Book III
B O O K III
These are the contents of the third book of the history of the Church of the English people.
1. How King Edwin's next successors betrayed the faith of their race and how the most Christian King Oswald restored both the kingdom and the faith.
2. How a certain man was cured of an injured arm, one of the innumerable miracles wrought by the wood of the cross which King Oswald set up when about to attack the barbarians.
3. How King Oswald asked the Irish for a bishop and Aidan was sent; and how the king granted him an episcopal see on the island of Lindisfame.
4. When the Piets received the Christian faith.
5. About the life of Bishop Aidan.
6. About the religion and remarkable devotion of King Oswald.
7. How the kingdom of the West Saxons received the word of God through the teaching of Birinus; and concerning his successors
Agilbert and Leuthere.
8. How Eorcenberht, king of Kent, ordered idols to be destroyed; and concerning his daughter Eorcengota and his kinswoman
Æthelburh, virgins dedicated to God.
9. How frequent miracles of healing took place on the spot where King Oswald was killed; and how first a traveller's horse and then a paralytic girl were cured.
10. How soil from that place prevailed against fire.
11. How a heavenly light rested all night on his relics; and how demoniacs were cured by them.
12. How a little boy was cured of fever at his tomb.
13. How a man in Ireland was cured by his relics when at the point of death.
14. How, when Paulinus died, Ithamar was made bishop of Rochester in his place; and about the marvellous humility of King Oswine who was cruelly murdered by Oswiu.
15. How Bishop Aidan foretold a tempest to some sailors and gave them consecrated oil with which to calm it.
The Ecclesiastical History Ill 16. How, by his prayers, he drove away the fire which had been started by enemies to destroy the royal city.
17. How the buttress of the church against which he was leaning when he died could not be consumed by fire when the rest of the church was burning; and about his spiritual life.
18. About the life and death of the devout King Sigeberht.
19. How Fursa built a monastery among the East Angles; about his visions and his holiness and how, after his death, his uncorrupt body bore testimony to him.
20. How, when Honorius died, Deusdedit became archbishop; and who were the bishops of the East Angles and of the church at Rochester at the time.
21. How the kingdom of the Middle Angles became Christian under King Peada.
22. How the East Saxons, who had long rejected the faith, under King Sigeberht were reconverted through the preaching of Cedd.
23. How Bishop Cedd, who had received the site from King Oethelwald on which to build a monastery, consecrated it to the Lord with prayer and fasting; and about his death.
24. How the kingdom of Mercia received the Christian faith after the slaying of Penda; and how Oswiu, as a thank-offering for victory, gave possessions and lands to God for building monasteries.
25. How the question about the date of keeping Easter arose with those who had come from Ireland.
26. How Colman was defeated and returned home; and how Tuda became bishop in his place; and about the state of the church under these teachers.
27. How Egbert, a holy Englishman, lived as a monk in Ireland.
28. How, when Tuda was dead, Wilfrid was consecrated in Gaul and Chad in Wessex as bishops of the kingdom of Northumbria.
29. How the priest Wigheard was sent to Rome from Britain to be made archbishop, and how a letter sent by the pope told of his death.
30. How the East Saxons turned to idolatry in the time of plague, but were at once restored from their errors by the zeal of Bishop
Jaruman.
B E G I N N I N G O F B O O K III
IO9
C H A P T E R 1
A fter Edwin had been killed in battle, the kingdom of the Deiri, the cradle of his race and the foundation of his royal power, passed to a son of his uncle Ælffic whose name was
Osric; he had received the mysteries of the faith through the preaching of Paulinus. But the Northumbrian race was originally divided into two portions,* and the other kingdom, that of the Bemicians, went to a son of Æthelfrith named
Eanffith, who derived from it both his lineage and his claim to the throne. During the whole of Edwin's reign the sons of King Æthelfrith his predecessor, together with many young nobles, were living in exile among the Irish or the Piets where they were instructed in the faith as the Irish taught it and were regenerated by the grace of baptism. On the death of their enemy King Edwin they were allowed to return to their own land, and the eldest of them, Eanffith, as we have said, became king of the Bemicians. But no sooner had these two kings gained the sceptres of their earthly kingdom than they abjured and betrayed the mysteries of the heavenly kingdom to which they had been admitted and reverted to the filth of their former idolatry, thereby to be polluted and destroyed.
Very soon* afterwards, Cædwalla, the king of the Britons, killed them both, executing a just vengeance upon them, though with unrighteous violence. First, in the following sum mer he killed Osric, who had rashly besieged him in a fortified town; he broke out suddenly with all his forces, took Osric by surprise, and destroyed him and all his army. After this he occupied the Northumbrian kingdoms for a whole year, not ruling them like a victorious king but ravaging them like a savage tyrant, tearing them to pieces with fearful bloodshed.
Finally when Eanffith* came to him unadvisedly to make peace, accompanied only by twelve chosen thegns, he de stroyed him as well. To this day that year is still held to have been ill-omened and hateful to all good men, not only on account of the apostasy of the English kings who cast aside the mysteries of their faith, but also because of the outrageous n o
The Ecclesiastical History hi. 1-2 tyranny of the British king. So all those who compute the dates of kings have decided to abolish the memory of those perfidious kings and to assign this year to their successor
Oswald, a man beloved of God. After his brother Eanfrith was killed, Oswald came with an army, small in numbers but strengthened by their faith in Christ, and destroyed the abominable leader of the Britons together with the immense force which he boasted was irresistible, at a place which is called in the English tongue, Denisesbum,* that is the brook of the Denise.
C H A P T E R 2
T he place is still shown today and is held in great veneration* where Oswald, when he was about to engage in battle, set up the sign of the holy cross and, on bended knees, prayed God to send heavenly aid to His worshippers in their dire need. In fact it is related that when a cross had been hastily made and the hole dug in which it was to stand, he seized the cross himself in the ardour of his faith, placed it in the hole, and held it upright with both hands until the soldiers had heaped up the earth and fixed it in position. Thereupon he raised his voice and called out to the whole army, 'Let us all kneel together and pray the almighty, everliving, and true God to defend us in His mercy from the proud and fierce enemy; for He knows that we are fighting in a just cause* for the preser vation of our whole race.' They all did as he commanded, advanced against the enemy just as dawn was breaking, and gained the victory that their faith merited. Innumerable mira cles of healing are known to have been wrought in the place where they prayed, doubtless as a token and memorial of the king's faith. And even to this day many people are in the habit of cutting splinters from the wood of this holy cross and putting them in water which they then give to sick men or beasts to drink or else they sprinkle them with it; and they are quickly restored to health.
This place is called in English Heavenfield,* and in Latin Caelestis campus, a name which it certainly received in days of h i
ni. 2
The Ecclesiastical History old as an omen of future happenings; it signified that a heavenly sign was to be erected there, a heavenly victory won, and that heavenly miracles were to take place there continu ing to this day. The place, on its north side, is close to the wall with which the Romans once girded the whole of Britain from sea to sea, to keep off the attacks of the barbarians as already described. To this place the brethren of the church at Hexham, not far away, have long made it their custom to come every year, on the day before* that on which King
Oswald was killed, to keep vigil there for the benefit of his soul, to sing many psalms of praise, and, next morning, to offer up the holy sacrifice and oblation on his behalf. And since that good custom has spread, a church has lately been built there so that the place has become still more sacred and worthy of honour in the eyes of all. And rightly so: for, as far as we know, no symbol of the Christian faith, no church, and no altar had been erected in the whole of Bemicia before that new leader of the host, inspired by his devotion to the faith, set up the standard of the holy cross when he was about to fight his most savage enemy. It is not irrelevant to narrate one of the many miracles which have taken place at the cross.
One of the brothers of the church of Hexham who is still living, named Bothelm, a few years ago was walking incau tiously on the ice by night when he suddenly fell and broke his arm. He suffered such anguish from the fractured limb that he could not raise his hand to his mouth because of the pain.
Hearing one morning that one of the brothers was proposing to go up to the site of the holy cross, he asked him to bring him back some part of the revered wood, saying he believed that the Lord would grant him healing by its means. The brother did as he was asked, returning that evening when all the others were seated at table. He gave the sick man some of the ancient moss with which the surface of the wood was covered. Bothelm was sitting at the table and, as he had nowhere at hand to keep the proffered gift in safety, he placed it in his bosom. When he went to bed he forgot to take it out and allowed it to remain where it was. At midnight he awoke feeling something cold close to his side and, putting his hand
I 12
The Ecclesiastical History m. 2-3 down to find out what it was, he discovered that his arm and hand were as sound as if they had never pained him.
C H A P T E R 3
O s w a l d , as soon as he had come to the throne, was anxious that the whole race under his rule should be filled with the grace of the Christian faith of which he had had so wonderful an experience in overcoming the barbarians. So he sent to the Irish elders* among whom he and his thegns had received the sacrament of baptism when he was an exile. He requested them to send a bishop by whose teaching and ministry the English race over whom he ruled might learn the privileges of faith in our Lord and receive the sacraments. His request was granted without delay. They sent him Bishop Aidan,* a man of outstanding gentleness, devotion, and moderation, who had a zeal for God though not entirely according to knowledge. For after the manner of his race, as we have very often mentioned, he was accustomed to celebrate Easter
Sunday between the fourteenth and the twentieth day of the moon. The northern province of the Irish and the whole nation of the Piets were still celebrating Easter Sunday ac cording to this rule right up to that time, thinking that in this observance they were following the writings of the esteemed and holy father, Anatolius.* Every instructed person can very easily judge whether this is true or not. But the Irish peoples who lived in the southern part of Ireland had long before learned to observe Easter according to canonical custom, through the teaching of the pope.
On the bishop's arrival, the king gave him a place for his episcopal see on the island of Lindisfame, in accordance with his wishes. As the tide ebbs and flows, this place is sur rounded twice daily by the waves of the sea like an island and twice, when the shore is left dry, it becomes again attached to the mainland. The king humbly and gladly listened to the bishop's admonitions in all matters, diligently seeking to build up and extend the Church of Christ in his kingdom. It was indeed a beautiful sight when the bishop was preaching the
in. 3-4 The Ecclesiastical History gospel, to see the king acting as interpreter of the heavenly word for his ealdormen* and thegns, for the bishop was not completely at home in the English tongue, while the king had gained a perfect knowledge of Irish during the long period of his exile.
From that time, as the days went by, many came from the country of the Irish* into Britain and to those English kingdoms over which Oswald reigned, preaching the word of faith with great devotion. Those of them who held the rank of priest administered the grace of baptism to those who believed. Churches were built in various places and the people flocked together with joy to hear the Word; lands and property of other kinds were given by royal bounty to establish monasteries, and English children, as well as their elders, were instructed by Irish teachers in advanced studies and in the observance of the discipline of a Rule.
Indeed they were mostly monks who came to preach.
Bishop Aidan was himself a monk; he was sent from the island known as Iona, whose monastery was for a very long time chief among all the monasteries of the northern Irish and the Piets, exercising supervision over their communities. The island itself belongs to Britain and is separated from the mainland by a narrow strait, but the Piets who inhabit those parts of Britain gave it to the Irish monks long ago, because they had received the faith of Christ through the monks' preaching.
C H A P T E R 4
I n the year of our Lord 565, when Justin the second* took over the control of the Roman Empire after Justinian, there came from Ireland to Britain a priest and abbot named
Columba,* a true monk in life no less than habit; he came to Britain to preach the word of God to the kingdoms of the northern Piets* which are separated from the southern part of their land by steep and rugged mountains. The southern Piets who live on this side of the mountains had, so it is said, long ago given up the errors of idolatry and received the true faith
The Ecclesiastical History in . 4 through the preaching of the Word by that reverend and holy man Bishop Ninian,* a Briton who had received orthodox instruction at Rome in the faith and the mysteries of the truth.
His episcopal see is celebrated for its church, dedicated to St Martin* where his body rests, together with those of many other saints. The see is now under English rule. This place which is in the kingdom of Bemicia is commonly called
Whithorn,* the White House, because Ninian built a church of stone there, using a method unusual among the Britons.
Columba came to Britain when Bridius the son of Malcolm,* a most powerful king, had been ruling over the Piets for over eight years. Columba turned them to the faith of Christ by his words and example and so received the island of Iona from them in order to establish a monastery there. It is not a large island, being only about five hides in English reckoning. His successors hold it to this day and he himself was buried there at the age of seventy-seven, about thirty-two years after he came to Britain to preach. Before this he had founded a famous monastery in Ireland called Dearmach
(Durrow), the Field of the Oaks, on account of the great number of oaks there. From both of these sprang very many monasteries which were established by his disciples in Britain and Ireland, over all of which the island monastery in which his body lies held pre-eminence.
This island always has an abbot for its ruler who is a priest, to whose authority the whole kingdom, including even bishops,* have to be subject. This unusual arrangement follows the example of their first teacher, who was not a bishop but a priest and monk. Some written records of his life and teachings are said to have been preserved by his disciples.
