Bede: HISTORIAM ECCLESIASTICAM GENTIS ANGLORUM

[1] AT interfecto in pugna Aeduino, suscepit pro illo regnum Deirorum, de qua prouincia ille generis prosapiam et primordia regni habuerat, filius patrui eius Aelfrici, uocabulo Osric, qui ad praedicationem Paulini fidei erat sacramentis inbutus. Porro regnum Berniciorum, nam in has duas prouincias gens Nordanhymbrorum antiquitus diuisa erat, suscepit filius Aedilfridi, qui de illa prouincia generis et regni originem duxerat, nomine Eanfrid. Siquidem tempore toto, quo regnauit Aeduini, filii praefati regis Aedilfridi, qui ante illum regnauerat, cum magna nobilium iuuentute apud Scottos siue Pictos exulabant, ibique ad doctrinam Scottorum cathecizati, et baptismatis sunt gratia recreati.

[1] BUT when Edwin had been slain in battle, there took up in his stead the kingdom of the Deirans—of which province he had had the lineage of his race and the beginnings of his kingship—the son of his paternal uncle Aelfric, by name Osric, who at the preaching of Paulinus had been imbued with the sacraments of the faith. Moreover, the kingdom of the Bernicians—for into these two provinces the nation of the Northumbrians had of old been divided—was taken up by the son of Aedilfrid, who from that province had drawn the origin of his lineage and kingship, named Eanfrid. For indeed during the whole time that Edwin reigned, the sons of the aforesaid king Aedilfrid, who had reigned before him, together with a great company of noble youth, were in exile among the Scots or the Picts, and there, catechized to the doctrine of the Scots, they were refreshed by the grace of baptism.

Qui ut, mortuo rege inimico, patriam sunt redire permissi, accepit primus eorum, quem diximus, Eanfrid regnum Berniciorum. Qui uterque rex, ut terreni regni infulas sortitus est, sacramenta regni caelestis, quibus initiatus erat, anathematizando prodidit, ac se priscis idolatriae sordibus polluendum perdendumque restituit.

Who, when the hostile king had died, were permitted to return to their fatherland, the first of them, Eanfrid, as we said, received the kingdom of the Bernicians. But each king, once he had obtained the insignia of the earthly kingdom, betrayed—by anathematizing—the sacraments of the heavenly kingdom, in which he had been initiated, and restored himself to the ancient filths of idolatry, to be defiled and undone.

Nec mora, utrumque rex Brettonum Ceadualla impia manu, sed iusta ultione peremit. Et primo quidem proxima aestate Osricum, dum se in oppido municipio temerarie obsedisset, erumpens subito cum suis omnibus inparatum cum toto exercitu deleuit. Dein cum anno integro prouincias Nordanhymbrorum, non ut rex uictor possideret, sed quasi tyrannus saeuiens disperderet, ac tragica caede dilaceraret, tandem Eanfridum inconsulte ad se cum XII lectis militibus postulandae pacis gratia uenientem, simili sorte damnauit.

No delay: the king of the Britons, Ceadualla, slew them both with an impious hand, yet with just retribution. And first indeed, the next summer, Osric—while he had rashly besieged him in a town, a municipium—bursting forth suddenly with all his own men, he destroyed unprepared along with his whole army. Then, when for a full year he was laying waste the provinces of the Northumbrians, not to possess them as a conquering king, but to ravage as a raging tyrant and to tear them with tragic slaughter, at last he condemned Eanfrid—coming to him imprudently with 12 chosen soldiers for the sake of suing for peace—to a like fate.

Infaustus ille annus, et omnibus bonis exosus usque hodie permanet, tam propter apostasiam regum Anglorum, qua se fidei sacramentis exuerant, quam propter uesanam Brettonici regis tyrannidem. Unde cunctis placuit regum tempora computantibus, ut, ablata de medio regum perfidorum memoria, idem annus sequentis regis, id est Osualdi, uiri Deo dilecti, regno adsignaretur; quo, post occisionem fratris Eanfridi, superueniente cum paruo exercitu, sed fide Christi munito, infandus Brettonum dux cum inmensis illis copiis, quibus nihil resistere posse iactabat, interemtus est in loco, qui lingua Anglorum Denisesburna, id est riuus Denisi, uocatur.

That ill-omened year, and hateful to all good men, remains even to this day, as much on account of the apostasy of the kings of the English, whereby they stripped themselves of the sacraments of the faith, as on account of the frenzied tyranny of the British king. Whence it pleased all who compute the times of the kings that, the memory of the perfidious kings being removed from the midst, that same year be assigned to the reign of the following king, that is, of Oswald, a man beloved by God; in which year, after the slaying of his brother Eanfrid, he, arriving with a small army, but fortified by the faith of Christ, slew the unspeakable leader of the Britons, with those immense forces against which he boasted that nothing could resist, at the place which in the English tongue is called Denisesburna, that is, the stream of Denis.

