Bede: HISTORIAM ECCLESIASTICAM GENTIS ANGLORUM

[1] HIS temporibus, id est anno dominicae incarnationis DCV, beatus papa Gregorius, postquam sedem Romanae et apostolicae ecclesiae XIII annos, menses VI, et dies X gloriosissime rexit, defunctus est, atque ad aeternam regni caelestis sedem translatus. De quo nos conuenit, quia nostram, id est Anglorum, gentem de potestate Satanae ad fidem Christi sua industria conuertit, latiorem in nostra historia ecclesiastica facere sermonem, quem recte nostrum appellare possumus et debemus apostolum. Quia, cum primum in toto orbe gereret pontificatum, et conuersis iam dudum ad fidem ueritatis esset praelatus ecclesiis, nostram gentem eatenus idolis mancipatam Christi fecit ecclesiam, ita ut apostolicum illum de eo liceat nobis proferre sermonem: quia etsi aliis non est apostolus, sed tamen nobis est; nam signaculum apostolatus eius nos sumus in Domino.

[1] In these times, that is, in the year of the Lord’s incarnation 605, the blessed Pope Gregory, after he had most gloriously ruled the see of the Roman and Apostolic Church for 13 years, 6 months, and 10 days, died, and was translated to the eternal seat of the heavenly kingdom. About him it is fitting for us to make a fuller discourse in our Ecclesiastical History, because he by his own industry converted our nation, that is, the English, from the power of Satan to the faith of Christ, whom we can rightly and ought to call our apostle. For, whereas at first he bore the pontificate over the whole world, and was set over churches that had long since been converted to the faith of truth, he made our nation, up to then enslaved to idols, a Church of Christ, so that it is permitted us to bring forth that apostolic saying about him: because even if he is not an apostle to others, yet to us he is; for we are the seal of his apostleship in the Lord.

Erat autem natione Romanus, a patre Gordiano, genus a proauis non solum nobile, sed et religiosum ducens. Denique Felix eiusdem apostolicae sedis quondam episcopus, uir magnae gloriae in Christo et ecclesia, eius fuit atauus. Sed ipse nobilitatem religionis non minore quam parentes et cognati uirtute deuotionis exercuit.

He was moreover by nation a Roman, with Gordian as his father, drawing his lineage from forefathers not only noble but also religious. Indeed Felix, once bishop of that same apostolic see, a man of great glory in Christ and in the Church, was his forefather. But he himself exercised the nobility of religion with a virtue of devotion no less than his parents and kinsmen.

Nobilitatem uero illam, quam ad saeculum uidebatur habere, totam ad nanciscendam supernae gloriam dignitatis diuina gratia largiente conuertit. Nam mutato repente habitu saeculari monasterium petiit, in quo tanta perfectionis gratia coepit conuersari, ut, sicut ipse postea flendo solebat adtestari, animo illius labentia cuncta subteressent, ut rebus omnibus, quae uoluuntur, emineret, ut nulla nisi caelestia cogitare soleret, ut etiam retentus corpore ipsa iam carnis claustra contemplatione transiret, ut mortem quoque, quae pene cunctis poena est, uidelicet ut ingressum uitae, et laboris sui praemium amaret. Haec autem ipse de se, non profectum iactando uirtutum, sed deflendo potius defectum, quem sibi per curam pastoralem incurrisse uidebatur, referre consuerat.

That nobility indeed, which he seemed to have with respect to the secular world, he wholly turned—by the largess of divine grace—to obtaining the glory of supernal dignity. For, his secular habit suddenly changed, he sought a monastery, in which he began to live with such a grace of perfection that, as he himself later, weeping, was accustomed to attest, all things slipping away lay beneath his mind; so that he stood above all things that are in flux; so that he was wont to think of nothing except heavenly things; so that, though held in the body, he already passed, by contemplation, the very bars of the flesh; so that he loved even death—which to almost all is a penalty—namely as the entrance of life and the reward of his labor. These things, moreover, he himself was accustomed to report about himself, not by vaunting a progress of virtues, but rather by bewailing the defect which he seemed to himself to have incurred through pastoral care.

Denique tempore quodam secreto, cum diacono suo Petro conloquens, enumeratis animi sui uirtutibus priscis, mox dolendo subiunxit: ‘At nunc ex occasione curae pastoralis saecularium hominum negotia patitur, et post tam pulchram quietis suae speciem terreni actus puluere fedatur. Cumque se pro condescensione multorum ad exteriora sparserit, etiam cum interiora appetit, ad haec procul dubio minor redit. Perpendo itaque, quid tolero, perpendo, quid amisi; dumque intueor illud, quod perdidi, fit hoc grauius, quod porto.’

Finally, at a certain time in secret, conversing with his deacon Peter, the ancient virtues of his spirit having been enumerated, he soon added in sorrow: ‘But now, on the occasion of pastoral care, he suffers the affairs of secular men, and after so fair an appearance of his quiet, he is defiled by the dust of earthly action. And when, out of condescension toward many, he has scattered himself to externals, even when he seeks the interior things, to these he returns, without doubt, lesser. I weigh, therefore, what I endure; I weigh what I have lost; and while I gaze upon that which I have lost, this which I carry becomes heavier.’

Haec quidem sanctus uir ex magnae humilitatis intentione dicebat; sed nos credere decet nihil eum monachicae perfectionis perdidisse occasione curae pastoralis, immo potiorem tunc sumsisse profectum de labore conuersionis multorum, quam de propriae quondam quiete conuersationis habuerat; maxime quia et pontificali functus officio domum suam monasterium facere curauit; et dum primo de monasterio abstractus, ad ministerium altaris ordinatus, atque Constantinopolim apocrisiarius ab apostolica sede directus est, non tamen in terreno conuersatus palatio propositum uitae caelestis intermisit. Nam quosdam fratrum ex monasterio suo, qui eum gratia germanae caritatis ad regiam urbem secuti sunt, in tutamentum coepit obseruantiae regularis habere; uidelicet ut eorum semper exemplo, sicut ipse scribit, ad orationis placidum litus, quasi anchorae fune restringeretur, cum incessabili causarum saecularium inpulsu fluctuaret, concussamque saeculi actibus mentem inter eos cotidie per studiosae lectionis roboraret alloquium. Horum ergo consortio non solum a terrenis est munitus incursibus, uerum etiam ad caelestis exercitia uitae magis magisque succensus.

These things indeed the holy man said from an intention of great humility; but it befits us to believe that he lost nothing of monastic perfection on the occasion of pastoral care, nay rather that he then took a superior progress from the labor of the conversion of many, than he had had from the quiet of his former conversation; especially because, even having performed the pontifical office, he took care to make his house a monastery; and when at first drawn from the monastery, ordained to the ministry of the altar, and sent to Constantinople as apocrisiary by the apostolic see, yet he did not interrupt in the earthly palace the purpose of the heavenly life. For certain brothers from his monastery, who followed him to the royal city by the grace of genuine charity, he began to have as a safeguard of regular observance; namely, that by their constant example, as he himself writes, he might be held back to the placid shore of prayer, as by the rope of an anchor, when he was billowed by the incessant impulse of secular causes, and that he might daily strengthen among them, through the discourse of studious reading, his mind shaken by the acts of the world. Therefore by the fellowship of these he was not only fortified against earthly incursions, but also more and more kindled for the exercises of the heavenly life.

Nam hortati sunt eum, ut librum beati Iob magnis inuolutum obscuritatibus mystica interpretatione discuteret; neque negare potuit opus, quod sibi fraternus amor multis utile futurum inponebat. Sed eundem librum, quomodo iuxta litteram intellegendus, qualiter ad Christi et ecclesiae sacramenta referendus, quo sensu unicuique fidelium sit aptandus, per XXX et V libros expositionis miranda ratione perdocuit. Quod uidelicet opus in regia quidem urbe apocrisiarius inchoauit, Romae autem iam pontifex factus expleuit.

For they encouraged him to disentangle the book of blessed Job, wrapped in great obscurities, by mystical interpretation; nor could he refuse the task which brotherly love laid upon him as destined to be useful to many. But the same book—how it is to be understood according to the letter, in what manner to be referred to the sacraments of Christ and the Church, in what sense to be fitted to each one of the faithful—he thoroughly taught, by a wondrous method, through 35 books of exposition. This work, indeed, he began in the royal city as apocrisiarius, but in Rome, once made pontiff, he completed it.

Qui cum adhuc esset regia in urbe positus, nascentem ibi nouam heresim de statu nostrae resurrectionis, cum ipso, quo exorta est, initio, iuuante se gratia catholicae ueritatis, attriuit. Siquidem Eutycius eiusdem urbis episcopus dogmatizabat corpus nostrum in illa resurrectionis gloria inpalpabile, uentis aereque subtilius esse futurum; quod ille audiens, et ratione ueritatis, et exemplo dominicae resurrectionis, probauit hoc dogma orthodoxae fidei omnimodis esse contrarium. Catholica etenim fides habet, quod corpus nostrum illa inmortalitatis gloria sublimatum subtile quidem sit per effectum spiritalis potentiae, sed palpabile per ueritatem naturae; iuxta exemplum dominici corporis, de quo a mortuis suscitato dicit ipse discipulis: ‘Palpate et uidete, quia spiritus carnem et ossa non habet, sicut me uidetis habere.’ In cuius adsertione fidei uenerabilis pater Gregorius in tantum contra nascentem heresim nouam laborare contendit, tanta hanc instantia, iuuante etiam piissimo imperatore Tiberio Constantino, conminuit, ut nullus exinde sit inuentus, qui eius resuscitator existeret.

Who, while he was still situated in the royal city, at the very inception of its arising, ground down the new heresy there concerning the status of our resurrection, the grace of catholic truth aiding him. For Eutychius, bishop of that same city, was dogmatizing that our body in that glory of the resurrection would be impalpable, more subtle than the winds and the air; which, on hearing, he proved, both by the reason of truth and by the example of the Lord’s resurrection, to be in every way contrary to the orthodox faith. For the catholic faith holds that our body, exalted by that glory of immortality, is indeed subtle by the effect of spiritual potency, but palpable by the truth of nature; according to the example of the Lord’s body, about which, raised from the dead, he himself says to the disciples: ‘Handle and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me to have.’ In the assertion of which faith the venerable Father Gregory strove to labor so far against the nascent new heresy, and with such urgency did he crush it, the most pious Emperor Tiberius Constantinus also helping, that thereafter no one was found who would be its resuscitator.

Alium quoque librum conposuit egregium, qui uocatur Pastoralis, in quo manifesta luce patefecit, quales ad ecclesiae regimen adsumi, qualiter ipsi rectores uiuere, qua discretione singulas quasque audientium instruere personas, et quanta consideratione propriam cotidie debeant fragilitatem pensare. Sed et omelias euangelii numero XL conposuit, quas in duobus codicibus aequa sorte distinxit. Libros etiam Dialogorum IIII fecit, in quibus, rogatu Petri diaconi sui, uirtutes sanctorum, quos in Italia clariores nosse uel audire poterat, ad exemplum uiuendi posteris collegit; ut, sicut in libris expositionum suarum, quibus sit uirtutibus insudandum, edocuit, ita etiam descriptis sanctorum miraculis, quae uirtutum earumdem sit claritas, ostenderet.

He also composed an excellent book, which is called the Pastoral, in which with manifest light he laid open what kind ought to be taken up for the governance of the church, how the rulers themselves ought to live, with what discretion to instruct each several person of the hearers, and with how great consideration they ought daily to weigh their own frailty. But also he composed homilies on the Gospel, in number 40, which he divided with equal portion in two codices. He likewise made 4 books of Dialogues, in which, at the request of Peter his deacon, he gathered for posterity the virtues of the saints whom in Italy he could know or hear to be more renowned, for an example of living; so that, just as in the books of his expositions he taught with what virtues one must sweat, so also, with the miracles of the saints described, he might show what the brightness of those same virtues is.

Primam quoque et ultimam Ezechielis prophetae partem, quae uidebantur obscuriores, per omelias XX et duas, quantum lucis intus habeant, demonstrauit. Excepto libello responsionum, quem ad interrogationes sancti Augustini primi Anglorum gentis episcopi scripsit, ut et supra docuimus, totum ipsum libellum his inserentes historiis; libello quoque synodico, quem cum episcopis Italiae de necessariis ecclesiae causis utillimum conposuit, et familiaribus ad quosdam litteris. Quod eo magis mirum est tot eum ac tanta condere uolumina potuisse, quod omni pene iuuentutis suae tempore, ut uerbis ipsius loquar, crebris uiscerum doloribus cruciabatur, horis momentisque omnibus fracta stomachi uirtute lassescebat, lentis quidem, sed tamen continuis febribus anhelabat.

He also demonstrated the first and the last part of the prophet Ezekiel, which seemed more obscure, through 22 homilies, how much light they have within. Except for the little book of Responses, which he wrote to the interrogations of Saint Augustine, the first bishop of the nation of the Angles, as we also taught above, inserting that whole little book into these histories; and for the synodical little book, which he composed together with the bishops of Italy, most useful concerning necessary causes of the Church, and for the familiar letters to certain persons. Which is the more marvelous—that he was able to found so many and so great volumes—in that almost for the whole time of his youth, to speak in his own words, he was tortured by frequent pains of the viscera, at every hour and moment he grew faint, the power of his stomach being broken, and he panted with fevers, slow indeed but yet continual.

Uerum inter haec, dum sollicitus pensaret, quia scriptura teste: ‘Omnis filius, qui recipitur, flagellatur’; quo malis praesentibus durius deprimebatur, eo de aeterna certius praesumtione respirabat.

But among these things, while solicitous he was weighing, since, Scripture being witness: 'Every son who is received is scourged'; the more he was pressed down more harshly by present evils, the more he respired with a more certain assurance concerning the eternal.

Haec quidem de inmortali eius sint dicta ingenio, quod nec tanto corporis potuit dolore restingui. Nam alii quidam pontifices construendis ornandisque auro uel argento ecclesiis operam dabant, hic autem totus erga animarum lucra uacabat.

Let these things indeed be said about his immortal genius, which could not be extinguished even by so great a pain of the body. For certain other pontiffs were giving effort to the constructing and adorning of churches with gold or silver, but he, however, was wholly devoted toward the gains of souls.

Quicquid pecuniae habuerat, sedulus hoc dispergere ac dare pauperibus curabat, ut iustitia eius maneret in saeculum saeculi, et cornu eius exaltaretur in gloria; ita ut illud beati Iob ueraciter dicere posset: ‘Auris audiens beatificauit me, et oculus uidens testimonium reddebat mihi, quod liberassem pauperem uociferantem, et pupillum, cui non esset adiutor. Benedictio perituri super me ueniebat, et cor uiduae consolatus sum. Iustitia indutus sum, et uestiui me, sicut uestimento et diademate, iudicio meo.

Whatever money he had, he was assiduous to distribute this and to give to the poor, so that his justice might remain unto the age of ages, and his horn might be exalted in glory; such that he could truly say that saying of blessed Job: ‘The ear that heard blessed me, and the eye that saw rendered testimony to me, that I had freed the poor man crying out, and the orphan, for whom there was no helper. The blessing of the one perishing came upon me, and I consoled the heart of the widow. I was clothed with justice, and I clothed myself, as with a garment and a diadem, with my judgment.

Oculus fui caeco, et pes claudo. Pater eram pauperum, et causam, quam nesciebam, diligentissime inuestigabam. Conterebam molas iniqui, et de dentibus illius auferebam praedam.’ Et paulo post: ‘Si negaui,’ inquit, ‘quod uolebant, pauperibus, et oculos uiduae exspectare feci.

I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame. I was a father of the poor, and the cause which I did not know I investigated most diligently. I crushed the molars of the iniquitous, and from his teeth I took away the prey.’ And a little after: ‘If I denied,’ he says, ‘what they wanted to the poor, and made the widow’s eyes to wait.

Si comedi bucellam meam solus, et non comedit pupillus ex ea. Quia ab infantia mea creuit mecum miseratio, et de utero matris meae egressa est mecum.’

If I have eaten my morsel alone, and the orphan has not eaten from it. For from my infancy compassion has grown with me, and from my mother’s womb it came forth with me.’

Ad cuius pietatis et iustitiae opus pertinet etiam hoc, quod nostram gentem per praedicatores, quos huc direxit, de dentibus antiqui hostis eripiens aeternae libertatis fecit esse participem; cuius fidei et saluti congaudens, quamque digna laude commendans, ipse dicit in Expositione beati Iob: ‘Ecce lingua Brittaniae, quae nil aliud nouerat quam barbarum frendere, iam dudum in diuinis laudibus Hebreum coepit alleluia resonare. Ecce quondam tumidus, iam substratus sanctorum pedibus seruit oceanus, eiusque barbaros motus, quos terreni principes edomare ferro nequiuerant, hos pro diuina formidine sacerdotum ora simplicibus uerbis ligant, et qui cateruas pugnantium infidelis nequaquam metueret, iam nunc fidelis humilium linguas timet. Quia enim perceptis caelestibus uerbis, clarescentibus quoque miraculis, uirtus ei diuinae cognitionis infunditur, eiusdem diuinitatis terrore refrenatur, ut praue agere metuat, ac totis desideriis ad aeternitatis gratiam uenire concupiscat.’ Quibus uerbis beatus Gregorius hoc quoque declarat, quia sanctus Augustinus et socii eius non sola praedicatione uerborum, sed etiam caelestium ostensione signorum gentem Anglorum ad agnitionem ueritatis perducebant.

To the work of whose piety and justice there pertains also this: that, by the preachers whom he directed hither, snatching our nation from the teeth of the ancient enemy, he made it to be a participant in eternal liberty; rejoicing in whose faith and salvation, and commending it with worthy laud, he himself says in the Exposition of blessed Job: ‘Behold, the tongue of Britain, which knew nothing else than to gnash out the barbarous, has now long since begun in divine praises to resound the Hebrew alleluia. Behold, the ocean, once swollen, now laid beneath the feet of the saints, serves; and its barbarous motions, which earthly princes had been unable to tame with iron, these the mouths of priests, by divine dread, bind with simple words, and he who, being unbelieving, would by no means fear the cohorts of fighters, now, being believing, fears the tongues of the humble. For since, the heavenly words having been received, and the miracles likewise shining forth, the power of divine cognition is infused into him, he is reined in by the terror of that same divinity, so that he fears to act crookedly, and with all desires longs to come to the grace of eternity.’ By which words blessed Gregory also declares this: that Saint Augustine and his companions were leading the nation of the Angles to the recognition of the truth not by the preaching of words alone, but also by the showing of heavenly signs.

Fecit inter alia beatus papa Gregorius, ut in ecclesiis sanctorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli super corpora eorum missae celebrarentur. Sed et in ipsa missarum celebratione tria uerba maximae perfectionis plena superadiecit: ‘Diesque nostros in tua pace disponas, atque ab aeterna damnatione nos eripi, et in electorum tuorum iubeas grege numerari.’

Among other things the blessed Pope Gregory brought it about that in the churches of the holy apostles Peter and Paul Masses should be celebrated over their bodies. But also in the very celebration of the Masses he superadded three words full of the greatest perfection: ‘And that you dispose our days in your peace, and that we be snatched from eternal damnation, and that you command us to be numbered in the flock of your elect.’

Rexit autem ecclesiam temporibus imperatorum Mauricii et Focatis. Secundo autem eiusdem Focatis anno transiens ex hac uita, migrauit ad ueram, quae in caelis est, uitam. Sepultus uero est corpore in ecclesia beati Petri apostoli, ante secretarium, die quarto Iduum Martiarum, quandoque in ipso cum ceteris sanctae ecclesiae pastoribus resurrecturus in gloria, scriptumque in tumba ipsius epitaphium huiusmodi:

He ruled the church in the times of the emperors Maurice and Phocas. Moreover, in the second year of that same Phocas, passing from this life, he migrated to the true life, which is in the heavens. He was buried in body in the church of the blessed apostle Peter, before the secretarium, on the 12th of March, when at some time in that same place, with the other pastors of the holy church, he is to rise again in glory, and an epitaph of this kind was written on his tomb:

Suscipe, terra, tuo corpus de corpore sumtum,
Reddere quod ualeas uiuificante Deo.
Spiritus astra petit, leti nil iura nocebunt,
Cui uitae alterius mors magis ipsa uia est.
Pontificis summi hoc clauduntur membra sepulchro,
Qui innumeris semper uiuit ubique bonis.

Receive, earth, the body taken from your own body,
that you may be able to return it to the vivifying God.
The spirit seeks the stars, the claims of death will harm nothing,
to whom death itself is rather the way to another life.
The limbs of the supreme pontiff are enclosed in this sepulcher,
who lives always everywhere in innumerable goods.

Esuriem dapibus superauit, frigora ueste,
Atque animas monitis texit ab hoste sacris.
Implebatque actu, quicquid sermone docebat,
Esset ut exemplum, mystica uerba loquens.
Ad Christum Anglos conuertit pietate magistra,
Adquirens fidei agmina gente noua.

He overcame hunger with banquets, the chills with clothing,
and he shielded souls from the Enemy by sacred monitions.
And he fulfilled in deed whatever he taught by discourse,
so that, speaking mystic words, he might be an exemplar.
To Christ he converted the Angles, with piety as instructress,
acquiring for the faith battalions from a new people.

Hic labor, hoc studium, haec tibi cura, hoc pastor agebas,
Ut Domino offerres plurima lucra gregis.
Hisque Dei consul factus laetare triumphis;
Nam mercedem operum iam sine fine tenes.

This was the labor, this the study, this your care—this you, as shepherd, were carrying on,
that you might offer to the Lord very many profits of the flock.
And, made the Consul of God, rejoice in these triumphs;
For the reward of your works you now hold without end.

