cole's  intcrcrtting  "  Handbook  for  Canterbury"  is  worthy  our  notice: — 
"  The  quantity  of  Roman  brick.s  which  may  be  detected  throughout  the  structure, 
would  certainly  show  that  it  was  originally  a  Roman  structure,  or  one  built  with 
Roman  materials  adapted  from  other  ]nirj)Oses,  as  we  sec  in  manj'  parts  where 
we  know  the  Romans  to  have  been  especially  located.  The  church  is  a  very 
small,  oblong  building,  consi.sting  of  a  chancel  and  nave,  with  a  plain  pointed 
roof,  and  a  low  Rquarc  lower." — V.  6(3. 

^  The  date  of  Etholbert's  baptism  is  micertaiu.  Ussher  refers  it  to  a.d.  599 ; 
but  it  appears  that  it  took  place  at  an  earlier  period,  probably  in  597.  See  Pagi, 
ad  an.  §  4. 

'  It  appears  from  a  letter  addres.sed  by  Gregory  to  Eulogitis,  bishop  of 
Alexandria,  that  previous  to  the  Christmas  of  597,  more  than  ten  thousand  of  the 
English  had  been  baptized  by  Augustme  and  his  disciples.  Epp.  viii.  30.  0pp.  ii. 
918,  ed.  Bened. 

*  Several  charters  professing  to  be  gi-anted  by  Ethelbert  to  Augustine  may  be 
seen  in  the  Cod.  Diplom.  JEvi  Saxon,  i.  2,  3,  etc.  They  are  marked  by  the  editor 
aa  spurious. 

*  The  date  of  Augustine's  conaecration  at  Aries  is  established  by  a  comparison 
of  Beda's  text  with  the  correspondence  of  Gregory,  from  which  we  learn  that  the 
ceremony  was  completed  and  the  archbishop  had  returned  to  Kent  before  the 
Chi-istmas  of  597.     See  Pagi  ad  an.  597,  S  4. 

*  The  error  pointed  out  at  §  50  is  here  repeated. 


AD.  597.]  BEDA'S    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    I.  335 

pope  Gregory,  that  the  nation  of  the  EngUsh  had  received  the  faith 
of  Christ,  and  that  he  was  himself  made  their  bishop.  At  the  same 
time,  he  desired  his  solution  of  some  doubts  that  occurred  to  him. 
He  soon  received  answers  corresponding  to  his  questions,  which  we 
have  also  thought  fit  to  insert  in  this  our  history  : — 

§  59.  The  First  Question  of  St.  Augustine,  Bishop  of  the  Church 
of  Canterbury. — Concerning  bishops,  how  are  they  to  behave  them- 
selves towards  their  clergy?  into  how  many  portions  are  t' e  things 
given  by  the  faithful  to  the  altar,  to  be  divided  ?  and  how  is  the 
bishop  to  act  in  the  church  ? 

Gregory,  Pope  of  the  City  of  Rome,  answers. — Holy  writ,  in  which 
no  doubt  you  are  well  versed,  testifies,  and  particularly  St.  Paul's 
Epistle  to  Timothy,  w^herein  he  endeavours  to  instruct  him  how  he 
should  behave  himself  in  the  house  of  God,  answers  this  question. 
But  it  is  the  custom  of  the  apostolic  see  to  prescribe  rules  to  bishops 
newly  ordained,  that  all  emoluments  which  accrue,  are  to  be  divided 
into  four  portions  ; — one  for  the  bishop  and  his  family,  because  of 
hospitality  and  entertainments  ;  another  for  the  clergy  ;  a  third  for 
the  poor ;  and  the  fourth  for  the  repair  of  churches.  But  in  regard 
that  you,  my  brother,  being  brought  up  under  monastic  rules,  are 
not  to  live  apart  from  your  clergy  in  the  English  church,  which,  by 
God's  assistance,  has  been  lately  brought  to  the  faith  ;  you  are  to 
follow  that  course  of  life  which  our  forefathers  did  in  the  time  of 
the  primitive  church,  when  none  of  them  said  anything  that  he 
possessed  was  his  own,  but  all  things  were  in  common  among  them. 

But  if  there  are  any  clerks  not  received  into  holy  orders,  who  can- 
not live  continent,  they  are  to  take  wives,  and  receive  their  stipends 
abroad  ;  because  we  know  it  is  written  in  the  authorities  above- 
mentioned,  that  a  distribution  was  made  to  each  of  them  according 
to  his  wants.  [Acts  iv.  35.]  Care  is  also  to  be  taken  of  their  sti- 
pends, and  provision  to  be  made,  and  they  are  to  be  kept  under 
ecclesiastical  rules,  that  they  may  live  orderly,  and  attend  to  singing 
of  psalms,  and,  by  the  help  of  God,  preserve  their  hearts,  and 
tongues,  and  bodies  from  all  that  is  unlawful.  But  as  for  those  that 
live  in  common,  why  need  we  say  anything  of  assigning  portions, 
or  keeping  hospitality  and  exhibiting  mercy  ?  inasmuch  as  all  that 
can  be  spared  is  to  be  spent  in  pious  and  religious  works,  according 
to  the  commands  of  Him  who  is  the  Lord  and  Master  of  all,  "  Give 
alms  of  such  things  as  you  have,  and  behold  all  things  are  clean 
unto  you."   [Luke  xi.  4L] 

§  60.  Augustine's  Second  Question. — Wliereas  the  faith  is  one  and 
the  same,  are  there  difierent  customs  in  different  churches  ?  and  is 
one  custom  of  masses  observed  in  the  holy  Roman  church,  and 
another  in  the  Galilean  '  church  ? 

Pope  Gregory  answers. — You  know,  my  brother,  the  custom  of 
the  Roman  church  in  which  you  remember  you  were  bred  up. 

'  Augustine's  attention  had  probably  been  directed  to  this  question  by  finding 
that  the  Gallican  Liturgy  had  been  introduced  into  the  church  of  St.  Martin,  at 
Canterbury,  by  Liudhard,  the  bishop  who  acted  as  chaplain  to  queen  Bertha. 
We  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Gallican  liturgy  was  ever  introduced  into 
England,  or  that  Augustine  so  far  availed  himself  of  Gregory's  permission  as  to 
frame  a  liturgy  for  the  Saxon  converts  to  Christianity. 


336  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  597. 

But  it  pleases  me,  that  if  you  have  found  anything,  either  in  the 
Roman,  or  the  GalHcan,  or  any  other  cliurch,  which  may  be  more 
acceptable  to  Almighty  God,  you  carefully  make  choice  of  the  same, 
and  sedulously  teach  the  church  of  the  English,  which  as  yet  is  new 
in  the  faith,  whatsoever  you  can  gather  from  the  several  churches. 
For  things  are  not  to  be  loved  for  the  sake  of  places,  but  places  for 
the  sake  of  good  things.  Choose,  therefore,  from  each  church  those 
things  that  are  pious,  religious,  and  correct,  and  when  you  have,  as 
it  were,  made  them  up  into  one  body,  let  the  minds  of  the  English 
be  accustomed  thereto. 

§  61.  Augustine's  Third  Question. — I  beseech  you  to  inform  me, 
wiiat  punishment  must  be  inflicted,  if  any  one  shall  take  anything 
by  stealth  from  the  church  ? 

Gregory  answers. — You  may  judge,  my  brother,  by  the  person  of 
the  thief,  in  what  manner  he  is  to  be  corrected.  For  there  are 
some,  who,  having  substance,  commit  theft ;  and  there  are  others, 
who  transgress  in  this  point  through  want.  Wherefore  it  is  requi- 
site, that  some  be  punished  by  amercements,  others  with  stripes  ; 
some  with  greater  severity,  and  some  more  mildly.  And  when 
greater  severity  is  used,  it  is  to  proceed  from  charity,  not  from 
passion  ;  because  this  is  done  to  him  who  is  corrected,  that  he  may 
not  be  delivered  up  to  hell-fire.  For  it  behoves  us  to  maintain 
discipline  among  the  faithful,  as  good  parents  do  with  their  children 
after  the  flesh,  whom  they  punish  with  strij^es  for  their  faults,  and 
yet  design  to  make  those  their  heirs  whom  they  chastise  ;  and  they 
preserve  what  they  possess  for  those  whom  they  seem  in  anger  to 
persecute.  This  charity  is,  therefore,  to  be  kept  in  view,  and  it 
dictates  the  measure  of  the  punishment,  so  that  the  mind  may  do 
nothing  beyond  the  rule  of  reason.  You  may  add,  that  they  ought 
to  restore  those  things  which  they  have  stolen  from  the  church. 
But,  God  forbid  that  the  church  should  receive  increase  from  those 
earthly  things  which  it  seems  to  lose,  or  seek  gain  out  of  such 
vanities. 

§  62.  Augustine's  Fourth  Question. — Wliether  two  brothers  may 
marry  two  sisters,  which  are  of  a  family  far  removed  from  them- 
selves ? 

Gregory  answers. — This  may  assuredly  be  done  ;  for  nothing  is 
found  in  holy  writ  that  seems  to  contradict  it. 

§  63.  Augustine's  Fifth  Question. — To  what  degree  may  the  faith- 
ful marry  with  their  kindred  ?  and  whether  it  is  lawful  for  men  to 
marry  their  stepmothers  and  cousins  ? 

Gregory  answers. — A  certain  worldly  *  law  in  the  Roman  com- 
monwealth allows,  that  the  son  and  daughter  of  a  brother  and  sister, 
or  of  two  brothers,  or  two  sisters,  may  be  joined  in  matrimony  ; 
but  we  have  found,  by  experience,  that  the  ofl'spring  of  such  wedlock 
cannot  thrive  ;  and  the  Divine  Law  forbids  a  man  to  "  uncover  the 
nakedness  of  his  kindred."  [Lcvit.  xviii.  6,  7.]  Hence  of  ncccssitv 
they  must  be  of  the  tliird  or  fourth  generation  of  the  faithful,  that  can 
be  lawfully  joined  in  matrimony;  for  the  second,  which  we  have 

'  Gregory  here  clearly  means  lib.  i.  tit.  10  of  Justinian's  Code,  which  permits 
cousins-german  to  marry. 


A.D.  597.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. — BOOK    I.  337 

mentioned,  must  altogether  abstain  from  one  another.  To  marry 
with  one's  mother-in-law  is  a  heinous  crime,  because  it  is  written 
in  the  Law,  "  Thou  shalt  not  uncover  the  nakedness  of  thy  father  :" 
now  the  son,  indeed,  cannot  uncover  his  father's  nakedness  ;  but 
in  regard  that  it  is  written,  "  They  shall  be  two  in  one  flesh," 
[Gen.  ii.  24,]  he  that  presumes  to  uncover  the  nakedness  of  his 
stepmother,  who  was  one  flesh  with  his  father,  certainly  uncovers 
the  nakedness  of  his  father.  It  is  also  prohibited  to  marry  with  a 
sister-in-law,  because  by  the  former  union  she  is  become  the 
brother's  flesh.  For  which  thing  also  John  the  Baptist  was  beheaded, 
and  ended  his  life  in  holy  martyrdom.  For,  though  he  was  not 
ordered  to  deny  Christ,  and  indeed  was  killed  for  confessing  Christ, 
yet  in  regard  that  the  same  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord,  said,  "  I  am 
the  Truth,"  because  John  was  killed  for  the  truth,  he  also  shed  his 
blood  for  Christ. 

But  forasmuch  as  there  are  many  of  the  English,  who,  whilst 
they  were  still  in  infidelity,  are  said  to  have  been  joined  in  this 
execrable  matrimony,  they,  when  they  com.e  to  the  faith,  are  to  be 
admonished  to  abstain  from  each  other,  and  be  made  to  know  that 
this  is  a  grievous  sin.  Let  them  fear  the  dreadful  judgment  of 
God,  lest,  for  the  gratification  of  their  carnal  appetites,  they  incur 
the  torments  of  eternal  punishment.  Yet  they  are  not  on  this 
account  to  be  deprived  of  the  communion  of  the  Body  and  Blood 
of  Christ,  lest  we  should  seem  to  revenge  upon  them  those  things 
which  they  did  through  ignorance, before  they  had  received  baptism. 
For  at  this  time  the  Holy  Church  chastises  some  things  through 
zeal,  and  tolerates  others  through  meekness,  and  connives  at  some 
things  through  discretion,  that  so  she  may  often,  by  this  forbear- 
ance and  connivance,  suppress  the  evil  which  she  disapproves. 
But  all  that  come  to  the  faith  are  to  be  admonished  not  to  do  such 
crimes.  And  if  any  shaU  be  guilty  of  them,  they  are  to  be  excluded 
from  the  communion  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ.  For  as 
the  oflcnce  is,  in  some  measure,  to  be  tolerated  in  those  who  do  it 
through  ignorance,  so  it  is  to  be  severely  punished  in  those  who  do 
not  fear  to  sin  knowingly. 

§  64.  Augustine's  Sixth  Question. — Wliether  a  bishop  may  be 
ordained  without  other  bishops  being  present,  in  case  there  be  so 
great  a  distance  between  them  that  they  cannot  easily  assemble  ? 

Gregory  answers. — As  for  the  church  of  England,  in  which  you 
are  as  yet  the  only  bishop,^  you  can  no  otherwise  ordain  a  bishop 
than  in  the  absence  of  other  bishops.  Wlien  bishops  come  over 
from  Gaul,  they  may  be  present  as  witnesses  to  you  in  ordaining  a 
bishop.  But  we  would  have  you,  my  brother,  to  ordain^  bishops 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  said  bishops  may  not  be  far  asunder, 
that  when  a  new  bishop  is  to  be  ordained,  there  be  no  difficulty, 
but  that  other  bishops,  and  pastors  also,  whose  presence  is  neces- 
sary, may  easily  come  together.  Thus  when,  by  the  help  of  God, 
bishops  shall  be  so  constituted  in  places  everywhere  near  to  one 

1  We  may  infer  from  this  passage  that  Liudhai-d  had  at  this  time  returned  to 
Gaul. 

2  The  difficulties  occasioned  by  this  passage  are  examined  by  Johnson  in  his 
Collection  of  Laws  and  Canons,  i.  72,  ed.  Oxf.  1850. 

VOL.    I.  Z 


338  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  507. 

another,  no  ordination  of  a  bishop  is  to  be  performed  without 
assembhng  three  or  four  bishops.  For,  even  in  spiritual  aftairs, 
we  may  take  example  by  the  temporal,  that  they  may  be  wisely  and 
discreetly  conducted.  It  is  certain,  that  when  marriages  ai'e  cele- 
brated in  the  world,  some  married  persons  are  assembled,  that 
those  who  have  preceded  in  the  way  of  matrimony  may  also 
partake  in  the  joy  of  the  succeeding  couple.  WHiy,  then,  at  this 
spiritual  ordination,  wherein,  by  means  of  the  sacred  ministr)',  man 
is  joined  to  God,  should  not  such  persons  be  assembled,  as  may 
cither  rejoice  in  the  advancement  of  the  new  bishop,  or  jointly 
pour  forth  their  prayers  to  Almighty  God  for  his  preservation  ? 

§  65.  Augustine's  Seventh  Question. — How  are  we  to  deal  with 
the  bishops  of  France  and  Britain  ? 

Gregory  answers. — We  give  you  no  authority  over  the  bishops 
of  France,  because  the  bishop  of  Aries  received  the  pall  in  ancient 
times  from  my  predecessor,  and  we  are  not  to  deprive  him  of  the 
authority  he  has  received.  If  it  shall  therefore  happen,  my  brother, 
that  you  go  over  into  the  province  of  France,  you  are  to  treat  witli 
the  said  bishop  of  Aries,  how,  if  there  be  any  faults  among  the 
bishops,  they  may  be  amended  ;  and  if  he  shall  be  lukewarm  in 
keeping  up  discipline,  he  thus  be  corrected  by  your  zeal.  To  him 
we  have  also  written,  that  when  your  holiness  shall  be  in  Gaul,  he 
may  also  use  all  his  endeavours  to  assist  you,  and  restrain  among  the 
bishops  all  that  shall  be  opposite  to  the  command  of  our  Creator. 
But  you  shall  not,  exceeding  your  own  jurisdiction,  have  power  to 
judge  the  bishops  of  France,  but  by  persuading,  soothing,  and 
showing  good  works  for  them  to  imitate,  you  shall  reform  the 
minds  of  wicked  men  to  the  pursuit  of  holiness  ;  for  it  is  written 
in  the  Law,  "  When  thou  comest  into  the  standing  corn  of  thy 
neiglibours,  then  thou  mayest  pluck  the  ears  with  thine  hand ;  but 
thou  shalt  not  move  a  sickle  unto  thy  neighbours'  standing  corn, 
but  rub  the  ears  of  corn  in  thine  hand  and  eat."  [Deut.  xxiii.  25.] 
For  thou  mayest  not  apply  the  sickle  of  judgment  to  that  harvest 
which  seems  to  have  been  committed  to  another ;  but  by  the  love 
of  good  works  thou  shalt  clear  the  Lord's  wheat  from  the  chaff  of 
their  vices,  and  convert  them  into  the  body  of  tlie  Church  by 
admonition  and  persuasion,  as  it  were,  by  eating.  But  whatsoever 
is  to  be  done  by  authority,  must  be  transacted  in  conjunction  witli 
tlie  aforesaid  bishop  of  Aries,  lest  that  should  be  omitted,  which 
the  ancient  institution  of  the  fathers  has  appointed.  But  as  for  all 
the  bishops  of  Britain,^  we  commit  them  to  your  care,  that  the 
unlearned  may  be  taught,  the  weak  strengthened  by  persuasion, 
and  the  perverse  corrected  by  authority. 

§  6G.  Augustine's  Eighth  Question. — Wliether  a  woman  with 
child  ought  to  be  baptized?  Also,  how  long  after  she  has  brought 
fortli,  may  she  come  into  the  church  ?  Also,  after  how  many  days 
the  infant  may  be  baptized,  lest  he  be  prevented  by  death?  Also, 
after  how  long  may  her  husband  have  carnal  knowledge  of  her  ? 

*  ^^^lcn  the  pope  gave  Aiigiistine  authority  over  aJl  the  bishops  of  Britain,  it 
is  pi-obable  that  he  meant  this  as  a  personal  privilege  which  was  to  die  with  him. 
A  letter  aftei-wards  cited,  i.  29,  expressly  afi&rms  this. 


A.D.  5D7.]  BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    I.  339 

Also,  whether  it  is  lawful  for  her  to  come  into  the  church  when 
she  has  her  courses?  Also,  to  receive  the  holy  sacrament  of 
Communion  ?  Also,  whether  a  man,  coming  from  his  wife's  bed, 
may  come  into  the  church  before  he  has  washed  with  water,  or 
approach  to  receive  the  mystery  of  the  holy  Communion?  All 
which  things  are  requisite  to  be  known  by  the  rude  nation  of  the 
English. 

§  67.  Gi'egory  answers. — I  do  not  doubt  but  that  these  questions 
have  been  put  by  you,  my  brother,  and  I  think  I  have  already 
answered  you  therein.  But  I  believe  you  wish  that  the  opinion  which 
you  yourself  might  give,  should  be  confirmed  by  my  answer  also. 

Why  should  not  a  woman  with  child  be  baptized,  since  the  fruit- 
fulness  of  the  flesh  is  no  offence  in  the  eyes  of  Almighty  God  ? 
For  when  our  first  parents  sinned  in  Paradise,  they  forfeited,  by 
the  just  judgment  of  God,  the  immortality  which  they  had  received. 
Because,  therefore.  Almighty  God  would  not  for  their  fault  wholly 
destroy  the  human  race,  he  both  deprived  man  of  immortality  for 
his  sin,  and,  at  the  same  time,  of  his  great  goodness,  reserved  to 
him  the  power  of  propagating  his  race  after  him.  On  what  account, 
then,  can  that  which  is  presei-ved  to  the  human  race,  by  the  free 
gift  of  Almighty  God,  be  excluded  from  the  privilege  of  baptism  ? 
For  it  is  very  foolish  to  imagine  that  the  gift  of  grace  opposes  that 
sacrament  in  which  all  sin  is  entirely  blotted  out.  Wlien  a  woman 
is  delivered,  after  how  many  days  she  may  come  into  the  church, 
you  have  been  informed  by  the  injunction  of  the  Old  Testament, 
[Levit.  xii.  4,  5,]  viz.  that  she  is  to  absent  herself  for  a  male  child 
thirty-three  days,  and  sixty-six  for  a  female.  Now  you  must 
know  that  this  is  to  be  taken  in  a  mystery ;  for  if  she  enters  the 
church  the  very  hour  that  she  is  delivered,  to  return  thanks,'  she 
is  not  guilty  of  any  sin  ;  because  the  lasciviousness  of  the  flesh  is 
in  fault,  and  not  the  pain ;  but  the  pleasure  is  in  the  copulation  of 
the  flesh,  whereas  there  is  pain  in  bringing  forth  the  child.  Wliere- 
fore  it  is  said  to  the  first  mother  of  all,  "In  sorrow  shalt  thou  bring 
forth  children."  [Gen.  iii.  16.]  If,  therefore,  we  forbid  a  woman 
that  has  brought  forth,  to  enter  the  church,  we  make  a  crime  of 
her  very  punishment. 

To  baptize  either  a  woman  who  has  brought  forth,  if  there  be 
danger  of  death,  even  the  very  hour  that  she  brings  forth,  or 
that  which  she  has  brought  forth  the  very  hour  it  is  born,  is  no 
way  prohibited,  because,  as  the  grace  of  the  holy  mystery  is  to  be 
with  much  discretion  provided  for  the  living  and  understanding,  so 
is  it  to  be  without  any  delay  offered  to  those  who  are  in  imminent 
danger  of  death ;  lest,  while  a  proper  time  is  sought  to  confer  the 
mystery  of  redemption,  before  the  due  season^  arrive,  the  person 
that  is  to  be  redeemed  is  dead  and  gone. 

§  68.  Tlie  husband  is  not  to  approach  the  wife,  till  the  infant  be 

^  This  seems  to  imply  some  recognised  form  of  thanksgiving  suited  to  the 
occasion. 

-  In  the  early  church  baptism  was  usually  administered  only  on  the  eves  of 
Easter,  ^Vhitsunday,  and  Epiphany,  (see  Bingham,  XI.  vi.  §  7,)  a  custom  of  the 
adherence  to  which  in  England  during  the  Saxon  times  there  is  abundant  proof. 
z   2 


340  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  ;Vj7. 

weaned.  A  bad*  custom  is  sprung  up  in  the  behaviour  of  married 
people,  that  is,  that  women  disdain  to  suckle  the  children  which 
they  bring  forth,  and  give  them  to  other  women  to  nurse  ;  which 
seems  to  have  been  invented  on  no  other  account  but  incontinency  ; 
because,  as  they  will  not  be  continent,  they  will  not  suckle  the 
children  whicli  they  bear.  Those  women,  therefore,  who,  from  a 
bad  custom,  give  out  their  children  to  others  to  nurse,  must  not 
approach  their  husbands  till  the  time  of  purification  is  past.  For 
even  when  there  has  been  no  child-birth,  women  are  forbidden  to 
do  so,  whilst  they  have  their  monthly  courses,  insomuch  that  the 
law  [Levit.  xviii.  19]  condemns  to  death  any  man  that  shall  approach 
unto  a  woman  during  her  uncleanness.  Yet  the  woman,  neverthe- 
less, must  not  be  forbidden  to  come  into  the  church  whilst  she  has 
her  monthly  courses  ;  because  the  superfluity  of  nature  cannot  be 
imputed  to  her  as  a  crime  ;  and  it  is  not  just  that  she  should  be 
refused  admittance  into  the  church,  for  that  which  she  suffers 
against  her  will.  For  we  know,  that  the  woman  who  had  the 
issue  of  blood,  [Matt.ix.  20,]  humbly  approaching  behind  our  Lord's 
back,  touched  the  hem  of  his  garment,  and  her  distemper  imme- 
diately departed  from  her.  If,  therefore,  she  that  had  an  issue  of 
blood  was  praised  for  touching  the  garment  of  our  Lord,  why  may 
not  she,  who  has  the  monthly  courses,  lawfully  enter  into  the 
church  of  God  ?  But  you  may  say,  her  distemper  compelled  her, 
whereas  these  we  speak  of  are  bound  by  custom.  Consider,  then, 
most  dear  brother,  that  all  which  we  suffer  in  this  mortal  flesh,  through 
the  infirmity  of  our  nature,  is  ordained  by  the  just  judgment  of 
God  after  the  fall ;  for  to  hunger,  to  thirst,  to  be  hot,  to  be  cold, 
to  be  weary,  is  from  the  infirmity  of  our  nature  ;  and  what  else  is 
it  to  seek  food  against  hunger,  drink  against  thirst,  air  against  heat, 
clothes  against  cold,  rest  against  weariness,  than  to  procure  a  kind 
of  remedy  against  distempers  ?  Thus  to  a  woman  her  montlily 
courses  are  a  distemper.  If,  therefore,  it  were  a  commendable 
boldness  in  her,  who  in  her  disease  touched  our  Lord's  garment, 
why  may  not  that  which  is  allowed  to  one  infirm  person,  be  granted 
to  all  women,  who,  through  the  fault  of  their  nature,  are  infirm  ? 

She  must  not,  therefore,  be  forbidden  to  receive  the  mystery  of 
the  holy  Communion  during  those  days.  But  if  any  one  out  of 
profound  respect  docs  not  presume  to  receive  it,  she  is  to  be  com- 
mended ;  yet  if  she  does  receive  it,  she  is  not  to  be  judged.  For 
it  is  the  part  of  noble  minds  in  some  manner  to  acknowledge  their 
faults,  even  where  there  is  no  oflence  ;  because  very  often  that  is 
done  without  a  fault,  which,  nevertheless,  proceeded  from  a  fault. 
Therefore,  when  we  are  hungiy,  it  is  no  crime  to  eat ;  yet  our 
being  hungry  proceeds  from  the  sin  of  the  first  man.  The  monthly 
courses  are  no  crime  in  women,  because  they  naturally  happen  ; 
liowever,  because  our  nature  itself  is  so  depraved,  that  it  appears  to 
be  so  without  the  concurrence  of  the  will,  the  fault  proceeds  from 
sin,  and  thereby  human  nature  may  herself  acknowledge  what  she 

'  The  Reformatio  Legiim  Ecclcsiasticarum  iii  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  con- 
demns the  practice  of  putting  out  children  to  nurtte.  De  Mutrimonio,  c.  xiii.  p.  43. 
See  Johnson's  Canons,  i.  77. 


A.D.  597.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    I.  341 

is  become  by  judgment.  And  let  mankind,  who  wilfully  committed 
the  offence,  bear  the  guilt  of  that  offence.  And,  therefore,  let 
women  consider  with  themselves,  and  if  they  do  not  presume, 
during  their  monthly  courses,  to  approach  the  sacrament  of  the 
Body  and  Blood  of  our  Lord,  they  are  to  be  commended  for  their 
praiseworthy  consideration  ;  but  when  they  are  carried  away  by 
their  love  of  the  same  mystery  to  receive  it  out  of  the  usual  custom 
of  religious  life,  they  are  not  to  be  restrained,  as  we  said  before. 
For  as  in  the  Old  Testament  the  outward  works  are  observed,  so  in 
the  New  Testament,  that  which  is  outwardly  done,  is  not  so 
diligently  regarded  as  that  which  is  inwardly  thought,  in  order  to 
punish  it  by  a  discerning  judgment.  For  whereas  the  law  forbids 
the  eating  of  many  things  as  unclean,  yet  our  Lord  says  in  the 
Gospel,  "  Not  that  which  goeth  into  the  mouth  defileth  a  man  ; 
but  that  which  cometh  out  of  the  mouth,  this  defileth  a  man."  And 
presently  after  he  added,  expounding  the  same,  "  Out  of  the  heart 
proceed  evil  thoughts."  [Matt.  xv.  11,  19.]  Where  it  is  sufficiently 
shown,  that  that  is  declared  by  Almighty  God  to  be  polluted  in 
fact,  which  proceeds  from  the  root  of  a  polluted  thought.  Whence 
also  Paul  the  Apostle  says,  "Unto  the  pure  all  things  are  pure,  but 
unto  them  that  are  defiled  and  unbelieving,  nothing  is  pure."  [Tit. 
i.  15.]  And  presently  after,  declaring  the  cause  of  that  defilement, 
he  adds,  "  For  even  their  mind  and  conscience  is  defiled."  If, 
therefore,  meat  is  not  unclean  to  him  who  has  a  clean  mind,  why 
shall  that  which  a  clean  woman  suffers  according  to  nature,  be 
imputed  to  her  as  uncleanness  ? 

§  69.  A  man  who  has  approached  his  own  wife  is  not  to  enter 
the  church  unless  washed  with  water ;  nor  is  he  to  enter  immedi- 
ately, although  washed.  Tlie  Law  [Lev.  xv.  18]  prescribed  to  the 
ancient  people  that  a  man  in  such  cases  should  be  washed  with 
water,  and  not  enter  into  the  tabernacle  before  the  setting  of  the 
sun.  Which,  nevertheless,  may  be  understood  spiritually,  because 
a  man  lies  with  a  woman  when  the  mind  is  led  by  the  imagination 
to  unlawful  concupiscence  ;  for  unless  the  fire  of  concupiscence  be 
first  driven  from  his  mind,  he  is  not  to  think  himself  worthy  of  the 
congregation  of  the  brethren,  whilst  he  thus  indulges  an  unlawful 
passion.  For  though  several  nations  have  different  opinions  con- 
cerning this  affair,  and  seem  to  obsen^e  different  rules,  it  was  always 
the  custom  of  the  Romans,  from  ancient  times,  that  every  man,  after 
the  performance  of  the  conjugal  act,  should  be  cleansed  by  washing, 
and  for  some  time  respectfully  to  forbear  entering  the  church. 
Nor  do  we,  in  so  saying,  hold  matrimony  to  be  a  fault ;  but  foras- 
much as  even  lawful  intercourse  cannot  be  had  without  the  consent 
of  the  flesh,  it  is  proper  to  forbear  entering  the  holy  place,  because 
the  will  itself  cannot  be  without  a  fault.  For  he  was  not  born  of 
adultery  or  fornication,  but  of  lawful  marriage,  who  said,  "  Behold, 
I  was  conceived  in  iniquity,  and  in  sin  my  mother  brought  me 
forth."  [Ps.  li.  2.]  For  he  who  knew  himself  to  have  been  con- 
ceived in  iniquity,  lamented  that  he  was  born  from  sin,  because 
the  tree  in  its  bough  bears  the  moisture  which  it  drew  from  the 
root.      In  which  words,  however,  he  does  not  call  the  union  of  the 


342  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  o'J7. 

married  couple  iniquity,  but  the  pleasure  of  the  copulation.  For 
there  are  many  things  which  are  admitted  to  be  lawful,  and  yet  we 
are  somewhat  detiled  in  doing  them.  As  very  often  by  being  angry 
we  correct  faults  in  others,  and  at  the  same  time  disturb  our  own 
peace  of  mind  ;  and  though  that  which  we  do  is  right,  yet  it  is  not 
to  be  approved  that  our  mind  should  be  herein  discomposed.  For 
he  who  said,  "  My  eye  was  disturbed  with  anger,"  [Ps.  vi.  7,]  had 
been  angry  at  the  vices  of  those  who  had  offended.  Now,  in 
regard  that  only  a  sedate  mind  can  apply  itself  to  contemplation, 
he  grieved  that  his  eye  was  disturbed  with  anger ;  because,  whilst 
he  was  correcting  evil  actions  below,  he  was  obliged  to  be  with- 
drawn and  disturbed  from  the  contemplation  of  the  things  which 
are  above.  Anger  against  vice  is  therefore  commendable,  and  yet 
painful  to  a  man,  because  he  thinks  that  by  the  disturbance  of  his 
mind  he  has  incurred  some  guilt.  Lawful  commerce,  therefore, 
must  be  for  the  sake  of  children,  not  of  pleasure  ;  and  must  be  to 
procure  otispring,  not  to  satisfy  vices.  But  if  any  man  is  led 
towards  his  wife,  not  by  tlie  desire  of  pleasure,  but  only  for  the 
sake  of  getting  children,  such  a  man  is  certainly  to  be  left  to  his  own 
judgment,  either  as  to  entering  the  church,  or  as  to  receiving  the 
mystery  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  our  Lord  ;  for  he  who,  being 
placed  in  the  fire,  does  not  burn,  is  not  to  be  forbidden  by  us  to 
receive  this  sacrament.  But  when,  not  the  love  of  getting  children, 
but  of  pleasure  prevails,  the  pair  have  cause  to  lament  their  deed. 
For  this  the  holy  preaching  allows  them,  and  yet  tills  the  mind 
with  dread  of  the  very  allowance.  For  when  Paul  the  Apostle 
said,  "  Let  him  that  cannot  contain,  have  his  wife,"  [1  Cor.  vii.  9,] 
he  presently  took  care  to  subjoin,  "  But  this  I  say  by  way  of  indul- 
gence, not  by  way  of  command."  For  that  is  not  granted  by  way 
of  indulgence  which  is  lawful,  because  it  is  just ;  and,  therefore, 
that  which  he  said  he  indulged,  he  showed  to  be  an  offence. 

It  is  seriously  to  be  considered,  that  when  God  was  to  speak  to 
the  people  on  Mount  Sinai,  he  first  commanded  them  to  abstain 
from  women.  [Exod.  xix.  15.]  And  if  so  much  cleanness  of  body 
was  there  required,  where  God  spoke  to  the  people  by  the  means 
of  a  subjected  creature,  that  those  who  were  to  hear  the  words  of 
God  should  not  associate  with  women  ;  how  much  more  ought 
women,  who  receive  the  Body  of  Almighty  God,  to  preserve  them- 
selves in  cleanness  of  flesh,  lest  they  be  burdened  with  the  very 
greatness  of  tliat  unutterable  mystery  ?  For  this  reason,  it  was 
said  to  David,  concerning  his  men,  by  the  priest,  that  if  they  were 
clean  from  women,  they  might  receive  the  shcwbread,  which  they 
would  not  have  received  at  all,  had  not  David  first  declared  them 
to  be  clean.  [1  Sam.  xxi.  4.]  When  the  man,  who,  after  the  con- 
jugal act,  has  been  washed  with  water,  is  also  capable  of  receiving 
the  mystery  of  the  holy  communion,  then  it  is  lawful  for  him, 
according  to  what  has  been  before  declared,  to  enter  the  church. 

§  70.  Augustine's  Ninth  Question. — Whether,  after  an  illusion, 
such  as  happens  in  a  dream,  any  man  may  receive  the  Body  of  our 
Lord,  or,  if  he  be  a  priest,  celebrate  the  Divine  mysteries  ? 

Gregory  answei's. — The  Testament  of  the  Old  Law,  as  has  l)ccn 


A.D.  597.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    I.  343 

said  already  in  the  article  above,  calls  such  a  man  polluted,  and 
allows  him  not  to  enter  into  the  church  till  the  evening  after  being 
washed  with  water.  Wliich,  nevertheless,  spiritual  people,  taking 
in  another  sense,  will  understand  in  the  same  manner  as  above  ; 
because  he  is  imposed  upon  as  it  were  in  a  dream,  who,  being 
tempted  with  filthiness,  is  defiled  by  real  representations  in  thought, 
and  he  is  to  be  washed  with  water,  that  he  may  cleanse  away  the 
sins  of  thought  with  tears  ;  and  unless  the  fire  of  temptation  depart 
before,  may  know  himself  to  be  guilty  as  it  were  until  the  evening. 
But  a  very  necessary  distinction  is  to  be  made  in  that  illusion,  that  one 
may  carefully  consider  what  causes  it  to  happen  in  the  mind  of  the 
person  sleeping  ;  for  sometimes  it  proceeds  from  excess  of  eating  or 
drinking,  sometimes  from  the  superfluity  or  infirmity  of  nature, 
and  sometimes  from  the  thoughts.  And  when  it  happens,  either 
through  superfluity  or  infirmity  of  nature,  such  an  illusion  is  not  to 
be  feared,  because  it  is  rather  to  be  lamented,  that  the  mind  of  the 
person,  who  knew  nothing  of  it,  suffers  the  same,  than  that  he 
occasioned  it.  But  when  the  appetite  of  gluttony  commits  excess 
in  food,  and  thereupon  the  receptacles  of  the  humours  are  oppressed, 
the  mind  from  thence  contracts  some  guilt ;  yet  not  so  much  as  to 
obstruct  the  receiving  of  the  holy  mysteries  or  celebrating  mass, 
when  a  holy  day  requires  it,  or  necessity  obliges  the  sacrament  to 
be  administered,  because  there  is  no  other  priest  in  the  place.  For 
if  there  be  others  who  can  perform  the  ministry,  the  illusion 
proceeding  from  over-eating  is  not  to  exclude  a  man  from  receiving 
the  sacred  mystery ;  but  I  am  of  opinion  he  ought  humbly  to 
abstain  from  offering  the  sacrifice  of  the  mystery ;  but  not  from 
receiving  it,  unless  the  mind  of  the  person  sleeping  has  been  filled 
with  some  foul  imagination.  For  there  are  some,  who  for  the  most 
part  so  suffer  the  illusion,  that  their  mind,  even  during  the  sleep  of 
the  body,  is  not  defiled  with  filthy  thoughts.  In  which  case,  one 
thing  is  evident,  that  the  mind  is  guilty  even  in  its  own  judgment ; 
for  though  it  does  not  remember  to  have  seen  anything  whilst  the 
body  was  sleeping,  yet  it  calls  to  mind  that  when  waking  it  fell  into 
bodily  gluttony.  But  if  the  sleeping  illusion  proceeds  from  evil 
thoughts  when  waking,  then  the  guilt  is  manifest  to  the  mind ;  for 
the  man  perceives  from  whence  that  filth  sprung;  because  what  he 
had  knowingly  thought  of,  that  he  afterwards  unwittingly  suffered. 
But  it  is  to  be  considered,  whether  that  thought  was  no  more  than 
a  suggestion,  or  proceeded  to  enjoyment,  or,  which  is  still  more 
criminal,  consented  to  sin.  For  all  sin  is  fulfilled  in  three  ways, 
viz.  by  suggestion,  by  delight,  and  by  consent.  Suggestion  is 
occasioned  by  the  devil,  delight  is  from  the  flesh,  and  consent  from 
the  mind.  For  the  serpent  suggested  the  first  offence,  and  Eve,  as 
the  flesh,  was  delighted  with  it,  but  Adam  consented,  as  the  spirit, 
or  mind.  And  much  discretion  is  requisite  for  the  mind  to  sit  as 
judge  between  suggestion  and  delight,  and  between  delight  and  con- 
sent. For  when  the  evil  spirits  suggest  a  sin  to  the  mind,  if  there 
ensue  no  delight  in  the  sin,  the  sin  is  in  no  way  committed  ;  but 
when  the  flesh  begins  to  be  delighted,  then  sin  begins  to  be  born. 
But  if  it  deliberately  consents,  then  the  sin  is  known  to  be  perfected. 


344  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  001. 

The  beginning,  therefore,  of  sin  is  in  the  suggestion,  the  nourishing 
of  it  in  the  dehght,  but  in  the  consent  is  its  perfection.  And  it  often 
happens  that  what  the  evil  spirit  sows  in  the  thought,  the  flesli 
draws  to  dehght,  and  yet  the  soul  does  not  consent  to  that  delight. 
And  whereas  the  flesh  cannot  be  delighted  without  the  mind,  yet 
the  mind  struggling  against  the  pleasures  of  the  tlcsh,  is  somewhat 
unwillingly  tied  down  by  the  carnal  delight,  so  that  through  reason 
it  contradicts  and  does  not  consent,  yet,  being  influenced  by  delight, 
it  grievously  laments  its  being  so  bound.  Wherefore  that  principal 
soldier  of  our  Lord's  host,  sighing,  said,  "  I  see  another  law  in  my 
members  warring  against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and  bringing  me  into 
captivity  to  the  law  of  sin,  which  is  in  my  members."  [Rom. 
vii.  23. j  Now  if  he  was  a  captive,  he  did  not  fight ;  but  if  he 
did  fight,  how  was  he  a  captive  ?  he  therefore  fought  against  the 
law  of  the  mind,  which  the  law  that  is  in  the  members  opposed  ;  if 
he  fought  so,  he  was  no  captive.  Thus,  then,  man  is,  as  I  may 
say,  a  captive  and  yet  free.  Free  on  account  of  justice,  which  he 
loves,  a  captive  by  the  delight  which  he  unwillingly  bears  within 
him. 

Chap.  XXVIII.  [a.d.601.] — Pope  Gregory  writes  to  the  Bishop  of  Arees  to 
ASSIST  Augustine  in  the  work  of  God. 

§  71.  Thus  far  the  answers  of  the  holy  pope  Gregor)-,  to  the 
questions  of  the  most  reverend  prelate,  Augustine.  But  the  epistle,' 
which  he  says  he  had  written  to  the  bishop  of  Aries,  was  directed 
to  Virgilius,  successor  to  Aetherius  ;  the  copy  whereof  follows  : — 

"  2\j  his  most  reverend  and  holy  brother  and  fellow  bishop,  Virrji- 
lius ;  Gregory,  servant  of  the  servants  of  God.  With  how  much 
affection  brethren,  coming  of  their  own  accord,  are  to  be  enter- 
tained, is  well  known,  by  their  being  for  the  most  part  invited  on 
account  of  charity.  Therefore,  if  our  common  brother,  bishop 
Augustine,  shall  happen  to  come  to  you,  I  desire  you  in  your  love 
will,  as  is  becoming,  receive  him  so  kindly  and  affectionately,  that 
he  may  be  supported  by  the  good  of  your  consolation,  and  others 
may  be  informed  how  brotherly  charity  is  to  be  cultivated.  And, 
since  it  often  happens  that  those  who  are  at  a  distance,  sooner  than 
others,  understand  the  things  that  need  correction,  if  any  crimes  done 
by  priests  or  others  shall  happen  to  be  laid  before  you,  you  will,  in 
conjunction  with  him,  straitly  inquire  into  the  same.  And  do  you 
both  act  so  strictly  and  carefully  against  those  things  which  offend 
God,  and  provoke  his  wrath,  that  for  the  amendment  of  others,  the 
punishment  may  fall  upon  the  guilty,  and  the  innocent  may  not 
suffer  an  ill  name.  May  God  keep  you  in  safety,  most  reverend 
brother.  Dated  on  the  10th  of  the  kalends  of  July,  [the  22d  of  June,]' 
in  the  nineteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  our  pious  and  august  emperor, 
Mauritius  Tiberius,  and  the  eighteenth  year  after  the  consulship  of 
our  said  lord  ;  in  the  fourth  indiction." 

'  See  Greg.  Epist.  lib.  xi.  ep.  68  ;  0pp.  ii.  1170,  ed.  Benedict. 

^  Upon  tho  same  day  Gregory  sent  his  letters  to  Brunehilda,  qxieen  of  the 
Franks,  requesting  permission  to  send  to  her  a  papal  legate  to  inquire  into  the 
conduct  of  certain  Gallican  priests,  who  were  leading  scandalous  and  improper 
livcB.     Lib.  xi.  ep.  69. 


A.D.  601.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    I.  345 

Chap.  XXIX.  [a.d.  COl.]— The  same  Pope  sends  to  Augustine  the  Pall,  an 
Epistle,  and  several  Ministers  op  the  Word. 

§  72.  Moreover,  the  same  pope  Gregory,  hearing  from  bishop 
Augustine,  that  he  had  a  great  harvest,  and  but  few  labourers,  sent 
to  him,  together  with  his  aforesaid  messengers,  several  fellow - 
labourers  and  ministers  of  the  Word,  of  whom  the  first  and  principal 
were  Mellitus,  Justus,  Paulinus,  and  Ruhnianus,  and  by  them  all 
things  in  general  that  were  necessary  for  the  worship  and  service  of 
the  church,  viz.  sacred  vessels  '  and  vestments  for  the  altars,  also 
ornaments  for  the  churches,  and  vestments  for  the  priests  and 
clerks,  as  likewise  relics  of  the  holy  apostles  and  martyrs  ;  besides 
many  books.  He  also  sent  letters,-  wherein  he  signified  that  he 
had  transmitted  the  pall  to  him,  and  at  the  same  time  directed  how 
he  should  constitute  bishops  in  Britain.  Tlie  letters  were  in  these 
words  : — 

§  73.  "To  his  most  reverend  and  holy  brother  and  fellow  bishop, 
Augustine ;  Gregonj,  the  servant  of  the  servants  of  God.  Since  it  is 
certain,  that  the  unspeakable  rew^ards  of  the  eternal  kingdom  are 
reserved  for  those  who  labour  for  Almighty  God,  yet  it  is  requisite 
that  we  bestow  on  them  the  advantage  of  honours,  to  the  end  that 
they  may  by  this  recompense  be  enabled  the  more  vigorously  to 
apply  themselves  to  the  care  of  their  spiritual  work.  And,  whereas 
the  new  church  of  the  English  is,  through  the  goodness  of  the  Lord, 
and  your  labours,  brought  to  the  grace  of  God,  we  grant  you  the 
use  of  the  pall  in  the  same,  for  the  performance  of  the  solemn 
service  of  the  mass  only;  so  that  you  in  several  places  ordain  twelve 
bishops,^  who  shall  be  subject  to  your  jurisdiction,  in  such  manner 
that  the  bishop  of  London  shall,  for  the  future,  be  always  conse- 
crated by  his  own  synod,  and  that  he  receive  the  honour  of  the  pall 
from  this  holy  and  apostolical  see,  which  I,  by  the  gi-ace  of  God, 
now  sei-ve.  But  we  will  have  you  send  to  the  city  of  York  such  a 
bishop  as  you  shall  think  fit  to  ordain  ;  yet  so,  that  if  that  city,  with 
the  places  adjoining,  shall  receive  the  word  of  God,  that  bishop 
shall  also  ordain  twelve  bishops,  and  enjoy  the  honour  of  a  metro- 
politan ;  for  we  design,  if  we  live,  by  the  favour  of  God,  to  bestow 
on  him  also  the  pall ;  and  yet  we  will  have  him  to  be  subservient 
to  your  authority ;  but  after  your  decease,  he  shall  so  preside  over 
the  bishops  whom  he  shall  ordain,  as  to  be  in  no  way  subject  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  bishop  of  London.  But  for  the  future  let  this 
distinction  be  between  the  bishops  of  the  cities  of  London  and  York, 

^  A  chronicle  formerly  belonging  to  St.  Augustine's,  Canterbuiy,  (an  extract 
from  which  may  be  seen  in  Smith's  Appendix  to  Beda,  No.  vii. )  gives  some  account 
of  certain  books,  vestments,  vessels,  and  relics,  which  are  said  to  be  the  same  as 
those  sent  over  by  Gregory.  Several  volumes  formerly  used  to  be  referred  to  as 
having  formed  part  of  this  donation  ;  but  the  external  evidence  is  dubious,  and 
the  internal  evidence  condemnatory. 

2  Epp.  xi.  65 ;  0pp.  ii.  1163. 

•*  It  will  be  observed  that  these  directions  were  not  strictly  complied  with ;  for 
there  never  was  an  archbishop  of  London,  and  the  metropolitan  of  York  never 
had  half  the  number  of  suffragans  which  Gregory  here  assigned  to  him ;  and 
further  still,  Canterbuiy  alwayshad  the  precedence,  and  his  title  was  never  dis- 
puted for  centuries. 


346  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND,  [a.D.  COl. 

that  he  may  have  the  precedence  who  shall  be  first  ordained.  But 
let  them  unanimously  dispose,  by  common  advice  and  uniform 
conduct,  whatsoever  is  to  be  done  for  the  zeal  of  Christ ;  let  them 
arrange  matters  with  unanimity,  decree  justly,  and  perform  what 
they  judge  convenient  in  a  uniform  manner. 

"  13ut  to  you,  my  brother,  shall,  by  the  authority  of  our  God 
and  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  be  subject  not  only  those  bishops  vou  shall 
ordain,  and  those  that  shall  be  ordained  by  the  bishop  of  Y'ork,  but 
also  all  the  priests  in  Britain ;  to  the  end  that  from  the  mouth  and 
life  of  your  holiness  they  may  learn  the  rule  of  believing  rightly, 
and  living  holily;  and  so  fulfilling  their  office  in  faith  and  good 
conduct,  they  may,  when  it  shall  please  the  Lord,  attain  the  heavenly 
kingdom.     God  preserve  you  in  safety,  most  reverend  brother. 

"  Dated  the  10th  of  the  kalends  of  July,  [22d  of  June,]  in  the 
nineteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  our  most  pious  lord  and  emperor, 
Mauritius  Tiberius,  the  eighteenth  year  after  the  consulship  of  our 
said  lord  ;  in  the  fourth  indiction." 


Chap.  XXX.  [a.d.  601.] — A  copy  of  the  Letter  which  Pope  Gregory  sent  to 
THE  Abbot  Mellitus^  then  going  into  Britain. 

§  74.  The  aforesaid  messengers  being  departed,  the  holy  father, 
Gregory,  sent  after  them  letters  worthy  to  be  preserved  in  memory, 
wherein  he  plainly  shows  what  care  he  took  of  the  salvation  of  our 
nation.     The  letter'  was  as  follows  : — 

"  To  his  most  beloved  son,  the  Abbot  Mellitus ;  Gregory,  the 
servant  of  the  servants  of  God.  We  have  been  in  much  suspense, 
since  the  departure  of  our  congregation  that  is  with  you,  because 
we  have  received  no  account  of  the  success  of  your  journey,  \\nien, 
therefore.  Almighty  God  shall  bring  you  to  the  most  reverend 
bishop  Augustine,  our  brother,  tell  him  what  I  have,  upon  mature 
deliberation-  on  the  affair  of  the  English,  determined  upon,  namely, 
that  the  temples  of  the  idols  in  that  nation  ought  not  to  be  de- 
stroyed ;  but  let  the  idols  that  are  in  them  be  destroyed  ;  let  holy 
water ^  be  made  and  sprinkled  in  the  said  temples,  let  altars  be 
erected,  and  relics  placed.  For  if  those  temples  are  well  built, 
it  is  requisite  that  they  be  converted  from  the  worship  of  devils  to 
the  service  of  the  true  God  ;  that  the  nation,  seeing  that  their 
temples  are  not  destroyed,  may  remove  error  from  their  hearts, 
and  knowing  and  adoring  the  true  God,  may  the  more  readily  resort 
to  the  places  to  which  they  have  been  accustomed.  And  because 
they  have  been  used  to  slaughter  many  oxen  in  the  sacrifices  of 
devils,  some  solemnity  must  be  exchanged  for  them  on  this  account, 

'  This  letter  occurs  Epp.  xi.  7t> ;  0]ip.  ii.  117(). 

^  In  the  letter  which  he  adih-os.-ioil  to  Ethelbort  of  Kent,  Gregory  had  recom- 
mended tlio  destruction  of  the  teinj)lcs  dedicated  to  the  service  of  idols ;  bnt 
afterwards  changing  his  opinion,  he  recommended  that  they  should  rather  be 
preserved  and  adapted  to  the  service  of  the  true  God.  We  may  hence  venture  to 
suspect  the  accuracy  of  the  dates  of  these  letters  as  given  by  Beda,  and  con- 
jecture that  priority  should  be  given  to  that  to  which  our  historian  a-ssigns  the 
later  date. 

'  See  Bishop  Morton's  Catholicke  Apjicale,  (fol.  Lond.  IGIO,)  p.  56. 


A.D.  601.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    I.  347 

as  that  on  the  day  of  the  dedication,  or  the  nativities  of  the  holy 
martyrs,  whose  rehcs  are  there  deposited,  they  may  build  themselves 
huts  of  the  boughs  of  trees,  about  those  churches  which  have  been 
turned  to  that  use  from  temples,  and  celebrate  the  solemnity  with 
religious  feasting,  and  no  more  ofl'er  beasts  to  the  devil,  but  both 
kill  cattle  to  the  praise  of  God  in  their  eating,  and  return  thanks  to 
the  Giver  of  all  things  for  their  sustenance ;  to  the  end  that,  whilst 
some  gratifications  are  outwardly  permitted  them,  they  may  the 
more  easily  consent  to  the  inward  consolations  of  the  grace  of  God. 
For  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  is  impossible  to  eflace  every  thing  at 
once  from  their  obdurate  minds  ;  because  he  who  endeavours  to 
ascend  to  the  highest  place,  rises  by  degrees  or  steps,  and  not  by 
leaps.  Thus  the  Lord  made  himself  known  to  the  people  of  Israel 
in  Egypt ;  and  yet  he  allowed  them  the  use,  in  his  own  worship,  of 
the  sacrifices  which  they  were  wont  to  offer  to  the  devil ;  so  as  to 
command  them  in  his  sacrifice  to  kill  beasts,  to  the  end  that, 
changing  their  hearts,  they  might  lay  aside  one  part  of  the  sacrifice, 
whilst  they  retained  another ;  that  whilst  they  offered  the  same 
beasts  which  they  were  wont  to  ofter,  they  should  offer  them  to 
God,  and  not  to  idols  ;  and  thus  they  would  no  longer  be  the  same 
sacrifices.  Tliis  it  behoves  your  affection  to  communicate  to  our 
aforesaid  brother,  that  he,  being  there  present,  may  consider  how  he 
is  to  order  all  things.  May  God  preserve  you  in  safety,  most 
beloved  son. 

"  Dated  the  15th  of  the  kalends  of  July,  [the  17th  of  June,] '  in 
the  nineteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  our  lord,  the  most  pious  emperor, 
Mauritius  Tiberius,  the  eighteenth  year  after  the  consulship  of  our 
said  lord  :   in  the  fourth  indiction." 


Chap.  XXXI.  [x\..d.  601.]— Pope  Gregory,  by  letter,  exhorts  Augustine  not 

TO  GLORY  IN  HIS  IVHRACLES. 

§  75.  At  which  time  he  also  sent  Augustine  a  letter-  concerning 
the  miracles  that  he  had  heard  had  been  wrought  by  him  ;  wherein 
he  admonishes  him  not  to  incur  the  danger  of  being  puffed  up  by 
the  number  of  them.     The  letter  was  in  these  words  : — 

"  I  know,  most  loving  brother,  that  Almighty  God,  by  means  of 
your  affection,  shows  great  miracles  in  the  nation  which  he  has 
chosen.  Wlierefore  it  is  necessary  that  you  rejoice  with  fear,  and 
tremble  whilst  you  rejoice,  on  account  of  the  same  heavenly  gift ; 
namely,  that  you  may  rejoice  because  the  souls  of  the  English  are 
by  outward  miracles  drawn  to  inward  grace  ;  but  that  you  fear,  lest, 
amidst  the  wonders  that  are  wrought,  the  weak  mind  may  be  puffed 
up  in  its  own  presumption,  and  as  it  is  externally  raised  to  honour, 
it  may  thence  inwardly  fall  by  vain -glory.  For  we  must  call  to 
mind,  that  when  the  disciples  returned  with  joy  after  preaching, 
and  said  to  their  heavenly  Master,  '  Lord,  in  thy  name,  even  the 

1  This  letter,  being  evidently  the  last  of  the  series,  is  here  assigned  to  an 
incorrect  date. 

^  Epp.  xi.  28  ;  0pp.  ii.  1109.  This  is  an  extract  only;  the  remainder  will  be 
given  in  its  proper  place.     It  was  written  1  Jan.  601. 


348  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  COl. 

devils  arc  subject  to  us  ;'  they  were  presently  told,  '  Do  not  rejoice 
on  this  account,  but  rather  rejoice  for  that  your  names  are  written 
in  heaven.'  [Luke  x.  17,  20.]  For  they  placed  their  thoughts  on 
private  and  temporal  joys,  when  they  rejoiced  in  miracles  ;  but  they 
are  recalled  from  the  private  to  the  public,  and  from  the  temporal 
to  the  eternal  joy,  when  it  is  said  to  them,  '  Rejoice  for  this,  because 
your  names  are  written  in  heaven.'  For  all  the  elect  do  not  work 
miracles,  and  yet  the  names  of  all  are  written  in  heaven.  For 
those  who  are  disciples  of  the  truth  ought  not  to  rejoice,  save  for 
that  good  thing  which  all  men  enjoy  as  well  as  they,  and  in  which 
they  have  no  faith  of  private  enjoyment. 

"  It  remains,  therefore,  most  dear  brother,  that  amidst  those 
things,  which,  through  the  working  of  our  Lord,  you  outwardly  per- 
form, you  always  inwardly  judge  yourself  strictly,  and  clearly  under- 
stand both  what  you  are  yourself,  and  how  much  grace  is  in  that 
same  nation,  for  the  conversion  of  which  you  have  also  received  the 
gift  of  working  miracles.  And  if  you  remember  that  you  have  at 
any  time  offended  our  Creator,  either  by  word  or  deed,  that  you 
always  call  it  to  mind,  to  the  end  that  the  remembrance  of  your 
guilt  may  crush  the  vanity  which  rises  in  your  heart.  And  whatsoever 
you  shall  receive,  or  have  received,  in  relation  to  working  miracles, 
that  you  consider  the  same,  not  as  conferred  on  you,  but  on  those 
for  whose  salvation  it  has  been  given  you." 


Chap.  XXXII.  [a.d.  601.]— Pope  Gregory  sends  letters  and  presents  to  King 
JEbilberct. 

§  76.  The  same  holy  pope  Gregory,  at  the  same  time,  sent  a 
letter  to  king  yEdilberct,  with  very  many  presents  of  several  sorts  ; 
being  desirous  to  glorify  the  king  with  temporal  honours,  at  the 
same  time  that  he  rejoiced  that  through  his  labour  and  zeal  he  had 
attained  the  knowledge  of  the  heavenly  glory.  The  copy  of  the 
said  letter  is  as  follows  : — 

"  To  the  most  r/lorious  Lord,  and  his  most  excellent  son,jEdilberct, 
king  of  the  English,  Bishop  Gregory.  The  design  of  Almighty  God 
in  advancing  good  men  to  the  government  of  nations  is,  that  He 
may  by  their  means  bestow  the  gifts  of  his  mercy  on  those  over 
whom  they  are  placed.  This  we  know  to  have  been  done  in  the 
English  nation,  over  whom  your  glory  was  therefore  placed,  that  by 
means  of  the  goods  which  arc  granted  to  you,  heavenly  benefits 
might  also  be  conferred  on  the  nation  that  is  subject  to  you. 
Therefore,  my  illustrious  son,  do  you  with  a  careful  mind  preserve 
the  grace  which  you  have  received  from  the  Divine  goodness,  and 
hasten  to  promote  the  christian  faitli,  which  you  have  embraced, 
among  the  people  under  your  subjection  ;  multiply  the  zeal  of  your 
uprightness  in  their  conversion  ;  suppress  the  worship  of  idols  ; 
overthrow  the  structures*  of  the  temples,  edify  the  manners  of  your 
subjects,  and  promote  much  cleanness  of  life  by  exhorting,  terri- 
fying, soothing,  correcting,  and  giving  examples  of  good  works,  that 

>  See  §  74,  note  2. 


A.D.  601.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    I.  349 

you  may  find  Him  your  rewarder  in  heaven,  whose  name  and 
knowledge  you  shall  spread  abroad  upon  eartli.  For  He  also 
will  render  the  fame  of  your  honour  more  glorious  to  posterity, 
whose  honour  you  seek  and  maintain  among  the  gentiles. 

§  77.  "  For  even  so  Constantine,  our  former  most  pious  empe- 
ror, recovering  the  Roman  commonwealth  from  the  perverse  worship 
of  idols,  subjected  the  same  with  himself  to  our  Almighty  God  and 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  was  himself,  with  the  people  under  his 
subjection,  entirely  convei'ted  to  Him.  Whence  it  followed,  that 
his  praises  transcended  the  fame  of  former  princes  ;  and  he  as  much 
excelled  his  predecessors  in  renown  as  he  did  in  good  works.  Now, 
therefore,  let  your  glory  hasten  to  infuse  into  the  kings  and  people 
that  are  subject  to  you,  the  knowledge  of  one  God,  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost ;  that  you  may  both  surpass  the  ancient  kings  of 
your  nation  in  praise  and  merit,  and  become  by  so  much  the  more 
secure  against  your  own  sins  before  the  dreadful  judgment  of 
Almighty  God,  as  you  shall  wipe  away  the  sins  of  others  in  your 
subjects. 

"  Willingly  hear,  devoutly  perform,  and  studiously  retain  in  your 
memory,  whatsoever  you  shall  be  advised  by  our  most  reverend 
brother,  bishop  Augustine,  who  is  fully  instructed  in  the  monastical 
rule,  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  holy  Scripture,  and,  by  the  help 
of  God,  endued  with  good  works  ;  for  if  you  give  ear  to  him  in 
what  he  speaks  for  Almighty  God,  the  same  Almighty  God  will  the 
sooner  hear  him  praying  for  you.  But  if  (which  God  avert !)  you 
slight  his  words,  how  shall  Almighty  God  hear  him  in  your  behalf, 
whom  you  neglect  to  hear  for  God  ?  Unite  yourself,  therefore,  to 
him  with  all  your  mind,  in  the  fervour  of  faith,  and  further  his 
endeavours,  through  the  assistance  of  that  strength  which  the 
Divinity  aftbrds  you,  that  He  may  make  you  partaker  of  his  king- 
dom whose  faith  you  cause  to  be  received  and  maintained  in  your 
own. 

§  78.  "  Besides,  we  would  have  your  glory  know,  as  we  find  in 
the  holy  Scripture,  from  the  words  of  the  Almighty  Lord,  that  the 
end  of  this  present  world,  and  the  kingdom  of  the  saints,  is  about 
to  come,^  which  will  never  terminate.  But  as  the  same  end  of  the 
world  approaches,  many  things  are  at  hand  which  were  not  before, 
namely,  changes  of  air,  and  terrors  from  heaven,  and  tempests  out  of 
the  order  of  the  seasons,  wars,  famines,  plagues,  earthquakes  in 
several  places  ;  all  which  things  will  not,  nevertheless,  happen  in  our 
days,  but  will  all  follow  after  our  days.  If  you,  therefore,  find  any 
of  these  things  to  happen  in  your  country,  let  not  your  mind  be  in 
any  way  disturbed  ;  for  these  signs  of  the  end  of  the  world  are  sent 
before,  for  this  reason,  that  we  may  be  solicitous  for  our  souls, 
watchful  of  the  hour  of  our  death,  and  may  be  found  prepared  in 
good  works  to  meet  our  Judge.  Thus  much,  my  illustrious  son, 
I  have  said  in  few  words,  to  the  end  that  when  the  christian  faith 
shall  increase  in  your  kingdom,  our  discourse  to  you  may  also  be 
more  copious,  and  we  may  be  permitted  to  say  the  more,  in  pro- 

'  This  idea  woiild  appear  to  have  been  strongly  impressed  upon  the  mind  of 
Gregory.     See  Lib.  iii.  ep.  23,  ed.  1675. 


350  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  U.D.  598— 

portion  as  joy  for  the  conversion  of  your  nation  is  multiplied  in 
our  mind. 

"  I  have  sent  you  some  small  presents,  which  will  not  appear 
small,  when  received  by  you  with  the  blessing  of  the  holy  apostle, 
Peter.  May  Almighty  God,  therefore,  perfect  in  you  that  grace  of  his 
which  He  has  begun,  and  prolong  your  life  here  through  a  course 
of  many  years,  and  after  a  time  receive  you  into  the  congregation 
of  the  heavenly  country.  May  the  grace  of  God  preserve  your 
excellency  in  safety. 

"  Dated  the  10th  of  the  kalends  of  July,  [22d  of  June,]  in  the 
nineteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  our  most  pious  emperor,  Mau- 
ritius Tiberius,  in  the  eighteenth  year  after  his  consulship ;  in  the 
fourth  indiction." 


Chap.  XXXIII.  [a.d.  598,  or  C02.] — Augustine  repairs  the  church  of  our 
Saviour,  and  builds  the  monastery  of  St. Peter  the  apostle;  Peter  the 
first  abbat  of  the  sajie. 

§  79.  Augustine  having  his  episcopal  see  granted  him  in  the 
royal  city,  as  has  been  said,  and  being  supported  by  the  king, 
recovered  therein  a  church,'  which  he  was  informed  had  been  built 
by  the  ancient  Roman  Christians,  and  consecrated  it  in  the  name 
of  our  holy  Saviour,  God  and  Lord,  Jesus  Christ,  and  there  esta- 
blished a  residence  for  himself  and  all  his  successors.  He  also 
built  a  monaster)'  not  far  from  the  city  to  the  eastward,  in  which, 
by  his  advice,  Aedilberct  erected  from  the  foundations  the  church 
of  the  blessed  apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,  and  enriched  it  with  several 
donations ;  wherein  the  bodies  of  the  same  Augustine,  and  of  all 
the  bishops  of  Canterbury,  and  of  the  kings  of  Kent,  might  be 
buried.  However,  Augustine  himself  did  not  consecrate  that 
church,  but  Laurentius,  his  successor. 

The  first  abbat  of  that  monastery  was  the  priest  Peter,^  who, 
being  sent  ambassador  into  France,  was  drowned  in  a  bay  of  the 
sea,  which  is  called  Amfleat,^  and  buried  by  the  inhabitants  of  the 
place  in  an  unworthy  grave  ;  but  Almighty  God,  to  show  how 
deserv'ing  a  man  he  was,  caused  a  light  to  be  seen  over  his  grave 
every  night ;  till  the  neighbours  who  saw  it,  perceiving  that  he  had 
been  a  holy  man  that  was  buried  there,  inquiring  who  and  from 
whence  he  was,  carried  away  the  body,  and  interred  it  in  the 
church,  in  the  city  of  Boulogne,  with  the  honour  due  to  so  great  a 
person. 

'  Christ  Church,  Canterbury,  the  present  cathedral  ;  the  mona.stery  presently 
mentioned  afterwards  Itecanie  St.  Augustine's  abbey. 

2  See  Mabill.  Act.  SS.  Bened.  ii.  1  ;  Act.  SS.  Bolland.  1  Jan.  p.  334.  The  year 
of  his  death  is  uncertain,  but  it  occurred  before  61 0. 

'  Now  Ambleteuse,  a  small  village,  a  little  to  the  north  uf  Boulogne. 


A.D.  GO-1.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    II.  351 

Chap.  XXXIV.  [a.d.  603.] — ^Edilfrid,  king  of  the  NoRTHUMBrviANS,  having 

VANQUISHED  THE  NATIONS  OP  THE  ScOTS,  EXPELS  THEil  PROJI  THE  TERRITORIES  OF 

THE  Angles. 

§  80.  At  this  time,  Aedilfrid,  a  most  valiant  king,  and  ambitious 
of  gloiy,  governed  the  kingdom  of  the  Northumbrians,  and  ravaged 
the  Britons  more  than  all  the  great  men  of  the  Angles,  insomuch 
that  he  might  be  compared  to  Saul,  once  king  of  the  Israelites,  ex- 
cepting only  this,  that  he  was  ignorant  of  the  true  religion.  For  he 
conquered  more  territories  from  the  Britons,  either  making  them 
tributary,  or  expelling  the  inhabitants,  and  planting  Angles  in  their 
places,  than  any  other  king  or  tribune.  To  him  might  justly  be 
applied  the  saying  of  the  patriarch  blessing  his  son  in  the  person  of 
Saul,  "Benjamin  shall  ravin  as  a  wolf;  in  the  morning  he  shall 
devour  the  prey,  and  at  night  he  shall  divide  the  spoil."  [Gen.xlix.27.] 
Hereupon, Aedan,^  king  of  the  Scots  that  inhabit  Britain, being  con- 
cerned at  this  success,  came  against  him  with  an  immense  and 
brave  army,  but  was  beaten  by  an  inferior  force,  and  put  to  flight, 
escaping  with  a  few  only  of  his  followers  ;  for  almost  all  his  army 
was  slain  at  a  famous  place  called  Degsastan,  that  is,Degsastone.  In 
which  battle  also  Theodbald,  brother  to  Aedilfrid,  was  killed,  with 
almost  all  the  forces  he  commanded.  To  this  war  Aedilfrid  put  an 
end  in  the  year  603  after  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord,  the  eleventh 
of  his  own  reign,  which  lasted  twenty-four  years,  and  the  first  year 
of  the  reign  of  Phocas,  who  then  governed  the  Roman  empire.  From 
that  time,  no  king  of  the  Scots  durst  come  into  Britain  to  make 
war  on  the  Angles  to  this  day. 


BOOK    II. 


Chap.  I.  [a.d.  604.] — On  the  Death  of  the  blessed  Pope  Gregory. 

§  81.  At  this  time,  that  is,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  605,^  the 
blessed  pope  Gregoiy,  after  having  most  gloriously  governed  the 
Roman  and  apostolic  see  during  thirteen  years,  six  months,  and 
ten  days,  died,  and  was  translated  to  the  eternal  see  of  the  heavenly 
kingdom.  Of  whom,  in  regard  that  he  by  his  zeal  converted  our 
nation,  namely,  the  English,  from  the  power  of  Satan  to  the  faith  of 
Christ,  it  behoves  us  to  discourse  more  at  large  in  our  Ecclesiastical 
Histoiy,  for  we  may  and  ought  rightly  to  call  him  our  apostle  ; 
because,  whereas  he  bore  the  pontifical  primacy  over  all  the  world, 
and  was  placed  over  the  churches  already  reduced  to  the  faith  of 
the  truth,  he  made  our  nation,  till  then  given  up  to  idols,  the 

1  The  battle  of  Degstan,  in  wtich  ^dan  was  routed,  is  ascribed  to  the  year 
603,  upon  the  authority  of  Ussher,  Eccl.  Brit.  Antiq.  p.  371.  As  to  the  locaHty 
of  the  action,  it  is  contested  between  Dalston,  near  Carlisle,  and  Dawston,  in 
Liddisdale. 

-  He  was  buried  12th  March,  604.  and  not  in  605,  as  Beda  here  states,  deceived 
probably  by  a  different  mode  of  calculating  the  commencement  of  the  year. 


352  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  604. 

cliurcli  of  Christ,  so  that  we  may,  on  that  account,  be  allowed  to 
attribute  to  him  the  character  of  an  apostle ;  for  though  he  be  not 
an  apostle  to  others,  yet  he  is  so  to  us ;  for  we  are  the  seal  of  his 
apostleship  in  the  Lord. 

§  82.  He  was  by  nation  a  Roman,  son  of  Gordian,  deducmg  his 
race  from  ancestors  that  were  not  only  noble,  but  religious.  And 
Felix,*  once  bishop  of  the  same  apostolical  see,  a  man  of  great 
honour  in  Christ  and  his  church,  was  his  great-grandfather.  Nor 
did  he  exercise  the  nobility  of  religion  with  less  virtue  of  devotion 
than  his  parents  and  kindred.  But  that  worldly  nobility  which  he 
seemed  to  have,  by  the  help  of  the  Divine  Grace,  he  entirely 
applied  to  gain  the  honour  of  eternal  dignity  ;  for  soon  quitting  his 
secular  habit,  he  repaired  to  a  monasteiy,  wherein  he  began  to 
behave  himself  with  so  much  grace  of  perfection  that  (as  he  was 
afterwards  wont  with  tears  to  testify)  his  mind  was  superior  to  all 
transitory  things  ;  that  he  arose  above  all  that  is  subject  to  change  ; 
that  he  used  to  think  of  nothing  but  what  was  heavenly  ;  that 
whilst  detained  by  the  body,  he  by  contemplation  broke  through 
the  bonds  of  flesh  ;  and  that  he  loved  death,  w^hich  is  a  punish- 
ment to  almost  all  men,  as  the  entrance  into  life,  and  the  reward  of 
his  labours.  This  he  was  wont  to  declare  of  himself,  not  as  boasting 
of  his  progress  in  virtue,  but  rather  as  bewailing  the  decay  wliich  he 
imagined  he  sustained  through  the  pastoral  care.  Tn  short,  when 
he  was,  one  day,  in  private,  discoursing  with  Peter,  his  deacon, 
after  having  enumerated  the  former  virtues  of  his  mind,  he  with 
grief  added,  "  But  now,  on  account  of  the  pastoral  care,  it  is 
oppressed  with  the  affairs  of  laymen,  and,  after  so  beautiful  an 
appearance  of  repose,  is  defiled  w^ith  the  dust  of  earthly  action. 
And  after  having  expended  itself  by  descending  to  many  things 
that  are  without,  when  it  desires  the  inward  things,  it  returns  to 
them  less  qualified  to  enjoy  them.  I  therefore  consider  what  I 
endure,  I  consider  what  I  have  lost,  and  when  I  behold  that  loss, 
what  I  bear  appears  the  more  grievous." 

§  83.  This  the  holy  man  said  out  of  the  excess  of  his  great 
humility.  But  it  becomes  us  to  believe  that  he  lost  nothing  of  his 
monastic  perfection  by  reason  of  his  pastoral  care,  but  rather  that 
he  improved  the  more  through  the  labour  of  converting  many,  than 
by  the  former  repose  of  his  own  conversation  :  and  chiefiy  because, 
whilst  exercising  the  pontifical  function,  he  provided  to  have  his 
house  made  a  monastery.  And  when  first  drawn  from  the  mona- 
stery, ordained  to  the  ministry  of  the  altar,  and  sent  as  Respondent^ 
to  Constantinople  from  the  apostolic  see,  though  his  conversation 
was  now  in  an  earthly  palace,  yet  he  intermitted  not  his  former 
heavenly  life.  For  some  of  the  brethren  of  his  monaster)',  having  out 
of  brotherly  charity  followed  him  to  the  royal  city,  he  kept  them  for 
the  better  following  of  regular  observances,  namely,  that  at  all  times, 
by  their  example,  as  he  himself  writes,  he  might  be  held  fast  to  the 

'  The  relationship  of  Felix  to  Gregory,  as  stated  by  Beda,  is  not  to  be  under- 
stood in  its  strictest  accuracy.  Felix  was  pope  from  the  middle  of  a.  d.  52(1  to  530. 

*  Upon  the  d.ate  of  Gregory's  appoiutmeut  to  this  office  and  his  coutiiuiance  in 
it,  see  Pagi,  a.  d.  581,  §  5. 


A.D.  C04.]  BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    II.  353 

calm  shore  of  prayer,  as  it  were  with  the  cable  of  an  anchor,  whilst 
he  was  tossed  up  and  down  by  the  continual  waves  of  worldly  aftairs; 
and  daily  among  them,  by  the  intercourse  of  studious  reading, 
strengthen  his  mind,  whilst  it  was  shaken  with  temporal  concerns. 
By  their  company  he  was  thus  not  only  guarded  against  earthly 
assaults,  but  more  and  more  inflamed  in  the  exercises  of  a  hea- 
venly life. 

§  84.  For  by  their  persuasion  he  gave  a  mystical  exposition  of 
the  book  of  holy  Job,  which  is  involved  in  great  obscurity ; '  nor 
could  he  refuse  to  undertake  that  work,  which  brotherly  aftection 
imposed  on  him  for  the  future  benefit  of  many  ;  but  in  a  wonderful 
manner,  in  five  and  thirty  books  of  exposition,  he  taught  how  that 
same  book  is  to  be  understood  literally ;  how  to  be  referred  to  the 
mysteries  of  Christ  and  the  church ;  and  in  what  sense  it  is  to  be 
adapted  to  every  one  of  the  faithful.^  This  work  he  began  when 
Respondent  in  the  royal  city,  but  finished  it  at  Rome  after  having 
been  made  pope.  Whilst  he  was  still  in  the  royal  city,  he,  by  the 
assistance  of  the  grace  of  catholic  truth,  crushed  in  its  first  rise,  along 
with  its  originator,  a  heresy  newly  started,  concerning  the  state  of  our 
resurrection.  For  Eutychius,^  bishop  of  that  city,  taught,  that  our 
body,  in  that  glory  of  the  resurrection,  would  be  impalpable,  and 
more  subtile  than  the  winds  and  the  air;  which  he  hearing,  proved  by 
force  of  truth,  and  by  the  example  of  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord, 
that  this  doctrine  was  every  way  opposite  to  the  orthodox  faith. 
For  the  catholic  faith  is,  that  our  body,  sublimed  by  that  glory  of 
immortality,  is  rendered  subtile  by  the  effect  of  the  spiritual  power, 
but  palpable  by  the  reality  of  its  nature  ;  according  to  the  example 
of  our  Lord's  body,  concerning  which,  when  risen  from  the  dead. 
He  himself  says  to  his  disciples,  [Luke  xxiv.  39,]  "  Touch  me,  and 
see,  for  a  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones,  as  ye  see  me  have."  In 
asserting  which  faith,  the  venerable  Father  Gregory  so  earnestly 
laboured  against  the  newly  rising  heresy,  and  by  the  assistance  of 
the  most  pious  emperor,  Tiberius  Constantine,  so  fully  crushed  it, 
that  none  has  been  since  found  to  revive  it. 

§  85.  He  likewise  composed  another  excellent  book,  called  "Liber 
Pastoralis,"*  wherein  he  manifestly  showed  what  sort  of  persons 
ought  to  be  preferred  to  govern  the  church  ;  how  such  rulers  ought 
to  live  ;  with  how  much  discretion  to  instruct  every  one  of  their 
hearers,  and  how  seriously  to  reflect  every  day  on  their  own  frailty. 
He  also  wrote  forty  Homilies^  on  the  Gospel,  which  he  equally 
divided  into  two  volumes  ;  and  composed  four  books  of  Dialogues, " 
into  which,  at  the  request  of  Peter,  his  deacon,  he  collected  the 
miracles  of  the  saints  whom  he  either  had  known  or  heard  to  have 

^  See  Gregorii  0pp.  i.  15,  ed.  1675. 

^  Beda  here  refers  to  the  threefold  method  of  interpreting  Scripture  adopted 
by  Gregory,  and  which  he  himself  employed  in  many  of  his  commentaries.  See 
Gregory's  epistle  to  Leander,  prefixed  to  his  Commentary  on  Job  ;  and  Beda  in 
St.  Matt.  ii.  11. 

^  On  the  general  history  of  Eutychianism,  see  Basnage,  Hist,  de  I'Eglise, 
p.  510,  fol.  1699.  Gregory's  dispute  with  Eutychius  may  be  illustrated  from  his 
Morals,  lib.  xiv.  cap.  29  ;  Beda  in  S.  Lucam,  lib.  vi.  cap.  24  ;  Ado  Viennensis,  in 
Chron.  an.  574  :  and  Sigeb.  Gemblac.  in  Chron.  an.  580. 

*  0pp.  i.  1049.  '  Id.  i.  1345.  «  Id.  ii.  1. 

VOL.    I.  A  A 


354  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  COL 

been  most  renowned  in  Italy,  for  an  example  of  life  to  posterity  ;  to 
the  end  that,  as  he  taught  in  his  books  of  Expositions,  what  virtues 
ought  to  be  laboured  for,  so  by  describing  the  miracles  of  saints,  he 
might  make  known  the  glory  of  the  same.  He  further,  in  twenty- 
two  Homilies,  discovered  how  much  light  there  is  concealed  in  tl:e 
first  and  last  parts  of  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  which  seemed  the  most 
obscure.  Besides  which,  he  wrote  the  "  Book  of  Answers,  to  the 
questions  of  St.  Augustine,"  the  first  bishop  of  the  English  nation, 
as  we  have  shown  above  ^  by  inserting  the  same  book  entire  in  this 
history;  besides  the  useful  little  "  Synodical  Book,"^  which  he 
composed  along  with  the  bishops  of  Italy,  on  the  necessar)^  affairs  of 
the  chmxh  ;  and  also  familiar  Letters  to  certain  persons.  And  it  is 
the  more  wonderful  that  he  could  write  so  many  and  such  large 
volumes,^  in  regard  that  almost  all  the  time  of  his  youth,  to  use  his 
own  words,  he  was  tormented  with  frequent  pains  in  his  bowels, 
and  a  weakness  of  his  stomach,  whilst  he  was  hourly,  nay  momen- 
tarily, suffering  from  slow  fever.  But  whereas  at  the  same  time  he 
carefully  reflected  that,  as  the  Scripture  testifies,  [Heb.  xii.  6,] 
"  Every  son  that  is  received  is  scourged,"  the  more  grievously  he 
was  depressed  under  those  present  evils,  the  more  he  assured  him- 
self of  his  eternal  salvation. 

§  86.  This  much  may  be  said  of  his  immortal  genius,  which 
could  not  be  restrained  by  such  severe  bodily  pains  ;  for  while  other 
popes  applied  themselves  to  the  building,  or  adorning  of  churches 
with  gold  and  silver,  Gregory  was  entirely  intent  upon  gaining 
souls.  Wliatsoever  money  he  had,  he  diligently  took  care  to  dis- 
tribute and  give  to  the  poor,  that  his  righteousness  might  endure 
for  ever,  and  his  horn  be  exalted  with  honour  ;  so  that  he  might  truly 
say  with  blessed  Job,  [xxix.ll — 17,]  "When  the  ear  heard  me,  then  it 
blessed  me;  and  when  the  eye  saw  me, it  gave  witness  to  me:  because 
I  delivered  the  poor  that  cried,  and  the  fatherless,  and  him  that  had 
none  to  help  him.  The  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready  to  perish 
came  upon  me,  and  I  caused  the  widow's  heart  to  sing  for  joy.  I 
})ut  on  righteousness,  and  it  clothed  me  :  my  judgment  was  as  a 
robe  and  diadem.  I  was  the  eye  to  the  blind,  and  feet  was  I  to  the 
lame.  I  was  father  to  the  poor  ;  and  the  cause  which  I  knew  not, 
I  diligently  searched  out.  And  I  brake  the  jaws  of  the  wicked,  and 
plucked  the  spoil  out  of  his  teeth."  And  a  little  after  :  [xxxi.  16— 
18,]  "If  I  have  withheld,"  says  he,  "the  poor  from  their  desire,  or 
have  caused  the  eye  of  the  widow  to  fail ;  if  I  have  eaten  my  morsel 
myself  alone,  and  the  fatherless  hath  not  eaten  thereof.  For  of 
my  youth  compassion  grew  up  with  me,  and  from  my  mother's 
womb  it  came  forth  with  me." 

§  87.  To  these  works  of  piety  and  righteousness  this  also  may  be 
added,  that  he  saved  our  nation,  by  the  preachers  he  sent  hither, 
from  the  teeth  of  the  old  enemy,  and  made  it  partaker  of  eternal 

'  See  book  i.  ch.  27. 

^  It  is  incorporated  in  tlie  Life  of  Gregory  by  John  the  Deacon,  lib.  ii.  §  3  ; 
Oi)p.  i.  26 ;  and  amongst  his  Epistles,  lib.  i.  ep.  24  ;  0pp.  ii.  383. 

*  The  collected  works  of  Gregory  occupy  four  volumes  in  folio,  according  to 
the  Benedictine  edition,  Paris,  1705. 


A.D.  004.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    II.  355 

liberty ;  in  whose  faith  and  salvation  rejoicing,  and  worthily  com- 
mending the  same,  he  in  his  Exposition^  on  holy  Job  says,  "Behold, 
the  British  language,  which  only  knew  how  to  utter  barbarous 
speech,  has  long  since  begun  to  resound  the  Hebrew  Hallelujah  to 
the  praise  of  God  !  Behold,  the  once  swelling  ocean  now  serves 
prostrate  at  the  feet  of  the  saints  ;  and  its  barbarous  motions,  which 
earthly  princes  could  not  subdue  with  the  sword,  are  now,  through 
the  fear  of  God,  bound  by  the  mouths  of  priests  with  words  only  ; 
and  he  that  when  an  infidel  stood  not  in  awe  of  fighting  troops,  now 
a  believer,  fears  the  tongues  of  the  humble  ones  !  For  by  reason 
that  the  virtue  of  the  Divine  knowledge  is  infused  into  it  by  precepts, 
heavenly  words,  and  conspicuous  miracles,  it  is  curbed  by  the  dread 
of  the  same  Divinity,  so  as  to  fear  to  act  wickedly,  and  bends  all  its 
desires  to  arrive  at  eternal  grace."  In  which  words  holy  Gregory 
declares  this  also,  that  St.  Augustine  and  his  companions  brought 
the  English  to  receive  the  truth,  not  only  by  the  preaching  of 
words,  but  also  by  the  showing  of  heavenly  signs.  The  holy  pope 
Gregory,  among  other  things,  caused  masses  to  be  celebrated  in  tlie 
churches  of  the  holy  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  over  their  bodies. 
And  in  the  celebration  of  masses,  he  added  three  phrases  full  of 
great  goodness  and  perfection  :  "  And  dispose  our  days  in  thy 
peace,  and  preserve  us  from  eternal  damnation,  and  rank  us  in  the 
flock  of  thine  elect." 

§  88.  He  governed  the  church  in  the  days  of  the  emperors 
Mauritius  and  Phocas,  but  passing  out  of  this  life  in  the  second 
year  of  the  same  Phocas,  he  departed  to  the  true  life  which  is  in 
heaven.  His  body  was  buried  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter  the 
apostle,  before  the  sacristy,  on  the  4th  of  the  ides  of  March,  [12 
March,]  to  rise  one  day  in  the  same  body  in  glory  with  the  rest  of 
the  holy  pastors  of  the  church.  On  his  tomb  was  written  this 
epitaph  : — 

Earth  !  take  that  body  which  at  first  you  gave, 

Till  God  again  shall  raise  it  from  the  grave. 

His  soul  amidst  the  stars  finds  heavenly  day ;        \ 

In  vain  the  gates  of  darkness  make  essay  > 

On  him  whose  death  but  leads  to  life  the  way.       J 

To  the  dark  tomb,  this  prelate,  though  decreed, 

Lives  in  all  places  by  his  pious  deed. 

Before  his  bounteous  board  pale  Hunger  fled ; 

To  warm  the  poor  he  fleecy  garments  spread ; 

And  to  secure  their  souls  from  Satan's  power, 

He  taught  by  sacred  precepts  every  hour. 

Nor  only  taught ;  but  first  the  example  led, 

Lived  o'er  his  rules,  and  acted  what  he  said. 

To  English  Saxons  christian  truth  he  taught, 

And  a  believing  flock  to  heaven  he  brovight. 

This  was  thy  work  and  study,  this  thy  care, 

Offerings  to  thy  Redeemer  to  prepare. 

For  these  to  heavenly  honours  raised  on  high, 

"Where  thy  reward  of  labours  ne'er  shall  die. 

§  89.  Nor  is  the  account  of  St.  Gregory,  which  has  been  handed 
down  to  us  by  the  tradition  of  our  ancestors,  to  be  passed  by  in 
silence,  in  relation  to  his  motives  for  taking  such  interest  in  the 
salvation  of  our  nation.    It  is  reported,  that  some  merchants,  having 

1  Lib.  xxvii.  cap.  6;  0pp.  i.  779. 
AA   2 


35G  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  004. 

just  arrived  at  Rome  on  a  certain  day,  exposed  many  things  for  sale 
in  the  market-place,  and  many  people  resorted  thither  to  buy: 
Gregory  himself  went  with  the  rest,  and,  among  other  things,  some 
boys  were  set  to  sale,  their  bodies  white,  their  countenances  beau- 
tiful, and  their  hair  very  fine.  Having  viewed  them,  he  asked,  as 
is  said,  from  what  countr)^  or  nation  they  had  been  brought  ?  and 
was  told,  from  the  island  of  Britain,  whose  inhabitants  were  of  such 
personal  appearance.  He  again  inquired  whether  those  islanders 
were  Christians,  or  still  involved  in  the  errors  of  paganism  ?  and 
was  informed  that  they  were  pagans.  Then  fetching  a  deep  sigh 
from  the  bottom  of  his  heart,  "Alas!  what  pity,"  said  he,  "  that  the 
author  of  darkness  is  possessed  of  men  of  such  fair  countenances  ; 
and  that  being  remarkable  for  such  a  graceful  exterior,  their  minds 
should  be  void  of  inward  grace."  He  therefore  again  asked,  what 
was  the  name  of  that  nation  ?  and  was  answered,  that  they  were 
called  Angles.  "  Right,"  said  he,  "  for  they  have  an  Angelic  face, 
and  it  becomes  that  such  should  be  co-heirs  with  the  Angels  in 
heaven.  What  is  the  name,"  proceeded  he,  "  of  the  province  from 
which  they  are  brought?"  It  was  replied,  that  the  natives  of  that 
province  were  called  Deiri.  "  Truly  are  they  de  ira,"  said  he, 
"  plucked  from  wrath,  and  called  to  the  mercy  of  Christ.  How  is 
the  king  of  that  province  called?"  They  told  him  his  name  was 
Aelli ;  '  and  he,  alluding  to  the  name,  said,  "  Hallelujah,  the  praise 
of  God  the  Creator  must  be  sung  in  those  parts." 

§  90.  Then  repairing  to  the  bishop  of  the  Roman  and  apostolical 
see,  (for  he  was  not  himself  pope  at  that  time,)  he  entreated  him  to 
send  some  ministers  of  the  word  into  Britain  to  the  nation  of  the 
English,  by  whom  it  might  be  converted  to  Christ ;  declaring 
himself  ready  to  undertake  that  work,  by  the  assistance  of  God,  if 
the  apostolic  pope  should  think  fit  to  have  it  so  done.  Tliis  he  was 
not  then  able  to  perform  ;  because,  though  the  pope  was  willing  to 
grant  his  request,  yet  the  citizens  of  Rome  could  not  be  brought 
to  consent  that  so  noble,  so  renowned,  and  so  learned  a  man  should 
depart  the  city;  but  as  soon  as  he  himself  was  made  pope,  he 
jierfectcd  the  long-desired  work,  sending  other  preachers,  but 
himself  by  his  prayers^  and  exhortations  assisting  the  preaching, 
that  it  might  be  successful.  Iliis  account,  as  we  have  received  it 
from  the  ancients,  we  have  thought  fitting  to  insert  in  our  Eccle- 
siastical Histor)\ 

'  This  king  reigned  over  Deira  from  55S  to  5S8.  The  biographers  of  Gregory 
are  undecided  under  which  pope  this  incident  occurred,  whether  Pelagius  or 
Benedict  his  predecessor. 

^  Gregory  aa.sisted  in  this  good  work  with  his  money  also,  aa  appears  from  more 
than  one  of  his  epiatles.     See  before,  book  i.  ch.  24. 


A.D.  G03.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    II.  357 

Chap.  II.  [a.d.  603.]— Augustine  admonished  the  Bishops  op  the  Britons  to 
Catholic  peace  and  unity,  and  to  that  effect  even  wrought  a  heavenly 

MIRACLE  in  their  PRESENCE;    AND  OP  THE   VENGEANCE    THAT    PURSUED  THEM  FOR 
their  CONTEMPT. 

§  91.  In  the  meantime,^  Augustine,  having  employed  the  assist- 
ance of  KingAedilberct,  drew  together  to  a  conference  the  bishops, 
or  doctors,  of  the  nearest  province  of  the  Britons,  at  a  place  which 
is  to  this  day  called  Augustine's  Ac,  that  is,  Augustine's  Oak,^  on 
the  borders  of  the  Huiccii  and  West  Saxons ;  and  began  by  bro- 
therly admonitions  to  persuade  them,  that  preserving  catholic  unity 
with  him,  they  should  undertake  the  common  labour  of  preacliing 
the  gospel  to  the  Gentiles  for  the  Lord's  sake.  For  they  did  not  keep 
Easter  Sunday  at  its  proper  time,  but  from  the  fourteenth  to  the 
twentieth  of  the  moon ;  which  computation  is  contained  in  a  cycle  of 
eighty-four  years.  Besides,  they  were  in  the  habit  of  doing  several 
other  things  which  were  against  the  unity  of  the  church.  Wlien, 
after  a  long  disputation,  they  did  not  comply  with  either  the 
entreaties,  or  the  exhortations,  or  the  rebukes  of  Augustine  and  his 
companions,  but  preferred  their  own  traditions  before  all  the  churches 
in  the  world,  which  in  Christ  agree  among  themselves,  the  holy 
father  Augustine  put  an  end  to  this  troublesome  and  tedious  con- 
tention, saying,  "  Let  us  beg  of  God,  who  makes  men  to  be  of  one 
mind  in  his  Father's  house,  that  Lie  will  vouchsafe,  by  his  heavenly 
tokens,  to  declare  to  us,  which  tradition  is  to  be  followed ;  and  by 
what  means  we  are  to  find  our  way  to  his  heavenly  kingdom.  Let 
some  infirm  person  be  brought,  and  let  the  faith  and  practice  of 
those,  by  whose  prayers  he  shall  be  healed,  be  looked  upon  as 
acceptable  to  God,  and  be  adopted  by  all."  The  adverse  party 
unwillingly  consenting,  a  blind  man  of  the  race  of  the  Angles  was 
brought,  who,  having  been  presented  to  the  priests  of  the  Britons, 
found  no  benefit  or  cure  from  their  ministry;  at  length,  Augustine, 
compelled  by  real  necessity,  bowed  his  knees  to  the  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  prayed  that  the  lost  sight  might  be  restored 
to  the  blind  man,  and  by  the  corporeal  enlightening  of  one  man, 
the  light  of  spiritual  grace  might  be  kindled  in  the  hearts  of  many 
of  the  faithful.  Immediately  the  blind  man  received  sight;  and 
Augustine  was  by  all  declared  to  be  the  preacher  of  the  Divine  truth. 
The  Britons  then  confessed,  that  it  was  the  true  way  of  righteous- 
ness which  Augustine  taught ;  but  that  they  could  not  cast  off  their 
ancient  customs  without  the  consent  and  leave  of  their  people.  They 
therefore  desired  that  a  synod  might  be  again  appointed,  at  which 
more  of  their  number  would  be  present. 

§  92.  Tliis  being  decreed,  there  came  (as  is  asserted)  seven' 

1  The  date  of  this  meeting  is  uncertain  ;  Ussher  refars  it  to  602  ;  Pagi  to  604  ; 
but  the  year  603  seems  better  than  either  to  accord  with  the  series  of  the  events 
here  narrated. 

2  Probably  at,  or  near,  Aust-clive,  in  Gloucestershire,  the  Trajectus  of  the  Romans. 
See  Camden,  Brit.  col.  278.  "We  may  conjecture,  however,  that  the  conference 
was  held,  not  in  a  town  or  village,  but  under  an  oak.  See  Mone,  Geschichte  des 
uordischen  Heidenthumes,  ii.  457. 

^  Ussher  has  taken  pains  to  investigate  the  sees  of  these  bishops,  but  his 
conclusions  are  founded  on  conjectures  only.     See  Brit.  Eccl.  Antiq.  pp.  48,  49. 


358  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  603. 

l)ishops  of  tlie  Britons,  and  many  most  learned  men,  particularly 
from  their  most  noble  monaster)',  which,  in  the  language  of  the 
Angles,  is  called  Bancornaburg,'  over  which  the  abbat  Dinoot  ^  is 
said  to  have  presided  at  that  time.  They  that  were  to  go  to  the 
aforesaid  council,  repaired  first  to  a  certain  holy  and  discreet  man, 
who  was  wont  to  lead  an  eremitical  life  among  them;  consulting  with 
him,  whether  they  ought,  at  the  preaching  of  Augustine,  to  forsake 
their  own  traditions.  He  answered,  "  If  he  is  a  man  of  God,  follow 
him." — "  How  shall  we  prove  that  ?"  said  they.  He  replied,  "  Our 
Lord  saith.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  me,  for  I  am 
meek  and  lowly  of  heart;  [Matt.xi.  29;]  if,  therefore,  this  Augustine 
be  meek  and  lowly  of  heart,  it  is  to  be  believed  that  he  has  taken 
upon  him  the  yoke  of  Christ,  and  offers  the  same  to  you  to  take  upon 
yourselves.  But,  if  he  be  stern  and  haughty,  it  is  plain  that  he  is  not 
of  God,  nor  are  we  to  regard  his  words."  They  again  asked,  "  And 
how  shall  we  discern  even  this?" — "Do  you  contrive,"  said  the 
anchorite,  "  that  he  may  first  arrive  with  his  company  at  the  place 
where  the  synod  is  to  be  held  ;  and  if  at  your  approach  he  shall  rise 
up  to  you,  hear  him  submissively,  being  assured  that  he  is  the  servant 
of  Christ ;  but  if  he  shall  despise  you,  and  not  rise  up  to  you,  whereas 
you  are  more  in  number,  let  him  also  be  despised  by  you." 

§  93.  They  did  as  he  directed  ;  and  it  happened,  that  when  they 
came,  Augustine  was  sitting  on  a  chair,  which  they  observing,  were 
in  a  passion,  and,  charging  him  with  pride,  endeavoured  to  contra- 
dict all  he  said.  He  said  to  them,  "  You  act  in  many  particulars 
contrary  to  our  custom,  or  rather,  to  the  custom  of  the  universal 
church,  and  yet,  if  you  will  comply  with  me  in  these  three  points, 
viz.  to  keep  Easter  at  the  due  time ;  to  perfect  the  administration 
of  baptism,^  by  which  we  are  again  born  to  God,  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  holy  Roman  and  apostolic  church  ;  and  jointly  with 
us  to  preach  the  word  of  God  to  the  nation  of  the  Angles,  we  will 
readily  tolerate  all  the  other  things  you  do,  though  contrai-y  to  our 
customs."  They  answered,*  they  would  do  none  of  those  things, 
nor  receive  him  as  their  ai'chbishop ;  for  they  alleged  among  them- 
selves, that,  "  if  he  would  not  now  rise  up  to  us,  how  much  more 
will  he  contemn  us,  as  of,  no  worth,  if  we  shall  begin  to  be  under 
his  subjection?"  To  whom  the  man  of  God,  Augustine,  is  said, 
in  a  threatening  manner,  to  have  foretold,  that  in  case  they  would 
not  join  in  peace  with  their  brethren,  they  should  be  warred  upon 
by  their  enemies  ;  and  if  they  would  not  preach  the  way  of  life  to 
the  English  nation,  they  should  at  their  hands  undergo  the  ven- 

^  Upon  the  river  Dee,  not  far  from  Chester,  commonly  called  Bangor-is-y-Coed, 
to  distinguish  it  from  the  Bangor  on  the  Menai  Sti-aits.  See  Camd.  Brit.  ct)l. 
665,  666. 

2  According  to  the  Welyh  authorities  Dunawd,  or  Dunod-Fyr,  was  a  retired 
warrior,  who  founded  the  Abbey  of  Bangor,  and  became  its  first  abbot.  His 
sister  had  married  Brocwcll  Ysygthrog. 

^  Namely,  by  the  adiuini.stration  of  the  rite  of  the  laying  on  of  hands  in  Confir- 
mation.    Sec  Bingham,  book  xii.  ch.  1,  §  4. 

*  The  answer  of  the  abbot  of  Bang(3r.  written  in  Welsh,  is  printed  by 
Wilkins,  in  his  Concilia,  i.  26;  Spehn.  i.  108;  but  it  is  the  production  of  a  com- 
paratively modern  period,  and  is  of  no  value.  See  Collier,  i.  76  ;  Pagi,  ad  an.  604, 
Jj  viii.;  Stillmgfleet's  Autiq.  Brit.  Ch.  p.  360;  and  Panton's  preface  to  the  last 
work,  p.  viii. 


A.D.  603.]         BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    II.  359 

geance  of   death.      All  which,  through   the  dispensation  of   the 
Divine  judgment,  fell  out  exactly  as  he  had  predicted. 

§  94.  For  afterwards  [a.d.  613^],  the  warlike  king  of  the  English, 
Aedilfrid,  of  whom  we  have  already  spoken,"  having  raised  a  mighty 
army,  made  a  very  great  slaughter  of  that  perfidious  nation,  at 
the  "  City  of  the  Legions,"  which  by  the  English  is  called  Lega- 
caestir,  but  by  the  Britons  more  correctly  Carlegion.^  For  being 
about  to  give  battle,  he  observed  their  priests,  who  were  come 
together  to  offer  up  their  prayers  to  God  for  the  soldiers  in  the 
battle,  standing  apart  in  a  place  of  greater  safety  ;  he  inquired  who 
they  were,  or  what  they  came  together  to  do  in  that  place.  Most 
of  them  were  of  the  monastery  of  Bancor,  in  which,  it  is  reported, 
there  was  so  great  a  number  of  monks,  that  the  monastery  being 
divided  into  seven  parts,  with  a  provost  over  each,  none  of  those 
divisions  contained  fewer  than  three  hundred  men,  who  all  lived  by 
the  labour  of  their  hands.  Many  of  these,  after  having  observed  a 
fast  of  three  days,  resorted  among  others  to  pray  at  the  aforesaid 
battle,  having  one  Brocmail*  appointed  for  their  protector,  to  de- 
fend them,  whilst  they  were  intent  upon  their  prayers,  against  the 
swords  of  the  barbarians.  King  Aedilfrid,  being  informed  of  the 
occasion  of  their  coming,  said,  "  If,  then,  they  cry  to  their  God 
against  us,  though  of  a  truth  they  do  not  bear  arms,  yet  they  fight 
against  us,  because  they  oppose  us  by  their  imprecations."  He 
therefore  commanded  them  first  to  be  attacked,  and  then  destroyed 
the  rest  of  the  impious  army,  yet  not  without  considerable  loss  to 
his  own  forces.  About  twelve  hundred  of  those  that  came  to  pray 
are  said  to  have  been  killed,  and  only  fifty  to  have  escaped  by 
flight.  Brocmail  turning  his  back  with  his  men,  at  the  first 
approach  of  the  enemy,  left  those  whom  he  ought  to  have  defended 
unarmed  and  exposed  to  the  swords  of  the  enemies.  Thus  was 
fulfilled  the  prediction  of  the  holy  bishop  Augustine,  (though '  he 
himself  had  been  long  before  taken  up  into  the  heavenly  kingdom,) 
that  those  perfidious  men  should  feel  the  vengeance  of  temporal 
death  also,  because  they  had  despised  the  offer  of  eternal  salvation. 

'  The  Annals  of  Ulster  refer  this  slaughter  to  a.d.  613,  and  their  authority 
seems  worthy  of  adoption.     See  Ussher  ad  an. 

^  Namely,  in  book  i.  ch.  34,  §  80. 

^  On  the  river  Dee,  now  Chester,  the  Deva  of  Antoninus,  See  Camd.  Brit, 
col.  667 ;  Ussher,  p.  69. 

*  This  Brocmael,  or  Brocwel,  sumamed  Ysygthrog,  the  son  of  Couan  and 
father  of  Tyssilio,  was  prince  of  Powis.  He,  together  with  Cadvan,  king  of 
Britain,  Morgan,  king  of  Demetia,  and  Bledericus,  king  of  Cornwall,  are  said  by 
the  Welsh  authors  to  have  been  the  commanders  of  the  British  army  j  see 
Enderbie,  p.  213. 

5  It  seems  now  generally  admitted  that  the  attempt  formerly  made  to  consider 
this  clause  as  the  interpolation  of  a  later  period  must  be  abandoned.  _  Whelock 
and  Smith  state  that  it  occurred  in  every  one  of  the  many  ancient  copies  which 
they  consulted,  and  I  may  be  allowed  to  add  my  testimony  to  theirs,  were  any 
such  confirmation  necessary.  The  question  of  Augvistine's  participation  in  the 
slaughter  of  the  monks  of  Banchor  is  examined  at  great  length  by  Collier,  i.  77  ; 
Smith  (bishop  of  Chalcedon),  Flores  Hist.  Eccl.  Gentis  Auglor.  lib.  i.  cap.  7; 
Mabillon,  Annal.  Bened.  ad  an.  607. 


360  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  604. 

Chap.  III.  [a.d.  604.] — How  St.  Augustine  made  Mellitus  and  Justus 

BISHOPS;    AND  OF  HIS  DEATH. 

§  95.  In  the  year^  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  604,  Augustine, 
archbishop  of  Britain,  ordained  two  bishops,  viz.  Melhtus  and 
Justus  ;  MelUtus  to  preach  to  the  province  of  the  East  Saxons, 
who  are  divided  from  Kent  by  the  river  Thames,  and  border  on 
the  Eastern  sea.  Their  metropohs  is  the  city  of  London,  which  is 
situated  on  the  bank  of  the  aforesaid  river,  and  is  the  mart  of  many 
nations  resorting  to  it  by  sea  and  land.  At  that  time,  Saberct, 
nephew  to  Aedilberct  by  his  sister  Ricula,  reigned  over  this  nation, 
though  he  was  under  subjection  to  Aedilberct,  who  (as  has  been 
said  above)  had  command"  over  all  the  nations  of  the  Angles  as  far 
as  the  river  Humber.  But  when  this  province  also  received  the 
word  of  truth,  by  the  preaching  of  Mellitus,  king  Aedilberct  built 
the  church  of  St.  Paul  the  apostle,  in  the  city  of  London,  in  which 
he  and  his  successors  should  have  their  episcopal  see.  As  for 
Justus,  Augustine  ordained  him  bishop  in  Kent,  in  the  city  of  Dora- 
brevum,  which  the  nation  of  the  Angles  named  Hrofaescaestaer, 
from  one  who  was  formerly  the  chief  man  of  it,  called  Hrof.  It  is 
almost  twenty-four  miles  distant  from  the  city  of  Doruvernum  to 
the  westward,  and  contains  a  church  dedicated  to  St.  Andrew'  the 
apostle.  King  Aedilberct,  who  built  it,  bestowed  many  gifts  on  the 
bishops  of  both  those  churches,  as  well  as  on  that  of  Doruvernum, 
adding  lands  and  possessions  for  the  use  of  those  who  were  with 
the  bishops. 

§  96.  After  this,  [a.d.  605,]  the  beloved  of  God,  father  Augus- 
tine, died,*  and  his  body  was  deposited  without,  close  by  the  church 
of  the  blessed  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  above  spoken  of,  by  reason 
that  the  same  was  not  yet  finished,  nor  consecrated.  But  as  soon 
as  it  was  dedicated,^  the  body  was  brought  in,  and  decently  buried 
in  the  north  porch  thereof;  wherein  also  were  interred  the  bodies 
of  all  the  succeeding  archbishops,  except  two  only,  Theodore  and 
Berthwald,  whose  bodies  are  within  that  church,  because  the  afore- 
said porch  could  contain  no  more.  Almost  in  the  midst  of  this 
church  is  an  altar  dedicated"  in  honour  of  the  blessed  pope  Gregory-, 
at  which  every  Saturday  their  "  Agendse"  are  solemnly  performed 
liy  the  priest  of  that  place.  On  the  tomb  of  the  said  Augustine  is 
written  this  cpita])h  : — 

"  Here  rests  the  lord  Augustine,  the  first  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbuiy,  who,  being  formerly  sent  hither  by  the  blessed  Gregory, 
l)ishop  of  the  city  of  Rome,  and  by  God's  assistance  supported  with 

'  The  Saxon  version  modifies  this  statement,  affirming  only  that  the  events  of 
§  95  occurred  after  those  narrated  in  the  previous  chapter. 

2  On  the  dignity  of  the  Bretwalda,  a  fertile  subject  for  discussion,  see  Lappen- 
bcrg,  i.  126. 

^  Out  of  respect,  probably,  to  the  monastery  in  which  Augustine  had  resided 
previous  to  his  Engli.sh  nii.ssiou. 

*  The  date  of  the  death  of  Augustine  is  uncertain.  That  it  was  between  604 
and  610  is  clear.  Mabillon  places  it  in  607,  followed,  but  with  some  hesitation, 
by  Pagi.  Wharton  prefers  604  ;  Smith  contends  for  60.5,  following  Elniham, 
ap.  Decern  Script,  col.  222!).     The  Saxon  version  leaves  it  indefinite. 

*  In  A.D.  613,  according  to  Thome,  col.  1767  ;  and  Elmham,  col.  2229. 

*  See  the  proceedings  of  the  council  of  Cloveshoe,  a.d.  747,  cap.  17. 


A.D.  605.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    II.  361 

miracles,  reduced  king  Aedilberct  and  his  nation  from  the  worship 
of  idols  to  the  faith  of  Christ ;  and  having  ended  the  days  of  his 
ministration  in  peace,  died  on  the  7th  of  the  kalends  of  June, 
[26th  day  of  May,]  in  the  reign  of  the  same  king.' 


Chap.  IV.  [a.d.  605.] — Laurentius  and  his  fellow-bishops  admonish  the  Scots 

TO  OBSERVE   THE   UNITY  OF  THE    HOLT    ChURCH,  PARTICULARLY   IN   THE    KEEPING 

OF  Easter  ;  Mellitus  goes  to  Rome. 

§  97.  Laurentius  succeeded  Augustine  in  the  bishopric,  having 
been  ordained  thereto  by  the  latter,  in  his  lifetime,  lest,  upon  his 
death,  the  stability  of  the  church,  as  yet  unsettled,  might  begin  to 
falter,  if  it  should  be  destitute  of  a  pastor,  though  but  for  one  hour. 
Wlierein  he  also  followed  the  example  of  the  first  pastor  of  the 
church,  that  is,  of  the  most  blessed  prince  of  the  apostles,  Peter, 
who,  having  founded  the  church  of  Christ  at  Rome,  is  said  to  have 
consecrated  Clement  his  assistant  in  preaching  the  gospel,  and  at 
the  same  time  his  successor.^  Laurentius,  being  advanced  to  the 
degree  of  an  archbishop,  laboured  indefatigably,  both  by  frequent 
exhortations  and  examples  of  piety,  to  raise  to  its  requisite  per- 
fection the  foundations  of  the  church,  which  had  been  so  nobly  laid. 
In  short,  he  not  only  took  care  of  the  new  church  formed  among 
the  English,  but  endeavoured  also  to  exercise  his  pastoral  solicitude 
over  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Britain,  as  also  the  Scots,  who  in- 
habit the  island  of  Ireland,  which  is  next  to  Britain.  For  when  he 
understood  that  the  course  of  life  and  profession  of  the  Scots  in 
their  aforesaid  country,  as  well  as  of  the  Britons  in  Britain,  was  by 
no  means  ecclesiastical  in  many  points  ;  especially,  that  they  did 
not  celebrate  the  solemnity  of  Easter  at  the  due  time,  but  thought 
that  the  day  of  the  Resurrection  of  our  Lord  was,  as  has  been  said" 
above,  to  be  celebrated  between  the  fourteenth  and  twentieth  of 
the  moon ;  he  wrote,  jointly  with  his  fellow-bishops,  an  exhorta- 
tory  epistle,  entreating  and  conjuring  them  to  observe  unity  of 
peace,  and  conformity  with  the  church  of  Christ  spread  throughout 
the  world.     The  beginning  of  which  epistle  is  as  follows  : — 

§  98.  "  To  our  most  dear  brothers,  the  lords  bishops  and  abbats 
throughout  all  Scotland;  Laurentius,  Mellitus,  and  Justus,  servants  of 
the  servants  of  God.  Wlien  the  apostolic  see,  according  to  the  uni- 
versal custom  which  it  has  followed  elsewhere  over  the  globe,  sent  us 
to  these  western  parts  to  preach  to  pagan  nations,  we  happened  to 
come  into  this  island,  which  is  called  Britain,  without  possessing 
any  previous  knowledge  of  its  inhabitants.  We  held  both  the 
Britons  and  Scots  in  great  esteem  for  sanctity,  believing  that  they 
had  proceeded  according  to  the  custom  of  the  universal  church  ; 
but  after  becoming  acquainted  with  the  Britons,  we  thought  the 
Scots  had  been  better.  We  have  been  informed,  however,  by  Bishop 

'  See  Vallarsius  upon  St.  Jerome,  De  Viris  Illustr.  cap.  15  ;  0pp.  ii.  839,  upon  the 
succession  of  Clement  immediatelv  after  St.  Peter.  ^  See  §  91, 


362  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  C05— 

Dagan/  coming  into  this  aforesaid  island,  and  the  abbat  Colum- 
banus^  in  France,  that  the  Scots  in  no  way  differ  from  the  Britons, 
in  their  behaviour ;  for  bishop  Dagan'  coming  to  us,  not  only 
refused  to  eat  with  us,  but  even  to  take  his  repast  in  the  same 
house  where  we  were  entertained." 

The  same  Laurentius  and  his  fellow-bishops  wrote  a  letter*  to 
the  priests  of  the  Britons,  suitable  to  his  rank,  by  which  he  endea- 
vours to  confirm  them  in  catholic  unity;  but  what  he  gained  by 
so  doing  the  present  times  still  declare. 

§  99.  About  this  time,  Mellitus,  bishop  of  London,  went  to 
Rome,  to  confer  with  pope  Boniface  about  the  necessary  affairs  of 
the  English  church.  And  when  the  same  most  reverend  pope 
assembled  a  synod  ^  of  the  bishops  of  Italy,  to  prescribe  orders  for 
the  life  and  peace  of  the  monks,  Mellitus  also  sat  among  them,  in 
the  eighth  year  of  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Phocas,  the  thirteenth 
indiction,  on  the  third  of  the  kalends  of  March,  [27th  of  February,] 
[a.D.  610,]  to  the  end  that  he  also  by  his  authority  might  confirm 
such  things  as  should  be  regularly  decreed,  and  at  his  return  into 
Britain  might  carry  the  same  to  the  churches  of  the  English,  to  be 
prescribed  and  observed  ;  together  with  letters"  which  the  same 
pope  sent  to  the  beloved  of  God,  archbishop  Laurentius,  and  to  all 
the  clerg)^ ;  as  likewise  to  king  Aedilberct  and  the  English  nation. 
This  pope  was  Boniface,  who  came  fourth  after  pope  Gregory,  the 
bishop  of  the  city  of  Rome,  and  who  obtained  of  the  emperor 
Phocas  that  the  temple  called  by  the  ancients  Pantheon,  as  repre- 
senting all  the  gods,  should  be  given  to  the  church  of  Christ ; 
wherein  he,  having  purified  it  from  every  contamination,  dedicated 
a  church  to  the  holy  mother  of  God,  and  to  all  Christ's  martyrs,  to 
the  end  that,  all  the  devils  being  excluded,  the  blessed  company  of 
the  saints  might  have  therein  a  perpetual  memorial. 

'  One  of  the  same  name,  and  apparently  the  same  individual,  conveyed  to 
Gregory,  at  Rome,  a  copy  of  the  ecclesiastical  rule  of  an  Irishman  named  Molua. 
See  Ussher,  p.  476.  It  is  stated,  but  upon  no  satisfactory  authority,  that  he  was 
sent  from  the  Irish  Banchor  to  confer  with  Archbishop  Laurence  upon  the  matters 
in  dispute  between  the  two  churches. 

*  The  proceedings  of  Culiunbanus  in  France  are  recorded  with  great  minute- 
ness by  Mabillon,  in  the  first  volume  of  his  Benedictine  Annals,  to  which  work 
the  reader  is  referred  for  further  information. 

•^  Probably  the  same  individual  as  is  mentioned  in  tlie  Life  of  Pulcherius,  Acta 
Sanct.  mens.  Martii,  ii.  286. 

*  It  would  appear  that  this  letter  must  have  been  written  before  the  slaughter 
of  the  Britons  at  the  battle  of  Chester,  for  after  that  event  we  can  hardly  suppose 
that  any  such  attempt  could  have  been  made. 

*  This  synod  was  held  at  Rome,  27th  Feb.  610,  and  was  occupied  chiefly  in 
securing  the  interests  of  the  monks.  Its  proceedings  are  printed  in  Labb. 
Concil.  V.  1617.  Later  authorities  inform  us  that  the  journey  was  undert-aken 
to  procure  the  consecration  of  the  church  of  Westminster.  See  Baronius,  ad  an. 
610,  §  10 ;  Ailred,  ap.  Decern  Script,  col.  305 ;  Pagi,  ad  an.  610,  §  10. 

*  This  letter  occurs  in  Malmesb.  De  Gestis  Pontiff.,  and  will  be  given  in  ita- 
proper  place. 


A.D.  610.]         BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    II.  363 


Chap.  V.  [a.d.  616.]— How,  after  the 'death  of  the  Kings  Aedilberct  and 

SaBERCT,    their    successors     restored    idolatry;     for    -nHICH     REASON,    BOTH 

Mellitus  and  Justus  departed  out  op  Britain. 

§  100.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  616,  which  is  the 
twenty-first*  year  after  Augustine  and  his  companions  were  sent  to 
preach  to  the  Enghsh  nation,  Aedilberct,  king  of  Kent,  having  most 
gloriously  governed  his  temporal  kingdom  fifty-six  years,  entered 
into  the  eternal  joys  of  the  heavenly  kingdom.  He  was  the  third 
of  the  kings  of  the  nation  of  the  Angles  that  had  the  sovereignty 
of  all  the  southern  provinces  that  are  divided  from  the  northern  by 
the  river  Humber,  and  the  borders  contiguous  to  the  same  ;  but  the 
first  of  all  of  them  that  ascended  to  the  heavenly  kingdom.  The 
first  who  had  the  like  sovereignty  was  Aelh,  king  of  the  South 
Saxons  ;  the  second,  Caelin,'  king  of  the  West  Saxons,  ^yho,  in 
their  language,  is  called  Ceaulin  ;  the  third,  as  has  been  said,  was 
Aedilberct,  king  of  Kent ;  the  fourth  was  Reduald,  king  of  the 
East  Angles,  who,  whilst  Aedilberct  lived,  had  yielded  to  him 
the  superiority  over  that  nation  ;  the  fifth  was  Aeduin,  king  of 
the  nation  of  the  Northumbrians,  that  is,  of  those  who  live  on  the 
northern  side  of  the  river  Humber,  who,  with  great  power,  com- 
manded all  the  nations,  as  well  of  the  English  as  of  the  Britons  who 
inhabit  Britain,  except  only  the  people  of  Kent,  and  he  reduced 
also  under  the  dominion  of  the  Angles  the  Mevanian  Islands''  of 
the  Britons,  lying  between  Ireland  and  Britain;  the  sixth  was 
Osuald,  the  most  christian  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  who  also 
had  the  same  extent  under  his  command;  the  seventh,  Osuiu, 
brother  to  the  former,  held  neaily  the  same  dominions  for  some 
time,  and  for  the  most  pait  subdued  and  made  tributaiy  the  nations 
of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  which  possess  the  northern  parts  of  Britain  : 
but  of  these  hereafter. 

§  101.  King  Aedilberct  died  on  the  24th  day  of  the  month  of 
February,  twenty-one  years  after  he  had  received  the  faith,*  and  was 
buried  in  St.  Martin's  porch,' within  the  church  of  the  blessed  apostles 

1  As  it  is  stated  at  §  101  that  this  king  died  twenty-one  years  after  he  had 
embraced  Christianity,  it  would  appear  that  this  present  calculation  is  not  to  he 
interpreted  in  its  strictest  sense.  A  difficulty  hence  arising  m  the  mmds  oi  the 
copyists  of  the  MSS.,  they  endeavoured  to  remove  it  by  altering  the  original  text; 
some  read  613,  some  617;  but  the  date  616  is  supported  as  well  by  the  be.st  MSS 
in  England,  as  also  by  six  in  Paris,  which  were  collated  by  Pagi,  Critic,  ad 
Baron,  a.d.  613,  §  8.     The  Saxon  version  says  it  was  "  about    tj^e  year  616^ 

2  Caelin  reined  A.D.  560-593;  Edwin,  617-633;  Oswald,  634-642;  Oswiu 
642—670. 

^  Namely,  Anglesea  and  the  Isle  of  Man. 

*  See  the  first  note  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter.  ,<•+>,,  rh,ivp1,  ;« 

5  Architectural  antiquaries  have  not  yet  decided  what  part  of  the  chinch  s 
here  meant  Bentham,  m  his  remarks  upon  Saxon  churches  prefixed  to  his 
mstoiT  ^f  Ely,  thinks  that  it  designates  the  side  aisles  of  the  church  or  that  it 
may  Letime  be  a  particular  division  of  it,  consisting  of  one  arch  with  its 
recess  But  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  Saxon  churches  had  any  side  aisles, 
audit  is  certain  that  the  early  Irish  churches  had  none.  See  Petries  Essay  on 
Round  Towers,  p.  438.  Wilkin,  in  his  Essay  on  the  Saxon_ Church  at  Melbourne, 
iAXolog.  xiiL)  agrees  with  Bentham,  that  the  porticos  were  withm  the 
L-hurch,  Init  rejects  the  idea  that  they  were 


(ArchKoloK.  xiii.)  agrees  with  Bentham,  that  the  porticos  were  witJiin  tne 
Iwh  but  rJjects  tfe  idea  that  they  were  side  aisles  or  any  portion  of  them. 
Bu     finding  that  in  the  church  of  Melbourne,  which  he  believed  to  be  of  the 


364  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  616. 

Peter  and  Paul,  where  also  lies  his  queen.  Bertha.  Among  other 
benefits  which  he  conferred  upon  his  nation,  he  also,  by  the  advice 
of  wise  persons,'  introduced  judicial  decrees,  after  the  Roman  model; 
which,  being  written  in  English,  are  still  kept  and  observed  by  them.- 
Among  which,  he  in  the  first  place  set  down  what  satisfaction  should 
be  given  by  those  who  should  steal  anything  belonging  to  the  church, 
the  bishop,  or  the  other  clergy,  resolving  to  give  protection  to  those 
whom,  and  whose  doctrine,  he  had  embraced. 

This  Aedilberct  was  the  son  of  Irminric,  whose  father  was  Octa, 
whose  father  was  Oeric,  surnamed  Oisc,  from  whom  the  kings  of 
Kent  are  wont  to  be  called  Oiscings.  His  father  was  Hengist, 
who,  being  invited  by  Vurtigern,  first  came  into  Britain,  with  his 
son  Oisc,  as  has  been  said  above. 

§  102.  But  after  the  death  of  Aedilberct,  the  accession  of  his  son 
Eadbald  proved  ver\r  prejudicial  to  the  'nfant  church ;  for  he  not 
only  refused  to  embrace  the  faith  of  Christ,  but  was  also  defiled 
with  such  a  sort  of  fornication,  as  the  apostle  testifies  [1  Cor.  v.  1] 
was  not  heard  of,  even  among  the  Gentiles ;  for  he  jTetained  his 
father's  wife.'  By  both  which  crimes  he  gave  occasion!  to  those  to 
return  to  their  former  uncleanness,  who,  under  his  father's  reign, 
had,  either  for  favour,  or  through  fear  of  the  king,  submitted  to  the 
laws  of  faith  and  chastity.  Nor  did  the  perfidious  king  escape 
without  Divine  punishment  and  correction  ;  for  he  was  troubled 
with  frequent  fits  of  madness,  and  by  the  assaults  of  an  evil 
spirit.  This  confusion  was  increased  by  the  death*  of  Saberct, 
king  of  the  East  Saxons,  who,  departing  to  the  heavenly  kingdom, 
left  three  sons,  still  pagans,  to  inherit  his  temporal  crown.  Tliey 
immediately  began  openly  to  profess  idolatr)%  which,  during  their 
father's  reign,  they  had  seemed  a  little  to  abandon,  and  they  granted 
free  liberty  to  the  people  under  their  government  to  serve  idols. 
And  when  they  saw  the  bishop,  whilst  celebrating  mass  in  the 
church,  give  the  eucharist  to  the  people,  they,  pufied  up  with 
barbarous  folly,  as  it  is  reported,  went  on  to  say  to  him,  "  Why  do 
you  not  give  us  also  that  white  bread,  which  you  used  to  give  to 
our  father  Saba,  (for  so  they  used  to  call  bim,)  and  which  you  still 
continue  to  give  to  the  people  in  the  church?"  To  whom  he 
answered,  "  If  you  will  be  washed  in  that  laver  of  salvation,  in 
which  your  father  was  washed,  you  may  also  partake  of  the  holy 
bread  of  which  he  partook  ;  but  if  you  despise  the  laver  of  life,  you 
may  not  by  any  means  receive  the  bread  of  life."  They  replied, 
"  We  will  not  enter  into  that  laver,  because  we  do  not  know  that 
we  stand  in  need  of  it,  and  yet  we  will  eat  of  that  bread."     And 

seventh  (?)  century,  a  portion  of  the  west  end  divided  from  the  nave,  and  sub- 
di^•ided  into  three  parts,  he  conchides  that  these  are  specimens  of  the  porticos 
mentioned  by  Beda.  But  architectural  knowledge  has  made  such  rapid  strides 
since  his  time,  that  his  conclusions  must  be  adopted  with  caution. 

'  The  witcna-gemot,  or  supreme  council  of  the  nation,  which  was  summoned, 
among  other  purposes,  for  the  promulgation  of  the  laws  both  of  the  church  and 
state. 

2  These  laws  are  .still  extant,  and  have  recently  been  in-inted  in  the  "  Ancient 
Laws  and  Institutes  of  England,"  i.  1. 

•■•  After  the  death  of  Bertha,  ]':thelbert  married  a  second  wife,  whose  name  has 
purposely  been  concealed  by  the  historians. 

*  Apparently  aboiit  the  year  616. 


A.D.  (517.]      beda's  ecclesiastical  history.— book  II.  3G5 

being  often  and  earnestly  admonished  by  him,  that  the  same  could 
by  no  means  be  done,  nor  any  one  admitted  to  communicate  in  the 
sacred  oblation  without  the  holy  cleansing,  at  last,  they  said  in 
anger,  "  If  you  will  not  comply  with  us  in  so  small  a  matter  as  that 
is  which  we  require,  you  shall  no  longer  stay  in  our  province." 
And  accordingly  they  obliged  him  and  his  followers  to  depart  from 
their  kingdom. 

§  103.  Being  forced  from  thence,  he  came  into  Kent,  to 
advise  with  his  fellow-bishops,  Laurentius  and  Justus,  what  was 
to  be  done  in  that  case  ;  and  it  was  unanimously  agreed,  that  it 
was  better  for  them  all  to  return  to  their  own  country,  where  they 
might  serve  God  with  a  free  mind,  than  to  continue  without  any 
fruit  among  those  barbarians,  who  had  revolted  from  the  faith. 
Mellitus  and  Justus  accordingly  went  away  first,  and  withdrew  into 
France,  designing  there  to  await  the  event  of  things.  But  the 
kings,  who  had  driven  from  them  the  preacher  of  the  truth,  did  not 
continue  long  unpunished  in  their  heathenish  worship.  For, 
marching  out  to  battle  against  the  nation  of  the  Geuissae,'  they 
were  all  slain  with  their  army.  However,  the  people  having  been 
once  turned  to  wickedness,  though  the  authors  of  it  were  destroyed, 
would  not  be  corrected,  nor  return  to  the  simplicity  of  the  f^ith 
and  love  which  is  in  Christ. 


Chap.  VI.  [a.d.  617.]— Lauhentius, being  reproved  by  the  Apostle,  converts 
KiijiG  Eadbald  to  Christ  ;  Mellitus  and  Justus  are  recalled. 

§  104.  Laurentius,  being  about  to  follow  Mellitus  and  Justus, 
and  to  quit  Britain,  ordered  his  bed  to  be  laid,  the  night  before  his 
departure,  in  the  church  of  the  blessed  apostles  Peter  and  Paul, 
which  has  been  often  mentioned  before  ;  wherein  having  laid  him- 
self to  take  some  rest,  after  he  had  poured  out  many  prayers  and 
tears  to  God  for  the  state  of  the  church,  he  fell  asleep.  In  the  dead 
of  the  night,  the  blessed  prince  of  the  apostles  appeared  to  him,  and 
sharply  scourging  him  a  long  time,  asked  of  him,  with  apostolical 
severity,  "  Why  he  would  forsalce  the  flock  which  he  himself  had 
committed  to  him  ?  or  to  what  shepherds  he,  when  he  deserted 
them,  would  commit  Christ's  sheep  that  were  in  the  midst  of 
wolves?  Have  you,"  said  he,  "forgotten  my  example,  who,  for 
the  sake  of  those  little  ones,  whom  Christ  recommended  to  me  in 
token  of  his  affection,  underwent  at  the  hands  of  infidels  and  the 
enemies  of  Christ,  bonds,  stripes,  imprisonment,  afflictions,  and 
lastly,  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross,  that  I  might  at  last  be 
crowned  with  Him?"  Laurentius,  the  servant  of  Christ,  being 
encouraged  by  these  words  and  stripes,  the  very  next  morning 
repaired  to  the  king,  and  stripping  back  his  garment,  showed  the 
gashes  of  the  stripes  which  he  had  received.  The  king,  astonished, 
asked,  "Wlio  had  presumed  to  give  such  stripes  to  so  great  a  man  ?  " 
and  was  much  frightened  when  he  heard  that  the  bishop  had  suftered 
such  torments  and  blows  at  the  hands  of  the  apostle  of  Christ  for 
his   (the  king's)  salvation.     Tlien  wholly  abjuring  the  worship  of 

•  Or  West  Saxons,  as  is  proved  hx  the  Saxon  paraphrase. 


366  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  619  — 

idols,  and  renouncing  his  unlawful  marriage,  he  embraced  the  faith 
of  Christ,  and  being  baptized,  promoted  the  affairs  of  the  church 
to  the  utmost  of  his  power  in  every  respect. 

§  105.  [a.D.  617-] — He  also  sent  over  into  France,  and  recalled' 
Mellitus  and  Justus,  and  commanded  them  freely  to  return  to  govern 
their  churches,  which  they  accordingly  did,  one  year  after  their 
departure.  Justus,  indeed,  returned  to  the  city  of  Rochester,  over 
which  he  had  before  presided  ;  but  the  Londoners  would  not  receive 
bishop  Mellitus,  choosing  rather  to  be  under  their  idolatrous  high 
priests ;  for  king  Eadbald  had  not  so  much  authority  in  the  king- 
dom as  his  father  had  possessed,  nor  was  he  able  to  restore  the 
bishop  to  his  church  against  the  will  and  consent  of  the  pagans. 
But  he  and  his  nation,  after  his  conversion  to  our  Lord,  diligently 
conformed  themselves  to  the  Divine  precepts.  Lastlv,  he  built " 
the  cliurch  of  the  holy  mother  of  God,  in  the  monastery  of  the 
most  blessed  prince  of  the  apostles,  which  was  consecrated  by 
archbishop  Mellitus. 


Chap.  VII.  [a.d.  G19.] — How  Bishop  Mellitcs  by  prayer  quenches  a  fire  i>f 

HIS  CITY. 

§  106.  In  this  king's  reign,'  the  holy  archbishop  Laurentius  was 
taken  up  to  the  heavenly  kingdom:  he  was  buried  in  the  church 
and  monastery  of  the  holy  apostle  Peter,  close  by  his  predecessor 
Augustine,  on  the  4th  day  of  the  nones  of  Februar)^  [Feb.  2.  ] 
After  w^hom,  Mellitus,  who  was  bishop  of  London,  w^as  the  third 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  from  Augustine ;  Justus,  who  was  still 
living,  governed  the  church  of  Rochester.  These  ruled  the  church 
of  tlie  English  with  much  industry  and  labour,  and  received  letters 
of  exhortation  from  Boniface,*  bishop  of  the  Roman  and  apostolic 
see,  who  presided  over  the  church  after  Deusdedit,  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  619.  Mellitus  laboured  under  an  infirmity  of  body,  that 
is,  the  gout ;  but  his  mind  was  sound,  cheerfully  passing  oyer  all 
earthly  things,  and  always  aspiring  to  love,  seek,  and  attain  those 
which  are  celestial.  He  was  noble  by  birth,  but  much  nobler  in 
miml. 

§  107.  In  short,  that  I  may  give  one  proof  of  his  virtue,  by 
which  the  rest  may  be  guessed  at,  it  happened  once  that  the  city  of 
Canterbury,  being  by  carelessness  set  on  fire,  was  in  danger  of  being 
consumed  by  the  spreading  conflagration ;  water  was  thrown  over 
the  fire  in  vain  ;  a  considerable  part  of  the  city  was  already  destroyed, 
and  the  fierce  flame  advancing  towards  the  bishop's  residence,  when 
he,  confiding  in  the  Divine  assistance,  where  human  failed,  ordered 

'  Smith  places  the  return  of  Mellitus  and  Justus  iinder  the  year  618,  but  it 
seems  more  probable  that  it  is  to  bo  referred  to  617.  However,  Thome  and 
Elmham  also  ascribe  this  event  to  A.n.  618. 

^  See  Thoruc,  ap.  Decern  Scriptores,  col.  1678. 

'  Although  Beda  does  not  indicate  the  exact  year  of  the  death  of  archbishop 
Laurentius,  yet  it  seems  clear,  from  the  sequence  of  the  narrative,  that  this  event 
took  jilace  in  619. 

■'  Deusdedit  wa.s  buried  8th  Nov.  618,  was  succeeded  by  Boniface  V,  who  was 
not  consecrated  until  23d  Dec.  619.  The  date  in  the  text  would  seem  to  apply 
to  his  accession,  not  to  the  period  when  his  letters  reached  England. 


A.D.  624.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    II.  367 

himself  to  be  carried  towards  the  raging  fire,  which  was  spreading 
on  every  side.  The  church  of  the  four  crowned  Martyrs  was  in  the 
place  where  the  fire  raged  most.  The  bishop  being  carried  thither 
by  the  hands  of  those  who  obeyed  him,  the  sick  man  averted  the 
danger  by  prayer,  which  a  number  of  strong  men  had  not  been  able 
to  perform  by  much  labour.  Immediately,  the  wind,  which  blowing 
from  the  south  had  spread  the  conflagration  throughout  the  city, 
turning  to  the  north,  tirst  prevented  the  destruction  of  those  places 
that  had  lain  in  its  way,  and  then  ceasing  entirely,  the  flames  were 
immediately  subdued  and  extinguished.  And  thus  the  man  of  God, 
whose  mind  was  inflamed  with  the  fire  of  Divine  charity,  since  he 
was  wont  to  drive  away  the  powers  of  the  air  by  his  frequent 
prayers,  from  doing  harm  to  himself,  or  his  people,  was  deservedly 
allowed  to  prevail  over  the  winds  and  flames  of  this  world,  and  to 
obtain  that  they  should  not  injure  him  or  his  people. 

This  archbishop  also, having  ruled  the  church  five  years,  [a.d.  624,] 
departed^  to  heaven  in  the  reign  of  king  Aeodbald,  and  was  buried 
with  his  predecessors  in  the  monastery  and  church  (which  we  have 
so  often  mentioned)  of  the  most  blessed  prince  of  the  apostles,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  624,  on  the  eighth  of  the  kalends 
of  May  [24th  of  April]. 


Chaf.  VIll.  [a.d.  624.] — Pope  Boniface  sends  the  Pall  and  an  Eplstle  to 
Justus,  successor  to  Mellitus. 

§  108.  Justus,  bishop  of  Rochester,  immediately  succeeded 
Mellitus  in  the  archbishopric.  He  consecrated  Romanus  bishop 
of  that  see  in  his  own  stead,  having  obtained  leave  for  the  ordain- 
ing of  bishops  from  pope  Boniface,  whom  we  mentioned  above  ^  to 
have  been  successor  to  Deusdedit :  of  which  licence  this  is  the 
form  : — 

"  Boniface,  to  his  most  beloved  brother,  Justus.  Not  only  have  the 
contents  of  your  letter,  but  the  perfection  unto  which  your  work 
has  attained,  informed  us  how  devoutly  and  vigilantly  you  have 
laboured,  my  brother,  for  the  Gospel  of  Christ ;  for  Almighty  God 
has  not  forsaken  either  the  mystery  of  his  name,  or  the  fruit  of  your 
labours,  having  himself  faithfully  promised  to  the  preachers  of  the 
gospel,  '  Lo  !  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world' 
[Matt,  xxviii.  20]  ;  which  promise  his  mercy  has  specially  manifested 
in  this  ministry  of  yours,  opening  the  hearts  of  nations  to  receive 
the  singular  ministry  of  your  preaching.  For  He  has  enlightened 
the  acceptable  course  of  your  endeavours,  by  the  approbation  of  his 
grace  ;  granting  a  plentiful  increase  to  your  most  faithful  manage- 
ment of  the  talents  committed  to  you,  and  which  you  may  make 
manifest  to  many  generations.  This  is  by  that  reward  conferred  on 
you,  who,  by  constantly  adhering  to  the  ministry  enjoined  you,  with 
laudable  patience  have  awaited  the  redemption  of  that  nation,  whose 
salvation  is  set  on  foot  that  they  may  profit  by  your  merits,  our 

*  All  mai-tvrologleg,  including  Eeda'.s  genuine  production,  unite  in  assigning 
this  event  to  24tb.  April,  624.  2  gee  ch.  7. 


3G8  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  G25— 

Lord  himself  saying,  [Matt.  x.  22,]  '  He  that  perseveres  to  the  end 
shall  be  saved.'  You  are,  therefore,  saved  by  the  hope  of  patience, 
and  the  virtue  of  endurance,  to  the  end  that  the  liearts  of  infidels, 
being  cleansed  from  their  natural  and  superstitious  disease,  might 
obtain  the  mercy  of  their  Redeemer:  for  having  received  the  letters 
of  our  son  Adulvald,  we  perceive  with  how  much  knowledge  of  the 
sacred  word  your  mind,  my  brother,  has  brought  him  over  to  the 
belief  in  real  conversion  and  the  true  faith.  Therefore,  firmly  con- 
fiding in  the  long- suffering  of  the  Divine  clemency,  we  believe  there 
will,  through  the  ministry  of  your  preaching,  ensue  most  full  salva- 
tion, not  only  to  the  nations  subject  to  him,  but  also  to  those  that 
neighbour  round  about ;  to  the  end  that,  as  it  is  written,  the  reward 
of  a  perfect  work  may  be  conferred  on  you  by  our  Lord,  the  giver 
of  all  good  things  ;  and  that  the  universal  confession  of  all  nations, 
having  received  the  mysteiy  of  the  christian  faith,  may  declare  that 
their  '  sound  went  into  all  the  earth,  and  their  words  unto  the  ends 
of  the  world.'     [Rom.  x.  18.] 

§  109.  "  We  have  also,  my  brother,  encouraged  by  a  zeal  for 
what  is  good,  sent  you  by  the  bearer  of  these  the  pall,  which  we 
have  given  you  leave  to  use  only  in  the  celebration  of  the  sacred 
mysteries  ;  granting  you  likewise  to  ordain  bishops  when  occa- 
sion shall  require,  through  the  mercy  of  our  Lord  ;  that  so  the 
gospel  of  Christ,  by  the  preaching  of  many,  may  be  spread  abroad 
in  all  the  nations  that  are  not  yet  converted.  You  must,  therefore, 
endeavour,  my  brother,  to  preserv^e  with  unblemished  sincerity  of 
mind,  that  which  you  have  received  through  the  favour  of  the  apo- 
stolic see,  as  an  emblem  whereof  you  have  obtained  so  principal  an 
ornament  to  be  borne  on  your  shoulders.  And  make  it  your  busi- 
ness, imploring  the  Divine  goodness,  so  to  behave  yourself,  that  you 
may  present  before  the  tribunal  of  the  Supreme  .Judge  that  is  to 
come,  the  rewards  of  the  favour  granted  you,  not  with  guiltiness, 
but  with  the  benefit  of  souls. 

"  God  preserve  you  in  safety,  most  dear  brother  !"' 


Chap.  IX.  [a.d.  C2o.] — Tue  reign  op  Kino  Akduin,  and  now  Paulinus,  comino 
TO  piiEAcn  THE  Gospel  to  iiiji,  first  converted  his  daughter  and  others  to 

THE  FAITH  OF  ChRIST. 

§  110.  At  this  time  the  nation  of  the  Northumbrians,  that  is, 
the  nation  of  the  Angles  that  live  on  the  north  side  of  the  river 
llumber,  with  their  king,  Aeduin,  received  the  faith  through  the 
preaching  of  Paulinus,  whom  we  have  mentioned  above.  This 
sovereign,  as  an  earnest  of  his  receiving  the  faith,  and  of  his  share 
in  the  heavenly  kingdom,  obtained  an  increase  of  that  which  he 
enioyed  on  earth  ;  for  he  reduced  under  his  dominion  all  the  borders 
of  Britain  that  were  provinces  either  of  the  aforesaid  nation,  or  of 
the  Britons,  a  thing  which  no  British  king  had  ever  done  before  ; 

'  This  letter  is  addressed  to  Justus,  no  longer  bishop  of  Rochester,  but  now 
.irchbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  therefore  in  624.  Baronius  is  in  error  when  ho 
designates  him  an  archbishop  of  llocliestor,  and  refers  this  letter  to  the  year  CIS. 
(§  i,  2.) 


A.D.  G26.]         BEDA's    ecclesiastical    HISTORY. BOOK    II.  369 

and  he  in  like  manner  subjected  to  the  Enghsh  the  Mevanian 
islands,  as  has  been  said  above.  ^  The  first  whereof,  which  is  to  the 
southward,  is  the  largest  in  extent,  and  most  fruitful  in  its  produce, 
containing  nine  hundred  and  sixty  families,  according  to  the  English 
computation ;  the  other  above  three  hundred. 

§  111.  The  occasion  of  this  nation  embracing  the  faith  was 
this  :  their  aforesaid  king  being  allied  to  the  kings  of  Kent,  having 
taken  to  wife  Aedilbergae,  otherwise  called  Tatae,  daughter  to  king 
Aedilberct.  He  having  by  his  suitors  asked  her  in  marriage  of  her 
brother,  Aeodbald,  who  then  reigned  in  Kent,  was  answered,  "  That 
it  was  not  lawful  to  many  a  christian  virgin  to  a  pagan  husl^and, 
lest  the  faith  and  the  sacraments  of  the  heavenly  King  should  be 
profaned  by  her  cohabiting  with  a  king  who  was  altogether  a  stranger 
to  the  worship  of  the  true  God."  This  answer  being  brought  to 
Aeduin  by  his  messengers,  he  promised  that  he  would  in  no  manner 
act  in  opposition  to  the  christian  faith,  which  the  virgin  professed  ; 
but  rather  would  give  leave  to  her,  and  all  that  should  go  with  her, 
men  or  women,  priests  or  ministers,  to  follow  their  faith  and 
worship  after  the  custom  of  the  Christians.  Nor  did  he  affirm 
that  he  would  not  embrace  the  same  religion,  if,  being  examined 
by  wise  persons,  it  should  be  found  more  holy  and  more  worthy 
of  God. 

§  112.  Hereupon  the  virgin  was  promised,  and  sent  to  Aeduin  ; 
and  pursuant  to  what  had  been  agreed  on,  Paulinus,  a  man  beloved 
of  God,  was  ordained  bishop,  to  go  with  her,  and  by  daily  exhor- 
tations, and  celebrating  the  heavenly  sacraments,  to  confirm  her  and 
her  company,  lest  they  should  be  corrupted  by  the  company  of  the 
pagans.  Paulinus  was  ordained  bishop  by  archbishop  Justus,  on 
the  12th  of  the  kalends  of  August  [21st  of  July],  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord's  incarnation  625,  and  so  he  came  to  king  Aeduin  with  the 
aforesaid  virgin,  as  a  companion  of  their  union  in  the  flesh.  But 
his  mind  was  wholly  bent  upon  reducing  the  nation,  to  which  he 
was  sent,  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth ;  according  to  the  words  of 
the  apostle,  "  To  espouse  her  to  one  husband,  that  he  might  pre- 
sent her  as  a  chaste  virgin  to  Christ."  [2  Cor.  xi.  2.]  Being  come 
into  that  province,  he  laboured  much,  not  only  to  retain  those  that 
went  with  him,  by  the  help  of  God,  that  they  should  not  revolt  from 
the  faith,  but,  if  he  could,  to  convert  some  of  the  pagans  to  the  grace 
of  faith,  by  his  preaching.  But,  as  the  apostle  says,  though  he 
laboured  long  in  the  Word,  "  The  god  of  this  world  blinded  the  eyes 
of  them  that  believed  not,  lest  the  light  of  the  glorious  gospel  of 
Christ  should  shine  unto  them."     [2  Cor.  iv.  4.] 

§  113.  The  next  year  [a.d.  626]  there  came  into  the  province  a 
certain  assassin,  called  Eumer,  sent  by  the  king  of  the  West  Saxons, 
whose  name  was  Cuichelm,  in  hope  at  once  to  deprive  king  Aeduin  of 
his  kingdom  and  his  life.  He  had  with  him  a  two-edged  dagger,  dipped 
in  poison  ;  to  the  end,  that  if  the  wound  of  the  blade  were  not  suf- 
ficient to  kill  the  king,  he  might  be  slain  by  the  venom.     He  came 

'  Namely  in  ch.  v.  of  this  book,  §  100.     Carte,   in  his  History  of  England, 
i.  226,  gives  from  the  British  Triads  an  account  of  the  contest  between  Edwin 
and  Cadwallon,  which  ended  in  the  defeat  of  the  latter. 
VOL.     I.  B  B 


370  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  626. 

to  the  king  on  the  first  day  of  Easter,  near  the  river  Derwent,  where 
then  stood  the  regal  city,*  and  was  admitted  as  if  to  deUver  a 
message  from  his  master.  Wliilst  he  was  in  an  artful  manner 
delivering  his  pretended  embassy,  he  started  up  on  a  sudden,  and 
drawing  the  dagger  from  under  his  garment,  he  made  a  rush  at  the 
king;  which  Lilla,  the  king's  beloved  minister,  observing,  and  having 
no  buckler  at  hand  to  defend  the  king  from  death,  he  interposed  his 
own  body  to  receive  the  stroke  ;  but  the  enemy  struck  so  home, 
that  he  wounded  the  king  through  the  slain  knight's  body.  Being 
then  attacked  on  all  sides  with  swords,  he  in  that  confusion  also 
slew  with  his  accursed  dagger  another  soldier,  whose  name  was 
Frodheri. 

§  114.  On  that  same  holy  night  of  Easter  Sunday,  the  queen  had 
brought  forth  to  the  king  a  daughter,  called  Eanfled.  The  king,  in 
the  presence  of  bishop  Paulinus,  gave  thanks  to  his  gods  for  the 
birth  of  his  daughter ;  and  the  bishop,  on  the  other  hand,  began  to 
return  thanks  to  Christ,  and  endeavoured  to  persuade  the  king,  that 
by  his  prayers  to  the  Lord  he  had  obtained  that  the  queen  should 
luring  forth  the  child  in  safety,  and  without  much  pain.  The  king, 
delighted  with  his  words,  promised,  that  in  case  God  would  grant 
him  life  and  victoiy  over  the  king  by  whom  that  assassin  had  been 
sent,  he  would  renounce  his  idols,  and  serve  Christ ;  and  as  a  pledge 
that  he  would  perform  his  promise,  he  delivered  up  that  same 
daughter  of  his  to  bishop  Paulinus,  to  be  consecrated  to  Christ. 
She  was  the  first  baptized  of  the  nation  of  the  Northumbrians,  on 
the  holy  day  of  Pentecost,  with  eleven  others  of  his  family."  At 
that  time,  the  king  being  recovered  of  the  wound  which  he  had  before 
received,  marched  with  his  army  which  he  had  collected  against  the 
nation  of  the  West  Saxons  ;  and  having  begun  the  war,  either  slew 
or  subdued  all  those  that  he  had  been  informed  had  conspired  to 
murder  him.  Returning  thus  victorious  into  his  own  countiy,  he 
would  not  immediately  and  unadvisedly  embrace  the  sacraments  of 
the  christian  faith,  though  neither  would  he  any  longer  worship 
idols,  ever  since  he  made  the  promise  that  he  would  serve  Christ ; 
but  he  thouglit  fit  first  at  leisure  to  be  more  diligently  instructed, 
l)y  the  venerable  Paulinus,  in  the  knowledge  of  the  faith,  and  to 
confer  with  such  as  he  knew  to  be  the  wisest  of  his  chief  men,  to 
advise  what  should  be  done  in  that  case.  And  being  a  man  of 
extraordinary  natural  sagacity,  he  often  sat  alone  by  himself  a  long 
time,  silent  as  to  his  tongue,  but  delilierating  in  his  heart  how  he 
should  proceed,  and  to  which  religion  he  should  adhere. 

'  Supposed  by  Camden,  with  much  probability,  to  be  "  a  little  tovra  upon  the 
Derwent,  called  Auldby,  which  signifies  in  Saxon  the  '  old  habitation,'  where 
some  remains  of  antiquity  are  still  to  be  mot  with,  and  upon  the  top  of  the  hill 
towards  the  river  is  the  ruVjbish  of  an  old  castle." — Camd.  Brit.  col.  887. 

2  Eanfled  was  born  20th  April,  and  baptized  8th  June,  626.  We  hence  gather 
that  the  custom  of  administering  baptism  only  on  the  gi-eat  festivals  of  the 
church,  such  as  Easter  an<l  Pentecost,  was  observed  in  England.  As  to  the 
number  bajjtized,  the  MSS.  here  vary,  most  of  them  specifying  twelve  (not 
eleven,  as  in  the  text) ;  but  the  Saxon  version  and  one  of  the  best  copies  of  the 
original  agree  in  stating  that  Eanfled  formed  the  twelfth. 


A.D.  625.]         BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    IT.  371 


Chap.  X.  [a.d.  625.] — Pope  Boniface,  by  letter,  exhorts  the  same  ring  to 

EMBRACE  THE  FAITH. 

§  115.  At  this  time'  he  received  letters  from  pope  Boniface, 
exhorting  him  to  embrace  tlie  faith,  which  were  as  follows  : — 

A  Copy  of  the  Letter  of  the  holy  and  apostolic  Pope  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  Boniface,  to  the  beloved  and  glorious  Aeduin, 
King  of  the  Angles. 

"  To  the  illustrious  Aedain,  King  of  the  Angles,  Bishop  Boniface, 
the  servant  of  the  servants  of  God.  Although  the  power  of  the 
Supreme  Deity  cannot  be  expressed  by  human  speech,  as  con- 
sisting in  its  own  greatness,  and  in  invisible  and  unsearchable 
eternity,  so  that  no  sharpness  of  wit  can  adequately  comprehend 
or  express  it ;  yet  in  regard  that  the  goodness  of  God,  to  give  some 
notion  of  itself,  having  opened  the  doors  of  the  heart,  has  merci- 
fully, by  secret  inspiration,  infused  into  the  minds  of  men  such 
things  as  He  is  wiUing  shall  be  declared  concerning  himself,  we 
have  thought  fit  to  extend  our  priestly  care  to  make  known  to 
you  the  fulness  of  the  christian  faith  ;  to  the  end  that,  informing 
you  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  which  our  Saviour  commanded  should 
be  preached  to  all' nations,  they  might  ofter  to  you  the  remedies  of 
SEilvation. 

"  Tlius  the  goodness  of  the  Supreme  Majesty,  which  by  the  only 
Word  of  his  command  made  and  created  all  things,  the  heaven,  the 
earth,  the  sea,  and  all  that  is  in  them,  disposing  the  order  by  which 
they  should  subsist,  hath,  with  the  counsel  of  his  co-eternal  Word, 
and  the  unity  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  formed  man  after  his  own  image 
and  similitude,  out  of  the  slime  of  the  earth  ;  and  granted  him  such 
supereminent  prerogative,  as  to  place  him  above  all  others  ;  so  that, 
observing  the  term  of  the  command  which  was  given  him,  his  con- 
tinuance should  be  to  eternity.  Tliis  God, — Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost,  which  is  an  undivided  Trinity, — mankind,  from  the  east  unto 
the  west,  by  confession  of  faith  to  the  saving  of  their  souls,  do  worship 
and  adore,  as  the  Creator  of  all  things,. and  their  own  Maker  ;  to 
whom  also  the  heights  of  empire,  and  the  powers  of  the  world,  are 
subject,  because  the  bestowal  of  all  kingdoms  is  granted  by  his  dis- 
position. It  hath  pleased  him,  therefore,  of  his  great  mercy,  and 
for  the  greater  benefit  of  all  his  creatures,  by  the  warmth  of  his 
Holy  Spirit  wonderfully  to  kindle  the  cold  hearts  even  of  the  nations 
seated  at  the  extremities  of  the  earth  in  the  knowledge  of  himself. 

§  116.  "  For  we  suppose  your  excellency  has,  from  the  country 
lying  so  near,  fully  understood  what  the  clemency  of  our  Redeemer 
has  effected  in  the  enlightening  of  our  glorious  son,  king  Audubald," 
and  the  nations  under  his  subjection;  we  therefore  trust,  with  assured 

'  As  pope  Boniface  V.  was  buried  25th  Oct.  625,  this  letter  must  have  been 
written  before  that  date.  There  is  therefore  some  little  inaccuracy  in  the  order 
of  Beda's  narrative  at  this  point,  since  he  places  this  letter  after  events  which 
occurred  in  the  previous  year. 

2  Boniface  had  about  the  same  period  addressed  a  letter  to  archbishop  Justus 
of  Canterbury,  congratulating  him  on  the  conversion  of  Eadbald.     See  Malmesb. 
De  Gestis  Pontiff,  ap.  Saville,  fol.  112,  b.  ;  Twysden,  col.  1749. 
B  B   2 


372  CHURCH    HISTORIANS   OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  625. 

confidence,  that  his  wonderful  gift  will  be  also  conferred  on  you,  by 
the  long-suffering  of  Heaven ;  since  we  understand  that  your  illus- 
trious consort,  wdio  is  known  to  be  a  part  of  your  body,  is  illu- 
minated with  the  reward  of  eternity,  through  the  regeneration  of 
holy  baptism.  We  have,  therefore,  taken  care  by  these  presents, 
witli  all  possible  affection,  to  exhort  your  illustrious  selves,  that, 
abhorring  idols  and  their  worship,  and  contemning  the  follies  of 
their  temples,  and  the  deceitful  tiatteries  of  auguries,  you  would 
believe  in  God  the  Father  Almighty,  and  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost,  to  the  end  that,  being  discharged  from  the  bonds 
of  captivity  to  the  devil,  by  believing  you  may,  through  the  co- 
operating power  of  the  holy  and  undivided  Trinity,  be  partakers  of 
the  eternal  life. 

§  117.  "  How  great  is  the  guilt  which  they  lie  under,  who  adhere 
to  the  pernicious  superstition  and  worship  of  idolatry,  appears  by  the 
examples  of  the  perdition  of  those  whom  they  worship.  Wherefore 
it  is  said  of  them  by  the  Psalmist,  '  All  the  gods  of  the  Gentiles  are 
devils,  but  the  Lord  made  the  heavens.'  [Ps.  xcvi.  5.]  And  again, 
'  They  have  eyes  and  do  not  see,  they  have  ears  and  do  not  hear, 
they  have  noses  and  do  not  smell,  they  have  hands  and  do  not  feel, 
they  have  feet  and  do  not  walk.  Therefore  they  are  like  those  that 
confide  in  them.'  [Ps.  cxv,  5.]  For  how  can  they  have  any  power 
to  yield  assistance  to  any  one,  that  are  made  for  you  out  of  cor- 
ruptible matter,  by  the  hands  of  your  inferiors  and  subjects  ;  to  wit, 
on  whom  you  have  by  human  art  bestowed  an  inanimate  similitude 
of  members  ?  Wlio,  unless  they  be  moved  by  you,  will  not  be  able 
to  walk ;  but,  like  a  stone  fixed  in  one  place,  being  so  formed,  and 
having  no  understanding,  but  absorbed  in  insensibility,  have  no 
power  of  doing  harm  or  good.  W^e  cannot,  therefore,  upon  mature 
deliberation,  find  out  how  you  come  to  be  so  deceived  as  to  follow 
and  worship  those  gods,  to  whom  you  yourselves  have  given  the 
likeness  of  a  body. 

§  118.  "It  behoves  you,  therefore,  by  taking  upon  you  the  sign 
of  the  holy  cross,  by  which  the  human  race  is  redeemed,  to  root  out 
of  your  hearts  all  those  arts  and  cunning  of  the  devil,  who  is  ever 
jealously  envious  of  the  w^orks  of  the  Divine  goodness,  and  to  lay 
hold  and  to  crush  and  break  in  pieces  those  which  you  have  hitherto 
made  your  material  gods.  For  the  very  destruction  and  abolition 
of  these,  which  never  drew  the  breath  of  life,  nor  could  ever  receive 
sensation  from  their  makers,  may  plainly  demonstrate  to  you  what 
a  nothingness  they  are  which  you  till  then  had  worshipped,  when 
you  yourselves,  who  have  received  a  living  spirit  from  the  Lord,  are 
certainly  better  than  they,  as  Almighty  God  has  appointed  you  to  be 
descended,  after  many  ages  and  through  many  generations,  from  the 
first  man  whom  He  formed.  Draw  near,  then,  to  the  knowledge  of 
Him  who  created  you,  who  breathed  into  you  the  breath  of  life,  who 
sent  his  only-begotten  Son  for  yom*  redemption,  to  cleanse  you 
from  original  sin,  that  being  delivered  from  the  power  of  the 
devil's  wickedness.  He  might  bestow  on  you  a  heavenly  reward. 

§  119.  "  Hear  the  words  of  the  preachers,  and  the  gospel  of 
God,  which  they  declare  to  you;  to  tlie  end  that,  believing,  as  has 


A.D.  625.]       beda's  ecclesiastical  history. — BOOK  II.  373 

been  said,  in  God  the  Father  Almighty,  and  in  Jesus  Christ  his 
Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  indivisible  Trinity,  having  put  to 
flight  the  sensualities  of  devils,  and  driven  from  you  the  suggestions 
of  the  venomous  and  deceitful  enemy,  and  being  born  again  by 
water  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  you  may,  through  his  assistance  and 
bounty,  dwell  in  the  brightness  of  eternal  glory  with  Him  in  whom 
you  shall  believe.  We  have,  moreover,  sent  you  the  blessing  of 
your  protector,  the  blessed  Peter,  prince  of  the  apostles,  that  is,  a 
shirt,  with  one  gold  ornament,  and  one  garment  of  Ancyra,  which 
we  pray  your  highness  to  accept  with  the  same  good-will  as  it  is 
friendly  sent  by  us." 


Chap.  XI.  [a.d.  625.] — Pope  Boniface  advises  the  Queen  to  use  her  best 

ENDEAVOURS  POR  THE  SALVATION  OP  HER  CONSORT. 

§  120.  The   same  pope  also  wrote  to  king  Aeduin's   consort, 
Aedilberga,  to  this  effect : — 
The    Copy    of   the    Letter   of    the    most    blessed   and   apostolic 

Boniface,  Pope  of  the  City  of  Rome,  sent  to  Aedilberga,  King 

Aeduini's  Queen. 

"  To  the  illustrious  Lady  his  daughter.  Queen  Aedilberga,  Boniface, 
Bishop,  servant  of  the  servants  of  God.  Tlie  goodness  of  our 
Redeemer  has  offered  the  means  of  salvation  of  his  great  provi- 
dence to  the  human  race,  which  He  rescued,  by  the  shedding  of 
his  precious  blood,  from  the  bonds  of  captivity  to  the  devil ;  so 
that  making  his  name  known  in  divers  ways  to  the  Gentiles,  they 
might  acknowledge  their  Creator  by  embracing  the  mystery  of 
the  christian  faith.  Tliis  thing,  the  mystical  purification  of  your 
regeneration  plainly  shows  to  have  been  bestowed  upon  the  mind  of 
your  highness  by  God's  bounty.  Our  mind,  therefore,  has  been 
much  rejoiced  in  the  benefit  of  our  Lord's  goodness,  for  that  He  has 
vouchsafed,  by  your  confession,  to  kindle  a  spark  of  the  orthodox 
religion,  by  which  He  might  the  more  easily  inflame  by  his  love  the 
understanding,  not  only  of  your  glorious  consort,  but  also  of  all  the 
nation  that  is  subject  to  you. 

§  121.  "For  we  have  been  informed  by  those,  who  came  to 
acquaint  us  with  the  laudable  conversion  of  our  illustrious  son,  king 
Audubald,  that  your  highness,  also,  having  received  the  wonderful 
sacrament  of  the  christian  faith,  continually  shines  in  the  perform- 
ance of  works  pious  and  acceptable  to  God  ;  that  you  likewise 
carefully  refrain  from  the  worship  of  idols,  and  the  deceits  of  temples 
and  auguries,  and  having  changed  your  devotion,  are  so  wholly  taken 
up  with  the  perfected  love  of  your  Redeemer,  as  never  to  cease 
lending  your  assistance  for  the  propagation  of  the  christian  faith. 
And  our  fatherly  charity  having  earnestly  inquired  concerning  your 
illustrious  husband,  we  were  given  to  understand,  that  he  still  sensed 
abominable  idols,  and  still  delayed  to  yield  obedience  or  give  ear  to  the 
voice  of  the  preachers.  This  occasioned  us  no  small  grief,  for  that 
part  of  your  body  still  remained  a  stranger  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
supreme  and  undivided  Trinity.   Whereupon  we,  in  our  fatherly  care, 


374  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  A.D.  625. 

did  not  delay  to  admonish  your  cliristian  highness,  exhorting  you, 
that,  with  the  help  of  the  Divine  inspiration,  you  will  not  defer  to 
do  that  which,  both  in  season  and  out  of  season,  is  required  of  us  ; 
that  with  the  co-operating  power  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ,  your  husband  also  may  be  added  to  the  number  of  Chris- 
tians ;  to  the  end  that  you  may  thereby  enjoy  the  rights  of  marriage 
in  the  bond  of  a  holy  and  unblemished  union.  For  it  is  written, 
'  They  two  shall  be  in  one  flesh.'  [Gen.  ii.  24.]  How,  then,  can 
it  be  said  that  there  is  unity  between  you,  if  he  continues  a  stranger 
to  the  brightness  of  your  faith,  by  the  interposition  of  dark  and 
detestable  error  ? 

§  122.  "  Wherefore,  applying  yourself  to  continuous  prayer,  do 
not  cease  to  beg  of  the  long-suffering  of  the  Divine  Mercy  the 
benefit  of  his  illumination  ;  to  the  end,  that  those  whom  the  union 
of  carnal  affection  has  made  in  a  manner  but  one  body,  may,  after 
death,  continue  in  perpetual  union,  by  the  bond  of  faith.  Persist, 
therefore,  illustrious  daughter,  and  to  the  utmost  of  your  power 
endeavour  to  soften  the  hardness  of  his  heart  by  insinuating  the 
Divine  precepts ;  making  him  sensible  how  noble  the  mystery  is 
which  you  have  received  by  believing,  and  how  wonderful  is  the 
reward  which,  l)y  the  new  birth,  you  have  merited  to  obtain.  In- 
flame the.  coldness  of  his  heart  by  the  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
that  by  the  removal  of  the  cold  and  most  pernicious  worship  of 
paganism,  the  heat  of  Divine  faith  may  enlighten  his  understanding 
through  your  frequent  exhortations  ;  that  the  testimony  of  the  holy 
Scripture  may  appear  the  more  conspicuous,  being  fulfilled  by  you, 
'  The  unbelieving  husband  shall  be  saved  by  the  believing  wife.' 
[1  Cor.  vii.  14.]  For  to  this  effect  you  have  obtained  the  mercy  of 
our  Lord's  goodness,  that  you  may  return  to  your  Redeemer  with 
increase  the  fruit  of  faith,  and  the  benefits  entrusted  to  your  hands  ; 
for  through  the  assistance  of  his  mercy  we  do  not  cease  with 
frequent  prayers  to  beg  that  you  may  be  able  to  perform  the  same. 

§  123.  "  Having  premised  thus  much,  in  pursuance  of  the  duty 
of  our  fatherly  attection,  we  exhort  you,  that  when  the  opportunity 
of  a  bearer  shall  ofler,  you  will  as  soon  as  possible  acquaint  us  with 
tlie  success  which  the  Divine  Power  shall  grant  by  your  means  in 
the  conversation  of  your  consort,  and  of  the  nation  subject  to  you  ; 
to  the  end,  that  our  solicitude,  which  earnestly  expects  what  apper- 
tains to  the  salvation  of  you  and  all  of  yours,  may,  by  hearing  from 
you,  be  set  at  rest ;  and  that  we,  discerning  more  fully  the  bright- 
ness of  the  Divine  propitiation  difl'used  in  you,  may  with  a  joyful 
confession  abundantly  return  due  thanks  to  God,  the  Giver  of  all 
good  things,  and  to  St.  Peter,  the  prince  of  apostles.  We  have, 
moreover,  sent  you  the  blessing  of  your  protector,  St.  Peter,  the 
prince  of  the  apostles,  that  is,  a  silver  looking-glass,  and  a  gilt  ivory 
comb,  which  we  entreat  your  glory  will  receive  with  the  same  kind 
affection  as  it  is  known  to  be  sent  by  us." 


A.D.  626.]       beda's  ecclesiastical  history. — BOOK  II.  375 

CuAP.  XII.  [a.d.  626.] — King  Aeduini  is  persuaded  to  believe  by  a  vision 

WHICH  HE  HAD  SEEN  WHEN  HE  WAS  IN  EXILE. 

§  124.  Thus  the  aforesaid  pope  Boniface  wrote  for  the  salvation 
of  king  Aeduini  and  his  nation.  But  a  heavenly  vision,  which  the 
Divine  Mercy  was  pleased  formerly  to  reveal  to  this  king,  when  he 
was  in  banishment  at  the  court  of  Reduald,^  king  of  the  Angles, 
was  of  no  little  use  in  urging  his  mind  to  embrace  and  understand 
the  doctrines  of  salvation.  Paulinus,  therefore,  perceiving  that  it 
was  a  difficult  task  to  incline  the  king's  lofty  mind  to  the  humility 
of  the  way  of  salvation,  and  to  embrace  the  mystery  of  the  life- 
giving  cross,  and  at  the  same  time  using  both  exhortation  with  men, 
and  prayer  to  God,  for  his  and  his  subjects'  salvation  ;  at  length,  as 
we  may  probably  suppose,  it  was  shown  him  in  spirit  what  was  the 
vision  that  had  been  formerly  revealed  from  Heaven  to  the  king. 
Nor  did  he  lose  any  time,  but  immediately  admonished  the  king  to 
perform  the  vow  which  he  made,  when  he  received  the  oracle,  pro- 
mising to  put  the  same  in  execution,  if  he  were  delivered  from  the 
trouble  he  was  at  that  time  under,  and  should  be  advanced  to  the 
throne. 

§  125.  Tlie  vision  was  this.  When  Aedilfrid,  his  predecessor, 
was  persecuting  him,^  he  for  many  years  wandered  in  a  private 
manner  through  several  places  and  kingdoms,  and  at  last  came  to 
Reduald,  beseeching  him  to  give  him  protection  against  the  snares 
of  his  powerful  persecutor.  Reduald  willingly  admitted  him,  and 
promised  to  perform  what  he  requested.  But  when  Aedilfrid 
understood  that  he  had  appeared  in  that  province,  and  that  he 
and  his  companions  were  hospitably  entertained  by  Reduald,  he 
sent  messengers  to  offer  that  king  a  great  sum  of  silver  to 
murder  him,  but  without  effect.  He  sent  a  second  and  a  third 
time,  bidding  more  and  more  each  time,  and  threatening  to  make 
war  on  him  if  he  refused.  Reduald,  either  terrified  by  his  threats, 
or  gained  by  his  gifts,  complied  with  his  request,  and  promised 
either  to  kill  Aeduini  or  to  deliver  him  up  to  the  ambassadors. 
Tliis  being  observed  by  a  trusty  friend  of  his,  he  went  into  his 
chamber,  where  he  was  going  to  bed,  for  it  was  the  first  hour  of  the 
night ;  and,  calling  him  out  of  doors,  informed  him  what  the  king 
had  promised  to  do  with  him,  adding,  "  If,  therefore,  you  think  fit, 
I  will  this  very  hour  conduct  you  out  of  this  province,  and  lead  you 
to  a  place  where  neither  Reduald  nor  Aedilfrid  shall  ever  find  you." 
He  answered,  "  I  thank  you  for  your  good  will,  yet  I  cannot  do 
what  you  propose,  nor  can  I  be  the  first  to  be  guilty  of  breaking 
the  compact  I  have  made  with  so  great  a  king,  when  he  has  done 
me  no  harm,  nor  offered  me  any  injury  as  yet ;  but,  on  the  con- 

'  Redwald's  kingdom  of  East  AngUa  included  the  counties  of  Norfolk,  Suffolk, 
Cambridge,  and  a  portion  of  Bedford.  The  incident  here  mentioned  must  have 
occurred  in  or  before  617,  in  which  year  Redwald  died,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Eorpwald  and  Rseginhere. 

