now that thou canst forgive thine enemies; go at once to Caedwalla,
remind him of what Ceolwulf did for him"--for the whole story had been
told as Wilfrid rode from Braedynge to Wihtgaresbyryg--"and recall to
him his promise, and, in the old man's name, implore him to spare the
lives of these innocent babes. Quick! or it will be too late."
AEdric, as soon as he had grasped the situation, at once asked to be
conducted to Caedwalla's presence. The boy was promptly ushered in, and
laid his request before the king. Caedwalla frowned, but listened, and
at last said, "If thou canst cross in time, thou mayest tell them to
spare their lives; but I insist on their going into a monastery, and
becoming monks. There! go, and let them thank old Ceolwulf for their
lives."
AEdric required no second bidding. He hastened off joyfully to Wilfrid,
who gave directions for him to go down with an escort to the water-side,
and get a boat as soon as possible, and make all the speed he could
after the abbot. There was some little delay in getting away, and it
was nearly dark before they left Wihtgaresbyrig. On reaching the
water's edge they found the tide was out, and all the boats were
aground, and would not float before midnight, and then no one would take
them down the long and shallow creek in the dark. So, weary and sad,
AEdric had to return to Wilfrid, feeling sure that the sentence would be
carried out before any one could reach Stoneham.
Early the next morning a messenger arrived with the news that the two
young eorls had been beheaded, but that Cynebercht had baptised them
first, and they had died tranquilly and happy, "in the certain hope of
exchanging a temporary for an immortal and blissful existence."
Caedwalla was very sorry really for what had occurred, but, being proud
and haughty in all that concerned his private acts, he would not allow
openly that he had done wrong. However, he listened to Wilfrid's
upbraidings without betraying much impatience, and gave way so far as to
issue orders for the relentless slaughter of the Wihtwaras to cease, and
he professed a desire to know more of the Christian faith.
Several days were passed by Wilfrid at Wihtgaresbyryg, and were employed
by him in organising a system of government of the island, under the
rule of Caedwalla, making it a point that the estates which the West
Saxon king had bestowed upon him should be especially well managed by
Bernwine, whose sound business capacity he had already experienced. The
eorldoman AElfhere was appointed head man in the island, and lands were
given to the warriors who had fought with Caedwalla; and the wisest of
them, who were already Christians, formed, together with Bernwine and
Hildila, who had been asked to stay in the island by Wilfrid, an
assembly of wise men, or Witan, who were to assist AElfhere in the
administration of justice, but the executive power was left entirely in
the eorldoman's hands.
And now there remains little more to add. AElfhere the Eorldoman, and
all his household were received into the fellowship of the Christian
Church, and the example of the leading man in the island was followed by
the rest of the inhabitants. Brother Malachi remained a little while,
and then, seeing that the customs which he venerated were opposed to the
Latin form of Christianity, introduced by the adherents of the
Romanizing Wilfrid, he withdrew to Boseham, where the three excellent
monks continued their unostentatious labours for the benefit of the rude
South Saxons. As they lived longer they seemed to become more imbued
with the real charity that "vaunteth not itself;" and for fear of
causing a schism among their converts, gradually laid less and less
stress on such matters as the cut of the tonsure, or the keeping of
Easter, although the thought would occur to them, If such matters were
trifles, why should not their opponents equally treat them as such, and
not inveigh against their tenets, as if they were unorthodox and
schismatics? As far as real self-denying, self-obliterating work went,
the poor monks of Boseham were true imitators of their blessed Master;
but the organising power of the splendid Wilfrid, enamoured as he was of
the pomp of the See of Rome, and fascinated by the idea of Christian
unity, governed by a visible, earthly head, to whom all workers in God's
vineyard could appeal for protection and advice against the tyranny of
earthly sovereigns, was too much for mere unambitious, humble-minded
men, and the glories of the rising cathedral of Selsea blotted out the
memory of the simple Irish or Scottish monks.
AEdric and Wulfstan preserved an affectionate remembrance of them, and
AElfhere always sent over a boat at Easter and Christmas, with farm and
dairy produce for the good old men, who distributed it among their
poorer neighbours. In this way they became much more venerated, and
when they died there was much lamentation for them among their little
flock.