Whatever he was himself, we know this for certain about him, that he left successors distinguished for their great abstinence, their love of God, and their observance of the Rule. It is true that they used tables of doubtful accuracy in fixing the date of the chief festival, since they were so far away at the ends of the earth that there was none to bring them the decrees of the synods concerning the observance of Easter; but they diligently practised such works of religion and chastity as they were able to learn from the words of the prophets, the evan
ni. 4-5 The Ecclesiastical History gelists, and the apostles. This reckoning of Easter persisted among them for .a very long time, no less than 150 years, up to the year of our Lord 715.
At that time the greatly revered and holy father and priest Egbert,* an Englishman, came to them. He had long lived in exile in Ireland for the sake of Christ and was most learned in the scriptures, being famous for his long and holy life; he set them right and brought them to observe the true and canoni cal Easter Day. They did not always observe it on the four teenth day of the moon, with the Jews, as some believe,* but they celebrated it always on the Sunday, though not in jhe proper week. Being Christians they knew that the resurrection of our Lord, which happened on the first day after the sabbath, must always be celebrated on that day; but, rude barbarians as they were, they had never learned when that particular first day after the sabbath, which we now call the Lord's Day, should come. But because they were not lacking in grace and fervent love, they were accounted worthy to gain full knowledge on this subject also, even as the apostle had promised, saying, 'And if in anything ye be otherwise minded,
God shall reveal it unto you.' But we must speak more fully about this matter later on in its proper place.
C H A P T E R 5
S u c h was the island, such the community, from which Aidan was sent to give the English people instruction in Christ after he had been consecrated bishop during the abbacy of the priest Ségéne.* Aidan taught the clergy many lessons about the conduct of their lives but above all he left them a most salutary example of abstinence and self-control; and the best recommendation of his teaching to all was that he taught them no other way of life than that which he himself practised among his fellows. For he neither sought after nor cared for worldly possessions but he rejoiced to hand over at once, to any poor man he met, the gifts which he had received from kings or rich men of the world. He used to travel everywhere, in town and country, not on horseback but on foot, unless
in. 5
The Ecclesiastical History compelled by urgent necessity to do otherwise, in order that, as he walked along, whenever he saw people whether rich or poor, he might at once approach them and, if they were unbelievers, invite them to accept the mystery of the faith; or, if they were believers, that he might strengthen them in the faith, urging them by word and deed to practise almsgiving and good works.
Aidan's life was in great contrast to our modem sloth fulness;* all who accompanied him, whether tonsured or lay men, had to engage in some form of study, that is to say, to occupy themselves either with reading the scriptures or learn ing the psalms. This was the daily task of Aidan himself and of all who were with him, wherever they went. And if it happened, as it rarely did, that he was summoned to feast with the king, he went with one or two of his clergy, and, after taking a little food, he hurried away either to read with his people or to pray. At that time a number of men and women, instructed by his example, formed the habit of prolonging their fast on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year, until the ninth hour, with the exception of the period between Easter and Pentecost. Neither respect nor fear made him keep silence about the sins of the rich, but he would correct them with a stem rebuke. He would never give money to powerful men of the world, but only food on such occasions as he entertained them; on the contrary he distributed gifts of money which he received from the rich, either, as we have said, for the use of the poor or for the redemption of those who had been unjustly sold into slavery.* In fact, many of those whom he redeemed for a sum of money he afterwards made his disciples and, when he had trained and instructed them, he ordained them priests.
The story goes that when King Oswald asked the Irish for a bishop to minister the word of faith to him and his people, another man of harsher disposition was first sent. But he preached to the English for some time unsuccessfully and seeing that the people were unwilling to listen to him, he returned to his own land. At a meeting of the elders he reported that he had made no headway in the instruction of the people to whom he had been sent, because they were
ni. 5-6 The Ecclesiastical History intractable, obstinate, and uncivilized. It is related that there was a long discussion at the conference as to what ought to be done; for they were anxious to give that people the help it asked for and regretted that the preacher they had sent had not been accepted. Then Aidan, who was present at the conference, said to the priest in question, 'It seems to me, brother, that you have been unreasonably harsh upon your ignorant hearers: you did not first offer them the milk of simpler teaching, as the apostle recommends, until little by little, as they grew strong on the food of God's word, they were capable of receiving more elaborate instruction and of carrying out the more transcendent commandments of God.' All eyes were turned on Aidan when they heard these words and all present carefully considered what he had said. They agreed that he was worthy to be made a bishop and that he was the man to send to instruct those ignorant unbelievers, since he had proved himself to be pre-eminently endowed with the grace of discretion, which is the mother of all virtues.* So he was consecrated and sent to preach to them. As time went on he proved himself to be remark able not only for the moderation and good sense which they had first observed in him, but for many other virtues as well.
C H A P T E R 6
W ith such a man as bishop to instruct them, King Oswald, together with the people over which he ruled, learned to hope for those heavenly realms which were unknown to their fore fathers; and also Oswald gained from the one God who made heaven and earth greater earthly realms than any of his ances tors had possessed. In fact he held under his sway all the peoples* and kingdoms of Britain, divided among the speakers of four different languages, British, Pictish, Irish, and English.
Though he wielded supreme power over the whole land, he was always wonderfully humble, kind, and generous to the poor and to strangers. For example, the story is told that on
The Ecclesiastical History hi. 6-7 a certain occasion, one Easter Day, when he had sat down to dinner with Bishop Aidan, a silver dish was placed on the table before him full of rich foods. They had just raised their hands to ask a blessing on the bread when there came in an officer of the king, whose duty it was to relieve the needy, telling him that a very great multitude of poor people from every district were sitting in the precincts and asking alms of the king. He at once ordered the dainties which had been set in front of him to be carried to the poor, the dish to be broken up, and the pieces divided amongst them. The bishop, who was sitting by, was delighted with this pious act, grasped him by the right hand, and said, 'May this hand never decay.' His blessing and his prayer were fulfilled in this way: when
Oswald was killed in battle, his hand and arm were cut off from the rest of his body, and they have remained uncorrupt until this present time; they are in fact preserved in a silver shrine in St Peter's church, in the royal city which is called after Queen Bebba* (Bamburgh) and are venerated with fitting respect by all.
By the efforts of this king the kingdoms of Deira and Bemicia, which had up to this time been at strife with one another, were peacefully united and became one people. Now
Oswald was the nephew of Edwin through his sister Acha,* and it was fitting that so great a predecessor should have so worthy a kinsman to inherit both his religion and his kingdom.
C H A P T E R 7
A bout this time the West Saxons, who in early days were called the Gewisse, received the faith of Christ during the reign of Cynegisl* through the preaching of Bishop Birinus.*
The latter had come to Britain on the advice of Pope Honorius, having promised in the pope's presence that he would scatter the seeds of the holy faith in the remotest regions of England, where no teacher had been before. For this reason he was consecrated bishop at the pope's command by Asterius, bishop of Genoa. So he came to Britain and
The Ecclesiastical History in. 7 visited the race of the Gewisse first of all; finding that they were all completely heathen, he decided that it would be more useful to preach the word there rather than go further seeking for others to evangelize.
While he was preaching the gospel in this kingdom, the king himself, after receiving instruction, was cleansed from his sins in the waters of baptism together with all his people.
It so happened* that at the time Oswald, the saintly and victorious king of the Northumbrians, was present and stood godfather for him. Lovely indeed and well-pleasing to God was their relationship; that same man whose daughter*
Oswald was later to receive as his wife, that day, after his new birth and dedication to God, was received by Oswald as his son. The two kings gave the bishop a city called Dorchester* in which to establish his episcopal see. After he had built and dedicated churches and brought many to the Lord by his pious labours, he went to be with the Lord and was buried in the same city. Many years afterwards, when Hædde* was bishop, his body was translated thence to the city of Winchester and was deposited in the church of the apostles St Peter and St Paul.
On the death of Cynegisl, his son Cenwealh* came to the throne. He refused to receive the faith and the mysteries of the heavenly kingdom and not long afterwards lost his earthly kingdom also. Now he had repudiated his wife who was sister of Penda, king of the Mercians, and had married another woman; for this he was attacked by Penda and deprived of his kingdom, retiring to the court of the East Anglian king, whose name was Anna. During his three years of exile he acknowledged and accepted the true faith, for the king with whom he lived in exile was a good man and blessed with a good and saintly family as we shall learn later.
When Cenwealh had been restored to his kingdom there came to his land from Ireland a bishop named Agilbert,* a Gaul by birth, who had spent a long time in Ireland for the purpose of studying the Scriptures. He now attached himself to the king and voluntarily undertook the task of preaching.
When the king saw his learning and industry, he asked him to accept an episcopal see in that place and to remain as bishop
ni. 7
The Ecclesiastical History of his people. Agilbert complied with his request and presided over the nation as bishop for a number of years. But at last the king, who knew only the Saxon language, grew tired of his barbarous speech* and foisted upon the kingdom a bishop named Wine* who had also been consecrated in Gaul but who spoke the king's own tongue. He divided his kingdom into two dioceses and gave Wine an episcopal seat in the city of Venta which the Saxons call Wintanecestir (Winchester).
Agilbert was deeply offended because the king had done this without consulting him and returned to Gaul, where he accepted the bishopric of Paris and there died 'being old and full of days'. Not many years after his departure from Britain, Wine was also expelled from the bishopric by the king; he took refuge with Wulfhere, king of Mercia, and bought the see of the city of London from him for a sum of money, remaining its bishop to the end of his life. So for a considerable time the kingdom of the West Saxons remained without a bishop.
Meanwhile King Cenwealh, who was continually suffering heavy losses in his kingdom at the hands of his enemies, at length called to mind that it was unbelief that had once driven him from his kingdom and his acknowledgement of faith in Christ which had restored him; he realized equally that a kingdom which was without a bishop was, at the same time, justly deprived of divine protection. So he sent messengers to Agilbert in Gaul, offering to make amends and praying him to return again to the diocese. But Agilbert excused himself, declaring that he could not come because he was pledged to the bishopric of his own city and diocese. However, rather than refuse to give any help when the king sought it so eagerly, he sent his nephew, the priest Leuthere,* in his place to be consecrated bishop if the king were willing, adding that he considered him worthy of a bishopric. Leuthere was honour ably received by the king and the people, and they asked
Theodore who was then archbishop of Canterbury to conse crate him bishop. He was accordingly consecrated at Canterbury and for many years governed the whole see of the Gewisse with industry and moderation, ruling alone by the authority of the council.
The Ecclesiastical History in. 8
C H A P T E R 8
In the year of our Lord 640 Eadbald, king of Kent, departed this life and left the government of his kingdom to his son
Eorcenberht,* who ruled with distinction for twenty-four years and some months. He was the first English king to order idols to be abandoned and destroyed throughout the whole kingdom. He also ordered the forty days fast of Lent to be observed by royal authority. And so that his commands might not be too lightly neglected, he prescribed suitably heavy punishments for offenders. His daughter Eorcengota, a child worthy of her parent, was a most virtuous maiden who served the Lord in a monastery founded in the land of the Franks by a noble abbess named Fara in a place called Brie.* At that time, because there were not yet many monasteries founded in England, numbers of people from Britain used to enter the monasteries of the Franks or Gauls to practise the monastic life; they also sent their daughters to be taught in them and to be wedded to the heavenly bridegroom. They mostly went to the monasteries at Brie, Chelles,* and Andelys-sur-Seine; among these was Sæthryth, stepdaughter of Anna, king of the East Angles mentioned above, and Æthelburh,* his own daughter. Both of these though foreigners were, by the merit of their virtues, made abbesses of the monastery at Brie. The eldest daughter of the king was Seaxburh,* wife of King
Eorcenberht of Kent, whose daughter Eorcengota deserves special mention.
Many wonders and miraculous signs associated with this dedicated virgin are related even to this day by the people who live in that place. It will be enough for us to speak, and that briefly, of her departure from this world to the heavenly kingdom. When the day of her summons was imminent, she went round the monastery visiting the cells of Christ's infirm handmaidens and especially of those who were of great age or distinguished for their virtuous lives. She humbly commended herself to their prayers, not concealing from them that it had been revealed to her that her own death was near. She explained that the revelation she had received was
The Ecclesiastical History h i. 8 in this form: she saw a crowd of men dressed in white enter the monastery; on being asked what they were looking for or what they wanted, they answered that they had been sent to take back with them the golden coin which had been brought thither from Kent. At the very end of the same night, just as the dawn was breaking, she passed from the darkness of the present world into the light of heaven. Many of the brothers of the monastery who were in other buildings related that they clearly heard choirs of angels singing, as well as the sound of what seemed to be a mighty throng entering the monastery.