-  Edwin,  upon  the  death  of  his  father,  Ella,  king  of  Deira,  being  only  three 
years  old,  was  exposed  to  the  tyranny  of  his  brother-in-law  Ethelfrid,  king  of 
Bernicia.  He  afterwards  fled  to  the  court  of  Cearl,  king  of  Mercia,  whose 
daughter  Quoenberga  he  married ;  but  that  monarch  proving  faithless,  he  sought 
the  protection  of  Redwald,  king  of  East  Anglia. 


376  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  626 

trary,  if  I  must  die,  let  it  rather  be  by  his  hand  than  by  that  of  any 
meaner  person.  For  whither  shall  I  now  fly,  when  I  have  for  the 
course  of  so  many  years  been  a  vagabond  through  all  the  provinces 
of  Britain,  to  escape  the  hands  of  my  enemies?"  His  friend 
being  gone,  Aeduini  remained  alone  without,  and  sitting  with  a 
heavy  heart  before  the  palace,  began  to  be  ovenvhelmed  with  many 
thoughts,  not  knowing  what  to  do,  or  which  way  to  turn  himself. 

§  126.  When  he  had  remained  a  long  time  in  silence,  brooding 
over  his  misfortunes  in  anguish  of  mind,  he,  on  a  sudden,  in  the 
dead  of  night,  saw  approaching  a  person  whose  face  and  habit  were 
equally  strange  ;  at  sight  of  whom,  as  one  unknown  and  unexpected, 
he  was  not  a  little  frightened.  The  stranger  coming  close  up, 
saluted  him,  and  asked  him,  "  WTiy  he  sat  there  alone  and  melan- 
choly on  a  stone  at  that  time,  when  all  others  were  taking  their 
rest,  and  were  fast  asleep  ?"  Aeduini,  in  his  turn,  asked,  "  Wliat 
it  was  to  him,  whether  he  spent  the  night  within  doors  or  abroad  ?  " 
The  stranger,  in  reply,  said,  "  Do  not  think  that  I  am  ignorant  of 
the  cause  of  your  grief,  your  watching,  and  sitting  alone  without. 
For  I  most  certainly  know  who  you  are,  and  why  you  grieve,  and 
the  evils  which  you  fear  will  fall  upon  you.  But  tell  me  what 
reward  you  will  give  the  man  (if  there  be  any  such)  that  shall 
deliver  you  out  of  this  anguish,  and  persuade  Reduald  neither  to  do 
you  any  harm  himself,  nor  to  deliver  you  up  to  be  murdered  by 
your  enemies."  Aeduini  replied,  "  That  he  would  give  that  person 
all  that  he  was  able  for  so  singular  a  favour."  The  other  further 
added,  "  What  if  I  also  assure  you,  that  you  shall  overcome  your 
enemies,  and  surpass  in  power,  not  only  all  your  oAn  progenitors, 
but  even  all  that  have  reigned  before  you  over  the  nation  of  the 
Angles?"  But  Aediuni,  encouraged  by  these  questions,  did  not 
hesitate  to  promise  that  he  would  make  a  suitable  return  to  him  who 
should  so  highly  oblige  him.  Then  said  the  other,  "  But  if  he  who 
shall  truly  foretell  so  much  good  as  is  to  befid  you,  can  also  give  you 
better  advice  for  your  life  and  salvation  than  any  of  your  progenitors 
or  kindred  ever  heard  of,  do  you  consent  to  submit  to  him,  and  to 
follow  his  wholesome  counsel  ?  "  Aeduini  did  not  hesitate  imme- 
diately to  promise  that  he  would  in  all  things  follow  the  directions 
of  that  man  who  should  deliver  him  from  so  many  and  so  great 
calamities,  and  raise  him  to  a  throne. 

Having  received  this  answer,  the  person  that  talked  to  him  laid 
his  right  hand  upon  his  head,  saying,  "  When  this  sign  sh;ill  happen, 
remember  this  present  occurrence  and  the  discourse  that  has  passed 
between  us,  and  do  not  delay  the  performance  of  what  you  now 
promise."  Having  uttered  these  words,  he  is  said  to  have  imme- 
diately vanished,  so  that  the  king  might  understand  it  was  not  a  man 
that  had  appeared  to  him,  but  a  spirit. 

§  127.  Wliilst  the  royid  youth  still  sat  there  alone,  glad  of  the 
comfort  which  he  had  received,  but  very  anxiously  and  seriously 
considering  who  he  was,  or  whence  he  came,  that  had  so  talked  to 
him,  his  above-mentioned  friend  came  to  him,  and  saluting  him  with 
a  pleased  countenance,  "  Rise,"  said  he,  "  go  in,  and  casting  aside 
your  care  and  anxiety,  compose  your  body  and  your  spirit  to  sleep 


A.D.  627.]         BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    II.  377 

without  fear  ;  for  the  king's  resolution  is  altered,  and  he  designs  to 
do  you  no  harm,  but  rather  to  perform  the  promise  which  he  made 
you.  For  when  he  had  privately  acquainted  the  queen  with  his 
intention  of  doing  what  I  told  you  before,  she  dissuaded  him  from 
it,  declaring  it  was  utterly  unworthy  of  so  great  a  king  to  sell  his 
good  friend,  when  in  such  distress,  for  gold  ;  and  to  sacrifice  his 
honour,  which  is  more  valuable  than  all  other  ornaments,  for  the 
lucre  of  money."  In  short,  the  king  did  as  he  was  advised,  and 
not  only  refused  to  deliver  up  the  banished  man  to  his  enemy's 
messengers,  but  assisted  him  to  recover  his  kingdom.  For  as  soon 
as  the  ambassadors  were  returned  home,  he  raised  a  mighty  army 
to  make  war  on  Aedilfrid ;  who,  meeting  him  with  much  inferior 
forces,  (for  Reduald  had  not  given  him  time  to  gather  and  unite  all 
his  power,)  was  slain  on  the  borders  of  the  kingdom  of  Mercia,  on 
the  east  side  of  the  river  that  is  called  Idlae.^  In  this  battle, 
Reduald's  son,  called  Raegenheri,  was  killed  ;  and  thus  Aeduin, 
pursuant  to  the  oracle  he  had  received,  not  only  escaped  the  snares 
of  the  king  his  enemy,  but,  by  his  death,  succeeded  him  in  the 
throne. 

§  128.  King  Aeduin,  therefore,  delaying  to  receive  the  word  of 
God  at  the  preaching  of  Paulinus,  and  using  for  some  time,  as  has 
been  said,  to  sit  several  hours  alone,  and  seriously  to  ponder  with 
himself  what  he  ought  to  do,  and  what  religion  he  should  follow, 
the  man  of  God  came  to  him,  laid  his  right  hand  on  his  head,  and 
asked,  "  Wliether  he  knew  that  sign?"  The  king,  in  a  trembhng 
condition,  was  ready  to  fall  down  at  his  feet,  but  he  raised  him  up, 
and  in  a  familiar  voice,  said  to  him,  "  Behold,  by  the  help  of  God 
you  have  escaped  the  hands  of  the  enemies  whom  you  feared. 
Behold,  you  have  of  his  gift  obtained  the  kingdom  which  you 
desired.  Take  heed  not  to  delay  that  third  thing  which  you  pro- 
mised to  perform  ;  embrace  the  faith,  and  keep  the  precepts  of  Him 
who,  delivering  you  from  temporal  adversity,  has  raised  you  to 
the  honour  of  a  temporal  kingdom  ;  and  if,  from  this  time  forward, 
you  shall  be  obedient  to  his  will,  which  through  me  He  signifies  to 
you.  He  will  not  only  deliver  you  from  the  everlasting  torments  of 
the  wicked,  but  also  make  you  a  partaker  with  Him  of  his  eternal 
kingdom  in  heaven." 


Chap.  XIII.  [a.d.  627.] — Of  the  Council  he  held  with  his  chief  men  about 

EMBRACING  THE  FaITH  OF  ChEIST,  AND  HOW  HIS  HIGH  PRIEST  PROFANED  HIS  OWN 

ALTARS. 

§  129.  The  king,  hearing  these  words,  answered,  that  he  was 
both  willing  and  bound  to  receive  the  faith  which  he  taught ;  but 
that  he  would  confer  about  it  with  princes  who  were  at  amity 
with  him,  and  with  his  counsellors,  to  the  end  that  if  they  also  were 
of  his  opinion,  they  might  all  together  be  consecrated  to  Christ  in 
the  fountain  of  Life.  Paulinus  consenting,  the  king  did  as  he  said  ; 
for,  holding  a  council  with  the  wise  men,  he  asked  of  every  one  in 

'  The  Idle,  a  small  river  in  Nottinghamsliire,  falling  into  the  Trent.  See 
Camd.  Brit.  col.  583.  This  battle  was  fought,  according  to  the  Saxon  Chronicle, 
in  617. 


378  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  C27. 

particular  what  he  thought  of  the  hitherto  unheard  doctrine,  and  the 
new  worship  that  was  preached  ?  To  which  the  chief  of  his  own 
priests,  Coiti,'  immediately  answered,  "O  king,  consider  what  this  is 
which  is  now  preached  to  us  ;  for  I  verily  declare  to  you  that  as  to 
my  own  experience,  the  religion  which  we  have  hitherto  professed 
has  no  power  nor  utility  in  it.  For  none  of  your  people  has 
applied  himself  more  diligently  to  the  worship  of  our  gods  than  I ; 
and  yet  there  are  many  who  receive  greater  favours  and  higher 
honours  from  you  than  1  do,  and  are  more  prosperous  in  all  their 
undertakings.  Now,  if  the  gods  were  good  for  anything,  they  would 
rather  assist  me,  who  have  been  most  careful  to  sen'e  them.  It 
remains,  therefore,  if  upon  examination  you  find  those  new  doc- 
trines, which  are  now  preached  to  us,  better  and  more  efficacious,  for 
us  immediately  to  receive  them  without  any  delay." 

§  130.  Another  of  the  king's  chief  men,  approving  his  words 
and  exhortations,  presently  added  :  "  Tlie  present  life  of  man  upon 
earth,  O  king,  seems  to  me,  in  comparison  of  that  time  which  is 
unknown  to  us,  like  to  the  swift  flight  of  a  sparrow  through  the 
room  wherein  you  sit  at  supper  in  winter,  with  your  commanders 
and  ministers,  a  good  fire  having  been  lit  in  the  midst,  and  the 
room  made  warm  thereby,  whilst  storms  of  rain  and  snow  rage 
abroad ;  the  sparrow,  I  say,  flying  in  at  one  door,  and  immediately 
out  at  another,  whilst  he  is  within,  is  safe  from  the  wintry  storm  ; 
but  after  a  short  space  of  fair  weather,  soon  passed  over,  he  imme- 
diately vanishes  out  of  your  sight  into  the  dark  winter  from  which 
he  had  emerged.  So  this  life  of  man  appears  for  a  short  space  ; 
but  of  what  went  before,  or  what  is  to  follow,  we  are  utterly  igno- 
rant. If,  therefore,  this  new  doctrine  contains  something  more 
certain,  it  seems  justly  to  deserve  to  be  followed."  The  other 
elders  and  king's  counsellors,  by  Divine  inspiration,  spoke  to  the 
same  effect. 

§  131.  But  Coifi  added,  that  he  wished  more  attentively  to  hear 
Paulinus  discourse  concerning  the  God  whom  he  preached ;  which 
he  having  by  the  king's  command  performed,  Coifi,  hearing  his 
words,  cried  out,  "  I  have  long  since  been  sensible  that  that  which 
we  worshipped  was  nothing ;  because  the  more  diligently  I  sought 
after  truth  in  that  worship,  the  less  I  found  it.  But  now  I  openly 
confess,  that  such  truth  evidently  appears  in  this  preaching  as  can 
confer  on  us  the  gifts  of  life,  of  salvation,  and  of  eternal  happiness. 
For  which  reason  I  advise,  O  king,  that  we  instantly  abjure  and  set 
tire  to  those  temples  and  altars  which  we  have  consecrated  without 
reaping  any  benefit  from  them."  In  short,  the  king  publicly  gave 
his  licence  to  Paulinus  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  renouncing 
idolatry,  declared  that  he  received  the  faith  of  Christ :  and  when 
he  inquired  of  the  aforesaid  high  priest  of  his  religion  who  sliould 
first  profane  the  altars  and  temples  of  their  idols,  with  the  en- 
closures that  were  about  them,  he  answered,  "  I  will ;  for  who  can 
more  properly  than  myself  destroy  those  things  which  I  worshipped 
through    ignorance,  for   an  example    to    all    others,  through   the 

'  The  attempt  ha.s  been  made  to  recognise  in  this  Saxou  high  priest  a  British 
Druid;  but  the  theory  i.s  untenable.     Histoi-y  and  etymology  alike  oppose  it. 


A.D.  627.]         BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    II.  379 

wisdom  which  has  been  given  me  by  the  true  God  ?  "  Then  imme- 
diately, casting  aside  his  former  vain  superstitions,  he  desired  the 
king  to  furnish  him  with  arms  and  a  stalHon ;  and  mounting  the 
same,  he  set  out  to  destroy  the  idols  ;  for  it  was  not  lawful  before  for 
the  high  priest  either  to  carry  arms,  or  to  ride  on  any  but  a  mare. 
Having,  therefore,  girt  a  sword  about  him,  with  a  spear  in  his  hand, 
he  mounted  the  king's  stallion  and  proceeded  to  the  idols.  The 
multitude,  beholding  it,  concluded  he  was  distracted  ;  but  he  lost 
no  time,  for  as  soon  as  he  drew  near  the  temple,  he  profaned  the 
same,  casting  into  it  the  spear  which  he  held  ;  and  greatly  rejoicing 
in  the  knowledge  of  the  worship  of  the  true  God,  he  commanded 
his  companions  to  destroy  the  temple,  with  all  its  enclosures,  by 
tire.  This  place  where  the  idols  were  is  still  shown,  not  far  from 
York,  to  the  eastward,  beyond  the  river  Derwent,  and  is  now 
called  Godmunddingaham,'  where  the  high  priest  himself,  by  the 
inspiration  of  the  true  God,  profaned  and  destroyed  the  altars 
which  he  had  himself  consecrated. 


Chap.  XIV.  [a.d.  627.] — King  Aeduini  and  his  Nation  become  Christians  ; 

AND  where    PaULINUS  BAPTIZED  THEM. 

§  132.  Thus  king  Aeduini,  with  all  the  nobility  of  his  nation, 
and  a  very  large  number  of  the  common  sort,  received  the  faith, 
and  the  washing  of  holy  regeneration,  in  the  eleventh  year  of  his 
reign,  which  is  the  year  of  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord  627,  and 
about  one  hundred  and  eighty  after  the  coming  of  the  English  into 
Britain.  He  was  baptized  at  York,  on  the  holy  day  of  Easter," 
being  the  day  before  the  ides  of  April,  [12th  April,]  in  the  church 
of  St.  Peter  the  apostle,  which  he  himself  had  there  built  of 
timber,  whilst  he  was  being  catechised  and  instructed  in  order  to 
receive  baptism.  In  that  city  also  he  appointed  the  see  for  the 
bishopric  of  his  instructor  and  bishop,  Paulinus.  But  as  soon  as 
he  was  baptized,  he  took  care,  by  the  direction  of  the  same 
Paulinus,  to  build  in  the  same  place  a  larger  and  nobler  church  of 
stone,  in  the  midst  whereof  that  same  oratory  which  he  had  first 
erected  should  be  enclosed.*  Having,  therefore,  laid  the  founda- 
tion, he  began  to  build  the  church  square,  encompassing  the  former 
oratory.  But  before  the  walls  were  raised  to  the  proper  height,  the 
wicked  assassination  of  the  king  left  that  work  to  be  finished  by 

1  Godmanham,  ou  the  river  Derwent,  in  the  East  Eiding  of  Yorkshire,  its 
name  signifying  "  the  residence  of  the  protection  of  the  gods."  Not  far  distant 
is  the  small  town  called  Wighton,  {i.e.  Wig-ton,)  "  the  town  of  the  altar."  See 
Camd.  Brit.  col.  890  ;  Grimm's  Mytholog.  p.  52. 

2  See  ch.  ix.  of  this  present  book  as  to  the  periods  on  which  baptism  was 
administered. 

3  "  Parts  of  this  fabric  were  discovered  beneath  the  choir  of  the  present 
cathedral  during  the  repairs  rendered  necessary  by  the  mad  act  of  the  inceudiai-y 
Jonathan  Martin.  In  the  first  number  of  Browne's  '  History  of  the  Edifice  of  the 
Metropolitan  Church  of  St.  Peter,  York,'  in  Plate  III.  is  given  a  plan  of  Pavdinus' 
second  edifice ;  where  the  probable  position  of  the  wooden  baptistery,  enclosing 
a  spring  still  remaining,  is  pointed  out."— Kev.  A.  Poole's  Lectures  ou  Churches, 
I..  22.    12mo.   Lond.  1845. 


380  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  627. 

Osuald  his  successor.  Paulinus,  for  the  space  of  six  whole  years 
from  that  time,  that  is,  till  the  end  of  the  reign  of  that  king,  by 
his  consent  and  favour,  preached  the  word  of  God  in  that  province, 
and  all  that  were  preordained  to  eternal  life  believed  and  were 
baptized.  Among  whom  were  Osfrid  and  Eadfrid,  king  Eaduin's 
sons,  who  were  both  born  to  him  whilst  he  was  in  banishment,  of 
Quoenberga,  the  daughter  of  Cearl,  king  of  the  Mercians. 

§  133.  Aftenvards  other  children  of  his  by  queen  Aedilberga 
were  baptized,  viz.  Aedilhun  and  his  daughter  Aedilthryd,  and 
another,  Vuscfrea,  a  son ;  the  first  two  of  whom  were  snatched  out 
of  this  life  whilst  they  were  still  in  their  white  '  garments,  and  buried 
in  the  church  at  York.^  Yffi,  the  son  of  Osfrid,  was  also  baptized, 
and  many  other  noble  and  royal  personages.  So  great  was  then 
the  fervour  of  the  faith,  as  is  reported,  and  the  desire  of  the  washing 
of  salvation,  among  the  nation  of  the  Northumbrians,  that  Paulinus 
at  a  certain  time  coming  with  the  king  and  queen  to  the  royal 
country-seat,  which  is  called  Adgefrin,^  stayed  there  with  them 
thirty-six  days,  fully  occupied  in  catechising  and  baptizing ;  during 
all  which  days,  from  morning  till  night,  he  did  nothing  else  but 
instruct  the  people  resorting  thither  from  all  villages  and  places,  in 
Christ's  saving  word  ;  and  when  instructed,  he  washed  them  with 
the  water  of  remission  in  the  river  Glen,*  which  is  close  by.  This 
vill,  under  the  following  kings,  was  abandoned,  and  another  was 
built  instead  of  it,  at  the  place  called  Maelmin.* 

These  things  happened  in  the  province  of  the  Bernicians  ;  but  in 
that  of  the  Deiri  also,  where  he  was  wont  more  frequently  to  reside 
with  the  king,  he  baptized  in  the  river  Sualua,  which  runs  by  the 
village  of  Cataract ; "  for  as  yet  oratories,  or  baptisteries,  could  not 
be  built  in  the  early  infancy  of  the  church  in  those  parts.  But  he 
built  a  cliurch  in  Campodonum,^  where  at  that  time  there  was  also 
a  royal  vill ;  which  aftenvards  the  pagans,  by  whom  king  Aeduini  was 
slain,  burnt,  together  with  all  the  said  vill.  In  the  place  of  which 
the  later  kings  built  themselves  a  countiy-seat  in  the  region  called 

'  It  was  a  custom  in  the  ancient  church  that  the  candidates  for  baptism  should 
present  themselves  clothed  in  wliite  gannents,  and  these  were  worn  for  eight 
days  after  the  rite  had  been  performed.     See  Bingham,  book  xii.  ch.  iv.  §  3. 

^  This  is  remarkable,  since  to  bury  in  a  church  was  not  accoixling  to  the  usage 
of  the  period.  It  may  be  probably  inferred,  however,  from  a  comparison  with 
§  147,  that  they  were  buried  in  the  porch  of  St.  Gregory. 

^  One  of  the  Cheviot  hills,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  ^Yooler,  in  Northumber- 
land, is  called  Yevering,  on  the  top  of  which  traces  of  ancient  buildings  are,  or 
were  until  lately,  visible.     Camd.  Brit.  col.  1097 ;  Hutch.  Northumb.  i.  240. 

'  The  river  Glen,  in  its  passage  through  the  district,  gives  the  name  to  the 
division  called  Glendale. 

^  The  position  of  Maeknin  is  inicertain ;  for  although  it  is  generally  under- 
stood to  be  represented  by  the  modem  Millficld,  there  seems  no  adequate  autho- 
rity for  the  assertion.  A  trace  of  tlic  memory  of  Paulinus  might  be  discovered 
in  the  name  of  Palinsburu,  in  the  same  neighbourhood;  but  the  antiquity  of  this 
name  is  uncertain. 

"  The  Koman  Cataractonium,  three  miles  below  Richmond,  in  Yorkshire.  See 
Camd.  Brit.  col.  921  ;  ^\^littaker•a  Richmond,  ii.  21. 

'  According  to  Camden,  (col.  8.5.5,)  near  Alraondbury,  within  six  miles  of 
Halifax.  But  as  the  Saxon  paraphrase  gives  "Donafelda"  as  the  vernacular 
rendering  of  Beda's  Campodonum,  Dr.  Gale  and  other  antiquaries  give  the  pre- 
ference to  Tanficld  on  the  Swale,  id.  col.  920;  Archteolog.  i.  221. 


A.D.  627.]  BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history.— book    II.  381 

Loidis.'  But  the  altar,  being  of  stone,  escaped  the  fire,  and  is  still 
preserved  in  the  monastery  of  the  most  reverend  abbat  and  priest, 
Thi-yduulf,  which  is  in  Elmete  wood.^ 


Chap.  XV.  [about  a.d.  627.] — How  the  province  of  the  East  Angles 

RECEIVED  the  FAITH  OF  ChRIST. 

§  134.  Aeduini  was  so  zealous  for  the  worship  of  the  truth,  that 
he  likewise  persuaded  Earpuald,^  king  of  the  East  Saxons,  and  son 
of  Reduald,  to  abandon  his  idolatrous  superstitions,  and  with  his 
whole  province  to  receive  the  faith  and  sacraments  of  Christ.  And 
indeed  his  father  Reduald  had  long  before  been  admitted  to  the 
sacraments  of  the  christian  faith  in  Kent,  but  in  vain  ;  for  on  his 
return  home,  he  was  seduced  by  his  wife  and  certain  perverse 
teachers,  and  turned  back  from  the  sincerity  of  the  faith  ;  and  thus 
his  latter  state  was  worse  than  the  former ;  so  that,  like  the  ancient 
Samaritans,  he  seemed  at  the  same  time  to  serve  Christ  and  the 
gods  whom  he  had  served  before  ;  and  in  the  same  temple  he  had 
an  altar  for  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  and  another  small  one  to  offer 
victims  to  devils  ;  which  temple,  Alduulf,*  king  of  that  same  pro- 
vince, who  lived  in  our  period,  testifies  had  stood  until  his  time,  and 
that  he  had  seen  it  when  he  was  a  boy.  Tlie  aforesaid  king  Reduald 
was  noble  by  birth,  though  ignoble  in  his  actions,  being  the  son  of 
Tytilus,  whose  father  was  Uuffa,  from  whom  the  kings  of  the  East 
Angles  are  called  Uuffings. 

§  135.  Earpuald  was,  not  long  after  he  had  embraced  the  faith, 
slain  by  one  Ricberct,  a  pagan ;  and  from  that  time  the  province 
was  under  error  for  three  years,  till  the  crown  came  into  the  pos- 
session of  Sigberct,  [a.d.  631,]  brother  to  the  same  Earpuald,  in 
every  respect  a  most  christian  and  learned  man,  who  was  banished, 
and  went  to  live  in  France  during  his  brother's  life,  and  was  there 
admitted  to  the  sacraments  of  the  faith,  whereof  he  made  it  his 
business  to  cause  all  his  province  to  partake  as  soon  as  he  came  to 
the  throne.  His  exertions  were  most  nobly  promoted  by  the 
bishop  Felix,^  who,  coming  to  Honorius,  the  archbishop,  from 
Burgundy,  where  he  had  been  born  and  ordained,  and  having  told 
him  what  he  desired,  he  sent  him  to  preach  the  Word  of  life  to  the 
aforesaid  nation  of  the  Angles.  Nor  were  his  good  wishes  in  vain; 
for  the  pious  husbandman  of  the  spiritual  field  reaped  therein  a 
large  harvest  of  believers,  delivering  all  that  province  (according  to 
the  hidden  signification  of  his  name,  Felix)  from  long  iniquity  and 

'  This  royal  residence  was  at  Oswinthorp ;  see  Thoresby's  Leeds,  p.  lOS, 
ed.  1816. 

•  Possibly  Berwick-in-Elmet.     See  Camd.  col.  862. 

^  Earpuald  succeeded  his  father  Redwald  in  617,  and  died  in  628,  his  con- 
version having  probably  occurred  in  the  previous  year.  The  chronology,  however, 
of  these  events  is  obscure  and  uncertain. 

*  He  reigned  from  663  to  713,  in  which  year  he  died,  according  to  the  Annales 
Laureshamenses,  printed  by  Pertz.    See  Lappenb.  i.  36. 

^  The  chief  incidents  of  the  life  of  Felix  are  collected  and  commented  upon  by 
the  BoUandists,  March,  torn.  L  p.  779.  He  commenced  preaching  in  East  Anglia 
A.  D.  630,  and  died  in  647.   Wharton,  Angl.  Sacr.  i.  403. 


382  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.d.  623— 

infelicity,  and  bringing  it  to  the  faith  and  works  of  righteousness, 
and  the  gifts  of  everlasting  happiness.  He  had  the  see  of  his 
bishopric  appointed  him  in  the  city  Domnoc,*  and  having  presided 
over  the  same  province  with  pontifical  authority  seventeen  years, 
he  ended  his  days  there  in  peace. 


Chap.  XVI.  [a.d.  628.] — How  Paulinus  preached  in  the  province  of 

LiNDISSi;   AND   OF  THE  REIGN  OP  AeDUINI. 

§  1.36.  Paulinus  also  preached  the  Word  to  the  province  of 
Lindissi,^  which  is  the  first  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  Humber, 
stretching  out  as  far  as  the  sea ;  and  he  first  converted  to  tlie  Lord 
the  governor  of  the  city  of  Lincoln,  whose  name  was  Blaecca,  with 
his  family.  He  likewise  built,  in  that  city,  a  stone  church  of  beautiful 
workmanship ;  the  roof  of  which  having  either  fallen  through  long 
want  of  care,  or  been  thrown  down  by  enemies,  the  walls  are  still  to 
be  seen  standing,  and  every  year  some  miraculous  cures  are  WTOught 
in  that  place,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  faithfully  seek  the  same, 
[n  that  church,  Justus  having  departed  to  Christ,  Paulinus  conse- 
crated Honorius  as  bishop  in  his  stead,  as  will  be  hereafter  mentioned 
in  its  proper  place.  A  certain  abbat  and  priest  of  the  monasteiy 
of  Peartaneu,^  a  man  of  singular  veracity,  whose  name  was  Deda, 
in  relation  to  the  faith  of  this  province,  told  me  that  one  of  the 
oldest  persons  had  informed  him,  that  he  himself  had  been  baptized 
at  noon-day,  by  the  bishop  Paulinus,  in  the  presence  of  king 
Aeduin,  with  a  great  multitude  of  the  people,  in  the  river  Trent, 
near  the  city  which  in  the  English  tongue  is  called  Tiouulfinga- 
caestir ;  *  and  he  was  also  wont  to  describe  the  personal  appearance 
of  the  same  Paulinus,  that  he  was  tall  of  stature,  a  little  stooping, 
his  hair  black,  his  visage  meagre,  his  nose  very  slender  and  aquiline, 
his  aspect  both  venerable  and  majestic.  He  had  also  with  him  in 
the  ministiy,  James,  the  deacon,  a  man  of  zeal  and  fame  in  Christ 
and  the  church,  who  lived  even  to  our  days. 

§  137.  It  is  reported  that  there  was  then  such  perfect  peace  in 
Britain,  wheresoever  the  dominion  of  king  Aeduin  extended,  that, 
as  is  still  proverbially  said,  a  woman  with  her  new-born  babe  might 
walk  throughout  the  island,  from  sea  to  sea,  if  she  would,  without 
receiving  any  harm.  That  king  took  such  care  for  the  good  of  his 
nation,  that  in  several  places  where  he  had  seen  clear  springs  near 
the  highways,  he  caused  stakes  to  be  fixed,  with  brass  dishes  hanging 
at  them,  for  the  refreshment  of  travellers  ;  nor  durst  any  man  touch 
them  for  any  other  purpose  than  that  for  which  they  were  designed, 
either  through  the  dread  they  had  of  the  king,  or  for  the  affection 
which  they  bore  him.     His  dignity  was  so  great  throughout  his 

*  Aftenvards  Dunwich,  in  Suffolk,  .swept  away  by  the  incui-eion  of  the  sea. 
See  Camd.  Brit.  col.  448.     The  bishop's  see  was  vdtimately  fixed  at  Norwich. 

^  One  of  the  three  portions  mto  which  the  county  of  Lincoln  is  divided. 
Camd.  Brit.  col.  562. 

^  Bardney,  in  Lincohishii-e.     See  Camd.  Brit.  col.  566;  Monast.  Anglic,  i.  142. 

''  Camden  places  this  at  Southwell  in  Nottinghamshire,  but  upon  evidence 
which  is  by  no  means  conclusive.     He  is  followed,  however,  by  Smith. 


A.D.  634.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    II.  383 

dominions,  that  his  banners  were  not  only  borne  before  him  in 
battle ;  but  even  in  time  of  peace,  when  he  rode  among  his  cities, 
vills,  or  provinces,  with  his  officers,  the  standard-bearer  was  always 
wont  to  go  before  him.  Also,  wherever  he  walked  along  the  streets, 
that  sort  of  banner  which  the  Romans  call  Tufa,  and  the  English, 
Thuuf,^  was  in  hke  manner  borne  before  him. 


Chap.  XVII.  [a.d.  634.] — The  same  king  receives  letters  of  exhortation 
FROM  Pope  Honorius,  who  aiso  sends  the  pall  to  Paulinus. 

§  138.  At  that  time  Honorius,^  successor  to  Boniface,  was  pre- 
late of  the  apostolic  see,  who,  when  he  understood  that  the  nation 
of  the  Northumbrians,  with  their  king,  had  been,  by  the  preaching 
of  PauHnus,  converted  to  the  faith  and  confession  of  Christ,  sent 
the  pall  to  the  said  Paulinus,  and  with  it  letters  of  exhortation  to 
king  Aeduin,  exciting  him,  with  fatherly  charity,  that  his  people 
should  persist  in  and  profess  the  faith  of  truth,  which  they  had 
received.     The  contents  of  which  letter  were  as  follow  : — 

§  139.  "To  his  most  excellent  Lord  and  noble  Son,  Aeduin,  King  of 
the  Angles,  Bishop  Honorius,  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  greeting. 
Tlie  integrity  of  your  christian  character,  in  the  worship  of  your 
Creator,  is  so  much  inflamed  with  the  fire  of  faith,  that  it  shines 
out  far  and  near,  and,  being  reported  throughout  the  world,  brings 
forth  plentiful  fruits  of  your  labours.  For  your  conduct  as  a  king 
is  based  upon  the  knowledge  which  by  orthodox  preaching  you  have 
obtained  of  your  God  and  Creator,  whereby  you  believe  and  worship 
Him ;  and,  as  far  as  man  is  able,  pay  Him  the  sincere  devotion  of 
your  mind.  For  what  else  shall  we  be  able  to  offer  to  our  God,  but 
in  endeavouring  to  worship,  and  to  pay  Him  our  vows,  persisting 
in  good  actions,  and  confessing  Him  the  Creator  of  mankind  ? 
And,  therefore,  most  excellent  son,  we  exhort  you  with  such 
fatherly  charity  as  is  requisite,  that  with  careful  mind  and  constant 
prayers  you  every  way  labour  to  preserve  this  gift,  that  the  Divine 
Mercy  has  vouchsafed  to  call  you  to  his  grace ;  to  the  end,  that 
He,  who  has  been  pleased  in  this  life  to  deliver  you  from  all  errors, 
and  bring  you  to  the  knowledge  of  his  name,  may  likewise  prepare 
for  you  mansions  in  the  heavenly  country.  Employing  yourselves, 
therefore,  in  frequently  reading  the  works  of  my  lord  Gregory,  your 
preacher,  of  apostolical  memory,  represent  before  yourself  the  ten- 
derness of  his  doctrine,  which  he  zealously  employed  for  the  sake 
of  your  souls  ;  that  his  prayers  may  increase  your  kingdom  and 
people,  and  present  you  blameless  before  Almighty  God.  We  shall 
prepare  with  a  willing  mind  immediately  to  grant  those  things  which 
you  hoped  would  be  by  us  ordained  for  your  priests,  which  we  do 
on  account  of  the  sincerity  of  your  faith,  which  has  been  often 
made  known  to  us  in  terms  of  praise  by  the  bearers  of  these 
presents.  We  have  sent  two  palls  to  the  two  metropolitans, 
Honorius  and  Paulinus  ;  to  the  intent,  that  when  either  of  them 

'  The  Tufa,  mentioned  by  Vegetius,  (quoted  by  Smith,)  was  .1  tuft  of  feathers 
affixed  to  a  spear. 

^  Honorius  I.  succeeded  Boniface  V.  Nov.  3,  G25,  and  was  buried  12th  Oct.  038. 


384  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [v.D.  634. 

shall  he  called  out  of  this  world  to  his  Creator,  the  other  may,  by 
this  authority  of  ours,  substitute  another  bishop  in  his  place  ;  which 
privilege  we  are  induced  to  grant,  as  well  in  regard  to  your  charitable 
affection,  as  of  the  large  and  extensive  provinces  which  lie  between 
us  and  you  ;  that  we  may  in  all  things  afford  our  concurrence  to 
your  devotion,  according  to  your  desires.  May  God's  grace  presers'e 
your  excellency  in  safety  !  " ' 


Chap.  XVIII.  [a.d.  634?] — Honorius,  who  succeeded  Justus  in  the  bishopric 
OF  Canterbury,  receives  the  pall  and  letters  from  the  same  PorE 
Honorius. 

§  140.  In  the  meantime,  archbishop  Justus'  was  taken  up  to  tlie 
heavenly  kingdom,  on  the  fourth  of  the  ides  [10th]  of  November, 
and  Honorius,  who  was  elected  to  the  see  in  his  stead,  came  to 
Paulinus  to  be  ordained,  and  meeting  him  at  Lincoln  was  there 
consecrated  the  fifth  prelate  of  the  cliurch  of  Canterbury  from 
Augustine.  To  him  also  the  aforesaid  pope  Honorius  sent  the 
pall,  and  a  letter,  wherein  he  ordains  the  same  that  he  had  before 
established  in  his  epistle  to  king  Aeduin,  viz.  that  when  either  of 
the  prelates  of  Canterbury  or  of  York  shall  depart  this  life,  the 
survivor  of  the  same  degree  shall  have  power  to  ordain  another 
priest  in  the  room  of  him  that  is  departed ;  that  it  might  not  be. 
necessary  always  to  travel  to  the  city  of  Rome,  at  so  great  a  distance 
by  sea  and  land,  in  order  to  ordain  an  archbishop.  A  copy  of 
which  letter  we  have  also  thought  fit  to  insert  in  this  our 
history  : — 

§  141.  [a.d.  634.]  "Honorius  to  his  most  beloved  brother 
Honorius.  Among  the  many  good  gifts  which  the  mercy  of  our 
Redeemer  is  pleased  to  bestow  on  his  servants,  the  munificent 
bounty  of  his  love  is  never  more  conspicuous  than  when  He  permits 
us  by  brotherly  intercourse,  as  it  were  face  to  face,  to  exhibit  our 
mutual  affection.  For  which  gift  we  continually  return  thanks  to 
his  majesty ;  and  we  humbly  beseech  Him,  that  He  will  ever 
confirm  your  love  in  preaching  the  gospel,  labouring  and  bringing 
forth  fruit,  and  following  the  rule  of  your  master  and  head,  St. 
Gregory ;  and  that,  for  the  advancement  of  his  church.  He  may  by 
your  means  add  further  increase  ;  to  the  end,  that  the  souls  tilready 
won  by  you  and  your  predecessors,  beginning  with  our  lord  Gregory, 
may  grow  strong,  and  be  further  extended  by  faith  and  works  in  the 
fear  of  God  and  in  charity ;  that  so  the  promises  of  the  word  of 
God  may  hereafter  be  brought  to  pass  in  you  ;  and  that  this  voice 
may  call  you  away  to  the  everlasting  happiness  ;  '  Come  unto  Me. 
all  ye  that  lal)our  and  are  lieavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.' 
[Matt.  xi.  28.]     And  again,    '  Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful 

'  This  letter  appears  to  have  been  written  curly  in  June,  G31. 

^  There  is  some  uncei-tainty  as  to  the  date  of  the  death  of  Justus,  and  by  con- 
seipience  of  king  Edwin,  Pagi  refers  the  former  event  to  632  (a.d.  633,  §  22); 
Whai-ton  to  627  (Angl.  Sacr.  i.  92)  •  Smith  to  630.  The  Saxon  Chronicle  refer.s  it 
to  627. 


AD.  G31]         BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    II.  385 

servant ;  thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make  thee 
ruler  over  many  things  ;  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord.' 
[Matt.  XXV.  21.]  And  we,  most  beloved  brothers,  premising  these 
words  of  exhortation  for  the  sake  of  eternal  charity,  do  not  hesitate 
further  to  grant  those  things  which  we  perceive  to  be  suitable  for 
the  privileges  of  your  churches. 

§  142.  "  Wherefore,  pursuant  to  your  request,  and  to  that  of  the 
kings  our  sons,  we  do  by  these  our  present  precepts,  in  the  name  of 
St.  Peter,  prince  of  the  apostles,  grant  you  authority,  that  when  the 
Divine  Grace  shall  call  either  of  you  to  Himself,  the  survivor  shall 
ordain  a  bishop  in  the  room  of  him  that  is  deceased.  To  which 
effect  also  we  have  sent  a  pall  to  each  of  you,  beloved,  for  celebrating 
the  said  ordination  ;  that  by  the  authority  of  our  precept,  you  may 
make  an  ordination  acceptable  to  God ;  because  the  long  distance 
of  sea  and  land  that  lies  between  us  and  you,  has  obliged  us  to 
grant  you  this,  that  no  loss  may  happen  to  your  church  in  any  way, 
on  account  of  any  pretence  whatever,  but  that  the  devotion  of  the 
people  committed  to  you  may  be  more  fully  extended.  God  pre 
serve  you  in  safety,  most  dear  brother !  Given  the  third  of  the 
ides  [11th]  of  June,  in  the  twenty-fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  our 
most  pious  emperor,  Heraclius,  and  the  twenty-third  after  his 
consulship  ;  and  in  the  twenty-third  year  of  his  son  Constantine, 
and  the  third  after  his  consulship  ;  and  in  the  third  year  of  the  most 
illustrious  Caesar,  his  son  Heraclius  ;  in  the  seventh  indiction  ;  that 
is,  in  the  year  of  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord  634."^ 


Chap.  XIX.  [a.d.  634.]— How  the  aforesaid  Honorius  first,  and  afterwards 
John,  wrote  letters  to  the  nation  op  the  Scots,  concerning  as  well  the 

OBSERVANCE  OF  EaSTER,  AS  THE  PELAGIAN  HERESY. 

§  143.  The  same  pope  Honorius  also  wrote  to  the  nation  of  the 
Scots,  whom  he  had  found  to  err  in  the  obsen^ance  of  Easter,  as 
has  been  shown  above,  earnestly  exhorting  them  not  to  esteem  their 
small  number,  placed  in  the  utmost  borders  of  the  earth,  wiser  than 
all  the  ancient  and  modern  churches  of  Christ  throughout  the 
world  ;  and  not  to  celebrate  a  different  Easter,  contrary  to  the 
paschal  calculation,  and  the  synodical  decrees  of  all  the  bishops 
upon  earth.  Likewise  John,^  who  succeeded  Severinus,  successor 
to  the  same  Honorius,  being  yet  but  pope  elect,  sent  to  them  letters 
full  of  great  authority  and  erudition  for  correcting  the  same  error ; 
evidently  showing,  that  Easter  Sunday  is  to  be  found  between  the 
fifteenth  moon  and  the  twenty-first,  as  was  proved  in  the  Council  of 
Nice.  He  also  in  the  same  epistle  admonished  them  to  be  careful  to 
crush  the  Pelagian  heresy,  which  he  had  been  informed  was  reviving 
among  them.     The  beginning  of  the  epistle  was  as  follows  : — 

§  144.   "  To  our  most  beloved  and  most  holy  Tomianus^  Colum- 

^  Many  of  the  earliei'  chronologists  stumbling  at  the  date  here  assigned  by 
Beda,  endeavoured  to  amend  it ;  but  the  accuracy  of  our  historian  is  now  firmly 
established;  see  Pagi  ad  an.  633,  §  21,  22. 

2  John  IV.  was  consecrated  pope,  25  Dec.  640,  and  was  buried  12  Oct.  642. 

3  Tomianus  Mac  Rouan  (Annal.  iv.  Magi-,  a.  d.  660)  was  bishop  of  Armagh  in 
VOL.    I.  C  C 


386  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  C34. 

banus,^  Cromanus,"^  Dinnaus,^  and  Bait haniis,*  bishops ;  to  Cromanus,'" 
Ernianus,^  Laistranus,''  Scellanus,^ and Segenns,^ jniests;  to  Saranus^" 
and  the  rest  of  the  Scottish  doctors,  or  abbots,  health  from  Hilarius, 
the  arcJi-priest,  and  keeper  of  the  place  of  the  holy  Apostolic  See ;  John, 
the  deacon,  and  elect  in  the  name  of  God ;  from  John,  the  chief  secre- 
tary and  keeper  of  the  place  of  the  holy  Apostolic  See,  and  from  John, 
the  servant  of  God,  and  counsellor  of  the  same  Apostolic  See.  The 
writings  which  were  brought  by  the  bearers  to  pope  Severinus,  of 
lioly  memory,  were  left,  at  his  death,  without  an  answer  to  the 
inquiries  contained  in  them.  Lest  the  obscurity  of  such  intricate 
questions  should  remain  unresolved,  we  opened  the  same,  and 
found  that  some  in  your  province,  endeavouring  to  revive  a  new 
heresy  out  of  an  old  one,  contrary  to  the  orthodox  faith,  do  through 
ignorance  reject  our  Easter,  when  Christ  was  sacrificed  ;  and  con- 
tend that  the  same  should  be  kept  on  the  fourteenth  moon,  with  the 
Hebrews." 

By  this  beginning  of  the  epistle  it  evidently  appears  that  this 
heresy  sprang  up  among  them  of  very  late  times,  and  that  not  all 
their  nation,  but  only  some  of  them,  had  fallen  into  the  same. 

§  145.  After  having  laid  down  the  manner  of  keeping  Easter, 
they  add  this  concerning  the  Pelagians  in  the  same  epistle  : — 

"And  we  have  also  understood  that  the  poison  of  the  Pelagian 
heresy  again  springs  up  among  you  ;  we,  therefore,  exhort  you,  that 
you  put  away  from  your  thoughts  all  such  venomous  and  supersti- 
tious wickedness.  For  you  ought  not  to  be  ignorant  how  that 
execrable  heresy  has  been  condemned ;  for  it  has  not  only  been 
abolished  these  two  hundred  years,  but  it  is  also  daily  condemned 
and  anathematized  for  ever  by  us  ;  and  we  exhort  you,  now  that  the 
weapons  of  their  controversy  have  been  burnt,  not  to  rake  up  the 

630,  when  the  synod  of  Lethglinn,  relative  to  the  celebration  of  Easter,  was  held, 
(Ussher,  Antiq.  p.  48C,)  and  died  in  661  ;  Ann.  Tigern.  ad  an. 

'  From  the  frequency  of  the  name  of  Columbanus  among  the  Irish,  it  is  not 
easy  to  identify  this  individual ;  possibly  he  might  be  the  bishop  of  Cluuirard, 
who,  according  to  the  Ann.  iv.  Magr.  died  ad.  652 

2  In  some  MSS.  of  good  authority  the  name  is  written  Cronanus ;  it,  also,  is 
exceedingly  common.  The  individual  here  mentioned  is  supposed  to  have  been 
bishop  of  Aondroma,  who  died  7  Jan.  642.     Annal.  iv.  Magr.  ad  an. 

^  Or  Dimaus,  according  to  other  copies.  According  to  the  Annals  of  Tigemach 
he  died  a.d.  659,  being  then  bishop  of  Connor.  The  same  authority  mentions 
the  death  of  a  bishop  Diiniia\is,  whose  see  is  not  specified,  a.d.  663. 

'  Baithanus,  bishop  of  Techbaithan,  or  Cluanmacnois,  was  the  disciple  of 
Columba,  and  is  frequently  mentioned  in  Adorauan's  life  of  that  saint. 

^  This  name  is  written  Cronanus,  or  Croemanus,  in  MSS.  of  authority.  The 
Annals  of  Tigernach,  under  the  year  650,  record  the  death  of  a  person  of  this 
name,  possibly  this  same  individual. 

•^  Or  Arnianus.  He  was  a  disciple  of  Columba,  and  abbot  of  a  monastery  built 
by  that  saint.     Annal.  iv.  Magr.  ad  an.  616. 

7  In  some  MSS.  Laistronus,  or  Laustranus.  He  was  abbot  of  Lethglinn,  and  took 
a  ])rominent  pai-t  in  the  synod  held  A.D.  630,  relative  to  the  celebration  of  Easter ; 
Ussher,  pp.  484,  485.     He  died  a.d.  639  ;  Annal.  Tigern.  ad  an. ;  Ussher,  p.  486. 

■*  Probal)ly  the  "  Sillanus  episcopus  Damhiuicnsis,"  whose  death  is  mentioned 
in  Annal.  Tigern.  as  having  happened  a.d.  659. 

"  In  MSS.  of  considerable  authority  he  is  called  Se.gianus.  He  became  abbot 
of  lona  in  a.d.  623,  and  is  mentioned  in  Adomnan's  Life  of  Columba.  To  him 
Cumman  addressed  the  impoitant  epistle  "  De  Controversia  Paschali,"  printed  by 
Ussher  in  his  Sylloge,  No.  xi.     He  died  a.d.  652;  see  Ussher,  pp.  367,  502, 

'"  Saranus,  abbot  of  Othua  Moire,  is  mentioned  in  the  Aimals  of  Tigernach, 
ad  658. 


A.D.  633.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    II.  387 

ashes  among  you.  For  who  will  not  detest  that  insolent  and  im- 
pious proposition,  '  Tliat  man  can  live  without  sin,  of  his  own  free 
will,  and  not  through  God's  grace  ?  '  And  in  the  first  place,  it  is  the 
folly  of  blasphemy  to  say  that  man  is  without  sin,  which  none  can 
be,  but  only  the  Mediator  between  God  and  man,  the  man  Christ 
Jesus,  who  was  conceived  and  born  without  sin  ;  for  all  other  men, 
being  born  in  original  sin,  are  known  to  bear  the  mark  of  Adam's 
disobedience,  even  whilst  they  are  without  actual  sin,  according  to 
the  saying  of  the  prophet,  '  For  behold,  I  was  shapen  in  iniquity ; 
and  in  sin  did  my  mother  conceive  me.'  "     [Ps.  li.  5.] 


Chap.  XX.  [a.d.  633.]— How  Aeduin  being  slain,  Paulinus  returns  into  Kent, 

AND  receives  THE  BISHOPRIC  OF  EOCHESTER. 

§  146.  Aeduini  reigned  most  gloriously  seventeen  years  over  the 
nations  both  of  the  English  and  the  Britons,  six  whereof,  as  has  been 
said,  he  also  was  a  soldier  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  Caedualla,' 
king  of  the  Britons,  rebelled  against  him,  being  supported  by  Penda,^ 
a  most  warlike  man  of  the  royal  race  of  the  IVIercians,  and  who 
himself  from  that  time  governed  that  nation  twenty-two  years  with 
various  success.  A  great  battle  being  fought  in  the  plain  that  is 
called  Haethfelth,^  Aeduini  was  killed  on  the  4th  of  the  ides  of 
October  [12  Oct.],  in  the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  633,  being 
then  forty-eight*  years  of  age,  and  all  his  army  was  either  slain  or 
dispersed.  In  the  same  war  also,  before  him,  fell  Osfrid,  one  of 
his  sons,  a  warlike  youth  ;  Eadfrid,  another  of  them,  compelled  by 
necessity,  went  over  to  king  Penda,  and  was  by  him  afterwards,  in 
the  reign  of  Osuald,  slain,  contrary  to  his  oath. 

§  146.  At  this  time  a  great  slaughter  was  made  in  the  church 
and  nation  of  the  Northumbrians ;  and  the  more  so  because  one  of 
the  commanders,  by  whom  it  was  done,  was  a  pagan,  and  the  other 
a  barbarian,  more  cruel  tlian  a  pagan  ;  for  Penda,  with  all  the  nation 
of  the  Mercians,  was  an  idolater,  and  a  stranger  to  the  name  of 
Christ;  but  Caedualla,  though  he  bore  the  name  and  professed  him- 
self a  Christian,  was  so  barbarous  in  his  disposition  and  behaviour, 
that  he  neither  spared  the  female  sex,  nor  the  innocent  age  of  chil- 
dren, but  with  savage  cruelty  put  the  whole  of  them  to  tormenting 
deaths,  ravaging  all  their  country  for  a  long  time,  and  resolving  to 
cut  off  all  the  race  of  the  English  within  the  borders  of  Britain. 
Nor  did  he  pay  any  respect  to  the  christian  religion,  which  had 
newly  taken  root  among  them  ;  it  being  to  this  day  the  custom  of  the 
Britons  not  to  pay  any  respect  to  the  faith  and  religion  of  the  Eng- 
lish, nor  to  communicate  with  them  any  more  than  with  pagans.^ 

•  In  the  Annals  of  Tigernach  lie  is  called  Chon,  ad  an.  631 ;  in  the  Annales 
CambrioD,  (ap.  Petrie  and  Hardy,  p.  832,)  Catguollaan. 

-  Penda,  son  of  Wibba,  kmg  of  Mercia,  siicceeded  to  the  throne  a.  D.  633,  (not 
hi  626,  as  in  the  Saxon  Chronicle,)  and  died  in  655. 

3  Now  Hatfield,  in  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  Camd.  col.  849.  This  battle 
is  ascribed  to  a.d.  631,  by  the  Annals  of  Ulster  and  Tigernach ;  to  14,0ct.  633, 
by  the  Saxon  Chi-ouicle ;  and  to  10  Oct.  633,  by  Florence  of  Worcester. 

"*  Some  MSS.  supported  hj  the  Saxon  version,  read  "  forty-seven." 

5  See  book  ii.  ch.  4,  §  98. 

c  c  2 


388  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.d.  033. 

King  Aeduini's  head  was  brought  to  York,  and  placed  afterwards 
in  the  church  of  St.  Peter  the  apostle,  which  he  had  begun,  but 
which  his  successor  Osuald  finished,  as  has  been  said  before.^  It 
was  deposited  in  the  porch  of  St.  Gregory  the  pope,  from  whose 
disciples  he  had  received  the  Word  of  life. 

§  148.  The  aftairs  of  the  Northumbrians  being  thus  in  confusion, 
by  reason  of  this  disaster,  without  any  prospect  of  safety  anywhere, 
except  in  flight,  Paulinus,  taking  with  him  queen  Aedilberge,^  whom 
he  had  before  brought  thither,  returned  into  Kent  by  sea,  and  was 
very  honourably  received  by  the  archbishop  Honorius  and  king 
Eadbald.  He  came  thither  under  the  conduct  of  Bassus,  a  most 
valiant  soldier  of  king  Aeduini,  having  with  him  Eanfleda,  the 
daughter,  Vuscfrea,  the  son  of  Aeduini,  as  also  YfH,  the  son  of 
Osfrid,  his  son,  whom  aftei*wards  the  mother,  for  fear  of  kings 
Eadbald  and  Osuald,  sent  over  into  France  to  be  bred  up  by  king 
Daegberect,'  who  was  lier  friend  ;  and  there  tliey  both  died  in 
infancy,  and  were  buried  in  the  church*  with  the  honour  due  to 
royal  children  and  to  the  innocents  of  Christ;  He  also  brought 
with  liim  many  rich  vessels  of  king  Aeduini,  among  which  were  a 
large  gold  cross,  and  a  golden  chalice,  dedicated  to  the  use  of  the 
altar,  which  are  still  preserved,  and  shown  in  the  church  of 
Canterbur)^ 

§  149.  At  that  time  the  chiu-ch  of  Rochester  had  no  bishop,  for 
Romanus,  tlic  prelate  thereof,  being  sent  to  pope  Honorius,  by 
archbishop  Justus,  as  his  legate,  was  drowned  in  the  waves  of  the 
Italian  sea  ;  and  thereupon,  Paulinus,  at  the  invitation  of  arch- 
bishop Honorius  and  king  Eadbald,  took  upon  him  the  charge  of 
the  same,  and  held  it  until  he  ascended  up  to  heaven,  with  the 
glorious  fruits  of  his  labours  ;  and,  dying  in  that  church,  he  left 
there  the  pall  which  he  had  received  from  the  pope  of  Rome.  He 
had  left  behind  him  in  his  church  at  York,  James  the  deacon,  a 
holy  ecclesiastic ;  who  continuing  long  after  in  that  church,  by 
teaching  and  baptizing,  rescued  much  prey  from  the  power  of  the 
old  enemy  of  mankind  ;  from  whom  the  village,'  where  he  mostly 
resided,  near  Cataract,  has  its  name  to  this  day.  He  was  extra- 
ordinarily skilful  in  singing  in  the  church,  and  when  the  province 
was  afterwards  restored  to  peace,  and  the  number  of  the  faithful 
increased,  he,  as  a  teacher  of  ecclesiastical  chanting,®  began  to 
instruct  many,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  Romans,  or  of  the 
Cantuarians.  And  being  old  and  full  of  days,  as  the  Scripture 
says,  he  went  the  way  of  his  forefathers. 

1  See  §  132. 

2  She  became  an  inmate  of  the  monasteiy  of  I.iming,  in  Kent,  which  was 
fonuded  for  her  use  by  her  brother  Eadbafd;  and  dying,  10  Sept.  647,  was 
canonized.     See  Monast.  Anglic,  i.  452,  cd.  Ellis. 

^  Dagobert  I,  king  of  Fnmce,  whose  brother  Charibert  was  father  of  Bercta, 
Adill)erga's  mother. 

■'  Mabillon  (Annal.  ord.  S.  Bened.  xii.  37)  conjectures  that  they  were  buried 
in  the  church  of  St.  Denis,  at  Paris. 

^  Probably  Akeburgh.     See  Wliittaker's  Richmondshire,  ii.  21. 

*  Smith,  in  his  Appendix,  No.  xii, gives  a  short  account  of  the  introduction  aud 
use  of  the  Gregorian  chant  in  England. 


A.U.  633.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III,  389 


BOOK    III. 

Chap.  I.  [a.d.  633— 634.]— How  King  Aeduini's  next  successors  betrayed  the 

FAITH  OF  their  NATION,  AND  HOW  THE  MOST  CHRISTIAN  KiNG  OSUALD  RETRIEVED 
BOTH  KINGDOMS. 

§  150.  Aeduini  being  slain  in  battle,  the  kingdom  of  Deira,  to 
which  province  his  family  belonged,  and  where  he  first  began  to  reign, 
devolved  on  Osric,  the  son  of  his  uncle  Aelfric,  who,  through  the 
preaching  of  Paulinus,  had  also  received  the  sacraments  of  the  faith. 
But  the  kingdom  of  the  Bernicians — for  into  these  two  provinces  the 
nation  of  the  Northumbrians  was  formerly  divided — was  possessed 
by  Eanfrid,  the  son  of  Aedilfrid,  who  derived  his  origin  and  the 
commencement  of  his  reign  from  that  province.  For  all  the 
time  that  Aeduini  reigned,  the  sons  of  the  aforesaid  king  Aedilfrid, 
who  had  reigned  before  him,  with  many  of  the  youth  of  the 
nobiUty,  lived  in  banishment  among  the  Scots  or  Picts,  and  were 
there  catechised  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Scots,  and  re- 
generated by  the  grace  of  baptism.  Upon  the  death  of  the  king, 
their  enemy,  they  were  permitted  to  return  home,  and  Eanfrid,  as 
the  first  of  them,  mentioned  above,  became  king  of  the  Bernicians. 
Both  those  kings,  as  soon  as  they  obtained  the  government  of  their 
earthly  kingdoms,  renounced  and  betrayed  the  sacraments  of  the 
heavenly  kingdom,  in  which  they  had  been  initiated,  and  again 
delivered  themselves  up  to  be  defiled  and  destroyed  by  the  abomi- 
nations of  their  former  idols. 

§  151.  [a.d.  634.]  But  soon  after,  the  king  of  the  Britons,  Cea- 
dualla,  slew  them  both,  through  the  rightful  vengeance  of  Heaven, 
though  the  act  was  base  in  him.  He  first  slew  Osric,  the  next 
summer ;  for,  being  rashly  besieged  by  him  in  a  strong  town,^  he 
sallied  out  on  a  sudden  with  all  his  forces,  by  surprise,  and  de- 
stroyed him  and  all  his  army.  After  this,  for  the  space  of  a  year, 
he  reigned  over  the  provinces  of  the  Northumbrians,  not  like  a 
victorious  king  ;  but  like  a  rapacious  tyrant  he  ravaged  and  destroyed 
them  ;  and  at  length  brought  to  the  same  end  Eanfrid,  who  unad- 
visedly  came  to  him  with  only  twelve  chosen  soldiers,  to  sue  for 
peace.  To  this  day,  that  year  is  looked  upon  as  unhappy  and 
hateful  to  all  good  men  ;  as  well  on  account  of  the  apostasy  of  the 
English  kings,  who  had  renounced  the  sacraments  of  their  faith,  as 
of  the  outrageous  tyranny  of  the  British  king.  Hence  it  has  been 
agreed  by  all,  in  their  calculations  of  the  reigns  of  the  kings,  to 
abolish  the  memoiy  of  those  perfidious  monarchs,  and  to  assign  ^ 
that  year  to  the  reign  of  the  following  king,  Osuald,  a  man  beloved 
by  God.  He,  after  the  death  of  his  brother  Eanfrid,  advanced 
with  an  army,  small,  indeed,  in  number,  but  strengthened  vith  the 
faith  of  Christ ;  and  the  impious  commander  of  the  Britons  was 

*  Xamely,  the  city  of  York,  styled  "  Municipium"  by  Aurelius  Tictor,  in  his 
History  of  the  Caesars.     See  Drake's  Eboraoum,  pp.  178,  179.  ^  See  §  175. 


390  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  635. 

slain,  though  he  had  most  numerous  forces,  which  he  boasted 
nothing  could  withstand,  at  a  place  in  the  English  tongue  called 
Denisesburna/  that  is,  Denis's-brook. 


Chap.  II.   [a.d.   635.] — How,  among  innumerable  other  miraculous  cures 

WROUGHT  BY  THE  WOOD  OP  THE  CROSS,  WHICH  THE  SAME  KING,  BEING  READY  TO 
ENGAGE  AGAINST  THE  BARBARIANS,  ERECTED,  A  CERTAIN  MAN  HAD  HIS  ACHING 
ARJ;  HEALED. 

§  152.  The  place  is  shown  to  this  day,  and  held  in  much  veneration, 
where  Osuald,  being  about  to  engage,  erected  the  sign  of  the  holy 
cross,  and  on  his  bent  4cnees  prayed  to  the  Lord  that  He  would 
assist  his  worshippers  in  their  great  distress  with  succour  from 
heaven.  It  is  further  reported,  that  the  cross  being  made  in  haste, 
and  the  hole  dug  in  which  it  was  to  be  fixed,  the  king  himself,  full  of 
faith,  laid  hold  of  it  and  placed  it  in  the  hollow,  and  held  it  up  with 
both  his  hands,  till  it  was  set  fast  by  the  soldiers  throwing  in  the 
earth ;  and  this  done,  raising  his  voice,  he  cried  to  all  his  army, 
"  Let  us  all  kneel,  and  jointly  beseech  the  true  and  living  God 
Almighty,  in  his  mercy,  to  defend  us  from  the  haughty  and  fierce 
enemy  ;  for  He  knows  that  we  have  undertaken  a  just  war  for  the 
safety  of  our  nation."  All  did  as  he  had  commanded;  and  accord- 
ingly advancing  towards  the  enemy  with  the  first  dawn  of  day,  they 
obtained  the  victory,  as  their  faith  deserved.  In  that  place  of 
prayer,  very  many  miraculous  cures  are  known  to  have  been  per- 
formed, as  a  token  and  memorial  of  the  king's  faith  ;  for  even  to 
this  day,  many  are  wont  to  cut  off  small  chips  from  the  wood  of 
the  holy  cross,  which  being  put  into  water,  sick  men  or  cattle 
drinking  thereof,  or  sprinkled  with  that  water,  are  immediately 
restored  to  health. 

§  153.  The  place-  in  the  English  tongue  is  called  Hefenfelth,  or 
the  Heavenly  Field,  which  name  it  had  formerly  received  as  a  sure 
presage  of  what  was  afterwards  to  happen;  denoting,  that  there  the 
heavenly  trophy  would  be  erected,  the  heavenly  victory  begun,  and 
heavenly  miracles  be  wrought  to  this  day.  The  same  place  is  near 
the  Wall  to  the  north,  with  which  the  Romans  formerly  enclosed 
the  whole  island  from  sea  to  sea,  to  restrain  the  attacks  of  the  bar- 
liarous  nations,  as  has  been  said  before.  Hither  also  the  brethren 
of  the  church  of  Hagustald,'  which  is  not  far  from  thence,  repair 
yearly,  according  to  ancient  custom,  on  the  day  before  that  on 
which  king  Osuald  was  afterwards  slain,  to  watch  there  for  the 
health  of  his  soul,  and  having  sung  many  psalms,  to  offer  for  him 
in  the  morning  the  sacrifice  of  the  holy  oblation.  And  since  that 
good  custom  has  spread,  they  have  lately  built  and  consecrated  a 
church  there,  which  has  attached  additional  sanctity  and  honour, 

*  Said  to  be  Dilston,  near  lloxhaui,  in  Northumberland.  See  Smith's 
Appendix,  No.  xiiL 

-  The  situation  of  this  place  is  uncertain ;  but  concerning  it,  and  the  church 
to  which  13eda  presently  alludes,  the  Appendix,  No.  xiii,  to  Smith's  edition  may  be 
consulted. 

'  Its  modern  name  is  Hexham,  where  Wilfrid  afterwards  founded  a  monastery. 


A.D.  635.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  391 

in  the  opinion  of  all,  to  that  place  :  and  this  with  good  reason  ;  for 
(as  we  have  understood)  there  was  no  sign  of  the  christian  faitli,  no 
church,  no  altar  erected  throughout  all  the  nation  of  the  Bernicians, 
before  that  new  commander  of  the  army,  prompted  by  the  devotion 
of  his  faith,  set  up  the  banner  of  the  cross  as  he  was  going  to  give 
battle  to  his  barbarous  enemy. 

§  154.  Nor  is  it  foreign  to  our  purpose  to  relate  one  of  the 
many  miracles  that  have  been  wrought  at  this  cross.  One  of  the 
brethren  of  the  same  church  of  Hagustald,  whose  name  is  Both  elm, 
and  who  is  still  living,  a  few  years  since,  walking  carelessly  on  the 
ice  at  night,  suddenly  fell  and  broke  his  arm  ;  a  most  raging  pain 
commenced  in  the  part  so  severely  broken,  so  that  he  could 
not  lift  his  arm  to  his  mouth  for  the  violence  of  the  anguish. 
Hearing  one  morning  that  one  of  the  brethren  designed  to  go  to 
the  place  of  the  same  holy  cross,  he  desired  him,  at  his  return,  to 
bring  him  a  portion  of  that  venerable  wood,  saying,  he  believed 
that  with  the  help  of  God  he  might  thereby  be  healed.  The  brother 
did  as  he  was  desired ;  and  returning  in  the  evening,  when  the 
brethren  were  already  sitting  at  table,  gave  him  some  of  the  old 
moss  which  covered  the  surface  of  the  wood.  As  he  sat  at  table, 
having  no  place  to  lay  up  that  gift  which  was  brought  him,  he  put 
the  sanae  into  his  bosom  ;  and  forgetting  when  he  went  to  bed '  to 
put  it  by,  he  left  it  in  his  bosom.  Awaking  in  the  middle  of  the 
night,  he  felt  something  cold  lying  by  his  side,  and  putting  his 
hand  to  feel  what  it  was,  he  found  his  arm  and  hand  as  sound  as 
if  he  had  never  felt  any  such  pain. 


Chap.  III.  [a.d.  635.]— How  the  same  KiNa,  asking  a  bishop  of  the  Scottish 

NATION,  HAD  AeDAN    SENT    HIM,  AND   GRANTED    HIM    AN    EPISCOPAL    SEE    IN    THE 
ISLE  OF  LiNDISFABNE. 

§  155.  The  same  Osuald,  as  soon  as  he  ascended  the  throne, 
(being  desirous  that  all  the  nation  over  which  he  had  begun  to  rule 
should  be  imbued  with  the  grace  of  the  christian  faith,  whereof  he 
had  already  found  happy  experience  in  vanquishing  the  barbarians,) 
sent  to  the  elders  of  the  Scots,  among  whom  himself  and  his  tellow- 
soldiers,  when  in  banishment,  had  received  the  sacraments  of 
baptism,  desiring  they  would  send  him  a  bishop,  by  whose  instruc- 
tion and  ministry  the  English  nation,  which  he  governed,  might  be 
taught  the  advantages  of  faith  in  the  Lord,  and  receive  its  sacra- 
ments. Nor  were  they  slow  in  granting  his  request ;  but  sent  him 
bishop  Aedan,  a  man  of  singular  meekness,  piety,  and  moderation  ; 
zealous  in  the  cause  of  God,  though  not  altogether  according  to 
knowledge.  For  he  was  wont  to  keep  Easter  Sunday  according  to 
the  custom  of  his  country,  which  we  have  before  so  often  men- 
tioned, from  the  fourteenth  to  the  twentieth  moon ;  the  northern 
province  of  the  Scots,  and  all  the  nation  of  the  Picts,  celebrating 
Easter  then  after  that  manner,  and  believing  that   they  therein 

'  It  would  hence  appear  that,  at  this  time,  monks  did  not  undress  themselves 
before  going  into  bed. 


392  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF   ENGLAND.  [a.D.  635. 

followed  the  writings  of  the  holy  and  praiseworthy  father  Anatohus  ;^ 
tlic  truth  of  which  every  skiU'ul  person  can  most  easily  discern. 
But  the  Scots  which  dwelt  in  the  south  of  Ireland  had  long  since,^ 
by  the  admonition  of  the  bishop  of  the  apostolic  see,  learned  to 
observe  Easter  according  to  the  canonical  custom. 

§  156.  On  the  arrival  of  the  bishop,  the  king  appointed  him  his 
episcopal  see  in  the  isle  of  Lindisfarne,^  as  he  himself  desired. 
Which  place,  as  the  tide  flows  and  ebbs  twice  a  day,  is  enclosed  by 
the  waves  of  the  sea  like  an  island ;  and  again,  twice  in  the  day, 
when  the  shore  is  left  dry,  becomes  contiguous  to  the  land.  The 
king  also  humbly  and  willingly  in  all  cases  giving  ear  to  his  admo- 
nitions, most  industriously  appUed  himself  to  build  and  extend  the 
church  of  Christ  in  his  kingdom  ;  wherein,  when  the  bishop,  who 
did  not  perfectly  understand  the  English  tongue,  preached  the 
gospel,  it  was  most  delightful  to  see  the  king  himself  interpreting 
the  Word  of  God  to  his  commanders  and  ministers,  for  he  had 
perfectly  learned  the  language  of  the  Scots  during  his  long  banish- 
ment. From  that  time  many  from  the  region  of  the  Scots  came 
daily  into  Britain,  and  with  great  devotion  preached  the  Word  of 
faith  to  those  provinces  of  the  English  over  which  king  Osuald 
reigned,  and  those  among  them  that  had  received  priest's  orders 
administered  to  the  believers  the  grace  of  baptism.  Churches  were 
built  in  several  places  ;  the  people  joyfully  flocked  together  to  hear 
the  Word;  possessions  and  lands  were  given  of  the  king's  bounty 
to  build  monasteries ;  the  younger  English  were  by  their  Scottisli 
masters  instructed ;  and  there  were  greater  care  and  attention 
bestowed  upon  the  rules  and  observance  of  regular  discipline. 

§  157.  Most  of  them  that  had  come  to  preach  were  monks. 
Bishop  Aedan  was  himself  a  monk  of  the  island  called  Hii,  whose 
monasteiy  for  a  long  time  held  the  preeminence  over  almost  all 
those  of  the  northern  Scots,''  and  all  those  of  the  Picts,*  and  had 
the  direction  of  their  people.  That  island  belongs  to  the  sway  of 
Britain,  being  divided  from  it  by  a  small  arm  of  the  sea,  but  had 
been  long  since  given  by  the  Picts,"  who  inhabit  those  parts  of 
Britain,  to  the  Scottish  monks,  because  they  had  received  the  faith 


'  See  §  232.  Anatoliua,  bishop  of  Laodicea,  flourished  about  the  year  270, 
wrote  a  treatise  upon  the  Paschal  Canons.     See  Cave,  Hist.  Lit.  i.  136. 

2  See  book  ii.  ch.  19,  §  143. 

^  Lindisfarne,  or  Holy  Lslaiul,  situated  off  the  coast  of  Northumberland. 

*  As  well  the  Scots  who  inhabit  Ulster,  in  Ireland,  as  the  Dalreodini  who 
were  seated  in  Britain. 

'  Ussher,  and  from  him  Mabillon,  (Ann.  Bened.  viii.  8,)  remark  upon  the  in- 
consistency of  Beda  relative  to  the  position  of  the  Picts  upon  the  north  of  the 
Clyde,  which  is  apparent  upon  a  comparison  of  this  passage  with  §  7  of  the 
prcHcnt  history. 

^  The  Annals  of  Tigernach  and  Ulster  here  differ  from  Beda,  and  with  greater 
proliability  state  that  lona  was  given  to  Columba  by  Conan,  the  son  of  Comgal, 
king  of  Dalrieda,  who  died  a.d.  f)74.  Sje  Adomu.  Yit.  Columb.  i.  7;  Ann.  Tigern. 
A.  D,  574  ;  Ann.  Ulton.  a.d.  573  (574)  ;  Ussher,  p.  367. 


A.D.  565.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  393 


Chap.  IV.  [a.d.  565.] — When  the  nation  of  the  Picts  beceived  the  faith. 

§  158.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  565/  when  Justin 
the  younger,  the  successor  of  Justinian,  had  the  government  of  the 
Roman  empire,  there  came  from  Ireland  into  Britain  a  famous 
priest  and  abbat,  a  monk  by  habit  and  hfe,  whose  name  was 
Columba,^  to  preach  the  Word  of  God  to  the  provinces  of  the 
northern  Picts,  that  is,  to  those  who  are  separated  from  the  southern 
parts  by  steep  and  rugged  mountains  ;  ^  for  the  southern  Picts,  who 
dwell  among  those  mountains,  had  long  before,  (as  is  reported,) 
forsaken  the  errors  of  idolatry,  and  embraced  the  truth,  by  the 
preaching  of  the  Word  by  Ninias,*  a  most  reverend  bishop  and 
holy  man  of  the  British  nation,  who  had  been  regularly  instructed 
at  kome  in  the  faith  and  mysteries  of  the  truth ;  whose  episcopal 
see  and  church,  named  after  St.  Martin  the  bishop,  (wherein  he  and 
many  other  saints  rest  in  the  body,)  is  at  this  time  in  the  possession 
of  the  English  nation.  The  place  belongs  to  the  province  of  the 
Bernicians,  and  is  generally  called  the  White  House, ^  because  he 
there  built  a  church  of  stone,  wliich  was  not  usual  ^  among  the 
Britons. 

§  159.  Columba  came  into  Britain  in  the  ninth  year  of  the 
reign,  over  the  Picts,  of  Bridius,'  who  was  the  son  of  Meilochon, 
a  very  powerful  king ;  and  he  converted  that  nation  to  the  faith  of 
Christ  by  his  preaching  and  example,  whereupon  he  also  received 
of  them  the  possession  of  the  aforesaid  island  for  a  monastery,  for 
it  is  not  very  large,  but  contains  about  five  families,  according  to 
the  English  computation.  His  successors  hold  the  island  to  this 
day  ;  he  was  also  buried  therein,'  having  died  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
seven,  and  about  thirty-two  years  after  he  came  into  Britain  to 
preach.  Before  he  passed  over  into  Britain,  he  had  built  a  noble 
monastery  in  Ireland,  which,  from  the  great  number  of  oaks,  is  in 
the  Scottish  tongue  called  Dearmach' — the  Field  of  Oaks.  From 
both  which  monasteries,  many  others  had  their  beginning  through 

*  Beda  liere  appears  to  be  in  error  as  to  the  date  of  Columba's  voyage  into 
Britain.  Two  years  after  the  battle  of  Culdrevan  (a  d.  661,  according  to  the 
Annals  of  Tigernach,  see  Ussher  ad  an.),  Columba  had  arrived  in  Britain,  and 
was  in  the  court  of  Conall,  the  son  of  Comgill.  Vit.  Columba!,  i.  7 ;  Ussher, 
pp.  367—370. 

2  On  St.  Columba,  see  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  June,  ii.  ISO. 
^  Namely,  the  Grampians. 

*  See  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  Septemb.  v.  318. 
5  At  \Miiteherne,  in  Galloway. 

•^  See  "  Churches,  their  Structure,  Arrangement,  and  Decoration,"  by  the  Rev. 
G.  A.  Poole,  pp.  20,  21;  Eeginald.  de  Mirac.  S.  Cuthberti,  cap.  68;  O'Connor, 
Rerum  Hibern.  Scriptt.  ii.  86. 

''  This  monarch  is  mentioned  by  Adomnan,  Vit.  Columb.  If  his  reign  com- 
menced in  557,  as  there  is  reason  to  suppose  it  did,  Beda  is  wrong  in  joining  his 
ninth  regnal  year  with  Columba's  voyage  into  Britain 

"  According  to  the  better  authority  of  Adomnan,  iii.  22,  23,  and  Cuman,  iii.  5, 
Columba  died  a.d.  596,  and  not  in  597,  as  Beda  seems  to  have  believed.  See 
Ussher  ad  an. 

^  Now  Durrogh  in  King's  County ;  frequently  mentioned  by  Adomuan  in  his 
Life  of  Columba,  Ann.  Tigern.  a.d.  589. 


394  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a,D.  565. 

his  discij)lcs,  both  in  Britain  and  Ireland  ;  but  tlie  monastery  in 
the  island  where  his  body  hes,  is  tlie  principal '  of  them  all. 

§  160.  That  island  has  always  by  usage  for  its  ruler  an  abbat,  who 
is  a  priest,  to  whose  direction  all  the  province,  and  even  the  bishops," 
contrary  to  the  usual  method,  ought  to  be  subject,  according  to  the 
example  of  their  first  teacher,  wlio  was  not  a  bisliop,  but  a  priest 
and  monk;'  of  whose  life  and  discourses  some  writings  are  said  to 
be  possessed  by  his  disciples.  But  whatsoever  he  was  himself,  this 
we  know  for  certain,  that  he  left  successors  renowned  for  their 
great  continence,  their  love  of  God,  and  observance  of  monastic 
rules.  It  is  true  they  followed  uncertain  cycles  in  their  observance 
of  the  great  Festival,  as  having  none  to  bring  them  the  synodal 
decrees  for  the  observance  of  Easter,  by  reason  of  their  being  so 
far  away  from  the  rest  of  the  world ;  wherefore  they  only  diligently 
practised  such  works  of  piety  and  chastity  as  they  could  learn  from 
the  prophetical,  evangelical,  and  apostolical  writings.  This  manner 
of  keeping  Easter  continued  among  them  for  a  considerable  time, 
that  is,  for  the  space  of  150  years,^  till  the  year  of  our  Lord's 
incarnation  715. 

§  161.  [a.d.  715.]  But  then  the  most  reverend  and  holy  father 
and  priest,  Ecgberct,  of  the  English  nation,  who  had  long  lived  in 
banishment  in  Ireland  for  the  sake  of  Christ,  and  was  most 
learned  in  the  Scriptures,  and  renowned  for  long  perfection  of  life, 
came  among  them,  corrected  their  error,  and  changed  them  to  the 
true  and  canonical  day  of  Easter  ;  the  which  they  nevertheless 
did  not  always  keep  formerly  on  the  fourteenth  moon,  with  the 
Jews,  as  some  imagined,  but  on  Sunday,  although  not  in  the  proper 
week.  For,  as  Christians,  they  knew  that  the  Resurrection  of  our 
Lord,  which  happened  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  was  always  to 
be  celebrated  on  the  first  day  of  the  week  ;  but  being  rude  and 
barbarous,  they  had  not  learned  when  that  same  first  day  after  the 
Sabbath,  which  is  now  called  the  Lord's  day,  should  come.  But 
because  they  have  not  laid  aside  the  fer\'ent  grace  of  charity,  they 
were  worthy  also  to  be  informed  in  the  perfect  knowledge  of  this 
particular,  according  to  the  promise  of  the  apostle,  saying,  "And  if 
in  anything  ye  be  otherwise  minded,  God  shall  reveal  even  this 
unto  you."  [Phil.  iii.  15.]  Of  which  we  shall  speak  more  fully 
in  its  proper  place. 

1  It  has  been  remarked  by  Mabillon  (De  Re  Diplomat,  p.  66,  cd.  1789)  and  jby 
others,  that  abbots  were  sometimes  styled  "  principes  "  in  the  early  Irish  church. 
See  the  Irish  canons  published  by  D'Achery  in  his  Spicilegium,  i.  491,  ed.  1723. 
In  the  Annals  of  Tigernach,  a.d.  602,  Comgall,  abbot  of  Bangor,  is  said  to  have 
held  his  "  principatus  "  for  fifty  years. 

-  Smith  here  remarks,  that  this  did  not  extend  to  spiritual  authority,  and 
refers  us  to  Adomnan's  Life  of  Columba,  i.  26. 

3  Much  discussion  has  arisen  from  these  words.  The  reader  may  consult  the 
prefaces  to  Keith's  Catalogue  of  Scottish  Bishops,  (8vo.  Edinb.  1824  ;)  Lloyd's  His- 
torical Account  of  Church  Government,  with  Panton's  Preface,  (8vo.  Osf.  1842  ;) 
Alford,  ad  an.  395,  §  6. 

*  Beda  here  appears  to  calculate  from  the  date  of  Columba's  arrival  m  Scotland 
in  563. 


A.D.  635.]        BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  395 

Chap.  V.  [a.d.  635.]— Of  the  life  of  Bishop  Aedan. 

§  162.  From  the  aforesaid  island,  and  from  this  college  of 
monks,  was  Aedan  ^  sent  to  instruct  the  province  of  the  Angles  in 
Christ,  having  received  the  dignity  of  a  bishop.  At  this  time 
Segeni,^  abbat  and  priest,  presided  over  that  monastery ;  whence, 
among  other  instructions  for  life,  he  left  the  clergy  a  most  salutary 
example  of  abstinence  and  continence  ;  it  was  the  highest  commen- 
dation of  his  doctrine,  with  all  men,  that  he  taught  no  otherwise 
than  the  life  which  he  and  his  followers  lived  ;  for  he  neither  cared 
to  seek  nor  love  anything  of  this  world,  but  delighted  in  distributing 
immediately  among  the  poor  whom  he  met  whatsoever  was  given  him 
by  the  kings  or  rich  men  of  the  world.  He  was  wont  to  traverse 
everywhere,  both  town  and  country,  on  foot,  never  on  horseback, 
unless  compelled  by  some  urgent  necessity ;  and  wherever  in  his 
way  he  saw  any,  either  rich  or  poor,  immediately  turning  to  them, 
he  invited  them,  if  infidels,  to  embrace  the  mysteiy  of  the  faith  ; 
or  if  they  were  believers,  to  strengthen  them  in  the  faith,  and  to 
stir  them  up  by  words  and  actions  to  alms  and  good  works. 

§  163.  His  course  of  life  was  so  different  from  the  slothfulness 
of  our  times,  that  all  those  who  bore  him  company,  whether  they 
were  shorn  monks  or  laymen,  were  employed  in  meditation,  that 
is,  either  in  reading  the  Scriptures,  or  learning  the  psalms.  This 
was  the  daily  employment  of  himself  and  all  that  were  with  him, 
wheresoever  they  went ;  and  if  it  happened,  which  was  but  seldom, 
that  he  was  invited  to  banquet  with  the  king,  he  went  with  one  or 
two  clerks,  and  having  taken  a  small  repast,  made  haste  to  be  gone 
with  them,  either  to  read  or  to  pray.^  At  that  time,  many  religious 
men  and  women,  stirred  up  by  his  example,  adopted  the  custom  of 
fasting  on  the  fourth  and  sixth  days  of  the  week,  till  the  ninth 
hour,  throughout  the  year,  except  during  the  fifty  days  after  Easter. 
He  never  spared  the  wealthy  from  fear  or  favour,  if  they  erred  in 
any  point,  but  corrected  them  with  a  sharp  rebuke.  He  never 
gave  money  to  the  powerful  men  of  the  world,  but  only  meat,  if  he 
happened  to  entertain  them ;  and,  on  the  contrary,  whatsoever 
gifts  of  money  he  received  from  the  rich,  he  either  distributed 
them,  as  has  been  said,  to  the  use  of  the  poor,  or  bestowed  them 
in  ransoming  such  as  had  been  wrongfully  sold  for  slaves.  More- 
over, he  aftei-wards  made  many  of  those  whom,  having  paid  their 
value,  he  had  ransomed,  his  disciples  ;  and  after  having  taught  and 
instructed  them,  advanced  them  to  the  order  of  priesthood. 

§  164.  It  is  reported,  that  when  king  Osuald  had  asked  a  bishop 
of  the  province  of  the    Scots  to  minister  the  Word  of  faith  to 

1  Since  it  appears  by  iii.  26,  (§  236,)  that  a.d.  664  was  the  30th  year  of  the 
episcopal  government  of  Northumbria  by  the  Scots  from  lona,  it  follows  that 
Aedan  must  have  been  consecrated  bishop  of  Liudisfarne  in  634  or  635.  See 
Pagi,  ad  an.  634,  g  6.  See  further  concerning  him,  Acta  SS.  Aug.  torn.  vi.  p.  668, 
and  the  Life  in  Raine's  History  of  North  Durham. 

-  Segeni,  mentioned  by  Cummianus  and  Adomnanus,  ruled  over  lona  from  623 
to  652.     See  Ussher,  p.  367,  and  before,  ii.  19. 

^  Here  "  meditari "  means  to  read  attentively,  as  appears  by  the  context,  (see 
§  7,)  and  it  is  explained  by  the  Rule  of  St.  Isidore,  cap.  vi,  where  it  is  enjoined, 
"  Post  vespertinum  autem,  congregatis  fratribus,  oportet  vel  aliquid  meditari,  vel 
de  aliquibus  divinre  lectionis  qutestionibus  disputare." 


39G  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  635. 

him  and  his  nation,  tliere  was  first  sent  to  him  another' 
man  of  more  austere  disposition,  who,  after  preaching  for  some 
time  to  the  nation  of  the  Angles,  and  meeting  with  no  success, 
and  being  disregarded  by  tlie  Enghsh  people,  returned  home, 
and  in  an  assembly  of  the  elders  reported,  that  he  had  not 
been  able  to  do  any  good  in  instructing  that  nation  he  had  been 
sent  to  preach  to,  because  they  were  untameable  men,  and  of  a 
stubborn  and  barbarous  disposition.  They,  as  is  testified,  in  a 
great  council  seriously  debated  what  was  to  be  done,  being  desirous 
of  the  good  of  the  nation  in  the  matter  which  it  demanded,  and 
grieving  that  they  had  not  received  the  preacher  sent  to  them. 
Then  said  Aedan,  who  was  also  present  in  the  council,  to  the  priest 
then  spoken  of, — "  I  am  of  opinion,  brother,  that  you  were  more 
severe  to  your  unlearned  hearers  than  you  ought  to  have  been,  and 
did  not  at  first,  conformably  to  the  apostolic  discipline,  give  them 
the  milk  of  more  gentle  doctrine,  till  being  by  degrees  nourished 
with  the  Word  of  God,  they  should  be  capable  of  greater  perfection, 
and  be  able  to  practise  God's  sublimer  precepts."  Having  heard 
these  words,  all  who  sat  with  him,  turning  on  him  their  eyes,  began 
diligently  to  weigh  what  he  had  said,  and  presently  concluded,  that 
he  deserved  to  be  made  a  bishop,  and  ought  to  be  sent  to  instruct 
the  unbelievers  and  unlearned,  since  he  was  found  to  be  endued 
with  the  grace  of  a  singular  discretion,  which  is  the  mother  of  other 
virtues,  and  accordingly  being  ordained,  they  sent  him  to  preach  ; 
and  he,  as  time  proved,  aftenvards  appeared  to  possess  all  other 
virtues  ;  as  well  as  the  discretion  for  which  he  was  before  re- 
markable. 


Chat.  VI.  [a.d.  635— 642.]— Of  King  Osuald's  wo>-derful  heligion  and 

PIETY. 

§  165.  King  Osuald,  with  the  nation  of  the  English  which  he 
governed,  being  instructed  by  the  teaching  of  this  prelate,  not  only 
learned  to  hope  for  a  heavenly  kingdom  unknown  to  his  proge- 
nitors, but  also  obtained  of  the  same  one  Lord,  who  made  heaven 
and  earth,  larger  earthly  kingdoms  than  any  of  his  ancestors.  In 
short,  he  brought  under  his  dominion  all  the  nations  and  provinces 
of  Britain,  which  are  divided  into  four  languages,  namely,  the 
Britons,  the  Picts,  the  Scots,  and  the  English.  ^^^Ien  raised  to 
that  height  of  dominion,  wonderful  to  relate,  he  nevertheless  always 
continued  humble,  kind,  and  generous  to  the  poor  and  strangers. 

§  166.  In  short,  it  is  reported,  that  when  he  was  once  sitting  at 
dinner,  on  the  holy  day  of  Easter,  with  the  aforesaid  bishop,  and  a 
silver  dish  full  of  royal  dainties  was  placed  upon  the  table  before 
him,  and  they  were  just  ready  to  stretch  out  their  hands  to  bless 
the  bread,  his  servant,  whom  he  had  appointed  to  relieve  the  poor, 
came  in  on  a  sudden,  and  told  the  king,  that  a  great  multitude  of 
needy  persons  from  all  parts  were  sitting  in  the  streets  begging 
some  alms  of  the  king  ;  he  immediately  ordered  the  meat  set  before 

^  Hector  Boetbhis  calls  him  Gorman.  Fordun  (III.  xliii.)  recounts  the  transaction 
in  Bcda's  own  words. 


A.t).  634]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  397 

himself  to  be  carried  to  the  poor,  and  the  dish  to  be  cut  in  pieces 
and  divided  piecemeal  among  them.  At  this  sight,  the  bishop  who 
sat  by  him,  much  delighted  with  such  an  act  of  piety,  laid  hold  of 
his  right  hand,  and  said,  "  May  this  hand  never  grow  old."  Which 
fell  out  according  to  his  prayer  and  blessing ;  for  it  happens  that 
his  arm  and  hand,  being  cut  oft'  from  the  rest  of  his  body,  when  he 
was  slain  in  battle,  remain  entire  and  uncorrupted^  to  this  day,  and 
are  kept  in  a  silver  shrine,  and  are  venerated  by  all  with  due 
honour,  in  St.  Peter's  church  in  the  royal  city,^  which  has  taken  its 
name  from  Bebba,  one  of  its  former  queens.  Through  this  king's 
management  the  provinces  of  the  Deiri  and  the  Bernicians,  which 
till  then  had  been  at  variance,  were  peacefully  united  and  moulded 
into  one  people.  He  was  nephew  to  king  Aeduini  by  his  sister 
Acha ;  ^  and  it  was  fit  that  so  great  a  predecessor  should  have  in 
his  own  family  so  great  a  person  to  succeed  him  in  his  religion  and 
sovereignty.* 


Chap.  VII.  [a.d.  634 — 664.] — How  the  province  of  the  "West  Saxons  received 
THE  Word  op  God  by  the  preaching  of  Birinus  ;  and  of  his  successors, 
Agilberct  and  Leutherius. 

§  167.  At  that  time,'  [a.d.  634,]  the  people  of  the  West  Saxons, 
formerly  called  Gevissi,  in  the  reign  of  Cynegils,  embraced  the  faith 
of  Christ,  at  the  preaching  of  the  Word  by  bishop  Birinus,  who 
came  into  Britain  by  the  advice  of  pope  Honorius;®  having  pro- 
mised in  his  presence  that  he  would  sow  the  seed  of  the  holy  faith 
in  the  inner  parts  beyond  the  Angles,  where  no  other  teacher  had 
been  before  him.  Hereupon,  by  the  command  of  the  same  pope, 
he  received  episcopal  consecration  from  Asterius,^  bishop  of  Genoa; 
but  on  his  arrival  in  Britain,  he  first  entered  the  nation  of  the 
Gevissi,  and  finding  all  there  most  confirmed  pagans,  he  thought  it 
better  to  preach  the  Word  of  God  there,  rather  than  to  proceed 
further  to  seek  for  others  to  preach  to. 

§  168.  Now,  as  he  preached  in  the  aforesaid  province,  [a.d.  653,] 
it  happened  that  the  king  himself,  having  been  catechised,  was 
washed  in  the  baptismal  font  together  with  his  people,  and  Osuald, 
the  most  holy  and  victorious   king  of  the  Northumbrians,  being 

^  The  various  peregrinations  of  the  relics  of  St.  Oswald  are  detailed  in  the  Acta 
SS.  mens.  Aug.  ii.  86;  and  in  Capgrave,  foil.  255,  256. 

^  The  Saxon  paraphrase  enables  us  to  identify  this  royal  city  as  Bamborough, 
on  the  coast  of  Northumberland. 

^  The  Saxon  version  takes  no  notice  of  Acha;  and  the  Life  of  Oswald,  written 
by  Drogo,  (Act.  S.  Aug.  ii.  98,)  calls  her  Leba. 

*  In  the  Life  of  Oswald,  by  Drogo,  already  cited,  is  an  insertion  connecting 
this  chapter  with  the  following,  and  stating  that  the  conversion  of  the  West 
Saxons  was  procured  by  the  agency  of  Oswald ;  which  is  by  no  means  improbable 
vv'hen  we  consider  the  interest  which  his  marriage  into  the  royal  family  of  that 
kingdom  gave  him  in  its  pagan  inhabitants. 

^  The  date  is  uncertain,  but  as  the  Saxon  Chronicle  and  Florence  agree  in 
iixing  on  a.  d.  634,  their  calculation  has  been  adoj^ted. 

^  St.  Birinus  was  sent  into  England  about  634,  by  the  direction  of  pope  Hono- 
rius  I,     The  date  of  his  death  is  uncertain. 

''  Asterius  was  archbishop  of  Milan,  but  resided  at  Genoa,  where  he  died  in 
640.  See  Ughelli,  Italia  Sacr.  iv.  col.  64.  There  is  no  record  of  any  bishop  of 
Genoa  between  452  and  680. 


398  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  C'di. 

present,  received  him  as  lie  came  forth  from  the  laver,  and  by  an 
aUiance*  most  pleasing  and  acceptable  to  God,  first  adopted  him, 
thus  dedicated  to  God  by  a  second  birth,  for  his  son,  and  then 
took  his  daughter  in  marriage.  The  two  kings ^  gave  to  the  bishop 
the  city  called  DorcicHhere  to  settle  his  episcopal*  see;  where 
having  built  and  consecrated  churches,  and  by  his  pious  labour 
called  many  to  the  Lord,  he  departed  this  life,  and  was  buried  in 
the  same  city;  but  many  years  after,  when  Haedde^  was  bishop,  he 
was  translated  thence  to  the  city  of  Winchester,  and  laid  in  the 
church  of  the  blessed  apostles,  Peter  and  Paul. 

§  169.  [a.D.  643.]  The  king  also  dying,  his  son  Coinualch  suc- 
ceeded him  in  the  kingdom,  but  refused  to  embrace  the  faith  and  the 
sacraments  of  the  heavenly  kingdom ;  and  not  long  after  also  he 
lost  the  dominion  of  his  earthly  kingdom.  For  having  divorced 
the  sister"  of  Penda,  king  of  the  Mercians,  whom  he  had  married, 
and  having  taken  another  wife,  thereupon  a  war  ensuing,  and  being 
deprived  of  that  realm,  he  withdrew  to  Anna,  king  of  the  East 
Angles,  where  living  three  years  in  banishment,  he  found  and  re- 
ceived the  true  faith ;  for  the  king,  with  whom  he  lived  in  his 
banishment,  w^as  a  good  man,  and  happy  in  a  good  and  pious  off- 
spring, as  we  shall  show''  hereafter. 

§  170.  But  when  Coinualch  was  restored  to  his  kingdom,  there 
came  into  that  province,  out  of  Ireland,  a  certain  bishop  called 
Agilberct,^  by  nation  a  Frenchman,  but  who  had  then  lived  a  long 
time  in  Ireland,  for  the  purpose  of  reading  the  Scriptures.  He 
joined  himself  to  the  king,  and  voluntarily  took  on  himself  the 
office  of  preaching.  The  king,  observing  his  erudition  and  industry, 
desired  him  there  to  accept  an  episcopal  see,  and  stay  there  as  the 
bishop  of  his  nation.  He  complied  with  this  request,  and  presided 
as  bishop  over  that  people  many  years.  At  length  the  king,  who 
understood  none  but  the  language  of  the  Saxons,  growing  weary 
of  that  bishop's  foreign  tongue,  privily  brought  into  the  province 
another  bishop  of  his  own  language,  whose  name  was  Uini,  who 
had  been  ordained  in  France  ;  and  dividing  his  province  into  two 
dioceses,  appointed  for  this  last  his  episcopal  see  in  the  city  of 
"  Venta,"  by  the  Saxons  called  Uintancaestir.  Agilberct,  being 
highly  offended  that  the  king  should  do  this  without  his  advice, 
returned''  into   France,  and  having  received  the  bishopric  of  the 

'  Oswald  did  not  hold  tlio  opinion  that  the  spiritual  affinity  thus  contracted 
with  Cynegilfl,  by  having  stood  as  his  sponsor  in  baptism,  ])laced  any  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  his  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  that  prince,  as  it  would  have  done 
at  a  later  period. 

2  It  appears  from  §105,  that  Oswald  was  the  superior  lord;  Cynegils,  the 
subrcgulus. 

^  Dorchester,  in  Oxfordshire;  after  many  wanderings  this  see  was  ultimately 
fixed  at  Lincoln. 

*  It  is  remarked  by  Pagi,  a.D.  635,  §  3,  and  664,  §  7,  that  Birinus  was  conse- 
crated bishop  without  being  appointed  to  any  particular  see.        *  See  §  2S6. 

"  The  name  of  this  .sister  of  Penda  is  unknown  to  vis.  '  See  §  172. 

*  Sec  Gallia  Christiana,  (vii.  20,)  and  Acta  Sancton  Oct.  v.  492. 

'  The  return  of  Agilberct  into  France  is  placed  by  the  Saxon  Chronicle  in  600, 
which  is  apparently  incorrect,  as  he  was  j)resent  at  the  synod  of  Whitljy  in  604. 
The  truth  seems  to  be,  that  Agilberct  loft  his  residence  with  Coinwalch  in  660, 
and  remained  in  Northumberland  until  664,  in  which  year,  after  the  synod  of 
"Whitby,  he  retui-ned  into  France.  See  Pagi,  ad  an.  C64,  §  7;  Gall.  Christ,  vii.  27. 


A.D.  G40.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  399 

city  of  Paris,  died  there,  aged  and  full  of  days.  Not  many  years 
after  his  departure  out  of  Britain,  Uini  was  also  expelled  from  his 
bishopric  by  the  same  king,  and  took  refuge  with  Uulfheri,  king  of 
the  Mercians,  of  whom  he  purchased  for  money  the  see  of  the  city 
of  London,  and  remained  bishop  thereof  till  his  death.  Thus  the 
province  of  the  West  Saxons  continued  no  small  time  without  a 
bishop. 

§  171.  During  which  time,  the  king  of  that  nation,  very  fre- 
quently sustaining  very  great  losses  in  his  kingdom  from  his 
enemies,  at  length  bethought  himself,  that  as  he  had  been  before 
expelled  from  the  throne  for  his  infidelity,  and  had  been  restored 
to  his  kingdom  when  he  received  the  faith  of  Christ,  so  also,  his 
province,  being  destitute  of  a  bishop,  was  justly  deprived  of  the 
Divine  protection.  He,  therefore,  sent  messengers  into  France  to 
Agilberct,  humbly  entreating  him  to  return  to  the  bishopric  of  his 
nation.  But  he  excused  himself,  and  affirmed  that  he  could  not 
go,  because  he  was  bound  to  the  bishopric  of  his  own  city  and 
diocese ;  however,  that  he  might  not  seem  to  refuse  him  the  assist- 
ance which  he  so  earnestly  entreated,  he  sent  in  his  stead  thither 
the  priest  Leutherius,^  his  nephew,  who,  if  he  thought  fit,  might 
be  ordained  his  bishop,  saying  that  he  thought  him  worthy  of  a 
bishopric.  The  king  and  the  people  received  him  honourably, 
and  entreated  Theodore,  then  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  to  conse- 
crate him  their  bishop.  He  was  accordingly  consecrated  in  the 
same  city,  [a.d.  670,]  and  many  years  zealously  governed  the 
whole  bishopric  of  the  Gevissse  by  synodical  authority. 


Chap.  VIII.  [a.d.  C40.] — How  Eaeconberct,  king  of  Kent,  ordered  the  idols 

TO    BE   destroyed;    AND    OF   HIS    DAUGHTER    EaRCONGOTA,  AND    HIS    KINSWOMAN 
AeDILBERGAE,  VIRGINS  CONSECRATED  TO  GOD. 

§  172.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  640,  Eadbald,^  king 
of  Kent,  departed  this  life,  and  left  his  kingdom  to  his  son  Earcon- 
berct,  which  he  having  received,  most  nobly  governed  twenty-four 
years  and  some  months.  He  was  the  first  of  the  English  kings 
who  of  his  supreme  authority  commanded  the  idols,  throughout 
his  whole  kingdom,  to  be  forsaken  and  destroyed,  and  the  fast  of 
forty  days  to  be  observed  ;  and  that  the  same  might  not  easily  be 
neglected  by  any  one,  he  appointed  proper  and  condign  punishments 
for  the  ofi:enders.  His  daughter  Earcongota,  as  became  the  ofT- 
spring  of  such  a  parent,  was  a  most  virtuous  virgin,  serving  God  in 
a  monastery  in  the  region  of  the  Franks,  built  by  a  most  noble 
abbess,  called  Fara,^  at  a  place  called  "  In  Brig;  "  for  at  that  time 

'  This  i>robably  occurred  in  670  ;  Pagi,  ad  an.  §  4. 

-  After  the  death  or  divorce  of  his  first  wife,  Eadbald  married  Emma,  daughter 
of  a  Frankish  king,  (Florence,  ap.  Petrie  and  Hardy,  635,)  who  probably  was 
daughter  of  Theodbert,  king  of  Austria,  (Pagi,  a.d.  640,  §  10.)  He  died  a.d.  640, 
on  the  '20th  Jan.  according  to  the  Annales  Juvavienses,  or  the  22d  of  that  month 
according  to  Thorne,  col.  1769.  His  son  Earconberct  succeeded,  and  died  14th 
July,  664. 

*  Or  Burgundofara,  as  she  is  more  generally  called.  Her  life  by  Jonas,  a  monk 
of  Bobbio,  is  printed  by  Mabill.,  Act.  Sanct.  ord.  S.  Benedict,  ii.  420. 


400  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  C40, 

but  few  monasteries  being  as  yet  built  in  the  country  of  the  Angles, 
many  were  wont,  for  the  sake  of  monastic  conversation,  to  repair 
to  the  monasteries  of  tlie  Franks  or  of  Gaul  ;  and  they  also  sent 
their  daughters*  there  to  be  instructed,  and  wedded  to  their  heavenly 
Bridegroom,  especially  in  the  monasteries  of  Brige,^  of  Gale,'  and 
Andilegum.*  Among  whom  was  also  Saethrj'd,  daughter  of  the 
wife  of  Anna,  king  of  the  East  Angles,  above  mentioned ;  and 
Aedilberg,  naturaP  daughter  of  the  same  king ;  both  of  whom, 
though  strangers,  were  for  their  virtue  made  abbesses  of  the  monas- 
tery of  Brige.  Sexburg,"  that  king's  eldest  daughter,  wife  to 
Earconberct,  king  of  Kent,  had  a  daughter  called  Earcongota,'  of 
whom  we  are  about  to  speak. 

§  173.  Many  wonderful  works  and  miracles  of  this  virgin,  dedi- 
cated to  God,  are  to  this  day  related  by  the  inhabitants  of  that 
place  ;  but  it  shall  suffice  us  to  say  something  briefly  of  her  passage 
out  of  this  world  to  the  heavenly  kingdom.  The  day  of  her  sum- 
mons drawing  near,  she  visited  in  succession  the  cells  within  the 
monastery  of  the  infirm  servants  of  Christ,  and  particularly  those 
that  were  of  a  great  age,  or  most  noted  for  probity  of  life,  and 
humbly  recommending  herself  to  the  prayers  of  them  all,  she  did 
not  conceal  from  them  that  her  death  was  at  hand,  as  she  knew  by 
revelation,  which,  she  said,  she  had  received  in  this  manner.  She 
had  seen  a  number  of  men,  all  in  white,  come  into  the  monastery, 
and  being  asked  by  her  what  they  wanted,  and  what  they  did 
there  ?  they  answered  that  they  had  been  sent  thither  to  carry 
away  with  tiiem  the  gold  medal  that  had  been  brought  thither  from 
Kent.  Towards  the  conclusion  of  that  same  night,  at  the  dawn 
of  morning,  leaving  the  darkness  of  this  world,  she  departed  to  the 
light  of  heaven.  Many  of  the  brethren  of  that  monastery'  that 
were  in  other  houses,  declared  they  had  then  plainly  heard  concerts 
of  angels  singing,  and  the  noise  as  it  were  of  a  great  multitude 
entering  the  monastery.  Wliereupon,  going  out  immediately  to 
see  what  it  might  be,  they  saw  an  extraordinary  great  light  sent  down 
from  heaven,  which  conducted  that  holy  soul,  set  loose  from  the 
bonds  of  the  flesh,  to  the  eternal  joys  of  the  heavenly  country. 

'  Here  the  Saxon  version  adds  the  remark,  that  "  kings  also  and  noblemen  sent 
their  daughters  thither." 

-  Faremoustier-en-Brie,  formerly  a  celebi-ated  Benedictine  nunnery.  See  Gall. 
Christ,  viii.  1700. 

^  Chelles,  about  four  miles  from  Paris,  a  nunnery  founded  by  Queen  Bathildis, 
wife  of  Clovis  the  Second.     See  Gall.  Christ,  vii.  558. 

*  Andeley,  an  extinct  nunnery,  near  Ilouen,  founded  by  Clotilda,  -wife  of  Clovis 
the  Great.     Gall.  Christ,  xi.  31 ;  Mabill.  Annal.  Bened.  lib.  v.  §  20. 

*  By  "  natural  daughter  "  we  are  not  to  understand  that  she  was  an  illegitimate 
child  ;  it  is  a  term  then  used  in  opposition  to  one  who  had  been  adopted.  See 
Hist.  Ecclesiaj  Meldensis,  by  Plessajus,  i.  698.  The  Bollandists  have  collected  the 
information  which  has  reached  us  respectuig  her,  Acta  Sanct.  Jul.  ii.  481. 

^  Here  again  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  Acta  Sanct.  Jul.  ii.  346.  She  died 
abbess  of  Ely,  after  a.d.  679. 

'  Earcongota  died  an  inmate  of  Faremoustier,  but  not  its  abbess,  as  some  have 
stated.  The  date  of  this  event  is  uncertain.  See  Acta  Sanct.  Feb.  iii.  387 ;  Mabill. 
Annales  Bened.  lib.  xiv.  §  38. 

*  This  was  one  of  the  double  monasteries  which  were  so  common  during  the 
period.  A  list  of  some  of  them  may  be  seen  in  Lingard's  Anglo-Saxon  Church, 
i.  214,  ed.  1845. 


A.D.  G42.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history.— book    III.  401 

They  had  other  miracles  that  were  wrought  from  heaven  the  same 
night  in  the  same  monastery  ;  but  as  we  must  proceed  to  other 
matters,  we  leave  them  to  be  related  by  those  to  whom  such  things 
belong.  Tlae  body  of  this  venerable  virgin  and  bride  of  Christ  was 
buried  in  the  church  of  the  blessed  protomartyr,  Stephen.'  It  was 
thought  fit,  three  days  after,  to  take  up  the  stone  which  covered  the 
grave,  and  to  raise  it  higher  in  the  same  place,  which  whilst  they 
were  doing,  so  great  a  fragrance  of  perfume  boiled  up  from  below, 
that  it  seemed  to  all  the  brethren  and  sisters  there  present,  as  if  a 
store  of  the  richest  balsams  had  been  opened. 

§  174.  Her  aunt  also,  Aedilberg  above  mentioned,  preserved  the 
glory  so  pleasing  to  God,  of  perpetual  virginity,  in  great  continence 
of  body,  iDUt  the  extent  of  her  power  became  more  conspicuous  after 
her  death.  Wliilst  she  was  abbess,  she  began  to  build  in  her 
monastery  a  church,  in  honour  of  all  the  apostles,  wherein  she 
desired  that  her  body  might  be  buried ;  but  when  that  work  was 
advanced  nearly  half  way,  she  was  prevented  by  death  from  finishing 
it,  and  buried  in  the  very  place  of  the  church  where  she  had  desired. 
After  her  death,  the  brethren  occupied  themselves  with  other  things 
in  preference,  and  this  structure  was  intermitted  for  seven  years,  at 
the  expiration  whereof  they  resolved,  by  reason  of  the  greatness  of 
the  work,  wholly  to  lay  aside  the  building  of  the  church,  but  to 
translate  the  abbess's  bones  from  thence  to  some  other  church  that 
was  finished  and  consecrated  ;  and,  on  opening  her  tomb,  they 
found  the  body  as  free  from  decay  as  it  had  been  from  the  corrup- 
tion of  carnal  concupiscence,  and  having  washed  it  again  and  put  on 
it  other  clothes,  they  translated  the  same  to  the  church  of  the 
blessed  martyr,  Stephen,  whose  nativity  (or  commemoration-day)  is 
there  celebrated  with  much  magnificence  on  the  day  of  the  nones 
of  July  [7th  July]. 


Chap.  IX.  [a.d.  642.] — How  miraculous  Cures  have  been  frequently  done  in 

THE    PLACE  WHERE    KING  OSUALD    WAS    KILLED  ;    AND    HOW,  FIRST,  A  TRAVELLER'S 
HORSE  WAS  RESTORED,  AND  AFTERWARDS  A  YOUNG  GIRL  CURED  OF  THE  PALSY. 

§  175.  OsuALD,  the  most  christian  king  of  the  Northumbrians, 
reigned  nine  years,  including  that  yeai-  which  is  to  be  held  accursed 
for  the  brutal  impiety  of  the  king  of  the  Britons,  and  the  mad 
apostasy  of  the  English  kings  ;  for,  as  was  said  above,'  it  is  agreed 
by  the  unanimous  consent  of  all,  that  the  names  and  memory  of 
the  apostates  should  be  entirely  erased  from  the  catalogue  of  the 
christian  kings,  and  no  date  be  ascribed  to  their  reign.  After  whidi 
period,  Osuald  was  killed  in  a  great  battle,  by  the  same  pagan 
nation  and  pagan  king  of  the  Mercians,  who  had  slain  his  pre- 
decessor Aeduini,  at  a  place  called  in  the  English  tongue  Maserfelth,* 

1  See  MabiU.  Annal.  Bened.  lib.  siii.  §  6.  ^  See  §  151. 

^  This  locality  is  a  disputed  point.  A  place  called  Winwick,  in  Lancashire, 
named  Maserfield,  has  claims  to  be  regarded  as  the  spot  where  the  battle  was 
fought;  but  there  are  stronger  arguments  in  favour  of  Oswestry,  {i.e.  Oswald's 
tree,)  in  Shropshire.  It  is  called  by  the  Welsh  "  Croix  Osualde,"  (Oswald's  cross,) 
and  here  is  a  church,  mentioned  by  Leland,  which  is  dedicated  to  that  king. 
Camd.  Brit.  col.  65S ;  Monast.  Anglic,  i.  38,  ed.  1655. 
VOL.    I.  D  D 


402  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  C42. 

in  the  tliirty-eightli '  year  of  his  age,  on  the  fifth  day  of  the  month, 
of  August. 

§  176.  How  great  his  faith  was  towards  God,  and  how  remark- 
able his  devotion,  has  been  made  evident  by  miracles  since  his 
death ;  for,  in  the  place  where  he  was  killed  by  the  pagans,  fighting 
for  his  country,  infirm  men  and  cattle  are  healed  to  this  day. 
Whereupon  many  took  up  the  very  dust  of  the  place  where 
his  body  fell  on  the  ground,  and  putting  it  into  water,  did  much 
good  with  it  to  their  friends  who  were  sick.  This  custom  came  so 
much  into  use,  that  the  earth  being  carried  away  by  degrees,  there 
remained  a  hole  as  deep  as  the  height  of  a  man.  Nor  is  it  to  be 
wondered  that  the  sick  should  be  healed  in  the  place  where  he 
died  ;  for,  whilst  he  lived,  he  never  ceased  to  provide  for  the  poor 
and  infirm,  and  to  bestow  alms  on  them,  and  assist  them.  ISlany 
miracles  are  said  to  have  been  wrought  in  that  place,  or  with  the 
earth  carried  from  thence  ;  but  we  have  thought  it  sufficient  to 
mention  two,  which  we  heard  from  our  ancestors. 

§  177.  It  happened,  not  long  after  his  death,  that  a  man  was 
travelling  on  horse-back  near  that  place,  when  his  horse  on  a  sudden 
began  to  tire,  to  stand  stock-still,  hang  down  his  head,  and  foam  at 
the  mouth,  and,  at  length,  as  his  pain  increased,  he  fell  to  the 
ground  ;  the  rider  dismounted,  and  throwing  some  straw  under 
him,  waited  to  see  whether  the  beast  would  recover,  or  he  should 
have  to  leave  him  dead.  At  length,  after  much  rolling  about  in 
extreme  anguish,  the  horse  happened  to  come  to  the  veiy  place  where 
the  illustrious  king  died.  Immediately  the  pain  ceased,  the  beast 
gave  over  his  mad  struggles,  and,  as  is  usual  with  tired  horses, 
turned  gently  from  side  to  side,  and  then  starting  up,  perfectly 
recovered,  began  to  graze  on  the  green  herbage. 

§  178.  This  the  man  obsei'ving,  being  an  ingenious  person,  he 
concluded  there  must  be  some  wonderful  sanctity  in  the  place  where 
the  horse  had  been  healed,  and  left  a  mark  there,  [that  he  might 
know  the  spot  again.]  After  which  he  again  mounted  his  horse,  and 
repaired  to  the  inn  where  he  intended  to  stop.  On  his  arrival  he 
found  there  a  girl,  niece  to  the  landlord,  who  had  long  languished 
under  the  palsy ;  and  when  the  friends  of  the  family,  in  his 
jiresence,  lamented  the  girl's  bitter  calamity,  he  gave  them  an 
account  of  the  place  where  his  horse  had  been  cured.  In  short, 
she  was  put  into  a  cart  and  carried  and  laid  down  at  the  place. 
Being  placed  there,  she  slept  awhile,  and  when  she  awaked  found 
herself  healed  of  her  bodily  infirmity.  Upon  which  she  called  for 
water,  washed  her  face,  arranged  her  hair,  and  covered  her  head 
with  a  linen  cloth,  and  returned  home  on  foot,  in  good  health,  with 
those  who  had  brought  her. 

'  According  to  the  Saxou  version,  he  was  in  the  o7th  year  of  his  age. 


A.D.  6^2.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  403 

Chap.  X.  [a.d.  6i2.] — Op  the  power  of  the  earth  of  that  place  against  fire. 
§  179.  About  the  same  time,  another  person  of  the  Britisli 
nation,  as  is  reported,  happened  to  travel  by  the  same  place,  where 
the  aforesaid  battle  was  fought ;  and  observing  one  particular  spot 
of  ground  greener  and  more  beautiful  than  any  other  part  of  the 
field,  he  judiciously  concluded  with  himself  that  there  could  be  no 
other  cause  for  that  unusual  greenness  in  that  place,  but  that  some 
person  of  more  holiness  than  any  other  in  the  army  had  there  been 
killed.  He  therefore  took  along  with  him  some  of  the  dust  of  that 
earth,  tying  it  up  in  a  linen  cloth,  supposing  it  would  some  time  or 
other  be  of  use  for  curing  sick  people,  and  proceeding  on  his 
journey,  he  came  at  evening  to  a  certain  village,  and  entered  a  house 
where  the  villagers  were  feasting  at  supper.  Being  received  by  the 
owners  of  the  house,  he  sat  down  with  them  at  the  entertainment, 
hanging  the  cloth,  in  which  he  had  brought  the  earth,  on  a  post 
against  the  wall.  They  feasted  long  and  drank  hard,  with  a  great 
fire  in  the  middle  of  the  room ;  it  happened  that  the  sparks  flew 
up  and  caught  the  top  of  the  house,  which,  being  made  of  wattles 
and  covered  with  thatch,  was  presently  in  a  flame  ;  when  the  guests 
saw  this,  they  suddenly  ran  out  in  a  fright,  without  being  able  to 
put  a  stop  to  the  fire  which  was  about  to  consume  the  house.  The 
house  was  consequently  burnt  down  ;  only  that  post  on  which  the 
dust  hung  remained  entire  and  untouched  by  the  flames.  On 
observing  this  wonder,  they  were  till  amazed,  and  inquiring  into  it 
diligently,  understood  that  the  dust  had  been  taken  from  the  place 
where  the  blood  of  king  Osuald  had  been  shed.  These  miracles 
being  made  known  and  reported  far  and  wide,  many  began  daily  to 
frequent  that  place,  and  received  health  to  themselves  and  their 
friends. 

Chap.  XI.  [a.d.  642.] — Of  the  Heavenly  Light  that  rested  all  the  night  oyer 
HIS  Relics,  and  how  by  them  persons  possessed  with  devils  were  cured. 

§  180.  Among  the  rest,  I  think  we  ought  not  to  pass  over,  in 
silence,  the  heavenly  power  and  miracle  which  were  shown  when 
his  bones  were  found,  and  translated  into  the  church  where  they 
are  now  preserved.  This  was  done  by  the  care  of  Osthryda,  queen 
of  the  Mercians,  the  daughter  of  his  brother  Osuiu,  who  reigned 
after  him,  as  shall  be  said  hereafter. 

§  181.  There  is  a  noble  monastery  in  the  province  of  Lindissi, 
called  Beardaneu,  which  that  queen  and  her  husband  Aedilred 
much  loved,  venerated,  and  honoured.  It  was  here  that  she  was 
desirous  to  lay  the  venerable  bones  of  her  uncle.  When  the  waggon 
in  which  those  bones  were  carried  arrived  towards  evening  at  the 
aforesaid  monasteiy,  they  that  were  in  it  refused  to  admit  them, 
because,  though  they  knew  him  to  be  a  holy  man,  yet  as  he  was  a 
native  of  another  province,  and  had  acquired  dominion  over  them 
[as  a  foreign  king],  they  retained  their  ancient  aversion  to  him 
even  after  death.  Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  the  relics  were  left  in 
the  open  air  all  that  night,  with  only  a  large  tent  spread  over  the 
waggon  in  which  they  were  ;  but  the  appearance  of  a  heavenly 
miracle  showed  with  how  much  reverence  they  ought  to  be  received 

D  D    2 


404  CIIURCn    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  G42. 

by  all  the  faithful  ;  for  during  that  whole  night,  a  pillar  of  light, 
reaching  from  the  waggon  up  to  heaven,  was  seen  by  almost  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  province  of  Lindissi.  Hereupon,  in  the  morning, 
the  brethren  of  that  monastery,  who  liad  refused  it  the  day  before, 
themselves  began  earnestly  to  pray  that  those  holy  relics,  so  beloved 
by  God,  might  be  deposited  among  them.  Accordingly,  the  bones, 
being  washed,  were  put  into  a  shrine  which  they  had  made  for  that 
jnirp'ose,  and  placed  in  the  church,  with  due  honour ;  and  that 
there  might  be  a  perpetual  memorial  of  the  royal  person  of  this 
holv  man,  they  hung  up  over  the  monument  his  banner  made  of 
gold  and  purple;  and  poured  out  the  water  in  which  they  had 
washed  the  bones,  in  a  corner  of  the  sacristy.  From  that  time, 
the  very  earth  which  received  that  holy  water  had  the  effect  of  a 
salutary  grace  in  expelling  devils  from  the  bodies  of  persons 
possessed. 

§  182.  Lastly,  when  the  aforesaid  queen  afterwards  made  some 
stay  in  the  same  monaster)^  there  came  to  visit  her  a  certain 
venerable  abbess,  who  is  still  living,  called  Aedilhild,  the  sister  of 
the  holy  men  Aedilvini  and  Aldevini,  the  first  of  whom  was  bishop 
in  the  province  of  Lindissi,  the  other  abbat  of  the  monastery  called 
Peartaneu  ;  not  far  from  which  was  her  monastery.  Wlien  this 
lady  was  come  thither,  in  a  conversation  between  her  and  the 
queen,  the  discourse,  among  other  things,  turning  upon  Osuald, 
she  said  that  she  also  had  that  night  seen  a  light  reaching  from  the 
relics  up  to  heaven.  The  queen  thereupon  added,  that  the  very 
dust  of  the  pavement  on  which  the  water  that  washed  [the  bones] 
had  been  spilt,  had  already  healed  many  sick  persons.  She  there- 
upon desired  that  some  of  the  said  healthful  dust  might  be  given 
her,  which  she  tied  up  in  a  cloth,  and  putting  it  into  a  little  casket, 
returned  home.  Some  time  after,  when  she  was  in  her  monaster)', 
there  came  to  it  a  guest,  who  was  wont  often  in  the  night  to  be  on 
a  sudden  grievously  tormented  with  an  unclean  spirit ;  he  being 
hospitably  entertained,  and  having  gone  to  bed  after  supper,  was 
on  a  sudden  seized  by  the  devil,  and  began  to  ciy  out,  to  gnash  his 
teeth,  to  foam  at  the  mouth,  and  to  distort  his  limbs  by  different 
movements.  None  being  able  to  hold  or  bind  him,  the  servant 
ran,  and  knocking  at  the  door,  acquainted  the  abbess.  She,  opening 
the  monastery  door,  went  out  herself  with  one  of  the  nuns  to  the 
place  of  the  men,'  and  calling  a  priest,  desired  he  would  come  with 
her  to  the  sufferer.  Being  come  thither,  and  seeing  many  more 
])resent,  who  had  not  been  able,  though  they  endeavoured  it,  to 
hold  the  tormented  person  and  prevent  his  convulsive  motions,  the 
priest  used  exorcisms,  and  did  all  he  could  to  assuage  the  madness 
of  the  unfortunate  man,  but,  though  he  took  much  pains,  neither 
could  he  prevail.  Wlien  no  hope  appeared  of  easing  the  madman, 
the  abbess  suddenly  bethought  herself  of  the  said  dust,  and  imme- 
diately ordered  her  servant  to  go  and  fetch  her  the  small  casket  in 
which  it  was.  As  soon  as  she  came  with  what  she  had  been  sent 
for  into  the  porch  of  the  house,  in  the  inner  part  whereof  the 
possessed  person  was  tormented,  he  became  suddenly  silent,  and 
'  Here  wo  have  another  iUustratiou  of  the  double  mona-steiy. 


A.D.  642.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  405 

laid  down  his  head,  as  if  he  had  been  falhng  asleep,  stretching  out 
all  his  limbs  to  rest.  All  present  were  silent  and  watchful,  and 
stood  attentive  to  see  the  end  of  the  aftair.  After  some  time,  the 
man  that  had  been  tormented  sat  up,  and  fetching  a  deep  sigh 
said,  "  Now  I  am  like  a  sound  man,  for  I  am  restored  to  my  mental 
senses."  They  earnestly  inquired  how  that  came  to  pass,  and  he 
answered,  "  As  soon  as  that  virgin  drew  near  the  porch  of  this 
house,  with  the  casket  she  was  carrying,  all  the  evil  spirits  that 
vexed  me  departed,  and  having  left  me,  were  no  more  to  be  seen." 
Then  the  abbess  gave  him  a  little  of  that  dust,  and  the  priest  having 
prayed,  he  had  a  very  quiet  night ;  nor  did  he,  from  that  time 
forward,  suffer  the  least  nocturnal  fear  or  disturbance  from  the  old 
enemy. 

Chap.  XII.  [a.d.  642.] — Of  a  Boy  cured  of  a  Fever  at  his  tomb. 

§  183.  Some  time  after,  there  was  a  certain  little  boy  in  the  said 
monaster)^  who  had  been  long  troubled  with  a  severe  fever  ;  he  was 
one  day  anxiously  expecting  the  hour  at  which  his  fit  was  to  come 
on,  when  one  of  the  brethren,  coming  in  to  him,  said,  "  Shall  I  tell 
you,  my  child,  how  you  may  be  cured  of  this  distemper  ?  Rise, 
go  into  the  church,''and  get  close  to  Osuald's  tomb  ;  stay  there 
quiet,  and  do  not  leave  the  tomb  ;  be  careful  that  you  do  not  come 
away,  or  stir  from  the  place,  till  the  time  that  your  fit  is  to  go  off 
shall  have  elapsed ;  then  I  will  go  in  and  fetch  you  away."  The 
boy  did  as  he  was  advised,  and  the  disease  durst  not  affect  him  as 
he  sat  by  the  saint's  tomb ;  but  in  its  fear  fled  so  absolutely,  that  it 
durst  not  touch  him  either  on  the  second  or  third  day,  or  ever  after. 
The  brother  that  came  from  thence,  and  told  me  this,  added,  that 
at  the  time  when  he  was  talking  with  me,  the  young  man  was  then 
still  living  in  that  monastery,  on  whom,  when  a  boy,  that  miracu- 
lous cure  had  been  wrought.  Nor  is  it  to  be  wondered  that  the 
prayers  of  that  king,  who  was  then  reigning  with  our  Lord,  should 
be  very  efficacious  with  him,  since  he,  whilst  formerly  governing 
his  temporal  kingdom,  was  also  wont  to  pray  and  take  more  pains 
for  that  which  is  eternal. 

§  184.  In  short,  it  is  reported,  that  he  often  continued  in 
prayer  from  the  hour  of  mattin  lauds  till  it  was  day ;  and  that 
by  reason  of  his  constant  custom  of  praying  or  giving  thanks  to 
the  Lord,  he  was  wont  always,  v.dierever  he  sat,  to  hold  his 
hands  turned  up  on  his  knees.  It  is  also  commonly  reported,^ 
and  became  a  trite  proverb,  that  he  ended  his  life  in  words  of 
prayer ;  for  when  he  was  beset  with  weapons  and  enemies,  and 
perceived  that  he  must  immediately  be  killed,  he  prayed  for  the 
souls  of  his  army.  Wlience  it  is  proverbially  said,  "  Lord  have 
mercy  on  their  souls,  said  Osuald,  as  he  fell  to  the  ground."  His 
bones,'  therefore,  were  translated  into  the  monastery  which  we  have 

^  During  the  Danish  invasion  they  were  carried  from  Bardney  to  Gloucester. 
Sim.  Dunelm.  col.  152;  Brompton,  col.  833  ;  Capgrave,  fol.  256.  His  head  was 
placed  in  the  same  coffin  with  the  body  of  St.  Ciithbert,  and  was  found  when  the 
tomb  of  that  saint  was  examined  in  1827.  See  p.  187  of  the  work  pitblished  by 
the  Rev.  J.  Raine,  entitled,  "  St.  Cuthbert,  with  an  Account  of  the  state  in  which 
his  Remains  were  found  upon  the  opening  of  the  Tomb  in  Durham  Cathedral,  iu 
1827."     4to.     Durham,  1828. 


406  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  642. 

mentioned,  and  buried  tliercin  :  but  the  king  that  slew  him  com- 
manded his  head,  hands,  and  arms  to  be  cut  off  from  the  body, 
and  hung  upon  stakes.  But  his  successor  in  the  throne,  Osuiu, 
coming  thither  a  year  after,  with  his  army,  took  them  down,  and 
buried  his  head  in  the  church  of  Lindisfarne,  and  the  hands  and 
arms  in  the  Royal  City.' 


Chap.  XIII.  [a.d.  642.] — Of  a  certain  person  in  Ireland  who  was  recovered, 

WHEN  AT  THE  POINT  OF  DEATH,  BY  HIS  ReLICS. 

§  185.  Nor  was  the  fame  of  this  renowned  personage  confined 
to  Britain,  but  spreading  the  rays  of  his  heahng  brightness  even  far 
beyond  the  sea,  it  reached  also  to  Germany  and  Ireland.  In  short, 
the  most  reverend  prelate,  Acca,^  is  wont  to  relate,  that  when,  in 
his  journey  to  Rome,  he  and  his  bishop  Uilfrid  stayed  some  time 
with  Uilbrord,  the  most  holy  archbishop  of  the  Frisians,  he  had 
often  heard  him  talk  of  the  wonders  which  had  been  wrought  in 
that  province  at  the  relics  of  that  most  reverend  king.  And  that 
in  Ireland,  when,  being  yet  only  a  priest,  he  led  a  pilgrim's  life 
therein  for  love  of  the  eternal  country^  the  fame  of  that  king's 
sanctity  was  already  spread  far  and  near  in  that  island  also.  One 
of  the  miracles,  among  the  rest,  which  he  related,  we  have  thought 
fit  to  insert  in  our  histoiy. 

§  186.  "  At  the  time,"  said  he,  "  of  the  mortality'  which  made 
such  great  havoc  in  Britain  and  Ireland,  among  others,  the  infec- 
tion reached  a  certain  scholar  of  the  Scottish  race,  a  man  indeed 
learned  in  worldly  literature,  but  in  no  way  solicitous  or  studious 
of  his  own  eternal  salvation  ;  who,  seeing  his  death  near  at  hand, 
began  to  fear  and  tremble,  lest  as  soon  as  he  was  dead  he  should 
be" hurried  away  to  hell  for  his  sins.  He  sent  for  me,  for  I  was 
in  that  neighbourhood,  and  whilst  he  was  trembling  and  sighing, 
with  a  mournful  voice  he  made  his  complaint  to  me,  in  this  manner : 
•  You  see  that  my  distemper  gradually  increases,  and  that  I 
am  now  reduced  to  the  point  of  death.  Nor  do  I  question  but 
that  after  the  death  of  my  body  I  shall  be  immediately  snatched 
away  to  the  perpetual  death  of  my  soul,  and  undergo  the  torments 
of  hell;  since  for  a  long  time,  amidst  all  my  reading  of  divine  books, 
I  have  rather  addicted  myself  to  vice,  than  to  keep  the  command- 
ments of  God.  But  it  is  my  resolution,  if  the  divine  mercy  shall 
grant  me  a  new  term  of  life,  to  correct  my  vicious  habits,  and 
totally  to  reform  my  mind  and  whole  course  of  life  in  obedience  to 
the  divine  will.  But  I  am  sensible,  that  I  have  no  merits  of 
my  own  to  obtain  a  prolongation  of  life,  nor  can  I  confide  in  it, 
unless  it  shall  please  God  to  forgive  me,  miserable  and  unworthy 
as  I  am,  through  the  assistance  of  those  who  have  faithfully  served 
Him.  We  have  heard,  and  the  report  is  universal,  that  there  was 
in  your  nation  a  king,  of  wonderful  sanctity,  called  Osuald,  tlic 

'  Namely,  Bamborough,  in  NortliuTiiberlaiid.     See  §  1G6. 
■■'  This  event  liajipencd  in  678  or  679.     See  the  Life  of  Wilfred,  by  Eddius. 
'  On  this   pestilence,  wbich  occurred  in  665,  nee  Ussher,  Brit.   Eccl.   Antiq. 
pp.  490,  491. 


A.D.  C42.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    in.  40/ 

excellency  of  whose  faith  and  virtue  is  become  renowned  even  after 
his  death  by  the  working  of  miracles.  I  beseech  you,  if  you  have 
any  relics  of  his  in  your  custody,  that  you  will  bring  the  same  to 
me  ;  in  case  the  Lord  shall  be  pleased,  through  his  merits,  to  have 
mercy  on  me.'  I  answered,  '  I  have  indeed  some  of  the  stake  on 
which  his  head  was  set  up  by  the  pagans,  when  he  was  kiUed;  and 
if  you  believe,  with  a  sincere  heart,  the  divine  goodness  may, 
through  the  merit  of  so  great  a  man,  both  grant  you  a  longer  term 
of  life  here,  and  render  you  worthy  of  admittance  into  eternal 
life.'  He  answered  immediately,  that  he  had  entire  faith  therein. 
Then  I  blessed  some  water,  and  put  into  it  a  chip  of  the  aforesaid 
oak,  and  gave  it  the  sick  man  to  drink.  He  presently  found  ease, 
and  recovering  of  his  sickness,  lived  a  long  time  after ;  and,  being 
entirely  converted  to  God  in  heart  and  actions,  wherever  he  came, 
he  spoke  of  the  goodness  of  his  merciful  Creator,  and  the  honour 
of  his  faithful  servant." 


Char  XIV.  [a.d.  642.] — On  the  death  of  Paulinus,  Ithamau  was  made  Bishop 
OF  Rochester  in  his  stead.     Of  the  wonderful  humility  of  King  Osuin, 

WHO  V/AS  cruelly  SLMN  BY  OsUIU. 

§  187.  OsuALD  being  translated  to  the  heavenly  kingdom,  his 
brother  Osuiu,*  a  young  man  of  about  thirty  years  of  age,  succeeded 
him  on  the  throne  of  his  earthly  kingdom,  and  held  it  twenty-eight 
years  with  much  trouble,  being  harassed  by  the  pagan  nation  of  the 
Mercians,^  that  had  slain  his  brother,  as  also  by  his  own  son  Alchfrid, 
and  by  his  cousin-german  Oidilvald,  the  son  of  his  brother  who  had 
reigned  before  him.  In  his  second  year,  that  is,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord's  incarnation  644,  the  most  reverend  father  Paulinus,  for- 
merly bishop  of  York,  but  then  of  the  city  of  Rochester,  departed 
to  our  Lord,  on  the  sixth  day  of  the  ides  of  October,  [10th  Oct.] 
having  held  the  bishopric  nineteen^  years,  two  months,  and  twenty - 
one  days  ;  and  was  buried  in  the  sacristy  of  the  blessed  apostle 
Andrew,  which  king  Aedilberct  had  built  from  the  foundation,  in 
the  same  city  of  Rochester.  In  his  place,  archbishop  Honorius 
ordained  Ithamar,*  a  native  of  the  Kentish  nation,  but  not  inferior 
to  his  predecessors  in  learning  and  conduct  of  life. 

§  188.  [a.d.  651.]  Osuiu,  during  the  first  part  of  his  reign,  had 
a  partner  in  the  royal  dignity  called  Osuini,^  of  the  race  of  king 
Aeduini,  and  son  to  Osric,  of  whom  we  have  spoken  above,  a  man 
of  wonderful  piety  and  religion,  who  governed  the  province  of  the 

'  Since  Beda,  when  mentioning  the  death  of  bishop  Paulinus,  here  joins  10  Oct. 
in  the  second  year  of  Osuiu,  with  a.d.  644,  it  follows  that  he  could  not  have 
come  to  the  throne  before  10  Oct.  642.     fiee  Pagi  ad  an.  §  3. 

-  Peuda,  king  of  Mercia,  was  probably,  at  this  time,  in  league  with  the  Britons, 
between  whom  and  Oswi,  the  Annals  of  Tigernach  mention  a  battle  as  having 
been  fought  in  642. 

^  Wharton,  Angl.  Sacr.  i.  329,  proposes  that  here,  instead  of  nineteen  years  we 
should  read  eleven  ;  not  ol>3erving  that  Beda  speaks  of  the  whole  of  the  episcopate 
of  Paulinus,  and  not  of  the  period  during  which  he  filled  the  see  of  Rochester  only. 

*  His  episcopate  extends  from  644  to  664. 

^  He  was  canonized,  and  his  history  may  be  seen  in  the  Acta  SS.  Aug.  iv.  57. 


408  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  642— 

Deiri  seven  years  in  very  great  prosperity,  and  was  himself  beloved 
by  all  men.  But  neither  could  he,  who  governed  all  the  other 
northern  part  of  the  nation  beyond  the  Humber,  that  is,  the  pro- 
vince of  the  Bernicians,  live  at  peace  with  him  ;  but  on  the 
contrary,  the  causes  of  their  disagreement  being  heightened,  he 
murdered  him  most  cruelly.  For  when  they  had  raised  armies 
against  one  another,  Osuini  perceived  that  he  could  not  maintain  a 
war  against  one  who  had  more  auxiliaries  than  himself,  and  so 
thought  it  better  at  that  time  to  lay  aside  all  thoughts  of  w'arfare, 
and  to  preserve  himself  for  better  times.  He  therefore  dismissed 
the  army  which  he  had  assembled,  and  ordered  all  his  men  to  return 
to  their  own  homes,  from  the  place  that  is  called  Uilfaraesdun,' 
that  is,  Uilfar's  Hill,  which  is  almost  ten  miles  distant  from  tlie 
village  called  Cataract,^  towards  the  south-west.  He  himself,  with 
only  one  trusty  soldier,  whose  name  was  Tondheri,  withdrew  and 
lay  concealed  in  the  house  of  earl  Hunvald,  whom  he  imagined  to 
be  his  most  assured  friend.  But,  alas  !  it  w^as  far  otherwise ;  for 
the  same  earl  betrayed  him,  and  Osuiu,  in  a  detestable  manner,  by 
the  hands  of  his  prefect  Aediluin,  slew  him  and  the  soldier  afore- 
said. This  happened  on  the  13th  of  the  calends  of  September, 
[20th  Aug.]  in  the  ninth  year  of  his  reign,  at  a  place  called 
"  Ingetlingum,"^  where  afterwards,  to  atone  for  his  crime,  a  monas- 
tery was  built,  w^herein  prayers  were  to  be  daily  offered  up  to  the 
Lord  for  the  redemption  of  the  souls  of  both  kings,  that  is,  of  him 
that  was  miuxlered,  and  of  him  that  conmianded  him  to  be  killed. 

§  189.  King  Osuini  was  of  a  graceful  aspect,  and  tall  of  stature, 
affable  in  discourse,  and  courteous  in  behaviour  ;  and  most  bountiful 
to  all  men,  as  well  to  .the  ignoble  as  the  noble  ;  so  that  he  was  beloved 
by  every  one  for  his  royal  qualities  of  body  and  mind,  and  his  merits, 
and  persons  of  even  the  first  rank  came  from  almost  all  provinces 
to  serve  him.  Among  other  virtues  and  rare  endowments  and 
glorious  blessings,  if  I  may  so  express  it,  humility  is  said  to  have 
been  the  greatest,  which  it  will  suffice  to  prove  by  one  example. 

§  190. "He  had  given  an  excellent  horse  to  Bishop  Aidan,  which 
he  might  either  use  in  crossing  rivers,  or  in  performing  a  journey 
upon  any  urgent  necessity,  though  he  was  wont  to  travel  ordinarily 
on  foot.  Some  short  time  after,  a  poor  man  meeting  him,  and 
asking  alms,  he  immediately  dismounted,  and  ordered  the  horse, 
with  all  his  royal  trappings,  to  be  given  to  the  beggar ;  for  he  was 
very  compassionate,  a  great  friend  to  the  poor,  and,  as  it  were,  the 
father  of  the  wretched.  This  being  told  to  the  king,  when  they 
were  going  in  to  dinner,  he  said  to  the  bishop,  "  Why  would  you, 
my  lord  bishop,  give  the  poor  man  that  royal  horse,  which  was 
necessary  for  your  own  use  V  Had  not  we  many  other  horses  of  less 
value,  and  of  other  sorts,  which  would  have  been  good  enough  to 
give  to  the  poor,  and  not  to  give  that  horse,  which  I  had  particularly 

'  Although  Beda  has  taken  pains  to  indicate  this  locality  with  precision, 
modem  topogi-aphers  are  unable  to  identify  its  jiosition. 

^  See  §  133. 

'  Now  GUling,  near  Richmond,  in  Yorksliire.  Dr.  "Whittaker  asserts  that  the 
ruins  of  the  castle  in  which  the  murder  was  committed  were  removed  only  a  few 
years  ago,  a  statement  which  is  contradicted  by  Raine,  in  his  St.  Cuthbcrt,  p.  8. 


A.D.  G51.]       BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  409 

chosen  as  a  gift  for  yourself  ?  "  To  whom  the  bishop  instantly 
answered,  "  What  is  it  you  say,  O  king  ?  Is  that  foal  of  a  mare  more 
dear  to  you  than  that  Son  of  God  ?  "  Upon  this  they  went  in  to 
dinner,  and  the  bishop  sat  in  his  place  ;  but  the  king,  who  was 
come  from  hunting,  stood  warming  himself,  with  his  attendants,  at 
the  fire.  Then,  on  a  sudden,  whilst  he  was  warming  himself, 
calling  to  mind  what  the  bishop  had  said  to  him,  he  ungirt  his 
sword,  and  gave  it  to  a  servant,  and  approaching  in  a  hasty  manner 
fell  down  at  the  bishop's  feet,  beseeching  him  to  forgive  him  ;  "  For 
from  this  time  fol•^^^ard,"  said  he,  "  I  will  never  speak  any  more  of  this, 
nor  will  I  judge  of  what,  or  how  much  of  our  money  you  shall  give 
to  the  sons  of  God."  The  bishop  was  much  agitated  at  this  sight, 
and  immediately  starting  up,  raised  him,  saying,  that  he  would  be 
entirely  reconciled  to  him,  if  he  would  but  sit  down  to  his  meat, 
and  lay  aside  all  sorrow.  The  king,  at  the  bishop's  command  and 
request,  beginning  to  be  merry,  the  bishop  on  the  other  hand  grew 
so  melancholy  as  even  to  shed  tears.  His  priest  then  asking  him, 
in  the  language  of  his  country,  which  the  king  and  his  sen-ants  did 
not  understand,  why  he  wept,  "  I  know,"  said  he,  "  that  the  king 
will  not  live  long  ;  for  I  never  before  saw  a  humble  king  ;  whence  I 
conclude  that  he  will  soon  be  snatched  out  of  this  life,  because  this 
nation  is  not  worthy  of  such  a  ruler."  Not  long  after,  the  bishop's 
dire  prediction  was  fulfilled  by  the  king's  sad  death,  as  has  been  said 
above.  But  bishop  Aidan^  himself  was  also  taken  out  of  this 
world,  only  twelve  days  after  the  king  he  loved,  that  is,  on  the  day 
before  the  kalends  of  September,  [31st  Aug.]  to  receive  from  our 
Lord  the  eternal  reward  of  his  labours. 


Chap.  XV.  [a.d.  642 — C51.] — How  Bishop  Aiuan  foretold  to  certain  seamen 
A  storm  that  would  happen,  and  gave  them  some  holy  oil  to  allay  it. 

§  191.  How  great  were  the  merits  of  this  man,  was  made  mani- 
fest by  the  all-seeing  Judge,  with  the  testimony  of  miracles,  whereof 
it  will  suffice  to  mention  three  as  a  memorial.  A  certain  priest, 
whose  name  was  Utta,"  a  man  of  great  gravity  and  truthfulness,  and 
on  that  account  honoured  by  all  men,  even  the  princes  of  the  world, 
being  ordered  to  go  to  Kent,  to  bring  from  thence,  as  wife  for 
king  Osuiu,  Eanfleda,'  the  daughter  of  king  Aeduin,  who  had  been 
carried  thither  when  her  father  was  killed ;  and  intending  to  go 
thither  by  land,  but  to  return  with  the  virgin  by  sea,  repaired  to 
bishop  Aidan,  entreating  him  to  offer  up  his  prayers  to  our  Lord 
for  him  and  his  company,  who  were  then  to  set  out  on  such  a 
journey.  He,  blessing  and  recommending  them  to  our  Lord,  at 
the  same  time  gave  them  some  consecrated  oil,  saying,  "  I  know 
that  when  you  go  on  ship- board,  you  will  meet  with  a  storm  and 
contrary  wind  ;  but  do  you  remember  to  cast  this  oil  which  I  give 
you  into  the  sea,  and  the  wind  shall  cease  immediately ;  you  will 
have  a  pleasant  calm  sea,  and  will  return  home  safely." 

'  See  a  sketch  of  his  life  in  the  Acta  SS.  mens.  Aug.  vi.  688. 
^  He  was  abbot  of  the  monastery  at  Gateshead.  See  §  211. 
'  See  §§  114  and  liS.     The  exact  date  of  this  marriage  is  uncertain. 


410  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  G42— 

§  192.  All  which  happened  in  order,  as  the  bishop  had  predicted. 
For  in  the  first  place,  the  waves  of  the  sea  raging,  the  sailors 
endeavoured  to  ride  it  out  at  anchor,  but  all  to  no  purpose  ;  for  the 
dashing  sea  breaking  in  on  all  sides,  and  the  ship  beginning  to  be 
filled  with  water,  they  all  concluded  that  certain  (leath  was  at  hand  ; 
the  priest  at  last,  remembering  the  bishop's  words,  laid  hold  of  the 
phial  and  cast  some  of  the  oil  into  the  sea,  which,  as  had  been  fore- 
told, became  presently  calm  from  its  fury.  Thus  it  came  to  pass 
that  the  man  of  God,  by  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  both  foretold  the 
storm  that  was  to  happen,  and  by  virtue  of  the  same  spirit,  though 
absent  in  body,  appeased  the  same  after  it  had  arisen.  Which 
miracle  was  not  told  me  by  a  person  of  little  credit,  but  by  Cyni- 
raund,  a  most  faithful  priest  of  our  church,  who  declared  that  it 
was  related  to  him  by  Utta  himself,  the  priest  on  and  by  whom 
the  same  was  wrought. 

CuAP.  XVI.  [a.D.  642— 651.]— How  tue  same  persox,  by  iiis  prayers,  saved  the 
Royal  City  when  fired  by  tue  enemy. 

§  193.  Another'  notable  miracle  of  the  same  father  is  related 
by  many  such  as  were  likely  to  have  knowledge  thereof ;  for  during 
the  time  that  he  was  bishop,  the  hostile  army  of  the  Mercians, 
under  the  command  of  Penda,  impiously  ravaged  the  country  of 
the  Northumbrians  far  and  near,  and  came  even  to  the  Royal  City," 
which  has  its  name  from  Bebba,'  formerly  its  queen.  Not  being 
able  to  enter  it  by  force,  or  by  siege,  he  endeavoured  to  burn  it ; 
and  having  broken  up  the  cottages  which  he  found  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  city,  he  brought  to  it  an  immense  quantity  of 
beams,  planks,  wattles  from  the  walls  and  thatch  from  the  roofs, 
wherewith  he  encompassed  the  city  to  a  great  height  on  the  land 
side,  and  when  he  perceived  that  the  wind  set  upon  it,  he  fired  the 
mass,  designing  to  burn  the  town. 

§  194.  At  that  time,  the  most  reverend  bishop  Aidan  resided  in 
the  isle  of  Fame,  which  is  nearly  two  miles  from  the  city;  for 
thither  he  was  wont  veiy  often  to  retire  for  the  sake  of  private 
prayer  and  of  silence.  Indeed,*  this  solitary  residence  of  his  is  to 
this  day  shown  in  that  island.  When  he  saw  the  flames  of  fire  and 
the  smoke  carried  by  the  boisterous  wind  above  the  city  walls,  he  is 
reported,  with  weeping  eyes  and  hands  lifted  up  to  heaven,  to  liavc 
said,  "  Behold,  T.ord,  how  great  mischief  Penda  does  !  "  Which 
words  were  hardly  uttered,  when  the  wind  immediately  turning  from 
the  city,  drove  back  the  flames  upon  those  who  had  kindled  them, 
so  that  some  being  hurt,  and  all  frightened,  they  forebore  any  further 
attempts  against  the  city,  which  they  perceived  was  protected  by  the 
hand  of  God. 

'  We  are  unable  to  affirm  the  exact  date  of  tliis  miracle;  possibly  it  occurred 
about  642. 

2  Namely,  Baraborough. 

^  Bebba  was  first  wife  of  Ethelfrith,  king  of  Beniicia.  who  died  in  617. 

*  One  of  the  MSS.  of  the  Saxon  version  here  inserts  a  passage  to  the  effect  that 
fn>m  this  time  a  succession  of  hermits  had  resided  upon  Fame  Island.  At  a 
subsequent  period  it  came  into  the  possession  of  the  monks  of  Durham,  who  esta- 
blished a  cell  in  connexion  with  the  present  monastery.  Beda  mentions  it  again 
in  his  history  of  the  Life  of  St  Cuthlwrt. 


A.D.  652.]        BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  411 

Chap.  XVII.  [a.d.  651.] — How  the  post  of  the  chuech  on  which  Bishop  Aidan 

WAS   LEANING    WHEN    HE   DIED,  COULD    NOT    BE    BURNT   WHEN   THE    REST    OP    THE 
CHURCH  WAS  CONSUMED  BY  FIRE;   AND  OF  HIS  INWARD  LIFE. 

§  195.  AiDAN  was  in  the  royal  residence,  not  far  from  the  city 
of  which  we  have  spoken  above,  at  the  time  when  death  separated 
him  from  his  body,  after  he  had  been  bishop  sixteen  years ;  ^  for 
having  a  church  and  a  chamber  there,  he  was  wont  often  to  go  and 
stay  there,  and  to  make  excursions  to  preach  in  the  country  round 
about,  which  he  likewise  did  at  other  of  the  king's  vills,  having 
nothing  of  his  own  besides  his  church  and  a  few  fields  about  it. 
When  he  was  sick  they  set  up  a  tent  for  him  close  to  the  wall  at 
the  west  end  of  the  church,  so  that  the  tent  touched  the  church - 
wall,  by  which  means  it  happened  that  he  gave  up  the  ghost,  leaning 
against  a  post  that  was  on  the  outside  to  strengthen  the  wall.  He 
died  in  the  seventeenth  year  of  his  episcopacy,  on  the  day  before 
the  kalends  of  September,  [31st  Aug.]  His  body  was  imme- 
diately thence  translated  to  the  isle  of  Lindisfarne,  and  buried  in 
the  churchyard  belonging  to  the  brethren.  Some  time  after,  when 
a  larger  church  was  built  there  and  dedicated  in  honour  of  the  blessed 
prince  of  the  apostles,  his  bones  were  translated  thither,  and  deposited 
on  the  right  hand  of  the  altar,  with  the  respect  due  to  so  great  a 
prelate. 

§  196.  Finan,^  who  had  likewise  been  sent  from  the  same  mona- 
stery of  Hii,  the  Scottish  island,  succeeded  him,  [a.d,  652,]  and 
continued  a  considerable  time  in  the  bishopric.  It  happened  some 
years  after,  that  Penda,  king  of  the  Mercians,  coming  into  these 
parts  with  a  hostile  army,  destroyed  all  he  could  with  fire  and 
sword,  and  burned  down  the  village  and  church  above  mentioned, 
where  the  bishop  died  ;  but  it  fell  out  in  a  wonderful  manner  that 
only  this  post,  upon  which  he  had  leaned  when  he  died,  could  not 
be  consumed  by  the  fire  which  consumed  all  about  it.  This  miracle 
being  taken  notice  of,  the  church  was  soon  rebuilt  in  the  same 
place,  and  that  very  post  was  set  up  on  the  outside,  as  it  had  been 
before,  to  strengthen  the  wall.  It  happened  again,  some  while 
after,  that  the  same  village  and  church  were  burned'  down  the 
second  time  through  carelessness,  and  even  then  the  fire  could  not 
touch  that  post ;  and  when  in  a  most  miraculous  manner  the  fire 
consumed  through  the  very  holes  in  it  wherewith  it  was  fixed  to  the 
building,  yet  it  was  not  permitted  to  hurt  the  said  post.  The 
church  being  therefore  built  there  the  third  time,  they  did  not,  as 
before,  place  that  post  on  the  outside  as  a  support,  but  within  the 
church  itself,  as  a  memorial  of  the  miracle  ;  and  the  people  coming 
in  were  wont  to  kneel  there,  and  implore  the  divine  mercy.  And 
it  is  manifest  that  since  that  time  many  have  been  healed  in  that 

*  From  this  it  appears  that  if  Aidan  was  consecrated  bishop  before  31st  Aug. 
that  event  must  have  happened  in  634 ;  but  in  635,  if  he  was  ordained  after  that 
day.  The  chronology  of  his  life  is  confused  in  consequence  of  the  variation  of 
the  MSS.  of  Beda  at  this  point,  some  reading  seventeen  j-ears  instead  of  sixteen. 
Concerning  him  see  Acta  SS.  mens.  Aug.  vi.  688. 

-  The  episcopate  of  Finan  extends  from  651  to  661. 

^  Vv'e  have  here  an  incidental,  but  a  convincing  iwoof,  that  at  this  time  the 
Saxon  churches  were  l^uilt  with  wood. 


412  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  031. 

same  place,  as  also  that  chips  being  cut  oft"  from  that  post,  and  put 
into  water,  have  healed  many  persons  and  their  friends  from  their 
distempers. 

^  197.  I  have  written  thus  much  concerning  the  person  and 
works  of  the  aforesaid  individual,  in  no  way  commending  or 
approving  what  he  imperfectly  understood  in  relation  to  the  observ- 
ance of  Easter  ;  nay,  ver)^  much  detesting  the  same,  as  I  have 
most  manifestly  proved  in  the  book  I  have  written,  "  De  Tempori- 
bus  ;"'  but,  like  an  impartial  historian,  simply  relating  what  was 
done  by  or  through  him,  and  commending  such  things  as  are  praise- 
worthy in  his  actions,  and  preserving  the  memory  thereof  for  the 
benefit  of  the  readers :  namely, his  love  of  peace  and  charity  ;  his  con- 
tinence and  humility ;  his  mind  superior  to  anger  and  avarice,  and 
despising  pride  and  vainglory  ;  his  industry  in  keeping  and  teaching 
the  heavenly  commandments  ;  his  diligence  in  reading  and  watch- 
in<^ ;  his  authority  becoming  a  priest  in  reproving  the  haughty  and 
powerful,  and  at  the  same  time  his  tenderness  in  comforting  the 
aftlicted,  and  relieving  and  defending  the  poor.  To  say  all  in  a  few 
words,  as  near  as  I  could  be  informed  by  those  who  knew  him,  he 
took  care  to  omit  none  of  all  those  things  which  he  found  enjoined 
in  the  apostolical  or  prophetical  writings,  but  to  the  utmost  of  his 
power  endeavoured  to  perform  them  all  in  his  actions. 

§  198.  These  things  I  much  love  and  admire  in  the  aforesaid  bishop ; 
because  I  do  not  doubt  that  they  were  pleasing  to  God ;  but  I  do  not 
praise  or  approve  his  not  observing  Easter  at  the  proper  time,  either 
through  ignorance  of  the  canonical  time  appointed,  or,  if  he  knew 
it,  bemg  prevailed  on  by  the  authority  of  his  nation  not  to  follow 
the  same.  Yet  this  I  do  approve  in  him,  that  in  the  celebration 
of  his  Easter,  the  object  which  he  had  in  view  in  all  he  held,  vene- 
rated, or  preached,  was  the  same  as  ours,  that  is,  the  redemption 
of  mankind,  through  the  passion,  resurrection  and  ascension  into 
heaven  of  the  Man  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  Mediator  betwixt  God 
and  man.  And  therefore  he  always  celebrated  the  same,  not  as 
some  falsely  imagine,  on  the  fourteenth  moon,  like  the  Jews,  what- 
soever the  day  were,  but  on  the  Lord's  day,  from  the  fourteenth  to 
the  twentieth  moon ;  and  this  he  did  from  his  belief  of  tlie  resur- 
rection of  our  Lord  happening  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  and  for 
the  hope  of  our  resurrection,  which  also  lie,  with  the  holy  church, 
believed  would  of  a  truth  happen  on  the  same  first  day  of  the  week, 
now  called  the  Lord's  day. 


Chap.  XVIII.  [a.d.  C31.]— Of  the  Life  and  Death  of  the  religious  kixg 

SiGBERCT. 

§  199.  At  this  time,^  the  kingdom  of  the  East  Angles,  after  the 
death  of  Earpuald,  the  successor  of  Reduald,  was  subject  to  his 
l)rother  Sigbcrct,  a  good  and  religious  man,  who  long  before  had 
received  the  lavcr  of  baptism  in  France,  whilst  he  lived  in  banisli- 

'  This  treatise  occurs  in  the  sixth  vohnnc  of  Giles's  edition  of  Boila's  works, 

2  In  consequence  of  this  and  similar  vague  expressions,  the  chronology  of  the 
kingdom  of  Ea.st  Auglia  is  confused  and  uncertain.     It  appears,  however,  from 


A.D.  G33.]        BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  413 

ment,  flying  from  the  enmity  of  Reduald;  and  returning  home,  as 
soon  as  he  ascended  the  throne,  being  desirous  to  imitate  the  good 
institutions  which  he  had  seen  in  France,  he  set  up  a  school  for 
boys  to  be  instructed  in  hterature,  and  was  assisted  therein  by 
bishop  Fehx,  who  came  to  him  from  Kent,  and  who  furnished  him 
with  masters  and  teachers  after  the  manner  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Kent. 

§  200.  [a.d.  635.]  This  king  became  so  great  a  lover  of  the 
heavenly  kingdom,  that  at  last,  quitting  the  aflairs  of  his  kingdom, 
and  committing  the  same  to  his  kinsman  Ecgric,  who  before  held  a 
part  of  that  kingdom,  he  himself  went  into  a  monasteiy,^  which  he 
had  built  for  himself,  and  having  received  the  tonsure,  applied  himself 
rather  to  fight  for  a  heavenly  throne.  Having  done  this  for  some 
considerable  time,  it  happened  that  the  nation  of  the  Mercians, 
under  king  Penda,  made  war  on  the  East  Angles;  who,  finding 
themselves  inferior  in  war  to  their  enemies,  entreated  Sigberct  to 
go  with  them  to  battle,  to  encourage  the  soldiers.  He,  being 
unwilling,  refused;  upon  which  they  drew  him  against  his  will  out 
of  the  monastery,  and  carried  him  to  the  battle,  hoping  that  the 
soldiers  would  be  less  disposed  to  waver  and  fly  in  the  presence  of 
him,  who  had  once  been  a  notable  and  a  brave  commander.  But 
he,  still  keeping  in  mind  his  profession,  whilst  in  the  midst  of  a 
noble  army,  would  carry  nothing  in  his  hand  but  a  wand,  and  was 
killed  with  King  Ecgric  ;  and  the  pagans  pressing  on,  all  their  army 
was  either  slaughtered  or  dispersed. 

§  201 .  [a.d.  635.]  Anna,^  the  son  of  Eni,  of  the  royal  blood,  a  good 
man,  and  father  of  an  excellent  ^  family  of  children,  succeeded  them 
in  the  kingdom.  Of  whom  we  shall  speak  hereafter ;  he  being 
also  slain  [a.d.  654]  by  the  same  pagan  commander  of  the  Mercians 
as  his  predecessor  had  been. 


Chap.  XIX.  [a.d.  63-3.] — How  Fursey  built  a  Monastery  among  the  East 
Angles,  and  of  his  visions  and  sanctity,  to  which,  his  flesh  remaining 
uncorrupted  after  death  bore  testimony. 

§  202.  Whilst  Sigberct  still  governed  the  kingdom,  there  came 
out  of  Ireland  a  holy  man  called  Fursey,  renowned  both  for  his  words 
and  actions,  andremarkable  for  singular  virtues,  being  desirous  to  live 
a  pilgrim's  life  for  our  Lord,  wherever  an  opportunity  should  oft'er. 
On  coming  into  the  province  of  the  East  Angles,  he  was  honourably 

§  135,  that  three  years  after  the  conversion  of  Earpwalcl,  Sigebert  succeeded  to 
the  throne,  a.d.  631.  The  length  of  his  reign  may  be  gathered  from  what  we 
learn  concerning  that  of  his  successor  Anna,  who,  according  to  the  Legend  of 
Etheldritha,  abbess  of  Ely,  §  11,  (Liber  Eliensis,  p.  23,  ed.  1848,)  was  slain  a.d.  651, 
in  the  nineteenth  year  of  his  reign,  a  synchronism  which  carries  back  his  acces- 
sion and  the  death  of  Sigebert  to  a.d.  635. 

*  The  Liber  Eliensis,  p.  14,  quoted  above,  tells  us  that  this  was  the  monastery  of 
Betricheswoi-th,  now  St.  Edmund's.  It  ascribes  the  death  of  Sigebert  to  637.  See 
Monast.  Angl.  i.  285. 

^  The  reign  of  Anna  extends  from  635  to  654.  He  was  of  the  royal  race,  as 
his  brother  Raedwald  was  the  son  of  Tytila,  and  grandson  of  Wuffa,  from  whom 
the  kings  of  East  Anglia  had  the  designation  of  Uffingas. 

^  Sexburga,  abbess  of  Ely,  Ethelburga,  abbess  of  Brie,  Etheldritha,  abbess  of 
Ely,  Milburga,  nun  of  Ely,  Sretbrytha,  abbess  of  Brie,  and  Wihtburga,  nun  of 
Ely,  were  daughters  of  Anna.     Many  of  them  were  canonized. 


414  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  633. 

received  by  the  aforesaid  king ;  and  performing  his  usual  employ- 
ment of  preaching  the  gospel,  by  the  example  of  his  virtue  and  the 
efficacy  of  his  discourse  he  converted  the  unbelievers  to  Christ, 
and  confirmed  in  the  faith  and  love  of  Christ  those  that  already 
believed.' 

§  203.  Here  he  fell  into  some  infirmity  of  body,  and  was  thought 
worthy  to  see  an  angelic  vision  ;  in  which  he  was  admonished  dih- 
gently  to  proceed  in  the  ministry  of  the  Word,  which  he  had  under- 
taken, and  indefatigably  to  continue  in  his  usual  watching  and 
prayers  ;  inasmuch  as  his  departure  was  certain,  but  the  hour  of  it 
would  be  uncertain,  according  to  the  saying  of  our  Lord,  "  Watch 
ye  therefore,  because  ye  know  not  the  day  nor  the  hour."  [Matt. 
XXV.  13.]  Being  confirmed  by  this  vision,  he  applied  himself  with 
all  speed  to  build  a  monastery  on  the  ground  which  had  been  given 
him  by  king  Sigberct,  and  to  establish  regular  discipline  therein. 
This  monastery  was  within  a  wood,  and  pleasantly  situated  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  sea;  it  was  built  wathin  the  castle,  which  in  the  English 
language  is  called  "  Cnobheresburg,"  ^  that  is,  Cnobher's  Town  ; 
afterwards,  Anna,  king  of  that  province,  and  the  nobilit)^  embellished 
it  with  more  stately  buildings  and  donations.  This  man  was  of  very 
noble  Scottish  blood,  but  much  more  noble  in  mind  than  in  birtli. 
Even  from  his  boyish  years,  he  had  particularly  applied  himself  to 
reading  sacred  books,  and  following  monastic  discipline,  and,  as  is 
most  becoming  to  holy  men,  he  carefully  practised  all  that  he  learned 
ought  to  be  done. 

§  204.  In  short,  in  process  of  time  he  built  himself  the  monas- 
ter)^  wherein  he  might  with  more  freedom  indulge  his  heavenly 
studies.  There,  falling  sick,  as  the  Book  about  his  life  fully  informs 
us,  he  fell  into  a  trance,  and  quitting  his  body  from  the  evening  till 
the  cock  crew,  he  was  found  worthy  to  behold  the  choirs  of  angels, 
and  to  hear  their  blessed  praises.  He  was  wont  to  declare,  that 
among  other  things  he  distinctly  heard  this:  "The  saints  shall 
advance  from  one  virtue  to  another."  [Ps.  Ixxxiv.  7-]  And  again, 
"  The  God  of  gods  shall  be  seen  in  Sion."  Being  restored  to  his 
body  at  that  time,  and  again  taken  from  it  three  days  after,  he  not 
only  saw  the  greater  joys  of  the  blessed,  but  also  extraordinary 
combats  of  evil  spirits,  who  by  frequent  accusations  wickedly  endea- 
voured to  ol:)stru(:t  his  journey  to  heaven  ;  but  the  angels  protecting 
liim,  all  their  endeavours  were  in  vain.  Concerning  which  parti- 
culars, if  any  one  desires  to  be  more  fully  informed,  that  is,  with 
what  subtle  fraud  the  devils  unfolded  both  his  actions  and  super- 

*  It  may  be  convenient  to  throw  into  one  note  the  outlines  of  the  information 
which  has  reached  ns  concerning  Fursey,  as  far  as  it  is  necessary  to  illustrate 
Beda's  narrative.  From  a  comparison  of  what  is  here  stated  with  a  legend  of 
great  antiquity,  supposed  by  Bollandus  to  be  that  from  which  Beda's  extracts  arc 
made,  (Acta  SS.  mens.  Jan.  ii.  30,)  it  would  appear  that  he  arrived  in  England 
about  633,  that  ho  jiassed  over  into  Franco  about  (;48,  and  that  he  died  at 
Mazieres,  in  Poitou,  650.  See  Pagi,  a.d.  644,  g§  3 — 5;  the  Acta  SS.  (as  above;) 
Ussher's  chronology  varies  from  that  here  adopted.  He  thinks  that  Fursoj' 
arrived  in  Englantl  037,  that  he  built  Cnobheresbui-g  in  639,  and  that  he  left 
England  for  Gaul  in  640. 

-  Now  Burghcastlo,  in  Suffolk,  at  the  jvuictiou  of  the  Yare  and  Waveney.  See 
Camd.  Brit.  col.  451. 


A.D.  633.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  415 

fluous  words,  yea  and  even  his  thoughts,  as  if  they  had  been 
written  down  in  a  book  ;  and  of  what  pleasing  or  disagreeable  things 
he  was  informed  by  the  holy  angels,  or  by  just  men  who  appeared 
to  him  among  the  angels  ;  let  him  read  the  little  Book  ^  of  his  life 
which  I  have  mentioned,  and  I  believe  he  will  thereby  reap  much 
spiritual  profit. 

§  205.  But  there  is  one  thing  among  the  rest,  which  we  have 
thought  may  be  beneficial  to  many  if  it  were  inserted  in  this 
history.  MHien  he  had  been  lifted  up  on  high,  he  was  ordered  by 
the  angels  that  conducted  him  to  look  back  upon  the  world.  Upon 
which,  casting  his  eyes  downward,  he  saw  as  it  were  a  very  obscure 
valley  underneath  him.  He  also  saw  four  fires  in  the  air,  not  far 
distant  from  each  other.  Then  asking  the  angels,  what  fires  those 
were  ?  he  was  told  that  they  were  the  fires  which  would  kindle  and 
consume  the  world.  One  of  them  was  of  falsehood,  when  we  do 
not  fulfil  that  which  we  promised  in  baptism,  to  renounce  Satan  and 
all  his  works.  The  next  of  covetousness,  when  we  prefer  the  riches 
of  the  world  to  the  love  of  heavenly  things.  The  third  of  discord, 
when  we  make  no  difficulty  to  offend  the  minds  of  our  neighbours 
even  in  needless  things.  The  fourth  of  impiety,  when  we  look  upon 
it  as  no  crime  to  rob  and  to  defraud  the  weak.  These  fires,  increasing 
by  degrees,  extended  so  as  to  meet  one  another,  and  being  joined, 
became  an  immense  flame.  Wlien  it  drew  near,  fearing  for  him- 
self, he  said  to  the  angel,  "My  lord,  behold  the  fire  draws  near  me." 
The  angel  answered,  "  That  which  you  did  not  kindle  shall  not  burn 
within  you  ;  for  though  this  appears  to  be  a  terrible  and  great  fire, 
yet  it  tries  every  man  according  to  the  merits  of  his  works  ;  for 
every  man's  concupiscence  shall  burn  in  this  fire  ;  for  as  every  one 
burns  in  the  body  through  unlawful  pleasure,  so  when  discharged 
from  the  body,  he  shall  burn  in  the  punishment  which  he  has 
desei-ved." 

§  206.  Tlien  he  saw  one  of  the  three  angels,  who  had  been  his 
conductors  throughout  both  his  visions,  go  before  and  divide  the  flame 
of  fire,  whilst  the  other  two,  flying  about  on  both  sides,  defended  him 
from  the  danger  of  the  fires.  He  also  saw  devils  flying  through  the 
fire,  raising  conflagrations  of  wars  against  the  just.  Then  followed 
accusations  of  the  wicked  spirits  against  him,  the  defence  of  the 
good  angels  in  his  favour,  and  a  more  extended  view  of  the  hea- 
venly troops ;  as  also  of  holy  men  of  his  own  nation,  who,  as  he 
had  long  since  been  informed,  had  been  deservedly  advanced  to  the 
degree  of  priesthood,  from  whom  he  heard  many  things  which  might 
be  very  salutary  to  himself,  or  to  all  others  that  would  listen  to 
them,  Wlien  they  had  ended  their  discourse,  and  returned  to 
heaven  with  the  angelic  spirits,  the  three  angels,  of  whom  we  have 
spoken  before,  remained  with  the  blessed  Fursey,  being  they  who 
were  to  bring  him  back  to  his  body.  And  when  they  approached  the 
aforesaid  immense  fire,  the  angel  divided  the  flame,  as  he  had  done 
before  ;  but  when  the  man  of  God  came  to  the  passage  so  opened 

'  Besides  the  Lives  of  Fursey  above  mentioned,  another  of  considerable  im- 
portance is  preserved  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  Rawlinson  MS.  505,  fol.  174, 
which  appears  from  internal  evidence  to  have  been  written  a.d.  655. 