Nec silentio praetereunda opinio, quae de beato Gregorio traditione maiorum ad nos usque perlata est; qua uidelicet ex causa admonitus tam sedulam erga salutem nostrae gentis curam gesserit. Dicunt, quia die quadam cum, aduenientibus nuper mercatoribus, multa uenalia in forum fuissent conlata, multi ad emendum confluxissent, et ipsum Gregorium inter alios aduenisse, ac uidisse inter alia pueros uenales positos candidi corporis, ac uenusti uultus, capillorum quoque forma egregia. Quos cum aspiceret, interrogauit, ut aiunt, de qua regione uel terra essent adlati.

Nor must the opinion be passed over in silence, which about the blessed Gregory, by the tradition of the elders, has been conveyed down to us even to the present; by which, namely for this cause admonished, he bore so sedulous a care for the salvation of our nation. They say that on a certain day, when, with merchants having lately arrived, many saleable wares had been brought into the forum, and many had flocked together to buy, Gregory himself came among others, and saw, among other things, boys for sale placed there, of fair complexion and comely countenance, with the form of their hair also outstanding. When he looked upon them, he asked, as they say, from what region or land they had been brought.

Dictumque est, quia de Brittania insula, cuius incolae talis essent aspectus. Rursus interrogauit, utrum idem insulani Christiani, an paganis adhuc erroribus essent inplicati. Dictum est, quod essent pagani.

And it was said that they were from the island of Britain, whose inhabitants were of such an aspect. Again he asked whether those same islanders were Christians, or were still entangled in pagan errors. It was said that they were pagans.

At ille, intimo ex corde longa trahens suspiria: ‘Heu, pro dolor!’ inquit, ‘quod tam lucidi uultus homines tenebrarum auctor possidet, tantaque gratia frontispicii mentem ab interna gratia uacuam gestat!’ Rursus ergo interrogauit, quod esset uocabulum gentis illius. Responsum est, quod Angli uocarentur. At ille: ‘Bene,’ inquit; ‘nam et angelicam habent faciem, et tales angelorum in caelis decet esse coheredes.

But he, drawing long sighs from his inmost heart, said: ‘Alas, for grief! that men of so lucid a countenance are possessed by the author of darkness, and that with such grace of the brow they carry a mind void of internal grace!’ Therefore he asked again what the vocable of that nation was. It was answered that they were called Angli. But he: ‘Good,’ he said; ‘for they have an angelic face, and it befits such to be coheirs of the angels in the heavens.’

Quod habet nomen ipsa prouincia, de qua isti sunt adlati?’ Responsum est, quod Deiri uocarentur idem prouinciales. At ille: ‘Bene,’ inquit, ‘Deiri; de ira eruti, et ad misericordiam Christi uocati. Rex prouinciae illius quomodo appellatur?’ Responsum est, quod Aelli diceretur.

What name does the province itself have, from which these were brought?’ It was answered that the provincials were called Deiri. But he: ‘Good,’ he said, ‘Deiri; drawn out from wrath (de ira), and called to the mercy of Christ. How is the king of that province called?’ It was answered that he was called Aelli.

At ille adludens ad nomen ait: ‘Alleluia, laudem Dei Creatoris illis in partibus oportet cantari.’

But he, playing upon the name, said: ‘Alleluia, the praise of God the Creator ought to be sung in those parts.’

Accedensque ad pontificem Romanae et apostolicae sedis, nondum enim erat ipse pontifex factus, rogauit, ut genti Anglorum in Brittaniam aliquos uerbi ministros, per quos ad Christum conuerteretur, mitteret; se ipsum paratum esse in hoc opus Domino cooperante perficiendum, si tamen apostolico papae, hoc ut fieret, placeret. Quod dum perficere non posset, quia, etsi pontifex concedere illi, quod petierat, uoluit, non tamen ciues Romani, ut tam longe ab urbe secederet, potuere permittere; mox ut ipse pontificatus officio functus est, perfecit opus diu desideratum; alios quidem praedicatores mittens, sed ipse praedicationem ut fructificaret, suis exhortationibus ac precibus adiuuans. Haec iuxta opinionem, quam ab antiquis accepimus, historiae nostrae ecclesiasticae inserere oportunum duximus.

And drawing near to the pontiff of the Roman and Apostolic See—for he himself had not yet been made pontiff—he asked that he would send to the nation of the Angles in Britain some ministers of the Word, through whom it might be converted to Christ; that he himself was prepared for this work, to be accomplished with the Lord cooperating, if, however, it should please the apostolic pope that this be done. Since he could not accomplish this, because, although the pontiff wished to grant him what he had asked, nevertheless the Roman citizens could not permit him to withdraw so far from the city; as soon as he himself was invested with the office of the pontificate, he completed the long-desired work; sending indeed other preachers, but himself, that the preaching might fructify, aiding by his exhortations and prayers. These things, according to the opinion which we have received from the ancients, we have judged it opportune to insert into our ecclesiastical history.

[2] INTEREA Augustinus adiutorio usus Aedilbercti regis conuocauit ad suum colloquium episcopos siue doctores proximae Brettonum prouinciae in loco, qui usque hodie lingua Anglorum Augustinaes Ác, id est robur Augustini, in confinio Huicciorum et Occidentalium Saxonum appellatur; coepitque eis fraterna admonitione suadere, ut pace catholica secum habita communem euangelizandi gentibus pro Domino laborem susciperent. Non enim paschae diem dominicum suo tempore, sed a XIIII usque ad XX lunam obseruabant; quae computatio LXXXIIII annorum circulo continetur. Sed et alia plurima unitati ecclesiasticae contraria faciebant.

[2] Meanwhile Augustine, making use of the aid of King Æthelberht, called together to his colloquy the bishops or teachers of the nearby province of the Britons, in a place which to this day in the language of the English is called Augustinaes Ác, that is, Augustine’s Oak, on the border of the Hwicci and the West Saxons; and he began, with fraternal admonition, to persuade them that, with catholic peace maintained with him, they should undertake the common labor of evangelizing the nations for the Lord. For they did not observe the Lord’s day of Pascha at its proper time, but from the 14 up to the 20 moon; which computation is contained in a cycle of 84 years. But they also did very many other things contrary to ecclesiastical unity.

Qui cum longa disputatione habita, neque precibus, neque hortamentis, neque increpationibus Augustini ac sociorum eius adsensum praebere uoluissent, sed suas potius traditiones uniuersis, quae per orbem sibi in Christo concordant, ecclesiis praeferrent, sanctus pater Augustinus hunc laboriosi ac longi certaminis finem fecit, ut diceret: ‘Obsecremus Deum, qui habitare facit unanimes in domu Patris sui, ut ipse nobis insinuare caelestibus signis dignetur, quae sequenda traditio, quibus sit uiis ad ingressum regni illius properandum. Adducatur aliquis eger, et per cuius preces fuerit curatus, huius fides et operatio Deo deuota atque omnibus sequenda credatur.’ Quod cum aduersarii, inuiti licet, concederent, adlatus est quidam de genere Anglorum, oculorum luce priuatus; qui cum oblatus Brettonum sacerdotibus nil curationis uel sanationis horum ministerio perciperet, tandem Augustinus, iusta necessitate conpulsus, flectit genua sua ad Patrem Domini nostri Iesu Christi, deprecans, ut uisum caeco, quem amiserat, restitueret, et per inluminationem unius hominis corporalem, in plurimorum corde fidelium spiritalis gratiam lucis accenderet. Nec mora, inluminatur caecus, ac uerus summae lucis praeco ab omnibus praedicatur Augustinus.

When, after a long disputation had been held, they were unwilling to give assent either to the prayers, or the exhortations, or the reproofs of Augustine and his companions, but preferred their own traditions rather than those of all the churches which throughout the world are concordant in Christ, the holy father Augustine made this end of the toilsome and long contest, saying: ‘Let us beseech God, who makes those of one mind to dwell in the house of his Father, that he himself deign to indicate to us by heavenly signs which tradition is to be followed, by what ways we should hasten toward the entrance of his kingdom. Let some sick person be brought in, and by whose prayers he shall have been cured, let his faith and working, devoted to God, be believed and by all to be followed.’ When the adversaries, albeit unwilling, conceded this, there was brought a certain man of the race of the Angles, deprived of the light of his eyes; who, when he was presented to the priests of the Britons, received nothing of cure or healing through their ministry. At length Augustine, compelled by just necessity, bends his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, beseeching that he would restore sight to the blind man, which he had lost, and that, through the bodily illumination of one man, he would kindle in the heart of many of the faithful the spiritual grace of light. Without delay, the blind man is illumined, and Augustine is proclaimed by all the true herald of the supreme Light.

Tum Brettones confitentur quidem intellexisse se ueram esse uiam iustitiae, quam praedicaret Augustinus; sed non se posse absque suorum consensu ac licentia priscis abdicare moribus. Unde postulabant, ut secundo synodus pluribus aduenientibus fieret.

Then the Britons confess indeed that they had understood the way of justice which Augustine preached to be true; but that they could not, without the consent and license of their own people, abdicate their ancient mores. Whence they asked that a second synod be held, with more persons arriving.

Quod cum esset statutum, uenerunt, ut perhibent, VII Brettonum episcopi et plures uiri doctissimi, maxime de nobilissimo eorum monasterio, quod uocatur lingua Anglorum Bancornaburg, cui tempore illo Dinoot abbas praefuisse narratur, qui ad praefatum ituri concilium uenerunt primo ad quendam uirum sanctum ac prudentem, qui apud eos anachoreticam ducere uitam solebat, consulentes, an ad praedicationem Augustini suas deserere traditiones deberent. Qui respondebat: ‘Si homo Dei est, sequimini illum.’ Dixerunt: ‘Et unde hoc possumus probare?’ At ille: ‘Dominus,’ inquit, ‘ait: “Tollite iugum meum super uos, et discite a me, quia mitis sum et humilis corde.” Si ergo Augustinus ille mitis est et humilis corde, credibile est, quia iugum Christi et ipse portet, et uobis portandum offerat; sin autem inmitis ac superbus est, constat, quia non est de Deo, neque nobis eius sermo curandus.’ Qui rursus aiebant: ‘Et unde uel hoc dinoscere ualemus?’ ‘Procurate,’ inquit, ‘ut ipse prior cum suis ad locum synodi adueniat, et, si uobis adpropinquantibus adsurrexerit, scientes, quia famulus Christi est, obtemperanter illum audite; sin autem uos spreuerit, nec coram uobis adsurgere uoluerit, cum sitis numero plures, et ipse spernatur a uobis.’

When this had been established, there came, as they report, 7 bishops of the Britons and several most learned men, chiefly from their most noble monastery, which in the tongue of the English is called Bancornaburg, over which at that time the abbot Dinoot is said to have presided; and being about to go to the aforesaid council, they first came to a certain holy and prudent man, who among them was accustomed to lead an anachoretic life, consulting whether at the preaching of Augustine they ought to desert their own traditions. He answered: ‘If he is a man of God, follow him.’ They said: ‘And whence can we prove this?’ But he: ‘The Lord,’ he says, ‘says: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, because I am meek and humble of heart.” If therefore that Augustine is meek and humble of heart, it is credible that he too bears the yoke of Christ and offers it to you to be borne; but if he is unmeek and proud, it is evident that he is not of God, nor is his discourse to be cared for by us.’ They again said: ‘And whence are we able even to discern this?’ ‘Procure,’ he says, ‘that he himself come first with his own men to the place of the synod; and, if as you approach he rises, knowing that he is a servant of Christ, obediently hear him; but if he scorns you and is not willing to rise before you, since you are more numerous in number, let he himself be scorned by you.’

Fecerunt, ut dixerat. Factumque est, ut uenientibus illis sederet Augustinus in sella. Quod illi uidentes mox in iram conuersi sunt, eumque notantes superbiae, cunctis, quae dicebat, contradicere laborabant.

They did as he had said. And it came about that, as they were arriving, Augustine was sitting in a chair. Seeing this, they at once were turned to wrath, and, noting him for pride, they strove to contradict everything that he was saying.

Dicebat autem eis quia ‘in multis quidem nostrae consuetudini, immo uniuersalis ecclesiae contraria geritis; et tamen si in tribus his mihi obtemperare uultis, ut pascha suo tempore celebretis; ut ministerium baptizandi, quo Deo renascimur, iuxta morem sanctae Romanae et apostolicae ecclesiae conpleatis; ut genti Anglorum una nobiscum uerbum Domini praedicetis; cetera, quae agitis, quamuis moribus nostris contraria, aequanimiter cuncta tolerabimus.’ At illi nil horum se facturos, neque illum pro archiepiscopo habituros esse respondebant; conferentes ad inuicem, quia ‘si modo nobis adsurgere noluit, quanto magis, si ei subdi coeperimus, iam nos pro nihilo contemnet.’

He was saying to them, moreover, that ‘in many things indeed you conduct yourselves contrary to our custom, nay, to that of the universal Church; and yet if in these three you are willing to obey me— that you celebrate the Pasch at its proper time; that you complete the ministry of baptizing, by which we are reborn to God, according to the custom of the holy Roman and apostolic Church; that to the nation of the English you preach the word of the Lord together with us— as for the rest which you do, although contrary to our mores, we will with equanimity tolerate them all.’ But they were answering that they would do none of these things, nor would they hold him as archbishop; conferring among themselves, that ‘if just now he was unwilling to rise to us, how much more, if we begin to be subject to him, will he already despise us as nothing.’

Quibus uir Domini Augustinus fertur minitans praedixisse, quia, si pacem cum fratribus accipere nollent, bellum ab hostibus forent accepturi; et, si nationi Anglorum noluissent uiam uitae praedicare, per horum manus ultionem essent mortis passuri. Quod ita per omnia, ut praedixerat, diuino agente iudicio patratum est.

Whereupon the man of the Lord, Augustine, is reported to have threatened and foretold that, if they were unwilling to accept peace with their brethren, they would receive war from their enemies; and that, if they were unwilling to preach the way of life to the nation of the Angles, through these men’s hands they would suffer the vengeance of death. Which in all respects was accomplished, as he had foretold, divine judgment being at work.

Siquidem post haec ipse, de quo diximus, rex Anglorum fortissimus Aedilfrid collecto grandi exercitu ad ciuitatem Legionum, quae a gente Anglorum Legacaestir, a Brettonibus autem rectius Carlegion appellatur, maximam gentis perfidae stragem dedit. Cumque bellum acturus uideret sacerdotes eorum, qui ad exorandum Deum pro milite bellum agente conuenerant, seorsum in tutiore loco consistere, sciscitabatur, qui essent hi, quidue acturi illo conuenissent. Erant autem plurimi eorum de monasterio Bancor, in quo tantus fertur fuisse numerus monachorum, ut, cum in VII portiones esset cum praepositis sibi rectoribus monasterium diuisum, nulla harum portio minus quam CCCtos homines haberet, qui omnes de labore manuum suarum uiuere solebant.

Indeed, after these things, the very mighty king of the English, Aedilfrid, of whom we have spoken, having gathered a great army, at the City of the Legions, which by the nation of the English is called Legacaestir, but by the Britons more rightly Carlegion, dealt the greatest slaughter upon the perfidious race. And when, about to wage war, he saw their priests—who had come together to beseech God on behalf of the soldiery while the battle was being fought—standing apart in a safer place, he inquired who these were, and for what they had come together there to do. Now very many of them were from the monastery of Bancor, in which so great a number of monks is reported to have been, that, since the monastery had been divided into 7 portions with rectors set over them, none of these portions had fewer than 300 men, who all were accustomed to live by the labor of their hands.

Horum ergo plurimi ad memoratam aciem, peracto ieiunio triduano, cum aliis orandi causa conuenerant, habentes defensorem nomine Brocmailum, qui eos intentos precibus a barbarorum gladiis protegeret. Quorum causam aduentus cum intellexisset rex Aedilfrid, ait: ‘Ergo si aduersum nos ad Deum suum clamant, profecto et ipsi, quamuis arma non ferant, contra nos pugnant, qui aduersis nos inprecationibus persequuntur.’ Itaque in hos primum arma uerti iubet, et sic ceteras nefandae militiae copias non sine magno exercitus sui damno deleuit. Exstinctos in ea pugna ferunt de his, qui ad orandum uenerant, uiros circiter mille CCtos, et solum L fuga esse lapsos.

Therefore very many of these, with a three-day fast completed, had assembled with others at the aforesaid battle-line for the sake of praying, having a defender by the name of Brocmail, who would protect them, intent upon prayers, from the swords of the barbarians. And when King Aedilfrid had understood the cause of their coming, he said: “Therefore if they cry out to their God against us, surely they too, although they do not bear arms, fight against us, who persecute us with adverse imprecations.” And so he orders weapons to be turned first against these, and thus he destroyed the remaining forces of the abominable soldiery, not without great loss to his own army. They report that in that battle there were slain of those who had come to pray about 1,200 men, and that only 50 slipped away in flight.

Brocmail ad primum hostium aduentum cum suis terga uertens, eos, quos defendere debuerat, inermes ac nudos ferientibus gladiis reliquit. Sicque conpletum est praesagium sancti pontificis Augustini, quamuis ipso iam multo ante tempore ad caelestia regna sublato, ut etiam temporalis interitus ultione sentirent perfidi, quod oblata sibi perpetuae salutis consilia spreuerant.

Brocmail, at the first advent of the enemies, turning his back with his men, left those whom he ought to have defended, unarmed and bare, to swords striking them. And thus the presage of the holy pontiff Augustine was fulfilled, although he himself had long before been taken up to the heavenly realms, that even by the vengeance of temporal destruction the faithless might feel, because they had spurned the counsels of perpetual salvation that had been offered to them.

[3] ANNO dominicae incarnationis DCIIIImo, Augustinus Brittaniarum archiepiscopus ordinauit duos episcopos, Mellitum uidelicet et Iustum; Mellitum quidem ad praedicandum prouinciae Orientalium Saxonum, qui Tamense fluuio dirimuntur a Cantia, et ipsi orientali mari contigui, quorum metropolis Lundonia ciuitas est, super ripam praefati fluminis posita, et ipsa multorum emporium populorum terra marique uenientium; in qua uidelicet gente tunc temporis Saberct nepos Aedilbercti ex sorore Ricula regnabat, quamuis sub potestate positus eiusdem Aedilbercti, qui omnibus, ut supra dictum est, usque ad terminum Humbrae fluminis Anglorum gentibus imperabat. Ubi uero et haec prouincia uerbum ueritatis praedicante Mellito accepit, fecit rex Aedilberct in ciuitate Lundonia ecclesiam sancti Pauli apostoli, in qua locum sedis episcopalis, et ipse, et successores eius haberent. Iustum uero in ipsa Cantia Augustinus episcopum ordinauit in ciuitate Dorubreui, quam gens Anglorum a primario quondam illius, qui dicebatur Hrof, Hrofæscæstræ cognominat.

[3] In the year of the Lord’s incarnation 604, Augustine, archbishop of the Britains, ordained two bishops, namely Mellitus and Justus; Mellitus indeed to preach to the province of the East Saxons, who are separated from Kent by the river Thames, and themselves contiguous to the eastern sea, whose metropolis is the city of London, set upon the bank of the aforesaid river, and itself an emporium of many peoples coming by land and sea; in which nation at that time Sabert, nephew of Aedilberht by his sister Ricula, was reigning, although placed under the power of the same Aedilberht, who, as said above, ruled the nations of the Angles as far as the boundary of the river Humber. And when this province too received the word of truth with Mellitus preaching, King Aedilberht made in the city of London a church of Saint Paul the Apostle, in which both he and his successors should have the place of an episcopal see. But Augustine ordained Justus as bishop in Kent itself, in the city of Dorubrevi, which the English nation surnames Hrofæscæstre from a certain former chief of it, who was called Hrof.

Distat autem a Doruuerni milibus passuum ferme XXIIII ad occidentem, in qua rex Aedilberct ecclesiam beati Andreae apostoli fecit, qui etiam episcopis utriusque huius ecclesiae dona multa, sicut et Doruuernensis, obtulit; sed et territoria ac possessiones in usum eorum, qui erant cum episcopis, adiecit.

Moreover, it is distant from Canterbury by almost 24 miles to the west, in which King Aedilberct made a church of the blessed apostle Andrew; he also offered many gifts to the bishops of both these churches, as likewise to that of Dorovernum; and he added territories and possessions for the use of those who were with the bishops.

Defunctus est autem Deo dilectus pater Augustinus, et positum corpus eius foras iuxta ecclesiam beatorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli, cuius supra meminimus, quia necdum fuerat perfecta nec dedicata. Mox uero ut dedicata est, intro inlatum, et in porticu illius aquilonali decenter sepultum est; in qua etiam sequentium archiepiscoporum omnium sunt corpora tumulata praeter duorum tantummodo, id est Theodori et Berctualdi, quorum corpora in ipsa ecclesia posita sunt, eo quod praedicta porticus plura capere nequiuit. Habet haec in medio pene sui altare in honore beati papae Gregorii dedicatum, in quo per omne sabbatum a presbytero loci illius agendae eorum sollemniter celebrantur.

But the God-beloved father Augustine passed away, and his body was placed outside beside the church of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, which we have mentioned above, because it had not yet been completed nor dedicated. Soon, however, once it was dedicated, it was brought inside, and in its northern portico it was becomingly interred; in which likewise the bodies of all the subsequent archbishops were entombed, save only two, that is, Theodore and Berctuald, whose bodies were placed in the church itself, for the aforesaid portico could not contain more. This has, in almost the midst of itself, an altar dedicated in honor of the blessed Pope Gregory, at which on every Sabbath their offices are solemnly celebrated by a presbyter of that place.

Scriptum uero est in tumba eiusdem Augustini epitaphium huiusmodi: ‘Hic requiescit domnus Augustinus Doruuernensis archiepiscopus primus, qui olim huc a beato Gregorio Romanae urbis pontifice directus, et a Deo operatione miraculorum suffultus, Aedilbertcum regem ac gentem illius ab idolorum cultu ad Christi fidem perduxit, et conpletis in pace diebus officii sui, defunctus est VII Kalendas Iunias, eodem rege regnante.’

But an epitaph of this sort is written on the tomb of that same Augustine: ‘Here rests lord Augustine, the first archbishop of Canterbury, who once, sent hither by blessed Gregory, pontiff of the city of Rome, and supported by God by the operation of miracles, led King Æthelberht and his people from the cult of idols to the faith of Christ; and, his days of office completed in peace, he died on the 7 day before the Kalends of June, the same king reigning.’

[4] SUCCESSIT Augustino in episcopatum Laurentius, quem ipse idcirco adhuc uiuens ordinauerat, ne, se defuncto, status ecclesiae tam rudis uel ad horam pastore destitutus uacillare inciperet. In quo et exemplum sequebatur primi pastoris ecclesiae, hoc est beatissimi apostolorum principis Petri, qui, fundata Romae ecclesia Christi, Clementem sibi adiutorem euangelizandi, simul et successorem consecrasse perhibetur. Laurentius archiepiscopi gradu potitus strenuissime fundamenta ecclesiae, quae nobiliter iacta uidit, augmentare, atque ad profectum debiti culminis, et crebra uoce sanctae exhortationis, et continuis piae operationis exemplis prouehere curauit.

[4] Lawrence succeeded Augustine in the episcopate, whom he for this reason had ordained while still living, lest, once he himself had died, the condition of the church, so rudimentary, should begin to vacillate, deprived of a shepherd even for an hour. In this he was also following the example of the first pastor of the church, that is, of the most blessed prince of the apostles, Peter, who, the Church of Christ having been founded at Rome, is reported to have consecrated Clement as his helper in evangelizing, and at the same time as his successor. Lawrence, having obtained the grade of archbishop, with the utmost vigor took care to augment the foundations of the church, which he saw nobly laid, and to carry them forward toward the progress of their due summit, both by the frequent voice of holy exhortation and by continual examples of pious operation.

Denique non solum nouae, quae de Anglis erat collecta, ecclesiae curam gerebat, sed et ueterum Brittaniae incolarum, nec non et Scottorum, qui Hiberniam insulam Brittaniae proximam incolunt, populis pastoralem inpendere sollicitudinem curabat. Siquidem ubi Scottorum in praefata ipsorum patria, quomodo et Brettonum in ipsa Brittania, uitam ac professionem minus ecclesiasticam in multis esse cognouit, maxime quod paschae sollemnitatem non suo tempore celebrarent, sed, ut supra docuimus, a XIIIIa luna usque ad XXam dominicae resurrectionis diem obseruandum esse putarent; scripsit cum coepiscopis suis exhortatoriam ad eos epistulam, obsecrans eos et contestans unitatem pacis et catholicae obseruationis cum ea, quae toto orbe diffusa est, ecclesia Christi tenere; cuius uidelicet epistulae principium hoc est:

Finally, he not only bore care for the new church, which had been gathered from the Angles, but also took care to expend pastoral solicitude for the peoples of the former inhabitants of Britain, and likewise of the Scots, who inhabit Hibernia, the island nearest to Britain. For indeed, when he learned that among the Scots in their aforesaid own country, as also among the Britons in Britain itself, their manner of life and profession was in many respects less ecclesiastical—especially that they celebrated the solemnity of Pascha not in its own time, but, as we have taught above, reckoned that from the 14th moon up to the 20th the day of the Lord’s Resurrection ought to be observed—he wrote, together with his fellow-bishops, an exhortatory letter to them, beseeching and adjuring them to hold the unity of peace and of catholic observance with that Church of Christ which is diffused through the whole orb; the beginning of which letter is this:

Dominis carissimis fratribus episcopis uel abbatibus per uniuersam Scottiam Laurentius, Mellitus, et Iustus episcopi, serui seruorum Dei.

To the dearest lords, brother bishops or abbots throughout all Scotia, Laurence, Mellitus, and Justus, bishops, servants of the servants of God.

Dum nos sedes apostolica more suo, sicut in uniuerso orbe terrarum, in his occiduis partibus ad praedicandum gentibus paganis dirigeret, atque in hanc insulam, quae Brittania nuncupatur, contigit introisse; antequam cognosceremus, credentes, quod iuxta morem uniuersalis ecclesiae ingrederentur, in magna reuerentia sanctitatis tam Brettones quam Scottos uenerati sumus; sed cognoscentes Brettones, Scottos meliores putauimus. Scottos uero per Daganum episcopum in hanc, quam superius memorauimus, insulam, et Columbanum abbatem in Gallis uenientem nihil discrepare a Brettonibus in eorum conuersatione didicimus. Nam Daganus episcopus ad nos ueniens, non solum cibum nobiscum, sed nec in eodem hospitio, quo uesccbamur, sumere uoluit.

While the apostolic see, in its customary manner, as in the whole orb of lands, was directing us in these western parts to preach to pagan nations, and it befell that we entered into this island, which is called Britain; before we knew, believing that they would proceed according to the custom of the universal Church, we venerated with great reverence of sanctity both the Britons and the Scots; but, on getting to know the Britons, we judged the Scots better. Yet we learned that the Scots—through Bishop Dagan coming into this island which we mentioned above, and Columbanus the abbot coming in Gaul—differ in nothing from the Britons in their conversatio (manner of life). For Bishop Dagan, coming to us, would take not only no food with us, but would not even take it in the same lodging in which we were eating.

Misit idem Laurentius cum coepiscopis suis etiam Brettonum sacerdotibus litteras suo gradui condignas, quibus eos in unitate catholica confirmare satagit. Sed quantum haec agendo profecerit, adhuc praesentia tempora declarant.

The same Laurence, together with his co-bishops, also sent to the priests of the Britons letters condign to his rank, by which he strives to confirm them in catholic unity. But how much he has profited by doing these things, the present times still declare.

His temporibus uenit Mellitus Lundoniae episcopus Romam, de necessariis ecclesiae Anglorum cum apostolico papa Bonifatio tractaturus. Et cum idem papa reuerentissimus cogeret synodum episcoporum Italiae, de uita monachorum et quiete ordinaturus, et ipse Mellitus inter eos adsedit anno VIII imperii Focatis principis, indictione XIIIa, tertio die Kalendarum Martiarum; ut quaeque erant regulariter decreta, sua quoque auctoritate subscribens confirmaret, ac Brittaniam rediens secum Anglorum ecclesiis mandanda atque obseruanda deferret, una cum epistulis, quas idem pontifex Deo dilecto archiepiscopo Laurentio et clero uniuerso, similiter et Aedilbercto regi atque genti Anglorum direxit. Hic est Bonifatius, quartus a beato Gregorio Romanae urbis episcopo, qui inpetrauit a Focate principe donari ecclesiae Christi templum Romae, quod Pantheon uocabatur ab antiquis, quasi simulacrum esset omnium deorum; in quo ipse, eliminata omni spurcitia, fecit ecclesiam sanctae Dei genetricis atque omnium martyrum Christi; ut, exclusa multitudine daemonum, multitudo ibi sanctorum memoriam haberet.

In those times Mellitus, bishop of London, came to Rome, to treat with the apostolic pope Boniface about matters necessary to the Church of the English. And when that same most reverend pope was convening a synod of the bishops of Italy, to ordain concerning the life of monks and their quiet/order, Mellitus himself sat among them in the 8th year of the reign of the emperor Phocas, in the 13th indiction, on the 3rd day before the Kalends of March; so that, whatever had been decreed according to rule, by subscribing with his own authority he might also confirm, and, returning to Britain, might carry with him for the churches of the English things to be enjoined and observed, together with the letters which the same pontiff sent to the God‑beloved Archbishop Laurence and the whole clergy, likewise also to King Æthelberht and the English nation. This is Boniface, the fourth after blessed Gregory, bishop of the city of Rome, who obtained from the emperor Phocas that the temple in Rome which was called the Pantheon by the ancients—as though it were an image of all the gods—be granted to the Church of Christ; in which, all uncleanness having been eliminated, he made a church of the holy Mother of God and of all the martyrs of Christ; so that, the multitude of demons being excluded, a multitude of saints might there have their memorial.

[5] ANNO ab incarnatione dominica DCXVI, qui est annus XXI, ex quo Augustinus cum sociis ad praedicandum genti Anglorum missus est, Aedilberct rex Cantuariorum post regnum temporale, quod L et VI annis gloriosissime tenuerat, aeterna caelestis regni gaudia subiit; qui tertius quidem in regibus gentis Anglorum cunctis australibus eorum prouinciis, quae Humbrae fluuio et contiguis ei terminis sequestrantur a borealibus, imperauit; sed primus omnium caeli regna conscendit. Nam primus imperium huiusmodi Aelli rex Australium Saxonum; secundus Caelin rex Occidentalium Saxonum, qui lingua ipsorum Ceaulin uocabatur; tertius, ut diximus, Aedilberct rex Cantuariorum; quartus Reduald rex Orientalium Anglorum, qui etiam uiuente Aedilbercto eidem suae genti ducatum praebebat, obtinuit; quintus Aeduini rex Nordanhymbrorum gentis, id est eius, quae ad Borealem Humbrae fluminis plagam inhabitat, maiore potentia cunctis, qui Brittaniam incolunt, Anglorum pariter et Brettonum populis praefuit, praeter Cantuariis tantum; nec non et Meuanias Brettonum insulas, quae inter Hiberniam et Brittaniam sitae sunt, Anglorum subiecit imperio; sextus Osuald et ipse Nordanhymbrorum rex Christianissimus, hisdem finibus regnum tenuit; septimus Osuiu frater eius, aequalibus pene terminis regnum nonnullo tempore cohercens, Pictorum quoque atque Scottorum gentes, quae septentrionales Brittaniae fines tenent, maxima ex parte perdomuit, ac tributarias fecit. Sed haec postmodum.

[5] IN THE year from the Lord’s incarnation 616, which is the 21st year since Augustine with his companions was sent to preach to the nation of the Angles, Aedilberct king of the Cantuarians, after the temporal kingdom which he had most gloriously held for 56 years, entered upon the eternal joys of the heavenly kingdom; who was the third among the kings of the nation of the Angles to exercise imperium over all their southern provinces, which are separated from the northern by the river Humber and the boundaries contiguous with it; but the first of all to ascend the kingdoms of heaven. For the first to wield such imperium was Aelli king of the South Saxons; the second Caelin king of the West Saxons, who in their tongue was called Ceaulin; the third, as we have said, Aedilberct king of the Cantuarians; the fourth Reduald king of the East Angles obtained it, who even while Aedilberct lived was affording leadership to that same people of his; the fifth Aeduini king of the nation of the Northumbrians, that is, of that which inhabits the northern region of the river Humber, with greater potency than all who inhabit Britain presided over the peoples of the Angles and of the Britons alike, the Cantuarians only excepted; and he likewise subjected the Mevanian islands of the Britons, which are situated between Ireland and Britain, to the imperium of the Angles; the sixth Osuald, himself also a most Christian king of the Northumbrians, held the kingdom within these same borders; the seventh Osuiu, his brother, restraining the kingdom for no small time within almost equal limits, also very greatly subdued the nations of the Picts and of the Scots, who hold the northern borders of Britain, and made them tributary. But these things hereafter.

Defunctus uero est rex Aedilberct die XXIIII mensis Februarii post XX et unum annos acceptae fidei, atque in porticu sancti Martini intro ecclesiam beatorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli sepultus, ubi et Berctæ regina condita est.

King Aedilberct indeed died on the 24th day of the month of February, after 21 years of the faith received, and he was buried in the portico of Saint Martin, within the church of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, where Queen Bercta also was interred.

Qui inter cetera bona, quae genti suae consulendo conferebat, etiam decreta illi iudiciorum, iuxta exempla Romanorum, cum consilio sapientium constituit; quae conscripta Anglorum sermone hactenus habentur, et obseruantur ab ea. In quibus primitus posuit, qualiter id emendare deberet, qui aliquid rerum uel ecclesiae, uel episcopi, uel reliquorum ordinum furto auferret; uolens scilicet tuitionem eis, quos et quorum doctrinam susceperat, praestare.

who, among the other benefits which he was conferring by taking thought for his own people, also established for it judicial decrees, according to the exemplars of the Romans, with the counsel of the wise; which, written in the Angles’ speech, are held even to this day and are observed by it. In these he first set down how he ought to make amends who should carry off by theft anything of property either of the Church, or of the bishop, or of the remaining orders; wishing, namely, to provide protection to those whom, and whose doctrine, he had received.

Erat autem idem Aedilberct filius Irminrici, cuius pater Octa, cuius pater Oeric cognomento Oisc, a quo reges Cantuariorum solent Oiscingas cognominare. Cuius pater Hengist, qui cum filio suo Oisc inuitatus a Uurtigerno Brittaniam primus intrauit, ut supra retulimus.

It was moreover this same Aedilberct, the son of Irminric; whose father was Octa; whose father was Oeric, by cognomen Oisc, from whom the kings of the Cantuarians are wont to be cognominated Oiscingas. Whose father was Hengist, who, invited by Vurtigern, first entered Britain with his son Oisc, as we have related above.

At uero post mortem Aedilbercti, cum filius eius Eadbald regni gubernacula suscepisset, magno tenellis ibi adhuc ecclesiae crementis detrimento fuit. Siquidem non solum fidem Christi recipere noluerat, sed et fornicatione pollutus est tali, qualem nec inter gentes auditam apostolus testatur, ita ut uxorem patris haberet. Quo utroque scelere occasionem dedit ad priorem uomitum reuertendi his, qui sub imperio sui parentis, uel fauore uel timore regio, fidei et castimoniae iura susceperant.

But indeed after the death of Aedilberct, when his son Eadbald had taken up the helms of the kingdom, it was a great detriment to the still-tender growths of the Church there. For not only had he been unwilling to receive the faith of Christ, but he was also polluted by such fornication as the Apostle testifies is not even heard of among the Gentiles, in that he had his father’s wife. By both these crimes he gave occasion for returning to the former vomit to those who under the dominion of his parent, either by royal favor or royal fear, had taken upon themselves the laws of faith and chastity.

Nec supernae flagella districtionis perfido regi castigando et corrigendo defuere; nam crebra mentis uesania, et spiritus inmundi inuasione premebatur.

Nor were the supernal scourges of severity lacking for chastising and correcting the perfidious king; for he was pressed by frequent madness of mind, and by the invasion of an unclean spirit.

Auxit autem procellam huiusce perturbationis etiam mors Sabercti regis Orientalium Saxonum, qui ubi regna perennia petens tres suos filios, qui pagani perdurauerant, regni temporalis heredes reliquit, coeperunt illi mox idolatriae, quam, uiuente eo, aliquantulum intermisisse uidebantur, palam seruire, subiectisque populis idola colendi liberam dare licentiam. Cumque uiderent pontificem, celebratis in ecclesia missarum sollemniis, eucharistiam populo dare, dicebant, ut uulgo fertur, ad eum barbara inflati stultitia: ‘Quare non et nobis porrigis panem nitidum, quem et patri nostro Saba,’ sic namque eum appellare consuerant, ‘dabas, et populo adhuc dare in ecclesia non desistis?’ Quibus ille respondebat: ‘Si uultis ablui fonte illo salutari, quo pater uester ablutus est, potestis etiam panis sancti, cui ille participabat, esse participes; sin autem lauacrum uitae contemnitis, nullatenus ualetis panem uitae percipere.’ At illi: ‘Nolumus,’ inquiunt, ‘fontem illum intrare, quia nec opus illo nos habere nouimus, sed tamen pane illo refici uolumus.’ Cumque diligenter ac saepe ab illo essent admoniti nequaquam ita fieri posse, ut absque purgatione sacrosancta quis oblationi sacrosanctae communicaret, ad ultimum furore commoti aiebant: ‘Si non uis adsentire nobis in tam facili causa, quam petimus, non poteris iam in nostra prouincia demorari.’ Et expulerunt eum, ac de suo regno cum suis abire iusserunt.

Moreover, the death of Sabert, king of the East Saxons, also augmented the tempest of this perturbation; for when, seeking eternal realms, he left as heirs of the temporal kingdom his three sons, who had persisted as pagans, they straightway began openly to serve idolatry, which, while he lived, they seemed to have somewhat intermitted, and they gave to the subject peoples free license to worship idols. And when they saw the pontiff, after the solemnities of the masses had been celebrated in the church, giving the Eucharist to the people, they said to him, as it is commonly reported, puffed up with barbarian folly: ‘Why do you not also hand to us the shining bread, which to our father Saba’—for thus they were wont to call him—‘you used to give, and which you do not cease even now to give to the people in the church?’ To whom he answered: ‘If you wish to be washed in that saving font in which your father was washed, you also can be participants of the holy bread of which he was a participant; but if you despise the laver of life, you are in no wise able to receive the bread of life.’ But they say: ‘We do not wish to enter that font, for we know that we have no need of it; yet we wish to be refreshed by that bread.’ And when they had been carefully and often admonished by him that it could by no means be so done, that without sacrosanct purification one should communicate to the sacrosanct oblation, at last, stirred to fury, they said: ‘If you are unwilling to assent to us in so easy a matter as we ask, you will no longer be able to remain in our province.’ And they expelled him and ordered him to depart from their kingdom with his own.

Qui expulsus inde uenit Cantiam, tractaturus cum Laurentio et Iusto coepiscopis, quid in his esset agendum. Decretumque est communi consilio, quia satius esset, ut omnes patriam redeuntes, libera ibi mente Domino deseruirent, quam inter rebelles fidei barbaros sine fructu residerent. Discessere itaque primo Mellitus et Iustus, atque ad partes Galliae secessere, ibi rerum finem exspectare disponentes.

He, expelled from there, came to Kent, to discuss with Laurence and Justus, his co-bishops, what ought to be done in these matters. And it was decreed by common counsel that it would be better that all, returning to their fatherland, should there serve the Lord with a free mind, rather than sit without fruit among barbarians rebellious to the faith. Therefore first Mellitus and Justus departed, and withdrew to the parts of Gaul, arranging to await there the end of affairs.

Sed non multo tempore reges, qui praeconem a se ueritatis expulerant, daemonicis cultibus inpune seruiebant. Nam egressi contra gentem Geuissorum in proelium, omnes pariter cum sua militia corruerunt; nec, licet auctoribus perditis, excitatum ad scelera uulgus potuit recorrigi, atque ad simplicitatem fidei et caritatis, quae est in Christo, reuocari.

But not for a long time did the kings, who had driven from themselves the herald of truth, serve demonic cults with impunity. For, having gone out into battle against the nation of the Gewisse, they all alike fell together with their soldiery; nor, although the authors of the misdeed were destroyed, could the populace, roused to crimes, be corrected, and be called back to the simplicity of faith and charity which is in Christ.

[6] CUM uero et Laurentius Mellitum Iustumque secuturus ac Brittaniam esset relicturus, iussit ipsa sibi nocte in ecclesia beatorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli, de qua frequenter iam diximus, stratum parari; in quo, cum post multas preces ac lacrimas ad Dominum pro statu ecclesiae fusas ad quiescendum membra posuisset, atque obdormisset, apparuit ei beatissimus apostolorum princeps, et multo illum tempore secretae noctis flagellis artioribus afficiens sciscitabatur apostolica districtione, quare gregem, quem sibi ipse crediderat, relinqueret, uel cui pastorum oues Christi in medio luporum positas fugiens ipse dimitteret.’ ‘An mei,’ inquit, ‘oblitus es exempli, qui pro paruulis Christi, quos mihi in indicium suae dilectionis commendauerat, uincula, uerbera, carceres, adflictiones, ipsam postremo mortem, mortem autem crucis, ab infidelibus et inimicis Christi ipse cum Christo coronandus pertuli?’ His beati Petri flagellis simul ex exhortationibus animatus famulus Christi Laurentius mox mane facto uenit ad regem, et, retecto uestimento, quantis esset uerberibus laceratus, ostendit. Qui multum miratus et inquirens, quis tanto uiro tales ausus esset plagas infligere; ut audiuit, quia suae causa salutis episcopus ab apostolo Christi tanta esset tormenta plagasque perpessus, extimuit multum; atque anathematizato omni idolatriae cultu, abdicato conubio non legitimo, suscepit fidem Christi, et baptizatus ecclesiae rebus, quantum ualuit, in omnibus consulere ac fauere curauit.

[6] WHEN indeed Laurence also, about to follow Mellitus and Justus and to leave Britain, ordered for himself that very night a bed to be prepared in the church of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, of which we have already spoken frequently; and there, after he had poured out many prayers and tears to the Lord for the state of the church and had laid his limbs to rest, and had fallen asleep, the most blessed prince of the apostles appeared to him, and for much time of the secret night, afflicting him with tighter scourges, he inquired with apostolic strictness why he was leaving the flock which he himself had entrusted to him, or to which of the shepherds he, fleeing, would leave the sheep of Christ placed in the midst of wolves.’ ‘Have you,’ he said, ‘forgotten my example, I who for the little ones of Christ, whom he had commended to me as a token of his love, endured bonds, beatings, prisons, afflictions, and finally death itself, and indeed the death of the cross, from the unfaithful and enemies of Christ, myself to be crowned with Christ?’ Encouraged by these scourges of blessed Peter together with his exhortations, the servant of Christ Laurence, as soon as it was morning, came to the king, and, his garment uncovered, showed how greatly he had been lacerated by blows. He, much amazed and inquiring who had dared to inflict such wounds on so great a man; when he heard that on account of his own salvation the bishop had suffered such torments and blows from the apostle of Christ, he greatly feared; and, after anathematizing every cult of idolatry and putting away an unlawful union, he received the faith of Christ, and, baptized, took care, as far as he was able, in all things to look to and to favor the affairs of the church.