Hurrying out to discover what was the matter, they saw a very great light coming down from heaven, which bore away the holy soul, now freed from the bonds of the flesh, to the eternal joys of the heavenly country. They also relate other miracles which were divinely manifested in the monas tery on the same night; but as we must turn to other matters, we will leave them to be related by her own people. The holy body of the virgin and bride of Christ was buried in the church of the blessed protomartyr Stephen; it was de cided, three days after, to take up the stone which covered her sepulchre and raise it higher in the same place; while they were doing this, so sweet a fragrance arose from the depths of the sepulchre that it seemed to all the brothers and sisters who were standing by as if stores of balsam had been unsealed.
Her aunt Æthelburh already mentioned, lived a life of great self-denial, also preserving the glory of perpetual virginity which is well pleasing to God. But after her death the great ness of her virtue was more clearly revealed. While she was abbess, she had begun to build a church in her monastery dedicated to all the apostles, in which she wished her body to be buried. But when the work was less than half finished, she was cut off by death and so unable to complete it; she was nevertheless buried in that part of the church which she had chosen. After her death the brothers were more concerned with other things, so that the building was left for seven years.
At the end of this time they decided to abandon completely the attempt to build the church which had proved too great a task. They resolved to raise the bones of the abbess from their
in. 8 -9 The Ecclesiastical History resting place and translate them to another church which was already finished and dedicated. On opening her sepulchre they found her body as untouched by decay as it had also been immune from the corruption of fleshly desires. They washed it again, clothed it in other garments, and translated it to the church of St Stephen the Martyr. Her festival is celebrated there with great honour on 7 July.
C H A P T E R 9
O s w a l d , the most Christian king of Northumbria, ruled for nine years if we include that year* which the brutal wicked ness of the British king and the mad apostasy of the English kings rendered detestable. But, as we have explained pre viously, it was decided by the unanimous consent of all that the name and memory of those apostates ought to be utterly blotted out from the list of Christian kings and that no year should be assigned to their reign. At the end of this period,
Oswald was killed in a great battle by the same heathen people and the same heathen Mercian king as his predecessor Edwin in a place called in the English tongue Maserfélth? on 5
August in the thirty-eighth year of his age.
His great faith in God and his devotion of heart were also made clear after his death by certain miracles. Indeed in that place where he was slain by the heathen fighting for his fatherland, sick men and beasts are healed to this day. It has happened that people have often taken soil from the place where his body fell to the ground, have put it in water, and by its use have brought great relief to their sick. This custom became very popular and gradually so much earth was removed that a hole was made, as deep as a man's height.
Nor is it to be wondered at that the sick are cured in the place where he died, for while he was alive he never ceased to care for the sick and the poor, to give them alms, and offer them help. Many miracles are related which took place either at that site or through the soil taken from it. But we think that it is enough to relate two only which we have heard our elders tell.
The Ecclesiastical History h i. 9 -1 0 It happened that not long after his death a man was travel ling on horseback past this place. The horse suddenly began to tire; next it stopped, bending its head to the ground and foaming at the mouth and then, as the pain became unbear able, it fell to the earth. The rider alighted, took off its saddle cloth, and waited to see whether it would recover or whether he would have to leave it for dead. The beast was long tortured by the agonizing pain and twisted about from place to place, until as it turned over, it came upon the very spot where the famous king had fallen. Forthwith the pain ceased, and the horse stopped its frantic struggles; then, as horses do, after they have,been resting, it rolled from side to side, stood up completely cured and began to crop the grass greedily.
When the rider, who was an intelligent man, saw this, he realized that there must be some special sanctity associated with the place in which the horse was cured. He put up a sign to mark the site, shortly afterwards mounted his horse, and reached the inn where he intended to lodge. On his arrival, he found a girl there, niece of the patron, who had long suffered from paralysis. When he heard the members of the household lamenting the girl's grievous infirmity, he told them of the place where his horse had been cured. Why need I say more?
They put her in a cart, brought her to the place and laid her down there. In a short time she fell asleep and when she woke up she found that she was healed of her infirmity. She asked for water, washed her face, arranged her hair, and covered her head with a linen kerchief, returning home on foot in perfect health, with those who had brought her.
C H A P T E R 10
T h e story is told that about this time another man, a Briton, was travelling near that place where the battle had been fought, when he noticed that a certain patch of ground was greener and more beautiful than the rest of the field. He very wisely conjectured that the only cause for the unusual green ness of that part must be that some man holier than the rest of the army had perished there. So he took some of the soil
in. i o - 11 The Ecclesiastical History with him wrapped up in a cloth, thinking that it might prove useful, as was indeed to happen, as a cure for sick persons. He went on his way and came in the evening to a certain village, entering a house where the villagers were enjoying a feast. He was received by the owners of the house and sat down to the feast with them, hanging up the cloth containing the dust he had brought on one of the wall-posts. They lingered long over their feasting and tippling, while a great fire burned in the midst of the dwelling. It happened that the sparks flew up to the roof which was made of wattles and thatched with hay, so that it suddenly burst into flames. As soon as the guests saw this, they fled outside in terror and confusion, quite unable to save the burning house which was on the point of destruction.
So the whole house was burnt down with the single exception that the post on which the soil hung, enclosed in its bag, remained whole and untouched by the fire. Those who saw it were greatly amazed by this miracle. After careful inquiries they discovered that the soil had been taken from that very place where Oswald's blood had been spilt. The fame of these miracles spread far and wide and as the days went by many began to frequent the place and there obtained the grace of healing for themselves and their friends.
C H A P T E R 1 1
A m o n g these stories, I think I ought not to pass over in silence the miracles and heavenly signs which were shown when his bones were discovered and translated to the church in which they are now preserved. This came about through the efforts of Osthryth,* queen of Mercia, who was the daugh ter of Oswald's brother Oswiu, who reigned after him as we shall relate in due course.
There is a famous monastery in the kingdom of Lindsey called Bardney,* which was greatly loved, venerated, and enriched by the queen and her husband Æthelred and in which she wished to place her uncle's honoured bones.* The carriage on which the bones were borne reached the monas tery toward evening. But the inmates did not receive them
The Ecclesiastical History h i. 11 gladly. They knew that Oswald was a saint but, nevertheless, because he belonged to another kingdom and had once conquered them, they pursued him even when dead with their former hatred.* So it came about that the relics remained outside all night with only a large tent erected over the car riage in which the bones rested. But a sign from heaven revealed to them how reverently the relics should have been received by all the faithful. All through the night a column of light stretched from the carriage right up to heaven and was visible in almost every part of the kingdom of Lindsey. In the morning, the brothers in the monastery who had refused the relics of God's beloved saint the day before, now began to pray eamesdy that the relics might be lodged with them.
The bones were washed, laid in a shrine constructed for the purpose, and placed in the church with fitting honours; and in order that the royal saint might be perpetually remembered, they placed above the tomb his banner of gold and purple, pouring out the water in which the bones had been washed in a comer of the sanctuary. Ever afterwards the soil which had received that holy water had the power and saving grace of driving devils from the bodies of people possessed.
Some time afterwards, when Queen Osthryth was staying in the monastery, a certain reverend abbess named Æthelhild, who is still living, came to visit her. The abbess was the sister of two holy men, Æthelwine* and Ealdwine, the former of whom was bishop of Lindsey, while the other was abbot in the monastery known as Partney, not far from which Æthelhild's monastery stood. As the abbess talked with the queen, the conversation amongst other subjects turned on Oswald, and Æthelhild told how on that memorable night she herself had seen the light over his relics reaching up to the very heavens.
The queen in her turn told her that many sick people had been healed by the soil of the floor on which the water, used for washing his bones, had been poured out. Thereupon the abbess begged for some of this health-giving soil; she took it, wrapped it up in a cloth, put it in a casket, and returned home. Some time afterwards, when she was in her monastery, there came a guest who used very often to be greatly troubled in the night, without warning, by an unclean spirit. This guest
h i. 1 1 -i 2 The Ecclesiastical History was hospitably received and, after supper, had lain down on his bed, when he was suddenly possessed by the devil and began to gnash his teeth and foam at the mouth, while his limbs were twisted by convulsive movements. As he could neither be held down nor bound, a servant ran and knocked at the abbess's gate and told her. She opened the monastery door and went out with one of the nuns to the men's dwelling, where she called a priest and asked him to come with her to the patient. When they reached the place they found a crowd there, all trying in vain to hold the possessed man down and to restrain his convulsive movements. The priest pronounced exorcisms and did all he could to soothe the madness of the wretched man but, though he toiled hard, hé effected noth ing. When there seemed to be no means of overcoming his madness, the abbess suddenly remembered this soil; she at once ordered a serving-woman to go and fetch the casket in which it was kept. No sooner had the servant brought the soil as ordered, and entered the porch of the house in which the demoniac was lying in his contortions, than he was suddenly silent and laid his head down as if he were in a relaxed sleep, while his limbs became quiet and composed. 'Hushed were they all and, fixed in silence, gazed', waiting anxiously to see how it would all end. After about an hour the man who had been afflicted sat up and said with a deep sigh, 'Now I feel that I am well and have been restored to my senses.' There upon they earnestly inquired how this had happened. He answered, 'As soon as this maid reached the porch of the house with the casket she was carrying, all the evil spirits which were oppressing me left me and departed to be seen no more.' Then the abbess gave him a tiny portion of the soil and, after the priest had prayed, he passed a most peaceful night. From that time onwards he suffered no more night alarms nor afflictions from the ancient foe.
C H A P T E R 12
S om e time after this there was a little boy in the same mon astery who had long been greatly troubled with recurrent
The Ecclesiastical History m. 12 fevers. One day when he was anxiously expecting a return of his trouble, one of the brethren came in and said to him, 'My son, would you like me to tell you how you can be cured of your troublesome sickness? Get up, come to the church, and go up to the tomb of Oswald. Sit down there and remain quietly beside the tomb and see that you do not go out nor move from the spot until the time for the return of your fever has passed. Then I will come in and take you away.' The boy did as he had been told; as he sat by the tomb of the saint the disease did not venture to attack him; indeed it fled away in such terror that it did not dare to touch him either on the second or the third day or at any time afterwards. The brother who told me of the incident and had come from the monastery added that, at the time he was speaking to me, the boy to whom this miracle of healing happened was still at the monastery, though now a grown man. It is not to be wondered at that the prayers of this king who is now reigning with the Lord should greatly prevail, for while he was ruling over his temporal kingdom, he was always accustomed to work and pray most diligently for the kingdom which is eternal.
It is related, for example, that very often he would continue in prayer from mattins until daybreak; and because of his frequent habit of prayer and thanksgiving, he was always accustomed, wherever he sat, to place his hands on his knees with the palms turned upwards. It is also a tradition which has become proverbial, that he died with a prayer on his lips.
When he was beset by the weapons of his enemies and saw that he was about to perish he prayed for the souls of his army.
So the proverb runs, 'May God have mercy on their souls, as Oswald said when he fell to the earth.'
So Oswald's bones were translated to the monastery we have mentioned and there interred. The king who slew him ordered his head and his hands to be severed from his body and hung on stakes. A year afterwards, his successor
Oswiu came thither with an army and took them away. He buried the head in a burial-place in the church at Lindisfame, but the hands and arms he buried in the royal city of Bamburgh.
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C H A P T E R 13
N ot only did the fame* of this renowned king spread through all parts of Britain but the beams of his healing light also spread across the ocean and reached the realms of Germany and Ireland. For example, the most reverend Bishop Acca* is accustomed to tell how, when he was on his way to Rome, he and his own Bishop Wilfrid stayed with the saintly
Willibrord,* archbishop of the Frisians, and often heard the archbishop describe the miracles which happened in that kingdom at the relics of the most reverend king. He also related how, while he was still only a priest, and living a pilgrim's life in Ireland out of love for his eternal fatherland, the fame of Oswald's sanctity had spread far and wide in that island too. One of these miracle stories which he told I have thought worth including in the present History.
'At the time of the plague', he said, 'which caused wide spread havoc both in Britain and Ireland one of the many victims was a certain Irish scholar, a man learned in literary studies but utterly careless and unconcerned about his own everlasting salvation. When he realized that he was near death, he trembled to think that, as soon as he was dead, he would be snatched away to the bondage of hell because of his sins. As I happened to be near by, he sent for me and, trembling and sighing in his weakness, tearfully told me his troubles. "You see" , he said, " that I am getting worse and have now reached the point of death; nor do I doubt that, after the death of my body, my soul will immediately be snatched to everlasting death to suffer the torments of hell; for in spite of all my study of the scriptures, it has long been my custom to entangle myself in vice rather than obey
God's commands. But I have made up my mind, if, by the grace of Heaven I am granted any further term of life, to correct my vicious ways and to devote my whole heart and life to obeying the divine will. I know indeed that it will not be through any merits of my own that I shall receive a new lease of life, nor can I hope to receive it unless perhaps God should deign to grant me forgiveness, wretched and unworthy
The Ecclesiastical History h i. 13-14 though I am, through the intercession of those who have served him faithfully. Now we have heard a wide-spread report about an extremely holy king of your race named
Oswald, and how since his death the occurrence of frequent miracles has borne witness to his outstanding faith and virtue. So I beg you, if you have any of his relics with you, to bring them to me, so that the Lord may perhaps have mercy upon me through his merits." I answered, " I have some of the wooden stake on which his head was fixed by the heathen after he was killed. If you firmly believe with all your heart, God, in His grace, can grant you a longer term of earthly life through the merits of this man and also fit you to enter into eternal life." He at once answered that he had complete faith in it. Then I blessed some water, put a splinter of the oak into it, and gave it to the sick man to drink. He immediately felt better, recovered from his sick ness, and lived for many years. He turned to the Lord in heart and deed and, wherever he went, he proclaimed the goodness of the merciful Creator and the glory of His faithful servant.'