41G  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  C33. 

amidst  the  flames,  the  unclean  spirits,  laying  hold  of  one  of  those 
whom  they  roasted  in  the  fire,  threw  him  at  him,  and  touching 
his  shoidder  and  jaw,  burned  tliem.  He  knew  the  man,  and  called 
to  mind  that  he  had  received  his  garment  when  he  died  ;  and  tlie 
angel,  immediately  laying  hold  of  him,  threw  him  back  into  the 
tire,  and  the  malignant  enemy  said,  "  Do  not  reject  him  whom  you 
before  received ;  for  as  you  accepted  the  goods  of  this  sinner,  so 
you  ought  to  partake  of  his  punishment."  The  angel  replying, 
said,  "  He  did  not  receive  the  same  through  avarice,  but  in  order 
to  save  his  soul."  Tlie  fire  ceased,  and  the  angel  turning  to  him, 
added,  "  Tliat  which  you  kindled  burned  in  you  ;  for  had  you  not 
received  the  money  of  this  person  that  died  in  his  sins,  neither 
would  his  punishment  burn  in  you."  And  proceeding  in  his  dis- 
course, he  gave  him  wholesome  advice  as  to  what  ought  to  be  done 
towards  the  salvation  of  such  as  repented  unto  death.  Being  after- 
wards restored  to  his  body,  throughout  the  whole  course  of  his  life 
he  bore  the  mark  of  the  fire  which  he  had  felt  in  his  soul,  visible 
to  all  men  on  his  shoulder  and  jaw ;  and  the  flesh  publicly  showed, 
in  a  wonderful  manner,  what  the  soul  had  suffered  in  private.  He 
always  took  care,  as  he  had  done  before,  to  persuade  all  men  to 
the  practice  of  virtue,  as  well  by  his  example,  as  by  preaching. 
But  as  for  the  matter  of  his  visions,  he  would  only  relate  them  to 
those  who,  from  tlie  desire  of  reformation,  wished  to  learn  the 
same.  An  ancient  brother  of  our  monastery  is  still  living,  who  is 
wont  to  declare  that  a  veiy  truthful  and  religious  man  told  him, 
that  he  had  seen  Fursey  himself  in  the  province  of  the  East 
Angles,  and  heard  those  visions  from  his  mouth ;  adding,  that 
though  it  was  in  most  sharp  winter  weather,  and  a  hard  frost,  and 
the  man  was  sitting  in  a  thin  garment  when  he  related  it,  yet  he 
sweated  as  if  it  had  been  in  the  greatest  heat  of  summer,  cither 
through  the  multitude  of  excessive  fear,  or  spiritual  consolation. 

§  207.  To  return  to  what  we  were  saying  before  ;  when,  after 
preaching  the  word  of  God  many  years  in  Scotland,'  he  could  no 
longer  bear  easily  the  crowds  that  resorted  to  him,  leaving  all  that 
he  seemed  to  possess,  he  departed  from  his  native  island,  and  came 
with  a  few  brethren  through  the  Britons  into  the  province  of  the 
Angles,  and  preaching  the  word  of  God  there,  as  has  been  said,' 
built  a  noble  monasteiy.  These  things  being  rightly  performed,  he 
became  desirous  to  rid  himself  of  all  business  of  this  world,  and 
even  of  the  monastery  itself,  and  forthwith  left  the  care  of  the  same, 
and  of  souls,  to  his  brother  Fullanus,'  and  the  priests  Gobbanus 
and  Dicullus,  and  being  himself  free  from  all  worldly  matters, 
resolved  to  end  his  life  as  a  hermit.  He  had  another  brother 
called  Ultanus,"  who,  after  a  long  monastical  probation,  had  also 
adopted  the  life  of  a  hermit.     Repairing  till  alone  to  him,  he  lived 

>  By  "  Scotland,"  Beda  here  means  Ireland. 

'  See  §  203.  ,  ^  .    .,      ,. 

3  After  the  death  of  Fursey  he  built  the  monasteiy  of  Fosse,  ni  the  cliocose  ot 
Liege,  and  was  aHsassinatod  31st  Oct.  about  A.D.  656.  See  Gall.  Christ,  ill.  932  ; 
Ussher,  Antiq.  p.  501 ;    Mabill.  Annal.  Bened.  lib.  xiv.  §  16. 

*  Ultan  was  abbot  of  the  nionaatery  of  Peronne,  and  died  1st  May,  686.  baU. 
Christ,  iii  933:  ix.  1030. 


A.D.  6G4.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  417 

a  whole  year  with  him  in  continence  and  prayer,  and  laboured  daily 
with  his  hands. 

>§  208.  Afterwards,  seeing  the  province  in  confusion  by  the  irrup- 
tions of  the  pagans,  and  presaging  that  the  monasteries  would  be 
also  in  danger,  he  left  all  things  in  order,  and  sailed  over  into 
France,  and  being  there  honourably  entertained  .by  Hloduius,' 
king  of  the  Franks,  or  by  the  patrician  Ercunuald,  he  built  a 
monastery  in  the  place  called  Latiniacum,^  and  falling  sick  not  long 
after,  departed  this  life.  The  same  nobleman,  Ercunuald,^  took 
his  body,  and  deposited  it  in  the  porch  of  a  church  he  was  building 
in  his  town  called  Perrone,*  till  the  church  itself  should  be  dedi- 
cated. Tlris  happened  twenty-seven  days  after,  and  the  body  being 
taken  from  the  porch,  to  be  re-buried  near  the  altar,  was  found  as 
entire  as  if  he  had  just  then  died.  And  again,  four  years  after,  a 
more  decent  residence^  being  built  for  the  reception  of  the  same 
body  to  the  eastward  of  the  altar,  it  was  still  found  free  from  the 
stain  of  corruption,  and  translated  thither  with  due  honour  ;  where 
it  is  well  known  that  his  merits,  through  the  divine  operation,  have 
been  declared  by  many  miracles.  These  things  concerning  the 
incorruption  of  his  body  we  have  briefly  taken  notice  of,  that  the 
sublimeness  of  this  man  may  be  the  better  known  to  the  readers. 
All  which,  whosoever  will  read  it,  will  find  more  fully  described,  as 
also  about  his  fellow-labourers,  in  the  Book  of  his  life  before  men<^ 
tioned. 


Chap.  XX.  [a.d.  64G — 664.] — Honorius  dying,  Deusdedit  is  chosen  archbishop; 

AND   OF   THOSE    WHO    WERE   AT   THAT    TIME  BISHOPS    OP    THE    EaST   AnGLES,    AND 
OF    THE  CHURCH  OF  ROCHESTER. 

§  209.  In  the  meantime,  Felix,®  bishop  of  the  East  Angles, 
dying,  when  he  had  held  that  bishopric  seventeen  years,  Honorius 
ordained  Thomas''  his  deacon,  of  the  province  of  the  Gyrvii,*  in  his 
place  ;  and  he  departing  this  life  when  he  had  been  bishop  five 
years,  Berctgils,  surnamed  Boniface,  of  the  province  of  Kent,  was 
appointed  in  his  stead.  Honorius  himself,  also,  having  run  his 
course,  departed  this  life  in  the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation,  653, 

'  Clovis  the  Second  succeeded  his  father  Dagobert  a  d.  638,  and  died  in  656. 

-  Lagny,  near  Paris,  on  the  river  Marne.  See  Gall.  Christ,  vii.  490;  Mabill. 
Anual.  lib.  xiii.  §  26. 

^  Upon  the  death  of  Ega,  prefect  or  mayor  of  the  palace,  Erchinwald  succeeded 
to  that  dignity  in  640.  Aimo  Floriac.  iv.  37,  ap.  Bouquet,  Rer.  Gall.  Script,  iii.  136. 
Mabill.  Anual.  Bened.  lib.  xiii.  §  26. 

*  The  circumstances  here  mentioned  concerning  Pei-onne  are  discussed  in  Gall. 
Christ,  ix.  1035,  and  Mabill.  Ann.  xiv.  §1,2.  On  the  various  translations  of  the 
body  of  Fm-sey,  see  Acta  SS.  Jan.  ii.  35,  36;  Pagi,  a.d.  644,  §  5. 

^  "  Domuncula  "  is  the  Latin. 

"  See  §  135.  The  Acta  SS.  Mart.  i.  779,  Godwin,  Wharton,  Smith,  Petrie  and 
others  assign  the  date  of  his  death  to  647,  presuming  that  the  seventeen  years 
of  his  episcopate  were  completed.  But  the  following  authority  places  it  one  year 
earlier.  "  S.  Felix  .  .  episcopus  Orientalium  Anglorum  .  .  migravit  ad  Dominuni, 
A.D.  646,  indictione  4,  cyclo  decennovali  per  1  incij^iente,"  Contin.  Ingulfi,  ap. 
Gale,  i.  109. 

^  It  is  probable  that  this  Thomas  died  652. 

^  The  Gu'vii  occupied  the  counties  of  Cambridge,  Huntingdon,  Northampton, 
and  Lincoln.     See  Camd.  Brit.  col.  489. 
VOL.    I.  E   E 


418  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  653. 

on  the  day  before  the  kalends  of  October  [30th  Sept.]  ;  and  when 
tlie  see  had  been  vacant  a  year  and  six  months,  Deusdedit/  of  the 
nation  of  the  West  Saxons,  was  chosen  the  sixth  archbishop  of  the 
see  of  Canterbury.  To  ordain  whom,  Ithamar,^  bishop  of  the 
church  of  Rochester,  came  thither.  His  ordination  was  on  the 
seventh  of  th§  kalends  of  April  [26th  March],  and  he  ruled  the 
church  nine  years,  seven  months,  and  two  days ;  when  he  also 
died.  Ithamar  consecrated  in  his  place  Damian,^  who  was  of  the 
race  of  the  South  Saxons. 


Chap.  XXI.  [a.d.  653.] — How  the  province  of  the  Midland  Angles  becuie 
Christian  under  King  Peada. 

§  210.  At  this  time  the  Middle  Angles,  under  their  prince  Peada, 
the  son  of  king  Penda,  received  the  faith  and  sacraments  of  the  tnith. 
Being  an  excellent  youth,  and  most  worthy  of  the  title  and  person 
of  a  king,  he  was  by  his  father  elevated  to  the  throne  of  that  nation, 
and  came  to  Osuiu,  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  requesting  to  have 
his  daughter  Alchfleda  given  him  to  wife ;  but  he  could  not  obtain 
'his  desires  unless  he  would  embrace  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  be 
baptized,  with  the  nation  which  he  governed.  When  he  heard  the 
preaching  of  the  truth,  the  promise  of  the  heavenly  kingdom,  and 
the  hope  of  the  resurrection  and  future  immortality,  he  declared  that 
he  would  willingly  become  a  Christian,  even  though  he  should  be 
refused  the  virgin  ;  being  chiefly  prevailed  on  to  receive  the  faith 
by  tiie  son  of  king  Osuiu,  Alchfrid  by  name,  who  was  his  relation 
and  friend,  and  had  married  his  sister  Cyniburga,  the  daughter  of 
king  Penda. 

§  211.  Accordingly  he  was  baptized  by  bishop  Finan,  with  all 
his  earls  and  soldiers,  and  their  servants,  that  had  come  along  with 
him,  at  a  noted  village  belonging  to  the  king,  called  "  At  the  Wall."* 
And  having  received  four  priests,  w^ho  for  their  erudition  and  good 
life  were  deemed  proper  to  instruct  and  baptize  his  nation,  he 
returned  home  with  much  joy.  These  priests  were  Cedd  and  Adda, 
and  Betti  and  Diuma ;  the  last  of  whom  was  by  nation  a  Scot, 
the  others  were  of  the  Angles.  Adda  was  brother  to  Utta,  whom 
we  have  mentioned^  before,  a  renowned  priest,  and  abbat  of  the 
monastery  which  is  called  "Ad  Capreoe  Caput.""  Tlie  aforesaid 
priests,  arriving  in  the  province  with  the  prince,  preached  the 
Word,  and  were  willingly  listened  to  ;  and  many,  as  well  of  the 
nobility  as  of  the  diseased,  r'cnouncing  the  abominations  of  idolatry, 
were  daily  washed  in  the  fountain  of  faith. 

Nor  did  king  Penda  obstruct  the  preaching  of  the  Word  among 
his  own  people,  that  is,  the  nation  of  the  Mercians,  if  any  were 
willing  to  hear  it ;  but,  on  the  contraiy,  he  hated  and  despised 

'  Before  his  consecration  bis  name  was  Frithona,  according  to  the  life  by  Gota- 
celin  of  Canterbury,  in  MS.  Cott.  Vesp.  B.  xx.  13.  See  also  Chron.  Cant,  in 
Trinity  Hall,  Camb.  fol  25,  b. 

2  See  Acta  SS.  Jun.  ii  294. 

'  He  appears  to  have  died  a  little  before  archbishop  Densdedit. 

''  l'robai)ly  at  Walbottle,  near  Newcastle.  ''  See  §  191. 

*  At  Gatf-shead,  on  the  southern  bank  of  the  Tyne,  near  Newcastle. 


A.D.  G53.]      beda's  ecclesiastical  history.— book  in.  419 

those  whom  he  perceived  not  to  perform  the  works  of  faith,  when 
they  had  once  received  the  faith  of  Christ,  saying,  that  they  were 
contemptible  and  wretched  who  neglected  to  obey  their  God  in 
whom  they  beheved.  This  was  begun  two  years  before  the  death 
of  kmg  Penda. 

§  212.  But  when  he  was  slain,  and  Osuiu,  the  most  christian 
kmg,  succeeded  him  in  tlie  kingdom,  as  we  shall  state  hereafter  » 
Diuma,  one  of  the  aforesaid  four  priests,  was  made  bishop  of  the 
Midland  Angles,  as  also  of  the  Mercians,  being  ordained  by  bishop 
Finan  ;  for  the  scarcity  of  priests  was  the  necessary  occasion  that 
one  prelate  was  set  over  two  peoples.  Having  in  a  short  time 
gained  many  of  the  common  people  to  our  Lord,  he  died  amon^ 
the  Midland  Angles,  in  the  region  called  "In  Feppingum;'-  and 
Ceollach,='  of  the  Scottish  nation,  succeeded  him  in  the  bishop- 
ric. This  prelate,  not  long  after,  left  his  bishopric,  and  returned 
to  the  island  of  Hii,  which,  among  the  Scots,  was  the  chief  and 
head  of  many  monasteries.  His  successor  in  the  bishopric  was 
1  rumheri,  a  religious  man,  and  educated  in  the  monastic  life.  He 
was  of  the  English  nation,  but  ordained  bishop  by  the  Scots  which 
happened  in  the  days  of  king  Vulfheri,  of  whom  we  shall  speak 
hereafter.*  '■ 


Chat.  XXII.  [a.d.  653.]— How  the  East  Saxons  again  received  the  faith 

WHICH    THEY    HAD    BEFORE    CAST     OFF     UNDER     KiNG    SiGBERCT,  THROUGH    THE 
PREACHING  OF  CedD. 

§  213.  At  that  time,  also,  the  East  Saxons,  at  the  instance  of  kin^r 
Osuiu,  again  received  the  faith,  which  they  had  formerly  cast  off 
when  they  expelled '  Mellitus,  their  bishop.  For  Sigberct  who 
reigned  next  to  Sigberct  surnamed  The  Little,"  was  then  king  of  that 
nation,  and  a  friend  to  the  same  king  Osuiu,  who,  when  he  often 
came  to  him  into  the  province  of  the  Northumbrians,  used  to 
endeavour  to  persuade  him  to  understand  this;  that  those  could  not 
be  gods  that  had  been  made  by  the  hands  of  men  ;  that  a  stock  or 
a  stone  could  not  be  proper  matter  whence  to  form  a  god,  the  chips 
whereof  were  either  burned  in  the  fire,  or  framed  into  any  kind  of 
vessels  for  the  use  of  men,  or  else  were  cast  out  as  refuse,  trampled 
on  and  bruised  into  dust ;— that  God  is  rather  to  be  understood  as 
of  incomprehensible  majesty,  and  invisible  to  human  eyes,  almight)^ 
eternal,  the  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  of  mankind ;  who 
governs  and  will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness ;  whose  ever- 
lasting seat  IS  to  be  believed  to  be  in  heaven,  and  not  in  vile  and 
lading  metal ;  and  that  it  ought  in  reason  to  be  concluded,  that  all 
those  who  have  learned  and  obeyed  the  will  of  Him  by  whom  they 
were  created,  will  receive  from^  Him  eternal  rewards.     King  Osuiu 

'  See  §  22L 

2  This  locality  is  uncertain.  Reppington,  or  Reptou,  in  Derbyshire,  is  by  some 
sussed  to  be  the  place,  but  upon  no  satisfactory  authority.  He  died,  according 
to  Whai-ton,  (Angl.  Sacr.  i.  424,)inA.D.  658.  '  s 

^  According  to  the  same  authority,  Ceollach  returned  to  lona  in  659. 
S^'^ly' e\§.224. .  5  See  §  103. 

Ihis  epithet  IS  omitted  in  the  Saxon  version. 


420  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  653. 

having  often,  in  a  friendly  and  brotherly  manner,  said  this  to  king 
Sigberct,  and  much  more  to  the  like  effect,  at  length,  with  the 
consent  of  his  friends,  he  believed,  and  after  consulting  with  those 
about  him,  and  exhorting  them,  they  all  agreed  and  gave  their 
approbation  to  the  faith.  He  was  baptized  with  them  by  bishop 
Finan,  in  the  king's  vill  above '  spoken  of,  which  is  called  "  At  the 
Wall,"  because  it  is  close  by  the  wall  with  which  the  Romans 
formerly  girt  the  island  of  Britain,  at  the  distance  of  twelve  miles 
from  the  eastern  sea. 

§  214.  King  Sigberct,  being  now  become  a  citizen  of  the  eternal 
kingdom,  returned  to  the  seat  of  his  temporal  kingdom,  requesting  of 
Osuiu  that  he  would  give  him  some  teachers,  who  might  convert  his 
nation  to  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  wash  them  in  the  saving  fountain. 
He,  accordingly,  sending  into  the  province  of  the  Midland  Angles, 
invited  to  him  the  man  of  God,  Cedd,^  and,  giving  him  another 
priest  for  his  companion,  sent  them  to  preach  the  Word  to  the 
nation  of  the  East  Saxons.  Wlien  these  two,  travelling  to  all  parts 
of  that  country,  had  gathered  a  numerous  church  to  our  Lord,  it 
happened  that  upon  one  occasion  Cedd  returned  home,  and  came 
to  the  church  of  Lindisfarne  to  confer  with  bishop  Finan  ;  who, 
finding  how  successful  he  had  been  in  the  work  of  the  gospel, 
made  him  bishop  of  the  nation  of  the  East  Saxons,  calling  to  him 
two  other  bishops  to  assist  at  the  ministiy  of  the  ordination. 
Cedd,  having  received  the  episcopal  dignity,  returned  to  his  pro- 
vince, and  pursuing  the  work  he  had  begun  with  more  ample 
authority,  built  churches  in  several  places,  ordaining  priests  and 
deacons  to  assist  him  in  the  word  of  faith,  and  the  ministry  of 
baptizing,  especially  in  the  city  which,  in  the  language  of  the 
Saxons,  is  called  "  Ythancaestir,""''  as  also  in  that  which  is  named 
Tilaburg;*  the  first  of  which  places  is  on  the  bank  of  the  Pente, 
the  other  on  the  bank  of  the  Thames.  Here,  collecting  an  assem- 
blage of  the  servants  of  Christ,  he  taught  them  to  obsen-e  the  disci- 
pline of  regular  life,  as  far  as  those  rude  people  were  then  capable. 

§  215.  \\^iilst  the  doctrine  of  everlasting  life  was  thus,  for  a  con- 
siderable time,  making  daily  progress,  to  the  joy  of  the  king  and  of 
all  the  people,  it  happened  that  the  king,  at  "tlic  instigation  of  the 
enemy  of  all  good  men,  was  murdered  by  his  own  kindred.  Tliey 
were  two  brothers  who  did  this  wicked  deed  ;  and  being  asked  what 
had  moved  them  to  it,  they  had  nothing  else  to  answer,  but  that  they 
had  been  incensed  against  the  king,  and  hated  him,  because  he  was 
too  apt  to  spare  his  enemies,  and  with  a  gentle  spirit  to  forgive  the 
wrongs  they  had  done  him,  upon  their  entreaty.  Such  was  the 
crime  for  which  the  king  was  killed,  because  he  obsen'ed  the  pre- 
cepts of  the  gospel  with  a  devout  heart;  in  which  innocent  deatli. 

'  See  §  211. 

*  See  the  events  of  his  life  traced  by  Bolhmdus,  Acta  SS.  mens.  Jauuar.  i.  -''7 
and  Wharton,  Angl.  Sacr.  i.  42.5. 

^  According  to  Camden,  Brit.  col.  411,  it  was  situated  near  Maldon,  in  Eh 
for  which  he  quotes  the  authority  of  Ralph  Niger,  a  monk  of  Coggeshall. 

*  Tilbury,  upon  the  Thames,  on  the  Essex  coast,  Camd.  Brit.  col.  407.    We  m 
not  suppose  that  sees  were   established  at  each  of  these  places,  but  that  (">   1  ' 
occasionally  resided  there  while  occupied   in   preaching  the  gospel  to  the  KiUit 
Saxous. 


A.D.  6G0.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  421 

however,  his  real  offence  was  also  punished,  according  to  the  pre- 
diction of  the  man  of  God.  For  one  of  those  earls  that  murdered 
him  was  unlawfully  married,  which  the  bishop  not  being  able  to 
prevent  or  correct,  he  excommunicated  him,  and  commanded  all 
that  would  give  ear  to  him  not  to  enter  within  his  house,  nor  to  eat 
of  his  meat.  The  king  despised  this  inhibition,  and  being  invited 
by  the  earl,  went  to  an  entertainment  at  his  house,  and  when  he 
was  going  thence,  the  bishop  met  him.  The  king,  beholding  him, 
immediately  dismounted  from  his  horse,  trembling,  and  fell  down  at 
his  feet,  begging  pardon  for  his  offence ;  for  the  bishop,  who  was 
likewise  on  horseback,  had  also  alighted.  Being  much  incensed,  he 
touched  the  king,  lying  in  that  humble  posture,  with  the  rod  which 
he  held  in  his  hand,  and  using  his  pontifical  authority,  spoke  thus  : 
"  I  say  to  you,  forasmuch  as  you  would  not  refrain  from  the  house 
of  that  wicked  and  condemned  person,  you  shall  die  in  that  very 
house."  Yet  it  is  to  be  believed,  that  such  a  death  of  a  religious  man 
not  only  blotted  out  this  his  offence,  but  also  added  to  his  merit ; 
because  it  happened  on  account  of  his  pious  observance  of  the 
commands  of  Christ. 

§  216.  Sigberct  was  succeeded  in  the  kingdom  by  Suidhelm,  the 
son  of  Sexbald,  who  was  baptized  by  the  same  Cedd,  in  the 
province  of  the  East  Angles,  at  the  king's  country-seat,  called 
"  Rendlaesham,"^  that  is,  Rendil's  Mansion;  and  Aedilvald,  king 
of  the  same  nation  of  the  East  Angles,  brother  to  Anna,  king  of  the 
same  people,  received  him  as  he  came  up  from  the  holy  font. 


Chap.  XXIII.  [a,d.  660.] — Bishop  Cedd,  having  a  place  given  him  by  King 

OlDILVALD    FOR   BUILDING   A  MONASTERY,  CONSECRATES   THE   SAME   TO   OUR  LOED 
■WITH  PRAYER  AND  FASTING.       Of  HIS  DEATH. 

§  217.  The  same  man  of  God,  whilst  he  was  bishop  among  the 
East  Saxons,  was  also  wont  several  times  to  visit  his  own  countiy, 
that  is,  the  province  of  the  Northumbrians,  to  make  exhortations. 
Oidilvald,^  the  son  of  king  Osuald,  who  reigned  in  the  parts  of  the 
Deiri,  finding  him  a  holy  and  wise  man,  and  of  a  good  disposition, 
desired  him  to  accept  some  land  to  build  a  monaster)^  to  which  the 
king  himself  might  frequently  resort,  to  offer  his  prayers  to  the 
Lord,  and  hear  the  Word,  and  be  buried  in  it  when  he  died  ;  for  he 
faithfully  believed  that  he  himself  should  receive  much  benefit  by 
the  daily  prayers  of  those  who  were  to  serve  the  Lord  in  that  place. 
Tlie  same  king  had  had  with  him  a  brother  of  the  same  bishop, 
called  Caelin,  a  man  no  less  devoted  to  God,  who,  being  a  priest, 
was  wont  to  administer  to  him  and  to  his  family  the  word  and  the 
sacraments  of  the  faith  ;  by  whose  means  he  chiefly  came  to  know 
and  love  the  bishop.  Tliat  prelate,  therefore,  complying  with  the 
king's  desires,  chose  himself  a  place  to  build  a  monasteiy  among 
lofty  and  distant  mountains,  which  looked  more  like  lurking-places 

'  Rendlesham,  situated  on  the  river  Debin,  in  Suffolk.  See  Camd.  Brit.  col.  446. 
^  See  §  187.     From  Beda's  guarded  expression,  we  may  probably  iufer,  that 
this  individual  was  king  of  only  a  portion  of  Deira. 


422  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND,  [a.D.  660- 

for  robbers  and  retreats  for  wild  beasts,  than  habitations  for  men  ;  to 
the  end  that,  according  to  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  "  In  the  habita- 
tions wliere  before  dragons  dwelt,  might  spring  up  grass  with  reeds 
and  rushes,  "  [Isa.  xxxv.  7  ;]  that  is,  that  the  fruits  of  good  works 
should  there  spring  up,  where  before  beasts  were  wont  to  dwell,  or 
men  to  live  after  the  manner  of  beasts. 

§  218.  The  man  of  God,  desiring  first  to  cleanse  the  place  which 
he  had  received  for  the  monastery  from  the  pollution  of  former 
crimes,  by  prayer  and  fasting,  that  it  might  become  acceptable  to 
our  Lord,  and  so  to  lay  the  foundations  of  the  monastery,  requested 
of  the  king  that  he  would  give  him  leave  to  reside  there  all  the 
approaching  time  of  Lent,  to  pray.  During  which  days,  except  on 
the  Sunday,  he  fasted^  till  the  evening,  according  to  custom,  and 
then  took  no  other  sustenance  than  a  very  little  bread,  one  hen's 
egg,  and  a  little  milk  mixed  with  water.  This,  he  said,  was  the 
custom  of  those  from  whom  he  had  learned  the  rule  of  regular 
discipline  ;  first,  to  consecrate  to  our  Lord,  by  prayers  and  fastings, 
the  places  which  they  had  newly  received  for  building  a  monastery 
or  a  church.  When  there  were  ten  days  of  Lent  still  remaining, 
there  came  one  to  call  him  to  the  king ;  and  he,  that  the  religious 
work  might  not  be  intermitted  on  account  of  the  king's  affairs, 
entreated  his  priest,  Cynibill,  who  was  also  his  own  brother,  to 
complete  that  which  had  been  so  piously  begun.  Cynibill  readily 
complied,  and  when  the  time  of  fasting  and  prayer  was  over,  he 
there  built  the  monastery,  which  is  now  called  Laestingaeu,*  and 
established  therein  religious  customs  according  to  the  rites  of  Lin- 
disfarne,  where  they  had  been  educated, 

§  219.  Cedd  for  many  years  having  administered  the  bishopric 
in  the  aforesaid  province,  and  of  this  monaster)^  over  which  he  had 
placed  provosts,  it  happened  that  he  came  to  that  monastery  at  a 
time  when  there  was  a  mortality,  and  fell  sick  and  died.^  He  was 
first  buried  in  the  open  air;  but  in  the  process  of  time  a  church  was 
built  of  stone  in  the  same  monastery,  in  honour  of  the  blessed 
Mother  of  God,  and  his  body  interred  in  the  same,  on  the  right 
hand  of  the  altar. 

§  220.  The  bishop  gave  the  monastery  to  be  governed  after  him 
to  his  brother  Ceadda,  who  was  afterwards  made  bishop,  as  shall 
be  said  hereafter  in  its  place.*  For  the  four  brothers  we  have 
mentioned,  Cedd  and  Cynibill,  Caelin  and  Ceadda,  (which  is  a  rare 
thing  to  be  met  with,)  were  all  celebrated  priests  of  our  Lord,  and 
two  of  them  also  attained  the  rank  of  the  chief  priesthood.  Wlien 
the  brethren  who  were  in  his  monaster)^  in  the  province  of  the 
East  Saxons,  heard  that  the  bishop  was  dead  and  buried  in  the 
province  of  the  Northumbrians,  about  thirty  men  came  thither  from 
that  monastery,  being  desirous  either  to  live  near  the  body  of  their 
father,  if  it  should  so  please  God,  or  to  die  there  and  be  buried. 

'  On  tliis  suliject  see  Ussher  on  the  lleligion  of  the  Ancient  Irish,  p.  575,  ed. 
8vo.  Camb.  1835. 

2  Lastingham,  near  ^Vhitby,  in  Yorkshire. 

*  This  pe.stilence  visited  England  and  Ireland  with  great  severity  in  A.  D.  6C-1. 
See  Ussher,  Brit.  Eccl.  Antiq.  p.  491 ;  also  §  240 

*  See  §§  243,  244. 


A.D.  655.]       BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  423 

Being  lovingly  received  by  their  bretnren  and  fellow-soldiers  in 
Christ,  all  of  them  died  there  by  the  aforesaid  pestilence,  except 
one  little  boy,  who  was  delivered  from  death  by  his  father's  prayers. 
For  when  he  had  lived  there  a  long  time  after,  and  applied  himself 
to  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  he  v/as  at  last  informed  that  he 
had  not  been  regenerated  by  the  water  of  baptism,  and  being  imme- 
diately washed  in  the  font  of  the  laver  of  salvation,  he  was  after- 
wards promoted  to  the  order  of  priesthood,  and  proved  very  useful 
to  many  in  the  church.  I  do  not  doubt  that  he  was  delivered  when 
at  the  point  of  death,  as  I  have  said,  by  the  intercession  of  his 
father,  (for  his  affection  brought  him  to  the  body,)  that  so  he  might 
himself  avoid  eternal  death,  and  exhibit  the  ministry  of  life  and 
salvation  to  others  of  the  brethren  by  his  teaching. 


Chap.  XXIV.  [a.d.  655.] — How  King  Penda  bei  ig  slain,  the  province  of  the 
Mercians  received  the  fmth  of  Christ,  and  Osuiu  gave  possessions  and 
territories  to  god,  for  building  monasteries,  in  acknoavledgment  for  the 
victory  which  he  had  obtained. 

§  221.  At  this  time,  king  Osuiu  was  exposed  to  the  fierce  and 
intolerable  irruptions  of  the  king  of  the  Mercians,  whom  we  have 
so  often  mentioned,  and  who  had  slain  his  brother;  at  length, 
necessity  compelling  him,  he  promised  to  give  him  more  and  greater 
royal  ornaments  and  gifts  than  can  be  imagined,  to  purchase  peace  ; 
provided  that  the  king  would  return  home,  and  cease  to  ravage  and 
destroy  the  provinces  of  his  kingdom.  That  perfidious  king  utterly 
refused  to  grant  his  request,  and  resolved  to  destroy  and  extirpate 
all  his  nation,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest ;  whereupon  he  had 
recourse  to  the  protection  of  the  divine  goodness  for  deliverance 
from  his  barbarous  and  impious  foe,  and  binding  himself  by  a  vow, 
said,  "  If  the  pagan  will  not  accept  our  gifts,  let  us  otFer  them  to 
Him  that  will,  the  Lord  our  God."  He  then  vowed,  that  if  he 
should  be  victorious,  he  would  dedicate  his  daughter  to  our  Lord 
in  holy  virginity,  and  give  the  possession  of  twelve  farms  to  build 
monasteries.  After  this  he  gave  battle  with  a  veiy  small  army  : 
indeed,  it  is  reported  that  the  pagans  had  three  times  the  number 
of  men ;  for  in  the  war  they  had  thirty  legions,  led  on  by  most 
noble  commanders.  King  Osuiu  and  his  son  Alchfrid  met  them 
with  a  very  small  army,  as  has  been  said,  but  confiding  in  the 
guidance  of  Christ ;  his  other  son,  Ecgfrid,  was  then  kept  as  an 
hostage  at  the  court  of  queen  Cynuise,^  in  the  province  of  the 
Mercians.  King  Osuald's  son  Oidilvald,  who  ought  to  have  assisted 
them,  was  on  the  enemy's  side,  and  led  them  on  to  fight  against  his 
countiy  and  uncle ;  though,  during  the  battle,  he  withdrew  from 
the  strife,  and  waited  the  event  in  a  place  of  safety.  The  engage- 
ment beginning,  the  pagans  were  defeated  and  slain,  the  thirty  royal 
commanders,  and  those  who  had  come  to  his  assistance,  were  almost 

'  She  is  called  Kyueswitha  by  Thomas  of  Ely,  Lib.  Eiiensis,  p.  24,  and  was  the 
wife  of  Penda. 


424  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  655. 

all  of  them  slain  ;  among  whomwas  Aedilheri/  brother  and  successor 
to  Anna,  king  of  the  East  Angles,  who  had  been  the  occasion  of  the 
war,  and  who  was  now  killed,  with  all  his  soldiers  and  auxiliaries. 
The  battle  was  fought  near  the  river  Uinuaed,^  which  then,  with  the 
great  rains,  had  not  only  filled  its  channel,  but  also  overflowed  all 
its  banks,  so  that  many  more  were  drowned  in  the  flight  than  were 
destroyed  by  the  sword. 

§  222.  Then  king  Osuiu,  pursuant  to  the  vow  he  had  made  to 
our  Lord,  returned  thanks  to  God  for  the  victory  which  he  had 
obtained,  and  gave  his  daughter  Aelfleda,^  who  was  scarce  a  year  old, 
to  be  consecrcited  to  Him  in  perpetual  virginity;  giving  also  twelve 
small  portions  of  land,  wherein  the  desire  of  earthly  warfare  should 
cease,  and  in  which  there  should  be  a  perpetual  residence  and 
subsistence  for  the  continued  devotion  of  monks  to  follow  the 
warfare  which  is  spiritual,  and  pray  diligently  for  the  eternal  peace 
of  his  nation.  Of  those  possessions  six  were  in  the  province  of  the 
Deiri,  and  the  other  six  in  that  of  the  Bernicians.  Each  of  the 
said  possessions  contained  ten  families,  that  is,  a  hundred  and  twenty 
in  all.  The  aforesaid  daughter  of  king  Osuiu,  thus  to  be  dedicated 
to  God,  entered  into  the  monastery,  called  Heruteu,*  that  is,  "  The 
Island  of  the  Hart,"  where,  at  that  time,  the  abbess  Hild  *  presided, 
and,  two  years  after,  having  acquired  a  possession  of  ten  families, 
at  the  place  called  Streanaeshalch,*^  she  built  a  monastery  there,  in 
which  the  aforesaid  king's  daughter  was  first  a  learner,  and  after- 
wards a  teacher  of  the  regular  life ;  till,  having  completed  the 
number  of  fifty-nine  years,  the  blessed  virgin  departed  to  the 
nuptials  and  embraces  of  her  heavenly  Bridegroom.  In  that  same 
monaster)^  she  and  her  father,  Osuiu,^  her  mother,  Aeanfied,^  her 
mother's  father,  Aeduini,^  and  many  other  noble  persons,  are  buried 
in  the  church  of  the  holy  apostle  Peter.  King  Osuiu  concluded 
the  aforesaid  war  in  the  region  of  Loidis,  in  the  thirteenth  year  of 
his  reign,  on  the  17th  of  the  kalends  of  December  [15th  Nov.], 
to  the  great  benefit  of  both  nations  ;  for  he  both  delivered  his  own 
people  from  the  liostile  depredations  of  the  pagans,  and,  having  cut 
oft'  their  wicked  head,  converted  the  nation  of  the  Mercians  and  the 
adjacent  provinces  to  the  grace  of  the  christian  faith. 

'  Ethelhere,  the  younger  brother  of  Anna,  succeeded  him  in  654,  and,  a.s  is  here 
stated,  was  killed  the  year  following. 

-  Now  Winmorc,  four  miles  from  Leeds  on  the  way  to  York.  Bishop  Gibson 
has  a  long  note  upon  the  name  of  the  river  Winwed,  in  his  additions  to  Camd. 
Brit.  col.  861. 

^  See  a  sketch  of  her  life  in  the  Acta  SS.  Feb.  ii.  178,  where  it  is  .-stated  that 
she  was  bom  a.D.  6.54,  and  died  in  713. 

*  Now  Hartlepool,  in  the  county  of  Durham. 

^  Hild  was  of  the  royal  family  of  Deira,  being  descended  from  Ella.  She  was 
born  in  614,  renounced  the  world  in  647,  became  abbess  of  Hartlepool  in  649, 
and  died  abbess  of  \Vhitby  15  Dec.  680.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  young 
])rinces8  was  entrusted  to  the  care  of  Hilda  rather  than  to  that  of  her  aunt  Ebba, 
ablx^ss  of  Coldingham. 

''•  Now  Whitby,  in  York.'hire.     Camd.  Brit.  col.  906. 

^  Osuiu  died  15  Feb.  670,  in  the  58th  year  of  his  age. 

*  She  was  the  daughter  of  Eadwin,  king  of  Deira  ;  and  upon  the  death  of  her 
daughter  Aelfleda  became  co-abbess  of  AMiitby.  She  was  canonized,  and  her 
name  occurs  in  the  Calendar  on  December  5. 

^  He  was  Plain  12th  Oct.  633.     See  §  146. 


A.D.  655]        BEDA  S    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY. BOOK    III.  425 

§  223.  Diuma  was  made  the  first  bishop^  of  the  Mercians,  as  also 
of  the  Lindisfari  and  the  Midland  Angles,  as  has  been  said  above, ^ 
and  he  died  and  was  buried  among  the  Midland  Angles.  The 
second  was  Cellach,  who,  quitting  the  episcopal  office  whilst  still 
alive,  returned  into  Scotland.  Both  these  were  of  the  nation  of  the 
Scots.  The  third  was  Trumheri,  of  the  nation  of  the  Angles,  but 
taught  and  ordained  by  the  Scots,  who  was  abbat  in  the  monastery 
that  is  called  "  Ingetilingum."  This  is  the  place  where  kingOsuini 
was  kiUed,  as  has  been  said  above  ;*  for  queen  Aeanfled,  his  kins- 
woman,* in  satisfaction  for  his  unjust  death,  begged  of  king  Osuiu 
that  he  would  give  the  aforesaid  servant  of  God,  Trumheri,  a  place 
there  to  build  a  monastery,  because  he  also  was  kinsman  *  to  the 
slaughtered  king ;  in  which  monastery  continual  prayers  should  be 
offered  up  for  the  eternal  health  of  the  kings,  both  of  him  that  had 
been  slain,  and  of  him  who  had  caused  him  to  be  slain.  The  same 
king  Osuiu  governed  the  Mercians,  as  also  the  people  of  the  other 
southern  provinces,  three  years  after  he  had  slain  king  Penda ;  and 
he  likewise  subdued  the  greater  part  of  the  Picts  to  the  dominion 
of  the  Angles. 

§  224.  At  which  time  he  gave  to  the  above-mentioned  Peada, 
son  to  king  Penda,  because  he  was  his  kinsman,"  the  kingdom  of 
the  Southern  Mercians,  consisting,  as  is  reported,  of  5,000  families, 
divided  by  the  river  Trent  from  the  Northern  Mercians,  whose  land 
contained  7,000  families  ;  but  that  same  Peada  was  the  next  spring 
very  wickedly  killed,  by  the  treacheiy,  as  is  said,  of  his  wife,  during 
the  very  time  of  the  Paschal  feast.  Tliree^  full  years  after  the  death 
of  king  Penda,  Immin,  and  Eaflia,  and  Eadberct,  generals  of  the  race 
of  the  Mercians,  rebelled  against  king  Osuiu,  setting  up  for  their 
king  Uulfhere,*  son  to  the  said  Penda,  a  youth,  whom  they  had 
kept  concealed ;  and  expeUing  the  officers  of  the  foreign  king,  they 
at  once  boldly  recovered  their  liberty  and  their  lands ;  and  being 
thus  free,  together  with  their  king,  they  rejoiced  to  serve  Christ  the 
true  King,  that  they  might  obtain  the  everlasting  kingdom  which  is 
in  heaven.  This  king  governed  the  race  of  the  Mercians  seventeen 
years,  and  had  for  his  first  bishop  Trumheri,  above  spoken  of  ;^  the 
second,  Jaruman ;  the  third,  Ceadda ;  the  fourth,  Uynfrid.  All 
these,  succeeding  each  other  regularly  under  king  Uulfhere,  dis- 
charged the  episcopal  duties  of  the  Mercian  nation. 

1  The  date  of  this  succession  of  the  Mercian  bishops  is  obscure.  According 
to  Wharton,  Angl.  Sacr.  i.  423,  Diuma  occupied  the  see  from  655  to  658  ;  Cellach, 
from  658  to  660  ;   Trumheri  from  660  to  663. 

2  See  §  212.  a  See  §  188. 

*  Eanfled  was  the  great  gi-anddaughter  of  Yffi,  founder  of  the  kingdom  of 
Deira,  whose  second  son  Aelfric,  was  Oswin's  grandfather. 

^  The  relationship  of  Trumheri  to  Oswin  is  uncertain. 

«  Penda  had  manned  Alchfleda,  daughter  of  Oswin.     See  §  210. 

'  That  is,  in  a.d.  658. 

*  A  charter  printed  in  the  Cod.  Diplomat.  Sax.  No.  xiii.  joins  the  month  of 
October  672  with  the  fourteenth  regnal  year  of  Wulfheri ;  but  it  is  marked  by 
the  editor  as  spurious. 

9  See  §  212. 


426  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.d.  652- 


Chap.  XXV.  [ad.  652 — 664.] — How  the  Controversy  arose  about  the  time  of 
REEFING  Easter,  against  those  who  had  come  out  of  Scotland. 

§  225.  In  the  meantime,  bishop  Aidan  being  dead,  Finan,^  who 
was  ordained  and  sent  by  the  Scots,  succeeded  him  in  the  bishopric, 
and  built  a  church  in  the  isle  of  Lindisfarne,  appropriate  to  the 
episcopal  see ;  nevertheless,  after  the  manner^  of  the  Scots,  he 
made  it,  not  of  stone,  but  entirely  of  hewn  oak,  and  covered  it 
with  reeds ;  and  the  same  was  afterwards  dedicated  in  honour  of 
the  blessed  Peter  the  apostle,  by  the  most  reverend  archbishop 
Theodore.  Eadberct,^  also  bishop  of  that  place,  took  off  the  thatch, 
and  covered  it  entirely,  both  roof  and  walls  themselves,  with  sheets 
of  lead. 

§  226.  At  this  time,  a  great  and  frequent  controversy  happened 
about  the  observance  of  Easter ;  *  those  that  came  from  Kent  or 
France  affirming,  that  the  Scots  kept  Easter  Sunday  contrary  to 
the  custom  of  the  universal  church.  Among  them  was  a  most 
zealous  defender  of  the  true  Easter,  whose  name  was  Ronan,'  a 
Scot  indeed  by  nation,  but  instructed  in  ecclesiastical  truth,  either  in 
the  parts  of  France  or  Italy,  who,  by  disputing  with  Finan,  corrected 
many,  or  at  least  induced  tliem  to  make  a  more  strict  inquiiy  after 
the  truth ;  yet  he  could  not  amend  Finan,  but,  on  the  contrar)-, 
made  him  the  more  inveterate  by  reproof,  and  an  open  opposer  of 
the  truth,  he  being  of  a  hot  and  violent  temper.  James,  formerly 
the  deacon  of  the  venerable  archbishop  Paulinus,  as  has  been  said 
above,"  kept  the  true  and  catholic  Easter,  with  all  those  that  he 
could  persuade  to  adopt  the  more  correct  way.  Queen  Eanfled  and 
her  followers  also  observed  the  same,  as  she  had  seen  it  practised 
in  Kent,  having  with  her  a  priest  from  Kent,  who  followed  the 
catholic  mode,  whose  name  was  Romanus.  Thus  it  is  said  to  have 
liappened  in  those  times  that  Easter  was  twice  kept  in  one  year ; 
and  that  when  the  king,  having  ended  the  time  of  fastiiig,  kept  his 
Easter,  then  the  queen  and  her  followers  were  still  fasting,  and 
celebrating  Palm  Sunday.  This  difference  about  the  obser\-ance  of 
Easter,  whilst  Aidan  lived,  was  patiently  tolerated  by  all  men,  they 
being  perfectly  sensible,  that  though  he  could  not  keep  Easter 
contrary  to  the  custom  of  those  who  had  sent  him,  yet  he  indus- 
triously laboured  to  practise  all  works  of  faith,  piety,  and  love, 

1  Finan,  bishop  of  Lindisfarne,  occupied  that  see  from  a.d.  651  to  a.d.  661.  He 
occurs  in  the  Calendar,  17th  Feb.     See  Acta  SS.  Feb.  iii.  21. 

2  See  4;  1 58.  Wooden  churches  are  freijuently  mentioned  in  Doomsday  Book. 
Greenstead  in  Essex  is  an  existing  illustration.  It  is  composed  of  the  half  trunks 
of  oaks,  split  through  the  centre,  and  roughly  hewn  at  each  end,  so  as  to  let  them 
into  a  siU  at  the  bottom  and  into  a  plank  at  the  top,  to  which  they  are  secured 
by  wooden  pegs. 

^  This  bishop  of  Lindisfarne  occupied  his  see  from  a.d.  683  to  698. 

*  On  the  Paschal  controversy,  see  Smith's  Appendix,  ix.  a,  (p.  694,)  to  his  edition 
of  Beda. 

'  Mabillon,  Annal.  Ord.  S.  BenecL  xv.  36,  (i.  474,)  expresses  his  conviction 
that  this  is  the  "  Peregrinus  ex  genere  Scottorum,"  who  is  mentioned  _  under 
the  name  of  liomanus  in  a  charter  reciting  the  foundation  of  an  ecclesiastical 
establishment  at  Mazeroles,  on  the  river  Vienne  in  Picardy,  of  which  he  and 
his  "  peregrin! "  were  the  fii-at  occupants.     See  also  Gall.  Christ,  ii.  1222. 

6    See  §  149. 


A.D.664.]        BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  427 

according  to  the  custom  of  all  holy  men  ;  for  which  reason  he  was 
deservedly  beloved  by  all,  even  by  those  who  differed  in  opinion 
concerning  Easter,  and  was  held  in  veneration,  not  only  by  the 
middle  classes,  but  even  by  the  bishops  themselves,  Honorius  of 
Canterbury,  and  Felix  of  the  East  Angles. 

§  227.  But  after  the  death  of  Finan,  who  succeeded  him,  when 
Colman,^  who  was  also  sent  out  of  Scotland,  came  to  be  bishop, 
[a.d.  661,]  a  greater  controversy  arose  about  the  obsei-vance  of 
Easter,  and  also  concerning  the  rules  of  ecclesiastical  life.  Where- 
upon this  dispute  began  to  influence  the  thoughts  and  hearts  of 
many,  who  feared,  lest,  having  received  the  name  of  Christians, 
they  might  happen  to  run,  or  to  have  run,  in  vain.  This  reached 
the  ears  of  king  Osuiu  and  his  son  Alchfrid ;  for  Osuiu,  having 
been  instructed  and  baptized  by  the  Scots,  and  being  very  perfectly 
skilled  in  their  language,  thought  nothing  better  than  what  they 
taught.  But  Alchfrid,  having  been  instructed  in  Christianity  by 
Uilfrid,^  (a  most  learned  man,  who  had  first  gone  to  Rome  to  learn 
the  ecclesiastical  doctrine,  and  spent  much  time  at  Lyons  with 
Dalfin,  archbishop  of  Gaul,  from  whom  also  he  had  received  the 
crown  of  the  ecclesiastical  tonsure,)  rightly  thought  that  this  man's 
doctrine  ought  to  be  preferred  before  all  the  traditions  of  the  Scots. 
For  this  reason  he  had  also  given  him  a  monastery  of  forty  families, 
at  a  place  called  "In  Rhypum;"*  which  place,  not  long  before, 
he  had  given  to  those  that  followed  the  Scots,  for  a  monastery ; 
but  forasmuch  as  they  afterwards,  being  left  to  their  choice,  pre- 
ferred to  quit  the  place  rather  than  alter  their  custom,  he  gave  the 
place  to  him  whose  life  and  doctrine  were  worthy  of  it. 

§  228.  Agilberct,  bishop  of  the  West  Saxons,  above-mentioned,* 
a  friend  to  king  Alchfrid  and  to  abbat  Uilfrid,  had  at  that  time 
[a.d.  664]  come  into  the  province  of  the  Northumbrians,^  and  was 
making  some  stay  among  them  ;  and  at  the  request  of  Alchfrid,  he 
made  Uilfrid  a  priest  in  his  Eiforesaid  monastery.  He  had  in  liis 
company  a  priest,  whose  name  was  Agatho.  The  controversy  being 
there  started,  concerning  Easter,^  and  the  tonsure,''  and  other 
ecclesiastical  affairs,  it  was  agreed  that  a  synod  should  be  held  in 
the  monastery  of  Streanaeshalch,^  which  signifies  the  "  Bay  of  the 
Lighthouse,"  where  the  abbess  Hild,  a  woman  devoted  to  God,  then 
presided  ;  and  that  there  this  controversy  should  be  decided.  The 
kings,  both  father  and  son,  came  thither ;  bishop  Colman  with  his 
clerks  from  Scotland,  and  Agilberct,  with  the  priests  Agatho  and 
Uilfrid,  James  and  Romanus,  were  on  their  side ;   but  the  abbess 

1  Colman  was  bishop  of  Lindisfarne  from  661  to  664.  See  Acta  SS.  FeLr. 
iii.  84. 

2  The  history  of  Wilfrid  is  afterwards  narrated  at  considerable  length  by  Beda. 
^  Now  Ripou,  in  Yorkshire.  *  See  §  170. 

^  The  see  of  York  being  at  this  time  vacant,  it  was  governed  by  the  bishops  of  ■ 
Lindisfarne. 

''  This  controversy  was  occasioned  or  hastened  by  the  double  Easter  which, 
according  to  the  rival  modes  of  computation,  would  happen  in  A.D.  665.  In  thia 
year  the  church  of  Rome  would  celebrate  that  festival  on  6th  AprU,  the  Scots, 
delaying  it  until  the  13th.     See  also  the  Life  of  Wilfrid,  by  Eddius,  §  10. 

^  Smith  has  appended  to  his  edition  of  Beda  a  valuable  dissertation  on  this 
question.     Appendix,  No.  ix.  b.  (p.  705.)     See  also  Useher,  Antiq.  Brit.  p.  477. 

^  Now  Whitby,  in  Yorkshire. 


428  CHURCH  historians  of  England.  [a.d.  66i. 

Hild  and  her  followers  were  on  the  side  of  the  Scots,  as  was  also 
the  venerable  bishop  Cedd,  long  before  ordained  by  the  Scots,  as 
has  been  said  above,  and  he  was  in  that  council  a  most  careful 
interpreter  for  both  parties. 

§  229.  King  Osuiu  obser\'ed,  by  way  of  introduction,  tliat  it 
behoved  those  who  together  served  God  to  observe  the  same  rule 
of  life  ;  and  as  they  all  expected  the  same  kingdom  in  heaven,  so 
they  ought  not  to  differ  in  the  celebration  of  the  divine  sacraments  ; 
but  rather  that  they  should  inquire  which  was  the  truer  tradition, 
that  the  same  might  be  generally  followed  by  all ;  he  then  com- 
manded his  bishop,  Colman,  first  to  declare  what  the  rite  was 
which  he  observed,  and  whence  it  derived  its  origin.  Then  Colman 
said,  "The  Easter  which  I  use  to  keep,  I  received  from  my  elders, 
who  sent  me  as  a  bishop  hither ;  all  our  forefathers,  men  beloved 
of  God,  are  known  to  have  celebrated  it  after  the  same  manner ; 
and  that  the  same  may  not  seem  to  any  one  contemptible  or  worthy 
to  be  rejected,  it  is  the  same  which  the  blessed  John  the  evangelist, 
the  disciple  especially  beloved  of  our  Lord,  with  all  the  churches 
over  which  he  presided,  is  recorded  to  have  obser%-ed."  Having 
said  thus  much,  and  more  to  the  like  effect,  the  king  commanded 
Agilberct  also  to  show  whence  his  custom  of  keeping  Easter  was 
derived,  or  on  what  authority  it  was  grounded.  Agilberct  answered, 
"  I  desire  that  my  disciple,  the  priest  Uilfrid,  may  speak  in  my 
stead  ;  because  we  both  concur  with  the  other  followers  of  the 
ecclesiastical  tradition  that  are  here  present,  and  he  can  better  and 
more  clearly  explain  our  opinion  in  the  English  language,  than  1 
can  by  an  interpreter." 

§  230.  Then  Uilfrid,  being  ordered  by  the  king  to  speak,  de- 
livered himself  thus  : — "  The  Easter  which  we  obser\"e,  we  saw 
celebrated  by  all  at  Rome,  where  the  blessed  apostles  Peter  and 
Paul  lived,  taught,  suffered,  and  were  buried  ;  we  saw  the  same 
done  in  Italy  and  in  Gaul,  when  we  travelled  through  those  countries 
for  the  sake  of  learning  and  prayer.  We  found  the  same  practised 
in  Africa,  Asia,  Egypt,  Greece,  and  all  the  world,  wherever  the 
church  of  Christ  is  spread  abroad,  through  different  tongues  and 
nations,  at  one  and  the  same  time  ;  except  only  these  and  their 
accomplices  in  obstinacy,  I  mean  the  Picts  and  the  Britons,  who, 
with  foolish  labour,  in  these  two  remote  islands  of  the  world,  and 
only  in  part  even  of  them,  oppose  all  the  rest  of  the  universe." 
Wlicn  he  had  so  said,  Colman  answered,  "It  is  strange  that  you 
will  call  our  labours  foolish,  wherein  we  follow  the  example  of  so 
great  an  apostle,  who  was  thought  worthy  to  lay  his  head  on  our 
Lord's  bosom,  wlien  all  the  world  knows  him  to  have  lived  most 
wisely."  Uilfrid  replied,  "  Far  be  it  from  us  to  charge  John  with 
folly,  when  he  literally  observed  the  precepts  of  the  Mosaic  law, 
whilst  the  church  still  Judaized  in  many  points,  and  the  apostles 
were  not  able  at  once  to  cast  off  every  obser%'ance  of  the  law  which 
had  been  instituted  by  God.  In  which  way  it  is  necessary  that  all 
who  come  to  the  faith  should  forsake  the  idols  which  were  invented 
by  devils,  that  they  might  not  give  scandal  to  the  Jews  that  were 
among  the  gentiles.     For  this  reason  it  was  that  Paul  circumcised 


A.D.  G64.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  429 

Timothy,  that  he  offered  sacrifice  in  the  Temple,  that  he  shaved  his 
head  with  Aquila  and  Priscilla  at  Corinth  ;  for  no  other  advantage 
than  to  avoid  giving  scandal  to  the  Jews.  Hence  it  was,  that  James 
said,  to  the  same  Paul,  '  You  see,  brother,  how  many  thousands  of 
the  Jews  have  believed  ;  and  they  are  all  zealous  for  the  law.'  [Acts 
xxi.  20.]  And  yet,  at  this  time,  the  gospel  spreading  throughout 
the  world,  it  is  needless,  nay,  it  is  not  lawful,  for  the  faithful  either 
to  be  circumcised,  or  to  offer  up  to  God  sacrifices  of  the  flesh  of 
victims.  So  John,  pursuant  to  the  custom  of  the  law,  began  the 
celebration  of  the  feast  of  Easter  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  first 
month,  in  the  evening,  not  regarding  whether  the  same  happened 
on  a  Saturday,  or  any  other  day.  But  when  Peter  preached  at 
Rome,  being  mindful  that  our  Lord  arose  from  the  dead,  and  gave 
the  world  the  hopes  of  resurrection,  on  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
he  concluded  that  Easter  ought  to  be  observed,  so  as  always  to 
await  the  rising  of  the  moon  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  first 
month,  in  the  evening,  according  to  the  custom  and  precepts  of 
the  law,  even  as  John  did.  And  when  that  came,  if  the  Lord's 
day,  then  called  the  first  day,  was  the  next  morning  of  the  week, 
he  began  that  very  evening  to  keep  Easter,  as  we  do  at  this  day. 
But  if  the  Lord's  day  did  not  fall  the  next  morning  after  the  four- 
teenth moon,  but  on  the  sixteenth,  or  the  seventeenth,  or  any 
other  moon  till  the  twenty-first,  he  w-aited  for  that,  and  on  the 
Saturday  before,  in  the  evening,  began  to  observe  the  holy  solemnity 
of  Easter.  Thus  it  came  to  pass,  that  Easter  Sunday  was  kept 
only  from  the  fifteenth  moon  to  the  twenty-first.  Nor  does  this 
evangelical  and  apostolic  tradition  abolish  the  law,  but  rather 
fulfil  it ;  the  command  being  to  keep  the  passover  from  the  four- 
teenth moon  of  the  first  month  in  the  evening  to  the  twenty-first 
moon  of  the  same  month  in  the  evening;  which  observance  all  the 
successors  of  St.  John  in  Asia,  since  his  death,  and  all  the  church 
throughout  the  world,  have  since  followed ;  and  that  this  is  the 
true  Easter,  and  the  only  one  to  be  kept  by  the  faithful,  w^as  not 
newly  decreed  by  the  Council  of  Nice,  but  only  confirmed  afresh ; 
as  the  Church  History  informs  us. 

§  23L  "  Thus  it  appears,  that  you,  Colman,  neither  follow  the 
example  of  John,  as  you  imagine,  nor  that  of  Peter,  whose  tradi- 
tion you  knowingly  contradict ;  and  that  you  neither  agree  with 
the  law  nor  the  gospel  in  the  keeping  of  your  Easter.  For  John, 
keeping  the  Paschal  time  according  to  the  decrees  of  the  Mosaic 
law,  had  no  regard  to  the  first  day  of  the  week,  which  you  do  not 
practise,  w'ho  celebrate  Easter  only  on  the  first  day  of  the  week. 
Peter  kept  Easter  Sunday  from  the  fifteenth  to  the  twenty-first 
moon,  which  you  do  not,  but  you  keep  Easter  Sunday  from  the 
fourteenth  to  the  twentieth  moon  ;  so  that  you  often  begin  Easter 
on  the  thirteenth  moon  in  the  evening,  whereof  neither  has  the  law 
made  any  mention.  Nor  did  our  Lord,  the  Author  and  Giver  of 
the  gospel,  on  that  day,  but  on  the  fourteenth,  either  eat  the  old 
passover  in  the  evening,  or  deliver  the  sacraments  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, to  be  celebrated  by  th?  church,  in  commemoration  of  his 
passion.    Besides,  in  your  celebration  of  Easter,  you  utterly  exclude 


430  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  G64. 

the  twenty-first  moon,  which  tlie  law  ordered  to  be  principally 
observed.  Thus,  as  I  said  before,  you  agree  neither  with  John  nor 
Peter,  nor  with  the  law,  nor  the  gospel,  in  the  celebration  of  this 
greatest  festival." 

§  232.  To  this  Colman  rejoined  :  "  Did  Anatolius,  a  holy  man, 
and  much  commended  in  the  Church  History^  act  contrar)'  to  the 
law  and  the  gospel,  when  he  wrote,  that  Easter  was  to  be  cele- 
brated from  the  fourteenth  to  the  twentieth  ?  Is  it  to  be  believed 
that  our  most  reverend  father  Columba  and  his  successors,  men 
beloved  by  God,  who  kept  Easter  after  the  same  manner,  thought 
or  acted  contrai-y  to  the  divine  writings?  Wliereas  there  were 
many  among  them,  whose  sanctity  is  testified  by  heavenly  signs  and 
the  working  of  miracles  which  they  performed  ;  whose  life,  customs, 
and  discipline  I  never  cease  to  follow,  nor  question  their  sanctity." 

§  233.  "  It  is  evident,"  said  Uilfrid,  "  that  Anatolius  was  a  most 
holy,  learned,  and  commendable  man ;  but  w^hat  have  you  to  do 
with  him,  since  you  do  not  even  observe  his  decrees  ?  For  he, 
following  the  rule  of  truth  in  his  Easter,  appointed  a  revolution  of 
nineteen  years,  which  either  you  are  ignorant  of;  or  if  you  know  it, 
though  it  is  kept  by  the  whole  church  of  Christ,  yet  you  despise  it. 
He  so  computed  the  fourteenth  moon  in  the  Easter  of  our  Lord, 
that  according  to  the  custom  of  the  Egjrptians,  he  acknowledged  it 
to  be  the  fifteenth  moon  in  the  evening ;  so  in  like  manner  he 
assigned  the  twentieth  to  Easter  Sunday,  as  believing  that  to  be  the 
twenty-first  moon,  when  the  sun  had  set,  of  which  his  rule  of  dis- 
tinction it  appears  you  are  ignorant,  in  that  you  sometimes  most 
obviously  keep  Easter  before  the  full  of  the  moon,  that  is,  on  the 
thirteenth  moon.  Concerning  your  father  Columba,  and  his  fol- 
lowers, whose  sanctity  you  say  you  imitate,  and  whose  rule  and 
precepts  you  observe,  which  have  been  confirmed  by  signs  from 
heaven,  I  might  answer,  that  when  many,  on  the  day  of  judgment, 
shall  say  to  our  Lord,  that  in  his  name  they  propbesied,  and  cast 
out  devils,  and  wrought  many  wonders,  our  Lord  will  reply,  tbat  He 
never  knew  them.  But  far  be  it  from  me,  that  I  should  say  so  of  your 
fathers,  because  it  is  much  more  just  to  believe  what  is  good,  than 
what  is  evil,  of  persons  whom  one  does  not  know,  \\1ierefore  I  do 
not  deny  those  to  have  been  God's  servants,  and  beloved  by  Him, 
who  with  rustic  simplicity,  but  pious  intentions,  have  loved  Him. 
Nor  do  I  think  that  such  keeping  of  Easter  was  very  prejudicial  to 
them,  as  long  as  none  came  to  show  them  how  they  might  follow 
the  decrees  of  a  more  perfect  rule ;  and  yet  I  do  believe  that  they, 
if  any  catholic  adviser  had  come  among  them,  would  have  as  readily 
followed  his  admonitions,  as  they  are  known  to  have  kept  those 
commandments  of  God  which  they  had  learned  and  known. 

§  234.  "  But  as  for  you  and  your  companions,  you  certainly  sin, 
if,  having  heard  the  decrees  of  the  apostolic  see,  yea  rather  of  the 
universal  church,  and  that  the  same  are  confirmed  by  holy  writ,  you 
refuse  to  follow  them  ;  for,  though  your  fathers  were  holy,  do  you 
think  that  their  small  numl)er,  in  one  corner  of  a  veiy  remote 
island,  is  to  be  preferred  before  the  universal  church  of  Christ 
throughout  the  world  ?     And  if  tliat  Columba  of  yours,  (and  I  may 


A.D.  664.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  431 

say,  ours  also,  if  he  were  Christ's,)  was  a  holy  man  and  powerful  in 
miracles,  yet  should  he  be  preferred  before  the  most  blessed  prince 
of  the  apostles,  to  whom  our  Lord  said,  '  Tliou  art  Peter,  and  upon 
this  rock  I  will  build  my  church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not 
prevail  against  it,  and  to  thee  I  will  give  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  ?  '  "     [Matt.  xvi.  18.] 

§  235.  Wlien  Uilfrid  had  spoken  thus,  the  king  said,  "  Is  it 
true,  or  not,  Colman,  that  these  words  were  spoken  to  Peter  by  our 
Lord  ?  "  He  answered,  "It  is  true,  O  king !  "  Then  said  he, 
"  Can  you  show  any  such  power  given  to  your  Columba?  "  Col- 
man answered,  "None."  Tlien  added  the  king,  "Do  you  both 
agree  that  without  any  dispute  these  words  were  principally  spoken 
to  Peter,  and  that  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  were  given  to 
him  by  the  Lord?  "  They  both  answered,  "We  do."  Then  the 
king  concluded,  "  And  I  also  say  unto  you,  that  he  is  that  door- 
keeper, whom  I  will  not  contradict,  but,  as  far  as  I  know  and  am 
able,  I  desire  in  all  things  to  obey  his  decrees ;  lest,  when  I  come  to 
the  gates  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  there  should  be  none  to  open 
them,  he  being  my  adversary  who  is  admitted  to  have  the  keys." 
The  king  having  said  this,  all  present,  as  well  those  who  sat  as  those 
who  stood,  both  great  and  small,  gave  their  assent,  and  renouncing 
the  more  imperfect  institution,  hastened  to  conform  themselves  to 
that  which  they  had  found  to  be  better. 


Chap.  XXVI.  [a.d.  664.] — Colman,  being    worsted,  returned  home  ;    Tuda 

SUCCEEDED   HIM   IN   THE   BISHOPRIC  J    AND  OF  THE  STATE  OF   THE   CHURCH   UNDER 
THOSE  TEACHERS. 

§  236.  The  disputation  being  ended^  and  the  company  broken 
up,  Agilberct  returned  home.  Colman,  perceiving  that  his  doctrine 
was  rejected,  and  his  sect  despised,  took  with  him  such  as  were 
willing  to  follow  him,  and  would  not  comply  with  the  catholic 
Easter  and  the  tonsure  of  the  crown,  (for  there  was  much  con- 
troversy about  that  also,)  and  went  back^  into  Scotland,  to  consult 
with  his  people  what  was  to  be  done  in  this  case.  Cedd,  forsaking 
the  practices  of  the  Scots,  returned  to  his  bishopric,  having  acknow- 
ledged the  catholic  observance  of  Easter.  This  disputation  hap- 
pened in  the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  664,  which  was  the 
twenty-second  year  of  the  reign  of  king  Osuiu,  and  the  thirtieth  of 
the  episcopacy  of  the  Scots,  in  the  province  of  the  Angles,  for 
Aidan  was  bishop  seventeen  years,  Finan  ten,  and  Colman  three. 

§  237.  When  Colman  had  returned  into  his  own  country,  Christ's 

*  By  the  aid  of  a  charter  printed  in  the  Monasticon  Anglic,  i.  65,  (presuming  it 
to  be  genuine,)  we  learn  that  the  council  had  terminated  before  26th  March,  664, 
upon  which  day  Deussdedit,  archbishop  of  Canterbuiy,  completed  the  ninth  and 
commenced  the  tenth  year  of  his  presulate  (cf.  §  209).  In  the  charter  referred  to, 
which  professes  to  have  been  written  immediately  after  the  termination  of  the 
council,  he  mentions  his  ninth  pontifical  year  as  yet  imexpired. 

^  MabiUon  (Act.  SS.  Ord.  S.  Bened.  iii.  151,  §  4,  ed.  Venet.)  attempts  to  show 
that  Beda  has  here  fallen  into  error  regarding  the  residence  of  this  Agilberct;  but 
the  accuracy  of  our  author  in  this  respect  is  supported  by  Pagi,  a.d.  664,  §  6. 


432  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    Ul"    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  6G4. 

servant,  Tuda/  was  made  bishop  of  the  Northumbrians  in  his 
place,  having  been  instructed  and  ordained  bishop  among  the 
southern  Scots,  having  also  the  ecclesiastical  tonsure  of  his  crown, 
according  to  the  custom^  of  that  province,  and  observing  the 
catholic  time  of  Easter.  He  was  a  good  and  religious  man,  but 
governed  his  church  a  very  short  time ;  he  came  out  of  Scotland 
whilst  Colman  was  yet  bishop,  and  both  by  word  and  work  dili- 
gently taught  all  persons  those  things  that  appertain  to  the  faith 
and  truth.  But  Eata,^  who  was  abbat  in  the  monastery  which  is 
called  Melrose,  a  most  reverend  and  meek  man,  was  appointed 
provost  over  the  brethren  who  preferred  to  stay  in  the  church  of 
Lindisfarne,  when  the  Scots  went  away.  They  say  that  Colman, 
before  his  departure,  requested  and  obtained  this  of  king  Osuiu, 
because  Eata  was  one  of  Aidan's  twelve  boys  of  the  English  nation, 
whom  he  received  when  first  made  bishop  there,  to  be  instructed 
in  Christ ;  for  the  king  much  loved  bishop  Colman  on  account  of 
his  singular  discretion.  This  is  the  same  Eata,  who,  not  long  after, 
was  made  bishop  of  the  same  church  of  Lindisfarne.  Colman 
carried  home  with  him  part  of  the  bones  of  the  most  reverend 
father  Aidan,  and  left  part  of  them  in  the  church  where  he  had 
presided,  ordering  them  to  be  interred  in  its  sacristy. 

§  238.  How  great  was  his  parsimony,  how  great  his  continence, 
the  place  which  they  governed  shows  for  himself  and  his  prede- 
cessors ;  for  there  were  verj^  few  houses  besides  the  cluu-ch  found 
at  their  departure ;  indeed,  no  more  than  were  barely  sufficient  foi- 
their  daily  residence  ;  they  had  also  no  money,  but  cattle  ;  for  if 
they  received  any  money  from  rich  persons,  they  immediately  gave 
it  to  the  poor  ;  there  being  no  need  to  gather  money,  or  provide 
houses  for  the  entertainment  of  the  great  men  of  the  world  ;  for 
such  never  resorted  to  the  church,  except  to  pray  and  hear  the 
word  of  God.  The  king  himself,  when  opportunity  required,  came 
only  with  five  or  six  servants,  and  having  performed  his  devotions 
in  the  church,  departed.  But  if  they  happened  to  take  a  repast 
there,  they  were  satisfied  with  only  the  plain  and  daily  food  of  the 
brethren,  and  required  no  more  ;  for  the  whole  care  of  those 
teachers  was  to  serve  God,  not  tlie  world— to  feed  tlie  soul,  and 
not  the  belly. 

§  239.  For  this  reason  the  religious  habit  was  at  that  time  in 
great  veneration  ;  so  that  wheresoever  any  cleric  or  monk  hap- 
pened to  come,  he  was  joyfully  received  by  all  persons,  as  God's 
servant ;  and  if  they  chanced  to  meet  him  as  he  was  upon  the 

*  As  Tuda  attests  the  Peterborough  Charter,  (Dugd.  Monast.  i.  65,)  in  tlie 
capacity  of  a  bishop,  he  must  have  been  consecrated  before  26th  March,  664. 
This  inference,  however,  assumes  the  authenticity  of  the  charter.  And  it  is 
■worthy  of  remark  also,  that  he  does  not  here  specify  the  diocese  over  which  he 
presided  ;  hence  he  may  have  attested  it  simply  as  a  regionary  bishop,  to  whom 
no  peculiar  sec  had  been  assigned  ;  for  Keda  here  mentions  that  he  had  been  con- 
secrated bishop  prior  to  his  arrival  in  England. 

^  Ussher  shows,  from  Adamnan  and  other  authorities,  that  the  inhabitants  of 
the  southern  districts  of  Ireland  adhered  in  some  respects  to  the  discipline  of  the 
church  of  Rome. 

^  Eata  was  abbot  of  Lmdisfarne  from  a  d.  664  to  678,  when  he  became  its 
bishop.     He  died  in  685. 


A.D.   G6i.]        BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  433 

way,  they  ran  to  him,  and  bowing,  were  glad  to  be  signed  with  his 
hand,  or  blessed  with  his  mouth.  Great  attention  was  also  paid  to 
their  exhortations  ;  and  on  Sundays  the  people  flocked  eagerly  to  the 
church,  or  the  monasteries,  not  to  feed  their  bodies,  but  to  hear 
the  Word  of  God ;  and  if  any  priest  happened  to  come  into  a 
village,  the  inhabitants  flocked  together  forthwith  to  hear  from  him 
the  Word  of  life.  For  the  priests  and  clerks  went  into  the  villages 
on  no  other  account  than  to  preach,  baptize,  visit  the  sick,  and,  in 
few  words,  to  take  care  of  souls  ;  and  they  were  so  free  from  the 
curse  of  worldly  avarice,  that  none  of  them  received  lands  and 
possessions  for  building  monasteries,  unless  they  were  compelled^ 
to  do  so  by  the  temporal  authorities  ;  which  custom  was  for  some 
time  after  observed  in  all  the  churches  of  the  Northumbrians.  But 
enough  has  now  been  said  on  this  subject. 


Chap.  XXVII.  [a.d.  664.] — Egbert,  a  holt  max  of  the  English  nation,  led  a 

MONASTIC  LIFE  IN  IRELAND. 

§  240.  In  the  same  year  of  our  Lord's  Incarnation,  664,  there 
happened  an  eclipse  of  the  sun,  on  the  third ^  of  the  month  of  May, 
about  the  tenth  hour  of  the  day.  In  the  same  year,  a  sudden  pesti- 
lence also,  having  first  depopulated  the  southern  coasts  of  Britain, 
and  afterwards  extending  into  the  province  of  the  Northumbrians, 
for  a  long  time  ravaged  the  country  far  and  near,  and  destroyed  a 
great  multitude  of  men.  To  which  plague  the  aforesaid  priest 
Tuda  fell  a  victim,  and  was  honourably  buried  in  the  monasteiy 
which  is  called  Paegnalaech.^  This  pestilence  did  no  less  harm  in 
the  island  of  Ireland.  Many  of  the  nobility,  and  of  the  middle 
ranks  of  the  English  nation,  were  there  at  that  time,  who,  in  the 
days  of  the  bishops  Finan  and  Colman,  forsaking  their  native 
island,  had  retired  thither,  either  for  the  sake  of  divine  studies,  or 
of  a  more  continent  life  ;  and  some  of  them  presently  devoted 
themselves  faithfully  to  a  monastical  life,  others  chose  rather  to 
apply  themselves  to  study,  going  about  from  one  master's  cell  to 
another.  The  Scots  most  willingly  received  them  all,  and  took 
care  to  supply  them  gratuitously  with  daily  food,  as  also  to  furnish 
them  with  books  to  read,  and  their  teaching,  without  making  any 
charge. 

§  24 1 .  Among  these  were  Aedilhun  and  Ecgberct,'*  two  youths 
of  great  capacity,  of  the  English  nobility.  The  former  of  whom 
was  brother  to  Aediluini,^  a  man  no  less  beloved  by  God,  who  him- 

'  See  an  illustration  at  §  217. 

^  Here  Beda  is  somewhat  in  error,  for  the  eclipse  happened  upon  the  first  of  May, 
not  the  third.  See  Petavius,  De  Ratione  Temporum,  i.  543,  ed.  fol.  1705 ;  Pagi 
ad  an.  664,  §  8;  Ussher,  p.  491.  The  Annals  of  Tigernach  are  correct  in  this 
particular,  see  O'Connor,  Script.  Rer.  Hibern.  i.  xcii.;  as  are  those  of  Ulster, 
Ussher,  p.  490. 

^  The  locality  is  uncertain.  Smith  is  willing  to  consider  it  the  same  as  Finchale, 
near  Durham,  but  this  is  founded  on  no  satisfactory  authority.  The  abstract  of 
the  history  of  Lindisfame,  in  the  Durham  MS.,  reads  Penalegh.  Possibly  it  is 
one  of  those  monasteries  which  were  destroyed  by  the  Danes. 

*  See  §§  242,  376,  and  446.     He  died  in  lona  on  Easter-day,  24th  April,  729. 

^  See  §  182. 
VOL.   I.  F  F 


434  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  6G4. 

self  also  afterwards  went  over  into  Ireland  for  tlie  sake  of  study, 
and  having  been  well  instructed,  returned  into  his  own  countr)', 
and  being  made  bishop  in  the  province  of  Lindissi,  long  governed 
that  church  most  worthily.  These  two  being  in  the  monaster)^ 
which  in  the  language  of  the  Scots  is  called  Rathmelsigi,^  and 
having  lost  all  their  companions,  who  were  either  cut  ofi'  by  the 
mortality,  or  dispersed  into  other  places,  both  fell  sick  of  the  same 
disease,  and  were  very  grievously  afflicted.  Of  these,  Ecgberct, 
(as  I  was  informed  by  a  priest  very  venerable  for  his  age,  and  of 
great  veracity,  who  declared  he  had  heard  those  things  from  his 
own  mouth,)  concluding  that  he  was  at  the  point  of  death,  in  tlie 
morning  went  out  of  his  chamber,  where  the  sick  people  lay,  and 
sitting  alone  in  a  convenient  place,  began  seriously  to  reflect  upon 
his  actions  ;  and,  being  full  of  compunction  at  the  remembrance  of 
his  sins,  he  bedewed  his  face  with  tears,  and  prayed  to  God  from  the 
bottom  of  his  heart,  that  he  might  not  die  yet,  before  he  could 
make  more  perfect  amends  for  the  neglect  which  he  had  committed 
in  his  infancy  and  younger  years,  or  might  further  exercise  himself 
in  good  works.  He  also  vowed  a  vow  that  he  would,  for  the  sake 
of  God,  lead  such  a  pilgrim's  life  as  never  to  return  into  the  island 
of  Britain,  where  he  was  born  ;  that,  besides  the  canonical  times  of 
customary  singing  of  psalms,  he  would,  unless  prevented  by  corporeal 
infirmity,  say  the  whole  Psalter  daily  in  commemoration  of  the 
praise  of  God ;  and  that  he  would  every  week  fast  one  whole  day 
and  a  night.  Returning  home,  after  having  finished  his  tears, 
prayers,  and  vows,  he  found  his  companion  asleep,  and  going  'to 
bed  himself,  began  to  compose  himself  to  rest.  WHien  he  had 
lain  quiet  awhile,  his  comrade,  awaking,  looked  on  him,  and 
said,  "Alas!  brother  Ecgberct,  what  have  you  done?  I  was 
in  hope  that  we  should  have  entered  together  into  life  ever- 
lasting;  but  know  that  what  you  prayed  for  is  granted."  For 
he  had  learned  in  a  vision  what  the  other  had  requested,  and 
that  his  prayer  was  granted.  In  short,  Acdilhun  died  the  next 
night. 

§  242.  But  Ecgberct,  shaking  off  his  distemper,  recovered  and 
lived  a  long  time  afterwards  to  grace  the  priestly  office,  which  he 
had  received,  by  his  worthy  behaviour ;  and  after  much  increase 
of  virtue,  according  to  his  desire,  he  at  length,  not  long  ago,  that 
is,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord's  Incarnation  729,  being  ninety  years  of 
age,  departed  to  the  heavenly  kingdom.  He  led  his  life  in  great 
perfection  of  humility,  meekness,  continence,  simplicity,  and 
justice.  Thus  he  was  a  great  benefactor,  both  to  his  own  nation, 
and  to  those  of  the  Scots  and  Picts  among  whom  he  lived  a 
stranger,  by  his  example  of  life,  his  industry  in  teaching,  his  autho- 
rity in  reproving,  and  his  piety  in  giving  away  much  of  what  he 
received  from  the  bounty  of  the  rich.  He  also  added  this  to  his 
vow  above-mentioned  ;  that  always  during  Lent,  he  would  eat  but 
one  meal  a  day,  allowing  himself  nothing  but  bread  and  the  thin- 
nest milk,  and  even  that  by  measure.     That  milk,  new  the  day 

i  Ratlimelsigi,  that  is,  the  habitation  of  Mel,  the  nephew  of  Patrick,  concerning 
whom  ace  Acta  SS.  Mart.  ii.  551,  561,  562.     It  is  now  called  Melfont. 


A.D,  665.]         BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    III.  435 

before,  he  used  to  keep  in  a  vessel,  and  the  next  day  skimming  off 
the  cream,  drank  what  remained,  as  has  been  said,  with  a  httle 
bread.  Wliich  kind  of  abstinence  he  Ukewise  always  observed 
forty  ^  days  before  the  nativity  of  our  Lord,  and  as  many  after  the 
completion  of  the  solemnity  of  Pentecost,  that  is,  of  Quin- 
quagesima. 

Chap.  XXVIII.  [a.d.  665.] — Tuda  being  dead,  Uilfrid  was  ordained  in  Gaul, 

AND  CeADDA  among  THE  WeST   SaSONS,  TO  BE  BISHOPS  IN  THE  PKOTINCE  OP  THE 

Northumbrians. 

§  243.  In  the  meantime,^  king  Alchfrid  sent  the  priest,  Uilfrid, 
to  the  king  of  Gaul,*  to  be  consecrated  bishop  over  him  and  his 
people ;  but  that  prince  sent  him  to  be  ordained*  by  Agilberct, 
who,  as  was  said  above,^  having  left  Britain,  was  made  bishop  of 
the  city  of  Paris,®  and  by  him  Uilfrid  was  honourably  consecrated, 
many  bishops  meeting  together  for  that  purpose  in  a  village^  be- 
longing to  the  king,  called  Compiegne.'  While  he  was  making 
some  stay  in  the  parts  beyond  the  sea,  in  consequence  of  his  ordina- 
tion, king  Osuiu,  following  the  example  of  his  son,'  sent  a  holy  man, 
of  modest  behaviour,  sufficiently  well  read  in  the  Scriptures,  and 
diligently  practising  those  things  which  he  had  learned  therein,  to 
be  ordained  bishop  of  the  church  of  York.  This  was  a  priest 
called  Ceadda,'"  brother  to  the  most  reverend  prelate  Cedd,  of 
whom  mention  has  been  often  made,"  and  abbat  of  the  monastery 
of  Laestingaeu.'^  "With  him  the  king  also  sent  his  priest  Eadhaed,^^ 
who  was  afterwards,  in  the  reign  of  Ecgfrid,  made  bishop  of  the 
church  of  Ripon.  On  arriving  in  Kent,  they  found  that  arch- 
bishop Deusdedit'*  had  departed  this  life,  and  that  no  other  prelate 
had  as  yet  been  appointed  in  his  place  ;  whereupon  they  proceeded 
to  the  province  of  the  West  Saxons,  where  Uini  was  bishop,  and 
by  him  the  person  above  mentioned  was  consecrated  bishop  ;  two 
bishops  of  the  British  nation,  who  kept  Easter  Sunday  according 
to  the  canonical  manner,  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  twentieth  day 

'  On  tliis  threefold  fast  see  Theodore's  Penitential,  in  Thorpe's  Ancient 
Laws,  ii.  65. 

^  The  consecration  of  Wilfred,  as  bishop  of  York,  has  generally  been  assigned 
to  A.D.  664  ;  but  Pagi  clearly  sho-vvs,  a.d.  665,  §  16,  that  it  did  not  take  place  until 
the  following  year.  To  that  year  I  have  ventured  to  assign  it,  although  unsup- 
ported by  Smith  and  Petrie. 

3  Namely,  Clothaire  III,  who  reigned  from  a.d.  662  to  676. 

*  Wilfrid  objected  to  being  cou.secrated  by  the  bishops  who  were  then  in 
England,  inasmuch  as  they  were  either  converts  to  the  Scottish  calculation  re- 
garcUug  Easter-day,  or  that  they  had  received  then-  ordination  from  those  bishops 
who  held  that  objectionable  opinion.  See  Vita  Wilfridi  auctore  Heddio,  §  12, 
ed.  Gale,  p.  57.  »  ggg  §  170.  «  gee  Gall.  Christ,  vii.  27. 

^  It  was  the  residence  of  Clothaire  I,  Childeb^rt  III,  and  of  several  other  of 
the  earlier  French  kings.     Bouquet,  iii.  321,  696. 

"  Now  Compiegne.     See  Gall.  Christ,  ix.  434. 

8  Namely,  of  Alchfrid,  the  patron  of  Wilfrid. 

'°  See  Acta  SS.  Mart.  i.  143.  "  See  §§  211,  214,  216—219. 

12  See  §  218.  »  See  §  288. 

**  Deusdedit  having  died  14th  July,  664,  his  decease  must  have  been  well 
known  to  Osuiu  in  666 ;  whence  we  may  infer  that  the  king  jjresumed  that 
Ceadda  would,  upon  his  arrival  in  Kent,  receive  consecration  from  the  newly  and 
canonically  ordained  archbishop  Wighard.  But  the  unexpected  death  of  that 
prelate  caused  application  to  be  made  to  Wini,  the  next  best  authority. 
F  f2 


436  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  665 

of  the  moon,  as  has  been  frequently  said,  being  added  to  assist  at 
the  ordination ; '  for  at  that  time  there  was  no  other  bishop  in  all 
Britain  canonically^  ordained,  besides  that  Uini. 

§  244.  Ceadda,  being  thus  consecrated'  bishop,  began  imme- 
diately to  devote  himself  to  ecclesiastical  truth  and  to  chastity  ;  to 
apply  himself  to  humility,  continence,  and  study ;  to  travel  about, 
not  on  horseback,  but  after  the  manner  of  the  apostles,  on  foot, 
preaching  the  gospel  in  towns,  in  the  open  countiy,  in  cottages, 
villages,  and  castles  ;  for  he  was  one  of  the  disciples  of  Aidan,  and 
endeavoured  to  instruct  his  people  by  the  same  actions  and  be- 
haviour, according  to  his  and  his  brother  Cedd's  example.  Uilfrid 
also  having  been  made  a  bishop,  came  into^  Britain,  and  in  like 
manner  by  his  doctrine  brought  into  the  English  church  very 
many  rules  of  catholic  observance.  Whence  it  followed,  that  the 
catholic  institution  daily  gained  strength,  and  all  the  Scots  that 
dwelt  among  the  Angles,  either  submitted  to  these  persons,  or 
returned  into  their  own  countiy. 


Chap.  XXIX.  [a.d.  665.] — How  the  priest  Uighard  was  sent  from  Britain  to 
Rome,  that  he  might  be  consecrated  archbishop;  of  his  death  there,  and 
OF  the  Letters  of  the  apostolic  Pope  giving  in  reply  an  account  thereof. 

§  245.  At  this^  time,  the  most  noble  kings  of  the  Angles, 
namely,  Osuiu,  of  the  province  of  the  Northumbrians,  and  Ecgberct 
of  Kent,  having  consulted  together  as  to  what  should  be  done  about 
the  state  of  the  English  church,  (for  Osuiu,  though  educated  by  the 
Scots,  perfectly  understood  that  the  Roman  was  the  catholic  and 
apostolic  church,)  with  the  election  and  consent  of  the  holy  church 
of  the  English  nation,  made  choice  of  a  good  man,  and  a  priest  fit  to 
be  made  a  bishop,  called  Uighard,  one  of  bishop  Dcusdedit's  clergy," 
and  sent  him  to  Rome  to  be  ordained  bishop,  to  the  end  that  he, 
having  received  the  rank  of  an  archbishop,  might  ordain  catholic 
prelates  for  the  churches  of  the  English  nation  throughout  all 
Britain.  But  Uighard,  arriving  at  Rome,  was  cut  oft"  by  death, 
before  he  could  be  consecrated  to  the  office  of  bishop;  and  the 
following  letter  was  sent  back  into  Britain  to  king  Osuiu  : — 

§  246.  "  To  the  excellent  Lord,  our  son,  Osuiu,  king  of  the  Saxons, 
Vitalian,  bishop,  servant  of  the  servants  of  God.  We  have  received 
your  excellency's  pleasing  letters  ;  by  reading  whereof  we  understand 
your  most  pious  devotion  and  fen'ent  love  to  obtain  everlasting 

>  Theodore  was  not  satisfied  with  the  canonical  validity  of  Ceadda's  consecra- 
tion, in  consequence  of  these  circumstances,  and  at  a  later  time  he  was  reconse- 
crated.    See  §  258. 

2  Wini  had  been  ordained  in  Gaul.     See  §  170. 

'  His  accession  to  the  bishopric  of  York  is  generally  ascribed  to  the  year  6G4, 
Wharton,  Smith,  and  Petrie  agreeing  in  this  point;  but  Pagi,  a.d.  666,  §  0, 
advances  powerful  arguments  for  fixing  it  to  the  year  661. 

*  Namely,  in  666.     See  Pagi,  ad  an.  §  18. 

*  Smith,  upon  the  authority  of  the  Saxon  Chronicle  and  Florence  of  Worcester, 
ascribes  this  mission  to  667.  The  succession  of  events  would  lead  us  to  infer 
that  it  occurred  somewhat  earlier,  apparently  in  665,and  to  this  year  it  is  assigned 
by  Jaffd  in  his  Regesta  Pontiff.  Roman,  ad  an. 

^  He  was  the  first  of  the  secular  clergy  who  succeeded  to  the  dignity  of  arcli- 
bishop  of  Canterbury. 


A.D.  665.]  BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK  III.  437 

life ;  and  that  by  the  protecting  hand  of  God  you  have  been  con- 
verted to  the  true  and  apostohc  faith,  hoping  that  as  you  reign 
in  your  nation,  so  you  will  hereafter  reign  together  in  Christ. 
Blessed  be  the  nation,  therefore,  that  has  been  found  worthy  to 
have  sucli  a  most  wise  king  and  worshipper  of  God  ;  forasmuch  as 
he  is  not  himself  alone  a  worshipper  of  God,  but  also  studies  day 
and  night  how  he  may  accomplish  the  conversion  of  all  his  subjects 
to  the  catholic  and  apostolic  faith,  for  the  redemption  of  his  own 
soul.  Wlio  will  not  rejoice  at  hearing  such  pleasant  things  ?  Who 
will  not  exult  and  be  delighted  at  such  good  works  ?  Because  your 
nation  has  believed  in  Christ  the  Almighty  God,  according  to  the 
words  of  the  divine  prophets,  as  it  is  written  in  Isaiah,^  '  In  that 
day  there  shall  be  a  root  of  Jesse,  which  shedl  stand  for  an  ensign 
of  the  people  ;  to  him  shall  the  gentiles  seek.'  And  again,  '  Listen, 
O  isles,  unto  me,  and  hearken,  ye  people,  from  afar.'  And  a  little 
after,  '  It  is  a  light  thing  that  thou  shouldst  be  my  servant  to  raise 
up  the  tribes  of  Jacob,  and  to  restore  the  preserved  of  Israel.  I 
will  also  give  thee  for  a  light  to  the  gentiles,  that  thou  mayest  be 
my  salvation  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.'  And  again,  '  Kings  shall 
see,  princes  also  shall  arise  and  worship.'  And  presently  after, 
'  I  have  given  thee  for  a  covenant  of  the  people,  to  establish  the 
earth,  and  possess  the  desolate  heritages  ;  that  thou  mayest  say  to 
the  prisoners.  Go  forth  ;  to  them  that  are  in  darkness.  Show  your- 
selves.' And  again,  '  I  the  Lord  have  called  thee  in  righteousness, 
and  will  hold  thine  hand,  and  will  keep  thee,  and  give  thee  for 
a  light  of  the  gentiles,  and  for  a  covenant  of  the  people ;  to  open 
the  blind  eyes,  to  bring  out  the  prisoner  from  the  prison,  and  them 
that  sit  in  darkness  from  the  prison-house.' 

§  247.  "  Behold,  most  excellent  son,  how  plain  and  clear  it  is, 
not  only  of  you,  but  also  of  all  the  nations  of  the  prophets,  that 
they  shall  believe  in  Christ,  the  Creator  of  all  things.  Wherefore, 
it  behoves  your  highness,  as  being  a  member  of  Christ,  in  all  things 
continually  to  follow  the  pious  rule  of  the  prince  of  the  apostles,  in 
celebrating  Easter,  and  in  all  things  delivered  by  the  blessed  apostles 
Peter  and  Paul,  whose  doctrine  daily  enlightens  the  hearts  of  be- 
lievers, even  as  the  two  heavenly  lights,  [the  sun  and  moon,]  daily 
illumine  the  earth." 

§  248.  And-  after  some  lines,  wherein  he  speaks  of  celebrating 
Easter  uniformly  throughout  all  the  world,  he  adds, — 

"  We  have  not  been  able  now  to  find,  considering  the  length  of 
the  journey,  a  man,  docile,  and  qualified  in  all  respects  to  be  a 
bishop,  according  to  the  tenor  of  your  letters.  But  as  soon  as  such 
a  proper  person  shall  be  found,  we  will  send  him  well  instructed  to 
your  country,  that  he  may,  by  word  of  mouth,  and  through  the 
divine  oracles,  with  the  assistance  of  God,  root  out  all  the  enemy's 
tares  throughout  your  island.     We  have  received  the  presents  sent 

1  Isa.  xi.  10 ;  sli.  10 ;  xlix.  1,  7,  8,  9  ;  xlii.  6,  7. 

^  Here,  as  iu  §  144,  Beda  has  omitted  those  passages  which  relate  to  the 
subject  of  Easter.  The  intennediate  passage  is  quoted  by  Ussher  from  a  manu- 
script which  he  thinks  might  originally  have  belonged  to  the  monastery  of 
Whitby.  It  refers  to  the  authority  of  the  Council  of  Nice,  and  to  SS.  Cyi-il  and 
Diouysius.     See  Syllog.  Epp.  Hibern.  Ep.  ix.  note. 


438  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  6G5. 

by  your  liighness  to  the  blessed  prince  of  the  apostles,  for  an  eternal 
memorial,  and  return  you  thanks,  and  always  pray  for  your  safety 
along  with  the  clerg)^  of  Christ.  But  he  who  offered  these  presents 
has  been  removed  out  of  this  world,  and  is  buried  at  the  church  of 
the  apostles,  for  whom  we  have  been  much  concerned,  because  he 
died  here.  However,  we  have  ordered  the  blessed  gifts  of  the 
saints,  that  is,  the  relics  of  the  blessed  apostles  Peter  and  Paul, 
and  of  the  holy  martyrs  Laurentius,  John,  and  Paul,  and  Gregory, 
and  Pancratius,  to  be  delivered  to  the  bearers  of  these  our  letters, 
to  be  by  them  delivered  to  your  excellency.  And  to  your  consort 
also,  our  spiritual  daughter,  we  have  by  the  aforesaid  bearers  sent  a 
cross,  with  a  gold  key  to  it,  made  out  of  the  most  holy  chains  of 
the  blessed  apostles  Peter  and  Paul ;  for  at  her  pious  endeavours 
all  the  apostolic  see  rejoices  with  us,  inasmuch  as  her  pious  works 
are  fragrant  and  blossom  before  God. 

§  249.  "  We  therefore  desire  your  highness  will  hasten,  according 
to  our  wish,  to  dedicate  all  your  island  to  Christ  our  God  ;  for  it 
certainly  has  for  its  protector  the  Redeemer  of  mankind,  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  who  will  prosper  it  in  all  things,  that  it  may  bring 
together  a  new  people  of  Christ,  establishing  there  the  catholic  and 
apostolic  faith.  For  it  is  written,*  '  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  his  righteousness,  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  to 
you.'  Truly  your  highness  seeks,  and  shall  no  doubt  obtain,  that 
all  your  island  shall  be  made  subject  to  you,  as  is  our  wish  and 
desire.  Saluting  your  excellency  with  fatherly  affection,  we  always 
pray  to  the  divine  goodness,  that  it  will  vouchsafe  to  assist  you  and 
yours  in  all  good  works,  that  you  may  reign  with  Christ  in  the 
world  to  come.  May  the  heavenly  grace  preserve  your  excellency 
in  safety  ! " 

In  the  next  book'  we  shall  have  a  more  suitable  occasion  to  sliow 
who  was  found  out  and  consecrated  in  Uighard's  place. 


Chap.  XXX.  [a.d.  G65.] — How  the  East  Saxons,  during  a  pestilence,  returning 

TO   IDOLATRY,    ARE    IMMEDIATELY   BROUGUT    BACK    iUOM    THEIR    ERROR     BY    THE 

INSTANCE  OP  Bishop  Jakuman. 

§  250.  At  the  same  time,  the  kings'  Sigheri  and  Sebbi,  though 
subject  to  Uulfhere,  king  of  the  Mercians,  governed  the  province 
of  the  East  Saxons  after  Suidhelm,  of  whom  we  have  spoken 
above.*  That  province  labouring  under  the  aforesaid  mortality, 
Sigheri,  with  that  part  of  tiie  people  that  was  under  his  dominion 
forsook  the  sacraments  of  the  christian  faith,  and  turned  apostate. 
For  the  king  himself,  and  many  of  the  commons  and  great  men 
being  fond  of  this  life,  and  not  seeking  after  that  which  is  to  come, 
or  rather  not  believing  that  there  was  any  other,  began  to  restore 
the  temples  that  had  been  abandoned,  and  to  adore  idols,  as  if  they 
might  by  them  be  protected  against  the  mortality.     But  Sebbi,  his 

1  Matt.  vi.  33.  ^  See  §  254. 

'  These  two  subregiili,  although  ruling  each  over  his  own  district  iu  East 
Saxony,  were  under  the  control  of  the  superior  king  of  Mercia.  Sigheri,  the  son 
of  Sigeberct  the  Little,  was  the  huslsand  of  St.  Osithe ;  Sebbi,  the  son  of  Seward, 
resigned  his  kingdom,  and  died  A.D.  094.  *  See  §  216. 


A.D.  664.]         BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    IV,  439 

companion  and  co-heir  in  the  kingdom,  with  all  his  people,  very 
devoutly  presei-ved  the  faith  which  he  had  embraced,  and,  as  we 
shall  show '  hereafter,  ended  his  faithful  life  with  much  felicity. 

§  251.  King  Uulfhere,  understanding  that  the  faith  of  the 
province  was  partly  profaned,  sent  bishop  Jaruman,  who  was 
successor  to  Trumheri,  to  correct  that  error,  and  restore  the 
province  to  the  truth.  He  proceeded  with  much  discretion,  (as  I 
was  informed  by  a  priest  who  bore  him  company  in  that  journey, 
and  had  been  his  fellow-labourer  in  the  Word,)  for  he  was  a  religious 
and  good  man,  and  having  travelled  through  all  the  country,  far  and 
near,  reduced  both  the  aforesaid  king  and  people  to  the  way  of 
righteousness;  so  that,  either  forsaking  or  destroying  the  temples 
and  altars  which  they  had  erected,  they  opened  the  churches,  and 
rejoiced  in  confessing  the  Name  of  Christ,  which  they  had  denied, 
being  more  desirous  to  die  in  Him  with  the  faith  of  the  resurrection, 
than  to  live  in  the  filth  of  apostasy  among  their  idols.  These  things 
being  performed,  their  priests  and  teachers  returned  home  with 

joy- 


BOOK  IV. 

Chap.  I.  [a.d.  664.]— How  Deusdedit,  archbishop  of  Canteebury,  dying, 
uighard  was  sent  to  rome  to  receive  the  episcopate  ;  but  he  dying  there, 
Theodore  was  ordained  archbishop,  and  sent  into  Britain  with  the  Abbat 
Hadrian. 

§  252.  In  the  above-mentioned  year  of  the  aforesaid  eclipse, 
which  was  presently  followed  by  the  pestilence,  in  which  also 
bishop  Colman,  being  overcome  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
catholics,  returned  home,  Deusdedit,  the  sixth  bishop  of  the  church 
of  Canterbury,  died  on  the  day  before  the  ides  of  July  [14th  July]. 
Erconberct,  also,  king  of  Kent,  departed  this  life  on  the  same 
month  and  day  ;  leaving  his  kingdom  to  his  son  Ecgberct,  which  he 
held  nine  years. ^  The  see  then  became  vacant  for  some  consider- 
able time,'  until  the  priest  Uighard,  a  man  most  skilled  in  eccle- 
siastical discipline,  one  of  the  English  race,  was  sent  to  Rome  by 
the  said  king  Ecgberct,  and  Osuiu,  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  as 
was  briefly  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  book,*  with  a  request  that  he 
might  be  ordained  archbishop  of  the  church  of  the  English  ;  sending 
at  the  same  time  presents  to  the  apostolic  pope,  and  many  vessels  of 
gold  and  silver.  Arriving  at  Rome,  where  Vitalian^  presided  at  that 
time  over  the  apostolic  see,  and  having  made  known  to  the  afore- 
said apostolic  pope  the  occasion  of  his  journey,  he  was  not  long 
after  snatched  away,  with  almost  all  his  companions  that  went  with 
him,  by  a  pestilence  which  happened  at  that  time. 

1  See  §§  283—285.  ^  He  died  in  July,  a.d.  673 ;  §  271. 

=  Namely,  from  14tli  July,  664,  when  Deusdedit  died,  until  26tli  March,  668, 
when  Theodore  was  consecrated.  *  See  §§  245,  248. 

^  Vitalian  was  consecrated  30th  July,  657,  and  was  buried  27th  Jan.  672, 


440  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  664 

§  253.  But  the  apostolic  pope  liaving  consulted  about  that  affair, 
made  diligent  inquiry  for  some  one  whom  he  might  send'  to  be 
archbishop  of  the  English  chm-ches.  Tliere  was  then  in  the 
Hiridian^  monastery,  which  is  not  far  from  the  city  of  Naples  in 
Campania,  an  abbat,  called  Hadrian,  by  nation  an  African,  well 
versed  in  holy  writ,  experienced  in  monastical  and  ecclesiastical 
discipline,  and  excellently  skilled  both  in  the  Greek  and  Latin 
tongues.  The  pope,  sending  for  him,  commanded  him  to  accept 
the  bishopric,  and  repair  into  Britain  ;  he  answered,  that  he  was 
unworthy  of  so  great  a  dignity,  but  said  he  could  name  another, 
whose  more  advanced  learning  and  age  were  fitter  for  the  episcopal 
office.  And  having  proposed  to  the  pope  a  certain  monk,  belonging 
to  a  neighbouring  monastery  of  virgins,  whose  name  was  Andrew, 
he  was  by  all  that  knew  him  judged  worthy  of  a  bishopric  ;  but  the 
pressure  of  bodily  infirmity  prevented  his  being  advanced  to  the 
episcopal  station.  Then  again  Hadrian  was  pressed  to  accept 
the  bishopric ;  but  he  desired  a  respite  for  a  time,  in  order  to  see 
whether  he  could  find  another  fit  to  be  ordained  bishop. 

§  254.  There  was  at  that  time  in  Rome  a  monk,  called  Tlieo- 
dore,'  well  known  to  Hadrian,  born  at  Tarsus  in  Cilicia,  a  man  well 
instructed  in  worldly  and  divine  literature,  as  also  in  Greek  and 
Latin  ;  of  known  probity  of  life,  and  venerable  for  age,  being  sixty- 
six  years  old.  Hadrian  offered  him  to  the  pope  that  he  miglit  be 
ordained  bishop,  and  prevailed  ;  but  upon  these  conditions,  that  he 
should  conduct  him  into  Britain,  because  he  had  already  travelled 
through  France  twice  upon  several  occasions,  and  was,  therefore, 
better  acquainted  with  the  way,  and  was,  moreover,  sufficiently 
provided  with  men  of  his  own ;  as  also  that  being  his  fellow - 
labourer  in  doctrine,  he  might  take  special  care  that  llieodore 
should  not,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  Greeks,  introduce  any 
thing  contrary*  to  the  true  faith  into  the  church  over  which  he 
presided.  Hadrian,  being  ordained  subdeacon,  waited  four  months 
for  his  hair  to  grow,  that  it  might  be  shorn  into  the  shape  of  a 
crown ;  for  he  had  the  tonsure  of  St.  Paul  the  apostle,  after  the 
manner  of  the  eastern  people.  He  was  ordained  by  pope  Vitalian, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord's  Incarnation  (568,  on  Sunday,  the  seventh 
of  the  kalends  of  April  [26th  March]  ;  and  on  the  sixth  of  the 
kalends  of  June,  [27th  May,]  he  was  sent  together  with  Hadrian 
into  Britain. 

§  255.  They  proceeded  together  by  sea  to  Marseilles,  and  thence 

>  The  incidents  detailed  in  this  chapter  have  been  the  prolific  source  of  much 
and  bitter  controversy.  It  is  assumed,  on  the  one  hand,  that  this  act  of  the  pope, 
in  electing  and  transmitting  an  archbishop  to  the  English  nation,  was  in  virtue  of 
the  plenitude  of  the  papal  power  with  which  he  had  been  invested  as  the  successor 
of  St.  Peter.  On  the  other  hand,  the  members  of  our  own  church  contend  that 
the  circumstances  here  recorded  warrant  no  such  conclusion. 

^  The  reading  here  followed  is  that  of  More's  MS. ;  the  others  reading  "  Niri- 
dian."     Supposed  to  be  near  Monte  Cassino. 

*  Of  what  order  was  Theodore  ?  Probably  of  the  order  of  St.  Basil.  It  is 
certain,  from  the  nature  of  his  tonsure,  that  he  was  not  of  any  of  the  western 
orders.  See  Menard  in  Com.  Regul.  cap.  Ixii.  g  10;  and  upon  the  tonsure  itself, 
Smith's  Appendix  to  Beda,  ix.  b.  may  be  consulted. 

*  Yet  Theodore  has  left  traces  of  the  oriental  character  of  his  theology  in  the 
Penitential  which  he  drew  up  for  the  use  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  church. 


A.D.  669.]      beda's  ecclesiastical  history.— book  IV.  441 

by  land  to  Aries,  and  having  there  delivered  to  John/  archbishop  of 
that  city,  pope  Vitalian's  letters  of  recommendation,  were  by  him 
detained  till  Ebrin,^  the  king's  mayor  of  the  palace,  sent  them  a 
pass  to  go  wherever  they  pleased.  Having  received  the  same, 
Theodore  repaired  to  Agilberct,  bishop  of  Paris,  of  whom  we  have 
spoken  above,^  and  was  by  him  kindly  received,  and  long  enter- 
tained. Hadrian  went  first  to  Emme,*  and  then  to  Faro,'^  bishops 
of  Sens  and  Meaux,  and  lived  under  them  a  considerable  time  ;  for 
the  hard  winter  had  obliged  them  to  rest  wherever  they  could. 
King  Ecgberct,  being  informed  by  trustworthy  messengers  that  the 
bishop  they  had  asked  of  the  Roman  prelate  was  in  the  kingdom  of 
France,  immediately  sent  thither  his  prefect,  Raedfrid,  to  conduct 
him ;  who,  being  arrived  there,  with  Ebrin's  leave,  conveyed  him 
to  the  port  of  Quentavic  ;  ®  where,  being  indisposed,  he  made  some 
short  stay,  and  as  soon  as  he  began  to  recover,  sailed  over  into 
•  Britain.  But  Ebrin  detained  Hadrian,  suspecting  that  he  went  on 
some  embassy  from  the  emperor'  to  the  kings  of  Britain,  to  the 
prejudice  of  the  kingdom,  which  at  that  time  was  under  his  especial 
care;*  however,  when  he  found  that  he  really  had  no  such  com- 
mission, he  discharged  him,  and  permitted  him  to  follow  Theodore. 
As  soon  as  he  joined  him,  he  received  from  him  the  monastery  of 
St.  Peter  ^  the  apostle,  where  the  archbishops  of  Canterbury  are 
usually  buried,  as  I  have  said  before ; "  for  at  his  departure,  the 
apostolic  lord  had  ordered  that  he  should  provide  for  him  in  his 
diocese,  and  give  him  a  suitable  place  in  which  to  reside  along  with 
his  followers. 


Chap.  II.  [a.d.  669.] — Theodore  visits  all   places;    the   churches  of  the 
English  begixto  be  instructed  in  holy  literature,  and  in  the  catholic 

TRUTH  ;    PuTTA  is    made   bishop  of  the   church  of  ROCHESTER  IN  THE    ROOM  OF 

Damianus. 

§  256.  Theodore  arrived  at  his  church  in  the  second  year  after 
his  consecration,  on  Sunday,  the  sixth  of  the  kalends  of  June, 
[27th  of  May,]  and  held  the  same  twenty-one  years,  three  months, 
and  twenty-six  days.  Soon  after,  he  visited"  all  the  island,  wher- 
ever the  tribes  of  the  Angles  inhabited,  for  he  was  most  willingly 

1  See  Gall.  Christ,  i.  542. 

2  He  succeeded  :Erchinwald  (who  has  been  already  mentioned  §  208)  in  656; 
Pagi,  ad  an.  §  24  ;  and  after  perpetrating  many  and  gi-eat  crimes  and  cruelties,  he 
was  slain  a.d.  680.     Fridegarii  Contin.  ap.  Bouquet,  ii.  451. 

^  See  §§  170,  228,  236,  243. 

*  Emme  was  bishop  of  Sens  from  658  to  675  ;  Gall.  Christ,  xii.  9. 

5  Faro,  or  Burgundo-Faro,  was  bishop  of  Meaux  from  626  until  672.  His  life, 
written  by  Hildegarius,  a  successor  in  the  see,  is  printed  by  Mabillon,  Acta  Ord. 
S.  Bened.  ii.  580.  6  jq-^^  gt_  Josse-sur-Mer,  or  Estaples. 

7  Constantius  Pogonatus  succeeded  his  father  Constans  in  668.  Pagi  ad  an. 
§  3.  We  have  no  information  as  to  the  grounds  of  the  suspicion  which  Ebrin  is 
here  said  to  have  entertained. 

*  Contemporary  histories  abound  with  details  as  to  the  power  and  tyranny  of 
this  individual.    See  Pagi,  a.d.  668,  §§  8—11 ;  674,  §§  4,  5. 

^  Afterwards  St.  Augustine's  monastery.  See  Dugd.  Monast.  i.  23,  ed.  1655. 
Somner,  in  his  History  of  Canterbury,  states  that  Theodore  founded  a  college  or 
academy  in  that  city.  i"  See  §§  79,  96. 

^'  The  Kentish  historian  Thome,  col.  1769,  tells  us  that  Vitalian  had  invested 
Theodore  with  legatine  authority  over  the  whole  of  England,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland.     This,  however,  is  the  idea  of  a  later  period  of  histoiy. 


442  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.d.  669. 

entertained  and  heard  by  all  persons;  and  being  every\\'liere  attended 
and  assisted  by  Hadrian,  he  disseminated  the  right  rule  of  life,  and 
the  canonical  custom  of  celebrating  Easter.  This  was  the  first  arch- 
bishop whom  all  the  English  church  obeyed.  And  forasmuch  as 
both  of  them  were,  as  has  been  said  before,'  well  read  both  in  sacred 
and  in  secular  literature,  they  gathered  a  crowd  of  disciples,  and 
there  daily  flowed  from  them  rivers  of  knowledge  to  water  the 
liearts  of  their  hearers  ;  and,  together  with  the  books  of  holy  writ, 
they  also  taught  them  the  arts  of  poetry,  astronomy,  and  eccle- 
siastical arithmetic.  A  testimony  of  which  is,  that  there  are  still 
living  at  this  day  some  of  their  scholars,  who  are  as  well  versed  in  the 
Greek  and  Latin-  tongues  as  in  their  own,  in  which  they  were  born. 
Nor  were  there  ever  happier  times  since  the  Angles  came  into 
Britain ;  for  their  kings,  being  very  brave  men  and  very  good 
Christians,  they  were  a  terror  to  all  barbarous  nations,  and  the 
minds  of  all  men  were  bent  upon  the  joys  of  the  heavenly  kingdom 
of  which  they  had  just  heard  ;  and  all  who  desired  to  be  instructed 
in  sacred  reading  had  masters  at  hand  to  teach  them. 

§  257.  From  that  time  also  they  began  in  all  the  churches  of  the 
English  to  learn  ecclesiastical  music,  which  till  then  had  been  only 
known  in  Kent.  And,  excepting  James  above-mentioned,^  the  first 
singing-master  in  the  churches  of  the  Northumbrians  was  Aeddi,* 
surnamed  Stephen,  invited  from  Kent  by  the  most  reverend  Uilfrid, 
who  was  the  first  of  the  bishops  of  the  English  nation  that  taught 
the  churches  of  the  English  the  catholic  mode  of  life. 

§  258.  Thus  Tlieodore,  visiting  all  parts,  ordained  bishops  in 
proper  places,  and  with  their  assistance  corrected  such  things  as  he 
found  faulty.  Among  the  rest,  when  he  upbraided  bishop  Ceadda 
that  he  had  not  been  duly  consecrated,'  he,  with  great  humility, 
answered,  "  If  you  are  persuaded  that  I  have  not  duly  received 
episcopal  ordination,  I  willingly  resign  the  office,  for  I  never  thought 
myself  worthy  of  it ;  but,  though  unworthy,  in  obedience  to  autho- 
rity submitted  to  undertake  it."  Theodore,  hearing  his  humble 
answer,  said  that  he  should  not  resign  the  bishopric,  and  he  himself 
completed  his  ordination  after  the  catholic  manner.  But  at  the 
time  when  Deusdedit  died,  and  a  bishop  for  the  church  of  Canter- 
bury was  requested,  ordained  and  sent,  Uilfrid  was  also  sent  out  of 

>  See  §  253. 

^  Archbishop  Parker  in  hia  Antiqiiitates  Britanuicro,  p.  80,  says  that  manu- 
script copies  of  the  worlcs  of  Homer,  the  works  of  St.  John  Chrysostom,  the 
Psalms  of  David,  and  the  Hyjioninesticon  of  Josephus,  formerly  belonging  to 
Theodore,  were  in  existence  in  the  reign  of  queen  Elizabeth.  But  as  no  great 
destruction  of  MSS.  has  taken  place  since  her  reign,  and  as  none  such  as  those 
here  described  are  now  known  to  exist,  we  may  be  permitted  to  doubt  the  truth 
of  this  statement.  The  knowledge  of  the  writers  of  that  day  as  to  the  age  of  I^ISS. 
was  very  vague  and  incorrect.  In  the  Public  Library  at  Cambridge  (F.  f.  i.  26) 
is  a  copy  of  Euthymiua  in  Cantica,  said  by  I'arker  to  have  belonged  to  archbishop 
Theodore,  but  which  in  truth  is  a  manuscript  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

3  See  §§  13G,  149,  226. 

*  Concerning  this  writer,  whose  life  of  Wilfrid  of  York  furnishes  so  much 
valuable  collateral  infomiation  to  r>eda's  account  of  that  remarkable  individual, 
see  Wright's  Biog.  Angl.  Sax.  p.  229.  A  translation  of  this  piece  of  biography 
will  1)0  given  in  the  present  collection  of  historians. 

^  Theodore  was  o]i])osrd  to  CciuMa's  coii-^iMiation,  both  because  he  occupied  a 
Bce  to  which  Wilfrid  liad  In.  n  .  I  ,t.  ,1,  aii.l  nls..  In  .-uise  lie  had  been  ordained  by 
those  who  adhered  to  the  British  luoilr  ..f  lalrulating  Easter. 


A.D.  CC9.]        BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    IV.  443 

Britain  into  France  to  be  ordained ;  and  because  he  returned  before 
Theodore,  he  also  ordained  priests  and  deacons  in  Kent  till  the 
archbishop  should  come  to  his  see.  Being  arrived  in  the  city  of 
Rochester,  where  the  see  had  been  long  vacant  ^  by  the  death  of 
Damianus,  he  ordained  a  person  better  skilled  in  ecclesiastical  dis- 
cipline, and  more  addicted  to  simplicity  of  life  than  active  in  worldly 
affairs.  His  name  was  Putta,  and  he  was  extraordinarily  skilful  in 
church  music,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  Romans,  which  he 
had  learned  from  the  disciples  of  the  holy  pope  Gregory. 


Chap.  III.  [a.d.  669.] — How  Ceadda,  above  mentioned,  was  made  Bisnop  of 

THE  PROVINCE  OF  THE  MERCIANS.       OP  HIS  LIFE,  DEATH,  AND  BURIAL. 

§  259.  At  that  time  the  province  of  the  Mercians  was  governed 
by  king  Uulf  heri,^  who,  on  the  death  of  Jaruman,  desired  of  Theodore 
to  supply  him  and  his  people  with  a  bishop  ;  but  Theodore  would 
not  ordain  a  new  one  for  them,  but  requested  of  king  Osuiu  that 
Ceadda  might  be  given  them  as  their  bishop.  He  then  lived  retired 
at  his  monastery,  which  is  at  Laestingaeu,  Uilfrid  administering  the 
bishopric  of  York,  and  of  all  the  Northumbrians,  and  likewise  of 
the  Picts,  as  far  ^  as  the  dominions  of  king  Osuiu  extended.  And, 
seeing  that  it  was  the  custom  of  that  most  reverend  prelate  to  go 
about  the  work  of  the  gospel  to  several  places  rather  on  foot  *  than 
on  horseback,  Theodore  commanded  him  to  ride  whenever  he  had 
a  long  journey  to  undertake ;  and  finding  him  very  unwilling  to 
omit,  out  of  love  to  it,  his  former  pious  labour,  he  himself,  with 
his  hands,  lifted  him  on  the  horse ;  for  he  thought  him  a  holy 
man,  and  therefore  obliged  him  to  ride  wherever  he  had  need  to  go. 
Ceadda  having  received  the  bishopric  of  the  nation  of  the  Mercians 
as  well  as  of  the  Lindisfari,^  took  care  to  administer  the  same  with 
great  rectitude  of  life,  according  to  the  example  of  the  ancient 
fathers.  King  Uulfheri  also  gave  him  land  for  fifty  families,  to 
build  a  monastery,  at  the  place  called  "  Ad  Baruae,'"^  or  "At  the 
Wood,"  in  the  province  of  Lindissi,  wherein  traces  of  the  regular 
life  instituted  by  him  continue  to  this  day. 

§  260.  He  had  his  episcopal  see  in  the  place  called  Lyccidfelth,  in 
which  he  also  died,  and  was  buried,  and  where  the  see  of  the  suc- 
ceeding bishops  of  that  province  continues  to  this  day.  He  had 
built  himself  a  habitation  not  far  from  the  church,  wherein  he  was 

^  Apparently  from  about  the  middle  of  the  year  664,  to  the  middle  of  669. 
See  Wharton,  Angl.  Sacr.  i.  330. 

2  He  was  son  of  Penda,  and  became  king  of  Mercia  a.d.  658,  and  died  in 
675.  See  the  Chronological  Abstract  appended  to  the  Ecclesiastical  History 
under  that  date. 

^  The  extent  of  Wilfrid's  diocese  may  be  better  understood  by  comparing  this 
passage  with  what  we  have  been  already  told  of  the  extent  of  Osuiu's  kingdom, 
§  100.  *  See  §  244. 

^  The  province  of  the  Lindisfari  consisted  of  7000  hides,  if  we  may  believe  the 
calculation  of  the  Red  Book  of  the  Exchequer;  Gale,  i.  748.  It  ajipears  to  have 
included  all  those  midland  counties  which  were  not  comprehended  in  Mercia,  and 
at  a  later  period  was  governed  by  under-kiugs.     See  Lappenb.  i.  249. 

''  Of  uncertain  locality;  Smith  (followed  by  Petrie)  conjectures  Barton-on- 
Humber;  but  it  seems  to  me  more  probable  that  it  was  the  place  now  called 
Barrow,  near  Goxhill,  in  Lincolnshire. 


444  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND,  [a.D.  6G9. 

wont  privately  to  pray  and  read  with  seven  or  eight  of  the  brethren, 
as  often  as  he  had  any  spare  time  from  the  labour  and  ministry  of 
the  Word,  ^^^len  he  had  most  gloriously  governed  the  church  in 
that  province  two  years  and  a  half,  the  divine  providence  so 
ordaining,  there  came  round  a  season  like  that  of  which  Ecclesiastes' 
says,  "  That  there  is  a  time  to  cast  stones,  and  a  time  to  gather 
them;"  for  there  happened  a  mortality  sent  from  heaven,  whicli, 
by  means  of  the  death  of  the  flesh,  translated  the  stones  of  tiie 
church  from  their  earthly  places  to  the  heavenly  building.  And 
when,  after  many  of  the  church  of  that  most  reverend  prelate  had 
been  withdrawn  from  the  flesh,  his  hour  also  drew  near  wherein  he 
was  to  pass  out  of  this  world  to  our  Lord,  it  happened  one  day  that 
he  was  in  the  aforesaid  dwelling  with  only  one  brother,  called 
Ouini,^  his  other  companions  being  upon  some  reasonable  occasion 
'  returned  to  the  church.  Now  Ouini  was  a  monk  of  great  merit, 
having  forsaken  the  world  with  the  pure  intention  of  obtaining  the 
heavenly  reward ;  worthy  in  all  respects  to  have  the  secrets  of  our 
Lord  specially  revealed  to  him,  and  worthy  to  have  credit  given  by 
his  hearers  to  what  he  said,  for  he  had  come  with  queen  Aedil- 
thr)"de  *  from  the  province  of  the  East  Angles,  and  was  her  prime 
minister,  and  governor  of  her  household.  As  the  fervour  of  his 
faith  increased,  resolving  to  renounce  the  world,  he  did  not  go 
about  it  slothfully,  but  so  fully  forsook  tlie  things  of  this  world, 
that,  quitting  all  he  had,  clad  only  in  a  plain  garment,  and  carrjang 
an  axe  and  hatchet  in  his  hand,  he  came  to  the  monasteiy  of  that 
most  reverend  prelate,  called  Laestingaeu  ;  thereby  intimating,  that 
he  did  not  go  to  the  monastery  to  live  idle,  as  some  do,  but  to 
labour,^  which  he  also  confirmed  by  practice ;  for  as  he  was  less 
capable  of  meditating  on  the  Holy  Scriptures,  so  he  the  more 
earnestly  applied  himself  to  the  labour  of  his  hands.  In  short,  he 
was  received  by  the  bishop  into  the  house  aforesaid,  out  of  respect 
to  his  devotion,  and  there  entertained  with  the  brethren ;  and  whilst 
they  were  engaged  within  in  reading,  he  was  without,  at  work, 
doing  such  things  as  were  necessary. 

§  261.  One  day,  when  he  was  thus  employed  out  of  doors,  and 
his  companions  were  gone  to  the  church,  as  I  had  begun  to  state, 
the  bishop  was  alone,  busied  in  reading  or  praying  in  the  oratory  of 
that  place,  when,  on  a  sudden,  as  he  afterwards  said,  he  heard  the 
voice  of  persons  singing  most  sweetly  and  rejoicing,  and  appearing 
to  descend  to  the  earth  from  heaven.  WHiich  voice  he  said  he  first 
heard  coming  from  the  south-east,  that  is,  from  the  highest  quarter 
of  the  east,  and  that  afterwards  it  gradually  drew  near  him,  till  it 
came  to  the  roof  of  the  oratory  where  the  bishop  was,  and  entering 
therein,  filled  the  same  and  all  round  about  it.  He  listened  atten- 
tively to  what  he  heard,  and  after  about  half  an  hour,  perceived 


iii.  5.  • 

2  See  Acta  SS.  Mart.  i.  312,  where  maybe  seen  collected  the  little  that  is  known 
or  has  been  conjectured  respecting  this  individual. 

*  Her  history  is  minutely  related  at  §  309,  seq. 

*  It  was  one  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  earlier  monasticism,  that  the 
brethren  should  daily  labour  with  their  own  hands.  Sec  Martene  dc  Antiq. 
Monachorum  Ritibus,  lib.  i.  cap.  6. 


A.r>.  6G9.]        BEDa's    ecclesiastical    HISTORY. — BOOK    IV.  445 

the  same  song  of  joy  to  ascend  from  the  roof  of  the  said  oratory, 
and  to  return  to  heaven  the  same  way  it  came,  with  inexpressible 
sweetness.  Wlien  he  had  stood  some  time  astonished,  and  seriously 
revolving  in  his  mind  what  these  things  might  be,  the  bishop  opened 
the  window  of  the  oratory,  and  making  a  noise  with  his  hand,  as 
he  often  had  been  wont  to  do,  ordered  him  to  come  in  to  him. 
He  accordingly  went  hastily  in,  and  the  bishop  said  to  him, 
"  Hasten  to  the  church,  and  cause  these  seven  brethren  to  come 
hither,  and  do  you  come  along  with  them."  Wlien  they  were 
come,  he  first  admonished  them  to  preserve  the  virtue  of  love 
and  peace  among  themselves,  and  towards  all  others  ;  and  inde- 
fatigably  to  practise  the  rules  of  regular  discipline,  which  they  had 
either  been  taught  by  him,  or  seen  him  obsei-ve,  or  had  noticed  in 
the  words  or  actions  of  the  former  fathers.  Then  he  added,  that 
the  day  of  his  death  w^as  at  hand  ;  for,  said  he,  "  that  loving  guest, 
who  was  wont  to  visit  our  brethren,  has  vouchsafed  to  come 
to  me  also  this  day,  and  to  call  me  out  of  this  world.  Return, 
therefore,  to  the  church,  and  speak  to  the  brethren,  that  they  in 
their  prayers  recommend  my  departure  to  our  Lord  ;  and  that  they 
be  careful  to  provide  beforehand  for  their  own,  the  hour  whereof  is 
uncertain,  by  watching,  prayer,  and  good  works." 

§  262.  When  he  had  spoken  thus  much  and  more,  and  they, 
having  received  his  blessing,  had  gone  away  in  much  sorrow,  he 
who  had  heard  the  heavenly  song  returned  alone,  and  prostrating 
himself  on  the  ground,  said,  "  I  beseech  you,  father,  may  I  be  per- 
mitted to  ask  a  question?]"  "  Ask  what  you  will,"  answered  the 
bishop.  Tlien  he  added,  "  I  entreat  you  to  tell  me  what  song  of 
joy  was  that  which  I  heard  of  beings  descending  upon  this  oratory, 
and  after  some  time  returning  to  heaven  ?  "  The  bishop  answered, 
"  If  you  heard  the  singing,  and  know  of  the  coming  of  the  heavenly 
company,  I  command  you,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord,  that  you  do 
not  tell  the  same  to  any  one  before  my  death.  Tliey  truly  were 
angelic  spirits,  who  came  to  call  me  to  my  heavenly  reward,  which 
I  have  always  loved  and  longed  after ;  and  they  promised  that  they 
would  return  seven  days  hence,  and  take  me  away  with  them." 
Wliich  was  accordingly  fulfilled,  as  had  been  said  to  him  ;  for  being 
immediately  seized  with  a  languishing  distemper,  and  the  same 
daily  increasing,  on  the  seventh  day,  as  had  been  promised  to  him, 
when  he  had  fortified  himself  for  death  by  receiving  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  our  Lord,  his  soul  being  delivered  from  the  prison  of  the 
body,  the  angels,  as  may  justly  be  believed,  attending  him,  he 
departed  to  the  joys  of  heaven. 

§  263.  It  is  no  wonder  that  he  joyfully  beheld  the  day  of  his  death, 
or  rather  the  day  of  our  Lord,  which  he  had  always  carefully  expected 
till  it  came  ;  for  notwithstanding  his  many  merits  of  continence, 
humility,  teaching,  prayers,  voluntary  poverty,  and  other  virtues, 
he  was  so  full  of  the  fear  of  God,  so  mindful  of  his  last  end  in  all 
his  actions,  that  (as  I  was  informed  by  one  of  the  brethren  who  in- 
structed me  in  the  Scriptures,  and  who  had  been  bred  in  his 
monastery,  and  under  his  direction,  whose  name  was  Trumberct^ 
if  it  happened  that  there  blew  a  stronger  gust  of  wind  than  usual 


446  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  GTi. 

when  he  was  reacUng  or  doing  any  other  thing,  he  immediately 
called  upon  God  for  mercy,  and  begged  it  might  be  extended  to  all 
mankind.  If  the  wind  grew  stronger,  he  closed  his  book,  and 
prostrating  himself  on  the  ground,  praved  still  more  earnestly. 
But,  if  it  proved  a  violent  storm  of  wind  or  rain,  or  else  that  the 
earth  and  air  were  terrified  with  thunder  and  lightning,  he  would 
repair  to  the  church,  and  devote  himself  to  earnest  prayers  and  the 
repeating  of  psalms  till  the  weather  became  calm.  Being  asked  by 
his  followers  why  he  did  so,  he  answered,  *'  Have  not  you  read — ■ 
'The^  Lord  also  thundered  from  the  heavens,  and  the  Highest 
gave  forth  his  voice.  Yea,  he  sent  out  his  arrows  and  scattered 
them  ;  and  he  multiplied  lightnings,  and  discomfited  them'  ?  For 
the  Lord  moves  the  air,  raises  the  winds,  darts  lightning,  and 
thunders  from  heaven,  to  excite  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  to  fear 
Him  ;  to  put  them  in  mind  of  the  future  judgment ;  to  dispel  their 
])ride,  and  vanquish  their  boldness,  by  bringing  into  their  thoughts 
that  dreadful  time,  when,  the  heavens  and  the  earth  being  in  a  tiame. 
He  will  come  in  the  clouds,  with  great  power  and  majesty,  to  judge 
the  quick  and  the  dead.  Wherefore,"  said  he,  "  it  behoves  us  to 
answer  his  heavenly  admonition  with  due  fear  and  love  ;  that,  as 
often  as  He  lifts  his  hand  through  the  trembling  sky,  as  it  were  to 
strike,  but  does  not  yet  let  it  fall,  we  may  immediately  implore  his 
mercy;  and  searching  the  recesses  of  our  hearts,  and  cleansing 
away  the  rubbisli  of  our  vices,  we  may  carefully  behave  ourselves 
so  as  never  to  be  struck." 

§  264.  With  this  revelation  and  account  of  the  aforesaid  brother, 
concerning  the  death  of  this  prelate,  agrees  also  the  discourse  of 
the  most  reverend  father  Ecgberct,  above  spoken^  of,  who  long  led 
a  monastic  life  with  the  same  Ceadda,  when  both  were  youths,  in 
Ireland,  praying,  obsei-ving  continence,  and  meditating  on  the  holy 
Scriptures.  But  when  he  afterwards  returned  into  his  own  country, 
the  other  continued  in  a  strange  country  for  our  Lord's  sake  till 
the  end  of  his  life.  A  long  time  after,  one  named  Hygbald,  a  most 
holy  and  continent  man,  who  was  an  abbat  in  the  province  of 
Lindissi,  came  out  of  Britain  to  visit  him,  and  whilst  these  holy 
men  (as  because  them)  were  discoursing  of  the  life  of  the  former 
fathers,  and  rejoicing  to  imitate  the  same,  mention  was  made  of 
the  most  reverend  prelate,  Ceadda;  whereupon  Ecgberct  said, 
"  I  know  a  man  in  this  island,  still  in  the  flesh,  who,  when  that 
prelate  passed  out  of  this  world,  saw  the  soul  of  his  brother  Cedd, 
with  a  company  of  angels,  descending  from  heaven,  who,  having 
taken  his  soul  along  with  them,  returned  thither  again."  Whether 
he  said  this  of  himself,  or  some  other,  we  do  not  certainly  know; 
but  the  same  being  said  by  so  great  a  man,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
of  the  truth  thereof. 

§  265.  Ceadda  died  on  the  sixth  of  the  nones  of  March.  [Mar.  2, 
A.D.  672,]  and  was  first  buried  near  St.  Mary's  church,  but  after- 
wards, when  the  church  of  the  most  holy  prince  of  the  apostles 
Peter,  was  built  there,  his  bones  were  translated  into  it.  In  both 
which  places,  as  a  testimony  of  his  virtue,  frequent  miraculous 

»  Ts.  xviii.  15,  16.  2  See  §§  241,  242. 


A.D.  G67.]         BEDA'S    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK  IV.  447 

cures  are  wont  to  be  wrought.  And  of  late,  a  certain  distracted 
person,  who  had  been  wandering  about  everywhere,  arrived  there 
in  the  evening,  unknown  or  unregarded  by  the  keepers  of  the  place, 
and  having  rested  there  all  the  night,  went  out  in  his  perfect  senses 
the  next  morning,  to  the  surprise  and  delight  of  all ;  thus  showing 
that  a  cure  had  been  performed  on  him  through  the  goodness  of 
God.  The  place  of  the  sepulchre  is  a  wooden  monument,  made 
like  a  little  house,  covered,  having  a  hole  in  the  wall,  through 
which  those  that  go  thither  for  devotion  usually  put  in  their  hand 
and  take  out  some  of  the  dust,  which  they  put  into  water  and  give 
to  sick  cattle  or  men  to  taste,  upon  which  they  are  presently  eased 
of  their  infirmity,  and  restored  to  health.  In  his  place,  Theodore 
ordained  Uynfrid,  a  good  and  modest  man,  to  preside,  as  his  pre- 
decessors had  done,  over  the  bishoprics  of  the  province  of  the 
Mercians,  the  Midland  Angles,  and  the  Lindisfari,  of  all  which, 
Uulfhere,  who  was  still  living,  was  king.  Uynfrid  was  one  of  the 
clergy  of  the  prelate  whom  he  had  succeeded,  and  had  for  a  con- 
siderable time  filled  the  office  of  deacon  under  him. 


Chap.  IV.  [a.d.  667.] — Bishop  Colman,  having  left  Britain,  built  two  monas. 
TERiES  IN  Scotland  ;  thk  one  for  the  Scots,  the  other  for  the  English 

WHOM  he  had  taken  ALONG  WITH  HIM. 

§  266.  In  the  meantime,  [a.d.  667,]  Colman,  who  was  a  bishop 
from  Scotland,  departing'  from  Britain,  took  along  with  him  all  the 
Scots  he  had  assembled  in  the  isle  of  Lindisfarne,  and  also  about 
thirty  men  of  the  English  nation,  who  had  been  all  instructed  in 
the  monastic  life  ;  and  leaving  some  brethren  in  his  church,  he 
repaired  first  to  the  isle  of  Hii,  whence  he  had  been  sent  to  preach 
the  word  of  God  to  the  English  nation.  Afterwards  he  retired  to 
a  certain  small  island,  which  is  to  the  west  of  Ireland,  and  at  some 
distance  from  its  coast,  called  in  the  language  of  the  Scots,  Inisbou- 
finde,^  that  is,  "  the  Island  of  the  Wliite  Heifer."  Arriving  there,  he 
built  a  monastery,  and  placed  in  it  the  monks  he  had  brought  from 
both  nations  ;  who,  when  they  could  not  agree  among  themselves, — 
by  reason  that  the  Scots,  in  the  summer  season,  when  the  harvest 
was  to  be  brought  in,  leaving  the  monastery,  wandered  about 
through  places  with  which  they  were  acquainted,  but  returned 
again  the  next  winter,  and  desired  to  use  in  common  what  the 
English  had  provided  ; — Colman  sought  to  find  a  remedy  for  this 
dissension,  and  travelling  about  far  and  near,  he  found  a  place  in 
the  island  of  Ireland  fit  to  build  a  monastery,  which,  in  the  language 
of  the  Scots,  is  called  Mageo,^  and  he  bought  a  small  part  of  it  of 
the  earl  to  whose  property  it  belonged,  to  build  his  monastery 
thereon  ;  this  condition  being  added,  that  the  monks  residing  there 

»  See  §  236. 

-  A  small  island  oflf  the  coast  of  Conuaught.  See  Ussher's  Antiq.  pp.  431, 
499;  Camd.  Brit.  col.  1380. 

^  Formerly  a  bishop's  see,  of  which  the  last  prelate  was  Eugenius  Mac  Brenoan  ; 
it  is  now  annexed  to  the  bishopric  of  Tuam.  See  Ussher,  p.  499,  who  gives 
several  extracts  from  the  ancient  Irish  Annals  respecting  this  monastery ;  also 
Camd.  Brit.  col.  13S1. 


448  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  673. 

should  pray  to  our  Lord  for  him  who  let  them  have  the  place. 
Then  immediately  building  a  monasteiy,  with  the  assistance  of  the 
earl  and  all  the  neighbours,  he  placed  the  English  there,  leaving 
the  Scots  in  the  aforesaid  island.  This  monastery  is  to  this  day 
possessed  by  English  inhabitants  ;  being  the  same  that,  grown  up 
from  a  small  beginning  to  be  vei-y  large,  is  generally  called  Muigeo ; 
and  as  all  things  have  long  since  been  brought  under  a  better  method, 
it  contains  an  excellent  society  of  monks,  who  are  gathered  there  from 
the  province  of  the  English,  and  live  by  the  labour  of  their  hands, 
after  the  example  of  the  venerable  fathers,  under  a  rule  and  a 
canonical  abbat,  in  much  continency  and  singleness  of  life. 


Chap.  V.  [a.d.  670— 673.]— Of  the  Death  of  the  kings  Osuiu  and  Ecgberct, 
AND  OF  the  Synod  held  at  the  place  called  Herutford,  in  which  Arch- 
bishop Theodore  presided. 

§  267.  In  the  year  of  the  Incarnation  of  our  Lord  670,  being  the 
second  year  after  Theodore  arrived  in  Britain,  Osuiu,  king  of  the 
Northumbrians,  fell  sick,  and  died,  in  the  fifty-eighth  year  of  his 
age.  He  at  that  time  bore  so  great  affection  to  the  Roman  and 
apostolical  institution,  that,  had  he  recovered  of  his  sickness,  he 
had  designed  to  go  to  Rome,  and  there  to  end  his  days  at  the 
holy  places,  having  entreated  bishop  Uilfrid,  by  the  promise  of  a 
considerable  donation  in  money,  to  conduct  him  on  his  journey. 
He  died  on  the  fifteenth  of  the  kalends  of  March,  [15th  Feb.] 
leaving  his  son  Ecgfrid'  his  successor  in  the  kingdom.  In  the 
third  year  of  his  reign,  Theodore  assembled  a  synod  of  bishops,  and 
many  other  teachers^  of  the  church,  who  loved  and  WTre  acquainted 
with  the  canonical  statutes  of  the  fathers,  ^^^len  they  were  met 
together,  he  began,  as  became  a  prelate,  to  enjoin  the  observance  of 
such  things  as  were  agreeable  to  the  unity  and  the  peace  of  the  church. 
The  pui-port  of  which  synodical  proceedings  is  as  follows  : — 

§  268.  [x.B.  673.]  "  In  the  name  of  our  Lord  God  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  w'ho  reigns  for  ever  and  for  ever,  and  governs  his 
church,  it  was  thought  meet  that  we  should  assemble,  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  venerable  canons,  to  treat  about  the  necessarj- 
affairs  of  the  church.  We  met  on  the  24th  day  of  Septeniber,  the 
first  indiction,^  at  a  place  called  Herutford,*  myself,  Tlieodore,  the 
unworthy  bishop  of  the  see  of  Canterbury,  sent  from  the  apostolic 

>  He  was  born  in  645,  and  died  20th  May,  6S5.  See  §  309,  340.  He  did  not 
attain  to  the  dignity  of  Bretwalda,  which  his  father  had  enjoyed. 

-  Concerning  tliesc  individuals,  see  Smith's  Appendix,  No.  xvii.  p.  746,  "  Do 
j\Iagistris  Ecclesirc." 

'  It  has  been  conjectured  by  Baronius,  (a.d.  672,  §§  3  and  7,)  Wharton,  (i.  426.) 
and  others,  that  the  synod  of  Hertford  was  held  in  a.d.  672,  not  673 ;  but  Pagi, 
a.d.  672,  g  4,  has  satisfactorily  shown  that  they  have  fallen  into  this  error  from 
neglecting  to  remark  that  Bcda  commences  the  calculation  of  his  indictions  from 
24th  September,  as  he  him.self  informs  us  in  his  treatise  De  Temporibu.s,  cap.  48 
(ed.  Giles,  vi.  244).  Some  valuable  remarks  upon  this  subject  may  be  found  in 
>[ardy's  essay  on  the  "  Chronology  of  the  Medi;cvTj.  Historians,"  prefixed  to  the 
first  volume  of  Petrie's  Monumenta,  p.  117. 

*  Now  Hertford. 


A.D.  673.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    IV.  449 

see,  and  our  fellow-priest  and  most  reverend  brother,  Bisi,'  bishop 
of  the  East  Angles  ;  also  (by  his  proxies)  our  brother  and  fellow- 
priest,  Uilfrid,  bishop  of  the  nation  of  the  Northumbrians,  as  also 
our  brothers  and  fellow-priests,  Putta,  bishop  of  the  Kentish 
Castle,  called  Rochester ;  Leutherius,  bishop  of  the  West  Saxons, 
and  Uynfrid,  bishop  of  the  province  of  the  Mercians.  When  we 
were  all  met  together,  and  were  sat  down  in  order,  I  said,  '  I 
beseech  you,  most  dear  brothers,  for  the  love  and  fear  of  our 
Redeemer,  that  we  may  all  treat  in  common  for  our  faith ;  to  the 
end  that  whatsoever  has  been  decreed  and  defined  by  the  holy  and 
reverend  fathers,  may  be  inviolably  observed  by  all.'  This  and 
much  more  I  spoke  tending  to  the  preservation  of  the  charity  and 
unity  of  the  church ;  and  when  I  had  ended  my  introductory  dis- 
course, I  asked  ever}'^  one  of  them  in  order,  whether  they  consented 
to  observe  the  things  that  had  been  formerly  canonically  decreed  by 
the  fathers?  To  which  all  our  fellow-priests  answered,  '  It  pleases 
us  very  well,  and  we  will  all  most  willingly  observe  with  a  cheerful 
mind  whatever  is  laid  down  in  the  canons  of  the  holy  fathers.'  I 
then  produced  to  them  the  said  Book  of  Canons,^  and  publicly 
showed  them  ten  chapters  in  the  same,  which  I  had  marked  in 
several  places,  because  I  knew  them  to  be  of  the  most  importance 
to  us,  and  entreated  that  they  might  be  most  particularly  received 
by  them  all. 

§  269.  "Chapter  I.  That  we  all  in  common  keep  the  holy  day  of 
Easter^  on  the  Sunday  after  the  fourteenth  moon  of  the  first  month. 

"  II.  That  no  bishop  intrude  into  the  diocese  of  another,  but  be 
satisfied  with  the  government  of  the  people  committed  to  him. 

"  III.  That  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  bishop  in  any  manner 
to  trouble  monasteries  dedicated  to  God,  nor  to  take  anything 
forcibly  from  their  possessions. 

"  IV.  That  the  monks  of  themselves'*  do  not  remove  from  one 
place  to  another,  that  is,  from  monastery  to  monastery,  unless 
with  the  consent  of  their  own  abbat ;  but  that  they  continue  in 
the  obedience  which  they  promised  at  the  time  of  their  con- 
version. 

"  V.  That  no  cleric,  forsaking  his  own  bishop,  shall  wander 
about,  or   be  anywhere   entertained  without  letters'    of   recom- 

*  Johnson  (Laws  and  Canons,  i.  89,  ed.  1850)  remarks  that  it  is  strange  that 
Bisi  should  here  be  elevated  next  to  Theodore  at  the  expense  of  Wilfrid  and 
Putta,  both  of  whom  were  his  seniors  in  date  of  consecration,  and  that  this  was 
in  violation  of  the  eighth  canon  of  this  council. 

-  It  is  obvious  that  Theodore,  so  far  from  having  framed  a  new  code  of  legis- 
lation for  the  English  church,  had  not  even  transcribed  from  the  Acts  of  the 
Council  of  Chalcedon  those  chapters  to  which  he  wished  to  direct  the  more  imme- 
diate attention  of  the  assembled  bishops. 

'  This  canon  was  obviously  directed  against  the  Welsh  and  Irish,  who  still 
calculated  their  Easter  by  a  rule  different  from  that  which  Augustine  had  brought 
from  Rome. 

*  In  some  of  the  earlier  editions  the  text  was  here  vitiated,  reading  "  Epi- 
scopi  Monachi,"  instead  of  "  Ipsi  Monachi,"  an  error  which  gave  rise  to  several 
theories  as  to  the  nature  of  an  ideal  ecclesiastical  constitution,  which  placed 
bishops  under  the  rule  of  abbots. 

^  The  system  of  commendatory  letters  extended  even  to  the  apostolic  times 
among  the  christian  churches.     See  specimens  in  Baluz,  CaT)it.  Reg.  Franc,  ii,  430 
443.  716,  959 ;  and  Alcuini  0pp.  i.  160,  161,  162,  ed.  1777.  ^ 
VOL.    I.  G    G 


450  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  673 

mendation  from  his  own  prelate.  But  if  he  shall  be  once  received, 
and  will  not  return  when  invited,  both  the  receiver,  and  the  person 
received,  be  under  excommunication. 

"VI.  That  bishops  and  clerics,  when  travelling,  shall  be  content 
with  the  hospitality  that  is  offered  them  ;  and  that  it  be  not  lawful 
for  them  to  exercise  any  priestly  function  without  leave  of  the 
bishop  in  whose  diocese  they  are. 

"VII.  That  a  synod  be  assembled  twice  a  year;  but  in  regard 
that  several  causes  obstruct  the  same,  it  was  approved  by  all,  that 
we  should  meet  on  the  kalends  of  August  [Aug.  1st]  once  a  year, 
at  the  place  called  Clofeshoch.' 

"VIII.  That  no  bishop,  through  ambition,  shall  set  himself 
before  another ;  but  that  they  shall  all  obsen-e  the  time  and  order 
of  their  congregation.^ 

"  IX.  It  was  generally  set  forth,  that  more  bishops  should  be 
made,'  as  the  number  of  believers  increased ;  but  this  matter  for 
the  present  was  passed  over. 

"  X.  Of  marriages  ;  that  nothing  be  allowed  but  lawful  wedlock  ; 
that  none  commit  incest ;  no  man  quit  his  true  wife,  unless,  as  the 
gospel  teaches,  on  account  of  fornication.  And  if  any  man  shdl 
put  away  his  own  wife,  lawfully  joined  to  him  in  matrimony,  that 
he  take  no  other,  if  he  really  wishes  to  be  a  Christian,  but  continue 
as  he  is,  or  else  be  reconciled  to  his  own  wife. 

§  270.  "  These  chapters  being  thus  treated  of  and  defined  by 
all,  to  the  end  that,  for  the  future,  no  scandal  of  contention  might 
arise  from  any  of  us,  and  that  there  should  be  no  mistake  in  their 
publication,  it,  was  thought  fit  that  every  one  of  us  should,  by 
subscribing  his  hand,  confirm  all  the  particulars  so  determined. 
Wliich  definitive  judgment  of  ours  I  dictated  to  be  written  by 
Titillus  our  notary.  Done  in  the  month  and  indiction  aforesaid. 
Whosoever,  therefore,  shall  presume  in  any  way  to  oppose  or 
infringe  this  decision,  confirmed  by  our  consent,  and  by  the  sub- 
scription of  our  hands,  according  to  the  decrees  of  the  canons,  let 
him  know,  that  he  is  excluded  from  all  sacerdotal  functions,  and 
from  our  society.  May  the  Divine  Grace  preserve  us  in  safety, 
living  in  the  unity  of  his  holy  church." 

§271.  This  synod  was  held  in  the  year  from  the  incarnation  of 
our  Lord  673.  In  which  year,  Egberct,  king  of  Kent,  died  in  the 
month  of  July ;  his  brother  Hlothere  succeeded  him  on  the  throne, 
which  he  had  held  eleven  years  and  seven  months.     Bisi,  the 

*  Camden,  Somner,  and  Gibson  think  it  not  improbable  that  this  is  Abingdon, 
the  older  name  for  which,  they  tell  us,  was  Seoveshou.  Cliff,  in  Kent,  is  also 
supposed  to  have  claims. 

'■  In  moat  MSS.  the  Latin  is  "  consecrationis,"  not  "  congregationis,"  ns  I  have 
rendered  above  from  More's  MS.  which,  in  this  instance,  appears  to  bo  faulty. 
The  canon  here  cited  by  Theodore  is  founded  upon  the  Ixxxvi.  of  the  Codex 
Canonum  Ecclesise  Africana?,  (Labb.  ii.  1099,)  which  gives  additional  authority 
for  the  correction  here  suggested. 

^  "  There  was  at  this  time  great  occasion  for  more  bishops  in  this  nation; 
when,  so  far  as  apjjears,  there  were  but  as  many  bishops  as  there  were  kingdoms, 
save  that  Kent  had  always  two,  and  so  had  the  East  Angles,  when  Bisi  grew 
infirm,  and  after  his  death;  as  likewise  the  Northvimbrians,  upon  the  expulsion  of 
Wilfrid." — Johnson's  note,  Laws  and  Canons,  i.  93. 


A.II.  G74.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    IV.  451 

bishop  of  the  East  Angles,  who  is  said  to  have  been  in  the  afore- 
said synod,  was  successor  to  Boniface,  before  spoken  of,^  a  man  of 
much  sanctity  and  religion  ;  for  when  Boniface  died,  after  having 
been  bishop  seventeen  years,  he  was  by  Theodore  substituted  in  his 
bishopric.  Whilst  he  was  still  alive,  but  hindered  by  much  sick- 
ness from  administering  his  episcopal  functions,  two  bishops,  Aecci 
and  Baduvini,  were  elected  and  consecrated  in  his  place  ;  from 
which  time  to  the  present  that  province  has  been  wont  to  have 
two  bishops.^ 

Chap.  VI.  [a.d.  674.] — How  Utnfrid  being  deposed,  Saexuulf  was  put  into 
HIS  see,  and  Earconuald  made  bishop  op  the  East  Saxons. 

§  272.  No  long  time  after  this,  Theodore,  the  archbishop, 
deservedly  taking  offence  at  some  disobedience^  of  Uinfrid,  bishop 
of  the  Mercians,  deposed  him  from  his  bishopric  when  he  had  been 
possessed  of  it  but  a  few  years,  and  in  his  place  ordained  Sexuulf 
as  bishop,  who  w'as  founder  and  abbat  of  the  monastery  called 
Medeshamstedi,*  in  the  country  of  the  Gyrvii.  Uinfrid,  thus 
deposed,  returned  to  his  monastery,  which  is  called  "  Ad  Baruae,"* 
and  there  ended  his  life  in  holy  conversation. 

§  273.  He  then  also  appointed  Earconuald"  bishop  of  the  East 
Saxons,  in  the  city  of  London,  over  whom  at  that  time  presided 
Sebbi  and  Sigheri,  of  whom  mention  has  been  made  above.  Tliis 
Earconuald's  life  and  conversation,  as  well  when  he  was  bishop  as 
before  his  advancement  to  that  dignity,  is  reported  to  have  been 
most  holy,  as  is  even  at  this  time  testified  by  the  signs  of  heavenly 
miracles  ;  for  to  this  day,  his  horse-litter,  in  which  he  was  w^ont  to 
be  carried  when  sick,  is  kept  by  his  disciples,  and  still  continues  to 
cure  many  of  feverish  attacks  and  other  distempers  ;  and  not  only 
sick  persons  who  are  laid  in  that  litter,  or  close  by  it,  are  cured  ; 
but  the  very  chips  of  it,  when  carried  to  the  sick,  are  wont  imme- 
diately to  restore  them  to  health. 

§  274.  This  man,  before  he  was  made  bishop,  had  built  two 
famous  monasteries,  the  one  for  himself,  and  the  other  for  his  sister, 
Aedilbergae,  and  established  them  both  in  regular  discipline  of  the 
best  kind.  Tliat  for  himself  was  in  the  region  "  Sudergeona,"  by 
the  river  Tliames,  at  a  place  called  Cerotaesei,'  that  is,  "  the  Island 
of  Cerot ;"  that  for  his  sister  in  the  province  of  the  East  Saxons, 
at  the  place  called  "  In  Berecingum,"  ^  wherein  she  might  be  a 
mother  and  nurse  of  women  devoted  to  God.    Having  assumed  the 

1  See  §  209. 

2  The  see  thus  divided,  Aecci  resided  at  Domoc  or  Dunwich,  and  Baduini  con- 
tinued at  Eknham.  The  two  bishoprics  were  reunited  in  the  person  of  Adulph 
in  955.     See  Wharton,  Angl.  Sacr.  i.  404,  405. 

^  It  is  highly  probable  that  Winfrid's  offence  consisted  in  his  refusal  to  permit 
his  diocese  of  Lichfield  to  be  subdivided,  according  to  the  suggestion  of  the  recent 
council.     See  the  ninth  chapter,  §  269;  Wharton,  Angl.  Sacr.  i.  426. 

*  Now  Peterborough.  ^  ggg  g  259. 

''  His  life  and  mii-acles,  in  an  abridged  form,  written  by  Gotscelin,  may  be  seen 
in  the  Acta  SS.  April,  iii.  780;  a  fuller  copy  in  the  Appendix  to  Dugdale's  History 
of  St.  Paul's. 

'  Now  Chertsey,  in  Surrey.  The  chronicle  of  that  abbey  states  that  it  was 
founded  in  the  year  666.     See  Dugd.  Monast.  i.  75,  ed.  1655. 

**  Now  Barking,  in  Essex.     See  Dugd.  Monast.  i.  79. 

G  g2 


452  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  664 

government  of  that  monastery,  she  behaved  herself  in  all  respects 
as  became  the  sister  of  such  an  episcopal  brother,  living  herself 
regularly,  and  piously,  and  according  to  rule,  providing  for  those 
under  her,  as  was  also  manifested  by  heavenly  miracles. 


Chap.  VII.  [a.d.  664.] — How  it  was  indicated  by  a  heavenly  Light  where 

THE  BODIES  OF  THE  NUNS   SHOULD  BE  BURIED  IN  THE  MONASTERY  OF  BaRKING. 

§  275.  In  this  monastery  many  miracles  were  wrought,  which 
have  been  committed  to  wTiting  by  many,  from  those  who  knew 
them,  that  their  memory  might  be  preserved,  and  following  gene- 
rations edified  ;  some  whereof  we  have  also  taken  care  to  insert  in 
our  Ecclesiastical  History.  MTien  the  mortality,  which  we  have 
already  ^  so  often  mentioned,  ravaging  all  far  and  wide,  had  also 
seized  on  that  part  of  this  monaster)^  where  the  men  ^  resided,  and 
they  were  daily  hurried  away  to  meet  their  God,  the  careful  mother 
of  the  society  began  often  to  inquire  in  the  convent  of  the  sisters, 
in  what  part  of  the  monastery  they  would  have  their  bodies  buried, 
and  where  a  churchyard  should  be  made  when  the  same  pestilence 
should  fall  upon  that  part  of  the  monastery  in  which  the  assemblage 
of  God's  female  servants  were  divided  from  the  men,  and  they 
should  be  snatched  away  out  of  this  world  by  the  same  destruction. 
Receiving  no  certain  answer  from  the  sisters,  though  she  often  put 
the  question,  she  and  all  of  them  received  a  most  certain  answer 
from  heaven.  For  one  night,  when  the  psalms  of  matin  praise ' 
were  ended,  and  those  female  servants  of  Christ  were  gone  out  of 
their  oratory  to  the  tombs  of  the  brethren  who  had  departed  this 
life  before  them,  and  were  singing  the  usual  praises  to  our  Lord, 
on  a  sudden  a  light  from  heaven,  like  a  great  sheet,  came  down 
upon  them  all,  and  struck  them  with  so  much  terror,  that  they,  in 
consternation,  left  off  the  chant  which  they  were  singing.  But  that 
resplendent  light,  which  seemed  by  comparison  to  exceed  the  sun 
at  noon-day,  soon  after  rising  from  that  place,  removed  to  the  south 
side  of  the  monastery,  that  is,  to  the  westward  of  the  oratory,  and 
having  continued  there  some  time,  and  covered  those  parts  in  the 
sight  of  them  all,  withdrew  itself  up  again  to  heaven,  leaving  con- 
viction in  the  minds  of  all,  that  the  same  light,  which  was  to  lead 
or  to  receive  the  souls  of  those  handmaidens  of  Christ  into  heaven, 
was  intended  to  show  the  place  in  which  their  bodies  were  to  rest,^ 
and  await  the  day  of  the  resurrection.  This  light  was  so  great,  that 
one  of  the  eldest  of  the  brethren,  who  at  the  same  time  was  in  their 
oratory  with  another  younger  than  himself,  related  in  the  morning, 
that  the  rays  of  light  which  came  in  at  the  crannies  of  the  doors 
and  windows,  seemed  to  exceed  the  utmost  brightness  of  daylight 
itself. 

>  See  §§  240,  252,  &c. 

2  On  these  doul>le  monasteries,  in  which  both  monks  and  nuns  resided  undor 
the  government  of  an  abbess,  see  Lingard's  Anglo-Saxon  Church,  i.  212. 

•''  This  service,  afterwards  known  as  Matins  or  Lauds,  is  illustrated  by  Martene 
de  Antiquis  Monachorum  Ritibus,  lib.  i.  cap.  3. 

*  It  would  appear  from  this  curious  passage,  that  the  bodies  of  the  nvms  were 
not  usually  interred  in  the  burial-place  of  the  monks ;  but  that  each  had  its  own 
peculiar  place  of  seiwlttu'c. 


A.D.  G7o.]  BEDA  S    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY. BOOK    IV.  453 

Chap.  VIII.  [a.d.  664.] — How  a  Little  Boy,  dying  in  the  same  monastery, 

CALLED  UPON  A  VIRGIN    THAT    WAS  TO  FOLLOW    HIM;    AND  HOW   ANOTHER,  AT  THE 
POINT  OF  LEAVING  HER  BODY,  SAW  SOME  SMALL  PART  OF  THE  FUTURE  GLORY. 

§  276.  There  was,  in  the  same  monastery,  a  boy,  about  three 
years  old,  (not  more,)  called  Aesica ;  who,  by  reason  of  his  infant 
age,  was  bred  up  among  the  virgins  dedicated  to  God,  and  was 
there  that  he  might  be  cured.  This  child  being  seized  by  the 
aforesaid  pestilence,  when  he  was  at  the  last  gasp,  called  three 
times  upon  one  of  the  virgins  consecrated  to  God,  calling  her  by 
her  own  name,  as  if  she  had  been  present,  Eadgyd  !  Eadgyd  ! 
Eadgyd  !  and  thus  ending  his  temporal  life,  entered  into  that  which 
is  eternal.  The  virgin,  whom  he  called  as  he  was  dying,  was  imme- 
diately seized,  where  she  was,  with  the  same  distemper,  and  de- 
parting this  life  the  same  day  on  which  she  had  been  called,  followed 
him  that  called  her  into  the  heavenly  kingdom. 

§  277.  Likewise,  one  of  those  same  handmaids  of  God,  being  ill 
of  the  same  disease,  and  reduced  to  extremity,  began  on  a  sudden, 
about  midnight,  to  cry  out  to  them  that  attended '  her,  desiring 
that  they  would  put  out  the  candle  that  was  lighted  there ;  which, 
when  she  had  often  repeated,  and  yet  no  one  obeyed  her,  at  last 
she  said,  "  I  know  you  think  I  speak  this  in  a  raving  fit,  but  let  me 
inform  you  it  is  not  so  ;  for  of  a  truth  I  tell  you,  that  I  see  this 
house  filled  with  so  much  light,  that  your  candle  there  seems  to 
me  to  be  wholly  dark."  And  when  even  yet  no  one  regarded  what 
she  said,  or  complied  with  her  request,  she  added,  "  Let  that  candle 
burn  as  long  as  you  will ;  but  take  notice,  that  it  is  not  mine,  for 
my  light  will  come  to  me  at  the  dawn  of  the  day."  Then  sh-e 
began  to  tell,  that  a  certain  man  of  God,  who  had  died  that  same 
year,  had  appeared  to  her,  telling  her  that  at  the  break  of  day  she 
should  depart  to  the  eternal  light.  The  truth  of  which  vision  was 
established  by  the  death  of  the  girl  as  soon  as  the  day  appeai'ed. 


Chap.  IX.  [a.d.  676.]— Of  the  Signs  which  were  shown  from  heaven  when 

THE  mother  of  THAT  CONGREGATION  DEPARTED  FROM  THIS  WORLD. 

§  278.  When  Aedilburga  herself,  the  pious  mother  of  that  holy 
congregation,  was  about  to  be  taken  out  of  this  world,  a  wonderful 
vision  appeared  to  one  of  the  sisters,  called  Torctgyd  ;  who,  having 
now  lived  many  years  in  that  monastery,  always  endeavoured,  in 
all  humility  and  sincerity,  to  serve  God,  and  took  care  to  assist  the 
same  mother  in  keeping  up  discipline  according  to  rule,  by  in- 
structing and  reproving  tlae  younger  ones.  Now,  in  order  that  her 
virtue  might  be  perfected  in  affliction,  according  to  the  apostle,  she 
was  suddenly  seized  with  a  most  grievous  bodily  distemper,  under 
which,  through  the  good  providence  of  our  Redeemer,  she  suffered 
veiy  much  for  the  space  of  nine  years  ;  to  the  end,  that  whatever 
pollution  of  vice  remained  amidst  her  virtues,  either  through  igno- 

'  The  monastic  rules  made  ample  provision  for  due  attendance  upon  the  sick 
brethren  or  sisters.     See  Mai-tene  de  Antiq.  Mouac.  Hit.  lib.  v.  cap.  ix.  g§  86 — 88. 


454  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  C7b\ 

ranee  or  neglect,  might  all  be  eradicated  by  the  fire  of  a  long  tribu- 
lation. This  person,  going  out  of  the  chamber  in  which  she  resided, 
one  night,  just  at  the  first  dawn  of  the  day,  plainly  saw  as  it  were 
a  human  body,  which  was  brighter  than  the  sun,  wrapped  up  in  a 
sheet,  and  lifted  up  on  high,  being  taken  out  of  the  house  in  which 
the  sisters  used  to  reside.  Then  looking  earnestly  to  see  what  it 
was  that  drew  up  the  appearance  of  this  glorious  body  which  she 
beheld,  she  perceived  it  was  drawn  up  as  it  were  by  cords  brighter 
than  gold,  until,  entering  into  the  opened  heavens,  it  could  no 
longer  be  seen  by  her.  Reflecting  on  this  vision,  she  made  no 
doul3t  that  some  one  of  that  congregation  would  soon  die,  and  that 
her  soul  would  be  lifted  up  to  heaven  by  the  good  works  which  she 
had  done,  as  it  were  by  golden  cords  ;  which  accordingly  happened  ; 
for  not  many  days  aftenvards,  the  mother  of  that  society,  beloved 
of  God,  was  delivered  out  of  the  prison  of  the  flesh  ;  and  her  life 
is  known  to  have  been  such  that  no  person  who  knew  her  ought  to 
question  but  that  the  heavenly  kingdom  was  open  to  her,  when  she 
departed  from  this  world. 

§  279-  There  was  also,  in  the  same  monasteiy,  a  certain  nun,  of 
noble  worldly  origin,  and  much  nobler  in  the  love  of  the  world  to 
come  ;  who  had,  for  many  years,  been  so  disabled  in  all  her  body, 
that  she  could  not  move  a  single  limb.  Being  informed  that  the 
venerable  abbess's  body  was  carried  into^  the  church,  till  it  should 
be  committed  to  the  tomb,  she  desired  to  be  carried  thither,  and 
to  be  bowed  down  towards  it,  after  the  manner  of  one  praying '; 
which  being  done,  she  spoke  to  her  as  if  she  had  been  living,  and 
entreated  her  that  she  would  obtain  of  the  mercy  of  our  compas- 
sionate Creator,  that  she  might  be  delivered  from  such  great  and 
lasting  pains.  Nor  was  it  long  before  her  prayer  was  heard  :  for 
being  taken  out  of  the  flesh  twelve  days  after,  she  exchanged  her 
temporal  afflictions  for  an  eternal  reward. 

§  280.  Three  years  after  the  death  of  this  lady,  the  above- 
mentioned  servant  of  Christ,  Torctgyd,  was  so  far  spent  with  the 
disease  before  mentioned,  that  her  bones  would  scarcely  hang 
together ;  and  at  last,  when  the  time  of  her  dissolution  was  at 
hand,  she  not  only  lost  the  use  of  her  other  limbs,  but  also  of  her 
tongue ;  which  having  continiied  three  days  and  as  many  nights, 
she  was,  on  a  sudden,  relieved  by  a  spiritual  vision  :  she  opened  her 
mouth  and  eyes,  and  looking  up  to  heaven,  began  thus  to  address 
the  vision  which  she  saw  :  "  Your  coming  is  very  acceptable  to 
me,  and  you  are  welcome  ! "  Having  so  said,  she  was  silent  awhile, 
as  it  were  waiting  for  the  answer  of  the  person  whom  she  saw  and 
to  whom  she  spoke  ;  then,  as  if  slightly  displeased,  she  said,  "  I 
caimot  bear  this  joyfully  ;"  then  pausing  awhile,  she  said  the  third 
time,  "  If  it  cannot  by  any  means  be  to-day,  I  beg  the  delay  may 
not  be  long  ;"  and  again  holding  her  peace  a  short  while,  as  before 
she  concluded  thus  :   "  If  it  be  positively  so  decreed,  and  the  reso- 

>  It  was  by  uo  means  an  uncommon  occurrence  for  persons  on  the  near 
approach  of  death  to  be  carried  into  the  church,  and  to  expire  near  the  altar. 
This  was  the  case  with  Benedict,  the  founder  of  the  Benedictine  order,  and  with 
hL=?  disciple,  St.  Maur. 


A.D.  676.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    IV.  45.5 

lution  cannot  be  altered,  I  beg  that  it  may  be  no  longer  deferred 
than  this  next  night."  Having  so  said,  and  being  asked  by  those 
who  were  seated  round  about  her  to  whom  she  had  been  talking, 
she  said,  "  With  my  most  dear  mother,  Aedilburge  ;"  by  which 
they  understood,  that  she  was  come  to  acquaint  her  that  the  time 
of  her  departure  was  at  hand ;  for,  as  she  had  desired,  after  one 
day  and  night,  she  was  delivered  from  the  bonds  and  infirmity  of 
the  flesh,  and  entered  the  joys  of  eternal  salvation. 


Chap.  X.  [a.d.  676.] — How  a  Blind  Woman,  praying  in  the  burial-place  op 

1  THAT  monastery,  WAS  RESTORED  TO  HER  SiGHT. 

§  281.  HiLDiLiD,  a  devout  handmaid  of  God,  succeeded  Aedil- 
burge in  the  office  of  abbess,  and  presided  over  that  monastery 
many  years,  till  she  was  of  an  extreme  old  age,  with  exemplary 
conduct,  in  the  observance  of  regular  discipline,  and  in  the  care  of 
providing  all  things  necessary  for  the  public  use.  The  narrowness 
of  the  place  where  the  monastery  is  built  led  her  to  think  that  the 
bones  of  the  male  and  female  servants  of  Christ,  which  had  been 
there  buried,  should  be  taken  up,  and  all  translated  into  the  church 
of  the  blessed  mother  of  God,  and  interred  in  one  place  :  whoever 
wishes  to  read  it,  may  find  in  the  book  from  which  we  have 
gathered  these  things,  how  often  a  brightness  of  heavenly  light  was 
seen  there,  and  a  fragrance  of  wonderful  odour  smelled,  and  what 
other  miracles  were  wrought. 

§  282.  However,  I  think  it  by  no  means  fit  to  pass  over  the 
miraculous  cure,  which  the  same  book  informs  us  was  wrought  in 
the  churchyard  of  the  said  congregation  devoted  to  God.  There 
lived  in  that  neighbourhood  a  certain  earl,  whose  wife  was  seized 
with  a  sudden  dimness  in  her  eyes,  which,  increasing,  at  length 
became  so  oppressive,  that  she  could  not  see  the  least  glimpse  of 
light :  having  continued  some  time  in  the  total  darkness  of  blind- 
ness, on  a  sudden  she  bethought  herself  that  she  might  possibly 
recover  her  lost  sight,  if  she  were  carried  to  the  monastery  of  the 
nuns,  and  there  were  to  pray  for  the  same,  at  the  relics  of  the  saints. 
Nor  did  she  lose  any  time  in  performing  what  she  had  thought  of : 
for  being  conducted  by  her  maids  to  the  monasteiy,  which  was 
very  near,  and  professing  that  she  had  perfect  faith  that  she  should 
be  there  healed,  she  was  led  into  the  burial-place,  and  having  long 
prayed  there  on  her  knees,  she  did  not  fail  to  be  heard  ;  for  as  she 
rose  from  prayer,  before  she  went  out  of  the  place,  she  received 
the  gift  of  sight  which  she  had  desired  ;  and  whereas  she  had  been 
led  thither  by  her  servants,  she  now  returned  home  joyfully  without 
help,  walking  freely  upon  her  feet ;  as  if  she  had  lost  her  bodily 
sight  to  no  other  end  than  that  she  might  make  it  appear  by  her 
cure  how  great  light  the  saints  of  Christ  enjoyed  in  heaven,  and 
how  great  was  the  power  of  their  virtue. 


456  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  G94. 


CuAi'.  XI.  [a.D.  69'!.]— How  Sebbi,  king  of  the  same  province,  ends  his  life 

IN  MONASTIC  CONVERSATION. 