[2] OSTENDITUR autem usque hodie, et in magna ueneratione habetur locus ille, ubi uenturus ad hanc pugnam Osuald signum sanctae crucis erexit, ac flexis genibus Deum deprecatus est, ut in tanta rerum necessitate suis cultoribus caelesti succurreret auxilio. Denique fertur, quia facta citato opere cruce, ac fouea praeparata, in qua statui deberet, ipse fide feruens hanc arripuerit, ac foueae inposuerit, atque utraque manu erectam tenuerit, donec adgesto a militibus puluere terrae figeretur; et hoc facto, elata in altum uoce cuncto exercitui proclamauerit: ‘Flectamus omnes genua, et Deum omnipotentem, uiuum, ac uerum in commune deprecemur, ut nos ab hoste superbo ac feroce sua miseratione defendat; scit enim ipse, quia iusta pro salute gentis nostrae bella suscepimus.’ Fecerunt omnes, ut iusserat, et sic incipiente diluculo in hostem progressi, iuxta meritum suae fidei uictoria potiti sunt. In cuius loco orationis innumerae uirtutes sanitatum noscuntur esse patratae, ad indicium uidelicet ac memoriam fidei regis.

[2] It is shown, moreover, even to this day, and is held in great veneration, that place where, about to come to this battle, Oswald set up the sign of the holy cross, and, with knees bent, besought God that in so great a necessity of affairs he would succor his worshippers with celestial aid. Finally, it is reported that, the cross having been made with quick work, and a pit prepared in which it should be set, he himself, fervent in faith, seized it, set it into the pit, and held it upright with both hands until, with earth-mould heaped up by the soldiers, it was fixed; and this done, with voice lifted on high he proclaimed to the whole army: ‘Let us all bend the knees, and together let us beseech God almighty, living, and true, that by his compassion he may defend us from the proud and fierce enemy; for he himself knows that we have undertaken just wars for the salvation of our nation.’ They all did as he had ordered, and so, with daybreak beginning, advancing against the enemy, in accordance with the merit of their faith they obtained victory. In the place of which prayer innumerable virtues of healings are known to have been wrought, as a sign, namely, and a memorial of the king’s faith.

Nam et usque hodie multi de ipso ligno sacrosanctae crucis astulas excidere solent, quas cum in aquas miserint, eisque languentes homines aut pecudes potauerint, siue asperserint, mox sanitati restituuntur.

For even to this day many are accustomed to cut off splinters from the very wood of the sacrosanct cross; which, when they have cast them into waters, and have given those waters to drink to ailing men or cattle, or have sprinkled them, at once they are restored to health.

Uocatur locus ille lingua Anglorum Hefenfelth, quod dici potest latine caelestis campus, quod certo utique praesagio futurorum antiquitus nomen accepit; significans nimirum, quod ibidem caeleste erigendum tropaeum, caelestis inchoanda uictoria, caelestia usque hodie forent miracula celebranda. Est autem locus iuxta murum illum ad aquilonem, quo Romani quondam ob arcendos barbarorum impetus totam a mari ad mare praecinxere Brittaniam, ut supra docuimus. In quo uidelicet loco consuetudinem multo iam tempore fecerant fratres Hagustaldensis ecclesiae, quae non longe abest, aduenientes omni anno pridie quam postea idem rex Osuald occisus est, uigilias pro salute animae eius facere, plurimaque psalmorum laude celebrata, uictimam pro eo mane sacrae oblationis offerre.

That place is called in the language of the English Hefenfelth, which can be said in Latin “celestial field,” because indeed from a sure presage of things to come it received its name in ancient times; signifying, to wit, that there a celestial trophy was to be raised, a celestial victory to be begun, celestial miracles to be celebrated even to this day. Moreover, the place is near that wall to the north, with which the Romans once, for warding off the assaults of the barbarians, girded all Britain from sea to sea, as we have taught above. In which place indeed the brethren of the Church of Hagustald, which is not far away, had long since established a custom, coming every year on the day before the day on which that same King Oswald was later slain, to hold vigils for the salvation of his soul, and, after very great praise of psalms had been celebrated, to offer in the morning for him the victim of the sacred oblation.

Qui etiam crescente bona consuetudine, nuper ibidem ecclesia constructa, sacratiorem et cunctis honorabiliorem omnibus locum fecere. Nec inmerito, quia nullum, ut conperimus, fidei Christianae signum, nulla ecclesia, nullum altare in tota Berniciorum gente erectum est, priusquam hoc sacrae crucis uexillum nouus militiae ductor, dictante fidei deuotione, contra hostem inmanissimum pugnaturus statueret.