C H A P T E R 14
A f t e r Oswald had been translated to the heavenly kingdom, his brother Oswiu* succeeded to his earthly kingdom in his place, as a young man of about thirty, and ruled for twentyeight troubled years. He was attacked by the heathen people, the Mercians, who had slain his brother, and in addition, by his own son Alhfrith* and his nephew Oethelwald,* the son of his brother and predecessor.
In his second year, that is in the year of our Lord 644, the most reverend father Paulinus, once bishop of York and then of Rochester, departed to be with the Lord on 10 October having held the office of bishop for nineteen years, two months, and twenty-one days. He was buried in the sanctuary of the church of the blessed apostle Andrew, which King
Æthelberht had built from its foundations at Rochester. In his place Archbishop Honorius consecrated Ithamar,* a man of
hi. 1 4 The Ecclesiastical History Kentish extraction but the equal of his predecessors in learn ing and in holiness of life.
At the beginning of his reign Oswiu had as a partner in the royal dignity a man called Oswine,* of the family of King
Edwin, a son of Osric who has already been mentioned. He was a man of great piety and religion and ruled the kingdom of Deira for seven years in the greatest prosperity, beloved by all. But Oswiu, who ruled over the rest of the northern land beyond the Humber, that is the kingdom of Bemicia, could not live at peace with him. The causes of dissension increased so greatly that Oswiu cruelly made an end of him. Each raised an army against the other but Oswine, realizing that he could not fight against an enemy with far greater resources, con sidered it wiser to give up the idea of war and wait for better times. So he disbanded the army which he had assembled at a place called Wilfarcesdun, that is the hill of Wilfare,* about ten miles north-west of the village of Catterick. He went with one faithful thegn named Tondhere and hid in the home of a gesith named Hunwold, whom he believed to be his friend.
But alas, it was quite otherwise. The gesith betrayed him to Oswiu who caused him to be foully murdered, together with his thegn, by a reeve* called Æthelwine. This happened on 20
August, in the ninth year of his reign at a place called Gilling.* There in after days, to atone for his crime, a monastery was built in which prayers were to be offered daily to the Lord for the redemption of the souls of both kings, the murdered king and the one who ordered the murder.
King Oswine was tall and handsome, pleasant of speech, courteous in manner, and bountiful to nobles and commons alike; so it came about that he was beloved by all because of the royal dignity which showed itself in his character, his appearance, and his actions; and noblemen from almost every kingdom flocked to serve him as retainers. Among all the other graces of virtue and modesty with which, if I may say so, he was blessed in a special manner, his humility is said to have been the greatest, as a single example is enough to prove.
He had given Bishop Aidan an excellent horse so that, though he was normally accustomed to walk, he could ride if
The Ecclesiastical History III. 1 4 he had to cross a river or if any other urgent necessity com pelled him. A short time afterwards Aidan was met by a beggar who asked him for an alms. He at once alighted and offered the horse with all its royal trappings to the beggar; for he was extremely compassionate, a friend of the poor and a real father to the wretched. The king was told of this and, happening to meet the bishop as they were going to dinner, he said, 'My lord bishop, why did you want to give a beggar the royal horse intended for you? Have we not many less valuable horses or other things which would have been good enough to give to the poor, without letting the beggar have the horse which I had specially chosen for your own use?' The bishop at once replied, 'O King, what are you saying? Surely this son of a mare is not dearer to you than that son of God?' After these words they went in to dine. The bishop sat down in his own place and the king, who had just come in from hunting, stood warming himself by the fire with his thegns. Suddenly he remembered the bishop's words; at once he took off his sword, gave it to a thegn, and then hastening to where the bishop sat, threw himself at his feet and asked his pardon.
'Never from henceforth', he said, 'will I speak of this again nor will I form any opinion as to what money of mine or how much of it you should give to the sons of God.' When the bishop saw this he was greatly alarmed; he got up immediately and raised the king to his feet, declaring that he would be perfectly satisfied if only the king would banish his sorrow and sit down to the feast. The king, in accordance with the bishop's entreaties and commands, recovered his spirits, but the bishop, on the other hand, grew sadder and sadder and at last began to shed tears. Thereupon a priest asked him in his native tongue, which the king and his thegns did not under stand, why he was weeping, and Aidan answered, 'I know that the king will not live long; for I never before saw a humble king. Therefore I think that he will very soon be snatched from this life; for this nation does not deserve to have such a ruler.' Not long after, the bishop's gloomy forebodings were fulfilled in the sad death of the king which we have already described. Bishop Aidan only lived for twelve days after the murder of the king whom he loved; for he was taken from the
The Ecclesiastical History
III. 1 4 - 1 5
world on 31 August and received from the Lord the eternal reward of his labours.
C H A P T E R 15
H e who judges the heart showed by signs and miracles what Aidan's merits were, and of these miracles it will be enough to set down three, which deserve to be remembered. There was a certain priest named Utta,* a man of great worth and sincerity and accordingly honoured by all, including the secular rulers; he was sent to Kent to bring back Eanflæd* to be Oswiu's queen. She was the daughter of Edwin and had been taken away there when her father was killed. Utta intended to travel to Kent by land but to return with the maiden by sea; so he went to Bishop Aidan and begged him to pray to the Lord for himself and those who were to make the long journey with him. Aidan blessed them, commended them to the Lord, and gave them some holy oil, saying, 'I know that when you board your ship, you will meet storms and contrary winds; but remember to pour the oil I have given you on to the sea; the winds will drop at once, the sea will become calm and serene and will bring you home the way you wish.' All this happened just as the bishop had foretold; at first the sea was stormy and the sailors attempted to hold the ship by throwing out the anchor, but all to no purpose. The waves swept over the ship from all sides; the vessel began to fill and they all realized that death was immi nent and that their last hour had come, when the priest, remembering the bishop's words, took out the flask and poured some of the oil into the sea. At once, as Aidan had predicted, the sea calmed down. So it came to pass that the man of God foretold the tempest by the spirit of prophecy, and, by virtue of the same spirit, calmed it when it had arisen, although he was absent in body. I heard the story of this miracle from no dubious source, but from a most trustworthy priest of our church named Cynemund, who declared that he had heard it from the priest Utta on whom and through whom the miracle was wrought.
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The Ecclesiastical History in. 16-17
C H A P T E R 16
A n o t h e r memorable miracle is related about Aidan by many who were in a position to know. During the time of his episcopate a hostile Mercian army, under the leadership of Penda, which had been cruelly devastating the kingdom of Northumbria far and wide, reached the royal city* called after a former queen Bebba (Bamburgh). As he could not capture it by assault or siege, he attempted to set it on fire. He pulled down all the steadings which he found in the neighbourhood of the town and brought thither a vast heap of beams, rafters, walls of wattles, and thatched roofs, and built them up to an immense height around that side of the city which faced the land; then when a favourable wind arose, he set it on fire in an attempt to bum the town. At that time the reverend Bishop
Aidan was staying on Fame Island, which is less than two miles from the city. He often used to retire there to pray in solitude and silence; in fact the site of his solitary habitation is shown on the island to this day. When he saw the tongues of flame and the smoke being carried by the winds right above the city walls, the story goes that he raised his eyes and hands towards heaven and said with tears, 'Oh Lord, see how much evil Penda is doing.' As soon as he had uttered these words, the winds veered away from the city and carried the flames in the direction of those who had kindled them, so that, as some of them were hurt and all of them terrified, they ceased to make any further attempt on the city, realizing that it was divinely protected.
C H A P T E R 17
A t the time when death came upon him, after completing seventeen years as bishop, Aidan was on a royal estate, not far away from the city of which we have been speaking. Here he had a church and a cell where he often used to go and stay, travelling about in the neighbourhood to preach. He did the same on the other royal estates; for he had no possessions of 1 3 5
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The Ecclesiastical History his own except the church and a small piece of land around it.
They erected a tent for him during his illness, at the west end of the church, the tent itself being attached to the church wall.
So it happened that he breathed his last, leaning against the buttress which supported the church on the outside. He died on 31 August, in the seventeenth year of his episcopate.
His body was shortly afterwards translated to the island of Lindisfame and buried in the cemetery of the brothers. Some time afterwards, when a larger church had been built there and dedicated in honour of the most blessed chief of the apostles, his bones were translated to it and buried on the right side of the altar, with the honour due to so great a bishop.
Finan,* who had also been sent from the Irish island mon astery of Iona, succeeded him in the bishopric, and remained bishop for no short time. Now it happened a few years after wards that Penda, king of Mercia, came with a hostile army to these parts destroying everything he could with fire and sword; and the village in which the bishop had died, together with the church just mentioned, was burnt down. But it was astonishing that the buttress alone, against which the bishop had been leaning when he died, could not be devoured by the flames though they destroyed everything around it.
When the fame of the miracle spread, the church was speedily restored in the same place and the buttress was placed outside as before to strengthen the walls. Shortly afterwards it hap pened that the same village and church were again burned down, this time through culpable carelessness. But on this occasion too the flames could not touch the buttress. The miracle was such that, though the flames had entered the very nail holes by which it was attached to the building, yet they could not injure the buttress itself. So when the church was rebuilt for the third time, they put the buttress, not outside as before to support the structure, but inside the church itself as a memorial of the miracle, so that people entering the church could kneel there and ask for God's mercy. Since that time many are known to have obtained the grace of healing at this place; and by cutting splinters from the buttress and putting them into water, they have
The Ecclesiastical History found the means of curing the sicknesses of themselves and their friends.
I have written these things about the character and work of Aidan, not by any means commending or praising his lack of knowledge in the matter of the observance of Easter; indeed
I heartily detest it, as I have clearly shown in the book which I wrote called De Temporibus,* but, as a truthful historian, I have described in a straightforward manner those things which were done by him or through him, praising such of his qualities as are worthy of praise and preserving their memory for the benefit of my readers. Such were his love of peace and charity, temperance and humility; his soul which triumphed over anger and greed and at the same time despised pride and vainglory; his industry in carrying out and teaching the divine commandments, his diligence in study and keeping vigil, his authority, such as became a priest, in reproving the proud and the mighty, and his tenderness in comforting the weak, in relieving and protecting the poor. To put it briefly, so far as one can learn from those who knew him, he made it his business to omit none of the commands of the evangelists, the apostles, and the prophets, but he set himself to carry them out in his deeds, so far as he was able. All these things I greatly admire and love in this bishop and I have no doubt that all
.this was pleasing to God. But I neither praise nor approve of him in so far as he did not observe Easter at the proper time, either because he was ignorant of the canonical time or because, if he knew it, he was compelled by the force of public opinion not to follow it. But, nevertheless, I do approve of this, that in his celebration of Easter he had no other thought in his heart, he reverenced and preached no other doctrine than we do, namely the redemption of the human race by the passion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven of the one mediator between God and men, even the man Christ Jesus.
And therefore he always kept Easter, not as some falsely believe, on the fourteenth day of the moon, like the Jews, no matter what the day of the week was, but on the Lord's Day which fell between the fourteenth and the twentieth day of the moon. He did this because of his belief that the resurrection of our Lord took place on the first day of the week and also in 1 3 7
in. 17-18 The Ecclesiastical History hope of our resurrection which he, together with holy
Church, believed would undoubtedly happen on this same first day of the week now called the Lord's Day.
C H A P T E R 18
A b o u t this time, Sigeberht* came to the throne of East Anglia after the death of his brother Eorpwald,* who was
Rædwald's successor. Sigeberht was a good and religious man and had long been in exile in Gaul, while he was fleeing from the enmity of Rædwald.* It was here that he received baptism and, when he returned to his own land to become king, he at once sought to imitate some of the excellent institutions which he had seen in Gaul, and established a school where boys could be taught letters, with the help of Bishop Felix, who had come to him from Kent and who provided him with masters and teachers as in the Kentish school. So greatly did he love the kingdom of heaven that at last he resigned his kingly office and entrusted it to his kinsman Ecgric,* who had previously ruled over part of the kingdom. He thereupon entered a monastery which he himself had founded. He received the tonsure and made it his business to fight instead for the heavenly kingdom. When he had been in the monas tery for some considerable time, it happened that the East
Anglians were attacked by the Mercians under their King Penda. As the East Anglians realized that they were no match for their enemies, they asked Sigeberht to go into the fight with them in order to inspire the army with confidence. He was unwilling and refused, so they dragged him to the fight from the monastery, in the hope that the soldiers would be less afraid and less ready to flee if they had with them one who was once their most vigorous and distinguished leader.
But remembering his profession and surrounded though he was by a splendid army, he refused to carry anything but a staff in his hand. He was killed together with King Ecgric, and the whole army was either slain or scattered by the heathen attacks.
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The Ecclesiastical History h i. 18-19 Their successor on the throne was Anna, son of Eni,* an excellent man of royal descent and the father of a dis tinguished family, whom we must speak of again in the proper place; he also was slain later on, like his predecessors, by the heathen Mercian leader.
C H A P T E R 19
W hile Sigeberht was still ruling, there came a holy man from Ireland called Fursa;* he was renowned in word and deed and remarkable for his singular virtues. He was anxious to live the life of a pilgrim* for the Lord's sake, wherever opportunity offered. When he came to the kingdom of the East Angles, he wTas honourably received by the king and followed his usual task of preaching the gospel. Thus he converted many both by the example of his virtues and the persuasiveness of his teaching, turning unbelievers to Christ and confirming believers in His faith and love.
Once when he was suffering from an illness, he was counted worthy to enjoy a vision of angels, in which he was directed to maintain diligently the task that he had under taken of ministering the Word, and to continue to watch and pray and not be weary, because death was certain but the hour of death uncertain, as the Lord said, 'Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour.' After he had been strengthened by the vision, he set himself with all speed to build a monastery on a site which he had received from King
Sigeberht and to establish there the observance of a Rule.
Now the monastery was pleasantly situated close to the woods and the sea, in a Roman camp which is called in English
Cnobheresburg, that is the city of Cnobhere* (Burgh Castle).
The king of that realm, Anna, and his nobles afterwards endowed it with still finer buildings and gifts.
He was a man of very noble Irish race, but still nobler in spirit than by birth. From his boyhood's days he had devoted all his energy to the study of sacred books and to the monastic discipline; furthermore, as a saint should, he earnestly sought
The Ecclesiastical History III. 1 9 to do whatever he learned to be his duty. What more need be said? As time went on he built a monastery for himself where he could more freely devote himself to his divine studies. On one occasion when he was attacked by illness, as his Life fully describes, he was snatched from the body; he quitted it from evening to cock crow and during that time he was privileged to gaze upon the angelic hosts and to listen to their blessed songs of praise. He used to say that he heard them sing among other songs, 'The saints shall go from strength to strength', and again, 'The God of gods shall be seen in Sion'. He returned to his body and, two days afterwards, was taken out of it a second time and saw not only the very great joys of the blessed but also the fierce onslaughts of the evil spirits who, by their manifold accusations, wickedly sought to prevent his journey to heaven; but they failed utterly for he was protected by angels. If anyone wishes to know more of these matters, let him read the book I have mentioned and I think that he will gain great spiritual benefit from it. There he will learn with what subtlety and deceit the devils reported Fursa's deeds, his idle words, and his very thoughts, just as if they had written them down in a book; and the joyful and sad things that he learned both from the angels and from the righteous men who appeared to him in the company of the angels.
But there is one of these incidents which we have thought it might be helpful to many to include in this history. When
Fursa had been taken up to a great height, he was told by the angels who were conducting him to look back at the world. As he looked down, he saw some kind of dark valley immediately beneath him and four fires in the air, not very far from one another. When he asked the angels what these fires were, he was told that they were the fires which were to kindle and consume the world. One of them is falsehood, when we do not fulfil our promise to renounce Satan and all his works as we undertook to do at our baptism; the second is covetous ness, when we put the love of riches before the love of heavenly things; the third is discord, when we do not fear to offend our neighbours even in trifling matters; the fourth is injustice, when we think it a small thing to despoil and de fraud the weak. Gradually these fires grew together and 1 4 0
The Ecclesiastical History h i. 19 merged into one vast conflagration. As it approached him, he cried out in fear to the angel, 'Look, sir, the fire is coming near me.' But the angel answered, 'That which you did not kindle will not bum you; for although the conflagration seems great and terrible, it tests each man according to his deserts, and the evil desires of everyone will be burned away in this fire. For just as in the body a man bums with illicit pleasures, so when he is free from the body, he makes due atonement by burning.' Then he saw one of the three angels who had been his guides throughout both visions go forward and divide the flames, while the other two flew on each side of him to defend him from the peril of the conflagration. He also saw devils flying through the flames and stirring up fires of hostility against the righteous. There follow, in the book, the accusa tions of the evil spirits against himself, the defence of the good spirits, and a fuller vision of the heavenly hosts, as well as of the saints of his own nation, whose names he knew by repute and who had been devoted priests in days gone by. From them he learned many things valuable both to himself and to those who might be willing to listen. When they had finished speaking and had returned to heaven in their turn with the angelic spirits, the three angels we have mentioned remained with Fursa to restore him to his body. When they approached the conflagration, the angel, as before, parted the flames. But when the man of God came to the passage opened up in the midst of the fire, the evil spirits seized one of those who were burning in the flames, hurled him at Fursa, hitting him and scorching his shoulder and jaw. Fursa recognized the man and remembered that on his death he had received some of his clothing. The angel took the man and cast him back at once into the fire. The spiteful foe said, 'Do not reject him whom you once acknowledged; for, since you have received the property of a sinner, you ought to share in his punish ment.' The angel withstood him saying, 'He did not receive it out of greed but to save his soul.' The fire then died down and the angel turned to Fursa and said, 'You were burned by the fire you had kindled. For if you had not received the property of this man who died in his sins, you would not have been burned by the fire of his punishment.' He then went on to give
hi. 1 9 The Ecclesiastical History helpful advice as to what should be done for the salvation of those who repented in the hour of death. When Fursa had been restored to his body, he bore for the rest of his life the marks of the bums which he had suffered while a disem bodied spirit; they were visible to all on his shoulder and his jaw. It is marvellous to think that what he suffered secretly as a disembodied spirit showed openly upon his flesh. He always took care, as he had done before, to encourage all both by his sermons and by his example to practise virtue. But he would only give an account of his visions to those who questioned him about them, because they desired to repent. An aged brother is still living in our monastery who is wont to relate that a most truthful and pious man told him that he had seen
Fursa himself in the kingdom of the East Angles and had heard these visions from his own mouth. He added that although it was during a time of severe winter weather and a hard frost and though Fursa sat wearing only a thin garment, yet as he told his story, he sweated as though it were the middle of summer, either because of the terror or else the joy which his recollections aroused.
To return to what we were saying before, he preached the word of God in Ireland for many years until, when he could no longer endure the noise of the crowds who thronged to him, he gave up all that he seemed to have and left his native island. He came with a few companions through the land of the Britons and into the kingdom of the East Angles, where he preached the Word and there, as we have said, built a monas tery. Having duly accomplished all this, he longed to free himself from all worldly affairs, even those of the monastery itself; so leaving his brother Foillân* in charge of the monas tery and its souls and also the priests Gobân and Dicuill and, being free from all worldly cares, he resolved to end his life as a hermit. He had another brother called Ultân,* who, after a long time of probation in the monastery, had passed on to the life of a hermit. So Fursa sought him out in his solitude and for a whole year lived with him in austerity and prayer, labouring daily with his hands. Then, seeing that the kingdom was disturbed by heathen invasions* and that the monasteries were also threatened with danger, he left all things in order
III. 19-20
The Ecclesiastical History and sailed for Gaul, where he was honourably entertained by Clovis,* king of the Franks, and by the patrician Eorcenwold.
He built a monastery in a place called Lagny,* where, not long afterwards, he was taken ill and died.
The patrician Erchinoald took his body and placed it in one of the chapels of the church which he was building in his own town called Péronne, until such time as the church was dedicated. This happened twenty-seven days afterwards, when the body was translated from the chapel and reburied near the altar. It was found as whole as if he had died that very hour. Four years afterwards, when a very beautiful shrine was built for the reception of his body, on the east side of the altar, it was still found without taint of corruption and was trans lated thither with all due honour. It is well known that through the mediation of God, many miracles have been performed there to show his merits. We have briefly touched on these matters and about the incorruption of his body so that readers may clearly know how eminent a man he was. All these subjects, as well as an account of his fellow warriors, will be found more fully set out in his Life for all those who wish to read it.
C H A P T E R 20
M e a n w h i l e Felix died seventeen years after becoming bishop of the East Angles, and Honorius consecrated in his place his deacon named Thomas* who belonged to the nation of the Gyrwe.* When he died five years afterwards, Honorius put in his place Berhtgisl, also named Boniface,* from the kingdom of Kent. Then Honorius himself, after he had finished his course, departed in the year of our Lord 653, on 30 September. After the see had been vacant for eighteen months, Deusdedit, a West Saxon by race, was elected sixth archbishop of Canterbury. Ithamar, bishop of Rochester, went thither to consecrate him. He was consecrated on 26
March and ruled the church for nine years, four months, and two days. Deusdedit,* on the death of Ithamar, consecrated
Damian* in his place, a man of the South Saxon race.
III. 21
The Ecclesiastical History
C H A P T E R 21
A t this time the Middle Angles,* that is the Angles of the Midlands, accepted the faith and the mysteries of the truth under their chief Peada who was the son of King Penda. As he was a most noble youth, worthy both of the name and office of king, he was placed by his father on the throne of the kingdom of the Middle Angles. He thereupon went to Oswiu, and asked for the hand of his daughter Alhflæd. But his request was granted only on condition that he and his nation accepted the Christian faith and baptism. When Peada heard the truth proclaimed and the promises of the kingdom of heaven, the hope of resurrection and of future immortality, he gladly declared himself ready to become a Christian even though he were refused the hand of the maiden. He was eamesdy persuaded to accept the faith by Alhffith, son of King Oswiu, who was his brother-in-law and friend,* having married Penda's daughter, Cyneburh.* So Peada was baptized by Bishop Finan together with all the gesiths and thegns who had come with him, as well as all their servants, at a famous royal estate called Ad Murum*
(Wallbottle?). He took four priests with him who were con sidered suitable, by reason of their learning and character, to teach and baptize his people, and so he returned home joyfully. The priests were Cedd,* Adda, Betti, and Diuma,* the last of whom was an Irishman while the others were
English. Adda was the brother of the famous priest Utta,* abbot of the monastery at the place called Gateshead, already mentioned. After these priests had come with the king into his kingdom, they preached the Word and were listened to gladly, so that many, both nobles and commons, renounced the filth of idolatry and were washed in the fountain of the faith.
Now King Penda did not forbid the preaching of the Word, even in his own Mercian kingdom, if any wished to hear it.
But he hated and despised those who, after they had accepted the Christian faith, were clearly lacking in the works of faith.
He said that they were despicable and wretched creatures who 1 4 4
The Ecclesiastical History h i. 21-22 scorned to obey the God in whom they believed. All this started two years before Penda's death. When he was killed and the Christian King Oswiu had gained the throne of Mercia, as we shall describe later, Diuma, one of the four priests already mentioned, was consecrated bishop of the Middle Angles and the Mercians by Bishop Finan, since a shortage of bishops made it necessary for one bishop to be set over both nations. After he had won no small number for the Lord in a short space of time, he died in the country of the Middle Angles in a district called Infeppingum* Ceollach* became bishop after him, another man of Irish race, who, not long after, left his bishopric and returned to the island of Iona where the Irish monastery was, which was chief and head of many monasteries. Trumhere followed him as bishop, a pious man trained in the monastic life, who though of English race was consecrated bishop by the Irish. This happened in the time of King Wulfhere, of whom we shall have more to say hereafter.
C H A P T E R 22
A b o u t this time the East Saxons, at the instance of King Oswiu, received the faith which they had once rejected when they expelled Bishop Mellitus. Now Sigeberht* was king of this people, successor of Sigeberht the Small* and friend of King Oswiu. The latter used to urge Sigeberht, on his frequent visits to the kingdom of Northumbria, to realize that objects made by the hands of men could not be gods. Neither wood nor stone were materials from which gods could be created, the remnants of which were either burned in the fire or made into vessels for men's use or else cast out as refuse, trodden underfoot and reduced to dust. God must rather be looked upon as incomprehensible in His majesty, invisible to human eyes, omnipotent, eternal. Creator of heaven and earth and of mankind, who rules over the world and will judge it in righteousness. We must believe that His eternal abode is in heaven, not in base and perishable metal. It is therefore only right to believe that all those who learn to do the will of 1 4 5
in. 22
The Ecclesiastical History Him by whom they were created will receive from Him an eternal reward. King Oswiu often put forward these and many other similar reasons to King Sigeberht in friendly and brotherly counsel until at last, supported by the consent of his friends, he believed. He took counsel with his followers and, after he had addressed them, they all agreed to accept the faith and so he was baptized with them by Bishop Finan in the royal estate mentioned above called Ad Mururn* (Wallbotde?) because it stands close to the wall which the Romans once built across the island of Britain. It is about twelve miles from the east coast.
So King Sigeberht returned to the seat of his temporal kingdom, having been made a citizen of the eternal kingdom.
He asked King Oswiu to send him teachers to convert his people to the faith of Christ and wash them in the fountain of salvation. Oswiu thereupon sent to the kingdom of the Middle Angles and summoned the man of God, Cedd,* to his presence. He gave him another priest as a companion and sent them to preach the Word to the East Saxons. After these priests had traversed the whole kingdom and built up a great
Church for the Lord, it happened that on a certain occasion Cedd returned home and came to Lindisfame to consult with Bishop Finan. Finan, finding that his evangelistic work had prospered, made him bishop of the East Saxons, summoning two other bishops to assist in the consecration. Cedd, having received the rank of a bishop, returned to his kingdom carry ing on with greater authority the work he had begun. He established churches in various places and ordained priests and deacons to assist him in preaching the word of faith and in the administration of baptism, especially in the city called
Ythanccestir in the Saxon tongue (Bradwell-on-Sea) and also in the place called Tilbury. The former is on the river Penta
(Blackwater) and the latter on the banks of the Thames. In these places he gathered together a multitude of Christ's servants and taught them to observe the discipline of a Rule, so far as these rough people were capable of receiving it.
For a long time the instruction of the people in the heavenly life prospered day by day in the kingdom, to the joy of the king and the whole nation; but it then happened that the king
The Ecclesiastical History h i. 22-23 was murdered, at the instigation of the enemy of all good men, by his own kinsmen. It was two brothers who per petrated the crime. When they were asked why they did it, they could make no reply except that they were angry with the king and hated him because he was too ready to pardon his enemies, calmly forgiving them for the wrongs they had done him, as soon as they asked his pardon. Such was the crime for which he met his death, that he had devoutly observed the gospel precepts. But nevertheless, by this innocent death a real offence was punished in accordance with the prophecy of the man of God. For one of these gesiths who murdered him was unlawfully married, a marriage which the bishop had been unable to prevent or correct. So he excommunicated him and ordered all who would listen to him not to enter the man's house nor take food with him. But the king disregarded this command and accepted an invitation of the gesith to dine at his house. As the king was coming away, the bishop met him. When the king saw him, he leapt from his horse and fell trembling at the bishop's feet, asking his pardon. The bishop, who was also on horseback, alighted too. In his anger he touched the prostrate king with his staff which he was holding in his hand, and exercising his episcopal authority, he uttered these words, 'I declare to you that, because you were unwill ing to avoid the house of this man who is lost and damned, you will meet your death in this very house.' Yet we may be sure that the death of this religious king was such that it not only atoned for his offence but even increased his merit; for it came about as a result of his piety and his observance of Christ's command.
Swithhelm,* the son of Seaxbald, was successor to Sigeberht. He was baptized by Cedd in East Anglia, in the royal village called Rendlesham,* that is, the residence of Rendil. King Æthelwold* of East Anglia, the brother of King
Anna, a previous king of the East Angles, was his sponsor.
C H A P T E R 23
W hile Cedd was acting as bishop of the East Saxons, he used very often to revisit his own land, the kingdom of 14 7
in. 23
The Ecclesiastical History Northumbria, to preach. Oethelwald,* son of King Oswald who reigned over Deira, seeing that Cedd was a wise, holy, and upright man, asked him to accept a grant of land, on which to build a monastery where he himself might frequently come to pray and hear the Word and where he might be buried; for he firmly believed that the daily prayers of those who served God there would greatly help him. This king had previously had with him Cælin, Cedd's brother, a man equally devoted to God, who had been accustomed to minis ter the word and the sacraments of the faith to himself and his family; for he was a priest. It was through him chiefly that the king had got to know and had learned to love the bishop. So, in accordance with the king's desire, Cedd chose himself a site for the monastery amid some steep and remote hills which seemed better fitted for the haunts of robbers and the dens of wild beasts than for human habitation; so that, as Isaiah says,
'In the habitations where once dragons lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes',* that is, the fhiit of good works shall spring up where once beasts dwelt or where men lived after the manner of beasts.
The man of God was anxious first of all to cleanse the site which he had received for the monastery from the stain of former crimes by prayer and fasting, before laying the foun dations. So he asked the king to grant him permission and opportunity to spend the whole of the approaching season of Lent there in prayer. Every day except Sunday he prolonged his fast until evening as his custom was and then he took nothing but a small quantity of bread, one hen's egg, and a little milk mixed with water. He explained that this was a custom of those from whom he had learned the discipline of a Rule that, when they had received a site for building a monastery or a church, they should first consecrate it to the Lord with prayer and fasting. But ten days before the end of Lent, a messenger came to summon him to the king. There upon in order that this holy labour might not be interrupted because of the king's affairs, he asked his own brother
Cynebill, who was a priest, to complete the sacred task. The latter gladly agreed and, when the work of fasting and prayer was ended, he built a monastery now called Lastingham and
The Ecclesiastical History hi. 23-24 established in it the religious observances according to the usage of Lindisfame where he had been brought up.
When Cedd had been bishop in the kingdom for many years and had borne the responsibility of this monastery, whose rules he had established,* he happened to come to it while the plague was raging there, fell sick and died. He was first of all buried outside the walls, but in course of time a stone church was built in the monastery in honour of the blessed Mother of God, and his body was buried in it on the right side of the altar.
The bishop left the monastery to be governed after him by his brother Chad who was afterwards consecrated bishop as we shall hear later. There were then four brothers whom we have mentioned, Cedd, Cynebill, Cælin and Chad, who were all famous priests of the Lord, a very rare thing to happen, and two of them reached the rank of bishop. When the brothers who were in his monastery in the kingdom of the East Saxons heard that the bishop was dead and buried in the kingdom of Northumbria, about thirty of them came from that monastery, wishing to live near the body of their father* or, if the Lord so willed, to die and be buried there. They were gladly received by their brothers and fellow soldiers in Christ, but another attack of the pestilence came upon them and they all died, with the exception of one small boy who was preserved from death by the intercession of Cedd his father.
After a long time devoted to the reading of the scriptures, a moment came when he realized that he had not been baptized. He was speedily washed in the waters of the font of salvation and afterwards admitted to priest's orders, render ing useful service to many in the church. I do not doubt that he was delivered from the jaws of death by the intercession of his father Cedd, to whose tomb he had come out of love for him; so he himself escaped eternal death and, by his teaching, exercised a ministry of life and salvation for the brethren.
C H A P T E R 24
A b o u t this time King Oswiu was exposed to the savage and insupportable attacks of Penda, so often mentioned before,
in. 24
The Ecclesiastical History the king of the Mercians who had killed Oswiu's brother.
Oswiu was at last forced to promise him an incalculable and incredible store of royal treasures and gifts as the price of peace, on condition that Penda would return home and cease to devastate, or rather utterly destroy, the kingdoms under his rule. But the heathen king would not accept this offer, for he was determined to destroy and exterminate the whole people* from the greatest to the least; as Oswiu turned to God's mercy for help seeing that nothing else could save them from this barbarous and evil enemy. Oswiu therefore bound himself with an oath, saying, 'If the heathen foe will not accept our gifts, let us offer them to Him who will, even the Lord our
God.' So he vowed that if he gained the victory he would dedicate his daughter to the Lord as a holy virgin and give twelve small estates to build monasteries. In this spirit he entered the fight with his tiny army. Indeed it is said that the heathens had an army which was thirty times as great. They had thirty legions of soldiers experienced in war and com manded by the most famous ealdormen; King Oswiu and his son Alhffith,* as we have said, had a very small force but they met the foe trusting in Christ their leader. Oswiu's other son
Ecgfrith* was at the time a hostage in the Mercian kingdom with Queen Cynewise.* But Oethelwald, King Oswald's son, who ought to have helped them, was on the side of his foes and was leading the enemies of his own uncle and of his native land; he withdrew, however, in the hour of battle and awaited the outcome in a place of safety. The battle was joined and the heathen were put to flight or destroyed; of the thirty royal ealdormen who had come to Penda's help nearly all were killed. Among them was Æthelhere,* brother and successor to Anna, king of the East Angles and the cause of the war; he was cut down, having suffered the loss of all his thegns and followers. The battle was fought near the river Winwæd* which, owing to heavy rains, had overflowed its channels and its banks to such an extent that many more were drowned in flight than were destroyed by the sword in battle.
Then King Oswiu, in fulfilment of his vow to the Lord, returned thanks to God for the victory granted him and gave his daughter Ælfflæd,* who was scarcely a year old, to be
The Ecclesiastical History h i. 24 consecrated to God in perpetual virginity. He also gave twelve small estates on which, as they were freed from any concern about earthly military service, a site and means might be provided for the monks to wage heavenly warfare and to pray with unceasing devotion that the race might win eternal peace. Six of the estates which he gave were in Deira and six in Bemicia. Each estate consisted of ten hides* so that there were a hundred and twenty hides altogether. Oswiu's daughter who had been dedicated to God entered the mon astery named Heruteu (Hartlepool), that is, the island of the hart, over which Hild was then abbess. Two years later she gained possession of ten hides in the place known as Streanceshealh (Whitby) and there built a monastery; in it the king's daughter was first a pupil and then she became a teacher, of life under the Rule; then, about the age of sixty, the blessed virgin departed to be united with her heavenly bridegroom. She is buried in this monastery together with her father Oswiu, her mother Eanflæd, her grandfather Edwin, and many other nobles, all in the church of the holy apostle
Peter. King Oswiu brought the campaign to a close in the district of Loidis (Leeds) on 15 November in the thirteenth year of his reign, to the great benefit of both peoples; for he freed his own subjects from the hostile devastations of the heathen people and converted the Mercians and the neigh bouring kingdoms to a state of grace in the Christian faith, having destroyed their heathen ruler.
The first bishop in the kingdom of Mercia, of Lindsey, and the Middle Angles was Diuma: as has already been said, he died and was buried among the Middle Angles. The second bishop was Ceollach, who resigned his bishopric before his death and returned to Ireland, for both he and Diuma were
Irish. The third bishop was Trumhere, an Englishman but educated and consecrated by the Irish. He was abbot of the monastery called Gilling, the place where King Oswine was killed, as described above. Queen Eanflæd, his kinswoman, had asked King Oswiu to expiate Oswine's unjust death by granting God's servant Trumhere, also a near relative of the murdered king, a,site at Gilling to build a monastery; in it prayer was continually to be said for the eternal welfare of
ni. 24-25 The Ecclesiastical History both kings, for the one who planned the murder and for his victim. King Oswiu ruled over the Mercian race, as well as the rest of the southern kingdoms, for three years after King
Penda was killed. Oswiu also subjected the greater part of the Pictish race* to the dominion of the English.
At this time Oswiu gave Peada,* the son of King Penda, the kingdom of Southern Mercia because he was his kinsman. It was said to consist of 5,000 hides,* being divided by the river
Trent from Northern Mercia, which is 7,000 hides in extent.
But Peada was most foully murdered in the following spring by the treachery, or so it is said, of his wife during the very time of the Easter festival. Three years after King Penda's death the ealdormen of the Mercian race, Immin, Eafa, and Eadberht, rebelled against King Oswiu and set up as their king Wulfhere,* Penda's young son, whom they had kept concealed; and having driven out the ealdormen of the foreign king, they boldly recovered their lands and their liberty at the same time. So being free and having their own king, they rejoiced to serve their true king, Christ, for the sake of an everlasting kingdom in heaven. King Wulfhere ruled over the Mercians for seventeen years and had as his first bishop
Trumhere,* whom we have already mentioned, his second, Jaruman,* his third, Chad* and his fourth, Winfrith.* All these in succession held the bishopric of the Mercians under King Wulfhere.
C H A P T E R 2 5 *
M e a n w h i l e , after Bishop Aidan's death, Finan succeeded him as bishop, having been consecrated and sent over by the Irish. He constructed a church on the island of Lindisfame suitable for an episcopal see, building it after the Irish method, not of stone but of hewn oak, thatching it with reeds; later on the most reverend Archbishop Theodore* conse crated it in honour of the blessed apostle Peter. It was
Eadberht,* who was bishop of Lindisfame, who removed the reed thatch and had the whole of it, both roof and walls, covered with sheets of lead.
The Ecclesiastical History m . 25
In those days there arose a great and active controversy about the keeping of Easter. Those who had come from Kent or Gaul declared that the Irish observance of Easter Sunday was contrary to the custom of the universal church. One most violent defender of the true Easter was Ronan* who, though
Irish by race, had learned the true rules of the church in Gaul or Italy. In disputing with Finan* he put many right or at least encouraged them to make a more strict inquiry into the truth; but he could by no means put Finan right; on the contrary, as he was a man of fierce temper, Ronan made him the more bitter by his reproofs and turned him into an open adversary of the truth. James, once the deacon of the venerable Arch bishop Paulinus, as we have already said, kept the true and catholic Easter with all those whom he could instruct in the better way. Queen Eanflæd and her people also observed it as she had seen it done in Kent, having with her a Kentish priest named Romanus who followed the catholic observance.
Hence it is said that in these days it sometimes happened that Easter was celebrated twice in the same year, so that the king had finished the fast and was keeping Easter Sunday, while the queen and her people were still in Lent and observing
Palm Sunday. This difference in the observance of Easter was patiently tolerated by all while Aidan was alive, because they had clearly understood that although he could not keep
Easter otherwise than according to the manner of those who had sent him, he nevertheless laboured diligently to practise the works of faith, piety, and love, which is the mark of all the saints. He was therefore deservedly loved by all, including those who had other views about Easter. Not only was he respected by the ordinary people but also by bishops, such as Honorius of Kent and Felix of East Anglia.
When Finan, Aidan's successor, was dead and Colman,* who had also been sent from Ireland, had become bishop, a still more serious controversy arose concerning the observ ance of Easter as well as about other matters of ecclesiastical discipline. This dispute naturally troubled the minds and hearts of many people who feared that, though they had received the name of Christian, they were running or had run in vain. All this came to the ears of the rulers themselves,
1 5 3
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The Ecclesiastical History Oswiu and his son Alhfrith. Oswiu, who had been educated and baptized by the Irish and was well versed in their language, considered that nothing was better than what they had taught. But Alhfrith had as his instructor in the Christian faith one Wilfrid, a most learned man who had once been to Rome to study church doctrine and had spent much time at Lyons with Dalfinus,* archbishop of Gaul, having received there his ecclesiastical tonsure in the form of a crown; so Alhfrith rightly preferred his teaching to all the traditions of the Irish and had therefore given him a monastery of forty hides in the place called Ripon.* He had presented the site, a short time before, to those who followed Irish ways; but because, when given the choice, they preferred to renounce the site rather than change their customs, he gave it to one who was worthy of the place both by his doctrine and his way of life. At that time there had come to the kingdom of North umbria Agilbert, bishop of the West Saxons, whom we have mentioned before, a friend of Alhfrith and of Abbot Wilfrid; he stayed some time with them and, at the request of Alhfrith, he ordained Wilfrid priest in his own monastery. Agilbert had with him a priest called Agatho.
When this question of Easter and of the tonsure and other ecclesiastical matters was raised, it was decided to hold a council to settle the dispute at a monastery called
Streanceshealh (Whitby), a name which means the bay of the lighthouse; at this time Hild, a woman devoted to God, was abbess. There came to the council the two kings, both father and son, Bishop Colman with his Irish clergy, and Agilbert with the priests Agatho and Wilfrid. James and Romanus were on their side while the Abbess Hild and her followers were on the side of the Irish; among these also was the venerable Bishop Cedd, who, as has been mentioned, had been consecrated long before by the Irish and who acted as a most careful interpreter* for both parties at the council.
First King Oswiu began by declaring that it was fitting that those who served one God should observe one rule of life and not differ in the celebration of the heavenly sacraments, seeing that they all hoped for one kingdom in heaven; they ought therefore to inquire as to which was the truer tradition
The Ecclesiastical History m . 25 and then all follow it together. He then ordered his bishop
Colman to say first what were the customs which he followed and whence they originated. Colman thereupon said, 'The method of keeping Easter which I observe, I received from my superiors who sent me here as bishop; it was in this way that all our fathers, men beloved of God, are known to have celebrated it. Nor should this method seem contemptible and blameworthy seeing that the blessed evangelist John, the disciple whom the Lord specially loved, is said to have celebrated it thus, together with all the churches over which he presided.' When he had said all this and more to the same effect, the king ordered Agilbert to expound the method he observed, its origin and the authority he had for following it.
Agilbert answered, 'I request that my disciple, the priest Wilfrid, may speak on my behalf, for we are both in agree ment with the other followers of our church tradition who are here present; and he can explain our views in the English tongue better and more clearly than I can through an in terpreter.' Then Wilfrid, receiving instructions from the king to speak, began thus: 'The Easter we keep is the same as we have seen universally celebrated in Rome, where the apostles
St Peter and St Paul lived, taught, suffered, and were buried.
We also found it in use everywhere in Italy and Gaul when we travelled through those countries for the purpose of study and prayer. We learned that it was observed at one and the same time in Africa, Asia, Egypt, Greece, and throughout the whole world, wherever the Church of Christ is scattered, amid various nations and languages. The only exceptions are these men and their accomplices in obstinacy, I mean the Piets and the Britons, who in these, the two remotest islands of the Ocean, and only in some parts of them, foolishly attempt to fight against the whole world.'
Colman answered, 'I wonder that you are willing to call our efforts foolish, seeing that we follow the example of that apostle who was reckoned worthy to recline on the breast of the Lord; for all the world acknowledges his great wisdom.'
Wilfrid replied, 'Far be it from me to charge John with foolishness: he literally observed the decrees of the Mosaic law when the Church was still Jewish in many respects, at a
in. 25
The Ecclesiastical History time when the apostles were unable to bring to a sudden end the entire observance of that law which God ordained in the same way as, for instance, they made it compulsory on all new converts to abandon their idols which are of devilish origin.
They feared, of course, that they might make a stumblingblock for the Jewish proselytes dispersed among the Gentiles.
This was the reason why Paul circumcised Timothy, why he offered sacrifices in the temple, and why he shaved his head at Corinth in company with Aquila and Priscilla; all this was of no use except to avoid scandalizing the Jews. Hence James said to Paul, "Thou seest, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of them which have believed; and they are all zealous for the law." But in these days when the light of the Gospel is spreading throughout the world, it is not necessary, it is not even lawful for believers to be circumcised or to offer
God sacrifices of flesh and blood. So John, in accordance with the custom of the law, began the celebration of Easter Day in the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month, regard less of whether it fell on the sabbath or any other day. But when Peter preached at Rome, remembering that the Lord rose from the dead and brought to the world the hope of the resurrection on the first day of the week, he realized that Easter ought to be kept as follows: he always waited for the rising of the moon on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month in accordance with the custom and precepts of the law, just as John did, but when it had risen, if the Lord's
Day, which was then called the first day of the week, followed in the morning, he proceeded to celebrate Easter as we are accustomed to do at the present time. But if the Lord's Day was due, not on the morning following the fourteenth day of the moon but on the sixteenth or seventeenth or any other day until the twenty-first, he waited for it, and began the holy
Easter ceremonies the night before, that is, on the Saturday evening; so it came about that Easter Sunday was kept only between the fifteenth day of the moon and the twenty-first. So this evangelical and apostolic tradition does not abolish the law but rather fulfils it, by ordering the observance of Easter from the evening of the fourteenth day of the moon in the first month up to the twenty-first of the moon in the same month.
The Ecclesiastical History h i. 25
All the successors of St John in Asia since his death and also the whole church throughout the world have followed this observance. That this is the true Easter and that this alone must be celebrated by the faithful was not newly decreed but confirmed afresh by the Council of Nicaea as the history of the Church informs us.* So it is plain, Colman, that you neither follow the example of John, as you think, nor of Peter, whose tradition you knowingly contradict; and so, in your observance of Easter, you neither follow the law nor the gospel. For John who kept Easter according to the decrees of the Mosaic law, took no heed of the Sunday; you do not do this, for you celebrate Easter only on a Sunday. Peter celebrated Easter Sunday between the fifteenth and the twenty-first day of the moon; you, on the other hand, celebrate Easter Sunday between the fourteenth and the twentieth day of the moon. Thus you very often begin Easter on the evening of the thirteenth day of the moon, which is never mentioned in the law. This was not the day— it was the fourteenth, in which the Lord, the author and giver of the Gospel, ate the old passover in the evening and instituted the sacraments of the new testament to be celebrated by the church in remembrance of his passion. Besides, in your celebration of Easter you utterly exclude the twenty-first day, which the law of Moses specially ordered to be observed. So, as I have said, in your celebration of the greatest of the festivals you agree neither with John nor Peter, neither with the law nor the Gospel.'
Colman replied, 'Did Anatolius, a man who was holy and highly spoken of in the history of the Church to which you appeal, judge contrary to the law and the Gospel when he wrote that Easter should be celebrated between the four teenth and the twentieth day of the moon? Or must we believe that our most reverend father Columba and his successors, men beloved of God, who celebrated Easter in the same way, judged and acted contrary to the holy scriptures, seeing that there were many of them to whose holiness the heavenly signs and the miracles they performed bore witness? And as I have no doubt that they were saints, I shall never cease to follow their way of life, their customs, and their teaching.'
in. 25
The Ecclesiastical History Wilfrid replied, 'It is true that Anatolius was a most holy and learned man, worthy of all praise; but what have you to do with him since you do not observe his precepts? He followed a correct rule in celebrating Easter, basing it on a cycle of nineteen years, of which you are either unaware or, if you do know of it, you despise it, even though it is observed by the whole Church of Christ. He assigned the fourteenth day of the moon to Easter Sunday, reckoning after the Egyptian manner that the fifteenth day of the moon began on the evening of the fourteenth. So also he assigned the twenti eth day to Easter Sunday, reckoning that after evening it was the twenty-first day. But it appears that you are ignorant of this distinction, in that you sometimes clearly keep Easter
Day before full moon, that is on the thirteenth day of the moon. So far as your father Columba* and his followers are concerned, whose holiness you claim to imitate and whose rule and precepts (confirmed by heavenly signs) you claim to follow, I might perhaps point out that at the judgement, many will say to the Lord that they prophesied in His name and cast out devils and did many wonderful works, but the Lord will answer that He never knew them. Far be it from me to say this about your fathers, for it is much fairer to believe good rather than evil about unknown people. So I will not deny that those who in their rude simplicity loved God with pious intent, were indeed servants of God and beloved by Him. Nor do I think that this observance of Easter did much harm to them while no one had come to show them a more perfect rule to follow.
In fact I am sure that if anyone knowing the catholic rule had come to them they would have followed it, as they are known to have followed all the laws of God as soon as they had learned of them. But, once having heard the decrees of the apostolic see or rather of the universal Church, if you refuse to follow them, confirmed as they are by the holy Scriptures, then without doubt you are committing sin. For though your fathers were holy men, do you think that a handful of people in one comer of the remotest of islands is to be preferred to the universal Church of Christ which is spread throughout the world? And even if that Columba of yours—yes, and ours too, if he belonged to Christ—was a holy man of mighty works, is
The Ecclesiastical History h i. 25-26 he to be preferred to the most blessed chief of the apostles, to whom the Lord said, 'Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven?
When Wilfrid had ended, the king said, 'Is it true, Colman, that the Lord said these words to Peter?' Colman answered,
'It is true, O King.' Then the king went on, 'Have you anything to show that an equal authority was given to your
Columba?' Colman answered, 'Nothing.' Again the king said, 'Do you both agree, without any dispute, that these words were addressed primarily to Peter and that the Lord gave him the keys of the kingdom of heaven?' They both answered,
'Yes.' Thereupon the king concluded, 'Then, I tell you, since he is the doorkeeper I will not contradict him; but I intend to obey his commands in everything to the best of my knowledge and ability, otherwise when I come to the gates of the king dom of heaven, there may be no one to open them because the one who on your own showing holds the keys has turned his back on me.' When the king had spoken, all who were seated there or standing by, both high and low, signified their assent, gave up their imperfect rules, and readily accepted in their place those which they recognized to be better.
C H A P T E R 26
W h en the dispute was ended and the assembly had broken up, Agilbert returned home. Colman saw that his teachings were rejected and his principles despised; he took those who wished to follow him, that is, those who would not accept the catholic Easter and the tonsure in the shape of a crown (for there was no small argument about this too), and returned to Ireland in order to discuss with his own party what he ought to do in the matter. Cedd left the practices of the Irish and returned to his own see, having accepted the catholic method of keeping Easter. This dispute took place in the year of our
Lord 664, in the twenty-second year of King Oswiu's reign and after the Irish had held the episcopate in the English
III. 26
The Ecclesiastical History kingdom for thirty years: that is to say, Aidan for seventeen years, Finan for ten, and Colman for three.
After Colman had returned to his native land, Tuda, a servant of Christ, who had been educated among the south ern Irish and there consecrated bishop, became bishop of the Northumbrian people; he had the ecclesiastical tonsure in the form of a crown,* according to the custom of that kingdom, and also observed the catholic rules for the date of Easter. He was a good and devoted man but only ruled over the church for a very short time. He had arrived from Ireland during Colman's episcopate and diligently taught the true faith to all by word and example. A man named Eata,* gentle and greatly revered, abbot of the monastery called Melrose, was placed as their abbot over the brothers who preferred to remain at Lindisfame when the Irish departed. It is said that Colman, on his departure, had asked and obtained this favour from King Oswiu, because Eata was one of those twelve boys of English* race whom Aidan, when he first became bishop, had taken and instructed in Christ; for the king greatly loved
Bishop Colman on account of his innate prudence. This same Eata, not long afterwards, became bishop of the church at Lindisfame. Colman, on leaving, took with him some of the bones of the reverend father Aidan. He left some in the church over which he had presided, directing that they should be interred in the sanctuary.
How frugal and austere he and his predecessors had been, the place itself over which they mied bears witness. When they left, there were very few buildings there except for the church, in fact only those without which the life of a com munity was impossible. They had no money but only cattle; if they received money from the rich they promptly gave it to the poor; for they had no need to collect money or to provide dwellings for the reception of worldly and powerful men, since these only came to the church to pray and to hear the word of God. The king himself used to come, whenever opportunity allowed, with only five or six thegns, and when he had finished his prayers in the church he went away. If they happened to take a meal there, they were content with the simple daily fare of the brothers and asked for nothing more.
The Ecclesiastical History h i. 26 -2 7 The sole concern of these teachers was to serve God and not the world, to satisfy the soul and not the belly. For this reason the religious habit was held in great respect at that time, so that whenever a cleric or a monk went anywhere he was gladly received by all as God's servant. If they chanced to meet him by the roadside, they ran towards him and, bowing their heads, were eager either to be signed with the cross by his hand or to receive a blessing from his lips. Great attention was also paid to his exhortations, and on Sundays the people flocked eagerly to the church or the monastery, not to get food for the body but to hear the word of God. If by chance a priest came to a village, the villagers crowded together, eager to hear from him the word of life; for the priests and the clerics visited the villages for no other reason than to preach, to baptize, and to visit the sick, in brief to care for their souls. They were so free from all taint of avarice that none of them would accept lands or possessions to build monasteries, unless compelled to by the secular authorities. This practice was observed universally among the Northumbrian churches for some time afterwards. But enough has been said on this subject.
C H A P T E R 27
I n this year of our Lord 664 there was an eclipse of the sun on 3 May* about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. In the same year a sudden pestilence first depopulated the southern parts of Britain and afterwards attacked the kingdom of Northumbria, raging far and wide with cruel devastation and laying low a vast number of people. Bishop Tuda was carried off by it and honourably buried in the monastery called Pcegnalcech* The plague did equal destruction in Ireland.
At this time there were many in England,* both nobles and commons, who, in the days of Bishops Finan and Colman, had left their own country and retired to Ireland either for the sake of religious studies or to live a more ascetic life. In course of time some of these devoted themselves faithfully to the monastic life, while others preferred to travel round to the
in. 27
The Ecclesiastical History cells of various teachers and apply themselves to study. The Irish welcomed them all gladly, gave them their daily food, and also provided them with books to read and with instruc tion, without asking for any payment.
Among these were two young Englishmen of great ability, named Æthelhun and Egbert,* both of noble birth. The former was a brother of Æthelwine,* a man equally beloved of God, who, later on, also went to Ireland to study; when he had been well grounded he returned to his native land and was made bishop in the kingdom of Lindsey, over which he ruled for a long time with great distinction. Æthelhun and Egbert were in a monastery which the Irish call Rathmelsigi,* and all their companions were carried off by the plague or scattered about in various places, while they themselves were both stricken by the same disease and were dangerously ill.
An aged and venerable priest, a most truthful man, told me this story about Egbert, declaring that he had heard it from his own lips: when Egbert thought he was on the point of death, early in the morning he left the infirmary where all the sick lay and found a convenient spot in which to be alone; there he began earnestly to consider his past life. He was so stricken with remorse at the memory of his sins that he wept bitterly, and prayed God with all his heart that he might not die until he had had time to make amends for all the thought less offences of which he had been guilty during infancy and boyhood and to practise good works more abundantly. He also made a vow that he would live in exile and never return to his native island, Britain; that in addition to the solemn psalmody of the canonical offices he would daily recite the whole psalter to the praise of God, unless prevented by illness; and every week he would fast for a day and a night. When he had ended his tears, his prayers, and his vows, he returned home and found his companion asleep; he too lay on his bed and began to settle down to rest. After a short time of quiet, his companion awoke, looked at him, and said, 'Brother
Egbert, what have you done? I hoped that we should both enter into eternal life together; but you are to know that your request will be granted.' He had learned in a vision what it was that Egbert had prayed for and also that his prayer had
The Ecclesiastical History h i. 27-28 been answered. To put it briefly, Æthelhun died the same night while Egbert threw off his sickness, recovered, and lived for a long time afterwards, gracing the office of priest which he had received by deeds worthy of it. After having lived a virtuous life according to his wish, he recently passed away to the heavenly realms, in the year of our Lord 729, at the age of ninety. He lived a life of great humility, gentleness, temper ance, simplicity, and righteousness. He brought much bless ing both to his own race and to those among whom he lived in exile, the Irish and the Piets, by the example of his life, the earnestness of his teaching, the authority with which he ad ministered reproof, and his goodness in distributing whatever he received from the rich. In addition to the vows we have already mentioned, he never ate more than once a day throughout Lent, taking only bread and the thinnest of milk, and even these in great moderation. He used to place the previous day's new milk in a vessel, skim off the cream in the morning, and drink what was left, taking a little bread with it, as we have said. He always practised the same abstinence for forty days before Christmas and for the same number after the solemn feast of the fifty days, that is, Pentecost.
C H A P T E R 28
M e a n w h ile King Alhfrith sent the priest Wilfrid* to the king of Gaul* to be consecrated bishop for himself and his people. This king sent him to Agilbert* for his consecration, a bishop who has already been mentioned and who, after he left Britain, became bishop of Paris. He was consecrated by him with great splendour in the presence of a number of bishops in the royal town called Compiègne. As Wilfrid lingered abroad for his consecration, King Oswiu, imitating the activities of his son, sent a holy man, modest in his ways, learned in the scriptures, and zealous in carrying out their teachings, to Kent, to be consecrated bishop of the church of York. This was a priest named Chad,* brother of the most reverend Bishop Cedd, who has often been mentioned and abbot of the monastery of Lastingham. The king sent with
h i. 2 8 -2 9 The Ecclesiastical History him his priest Eadhæd, who was afterwards made bishop of Ripon during Ecgfrith's reign. When they reached Kent they found that Deusdedit had died* and no other archbishop had been appointed in his place. From there they went to the kingdom of the West Saxons where Wine was bishop. The latter consecrated Chad with the assistance of two bishops of the British race who as has repeatedly been said, keep Easter
Sunday, according to their rule, from the fourteenth to the twentieth day of the moon; but there was not a single bishop in the whole of Britain except Wine who had been canonically ordained. So Chad was consecrated bishop and immediately devoted himself to the task of keeping the Church in truth and purity, to the practice of humility and temperance, and to study. He visited cities and country districts, towns, houses, and strongholds, preaching the gospel, travelling not on horseback but on foot after the apostolic example. He was one of Aidan's disciples and sought to instruct his hearers in the ways and customs of his master and of his brother Cedd.
When Wilfrid returned to Britain after his consecration, he also introduced many catholic customs into the English churches so that, as the catholic principles daily gained strength, all the Irish who had remained among the English either gave way or returned to their own land.
C H A P T E R 29
A t this time the most noble English kings, Oswiu of Northumbria and Egbert* of Kent, consulted together as to what ought to be done about the state of the English Church; for Oswiu, although educated by the Irish, clearly realized that the Roman Church was both catholic and apostolic; so with the choice and consent of the holy Church of the English people, they took a priest named Wigheard, a good man and well fitted for the office of bishop, one of the clerics of Bishop
Deusdedit, and sent him to Rome to be consecrated bishop so that, when he had received the rank of archbishop, he could himself consecrate catholic bishops for the English churches throughout the whole of Britain. Wigheard duly reached
The Ecclesiastical History h i. 29
Rome but died before he could be consecrated; and this is the letter which was sent to King Oswiu in Britain:
T o the most excellent lord, our son Oswiu, king of the Saxons, Bishop Vitalian,* servant of the servants of God.
We have received your Highness's welcome letter. As we read it we recognized your most sincere devotion and fervent desire for the life everlasting. We know that, by G od's protecting hand, you have been converted to the true and apostolic faith* and we hope that, as you now reign over your people, so in the future you may reign with Christ. That race is indeed blessed which has been found worthy to have so wise a king and one who is a worshipper of God; for you not only worship God yourself but you also labour day and night to bring about the conversion of all your subjects to the catholic and apostolic faith and so save your own soul. Who could fail to be glad over such good news? And who will fail to exult and rejoice over these devoted efforts? For your race has believed in Christ who is God Almighty, as it is written in Isaiah, 'In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people: to it shall the Gentiles seek.'
And again, 'Listen, O isles, unto me, and hearken, ye peoples from afar.' And a little further on, 'It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the dregs of Israel. I have given thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.' And again, 'Kings shall see, princes also shall arise and worship.' And immediately after, 'I have given thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth and possess the scattered heritages; that thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves.'
And again, 'I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and have held thine hand and have kept thee and have given thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoner from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.' Most excellent son, as you see, it is clearer than day that it is here foretold that not only you but also all peoples will believe in Christ the Maker of all things. Therefore your Highness must, as a member of Christ, always follow the holy rule of the chief of the apostles in all things, both in the celebration of Easter and in everything delivered by the holy apostles, Peter and Paul, who, like two heavenly lights, illuminate the world, while their teaching daily illuminates the hearts of believers.
After some remarks* about celebrating the true Easter uni formly throughout the whole world, he goes on:
in. 2 9 -3 0 The Ecclesiastical History Finally, in view of the length of the journey, we are not at present able to find a man who is entirely suitable and fitted to be your bishop, as you request in your letter. But as soon as a fit person is found, we will send him to your land with full instructions so that he may, by his preaching and with the help of the word of God, entirely root out, with His blessing, the tares sown by the enemy throughout your island.
We have received the gifts sent by your Highness to the blessed chief of the apostles to be a lasting memorial of you. We thank you and will pray continually for your safety and that of the Christian clergy. But the bearer of your gifts has departed this life and is buried in the threshold of the apostles: his death has greatly grieved us.
Nevertheless we have directed that the blessings of the saints, in the form of relics of the apostles St Peter and St Paul and of the holy martyrs Laurence, John and Paul, as well as Gregory and Paneras, should be given to your messengers who are the bearers of this letter to be delivered to your Highness. T o your wife, our spiritual daughter, we send by the same bearers a cross with a golden key, made from the holy fetters of the apostles St Peter and St Paul: for, hearing of her pious zeal, the whole apostolic see rejoices with us, just as her works of piety smell sweet and blossom in the presence of God. We trust that your Highness will speedily fulfil our desire and dedicate the whole of your island to Christ our God; for you indeed have a Protector in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the human race, who will prosper you in all your efforts to gather together a new people for Christ and establish among them 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 unto you.' All your islands shall indeed be made subject to Him which is what we both desire. We greet your Excellency with paternal affection and continually pray God in His mercy to assist you and yours in all good works, so that you may reign with Christ in the world to come. M ay the grace of heaven keep your Excellency in safety.'
The next book will provide a more suitable place for telling who was selected* and consecrated archbishop in place of Wigheard.
C H A P T E R 30
A bout the same time Kings Sigehere and Sebbi* succeeded Swithhelm, already mentioned, as rulers of the East Saxons,
The Ecclesiastical History h i. 30 though they were themselves subject to the Mercian King
Wulfhere. When this kingdom was suffering from the disas trous plague described above, Sigehere, together with his part of the nation, deserted the sacraments of the Christian faith and apostatized. For the king himself and the majority of both commons and nobles loved this present life, seeking no other and not even believing in any future existence; so they began to restore the derelict temples and to worship images, as if they could protect themselves by such means from the plague.
But Sebbi, his colleague and fellow king, held devotedly to the faith which he and his people had accepted and, as we shall see, remained faithful and ended his life happily. As soon as King Wulfhere found that part of the kingdom had apostatized from the faith, he sent Bishop Jaruman,
Trumhere's successor, to correct their error and to recall the kingdom to a true belief. A priest who was a companion on his journeys and shared his preaching told me that he acted with great discretion, for he was a religious and good man and, travelling far and wide, he succeeded in bringing back both the people and their King Sigehere to the paths of righteous ness. As a result they either abandoned or destroyed the temples and altars they had erected, they reopened their churches, and rejoiced to confess the name of Christ which they had denied, choosing rather to die believing that they would rise again in Him than to live in the filth of unbelief among their idols. When they had accomplished their task, the priests and teachers returned home rejoicing.