§  283.  At  that  time,  as  the  same  little  book  informs  us,  Sebbi,' 
a  devout  man,  of  whom  mention  has  been  made  above,^  governed 
the  kingdom  of  the  East  Saxons.  He  was  much  addicted  to 
religious  actions,  frequent  prayers,  and  the  fruits  of  pious  alms  ; 
preferring  a  private  and  monastic  life  to  all  the  wealth  and  honours 
of  his  kingdom  ;  which  sort  of  life  he  would  also  long  before  have 
undertaken,  leaving  his  kingdom,  had  not  his  wife  obstinately 
refused  to  be  divorced  from  him  ;  for  which  reason  many  were  of 
opinion,  and  often  said  so,  that  a  person  of  such  a  disposition 
ought  rather  to  have  been  ordained  a  bishop  than  a  king.  W^ien 
the  soldier  of  the  heavenly  kingdom  had  been  thirty  years  a  king, 
he  fell  into  a  violent  sickness,  of  which  he  died,  and  he  admonished 
his  wife,  that  they  should  then  at  least  jointly  devote  themselves 
to  the  service  of  God,  since  they  could  no  longer  enjoy,  or  rather 
serve,  the  world.  Having  with  much  difficulty  obtained  this  of 
her,  he  repaired  to  Ualdheri,*  bishop  of  the  city  of  London,  who 
had  succeeded  Erconuald,  and  with  his  blessing  received  the  reli- 
gious habit,  which  he  had  long  desired.  He  also  carried  to  him  a 
considerable  sum  of  money,  to  be  given  to  the  poor,  reserving 
nothing  whatever  to  himself,  but  rather  coveting  to  remain  poor  in 
spirit,  for  the  sake  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

§  284.  When  the  aforesaid  disease  increased  upon  him,  and 
he  perceived  that  the  day  of  his  death  was  drawing  near,  being  a 
man  of  a  royal  disposition,  he  began  to  apprehend  lest,  when  under 
pain,  and  at  the  approach  of  death,  he  might  be  guilty  of  anythini; 
unworthy  of  his  person,  either  by  words,  or  by  some  motion  of  his 
limbs.  Wherefore,  calling  to  him  the  aforesaid  bishop  of  London, 
in  which  city  he  then  was,  he  entreated  him  that  none  might  be 
present  at  his  death,  besides  the  bishop  himself,  and  two  of  his 
attendants.  The  bishop  having  promised  that  he  would  most 
willingly  perform  the  same,  not  long  after  the  same  man  of  God 
composed  his  limbs  to  sleep,  and  saw  a  comforting  vision,  which 
took  from  him  all  anxiety  for  the  aforesaid  uneasiness  ;  and,  more- 
over, showed  him  on  what  day  he  was  to  depart  this  life.  For, 
as  he  afterwards  related,  he  saw  three  men  in  bright  garments  come 
to  him  ;  one  of  whom  sat  down  before  his  bed,  whilst  his  com- 
panions, who  had  come  with  him,  stood  and  inquired  about  the 
state  of  the  sick  man  they  came  to  see  :  he  who  was  sitting  in  front 
of  the  bed  said,  that  his  soul  should  depart  from  his  body  without 
any  pain,  and  with  a  great  splendour  of  light ;  and  declared  that  he 
should  die  the  third  day  after.      Both  these  particulars  happened, 

'  His  life,  compiled  from  Beda,  Malmesbury,  and  Alford,  may  he  fouu<l  in  tlio 
Acta  SS.  August,  vi.  516.  He  began  to  reign  in  665,  and  died  iu  ()S}4.  See 
Pagi,  A.D.  672,  §  7.  Stowe  and  Weever  speak  of  his  tomb  as  remaining  in  their 
days  in  St.  PauVs  cathedral.  «  gee  §  230. 

'  The  dates  of  the  death  of  Erconwald  and  the  accession  of  Ualdheri  to  the 
see  of  London  are  uncertain.  It  is  obvious  that  the  death  of  the  former  of  these 
prelates  was  anterior  to  that  of  Sebbi,  which  occurred  a.d.  694,  early  in  which 
year,  or  in  693,  wc  may  fix  the  commencement  of  Ualdhcri's  pontificate. 


A.D.  673.]         BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    IV.  457 

as  he  had  bean  informed  by  the  vision  ;  for  on  the  third  day  after,  at 
the  end  of  the  ninth  hour,  he  suddenly  fell,  as  it  were,  into  a  gentle 
slumber,  and  breathed  out  his  soul  without  any  sense  of  pain. 

§  285.  A  stone  coffin  having  been  provided  for  burying  his 
body,  when  they  came  to  lay  it  in  the  same,  they  found  that  it  was 
a  palm's  length  longer  than  the  coffin.  Hereupon  they  hewed 
away  the  stone,  as  well  as  they  were  able,  and  made  the  coffin 
about  two  fingers  longer ;  but  neither  would  it  then  contain  the 
body.  Under  this  difficulty  of  entombing  him,  t-hey  had  thoughts 
either  to  get  another  coffin,  or  else  to  shorten  the  body,  by  bending 
it  at  the  knees,  if  they  could,  until  the  coffin  would  receive  it. 
But  a  wonderful  event,  caused  by  providence,  prevented  the 
execution  of  both  of  those  designs  ;  for  on  a  sudden,  in  the  presence 
of  the  bishop,  and  Sighard,  the  son  of  the  king  who  had  turned 
monk,  and  who  reigned  after  him  jointly  with  his  brother  Suefred, 
and  of  a  considerable  number  of  men,  that  same  coffin  was  found 
to  answer  the  length  of  the  body,  insomuch  that  even  a  pillow  might 
be  put  in  at  the  head ;  and  at  the  feet  the  coffin  was  four  fingers 
longer  than  the  body.  He  was  buried  in  the  church  of  the  blessed 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  by  whose  instructions  he  had  learned  to 
hope  for  heavenly  things. 


Chap.  XII.  [a.d.  673 — 685.] — How  Haeddi  succeeds  Leutherius  in  the  bishopric 

OF  THE  West  Saxons  ;  Cuichelm  succeeds  Putta  in  that  of  the  church  op 
Rochester,  and  is  himself  succeeded  by  Gefmund  ;  and  who  were  then 
BISHOPS  op  the  Northumbrians. 

§  286.  Leutherius  was  the  fourth'  bishop  of  the  West  Saxons  ; 
for  Birinus  was  the  first,  Agilberct  the  second,  and  Uini  the  third. 
When  Coinualch,^  in  whose  reign  the  said  Leutherius  was  made 
bishop,  died,  his  under-rulers'  took  upon  them  the  government  of 
the  nation,  and  dividing  it  among  themselves,  held  it  about  ten 
years  ;  *  and  during  their  rule  he  died,  and  Haeddi^  succeeded  him 
in  the  bishopric,  having  been  consecrated  by  Theodore  in  the  city 
of  London.  During  his  prelacy,  Caedualla,"  having  subdued  and 
removed  those  sub-rulers,  took  upon  himself  the  government. 
When  he  had  reigned  two  years,  and  whilst  the  same  bishop  still 
governed  the  church,  he  quitted  his  sovereignty  for  the  love  of  the 

1  Beda  has  already  traced  the  history  of  the  bishops  of  this  see  up  to  the  time 
of  Leutherius,  §  167. 

2  It  seems  highly  probable,  from  the  reasons  advanced  by  Pagi,  a.d.  673,  §  13, 
that  Coinwalch  died  between  the  months  of  February  and  July  in  that  year.  The 
Saxon  Chronicle,  however,  places  it  in  672. 

^  These  subreguli  were  Escwin  and  Kentwin.  The  latter  was  the  yoimger 
brother  of  the  deceased  monarch  ;  the  former  descended  from  Ceolwulf,  the 
brother  to  the  grandfather  of  Coinwalch. 

*  The  succession  of  the  kings  of  Wessex  seems  to  have  been  as  follows.  On 
the  death  of  Coinwalch,  in  673,  his  widow,  Sesbiirga,  reigned  until  the  beginning 
of  675.  Escwin  then  occupied  the  throne  untU  the  end  of  676,  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  Kentwin,  who  died  in  685. 

^  Heddi  succeeded  Leutherius  in  the  see  of  "Winchester  in  676,  and  died  there 
early  in  the  reign  of  Osred,  king  of  Northumbria,  that  is,  in  705.     See  §  409. 

^  He  began  to  reign  in  685,  and  resigned  his  crown  in  688. 


458  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  C78. 

heavenly  kingdom,  and,  going  away  to  Rome,  ended  his  days  there, 
as  shall  be  said  more  fully  hereafter.^ 

§  287.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  676,^  when  Aedil- 
red,  king  of  the  Mercians,  ravaged  Kent  with  a  cruel  army,  and 
polluted  churches  and  monasteries,  without  regard  to  religion,  or 
the  fear  of  God,  he  destroyed  the  city  of  Rochester  in  the  common 
ruin.  Putta,  who  was  bishop,  was  absent  at  that  time,  but  when 
he  understood  that  his  church  was  ravaged,  and  all  things  taken 
away,  he  went  to  Sexuulf,  bishop  of  the  Mercians,  and  having 
received  of  him  a  certain  church,  and  a  small  parcel  of  land,  ended 
his  days  there  in  peace ;  in  no  way  endeavouring  to  restore  his 
bishopric,  because  (as  has  been  said  above)  ^  he  was  more  indus- 
trious in  spiritual  than  in  worldly  affairs ;  serving  God  only  in  that 
church,  and  going  wherever  he  was  desired,  to  teach  church  music. 
Tlieodore  consecrated  Cuichelm  as  bishop  in  the  cit)^  of  Rochester 
in  his  stead ;  but  he,  not  long  after,  departing  from  his  bishopric 
for  want  of  necessaries,  and  withdrawing  to  other  parts,  Gebmund 
was  substituted  as  bishop  in  his  place. 

§  288.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  678,*  which  is  the 
eighth  of  the  reign  of  Ecgfrid,  in  the  month  of  August,  appeared  a 
star,  called  a  comet,  which  continued  for  three  months,  rising  in 
the  morning,  and  darting  out,  as  it  were,  a  pillar  of  radiant  flame. 
The  same  year  a  dissension*  broke  out  between  king  Ecgfrid  and 
the  most  reverend  prelate,  Uilfrid,  who  was  driven  from  his  see, 
and  two  bishops  substituted  in  his  stead,  to  preside  over  the  nation 
of  the  Northumbrians  ;  namely,  Bosa,  to  preside  over  the  province 
of  the  Deiri ;  and  Eata  over  that  of  the  Bernicians  ;  the  former 
having  his  see  in  the  city  of  York,  the  latter  in  the  church  of 
Hagustald,  or  else  in  that  of  Lindisfarne  ;  both  of  them  promoted 
to  the  episcopal  dignity  from  a  college  of  monks.  With  them  also 
was  Eadhaed,  ordained  bishop  in  the  ])rovince  of  the  Lindisfari, 
which  king  Ecgfrid  had  very  recently  subdued,  having  overcome 
and  vanquished  in  battle  Uulf  here  ;  and  this  was  the  first  bishop  of 
its  own  which  that  province  had ;  the  second  was  Aediluini ;  the 
third  Eadgar;  the  fourth  Cyniberct,  who  is  there  at  present. 
Before  Eadhaed,  Sexuulf  was  bishop  as  well  of  that  province  as  of 
the  Mercians  and  Midland  Angles ;  so  that,  when  expelled  from 
Lindissi,  he  continued  in  the  government  of  those  provinces. 
Eadhaed,  Bosa,  and  Eata,  were  ordained  at  York  by  archbishop 
Theodore;"  who  also,  three  years  after  the  departure  of  Uilfrid, 

»  See  §  372. 
'    ^  Some  of  the  earlier  editions  have  read,  erroneously,  677.  ^  See  §  258. 

■•  This  is  the  reading  of  the  beat  MSS.  ;  those  of  inferior  authority  hesitatinof 
between  a.d.  677  and  G79  ;  and  it  may  po.ssibly  be  correct :  yet  Pagi,  A.D.  677, 
§§  9 — 13,  advances  very  strong  argimients  to  prove  that  the  text  is  here  corrupt, 
and  that  the  true  date  is  677.  Instead  of  giving  the  date  of  the  Incarnation,  the 
Saxon  version  here  substitutes  the  following  passage  :  "  About  two  years  after- 
wards, Aethelheard  plundered  Kent,  that  is,  in  the  ninth  year  of  the  reign  of  king 
Ecgfrith."  Yet  thia  does  not  solve  the  difficulty  ;  for  Kent  was  ravaged  in  676, 
and  the  ninth  regnal  year  of  Ecgfrith  cannot  V)0  made  to  synchronise  with  that 
date.     The  Saxon  Chronicle  agrees  with  678  ;  Florence  with  677. 

'•'  Here  the  life  of  Wilfrid  by  Eddius  may  be  consulted. 

''  See  a  sketch  of  the  ccclesliustical  partition  of  Wilfrid's  diocese  in  AVharton, 
Angl.  Sacr.  i.  695,  and  Collier,  i.  105. 


A.D.  678.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK  IV.  459 

added  two  bishops  to  their  number  ;  Tunberct,  in  the  church  of 
Hagustald,  Eata  still  continuing  in  that  of  Lindisfarne ;  and 
Trumuini  in  the  province  of  the  Picts,  which  at  that  time  was 
subject  to  the  Angles.  Eadhaed  returning  from  Lindissi,  because 
Aedilred  had  recovered  that  province,  was  placed  by  him  over  the 
church  of  Ripon. 

Chap.  XIII.  [a.d.  678 — 685.] — How  Bishop  Uilfrid  converts  the  province  of 
THE  South  Saxons  to  Christ. 

§  289.  Being  expelled^  from  his  bishopric,  and  having  for  a 
long  time  travelled  in  several  parts,  Uilfrid  went  to  Rome.  He 
afterwards  returned  to  Britain  ;  and  though  he  could  not,  by  reason 
of  the  enmity  of  the  aforesaid  king,  be  received  into  his  own 
country  or  diocese,  yet  he  could  not  be  restrained  from  the 
ministry  of  preaching  the  gospel ;  for,  turning  aside  into  the  pro- 
vince of  the  South  Saxons, — wWch  extends  behind  Kent  on  the 
west  and  south,  as  far  as  the  West  Saxons,  and  contains  land  of 
7,000  families,  who  at  that  time  were  still  pagans, — he  admi- 
nistered to  them  the  word  of  faith,  and  the  washing  of  salvation. 
Aedilualch,  king  of  that  nation,  had  been,  not  long  before,^  baptized 
in  the  province  of  the  ]\lercians,  in  the  presence  and  by  the  per- 
suasion of  king  Uulfliere,  by  whom  also  he  had  been  received  as  his 
son  when  he  came  up  from  the  font,  and  who  in  token  of  such 
adoption  gave  him  two  provinces,  namely,  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and 
the  province  of  the  IVleanvari,^  in  the  nation  of  the  West  Saxons. 
The  bishop,  therefore,  with  the  king's  consent,  or  rather  to  his  great 
satisfaction,  washed  in  the  holy  font  the  principal  generals  and 
soldiers  of  that  country ;  and  the  priests,  Eappa,  and  Padda,  and 
Burghelm,  and  Oiddi,  either  then,  or  aftel•^^'ards,  baptized  the  rest 
of  the  people.  The  queen,  w^iose  name  was  Eabae,  had  been 
baptized  in  her  own  province,  that  of  the  Huicci.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  Eanfrid,  the  brother  of  Eanheri,  who  were  both  Chris- 
tians, as  were  their  people  ;  but  all  the  province  of  the  South 
Saxons  were  ignorant  of  the  name  and  faith  of  God.  There  was 
among  them  a  certain  monk  of  the  Scottish  nation,  whose  name 
was  Dicul,*  who  had  a  very  small  monastery,  at  the  place  called 
Bosanhamm,^  encompassed  with  the  sea  and  woods,  and  in  it  five 
or  six  brethren,  who  served  our  Lord  in  poverty  and  humility;  but 
none  of  the  natives  cared  either  to  follow  their  course  of  life,  or 
hear  their  preaching. 

'  As  to  the  cause  of  tliis  breacli  between  Wilfrid  and  Ecgfrid,  consult  the  narra- 
tive of  Eddius. 

2  Certainly  before  A.D.  675,  when  Uulfheri,  by  whose  advice  he  embraced 
Christianity,  died,  (see  the  chronological  recapitulation,  §  452,)  and  perhaps  in 
661,  to  which  year  his  conversion  is  assigned  by  the  Saxon  Chronicle,  Florence  of 
Worcester,  and  Henry  of  Huntingdon. 

*  Traces  of  this  t]'ibe  remain  in  the  names  of  East  Meon,  West  Meon,  Meon 
Stoke,  and  elsewhere  in  Hampsihre.     Camd.  Brit.  coll.  145,  146. 

*  See  §  207.  This  Dicul,  or  Dicuil,  was  possibly  the  Irish  monk  who  wrote  a 
treatise  "  De  Mensura  Orbis  Terrae,"  published  by  Walckenaer  in  1807,  and  again 
by  Letronne  in  1814.  An  abstract  of  this  work,  and  an  account  of  the  author, 
may  be  seen  in  Wright's  Biographia  Brit.  Lit.,  Saxon  Period,  p.  372. 

^  See  Camd.  Brit.  col.  197.  From  this  monastery,  and  Selsey  mentioned  below, 
arose  the  see  of  Chichester. 


460  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  (385. 

§  290.  But  bishop  Uilfrid,  by  preaching  to  that  nation,  not  only 
dehvered  them  from  the  miser)'  of  perpetual  damnation,  but  also 
from  an  inexpressible  calamity  of  temporal  death  ;  for  no  rain  had 
fallen  in  that  place  for  three  years  before  his  arrived,  whereupon  a 
dreadful  famine  ensued,  which  cruelly  destroyed  the  people.  In 
short,  it  is  reported,  that  very  often,  forty  or  fifty  men,  being  spent 
with  want,  would  go  together  to  some  precipice,  or  to  the  sea- 
shore, and  there,  hand  in  hand,  miserably  perish  by  the  fall,  or  be 
swallowed  up  by  the  waves.  But  on  the  very  day  on  which  that 
nation  received  the  baptism  of  faith,  there  fell  a  soft  but  plentiful 
rain  ;  the  earth  revived  again,  and  the  verdure  being  restored  to 
the  fields,  the  season  was  pleasant  and  fruitful.  Thus  the  former 
superstition  being  rejected,  and  idolatry  renounced,  the  hearts  and 
flesh  of  all  rejoiced  in  the  living  God,  and  became  convinced  that 
He  who  is  the  true  God  had,  through  his  heavenly  grace,  enriched 
them  with  inward  and  outward  blessings.  For  the  bishop,  when  he 
came  into  the  province,  and  found  there  so  great  misery  from 
famine,  taught  them  to  get  their  food  by  fishing ;  for  their  sea  and 
rivers  abounded  with  fish,  but  the  people  had  no  skill  to  take  them, 
except  eels  alone.  The  bishop's  men  having  gathered  eel-nets 
everyAvhere,  cast  them  into  the  sea,  and  by  the  blessing  of  God 
immediately  took  three  hundred  fishes  of  several  sorts,  which,  being 
divided  into  three  parts,  they  gave  one  hundred  to  the  poor,  one 
hundred  to  those  from  whom  they  had  received  the  nets,  and  kept 
one  hundred  for  their  own  use.  By  this  act  of  kindness  the  bishop 
gained  the  aftections  of  them  all,  and  they  began  more  readily  at 
his  preaching  to  hope  for  heavenly  goods,  seeing  that  by  his  help 
they  had  received  those  which  are  temporal. 

§  291.  At  this  time,  king  Aedilualch  gave  to  the  most  reverend 
prelate,  Uilfrid,  land  for  eighty-seven  families,  to  maintain  his  com- 
pany who  were  in  banishment,  which  place  is  called  "  Selaeseu," 
that  is,  the  Island  of  the  Sea-Calf.  That  place  is  encompassed  by 
the  sea  on  all  sides,  except  on  the  west,  where  is  an  entrance  about 
the  cast  of  a  sling  in  width ;  which  sort  of  place  is  by  the  Latins 
called  a  peninsula,  by  the  Greeks,  a  chersonesus.  Bishop  Uilfrid, 
having  this  place  given  him,  founded  therein  a  monastery,  which 
his  successors  possess  to  this  day,  and  established  a  regular  course 
of  life,  chiefly  of  the  brethren  whom  he  had  brought  with  him  ;  for 
he  both  in  word  and  deed  performed  the  duties  of  a  bishop  in  those 
parts  during  the  space  of  five  years,  until  the  death  of  king  Ecgfrid. 
And  forasmuch  as  the  aforesaid  king,  together  with  the  said  place, 
gave  him  all  the  goods  that  were  therein,  with  the  lands  and  men, 
he  instructed  them  in  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  washed  them  all  in 
the  water  of  baptism.  Among  whom  were  two  hundred  and  fifty 
men  and  women  slaves,  all  of  whom  he,  by  baptism,  not  only 
rescued  from  the  servitude  of  the  devil,  but  gave  them  their  bodily 
liberty  also,  and  freed  them  from  the  yoke  of  human  servitude. 


.D.  679.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    IV.  461 


Chap.  XIV.  [a.d.  679.] — How  a  pestilential  Mortality  ceased  theough  the 

INTERCESSION    OF    KiNG   OsUALD.* 

§  292.  In  this  monastery,  at  that  time,  certain  gifts  of  the 
heavenly  grace  are  said  to  have  been  specially  shown  forth ;  for  the 
tyranny  of  the  devil  having  been  recently  exploded,  the  faith  of 
Christ  began  to  prevail  therein.  Of  which  number  I  have  thought 
it  proper  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  one  which  the  most  reverend 
bishop  Acca  was  wont  very  frequently  to  relate  to  me,  affirming  it 
had  been  told  to  him  by  most  credible  brethren  of  the  same  monas- 
teiy.  About  the  same  time  that  this  province  of  the  South  Saxons 
embraced  the  name  of  Christ,  a  grievous  mortality  ran  through 
many  provinces  of  Britain  ;  which,  also,  by  the  divine  dispensation, 
reached  to  the  aforesaid  monastery,  then  governed  by  the  most 
religious  priest  of  Christ,  Eappa ;  and  many,  as  well  of  those  who 
had  come  thither  with  the  bishop,  as  also  of  those  of  the  same 
province  of  the  South  Saxons  that  had  been  lately  called  to  the 
faith,  were  in  many  places  snatched  away  out  of  this  world.  The 
brethren,  in  consequence,  thought  fit  to  keep  a  fast  of  three  days, 
and  humbly  to  implore  the  divine  goodness,  that  it  would  vouch- 
safe to  extend  mercy  to  them,  either  by  delivering  from  death  those 
that  were  in  danger  by  the  disease,  or  by  saving  those  w^ho  had 
departed  this  life  from  eternal  damnation. 

§  293.  There  was  at  that  time  in  the  same  monasteiy,  a  little 
boy,  of  the  Saxon  nation,  lately  called  to  the  faith,  who  had  been 
seized  with  the  same  disorder,  and  had  long  kept  his  bed.  On 
the  second  day  of  the  said  fasting  and  praying,  it  happened  that  the 
said  boy  was,  about  the  second  hour  of  the  day,  left  alone  in  the 
place  where  he  lay  sick,  and  through  the  divine  disposition,  the 
most  blessed  princes  of  the  apostles  vouchsafed  to  appear  to  him ; 
for  he  was  a  lad  of  an  extraordinarily  mild  and  gentle  disposition, 
and  with  sincere  devotion  observed  the  mysteries  of  the  faith  which 
he  had  received.  The  apostles  therefore,  saluting  him  with  most 
affectionate  words,  said,  "  My  child,  do  not  fear  death,  about  which 
you  are  so  uneasy ;  for  we  will  this  day  conduct  you  to  the  heavenly 
kingdom  ;  but  you  are  first  to  wait  till  the  masses  are  said,  that, 
having  received  the  viaticum  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  our  Lord, 
and  being  so  freed  from  sickness  and  death,  you  may  be  carried 
up  to  the  everlasting  joys  in  heaven. 

§  294.  "  Call  therefore  to  you  the  priest,  Eappa,  and  tell  him, 
that  the  Lord  has  heard  your  prayers,  and  has  favourably  accepted 
of  your  fast  and  devotion,  and  not  one  more  shall  henceforth  die 
of  this  plague,  either  in  the  monastery  or  its  adjacent  possessions ; 
but  that  all  your  people  who  anywhere  labour  under  this  distemper, 

'  Here  the  MSS.  vary  considerably  in  the  numbers  which  they  prefix  to  this 
and  the  following  chapters.  Bishop  More's  MS.  omits  the  title  of  this  and  the 
following  chapter.  In  one  of  the  two  Cottonian  MSS.  chap.  xiv.  is  totally 
omitted,  and  in  the  margin  of  this  leaf  an  old  hand  has  written,  "  Hie  deest 
folium."  Hence  has  arisen  a  surmise  that  this  present  accoimt  of  Oswald's  miracles 
is  an  interpolation ;  a  charge  from  which  it  is  freed  by  its  existence  in  More's 
MS.  and  in  one  of  those  in  the  Cottonian  Library. 


462  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  679. 

shall  be  eased  of  their  pain,  and  restored  to  their  former  healtli, 
except  you  alone,  who  are  this  day  to  be  delivered  by  death,  and  to 
be  carried  into  heaven,  to  the  vision  of  our  Lord  Christ,  whom  you 
have  faithfully  served.  Tliis  favour  the  divine  mercy  has  vouch- 
safed to  grant  you,  through  the  intercession  of  the  religious  and 
dear  servant  of  God,  king  Osuald,  who  formerly  ruled  over  the 
nation  of  the  Northumbrians  with  the  authority  of  a  temporal  king, 
and  such  devotion  of  christian  piety  as  leads  to  the  heavenly  king- 
dom ;  for  this  very  day  that  king  was  killed  in  war  by  the  infidels, 
and  forthwith  taken  up  to  the  everlasting  joys  of  souls  in  heaven, 
and  associated  among  the  number  of  the  elect.  Let  them  look  in 
their  books,  wherein  the  departure  of  the  dead  is  set  down,  and 
they  will  find  that  he  was,  this  day,  as  we  have  said,  taken  out  of 
this  world.  Let  them,  therefore,  celebrate  masses  in  all  the  orato- 
ries of  this  monastery,  either  in  thanksgiving  for  that  their  prayers 
have  been  heard,  or  else  in  memory  of  the  aforesaid  king  Osuald, 
who  once  governed  their  nation ;  and  therefore  he  humbly  offered 
up  his  prayers  to  our  Lord  for  them,  as  for  strangers  of  his  nation  ; 
and  let  all  the  brethren,  assembling  in  the  church,  communicate  in 
the  heavenly  sacrifices,  and  so  let  them  cease  from  fasting,  and 
refresh  themselves  with  food." 

§  295.  The  boy  called  the  priest,  and  repeated  all  these  words 
to  him  ;  the  priest  particularly  inquired  after  the  habit  and  form 
of  the  men  that  had  appeared  to  him.  He  answered,  "  Their  habits 
were  very  noble,  and  their  countenances  most  pleasant  and  beautiful, 
such  as  I  had  never  seen  before,  nor  did  I  think  there  could  be 
any  men  so  graceful  and  comely.  One  of  them  indeed  was  shorn 
like  a  clerk,  the  other  had  a  long  beard  ;  and  they  said  that  one  of 
them  was  called  Peter,  the  other  Paul ;  and  that  both  of  them  were 
the  servants  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  sent  by  Him 
from  heaven  to  protect  our  monasteiy."  The  priest  believed  what 
the  boy  said,  and  going  thence  immediately,  looked  in  his  Chronicle, 
and  found  that  king  Osuald  had  been  killed  on  that  very  day.  He 
then  called  the  brethren,  ordered  dinner  to  be  provided,  masses  to 
be  said,  and  that  all  of  them  should  communicate  as  usual ;  causing 
also  a  portion  of  the  same  sacrifice  of  the  Lord's  oblation  to  be 
carried  to  the  sick  boy. 

§  296.  Soon  after  this  had  been  done,  the  boy  died,  on  that  same 
day  ;  and  by  his  death  proved  that  the  words  which  he  had  heard 
from  the  apostles  of  God  were  true.  A  further  testimony  of  the 
truth  of  his  words  was,  that  no  person  besides  himself,  belonging 
to  the  same  monasteiy,  died  at  that  time.  By  which  vision,  many 
that  heard  of  it  were  wonderfully  excited  to  implore  the  divine 
mercy  in  adversity,  and  to  adopt  the  wholesome  remedy  of  fasting. 
From  that  time,  the  day  of  the  nativity  of  that  king  and  soldier  of 
Christ  began  to  be  yearly  honoured  with  the  celebration  of  masses, 
not  only  in  that  monastery,  but  also  in  many  other  places. 


A.D.  C8C.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK  IV.  463 

Chap.  XV.  [a.d.  685.] — How  King  Caedualla,  having  slain  Aedilualch,  king 

OF  THE  GeUISSI,  WASTED  THAT  PROVINCE  WITH  CRUEL  SLAUGHTER  AND  PILLAGE. 

§  297.  In  the  meantime,  Caedualla,  a  daring  young  man,  of  the 
royal  race  ^  of  the  Geuissi,  who  had  been  banished  from  his  country, 
came  with  an  army,  slew  Aedilualch,  and  wasted  that  province  with 
much  slaughter  and  plundering ;  but  he  was  soon  expelled  by 
Bercthun  and  Andhun,  the  king's  commanders,  who  afterwards  held 
the  o-overnment  of  that  province.  The  first  of  them  was  aftei-wards 
killed  by  the  same  Caedualla,  when  he  was  king  of  the  Geuissi,  and 
the  province  was  reduced  under  a  stricter  rule  :  Ini,^  likewise,  who 
reigned  after  Caedualla,  kept  that  country  under  the  like  servitude 
for  several  years  ;  for  which  reason,  during  all  that  time,  they  had 
no  bishop  of  their  own  ;  but  their  first  bishop,  Uilfrid,  having  been 
recalled  home,  they  were  subject  to  the  bishop  of  the  Geuissi,  that 
is,  of  the  West  Saxons,  in  the  city  of  Winchester. 


Chap.  XVI.  [a.  d.  686.] — How  the  Isle  op  Wight  received  christian  inha- 
bitants, AND  HOW  TWO  ROTAL  YoUTHS  OP  THAT  ISLAND  WERE  KILLED  IMME- 
DIATELY APTER  THET   had  RECEIVED  BAPTISM. 

§  298.  After  Caedualla  had  possessed  himself  of  the  kingdom 
of  the  Geuissi,  he  also  took  the  Isle  of  Wight,  which  till  then  was 
entirely  devoted  to  idolatiy,  and  by  cruel  slaughter  endeavoured  to 
exterminate  all  the  inhabitants  thereof,  and  to  place  in  their  stead 
people  from  his  own  province  ;  having  bound  himself  by  a  vow, 
though  he  was  not  yet,  as  is  reported,  regenerated  in  Christ,  that 
he  would  give  the  fourth  part  of  the  land,  and  of  the  booty,  to  our 
Lord,  if  he  took  the  island.  This  he  performed  by  giving  the  same 
for  our  Lord  to  the  use  of  bishop  Uilfrid,  who  happened  at  the 
time  to  have  accidentally  come  thither  out  of  his  own  nation. 
The  measure  of  that  island,  according  to  the  computation  of  the 
Angles,  is  of  twelve  hundred  families,  and  accordingly  the  bishop 
had  given  to  him  land  for  three  hundred  families.  The  part  which 
he  received,  he  committed  to  one  of  his  clerks  called  Bernuini,  who 
was  his  sister's  son,  assigning  him  a  priest,  whose  name  was 
Hiddila,  who  might  administer  the  word  and  baptism  of  life  to  all 
that  would  be  saved. 

§  299.  Here  I  think  it  ought  not  to  be  omitted  that  the  first 
fruits  of  the  natives  of  that  island  who,  by  believing,  were  saved, 
were  two  royal  youths,  brothers  to  Aruald,  king  of  the  island, 
who  were  crowned  by  the  particular  grace  of  God.  For  when  the 
enemy  approached,  they  made  their  escape  out  of  the  island,  and 
passed  over  into  the  neighbouring  province  of  the  Jutes  ;  where, 
being  conducted  to  the  place  called  "At  the  Stone,""  as  they 
thought  to  be  concealed  from  the  victorious  king,  they  were 
betrayed  and  ordered  to  be  killed.  Tliis  being  made  known  to  a 
certain  abbat  and  priest,  whose  name  was  Cyniberct,  who  had  a 

'  He  was  the  son  of  Cenbyrht,  who  died  in  661,  and  of  the  race  of  Ceawlin  of 
Weasex.     The  narrative  of  Eddius  should  be  here  compared  with  Beda. 

-  He  began  his  reign  in  688,  and  resigned  the  crown  in  725.     See  V.  vii.  §  373. 
^  Now  Stoneham,  in  Hampshire.     See  Camd.  Brit.  p.  138. 


464  CHl-RCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.d.  C80. 

monastery  not  far  from  thence,  at  a  place  called  Hreutford,'  that  is, 
the  "  Ford  of  Reeds,"  he  came  to  the  king,  who  then  lay  privately 
in  those  parts,  to  be  cured  of  the  wounds  which  he  had  received 
whilst  he  was  fighting  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  begged  of  him, 
that  if  the  youths  must  inevitably  be  slain,  he  might  be  allowed 
first  to  instruct  them  in  the  mysteries  of  the  christian  faith.  The 
king  consented,  and  the  bishop  having  taught  them  the  word  of 
truth,  and  cleansed  them  in  the  font  of  the  Saviour,  gave  them  the 
assurance  of  entering  the  eternal  kingdom.  Then  the  executioner 
being  at  hand,  they  joyfully  underwent  the  temporal  death,  through 
which  they  did  not  doubt  they  were  to  pass  to  the  life  of  the  soul, 
which  is  everlasting.  Thus,  after  all  the  provinces  of  Britain  had 
embraced  the  faith  of  Christ,  the  Isle  of  Wight  also  received  the 
same  ;  yet  being  under  the  affliction  of  eternal  subjection,  no  man 
there  received  the  degree  of  the  ministiy,  or  the  see  of  a  bishop, 
before  Daniel,  who  is  now  bishop  of  the  West  Saxons. 

§  300.  The  island  is  situated  opposite  the  division  between  the 
South  Saxons  and  the  Geuissi,  being  separated  from  it  by  a  sea, 
three  miles  over,  which  is  called  Solvente.  In  this  sea,  the  two 
tides  of  the  ocean,  which  flow  round  Britain  from  the  immense 
northern  ocean,  daily  meet  and  oppose  one  another  beyond  the 
mouth  of  the  river  Homelea,^  which  runs  into  that  narrow  sea, 
from  the  lands  of  the  Jutes,  which  belong  to  the  country  of  the 
Geuissi ;  after  this  meeting  and  struggling  together  of  the  two  seas, 
they  return  into  the  ocean  from  whence  they  came. 


Chap.  XVII.  [a.d.  680.]— Of  the  Synod  held  in  the  plain  of  Haethfeld, 
WHERE  Archbishop  Theodore  presided. 

§  301.  About  this  time,  Tlieodore  being  informed  that  the  faith 
of  the  church  at  Constantinople  was  much  perplexed  by  the  heresy 
of  Eutyches,  and  desiring  to  preserve  the  churches  of  the  Angles, 
over  which  he  presided,  free  from  that  infection,  an  ^  assembly  of 
many  venerable  priests  and  doctors  was  convened,  at  which  he 
diligently  inquired  into  the  doctrines  of  each,  and  found  they  all 
unanimously  agreed  in  the  catholic  faith.  This  he  took  care  to 
have  committed  to  writing  by  the  authority  of  the  synod,  as  a 
memorial,  and  for  the  instruction  of  succeeding  generations  ;  the 
beginning  of  which  instrument  is  as  follows  : — 

§  302  "  In  the  name  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  in 
the  tenth*  year  of  the  reign  of  our  most  pious  lord,  Ecgfrid,  king  of 
the  Northumbrians,  the  fifteenth  of  the  kalends  of  October,  [17th 
September,]  the  eighth  indiction  ;'  and  in  the  sixth  year  of  the  reign 

'  Now  Redbridge.     See  Camd.  Brit.  p.  138. 

2  Now  Ham>)le,  a  little  to  the  east  of  Winchester.     Id.  col.  144. 

^  This  Sj-nod  wa.s  held  for  the  purpose  of  professing  the  faith  which  the  Saxon 
church  entertained  with  reference  to  the  truths  which  had  been  assailed  bj- 
Eutyches  and  the  Monothelites. 

*  Pagi  observes,  a.d.  679,  §  6,  that  the  regnal  years  of  Ecgfrid,  Ethelred,  and 
Lothaire,  as  they  are  here  given,  are  apparently  incorrect. 

*  Some  historians  have  referred  this  .synod  to  the  year  679,  misled  by  the 
indiction,  which  they  have  neglected  to  observe  i.s  calculated  by  Beda  from  24th 
September. 


A.D.  6S0.]        BEDA  S    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY. BOOK    IV.  455 

of  Aedilred,  king  of  the  Mercians,  in  the  seventeenth  year  of  the 
reign  of  Alduuh",  of  the  East  Angles,  in  the  seventh  year  of  the 
reign  of  Hlothare,  king  of  Kent ;  Theodore,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
archbishop  of  the  island  of  Britain,  and  of  the  city  of  Canterbury, 
being  president,  and  the  other  venerable  bishops  of  the  island  of 
Britain  sitting  with  him,  the  holy  gospels  being  laid  before  them, 
at  the  place  which,  in  the  Saxon  tongue,  is  called  Haethfelth,  we 
conferred  together,  and  expounded  the  true  and  orthodox  faith,  as 
our  Lord  Jesus  in  the  flesh  delivered  the  same  to  hii  disciples,  who 
saw  his  bodily  presence  and  heard  his  words,  and  as  it  is  delivered 
in  the  creed  of  the  holy  fathers,  and  by  all  holy  and  universal 
synods  in  general,  and  by  the  consent  of  all  approved  doctors  of  the 
catholic  church.  We,  therefore,  following  them  reverently  and 
orthodoxly,  and  professing  accordance  to  their  divinely  inspired 
doctrine,  do  believe,  and  do,  according  to  the  holy  fathers,  firmly 
confess,  properly  and  truly,  the  Father,  and  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost, 
a  Trinity  consubstantial  in  Unity,  and  Unity  in  Trinity,  that  is,  one 
God  in  three  consubstantial  Subsistences  or  Persons,  of  equal  glory 
and  honour." 

§  303.  And  after  much  more  of  this  sort,  appertaining  to  the 
confession  of  the  true  faith,  this  holy  synod  added  to  its  letters, 
"  We  have  received  the  five  holy  and  general  councils  of  the 
blessed  fathers  acceptable  to  God  ;  that  is,  of  the  318  bishops,  who 
were  assembled  at  Nice,  against  the  most  impious  Arius  and  his 
tenets  ;  and  that  at  Constantinople,  of  the  1 50,  against  the  madness 
of  Macedonius  and  Eudoxius,  and  their  tenets  ;  and  that  first  at 
Ephesus,  of  the  200,  against  the  most  wicked  Nestorius,  and  his 
tenets ;  and  that  at  Chalcedon,  of  630,  against  Eutyches  and 
Nestorius,  and  their  tenets  ;  and  again,  at  Constantinople,  in  a  fifth 
council,  in  the  reign  of  Justinian  the  younger,  against  Theodorus 
and  Theodoret,  and  the  epistles  of  Ibas,  and  their  tenets,  against 
Cyril." 

§  304.  And  again  a  little  lower,  "  The  synod  held  in  the  city  of 
Rome,  in  the  time  of  the  most  blessed  pope  Martin,  in  the  eighth 
indiction,  and  in  the  ninth  year  of  the  most  pious  emperor  Con- 
stantine,  we  receive  :  and  we  receive  and  glorify  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  as  they  glorified  Him,  neither  adding  nor  diminishing  any- 
thing ;  anathematizing  those  with  heart  and  mouth  whom  they 
anathematized,  and  receiving  those  whom  they  received,  glorifying 
God  the  Father,  who  is  without  beginning,  and  his  only-begotten 
Son,  begotten  of  the  Father  before  the  worlds,  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
proceeding  from  the  Father  and  the  Son  in  an  ineffable  manner, 
as  those  holy  apostles,  prophets,  and  doctors,  whom  we  have  above 
mentioned,  did  declare.  And  all  we,  who,  with  archbishop  Theo- 
dore, have  thus  expounded  the  catholic  faith,  have  also  subscribed 
thereto." 


VOL.     I. 


466  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  680. 

Chap.  XVIII.  [a.d.  680.] — Of  John,  the  Singer  of   the  apostolic  see,  who 
CAME  INTO  Britain  to  teach. 

§  305.  Among  those  who  were  present  at  this  synod,  and  who, 
in  like  manner,  confirmed  the  decrees  of  the  cathoHc  faith,  was 
the  venerable  John,  archchanter  of  the  church  of  the  holy  apostle 
Peter,  and  abbat  of  the  monastery  of  the  blessed  Martin,  who  had 
come  lately  from  Rome,  by  order  of  pope  Agatho,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  most  reverend  abbat  Biscop,  surnamed  Benedict, 
of  whom  mention  has  been  made  above.  For  the  said  Benedict, 
having  built  a  monastery  in  Britain,  in  honour  of  the  most  blessed 
prince  of  the  apostles,  near  the  mouth  of  the  river  Wear,  went  to 
Rome  with  Ceolfrid,  his  fellow-labourer  and  companion  in  that 
work,  who  was  after  him  abbat  of  the  same  monastery  ;  he  had 
been  several  times  before  at  Rome,  and  was  now  honourably 
received  by  pope  Agatho  of  blessed  memory  ;  from  whom  he  also 
requested  and  obtained  the  confirmation  of  the  immunity  of  this 
monastery,  being  an  epistle  of  privilege  confirmed  by  apostolical 
authority,  pursuant  to  what  he  knew  to  be  the  will  and  grant  of 
king  Ecgfrid,  by  whose  consent,  and  on  the  land  given  by  whom, 
he  had  built  that  monastery. 

§  306.  He  then  received  the  aforesaid  abbat  John  to  be  con- 
ducted into  Britain  [a.d.  678],  that  he  might  teach  in  his  monas- 
tery the  method  of  singing  throughout  the  year,  as  it  was  practised 
at  St.  Peter's  at  Rome.  The  abbat  John  did  as  he  had  been  com- 
manded by  the  pope,  by  teaching  the  singers  of  the  said  monastery 
the  order  and  manner  of  singing  and  reading*  aloud,  and  also  by  com- 
mitting to  writing  all  that  was  requisite  throughout  the  whole  course 
of  the  year  for  the  celebration  of  festivals  ;  all  which  are  still  ob- 
served in  that  monastery,  and  have  been  copied  by  many  others 
elsewhere.  The  said  John  not  only  taught  the  brethren  of  that 
monastery  ;  but  such  as  had  skill  in  singing  resorted  from  almost 
all  the  monasteries  of  the  same  province  to  hear  him  ;  and  many 
took  care  to  invite  him  to  teach  in  other  places. 

§  307.  Besides  singing  and  reading,  he  had  also  been  directed  by 
the  apostolic  pope  carefully  to  inform  himself  concerning  the  faith  of 
the  English  church,  and  to  give  an  account  thereof  on  his  return  to 
Rome.  For  he  also  brought  with  him  the  decision  of  the  synod  of 
the  blessed  pope  Martin  and  105  bishops,  held  not  long  before  at 
Rome,^  principally  against  those  who  taught  that  there  was  but  one 
operation  and  one  will  in  Christ  ;  and  gave  it  to  be  transcribed  in 
the  aforesaid  monastery  of  the  most  religious  abbat  Benedict.  The 
men  who  followed  such  opinion,  much  perplexed  the  faith  of  the 
church  of  Constantinople  at  that  time  ;  but  by  the  help  of  God 
they  were  then  discovered  and  subdued.  Wherefore,  pope  Agatho, 
being  desirous  to  be  informed  concerning  the  state  of  the  church 
in  Britain,  as  well  as  in  other  provinces,  and  to  what  extent  it  was 

1  If  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  the  statement  of  a  manuscript  cited  by  Usshcr, 
it  would  appear  that  the  Galilean  liturgy  had  been  introduced  into  England  by 
Crormanus  and  Lupus,  and  that  it  probably  had  continued  in  general  use  until 
the  time  of  pope  Agatho. 

^  On  this  council,  held  5th  Oct.  649,  against  the  Jlouothclites,  see  Jlausi  Concil. 
X.  863:  Labb.  vi.  75. 


A.D.  660.]        BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    IV.  467 

chaste  from  the  contagion  of  heretics,  gave  this  affair  in  charge  to 
the  most  reverend  abbat  John,  then  appointed  to  go  to  Britain. 
The  synod  we  have  spoken  of  having  been  called  for  this  purpose 
in  Britain,  the  cathohc  faith  was  found  untainted  in  them  all,  and 
a  copy  of  the  same  given  him  to  carry  to  Rome. 

§  308.  But  during  his  return  to  his  own  countiy,  soon  after 
crossing  the  sea,  he  fell  sick  and  died ;  ^  and  his  body,  for  the  love 
of  St.  Martin,  over  whose  monastery  he  presided,  was  by  his  friends 
carried  to  Tours,  and  honourably  buried  ;  for  he  had  been  kindly 
entertained  in  the  guest-house  of  the  church  there,  as  he  was  going 
into  Britain,  and  earnestly  entreated  by  the  brethren,  that  on  his 
return  to  Rome  he  would  take  that  road,  and  pay  that  church  a 
visit.  In  short,  he  was  there  supplied  with  some  to  conduct  him 
on  his  way,  and  assist  him  in  the  work  enjoined  him.  Though  he 
died  by  the  way,  yet  the  copy  of  the  faith  of  the  English  nation 
was  carried  to  Rome,  and  most  thankfully  received  by  the  apostolic 
pope,  and  all  those  that  heard  or  read  it. 


Chap.  XIX.    [a.d.  660.] — How   Qdeen  Aedilthryd  always   preseryed    her 
Virginity,  and  her  body  could  suffer  no  corruption  in  the  grave. 

§  309.  King  Ecgfrid  took  to  wife  Aedilthryda,^  the  daughter  of 
Anna,  king  of  the  East  Angles,  of  whom  mention  has  been  often 
made  f  a  man  very  religious,  and  in  all  respects  renowned  for  his 
inward  disposition  and  actions.  She  had  before  been  given  in 
marriage  to  another,  namely,  to  Tondberct,  chief  of  the  Southern 
Girvii ;  but  he  died  soon  after  he  had  received  her  to  wife,  and  she 
was  given  to  the  aforesaid  king.  Though  she  lived  with  him  for 
twelve  years,  yet  she  preserved  the  glory  of  perfect  virginity,  as  I  was 
informed  by  bishop  Uilfrid,  of  blessed  memory,  of  whom  I  inquired, 
because  some  questioned  the  truth  thereof ;  and  he  told  me  that 
he  was  a  witness  of  her  undoubted  virginity,  forasmuch  as  Ecgfrid 
promised  him  that  he  would  give  many  lands  and  much  money,  if 
he  could  persuade  the  queen  to  consent  to  pay  the  marriage  duty, 
for  he  knew  the  queen  loved  no  man  so  much  as  himself.  Nor  if 
it  to  be  doubted  that  the  same  might  take  place  in  our  age,  which 
true  histories  tell  us  happened  several  times  in  former  ages,  through 
the  assistance  of  one  and  the  same  Lord  who  has  promised  to  con- 
tinue with  us  unto  the  end  of  the  world  ;  for  the  miraculous  cir- 
cumstance that  her  flesh,  being  buried,  could  not  sufter  corruption, 
is  a  token  that  she  had  not  been  defiled  by  familiarity  with  man. 

§  310.  She  had  long  and  earnestly  requested  the  king,  that  he 
would  permit  her  to  lay  aside  worldly  cares,  and  to  serve  only  the 
true  king,  Christ,  in  a  monastei-y ;  and  having  at  length  with  difficulty 
prevailed,  she  went  as  a  nun  into  the  monastery  of  the  abbess  Aebba,* 

*  About  the  end  of  the  year  680,  or  the  beginning  of  681. 

^  She  had  married  Tondberct  two  years  before  the  death  of  her  father,  conse- 
quently in  a.d.  652.  Tondberct,  her  husband,  died  about  a.d.  655,  and  the  interval 
which  occui-red  between  that  date  and  her  marriage  with  Ecgfrid  was  spent  at 
Ely.  See  the  Historia  Eliensis,  i.  26,  ed.  Lond.  1848;  Mabill.  Act.  SS.  Ord. 
S.  Bened.  ii.  711.  3  ggg  g§  169,  201. 

*  Ebba  was  the  daughter  of  Ethelfrid,  and  the  sister  of  Eanfrid,  Oswald,  and 
Osuiu,  kings  of  Bernicia ;  Ecgfrid  was  the  son  of  Osuiu,  consequently  the  nephew 

H  H  2 


468  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  G95. 

who  was  aunt  to  king  Ecgfrid,  at  the  place  called  the  Cit)'  Coludi,' 
having  taken  the  veil  from  the  hands  of  the  aforesaid  bishop 
Uilfrid  ;  but  a  year  after  she  was  herself  made  abbess  in  the  country 
which  is  called  Ely,  where,  having  built  a  monastery,  she  began,  by 
works  and  examples  of  a  heavenly  life,  to  be  the  virgin-mother  of 
very  many  virgins  dedicated  to  God.  It  is  reported  of  her,  that 
from  the  time  of  her  entering  into  the  monastery,  she  never  wore 
any  linen,  but  only  woollen  garments,  and  would  rarely  wash  in  a 
hot  bath,  unless  just  before  any  of  the  greater  festivals,  as  Easter, 
Whitsuntide,  and  the  Epiphany,  and  then  she  did  it  last  of  all, 
after  having,  with  the  assistance  of  those  about  her,  first  washed 
the  other  servants  of  God  there  present ;  besides,  she  seldom  did 
eat  above  once  a  day,  excepting  on  the  greater  solemnities,  or  some 
other  urgent  occasion,  unless  some  considerable  disorder  obliged 
her.  From  the  time  of  matin  service,  she  continued  in  the  church  at 
prayer  till  it  was  daybreak,  unless  some  severe  infirmity  prevented 
her;  some  also  say  that,  by  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  she,  in  the 
presence  of  all,  not  only  foretold  the  pestilence  of  which  she  was 
to  die,  but  also  the  number  of  those  that  should  be  then  snatched 
away  out  of  her  monastery.  She  was  taken  to  our  Lord,  in  the 
midst  of  her  flock,  seven  years  after  she  had  been  made  abbess  [a.o. 
679] ;  and,  as  she  had  ordered,  was  buried  in  a  wooden  coffin- 
among  them,  according  to  the  succession  in  which  she  had  died. 

§311.  She  was  succeeded  in  the  office  of  abbess  by  her  sister 
Sexburg,^  who  had  been  wife  to  Earconberct,  king  of  Kent ;  who, 
when  [her  sister]  had  been  buried  sixteen  years,  [a.d.  695,]  thought 
fit  to  take  up  her  bones,  and  putting  them  into  a  new  coffin,  to  trans- 
late tliem  into  the  church.  Accordingly  she  ordered  some  of  the 
brethren  to  provide  a  stone  to  make  a  coffin  of ;  they  accordingly 
went  on  board  ship,  (because  the  country  of  Ely  is  on  ever)'  side 
encompassed  with  the  sea  or  marshes,  and  has  no  large  stones,)  and 
came  to  a  small  abandoned  city,  not  far  from  thence,  which,  in  the 
language  of  the  English,  is  called  Grantchester,''  and  presently, 
near  the  city  walls,  they  found  a  white  marble  coffin,  most  beauti- 
fully wrought,  and  neatly  covered  with  a  lid  of  the  same  sort  of 
stone.  Concluding  therefore  that  God  had  prospered  their  journey, 
they  returned  thanks  to  Him,  and  carried  it  to  the  monastery. 

§  312.  "^I'he  body  of  the  holy  virgin  and  spouse  of  Christ,  when 
her  grave  was  opened,  being  brought  into  sight,  was  found  as  free 
from  corruption  as  if  she  had  died  and  been  buried  on  that  very 
day;  as  the  aforesaid  bishop  Uilfrid,  and  many  others  that  know  it, 
testify.      But  the  physician.    Cynifrid,   who  was   present  at   her 

of  Elj1)a.  Her  nnme  ia  presciTed  in  the  promontory  near  Coldingliam,  named 
St.  Abli'a  Head ;  and  in  the  nnnnery  of  Ebchester,  near  the  river  Derwent,  in 
Durham,  Avhieh  was  afterwards  destroyed  by  the  Danes.  See  Tanner,  Notit. 
Monast.  Durham,  vi. ;  Acta  SS.  mens.  Aug.  v.  194. 

'   Now  Coklingham,  in  Berwacksh  ire. 

-  This  burial  in  a  wooden  cofl5n  was  a  deviation  from  the  usual  custom,  which 
gave  the  preference  to  stone.  See  instances  in  Vit.  S.  Ebrulfi  Uticensis,  §  25, 
:ip.  Mabill.  Acta  SS.  i.  341 ;  S.  Arnulfi  ep.  Mettensis,  Id.  ii.  146,  §  23;  S.  Baboleni, 
Id   p.  567,  §  12. 

^  A  siketch  of  her  life  may  be  seen  in  the  Acta  SS.  Jul.  ii.  346,  to  which  .idd 
the  particulars  given  in  the  Monast.  Anglic,  i.  88. 

*  2^ow  Granchester,  a  little  villHge  near  Cambridge.   SeeUBsher,Primord.  p.Gl. 


A.D.  695.]  BEDA  S    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY. BOOK    IV.  469 

death,  and  when  she  was  taken  up  out  of  the  grave,  was  wont  of 
more  certain  knowledge  to  relate,  that  in  her  sickness  she  had  a 
very  great  swelling  under  her  jaw.  "  And  I  was  ordered,"  said  he, 
"to  lay  open  that  swelling,  to  let  out  the  noxious  matter  in  it, 
which  I  did,  and  she  seemed  to  be  somewhat  easier  for  two  days, 
so  that  many  thought  she  might  recover  from  her  disease  ;  but 
on  the  third  day  the  former  pains  returning  more  severely,  she  was 
soon  snatched  out  of  the  world,  and  exchanged  all  pain  and  death 
for  everlasting  life  and  health.  And  when  so  many  years  after,  her 
bones  were  to  be  taken  out  of  the  grave,  a  pavilion  being  spread 
over  it,  all  the  congregation  of  brethren  were  on  the  one  side,  and 
of  sisters  on  the  other,  standing  about  it  singing ;  and  the  abbess, 
with  a  few,  being  gone  in  to  take  up  and  wash  the  bones,  on  a 
sudden  we  heard  the  abbess  from  within  loudly  cry  o\it,  '  Glory  be 
to  the  name  of  the  Lord  ! '  Not  long  after  they  called  me  in, 
opening  the  door  of  the  pavilion,  where  I  saw  the  body  of  the  holy 
virgin  taken  out  of  the  grave  and  laid  on  a  bed,  as  if  it  had  been 
asleep ;  then  taking  otf  the  veil  from  the  face,  they  also  showed 
the  incision  which  I  had  made,  healed  up  ;  so  that,  to  my  great 
astonishment,  instead  of  the  open  gaping  wound  with  which  she 
had  been  buried,  there  then  appeared  only  a  veiy  slender  scar." 

§  313.  Besides,  all  the  linen  clothes  in  which  the  body  had  been 
wrapped,  appeared  entire,  and  as  fresh  as  if  they  had  been  that  very 
day  wrapped  about  her  chaste  limbs.  It  is  reported,  that  when  she 
was  much  troubled  with  the  aforesaid  swelling  and  pain  in  her  jaw 
or  neck,  she  was  much  pleased  with  that  sort  of  distemper,  and  was 
wont  to  say,  "  I  know  assuredly  that  I  deservedly  bear  the  weight 
of  my  sickness  on  my  neck,  for  I  remember,  when  I  was  very 
young,  I  bore  there  the  needless  weight  of  jewels  ;  and  therefore  I 
believe  the  divine  goodness  would  have  me  endure  this  pain  in  my 
neck,  that  I  may  be  absolved  from  the  guilt  of  my  needless  levity, 
having  now,  instead  of  gold  and  pearls,  a  red  swelling  and  burning 
on  my  neck."  It  happened  also  that  by  the  touch  of  that  clothing, 
devils  were  expelled  from  bodies  possessed,  and  other  disorders 
were  sometimes  cured  ;  and  the  coffin  in  which  she  was  first  buried 
is  reported  to  have  cured  some  of  distempers  in  the  eyes,  for  the 
patients,  praying  with  their  heads  touching  that  cofiin,  presently 
were  delivered  from  the  pain  or  dimness  in  their  eyes.  The  virgins 
washed  the  body,  and  having  clothed  it  in  new  garments,  carried 
it  into  the  church,  and  laid  it  in  the  coffin  that  had  been  brought, 
where  it  is  held  in  great  veneration  to  this  day.  The  coifin  was 
found  in  a  wonderful  manner,  as  fitted  for  the  virgin's  body  as  if  it  had 
been  made  purposely  for  her,  and  the  place  intended  for  the  head 
was  particularly  cut,  exactly  fit  for  her  head,  and  shaped  to  a  nicety. 

§  314.  Ely  is  in  the  province  of  the  East  Angles,  a  country  of 
about  six  hundred  families,  in  the  likeness  of  an  island,  enclosed, 
as  has  been  said,  either  with  marshes  or  waters,  and  therefore  it  has 
its  name  from  the  great  plenty  of  eels  which  are  taken  in  those 
marshes ;  there  the  aforesaid  servant  of  Christ  desired  to  have  a 
monastery,  because,  as  we  have  before  observed,  she  was  descended 
from  that  same  province  of  the  East  Angles. 


470  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND,  [a.D.  GCO. 

Chap.  XX.  [a.  d.  660.] — A  Hymn  on  tue  aforesaid  Holy  Virgin. 

§  315.  I  THINK  it  proper  to  insert  in  this  History  a  hymn  of 
virginity,  which  I  composed  in  elegiac  verse  several  yeaurs  ago,  in 
praise  and  honour  of  the  same  queen  and  spouse  of  Christ ;  and 
therefore  truly  a  queen,  because  the  spouse  of  Christ ;  and  to 
imitate  the  method  of  the  holy  Scripture,  in  the  history  of  which 
many  poetical  pieces  are  inserted  which  are  known  to  be  composed 
in  metre. 

Hail,  Ti-iune  Power,  who  rulest  every  age. 

Assist  the  numbers  which  my  pen  engage. 

Let  Maro  wars  in  loftier  numbers  sing, 

1  sound  the  praises  of  our  heavenly  King. 

Chaste  is  my  vei-se,  nor  Helen's  rape  I  write; 

Light  tales  like  these,  but  prove  the  mind  as  light. 

See  !  from  on  high  the  God  descends,  confined 

In  Mary's  womb,  to  rescue  lost  mankind. 

Behold  !  a  spotless  maid  a  God  brings  forth, 

A  God  is  born,  who  gave  e'en  nature  birth ! 

The  virgin-choir  the  mother-maid  resound. 

And,  chaste  themselves,  her  praises  shout  around. 

Her  bright  example  numerous  vot'ries  raise. 

Tread  spotless  paths,  and  imitate  her  ways. 

The  bless'd  Agatha  and  Eulalia  trust 

Sooner  to  flames,  than  far  more  dangerous  lust. 

Tecla  and  chaste  Euphemia  overcame 

The  fear  of  beasts  to  save  a  virgin  name. 

Agnes  and  sweet  Cecilia,  joyful  maids. 

Smile  while  the  pointed  sword  their  breast  invades. 

Triumphing  joy  attends  the  peacefid  soul. 

Where  no  heat  reigns,  nor  wishes  mean  control. 

Thus  Etheldiyda,  pure  from  sensual  crime. 

Bright  shining  star  !  arose  to  bless  our  time. 

Born  of  a  regal  race,  the  child  of  kings, 

More  noble  honour  to  her  Lord  she  brings. 

A  queen  her  name,  her  hand  a  sceptre  rears. 

But  gi-eater  glories  wait  above  the  spheres. 

What  man  wouldst  thou  desire  ?     See  Christ  is  made 

Her  spouse,  her  bless'd  Redeemer  weds  the  maid. 

While  you  attend  the  heavenly  Mother's  train, 

Thou  shalt  be  mother  of  a  heavenly  reign. 

The  holy  maid  who  twelve  years  sat  a  queen, 

A  nun  devoted  then  to  God  was  seen. 

Noted  for  pious  deeds,  her  spotless  soul 

Left  the  vile  world,  and  soar'd  above  the  pole. 

Sixteen  Novembers  since  was  the  bless'd  maid 

Entomb'd,  whose  flesh  no  jjutrid  damps  invade. 

Thy  grace,  0  Christ !  for  in  the  grave  was  found 

No  tainted  vest  wraiij)ing  thy  corpse  around. 

The  swelling  drojisy,  and  dire  atrophy, 

A  pale  disease  from  the  blest  vestments  fly. 

Kage  fires  the  fiend,  who  whilom  Eve  betray'd, 

While  shouting  angels  hail  the  glorious  maid. 

See  !  wedded  to  her  God,  what  joy  remains. 

In  earth,  or  heaven,  see  !  with  her  God  she  reigns  ! 

Behold  !  the  sj^ouse,  the  festal  torches  shine. 

He  comes  !  behold  !  what  joyful  gifts  are  thine  ! 

Thou  a  new  song  on  the  sweet  harj)  shalt  sing, 

A  hyuni  of  jmaise  to  thy  celestiid  King. 

Nouo  from  the  flock  of  the  throned  Lamb  shall  move 

Whom  gi'atcfid  passion  bind,  and  heavenlv  love. 


A.D.  679.]      beda's  ecclesiastical  history. — BOOK  IV.  471 

Chap.  XXI.  [a.d.  679.]— How  Bishop  Theodore  made  Peace  between  the 

KINGS  ECGFRID  AND  AeDILRED. 

§  316.  In  the  ninth*  year  of  the  reign  of  king  Ecgfrid,  a  great 
battle  was  fought  between  him  and  Aedilred,  king  of  the  IMercians, 
near  the  river  Trent/  and  Aelfuini,  brother  to  king  Ecgfrid,  was 
slain,  a  youth  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  much  beloved  by 
both  provinces,  for  king  Aedilred  had  married  his  sister  Osthrj'd. 
There  now  seemed  reason  to  expect  a  more  bloody  war,  and  more 
lasting  enmity  between  those  kings  and  their  fierce  nations ;  but 
Theodore,  the  bishop,  beloved  of  God,  relying  on  the  divine  assist- 
ance, by  his  wholesome  admonitions  entirely  extinguished  the 
dangerous  fire  that  was  breaking  out ;  so  that  the  kings  and  their 
people  on  both  sides  being  appeased,  no  man  was  put  to  death,  but 
only  the  usual  mulct  ^  in  money  paid  to  the  king  for  his  brother,  of 
whom  he  was  the  avenger  ;  and  this  treaty  of  peace  continued  long 
after  between  those  kinss  and  their  kingdoms. 


Chap.  XXII.  [a.d.  679.] — How  a  certain  Captive's  Chains  fell  off  when 

IRE  SUNG  FOR  HIM. 


§  317.  In  the  aforesaid  battle,  wherein  Aelfuini,  the  king,  was 
killed,  a  memorable  fact  is  known  to  have  happened,  which  I  think 
ought  not  to  be  passed  by  in  silence  ;  for  the  relation  of  the  same 
will  conduce  to  the  salvation  of  many.  In  that  battle,  one  Imnia, 
a  youth  belonging  to  the  king's  army,  was  left  as  cj^ead,  and  having 
lain  like  one  dead  all  that  day  and  the  next  night  among  the  dead 
bodies,  at  length  he  came  to  himself,  and  sitting,  he  bound  up  his 
wounds  in  the  best  way  he  could.  Then  having  rested  awhile,  he 
raised  himself  up,  and  began  to  go  off  to  seek  some  friends  that 
might  take  care  of  him ;  but  in  so  doing  he  was  discovered  and 
taken  prisoner  by  some  of  the  enemy's  army,  and  carried  before 
their  lord,  who  was  an  earl  belonging  to  king  Aedilred.  Being  asked 
by  him  who  he  was,  and  fearing  to  own  himself  a  soldier,  he 
answered  that  he  was  a  peasant,  poor  and  married,  and  that  he 
came  to  the  army  w'ith  others  to  bring  provisions  to  the  soldiers. 
The  earl  received  him,  and  ordered  his  wounds  to  be  dressed ;  and 
when  he  began  to  recover,  to  prevent  his  escaping,  he  ordered  him 
to  be  bound  ;  but  that  could  not  be  performed,  for  as  soon  as  they 
that  had  bound  him  were  gone,  his  bonds  were  all  loosened. 

!§  318.   For  he  had  a  brother  called  Tunna,  who  was  a  priest  and 

1  Sinne  the  ninth  regnal  year  of  Ecgfrid  terminated  on  15th  Feb.  679,  the 
death  of  Elfwin  must  have  happened  between  the  preceding  Christmas  (when, 
according  to  the  Saxon  mode  of  computation,  the  year  commenced)  and  that  date. 
It  is  assigned  to  this  year  by  Beda  himself,  in  the  epitome  affixed  to  his  work. 

2  Smith  is  iuclined  to  place  the  site  of  this  battle  near  Hacthfaelth,  (Hatfield  ?) 
in  Yorkshire ;  but  there  seems  greater  reason  to  suppose  that  it  happened  in 
Staffordshire,  at  a  place  called  Elford  {i.  e.  Aelfuiue's  ford)  upon  the  Trent. 
Gibson,  in  his  additions  to  Camden's  Brit.  col.  636,  describes  a  tumulus  which 
may  possibly  have  some  connexion  with  this  engagement. 

^  This  was  the  wer-gUd,  "  the  price  at  which  each  man  was  valued,  according 
to  his  degree,  which,  in  the  event  of  his  being  slain,  was  to  be  paid  to  his  rela- 
tives, or  to  his  gild-brethren."     See  Thorpe's  Glossary  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  Laws. 


472  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  679. 

abbat  of  a  monasteiy  in  the  city  which  from  him  is  still  called 
Tunnacaester.'  Hearing  that  his  brother  had  been  killed  in  the  fight, 
he  went  to  see  whether  he  could  find  his  body  ;  and  finding  another 
very  like  him  in  all  respects,  concluding  it  to  be  his,  he  carried  the 
same  to  his  monastery,  and  buried  it  honourably,  and  took  care 
often  to  say  masses  for  the  absolution  of  his  soul ;  the  celebration 
whereof  occasioned  what  I  have  said,  that  none  could  bind  him  but 
he  was  presently  loosed  again.  In  the  meantime,  the  carl  thatke})t 
him  was  amazed,  and  began  to  inquire  why  he  co\ild  not  be  bound ; 
whether  he  had  any  spells*  about  him,  as  are  spoken  of  in  fabulous 
stories.  He  answered  that  he  knew  nothing  of  those  contrivances  ; 
"  but  I  have,"  said  he,  "  a  brother  who  is  a  priest  in  my  countrj^ 
and  I  know  that  he,  supposing  me  to  be  killed,  causes  frequent 
masses  to  be  said  for  me  ;  and  if  I  were  now  in  the  other  life,  my 
soul  there,  through  his  intercession,  would  be  delivered  from 
punishment." 

§  319.  Having  continued  with  the  carl  some  time,  those  who 
attentively  observed  him,  by  his  countenance,  dress,  and  discourse, 
took  notice,  that  he  was  not  of  the  meaner  sort,  as  he  had  said,  but 
of  the  nobility.  The  earl  then  privately  sending  for  him,  pressed 
to  know  who  he  was,  promising  to  do  him  no  harm,  if  he  would 
ingenuously  confess  his  quality.  Which  when  he  had  done, 
declaring  that  he  had  been  the  king's  servant,  the  earl  answered, 
"  I  truly  perceived  by  each  of  your  answers  that  you  were  no 
peasant.  And  now  you  deserve  to  die,  because  all  my  brothers 
and  relations  were  killed  in  that  fight ;  yet  I  wall  not  put  you  to 
death,  because  it  will  be  a  breach  of  my  promise." 

§  320.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  he  was  recovered,  he  sold  him  at 
London,  to  a  certain  Frisian,^  but  he  could  not  by  any  means  be 
bound  by  him  the  whole  way  as  he  w^as  led  along ;  but  when, 
though  his  enemies  put  several  sorts  of  bonds  on  him,  the  buyer 
perceived  that  he  could  in  no  way  be  bound,  he  gave  him  leave  to 
ransom  himself  if  he  could.  It  was  at  the  third'  hour,  when  tlie 
masses  w^ere  wont  to  be  said,  that  his  bonds  were  generally  loosed. 
lie,  having  taken  an  oath  that  he  would  either  return,  or  send  him 
the  money  for  his  ransom,  went  into  Kent  to  king  Hlotheri,  who 
was  son^  of  the  sister  of  queen  Aedilthryda,  above  spoken  of,  for  he 
had  once  been  the  servant  to  the  said  queen.  From  him  he  asked 
and  obtained  the  price  of  his  ransom,  and  as  he  had  promised,  sent 
it  to  his  master. 

§  321.  Returning  afterwards  into  his  own  country,  and  coming 
to  his  brother,  he  gave  him  an  exact  account  of  all  his  misfortunes, 
and  the  comfort  which  he  had  experienced  under  them ;  and  by  his 

'  The  locality  is  uucertain.  Towcester  in  Northamptonshire  has  been  con- 
jectured, l)ut  with  no  certainty. 

^  Concerning  the  "  litterffl  solutorire,"  or  'E^eVio  ypdnfiaTa,  see  a  passage  from 
Suidas  quoted  by  Smith. 

^  Beda  does  not  inform  us,  which  we  should  have  gladly  known,  whether  this 
merchant  was  the  descendant  of  one  of  the  early  Frisian  settlers  in  England,  or 
a  stranger  from  the  continent. 

*  The  tliird  hour  of  the  natural  day,  that  is,  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

■■  Namely,  of  Sexl)urga,  who  married  Earconberht,  king  of  Kent,  by  whom  she 
became  the  mother  of  Lothairc. 


A.D.  680.]  BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    IV.  473 

relation  he  understood,  that  his  bonds  had  been  loosed  chiefly  at 
those  times  when  masses  had  been  celebrated  for  him  ;  and  that 
other  advantages  which  had  happened  to  him  in  his  time  of  danger, 
had  been  conferred  on  him  from  heaven,  through  the  intercession 
of  his  brother,  and  the  oblation  of  the  saving  sacrifice.  Many 
persons,  on  hearing  this  account  from  the  aforesaid  man,  were 
stirred  up  in  the  faith  and  devotion  of  piety  either  to  prayer,  or  to 
almsgiving,  or  to  offer  up  to  our  Lord  the  victims  of  the  holy 
oblation,  for  the  deliverance  of  their  friends  who  had  departed  from 
this  world  ;  for  they  understood  that  such  saving  sacrifice  was 
available  for  the  eternal  redemption  both  of  body  and  soul.  This 
history  was  also  told  me  by  some  of  those  who  had  heard  it  related 
by  the  person  himself  to  whom  it  happened  ;  therefore,  I  have 
thought  fit  to  insert  it  in  my  Ecclesiastical  History,  since  I  had  it 
clearly  related  to  me. 


Chap.  XXIII.  [a.d.  680.]— Of  the  Life  and  Death  of  the  Abbess  Hilda. 

§  322.  In  the  year  next  following,  that  is,  in  the  year  of  the 
incarnation  of  our  Lord  680,  the  most  religious  servant  of  Christ, 
Hild,'  abbess  of  the  monastery  that  is  called  Streaneshalch,  as 
above  mentioned,'  after  having  performed  many  heavenly  works  on 
earth,  passed  from  hence  to  receive  the  rewards  of  the  heavenly 
life,  on  the  fifteenth  of  the  kalends  of  December  [17th  Nov.]', 
at  the  age  of  sixty-six  years;  which  being  equally  divided,  the 
iirst  thirty-three  she  spent  ^  living  most  nobly  in  the  secular  habit ; 
and  more  nobly  dedicated  the  remaining  half  to  our  Lord  in  a 
monastic  life.  For  she  was  nobly  born,  being  the  daughter  of 
Hereric,  nephew  to  king  Aeduini,with  which  king  she  also  embraced 
the  faith  arid  sacraments  of  Christ,  at  the  preaching  of  Paulinus, 
the  first  bishop  of  the  Northumbrians,  of  blessed  memory,  and 
preserved  the  same  undefiled  till  she  attained  to  the  vision  ofHim 
in  heaven. 

§  323.  [a.d.  647.]  Resolving  to  quit  the  secular  habit,  and  to 
serve  Him  alone,  she  withdrew  into  the  province  of  the  East  Angles, 
for  she  was  allied  to  the  king ;  being  desirous,  if  possible,  to  pass 
over  from  thence  into  France,  to  forsake  her  native  country  and  all 
whatsoever  she  had,  and  so  live  a  stranger  for  our  Lord  in  the 
monastery  of  Cale,*  that  she  might  with  more  ease  attain  to  the 
eternal  kmgdom  in  heaven  ;  because  her  sister  Heresuid,  mother 
to  Alduulf,  king  of  the  East  Angles,  at  that  time  living  in  the  same 
monastery,  under  regular  discipline,  was  waiting  for  her  eternal 
crown.      Imitating  her  example,  she  continued  a  whole  year  in  the 

.1,'  Hild  abbess  of  Stranshall,  or  Whitby,  was  of  the  royal  race  of  Deira,  being 
the  daughter  of  Hereric,  the  nephew  of  Eadwine.     She  was  born  a.d.  614. 

^  See  §  222. 

^  This  change  took  place  in  647,  or  at  latest  in  648. 

Pagi  (ad  an.  680,  g§  14—19)  discusses  at  considerable  length  the  question, 

whether  Hereswitha  was  ever  an  inmate  of  the  monastery  of  Chelles,  and  decides 

tnat  lieda  IS  here  m  error  when  he  makes  this  assertion,  and  that  he  has  con- 

tounded  Lhelles  with  some  other  monastery.     Chelles  was  founded  in  662  by 

''"r^'r  I?,  '  . ""'  '^'^''  °f  ^^°''^'^  *^e  F"''5t'  and  considerably  augmented  by  Bathildis-. 
wite  of  Clovis  the  Second.  .^       o  j  , 


474  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  658. 

aforesaid  province,*  with  the  design  of  going  abroad  ;  afterwards, 
l)ishop  Acdan  being  recalled  home,  he  gave  her  the  land  of  one 
family  on  the  north  side  ^  of  the  river  Wear  ;  where  for  a  year  she 
also  led  a  monastic  life,  with  very  few  companions. 

§  324.  [a.D.  650.]  After '  this  she  was  made  abbess  in  the  mon- 
astery called  Heruteu,^  which  monastery  had  been  founded,  not 
long  before,  by  the  religious  ser\'ant  of  Christ,  Heiu,  who  is  said 
to  have  been  the  first  woman  that  in  the  province  of  the  Northum- 
brians took  upon  her  the  purpose  and  garb  of  a  nun,  being  conse- 
crated by  bishop  Aedan  ;  but  she,  soon  after  she  had  founded  that 
monastery,  went  away  to  the  city  Calcaria,  which  by  the  Angles  is 
called  Kaelcacaestir,^  and  there  fixed  her  dwelling.  Hild,  the  ser- 
vant of  Christ,  being  set  over  that  monastery,  began  immediately 
to  reduce  all  things  to  a  regular  system,  according  as  she  could 
ascertain  it  from  learned  men  ;  for  bishop  Aidan,  and  as  many 
religious  men  as  knew  her,  frequently  visited,  warmly  loved,  and 
diligently  instructed  her,  because  of  her  innate  wisdom  and  inclina- 
tion to  the  service  of  God. 

§  325.  [a.D.  658.]  Wlien  she  had  for  some  years  ®  governed  this 
monastery,  wholly  intent  upon  establishing  a  regular  life,  it  hap- 
pened that  she  also  undertook  to  build  and  to  arrange  a  monastery 
in  the  place  called  Streaneshalch,  and  this  work  which  she  had 
enjoined  to  herself  she  industriously  performed;  for  she  placed  this 
monastery  under  the  same  regular  discipline  as  she  had  done  the 
former ;  and  taught  there  the  strict  observance  of  justice,  piety, 
chastity,  and  other  virtues,  and  particularly  of  peace  and  love ;  so  that, 
after  the  example  of  the  primitive  church,  no  person  was  there  rich, 
and  none  poor,  all  things  being  in  common  to  all,  and  none  having 
any  property.  Her  prudence  was  so  great,  that  not  only  persons 
of  the  middle  rank,  but  even  kings  and  princes,  sometimes  asked 
and  received  her  advice ;  she  obliged  those  who  were  under  her 
direction  to  attend  so  much  to  the  reading  of  the  holy  Scriptures, 
and  to  exercise  themselves  so  much  in  works  of  justice,  that  many 
might  veiy  easily  be  there  found  fit  for  ecclesiastical  duties,  that  is, 
to  serve  at  the  altar. 

§  326.  In  short,  we  afterwards  saw  five  bishops  ^  taken  out  of 
that  monastery,  and  all  of  them  men  of  singular  merit  and  sanctity, 
whose  names  were  Bosa,  Aetla,  Oftfor,  John,  and  Uilfrid.  We 
have  above  *  taken  notice,  that  the  first  of  them  was  consecrated 
bishop  at  York ;  of  the  second,  it  is  to  be  briefly  observed  that  he 
was  appointed  bishop  of  Dorchester.     Of  the  last  we  shall  speak 

'  In  the  province,  namely,  of  East  Anglia  ;  consequently,  the  opinion  of  Harjis- 
field  and  others,  who  imagine  from  this  passage  that  Hild  went  to  Chellcs,  is 
uufounded. 

-  The  site  of  this  monastery  cannot  now  be  ascertained. 

'  About  the  year  650. 

*  Now  Hartlepool,  in  the  county  of  Durham,  Camd.  Brit.  col.  943. 

^  This  locality  is  uncertain  ;  perhaps  Tadcaster,  in  Yorkshire.  See  the  reasons 
for  this  opinion  as  stated  by  Camden,  IJrit.  coll.  869,  870. 

"  Her  removal  to 'Whitby,  which  took  place  in  658,  is  more  fully  mentioned  §  222. 

'  We  hence  discover  that  the  monastery  of  Whitby,  over  which  Hild  presided, 
was  a  double  one,  and  that  as  well  nuns  as  monks  were  under  her  superintendence. 

«  See  §  288. 


A.D.  Cos.]        beda's  ecclesiastical  history. — book  iv.  475 

hereafter,  that  they  were  consecrated,  the  first  as  bishop  of  the  church 
of  Hagustald,  the  second  of  that  of  York ;  of  the  third,  ^  [namely, 
Oftfor,]  we  will  here  state  that,  having  applied  himself  to  the  read- 
ing and  study  of  the  Scriptures  in  both  the  monasteries  of  the 
abbess  Hild,  at  length,  being  desirous  to  attain  to  greater  perfection, 
he  went  into  Kent,  to  archbishop  Theodore,  of  blessed  memory ; 
where  having  spent  some  more  time  in  sacred  studies,  he  also 
resolved  to  go  to  Rome,  which,  in  those  days,  was  reckoned  a  thing 
of  great  moment  :  returning  thence  into  Britain,  he  turned  aside 
into  the  province  of  the  Huiccii,  where  king  Osric  ^  then  ruled,  and 
continued  there  a  long  time,  preaching  the  word  of  faith,  and  making 
himself  an  example  of  good  life  to  all  that  saw  and  heard  him.  At 
that  time,  Bosel,  the  bishop  of  that  province,  laboured  under  such 
weakness  of  body,  that  he  could  not  by  himself  perform  the 
episcopal  functions  ;  for  which  reason,  this  person  [Oftfor]  was,  by 
universal  consent,  chosen  bishop  in  his  stead,  and  by  order  of  king 
Aedilred,^  consecrated  by  bishop  Uilfrid,  of  blessed  memory,  who 
then  filled  the  bishopric  of  the  Midland  Angles,  because  archbishop 
Theodore  was  dead,  and  no  other  bishop  ordained  in  his  place. 
A  little  before  this,  that  is,  before  the  aforesaid  man  of  God,  Bosel, 
a  most  learned  and  industrious  man,  and  of  excellent  ability,  Tatfrid, 
had  been  chosen  bishop  in  that  province,  from  the  monastery  of 
the  same  abbess,  but  had  been  snatched  away  by  an  untimely  death, 
before  he  could  be  ordained. 

§  327.  Thus  this  handmaiden  of  Christ,  abbess  Hild,  whom  all 
that  knew  her  called  IMother,  for  her  singular  piety  and  grace,  was 
not  only  an  example  of  good  life  to  those  that  lived  in  her  monastery, 
but  aftbrded  occasion  of  salvation  and  amendment  to  many  who 
lived  at  a  distance,  to  whom  the  happy  fame  was  brought  of  her 
industry  and  virtue  ;  for  it  was  necessary  that  the  dream  which  her 
mother,  Bregusuid,  had,  during  her  infancy,  should  be  fulfilled. 
At  the  time  that  her  husband,  Hereric,  lived  in  banishment,  under 
Cerdic,^  king  of  the  Britons,  where  he  was  also  poisoned,  she  saw 
in  a  dream,  that  she  was  seeking  for  him  most  carefully,  and  could 
find  no  sign  of  him  anywhere  ;  but  after  having  used  all  her  in- 
dustry in  seeking  him,  she  suddenly  found  a  most  precious  jewel 
under  her  garment,  which,  whilst  she  was  looking  on  it  very  atten- 
tively, cast  such  a  light  as  spread  itself  throughout  all  the  ends  of 

1  Oftfor  was  probably  consecrated  bishop  of  Worcester  by  Wilfrid,  a.d.  691, 
to  which  year  it  is  referred  by  Florence  of  Worcester.  It  must  assuredly  have 
occurred  after  September  690,  the  date  of  Theodore's  death.  The  date  of  the 
decease  of  Oftfor  is  uncertain ;  but  we  probably  ought  to  follow  the  Worcester 
Annals,  (Angl.  Sacr.  i.  470,)  which  tell  us  that  he  died  a.d.  692,  as  also  Florence 
of  Worcester.  If  this  be  correct,  the  charter  assigned  by  Kemble,  No.  sxxv.,  to 
A.D.  693,  must  be  referred  to  the  previous  year,  as  it  is  attested  by  Oftfor,  among 
others. 

-  The  succession  of  the  rulers  of  the  petty  states  which  sprung  out  of  the  gi-eat 
kingdom  of  Mercia  is  obscure.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  Osric  ruled  over  the 
Huiccas  in  November,  676.     See  Kemble,  Cod.  Diplom.  No.  xii. 

^  Ethelred  was  king  of  Mercia,  and,  as  such,  seems  to  have  exercised  authority 
over  the  petty  states  of  the  Huiccians. 

*  It  is  not  easy  to  decide  who  this  Cerdic,  king  of  the  Britons,  was.  Petrie 
suggests  that  he  was  perhaps  the  Cherede,  or  Ceretic,  who  is  mentioned  in  the 
Annales  Cambrifc,  ad  an.  616;  or  Ceretic,  king  of  Elmet,  concerning  whom,  see 
the  Appendix  to  Nennius. 


476  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  680, 

Britain  ;  which  dream  was  truly  brouglit  to  pass  in  her  daughter 
whom  we  speak  of,  whose  hfe  was  a  briglit  example,  not  only  to 
herself,  but  to  all  who  desired  to  live  well. 

§  328.  When  she  had  governed  this  monastery  many  years,  it 
pleased  Him  who  has  made  such  merciful  provision  for  our  salva- 
tion, to  give  her  holy  soul  the  trial  of  a  long  sickness  of  the  body, 
to  the  end  that,  according  to  the  apostle's  example,  her  virtue 
might  be  perfected  in  infirmity.  [2  Cor.  xii.  9.]  For  being  smitten 
with  a  fever,  she  fell  into  a  violent  heat,  and  was  afflicted  with  the 
same  for  six  successive  years  continually  ;  during  all  which  time 
she  never  failed  either  to  return  thanks  to  her  Maker,  or  publicly 
and  privately  to  instruct  the  flock  committed  to  her  charge  ;  for 
by  her  own  example  she  admonished  all  persons  to  ser\^e  God  duti- 
fully while  in  perfect  health,  and  always  to  return  thanks  to  Him 
in  adversity,  or  in  bodily  infirmity.  In  the  seventh  year  of  her 
sickness,  the  distemper  turning  inwards,  she  approached  her  last 
day ;  and  about  cockcrowing,  having  received  the  viaticum  of  the 
holy  Communion  on  her  way,  and  having  called  together  the  hand- 
maidens of  Christ  that  were  within  the  same  monastery,  she  ad- 
monished them  to  preserve  evangelical  peace  among  themselves, 
and  with  all  others  ;  and  as  she  was  exhorting  them,  she  joyfully 
saw  death'  approaching,  or,  if  I  may  speak  in  the  words  of  our 
Lord,  passed  from  death  to  life.  [John  v.  24.] 

§  329.  That  same  night  it  pleased  Almighty  God,  by  a  manifest 
vision,  to  reveal  her  death  in  another  monaster}^  at  a  considerable 
distance  from  hers,  which  she  had  built  that  same  year,  and  which 
is  called  Hacanos.^  There  was  in  that  monastery  a  certain  nun 
called  Bcgu,*  who,  having  dedicated  her  virginity  to  God,  had 
served  Him  upwards  of  thirty  years  in  monastical  conversation. 
This  nun,  being  then  sleeping  in  the  dormitory  of  the  sisters,  on  a 
sudden  heard  the  well-known  sound  of  a  bell*  in  the  air,  which 
used  to  awake  and  call  them  to  prayers,  when  any  one  of  them  was 
taken  out  of  this  world ;  and  opening  her  eyes,  as  she  thought,  she 
saw  the  roof  of  the  house  opened,  and  a  strong  light  pour  in  from 
above,  which  entirely  filled  it ;  and  looking  earnestly  upon  that 
light,  she  saw  the  soul  of  the  aforesaid  servant  of  God  in  that  same 
light,  carried  up  into  heaven,  attended  and  conducted  by  angels. 
Then  awaking,  and  seeing  the  other  sisters  sleeping  round  about 

'  According  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  Monologium,  she  died  on  the  ISth  of  the 
kalends  of  January  (15th  Dec);  Lnt  Florence  of  Worcester  (p.  536,  ed.  Petrie) 
on  the  loth  of  the  kalends  of  December  (17th  Nov.),  680.  The  calendar  in 
the  Cotton  MS.,  Julius  A.  X.,  agrees  with  the  Menologium,  and  so  also  does 
Cajigrave. 

2  Hackness,  near  "Wliitby,  to  which  abbey  it  was  granted  by  William  the  Con- 
queror.    See  Moiuwt.  Anglic,  i.  72. 

^  This  Bcga,  whose  memory  is  presented  in  the  name  of  St.  Bees,  in  Cumber- 
land, was  of  Irish  descent,  and  came  to  England  to  avoid  marriage.  A  legend  of 
lier,  composed,  probably,  about  the  end  of  the  twelfth  centui-y,  is  preserved  in 
MS.  Cott.  Faust.  B.  iv.  See  Acta  SS.  6th  Sept.  p.  094.  She  is  not  noticed  by 
Capgrave,  but  occurs  in  the  Legendarj'  appended  to  the  Breviary  of  Aberdeen. 

*  Illustrations  of  the  custom  here  noticed,  by  which  the  inmates  of  the  monas- 
tery were  summoned  by  a  bell  to  i)ray  for  the  soul  of  the  parting  sister  or  V)rother, 
maybe  seen  in  the  life  of  Columbanus  (Mabill.  Annal.  Bened.  ii.  14,  i;  29),  Bertilla, 
aljbess  of  Chelles  (Id.  iii.  part  i.  p.  19,  §  3),  and  Sturmius  (Id.  part  ii.  p.  257,  §  24). 


A.D.  680.]  BEDA  S    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY. BOOK    IV.  477 

her,  she  perceived  that  what  she  had  seen  was  revealed  to  her  either 
in  a  dream  or  a  vision  ;  and  rising  immediately  in  a  great  fright, 
she  ran  to  the  virgin  who  then  presided  in  the  monastery  instead 
of  the  abbess,  and  whose  name  was  Frigyd,  and,  with  many  tears 
and  deep-drawn  sighs,  told  her  that  the  abbess  Hild,  the  mother 
of  them  all,  had  then  departed  this  life,  and  had  in  her  sight 
ascended  to  eternal  bliss,  and  to  the  company  of  the  inhabitants  of 
heaven,  with  a  great  light,  and  with  angels  conducting  her.  She 
having  heard  it,  awoke  all  the  sisters,  and  calling  them  into  the 
church,  admonished  them  to  pray  and  sing  psalms  for  the  soul  of 
their  mother ;  which  they  did  diligently  during  the  remainder  of 
the  night ;  and  at  break  of  day,  the  brethren  came  with  the  intelli- 
gence of  her  death,  from  the  place  where  she  had  died.  They 
answered  that  they  knew  it  before,  and  then  related  in  order  how 
and  when  they  had  heard  it ;  by  which  it  appeared  that  her  death 
had  been  revealed  to  them  in  a  vision  the  veiy  same  hour  that  the 
others  said  she  had  died.  Thus  it  was  by  heaven  happily  ordained, 
that  when  some  saw  her  departure  out  of  this  world,  the  others 
should  be  acquainted  with  her  admittance  into  the  spiritual  life 
which  is  eternal.  These  monasteries  are  almost  thirteen  miles 
distant  from  each  other. 

§  330.  It  is  also  reported,  that  her  death  was,  in  a  vision,  made 
known  the  same  night  to  one  of  the  holy  virgins  who  loved  her 
most  passionately,  in  the  same  monastery  where  the  said  servant 
of  God  died.  This  nun  saw  her  soul  ascend  to  heaven  in  the 
company  of  angels  ;  and  this  she  openly  declared,  the  very  same 
hour  that  it  happened,  to  those  servants  of  Christ  that  were  with 
her  ;  and  awakened  them  to  pray  for  her  soul,  even  before  the  rest 
of  the  congregation  had  heard  of  her  death ;  the  truth  of  which 
was  known  to  the  whole  monastery  in  the  morning.  This  same 
nun  was  at  that  time  with  some  other  servants  of  Christ,  in  the 
remotest^  part  of  the  monastery,  where  the  women  newly  entered 
were  wont  to  be  upon  trial,  till  they  were  regularly  admitted,  and 
taken  into  the  society  of  the  congregation. 


Chap.  XXIV.  [a.d.  680  ?] — There  was  in  her  monastery  a  Brother,  on  whom 

THE  GIFT  OF  WRITING  VeRSES  WAS  BESTOWED  BY  HeAVEN. 

i§  331.  There  was  in  this  abbess's  monastery  a  certain  brother,' 
particularly  remarkable  for  the  grace  of  God,  who  was  wont  to 
make  pious  and  religious  verses,  so  that  whatever  was  interpreted 
to  him  out  of  Scripture,  he  soon  after  put  the  same  into  poetical 
expressions  of  much  sweetness  and  feeling,  in  English,  whicli  was 
his  native  language.  By  his  verses  the  minds  of  many  were  often 
excited  to  despise  the  world,  and  to  aspire  to  the  li4"e  in  heaven. 

'  The  novices  were,  during  the  period  of  their  no\aciate,  separated  from  the 
professed ;  that  if  they  shoidd  return  to  the  world,  they  should  not  be  able  to 
reveal  the  secrets  of  the  monastery.  The  authority  for  this  arrangement  is  to  be 
found  in  the  Rule  of  St.  Benedict,  cap.  Lsv. 


478  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  6S0. 

Others  of  the  EngUsh  nation,  after  him,  attempted  to  compose 
rehgious  poems,  but  none  could  compare  with  him,  for  he  did  not 
learn  the  art  of  poetiy  from  men,  nor  of  man,  but  from  God  ;  but 
being  assisted  from  above  he  freely  received  the  gift  of  God.  For 
this  reason  he  never  could  compose  any  trivial  or  idle  poem,  but 
only  those  which  relate  to  religion  suited  his  religious  tongue  ;  for 
having  lived  in  a  secular  habit  till  he  was  well  advanced  in  years, 
he  had  never  learned  anything  of  versifying ;  for  which  reason 
being  sometimes  at  entertainments,  when  it  was  agreed  for  the 
sake  of  mirth  that  all  present  should  sing  in  their  turns,  when  he 
saw  the  harp  come  towards  him,  he  rose  up  from  the  middle  of  the 
supper  and  returned  to  his  own  home. 

§  332.  Having  done  so  at  a  certain  time,  and  gone  out  of  the 
house  where  the  entertainment  was,  to  the  stable,  where  he  had  to 
take  care  of  the  cattle  that  night,  he  there  laid  himself  down  to 
rest  at  the  proper  time  ;  a  person  appeared  to  him  in  his  sleep,  and 
saluting  him  by  his  name,  said,  "  Caedmon,  sing  some  song  to 
me."  He  answered,  "  I  cannot  sing  ;  for  that  was  the  reason  why 
I  left  the  entertainment,  and  retired  to  this  place,  because  I  could 
not  sing."  The  other  who  talked  to  him,  replied,  "  However  you 
shall  sing  to  me." — "What  shall  I  sing?"  rejoined  he.  "Sing 
the  beginning  of  created  beings,"  said  the  other.  Having  received 
this  answer  he  presently  began  to  sing  verses  to  the  praise  of  God 
the  Creator,  which  he  had  never  before  heard,  the  purport  whereof 
was  thus  : — We '  now  ought  to  praise  the  Maker  of  the  heavenly 
kingdom,  the  power  of  the  Creator  and  his  counsel,  the  deeds  of 
the  Father  of  glory.  How  He,  being  the  eternal  God,  became  the 
author  of  all  miracles,  who  first,  as  almighty  preserver  of  the  human 
race,  created  heaven  for  the  sons  of  men  as  the  roof  of  the  house, 
and  next  the  earth."  This  is  the  sense,  but  not  the  words  in  order 
as  he  sang  them  in  his  sleep ;  for  verses,  though  never  so  well 
composed,  cannot  be  literally  translated  out  of  one  language  into 
another,  without  losing  much  of  their  beauty  and  loftiness. 
Awaking  from  his  sleep,  he  remembered  all  that  he  had  sung  in 
his  dream,  and  soon  added  much  more  to  the  same  effect  in  verse 
worthy  of  the  Deity. 

§  333.  In  the  morning  he  came  to  the  steward,  his  superior,  and 
having  acquainted  him  with  the  gift  which  he  had  received,  was 
conducted  to  the  abbess,  by  whom  he  was  ordered,  in  the  presence 
of  many  learned  men,  to  tell  liis  dream,  and  repeat  the  verses,  that 
they  might  all  give  their  judgment  what  it  was,  and  whence  his 
verse  proceeded.  They  all  concluded,  that  heavenly  grace  had 
been  conferred  on  him  by  our  Lord.     They  explained  to  him  a 

'  Caedmon,  or  one  of  his  imitators  here  mentioned,  wrote  a  poem  of  considerable 
length  upon  the  fall  and  redemption  of  mankind,  of  which  an  excellent  edition  by 
Mr.  Thorpe  was  published  in  1832  by  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  London. 

-  Beda  here  only  gives  a  Latin  paraphrase  of  Caedmon's  exordiimi ;  and  the 
Anglo-Saxon  lines  found  in  king  Alfred's  version  have  been  supposed  by  some  to 
be  a  mere  re-translation  of  Beda's  L.'itin.  But  as  a  copy  of  the  Saxon  text  is  found 
in  the  margin  of  the  MS.  of  Beda,  (now  in  the  public  library  at  Cambridge,  K.  K. 
V.  16,)  supposed  to  have  been  written  at  Wcarmouth  within  two  or  three  years 
after  Beda's  death,  there  seems  to  be  little  doubt  that  they  arc  the  originaJ  lines. 
See  Wright's  Biogr.  Brit.,  Anglo-Saxon  Period,  p.  11)4. 


A.D.  G80.]         BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    IV.  479 

passage  in  holy  writ,  either  historical,  or  doctrinal,  ordering  him, 
if  he  could,  to  put  the  same  into  verse.  Having  undertalcen  it,  he 
went  away,  and  returning  the  next  morning,  gave  it  to  them  com- 
posed in  most  excellent  verse ;  whereupon  the  abbess,  embracing 
the  grace  of  God  in  the  man,  instructed  him  to  quit  the  secular 
habit,  and  take  upon  him  the  monastic  life ;  which  being  accord- 
ingly done,  she  associated  him  with  the  rest  of  the  brethren  in  her 
monastery,  and  ordered  that  he  should  be  taught  the  whole  series 
of  sacred  history.  Thus  he,  keeping  in  mind  all  he  heard,  and  as  it 
were,  like  a  clean  animal,  chewing  the  cud,  converted  the  narrative 
into  most  harmonious  verse  ;  and  sweetly  repeating  the  same,  made 
his  masters  in  their  turn  his  hearers.  He  sang  of  the  creation  of 
the  world,  of  the  origin  of  man,  and  of  all  the  history  of  Genesis  ; 
of  the  departure  of  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt,  and  their 
entering  into  the  land  of  promise,  with  many  other  histories  from 
holy  writ ;  of  the  incarnation,  passion,  and  resurrection  of  our 
Lord,  and  of  his  ascension  into  heaven ;  of  the  coming  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  the  preaching  of  the  apostles  ;  also  of  the  terror 
of  future  judgment,  the  horror  of  the  pains  of  hell,  and  the 
delights  of  heaven  ;  besides  many  more  about  the  divine  benefits 
and  judgments:  by  all  which  he  endeavoured  to  turn  away  men 
from  the  love  of  vice,  and  to  excite  in  them  the  love  of,  and 
application  to,  good  actions.  For  he  was  a  very  religious  man, 
humbly  submissive  to  regular  discipline,  but  full  of  zeal  against 
those  who  behaved  themselves  otherwise  ;  for  which  reason  he 
ended  his  life  happily. 

§  334.  For  when  the  time  of  his  departure  drew  near,  he 
laboured  for  the  space  of  fourteen  days  under  a  bodily  infirmity 
which  seemed  to  prepare  the  way  for  him,  yet  so  moderate  that  he 
could  talk  and  walk  the  whole  time.  Near  at  hand  was  the 
house  into  which  those  that  were  sick,  and  like  shortly  to  die, 
were  carried.  He  desired  the  person  that  attended  him,  in  the 
evening,  as  the  night  came  on  in  which  he  was  to  depart  this  life, 
to  make  ready  a  place  there  for  him  to  talce  his  rest.  This  person, 
wondering  why  he  should  desire  it,  because  there  was  as  yet  no 
sign  of  his  dying  soon,  yet  did  what  he  had  ordered.  He  accord- 
ingly was  placed  there,  and  conversing  pleasantly  in  a  joyful  manner 
with  the  rest  that  were  in  the  house  before,  when  it  was  past  mid- 
night, he  asked  them,  whether*  they  had  the  Eucharist  there? 
They  answered,  "  What  need  of  the  Eucharist  ?  for  you  are 
not  likely  to  die,  since  you  talk  so  joyfully  with  us,  as  if  you 
were  in  perfect  health." — "  However,"  said  he,   "  bring  me  the 

^  It  may  safely  be  inferred,  I  think,  from  this  passage,  that  in  the  early  Saxon 
church  the  consecrated  elements  were  not  always  given  to  the  recipient  by  the  hand 
of  the  consecrating  priest,  but  might  be  transmitted  from  him  through  another 
to  the  communicant ;  and  further,  that  they  were  reserved  in  the  infirmai-y,  that 
they  might  be  at  hand  on  any  sudden  emergency,  as  on  the  present  occasion. 
Thus  in  the  Articles  of  Inquiry  instituted  by  Hincmar  of  Rheims,  he  asks,  "  Does 
the  priest  himself  visit  the  sick,  and  anoint  them  with  holy  oil,  and  himself  give 
them  the  holy  communion  ;  or  does  he  do  this  by  another  ?  and  does  he  himself 
give  the  communion  to  the  people,  or  does  he  give  the  communion  to  some  lay 
person  to  carry  to  his  house  for  the  vise  of  the  sick  man?"  Labb.  Concil.  viii. 
573.    The  like  inquiries  are  made  liy  Ratherius,  bishop  of  Verona,  and  by  Regino. 


480  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a  D.  G7D. 

Eucharist."  Having  received  the  same  into  his  hand/  he  asked, 
whether  they  were  all  in  charity  with  him,  and  without  any  ill-will 
or  rancour?  They  answered,  that  they  were  all  in  perfect  charity, 
and  free  from  all  anger ;  and  in  their  turn  asked  him,  whether  he 
was  in  the  same  mind  towards  them  ?  He  immediately  answered. 
"  I  am  in  charity,  my  children,  with  all  the  servants  of  God." 
Then  strengthening  himself  with  the  heavenly  viaticum,  he  prepared 
for  the  entrance  into  another  life,  and  asked,  how  near  the  hour 
was  when  the  brethren  were  to  be  awakened  to  sing  the  nocturnal 
lauds  of  our  Lord?  They  answered,  "  It  is  not  far  off."  Then  he 
said,  "  It  is  well,  let  us  wait  that  hour  ;  "  and  signing  himself  with 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  he  laid  his  head  on  the  pillow,  and  falling  into 
a  gentle  slumber,  so  ended  his  life  in  silence. 

Thus  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  he  had  served  God  with  a  simple 
and  pure  mind,  and  tranquil  devotion,  so  he  now  departed  to  his 
presence,  leaving  the  world  by  a  tranquil  death  ;  and  that  tongue, 
which  had  composed  so  many  holy  words  in  praise  of  the  Creator, 
in  like  manner  uttered  its  last  words  whilst  he  was  in  the  act  of 
signing  himself  with  the  cross,  and  recommending  his  spirit  into  the 
hands  of  God.  From  what  has  been  here  said,  he  would  seem  to 
have  had  a  foreknowledge  of  his  own  death. 


Chap.  XXV.  [a.d.  679.] — Of  the  Vision  that  appeared  to  a  certain  man  op 
God  before  the  monastery  of  the  city  Coludi  was  consumed  by  fire. 

§  335.  At  this  time,  the  monastery  of  virgins,  called  the  city  of 
Coludi,  above-mentioned,^  was  entirely  burned  down,  through 
carelessness  ;  and  yet  all  that  knew  the  same,  might  very  easily 
observe  that  it  happened  through  the  malice  of  those  who  dwelt  in 
it,  and  cliiefiy  of  those  who  seemed  to  be  the  greatest.  But  there 
wanted  not  a  warning  of  the  approaching  punishment  from  the 
divine  goodness,  by  which  they  might  have  been  corrected,  and  by 
fasting,  tears,  and  prayers,  like  the  Ninevites,  have  averted  the  anger 
of  the  just  Judge. 

§  336.  There  was  in  that  same  monastery  a  man  of  the  Scottish 
race,  called  Adamnan,^  leading  a  life  entirely  devoted  to  God  in 
continence  and  prayer,  insomuch  that  he  never  took  any  food  or 
drink,  except  only  on  Sundays  and  Thursdays  ;  but  often  spent 
whole  nights  in  prayer.  This  austerity  of  life  he  had  first  adopted 
from  necessity,  to  correct  his  evil  propensities  ;  but  in  process  of 
time  the  necessity  had  become  a  custom. 

§  337.  For  in  his  youth  he  had  been  guilty  of  some  wicked 

'  Bingham  (XV.  v.  §  6)  has  collected  various  examples  from  the  writings  of  the 
fathers,  for  the  purpose  of  .showing  that  the  custom  here  mentioned,  by  which 
the  communicant  was  permitted  to  receive  the  consecrated  bread  into  his  hand, 
was  the  usage  of  the  primitive  church.  See  also  Mabill.  Proef.  ad  Acta  SS.  Bened. 
iii.  §  76 ;  Larroque,  Hist,  de  I'Euchar.  p.  283,  ed.  Amst.  1671.  It  is  well  known 
that  at  a  later  period  this  usage  was  changed,  the  jiriest  putting  the  consecrated 
wafer  into  the  mouth  of  the  communicant. 

-  See  §  310. 

*  This  Adamnan  must  be  distinguished  from  his  more  celebrated  namesake, 
the  abbot  of  lona,  whom  Beda  mentions  §  402.  See  Ussher,  Brit4  Eccl.  Antiq. 
p.  307. 


A.D.  679.]  BEDA'S    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    IV.  481 

action,  for  which  crime,  when  he  came  to  himself,  he  conceived 
the  deepest  horror,  and  dreaded  lest  he  should  be  punished  for  the 
same  by  the  strict  Judge.  Repairing,  therefore,  to  a  priest,  who  he 
hoped  might  be  able  to  show  him  the  way  of  salvation,  he  confessed 
his  guilt,  and  desired  to  be  advised  how  he  might  flee  from  the 
wrath  to  come.  The  priest  having  heard  his  offence,  said,  "  A 
great  wound  requires  much  attention  in  the  cure  ;  and,  therefore, 
give  yourself  up  as  far  as  you  are  able  to  fasting,  reading  of  psalms, 
and  prayer,  to  the  end,  that  thus  preventing  the  face  of  our  Lord 
by  confession,  you  may  find  Him  merciful."  Being  highly  oppressed 
with  the  grief  of  a  guilty  conscience,  and  desiring,  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible, to  be  loosed  from  the  inward  fetters  of  sin,  which  lay  heavy 
upon  him,  he  answered,  "  I  am  young  in  years,  and  strong  of 
body,  and  shall,  therefore,  easily  bear  whatsoever  you  shall  enjoin 
me  to  do,  if  only  I  may  be  saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  ;  even 
though  you  should  command  me  to  spend  the  whole  night  in 
prayer  standing,  and  to  pass  the  whole  week  in  abstinence."  The 
priest  replied,  "It  is  too  much  for  you  to  continue  the  whole  week 
without  bodily  sustenance ;  but  it  is  sufficient  to  fast  two  or  three 
days  ;  do  this  till  I  come  again  to  you  in  a  short  time,  when  I  will 
more  fully  show  you  what  you  ought  to  do,  and  how  long  to  con- 
tinue your  penance."  Having  so  said,  and  prescribed  the  measure 
of  his  penance,  the  priest  went  away  ;  and  some  sudden  occasion 
'arising,  he  passed  over  into  Ireland,  whence  he  derived  his  origin, 
and  returned  no  more  to  him,  as  he  had  appointed.  Remembering 
this  injunction  and  his  own  promise,  he  totally  addicted  himself  to 
tears  of  penance,  holy  watching,  and  continence  ;  so  that  he  only 
tasted  food  on  Thursdays  and  Sundays,  as  has  been  said ;  and 
remained  fasting  all  the  other  days  of  the  week.  When  he  heard 
that  his  priest  was  gone  to  Ireland,  and  had  died  there,  he  ever 
after  observed  that  same  abstinence  according  to  his  said  direction  ; 
and  as  he  had  at  first  begun  that  course  through  the  fear  of  God,  in 
penitence  for  his  guilt,  so  he  still  continued  the  same  unremittingly 
for  the  divine  love,  and  in  hope  of  his  reward. 

§  338.  Having  practised  this  carefully  for  a  long  time,  it  hap- 
pened that  he  had  gone  on  a  certain  day  to  a  distance  from  that 
monastery,  accompanied  by  one  of  the  brethren  ;  and  as  they  were 
returning  from  this  journey,  when  they  drew  near  to  the  monastery, 
and  beheld  its  lofty  buildings,  the  man  of  God  burst  out  into  tears, 
and  his  countenance  discovered  the  sadness  of  his  heart.  His 
companion,  perceiving  it,  asked  what  was  the  reason,  to  which  he 
answered:  "  The  time  is  at  hand,  when  a  devouring  fire  shall  reduce 
to  ashes  all  the  buildings  which  you  here  behold,  both  public  and 
private."  The  other,  hearing  these  words,  as  soon  as  they  came 
into  the  monaster)^  told  them  to  Aebba,  the  mother  of  the  congre- 
gation. She,  with  good  cause,  being  much  troubled  at  that  predic- 
tion, called  the  man  to  her,  and  narrowly  inquired  of  him  how 
he  came  to  know  it.  He  answered,  "  Being  busy  one  night  lately 
in  watching  and  singing  psalms,  I  on  a  sudden  saw  a  percon  of 
unknown  aspect  standing  by  me,  and  being  alarmed  at  his  presence, 
he  bade  me  not  to  fear,  and  speaking  to  me  as  it  were  in  a  familiar 

VOL.    I.  I  I 


482  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  079. 

manner,  '  You  do  well,'  said  he,  '  in  that  you  spend  this  night-time 
of  rest,  not  in  giving  yourself  up  to  sleep,  but  in  watching  and 
prayers.'  I  answered,  '  I  know  I  have  great  need  of  devoting 
myself  to  wholesome  watching,  and  earnest  praying  to  our  Lord, 
that  he  would  pardon  my  transgressions.'  He  replied,  '  You  say 
what  is  right,  for  you  and  many  more  do  need  to  redeem  their  sins 
by  good  works,  and  when  they  cease  from  labouring  about  temporal 
affairs,  then  to  labour  the  more  eagerly  for  the  desire  of  heavenly 
goods  ;  but  this  very  few  do  ;  for  I,  having  now  visited  all  this 
monastery  in  succession,  have  looked  into  eveiy  one's  chambers 
and  beds,  and  found  none  of  them  all  except  yourself  busy  about 
the  care  of  his  soul ;  but  all  of  them,  both  men  and  women,  either 
indulge  themselves  in  slothful  sleep,  or  are  awake  in  order  to 
commit  sin.  For  even  the  cells  ^  that  were  built  for  praying  or 
reading,  are  now  converted  into  places  of  feasting,  drinking,  talking, 
and  other  luxuries  ;  and  the  virgins  dedicated  to  God,  laying  aside 
the  respect  due  to  their  profession,  whensoever  they  are  at  leisure, 
apply  themselves  to  weaving  fine  garments,  either  to  use  in  adorning 
themselves  like  brides,  to  the  danger  of  their  condition,  or  to  gain 
the  friendship  of  strange  men  ;  for  which  reason  a  heavy  judgment 
from  heaven  is  deservedly  ready  to  fall  on  this  place  and  its  inha- 
bitants by  devouring  lire.'  "  The  abbess  said,  "  ^\^ly  did  you  not 
sooner  acquaint  me  with  what  you  knew?"  He  answered,  "  I  was 
afraid  to  do  it,  out  of  respect  to  you,  lest  you  should  be  too  much 
afflicted  ;  yet  you  may  have  this  comfort,  that  the  calamity  will  not 
happen  in  your  days."  This  vision  being  divulged  abroad,  the 
inhabitants  of  that  place  were  for  a  few  days  in  some  little  fear,  and 
leaving  off  their  sins,  began  to  punish  themselves ;  but  after  the 
abbess's  death  they  returned  to  their  former  filthy  conversation, 
nay,  they  became  more  wicked  ;  and  when  they  thought  themselves 
in  peace  and  security,  they  forthwith  suffered  the  punishment  of  the 
aforesaid  vengeance. 

§  339.  That  all  this  so  happened,  was  told  me  by  my  most 
reverend  fellow-priest,  Aedgils,  who  then  lived  in  that  monastery. 
Afterwards,  when  many  of  the  inhabitants  had  departed  thence,  on 
account  of  the  destruction,  he  lived  a  long  time  in  our  monastery, 
and  died  there.  We  have  thought  fit  therefore  to  insert  this  in  our 
History,  that  we  may  admonish  the  reader  of  the  works  of  our 
Lord,  how  terrible  He  is  in  his  counsels  on  the  sons  of  men,  lest 
we  should  at  some  time  or  other  indulge  in  the  pleasures  of  flesh, 
and  dreading  the  judgment  of  God  too  little,  fall  under  his  sudden 
wrath,  and  either  be  severely  but  justly  afflicted  with  temporal 
losses,  or  else  being  more  severely  tried,  be  snatched  away  to 
eternal  perdition. 

'  It  would  hence  appear,  that  at  this  time  separate  cells  were  assigned  to  fli  • 
inmates  of  monasteries.  The  thirteenth  chapter  of  the  Rule  of  Isidore  pro\nil''- 
that  all  the  monks  should  sleep  in  one  common  doraiitory ;  and  yet  in  the  iir^ 
chapter  it  appoints  cells  f(jr  the  brethren,  and  decrees  that  they  shall  l)e  near  tli'' 
church,  for  their  gi-eater  ease  in  assembling  for  divine  service.  St.  Bene'li'  • 
himself  had  a  cell  in  which  he  prayed,  Greg.  Dial.  lib.  ii.  cap.  11 ;  and  Beda  hatl  li 
own  casula,  in  which  he  was  wont  to  pray,  and  in  which,  as  we  lenrn  (v 
Cuthbei-t,  he  yielded  up  his  spirit  to  God. 


A.D.  GS4.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    IV.  483 

Chap.  XXVI.  [a.d.  684.]— Op  the  Death  op  the  Kings  Ecgfrid  and  Hlotheri. 

§  340.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  684,  Ecgfrid,  king  of 
the  Northumbrians,  sending  Beret,  his  general,  with  an  army,  into 
Ireland,'  miserably  wasted  that  harmless  nation,  which  had  always 
been  most  friendly  to  the  English  ;  insomuch  that  the  hand  of 
the  enemy  spared  not  even  the  churches  or  monasteries.  Those 
islanders,  to  the  utmost  of  their  power,  repelled  force  with  force, 
and  imploring  the  assistance  of  the  divine  mercy  from  heaven, 
prayed  long  and  fervently  for  vengeance  ;  and  though  such  as  curse 
cannot  possess  the  kingdom  of  God,  it  is  believed  that  those  who 
were  justly  cursed  on  account  of  their  impiety  shall  soon  suffer  the 
penalty  of  their  guilt  from  the  avenging  hand  of  God  :  for  the  very 
next  year,  [a.d.  685,]  that  same  king,  rashly  leading  his  army  to 
ravage  the  province  of  the  Picts,  much  against  the  advice  of  his 
friends,  and  particularly  of  Cudberct,"  of  blessed  memory,  who  had 
been  lately  ordained  bishop,  the  enemy  pretended  that  they  fled, 
and  the  king  being  drawn  into  the  straits  of  inaccessible  mountains, 
was  slain  with  the  greatest  part  of  the  forces  which  he  had  taken 
with  him,  on  the  thirteenth  of  the  kalends  of  June  [20th  May], 
in  the  fortieth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  fifteenth  of  his  reign.  His 
friends,  as  I  have  said,  advised  him  not  to  engage  in  this  war  ;  but 
he  having  the  year  before  refused  to  listen  to  the  most  reverend 
father  Ecgberct,  advising  him  not  to  attack  Scotland  [Ireland], 
which  did  him  no  harm,  it  was  laid  upon  him  as  a  punishment  for 
his  sin,  that  he  should  not  now  regard  those  who  would  have  pre- 
vented his  death. 

§  341.  From  that  time  the  hopes  and  strength  of  the  English 
crown  "  began  to  waver  and  to  retrograde  ;"  for  the  Picts  recovered 
their  own  lands,  which  had  been  held  by  the  Angles  and  the  Scots 
that  were  in  Britain,  and  some  of  the  Britons  regained  their  liberty, 
which  they  have  now  enjoyed  for  about  forty-six  ^  years.  Among 
the  many  English  that  then  either  fell  by  the  sword,  or  were  made 
slaves,  or  escaped  by  flight  out  of  the  countiy  of  the  Picts,  the  most 
reverend  man  of  God,  Trumuini,*  who  had  received  the  bishopric 
over  them,  withdrew  with  his  people  that  were  in  the  monastery  of 
Aebbercurnig,'  seated  in  the  country  of  the  Angles,  but  close  by  the 
arm  of  the  sea  which  parts  the  lands  of  the  Angles  and  the  Picts. 
Having  entrusted  them,  wheresoever  he  could,  to  his  friends  in  the 
monasteries,  he  chose  his  own  place  of  residence  in  the  monastery, 
which  we  have  so  often  mentioned,  of  men  and  women  sei-vants  of 
God,  at  Streanaeshalch  ;  and  there  he,  with  a  few  of  his  own  people, 
for  several  years,  led  a  life  in  all  monastical  austerity,  not  only  to 
his  own,  but  to  the  benefit  of  many;  and  dying  there,  he  was  buried 

'  See  Ogygia,  p.  230,  where  the  time  and  place  of  the  invasion  are  specified. 
It  may,  perhaps,  have  been  occasioned  by  the  refuge  which  the  Irish  had  afforded 
to  Alfrid,  the  illegitimate  brother  of  Ecgfrid,  and  his  successor  in  the  kingdom. 
See  p.  484,  note  2.: 

2  See  the  Life  of  St.  Cuthbert,  §  45. 

^  Hence  we  learn  that  Beda  wrote  his  Ecclesiastical  History  in  the  year  731. 

'  Concerning  him,  see  the  Acta  SS.  Feb.  ii.  414. 

^  See  §  29. 

I  I   2 


484  CHURCH     HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  685. 

in  the  cliurch  of  the  blessed  Peter  the  apostle,  with  the  honour  due 
to  his  life  and  rank.  The  royal  virgin,  Aelblied,  with  her  mother, 
Eanfied,  whom  w^e  have  mentioned  before,'  then  presided  over  that 
monaster)^;  but  when  the  bishop  came  thither,  this  devout  instruc- 
tress for  God  found  in  him  the  greatest  assistance  in  governing, 
and  the  greatest  comfort  to  herself.  Alfrid  ^  succeeded  Ecgfrid  in 
the  throne,  being  a  man  most  learned  in  Scripture,  said  to  be 
I)rother  to  the  other,  and  son  to  king  Osuiu  :  he  nobly  retrieved 
the  ruined  state  of  the  kingdom,  though  within  narrower  bounds. 

§  342.  In  the  same  year,  being  the  685th  from  the  incarnation 
of  our  Lord,  Hlotheri,  king  of  Kent,  died,  on  the  eighth  of  the  ides 
of  February  [6th  Feb.],  when  he  had  reigned  twelve  years  after 
his  brother  Ecgberct,  who  had  reigned  nine '  years.  He  was 
wounded  in  battle  with  the  South  Saxons,  whom  Edric,*  the  son  of 
Ecgberct,  had  raised  against  him,  and  died  during  the  cure.  After 
liim,  the  same  Edric  reigned  a  year  ^nd  a  half.  On  his  death,  kings 
of  doubtful  title,  or  foreigners,  for  some  time  wasted  the  kingdom, 
till  the  lawful  king,  Uictred,  the  son  of  Ecgberct,  being  firmly 
settled  in  the  throne,  by  his  piety  and  care  delivered  his  nation  from 
foreign  invasion. 

Chap.  XXVII.   [a.d.  685.] — How  Cudberct,  a  man  of  God,  is  made  Bishof; 

AND  HOW  HE  LIVED  AND  TAUGHT  WHILST  STILL  IN  A  MONASTIC  LIFE. 

§  343.  The  same  year  that  king  Ecgfrid  departed  this  life,  he 
(as  has  been  said)  caused  to  be  ordained  to  the  bishopric  of  the 
church  of  Lindisfarne,  the  holy  and  venerable  Cudberct,^  who  had 
for  many  years  led  a  solitary  life,  in  great  continence  of  body  and 
mind,  in  a  very  small  island,  called  Fame,  distant  almost  nine  miles 
from  that  same  church,  in  the  ocean.  From  his  very  childhood 
he  had  always  been  inflaraed  wath  the  desire  of  a  religious  life  ;  but 
he  took  upon  him  the  habit  and  name  of  a  monk  wlien  he  was  a 
young  man.  He  first  entered  into  the  monastery  of  Mailros,  which 
is  on  the  bank  of  the  river  Tweed,  and  was  then  governed  by  the 
abbat  Eata,  a  man  of  all  others  the  most  meek  and  simple,  who 
was  afterwards  made  bishop  of  tlie  church  of  Hagustald  and  Lin- 
disfarne, as  has  been  said  above,"  over  which  monastery  at  tliat 

'  See  §  322. 

2  In  hia  Life  of  St.  Cuthbert,  §  41,  Beda  states  that  this  Alfrid  was  the  Ulegi- 
timate  brother  of  Ecgfrid,  and  here  he  speaks  with  reserve  as  to  his  pedigree. 
Lappenberg,  however,  unhesitatingly  assigns  him  a  place  in  the  genealogy  of  the 
kings  of  Bernicia,  without  questioning  his  legitimacy.  In  1839,  the  Surtees 
Society  published  an  early  collection  of  liturgical  remains,  to  which  tradition  had 
assigned  the  title  of  king  Aldfrid's  Ritual.  Its  component  parts  are  examined 
with  great  care  by  Dr.  Lingard  in  the  Appendix  to  his  History  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  Church,  vol.  ii.  ed.  1845.  According  to  Camden,  Aldfrid  was  buried  at 
Driffield,  in  Yorkshire  (col.  8J)0). 

^  In  the  Saxon  version  he  is  said  to  have  reigned  only  eight  years. 

*  He  was  the  son  of  Ecgberct,  and,  therefore,  nejihew  of  the  deceased  king 
Hlotheri. 

*  Beda  having  referred  his  readers  to  the  Life  of  St.  Cuthbert,  which  he  had 
previously  written,  the  observations  which  suggest  themselves  in  reference  to 
him  are  reserved  for  an  editicm  of  that  legend,  which  will  be  found  in  the  present 
volume.  The  gi-eater  part  of  the  remainder  of  this  book  of  the  Ecclesiastical 
History  is  transcribed  from  that  narrative. 

0  See  §  237. 


A.D.  664.]  BEDA  S    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY. BOOK    IV.  485 

time  was  placed  Boisil,  a  priest  of  great  virtue  and  of  a  prophetic 
spirit.  Cudberct,  humbly  submitting  himself  to  this  man's  direc- 
tion, from  him  received  both  the  knowledge  of  the  holy  Scriptures, 
and  an  example  of  good  works. 

§  344.  [a.d.  664.]  After  he  had  departed  to  our  Lord,  Cudberct 
was  placed  over  that  monastery,  where  he  instructed  many  in 
regular  life,  both  by  his  authority  as  a  master,  and  by  the  example 
of  his  own  behaviour.  Nor  did  he  aftbrd  admonitions  and  an 
example  of  a  regular  life  to  his  monastery  alone,  but  endeavoured 
to  convert  the  people  round  about,  far  and  near,  from  the  life  of 
foolish  custom,  to  the  love  of  heavenly  joys  ;  for  many  profaned 
the  faith  which  they  had  received  by  their  wicked  actions  ;  and 
some  also,  in  the  time  of  a  mortality,  neglecting  the  sacraments  of 
the  faith  which  they  had  received,  had  recourse  to  the  false  reme- 
dies of  idolatry,  as  if  they  could  have  put  a  stop  to  the  plague  sent 
from  God  the  Creator,  by  enchantments,'  spells,  or  other  secrets  of 
the  hellish  art.  In  order  to  correct  the  error  of  both  sorts,  he  often 
went  out  of  the  monasteiy,  sometimes  on  horseback,  but  oftener 
on  foot,  and  repaired  to  the  neighbouring  towns,  where  he  preached 
the  way  of  truth  to  such  as  were  gone  astray;  which  had  been  also 
done  by  Boisil  in  his  time.  It  was  then  the  custom  of  the  English 
people,  that  when  a  clerk  or  priest  came  into  the  town,  they  all,  at 
his  command,  flocked  together  to  hear  the  Word  ;  they  willingly 
heard  what  was  said,  and  more  willingly  practised  those  things  that 
they  could  hear  or  understand.  But  Cudberct  was  so  skilful  an 
orator,  such  a  power  of  persuasion  had  he,  and  such  a  brightness 
appeared  in  his  angelic  face,  that  no  man  present  presumed  to 
conceal  from  him  the  most  hidden  secrets  of  his  heart,  but  all 
openly  confessed  what  they  had  done  ;  because  they  thought  the 
same  guilt  could  not  be  concealed  from  him ;  and  they  wiped  off"  the 
guilt  of  what  they  had  so  confessed  with  w^orthy  fruits  of  repentance, 
as  he  commanded.  He  was  wont  chiefly  to  resort  to  those  places, 
and  preach  in  such  villages,  as  being  seated  at  a  distance  in  rough  and 
rugged  mountains,  were  frightful  to  others  to  behold,  and  whose 
poverty  and  barbarity  rendered  them  inaccessible  to  other  teachers : 
nevertheless  he,  having  entirely  devoted  himself  to  that  pious  labour, 
did  so  industriously  apply  himself  to  polish  them  with  his  doctrine, 
that  when  he  departed  out  of  his  monastery,  he  would  often  stay  a 
week,  sometimes  two  or  three,  and  occasionally  a  whole  month, 
before  he  returned  home,  continuing  among  the  mountains  to 
allure  to  heavenly  employments  that  rustic  people  by  his  preaching 
of  the  Word  and  by  his  example. 

§  345.  Tliis  venerable  sen^ant  of  our  Lord,  having  thus  spent 
many  years  in  the  monastery  of  Mailros,  and  there  become  con- 
spicuous by  many  miracles,  his  most  reverend  abbat,  Eata,  removed 
him  to  the  isle  of  Lindisfarne,  that  he  might  there  also,  by  the 

1  These  remnants  of  the  old  Teutonic  heathendom  are  frequently  mentioned 
in  the  Saxon  Laws.  See  the  titles  enumerated  in  the  Index  to  Thorpe's  edition, 
under  the  word  "  Superstitions,"  and  the  Introductory  Essay  prefixed  to  Wright's 
Biog.  Lit.,  Saxon  Period,  p.  101.  The  concluding  essay  in  the  first  volume  of 
Kemble's  "  Saxons  in  England"  (8vo.  Lond.  1849)  may  also  be  consulted  with 
advE 


486  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  67t5— 

authority  of  a  superior  and  by  his  own  example,  instruct  the 
brethren  in  tlie  observance  of  regular  discipline  ;  for  the  same 
reverend  father  then  governed  that  place  ailso  as  abbat.  For,  indeed, 
from  ancient  tim.es,  the  bishop  was  wont  to  reside  there  with  his 
clerg\%  and  the  abbat  with  his  monks,  who  themselves  were  likewise 
under  the  care  of  the  bishop  as  his  own  family  ;  because  Aedan, 
who  was  the  first  bishop  of  the  place,  being  himself  a  monk,  coming 
thither  with  monks,  himself  settled  the  monastic  institution  there  ; 
as  the  blessed  father  Augustine  is  known  to  have  done  this  before 
in  Kent,  the  most  reverend  pope  Gregor)^  wTiting  to  him,  as  has 
been  said  above,^  to  this  effect : — "  But  in  regard  that  you,  my 
brother,  being  brought  up  under  monastic  rules,  are  not  to  live 
apjirt  from  your  clerg)"^  in  the  English  church,  which,  by  God's 
assistance,  has  been  lately  brought  to  the  faith  ;  you  are  to  follow 
that  course  of  life  which  our  forefathers  did  in  the  time  of  the 
primitive  church,  when  none  of  them  said  anything  that  he  possessed 
was  his  owm,  but  all  thinsfs  were  in  common  amonsr  them." 


Chap.  XXYIII.    [a.d.  676 — 6S7.]— How  the  same  peeson,  being  an  Akcho- 

RITE,  BY  raS  prayers  OBTAIKED  A  SPRING  IN  A  DRY  SOIL,  AND  HAD  A  CROP  FROM 

seed  sown  by  himself  out  of  season. 

§  346.  [a.d.  676.]  After  this,  Cudberct,  advancing  in  the 
merits  of  his  devout  intention,  proceeded  even  to  the  adoption  of 
a  hermit's  life  of  solitaiy  contemplation  and  secret  silence,  as  we 
have  mentioned.  But  forasmuch  as  we  several  years  ago  wrote 
enough  of  his  life  and  virtues,  both  in  heroic  verse  and  prose,* 
it  may  suffice  at  present  only  to  mention  this,  that  when  he  was 
about  to  repair  to  the  island,  he  made  this  protestation  to  the 
brethren,  saying,  "  If  it  shall  please  the  divine  grace  to  grant  me, 
that  I  may  live  in  that  place  by  the  labour  of  my  hands,  I  will 
willingly  reside  there  ;  but  if  not,  I  will,  by  God's  permission,  very 
soon  return  to  you."  The  place  was  entirely  destitute  of  water, 
and  unproductive  of  corn  and  trees  ;  and  being  infested  by  evil 
spirits,  was  very  ill  suited  for  human  habitation  ;  but  it  became  in 
all  respects  habitable,  at  the  desire  of  the  man  of  God  ;  for  upon 
his  arrival  the  wicked  spirits  withdrew.  \Mien  he  had  there,  after 
expelling  the  enemies,  with  the  assistance  of  the  brethren,  himself 
Ijuilt  a  small  dwelling,  with  a  wall  about  it,''  and  the  necesscuy  habi- 
tations, and  an  orator)',  and  a  common  place  of  abode,  he  ordered 
the  brethren  to  dig  a  well  in  the  lioor  of  the  dwelling,  although 
the  ground  was  very  hard  and  stony,  and  no  hope  at  all  appeared 
of  any  spring  of  water.  Having  done  this  upon  the  faith  and  the 
prayers  of  the  ser\-ant  of  God,  the  next  day  it  was  found  to  be  full 
of  water,  and  to  this  day  afibrds  plenty  of  its  heavenly  bounty  to  idl 

»  See  §  59. 

^  Beda's  prose  Life  of  St.  Cuthbert  is  contained  in  tho  present  volume,  and  to 
it  the  reader  is  referred. 

'  "  . . . .  circumTallante  aggere . . ."  It  has  been  usual  to  render  this  "...  with 
a  trench  about  it ;"  but  the  present  version  is  the  only  one  which  can  be  accepteil 
if  we  compare  this  passage  with  §  30  of  the  prose  Life  of  St.  Cuthbert.  An 
examination  of  the  remain.''  of  this  cell,  and,  indeed,  the  general  aspect  of  tin- 
island  of  Fame,  confirm  this  rendering. 


A.D.  6S7.]        BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    IV.  487 

that  resort  thither.  He  also  desired  that  all  instruments  for  hus- 
bandry might  be  brought  him,  and  some  wheat ;  and  having  sown 
the  same  at  the  proper  season  in  the  land  which  he  had  prepared 
for  it,  nothing  appeai'ed  ;  neither  stalk,  nor  even  so  much  as  a  single 
lecif,  sprouted  from  it  by  the  next  summer.  Hereupon  the  brethren 
visiting  him  according  to  custom,  he  ordered  bai'ley  to  be  brought 
him,  in  case  it  were  either  the  nature  of  that  soil,  or  the  will  of 
the  Supreme  Giver,  that  such  grain  should  rather  grow  there.  He 
sowed  it  in  the  same  field  as  soon  as  it  was  brought  him,  after  the 
proper  time  of  sowing  had  passed,  and  consequently  without  any 
likelihood  of  its  coming  to  fruit ;  but  a  plentiful  crop  immediately 
came  up,  and  afforded  the  man  of  God  the  means  which  he  had  so 
ardently  desired  of  supporting  himself  by  his  own  labour. 

§  347.  [a.d.  684.]  \Mien  he  had  there  served  God  in  solitude 
many  years,  the  mound  which  encompassed  his  habitation  being 
so  high,  that  he  could  from  thence  see  nothing  but  heaven,  to 
obtain  an  entrance  into  which  he  so  ardently  aspired,  it  happened 
that  a  great  synod  was  assembled  in  the  presence  of  king  Ecgfrid, 
neai-  the  river  Alne,  at  a  place  called  Ad-tuif\Tdi,  which  signifies 
"  At  the  t«'o  Fords,"  in  which  cU'chbishop  Tlieodore,  of  blessed 
memoiT,  presided  ;  and  there  Cudberct  was,  by  the  unanimous  con- 
sent of  all,  chosen  bishop  of  the  church  of  Lindisfarne.  Tliey  could 
not,  however,  persuade  him  to  leave  his  monasteiy,  though  many 
messengers  and  letters  were  sent  to  him  ;  at  last  the  aforesaid  king 
himself,  with  the  most  holy  bishop  Trumuine,  and  other  religious 
and  great  men,  sailed  over  into  the  island ;  many  also  of  the 
brethren  of  the  same  isle  of  Lindisfarne  assembled  together  for  the 
same  purpose  :  they  all  knelt,  they  adjured  him  by  our  Lord,  and 
besought  him,  wath  tears  and  entreaties,  till  they  drew  him,  also 
full  of  sweet  tears,  from  his  retreat,  and  forced  him  to  the  synod. 
Being  arrived  there,  cifter  much  opposition,  he  was  overcome  by 
the  unanimous  resolution  of  all  present,  and  bowed  his  neck  to 
take  upon  himself  the  episcopal  dignity  ;  being  chiefly  prevailed  upon 
by  mention  having  been  made  that  Boisil,  the  servant  of  God,  when 
he  had  prophetically  foretold  all  things  that  were  to  befal  him,  had 
also  predicted  that  he  should  be  a  bishop.  However,  the  ordination 
was  not  appointed  immediately ;  but  after  the  winter,  which  was 
then  at  hand,  it  was  performed  at  the  Easter  festival,  in  the  city  of 
York,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  aforesaid  king  Ecgfrid  ;  seven 
bishops  meeting  at  the  consecration,  among  whom,  Theodore,  of 
blessed  memor}^  was  primate.  He  was  first  elected  to  the  bishopric 
of  the  church  of  Hagustald,  in  the  place  of  Tunberct,  who  had 
been  deposed  from  the  episcopal  dignity  ;  but  in  regai'd  that  he 
chose  rather  to  be  placed  over  the  church  of  Lindisfarne,  in  which 
he  had  lived,  it  was  thought  fit  that  Eata  should  return  to  the  see 
of  the  church  of  Hagustald,  over  which  he  had  been  first  ordained, 
and  that  Cudberct  should  take  upon  him  the  government  of  the 
church  of  Lindisfarne. 

§  348.  Follo-^dng  the  example  of  the  blessed  apostles,  he  became 
an  ornament  to  the  episcopal  dignit)^  by  his  virtuous  actions  ;  for 
he  both  protected  the  people  committed  to  his  charge,  by  constant 


488  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  687, 

prayer,  and  excited  them,  by  most  wholesome  admonitions,  to 
heavenly  practices  ;  and,  which  is  the  greatest  help  to  teachers,  he 
first  showed  in  his  own  behaviour  what  he  taught  was  to  be  per- 
formed by  others ;  for  he  was  above  all  things  inflamed  with  the 
fire  of  divine  charity,  modest  in  the  virtue  of  patience,  most  dili- 
gently intent  on  devout  prayers,  and  affable  to  all  that  came  to  him 
for  the  sake  of  consolation.  He  thought  it  equivalent  to  praying, 
that  he  should  afford  the  infirm  brethren  the  help  o'f  his  exhorta- 
tions, well  knowing  that  He  who  said,  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God,"  said  likewise,  "  Thou  shtilt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself." 
He  was  also  remarkable  for  the  chastisement  of  abstinence,  and 
always  intent  upon  heavenly  things,  through  the  grace  of  com- 
punction. And  lastly,  when  he  offered  up  to  God  the  sacrifice  of 
the  saving  victim,  he  commended  his  prayer  to  God,  not  with  a 
loud  voice,  but  with  tears  drawn  from  the  bottom  of  his  heart. 

i§  349.  [a.d.  687-]  Having  spent  two  years  in  his  bishopric,  he 
returned  to  his  island  and  monaster)^  being  admonished  by  a  divine 
oracle,  that  the  day  of  his  death  (or  rather  of  his  entrance  into  that 
life  which  alone  is  to  be  called  life)  was  drawing  near ;  as  he  also, 
at  that  time,  with  his  usual  simplicity,  signified  to  some  persons, 
though  in  terms  which  were  somewhat  obscure,  but  which  were 
nevertheless  afterwards  plainly  understood  ;  while  to  ethers  he 
declared  the  same  thing  openly. 


CiiAr.  XXIX.  [a.d.  687.] — How  he,  when   now  a  Bishop,  foretold  to  the 

ANCHORITE,  HeREBERCT,  THAT  HIS  DeATH  WAS  AT  HAND. 

§  350.  There  was  a  certain  priest,  of  venerable  life,  called 
Hereberct,  who  had  long  been  united  with  the  man  of  God  in 
the  bonds  of  spiritual  friendship.  Tliis  man,  leading  a  solitary 
life  in  the  island  of  that  great  lake  from  which  the  river  Derwent 
takes  its  source,  was  wont  to  visit  him  every  year,  and  to  receive 
from  him  advice  respecting  his  eternal  salvation.  Hearing  that 
bisliop  Cudberct  was  come  to  the  city  of  Lugubalia,  he  repaired 
thither  to  him,  according  to  custom,  being  desirous  to  be  still  more 
and  more  inflamed  in  heavenly  desires  through  his  wholesome 
admonitions.  Whilst  they  alternately  entertained  one  another 
with  drinking  in  the  delights  of  the  celestial  life,  the  bishop,  among 
other  things,  said,  "  Brother  Hereberct,  remember  at  this  time  to 
ask  me  all  the  questions  you  wish  to  ask,  and  say  all  you  wish  to 
say ;  for  after  this  parting  we  shall  see  one  another  no  more  in  this 
world.  For  I  am  sure  that  the  time  of  my  dissolution  is  at  hand, 
and  I  shall  speedily  put  off  this  my  tabernacle."  Hearing  these 
words,  he  fell  down  at  his  feet,  and  shedding  tears,  with  a  sigh, 
said,  "  1  beseech  you,  by  our  Lord,  not  to  forsake  me  ;  but  that 
you  remember  your  most  faithful  companion,  and  entreat  the 
Supreme  Goodness  that,  as  we  sei-ved  Him  together  upon  earth,  so 
we  may  depart  together  to  see  his  grace  in  heaven.  For  you  know 
that  I  have  always  endeavoured  to  live  according  to  your  directions, 
and  whatsoever  faults  I  have  committed,  either  through  ignorance 


A.D.  698.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    HISTORY. BOOK    IV.  489 

or  frailty,  I  have  immediately  endeavoured  to  correct,  according  to 
the  judgment  of  your  will."  The  bishop  applied  himself  to  prayer, 
and  having  presently  had  intimation  in  the  spirit  that  he  had 
obtained  what  he  asked  of  the  Lord,  he  said,  "  Rise,  brother,  and 
do  not  weep,  but  rejoice  greatly,  because  the  goodness  of  God  hath 
granted  what  we  have  desired." 

§  351.  The  event  proved  the  truth  of  this  promise  and  prophecy, 
for  after  their  parting  at  that  time,  they  no  more  saw  one  another 
in  the  flesh ;  but  their  souls  quitting  their  bodies  on  one  and  the 
same  day,  that  is,  on  the  13th  of  the  kalends  of  April  [20th 
March],  they  were  immediately  again  united  in  spirit,  in  the  beati- 
fic vision,  and  translated  to  the  heavenly  kingdom  by  the  ministry 
of  angels.  But  Hereberct  was  first  tried  by  a  sickness,  through  the 
dispensation  of  the  Lord's  goodness,  as  may  be  believed,  to  the  end 
that  if  he  was  anything  inferior  in  merit  to  the  blessed  Cudberct, 
the  same  might  be  supplied  by  the  chastising  pain  of  a  long  sick- 
ness, that  being  thus  made  equal  in  grace  to  his  intercessor,  as  he 
departed  out  of  the  body  at  the  very  same  time  with  him,  so  he 
might  be  received  into  the  same  equal  seat  of  eternal  bliss. 

§  352.  The  most  reverend  father  died  in  the  isle  of  Fame, 
earnestly  entreating  the  brethren  that  he  might  also  be  buried  in 
that  same  place,  where  he  had  been  God's  soldier  for  a  considerable 
time.  However,  at  length  yielding  to  their  entreaties,  he  consented 
to  be  carried  back  to  the  isle  of  Lindisfarne,  and  there  buried  in 
the  church.  This  being  done  accordingly,  the  venerable  bishop 
Uilfrid  held  the  episcopal  see  of  that  church  one  year,  till  such 
time  as  a  bishop  were  chosen  to  be  ordained  in  the  room  of  Cud- 
berct. Afterwards  [a.d.  688]  Eadberct  was  ordained,  a  man 
renowned  for  his  knowledge  in  the  divine  Scriptures,  as  also  for  his 
observance  of  the  divine  precepts,  and  chiefly  for  almsgiving ;  so 
that,  according  to  the  law,  [Lev.  xxvii.  30,  32,]  he  every  year 
gave  the  tenth  part,  not  only  of  four-footed  beasts,  but  even  of  all 
corn  and  fruit,  as  also  of  garments  to  the  poor. 


Chap.  XXX.  [a.d.  698.] — How  his  Bodt  was  found  xjncorbupted  after  it  had 

BEEN    BURIED    ELEVEN    TEARS;      AND    HOW    HIS    SUCCESSOR    IN    THE    BISHOPRIC 

DEPARTED  THIS  WORLD  NOT  LONG  AFTER. 

§  353.  In  order  more  fully  to  show  in  how  much  gloiy  the 
man  of  the  Lord,  Cudberct,  lived  after  death,  his  heavenly  life 
having  been  before  his  death  signalized  by  frequent  miracles  ;  when 
he  had  been  buried  eleven  years,  divine  providence  put  it  into  the 
minds  of  the  brethren  to  take  up  his  diy  bones,  expecting,  as  is 
usual  with  dead  bodies,  to  find  all  the  rest  of  the  body  consumed 
and  reduced  to  dust,  and  intending  to  put  the  same  into  a  new 
coffin,  and  to  lay  them  in  the  same  place,  but  above  the  pavement, 
with  the  honour  due  to  him.  They  acquainted  bishop  Eadberct 
with  their  design,  and  he  consented  to  it,  and  ordered  that  they 
should  remember  to  do  this  on  the  anniversary  of  his  deposition. 
They  did  so,  and  on  opening  the  grave,  found  all  the  body  whole. 


490  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  G9S. 

as  if  he  had  been  alive,  and  the  joints  phable,  much  more  hke  one 
asleep  than  a  dead  person  ;  besides,  all  the  vestments  in  which  he 
was  clothed  were  not  only  found  uncorruptcd,  Ijut  wonderful  for 
their  original  freshness  and  beauty.  The  brethren  on  seeing  this, 
with  much  fear  hastened  to  tell  the  bishop  what  they  had  found  ; 
he  being  then  in  solitude  in  a  place  remote  from  the  church,  and 
encompassed  by  the  sea.  In  this  place  he  always  used  to  spend  the 
time  of  Lent,  and  was  wont  to  continue  there  with  great  devotion, 
forty  days  before  the  birth  of  our  Lord,  in  abstinence,  prayers,  and 
tears.  There  also  his  venerable  predecessor,  Cudberct,  had  some 
time  served  God  in  private,  before  he  went  to  the  isle  of  Fame. 

§  354.  Tliey  brought  him  also  some  part  of  the  garments  that  had 
covered  his  holy  body  ;  w-hich  presents  he  thankfully  accepted,  and 
gladly  listening  to  the  miracles,  he  with  wonderful  aft'ection  kissed 
those  garments,  as  if  they  had  been  still  upon  the  father's  body,  and 
said,  "  Let  the  body  be  put  into  new*  garments  in  the  place  of  these 
W'hich  you  have  brought,  and  so  lay  it  into  the  coffin  you  have 
provided.  For  I  am  very  certain  that  the  place  will  not  long 
remain  empty,  having  been  sanctified  with  so  many  miracles  of 
heavenly  grace ;  and  how  happy  is  that  man  to  whom  our  Lord, 
the  Author  and  Giver  of  all  bliss,  shall  grant  the  privilege  of  lying 
in  the  same  ! "  The  bishop  having  said  this  and  much  more,  w  ith 
many  tears  and  great  compunction,  and  with  a  faltering  tongue, 
the  brethren  did  as  he  had  commanded  them  ;  and  when  they 
liad  dressed  the  body  in  new^  garments,  and  laid  it  in  a  new  coffin, 
they  placed  it  on  the  pavement  of  the  sanctuar)\  Soon  after, 
God's  beloved  bishop,  Eadberct,  fell  grievously  sick,  and  his  dis- 
ease daily  increasing,  and  growing  more  and  more  oppressive,  in 
a  short  time,  that  is,  on  the  day  before  the  nones  of  May  [6th 
May],  he  also  departed  to  the  Lord,  and  they  laid  his  body  in 
the  grave  of  the  blessed  father  Cudberct,  placing  over  it  the  coffin, 
in  which  they  had  placed  the  uncorrupted  remains  of  that  father. 
The  miracles  of  healing  sometimes  wrought  in  that  place  testify  the 
merits  of  them  both  ;  of  some  of  which  we  before  preserved  the 
memory  in  the  book  of  his  Life,  and  have  thought  fit  to  add  some 
more  in  this  History,  which  have  lately  come  to  our  knowledge. 


Chap.  XXXI. — Of  one  that  was  cured  of  a  Palsy  at  nis  ToiiB. 

§  355.  There  was  in  that  same  monastery  a  brother  whose  name 
was  Badudegn,  who  had  for  a  considerable  time  waited  upon  the 
guests,  and  who  is  still  living,  having  the  testimony  of  all  the  brethren 
and  strangers  resorting  thitlier,  of  being  a  man  of  much  piety  and 
religion,  and  sei-ving  the  office  assigned  to  him  only  for  the  sake  of 
the  heavenly  reward.  This  man,  having  on  a  certain  day  washed 
the  mantles  or  garments  which  he  used  in  the  guest-house,  in  the 
sea,  was  returning  home,  when  on  a  sudden,  about  half  w  ay,  he  w-as 
seized  with  a  sudden  distemper  in  his  body,  insomuch  that  he  fell 
down,  and  having  lain  on  the  ground  some  time,  he  could  scarcely 


A.D.  728.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. — BOOK    IV.  491 

rise  again.  When  at  last  he  got  up,  he  felt  that  one-half  of  his 
body,  from  the  head  to  the  foot,  was  struck  with  palsy ;  and  with 
much  difficulty  he  reached  home  by  the  help  of  a  staff.  The  dis- 
order increased  by  degrees,  and  as  night  approached,  became  still 
worse,  so  that  when  day  returned  he  could  scarcely  rise  or  walk 
alone.  In  this  weak  condition,  a  good  thought  came  into  his  mind, 
which  was  to  go  to  the  church,  the  best  way  he  could,  to  the  tomb 
of  the  reverend  father  Cudberct,  and  there,  on  his  knees,  to  beg  of 
the  divine  goodness  either  to  be  delivered  from  that  disease,  if  it 
were  for  his  good,  or  if  God's  grace  had  ordained  him  longer  to  lie 
under  the  same  for  his  punishment,  that  he  might  bear  the  pain 
with  patience  and  a  composed  mind. 

§  356.  He  did  according  to  his  intention,  and  supporting  his 
weak  limbs  with  a  staff,  entered  the  church,  and  prostrating  him- 
self before  the  body  of  the  man  of  God,  he,  with  pious  earnestness, 
prayed  that  through  his  aid  our  Lord  might  be  propitious  to  him. 
In  the  midst  of  his  prayers,  he  fell  as  it  were  into  a  sleep,  and,  as 
he  was  afterwards  wont  to  relate,  felt  a  large  and  broad  hand  touch 
that  part  of  his  head  where  the  pain  lay ;  and  by  that  touch,  all  the 
part  of  his  body  which  had  been  affected  with  the  distemper  was 
gradually  delivered  from  the  weakness,  and  restored  to  health  down 
to  his  feet.  He  then  awoke,  and  rose  up  in  perfect  health,  and 
afterwards,  returning  thanks  to  God  for  his  recovery,  told  tlie 
brethren  what  had  happened  to  him  ;  and  to  the  joy  of  them  all, 
he  returned  the  more  zealously,  as  if  chastened  by  his  affliction,  to 
the  service  which  he  was  wont  before  so  carefully  to  perform.  The 
very  garments,  moreover,  which  had  clothed  Cudberct's  body, 
dedicated  to  God,  either  whilst  living,  or  after  he  was  dead,  were 
not  exempt  from  the  virtue  of  performing  cures,  as  may  be  seen  in 
the  book  of  his  Life  and  miracles,  by  such  as  shall  read  it. 


CiiAP.  XXXII.  [a.d.  728.] — Of  one  who  was  cured  becently  of  a  Disease  in 
uis  Eye  at  these  Relics. 

§  357.  Nor  is  that  cure  to  be  passed  over  in  silence,  which  was 
performed  by  his  relics  three  years  ago,  and  was  told  me  by  the 
brother  himself  on  whom  it  was  wrought.  It  happened  in  the 
monastery,  which,  being  built  near  the  river  Dacore,  has  taken  its 
name  from  the  same,  over  which,  at  that  time,  the  religious  Suid- 
berct  presided  as  abbat.  In  that  monastery  was  a  certain  youth 
whose  eyelid  had  a  great  swelling  on  it,  which  growing  daily, 
threatened  the  loss  of  the  eye.  Tlie  surgeons  applied  their  medical 
fomentations  to  ripen  it,  but  in  vain.  Some  said  it  ought  to  be 
cut  off;  others  opposed  it,  for  fear  of  worse  consequences.  The 
said  brother  having  long  laboured  under  this  malady,  and  seeing  no 
human  means  likely  to  save  his  eye,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  it 
daily  grew  worse,  was  cured  on  a  sudden,  through  the  grace  of  the 
divine  goodness,  by  the  relics  of  the  most  holy  father,  Cudberct ; 
tor  the  brethren,  finding  his  body  uncorrupted,  after  having  been 
many  years  buried,  took  some  part  of  the  hair,  which  they  might. 


492  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  687 

at  the  request  of  friends,  give  or  show,  in  testimony  of  the  miracle, 
after  the  manner  of  relics. 

§  358.  One  of  the  priests  of  that  monastery,  named  Thruidred, 
who  is  now  ahbat  there,  had  a  small  part  of  these  relics  in  his 
possession  at  that  time.  One  day,  having  entered  the  church,  he 
opened  the  box  of  relics,  that  he  might  give  some  part  of  them  to 
a  friend  that  begged  it,  and  it  happened  that  the  youth  who  had 
the  diseased  eye  was  then  in  the  church  ;  the  priest,  having  given 
his  friend  as  much  as  he  thought  fit,  delivered  the  rest  to  the  youth 
to  put  it  into  its  place.  Having  received  the  hairs  of  the  saint's 
head,  by  some  fortunate  impulse,  he  applied  them  to  the  sore  eye- 
lid, and  endeavoured  for  some  time,  by  the  application  of  them,  to 
soften  and  abate  the  swelling.  Having  done  this,  he  again  replaced 
the  relics  in  the  box,  as  he  had  been  ordered,  believing  that  his  eye 
would  soon  be  cured  by  the  hairs  of  the  man  of  God,  which  had 
touched  it ;  nor  did  his  faith  disappoint  him.  It  was  then,  as  he 
was  wont  to  relate  it,  about  the  second  hour  of  the  day  ;  but  he, 
being  intent  and  busy  about  other  things  which  belonged  to  that 
day,  about  the  sixth  hour  of  the  same,  touching  his  eye  on  a 
sudden,  he  found  it  as  sound  with  the  lid,  as  if  there  never  had 
been  any  swelling  or  deformity  on  it. 


BOOK    V. 

Chap.  I.  [a.d.  687.] — How  Oidiluald,  successor  to  Cudberct,  leading  the  lifr 

OF   A    HERMIT,  CALMED  A   TeMPEST   BY   PrATER,    WHEN   THE    BRETHREN   WERE    IN 
DANGER  AT  SEA. 

§  359.  The  venerable  Oidiluald,  who  had  received  the  priesthood 
in  the  monastery  which  is  called  "  Inhrypum,"  and  had,  by  actions 
worthy  of  the  same,  sanctified  his  holy  office,  succeeded  the  man  of 
God,  Cudberct,  in  the  exercise  of  a  solitar)^  life,  who  had  practiserl 
the  same  before  he  was  bishop,  in  the  isle  of  Fame.  For  the  more 
certain  demonstration  of  the  life  which  he  led,  and  his  merit,  I  will 
relate  one  miracle  of  his,  which  was  told  me  by  one  of  the  brethren 
for  and  on  whom  the  same  was  wrought ;  namely,  Gudfrid,  the 
venerable  servant  and  priest  of  Christ,  who  afterwards,  as  abbat, 
])resided  over  the  brethren  of  the  same  church  of  Lindisfarne,  in 
which  he  had  been  educated. 

§  360.  "  I  came,"  says  he,  "  to  the  island  of  Fame,  with  two 
others  of  the  brethren,  to  speak  with  the  most  reverend  father 
Oidiluald.*  Having  been  refreshed  with  his  discourse,  and  asked 
his  blessing,  as  we  were  returning  home,  on  a  sudden,  when  we 
were  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  the  fair  weather  which  was  wafting  us 
over  was  checked,  and  there  ensued  so  great  and  violent  a  tempest, 
that  neither  the  sails  nor  oars  were  of  any  use  to  us,  nor  liad  we 

'  Beda  here  employs  his  Northumbrian  ."spelling;  Alfred's  version  pives  the 
more  generally  received  West-Saxon  form  of  Ethelwald.  Concerning  this  hermit 
see  the  Acta  SS.  Mar.  iii.  463. 


A.D.  685.]        BEDa'S    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  493 

anything  to  expect  but  death.  After  long  strugghng  M'ith  the  wind 
and  waves  to  no  effect,  we  looked  behind  us  to  see  whether  it  were 
practicable  by  an  effort  at  least  to  recover  the  island  from  whence 
we  came  ;  but  we  found  ourselves  on  all  sides  so  enveloped  in  the 
storm,  that  there  was  for  us  no  hope  of  escaping.  But  looking  out 
as  far  as  we  could  see,  w^e  observed,  on  the  island  of  Fame,  father 
Oidiluald,  the  most  beloved  of  God,  who  had  come  out  of  his  cell 
to  watch  our  course  ;  for,  hearing  the  noise  of  the  storm  and  the 
raging  of  the  sea,  he  had  come  out  to  see  what  would  happen  to  us. 
When  he  beheld  us  in  distress  and  despair,  he  bowed  his  knees  to 
the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  prayer  for  our  life  and 
safety;  upon  the  completion  of  which,  the  swelling  sea  was  calmed, 
so  that  the  violence  of  the  storm  ceased  on  all  sides,  and  a  fair 
wind  attended  us  over  the  smooth  waves  even  to  the  very  shore. 
When  we  had  landed,  and  had  dragged  upon  the  shore  out  of  the 
sea  our  small  vessel,  the  storm,  which  had  ceased  a  short  time  for 
our  sake,  immediately  returned,  and  raged  continually  during  the 
whole  day ;  so  that  it  plainly  appeared  that  the  brief  cessation  of  the 
storm  had  been  granted  from  heaven  at  the  request  of  the  man  of 
God,  in  order  that  we  might  escape." 

§  361.  [a.d.  699.]  The  man  of  God  remained  in  the  isle  of 
Fame  twelve  years,  and  died  there  ;  but  was  buried  in  the  church 
of  the  blessed  apostle  Peter,  in  the  isle  of  Lindisfarne,  beside  the 
bodies  of  the  aforesaid  bishops.  These  things  happened  in  the  days 
of  king  Aldfrid,  who  ruled  the  nation  of  the  Northumbrians  eighteen 
years  after  his  brother  Ecgfrid. 


Chap.  IL  [a.d.  685.] — How  Bishop  John  cured  a  Man  dumb  and  afflicted 

WITH  SCURVY  BY  BLESSING  HIM. 

§  362.  In  the  beginning  of  the  aforesaid  reign,  bishop  Eata  died, 
and  was  succeeded  in  the  prelacy  of  the  church  of  Hagustald  by 
John,^  a  holy  man,  of  whom  those  that  familiarly  knew  him  are 
wont  to  tell  many  miracles  ;  and  more  particularly,  the  most  reve- 
rend Bercthun,  a  man  of  undoubted  veracity,  and  once  his  deacon, 
now  abbat  of  the  monasteiy  called  Inderauuda,^  that  is,  in  the  wood 
of  the  Deiri :  some  of  which  miracles  we  have  thought  fit  to 
transmit  to  posterity.  There  is  a  certain  building^  in  a  retired 
situation,  and  enclosed  by  a  narrow  wood  and  a  trench,  not  far 
from  the  church  of  Hagustald,  that  is  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from 
it,  and  separated  from  it  by  the  river  Tyne,  having  a  burying-place 
dedicated  to  St.  IVIichael  the  archangel,  where  the  man  of  God 
used  frequently,  whenever  a  convenient  opportunity  offered,  and 
particularly  in  Lent,  to  reside  with  a  few  companions,  that  he  might 

'  The  life  and  miracles  of  John  of  Beverley  are  detailed  at  considerable  length 
by  Folchard,  a  monk  of  Canterbury,  whose  work  may  be  found  in  the  Acta  SS. 
mens.  Mali,  ii.  168.     See  also  Wright's  Biog.,  Saxon  Period,  p.  512. 

2  It  was  afterwards  called  Beverley,  of  which  this  Bercthun.  the  disciple  of 
John  of  Beverley,  was  the  first  abbot.     See  Acta  SS.  Mail,  iii.  503. 

•^  This  "  mansio,"  with  its  oratory  and  churchyard,  was  situated  on  an  eminence 
near  the  river  Tyne,  named  Earneshow  (i.e.  the  mount  of  the  eagle).  See  Richard 
of  Hexham,  ap.  Decern  Script,  col.  291 ;  Stubbes,  col.  1692.  In  the  life  given  in 
the  Acta  SS.  it  is  incoiTectly  printed  "  Carnesboc." 


494  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  CS6. 

devote  himself  to  undisturbed  prayers  and  reading.  Being  come 
thither  once  at  the  beginning  of  Lent,  to  stay,  he  commanded  his 
followers  to  find  out  some  poor  person  labouring  under  any  grievous 
infirmity,  or  want,  whom  he  might  keep  with  him  during  those  days, 
by  way  of  alms  ;  for  so  he  was  always  used  to  do. 

§  363.  There  was  in  a  village  not  far  off,  a  certain  dumb  youth, 
known  to  the  bishop,  for  he  often  used  to  come  into  his  presence 
to  receive  alms,  and  had  never  been  able  to  speak  one  single  word. 
Besides,  he  had  so  much  scurf  and  scabs  on  his  head,  that  no  hair 
ever  grew  on  the  top  of  it,  but  only  some  rugged  hairs  in  a  circle 
round  about.  Tlie  bishop  caused  this  young  man  to  be  brought, 
and  a  little  cottage  to  be  made  for  him  within  the  enclosure  of  the 
dwelling,  in  which  he  might  reside,  and  receive  a  daily  allowance 
from  himself.  Wlien  the  first  week  of  Lent  was  over,  the  next 
Sunday  he  caused  the  poor  man  to  come  in  to  him,  and  ordered 
him  to  put  his  tongue  out  of  his  mouth  and  show  it  him  ;  then 
laying  hold  of  his  chin,  he  made  the  sign  of  the  holy  cross  on  his 
tongue,  directing  him  when  it  was  so  signed,  to  draw  it  back  into 
his  mouth  and  to  speak.  "  Pronounce  some  word,"  said  he  ;  "  say 
'  Gae,'  "  which  in  the  language  of  the  Angles  is  the  word  of  affirm- 
ing and  consenting,  that  is.  Yes.  The  youth's  tongue  was  imme- 
diately loosed,  and  he  said  what  he  was  ordered.  The  bishop  then 
pronouncing  the  names  of  the  letters,  directed  him  to  say  A;  he 
did  so ;  and  afterwards  B,  wliicli  he  also  did.  WHien  he  had  named 
all  the  letters  after  the  bishop,  the  latter  proceeded  to  pronounce 
syllables  and  words,  which  being  also  repeated  by  him,  he  com- 
manded him  to  utter  longer  sentences,  and  he  did  so.  Nor  did  he 
cease  all  that  day  and  tlie  next  night,  as  long  as  he  could  keep 
awake,  as  those  who  were  present  relate,  to  talk  something,  and  to 
express  his  private  thoughts  and  will  to  others,  which  he  could 
never  do  before  ;  after  the  manner  of  that  cripple,  who,  being  healed 
by  the  apostles  Peter  and  John,  stood  up  leaping,  and  walked,  and 
went  with  them  into  the  temple,  walking,  and  leaping,  and  praising 
the  Lord,  rejoicing  to  have  the  use  of  his  feet,  of  which  he  had  so 
long  been  deprived.  The  bisliop,  rejoicing  at  his  recovery  [of 
speech],  ordered  the  physician  to  take  in  hand  the  cure  of  his 
scurfed  head.  He  did  so,  and  with  the  help  of  the  bishop's  blessing 
and  prayers,  a  good  head  of  hair  grew  as  the  skin  was  healed. 
Thus  the  youth  obtained  a  good  aspect,  a  ready  utterance,  and  a 
beautiful  head  of  hair,  whereas  before  he  had  been  deformed,  poor, 
and  dumb.  Thus  rejoicing  at  his  recovery,  the  bishop  offered  to 
keep  him  in  his  family,  but  he  rather  chose  to  return  home. 


CiiAP.  III.  [a.D.  G8(3.] — How  the  same  Bishop,  by  his  Prayers,  healed  a  sicic 
Maiden. 

§  364.  The  same  Bercthun  told  another  miracle  performed  by 
the  same  bishop.  When  the  most  reverend  Uilfrid,  after  a  long 
banishment,  was  admitted  to  the  bishopric  of  the  church  of  Hagu- 
stald,  and  the  aforesaid  John,  upon  the  death  of  Bosa,  a  man  of 
great  sanctity  and  humility,  was,  in  his  place,  appointed  bishop  of 


A.D.  686.]  BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  495 

York,  he  came,  once  upon  a  time,  to  the  monastery  of  virgins,  at 
the  place  called  Vetadun,'  where  the  abbess  Heriburg  then  presided. 
"  When  we  were  come  thither,"  said  he,  "  and  had  been  received 
with  great  joy  by  all,  the  abbess  told  us,  that  one  of  the  virgins, 
who  was  her  daughter  according  to  the  flesh,  laboured  under  a  very 
grievous  distemper,  having  been  lately  bled  ^  in  the  arm,  and  whilst 
she  was  engaged  in  study,  was  seized  with  a  sudden  violent  pain, 
which  increased  so  that  the  wounded  arm  became  worse,  and  so 
much  swelled,  that  it  could  scarce  be  grasped  with  both  hands  ; 
and  thus  being  confined  to  her  bed,  through  excess  of  pain,  she 
seemed  about  to  die  very  soon.  The  abbess  entreated  the  bishop 
that  he  would  vouchsafe  to  go  in  and  give  her  his  blessing ;  for 
that  she  believed  she  would  be  the  better  for  his  blessing  or  if  he 
touched  her.  He  asked  when  the  maiden  had  been  bled?  and 
being  told  that  it  was  on  the  fourth  day  of  the  moon,  said,  '  You 
did  very  indiscreetly  and  unskilfully  to  bleed  her  on  the  fourth  day 
of  the  moon  ;  for  I  remember  that  archbishop  Theodore,  of  blessed 
memory,  said,  that  bleeding  at  that  time  was  very  dangerous,  when 
the  light  of  the  moon  and  the  tide  of  the  ocean  is  increasing ;  and 
what  can  I  do  to  the  girl  if  she  is  like  to  die?' 

§  365.  "  But  she  still  earnestly  entreated  for  her  daughter,  whom 
she  dearly  loved,  and  designed  to  make  abbess  in  her  stead  ;  and  at 
last  she  prevailed  with  him  to  go  in  to  her.  He  accordingly  went 
in,  taking  me  with  him,  to  the  virgin,  who  lay,  as  I  said,  in  great 
anguish ;  and  her  arm  was  so  much  swollen  that  no  power  of  bend- 
ing remained  in  the  elbow ;  the  bishop  stood  and  said  a  prayer 
over  her,  and  having  given  his  blessing,  went  out.  Afterwards,  as 
we  were  sitting  at  table,  at  the  usual  hour,  some  one  came  in  and 
called  me  out,  saying,  '  Quoenburg '  (that  was  the  virgin's  name) 
'  desires  you  will  immediately  go  back  to  her.'  I  did  so,  and  as  I 
entered,  I  perceived  her  countenance  more  cheerful,  and  like  one 
in  perfect  health.  Having  seated  myself  down  by  her,  she  said, 
'  Would  you  like  me  to  ask  for  something  to  drink  ? ' — '  Yes,'  said 
I,  '  and  am  veiy  glad  if  you  can.'  Wlien  the  cup  was  brought,  and 
we  had  both  drunk,  she  said,  '  As  soon  as  the  bishop  had  said  the 
prayer,  and  given  me  his  blessing,  and  had  gone  out,  I  immediately 
began  to  mend  ;  and  though  I  have  not  yet  recovered  my  former 
strength,  yet  all  the  pain  is  quite  gone  from  my  arm,  where  it  was 
most  intense,  and  from  all  my  body,  as  if  the  bishop  had  carried  it 
away  with  him  ;  though  the  swelling  of  the  arm  still  seems  to 
remain.'  Wlien  we  departed  from  thence,  the  cure  of  the  pain  in 
her  limbs  was  followed  by  the  assuaging  of  the  fearful  swelling ; 
and  the  virgin  being  thus  delivered  from  torture  and  death,  returned 
praise  to  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  with  his  other  servants  who  were 
there." 

*  Probably  Watton,  in  Yorkshire.  See  Dugd.  Monast.  ii.  798 ;  Ailred.  Rievall. 
ap.  Decern  Script,  col.  415. 

^  An  accident  arising  (apparently  from  a  punctured  artery)  from  the  system  by 
which  both  monks  and  nuns  were  subjected  to  periodical  blood-letting,  illustra- 
tions of  which  may  be  seen  in  Convent.  Aquisgi-an.  cap.  xi.  ap.  Labb.  Concil.  vii. 
1508,  Stat.  Ordinis  Carthus.  ap.  Dugd.  Monast.  i.  956.  On  the  state  of  medical 
science,  in  reference  to  this  usage,  see  Wright's  Biog.  Erit.  Liter.,  Saxon  Period, 
lutrod.  p.  100. 


496  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  686. 

Chap.  IV.  [a.d.  685.]— How  the  same  Bishop  healed  an  Earl's   Wife  that 

WAS  SICK,  WITH  HOLT  WATER. 

§  3G6.  The  same  abbat  related  another  miracle,  similar  to  tlie 
former,  of  the  aforesaid  bishop.  "  Not  very  far  distant  from  our 
monastery,  that  is,  about  almost  two  miles  off','  was  the  countn^- 
house  of  one  Puch,^  an  earl,  whose  wife  had  languished  near  forty 
days  under  a  very  acute  disease,  insomucli  that  for  three  weeks  she 
could  not  be  carried  out  of  the  room  where  she  lay.  It  happened 
that  the  man  of  God  was,  at  that  time,  invited  thither  by  the  same 
earl,  to  consecrate  a  church  ;  and  when  the  church  was  dedicated, 
the  earl  desired  him  to  dine  at  his  house.  The  bishop  declined, 
saying  that  he  must  return  to  the  monaster)^  which  was  veiy  near. 
The  other,  pressing  him  more  earnestly,  vowed  he  would  also  give 
alms  to  the  poor,  if  the  bishop  would  condescend  that  day  to  enter 
his  house,  and  break  his  fast.  I  joined  my  entreaties  to  his, 
promising  in  like  manner  that  I  would  give  alms  for  the  relief  of 
the  poor,  if  he  would  go  and  dine  at  the  earl's  house,  and  give  his 
blessing.  Having  after  some  delay,  and  with  much  difficulty,  pre- 
vailed, we  went  in  to  dine.  The  bishop  had  sent  to  the  woman 
that  lay  sick  some  of  the  holy  water "'  which  he  had  consecrated  for 
the  dedication  of  the  church,  by  one  of  the  brethren  that  went  along 
with  me  ;  ordering  him  to  give  her  some  to  taste,  and  to  wash  the 
place  where  her  greatest  pain  was  with  some  of  the  same  water. 
This  being  done,  the  woman  immediately  got  up  in  health,  and 
perceiving  that  she  had  not  only  been  delivered  from  her  tedious 
disease,  but  at  the  same  time  had  recovered  the  strength  which 
she  had  lost,  she  presented  the  cup  to  the  bishop  and  to  us,  and 
continued  serving  us  with  drink,  as  she  had  begun,  till  dinner  was 
over  ;  following  the  example  of  the  blessed  Peter's  mother-in-law, 
who,  having  been  sick  of  a  burning  fever,  arose  at  the  touch  of  oui- 
Lord's  hand,  and  having  at  once  received  he<ilth  and  strength, 
ministered  to  them."   [Matt.  viii.  14.] 


Chap.  V.  [a.d.  686.] — How  the  same  Bishop  recovered  one  of  the  Earl's 
Servants  from  death. 

§  367.  At  another  time  also,  being  called  to  dedicate  earl 
Addi's*  church,  when  he  had  performed  that  duty,  he  was  en- 
treated by  the  same  earl  to  go  in  to  one  of  his  sen'ants,  who  lay 
dangerously  ill,  and  having  lost  the  use  of  all  his  limbs,  seemed  to 

>  In  Folchard's  Life  of  St.  John  of  Beverley,  §  13,  this  country-house  is  said  to 
have  been  at  South  Burton.     See  Acta  SS.  mens.  Maii,  ii.  170. 

2  His  daughter  Yolfrida  (?)  became  a  nun  at  Beverley,  and  died  3d  March,  742  ; 
Monast.  Anglic,  i.  170,  where  it  is  also  stated  that  Puch  gave  the  manor  of  Wal- 
kington  to  IJeverley. 

^  In  the  pontifical  of  Ecgbert,  archbishop  of  York,  is  a  form  for  the  dedication 
of  a  church,  in  which  the  bishop  is  required  to  bless  salt  and  water,  wherewith  to 
sprinkle  the  altar  and  the  walls.  See  the  extract  in  Martene,  de  Antiq.  Ecclesia3 
Kitibus,  iii.  252,  ed.  1702;  Gage-Rokewood,  Onlo  ad  Dedic.  Eccl.  ap.  Archicolog. 

■•  The  anonymous  Life  of  John  of  Beverley  (of  which  an  abstract,  made  by 
Leland,  is  printed  in  Dugdale's  Monasticon,  i.  170)  states  that  this  Addi  was  earl 
of  North  Burton,  and  that  he  gave  that  place,  together  with  the  advowson  of  its 
church,  to  Beverley. 


A.D.  GS5.J  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK  V.  497 

be  just  at  the  point  of  death ;  and  indeed  the  coffin  had  then  been 
provided  in  which  to  bury  him.  The  earl  urged  his  entreaties  with 
tears,  earnestly  requesting  that  he  would  go  in  and  pray  for  him> 
because  his  life  was  of  great  consequence  to  him  ;  and  he  believed 
that  if  the  bishop  would  lay  his  hand  upon  him  and  give  him  his 
blessing,  he  would  soon  amend.  The  bishop  went  in,  and  saw  him 
in  a  dying  condition,  and  the  coffin  by  his  side  in  which  he  was  to 
be  placed  for  burial,  whilst  all  that  were  present  were  sorrowing. 
He  said  the  prayer,  blessed  him,  and  on  going  out,  as  is  the  usual 
expression  of  comforters,  said,  "  May  you  soon  recover,"  After- 
wards, when  they  were  sitting  at  table,  the  lad  sent  to  his  lord,  to 
desire  he  would  let  him  have  a  cup  of  wine,  because  he  was  thirsty. 
The  earl,  rejoicing  that  he  could  drink,  sent  him  a  cup  of  wine, 
blessed  by  the  bishop  ;  which  as  soon  as  he  had  drunk,  he  imme- 
diately got  up,  and  shaking  off  his  late  infirmity,  dressed  himself, 
and  going  in  to  the  bishop,  saluted  him  and  the  other  guests, 
saying  that  he  also  would  be  glad  to  eat  and  be  merry  with  them. 
They  ordered  him  to  sit  down  with  them  at  the  entertainment, 
greatly  rejoicing  at  his  recovery.  He  sat  down,  ate,  drank,  and 
was  merry,  as  if  he  had  been  one  of  the  company  ;  and  living  many 
years  after,  continued  in  the  same  state  of  health.  The  aforesaid 
abbat  says  this  miracle  was  not  wrought  in  his  presence,  but  that 
he  had  it  from  those  who  were  there. 


Chap.  VI.  [a.d.  685.] — How,  bt  his  Prayers  and  Blessing,  he  delivered  from 
Death  one  of  his  Clerks,  who  had  bruised  himself  by  a  fall. 

§  368.  Nor  do  I  think  that  this  further  miracle,  which  Herebald, 
the  servant  of  Christ,  was  wont  to  say  was  wrought  upon  himself, 
is  to  be  passed  over  in  silence.  He  was  then  one  of  that  bishop's 
clergy,  but  now  presides  as  abbat  in  the  monastery  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Tyne.  "  Being  present,"  said  he,  "  and  very  well  ac- 
quainted with  his  course  of  life,  I  found  it  to  be  in  all  respects 
worthy  of  a  bishop,  as  far  as  it  is  lawful  for  men  to  judge  ;  but  I 
have  known  by  the  experience  of  many  others,  and  more  particularly 
by  my  own,  how  great  his  merit  was  before  Him  who  is  the  Judge 
of  the  heart ;  having  been  by  his  prayer  and  blessing  brought  back, 
I  may  say,  from  the  gates  of  death  to  the  way  of  life.  For  when,  in 
the  prime  of  my  youth,  I  lived  among  his  clergy,  applying  myself  to 
reading  and  singing,  but  not  yet  having  altogether  withdrawn  my 
heart  from  youthful  pleasures,  it  happened  one  day  that,  as  we 
were  travelling  with  him,  we  came  into  a  plain  and  open  road,  well 
adapted  for  racing  our  horses.  The  young  men  that  were  with 
him,  and  particularly  those  of  the  laity,  began  to  entreat  the  bishop 
to  give  them  leave  to  gallop,  and  thus  make  trial  of  the  goodness 
of  their  horses.  He  at  first  refused,  saying  that  it  was  an  idle 
request ;  but  at  last,  being  prevailed  on  by  the  unanimous  desire  of 
so  many,  '  Do  so,'  said  he,  '  if  you  will,  but  let  Herebald  have  no 
part  at  all  in  the  trial.'  I  earnestly  prayed  that  I  might  have  leave 
to  strive  with  the  rest,  for  I  relied  on  an  excellent  horse  which  he 
had  given  me,  but  I  could  not  by  any  means  obtain  my  request. 

VOL.   I.  K    K 


498  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  685. 

§  369.  "  When  they  had  several  times  galloped  backwards  and 
forwards,  the  bishop  and  I  looking  on,  my  wanton  humour  prevailed, 
and  I  could  no  longer  refrain,  but  though  he  forbade  me,  I  mingled 
myself  in  among  them,  and  began  to  ride  at  full  speed  ;  at  which  I 
heard  him  call  after  me,  with  a  groan,  '  Alas  !  how  much  you 
grieve  me  by  riding  after  that  manner.'  Though  I  heard  him,  I 
went  on  against  his  command  ;  but  immediately  the  fiery  horse, 
taking  a  great  leap  over  a  hollow  place  in  the  course,  I  fell,  and 
entirely  lost  all  sense  and  motion,  as  if  I  had  been  dead.  For  there 
was  in  that  place  a  stone,  level  with  the  ground,  covered  with  only 
a  thin  coating  of  turf,  and  no  other  stone  was  to  be  found  in  all  that 
plain ;  and  it  happened,  as  a  punishment  for  the  sin  of  my  disobe- 
dience, either  by  chance,  or  rather  by  divine  providence  so  ordering 
it,  that  my  head  and  hand,  which  in  falling  I  had  placed  under  my 
head,  hit  upon  that  stone,  so  that  my  thumb  was  broken  and  the 
sutures  of  my  skull  loosened,  and  I  lay,  as  I  said,  like  one  dead. 
And  because  I  could  not  be  moved,  they  stretched  over  me  a  tent 
for  me  to  lie  in.  It  was  about  the  seventh  hour  of  the  day;  and 
having  lain  still,  and  as  it  were  dead,  from  that  time  till  the  evening, 
I  then  revived  a  little,  and  was  carried  home  by  my  companions, 
but  lay  speechless  all  the  night,  vomiting  blood,  because  my  intes- 
tines were  ruptured  within  me  by  the  fall.  The  bishop  was  very- 
much  grieved  at  my  misfortune,  and  expected  my  death,  for  he 
loved  me  with  an  extraordinary  affection.  Nor  would  he  stay  that 
night,  as  he  was  wont,  among  his  clergy ;  but  spent  it  all  in  watching 
and  prayer  alone,  imploring  the  divine  goodness,  as  I  imagine,  for 
my  recovery.  Coming  to  me  in  the  morning,  very  early,  and 
having  said  a  prayer  over  me,  he  called  me  by  my  name,  and  as 
it  were  waking  me  out  of  a  heavy  sleep,  asked  whether  I  knew 
who  it  was  that  spoke  to  me.  I  opened  my  eyes  and  said,  '  I  do  ; 
you  are  my  beloved  bishop.' — '  Can  you  live  ?'  said  he.  I  answered, 
'  I  may,  through  your  prayers,  if  it  shall  please  the  Lord.' 

§  370.  "  He  then  laid  his  hand  on  my  head,  with  the  words  of 
blessing,  and  returned  to  prayer ;  and  when  he  came  again  to  see 
me,  in  a  short  time,  he  found  me  sitting  and  able  to  talk  ;  and, 
being  admonished  by  divine  instinct,  as  it  soon  appeared,  he  began 
to  ask  me  whether  I  knew  for  certain  that  I  had  been  baptized  ?  I 
answered  that  I  knew  beyond  all  doubt  that  I  had  been  washed  in 
the  font  of  salvation,  to  the  remission  of  my  sins,  and  I  named  the 
priest  by  whom  I  knew  myself  to  have  been  baptized.  He  replied, 
'  If  you  were  baptized  by  that  priest,  your  baptism  is  not  perfect ; 
for  I  know  him,  and  that  having  been  ordained  priest,  he  could 
not,  by  reason  of  the  dulness  of  his  understanding,  learn  the 
ministry  of  catechising  and  baptizing  ;  for  which  reason  I  myself 
have  commanded  him  altogether  to  desist  from  his  presumptuous 
exercising  of  the  ministry,  which  he  could  not  rightly  perform.' 
This  said,  he  himself  took  care  to  catechise  me  at  that  very  time  ;  and 
it  happened  that  as  he  blew'  upon   my  face,  I  presently  found 

*  Allusion  is  here  made  to  the  rite  of  exsufflation  which  formed  a  part  of  the 
early  baptismal  service,  respecting  which  the  reader  may  consult  Martene,  De 
Antiq.  Eccl.  lUtibus,  i.  32. 


A.D.  689.]         BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  499 

myself  better.  He  called  the  surgeon,  and  ordered  him  to  close 
and  bind  up  my  skull  where  it  had  been  loosened  ;  and  having  then 
received  his  blessing,  I  was  so  much  better  that  I  mounted  on 
horseback  the  next  day,  and  travelled  with  him  to  another  place ; 
and  being  soon  after  perfectly  recovered,  I  was  sprinkled  with  the 
life-giving  water." 

§  371-  [a.d.  721.]  He  continued  in  the  episcopate  during 
thirty-three  years,*  and  then  ascending  to  the  heavenly  kingdom, 
was  buried  in  St.  Peter's  Porch,  in  his  own  monastery,  called  "  In 
silva  Derorum,"  in  the  year  from  our  Lord's  incarnation  721. 
For  having,  by  his  great  age,  become  unable  to  govern  his  bishopric, 
he  ordained  tJilfrid,  his  priest,  to  the  see  of  the  church  of  York, 
and  retired  to  the  aforesaid  monastery,  and  there  ended  his  days  in 
holy  conversation. 

Chap.  VII.  [a.d.  688,  689.] — How  Caedualla,  King  of  the  West  Saxons,  went 
TO  Rome  to  be  baptized  ;  and  how  his  successor  Ini  also  devoutly  repaired 
TO  the  same  church  of  the  holy  apostles. 

§  372.  In  the  third  year  of  the  reign  of  Aldfrid,  Caedualla,  king 
of  the  West  Saxons,  after  having  most  powerfully  governed  his 
nation  two  years,  quitted^  his  rule  for  the  sake  of  our  Lord  and  his 
everlasting  kingdom,  and  went  to  Rome,  being  desirous  to  obtain 
the  peculiar  honour  of  being  washed  in  the  font  of  baptism  within 
the  church  of  the  blessed  apostles,  for  he  had  learned  that  in 
baptism  alone,  the  entrance  into  heaven  is  opened  to  mankind  ; 
and  he  hoped  at  the  same  time,  that  laying  down  the  flesh,  as  soon 
as  baptized,  he,  being  cleansed,  should  immediately  pass  to  the 
eternal  joys  of  heaven  ;  both  which  things,  by  the  blessing  of  our 
Lord,  came  to  pass  according  as  he  had  conceived  in  his  mind. 
For  coming  to  Rome,  at  the  time  that  Sergius*  was  pope,  he  was 
baptized  on  the  holy  Saturday*  [10th  April]  before  Easter  day,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  689,  and  being  still  in  his  white^  gar- 
ments, he  fell  sick,  and  was  freed  from  the  flesh  on  the  twelfth  of 

'  Beda  here  gives  the  duration  of  his  episcopate  in  round  numbers,  mentioning 
only  the  completed  number  of  years ;  but  we  learn  from  Folchard,  §  27,  that  it 
extended  over  a  period  of  thirty-three  years,  eight  months,  and  thirteen  days, 
(Acta  SS.  mens.  Maii,  ii.  173,)  which,  if  correct,  would  throw  back  his  consecra- 
tion as  bishop  to  685.  Pagi,  however,  thinks  that  Folchard  has  committed  an 
error  in  these  numerals,  and  that  the  true  date  is  686.  The  process  by  which  he 
endeavom-s  to  establish  this  conclusion  may  be  seen  in  his  Critica,  a.d.  721,  §  6. 
According  to  this  authority  John  was  created  bishop  in  686,  resigned  that  office 
in  718,  and  lived  nearly  four  years  in  the  habit  of  a  monk  at  Beverley. 

^  Aldfrid's  reign  over  Northumbria  is  dated  from  20th  May,  685,  the  resigna- 
tion of  Caedualla  must  therefore  have  occurred  after  20th  May,  688.  Paul 
Warnefrid,  de  Gestis  Longobard.  vi.  §  15,  says  that  on  his  way  to  Rome,  Caedualla 
visited  Cunibert,  king  of  Lombardy,  by  whom  he  was  joyfully  received. 

*  Sergius  I.  was  chosen  pope  towards  the  end  of  687,  and  died  in  701. 

*  On  the  discipline  of  the  early  church  respecting  the  baptism  of  catechumens 
on  this  day,  the  reader  may  consult  two  treatises  by  I.  J.  Homborg,  one  entitled, 
"  De  Paschate  Veterum  Christ."  §  9,  4to,  Helmst.  1683;  the  other,  "  De  Quadra- 
gesima Veterum  Christ."  §  67,  4to,  Helmst.  1677;  and  further,  Martene,  De 
Antiq.  Ecclesicc  Ritibus,  i.  3. 

*  The  white  garment  in  which  the  newly  baptized  Christian  was  clothed,  was 
worn  by  him  until  the  first  Sunday  after  Easter,  which  was  in  consequence  called 
"  Dominica  in  Albis."  J.  Musreus,  De  Ritibus  Baptisnialibus,  §  49,  4to,  Jense 
(1674);  Martene,  De  Antiq.  Ecclesice  Ritibus,  i.  138,  139. 

K  K   2 


500  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.    C39— 

the  kalends  of  May  [20th  April],  and  was  associated  with  the  blessed 
in  heaven.  At  his  baptism,  the  aforesaid  pope  had  given  him  the 
name  of  Peter,  to  the  end  that  he  might  be  also  united  in  name  to 
the  most  blessed  chief  of  the  apostles,  to  whose  most  holy  body 
his  pious  love  had  brought  him  from  the  utmost  bounds  of  the 
earth.  He  was  likewise  buried  in  his  church,  and  by  the  pope's 
command  an  epitaph  was  v/ritten  on  his  tomb,  wherein  the  memory 
of  his  devotion  might  be  preserved  for  ever,  and  the  readers  or 
hearers  might  be  inflamed  with  religious  desire  by  the  example  of 
what  he  had  done. 

The  epitaph'  was  this  : — 

High  state  and  place,  kindred,  a  wealthy  crown, 

Triumphs,  and  spoils  obtain'd  in  high  renown, 

Nobles,  and  cities  wall'd,  to  guard  his  state, 

High  palaces,  and  his  familiar  seat, 

Whatever  honours  his  owTa  virtue  gain'd, 

Or  those  his  great  forefathers  had  obtain'd. 

The  strong-arm'd  Caedual,  from  high  heaven  inspired. 

For  love  of  heaven  hath  left,  and  here  retired ; 

Peter  to  see,  and  Peter's  sacred  chair, 

The  royal  jiilgrim  travell'd  from  afar, 

Here  to  imbibe  pure  draughts  from  his  clear  stream, 

And  share  the  influence  of  his  heavenly  beam  ; 

Here  for  the  glories  of  a  future  claim, 

Converted,  changed  his  first  and  barbarous  name. 

And  following  Peter's  rule,  he  from  his  Lord 

Took  the  same  name  at  father  Sergius'  word, 

At  the  pure  font  of  baptism  by  Christ's  grace, 

Hath  washed  away  of  former  sin  the  trace. 

Great  was  his  faith,  but  greater  God's  decree. 

Whose  secret  counsels  mortal  cannot  see : 

Safe  came  he,  from  far  Biitain,  o'er  the  sea, 

Rome  to  behold,  in  her  old  majesty. 

And  mystic  presents  ofTer'd  on  his  knee. 

Now  in  the  grave  his  fleshy  members  lie. 

His  soul,  amid  Christ's  flock,  ascends  the  sky. 

Sure  wise  was  he  to  lay  his  sceptre  down. 

And  gain  in  heaven  above  a  lasting  crown. 
Here  was  deposited  Caedual,  called  also  Peter,  king  of  the  Saxons,  on  the 
twelfth  day  of  the  kalends  of  May  [20th  April],  the  second  indiction.  He  lived 
about  thirty  years,  [and  died]  in  the  reign  of  the  most  pious  emperor,  Justinian, 
in  the  fourth  year  of  his  consulship, in  the  second  year  of  the  pontificate  of  our 
apostolic  lord,  pope  Sergius. 

§  373.  Wlien  Caedualla  went  to  Rome,  Ini^  succeeded  him  in 
the  kingdom,  being  of  the  blood  royal ;  and  having  reigned  thirty - 

•  Other  copies  of  these  lines  may  be  found  in  the  Harleian  MSS.  3685,  and  in  a 
MS.  in  the  Library  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  R.  v.  33,  which  formerly 
belonged  to  Glastonbury,  (to  which  monastery  Caedualla  had  been  a  benefactor, 
Monast.  Anglic,  i.  9,  12;)  but  the  variations  furni.shed  by  these  MSS.  are  of  no 
great  raomuut.  Of  gi-eater  value  is  the  copy  <jf  tliis  ei)itai)h  given  by  Fabretti  iu 
his  "  Autiqutc  Inscriptiones,"  No.  463,  p.  735,  taken  from  the  original  stone, 
which  was  found  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter  at  Rome.  It  is  satisfactory  to  know 
that  it  agrees  closely  with  the  text  furnished  by  Beda,  the  variations  between  the 
two  not  being  of  such  a  character  as  to  affect  the  sense. 

2  Concerning  lui,  of  Wessex,  see  Acta  SS.  mens.  Feb.  i.  905;  Mabill.  Acta  SS. 
Ord.  S.  Bened.  IIL  i.  462.  The  position  which  ho  occupied  in  the  pedigi-ee  of  the 
royal  family  of  Wcssex  may  be  seen  on  a  reference  to  the  genealogical  table  at 
the  end  of  the  first  volume  of  Lapj.euberg's  History  of  the  Anglo-Saxons.  Since 
ho  succeeded  to  the  throne  in  688,  his  journey  to  Rome  must  have  occurred  in 
725,  or  726  at  the  latest,  and  cannot  be  referred  to  728,  as  in  the  Saxon  Chronicle 
and  Florence  of  Worcester ;  although  it  is  probable  that  these  entries  have  refer- 
ence rather  to  the  date  of  his  death  than  of  his  abdication. 


A.D.  C&2.]         BEDA'S    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  501 

seven  years  over  that  nation,  he  also  gave'  up  the  kingdom  in  Hke 
manner  to  younger  persons,  and  went  to  Rome,  to  visit  the  shrine 
of  the  blessed  apostles,  at  the  time  when  Gregory^  was  pope,  being 
desirous  to  spend  some  time  of  his  pilgrimage  upon  earth  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  holy  places,  that  he  might  be  more  easily  received 
by  the  saints  into  heaven.  The  same  thing,  about  the  same  time, 
was  done  by  crowds^  of  the  English  nation,  noble  and  ignoble,  laity 
and  clergy,  men  and  women. 


Chap.  VIII.  [a-d.  690.]— How,  Archbishop  Theodore  being  dead,  Berctuald 

SUCCEEDS    HIM  AS  ArOHBISHOP,  AND,  AMONG   MANY    OTHERS  WHOM   HE  ORDAINED, 

HE  MADE  Tobias,  a  most  learned  man,  Bishop  of  the  church  op  Rochester. 

§  374.  In  the  year  after  that  in  which  Caedualla  died  at 
Rome,  that  is,  in  the  year  690  after  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord, 
archbishop  Theodore,*  of  blessed  memory,  departed  this  life,  old 
and  full  of  days,  for  he  was  eighty-eight  years  of  age  ;  which  number 
of  years  he  had  been  wont  long  before  to  foretel  to  his  friends  that 
he  should  live,  the  same  having  been  revealed  to  him  in  a  dream. 
He  held  the  bishopric  twenty-two  years,  and  was  buried  in  St. 
Peter's  church,  where  all  the  bodies  of  the  bishops  of  Canterbury 
are  buried.*  Of  whom,  as  well  as  of  his  companions,  of  the  same 
degree,  it  may  rightly  and  truly  be  said,  that  their  bodies  are 
interred  in  peace,  and  their  names  shall  live  from  generation  to 
generation.  For  to  say  all  in  few  words,  the  English  churches  made 
greater  spiritual  advancement  during  the  time  of  his  pontificate, 
than  ever  they  could  do  before.  His  person,  life,  age,  and  death, 
are  openly  and  plainly  described  to  all  that  resort  thither,  by  the 
epitaph  on  his  tomb,  consisting  of  thirty-four  heroic  verses.  The 
first  whereof  are  these  : — 

'Here  rests  famed  Theodore,  a  Grecian  name, 
^Vllo  had  o'er  England  an  archbishop's  claim  ; 
Happy  and  bless'd,  industriously  he  wrought, 
And  wholesome  precepts  to  his  scholars  taught. 

The  last  four  are  as  follow  : — 

And  now  it  was  September's  nineteenth  day, 
When,  bursting  from  its  ligaments  of  clay, 
Hia  spirit  rose  to  its  eternal  rest, 
And  joined  in  heaven  the  chorus  of  the  blest. 

§  375.  [a.d.  692.]  Berctuald®  succeeded  Theodore  in  the 
bishopric,  having  been  abbat^  of  the  monastery  of  Racuulf,  which 

'  Malmesbury  gives  a  long  account  of  the  measures  adopted  by  queen  Ethel- 
berga  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  object. 

2  Namely,  Pope  Gregory  the  Second. 

3  See  Smith  (bishop  of  Chalcedon),  Flores  Hist.  Eccl.  Angl.  p.  162,  (fol.  Paris. 
1654,)  for  a  list  of  these  persons  to  whom  Beda  hero  alludes. 

*  The  chief  pai-ticulars  respecting  Theodore's  pontificate  may  be  seen  in  Mabill. 
Acta  SS.  Ord.  S.  Beued.  ii.  985;  Acta  SS.  mens.  Sept.  vi.  55. 

^  The  archbishops  of  Canterbury  before  Theodore  were  buried  in  the  northern 
portico  of  the  church  of  St.  Peter.  See  §  96.  His  remains  were  translated  along 
with  those  of  Augustin  in  the  year  1091.  See  the  Life  of  Augustin  by  Gotscelin, 
Acta  SS.  Ord.  S.  Bened.  ix.  759. 

^  Many  of  the  MSS.  here  commence  a  new  chapter. 

^  The  monastery  of  lieculver,  in  Kent,  Monast.  Anglic,  i.  80.     A  charter  is  yet 


502  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  689- 

lies  on  the  north  side  of  the  moutli  of  the  river  Genlade.'  He 
was  a  man  well  learned  in  the  Scriptures,  and  amply  instructed  in 
ecclesiastical  and  monastic  discipline,  yet  not  at  all  to  be  compared 
to  his  predecessor.  He  was  chosen  bishop  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord's  incarnation  692,  on  the  first  day  of  July,  Uictred^  and 
Suaebhard  being  kings  in  Kent ;  but  he  was  consecrated  the  next 
year,  on  Sunday  the  third  of  the  kalends  of  July  [29th  June],  by 
Goduin,*  metropolitan  bishop  of  Gaul,  and  was  enthroned  on 
Sunday,  the  day  before  the  kalends  of  September  [31st  August]. 

Among  the  many  bishops  whom  he  ordained  was  Tobias,  a  man 
learned  in  the  Latin,  Greek,  and  Saxon  tongues,  otherwise  also 
possessing  much  erudition,  whom  he  consecrated  in  the  stead  of 
Gebmund,*  bishop  of  the  church  of  Rochester,  deceased. 


Chap.  IX.  [a.d.  689.] — How  Ecgberct,  a  holy  man,  -would  hate  gone  into 
Germany  to  preach,  but  could  not  ;  how  Uictberct  went,  but  he  meeting 
with  no  success,  returned  into  ireland,  from  whence  he  came. 

§  376.  At  that  time  the  venerable  ser\'ant  of  Christ,  and 
priest,  Ecgberct,* — whom  I  cannot  name  but  with  the  greatest 
respect,  and  who,  as  was  said  before, **  lived  a  stranger's  life  in 
the  island  of  Ireland  in  order  to  obtain  hereafter  a  residence 
in  heaven, — proposed  to  himself  to  do  good  to  many,  by  taking 
upon  himself  the  apostolical  work,  and  preaching  the  word  of  God 
to  some  of  those  nations  that  had  not'  yet  heard  it ;  many  of 
which  nations  he  knew  there  were  in  Germany,  from  whom  the 
Angles  or  Saxons,  who  now  inhabit  Britain,  are  known  to  have 
derived  their  origin  ;  for  which  reason  they  are  still  corruptly  called 
Garmans  by  the  neighbouring  nation  of  the  Britons.  Such  are  the 
Frisians,*  the  Rugins,"  the  Danes,  the  Huns,"  the  Old  Saxons,"  and 

extant,  gi-aiited  by  Hlotliair,  of  Kent,  to  abbot  Berctuald,  of  lands  in  Thanet, 
dated  at  Kacnlf  in  May,  679.     See  Kemble's  Cod.  Diplom.  No.  16. 

'  Now  called  the  Inlade. 

-  Wilitred  was  sou  of  Ecgberct,  king  of  Kent,  (§§  271,  342,)  but  it  is  uncertain 
who  this  Suebred  was,  and  how  he  came  to  be  associated  in  the  government  of  the 
kingdom.     See  Kemble's  Cod.  Diplom.  i.  46. 

*  Although  Beda  does  not  specify  the  see  over  which  this  metropolitan  pre- 
sided, yet  it  is  clear  that  he  alludes  to  Goduin,  archbishop  of  Lyons,  whose  life 
is  given  in  the  Gallia  Christ,  iv.  50. 

*  The  dates  respecting  the  episcopates  of  Tobias  and  Gebmund,  like  those  of 
most  of  the  early  bishops  of  Rochester,  are  confused  and  uncertain. 

^  Concerning  his  mission  the  reader  may  consult  the  Acta  SS.  mens.  April,  iii. 
313.  "  See  §§  241,  242. 

^  It  is  contended  by  Gerbert  that  Beda  here  overstates  his  point,  (see  the 
treatise  of  that  writer,  De  Origine  et  Propagatione  Religionis  Christiantc  in 
Alemannia,  in  his  Vetus  Liturgia  Alenian.  i.  1,  ed.  S.  Bias  1776,)  but  a  perusal  of 
the  Life  and  Letters  of  Boniface,  or  Winfrid,  would  seem  to  establish  the  accuracy 
of  our  historian. 

*  The  inhabitants  of  Frisia,  of  which  the  capital  wa.s  Utrecht. 

'  The  inhabitants  of  a  district  near  the  Baltic  Sea,  of  which  the  island  of  Rugen 
formed  a  part ;  probably  Pomerania. 

'°  Sometimes  called  the  Avari;  their  residence  was  in  Pannonla.  They  were 
subjugated  by  Charlemagne. 

"  A  nation  bordering  upon  the  Frisians,  and  frequently  mentioned  in  conjunc- 
tion with  them.     See  Alcuini,  0pp.  i.  6,  etc. 


A.D.  689.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  503 

the  Boructuarians.^  There  are  also  in  the  same  parts  very  many 
other  nations  still  following  pagan  rites,  to  whom  the  aforesaid 
soldier  of  Christ  designed  to  repair,  having  sailed  round  Britain, 
and  to  try  whether  he  could  deliver  any  of  them  from  Satan,  and 
bring  them  over  to  Christ ;  or  if  this  could  not  be  done,  he  medi- 
tated going  to  Rome,  that  he  might  see  and  adore  the  hallowed 
thresholds  of  the  blessed  apostles  and  martyrs  of  Christ. 

§  377.  But  the  divine  oracles  and  certain  events  proceeding 
from  heaven  obstructed  his  performing  either  of  these  designs  ;  for 
when  he  had  made  choice  of  some  most  courageous  companions, 
fitted  to  preach  the  word  of  God,  as  being  renowned  for  their 
courage  and  learning ;  when  all  things  necessary  were  provided  for 
the  voyage,  there  came  to  him  on  a  certain  day,  early  in  the 
morning,  one  of  the  brethren,  formerly  disciple  and  servant  in 
Britain  to  the  beloved  priest  of  God,  Boisil,  when  the  said  Boisil 
was  superior  of  the  monastery  of  Melrose,  under  the  abbat  Eata, 
as  has  been  said  above.*  This  brother  told  him  the  vision  which 
had  appeared  to  him  that  night.  "  Wlien,  after  having  finished 
the  morning  hymns,"  said  he,  "  I  had  laid  me  down^  in  my  bed, 
and  was  fallen  into  a  light  slumber,  my  former  master  and  loving 
tutor,  Boisil,  appeared  to  me,  and  asked  me  whether  I  knew  him. 
I  said,  '  I  do ;  you  are  Boisil.'  He  answered,  '  I  am  come  to 
bring  Ecgberct  an  answer  from  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  which 
nevertheless  must  be  delivered  to  him  by  you.  Tell  him,  there- 
fore, that  he  cannot  perform  the  journey  which  he  has  undertaken; 
for  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  he  should  rather  go  to  instruct*  the 
monasteries  of  Columba.'  "  Now  Columba  was  the  first  teacher 
of  the  faith  of  Christ  to  the  Picts  beyond  the  mountains  north- 
ward, and  the  first  founder  of  the  monastery  in  the  island  Hii, 
which  was  for  a  long  time  much  honoured  by  many  tribes  of  the 
Scots  and  Picts  ;  wherefore  this  Columba  is  now  by  some  called 
Columcelli,  the  name  being  compounded  from  Cella  and  Columba. 
Ecgberct,  having  heard  the  words  of  the  vision,  ordered  the  brother 
that  had  told  it  him,  not  to  mention  it  to  any  other,  lest  it  should 
happen  to  be  an  illusion.  However,  when  he  considered  of  it 
privately  within  himself,  he  was  apprehensive  that  it  was  real ;  yet 
he  would  not  desist  from  preparing  for  his  voyage  to  instruct  those 
gentiles. 

§  378.  A  few  days  afterwards  the  aforesaid  brother  came  to  him 
the  second  time,  saying  that  Boisil  had  that  night  again  appeared 

*  See  the  Germania  of  Tacitus,  §  33.  The  inhabitants  of  a  district  on  the  river 
Necker,  as  appears  by  a  comparison  of  the  present  passage  with  the  poem  of 
Apollinaria  Sidonius  (De  Galliis,  1.  324),  ap.  Bouquet,  i.  806 ;  or  the  country 
between  the  Rhine  and  the  Weser.  Acta  SS.  mens.  Mart.  i.  70.  The  difficulty  of 
identifying  the  exact  locality  of  this  people  probably  arises  from  the  fact  men- 
tioned by  Tacitus,  Namely,  that  the  tribe  had  been  broken  up  and  scattered  over 
the  neighbouring  districts.  The  Saxon  version  throws  no  light  upon  the  names 
of  these  peoples.  2  ggg  g  343 

^  From  this  and  a  subsequent  passage  it  is  obvious  that  their  morning  service 
was  commenced  at  midnight,  and  that  after  its  completion  the  monks  retired  for 
a  short  time  to  rest.  See  Martene,  De  Antiq.  Monach.  Ritibus,  lib.  i.  cap.  1. 

^  It  will  be  remembered  that  those  monasteries  founded  by  Columba  differed 
from  those  founded  by  the  followers  of  Augustin  on  the  Roman  calculation  of 
Easter  and  on  some  other  points.     See  §§  233 — 235. 


504  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [ad.  690. 

to  him  after  the  conclusion  of  matins,  and  said,  "  Wliy  did  you  tell 
Ecgherct  that  which  I  enjoined  you,  in  so  negligent  and  cold  a 
manner  ?  However,  go  now  and  tell  him,  that  whether  he  will  or 
no,  he  shall  go  to  Columba's  monasteries,  because  their  pleughs  do 
not  go  straight;  and  he  is  to  bring  them  into  the  right  way." 
Hearing  this,  Ecgberct  again  commanded  the  brother  not  to  reveal 
the  same  to  any  person.  Though  now  assured  of  the  vision,  he 
nevertheless  attempted  to  undertake  his  intended  voyage  with  the 
brethren  whom  I  have  mentioned.  Wlien  they  had  put  aboard  all 
that  was  requisite  for  so  long  a  voyage,  and  had  waited  some  days 
for  a  fair  wind,  there  arose  one  night  on  a  sudden  so  violent  a 
storm,  that  part  of  what  had  been  put  in  the  ship  was  spoiled,  and 
they  deserted  her,  lying  on  the  sea- shore,  but  surrounded  by  the 
water.  However,  all  that  belonged  to  Ecgberct  and  his  com- 
panions w'as  saved.  Then  he,  saying,  like  the  prophet,  "lliis' 
tempest  has  happened  upon  my  account,"  laid  aside  the  under- 
tciking  and  was  contented  to  stay  at  home. 

§  379.  [a.d.  690.]  However,  Uictberct,  one  of  his  companions, 
being  famous  for  his  contempt  of  the  world  and  for  his  knowledge, 
— for  he  had  lived  many  years  a  stranger  in  Ireland,  leading  the 
life  of  a  hermit  in  great  purity, — took  shipping,  and  arriving  in 
Frisia,  preached  the  Word  of  salvation  for  the  space  of  two  years 
successively  to  that  nation,  and  to  its  king,  Rathbed  ;  ^  but  reaped 
no  fruit  of  all  his  great  labour  among  his  barbarous  auditors. 
Returning  then  to  the  beloved  place  of  his  peregrination,  he  gave 
himself  up  to  our  Lord  in  his  wonted  repose,  and  since  he  could  not 
be  profitable  to  strangers  by  teaching  them  the  faith,  he  took  care  to 
be  the  more  useful  to  his  own  people  by  the  example  of  his  virtues. 


Chap.  X.  [a.d.  690.] — How  Uilbrord,  preacuing  in  Frisia,  converted  mant 
TO  Christ  ;  and  uow  nis  two  companions,  the  Hewalds,  suffered  martyrdom. 

§  380.  When  the  man  of  God,  Ecgberct,  perceived  that  neither 
he  himself  was  permitted  to  preach  to  the  gentiles,  being  withheld, 
on  account  of  some  other  advantage  to  t!ie  holy  church,  concerning 
which  he  had  been  admonished  by  the  divine  oracle  ;  nor  that 
Uictberct,  when  he  went  into  those  parts,  had  met  with  any  suc- 
cess ;  he  nevertheless  still  attempted  to  send  some  holy  and  indus- 
trious men  to  the  work  of  the  Word,  among  whom  was  Uilbrord,* 
a  man  eminent  for  his  merit  and  rank  in  the  priesthood.  They 
arrived*  there,  twelve  in  number,  and  turning  aside  to  Pepin,^  duke 

»  Jonah  i.  12. 

^  Concerning  him,  see  Alcuin'a  Life  of  Wilbrord,  i.  §§  C,  9,  10,  &c. ;  ap.  Mabill. 
Acta  SS.  Orel.  S.  Beued.  III.  i.  565,  seq. 

••  A  life  of  Wilbrord,  written  by  Alcuin  in  a.d.  796,  may  be  seen  in  the  Works 
of  that  author,  ii.  183,  and  in  the  collection  cited  in  the  last  note. 

*  He  arrived  there  in  690,  (not  692,  as  Smith  states,)  according  to  the  coeval 
entry  in  the  margin  of  a  calendar  which  was  preserved  at  Epternach,  concerning 
which  sec  Calraet's  Hist,  de  Lorraine,  iii.  99.  A  good  abstract  of  Wilbrord's  life 
may  be  seen  in  AVright's  Biog.  Anglo-Sax.  p.  250. 

'  I'epin  of  Heristal.  The  visit  of  the  missionaries  to  him  arose,  probably,  from 
their  desire  to  avail  themselves  of  the  gi-eat  accession  of  power  which  he  had 
recently  gained  by  the  defeat  which  he  had  inllicted  iii)on  king  Thierry  in  6S7, 
at  the  battle  of  Tcrtri.     See  Pagi  ad  an.  §  8. 


A.D.  690.]         BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history.- BOOK    V.  505 

of  the  Franks,  were  graciously  received  by  him  ;  and  as  he  had 
lately  subdued  the  Hither  Frisia,  and  thence  expelled  king  Rath- 
bed/  he  sent  them  thither  to  preach,  supporting  them  at  the  same 
time  with  his  royal  authority,  that  none  might  molest  them  at  all 
in  their  preaching,  and  bestowing  many  favours  on  those  who 
consented  to  embrace  the  faith.  Thus  it  came  to  pass,  with  the 
assistance  of  the  divine  grace,  that  in  a  short  time  they  converted 
many  from  idolatry  to  the  faith  of  Christ. 

§381.  Two  other  priests  of  the  English  nation,  who  had  long 
lived  strangers  in  Ireland,  for  the  sake  of  the  eternal  kingdom, 
following  the  example  of  the  former,  went  into  the  province  of  the 
Old  Saxons,  to  try  whether  they  could  there  win  any  to  Christ  by 
preaching.  They  both  bore  the  same  name,  as  they  were  the  same 
in  devotion,  Hewald  being  the  name  of  both,  with  this  distinction, 
however,  that,  on  account  of  the  dilierence  in  their  hair,  the  one 
was  called  Hewald  the  Black,  and  the  other  Hewald  the  Wliite. 
They  were  both  piously  religious,  but  Hewald  the  Black  was  the 
more  learned  of  the  two  in  the  knowledge  of  the  holy  scriptures. 
On  entering  that  province,  these  men  took  up  their  lodging  in  a 
certain  steward's  house,  and  requested  that  he  would  conduct  them 
to  his  over-lord,^  for  that  they  had  a  message,  and  something  to 
*his  advantage,  to  communicate  to  him.  For  those  Old  Saxons 
have  no  king,^  but  several  over-lords  that  rule  their  nation  ;  and 
when  any  war  happens,  they  cast  lots  indifTerently,  and  on  whom- 
soever the  lot  falls,  him  they  follow  and  obey  as  their  leader  during 
the  war ;  but  as  soon  as  the  war  is  ended,  all  those  over-lords  are 
again  equal  in  power.  The  steward  received  and  entertained  them 
in  his  house  for  some  days,  promising  to  send  them  to  his  over- 
lord, as  they  desired. 

§  382.  But  the  barbarians  finding  them  to  be  of  another  religion, 
by  their  continual  prayer  and  singing  of  psalms  and  hymns,  and  by 
their  daily  offering  to  God  the  sacrifice  of  the  saving  oblation, — for 
they  had  with  them  sacred  vessels  and  a  consecrated  table*  for  an 
altar, — theybegan  to  grow  jealous  of  them,  lest  if  they  should  come 
into  the  presence  of  their  over-chief,  and  converse  with  him,  they 
should  turn  him  from  their  gods,  and  convert  him  to  the  new 
religion  of  the  christian  faith;  and  thus  by  degrees  all  their  province 
should  change  its  old  worship  for  a  new.  Hereupon  they,  on  a 
sudden,  laid  hold  of  them  and  put  them  to  death  ;  Hewald  the 
White  they  slew  with  the  swift  death  of  the  sword  ;  but  the  Black 
they  put  to  a  slow  and  fearful  torture,  and  tore  limb  from  limb, 

1  Concerning  this  Eadbod  of  Frisia  and  the  incident  here  mentioned  by  Beda, 
see  Pagi  ad  ap-  689,  §  9. 

-  The  Latin  word  here  translated  by  "over-lord,"  is  "satrapaj"  Alfred,  iu  his 
Anglo-Saxon  version,  renders  it  by  "  ealdorman." 

•*  A  somewhat  similar  account  of  the  elective  government  of  the  ancient 
Germans  may  be  gathered  from  what  we  read  in  Tacitus ;  see  his  Germauia,  §  7, 
and  his  Annals,  §  44. 

*  An  early  instance  of  the  employment  of  the  portable  altar ;  additional  illus- 
trations of  which  may  be  seen  in  Mabill.  Act.  SS.  Ord.  S.  Bened.  III.  i.  §  5,  p.  343 ; 
III.  ii.  §  20,  p.  317.  The  portable  altar  used  by  St.  Cuthbert  was  discovered  when 
his  tomb  was  opened  in  1828,  and  may  yet  be  seen  in  the  library  of  Durham 
cathedral. 


506  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  092. 

throwing  them  both  into  the  Rhine  when  they  were  dead.  The 
chief  whom  they  had  desired  to  see,  hearing  of  it,  was  highly  in- 
censed, that  the  strangers  who  desired  to  come  to  liim  had  not 
been  allowed  to  do  so  ;  and  therefore  he  sent  and  put  to  death  all 
those  peasants  and  burnt  their  village.  Tlie  aforesaid  priests  and 
servants  of  Christ  suffered  on  the  fifth  of  the  nones  of  October 
[3d  Oct.  695]. 

§  383.  Nor  did  their  martyrdom  want  the  honour  of  miracles 
from  heaven ;  for  their  dead  bodies  having  been  cast  into  the  river 
by  the  pagans,  as  has  been  said,  were  carried  against  the  current  of 
the  running  stream  for  the  space  of  almost  forty  miles,  to  the  place 
where  their  companions  were.  Moreover,  a  very  great  ray  of  light, 
reaching  up  to  heaven,  shone  every  night  over  the  place,  wherever  it 
might  be,  at  which  they  had  arrived;  and  this  in  the  sight  of  the  verj' 
pagans  that  had  slain  them.  Moreover,  one  of  them  appeared  in  a 
vision  by  night  to  one  of  his  companions,  whose  name  was  Tilmon, 
a  man  of  illustrious  and  of  noble  worldly  birth,  who  from  a  soldier 
had  become  a  monk,  acquainting  him  that  he  might  find  their 
bodies  in  that  place  where  he  should  see  rays  of  light  reaching  from 
heaven  to  the  earth  ;  which  happened  accordingly.  Their  bodies 
being  found,  were  interred  with  the  honour  due  to  martyrs  ;  and 
the  day  of  their  passion,  or  of  their  bodies  being  found,  is  celebrate(^ 
in  those  parts  with  proper  veneration.  At  length  Pepin,  the  most 
glorious  general  of  the  Franks,  understanding  these  things,  caused 
the  bodies  to  be  brought  to  him,  and  buried  them  wdth  much 
honour  in  the  church  of  the  city  of  Cologne,  near  the  Rhine.  It 
is  reported,  that  a  spring  gushed  out  in  the  place  where  they  were 
killed  which  to  this  day  affords  a  plentiful  stream.' 


Chap.   XI.    [a.d.    692.]  —  How  the   venerable   Suidberct    in  Britain,  and 

UlLBRORD  AT  ROME,  WERE  ORDAINED  BbHOFS  FOR  FRISIA. 

§  384.  At  their  first  coming  into  Frisia,  as  soon  as  Uilbrord 
found  he  had  leave  given  him  by  the  prince  to  preach  there,  he 
made  haste  to  reach  Rome,  where  pope  Sergius  then  presided  over 
the  apostolical  see,  that  he  might  undertake  the  desired  work  of 
preaching  the  gospel  to  the  gentiles,  with  his  licence  and  blessing  ; 
and  hoping  to  receive  of  him  some  relics  of  the  blessed  apostles  and 
martyrs  of  Christ ;  to  the  end,  that  when  he  had  destroyed  the 
idols,  and  erected  churches  in  the  nation  to  which  he  preached,  he 
might  have  the  relics  of  saints  at  hand  to  put  into  them,  and 
having  deposited  them  there,  might  accordingly  dedicate-  those 
places  to  the  honour  of  these  saints  whose  relics  they  were.     He 

'  The  Gallican  Martyrology  abbreviates  this  passage,  specifying  Westphalia  as 
the  scene  of  their  martyrdom.  And  it  makes  this  addition,  that  when  Pepin, 
the  glorious  dxike  and  general  of  the  French  nation,  was  informed  of  these  things, 
he  caused  the  sacred  bodies  of  the  martyrs  to  be  brought  to  him,  which  he 
buried  with  great  splendour  at  Cologne,  in  the  collegiate  church  of  St.  Cunibert. 
See  Cressy's  Church  History  of  Brittany,  a.d.  G!)3,  §  7. 

^  It  was  customary  at  this  time  to  deposit  some  of  the  relics  of  a  saint  in  the 
church  at  its  dedication,  concerning  which  usage  see  Martene,  De  Antiq.  Ecclesiic 
Ritibus,  II.  xiii.  §  8. 


A.-D.  696.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  507 

was  also  desirous  there  to  learn  or  to  receive  from  thence  many 
other  things  which  so  great  a  work  required.  Having  obtained  all 
that  he  wanted,  he  returned  to  preach. 

§  385.  [a.d.  693.]  At  which  time,  the  brethren  who  were  in 
Frisia,  attending  upon  the  ministry  of  the  Word,  chose  out  of  their 
own  number  a  man,  modest  of  behaviour,  and  meek  of  heart, 
called  Suidberct,^  to  be  ordained  bishop  over  them.  He,  being 
sent  into  Britain,  was  consecrated  at  their  request  by  the  most 
reverend  bishop  Uilfrid,  who,  happening  to  be  then  driven  out  of 
his  countiy,  lived  in  banishment  in  the  regions  of  the  Mercians  ; 
for  Kent  had  no  bishop  at  that  time,  Tlieodore  being  dead,  and 
Berctuald,  his  successor,  who  had  crossed  the  sea  to  be  ordained, 
not  having  returned  to  his  diocese. 

§  386.  Tlie  said  Suidberct,  being  made  bishop,  returned  from 
Britain  not  long  after,  and  went  among  the  nation  of  the  Boructu- 
arians  ;^  and  by  his  preaching  brought  many  of  them  into  the  way 
of  truth  ;  but  the  Boructuarians  being  not  long  after  subdued  by 
the  nation  of  the  Old  Saxons,  those  who  had  received  the  Word 
were  dispersed  abroad  ;  and  the  bishop  himself,  along  with  some 
others,  repaired  to  Pepin,  who,  at  the  request  of  his  wife,  Blithryda,' 
gave  him  a  place  of  residence  in  a  certain  island  on  the  Rhine, 
which,  in  their  tongue,  is  called  "In  littore;"  where  he  built  a 
monastery,  which  his  heirs  still  possess,  and  for  a  time  led  a  most 
continent  life  ;  and  there  he  ended  his  days. 

§  387.  [a.d.  696.]  Wlien  they  who  went  over  had  spent  some 
years  teaching  in  Frisia,  Pepin,  with  the  consent  of  them  all,  sent 
the  venerable  Uilbrord  to  Rome,  where  Sergius  was  still  pope, 
desiring  that  he  might  be  ordained  archbishop  over  the  nation  of 
the  Frisians.  Their  request  was  complied  with  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord's  incarnation  696.  He  was  ordained  in  the  church  of  the 
holy  martyr  Cecilia,  on  the  day  of  her  nativity;  the  pope  gave  him 
the  name  of  Clement,  and  sent  him  back  to  his  bishopric,  fourteen 
days  after  his  arrival  in  the  city  of  Rome. 

§  388.  Pepin  gave  him  a  place  for  his  episcopal  see,  in  his 
famous  castle,  which  in  the  ancient  language  of  those  people  is 
called  Uiltaburg,  that  is,  the  town  of  the  Wilts ;  but,  in  the 
Galilean  tongue,  Trajectum  [Utrecht].  The  most  reverend  prelate 
having  built  a  church  there,  and  preaching  the  word  of  faith  far  and 
near,  drew  many  from  their  errors,  throughout  those  regions,  and 
erected  several  churches  and  some  monasteries.  For,  not  long 
after,  he  constituted  other  bishops  also  in  those  parts,  from  among 
the  number  of  the  brethren  who  either  came  with  him,  or  after 
him,  to  preach  there  :  some  of  whom  are  now  departed  in  our 
Lord ;    but  Uilbrord  himself,  surnamed  Clement,  is  still*  living, 

1  His  life  is  detailed  at  considerable  length  in  the  Acta  SS.  mens.  Mart.  i.  67. 

-  See  §  376,  note  \ 

^  This  is  the  Saxon  form  of  the  name  Plectrudis,  by  which  she  is  more  gene- 
rally known.     See  Mabill.  Annal.  Bened.  xviii.  17,  18. 

*  This  was  written  by  Beda  in  the  year  731.  The  date  of  Wilbrord's  death  is 
uncertain,  being  ascribed  by  Mabillon  first  to  a.d.  739,  (with  whom  Pagi  agrees,) 
and  afterwards  to  741;  by  Smith  to  745,  and  by  Froben  to  740.  See  AJcuini 
Opera,  ii.  192.  Another  opportunity  will  be  afforded  for  the  examination  of  this 
and  the  other  incidents  connected  with  the  life  of  this  energetic  missionary. 


508  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  GV 

venerable  for  old  age,  having  been  thirty-six  years  a  bishop,  and 
vnth  his  whole  heart  sighing  after  the  rewards  of  the  heavenly  life, 
after  the  many  spiritual  conflicts  which  he  has  waged  in  this. 


Chap.  XII.  [a.d.  696  ?] — Of  one  in  the  province  of  the  Northumbrians,  ^vno 
Rose  from  the  Dead,  and  related  the  many  things  which  he  had  seen-, 
some  terrible  and  others  delightful. 

§  389.  At  this  time  a  memorable  miracle,  and  like  to  those  of 
former  days,  was  wrought  in  Britain  ;  for,  to  the  end  that  the  living 
might  be  raised  up  from  the  death  of  the  soul,  a  certain  person, 
who  had  been  some  time  dead,  rose  again  to  the  life  of  the  body, 
and  related  '  many  remarkable  things  which  he  had  seen  ;  some  of 
which  I  have  thought  fit  here  briefly  to  notice.  There  was  a  master 
of  a  family  in  that  district  of  the  Northumbrians  which  is  called 
"  In-cuneningum,"  '  who  led  a  religious  life,  as  did  also  all  his 
house.  This  man  fell  sick,  and  his  disorder  daily  increasing, 
being  brought  to  extremity,  he  died  in  the  beginning  of  the  night ; 
but  in  the  morning  early,  he  came  to  life  again,  and  suddenly  sat 
up,  upon  which  all  those  that  sat  about  the  body  weeping,  fled  away 
in  great  terror ;  and  only  his  wife,  who  loved  him  best,  though  in 
great  consternation  and  trembling,  remained  with  him.  He,  com- 
forting her,  said,  "  Fear  not,  for  I  am  now  truly  risen  from  the 
death  which  held  me,  and  am  permitted  again  to  live  among  men  ; 
however,  I  am  not  to  live  hereafter  as  I  was  wont  to  live,  but  from 
henceforward  it  must  be  after  a  very  different  manner."  Then 
rising  immediately,  he  repaired  to  the  oratoiy  of  the  little  town, 
and  continuing  in  prayer  till  day,  immediately  divided  all  his 
substance  into  three  parts  ;  one  whereof  he  gave  to  his  wife,  another 
to  his  children,  and  the  third,  belonging  to  himself,  he  instantly 
distributed  among  the  poor.  Not  long  after,  being  freed  from  the 
cares  of  the  world,  he  repaired  to  the  monastery  of  Melrose,  which 
is  almost  enclosed  by  the  winding  of  the  river  Tweed,  and  having 
received  the  tonsure,  he  went  into  a  secret  dwelling,  which  the 
abbat  had  provided,  and  there  he  continued  till  the  day  of  his  death, 
in  such  extraordinary  contrition  of  mind  and  body,  that  though  his 
tongue  had  been  silent,  his  life  would  have  declared  that  he  had 
seen  many  things  either  to  be  dreaded  or  coveted,  of  which  others 
knew  nothing. 

§  390.  This  was  his  account  of  what  he  had  seen.  "  He  that  led 
me,"  said  he,  "had  a  shining  countenance  and  a  bright  garment, 
and  we  went  on  silently,  as  I  thought,  towards  the  north-east. 
Walking  onwards,  we  came  to  a  vale  of  great  breadth  and  depth, 
and  of  infinite  length  ;  on  the  left  it  appeared  full  of  dreadful  flames, 
the  other  side  was  no  less  intolerable  on  account  of  the  violent  hail 
and  cold  snow  which  were  flying  and  drifting  in  all  directions.    Both 

'  A  similar  legend  will  be  found  among  the  Correspondence  of  Boniface,  to 
which  the  reader  is  referred. 

-'  Prol)ably  Cunningham,  in  Scotland,  at  that  time  included  within  the  kingdom 
of  Northumbria.  See  §  395.  It  is  certain  that  the  monks  of  Melrose  had  posscs- 
aioiii  there  at  a  later  period.  See  the  Libci'  do  Melrose,  i.  72,  74,  4to,  Ediub.  1S37. 


A.D.  G96.]         BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  509 

places  were  full  of  men's  souls,  which  seemed  by  turns  to  be  tossed 
from  one  side  to  the  other,  as  it  were  by  the  violence  of  the  storm ; 
for  when  the  wretches  could  no  longer  endure  the  excess  of  heat, 
they  leaped  into  the  middle  of  the  cutting  cold  ;  and  finding  no  rest 
there  either,  they  leaped  back  again  to  be  burnt  in  the  middle  of  the 
unquenchable  flames.  Now  whereas  an  innumerable  multitude  of 
deformed  spirits  were  thus  miserably  tormented  by  turns  far  and 
near,  as  far  as  could  be  seen,  without  any  intermission,  I  began  to 
think  that  this  perhaps  might  be  hell,  of  whose  intolerable  flames 
I  had  often  heard  talk.  My  guide,  who  went  before  me,  answered 
to  my  thought,  saying,  '  Do  not  believe  so,  for  this  is  not  the  hell 
you  imagine.' 

§  391.  "When  he  had  conducted  me,  much  frightened  with 
that  horrid  spectacle,  by  degrees,  to  the  further  end,  on  a  sudden 
I  saw  the  place  begin  to  grow  dusk  and  to  be  totally  filled  with 
darkness.  Wlien  we  came  into  it,  the  darkness,  by  degrees,  grew 
so  thick,  that  I  could  see  nothing  besides  it,  and  the  shape  and 
garment  of  him  that  led  me.  As  we  went  on  through  the  shades 
of  night,  on  a  sudden  there  appeared  before  us  frequent  globes  of 
black  flames,  rising  as  it  were  out  of  a  great  pit,  and  falling  back 
again  into  the  same.  Wlien  I  had  been  conducted  thither,  my 
leader  suddenly  vanished,  and  left  me  alone  in  the  midst  of  dark- 
ness and  this  horrid  vision,  whilst  those  same  globes  of  fire,  without 
intermission,  at  one  time  flew  up,  and  at  another  fell  back  into  the 
bottom  of  the  abyss  ;  and  I  observed  that  the  tops  of  all  the  flames 
were  full  of  human  souls,  which,  like  sparks  flying  up  with  smoke, 
were  sometimes  thrown  on  high,  and  again,  when  the  vapour  of  the 
fire  ceased,  dropped  down  into  the  depth  below.  Moreover,  an 
insufferable  stench  boiled  up  along  with  the  vapours,  and  filled  all 
those  dark  places.  Having  stood  there  a  long  time  in  much  dread, 
not  knowing  what  to  do,  which  way  to  turn,  or  what  end  I  might 
expect,  on  a  sudden  I  heard  behind  me  the  noise  of  a  most  hideous 
and  wretched  lamentation,  and  at  the  same  time  a  loud  laughing, 
as  of  a  rude  multitude  insulting  captured  enemies.  When  that 
noise,  growing  plainer,  came  up  to  me,  I  observed  a  crowd  of  evil 
spirits  dragging  the  howling  and  lamenting  souls  of  five  human 
beings  into  the  midst  of  the  darkness,  whilst  they  themselves  laughed 
and  rejoiced ;  among  whom,  as  I  could  discern,  there  was  one 
shorn  like  a  clerk,  one  a  layman,  and  one  a  woman.  The  evil 
spirits  that  dragged  them  went  down  into  the  midst  of  that  burning 
pit ;  and  so  it  happened  that,  as  they  went  down  deeper,  I  could 
no  longer  clearly  distinguish  between  the  lamentation  of  the  men 
and  the  laughing  of  the  devils,  but  yet  I  still  had  a  confused  sound 
in  my  ears.  In  the  meantime,  some  of  the  dark  spirits  ascended 
from  that  flaming  abyss,  and  running  forward,  beset  me  on  all 
sides,  and  much  distressed  me  with  their  glaring  eyes  and  the 
stinking  fire  which  proceeded  from  their  mouths  and  nostrils  ;  and 
threatened  to  lay  hold  on  me  with  burning  tongs,  which  they  held 
in  their  hands  ;  yet  they  durst  not  touch  me,  though  they  fright- 
ened me.  Being  thus  on  all  sides  enclosed  with  enemies  and 
blinding  darkness,  and  looking  about  on  every  side  for  assistance,  if 


510  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  696. 

any  might  reach  me,  for  my  deliverance,  there  appeared  behind  me, 
on  the  way  that  I  came,  as  it  were,  the  brightness  of  a  star  sliining 
amidst  the  darkness  ;  which  increased  by  degrees,  and  came  rapidly 
towards  me  :  and  when  it  drew  near,  all  those  evil  spirits,  that 
sought  to  carry  me  away  with  their  pincers,  dispersed  and  fled 
away. 

§  392.  "  But  he,  whose  approach  had  put  them  to  flight,  was 
the  same  being  who  before  had  led  me  ;  wlio,  then  turning  towards 
tlie  path  on  the  right,  began  to  lead  me,  as  it  were,  towards  the 
south-east,  and  having  soon  brought  me  out  of  the  darkness,  con- 
ducted me  into  an  atmosphere  of  clear  light.  While  he  thus  led 
me  in  open  day,  I  saw  a  vast  wall  before  us,  the  length  and  height 
of  which,  in  every  direction,  seemed  to  be  altogether  boundless. 
I  began  to  wonder  why  we  should  go  up  to  the  wall,  seeing  no 
door,  window,  or  stair  in  it.  But  when  we  came  to  the  wall,  we 
were  forthwith,  I  know  not  by  what  means,  on  the  top  of  it ;  and 
within  it  was  a  vast  and  delightful  field,  so  full  of  fragrant  flowers 
tliat  the  odour  of  its  delightful  sweetness  immediately  dispelled  all 
the  stink  of  the  dark  furnace,  which  had  pierced  me  through  and 
through.  So  great  and  diffusive  was  the  light  in  this  place,  that  it 
seemed  to  exceed  the  brightness  of  the  day,  or  the  sun  in  its  meri- 
dian height.  In  this  field  were  innumerable  assemblies  of  men 
clothed  in  white,  and  many  companies  seated  together  rejoicing. 
As  he  led  me  through  the  midst  of  those  happy  inhabitants,  I.  began 
to  think  that  this  might,  perhaps,  be  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  of 
which  I  had  often  heard  so  much  in  sermons.  He  answered  to 
my  thought,  saying,  '  This  is  not  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  as  you 
imagine.' 

§  393.  "  Wlien  in  our  progress  we  had  passed  those  mansions 
of  blessed  spirits,  I  discovered  before  us  a  much  more  beautiful 
light,  and  therein  also  heard  most  sweet  voices  of  persons  singing, 
and  so  wonderful  a  fragrance  proceeded  from  the  place,  that  the 
taste  of  the  other,  w^hich  I  had  before  thought  most  delicious,  then 
seemed  to  me  but  very  indifferent ;  even  as  also  that  extraordinary 
brightness  of  the  flowery  field,  compared  with  this,  appeared  mean 
and  inconsiderable.  When  I  began  to  hope  we  should  enter  that 
delightful  place,  my  guide  on  a  sudden  stood  still ;  and  then  turning 
round,  led  me  back  by  the  way  by  which  we  had  come. 

§  394.  "  When  we  had  returned  to  those  joyful  mansions  of  the 
spirits  in  white,  he  said  to  me,  '  Do  you  know  what  all  these  things 
are  which  you  have  seen  ?'  I  answered,  '  No  ;'  and  then  he  replied, 
'  Tliat  vale  you  saw  so  dreadful  in  its  consuming  flames  and  cutting 
cold,  is  tlie  place  in  which  the  souls  of  those  are  tried  and  punished, 
v.'ho,  delaying  to  confess  and  amend  the  crimes  which  they  have 
committed,  at  length  have  recourse  to  repentance  at  the  very  point 
of  death,  and  so  depart  from  the  body ;  but  nevertheless  because 
they,  even  at  their  death,  confessed  and  repented,  they  shall  all 
reach  the  kingdom  of  heaven  at  the  day  of  judgment ;  but  many 
are  relieved  before  the  day  of  judgment,  by  the  prayers,  alms,  and 
fasting  of  the  living,  and  more  especially  by  the  celebration  of 
masses.     Moreover,  that  fiery  and  stinking  pit  which  you  saw,  is 


A.D.  69G.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    HISTORY. BOOK  V.  511 

the  mouth  of  hell  itself,  into  which  whosoever  falls  shall  never  be 
delivered  to  all  eternity.  Tliis  flowery  place,  in  which  you  see  these 
most  beautiful  young  people,  so  joyful  and  bright,  is  that  into  which 
the  souls  of  those  are  received  who  depart  from  the  body  in  good 
works,  but  who  are  not  so  perfect  as  to  deserve  to  be  immediately 
admitted  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven ;  yet  they  shall  all,  at  the  day 
of  judgment,  see  Christ,  and  enter  into  the  joys  of  his  kingdom  ; 
for  whosoever  are  perfect  in  every  word,  and  deed,  and  thought,  as 
soon  as  they  depart  from  the  body,  immediately  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven ;  to  wdiose  neighbourhood  that  place  belongs 
where  you  heard  the  sound  of  sweet  singing,  with  the  fragrant 
odour  and  bright  light.  But  as  for  you,  who  are  now  to  return  to 
your  body,  and  live  among  men  again,  if  you  will  endeavour  care- 
fully to  examine  your  actions,  and  study  to  direct  your  speech  and 
behaviour  in  righteousness  and  simplicity,  you  also  shall,  after 
death,  have  a  place  of  residence  among  these  joyful  troops  of  blessed 
souls  which  you  see ;  for  when  I  left  you  for  a  while,  it  was  that  I 
might  ascertain  what  was  to  become  of  you.'  Wlien  he  had  said 
this  to  me,  I  much  abhorred  returning  to  my  body,  being  delighted 
with  the  sweetness  and  beauty  of  the  place  I  beheld,  and  with  the 
company  of  those  I  saw  in  it.  However,  I  durst  not  ask  my  guide 
any  questions  ;  but  in  the  meantime,  on  a  sudden,  I  knew  not  how, 
I  found  myself  alive  among  men." 

§  395.  Now  these  and  other  things  which  this  man  of  God  saw, 
he  would  not  relate  indiscriminately  to  slothful  persons  and  to  such 
as  lived  negligently  ;  but  only  to  those  who,  being  either  terrified 
with  the  dread  of  torments,  or  delighted  with  the  hopes  of  eternal 
joys,  would  drink  in  his  words  to  their  own  advance  in  piety.  In 
the  neighbourhood  of  his  cell  lived  one  Haemgils,  a  monk,  eminent 
in  the  rank  of  the  priesthood,  which  he  equalled  by  his  good  works  ; 
he  is  still  living,  and  leading  a  solitary  life  in  the  island  of  Ireland, 
supporting  his  declining  age  with  coarse  bread  and  cold  water.  He 
often  went  to  that  man,  and  by  frequent  questioning  he  heard  of 
him  all  the  particulars  of  what  he  had  seen  when  separated  from 
his  body  ;  by  whose  relation  we  also  came  to  the  knowledge  of 
those  few  particulars  which  we  have  briefly  set  down.  He  also 
related  his  visions  to  king  Aldfrid,^  a  man  most  learned  in  all 
respects,  and  was  by  him  so  willingly  and  attentively  heard,  that  at 
his  request  he  was  admitted  into  the  monastery  above  mentioned, 
and  received  the  monastic  tonsure  on  the  crown  of  his  head  ;  and 
the  said  king,  when  he  happened  to  be  in  those  parts,  very  often 
went  to  hear  him.  At  that  time  the  abbat  and  priest,  Aediluald,^ 
of  religious  and  humble  life,  presided  over  the  monastery,  and  now, 
with  actions  worthy  of  his  order,  possesses  the  episcopal  see  of  the 
church  of  Lindisfarne. 

§  396.  He  had  a  more  private  place  of  residence  assigned  him  in 

'  This  Aklfrid  has  already  been  mentioned  by  Beda  in  terms  of  commendation, 
see  §  341.  It  woxild  hence  appear  that  his  kingdom  embraced  the  district  in 
which  Melrose  is  situated.  T 

-  Concerning  this  bishop  of  Lindisfarne,  see  Acta  SS.  mens.  Feb.  ii.  604.  He 
will  again  be  noticed  in  Beda's  Life  of  St.  Cuthbei-t,  §  50. 


512  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  701 

that  monastery,  where  he  might  the  more  freely  apply  himself  to 
the  service  of  his  Creator  in  continual  prayers.  And  as  that  place 
lay  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  he  was  wont  often  to  go  into  the  same, 
from  the  desire  which  he  had  to  do  penance  in  his  body,  and  many 
times  to  dip  himself  quite  under  the  water,  and  to  continue  saying 
psalms  or  prayers  in  the  same  as  long  as  he  could  endure  it, 
standing  still  sometimes  up  to  the  middle,  and  sometimes  to  the 
neck  in  water  ;  and  when  he  went  out  from  thence  ashore,  he  never 
took  off  his  cold  and  frozen  garments  till  they  grew  warm  and  dry 
from  his  body.  And  when  in  the  winter  the  half-broken  pieces  of 
ice  were  swimming  about  him,  which  he  had  himself  broken  in 
order  to  make  room  to  stand  or  dip  himself  in  the  river,  those  who 
beheld  it  would  say,  "  It  is  wonderful,  brother  Di7cthelm,"  for  so 
he  was  called,  "  tliat  you  are  able  anyhow  to  endure  such  violent 
cold ;"  he  simply  answered,  for  he  was  a  man  of  much  simplicity 
and  indifferent  wit,  "  I  have  seen  greater  cold."  And  when  they 
said,  "  It  is  strange  that  you  will  endure  such  strict  austerity,"  he 
replied,  "  I  have  seen  greater  austerity."  Thus  he  continued, 
through  an  indefatigable  desire  of  the  good  things  of  heaven,  to 
subdue  his  aged  body  with  daily  fasting,  till  the  day  of  his  being 
called  away ;  and  thus  he  forwarded  the  salvation  of  many  by  his 
words  and  example. 


Chap.  XIII.  [a.d.  704— 709.]— Of  another,  who  on  the  approach  op  death 
SAW  A  Book  containing  all  his  sins,  which  was  showed  him  by  devils. 

§  397.  It  happened  quite  the  contrary  with  one  in  the  province 
of  the  Mercians,  whose  visions  and  words  (but  not  his  behaviour) 
were  advantageous  to  others,  but  not  to  himself.  In  the  time  of 
Coenred,'  who  reigned  after  Aedilred,  there  was  a  layman  in  a 
militaiy  employment,  no  less  acceptable  to  the  king  for  his  worldly 
industry,  than  displeasing  to  him  for  his  private  neglect  of  himself. 
The  king  earnestly  admonished  him  to  confess  and  amend,  and 
to  forsake  his  wicked  courses,  before  he  should  lose  all  time  for 
repentance  and  amendment  by  the  surprise  of  a  sudden  death. 
Though  frequently  warned,  he  despised  the  words  of  salvation,  antl 
promised  he  would  do  penance  at  some  future  time.  In  the  mean- 
time, falling  sick,  he  was  confined  to  his  bed,  and  began  to  feel 
very  severe  pains.  The  king  coming  to  him,  (for  he  loved  him 
much,)  earnestly  exhorted  him,  even  then,  before  death,  to  repent 
of  his  offences.  He  answered  that  he  would  not  then  confess  his 
sins,  but  would  do  it  when  he  had  recovered  of  his  sickness,  lest 
his  companions  should  upbraid  him  with  having  done  that  for  fear 
of  death,  which  he  had  refused  to  do  in  health.  He  thought  he  then 
spoke  very  bravely,  but  it  afterwards  appeared  that  he  had  been 
miseral)ly  deluded  by  the  wiles  of  the  devil. 

§  31)8.  The  disease  still  increasing,  when  the  king  came  again  to 
visit  and  instruct  him,  he  cried  out  with  a  lamentable  voice,  "  What 

'  Concerning  Coenred,  see  §  412.  Tlio  inculcut  here  nientiuneil  must  have 
occurred  between  a.d.  701  iiud  70'J. 


A.D.  709.]         UEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  513 

will  you  have  now  ?  Wliat  are  ye  come  for  ?  for  you  can  no  longer 
give  me  anything  useful  to  my  salvation."  The  king  answered, 
"  Do  not  talk  so  ;  behave  yourself  like  a  man  in  his  right  mind." 
— "  I  am  not  mad,"  replied  he,  "  but  I  have  now  all  the  guilt  of 
my  wicked  conscience  before  my  eyes." — "  Wliat  is  the  meaning  of 
that  ?"  rejoined  the  king.  "  Not  long  since,"  said  he,  "  there  came 
into  this  house  two  most  beautiful  youths,  and  sat  down  by  me,  the 
one  at  my  head,  and  the  other  at  my  feet.  One  of  them  produced 
a  most  beautiful  book,  but  excessively  small,  and  gave  it  me  to 
read  ;  and  looking  into  it,  I  there  found  all  the  good  actions  which 
I  had  ever  done  in  my  life  written  down,  and  they  were  very  few 
and  inconsiderable.  They  took  back  the  book  and  said  nothing  to 
me.  Then,  on  a  sudden,  appeared  an  army  of  wicked  and  hideous 
spirits,  encompassing  this  house  without,  and  almost  entirely  filling 
it  within.  Then  he,  who,  by  the  blackness  of  his  dismal  face, 
and  his  sitting  above  the  rest,  seemed  to  be  t^-e  chief  of  them, 
taking  out  a  book  horrid  to  behold,  of  a  prodigious  size,  and  of 
almost  insupportable  weight,  commanded  one  of  his  followers  to 
bring  it  to  me  to  read.  Having  read  it,  I  found  therein  most 
plainly  written,  in  black  characters,  all  the  crimes  I  ever  committed, 
not  only  in  word  and  deed,  but  even  in  the  least  thought.  Then 
he  said  to  those  bright  beings  in  white,  who  sat  by  me,  '  Wliy  do 
you  sit  here,  since  you  most  certainly  know  that  this  man  is  ours  ? ' 
They  answered,  '  You  are  in  the  right ;  take  him  and  add  him  as 
an  accession  to  your  own  damnation.'  This  said,  they  immediately 
vanished,  and  two  most  wicked  spirits  rising,  with  ploughshares  in 
their  hands,  one  of  them  struck  me  on  the  head,  and  the  other  on 
the  foot.  These  strokes  are  now  with  great  torture  penetrating 
through  my  bowels  to  the  inward  parts  of  my  body,  and  as  soon  as 
they  meet  I  shall  die,  and  the  devils  being  ready  to  snatch  me 
away,  I  shall  be  dragged  into  the  chambers  of  hell." 

§  399.  Thus  talked  that  wretch  in  his  despair,  and  dying  soon 
after,  he  is  now  in  vain  suffering  in  eternal  torments  that  penance 
which  he  refused  to  suffer  during  a  short  time,  that  he  might  obtain 
forgiveness.  Of  whom  it  is  manifest,  that  (as  the  holy  pope 
Gregory'  writes  of  certain  persons)  he  did  not  see  these  things  for 
his  own  sake,  for  they  availed  him  not,  but  for  the  instruction  of 
others,  who,  knowing  of  his  death,  should  be  afraid  to  put  off  the 
time  of  repentance,  whilst  they  have  leisure  ;  lest,  being  prevented 
by  sudden  death,  they  should  depart  impenitent.  That  he  saw 
different  books  laid  before  him  by  the  good  and  evil  spirits,  was 
done  by  divine  dispensation,  that  we  may  keep  in  mind  that  our 
actions  and  thoughts  are  not  lost  in  the  wind,  but  are  all  kept  to 
be  examined  by  the  Supreme  Judge,  and  will  in  the  end  be  shown 
us  either  by  friendly  or  hostile  angels.  Whereas  the  angels  first 
produced  a  white  book,  and  then  the  devils  a  black  one  ;  the  former 
a  very  small  one,  the  latter  one  very  large  ;  it  is  to  be  observed, 
that  in  his  childhood  he  did  some  good  actions,  all  which  he  never- 
theless  obscured   by  the  evil  actions   of  his  youth.     If,  on  the 

'  Beda  here  apparently  refers  to  Gregory's  Dialogues,  IV.  xxxi.  xxxii ,  speaking 
of  the  unhappy  deaths  of  Reparatus  and  another. 
VOL.    I.  L  L 


514  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  730. 

contrary,  he  had  taken  care  in  his  youth  to  correct  the  errors  of  his 
boyhood,  and  to  cancel  them  in  God's  sight  by  doing  well,  he 
might  have  been  associated  to  the  number  of  those  of  whom  tlie 
Psalm  says,  "  Blessed  are  those  whose  iniquities  are  forgiven,  and 
whose  sins  are  hidden."  [Ps.  xxxi.  1.]  This  story,  as  I  learned  it 
of  the  venerable  bishop  Pecthelm,  I  have  thought  proper  to  relate 
in  a  plain  manner,  for  the  salvation  of  my  readers  or  hearers. 


Chap.  XIV. — Of  another,  who,  being  at  the  point  of  death,  saw  the  Place 

OF  PUNISHilENT  APPOINTED  FOB  HIMSELF  IN  HELL. 

§  400.  I,  MYSELF,  knew  a  brother  (whom  I  wisli  I  had  not 
known),  whose  name  I  could  mention  if  it  were  necessary,  and  who 
resided  in  a  noble  monastery,  but  himself  lived  ignobly.  He  was 
frequently  reproved  by  the  brethren  and  elders  of  the  place,  and 
admonished  to  adopt  a  more  chastened  life  ;  and  though  he  would 
not  give  ear  to  them,  he  was  long  patiently  borne  with  by  them,  on 
account  of  his  usefulness  in  temporal  works,  for  he  was  an  excel  - 
lent  carpenter.  He  was  much  addicted  to  drunkenness,  and  the 
other  pleasures  of  a  lawless  life,  and  more  used  to  stop  in  his 
workshop  day  and  night,  than  to  go  to  church  to  sing  and  pray, 
and  hear  the  Word  of  life  with  the  brethren.  For  which  reason  it 
happened  to  him  according  to  the  saying,  that  he  who  will  not 
willingly  and  humbly  enter  the  gate  of  the  church,  will  certainly  be 
damned,  and  enter  the  gate  of  hell,  whether  he  will  or  no.  For  he 
falling  sick,  and  being  reduced  to  his  latter  end,  called  the  brethren, 
and  with  much  lamentation,  and  like  one  damned,  began  to  tell 
them,  that  he  saw  hell  open,  and  Satan  at  the  bottom  of  the  pit 
thereof ;  as  also  Caiaphas,  with  the  others  that  slew  our  Lord,  by 
him  delivered  up  to  avenging  flames.  "  In  whose  neighbourhood," 
said  he,  "I  see  a  place  of  eternal  perdition  provided  for  myself, 
miserable  wretch."  The  brethren  hearing  these  words,  began 
diligently  to  exhort  him,  that  he  should  repent  even  then,  whilst  he 
was  in  the  flesh.  He  answered  in  despair,  "  I  have  no  time  now 
to  change  my  course  of  life,  w^lien  I  have  myself  seen  my  judgment 
accomplished." 

§  401.  Whilst  uttering  these  words,  he  died  without  having 
received  the  saving  viaticum,  and  his  body  was  buried  in  the 
remotest  parts  of  the  monaster)^  nor  did  any  one  dare  either  to 
say  masses  or  sing  psalms,  or  even  to  pray  for  him.  How  far  has 
our  Lord  divided  the  light  from  the  darkness  !  The  blessed  proto- 
martyr,  Stephen,  being  about  to  suiter  death  for  the  truth,  saw  the 
heavens  open,  the  glory  of  God  revealed,  and  Jesus  standing  on 
the  right  hand  of  God.  And  where  he  was  to  be  after  death,  there 
he  fixed  the  eyes  of  his  mind  before  death,  that  he  might  die  the 
more  joyfully.  On  the  contrary,  this  carpenter,  of  a  dark  mind 
and  actions,  when  death  was  at  hand,  saw  liell  open  and  witnessed 
the  damnation  of  the  devil  and  his  followers  ;  and  the  unhappy 
wretch  also  saw  his  own  prison  among  them,  to  the  end  that, 
despairing  of  his  salvation,  he  miglit  die  the  more  miserably  ;  but 


A.D.  704.]         BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK  V.  515 

might  by  his  perdition  afford  cause  of  salvation  to  tlie  living  who 
should  hear  of  it.  This  happened  lately  in  the  province  of  the 
Bernicians,  and  being  reported  abroad  far  and  near,  induced  many 
to  repent  of  their  sins  without  delay,  which  we  hope  may  also  be 
the  result  of  this  our  narrative. 


Chap.  XV.  [a.d.  701 — 704.] — How  several  Churches  of  the   Scots,  at  the 

INSTANCE  OF  ADAMNAN,  CONFORMED    TO    THE    CaTHOLIC    EaSTER;   AND   HOW    THE 
SAME  PERSON  WROTE  A  BoOK  ABOUT  THE  HOLT  PLACES. 

§  402.  At  this  time  a  great  part  of  the  Scots  in  Ireland,  and 
some  also  of  the  Britons  in  Britain,  through  the  goodness  of  God, 
conformed  to  the  proper  and  ecclesiastical  time  of  keeping  Easter. 
Adamnan,^  priest  and  abbat  of  the  monks  that  were  in  the  isle  of 
Hii,  was  sent  ambassador  by  his  nation  to  Aldfrid,^  king  of  the 
Angles,  where  having  made  some  stay,  he  observed  the  canonical 
rites  of  the  church,  and  was  earnestly  admonished  by  many,  who 
were  more  learned  than  himself,  not  to  presume  to  live  contrary  to 
the  universal  custom  of  the  Church,  either  in  relation  to  the 
observance  of  Easter,  or  any  other  decrees^  whatsoever,  con- 
sidering the  small  number  of  his  followers,  seated  in  so  distant  a 
corner  of  the  world.  In  consequence  of  this  he  changed  his  mind, 
and  readily  preferred  those  things  which  he  had  seen  and  heard  in 
the  churches  of  the  Angles,  to  the  customs  which  he  and  his 
people  had  hitherto  followed.  For  he  was  a  good  and  a  wise  man, 
and  remarkably  learned  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures. 

§  403.  Returning  home,  he  endeavoured  to  bring  his  own  people 
that  were  in  Hii,  or  that  were  subject  to  that  monastery,  into  the 
way  of  truth,  which  he  himself  had  learned  and  embraced  with  all 
his  heart ;  but  in  this  he  could  not  prevail.  He  then  sailed  over 
into  Ireland,  to  preach  to  those  people,  and  by  modest  exhortation 
declaring  the  true  time  of  Easter,  he  reduced  many  of  them,  and 
almost  all  that  were  not  under  the  dominion  of  those  of  Hii,  from 
their  ancient  error  to  the  catholic  unity,  and  taught  them  to  keep 
the  proper  time  of  Easter.  Returning  to  his  island,  after  having 
celebrated  Easter  in  Ireland  canonically,  he  most  earnestly  incul- 
cated the  observance  of  the  catholic  time  of  Easter  in  his  monas- 
teiy,  yet  without  being  able  to  prevail ;  and  it  so  happened  that  he 

'  There  is  some  little  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the  dates  of  the  events  men- 
tioned in  this  chapter.  Assuming,  as  is  probable,  that  Adamnan  died  shortly 
before  the  Easter  of  a.d.  704,  he  must  have  celebrated  the  Easter  of  703  in  Ireland ; 
and  as  his  attempt  to  bring  over  the  inmates  of  the  monastery  of  lona  occurred 
after  his  visit  to  Northumbria,  we  cannot  place  that  mission  later  than  700  or  701. 
Ussher  fixes  his  embassy  to  Aldfrid  in  703,  and  his  death  in  704  ;  but  the  succes- 
sion of  events  noted  above  renders  this  more  than  doubtful.  See  Brit.  Eccl.  Antiq. 
pp.  367,  381.  Petrie  widely  differs  from  this  calculation.  Finding  from  the 
Annals  of  Ulster  and  Tigernach  that  Adamnan  conveyed  back  into  Ireland  certain 
captives  in  687,  he  concludes  that  the  mission  to  NorthLimbria  had  reference  to 
their  freedom ;  but  this  arrangement  seems  hardly  consistent  with  the  language 
of  Beda,  which  would  seem  to  bring  within  a  much  narrower  compass  the  events 
which  took  place  between  his  visit  to  Aldfrid  and  his  death. 

^  It  wUl  be  remembered  that  this  Aldfrid  had  long  resided  among  the  Irish. 

^  Tonsure  and  Confirmation  were  also  disputed  points. 
LL  2 


516  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  705. 

departed'  this  life  before  tlie  next  year  came  round.  For  the  divine 
goodness  so  ordained  it,  that  as  he  was  a  great  lover  of  peace  and 
unity,  he  shouhl  be  taken  away  to  everlasting  life  before  he  would 
be  obliged,  on  the  return  of  the  time  of  Easter,  to  have  still  more 
serious  discord  with  those  that  would  not  follow  him  in  the  truth. 

§  404.  This  same  person  wrote  a  book^  about  the  Holy  Places, 
most  useful  to  many  readers ;  his  authority  for  which,  in  teaching 
and  dictating,^  was  Arcuulf,*  a  bishop  of  Gaul,  who  had  gone  to 
Jerusalem*  for  the  sake  of  the  Holy  Places  ;  and  having  surs^eyed 
all  the  Land  of  Promise,  travelled  to  Damascus,  Constantinople, 
Alexandria,  and  many  islands  of  the  sea,  and  returning  home  by 
sea,  was  by  a  violent  storm  forced  upon  the  western  coast  of 
Britain.  After  many  other  accidents,  he  came  to  the  aforesaid 
servant  of  Christ,  Adamnan,  who,  finding  him  to  be  learned  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  acquainted  with  the  Holy  Places,  entertained  him 
zealously,  and  attentively  gave  ear  to  him,  insomuch  that  he  pre- 
sently committed  to  writing  all  that  Arcuulf  said  he  had  seen 
remarkable  in  the  Holy  Places.  Tlius  he  composed,  as  I  have 
stated,  a  work  beneficial  to  many,  and  particularly  to  those  who, 
being  far  removed  from  those  places  where  the  patriarchs  and 
apostles  lived,  know  no  more  of  them  than  what  they  learn  by 
reading.  Adamnan  presented  this  book  to  king  Aldfrid,  and 
through  his  bounty  it  came  to  be  read  by  lesser"  persons.  The 
writer  thereof  was  also  well  rewarded  by  him  with  many  presents, 
and  sent  back  into  his  country.  I  believe  it  will  be  acceptable  to 
our  readers  if  we  collect  some  particulars  from  the  same,  and  insert 
them  in  our  History. 


Chap.  XVI.  [a.d.  705.]— The  Account  given  in  the  aforesaid  Book  of  tue 
Place  of  our  Lord's  Nativitt,  Passion,  and  Resurrection. 

§  405.  He  wrote  concerning  the  place  of  the  nativity  of  our 
Lord,  to  this  effect : — "  Bethlehem,^  the  city  of  David,  is  seated  on 
a  narrow  ridge,  encompassed  on  all  sides  with  valleys,  being  a 
thousand  paces  in  length  from  west  to  east,  the  wall  low  witliout 
towers,  built  along  the  edge  of  the  flat  summit.  In  the  cast  angle 
thereof  is  a  sort  of  natural  half-cave,  the  outward  part  whereof  is 
said  to  have  been  the  place  where  our  Lord  was  born  ;  the  inner  is 
called  our  Lord's  Manger.  This  cave  is  all  covered  within  witli 
rich  marble,  over  the  place  in  which  our  Lord  is  stated  to  have 
been  born,  and  over  it  is  the  great  church  of  St.  Maiy."     He 

>  Adamnan  died  A.D.  704,  according  to  Tigemach.  See  also  Ussher,  Antiq. 
P.rit.  Eccl.  p.  367. 

2  This  treatise  is  printed  by  Mabillon,  Acta  SS.  Ord.  S.  Bened,  III.  ii.  456,  from 
MSS.  in  the  Vatican  and  at  Corbei. 

^  Adamnan's  Prologue  has  furnished  Beda  with  an  account  of  the  process  by 
which  this  -work  was  reduced  into  its  present  form. 

*  ISIabillon,  although  intimately  acquainted  with  the  early  ecclesiastical  history 
of  France,  was  unable  to  decide  of  what  see  this  individual  was  bishop,  as  he 
himself  admits.     See  his  Introduction  to  this  treatise,  §  6. 

'  He  states  in  his  Prologue  that  he  remained  here  during  nine  months. 

*  Among  whom  we  may  presume  Beda  includes  himself. 
^  See  Arcuulf,  ii.  §§  1,  2. 


A.D.  705.]         BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK  V.  517 

likewise  wrote  about  the  place  of  his  passion  and  resurrection  in 
this  manner  : — "  Entering  the  city  of  Jerusalem  on  the  north  side, 
the  tirst  place  to  be  visited,  according  to  the  disposition  of  the 
streets,  is  the  church  of  Constantine,  called  the  Martyrdom.^  It 
was  built  by  the  emperor  Constantine,  in  a  magnificent  and  royal 
manner,  on  account  of  the  cross  of  our  Lord  having  been  found 
there  by  his  mother  Helena.  From  thence,  to  the  westward, 
appears  the  church  of  Golgotha,^  in  which  is  also  to  be  seen  the 
rock  which  once  bore  the  cross  with  our  Saviour's  body  fixed  on 
it,  and  now  it  bears  a  large  silver  cross,  with  a  great  brazen  circle 
hanging  over  it  surrounded  with  lamps.  Under ^  the  place  of  our 
Lord's  cross,  a  crypt  is  hewn  out  of  the  rock,  in  which  sacrifice  is 
ofiered  on  an  altar  for  honourable  persons  deceased,  their  bodies 
remaining  meanwhile  in  the  street.  To  the  westward  of  this 
church  is  the  Anastasis,*  that  is,  the  round  church  of  our  Saviour's 
Resurrection,  encompassed  with  three  walls,  and  supported  by 
twelve  columns.  Between  each  of  the  walls  is  a  broad  road-space 
containing  three  altars  at  three  different  points  of  the  middle  wall ; 
that  is,  to  the  south,  the  north,  and  the  west.  It  has  eight  doors 
or  entrances  through  the  three  opposite  walls  ;  four  whereof  front 
to  the  north-east,  and  four  to  the  east.  In  the  midst  of  it  is  the 
round  tomb  of  our  Lord  cut  out  of  the  rock,  the  roof  of  which  a 
man  standing  within  can  touch  with  his  hand  ;  the  entrance  is  on 
the  east ;  against  it  is  still  laid  that  great  stone,  which  to  this  day 
bears  the  marks  of  the  iron  tools  within,  but  on  the  outside  it  is 
all  covered  with  marble  to  the  very  top  of  the  roof,  which  is 
adorned  with  gold,  ana  Dears  a  large  golden  cross.  In  the  north 
part  of  the  monument,  the  tomb^  of  our  Lord  is  hewn  out  of  the 
same  rock,  being  seven  feet  in  length,  and  measuring  three  palms 
in  height  above  the  floor ;  the  entrance  being  on  the  south  side, 
where  twelve  lamps  burn  day  and  night,  four  within  the  sepulchre, 
and  eight  above  on  the  right-hand  side.  The  stone  that  was  laid  at 
the  entrance  to  the  monument  is  now  cleft  in  two  ;  nevertheless, 
the  lesser  part  of  it  stands  as  a  square  altar  before  the  door  of  the 
monument ;  the  greater  part  makes  another  square  altar  at  the  east 
end  of  the  same  church,  and  is  covered  with  linen  cloths.  The 
colour  of  the  said  monument  and  sepulchre  appears  to  be  of  mixed 
white  and  red." 


Chap.  XVII.  [a.d.  705.]— Of  the  Place  of  our  Lord's  Ascension,  and  the 
Tombs  of  the  Patriarchs. 

§  406.  Concerning  the  place  of  our  Lord's  ascension,  the 
aforesaid  author  writes  thus  : — "  IVTount "  Olivet  is  equal  in  height 
to  IVIount  Sion,  but  exceeds  it  in  breadth  and  length  ;  bearing  few 
trees  besides  vines  and  olive-trees,  but  fruitful  in  wheat  and  barley, 
for  the  nature  of  that  soil  is  not  calculated  for  bearing  things  of 
large  or  heavy  growth,  but  grass  and  flowers.  On  the  very  top  of 
it,  where  our  Lord  ascended  into  heaven,  is  a  large  round  church, 

'  Arcuulf,  i.  §  7.  -'  Id.  §  7.  •'  Id.  §  3. 

*  Id.  §  5.  5  Id.  §  4.  6  Id.  §  23. 


518  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGl^VND.  [a.D.  705. 

having  about  it  three  vaulted  porches  covered  on  the  top.  For  the 
inner  house  could  not  be  vaulted  and  covered,  because  of  the 
passage  of  our  Lord's  body;  but  it  has  an  altar  on  the  east  side, 
covered  with  a  narrow  roof.  In  the  midst  of  it  are  to  be  seen  the 
last  prints  of  our  Lord's  feet,  the  sky  appearing  open  above  where 
He  ascended ;  and  though  the  earth  is  daily  carried  away  by 
believers,  yet  still  it  remains  as  before,  and  retains  the  same  im- 
pression, as  it  were,  of  the  footprints.  Round  about  this  lies  a 
brazen  wheel,  as  high  as  a  man's  neck,  having  an  entrance  towards 
the  west,  with  a  great  lamp  hanging  above  it  on  pulleys,  and  burn- 
ing night  and  day.  In  the  western  part  of  the  same  church  are 
eight  windows  ;  and  eight  lamps,  hanging  opposite  to  them  by 
cords,  cast  their  light  through  the  glass  as  far  as  Jerusalem  ;  this 
light  is  said  to  strike  the  hearts  of  the  beholders  with  a  sort  of 
trembling  joy  and  humility.  Every  year,  on  the  day  of  our  Lord's 
Ascension,  when  mass  is  ended,  a  strong  blast  of  wind  is  said 
to  come  down,  and  to  cast  to  the  ground  all  that  are  in  the 
church." 

§  407.  Of  the  situation  of  Hebron,  and  the  tombs  of  the  patri- 
archs, he  writes  thus: — "  Hebron,'  once  the  city  and  metropolis  of 
David's  kingdom,  now  only  showing  what  it  was  by  its  ruins,  has, 
one  furlong  to  the  east  of  it,  a  double  cave  in  the  valley,  where  the 
tombs  of  the  patriarchs  are  enclosed  within  a  square  wall,  their 
heads  lying  to  the  north.  Each  of  the  tombs  is  covered  with  a 
single  stone,  worked  like  the  stones  of  a  church,  and  of  a  white 
colour,  for  three  patriarchs.  Tliat  for  Adam  is  of  meaner  and  more 
common  workmanship,  and  he  lies  not  far  from  them  at  the  furthest 
northern  extremity  of  that  wall.  There  are  also  some  poorer  and 
smaller  monuments  of  three  women.  The  hill  Mamre  ^  is  a 
thousand  paces  from  these  monuments  to  the  north,  and  is  full  of 
grass  and  flowers,  having  a  flat  plain  on  the  top.  In  the  northern 
part  of  it,  Abraham's  oak,  being  a  stump  about  twice  as  high  as  a 
man,  is  enclosed  in  a  church." 

§  408.  Thus  much  have  we  collected  from  the  works  of  the 
aforesaid  writer,  keeping  to  the  sense  of  his  words,  but  more  briefly 
and  tersely  delivered,  and  have  thought  fit  to  insert  in  our  History. 
Whosoever  desires  to  see  more  of  the  contents  of  that  book,  may 
see  it  either  in  that  same  volume,  or  in  that  which  we  have  lately 
epitomized  from  it. 


Chap.  XVIII.  [a.d.  705.] — How   the   South   Saxons  receix'ed  Eadberct  and 

EOLLA,  AND  THE  WeST  SaXONS,  DaNIEIj  AND  AlDHELM,  FOR  THEIR  BiSHOPS.    Op 

THE  Writings  of  the  same  Aldhelm. 

§  409.  In  the  year  of  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord  705,^  Aldfrid, 
king  of  the  Northumbrians,  died  shortly  before  the  completion  of 
the  twentieth  year  of  his  reign.     His  son  Osred,  a  boy  of  about 

1  See  Arcuiilf,  ii.  §§  8,  10.  ^  i^i.  §§  9,  n. 

^  Since  Aldfrid  came  to  the  throne  in  May,  685  (§  341),  and  reigned  .<;onu  ■ 
thing  less  than  twenty  years,  the  Saxon  Chronicle  and  Florence  of  Worcester 


A.D.  705.]         BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  519 

eight  years  of  age,  succeeding  him  in  the  kingdom,  reigned  eleven 
years.'  In  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  Haeddi,"  bishop  of  the  West 
Saxons,  departed  to  the  heavenly  life  ;  he  was  indeed  a  good  and 
just  man,  and  as  a  bishop  he  regulated  his  life  and  doctrine  rather 
by  his  innate  love  of  virtue,  than  by  what  he  had  gained  from 
learning.'  The  most  reverend  prelate,  Pecthelm,  of  whom  we  shall 
speak  in  the  proper  *  place,  and  who  was  a  long  time  either  deacon 
or  monk  with  his  successor  Aldhelm,^  is  wont  to  relate  that  many 
miraculous  cures  have  been  wrought  in  the  place  where  he  died, 
through  the  merit  of  his  sanctity ;  and  that  the  men  of  that  province 
used  to  carry  the  dust  from  thence  for  the  sick,  which  when  they 
had  put  into  water,  the  drinking  or  sprinkling  thereof  restored 
health  to  many  sick  men  and  beasts ;  so  that  this  holy  earth  being 
frequently  carried  away,  there  was  a  considerable  hole  left  in  that 
place. 

§  410.  Upon  his  death  the  bishopric  of  that  province  was  divided 
into  two  dioceses.'^  One  of  them  was  given  to  Danihel,'  which  he 
governs  to  this  day ;  the  other  to  Aldhelm,  wherein  he  most  worthily 
presided  during  four  years  :  both  of  them  were  well  instructed,  as 
well  in  ecclesiastical  affairs  as  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures. 
Aldhelm,  when  he  was  only  a  priest  and  abbat  of  the  monastery 
which  is  called  "  the  City  of  Mailduf  "  [Malmesbury],  by  order  of  a 
synod  of  his  own  nation,  wrote  a  notable  book  against  the  error  of  the 
Britons,  who  did  not  celebrate  Easter  at  the  proper  time,  and  who 
do  several  other  things  not  consonant  to  the  purity  and  the  peace 
of  the  church ;  and  by  the  reading  of  this  book  he  persuaded  many 
of  the  Britons,  who  were  subject  to  the  West  Saxons,  to  adopt  the 
catholic  celebration  of  our  Lord's  Passover.  He  likewise  wrote 
a  notable  book  on  Virginity,  which,  in  imitation  of  Sedulius,  he 
composed  in  a  double  form,  that  is,  in  hexameter  verse  and  in 
prose.  He  wrote  some  other  books,  as  being  a  man  most  learned 
in  all  respects,  for  he  had  a  neat  style,  and  was,  as  I  have  said, 
wonderful  for  ecclesiastical  and  liberal  erudition.     On  his  death, 

must  be  wrong  wlien  they  state  that  he  died  on  the  19th  of  the  kalends  of 
January,  705;  for  before  that  date  his  twenty -first  regnal  year  would  have  com- 
menced. But  if  we  substitute  "  June  "  for  "  January,"  (months  often  inter- 
changed by  the  transcribers  of  early  MSS.)  it  may  hence  be  assumed  that  this 
king  died  16th  May,  705,  when  a  few  days  only  were  wanting  to  complete  the 
twentieth  j^ear  of  his  reign,  as  Beda  has  stated.     See  Pagi,  a.d.  705,  §  7. 

1  After  the  throne  had  been  occupied  for  two  months  by  Eadwulf,  according 
to  Eddius  in  his  Life  of  Wilfrid. 

2  Concerning  Haeddi,  see  Acta  SS.  mens.  Jul.  ii.  482 ;  Wright's  Anglo-Saxon 
Biography,  p.  206. 

*  Malmesbury,  fol.  137,  b.,  refers  to  a  collection  of  the  letters  of  Haeddi,  which 
he  characterises  as  "  non  nimis  indocte  compositse."  These  letters  have  not  come 
down  to  our  time. 

*  See  §  451. 

^  The  Life  of  Aldhelm  and  his  correspondence  will  be  given  in  their  proper 
place  in  this  collection,  and  he  may  therefore  be  passed  over  for  the  present. 

^  Concerning  this  division  into  the  dioceses  of  Winchester  and  Sherborne,  see 
the  Life  of  Aldhelm,  by  W^illiam  of  Malmesbury. 

''  The  date  of  Daniel's  death  is  uncertain;  but  he  assuredly  was  alive  in  745, 
in  which  year  he  witnessed  a  charter  by  which  Cuthred,  king  of  Wessex,  granted 
land  to  Malmesbury,  (but  it  is  of  suspicious  authority,)  and  the  Chronicle  of 
Melrose  says  he  died  in  716.  Several  of  his  letters  will  be  found  in  the  Corre- 
t<pondence  of  Boniface. 


520  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  709. 

Fortheri '  was  made  bishop  in  his  stead,  and  is  living  at  this  time, 
Zieing  Ukewise  a  man  very  learned  in  the  holy  Scriptures. 

§  411.  Wliilst  these  persons  were  bishops,  it  was  enjoined  by 
synodical  decree,^  that  the  province  of  the  South  Saxons,  which 
Jill  that  time  belonged  to  the  diocese  of  the  cit)'  of  Winchester, 
where  Danihel  then  presided,  should  also  have  an  episcopal  see,  and 
a  bishop  of  its  own.  Eadberct,  at  that  time  abbat  of  the  monastery 
of  bishop  Uilfrid,  of  blessed  mcmoPi',  called  Selaeseu,  was  conse- 
crated their  first  bishop.  On  his  death,  Eolla  succeeded  in  the 
bishopric.  He  also  died  some  years  since,  and  the  bishopric  has 
been  discontinued  to  this  day. 


Chap.  XIX.  [a.d.  709.]— How  Coinred,  King  of  the  Mercians,  and  Offa, 
King  of  the  East  Saxons,  ended  their  days  at  Rome,  in  the  monastic 
HABIT.     Of  the  Life  and  Death  of  Bishop  Uilfrid. 

§  412.  In  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  Osred,  Coinred,'  who 
had  for  some  time  very  nobly  governed  the  kingdom  of  the  Mer- 
cians, did  a  much  more  noble  act,  by  quitting  the  throne  of  his 
kingdom,  and  going  to  Rome  ;*  where  having  received  the  tonsure, 
when  Constantine  was  pope,  and  been  made  a  monk  at  the  shrine 
of  the  apostles,  he  continued  to  his  last  hour  in  prayers,  fastings, 
and  alms-deeds.*  He  was  succeeded  in  the  throne  by  Ceolred,® 
the  son  of  Aedilred,  who  had  held  the  same  kingdom  before 
Coinred.  With  him  went  the  son  of  Sigheri,  king  of  the  East 
Saxons,  above  mentioned,^  whose  name  was  OfFa,  a  youth  of  most 
lovely  age  and  beauty,  and  most  earnestly  desired  by  all  his  nation 
to  be  their  king.  He,  with  like  devotion,  quitted  his  wife,*  lands, 
kindred,  and  country,  for  Christ  and  for  the  gospel,  that  he  might 
"  receive  an  hundred -fold  in  this  life,  and  in  the  world  to  come 
life  everlasting."  [Matt.  xix.  29.]  He  also,  when  they  came  to  the 
holy  places  at  Rome,  receiving  the  tonsure,  and  adopting  a  monastic 
life,  attained  the  long  wished  for  sight  of  the  blessed  apostles  in 
heaven. 

§  413.  The  same  year  that  they  departed  from  Britain,  the 
celebrated  prelate,  Uilfrid,^  died  in  the  province   of  Undalum,'" 

*  The  date  of  his  death,  also,  is  uncertain;  concerning  him  see  further  in  the 
Correspondence  of  Boniface. 

^  Smith,  upon  the  authority  of  Matthew  of  Westminster,  (who  here  copies 
Wendover,)  places  this  sj-uod  and  the  consecration  of  Eadbert  in  711. 

^  Coinred,  the  son  of  Wolfhere,  ascended  the  throne  in  704,  and  resigned  it 
in  709. 

*  This  expedition  could  not  have  been  undertaken  before  the  month  of  May, 
709,  as  appears  by  the  facts  mentioned  in  conjunction  with  the  death  of  Wilfrid. 

*  Among  these  was,  it  was  presumed,  the  forged  charter  to  Egwin,  in  favour  of 
Evesham,  printed  in  Dugdale's  Monast.  Anglic,  i.  144;  Acta  SS.  mens.  Jan.  i.  71lJ; 
Kemble,  Cod.  Dipl.  No.  Ixi. 

"  Ceolred,  the  grandson  of  Penda,  succeeded  Coinred  in  709,  and  died  in  716. 
7  See  §  250. 

*  He  was  betrothed,  but  not  married,  to  Kineswitha,  daughter  of  Penda,  king 
of  Mercia. 

"  The  reader  is  referred  to  the  life  of  this  important  personage  by  Eddius  (a 
translation  of  which  will  be  found  in  our  collection  of  historians)  for  such 
remarks  as  seem  necessary  for  the  illustration  as  well  of  that  writer  as  of  the 
incidents  here  mentioned  by  Beda. 

'"  At  Oundle,  in  Northamptonshire. 


A.D.  709.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  521 

after  he  had  been  bishop  forty-five  years.  His  body,  being  laid  in 
a  coffin,  was  carried  to  his  monastery,  called  "  In-hrypum  "  [Ripon], 
and  there  buried  in  the  church  of  the  blessed  apostle  Peter,  with 
the  honour  due  to  so  great  a  prelate.  We  will  now  turn  back,  and 
briefly  mention  some  particulars  of  his  life. 

Being  a  boy  ^  of  a  good  disposition,  and  behaving  himself  more 
worthily  than  boys  of  that  age,  he  conducted  himself  so  modestly 
and  discreetly  in  all  respects,  that  he  was  deservedly  beloved, 
esteemed,  and  cherished  by  his  elders  as  if  he  were  one  of  them- 
selves. At  fourteen  years  of  age  he  preferred  the  monastic  to  the 
secular  life  ;  which  when  he  had  signified  to  his  father,  (for  his 
mother  was  then  dead,)  he  readily  consented  to  his  heavenly  wishes, 
and  advised  him  to  persist  in  his  holy  resolution.  Accordingly,  he 
came  to  the  isle  of  Lindisfarne,  and  there  giving  himself  up  to  the 
service  of  the  monks,  he  took  care  diligently  to  learn  and  to 
perform  those  things  which  belong  to  monastic  purity  and  piety; 
and  being  of  an  acute  understanding,  he  in  a  very  short  time  learned 
the  psalms  and  some  books,  before  he  was  tonsured :  but  even  then 
he  was  already  become  very  remarkable  for  the  virtues  of  humility 
and  obedience,  which  are  greater  things  than  the  tonsure  ;  for 
which  he  was  deservedly  beloved  and  respected  by  his  elders  and 
equals.  Having  sensed  God  some  years  in  that  monaster}^  and 
being  a  clear-sighted  youth,  he  observed  that  the  way  to  virtue 
taught  by  the  Scots  was  not  perfect,  and  he  resolved  in  his  mind 
to  go  to  Rome,^  to  see  what  ecclesiastical  or  monastic  rites  were 
in  use  there.  The  brethren  being  made  acquainted  therewith, 
commended  his  design,  and  advised  him  to  put  it  into  execution. 
He  then  repaired  to  queen  Eanfled,  to  whom  he  was  known,  and 
who  had  caused  him  to  be  associated  into  that  monastery  by  her 
advice  and  assistance ;  and  he  acquainted  her  that  he  was  desirous 
to  visit  the  churches  of  the  blessed  apostles.  She,  being  pleased 
with  the  youth's  good  resolution,  sent  him  into  Kent,  to  king 
Erconberct,  who  was  her  uncle's  son,  requesting  that  he  would  send 
him  to  Rome  in  an  honourable  manner.  At  that  time,  Honorius, 
one  of  the  disciples  of  the  holy  pope  Gregoiy,  and  well  instructed 
in  ecclesiastical  matters,  was  archbishop  there.  Wliilst  he  made 
some  stay  there,  and,  being  a  youth  of  an  active  spirit,  diligently 
applied  himself  to  learn  those  things  which  he  saw,  another  youth, 
called  Biscop,  surnamed  Benedict,  of  the  English  nobility,  arrived 
there,  being  likewise  desirous  to  go  to  Rome,  of  which  we  have 
before  ^  made  mention. 

§  414.  The  king  gave  him  Uilfrid  for  a  companion,  wnth  orders 
to  conduct  him  to  Rome  along  with  himself.  When  they  came  to 
Lyons,  Uilfrid  was  detained  there  by  Dalfin,*  the  bishop  of  that  city ; 
but  Benedict  hastened  on  to  Rome,  completing  the  journey  which 
he  had  commenced.  That  prelate  was  delighted  with  the  youth's 
prudent  discourse,  the  gracefulness  of  his  fair  aspect,  the  alacrity 
of  his  behaviour,  and  the  sedateness  and  gravity  of  his  thoughts  ; 
for  which  reason  he  plentifully  supplied  him  and  his  companions 
with  all  necessaries,  as  long  as  they  stayed  with  him  ;  and  further 

'  See  Eddius,  §  2.  =  Id.  §  3.  3  f^^e  §  305.  *  Eddius,  §  4. 


522  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    EN'OLAND.  [a.D.  709. 

offered  to  commit  to  him  the  government  of  no  inconsiderable  part 
of  Gaul,  to  give  him  a  maiden  daughter  of  his  own  brother  to  wife, 
and  always  to  receive  him  as  his  own  adopted  son.  He  returned 
thanks  for  the  favour  which  he  was  pleased  to  show  to  a  stranger, 
and  answered,  that  he  had  resolved  upon  another  course  of  life,  and 
for  that  reason  he  had  left  his  country  and  set  out  for  Rome. 

§  415.  Having  heard  thus  much,  the  bishop  sent  him  to  Rome,' 
furnishing  him  with  a  guide  and  plenty  of  all  things  requisite  for 
his  journey,  earnestly  requesting  that  he  would  come  that  way 
when  he  returned  into  his  own  country.  Uilfrid  arriving  at  Rome, 
by  constantly  applying  himself  to  prayer  and  the  study  of  eccle- 
siastical affairs,  as  he  had  before  proposed  to  himself,  gained  the 
friendship  of  that  most  holy  and  learned  man  Boniface,  the  arch- 
deacon, who  was  also  counsellor  to  the  apostolic  pope,  by  whose 
instruction  he  regularly  learned  the  four  Gospels,  the  true  calcula- 
tion of  Easter,  and  many  other  things  appertaining  to  ecclesiastical 
discipline,  unto  which  he  could  not  attain  in  his  own  countr)\ 
When  he  had  spent  some  months  there,  in  successful  study,  he 
returned  ^  into  Gaul,  to  Dalfin  ;  and  having  stayed  with  him  three 
years,  received  from  him  the  tonsure,  and  was  so  much  beloved  by 
him  that  he  had  thoughts  of  making  him  his  heir  :  but  this  was 
prevented  by  the  bishop's  cruel  and  untimely  death,  and  Uilfrid 
was  reserved  to  be  bishop  of  his  own,  that  is,  the  English,  nation  ; 
for  queen  Baldhild  sent  soldiers  with  orders  to  put  the  bishop  to 
death  ;  whom  Uilfrid,  his  clerk,  attended  to  the  place  where  he  was 
to  be  beheaded,  being  very  desirous,  though  the  bishop  opposed  it, 
to  die  along  with  him  ;  but  the  executioners,  understanding  that 
he  was  a  stranger,  and  of  the  English  nation,  spared  him,  and 
would  not  put  liim  to  death  with  his  bishop. 

§  416.  Returning  to  England,  hew^as  admitted  to  the  friendship 
of  king  Alchfrid,*  who  had  always  followed  and  loved  the  catholic 
rules  of  the  church  ;  and  therefore  finding  him  to  be  a  catholic, 
he  gave  him  land  of  ten  families  at  the  place  called  Stanford  ;  and 
not  long  after,  the  monastery,  of  thirty  families,  at  the  place  called 
'•  In-hrypum"*  [Ripon]  ;  which  place  he  had  lately  given  to  those 
that  followed  the  doctrine  of  the  Scots,  to  build  a  monasteiy  upon. 
But,  forasmuch  as  they  afterwards,  being  left  to  their  choice,  would 
rather  quit  the  place  than  adopt  the  catholic  Easter,  and  other 
canonical  rites,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  Roman  and  apostolic 
church,  he  gave  the  same  to  him,  whom  he  found  to  follow  better 
discipline  and  better  customs. 

§  417.  At  the  same  timc,^  by  the  said  king's  command,  he  was 
ordained  priest  in  the  same  monastery,  by  Agilberct,  bishop  of  the 
Geuissi,  above  mentioned,*^  the  king  being  desirous  that  a  man  of 
so  much  learning  and  piety  should  continue  \vith  him  as  his  own 
especial  priest  and  teacher  ;  and  not  long  after,  having  detected 
and  banished  the  Scottish  sect,  as  was  said  above,'  he,  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  his  father  Osuiu,  sent  him  into  Gaul,'  to  be 

•  EddiuR,  §  5.  2  Id.  §  6.  3  IjI  §  7  i  i^i  g  8.  ••  I<1.  i<  0. 

«  See  §g  228,  236,  2i3.  '  S.-.e  §§  2:3(i,  416.  «  Eddius,  §§  11,  12,^13. 


A.D.  709.]  BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  523 

consecrated  bishop,  he  being  at  that  time  about  thirty  years  of  age  ; 
and  the  same  Agilberct  being  then  bishop  of  the  city  of  Paris,  and 
eleven  other  bishops  meeting  at  the  dedication  of  the  bishop,  that 
service  was  most  honourably  performed.  Whilst  he  was  yet  beyond 
the  sea,  Ceadda,  a  holy  man,  was  consecrated  bishop  of  York,  by 
command  of  king  Osuiu,  as  has  been  said  above  ;  ^  and  having  ably 
ruled  that  church  three  years,  he  retired  to  govern  his  monastery 
which  is  in  Laestingaei,  and  Uilfrid  was  made  bishop  of  all  the 
province  of  the  Northumbrians. 

§  418.  Afterwards,  in  the  reign  of  Ecgfrid,  he  was  expelled^  his 
bishopric,  and  others  were  consecrated  bishops  in  his  stead,  of 
whom  mention  has  been  made  above.  Designing  to  go  to  Rome, 
to  plead  his  cause  before  the  apostolic  pope,  when  he  was  aboard 
the  ship,^  the  west  wind  blew,  and  he  was  driven  into  Frisia,*  and 
honourably  received  by  that  barbarous  people  and  their  king  Aldgils, 
to  whom  he  preached  Christ,  and  instructed  many  thousands  of 
them  in  the  word  of  truth,  washing  them  from  their  abominations 
in  the  fount  of  the  Saviour.  Tlius  he  there  began  the  work  of  the 
gospel,  which  was  afterwards  finished  with  great  devotion  by  Uil- 
brord,^  a  most  reverend  bishop  of  Jesus  Christ.  Having  happily 
spent  the  winter  there  with  his  new  converts,  he  set  out**  again  on 
his  way  to  Rome,  where  his  cause  having  been  tried  before  pope 
Agatho  and  many  bishops,  he  was  by  their  universal  sentence  fully 
acquitted  of  that  which  had  been  laid  to  his  charge,  and  declared 
worthy  of  his  bishopric. 

§  419.  At  the  same  time,  the  said  pope  Agatho  assembling  a 
synod  at  Rome,  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  bishops,  against 
those  that  taught  that  there  was  only  one  will  and  operation  in  our 
Lord  and  Saviour,  ordered  Uilfrid  also  to  be  summoned,  and,  when 
seated  among  the  bishops,  to  declare  his  own  faith  and  the  faith  of 
the  province  or  island  from  whence  he  came  ;  and  when  he  and 
his  people  had  been  found  orthodox  in  their  faith,  it  was  thought 
fit  to  record  the  same  among  the  acts  of  that  synod,  which  was 
done  in  this  manner :  "  Uilfrid,  the  beloved  of  God,  bishop  of  the 
city  of  York,  having  appealed  to  the  apostolic  see  respecting  his 
cause,  and  being  by  that  authority  acquitted  of  everything,  whether 
specified  against  him  or  not,  and  having  taken  his  seat  in  judgment, 
with  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  other  bishops  in  the  synod, 
made  confession  of  the  true  and  catholic  faith,  and  subscribed  the 
same  in  the  name  of  all  the  northern  part  of  the  isles  of  Britain  and 
Ireland,  inhabited  by  the  English  and  Britons,  as  also  by  the  Scots 
and  Picts." 

§  420.  After ^  this,  returning  into  Britain,  he  converted*  the 
province  of  the  South  Saxons  from  their  idolatrous  worship  to  the 
faith  of  Christ.  He  also  sent  ministers  of  the  Word  to  the  Isle  of 
Wight ; "  and  in  the  second  year  of  Aldfrid,  who  reigned  after 
Ecgfrid,  he  was  restored'"  to  his  see  and  bishopric  by  that  king's 

1  See  §  244,  and  Eddius,  §  14.  «  See  §  289,  and  Eddius,  §  23. 

3  Eddius,  §  24.  *  Id.  §§  25—27.  «  gee  §§  380—388. 

«  Eddius,  §  28.  ''  Id.  §  31.  s  See  §  289;  Eddius,  §§  39,  40. 

«  See  §  298.  i«  Eddius,  §  42. 


524  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    Of    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  709. 

invitation.  However,  five  years  after,  being  again  accused  by  tliat 
same  king  and  many  bishops,  he  was  again  expelled^  from  his  diocese. 
Coming  to  Rome,^  together  with  his  accusers,  and  being  allowed 
to  make  his  defence  in  their  presence,  before  a  number  of  bishops 
and  the  apostolic  pope  John,  it  was  declared^  by  the  unanimous 
judgment  of  them  all,  that  his  accusers  had  in  part  laid  false  accu- 
sations to  his  charge ;  and  the  aforesaid  pope  undertook  to  write* 
to  the  kings  of  the  English,  Aedilred  and  Aldfrid,  to  cause  him  to  be 
restored  to  his  bishopric,  because  he  had  been  falsely  condemned. 

§  421.  His  acquittal  was  much  forwarded  by  the  reading  of  the 
synod  of  pope  Agatho,  of  blessed  memor}' ,  which  had  been  formerly 
held  when  he  himself  was  present  at  Rome,  and  had  sat  in  council 
among  the  bishops,  as  has  been  said  before.^  For  that  synod  being, 
on  account  of  the  trial,  by  order  of  the  apostolic  pope,  read  before 
the  nobility  and  a  great  number  of  the  people  for  some  days,  they 
came  to  the  place  where  it  was  written,  "  Uilfrid,  the  beloved  or 
God,  bishop  of  the  city  of  York,  having  by  appeal  referred  his  cause 
to  the  apostolic  see,  and  being  by  that  power  cleared  of  everj^thing, 
whether  specified  against  him  or  not,"  as  above  stated.  This  being 
read,  the  hearers  were  amazed,  and  the  reader  stopping,  they  began 
to  ask  of  one  another,  who  that  bishop  Uilfrid  was.  Then  Boniface, 
the  apostolic  pope's  counsellor,  and  many  others,  who  had  seen  him 
there  in  the  days  of  pope  Agatho,  said  that  he  was  the  same  bishop 
who  lately  came  to  Rome  to  be  tried  by  the  apostolic  see,  being 
accused  by  his  people,  and  wdio,  said  they,  having  long  since  been 
here  upon  such  like  accusation,  the  cause  and  controversy  between 
both  parties  being  heard  and  discussed,  was  proved  by  pope  Agatho, 
of  blessed  memory,  to  have  been  wrongfully  expelled  from  his 
bishopric,  and  so  much  honoured  by  him,  that  he  commanded  him 
to  sit  in  the  council  of  bishops  which  he  had  assembled,  as  a  man 
of  untainted  faith  and  an  upright  mind.  This  being  heard,  the 
pope  and  all  the  rest  said,  that  a  man  of  such  great  authority,  who 
had  exercised  the  episcopal  function  for  near  forty  years,  ought  not 
to  be  condemned,  but,  being  cleared  of  all  the  crimes  laid  to  his 
charge,  to  return  home  with  honour. 

§  422.  Having  arrived*^  in  the  parts  of  Gaul,  on  his  way  back  to 
Britain,  on  a  sudden  he  fell'  sick,  and  the  disease  increasing, 
became  so  ill,  that  he  could  not  ride  on  horseback,  but  was  carried 
in  his  bed  by  the  hands  of  his  servants.  Being  thus  come  to  the 
city  of  Meaux,  in  Gaul,  he  lay  four  days  and  nights,  as  if  he  had 
been  dead,  and  only  by  his  faint  breathing  showed  that  he  had  any 
life  in  him ;  having  continued  so  four  days,  without  meat  or  drink, 
without  speaking  or  hearing,  he,  at  length,  on  the  dawn  of  the  fifth 
day,  as  it  were  awakening  out  of  a  dead  sleep,  sat  up  in  bed,  and 
opening  his  eyes,  saw  numbers  of  the  brethren  singing  and  weeping 
about  him,  and,  fetching  a  gentle  sigh,  asked  where  Acca,  the  priest, 
was.  This  man,  being  called,  immediately  came  in,  and  seeing 
him  thus  recovered  and  able  to  speak,  knelt  down,  and  returned 
thanks  to  God,  with  all  the  brethren  there  present.     When  they 

1  See  §  385;  Eddius,  §  42.  -  Eddius,  §  47.  ■'  Td.  §  .50. 

*  Id.  §  51.  ^  See  §  410.  «  Eddiu.s,  §  52.  '  Id.  S  5:J. 


A.D.  709.]        BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  525 

had  sat  awhile,  and  begun  to  discourse,  with  godly  fear,  on  the 
heavenly  judgments,  the  bishop  ordered  the  rest  to  go  out  for  a 
season,  and  spoke  to  the  priest  Acca  in  this  manner  : — 

§  423.  "  A  dreadful  vision  has  now  appeared  to  me,  which  I 
wish  you  to  hear  and  keep  secret,  till  I  know  how  God  will  please 
to  dispose  of  me.  There  stood  by  me  a  certain  person,  remarkable 
for  his  white  garments,  telling  me  that  he  was  Michael,  the  arch- 
angel, and  said,  '  I  am  sent  to  you  for  this  end,  that  I  may  recal 
you  from  death :  for  the  Lord  has  granted  you  life,  through  the 
prayers  and  tears  of  your  disciples,  and  by  the  intercession  of  his 
blessed  mother,  Mary,  of  perpetual  virginity ;  wherefore  I  tell  you, 
that  you  shall  now  at  this  time  recover  from  this  sickness  ;  but  be 
ready,  for  I  will  return  and  visit  you  at  the  end  of  four  years.  But 
when  you  come  into  your  countiy,  you  shall  recover  most  of  your 
possessions  that  have  been  taken  from  you,  and  you  shall  end 
your  days  in  quietness  and  peace.'  "  The  bishop  accordingly 
recovered,  at  which  all  persons  rejoiced,  and  gave  thanks  to  God ; 
and  setting  forward  on  his  journey,  he  arrived  in  Britain. 

§  424.  Having^  read  the  letters  which  he  brought  from  the 
apostolic  pope,  Berctuald,  the  archbishop,  and  Aedilred,  who  had 
been  formerly  king,  but  was  then  an  abbat,  readily  took  his  part ; 
for  the  said  Aedilred,  calling  to  him  Coinred,  whom  he  had  made 
king  in  his  own  stead,  he  requested  of  him  to  be  friends  with 
Uilfrid,  in  which  request  he  prevailed  ;  but  Aldfrid,^  king  of  the 
Northumbrians,  refused  to  admit  him.  However,  he  died^  soon 
after,  and  it  so  happened  that  during  the  reign  of  his  son  Osredi, 
when  a  synod  ^  w^as  assembled,  near  the  river  Nidd,  and  after  some 
contention  on  both  sides,  at  length,  by  the  consent  of  all,  he  was 
admitted  to  preside  over  his  church  ;  and  thus  he  lived  in  peace 
four  years,  that  is,  until  the  day  of  his  death.  He  died  in  his 
monasteiy,  which  he  had  in  the  province  "  Undalum,"'  under  the 
government  of  the  abbat  Cuduald  ;  and  by  the  ministiy  of  the 
brethren,  he  was  carried  to  his  first  monaster)^  which  is  called 
"  In-hrypum,"  and  buried  in  the  church  of  the  blessed  Peter  the 
apostle,  close  by  the  south  end  of  the  altar,  as  has  been  mentioned 
above,  with  this  epitaph  over  him  : — 

Here  the  great  prelate  Uilfrid  lies  entomb'd, 

Who,  led  by  piety,  this  temple  rear'd 

To  God,  and  hallow'd  with  blest  Peter's  name, 

To  whom  our  Lord  the  keys  of  heaven  eonsign'd : 

Moreover  gold  and  purple  vestments  gave  ; 

High  rear'd  a  cross, — a  trophy  shining  bright ; 

The  four  Evangelists,  each  in  his  order, 

At  his  command  in  golden  letters  written, 

And  placed  them  in  a  shrine  of  ruddy  gold. 

He  likewise  brought  the  solemn  Easter  feast 

To  the  just  standard  of  the  canon  law; 

Which  our  forefathers  fis'd  and  well  observ'd, 

But  long  by  error  changed,  he  well  restored. 

Into  these  parts  a  numerous  swann  of  monks 

He  brought,  and  strictly  taught  their  founder's  rules. 

In  lapse  of  years,  by  many  dangers  toss'd, 

'  Eddius,  §  54.  2  Id.  §  55.  »  Id.  §  56;  see  also  Eccl.  Hist.  §  409. 

*  Eddius,  §  57.  ^  Id.  §  61. 


626  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  710. 

At  home  by  discords,  and  in  foreign  realms, 
Having  sat  bishop  five-and-forty  years, 
He  died,  and  joyfid  sought  the  realms  above. 
Grant,  blessed  Lord,  that  favour'd  with  his  aid, 
The  flock  may  follow  in  their  pastor's  path. 


Chap.  XX.    [a. d.  710.] — How  Albinus  succeeded  to  tee   religious  Abbat 
Hadrian,  and  Acca  to  Uilfrid,  in  the  Bishopric. 

§  425.  The  next  year  after  the  death  of  the  aforesaid  father,  that 
is,  in  the  fifth  year  of  king  Osred,  the  most  reverend  father,  abbat 
Hadrian,  fellow-labourer  in  the  word  of  God  with  Theodore  the 
archbishop,  of  blessed  memory,  died,  and  was  buried  in  the  church 
of  the  blessed  mother  of  God,  in  his  own  monastery,  this  being  the 
forty-first  year  from  the  time  when  he  was  sent  by  pope  Vitalian 
with  Theodore,  and  the  thirty-ninth  after  his  arrival  in  England. 
Of  whose  learning,  as  well  as  that  of  Theodore,  one  testimony 
among  others  is,  that  Albinus,  his  disciple,  who  succeeded  him  in 
the  government  of  his  monastery,  was  so  well  instructed  in  the 
study  of  the  Scriptures,  that  he  knew  the  Greek  tongue  to  no  small 
perfection,  and  the  Latin  as  thoroughly  as  the  English,  which 
was  his  native  language. 

§  426.  [a.D.  709.]  Acca,  his  priest,  succeeded  Uilfrid  in  the 
bishopric  of  the  church  of  Hagustald ;  and  being  himself  a  most 
active  person,  and  great  in  the  sight  of  God  and  man,  he  much 
adorned  and  added  by  his  wonderful  works  to  the  structure  of  his 
church,  which  is  dedicated  to  the  blessed  apostle  Andrew.  For 
he  made  it  his  business,  and  does  so  still,  to  procure  relics  of  the 
blessed  apostles  and  martyrs  of  Christ  from  all  parts,  to  erect  altars 
in  honour  of  them,  dividing  the  same  by  porches  in  the  walls  of  the 
church.  Besides  which,  he  very  dihgently  gathered  the  histories 
of  their  sufterings,  together  with  other  ecclesiastical  writings,  and 
erected  there  a  most  numerous  and  noble  libraiy.  He  likewise 
most  industriously  provided  holy  vessels,  lights,  and  such  like  things 
as  appertain  to  the  adorning  of  the  house  of  God.  He  in  like 
manner  invited  to  him  a  celebrated  singer,  called  Maban,  who  had 
been  taught  to  sing  by  the  successors  of  the  disciples  of  the  blessed 
Gregory  in  Kent,  that  he  should  instruct  himself  and  his  clergy  ; 
and  he  kept  him  for  twelve  years,  to  teach  such  ecclesiastical  songs 
as  were  not  known  to  them,  and  to  restore  those  to  their  former 
state,  which,  though  once  known,  were  corrupted  either  by  want 
of  use,  or  through  neglect.  For  bishop  Acca  himself  was  a  most 
expert  singer,  as  well  as  most  learned  in  holy  writ,  most  pure  in 
the  confession  of  the  catholic  faith,  and  most  observant  in  the  rules 
of  ecclesiastical  institution  ;  nor  does  he  intend  ever  to  cease  to  be 
so  till  he  shall  receive  the  rewards  of  his  pious  devotion.  He  was 
bred  up  from  his  youth  and  instructed  among  the  clergy  of  the 
most  holy  and  beloved  of  God,  Boza,  bishop  of  York.  Afterwards, 
coming  to  bishop  Uilfrid  in  the  liope  of  improving  himself,  he  spent 
tlie  rest  of  his  life  under  him  till  that  bishop's  death,  and  going 
with  him  to  Rome,  learned  there  many  profitable  things  concerning 
tlie  government  of  the  holy  church,  which  he  could  not  have  learned 
in  his  own  country. 


A.D.  710.]         BEDA'S    ECCLKSIASTICAL    history. BOOK    V.  527 

Chap.  XXI.  [a.d.  710.] — How  Abbat  Ceolfrid  sent  the  King  of  the  Picts 
Architects  to  build  a  Church,  and  with  them  an  Epistle  concerning  the 
Catholic  Easter  and  Tonsure. 

§  427.  At  that  time,  Naiton,  king  of  the  Picts,  who  inhabit  the 
northern  parts  of  Britain,  taught  by  frequent  study  of  the  eccle- 
siastical writings,  renounced  the  error  by  which  he  and  his  nation 
had  till  then  been  held,  in  relation  to  the  observance  of  Easter;  and 
submitted,  together  with  his  people,  to  celebrate  the  catholic  time 
of  our  Lord's  resurrection.  In  order  that  he  might  perform  this  with 
the  greater  ease  and  authority,  he  sought  assistance  from  the  nation 
of  the  English,  whom  he  knew  to  have  long  since  formed  their 
religion  after  the  example  of  the  holy  Roman  and  apostolic  church. 
Accordingly  he  sent  messengers  to  the  venerable  man,  Ceolfrid, 
abbat  of  the  monastery  of  the  blessed  apostles  Peter  and  Paul, 
which  stands  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Wear,  and  near  the  river 
Tyne,  at  the  place  called  "In-Gyruum"  [Jarrow],  which  he 
gloriously  governed  after  Benedict,  of  whom  we  have  before' 
spoken ;  desiring,  that  he  would  write  him  a  letter  containing 
arguments,  by  the  help  of  which  he  might  the  more  powerfully 
confute  those  that  presumed  to  keep  Easter  out  of  the  due  time  ; 
as  also  concerning  the  form  and  manner  of  the  tonsure  for  distin- 
guishing the  clergy  ;  not  to  mention  that  he  himself  possessed  much 
information  in  these  particulars.  He  also  prayed  to  have  architects 
sent  him  to  build  a  church  in  his  nation  after  the  Roman  manner, 
promising  to  dedicate  the  same  in  honour  of  the  blessed  Peter,  the 
prince  of  the  apostles,  and  that  he  and  all  his  people  would  always 
follow  the  custom  of  the  holy  Roman  apostolic  church,  as  far  as  they 
could  ascertain  the  same  in  consequence  of  their  remoteness  from 
the  Roman  language  and  nation.  The  most  reverend  abbat 
Ceolfrid,  complying  with  his  desires  and  solicitations,  sent  the 
architects  whom  he  desired,  and  the  following  letter  ^ — 

§  428.  "To  the  most  excellent  lord,  and  most  glorious  king 
Naitan,  ahbat  Ceolfrid  sends  greeting  in  the  Lord.  We  most 
readily  and  willingly  endeavour,  according  to  your  desire,  to 
explain  to  you  the  catholic  observance  of  holy  Easter,  according 
to  what  we  have  learned  of  the  apostolic  see,  as  you,  devout 
king,  with  a  religious  intention,  have  requested  from  us ;  for 
we  know,  that  whenever  the  holy  church  applies  herself  to  learn, 
to  teach,  and  to  guard  the  truth,  which  are  the  affairs  of  our 
Lord,  the  same  is  given  to  her  from  heaven.  For  a  certain 
worldly  writer^  has  most  truly  said,  that  the  world  would  be  most 
happily  circumstanced  if  either  kings  were  philosophers,  or  philo- 
sophers were  kings.  For  if  a  worldly  man  could  judge  truly  of  the 
philosophy  of  this  world,  and  form  a  correct  choice  concerning  the 

1  See  §  413. 

2  There  is  some  uncertainty  as  to  the  time  when  this  epistle  Wcis  written. 
Barouius  ascribes  it  to  the  year  699,  (see  his  Annal.  ad  an.  §  5,)  but  this  date 
would  appear  to  be  too  early,  when  we  remember  that  this  letter  was  written 
shortly  before  the  monks  of  lona  adopted  the  Roman  calcLilation  of  Easter,  (see 
§  445,)  which  occurred,  as  we  know,  in  716.  We  may  adopt,  therefore,  the  date 
assigned  to  it  by  Archbishop  Ussher,  namely,  710. 

^  Plato,  De  Republ.  lib.  v.  cap.  18.  p.  473,  d. 


528  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    KNGLAND.  [a.U.  710. 

state  of  tliis  world,  how  much  more  is  it  to  be  wished,  and  most 
earnestly  to  be  prayed  for  by  the  citizens  of  the  heavenly  countrj', 
who  are  only  as  men  travelling  in  this  world,  that  the  more  powerful 
any  persons  are  in  this  world,  the  more  they  may  labour  to  be 
acquainted  with  the  commands  of  Him  who  is  the  Supreme 
Judge,  and  by  their  examples  and  authority  may  induce  those 
that  are  committed  to  their  charge,  as  well  as  themselves,  to  keep 
the  same. 

§  429.  "  There  are  three  rules  contained  in  the  sacred  writings, 
on  account  of  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  any  human  authority  to 
change  the  time  of  keeping  Easter,  which  has  been  prescribed  to 
us  ;  two  whereof  are  divinely  established  in  the  law  of  Moses  ;  the 
third  is  added  in  the  gospel  by  means  of  the  passion  and  resurrec- 
tion of  our  Lord.  For  the  law  enjoined  that  the  passover  should 
be  kept  in  the  first  month  of  the  year,  and  the  third  week  of  that 
month,  that  is,  from  the  fifteenth  day  to  the  one-and-twentieth. 
It  is  added,  by  apostolic  institution,  in  the  gospel,  that  we  are  to 
wait  for  our  Lord's-day  in  that  third  week,  and  to  keep  the 
beginning  of  the  paschal  time  on  the  same.  Wliich  threefold  rule 
whosoever  shall  rightly  observe,  will  never  err  in  fixing  the  paschal 
feast.  But  if  you  desire  to  be  more  plainly  and  fully  informed  in 
all  these  particulars,  it  is  written  in  Exodus,  where  the  people  of 
Israel,  being  about  to  be  delivered  out  of  Eg}^t,  are  commanded 
to  keep  the  first  passover,  that  the  Lord  said  to  Moses  and  Aaron, 
'  This  month  shall  be  unto  you  the  beginning  of  months  ;  it  shall 
be  the  first  month  of  the  year  to  you.  Speak  ye  unto  all  the  con- 
gregation of  Israel,  saying.  In  the  tenth  day  of  this  month,  they 
shall  take  to  them  every  man  a  lamb,  according  to  the  house  of 
their  fathers,  a  lamb  for  an  house.'  And  a  little  lower,  'And  he 
shall  keep  it  until  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  same  month  ;  and  the 
whole  assembly  of  the  congregation  of  Israel  shall  kill  it  in  the 
evening.'  [Exod.  xii.  2,  3,  6.]  By  which  words  it  most  plainly 
appears,  that  thus  in  the  paschal  observance  mention  is  made  of 
the  fourteenth  day,  not  that  the  passover  is  commanded  to  be  kept 
on  that  fourteenth  day:  but  tlie  lamb  is  commanded  to  be  killed 
on  the  approach  of  the  evening  of  the  fourteenth  day;  that  is, 
on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  moon,  which  nicikes  the  beginning 
of  the  third  week,  when  the  moon  appears  in  the  sky.  And 
because  it  was  on  the  night  of  the  fifteenth  moon,  when,  by 
the  slaughter  of  the  Eg)'ptians,  Israel  was  redeemed  from  a  long 
captivity,  it  is  said,  '  Seven  days  shall  ye  eat  unleavened  bread.' 
I  Exod.  xii.  15.]  By  which  words  all  the  third  week  of  the  same 
month  is  decreed  to  be  kept  solemn.  But  lest  we  should  think 
that  those  same  seven  days  were  to  be  reckoned  from  the  four- 
teenth to  the  twentieth,  God  immediately  adds,  '  Even  the  first 
day  ye  shall  put  away  leaven  out  of  your  houses  ;  for  whosoever 
eateth  leavened  bread,  from  the  first  day  until  the  seventh  day.  that 
soul  shall  be  cut  off  from  Israel ; '  and  so  on,  till  He  says,  '  For  in 
this  self-same  day  I  will  bring  your  army  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.' 
[E.xod.  xii.  L5.] 

§  430.   "  Thus  he  calls  that  the  first  day  of  unleavened  bread,  iu 


A.n.  710.]         BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  529 

which  he  was  to  bring  their  army  out  of  Egj^pt.  But  it  is  evident, 
that  they  were  not  brought  out  of  Egypt  on  the  fourteenth  day,  in 
tlie  evening  whereof  the  lamb  was  killed,  and  which  is  properly 
called  the  Passover  or  Phase,  but  on  the  fifteenth  day,  as  is  most 
plainly  written  in  the  book  of  Numbers.  '  Departing  therefore 
from  Ramesse  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  first  month,  the  next 
(lay  the  Israelites  kept  the  passover  with  a  high  hand.'  [Numb. 
xxxiii.  3.]  Thus  the  seven  days  of  unleavened  bread,  on  the  first 
whereof  the  people  of  God  were  brought  out  of  Egypt,  are  to  be 
reckoned  from  the  beginning  of  the  third  week,  as  has  been  said, 
that  is,  from  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  first  month,  till  the  one-and- 
twentieth  of  the  same  month,  that  day  completed.  But  the 
fourteenth  day  is  noted  down  separately  from  this  number,  by  the 
name  of  the  Passover,  as  is  plainly  made  out  by  what  follows  in 
Exodus  :  where,  when  it  is  said,  '  For  in  this  same  day  I  will  bring 
your  army  out  of  the  land  of  Egj'pt ; '  it  is  immediately  added, 
'  You  shall  keep  it  a  feast  by  an  ordinance  for  ever.  In  the  first 
month,  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month  at  even,  ye  shall  eat 
unleavened  bread,  until  the  one -and -twentieth  day  of  the  month  at 
even.  Seven  days  shall  there  be  no  leaven  found  in  your  houses.' 
[Exod.xii.  17 — 19.]  Now,  who  is  there  that  does  not  perceive, 
that  there  are  not  seven  days  only,  but  rather  eight,  from  the 
fourteenth  to  the  one-and-twentieth,  if  the  fourteenth  be  also 
reckoned  in  the  number?  But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  (as  by 
diligent  study  of  the  Scriptures  is  shown  to  be  the  truth,)  we  reckon 
from  the  evening  of  the  fourteenth  day  to  the  evening  of  the  one- 
and-twentieth,  we  shall  certainly  find  that  the  same  fourteenth  day 
gives  its  evening  for  the  beginning  of  the  paschal  feast ;  so  that 
the  whole  sacred  solemnity  contains  no  more  than  only  seven 
nights  and  as  many  days.  By  which  our  definition  is  proved  to 
be  true,  wherein  we  said,  that  the  paschal  time  is  to  be  celebrated 
in  the  first  month  of  the  year,  and  in  the  third  week  of  the  same. 
For  that  is  really  the  third  week,  which  begins  on  the  evening 
of  the  fourteenth  day,  and  ends  on  the  evening  of  the  one-and- 
twentieth. 

§  431.  "  But  after  Christ  our  Passover  is  sacrificed  for  us,  and 
has  made  the  Lord's  day  (which  among  the  ancients  was  called  the 
first  after  the  sabbath)  a  solemn  day  to  us  by  the  joy  of  his  resur- 
rection, the  apostolic  tradition  has  so  inserted  it  into  the  paschal 
festivals  as  to  decree,  that  nothing  in  the  least  be  anticipated,  or 
detracted  from  the  time  of  the  legal  passover  ;  but  rather  it  ordains, 
that  the  same  first  month  of  the  year  should  be  waited  for,  pursuant 
to  the  precept  of  the  law,  and  in  like  manner  also  the  fourteenth 
day  of  the  same,  and  the  evening  thereof.  And  w^lien  this  day 
should  happen  to  fall  on  the  sabbath,  every  one  in  his  family  and 
household  should  take  a  lamb,  and  kill  it  in  the  evening,  that  is, 
that  all  the  churches  throughout  the  world,  composing  one  catholic 
church,  should  provide  bread  and  wine  for  the  mystery  of  the  flesh 
and  blood  of  the  unspotted  Lamb  '  who  took  away  the  sins  of  the 
world  ; '  and  after  the  appropriate  solemnity  of  reading  the  lessons 
and  prayers  of  the  paschal  ceremonies,  they  should  ofter  up  these 

VOL.    I.  MM 


530  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  710. 

things  to  the  Lord,  in  the  hope  of  their  future  redemption.  For  that 
same  night  in  which  the  people  of  Israel  were  delivered  out  of 
Eg\'pt  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  is  the  veiy  same  in  wliich  all  the 
people  of  God  were,  by  Christ's  resurrection,  delivered  from  eternal 
death.  Then,  on  the  morning  of  tlie  Lord's  day,  they  should 
celebrate  the  first  day  of  the  paschal  festival ;  for  that  is  the  day 
on  which  our  Lord,  with  much  joy  of  pious  revelation,  made  known 
to  his  disciples  the  glory  of  his  resurrection.  Tlie  same  is  the  first 
day  of  unleavened  bread,  concerning  which  it  is  distinctly  written 
in  Leviticus,  '  In  the  first  month,  in  the  fourteenth  day  of  the 
montli,  at  even,  is  the  Lord's  passover.  And  on  the  fifteenth  day 
of  tliis  month  is  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread  unto  the  Lord ; 
seven  days  ye  must  eat  unleavened  bread  ;  the  first  day  shall  be 
most  solemn  and  holy.'      [Levit.  xxiii.  5.] 

§  432.  "  If,  therefore,  it  could  so  be  that  the  Lord's  day  should 
always  happen  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  first  month,  that  is,  on 
the  fifteenth  moon,  we  might  always  celebrate  Easter  at  the  very 
same  time  with  the  ancient  people  of  God,  though  the  nature  of  thp 
mystei-y  be  different,  as  we  do  it  with  one  and  the  same  faith.  But 
in  regard  that  the  day  of  the  week  does  not  keep  pace  exactly  with 
the  moon,  the  apostolical  tradition,  whicli  was  preached  at  Rome 
by  the  blessed  Peter,  and  confirmed  at  Alexandria  by  Mark  the 
evangelist,  his  intrcpreter,'  appointed  that  when  the  first  month 
was  come,  and  in  it  the  evening  of  tlie  fourteenth  day,  we  should 
also  wait  for  the  Lord's  day,  which  falls  between  the  fifteenth  and 
the  one-and-twentieth  day  of  the  same  month.  For  on  whichever 
of  those  days  it  shall  fall,  Easter  will  be  properly  kept  on  the  same  ; 
as  it  is  one  of  the  number  of  those  seven  days  on  which  the  un- 
leavened bread  is  ordered  to  be  kept.  Tlius  it  comes  to  pass  that 
our  Easter  never  deviates  to  the  one  side  or  the  other  from  the 
third  week  of  the  first  month,  but  either  observ^es  the  whole,  that  is, 
all  the  seven  legal  days  of  unleavened  bread,  or  at  least  some  ot 
them.  For  though  it  takes  in  but  one  of  them,  that  is,  the  seventh, 
which  the  Scripture  so  highly  commends,  saying,  '  But  the  seventh 
day  shall  be  more  solemn  and  holy,  ye  shall  do  no  sen'ile  work 
therein,'  [Exod.  xii.  16,]  none  can  lay  it  to  our  charge,  that  we  do 
not  rightly  keep  our  Lord's  paschal  day,  which  we  received  from 
the  gospel,  in  the  third  week  of  the  first  month,  as  the  law 
prescribes. 

§  433.  "  The  catholic  reason  of  this  observance  being  thus 
explained ;  the  unreasonable  error,  on  the  other  hand,  is  manifest, 
of  those  who,  without  any  necessity,  presume  either  to  anticipate, 
or  to  go  beyond,  the  term  prescribed  in  the  law.  For  they  who 
think  the  Lord's  day  of  Easter  is  to  be  observed  from  the  fourteenth 
day  of  the  first  month  till  the  twentieth  moon,  anticipate  the  time 
j)rescribed  in  the  law,  without  any  necessary  reason  ;  for  when  they 
l)egin  to  celebrate  the  vigils  of  the  holy  night  from  the  evening  of 
the  thirteenth  day,  it  is  plain  that  they  make  that  day  the  beginning 
of  their  Easter,  whereof  they  find  no  mention  whatever  in  the  law  ; 
and  when  they  refuse  to  celebrate  our  Lord's  Easter  on  the  one- 
*  See  Euseb.  H.  E.  ii.  15. 


A.D.  710.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  531 

and -twentieth  day  of  the  month,  it  is  equally  clear  that  they  wholly 
exclude  that  day  from  their  solemnity,  which  the  law  often  recom- 
mends as  memorable  for  the  greater  festival  above  the  rest.  Thus, 
perverting  the  proper  order,  they  place  Easter-day  in  the  second 
week,  and  sometimes  keep  it  entirely  in  the  same,  and  never  bring 
it  to  the  seventh  day  of  the  third  week.  And  again,  because  they 
rather  think  that  Easter  is  to  be  kept  on  the  sixteenth  day  of  the 
said  month,  and  so  to  the  two -and -twentieth,  they  no  less  errone- 
ously, though  on  the  contrary  side,  deviate  from  the  right  way  of 
truth,  and  as  it  were  avoiding  to  be  shipwrecked  on  Scylla,  they  fall 
into  and  are  drowned  in  the  whirlpool  of  Chaiybdis.  For  when 
they  teach  that  Easter  is  to  be  begun  at  the  rising  of  the  sixteenth 
moon  of  the  first  month,  that  is,  from  the  evening  of  the  fifteenth 
day,  it  is  manifest  that  they  altogether  exclude  from  their  solemnity 
the  fourteenth  day  of  the  same  month,  which  the  law  firstly  and 
chiefly  recommends  ;  so  that  they  scarcely  touch  upon  the  evening 
of  the  fifteenth  day,  on  which  the  people  of  God  were  delivered 
from  the  Egyptian  bondage,  and  on  which  our  Lord,  by  his  blood, 
rescued  the  world  from  the  darkness  of  sin,  and  on  which  being 
also  buried.  He  gave  us  hope  of  a  blessed  repose  after  death. 

§  434.  "  And  the  same  persons,  receiving  in  themselves  the 
penalty  of  their  error,  when  they  place  the  Lord's  day  of  Easter  on 
the  twenty-second  day  of  the  month,  openly  transgress  and  exceed 
the  legal  term  of  Easter,  as  beginning  the  Easter  on  the  evening  of 
that  day  in  which  the  law  appointed  it  to  be  finished  and  completed  ; 
and  appoint  that  to  be  the  first  day  of  Easter,  whereof  no  mention 
is  any  where  found  in  the  law,  viz.  the  first  of  the  fourth  week. 
And  they  are  sometimes  mistaken,  not  only  in  defining  and  com- 
puting the  moon's  age,  but  also  in  finding  the  first  month  :  but  this 
controversy  is  longer  than  can  or  ought  to  be  contained  in  this 
letter.  I  will  only  say  thus  much,  that  by  the  vernal  equinox  may 
always  be  found,  without  the  chance  of  any  error,  which  is  the  first 
month  of  the  year,  according  to  the  lunar  calculation,  and  which 
the  last.  But  the  equinox,  according  to  the  opinion  of  all  the 
eastern  nations,  and  particularly  of  the  Egyptians,  who  excel  all 
other  learned  men  in  that  calculation,  usually  happens  on  the 
twelfth  day  of  the  kalends  of  April  [21st  March],  as  we  also  prove 
by  horological  inspection.  Whatever  moon  therefore  is  at  the  full 
before  the  equinox,  being  on  the  fourteenth  or  fifteenth  day,  the 
same  belongs  to  the  last  month  of  the  foregoing  year,  and  conse- 
quently is  not  proper  for  the  celebration  of  Easter.  But  that  moon 
which  is  full  after  the  equinox,  or  on  the  very  equinox  itself,  belongs 
to  the  first  month,  and  in  it,  without  a  doubt,  the  ancients  were 
wont  to  celebrate  the  passover,  because  it  was  the  equinox  of  the 
first  month  ;  and  we  also  ought  to  keep  Easter  when  the  Sunday 
comes.  And  that  this  must  be  so,  there  is  this  cogent  reason, 
because  it  is  written  in  Genesis,  that  '  God  made  two  lights  ;  the 
greater  light  to  rule  the  day,  and  the  lesser  light  to  rule  the  night.' 
[Gen.  i.  16.]     Or,  as  another  edition'  has  it,  'A  greater  light  to 

^  Beda  doea  not  notice  this  difference  between  the  versions  in  his  Commentary 
npon  this  passage  of  Genesis. 

M   M   2 


532  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.d.  710. 

begin  the  clay,  and  a  lesser  to  begin  the  niglit.'  The  sun,  therefore, 
proceeding  from  the  midst  of  the  east,  fixed  the  vernal  equinox  by  his 
rising  ;  and  aftenvards  the  moon,  when  the  sun  set  in  the  evening; 
she  herself  being  at  the  full,  followed  from  the  midst  of  the  east :  thiia 
every  year  the  same  first  month  of  the  moon  must  be  obsen-ed  in  the 
like  order,  and  not  before  the  equinox,  so  that  the  full  moon  must  be 
either  on  the  ver)^  day  of  the  equinox,  as  was  done  from  the  beginning, 
or  after  it  is  gone  by.  But  if  the  full  of  the  moon  shall  happen  to 
be  but  one  day  before  the  time  of  the  equinox,  the  aforesaid  reason 
proves  that  such  moon  is  not  to  be  assigned  to  the  first  month  of  the 
new  year,  but  rather  to  the  last  of  the  preceding,  and  that  it  is  there- 
fore not  proper  for  the  celebration  of  the  paschal  festival. 

§  435.  "  Now  if  it  will  please  you  likewise  to  hear  the  mystical 
reason  in  this  matter,  we  are  commanded  to  keep  Easter  in  the  first 
month  of  the  year,  which  is  also  called  the  month  of  the  new  fruit, 
because  we  are  to  celebrate  the  mysteries  of  our  Lord's  resurrection 
and  our  deliverance,  with  our  minds  renewed  to  the  love  of  heavenly 
things.  We  are  commanded  to  keep  it  in  the  third  week  of  the  same 
month,  because  Christ,  who  had  been  promised  before  the  law,  and 
under  the  law,  came  with  grace,  in  the  third  age  of  the  world,  to  be 
slain  as  our  passover;  and  rising  from  the  dead  the  third  day  after  the 
•offering  of  his  passion,  it  was  his  pleasure  that  this  should  be  called 
the  Lord's  day,  and  that  the  festival  of  his  resurrection  should  be 
yearly  celebrated  on  the  sam.e.  For  we  also,  in  this  manner  only, 
■can  truly  celebrate  his  solemnity,  if  we  take  care  with  him  to  keep 
the  passover,  that  is,  the  passage  out  of  this  world  to  the  Father,  by 
faith,  hope,  and  charity.  We  are  commanded  to  observe  the  full 
moon  of  the  paschal  month  after  the  vernal  equinox,  to  the  end, 
that  the  sun  may  first  make  the  day  longer  than  the  night,  and  then 
the  moon  may  afford  to  the  world  her  full  orb  of  light ;  inasmuch  as 
first  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  in  whose  wings  is  salvation,  that  is, 
our  Lord  Jesus,  by  the  triumph  of  his  resurrection,  overcame  all 
the  darkness  of  death,  and  so  ascending  into  heaven,  filled  his 
church,  which  is  often  signified  by  the  name  of  the  moon,  with  the 
light  of  inward  grace,  by  sending  down  his  Spirit.  WHiich  plan  of 
salvation  the  prophet  had  in  his  mind,  when  he  said, '  The  sun  was 
exalted,  and  the  moon  stood  in  her  order.' 

§  436.  "  He,  therefore,  who  shall  contend  that  the  full  paschal 
moon  can  happen  before  the  equinox,  deviates  from  the  doctrine  of 
the  holy  Scrij)tures,  in  the  celebration  of  the  greatest  mysteries,  and 
agrees  with  those  who  venture  to  believe  that  they  may  be  saved 
without  the  preventing  grace  of  Christ,  and  who  presume  to  teach 
that  they  might  have  attained  to  perfect  righteousness,  though  the 
true  Light  had  never  vanquished  the  darkness  of  the  world,  by  dying 
and  rising  again.  Thus,  after  the  equinoctial  rising  of  the  sun,  and 
after  the  subsequent  full  moon  of  the  first  month,  that  is,  after  the 
end  of  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  same  month,  all  which,  according 
to  the  law,  ought  to  be  observed,  we  still,  by  the  instruction  of  the 
gospel,  wait  in  the  third  week  itself  for  the  Lord's  day;  and  thus,  at 
length,  we  celebrate  our  due  Easter  solemnity,  to  show  that  we  do 
not,  with  the  ancients,  honour  the  shaking  off  of  the  Egv'ptian  yoke  ; 


A.D.  710.]  BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK  V.  533 

but  that,  with  devout  faith  and  affection,  we  worship  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  whole  world  ;  which  having  been  prefigured  in  the 
deliverance  of  God's  ancient  people,  was  completed  in  Christ's 
resurrection,  to  make  it  appear  that  we  rejoice  in  the  sure  and 
certain  hope  of  the  day  of  our  own  resurrection,  which  we  believe 
will  happen  on  the  same  Lord's  day. 

§  437.  "Now  this  calculation  of  Easter,  which  we  show  you  is 
to  be  followed,  is  contained  in  a  cycle  of  nineteen  years,  which 
began  long  since,  that  is,  in  the  very  times  of  the  apostles,  espe- 
cially at  Rome  and  in  Egypt,  as  has  been  said  above.  But  by  the 
industry  of  Eusebius,  who  took  his  surname  from  the  blessed  martyr 
Pamphilius,  it  was  reduced  to  a  plainer  system ;  insomuch  that 
what  till  then  used  to  be  sent  about  to  all  the  several  churches  by 
the  patriarch  of  Alexandria,  might,  from  that  time  forward,  be  most 
easily  known  by  all  men,  the  course  of  the  fourteenth  day  of  the 
moon  being  regularly  ordered.  This  paschal  calculation,  Theophilus, 
patriarch  of  Alexandria,  composed  for  the  emperor  Theodosius,  for 
a  hundred  years  to  come.  Cyril  also,  his  successor,  comprised  a 
series  of  ninety-five  years  in  five  revolutions  of  nineteen  years. 
After  whom,  Dionysius  Exiguus  added  as  many  more,  in  the  same 
manner,  reaching  down  to  our  own  time.  The  expiration  of  these 
is  now  drawing  near,  but  there  is  so  great  a  number  of  calculators, 
that  even  in  our  churches  throughout  Britain,  there  are  many  who, 
having  committed  to  memory  the  ancient  rules  of  the  Eg)'ptians, 
can  with  great  ease  carry  on  those  revolutions  of  the  paschal  times 
for  any  distant  number  of  years,  even  to  five  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  years,  if  they  will ;  after  the  expiration  of  which,  all  that  belongs 
to  the  succession  of  the  sun  and  moon,  of  month  and  week,  returns 
in  the  same  order  as  before.  We  therefore  forbear  to  send  you 
those  revolutions  of  the  times  to  come,  because  you  only  desired 
to  be  instructed  respecting  the  paschal  time,  and  declared  you  had 
enough  of  those  catholic  tables  concerning  Easter. 

§  438.  "  But  having  said  thus  much  briefly  and  succinctly,  as 
you  required,  concerning  Easter,  I  also  exhort  you  to  take  care  to 
promote  the  tonsure,'  so  that  it  be  ecclesiastical  and  agreeable  to 
the  Christian  faith ;  for  concerning  that  also  you  desired  me  to 
write  to  you.  We  know,  indeed,  that  even  the  apostles  were  not 
all  shorn  after  one  and  the  same  manner,  nor  does  the  catholic 
church,  though  it  agrees  in  the  same  divine  faith,  hope,  and 
charity,  now  agree  in  one  and  the  same  form  of  tonsure  throughout 
the  world.  In  short,  to  look  back  to  remote  times,  that  is,  the 
times  of  the  patriarchs.  Job,  the  example  of  patience,  when  on  the' 
approach  of  tribulation  he  shaved  his  head,  made  it  appear  that 
he  had  used,  in  time  of  prosperity,  to  let  his  hair  grow ;  and  we 
read  that  Joseph,  the  great  practiser  and  teacher  of  chastity, 
humility,  piety,  and  other  virtues,  was  shorn  when  he  was  to  be 
delivered  from  ser\'itude  ;  by  which  it  appears,  that  during  the 
time  of  servitude,  he  was  in  the  prison  without  cutting  his  hair. 
Now  you  may  obsen^e  how  each  of  these  men  of  God  differed  in 

^  Much  curious  information  respecting  these  rival  modes  of  tonsure  has  been 
collected  by  Ussher.     Brit.  Eccl.  Antiq.  pp.  477,  478. 


534  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND,  [a.D.  710. 

the  manner  of  his  external  appearance,  though  their  inward  con- 
sciences were  ahke  influenced  by  the  grace  of  virtue. 

§  439.  "  But  though  we  may  be  free  to  confess,  that  the  differ- 
ence of  tonsure  is  not  hurtful  to  those  whose  faith  is  pure  towards 
God,  and  whose  charity  is  sincere  towards  their  neighbour,  espe- 
cially since  we  do  not  read  that  there  ever  was  any  controversy 
among  the  catholic  fathers  about  tlie  difference  of  tonsure,  as  there 
lias  been  about  the  difference  in  keeping  Easter,  or  in  matters  of 
faith  ;  how'evcr,  among  all  the  tonsures  that  are  to  be  found  in  the 
church,  or  among  mankind  at  large,  I  think  none  more  worthy  of 
being  follow^ed  than  that  which  that  disciple  had  on  his  head,  to 
whom,  on  his  confession,  our  Lord  said,  '  lliou  art  Peter,  and  upon 
this  rock  I  will  build  my  church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not 
prevail  against  it,  and  to  thee  I  will  give  the  keys  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.'  [Matt.  xvi.  18.]  Nor  do  I  think  that  there  is  any 
tonsure  more  worthy  to  be  abhorred  and  detested,  by  all  the  faithful, 
than  that  which  that  man  used,  to  whom  Peter,  when  he  would  have 
bought  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  said,  '  Thy  money  be  with 
thee  to  perdition,  because  thou  thoughtest  the  gift  of  God  to  be 
purchased  for  money ;  there  is  no  part  or  lot  for  thee  in  this 
speech.'  [Acts  viii.  20,  21.]  Nor  do  we  shave  ourselves  in  the  form 
of  a  crown  only  because  Peter  was  so  shorn  ;  but  because  Peter  was 
so  shorn  in  memoiy  of  the  passion  of  our  Lord  ;  therefore  we  also, 
who  desire  to  be  saved  by  the  same  passion,  do  with  him  bear  the 
sign  of  the  same  passion  on  the  top  of  our  head,  which  is  the  highest 
part  of  our  body.  For  as  all  the  church,  because  it  w^as  made  the 
church  by  the  death  of  Him  that  gave  it  life,  is  wont  to  bear  the 
sign  of  his  holy  cross  on  the  forehead,  to  the  end  that  it  may,  by 
the  constant  protection  of  his  sign,  be  defended  from  the  assaults  of 
evil  spirits,  and  by  the  frequent  admonition  of  the  same  be  in- 
structed, in  like  manner,  to  crucify  its  flesh  with  its  vices  and  con- 
cupiscences ;  so  also  it  behoves  those  who  have  either  taken  tlie 
vows  of  a  monk,  or  have  any  order  among  the  clerg)%  to  curb  them- 
selves the  more  strictly  by  continence  for  the  Lord. 

§  440.  "  Every  one  of  them  is  likewise  to  bear  on  his  head,  by 
means  of  the  tonsure,  the  form  of  the  crown  of  thorns  which  Christ 
in  his  passion  bore,  in  order  that  Christ  may  bear  the  tliorns  and 
briers  of  our  sins  ;  that  is,  that  He  may  remove  them  and  take  them 
from  us  ;  and  also  that  they  may  at  once  show,  even  on  their  fore- 
head, that  they  are  willing,  witli  a  ready  mind,  to  endure  scoffs  and 
reproaches  for  his  sake  ;  to  make  it  appear,  that  they  always  expect 
'  the  crown  of  eternal  life,  wliich  God  has  promised  to  those  that 
love  him,'  [James  i.  12,]  and  that  for  the  gaining  thereof  they  despise 
both  the  adversities  and  the  prosperities  of  this  world.  But  as  for 
the  tonsure  which  Simon  Magus  is  said  to  have  used,  what  Christian 
will  not  immediately  detest  and  cast  it  off  together  with  his  magic  ? 
Upon  the  top  of  the  forehead,  it  does  seem  indeed  to  resemble  a 
crown;  but  when  you  come  in  your  inspection  to  the  neck,  you  will 
find  the  crown  you  thought  you  had  seen  so  perfect,  cut  short ;  so 
that  you  may  be  satisfied  such  a  distinction  ])roperly  belongs  not  to 
Christians,  but  to  Simoniacs,  such  as  were  indeed  in  this  life  thouglit 


A.D.  710.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  535 

worthy  of  a  perpetual  crown  of  glory  by  erring  men  ;  but  in  that 
life  which  is  to  follow  this,  are  not  only  deprived  of  all  hope  of  a 
crown,  but  are  moreover  condemned  to  eternal  punishment. 

§441.  "But  do  not  think  that  I  have  said  thus  much,  as 
judging  that  those  who  use  this  tonsure  are  to  be  damned,  provided 
they  favour  the  catholic  unity  in  faith  and  actions  ;  on  the  contraiy, 
I  confidently  declare,  that  many  of  them  have  been  holy  and  worthy 
of  God.  Of  which  number  is  Adamnan,*  the  abbat  and  renowned 
priest  of  the  adherents  of  Columba,  who,  when  sent  ambassador  by 
liis  nation  to  king  Aldfrid,  came  desiring  to  see  our  monasteiy ;  and 
on  his  discovering  wonderful  wisdom,  humility,  and  religion  in  his 
behaviour  and  words,  among  other  things,  I  said  to  him  in  dis- 
course, '  I  beseech  you,  holy  brother,  who  think  you  are  advancing 
to  the  crown  of  life,  which  knows  no  end,  why  do  you,  contrary  to 
the  habit  of  your  faith,  wear  on  your  head  the  representation  of  a 
crown  which  has  an  end  ?  And  if  you  aim  at  the  society  of  the 
blessed  Peter,  why  do  you  imitate  the  form  of  the  tonsure  of  him 
whom  Peter  anathematized  ?  and  why  do  you  not  rather  even  now 
show  that  you  imitate  to  your  utmost  the  usage  of  him  with  whom 
you  desire  to  live  happy  for  ever  ? '  He  answered,  '  Be  assured,  my 
dear  brother,  that  though  I  have  Simon's  tonsure,  according  to  the 
custom  of  my  country,  yet  I  detest  and  abhor  with  all  my  mind 
the  Simoniacal  wickedness  ;  and  I  desire,  as  far  as  my  littleness 
is  capable  of  doing  it,  to  follow  the  footsteps  of  the  most  blessed 
prince  of  the  apostles.'  I  replied,  '  I  verily  believe  it  to  be  as  you 
say  ;  but  let  this  appear  by  showing  outwardly  such  things  as  you 
know  to  be  the  things  of  the  apostle  Peter,  that  in  the  inmost 
recesses  of  your  heart  you  embrace  whatever  is  from  Peter  the 
apostle.  For  I  believe  your  wisdom  does  easily  judge,  that  it  is 
much  more  proper  to  estrange  your  countenance,  already  dedicated 
to  God,  from  resemblance  to  him  whom  in  your  heart  you  abhor, 
and  of  whose  hideous  face  you  would  shun  the  sight ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  it  becomes  you  to  imitate  the  outward  resemblance 
of  him,  whom  you  seek  to  have  for  your  advocate  with  God,  as  you 
desire  to  follow  his  actions  and  instructions.' 

§  442.  "  This  I  then  said  to  Adamnan,  who  indeed  gave  proof 
how  much  progress  he  had  made  upon  seeing  the  statutes  of  our 
churches,  when,  returning  into  Scotland,  he  afterwards  by  his 
preaching  brought  great  crowds  of  that  nation  over  to  the  catholic 
obsei-vance  of  the  paschal  time ;  though  he  was  not  yet  able  to 
reduce  to  the  way  of  a  better  observance  the  monks  who  lived  in 
the  island  of  Hii,  over  whom  especially  he  presided  as  governor. 
He  would  also  have  been  mindful  to  amend  the  tonsure,  if  his 
authority  had  extended  so  far. 

§  443.  "  But  I  also  admonish  your  wisdom,  O  king,  that  you 
yourself  endeavour  to  make  the  nation  over  which  the  King  of 
kings,  and  Lord  of  lords,  has  placed  you,  to  observe  in  all  points 
those  things  which  appertain  to  the  unity  of  the  catholic  and 
apostolic  church  ;  for  thus  it  will  come  to  pass,  that  after  your 
temporal  kingdom  has  passed  away,  the  most  blessed  prince  of  the 

»  See  §g  402,  403. 


536  CHURCH     HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D  TltJ— 

apostles  will  lay  open  to  you  and  yours  an  entrance  into  the 
heavenly  kingdom,  together  with  the  other  elect.  May  the  grace 
of  the  eternal  King  preserve  you  in  safety,  long  reigning,  for  the 
peace  of  us  all,  my  most  beloved  son  in  Christ." 

§  444.  This  letter  having  been  read  in  the  presence  of  king 
Naiton  and  many  others  of  the  most  learned  men,  and  carefully 
interpreted  into  his  own  language  by  those  who  could  understand 
it,  he  is  said  to  have  much  rejoiced  at  the  exhortation ;  in- 
somuch that,  rising  from  among  his  great  men  that  sat  about  him, 
he  knelt  on  the  ground,  giving  thanks  to  God  that  he  had  been 
found  worthy  to  receive  such  a  present  from  the  land  of  the  Angles  ; 
and,  said  he,  "  I  knew  indeed  before,  that  this  was  the  true  cele- 
bration of  Easter,  but  now  I  so  fully  know  the  reason  for  the 
observance  of  this  time,  that  I  seem  convinced  that  I  knew  very 
little  of  it  before.  Therefore  I  publicly  declare  and  protest  to  you 
who  are  here  present,  that  I  wall  for  ever  continually  observe  this 
time  of  Easter,  together  with  all  my  nation  ;  and  I  do  decree  that 
this  tonsure,  which  we  have  heard  is  most  reasonable,  shall  be 
received  by  all  the  clergy  in  my  kingdom."  Accordingly  he  imme- 
diately performed  by  his  regal  authority  wdiat  he  had  said.  For  the 
cycles  of  nineteen  years  were  forthwith,  by  public  command,  sent 
throughout  all  the  provinces  of  the  Picts  to  be  transcribed,  learned, 
and  observed,  the  erroneous  revolutions  of  eighty-four  years  '  being 
everywhere  obliterated.  All  the  ministers  of  the  altar  and  monks 
had  the  crown  shorn  ;  and  the  nation  being  thus  reformed,  rejoiced, 
as  being  newly  placed  under  the  direction  of  Peter,  the  most  blessed 
prince  of  the  apostles,  and  made  secure  under  his  protection. 


Chap.  XXII.  [a.d.  71G — 729.] — How  the  Monks  of  Hii,  and  the  Monasteries 

SUBJECT     TO     THEM,    BEGAN      TO     CELEBRATE     THE     CANONICAL    EaSTER     AT     THE 

Preaching  of  Ecgberct. 

§  445.  Not  long-  after,  those  monks  alstJ  of  the  Scottish  nation, 
who  lived  in  the  isle  of  Hii,  with  the  other  monasteries  that  were 
suliject  to  them,  w-ere,  by  the  ])rocurement  of  our  Lord,  brought  to 
the  canonical  observation  of  Easter,  and  the  right  mode  of  tonsure. 
For  in  the  year  after  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord  716,  when, 
Osred  having  been  slain,  Coenred  ^  took  upon  himself  the  govern- 
ment of  the  kingdom  of  the  Northumbrians, — the  father  and  priest, 
Kcgberct,  beloved  of  God,  and  worthy  to  be  named  with  all  honour, 
(wliom  we  have  often  mentioned  before,)  coming  to  them  from 

'  It  is  probable  that  a  vigorous  effort  was  made  about  this  time  for  accomplish- 
ment  of  the  object  which  Ecgberct  had  so  much  at  heart,  inasmuch  as  a  new 
revobition  of  the  cycle  of  eighty -four  years  would  commence  a.D.  718.  See 
Ussher,  ad  an. 

-  The  Annals  of  Ulster,  as  quoted  by  Ussher,  agree  with  Beda  in  assigning  this 
event  to  a.d.  716;  and  add  that  it  took  place  on  Saturday,  '29th  August,  whicli 
seems  highly  probable,  since  upon  that  day  the  foast  of  the  decollation  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist  is  celebrated.     See  Brit.  Eccl.  Antiq.  p.  3(57. 

^  CoL'ured  reigned  from  a.d.  71(3  to  718. 


A.D.  729.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    HISTORY. ^ — BOOK    V.  537 

Ireland,  was  very  honourably  and  joyfully  received  by  them.  Being 
a  most  agreeable  teacher,  and  most  devout  in  practising  those 
things  which  he  taught,  he  was  willingly  heard  by  all  ;^  and,  by 
his  pious  and  frequent  exhortations,  he  converted  them  from 
that  inveterate  tradition  of  their  ancestors,  of  whom  may  be  said 
those  words  of  the  apostle,  "That  they  had  the  zeal  of  God,  but 
not  according  to  knowledge."  [Rom.  x.  2.]  He  taught  them  to 
perform  the  principal  solemnity  [of  Easter]  after  the  catholic  and 
apostolic  manner,  as  has  been  said,  under  the  figure  of  a  perpetual 
circle  ;  which  appears  to  have  been  accomplished  by  a  wonderful 
dispensation  of  the  divine  goodness  ;  to  the  end,  that  the  same  ^ 
nation,  which  had  willingly  and  without  envy  communicated  to  the 
English  people  the  knowledge  of  the  true  Deity,  should  afterwards, 
by  means  of  the  English  nation,  be  brought,  in  those  points  in 
which  they  were  defective,  to  the  true  rule  of  life.  Even  as,  on 
the  contrary,  the  Britons,  who  would  not  acquaint  the  English  with 
the  knowledge  of  the  Christian  faith,  which  they  themselves  pos- 
sessed, now,  when  the  English  people  enjoy  the  true  faith,  and  are 
thoroughly  instructed  in  its  rules,  continue  even  yet  inveterate  in 
their  errors  and  halt  from  the  right  path,  expose  their  heads  without 
a  crown,  and  keep  the  solemnity  of  Christ  without  the  society  of 
the  church  of  Christ. 

§  446.  The  monks  of  Hii,  by  the  instruction  of  Ecgberct,  adopted, 
the  catholic  rites,  under  abbat  Duunchad,*  about  eighty  *  years  after 
they  had  sent  bishop  Aidan  to  preach  to  the  nation  of  the  Angles. 
This  man  of  God,  Ecgberct,  remained  thirteen  years  in  the  aforesaid 
island,  which  he  had  thus  consecrated  again  to  Christ,  by  kindling 
in  it  a  new  ray  of  divine  grace,  and  restoring  it  to  ecclesiastical 
unity  and  peace.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  729,  in 
which  the  Easter  of  our  Lord  was  celebrated  on  the  eighth  of  the 
kalends  of  May  [24th  April],  when  he  had  performed  the  so- 
lemnity of  the  mass,  in  memory  of  the  same  resurrection  of  our 
Lord,  on  that  same  day  he  departed  to  the  Lord  ;  and  thus  finished, 
or  rather  never  ceases  to  celebrate,  with  our  Lord,  the  apostles,  and 
the  other  citizens  of  heaven,  the  joy  of  that  greatest  festival,  which 
he  had  begun  with  the  brethren,  whom  he  had  converted  to  the 
grace  of  unity.  But  it  w^as  a  wonderful  provision  of  the  divine 
dispensation,  that  the  venerable  man  not  only  passed  out  of  this 
world  to  the  Father  at  Easter,  but  also  when  Easter  was  celebrated 
on  that  day,  on  which  it  had  never  been  wont  to  be  kept  in  those 

'  Beda  appears  here  to  have  been  misinformed  as  to  the  complete  success  of 
Ecgberct's  ministry;  for  the  Annals  of  Ulster  state  that  in  a.d.  717  the  monks  of 
lona  were  expelled  beyond  Drum  Alban  [Dorsum  Britannise]  by  king  Nectan, 
(the  Naiton  of  the  text,)  from  which  circumstance  we  may  conclude  that  he 
found  them  more  stubborn  in  their  faith  than  Beda  imagined.  See  Brit.  Eccl. 
Antiq.  p.  367. 

^  Beda  here  alludes  to  the  fact  that  Christianity  had  been  introduced  from 
lona  into  Northumbria,  §  155,  after  the  British  Christians  had  refused  to  join 
Augustine  and  his  companions  in  their  mission  for  that  purpose,  §  93. 

*  He  was  abbot  of  lona  from  a.d.  710  to  717.     See  Ussher,  p.  367. 

*  If  the  mission  of  Aidan  be  dated  from  635,  this  calculation  will  give  us 
A.D.  715  for  the  adoption  of  the  Roman  mode  of  celebrating  Easter  by  the  monk's 
of  lona. 


538  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  729— 

parts.  The  brethren  therefore  rejoiced  in  the  certain  and  cathohc 
knowledge  of  the  time  of  Piaster,  and  rejoiced  in  the  protection  of 
tlicir  fatlier,  departed  to  our  Lord,  by  whom  they  had  been  cor- 
rected. He  also  rejoiced  that  he  had  been  so  long  continued  in 
the  iiesh  till  he  should  see  his  followers  admit,  and  celebrate  \\ith 
him,  that  as  Easter  day  which  they  had  ever  before  avoided.  Thus 
the  most  reverend  father  being  assured  of  their  correction,  rejoiced 
to  see  the  day  of  our  Lord,  and  he  saw  it  and  was  glad. 


Chap.  XXIII.  [a.d.  725—731.] — Of  the  present  state  of  the  English  Nation, 

AND  OF  ALL  BRITAIN. 

§  447.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  725,  being  the 
seventh  year  of  Osric,  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  who  succeeded 
Coenred,  Uictred,  the  son  of  Ecgberct,  king  of  Kent,  died  on  the 
ninth  of  the  kalends  of  May  [23d  April],  and  left  his  three  sons, 
Aedilberct,*  Eadberct,  and  Alric,  heirs'  of  that  kingdom,  which 
he  had  governed  thirty-four  years  and  a  half.  The  next  year 
[a.d.  726]  died  Tobias,  bishop  of  the  church  of  Rochester,  a  most 
learned  man,  as  has  been  said  before  ; '  for  he  was  disciple  to  those 
teachers  of  blessed  memoiy,  Theodore,  the  archbishop,  and  abbat 
Hadrian ;  by  whose  means,  as  we  have  before  obseiTcd,  besides  his 
erudition  in  ecclesiastical  and  general  literature,  he  had  learned 
both  the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues  to  such  perfection,  that  they 
were  as  well  known  and  familiar  to  him  as  his  native  language. 
He  was  buried  in  the  porch  of  St.  Paul  the  apostle,  which  he  had 
built  within  the  church  of  St.  Andrew  for  his  own  place  of  burial. 
After  him  Alduulf  took  upon  him  the  office  of  bishop,  having  been 
consecrated  by  archbishop  Berctuald. 

§  448.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  729,  two  comets 
appeared  about  the  sun,  to  the  great  terror  of  the  beholders.  One 
of  them  went  before  the  rising  sun  in  the  morning,  the  other  fol- 
lowed him  when  he  set  at  night,  as  it  were  presaging  much  destruc- 
tion both  to  the  east  and  west ;  one  assuredly  was  the  forerunner 
of  the  day,  and  the  other  of  the  night,  to  signify  that  mortals  were 
threatened  with  calamities  at  both  times.  They  carried  their 
flaming  tails  towards  the  north,  as  it  were  ready  to  set  the  world 
on  fire.  They  appeared  in  January,  and  continued  nearly  a  fort- 
night. At  which  time  a  dreadful  plague  of  the  Saracens  ravaged 
Gaul  with  miserable  slaughter  ;   but  they  not  long  *  after  in  that 

'  He  addressed  a  letter  to  Boniface,  which  may  be  seen  among  the  epistles  of 
that  writer. 

-  They  successively  filled  the  throne  of  the  kingdom  of  Kent,  Eadbert  from 
725  to  748;  Ethelbert  the  Second  from  748  to  700;  and  Alric  from  that  year 
until  794.  «  See  §  375. 

*  It  is  certain  that  Beda  terminated  his  hi.story  in  a.d.  731,  and  it  is  equally 
certain  that  the  first  success  which  Charles  Martel  gained  over  the  Saracens 
occurred  in  the  month  of  October,  732,  (.see  Chron.  Fontanel!.,  ap.  Bouquet,  ii.  G61 ; 
Pagi  ad  au.  732,  §  1 ;)  Beda,  therefore,  must  have  added  this  passage  after  his 
History  had  been  comi>leted,  and  before  its  circulation. 


A.D.  731.]        BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  539 

country  received  the  punishment  due  to  their  wickedness.  In 
which  year  the  holy  man  of  God,  Ecgberct,  departed  to  our  Lord, 
as  has  been  said  above,  ^  on  Easter  day ;  and  immediately  after 
Easter,  that  is,  on  the  seventh  of  the  ides  of  May  [9th  May],  Osric, 
king  of  the  Northumbrians,  departed  this  life,  after  he  had  reigned 
eleven  years,  and  appointed  Ceoluulf,  brother  to  Coenred,  who  had 
reigned  before  him,  his  successor ;  the  beginning  and  progress  of 
whose  reign  were  filled  with  so  many  and  great  adversities  and 
commotions,  that  it  cannot  yet  be  known  what  is  to  be  said  con- 
cerning them,  or  what  end  each  of  them  will  have. 

§  449.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  731,  archbishop 
Berctuald  died  of  old  age,  on  the  day  of  the  ides  of  January  [13th 
Jan.],  having  held  his  see  thirty-seven  years,  six  months  and  four- 
teen days.  In  his  stead,  the  same  year,  Tatuini,  of  the  province 
of  the  Mercians,  was  made  archbishop,  having  been  a  priest  in  the 
monastery  called  Briudun.^  He  was  consecrated  in  the  city  of 
Canterbury  by  the  venerable  men,  Danihel,  bishop  of  Winchester, 
Inguald  of  London,  Alduin  of  Lichfield,  and  Alduulf  of  Rochester, 
on  Sunday,  the  10th  of  June,  being  a  man  renowned  for  religion 
and  wisdom,  and  notably  learned  in  sacred  writ. 

§  450.  Thus  at  present,^  the  bishops  Tatuini  and  Alduulf  preside 
over  the  churches  of  Kent ;  Inguald  in  the  province  of  the  East 
Saxons.  In  the  province  of  the  East  Angles,  Aldberct  and  Hadulac 
are  bishops  ;  in  the  province  of  the  West  Saxons,  Danihel  and 
Fortheri  are  bishops  ;  in  the  province  of  the  Mercians,  Alduini. 
Among  those  people  who  live  beyond  the  river  Severn  to  the 
westward,  Ualchstod  is  bishop  ;  in  the  province  of  the  Huiccians, 
Uilfrid  ;  in  the  province  of  the  Lindisfari,  Cyniberct  presides  ;  the 
bishopric  of  the  Isle  of  Wight  *  belongs  to  Danihel,  bishop  of  Win- 
chester. The  province  of  the  South  Saxons,  having  now  continued 
some  years  without  a  bishop,  receives  the  episcopal  ministry  from 
the  prelate  of  the  West   Saxons.     All  these  provinces,  and  the 

1  See  §  446. 

2  Bredone,  in  Worcestershire,  a  monastery  founded  by  Eanwulf,  the  grandfather 
of  Offa.     Monast.  Anglic,  i.  122. 

3  It  may  be  convenient  to  reduce  to  a  tabular  form  the  information  here  given 
by  Beda  as  to  the  actual  condition  of  the  English  church  at  the  period  when  he 
ended  his  History. 

The  see  of  Canterbury  occupied  by  Tatuini. 

„  Rochester  „  Alduulf. 

„  East  Saxony  „  Inguald  (London). 

„  East  Anglia  „  Aldberct  (Dimwich). 

„  „  Hadulac  (Elmham). 

„  Wesses  „  Daniel  (Winchester). 

.,  „  Fortheri  (Sherbiirn). 

„  Mercia  „  Alduini,  surnamed  Wor  (Lichfield). 

„  „  Walchstod  (Hereford). 

„  „  WUfrid  (Worcester). 

„  „  Cyniberct  (Sidnacester). 

„  Sussex  „  Vacant  (Dorchester  and  Selsey). 

York  „  Wilfrid  IL 

„  Lindisfam  ,,  Ediluald. 

„  Hexham  „  Acca. 

„  ■  Whithern  „  Pecthekii. 


540  CHURCH    HISTORIAXS    OF    ENGLANn.  [a.D.  731. 

Others  southward  to  the  bank  of  tlie  river  Humher,  with  their  kings, 
are  subject  to  Aedilbald,  king  of  the  Mercians. 

§  451.  But  in  the  province  of  the  Nortliumbrians,  where  king 
Ceoluulf  reigns,  four  bishops  now  preside  ;  Uilfrid  in  the  church 
of  York,  Ediluald  in  that  of  Lindisfarne,  Acca  in  that  of  Hagustald, 
Pecthelm  in  that  which  is  called  the  ^^^ute  House,  which,  from 
the  increased  number  of  believers,  has  lately  become  an  additional 
episcopal  see,  and  has  him  for  its  first  *  prelate.  Tlie  Picts  also  at 
this  time  have  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  nation  of  the  Angles,  and 
rejoice  in  being  united  in  catholic  peace  and  truth  with  the  universal 
church.  The  Scots  that  inhabit  Britain,  satisfied  with  their  own 
territories,  meditate  no  plots  or  conspiracies  against  the  nation  of 
the  Angles.  The  Britons,  though  they,  for  the  most  part,  through 
domestic  hatred,  are  adverse  to  the  nation  of  the  Angles,  and  wrong- 
fully, and  from  wicked  custom,  oppose  the  appointed  Easter  of  the 
whole  catholic  church ;  yet,  from  both  the  Divine  and  human 
power  firmly  withstanding  them,  they  can  in  no  way  prevail  as  they 
desire ;  for  though  in  part  they  are  their  own  masters,  yet  partly 
they  are  also  brought  under  subjection  to  the  English.  Such 
being  the  peaceable  and  calm  disposition  of  the  times,  many  of  the 
Northumbrian  nation,  as  w-ell  of  the  nobility  as  private  persons, 
laying  aside  their  weapons,  incline  to  accept  the  tonsure,  and  to 
dedicate  both  themselves  and  their  children  to  monastic  vows, 
rather  than  to  exercise  themselves  in  the  study  of  militar}^  matters. 
Wliat  will  be  the  end  hereof,  the  next  age  will  show.  Tliis  is  for 
the  present  the  state  of  all  Britain  ;  in  the  year  since  the  coming 
of  the  Angles  into  Britain  about  285,  but  in  the  731st  year  of  the 
incarnation  of  our  Lord  ;  in  whose  reign  may  the  earth  ever  rejoice; 
may  Britain  exult  in  the  profession  of  his  faith ;  and  may  many 
islands  be  glad,  and  confess  to  the  memory  of  his  holiness  ! 


Chap.  XXIV. — A  Chronological  Recapitulation  of  the  whole  Work  :  also 

CONCERNING  THE  AdTHOR  HIMSELF. 

§  452.  I  HAVE  thought  fit  briefly  to  sum  up,  according  to  tlie 
distinction  of  times,  those  things  which  have  been  related  more  at 
large,  for  their  better  preservation  in  memory. 

In  the  sixtieth  year  before  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord,  Caius 
Julius  C?esar,-  first  of  the  Romans,  invaded  Britain,  and  was  victo- 
rious, yet  could  not  gain  the  kingdom. 

In  the  year  from  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord  4G,  Claudius,' 
second  of  the  Romans,  invading  Britain,  had  a  great  part  of  the 
island  surrendered  to  him,  and  added  the  Orkney  islands  to  the 
Roman  empire. 

In  the  year  from  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord  1G7,  Elcuth.cr, 
being  made  bishop  of  Rome,  governed  the  church  most  gloriously 
for  fifteen  years.     Lucius,^  king  of  Britain,  sending  letters  to  him, 

'  Tfcs  first  bishop,  that  is,  after  its  restoration  under  the  kings  of  Noi-thnmbria. 
2  See  §  9.  3  Sec  §  in.  ■•  Sec  §  12. 


REDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  541 

requested  to  be  made  a  Christian,  and  succeeded  in  obtaining  his 
request. 

In  the  year  from  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord  189,  Severus  ' 
being  made  emperor,  reigned  seventeen  years  ;  he  enclosed  Britain 
with  a  trench  from  sea  to  sea. 

In  the  year  381,  Maximus/  being  made  emperor  in  Britain, 
sailed  over  into  Gaul,  and  slew  Gratian. 

In  the  year  409,  Rome  was  taken  by  the  Goths  ;^  from  which 
time  the  Roman  emperors  ceased  to  reign  in  Britain. 

In  the  year  430,  Palladius*  was  sent,  by  pope  Celestine,  to  be 
the  first  bishop  of  the  Scots  that  believed  in  Christ. 

In  the  year  449,  Martian  ^  being  made  emperor  with  Valentinian, 
reigned  seven  years  ;  in  whose  time  the  English,  being  called  by  the 
Britons,  came  into  Britain. 

In  the  year  538,  there  happened  an  eclipse  of  the  sun,  on  the 
fourteenth  of  the  kalends  of  March  [16th  Feb.],  from  the  first  to 
the  third  hour. 

In  the  year  540,  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  happened  on  the  twelfth 
of  the  kalends  of  July  [20th  June],  and  the  stars  appeared  during 
almost  half  an  hour  after  the  third  hour  of  the  day. 

In  the  year  547,  Ida  began  to  reign  ;  from  him  the  royal  family 
of  the  Northumbrians  derives  its  original ;  he  reigned  twelve 
years. 

In  the  year  565,  the  priest,  Columba,"  came  out  of  Scotland  into 
Britain,  to  instruct  the  Picts,  and  he  built  a  monastery  in  the  isle 
of  Hii. 

In  the  year  596,  pope  Gregory'  sent  Augustine  with  monks  into 
Britain,  to  preach  the  word  of  God  to  the  English  nation. 

In  tlie  year  597,  the  aforesaid  teachers'  arrived  in  Britain;  being 
about  the  150th  year  from  the  coming  of  the  English  into  Britain. 

In  the  year  601,  pope  Gregory  sent  the  palP  into  Britain,  to 
Augustine,  who  was  already  made  bishop  ;  he  sent  also  several 
ministers  of  the  Word,  among  whom  was  Paulinus. 

In  the  year  603,  a  battle  was  fought  at  Degsastanae.'" 

In  the  year  604,  the  East  Saxons  received  the  faith  of  Christ, 
under  king  Saberct,"  Mellitus'^  being  bishop. 

In  the  year  605,  Gregory  died.^^ 

In  the  year  616,  Aedilberct,"  king  of  Kent,  died. 

In  the  year  625,  Pauhnus"  was,  by  archbishop  Justus,  ordained 
bishop  of  the  nation  of  the  Northumbrians. 

In  the  year  626,  Eanfled,'"  daughter  to  king  Aeduini,  was  bap- 
tized, with  twelve  others,  on  the  Saturday  of  Pentecost. 

In  the  year  627,  king  Aeduini  was  baptized,^'  with  his  nation,  at 
Easter. 

In  the  year  633,  king  Aeduini  being  killed,  Paulinus  returned  to 
Kent.^« 

In  the  year  640,  Eadbald,'^  king  of  Kent,  died. 


'  See  §  13. 

2  See  §  24. 

3  See  §  27. 

«  See  §  32. 

=  See  §  35. 

'^  See  §  158. 

'  See  §  51. 

s  See  §  54. 

9  See  §  73. 

11  See  §  80. 

"  See  §  103. 

12  See  §  95. 

1^  See  §  81. 

1*  See  §  100. 

15  See  §  112. 

"^  See  §  114. 

1'   See  §  132. 

IS  See  §  148. 

19  See  §  172. 

542  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND. 

In  the  year  642,  king  Osuald'  was  slain. 

In  the  year  644,  PauHnus/  formerly  bishop  of  York,  but  now 
of  the  city  of  Rochester,  departed  to  our  Lord. 

In  the  year  651,  king  Osuini'  was  killed,  and  bishop  Aidan'  died. 

In  the  year  653,  the  Midland^  Angles,  under  their  prince,  Penda, 
received  the  mysteries  of  the  faith. 

In  the  year  655,  Penda"  perished,  and  the  Mercians  became 
Christians. 

In  the  year  664,  there  happened  an  eclipse  ;^  Earconberct,"  king 
of  Kent,  died  ;  and  Colman,"  with  the  Scots,  returned  to  his  own 
people  ;  a  pestilence  arose ;  Ceadda  and  Uilfrid  were  ordained 
bishops  of  the  Northumbrians.'" 

In  the  year  668,  Theodore  "  was  ordained  bishop. 

In  the  year  670,  Osuiu,'^  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  died. 

In  the  year  673,  Ecgberct,'^  king  of  Kent,  died,  and  a  synod  was 
held  at  Herutford,'*  in  the  presence  of  king  Ecgfrid,  archbishop 
Theodore  presiding :  the  synod  did  much  good,  and  its  decrees  are 
contained  in  ten  chapters. 

In  the  year  675,  Uulfheri,  king  of  the  Mercians,  dying,  when 
he  had  reigned  seventeen  years,  left  the  crown  to  his  brother 
Aedilred. 

In  the  year  676,  Aedilred'^  ravaged  Kent. 

In  the  year  678,  a  comet*"  appeared;  bishop  Uilfrid  was  driven 
from  his  see  by  king  Ecgfrid ;  and  Bosa,  Eata,  and  Eadhaeth  were 
consecrated  bishops  in  his  stead. 

In  the  yeai-  679,  Aelfuini*'  was  killed. 

In  the  year  680,  a  synod  was  held  in  the  field  called  Haethfeld,'* 
concerning  the  catholic  faith,  archbishop  Theodore  presiding ; 
John,''*  the  Roman  abbat,  was  also  present.  The  same  year  also 
the  abbess  Hild^"  died  at  Streanaeshalch. 

In  the  year  685,  Ecgfrid,^'  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  was  slain. 

The  same  year,  Hlotheri,^'  king  of  Kent,  died. 

In  the  year  688,  Caedwald,^*  king  of  the  West  Saxons,  went  to 
Rome  from  Britain. 

In  the  year  690,  archbishop  Theodore''  died. 

In  the  year  697,  queen  Osthryd  was  murdered  by  her  own  peo{)lc, 
that  is.  the  nobility  of  the  Mercians. 

In  the  year  698,  Berctred,  the  roy.al  commander  of  the  North- 
umbrians, was  slain  by  the  Picts. 

In  the  year  704,  Aedilred"  became  a  monk,  after  he  had  reigned 
tliirty-one  years  over  the  nation  of  the  Mercians,  and  gave  up  the 
kingdom  to  Coenred. 

In  the  year  705,  Aldfrid,^"  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  died. 

In  the  year  709,  Coenred,"  king  of  the  Mercians,  having  reigned 
five  years,  went  to  Rome. 

>  See  §  175.  *  See  §  187.  ^  See  §  188.  •"  See  §  190. 

•'•  See  §  210.  «  See  §  221.  '  See  §  210.  »  See  §  2.52. 

9  See  §  236.  '»  See  §  243.  "  See  §  254.  "  See  §  267. 

'2  See  §  271.  "  See  §  268.  >•'  See  §  287.  '«  See  §  288. 

"  Sec  §  316.  '«  See  §  301.  »"  See  §  SCJ.  »»  See  §  322. 

"  Sec  §  340.  "  See  §  342.  2''  See  §  372.  '*  See  §  374. 

"  See  §§  3i)7,  424.      -"  See  §  40"J.  "  See  §  412. 


BEDA's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK   V.  543 

In  the  year  711,  the  prefect  Berctfrid  fought  with  the  Picts. 

In  the  year  716,  Osred/  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  was  killed  ; 
and  Ceolred,  king  of  the  Mercians,  died  ;  and  Ecgberct,"  the  man 
of  God,  reformed  the  monks  of  Hii  so  as  to  obsei-ve  the  catholic 
Easter  and  ecclesiastical  tonsure. 

In  the  year  725,  Uictred,^  king  of  Kent,  died. 

In  the  year  729,  comets*  appeared  ;  the  holy  Ecgberct^  departed ; 
and  Osric*  died. 

In  the  year  731,  archbishop  Berctuald*  died. 

The  same  year  Tatuini"  was  consecrated  ninth  archbishop  of  the 
church  of  Canterbury,  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  Aedilbald,  king  of 
the  Mercians. 


§  453.  Thus  much  of  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Britain,  and 
more  especially  of  the  English  nation,  as  far  as  I  could  learn  either 
from  the  writings  of  the  ancients,  or  the  tradition  of  our  ancestors, 
or  of  my  own  knowledge,  has,  with  the  help  of  God,  been  digested 
by  me,  Baeda,  the  servant  of  Christ,  and  priest  of  the  monastery 
of  the  blessed  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  which  is  at  "Viuraemuda" 
and  "  Ingyruum." 

§  454.  Being  born  in  the  territory  of  that  same  monastery,  I 
was  given,  by  the  care  of  my  relatives,  at  seven  years  of  age,  to  be 
educated  by  the  most  reverend  abbat  Benedict,  and  aftei'wards  by 
Ceolfrid  ;  and  from  that  period,  spending  all  the  remaining  time  of 
my  life  in  that  monastery,  I  wholly  applied  myself  to  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures  ;  and  amidst  the  observance  of  regular  discipline,  and  the 
daily  care  of  singing  in  the  church,  I  always  took  delight  in  learning, 
teaching,  and  writing.  In  the  nineteenth  year  of  my  age  I  received 
deacon's  orders  ;  in  the  thirtieth,  those  of  the  priesthood  ;  both  of 
them  by  the  ministry  of  the  most  reverend  bishop  John,  and  by 
order  of  the  abbat  Ceolfrid.  From  which  time,  when  I  received 
the  order  of  priesthood,  till  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  my  age,  I  have 
made  it  my  business,  for  the  use  of  me  and  mine,  briefly  to  com- 
pile out  of  the  works  of  the  venerable  Fathers,  and  to  interpret  and 
explain  according  to  their  meaning,  (adding  somewhat  of  my  own,) 
these  following  pieces  : — 

§  455.  On  the  Beginning  of  Genesis,  to  the  Nativity  of  Isaac 
and  the  Rejection  of  Ishmael,  four  books. 

Of  the  Tabernacle  and  its  Vessels,  and  of  the  Vestments  of  the 
Priests,  three  books. 

On  the  First  Part  of  Samuel,  that  is,  to  the  Death  of  Saul,  three 
books. 

Of  the  Building  of  the  Temple,  two  books  of  Allegorical  Exposi- 
tion, like  the  rest. 

Also,  on  the  Book  of  Kings,  thirty  Questions. 

On  Solomon's  Proverbs,  three  books. 

1  See  §  445.  «  gee  §  445.  ^  gge  §  447.  ^  See  §  448. 

*  See  §  449.  "  See  §  449. 


^■i-i  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND. 

On  the  Canticles,  seven  books. 

On  Isaiah,  Daniel,  the  twelve  Prophets,  and  part  of  Jeremiah. 
Distinctions  of  Chapters,  collected  out  of  the  blessed  Jerome's 
Treatise. 

On  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  three  books. 
On  the  Song  of  Habacuc,  one  book. 

On  the  Book  of  the  blessed  Father  Tobias,  one  book  of  Alle- 
gorical Explanation  concerning  Christ  and  the  Church. 

Also,  Chapters  of  Lessons  on  Moses's  Pentateuch,  Joshua,  and 
Judges. 

On  the  Books  of  Kings  and  Chronicles. 
On  the  Book  of  the  blessed  Father  Job. 
On  the  Parables,  Ecclesiastes,  and  Canticles. 
On  the  Prophets  Isaiah,  Ezra,  and  Nehemiah. 
On  the  Gospel  of  Mark,  four  books. 
On  the  Gospel  of  Luke,  six  books. 
Of  Homilies  on  the  Gospel,  two  books. 

On  the  Apostle,  I  liave  carefully  transcribed  in  order  all  tliat  I 
have  found  in  St.  Augustine's  Works. 
On  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  two  books. 
On  the  Seven  Catholic  P]pistles,  a  book  on  each. 
On  the  Revelation  of  St.  John,  three  books. 
Also,  Chapters  of  Lessons  on  all  the  New  Testament,  except  tlu' 
Gospel. 

Also  a  book  of  Epistles  to  different  Persons,  of  which  one  is  of 
the  Six  Ages  of  the  World  ;  one,  of  the  Stations  of  the  Children  of 
Israel ;  one,  on  the  Words  of  Isaiah,  "And  they  shall  be  shut  up 
in  the  prison,  and  after  many  days  shall  they  be  visited  ; "  one,  of 
the  Reason  of  the  Bissextile  [or  Leap-year]  ;  and  one,  of  the 
Equinox,  according  to  Anatolius. 

Also,  of  the  Histories  of  Saints ;  I  translated  into  prose  the 
book  of  the  Life  and  Passion  of  St.  Felix,  Confessor,  from  Paulinus's 
work  in  metre. 

The  Book  of  the  Life  and  Passion  of  St.  Anastasius,  which  was 
ill  translated  from  the  Greek,  and  worse  amended  by  some  unskilful 
person,  I  have  corrected,  as  well  as  I  was  a])le,  as  to  the  sense. 

I  have  written  the  Life  of  the  Holy  Father  Cudberct,  who  was 
both  monk  and  prelate,  first  in  heroic  verse,  and  then  in  prose. 

The  History  of  the  Abbats  of  this  Monastery,  in  which  I  rejoice 
to  serve  the  Divine  Goodness,  viz.  Benedict,  Ceolfrid,  and  Huact- 
berct,  in  two  books. 

The  Ecclesiastical  Histoiy  of  our  Island  and  Nation,  in  five  ])ooks. 

The  Martyrology  of  the  Birth-days  of  the  Holy  Martyrs,  in  which 

I  have  carefully  endeavoured  to  set  down  all  that  I  could  find,  and 

not  only  on  what  day,  but  also  by  what  sort  of  combat,  or  under 

what  judge,  they  overcame  the  world. 

A  Book  of  Hymns,  in  several  sorts  of  metre,  or  rhyme. 

A  Book  of  Epigrams,  in  heroic  and  elegiac  verse. 

Of  the  Nature  of  Things,  and  of  Times,  one  book  of  each. 

Also,  of  Times,  one  larger  book. 

A  Book  of  Orthography,  digested  in  Alphabetical  Order. 


BEDa's    ecclesiastical    history. BOOK    V.  5-15 

Also  a  Book  of  the  Art  of  Poetiy,  and  to  it  I  have  added  another 
little  Book  of  Figures  or  Tropes  ;  that  is,  of  the  figures  and  manners 
of  speaking  in  which  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  written. 

And  now  I  beseech  Thee,  good  Jesus,  that  to  whom  Thou  hast 
graciously  granted  sweetly  to  drink  of  the  words  of  thy  wisdom. 
Thou  wilt  also  vouchsafe  to  him  that  he  may  in  due  time  come  to 
Thee,  tlie  Fountain  of  all  wisdom,  and  always  stand  in  thy  presence, 
who  livest  and  reignest  world  without  end.     Amen  I 


HERE    ENDS,    BY    GOD  S    HELP, 

THE    FIFTH    BOOK 

OF    THE    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY 

OF    THE    ENGLISH    NATION. 


THE 

LIFE  AND  MIRACLES  OF  SAINT  CUDBERCT, 

BISHOP  OF  LINDISFARNE. 


PREFACE. 


To  the  Hohj  and  Most  Blessed  Father  Eadfrid,^  Bishop,  and  to  all 
the  (Congregation  of  the  Brethren,  who  serve  Christ  in  the  Island  of 
Lindisfarne,  Baeda,  ijour faithful  Fellow -servant,  sendeth  greeting : — 

§  1.  Since,  beloved  brethren,  to  the  book  which  I  composed  at 
your  request  of  the  Life  of  our  fatlier  Cudberct,  of  blessed  memoiy, 
you  bade  me  prefix,  according  to  custom,  some  observations  in  the 
form  of  a  preface,  wherein  the  desire  of  your  good  pleasure,  as  well 
as  the  brotherly  assent  of  my  obedience  thereto,  should  be  publicly 
expressed  to  all  readers,  it  seems  good  to  me,  before  proceeding 
further,  as  well  to  remind  you  who  know  the  events  which  I  relate, 
as  also  to  make  known  to  others,  who  may  read  my  work,  and  are 
perchance  ignorant  of  what  is  here  recorded,  that  I  have  neither 
presumed  to  write  any  circumstance  relating  to  so  great  a  man, 
without  the  most  assured  research,  nor  to  give  out  for  general 
transcription  the  things  which  I  have  reduced  to  writing,  without 
the  most  scrupulous  examination  of  indubitable  witnesses.  Yea, 
rather,  it  was  not  till  I  had  diligently  investigated  the  beginning, 
progress,  and  end  of  his  most  glorious  life  and  conversation,  from 
those  who  had  known  him,  that  I  ventured  to  reduce  aught  to 
writing :  and  I  may  further  add  that  I  have  also  judged  it  meet  to 
mention  occasionally  the  names  of  these  my  authorities  in  the 
course  of  my  work,  as  an  unquestionable  proof  of  the  acknowledged 
truth  of  my  narrative. 

Moreover,  after  I  had  digested  my  little  work,  T  kept  it  back  in 
manuscript,  and  showed  it  frequently  to  our  most  reverend  brotluT 
Herefrid,"  the  priest,  when  he  came  here,  as  well  as  to  several  other 


•  Eadfrid  was  bishop  of  Holy  Island  from  A.n.  G98  to  721,  and  ha.«i  left  a 
rial  as  well  of  bis  elegant  penmanship  as  of  bis  love  for  the  Holy  Script\: 


memo- 
tures  in 
the  celebrated  cojjy  of  the  Gospels  which  is  generally  known  as  the  Durham 
Book.  It  is  jireserved  in  the  Cottonian  Library,  Nero  D.  iv.  See  Wauley's  Cata- 
l(),t;nc,  :i|.imii(1.m1  to  Hickes's  Thesaurus,  p.  250.  Smith  asserts,  but  upon  what 
aiiilMTiiv  (I'M  s  not  api)ear,  that  this  volume  was  written  for  the  especial  Tise  of 
St.  ('iitliiicrt  iiinisclf.  It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  state  that  it  is  about  to  be  pub- 
lished by  the  Sin-tces  Society. 

■■=  Beda  could  not  easily  have  found  a  more  competent  critic  than  this  Here- 
frid, f(ir  he  was  ai)bot  of  the  monastery  of  Holy  Island,  §  13,  and  had  attended 
Cuthbort  during  his  last  illness,  §  59. 


PREFACE    TO    BEDA's    LlMi    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  547 

persons,  who,  from  having  long  dwelt  with  the  man  of  God,  were 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  his  life,  that  they  might  read  it,  and 
deliberately  correct  or  expunge  what  they  should  judge  advisable. 
Some  of  these  amendments  I  carefully  adopted  at  their  suggestion, 
as  seemed  good  to  me  ;  and  thus  all  scruples  having  been  entirely 
removed,  I  have  ventured  to  commit  the  result  of  this  careful 
research,  conveyed  in  simple  language,  to  these  few  sheets  of 
parchment.  And  when  I  transmitted  to  your  presence,  my  brother, 
what  I  had  written,  that  it  might  be  either  corrected  if  false,  or 
approved  if  true,  by  the  judgment  of  your  authority  ;  and  whilst,  by 
God's  aid,  I  was  so  occupied,  my  little  work  was  for  the  space  of 
two  days  read  before  the  ancients  and  teachers  of  your  congrega- 
tion ;  and  after  every  part  had  been  shrewdly  weighed  and  had 
passed  under  your  examination,  it  was  found  unnecessary  to  change 
ainy  single  word,  and  all  that  I  had  written  was  pronounced  worthy 
by  common  consent  to  be  read  without  any  doubt,  and  fit  to  be 
handed  over  to  the  lovers  of  a  religious  life,  to  be  by  them  transcribed . 
And,  moreover,  in  the  course  of  this  investigation  and  discussion,  it ' 
was  shown,  in  my  presence,  that  there  were  many  other  events 
relating  to  the  life  and  miracles  of  the  blessed  servant  of  God,  of 
no  less  moment  than  even  those  which  we  had  recorded,  which 
seemed  worthy  of  being  recorded,  had  it  not  appeared  incongruous 
and  unbecoming  to  insert  them,  or  add  new  materials  to  a  work 
adready  deliberated  on  and  completed. 

§  2.  Moreover,  it  occurred  to  me  as  fitting  that  I  should  remind 
your  holy  circle,  that  as  I  have  not  hesitated  to  pay  the  duty  of 
obedience  to  the  commands  you  have  vouchsafed  to  give,  you,  in 
like  manner,  should  not  be  slack  in  repaying  to  me  the  reward  of 
your  intercession  :  but  that  when  you  again  read  this  little  book, 
you  may,  by  the  pious  remembrance  of  our  most  holy  father,  raise 
up  your  minds  with  greater  ardour  to  the  desire  of  the  heavenly 
kingdom,  and  be  mindful  also  to  pray  to  the  Divine  Clemency  for 
my  poor  estate,  that  I  may  now  with  pure  mind  desire,  and  for  the 
time  to  come  deserve,  in  perfect  blessedness  to  "behold  the  good 
things  of  the  Lord,  in  the  land  of  the  living  ; "  and  that  when  I  am 
dead,  you  may  vouchsafe  for  the  redemption  of  my  soul  to  pray  for 
me,  your  friend  and  servant,— to  offer  masses  for  me,  and  to  inscribe 
my  name  among  those  of  your  holy  community.  And  do  you  also, 
most  holy  prelate,  remember  that  you  have  already  promised  that 
this  should  be  done  ;  in  testimony  whereof,  you  have  commanded 
Gudfrid,'  the  sacrist,*  to  inscribe  my  name,  even  at  the  present 
time,  in  the  register^  of  your  holy  congregation.      Let  me  also 

*  One  of  the  name  of  Gudfrid,  pfobably  the  same  individual,  afterwards 
became  abbot  of  Lindisfarne.     See  Eccl.  Hist.  §  359. 

2  "  Gudfrido  mansionario."  The  BoUandists  explain  this  term  by  "  Ecclesiae 
prefectus  aut  cnstos." 

*  An  allusion  to  the  custom  which  prevailed  in  monastic  establishments,  by 
which  the  names  of  benefactors  were  recorded  in  a  book,  which  was  called  the 
"  Liber  Vitje."  The  register  of  the  benefactors  of  Lindisfarne  (afterwards  re- 
moved to  Durham)  is  yet  extant,  (MS.  Cott.  Domit.  vii.)  and  was  printed  by  the 
Surtees  Society,  8vo.  Lond.  1841.  These  benefactors  were  prayed  for  in  the  canon 
of  the  mass.     See  Martene,  De  Antiq.  Eccl.  Ritibus,  i.  145,  ed.  1788. 

N   N    2 


543  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND. 

inform  you,  my  holy  brother,  that  in  the  same  order  which  I  now- 
present  to  you,  I  have  lately,  at  the  request  of  some  of  our  brethren, 
composed  (though  somewhat  more  briefly)  in  verses  of  heroic 
measure  the  life  of  our  same  God-beloved  father.  If  it  please  you, 
you  can  procure  a  copy  of  this  work  from  me,  where  you  will  per- 
ceive in  the  preface  that  I  promised  to  wrire  a  more  full  account  of 
his  life  and  miracles  ;  a  promise  which  I  now  hasten  to  fulfil,  iu 
the  present  little  work,  as  far  as  the  Lord  vouchsafes  to  grant  to  me 
ability  thereto. 

Praying,  therefore,  for  you,  my  most  beloved  brethren  and 
masters,  may  the  Almighty  Lord  vouchsafe  to  keep  you  safe,  in 
your  present  blessed  state.     Amen. 


LIFE,    MIRACLES,    &c. 


Chap.  I.' — How  Cudberct  the  servant  of  God  was  warned  by  a  Child  that 

HE  should  hereafter  BECOME  A  BiSHOP. 

§  3.  In  beginning  the  account  of  the  life  of  the  blessed  Cudberct, 
we  would  hallow  its  commencement  by  quoting  the  words  of  the 
prophet  Jeremiah,  who  in  lauding  the  state  of  the  anchorite's 
perfection,  says  :  "  It  is  good  for  a  man  when  he  hath  borne  the 
yoke  from  his  youth  ;  he  shall  sit  alone,  and  keep  silent,  because 
he  shall  raise  himself  above  himself."  [Lam.  iii.  27.]  In  like  manner, 
Cudberct  the  man  of  God,  who  bowed  his  neck  from  early  youth  to 
the  monastic  yoke,  was  so  inflamed  with  the  sweetness  of  this  goodly 
state,  that  when  occasion  offered,  he  eagerly  grasped  at  the  life  and 
conversation  of  an  anchorite,  and  rejoiced  for  no  small  time  "  to  sit 
alone  and  to  keep  silence "  from  all  human  intercourse,  in  the 
sweetness  of  divine  contemplation.  Thus  heavenly  grace,  that  it 
might  increase  the  more  as  he  advanced  in  years,  urged  him  on  by 
little  and  little  in  the  way  of  truth,  even  from  the  first  years  of  his 
boyhood  ;  albeit  until  his  eighth  year,  which  is  the  first  of  boyhood 
after  infancy,  he  was  wont  to  give  his  mind  entirely  to  the  sports 
and  wantonness  of  children,  so  that  he  might  be  said  to  be  a  living 
testimony  of  what  is  recorded  of  the  blessed  Samuel  :  "  Now  Cvd- 
berct  did  not  yet  know  the  Lord,  neither  was  the  word  of  the  Lord 
yet  revealed  to  him."  [1  Sam.  iii.  7-]  Increase  of  praise,  then,  be 
to  him  who  in  his  more  advanced  'age  was  perfectly  to  "  know  the 
Lord,"  and  to  hear  with  the  opened  ear  of  the  heart,  the  Word  of 
the  Lord.  But  at  this  time,  as  we  have  said,  Cudberct  took  great 
pleasure  in  jests  and  childish  sports,  and,  as  was  in  keeping  with  his 
age,  he  loved  to  be  in  the  company  of  other  boys,  and  greatly  desired 
to  associate  himself  with  them  in  all  their  games  ;  and  as  he  was 

'  Compare  Vit.  Mctr.  i. ;  Vit.  Anon.  §  4. 


BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  549 

active  by  nature  and  possessed  a  ready  wit,  he  was  wont  to  be  the 
champion  in  all  such  sports  ;  so  that  sometimes  when  the  rest  were 
tired  out,  he  yet  unwearied  would  demand,  as  a  joyous  victor,  if 
there  were  any  that  would  yet  contend  with  him.  For  whether  they 
practised  leaping  or  running  or  wrestling,  or  any  other  sport  which 
required  agility  of  limb,  he  boasted  that  he  could  surpass  all  his 
equals  in  age,  and  sometimes  even  his  elders.  For  when  he  was  a 
child  he  knew  as  a  child,  he  thought  as  a  child  ;  but  when  he 
became  a  man,  he  put  away  childish  things.   [1  Cor.  xiii.  11.] 

§  4.  Divine  providence,  howbeit,  by  a  meet  instructor,  early 
vouchsafed  to  restrain  the  buoyancy  of  this  childish  spirit.  Bishop 
Trumuine  ^  of  blessed  memory  affirmed  that  Cudberct  had  himself 
told  him  how  this  happened.  "  One  day,"  he  said,  "  a  considerable 
number  of  boys,  of  whom  he  was  one,  were  engaged  as  usual  in 
wrestling  in  a  meadow  ;  and  as  many  of  them,  with  the  usual 
thoughtlessness  of  boyhood,  were  twisting  their  limbs  into  various 
unnatural  postures,  suddenly  one  of  these  little  ones,  of  about  the 
age  of  three  years,  as  it  would  appear,  ran  up  to  Cudberct,  and,  as 
if  with  the  gravity  of  old  age,  began  to  exhort  him  not  to  indulge 
in  these  idle  sports,  but  rather  to  subject  his  mind  as  well  as  his 
limbs  to  a  grave  deportment.  Cudberct  having  paid  no  attention 
to  this  admonition,  the  little  fellow  threw  himself  on  the  ground, 
and  with  tears  running  down  his  cheeks,  exhibited  signs  of  great 
grief.  Some  ran  to  console  him,  but  he  still  continued  to  weep. 
Whereupon  they  asked  him  w'hat  unexpected  event  had  happened 
to  cause  such  lamentations.  And  as  Cudberct  also  w^as  comforting 
him,  he  at  length  exclaimed  :  "  Why  will  you  behave  thus,  so 
contrary  both  to  nature  and  to  your  own  rank,  O  Cudberct,  most 
holy  prelate  and  priest?  It  becomes  not  you  to  sport  among 
children  ;  you  whom  the  Lord  has  consecrated  to  be  a  teacher  of 
virtue  to  your  elders  ! "  Wlien  Cudberct,  who  possessed  a  good 
disposition,  heard  these  words,  he  received  them  with  fixed  atten- 
tion, and  soothing  the  sorrowing  child  wdth  affectionate  kindness, 
he  resolved  forthwith  to  forsake  these  vain  sports  ;  and  returning 
home,  he  began  to  be  more  grave  in  his  deportment  from  that  time 
forth  and  more  manly  in  disposition  :  the  Holy  Ghost  Himself 
assuredly  teaching  him  in  his  inmost  heart,  that  which  had  already 
sounded  outwardly  to  his  ears  by  the  mouth  of  a  babe.  And  let  no 
one  marvel,  that  the  wantonness  of  a  boy  should  by  the  Lord's 
doing  be  restrained  through  the  agency  of  a  child,  since  it  pleased 
Him  once  to  check  the  madness  of  the  prophet  by  putting  words 
into  the  mouth  of  a  dumb  beast.  [2  Pet.  ii.  16.]  For  in  His  praise 
it  has  been  truly  said  :  "  Out  of  the  mouth  of  babes  and  sucklings 
thou  hast  perfected  praise."   [Psal.  viii.  2.] 

1  Trumwine  was  bishop  of  the  Picts,  (Eccl.  Hist.  iv.  12,  §  288,)  was  one  of 
those  persons  who  induced  Cuthbert  to  accept  the  bishopric  of  Lindisfarne, 
<iv.  28,  §  347,)  and  upon  the  death  of  Ecgfrith,  king  of  Northumbria,  in  a.d.  684, 
was  driven  from  his  diocese  and  compelled  to  take  refuge  in  the  monastery  of 
Whitby  (iv.  2(3,  §  341).  An  outline  of  his  life  may  be  seen  in  the  Acta  SS.  mens. 
Feb.  ii.  414. 


550  CHURCH     HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND. 

CuAP.  II.' — How  HE  WAS  Crippled,  through  a  painful  swelling  in  his  knee, 

WHICH  WAS  cured  BY  AN  AnGEL. 

§  5.  And  as  it  is  written  that  "  to  him  that  hatli,  more  shall  be 
given,  and  he  shall  abound,"  that  is,  to  him  that  hath  a  firm 
purpose  and  love  for  virtue,  abundance  thereof  by  heavenly  bounty 
shall  be  given ;  so  from  the  time  that  Cudberct,  the  ser\'ant  of  the 
Lord,  retained  in  an  earnest  heart  the  lesson  he  had  heard  from  the 
exhortation  of  a  fellow-creature,  so  in  like  manner  he  obtained 
comfort  from  the  vision  and  voice  of  an  angel.  He  was  on  one 
occasion  struck  with  a  sudden  pain  in  his  knee,  which  began  to 
swell  with  an  acrid  tumour,  so  that  the  nerves  of  his  knee  being 
contracted,  he  was  obliged  to  keep  it  suspended  from  touching  the 
ground,  and  so  to  limp  from  place  to  place,  till  the  disease  increased 
so  much  that  he  was  no  longer  able  to  walk.  One  day,  as  he  had 
been  carried  out  of  doors  by  his  attendants  and  was  reclining  in 
the  open  air,  he  suddenly  saw  coming  in  the  distance  an  horseman 
of  honourable  mien,  and  clothed  in  white  garments  ;  and  moreover 
the  horse  on  which  he  rode  was  of  incomparable  beauty.  On 
approaching,  the  rider  courteously  saluted  Cudberct,  and  asked  him, 
as  it  were  pleasantly,  if  he  would  do  a  service  for  such  a  guest 
as  he  was.  Whereupon  Cudberct  replied,  "  I  would  most  readily 
stand  up  to  do  you  every  sen'ice,  were  I  not,  for  the  })unishment 
of  my  faults,  rendered  incapable  of  so  doing,  and  bound  as  a  prisoner 
by  this  disease.  For  I  now  of  a  long  time  have  been  oppressed  with 
this  swollen  knee,  nor  can  the  skill  of  any  physician  heal  me." 
"Wliereupon  the  stranger  leaping  from  his  horse,  and  carefully 
examining  his  diseased  knee ;  "  Seethe,"  says  he,  "  some  M'heaten 
flour-in  milk,  and  anoint  the  tumour  with  this  poultice,  while  it  is 
warm,  and  you  shall  be  healed,"  and  saying  this  he  mounted  his 
horse  and  departed.  Cudberct  obeying  this  command,  was  healed 
in  a  few  days,  and  he  acknowledged  that  it  was  an  angel  who  had 
given  him  this  advice,  sent  namely  by  Him  who  formerly  vouch- 
safed to  send  the  archangel  Raphael  to  restore  sight  to  Tobias. 
[Tob.  v.  andvi.]  And  if  it  should  seem  incredible  to  any  one,  that 
an  angel  should  appear  on  horseback,  let  him  read  the  history  of 
the  Maccabees,  in  which  it  is  related  that  angels  came  on  horseback 
to  the  defence  of  Judas  Maccabeus  and  the  temple  of  God.  [2  Mac. 
iii.  25;  v.  2;  x.  29.] 


Chap.  III.- — How  the  Wind  was  changed  by  his  prayer,  and  now  the  Shu's 

WHICH  had  been  driven  OUT  TO  SEA,  WERE  BROUGHT  BACK  TO  THE  SHORE. 

§  6.  From  this  time  forth,  this  devout  servant  of  the  Lord,  as 
he  himself  was  wont  to  attest  afterwards  to  his  friends,  by  devoutly 
praying  to  the  Lord,  when  he  was  in  difficulties,  was  often  delivered 
from  them  by  the  ministry  of  angels;  yea,  even  when  with  merciful 
kindness  he  prayed  for  others  that  happened  to  be  in  danger,  his 

'  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  ii. ;  Vit.  Anon.  §  7. 

2  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  iii.  This  incident  is  omitted  in  the  anonymous  legend;  Beda 
derived  it,  as  he  tells  us,  from  the  information  of  one  of  the  brethren  of  the 
monastei'y  of  Tynemouth. 


BEDA  : — LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  551 

prayers  were  heard  by  Him  who  is  ever  wont  to  give  ear  to  the 
"poor  that  calleth  on  Him,  and  to  deHver  him  out  of  all  his 
troubles."  Now  there  is  a  monastery  not  far  from  the  mouth  of 
the  river  Tyne/  towards  the  south.  This  was,  at  the  time  we 
speak  of,  a  community  of  men,  but  now  it  is  changed,  as  the  state 
of  all  temporal  affairs  change,  into  one  of  virgins  who  serve  Christ, 
and  now  flourish  in  goodly  number.  Tliose  servants  of  Christ, 
then,  were  conveying  upon  the  river,  from  a  distant  part,  a  supply 
of  wood  for  the  use  of  the  monastery,  on  rafts.  And  when  they 
had  now  arrived  opposite  the  monastery,  with  their  burden,  and 
were  endeavouring  to  draw  them  to  the  shore,  behold,  on  a  sudden 
a  tempestuous  wind  arose  from  the  west,  and  catching  the  rafts 
began  to  drift  them  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  river.  The  monks, 
perceiving  this  from  the  monastery,  launched  some  boats  on  the 
river,  with  the  view  of  assisting  those  that  were  toiling  on  board 
the  rafts ;  but  being  overpowered  by  the  force  of  the  current  and 
the  violence  of  the  winds,  their  eftbrts  were  unavailing.  Despairing 
then  of  human  aid,  they  fled  to  that  which  is  divine.  They 
accordingly  went  out  of  the  monastery,  (while  the  rafts  were 
drifting  into  the  ocean,)  and  assembling  on  the  nearest  point  they 
bent  their  knees,  beseeching  the  Lord  for  those  whom  they  beheld 
hurried  out  at  that  very  moment  into  so  great  a  peril  of  death. 
But  the  earnest  prayers  of  the  brethren  were  long  deferred  for  this 
end,  namely,  that  divine  providence  might  manifest  how  greatly 
the  power  of  prayer  existed  in  Cudberct.  For  there  was  assembled 
on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river,  among  whom  he  himself  also 
stood,  no  small  number  of  the  common  people.  And  as  the 
monks  looked  on  with  sadness,  and  saw  the  vessels  driven  out  to 
sea,  till  they  appeared  as  if  they  were  five  little  birds  (for  there 
were  five  rafts)  floating  on  the  waves,  the  populace  began  to  jeer  at 
the  life  and  conversation  of  the  monks,  as  if  those  who  despised 
the  common  laws  of  mortals,  and  who  had  introduced  a  new  and 
unknown  rule  of  life,  deserved  to  suffer  such  a  calamity.  Cudberct, 
however,  checked  the  reproaches  of  the  scoffers,  exclaiming, 
"  What  are  you  doing,  brethren,  in  speaking  evil  against  those 
whom  you  see  hurried  away  towards  death?  Would  it  not  be 
better  and  more  like  men,  were  you  to  pray  to  the  Lord  for  their 
safety,  than  thus  to  rejoice  at  their  perils  ?  "  But  chafing  against 
him,  with  mind  and  tongue  equally  churlish,  they  called  out,  "  Let 
no  one  pray  for  them  ;  may  God  have  pity  on  none  of  those  per- 
sons who  have  taken  away  our  old  worship,^  and  no  one  knows  how 
to  observe  the  new  !  "  On  receiving  this  answer,  Cudberct  bent  liis 
knees  in  prayer  to  the  Lord,  and  bowed  his  head  to  the  ground ;  and 
forthwith  the  violence  of  the  winds  being  turned  round  brought  the 
rafts  back  in  safety  to  the  beach,  together  with  those  who  guided  them, 
greatly  rejoicing,  and  laid  them  on  shore  in  a  fitting  position,  close 

'  The  Bollandists,  Mabillon  and  Smith,  agi-ee  in  supposing  that  this  is  the 
small  stream  in  Lothian,  xipon  which  was  situated  the  monastery  of  Tiningham. 
It  appears  more  probable,  however,  that  we  are  here  to  understand  the  river 
which  separates  the  county  of  Durham  from  that  of  Northumberland.    See  §  55. 

-  Here  we  see  how  long  the  old  heathendom  lingered  in  Northumbria,  and 
how  embittered  were  the  feelings  of  the  populace  against  those  who  opposed  it. 


552  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  G51. 

to  the  monastery.  On  seeing  this  the  rustics  forthwith  blushed 
for  their  misbeUef,  and  proclaimed  the  faitli  of  the  venerable  Cud- 
berct  with  the  praise  due  to  him.  Nor  from  that  time  did  they 
cease  to  proclaim  it ;  as  a  certain  most  approved  monk  of  our 
monastery,  from  whose  narration  I  received  this  histor)^  told  me, 
saying  that  he  had  heard  it  in  the  presence  of  many  others,  from 
one  of  themselves,  a  man  of  rustic  simplicity,  who  was  wholly 
incapable  of  inventing  a  fiction. 


Chap.  IV.'  [a.d.  G51.] — How  as  he  was  keeping  company  with  shepherds  he 

SAW  THE  Soul  of  St.  Aidan,  the  bishop,  carried  up  to  Heaven  by  Angels. 

§  7.  But  when  it  pleased  the  grace  of  Christ,  which  ruleth  the 
life  of  the  faithful,  that  the  virtue  of  his  sen-ant  should  undergo  a 
stricter  discipline,  thereby  to  earn  the  glory  of  a  higher  reward,  it 
happened  that  he  was  keeping  watch  over  the  flocks  committed  to 
Iiis  charge  on  some^  remote  mountains.  For  when  on  a  certain 
night  he  was  extending  his  long  vigils  in  prayer,  as  was  his  wont, 
his  companions  being  asleep,  he  saw  on  a  sudden  a  light  streaming 
down  from  heaven,  breaking  the  mid-darkness  of  the  long  night. 
And  in  this  were  choirs  of  the  heavenly  host  coming  down  to 
earth  ;  and  they  forthwith,  after  taking  away  a  soul  of  exceeding 
brightness,  returned  to  their  heavenly  country.  The  young  man, 
lieloved  of  God,  was  exceedingly  touched  at  this  vision,  and 
resolved  to  use  his  utmost  endeavour  to  attain  to  such  grace,  and  to 
the  fellowship  hereafter  of  beings  so  glorious,  in  everlasting  life 
and  happiness.  He  accordingly  gave  instant  praise  and  thanks- 
giving to  God,  and  with  brotherly  exhortation  arousing  his  com- 
panions to  praise  the  Lord,  "  Alas  !  woe  unto  us,"  he  said,  "  who 
by  our  sleep  and  drowsiness  are  not  permitted  to  behold  the  light  of 
the  ever-watchful  servants  of  Christ.  For  lo  !  while  I  was  watching 
unto  prayer  for  a  little  while  this  night,  I  have  seen  the  wonderful 
works  of  God.  I  have  seen  the  gate  of  heaven  opened,  and  the 
spirit  of  some  saint  introduced  thither  by  an  angelic  company, 
who  is  now,  while  still  we  lie  in  lowest  darkness,  for  ever  blessed 
in  beholding  the  glory  of  the  heavenly  mansion,  and  Christ  its 
king.  And  verily,  I  think  that  he  whom  I  saw  carried  away  in 
the  splendour  of  such  light,  amid  the  choirs  of  so  many  angels, 
leading  him  to  heaven,  must  either  have  been  some  holy  bishop 
or  some  excellent  man  of  the  number  of  the  faithful."  Saying 
thus,  Cudberct,  the  man  of  God,  kindled  not  a  little  the  hearts  of 
tlie  shepherds  to  worship  and  praise  God.  And  it  was  found 
when  morning^  came,  that  Aidan,  the   bishop  of  the   church  of 

'  .Vit.  Mctr.  cap.  iv. ;  Vit.  Anon.  §  8. 

2  Beda  does  not  state  where  these  hills  were  situated ;  but  we  have  the  autho- 
rity of  the  Anonymous  Life,  §  8,  for  stating  that  they  were  near  the  river  Ledcr, 
iu  Scothmd,  which  empties  itself  into  the  Tweed. 

'  The  authority  of  the  Anonymous  Life  here  seems  preferable,  which  tells  us 
thiit  the  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Aidau  did  not  reach  Cuthbert  xuitil  after  a 
few  days. 


A.D.  G51.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  553 

Lindisfarnc,  a  man  of  especially  great  virtue,  had  departed  to  the 
Lord  at  the  very  time  Cudberct  had  seen  him  carried  up  to  heaven  ; 
and'  forthwith  giving  up  to  their  masters  the  flocks  which  he  was 
keeping  he  resolved  to  enter  a  monastery. 


Chap.  V.^  [a.d.  651.] — How  the  Loed  supplied  him  with  Food  when  he  was  on 

A  JOUKNEY. 

§  8.  And  while,  with  a  mind  now  thoroughly  in  earnest,  he  was 
meditating  on  his  new  entrance  into  a  more  rigorous  state  of  life, 
heavenly  grace  was  present  with  him  to  strengthen  his  mind  to  a 
more  strict  purpose,  and  instructed  him  by  manifest  tokens  that 
those  who  seek  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness,  shall  over 
ana  above  find,  by  the  bounty  of  his  promise,  even  those  things  which 
appertain  to  the  nourishment  of  the  body.  Thus  one  day,  as  he  was 
journeying^  alone,  he  turned  aside  at  the  third  hour  into  a  farm- 
stead, which  he  perchance  perceived  at  some  distance.  Here  he 
entered  the  house  of  a  devout  matron,  with  the  view  of  resting 
himself  for  a  little  while,  caring  more  for  procuring  food  for  his 
horse  on  which  he  rode  than  for  himself;  for  it  was  at  the  begin- 
ning of  winter.*  The  woman  of  the  house  welcomed  him  kindly, 
and  earnestly  besought  him  to  allow  her  to  prepare  dinner,  that  he 
might  refresh  himself.  The  man  of  God  however  refused,  saying, 
"  I  must  not  eat  as  yet,  for  this  is  the  day  of  the  fast."  Now,  it 
was  the  sixth  day  of  the  week,  on  which  day  ^  most  of  the  faithful 
are  wont  to  prolong  their  fast  even  to  the  ninth  hour,*^  out  of  reve- 
rence to  our  Lord's  passion.  The  woman,  however,  urgent  in  her 
zeal  for  hospitality,  persisted  in  pressing  him  :  "  Consider,"  she 
said,  "  that  on  your  journey  you  will  find  no  village  nor  habitation 
of  man  ;  for  indeed  a  long  journey  is  before  you,  nor  can  you  pos- 
sibly accomplish  it  before  sunset.  Wherefore  I  beg  of  you  to  take 
some  food  before  setting  out,  lest  you  should  be  obliged  to  fast  all 
day,  or  perhaps  even  till  to-morrow."  But  notwithstanding  the 
woman's  importunity,  Cudberct's  love  of  religion  overcame  her 
entreaties,  and  he  spent  the  rest  of  the  day  fasting  until  the  evening. 

§  9.  And  when  he  perceived,  as  evening  was  now  at  hand,  that 
he  could  not  accomplish  his  intended  journey  on  this  the  same  day, 
and  that  there  was  no  human  habitation  near,  where  he  could  take 
shelter  for  the  night,  lo  !  as  he  went  on  he  suddenly  noticed  some 

'  If  this  expression  is  to  be  imderstood  literally,  we  hence  gather  that  Cuth- 
bert  embraced  monachism  in  a.d.  651. 
-  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  vi.  ;  Vit.  Anon.  §  9. 

*  The  route  of  his  journey  is  more  clearly  marked  by  the  anonymous  legend,  §  9. 

*  Aidau's  death  occurred  in  the  mouth  of  August ;  the  incident  here  recorded 
took  place,  as  is  here  stated,  about  the  beginning  of  the  winter  of  the  same  year; 
shoi-tly  after  which,  towards  the  end  of  651  or  the  beginning  of  652,  Cuthbert 
entered  the  monastery  of  Melrose. 

5  Considerable  diversity  of  usage  prevailed  in  different  churches  in  regard  to 
fasting  upon  this  day,  as  we  learn  from  the  epistle  of  St.  Augustine  to  Casulanus, 
(ep.  Ixsxvi.  0pp.  ii.  119,  ed.  fol.  Ludg.  1664,)  yet  the  custom  of  the  western 
church  generally  was  in  favour  of  its  adoption.  See  the  Canons  of  Odo  (a.d. 
913),  §  9,  and  the  Laws  of  Cant.  §  17. 

•^  Namely,  three  o'olock,  at  which  hour  our  Saviour  expu-ed  ou  the  Cross. 


554  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  651. 

shepherds'  huts '  hard  by,  which  having  been  roughly  put  together 
in  summer,  now  lay  ruinous  and  deserted.  Entering  one  of  these 
with  the  view  of  passing  the  night,  he  tied  his  horse  to  the  wall 
and  set  before  him  a  bundle  of  hay  to  eat,  which  the  wind  had 
carried  off  the  roof.  He  himself  meanwhile  spent  the  time  in 
prayer,  when  suddenly  in  the  midst  of  the  psalmody,  he  noticed  his 
horse  raising  his  head,  and  pulling  at  the  thatching  of  the  hut, 
and  as  he  drew^  it  down  there  fell  also,  along  with  the  straw  covering 
of  the  roof,  a  folded  napkin.  When  he  had  finished  his  prayer, 
washing  to  ascertain  what  it  was,  he  w^ent  and  found  wrapped  up  in 
the  napkin  the  half  of  a  loaf  and  a  piece  of  meat  yet  warm,  sufficient 
for  himself  for  a  single  meal.  And  uttering  praise  for  this  heavenly 
bounty,  "  I  give  thanks,"  he  said,  "  to  God,  who  hath  vouchsafed 
to  provide  a  meal  for  me,  w^ho  am  fasting  for  his  love,  as  well  as 
for  my  companion,  the  horse."  He  divided  therefore  the  piece  of 
bread  which  he  had  found,  and  gave  one-half  of  it  to  his  horse, 
reserving  the  rest  for  his  own  refreshment.  From  that  day  forward 
he  became  more  ready  to  fast,  since  he  assuredly  understood  that 
a  table  had  been  spread  for  him  in  the  wilderness,  by  his  gift,  W'lio 
fed  of  old  Elias  the  solitary,  who  in  like  manner  having  no  one  to 
minister  to  him,  was  fed  by  means  of  ravens  for  no  small  time  ;  for 
"  Behold,  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  are  upon  them  that  fear  him  :  upon 
them  that  trust  in  his  mercy ;  to  deliver  their  soul  from  death  : 
and  to  keep  them  alive  in  famine."  [Ps.  xxxiii.  18,  19.]  I  heard 
the  above  from  a  devout  priest  of  our  monastery,  which  is  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river  Wear,  l:)y  name  Inguald,  who  now  in  the  grace 
of  good  old  age  looks  forward  with  a  clean  heart  to  heavenly  things 
rather  than  to  earthly  things ;  and  he  said  moreover,  that  he  had 
heard  this  from  Cudberct  himself  after  he  was  a  bishop. 


Chap.  VI.-  [a.d.  651.] — WhatBoisil,  a  holt  man,  prophesied  in  spirit  concern- 
ing HIM,  BEARING  TESTIMONY  TO  CUDBERCT,  WHEN  HE  CAME  TO  HIS  MONASTERY. 

§  10.  Meanwhile  this  venerable  ser\^ant  of  the  Lord,  having 
forsaken  all  earthly  concerns,  hastened  to  put  himself  under  monastic 
discipline  ;  for  he  deemed  that  he  had  been  summoned  by  the 
heavenly  vision  to  seek  the  joys  of  everlasting  blessedness,  and 
invited  by  the  food  supplied  to  him  from  heaven,  to  suffer  temporal 
hunger  and  thirst  for  the  Lord.  Now,  although  he  knew  that  the 
church  of  Lindisfarne  possessed  many  holy  men,  by  whose  learning 

1  Some  of  those  temporary  habitations  yet  to  be  seen  among  the  wilder  Nor- 
thumbrian hills  called  "  sheals,"  or  "  shealings,"  which  arrested  the  notice  v{ 
Camden  when  he  visited  this  portion  of  the  country.  "  All  over  the  Wastes,  as 
tliey  call  them,  as  well  as  in  Gilsland,  you  would  think  you  see  the  ancient 
Nomadcs;  a  martial  sort  of  people  that  from  April  to  August  lie  in  little  liuts, 
which  they  call  sheals  or  shealings,  here  and  there  among  their  several  flocks." — 
Brit.  col.  1079. 

^  Bcda  has  here  considerably  amplified  the  corresponding  passage  of  tlie 
anonymous  legend,  which  is  deficient  in  in(tident.  His  own  metrical  narrative- 
IS  entirely  silent.  It  would  apiioar,  thcrcture,  that  when  it  was  written  he  had 
not  obtained  the  information  wliich  yitclrid  afterwards  supplied  upon  this  portion 
of  Cuthbert's  early  history. 


A.D.  651.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  555 

and  examples  lie  might  be  well  instructed,  yet,  allured  by  the  fame 
of  the  exalted  virtues  of  Boisil,  a  monk  and  priest,  he  chose  rather 
to  go  to  Mailros.*  And  it  happened  when  he  arrived  there,  as  he 
leaped  from  his  horse  and  was  about  to  enter  the  church  to  pray, 
that  he  gave  his  horse  to  an  attendant,  as  well  as  the  spear  ^  which 
he  held  in  his  hand,  (for  he  had  not  as  yet  laid  aside  his  secular 
dress,)  Boisil  himself,  who  was  standing  at  the  gate  of  the  monas- 
tery, first  saw  him.  And  foreseeing  in  spirit  how  great  should  be 
the  future  conversation  of  him  whom  he  beheld,  he  made  this 
single  remark  to  those  who  stood  at  hand,  "  Behold  a  servant  of 
God  ! "  imitating  Him  who  said  of  Nathaniel,  when  coming  toward 
Him,  "  Behold,"  he  said,  "  an  Israelite,  in  whom  there  is  no  guile." 
[John  i.  47.]  Sigfrid,  a  devout  priest,  and  a  long-tried  servant  of 
the  Lord,  used  to  attest  the  truth  of  this,  for  he  was  standing  by, 
along  with  others,  when  Boisil  made  the  remark.  He  was  at  that 
time  a  youth  in  the  same  monastery,  and  learning  the  first  rudi- 
ments of  a  monastic  life,  which  now  as  the  perfect  man  in  Christ 
he  fulfils  in  our  monastery,  that  is  the  monastery  of  Jarrow,  and 
who  amid  the  failing  sighs  of  waning  breath,  thirsts  after  a  joyful 
entrance  into  another  life.''  And  Boisil,  saying  no  more,  kindly 
received  Cudberct  as  he  arrived,  and  on  his  explaining  the  object 
of  his  visit,  namely,  that  he  preferred  a  monastery  to  the  world,  he 
kindly  kept  him  near  himself ;  for  he  was  the  provost  of  that  same 
monastery. 

§11.  And  after  a  few  days,  on  the  arrival  of  Eata  of  blessed 
memory,  (then  a  priest  and  the  abbot  of  that  monastery  of  Melrose, 
and  afterwards  abbot  of  Lindisfarne,  and  likewise  bishop  of  the 
church  of  Lindisfarne,)  Boisil  spoke  to  him  of  Cudberct ;  and  telling 
him  how  well-disposed  he  was,  obtained  permission  to  give  him 
the  tonsure,  and  to  unite  him  in  fellowship  with  the  rest  of  the 
brethren.  Having*  entered  the  monastery,  Cudberct  immediately 
strove  to  observe  the  regular  life  with  equal  fervour  as  the  rest ; 
yea  rather  he  was  more  diligent  than  all,  in  reading,  working,^ 
watching  and  prayer.  Moreover,  like  Samson,  who  was  a  Nazarite, 
and  the  strongest  of  men,  he  carefully  abstained  from  evei7thing 
that  could  intoxicate ;  but  he  was  not  able  to  practise  so  great 
abstinence  from  food,  lest  he  should  become  unfitted  for  his  neces- 
sary work.  Now  he  was  robust  in  body  and  of  unbroken  strength, 
and  was  capable  of  any  kind  of  labour  to  which  he  chose  to  apply 
himself. 

1  A  monastery  situated  at  no  great  distance  from  the  later  and  better  known 
foundation.  Concerning  these  establishments  the  reader  will  find  equal  in- 
struction and  pleasure  in  consulting  the  Monastic  Annals  of  Tweeddale,  by  the 
Rev.  James  Morton. 

-  The  illuminations  contained  in  Saxon  manuscripts,  such  as  Ciiedmon,  show 
that  a  traveller  generally  carried  a  spear  with  him  in  his  journies. 

^  A  different  individual,  therefore,  from  the  abbot  of  Wearmouth,  who  died 
A.D.  689  ;  although  Colgan  considered  them  as  identical. 

*  Simeon  of  Durham  states  (I.  iii.)  that  this  occurred  a.d.  651. 

^  The  Rule  of  St.  Benedict  (cap.  48)  enjoined  manual  labour  upon  its  followers  ; 
aud  a  number  of  illustrations  collected  by  Martene,  De  Antiq.  Eccl.  Ritibus, 
iv.  23,  prove  how  generally  such  commands  were  obeyed. 


556  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGL.VND.  [a.D.  6G1. 

CuAP.  VII.'  [a.D.  661.] — How  he  entertained  an  Angel  as  his  guest;    and 

WHILST   HE   SOUGHT  TO  MINISTER  EARTHLY   BREAD,    HOW   HE   WAS   TERMITTED   TO 
RECEIVE  FROM  THE  SAME  THAT  WHICH  WAS  HEAVENLY. 

§  12.  And  when  some  years  after  it  pleased  king  Alchfrid,^  for 

the  redemption  of  his  soul,  to  give  to  the  abbot  Eata  a  certain  domain 

in  his  kingdom  called  "  In-hrypum"  [Ripon],  there  to  construct  a 

monastery,  the  same  abbot  taking  some  of  the  brethren  along  with 

him,  amongst  whom  Cudberct  was  one,  he  founded  the  required 

monaster)^  and  in  it  instituted  the  same  monastic  discipline  which 

he  had  previously  established  at  Melrose.  Here  Cudberct,  the  servant 

of  the  Lord,  was  appointed  to  the  office  of  guest-master,^  when,  for 

the  sake  of  proving  his  devotion,  it  is  said  that  he  entertained  an 

angel  of  the  Lord.     For  on  going  out  early  in  the  morning  from 

the  inner  buildings  of  the  monastery  to  the  guest-chamber,  he  found 

a  young  man  sitting  there,  and  supposing  that  he  was  a  mortal,  he 

immediately  welcomed  him  with  the  customar)'  forms  of  kindness. 

He  gave  him  water  to  wash  his  hands,  he  himself  bathed  his  feet, 

he  wiped  them  with  a  napkin,  and  he  placed  them  in  his  bosom, 

humbly  chafing    them  with    his    hands ;    and   he    asked   him    to 

remain  until  the  third  hour  of  the  day,  that  he  might  then  be 

refreshed  with  food,  lest  if  he  should  go  on  his  journey  without 

support,  he  should  suffer  alike  from  hunger  and  the  winter's  cold. 

For  he  thought  that  the  stranger  had  been  wearied  with  a  night 

journey,  as  well  as  by  the  snowy  blasts,  and  that  he  had  turned 

aside  there  at  dawn  for  the  sake   of  resting.     The  other  answered 

that  he  could  not  do  so,  and  said  that  he  must  speedily  depart ;  for 

the  abode  to  which  he  was  hastening  was  very  far  distant.     But 

Cudberct  persevered  in  his  entreaties,  and  at  last  adjuring  him  in 

the  divine  name,  he  obliged  him  to  stay.     And  immediately  after 

the  prayers  of  the  hour  of  tierce  were  concluded,  and  meal-time 

was  at  hand,  he  laid  the  table  and  offered  him  food,  saying,  "  I 

beseech  thee,  brother,   refresh  thyself  until  I  return  from  having 

Ijrought  some  new  bread,  for  I  expect  it  is  ready  baked  by  this 

time."     But  when  he  returned  he  found  not  the  guest  whom  he 

had  left  at  table,  and  looking  out  for  the  print  of  his  feet,  he  saw 

none  whatever,  although  a  recent  fall   of  snow  had  covered  the 

ground,   and  would  very  readily  have  betrayed  the   steps  of  the 

traveller  and  pointed  out  the  direction  which  he  had  taken.     The 

man  of  God,  therefore,  greatly  amazed  and  wondering  inwardly  at 

the  circumstance,  replaced  the  table  in  the  inner  apartment.     On 

entering  this  he  forthwith  perceived  the  fragrance  of  a  marvellous 

sweet  savour ;  and  on  looking  round  to  see  whence  so  sweet  an 

odour  arose,  he  saw  lying  beside  him  three  loaves  yet  warm,  of 

unwonted  whiteness  and  beauty.     And  trembling  he  said  within 

himself,   "  I    perceive  that  it  is  an  angel  of  God  whom  I  have 

received,  who  has  come  to  feed,  and  not  to  be  fed.     Lo  !   he  has 

'  Vit  Metr.  cap.  vii. ;  Vit.  Anon.  §  12. 

^  Comjiare  Eccl.  Hist.  §  227,  where  the  .same  donation  is  mentione<l. 
*  "  Suscipicnilorum  Piwi)ositiis  Hospitiini."  Orig.     This  Wii-s  an  office  of  trust 
ami  dignity,  and  \vas  usually  conferred  on  a  person  of  good  address  and  mamiers. 


AD.  661.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  557 

brought  such  loaves  as  this  earth  cannot  produce ;  for  they  surpass 
Hhes  in  whiteness,  roses  in  smell,  and  honey  in  flavour.  Hence  it 
is  clear,  that  they  have  not  sprung  from  this  heavy  earth  of  ours, 
but  have  been  brought  from  the  paradise  of  Eden.  And  no  marvel 
that  he  who  enjoys  the  eternal  bread  of  life  in  heaven  should 
refuse  to  partake  of  earthly  food."  Wlierefore  the  man  of  God 
being  moved  to  compunction,  from  having  been  witness  to  so 
mighty  a  miracle,  was  more  zealous  from  that  time  forth  in  the 
works  of  virtue  ;  till  with  increasing  good  deeds  heavenly  grace  also 
increased.  And  from  that  time  he  very  often  was  allowed  to  see 
and  converse  with  angels,  and  when  an-hungered,  he  was  refreshed 
with  food  specially  prepared  for  him  by  the  Lord.  Now  as  Cud- 
berct  was  affable  and  possessed  pleasant  manners,  he  was  wont 
frequently  to  relate  the  deeds  of  the  fathers  that  preceded  him,  to 
those  that  were  with  him,  as  an  example  for  their  imitation.  And 
he  was  also  wont  humbly  to  interweave  something  concerning  those 
spiritual  gifts  which  the  bounty  of  heaven  had  bestowed  upon 
himself.  This  he  sometimes  did  openly,  but  he  generally  took  care 
to  do  it  under  a  veil,  as  if  it  had  occurred  to  some  other  person. 
Nevertheless,  those  that  heard  him  understood  that  he  spoke  of 
himself,  according  to  the  example  of  the  great  doctor  of  the  Gentiles, 
who  sometimes  made  an  open  display  of  his  own  gifts,  and  at  other 
times  spoke  under  the  guise  of  another  person,  as  when  he  says, 
"  I  knew  a  man  in  Christ,  more  than  fourteen  years  ago,  such  an 
one  caught  up  even  to  the  third  heaven."    [2  Cor.  xii.  2.] 


Chap.  VIII.  [a.d.  661.] — How  Cdthbert  was  saved  from  an  Illness,  and  how 

BOISIL  WHEN  DYING  FORETOLD  WHAT  WAS  TO  HAPPEN  TO  HIM. 

§  13.  IVIeanwhile,  since  the  whole  condition  of  this  world  is 
fragile  and  unsteady  as  the  sea  when  a  sudden  tempest  arises,  the 
abovenamed  abbot  Eata,  with  Cudberct,  and  the  rest  of  the  brethren 
whom  he  had  brought  along  with  him,  were  driven  home,  and  the 
site  of  the  monastery  which  he  had  founded  was  given  for  a  habita- 
tion to  other  monks. ^  But  Cudberct,  this  memorable  soldier  of 
Christ,  changed  not  his  mind  with  the  change  of  locality,  nor 
swerved  from  the  resolution  he  had  once  taken  of  heavenly  warfare : 
but  with  as  much  diligence  as  he  had  been  wont  to  use,  he  gave 
ear  and  attention  both  to  the  words  and  example  of  the  blessed 
Boisil.  At  this  time,  as  Herefrid,  his  familiar  friend  and  priest, 
(who  was  formerly  abbot  of  the  monastery  of  Lindisfarne,)  attests. 
Cudberct  (as  he  was  accustomed  to  relate)  was  seized  by  a  pesti- 
lential disease,^  of  which  many  at  that  time  died,  throughout  the 
whole  length  and  breadth  of  Britain.  But  the  brethren  of  that 
monastery  spent  all  the  night  watching  and  praying  for  his  life  and 

*  Alchfrid,  king  of  that  portion  of  Northumbria  in  which  Ripon  was  situated, 
having  adopted  the  Roman  calculation  of  Easter  upon  the  persuasion  of  Wilfrid, 
expelled  from  Ripon  the  Scottish  monks  who  adhered  to  the  rival  theory.  This 
was  in  a.d.  661.     See  Eccl.  Hist.  §  416. 

2  Concerning  this  pestilence,  see  the  Eccl.  Hist.  iii.  27,  §  240. 


558  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  CGI. 

recovery,  for  all  reckoned  that  his  stay  with  them  in  tlie  flesh  was 
still  necessary  for  them,  seeing  he  was  so  holy  a  man.  And  when 
some  of  the  monks  told  him  of  this  next  morning, — for  they  had 
done  this  without  his  knowledge, — he  forthwith  answered  and  said, 
"  And  why  then  do  I  lie  here  ?  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  God 
will  despise  the  prayers  of  so  many  of  his  devout  servants.  Give 
me  my  staff'  and  hose."  And  immediately  rising  up.  he  began  to 
endeavour  to  walk,  leaning  on  his  staff,  and  his  strength  increasing 
every  day,  he  was  restored  to  sound  health  ;  but  though  the  tumour 
which  appeared  on  his  thigh  ceased  to  swell,  and  gradually  sinking 
beneath  tlie  surface  of  the  flesh,  settled  in  his  bowels,  he  ceased 
not  to  feel  a  little  pain  in  the  inward  parts  for  almost  all  the  rest 
of  his  life,  so  that,  like  the  apostle,  "  his  strength  was  made  perfect 
in  weakness."   [2  Cor.  xii.  9.] 

§  14.  Now  when  Boisil,  the  servant  of  the  Lord,  saw  Cudberct 
once  more  restored  to  health,  he  said,  "  You  see,  brother,  that  you 
are  now  freed  from  the  trouble  under  which  you  laboured,  and  I  say 
to  you,  that  you  are  not  to  be  any  farther  afflicted  at  present,  nor 
shall  you  die  at  this  time  ;  and  at  the  same  time  I  counsel  you, 
since  approaching  death  is  waiting  for  me,  not  to  omit  to  learn 
something  from  me,  as  long  as  I  am  able  to  teach  you.  For  1 
have  not  more  than  seven  days  remaining,  in  which  I  shall  have 
soundness  of  body,  and  strength  of  tongue  to  teach.  Without 
doubting  the  truth  of  his  [master's]  words,  Cudberct  replied:  "And 
what,  I  pray,  is  best  for  me  to  read,  which  I  can  accomplish  in  one 
week?"  And  he  said:  "John  the  Evangelist.  Now,  I  have  a 
copy,'  divided  into  seven  gatherings,^  one  of  which,  with  the  Lord's 
help,  we  may  read  each  day,  and,  as  far  as  we  require,  confer  toge- 
ther upon  it."  It  was  done  as  they  had  agreed.  This  reading 
they  speedily  accomplished,  because  they  treated  not  of  deep  ques- 
tions, but  only  of  the  simplicity  of  faith,  which  worketh  by  love. 
Tlie  reading,  therefore,  having  been  completed  in  seven  days, 
Boisil,  the  man  of  God,  having  been  attacked  by  the  before-men- 
tioned disease,  came  to  his  last  end,  and  having  passed  over  this, 
with  great  exultation  he  entered  into  the  joys  of  everlasting  light. 
It  is  said,  that  during  these  seven  days  he  revealed  to  Cudberct  all 
that  was  to  happen  to  him  ;  for,  as  I  said  before,  he  was  a  man  of 
exceeding  holiness,  and  endowed  with  the  gift  of  prophecy.  He 
foretold  also  that  the  virulence  of  the  pestilence  which  was  then 
raging  should  continue  for  three  years,*  before  it  should  come  to 
abbot  Eata  his  son,  nor  did  he  concecd  that  he  should  be  taken 
away  by  it ;  l)ut  he  added  that  his  abbot  should  not  die  of  it,  but 

'  Simeon  of  Durham,  (I.  iii.)  relates  that  a  manuscript,  apparently  this  present 
volume,  was  in  his  day  presen'ed  at  Durham,  and  was  then  remarkable  for  its 
freshness  and  wonderful  beauty.  There  is  a  striking  similarity  between  the 
manner  in  which  Boisil  spent  the  last  days  of  his  life,  and  what  we  know  of 
Beda's  occupations  under  similar  circumstances.  See  the  letter  of  Cuthbert, 
Beda's  discii)le,  in  which  he  gives  an  account  of  the  illness  and  death  of  his 
ma.ster. 

2  "  Qnatemiones  septem;"  seven  foldings  or  gatherings  of  parchment,  similar  to 
one  of  our  folded  sheets  in  a  printed  book. 

=»  Tliat  is,  from  6(il  to  G64. 


A.D.  661.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  559 

rather  of  the  disease  which  physicians  called  dysentery,  and  this 
he  truly  said,  as  the  event  proved.  He  also  informed  Cudberct, 
among  other  things,  that  he  should  be  made  bishop.  Cudberct, 
however,  when  after^vards  he  had  withdrawn  himself  from  the  world 
as  an  anchorite,  would  not  say  to  any  one  that  Boisil  had  foretold 
that  he  should  become  a  bishop  ;  but  he  was  wont  to  protest  with 
much  sorrow,  to  the  monks  who  occasionally  visited  him,  "  that 
were  it  possible  that  I  could  hide  myself  in  ever  so  narrow  a  cell, 
upon  a  cliff  where  the  waves  of  the  swelling  ocean  should  gird  me 
round  on  every  side,  and  shut  me  out  from  the  sight  as  well  as  the 
knowledge  of  all  men,  not  even  there  should  I  think  myself  free 
from  the  snares  of  this  deceitful  world  ;  but  there  also  I  would 
dread  lest  covetousness  should  tempt  me  to  leave  my  retreat,  or 
suggest  some  cause  or  other  to  lure  me  away." 


Chap.  IX.^  [a.d.  661.] — How  earnest  Cudberct  was  in  the  Ministry  of  the 
Word. 

§  15.  After  the  death  of  Boisil,  the  priest  beloved  by  God, 
Cudberct  entered  on  the  office  of  provost,  as  we  mentioned  above, 
and  performed  its  functions  for  several  years,  with  so  much  spiri- 
tual zeal,  (as  became  a  saint,)  that  he  gave  to  the  whole  community 
not  only  the  counsels  but  also  an  example  of  monastic  life.  He 
was  also  zealous  in  converting  the  surrounding  populace,  far  and 
wide,  from  their  former  foolish  life,  and  leading  them  to  the  love 
of  heavenly  joys.  For  many  profaned  by  wicked  deeds  the  faith 
which  they  professed  ;  and  some  in  the  time  of  mortality  even 
abandoned  the  sacrament  of  faith  with  which  they  had  been  imbued, 
flocked  to  the  erroneous  medicaments  of  idolatiy,  and  endeavoured 
by  means  of  incantations  and  amulets,^  or  some  other  mysteries  of 
demoniacal  art,  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  plague  which  had  been 
sent  by  God  their  Maker.  Wherefore  to  correct  both  these  errors, 
Cudberct  frequently  went  out  from  the  monastery,  sometimes  on 
horseback,  but  more  generally  on  foot,  and  preached  the  way  of 
truth  to  those  who  were  in  error,  as  Boisil  had  been  wont  also  to 
do  in  his  time,  in  the  neighbouring  villages.  Now  it  was  the 
custom  in  those  days  with  the  English  people,  when  a  clerk  or 
priest  came  into  a  village,  that  all  at  his  command  flocked  to  hear 
the  Word,  willingly  hearkened  to  what  was  said,  and  more  willingly 
still  followed  up  by  works  what  they  heard  or  understood.  So  great 
moreover  was  Cudberct's  skill  in  teaching,  so  vast  was  his  power 
of  loving  persuasion,  so  striking  was  the  light  of  his  angelic  coun- 
tenance, that  no  one  in  his  presence  dared  to  conceal  from  him 
the  hidden  secrets  of  his  heart,  but  all  declared  openly  in  confes- 

>  See  Eccl.  Hist.  iv.  27,  g  344. 

^  "  AUigatnras,"  i.e.  amulets  bound  round  parts  of  the  body.  See  Du  Cange, 
luider  the  word  Ligatura.  In  the  corresponding  passage  in  his  History,  §  344,  he 
iises  "  phylacteries  "  as  an  equivalent.  The  recent  converts  to  Christianity  fre- 
quently relapsed  to  their  former  heathen  practices  under  the  pressure  of  disease. 
See  Hist.  Eccl.  §  250. 


560  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  CGI. 

sion  what  each  had  done  amiss,  thinking  in  truth  that  none  ot  his 
misdeeds  were  concealed  from  him  ;  and  each  strove  to  wipe  away 
the  sins  he  had  confessed,  as  he  commanded,  with  fruits  wortliy  of 
repentance.  He  was  also  wont  to  seek  out  and  preach  in  those 
remote  villages,  which  were  situated  far  from  the  world  in  wild 
mountain  places  and  fearful  to  behold,  which  as  well  by  their 
poverty  and  distance  up  the  country  prevented  intercourse  between 
them  and  such  as  could  instruct  their  inhabitants.  Abandoning 
himself  willingly  to  this  pious  work,  Cudberct  cultivated  these 
remote  districts  and  people  with  so  much  zeal  and  learning,  that 
he  often  did  not  return  to  his  monastery  for  an  entire  week,  some- 
times for  two  or  three,  yea  occasionally  for  even  a  full  month  ; 
remaining  all  the  time  in  the  mountains,  and  calling  back  to 
heavenly  concerns  these  rustic  people,  by  the  word  of  his  preaching 
as  well  as  by  his  example  of  virtue. 


Chap.  X.'  [a.d.  661.] — How,  after  spending  the  night  in  the  sea  in  prayer, 

SOME  animals  which  FREQUENT  THE  SAME  OFFERED  HIM  SERVICE  ON  HIS  COMING 
out;  and  HOW  A  BROTHER  WHO  WITNESSED  THIS  FELL  SICK  THROUGH  FEAR,  AND 
WAS  RESTORED  TO  HEALTH  BY  HIS  PRAYERS. 

§  16.  Now  as  this  holy  man  was  increasing  in  virtues  and  signs, 
in  the  same  monastery,^  and  the  fame  of  his  works  was  spreading 
on  all  sides,  it  happened  that  a  holy  nun  and  mother-superior  of 
Christ's  handmaidens,  by  name  Aebbe,  was  ruling  a  convent  situated 
at  a  place  called  Coldingham'  [Coludi  Urbem].  This  abbess  was 
as  honourable  in  religion  as  she  was  noble  in  birth,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  all,  for  she  was  uterine  sister  of  king  Osuiu.  And  she 
sent  to  this  man  of  God,  begging  him  to  come,  and  to  edif)'  botli 
herself  and  the  inmates  of  her  monastery.  Cudberct  could  not 
refuse  what  the  charity  of  God's  handmaid  so  earnestly  requested. 
He  accordingly  went  thither,  and  tarrying  for  some  days,  he  ex- 
pounded to  all  the  way  of  justice,  which  he  not  only  preached,  but 
which  in  like  manner  he  practised. 

§  17.  Now  while  the  rest  of  the  community  were  asleep  at 
night,  it  was  his  usual  habit  to  go  out  alone  and  spend  the  greater 
part  of  the  night  in  prayer  and  prolonged  vigils ;  nor  did  he  return 
home  till  the  hour  of  common  prayer  was  at  hand.  One  night, 
one  of  the  brethren  of  the  same  monasteiy,  seeing  him  go  out  in 
silence,  stealthily  followed  him  witli  the  design  of  discovering  where 
he  was  going,  or  what  was  his  object  in  doing  so.  Cudberct 
accordingly  went  out,  and  followed  by  the  spy  he  proceeded  to  the 
sea,  on  the  borders  of  which  the  monastery  was  placed  on  a  height ; 
and  entering  into  the  depths  of  the  water,  till  the  swelling  waves 
reached  to  his  ai'ms  and  neck,  he  spent  the  darkness  of  the  wakeful 
night  in  praises,  which  were  accompanied  with  the  sound  of  the 

•  Vit.  Metr.  cnp.  viii.;  Vit.  Anon.  §  13. 
2  Namely,  that  of  Melrose,  of  which  he  was  still  an  inmate. 
^  Situated  in  Berwickshire;  sec  Eccl.  Hist.  iv.  19,  §  310.  It  afterwards  became 
a  cell  tt)  the  great  Ijcnedictine  monastery  of  Durham. 


A.D.  6G1.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  561 

waves.  And  when  dawn  was  drawing  near  he  came  up  to  land, 
and  conchided  his  prayer  on  the  shore  on  bended  Rnees.  And  as 
lie  was  doing  this  there  came  forth  two  beasts,  vulgarly  called 
otters,^  from  the  depth  of  the  sea,  which  stretched  on  the  sand, 
began  to  warm  his  feet  with  their  breath,  and  busily  to  wipe  them 
dry  with  their  hair.  As  soon  as  this  service  was  completed,  Cud- 
berct  gave  them  his  blessing,  and  dismissed  them  to  their  native 
waters,  while  he  himself  returned  to  the  house  to  recite  the 
canonical  hymns  with  the  brethren  at  the  appointed  hour.^  Mean- 
time, the  monk,  who  had  been  watching  him  from  his  hiding- 
place,  was  struck  with  so  much  fear  that  he  could  with  great 
difficulty  reach  home  with  tottering  steps.  Early  in  the  morning 
he  came  to  Cudberct,  and  throwing  himself  prostrate  before  him, 
with  tears  besought  pardon  for  the  guilt  of  his  foolish  presumption, 
never  doubting  but  that  Cudberct  knew  what  he  had  done  during 
the  night,  and  how  much  he  had  suffered.  Whereupon  he 
answered,  "  Wliat  is  the  matter,  brother  ;  what  have  you  done  ? 
Have  you  attempted  to  spy  out  why  I  went  out  at  night  ?  Never- 
theless, I  forgive  you  the  fault  which  you  have  committed ;  but 
only  on  this  condition,  however,  that  you  promise  not  to  reveal 
what  you  have  seen  to  any  one  before  my  death."  In  which  pre- 
cept truly  he  followed  the  example  of  Him,  who,  when  he  had 
shown  the  glory  of  his  majesty  to  his  disciples  on  the  Mount,  said, 
"  See  ye  tell  this  to  no  one,  till  the  Son  of  man  is  risen  from  the 
dead."  [Matt.  xvii.  9.]  Wlierefore,  when  the  monk  promised 
what  he  demanded,  Cudberct  gave  him  his  blessing,  and  in  like 
manner  wiped  away  the  fault  and  disquiet  of  mind  which  he  had  so 
rashly  incurred  ;  and  he  keeping  his  promise,  concealed  in  the 
silence  of  his  heart  the  miracle  to  which  he  had  been  witness,  as 
long  as  Cudberct  lived,  though  he  took  care  to  publish  it  to  many 
after  his  death. 


Chap.  XI.'  [a.d.  661.] — How  when  the  Sailors  were  prevented  from  re- 
embarking  BY  A  Tempest,  he  foretold  that  the  sea  should  be  serene  on  a 
certain  day;  and  meantime  obtained  for  them  a  supply  of  food  by  his 

PRAYERS. 

§  18.  Meanwhile  the  man  of  God  began  also  to  advance  in 
the  spirit  of  prophecy,  to  foretel  things  to  come,  and  to  relate 
distant  events  as  if  present.  Now,  on  one  occasion,  as  he  quitted 
his  monastery*  on  some  affairs  which  required  his  presence,  em- 
barking on  board  a  vessel  for  that  part  of  the  land  of  the  Picts 
which  is  called  Niduari,^  he  was  accompanied  by  two  of  the 
brethren ;  one  of  whom,  subsequently  promoted  to  the  rank  of  the 
priesthood,  made  known  to  many  a  mighty  miracle,  which  was 

1  In  the  original,  "  lutrae,"  otter.s  ;  but  from  the  incidents  mentioned,  doubtless 
seals  are  intended  to  be  introduced. 

-  Mattins,  or  lauds,  celebrated  at  the  dawn  of  day. 
^  Vit.  Anon   §  15;  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  ix. 
*  He  was  still  an  inmate  of  the  monastery  of  Melrose. 
^  See  the  anonpnous  legend,  §  15. 
VOL.   I.  O  O 


562  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  GGh 

wrought  there  by  this  man  of  the  Lord.  Now  they  had  arrived 
there  after  the  day  of  our  Lord's  nativity,  with  the  expectation  of  a 
very  speedy  return,  because  the  aspect  of  the  waves  was  smihng,  and 
the  winds  were  favourable ;  and  from  tliese  circumstances  they  took 
no  provisions  with  them.  But  it  happened  far  othen,vise  than  they 
had  expected.  For  scarcely  had  they  reached  the  land,  when  a 
wild  tempest  arose,  which  totally  prevented  them  from  commencing 
their  voyage  homewards.  For  several  days  they  languished  amid 
the  twofold  perils  of  cold  and  hunger.  Nevertheless,  the  man  of 
God  would  not  spend  even  such  a  time  as  this  in  sluggish  idleness, 
nor  give  himself  up  to  lazy  sleep,  but  took  care  to  persevere  in 
prayer  throughout  the  whole  night.  Now  the  most  holy  day  of  our 
Lord's  apparition  [the  Epiphany]  was  at  hand.  Whereupon  he 
spoke  encouragingly  to  his  companions,  for  he  was  always  pleasant 
and  affable  : — "Why  should  we  become  torpid  in  so  much  sloth, 
and  not  seek  by  some  means  or  another  the  way  of  salvation? 
Behold,  the  earth  is  shrouded  with  snow ;  the  sky  is  rendered 
fearful  with  clouds ;  the  wind  blows  furiously  with  hostile  blasts, 
and  the  stormy  sea  rages  ;  we  faint  through  want ;  and  there  is  no 
man  who  can  refresh  us.  Let  us  knock  at  our  Lord's  gate  with 
prayers,  calling  on  Him,  who  of  old  opened  a  way  through  the  Red 
Sea  for  his  own  people,  and  miraculously  fed  them  in  the  wilder- 
ness ;  let  us  beseech  Him  to  have  pity  upon  us  also  in  this  our 
peril.  I  believe  that  if  our  faith  fail  not  He  will  not  leave  us 
fasting  on  this  day,  which  He  himself  hath  vouchsafed  to  illustrate 
with  so  great  and  so  many*  mai-vels  of  his  majesty;  and,  I  pray  you, 
let  us  go  in  search  of  the  goodly  fare  which  He  may  vouchsafe  to 
bestow  upon  us,  that  we  may  rejoice  in  the  keeping  of  this  his 
festival."  Saying  this,  he  led  them  under  the  clitf,  where  he  him- 
self was  wont  to  pray  during  the  watches  of  the  night.  On  their 
arrival  they  found  three  pieces  of  the  flesh  of  a  dolphin,  as  if  cut 
by  human  ministry,  and  ready  for  cooking  ;  and  on  bended  knees 
they  gave  thanks  to  God.  Then  Cudberct  said,  "  You  see,  most 
beloved  brethren,  how  good  the  grace  of  God  is  to  those  that  trust 
and  hope  in  the  Lord.  Behold,  He  hath  prepared  food  for  his 
servants,  and  also  by  this  threefold  division  He  hath  shown  us  how 
many  days  we  must  remain  here.  Take  therefore  the  gifts  which 
Christ  hatli  sent  us,  and  dcpartiug,  let  us  refresh  ourselves,  and 
abide  fearless  ;  for  most  assuredly  the  serenity  of  the  sky  and  of 
the  sea  shall  return  to  us  on  the  third  day."  As  he  foretold,  the 
tempest  continued  with  great  violence  for  three  days,  and  was 
followed  at  length  on  the  fourth  day  by  the  promised  tranquillity, 
which  brought  them  back  with  a  prosperous  breeze  to  their  own 
country. 

'  The  Latin  church  celebrated  upon  this  ilay  the  tliree  appearances,  or  mapi- 
festations,  by  whicli  our  Lord  showed  forth  his  glory  ;  namely,  his  adoration  by 
the  Magi,  his  baptism,  and  his  first  miracle  at  Cana  of  Galilee.  See  Martene,  De 
Antiq.  Eccl.  Ritiljus,  iii.  42. 


A.D.  GGL]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  563 

thiAP.  XII.^  [a.d.  661.] — How,  DURING  A  Journey,  he  foretold  that  he  should 
RECEIVE  A  Supply  of  Food  on  the  way,  by  the  ministry  of  an  Eagle  ;  and 
how  he  receiyed  it. 

§  19.  On  a  certain  day  also,  when  he  had  gone  out  of  the 
monasteiy,  accompanied  by  a  youth  only,  that  he  might  preach  to 
the  people  according  to  his  custom,  he  began  to  feel  fatigued  with 
long  M^alking ;  and  as  a  considerable  portion  of  their  journey  yet 
remained  before  they  could  reach  the  town  whither  they  were  going, 
he  said  to  the  lad,  trying  him,  "  Tell  me,  my  companion,  where  do 
you  propose  to  find  refreshment  to-day ;  have  you  any  friend  on 
the  road,  to  partake  of  whose  hospitality  we  may  turn  aside  ?  "  But 
he  replied,  "  I  have  also  been  running  this  very  same  thing  over  in 
the  silence  of  my  own  heart,  because  on  setting  out  we  neither 
brought  any  provisions  for  the  day,  nor  do  we  know  any  one  on  our 
road  to  give  us  an  hospitable  reception,  and  no  small  part  of  the 
journey  remains,  which  we  cannot  accomplish  fasting  without  great 
inconvenience."  To  whom  the  man  of  God  replied,  "  Learn,  my 
son,  to  have  faith  and  hope  always  in  the  Lord  ;  for  no  one  who 
faithfully  sei-ves  God  can  ever  perish  with  hunger."  And  looking 
upwards  and  seeing  an  eagle  flying  aloft,  "  Do  you  see,"  he  said, 
"  that  eagle  flying  ?  Even  by  its  ministry  it  is  possible  for  the  Lord 
to  feed  us  this  day."  Conversing  thus  the  two  pursued  their  route 
by  the  side  of  a  certain  river,  when,  lo  !  they  suddenly  observed  the 
eagle  sitting  on  the  bank,  and  the  man  of  God  said,  "  Do  you 
perceive  where  our  handmaid,  of  whom  I  spake,  is  sitting?  Run, 
I  pray  you,  and  search,  and  bring  hither  quickly  what  fare  soever  the 
Lord  may  have  sent  us."  And  the  lad,  running  as  he  was  desired, 
brought  ioack  a  fish  of  considerable  size,  which  the  bird  had  lately 
taken  from  the  river.  But  the  man  of  God  said,  "  Wliat  have  you 
done,  my  son  ?  why  have  you  not  given  our  handmaid  her  share  ? 
Cut  it  quickly  in  two,  and  give  her  the  portion  which  she  deserves 
for  her  service  to  us."  The  lad  did  as  he  was  commanded,  and 
brought  back  the  remainder ;  and  when  dinner-time  was  come, 
tliey  turned  aside  to  an  adjoining  village,  and  having  given  the 
piece  of  fish  to  be  cooked,  they  refreshed  themselves,  as  well  as  those 
in  whose  house  they  had  taken  shelter,  with  a  most  agreeable  feast, 
while  Cudberct  preached  the  word  of  God  and  praised  Him  for  his 
bounty ;  for  "  Blessed  is  the  man  whose  hope  is  in  the  Lord,  and 
who  hath  not  looked  to  vanity  and  idle  folly."  [Psal.  xl.  4.]  And 
resuming  his  journey,  he  proceeded  to  the  point  at  which  he  intended 
to  teach  others. 


Chap.  XIII.^  [a.d.  661.] — How,  when  Preaching  to  the  people,  he  foresaw 
that  a  Phantom-fire  should  suddenly  appear,  and  how  he  extinguished  it 
when  it  did  appear. 

§  20.  And  at  the  same  time,  as  he  was  preaching  the  Word  of 
life  to  a  number  of  persons  who  were  assembled  in  a  certain 
village,   he   suddenly  foresaw  in  spirit  that  the   old   enemy  was 

'  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  x. ;  Vit.  Anon.  §  17,  in  the  latter  of  which  the  circumstances 
are  recounted  with  greater  precision. 
^  Vit.  Mctr.  cap.  xi. ;  Vit.  Anon.  §  19. 


564  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  661. 

present  among  them  to  hinder  the  work  of  salvation.  Whereupon 
Cudberct  determined  to  prevent  his  snares,  by  openly  discovering 
beforehand  what  he  understood  was  about  to  come.  For  as  he 
was  in  the  midst  of  his  discourse,  he  suddenly  stopped,  and  break- 
ing out  into  an  admonition,  exclaimed  : — "  It  is  important,  most 
beloved  brethren,  that  as  often  as  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  are  preached  to  you,  you  should  hearken  unto  them  with 
an  attentive  heart,  and  with  an  ever  vigilant  ear  :  lest  haply  the 
devil,  who  is  master  of  a  thousand  injurious  arts,  should  entangle 
you  with  superfluous  cares,  and  lure  you  from  listening  to  eternal 
salvation  ;"  and  saying  this,  he  resumed  the  thread  of  his  discourse 
where  he  had  interrupted  it.  And  immediately  that  most  wicked 
enemy,  producing  a  phantom -lire,  [seemed  to]  set  fire  to  the  house 
adjoining,  so  that  the  sparks  of  fire  appeared  to  fly  through  the 
whole  village,  and,  fanned  by  the  wind,  their  sound  filled  the  air. 

Nearly  all  those  who  were  assembled  for  instruction,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  whom  he  kept  back  with  outstretched  hand, 
leaping  up,  rushed  out  to  fetch  water  to  quench  the  fire,  but,  never- 
theless, no  water  could  extinguish  these  false  flames,  until,  by  the 
prayers  of  Cudberct,  that  man  of  God,  the  author  of  these  fallacies 
was  put  to  flight,  and  vanished,  together  with  the  seeming  fire,  into 
empty  air.  On  seeing  this,  the  wondering  crowd  were  wholesomely 
put  to  shame,  and  returning  to  the  man  of  God,  besought  pardon 
on  bended  knees  for  their  inconstant  minds,  confessing  that 
they  now  understood  that  the  devil  never  was  for  one  moment 
slack  in  his  endeavour  to  hinder  the  salvation  of  man.  But  he, 
confirming  the  weak,  and  strengthening  the  inconstant,  resumed 
the  counsels  of  life,  which  he  had  been  giving  when  he  was  so  inter- 
rupted. 


CnAP.  XIV.'  [a.]).  661.] — How  by  Prayer  he  EXTiNGUisnED  the  Flames  of  a 
House,  which  was  really  on  fire. 

§  21.  And  not  only  did  he  quench  phantom-fires,  but  he  also 
extinguished  by  fervent  rivulets  of  tears  real  fire,  which  many  were 
unable  to  quench  with  water  cold  from  the  fountain.  For  as  he 
was  engaged,  like  the  apostles  of  old,  in  dispensing  the  universal 
grace  of  wholesome  instruction  throughout  the  whole  country,  he 
came  one  day  to  the  house  of  a  certain  devout  woman,  whom  he 
took  care  frequently  to  visit,  because  he  knew  that  she  was  very 
zealous  in  the  performance  of  good  works ;  and  as  she  had  been 
his  nurse  from  the  first  years  of  his  boyhood,  he  was  wont  to  call 
her  his  mother.  Now  she  had  a  house  in  the  western  part  of  the 
small  town  into  which  the  man  of  God  had  come  to  sow  the  Word, 
when  suddenly,  on  the  cast  side  of  the  street,  a  house,  wliich  had 
been  set  on  fire  through  carelessness,  began  to  burn  with  great 
vehemence.  A  violent  wind  also,  springing  up  from  the  same 
direction,  carried  away  burning  portions  of  the  thatch,  and  tossed 

'  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xii. ;  Vit.  Anuii.  §  2i1,  in  tlie  latter  of  which  some  interesting 
particiilai"s  are  recordecl. 


4 

A.D.  6G1.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  565 

them  far  and  wide  about  the  whole  town.  Meanwhile,  the  flames 
becoming  more  violent,  drove  away  those  that  were  carrying  water  to 
extinguish  the  fire,  and  obliged  them  to  retire  to  a  distance.  Seeing 
the  threatened  danger,  the  devout  woman  instantly  hurried  to  tlie 
house  into  which  she  had  received  the  man  of  God,  and  besought 
him  to  help  them  by  his  prayers,  before  her  house,  and  indeed  the 
whole  town,  should  fall  a  prey  to  the  flames.  But  he  replied, — 
"  Fear  not,  mother,  be  of  good  cheer ;  for  never  a  whit  shall  this 
devouring  flame  hurt  you  or  yours."  And  forthwith,  going  out  to 
the  door,  he  fell  prostrate  on  the  ground.  And  as  he  was  yet 
praying,  the  direction  of  the  wind  changed,  and,  blowing  from  the 
west,  drove  away  all  further  risk  of  the  destruction  of  the  town 
into  which  the  man  of  the  Lord  had  entered. 

§  22.  And  thus,  in  these  two  miracles,  he  imitated  the  miracu- 
lous powers  of  two  Fathers.  For  first,  by  foreseeing  and  bringing 
to  nought  fantastic  fires,  he  exhibited  the  power  of  the  most 
reverend  and  holy  father  Benedict,'  who  by  prayer  drove  away  a 
seeming  fire  as  it  were  of  a  burning  furnace,  which  had  been  con- 
jured up  before  the  eyes  of  his  disciples  by  the  craft  of  the  old 
enemy ;  and  secondly,  by  overcoming  in  like  manner  and  turning 
away  the  flames  of  a  real  fire,  he  manifested  the  power  of  the 
venerable  bishop  Marcellinus  of  Ancona,^  who,  when  the  same 
city  was  burning,  opposed  the  fire  by  his  prayers,  and  checked  the 
flames,  which  a  vast  number  of  citizens  could  not  extinguish  by 
pouring  water.  Nor  is  it  to  be  wondered  at,  that  men  who  are 
perfect,  and  who  faithfully  sei-ve  God,  should  receive  such  power 
against  the  violence  of  flames,  since  they  had  already  learned  to 
extinguish  and  subdue,  by  the  daily  practice  of  virtue,  both  the 
incentives  of  the  flesh,  and  "  all  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked  one," 
to  which  the  words  of  the  prophet  are  most  applicable,  "  When 
thou  shalt  pass  through  the  fire,  thou  shalt  not  be  burnt,  and  the 
fire  shall  not  burn  in  thee."  [Isai.  xUii.  2.]  But  I,  and  those  like 
me,  who  are  conscious  of  our  own  frailty  and  sloth,  are  certain 
that  we  dare  not  do  anything  of  this  kind  against  material  fire ; 
yea,  we  are  also  uncertain  that  we  shall  be  able  to  escape  free  from 
that  unquenchable  fire  of  chastisement  which  is  to  follow.  But 
mighty  and  bounteous  is  the  mercy  of  our  Saviour,  who  bestows 
the  grace  of  his  protection  on  us,  who  are  unworthy,  not  only  to 
extinguish  the  flames  of  vices  here,  but  also  to  escape  from  the 
flames  of  punishment  in  the  time  to  come. 

'  The  instance  to  which  allusion  is  here  made  may  be  seen  in  Gregory's  Life 
of  Benedict,  ap.  Mabill.  Acta  SS.  Ord.  S.  Bened.  i.  9,  from  Greg.  Dial.  ii.  10,  0pp. 
ii.  SO,  ed.  fol.  Pai-.  1675. 

"  This  illustration  also  is  taken  from  Gregory's  Dialogues,  lib.  i.  cap.  vi.  0pp. 
ii.  28.     See  also  Acta  SS.  mens.  Januar.  i.  590. 


5G6  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  6G]. 

Chai".  XV.*  [a.D.  661.] — How  he  cast  out  a  Devil  from  the  Wife  of  tue 
Prefect,  before  he  had  even  seSn  her. 

§  23.  But,  as  we  declared  a  little  above  how  great  was  tlie 
power  which  the  same  venerable  Cudberct  possessed  over  the 
pretended  frauds  of  the  devil,  we  shall  now  show  how  he  could 
also  prevail  over  his  true  and  open  fury.  There  was  an  officer  of 
king^  Ecgfrid's  court,  Hildmaer  by  name,  who,  with  all  his  house- 
hold, was  earnest  in  the  practice  of  devout  works.  He  was  in 
consequence  particularly  beloved  by  the  blessed  Cudberct ;  and 
when  occasion  offered,  in  consequence  of  his  journey  lying  in  that 
direction,  he  frequently  visited  this  man's  house.  Now  the  wife 
of  this  officer,  who  was  also  much  given  to  almsdeeds  and  other 
fruits  of  virtue,  was  suddenly  seized  by  a  devil,  and  so  grievously 
tormented,  that  by  gnashing  her  teeth,  by  uttering  miserable 
groans,  by  throwing  about  her  arms,  and  the  other  members  of 
her  body,  in  divers  ways,  she  struck  horror  into  all  that  beheld  or 
heard  her.  And  when  she  lay  foaming  at  the  mouth,  beaten 
and  seemingly  at  the  very  point  of  death,  her  husband  mounted  his 
horse,  and  riding  in  haste  to  the  man  of  God,  besought  him, 
saying,  "  1  beseech  you,  as  my  wife  is  very  ill,  and  seems  even  now 
at  the  point  of  death,  to  send  a  priest  to  visit  her  before  she  die  ; 
and  to  administer  to  lier  the  sacraments  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of 
our  Lord  ;  and  I  also  beg  that  you  will  allow  her  body  to  be  buried 
here  in  the  holy  places."  ^  This  he  said  because  he  was  ashamed 
to  confess  that  she,  whom  the  man  of  the  Lord  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  see  always  so  sober,  was  now  out  of  her  wits.  And  when 
Cudberct  had  withdrawn  a  little,  to  consider  what  priest  he  should 
send  with  him,  he  suddenly  learned  in  spirit,  that  she  for  wliom 
her  husband  was  entreating  was  stricken  with  no  common  infirmity, 
but  that  she  was  possessed  by  a  devil ;  and  returning,  he  said  to 
lier  husband,  "  I  must  send  no  one,  but  I  will  go  myself  with  you 
to  visit  her." 

§  24.  And  as  they  went  on  their  journey,  the  man  began  to 
weep,  and  to  reveal  the  sorrow  of  his  heart  by  tears  that  overflowed 
his  cheeks,  for  he  was  fearful  that  when  Cudberct  should  find 
her  possessed  by  a  devil,  he  should  begin  to  think  that  she  had 
not  served  the  Lord  with  an  entire  faith,  but  with  a  feigned  faith. 
But  the  man  of  the  Lord  gently  comforted  him,  saying,  "  Weej) 
not,  as  if  I  were  about  to  find  your  wife  such  as  I  would  not.  For 
[  know,  although  you  were  ashamed  to  say  so,  that  she  is  troubled 
with  a  devil ;  but  I  know  also,  that  before  we  arrive  there,  the 
devil  shall  be  put  to  flight,  and  she  shall  be  delivered,  and  she 
herself  shall  joyfully  come  out  to  meet  us  on  our  arrival,  and  in 
lier  perfect  mind  she  shall  take  these  very  reins  in  her  hand,  and 
beseeching  us  to  enter  quickly,  will  attentively  wait  upon  us,  as 

»  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xiii.;  Vit.  Anon.  §  21. 

^  Beda  here  speaks  by  anticipation  of  Ecgfj-icl  as  king,  for  be  bad  not  ascendi'd 
the  thi-oue  at  the  time  when  this  incident  occui-red. 

*  We  here  seem  to  gather  that  it  Wius  customary  at  this  time  to  refuse  burial 
within  consecrated  ground  to  such  persons  as  died  during  the  i)eriod  in  wliiili 
they  were  subjected  to  demoniacal  po-sscssion. 


A.D.  664.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  567 

she  has  been  wont  to  do.  For  it  is  not  the  wicked  only  that  are 
subject  to  this  torment,  but,  by  the  hidden  judgment  of  God,  tlie 
innocent  also  are  sometimes  held  captive  in  this  world  by  the  devil, 
not  only  in  body,  but  in  mind  also."  And  whilst  Cudberct  was 
giving  utterance  to  these  and  such  like  words  of  consolation  and 
instruction,  as  they  drew  near  the  house,  the  wicked  spirit  suddenly 
flew  away,  unable  to  endure  the  coming  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  with 
whom  the  man  of  God  was  full.  And  the  woman  being  loosed 
from  his  chains,  as  if  awaking  from  a  dead  sleep,  forthwith  arose, 
and  gratefully  going  to  meet  the  man  of  God,  she  held  the  horse 
on  which  he  was  seated  by  the  bridle  ;  and  presently,  with  wholly 
recovered  vigour  both  of  mind  and  body,  she  besought  him  to 
dismount  quickly,  and  to  enter,  that  he  might  bless  her  house  ;  and 
giving  him  devout  service,  testified  openly,  how  that  at  the  first 
touch  of  his  bridle  she  felt  herself  freed  from  all  the  trouble  of  her 
former  vexation. 


Chap.  XVI.^  [a.d.  664.] — Of  his  MiVNNer  of  life  and  Method  of  instruction 
IN  THE  Monastery  of  Lindisfarne. 

§  25.  After  this  venerable  servant  of  the  Lord  had  spent  many 
years  in  the  monastery  of  Melrose,  and  had  exhibited  many  shining 
proofs  of  spiritual  virtues,  the  most  revered  father  Eata,  his  abbot, 
transferred  '  him  to  the  monastery  which  is  situated  in  the  island  of 
Lindisfarne,  there  to  teach  the  rules  of  monastic  perfection  with 
the  authority  of  a  superior,  and  to  illustrate  it  by  becoming  an 
example  of  virtue  ;  for  at  that  time  the  same  revered  father  governed 
each  of  these  places  as  its  abbot.  And  let  no  one  marvel  that  in 
this  same  island  of  Lindisfarne,  which  is  of  very  small  extent,  there 
should  be,  as  we  mentioned  above,  the  seat  of  a  bishop,  and  at  the 
same  time,  as  we  now  state,  the  residence  of  an  abbot  and  monks. 
For  so  it  is  in  truth.  For  one  and  the  same  habitation  of  the 
servants  of  God  contains  both  at  the  same  time  ;  yea,  all  whom  it 
contains  are  monks.  For  Aidan,  who  was  the  first  bishop  of  this 
place,  was  a  monk,  and  was  always  wont  to  lead  a  monastic  life 
along  with  all  his  people.  Hence  after  him  all  the  bishops  of  that 
place  until  this  day  exercise  the  episcopal  function  in  such  sort, 
that  while  the  abbot,  who  is  chosen  by  the  bishop  with  the  consent 
of  the  brethren,  governs  the  monastery,  all  the  priests,  deacons, 
chanters,  readers,  and  the  other  ecclesiastical  orders,  observe  in  all 
things  the  monastic  rule  with  the  bishop  himself.  The  blessed 
pope  Gregory  showed  how  much  he  loved  this  rule  of  life  when, 
in  reply  to  Augustine,  whom  he  had  sent  as  the  first  bishop  of  the 
English,  when  he  asked  how  bishops  ought  to  associate  with  their 
clergy,  he  says  ^  amongst  other  things, — "  But  because  you,  my 
brother,  having  been  instructed  in  the  rules  of  a  monastery,  ought 
not  to  live  apart  from  your  clergy,  you  ought  to  institute  in  the 

1  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xiv. ;  Vit.  Anon.  §  23. 

-  Simeon  of  Durham  states  that  this  change  of  residence  occurred  A.D.  664, 
lib.  i.  cap.  vi. 

3  See  Eccl.  Hist.  §  59. 


568  CHURCH     HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  6(34. 

churcli  of  the  Angles,  which  by  God's  means  has  been  lately  brought 
to  the  faith,  that  conversation  which  was  in  use  in  the  primitive 
church  among  our  forefathers  in  the  faith,  wherein  no  one  said  that 
'  any  of  those  things  which  they  possessed  was  their  own,  but  all 
things  were  in  common.'"  [Acts  iv.  32.]  The  man  of  God  accord- 
ingly, on  his  arrival  in  the  church  or  monastery  of  Lindisfarne, 
immediately  delivered  the  monastic  institutes  to  the  brethren,  both 
by  his  example  and  teaching  ;  he  also,  according  to  his  wont,  stirred 
up  by  frequent  visitation  the  zeed  of  the  common  people  who 
resided  in  the  surrounding  neighbourhood,  to  seek  after  and  desire 
heavenly  things.  He  further  became  still  more  famous  for  miracles  ; 
by  the  instance  of  his  prayers  he  restored  to  their  former  health 
many  that  were  taken  with  divers  sicknesses  and  torments  ;  he  cured 
some  that  were  vexed  by  unclean  spirits,  not  only  when  present, 
by  touching  them,  by  prayer,  by  command,  by  exorcism,  but  even 
when  absent  he  did  the  same  by  prayer  only,  or  by  predicting  their 
cure  ;  amongst  whom  was  also  the  wife  of  that  officer  of  whom  we 
have  already  spoken. 

§  26.  Now  there  were  in  the  monastery  certain  monks  who 
chose  rather  to  follow  their  ancient  custom  than  to  obey  the  new 
rule.  These,  nevertheless,  he  overcame  by  the  modest  power  of  his 
patience,  and  by  daily  practice  he  brought  them  by  little  and  little 
to  a  better  disposition.  As  he  frequently  discoursed  in  the  assembly 
of  the  brethren  '  about  the  rule,  when  he  might  well  have  been 
wearied  out  with  the  sharp  remarks  of  those  that  spoke  against  it, 
he  would  rise  up  suddenly,  and  dismissing  the  assembly  with  a 
placid  mind  and  countenance,  depart.  But  nevertheless,  on  the 
following  day,  as  if  he  had  suffered  no  opposition  the  day  before, 
he  repeated  the  same  admonitions  to  the  same  audience,  until  by 
degrees  he  brought  them  round,  as  we  have  said,  to  wliat  he  wished. 
For  he  was  a  man  specially  endowed  with  the  grace  of  patience, 
and  most  invincible  in  stoutly  enduring  cJl  opposition  that  might 
occur,  whether  to  mind  or  body.  At  the  same  time  he  bore  a 
cheerful  countenance  amid  every  distress  that  might  happen,  so 
that  it  was  clearly  understood  that  he  despised  outward  tribulations 
by  the  inward  consolations  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

§  27.  He  was  also  so  zealous  in  watching  and  prayer,  that  it 
may  be  believed  that  sometimes  he  passed  three  or  four  conti- 
nuous nights  in  watching  ;  since  during  that  period  he  neither  came 
to  his  own  bed,  nor  had  he  any  other  place  out  of  the  dormitory 
of  the  brethren  wherein  he  could  repose.  And  during  this  time 
he  either  gave  himself  up  to  })rayer  alone  in  some  secret  place,  or 
wrought  at  some  handicraft  in  the  intervals  of  psalmody,  and  drove 
away  the  drowsiness  of  sleep  by  manual  labour ;  or  else  he  went 
round  the  island,  examining  in  his  pious  researches  into  the  condi- 

'  Probably  at  the  meeting  of  the  chapter  of  the  brethren,  which  wa.s  held 
daily.  According  to  Martene,  the  third  matter  which  engaged  the  attention  of 
the  assembled  monks  was  the  reading  of  the  rule,  and  then  it  was  explained  by 
the  prior,  or  abbot,  or  one  to  whom  tliat  office  had  been  delegated.  It  wan 
<luring  these  daily  readings  that  Cuthbert  was  subjected  to  the  trials  here  men- 
tioned.    See  Martene,  Dc  Antiq.  Monaih.  Kitibus,  I.  v.  §  1,  20. 


A.D.  67G.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  569 

tion  of  eacli  part  of  it,  and  thus  shortening  the  length  of  psalmody 
and  watching  by  exercise.  Again,  he  was  wont  to  rebuke  the 
faintheartedness  of  the  brethren,  who  took  it  ill  when  they  were 
roused  (perhaps  after  considerable  importunity)  from  their  slumber 
at  night  or  at  noon-day,  saying,  "  No  one  annoys  me  in  rousing 
me  from  sleep ;  yea,  rather,  he  that  calls  me  up  gladdens  me  ;  for 
he  causes  me  to  shake  off  the  torpor  of  sleep,  and  awakes  me  to  do 
or  think  something  profitable."  So  much  was  he  habituated  to 
compunction,  and  so  ardently  did  he  burn  with  heavenly  desires, 
that  when  he  celebrated  the  solemnities  of  mass,  he  could  not 
complete  the  office  without  a  profusion  of  tears.  Moreover,  whilst 
he  was  in  the  regular  course  celebrating  the  mysteries  of  our  Lord's 
passion,  he  would  himself  imitate  what  he  was  doing,  by  offering 
himself,  namely,  to  God  in  contrition  of  heart.  And  when  the 
people  were  standing  at  the  passage,'  "  Lift  up  your  hearts,"  and 
"  Let  us  give  thanks  to  our  Lord  God,"  he  himself  did  so  rather 
by  lifting  up  his  heart  than  his  voice,  and  by  groaning  rather  than 
by  chanting.  He  possessed  an  ardent  zeal  for  justice,  in  reproving 
sinners  ;  yet  in  the  spirit  of  meekness  he  was  modest  in  pardoning 
the  repentant ;  so  that  sometimes,  when  his  penitents  were  con- 
fessing their  sins  to  him,  he  himself  would  be  the  first  to  take 
compassion  on  their  infirmities  by  shedding  tears  ;  and  inasmuch 
as  he  was  himself  just,  he  was  also  the  first  to  point  out  before- 
hand by  his  example  what  ought  to  be  done  by  the  sinner.  His 
raiment  was  very  ordinary;  and  he  used  such  moderation  in  this 
respect  that  he  was  not  remarkable  either  for  neatness  or  sloven- 
liness. Hence  even  to  this  day,  in  the  same  monasteiy,  it  is  an 
observance  founded  upon  his  example,  that  no  one  should  wear 
garments  of  varied  or  costly  colour,  but  that  each  should  be  con- 
tented with  that  kind  of  vesture  which  the  natural  colour  of  the 
wool  supplies. 

§  28.  By  these  and  such  like  spiritual  exercises  as  these,  the 
venerable  man  provoked  the  affection  of  the  good  to  imitate  him, 
and  at  the  same  time  recalled  from  the  obstinacy  of  their  error 
the  wicked  and  rebellious  to  a  regular  life. 


Chap.  XVII.^  [a.d.  676.]— How  he  made  a  Habitation  fob  himself  in  the 
Island  of  Fahne,  after  haying  driven  out  the  Evil  Spirits  that  in- 
fested IT. 

§  29.  And  after  he  had  passed  some  considerable^  number  of 
years  in  the  same  monastery,  he,  -greatly  rejoicing,  at  length  de- 
parted, accompanied  by  the  good  wishes  as  well  of  his  abbot,  as 
also  by  those  of  all  the  brethren,  to  his  long-coveted,  desired,  and 
eagerly  sought  secret  solitude.     For  he  rejoiced,  that  after  a  long 

'  It  may  be  scarce  necessary  to  remark,  that  these  words  are  found  in  the 
Canon  of  the  Mass.     See  Palmer  on  the  Liturgy,  ii.  110. 

^  Vit.  Anon.  §  "23 ;  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xv. 

•''  This  was  after  a  residence  of  twelve  years  at  Lindisfame,  which,  dating 
from  a.d.  664,  carries  us  on  to  676. 


570  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  676. 

fulfilment  of  active  conversation,  he  was  now  permitted  to  ascend 
to  the  leisure  of  divine  speculation;  he  rejoiced  that  he  had  now 
reached  the  lot  of  those  of  whom  we  sing  in  the  Psalm  : — "  The 
saints  shall  go  from  virtue  to  virtue :  the  God  of  gods  shall  be  seen  in 
Sion."  [Ps.lxxxiv.al.  lxxxiii.7.]  For  indeed, even  when  he  first  began 
to  learn  the  rudiments  of  a  solitary  life,  he  used  to  withdraw  into  a 
certain  place,^  which  yet  is  discernible  on  the  outside  of  his  cell,  than 
which  it  is  more  secluded.  And  when  he  had  for  a  while  learned, 
as  a  recluse,  to  contend  there  with  the  invisible  enemy  by  prayer 
and  fasting,  then  in  course  of  time  he  ventured  still  higher,  and 
sought  a  place  of  conflict  further  oft',  and  more  remote  from  the 
abode  of  men.  There  is  an  island  in  the  middle  of  the  sea  named 
Fame.  Unlike  that  of  Lindisfarne,  which  twice  daily  becomes  an 
island,  by  the  advancing  tide,  which  the  Greeks  call  Rheuma,  and 
twice,  on  the  reflux  of  the  tide,  is  again  joined  to  the  main  land, 
the  island  of  Fame  is  distant  some  thousand  paces  to  the  east  of 
this  semi-island,  and  consequently  is  girt  about  on  all  sides  by  the 
deep  and  boundless  ocean.  Previous  to  the  arrival  of  the  sen'ant 
of  the  Lord,  Cudberct,  no  husbandman  had  been  able  to  dwell 
with  comfort  on  this  island,  on  account  of  its  being  infested  by 
demoniacal  phantoms,  who  made  it  their  abode.  But  as  soon  as 
the  soldier  of  Christ  landed  there,  armed  with  the  helmet  of  sal- 
vation, the  shield  of  faith,  and  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  [Ephes. 
vi.  16,  17,]  all  the  fieiy  darts  of  the  most  evil  one  were  quenched, 
and  the  wicked  enemy  himself,  with  the  whole  crowd  of  his 
followers,  was  put  to  flight. 

§  30.  Thus  this  soldier  of  Christ,  in  virtue  of  conquest  over  the 
array  of  tyrants,  became  the  monarch  of  the  land  which  he  had 
invaded  ;  he  founded  a  city  suitable  to  his  empire,  and  erected 
houses  therein  equally  suitable  to  his  city.  Now  this*  dwelling- 
place  was  nearly  circular,  in  measure  from  wall  to  wall  about  four 
or  five  perches.  The  wall  itself  externally  was  higher  than  the 
stature  of  a  man  ;  but  inwardly,  by  cutting  the  living  rock,  the  pious 
inhabitant  thereof  made  it  much  higher,  in  order  by  this  means  to 
curb  the  petulance  of  his  eyes  as  well  as  of  his  thoughts,  and  to 
raise  up  the  whole  bent  of  his  mind  to  heavenly  desires,  since  he 
could  behold  nothing  from  his  mansion  except  heaven.  He  con- 
structed this  wall,  not  of  hewn  stone,  nor  of  brick  and  mortar,  but 
of  unwrought  stones  and  turf,  which  he  dug  out  of  the  centre  of 
the  place.  Of  these  stones  some  were  of  such  a  size  that  it  seemed 
scarcely  possible  for  four  men  to  lift  them ;  nevertheless  it  was  dis- 
covered that  he  had  brought  them  from  another  place  and  put 
them  on  the  wall,  assisted  by  heavenly  aid.  His  dwelling-place  was 
(hvided  into  two  parts ;  an  oratory,  namely,  and  another  dwell- 
ing suitable  for  common  uses.  He  constructed  the  walls  of  both 
by  digging  round,  or  by  cutting  out  much  of  the  natural  earth 
inside  and  outwardly ;  but  the  roof  was  formed  of  rough  beams, 

'  This  locality  is  still  visible,  at  one  of  the  extremities  of  the  island  of  Lindis- 
farne; see  also  §  71. 

-  All  the  places  mentioned  by  Bcda  are  yet  clearly  distinguishable  on  this  ni"-t 
interesting  island. 


A.D.  670.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  571 

and  thatched  with  straw.  Moreover  there  was  a  larger  house  at 
the  landing-place  of  the  island,  in  which  the  monks  when  they 
came  to  see  him  might  be  received  and  rest ;  and  not  far  from  this 
there  w^as  a  fountain  of  water  adapted  for  the  supply  of  their 
wants. 


Chap.  XVIIL^  [a.d.  676.]— How  he  produced  Water  out  op  the  Dry  Land  by 
HIS  Prayers,  and  op  the  advancement  which  he  made  as  an  Anchorite. 

§  31.  Nevertheless,  his  own  abode,  from  being  founded  on  a 
very  hard  soil,  yea  almost  a  complete  rock,  was  in  want  of  water. 
Wherefore  the  man  of  God,  having  summoned  the  brethren, — for  he 
had  not  as  yet  totally  secluded  himself  from  the  sight  of  those  that 
visited  the  island, — "  You  see,"  he  said,  "  that  my  abode  is  void  of 
water ;  but  let  us  ask,  I  beseech  you.  Him  who  '  turned  the  rock 
into  a  pool  of  water,  and  the  stony  hill  into  fountains  of  waters,' 
[Ps.  cxiv.  8,]  that,  'not  unto  us,  but  to  his  name  giving  the 
glory,'  [Ps.  cxv.  1,]  He  would  vouchsafe  to  open  for  us  also, 
from  this  stony  rock,  a  vein  of  water.  Let  us  dig  then  in  the 
middle  of  my  little  dwelling,  for  I  believe  that  '  He  will  give  us 
to  drink  of  the  torrent  of  his  pleasure.'  "  [Ps.  xxxvi.  8.]  They 
accordingly  dug  a  pit,  and  on  the  morrow  they  found  it  full  of 
water  flowing  up  from  within.  And  it  was  beyond  doubt  that  this 
water  was  drawn  out  of  that  very  dry  and  very  hard  ground  by  the 
prayers  of  the  man  of  God ;  for  it  was  confined  in  a  marvellous 
manner  within  its  basin,  so  that  it  neither  wet  the  pavement  by 
bubbling  over,  nor  did  it  ever  fail  by  becoming  exhausted  ;  the 
grace  of  the  Giver  so  regulating  the  supply  that  it  never  exceeded 
what  the  receiver  required,  nor  was  abundance  ever  wanting  for 
sustaining  his  necessities. 

§  32.  Having  constructed  the  above  abode  and  outhouses  with 
the  aid  of  the  brethren,  Cudberct,  the  man  of  God,  began  now  to 
dwell  alone.  At  first,  however,  when  the  brethren  came  to  visit 
him,  he  was  wont  to  go  out  of  his  cell  and  minister  to  them.  Thus 
he  would  devoutly  wash  their  feet  with  warm  water ;  and  he  in 
his  turn  was  forced  at  times  by  them  to  take  off  his  shoes  and  to 
suffer  them  to  wash  his  feet.  For  so  entirely  had  he  put  oft'  all 
care  as  to  the  body,  and  so  had  given  himself  up  to  the  care  of  the 
soul  alone,  that  when  once  he  had  put  on  his  long  hose,  which 
were  made  of  hide,^  he  used  to  wear  them  for  months  together. 
Yea,  with  the  exception  of  once  at  Easter,^  it  may  be  said  that 
he  never  took  them  off"  again  for  a  year  until  the  return  of  the 

'  Vit.  Anon.  §  28 ;  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xvi. 

2  " . . .  .  calceatus  tibracis."  Orig.  Mabillon  (sec.  ii.  p.  858)  remarks  that  they 
were  still  m  his  day  called  "  des  tricouses  "  in  France. 

^  The  custom  here  alluded  to  may  be  illustrated  by  the  following  extract  from 
a  Consuetudianary  printed  by  Martene,  De  Antiq.  Eccl.  Disciplina,  cap.  xxii. 
(p.  346,  ed.  1706) :  " .  .  .  .  dum  Tertia  dicitur,  calceameuta  quae  danda  sunt  fra- 
tribus  in  capitulo  per  ordinem  suspendantur  in  medio  in  quatuor  perticas  et 

totidem  columnis  affixis  sustentantes  eas Post  sermonem  factum  surgant 

camerarii,  unus  hie  et  alius  inde,  et  calceamcnta  fratribus  distribuant,  sicut  con- 
Kcripta  sunt." 


572  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  G7G. 

Pascli,  when  he  was  unshod  for  the  ceremony  of  washing  the  feet, 
which  is  wont  to  take  place  on  Maundy  Thursday.'  Hence  on 
account  of  his  frequent  prayers  and  genuflections,  which  he  per- 
formed when  thus  hosed,  it  was  discovered  that  he  had  an  oblong 
and  extensive  callosity  at  the  juncture  of  the  feet  and  legs.  After 
this,  as  his  zeal  for  perfection^  increased,  he  shut  himself  up  in  his 
monastery'  apart  from  the  sight  of  men,  and  learnt  to  lead  a  soli- 
tary life  in  fastings,  prayers,  and  watchings,  rarely  holding  converse 
from  within  with  those  that  came  to  him,  and  this  only  by  the 
window.  This  he  at  first  opened,  so  that  he  was  both  seen  by  the 
monks,  and  the  monks  to  whom  he  spoke  rejoiced  when  they  saw 
him ;  but  in  process  of  time  he  shut  this  up  also,  and  never  un- 
closed it,  except  for  the  sake  of  giving  his  blessing,  or  for  some 
other  assured  necessity. 


CuAP.  XIX.*  [a.d.  676.] — How  bt  a  Word  he  drove  awat  a  Flock  of  Birds 

FROM   A   CROP   OF   CORN   WHICH   HE   HAD  SOWN   WITH   HIS   OWN   HANDS. 

§  33.  At  the  beginning  of  his  seclusion  he  accepted  a  little  bread 
from  the  monks  for  his  food,  and  drank  of  his  fountain  ;  Init  after- 
wards he  judged  it  more  suitable  to  live  by  the  labour  of  his  own 
hands,  according  to  the  example  of  the  fathers.  He  asked  tlicm 
therefore  to  bring  him  some  implements  of  husbandry  wherewith 
to  till  the  land,  and  some  wheat  which  he  might  sow ;  but  when 
midsummer  arrived  there  were  no  symptoms  that  the  land  which 
he  had  sowed  in  spring  was  bearing  fruit.  Hence,  when  the  monks 
next  visited  him  according  to  their  custom,  he  said  to  them, 
"  Perhaps  it  is  either  the  nature  of  the  soil,  or  it  is  the  will  of  God 
that  wheat  should  not  grow  for  me  in  this  place  ;  bring  barley, 
I  pray  you,  for  perhaps  it  can  grow\  But  if  God  will  not  give  in- 
crease to  it  either,  it  is  better  for  me  to  return  to  the  monaster}^  than 
to  be  maintained  here  by  the  lal)ours  of  others.  Upon  this  they 
brought  him  some  barley,  which  he  put  into  the  earth,  a  long  time 
after  the  proper  season  for  sowing  had  passed,  and  when  it  was 
beyond  all  hope  of  producing  fruit ;  but  it  forthwith  sprang  up 
luxuriantly,  and  produced  an  abundant  crop.  Now  as  it  was 
beginning  to  ripen,  birds  came  and  lighted  to  feed  thereon  in  flocks. 
The  pious  servant  of  Christ  was  wont  to  relate  how  he  got  rid  of 
this  annoyance  ;  for  as  he  was  of  a  joyful  and  aflable  demeanour  he 

'  " ....  in  cocna  Domini  fieri  solet."  Oi-ig.  On  this  custom,  founded  on  the 
example  and  command  of  our  Lord  (John  xiii.  4,  5,  14,  15),  see  the  work  of 
Martene  last  quoted,  p.  277,  and  the  same  author,  De  Antiq.  Monach.  llitibus, 
III.  xiii.  §  50,  scq. 

^  The  reader  who  wishes  to  understand  the  full  meaning  of  the  theory  of 
Coimsels  of  Perfection,  or  Evangelical  (/Otnisels,  to  which  allusion  is  here  made, 
will  do  well  to  consult,  on  the  one  hand,  Th.  Aquin.  Summ.  1,  2,  q.  108,  art.  4  ; 
Bellarm.  De  Monach.  capp.  vii.  viii. ;  and  on  the  other,  Morton's  Protestant's 
Appeal,  p.  587;  Fulke  on  the  Rhemi.'ih  Test.  Matt.  xix.  §§  7,  10;  Acts  ii.  §  12; 
J.  Gerhard,  Confessio  Catholica,  iv.  813,  ed.  1637. 

^  Here,  and  frequently  elsewhere,  Beda  uses  the  word  "monastery"  in  its 
primitive  sense  for  the  dwelling-place  of  one  who  \vishes  to  live  in  solitude. 

*  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xvii.  There  is  no  cori-csponding  passage  in  the  Anouj^mous 
liifc ;  it  would  appear,  therefore,  that  this  is  one  of  the  more  recent  Lindisfaruc 
additions. 


A.D.  C76.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  573 

was  accustomed  to  confirm  the  faith  of  his  hearers  by  relating  some 
of  those  things  which  he  had  himself  obtained  by  faith.  And 
advancing  towards  the  birds, — "  Why  do  you  touch,"  he  said,  "  the 
grain  which  you  have  not  sown?  Do  you  think  that  you  have 
more  need  of  it  than  I  ?  If,  nevertheless,  you  have  obtained  leave 
of  God  to  do  this,  do  what  He  allows  you  ;  but  if  not,  depart,  and 
do  no  injury  to  the  goods  of  another."  He  had  scarcely  spoken 
when  the  whole  flight  of  birds  departed  at  the  first  word  of  com- 
mand, and  from  that  time  forward  desisted  from  attacking  his  harvest. 
And  here  also  the  venerable  servant  of  the  Lord  imitated  the  deeds 
of  two  fathers  in  two  miracles  ;  in  the  water,  namely,  that  sprang 
from  the  rock,  the  deed  of  the  blessed  father  Benedict,^  who  by  the 
like  command,  and  in  the  same  manner,  is  recorded  to  have  wrought 
a  similar  miracle,  but  more  abundantly  on  this  account,  because 
there  were  many  who  suiiered  from  a  scarcity  of  water.  More- 
over, in  driving  away  the  birds  from  his  harvest,  he  followed  the 
example  of  the  most  reverend  and  most  holy  father  Anthony,^ 
who  by  a  single  word  restrained  the  wild  asses  from  injuring  the 
little  garden  which  he  had  planted. 


Chap.  XX.^  [a.d.  676.] — In  what  manner  two  Crows  souonT  to  appease  by 
Prayers  and  Gifts  the  Man  of  God  for  the  injury  which  they  had  done 


§  34.  I  WILL  now  relate  a  certain  miracle  wrought  by  the  blessed 
Cudberct  after  the  example  of  the  aforesaid  father  Benedict,*  wherein 
the  obedience  and  humility  of  birds  condemns  human  pride  and 
contumacy.  Two  crows  had  been  for  a  long  time  accustomed  to 
settle  on  the  island,  and  one  day  the  man  of  God  observed  that  as 
they  were  building  their  nest  they  tore  with  their  beaks  at  the 
roof  of  the  house  which  had  been  constructed  for  the  use  of  the 
monks,  which  I  have  mentioned  above  ;  ^  and  as  they  were  carrying 
away  in  their  beaks  the  straw  with  which  it  was  covered,  for  the 
building  of  their  nest,  he  checked  them  by  a  gentle  movement  of 
the  hand,  and  forbade  them  to  do  any  further  injury  to  the  house 
of  the  brethren ;  and  on  their  neglecting  his  injunction, — "  In  the 
name,"  he  said,  "of  Jesus  Christ,  depart  forthwith,  and  presume  not 
henceforth  to  abide  in  a  place  where  you  have  wrought  an  injuiy." 
Scarcely  had  he  ended  these  words  when  forthwith  they  departed 
mournfully.  And  after  three  days  one  of  the  birds  returned,  and 
finding  the  servant  of  the  Lord  employed  in  digging,  he  lighted 
before  him,  and  approaching  him,  spread  out  his  wings,  bowing  his 
head,  and  uttering  humbled  notes,  and  seemed  by  these  tokens  to 
solicit  forgiveness  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  Wliereupon  the 
venerable  father,  understanding  its  language,  gave  them  leave  to  come 

1  See  Gregorii  Magni  Dial.  ii.  5;  Acta  SS.  Ord.  S.Bened.  i.  6,  §  12. 

2  See  Vit.  Sanctor.  ed.  Surii,  i.  121,  ed.  1581. 
^  Vit.  Anon.  §  27 ;  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xviii. 

*  See  Gregorii  Magni  Dial.  ii.  8;  Acta  SS.  Ord.  S.Bened.  i.  7,  §  15. 


574  CHURCH     HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  C^C. 

again  to  the  island.  Having  obtained  what  it  wislied,  the  bird 
immediately  departed  to  fetch  its  companion,  and  shortly  after  both 
of  them  returned  and  brought  with  them  a  suitable  gift,  namely, 
half  of  a  flitch  of  fat  bacon,  which  the  man  of  God  was  wont  after- 
wards frequently  to  show  to  the  monks  that  came  to  see  him,  and 
to  give  it  them  wherewith  to  grease  their  shoes,  calling  them  to 
witness  how  carefully  men  ought  to  strive  to  maintain  obedience 
and  to  uphold  humility,  since  even  a  proud  bird,  by  its  entreaties, 
lamentations,  and  gifts,  hastened  to  wash  away  the  injuiy  which  it 
had  done  to  mankind.  And  in  fine,  that  they  might  afibrd  an 
e}i;#imple  of  amendment  to  men,  during  many  subsequent  years  the 
birds  remained  on  that  island  and  built  their  nests  ;  but  never  after 
did  they  venture  to  harm  any  person.  Nor  let  it  seem  absurd  to 
any  one  to  derive  a  lesson  of  virtue  from  birds,  since  Solomon 
saith,  "  Go  to  the  ant,  O  sluggard,  and  consider  her  ways  and  learn 
wisdom."    [Prov.  vi.  6.] 


Chap.  XXI.^  [a.d.  676.] — How  even  the  Sea  mikistered  to  his  necessities. 

§  35.  And  not  only  did  the  fowls  of  the  air  and  the  creatures 
of  the  sea  render  sendee  to  the  venerable  man,  but  even  also  the 
sea  itself  did  the  same,  like  the  air  and  fire,  as  we  have  seen  above. ^ 
Nor  is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  every  creature  should  minister  to 
the  commands  and  wishes  of  him  who  serves  the  Author  of  all 
creatures  with  a  faithful  and  entire  heart.  And  if  for  the  most 
part  we  have  lost  dominion  over  the  creature,  it  is  on  this  account, 
because  we  have  neglected  to  serve  the  Lord  and  Creator  of  all. 
Now  the  sea  itself,  I  say,  wrought  willing  sen'ice  to  the  servant  of 
Christ  when  he  had  need.  For  when  he  was  disposed  to  build  a 
little  hut  for  himself  in  his  monastery,  suited  to  his  daily  necessities, 
he  selected  a  spot  by  the  sea-side,  where  the  dashing  of  the  frequent 
waves  had  hollowed  out  the  rock  into  a  deep  and  narrow  cleft,^ 
about  the  width  of  twelve  feet,  across  which  a  foundation  was 
required  to  be  thrown.  He  besought  therefore  the  monks,  that 
when  they  next  came  to  visit  him  they  would  bring  a  piece  of 
wood  twelve  feet  long  to  form  the  base  of  the  little  building,  a 
request  which  they  very  readily  promised  to  fulfil.  But  after 
they  had  received  his  benediction  and  departed  home,  the  re- 
(juest  of  their  father  passed  out  of  mind,  and  on  their  next  return 
on  the  appointed  day  they  came  without  that  which  they  had 
promised  to  bring.  After  a  kind  reception,  and  when  he  had 
commended  them  to  God  with  his  usual  prayer,  he  asked  them 
saying,  "  Wliere  is  the  piece  of  timber  which  I  asked  you  to 
bring  ?  "  And  calling  to  mind  what  he  had  requested  and  what 
they  had  forgotten,  they  besought  pardon  for  the  neglect  which 
they  confessed.  But  he  meekly  consoled  them  with  gentle  words, 
and  bade  them  stay  in  the  island  and  rest  themselves  till  morning, 
saying,   "  I  believe  that  God  will  not  forget  my  wisli  and  my  neces- 

'  Yit.  Anon.  §  26;  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xix. 
'  Namely,  in  chaptera  iii.  x.  xiii.  xiv.  xvii. 
'  Still  distinctly  visible  on  the  island. 


A.D.  676.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  575 

sity."  They  accordingly  remained  as  he  bade  them,  and  rising  in 
the  morning  they  perceived  that  the  night-tide  of  the  ocean  had 
drifted  in  a  beam  of  wood  of  the  abovenamed  size,  and  laid  it  on 
shore  at  the  very  place  where  it  was  required  to  be  used  in  the 
building.  Seeing  this,  they  presently  mai-velled  greatly  at  the  holi- 
ness of  the  venerable  man,  to  whose  necessities  even  the  elements 
ministered,  and  with  due  shame  they  blamed  their  own  tardiness, 
seeing  that  even  the  insensible  ocean  taught  them  how  the  saints 
are  to  be  obeyed. 


Chap.  XXII.'  [a.d.  676.]— How  he  gave  Counsels  of  Salvation  to  many  who 

CAME  TO  HIM,  AND  HOW  HE  EXPOSED  THE  FEEBLE  SnARES  OF  THE  OLD  EnEMT. 

§  36.  Now,  allured  by  the  fame  of  his  virtues,  a  great  many 
persons,  not  only  from  the  neighbouring  district  of  Lindisfarne, 
but  also  from  the  remoter  parts  of  Britain,  came  to  the  man  of 
God  to  confess  the  sins  which  they  had  committed,  or  to  lay  before 
him  the  temptations  of  demons,  under  which  they  suiiered,  or  at 
least  those  with  which  they  were  afflicted  in  common  with  all  men ; 
for  by  laying  bare  their  distresses  to  one  of  so  great  sanctity  they 
hoped  to  receive  consolation.  Nor  did  their  hope  deceive  them. 
For  no  one  departed  from  him  without  the  joy  of  consolation,  and 
the  sorrow  of  mind  which  each  man  brought  with  him  accompanied 
him  no  more  on  his  departure.  For  Cudberct  knew  how  to  refresh 
the  mourner  with  pious  exhortation,  he  knew  how  to  remind  those 
that  were  in  tribulation  of  the  joys  of  heavenly  life,  and  to  show 
that  both  the  smiles  and  the  frowns  of  this  world  are  equally 
transient ;  and  he  was  skilled  in  revealing  to  those  that  were  tempted 
the  manifold  wiles  of  the  old  enemy.  He  showed  how  readily  the 
soul  that  was  void  of  brotherly  or  divine  love  might  be  taken  pri- 
soner, and  how  he  that  walked  in  the  strength  of  entire  faith  might 
pass  safely  through  the  snares  of  the  adversaiy,  with  the  Lord's 
assistance,  like  as  through  the  threads  of  a  spider's  web.  "  How 
often,"  he  said,  "  have  they  sent  me  headlong  from  the  lofty  rocks  ? 
How  often  have  they  thrown  stones  at  me,  as  if  to  slay  me  ?  How 
often  have  they  raised  up  fantastic  temptations  of  one  kind  or  another 
to  frighten  me,  and  attempted  to  drive  me  from  this  place  of  con- 
test ?  Yet  nevertheless  they  have  never  been  able  to  inflict  any 
injury  upon  my  body,  nor  to  touch  my  mind  with  fear." 

§  37.  This  also  he  used  frequently  to  intimate  to  the  brethren, 
that  they  should  not  marvel  at  his  conversation  as  being  singularly 
exalted,  because  he  had  chosen  to  despise  the  cares  of  the  world, 
and  in  preference  to  live  in  secret.  "  But,"  he  said,  "  the  life  of 
monks  is  more  justly  to  be  wondered  at,  seeing  they  are  subject  in 
all  things  to  the  command  of  the  abbot,  by  whose  will  all  their 
hours  of  vigils,  prayers,  fasting,  and  manual  labour  are  regulated. 
And  I  have  known  very  many  of  those,  who  far  surpass  my  little- 
ness both  in  purity  of  mind  and  in  the  height  of  prophetic  grace. 
Of  these  there  is  the  venerable  servant  of  Christ,  Boisil,  one  to  be 

'■  Vit.  Metr.  caj).  xx. 


576  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  67<). 

named  witli  all  honour,  who  in  his  old  age  brought  me  up  a  long 
time  ago  in  the  monastery  of  Melrose,  and  during  his  instruction  he 
foretold  with  prophetic  truth  all  things  which  were  to  happen  to 
me,  and  one  only  of  all  that  he  foretold  remains,  which  I  would 
were  never  to  be  fulfilled."  Now  by  this  he  meant  what  the  above- 
named  servant  of  Christ  had  signified,  namely,  that  he  should  be 
raised  to  the  episcopal  dignity,  at  the  thoughts  of  which,  through  his 
earnest  desire  of  a  more  secluded  life,  he  was  in  no  small  degree 
troubled. 


Chap.  XXIII.'  [a.d.  676.] — How  tub  Abbess  Aelfled  and  one  of  her  Nuns 

WERE   HEALED    OF    THEIR   INFIRMITY   BY   HIS    GiRDLE. 

§  38.  Neither  did  miraculous  cures  cease  to  be  wrought  by  the 
man  of  God,  even  when  he  had  entirely  withdrawn  from  human 
intercourse.  The  venerable  handmaid  of  Christ,^  Aelfled,  who 
presided  with  motherly  piety,  amid  the  joys  of  virginity,  over  a^ 
numerous  band  of  the  servants  of  Christ,  and  who  increased  the 
lustre  of  her  royal*  lineage  with  the  higher  nobility  of  a  more 
exalted  virtue,  always  bore  a  singular  affection  for  the  man  of  God. 
At  this  time,  as  she  herself  afterwards  told  the  very  reverend 
Herefrid,  priest  of  the  church  of  Lindisfarne,  from  whom  I  learned 
this  narrative,  she  was  stricken  for  a  length  of  time  with  a  very- 
grievous  illness,  which  reduced  her  to  such  a  state  that  she  seemed 
at  the  point  of  death.  But  when  the  physicians  were  unable  to 
provide  any  remedy,  divine  grace,  suddenly  acting  inwardly,  saved 
her,  and  drew  her  back  by  little  and  little  from  death,  although  she 
was  yet  far  from  being  entirely  cured.  For  although  the  internal 
pain  left  her,  and  the  vigour  of  her  limbs  returned,  yet  she  had  no 
power  whatever  either  to  walk  or  to  stand,  so  that  she  could  not 
raise  herself  upright,  nor  move  except  on  all  fours,  like  a  quadruj)ed. 
And  this  lasted  so  long  that  she  began  with  sorrow  to  fear  that  her 
weakness  would  be  permanent,  for  she  had  long  since  despaired  of 
obtaining  any  remedy  from  physicians.  One  day,  amid  the  pressure 
of  her  sad  thoughts,  the  blessed  and  quiet  conversation  of  the 
reverend  father  Cudberct  came  into  her  mind,  and  she  said,  "  I 
would  that  I  had  something  belonging  to  my  dear  Cudberct,  for  I 
know  of  a  surety,  and  I  trust  in  the  Lord,  that  I  should  soon  be 
healed  !  "  And  not  long  after  there  arrived  one  who  brought  with 
him  a  linen  girdle,  which  Cudberct  had  sent  to  her.  Whereupon 
she  greatly  rejoiced  in  the  gift ;  and  comprehending  that  her  desire 
had  been  already  communicated  to  the  holy  man  by  heaven,  she 
girt  it  round  her,  and  next  morning  she  was  able  to  stand  erect, 
and  on  the  third  day  she  was  restored  to  perfect  health. 

•  This  is  a  chapter  added  by  Beda,  not  only  to  the  anonymous  legend,  Imt 
also  to  his  own  metrical  narrative.  It  is  derived,  as  he  states,  from  the  authority 
of  Herefrid,  concerning  whom  see  §  1. 

2  Concerning  Elflcda  sec  the  Acta  SS.  mens.  Feb.  ii.  ]  78. 

=>  She  was  abbess  of  the  monastery  which  had  been  founded  by  Hilda  at 
Whitby,  in  Yorkshire. 

*  She  was  of  royal  descent  on  both  sides  of  her  pedigree  ;  her  father  being  Osuiu, 
king  of  Bemicia,  and  her  mother,  Eanfleda,  being  daughter  of  Eadwin,  king  of 
Deira. 


A.D.  C84.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  577 

§  39.  Now  a  few  days  afterwards  one  of  the  virgins  of  the  same 
monastery  began  to  suffer  from  an  intolerable  pain  in  her  head;  and, 
as  her  suffering  increased  daily,  she  appeared  to  be  brought  to  the 
verge  of  the  grave.  Her  venerable  abbess  came  to  visit  her ;  and 
when  she  saw  her  so  grievously  afflicted,  she  took  the  same  girdle  of 
the  man  of  God,  and  caused  it  to  be  bound  round  her  head,  and 
presently  the  pain  departed,  so  that  she  was  healed  the  same  day. 
She  took  off  the  girdle,  and  laid  it  up  in  her  coffer ;  but  when  the 
tibbess  asked  her  for  it,  some  days  after,  it  was  no  longer  in  the 
coffer,  nor  was  it  ever  afterwards  found.  It  is  obvious  that  this 
was  done  by  divine  dispensation,  that  by  a  miracle  of  healing,  twice 
repeated,  the  sanctity  of  the  God-beloved  father  might  be  manifested 
to  the  faithful,  and  that  from  henceforth  the  occasion  of  doubting  his 
sanctity  should  be  taken  away  from  the  incredulous.  For  if  this  same 
girdle  were  always  present,  the  sick  would  always  wish  to  flock  to  it ; 
and  whilst  some  one  of  these  might  not  perhaps  deserve  to  be  healed 
of  his  infirmity,  exception  might  be  taken  from  its  failure  in  curing 
one  who  was  perhaps  unworthy  of  being  cured.  Wherefore,  by  the 
provident  dispensation  of  heavenly  piety,  as  was  said  above,  after  the 
faith  of  believers  had  been  confirmed,  then  immediately  the  oppor- 
tunity for  detraction  was  withdrawn  from  the  ill-will  of  the  sceptic. 


CiiAr.  XXIV.*  [a.d.  684.] — ^What  he  foretold  to  the  same  Aelfleda  on  iieu 

INQUIRY  AS  TO  THE  LiFE  OP  KiNG  ECGFRID,  AND  OF  HIS  OWN  EPISCOPACT. 

§  40.  At  another^  time,  the  same  most  reverend  virgin  antl 
mother  of  Christ's  virgins,  Aelfiaed,  sent  to  the  man  of  God, 
adjuring  him  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  that  he  would  condescend  to 
come  to  converse  with  her  on  some  pressing  affairs.  Cudberct 
accordingly  went  on  board  ship,  accompanied  by  some  of  the 
brethren,  and  came  to  the  island  which  from  its  situation  in  tlie 
front  of  the  mouth  of  the  river  Coquet^  receives  its  name  from 
the  same,  and  is  celebrated  for  its  community  of  monks,  for  there 
it  was  that  the  aforesaid  abbess  had  requested  him  to  meet  her. 
After  the  abbess  had  been  satisfied  with  his  replies  to  her  many 
inquiries,  on  a  sudden,  while  he  was  yet  speaking,  she  fell  at  his 
feet,  and  adjured  him  by  the  terrible  and  venerable  name  of  the 
heavenly  King  and  his  angels,  to  tell  her  how  long  Ecgfrid,  her 
brother,  should  live  and  rule  over  the  kingdom  of  the  Angles  : 
"  For  I  know,"  she  said,  "  that  from  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  which 
you  possess  abundantly,  you  can  even  do  this,  if  you  will."  But  he, 
trembling  at  her  adjuration,  and  not  wishing  openly  to  reveal  the 
secret  which  she  asked,  "  It  is  marvellous,"  he  said,  "  that  you,  a 
woman  who  are  wise  and  well  instructed  in  the  holy  Scriptures 

1  See  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  sxi. ;  Vit.  Anon.  §  28. 

2  The  date  of  this  narrative  is  ascertained  by  observing  that  it  occurred  a  year 
before  the  death  of  king  Ecgfrid,  which  took  place  20th  May,  685. 

^  The  river  Coquet  runs  through  the  county  of  Northumberland,  and  gives  its 
name  to  an  island  opposite  to  the  spot  where  it  falls  into  the  sea,  a  few  miles  to 
the  south  of  Cudberct's  residence  at  Fame.     It  was  consequently  a  middle  point 
between  the  residence  of  the  two  parties  who  there  met. 
VOL.    I.  P  P 


578  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.H.  C8i. 

should  speak  of  the  term  of  human  hfe  as  if  it  were  long,  seeing, 
as  the  Psalmist  says,  '  Our  years  shall  be  considered  as  a  spider,' 
[Ps.  xc,  al.  Ixxxix.  10;]  and  that  Solomon  warns  us,  that  '  If  a 
man  live  many  years  and  rejoice  in  them  all ;  yet  let  him  remember 
the  days  of  darkness,  for  they  shall  be  many,'  [Eccles.  xi.  8;]  which, 
when  they  come,  reprove  the  past  of  vanity.  How  much  more 
should  he  to  whom  only  one  year  of  life  remains  seem  to  have 
lived  a  short  time,  when  death  shall  stand  at  his  gates  ?  " 

§  41.  The  abbess,  on  hearing  this,  lamented  with  floods  of  tears 
his  direful  presage,  and  having  wiped  her  face,  her  feminine  bold- 
ness induced  her  again  to  adjure  him  by  the  majesty  of  the  sove- 
reign divinity  to  tell  her,  whom  he  should  have  as  an  heir  of  his 
kingdom,  since  he  had  neither  children  nor  brothers  ?  Cudberct 
was  silent  for  a  short  time.  "  Say  not,"  he  said,  "  that  he  is  without 
children,  for  he  shall  have  a  successor  whom  you  may  emljrace 
like  as  you  do  Ecgfrid  himself,  with  sisterly  affection. "  But  slie 
continued,  "  Tell  me,  I  beseech  thee,  where  he  is  now  ?  "  And  he 
said,  "  You  see  this  mighty  and  wide  ocean,  with  how  many  islands 
it  abounds.  It  is  easy  for  God  from  one  of  these  to  provide  a  ruler 
for  the  kingdom  of  the  Angles."  Wherefore  he  understood  that 
he  spoke  of  Aldfrid,'  who  was  said  to  be  the  son  of  Ecgfrid's  father, 
and  who  at  that  time  lived  in  exile,  for  the  sake  of  studying  letters, 
in  the  islands  of  the  Scots.*  Now  Aelflaed  knew  that  Ecgfrid 
designed  to  make  Cudberct  a  bishop,  and,  wishing  to  discover 
whether  his  intention  would  be  put  into  execution,  she  began  l^y 
saying,  "  Oh  !  how  the  hearts  of  mortals  are  ditided  by  divers 
intentions !  Some  enjoy  the  riches  which  they  have  obtained ;  others, 
loving  riches,  are  always  in  want.  You  have  neglected  the  glory  of 
the  world,  though  it  is  offered  to  you  ;  and  although  you  might  attain 
to  the  episcopate,  than  which  nothing  is  more  exalted  among  mortals, 
you  prefer  the  cloister  of  your  desert  to  this  dignity."  Tlien  he  said, 
"  I  know  that  I  am  not  worthy  of  so  high  a  station;  nevertheless,  I 
cannot  escape  anywhere  from  the  decree  of  the  Ruler  of  heaven, 
who,  if  He  has  decreed  that  I  be  subjected  to  such  a  burthen,  I 
believe  that  He  will  restore  me  to  freedom  shortly  after ;  and 
perhaps  after  not  more  than  two  years  are  past,  may  send  me  back 
to  the  wonted  rest  of  my  beloved  solitude.  But  I  command  you, 
in  the  name  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  that  you  tell  this  which  you 
have  heard  to  no  one  till  after  my  death."  And  when  he  had 
explained  to  her  many  other  things  about  which  she  inquired,  and 
had  instructed  her  in  those  things  al)out  which  she  had  need,  he 
returned  to  his  island  and  monastery,  and  sedulously  pursued  the 
solitary  life  which  he  had  begun. 

§  42.  And  not  long  after,^  a  well-attended  synod*  having  been 
assembled  in  the  presence  of  the  very  pious  and  God-beloved  king 
Ecgfrid,  over  which  archbishop  Theodore  of  blessed  memory  pre- 
sided,  Cudberct  was  elected  to  the  bishopric  of  Lindisfarnt  with 

>  See  the  Eccl.  Hist.  IV.  xxvi.  §  341. 

*  The  author  of  the  anonymous  legend  states  that  he  was  resident  at  lona. 

*  Namely,  in  the  autumn  of  a.d.  684. 

*  See  Eccl.  Hist.  IV.  xxviii.  §  347. 


A.D.  G84.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  579 

the  unanimous  consent  of  all.  And  when,  in  spite  of  numerous 
messengers  and  letters  having  been  sent  to  him,  he  could  not  be 
dragged  from  his  retreat,  the  king  himself,  in  company  with  the  holy 
prelate  Trumuine,  as  well  as  many  other  religious  and  honourable 
men,  at  length  sailed  to  the  island  ;  and  there  all,  kneeling  down, 
with  tears  adjured  him  by  the  Lord  to  consent ;  nor  did  they  desist 
till  they  drew  him,  filled  also  with  tears,  from  his  beloved  seclusion, 
and  dragged  him  before  the  synod.  On  his  arrival  there,  in  spite  of 
his  great  reluctance,  his  own  will  was  overcome  by  the  unanimous 
will  of  all  assembled,  and  he  was  constrained  to  bow  his  neck  to 
the  yoke  of  the  bishopric.  Nevertheless,  his  ordination  ^  did  not 
follow  immediately,  nor  till  the  winter,  which  was  then  at  hand, 
had  passed.  And  further,  to  fulfil  in  all  respects  the  prophetic 
words  of  Cudberct,  Ecgfrid  was  slain  [20th  May,  685]  the  year 
after  by  the  sword  of  the  Picts.  And  Aldfrid,  his  bastard -brother, 
who  for  a  considerable  time  previous  had  gone  into  voluntary  exile 
for  the  sake  of  acquiring  learning,  through  the  love  of  wisdom,  in 
the  region  of  the  Scdts,  was  raised  to  the  kingdom  in  his  stead. 


Chap.  XXV.^  [a.d.  684.] — How,  after  he  was  chosen   Bishop,  he  cured  the 
SICK  Servant  of  an  Earl  with  consecrated  water. 

§  43.  After  his  election  to  the  episcopate,  Cudberct,  the  servant 
of  the  Lord,  returned  to  the  island,  where  for  some  short  time 
he  continued,  with  his  wonted  devotion,  to  wrestle  in  secret 
for  the  Lord,  till  Eata,  the  venerable  bishop,  called  him  forth 
and  summoned  him  to  a  conference  with  himself  at  Melrose. 
And  as  he  was  returning  home  from  this  interview,  a  certain  earP 
of  king  Ecgfrid  met  him,  and  earnestly  besought  him  to  turn  aside 
to  give  his  blessing  to  his  village  and  household.  When  he  had  come 
thither  and  had  been  most  cordially  received  by  all,  the  nobleman 
informed  him  of  the  illness  of  one  of  his  servants,  saying,  "  I 
thank  God,  most  holy  father,  that  you  have  vouchsafed  to  visit  us 
and  to  enter  into  my  house  ;  and  verily,  we  all  believe  that  your 
visit  will  be  a  great  gain  to  us,  both  of  soul  and  body.  For  we 
have  a  servant  now  for  a  long  time  tormented  with  a  very  grievous 
infirmity,  and  this  very  day  he  sufTers  such  an  excess  of  pain  that 
he  seems  liker  a  dying  man  than  one  who  is  sick  ;  for  the  lower  part 
of  his  body  is  already  dead,  and  no  appearance  of  life  remains, 
except  a  faint  breathing  from  his  mouth  and  nostrils.  Cudberct 
forthwith  blessed  some  water,  and  gave  it  to  a  servant  of  the  earl, 
whose  name  is  Baldhelm,  who  is  living  to  this  day,  and  is  now  a 
priest  in  the  church  of  Lindisfarne,  where  he  leads  a  holy  life,  and 
holds  it  sweeter  than  honey  to  relate  the  miracles  of  the  man  of 
God  to  all  who  desire  to  know  them,  and  who  told  me  this  very 

1  Namely,  at  York,  on  Easter-day,  26th  March,  685.  See  the  Eccl.  Hist.  IV. 
xxviii.  §  347.  2  vit.  Anon.  §  36. 

^  The  Lindisfarne  monk  Baldhelm,  who  (as  Beda  here  tells  us)  was  an  eye- 
witness of  this  occurrence,  states  that  the  eaiTs  name  was  Sibba.  See  §  36  of 
that  narrative. 

p  p  2 


580  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  G85. 

miracle  which  I  now  relate.  The  man  of  God,  therefore,  giving 
the  blessed  water  to  him,  "  Go,"  says  he,  "  and  give  this  to  the 
sick  person  to  taste."  Baldhelm  took  it  to  the  sick  man  as  he  was 
desired,  and  as  he  was  pouring  a  little  of  it,  for  the  third  time,  into 
liis  mouth,  forthwith  the  patient,  contrary  to  his  w-ont,  fell  into  a 
deep  and  tranquil  sleep.  Now  it  was  about  eventide,  and  having 
passed  the  night  in  silence,  on  his  master  visiting  him  next  morn- 
ing, he  found  him  restored  to  perfect  health. 


Chap.  XXVI.^  [a.d.  684.]— Of  his  Conduct  in  nis  Bishopric. 