AEdric, after his public reception into the Christian faith, obtained
permission from his father to accompany Wilfrid to the north, and
finally he was solemnly ordained a deacon; and, after returning to the
Wihtea, and assisting Bernwine and Hildila in the conversion of his
countrymen, attracted by the noble purpose of Boniface or Winfrid, the
apostle of Germany, whom he had met at Netley, amid the lovely woods by
the side of Southampton Water, he accompanied that holy man to the homes
of his heathen forefathers, and met a martyr's death among the wild
Saxons on the banks of the Elbe; curiously enough, within a few miles of
the place where his ancestor had lived who first took part in the Jutish
occupation of Wihtea.
The future of St. Wilfrid is well-known. How he accompanied Caedwalla
to Wessex, subsequently became reconciled to Theodore, Archbishop of
Canterbury, was re-instated in the episcopal see of York, again urged
the interminable controversy of the tonsure and Paschal moon, with
Aldfrid, king of Northumbria, who had been educated in "piety and
learning" by some Irish monks; how he stigmatised the successor of
Theodore as a schismatic, boasted of his support by the successor of St.
Peter, and at the synod of AEastanfeld, dilated on his labours to
"extirpate the poisonous plants of Scottish growth," and appealed from
the judgment of his lawful sovereign and fellow churchman to the
Apostolic see of Rome. How, finally, he went off to Rome once more, at
the age of seventy, and obtained from the Pope, John V., a decree in his
favour, and finally died in his monastery of Oundle; all these facts are
the province of history.
The future of Caedwalla is more mysterious and romantic. After he had
thoroughly secured the allegiance of Wihtea to Wessex, and established
himself firmly on the throne of Cerdic, he led an army into Kent, and
ravaged that country. During this campaign his brother Wulf, or Mollo,
the Atheling, acting in his usual reckless manner, was surprised by the
Kentish men, and burned to death. This tragedy so acted upon Caedwalla,
who was already nominally a Christian, that he determined to lay aside
the royal power and journey to Rome to seek absolution for his sins
committed during his many wars. His change of life seems to have been
carried out with the same vigour and determination with which he had
conducted his previous actions. He would go to the fountain-head of
Christianity, as taught him by Wilfrid. If absolution on this earth
could be only obtained effectually from the successor of St. Peter, to
that successor he would go. And not only for absolution, but for
baptism; no meaner ecclesiastic--not Wilfrid himself--should baptise
him; so clearly had he understood Wilfrid to say that the successor of
St. Peter was the head of the Church, that he resolved that a king ought
to be baptised by no lower prelate. Accordingly, the outlaw chief, the
successful warrior, the noble king of Wessex, laid aside his arms,
surrendered his throne to his kinsman Ine, and went in the lowly garb of
a pilgrim to visit the mighty Rome. There he was christened by the name
of Peter, and there he died, at the early age of thirty, willingly and
joyfully exchanging an earthly for an heavenly crown.
Of Wulfstan and Ceolwulf there is not much more to be told. Ceolwulf
recovered slowly, but never was the same vigorous old man as before. He
used to listen to Malachi, in whom he took a great interest and whom he
looked upon as a very remarkable man, and he seemed to understand the
beauty of Christianity as the simple monk explained it to him; but since
he grew more and more taciturn, as he grew older, it was difficult to
know what he really thought. However, as almost the last words he spoke
before his death were "about my Master's business," Malachi thought he
had been musing over the words of the Holy Child, "Wist ye not that I
must be about My Father's business." The old man was buried, as he had
requested, by the side of Athelhune on the hill above the homestead.
Wulfstan completely recovered his health; he grew up a brave,
simple-minded, noble boy, full of fun, and rejoicing in life. He helped
his father on his estates, and eventually succeeded him as chief
eorldoman of the island, which from this time, 709, until the reign of
the last Saxon king, enjoyed peace and prosperity. Wulfstan died full of
years and honour, a noble example of a Christian magistrate living among
his own people, and exhibiting a bright pattern of kindness, firmness,
and single-hearted devotion to duty.
LONDON:
WILLIAM RIDER AND SON, PRINTERS,
BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE.