CHAPTER 46: The council at Austerfield2 [702–3: not in Bede]
CHAPTER 46
The council at Austerfield2 [702–3: not in Bede]
So during the reign of Aldfrith a synod was held at Austerfield at which Archbishop Berhtwald3 and nearly all the bishops were present. They sent a deputation to Wilfrid asking him very civilly to attend, on the assurance that with regard to his previous ill-treatment the statutes would now be honoured, so long as he did not refuse to come. Need I say more? Once he had arrived events turned out quite differently from what had been promised. Tremendous disputes and altercations broke out, fomented in the main by the avarice of some of the bishops. The peace of the Church was the last thing they wanted. They brought out all sorts of false objections, none of which was true, and in addition insisted that our holy bishop be judged according to Theodore’s decrees. When Wilfrid realized the turn their arguments were taking he said that he was willing to obey in every respect, provided their decrees accorded with canon law. He went on to rebuke them at length for their contumacy, not mincing his words. For twenty-two years, he said, they had shamefully opposed the authority of the pope. How, he asked them, could they have the effrontery to set at nought the apostolic decrees sent to Britain for the good of men’s souls by three successive pontiffs, Agatho, Benedict, and Sergius, and choose rather to cling to the edicts of Archbishop Theodore, decisions made in a time of great discord?