Abbot of Iona, 679-704 (cf. V, 15, note). Authorities are divided
with regard to the date of his coming to Britain. Dr. Reeves and Mr.
Skene, following the Annals of Tighernach, decide in favour of 563.
For his name, “Columcille,” cf. V, 9, note. He was of Irish birth,
connected with the Dalriadic Scots, and of royal descent on both
sides of his house. He was ordained priest at Clonard, but was never
a bishop. Many ecclesiastical and monastic foundations throughout
Ireland and Scotland are attributed to him. He travelled much in
both countries, visited Bruide (_v. infra_) at Inverness, and
founded churches all over the north of Scotland. He also worked
indefatigably in his own monastery of Iona. In his earlier years his
excitable, impatient temperament seems to have involved him in
various wars. He is said to have stirred up his kinsmen against the
Irish king, Diarmaid; and it has been supposed that his mission to
the Picts was undertaken in expiation of the bloodshed for which he
was responsible.
302 There is much that is legendary in the account of St. Ninias, and
Bede only professes to give the tradition. He was a Briton, probably
a native of Strathclyde. He studied at Rome and received episcopal
consecration there; came under the influence of St. Martin of Tours,
to whom he afterwards dedicated his church in Galloway, and returned
as a missionary to Britain. His preaching led to the conversion of
the Picts of Galloway and those to whom Bede alludes here as
situated to the south of the Grampians. Irish tradition, difficult
to reconcile with Bede’s statement that he was buried at Whitern,
tells that he spent the last years of his life in Ireland and
founded a church at Leinster. He was commemorated there on September
16th, under the name of Moinenn. The traditional date of his death,
September 16th, 432, has no authority.
303 Whitern, on Wigton Bay, so called from the white appearance of the
stone church, as compared with the usual wooden buildings. The
dedication must have been subsequent to St. Martin’s death, _circ._
397. The see was revived as an Anglian one in Bede’s own time (_v._
V. 23, p. 381). For the form of the name, “Ad Candidam Casam,” cf.
II, 14, p. 119, note 5.
304 Bruide Mac Maelchon had defeated the Dalriadic Scots in 560 A.D. and
driven them back to Cantyre. Northwards his dominion extended as far
as the Orkneys and it is probable that it included the eastern
lowlands north of the Forth (cf. Rhŷs, “Celtic Britain”). Another
tradition (Irish) represents Conall, King of the Dalriadic Scots, as
the donor of Iona, but the earliest Irish authority (ninth or tenth
century) agrees with Bede.
305 The year in which he died, as well as the ultimate resting-place of
his relics, is uncertain. Dr. Reeves places his death in 597, the
year of St. Augustine’s landing.
_ 306 I.e._, in Irish. The place is Durrow in Leinster.
307 There was no diocesan episcopate in the early Irish Church; it was
organized on a monastic system. Bishops performed all episcopal
functions (ordination, etc.), but they lived in the monastery,
subject to the supreme authority of the abbot, who was aided in the
government by a council of senior monks. Bishops were also sent out
as missionaries. The functions of abbot and bishop might be combined
in one man, but the abbot, as such, could discharge no episcopal
duties. A great monastery was head of a “provincia” (“diocesis,”
“parochia”), and had many monasteries and churches dependent on it.
308 Cf. c. 27, IV, 3, 26; V, 9, 10, 22, 23, 24. Perhaps “sacerdos”
should be translated “bishop” here (_v. supra_ c. 3, note; _infra_
c. 27, note). Early writers allude to him as a bishop, _e.g._,
Alcuin, Ethelwulf. In the life of St. Adalbert, one of Wilbrord’s
companions (cf. V. 10), he is called “Northumbrorum episcopus.”
_ 309 I.e._, they were not “Quartodecimans” (cf. II, 2, p. 84, note 3).
310 Phil., iii, 15.
311 Cf. II, 19. He is probably to be identified with the Segenus
mentioned there as one of the priests to whom Pope John’s letter was
addressed. He was Abbot of Iona, 623-652.
312 Hector Boethius gives his name as Corman.
313 Cf. I, 1, p. 6, note 2.
314 Bamborough (Bebbanburh, Bebburgh, Babbanburch, etc. There are many
forms of the name). It is uncertain who the queen was. Nennius says
she was the wife of Ethelfrid. His wife, Oswald’s mother, was Acha
(_v. infra_), but he may have been married twice. It was Ida, the
first king of Bernicia, who founded Bamborough (Sax. Chron.).
315 Cf. II, 5 _ad fin._, note.
316 Cf. note on Cuichelm, II, 9. Cynegils began to reign in 611 and
reigned about thirty-one years.
317 This account tells us substantially all that is known of him.
Additional details are either legendary or conjectural. He was made
a missionary (“regionary”) bishop, _i.e._, had no fixed see assigned
to him.
318 II, 17, 18, 19, 20.
319 He was Archbishop of Milan, residing at Genoa. “Asterius ... like
his predecessors from 568, avoided contact with the dominant Arian
Lombards by residing within the imperial territory at Genoa”
(Bright).
320 Called Cyneburga by Reginald of Durham (Life of St. Oswald).
321 Dorchester, about nine miles from Oxford, near the junction of the
Thame and the Thames. The Abbey Church of SS. Peter and Paul stands
on the traditional site of Cynegil’s baptism. The see became extinct
on the retirement of Agilbert (_v. infra_), but there are some
grounds for believing that it was revived for a short time as a
Mercian see in 679 (_v._ p. 272, note), after which it again
disappeared till, in the ninth century, the Bishop of Leicester
moved his see to Dorchester.
322 IV, 12; V, 18. Haedde became bishop in 676 (Sax. Chron.). His see
was at Winchester. He removed the bones of Birinus, because
Dorchester had ceased to be an episcopal see. Winchester continued
to be the only West Saxon see till the diocese was again divided
(_v._ V, 18), when Daniel was established at Winchester, and Aldhelm
at Sherborne.
323 Winchester; _Gwent_ (Celtic) = a plain. This, the “old Church,” as
distinguished from the present Cathedral, was built by Coinwalch on
his restoration to his kingdom. There are legends of early British
churches on the site, the first founded by “King Lucius” (I, 4), the
second dedicated to “St. Amphibalus” (I, 7, p. 15, note).
324 Cuichelm (_v._ II, 9, and note) had died before his father,
Cynegils.
325 Bede reverts more than once to the subject of Anna’s pious
offspring, _v. infra_ cc. 8, 18; IV, 19, 20. He had four daughters:
Sexburg (c. 8, IV, 19, 22), Ethelberg (c. 8), Ethelthryth (IV, 19,
20; cf. IV, 3, 22), and Witberg (not mentioned by Bede); two
granddaughters, Earcongota (c. 8) and Ermingild, the wife of
Wulfhere of Mercia; all of whom entered convents, as did also his
step-daughter, Saethryth (c. 8).
326 Cc. 25, 26, 28; IV, 1; V, 19. The name is a Frankish form of the
English “Aethelbert.” He was apparently consecrated in Gaul, but not
appointed to any diocese.
327 Cf. c. 28. It is not known why he was expelled (_v. infra_). There
is a tradition that he spent the last three years of his life at
Winchester as a penitent, doubtless for the act of simony related
below, but this is inconsistent with Bede’s statement that he
remained Bishop of London till his death.
328 Winchester; _v.s._ pp. 148-9, notes.
329 London was an East Saxon bishopric, but Wulfhere (_v._ c. 24, _ad
fin._) had acquired the supremacy over the East Saxons (_v._ c. 30).
330 Hlothere, consecrated 670. Apparently he was appointed by a West
Saxon Synod (“ex synodica sanctione”). Dr. Bright thinks the term is
used loosely for a Witenagemot.
331 II, 5-9, 20; V, 24.
332 Faremoûtier-en-Brie (Farae Monasterium in Brige), founded _circ._
617 by Fara, or Burgundofara, a Burgundian lady of noble birth, said
to have been dedicated by St. Columba in her infancy. The monastery
was a double one, _i.e._, consisted of monks and nuns (cf. _infra_,
“many of the brethren”).
333 Chelles, near Paris, founded by Clothilde, wife of Clovis I,
restored and enlarged by Bathild, wife of Clovis II (_v._ V, 19,
note).
334 Andeley-sur-Seine, also founded by Clothilde, wife of Clovis I.
335 Cf. _supra_ c. 7, note on Anna.
_ 336 Ibid._
_ 337 Ibid._
_ 338 Ibid._
339 Cf. c. 1.
340 The place is commonly supposed to be near Oswestry in Shropshire
(_i.e._, Oswald’s Tree). There is a legend (related by Reginald)
which tells of a tree near the spot, to which a large bird carried
the king’s right arm from the stake (cf. c. 12 _ad fin._). The Welsh
name of the place, “Croes Oswallt” (Cross-Oswald), points to the
explanation that the “tree” was a wooden cross set up to mark the
site.
341 642, _i.e._, nine years after the death of Edwin.
342 Reading _stramine subtracto_, on the authority of the oldest MSS.,
in which case we must assume (with Plummer) that _stramen_ is used
incorrectly for _stragulus_ in the sense of “saddle,” or
“horse-cloth,” from the classical use, _sternere equum_ = to saddle.
Cf. “stratus regaliter,” c. 14. Later MSS. read _stramine substrato_
(= “spreading straw under him”).
343 Wife of Ethelred of Mercia (cf. IV, 21), murdered by her own people
in 697 (V, 24).
344 Bardney, in Lincolnshire. Ethelred became first a monk, afterwards
abbot of the monastery.
345 “Sacrarium.” Probably here = the cemetery. But we find it elsewhere
in Bede for the sacristy, and it is also used of the sanctuary.
346 Cf. c. 27; IV, 12.
347 Partney: cf. II, 16, and note. This is the only mention of its
abbot, Aldwin.
348 Aen. II, 1. Quotations from Vergil are frequent in Bede. Cf. II, 13,
_ad fin._; v. 12, p. 327.
_ 349 I.e._, matins (between midnight and 3 A.M.).
350 It was removed in 875, during the Danish invasions, in the coffin of
St. Cuthbert, and finally interred in the same tomb with the body of
Cuthbert at Durham, where it was found in 1827. Hence St. Cuthbert
is often represented holding St. Oswald’s head in his hands.
351 Bamborough: cf. c. 6, note.
352 Bishop of Hexham, 709-731: _v._ V, 20 (cf. also IV, 14; V, 19). He
was a much loved friend of Bede, many of whose works were undertaken
at his instigation. He was devotedly attached to Wilfrid, whom he
succeeded at Hexham. The “Continuation” says that he was expelled
from his see in 731, and he probably never regained it.
353 Cf. V. 19, p. 353. This was probably Wilfrid’s third journey to
Rome, undertaken in 703-704, for, at the time of his earlier journey
(in 678), when he spent the winter in Frisland, Wilbrord was not yet
there.
354 The great missionary archbishop of the Frisians. He was trained as a
boy in Wilfrid’s abbey at Ripon, studied some time in Ireland, and
with eleven companions undertook in 690 the mission to Frisland
planned by Egbert: _v._ V, 10, 11. (For Egbert, _v._ c. 4, p. 143,
and note.)
355 The third of Ethelfrid’s seven sons (_v._ Sax. Chron.) to succeed to
the sovereignty. With his brothers he had spent his youth in
banishment among the Picts and Scots (_v.s._ c. 1).
356 Cc. 21, 24, 25, 28. The pupil and friend of Wilfrid. He was made
sub-king of Deira in place of Ethelwald (_v._ next note). The date
and circumstances of his rebellion are not known. A cross at
Bewcastle in Cumberland, erected in 670 or 671, commemorates him and
asks prayers for his soul.
357 Ethelwald, _v._ cc. 23, 24.
358 Cf. II, 3.
359 The first bishop of English birth. For Honorius, _v._ II, 15, note.
360 The apostate king of Deira, Osric, son of Aelfric, was first cousin
to Edwin (cf. c. 1). Oswald united the two Northumbrian kingdoms,
but at his death, Oswin, son of Osric, succeeded to Deira. He was
canonised, and his tragic death led him to be regarded as a martyr.
361 Not identified. The village (“a vico Cataractone”) is probably the
one called Cataracta in II, 14 (_v._ note, _ad loc._).
_ 362 Comes_, A.S. _gesith_.
363 At Queen Eanfled’s request (_v._ c. 24, p. 191). The place is
generally identified with Gilling in the North Riding of Yorkshire.
For the form of the name, _v._ II, 14, p. 119, note 5.
364 In 651 A.D. Cf. V. 24.
365 Cf. c. 21.
366 II, 9, 20; III, 24, 25, 29; V, 19.
367 The monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow. Cf. IV, 18; V, 21 _ad init._,
24.
368 Bamborough, _v._ cc. 6, 12.
369 The scene of St. Cuthbert’s hermit life: _v._ IV, 27, 28, 29; V, 1.
It is called the “House Island,” and is the largest of the Farne
group of seventeen islands off the coast of Northumberland, opposite
Bamborough, famous in modern times for the rescue of a shipwrecked
crew by Grace Darling.
_ 370 v.l._ seventeen. The MS. authority is about equal; but cf. _infra_,
the statement that he died in the seventeenth year of his
episcopate, which seems to be correct.
371 651 A.D.; _v.s._ c. 14 _ad fin._
372 Cc. 21, 22, 25, 26, 27. For his character, _v._ c. 25 (though some
suppose the reference to be to Ronan). For Hii, _v._ c. 3, note.
373 The church and the buttress were evidently both of wood.
374 He probably refers to the “De Temporum Ratione,” the longer of his
two chronological works. It treats the Paschal question at length.
But in the “De Temporibus” he also briefly discusses it.
375 Cf. c. 3.
376 II, 15, and note.
377 Cf. _ib._ The school was probably in the episcopal city of Dunwich,
though it has been maintained that it was the origin of Cambridge
University. For this there seems to be no authority except a
seventeenth century addition to this passage in a twelfth or
thirteenth century MS: “Grantebrig schola a Sigberto Rege.”
378 Cf. c. 7, p. 149, and note.
379 For a full account of St. Fursa and his brothers, and other
companions mentioned in this chapter, _v._ Miss Margaret Stokes’s
“Three months in the Forests of France, a pilgrimage in search of
vestiges of the Irish Saints in France.” Bede’s narrative is taken
from an extant ancient Latin life of St. Fursa (or Fursey), the
“libellus de vita ejus conscriptus” to which he refers several times
(_v. infra_).
380 St. Matt., xxv, 13.
381 Burgh Castle in Suffolk, where there was a Roman fortress,
Garianonum.
_ 382 I.e._, Irish.
383 His monastery on Lough Corrib. It is obvious from the sequel that
this vision was prior to his journey to Britain, and is distinct
from the vision mentioned above.
384 Ps. lxxxiv, 7; (lxxxiii, 8, in the Vulgate). The reading is that of
the Vulgate and the Gallican Psalter: “Ibunt de virtute in virtutem:
videbitur Deus deorum in Sion.”
_ 385 Ibid._
_ 386 I.e._, Ireland.
387 The monastery at Burgh Castle.
388 Fullan, or Foillan, was apparently a bishop (the others are called
“presbyteri”). He and Ultan after Fursa’s death (_circ._ 650) went
to South Brabant. Ultan founded a monastery at Fosse in the diocese
of Liège (then of Maestricht), and Fullan laboured in conjunction
with St. Gertrude in the double monastery of Nivelles. Ultan became
abbot, first of Fosse and later of Péronne. The name Gobban occurs
frequently in Irish Church History, Dicull occasionally. There is a
Dicull mentioned in IV, 13.
_ 389 I.e._, the Mercians; _v.s._ c. 18.
390 Clovis II, King of Neustria, 638-656. Ercinwald was his Mayor of the
Palace.