They also, with the good custom increasing, a church having lately been constructed there, made the place more consecrate and more honorable to all. And not without merit, because, as we have learned, no sign of the Christian faith, no church, no altar had been erected in the whole nation of the Bernicians, before this vexillum of the holy cross the new leader of the militia, with the devotion of faith dictating, being about to fight against the most savage enemy, set up.

Nec ab re est unum e pluribus, quae ad hanc crucem patrata sunt, uirtutis miraculum enarrare. Quidam de fratribus eiusdem Hagustaldensis ecclesiae, nomine Bothelm qui nunc usque superest, ante paucos annos, dum incautius forte noctu in glacie incederet, repente conruens, brachium contriuit, ac grauissima fracturae ipsius coepit molestia fatigari; ita ut ne ad os quidem adducere ipsum brachium ullatenus dolore arcente ualeret. Qui cum die quadam mane audiret unum de fratribus ad locum eiusdem sanctae crucis ascendere disposuisse, rogauit, ut aliquam sibi partem de illo ligno uenerabili rediens adferret, credere se dicens, quia per hoc, donante Domino, salutem posset consequi.

Nor is it out of place to narrate one miracle of power from among the many that were accomplished at this cross. A certain one of the brothers of that same Hagustaldensian church, by name Bothelm, who even to this day survives, a few years ago, while by chance he was walking incautiously by night on the ice, suddenly falling, crushed his arm, and began to be wearied by the most grievous trouble of the fracture; so that he was not able at all, the pain warding him off, even to bring that arm to his mouth. When on a certain day in the morning he heard that one of the brothers had resolved to ascend to the place of that same holy cross, he asked that, on returning, he would bring to him some part from that venerable wood, saying that he believed that through this, the Lord granting, he could obtain health.

Fecit ille, ut rogatus est, et reuersus ad uesperam, sedentibus iam ad mensam fratribus, obtulit ei aliquid de ueteri musco, quo superficies ligni erat obsita. Qui cum sedens ad mensam non haberet ad manum, ubi oblatum sibi munus reponeret, misit hoc in sinum sibi. Et dum iret cubitum, oblitus hoc alicubi deponere, permisit suo in sinu permanere.

He did as he was asked, and returning toward evening, with the brothers already sitting at table, he offered him something of the old moss, with which the surface of the wood was overgrown. He, as he sat at table, since he did not have at hand where he might set down the gift that had been offered to him, put it into his bosom. And as he went to lie down, forgetting to put this somewhere, he allowed it to remain in his bosom.

At medio noctis tempore, cum euigilaret, sensit nescio quid frigidi suo lateri adiacere, admotaque manu requirere quid esset, ita sanum brachium manumque repperit, ac si nihil umquam tanti langoris habuisset.

But at the middle time of the night, when he awoke, he felt I know not what of cold adjacent to his side; and having applied his hand to inquire what it was, he found his arm and hand so sound, as if he had never had any languor of so great a kind.

[3] IDEM ergo Osuald, mox ubi regnum suscepit, desiderans totam, cui praeesse coepit, gentem fidei Christianae gratia inbui, cuius experimenta permaxima in expugnandis barbaris iam ceperat, misit ad maiores natu Scottorum, inter quos exulans ipse baptismatis sacramenta cum his, qui secum erant, militibus consecutus erat; petens, ut sibi mitteretur antistes, cuius doctrina ac ministerio gens, quam regebat, Anglorum, dominicae fidei et dona disceret, et susciperet sacramenta. Neque aliquanto tardius, quod petiit, inpetrauit; accepit namque pontificem Aedanum summae mansuetudinis, et pietatis, ac moderaminis uirum, habentemque zelum Dei, quamuis non plene secundum scientiam. Namque diem paschae dominicum more suae gentis, cuius saepius mentionem fecimus, a XIIIIa luna usque ad XXam obseruare solebat.

[3] The same Oswald, therefore, as soon as he took up the kingdom, desiring that the whole nation over which he had begun to preside be imbued with the grace of the Christian faith—of which he had already had very great proofs in the expugnation of the barbarians—sent to the elders of the Scots, among whom, while an exile, he himself, with the soldiers who were with him, had obtained the sacraments of baptism; asking that a bishop be sent to him, by whose teaching and ministry the nation of the Angles, which he ruled, might learn the Lord’s faith and its gifts, and receive the sacraments. Nor did he obtain what he sought with any delay; for he received the bishop Aidan, a man of the highest meekness, piety, and moderation, and possessing zeal for God, although not fully according to knowledge. For he was accustomed to observe the Lord’s Paschal day, according to the custom of his nation, of which we have made frequent mention, from the 14th moon up to the 20th.