§  44.  The  venerable  servant  of  the  Lord,  Cudberct,  adorned 
the  episcopal  order  which  he  had  received,  according  to  apostolic 
precejjt  and  example,  with  the  practice  of  works  of  virtue.  He  pro- 
tected the  flock  committed  to  his  charge  l)y  assiduous  prayer,  and 
called  them  to  the  things  of  heaven  by  wholesome  admonitions  ; 
and,  what  above  all  is  delightful  in  those  who  instruct,  he  showed 
the  way  by  being  the  first  to  practise  what  he  himself  taught.^  He 
rescued  the  friendless  from  the  hand  of  the  more  pow^erful ;  the 
needy  and  the  poor  from  the  hands  of  the  oppressor.  He  dili- 
gently comforted  the  sad  and  feeble-minded  ;  but  he  did  not  neglect 
to  call  back  those  that  rejoiced  amiss,  to  that  becoming  sorrow 
which  is  according  to  God.  He  was  dihgent  in  practising  his 
wonted  self-denial,  and  rejoiced,  amid  the  assemblages  of  crowds, 
to  observe  with  regularity  the  rigour  of  the  monastic  life.  He  gave 
food  to  the  hungry,  clothing  to  those  that  were  shivering  with  cold, 
and  all  his  life  was  marked  with  the  other  signs  which  betokened 
a  bishop  indeed.  Miraculous  signs  gave  testimony  to  his  inner 
virtues  ;  that  is,  to  those  of  the  soul  as  well  as  to  those  which  shone 
outwardly ;  some  few  examples  of  which  we  have  taken  care  to 
commit  to  remembrance. 


Chap.  XXVIL'  [a.d  685.] — How  when  absent  he  saw  in  spirit  the  Death  op 
King  Ecgfrid,  and  his  Warfare,  which  he  had  formerly  foretold. 

§  45.  Now  while  king  Ecgfrid,  with  rash  daring,  was  leading  his 
army  against  the  Picts,^  and  was  laying  waste  their  kingdom  witli 
atrocious  cruelty,  Cudberct,  the  man  of  the  Lord,  knowing  that 
the  time  was  at  hand  which  be  had  foretold  the  year  before  to  the 
king's  sister  when  she  questioned  him,  namely,  that  Ecgfrid  had 
not  more  than  a  single  year  to  live,  came  to  the  city  of  Lugubaliaea,^ 
(which  is  corruptly  called  Luel  by  the  Angles,)  to  speak  to  the 
queen,"  who  had  resolved  to  await  there  the  issue  of  the  campaign, 

'  Vit  Mctr.  cap.  xxii.;  Vit.  Anon.  SS  30,  31. 

^  See  this  more  fully  illustrated  by  Bcdsi  iu  lii.s  Eecl.  Hist.  IV.  xxviii.  §  348. 

•*  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xxix. ;  Vit.  Anon.  J;  37. 

■*  See  Eccl.  Hist.  IV.  xxvi.  §  341,  where  it  is  stated  that  Cudberct  strongly 
opposed  this  measure.  *  Now  Carlisle. 

"  Namely,  Eorincnburga,  of  the  royal  family  of  Ivent,  whom  he  took  to  his 
second  wife;  his  fii\st  wife,  Etheldretha,  was  the  celebrated  abbess  of  Ely.  See 
Liber  Eliensis,  p.  3l>. 


A.D.  6S5.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  581 

in  the  monastery  of  her  sister.  Now,  next  day,  as*  some  of  the 
citizens  were  taking  him  round  for  the  purpose  of  showing  him  the 
walls  of  the  city,  and  a  fountain^  of  marvellous  workmanship,  con- 
structed formerly  by  the  Romans,'  he  suddenly  became  disturbed 
in  spirit,  and  leaning  on  his  staff"  he  bent  down  his  face  sadly  to  the 
ground,  and  again  raising  himself  up,  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  to 
heaven,  and  groaning  deeply,  he  muttered  softly  : — "  Perhaps  at 
this  very  moment  the  hazard  of  the  battle  is  over."  And  a  priest 
who  was  standing  by,  comprehending  of  whom  he  spake,  impelled 
by  thoughtless  haste,  answered  and  said  : — "  How  do  you  know 
this?"  But  Cudberct,  not  wishing  to  say  more  of  what  had  been 
revealed  to  him  : — "  Do  not  you  see,"  he  said,  "how  marvellously 
changed  and  disturbed  the  air  is  ?  and  who  among  mortals  is  suffi- 
cient to  search  out  the  judgments  of  God?"  Nevertheless  he 
forthwith  went  to  the  queen  and  spake  to  her  secretly,  (for  this 
happened  on  a  Saturday,)  and  he  said  to  her : — "  See  that  you 
mount  your  chariot  early  at  the  dawn  of  next  Monday,* — for  it  is 
not  lawful  to  ride  in  a  chariot  on  the  Lord's-day — and  go  with  as 
much  haste  as  possible  to  the  royal  city,^  lest  haply  the  king 
should  be  slain.  But  as  I  am  engaged  to-morrow  to  dedicate  the 
church  of  a  neighbouring  monastery,  I  will  follow  you  immediately 
after  I  have  accomplished  the  ceremony  of  the  dedication." 

§  46.  Now  Sunday  being  come,  he  preached  the  word  of  God 
to  the  brethren  of  the  monastery,  and  as  he  finished  his  address, 
and  while  all  who  were  present  were  approving,  he  resumed  his 
discourse.  "I  beseech  you,"  he  "  continued,  "most  beloved 
brethren,  according  to  the  warning  of  the  apostle,  '  Watch,  stand 
fast  in  the  faith,  quit  you  like  men,  and  be  strong,'  [1  Cor.  xvi.  13,] 
lest  haply  some  temptation  come  and  find  you  unprepared. 
Wherefore,  be  ever  mindful  of  that  precept  of  the  Lord,  '  Watch 
ye  and  pray,  lest  ye  enter  into  temptation.'"  [Markxiv.  38.]  Now 
his  audience  thought  that  he  spoke  of  the  return  of  the  pestilence, 
which  not  long  before**  had  carried  away  some  of  their  number, 
and  spread  desolation  throughout  the  whole  neighbourhood  far  and 
wide.  Cudberct  however  resumed  : — "  Once  on  a  time,"  he  said, 
"  when  I  was  dwelling  as  a  recluse  in  my  island,  there  came  to  me 
some  of  the  monks,  on  the  holy  day  of  our  Lord's  nativity,  and 
they  besought  me  to  come  out  of  my  poor  abode  and  dwelling- 

1  The  writei'  of  the  anonymous  legend  informs  us  that  the  "  prsepositus  civi- 
tatis,"  named  Waga,  (hitherto  printed  Paga,  but  incorrectly,)  accompanied 
Cudberct  and  the  rest  of  the  visitors  in  their  inspection  of  the  curiosities. 

-  The  description  of  a  fountain,  or  a  building  supposed  to  have  been  one,  in 
\Yhich  the  ti'aces  of  Roman  workmanship  are  still  discernible,  is  given  in  Lyson's 
Magna  Brit.  Cumberland,  p.  ccvii.  Smith  appears  to  have  had  the  same  informa- 
tion from  Nicolson,  then  bishop  of  Carlisle. 

^  On  the  frequency  of  Roman  remains  at  Carlisle,  see  Camd.  Brit.  col.  1024. 

*  .  .  .  "  Secunda  Sabbati,"  on  the  second  day  of  the  week,  that  is,  on  Monday. 

5  ..."  Ad  Regiam  Civitatem ;"  probably  to  the  strongly  fortified  castle  of  Bam- 
borough,  which  was  known  at  that  time  by  the  designation  of  the  Royal  City.  See 
Eccl.  Hist.  §§  166,  184,  193. 

^  England  and  Ireland  had  been  subjected  to  the  ravages  of  a  fatal  pestilence  in 
the  years  681,682,  and  683,  concerning  which,  see  the  Eccl.  Hist.  IV.  xiv. ;  the  Annales 
Cambrice,  (ap.  Petrie  and  Hardy,)  p.  833 ;  and  the  Annals  of  Ulster,  p.  59,  appended 
to  Johnstone's  Antiq.  Celto-Normanniccc,  4,  Copenh.  1786. 


582  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  685. 

place,  and  spend  so  solemn,  and  joyful,  and  venerable  a  day  with 
them  ;  and  acquieschig  in  their  devout  request,  I  went  out,  and  we 
sat  down  to  the  feast.  But  in  the  midst  of  tlie  entertainment  I  said 
to  them,  '  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  let  us  act  warily  and  be  watchful, 
lest  perhaps,  through  negligence  and  over-security,  we  be  led  into 
temptation.'  But  they  answered  : — '  We  beseech  you,  let  us  pass 
this  day  in  joy,  for  it  is  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.' 
And  I  said,  '  Well,  let  it  be  so.'  And  some  time  after,  during  the 
repast,  as  we  were  indulging  in  joyous  conversation,  I  began  again 
to  warn  them  that  we  should  be  earnest  in  prayer  and  watching, 
and  prepared  against  all  the  attacks  of  temptation.  But  they  said, 
'  You  teach  us  well ;  yea,  very  well ;  but  nevertheless,  since  our  days 
of  fasting  and  prayer  and  watching  are  many,  let  us  this  day  rejoice 
in  the  Lord.  For  the  angels  also,  on  the  birth  of  our  Lord,  pro- 
claimed good  tidings  of  great  joy  to  the  shepherds,  that  should  be  to 
all  the  people.'  [Lukeii.  10.]  And  I  said,  '  Well,  let  us  do  so.'  And 
as  we  continued  feasting,  and  were  spending  the  day  in  joy,  I  re- 
peated for  the  third  time  the  same  words  of  admonition,  and  they 
understood  that  it  was  not  without  reason  that  I  had  so  purposely 
thus  admonished  them;  and,  greatly  troubled,  they  said,  '  Let  us  do 
as  you  recommend,  for  a  great  necessity  lies  upon  us  to  be  always 
girded,  and  to  watch  in  spirit  against  the  snares  of  the  devil  and 
all  his  temptations.'  Now  when  this  happened  neither  I  nor  they 
knew  that  any  new  temptation  should  assail  us  ;  but  by  instinct  of 
mind  only  I  was  admonished  that  the  state  of  the  heart  should  be 
always  defended  against  the  sudden  storms  of  temptation.  But  after 
they  left  me  to  return  in  the  morning  to  their  monastery,  (that  is, 
to  Lindisfarne,)  they  found  that  a  certain  one  of  their  brethren  had 
died  [that  night]  of  the  pestilence,^  and  the  same  disaster  increased 
in  violence  eveiy  day,  yea  even  for  months,  and  almost  for  the 
whole  year,  so  that  nearly  the  whole  of  that  noble  community  of 
spiritual  fathers  and  brethren  departed  to  the  Lord.  Wherefore, 
brethren,  watch  ye .  now  also  in  prayer,  in  order  that,  should  any 
tribulation  assail  you,  you  may  be  found  already  prepared." 

§  47.  When  the  venerable  prelate  Cudberct  had  thus  spoken, 
the  community  thought,  as  I  said  before,  that  he  alluded  to  the 
return  of  the  pestilence.  But  next  day,  the  arrival  of  one  who  had 
escaped  from  the  battle  explained,  by  the  sad  announcement  which 
he  brought,  the  hidden  meaning  of  the  man  of  God's  discourse. 
And  it  was  ascertained  that  on  tlie  very  day,  and  at  the  same  hour, 
on  which  it  was  revealed  to  the  man  of  God,  as  he  was  standing  at 
the  fountain,^  king  Ecgfrid  had  been  slain  by  the  sword  of  the 
enemy,  and  that  the  body-guard  who  defended  him  were  all  slain 
around  him. 

'  Of  this  pestilence,  -whicli  must  have  occurred  between  676  and  685,  there  is 
no  distinct  trace  in  the  historians. 

2  See  §  45.  The  king  was  killed  20th  May,  685,  which,  as  Beda  states,  fell  that 
year  on  a  Saturday. 


A.D.  086.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  583 

Chap.  XXVIII. ^  [ad.  686.]— How  he  foretold  uis  Decease  to  Hereberct,  the 
Anchorite;  and  now  the  latter,  through  Cudberct's  Prayer,  obtained 

PERMISSION  TO  ACCOMPANY  HIM  IN  DEATH. 

§  48.  And  not  long  after  this,  the  same  servant  of  the  Lord, 
Cudberct,  being  invited  to  the  same  city  of  LugubaUa,  arrived  there 
in  order  to  consecrate  some  priests,  and  at  the  same  time  to  give 
his  benediction  to  the  queen,  who  was  to  receive  the  habit  of  holy 
religion  from  his  hands.  Now  there  was  a  priest  of  venerable  life,  by 
name  Hereberct,^  who  had  been  for  a  long  time  united  in  the  bonds  of 
spiritual  friendship  with  the  man  of  God.  This  man  led  a  solitary 
life,  in  an  island*  of  the  vast  lake  from  which  the  river  Derwent 
takes  its  source ;  and  he  was  wont  to  come  every  year  to  receive 
from  Cudberct  the  admonitions  of  everlasting  salvation.  On 
hearing  that  his  friend  was  tarrying  in  the  city,  he  joined  him 
there,  as  was  his  custom,  in  the  hope  of  being  more  and  more 
inflamed  to  heavenly  desires  by  his  wholesome  exhortations.  And 
while  these  two  were  mutually  giving  each  other  to  drink  from  the 
cup  of  heavenly  wisdom,  Cudberct  said,  amongst  other  things  :— 
"  Bethink  you,  brother  Hereberct,  of  anything  you  may  have  need 
to  ask  me,  and  speak  to  me  about  it ;  for  after  we  shall  have 
departed  the  one  from  the  other,  we  shall  never  meet  again  in  this 
world,  nor  see  each  other  with  the  eyes  of  the  flesh.  For  I  am 
assured  that  the  time  of  my  dissolution  is  not  far  off,  and  the 
laying  aside  of  this  my  tabernacle  is  at  hand."  On  hearing  this, 
Hereberct  fell  at  his  feet,  and,  pouring  forth  tears,  he  said  mourn- 
fully, "  I  beseech  you  by  the  Lord,  do  not  leave  me,  but  bear  in 
mind  me  your  companion,  and  beg  of  the  mercy  of  heaven,  that, 
as  we  have  served  Him  on  earth,  we  may  pass  together  in  like 
manner,  to  behold  his  brightness  in  heaven.  For  you  know  how 
I  have  always  endeavoured  to  live  by  the  command  of  your  mouth, 
and  that  in  whatsoever  thing  I  have  offended  through  ignorance  or 
frailty,  that  I  have  in  like  wise  striven  to  correct  at  the  good  pleasure 
of  your  will."  The  bishop  bowed  down  in  prayer,  and  forthwith 
being  taught  in  spirit  that  he  had  obtained  what  he  had  sought 
from  the  Lord,  "  Rise,  my  brother,"  he  said,  "  and  weep  not,  but 
rejoice  greatly,  for  the  Divine  IVTercy  has  granted  that  thing  which 
we  have  asked  of  Him."  The  subsequent  issue  of  events  con- 
firmed both  his  promise  and  the  truth  of  his  prophecy  :  for  after 
separating  from  each  other,  they  never  saw  each  other  again  in  the 
flesh ;  and  departing  from  the  body  at  one  and  the  same  moment 
of  time,  their  spirits  were  presently  united  to  each  other  in  the 
beatific  vision,  and  were  in  like  manner  translated  by  the  ministry 
of  angels  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  But  Hereberct  required  to 
be  first  refined  by  long  infirmity,  and  this,  perhaps,  by  the  dispen- 
sation of  our  Lord's  mercy,  that  the  continual  pain  of  long  sickness 
might  supply  whatever  deficiency  of  merit  he  might  have  in  com- 
parison with  the  blessed  Cudberct ;  so  that  he  being  equalled  in 

'  Vit.  Anon.  §  38 ;  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xxx. 
2  See  Hist.  Eccl.  IV.  xxix.  §  350. 
2  See  Camd.  Brit.  col.  1005,  1006. 


584  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  C8G. 

grace  to  his  intercessor,  they  both  might  depart  together  at  the 
same  hour,  and  on  one  and  the  same  day  be  thought  worthy  to  be 
admitted  to  one  and  the  hke  seat  of  everlasting  blessedness. 


Chap.  XXIX.'  [a.d.  686.] — How  he  cured  the  Wife  of  an  Earl  by  blessed 
Water,  which  he  sent  by  his  Priest. 

§  49.  Now,  as  he  was  one  day  going  round  liis  diocese,  wherein 
he  was  bountifully  distributing  counsels  of  salvation  to  the  rustic 
inhabitants  of  divers  cottages  and  villages,  as  well  as  laying  his 
hands  on  the  lately  baptized,  that  they  might  receive  the  grace  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  he  came  to  the  mansion  of  a  certain  earl,  whose 
wife  was  lying  sick,  as  if  at  the  point  of  death.  And  this  noble- 
man, coming  out  to  meet  him,  gave  thanks  to  God,  on  hi?  knees, 
for  his  arrival,  and  leading  him  in,  welcomed  him  with  kind  hospi- 
tality. And  after  the  usual  hospitable  rite  of  washing  his  hands 
and  feet  had  been  performed,  and  the  prelate  had  sat  down  again, 
the  earl  began  to  tell  him  of  the  hopeless  illness  of  his  wife,  and 
besought  him  to  bless  some  water  wherewith  to  sprinkle  her  : 
"  For  I  believe,"  he  said,  "that  presently,  by  the  gift  of  God,  she 
will  either  be  restored  to  health,  or,  if  she  is  to  die,  that  she  will 
pass  from  death  to  everlasting  life,  and,  by  dying,  receive  more 
speedily  the  recompense  of  her  sad  and  long-continued  trouble." 
The  man  of  God  readily  assented  to  his  request,  and  blessing  some 
water  that  was  brought  to  him,  he  gave  it  to  a  priest,  commanding 
him  to  sprinkle  the  sick  person  with  it.  And  entering  into  her 
bed-chamber,  in  which  she  lay  like  one  half  dead,  the  priest  sprinkled 
her  and  her  bed,  and  opening  her  mouth,  he  poured  in  a  portion 
of  the  salutary  draught ;  and,  oh  wondrous  event,  and  astounding 
above  measure  !  as  soon  as  the  consecrated  water  touched  the  sick 
woman,  who  was  quite  insensible  of  what  had  been  applied  to  her, 
she  was  restored  so  completely  to  health,  both  of  mind  and  body, 
that  coming  immediately  to  her  perfect  intellect,  she  blessed  the 
Lord,  and  gave  thanks  to  Him,  who  vouchsafed  to  send  such  and 
so  great  guests  to  visit  and  cure  her.  And  without  delay,  rising 
up  in  sound  health,  she  ministered  to  the  ministers  of  her  recovered 
health.  And  it  was  a  goodly  sight  to  behold,  how  she  who  had 
escaped  the  cup  of  death,  by  the  blessing  of  the  bishop,  should  be 
the  first  of  all  so  noble  a  family  to  ofter  the  cup  of  refreshment  to 
him.  Wherein  she  imitated  the  example  of  the  mother-in-law  of 
the  apostle  Peter,  who,  on  being  cured  of  a  fever  by  our  Lord, 
forthwith  rising  up,  ministered  to  Him  and  his  disciples.  [Matt, 
viii.  14,  15.] 

1  Vit.  Anon.  §  32;  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xxiii.  In  the  former  narrative  scvcriil  addi- 
tional particulars  are  recorded. 


A.D.  GS6.]  I3EDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  585 

Chap.  XXX.  i  [a.d.  686.] — How  he  cured  a  Damsel  of  Pain  in  her  head  and 

SIDE  BY  ANOINTING  HER  WITH  OIL. 

§  50.  And  not  unlike  to  this  was  another  miraculous  cure, 
wrought  by  the  venerable  prelate,  Cudberct,  as  related  by  many 
witnesses  who  were  present,  among  whom  there  was  the  religious 
priest  Aediluald,-  then  the  minister  of  the  servant  of  God,  but 
now  abbat  of  the  monastery  of  Mailros.  For  as  Cudberct,  according 
to  his  wont,  was  passing  through  the  people  and  teaching  them,  he 
came  to  a  certain  town,^  in  which  there  was  a  small  number  of 
nuns,  who  through  fear  of  a  barbarian  *  army,  had  fled  thither  from 
their  monastery,  and  to  whom  the  man  of  God  had  a  little  time 
before  given  this  place  as  a  residence.  One  of  these  virgins,  who 
was  a  kinswoman  of  Aediluald,  the  aforenamed  priest,  was  oppressed 
with  a  grievous  illness,  and  for  a  whole  year  had  suffered  from  in- 
tolerable pains  in  her  head  and  her  whole  side,  so  that  her  case 
was  considered  desperate  by  the  physicians.  When  they  who  had 
come  with  him  had  informed  the  man  of  God  of  her  case,  and 
had  besought  him  for  her  recovery,  Cudberct,  taking  pity  on  her 
wretched  state,  anointed  her  with  consecrated  oil.  And  imme- 
diately, from  that  hour,  she  began  to  revive,  and  in  a  few  days  was 
restored  to  perfect  health. 


Chap.  XXXI.^  [a.d.  686.]— How  a  Sick  Man  was  healed  by  Bread  which  had 
been  blessed  by  him. 

§  51.  Nor  should  we  pass  over  in  silence  another  miracle  which 
we  know  of  a  certainty  was  wrought  by  the  virtue  of  this  venerable 
man,  although  in  his  absence.  We  have  made  mention  already  of 
Hildmer,"  an  officer  whose  wife  had  been  freed  from  an  unclean 
spirit  by  the  man  of  God.  This  same  officer  fell  aftenvards  into  a 
veiy  grievous  illness,  so  that,  his  trouble  increasing  daily,  he  was 
confined  to  his  bed,  and  appeared  to  be  gradually  reduced  to  the 
point  of  death.  Several  of  his  friends  assembled  to  comfort  him 
in  his  sickness  ;  and  as  they  sat  down  by  the  bed  on  which  he  lay, 
one  of  them  suddenly  happened  to  mention  that  he  had  a  loaf  with 
him,  which  Cudberct,  the  man  of  the  Lord,  had  lately  given 
him,  after  having  bestowed  on  it  the  grace  of  his  benediction  : 
"  And  I  verily  believe,"  he  said,  "  that  were  Hildmer  to  taste  of 
this,  it  would  prove  a  remedy ;  provided  the  slowness  of  our  faith 
did  not  prevent  it."  Now  they  were  all  laymen,  but  devout 
persons.  Then  each  turning  to  the  other  confessed  that  they 
believed  without  any  doubt  that  he  might  be  cured  by  the  com- 

1  Vit.  Anon.  §  33 ;  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xxiv. 

2  He  became  bishop  of  Lindisfarne  in  724.  See  Eccl.  Hi.st.  §  395 ;  Acta  SS. 
mens.  Feb.  ii.  604. 

^  We  learn  from  the  anonymous  legend  that  the  name  of  this  place  was 
Bedesfeld. 

*  Possibly  the  army  of  the  Picts,  who  had  so  recently  killed  the  king  of 
Northumbria. 

^  "Vit.  Metr.  cap.  sxv.  This  is  an  addition  to  the  narrative  of  the  anouymons 
Lindisfarne  legend. 

*  Namely,  in  chapter  sv.  §  23. 


586  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  G86. 

munion  of  this  blessed  bread.  And  filling  a  cup  with  water,  they 
put  into  it  a  little  piece  of  that  loaf,  and  gave  it  him  to  drink.  And 
as  soon  as  that  taste  of  water,  which  was  sanctified  by  the  bread, 
reached  his  bowels,  the  pain  of  his  inside  entirely  departed,  and 
the  wasting  away  of  his  outward  limbs  ceased ;  and  not  long  after, 
he  was  restored  to  robust  health.  And  the  speed  of  so  unexpected 
a  cure  deservedly  stirred  up  the  hearts  not  only  of  himself  and  his 
friends,  but  also  of  all  who  saw  or  heard  of  it,  to  praise  the  holiness 
of  the  servant  of  Christ,  and  to  marvel  at  the  virtue  of  his  faith 
unfeigned. 


Chap.  XXXIL'  [a.d.686.] — How  he  recalled  to  life, by  Prayer,  a  dying  Youth 

■WHO  WAS  BROUGHT  TO  HIM  WHEN  HE  WAS  ON  A  JOURNEY. 

§  52.  Once,  also,  as  this  most  holy  pastor  of  the  Lord's  flock  was 
going  round  his  sheepfold,  he  came  to  a  mountainous  and  wild  dis- 
trict,^ with  the  view  of  giving  the  imposition  of  hands  to  those  who 
were  there  assembled  to  meet  him,  at  a  certain  point,  from  the  many 
hamlets  which  were  widely  scattered  over  the  country.  As,  how- 
ever, there  was  neither  a  church,  nor  any  place  in  the  mountains 
fitted  to  receive  the  bishop  and  his  attendants,  tents  were  therefore 
erected  by  the  wayside  ;  and  by  cutting  down  branches  from  the 
neighbouring  forest,  each  man  built  a  booth,  such  as  he  best  could, 
for  himself,  wherein  to  abide.  Here  the  man  of  God  preached  the 
Word,  for  two  days,  to  the  crowds  that  flocked  to  hear  him,  and 
by  the  imposition  of  hands,  ministered  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
to  those  who  had  been  lately  regenerated  in  Christ :  when,  lo  ! 
there  suddenly  appeared  some  women  carrying  on  a  litter  a  young 
man,  wasted  with  a  long  and  grievous  sickness  ;  and  setting  him 
down  at  the  outlet  of  the  forest,  they  sent  to  ask  of  the  bishop 
leave  to  bring  him  that  he  might  receive  his  blessing.  And  when 
the  youth  had  been  brought  to  Cudberct,  and  he  found  how 
grievously  he  was  afflicted,  he  ordered  all  to  withdraw  to  a  distance. 
And  having  recourse  to  his  wonted  arms  of  prayer,  he  gave  him 
his  blessing  ;  and  forthwith  the  malady — which  the  anxious  skill  of 
physicians  could  not  effect  with  their  compounded  drugs, — was 
entirely  driven  away.  And  rising  up  the  same  hour,  and  being 
refreshed  with  food,  the  youth  gave  thanks  to  God,  and  returned  to 
the  women  who  had  carried  him  thither.  And  thus  it  came  to 
pass  that  they  who  had  carried  him  sorrowfully  sick  to  Cudberct, 
returned  home  rejoicing  with  him,  he  also  rejoicing  in  sound  health, 
and  all  exulting  in  joy. 


Chap.  XXXIII. ^  [a.d.  686.] — How,  in  a  time  of  mortality,  he  restored  a  dying 
Child  in  sound  health  to  its  mother. 

§  53.  At  the  same  time  a  pestilence  having  suddenly  arisen  in 
these  parts,  it  produced  so  great  a  mortality,  that  in  towns  which 
had  formerly  been  large,  and  in  estates,  and  in  villages  once  filled 

'  Vit.  Anon.  §  34;  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xxvi. 

*  The  anonyniou.s  legend  relates  this  incident  with  some  additinnal  particulars 
ns  to  personii  and  places.  •*  Vit.  Anon.  §  35;  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xxvii. 


A.D.  686.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  587 

with  inhabitants,  few,  yea  sometimes  not  one  remained.  In  conse- 
quence of  this,  the  most  holy  bishop  with  great  dihgence  visited  his 
diocese,  and  was  unceasing  in  the  ministry  of  the  Word,  and  in 
bringing  needful  consolation  to  the  scanty  number  of  the  sui-vivors. 
And  when  he  arrived  at  a  certain  village,'  and  had  given  the  aid  of 
exhortation  to  all  whom  he  found  there,  he  said  to  his  priest,  "  Do 
you  think  that  any  one  remains  in  these  parts,  who  may  require  our 
visitation  and  conversation  ?  or,  having  visited  all  who  are  sick,  may 
we  now  pass  on  to  others  ?  "  The  priest,  on  looking  round,  saw  a 
woman  standing  afar  oft',  who,  a  little  before,  having  lost  one  son  by 
death,  held  in  her  arms  his  brother,  now  at  the  point  of  dying,  and 
by  the  tears  which  furrowed  her  cheeks  she  gave  proof  at  once  of 
her  past  and  present  affliction.  As  soon  as  he  had  pointed  her  out  to 
the  man  of  God,  Cudberct  went  towards  her,  and  giving  his  blessing, 
he  kissed  the  child,  and  said  to  its  mother,  "  Fear  not,  neither  be 
sad  :  for  this  your  child  shall  recover,  and  live  ;  neither  shall  any 
other  of  your  house  henceforth  die  of  this  mortal  pestilence."  To 
the  truth  of  which  prophecy,  the  mother  herself,  together  with  her 
son,  who  lived  for  a  long  time  after,  gave  testimony. 


Chap.  XXXIV.^  [a.d.  686.] — How  he  saw  the  Soue  of  a  certain  person  taken 
UP  TO  Heaven  who  was  killed  by  falling  from  a  tree. 

§  54.  Meanwhile,  as  Cudberct,  the  man  of  God,  was  conscious 
beforehand  of  his  own  approaching  death,  he  now  resolved  in  his 
mind  to  lay  down  the  care  of  his  pastoral  office,  and  to  return 
to  a  solitary  life  :  there  to  shake  off  all  external  solicitude,  and 
to  await,  amid  the  free  employment  of  prayer  and  psalmody,  the 
day  of  his  death,  or  rather  of  his  life  in  heaven.  Nevertheless,  he 
desired  first  to  make  a  complete  visitation,  not  only  of  his  diocese, 
but  also  of  all  the  other  dwellings  of  the  faithful,  in  order  to  con- 
firm all  with  the  needful  word  of  exhortation  ;  and  having  done  so, 
to  return  to  be  refreshed  in  the  joy  of  his  long-desired  solitude. 
Whilst  he  was  thus  engaged,  being  invited  by  the  most  noble  and 
most  holy  virgin  of  Christ,  the  abbess  Aelflaede,  (whom  I  have 
mentioned  above,^)  he  came  to  the  property  of  her  monastery,*  for 
the  purpose  of  there  seeing  her  and  talking  with  her,  and  for  dedi- 
cating a  church  ;  for  the  estate  contained  no  inconsiderable  number 
of  the  servants  of  Christ.  And  as  they  sat  at  table  at  the  hour  of 
refection,  Cudberct  suddenly  turned  away  his  mind  from  the  carnal 
feast  to  the  contemplation  of  spiritual  things.  The  limbs  of  his 
body  were  loosed  from  their  functions,  the  colour  of  his  face 
changed,  his  eyes  were  unusually  astounded,  and  the  knife  which  he 
held  in  his  hand  dropped  on  the  table.  And  when  his  priest,  who 
was  standing  by  and  ministering,  saw  this,  leaning  towards  the 
abbess,  he  said  softly,  "  Ask  the  bishop  what  he  has  just  now  seen  ; 

*  Here  again  Beda  has  omitted  details  which  are  valuable. 
2  Vit.  Anon.  §  39 ;  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  sxxi. 
^  See  chapters  sxiii.  and  xxiv.  §  38 — 41. 

■*  The  Lindisfarnc  mouk  furnishes  u.s  with  the  utuuc  of  the  monastery;  it  was 
called  Osinffadun. 


588  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.P.  686. 

for  I  know  that  not  without  cause  his  trembhng  hand  has  dropped 
the  knife,  and  his  countenance  is  changed  :  for  he  sees  something 
spiritual,  which  the  rest  of  us  cannot  see."  And  immediately 
turning  towards  him,  "  I  beseech  you,"  she  said,  "  my  lord  bishop, 
tell  me  what  you  have  seen  just  now ;  for  not  without  cause  has 
your  wearied  hand  dropped  the  knife  which  it  was  holding." 
Cudberct,  however,  endeavoured  to  dissemble  that  he  had  seen 
anything  secret,  and  answered  playfully,  "  Do  you  think  that  I  am 
able  to  eat  the  whole  day  ?  surely  I  ought  to  rest  a  little  while  now." 
But  as  she  urgently  adjured  and  besought  him  to  reveal  the  vision, 
"  I  have  seen,"  he  replied,  "  the  soul  of  a  certain  holy  person  borne 
up  by  the  hands  of  angels  to  the  joys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
Again  she  said,  "  From  what  place  was  he  taken?"  He  replied, 
"  From  your  monastery ;"  and  on  her  proceeding  to  ask  the  name 
of  the  person,  he  said,  "  To-morrow,  when  I  am  celebrating  mass, 
you  yourself  shall  tell  me  his  name."  On  hearing  this,  she  forth- 
with sent  to  her  greater  monaster}',  to  see  who  had  been  lately 
snatched  away  from  the  body.  But  the  messenger,  finding  all  safe 
and  well  there,  set  out  next  morning  to  return  to  his  mistress,  and 
on  the  road  he  met  some  persons  who  were  carr)'ing  in  a  cart  the 
body  of  a  deceased  brother  to  be  buried  ;  and  asking  who  it  was, 
he  was  told,  that  it  was  one  of  the  shepherds,  a  man  of  good  life, 
who  incautiously  climbing  a  tree,  had  fallen  down,  and  was  so 
much  injured  that  he  expired  at  the  very  time  on  which  the  man 
of  God  had  seen  him  borne  up  to  heaven.  And  returning,  he 
related  to  the  abbess  what  had  happened,  and  she  immediately  went 
to  the  bishop,  who  was  then  dedicating  the  church,  and  with 
womanlike  astonishment,  as  if  about  to  relate  some  extraordinary 
circumstance,  "  I  pray  you,"  she  said,  "  my  lord  bishop,  remember 
during  mass  the  soul  of  my  serv^ant  Haduuald,"  for  that  was  the 
man's  name,  "who  died  yesterday,  by  falling  from  a  tree."  Then 
it  appeared  manifestly  to  all  how  mightily  the  manifold  spirit  of 
prophecy  was  present  in  the  heart  of  the  holy  man,  since  he 
could  not  only  see  as  ])resent  the  secret  departure  of  the  man's 
soul,  but  could  also  foretell  that  this  fact  should  afterwards  be 
communicated  to  himself  by  others. 


Chap.  XXXV.'  [a.d.  G8G.] — How  by  tasting  Water  he  gave  it  tue  flavock  of 
Wine. 

§  55.  After  this,  having  completed  his  visitation  of  the  moun- 
tainous districts  in  order,  he  came  to  the  monastery  of  virgins 
which,  as  we  noticed  above,^  was  situated  not  far  from  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Tync,  where  he  was  honourably  received  by  the  reli- 
gious and  (according  to  the  estimation  of  the  world)  the  most 
noble  sersant  of  Christ,  the  abbess  Uerca.     And  after  they  had 

'  This  narrative  docs  not  occur  either  in  the  anonymous  legend  or  in  Beda's 
own  metrical  narrative.  He  tells  us,  towards  the  end  of  the  chapter,  whence  he 
obtained  his  information. 

^  Namelj'  in  chapter  iii.  §  6. 


A.D.  GSr.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  589 

risen  from  the  noonday  rest,  Cudberct,  feeling  thirsty,  asked  for 
something  to  drink.  They  accordingly  asked  him  what  he  would 
have  to  drink  ?  whether  they  should  bring  him  wine  or  beer  ? 
"  Give  me  water,"  he  said  ;  and  they  offered  him  water  which  they 
had  drawn  from  the  fountain.  And  having  given  his  benediction 
and  drank  a  little,  he  handed  it  to  his  priest,  who  was  standing 
beside  him,  and  he  gave  it  back  to  the  attendant.  And  having 
taken  the  cup,  the  attendant  said  : — "  May  I  be  permitted  to 
drink  of  the  draught  of  which  the  bishop  has  drank?"  To  which 
the  other  replied  : — "  Yea,  why  may  you  not?"  Now,  this  man 
was  the  priest  of  the  monastery.  He  drank  accordingly,  but 
the  water  seemed  to  him  to  have  acquired  the  flavour  of  wine ;  and 
wishing  that  a  brother  who  w-as  standing  by  should  be  likewise  a 
witness  of  so  great  a  miracle,  he  handed  him  the  cup  ;  and  w^hen 
he  also  had  drank  of  it,  the  water  seemed  to  his  palate  also  to 
have  acquired  the  flavour  of  wine.  Now  as  they  looked  on  one 
another  marvelling,  when  they  found  a  convenient  pause  in  the 
conversation,  they  mutually  agreed  that,  as  it  seemed  to  them, 
they  had  never  tasted  better  wine  ;  as  one  of  them  who  afterwards 
dwelt  for  no  short  time  in  our  monastery  at  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Wear,  and  who  is  now  buried  there  in  peaceful  rest,  testified  to 
me  with  his  own  mouth. 


Chap.  XXXVL'  [a.d.  G87.] — How  a  tempestuous  Sea  kept  several  Monks 

PRISONERS,  WHO  WERE  DISOBEDIENT  TO  HIM. 

§  56.  Having  spent  two  years ^  in  the  government  of  his  diocese, 
Cudberct,  the  man  of  the  Lord,  knowing  in  spirit  that  the  day  of 
his  departure  was  at  hand,  threw  off  the  burthen  of  the  pastoral 
office,  and  returned  as  soon  as  possible  to  the  strife  of  a  hermit's 
life,  which  he  loved  so  well,  in  order  that  the  flame  of  his  former 
contrition  might  more  freely  consume  the  thorns  of  worldly  care 
which  had  grown  up  within  him.  At  this  time  it  was  his  custom 
more  frequently  to  leave  his  abode,  and  converse  face  to  face  with 
the  brethren  who  came  to  visit  him.  I  will  now  relate  a  miracle 
wrought  by  him  at  that  time,  from  which  it  will  more  clearly 
appear  how  necessar}^  a  thing  it  is  to  obey  holy  men,  even  in  those 
things  which  they  appear  somewhat  negligently  to  have  com- 
manded. One  day,  several  persons  having  come  to  visit  him, 
Cudberct  went  out  to  them,  and  having  refreshed  them  with  words 
of  exhortation,  he  concluded  his  admonition  by  saying,  "It  is 
now  time  for  me  to  return  to  my  cell;  but  as  you  are  disposed  to 
set  out,  do  you  first  take  some  food ;  take  this  goose,  and  cook  and 
eat  it,"  (for  the  goose  was  hanging  against  the  wall,)  "  and  so,  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord,  go  on  board  and  return  home."  Having 
thus  spoken,  he  prayed,  and  giving  his  blessing,  he  returned  to  his 

^  Vit.  Anon.  §  40;  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xxxii.  In  neither  of  these  narratives  does 
the  incident  occur  which  recounts  the  punishment  of  the  monks  of  Lindisfarae. 
Beda  quotes  his  authority  for  it  at  the  end  of  the  chapter. 

^  These  two  years  are  to  he  calcuhxted  fi-om  his  nomination,  not  from  his  con- 
secration.    See  Pagi,  ad  an.  687,  §  5. 


590  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  GST. 

cell.  The  others,  as  they  were  commanded,  took  some  refresli- 
ment;  but  as  they  had  abundance  of  other  food  which  they  had 
brought  with  them,  they  did  not  care  to  touch  the  goose  as  he  had 
bidden  them. 

§  57.  And  after  they  were  refreshed  with  food,  and  were  pre- 
paring to  go  on  board  their  boat,  there  suddenly  arose  a  wild 
tempest,  which  totally  prevented  them  from  putting  to  sea.  And 
it  came  to  pass  that  for  seven  days  they  remained  sorrowfully  shut 
up  in  the  island  by  the  boiling  waves ;  and  nevertheless,  they  called 
not  to  mind  the  fault  of  their  disobedience,  for  which  they  were 
suffering  this  imprisonment.  And  when  they  frequently  returned 
to  converse  with  their  father,  and  complained  of  their  return  being 
so  long  delayed,  they  received  from  him  counsels  of  patience;  and 
at  length,  on  the  seventh  day,  he  went  out  to  them  with  the  inten- 
tion of  soothing  their  sadness  by  the  grace  of  his  visit  and  consola- 
tion. And  when  he  entered  the  house  where  they  tarried,  and 
saw  that  the  goose  had  not  been  eaten,  with  a  placid  countenance 
and  rather  joyous  speech  he  reproved  their  disobedience,  saying, — 
"  Is  this  the  goose  still  hanging  there  uneaten  ?  and  what  marvel 
is  it  that  the  sea  does  not  suffer  you  to  depart  ?  Put  it  forthwith 
into  the  cauldron;  cook  it  and  eat  it,  that  the  sea  may  be  at  rest, 
and  you  may  return  home." 

§  58.  They  immediately  did  as  he  bade  them;  and  it  happened 
most  mai*vellously  that  as  soon  as  the  goose  that  was  to  be  cooked 
according  to  the  command  of  the  man  of  God  began  to  boil  in  the 
cauldron  by  the  action  of  the  fire,  at  the  same  time  the  waters  of 
the  sea,  by  the  lulling  of  the  winds,  began  also  to  cease  from  their 
boiling.  Having  therefore  finished  their  meal,  seeing  the  sea 
placid,  they  went  on  board  their  ship,  and  with  favouring  breezes, 
returned  home  with  joy,  but  at  the  same  time  with  shame;  for 
they  were  ashamed  of  their  disobedience  and  over-slowness  of  com- 
prehension, whereby  they  were  kept  back  from  acknowledging  their 
fault  and  correcting  it,  notwithstanding  the  chastisement  of  their 
Maker.  And  on  the  other  hand  they  rejoiced,  because  they  under- 
stood that  God  had  so  great  care  of  his  faithful  servant,  that  he 
punished  those  who  lightly  esteemed  him,  even  by  means  of  the 
elements.  They  rejoiced,  because  they  saw  that  their  Creator  had 
so  much  care  of  them,  that  He  corrected  their  errors  even  by  a 
manifest  miracle.  Now,  I  did  not  learn  this  miracle  from  any 
vague  authority;  but  I  had  it  from  the  narrative  of  one  of  those 
who  were  present.  I  allude  to  Cynemund,  a  monk  of  venerable 
life,  and  a  priest  of  the  same  monastery,  one  known  at  this  present 
time  to  very  many  of  the  faithful,  and  as  celebrated  for  the  grace 
of  a  good  life  as  for  his  length  of  days. 


A.D.  687.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  591 

Chap.  XXXVII.'  [a.d.  687.1 — How  great  Temptations  he  experienced  during 
HIS  Sickness,  and  what  he  commanded  respecting  his  Burial. 

§  59.  Now  Cudberct,  the  man  of  God,  returned  to  his  cell  and 
his  island,  shortly  after  the  solemn  day  of  our  Lord's  nativity. 
And  as  a  crowd  of  the  brethren  stood  around  him  as  he  was  going 
aboard,  one  of  them,  a  long-tried  monk  of  venerable  life,  strong 
indeed  in  faith,  but  now  become  weak  in  body  from  the  disease  of 
dysentery,  asked  him:  "Tell  us,  lord  bishop,  when  we  may  hope 
for  your  return."  And  Cudberct,  who  knew  the  truth,  answered 
his  simple  question  as  simply,  saying : — "  Wlien  you  shall  bring 
my  body  hither."  After  he  had  passed  nearly  two  months,  greatly 
exulting  in  the  repose  which  he  had  regained,  wherein  he  was 
enabled  to  curb  his  body  and  mind  with  the  rigour  of  wonted 
restraint,  he  was  seized  with  a  sudden  illness,  and  by  the  fire  of 
temporal  pain  he  began  to  be  prepared  for  the  joys  of  everlasting 
happiness.  I  will  describe  his  death  in  the  words  of  him  from 
whom  I  learned  it ;  of  Herefrid,  namely,  a  devout  and  religious 
priest,  who  at  that  time  presided  over  the  monastery  of  Lindisfarne 
as  abbot. 

§  60.  "  After  three  weeks  of  continued  wasting  infirmity, 
Cudberct  came  to  his  end  thus  : — He  began  to  be  taken  ill  on  the 
fourth*  day  of  the  week,  and  in  like  manner  on  the  fourth  day  of 
the  week,  his  sickness  having  been  accomplished,  he  departed  to  the 
Lord.  And  when  I  came  on  the  first  morning  after  he  was  taken 
ill,  (for  I  had  gone  to  the  island  with  the  brethren  three  days 
before,)  through  a  desire  to  receive  from  him  the  comfort  of  his 
wonted  benediction  and  exhortation,  and  having  intimated  by  the 
usual  signal  that  I  had  arrived,  he  came  to  the  window,  and  only 
returned  a  sigh  in  answer  to  my  greeting.  Whereupon  I  said, 
'  What  is  the  matter,  my  lord  bishop  ?  Have  you  been  seized 
with  illness  during  the  night?'  And  he  said,  'Yes,  sickness  has 
stricken  me  this  night.'  Now  I  was  thinking  of  his  old  infirmity, 
namely,  an  almost  daily  trouble  wherewith  he  was  wasted,  and 
I  did  not  suppose  that  he  spoke  of  a  new  and  unusual  attack.  And 
without  asking  any  more  questions,  '  Give  us,'  I  said,  '  your 
blessing,  for  it  is  time  for  us  to  go  on  board,  and  to  return  home.' 
'  Do  as  you  say,'  he  said,  '  go  on  board  and  return  home  safe;  and 
when  God  shall  have  taken  my  soul,  bury  me  in  this  cell,  at  the 
south  side  of  my  oratoiy,  opposite  the  east  side  of  the  Holy  Cross ^ 
which  I  have  erected  there.  Now  there  is  at  the  north  of  the 
same  oratory  a  [stone]  coffin,  hidden  by  sods,  wliich  formerly  the 
venerable  abbat  Cudda  presented  to  me.     Place  my  body  in  that, 

'  Compare  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xxxiv. 

2  Namely,  on  February  27,  687.  See  Pagi,  ad  an.  §  5. 

^  This  passage  show.s  that  Cudberct  was  anxious  that  he  should  be  buried  with 
his  face  looking  towards  the  east,  concerning  which  custom  see  Marteue,  De 
Autiq.  Eccl.  Ritibus,  ii.  347,  ed.  fol.  What  St.  Cuthbert  says  respecting  the  cross 
near  his  tomb  will  be  best  illustrated  by  the  following  extract  from  Durand's 
Rationale  Div.  Offic.  VII.  xxxv.  §  39 : — "  Et  in  quocunque  loco  extra  coemeterium 
Christianus  sepeliatur,  semper  crux  capiti  illius  apponi  debet,  ad  notandum  ilium 
Chriatianum  fuisse  .  .  . 


592  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D   CS7. 

and  wrap  it  in  the  fine  linen ^  which  you  will  find  there.  I  would 
not  indeed  be  clothed  in  it  while  living,  but  for  the  love  of  the 
God-beloved  woman  who  sent  it  to  me,  the  al^bess  Uerca^  to  wit, 
I  have  taken  care  to  preserve  it  to  wrap  my  body.'  Hearing  this, 
'  I  beseech  you,  father,'  I  said,  '  since  1  hear  that  you  are  sick  and 
about  to  die,  permit  some  of  the  brethren  to  remain  and  minister 
to  you.'  But  he  said,  '  Go  now,  but  return  at  a  suitable  time.' 
And  though  I  pressed  him  more  earnestly  to  accept  our  service, 
I  was  unable  to  obtain  my  request.  At  last  I  asked  him  when  we 
niight  return,  and  he  said,  '  Wlien  God  shall  please,  and  He  shall 
show  you.'  We  accordingly  departed  as  he  had  commanded,  and 
having  called  together  all  the  monks  into  the  church,  I  ordered 
prayers  to  be  made  without  intermission  for  him,  saying  that  it 
seemed  to  me  from  some  of  his  words,  that  the  day  was  drawing 
near  on  which  he  was  to  depart  to  God. 

§  61.  "Now  on  account  of  his  illness,  I  was  very  anxious  to 
go  back  to  him,  but  for  five  days  a  tempest  opposed  my  wishes, 
so  that  we  could  not  return,  and  the  issue  of  the  event  showed 
that  what  happened  was  done  by  God.  For  as  Almighty  God 
would  chastise  his  servant,  in  order  thoroughly  to  cleanse  him 
from  all  stain  of  w^orldly  frailty,  and  to  show  his  adversaries  that 
nothing  could  prevail  against  the  fortitude  of  his  faith.  He  was 
pleased  to  separate  him  for  so  long  a  time  from  man,  and  to  prove 
and  refine  him  by  pain  of  the  flesh,  and  a  sharper  struggle  with  the 
old  enemy.  But  when  calm  weather  had  returned,  we  went  back 
to  the  island,  where  we  found  that  he  had  gone  out  of  his  monas- 
tery, and  that  he  was  sitting  in  the  house  in  which  we  were  accus- 
tomed to  reside.  And  as  a  certain  urgent  matter  constrained  the 
other  monks,  who  accompanied  me,  to  sail  back  to  the  opposite 
shore,  I  myself  resolved  to  remain  on  the  island,  and  to  minister 
to  our  father's  immediate  wants.  Wherefore,  warming  some  water, 
I  washed  his  foot,  which,  on  account  of  a  long-continued  swelling, 
had  an  ulcer,  from  which  matter  issued,  and  consequently  required 
attention  ;  and  also  warming  some  wine,  I  brought  it,  and  asked 
him  to  taste  it ;  for  I  saw  by  his  countenance  that  he  was  entirely 
worn  out  both  with  want  and  sickness.  Having  finished  tending 
hini,  he  laid  himself  quietly  on  his  bed,  and  I  sat  down  beside  him. 

§  G2.  "And  as  he  was  silent,  I  said,  'I  see,  my  lord  bishop, 
that  you  have  been  troubled  with  much  infirmity  since  we  left 
you  ;  and  we  think  it  strange  that  you  would  not,  when  we  de- 
parted, suffer  us  to  leave  some  one  to  wait  on  you.'  But  he  said, 
'  This  happened  by  the  providence  and  will  of  God,  that,  destitute 
of  the  presence  and  help  of  man,  I  should  suffer  some  adversity  ; 
for  after  you  were  gone  away  from  me,  immediately  my  disease 
began  to  press  heavily  upon  me  :  and  so  going  out  from  my  cell, 
1  came  here,  that  whosoever  of  you  should  come  to  minister  to 
me,  should  find  me  here,  and  have  no  need  to  enter  my  cell. 

'  A  mass  of  curious  information  respectinjf  this  custom  may  be  seen  in  tin- 
treatise  of  J.  E.  Franzenius,  De  Funeribus  Veterum  Christianorum,  p.  85,  ed. 
Helm.  1709 ;  as  also  in  Martene,  De  Autiq.  Monaohorum  Kitibus,  V.  x.  §  92. 

*  iSee  chap,  xxxv  §  55. 


A.D.  C87.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  593 

Now  from  the  time  I  came  in  here,  I  have  never  moved  hence, 
nor  changed  the  position  of  my  hmbs,  but  have  remained  quietly 
where  I  am  for  these  five  days  and  nights.'  Wliereupon  I 
said,  '  And  how,  my  lord  bishop,  could  you  live  thus  ?  Have 
you  remained  here  without  taking  food  for  so  long  a  time  ? ' 
Whereupon,  lifting  up  the  covering  of  his  bed,  on  which  he  was 
sitting,  he  showed  me  five  onions  concealed  therein,  and  said, 
'  This  has  been  my  food  during  these  days  :  for  wliensoever  my 
mouth  burned  with  intolerable  dryness  or  thirst,  by  tasting  these,  I 
refreshed  and  recruited  myself.'  (One  of  these  onions  appeared  to 
have  been  a  little  eaten  ;  less,  however,  than  one-half  of  it.)  '  And 
over  and  above,'  he  continued,  '  never  have  my  enemies,  during 
all  the  time  I  have  abode  in  this  island,  assailed  me  with  so  many 
persecutions,  as  during  these  five  days.'  I  did  not  dare  to  ask 
what  these  temptations  were,  of  which  he  spoke  :  I  only  asked 
him  to  allow  some  of  us  to  wait  upon  him.  To  this  he  assented, 
and  retained  several  of  our  monks,  among  whom  there  was  the  elder 
Baeda,  the  priest,  who  had  always  been  accustomed  to  render  him 
the  most  familiar  service.  And  as  he  was  most  intimately  acquainted 
with  all  that  he  had  received  as  gifts  or  loans,  Cudberct  on  this 
account  wished  him  especially  to  remain  with  him,  that  in  case  he 
should  neglect  to  make  a  becoming  return  for  any  presents  which 
he  had  received,  Baeda  might  remind  him  of  his  neglect,  and  restore 
his  own  property  to  each  before  Cudberct  died.  And  also  he 
specially  named  a  certain  other  person  from  among  the  brethren, 
whom  he  wished  to  remain  with  the  others  in  attendance  upon 
himself;  one,  to  wit,  who  was  grievously  afflicted  by  a  long- 
continued  diarrhoea,  which  had  baffled  the  skill  of  the  physicians. 
He  was  a  man  noted  for  religion,  prudence,  and  gravity,  and  well 
deserving  to  be  a  witness  of  the  last  words  which  the  man  of  God 
uttered,  and  in  what  manner  he  departed  to  the  Lord. 

§  G3.  "  Meanwhile  returning  home,  I  told  the  brethren  that  our 
venerable  father  had  given  orders  that  he  should  be  buried  in  his 
own  island.  '  But  it  seems  to  me,'  I  said,  '  that  it  would  be  more 
just  and  meet  for  us  to  ask  him  to  permit  his  body  to  be  translated 
hither,  and  to  be  deposited  in  the  church  with  suitable  honour.' 
Wliat  I  said  was  approved  by  all,  and,  coming  to  the  bishop,  we 
asked  him,  saying,  '  We  dare  not,  lord  bishop,  despise  your  com- 
mand, wherein  you  have  given  orders  to  be  buried  here ;  never- 
theless, it  seems  good  to  us  to  ask  permission  to  transfer  your  body, 
so  that  we  may  be  allowed  to  have  you  to  remain  among  us.'  But 
he  said,  '  It  was  my  wish  to  rest  in  the  body  here,  where  I  have 
fought  my  little  wrestling  (such  as  it  was)  for  the  Lord,  and  where 
I  desire  to  finish  my  course,  and  whence  I  hope  to  be  raised  up 
by  the  merciful  Judge  to  a  crown  of  righteousness.  Moreover, 
I  think  it  would  be  more  advantageous  to  you  that  I  should  rest 
here,  on  account  of  the  trouble  you  shall  have  from  fugitives  and 
evil  doers,  who  will  probably  fly  for  refuge  to  my  tomb  ;  ^  for  what- 

'  This  anticipation  was  fully  verified,  for  the  privilege  of  sanctuary  was  claimed  in 
right  of  the  body  of  St.  Cudberct,  and  it  existed  at  Durham  until  the  Suppression. 
The  Surtees  Society,  among  its  other  important  contributions  to  the  history  of 
VOL.    I.  Q  Q 


594  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  6S7. 

soever  I  am  in  myself,  I  know  that  the  report  shall  go  abroad  of 
me,  that  I  am  a  servant  of  Christ,  and  you  will  necessarily  have 
very  often  to  intercede  for  such  persons  with  the  powerful  of  the 
world,  and  so  to  undergo  much  labour  and  trouble  from  the  pos- 
session of  my  body.'  But  on  our  beseeching  him  much  and  long, 
and  assuring  him  that  labour  of  this  kind  would  be  both  light  and 
agreeable,  after  taking  counsel  with  himself,  the  man  of  the  Lord 
replied,  '  If  you  would  really  overcome  what  I  had  disposed,  and 
should  bear  my  body  from  this  place,  it  seems  to  me  that  it  would 
be  better,  in  this  case,  to  bury  me  inside  your  church,^  so  that  you 
may  visit  my  tomb  whenever  you  please,  and  have  it  in  your  power 
to  admit,  or  not  to  admit,  those  that  come  thither.'  We  thanked 
liim  for  his  permission  and  counsel ;  we  knelt  down  ;  and  returning 
home,  from  that  time  forth  we  did  not  cease  to  visit  him  frequently. 


Chap.  XXXVIII.^  [a.d.  GST. ]— How  he  cured  of  Diarrhcea  the  Monk  wno 

WAITED  UPON  niM. 

§  64.  "  And  when,  his  sickness  continuing,  he  saw  that  the  time 
of  his  dissolution  was  at  hand,  he  commanded  that  he  should  be 
carried  back  to  his  little  cell  and  oratory  :  now  it  was  at  the  third 
hour  of  the  day.  There  we  accordingly  carried  him  ;  for  through 
his  exceeding  weakness  he  was  unable  to  walk.  But  when  we  came 
to  the  door,  we  begged  him  to  allow  some  one  of  us  to  enter  along 
with  him  and  minister  to  him,  for  no  one  but  himself,  for  many 
years,  had  ever  entered  therein.  And,  looking  round,  he  perceived 
the  brother  who,  as  I  mentioned  before,^  was  ill  of  a  flux,  and  he 
said  :  '  Let  Uualhstod  enter  along  with  me  ; '  for  that  was  the 
brother's  name.  Uualhstod  accordingly  remained  with  him  within, 
until  the  ninth  hour,  and  going  out,  he  called  me,  saying :  '  The 
bishop  commands  you  to  come  in  to  him.  Moreover,  1  can  tell 
you  a  new  and  very  marvellous  circumstance  that  has  happened  to 
me,  for  from  the  time  that  I  went  in  thither,  and  touched  the 
bishop,  to  lead  him  to  the  oratory,  I  forthwith  felt  that  I  was  freed 
from  all  the  trouble  of  my  long  infirmity.'  Now,  it  is  not  to  be 
doubted  that  this  was  procured  by  the  dispensation  of  heavenly 
mercy  ;  that  he  who  before,  when  in  sound  health  and  strength,  had 
cured  many,  should  now  also,  when  about  to  die,  cure  this  monk  ; 
in  order  to  manifest  by  such  a  sign,  that  the  holy  man,  even  when 
sick  in  body,  was  of  perfect  health  of  soul.  In  which  cure,''  truly, 
he  followed  the  example  of  the  most  holy  and  reverend  father  and 
i)ishop,  Aurclius  Augustine,  of  whom  we  read  that  when  he  was 
weighed  down  with  the  infirmity  of  which  he  died,  a  sick  man  was 

Northumbria,  has  printed  from  ancient  MSS.  a  record  of  the  persons  who  availed 
themselves  of  the  security  afforded  by  this  privilege. 

'  A  custom  at  that  time  by  no  means  general.  See  Frauzenius  De  Funeribus 
Vett.  Christ,  iv.  11,  §  2. 

-  Vit.  Anon.  §  41 ;  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xxxv. 

*  Namely,  in  the  preceding  chapter,  §  59. 

*  This  illu.stration  is  borrowed  from  the  Life  of  St.  Augustine  by  Tos.sidius, 
cap.  xxix.  Opp.  S.  August,  i.  p.  viii.  ed.  fol.  Lugd.  1004. 


A.D.  687.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  595 

conveyed  into  his  chamber,  who  besought  him  to  lay  his  hands  upon 
him,  that  thereby  he  might  be  healed.  But  he  said,  '  If  I  could  do 
anything  in  these  matters,  I  would,  first  of  all,  do  something  for 
myself.'  And  the  sick  man  replied,  '  I  am  commanded  to  visit 
you  ;  and  verily  I  have  heard  these  words  in  my  sleep  :  Go  to  bishop 
Augustine,  that  he  may  lay  his  hands  upon  you,  and  you  shall  be 
healed.'  On  hearing  this,  Augustine  presently  laid  his  hand  upon 
the  sick  man,  and  gave  him  his  blessing ;  and  forthwith  he  dis- 
missed him,  cured,  to  his  own  house." 


Chap.  XXXIX.'  [a.d.  687.] — What  were  the  last  Commands  which  he  gave  to 

THE  BRETHREN,  AND    HOW,  AFTER    RECEIVING   THE  VlATICUM,  HE  YIELDED  UP  HIS 
SPIRIT  AMID  WORDS  OF  PRAYER. 

§  65.  "  Now,  I  went  in  to  him,"  he  said,  "  about  the  ninth^ 
hour  of  the  day,  and  I  found  him  reclining  in  a  corner  of  his  ora- 
tory, opposite  the  altar ;  and  I  myself  began  to  sit  down,  but  he 
did  not  speak  much,  for  the  burthen  of  his  infirmity  prevented  him 
from  speaking  with  ease.  But  on  my  pressingly  asking  him  to 
leave  some  words  which  might  be  considered  as  a  bequest  and  as  a 
last  farewell  to  the  brethren,  he  began  to  speak  a  few  words,  but 
they  were  powerful,  concerning  peace  and  humility,  and  cautioning 
us  against  those  persons  that  chose  rather  to  wrestle  against  such 
things  than  to  take  delight  therein.  '  Keep  peace,'  he  said,  '  one 
with  another,  and  heavenly  charity  ;  and  when  necessity  demands  of 
you  to  hold  counsel  as  to  your  state,  take  great  care  that  you  be  of  one 
mind  in  your  conclusions  ;  and  moreover,  maintain  mutual  concord 
with  other  servants  of  Christ,  and  despise  not  the  household  of  the 
faith,  who  come  to  you,  seeking  hospitality,  but  be  careful  to  receive 
such  persons,  to  entertain  them,  and  send  them  away  with  friendly 
kindness  ;  and  do  not  think  that  you  are  better  than  other  followers 
of  the  same  faith  and  conversation.  But  with  those  that  err  from 
the  unity  of  catholic  peace,  either  by  not  celebrating  Easter  at  the 
proper  time,  or  by  living  perversely,  have  no  communion.  And 
know  and  hold  in  memory,  that  if  necessity  should  compel  you  to 
choose  one  of  two  evils,  I  would  much  rather  that  you  should  dig 
up  my  bones  from  the  tomb,  tind  carrying  them  away  with  you, 
desert  these  parts,  and  dwell  wheresover  God  may  provide — much 
rather,  I  say,  than  that  by  giving  any  consent  to  the  iniquities  of 
schismatics,  you  should  submit  your  neck  to  their  yoke.  Strive, 
then,  most  diligently  to  learn  and  to  observe  the  catholic  statutes  of 
the  fathers  ;  practise  also  with  great  solicitude  those  rules  of  regular 
life,  which,  by  my  ministry,  the  divine  mercy  hath  vouchsafed  to 
give  to  you.  For  I  know,  that  although  I  have  lived  contemptible 
to  some,  nevertheless,  after  my  departure,  you  shall  see  more  openly 
what  I  have  been,  and  how  that  the  doctrine  which  I  have  taught 
is  not  to  be  despised.' 

^  GG.   "  These  and  the  like  words  the  man  of  God  spoke  at  inter- 

>  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xxsvi. 

2  Namely,  about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 
Q  Q    2 


59G  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  CST. 

vals  ;  for  as  Ve  have  said,  the  greatness  of  his  infirmity  deprived 
him  of  the  power  of  much  speaking.  Thus  he  spent  a  quiet  day, 
till  evening,  in  the  expectation  of  future  blessedness  ;  yea,  and  tran- 
quilly continued  the  wakeful  night  also  in  prayer.  Now,'  when  the 
wonted  time  of  nocturn  prayers  was  come,  after  having  received  the 
salutary  sacraments  at  my  hands,  he  fortified  his  departure,  which 
he  knew  had  now  come,  by  the  communion  of  the  Body  and  Blood 
of  our  Lord  ;  and  having  lifted  up  his  eyes  to  heaven,  and  extended 
his  hands  on  high,  his  soul,  intent  on  heavenly  praises,  departed  to 
the  joys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 


Chap.  XL.*  [a.d.  687.] — How,  according  to  the  Prophecy  of  the  Psalm  which 
THE  Monks  of  Lindisfarne  were  singing  at  the  moment  op  nis  death,  they 

WERE  attacked,  BUT  BY  THE  HELP  OF  THE  LORD  AGAIN  PROTECTED. 

§  67.  "  And,  going  out  immediately,  I  announced  his  death  to 
the  brethren,  who  had  in  like  manner  passed  the  night  in  watching 
and  prayer  ;  and  so  it  happened  that  in  the  order  of  nocturnal  lauds, 
they  were  at  that  time  chaunting  the  fifty-ninth  Psalm, ^  which 
begins,  '  Deus  repulisti  nos,  et  destruxisti  nos  :  iratus  es,  ct  mi- 
sertus  es  nobis.'  '  O  God,  thou  hast  cast  us  off,  and  hast  destroyed 
us  :  thou  hast  been  angry,  and  hast  had  mercy  upon  us.'  And 
forthwith  one  of  them  ran  and  lighted  two  candles,  and  holding 
one  in  each  hand,  he  went  up  to  a  higher  place,  to  show  to 
the  brethren  who  remained  in  the  monastery  of  Lindisfarne,  that 
the  lioly  soul  of  Cudberct  had  now  departed  to  the  Lord  ;  for  such 
was  the  signal  agreed  upon  among  them  to  notify  his  most  holy 
death.  And  when  the  monk  who  was  intently  watching  afar  oft',  on 
the  opposite  watch-tower  of  the  island  of  Lindisfarne,  saw  this,  for 
which  he  had  been  waiting,  he  ran  quickly  to  the  church,  where  the 
whole  congregation  of  the  monks  were  assembled  to  celebrate  the 
solemnities  of  nocturnal  psalmody ;  and  it  happened  that  they  also, 
when  he  entered,  were  singing  the  before-named  Psalm.  The  result 
showed  that  this  occurrence  had  been  directed  by  heavenly  dispen- 
sation. For  in  truth,  after  the  man  of  God  was  buried,  so  violent 
a  storm  of  temptation*  shook  that  church,  that  several  of  the 
brethren  chose  rather  to  depart  from  the  place  than  to  encounter 
such  dangers. 

§  68.   "  Nevertheless  the  year  after,  Eadberct  was  ordained  to  the 

'  See  Vit.  Anon.  §  42.  *  Vit.  Mctr.  cap.  xxxvii. 

^  The  sixtieth  according  to  our  enumeration.  Thi.s  same  psalm  still  forms  one 
of  the  nmnber  used  in  the  evening  service  of  the  fourth  day  of  the  week,  according 
to  the  Roman  ritual. 

•*  The  Bollandists  imagine  that  the  obscure  terms  in  which  Beda  speaks  of  the 
trials  and  temptations  to  which  the  monks  of  Lindisfarne  were  exposed  imme- 
diately after  the  death  of  Cudberct,  have  reference  to  the  attempt  then  made  l>y 
Wilfrid  of  York  to  introduce  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict,  instead  of  the  "  iustituta 
vit;o  rcgularis,"  which  they  had  been  admonished  by  their  dying  bishop  to  retain. 
(See  §  (J5,  above.)  Mabillon,  the  historian  of  the  Benedictines,  is  .strongly  opposed 
to  this  theory,  as  uiilitating  against  his  own  order,  and  he  pronounces  it  to  be  un- 
certain and  untenable.  (Acta  SS.  Ord.  S.  Bened.  ii.  873.)  But  he  advances  no 
arguments  against  it. 


A.D.  687.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  597 

bishopric/  and  as  he  was  a  man  noted  for  his  great  virtues  and 
deep  learning  in  the  Scriptures,  and  above  all  given  to  works  of 
alms-deeds,  he  put  to  flight  the  tempest  of  disturbance  which  had 
arisen;  and  to  speak  in  the  words  of  Scripture,  '  The  Lord  builded 
up  Jerusalem,  (that  is,  the  vision  of  peace,)  and  gathered  together  the 
dispersed  of  Israel.  He  healed  the  contrite  of  heart,  and  bound  up 
their  bruises/  [Psl.  cxlvi.  2,  3.]  So  that  the  meaning  of  the 
Psalm  which  was  sung  when  the  death  of  the  blessed  man  was 
announced,  was  clearly  understood:  namely,  how  that  after  his 
decease  his  citizens  should  be  cast  off  and  destroyed ;  but  that 
after  the  manifestation  of  the  threatened  anger  of  the  Lord  they 
should  be  forthwith  cherished  again  by  heavenly  mercy. "  More- 
over, whosoever  peruses  the  rest  of  the  Psalm  with  attention  may 
easily  perceive  how  well  it  agrees  with  the  same  sense. 

"  Now  we  brought  back  the  body  of  our  venerable  father  in  a  boat 
to  the  island  of  Lindisfarne,  and  it  was  received  by  a  great  multitude 
of  people  who  met  it,  together  with  choirs  of  choristers,  and  it  was 
deposited  in  a  stone  coffin  in  the  church  of  the  blessed  apostle 
Peter,  on  the  ridit  side  of  the  altar." 


Chap.  XLI.^  [a.d.  687.] — How  a  Boy  possessed  by  an  Evil  Spirit  was  cured  by 
SOME  Mould,  on  which  the  water  that  washed  his  body  had  been  poured, 

BEING  PUT  into  WATER. 

§  69.  But  neither  did  the  miraculous  cures  which  the  servant 
of  Christ  exerted  when  living  cease,  even  after  he  was  dead  and 
buried.  For  it  happened  that  a  certain  boy  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Lindisfarne  was  vexed  by  a  most  cruel  spirit,  so  that  the  sense  of 
reason  being  totally  lost,  he  howled  and  strove  to  destroy  everything 
within  his  reach,  yea,  even  to  bite  his  own  limbs.  A  priest  had 
been  sent  from  our  monastery  to  the  possessed  ;  one,  namely,  wdio 
had  been  accustomed  to  put  to  flight  unclean  spirits  by  the  grace  of 
exorcism.  However,  he  could  do  no  good  whatever  to  this  pos- 
sessed person.  Wlierefore  he  counselled  his  father  to  take  the 
boy  in  a  cart  to  the  monasteiy,  and  pray  to  the  Lord  for  him  at 
the  relics  of  the  blessed  martyrs*  which  are  there.  The  father  did 
as  he  was  counselled  to  do.  But  the  holy  martyrs  of  God  would 
not  work  the  cure  which  he  sought,  in  order  to  show  how  great  was 
the  place  which  Cudberct  held  amongst  them.  Meanwhile,  as  the 
howling  of  the  demoniac,  his  groans,  and  the  gnashing  of  his  teeth, 
were  striking  the  greatest  horror  in  all  that  saw  and  heard  him,  and 
no  one  could  devise  any  remedy,  behold  !  one  of  the  priests,  taught 
in  the  spirit  that  he  might  be  cured  by  the  assistance  of  the  blessed 
father  Cudberct,  went  privately  to  the  place  where  he  knew  that  the 

^  Becla  tells  us  (Eccl.  Hist.  IV.  xxix.  §  352)  that  the  diocese  of  Lindisfarne 
during  this  period  was  ruled  by  bishop  Wilfrid. 

-  A  further  allusion  to  the  persecution  which  the  monks  of  Lindisfarne  had 
experienced,  and  their  escape  from  it.  « 

^  Vit.  Anon.  §  44 ;  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xl. 

*  Possibly  a  portion  of  those  relics  of  the  martyrs  which  Benedict  Biscop  had 
brought  into  England  a  few  years  previously,  and  distributed  among  the  neigh- 
bouring churches.     See  his  Life,  by  Beda,  §  6,  p.  607  of  this  volume. 


598  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  698. 

water  had  been  poured,  wherewith  his  dead  body  had  been  washed, 
and  taking  thence  a  httle  portion  of  the  mould,  he  put  it  into  water, 
and  carrying  this  to  the  sufferer,  he  poured  it  into  his  gaping  mouth 
as  he  was  uttering  horrible,  direful,  and  lamentable  sounds.  But 
as  soon  as  the  water  touched  him,  he  shut  his  mouth,  he  closed  his 
eyes,  which  before  were  staring,  bloodshot,  and  furious,  and  his  head 
and  his  whole  body  sank  into  quiet  repose.  Thus  he  passed  the 
night  in  placid  rest,  and  waking  in  the  morning  from  sleep,  as  well 
as  from  frenzy,  he  knew  that  he  was  freed  from  the  devil  that  vexed 
him  by  the  merits  and  intercession  of  the  blessed  Cudberct.  It 
was  a  man'ellous  and  delightful  spectacle  to  all  good  men  to  behold 
the  lad  restored  to  sound  health,  going  round  the  holy  places  in 
company  with  his  father ;  and  to  see  one  who  the  day  before, 
through  estrangement  of  mind,  could  not  tell  either  who  he  was,  or 
where  he  was,  now  in  perfect  soundness  of  mind  giving  thanks  for 
the  assistance  of  the  saints.  And  as  the  whole  community  of  the 
brethren  who  were  standing  by  saw  and  congratulated  him,  he  gave 
praise  before  the  relics  of  the  martyrs  on  bended  knees  to  the  Lord 
God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ;  and  being  now  delivered  from 
the  stripes  of  the  enemy,  and  more  strengthened  in  faith  than  ever, 
he  returned  to  his  own  home.  There  is  shown  to  this  day  the  very 
pit  into  which  this  memorable  water  was  poured  ;  it  is  in  the  form  of 
a  square,  in  every  part  surrounded  by  wood,  and  filled  with  pebbles. 
It  is  situated  near  the  church  in  which  the  body  of  Cudberct 
reposes,  to  the  south.  And  it  came  to  pass  from  that  time  that 
many  cures,  by  the  Lord's  permission,  were  wrought  by  these  same 
pebbles,  or  with  some  of  the  mould. 


Chap.  XLIL'  [a.d.  G9S.]  —  How  nis  Body  was  found  UNCOKKurrED  eleven 

YEARS  AFTERWARDS. 

§  70.  Now  it  pleased  the  divine  dispensation  to  manifest  more 
extensively  the  great  glory  in  which  this  holy  man  lived  after 
death,  whose  life  was  even  before  death  so  sublimely  attested  by 
numerous  miracles  ;  for  after  eleven  ycars^  had  passed  away  since 
his  interment,  the  same  divine  power  put  it  into  the  hearts  of  the 
brethren  to  raise  up  his  bones,  which  they  expected  to  have  found 
dry,  (as  is  usual  with  the  dead  when  the  rest  of  the  body  has  been 
consumed  and  reduced  to  dust,)  in  order  that  they  might  inclose 
his  remains  in  a  light  chest;'  and  they  intended  for  the  sake  of 
decent  veneration  to  deposit  these  in  the  same  place,  but  above 
(instead  of  below)  the  pavement.  When  they  expressed  this  their 
desire  to  Eadberct  their  bishop,  about  mid -lent,  he  assented  to 
their  proposal,  and  commanded  that  they  should  remember  to  do 
this  on  the  day  of  his  deposition,  which  occurred  on  the  thirtcentli 
of  the  kalends  of  April  [20th  March].     This  they  accordingly  did  ; 

'  Vit.  Anon.  §  43;  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xxxviii. ;  see  also  Eccl.  Hist.  IV.  xxx.  §  353. 
2  Therefore  in  the  year  698. 

^  The  correspontling  narrative  in  the  Eccl.  Hist.  §  353,  says  that  their  inten- 
tion \va,s  to  place  him  in  a  new  shrine  ("in  novo  locale"). 


A.D.  C98.]  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  599 

but  on  opening  the  sepulchre  they  found  his  whole  body  as 
entire  as  when  he  was  yet  living,  and  more  like  one  in  a  sound 
sleep  (for  the  joints  of  the  limbs  were  flexible)  than  one  who  was 
dead.  All  the  vestments/  moreover,  with  which  he  had  been 
clothed,  were  not  only  unsoiled,  but  even  appeared  in  all  their 
former  freshness  and  were  of  marvellous  brightness.  And  when  the 
monks  saw  this  they  were  presently  struck  with  exceeding  fear  and 
trembling,  so  that  they  could  scarcely  speak  a  word  :  they  hardly 
dared  to  look  upon  the  miracle  which  lay  before  them ;  scarcely  did 
they  know  what  to  do. 

§  71.  And  lifting  up  the  end  of  the  garments  to  give  proof  of 
the  incorruption  of  the  body,  (for  they  absolutely  feared  to  touch 
that  which  was  next  his  flesh,)  they  hurried  away  to  acquaint  the 
bishop  with  what  they  had  discovered,  for  at  this  time  he  happened 
to  be  dwelling  as  a  solitary  in  a  place  remote  from  the  monastery, 
girt  on  all  sides  by  the  flowing  waves  of  the  sea,  where  he  was 
always  wont  to  spend  the  whole  of  Lent,  as  well  as  the  forty  days 
before  our  Lord's  nativity,  in  great  devotion,  abstinence,  prayer, 
and  tears.  Here  also  his  venerable  predecessor  Cudberct,  before 
he  went  to  Fame,  as  we  related  above,'  wrestled  for  some  time  in 
secret  for  the  Lord.  They  also  brought  to  him  a  portion  of  the 
vestments  in  which  his  holy  body  had  been  wrapped.  These  tokens 
the  bishop  gratefully  received  ;  he  greatly  rejoiced  to  hear  of  the 
miracle,  and  with  marvellous  affection  he  kissed  the  wrappings  as  if 
they  yet  surrounded  the  body  of  the  father,  "  Gird,"  he  said, 
"his  body  with  fresh  wrappings,  instead  of  these  which  you  have 
removed,  and  so  place  him  in  the  chest  you  had  prepared.  For  I 
know  most  assuredly  that  the  place  which  has  been  consecrated  by 
so  great  a  miracle  from  heaven  shall  not  long  remain  vacant,  and 
blessed  exceedingly  is  he,  to  whom  the  Lord,  the  author  and  giver 
of  all  true  blessedness,  shall  vouchsafe  to  grant  a  place  of  rest 
therein."  And  he  added,  in  his  wonder,  what  I  once  composed  in 
verse,  and  said  : — 

§  72.  "  Who  can  express  the  noble  acts  of  the  Lord  ? 
Or  who  can  comprehend  the  riches  of  Paradise  ? 
AMiile  God,  in  his  mercy,  breaking  the  bonds  of  death, 
Hath  granted  to  him  perpetual  life  in  heaven. 
He  hath  adorn'd  his  lifeless  limbs  with  honour, 
Giving  fair  pledges  of  perpetual  wealth. 

How  blessed  the  abode  which  Thou  hast  prepared  for  him  — 
WTiich  Thou  hast  made  to  shine,  joyful  in  light. 
Easy  it  is  for  Thee  to  command  that  under  the  turf 
Gnawing  corruption  shall  not  devour  his  remains. 
O  Thou  who  for  three  days  didst  preser\'e  the  prophet  .Jonah, 
Opening  a  way  of  life  out  of  the  jaws  of  death  ! 
O  Thou  who  in  the  flames  didst  defend  the  Hebrew  children, 
Lest  the  Chaldean  fire  should  tarnish  the  beauty  of  Israel ! 
O  Thou  who  for  forty  years  didst  renew  thy  people's  raiment,' 
Whilst  through  the  pathless  desert  they  trod  an  unknown  Toad  ! 
O  Thou  who  into  members  formest  the  dust  and  ashes. 
When  at  the  trump  of  the  angel  the  world  shall  shake  on  its  axis ! " 


•  For  a  minute  and  most  interesting  account  of  the  vestments  and  other  relics 
which  were  found  in  the  tomb  of  St.  Cudberct  on  this  and  subsequent  occasions, 
see  the  work  of  the  Rev.  James  Raine,  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made 
at  §  43  of  the  Preface.  2  gee  §  29. 


GOO  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  69S. 

Wlien  the  bishop  had  ended  such  words  as  these,  and  more  than 
these,  accompanied  with  copious  tears,  with  great  compunction  and 
with  faltering  tongue  the  monks  did  as  they  were  commanded  ; 
and  the  body  having  been  wrapped  in  new  raiment  and  kiid  in  a 
hght  chest,  they  deposited  it  upon  the  pavement  of  tlie  sanctuary. 


Chap.  XLIIL'  [a.d.  698.]  — How  in  depositing  the  Body  of  Eadberct  thk 
Bishop  in  the  grave  of  the  man  of  God,  the  INIonks  placed  it  over  the 
body  op  cudberct. 

§  73.  Meanwhile  the  God-beloved  bishop-  Eadberct  was  seized 
with  a  severe  illness,  and  the  intensity  of  the  malady  increasing  daily, 
and  growing  worse  and  worse,  not  long  after,  that  is,  on  the  day 
before  the  nones  of  May  [6th  May],  he  also  departed  to  the  Lord, 
having  obtained  the  favour  from  Him,  which  he  had  most  earnestly 
sought,  namely  to  pass  out  of  the  body,  not  by  a  sudden  death,  but 
refined  by  a  long  sickness.  And  in  depositing  his  body  in  the 
tomb  of  the  blessed  father  Cudberct,  they  placed  it  over  the  chest, 
in  which  they  had  deposited  the  uncorrupted  members  of  the  same 
father ;  where  even  now,  when  the  faith  of  those  that  ask  exact  it, 
miraculous  signs  cease  not  to  be  manifested.  Yea,  also  the  vest- 
ments which  had  clothed  his  most  holy  body,  either  in  life  or  in 
death,  possess  in  like  manner  the  grace  of  healing. 


Chap.  XLIV.'  [a.d.  COS.] — How  a  Sick  Man  was  cured  by  Praying  at  his  tomb. 

§  74.  Lastly,  a  certain  clerk  of  the  most  reverend  and  most 
holy  Uuilbrord* — Clement,  bishop  of  the  nation  of  the  Frisians, 
who  had  come  from  the  parts  beyond  the  sea,  whilst  he  was  staying 
there  for  some  days  as  a  guest,  was  taken  with  a  very  grievous 
malady,  which  by  continually  increasing  for  a  long  time,  reduced 
him  to  a  very  liopeless  condition.  And  when  he  was  so  over- 
powered by  suffering,  that  he  appeared  to  himself  to  be  as  it  were 
suspended  between  life  and  death,  a  wholesome  thought  occurred 
to  him,  and  he  said  to  his  attendant,  "  I  pray  you,  conduct  me  this 
very  day,  after  the  celebration  of  mass,  to  pray  at  the  body  of  the 
most  holy  man  of  God."  (Now  it  was  the  Lord's  day.)  "  For  I 
hope,  by  the  grace  of  his  intercession,  to  be  delivered  from  tliesc 
torments,  so  that  I  may  either  return  cured  to  this  present  life,  or 
may  come,  when  dead,  to  that  which  is  everlasting."  The  other 
did  as  he  had  been  requested,  and  led  him,  but  with  difficulty, 
leaning  on  a  staff,  into  the  church.  And  when  he  came  to  the 
tomb  of  the  most  holy  and  God-licloved  father,  he  knelt  down, 
and  bowing  his  head  to  the  ground,  besought  his  cure.     And  no 

'  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xxxix. 

2  See  Acta  SS.  mens.  Maii,  ii.  107;  also  Eccl.  Hist.  §  Sf)!. 
^  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xli. ;  Vit.  Anon.  §  45. 

*  The  biography  of  this  eminent  missionary  will  be  given  in  another  volume  of 
our  collection. 


A.D.  698.J  BEDA  : LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  601 

sooner  had  he  done  this,  than  he  perceived  that  his  body  had 
acquired  so  much  strength  from  Cudberct's  uncorrupted  body,  that 
he  rose  up  with  ease  from  prayer ;  and  without  the  assistance  either 
of  his  attendant  to  lead  him,  or  a  staff  to  support  him,  he  returned 
to  the  hospice.  And  after  a  few  days,  his  strength  being  entirely 
restored,  he  proceeded  on  the  way  which  he  had  proposed. 


Chap.  XLV.'  [a.d.  698.] — How  a  Man  afflicted  with  the  Palsy  was  cured  by 
HIS  Shoes. 

§  75.  There  was  in  a  monastery  at  no  great  distance,  a  young 
man  who  had  lost  the  use  of  all  his  limbs,  by  that  disease  which 
the  Greeks  call  paralysis;  and  as  the  abbot  thereof  knew  that 
there  were  most  skilful  physicians  in  the  monastery  of  Lindisfarne, 
he  sent  him  thither,  begging,  that  if  anything  could  be  done  for 
him,  they  would  undertake  his  cure.  But  notwithstanding  the 
utmost  attention  paid  to  him  by  the  command  of  their  bishop  and 
abbot,  although  they  expended  upon  him  the  whole  of  their 
medical  skill,  his  complaint  entirely  baffled  them  ;  yea  rather,  the 
disease  increased  daily,  so  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  mouth,  his 
whole  body  was  deprived  of  the  power  of  motion.  And  as  he  lay 
despaired  of,  and  deserted  by  the  physicians  of  the  body,  who 
laboured  long  and  in  vain,  he  fled  for  refuge  to  the  heavenly 
Physician,  who  when  truly  entreated  looks  with  mercy  upon  all  our 
iniquities,  and  heals  all  our  sicknesses.  The  sick  man  accordingly 
besought  his  attendant  to  bring  to  him  a  portion  of  the  incor- 
ruptible relics  of  the  holy  body,  for  he  believed  that  by  its  virtue, 
and  the  bounty  of  the  Lord,  he  should  thereby  be  restored  to  the 
grace  of  health.  And  having  consulted  the  abbot,  he  took  the 
shoes,-  which  had  covered  the  feet  of  the  man  of  God,  in  the  tomb, 
and  put  them  on  the  paralysed  feet  of  the  sick  man  ;  for  the  malady 
had  first  attacked  him  in  the  feet.  Now  he  did  this  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  night,  at  the  usual  time  of  going  to  rest,  and 
immediately  he  fell  into  a  placid  sleep,  and  as  the  silence  of  the 
deep  night  advanced,  he  began  to  move  his  feet  alternately,  as  the 
attendants  who  watched,  and  saw  him,  plainly  perceived.  And  as 
the  virtue  of  healing  that  was  bestowed  through  the  relics  of  the 
holy  man  advanced,  the  soundness  he  had  prayed  for  continued  to 
pass  from  the  sole  of  the  feet  through  the  rest  of  his  limbs.  And 
when  the  wonted  signal  ^  in  the  monastery  for  nocturnal  prayer 
was  sounded,  the  man  awoke  from  sleep  and  sat  up,  and  forthwith 
his  nerves  and  all  the  joints  of  his  body,  being  strengthened  by 
internal  virtue,  and  the  pain  being  removed,  perceiving  that  he  was 
cured,  he  also  rose  up,  and  passed  the  whole  time  of  the  nocturnal 

1  Vit.  Metr.  cap.  xliii. ;  Vit.  Anon.  §  46. 

^  It  will  be  remembered  that  it  was  the  custom  to  bury  the  dead  body  in  the 
dress  which  the  deceased  had  worn  while  living.  See  Martene,  De  Antiq.  Monach. 
Ritibus,  V.  X.  §  87. 

^  On  the  different  modes  adopted  for  arousing  the  monks,  see  the  work  quoted 
in  the  last  note,  I.  i.  §  13. 


602  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAM  [a.D.  '  : 

psalmody,  or  matins,  standing,  and  giving  than  3  to  the  Lord. 
And  when  morning  was  now  come,  he  proceede  to  the  church  ; 
where,  all  seeing  and  congratulating  him,  he  we.  round  all  the 
holy  places,  praying  and  offering  the  sacrifice  (  praise  to  his 
Saviour.  And  it  came  to  pass,  by  a  most  beautifi  turn  of  events, 
that  he  who  was  borne  thither  in  a  carriage,  with  his  whole  body 
paralysed,  returned  home  from  that  place  in  sound  health,  with  all 
his  limbs  compact  and  strengthened.  Hence  it  is  delightful  to  call 
to  mind  "  that  this  is  the  change  of  the  right  hand  of  the  Most 
High,"  [Psal.lxxvi.  1 1,  Vulg.,]  whose  wonders  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world  are  to  be  had  in  remembrance,  and  cease  not  to  shine 
forth. 


Chap.  XLA'I.'  [a.d.  699.] — How  Felgeld,  the  Axchouite,  was  cleansed  fkom 
A  Tumour  in  ms  face  by  a  particle  of  uis  wall. 

§  7G.  Nor  do  I  think  that  another  heavenly  miracle  should  be 
passed  over,  which  the  divine  mercy  accomplished  even  by  the 
remains  of  the  most  holy  orator}',  in  which  the  venerable  solitary 
had  been  wont  to  combat  for  the  Lord.  Wliether,  however,  this 
miracle  is  to  be  ascribed  to  tlie  merits  of  the  same  blessed  father 
Cudberct,  or  of  his  successor  Aediluuald,  a  man  equally  devoted  to 
God,  the  Judge  of  hearts  knoweth.  Nor  docs  any  reason  forbid 
that  it  might  be  attributed  to  the  united  merits  of  both,  accom- 
panied by  the  faith  of  the  very  reverend  father  Felgeld,  for  whom, 
and  in  whom,  this  miracle  of  healing  which  I  am  now  about  to 
relate  was  wrought ;  for  he  was  the  third  inheritor  of  the  same 
place,  and  of  the  like  spiritual  warfare,  and  being  now  above  seventy 
years  of  age,  awaits  with  longing  desire  tlie  advent  of  the  life  to 
come,  and  the  end  of  the  present. 

§  77.  After  Cudberct,  the  man  of  God,  had  been  translated  to 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  Aediluuald^  began  to  be  an  inhabitant  of 
the  same  island  and  monastery.  He  was  one  who  had  been  pre- 
viously proved  for  many  years  in  monastic  discipline  in  the  same 
monastery,  and  who,  in  due  time,  was  found  worthy  to  ascend  to 
the  rank  of  a  hermit's  perfection.  He  found  however  that  the 
walls  of  the  oratory  there,  which  had  been  roughly  and  carelessly 
put  together,  had  fallen  into  great  disrepair  through  age,  and  that 
the  planks,  from  being  separated  one  from  the  other,  gave  ready 
access  to  the  stormy  winds.  But  as  the  venerable  man  looked 
more  to  the  beauty  of  the  heavenly  edifice  than  to  that  of  the 
earthly,  he  stopped  up  the  chinks  with  straw,  or  clay,  or  whatever 
other  material  he  could  find,  lest  he  should  be  hindered  from 
instant  prayer  l)y  the  daily  inclemency  of  the  rains  or  the  winds. 
When,  therefore,  Aediluuald  discovered  the  place  to  be  in  sucli  a 
condition,  he  asked  his  brethren  who  came  to  see  him,  to  bring  him 
a  calf's  hide,  which  he  nailed  up  to  stop  the  violence  of  the  storms, 
in  that  corner  in  which  he  and  his  predecessor  Cudberct  were  so 
often  wont  to  stand  or  kneel  in  prayer. 

•  Vit.  iletr.  cap.  xliv.— xlvi.  '  See  Eccl.  Hist.  V.  i.  §  359. 


A.D.  699.]  I'^DA: LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT.  603 

§  78.  Now  E  .er  having  completed  twelve'  continuous  years  in 
this  place,  he  '  so  entered  into  the  joy  which  is  above ;  and  when 
Felgeld,  who  \.  s  the  third  inmate,  began  to  inhabit  this  cell  and 
oratory,  it  plea  d  Eadfrid,^  the  very  reverend  bishop  of  the  church 
of  Lindisfarne,  o  restore  this  oratory  thoroughly  from  its  foundation, 
for  it  was  falling  into  ruin  through  age.  Now  when  this  work  was 
accomplished,  many  persons  in  their  devotion  besought  the  blessed 
soldier  of  Christ,  Felgeld,  to  give  them  some  particle  of  the  relics 
of  Cudberct,  who  was  so  beloved  of  God,  or  of  Aediluuald,  his  suc- 
cessor; and  so  he  proposed  to  cut  in  pieces  and  give  to  each  of  the 
petitioners  a  small  part  of  the  calf's  hide  mentioned  above.  But 
before  he  gave  it  to  others,  he  thought  it  good  first  to  try  on  himself 
what  virtue  it  might  possess.  Now  he  had  been  afflicted  for  a  long 
time  with  a  noisome  redness  and  tumour  in  the  face  ;  of  which  the 
symptoms  had  exhibited  themselves  while  he  was  yet  leading  a  life 
of  community  along  with  the  brethren.  But  since  he  had  become 
a  recluse,  he  took  less  care  of  his  body,  and  more  of  his  soul,  he 
became  more  austere,  and  as  if  shut  up  in  perpetual  imprisonment 
he  rarely  enjoyed  either  the  heat  of  the  sun,  or  the  breath  of  air, 
so  that  his  malady  increased  more  and  more,  and  the  inflamed 
tumour  covered  the  whole  of  his  face.  Fearing  therefore  that  the 
greatness  of  such  an  infirmity  should  oblige  him  to  forsake  his  soli- 
tary life,  and  to  return  to  one  of  community,  he  ventured  to  take  a 
liberty  in  the  exercise  of  his  faith  and  to  hope  for  a  cure,  through  the 
intercession  of  those  whose  abode  and  manner  of  life  he  rejoiced  to 
occupy  and  imitate.  Putting,  therefore,  a  portion  of  the  same  calf's 
hide  into  water,  he  washed  his  face  with  the  liquid,  and  immediately 
the  foul  tumour  and  ulcer  which  had  afflicted  it  entirely  departed. 
This  I  learned  from  a  devout  priest  of  this  monastery  of  Jarrow, 
who  told  me  that  he  was  well  acquainted  with  Felgeld's  face  when 
it  was  previously  swollen  and  deformed,  and  that  he  had  afterwards 
felt,  with  his  hand  through  the  window,  that  it  was  quite  cleansed, 
and  that,  at  a  late  period,  Felgeld  himself  affirmed  that  it  was  exactly 
as  the  priest  had  related  it ;  and  that,  from  that  time,  as  long  as  he 
remained  a  recluse,  which  was  for  a  long  continuance  of  years,  his 
face  was  entirely  freed  from  every  trouble  of  this  kind,  by  the  grace 
of  Almighty  God  ;  even  of  Him  who  has  been  ever  wont  to  cure 
many  in  this  life,  of  bodily  infirmities,  and  in  the  life  to  come,  of  all 
the  sicknesses  of  soul  and  body ;  and  who,  satisfying  our  desires  with 
good  things,  crowns  us  for  ever  in  His  mercy  and  loving-kindness. 
Amen. 


END    OF    THE    LIFE    OF    SAINT    CUDBERCT. 


He  died  therefore  in  699  or  700. 

It  was  to  this  Eadfrid  that  Beda  dedicated  the  present  piece  of  l:)iography. 


[a.d.  G53. 


THE    LIVES    OF    THE    BLESSED    ABBOTS 

BENEDICT,  CEOLFRID,  EOSTERWINE, 

SIGFRID.  AND  HUUAETBERCT. 


§  L  Biscop,  the  religious  servant  of  Christ,  surnamed  Benedict, 
assisted  by  grace  from  on  high,  built  a  monastery  in  honour  of 
Peter,  the  most  blessed  chief  of  the  apostles,  near  the  mouth  of 
the  river  Wear,  on  the  north  side,  being  aided  therein  by,  and 
having  a  gift  of  land  from,  Aecgfrid,  the  venerable  and  most  pious 
king  of  that  nation,  over  which  monastery  Biscop  carefully  ruled 
for  sixteen  years,  amid  innumerable  labours  arising  from  journeyings 
and  sicknesses;  and  this  he  did  in  the  same  spirit  of  religion  which 
had  induced  him  to  erect  it.  And  if  I  may  be  permitted  to  employ 
the  words  of  the  blessed  pope  Gregoiy,'  in  which  he  extols  the 
life  of  an  abbot  who  was  a  namesake,  "  he  was  a  man  of  a  venerable 
life,  blessed  equally  by  grace  and  name,  even  from  his  very  youth 
bearing  the  head  of  an  aged  person  ;  his  manners  were  in  advance 
of  his  years,  and  he  abandoned  his  soul  to  no  guilty  pleasures."  He 
was  descended  from  a  noble  family  from  among  the  nation  of  the 
Angles ;  ^  and  being  in  no  respect  inferior  in  nobility  of  mind,  he 
was  worthy  to  be  exalted  for  ever  into  the  society  of  the  angels.  And 
further,  when  he  was  the  minister  of  king  Osuiu,^  and  had  received 
from  him  a  possession  in  land  suitable  to  his  rank, — being  then  of 
about  the  age  of  twenty-five  years, — he  lightly  esteemed  this  tran- 
sitory inheritance,  in  order  that  he  might  obtain  that  which  is 
eternal ;  he  despised  the  warfare  of  this  world  with  its  corrujjtible 
rewards,  that  he  might  be  the  soldier  of  the  true  King,  and  be 
thought  worthy  to  possess  an  everlasting  kingdom  in  the  heavenly 
city.  He^  forsook  home,  kindred,  and  country  for  the  sake  of 
Christ  and  his  gospel,  that  he  might  receive  one  hundredfold,  and 
possess  the  life  which  is  eternal ;  he  refused  to  bring  himself  in 
subjection  to  marriage  after  the  Hosh,  that  being  pure  in  the  glory 
of  virginity,  he  might  be  enabled  to  follow  the  Lamb  in  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  ;  he  was  unwilling  to  become  the  parent  of  mortal 

"'  Greg.  Dial.  ii.  1,  0pp.  ii.  .^C. 

-  Benedict  Biscop,  called  also  Badncing  by  Fridegode,  in  his  life  of  Wilfrid, 
was  of  noble  family,  his  name  occurring  in  the  genealogy  of  the  princes  of  the 
I^indi.sfaras. 

•'  Osuiu  began  to  reign  in  642,  and  died  15tli  Feb.  670. 

*  Beda  here  sceni.s  to  have  had  in  view  the  sermon,  which  he  wrote  tipon  this 
text,  "  On  the  nativity  of  St.  Benedict  the  abbot,"  a  translation  of  which  is 
appended  to  thi.s  prcisent  treatise,  p.  620. 


AD.  6G3.]        BEUA  : LIVES  OF  THE  ABBOTS  BENEDICT,   ETC.  G05 

children  according  to  the  flesh,  having  been  predestinated  by  Christ 
to  rear,  by  spiritual  instruction,  for  Him  sons  who  should  be 
eternal  in  the  life  which  is  in  heaven. 

§  2.  Therefore,  having  left  his  country  he  went  to  Rome,^  being 
anxious  personally  to  visit  and  worship  at  the  places  in  which  were 
deposited  even  the  bodies  of  the  blessed  apostles,  towards  whom  it 
had  always  been  his  wont  to  feel  an  ardent  devotion.  Having 
speedily  returned  to  his  own  country,  he  did  not  desist  from  care- 
fully loving,  and  venerating,  and  proclaiming  to  all  to  whom  he 
could  address  himself,  the  institutes  of  ecclesiastical  life  which  he 
had  witnessed.  At  this  time  Alchfrid,^  son  of  the  before-named 
king  Osuiu,  having  planned  a  journey  to  Rome  that  he  might 
worship  at  the  shrines  of  the  apostles,  accepted  Benedict  as  the 
companion  of  his  journey.  But  the  king,  his  father,  recalling  him 
from  this  intended  expedition,  and  causing  him  to  reside  in  his  own 
country  and  kingdom,  Benedict  nevertheless,  like  a  youth  of  a  good 
disposition,  immediately  put  into  execution  this  journey*  which  he 
had  projected,  and  with  the  greatest  haste  returned  to  Rome  during 
the  pontificate  of  the  pope  Vitalian  of  blessed  memory,  whom  we 
have  mentioned  above.  On  this,  as  on  the  former  occasion,  he 
imbibed  the  sweets  of  no  small  amount  of  salutary  learning;  and 
after  some  few  months,  departing  from  thence,  on  his  return  he 
went  to  the  island  of  Lirins,  where  he  associated  himself  with  the 
society  of  monks  there  resident,  where  he  received  the  tonsure, 
and  having  taken  on  himself  the  discipline  which  is  according  to 
rule  and  the  monastic  vow,  he  kept  the  same  with  all  due  care  ; 
and  here,  after  having  been  instructed  for  the  course  of  two  years 
in  the  learning  suited  for  the  monastic  conversation,  he  felt  himself 
constrained  by  the  love  of  the  blessed  Peter,  the  chief  of  the 
apostles,  again  to  revisit  the  city  consecrated  by  his  body. 

§  3.'*  Not  long  after  this,  the  arrival  of  a  trading  vessel  enabled 
him  to  gratify  his  desire.  Ecgbercht,  king  of  Kent,  had  at  that 
time  sent  out  of  Britain  a  person  named  Uigghard,  who  had  been 
elected  to  the  office  of  bishop  ;  he  was  a  person  who  had  been 
sufficiently  instructed  in  every  kind  of  ecclesiastical  institution  by 
the  Roman  disciples  of  the  blessed  pope  Gregoiy,  in  Kent.  It 
was  Ecgbercht's  desire  that  he  should  be  ordained  at  Rome  as  his 
own  bishop,  so  that  possessing  a  bishop  of  his  own  nation  and 
language,  he  himself,  and  the  people  who  were  subject  to  him, 
might  become  the  more  perfectly  instructed  in  the  words  and  the 
mysteries  of  the  faith,  inasmuch  as  he  would  then  receive  them, 
not  through  the  medium  of  an  interpreter,  but  from  the  tongue 
and  the  hands  of  a  kinsman  and  fellow-countiyman.  This  Uicghard,^ 

'  He  left  England  in  the  society  of  Wilfrid,  whom  he  accompanied  as  far  as 
Lyons  (Eccl.  Hist.  V.  xix.  §  413).  This  was  in  the  middle  of  the  year  654,  accord- 
ing to  Pagi  (a.d.  658,  §  9),  or  in  the  previous  year,  according  to  Smith's  calculation. 

2  See  Eccl.  Hist.  IV.  sis.  §  416. 

*  Florence  of  Worcester  places  this  in  665,  with  which  Smith  agrees. 

*  This  his  third  voyage  to  Eome  was  accomplished  in  667,  or  668,  as  appears 
from  a  comparison  of  these  facts  with  the  incidents  mentioned  in  the  Eccl.  Hist. 
III.  sxis.  and  IV.  i. 

5  See  Eccl.  Hist.  IV.  i.  §  252. 


GOG  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  C71. 

however,  on  his  arrival  at  Rome,  died,  of  a  disease  then  spreading:, 
before  he  had  attained  to  the  rank  of  the  pontificate,  as  also  did  all 
his  companions  who  accompanied  him.  In  order  that  this  pious 
embassy  of  the  faithful  should  not  fail  in  its  due  fruits  by  conse- 
quence of  the  decease  of  the  ambassadors,  the  apostolic  pope, 
having  taken  the  matter  into  deliberation,  chose  one  of  his  own 
people  to  send  as  an  archbishop  into  Britain;  Theodore,  namely, 
a  person  skilled  no  less  in  secular  than  in  ecclesiastical  philosophy, 
and  this  in  Greek  as  well  as  in  Latin ;  and  he  assigned  to  him,  as 
his  colleague  and  counsellor,  a  man  equally  energetic  and  prudent, 
the  abbot  Hadrian.  And  as  he  had  observed  that  the  venerable 
Benedict  was  a  man  of  a  mind  fraught  with  wisdom,  perseverance, 
religion,  and  nobleness,  to  him  he  entrusted  the  bishop  whom  he 
had  ordained,  together  with  all  his  party  ;  and  he  enjoined  Bene- 
dict to  abandon  the  pilgrimage  which  he  had  undertaken  for 
Christ's  sake,  and  out  of  regard  to  a  higher  advantage  to  return 
homewards  and  introduce  into  England  that  teacher  of  the  trutli 
whom  it  had  so  earnestly  sought  after  ;  to  whom  he  might  become 
no  less  a  guide  on  the  journey  than  an  interpreter  in  his  teaching 
after  his  arrival.  Benedict  did  as  he  was  commanded ;  they 
arrived  in  Kent  ;^  they  were  most  cordially  received  ;  Theodore 
ascended  the  throne  of  his  episcopal  see ;  Benedict  undertook  the 
government  of  the  monastery  of  the  blessed  Peter  the  apostle,  of 
which  at  a  later  period  the  aforesaid  Hadrian  was  made  the  abbot. 
§  4.  Here  he  ruled  this  monastery  for  two  years,  after  which  he 
completed,  with  his  usual  good  success,  a  third  journey'  which  lie 
undertook  to  Rome,  and  brought  back  with  him  no  inconsiderable 
number  of  books  on  every  branch  of  sacred  literature  ;  and  these 
he  had  either  bought  at  a  price,  or  received  as  presents  from  his 
friends.  Arriving  at  Vienne  on  his  homeward  journey,  he  received 
back  the  books  which  he  had  purchased,  and  which  he  liad  entrusted 
to  their  keeping.  On  his  entry  into  Britain,  he  thought  to  have  gone 
to  Conuualh,^  king  of  the  West  Saxons,  (whose  friendship  he  had 
more  than  once  experienced,  and  by  whose  good  services  he  had 
been  assisted,)  but  at  this  very  time  he  was  cut  off  by  a  premature 
death  ;  and  Benedict,  bending  his  steps  to  his  native  people  and  the 
district  in  which  he  had  been  born,  visited  Aecfrid,  the  king  of 
the  region  beyond  the  Humbcr.  To  him  he  recapitulated  all  his 
exploits  since  the  time  when,  in  his  youth,  he  had  left  his  home  ; 
he  did  not  conceal  the  desire  for  a  religious  life  with  which  he  burned ; 
he  explained  to  him  the  whole  of  the  ecclesiastical  and  monastic 
institutions  which  he  had  learned  cither  at  Rome  or  elsewhere  ;  he 
displayed  the  many  divine  volumes  and  the  numerous  relics  of  the 
lilesscd  apostles  and  martyrs  of  Christ ;  and  so  intimate  was  the 
gracious  friendship  to  which  he  was  admitted,  that  the  king  imme- 
diately granted  him,  from  his  own  property,  land  for  seventy  fami- 
lies, and  commanded  him  thereon  to  erect  a  monastery  [to  be 

'  Theodore  arrived  in  Kent  679. 

-  The  third  journey  from  Britain,  but  in  reality  the  fourth  to  Rome,  took  place 
in  071,  two  years,  namely,  after  the  ari-ival  of  Theodore  at  Canterbury. 
^  The  Saxon  Chronicle  places  the  death  of  Conuiialh  in  072. 


A.D.  G78.]       BEDA  : LIVES  OF  THE  ABBOTS  BENEDICT,  ETC.  607 

dedicated]  to  the  chief  pastor  of  the  church.  And  this  he  did,  as 
I  mentioned  in  the  prologue,'  at  the  left^  of  the  river  Wear,  in  the 
year  674  from  our  Lord's  incarnation,  in  the  second  indiction, 
and  in  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  king  Ecgfrid. 

§  5.  After  an  interval  of  not  more  than  a  single^  year  from  the 
foundation  of  the  monastery,  Benedict  crossed  the  ocean  and 
passed  into  Gaul,  when  he  made  inquiry  for  masons  who  could 
build  him  a  church  of  stone  after  the  Roman  style,  which  he 
always  loved.  These  he  obtained,  and  brought  them  home  with 
him  ;  and  such  zeal  in  the  work  did  he  exhibit — out  of  his  love 
for  the  blessed  Peter,  to  whose  honour  he  was  doing  this — that  in 
the  course  of  one  year  from  the  time  when  the  foundations  were 
laid,  the  church  was  roofed  over,  and  within  it  you  might  have 
witnessed  the  celebration  of  masses.  When  the  work  was  drawing 
to  its  completion,  he  sent  messengers  to  Gaul  to  bring  over  glass - 
makers  (a  kind  of  workman  hitherto  unknown  in  Britain)  to  glaze 
the  windows  of  the  church,  and  its  aisles*  and  chancels.  And  so 
it  happened  that  when  they  came  they  not  only  accomplished  that 
particular  work  which  was  required  of  them,  but  from  this  time 
they  caused  the  English  nation  to  understand  and  learn  this  kind 
of  handicraft,  which  was  of  no  inconsiderable  utility  for  the 
enclosing  of  the  lamps  of  the  church,  or  for  various  uses  to  which 
vessels  are  put.  Moreover  this  religious  trader  took  care  to  import 
from  the  regions  beyond  the  sea,  if  he  could  not  find  them  at  home, 
whatever  related  to  the  ministry  of  the  altar  and  the  church,  and  to 
holy  vessels,  and  vestments. 

§  6.  And  since  there  were  some  things  necessary  for  the 
ornament  and  defence  of  his  church,  which  this  diligent  provider 
could  not  discover  even  in  Gaul,  these  he  obtained  from  Rome  ; 
and  thus  completing  his  fourth  journey,^  (after  he  had  established 
his  monastery  according  to  rule,)  he  returned  laden  with  a  more 
abundant  supply  of  spiritual  merchandize  than  hitherto.  In  the 
first  place,  he  imported  a  numberless  collection  of  all  kinds  of 
books.  Secondly,  he  introduced  an  abundant  grace  of  the  relics  of 
the  blessed  apostles  and  martyrs  of  Christ,  which  were  profitable  to 
many  a  church  of  the  English.  Thirdly,  he  brought  in  to  his  own 
monastery  the  order  of  chanting,  singing,  and  ministering  in  the 
church,  according  to  the  manner  of  the  Roman  institution  ;  having 

'  See  §  1. 

-  Tliat  is,  on  the  northern  bank. 

^  Beda  here  means  that  only  one  completed  year  intervened ;  for  we  learn  from 
the  anonymous  narrative,  upon  which  this  present  piece  of  biography  is  founded, 
that  this  event  occun-ed  during  the  second  year  after  the  monastery  had  been 
founded ;  therefore  in  676,  or,  perhaps,  in  677. 

*  "...  ad  cancellandas  ecclesite,  porticuumque  et  coenaculorum  ejus  fenestras . . ." 
are  the  expressions  used  in  the  original.  The  translation  is  offered  with  hesi- 
tation. "  The  Latin  term,  porticus,  which  certainly  sometimes  means  a  porch,  is 
used  by  Middle-age  authors  in  various  senses,  sometimes  for  a  bay  of  an  aisle, 
especially  if  fitted  up  with  an  altar  as  a  chapel.  See  Bentham's  History  of  Ely, 
p.  18,  and  Archreolog.  xiii.  290,  308." — Glossary  of  ArcJdtecture. 

5  This  expedition  (his  fourth  from  England,  but  really  his  fifth  to  Rome) 
should  probably  be  referred  to  the  year  678,  pope  Agatho,  who  is  presently  men- 
tioned in  conjunction  with  it,  having  been  consecrated  in  the  June  or  July  of 
that  year. 


G08  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  CSS. 

asked  and  obtained  from  pope  Agatho,  permission  to  take  back 
\vith  him  into  Britain'  John,  the  archchanter  of  the  church  of  the 
blessed  apostle  Peter,  and  abbot  of  the  monastery  of  the  blessed 
Martin,  a  Roman,  who  was  to  become  the  future  master  of  his  own 
monastery,  and  of  the  English  nation.  On  his  arrival  there,  this 
man  not  only  delivered  orally  to  his  scholars  what  he  had  learned 
at  Rome,  but  left  behind  him  a  number  of  things  which  he  had 
committed  to  writing  ;  which,  for  the  sake  of  being  held  in  remem- 
brance, are  still  preserved  in  the  library  of  the  said  monastery. 
Fourthly,  Benedict  brought  no  mean  gift,  namely,  an  epistle  of 
privileges,^  conferred  upon  the  monastery  by  the  venerable  pope 
Agatho  ;  and  this  he  had  obtained  by  the  permission,  consent, 
desire,  and  encouragement  of  kingEcgfrid.by  which  instrument  it  was 
made  perpetually  exempt  and  totally  safe  and  free  from  all  external 
invasion.  Fifthly,  he  carried  home  with  him  paintings  of  holy 
subjects  for  the  ornament  of  the  church  of  the  blessed  Peter  the 
apostle,  which  he  had  built :  a  representation,  namely,  of  the  blessed 
mother  of  God,  and  ever-virgin  Mary,  as  well  as  of  the  twelve 
apostles,  which  girt  the  middle  "  testudo  "  of  the  same  church,  u 
boarding  having  been  run  from  wall  to  wall :  the  figures  of  the 
gospel  history,  with  which  to  decorate  the  southern  part  of  the 
church  :  the  images  of  the  visions  of  the  apocalj^se  of  the  blessed 
John,  with  which,  in  like  manner,  he  purposed  to  decorate  the 
wall  on  the  north  ; — to  the  intent  that  all  who  entered  the  church, 
even  if  ignorant  of  letters,  might  be  able  to  contemplate,  in  what 
direction  soever  they  looked,  the  ever-gracious  countenance  of 
Christ  and  his  saints,  even  though  it  were  in  a  representation  ;  or 
with  a  more  wakeful  mind,  might  be  reminded  of  the  grace  of  our 
Lord's  incarnation  ;  or,  having  as  it  were  the  strictness  of  the  last 
judgment  before  their  eyes,  should  thereby  be  cautioned  to  examine 
themselves  with  the  more  narrow  scrutiny. 

§  7.  So  it  was  that  king  Ecgfrid,  much  delighted  with  the 
virtue,  industry,  and  piety  of  the  venerable  Benedict,  made  a  further 
donation '  of  land  to  that  which  he  had  formerly  given  him  for  tlie 
erection  of  the  monastery ;  for,  perceiving  that  he  had  laid  it  out 
well  and  profitably,  he  took  care  to  augment  with  a  gift  equivalent 
to  the  possession  of  forty  families.  And  here,  at  the  advice,  or 
rather  at  the  command  of  the  aforesaid  king  Ecgfrid,  after  the 
interval  of  one  year,  Benedict  sent  about  eighteen  monks,  over 
whom  he  placed  Ceolfrid  as  their  abbot  and  presbyter ;  and  he 
built  the  monastery  of  the  blessed  apostle  Paul,  on  this  principle— 
that  mutual  peace  and  concord,  mutual  and  perpetual  affection  and 
kindness,  should  be  continued  between  the  two  places ;  so  that, 
(for  the  sake  of  illustration,)  just  as  the  body  may  not  be  severed  from 
the  head  by  which  it  breathes,  nor  may  the  head  forget  the  body, 
without  which  it  has  no  life, — in  like  manner  no  one  should  attempt 
in  any  way  to  disturb  the  union  between  these  two  monasteries, 

•  See  Eccl.  Hist.  IV.  xviiL  §  305. 
-  See  lljid. 

^  From  the  information  contained  in  the  anonymous  legend,  \vc  may  place  this 
new  donation  as  having  occurred  a.d.  G8'2. 


A.D.  685.]       BEDA  :— LIVES  OF  THE  ABBOTS  BENEDICT,  ETC.  G09 

joined  together  as  they  were  in  the  brotherly  concord  of  the  two 
chief  of  the  apostles.  In  this  undertaking,  Benedict's  most  stre- 
nuous assistant  was  Ceolfrid,  (whom  he  had  appointed  abbot,)  from 
the  very  first  commencement  of  the  earlier  monastery,  and  who  at 
the  fitting  time  had  gone  with  him  to  Rome,  as  well  for  the  purpose 
of  learning  all  necessaiy  instruction  as  for  prayer.  On  which 
occasion  he  also  chose  the  priest  Eosteruini  to  be  abbot  of  the 
monastery  of  the  blessed  Peter,  and  placed  him  as  a  lawfid  ruler 
over  the  same  ;  in  order  that  the  labour  which,  if  borne  by  one 
individual,  was  insupportable,  might  be  lightened  by  the  courage  of 
this  dearly  beloved  fellow- soldier.  Nor  let  it  appear  strange  to  any 
person  that  one  monastery  should  have  two  abbots  at  one  and  the 
same  time  ;  for  this  was  occasioned  by  his  frequent  absence  for  the 
good  of  that  establishment,  and  by  his  repeated  journeys  backwards 
and  fonvards  across  the  ocean.  Histoiy  relates  that  the  most  blessed 
Peter  the  apostle,*  under  the  pressure  of  an  urgent  occasion,  ap- 
pointed under  him  two  pontiifs,  who  should  in  due  course  govern 
the  church  at  Rome  ;  and  the  great  abbot  Benedict  ^  himself,  as 
the  blessed  pope  Gregory  writes  concerning  him,  placed  twelve 
abbots  over  his  disciples  (for  so  he  thought  it  expedient  to  do) ;  and 
this  without  breach  of  love,  or  rather  for  its  increase. 

§  8.  This  person  ^  then,  of  whom  we  have  spoken,  undertook 
the  care  of  governing  the  monastery  in  the  ninth  *  year  after  its 
foundation,  and  he  remained  in  the  office  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  four  years  afterwards.  He  was  noble  by  worldly  birth  ; 
but,  unlike  some,  he  did  not  make  this  honour  of  his  nobility  an 
occasion  for  boastfulness  and  for  despising  others ;  but  rather  he 
employed  it  as  conducive  to  greater  nobility  of  mind,  as  becomes 
the  servant  of  God.  He  was  the  cousin  of  his  abbot  Benedict ;  but 
so  great  was  the  simplicity  of  disposition  in  both  of  them,  so  great 
their  contempt  for  the  nobility  of  this  world,  that  the  one,  when 
he  entered  the  monastery,  sought  no  honour  for  himself  above  the 
others,  out  of  regard  to  his  kindred  or  high  birth,  nor  did  the  other 
think  of  oftering  it ;  but  this  youth,  in  his  good  intentions,  was 
satisfied  in  submitting  to  the  regular  discipline,  exactly  as  did  the 
rest  of  the  brethren.  So  much  was  this  the  case,  that  he,  who  had 
been  the  minister  of  king  Aecgfrid,  leaving  at  once  all  worldly 
business,  and  laying  down  his  arms,  and  devoting  himself  solely  to 
spiritual  warfare,  continued  so  humble,  so  like  the  rest  of  the 
brethren,  that  it  was  a  pleasure  to  him  obediently  to  be  employed, 
along  with  them,  in  winnowing  and  grinding,  in  milking  the  ewes 
and  cows,  in  working  in  the  bakehouse,  the  garden,  and  the  kitchen, 
and  in  every  other  occupation  in  the  monasteij.  Even  after  he 
had  assumed  the  title  and  rank  of  abbot,  he  retained  the  same  dis- 
position to  all  men  as  he  had  done  before,  according  to  the  admo- 

>  See  Ephiphan.  Hseres.  xxvii.  Natal.  Alexand.  Hist.  Eccl.  iv.  369.  Mabillon 
(sec.  ii.  p.  1005)  has  collected  other  examples  of  a  similar  arrangement. 

2  Vita  S.  Bencdicti,  cap.  viii.  ap.  Mabill.  Acta  SS.  sec.  i.  p.  10. 

•''  Concerning  Easterwiu,  see  the  Acta  SS.  mens.  Mart.  i.  652. 

*  Wearmouth  having  been  founded  in  674,  the  incident  here  mentioned  in  the 
test  must  be  refei-red  to  682. 

VOL.   I.  R    R 


GIO  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  CSo. 

nition  of  a  certain  wise  man,  who  says,  "  Tliey  have  made  thee 
a  ruler,  be  not  puffed  up,  but  be  among  them  hke  one  of  them- 
selves, meek,  affable,  and  gentle  to  all."  And  yet  of  a  truth, 
whenever  he  saw  it  necessar}^  he  checked  the  sinner  with  the 
discipline  which  is  according  to  rule ;  but  such  was  his  innate 
loving  disposition,  that  he  preferred  warning  those  persons  who 
were  inclined  to  sin,  that  they  should  not  by  so  doing  cloud  the 
clear  light  of  his  countenance,  by  bringing  over  it  a  shadow  of 
disquiet.  Frequently,  when  he  went  out  anywhere  for  the  further- 
ance of  the  business  of  the  monaster)',  whenever  he  found  tlie 
l)rethren  at  work,  it  was  his  custom  to  join  them  forthwith  in  their 
labour,  either  by  directing  the  plough-handle,  or  working  iron  with 
the  forge-hammer,  or  using  the  winnowing-fan  in  his  hand,  or  doing 
something  or  other  of  the  same  sort ;  for  he  was  a  youth  of  great 
strength  and  of  pleasing  address,  of  a  cheerful  temper,  and  of  a 
liberal  disposition  and  comely  presence.  He  partook  of  the  same 
food  as  did  the  other  brethren,  and  always  took  his  meals  in  the 
same  house  ;  he  slept  in  the  same  common  dormitor}^  as  he  had 
done  before  being  made  abbot ;  so  that  even  after  his  disease  came 
upon  him,  and  when  he  was  well  assured  from  undoubted  signs 
that  the  day  of  his  death  was  at  hand,  he  still  continued  for  two 
days  in  the  common  dormitory  of  the  brethren.  The  remaining 
hve  days  before  the  hour  of  his  death  lie  spent  in  a  more  private 
abode,  and  on  the  veiy  day  of  his  decease,  he  came  out,  and  seating 
himself  in  the  open  air,  he  called  to  him  all  the  brethren  ;  and  as 
his  kindly  disposition  prompted  him,  he  gave  the  kiss  of  peace  to 
them  as  they  were  weeping  and  lamenting  for  the  departure  of  so 
good  a  father  and  shepherd.  He  died  on  the  nones  of  March 
[March  7,  685],  in  the  night,  while  the  brethren  were  engaged  in 
the  lauds  the  morning  psalmody.  He  was  twenty-four  years  old 
wlicn  he  entered  the  monasteiy,  he  lived  twelve  years  in  it ;  he 
spent  seven  years  in  the  office  of  the  priesthood,  four  of  which  he 
devoted  to  the  government  of  the  monastery;  and  thus  deserting 
his  earthly  limbs  and  dying  members,  he  sought  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

§  9.  Having  thus  briefly  touched  upon  those  incidents  in  the  life 
of  the  venerable  Aeosteruuyni,  let  us  return  to  the  order  of  our 
narrative.  When  Benedict  had  appointed  this  man  abbot  over 
the  monastery  of  the  blessed  Peter  the  apostle,  and  Ceolfrid  over 
that  of  the  blessed  Paul,  he  shortly  afterwards  proceeded,  for  the  fifth 
time,'  from  Britain  to  Rome,  and  he  returned  (as  was  his  custom) 
enriched  with  countless  gifts  for  ecclesiastical  purposes  ;  enriched, 
I  say,  with  an  equally  large  supply  of  sacred  volumes,  and  no  less 
abundance  of  holy  representations  than  on  previous  occasions.  He 
then  brought  with  him  paintings  illustrative  of  our  Lord's  history, 
with  which  he  encircled  the  whole  church  of  the  blessed  mother  of 
God  which  he  had  erected  in  the  larger  monastery ;  and  for  the 
adorning  of  the  monastery  and  the  church  of  the  blessed  apostle  Pam 
he  brought  images  exhibiting  and  illustrating  the  harmony  between 
the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments,  admirably  composed ;    as  for 

'  This  was  in  684,  and  he  returned  in  685. 


.\.D.  (J85.]       BEDA  :— LIVES  OF  THE  ABBOTS  BENEDICT,   ETC.  611 

example,  the  painting  represented,  in  immediate  juxtaposition,  Isaac 
bearing  the  wood  on  which  he  was  to  be  slain,  and  our  Lord  carrying 
the  cross  on  which  He  was  to  suffer  ;  the  serpent  raised  up  by  Moses 
in  the  wilderness  was  compared  with  the  Son  of  man  exalted  upon 
the  cross.  He  also  brought  home,  among  other  things,  two  silken 
palls  of  incomparable  workmanship,  with  which  he  afterwards  pur- 
chased from  king  Aldfrid  and  his  counsellors  (for  on  his  return  he 
found  that  king  Ecgfrid  was  already  slain)  land  equivalent  for  three 
families,  on  the  south  bank  of  the  river  Wear,  near  its  mouth. 

§  10.  But  amidst  the  prosperity  which  on  his  return  he  brought 
with  him,  he  found  sorrows  awaiting  him  at  home  ;  namely,  that  the 
venerable  presbyter,  Eosteruuini  (whom  at  his  departure  he  had 
appointed  abbot),  and  no  small  number  of  the  body  of  the  brethren 
committed  to  his  care,  had  died  by  the  pestilence  which  was  then 
everywhere  raging.  Yet  there  was  this  consolation,  namely,  that  he 
presently  discovered  that  Sicgfrid  the  deacon,  a  man  no  less  reverend 
than  meek,  had  been  appointed  as  the  successor  of  Eosteruuyni 
over  the  same  monastery,  by  the  choice  as  well  of  his  own  brethren 
as  also  of  his  fellow-abbot,  Ceolfrid.  He  was  a  man  thoroughly 
skilled  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  adorned  with  most  ex- 
cellent manners,  endowed  with  wonderful  power  of  abstinence  ;  yet 
one  in  whom  bodily  infirmity  depressed,  to  a  great  degree,  the  activity 
of  the  virtues  of  the  mind,  and  who,  under  the  affliction  of  a  danger- 
ous and  incurable  disease  of  the  lungs,  preserved  innocency  of  heart. 

§  11.  Not  long  after  this,  Benedict  himself  began  to  be  oppressed 
with  disease.  For  in  order  that  the  kindred  virtue  of  patience 
might  give  proof  of  their  continuance  in  well-doing,  God's  loving- 
kindness  stretched  them  both  upon  the  bed  of  temporal  sickness, 
that  after  they  had  overcome  sorrow  by  death.  He  might  cherish 
them  in  that  perpetual  rest  of  peace  and  light  which  is  above.  For, 
as  we  have  said,  Sigfrid,  chastened  by  a  long  internal  disease,  drew 
near  his  end,  and  Benedict  was  so  reduced  by  palsy — which  had 
gradually  and  slowly  increased  upon  him  for  three  years — that  he 
was  entirely  dead  in  the  lower  extremities,  the  upper  portion  of  the 
body,  without  which  life  cannot  be  sustained,  being  resei-ved  alive 
for  the  exhibition  of  his  patience  and  virtue  ;  and  yet  they  both 
studied  how,  in  their  sorrows,  they  might  give  continual  thanks  to 
their  Creator,  how  they  might  always  be  employed  in  praising  God 
and  exhorting  their  brethren.  Benedict  very  frequently  discoursed 
with  the  brethren  who  came  to  him,  with  the  object  of  confirming 
them  in  keeping  the  rule  which  he  had  given  them ;  thus  saying : 
"  Do  not  imagine  that  the  rules  which  I  have  laid  down  for  you 
I  have  derived  from  my  own  untutored  heart ;  for  whatever  I  dis- 
covered to  be  the  most  valuable  in  the  management  of  the  seven- 
teen monasteries  which  I  visited  during  my  long  and  frequent 
travels,  with  all  those  I  made  myself  acquainted,  and  have  given 
them  to  you  for  your  profit  and  guidance."  He  commanded  that 
the  most  noble  and  most  precious  library  which  he  had  brought 
from  Rome,  and  which  was  necessary  for  the  instruction  of  the 
cliurch,  should  be  carefully  preserved  entire,  enjoining  that  it  should 
neither  be  soiled  by  neglect,  nor  broken  up  and  dispersed.  There 
R  R  2 


Ol2  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.d.  688. 

was  one  injunction  wliicla  lie  was  used  to  repeat  frequently  and 
earnestly ;  namely  this,  that  in  making  choice  of  an  abbot,  they 
should  rather  seek  after  probity  of  life  and  doctrine,  than  exalted 
birth.  "xVnd  I  tellyouof  atruth,"  he  said,  "that  in  the  comparison  of 
two  evils,  it  would  be  much  more  tolerable  for  me  that  this  whole 
place,  in  which  I  have  built  a  monaster)^  should  be  reduced  into 
an  eternal  wilderness,  should  God  so  please  it,  rather  than  that  any 
brother  of  mine  according  to  the  flesh,  of  whom  we  are  assured  that 
he  has  not  entered  into  the  way  of  truth,  should  succeed  me  as 
abbot  in  its  government.  Therefore,  my  brethren,  be  exceedingly 
careful  that  you  never  choose  a  father  on  account  of  his  high  birth, 
nor  one  from  any  foreign  place  ;  but  in  accordance  with  the  rule  of 
our  former  abbot,  the  great  Benedict,  (as  is  contained  in  the  decrees 
of  our  bull  of  privilege,)  seek  out,  with  common  consent,  in  the 
convent  of  your  own  congregation,  for  the  man  who,  by  reason  of 
his  virtuous  life  and  wise  doctrine,  shall  appear  the  most  worthy 
and  best  fitted  for  the  discharge  of  such  an  office,  and  choose  that 
person  whom  all  consider  the  best,  according  to  this  inquiry  of 
unanimous  love  ;  and  having  summoned  the  bishop,  let  him  be 
entreated  that  this  man  be  confirmed  as  your  abbot,  with  the  accus- 
tomed blessing.  For,"  said  he,  "  those  who  beget  sons  according 
to  the  flesh  must  of  necessity  seek  heirs  who  are  according  to  the 
flesh,  that  they  may  inherit  a  possession  which  is  carnal  and  earthly; 
but  they  who  beget  spiritual  sons  to  God  by  the  spiritual  seed  of 
the  Word,  whatever  they  do  ought  to  be  spiritual.  Let  them,  then, 
reckon  him  the  eldest  son  among  their  spiritual  children,  who  is 
endowed  with  the  more  abundant  grace  of  the  Spirit;  just  as  earthly 
])arents  are  wont  to  acknowledge  their  first-born  son  as  the  chief 
among  their  other  oflspring,  and  to  him  they  give  the  preference 
in  the  division  of  the  heritage." 

§  12.  Nor  is  tliis  to  be  passed  over,  namely,  that  the  venerable 
abbot  Benedict,  to  moderate  the  w^eariness  of  the  long  night,  which 
he  frequently  passed  in  sleeplessness,  in  consequence  of  the  pressure 
of  his  infirmity,  having  summoned  a  reader,  requested  that  there 
should  be  read  to  him  the  example  aftbrded  by  the  patience  of  Job, 
f)r  some  other  passage  of  Scripture,  by  which  a  sick  man  might  be 
comforted,  or  by  which  one  bent  down  by  infirmities  might  be  the 
more  spiritually  elevated  to  heavenly  things.  And  being  entirely 
unable  to  rise  from  his  bed  to  pray,  and  as  it  was  difficult  for  him 
to  raise  his  voice  to  fulfil  the  senice  of  the  usual  psalmody,  he 
learnt,  (for  he  was  a  wise  man,  and  his  love  of  religion  taught  it  to 
him,)  on  the  recurrence  of  each  successive  hour  of  the  daily  or 
nightly  prayer,  to  summon  some  of  the  brethren  to  him,  that  they 
niii;ht  sing  the  accustomed  psalms,  in  two  choirs,  he  himself  joining 
with  them,  to  tlie  best  of  his  ability;  and  so,  by  their  assistance,  he 
siippMcd  that  which  he  was  unable  of  himself  to  accomplish. 

§  13.  And  now  both  of  these  abbots  perceived  that  they  were 
worn  out  by  their  long-continued  infirmity,  and  that  death  was  not 
far  distant  from  either,  and  that  neither  of  them  was  any  longer 
(jualified  for  the  government  of  the  monastery, — for  so  great  on 
them  was  bodily  affliction,  tlioiigh  in  it  was  perfected  the  strength 


A.D.  GS9.]       BEDA  : LIVES  OF  THE  ABBOTS  BENEDICT,   ETC.  613 

of  Christ ; — then  they  mutually  expressed  a  desire  to  see  each  other, 
and  converse  together,  before  they  departed  from  the  world.  And 
so  Sigfrid  was  carried  on  a  bier  to  the  chamber  in  which  Benedict 
was  lying  on  his  pallet ;  and  both  of  them  being  placed  by  their 
attendants  on  the  same  couch,  their  heads  were  laid  on  the  same 
pillow, — a  lamentable  spectacle  ! — for  so  weak  were  they,  that 
though  their  faces  came  near  together,  they  had  not  the  power  to 
kiss  each  other,  but  even  in  this  they  required  the  assistance  of  the 
brotherhood.  Benedict  took  wholesome  counsel  with  SiglVid  and 
with  all  the  rest  of  the  brethren,  and  then  sent  for  Ceolfrid,  the 
abbot  whom  he  had  placed  over  the  monasteiy  of  the  blessed  apostle 
Paul ;  a  man  endeared  to  him  no  less  by  nearness  of  relationship 
than  by  kindred  virtues ;  and  he  appointed  him  as  father  over  both 
the  monasteries,  all  the  rest  giving  their  assent  and  considering  that 
such  an  arrangement  was  most  expedient ;  for  they  concluded  that 
it  would  be  most  important,  in  every  respect,  for  the  preservation  of 
peace,  unity,  and  concord  between  these  two  places,  if  they  should 
always  have  over  them  one  father  and  governor.  Benedict  very 
frequently  quoted,  in  reference  to  this  matter,  the  example  of  the 
kingdom  of  Israel,  which  always  continued  invincible  and  inviolate 
by  foreign  nations,  so  long  as  it  was  ruled  by  one  and  the  same 
leader,  who  was  of  its  own  race  ;  but  when  afterwards — on  account 
of  its  former  sins — it  was  split  up  into  divisions  by  hostile  factions, 
it  fell,  by  little  and  little,  and  crumbled  away  from  its  earlier 
stability.  He  also  reminded  them  of  that  sentence  of  the  gospel, 
which  ought  never  to  be  forgotten,  that  "  every  kingdom  divided 
against  itself  is  brought  to  desolation."     [Matt.  xii.  25.] 

§  14.  Two  months  after  these  occurrences,  the  venerable  and 
God-beloved  abbot  Sigfrid  was  the  first  who,  having  passed  through 
the  fire  and  water  of  temporal  tribulations,^  was  introduced  into  the 
refreshment  of  eternal  rest,  and  entered  into  the  dwelling-place  of 
the  heavenly  King,  paying  to  the  Lord,  in  the  sacrifice  of  perpetual 
praise,  those  offerings  which  he  had  vowed  and  promised  so  fre- 
quently with  his  pure  lips.  Four  months  after  this,^  Benedict,  who 
had  so  nobly  conquered  vices  and  achieved  so  many  virtuous  deeds, 
overpowered  by  the  weakness  of  the  flesh,  approached  his  dissolu- 
tion. Night  drew  on,  chilly  with  the  blasts  of  winter,  shortly  to  be 
succeeded  by  a  day  of  eternal  happiness,  calmness,  and  light.  The 
brethren  assemble  at  the  church,  and  pass  the  gloom  of  the  night 
without  sleep,  for  they  are  occupied  in  prayers  and  psalms,  cheering 
the  grief  of  their  father's  departure  with  the  unceasing  chant  of 
God's  praise.  Others  continually  remain  in  the  chamber  in  which 
the  sick  man — sick  indeed  in  body,  but  strong  in  mind — was  await- 

J  Sigfrid  died  on  the  eleventh  of  the  kalends  of  September,  (22  Aug.)  688,  four 
months  before  Benedict,  who  survived  until  the  month  of  January,  689. 

^  There  is  some  uncertainty  among  earlier  writers  as  to  the  year  of  Benedict's 
death.  Baronius  (a.d.  703,  §  4),  Bollandus  (Acta  SS.  mens.  Jan.  i.  745,  §  10), 
Alford  (ad  an.  §  1),  ascribe  it  to  the  year  703 ;  herein  deceived  by  Sigebertus 
Gemblacensis,  Wendover,  and  M.  Westminster.  Pagi  and  Smith  fix  the  event  as 
having  occuiTcd  in  January,  690;  but  the  anonymous  legend  upon  which  the 
present  narrative  is  based  leaves  no  i-oom  for  doubt,  stating  that  he  died  12th 
January,  689.     A  translation  of  that  narrative  will  be  found  in  its  proper  place. 


614  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENXLAND.  [a.D.  689. 

ing  his  departure  from  death  and  his  entrance  into  life.  The  whole 
night  long  the  Gospel  is  read  by  a  priest,  as  was  the  custom  upon 
other  nights,  that  it  might  soothe  the  pain  of  the  sufferer ;  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Body  and  Blood  is  administered  to  him,  the 
hour  of  his  departure  drawing  near,  as  a  provision  for  the  journey  ; 
and  so  this  holy  spirit,  tried  and  purified  with  the  long  flames  of  the 
beneficial  scourge,  abandons  the  earthly  vessel  of  the  flesh,  and  in 
its  freedom  wings  its  way  to  the  glorv'  of  tlie  bliss  which  is  above. 
That  his  departure  was  most  victorious,  and  unimpeded  or  inter- 
rupted by  any  foul  spirits  whatever,  is  established,  even  by  the  Psalm 
which  they  were  at  that  time  chanting  for  him.  For  the  brethren 
had  assembled  in  the  church  at  the  beginning  of  the  night,  and  as 
they  were  singing  through  the  Psalter,  they  had  at  that  time  arrived, 
in  their  course,  at  the  eighty-second  Psalm,  which  has  for  its  title 
the  words,  "  Lord,  who  shall  be  like  unto  Thee?"  The  import  of 
the  whole  text  of  the  Psalm  is  this  ;  that  the  enemies  of  the  name  of 
Christ,  whether  they  be  after  the  flesh  or  after  the  spirit,  are  always 
endeavouring  to  destroy  and  disperse  the  collective  church  of  Christ, 
and  every  faithful  soul  which  is  within  that  church  ;  whereas,  on  the 
contrar)^  they  themselves  shall  be  confounded,  and  scattered,  and 
shall  perish  everlastingly,  the  Lord  depriving  them  of  their  strength, 
to  whom  no  one  is  equal,  and  who  "  only  is  the  most  Highest  over  all 
the  earth."  [Ps.  Ixxxiii.  18.]  Wlierefore  we  may  rightly  conclude 
that  it  was  by  God's  providence  that  this  Psalm  was  being  said  at  the 
hour  in  which  his  spirit  departed  from  his  body  ;  since  against  him, 
by  the  assistance  of  the  Lord,  no  enemy  could  prevail.  This  con- 
fessor went  to  rest  in  the  Lord  in  the  sixteenth  year  from  his  foun- 
dation of  the  monaster/,  on  the  day  before  the  ides  of  January  [14th 
Jan.],  and  was  liuried  in  the  church  of  the  blessed  apostle  Peter  ;  so 
that  even  after  his  death,  his  body  was  not  far  removed  from  the 
altar  and  relics  of  him  whom  he,  during  his  lifetime,  had  been  wont 
always  to  love,  and  who  had  opened  to  him  the  gate  of  everlasting 
life,  that  he  might  enter  therein.  As  we  have  already  said,  he 
governed  the  monastery  sixteen  years  ;  the  first  eight  by  himself, 
without  the  assistance  of  another  associated  abbot ;  the  last  eight 
with  the  assistance  of  the  venerable  and  holy  men  PZosteruuyni, 
Sigfrid,  and  Ceolfrid,  who  shared  with  him  the  name,  authority, 
and  rank  of  abbots,  the  first  for  four  years,  the  second  for  three, 
and  the  third  for  one. 

§  15.  He  who  was  the  third  of  these,  namely,  Ceolfrid,  was  a 
man  of  considerable  industr^^  of  an  acute  understanding,  energetic 
in  action,  of  an  experienced  judgment,  and  fervent  in  his  zeal  for 
religion  ;  and  he  was  the  first  of  those  who,  (as  we  have  mentioned 
above,)  by  the  command  and  assistance  of  Benedict,  founded, 
perfected,  and  governed  the  monastery  of  the  blessed  Paul  the 
apostle  during  seven  years,  and  afterwards,  during  twenty-eight 
years,'  skilfully  presided  over  both  monasteries,  or  rather,  to  speak 
more  accurately,  over  the  single  monastery  of  the  blessed  apostles 
Peter  and  Paul,  which  was  situated  in  two  distinct  places.     What- 

'  The  anonymous  lej^end  here  says  twenty -seven  years,  excluding  the  year  in 
which  his  resignation  took  place. 


A.D.  716.]       BEDA  : LIVES  OF  THE  ABBOTS  BENEDICT,   ETC.  615 

ever  good  and  virtuous  works  his  predecessor  had  commenced,  this 
man  took  care  with  no  less  energy  to  complete.  Among  other 
things,  which,  during  his  long  government  of  the  monastery,  he 
discovered  it  necessary  to  make,  he  constructed  several  oratories  ; 
he  increased  the  number  of  the  vessels  of  the  altar  and  the  church, 
and  the  vestments  of  eveiy  kind  ;  the  library  of  each  monastery, 
which  the  abbot  Benedict  had  commenced  with  great  perseverance, 
with  no  inferior  perseverance  he  doubled ;  for  he  added  three 
"  Pandects  "^  of  the  new  translation,  to  the  single  copy  of  the  older 
version  which  he  had  brought  from  Rome,  one  of  which,  on  his 
return  to  Rome  in  his  old  age,  he  took  with  him  as  a  gift ;  of  the 
other  two,  he  left  one  to  each  monastery.  Besides,  in  exchange 
for  a  book  upon  cosmography,  of  admirable  workmanship,  which 
Benedict  had  purchased  at  Rome,  he  obtained  from  king  Aldfrid — 
a  man  most  learned  in  the  Scriptures — the  land  for  eight  families, 
near  the  river  Fresca,^  for  the  property  of  the  monastery  of  the 
blessed  apostle  Paul ;  this  arrangement  had  been  agreed  upon 
between  Benedict  and  the  same  king  Aldfrid  during  the  life  of  the 
former,  but  he  died  before  it  was  completed.  Instead  of  this 
piece  of  land,  Ceolfrid,  at  a  later  time,  during  the  reign  of  Osred, 
having  paid  a  proportionate  additional  price,  received  in  exchange 
the  land  of  twenty  families,  in  the  place  called  by  the  natives  '  Ad 
villam  Sambucse,'  ^  because  it  was  nearer  the  same  monastery. 
Having  sent  monks  to  Rome  during  the  time  of  pope  Sergius,  of 
blessed  memory,  he  obtained  from  him  a  privilege  for  the  protection 
of  his  monasteiy,  similar  to  that  which  pope  Agatho  had  given  to 
Benedict.  Having  brought  this  back  to  Britain,  and  produced  it 
before  a  synod,  it  was  confirmed  by  the  subscription  as  well  of  the 
bishops  as  of  the  noble  king  Aldfrid,  in  like  manner  as  it  is 
notorious  that  the  former  instrument  had  been  publicly  confirmed 
in  a  synod  by  the  king  and  bishops  of  that  period.  At  that  time 
that  aged  and  religious  servant  of  Christ,  Uitmaer,  skilled  no  less 
in  secular  learning  than  in  the  Scriptures,  made  a  donation  for 
ever  to  the  monastery  of  the  blessed  Peter  the  apostle,  which  he 
then  governed,  consisting  of  the  land  of  ten  families,  situated  in  the 
vill  which  is  called  Daltun,*  which  he  had  himself  received  in 
possession  from  king  Aldfrid. 

§  16.  But  Ceolfrid.  having  now  disciplined  himself  for  a  long 
period  in  the  regular  observance  which  the  prudent  father  [Benedict] 
had  established,  as  well  for  himself  as  for  his  followers,  upon  the 

1  See  Beda  on  the  Six  Ages,  A.D.  720. 

2  This  stream  is  now  unknown.  Sui-tees,  the  historian  of  the  county  of 
Durham,  says,  "  I  will  not  pretend  to  settle  the  locality  of  either  Sambuce  or 
Fresca."  It  is  hj  no  means  improbable  that  Seaham  is  meant,  and  that  the 
Fresca  is  the  brook  which  there  falls  into  the  sea,  after  its  course  down  the  valley 
in  which  Daltun  is  situated.  Both  Seaham  and  Dalton  were  restored  to  the 
church  by  Athelstan,  and  were  then  considered  as  appendages  to  South  Wear- 
mouth.     See  Surtees,  vol.  i.  part  ii.  p.  4. 

*  Probably  Elwick  (eUen-wic,  "  the  town  of  the  elder-tree "),  a  little  to  the 
south  of  Wearmouth. 

*  Dalton-le-dale,  on  the  road  from  Wearmouth  to  Easington.  Smith's  text 
reads  Daldun,  which  is  a  township  in  the  parish  of  Dalton-le-dale;  the  one  is  the 
"  dale-dene,"  the  other  the  "  dale-town." 


616  CHURCH     HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  7l!J. 

authority  of  the  ancients,  and  having  given  evidence  that  he  pos- 
sessed a  most  inimitable  skill  in  praying  and  singing,  which  he  ceased 
not  to  practise  daily  ;  after  having  exhibited  a  wonderful  zeal  in 
restraining  the  wicked,  and  a  corresponding  modesty  in  comforting 
the  weak ;  after  having  employed  so  great  an  abstinence  in  eating 
and  drinking,  and  such  meanness  in  dress,  as  are  seldom  obsers'ed 
among  rulers, — he  at  length  perceived  that  he  was  old  and  full  of 
days,  and  that  he  could  no  longer,  in  consequence  of  the  difficulties 
occasioned  by  his  extreme  age,  carry  out  the  required  rule  of 
spiritual  exercise  either  in  teaching  or  living.  After  long  and 
careful  deliberation  with  himself,  he  thought  it  more  advantageous 
that  the  brethren, — after  he  had  enjoined  tiiem  to  act  in  accordance 
with  the  statutes  of  their  privilege,  and  also  with  the  rule  of  the 
holy  abbot  Benedict, — should  themselves  choose  one  of  the  more 
efficient  of  their  own  number  as  their  father  ;  and  that  he,  for  his 
part,  would  set  out  to  revisit  the  holy  places  of  the  blessed  apostles 
at  Rome,  where  he  had  been  in  his  youth  witli  Benedict ;  to  the 
end,  that,  before  his  death,  he  might  have  some  relaxation  for 
a  wliile  from  the  cares  of  the  world,  and  commune  with  himself  all 
the  more  freely  in  quiet  seclusion  ;  and  that  they  also,  having 
obtained  a  younger  abbot,  should  all  the  more  perfectly  observe 
the  rules  of  a  regular  life  under  his  more  energetic  government. 

§  17.  Although  at  the  outset  all  opposed  this  arrangement,  and 
knelt  before  him  with  many  tears  and  sobs,  and  continued  entreaties, 
yet  in  the  end  he  accomplished  his  pui-pose  ;  and  so  earnest  was  he 
in  his  desire  of  departing,  that  he  commenced  his  journey  on  the 
third  day  after  he  had  announced  to  the  brethren  his  intention  of 
leaving  them.  For  he  was  apprehensive  of  that  which  really  did 
come  to  pass,  namely,  that  he  would  not  survive  until  he  should 
reach  Rome ;  and  he  wished  to  escape  the  delays  which  would 
arise  from  the  interruptions  occasioned  by  his  friends  or  the  nobility, 
with  all  of  whom  he  stood  in  high  estimation,  and  he  was  fearful 
that  money  would  be  given  him  by  some  persons,  which  he  would 
not  be  able  at  that  time  to  return ;  for  he  had  laid  down  this 
custom,  that  if  any  person  oflfered  him  any  gift,  he  would  return  it 
either  forthwith,  or  after  a  fitting  interval,  with  no  less  of  liberality. 
Therefore,  after  the  first  morning  mass  had  been  chanted  in  the 
church  of  tlie  blessed  mother  of  God  and  of  the  ever-virgin  Mary, 
and  in  the  church  of  the  apostle  Peter,  on  the  day  before  the 
nones  of  June  [4th  June,  716],  on  the  fifth  day  of  the  week' 
[Thursday],  and  all  those  who  were  present  having  communicated, 
preparation  was  made  for  his  immediate  departure.  All  asseml)le 
in  the  church  of  the  blessed  Peter,  and  when  he  had  lighted  the 
incense  and  said  the  prayer  at  the  altar,  standing  upon  the  steps 
and  holding  the  censer  in  his  hand,  he  gives  his  peace  to  them  all. 
From  thence  they  go  out,  the  weeping  of  them  all  mingling  with 
their  litanies :  they  enter  the  oratory  of  the  blessed  martyr 
Laurence,  which  was  opposite  them  in  the  dormitory  of  the 
brethren.      Here  he  gives  them  his  last  farewell :   he  admonishes 

^  '  The  dominical  letter  for  the  year  being  D,  the  4th  of  June  fell  ujion  a. 
Thursday  iu  716. 


A.D.  716.]       BEDA  : LIVES  OF  THE  ABBOTS  BENEDICT,  ETC.  617 

them  to  preserve  mutual  peace,  and  to  punish  the  offenders 
according  to  the  rule  of  the  gospel :  he  offers  to  all  who  might 
perchance  have  offended  him,  the  grace  of  his  forgiveness  and 
good-will :  he  entreats  all  to  pray  for  him  and  to  be  reconciled  to 
him,  if  there  were  any  whom  he  might  have  rebuked  with  too  great 
severity.  They  come  to  the  shore ;  again  they  kneel  down,  and 
the  kiss  of  peace  is  given  to  all  amidst  their  tears  ;  he  prays,  he 
enters  the  ship  with  his  attendants.  The  deacons  of  the  church 
embark  with  him,  carrjdng  lighted  torches  and  a  golden  cross  :  he 
passes  the  river,  he  prays  at  the  cross,  he  mounts  his  horse  and 
departs,  leaving  in  the  monasteries  brethren  to  the  number  of 
nearly  six  hundred. 

§  18.  Wlien  he  and  his  companions  had  departed,  the  brethren 
return  to  the  church,  and  with  tears  and  prayers  recommend  them- 
selves and  their  affairs  to  the  Lord  ;  and  after  the  lapse  of  no 
great  interval  of  time,  having  finished  the  psalms  of  the  third  hour, 
they  all  assemble  once  more  ;  they  consult  what  shall  be  done  ; 
and  they  come  to  the  conclusion  that  an  abbot  shall  be  sought 
from  the  Lord  as  soon  as  possible,  with  prayers,  and  psalmody,  and 
fasting  ;  and  this  their  determination  they  intimate  to  their  brethren, 
the  monks  of  the  blessed  Paul,  by  some  of  that  body  who  happened 
to  be  present,  as  well  ,as  by  some  of  the  inmates  of  their  own 
monastery.  They  also  give  their  assent,  one  spirit  influences  each 
monastery,  the  hearts  of  all  and  the  voices  of  all  are  raised  up  unto 
the  Lord.  At  length,  on  the  third  day,  on  the  arrival  of  the 
Sunday  of  Pentecost,*  all  those  who  w^ere  in  the  monasteiy  of  the 
blessed  Peter  meet  in  deliberation,  and  of  the  monastery  of  the 
blessed  Paul  not  a  few  of  the  elders  are  present.  All  were  of  one 
mind  and  of  one  opinion ;  and  so  Huuaetbercht  was  chosen  abbot, 
who  had  been  weU  and  carefully  instructed  in  the  same  monastery 
from  his  earliest  infancy,  not  only  in  the  observance  of  the  regular 
discipline,  but  one  w'ho  was  also  well  exercised  in  writing,  chanting, 
reading,  and  teaching.  He  had  moreover  journeyed  to  Rome,  in 
the  days  of  pope  Sergius,  of  blessed  memoiy,  and  had  tarried  there 
no  small  space  of  time ;  and  there  he  had  learnt,  and  transcribed, 
and  brought  away  with  him  whatsoever  he  considered  necessaiy. 
Besides  this,  he  had  for  twelve  years  discharged  the  office  of  the 
priesthood.  Having  been  now  elected  abbot  by  all  the  brethren  of 
the  two  monasteries,  he  immediately  took  with  him  some  of  the 
brethren  and  came  to  the  abbot  Ceolfrid,  who  was  waiting  for  the 
arrival  of  a  vessel  in  which  to  cross  the  ocean.  They  inform  liim 
whom  they  have  chosen  abbot;  he  answers,  "  Tlianks  be  to  God  !" 
He  confirms  the  election,  and  receives  from  Huuaetbercht  a  letter 
of  recommendation  to  be  delivered  to  the  apostolic  pope  Gregory  : 
some  passages  from  which  we  have  thought  fit  to  introduce  into 
our  work  for  the  sake  of  their  preservation. 

§  19.  "To  the  thrice-blessed  pope  Gregory,  his  most  beloved 
lord  in  the  Lord  of  lords,  Huuaetbercht,  your  most  humble  servant, 
the  abbot  of  the  monastery  of  Peter,  the  most  blessed  prince  of 

'  Here  too  Beda's  calculatiou  is  accurate,  ■\Miitsimday  falling  upon  June  7. 


G18  CHURCH     HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  71<3. 

the  apostles,  which  is  in  Saxony,  wishes  eternal  health  in  the 
Lord.  I,  together  with  the  holy  brethren  who  desire  in  these 
places  to  find  rest  for  their  souls  by  carrj'ing  the  easy  yoke  of 
Christ,  cease  not  to  render  thanks  to  the  providence  of  the  heavenly 
Judge,  that  he  has  thought  fit  to  appoint  you,  who  are  such  a 
glorious  vessel  of  election,  to  be  the  ruler  of  the  church  universal 
in  our  times  ;  and  by  means  of  the  light  of  truth  and  faith  with 
which  you  are  filled,  to  disperse  the  beams  of  his  love  among  your 
inferiors.  But  most  beloved  father  and  lord  in  Christ,  we  recom- 
mend to  your  holy  benignity  the  venerable  grey  hairs  of  our  most 
dear  father,  namely,  Ceolfrid  the  abbot,  the  man  who  has  nourished 
and  defended  our  spiritual  liberty  and  peace  in  this  monastic  retreat. 
And,  first  of  all,  we  give  thanks  to  the  holy  and  undivided  Trinity, 
that  he  has  reached  the  holy  joys  of  the  repose  w^hich  he  has  so 
long  desired,  though  this  his  departure  from  among  us  has  been  to 
us  an  occasion  of  much  grief,  sighing,  lamentation,  and  tears ;  for 
those  shrines  of  the  blessed  apostles  which  it  was  to  him  a  cause  of 
unceasing  joy  to  remember  and  repeat  that  he  had  seen  and 
adored  in  his  youth,  even  in  his  exhausted  old  age  he  has  devoutly 
revisited  ;  and  after  the  long  labours  and  continued  anxieties  of  forty 
years,  during  which  he  has  been  occupied  as  an  abbot  in  the 
government  of  monasteries, — such  is  his  wonderful  love  of  virtue, — 
like  one  for  the  first  time  summoned  to  the  conversation  of  the  life 
which  is  in  heaven,  in  his  extreme  old  age,  and  even  now  on  the 
brink  of  the  grave,  he  begins,  for  the  second  time,  to  be  a  pilgrim  for 
Christ's  sake,  that  the  fire  of  repentance  might  the  more  readily  burn 
up  the  thorns  of  his  early  worldly  anxieties  in  the  spiritual  furnace. 

"  Moreover  we  entreat  your  fatherly  affection,  that  you  will 
carefully  perform  towards  him  (what  we  were  not  allowed  to  do)  the 
last  office  of  affection  ;  being  fully  assured  of  this,  that  althougli 
you  possess  his  body,  yet  we,  as  well  as  you,  will  possess  in  hib 
devout  spirit,  whether  it  continue  in  the  body,  or  be  freed  from  the 
bonds  of  the  flesh,  a  powerful  intercessor  and  patron  with  God's 
mercy  for  our  transgressions." 

The  epistle  contained  some  other  passages. 

§  20.  On  the  return  home  of  Iluuaetbercht,  bishop  Acca '  was 
summoned,  and  confirmed  him  in  the  office  of  abbot  with  the 
accustomed  benediction.  Among  the  innumerable  privileges  of  the 
monaster)'  which  he  recovered  by  his  youthful  energy  and  wisdom, 
there  was  this,  which  aftorded  the  greatest  pleasure  and  gratification 
to  all ;  namely,  he  took  up  the  bones  of  the  abbot  Eosteruuini, 
which  had  been  deposited  in  the  porch  at  the  entrance  of  the 
church  of  the  blessed  apostle  Peter,  and  the  bones  of  his  former 
master,  the  abbot  Sicgfrid,  which  had  been  interred  on  the  outside 
of  the  sacristy,  towards  the  south  ;  and  having  placed  them  both  in 
one  shrine,  (which,  however,  had  a  division  down  the  middle,)  he 
deposited  it  within  the  same  church,  near  the  body  of  the  blessed 
father  Benedict.  And  this  he  did  on  the  day  of  the  nativity  of 
Sicgfrid,  that  is,  on  the  eleventh   of  the  kalends  of    Septeml)cr 

'  Acca,  l)i«hoi)  of  Hoxham,  in  whose  diocese  Wcarmouth  wa.s  situated. 


A.D.  71G.]       3EDA  : LIVES  OF  THE  ABBOTS  BENEDICT,   ETC.  Gl9 

[22d  August],  on  which  day  it  also  happened,  by  the  wonderful 
providence  of  God,  that  Uitmaer,  the  venerable  servant  of  Christ, 
wliom  we  have  mentioned  above,  deceased,  and  was  buried  in  the 
place  in  which  the  aforesaid  abbots  had  previously  been  interred,  he 
being  an  imitator  of  their  examples. 

§  21.  But  Ceolfrid,  the  servant  of  Christ,  as  we  have  previously 
stated,  as  he  was  journeying  onward  to  the  shrines  of  the  blessed 
apostles,  was  attacked  with  disease,  and  died  before  he  arrived  there. 
For  having  reached  Langres,^  about  the  third  hour  of  the  day,  he 
departed  to  the  Lord,  about  the  tenth  hour  of  the  same  day  ;  and 
on  the  morrow  was  honourably  buried  in  the  church  of  the  blessed 
brother-martyrs,  amidst  the  tears  and  lamentations  not  only  of  the 
native  English  who,  to  the  number  of  more  than  eighty,  were  in 
his  retinue,  but  also  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  place,  who  were 
distressed  at  his  loss.  Nor  indeed  was  it  easy  for  any  person  to 
refrain  from  tears  when  they  saw"  one  portion  of  his  companions 
proceeding  on  their  journey  without  their  father  ;  another  portion, 
having  changed  their  intention  of  going  to  Rome,  preferring  to 
return  homewards  to  give  an  account  of  his  funeral ;  and  a  third 
division  lingering  round  the  tomb  of  the  deceased, — such  was  their 
undying  aflection  for  their  father, — even  in  the  midst  of  a  people 
whose  language  they  did  not  understand. 

§  22.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  seventy-four  years  of  age, 
forty-seven  of  which  he  had  passed  in  the  office  of  the  priesthood  ; 
he  had  ministered  in  the  abbot's  office  for  thirty-five  years,  or 
rather  for  forty-three,  since  from  the  very  commencement  of  the 
period  when  Benedict  began  to  build  his  monastery  to  the  honour 
of  the  most  blessed  prince  of  the  apostles,  Ceolfrid  had  been  his 
constant  companion  and  assistant,  and  the  teacher  of  the  regular 
and  monastic  institution.  No  pressure  of  old  age,  or  infirmity,  or 
journeying,  ever  occasioned  him  to  relax  the  strictness  of  the 
primitive  discipline  ;  for  even  from  the  very  day  of  his  departure 
from  his  monaster)^  until  the  day  in  which  he  died,  that  is,  from  the 
day  before  the  nones  of  June  [4th  June],  till  the  7th  of  the  kalends 
of  October  [25th  Sept.] , — one  hundred  and  fourteen  days — he  took 
care  that  the  psalter  was  twice  chanted  according  to  order,  besides 
the  canonical  hours  of  prayer;  and  even  during  the  period  when  he 
had  become  so  very  w^eak  that,  being  unable  any  longer  to  ride,  he 
had  to  be  carried  in  a  horse -litter,  he  daily,  after  the  mass  had 
been  chanted,  offered  to  God  the  ofl:ering  of  the  salutary  host, 
with  the  exception  only  of  the  single  day  on  which  he  was  crossing 
the  ocean,  and  on  the  three  immediately  preceding  his  decease. 

§  23.  He  died  on  the  7th  of  the  kalends  of  October  [25th  Sept.], 
in  the  year  716  from  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord,  on  the  sixth  day 
of  the  week  [Friday],  after  the  ninth  hour  of  the  day,  in  the  fields 
of  the  above-named  town  ;  and  on  the  morrow  he  was  buried  on 
the  south  of  the  same  town,  in  the  monastery  of  the  brethren, 
which  is  one  mile  distant  from  it,  accompanied  by  a  considerable 
body,  not  only  of  the  English  who  had  come  with  him,  but  also  of 

'  A  bishopric  in  Champagne,  iu  the  archbishopric  of  Lyons,  formerly  a  place 
of  considerable  importance  both  civilly  and  ecclesiastically. 


620  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND, 

the  inliabitants  of  tliat  monastery  and  city,  all  of  whom  chanted 
psalms.  These  brother-martyrs,  in  whose  monastery  and  church 
he  was  buried,  are  named  Speusippus,  Eleusippus,  and  Mellusippus. 
Their  mother  bare  them  at  one  birth,  and  they  were  regenerated 
in  the  faith  of  the  same  church  along  with  their  grandmother 
Leonella  ;  and  they  left  behind  them  a  memor)'  of  their  martyrdom 
worthy  of  the  place  ;  and  I  trust  that  they  will  vouchsafe  to  me, 
though  I  be  unworthy,  and  to  our  father,  the  aid  of  their  inter- 
cession and  protection. 


A   SERMON   UPON   THE    NATIVITY   OF 
SAINT  BENEDICT  THE  ABBOT. 

A  Sermon  of  the  blessed  Beda,  priest  and  confessor,  upon  the  Nativity 
OF  Saint  Benedict  the  abbot,  who  built  the  Monastery  of  Saint  Peter, 
the  chief  of  the  apostles,  which  is  called  Aet  Wyre-muthe,  in  the 

REGION   OF  the   NORTHUMBRIANS. 


"  Then  answered  Peter  and  said  unto  Him,  Behold,  we  have 
forsaken  all,  and folhived  Thee ;  what  shall  ice  have  therefore  ? 

"  And  Jesus  said  unto  them,  .  .  .  Every  one  that  hath  forsaken 
houses,  or  brethren,  or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or  children, 
or  lands,  for  my  name's  sake,  shall  receive  an  hundredfold,  and  shall 
inherit  everlasting  life." — St.  Matth.  xix.  27 — 29. 

Peter  having  heard  the  Lord  say,  that  it  was  a  hard  thing  for  a 
rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  .  .  .  [&c.]  And  of 
this  thing,  dearly  beloved  brethren,  we  have  had  a  frequent  example 
among  ourselves  ;  for  when  we  have  been  journeying  an}-\vhere, 
upon  necessary  occasions,  we  have  found  that  every  monastic 
habitation  was  as  open  to  us  as  if  it  had  been  our  own  :  we  have 
observed  that  all  people  were  well  inclined  to  serve  us,  out  of  their 
own  most  sincere  devotion.  But  chiefly  do  we  see  the  truth  of 
this  whole  lesson  most  thoroughly  verified  in  the  case  of  our  father 
Benedict,  of  blessed  memory  ;  the  day  of  whose  venerable  assump- 
tion we  now,  at  this  time,  commemorate  with  due  solemnity.  For, 
having  left  all,  he  followed  Clu'ist,  when  he  despised  all  that  he 
had  gained,  or  might  have  gained,  in  the  service  of  the  king,  (for 
he  was  of  noble  birth,)  and  hastened  as  a  pilgrim  to  the  shrines  of 
the  blessed  apostles  at  Rome  :  and  preferred  to  receive  the  pattern 
of  a  perfect  life  from  that  spot  where  the  chief  head  of  the  whole 
church  was  placed  on  high  by  the  principal  apostles  of  Christ ;  for 
the  faith  and  the  ecclesiastical  institutions  were  as  yet  imperfect 
among  the  nation  of  the  Angles.  Tliere,  then,  he  was  instructed  in 
Christ;  he  received  the  tonsure  in  those  parts;  there  he  was  made 
acquainted  with  monastic  rules  ;  and  there  it  was  his  intention  to 
have  spent  the  whole  period  of  his  life,  had  not  he  been  prevented 


BEDA  : LIVES  OF  THE  ABBOTS  BENEDICT,   ETC.  621 

from  so  doing  by  the  apostolic  authority  of  our  lord  the  pope,  who 
enjoined  him  to  return  to  his  own  country,  that  he  might  conduct 
to  Britain  archbishop  Theodore,  of  holy  memory. 

§  2.  No  long  time  after  this,  his  love  of  what  w^as  good  having 
become  known  to  the  kings  of  this  world,  they  took  care  to  present 
him  with  a  site  for  the  erection  of  a  monastery ;  and  of  this  they 
did  not  rob  any  of  their  inferiors  in  rank,  but  gave  it  from  their 
own  property.  Wlien  he  became  possessed  of  this,  he  forthwith 
established  it,  both  w  ithin  and  without,  according  to  the  most  perfect 
form  of  regular  discipline  ;  not  imposing  upon  us  laws  originating 
in  his  own  caprice,  but  laying  down,  for  the  guidance  of  himself 
and  his  foUow'ers,  the  best  established  statutes  of  the  ancients,  as 
he  had  ascertained  them  during  his  pilgrimage.  It  ought  not  to 
appear  irksome  to  any  of  you,  brethren,  if  we  are  speaking  about 
things  with  which  you  are  well  acquainted,  but  rather  think  this 
a  pleasant  thing  ;  for  we  speak  of  what  is  true,  when  we  record 
the  spiritual  exploits  of  our  father,  in  whom,  by  a  manifest  miracle, 
our  Lord  fulfilled  that  which  he  had  promised  to  his  faithful 
followers  ;  namely,  that  "  every  one  that  hath  forsaken  house,  or 
brethren,  or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or  children,  or 
lands,  for  my  name's  sake,  shall  receive  an  hundredfold  in  this 
world,  and  in  the  w'orld  to  come  everlasting  life."  For  he,  indeed, 
left  his  kindred  when  he  left  his  country  ;  but  he  received  an 
hundredfold,  since  not  only  in  this  country  was  he  held  in  due 
veneration  by  all  persons  for  his  continuance  in  well-doing,  but 
further,  both  in  Gaul  and  in  Italy,  in  Rome  also,  and  in  the 
islands  of  the  sea,  so  beloved  was  he  by  all  who  could  become 
acquainted  with  him,  that  the  apostolic  pope  himself,  out  of  regard 
for  the  interests  of  this  monasteiy,  (in  the  foundation  of  which  by 
Benedict  he  rejoiced,)  consigned  to  him  John,  the  abbot,  and 
arch-chanter  of  the  church  of  Rome,  that  he  might  conduct  him 
from  Rome  into  Britain ;  as  you,  beloved,  well  remember  ;  in 
order  that,  by  his  means,  the  same  monastery  might  receive  the 
canonical  custom  of  singing  and  ministering,  according  to  the 
rite  employed  in  the  holy  Roman  and  apostolic  church.  He  left 
the  houses  and  lands  which  he  possessed,  for  Christ's  sake,  from 
whom  he  trusted  that  he  would  receive  a  portion  of  the  ever- 
blooming  paradise,  and  a  house  not  made  with  hands,  but  eternal 
in  the  heavens.  He  left  wife  and  children  ;  not,  indeed,  that  he 
literally  had  married  a  wife,  and  had  children  born  unto  him  ;  but 
out  of  his  love  of  chastity  he  refused  to  marry  a  wife  by  whom  he 
might  have  children,  choosing  rather  to  belong  to  the  number  of 
those  one  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand  of  the  elect,  who  sing 
the  new  song  before  the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb,  which  no 
man  but  they  can  sing:  "  These  are  they  which  were  not  defiled 
with  women  ;  and  they  follow  the  Lamb  w^hithersoever  He  goeth." 
[Rev.  xiv.  4.]  And  he  received  an  hundredfold,  when,  as  he  was 
journeying,  not  only  in  these  lands,  but  also  in  foreign  countries, 
many  persons  received  him  into  their  houses,  desiring  to  supply 
him  with  the  fruits  of  their  lands  ;  when  many  matrons  tended  the 
man  of  God  with  the   same  unwearying  affection  as  they  would 


G22  CHURCH     HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND. 

have  exhibited  towards  their  own  luisbands  or  parents  ;  such  was 
the  regard  in  which  they  lield  his  devout  constancy  of  mind.  He 
received  an  hundredfold  houses  and  hinds,  when  lie  obtained  pos- 
session of  these  sites  on  which  to  build  his  monasteries.  And  had 
he  left  his  wife  for  the  sake  of  Christ,  even  this  also  would  have 
been  made  up  to  him  an  hundredfold  ;  because  then  the  merit  of 
the  love  of  chastity  in  him,  as  among  those  who  are  continent  on 
account  of  the  fruit  of  the  spirit,  would  have  been  an  hundredfold 
greater  than  had  he  continued  among  those  who  formerly  were 
wanton  through  the  lust  of  the  flesh.  The  sons  which  he  did  not 
care  to  have  according  to  the  flesh,  these  he  was  permitted  to  have 
an  hundredfold  according  to  the  spirit  (for  the  number  one  hundred,' 
as  has  often  been  said,  figuratively  represents  perfection) ;  for  we  arc 
the  children  of  this  alTectionate  steward,  since  he  brought  us  into  this 
abode  of  monastic  devotion  ;  we  are  his  sons,  whom,  though  born 
after  the  flesh  of  many  parents,  he  has  spiritually  knit  together  into 
one  holy  family  by  our  profession  ;  we  are  his  sons,  if  we  imitate  his 
example  by  walking  in  the  same  path  of  virtue,  and  wander  not,  in 
our  heedlessness,  from  that  road  which  by  his  rule  he  taught  us. 

§  3.  For  we  well  remember,  brethren,  we  who  can  recollect 
him,  how  it  has  been  frequently  told,  in  the  hearing  of  those  whom 
God's  mercy  gathered  into  this  our  congregation  after  his  deatli, 
that  as  long  as  he  enjoyed  bodily  health,  lie  never  ceased  to  labour 
for  the  glory  of  God's  holy  church,  and  chiefly  for  the  peace, 
honour,  and  quiet  of  this  monastery  ;  and  how  frequently  soever  he 
crossed  the  sea,  he  never  (like  too  many)  came  home  again  empty- 
lianded  and  unprofitable,  but  brought  with  him  a  large  supply,  at 
one  time  of  holy  books,  at  another,  of  the  relics  of  the  blessed 
martyrs  of  Christ, — a  venerable  gift !  how  he  introduced,  on  one 
occasion,  architects  for  the  building  of  the  church,  on  another, 
glass-manufacturers,  for  the  ornament  and  security  of  its  windows, 
on  a  third,  instructors  for  teaching  singing  and  the  services  of  the 
church  during  the  wliole  year  ;  and  further,  how  he  brought  home 
witli  him  an  epistle  of  privileges  sent  by  tiie  lord  pope,  by  which 
our  liberty  should  be  protected  from  all  external  invasion.  At  one 
time  he  imported  the  paintings  of  the  holy  histories,  which  should 
serve  not  only  for  the  ornamenting  of  the  church,  but  for  the 
instruction  of  the  beholders  ;  so  that  those  persons  who  could  not 
learn  from  books  what  had  been  done  by  our  Lord  and  Saviour, 
might  be  thus  far  instructed  by  the  representations  placed  around 
them. 

§  4.  And  all  this  studious  toil  he  expended  on  these  and  kindred 
matters,  for  the  end  that  no  need  for  such  like  labour  might  devolve 
upon  us  ;  so  frequently  did  he  journey  into  foreign  lands,  that  we. 
in  our  abundance  of  all  the  supplies  of  healthful  knowledge,  might  be 
tnal)led  to  repose  within  the  cloisters  of  our  monaster)',  and  in  our 

'  Beda  frequently  spiritualises  upon  the  allegorical  meanings  of  numbers.  See 
in  Genes.  ExjJOKitio,  "  Quod  autem  trecentorum  cubitorum  erat  longitudo  area?, 
centenarium  numerum  significat  esse  perfeotum  et  i>lenum."  0pp.  iii.  33.  Again, 
"  Quia  enim  centenarius  numeinis  est  perfectus,  ipse  centum  oves  habuit."  vii.  70. 
See  also  col.  234. 


BEDA  : LIVES  OF  THE  ABBOTS  BENEDICT,   ETC.  (323 

secure  liberty  to  sei-ve  Christ  the  Lord.  And  even  when  lie  was 
severely  chastened  and  afflicted  by  bodily  infirmity,  in  the  midst  of 
his  thanksgivings  to  God,  it  was  a  constant  pleasure  to  him  to 
speak  upon  our  adherence  to  the  monastic  rules  which  he  had 
learned  and  taught ;  and  it  pleased  him  to  linger  upon  the  remem- 
brance of  the  ecclesiastical  observances  which  he  had  noticed  in 
various  cities,  but  chiefly  at  Rome,  and  in  the  holy  places  which 
he  recollected  having  visited  in  his  youth.  And  thus  supported 
and  exercised  by  the  long  study  of  virtue,  and  purged  by  the 
lengthened  martyrdom  of  a  year  of  infirmity,  after  having  received 
one  hundredfold  the  gifts  of  grace  during  this  present  life,  he 
passed  to  that  which  is  eternal. 

§  5.  And  therefore,  brethren,  it  is  necessary  that  we,  like  good 
children,  and  worthy  of  such  a  father,  be  careful  to  follow  his 
example  and  precept  in  all  things,  and  that  none  of  the  snares  of 
the  spirit  or  flesh  seduce  us  from  walking  in  the  steps  of  such  a 
guide ;  but  that  we,  who  have  left  the  aftections  of  the  flesh  and 
an  earthly  inheritance, — who,  out  of  love  for  the  conversation  of 
angels,  have  scorned  to  many  wives  and  to  beget  children  after  the 
flesh, — advancing  in  the  virtues  of  the  spirit,  may  be  permitted  to 
receive  an  hundredfold  in  the  society  of  the  saints  in  this  life,  and 
in  the  world  to  come  to  obtain  the  life  which  is  eternal.  And  this 
by  the  grace  of  our  Redeemer,  who  liveth  and  reignetli  with  the 
Father,  in  the  unity  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  one  God,  world  without 
end.     Amen. 


4rr 
fvti 


THE  CHRONICLE 

OF 

THE    VENERABLE    PRESBYTER    BEDA, 

THE  ANGLO-SAXON  ; 

OR, 

CONCERNING  THE  SIX  AGES  OF  THE  WORLD. 


In  a  former^  part  of  this  work,  we  briefly,  in  drawing  a  com- 
parison between  them  and  the  week  of  the  creation,  glanced  at  the 
six  ages  of  this  world,  and  the  seventh,  or,  as  some  maintain,  the 
eighth,  of  a  life  of  rest  in  heaven  ;  and  now  again,  in  comparing 
them  with  a  man's  life,  called  in  Greek  by  philosophers  a  microcosm, 
that  is,  a  world  in  minature,  we  propose  to  dwell  upon  the  same 
subject  somewhat  more  at  large. 

The  first  age  of  this  world,  then,  extends  from  Adam  to  Noe, 
and  embraces,  according  to  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  1656,  according 
to  the  Septuagint,  2242  years,  and  according  to  both  versions  ten 
generations.  This  age  was  put  an  end  to  by  the  universal  deluge, 
just  as  the  first  age  of  man's  life  is  wont  to  be  sunk  and  lost  in  the 
waters  of  oblivion ;  for  how  few  of  us  are  there  who  can  recollect 
our  own  infancy  ! 

The  second  age,  extending  from  Noe  to  Abraham,  embraces, 
according  to  the  authority  of  the  Hebrew,  ten  generations,  and 
292  years  ;  whereas  the  Septuagint  version  gives  a  longer  period, 
and  includes  1072  years,  and  eleven  generations.  This  age  may 
be  called  the  childhood  of  God's  people  ;  and,  accordingly,  in  it, 
language,  that  is,  the  Hebrew  language,  was  invented.  For  in 
emerging  from  infancy,  so  named  from  infants  not  possessing  the 
power  of  speech,  into  childhood,  men  first  are  capable  of  uttering 
significant  sounds. 

The  third  age  extends  from  Abraham  to  David,  and  embraces, 
according  to  both  authorities,  fourteen  generations,  and  942  years. 
This  may  be  termed  the  youth  of  God's  people,  because  with  this 
age  man  begins  to  possess  the  powers  of  generation  :  and,  therefore, 
Matthew,  the  evangelist,  commences  his  genealogy  from  Abraham, 
who,  when  his  name  was  changed,  was  made  the  father  of  nations. 

The  fourth  age  extends  from  David  to  the  carrjang  away  into 
captivity  to  Babylon,   and    embraces,   according   to  the  Hebrew. 

'  Namely  in  chapter  x.  of  his  book  "  De  Temponim  Ratione,"  (ed.  Giles.,  vi. 
1C6,)  from  which  the  present  treatise  is  an  excerpt. 


BEDA  : THE    SIX    AGES    OF    THE    WORLD.  625 

Scripture,  4  orciing  to  the  Septuagint  translation  twelve  more 

years,  and,  a  :ag  to  both  versions,  seventeen  generations,  which, 

for  a  mystei  ke,  the  evangelist  Matthew  numbers  as  fourteen. 

In  this,  wh  -^y  be  called  the  age  of  the  world's  youth,  kings 

began  to    rei^         /er  God's  people.     For  this   is  the  period  of 

nan's  life  in  v       h  he  becomes  tit  for  performing  the  function   of 

government. 

The  tifth  period  resembles  that  of  old  age,  and  extends  from  the 
carrying  away  into  Babylon,  to  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord  the 
Saviour,  through  fourteen  generations,  and  589  years.  In  this  the 
Hebrew  people,  as  though  borne  down  by  the  weight  of  old  age,  is 
broken  by  a  rapid  succession  of  evils. 

The  sixth  age,  in  which  we  now  live,  is  bounded  by  no  fixed 
limits  of  generations,  or  of  years  ;  but,  like  decrepit  old  age,  must 
meet  its  termination  in  the  dissolution  of  the  whole  world  ;  and, 
lastly,  eveiy  one  who  has,  by  a  happy  death,  triumphantly  passed 
through  the  numberless  cares  and  toils  of  these  ages,  is  already 
received  into  the  seventh  age  of  an  unbroken  sabbath,  and  waits 
for  the  eighth  age  of  the  joyful  resurrection,  in  which  he  may 
reifrn  for  ever  with  the  Lord. 


THE  FIRST  AGE.' 

In  the  first  age  of  the  world,  and  on  the  first  day  of  it,  God 
made  the  light,  which  He  called  day.  On  the  second  day  He 
suspended  the  firmament  of  heaven  in  the  midst  of  the  waters, 
which,  with  the  earth,  and  the  heaven  above,  and  the  powers  that 
are  therein,  to  glorify  their  Maker,  had  been  created  before  the 
commencement  of  these  six  days.  On  the  third  day.  He  gathered 
the  waters,  which  before  had  covered  the  whole  face  of  the  earth, 
into  their  place,  and  commanded  the  dry  land  to  appear.  On  the 
fourth  day,  (which,  as  we  conjecture  from  the  equinox,  is  the  12th 
of  the  kalends  of  April)  [21st  March],  He  placed  the  stars  in  the 
firmament  of  heaven.  On  the  fifth  day.  He  created  the  fishes  of 
the  sea  and  the  birds  of  the  air.  On  the  sixth  day,  (which  I  believe 
to  be  the  10th  of  the  kalends  of  April)  [23d  March],  He  created 
the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  man  himself,  Adam,  from  whose  side, 
as  he  slept.  He  produced  Eve,  the  mother  of  all  living. 

From  these  considerations,  in  the  absence  of  more  convincing 
proof,  the  opinion  of  the  blessed  Theophilus,^  which  he  enunciated 
in  his  disputation  on  Easter  with  the  bishops  of  Palestine,  and 
many  of  those  of  other  countries,  is  worthy  of  credit,  namely,  that 
the  crucifixion  of  our  Lord  took  place  on  the  same  tenth  day  of  the 
kalends  of  April  [23d  March].     For  it  was  fitting  that  on  one  and 

*  It  has  been  considered  expedient  to  retain  only  the  general  outline  of  this 
and  the  following  Ages  up  to  the  Sixth,  and  to  omit  the  particulars  which  follow 
in  the  original. 

^  He  was  bishop  of  Coesarea,  in  Palestine,  and  flourished  about  A.U.  192.  See 
Cave,  Hist.  Lit.  i.  S7.  He  is  mentioned  by  Eusebius,  H.  E.  v.  23.  There  is  a 
further  notice  of  him  in  the  present  treatise,  a.d.  194. 

VOL.    I.  S  S 


G2G  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND. 

the  same  day,  not  only  of  the  week,  but  also  of  the  month,  the 
second  Adam,  falling  asleep  in  a  death  which  was  destined  to  give 
us  life,  should,  by  the  heavenly  sacraments  produced  from  his  side, 
sanctify  to  Himself  the  church  as  a  bride,  for  the  salvation  of  man; 
for  on  this  day  it  was  that  He  himself  liad  created  the  first  Adam, 
the  father  of  mankind,  and,  by  a  rib  taken  from  his  side,  built  up 
for  him  a  woman,  by  whose  cooperation  the  human  race  might  be 
propagated. 

THE  SECOND  AGE. 

In  the  second  age  of  the  world,  and  on  the  first  day  of  it,  namely, 
on  the  27th  of  the  second  month,  Noah  came  out  of  the  ark,  in 
which  a  few,  that  is,  eight  souls  were  saved  by  water.  To  the 
mention  of  which  event  the  blessed  apostle  Peter  [1  Pet.  iii.  21] 
in  his  epistle  forthwith  subjoins  the  following  apt  remark :  "  The 
like  figure  whereunto,  even  baptism,  doth  also  now  save  us,  not 
the  putting  away  of  the  filth  of  the  flesh,  but  the  answer  of  a 
good  conscience  towards  God,  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ, 
who  is  on  the  right  hand  of  God:"  thereby  teaching,  that  in  the 
water  of  the  deluge,  baptism  was  figured  ;  as  also,  in  the  ark  and 
those  whom  it  contained,  the  church  and  its  saints,  and  in  the 
mmiber  of  eight  souls,  the  mystery  of  our  Lord's  resurrection,  in 
the  faith  of  whom  we  are  baptized. 


THE  THIRD  AGE. 

The  third  age  of  the  world  commences  with  the  nativity  of  the 
patriarch  Abraham,  who,  when  he  was  seventy-live  years  old,  left 
his  country,  and  came  by  the  command  of  God  to  the  land  of 
Chanaan;  receiving  the  double  promise,  that  from  his  seed  should 
be  born  a  Saviour,  in  whom  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be 
blessed,  and  that  he  himself  should  become  a  great  nation  ;  of 
which  promises,  the  one  is  spiritual,  the  other  temporal.  In  this 
])eriod  Ninus  and  Semiramis  reigned  over  Assyria. 


THE  FOURTH  AGE. 

The  fourth  age  of  the  world  opens  not  only  with  the  rise  of  the 
.Jewish  kingdom,  but  also  with  the  renewal  of  the  promise  formerlv 
given  to  the  patriarchs,  and  marks  the  commencement  of  the  reign 
of  Christ  ;  the  Lord  swearing,  "  That  of  the  fruit  of  his  body, 
would  He  set  upon  his  throne."     [Ps.  cxxxii.  11.] 


THE  FIFTH  AGE. 

The  fifth  age  commences  with  the  carrying  away  of  the  Jews 
into  captivity  :  the  period  of  their  expatriation  lasting,  according  to 
the  prophecy  of  Jeremiah,  seventy  years. 


.D.  33.]  BEDA  : THE    SIX    A6ES    OF    THE    WORLD.  627 


THE  SIXTH  AGE. 

In  the  forty-second  year  of  the  reign  of  Augustus,  the  twenty- 
seventh  from  the  death  of  Cleopatra  and  Antony,  and  the  reduction 
of  Egypt  to  a  Roman  province,  the  third  of  the  194th  Olympiad, 
the  7 5 2d  from  the  building  of  Rome,  and  in  that  year  in 
which  the  firm  arm  of  the  emperor,  having  suppressed  wars  and 
tumults  throughout  the  world,  consolidated  a  real  and  lasting 
peace,  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  sanctified  the  sixth  age  of 
this  world  by  his  advent.  In  the  forty-seventh  year  of  the  reign 
of  the  emperor  Augustus,  Herod  was  attacked  by  dropsy ;  and 
his  whole  body  being  swarming  with  worms,  he  died  in  wretched, 
but  not  unmerited  torments,  and  his  son  Archelaus,  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  Augustus,  reigned  in  his  stead  for  nine  years,  up  to 
the  death  of  that  emperor  ;  for  then  it  was  that  the  Jews,  impatient 
of  a  cruelty  which  had  become  intolerable  to  them,  preferred  a 
charge  against  him  before  the  imperial  throne,  and  obtained  his 
banishment  to  Vienne,  a  city  of  Gaul ;  while,  with  the  object  of 
diminishing  the  power  of  the  Jews,  and  curbing  their  spirit  of 
insubordination,  his  four  brothers,  Herod,  Antipater,  Lysias,  and 
Philippus,  (of  whom  Philippus  and  Herod,  who  was  before  called 
Antipas,  had  been  appointed  during  the  lifetime  of  Archelaus), 
were  created  Tetrarchs  in  his  place. 

A.D.  38.  Tiberius,  the  stepson  of  Augustus,  that  is  to  say,  the 
son  of  his  wife  Livia  by  a  former  husband,  reigned  twenty-three 
years.  In  the  twelfth  year  of  his  reign,  Pilate  was  appointed  by 
him  procurator  of  Judsea,  and,  under  this  emperor,  Herod  the 
Tetrarch,  who  held  the  reins  of  government  over  the  Jews  twenty- 
four  years,  founded  in  honour  of  Tiberius  and  his  mother  Livia, 
Tiberias  and  Libias. 

A.D.  30.  In  the  fifteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  when, 
according  to  the  Hebrews,  as  Eusebius  signifies  in  his  Chronicle, 
(for  he  notes  that  the  sixteenth  year  of  Tiberius  was,  according  to 
the  Hebrews,  the  commencement  of  the  eighty-first  jubilee,) 
4,000  years  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  had  been  com- 
pleted, our  Lord,  after  the  baptism  which  John  preached,  an- 
nounced the  kingdom  of  heaven  to  the  world ;  nor  will  any  one, 
who  has  read  the  former  part  of  this  treatise,  see  any  difficulty  in 
our  calculation,  which  places  the  date  nineteen  years  earlier.  Be 
this  as  it  may,  according  to  the  same  Chronicles,  which  Eusebius 
himself  considered  that  he  had  compiled  from  both  versions,  there 
are  5,228  years. 

A.D.  33.  In  the  eighteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  our  Lord 
redeemed  the  world  by  his  passion,  and  the  apostles,  then  about  to 
preach  the  gospel  through  the  regions  of  Judea,  ordained  James, 
the  brother  of  our  Lord,  bishop  of  Jerusalem  ;  they  ordained  also 
seven  deacons,  and,  Stephen  having  been  stoned  to  death,  the 
church  was  dispersed  through  Judea  and  Samaria.  Agrippa, 
surnamed  Herod,  the  son  of  Aristobulus,  the  son  of  Herod  the 
kins,  set  out  to  Rome  to  accuse  Herod  the  tetrarch,  and  being 


028  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  70. 

tlirown  into  prison  by  Tiberius,  acquired  the  friendship  of  a  great 
number  of  persons,  and  particularly  of  Gaius,  the  son  of  Germanicus. 

A.D.  42.  Gaius,  surnamed  Caligula,  reigned  three  years,  ten 
months,  and  eight  days.  This  prince  released  his  friend  Herod 
Agrippa  from  prison,  and  made  him  king  of  Judea,  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  which  sovereignty  he  remained  seven  years,  up  to  the  fourth 
year  of  Claudius  ;  and  being  struck  by  an  angel,  he  was  succeeded 
by  his  son  Agrippa,  whose  reign  lasted  twenty-six  years,  up  to  the 
extermination  of  the  Jews.  Herod  the  tetrarch,  with  a  view  to 
conciliate  to  himself  the  friendship  of  Gaius,  which  Herod  Agrippa 
had  enjoyed,  at  the  persuasion  of  Herodias,  went  to  Rome ;  but, 
under  a  charge  preferred  against  him  by  Agrippa,  he  also  lost  his 
tetrarchy,  and  having  fled  into  Spain  with  Herodias,  he  there  died 
of  grief.  Pilate,  who  had  pronounced  the  sentence  of  condemna- 
tion against  Christ,  was,  by  the  command  of  Gaius,  subjected  to 
a  confinement  so  rigorous  and  painful  that  he  put  an  end  to  his 
own  life.  Gaius,  arrogating  to  himself  a  place  among  the  gods, 
profaned  the  holy  places  of  the  Jews  with  the  defilement  of  idols. 
Matthew  preached  in  Judea,  and  wrote  the  gospel. 

A.D.  56.  Claudius  reigned  thirteen  years,  seven  months,  and 
twenty-eight  days.  Peter  the  apostle,  the  founder  of  the  church  of 
Antioch,  set  out  for  Rome,  and  there  occupied  the  episcopal  chair 
twenty-live  years  ;  that  is  to  say,  up  to  the  last  year  of  Nero.  Mark, 
by  the  mission  of  Peter,  preached  in  Eg)^pt  the  gospel  which  he  had 
written  at  Rome.  In  the  fourth  year  of  Claudius  ^  there  occurred 
a  great  famine,  which  Luke  mentions,  [Acts  xi.  28,]  and  in  the 
same  year "  the  emperor  in  person  started  for  Britain,  which  no 
one  before  Julius  Ccesar,  or  after  him,  had  dared  to  approach. 
There,  by  a  peaceful  and  bloodless  triumph,  he,  within  a  very  few 
days,  regained  a  great  part  of  the  island,  added  the  Orkneys  to  the 
Roman  empire,  and  on  the  sixth  month  after  his  departure  returned 
to  Rome.  In  the  ninth  year  of  his  reign,  the  Jews  raised  a  sedition 
in  Rome,  and  were  in  consequence  expelled,  as  Luke  also  men- 
tions. [Acts  xviii.  2.]  In  the  following  year,  a  grievous  famine  fell 
upon  the  city  of  Rome. 

A.D.  70.  Nero  reigned  thirteen  years,  seven  months,  and  twenty- 
eight  days.  In  his  second  year,  Festus  succeeded  Felix  as  procurator 
of  Judea,  and  by  him  Paul  was  sent  in  chains  to  Rome,  whence, 
after  two  years'  confinement  to  his  own  house,  he  was  dismissed  to 
preach  the  gospel ;  for  Nero  had  not  yet  broken  out  into  those 
enormous  crimes  which  history  relates  of  him.  James,  the  brother 
of  our  Lord,  after  having  governed  the  church  of  Jerusalem  thirty 
years,  was,  in  the  seventh  year  of  Nero,  stoned  to  death  by  the  Jews, 
who  wreaked  upon  him  the  fatal  vengeance  which  they  were  unable 
to  execute  upon  Paul.  In  the  government  of  Judea,  Festus  was 
succeeded  by  Albinus,  Albinus  by  Florus  ;  the  riotous  living  ami 
cupidity,  and  the  other  enormities,  of  the  latter  of  whom,  at  lengtli 
becoming  intolerable  to  the  Jews,  they  excited  a  rebellion  a2:ainst 
the  Romans,  to  suppress  which,  Vespasian  was  sent  in  command 
of  the  forces,  and  took  many  of  the  cities  of  Judea.  Nero,  over 
'  See  Eccl.  Hist.  I.  iii.  §  10.  2  Ibid. 


A.D.  118.]  BEDA  : THE    SIX    AGES    OF    THE    WORLD.  G29 

and  above  his  other  crimes,  was  the  first  to  persecute  the  Christians, 
and  among  the  chief  men  of  these  at  Rome,  he  crucified  Peter,  and 
beheaded  Pauh  This  emperor,  destitute  as  he  was  of  all  talent 
for  military  exploits,  almost  lost  Britain  ;^  for  two  of  the  most  noble 
towns  of  his  kingdom  there  were  taken  and  overth  own. 

A.D.  80.  Vespasian  reigned  nine  years,  eleven  months,  and 
twenty-two  days.  He,  while  in  Judea,  was  proclaimed  emperor 
by  the  army,  and  entrusting  the  prosecution  of  the  war  to  the  care 
of  his  son  Titus,  set  out  for  Rome  by  way  of  Alexandria.  This 
Titus,  in  the  second  year  of  his  command,  overthrew  the  kingdom 
of  Judea,  and  razed  the  temple  with  the  ground,  1,089  years  frOm 
the  date  of  its  first  building ;  so  that  the  whole  war  was  brought  to 
a  termination  after  four  years,  two  during  the  life  of  Nero,  and  two 
after  his  death.  Among  the  other  great  exploits  of  Vespasian 
before  he  became  emperor,  were  those  of  his  mission  to  Germany, 
and  aftei-wards  to  Britain,^  in  which,  after  three  engagements  with 
the  former,  and  two  with  the  latter,  he  added  two  very  powerful 
tribes,  twenty  towns,  and  the  Isle  of  Wight,  on  the  coast  of  Britain, 
to  the  Roman  empire.  A  pillar  was  erected  to  his  honour,  in 
height  107  feet. 

A.D.  82.  Titus,  a  man  so  remarkable  for  every  kind  of  virtue  that 
he  was  called  the  love  and  delight  of  the  human  race,  reigned  two 
years  and  two  months.  This  prince  built  the  amphitheatre  at 
Rome,  and  in  its  dedication  slew  5,000  wild  beasts. 

A.D.  98.  Domitian,  the  younger  brother  of  Titus,  reigned  fifteen 
years  and  five  months.  He  was  the  second,  Nero  having  been  the 
first,  to  persecute  the  Christians  ;  and  under  him  John  the  apostle 
was  banished  to  the  isle  of  Patmos,  and  Flavia  Domitilla,^  the 
niece  of  Flavins  Clemens,  the  consul,  by  the  sister  of  the  emperor, 
exiled  to  the  island  of  Pontia,*  for  bearing  testimony  to  her  faith. 
The  story  goes,  too,  that  this  emperor  cast  John  himself  into  a 
cauldron  of  boiling  oil,  but  that  he  escaped  unharmed  from  the 
punishment,  just  as  he  had  ever  remained  unstained  by  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  flesh. 

A.D.  99.  Nerva  reigned  one  year,  four  months,  and  eight  days. 
By  his  first  edict,  he  recalled  all  exiles,  and,  under  this  general 
pardon,  John  the  apostle  regained  his  freedom,  and  returned  to 
Ephesus.  There,  seeing  that  the  faith  of  the  church  had  suffered 
in  his  absence  from  the  attacks  of  heretics,  he  at  once  confirmed  it 
by  setting  forth  in  his  gospel  the  eternity  of  the  Word  of  God. 

A.D.  118.  Trajan  reigned  nineteen  years,  six  months,  and  fifteen 
days.  John  the  apostle,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  after  the  passion 
of  our  Lord,  died  in  peace  at  Ephesus,  in  the  ninety-eighth  year  of 
his  age.  In  a  persecution  which  Trajan  set  in  motion  against  the 
Christians,  Simeon,  who  is  the  same  with  Simon  the  son  of  Cleo- 
phas,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  suffered  crucifixion ;  and  Ignatius, 
bishop  of  Antioch,  was  brought  to   Rome,  and   delivered  to  the 

1  Eccl.  Hist.  I.  iii.  §  11.  ^  Ibid. 

^  ..."  ex  sorore  neptis."  Orig.     There  is  some  imcertaiiity  as  to  the  position 

of  this  Flavia  Doinitilla  in  the  pedigree.  See  Anderson's  Royal  Genealogies, 
t;ible  cxxvii.  ■•  Or  Poutiana. 


630  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  ISO. 

beasts.  Alexander  also,  bishop  of  Rome,  received  the  crown  of 
martyrdom,  and  was  buried  at  the  seventh  milestone  from  the 
city,  on  the  Nurrentan  Way,  near  the  spot  where  he  was  beheaded. 
Pliny  the  younger,  a  native  of  Como,  of  whose  talent  many  works 
are  yet  extant,  acquired  reputation  as  an  orator  and  historian.  The 
Pantheon,  which  Domitian  had  erected  at  Rome,  so  called  from  its 
being  intended  as  the  habitation  of  all  the  gods,  was  struck  by 
lightning,  and  burnt.  A  well-merited  and  fatal  vengeance  prostrated 
the  Jews,  who  were  exciting  seditions  in  various  parts  of  the  world. 
Trajan  extended  far  and  wide  the  boundaries  of  the  Roman  empire, 
which,  since  the  time  of  Augustus,  had  been  rather  defended  tlian 
nobly  enlarged. 

A.D.  139.  Adrian,  the  son  of  Trajan's'  mother's  sister,  reigned 
twenty-one  years.  This  emperor,  under  the  influence  of  Quadratus, 
a  disciple  of  the  apostles,  of  Aristides  of  Athens,  a  man  abounding  in 
faith  and  wisdom,  and  of  Serenus  Granius,  the  legate,  and  instructed 
by  books  which  treated  of  the  christian  religion,  ordered  by  a  letter, 
tliat  the  Christians  should  not  be  condemned  without  some  specific 
crimes  being  laid  to  their  charge.  He  also  put  a  finishing  stroke  to 
the  extermination  of  the  Jews,  who  had  rebelled  a  second  time,  and 
even  deprived  them  of  the  liberty  to  enter  Jerusalem  ;  which  city 
he,  by  the  construction  of  walls,  restored  to  a  condition  of  great 
strength,  and  commanded  that  it  should  be  called  /Elia,  after  his 
own  name.  He  also,  being  a  man  of  great  learning  in  both  Latin 
and  Greek,  built  a  library,  an  extraordinary  work  of  art,  at  Athens. 
In  this  reign,  Mark,  the  first  of  the  gentiles  who  was  ever  appointed 
to  this  office,  was  made  bishop  of  Jerusalem  ;  the  line  of  Jewish 
bishops,  who  were  fifteen  in  number,  and  who  presided  over  the 
church  ahnost  107  years  from  our  Lord's  passion,  having  now 
come  to  an  end. 

A.D.  IGl.  Antoninus,  surnamed  Pius,  reigned  in  association 
with  hissonsAureliusand Lucius  twenty-two  years  and  three  months. 
In  this  reign  Justin  the  philosopher  presented  to  Antoninus  his 
book  which  he  had  composed  on  behalf  of  the  christian  religion, 
and  obtained  his  good  will  for  the  Christians.  This  Justin,  not 
long  after,  in  a  persecution  set  in  motion  by  Crescens,  the  cynic, 
shed  his  blood  for  Christ  under  Pius,  bishop  of  Rome.  Hermes 
wrote  the  book  which  is  called  the  Shepherd,  in  which  is  contained 
the  command  of  the  angel  that  Easter  should  be  celebrated  on 
Sunday.  Polycarp  came  to  Rome,  and  cleansed  from  the  stain 
of  heresy  many  of  tliose  who  had  lately  been  corrupted  by  the 
doctrine  of  Valentinus  and  Cerdo. 

A.D.  180.  Marcus  Antoninus  Verus,  associated  with  his  brother 
Lucius  Aurelius  Commodus,  reigned  eighteen  years  and  one  montli. 
The  first  exploit  of  these  emperors, — who  were  the  first  to  hold  the 
reins  of  government  with  an  equally  divided  authority,  there  having 
been  up  to  this  reign  but  one  emperor  at  a  time, — was  a  war  with 
tlie  Parthians,  which  they  waged  with  admirable  valour  and  success. 
In  a  persecution  which  had  arisen  in  Asia,  Polycarp  and  Pionius 

'  .  .  .  "  Cousobriiia;  Trajani  filiiis,"  Orig.  But  this  is  not  correct,  if  the  words 
be  understood  strictly.     See  Audersou's  Royal  Genealogies,  table  cxxviii. 


A.D.  212.]  BEDA  : THE    SIX    AGES    OF    THE    WORLD.  G31 

suffered  martyrdom  ;  and  in  Gaul  not  a  few  nobly  shed  their  blood 
for  Christ's  sake.  Nor  were  these  crimes  unavenged,  for  shortly 
afterwards  a  plague  spread  devastation  over  many  provinces  far 
and  wide,  and  especially  over  Rome  and  Italy.  Antoninus,  upon 
the  death  of  Commodus,  his  brother,  made  his  son  Commodus 
an  associate  of  his  throne.  Melito  the  Asian,  bishop  of  Sardis, 
presented  to  Antoninus  the  emperor  a  treatise  in  defence  of  the 
Christians.  Lucius,^  king  of  Britain,  at  his  own  request  contained 
in  a  letter  to  Eleutherius,  bishop  of  Rome,  was  made  a  Christian. 
Apollinaris  of  Asia,  at  Hierapolis,  and  Dionysius,  at  Corinth,  were 
accounted  bishops  of  note. 

A.D.  193.  Lucius  Antoninus  Commodus,  after  the  death  of  his 
father,  reigned  thirteen  years.  This  emperor  waged  a  successful  war 
against  the  Germans  ;  but  in  every  respect  was  the  slave  of  lasci- 
viousness  and  impurity,  and  did  nothing  worthy  of  being  compared 
with  his  father's  valour  or  piety.  Irenseus  occupied  the  episcopal 
chair  at  Lyons  with  distinction.  Commodus,  the  emperor,  removed 
the  head  of  the  colossus,  and  ordered  that  of  his  own  statue  to  be 
substituted. 

A.D.  194.  iElius  Pertinax,  after  a  reign  of  six  months,  was  slain  in 
his  palace  by  the  violence  of  Julian,  the  jurisconsult;  who,  in  turn, 
in  the  seventh  month  from  his  assumption  of  the  government, 
was  defeated  by  Severus  at  the  Milvian  bridge,  and  put  to  death. 
In  this  reign,  Victor,  the  thirteenth  bishop  of  Rome,  by  circular 
letters  veiy  extensively  published,  appointed  the  celebration  of 
Easter  on  Sunday;  following  therein  the  example  of  his  predecessor 
Eleutherius,  who  appointed  its  celebration  on  that  Sunday  of  the 
first  month  which  fell  between  the  fifteenth  and  twenty-first  days 
of  the  moon  inclusive.  This  decree  was  acquiesced  in  by  Theo- 
philus,  bishop  of  Csesarea  in  Palestine,  who,  in  conjunction  with 
all  the  other  bishops  who  were  present  at  that  council,  wrote  an 
exceedingly  useful  synodical  letter  in  refutation  of  those  who,  in 
accordance  with  the  Jews,  celebrate  Easter  on  the  fourteenth  day 
of  the  moon. 

A.D.  212.  Severus  Pertinax  reigned  eighteen  years.  In  this  reign 
Clemens,  a  presbyter  of  the  church  of  Alexandria,  and  Pantsenus, 
a  stoic  philosopher,  in  their  disputation  on  the  christian  doctrine, 
were  thought  to  have  displayed  a  high  degree  of  eloquence ;  while 
Narcissus,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  Theophilus  of  Csesarea,  Poly- 
carp,  and  Bachylus  of  the  province  of  Asia,  were  all  regarded  as 
bishops  of  distinction.  In  a  persecution  of  the  Christians,  a  great 
number,  among  whom  we  may  mention  Leonides,  the  father  of 
Origen,  in  the  difterent  provinces  received  the  crown  of  martyr- 
dom. After  the  assassination  of  Clodius  Albinus,  at  Lyons,  who 
had  proclaimed  himself  emperor  in  Gaul,^  Severus  transferred  the 
seat  of  war  to  Britain ;  and  there,  in  order  to  secure  his  newly 
recovered  provinces  from  the  incursion  of  the  barbarians,  having 
drawn  from  sea  to  sea,  for  a  length  of  132,000  paces,'  a  broad 
ditch,  with  a  thick  rampart  strongly  fortified  by  a  line  of  fortresses, 

1  See  Eccl.  Hist.  I.  iv.  §  12.  =  Ibid.  I.  v.  §  13. 

2  Boda  has  here  lalkn  into  an  error,  by  much  overstating  the  length  of  the 


632  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  2iG- 

placcd  on  it  at  short  intervals,  died  at  York.  Perpetua  and 
Felicitas,  in  the  camp  near  Carthage,  in  Africa,  were  given  to  the 
beasts,  and  suffered  for  Christ's  sake  on  the  nones  of  ]\Iarch. 

A.D.  219.  Antoninus,  surnamed  Caracalla,  the  son  of  Severus, 
reigned  seven  years.  In  this  reign  Alexander,  bishop  of  Cappa- 
docia,  desirous  of  visiting  the  holy  places,  came  to  Jerusalem,  and 
there,  while  Narcissus,  bishop  of  that  city,  and  a  man  of  extreme 
old  age,  was  yet  living,  was  himself  ordained  as  bishop,  according 
to  the  command  of  the  Lord  contained  in  a  revelation.  The  fame 
of  Tertullian  the  African,  the  son  of  a  proconsular  centurion, 
disseminated  itself  through  all  the  churches. 

A.D.  220.  Macrinus  reigned  one  year  ;  and,  according  to  Afri- 
canus,  Abgarus,  a  man  of  sanctity,  at  tlie  same  time,  ruled  in 
Edessa.  This  emperor,  Macrinus,  and  his  son  Diadumenus,  in 
conjunction  with  whom  he  had  seized  upon  the  throne,  were  assas- 
sinated at  Archilas  in  a  rebellion  of  the  army. 

A.D.  224.  M.  Aurelius  Antoninus  reigned  four  years.  Julius 
Africanus,  the  historian  of  this  period,  and  who  had  undertaken 
the  care  and  superintendence  of  the  work,  founded  Nicopolis  in 
Palestine,  a  city  which  was  before  called  Emmaus,  and  which, 
according  to  Luke,  our  Lord,  after  his  resurrection,  vouchsafed  to 
sanctify  by  his  presence.  Hippolytus,  a  bishop,  and  the  author 
of  many  treatises,  brought  down  his  canon  of  times  to  this  date; 
and  by  his  discovery  of  the  cycle  of  sixteen  years  for  the  calculation 
of  Easter,  was  the  cause  of  Eusebius  composing  his  cycle  of  nine- 
teen years. 

A.D.  237.  Aurelius  Alexander  reigned  thirteen  years.  His 
singular  affection  for  his  mother  Mammea  made  him  universally 
beloved.  During  this  period.  Urban,  bishop  of  Rome,  converted 
many  of  noble  rank  to  the  faith  of  Christ  with  such  sincerity  that 
they  suffered  martyrdom  for  Him  :  at  the  same  time  the  fame  of 
Origen  was  so  loud  throughout  Alexandria,  or  rather  throughout 
the  whole  world,  that  Mammea  desired  to  hear  him,  invited  him  to 
Antioch,  and  entertained  him  with  the  highest  distinction. 

A.D.  240.  Maximin  reigned  three  years,  and,  incensed  because 
the  household  of  his  ])redecessor  Alexander  and  of  his  mother  Mam- 
mea had  embraced  Christianity,  or,  perhaps,  more  especially,  by 
hatred  against  Origen  the  presbyter,  set  in  motion  a  persecution 
against  the  priests  and  clergy,  that  is,  the  teachers  of  the  churches, 
in  which  Pontianus  and  Antherus,  bishops  of  Rome,  received  the 
crown  of  martyrdom,  and  were  buried  in  the  cemetery  of 
Calixtus. 

A.D.  246.  During  the  reign  of  Gonlian,  which  lasted  six  years, 
Julius  Africanus  (who  relates  in  his  Chronicle  that  he  repaired  to 
Alexandria,  attracted  by  the  universal  estimation  in  which  Hcra- 
clas  was  licld  for  erudition  in  theology  and  philosophy,  and  all  the 
learning  of  the  Greeks)  was  one  of  the  most  noted  of  the  eccle- 
siastical writers  of  the  period.     At  the  same  time  Origen  imbued 

ramiiart.  He  was  misled  by  his  authors,  whom  he  followed  too  closely,  for 
Lis  own  local  knowledge  would  have  enabled  him  to  have  corrected  their  obvioud 
miscalculations. 


A.D.  271.]  BEDA  : THE    SIX    AGES    OF   THE    WORLD.  633 

with  the  precepts  of  the  divine  philosophy  Theodore,  surnamed 
Gregory,  and  Athenodorus,  two  young  brothers,  who  subsequently 
occupied  with  great  distinction  the  episcopal  chair  of  Pontus. 

A.D.  253.  Phihppus,  who  shared  the  throne  with  his  son  of  the 
same  name  for  seven  years,  was  the  first  of  all  the  emperors  to 
embrace  Christianity,  so  that  when  the  one  thousandth  year  from 
the  foundation  of  the  city  of  Rome  fell,  as  it  did,  in  the  third  year 
of  his  reign,  it  remained  for  a  christian  emperor  to  celebrate  this 
natal  year — a  year  more  august  than  any  which  had  preceded — 
with  magnificent  public  games.  In  this  reign,  also,  Origen,  who 
was  so  prolific  an  author  that  Jerome  mentions  having  read  six 
thousand  of  his  compositions,  wrote  an  answer  in  eight  books  to 
some  attacks  upon  us  by  one  Celsus,  an  epicurean  philosopher. 

A.D.  254.  Decius,  during  a  reign  of  one  year  and  three  months, 
actuated  by  hatred  of  his  predecessors,  the  Philippi,  the  father  and 
son,  whom  he  had  assassinated,  set  in  motion  a  persecution  against 
the  Christians,  in  which  Fabian,  in  Rome,  received  the  noble  crown 
of  martyrdom,  and  devolved  his  bishopric  upon  Cornelius,  who,  in 
turn,  met  the  same  glorious  death.  This  persecution,  however,  in 
which,  in  addition  to  those  above  mentioned,  Alexander,  bishop  of 
Jerusalem,  at  Csesarea,  in  Palestine,  and  Babylas,  bishop  of  An- 
tioch,  were  massacred,  did  not  owe  its  rise  to  the  instigation  of  the 
emperor  ;  but,  to  use  the  words  of  Dionysius,  bishop  of  Alexandria, 
to  that  of  a  minister  of  devils,  called  in  this  city  of  ours  a  sooth- 
sayer, who,  a  whole  year  before  the  publication  of  the  edict  of  the 
emperor,  was  exciting  the  superstitious  mob  to  attack  us. 

A.D.  256.  Of  GaUus,  who  with  his  son  Volusian  occupied  the 
throne  two  years  and  four  months,  Dionysius,  bishop  of  Alexandria, 
has  left  us  this  account : — "  But,  notwithstanding  these  warnings, 
Gallus  had  not  discernment  to  perceive,  or  to  avoid,  the  fault  which 
ruined  Decius,  but  himself  split  upon  the  same  rock  of  ofience  ;  for, 
although  the  opening  of  his  reign  was  blessed  with  all  prosperity 
and  success,  he  did  not  refrain  from  persecuting  those  holy  men, 
who  were  supplicating  the  most  high  God  for  the  peace  of  his 
kingdom,  and  dispersing  them,  at  the  same  time  scattered  to  the 
winds  the  happiness  and  tranquillity  of  his  own  empire."  Origen, 
a  little  before  he  had  completed  his  70th  year,  died  and  was  buried 
in  the  city  of  Tyre.  Cornelius,  bishop  of  Rome,  at  the  request  of 
a  certain  matron,  named  Lucina,  raised  the  bodies  of  the  apostles 
from  the  catacombs  in  the  night  time,  and  deposited  that  of  Paul 
at  the  spot  where  he  was  beheaded  on  the  Via  Hortiensis,  and  that 
of  Peter  near  the  place  of  his  crucifixion,  between  the  corpses  of 
the  holy  bishops,  in  the  temple  of  Apollo,  on  the  Golden  Mount, 
in  the  Vatican  of  Nero's  palace,  on  the  3d  day  of  the  kalends  of 
July  [29th  June]. 

A.D.  271.  The  reign  of  Valerian  and  his  son  GaUienus,  whom  he 
associated  with  him  in  the  empire,  lasted  fifteen  years.  A  persecu- 
tion of  the  Christians  by  the  former,  met  with  a  speedy  punishment 
in  the  defeat  and  capture  of  its  author  by  Sapor,  king  of  Persia,  in 
which  country  his  eyes  were  put  out,  and  he  himself  languished  away 
a  prolonged  life  in  miserable  servitude.     Terrified  by  his  fate,  and 


634  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  2S5. 

regarding  it  as  a  manifest  judgment  of  God,  Gallienus  restored 
peace  to  the  church  ;  but,  either  as  a  retribution  for  his  own  Hcen- 
tiousness,  or  his  father's  enmity  to  God,  the  Roman  empire  sufi'ercd 
a  long  series  of  disasters  from  the  attacks  of  the  barbarians.  In 
this  persecution,  Cyprian,  bishop  of  Carthage,  of  whom  some  works 
of  very  great  learning  are  yet  extant,  and  of  whose  life  and  passion 
Pontius,  his  deacon  and  companion  in  his  exile  and  death,  has  left 
an  admirable  account,  received  the  crown  of  martyrdom.  At  the 
same  time,  Tlieodore,  of  whom  I  have  before  made  mention,  sur- 
named  Gregory,  bishop  of  Neocsesarea  in  Pontus,  was  distinguished 
by  every  excellence  ;  and  he  it  was  who,  in  order  to  provide  suf- 
ficient space  for  building  a  church,  moved  a  mountain  by  his  prayers. 
Stephanus  and  Xistus,  bishops  of  Rome,  w^re  martyred. 

A.D.  273.  Claudius,  who  reigned  one  year  and  nine  months, 
was  remarkable  for  his  signal  victories  over  the  Goths,  who  had  for 
fifteen  years  been  devastating  Illyricum  and  Macedonia,  and  for 
these  exploits  was  honoured  by  the  dedication  of  a  shield  of  gold  in 
the  senate-house,  and  of  a  golden  statue  in  the  capitol.  Malchion, 
a  presbyter  of  the  church  of  Antioch,  and  of  great  eloquence,  as 
might  be  expected  from  one  who  had  been  a  teacher  of  rhetoric  in 
that  city,  held  a  disputation  with  Paul  of  Samosata,  bishop  of 
Antioch,  wlio  maintained  that  Christ  was  a  mere  man  of  a  common 
nature.  This  dialogue '  was  taken  down  by  short-hand  writers  at 
the  time,  and  is  yet  extant. 

A.D.  278.  Aurelian,  who  reigned  five  years  and  six  months, 
liaving  set  in  motion  a  persecution  against  us,  was  threatened  by  the 
falling  of  a  thunderbolt  immediately  before  him,  to  the  great  terror 
of  the  bystanders  ;  and,  accordingly,  not  long  after,  in  the  middle 
of  the  march  between  Constantinople  and  Heraclea,  at  that  part  of 
the  old  paved  way  which  is  called  Ca^nofrurium,  he  met  his  death 
by  the  liands  of  the  soldiers.  Eutychian,  bishop  of  Rome,  received 
the  crown  of  mariyrdom,  and  he,  who  had  buried  with  his  own 
hand  313  martyrs,  now  lies  in  the  cemetery  of  Callistus. 

A.D.  279.  Tacitus  reigned  six  months,  and,  after  his  assassination 
at  Pontus.  Florian  occuj)ied  the  throne  eighty-eight  days,  and  was, 
in  turn,  put  to  death  at  Tliarsus.  During  this  reign,  Anatolius,  an 
Alexandrian  by  birth,  bishop  of  Laodicea  in  Syria,  and  skilled  in 
the  learning  of  the  philosophers,  was  widely  celebrated  ;  the  great- 
ness of  his  talent  is  attested  by  his  work  on  Easter,  and  his  ten 
books  on  Arithmetic. 

A.D.  285.  The  great  achievement  of  Probus,  who  occupied  the 
imperial  throne  six  years  and  four  months,  was  the  complete  deli- 
verance of  Gaul  from,  and  the  extirpation  of,  the  barbarians,  who 
had  for  many  years  oppressed  that  country,  after  a  series  of  desperate 
i)attles.  In  the  second  year  of  his  reign,  and,  as  Eusebius  in  his 
Chronicle  says,  according  to  the  Antiochians,  the  325th  year  ;  ac- 
cording to  the  Tyrians,  the  402d  ;  according  to  the  Laodiceans,  the 
324th  ;  according  to  the  Edessenes,  the  588th  ;  according  to  the 
Ascalonites,  the  380th  ;  and  according  to  the  Hebrews,  the  begin- 

'  See  Cavo,  i.  135.  It  was  extant  in  the  time  of  Jerome,  from  wliom  Beda  has 
copied  this  passage,  but  is  now  lost. 


A.D.  308.]  BEDA  : THE    SIX    AGES    OF    THE    WORLD.  635 

ning  of  the  86th  Jubilee,  that  is  to  say,  in  the  4250th  year  of  the 
world,  there  arose,  to  the  great  misfortune  of  the  whole  human 
race,  the  insane  heresy  of  the  Manichoeans  ;  and  Archelaus,  bishop 
of  Mesopotamia,  wrote  a  treatise  in  the  Syrian  language  containing 
his  disputation  with  Manich?eus,  on  his  departure  from  Persia  ; 
which  treatise  was  translated  into  Greek,  and  very  generally  read. 

A.D.  287.  Carus,  with  his  sons  Carinus  and  Numerianus,  reigned 
two  years.  This  was  the  period  of  the  flourishing  of  Gains,  a  dis- 
tinguished bishop  of  the  Roman  church,  who  suffered  martyrdom 
under  Diocletian,  and  of  Pierius,  a  presbyter  of  Alexandria,  who 
taught  with  great  success  under  Theon,  the  bishop,  and  who  dis- 
played so  nice  an  elegance  in  his  language,  and  in  his  various 
treatises,  which  are  still  extant,  as  to  acquire  the  title  of  Origen 
the  second.  In  other  respects,  he  was  a  man  of  extraordinary 
parsimony,  and,  after  the  persecution,  passed  his  life  in  voluntary 
poverty  at  Rome. 

A.D.  307.  Diocletian,'  with  Herculius  Maximian,  reigned  twenty 
years.  In  Britain,  Carausius  assumed,  with  the  imperial  purple, 
the  sovereignty  of  the  island.  In  the  East,  peace  was  disturbed 
by  Narseus,  king  of  Persia.  In  Africa,  the  Quinquegentiani  conti- 
nued their  devastations,  while  the  occupation  of  Egypt  by  Achilleus 
seemed  an  emergency  sufficient  to  demand  the  efforts  of  Constan- 
tius  and  Galerius  Maximian,  and  their  association  as  Caesars  in  the 
empire.  Of  these,  Constantius  married  Theodora,  the  stepdaughter 
of  Herculius,  by  whom  he  had  six  sons,  the  brothers  of  Constan- 
tine ;  and  Galerius,  Valeria,  the  daughter  of  Diocletian.  Ten  years 
afterwards,  Britain  was  recovered  by  Asclepiodotus,  the  prsetorian 
prefect. 

In  the  nineteenth  year  of  Diocletian,  that  emperor,  in  the  East, 
and  Maximian  Herculius  in  the  West,  issued  an  edict  for  the  de- 
vastation of  the  churches,  and  the  persecution  and  execution  of  the 
Christians  ;  and  although,  in  the  second  year  of  this  persecution, 
Diocletian  laid  aside  the  imperial  purple  at  Nicomedia,  and  Maxi- 
mian at  Milan,  yet  the  persecution,  once  set  in  motion,  ceased  not 
to  rage  till  the  seventh  year  of  Constantine.  In  the  sixteenth  year 
of  this  emperor,  Constantius,^  a  man  of  courteous  manners  and 
humane  disposition,  died  in  Britain  at  York.  This  persecution 
blazed  with  such  violent  and  uninterrupted  fury,  that  in  one  month 
17,000  martyrs  suffered  for  Christ's  sake;  nor  could  ^  even  the  ocean 
stay  its  career,  for  it  crossed  the  sea  which  girds  Britain,  and  con- 
demned Alban,  Aaron,  Julius,  with  a  host  of  others  of  both  sexes, 
to  a  violent  but  happy  death.  In  it,  also,  Pamphilus,  a  presbyter, 
the  friend  of  Eusebius,  bishop  of  Csesarea,  whose  life  he  has  com- 
posed in  three  books,  suffered  martyrdom. 

A.D.  308.  In  the  third  year  of  the  persecution,  being  also  that 
of  the  death  of  Constantius,  Maximin  and  Severus  were  appointed 
Caesars  by  Galerius  Maximian;  of  whom  Maximin  filled  up  the 
measure  of  his  abominable  crimes  and  adulteries,  by  his  persecution 
of  the  Christians.     In  this  reign,  Peter,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  with 

»  See  Eccl.  Hist.  I.  vi.  g§  14,  15. 

2  Ibid  I.  viii.  §  23.  •"  Ibid.  I.  vii,  §  IG. 


G3G  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  303. 

many  otlier  bishops  of  Eg)^t,  Lucian,  a  presbyter  of  Antiocli,  a 
man  remarkable  for  his  morals,  his  continence  and  learning,  and 
Timotheus,  on  the  10th  of  the  kalends  of  July  [22d  June],  at  Rome, 
all  suffered  martyrdom. 

A.D.  339.  Constantine,*  the  son  of  Constantius  by  his  concu- 
bine Helena,  was  proclaimed  emperor  in  Britain,  and  reigned  thirty 
years  and  ten  months.  In  the  fourth  year  of  the  persecution, 
Maxentius,  the  son  of  Herculius  Maximian,  assumed  the  title  of 
Augustus,  while  Licinius,  the  husband  of  Constantia,  the  sister  of 
Constantine,  was  proclaimed  emperor  at  Carnuntum ;  and  Con- 
stantine  from  a  persecutor  of,  becomes  a  convert  to,  Christianity. 
In  the  636th  year  after  Alexander,  on  the  19th  day  of  the  month 
Desius,  according  to  the  Greeks,  that  is,  the  13th  day  of  the  kalends 
of  July  [19th  June],  in  the  consulate  of  Paulinus  and  Julian,  men 
of  great  eminence,  the  catholic  faith  was  expounded  at  the  council 
of  Nice. 

Among  the  basilica  which  Constantine  built,  was  one  at  Rome, 
where  he  received  the  rite  of  baptism,  dedicated  to  St.  John  the 
Baptist,  called  the  basilica  of  Constantine  ;  also  one  to  St.  Peter  in 
the  temple  of  Apollo  ;  also  one  to  St.  Paul ;  the  bodies  of  which 
two  latter  apostles  he  enveloped  in  a  case  of  Cyprian  brass  five  feet 
thick ;  also  a  basilica  named  Jerusalem,  in  the  Sessorian  palace, 
where  he  placed  a  portion  of  the  wood  of  our  Lord's  cross  ;  also  one 
to  the  holy  martyr  Agnes,  at  the  request  of  his  daughter,  and  a 
baptisteiy  in  the  same  place,  where  his  sister  Constantia  and  her 
daughter  Augusta  were  baptized  ;  also  one  to  the  blessed  martyr 
Laurence  on  the  Tiburtine  Way  in  the  Veran  territory;  also  one  to 
St.  Peter  and  Marcellinus,  martyrs,  on  the  Lavican  Way,  between 
two  laurels  ;  and  besides  these  he  erected  a  mausoleum,  to  which 
he  removed  the  body  of  his  mother,  and  laid  it  in  a  purple  sarco- 
phagus. He  also  built  a  basilica  in  the  city  of  Hostia,  near  the 
liarbour  of  Rome,  to  the  blessed  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  and  to 
John  the  Baptist;  and  one  in  the  city  of  Alba  to  St.  John  the  Bap- 
tist, and  one  in  the  city  of  Naples.  Moreover  he,  in  honour  of  the 
martyr  Lucian,  who  lay  buried  there,  restored  Drepana,  a  city  of 
Bithynia,  and  named  it  Helenopolis,  after  his  mother;  and  then, 
having  built  in  Tin-ace  a  city  bearing  his  own  name,  he  established 
it  as  the  capital  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  of  tlie  whole  east. 
Lastly,  this  emperor,  without  the  shedding  of  a  drop  of  blood,  issued 
an  edict  for  the  closing  of  the  pagan  temples. 

A.D.  363.  Constantius  reigned,  associated  with  his  brothers 
Constantine  and  Constans,  twenty- four  years,  five  months,  and 
thirteen  days.  James  was  acknowledged  bishop  of  Nisibis,  and,  at 
liis  prayers,  that  city  several  times  was  delivered  from  the  dangers 
that  threatened  it.  The  abettors  of  the  Arian  impiet)',  supported 
and  patronised  by  Constantius,  by  banishment,  bonds,  and  every 
mode  of  tribulation,  persecuted  first  of  all  Athanasius,  and  after 
him  all  the  bishops  who  failed  to  espouse  their  tenets.  Maxiniin, 
1)V  whom  Athanasius,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  in  his  iiight  from  the 
menaces  of  Constantius,  was  received  with  honour  and  protected, 
'  See  Eccl.  Hist.  I.  viii.  g  23. 


A.D.  377.]  EEDA  : THE    SIX    AGES    OF    THE    WORLD.  637 

was  distinguished  as  the  bishop  of  Treves.  Antonius,  a  monk, 
died  a  hermit  in  the  one  hundred  and  fifth  year  of  his  age.  The 
mortal  remains  of  the  apostle  Timothy  were  transferred  to  Con- 
stantinople, and,  on  the  approach  of  Constantius  to  Rome,^  the 
bones  of  Andrew  the  apostle,  and  of  Luke  the  evangelist,  were 
received  with  great  reverence  by  the  inhabitants  of  Constantinople. 
Hilary,  bishop  of  Poitiers,  having  been  compelled  by  the  Arians  to 
go  into  exile  in  Phrygia,  passed  to  Constantinople,  and,  after 
having  presented  the  book  containing  his  defence  to  the  emperor 
Constantius,  returned  to  Gaul. 

A.D.  365.  JuHan,  who  reigned  two  years  and  eight  months, 
Ijecame  a  convert  to  idolatry,  and  instituted  a  persecution  against 
tlie  Christians  ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  the  pagans  of  Sebaste,  a 
city  of  Palestine,  broke  open  the  sepulchre  of  John  the  baptist, 
dispersed  his  bones,  and  again  collecting  them  and  reducing  then/. 
to  ashes,  scattered  them  more  completely  to  the  winds.  However, 
by  the  providence  of  God,  certain  monks  were  at  hand,  who, 
mingling  with  the  crowd  of  pagans  who  were  collecting  them,  took 
up  all  that  they  could  find,  and  conveyed  them  safely  to  their  abbot 
Philip  ;  who  forthwith,  considering  such  a  treasure  as  too  important 
to  be  entrusted  to  his  custody,  sent  them  by  the  hands  of  Julian, 
a  deacon,  to  Athanasius,  the  then  primate.  By  him  they  were 
received  in  the  presence  of  but  a  few  witnesses,  and  excavating 
a  part  of  the  wall  of  the  sacristy,  he  concealed  them  there,  pro- 
phetically divining  that  their  preservation  would  benefit  the  suc- 
ceeding generation.  Nor  was  his  presage  unfulfilled;  for  Theophilus, 
bishop  of  the  same  city,  under  the  emperor  Theodosius,  destroyed 
the  tomb  of  Serapis,  and  consecrated  in  its  place  a  church  to 
St.  John. 

A.D.  366.  Jovian  reigned  eight  months.  In  this  reign  a  synod, 
convened  at  Antioch  by  Meletius  and  those  of  his  party,  rejected 
tlie  terms  '  Homousion,'  and  '  Anomoion,'  and  established  the  inter- 
mediate Macedonian  doctrine  of  the  '  Homoiousion ;'  while  the 
emperor,  warned  by  the  fall  of  his  predecessor,  Constantius,  in  a 
letter  of  great  respect,  recalled  Athanasius,  and  adopted  from  him 
a  formulary  of  faith,  and  his  method  of  regulating  the  churches. 
Unfortunately,  a  reign  of  such  promise  and  piety  was  cut  short  by 
an  early  death. 

A.D.  3-77.  Valentinian,  associated  with  his  brother,  Valens, 
reigned  eleven  years.  ApoUinaris,  bishop  of  Laodicea,  composed 
several  treatises  on  the  christian  religion,  but  afterwards,  deviating 
from  the  faith,  originated  the  heresy  which  bears  his  naine. 
Damasus,  bishop  of  Rome,  built  a  basilica  in  honour  of  St. 
Laurence,  near  the  theatre,  and  another  upon  the  catacombs,  in 
which  latter  church  reposed  the  bodies  of  the  apostles  Peter  and 
Paul ;  and  on  this  spot  he  embellished  the  slab  under  which  they 
were  deposited  with  some  verses.  Valens,  having  received  baptism 
from  Eudoxius,  an  Arian  bishop,  persecuted  the  Catholics.  Gratian, 
the  son  of  Valentinian,  in  the  third  year  of  his  reign,  was  pro- 

^  By  Rome,  the  city  of  New  Rome,  or  Constantinople,  is  meant.  See  Hieron. 
De  Scrip.  Eccl.  under  the  title  of  St.  Luke,  Baronius,  a.d.  358,  §  27. 


G38  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.C.  398. 

claimed  emperor  at  Amiens.  At  Constantinople,  the  church  '  of 
the  apostles  was  dedicated.  After  the  death  of  Auxentius,  at  an 
advanced  age,  Ambrose  was  appointed  bishop  of  Milan,  and  the 
whole  of  Italy  was  converted  to  the  orthodox  faith.  Bishop  Hilary 
died  at  Poitiers. 

A.D.  381.  Valens,  in  association  with  Gratian  and  Valentinian, 
the  sons  of  his  brother  Valentinian,  reigned  four  years.  This 
emperor  enacted  a  law  that  monks  should  be  subject  to  military 
service,  the  punishment  of  refusal  being,  to  be  beaten  to  death 
with  staves.  In  this  reign  the  nation  of  tlie  Huns,  which  had  long 
been  confined  within  inaccessible  mountains,  inflamed  by  a  sudden 
madness,  burst  forth  against  the  Goths,  put  them  completely  to  the 
rout,  and  drove  them  from  their  ancient  settlements  ;  the  Goths 
then  passed  the  Danube,  and  were  received  into  the  empire  by 
Valens,  without  the  necessity  of  delivering  up  their  arms  ;  there, 
driven  by  the  rapacious  avarice  of  Maximus  and  by  famine  to 
rebel,  they  defeated  the  army  of  Valens,  and  dispersing  themselves 
over  Thrace,  spread  throughout  the  whole  country  massacre,  confla- 
gration, and  rapine 

A.D.  387.  Gratian,  associated  with  his  brother  Valentinian, 
reigned  six  years,  during  which  period  Theodosius,  being  proclaimed 
emperor  by  him,  gained  many  signal  victories  over  those  vast 
Scythian  nations,  the  Alans,  Huns,  and  Goths,  and  was  the  cause 
of  the  resignation  by  the  Arians,  (to  whom  his  subsequent  recon- 
ciliation with  those  tribes  was  intolerable,)  of  the  churches  which 
they  had  occupied  by  force  for  forty  years.  A  synod,  attended  by 
150  bishops,  was  convened  in  the  Royal  City  [of  Constantinople], 
under  Damasus,  bishop  of  Rome,  to  condemn  the  heresy  of 
Macedonius.  Theodosius,  in  turn,  associated  with  himself  in  the 
empire  his  son  Arcadius.  In  the  second  year  of  Gratian,  when 
that  emperor  and  Theodosius  (the  former  for  the  fifth  time)  were 
consuls,  Theophilus  composed  the  computation  for  the  celebration 
of  Easter.  In  Britain,^  Maximus,  a  man  of  determined  courage, 
high  probity,  and  altogether  worthy  to  bear  the  title  of  Augustus, 
(except  inasmuch  as  his  usurpation  was  a  violation  of  his  oath  of 
allegiance,)  was  proclaimed  emperor  by  the  army,  almost  without 
his  own  consent.  From  Britain  he  crossed  over  to  Gaul,  circum- 
vented Gratian  by  a  stratagem,  put  him  to  death  at  Lyons,  and 
finally  drove  his  brother  Valentinian  out  of  Italy.  Nor  \vas  the 
banishment  of  the  latter  and  his  mother  Justina  undeserved,  for 
he  himself  was  polluted  by  the  Arian  heresy,  and  had,  with  such 
perfidity  and  ol)stinacy,  besieged  and  persecuted  that  bulwark  of  the 
catholic  faith,  the  illustrious  Ambrose,  that  it  was  only  on  the  pro- 
duction of  the  bodies  of  the  blessed  martyrs  Gervase  and  Protase 
uncorrupted  and  entire,  (by  God's  revelation,)  that  he  desisted  from 
his  nefarious  undertaking. 

A.D.  398.  Theodosius,  who,  in  the  lifetime  of  Gratian,  had 
administered  the  East  for  six  years,  reigned  after  his  death  eleven 
years.    This  emperor,'  in  co-operation  with  Valentinian,  whom,  on 

'  .  .  .  "  Apostolonim  Mai-tyrium."     See  Bingham,  VTII.  i.  §  8. 
2  Eccl.  Hi«t.  I.  ix.  §  24.  ^  Ibid. 


A.D.  4-2G.]  BEDA  : THE    SIX    AGES    OF    THE    WORLD.  G39 

his  expulsion  from  Italy,  he  had  received  and  protected,  succeeded 
in  putting  the  tyrant  Maximus  to  death  at  the  third  milestone  from 
Aquileia.  The  result  of  the  enterprise  of  this  tyrant  was  disastrous 
to  Britain  ;  ^  for  those  very  warlike  transmarine  tribes,  the  Scots  on 
the  north-west,  and  the  Picts  on  the  north,  obsei-ving  the  very 
general  withdrawal  of  the  armed  youth,  and  the  military  forces, 
(which  had  followed  the  fortunes  of  the  usurper  into  Gaul  and 
never  returned  home,)  invaded  and  pillaged  the  island  while  thus 
destitute  of  an  army  to  defend  it,  and  continued  their  oppression 
through  many  years.  Jerome,  the  translator  of  the  Sacred  History, 
brought  down  his  work,  "  On  the  illustrous  men  of  the  church,"  to 
the  fourteenth  year  of  the  whole  reign  of  Tlieodosius. 

A.D.  411.  Arcadius,  the  son  of  Theodosius,  reigned  associated 
with  his  brother  Honorius  thirteen  years.  In  this  reign,  the  bodies 
of  the  holy  prophets  Habakkuk  and  Micah  were  discovered  by  a 
divine  prophetic  revelation.  The  Goths  invaded  Italy;  the  Vandals 
and  Alans,  Gaul.  Innocent,  bishop  of  Rome,  built  and  dedicated  a 
basilica  to  the  holy  martyrs  Gei^vase  and  Protase,  from  the  proceeds 
of  a  testamentaiy  bequest  of  a  certain  illustrious  woman,  named 
Vestina.   Pelagius,^  a  native  of  Britain,  impugned  the  grace  of  God. 

A.D,  426.  Honorius,  associated  with  Tlieodosius  the  younger, 
his  brother's  son,  reigned  fifteen  years.  In  this  reign,  on  the  ninth 
day  of  the  kalends  of  September  [24th  Aug.],  and  in  the  ll64t]i 
year  from  its  foundation,  Alaric,  king  of  the  Goths,  seized  upon 
Rome,^  reduced  a  part  of  it  to  ashes,  exhausted  it  of  plunder,  and 
departed  on  the  sixth  day  after  his  entry.  Lucian,  a  presbyter,  to 
whom  God,  in  the  seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  the  emperor 
Honorius,  revealed  the  place  of  the  sepulchre  and  of  the  remains 
of  the  blessed  protomartyr  Stephen,  of  Gamaliel,  and  of  Nico- 
demus,  mentioned  in  the  Gospel  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
communicated  this  revelation  in  a  letter,  in  Greek,  to  the  repre- 
sentative* of  all  the  churches  ;  and  it  was,  by  Avitus,  a  presbyter, 
of  Spanish  extraction,  translated  into  Latin,  and,  with  the  addition 
of  an  epistle  by  himself,  sent  by  the  hands  of  Orosius,  a  presbyter, 
— who  had  arrived  at  the  holy  place  on  a  mission  by  Augustine,  to 
consult  Jerome  on  the  condition  of  the  soul, — to  the  churches  of 
the  West.  From  whence,  also,  Orosius  received  the  remains  of 
the  blessed  Stephen,  and  returning  to  his  country,  was  the  first  to 
bring  them  into  the  West.  At  this  time,  the  Britons,  harassed 
beyond  endurance  by  the  irruptions  of  the  Scots  and  Picts,^  sent 
to  Rome,  earnestly  prayed  for  succour,  and  held  out  the  submission 
of  the  island  as  the  price.  Their  request  was  granted,  and  a  Roman 
legion  having  been  sent,  rapidly  put  to  rout  a  vast  multitude  of  the 
barbarians,  expelled  the  rest  from  the  country  of  Britain,  and 
before  their  departure  gave  them  the  friendly  advice  to  build  a  wall 
across  the  island,  between  the  two  seas,  and  thus  keep  off  their 

J  Eccl.  Hist.  I.  xii.  §  28.  2  Ibid.  I.  X.  §  25.  *  Ibid.  I.  xi.  §  26. 

*  See  Photius,  cod.  171,  for  some  fragments  of  tli&  Greek;  and  Baroniuf?, 
A.D.  415,  §  7,  for  the  Latin  version.  By  the  "  representative  of  all  the  churches" 
Beda  here  understands  the  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  to  whom  the  epistle  was 
addressed.  *  Eccl.  Hist.  I.  xii.  §  28. 


G40  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  452. 

enemies.  This  wall  was  rendered  useless  by  their  want  of  skill,  in 
building  it  of  turf,  rather  than  of  stone  ;  for  no  sooner  had  the 
Romans  departed,  than  their  ancient  foes,  invading  them  from  the 
side  of  the  sea,  mowed  down,  trampled  under  foot,  and  consumed, 
like  ripe  corn,  everything  that  stood  in  their  way.  A  second  time 
the  Romans  answered  to  their  prayers,  and  hastening  to  their  aid, 
drove  the  enemy,  after  great  slaughter,  beyond  the  seas,  and,  in 
conjunction  with  the  Britons,  built  from  sea  to  sea  a  wall,  not  of 
earth  and  dust,  as  before,  but  of  sohd  stone,  between  those  cities 
which  dread  of  those  hostile  tribes  had  caused  them  to  erect  there. 
Beyond  this,  on  the  south  coast,  on  which  side  invasion  was  feared, 
they  built  at  intervals  towers  overlooking  the  sea ;  and  then  bade 
their  allies  a  last  farewell,  like  men  who  intend  never  to  return. 

Boniface,  bishop  of  Rome,  built  an  oratory  in  the  cemeteiy  of 
St.  Felicitas,  and  added  some  embellishments  to  her  sepulchre  and 
to  that  of  St.  Sylvanus.  Jerome,  a  presbyter,  died,  in  the  twelfth 
year  of  Honorius,  the  day  before  the  kalends  of  October  [30th 
Sept.],  in  the  ninety-first  year  of  his  age. 

A.D.  452.  Theodosius  the  younger,  the  son  of  Arcadius,  reigned 
twenty-six  years  ;  Valentinian  the  second,  the  son  of  Constantius, 
was  proclaimed  emperor  at  Ravenna,  and  his  mother,  Placidia,  was 
saluted  with  the  title  of  Augusta.  In  this  reign,  the  savage  tribes 
of  the  Vandals,  Alans,  and  Goths,  crossing  over  from  Spain  to 
Africa,  spread  throughout  the  country  devastation  by  tire,  by  the 
sword,  by  rapine,  and  by  the  pollution  of  the  Arian  impiety  ;  but 
then  it  was  that  the  blessed  Augustine,  bishop  of  Hippo,  and  a 
renowned  teacher  of  all  the  churches,  shrinking  from  beholding  the 
ruin  of  his  city,  in  the  third  month  of  its  siege,  and  on  the  tifth 
day  of  the  kalends  of  September  [28th  Aug.],  passed  away  to  the 
Lord,  at  a  time  when  the  Vandals  had  taken  Carthage  and  ravaged 
Sicily.  He  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-six  years,  almost  forty  of 
them  having  been  spent  in  the  clerical  or  episcopal  office  ;  and 
some  account  of  his  captivity  is  to  be  found  in  the  epistle  which 
Paschasinus'  of  Lilybceum"  wrote  to  pope  Leo  on  the  computation 
of  Easter. 

Palladius,'  ordained  by  pope  Celestinus,  was  the  first  to  be  sent 
as  a  bishop  over  the  Scots  who  had  embraced  Christianity.  Upon 
tlie  witlidrawal  of  the  Roman  army,  and  the  announcement  of  their 
determination  not  to  return  becoming  known,  the  Scots  and  Picts 
again  occupied,  to  the  exclusion  of  its  native  inhabitants,  the  whole 
of  the  island  on  the  north  of,  and  up  to,  the  veiy  wall ;  and  at  one 
blow  massacred,  took  captive,  and  put  to  flight  its  defenders.  A 
breach  was  made  in  it,  and  the  banil  of  cruel  robbers  spread  their 
ravages  on  this  side  ;  upon  which,  in  the  twenty-third  year  of 
Theodosius,  an  epistle  was  sent  to  yEtius,*  a  man  of  influence  at 
Rome,  and  consul  for  the  third  time,  praying  for  aid,  but  without 
success.  Meanwhile,'^  the  fugitives  were  harassed  by  a  dreadful 
famine,  and  one  famous  in  the  annals  of  history,  under  the  com- 

«  See  Cave,  Hist.  Lit.  ad  an.  443,  i.  435.  »  In  Sicily. 

=•  Eccl.  Hist.  I.  xiii.  §  32;  V.  xxiv.  §  452.  *  Ibid.  I.  xii.  §  31. 

■■■  Ibid.  I.  xiv.  §  33. 


A.D.  459.]  BEDA  : THE    SIX    AGES    OF    THE    WORLD.  G41 

pulsion  of  which  some  surrendered  to  the  enemy ;  while  others, 
retiring  to  the  mountains,  caves,  and  defiles,  made  repeated  excur- 
sions with  determined  courage,  and  inflicted  severe  losses  on  the 
enemy.  Tlie  Scots  then  returned  home  for  the  present,  while  the 
Picts  occupied  the  extremity  of  the  island,  with  the  intention  of 
retaining  it  as  their  settled  habitation.  This  famine  was  succeeded' 
by  a  season  of  great  abundance  ;  the  abundance  by  the  most  extra- 
vagant habits  of  luxury  and  heedlessness  ;  and  this  by  a  very  terrible 
pestilence,  and  a  still  more  terrible  scourge,  in  the  shape  of  a  new 
body  of  enemies,  the  Angli,  whom  Uurtigern,  following  the  unani- 
mous counsel  of  the  Britons,  had  invited  to  defend  the  country, 
but  perceived,  when  too  late,  that,  instead  of  defenders,  he  had 
entertained  assailants  and  conquerors.  Xistus,  bishop  of  Rome, 
erected  to  St.  Maiy,  the  mother  of  our  Lord,  a  basilica,  called  by 
the  ancients  the  temple  of  Bacchus.  Eudoxia,  the  wife  of  the 
emperor  Theodosius,  returned  from  Jerusalem,  bringing  with  her 
the  remains  of  the  most  blessed  Stephen,  the  protomartyr,  which 
are  now  deposited  in  the  basilica  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  are  a  peculiar 
object  of  reverence.  Blaedla  and  Attila,  two  brothers,  and  kings  of 
many  nations,  ravaged  lUyricum  and  Thrace. 

A.D.  459.  Martian  and  Valentinian  reigned  seven  years.  The 
nation  of  the  Angli  or  Saxones  landed^  in  Britain  with  three  long 
ships  ;  but  on  the  announcement  in  their  own  country  of  their 
prosperous  voyage,  a  more  powerful  army  was  sent,  which,  in  con- 
junction with  the  former,  in  the  first  place  repulsed  the  enemy  by 
whom  they  were  attacked,  and  then,  under  the  pretence  that  the 
Britons  did  not  give  them  sufficient  pay  for  their  military  services, 
turned  their  arms  against  their  allies,  and  devastated  nearly  the 
whole  island,  from  east  to  west,  with  fire  and  sword.  John  the 
Baptist  revealed  to  two  eastern  monks,  who  had  gone  to  Jerusalem 
to  perform  their  orisons  there,  the  place  where  his  head  was 
deposited,  near  the  former  palace  of  Herod  the  king ;  and  it  was 
forthwith  conveyed  to  Emisa,  a  city  of  Phoenicia,  and  worthily  and 
reverently  adored.  At  this  time,^  the  Pelagian  heresy  shook  the 
faith  of  the  Britons,  who  in  their  difficulty  sought  the  aid  of  the 
Galilean  bishops ;  and  received,  as  the  defenders  of  the  faith, 
Germanus,  bishop  of  Auxerre,  and  Lupus,  bishop  of  Treves,  joint 
supporters  of  the  doctrine  of  apostolic  grace.  These  confirmed 
their  wavering  faith  by  the  Word  of  God  and  by  miracles ;  and  not 
only  this,*  but  in  a  battle  between  the  Picts  and  Scots  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  Britons  on  the  other,  Germanus  took  the  command, 
and,  not  with  the  blast  of  the  trumpet,  but  with  one  universal 
shout  of  Alleluia  rising  to  heaven  from  the  whole  army,  put  his 
savage  foes  to  the  rout,  and,  by  the  divine  power,  suppressed  the 
war  which  was  then  raging  between  those  nations.  He  afterwards 
went  to  Ravenna,  and,  in  high  honour  with  Valentinian  and 
Placidia,  passed  away  to  Christ.  His  body  was  conveyed  to 
Auxerre  with  a  splendid  retinue,  and  was  attended  with  the  per- 
formance of  miracles.      yEtius  the  patrician,  the  support  of  the 

1  Eccl.  Hist.  I.  xiv.  §  34.  2  Ibid.  I.  xv.  §  3.5. 

3  Ibid.  I  xvii.  §  39.  *  Ibid.  I.  xx.  §  45. 

VOL.    I.  T  T 


642  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  521. 

Western  Republic,  and  formerly  the  dread  of  king  Attila,  was  put 
to  death  by  Valentinian  ;  and  with  him  fell  the  Empire  of  the 
West,  which  has  never  yet  been  resuscitated. 

A.D.  476.  Leo  reigned  seventeen  years.  This  emperor  sent 
circular  letters,  all  speaking  the  same  language,  in  favour  of  the 
canons  of  the  council  of  Chalcedon,  to  each  of  the  orthodox  bishops 
throughout  the  whole  world,  begging  that  they  would  in  return 
fon^^ard  an  expression  of  their  sentiments  on  the  same  subject ; 
and  from  them  he  received  answers  as  to  the  incarnation  of  Christ, 
couched  in  so  nearly  the  same  terms  that  they  might  have  passed 
for  the  expression  of  a  single  opinion  dictated  at  one  time  by  one 
individual.  Theodoret,  bishop  of  the  city  founded  by  Cyrus,  king 
of  the  Persians,  which  bears  his  name,  wrote  against  Eutyches,  and 
Dioscorus,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  who  denied  the  humanity  of 
Christ,  a  treatise  on  the  true  incarnation  of  our  SaviDur,  and  con- 
tinued the  ecclesiastical  history  of  Eusebius  down  to  his  own  time, 
that  is  to  say,  as  far  as  the  reign  of  this  Leo,  under  whom  he  died. 
Victorius,  by  the  command  of  pope  Hilary,  composed  a  paschal 
cycle  of  532  years. 

A.D.  493.  Zeno  reigned  seventeen  years.  Tlie  body  of  Barna- 
bas, the  apostle,  and  the  gospel  of  Matthew,  written  by  his  own 
hand,  were  discovered  by  a  revelation  made  by  himself.  Odoacer, 
king  of  the  Goths,  seized  upon  Rome,  and  thencefonvard  monarchs 
of  his  race  held  it  for  a  considerable  period.  Upon  the  death  of 
Theodoric,  son  of  Triarius,  another  Tlieodoric,  surnamed  Valamer, 
was  invested  with  the  sovereignty  of  the  Goths,  devastated  the 
provinces  of  Macedonia  and  Thessaly,  set  the  royal  city  in  flames 
in  various  places,  and  occupied  Italy  with  his  hostile  forces.  In 
Africa,  Honoric,  king  of  the  Vandals,  an  Arian,  having  driven 
into  exile  and  dispersed  more  than  334  catholic  bishops,  closed 
their  churches,  inflicted  on  the  people  a  variety  of  tortures,  by 
amputating  their  hands  and  cutting  out  their  tongues  ;  but  not- 
withstanding this,  was  unable  to  silence  their  expression  of  the 
catliolic  faith.  In  Britain,*  the  people  of  that  island,  under  the 
conduct  of  Ambrosius  Aurelius,  a  man  of  humanity  and  modera- 
tion, and  the  only  Roman  who  had  the  fortune  to  sur\'ive  the 
defeat  by  the  Saxons,  in  which  his  parents,  who  were  of  the  imperial 
family,  perished,  challenged  the  dominant  race  to  battle,  and  were 
victorious.  From  that  time,  victory  inclined,  now  to  one  side, 
now  to  the  other,  until  a  more  powerful  foreign  foe  obtained  pos- 
session of  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  island. 

A.D.  521.  Anastasius  reigned  twenty-eight  years.  Thrasamund, 
king  of  the  Vandals,  caused  the  catholic  churches  to  be  closed, 
and  sent  220  bishops  into  exile  in  Sardinia.  Pope  Symmachus 
not  only  built  a  number  of  new  churches  and  restored  others  from 
decay,  but  erected  almshouses  in  honour  of  St.  Peter,  St.  Paul,  and 
St.  Laurence  ;  and  sent  to  the  exiled  bishops  in  Africa  and  Sar- 
dinia, annual  presents  of  money  and  clothes.  The  divine  ven- 
geance fell  upon  Anastasius.  in  cdiiscquence  of  his  favouring  the 

1  SeeEccl.  Hist.  1.  xvi.  S  38. 


A.D.  585.]  BEDA  : THE    SIX    AGES    OF    THE    WORLD.  643 

heresy  of  Eutyches  and  persecuting  the  cathohcs,  and  he  perished 
by  the  stroke  of  a  thunderbolt. 

A.D.  529.  Justin  the  elder  reigned  eight  years.  In  this  reign 
John,  the  pontiff  of  the  Roman  church,  came  to  Constantinople, 
and  at  the  Golden-gate,  as  it  is  called,  in  the  presence  of  a  large 
concourse  of  people,  answered  the  prayer  of  a  blind  man  and 
restored  him  to  sight.  He  then  returned  to  Ravenna,  where  he 
was  thrown  into  prison  by  Theodoric,  to  whom  he  had  become  an 
object  of  envy  in  consequence  of  his  honourable  reception  by 
Justin,  the  defender  of  the  catholic  faith,  and,  under  the  severity  of 
the  confinement,  perished.  In  this  year,  that  is,  in  the  consulate 
of  Probus  the  younger,  that  tyrant  had  also  put  to  death  the 
patrician  Symmachus,  at  Ravenna  ;  and  he  himself  in  the  following 
year  died  suddenly  in  the  same  town,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
grandson,  Athalaric.  Hilderic,  king  of  the  Vandals,  gave  orders 
for  the  return  of  the  bishops  from  exile,  and  for  the  restoration  of 
the  churches,  after  they  had  been  profaned  by  heretics  for  seventy- 
four  years.  At  this  time  the  fame  of  the  virtues  of  abbot  Benedict, 
which  the  blessed  pope  Gregory  has  described  in  his  Book  of  Dia- 
logues, was  spread  far  and  wide. 

A.D.  567.  Justinian,  the  son  of  the  sister  of  Justin,  reigned 
thirty-eight  years.  By  this  emperor,  Belisarius  the  patrician  was 
sent  to  Africa,  and  exterminated  the  Vandals  with  such  success 
that,  by  the  defeat  and  expulsion  of  that  nation  and  its  king  Gelis- 
mer,  who  was  sent  captive  to  Constantinople,  Carthage,  in  the 
ninety-sixth  year  after  its  loss,  was  recovered.  The  body  of  St. 
Antony,  the  monk,  was  discovered  by  a  divine  revelation,  carried  to 
Alexandria,  and  there  buried  in  the  church  of  St.  John  the  Baptist. 
Dionysius  composed  the  paschal  cycles,  beginning  from  the  532d 
year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation,  that  is,  the  248th  year  of  Diocle- 
tian, and  the  one  following  the  consulate  of  Lampadius  and  Orestes, 
in  which  also  the  code  of  Justinian  was  published  to  the  world. 
In  addition  to  Dionysius,  Victor,  bishop  of  Capua,  in  a  book  on 
Easter,  refuted  the  errors  of  Victorius. 

A.D.  587.  Justin  the  younger  reigned  eleven  years.  Narses 
the  patrician  overthrew  and  put  to  the  sword  Totila,  king  of  the 
Goths,  in  Italy ;  but  afterwards,  incurring  the  envy  of  the  Ro- 
mans, in  behalf  of  whom  all  his  efforts  had  been  directed  against 
the  Goths,  and  having  been  made  the  subject  of  a  charge  of  having 
oppressed  the  Italians  with  services,  before  Justin  and  his  wite 
Sophia,  he  retired  to  Naples,  in  Campania,  and  sent  to  the  Lom- 
bards an  invitation  to  come  and  take  possession  of  the  country  of 
Italy.  John,  pontiff  of  the  Roman  church,  completed  and  dedi- 
cated the  church  of  the  apostles  Philip  and  James,  which  his 
predecessor  Pelagius  had  commenced. 

A.D.  585.  Tiberius  Constantine  reigned  seven  years.  In  this 
reign^  Gregory,  then  respondent  at  Constantinople,  but  aftenvards 
bishop  of  Rome,  composed  the  exposition  upon  Job,  and  refuted, 
in  the  presence  of  Tiberius,  the  error  of  Eutychius,  bishop  of  the 
same  city,  respecting  the  faith  of  the  resurrection  ;  and  so  com- 

»  See  Eccl.  Hist.  II.  i.  g§  83,  84. 


644  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  614- 

pletely  did  he  succeed,  tliat  the  emperor,  fortified  also  by  catholic 
arguments  of  his  own,  was  of  opinion  that  his  book  on  the  Resur- 
rection ought  to  have  been  committed  to  the  flames.  The  error  of 
Eutychius  was  this,  that  he  maintained  that  our  body  in  the  glorious 
resurrection  would  be  impalpable,  and  of  a  more  subtle  nature  than 
the  winds  and  the  air,  contrary  to  the  words  of  our  Lord,  "  Touch 
me,  and  see  ;  for  a  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones,  as  ye  see  me 
have."  [Luke  xxiv.  39.]  The  Lombards,  under  their  king  Albuin, 
with  famine,  death,  and  rapine  in  their  train,  swept  the  whole  of 
Italy,  and  laid  siege  to  the  city  of  Rome. 

A.D.  606.  Maurice  reigned  twenty-one  years.  Herminigild,  the  son 
of  Levigild,  king  of  the  Goths,  whose  firm  profession  of  the  catholic 
faith  cost  him,  at  the  hands  of  his  father,  who  was  an  Arian,  his  royal 
privileges  and  liberty,  at  last,  on  the  holy  night  of  our  Lord's  resur- 
rection, was  beheaded,  and  receiving  a  heavenly  instead  of  an 
earthly  crown,  died  a  king  and  a  martyr.  His  brother  Richard, 
however,  on  succeeding  to  his  father's  kingdom,  at  the  instance  of 
Leander,  bishop  of  Seville,  the  instructor  of  Herminigild,  converted 
the  entire  nation  of  the  Goths  to  the  catholic  faith.  Gregory,' 
pontiff  of  the  church  of  Rome,  and  a  teacher  of  great  learning,  in 
the  thirteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Maurice,  and  the  thirteenth 
indiction,  convened  a  synod  of  twenty-four  bishops,  at  the  place 
where  the  blessed  apostle  Peter  was  buried,  and  made  decrees 
about  the  necessary  affairs  of  the  church.  Under  this  pontiff,  also, 
Augustine,  Melitus,  and  John,  accompanied  by  many  other  God- 
fearing monks,  were  sent  to  Britain,  and  converted  the  Angles  to 
Christianity  ;  and  not  only  this,  but  Aedilberct,  king  of  the  Can- 
tuarii,  having,  together  with  his  own  subjects  and  the  people  of  the 
neighbouring  provinces,  become  a  convert  to  that  religion,  pre- 
sented his  bishop  and  teacher,  Augustine,  and  the  rest  of  the  holy 
priests,  with  an  episcopal  see ;  but  beyond  this,  the  nations  of  tiie 
Angles  of  Northumbria,  who  were  under  the  rule  of  Aelle  and 
Aedilfrid,  had  not  yet  heard  the  word  of  God.  Gregory^  also,  in  the 
nineteenth  year  of  Maurice,  the  fourth  indiction,  in  a  letter  to  Augus- 
tine, signified  that  there  should  be  metropolitan  bishops,  who  should 
receive  the  pall  from  the  apostolic  sec,  at  London  and  York. 

A.D.  614.  Phocas  reigned  eight  years,  in  tiie  second  of  which, 
the  eighth  indiction,  pope  Gregory^  passed  away  to  the  Lord. 
This  emperor,  at  the  instance  of  pope  Boniface,  decreed  that  the 
seat  of  the  Roman  and  apostolic  church  should  be  the  head  of  all 
the  churches  ;  a  decree  that  was  rendered  necessary  by  tlje  church 
of  Constantinople  maintaining  that  she  was  the  head  of  all  the 
churches.  He  also,  on  the  petition  of  another  pope  Boniface, 
issued  an  order  that  the  old  temjilc  of  the  Pantheon*  should  be 
cleansed  of  the  pollution  of  tlic  idolatrous  worship,  and  that  it 
should  be  consecrated  as  a  church  to  the  ever-blessed  Virgin  Mary, 
and  all  the  martyrs  ;  so  that  the  spot,  which  had  been  the  scone 
of  the  adoration,  not  of  gods,  but  of  devils,  might  thenceforward 
become  a  church  dedicated  to  the  memorial  of  all  the  saints. 

'  Eccl.  Hist.  I.  xxlii.  §  51;  II.  i.  §  00.  »  Il.id.  I.  xxix.  §  73. 

^  Ibid.  II.  i.  §  81.  *  Ibid.  II.  iv.  §  99. 


A.D.  642.]  BEDA  : — THE    SIX    AGES    OF   THE    WORLD.  645 

In  this  reign,  the  state  suffered  severe  wars  from  the  Persians  ; 
many  Roman  provinces,  and  Jerusalem  itself,  were  lost ;  the 
churches  were  destroyed  ;  everything  that  was  holy  was  desecrated  ; 
places  sacred  and  profane  were  plundered  of  their  ornaments,  and 
even  the  cross  of  our  Lord,  the  banner  of  our  faith,  was  removed. 

A.D.  640.  The  reign  of  Heraclius  lasted  twenty-six  years,  and  in 
it  Anastasius,  a  Persian  monk,  suffered  a  glorious  martyrdom  for 
Christ's  sake.  This  monk  was  born  in  Persia,  and  in  his  boyhood 
was  instructed  by  his  father  in  the  arts  of  magic.  Afterwards, 
learning  from  some  captive  Christians  the  name  of  Christ,  he 
became  a  most  zealous  convert,  left  Persia,  and,  seeking  Christ, 
went  to  Chalcedonia,  Hierapolis,  and,  at  last,  to  Jerusalem.  In 
that  place  he  received  the  grace  of  baptism,  and,  entering  the 
monastery  of  the  abbot  Anastasius,  four  miles  from  the  city,  he  lived 
a  member  of  that  order  for  seven  years,  when  he  was  taken  prisoner 
at  Caesarea,  in  Palestine,  whither  he  had  gone  to  perform  his 
orisons,  by  the  Persians,  was  thrown  into  chains  by  the  order  of 
the  judge  Marzabanes,  and  severely  scourged.  Thence  he  was  sent 
to  the  court  of  Chosroes,  king  of  Persia,  by  whom  he  was  scourged 
three  severed  times,  and  at  last  was  suspended  by  one  hand  for 
three  hours,  and  in  this  position  was  beheaded,  and  suffered  mar- 
tyrdom, with  seventy  others.  After  his  death  a  demoniac  was  cured 
by  putting  on  his  robe.  Meanwhile  the  emperor  Heraclius  inter- 
posed, with  an  army,  overthrew  the  Persians,  and  restored  in  joy 
the  captive  Christians  to  their  homes.  The  remains  of  the  blessed 
martyr  Anastasius  were  first  of  all  conveyed  to  his  monasteiy,  but 
subsequently  to  Rome,  where  they  were  deposited  in  the  monastery 
of  the  blessed  apostle  Paul,  "  ad  Aquas  Salvias,"  as  it  is  called,  and 
are  an  especial  object  of  reverence. 

In  the  sixteenth  year  of  Heraclius,'  the  fifteenth  indiction,  Aed- 
uuin,  king  of  the  Angles  in  Britain  and  of  Northumbria,  and  a 
most  excellent  prince,  convinced  by  the  preaching  of  bishop  Pau- 
linus,  whom  the  venerable  archbishop  Justus  had  sent  from  Kent, 
adopted,  together  with  his  people,  the  word  of  salvation,  in  the 
eleventh  year  of  his  reign,  and  about  180  years  after  the  arrival  of 
the  Angles  in  Britain ;  and  he  appointed  Paulinus  bishop  of  the  see 
of  York.  It  was  remarkable  that,  as  a  presage  of  the  reception  of 
this  king  into  a  heavenly  kingdom,  by  his  adoption  of  the  faith,  the 
power  of  his  temporal  kingdom  had  grown  to  an  extent  unexampled 
by  any  monarch  of  the  Angles,  embracing,  as  it  did,  all  the  pro- 
vinces of  Britain,  whether  inhabited  by  Angles  or  Britons,  to  its 
furthest  borders.  At  that  time,'  pope  Honorius  refuted,  in  a  letter, 
the  error  of  the  Quartodecimans  in  the  observing  of  Easter,  which 
had  arisen  among  the  Scots  ;  and  John  also,  who  succeeded  Seye- 
rinus,  the  successor  of  Honorius,  having  been  elected  to  the  pontifi- 
cate, wrote  to  them,  urging  similar  arguments  on  the  subjectof  Easter, 
and  against  the  Pelagian  heresy,  which  was  revived  amongst  them. 

A.D.  642.  Heraclonas,  with  his  mother  Martina,  reigned  two 
years.  In  this  reign,  Cyrus,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  Sergius  and 
Pyrrhus,  bishops  of  the  royal  city,  maintained  the  heresy  of  the 

'  Eccl.  Hist.  II.  ix.  §  110.  -  Ibid.  II.  xix.  §§  143,  144. 


646  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  671. 

Acephali,  and  taught  that  there  was  one  operation  and  one  will  in 
the  divine  and  human  natures  of  Christ.  Of  these  bishops,  Pyrrhus, 
in  the  time  of  pope  Theodore,  came  from  Africa  to  Rome,  and 
feigning,  as  afterwards  appeared,  repentance  for  his  error,  pre- 
sented to  that  pope  a  paper,  to  which  his  name  was  subscribed, 
containing  a  condemnation  of  all  the  writings  and  acts,  both  of 
himself  and  his  predecessors,  against  the  catholic  faith.  On  this 
account  he  was  courteously  received,  and  treated  as  a  pontiff  of  the 
royal  city;  but  when,  on  his  return  home,  he  relapsed  into  the  error 
of  his  house,  the  aforesaid  pope  Theodore  summoned  an  assembly 
of  all  the  priests  and  clergy,  at  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  the  chief  ot 
the  apostles,  and  condemned  and  anathematized  him. 

A.D.  643.  Constantine,  the  son  of  Heraclius,  reigned  six  months. 
Paul,  the  successor  of  Pyrrhus,  not  only  adopted  the  insane  doc- 
trine of  his  predecessors,  but  openly  persecuted  the  catholics,  and 
punished  by  chains,  exile,  and  scourging,  those  respondents -of  the 
holy  Roman  church  who  were  sent  to  correct  his  error.  And  not  only 
this,  but,  invading  the  venerable  oratory  in  the  house  of  Placidia,  he 
overthrew  the  consecrated  altar,  and  prevented  them  from  celebrating 
masses  in  that  place.  On  this  account,  he,  like  his  predecessors, 
was  justly  condemned,  and  deposed  by  the  apostolic  see. 

A.D,  671.  Constantine,  the  son  of  Constantine,  reigned  t\venty- 
eight  years.  This  emperor,  deceived  by  Paul,  as  his  grandfather, 
Heraclius,  had  been  by  Sergius,  bishop  of  the  same  royal  city,  pub- 
lished his  "  type"  against  the  catholic  church;  laying  down,  as  a 
confession  of  faith,  that  there  were  to  be  acknowledged  neither  one 
nor  two  wills,  or  operations,  in  Christ,  as  though  the  true  faith  was, 
that  Christ  has  no  will  and  no  operation.  On  this  account,  pope 
Martin  assembled  at  Rome  a  synod  of  105  bishops,  condemned 
Cyrus,  Sergius,  Pyrrhus,  and  Paul  as  heretics,  and  anathematized 
them  ;  in  consequence  of  which,  Theodore,  the  exarch,  being  sent 
by  the  emperor,  removed  pope  Martin  from  the  church  of  Con- 
stantine, and  brought  him  to  Constantinople.  Subsequently  he 
was  banished  to,  and  ended  his  life  at,  Chersona,  where  numerous 
memorials  of  his  virtues  remain  to  this  day,  to  illustrate  his  name. 
The  date  of  this  synod  is  the  ninth  year  of  the  reign  of  Constantine, 
in  the  month  of  October,  the  eighth  indiction.  This  Constantine, 
shortly  after  the  elevation  of  Vitalian  to  the  popedom,  sent  to  the 
blessed  Peter  the  apostle  copies  of  the  Gospels,  written  in  golden 
letters,  and  ornamented  round  about  with  white  gems  of  extraordi- 
nary size;  and  he  himself  in  person,  some  years  afterwards,  (that  is, 
during  the  sixth  indiction,)  went  to  Rome,  and  entering  the  church 
in  a  procession  of  the  whole  army,  bearing  wax  candles,  made  an 
oflering  upon  the  altar  of  St.  Peter  of  a  pall  interwoven  with  gold. 
In  the  following  year  there  occurred  an  eclipse  of  the  sun,'  whicli 
is  within  the  memory  of  men  of  our  own  age,  al)out  the  tenth  hour 
of  the  day,  on  the  5th  of  the  nones  of  May  [3d  May].  Archbishoj) 
Theodore,^  and  abbot  Boniface,  both  men  of  great  learning,  having 
been  sent  to  Britain  by  Vitalian,  stored  very  many  of  the  churches 
of  the  Angles  with  the  rich  fruit  of  ecclesiastical  doctrine.  Con- 
'  EccL  Hist.  III.  x.\vii.  §  210.  -■  11,1,1.  IV.  i.  §§  253,  254,  &c. 


A.D.  688.]  BEDA  : THE    SIX    AGES    OF   THE    WORLD.  647 

stantine,  after  having  pillaged  the  provinces  to  an  extent  without 
parallel,  was  assassinated  in  a  bath,  and  died  in  the  twelfth  indic- 
tion ;  and,  shortly  afterwards,  pope  Vitalian  was  translated  to  the 
kingdom  of  heaven. 

A.D.  688.  Constantine,  the  son  of  the  last  Constantine,  reigned 
seventeen  years.  In  this  reign,  the  Saracens  invaded  Sicily,  and 
after  a  short  time  returned,  with  a  vast  amount  of  plunder,  to 
Alexandria.  Pope  Agatho,  at  the  request  of  Constantine,  Heraclius, 
and  Tiberius,  all  emperors  of  great  piety,  sent  to  the  royal  city  his 
legates,  among  whom  was  John,  then  a  deacon,  but  soon  after 
bishop  of  the  church  of  Rome,  to  restore  unity  to  the  holy  churches 
of  God.  These  were  very  courteously  received  by  Constantine, 
a  most  reverent  defender  of  the  catholic  faith,^  and  were  desired  to 
intermit  their  philosophical  disputations,  and,  in  a  pacificatory 
spirit,  to  confer,  and  institute  a  thorough  inquiry  into  the  true 
faith  ;  and,  for  this  purpose,  as  many  of  the  works  of  the  ancient 
fathers,  in  the  library  of  Constantinople,  as  they  required,  were 
put  at  their  disposal.  At  this  conference  there  were  present  150 
bishops,  with  George,  jjatriarch  of  the  royal  city,  and  Macarius, 
patriarch  of  Antioch,  as  presidents ;  and  the  result  was,  that  the 
framers  of  the  doctrine  of  one  will  and  one  principle  of  action,  were 
convicted  of  having  falsified  the  authority  of  the  catholic  fathers,  in 
very  many  places.  After  this  discussion,  George  was  brought  round 
to  the  true  faith  ;  but  Macarius,  with  his  followers,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  with  his  predecessors,  Cyrus,  Sergius,  Honorius,  Pyrrhus, 
Paul,  and  Peter,  was  anathematized,  and  Theophanius,  an  abbot 
from  Sicily,  was  made  bishop  of  Antioch  in  his  stead.  So  great, 
moreover,  was  the  influence  and  success  of  these  legates  of  catholic 
peace,  that  John,  bishop  of  Portua,  one  of  their  number,  on  the 
Sunday  of  the  octaves  of  Easter,  celebrated  a  public  mass  in  Latin, 
in  the  church  of  St.  Sophia,  before  the  emperor  and  patriarch. 
This  council,  which  was  held  at  Constantinople,  and  the  decrees 
of  which  were  written  in  Greek,  in  the  time  of  pope  Agatho,  under 
the  authority  and  in  the  presence  of  the  most  pious  emperor  Con- 
stantine, within  his  palace,  and  at  the  same  time  in  the  presence  of 
the  legates  of  the  apostolic  see,  and  of  150  bishops,  was  the  sixth 
general  council.  For  the  first  general  council  was  that  assembled 
at  Nice,  against  Arius,  in  the  time  of  pope  Julius,  under  Constantine, 
and  consisted  of  318  prelates.  The  second  was  held  at  Constan- 
tinople, against  Macedonius  and  Eudoxius,  and  consisted  of  150 
prelates,  in  the  time  of  pope  Damasus  and  of  the  emperor  Gratian, 
and  at  the  period  when  Nectarius  was  ordained  bishop  of  that  city. 
Tlie  third  was  held  at  Ephesus,  against  Nestorius,  bishop  of  Con- 
stantinople, in  the  reign  of  Theodosius  the  Great,  and  in  the  pon- 
tificate of  Celestin,  and  consisted  of  200  prelates.  The  fourth 
was  held  at  Chalcedon,  under  pope  Leo,  in  the  reign  of  Marcian, 
against  Eutyches,  the  head  of  an  impious  body  of  monks,  and  con- 
sisted of  630  bishops.  The  fifth  was  held  also  at  Constantinople, 
in  the  time  of  pope  Vigilius,  under  the  emperor  Justinian,  against 
Theodore  and  all  heretics  ;  and  the  sixth  was  that  of  which  we 
have  just  now  spoken. 


648  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND.  [a.D.  701. 

Aediltliryda,'  a  Christian  virgin,  the  daughter  of  Anna,  king  of 
the  Angles,  and  the  wife,  first  of  all,  of  a  distinguished  noble,  and 
afterwards  of  king  Ecfrid,  after  having  occupied  the  marital  bed  for 
twelve  years  with  unsullied  chastity,  preserved  her  purity  and  vir- 
ginity to  the  end,  and,  from  a  queen,  assumed  the  veil  and  became 
a  nun.  Shortly  afterwards,  she  obtained  a  place,  called  Ely,  for 
the  erection  of  a  monastery,  and  became  the  mother  and  pious 
nurse  of  holy  virgins.  Her  lifeless  corpse  bore  witness  to  her 
merits ;  for  it,  with  the  garment  in  which  it  was  wrapped,  after  being 
buried  sixteen  years,  was  discovered  free  from  decay,  and  entire. 

A.D.  698.  Justinian,  the  younger  son  of  Constantine,  reigned 
ten  years.  This  emperor  made  a  peace  of  ten  years  by  land  and 
sea  with  the  Saracens ;  and  besides  this,  he  reduced  to  the  Roman 
sway  Africa,  a  province  which  had  been  held  by  them,  and  in 
which  they  had  taken  and  destroyed  Carthage.  By  the  command 
of  this  emperor,  Zacharias,  the  protospataire,  was  sent  to  summon 
Sergius,  of  blessed  memory,  pontiff  of  the  church  of  Rome,  because 
he  refused  to  recognise  the  erratic  synod^  which  Justinian  had 
assembled  at  Constantinople  ;  but  the  soldiers  of  Ravenna  and  its 
neighbourhood  prevented  the  execution  of  his  impious  command, 
and  with  contumely  and  insult  drove  Zacharias  from  Rome.  This 
same  pope  Sergius  ordained  the  venerable  Uilbrord,*  surnamed 
Clement,  bishop  of  the  Frisians,  in  whose  country  he  at  this 
j)resent  time  wanders,  a  stranger  in  a  foreign  land,  (for  he  is  of 
the  race  of  the  Angles,  in  Britain,)  in  the  hope  of  gaining  an  ever- 
lasting home  in  heaven;  inflicting  severe  defeats  upon  the  devil,  and 
increasing  the  Christian  faith.  Justinian,  deprived  of  his  kingdom 
on  account  of  his  perfidy,  retired  into  exile  in  Pontus. 

A.D.  701.  Leo  reigned  three  years.  Pope  Sergius  discovered, 
by  a  revelation  from  heaven,  in  the  sacristy  of  the  blessed  Peter 
the  apostle,  a  silver  chest,  which  had  for  a  very  long  time  lain 
concealed  in  an  obscure  corner  of  that  building ;  and  within  it,  a 
cross,  embellished  with  a  variety  of  precious  stones.  The  interior 
of  this,  on  the  removal  of  four  metal  plates,  in  which  the  precious 
stones  were  set,  displayed  to  his  sight  a  large  piece  of  the  saving 
cross  of  our  Lord,  which,  ever  since  that  time,  in  the  basilica  of 
our  Saviour,  called  Constantiniana,  is  annually,  on  the  day  of  the 
exaltation  of  the  cross  [14th  Sept.],  kissed  and  adored  by  all  the 
l)eople.  The  entire  life  of  the  very  reverend  Cuthberct,  formerly 
an  anchoret,  but  afterwards  bishop  of  the  church  of  Lindisfarne,  in 
]3ritain,  from  infancy  to  old  age,  was  distinguished  by  a  continued 
series  of  miracles  ;  and  his  body,  after  having  been  buried  eleven 
years,  was  found,  together  with  the  garment  in  which  it  was 
wrapped,  as  entire  and  without  decay  as  if  he  had  died  that  very 
hour, — as  I  some  years  ago  commemorated  in  my  book  on  his 
life  and  virtues,  lately  written  in  prose  and  hexameter  verse. 

I  EccL  Hist.  IV.  xix.  §  309. 

-  Namely,  that  which  is  usually  called  the  Quini-Sext.  Beda  styles  it  erratic, 
hecause  its  authority  was  fluctuating  and  unsteady.  See  Basnage,  Hist,  de 
I'Eglise,  p.  554. 

=•  Eccl.  Hist.  V.  X.  xi. 


A.D.  716.]  BEDA  :— THE    SIX    AGES    OF    THE    WORLD.  649 

A.D.  708.  Tiberius  reigned  seven  years.  A  synod  convened  at 
Aquileia  had  not  confidence,  by  reason  of  its  ignorance  of  the  true 
faith,  to  act  upon  the  resolutions  of  the  fifth  general  council ;  but 
at  length,  instructed  by  the  salutary  admonitions  of  the  blessed 
pope  Sergius,  it,  in  conjunction  with  the  rest  of  the  churches  of 
Christ,  assented  to  its  decrees.  Gisulphus,  the  leader  of  the 
Lombards  at  Beneventum,  devastated  Campania  with  fire  and 
sword,  and  took  many  captives  ;  but  the  apostolic  pope  John,  the 
successor  of  Sergius,  finding  no  possibility  of  resisting  his  violence, 
sent  a  body  of  priests  to  him  with  large  donations,  redeemed  the 
whole  of  the  captives,  and  caused  the  enemy  to  return  home.  To 
him  succeeded  another  John,  who,  amongst  many  other  illustrious 
works,  built  within  the  church  of  the  blessed  Peter  the  apostle  an 
oratory,  of  admirable  workmanship,  to  the  holy  mother  of  God. 
Hereberct,  king  of  the  Lombards,  restored  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
apostolic  see  the  lands  and  patrimonies  of  the  Cottian  Alps,  which 
had  formerly  belonged  to  that  see,  but  which  had  been  seized,  and 
for  a  long  time  in  the  possession  of  the  Lombards,  and  sent  the 
deed  containing  this  gift,  written  in  letters  of  gold,  to  Rome. 

A.D.  714.  Justinian,  a  second  time,  in  association  with  his  son 
Tiberius,  reigned  six  years.  This  emperor,  by  the  aid  of  Terbellius, 
king  of  the  Vulgari,  recovered  his  throne,  and  put  to  death  the 
patricians  who  had  expelled  him,  Leo,  who  had  usurped  his  seat, 
and  his  successor,  Tiberius,  who  had  kept  the  deposed  monarch  in 
prison,  in  the  same  city,  during  the  whole  of  his  reign.  Callinicus, 
the  patriarch,  however,  he  deprived  of  sight,  sent  him  to  Rome, 
and  conferred  the  bishopric  upon  Cyrus,  the  supporter  of  his  exile, 
and  who  was  an  abbot  in  Pontus.  This  emperor  invited  pope 
Constantine  to  his  court,  received  him  with  great  honour,  and 
having  ordered  him  to  perform  mass  on  Sunday,  and  having 
received  the  communion  at  his  hands,  he  sent  him  home.  During 
this  ceremony  he  prostrated  himself  upon  the  ground,  and,  request- 
ing the  pope's  intercession  for  his  sins,  renewed  all  the  privileges 
of  the  church.  Afterwards  having,  contrary  to  the  urgent  expostu- 
lations of  the  apostolic  pope,  sent  an  army  to  Pontus  to  apprehend 
Philippicus,  whom  he  had  sent  into  banishment  there,  the  soldiers 
went  over  to  Philippicus,  declared  him  emperor  on  the  spot,  and 
returning  with  him  to  Constantinople,  gave  battle  to  Justinian  at 
the  twelfth  milestone  from  the  city,  defeated  and  put  him  to  death, 
and  conferred  the  throne  upon  Philippicus. 

A.D.  716.  Philippus,  in  a  reign  of  one  year  and  six  months, 
ejected  Cyrus  from  the  pontificate,  and  commanded  him  to  retire 
to  Pontus,  to  govern  his  monastery  in  the  capacity  of  abbot.  This 
emperor,  also,  sent  to  pope  Constantine  letters  replete  with  unsound 
doctrine,  which  the  pope,  acting  on  the  advice  of  a  council  of  the 
apostolic  see,  rejected,  and,  in  consequence,  caused  to  be  put  up 
in  the  portico  of  St.  Peter  tablets  containing  a  representation  of 
the  acts  of  the  six  holy  general  councils  ;  (for  Philippicus  had 
commanded  the  representations  similar  to  these  in  the  royal  city  to 
be  removed  ;)  and  the  Roman  people  made  a  resolution  that  the 
name  of  the  heretical  emperor  should  not  be  used  in  charters,  nor 


650  CHURCH    HISTORIANS   OF    ENGLAND.  [a.d.  729. 

any  statue  erected  to  him ;  whence  it  happens  that  his  image  was 
not  introduced  into  the  church,  nor  his  name  pronounced  in  the 
solemnities  of  the  masses. 

A.D.  719.  Anastasius  reigned  three  years.  This  emperor  took 
Phihppicus  captive,  and  deprived  him  of  sight ;  hut  abstained  from 
putting  him  to  death.  He  also  sent  a  letter  to  pope  Constantine 
at  Rome,  by  the  hands  of  Scholasticus  the  patrician,  and  exarch  of 
Italy,  in  which  he  declared  himself  favourable  to  the  catholic  faith, 
and  the  decrees  of  the  holy  sixth  council.  Liuthbrand,  at  the 
admonition  of  the  venerable  pope  Gregorj^  confirmed  the  gift  of 
the  patrimony  of  the  Cottian  Alps,  which  Hereberct  had  made, 
and  which  he  had  ratified.  Egberct,*  a  holy  man  of  the  nation  of 
the  Angles,  adorned  the  priesthood  by  a  monastic  life ;  and  wandering 
a  stranger  in  foreign  lands,  that  he  might  gain  a  home  in  heaven, 
by  his  pious  preaching  converted  many  provinces  of  the  Scottish 
nation  to  the  canonical  obser\'ance  of  the  time  of  Easter,  from 
which  they  had  long  deviated,  in  the  716th  year  of  the  incarnation 
of  our  Lord. 

A.D.  720.  Theodosius  reigned  one  year.  He,  on  being  elected 
to  the  empire,  inflicted  a  signal  defeat  upon  Anastasius  at  Nicsea, 
compelled  him  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  to  attach  himself  to 
the  clerical  order,  and  be  ordained  a  presbyter.  This  emperor,  too, 
having  ascended  the  throne,  and  being  a  catholic,  immediately 
proceeded  to  restore  to  its  former  place  in  the  royal  city  that 
venerable  representation  which  contained  the  decrees  of  the  six 
holy  councils,  and  which  had  been  torn  down  by  Phihppicus.  In 
this  reign  the  river  Tiber  ovei^flowed  its  banks,  and  caused  serious 
damage  to  the  city  of  Rome.  In  the  Via  Lata,  the  waters  rose  to 
the  depth  of  one  foot  and  a  half,  and  flowing  from  the  gate  of 
St.  Peter  to  the  Milvian  Bridge,  united  themselves  in  their  own 
channel.  The  flood  lasted  seven  days,  until  heaven  answered  the 
repeated  litanies  of  the  citizens,  and  it  retired  on  the  eighth  day. 
At  this  time,  many  of  the  Angles,  noble  and  simple,  men  and 
women,  soldiers  and  private  persons,  moved  by  the  instinct  of  divine 
love,  were  wont  to  repair  from  Britain  to  Rome.  Among  these,  the 
very  reverend  abbot  Ceolfrid,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four  years, 
after  having  been  a  presbyter  forty-seven  years,  and  an  abbot 
thirty-five  years,  on  his  arrival  at  Langres,  died,  and  was  buried  in 
the  church  of  the  two  blessed  martyrs.  This  holy  man,  among 
the  other  donations  which  he  had  provided  to  take  to  Rome,  sent 
to  the  church  of  St.  Peter  the  Pandect,^  translated  into  Latin  from 
the  Hebrew  and  Greek  by  St.  Jerome. 

A.D.  729.  Leo  reigned  nine  years.  In  this  reign  the  Saracens, 
with  an  immense  army,  penetrated  to  Constantinople,  and  for  three 
years  besieged  the  city.     At  length  heaven  answered  the  earnest 

1  EecL  Hist.  III.  iv.  §  161;  V.  xxii.  §  445. 

*  The  Pandect  waa  the  name  for  a  volume  containing  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments. See  the  verses  written  by  Alcuin,  and  printed  in  his  works,  ii.  203, 
ed.  1777;  and  also  in  the  Annals  of  Baroniua,  a.d.  778,  §  27.  Alcuin,  in  his 
treatise  upon  Orthography,  when  treating  of  this  word  says,  "  Therefore  the  Old 
and  New  Testament,  if  they  be  written  together  in  one  volume,  it  is  called 
a  Pandect."     Ojjp.  ii.  308. 


A.D.  729.]  BEDA  : THE    SIX    AGES    OF    THE    WORLD.  651 

prayers  of  the  inhabitants  ;  vast  numbers  of  the  enemy  perished  by 
famine,  cold,  and  pestilence,  and  the  rest,  wearied  by  their  inefiectual 
efforts,  raised  the  siege.  In  their  retreat  they  assailed  the  Vulgari, 
in  their  territory  upon  the  Danube,  and  being  defeated  by  them, 
they  took  refuge  in  their  ships.  Nor  were  their  perils  then  over, 
for  when  they  had  put  out  to  sea,  a  sudden  tempest  overtook  them, 
many  of  them  were  drowned,  or  shipwTecked  on  the  shore,  and 
there  put  to  death.  On  the  report  being  brought  to  Liuthbrand 
that  the  Saracens,  after  invading  Sardinia,  had  not  shrunk  from 
defiling  the  place  to  which  the  bones  of  the  holy  bishop  Augustine, 
to  avoid  the  devastations  of  the  barbarians,  had  formerly  been 
translated,  and  where  they  had  been  honourably  buried,  he  pur- 
chased them  for  a  large  sum  of  money,  brought  them  over  to  Ticinae, 
and  there  reburied  them  with  the  honour  due  to  so  great  a  prelate. 

THE    REMAINDER    OF   THE    SIXTH    AGE. 

These  particulars  concerning  the  course  of  events  in  time  past, 
I  have  taken  the  trouble  to  digest,  as  far  as  possible,  in  accordance 
with  the  Hebrew  Scriptures;  deeming  it  proper,  that,  as  the  Greeks 
drew  up  for  themselves  and  their  fellow-countrymen  chronological 
works  in  accordance  with  the  version  of  the  LXX,  which  they 
habitually  used,  so  also  we,  who,  by  the  labours  of  the  blessed 
translator  Jerome,  drink  at  the  pure  source  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
should,  in  accordance  with  those  Scriptures,  determine  the  scheme 
of  our  calculation  of  time.  But  if  any  condemn  this  our  labour  as 
superfluous,  let  them,  whosoever  they  be,  receive  without  offence 
the  fair  reply  which  Jerome  gives  to  those  who  affect  to  discredit 
the  ancient  cosmography  :  "  If  it  is  distaseful,  let  them  not  read 
it."  Further,  whether,  in  marking  the  course  of  events  and  their 
dates,  the  basis  which  is  adopted  be  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  which 
even  the  Jews,  our  opponents,  confess  to  have  been  transmitted  to 
us  in  their  purity,  by  the  above-mentioned  translator ;  or  whether  it 
be  the  version  of  the  LXX,  which  many  affirm  to  have  been 
originally  published  without  sufficient  care,  or  think,  with  St. 
Augustine,  that  it  was  subsequently  corrupted  by  the  Gentiles ;  or 
whether  it  be  a  combination  of  the  two,  according  to  the  re- 
spective opinion  of  each  person,  and  whether  to  time  past  he 
assigns,  or  finds  assigned,  a  longer  or  a  shorter  period  ;  still  we  urge 
upon  all,  without  distinction,  not  to  be  thereby  influenced  in 
forming  an  estimate  of  the  length  or  shortness  of  the  remaining 
periods  of  time,  but  to  be  ever  mindful  of  our  Lord's  saying,  "  Of 
the  last  day  and  hour  no  one  knoweth,  not  even  the  angels  of 
heaven,  but  the  Father  alone."  [Matt.  xxiv.  36.]  And,  on  this 
head,  I  would  add  a  particular  caution  against  those  who  suggest, 
that  the  limits  of  the  duration  of  the  world  have  been,  from  the 
first,  limited  to  the  space  of  6000  years,  and  who,  to  save  them- 
selves from  the  imputation  of  contradicting  the  saying  of  our  Lord, 
add,  that  it  is  uncertain  in  what  year  of  the  sixth  millenary  the  day 
of  judgment  is  to  come,  but  that  it  may  be  confidently  expected 
about  the  end  of  that  period.   For  if  one  does  but  ask  them  what  are 


G52  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND. 

the  grounds  of  this  belief,  they  reply  in  a  tone  of  indignant  surprise, 
"  Surely  you  have  read  in  Genesis,  that  in  six  days  God  made 
the  world  ;  and,  on  these  grounds,  there  is  a  reasonable  belief  that 
it  will  endure  6000  years,  more  or  less  ! "  And,  worse  than  this,  an 
opinion,  derived  from  the  seventh  day  on  which  God  rested  from 
his  work,  has  arisen,  that  after  6000  years  of  the  labours  of  the 
saints,  they,  in  this  very  life,  will  rise  again  immortal,  and  reign  in 
joy  and  felicity  with  Christ. 

But,  once  for  all,  rejecting  these  conclusions  as  heretical  and 
frivolous,  be  it  ours  to  hold  with  sincerity  the  catholic  belief,  that 
those  six  days  in  which  God  made  the  world,  and  the  seventh  day 
on  which  He  rested  from  his  work,  and  which  on  that  account 
He  sanctified  and  blessed  as  a  day  of  rest  for  ever,  do  not  signify 
6000  years  of  a  world  of  labour,  and  a  seventh  millenary  of  the 
reign  of  the  blessed  on  earth  with  Christ,  but  rather  six  ages  of  the 
world  in  its  progress  to  its  close,  in  which  the  saints  labour  in  this 
life  for  Christ's  sake,  and  a  seventh  of  everlasting  rest  in  another 
life,  which  their  spirits,  separated  from  the  body,  enjoy  with  them. 
With  regard  to  which  the  true  belief  is,  that  this  sabbath  of  spirits 
had  its  commencement  at  the  time  when  the  first  martyr  of  Christ, 
suffering  death  at  the  hands  of  his  brother,  was  translated  in  the 
spirit  into  eternal  rest,  and  that  it  will  find  its  completion  on  the 
day  of  the  resurrection,  when  the  spirits  also  shall  have  received 
incorruptible  bodies.  And,  in  like  manner,  as  no  one  of  the  five 
past  ages  appears  to  have  contained  exactly  1000  years,  but  some 
more,  and  some  less,  and  no  two  to  have  corresponded  in 
length,  so,  also,  the  duration  of  the  present  age  must  be  unknown 
to  mortals,  and  known  only  to  Him  who  has  enjoined  his  servants 
to  watch  with  their  loins  girded  about  and  their  lights  burning,  like 
unto  men  that  wait  for  their  Lord  when  He  shall  return  from  the 
wedding. 


THE  EPISTLE 

OF    THE 

VENERABLE  BEDA  TO  BISHOP  ECGBERCT. 


To  the  most  beloved  and  most  reverend  bishop  Ecgberct,  Bedo,  the 
servant  of  Christ,  greeting: — I  have  not  forgotten  the  wish  that  you 
expressed  last  year,  during  the  sojourn  of  a  few  days,  which  the 
purposes  of  study  induced  me  to  make  in  your  monastery,  that 
you  should  take  advantage  of  our  meeting  again  this  year  in  the 
same  place  for  the  same  common  purpose,  to  invite  me  to  a 
conversation  with  you  ;  and,  if  the  will  of  heaven  had  permitted 
the  consummation  of  this  wish,  this  letter  would  have  been 
rendered  unnecessary  by  the  greater  fulness  with  which  the 
freedom  of  a  personal  interview  would  have  enabled  us  to  discuss 
the  subjects  upon  which  I  might  desire  or  deem  it  requisite  to 
offer  my  suggestions.  But  although,  as  you  are  aware,  the  weak 
state  of  my  health  has  prevented  this,  yet  the  fraternal  regard 
with  which  your  affection  inspires  me,  has  prompted  me  to  do  all 
that  lies  in  my  power  by  sending,  in  a  letter,  the  communication 
which  I  am  unable  to  make  in  a  personal  visit ;  and  I  most 
earnestly  beg  of  you  to  banish  from  your  mind  any  idea  that  this 
epistle  is  dictated  by  any  arrogant  affectation  of  superiority,  and 
to  think  that  it  flows  from  a  real  and  unassuming  spirit  of  humility 
and  affection. 

§  2.  I  exhort  your  holiness,  therefore,  most  well  beloved  in 
Christ,  to  be  mindful  by  the  sanctity  both  of  your  works  and 
doctrine,  to  confirm  that  sacred  dignity  which  the  Author  of 
dignities  and  Giver  of  spiritual  gifts  has  vouchsafed  to  bestow  upon 
you.  For  neither  of  these  virtues  can  be  fully  complete  without 
the  other,  when  either  a  good-living  bishop  is  neglectful  of  his 
office  as  a  teacher,  or,  when  one  who  is  correct  as  a  teacher 
lightly  regards  the  exercise  of  good  works.  But  such  a  servant  as 
truly  performs  both  of  these  duties  verily  awaits  the  arrival  of  his 
Lord  with  joy,  hoping  to  hear  the  words,  '  Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant ;  because  thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things, 
I  will  set  thee  over  many  things  :  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of 
thy  Lord.'  [Matt.  xxv.  23.]  On  the  other  hand,  if  any  one 
(which  God  forbid)  after  accepting  the  office  of  bishop  neglects  to 
correct  his  own  evil  deeds  by  a  "holy  life,  or  those  of  the  people 
placed  under  his  charge  by  punishment  or  admonition,  there  shall 
happen  to  him,  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord  in  an  hour  when  he 
thinketh  not,  that  which  is  plainly  declared  by  the  sentence  passed 
on  the  unprofitable  servant — '  Cast  him  into  outer  darkness  :  there 
shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth.'     [Matt.  xxv.  30.] 


654  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND. 

§  3.  Above  all  things,  holy  father,  I  earnestly  pray  you  to  restrain 
yourself,  with  the  dignity  which  befits  a  bishop,  from  idle  speaking 
and  detraction,  and  the  other  infectious  disorders  of  an  unbridled 
tongue  ;  but  to  keep  both  your  lips  and  mind  occupied  in  divine 
discourses,  and  on  the  careful  perusal  of  the  Scriptures,  and  parti- 
cularly in  reading  the  epistles  of  the  blessed  Paul  the  apostle  to 
Timothy  and  Titus,  and  also  the  careful  and  full  dissertations  upon 
the  life  and  vices  of  rulers,  which  the  most  holy  pope  Gregory  has 
written  in  his  book  on  Pastoral  Rule,*  and  in  his  homilies  on  the 
Gospel,  that  so  your  speech  may  be  seasoned  with  the  salt  of 
wisdom,  elevated  far  above  common  speech,  and  more  worthy  to 
shed  light  on  divine  teaching.  For  as  it  is  disgraceful  if  the  conse- 
crated vessels  of  the  altar  be  ever  profaned  to  vile  and  common 
purposes,  so  is  it  in  every  way  a  wretched  perversion  that  he,  who 
has  been  ordained  to  consecrate  the  sacraments  of  the  Lord  upon 
the  altar,  should  at  one  time  as  the  Lord's  servant  assist  in  cele- 
brating these  mysteries,  and  then  immediately  on  his  departure 
from  the  church,  with  that  very  mouth,  and  those  self-same  hands 
with  which  a  little  before  he  had  handled  sacred  things,  should  to 
the  indignation  of  the  Lord  begin  to  speak  or  act  frivolously. 

§  4.  But  in  addition  to  the  reading  of  holy  books,  the  inter- 
course of  faithful  and  devout  servants  of  Christ  is  of  very  great 
service  in  preserving  the  deeds  or  the  tongue  from  impurity  :  that 
if  at  any  time  either  the  tongue  begin  to  wax  wanton,  or  the  prin- 
ciple of  evil  deeds  secretly  to  creep  in,  one  may  presently  be  sup- 
ported and  prevented  from  falling,  by  the  hands  of  faithful  associates - 
But  if  it  be  very  expedient  for  all  the  servants  of  God  thus  to  make 
provision  for  their  security,  how  much  more  for  those  who  are 
obliged  by  their  office  to  be  careful,  not  only  for  their  own  safety, 
but  also  for  that  of  the  church  committed  to  their  charge,  according 
to  him  who  said — '  Beside  those  things  that  arc  without,  that  which 
cometh  upon  me  daily,  the  care  of  all  the  churclics.  Wlio  is 
weak,  and  I  am  not  weak  ?  Who  is  off'ended,  and  I  burn  not  ?  ' 
[2  Cor.  xi.  28,  29.]  Nor  do  I  mention  this,  as  though  I  were  aware 
that  you  acted  otherwise,  but  because  it  is  commonly^  reported  of 
certain  bishops  that  their  service  of  Christ  is  of  such  a  nature,  that 
so  far  from  associating  with  men  of  any  religion  or  continence, 
they  seek  those  who  are  given  up  to  laughter,  jestings,  fables, 
revellings,  and  drunkenness,  and  the  other  allurements  of  a  loose 
life,  and  who  daily  feed  their  belly  with  feasts  more  than  their  mind 
with  heavenly  sacrifices.  Now  if  you  find  any  of  this  character, 
I  would  have  you  correct  them  with  your   holy  authority,   and 

'  More  generally  called  the  Liber  Pastoralis,  0pp.  i.  1049,  ed.  1675.  Several 
councils  recommend  this  treatise  to  the  careful  study  of  the  clergy.  Thus,  for 
instance,  the  third  council  of  Tours  (can.  iii.)  decrees,  that  "  if  it  be  possible,  let 
none  be  unacquainted  with  the  canons,  or  the  Liber  Pastoralis  of  the  blessed  pope 
Gregory,  in  which  every  one  ought  to  study  himself  as  it  were  in  a  mirror." 
(Labb.  ConciL  vii.  1261.)  See  also,  to  the  .*;ame  effect,  the  second  council  of 
Chalons,  can.  i.  (Id.  col.  1272,)  and  the  second  council  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  (a.D. 
836,  cap  ii.  can.  4,  Id.  col.  1707.) 

^  It  would  be  easy  to  illustrate  this  passage  by  numerous  quotations  from  the 
proceedings  of  coimcils  and  the  ecclesiastical  laws  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  by  which 
it  appears  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  clergy  had  fallen  into  many  excesses. 


BEDA  : EPISTLE    TO    BISHOP   ECGBERCT.  655 

admonish  them  to  select  such  witnesses  of  their  conversation,  both 
by  day  and  night,  as,  by  works  worthy  of  God  and  exhortations 
agreeing  thereto,  may  be  able  both  to  benefit  the  people  and  assist 
the  bishops  themselves  in  their  spiritual  duties.  For,  read  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles  and  you  will  see,  from  the  narrative  of  the  blessed 
Luke,  what  was  the  character  of  the  companions  of  Paul  and 
Barnabas,  and  what  was  the  work  in  which  they  themselves  were 
engaged  wherever  they  came.  For  immediately  they  entered  into 
cities  or  synagogues  they  set  themselves  diligently  to  preach  and 
disseminate  eveiywhere  the  word  of  God.  And  this  too,  my  well- 
beloved,  is  the  duty  I  would  desire  you  to  discharge  ;  for  the  very 
object  of  your  consecration  and  election  by  the  Lord  was  to  preach 
the  Word  with  great  power,  by  the  aid  of  Him,  the  very  King  of 
power,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Nor  will  you  fail  in  this,  if,  into 
whatsoever  place  you  come,  you  gather  together  the  inhabitants 
and  offer  them  the  word  of  exhortation,  presenting  at  the  same 
time  by  your  mode  of  living,  with  those  who  accompany  you,  such 
an  example  as  becometh  a  leader  in  a  heavenly  warfare. 

§  5.  And  because  the  extent  of  country  over  which  the  diocese 
committed  to  your  government  extends  precludes  the  possibility  of 
your  personally  visiting  the  whole  of  it,  and  preaching  the  word 
of  God  in  every  village  and  farmstead  even  within  the  course 
of  a  whole  year,  it  is  very  necessary  that  you  should  associate  to 
yourself  a  greater  number  of  assistants  in  the  holy  work,  by 
ordaining  presbyters  and  appointing  teachers  who  may  apply  them- 
selves in  eveiy  village  to  preaching  the  word  of  God  and  conse- 
crating the  heavenly  mysteries,  and  above  all  to  performing  the 
office  of  holy  baptism  when  opportunity  occurs.  And  with  regard 
to  this  preaching  to  the  people,  I  am  of  opinion  that  above  all 
things  the  utmost  diligence  and  care  should  be  used  that  the 
catholic  faith,  as  it  is  contained  in  the  Creed  of  the  apostles  and 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  which  the  scriptures  of  the  holy  gospel  teach  us, 
should  be  rootedly  fixed  in  the  memories  of  all  those  who  are  sub- 
ject to  your  rule.  And,  indeed,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  these 
have  been  perfectly  learnt  by  all  who,  from  constant  study,  have 
acquired  the  Latin  language ;  but  cause  them  also  to  be  said  and 
continually  repeated  by  unlearned  persons,  that  is,  by  those  who  are 
acquainted  with  no  other  than  their  own  tongue.  And  not  only 
ought  this  course  to  be  pursued  with  the  laity,  I  mean  those  who 
are  still  engaged  in  secular  pursuits,  but  also  with  those  clergy  or 
monks  who  are  unlearned  in  the  Latin  tongue.  For  by  this  means 
the  whole  body  of  the  faithful  will  learn  upon  what  grounds  they 
believe,  and  that  steadfastness  of  creed  by  which  they  ought  to  fortify 
and  arm  themselves  in  their  conflicts  with  unclean  spirits;  so  that 
the  whole  band  of  those  who  make  their  supplications  unto  the 
Lord  may  know  what  requests  are  the  most  fitting  to  be  asked  of 
the  divine  mercy.  On  this  account  I  myself  have  frequently  given 
unlearned  priests  an  English  translation  of  both  the  Creed  and  the 
Lord's  Prayer.     For  the  holy  bishop  Ambrose^  also,  speaking  con- 

'  Symbolum  quoque  speeialiter  debemiis,  tanquam  nostri  signaculum  cordis, 
antelucanis  horis  quotidie  recensere.    De  Virgiuibus,  lib.  iii.  ed.  Bened.  torn.  iL 


650  CHURCH     HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND. 

cerning  the  faith,  admonishes  that  the  words  of  the  Creed  should  I)e 
repeated  every  morning  by  all  the  faithful,  and  that  they  shoukl 
fortify  themselves  with  this,  as  with  a  spiritual  antidote,  against  the 
poison  which,  day  and  night,  the  devil  with  cunning  malignity  is 
placing  before  them.  But  with  regard  to  ourselves,  in  addition  to 
these  considerations,  more  frequent  repetition  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 
has  been  taught  us  by  our  custom  of  constant  prayer  and  frequent 
i)cnding  of.  the  knees. 

§  6.  But  if  in  your  pastoral  office  you  carry  into  effect  these 
suggestions  by  ruling  and  feeding  the  sheep,  it  is  impossible  to  tell 
the  greatness  of  the  reward  prepared  for  you  with  the  Shepherd  of 
shepherds.  For,  in  proportion  to  the  rarity  of  examples  of  this 
most  holy  work  among  the  bishops  of  our  nation,  the  more  exalted 
wnll  be  the  rewards  of  singular  merit  which  you  will  receive,  as 
being  one  w^ho  are  inflamed  with  fatherly  affection  and  anxiety  to 
provoke  the  people  of  God,  by  means  of  a  frequent  repetition  of  the 
Creed  and  Lord's  Prayer,  to  the  knowledge,  love,  faith,  hope,  and 
searching  after  those  heavenly  gifts  which  are  there  repeated.  As, 
on  the  other  hand,  if  you  negligently  discharge  the  business  com- 
mitted you  by  the  Lord,  in  punishment  for  the  keeping  back  of  the 
talent,  you  shall  receive  hereafter  your  portion  with  the  wicked  and 
slothful  servant ;  and  especially  will  this  be  the  case,  if  you  have 
the  presumption  to  require  and  receive  temporal  benefits  from  those 
to  whom  you  have  not  thought  fit  to  repay  any  of  the  gifts  of  the 
heavenly  bounty.  For  when  the  Lord,  sending  out  his  disciples  to 
preach  the  gospel,  said,  '  And  as  ye  go,  preach,  saying.  The  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  at  hand ; '  He  a  little  after  added,  '  Freely  ye  have 
received,  freely  give :  provide  neither  gold,  nor  silver.'  [Matt. 
X.  7 — 9.]  If,  then.  He  ordered  them  to  preach  the  gospel  freely, 
and  forbade  them  to  take  either  gold  or  silver,  or  any  temporal 
profit  from  those  to  whom  they  preached,  what,  I  ask,  must  be 
the  imminent  peril  of  those  who  pursue  a  contrary  course  ? 

§  7.  Consider  what  grievous  wickedness  they  commit,  who 
most  carefully  require  their  earthly  gains  from  their  hearers,  yet  for 
their  eternal  salvation  care  to  expend  no  labour  at  all  in  preaching, 
or  exhortation,  or  reproof.  O  well-beloved  bishop,  I  pray  you 
anxiously  to  weigh  this.  For  we  have  heard,  and  it  is  the  common 
report,  that  there  are  many  vills  and  villages  of  our  nation  situated 
in  accessible  mountains  and  bushy  defiles,  w'hich  for  many  years 
have  never  been  visited  by  a  bishoji,  to  administer  and  preach  the 
comforts  of  heavenly  grace,  and  yet  that  not  even  one  of  these  can 
be  exempt  from  paying  him  tribute.  And  not  only  are  such  places 
without  a  bishop  to  confirm  the  baptized  by  the  imposition  of  his 
hands,  but  without  any  teacher  whatever  to  instruct  them  in  the 
true  faith,  or  in  the  difference  between  a  good  and  evil  action.  And 
thus  it  comes  to  pass  that  some  of  the  bishops  not  only  do  not 
preach  the  gospel,  or  lay  hands  upon  the  faithful  freely,  but  they 
are  also  guilty  of  the  graver  crime  of  taking  money  from  their 
hearers,  a  thing  which  God  has  forliiddcn,  and  lightly  regarding  the 
w^ork  of  the  Word,  which  God  has  commanded  them  to  exercise. 
Let  us   read  how  very  differently  acted   Samuel   the  high  priest, 


BEDA  : EPISTLE    TO    BISHOP    ECGBERCT.  657 

beloved  of  God,  all  the  people  being  witnesses.  "  I  have  walked 
l)efore  you,"  says  he,  "  from  my  childhood  unto  this  day.  Behold, 
here  I  am  ;  witness  against  me  before  the  Lord,  and  before  his 
Anointed;  whose  ox  have  I  taken?  or  whom  have  I  defrauded? 
whom  have  I  oppressed?  of  whose  hands  have  I  received  any 
bribe  ?  and  I  will  repent  to-day,  and  make  restitution  to  you.  And 
they  said.  Thou  hast  not  defrauded  us,  nor  oppressed  us,  neither 
hast  thou  taken  aught  of  any  man's  hand."  [1  Sam.  xii.'  3.]  And 
such  was  the  merit  of  his  innocence  and  justice,  that  he  was  thought; 
deserving  to  be  reckoned  among  the  leaders  and  priests  of  the  people 
of  God,  and  came  forth  M^orthy  to  be  heard  by  God  in  his  prayers, 
and  of  converse  with  heaven,  as  says  the  writer  of  the  Psalm  : — 
"  Moses  and  Aaron  among  his  priests,  and  Samuel  among  them 
that  call  upon  his  name  :  they  called  upon  the  Lord,  and  He  heard 
them.     He  spake  unto  them  in  the  cloudy  pillar."     [Ps.  xcvi.  6.] 

§  8.  Now,  if  we  believe  and  profess  that  any  advantage  is  con- 
ferred on  the  faithful  by  the  imposition  of  hands,  through  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  received,  then  it  is  plain  that  they  who  are  deprived 
of  the  imposition  of  hands  are  deprived  also  of  this  advantage.  And 
to  whom  is  the  fault  of  this  privation  to  be  ascribed,  more  than  to 
those  very  bishops,  who  profess  that  they  are  the  prelates  of  those 
for  whom  they  either  neglect,  or  are  unable,  to  perform  the  duties 
of  the  prelacy  ?  Nor  is  there  any  greater  cause  of  this  crime  than 
avarice,  arguing  in  condemnation  of  which  the  apostle,  in  whom 
Christ  spake,  said,  "  The  love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil." 
[2  Tim.  vi.  10.]  And  again,  "  The  covetous  shall  not  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God."  [1  Cor.  vi.  10.]  For  when  a  bishop,  stimulated 
by  the  love  of  money,  has  taken  upon  himself  the  prelacy  over  a 
greater  number  of  people  than  he  can  possibly,  within  the  course  of 
a  year,  preach  to,  or  visit,  it  is  plain  that  he  incurs  a  peril,  fatal 
both  to  himself  and  to  those  over  whom  he  presides,  with  the  title 
indeed,  but  with  none  of  the  functions,  of  a  bishop. 

§  9.  Having  made  these  brief  remarks  to  your  holiness,  O  weli- 
beloved  bishop,  on  the  grievances  under  which  our  nation  labours, 
I  earnestly  beseech  you  to  strive,  to  the  utmost  of  your  ability,  to 
reduce  to  the  rule  of  good  living,  whatever  evil  actions  may  fall  under 
your  notice.  And  you  have,  I  believe,  a  most  ready  coadjutor  in 
so  just  a  task  in  the  person  of  king  Ceoluulf,'  who  has  such  an 
engrafted  love  of  religion,  that  he  will  eagerly  endeavour  to  lend 
his  aid  in  whatever  appertains  to  the  rule  of  piety ;  and  since  he  is 
moreover  bound  to  you  by  the  ties  of  relationship  and  afiection,  he 
will  most  readily  carry  into  action  those  good  works  which  you  set 
on  foot.  Wlierefore  I  pray  you  diligently  to  admonish  him  to  effect 
in  your  time  a  reformation,  by  means  of  which  the  ecclesiastical 
affairs  of  our  nation  maybe  placed  in  a  better  position  than  hitherto. 
Nor  do  I  see  any  other  possible  method  of  doing  this,  than  bv 
consecrating  a  greater  number  of  bishops  for  our  nation,  according 

*  This  is  he  to  whom  Beda  dedicated  his  Ecclesiastical  History,  and  who  after- 
wards became  a  monk  at  Lindisfarne.  He  and  Ec^herct  were  first-cousins,  Cuth- 
wiu,  the  father  of  Ceolwulf,  and  Eata  the  father  of  Ecgberct,  being  the  sons  of 
Leodwald. 

VOL.   I.  [J    U 


658  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND. 

to  the  example  of  the  giver  of  the  law,  who  being  unal)lc,  by  him- 
self alone,  to  bear  the  burden  and  litigation  of  the  people  of  Israel, 
was  aided  by  divine  counsel  to  choose  out  and  consecrate  seventy 
elders,  whose  assistance  and  advice  might  render  the  weight  im- 
posed on  him  less  oppressive.  For  who  does  not  see  how  much 
better  it  is  for  so  enormous  a  weight  of  ecclesiastical  government  to 
be  divided  among  a  greater  number,  who  will  thus  bear  it  more 
easily,  than  for  one  to  be  overwhelmed  by  a  burden  which  he  is  unable 
to  carry?  For  the  holy  pope  Gregory^  also,  in  a  letter  which  he 
sent  to  the  most  blessed  archbishop  Augustin  (in  which  he  treats 
respecting  the  presei-vation  of  the  faith,  while  it  was  not  yet  received 
among  us),  decrees  that  so  soon  as  it  was  embraced,  twelve  bishops 
ought  to  be  ordained,  among  whom  the  bishop  of  York  was  to  be 
metropolitan,  receiving  his  pall  from  the  apostolic  see.  And  I  trust 
that  the  fatherly  care  of  your  holiness,  assisted  by  the  patronage  of 
the  above-named  most  pious  and  God-beloved  king,  will  carefully 
endeavour  to  complete  this  number  of  bishops  ;  in  order  that  by  an 
augmentation  in  the  number  of  its  magistrates,  more  perfect  regu- 
lations may  be  made  in  the  church  of  Christ,  with  regard  to  the 
due  performance  of  the  worship  of  our  holy  religion.  And,  indeed, 
we  know  that  by  means  of  the  negligence  and  foolish  donations  of 
former  kings,  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  find  a  vacant  place  for  the 
foundation  of  an  episcopal  see. 

§  10.  Wherefore  I  should  deem  it  expedient  to  hold  a  greater 
council,  with  the  concurrence  both  of  the  archbishop  and  the  king, 
in  order  that  some  place  belonging  to  one  of  the  monasteries  may 
be  provided  by  an  edict  for  the  foundation  of  an  episcopal  see.  And 
lest,  perchance,  the  abbot  and  monks  should  endeavour  to  oppose 
and  resist  this  decree,  let  permission  be  given  them  to  select  one  of 
their  own  body  to  be  ordained  bishop,  and  have  the  episcopal  cure 
of  the  places  adjacent  which  are  attached  to  the  said  monastery, 
together  with  that  of  the  monastery  itself :  but  if  it  should  happen 
that  there  cannot  be  found  in  the  monastery  a  fit  person  to  be 
ordained  bishop,  yet,  in  accordance  with  the  canonical  decrees,  let 
the  decision  rest  with  them  of  a  person  from  their  own  diocese. 
And  if,  with  the  aid  of  the  Lord,  you  carry  out  these  suggestions, 
there  will  be  no  difficulty,  I  think,  in  obtaining  a  metropolitan 
bishop  for  the  church  of  York,  in  accordance  with  the  decrees  of 
the  apostolic  see.  And  if  it  should  seem  necessary,  in  order  to 
maintain  this  bishopric,  that  such  a  monastery  should  receive  an 
augmentation,  both  in  the  extent  of  its  territory  and  its  possessions, 
there  are  numberless  places,  as  we  know,  which  have  the  name  of 
monasteries  ascribed  to  them,  but  yet  have  nothing  of  the  monastic 
mode  of  life.  Of  these  I  trust  that  some  may  be  transferred,  by  the 
authority  of  the  synod,  from  the  purposes  of  luxury  to  those  of 
chastity,  from  vanity  to  temperance,  from  excess  and  gluttony 
to  continence  and  })iety  of  heart,  and  so  be  employed  for  the  aid  of 
the  episcopal  see  which  is  to  be  founded. 

§  11.  Now,  places  of  this  description   are  very  extensive    and 
numerous  ;  and  they  are  commonly  said  to  be  serviceable  neither 
'  Eccl.  Hist.  I.  xxix.  §  73. 


BEDA  : EPISTLE    TO    BISHOP    ECGBERCT.  659 

to  God  nor  men,  because  neither  is  a  regular  life  according  to  God 
kept  up  in  them,  nor  are  they  occupied  by  knights  or  earls  of  the 
secular  powers  to  defend  our  nation  from  barbarians.  If,  there- 
fore, any  one,  in  order  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  times,  shall 
found  in  them  an  episcopal  see,  so  far  from  incurring  the  blame  of 
violation  of  duty,  he  will  rather  be  performing  a  virtuous  action. 
For  how  can  it  be  accounted  as  a  sin,  if  the  unjust  judgments  of 
some  rulers  be  corrected  by  the  just  decisions  of  better  rulers  ; 
and  the  lying  writings  of  wicked  scribes  be  obliterated  and  nullified 
by  the  discreet  sentence  of  wise  priests?  according  to  the  example 
of  sacred  history,  which,  describing  the  times  of  the  kings  of  Judah, 
from  David  and  Solomon  to  the  last  king  Zedekiah,  declares  that 
some  of  them  indeed  were  religious,  but  the  majority  were  repro- 
bates, and  that  alternately  the  wicked  rejected  the  deeds  of  the  good 
who  had  preceded  them  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  as  was  right,  the 
just,  with  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  means  of  the  holy  prophets 
and  priests,  zealously  reformed  the  baneful  deeds  of  their  impious 
predecessors,  according  to  the  commands  of  the  blessed  Isaiah, 
who  said,  "  Loose  the  bands  of  wickedness,  let  the  broken  go  free, 
and  break  every  yoke."    [Isai.  Iviii.  6,  Vulg.] 

Following  this  example,  yo\ir  holiness  also,  with  the  aid  of  the 
religious  king  of  our  nation,  may  becomingly  destroy  the  irreligious 
and  unjust  deeds  and  charters  of  former  rulers,  and  make  such 
provisions  as  may  be  advantageous  for  our  province,  whether  as 
regards  God  or  the  world  :  lest,  by  the  cessation  of  religion  in  our 
times,  the  love  and  fear  of  an  inspector  from  within  may  be  lost ; 
or,  by  a  diminution  in  the  numbers  of  our  secular  armies,  our 
territories  be  left  undefended  against  the  assaults  of  barbarians. 
For,  though  it  is  a  disgraceful  thing  to  say,  yet  as  you  yourselves 
very  well  know,  those  who  are  utterly  regardless  of  a  monastic  life, 
have  got  into  their  power  so  many  places  under  the  name  of  mon- 
asteries, that  there  is  no  place  at  all  which  the  sons  of  the  nobility 
or  of  veteran  soldiers  may  occupy  ;  and  accordingly,  when  tliey  have 
arrived  at  years  of  puberty,  they  live  in  idleness,  and  unmarried, 
without  any  purpose  of  continence  ;  and  on  this  account  either  quit 
their  native  land,  for  which  they  are  bound  to  fight ;  or,  with  greater 
wickedness  and  shamelessness,  those  who  have  made  no  resolutions 
of  chastity  surrender  themselves  up  to  luxury  and  fornication,  and 
do  not  even  abstain  from  the  virgins  consecrated  to  God. 

§  12.  But  there  are  others  guilty  of  a  still  more  grievous  offence. 
For  though  they  are  themselves  laics,  and  neither  habituated  to,  nor 
actuated  by,  the  love  of  any  regular  life,  yet  by  pecuniary  payments 
to  the  kings,  and  under  the  pretext  of  founding  monasteries,  they 
purchase  for  themselves  territories  in  which  they  may  have  freer  scope 
for  their  lust ;  and  moreover  they  cause  these  to  be  assigned  to  them 
by  regal  edicts  for  an  hereditary  possession,  and  they  get  the  charters' 
of  their  privileges  confirmed  by  the  subscriptions  of  bishops,  abbots, 

'  Kemble  remarks  that  this  passage  shows  that,  at  the  end  of  the  seventh  and 
commencement  of  the  eighth  centuries,  lauds  were  conveyed  by  charter  in  England, 
and  that  it  was  no  new  arrangement,  since  Beda  means  his  words  to  apply  to  the 
whole  period  of  time  between  the  introduction  of  Christianity  and  his  own  day. 
Introduction  to  the  Saxon  Charters,  I.  vii. 


C60  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND. 

and  the  secular  powers,  as  though  they  were  truly  worthy  of  God. 
And  thus  having  got  into  their  own  possession  fields  or  villages,  they 
henceforth  are  exempt  both  from  the  service  of  God  and  man,  being 
obedient  only  to  their  own  desires  ;  and  though  they  themselves 
are  laymen,  yet  they  have  monks  under  their  rule.  Or  rather,  they 
are  not  monks  whom  they  assemble  there,  but  such  as  having  been 
expelled  from  the  true  monasteries  for  the  crime  of  disobedience, 
are  found  wandering  up  and  down  ;  or  those  whom  they  themselves 
have  succeeded  in  alluring  from  these  monasteries  ;  or  at  any  rate 
those  among  their  own  servants  whom  they  have  been  able  to 
induce  to  take  the  tonsure,  and  make  a  promise  of  monastic  obe- 
dience to  them.  With  these  motley  bands  they  fill  the  cells  which 
they  have  constructed  ;  and  there  is  presented  this  disgraceful  and 
unheard-of  spectacle — the  self-same  men  at  one  time  engaged  in 
conjugal  duties  and  the  procreation  of  children,  and  at  another 
rising  from  their  beds,  and  diligently  performing  the  internal  duties 
of  the  monasteries.  Moreover,  with  equal  shamelessness  they  seek 
places,  as  they  say,  for  founding  monasteries  for  their  wives,'  who 
with  like  folly,  being  lay -women,  suffer  themselves  to  be  the  rulers 
of  the  handmaidens  of  Christ.  To  whom  aptly  applies  that  com- 
mon proverb, — "  Though  the  wasps  may  indeed  build  cells,  yet 
they  do  not  treasure  up  in  them  honey,  but  poison." 

§  13.  Thus,  for  about  thirty  years,  that  is,  from  the  time  when 
king  Aldfrid  was  removed  from  the  world,  our  province  has  been 
so  demented  by  this-  mad  error,  that  from  that  period  scarcely  has 
there  been  a  single  prefect,  who  has  not,  during  the  course  of  his 
prefectship,  founded  for  himself  a  monastery  of  this  description, 
and  at  the  same  time  bound  his  wife  in  the  guiltiness  of  a  like 
injurious  traffic.  And  since  this  most  wretched  custom  has  become 
prevalent,  the  ministers  also  and  servants  of  the  king  were  content 
to  do  the  same.  And  thus,  contrary  to  the  established  order,  num- 
berless persons  are  found  who  style  themselves,  indiscriminately, 
abbots,  and  prefects,  or  ministers  or  servants  of  the  king  :  and 
tliough  laymen  might  have  been  instructed  in  something  of  the 
monastic  life,  not  indeed  by  experience,  but  by  hearsay,  yet  these 
[)ersons  have  nothing  in  common  with  the  chai-acter  or  profession 
whose  duty  it  is  to  give  the  instruction. 

And,  indeed,  such  persons  at  their  own  caprice  suddenly  receive, 
as  you  are  aware,  the  tonsure  ;  and  by  their  own  decision  arc  made 
from  laymen,  not  monks,  but  abbots.  But  since  they  are  found  to 
have  no  knowledge  of  the  aforesaid  virtue,  acquired  either  by  prac- 
tice or  study,  what  can  be  more  applicable  to  them  than  that  curse 
which  is  written  in  the  gospel,  "If  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  do  not 
both  fall  into  the  ditch?"  [Matt.  xv.  14.]  But  might  not  this 
l)lin(hiess  be  restrained,  at  some  time  or  other,  within  bounds,  l)y 
legular  discipline,  and  expelled  afar  ofi"  from  the  boundaries  of  holy 
church  by  tlie  authority  of  the  bishop  and  synod,  if  the  bishops 

'  How  completely  this  was  opposed  to  the  first  principles  of  monachisni,  may 
appear  by  referriug  to  Mabillon's  preface  to  his  Acta  SS.  ord.  S.Bened.  i.  §  112; 
ii.  S  84. 

-  This  passage  is  commeutatcil  on  l.v  Thomassiu,  de  Bencficiis,  ii.  5S9,  cd. 
Lugd.  1705. 


BEDA  : EPISTLE    TO    BISHOP    ECG3ERCT.  6G1 

themselves  did  not  think  tit  to  aid  and  countenance  wickedness  of 
this  kind  ?  For  so  far  are  they  from  being  zealous  to  counteract 
unjust  decrees  of  this  character  by  just  ones,  that,  as  I  have  before 
mentioned,  they  are  content  rather  to  confirm  them  by  their  own 
subscriptions  ;  being  themselves  stimulated  to  the  confirmation  of 
these  evil  charters,  by  the  same  covetousness  which  prompted  the 
purchasers  of  them  to  found  monasteries  of  this  description. 
Many  other  intimations  might  I  give  you  in  this  letter,  with  regard 
to  these  and  such  like  traitors  from  the  truth,  by  whom  our  pro- 
vince is  harassed,  did  I  not  know  that  you  yourself  were  fully 
cognisant  of  these  matters.  Nor  have  I  stated  these  facts  with  any 
idea  of  teaching  you  that  of  which  you  were  previously  ignorant, 
but  with  a  view  of  admonishing  you,  by  a  friendly  exhortation, 
zealously  and  to  the  utmost  of  your  ability  to  correct  those  errors, 
with  the  existence  of  which  you  are  well  acquainted. 

§  14.  And  again  and  again  I  earnestly  pray  and  beseech  you  in 
the  Lord,  to  protect  the  flock  committed  to  your  charge  from  the 
violence  of  invading  wolves ;  and  to  remember  that  you  are  ordained 
to  be,  not  a  hireling,  but  a  shepherd,  proving  your  love  for  the 
great  Shepherd  by  the  careful  feeding  of  his  sheep,  and  by  being  pre- 
pared, if  occasion  so  demand,  to  lay  down  your  life  for  them  with 
the  blessed  chief  of  the  apostles.  I  pray  you  anxiously  to  beware, 
lest,  when  the  same  chief  of  the  apostles,  and  the  other  leaders  of 
faithful  flocks,  ofter  to  Christ,  in  the  day  of  judgment,  the  plenteous 
fruits  of  their  pastoral  care,  some  part  of  your  sheep  may  justly 
desei-ve  to  be  set  apart  among  the  goats  at  the  left  hand,  of  the 
Judge,  and  depart  with  the  curse  into  everlasting  punishment ; — 
nay,  rather,  may  you  yourself  merit  to  be  enrolled  in  the  number  of 
those  of  whom  Isaiah  says,  "  A  little  one  shall  become  a  thousand, 
and  a  small  one  a  strong  nation."  [Isai.  Ix.  22.]  For  it  is  your  duty 
most  diligently  to  inspect  what  good,  or  what  evil,  is  carried  on  in 
every  monastery  of  your  diocese,  lest  either  an  abbot,  ignorant,  or 
a  contemner,  of  its  rules,  or  an  unworthy  abbess,  be  set  over  the 
servants  or  the  handmaidens  of  Christ ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
no  undisciplined  crowd  of  contumacious  hearers  despise  the  over- 
sight of  their  spiritual  rulers.  And  most  particularly  do  I  urge 
this  upon  you,  because  it  is  commonly  reported,  that  you  are  wont 
to  say,  that  the  inquisition  and  examination  of  the  internal  aftairs 
of  every  monastery  devolves,  not  upon  the  kings,  or  any  other 
secular  rulers,  but  on  you  bishops  only  ;  unless,  perchance,  any  one 
in  the  monastery  be  proved  to  have  offended  against  the  secular 
rulers  themselves.  It  is  your  duty,  I  say,  to  take  care  that  in 
places  consecrated  to  God,  the  devil  may  not  usurp  to  himself  the 
rule  ;  that  instead  of  peace,  discord  ;  instead  of  piety,  strife  ;  instead 
of  sobriety,  drunkenness ;  instead  of  charity  and  chastity,  fornica- 
tion and  homicides,  may  not  claim  for  themselves  a  dwelling ;  that 
there  may  not  be  found  among  you  any  of  whom  this  complaint 
may  deservedly  be  made — "  I  saw  the  wicked  buried,  who  in  their 
lifetime  were  in  the  place  of  the  holy,  and  were  praised  in  the  city 
as  though  for  just  works."    [Eccles.  viii.  10.] 

§  15.    It  is  needful,  also,  that  you  give  earnest  heed  to  those 


662  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND. 

who  are  still  living  a  secular  life,  remembering,  as  I  premonished 
you  at  the  commencement  of  this  letter,  to  provide  for  them 
sufficient  teachers  in  the  life  of  salvation,  and  causing  them  to  learn 
this  among  other  things,  namely,  what  works  are  pleasing  to  the 
Lord — what  sins  must  be  abstained  from  by  those  who  desire  to 
please  Him — with  what  sincerity  they  must  believe  in  Him — with 
what  devotional  exercises  they  must  supplicate  the  divine  clemency 
— how  frequently  they  must  fortify  themselves,  and  all  that  belongs 
to  tliem,  with  the  sign  of  the  cross  of  our  Lord  against  the  assaults 
of  unclean  spirits — liow  salutary  for  every  class  of  Christians  is  tlic 
daily  ^  participation  of  the  Lord's  Body  and  Blood,  according  to  the 
custom^  which  you  know  is  closely  observed-  by  the  church  of 
Christ  throughout  Italy,  Gaul,  Africa,  Greece,  and  the  whole  of 
the  East.  For  this  kind  of  religion  and  devout  sanctification  to  the 
Lord,  is,  by  the  negligence  of  their  teachers,  banished  as  far  away 
from  nearly  the  whole  of  the  laity  of  our  province,  as  though  it 
were  almost  a  stranger ;  and  those  who  appear  to  be  among  the 
more  religious,  do  not  presume  to  communicate  in  the  holy 
mysteries,'  except  on  the  day  of  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord,  on  the 
Epiphany,  and  Easter-day,  though  there  are  numberless,  innocent 
and  chastely-living  boys  and  girls,  young  men  and  young  women, 
old  men  and  old  women,  who,  without  any  scruple  of  controversy, 
might  partake  of  these  heavenly  mysteries  every  Lord's  day,  and 
also  on  the  birthdays  of  the  holy  cipostles  and  martyrs,  as  you 
yourself  have  seen  done  in  the  holy  and  apostolic  church  of  Rome.* 
And  even  the  married,  if  any  one  were  to  teach  them  the  due 
measure  of  continence,  and  the  virtue  of  chastity,  might  lawfully 
be  able  and  gladly  be  willing  to  do  the  same. 

§  16.  I  have  noted  down  these  brief  remarks,  most  holy 
bishop,  both  out  of  regard  for  your  affection  and  for  the  sake  of 
the  public  good,  greatly  desiring,  and  greatly  exhorting  you  to 
strive,  to  free  our  nation  from  its  old  errors,  and  to  bring  it  back  to 
a  safer  and  more  direct  path  of  life.  And,  if  there  be  any — of 
whatsoever  grade  or  order — \vho  endeavour  to  thwart  or  impede 
your  praiseworthy  efforts,  yet  do  you,  mindful  of  the  heavenly 
recompense,  hold  fast  your  holy  and  virtuous  purpose  firm  imto  the 
end.  For  I  know  that  there  are  some  who  will  vehemently  oppose 
this  our  exhortation,  and,  chiefly,  such  as  are  conscious  that  they 
are  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  those  very  crimes  from  which  we 
are  restraining  you.  But  remember  the  answer  of  the  apostles, 
"  We  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  men."    [Acts  v.  29.]     For  it 

*  It  was  the  custom  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  church,  at  this  time,  daily  to  receive 
the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Thus  Bcda,  in  his  Commentary  upon  St. 
Matthew  (Ojip.  v.  24,  ed.  Basil.) : — "  Panis  quotidianus  .  .  .  dictus  est  .  .  .  pro 
Sacramento  Corpoi-is  Christi  quod  quotidie  acuii>imus." 

*  The  usage  of  the  primitive  church  upou  this  sidgect  is  examined  by  Bingham 
(XV.  ix.  §  4)  with  his  usual  research,  and  the  result  of  his  investigation  supports 
the  accuracy  of  the  statement  here  made  by  Beda. 

^  On  this  communion  thrice  only  in  the  year,  see  Bingham,  as  above,  §  5. 

*  This  statement  is  8Ui)portcd  by  the  authority  of  St.  Jerome,  who  writes 
(Epist.  1.  contra  Jovinianum,  ad  Pammach.  cap.  vi.)  : — "Scio  Romrc  banc  esse  con- 
Buetudinum,  ut  iideles  semper  Christi  Corpus  aceipiant ;  quod  nee  reprehendo  nee 
probu,  uuusquisquo  enim  in  suo  scnsu  abundet." 


BEDA  : EPISTLE    TO    BISHOP    ECGBERCT.  G63 

is  a  command  of  God,  "  Sell  that  ye  have,  and  give  alms.  And, 
imless  any  one  shall  give  up  all  that  he  has,  he  cannot  be  m^ 
disciple."  [St.  Luke  xii.  33.]  But  it  is  a  modern  tradition  among 
some  who  profess  themselves  the  servants  of  God,  not  only  not  to  sell 
that  which  they  have,  but  to  obtain  that  which  they  have  not.  But 
how  dare  any  one  have  the  audacity  to  attach  himself  to  the  service 
of  God,  while  either  he  retains  what  he  had  during  his  secular  life, 
or,  under  the  pretext  of  a  more  holy  life,  heaps  up  riches  which 
before  he  had  not,  and  in  the  face,  too,  of  that  well-known  apostolic 
censure  under  which  Ananias  and  Sapphira  were  not  allowed  to 
expiate  this  crime  by  any  penance  or  satisfaction,  but,  with  speedy 
vengeance,  were  condemned  to  instant  death  ?  And,  indeed,  they 
did  not  wish  to  acquire  the  possessions  of  others,  but  improperly  to 
retain  their  own.  Wlience  it  is  manifest  how  veiy  far  from  the 
acquisition  of  money  was  the  intention  of  the  apostles,  who  truly 
served  God  under  this  rule,  "  Blessed  are  ye  poor,  for  your's  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,"  [Matt.  v.  3;]  and,  on  the  other  hand,  they 
were  instructed  by  an  example  of  an  opposite  tendency,  "  Woe 
unto  you  that  are  rich,  for  you  have  received  your  consolation." 
[Luke  vi.  24.]  Or,  perchance,  we  think  that  the  apostle  was  in 
error  and  wrote  a  falsehood,  when,  by  way  of  admonition,  he  said, 
"  Brethren,  be  not  deceived,"  and  immediately  subjoined,  "  Neither 
the  covetous,  nor  drunkards,  nor  extortioners,  shall  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God."  [1  Cor.  vi.  10.]  And  again,  "  For  this  ye  know, 
that  no  whoremonger,  nor  unclean  person,  nor  covetous  man,  nor 
extortioner,  who  is  an  idolater,  hath  any  inheritance  in  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  and  of  God."  [Eph.  v.  5.]  \\lien,  therefore,  the  apostle 
clearly  names  covetousness  and  extortion  to  be  idolatry,  in  what 
way  can  they  be  supposed  to  have  erred,  who  have  either  withheld 
their  hand  from  subscribing  to  this  covetous  traffic,  even  though 
the  king  commanded  it,  or  who  have  presented  themselves  that 
they  might  cancel  these  useless  charters  and  subscriptions  ? 

§  17.  And  truly  astonishing  is  the  rash  folly,  or  rather  the 
deplorable  blindness,  of  those,  who,  though  without  any  regard  to 
the  fear  of  heaven,  everywhere  think  it  right  to  rescind  and 
nullify  those  things  which  the  apostles  and  prophets  have  written 
by  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  fear 
to  erase  and  amend  that  which  has  been  written  by  themselves,  or 
liy  men  like  them,  at  the  prompting  of  covetousness  and  luxury,  as 
though  this  latter  were  sanctioned  and  confirmed  by  God.  And,  if 
I  am  not  deceived,  they  in  this  respect  resemble  those  heathens,  who, 
despising  the  worship  of  God,  venerate,  fear,  worship,  adore,  and 
supplicate  those  deities  which  are  the  creation  and  fancy  of  their 
own  hearts,  being  most  worthy  of  that  rebuke  which  our  Lord 
administered  to  the  Pharisees  when  they  preferred  their  own 
traditions  to  the  law  of  God.  "  Why  do  ye  also  transgress  the  law 
of  God  by  your  tradition?"  [Matt.  xv.  3.]  And,  even  if  they 
produce  charters  drawn  up  in  defence  of  their  lusts,  and  confirmed 
by  the  subscription  of  noble  persons,  yet  I  pray  you  never  to  forget 
that  decree  pronounced  by  our  Lord,  "  Every  plant  which  my 
heavenly  Father  hath  not  planted,  shall  be  rooted  up."  [Matt.xv.l3.] 


f)64  CHURCH    HISTORIANS    OF    ENGLAND. 

And,  verily,  I  would  learn  of  you,  most  holy  bishop,  since  the 
Lord  protests  and  says,  "  Wide  is  the  gate,  and  broad  is  tlie  way, 
that  leadeth  to  destruction,  and  many  there  be  whicli  go  in  thereat ; 
because  strait  is  the  gate,  and  narrow  is  the  way,  which  leadeth  unto 
life,  and  few  there  be  that  find  it,"  [Matt.  vii.  13,]  what  confidence 
can  you  have  in  the  eternal  salvation  of  those  persons,  who,  during 
the  whole  time  of  their  life,  are  known  to  walk  through  the  wide 
gate  and  the  broad  way,  and  who  do  not,  even  in  the  smallest 
matters,  put  any  restraint  upon  their  pleasures,  either  of  body  or 
mind,  for  the  sake  of  a  heavenly  reward  ;  unless,  perchance,  we  are 
to  believe  the  possibility  of  their  being  absolved  from  their  crimes 
by  the  alms  w^hich,  in  the  midst  of  their  daily  lusts  and  pleasures, 
they  were  seen  to  give  to  the  poor, — though  the  very  hand  and 
conscience  that  offers  a  gift  to  God,  ought  to  be  purified  and 
absolved  from  sin, — or  unless  w^e  are  to  believe  that  they,  who, 
during  their  lifetime,  were  themselves  unworthy,  may,  now  that 
they  are  dead,  be  redeemed  by  others,  through  the  mysteries  of  a 
holy  oblation.  Or,  perchance,  the  fault  of  concupiscence  seems 
to  them  a  light  one.  I  wall  discuss  this  point  a  little  more  fully. 
This  caused  Balaam,  a  man  filled  w^ith  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  to  be 
banished  from  the  lot  of  the  saints.  This  polluted  and  destroycfl 
Achan,  through  his  participation  in  the  accursed  thing.  This 
deprived  Saul  of  his  kingly  crown.  This  made  Geliazi  lose  the 
merit  of  prophecy,  and  defiled  him  and  his  seed  with  the  pest  of 
perpetual  leprosy.  This  rendered  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  of  whom 
I  have  before  spoken,  unworthy  of  the  society  of  the  monks,  and 
inflicted  upon  them  the  punishment  of  death ;  and,  to  go  to  higher 
things,  this  cast  down  the  angels  from  heaven,  and  expelled  the 
first  created  from  a  paradise  of  perpetual  bliss.  And,  if  you  will 
know,  this  is  that  triple-headed  dog  of  the  infernal  regions,  to 
whom  fables  have  given  the  name,  Cerberus,  and  whose  rabid 
teeth,  John,  the  apostle,  warns  us  to  avoid,  when  he  says,  "  Dearly 
beloved,  love  not  the  world,  neither  the  things  that  are  in  the 
world.  If  any  man  love  the  world,  tlic  love  of  the  Father  is  not 
in  him.  For  all  that  is  in  the  world,  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  and  the 
lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life,  is  not  of  the  Father,  but  of 
the  world."  [1  John  ii.  15.]  These  brief  remarks  have  I  written 
against  the  poison  of  covetousness  ;  and,  for  the  rest,  if  we  were  to 
treat  in  the  same  manner  of  drunkenness,  revelling,  luxury,  and 
other  pests  of  this  sort,  this  letter  would  have  to  be  extended  to  an 
immense  length. 

O  bishop,  well-beloved  in  Christ,  may  the  grace  of  the  chief 
Siiepherd  ever  preserve  you  in  safety,  for  the  wholesome  feeding  of 
his  sheep.     Amen. 


END   OF    vol..  I. 


LAV,    PRINTF.R,    Bnr.AD-STnF.Er-nil-I,. 


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