391 Lagny on the Marne, near Paris.
392 Péronne on the Somme. The monastery founded there after his death
was called “Perrona Scotorum” from the number of Irish who resorted
to it.
_ 393 Circ._ 647. The rapid increase in the number of native bishops may
be seen from this chapter. The only one before Thomas was Ithamar
(cf. c. 14, p. 164).
394 The Fen country. The province included part of the counties of
Lincoln, Northampton, Huntingdon, and Cambridge.
395 Such changes of name were frequent: cf. Benedict for Biscop (IV,
18), Boniface for Winfrid (_v._ “Continuation”), Clement for
Wilbrord (V, 11), and cf. _infra_, “Deusdedit.”
396 II, 15, note.
397 The first archbishop of English birth. He died in 664 (_v._ IV, 1).
His original name is said to have been Frithonas; Deusdedit is the
Latin form of Theodore. There was a Pope of the same name, 615-618
(_v._ II, 7). Similar names were common in the African Church,
_e.g._, “Adeodatus,” “Habetdeus,” “Quodvultdeus,” “Deogratias.”
398 Cf. c. 14, and note.
399 Cf. IV, 2. It has been supposed that he died of the plague of 664.
After his death the see was vacant for several years. It is
remarkable that he came of a race which had not yet become
Christian. The South Saxons continued to be pagan till Wilfrid
evangelized them, 681-686 (IV, 13).
400 For their origin, _v._ I, 15. Their country, which was subject to
Mercia, was the present Leicestershire. They are probably to be
identified with the Southern Mercians; _v._ c. 24, where we find
Peada confirmed by Oswy in the government of that people.
401 She caused his death by treachery: _v._ c. 24 _ad fin._
402 C. 14, _ad init._, and note.
403 After Alchfrid’s death, she took the veil and ruled the monastery of
Caistor (? Cyneburgacaster) in Northamptonshire. She was one of the
five children of the heathen Penda, who were canonized as saints.
_ 404 Comitibus ac militibus._ A.S. “geferum” (companions) and “king’s
thegns.”
405 Cf. c. 22. Variously identified with Walton and Walbottle, both near
Newcastle. For the preposition, _v._ II, 14, p. 119, note 5.
406 For Cedd, _v._ Preface, and _infra_ cc. 22, 23, 25, 26. The names of
Adda and Betti do not occur again. For Diuma: _v. infra_ and c. 24.
407 III, 15.
408 Gateshead on the Tyne, opposite Newcastle. For the preposition, cf.
II, 14, p. 119, note 5.
409 Penda was killed in 655. Diuma was probably consecrated in 656.
410 Not identified. Perhaps Repton (Reppington) in Derbyshire, where it
is supposed that Diuma had fixed his see. For the form of the name,
cf. II, 14, p. 119, note 5.
411 He probably returned at the time of the rebellion of Mercia in 658;
_v._ c. 24, _ad fin._ For Hii, _v.s._ c. 3, _ad fin._
412 Abbot of Gilling. He was a kinsman of Oswin: _v._ c. 24, p. 191.
413 Cf. II, 5. Since then, the East Saxons had remained pagan.
414 Sometimes surnamed the “Good.” (He must not be confused with
Sigbert, King of the East Angles, II, 15, and III, 18, 19.) Sigbert
the Little was the successor of the three young kings who expelled
Mellitus (II, 5).
415 C. 21 and note.
416 C. 21 and note.
417 They must have been Celtic bishops, probably of the Irish Church and
subject to the authority of Iona. Cedd seems to have had no fixed
see. He is not called Bishop of London, like Mellitus.
418 Dr. Bright regards this organization as a foreshadowing of the
parochial system, which, however, was not thoroughly established
till long after.
419 Identified with the Roman military station, Othona, on the
Blackwater, formerly called the Pant, in Essex. The town is now
submerged.
420 Tilbury.
_ 421 Comes._ A.S. “gesith.”
422 He was his brother probably. But the relationships of these East
Saxon kings are very difficult to determine.
423 Rendlesham in Suffolk.
424 Distinguish from Ethelwald, or Oidilwald, sub-King of Deira (_v.s._
c. 14, and _infra_ cc. 23, 24). Ethelwald, King of the East Angles,
succeeded his brother, Ethelhere, who was the successor of Anna (cf.
_supra_ cc. 7, 18, 19), and was killed in the battle of the Winwaed
(_v. infra_ c. 24).
425 Cf. _supra_ c. 14; _infra_ c. 24. Apparently he succeeded Oswin as
sub-King of Deira.
426 Isaiah, xxxv, 7.
427 Lastingham (_v._ Preface). Cedd was its first abbot, though it was
not in his own diocese.
428 Doubtless only one at a time. The “Provost” is the prior of later
times. The charge of the monastery would devolve upon him while Cedd
was absent in his diocese.
429 Or, as he is commonly called, St. Chad, the greatest of this
remarkable group of brothers; _v._ Preface and _infra passim_.
430 Ythancaestir, or Tilbury (_v._ c. 22).
431 Oswald; _v.s._ c. 9.
432 “Ealdormen,” Green, “Making of England,” p. 301. But they probably
included many British chiefs (_v._ Nennius, and cf. _infra_ “duces
regii”).
433 Oswy’s younger son. He succeeded his father in 670 or 671 (_v._ IV,
5, and for the events of his reign, IV, V, _passim_).
434 The wife of Penda.
435 Cc. 14 and 23. The reason for his conduct is not explained. Probably
he had hoped to establish his claims on Northumbria through Penda’s
assistance, but shrank from actually fighting against his country.
436 Cf. c. 22, _ad fin._, note. How he gave occasion for the war is not
known.
437 The river has not been identified, and there is great uncertainty
even with regard to the district. Below, Bede says that Oswy
concluded the war in the district of “Loidis,” by which he must mean
Leeds, as in II, 14, and most commentators adopt this view. In this
case, the river may be the Aire, or more probably the Went, a
tributary of the Don. Others believe the district to be the
Lothians, following the account in Nennius, who describes Oswy as
taking refuge before the battle in a city called Iudeu, supposed to
be either Edinburgh or Carriden (cf. I, 12, note), and the river has
been supposed to be the Avon in Linlithgow.
438 She is mentioned as joint-abbess with her mother, Eanfled, of the
monastery of Whitby (IV, 26). Eddius calls her “sapientissima
virgo,” “semper totius provinciae consolatrix optimaque
consiliatrix.” Her influence helped to restore Wilfrid to the
bishopric. She was the friend of St. Cuthbert, who is said to have
wrought a miraculous cure on her behalf. It was to her that he
prophesied the death of her brother Egfrid (IV, 26, p. 285, note).
439 Hartlepool in the county of Durham (cf. IV, 23).
440 For the main facts of her life, _v._ IV, 23. She was Abbess of
Whitby at the time of the Synod (c. 25).
441 Whitby. It was a mixed monastery (cf. IV, 23).
442 The ancient life of Gregory the Great, by a monk of Whitby, tells
how Edwin’s body was translated thither from the place where he
fell. For the fate of his head, cf. II, 20.
443 In 655: cf. V, 24 (death of Penda).
444 Cf. c. 21, where, however, Lindsey is not mentioned. For the
successive conquests of Lindsey by Northumbria and Mercia, _v._ IV,
12, p. 243, note. Though it must have passed to Northumbria after
Oswy’s victory, it was still apparently included in the Mercian
diocese.
445 C. 21, _ad fin._ and note. “Scottia,” as usual, means Ireland, which
includes Iona (cf. II, 4).
446 Cf. c. 14.
_ 447 I.e._, he confirmed Peada in the government conferred on him by his
father, Penda, if we may assume the Southern Mercians to be
identical with the Middle Angles: cf. c. 21, p. 180.
448 Alchfled, Oswy’s daughter: _v.s._ _ibid._
449 He has been already mentioned, cc. 7, 21. He was a vigorous ruler;
he freed Mercia from Northumbria, reconquered Lindsey, established
his supremacy over the East Saxons (cf. c. 30), and curtailed the
power of Wessex. His attempt, however, to extend his power to the
north of the Humber ended in 675 in his disastrous defeat by Egfrid,
King of Northumbria (IV, 12) and his death followed immediately
after. He was the first Christian king of all Mercia, and he was
zealous in putting down idolatry (Florence of Worcester).
450 Cf. _supra_ and c. 21.
451 He succeeded in 662. Cf. c. 30.
452 C. 23, p. 187, and note.
453 IV, 3, 5, 6. He was deposed by Theodore for some act of disobedience
not known (IV, 6), and went to the Continent, where, travelling in
Neustria, he was mistaken for Wilfrid and cruelly ill-treated by the
emissaries of Ebroin (_v._ V, 19, note), “errore bono unius syllabae
seducti,” as Eddius, the biographer of Wilfrid, remarks.
_ 454 I.e._, Ireland.
455 He succeeded Cuthbert as Bishop of Lindisfarne; _v._ IV, 29, 30.
456 Cf. II, 2, p. 84, note 3.
457 Nothing certain is known of him.
458 II, 16, 20; IV, 2.
_ 459 I.e._, Iona: cf. IV, 4, _ad init._ Colman succeeded in 661.
460 For his life: _v._ V, 19.
461 Really Annemundus. He was Archbishop of Lyons. Cf. V, 8, note on
Godwin. He is confused with his brother Dalfinus, Count of Lyons:
_v._ V, 19, p. 348, note.
462 Ripon. For the preposition, cf. II, 14, p. 119, note 5. The
monastery was first given to Eata (_v._ c. 26), to be organized by
him, and among the monks he brought with him from Melrose was
Cuthbert (cf. IV, 27). They were forced to retire in 661, but after
the Synod of Whitby they conformed to the Catholic rules.
463 Cf. c. 7, where Bede’s summary account obscures the sequence of
events. Here he is still called Bishop of the West Saxons. It is
probable that he had retired from Wessex by this time, but had not
yet gone to Gaul. He did not become Bishop of Paris before 666, for
in that year we find his predecessor, Importunus, witnessing a
“privilegium” for a nunnery at Soissons.
464 We hear nothing more of this priest.
465 C. 24. The etymology is generally considered impossible. But cf.
Bright, “Early English Church History,” p. 213.
466 C. 24. After the Synod it appears that she conformed to the Catholic
usages. But she continued to be an opponent of Wilfrid till the end
of her life.
467 Cc. 21, 22, 23.
468 The practice of the churches of Asia, traditionally derived from St.
John, was to disregard the day of the week and observe as Easter Day
the 14th of the month Nisan. Therefore the claim to the authority of
St. John, advanced by the Celts, was inaccurate and gives some
colour to the charge, often brought against them, of being
“Quartodecimans.”
469 Acts, xvi, 3.
_ 470 Ibid._, xxi, 26.
_ 471 Ibid._, xviii, 18.
_ 472 Ibid._, xxi, 20.
473 Cf. II, 19, note.
474 Cf. c. 3, note.
475 St. Matt., xvi, 18-19.
476 Cf. II, 2, p. 85, note 1.
477 To Iona; _v._ IV, 4, _ad init._
478 Fourth Bishop of Lindisfarne and the last of the Irish bishops in
that see. He died of the plague in 664: _v._ c. 27.
479 Cf. c. 3, p. 139, and note.
_ 480 I.e._, Ireland.
481 IV, 12, 27, 28; V, 2.
482 Old Melrose, “Quod Tuidi fluminis circumflexu maxima ex parte
clauditur,” V, 12. The more famous monastery is of later date and is
to the west of the older site.
483 Cf. c. 3, _ad fin._ (where, however, there is only a general
allusion to the instruction of English children). It has been
suggested that they may have been redeemed from slavery. Cf. c. 5,
p. 145.
484 Really on the 1st.
485 Called the “Yellow Pest” from the colour of its victims. It was a
bubonic plague; it probably came from the East and was the same as
that which raged in Europe in Justinian’s reign. There were several
outbreaks in England in the seventh century, but this was the most
virulent. For subsequent visitations, cf. IV, 7, 14, 19.
486 Cf. c. 26, p. 201.
487 The Saxon Chronicle has “on Wagele,” which is supposed to be
Whalley, on the borders of Lancashire, Cheshire, and Yorkshire, but
the name varies greatly in different chroniclers. Smith considers
that Bede’s form “Paegnalaech” or “Paegnalech” points to Finchale
(Wincanheale, in Simeon of Durham, or Pincahala), near Durham.
488 Cf. c. 4.
489 Cf. c. 11; IV, 12.
490 Said, on doubtful authority, to be Melfont, or Mellifont, in County
Louth.
491 “Acceptum sacerdotii gradum,” A.S. “biscophade onfeng” = he received
the episcopate. Cf. c. 4, note.
492 In 664. This was the young “Fainéant” king of Neustria, Clothaire
III. Wilfrid was probably sent abroad at his own request. Doubtless
he desired to have the canonical number of three bishops at his
consecration, and Boniface of Dunwich (c. 20; IV, 5) was the only
prelate in England whose orders he would have regarded as entirely
satisfactory, for Wini might be considered a usurper, and Cedd and
Jaruman had been consecrated by schismatics. Archbishop Deusdedit
was dead (III, 20, note) and so probably was Damian of Rochester.
493 He was Wilfrid’s friend: _v.s._ c. 25, pp. 194-5.
494 Cf. _ibid._, note.
495 Compiègne, a royal “villa.” For the preposition, _v._ II, 14, note.
The ceremony was a specially magnificent one, Wilfrid being carried
in a golden chair by twelve bishops in choral procession, according
to an ancient custom of the Gallican Church.
496 Preface, III, 23, _et saep._ Why Oswy, who had consented to
Wilfrid’s consecration (_v._ V, 19) acted in this manner is not
clear. Probably it implies that the Celtic party, during Wilfrid’s
prolonged absence, had to some extent recovered their ascendency;
and, if it was at this time that Alchfrid (who is not heard of
again) rebelled against his father (_v.s._ c. 14, _ad init._) and
was deprived of his kingdom, Wilfrid would have lost his warmest
supporter.
497 He retired to Ripon from Lindsey, of which he was the first separate
bishop, when Ethelred recovered that province for Mercia in 679. But
cf. IV, 12, _ad fin._, note, for the statement that he was “Bishop”
of Ripon.
498 King of Northumbria, _v.s._ c. 24, p. 188, note 3.
499 It does not appear why Boniface (Bertgils) of Dunwich, Bishop of the
East Angles, 652-669 (c. 20, IV, 5), is ignored. Ceadda’s
consecration was afterwards regarded as of doubtful validity and was
completed by Theodore (_v._ IV, 12). The British (probably Cornish)
bishops were schismatical, and Wini’s position was irregular.
Moreover, the see to which Ceadda was consecrated was not vacant.
500 IV, 1.
501 Consecrated in 657—died in 672.
502 Isaiah, xi, 10.
_ 503 Ibid._, xlix, 1.
_ 504 Ibid._, 6.
_ 505 Ibid._, 7.
_ 506 Ibid._, 8-9.
_ 507 Ibid._, xlii, 6-7. The readings are from the Vulgate.
508 It has not been stated that Oswy and Egbert asked the Pope to
provide an archbishop, failing Wighard. But this seems to be implied
in IV, 1: “episcopum, quem petierant.” Or, as is generally supposed,
Vitalian may have arbitrarily assumed this to be the intention of
their letter.
509 There were several martyrs of the name of Laurentius, but the best
known is the Roman deacon, St. Laurence, who suffered at Rome in 258
A.D. He was buried in the Via Tiburtina, where a church dedicated to
him is said to have been founded by Constantine the Great. On the
site stands the present Church of S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura, the
older part of which dates from the sixth century at least. One of
Aldhelm’s foundations (V, 18) was a little church dedicated to St.