Misit etiam Galliam, et reuocauit Mellitum ac Iustum, eosque ad suas ecclesias libere instituendas redire praecepit; qui post annum, ex quo abierunt, reuersi sunt; et Iustus quidem ad ciuitatem Hrofi, cui praefuerat, rediit; Mellitum uero Lundonienses episcopum recipere noluerunt, idolatris magis pontificibus seruire gaudentes. Non enim tanta erat ei, quanta patri ipsius regni potestas, ut etiam nolentibus ac contradicentibus paganis antistitem suae posset ecclesiae reddere. Uerumtamen ipse cum sua gente, ex quo ad Dominum conuersus est, diuinis se studuit mancipare praeceptis.

He also sent into Gaul, and recalled Mellitus and Justus, and ordered them to return to their churches to be freely established; who, after a year from the time they had departed, returned; and Justus indeed returned to the city of Hrof, over which he had presided; but the Londoners were unwilling to receive Mellitus as bishop, rejoicing rather to serve idolatrous pontiffs. For he did not have power over the kingdom as great as his father’s, so that he could restore to his church a bishop even with the pagans unwilling and contradicting. Nevertheless, he himself with his people, from the time that he was converted to the Lord, strove to subject himself to the divine precepts.

Denique et in monasterio beatissimi apostolorum principis ecclesiam sanctae Dei genetricis fecit, quam consecrauit archiepiscopus Mellitus.

Finally, in the monastery of the most blessed prince of the apostles he built a church of the holy Mother of God, which Archbishop Mellitus consecrated.

[7] HOC enim regnante rege beatus archiepiscopus Laurentius regnum caeleste conscendit, atque in ecclesia et monasterio sancti apostoli Petri iuxta prodecessorem suum Augustinum sepultus est die quarto Nonarum Februariarum; post quem Mellitus, qui erat Lundoniae episcopus, sedem Doruuernensis ecclesiae tertius ab Augustino suscepit. Iustus autem adhuc superstes Hrofensem regebat ecclesiam. Qui, cum magna ecclesiam Anglorum cura ac labore gubernarent, susceperunt scripta exhortatoria a pontifice Romanae et apostolicae sedis Bonifatio, qui post Deusdedit ecclesiae praefuit, anno incarnationis dominicae DCXVIIII.

[7] For in the reign of this king the blessed archbishop Laurence ascended the heavenly kingdom, and in the church and monastery of the holy apostle Peter he was buried beside his predecessor Augustine on the 4th day before the Nones of February (February 2); after whom Mellitus, who was bishop of London, received the see of the church of Canterbury, the third from Augustine. But Justus, still surviving, was ruling the church of Rochester. They, as they governed the church of the English with great care and labor, received exhortatory writings from Boniface, pontiff of the Roman and Apostolic See, who, after Deusdedit, presided over the church, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 619.

Erat autem Mellitus corporis quidem infirmitate, id est podagra, grauatus, sed mentis gressibus sanis alacriter terrena quaeque transiliens, atque ad caelestia semper amanda, petenda, et quaerenda peruolans. Erat carnis origine nobilis, sed culmine mentis nobilior.

However, Mellitus was weighed down by an infirmity of the body, that is, gout; but with the steps of his mind sound, he briskly overleaping all earthly things, and winging his way to the heavenly things always to be loved, to be sought, and to be inquired after. He was noble by origin of the flesh, but nobler by the summit of the mind.

Denique, ut unum uirtutis eius, unde cetera intellegi possint, testimonium referam, tempore quodam ciuitas Doruuernensis per culpam incuriae igni correpta crebrescentibus coepit flammis consumi; quibus cum nullo aquarum iniectu posset aliquis obsistere, iamque ciuitatis esset pars uastata non minima, atque ad episcopium furens se flamma dilataret, confidens episcopus in diuinum, ubi humanum deerat, auxilium, iussit se obuiam saeuientibus et huc illucque uolantibus ignium globis efferri. Erat autem eo loci, ubi flammarum impetus maxime incumbebat, martyrium beatorum IIII Coronatorum. Ibi ergo perlatus obsequentum manibus episcopus coepit orando periculum infirmus abigere, quod firma fortium manus multum laborando nequiuerat.

Finally, that I may relate one testimony of his virtue, whence the rest may be understood, at a certain time the city of Dorovernum, through the fault of negligence, being seized by fire, began, as the flames grew more frequent, to be consumed; and since by no throwing-on of waters could anyone withstand them, and already no small part of the city had been laid waste, and the raging flame spread itself toward the episcopal residence, the bishop, confiding in the divine aid where the human was lacking, ordered himself to be carried out to meet the raging globes of fire flying hither and thither. Now at that spot, where the onrush of the flames bore down most, there was the martyrium of the blessed 4 Crowned. Therefore, borne there by the hands of his attendants, the bishop, infirm, began by praying to drive away the danger, which the firm hand of the strong, though laboring much, had been unable to do.

Nec mora, uentus, qui a meridie flans urbi incendia sparserat, contra meridiem reflexus, primo uim sui furoris a lesione locorum, quae contra erant, abstraxit, ac mox funditus quiescendo, flammis pariter sopitis atque exstinctis, conpescuit. Et quia uir Dei igne diuinae caritatis fortiter ardebat, quia tempestates potestatum aeriarum a sua suorumque lesione crebris orationibus uel exhortationibus repellere consuerat, merito uentis flammisque mundialibus praeualere, et, ne sibi suisque nocerent, obtinere poterat.

No delay: the wind, which blowing from the south had scattered fires through the city, having been bent back toward the south, first drew away the force of its fury from injuring the places that were opposite, and soon, by becoming utterly quiet, with the flames likewise soothed and extinguished, it was checked. And because the man of God burned stoutly with the fire of divine charity, because he was accustomed by frequent prayers or exhortations to repel the tempests of the aerial powers from harm to himself and his people, deservedly he could prevail over the winds and the mundane flames, and obtain that they should not hurt himself and his own.

Et hic ergo postquam annis quinque rexit ecclesiam, Aeodbaldo regnante migrauit ad caelos, sepultusque est cum patribus suis in saepe dicto monasterio et ecclesia beatissimi apostolorum principis, anno ab incarnatione Domini DCXXIIII, die VIII Kalendarum Maiarum.

And he, therefore, after he ruled the church for five years, with Aeodbald reigning, migrated to the heavens, and was buried with his fathers in the oft-said monastery and church of the most blessed prince of the apostles, in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 624, on the 8th day before the Kalends of May (April 24).

[8] CUI statim successit in pontificatum Iustus, qui erat Hrofensis ecclesiae episcopus. Illi autem ecclesiae Romanum pro se consecrauit episcopum, data sibi ordinandi episcopos auctoritate a pontifice Bonifatio, quem successorem fuisse Deusdedit supra meminimus; cuius auctoritatis ista est forma:

[8] TO WHOM thereupon succeeded in the pontificate Justus, who was bishop of the church of Rochester. For that church he consecrated Romanus as bishop in his stead, authority to ordain bishops having been given to him by Pontiff Boniface, whom above we have remembered to have been the successor of Deusdedit; of which authority this is the form:

Dilectissimo fratri Iusto Bonifatius.

Boniface to the most beloved brother Justus.

Quam deuote quamque etiam uigilanter pro Christi euangelio elaborauerit uestra fraternitas, non solum epistulae a uobis directae tenor, immo indulta desuper operi uestro perfectio indicauit. Nec enim omnipotens Deus aut sui nominis sacramentum, aut uestri fructum laboris deseruit, dum ipse praedicatoribus euangelii fideliter repromisit: ‘Ecce ego uobiscum sum omnibus diebus usque ad consummationem mundi.’ Quod specialiter iniuncto uobis ministerio, eius clementia demonstrauit, aperiens corda gentium ad suscipiendum praedicationis uestrae singulare mysterium. Magno enim praemio fastigiorum uestrorum delectabilem cursum bonitatis suae suffragiis inlustrauit, dum creditorum uobis talentorum fidelissimae negotiationis officiis uberem fructum inpendens ei, quod signare possetis multiplicatis generationibus, praeparauit.

How devotedly and how vigilantly your brotherhood has toiled for the Gospel of Christ, not only has the tenor of the letter sent by you indicated, but indeed the perfection granted from above to your work. For the Omnipotent God has not abandoned either the sacrament of his name or the fruit of your labor, since he himself faithfully re-promised to the preachers of the Gospel: ‘Behold, I am with you all days unto the consummation of the world.’ Which, with respect to the ministry specially enjoined upon you, his clemency has shown, opening the hearts of the nations to receive the singular mystery of your preaching. For with a great reward of your high achievements he has illumined the delightful course by the suffrages of his goodness, in that, through the offices of the most faithful negotiation of the talents credited to you, bestowing abundant fruit upon it, he has prepared that which you might be able to seal for generations multiplied.

Hocque etiam illa uobis repensatione conlatum est, qua iniuncto ministerio iugiter persistentes laudabili patientia redemtionem gentis illius exspectastis, et uestris, ut proficerent, meritis eorum est saluatio propinata, dicente Domino: ‘Qui perseuerauerit usque in finem, hic saluus erit.’ Saluati ergo estis spe patientiae et tolerantiae uirtute, ut infidelium corda naturali ac superstitioso morbo purgata, sui consequerentur misericordiam Saluatoris. Susceptis namque apicibus filii nostri Adulualdi regis, repperimus, quanta sacri eloquii eruditione eius animum ad uerae conuersionis et indubitatae fidei credulitatem fraternitas uestra perduxerit. Qua ex re de longanimitate clementiae caelestis certam adsumentes fiduciam, non solum suppositarum ei gentium plenissimam salutem, immo quoque uicinarum, uestrae praedicationis ministerio credimus subsequendam; quatinus, sicut scriptum est, consummati operis uobis merces a retributore omnium bonorum Domino tribuatur, et uere ‘per omnem terram exisse sonum eorum, et in fines orbis terrae uerba ipsorum,’ uniuersalis gentium confessio, suscepto Christianae sacramento fidei, protestetur.

And this also has been conferred upon you by that recompense, whereby, persevering continually in the enjoined ministry, with laudable patience you have awaited the redemption of that nation, and by your merits, that they might make progress, salvation has been proffered to them, the Lord saying: ‘He who shall have persevered unto the end, this man shall be saved.’ Saved, therefore, you have been by the hope of patience and by the virtue of tolerance, so that the hearts of unbelievers, cleansed from a natural and superstitious sickness, might attain the mercy of their Savior. For upon receiving the letters of our son King Aduluald, we discovered with how great an erudition of sacred eloquence your fraternity has led his mind to the belief of true conversion and of undoubted faith. Whence, taking certain confidence from the longanimity of heavenly clemency, we believe that not only the most full salvation of the peoples subject to him, but indeed also of the neighboring peoples, is to ensue through the ministry of your preaching; to the end that, as it is written, the reward of a consummated work may be granted to you by the Retributor of all goods, the Lord, and that truly ‘their sound has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world,’ the universal confession of the nations, the sacrament of the Christian faith having been received, may proclaim.

Pallium praeterea per latorem praesentium fraternitati tuae, benignitatis studiis inuitati, direximus, quod uidelicet tantum in sacrosanctis celebrandis mysteriis utendi licentiam imperauimus; concedentes etiam tibi ordinationes episcoporum, exigente oportunitate, Domini praeueniente misericordia, celebrare; ita ut Christi euangelium plurimorum adnuntiatione in omnibus gentibus, quae necdum conuersae sunt, dilatetur. Studeat ergo tua fraternitas hoc, quod sedis apostolicae humanitate percepit, intemerata mentis sinceritate seruare, intendens cuius rei similitudine tam praecipuum indumentum humeris tuis baiulandum susceperis. Talemque te Domini inplorata clementia exhibendum stude, ut indulti muneris praemia non cum reatitudine, sed cum commodis animarum ante tribunal summi et uenturi Iudicis repraesentes.

Furthermore, a pallium, through the bearer of the present letters, to your fraternity, invited by studies of benignity, we have sent, which indeed we have enjoined permission to be used only in celebrating the sacrosanct mysteries; granting also to you to celebrate the ordinations of bishops, as opportunity demands, the Lord’s prevenient mercy going before; so that the Evangel of Christ, by the proclamation of very many, may be enlarged among all the nations which are not yet converted. Let your fraternity therefore be diligent to keep, with inviolate sincerity of mind, that which it has received by the humanity of the Apostolic See, attending to the likeness of the thing for the sake of which you have undertaken to bear upon your shoulders so preeminent an indument. And strive, with the clemency of the Lord implored, to show yourself such that you may present the rewards of the gift granted by indult not with guilt, but with the advantages of souls before the tribunal of the Most High and Coming Judge.

Deus te incolumem custodiat, dilectissime frater.

May God keep you safe, dearest brother.

[9] QUO tempore etiam gens Nordanhymbrorum, hoc est ea natio Anglorum, quae ad Aquilonalem Humbre fluminis plagam habitabat, cum rege suo Aeduino uerbum fidei praedicante Paulino, cuius supra meminimus, suscepit. Cui uidelicet regi, in auspicium suscipiendae fidei et regni caelestis, potestas etiam terreni creuerat imperii; ita ut, quod nemo Anglorum ante eum, omnes Brittaniae fines, qua uel ipsorum uel Brettonum prouinciae habitabant, sub dicione acciperet. Quin et Meuanias insulas, sicut et supra docuimus, imperio subiugauit Anglorum; quarum prior, quae ad austrum est, et situ amplior, et frugum prouentu atque ubertate felicior, nongentarum LX familiarum mensuram iuxta aestimationem Anglorum, secunda trecentarum et ultra spatium tenet.

[9] AT which time also the nation of the Northumbrians, that is, that nation of the Angles which dwelt on the Northern region of the river Humber, together with their king Edwin, with Paulinus, of whom we have made mention above, preaching the word of faith, received it. To which king, as an auspice of the faith to be taken up and of the celestial kingdom, the power also of the earthly imperium had increased; so that—what no man of the Angles before him—he took under his dominion all the bounds of Britain, wherever either their own or the Britons’ provinces lay inhabited. Moreover, he subjugated even the Mevanian islands, as we have shown above, to the dominion of the Angles; of which the former, which is to the south, both greater in situation and happier in the yield and abundance of crops, holds the measure of 960 families according to the estimation of the Angles; the second holds the extent of 300 and more.

Huic autem genti occasio fuit percipiendae fidei, quod praefatus rex eius cognatione iunctus est regibus Cantuariorum, accepta in coniugem Aedilbergae filia Aedilbercti regis, quae alio nomine Tatae uocabatur. Huius consortium cum primo ipse missis procis a fratre eius Aeodbaldo, qui tunc regno Cantuariorum praeerat, peteret; responsum est non esse licitum Christianam uirginem pagano in coniugem dari, ne fides et sacramenta caelestis regis consortio profanarentur regis, qui ueri Dei cultus esset prorsus ignarus. Quae cum Aeduino uerba nuntii referrent, promisit se nil omnimodis contrarium Christianae fidei, quam uirgo colebat, esse facturum; quin potius permissurum, ut fidem cultumque suae religionis cum omnibus, qui secum uenissent, uiris siue feminis, sacerdotibus seu ministris, more Christiano seruaret.

To this people, however, there was an occasion for the receiving of the faith, namely that the aforesaid king of it was joined by kinship to the kings of the Kentishmen, having taken to wife Aedilberga, daughter of King Aedilberct, who by another name was called Tata. When at first he sought this alliance, by sending suitors, from her brother Aeodbald, who at that time presided over the kingdom of the Kentishmen, it was answered that it was not lawful for a Christian virgin to be given in marriage to a pagan, lest the faith and the sacraments of the heavenly King be profaned by the fellowship of a king who was utterly ignorant of the worship of the true God. When the messengers reported these words to Aeduin, he promised that he would by no means do anything in any way contrary to the Christian faith which the virgin cultivated; rather, he would permit that she should observe the faith and the cult of her religion, in Christian manner, together with all who had come with her, whether men or women, priests or ministers.

Neque abnegauit se etiam eandem subiturum esse religionem; si tamen examinata a prudentibus sanctior ac Deo dignior posset inueniri.

Nor did he deny that he too would undergo the same religion; if, however, when examined by the prudent, it could be found holier and more worthy of God.

Itaque promittitur uirgo, atque Aeduino mittitur, et iuxta quod dispositum fuerat, ordinatur episcopus uir Deo dilectus Paulinus, qui cum illa ueniret, eamque et comites eius, ne paganorum possent societate pollui, cotidiana et exhortatione, et sacramentorum caelestium celebratione confirmaret.

Accordingly the virgin is promised, and is sent to Edwin, and, in accordance with what had been arranged, a bishop, the man beloved by God Paulinus, is ordained, who should come with her, and should confirm her and her companions—lest they could be defiled by the society of pagans—by daily exhortation and by the celebration of the heavenly sacraments.

Ordinatus est autem Paulinus episcopus a Iusto archiepiscopo, sub die XII Kalendarum Augustarum, anno ab incarnatione Domini DCXXV; et sic cum praefata uirgine ad regem Aeduinum quasi comes copulae carnalis aduenit. Sed ipse potius toto animo intendens, ut gentem, quam adibat, ad agnitionem ueritatis aduocans, iuxta uocem apostoli, uni uero sponso uirginem castam exhiberet Christo. Cumque in prouinciam uenisset, laborauit multum, ut et eos, qui secum uenerant, ne a fide deficerent, Domino adiuuante contineret, et aliquos, si forte posset, de paganis ad fidei gratiam praedicando conuerteret.

Moreover Paulinus was ordained bishop by Justus the archbishop, on the 12th day before the Kalends of August, in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 625; and thus with the aforesaid maiden he came to King Edwin as it were the companion of the carnal union. But he rather, directing his whole mind to this, that, calling the nation which he approached to the recognition of truth, according to the voice of the apostle, he might present a chaste virgin to the one true bridegroom, Christ. And when he had come into the province, he labored much, both that, with the Lord helping, he might keep those who had come with him from failing from the faith, and that he might, if perchance he could, by preaching convert some of the pagans to the grace of the faith.

Sed sicut apostolus ait, quamuis multo tempore illo laborante in uerbo: ‘Deus saeculi huius excaecauit mentes infidelium, ne eis fulgeret inluminatio euangelii gloriae Christi.’

But just as the apostle says, although for a long time that man was laboring in the word: ‘The god of this age has blinded the minds of the unfaithful, lest the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ should shine for them.’

Anno autem sequente uenit in prouinciam quidam sicarius uocabulo Eumer, missus a rege Occidentalium Saxonum nomine Cuichelmo, sperans se regem Aeduinum regno simul et uita priuaturum; qui habebat sicam bicipitem toxicatam; ut si ferri uulnus minus ad mortem regis sufficeret, peste iuuaretur ueneni. Peruenit autem ad regem primo die paschae iuxta amnem Deruuentionem, ubi tunc erat uilla regalis, intrauitque quasi nuntium domini sui referens; et cum simulatam legationem ore astuto uolueret, exsurrexit repente, et, euaginata sub ueste sica, impetum fecit in regem. Quod cum uideret Lilla minister regi amicissimus, non habens scutum ad manum, quo regem a nece defenderet, mox interposuit corpus suum ante ictum pungentis; sed tanta ui hostis ferrum infixit, ut per corpus militis occisi etiam regem uulneraret.

But in the following year there came into the province a certain assassin by the name Eumer, sent by the king of the West Saxons, named Cwichelm, hoping that he would deprive King Edwin at once of kingdom and life; he had a double‑edged dagger, poisoned, so that if the wound of the iron should be less than sufficient for the king’s death, it might be aided by the pest of the poison. He came to the king on the first day of Easter beside the river Derwent, where at that time there was a royal villa, and he entered as though delivering his lord’s message; and when with a crafty mouth he was proffering a feigned legation, he suddenly sprang up, and, the dagger drawn from beneath his garment, made an attack upon the king. When Lilla, a minister most dear to the king, saw this, not having a shield at hand with which to defend the king from death, he immediately interposed his body before the stroke of the stabber; but with such force did the enemy fix the steel that through the body of the slain soldier he even wounded the king.

Qui cum mox undique gladiis inpeteretur, in ipso tumultu etiam alium de militibus, cui nomen erat Fordheri, sica nefanda peremit.

Who, when soon he was assailed on every side by swords, in the very tumult even another of the soldiers, whose name was Fordheri, he slew with the nefarious dagger.

Eadem autem nocte sacrosancta dominici paschae pepererat regina filiam regi, cui nomen Aeanfled. Cumque idem rex, praesente Paulino episcopo, gratias ageret diis suis pro nata sibi filia, e contra episcopus gratias coepit agere Domino Christo, regique adstruere, quod ipse precibus suis apud illum obtinuerit, ut regina sospes et absque dolore graui sobolem procrearet. Cuius uerbis delectatus rex, promisit se, abrenuntiatis idolis, Christo seruiturum, si uitam sibi et uictoriam donaret pugnanti aduersus regem, a quo homicida ille, qui eum uulnerauerat, missus est; et in pignus promissionis inplendae, eandem filiam suam Christo consecrandam Paulino episcopo adsignauit; quae baptizata est die sancto pentecostes prima de gente Nordanhymbrorum, cum XI aliis de familia eius.

But on the selfsame night of the most holy Lord’s Pasch the queen bore to the king a daughter, whose name was Aeanfled. And when the same king, with Bishop Paulinus present, was giving thanks to his gods for a daughter born to him, the bishop, on the contrary, began to give thanks to the Lord Christ, and to assert to the king that by his own prayers he had obtained from Him that the queen, safe and without grave pain, should beget offspring. Delighted by his words, the king promised that, idols abrenounced, he would serve Christ, if He would grant him life and victory as he fought against the king by whom that homicide, who had wounded him, was sent; and, as a pledge of the promise to be fulfilled, he assigned that same daughter of his to Bishop Paulinus to be consecrated to Christ; she was baptized on the holy day of Pentecost, the first of the nation of the Northumbrians, together with 11 others of her household.

Quo tempore curatus a uulnere sibi pridem inflicto, rex collecto exercitu uenit aduersus gentem Occidentalium Saxonum, ac bello inito uniuersos, quos in necem suam conspirasse didicerat, aut occidit, aut in deditionem recepit. Sicque uictor in patriam reuersus, non statim et inconsulte sacramenta fidei Christianae percipere uoluit; quamuis nec idolis ultra seruiuit, ex quo se Christo seruiturum esse promiserat. Uerum primo diligentius ex tempore, et ab ipso uenerabili uiro Paulino rationem fidei ediscere, et cum suis primatibus, quos sapientiores nouerat, curauit conferre, quid de his agendum arbitrarentur.

At which time, tended from the wound inflicted upon him formerly, the king, with the army gathered, came against the people of the Western Saxons; and, battle having been begun, all whom he had learned had conspired for his death he either killed or received into surrender. And so, returning victorious to his homeland, he did not wish immediately and without counsel to receive the sacraments of the Christian faith; although he no longer served idols from the time when he had promised that he would serve Christ. But first, for the time being, he took care both to learn more diligently from the venerable man Paulinus himself the rationale of the faith, and to confer with his own principal men, whom he knew to be wiser, what they judged ought to be done concerning these matters.

Sed et ipse, cum esset uir natura sagacissimus, saepe diu solus residens ore quidem tacito, sed in intimis cordis multa secum conloquens, quid sibi esset faciendum, quae religio seruanda tractabat.

But he himself also, since he was a man most sagacious by nature, often for a long time sitting alone, with his mouth indeed silent, but in the innermost parts of his heart conversing much with himself, was considering what ought to be done by him, which religion ought to be observed.

[10] QUO tempore exhortatorias ad fidem litteras a pontifice sedis apostolicae Bonifatio accepit, quarum ista est forma:

[10] At which time he received exhortatory letters to the faith from Boniface, the pontiff of the Apostolic See, of which this is the form:

Exemplar epistulae beatissimi et apostolici papae urbis Romanae ecclesiae Bonifatii directae uiro glorioso Aeduino regi Anglorum.

Exemplar of the epistle of the most blessed and apostolic pope of the Church of the city of Rome, Boniface, directed to the glorious man Edwin, king of the English.

Uiro glorioso Aeduino regi Anglorum, Bonifatius episcopus seruus seruorum Dei.

To the glorious man Edwin, king of the English, Boniface, bishop, servant of the servants of God.

Licet summae diuinitatis potentia humanae locutionis officiis explanari non ualeat, quippe quae sui magnitudine ita inuisibili atque inuestigabili aeternitate consistit, ut haec nulla ingenii sagacitas, quanta sit, conprendere disserereque sufficiat; quia tamen eius humanitas ad insinuationem sui reseratis cordis ianuis, quae de semet ipsa proferetur secreta humanis mentibus inspiratione clementer infundit; ad adnuntiandam uobis plenitudinem fidei Christianae sacerdotalem curauimus sollicitudinem prorogare, ut perinde Christi euangelium, quod Saluator noster omnibus praecepit gentibus praedicari, uestris quoque sensibus inserentes, salutis uestrae remedia propinentur. Supernae igitur maiestatis clementia, quae cuncta solo uerbo praeceptionis suae condidit et creauit, caelum uidelicet et terram, mare et omnia, quae in eis sunt, dispositis ordinibus, quibus subsisterent, coaeterni Uerbi sui consilio, et Sancti Spiritus unitate dispensans, hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem suam ex limo terrae plasmatum constituit, eique tantam praemii praerogatiuam indulsit, ut eum cunctis pracponeret, atque seruato termino praeceptionis, aeternitatis subsistentia praemuniret. Hunc ergo Deum Patrem, et Filium, et Spiritum Sanctum, quod est indiuidua Trinitas, ab ortu solis usque ad occasum, humanum genus, quippe ut creatorem omnium atque factorem suum, salutifera confessione fide ueneratur et colit; cui etiam summitates imperii rerumque potestates submissae sunt, quia eius dispositione omnium praelatio regnorum conceditur.

Although the potency of the highest Divinity cannot avail to be explained by the offices of human locution—since by its own magnitude it so consists in invisible and unsearchable eternity that no sagacity of genius, however great it be, suffices to comprehend and to discourse—yet because His humanity, for the insinuation of Himself, with the doors of the heart thrown open, graciously pours by inspiration into human minds the secrets that are uttered concerning Himself, we have taken care to extend priestly solicitude for announcing to you the plenitude of the Christian faith, so that, by inserting also into your senses the Gospel of Christ, which our Savior commanded to be preached to all the nations, the remedies of your salvation may be proffered. Therefore the clemency of the supernal majesty, which by the mere word of His precept founded and created all things—namely heaven and earth, the sea and all things that are in them—disposing the orders set in place by which they might subsist, dispensing by the counsel of His coeternal Word and the unity of the Holy Spirit, established man, formed from the clay of the earth, to His image and likeness, and to him He indulged so great a prerogative of reward as to set him before all things, and, the boundary of the precept being kept, to safeguard him with the subsistence of eternity. This God, therefore—the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, which is the indivisible Trinity—from the rising of the sun unto its setting the human race, as the creator of all and its maker, venerates and cultivates by a health-bringing confession of faith; to whom also the summits of empire and the powers of things are made subject, because by His disposition the prelation of all kingdoms is granted.

Eius ergo bonitatis misericordia totius creaturae suae dilatandi subdi etiam in extremitate terrae positarum gentium corda frigida, Sancti Spiritus feruore in sui quoque agnitione mirabiliter est dignata succendere.

Therefore the mercy of his goodness, for the dilating of his whole creature by bringing it into subjection, has deigned wondrously to kindle, by the fervor of the Holy Spirit, even the cold hearts of the nations placed at the extremity of the earth, into the recognition of himself as well.

Quae enim in gloriosi filii nostri Audubaldi regis gentibusque ei subpositis inlustratione, clementia Redemtoris fuerit operata, plenius ex uicinitate locorum uestram gloriam conicimus cognouisse. Eius ergo mirabile donum et in uobis certa spe, caelesti longanimitate conferri confidimus; cum profecto gloriosam coniugem uestram, quae uestri corporis pars esse dinoscitur, aeternitatis praemio per sacri baptismatis regenerationem inluminatam agnouimus. Unde praesenti stilo gloriosos uos adhortandos cum omni affectu intimae caritatis curauimus; quatinus abominatis idolis eorumque cultu, spretisque fanorum fatuitatibus, et auguriorum deceptabilibus blandimentis, credatis in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, eiusque Filium Iesum Christum, et Spiritum Sanctum, ut credentes, a diabolicae captiuitatis nexibus, sanctae et indiuiduae Trinitatis cooperante potentia, absoluti, aeternae uitae possitis esse participes.

For what by the illumination of our glorious son, King Audubald, and of the peoples set beneath him the clemency of the Redeemer has wrought, from the proximity of the places we conjecture your glory to have known more fully. Therefore we are confident with sure hope that his marvelous gift also will be conferred upon you, by heavenly longanimity; since indeed we have learned that your glorious consort, who is recognized to be a part of your body, has been enlightened with the reward of eternity through the regeneration of sacred baptism. Whence with the present pen we have taken care to exhort you, glorious ones, with every affection of intimate charity; to the end that, abominating idols and their cult, and spurning the fatuities of the fanes and the deceptible blandishments of auguries, you may believe in God the Father almighty, and his Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, so that, believing, absolved from the bonds of diabolic captivity by the cooperating power of the holy and indivisible Trinity, you may be able to be participants in eternal life.

Quanta autem reatitudinis culpa teneantur obstricti hi, qui idolatriarum perniciosissimam superstitionem colentes amplectuntur, eorum, quos colunt, exempla perditionis insinuant; unde de eis per psalmistam dicitur: ‘Omnes dii gentium daemonia, Dominus autem caelos fecit.’ Et iterum: ‘Oculos habent, et non uident; aures habent, et non audiunt; nares habent, et non odorabunt; manus habent, et non palpabunt; pedes habent, et non ambulabunt; similes ergo efficiuntur his, qui spem suae confidentiae ponunt in eis.’ Quomodo enim iuuandi quemlibet possunt habere uirtutem hi, qui ex corruptibili materia inferiorum etiam subpositorumque tibi manibus construuntur; quibus uidelicet artificium humanum adcommodans eis inanimatam membrorum similitudinem contulisti; qui, nisi a te moti fuerint, ambulare non poterunt, sed tamquam lapis in uno loco posita, ita constructi nihilque intellegentiae habentes, ipsaque insensibilitate obruti, nullam nequc ledendi neque iuuandi facultatem adepti sunt? Qua ergo mentis deceptione eos deos, quibus uos ipsi imaginem corporis tradidistis, colentes sequimini, iudicio discreto repperire non possumus.

But how great a charge of guilt they are held bound under—those who, cultivating and embracing the most pernicious superstition of idolatries, intimate the examples of perdition of those whom they worship; whence about them it is said through the psalmist: ‘All the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens.’ And again: ‘They have eyes, and do not see; they have ears, and do not hear; they have nostrils, and will not smell; they have hands, and will not feel; they have feet, and will not walk; therefore they become similar to these, who place the hope of their confidence in them.’ For how can they have the power of helping anyone, who are constructed out of corruptible matter by the hands of your inferiors and even subordinates; to whom indeed human craftsmanship, accommodating to them, you have imparted the lifeless likeness of limbs; who, unless they shall have been moved by you, will not be able to walk, but, placed like a stone in one place, thus constructed and having nothing of understanding, and overwhelmed by that very insensibility, have obtained no faculty either of harming or of helping? By what deception of mind, therefore, you follow, worshiping those gods to whom you yourselves have handed over the image of the body, we cannot discover by a discerning judgment.

Unde oportet uos, suscepto signo sanctae crucis, per quod humanum genus redemtum est, execrandam diabolicae uersutiae supplantationem, qui diuinae bonitatis operibus inuidus aemulusque consistit, a cordibus uestris abicere, iniectisque manibus hos, quos eatenus materiae conpage uobis deos fabricastis, confringendos diminuendosque summopere procurate. Ipsa enim eorum dissolutio corruptioque, quae numquam uiuentem spiritum habuit, nec sensibilitatem a suis factoribus potuit quolibet modo suscipere, uobis patenter insinuet, quam nihil erat, quod eatenus colebatis; dum profecto meliores uos, qui spiritum uiuentem a Domino percepistis, eorum constructioni nihilominus existatis; quippe quos Deus omnipotens ex primi hominis, quem plasmauit, cognatione, deductis per saecula innumerabilibus propaginibus, pullulare constituit. Accedite ergo ad agnitionem eius, qui uos creauit, qui in uobis uitae insufflauit spiritum, qui pro uestra redemtione Filium suum unigenitum misit, ut uos ab originali peccato eriperet, et ereptos de potestate nequitiac diabolicae prauitatis caelestibus praemiis muneraret.

Whence it behooves you, having taken up the sign of the holy cross, by which the human race was redeemed, to cast out from your hearts the execrable supplantation of diabolical craftiness, which stands as an envious rival to the works of divine goodness; and, laying hands upon those things which thus far you have fabricated for yourselves as gods by the joining of matter, take utmost care that they be shattered and diminished. For their very dissolution and corruption—things which never had a living spirit, nor could in any way receive sensibility from their makers—should plainly insinuate to you how it was nothing that you had hitherto been worshiping; while assuredly you, who have received a living spirit from the Lord, nonetheless stand superior to their construction; since Almighty God, from the kinship of the first man whom he molded, having drawn down innumerable offshoots through the ages, has appointed you to sprout forth. Come, therefore, to the recognition of him who created you, who breathed the spirit of life into you, who for your redemption sent his only-begotten Son, that he might snatch you from original sin, and, you having been rescued from the power of the malice of diabolical depravity, might endow you with heavenly rewards.

Suscipite uerba praedicatorum, et euangelium Dei, quod uobis adnuntiant; quatinus credentes, sicut saepius dictum est, in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, et in Iesum Christum eius Filium, et Spiritum Sanctum, et inseparabilem Trinitatem; fugatis daemoniorum sensibus, expulsaque a uobis sollicitatione uenenosi et deceptibilis hostis, per aquam et Spiritum Sanctum renati ei, cui credideritis, in splendore gloriae sempiternae cohabitare, eius opitulante munificentia ualeatis.

Receive the words of the preachers, and the Gospel of God which they announce to you; so that, believing, as has often been said, in God the Father almighty, and in Jesus Christ his Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the inseparable Trinity; the perceptions of the demons put to flight, and the solicitation of the venomous and deceitful enemy driven out from you, reborn through water and the Holy Spirit, you may be able to cohabit with Him in the splendor of everlasting glory, by his helping munificence.

Praeterea benedictionem protectoris uestri beati Petri apostolorum principis uobis direximus, id est camisia cum ornatura in auro una, et lena Anciriana una; quod petimus, ut eo benignitatis animo gloria uestra suscipiat, quo a nobis noscitur destinatum.

Moreover, we have sent to you the blessing of your protector, blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, that is: one chemise with ornamentation in gold, and one Ancyrian cloak; which we ask that your glory receive with the same spirit of kindliness with which it is known to have been sent by us.

[11] AD coniugem quoque illius Aedilbergam huiusmodi litteras idem pontifex misit:

[11] To his consort also, Aedilberga, the same pontiff sent letters of this kind:

Exemplar epistulae beatissimi et apostolici Bonifatii papae urbis Romae directae Aedilbergae reginae Aeduini regis.

Exemplar of the epistle of the most blessed and apostolic Pope Boniface of the city of Rome, addressed to Aedilberga, queen of King Edwin.

Dominae gloriosae filiae Aedilbergae reginae, Bonifatius episcopus seruus seruorum Dei.

To the glorious lady, daughter Aedilberga, the queen, Boniface, bishop, servant of the servants of God.

Redemptoris nostri benignitas humano generi, quod pretiosi sanguinis sui effusione a uinculis diabolicae captiuitatis eripuit, multae prouidentiae, quibus saluaretur, propinauit remedia; quatinus sui nominis agnitionem diuerso modo gentibus innotescens, Creatorem suum suscepto Christianae fidei agnoscerent sacramento. Quod equidem in uestrae gloriae sensibus caelesti conlatum munere mystica regenerationis uestrae purgatio patenter innuit. Magno ergo largitatis dominicae beneficio mens nostra gaudio exultauit, quod scintillam orthodoxae religionis in uestri dignatus est confessione succendere; ex qua re non solum gloriosi coniugis uestri, immo totius gentis subpositae uobis intellegentiam in amore sui facilius inflammaret.

The benignity of our Redeemer toward the human race, whom by the effusion of his precious blood he snatched from the chains of diabolical captivity, proffered remedies of manifold providence by which they might be saved; to the end that, as the recognition of his name became known to the nations in diverse manner, they might acknowledge their Creator by the sacrament of the Christian faith received. Which indeed the purgation of your mystical regeneration, bestowed by a heavenly gift, plainly intimates in Your Glory’s sentiments. Therefore, by the great benefit of the Lord’s largess, our mind exulted with joy, because he deigned to kindle a spark of orthodox religion in your confession; from which thing he would the more easily inflame the understanding not only of your glorious spouse, but indeed of the whole nation subject to you, in love of himself.

Didicimus namque referentibus his, qui ad nos gloriosi filii nostri Audubaldi regis laudabilem conuersionem nuntiantes peruenerunt, quod etiam uestra gloria, Christianae fidei suscepto mirabili sacramento, piis et Deo placitis iugiter operibus enitescat, ab idolorum etiam cultu seu fanorum auguriorumque inlccebris se diligenter abstineat, et ita in amore Redemtoris sui inmutilata deuotione persistens inuigilet, ut ad dilatandam Christianam fidem incessabiliter non desistat operam commodare; cumque de glorioso coniuge uestro paterna caritas sollicite perquisisset, cognouimus, quod eatenus abominandis idolis seruiens, ad suscipiendam uocem praedicatorum suam distulerit obedientiam exhibere. Qua ex re non modica nobis amaritudo congesta est, ab eo, quod pars corporis uestri ab agnitione summae et indiuiduae Trinitatis remansit extranea. Unde paternis officiis uestrae gloriosae Christianitati nostram commonitionem non distulimus conferendam; adhortantes, quatinus diuinae inspirationis inbuta subsidiis, inportune et oportune agendum non differas, ut et ipse, Saluatoris nostri Domini Iesu Christi cooperante potentia, Christianorum numero copuletur; ut perinde intemerato societatis foedere iura teneas maritalis consortii.

We have learned, namely, from the reports of those who came to us announcing the laudable conversion of our glorious son, King Audubald, that your glory also, having received the wondrous sacrament of the Christian faith, shines forth continually with pious works pleasing to God, diligently abstains from the cult of idols and from the allurements of temples and auguries, and thus, persevering with unimpaired devotion in the love of her Redeemer, keeps vigilant watch, so that she does not cease unceasingly to lend effort to the enlargement of the Christian faith; and when paternal charity had carefully inquired concerning your glorious husband, we learned that, thus far serving abominable idols, he has deferred to exhibit his obedience to receive the voice of the preachers. From which matter no small bitterness has been heaped up for us, from the fact that a part of your body has remained alien from the acknowledgment of the supreme and undivided Trinity. Wherefore, by paternal offices, we have not delayed to confer our admonition upon your glorious Christianity; exhorting that, imbued with the aids of divine inspiration, you not delay to act inopportunely and opportunely, that he also, with the cooperating power of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, may be joined to the number of Christians; so that thus, by an inviolate covenant of fellowship, you may hold the rights of marital consortium.

Scriptum namque est: ‘Erunt duo in carne una.’ Quomodo ergo unitas uobis coniunctionis inesse dici poterit, si a uestrae fidei splendore, interpositis detestabilis erroris tenebris, ille remanserit alienus?

For it is written: ‘The two shall be in one flesh.’ How, then, will it be able to be said that the unity of conjunction is present for you, if he has remained alien from the splendor of your faith, with the darkness of detestable error interposed?

Unde orationi continuae insistens a longanimitate caelestis clementiae inluminationis ipsius beneficia inpetrare non desinas; ut uidelicet, quos copulatio carnalis affectus unum quodam modo corpus exhibuisse monstratur, hos quoque unitas fidei etiam post huius uitae transitum in perpetua societate conseruet. Insiste ergo, gloriosa filia, et summis conatibus duritiam cordis ipsius religiosa diuinorum praeceptorum insinuatione mollire summopere dematura; infundens sensibus eius, quantum sit praeclarum, quod credendo suscepisti, mysterium, quantumue sit admirabile, quod renata praemium consequi meruisti. Frigiditatem cordis ipsius Sancti Spiritus adnuntiatione succende; quatinus amoto torpore perniciosissimi cultus, diuinae fidei calor eius intellegentiam tuarum adhortationum frequentatione succendat, ut profecto sacrae scripturae testimonium per te expletum indubitanter perclareat: ‘Saluabitur uir infidelis per mulierem fidelem.’ Ad hoc enim misericordiam dominicae pietatis consecuta es, ut fructum fidei creditorumque tibi beneficiorum Redemtori tuo multiplicem resignares.

Wherefore, persevering in continual prayer, do not cease to obtain from the longanimity of celestial clemency the benefits of his illumination; to the end that those whom the copulation of carnal affection is shown to have presented as in a certain manner one body, these also the unity of faith may preserve in perpetual society even after the transit of this life. Press on, then, glorious daughter, and with utmost efforts be supremely eager to soften the hardness of his heart by a religious insinuation of the divine precepts; infusing into his senses how preeminent is the mystery which by believing you have received, and how admirable is the reward which, being reborn, you have deserved to obtain. By the annunciation of the Holy Spirit inflame the frigidity of his heart; so that, the torpor of a most pernicious cult having been removed, the heat of the divine faith may kindle his understanding through the frequentation of your exhortations, so that indeed the testimony of sacred scripture may shine forth without doubt as fulfilled through you: ‘The unbelieving man will be saved through the faithful woman.’ For to this end you have obtained the mercy of the Lord’s piety, that you might render back to your Redeemer a manifold fruit of faith and of the benefits credited to you.

Quod equidem, suffragante praesidio benignitatis ipsius, ut explere ualeas, adsiduis non desistimus precibus postulare.

Which indeed, with the supporting safeguard of his benignity, that you may be able to fulfill it, we do not cease to petition with assiduous prayers.

His ergo praemissis, paternae uobis dilectionis exhibentes officia, hortamur, ut nos reperta portitoris occasione de his, quae per uos superna potentia mirabiliter in conuersatione coniugis uestri summissaeque uobis gentis dignatus fuerit operari, prosperis quantocius nuntiis releuetis, quatinus sollicitudo nostra, quae de uestri uestrorumque omnium animae salute optabilia desideranter exspectat, uobis nuntiantibus releuetur, inlustrationemque diuinae propitiationis in uobis diffusam opulentius agnoscentes, hilari confessione largitori omnium bonorum Deo, et beato Petro apostolorum principi uberes merito gratias exsoluamus.

These things therefore premised, exhibiting to you the offices of paternal affection, we exhort that, having found an occasion of a bearer, you may relieve us with prosperous tidings as quickly as possible concerning those things which the supernal Power has deigned wondrously to work through you in the conversation of your husband and of the nation subjected to you; to the end that our solicitude, which longingly expects desirable things concerning the salvation of your soul and of all yours, may be lightened by your announcing, and that, recognizing more opulently the illumination of divine propitiation diffused in you, we may with cheerful confession pay abundant thanks, deservedly, to God, the Giver of all good things, and to blessed Peter, the Prince of the Apostles.

Praeterea benedictionem protectoris uestri beati Petri apostolorum principis uobis direximus, id est speculum argenteum, et pectinem eboreum inauratum; quod petimus, ut eo benignitatis animo gloria uestra suscipiat, quo a nobis noscitur destinatum.

Moreover, we have sent to you the benediction of your protector, blessed Peter, the prince of the apostles, that is, a silver mirror and a gilded ivory comb; which we ask that your glory receive with that spirit of benignity with which it is known to have been dispatched by us.

[12] HAEC quidem memoratus papa Bonifatius de salute regis Aeduini ac gentis ipsius litteris agebat. Sed et oraculum caeleste, quod illi quondam exulanti apud Redualdum regem Anglorum pietas diuina reuelare dignata est, non minimum ad suscipienda uel intellegenda doctrinae monita salutaris sensum iuuit illius. Cum ergo uideret Paulinus difficulter posse sublimitatem animi regalis ad humilitatem uiae salutaris, et suscipiendum mysterium uiuificae crucis inclinari, ac pro salute illius simul et gentis, cui praeerat, et uerbo exhortationis apud homines, et apud diuinam pietatem uerbo deprecationis ageret; tandem, ut uerisimile uidetur, didicit in spiritu, quod uel quale esset oraculum regi quondam caelitus ostensum.

[12] These things indeed the aforementioned Pope Boniface was prosecuting by letters concerning the salvation of King Edwin and of his nation itself. But also the heavenly oracle, which to him once, while an exile with Redwald, king of the Angles, the divine piety deigned to reveal, did not a little aid his mind for receiving or understanding the salutary admonitions of doctrine. When therefore Paulinus saw that the loftiness of a royal spirit could with difficulty be inclined to the humility of the way of salvation and to the acceptance of the mystery of the life-giving cross, and that, for the salvation of him and likewise of the people over whom he presided, he was laboring both with a word of exhortation among men and with a word of entreaty before divine piety; at length, as seems likely, he learned in spirit what, or of what sort, was the oracle once shown from heaven to the king.

Nec exinde distulit, quin continuo regem ammoneret explere uotum, quod in oraculo sibi exhibito se facturum promiserat, si temporis illius erumnis exemtus ad regni fastigia perueniret.

Nor thereafter did he delay, but immediately admonished the king to fulfill the vow which, in the oracle exhibited to him, he had promised he would do, if, exempted from the miseries of that time, he should attain to the pinnacles of the kingdom.

Erat autem oraculum huiusmodi. Cum persequente illum Aedilfrido, qui ante eum regnauit, per diuersa occultus loca uel regna multo annorum tempore profugus uagaretur, tandem uenit ad Redualdum obsecrans, ut uitam suam a tanti persecutoris insidiis tutando seruaret; qui libenter eum excipiens, promisit se, quae petebatur, esse facturum. At postquam Aedilfrid in hac eum prouincia apparuisse, et apud regem illius familiariter cum sociis habitare cognouit, misit nuntios, qui Redualdo pecuniam multam pro nece eius offerrent; neque aliquid profecit.

Now the oracle was of this sort. While Æthelfrith, who had reigned before him, was pursuing him, he, concealed, as a fugitive wandered through diverse occult places or kingdoms for many years; at length he came to Rædwald, beseeching that he would preserve his life by protecting him from the snares of so great a persecutor; who, gladly receiving him, promised that he would do what was being requested. But after Æthelfrith learned that he had appeared in this province, and was dwelling familiarly with his companions at that king’s court, he sent messengers to offer Rædwald much money for his killing; and he accomplished nothing.

Misit secundo, misit tertio, et copiosiora argenti dona offerens, et bellum insuper illi, si contemneretur, indicens. Qui uel minis fractus, uel corruptus muneribus, cessit deprecanti, et siue occidere se Aeduinum, seu legatariis tradere promisit. Quod ubi fidissimus quidam amicus illius animaduertit, intrauit cubiculum, quo dormire disponebat, erat enim prima hora noctis, et euocatum foras, quid erga eum agere rex promisisset, edocuit, et insuper adiecit: ‘Si ergo uis, hac ipsa hora educam te de hac prouincia, et ea in loca introducam, ubi numquam te uel Reduald, uel Aedilfrid inuenire ualeant.’ Qui ait: ‘Gratias quidem ago beneuolentiae tuae; non tamen hoc facere possum, quod suggeris, ut pactum, quod cum tanto rege inii, ipse primus irritum faciam, cum ille mihi nil mali fecerit, nil adhuc inimicitiarum intulerit.

He sent a second time, he sent a third time, offering more copious gifts of silver, and moreover declaring war against him if he should be scorned. He, either broken by threats or corrupted by gifts, yielded to the entreaty, and promised either to kill Aeduin himself or to hand him over to the legataries. When a certain most faithful friend of his observed this, he entered the bedchamber where he was arranging to sleep—for it was the first hour of the night—and, having called him out, informed him what the king had promised to do regarding him, and in addition added: ‘If therefore you wish, at this very hour I will lead you out of this province, and will conduct you into those places where never Reduald nor Aedilfrid shall be able to find you.’ He said: ‘I do indeed give thanks for your benevolence; yet I cannot do this which you suggest, that I myself should be the first to make void the pact which I have entered with so great a king, since he has done me no evil, has as yet brought upon me no hostilities.’

Quin potius, si moriturus sum, ille me magis quam ignobilior quisque morti tradat. Quo enim nunc fugiam, qui per omnes Brittaniae prouincias tot annorum temporumque curriculis uagabundus hostium uitabam insidias?’ Abeunte igitur amico, remansit Aeduini solus foris, residensque mestus ante palatium, multis coepit cogitationum aestibus affici, quid ageret, quoue pedem uerteret, nescius.

Nay rather, if I am about to die, let him hand me over to death rather than any more ignoble person. For whither should I now flee, I who through all the provinces of Britain, over the courses of so many years and times, as a vagabond was avoiding the snares of the enemies?’ Therefore, with the friend departing, Edwin remained alone outside, and, sitting sorrowful before the palace, he began to be affected by many surges of thoughts, not knowing what he should do, or whither he should turn his step.

Cumque diu tacitis mentis angoribus, et caeco carperetur igni, uidit subito intempesta nocte silentio adpropinquantem sibi hominem uultus habitusque incogniti; quem uidens, ut ignotum et inopinatum, non parum expauit. At ille accedens salutauit eum, et interrogauit, quare illa hora, ceteris quiescentibus, et alto sopore pressis, solus ipse mestus in lapide peruigil sederet. At ille uicissim sciscitabatur, quid ad eum pertineret, utrum ipse intus an foris noctem transigeret.

And while for a long time he was being consumed by the silent anguishes of his mind, and was being gnawed by a blind fire, he suddenly saw, in the dead of night’s silence, a man approaching him, of unknown face and bearing; seeing him, as unknown and unexpected, he was not a little terrified. But he, drawing near, greeted him and asked why at that hour, the others resting and pressed down by deep sleep, he alone, sad, was sitting on a stone keeping vigil. But he in turn inquired what it pertained to him, whether he himself was passing the night inside or outside.

Qui respondens ait: ‘Ne me aestimes tuae mestitiae et insomniorum, et forinsecae et solitariae sessionis causam nescire; scio enim certissime qui es, et quare meres, et quae uentura tibi in proximo mala formidas. Sed dicito mihi, quid mercedis dare uelis ei, siqui sit, qui his te meroribus absoluat, et Redualdo suadeat, ut nec ipse tibi aliquid mali faciat, nec tuis te hostibus perimendum tradat.’ Qui cum se omnia, quae posset, huic tali pro mercede beneficii daturum esse responderet, adiecit ille: ‘Quod si etiam regem te futurum exstinctis hostibus in ueritate promittat, ita ut non solum omnes tuos progenitores, sed et omnes, qui ante te reges in gente Anglorum fuerant, potestate transcendas?’ At Aeduini constantior interrogando factus, non dubitauit promittere, quin ei, qui tanta sibi beneficia donaret, dignis ipse gratiarum actionibus responderet. Tum ille tertio: ‘Si autem,’ inquit, ‘is, qui tibi tanta taliaque dona ueraciter aduentura praedixerit, etiam consilium tibi tuae salutis ac uitae melius atque utilius, quam aliquis de tuis parentibus aut cognatis umquam audiuit, ostendere potuerit, num ei obtemperare, et monita eius salutaria suscipere consentis?’ Nec distulit Aeduini, quin continuo polliceretur in omnibus se secuturum doctrinam illius, qui se tot ac tantis calamitatibus ereptum, ad regni apicem proueheret.

He answering said: ‘Do not think me ignorant of the cause of your sadness and of your insomnias, and of your out-of-doors and solitary sitting; for I know most certainly who you are, and why you mourn, and what evils about to befall you presently you dread. But tell me, what recompense you would be willing to give to him, if there should be someone who would absolve you from these sorrows, and would persuade Redwald that neither he himself should do you any harm, nor deliver you to your enemies to be slain.’ When he replied that he would give to such a one, as the fee for such a benefaction, everything he could, the other added: ‘And what if he should also promise in truth that you will be king, your enemies destroyed, so that you surpass in power not only all your progenitors, but even all who before you had been kings among the nation of the Angles?’ But Edwin, made more steadfast by the questioning, did not hesitate to promise that he would repay with worthy thanksgivings the one who should grant him such great benefits. Then he, for the third time, said: ‘If, however, he who has veraciously foretold such and so great gifts to you should also be able to show you counsel for your safety and life better and more useful than anyone among your parents or kinsmen has ever heard, do you consent to obey him and to receive his salutary admonitions?’ Nor did Edwin delay to promise forthwith that in all things he would follow the doctrine of him who should, after snatching him from so many and so great calamities, raise him to the summit of kingship.

Quo accepto responso, confestim is, qui loquebatur cum eo, inposuit dexteram suam capiti eius dicens: ‘Cum hoc ergo tibi signum aduenerit, memento huius temporis ac loquellae nostrae, et ea, quae nunc promittis, adimplere ne differas.’ Et his dictis, ut ferunt, repente disparuit, ut intellegeret non hominem esse, qui sibi apparuisset, sed spiritum.

Upon this answer being received, forthwith he who was speaking with him laid his right hand upon his head, saying: ‘When therefore this sign shall have come to you, remember this time and our speech, and do not delay to fulfill the things which you now promise.’ And with these things said, as they report, he suddenly disappeared, so that he might understand that it was not a man who had appeared to him, but a spirit.

Et cum regius iuuenis solus adhuc ibidem sederet, gauisus quidem de conlata sibi consolatione, sed multum sollicitus, ac mente sedula cogitans, quis esset ille, uel unde ueniret, qui haec sibi loqueretur, uenit ad eum praefatus amicus illius, laetoque uultu salutans eum: ‘Surge,’ inquit, ‘intra, et sopitis ac relictis curarum anxietatibus, quieti membra simul et animum conpone, quia mutatum est cor regis, nec tibi aliquid mali facere, sed fidem potius pollicitam seruare disponit; postquam enim cogitationem suam, de qua tibi ante dixi, reginae in secreto reuelauit, reuocauit eum illa ab intentione, ammonens, quia nulla ratione conueniat tanto regi amicum suum optimum in necessitate positum auro uendere, immo fidem suam, quae omnibus ornamentis pretiosior est, amore pecuniae perdere.’ Quid plura? Fecit rex, ut dictum est; nec solum exulem nuntiis hostilibus non tradidit, sed etiam eum, ut in regnum perueniret, adiuuit. Nam mox redeuntibus domum nuntiis, exercitum ad debellandum Aedilfridum colligit copiosum, eumque sibi occurrentem cum exercitu multum inpari (non enim dederat illi spatium, quo totum suum congregaret atque adunaret exercitum), occidit in finibus gentis Merciorum ad orientalem plagam amnis, qui uocatur Idlæ; in quo certamine et filius Redualdi, uocabulo Rægenheri, occisus est.

And while the royal youth was still sitting there alone, rejoicing indeed at the consolation conferred on him, but very anxious, and with a busy mind pondering who that man was, or whence he came, who spoke these things to him, there came to him the aforesaid friend of his, and with a glad countenance greeting him: ‘Rise,’ he said, ‘go within, and with the anxieties of cares lulled to sleep and left behind, compose both your limbs and your mind to quiet, because the king’s heart has been changed, and he plans to do you no harm, but rather to keep the pledged faith; for after he revealed his intention, about which I told you before, to the queen in secret, she called him back from that intention, admonishing that by no reasoning does it befit so great a king to sell his best friend, placed in necessity, for gold, nay to lose his faith, which is more precious than all ornaments, for love of money.’ What more? The king did as was said; and not only did he not hand over the exile to hostile messengers, but he even helped him, that he might arrive at the kingdom. For, with the messengers soon returning home, he gathers a copious army to war down Aedilfrid, and him, meeting him with an army very unequal (for he had not given him space in which to gather together and unite his whole army), he slew on the borders of the nation of the Mercians, on the eastern quarter of the river which is called Idla; in which combat also Redwald’s son, by name Rægenheri, was slain.

Ac sic Aeduini iuxta oraculum, quod acceperat, non tantum regis sibi infesti insidias uitauit, uerum etiam eidem peremto in regni gloriam successit.

And so Edwin, according to the oracle which he had received, not only avoided the plots of the king hostile to him, but also, with that same man slain, succeeded to the glory of the kingdom.

Cum ergo praedicante uerbum Dei Paulino rex credere differret, et per aliquod tempus, ut diximus, horis conpetentibus solitarius sederet, quid agendum sibi esset, quae religio sequenda, sedulus secum ipse scrutari consuesset, ingrediens ad eum quadam die uir Dei, inposuit dexteram capiti eius et, an hoc signum agnosceret, requisiuit. Qui cum tremens ad pedes eius procidere uellet, leuauit eum, et quasi familiari uoce affatus: ‘Ecce,’ inquit, ‘hostium manus, quos timuisti, Domino donante euasisti; ecce regnum, quod desiderasti, ipso largiente percepisti. Memento, ut tertium, quod promisisti, facere ne differas, suscipiendo fidem eius, et praecepta seruando, qui te et a temporalibus aduersis eripiens, temporalis regni honore sublimauit; et si deinceps uoluntati eius, quam per me tibi praedicat, obsecundare uolueris, etiam a perpetuis malorum tormentis te liberans, aeterni secum regni in caelis faciet esse participem.’

Accordingly, when, with Paulinus preaching the word of God, the king was deferring to believe, and for some time, as we said, at fitting hours he would sit solitary, and used diligently to search with himself what ought to be done by him, which religion should be followed, entering to him on a certain day the man of God placed his right hand upon his head and asked whether he recognized this sign. And when he, trembling, wished to fall at his feet, he raised him up, and, addressing him in a voice as of a familiar: ‘Behold,’ he said, ‘the hand of the enemies whom you feared, by the Lord’s gift you have escaped; behold, the kingdom which you desired, by his bounty you have received. Remember not to delay to do the third thing which you promised, by receiving his faith and by keeping the precepts of him who, rescuing you also from temporal adversities, has exalted you with the honor of a temporal kingdom; and if hereafter you are willing to comply with his will, which through me he proclaims to you, he also, freeing you from the perpetual torments of evils, will make you to be a participant of the eternal kingdom with himself in the heavens.’

[13] QUIBUS auditis, rex suscipere quidem se fidem, quam docebat, et uelle et debere respondebat. Uerum adhuc cum amicis principibus et consiliariis suis sese de hoc conlaturum esse dicebat, ut, si et illi eadem cum illo sentire uellent, omnes pariter in fonte uitae Christo consecrarentur. Et adnuente Paulino, fecit, ut dixerat.

[13] On hearing these things, the king replied that he both wished and was bound to receive the faith which he was teaching. But still he said that he would confer about this with his friendly princes and his counsellors, so that, if they too should be willing to feel the same with him, all together in the font of life they might be consecrated to Christ. And Paulinus assenting, he did as he had said.

Habito enim cum sapientibus consilio, sciscitabatur singillatim ab omnibus, qualis sibi doctrina haec eatenus inaudita, et nouus diuinitatis, qui praedicabatur, cultus uideretur.

For, counsel having been held with the wise, he inquired individually from all what sort this hitherto unheard doctrine, and the new cult of divinity which was being proclaimed, seemed to them.

Cui primus pontificum ipsius Coifi continuo respondit: ‘Tu uide, rex, quale sit hoc, quod nobis modo praedicatur; ego autem tibi uerissime, quod certum didici, profiteor, quia nihil omnino uirtutis habet, nihil utilitatis religio illa, quam hucusque tenuimus. Nullus enim tuorum studiosius quam ego culturae deorum nostrorum se subdidit; et nihilominus multi sunt, qui ampliora a te beneficia quam ego, et maiores accipiunt dignitates, magisque prosperantur in omnibus, quae agenda uel adquirenda disponunt. Si autem dii aliquid ualerent, me potius iuuare uellent, qui illis inpensius seruire curaui.

To whom the first of his priests, Coifi, immediately responded: ‘You consider, king, what sort this is that is now being preached to us; but I to you most truly profess what I have learned as certain, that the religion which we have held hitherto has nothing at all of virtue, nothing of utility. For none of your men has more zealously than I subjected himself to the cult of our gods; and nonetheless there are many who receive ampler benefits from you than I, and greater dignities, and they prosper more in all things which they plan to do or to acquire. But if the gods availed anything, they would rather wish to help me, who have taken care to serve them more earnestly.’

Unde restat, ut si ea, quae nunc nobis noua praedicantur, meliora esse et fortiora, habita examinatione perspexeris, absque ullo cunctamine suscipere illa festinemus.’

Whence it remains that, if you, after an examination, shall have perceived that the things which are now preached to us are better and stronger, let us hasten to accept them without any hesitation.’

Cuius suasioni uerbisque prudentibus alius optimatum regis tribuens assensum, continuo subdidit: ‘Talis,’ inquiens, ‘mihi uidetur, rex, uita hominum praesens in terris, ad conparationem eius, quod nobis incertum est, temporis, quale cum te residente ad caenam cum ducibus ac ministris tuis tempore brumali, accenso quidem foco in medio, et calido effecto caenaculo, furentibus autem foris per omnia turbinibus hiemalium pluuiarum uel niuium, adueniens unus passerum domum citissime peruolauerit; qui cum per unum ostium ingrediens, mox per aliud exierit. Ipso quidem tempore, quo intus est, hiemis tempestate non tangitur, sed tamen paruissimo spatio serenitatis ad momentum excurso, mox de hieme in hiemem regrediens, tuis oculis elabitur. Ita haec uita hominum ad modicum apparet; quid autem sequatur, quidue praecesserit, prorsus ignoramus.

To whose suasion and prudent words another of the king’s optimates granting assent, he immediately subjoined: ‘Such,’ he says, ‘does the present life of men on earth seem to me, in comparison with that time which is uncertain to us, as when you are sitting at dinner with your leaders and attendants in brumal time, the fire indeed kindled in the midst, and the dining-chamber made warm, but outside through all things the whirlwinds of winter rains or snows raging, there comes one of the sparrows flying very swiftly through the house; who, when entering through one door, soon goes out through another. In that very time in which it is inside, it is not touched by the tempest of winter, yet, a very small space of serenity having been run through in a moment, soon returning from winter into winter, it slips from your eyes. So this life of men appears for a little; but what follows, or what has preceded, we utterly do not know.

Unde si haec noua doctrina certius aliquid attulit, merito esse sequenda uidetur.’ His similia et ceteri maiores natu ac regis consiliarii diuinitus admoniti prosequebantur.

Whence, if this new doctrine has brought something more certain, it seems deservedly to be followed.’ In similar fashion the other elders and the king’s counselors, divinely admonished, were setting forth the same.

Adiecit autem Coifi, quia uellet ipsum Paulinum diligentius audire de Deo, quem praedicabat, uerbum facientem. Quod cum iubente rege faceret, exclamauit auditis eius sermonibus dicens: ‘Iam olim intellexeram nihil esse, quod colebamus; quia uidelicet, quanto studiosius in eo cultu ueritatem quaerebam, tanto minus inueniebam. Nunc autem aperte profiteor, quia in hac praedicatione ueritas claret illa, quae nobis uitae, salutis, et beatitudinis aeternae dona ualet tribuere.

Coifi moreover added that he wished to hear Paulinus himself more diligently, making a word about God whom he was preaching. And when, by the king’s command, he did this, he cried out, on hearing his discourses, saying: ‘Long since I understood that what we were worshipping was nothing; for indeed, the more studiously I sought the truth in that cult, the less I found. Now, however, I openly profess that in this preaching that Truth shines clear which is able to bestow upon us the gifts of life, salvation, and eternal beatitude.’

Unde suggero, rex, ut templa et altaria, quae sine fructu utilitatis sacrauimus, ocius anathemati et igni contradamus.’ Quid plura? praebuit palam adsensum euangelizanti beato Paulino rex, et, abrenuntiata idolatria, fidem se Christi suscipere confessus est. Cumque a praefato pontifice sacrorum suorum quaereret, quis aras et fana idolorum cum septis, quibus erant circumdata.

‘Whence I suggest, O king, that the temples and altars which we have consecrated without fruit of utility we more swiftly hand over to anathema and to fire.’ Why say more? The king openly gave assent to the blessed Paulinus evangelizing, and, idolatry having been renounced, confessed that he received the faith of Christ. And when he asked of the aforesaid pontiff which of his own ministers of the sacred rites should overthrow the altars and fanes of the idols, with the enclosures by which they were surrounded.

primus profanare deberet; ille respondit: ‘Ego. Quis enim ea, quae per stultitiam colui, nunc ad exemplum omnium aptius quam ipse per sapientiam mihi a Deo uero donatam destruam?’ Statimque, abiecta superstitione uanitatis, rogauit sibi regem arma dare et equum emissarium, quem ascendens ad idola destruenda ueniret. Non enim licuerat pontificem sacrorum uel arma ferre, uel praeter in equa equitare.

ought to be the first to profane; he replied: ‘I. For who, indeed, the things which I worshiped through stupidity, should now, for the example of all, more fittingly than I myself destroy, by the wisdom given to me by the true God?’ And immediately, the superstition of vanity cast aside, he asked the king to give him arms and a coursing horse, which, mounting, he might come to destroy the idols. For it had not been permitted for the pontiff of the sacred rites either to bear arms, or to ride except on a mare.

Accinctus ergo gladio accepit lanceam in manu, et ascendens emissarium regis, pergebat ad idola. Quod aspiciens uulgus, aestimabat eum insanire. Nec distulit ille, mox ut adpropiabat ad fanum, profanare illud, iniecta in eo lancea, quam tenebat; multumque gauisus de agnitione ueri Dei cultus, iussit sociis destruere ac succendere fanum cum omnibus septis suis.

Therefore, girded with a sword, he took a lance in his hand, and mounting the king’s charger, he proceeded toward the idols. The crowd, beholding this, judged him to be insane. Nor did he delay: as soon as he drew near to the fane, he profaned it by thrusting into it the lance which he held; and, rejoicing greatly at the recognition of the worship of the true God, he ordered his companions to destroy and set the fane with all its enclosures on fire.

Ostenditur autem locus ille quondam idolorum non longe ab Eburaco ad orientem, ultra amnem Doruuentionem, et uocatur hodie Godmunddingaham, ubi pontifex ipse, inspirante Deo uero, polluit ac destruxit eas, quas ipse sacrauerat, aras.

That place once of idols is pointed out not far from Eburacum to the east, beyond the river Doruuentio, and is called today Godmunddingaham, where the pontiff himself, with the true God inspiring, defiled and destroyed the altars which he himself had consecrated.

[14] IGITUR accepit rex Aeduini cum cunctis gentis suae nobilibus ac plebe perplurima fidem et lauacrum sanctae regenerationis anno regni sui XI, qui est annus dominicae incarnationis DCXXVII, ab aduentu uero Anglorum in Brittaniam annus circiter CLXXXmus. Baptizatus est autem Eburaci die sancto paschae pridie Iduum Aprilium in ecclesia Petri apostoli, quam ibidem ipse de ligno, cum cathecizaretur, atque ad percipiendum baptisma inbueretur, citato opere construxit. In qua etiam ciuitate ipsi doctori atque antistiti suo Paulino sedem episcopatus donauit.

[14] Therefore King Edwin, together with all the nobles of his people and a very great multitude of the common folk, received the faith and the laver of holy regeneration in the 11th year of his reign, which is the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 627, and about the 180th year from the coming of the Angles into Britain. Moreover, he was baptized at York on the holy day of Easter, the day before the Ides of April, in the church of the Apostle Peter, which he himself there, of wood, while he was being catechized and was being initiated to receive baptism, constructed with swift work. In that same city he also bestowed upon his own doctor and bishop, Paulinus, the seat of the bishopric.

Mox autem ut baptisma consecutus est, curauit, docente eodem Paulino, maiorem ipso in loco et augustiorem de lapide fabricare basilicam, in cuius medio ipsum, quod prius fecerat, oratorium includeretur. Praeparatis ergo fundamentis in gyro prioris oratorii per quadrum coepit aedificare basilicam. Sed priusquam altitudo parietis esset consummata, rex ipse impia nece occisus, opus idem successori suo Osualdo perficiendum reliquit.

Soon, however, as soon as he had obtained baptism, he took care, with the same Paulinus instructing, to fashion in that very place a larger and more august basilica of stone, in the midst of which the oratory itself, which he had made before, might be enclosed. Therefore, the foundations having been prepared in a circuit around the former oratory, he began to build the basilica on a square plan. But before the height of the wall was consummated, the king himself was slain by impious murder, and he left that same work to his successor Oswald to be brought to completion.

Paulinus autem ex eo tempore sex annis continuis, id est ad finem usque imperii regis illius, uerbum Dei, adnuente ac fauente ipso, in ea prouincia praedicabat; credebantque et baptizabantur quotquot erant praeordinati ad uitam aeternam, in quibus erant Osfrid et Eadfrid filii regis Aeduini, qui ambo ei exuli nati sunt de Quoenburga filia Cearli regis Merciorum.

But Paulinus from that time for six continuous years, that is, up to the very end of that king’s reign, preached the word of God in that province, with the king himself assenting and favoring; and as many as were preordained to eternal life believed and were baptized, among whom were Osfrid and Eadfrid, sons of King Edwin, who were both born to him while an exile, from Quoenburga, daughter of Cearl, king of the Mercians.

Baptizati sunt tempore sequente et alii liberi eius de Aedilberga regina progeniti, Aedilhun et Aedilthryd filia, et alter filius Uuscfrea, quorum primi albati adhuc rapti sunt de hac uita, et Eburaci in ecclesia sepulti. Baptizatus et Yffi filius Osfridi, sed et alii nobiles ac regii uiri non pauci. Tantus autem fertur tunc fuisse feruor fidei ac desiderium lauacri salutaris genti Nordanhymbrorum, ut quodam tempore Paulinus ueniens cum rege et regina in uillam regiam, quae uocatur Adgefrin, XXXVI diebus ibidem cum eis cathecizandi et baptizandi officio deditus moraretur; quibus diebus cunctis a mane usque ad uesperam nil aliud ageret, quam confluentem eo de cunctis uiculis ac locis plebem Christi uerbo salutis instruere, atque instructam in fluuio Gleni, qui proximus erat, lauacro remissionis abluere.

In the time following, other children of his, begotten from Queen Aedilberga, were baptized—Aedilhun and Aedilthryd the daughter, and another son, Uuscfrea—of whom the former, while still clad in white, were snatched from this life, and were buried at York in the church. Yffi also, the son of Osfrid, was baptized, and likewise not a few noble and royal men. Moreover, so great is reported then to have been the fervor of faith and the desire for the salutary laver among the nation of the Northumbrians, that at a certain time Paulinus, coming with the king and queen to the royal vill which is called Adgefrin, remained there with them for 36 days, devoted to the office of catechizing and baptizing; and on all those days, from morning until evening, he did nothing else than instruct with the word of salvation the people flocking to him from all the hamlets and places, and, once instructed, to wash them in the laver of remission in the river Glen, which was nearest.

Haec uilla tempore sequentium regum deserta, et alia pro illa est facta in loco, qui uocatur Maelmin.

This villa, in the time of the subsequent kings, was deserted, and another in place of it was made in the place which is called Maelmin.

Haec quidem in prouincia Berniciorum; sed et in prouincia Deirorum, ubi saepius manere cum rege solebat, baptizabat in fluuio Sualua, qui uicum Cataractam praeterfluit. Nondum enim oratoria uel baptisteria in ipso exordio nascentis ibi ecclesiae poterant aedificari. Attamen in Campodono, ubi tunc etiam uilla regia erat, fecit basilicam, quam postmodum pagani, a quibus Aeduini rex occisus est, cum tota eadem uilla succenderunt; pro qua reges posteriores fecere sibi uillam in regione, quae uocatur Loidis.

These things indeed in the province of the Bernicians; but also in the province of the Deiri, where he was more often accustomed to remain with the king, he used to baptize in the river Sualua, which flows past the vicus Cataracta. For as yet oratories or baptisteries, at the very exordium of the church being born there, could not be built. Nevertheless at Campodono, where at that time there was also a royal villa, he made a basilica, which afterward the pagans, by whom King Edwin was slain, burned together with that same whole villa; in place of which the later kings made for themselves a villa in the region which is called Loidis.

Euasit autem ignem altare, quia lapideum erat; et seruatur adhuc in monasterio reuerentissimi abbatis et presbyteri Thryduulfi, quod est in silua Elmete.

But the altar escaped the fire, because it was of stone; and it is still preserved in the monastery of the most reverend abbot and presbyter Thrydwulf, which is in the wood of Elmet.

[15] TANTUM autem deuotionis Aeduini erga cultum ueritatis habuit, ut etiam regi Orientalium Anglorum, Earpualdo filio Redualdi, persuaderet, relictis idolorum superstitionibus, fidem et sacramenta Christi cum sua prouincia suscipere. Et quidem pater eius Reduald iamdudum in Cantia sacramentis Christianae fidei inbutus est, sed frustra; nam rediens domum ab uxore sua et quibusdam peruersis doctoribus seductus est, atque a sinceritate fidei deprauatus habuit posteriora peiora prioribus; ita ut in morem antiquorum Samaritanorum et Christo seruire uideretur et diis, quibus antea seruiebat; atque in eodem fano et altare haberet ad sacrificium Christi, et arulam ad uictimas daemoniorum. Quod uidelicet fanum rex eiusdem prouinciae Alduulf, qui nostra aetate fuit, usque ad suum tempus perdurasse, et se in pueritia uidisse testabatur.

[15] So great, moreover, was the devotion of Aeduinus toward the worship of the truth, that he even persuaded the king of the East Angles, Earpuald son of Reduald, to abandon the superstitions of idols and to receive the faith and sacraments of Christ together with his province. And indeed his father Reduald had long before in Kent been imbued with the sacraments of the Christian faith, but in vain; for, returning home, he was seduced by his wife and by certain perverse teachers, and, corrupted from the sincerity of the faith, he had his latter things worse than the former; so that after the manner of the ancient Samaritans he seemed both to serve Christ and the gods whom he had previously served; and in the same temple he had both an altar for the sacrifice of Christ, and a little altar for the victims of demons. Which temple indeed Alduulf, king of that same province, who was in our time, testified had lasted down to his own time, and that he himself had seen it in his boyhood.

Erat autem praefatus rex Reduald natu nobilis, quamlibet actu ignobilis, filius Tytili, cuius pater fuit Uuffa, a quo reges Orientalium Anglorum Uuffingas appellant.

Now the aforesaid king Reduald was noble by birth, although ignoble in deed, the son of Tytil, whose father was Uuffa, from whom the kings of the East Angles are called the Uuffingas.

Uerum Eorpuald non multo, postquam fidem accepit, tempore occisus est a uiro gentili nomine Ricbercto; et exinde tribus annis prouincia in errore uersata est, donec accepit regnum frater eiusdem Eorpualdi Sigberct, uir per omnia Christianissimus ac doctissimus, qui, uiuente adhuc fratre, cum exularet in Gallia, fidei sacramentis inbutus est, quorum participem, mox ubi regnare coepit, totam suam prouinciam facere curauit. Cuius studiis gloriosissime fauit Felix episcopus, qui de Burgundiorum partibus, ubi ortus et ordinatus est, cum uenisset ad Honorium archiepiscopum, eique indicasset desiderium suum, misit eum ad praedicandum uerbum uitae praefatae nationi Anglorum. Nec uota ipsius in cassum cecidere; quin potius fructum in ea multiplicem credentium populorum pius agri spiritalis cultor inuenit.

However, Eorpwald, not long after he received the faith, was slain by a heathen man named Ricberht; and thereafter for three years the province was tossed about in error, until the kingdom was taken up by Sigeberht, brother of the same Eorpwald, a man in all respects most Christian and most learned, who, while his brother was still living, when he was in exile in Gaul, was imbued with the sacraments of the faith, of which he took care, as soon as he began to reign, to make all his province a participant. Bishop Felix most gloriously favored his endeavors, who, from the parts of the Burgundians—where he had been born and ordained—when he had come to Archbishop Honorius and had indicated to him his desire, was sent by him to preach the word of life to the aforesaid nation of the Angles. Nor did his vows fall to the ground in vain; rather, the pious cultivator of the spiritual field found in it manifold fruit of believing peoples.

Siquidem totam illam prouinciam, iuxta sui nominis sacramentum, a longa iniquitate atque infelicitate liberatam, ad fidem et opera iustitiae, ac perpetuae felicitatis dona perduxit, accepitque sedem episcopatus in ciuitate Domnoc; et cum X ac VII annos eidem prouinciae pontificali regimine praeesset, ibidem in pace uitam finiuit.

For indeed he led that whole province, according to the sacrament of his own name, liberated from long iniquity and infelicity, to faith and works of justice, and to the gifts of perpetual felicity; and he received the seat of the episcopate in the city of Domnoc; and when for 17 years he had presided over the same province with pontifical governance, there he finished his life in peace.

[16] PRAEDICABAT autem Paulinus uerbum etiam prouinciae Lindissi, quae est prima ad meridianam Humbre fluminis ripam, pertingens usque ad mare, praefectumque Lindocolinae ciuitatis, cui nomen erat Blaecca, primum cum domu sua conuertit ad Dominum. In qua uidelicet ciuitate et ecclesiam operis egregii de lapide fecit; cuius tecto uel longa incuria, uel hostili manu deiecto, parietes hactenus stare uidentur, et omnibus annis aliqua sanitatum miracula in eodem loco solent ad utilitatem eorum, qui fideliter quaerunt, ostendi. In qua ecclesia Paulinus, transeunte ad Christum Iusto, Honorium pro eo consecrauit episcopum, ut in sequentibus suo loco dicemus.

[16] Moreover, Paulinus was preaching the word also to the province of Lindsey, which is the first on the southern bank of the river Humber, extending as far as the sea, and he first converted to the Lord the prefect of the city of Lincoln, whose name was Blaecca, together with his household. In that same city he also made a church of distinguished workmanship of stone; its roof, whether cast down by long neglect or by a hostile hand, but the walls to this day are seen to stand, and every year certain miracles of healings in the same place are wont to be shown for the benefit of those who seek in faith. In which church Paulinus, when Justus passed over to Christ, consecrated Honorius as bishop in his place, as we shall say in what follows in its proper place.

De huius fide prouinciae narrauit mihi presbyter et abbas quidam uir ueracissimus de monasterio Peartaneu, uocabulo Deda, retulisse sibi quendam seniorem, baptizatum se fuisse die media a Paulino episcopo, praesente rege Aeduino, et multam populi turbam in fluuio Treenta, iuxta ciuitatem, quae lingua Anglorum Tiouulfingacæstir uocatur; qui etiam effigiem eiusdem Paulini referre esset solitus, quod esset uir longae staturae, paululum incuruus, nigro capillo, facie macilenta, naso adunco pertenui, uenerabilis simul et terribilis aspectu. Habuit autem secum in ministerio et Iacobum diaconum, uirum utique industrium ac nobilem in Christo et in ecclesia, qui ad nostra usque tempora permansit.

Concerning the faith of this province a certain presbyter and abbot, a most truthful man, from the monastery of Peartaneu, by the name Deda, told me that a certain elder had reported to him, that he had been baptized at mid-day by Bishop Paulinus, King Edwin being present, and that a great crowd of the people was baptized in the River Trent, near the city which in the language of the English is called Tiouulfingacæstir; who also was accustomed to reproduce the effigy of that same Paulinus, that he was a man of tall stature, a little stooping, with black hair, a lean face, a hooked and very thin nose, venerable and at the same time terrible in aspect. He had moreover with him in ministry also James the deacon, a man surely industrious and noble in Christ and in the church, who remained even unto our times.

Tanta autem eo tempore pax in Brittania, quaquauersum imperium regis Aeduini peruenerat, fuisse perhibetur, ut, sicut usque hodie in prouerbio dicitur, etiam si mulier una cum recens nato paruulo uellet totam perambulare insulam a mari ad mare, nullo se ledente ualeret. Tantum rex idem utilitati suae gentis consuluit, ut plerisque in locis, ubi fontes lucidos iuxta puplicos uiarum transitus conspexit, ibi ob refrigerium uiantium, erectis stipitibus, aereos caucos suspendi iuberet, neque hos quisquam, nisi ad usum necessarium, contingere prae magnitudine uel timoris eius auderet, uel amoris uellet. Tantum uero in regno excellentiae habuit, ut non solum in pugna ante illum uexilla gestarentur, sed et tempore pacis equitantem inter ciuitates siue uillas aut prouincias suas cum ministris, semper antecedere signifer consuesset; nec non et incedente illo ubilibet per plateas, illud genus uexilli, quod Romani tufam, Angli appellant thuuf, ante eum ferri solebat.

So great, moreover, at that time is reported to have been the peace in Britain, wherever the dominion of King Edwin had reached, that, as even to this day it is said in a proverb, even if a woman together with her newborn little one should wish to perambulate the whole island from sea to sea, she would be able to do so with no one harming her. So greatly did that same king consult for the utility of his nation, that in very many places where he observed bright springs next to the public crossings of roads, there, for the refreshment of wayfarers, with posts set up, he ordered brazen cups to be hung; and no one would touch these, except for necessary use, for the greatness either of fear of him would dare, or of love would wish to do so. So great, indeed, was the excellence he had in the kingdom, that not only in battle were standards carried before him, but also in time of peace, as he rode among his cities or villas or provinces with his ministers, it was customary for a standard-bearer (signifer) always to go before; and likewise, when he was proceeding anywhere through the streets, that kind of standard which the Romans call a tufa, the English call a thuuf, used to be borne before him.

[17] QUO tempore praesulatum sedis apostolicae Honorius Bonifatii successor habebat, qui, ubi gentem Nordanhymbrorum cum suo rege ad fidem confessionemque Christi, Paulino euangelizante, conuersam esse didicit, misit eidem Paulino pallium; misit et regi Aeduino litteras exhortatorias, paterna illum caritate accendens, ut in fide ueritatis, quam acceperant, persistere semper ac proficere curarent. Quarum uidelicet litterarum iste est ordo:

[17] At that time Honorius, the successor of Boniface, held the pontificate of the Apostolic See; and when he learned that the nation of the Northumbrians, with their king, had been converted to the faith and confession of Christ, Paulinus evangelizing, he sent to that same Paulinus the pallium; and he also sent to King Edwin exhortatory letters, inflaming him with paternal charity, that they should take care always to persist and to make progress in the faith of truth which they had received. Of which letters, namely, the tenor is as follows:

Domino excellentissimo atque praecellentissimo filio Aeduino regi Anglorum Honorius episcopus seruus seruorum Dei salutem.

To the most excellent and most preeminent lord son Edwin, king of the English, Honorius the bishop, servant of the servants of God, greeting.

Ita Christianitatis uestrae integritas circa sui conditoris cultum fidei est ardore succensa, ut longe lateque resplendeat, et in omni mundo adnuntiata uestri operis multipliciter referat fructum. Sic enim uos reges esse cognoscitis, dum regem et Creatorem uestrum orthodoxa praedicatione cdocti Deum uenerando creditis, eique, quod humana ualet condicio, mentis uestrae sinceram deuotionem exsoluitis. Quod enim Deo nostro aliud offerre ualebimus, nisi ut in bonis actibus persistentes, ipsumque auctorem humani generis confitcntes, eum colere, eique uota nostra reddere festinemus?

Thus the integrity of your Christianity, around the cult of faith toward its Founder, is kindled with ardor, so that it resplends far and wide, and, being announced in the whole world, reports manifold fruit of your work. For thus you recognize yourselves to be kings, inasmuch as, taught by orthodox preaching, you, by venerating, believe God to be your King and Creator, and to him, so far as the human condition avails, you pay the sincere devotion of your mind. For what else shall we be able to offer to our God, except that, persisting in good acts and confessing the very author of the human race, we hasten to worship him and to render our vows to him?

Et ideo, excellentissime fili, paterna uos caritate, qua conuenit, exhortamur, ut hoc, quod uos diuina misericordia ad suam gratiam uocare dignata est, sollicita intentione et adsiduis orationibus seruare omnimodo festinetis; ut, qui uos in praesenti saeculo ex omni errore absolutos ad agnitionem sui nominis est dignatus perducere, et caelestis patriae uobis praeparet mansionem. Praedicatoris igitur uestri domini mei apostolicae memoriae Gregorii frequenter lectione occupati, prae oculis affectum doctrinae ipsius, quem pro uestris animabus libenter exercuit, habetote; quatinus eius oratio et regnum uestrum populumque augeat, et uos omnipotenti Deo inreprehensibiles repraesentet. Ea uero, quae a nobis pro uestris sacerdotibus ordinanda sperastis, haec pro fidei uestrae sinceritate, quae nobis multimoda relatione per praesentium portitores laudabiliter insinuata est, gratuito animo adtribuere ulla sine dilatione praeuidemus; et duo pallia utrorumque metropolitanorum, id est Honorio et Paulino, direximus, ut, dum quis eorum de hoc saeculo ad auctorem suum fuerit arcessitus, in loco ipsius alter episcopum ex hac nostra auctoritate debeat subrogare.

And therefore, most excellent son, with fatherly charity, as is fitting, we exhort you, that this thing—that the divine mercy has deigned to call you unto its grace—you may in every way hasten to preserve with solicitous intention and assiduous prayers; that he who in the present age has deigned to lead you, absolved from every error, to the recognition of his name, may also prepare for you a dwelling of the heavenly fatherland. Being therefore frequently occupied with the reading of your preacher, my lord Gregory of apostolic memory, keep before your eyes the affection of his doctrine, which he gladly exercised for your souls; to the end that his prayer may both increase your kingdom and people, and present you irreprehensible before almighty God. But the things which you hoped would be ordained by us on behalf of your priests, these, for the sincerity of your faith—which by manifold report through the bearers of these presents has laudably been made known to us—we foresee to grant with a gratuitous mind without any delay; and we have sent two pallia for both metropolitans, that is, for Honorius and Paulinus, to the end that when any one of them shall have been summoned from this world to his maker, in his place the other, by this our authority, ought to subrogate a bishop.

Quod quidem tam pro uestrae caritatis affectu, quam pro tantarum prouinciarum spatiis, quae inter nos et uos esse noscuntur, sumus inuitati concedere, ut in omnibus deuotioni uestrae nostrum concursum, et iuxta uestra desideria praeberemus.

Which indeed, as much for the affection of your charity as for the expanses of such great provinces which are known to be between us and you, we have been invited to grant, so that in all things we might offer our concurrence to your devotion, and, according to your desires, provide it.

Incolumem excellentiam uestram gratia superna custodiat.

May supernal grace keep your Excellency unharmed.

[18] HAEC inter Iustus archiepiscopus ad caelestia regna subleuatus quarto Iduum Nouembrium die, et Honorius pro illo est in praesulatum electus; qui ordinandus uenit ad Paulinum, et occurrente sibi illo in Lindocolino, quintus ab Augustino Doruuernensis ecclesiae consecratus est antistes. Cui etiam praefatus papa Honorius misit pallium et litteras, in quibus decernit hoc ipsum, quod in epistula ad Aeduinum regem missa decreuerat; scilicet ut cum Doruuernensis uel Eburacensis antistes de hac uita transierit, is, qui superest, consors eiusdem gradus habeat potestatem alterum ordinandi in loco eius, qui transierat, sacerdotem; ne sit necesse ad Romanam usque ciuitatem per tam prolixa terrarum et maris spatia pro ordinando archiepiscopo sempor fatigari. Quarum etiam textum litterarum in nostra hac historia ponere commodum duximus.

[18] Meanwhile, Justus the archbishop was lifted up to the celestial realms on the 10th day of November, and Honorius was chosen to the prelateship in his stead; who, about to be ordained, came to Paulinus, and, Paulinus meeting him at Lincoln, he was consecrated bishop of the Dorovernian (Canterbury) church, the fifth from Augustine. To him also the aforesaid Pope Honorius sent the pallium and letters, in which he decrees this very thing which he had decreed in the epistle sent to King Edwin; namely, that when the Dorovernian (Canterbury) or Eburacensian (York) prelate shall have passed from this life, the one who survives, a colleague of the same rank, shall have the power of ordaining another in the place of him who had passed, so that there be no need to be wearied continually, for the ordination of an archbishop, all the way to the Roman city through such long stretches of land and sea. And we have judged it expedient to set down the text of those letters also in this our history.

Dilectissimo fratri Honorio Honorius.

Honorius to his most beloved brother Honorius.

Inter plurima, quae Redemtoris nostri misericordia suis famulis dignatur bonorum munera praerogare, illud etiam clementer conlata suae pietatis munificentia tribuit, quoties per fraternos affatus unianimam dilectionem quadam contemplatione alternis aspectibus repraesentat. Pro quibus maiestati eius gratias indesinenter exsoluimus, eumque uotis supplicibus exoramus, ut uestram dilectionem in praedicatione euangelii elaborantem et fructificantem, sectantemque magistri et capitis sui sancti Gregorii regulam, perpeti stabilitate confirmet, et ad augmentum ecclesiae suae potiora per uos suscitet incrementa; ut fide et opere, in timore Dei et caritate, uestra adquisitio decessorumque uestrorum, quae per domini Gregorii exordia pullulat, conualescendo amplius extendatur; ut ipsa uos dominici eloquii promissa in futuro respiciant, uosque uox ista ad aeternam festiuitatem euocet: ‘Uenite ad me omnes, qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego reficiam uos;’ et iterum: ‘Euge, serue bone et fidelis; quia super pauca fuisti fidelis, super multa te constituam; intra in gaudium Domini tui.’ Et nos equidem, fratres carissimi, haec uobis pro acterna caritate exhortationis uerba praemittentes, quae rursus pro ecclesiarum uestrarum priuilegiis congruere posse conspicimus, non desistimus inpertire.

Among the very many gifts of good things which the mercy of our Redeemer deigns to pre-allot to his servants, he also grants, by the munificence of his own piety graciously conferred, this: as often as through fraternal addresses he represents with a certain contemplation, by mutual beholdings, unanimous love. For which we unceasingly render thanks to his majesty, and with suppliant vows we beseech him, that he may confirm with enduring stability your love laboring and fructifying in the preaching of the gospel, and following the rule of its teacher and head, Saint Gregory, and that through you he may stir up greater increments for the increase of his Church; so that in faith and work, in the fear of God and in charity, your acquisition and that of your predecessors, which through the beginnings of lord Gregory is budding forth, by growing stronger may be extended more; so that the promises of the Lord’s utterance may look upon you in the future, and this voice may call you to the eternal festivity: ‘Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you;’ and again: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; because you were faithful over a few things, I will set you over many; enter into the joy of your Lord.’ And we indeed, dearest brothers, setting before you these words of exhortation for eternal charity, which again we perceive can be congruent for the privileges of your churches, do not cease to impart.

Et tam iuxta uestram petitionem, quam filiorum nostrorum regum uobis per praesentem nostram praeceptionem, uice beati Petri apostolorum principis, auctoritatem tribuimus, ut quando unum ex uobis diuina ad se iusserit gratia euocari, is, qui superstes fuerit, alterum in loco defuncti debeat episcopum ordinare. Pro qua etiam re singula uestrae dilectioni pallia pro eadem ordinatione celebranda direximus, ut per nostrae praeceptionis auctoritatem possitis Deo placitam ordinationem efficere; quia, ut haec uobis concederemus, longa terrarum marisque interualla, quae inter nos ac uos obsistunt, ad haec nos condescendere coegerunt, ut nulla possit ecclesiarum uestrarum iactura per cuiuslibet occasionis obtentum quoquo modo prouenire; sed potius commissi uobis populi deuotionem plenius propagare Deus te incolumem custodiat, dilectissime frater.

And both in accordance with your petition and with those of our sons, the kings, we grant to you, through this our present precept, in the stead of blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, authority that, whenever divine grace shall command that one of you be called to itself, he who shall have survived ought to ordain another as bishop in the place of the deceased. For which matter also we have sent to your love individual pallia for the same ordination to be celebrated, that through the authority of our precept you may be able to effect an ordination pleasing to God; because, in order that we might grant you these things, the long intervals of lands and sea, which stand between us and you, have compelled us to condescend to these measures, so that no loss of your churches may in any way come about through the pretext of any occasion; but rather to propagate more fully the devotion of the people committed to you. May God keep you unharmed, most beloved brother.

Data die III Iduum Iunii, imperantibus dominis nostris Augustis, Heraclio anno XXoIIIIo, post consulatum eiusdem anno XXoIIIo, atque Constantino filio ipsius anno uicesimo tertio, et consulatus eius anno IIIo; sed et Heraclio felicissimo Caesare id est filio eius anno III, indictione VII, id est anno dominicae incarnationis DCXXXIIII.

Given on the 3rd day before the Ides of June, while our lords the Augusti were reigning, in the 24th year of Heraclius, in the 23rd year after his consulship, and of Constantine his son in his 23rd year, and in the 3rd year of his consulship; and also of Heraclius the most fortunate Caesar, that is, his son, in his 3rd year, in the 7th indiction, that is, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 634.

[19] MISIT idem papa Honorius litteras etiam genti Scottorum, quos in obseruatione sancti paschae errasse conpererat, iuxta quod supra docuimus; sollerter exhortans, ne paucitatem suam in extremis terrae finibus constitutam, sapientiorem antiquis siue modernis, quae per orbem erant, Christi ecclesiis aestimarent; neue contra paschales computos, et decreta synodalium totius orbis pontificum aliud pascha celebrarent.

[19] The same pope Honorius sent letters also to the nation of the Scots, whom he had learned were erring in the observance of the holy Pasch, according as we have taught above; skillfully exhorting them not to reckon their small company, situated at the extreme ends of the earth, wiser than the ancient or the modern churches of Christ which were throughout the world; nor to celebrate another Pasch contrary to the paschal computations and the decrees of the synods of the pontiffs of the whole world.

Sed et Iohannes, qui successori eiusdem Honorii Seuerino successit, cum adhuc esset electus in pontificatum, pro eodem errore corrigendo litteras eis magna auctoritate atque eruditione plenas direxit; euidenter astruens, quia dominicum paschae diem a XVa luna usque ad XXIam, quod in Nicena synodo probatum est, oportet inquiri. Necnon pro Pelagiana heresi, quam apud eos reuiuescere didicerat, cauenda ac repellenda, in eadem illos epistula admonere curauit; cuius epistulae principium est:

But also John, who succeeded Severinus, the successor of that same Honorius, while he was still only elected to the pontificate, sent to them letters full of great authority and erudition for the correcting of that same error; clearly establishing that the Lord’s Pascha day ought to be sought from the 15th moon up to the 21st, which was approved in the Nicene synod. Likewise, on account of the Pelagian heresy, which he had learned was reviving among them, to be guarded against and repelled, he took care to admonish them in that same epistle; the beginning of which epistle is:

Dilectissimis et sanctissimis Tomiano, Columbano, Cromano, Dinnao, et Baithano episcopis; Cromano, Ernianoque, Laistrano, Scellano, et Segeno presbyteris; Sarano ceterisque doctoribus seu abbatibus Scottis, Hilarus archipresbyter et seruans locum sanctae sedis apostolicae, Iohannes diaconus et in Dei nomine electus; item Iohannes primicerius et seruans locum sanctae sedis apostolicae, et Iohannes seruus Dei, consiliarius eiusdem apostolicae sedis.

To the most beloved and most holy bishops Tomianus, Columbanus, Cromanus, Dinnaus, and Baithanus; to the presbyters Cromanus and Ernianus, Laistranus, Scellanus, and Segenus; to Saranus and the other doctors or abbots of the Scots, Hilary archpresbyter and holding the place of the holy apostolic see, John deacon and elected in the name of God; likewise John primicerius and holding the place of the holy apostolic see, and John, servant of God, counselor of the same apostolic see.

Scripta, quae perlatores ad sanctae memoriae Seuerinum papam adduxerunt, eo de hac luce migrante, reciproca responsa ad ea, quae postulata fuerant, siluerunt. Quibus reseratis, ne diu tantae quaestionis caligo indiscussa remaneret, repperimus quosdam prouinciae uestrae contra orthodoxam fidem, nouam ex ueteri heresim renouare conantes, pascha nostrum, in quo immolatus est Christus, nebulosa caligine refutantes, et XIIII luna cum Hebreis celebrare nitentes.

The writings which the bearers brought to Pope Severinus of holy memory, as he was departing from this light, kept silence with reciprocal responses to the things that had been requested. These being unsealed, lest the gloom of so great a question should long remain undiscussed, we found certain men of your province, against the orthodox faith, striving to renovate a new heresy from the old, refuting our Pascha (in which Christ was immolated) with nebulous murk, and attempting to celebrate on the 14th moon with the Hebrews.

Quo epistulae principio manifeste declaratur, et nuperrime temporibus illis hanc apud eos heresim exortam, et non totam eorum gentem, sed quosdam in eis hac fuisse inplicitos.

Whereby, at the beginning of the epistle, it is manifestly declared both that very recently in those times this heresy had arisen among them, and that not their whole nation, but certain persons among them, had been implicated in this.

Exposita autem ratione paschalis obseruantiae, ita de Pelagianis in eadem epistula subdunt:

However, with the rationale of the Paschal observance set forth, thus concerning the Pelagians in the same epistle they subjoin:

Et hoc quoque cognouimus, quod uirus Pelagianae hereseos apud uos denuo reuiuescit; quod omnino hortamur, ut a uestris mentibus huiusmodi uenenatum superstitionis facinus auferatur. Nam qualiter ipsa quoque execranda heresis damnata est, latere uos non debet; quia non solum per istos CC annos abolita est, sed et cotidie a nobis perpetuo anathemate sepulta damnatur; et hortamur, ne, quorum arma conbusta sunt, apud uos eorum cineres suscitentur. Nam quis non execretur superbum eorum conamen et impium, dicentium posse sine peccato hominem existere ex propria uoluntate, et non ex gratia Dei?

And this too we have come to know, that the virus of the Pelagian heresy is reviving anew among you; wherefore we utterly exhort that from your minds such a venomous crime of superstition be removed. For how that execrable heresy itself has been condemned ought not to lie hidden from you; for not only through these 200 years has it been abolished, but also every day by us it is condemned, buried under a perpetual anathema; and we exhort that, of those whose arms have been burned, their ashes not be rekindled among you. For who does not execrate their proud and impious attempt, of those saying that a man can exist without sin by his own will, and not by the grace of God?

Et primum quidem blasphemiae stultiloquium est dicere esse hominem sine peccato; quod omnino non potest, nisi unus mediator Dei et hominum homo Christus Iesus, qui sine peccato est conceptus et partus. Nam ceteri homines cum peccato originali nascentes testimonium praeuaricationis Adae, etiam sine actuali peccato existentes, portare noscuntur, secundum prophetam dicentem: ‘Ecce enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum, et in peccatis peperit me mater mea.’

And first indeed, it is the foolish talk of blasphemy to say that a human is without sin; which is altogether impossible, except for the one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who was conceived and born without sin. For the other humans, being born with original sin, are known to bear the testimony of Adam’s transgression, even when existing without actual sin, according to the prophet saying: ‘Behold, indeed, in iniquities I was conceived, and in sins my mother bore me.’

[20] AT uero Aeduini cum X et VII annis genti Anglorum simul et Brettonum gloriosissime praeesset, e quibus sex etiam ipse, ut diximus, Christi regno militauit, rebellauit aduersus eum Caedualla rex Brettonum, auxilium praebente illi Penda uiro strenuissimo de regio genere Merciorum, qui et ipse ex eo tempore gentis eiusdem regno annis XX et IIbus uaria sorte praefuit; et conserto graui proelio in campo, qui uocatur Haethfelth, occisus est Aeduini die IIII Iduum Octobrium, anno dominicae incarnationis DCXXXIII, cum esset annorum XL et VIII; eiusque totus uel interemtus uel dispersus est exercitus. In quo etiam bello ante illum unus filius eius Osfrid iuuenis bellicosus cecidit, alter Eadfrid necessitate cogente ad Pendam regem transfugit, et ab eo postmodum, regnante Osualdo, contra fidem iuris iurandi peremtus est.

[20] But indeed, when Aeduini had most gloriously presided for 17 years over the nation of the Angles and also of the Britons, of which 6 also he himself, as we have said, did military service for the kingdom of Christ, Caedualla king of the Britons rebelled against him, Penda, a most strenuous man of the royal stock of the Mercians, giving him aid, who also from that time presided over the kingdom of the same people for 22 years with a varied lot; and, a grievous battle being joined in the field which is called Haethfelth, Aeduini was slain on the 4th day before the Ides of October, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 633, when he was 48 years old; and his whole army was either destroyed or scattered. In which battle also, before him, one son of his, Osfrid, a warlike youth, fell; the other, Eadfrid, with necessity compelling, fled over to King Penda, and by him afterwards, when Osualdus was reigning, contrary to the faith of an oath, was slain.

Quo tempore maxima est facta strages in ecclesia uel gente Nordanhymbrorum, maxime quod unus ex ducibus, a quibus acta est, paganus, alter, quia barbarus erat pagano saeuior. Siquidem Penda cum omni Merciorum gente idolis deditus, et Christiani erat nominis ignarus; at uero Caedualla, quamuis nomen et professionem haberet Christiani, adeo tamen erat animo ac moribus barbarus, ut ne sexui quidem muliebri, uel innocuae paruulorum parceret aetati, quin uniuersos atrocitate ferina morti per tormenta contraderet, multo tempore totas eorum prouincias debacchando peruagatus, ac totum genus Anglorum Brittaniae finibus erasurum se esse deliberans. Sed nec religioni Christianae, quae apud eos exorta erat, aliquid inpendebat honoris.

At that time a very great slaughter was made in the church and the nation of the Northumbrians, especially because one of the leaders by whom it was done was a pagan, the other, because he was a barbarian, was fiercer than a pagan. For indeed Penda, with the whole nation of the Mercians, was devoted to idols and was ignorant of the Christian name; but Caedualla, although he had the name and profession of a Christian, was nevertheless so barbarous in mind and morals that he spared not even the female sex nor the harmless age of little children—nay rather, with beastly atrocity he consigned them all to death through torments—having for a long time raged through and roamed all their provinces, and determining that he would erase the whole race of the English from the borders of Britain. Nor did he bestow any honor upon the Christian religion which had arisen among them.

Quippe cum usque hodie moris sit Brettonum, fidem religionemque Anglorum pro nihil habere, neque in aliquo eis magis communicare quam paganis. Adlatum est autem caput Aeduini regis Eburacum, et inlatum postea in ecclesiam beati apostoli Petri, quam ipse coepit, sed successor eius Osuald perfecit, ut supra docuimus, positum est in porticu sancti papae Gregorii, a cuius ipse discipulis uerbum uitae susceperat.

Since indeed even to this day it is the custom of the Britons to hold the faith and religion of the English as nothing, nor to communicate with them in anything more than with pagans. But the head of King Edwin was brought to York, and afterwards carried into the church of the blessed apostle Peter, which he himself began, but his successor Oswald completed, as we have shown above; it was placed in the portico of Saint Pope Gregory, from whose disciples he himself had received the word of life.

Turbatis itaque rebus Nordanhymbrorum huius articulo cladis, cum nil alicubi praesidii nisi in fuga esse uideretur, Paulinus adsumta secum regina Aedilberge, quam pridem adduxerat, rediit Cantiam nauigio, atque ab Honorio archiepiscopo et rege Eadbaldo multum honorifice susceptus est. Uenit autem illuc duce Basso milite regis Aeduini fortissimo, habens secum Eanfledam filiam, et Uuscfrean filium Aeduini, nec non et Yffi filium Osfridi filii eius, quos postea mater metu Eadbaldi et Osualdi regum misit in Galliam nutriendos regi Daegberecto, qui erat amicus illius, ibique ambo in infantia defuncti, et iuxta honorem uel regiis pueris uel innocentibus Christi congruum in ecclesia sepulti sunt. Attulit quoque secum uasa pretiosa Aeduini regis perplura, in quibus et crucem magnam auream, et calicem aureum consecratum ad ministerium altaris, quae hactenus in ecclesia Cantiae conseruata monstrantur.

And so, with the affairs of the Northumbrians thrown into turmoil by this crisis of disaster, since nowhere did any protection seem to exist except in flight, Paulinus, taking with him Queen Æthelburg, whom he had brought before, returned to Kent by ship, and was received very honorably by Archbishop Honorius and King Eadbald. He came there with the leader Bassus, a most brave soldier of King Edwin, having with him Eanflæd the daughter, and Wuscfrea the son of Edwin, and also Yffi, the son of Osfrith his son; whom afterwards their mother, in fear of the kings Eadbald and Oswald, sent into Gaul to be nurtured by King Dagobert, who was her friend; and there both died in infancy, and were buried in a church with honor fitting either for royal boys or for the innocents of Christ. He also brought with him very many precious vessels of King Edwin, among which a great golden cross, and a golden chalice consecrated for the ministry of the altar; which up to this day are shown preserved in the church of Kent.

Quo in tempore Hrofensis ecclesia pastorem minime habebat, eo quod Romanus praesul illius ad Honorium papam a Iusto archiepiscopo legatarius missus absortus fuerat fluctibus Italici maris; ac per hoc curam illius praefatus Paulinus inuitatione Honorii antistitis et Eadbaldi regis suscepit ac tenuit, usque dum et ipse suo tempore ad caelestia regna cum gloriosi fructu laboris ascendit. In qua ecclesia moriens pallium quoque, quod a Romano papa acceperat, reliquit.

At that time the church of Rochester had by no means a pastor, for Romanus, its prelate, having been sent as a legate to Pope Honorius by Archbishop Justus, had been swallowed by the waves of the Italian sea; and in consequence the aforesaid Paulinus, at the invitation of the prelate Honorius and King Eadbald, undertook and held its care, until he too in his time ascended to the heavenly realms with the glorious fruit of his labor. In which church, dying, he also left the pallium, which he had received from the Roman pope.

Reliquerat autem in ecclesia sua Eburaci Iacobum diaconum, uirum utique ecclesiasticum et sanctum, qui multo exhinc tempore in ecclesia manens, magnas antiquo hosti praedas docendo et baptizando eripuit; cuius nomine uicus, in quo maxime solebat habitare, iuxta Cataractam, usque hodie cognominatur. Qui, quoniam cantandi in ecclesia erat peritissimus, recuperata postmodum pacein prouincia, et crescente numero fidelium, etiam magister ecclesiasticae cantionis iuxta morem Romanorum siue Cantuariorum multis coepit existere; et ipse senex ac plenus dierum, iuxta scripturas, patrum uiam secutus est.

He had left in his church at York James the deacon, a truly ecclesiastical and holy man, who, remaining for a long time thereafter in the church, by teaching and baptizing snatched great spoils from the ancient enemy; by whose name the village in which he was chiefly wont to dwell, near Catterick, is called to this day. Since he was most skilled in singing in the church, when peace was afterward recovered in the province, and as the number of the faithful increased, he also began to be for many a master of ecclesiastical chant according to the custom of the Romans or of the people of Canterbury; and he himself, an old man and full of days, according to the Scriptures, followed the way of the fathers.