Laurence at Bradford-on-Avon in 705, probably the small Saxon church
which still stands there. There were many martyrs named John and
Paul, and more than one Gregory. St. Pancras was a boy-martyr, a
Phrygian by birth, who suffered at Rome in 304 A.D., when he was
only fourteen years of age. His martyrdom was widely celebrated, and
miraculous powers were attributed to his tomb outside the walls of
Rome. An old British church at Canterbury, which had been desecrated
by the heathen invaders, was restored for Christian use and
dedicated to St. Pancras by Augustine.
510 Eanfled, _v.s._ c. 15 and note.
511 St. Matt., vi, 33.
512 Cf. IV, 6. Sighere was the son, Sebbi the brother, of Sigbert the
Little (_v.s._ c. 22, _ad init._).
513 C. 22, _ad fin._
514 C. 24, _ad fin._; IV, 3.
515 664 A.D.: cf. III, 27, _ad init._
516 Cf. III, 26, _ad init._
517 Cf. III, 20 and note.
518 Cf. III, 8; V, 19, p. 348.
519 Cf. III, 29. From Bede’s “History of the Abbots” we learn that he
was a pupil of Pope Gregory’s Roman disciples in Kent.
520 III, 29.
_ 521 Ibid._, and note.
522 Cf. Preface, p. 2, note 3.
523 He was probably chaplain of the nunnery.
524 Cf. Preface, p. 2, note 2.
525 Cf. Bright, cc. 252, 253. He sees here an allusion to the
Monothelite controversy.
_ 526 I.e._, the Eastern, which consisted in shaving the whole head. This
method was supposed to have the authority of St. Paul (an idea
derived from Acts, xviii, 18), and of St. James “the Less.” Cf. II,
2, p. 85, note.
527 They were accompanied by Benedict Biscop (_v._ c. 18) whom Vitalian
had asked to act as their guide and interpreter (“Hist. Abb.,” § 3).
528 Archbishop of Arles, 658-675.
529 From this it has been inferred that Arles belonged to Neustria. The
king was Clothaire III, king of Neustria. Ebroin had succeeded
Ercinwald (_v._ III, 19, _ad fin._) as Mayor of the Palace. He was
murdered in 681.
530 III, 7, 25, 26, 28.
531 Called also Emmo, or Haymo; Bishop of Sens, 658-675.
532 Or Burgundofarus, Bishop of Meaux, 626-672. He was brother of Fara,
mentioned III, 8.
533 “Praefectus.”
534 Etaples in Picardy; “Quentae (or ‘ad Quantiam’) vicus” = the village
at the mouth of the Canche. It was an important commercial town and
port.
535 SS. Peter and Paul (St. Augustine’s): cf. I, 33. Theodore had placed
Benedict Biscop over it while Hadrian was still abroad.
536 II, 16, 20.
537 Eddius, the biographer of Wilfrid. He mentions himself (“Life of
Wilfrid,” Chapter XIV) as a “cantor.”
538 Bede can scarcely mean to impeach the orthodoxy of the bishops of
native birth prior to Wilfrid. Probably the reference is mainly to
the prominent part he took in bringing about the decision at Whitby.
539 Cf. III, 28, note.
540 Cf. III, 20, and note.
541 Cc. 5, 12. Florence of Worcester mentions a Putta, Bishop of
Hereford, who died in 688, but it is very doubtful whether he can be
identified with the above. Bede’s words in Chapter 12 do not imply
that Putta, Bishop of Rochester, became Bishop of Hereford. Hereford
was not one of the five sees into which Florence tells us that
Theodore divided the great Mercian bishopric, but it appears soon
after as a separate see for Hecana (Herefordshire). Possibly Putta,
who is traditionally reckoned as its first bishop, may have acted as
Sexwulf’s deputy there.
542 Cf. II, 20 _ad fin._, note.
543 III, 24, 30. He had probably died two years before Chad’s
appointment, _i.e._, in 667, and the see had been vacant in the
interval, for Wilfrid, then in retirement at Ripon, is said (by
Eddius) to have discharged episcopal functions for the Mercians.
544 Lastingham. Cf. Preface, p. 3; III, 23, 28.
545 Lindsey at this time belonged to Mercia. Cf. c. 12, p. 243, note 5.
546 Smith believed this place to be Barton-on-Humber. It is now
generally identified with Barrow in Lincolnshire. For the
preposition, cf. II, 14, p. 119, note 5.
547 It had not previously been an episcopal see, though Wulfhere had
wished to establish Wilfrid there during the vacancy in the Mercian
bishopric (p. 218, note 4). When the bishopric of Mercia and Lindsey
was subdivided by Theodore in 679, Lichfield remained the see of the
bishopric of Mercia proper. In 787, under Offa, King of Mercia, with
the consent of Pope Hadrian, it was raised into a separate
archbishopric for Mercia and East Anglia, but in 802 Canterbury was
re-established as the sole archbishopric for the Southern Province.
The popular derivation of the name, Lichfield (“Field of the Dead”)
is from _lic_ = a corpse, and the place is traditionally connected
with the martyrdom of a great number of British Christians. Another
derivation, however (from _leccian_ = to irrigate), points to the
meaning “the watered field.”
548 Eccl., iii. 5.
549 A stone which is believed to have formed part of Owini’s tomb was
found at the end of the eighteenth century at Haddenham, near Ely,
and is now in Ely Cathedral. It bears the inscription, “Lucem tuam
Ovino da Deus et requiem. Amen” (Mayor and Lumley).
550 Cf. c. 19.
551 Ps. xviii, 13, 14.
552 III, 4, 27.
553 He is said to have been Abbot of Bardney.
554 In 672. The original Church of St. Mary at Lichfield, said to have
been built by Oswy in 656-657, was replaced about 1140 by the new
Cathedral, and Ceadda’s relics were soon after removed to it.
555 Cf. III, 24, _ad fin._, note.
556 Cf. III, 26, _ad init._
557 Iona. Cf. III, 3, _ad fin._, note.
558 Innisboffin, off the coast of Mayo. The annals of Ulster give 667 as
the date of his retirement to it.
559 Mayo, called from this settlement, “Mayo of the Saxons.” It
continued to be an English monastery (_v. infra_), and after awhile
adopted those usages, to avoid which Colman had left England. It
became an episcopal see, which in 1559 was annexed to the
archbishopric of Tuam.
560 Hertford.
561 It seems probable that we ought to read 671; cf. Plummer _ad loc._
562 Oswy is the last king in Bede’s list of those who held an “imperium”
(_v._ II, 5). With the rise of Mercia under Wulfhere (III, 24), the
supremacy of Northumbria had virtually passed away. After Oswy’s
death, the position of Northumbria was an isolated one, and it was
by conquests over Britons, not Englishmen, that Egfrid enlarged the
bounds of his kingdom.
563 In his youth he had been a hostage at the court of Queen Cynwise,
wife of Penda (III, 24, p. 188).
564 This is of supreme importance as the first English provincial
Council and the first national assembly of the English. The rule
laid down at Nicaea and confirmed by later councils was that
provincial synods should meet twice a year to settle all
ecclesiastical matters which affected the province as a unity.
565 24th September, 673, falls in the first indiction, whether the
Pontifical or the “Caesarean” system is meant (_v._ Haddan and
Stubbs, III, 121). Bede himself used the Caesarean indiction, of
which we get the first notice in his “De Temporum Ratione.” It began
on 24th September. It does not, however, follow that Theodore also
used it. The oldest scheme, viz., the Constantinopolitan, began on
1st September; the Roman or Pontifical, on New Year’s Day as
received at the time, _i.e._, 25th December, 1st January, or 21st
March. For Indictions, _v._ “Dictionary of Christian Antiquities.”
They were cycles of fifteen years, a mode of reckoning dates which
appeared in the fourth century, based upon the Imperial fiscal
system, but which came to be used irrespective of taxation. “1st
indiction” stands for “1st year of the indiction.”
566 Of the six suffragans only four were present. Wilfrid was at this
time (669-678) in possession of his see; why he did not appear in
person is not explained. Possibly his action foreshadows the future
troubles between him and Theodore. Wini, Bishop of London, was still
alive (_v._ III, 7, and note). If the story of his retirement to
Winchester is true, this would account for his absence. For Bisi,
_v. infra_. His see was at Dunwich (cf. II, 15). For Putta, _v.s._
c. 2 and note; for Leutherius, _v._ III, 7; for Wynfrid, III, 24;
IV, 3, _ad fin._
567 The collection of Canons approved by the Council of Chalcedon,
translated into Latin by Dionysius Exiguus (early in the sixth
century, cf. V, 21, p. 369, note) and adopted by the Western Church.
568 This place used to be identified with Cliff-at-Hoe near Rochester,
but the theory rests mainly on the similarity of name. As in the
recorded Councils of Clovesho the supremacy of Mercia is clearly
indicated, it is generally assumed that the place must have been
either in Mercia or a kingdom subject to it, as Kent was at the
time. Except one Council in 716, we find none mentioned as having
taken place at Clovesho till seventy years after this time (747),
but councils were held at other places.
569 The subdivision of the great bishoprics was an important part of
Theodore’s policy, and though at this Council he failed to carry his
point, possibly through the opposition of Wilfrid’s representatives,
in the succeeding years he effected a great change in the
organization of the episcopate, creating dioceses co-extensive with
tribal territories.
570 III, 29; IV, 1.
571 Cc. 22, 26.
572 His original name was Bertgils, _v._ III, 20.
573 Theodore availed himself of this opportunity for subdivision. Aecci
was appointed to Dunwich and Badwin to the new see of Elmham.
Suffolk and Norfolk thus each received a separate bishopric. The
Danish invasions broke up this arrangement; Dunwich disappeared as
an episcopal see, and the succession to Elmham was interrupted for a
time. In 1075 the see of the single East Anglian bishopric was
removed to Thetford, and in 1094 to Norwich.
574 It has been conjectured that he resisted the subdivision of his
diocese. For his subsequent adventures, _v._ III, 24, p. 192, note
4.
575 This was probably in 675 (Flor. of Wor.). Sexwulf (_v. infra_ c. 12)
had been a rich thegn who became a monk and was made first abbot of
Medeshamstead.
576 Peterborough, as the town which grew up around the monastery came to
be called in the tenth century, the monastery being dedicated to St.
Peter. Peada is said to have planned the foundation (_v._
Peterborough additions to the Saxon Chronicle), but the accounts are
late and untrustworthy.
577 III, 20, note.
578 C. 3, p. 219, note 2.
579 He succeeded Wini (III, 7) in 675 and died about 693. He was
canonized. It was in his house that the reconciliation between
Theodore and Wilfrid took place. It is said that as a boy he had
heard Mellitus preach in London. He was present at the West Saxon
Witenagemot which enacted the “Dooms of Ine” (c. 15 and V, 7), and
is spoken of as one of Ine’s bishops, Essex being probably subject
to Wessex at that time.
580 In III, 30.
581 Cc. 7-10. She is not to be confused with Ethelberg, daughter of Anna
(III, 8), Abbess of Faremoûtier-en-Brie.
582 Chertsey in Surrey. William of Malmesbury tells us that it was a
flourishing monastery till it was destroyed by the Danes.
583 Barking in Essex, _v. infra_ cc. 7-10. For the preposition, _v._ II,
14, p. 119, note 5.
584 The plague of 664 has been mentioned in III, 27; IV, 1, 3; but this
may have been a later visitation. Barking is generally supposed to
have been founded in 666.
585 Two different dates are given for her succession, 664 and 675. If
the former is right, the plague (c. 7) must have been that of 664,
and Ethelburg probably died of it. It appears from a letter of St.
Boniface that Hildilid was alive in 709. She was one of Aldhelm’s
numerous women-scholars. He dedicated the prose version of his work
in praise of virginity (_v._ V, 18) to her and others of the
sisterhood, and speaks highly of their scholarly attainments.
586 Apparently a life of St. Ethelburg not known to exist now.
587 Cf. III, 30; IV, 6.
588 For Earconwald, _v.s._ c. 6. Waldhere is the first of a long list of
undistinguished bishops of London given by William of Malmesbury. A
letter of his to Archbishop Bertwald survives, and there is a
charter in which Swefred (_v._ next note) grants lands at Twickenham
to him in 704.
589 Cf. V, 8, note on Suaebhard.
590 St. Paul’s, London. Sebbi’s tomb is believed to have survived till
the fire of 1666.
591 For these bishops, cf. III, 7.
_ 592 Ibid._ He died in 672 (Sax. Chron.). Of the sub-kings the most
prominent were Aescwine and Centwine, a brother of Coinwalch. The
Saxon Chronicle gives a different account. According to it,
Coinwalch’s widow, Sexburg, reigned for one year after him and was
succeeded by Aescwine, who was succeeded by Centwine.
593 Cf. III, 7, and for his character, V, 18. The Saxon Chronicle says
he succeeded in 676 and died in 703. Bede places his death in 705
(V, 18).
594 Cc. 15, 16, and V, 7. He was of Ceaulin’s line (II, 5) and so
belonged to a younger branch of the West Saxon royal house. Welsh
writers confuse him with the British king, Caedwalla (II, 20), and
with his son, Cadwalader.
595 A son of Penda. He succeeded his brother Wulfhere in 675. In 704 he
became a monk (V, 24) and afterwards Abbot of Bardney Monastery (cf.
III, 11), which he is said to have founded. His invasion of Kent was
probably provoked by an attempt on the part of that kingdom, at
Wulfhere’s death, to resume a position of independence towards
Mercia. In spite of his conduct on this raid, Theodore, Florence of
Worcester, and others, speak of the saintliness of his character.
596 Cc. 2 (and note), 5.
597 C. 6, and note, and _infra_, p. 244.
598 The dates of these changes in the episcopate are uncertain. Probably
Gebmund was consecrated in 678. For his death, _v._ V, 8 _ad fin._,
and note.
599 This was Wilfrid’s first expulsion (_v._ V, 19). Bede’s reticence on
the subject is noteworthy. Egfrid’s hostility to his former friend,
Wilfrid, was doubtless caused by Wilfrid’s encouragement of Queen
Ethelthryth (cc. 19, 20) in her desire to take the veil. It was
probably increased by Egfrid’s second wife, Eormenburg, who is said
to have resented Wilfrid’s power and magnificence. Theodore,
carrying out his policy of subdivision, availed himself of the
opportunity afforded by this dissension. He consulted some of his
suffragans (we do not know who they were; it was apparently at a
mixed council of ecclesiastics and laymen), but did not communicate
with Wilfrid, being, no doubt, conscious of the uselessness of
trying to get his consent. Wilfrid, after demanding an explanation
from the archbishop and the king in a Northumbrian “gemot,” and
receiving no satisfaction, appealed to Rome (cf. V, 19, p. 351). For
the importance of this step, _v._ Bright, “Early English Church
History,” pp. 323-326.
600 Probably the intention was that Wilfrid should keep the larger part
of Deira, with his see at York, and that three new dioceses should
be formed. But, on his departure to appeal to Rome, it was assumed
that he had resigned his bishopric, and Bosa was consecrated Bishop
of Deira with his see at York, Eata, Bishop of the Bernicians, with
the option of fixing his see either at Lindisfarne or Hagustald
(Hexham). These two were “substituted for him.” Lindsey, which at
this time belonged to Northumbria, became for the first time a
separate diocese. When it passed again to Mercia in 679 it was
included in the subdivision of the Mercian bishopric, and Ethelwin
(_v. infra_ note 6) became its bishop with his see at Sidnacaestir
(generally identified with Stow, but the locality is unknown).
601 He was one of the bishops educated in Hilda’s monastery (_v._ c.
23). Bede speaks highly of him (V, 3, 20), and Alcuin calls him “vir
sine fraude bonus.” He retired from York when Wilfrid was restored,
but appears to have been reinstated on Wilfrid’s second expulsion.
602 Abbot of Melrose, afterwards of Lindisfarne (III, 26, and note; IV,
27; V, 9).
603 III, 28, and this Chapter, _ad fin._, and note.
604 In 675. Lindsey which had been Northumbrian under Edwin and Oswald,
had passed through many vicissitudes. Penda conquered it, Oswy
recovered it (in 655), Wulfhere conquered it again, Egfrid recovered
it (675). It passed finally to Mercia under Ethelred in 679 (_v.
infra_ this Chapter, _ad fin._).
605 III, 11, 27.
606 He was still Bishop of Lindsey in 706, when he signed a charter of
Ethelward, “subregulus” of the Hwiccas.
607 Preface, p. 4, and V, 23. Simeon of Durham says that he died in 732.
608 Lindsey was at that time subject to Mercia. Sexwulf was expelled
when Egfrid conquered it in 675. When the Mercian diocese was
subdivided, he retained his see at Lichfield (_v.s._ c. 3, p. 219,
note) as Bishop of the Mercians proper.
609 By Theodore alone. The suffragans did not take part in the
consecration.
610 In 681 a fresh subdivision took place. The Bernician diocese was
divided, Eata retaining Lindisfarne and giving up Hexham to Tunbert.
Afterwards Eata retired from Lindisfarne in favour of Cuthbert and
took Hexham (_v. infra_ c. 28). Tunbert had been Abbot of Gilling
(In Getlingum, III, 14, 24). He was deposed by Theodore from Hexham
three years after his consecration (_v. infra_ c. 28), like Wynfrid,
“pro culpa cujusdam inobedientiae” (Vita Eatae in “Miscellanea
Biographica,” Surtees Society).
611 His see was not at Whitern among the Picts of Galloway, as has been
supposed (Florence of Worcester, Richard of Hexham, and others), but
at the monastery of Abercorn on the Forth (I, 12; IV, 26), the Picts
north of the Forth being at this time subject to Northumbria. After
Egfrid’s disastrous expedition in 685, they freed themselves from
Northumbrian rule, the see was abandoned, and Trumwine retired to
Whitby (c. 26). We hear of him as one of the deputation to Cuthbert
in 684 (c. 28).
612 In 679; _v.s._, p. 243, note 5.
613 Whether Ripon became for a time an episcopal see seems doubtful. In
III, 28, Bede says distinctly that Eadhaed became “praesul” of the
church there, and it does not seem consistent with his use to
understand it as = abbot. Probably there was an attempt to subdivide
the diocese of Deira (Eddius mentions it as one of Wilfrid’s
grievances), but the scheme was abandoned when Wilfrid was restored
in 705. Ripon did not finally become an episcopal see till 1836.
614 For a fuller account, _v._ V, 19, and notes.
615 For the early importance of this kingdom under Aelli, _v._ II, 5. It
had become a small insignificant nation, cut off from its neighbours
by forests (the “Andredsweald”) and marshes, and though we read
(III, 20) that Damian, bishop of Rochester, was of the South Saxon
race, it was almost untouched by Christian influences.
616 Cf. _infra_ c. 15.
617 He also brought about the reconversion of the East Saxons by sending
Bishop Jaruman to them. Cf. III, 30.
618 Wulfhere had invaded Wessex, probably in 661 (Sax. Chron.), and
conquered the Isle of Wight and the district of the Meanware,
_i.e._, the district from Southampton Water to the South Downs. The
inhabitants were Jutes. The name survives in the hundreds,
Meonstoke, and East and West Meon. For the termination “ware” =
dwellers, cf. Lindisfari, Cantuarii, Boructuari, etc.
619 Cf. c. 14.
620 Cf. II, 2, p. 84, note 2.
621 They were probably joint kings of the Hwiccas.
622 “Scottish,” as usual, means Irish. There is another Dicul mentioned
in III, 19. Stevenson suggests the identification of this Dicul with
the Irish monk who wrote a geographical work, the “De Mensura Orbis
Terrae,” but he lived in the ninth century.
623 Bosham, near Chichester. It was the favourite South Saxon abode of
Harold and Godwine (Freeman, “Norman Conquest”).
624 Selsey, the island of the seal (“sea-calf”), south of Chichester. It
was a royal “vill.” It became the episcopal see for the South Saxons
at some time about 709 (cf. V, 18, _ad fin._ and note), transferred
to Chichester in 1075.
625 Egfrid fell at the battle of Nechtansmere in 685 (_v._ c. 26), and
Wilfrid was restored to his bishopric “in the second year of
Aldfrid,” Egfrid’s successor (V, 19, p. 353). He was in Wessex with
Caedwalla for part of the year 686 (cf. c. 16).
626 III, 13, note.
627 C. 13.
628 This English equivalent for “viaticum” is used by Stapleton in his
translation (1565).
629 Calendars to show the proper days for commemorative Masses, cf.
_infra_ “chronicle” (“annale”). The burial was generally on the day
of death, hence “depositio” of the festival of a saint.
630 It must be remembered that this was a monastery of Northumbrians.
But Oswald is said to have held an “imperium” over all England
except Kent (II, 5).
631 C. 12, note.
632 The West Saxons, _v._ II, 5 and note. Cf. III, 7.
633 C. 13.
_ 634 v._ V, 7 _ad fin._ Like Caedwalla, a descendant of Ceaulin, “A king
who deserves the name of great” (Bright), great both as a conqueror
and a legislator. He was probably the first king to introduce
written law into Wessex, viz., his famous “Dooms,” enacted by a West
Saxon witenagemot in the early years of his reign.
635 Winchester. At this time Haedde was bishop there (c. 12). For the
creation of a South Saxon bishopric _v._ V, 18 _ad fin._
636 Eddius says that Caedwalla sent for him and made him his counsellor;
Wilfrid had befriended him when in exile.
637 Roger of Wendover calls him a _subregulus_.
638 Cf. I, 15.
639 Stoneham on the Itchen, near Southampton. For the preposition, cf.
II, 14, p. 119, note 5.
640 Redbridge in Hampshire.
641 Pref., p. 3 and note; V, 18.
642 The Solent.
643 The Hamble.
644 Eutyches was Archimandrite of a monastery near Constantinople. He
was condemned by the synod of Constantinople in 448, and by the
council of Chalcedon in 451. He was the originator of the
Monophysite heresy which denied the existence of the two natures,
the Divine and human, in the Incarnate Son. Monothelitism, which was
the subject of the controversy alluded to here, arose out of an
attempt to reconcile the Monophysites by the assertion of one will
and operation (activity, ἐνέργεια) in our Lord. It was condemned in
the General Council of Constantinople, 680-681. In anticipation of
this council various provincial synods were held, as well as the
synod at Rome assembled by Pope Agatho, at which Wilfrid represented
the English church (_v._ V. 19).
645 The year was 680 (cf. V, 24), but it falls in the eighth year of
Hlothere of Kent, who succeeded in July, 673. For Egfrid, _v.s._ c.
5, _ad init._ Probably he succeeded in 671. Ethelred of Mercia
succeeded in 675 (V, 24), so that Sept., 680, might easily fall in
his sixth year; Aldwulf, of East Anglia, in 663 or 664 (_v._ II, 15;
IV, 23). The eighth indiction, whether Cæsarean or Pontifical
(_v.s._ c. 5, note), includes Sept. 17, 680.
646 Generally identified with Hatfield in Hertfordshire, but T. Kerslake
(“Vestiges of the supremacy of Mercia”) supposes it to be Clovesho
(Cliff-at-Hoe); _v.s._ c. 5, and note.
647 The five Oecumenical Councils which had been held before this time,
viz., Nicaea, in 325; Constantinople, in 381-382; Ephesus, in 431;
Chalcedon, in 451; Constantinople, in 553. For the Arian heresy,
_v._ I, 8 (and note), where “madness” (“vesania”) is, as here, the
word used to describe it. Macedonius was a “semi-Arian,” Eudoxius an
Arian; both were bishops of Constantinople. Nestorius was
consecrated Bishop of Constantinople in 428. He popularized the
heresy which originated with Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia,
392-428. It consisted in emphasizing the human element in our Lord’s
Nature to the practical exclusion of the Divine, as a reaction
against Apollinarianism which explained away His real Humanity. “The
Christ of Nestorius was, after all, simply a deified man, not God
incarnate” (Gore, “Bampton Lectures”). Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus in
Syria (died 457) and Ibas, Bishop of Edessa, 435-457, were disciples
of Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia, and opponents of Cyril of
Alexandria, who is accused of Apollinarianism in the letter of Ibas.
648 Justinian I, 527-565.
649 The first Lateran Council, in 649, against the Monothelites. Martin
I, Pope 649-655, died in the Crimea, exiled and imprisoned by the
Emperor Constans II in consequence of his resistance to the heresy.
650 Constantine IV, more generally known as Constans II, 641-688.
651 We have here, under the auspices of an Eastern Archbishop, a clear
enunciation of the doctrine which afterwards divided the east and
west: the Double Procession of the Holy Spirit. The “filioque”
clause, which formed no part of the Nicene Creed, nor of its
Constantinopolitan recension, had been formally adopted at the Third
Council of Toledo in 589 and at subsequent Spanish councils. The
English prelates at Hatfield were probably influenced by this
precedent.
652 Cf. Bede’s “History of the Abbots,” § 6.
_ 653 I.e._, St. Peter’s at Rome. The Monastery of St. Martin was on the
Esquiline. It was founded by Pope Symmachus in honour of SS.
Sylvester and Martin.
654 Cf. c. 1, notes. (For his life, v. Bede’s “History of the Abbots,”
and the Anon. “History of the Abbots.”) He has not been mentioned
before in this history. His ecclesiastical surname was Benedict,
“Baducing” was probably his patronymic. He was of noble birth and a
thegn of King Oswy, born in 628. He was the companion of Wilfrid on
his first journey to Rome (V, 19). In his native province of
Northumbria he founded the monasteries of Wearmouth (in 674) and
Jarrow (_circ._ 681), where Bede’s life was passed, and enriched
them with furniture, vestments, relics, pictures, and a library of
valuable books which he brought from the Continent. The rule which
he framed for his monasteries was Benedictine, compiled from
seventeen different monasteries which he had visited. He died Jan.
12, 689.
655 Cf. V, 21. Bede’s “History of the Abbots,” and Anon. “History of the
Abbots.” He added to Benedict’s library. He had been a monk at Ripon
under Wilfrid, became Abbot of Jarrow in 681, and of Wearmouth in
addition to Jarrow in 688. In 716 he resigned and set out for Rome,
but died at Langres in the same year. Bede was trained under him (V,
24) and was probably the little boy left alone with him to recite
the offices when the pestilence of 686 swept away the monks. (Anon.
Hist. Abb. § 14.)
656 Cf. II, 20, _ad fin._, note.
657 Cf. c. 17, and note.
658 In the Council of Constantinople, 680-681 (_v.s._ c. 17 _ad init._,
note.)
659 To St. Martin’s own church at Tours, where, as Abbot of St. Martin’s
monastery at Rome, it was specially fitting that he should find
burial.
660 Cf. III, 7, note.
661 “Princeps,” A.S. Ealdorman. The county of the Southern Gyrwas was
South Cambridgeshire. Cf. III, 20, note.
662 Cf. c. 25. Bede tells us in the “Life of Cuthbert,” that she was a
half sister of Oswy’s on the mother’s side. Her name survives in
Ebchester on the Derwent, where she founded a nunnery; in St. Abb’s
Head, near which she afterwards founded the double monastery of
Coldingham; and in St. Ebbe’s, Oxford. She was the friend of
Cuthbert, and it was to her exhortations to Egfrid that Wilfrid owed
his release from prison.
663 Coldingham in Berwickshire. It was a mixed monastery. Cf. c. 25.
664 Ely. The Isle of Ely was her jointure from her first husband. She
received the help and support of Aldwulf, king of East Anglia (II,
15; IV, 17, 23), her cousin (he was the son of Ethelhere and nephew
of Anna). The monastery was founded in 673. It was exempted from the
jurisdiction of the East Anglian bishop, and subject to Wilfrid.
665 III, 8, cf. III, 7, note. After her husband’s death she acted as
regent for a time, then founded a monastery in the Isle of Sheppey,
and became abbess of it. Thence she retired to Ely, where, after
being a simple nun, she succeeded Ethelthryth as abbess. She was
herself succeeded first at Sheppey, and afterwards at Ely, by her
daughter Ermingild, widow of Wulfhere of Mercia.
666 Grantchester, near Cambridge.
667 A Roman sarcophagus. A number of fragments of very ancient stone
coffins have been found there, built into the wall of the church
(Mayor and Lumby).
668 “Audrey” is the popular form of the name Ethelthryth. A “tawdry
lace” (_i.e._ St. Audrey lace) is a necklace; cf. “Winter’s Tale,”
iv. 3. Hence our word “tawdry,” which possibly only derives its
meaning from the cheap necklaces, etc., sold at St. Audrey’s fair at
Ely on the saint’s day, October 17 (the day of her translation), but
may also be a reminiscence of this anecdote.
669 The poem is (1) alphabetical; _i.e._, the first letters of the
hexameter lines form the alphabet, and there are four additional
couplets at the end, in which the first letters form the word
“Amen”; (2) “serpentine,” reciprocal or echoing; _i.e._, the last
half of the pentameter repeats the first two and a half feet of the
hexameter. Such verses are common in mediaeval Latin, and are
doubtless a development from the occasional instances of echoing
lines which occur in the classical poets (_e.g._, Martial VIII, xxi,
1-2; IX, 97; Ovid, Fasti IV, 365-366), as the extreme form of that
impulse to give emphasis by iteration which is a marked feature of
Latin poetry, particularly of the Ovidian elegiac.
670 Agatha suffered 5th February, 251 A.D., in the Decian persecution,
according to her “Acta” (the Diocletian, according to the
Martyrology and Aldhelm). Eulalia was burnt to death at the age of
twelve in the Diocletian persecution, having denounced herself. The
legend tells that a white dove hovered over her ashes till snow fell
and covered them. Tecla, the disciple of St. Paul, is said to have
been the first virgin martyr. She was miraculously saved from her
martyrdom and died in peace long after. Euphemia was torn by wild
beasts at Chalcedon in 307 A.D. in the Diocletian persecution.
Asterius, Bishop of Amasea, 400 A.D., says that he saw a tablet in
the church at Chalcedon depicting her sufferings. We have thus very
early evidence for her history. Agnes is said to have been beheaded
in 304 A.D., in the Diocletian persecution, at the age of twelve or
thirteen. The date of St. Cecilia is very uncertain; Fortunatus,
Bishop of Poitiers, says that she died _circ._ 176-180 A.D., but
another account places her martyrdom as late as the time of
Diocletian. Her connection with music does not appear in the
legends, and is probably due to the fact that Pope Paschal endowed
the monastery which he built in connection with her church at Rome
to provide for musical services at her tomb day and night.
671 She had not been a queen twelve years. The dates are probably these:
she was born about 630 at Ermynge (Ixning) in Suffolk, and married
to Tondbert in 652. Tondbert died in 655, and she was married to
Egfrid (who must then have been only fifteen) in 660. Egfrid
succeeded to the throne in 670 or 671, and it must have been in 672
that she retired to Coldingham. She was, therefore, queen for not
more than two years, though perhaps we may accept the statement of
the Liber Eliensis that Egfrid was sub-king of Deira for some years
before his accession.
_ 672 I.e._, she had been buried sixteen years; _v.s._ c. 19.
673 Literally the water snake, ὕδρος, used generally for any serpent,
and so = the Devil; _Chelydrus_ is similarly used (_v._ Ducange).
674 The Battle of the Trent in 679 (cf. V, 24). It was on the
anniversary of Wilfrid’s expulsion; he is said to have foretold a
calamity. The place may, perhaps, be identified with
Elford-on-Trent, in Staffordshire; it is supposed that the name may
be a reminiscence of Aelfwine. By this battle Mercia regained
Lindsey, which never again became Northumbrian (cf. c. 12, _ad
fin._).
675 Cf. c. 22, where he is called “King Aelfwine,” as also twice in
Eddius. He may have been sub-king of Deira.
676 III, 11; V, 24. When Wilfrid took refuge in Mercia in 681, she and
her husband expelled him “pro adulatione Egfridi regis” (Eddius).
677 The “Wergild,” _i.e._, pecuniary value set upon every man’s life
according to his status (_v._ Stubbs, “Constitutional History”).
678 “Comes,” A.S. “gesith.” Above, Imma is described as “de militia ejus
juvenis,” _i.e._, a young “king’s thegn” (the term applied to him in
the A.S. version).
679 Towcester (“Tovecester,” in Domesday Book) in Northamptonshire,
Doncaster, and Littleborough have all been suggested, but the place
has not been identified. The name indicates that it had been a Roman
station.
680 Sexburg. Cf. III, 8; IV, 19, p. 261, and note.
681 Cf. III, 24, 25; IV, 24; V, 24.
_ 682 Ibid._
683 Cf. _infra_, this Chapter. He was the son of Edwin’s elder brother,
who died in exile after the invasion of Deira by Ethelric, king of
Bernicia, in 589.
684 II, 9, foll.
685 Her sister, Heresuid, had married Ethelhere, brother of Anna, of
East Anglia, whom he succeeded. In 647, when Hilda took the veil,
Anna was still king.
686 III, 8, note.
687 Cf. II, 15; IV, 17.
688 A small cell, not otherwise known.
689 Hartlepool, _v._ III, 24, p. 190, note.
690 Bede is the sole authority for her life. A fifteenth century gloss
on one of the MSS. has led to her being wrongly identified with the
Irish Bega, the supposed foundress of St. Bees.
691 A Roman station on the Wharfe, now Tadcaster. Probably the nunnery
was at Healaugh (Heiu’s _laeg_ = territory), three miles north of
Calcaria. A gravestone bearing Heiu’s name has been found there.
692 Cf. c. 12.
693 His name does not appear in any of the lists of bishops. There is no
evidence that a see of Dorchester (cf. III, 7, and note) existed at
this time, except from this passage and the statement of Florence of
Worcester to the effect that a fivefold division of the Mercian
diocese took place in 679, that Dorchester was included in Mercia,
and that Aetla was appointed as its bishop. Probably this latter
statement is derived from Bede. It has been proposed to identify
Aetla with Haedde, Bishop of the West Saxons (III, 7; IV, 12; V,
18), but it seems unlikely that Bede should not have mentioned their
identity. The most probable explanation seems to be that a see was
established about 679 at Dorchester (which may have been under
Mercia at the time) and that Aetla was its bishop, but that it had
only a very short existence.
694 Cf. _infra_, notes.
695 John of Beverley, “Inderauuda” (_v._ V, 2). He and Berthun (_ibid._)
are said to have founded Beverley. He was consecrated Bishop of
Hexham, probably in 687, transferred to York 705, when Wilfrid was
restored to Hexham, and died in 721, soon after his retirement to
Beverley (V, 6, _ad fin._). As Bishop of Hexham he ordained Bede
both deacon and priest (V. 24). He had been a pupil of Archbishop
Theodore (cf. V. 3).
696 Wilfrid II, Bishop of York. He succeeded John (V, 6) in 718, and was
still Bishop of York in 731 when Bede finished the History (cf. V,
23). In 732 he resigned and was succeeded by Egbert (to whom Bede
addressed the Ep. ad Egb., and who in 735 received the pallium as
Archbishop of York). Wilfrid died in 745 (_v._ Continuation, 732,
735, and 745). His character is highly praised by Alcuin (De Sanct.
Ebor.).
697 Hartlepool and Whitby, both apparently double monasteries.
698 Cf. II, 2, p. 84.
699 Dr. Stubbs suggests that this sub-king of the Hwiccas may possibly
be the same as Osric of Northumbria, _v._ V, 23, and note.
700 The see was at Worcester. The foundation of the bishopric is
assigned by Florence of Worcester to the year 679, the date of the
alleged fivefold division of the Mercian diocese (_v.s._ p. 272,
note 2), Bosel being appointed bishop.
701 Cf. c. 12 and note.
702 The consecration of Oftfor is generally placed in 691. It was after
Wilfrid’s second expulsion, when he was acting as Bishop of
Leicester. Theodore had died in 690, and Bertwald was not
consecrated till 693 (_v._ V, 8).
703 So Florence of Worcester.
704 He was king of the Britons of Loidis and Elmet. It was probably to
avenge the death of his nephew, Hereric, that Edwin conquered Loidis
and drove out Cerdic.
705 Cf. c. 14, note.
706 Hackness, thirteen miles from Whitby and three to the west of
Scarborough. It was a cell belonging to Whitby. At the dissolution
under Henry VIII, it contained only four monks, of the Benedictine
order (Dugdale, “Monasticon”).
707 She has been confused with Heiu and with Bega, _v.s._ p. 271, note
7.
_ 708 I.e._, the Prioress.
709 Obviously ballads, probably of a warlike character, existed before
Caedmon, but he is regarded as the father of English sacred poetry.
It is a question how far the new impulse arose independently among
the Anglo-Saxons, or is to be connected with Old Saxon religious
poetry of which the “Heliand” is the only extant specimen (cf.
Plummer, _ad loc._). Of the mass of poetry attributed to Caedmon,
much must be regarded as not his actual work. The fragment
translated here by Bede has been accepted as genuine by most
critics. It exists in the Northumbrian dialect at the end of the
Moore MS. of Bede, and in a West Saxon form in other MSS., as well
as in the Anglo-Saxon translation of Bede’s History, the
Northumbrian version being the oldest.
710 “Villicus,” A.S. “tun-gerefa” = town-reeve, _i.e._, headman of the
township. Cædmon was apparently a herdsman on a farm belonging to
the monastery.
711 Cf. Levit., xi, 3, and Deut., xiv, 6.
712 Apparently reserved and kept in the Infirmary for the Communion of
the dying.
713 Matins were sung soon after midnight.
714 Coldingham, _v.s._ c. 19 and note.
715 Not the Abbot of Iona who wrote the the life of St. Columba (V, 15,
21). This Adamnan is found in the Martyrology of Wilson, in Colgan’s
“Lives of the Irish Saints,” and in Bollandus, “Acta Sanctorum.”
716 From the Vulgate, Ps. xciv, 2. (xcv in our Psalter.)
717 C. 19 and note.
718 The detached dwellings built round the principal buildings of the
community. Irish monasteries were built after this fashion.
719 Wearmouth and Jarrow.
720 For Berct, cf. V, 24 (_sub_ 698), note. The circumstances which led
to the invasion are not known.
721 The Picts north of the Forth, cf. c. 12, _ad fin._ Their king at
this time was Bruide mac Bili, who was Egfrid’s distant kinsman. In
672 Egfrid had crushed a rising of Picts under the same king.
722 Cf. cc. 27-32. He had a mysterious intimation of the disaster at the
hour of the king’s defeat and death, and warned the queen
(Eormenburg), who was with him at Carlisle (_v._ Bede’s Life of
Cuthbert, and the Anonymous Life). He is also said to have
prophesied the king’s death a year before to Elfled, Egfrid’s sister
(_v._ III, 24).
723 At Nechtansmere or Dunnechtan, identified with Dunnichen, near
Forfar. Egfrid was buried in Iona, where Adamnan, the friend of his
successor, was Abbot.
724 Cf. c. 5 _ad init._, note. If he succeeded in February, 670, this
would be his sixteenth year.
725 III, 4, 27; IV, 3; V, 9, 10, 22, 24. His English birth and long
residence in Ireland fitted him to be a mediator.
726 Vergil, Aen. II, 169.
727 The Dalriadic Scots (Cf. I, 1, note; I, 34) and the Britons of
Strathclyde.
728 Cf. c. 12.
729 Abercorn on the Forth, cf. I, 12; IV, 12, and note.
730 III, 24, 25; IV, 23; V, 24.
731 Cf. III, 24, p. 190.
732 III, 24, and note. Elfled succeeded Hilda as abbess, and apparently
ruled jointly with her mother.
733 Cf. V, _passim_, and Bede’s two lives of Cuthbert. His mother’s name
is said by the Irish authorities to have been Fina. He had lived
among the Irish islands (“in insulis Scottorum,” and “in regionibus
Scottorum”) for the sake of study, according to Bede, but William of
Malmesbury implies that Egfrid may have been responsible for his
exile. He was a man of great learning and of scholarly tastes. In
Bede’s “History of the Abbots,” we are told that he gave eight hides
of land for a MS. which Benedict Biscop had brought from Rome.
734 Cc. 5, 17, 22.
735 Cc. 1, 5.
736 Apparently at one time joint-king with Hlothere. Certain dooms are
ascribed to them both. According to Thomas of Elmham, he was killed
in war against Caedwalla, king of Wessex, and his brother, Mul, who
were at this time encroaching on Kent.
737 Mul seems to have usurped the throne for a time.
738 In 692 we find him reigning as joint-king with Swaebhard (V, 8 _ad
fin._). He must have succeeded in 690, if Bede’s dates are correct;
cf. V, 23, where it is said that he died on April 23, 725, after a
reign of thirty-four and a half years.
_ 739 I.e._, 685.
740 C. 26 and note.
741 Cf. III, 16 and note.
742 As a boy he had been remarkable for his high spirits and love of
athletic exercises. The rebuke of a little boy of three is said to
have turned his thoughts to a more serious life, and a vision which
he saw as he watched his sheep on the Lammermuir Hills on the night
of Aidan’s death, led him to form the resolve of entering a
monastery. (Bede’s Life of Cuthbert.)
743 Melrose; cf. III, 26 and note.
_ 744 Ibid._ and V, 9.
745 C. 12, p. 243, note 1.
746 C. 28; V, 9. Probably here “sacerdos” = priest, A.S. version:
“masse-preost.” But Aelfric calls him bishop. The town of St.
Boswells on the Tweed is called after him. For an instance of his
prophetic spirit, _v. infra_, c. 28. It was his fame which drew
Cuthbert to Melrose. When he saw the youth on his arrival, he
exclaimed, “Behold a servant of the Lord!” He is generally supposed
to have been carried off by the plague of 664. For an account of his
last days spent in reading the Gospel of St. John with Cuthbert, v.
Bede’s Prose Life of Cuthbert. The “codex” which they used was
extant in Durham in Simeon of Durham’s time.
747 Cf. III, 3, p. 139, note 3.
748 Cf. I, 27 _ad init._
749 Much of the account given here is from the prose life.
750 The synod of Twyford, a mixed assembly of clergy and laity, met in
the autumn of 684. The place is “perhaps where the Aln is crossed by
two fords near Whittingham” (in Northumberland) (Bright). This is
another instance of the preposition prefixed to the name, cf. II,
14, p. 119, note 5.
751 Cc. 12, 26.
752 Cf. c. 27, p. 288.
753 In 685.
754 Cf. c. 12 and note.
_ 755 Ibid._
756 Soon after Christmas, 686. In February, 687, his last illness began.
757 St. Herbert’s Island in Derwentwater. Strictly speaking, the Derwent
flows through Derwentwater: it rises in Borrowdale. An indulgence of
forty days was granted by Thomas Appleby, Bishop of Carlisle, in
1374 to pilgrims who visited the island.
758 Carlisle, called also Luel by Simeon of Durham.
759 In 687.
760 In St. Peter’s Church. In 875, when the monks fled from Lindisfarne
before the Danes, his relics were removed, first to
Chester-le-Street, then to Ripon, and eventually to Durham. Simeon
of Durham says the body was found to be uncorrupted, when it was
placed in the new Cathedral there in 1104.
761 The year in which he administered the bishopric falls between his
restoration to York, Hexham, and the monastery of Ripon, and his
second expulsion.
762 Cf. III, 25, _ad init._, and _infra_ c. 30. In the life of Cuthbert
he is described as a man “magnarum virtutum” (miraculous powers?).
Alcuin tells that he calmed the winds by his prayers.
763 698 A.D.
764 The Dacre, a small stream near Penrith. There are the ruins of a
castle, and Smith says there is a tradition of a monastery on its
banks.
765 Not the missionary in V, 11.
766 “Innumera miracula” are ascribed to him by Florence of Worcester.
767 III, 16, and note; IV, 27-30.
768 Ripon, _v._ III, 25, p. 194; V, 19.
769 Cuthbert and Eadbert (IV, 29, 30). His relics were removed with
Cuthbert’s and finally interred at Durham.
770 IV, 26, and V, 18. He reigned from 685 to 705.
771 III, 26; IV, 12, 27, 28. He died in 686.
772 John of Beverley, _v._ IV, 23, p. 273, and note. Wilfrid
administered the bishopric during the vacancy between Eata’s death
and John’s consecration in 687.
773 Cf. _ibid._
774 Beverley. The present name is said to be derived from a colony of
beavers in the Hull river. In 866 the minster was destroyed by the
Danes, but it was repaired three years later. In 925 Athelstan
restored it and made it collegiate, giving it lands and various
privileges. (For the preposition, _v._ II, 14, p. 119, note 5.)
775 Supposed to have been at St. John’s Lee, near Hexham. The old name
is Erneshow or Herneshaw. (Richard of Hexham, Folcard.)
776 The reading of the best MSS., “Clymeterium” (_v. ll._ clymiterium,
climiterium, clymitorium) seems inexplicable. Smith reads
“coemeterium,” probably on the authority of a gloss (“id est
cimeterium”) on some of the later MSS., and it has generally been
translated “cemetery.” The AS. version has “gebæd hus 7 ciricean” =
oratory and church.
777 Acts, iii, 2-8.
778 This was Wilfrid’s second restoration. He recovered Hexham and the
monastery of Ripon at the Synod on the Nidd in 705.
779 Bosa (IV, 12, 23) died _circ._ 705.
780 Watton in the East Riding of Yorkshire. (“Hodie Watton, _i.e._,
humida villa ex aquis et paludibus quibus septa est.” Smith.) It is
called Betendune by Folcard, the biographer of Bishop John.
781 For “studium” = medical treatment, _v._ Plummer, _ad loc._ Under the
verb, _studere_, Ducange gives instances of this meaning: “Iussitque
rex, ut studeretur a medicis”; Greg. Turon., vi, 32. “Episcopus,
adhibito mulomedico, jussit ei (equo) studium impendere, quo
scilicet sanari potuisset”; St. Audoënus, lib. 2; Vit. St. Eligii,
44.
782 Bishop John had studied under Theodore. Cf. IV, 23, note.
783 Note the tendency to hereditary succession in monasteries (_v._
Haddan and Stubbs, III, 337-338). Instances are, however, rare in
England, though common in Ireland, where the clan system affected
ecclesiastical preferments. Eanfled and Elfled at Whitby are not a
case in point, as Eanfled did not precede her daughter, but was only
associated with her in some way in the government of the monastery.
784 This “vill” was at South Burton (Folcard), now called Bishop Burton,
between two and three miles from Beverley.
785 To redeem his fast, as the A.S. version explains.
786 St. Matt., viii, 14-15; St. Mark, i, 30-31; St. Luke, iv, 38-39.
787 At North Burton (Dugdale, “Monasticon”).
788 He lived till 745, according to Simeon of Durham.
789 There were probably two monasteries at Tynemouth, the one mentioned
here, and another (_v._ Bede’s “Life of Cuthbert”), which had been a
house of monks, but afterwards, when Bede wrote, had become a
nunnery.
790 Breathing on the face and catechizing were practised in order to
exorcise evil spirits from the hearts of catechumens (Bede, Opp.
viii, 106).
791 The Saxon Chronicle is very exact: “Thirty-three years, eight
months, and thirteen days.” This would date his episcopate from
August, 687, to May, 721, for May 7th was observed as the day of his
festival at Beverley.
792 Cf. c. 2.
793 Wilfrid II: _v._ IV, 23, p. 273, and note.
_ 794 I.e._, in 688. For Caedwalla, _v._ IV, 12 (and note), 15, 16.
795 Sergius I, 687-701.
796 Cf. II, 9, 14 and notes.
797 Cf. II, 14 and note.
798 By Benedictus Crispus, Archbishop of Milan. He died in 725.
_ 799 I.e._, Sergius was his godfather (cf. III, 7, where Oswald stands
sponsor for Cynegils). The Saxon Chronicle says he also baptized
him.
800 Justinian II. He succeeded in 685 and died in 711.
801 Cf. IV, 15, and note. Thus, according to Bede’s reckoning, he
reigned from 688 to 725, but the date of his abdication is variously
given.
802 Gregory II., 715-731, _v._ Preface, p. 2.
803 He was consecrated 26th March, 668, and died, as Bede says here, on
19th September, 690.
804 The church of SS. Peter and Paul. Cf. II, 3, p. 90.
805 They are elegiacs. Cf. I, 10.
806 Cf. II, 3, and _infra_ 19, 23.
807 The old Roman town Reculver, in Kent. A charter of 679 exists (the
oldest original English charter extant) by which King Hlothere of
Kent grants land in Thanet to Bertwald and his monastery.
808 Said to be the Inlade.
809 The see was, therefore, vacant for two years, possibly owing to the
political troubles of the time, cf. IV, 26, _ad fin._ The further
delay of a year between Bertwald’s election and consecration may
have been caused by his desire to obtain greater weight as
consecrated by the Primate of a neighbouring Church (Haddan and
Stubbs, III, 229).
810 For Wictred, _v._ IV, 26, and note. Thomas of Elmham tries to
identify Suaebhard with Suefred, son of Sebbi, king of the East
Saxons (_v._ IV, 11, _ad fin._), and says that he made himself king
of Kent by violence, but this seems very improbable.
811 He was Archbishop of Lyons. The Church of Lyons did not obtain the
primacy over other metropolitan churches till the eleventh century,
but apparently it held a leading position even before this time.
812 He was trained under Theodore and Hadrian in the School of
Canterbury; cf. V, 23, _ad init._ The date of Gebmund’s death and
the succession of Tobias cannot be earlier than 696, as Gebmund
(_v._ IV, 12) appears to have been present at the Kentish
Witenagemot of Bersted in that year. (Haddan and Stubbs, III, 238,
241.) Tobias died in 726.
813 III, 4, 27; IV, 3, 26, and _infra_ cc. 10, 22, 23, 24.
814 The name does not occur in any Celtic literature which we possess.
All the evidence seems to show that the Celts have always called the
English “Saxons.” “Ellmyn,” for Allemanni, occurs sometimes in Welsh
poetry (Rhŷs, “Celtic Britain”).
815 The Frisians at this time occupied the coastland from the Maas to
the region beyond the Ems. The Rugini are probably the Rugii (_v._
Tacitus, Germania, Chapter XLIII). They were on the shores of the
Baltic, probably about the mouth of the Oder (the name survives in
Rügen and Rügenwalde). They are found with other North German tribes
in the army of Attila, and afterwards formed a settlement on the
Lower Danube. The Danes were mainly in Jutland, Fünen, and the
extreme south of Scandinavia. The Huns, who appeared in Europe
towards the end of the fourth century and menaced both the Eastern
and Western Empires, were, after Attila’s death, driven eastwards,
and settled near the Pontus, disappearing among the Bulgarians and
other kindred tribes. The Old Saxons, or Saxons of the Continent
(cf. I, 15), occupied both sides of the Elbe. The name Saxon does
not occur in the oldest accounts of the Germans. Probably it was a
new name for a union of nations which comprised the Cherusci,
Chauci, Angrivarii (and perhaps other tribes) of Tacitus. The
Boructuari are the Bructeri in Westphalia (_v._ Zeuss, “Die
Deutschen und die Nachbarstämme”).
816 Cf. IV, 27 (note) and 28.
817 Melrose; cf. III, 26; IV, 27, and _infra_ c. 12.
818 IV, 27. Cf. III, 26; IV, 12, 28; V, 2.
819 Cf. III, 3, 4, and notes; _i.e._, the monasteries which owed their
origin to Columba and were included in the “province” of Iona. They
are distinguished from those which are mentioned in c. 15 as “ab
Hiensium dominio liberi.”
820 His baptismal name was Colum (_columba_ = a dove). He is said to
have acquired the name of Colum-cille, because in his youth he was
so constantly in the “cell” or oratory.
821 Jonah, i, 12.
822 Nothing more is known of him. Alcuin mentions him in his life of
Wilbrord. His name is included in a list of the eleven companions of
Wilbrord given in a life of St. Suidbert (_v. infra_ c. 11), but no
value is to be attached to it (_v._ Haddan and Stubbs, III, 225).
Bede distinctly says that he retired from missionary efforts after
this unsuccessful attempt.
823 The story is told that at one time Rathbed was about to receive
baptism at the hands of St. Wulfram, Archbishop of Sens, but drew
back on being told that his ancestors were among the lost, refusing
to go to Heaven without them. His perpetual wars with the Franks
ended in his defeat and expulsion, and he died in 719.
824 The authority for Wilbrord’s life is Alcuin, who wrote it both in
prose and verse. Wilbrord was born in 657 or 658 in Northumbria, and
was handed over by his mother to the monks at Ripon in his infancy.
His father, Wilgils, became a hermit on a promontory at the mouth of
the Humber. At the age of twenty he went to Ireland for the sake of
study and a stricter life. In 690 he set out for Frisland with
eleven others, landed at Katwyk and went to Utrecht, which was
afterwards his episcopal see (_v. infra_ c. 11).
825 They turned aside to Pippin on finding Rathbed obdurate. Pippin of
Heristal, Mayor of the Palace of the Austrasian kings, had defeated
the Neustrians at Testry in 687 and was now the actual ruler of the
Franks, though it was his grandson, Pippin the Short, who first
assumed royal power.
826 Cf. c. 9, p. 319, and note.
827 Roger of Wendover places their mission in 695. It must have been
later than Wilbrord’s in 690.
828 “Satrap,” cf. Stubbs, Constitutional History, i, pp. 41-42. From
this passage and similar notices of the Continental Saxons he infers
that they had remained free from Roman influences and from any
foreign intermixture of blood or institutions. “They had preserved
the ancient features of German life in their purest forms.... King
Alfred, when he translated Bede had no difficulty in recognizing in
the satrap the ealdorman, in the villicus the _tungerefa_, in the
vicus the _tunscipe_ of his own land.”
829 The year cannot be fixed.
830 The Church of St. Cunibert, Cologne (Gallican Martyrology, quoted by
Smith).
831 Sergius I: _v.s._ c. 7.
832 Alcuin tells how he killed some of the sacred cattle of the god
Fosite, a son of Balder, in Heligoland, and baptized three men in
his well.
833 A life of him by Marcellinus (_v.s._ c. 9, note on Wictbert) is
worthless historically. Besides what we learn from Bede, we have the
date of his death (713) given by the “Annales Francorum.”
834 This was after Wilfrid’s second expulsion (V, 19). Bertwald was
elected in July, 692, and returned from the Continent in August, 693
(_v.s._ c. 8).
835 The usual form of the name is Plectrude.
836 Kaiserwerth on the Rhine, where it is believed that his relics still
remain in a silver shrine in the thirteenth-century church. (For the
preposition, _v._ II, 14, p. 119, note 5.)
837 This was Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. The festival is 22nd November.
As to the year, Mr. Plummer considers that an entry in an old
calendar belonging to Epternach, near Trèves, Wilbrord’s own
monastery, giving the date 695, is almost certainly by Wilbrord
himself.
838 Utrecht. A distinction has been drawn between the two places,
Wiltaburg, or Wiltenburg, being a village near Utrecht, but the
names appear to be interchangeable.
839 The Church of St. Saviour. He also rebuilt a small church which had
been destroyed by the pagans, and consecrated it in honour of St.
Martin (Letter of St. Boniface to Pope Stephen). The cathedral
stands on the site of this church.
840 Bede writes in 731. As Alcuin says Wilbrord lived to be eighty-one
years of age, he must have died in 738 or 739. Boniface is fairly
accurate when he says that he preached for fifty years.
841 Mr. Skene (“Celtic Scotland,” i., p. 219) has shown that the place
cannot be Cunningham in Ayrshire, which was not in Northumbria, but
in Strathclyde, and not at that time subject to Northumbria. He
suggests Tininghame in East Lothian, which Simeon of Durham calls
Intiningaham, and places in the diocese of Lindisfarne (C being a
scribe’s error for T). Chester-le-Street (Saxon: Cunungaceaster) has
also been suggested.
842 Melrose, _v._ III, 26; IV, 27; V, 9.
843 Cf. III, 19. On mediaeval visions, cf. Plummer, _ad loc._, and
Bright, p. 144.
844 Vergil, Aen. VI, 268.
845 IV, 26; V. 1.
846 Cf. c. 23. He began life in the service of St. Cuthbert. He became
first Prior, or Provost, then Abbot of Melrose, and succeeded
Eadfrid, who died in 721, as Bishop of Lindisfarne. He enriched
Lindisfarne with two treasures of art: a beautiful stone cross which
he erected there, and a cover of gold and jewels for the Lindisfarne
Gospels, written by Eadfrid in honour of St. Cuthbert. The book is
now in the British Museum, but the cover is lost.
847 704-709. Cf. _infra_, c. 19, pp. 345, 356, and c. 24. He was the son
of Wulfhere, but being a boy at the time of his father’s death, was
passed over in favour of Ethelred, Wulfhere’s brother.
848 Ps. xxxi, 1, in the Vulgate (xxxii in our Psalter).
849 Bishop of Whitern; _v. infra_, cc. 18, 23.
850 Cf. 1 John, v, 16.
851 Acts, vii, 56.
852 The northern Irish, and of them only those who were independent of
Iona (_v. infra_). The southern Irish had conformed much earlier;
cf. III, 3, and note.
853 It is not clear whether Bede means that any Britons were converted
by Adamnan. If so, they must have been Britons of Strathclyde. The
Welsh only conformed 755-777. The reference may be to those of the
Cornish Britons, subject to the West Saxons, who were led in 705 by
Aldhelm’s letter to Geraint to adopt the Catholic Easter (_v.
infra_, c. 18).
854 Ninth Abbot of Iona, 679-704, the author of the Life of St. Columba.
855 Of Northumbria. Aldfrid, who had studied in Iona during his exile,
was his friend. Adamnan visited the king twice, first, circ. 686,
when he obtained the release of the sixty Irish prisoners taken to
England by Berct in 684 (_v._ IV, 26 _ad init._) and again two years
later (cf. _infra_ c. 21, p. 372, note 2).
856 The Irish annals mention two voyages to Ireland subsequent to that
in 686 with the prisoners, viz., in 692 and 697, after which he
probably stayed there till after Easter, 704.
857 On 23rd September, 704. (The dates are those of Tighernach and the
“Annales Cambriae.”)
858 Adamnan’s “De Locis Sanctis,” and Bede’s account here, are the only
sources of information with regard to this bishop. Adamnan’s book is
based on the narrative of Arculf compared with other authorities.
Bede, again, in his own work on the the same subject, made
selections from Adamnan, using also other authorities, _e.g._
Josephus.
_ 859 I.e._, he had copies made of it.
860 Nevertheless he quotes his own book rather than Adamnan’s.
861 Cf. Warren and Conder, “Survey of Western Palestine”: “Bethlehem, a
well-built stone town, standing on a narrow ridge which runs east
and west ... towards the east is the open market place, and, beyond
this, the convent in which is the fourth century church of St. Mary,
including the Grotto of the Nativity beneath the main apse.”
862 “Vulturnus” seems to be distinguished from its Greek equivalent,
“Eurus.”
863 The Basilica of the Anastasis was completed by Constantine in 335
A.D., and destroyed in 614 by Chosroes II, King of Persia. Other
ancient travellers besides Arculf describe the Holy Places.
Eucherius, writing about 427-440, mentions the Martyrium, Golgotha
and the Anastasis, and describes their respective sites in similar
terms. Theodorus (about 530 A.D.) alludes to the Invention of the
Holy Cross by Helena, but the earliest authorities do not connect
her with it.
864 “Brucosa.” The adjective is not found in the dictionaries. But
Ducange has the following words from which one may, perhaps, infer
an adjective of kindred meaning: “_Brua_, idem quod supra _Brossa_,
silvula, dumetum,” “_Bruarium_, ericetum,” and “_Broca_, ager
incultus, dumetum.”
865 The Basilica of the Ascension, on the summit of Mount Olivet, is
mentioned by the Pilgrim of Bordeaux who was in Jerusalem in 333
A.D. No traces of the church have been found. He also speaks of the
Anastasis, which was being built at the time.
866 Saewulf (1102 A.D.) writes: “Below is the place called Golgotha,
where Adam is said to have been raised to life by the Blood of our
Lord which fell upon him, as is said in the Passion, ‘And many
bodies of the saints which slept arose.’ But in the sentences of St.
Augustine we read that he was buried in Hebron, where also the three
patriarchs were afterwards buried with their wives, Abraham with
Sarah, Isaac with Rebecca, and Jacob with Leah, as well as the bones
of Joseph which the children of Israel carried with them from
Egypt.”
867 He died at Driffield (supposed to mean the “field of Deira”), in the
East Riding of Yorkshire, on 14th December, 705 (Saxon Chronicle).
868 Bede and the Chronicle do not mention the usurper Eadwulf, who held
the sovereignty for eight weeks. With Aldfrid the greatness of
Northumbria, which had begun to decline after Egfrid’s defeat and
death, passed away, except for a brief revival in the time of
Eadbert and his brother, Archbishop Egbert. Osred was a tyrannical
and lawless boy, and a period of political and ecclesiastical
trouble set in (cf. Bede, “Epistola ad Egbertum”; Boniface, Ep. 62,
etc.).
869 III, 7; IV, 12.
_ 870 Infra_ c. 23. He has been mentioned, c. 13, _ad fin._ He studied
under Aldhelm at Malmesbury (_v. infra_).
871 The greatest scholar of his time and the man of widest influence as
a teacher. He was a West Saxon, of royal blood, born about 639; he
studied first under Hadrian in the School of Canterbury, then under
Maildufus (_v. infra_), was ordained priest by Bishop Hlothere
(Leutherius, _v._ III, 7), and about the year 675 became Abbot of
Malmesbury, which under his rule grew to be a place of importance
and attracted crowds of students. On one occasion he went by
invitation of Pope Sergius to Rome. He became Bishop of Sherborne,
when in 705 the West Saxon diocese was divided (_v. infra_). He died
in 709 in the little church of Doulting in Somerset and was buried
in St. Michael’s Church at Malmesbury. He greatly strengthened the
Church in Wessex by his influence with King Ini and his zeal in
building churches and monasteries in various places. His widespread
influence, as well as his generous use of it, is shown by his letter
to Wilfrid’s clergy after the Council of Estrefeld, exhorting them
to remain faithful to their bishop (v. Haddan and Stubbs, III, 254).
872 In 705. The bishopric of the West Saxons was the only one which
Theodore did not subdivide. The delay may have been due to the
political disturbances of the time, and these had come to an end
under the rule of Ini. Haedde’s death removed a further difficulty.
He seems to have resisted Bertwald’s attempt to divide the diocese,
for we find in 704 a council threatening the West Saxons with
excommunication if the division is not carried out. Hampshire,
Surrey, and, for a time, Sussex, were assigned to Winchester;
Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and Somersetshire to Sherborne
(Haddan and Stubbs, III, 276), but the authorities differ on this
point. After the Conquest, the combined bishoprics of Sherborne and
Ramsbury (founded in 909 for Wiltshire) had their see established at
Old Sarum.
873 Cf. Preface, p. 3, and note, and IV, 16. In 744 he resigned his see
and died in 745. It appears from a letter of Boniface to him that he
became blind in his old age.
874 Malmesbury. It was founded by an Irish monk and scholar, Maildufus
(Irish “Maelduib”), as a small settlement living under monastic rule
(_v.s._ note on Aldhelm).
875 His letter to Geraint or Gerontius, king of Dumnonia (Devon and
Cornwall). A West Saxon synod in 705 appointed Aldhelm to write a
book, “quo maligna haeresis Britonum destrueretur” (Faricius, Life
of Aldhelm). He appears to have influenced only those Britons who
were subject to the West Saxons. Devon and Cornwall did not finally
conform to the Catholic Easter till early in the tenth century.
876 Cf. IV, 10 (note on Hildilid).
877 A poet of the fifth century (circ. 450), author of a poem called
“Carmen Paschale.” He translated it into prose and called it “Opus
Paschale.” Aldhelm wrote his prose work first.
878 His style is turgid and grandiloquent, and, owing to the high
estimation in which he was held, his influence in this respect on
contemporary writing was harmful.
879 Cf. _infra_ c. 23. A letter to him from Archbishop Bertwald is
extant. We do not know how long he lived. We have his signature to a
charter of 739.
880 Cf. IV, 15. The see was established at Selsey. The date of this
event is not known (Matthew of Westminster is the only authority for
711). Bede indicates it very vaguely (“quibus administrantibus”),
and does not make it clear to whose administration he alludes. The
more obvious reference is surely to Daniel and Aldhelm, the passage
about Forthere being parenthetical, but the other view has the
authority of Haddan and Stubbs (III, 296), viz., that he means
Daniel and Forthere, and that thus the date is fixed to some time
after Aldhelm’s death (709).
881 Selsey, cf. IV, 13, 14.
882 The vacancy was filled in 733 by the appointment of Sigfrid (_v._
Continuation).
883 Cf. c. 18, _ad init._ His fourth year was 709.
884 C. 13 and _infra_ c. 19 _ad fin._, and c. 24. For a similar action,
cf. Caedwalla and Ini (_v.s._ c. 7) and (_infra_) Offa.
885 Constantine I, 708-715.
886 709-716. St. Boniface (Letter to Ethelbald) gives Ceolred a very bad
character, and says that he died impenitent at a banquet, seized
with sudden madness. He alludes to him and Osred of Northumbria as
the first kings who tampered with the privileges of the Church.
887 III, 30, and IV, 6. Sighere reigned jointly with Sebbi. They were
succeeded by Sebbi’s sons, Sighard and Swefred (IV, 11). Offa
probably succeeded them just before this time (709); William of
Malmesbury says he reigned for a short time. He was succeeded by
Selred (d. 746).
888 St. Matt., xix, 29; St. Mark, x, 30; St. Luke, xviii, 30.
889 Oundle in Northamptonshire, where he had a monastery on land given
him by Wulfhere of Mercia. For the form of the name, cf. _infra_,
“in provincia Undalum.” Here the preposition is prefixed as often;
_v._ II, 14, note. Wilfrid died on a Thursday in October: there is
some uncertainty about the day of the month.
890 Cf. the epitaph (_infra_) and c. 24, where Bede places his
consecration in 664. This is supported by William of Malmesbury, but
Eddius says he was bishop for forty-six years.
891 Ripon, _v. infra_, p. 56. In the tenth century, Odo, Archbishop of
Canterbury, removed certain relics to Canterbury, believing them to
be the body of Wilfrid. At Ripon it was maintained that the relics
were those of Wilfrid II.
892 Our main authority for the life of Wilfrid is Eddius (_v._ IV, 2).
Bede’s account is remarkable for its omissions, though it gives a
few facts which Eddius omits.
893 His birth must be placed in 634 (cf. _infra_, his consecration at
the age of thirty). His father was a Northumbrian thegn. He is said
to have had an unkind stepmother. He was sent by his father to the
court of Oswy, thence, by Eanfled (cf. II, 9, 20; III, 15, 24, _et
saep._) to Lindisfarne, at that time under the rule of Aidan.
894 III, 8. He was the son of Eadbald (II, 5, 6, 9, _et saep._).
Eanfled’s mother was the sister of Eadbald, the Kentish princess
Ethelberg (“Tata”), wife of Edwin (II, 9, 11, 20).
895 II, 18 _et saep._
896 IV, 18, and note.
897 Cf. III, 25. Annemundus was the name of the Archbishop. Dalfinus,
Count of Lyons, was his brother. Eddius makes the same mistake.
898 A daughter of the Count.
899 He presented Wilfrid to the Pope, Eugenius I. A leaden “bulla” with
the name of Boniface, Archdeacon, inscribed upon it was found at
Whitby not long ago.
_ 900 I.e._, to Annemundus.
901 This seems to be another mistake in which Bede follows Eddius. It
was probably Ebroin (_v._ IV, 1, note), Mayor of the Palace to her
infant son Clothaire III, who put Annemundus to death. Baldhild was,
however, regent at the time. Eddius calls her a Jezebel, but all
that we know of her shows her to have been a most pious and
charitable lady, and she has been canonized by the Church. She was
especially active in her efforts to stop the traffic in slaves. She
herself, though she is said to have been of noble English birth, had
been sold as a slave into Gaul. She was married first to Ercinwald,
Mayor of the Palace, the predecessor of Ebroin (_v._ III, 19), and
afterwards to Clovis II, King of Neustria and Burgundy, 638-656.
Baldhild ended her life in the monastery of Chelles (_v._ III, 8,
and note).
902 III, 14, 21, 24, 25, 28. He was a friend of Coinwalch of Wessex,
from whom, as Eddius says, he learned to love the Roman rules.
903 Possibly Stamford, in Lincolnshire; more probably, since the land
belonged to Alchfrid, Stamford Bridge, on the Derwent, in Yorkshire.
904 Cf. III, 25, where the extent is given as forty families, _i.e._,
“hides.”
905 Cf. III, 7, 25, 28; IV, 1, 12. For the Gewissae, _v._ II, 5 and
note.
906 At the synod of Whitby, 664 (III, 25).
907 Tuda (III, 26) had died of the plague of 664. For Wilfrid’s
consecration, _v._ III, 28, _ad init._, and note. Agilbert was not
Bishop of Paris till 666 (cf. III, 25, p. 194, note).
908 Cf. III, 28, and note. Wilfrid did not return to Britain till 666.
Bede omits the story of his shipwreck on the coast of Sussex, and
says nothing of the three years spent as Abbot of Ripon, whither he
retired on finding Ceadda installed in his place. During this time
he acted occasionally as Bishop for Mercia, where the see was vacant
by the death of Jaruman in 667, and for Kent, during part of the
vacancy between the death of Deusdedit in 664 and Theodore’s arrival
in 669.
909 The same Witan which elected Wilfrid decided to transfer the
Northumbrian see from Lindisfarne back to York, where Paulinus had
originally established it.
910 In 678, _v._ IV, 12, and note. Bede passes over nine years of
ceaseless activity in the diocese. It was during this time that
Wilfrid built his great churches.
911 Eddius says that he went there by his own wish. This is not the
occasion referred to in III, 13 (_v._ note, _ad loc._). Ebroin, from
motives of private enmity (Wilfrid had helped his enemy, Dagobert II
of Austrasia), attempted to bribe Aldgils to kill or surrender
Wilfrid, but his offer was indignantly rejected.
912 Cc. 10, 11; cf. III, 13.
913 On the way he visited Dagobert II of Austrasia, and Perctarit, king
of the Lombards.
914 At a council of fifty bishops held in the Lateran in 679. Theodore
had sent documents stating his side of the case in charge of a monk
named Coenwald. For Agatho, _v._ IV, 18. The decision was that
Wilfrid should be reinstated in his bishopric and the intruding
bishops removed, but that afterwards he should appoint coadjutors
who should be consecrated by the Archbishop.
915 This council was held in 680 in preparation for the Council at
Constantinople in 680-681, against the Monothelites (cf. IV, 17, 18,
and notes).
916 In 680. Here Bede strangely omits important events. On Wilfrid’s
return to Northumbria he was accused of having procured his
acquittal by bribery and was imprisoned for nine months, first at
Bromnis (unidentified) and then at Dunbar. Being released at the
request of Aebba, Abbess of Coldingham (_v._ IV, 19, 25), who was
Egfrid’s aunt, he went first to Mercia and then to Wessex, but was
expelled from both provinces. Egfrid’s sister Osthryth was the wife
of Ethelred of Mercia, and in Wessex the king, Centwine, had married
a sister of the Northumbrian queen, Eormenburg.
917 IV, 13.
918 IV, 13, 16. His connection with Caedwalla of Wessex is to be placed
here (IV, 16).
919 In 686 he was restored to the bishopric of York and the monastery of
Ripon. The diocese over which he was now placed was greatly
circumscribed. Lindsey and Abercorn, besides having been detached by
the subdivision, had both ceased to belong to Northumbria;
Lindisfarne and Hexham were separate bishoprics and were merely
administered by Wilfrid till the appointment of Eadbert to
Lindisfarne and of John to Hexham. The restoration of Wilfrid was
brought about by Theodore who had become reconciled to him and
induced Aldfrid to allow him to be reinstated.
920 This was his second expulsion, in 691. Dissensions had arisen about
various matters. The most important were the attempt, resisted by
Wilfrid, to form Ripon into a separate see, and the requirement that
he should accept the decrees of Theodore of 678. To accept these
would have been equivalent to a rejection of the Pope’s judgement in
his case.
921 Bede omits here Wilfrid’s second sojourn in Mercia (eleven years),
when he acted temporarily as Bishop of the Middle English (he
alludes to it in IV, 23), and the great Council, representative of
the whole English Church, summoned by Aldfrid in 702 and held at a
place in Northumbria (unidentified; possibly Austerfield in the West
Riding of Yorkshire) called by Eddius “Ouestraefelda” and
“Aetswinapathe” (supposed to mean “at the swine’s path,” or
“Edwinspath”). At this Council Wilfrid was excommunicated and
deprived of all his possessions except the monastery of Ripon. He
appealed again to the Apostolic see and returned to Mercia. Probably
in the following year he set out for Rome, visiting Wilbrord in
Frisia by the way (cf. III, 13).
922 John VI, 701-705. Bertwald had sent envoys to represent Wilfrid’s
opponents. The investigation took four months, during which seventy
sittings of the Council were held.
923 Bertwald was admonished to hold a synod and come to an agreement
with Wilfrid. In the event of failure, both parties were to appear
in Rome. The letter is cautious and conciliatory in tone.
924 Cf. _supra_, p. 352.
925 Cf. _supra_, p. 349.
926 Meaux, cf. IV, 1 (Meldi).
927 III, 13, and note; _infra_ c. 20.
928 Ethelred of Mercia had resigned his throne and was now Abbot of
Bardney; cf. III, 11, and IV, 12, p. 241, note.
929 Cc. 13 and 19, _ad init._; cf. c. 24.
930 Cf. c. 18, _ad init._ He received his envoys courteously, but
refused to alter his decision for any “alleged writings from the
Apostolic see.” But Eddius says he repented on his deathbed.
_ 931 Ibid._
932 In 705. It was a Northumbrian council, not, like Estrefeld,
representative of the whole Church. Bertwald was present and adopted
a conciliatory line.
933 He was restored only to Hexham and to his monastery at Ripon. Bishop
John, on the death of Bosa about this time, was transferred to York;
_v.s._ c. 3, _ad init._
934 Oundle, _v.s._ p. 346, note 4.
935 Or Cudwald. A Cuthbald succeeded Sexwulf (IV, 6) as Abbot at
Medeshamstead. He is, perhaps, identical with the Abbot of Oundle.
936 Cf. _supra_, p. 346, and III, 25.
_ 937 I.e._ 710. But Hadrian left Rome in 668 (_v._ IV, 1), and Bede says
he died forty-one years after that event. This would be in 709.
938 Cf. Preface and IV, 1.
_ 939 Ibid._
940 St. Augustine’s, Canterbury; cf. IV, 1, _ad fin._
941 Cf. Preface and note.
942 III, 13, and note.
943 A.S. version: Mafa. For the Roman style of Church music, cf. II, 20,
_ad fin._
944 IV, 12, 23; V, 3.
945 In 710. Naiton, or Nechtan mac Derili, succeeded in 706. The
northern Picts had received Christianity through Columba (III, 4).
Naiton is said to have been converted to Roman usages by a
missionary named Boniface, who was probably an Irishman, St.
Cuiritin. Naiton did not succeed in forcing all his people to adopt
them, but in 717 he expelled the Columban clergy who refused to
conform.
946 IV, 18 and note.
947 Wearmouth (_ibid._) and Jarrow, Bede’s own monastery (_v. infra_, c.
24). Though they were some distance apart, Wearmouth and Jarrow
formed together one monastery.
948 IV, 18.
949 II, 2, p. 85, note.
950 Wood being the usual material, cf. III, 4, “Candida Casa.” The
locality of the church is not known. Rosemarkie, on the Moray Frith,
and, more probably, Restennet, near Forfar, have been suggested.
951 The letter has been supposed to have been written by Bede himself.
952 Plato, Rep. 473, D.
953 Exod., xii, 1-3. (The quotations are from the Vulgate.)
954 Exod., xii, 6.
_ 955 Ibid._, xii, 15.
956 Exod., xii, 15.
_ 957 Ibid._, xii, 17.
958 Numbers, xxxiii, 13.
959 Exod., xii, 17-19.
960 1 Cor., v, 7.
961 St. John, i, 29.
962 Levit., xxiii, 5-7.
963 Cf. Bede’s “Expositio in Marci Evangelium” (Opp. X, 2), where he
says that St. Mark founded the Church in Alexandria, and taught the
canonical observance of Easter; and Opp. VI, 235 (De Temp. Rat.).
964 Levit., xxiii, 8.
965 This was an error of the Latins in the fifth century. The object was
to make it possible for Good Friday to fall on the fourteenth of the
month Nisan, which they believed to be the actual day of the
Crucifixion, and to keep Easter Day entirely clear of the Jewish
festival.
_ 966 I.e._ Alexandrians.
967 Gen., i, 16.
968 The Itala.
969 Mal., iv, 2.
970 Habak., iii, 11 (from the Itala).
971 The Pelagians; I, 10, and note; cf. I, 17.
972 The reference must be to p. 364, “the apostolic tradition.” For the
nineteen years’ cycle, cf. III, 3 (Anatolius).
973 The celebrated Bishop of Caesarea, called also Eusebius Pamphili, a
name which he adopted from devotion to his friend, Pamphilus. How
much he had to do with the nineteen years’ cycle seems altogether
uncertain. He took a leading part in the Council of Nicaea (325
A.D.), but there is no proof that the Council formally adopted the
cycle, as has been supposed. It had been in use long before, but it
may have received authoritative sanction at Nicaea. Eusebius wrote a
treatise on Easter, of which a fragment is extant.
974 A presbyter of Caesarea, the founder of the famous library in that
place. He was martyred in 309 A.D. Eusebius wrote his life, but the
work is lost.
975 Archbishop of Alexandria, 385-412. He made a cycle of 418 years (19
× 22) for Theodosius, and reckoned the days on which Easter would
fall for 100 years from the first year of the consulate of
Theodosius (380 A.D.).
976 The great Archbishop of Alexandria, 412-444. He shortened the cycle
of Theophilus, making a cycle of ninety-five years (19 × 5), for the
sake of convenience. Part of his “Computus Paschalis” remains.
977 A monk of the Western Church in the sixth century. The surname,
“Exiguus,” refers, not to his stature, but to his humbleness of
heart. Our method of dating from the Birth of Christ was begun by
him. He revived the cycle of Victorius (or Victorinus) of Aquitaine
(463 A.D.), hence called Dionysian. It was a cycle of 532 years,
_i.e._ the lunar cycle of 19 × the solar cycle of 28.
978 Cf. p. 369, note 5.
979 Job, i, 20.
980 Gen., xli, 14.
981 St. Matt., xvi, 18.
982 Acts, viii, 20 (Vulgate). The origin of this form of tonsure was
attributed to Simon Magus.
983 Gal., v, 24.
984 St. James, i, 12.
985 Cf. c. 15 and notes. It is uncertain whether this incident is to be
connected with Adamnan’s first or second visit to King Aldfrid.
_ 986 I.e._, Ireland; cf. c. 15.
987 Cf. _supra_, p. 359, note 1.
988 Cf. c. 18 and note; cc. 19, 20, 24. He was killed in battle, but
neither the locality nor the war is known.
989 He reigned two years, _v. infra_ c. 23. He belonged to a younger
branch of the royal house of Northumbria. His father’s name was
Cuthwine, and Ceolwulf, who succeeded Osric (c. 23), was his
brother.
990 Or, perhaps, “bishop;” cf. III, 4, note. For the circumstances which
led Egbert to undertake his work among the Columban monasteries,
_v.s._ c. 9. As the events narrated there were prior to 690
(Wilbrord’s mission to Frisia), we may, perhaps, assume that he had
been labouring during this long interval among the Columban
monasteries in Ireland. In III, 4, Bede places Egbert’s arrival in
Iona a year earlier.
991 Rom., x, 2.
992 Cf. p. 372. This seems to be the meaning of the somewhat obscure
sentence, “... celebrationem, ut diximus, praecipuae solemnitatis
sub figura coronae perpetis agere perdocuit.”
993 For the conversion of the Britons to Roman usages, _v._ cc. 15 and
18, notes.
994 This is accurate enough in round numbers. Aidan’s mission (_v._ III,
3) was probably in 635.
_ 995 I.e._, 24th April. According to the Celtic rule, Easter Day could
never have been so late, 21st April being the latest possible day,
while the Romans might celebrate as late as 25th April.
996 Osric had succeeded in 718. Simeon of Durham says he was a son of
King “Alfrid.” It has been suggested (Dr. Stubbs, in Dict. of
Christian Biog.) that this may mean Alchfrid, son of Oswy (III, 14,
_et saep._), further, that this Osric is to be identified with the
Hwiccian sub-king, mentioned in IV, 23, who may have found a refuge
in Mercia, when Alchfrid was disinherited. Against this it has been
maintained that the statement of Simeon of Durham may, with greater
probability, be referred to Aldfrid, the successor of Egfrid and
father of Osred.
997 Cf. IV, 26, and V, 8.
998 From Bede we should infer that they all succeeded in 725, and the
evidence of charters goes to show that Eadbert and Ethelbert began
to reign jointly in that year. Florence of Worcester makes Eadbert
and Ethelbert reign successively, and William of Malmesbury gives
successive reigns of considerable length to all three brothers. This
prolongs Alric’s life beyond probability, and as his reign rests on
no early evidence, Dr. Stubbs is inclined to set it aside
altogether.
999 Cf. c. 8.
1000 Cf. II, 3 and note; III, 14.
1001 Consecrated in 727 (Saxon Chronicle) and died in 739 (Simeon of
Durham).
1002 This must refer to the battle of Tours in 732, in which Charles
Martel defeated the Saracens. As the Ecclesiastical History was
finished in 731, this passage must be regarded as a later insertion.
For Bede’s view with regard to the Saracens, _v._ his theological
works _passim_. He believed them to be the descendants of Ishmael.
1003 In 729; _v.s._ c. 22.
1004 Cf. _supra_, this chapter, _ad init._
1005 Cf. Preface, note 1, and the Continuation.
1006 Cf. c. 22, _ad init_ and note.
_ 1007 I.e._, since 29th June, 693; _v.s._ c. 8, _ad fin._
1008 He received the pall in 733 and died in 734; cf. Continuation.
1009 Bredon in Worcestershire.
1010 Cf. Preface; IV, 16; V, 18.
_ 1011 I.e._, of the East Saxons. He died in 745; _v._ Continuation.
1012 Called also Worr. In the Act of the Council of Clovesho in 716 he
signs as Bishop of Lichfield (to which at this time Leicester was
united) along with his predecessor, Hedda, but the authenticity of
the Act is not fully established, and it is generally supposed that
he succeeded in 721. At his death in 737 (Simeon of Durham)
Leicester was finally separated from Lichfield.
1013 Cf. _supra_, p. 378.
1014 The following list of the English bishoprics at the time when Bede
closed his history [731 A.D.], will enable the reader to recognize
those which belonged to each separate kingdom:
KINGDOMS; SEES; PRELATES.
Kent; Canterbury; Tatwine.
Rochester; Aldwulf.
East Saxons; London; Ingwald.
East Angles; Dunwich; Aldbert.
Elmham; Hadulac.
West Saxons; Winchester; Daniel.
Sherborne; Forthere.
Mercia; Lichfield (to which Leicester had been reunited in 705);
Aldwin.
Hereford; Walhstod.
Worcester; Wilfrid.
Lindsey (Sidnacester); Cynibert.
South Saxons; Selsey; Vacant.
Northumbria; York; Wilfrid II.
Lindisfarne; Ethelwald.
Hexham; Acca.
Whitern; Pechthelm.
1015 Aldbert was Bishop of Dunwich, Hadulac of Elmham.
1016 Cf. c. 18.
1017 Cf. _supra_, p. 379, note 6.
_ 1018 I.e._, in Herefordshire. It is not certain when the see of Hereford
was founded. Besides Putta (_v._ IV, 2, and note), Florence of
Worcester mentions Tyrhtel and Torthere as predecessors of Walhstod.
1019 This is Wilfrid, Bishop of Worcester, contemporary with Wilfrid II
of York (_v._ IV, 23; V, 6). He succeeded St. Egwin, whom Bede
strangely omits to mention, the successor of Oftfor (IV, 23). For
the Hwiccas, _v._ II, 2, p. 84, and for the see of Worcester, IV,
23, p. 273, note 7.
1020 Cf. Preface, p. 4, and IV, 12. For Lindsey as a separate bishopric,
_ibid._
1021 Cf. IV, 16.
1022 Cf. c. 18, _ad fin._, and notes.
1023 He was a son of Penda’s brother, Alweo. He had lived at one time in
retirement near the hermitage of St. Guthlac, flying from the enmity
of Ceolred, but on the death of the latter in 716, he succeeded to
the throne. Though he is not included in Bede’s list of Bretwaldas
(II, 5), he established the supremacy of Mercia for twenty years
over all England south of the Humber, till in 754 Wessex freed
itself in the battle of Burford. For his wars with Wessex and
Northumbria, _v._ Continuation, _sub_ 740 and 750. There is a
charter of his dated 749 in which he grants certain ecclesiastical
privileges, “pro expiatione delictorum suorum.” His oppression of
the Church and his private life are rebuked in the letter of
Boniface and five German bishops addressed to him (_v._ Haddan and
Stubbs, III, 350).
1024 Wilfrid II, _v._ IV, 23, and note; cf. V, 6.
1025 Cf. c. 12, p. 331, and note.
1026 III, 13, and note; cf. IV, 14; V, 20.
1027 Cf. cc. 13, 18. For the “White House” (Whitern), _v._ III, 4, and
note. About this time (the exact date is not known) it became an
Anglian see, a fact which indicates that in spite of the defeat of
Egfrid in 685, which freed the Northern Picts, the Picts of Galloway
were still subject to Northumbria. The bishopric came to an end
about the close of the century, when the Northumbrian power had
fallen into decay.
1028 The Scots of Dalriada (I, 1). They had recovered their liberty after
the defeat and death of Egfrid; cf. IV, 26.
1029 Cf. _ibid._, and p. 376, note 1.
1030 External peace apparently. For the internal state of Northumbria,
_v.s._ p. 378.
1031 For the accuracy of these dates, cf. the notes on the events as they
occur in the narrative.
1032 The length of his pontificate is not mentioned in the narrative.
1033 This and the two following entries are not in the narrative.
1034 Ida was the first king of Bernicia, and one of the leaders of the
English invasion. He conquered the country about Bamborough, which
he is said to have founded (cf. III, 6), and settled his people
here. Deira, which was for a time a separate kingdom, was finally
united to Bernicia under the strong rule of Oswald, Ida’s great
grandson (_ib. ad fin._), who through his mother, Acha, was
descended also from the royal house of Deira.
1035 By Scotland, as usual, Ireland is meant.
1036 Wulfhere’s death is not mentioned in the narrative.
1037 This is not in the narrative. For Osthryth cf. III, 11; IV, 21.
1038 Not in the narrative. Berctred is probably to be identified with
Berct in IV, 26 _ad init_. (Ulster Annals: “Brectrid”; Sax. Chron.:
“Briht.”)
1039 Above it is said that he succeeded in 675, making his reign
twenty-nine years, and this agrees with the Saxon Chronicle.
Wilfrid, on his return to England in 705, found him already an
abbot. (V, 19.)
1040 Not in the narrative. Bertfrid was Osred’s chief ealdorman, and was
besieged with him in Bamborough by the usurper Eadwulf; cf. p. 342,
note 2. We find him acting as spokesman in the Council on the Nidd
(V, 19, p. 356) in demanding to have the Papal letters translated
into English.
1041 For Bede’s life, _v._ Introduction.
1042 IV, 18, p. 257, note 3.
_ 1043 Ibid._
_ 1044 Ibid._, note 4, cf. V, 21.
1045 John of Beverley, IV, 23; V, 2-6.
1046 For a full account of Bede’s works, _v._ Plummer, vol. I,
Introduction, or Dictionary of Christian Biography, _s.v._ “Beda.”
Besides the works mentioned in this list, the following are
certainly genuine:
The short “Epistola ad Albinum” (sent with a copy of the
Ecclesiastical History).
“Retractationes in Acta.”
“Epistola ad Egberctum.”
“De locis Sanctis” (to which Bede alludes in V. 17). A number of
other works, some certainly, others probably spurious, and a few
possibly genuine, have been attributed to him.
1047 An answer to questions put to him by Nothelm (_v._ Preface, p. 2,
note 4, and Continuation, _sub_ 735).
1048 “Parabolae” = comparisons. “Parabolae Salomonis” are the first words
of the Book of Proverbs in the Vulgate.
_ 1049 I.e._, St. Paul.
1050 Isa., xxiv, 22.
1051 III, 3, note; cf. III, 25, p. 198.
1052 A priest of Nola in Campania. He was of Syrian extraction, but born
at Nola, and ordained priest _circ._ 250 A.D. He was persecuted
under Decius, and again under Valerian, but escaped. His history is
told in the poems of Paulinus, Bishop of Nola (409-431).
1053 This work is not known to exist. Probably the saint is Anastasius
the Younger, Patriarch of Antioch, killed in 610 by the Jews in a
sedition on 21st December, and in the Roman martyrology honoured on
that day as a martyr (_v._ Butler, “Lives of the Saints”).
1054 Cf. IV, 26-32.
1055 For Benedict and Ceolfrid, _v._ IV, 18. Huaetbert belonged to the
monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow from his earliest childhood, and
succeeded Ceolfrid as abbot in 716. He survived Bede. The latter
dedicated his commentary on the Apocalypse and the De temp. Rat. to
him under his name of Eusebius given him for his piety (_v._ Bede’s
Hist. Abb. and Anon., Hist. Abb.).
1056 (Only names which have not occurred in the narrative are annotated;
references for those already mentioned will be found in the Index.)
The Continuation is by a later hand. But Mr. Plummer considers that
the entries under the years 731, 732, 733 and 734, may have been
added by Bede himself. They appear in the great Moore MS., and those
for 733 and 734 also in another eighth century MS. The entries
enclosed in square brackets are found in a fifteenth century MS.
1057 He succeeded Wilfrid II, and two years later became Archbishop of
York (_v. infra_ under 735). It was to him that Bede addressed the
“Epist. ad Egberctum.”
1058 Bishop of Lindsey.
1059 Bishop of Selsey.
_ 1060 I.e._, of York.
1061 Bishop of Hexham.
1062 Bishop of Whitern.
1063 The early authorities differ as to the year, but this is the
traditional date, and is usually accepted.
1064 King of Northumbria 737-758 (_v. infra_); died in 768. He was a son
of Eata, called by Nennius, Eata “Glinmaur,” a descendant of Ida,
and was the brother of Archbishop Egbert. Under him the Northumbrian
power revived for a period.
1065 He was the kinsman and predecessor of Cuthred (_v. infra_).
1066 Archbishop of Canterbury in succession to Nothelm. The first
archbishop not buried in St. Augustine’s, _v._ II, 3, p. 90, note.
1067 Bishop of Lindisfarne in succession to Ethelwald (V, 12, _ad fin._,
note).
1068 Probably a son of that Eadwulf who usurped the throne of Northumbria
at Aldfrid’s death (V, 18); cf. Simeon of Durham, II, 38 (Rolls
Series), “Arwine filius Eadulfi.”
1069 Not known.
1070 Charles Martel.
1071 Pippin the Short. Carloman resigned in 747, and became a monk.
1072 There is a letter of Boniface (_v._ Haddan and Stubbs III, 358) to a
priest, Herefrid, who is supposed to be the man mentioned here.
1073 This seems confused and obscure. The West Saxons under Cuthred threw
off the Mercian yoke in the insurrection which culminated in the
battle of Burford (_v._ V. 23, p. 380, note 9). Oengus or Angus (the
Brythonic form is Ungust), son of Fergus, was a Pictish king who
crushed the Dalriadic Scots, and, in alliance with Eadbert of
Northumbria, conquered the Britons of Strathclyde. But this does not
explain the strange statement which brings him into connection with
Ethelbald of Mercia. Nor is it told who Eanred was. Theudor was a
king of the Britons of Strathclyde. Kyle is a district in Ayrshire.
1074 Adopting the emendation “quinto Idus” (Hussey). The date is thus
right for the eclipses, but the year is the sixteenth of Eadbert.
Probably the numeral (XVI) has fallen out, and the passage ought to
run: “anno regni Eadbercti XVI, quinto Id. Ian.”
1075 The great missionary bishop of Germany, a West Saxon by birth. He
crossed to the Continent _circ._ 716, and, supported by Charles
Martel and his sons, evangelized Central Europe, became Archbishop
of Mainz, and founded sees throughout Germany. Finally he was
martyred in Frisland. Lul, a West Saxon, was his successor, not
Redger, but it has been suggested that this may be another name for
him. The pope is Stephen III.
1076 He is said by William of Malmesbury to have been the murderer of
Ethelbald. After a year of anarchy Offa succeeded, and retrieved the
position of Mercia.
1077 He was killed in an insurrection in 784. (Sax. Chron.)
1078 St. Matt. xi, 12. After Eadbert, Northumbria fell into a state of
anarchy, obscure kings contending for the throne.
1079 Cf. _supra, sub_ 750.
1080 An aetheling killed by Moll, king of Northumbria, at a place called
Edwin’s Cliff (Sax. Chron.).
1081 Of Northumbria.