Hoc etenim ordine septentrionalis Scottorum prouincia, et omnis natio Pictorum illo adhuc tempore pascha dominicum celebrabat, aestimans se in hac obseruantia sancti ac laude digni patris Anatolii scripta secutam. Quod an uerum sit, peritus quisque facillime cognoscit. Porro gentes Scottorum, quae in australibus Hiberniae insulae partibus morabantur, iamdudum ad admonitionem apostolicae sedis antistitis, pascha canonico ritu obseruare didicerunt.

For in this order the northern province of the Scots and the whole nation of the Picts at that time still celebrated the Lord’s Pascha, supposing that in this observance it had followed the writings of the holy and praiseworthy father Anatolius. Whether this is true, anyone skilled can very easily recognize. Moreover, the peoples of the Scots who were dwelling in the southern parts of the island of Hibernia long since, at the admonition of the bishop of the Apostolic See, learned to observe Pascha according to the canonical rite.

Uenienti igitur ad se episcopo, rex locum sedis episcopalis in insula Lindisfarnensi, ubi ipse petebat, tribuit. Qui uidelicet locus accedente ac recedente reumate, bis cotidie instar insulae maris circumluitur undis, bis renudato littore contiguus terrae redditur; atque eius admonitionibus humiliter ac libenter in omnibus auscultans, ecclesiam Christi in regno suo multum diligenter aedificare ac dilatare curauit. Ubi pulcherrimo saepe spectaculo contigit, ut euangelizante antistite, qui Anglorum linguam perfecte non nouerat, ipse rex suis ducibus ac ministris interpres uerbi existeret caelestis; quia nimirum tam longo exilii sui tempore linguam Scottorum iam plene didicerat.

Therefore, when the bishop came to him, the king granted the site of the episcopal seat on the island of Lindisfarne, where he himself had asked. Which place, namely, with the tide coming in and going out, is twice each day washed around by the waves in the likeness of an island; twice, with the shore laid bare, it is rendered contiguous to the land; and he, humbly and gladly hearkening to his admonitions in all things, took care very diligently to build and to enlarge the church of Christ in his kingdom. There it often befell, a most beautiful spectacle, that while the bishop was evangelizing—who did not know the language of the English perfectly—the king himself became interpreter of the heavenly word for his leaders and ministers; because indeed, in the so long time of his exile, he had already fully learned the language of the Scots.

Exin coepere plures per dies de Scottorum regione uenire Brittaniam atque illis Anglorum prouinciis, quibus regnauit Osuald, magna deuotione uerbum fidei praedicare et credentibus gratiam baptismi, quicumque sacerdotali erant gradu praediti, ministrare. Construebantur ergo ecclesiae per loca, confluebant ad audiendum uerbum populi gaudentes, donabantur munere regio possessiones et territoria ad instituenda monasteria, inbuebantur praeceptoribus Scottis paruuli Anglorum una cum maioribus studiis et obseruatione disciplinae regularis.

Thereafter they began, for many days, to come to Britain from the region of the Scots, and in those provinces of the Angles where Oswald reigned, to preach with great devotion the word of faith, and those who were endowed with sacerdotal rank ministered to the believers the grace of baptism. Therefore churches were constructed throughout the places, the peoples, rejoicing, flocked together to hear the word, estates and territories were bestowed by royal gift for the instituting of monasteries, the little ones of the Angles, together with their elders, were imbued by Scottish instructors with studies and with the observance of regular discipline.

Nam monachi erant maxime, qui ad praedicandum uenerant. Monachus ipse episcopus Aedan, utpote de insula, quae uocatur Hii, destinatus, cuius monasterium in cunctis pene septentrionalium Scottorum, et omnium Pictorum monasteriis non paruo tempore arcem tenebat, regendisque eorum populis praeerat; quae uidelicet insula ad ius quidem Brittaniae pertinet, non magno ab ea freto discreta, sed donatione Pictorum, qui illas Brittaniae plagas incolunt, iamdudum monachis Scottorum tradita, eo quod illis praedicantibus fidem Christi perceperint.

For it was monks chiefly who had come to preach. The bishop Aedan himself, a monk, appointed from the island which is called Hii, whose monastery for no small time held the chief place among almost all the monasteries of the northern Scots and of all the Picts, and presided over the governing of their peoples; which island indeed pertains by right to Britain, not separated from it by a great strait, but by the donation of the Picts, who inhabit those regions of Britain, long ago handed over to the monks of the Scots, for the reason that through their preaching they had received the faith of Christ.

[4] SIQUIDEM anno incarnationis dominicae DoLXoVo, quo tempore gubernaculum Romani imperii post Iustinianum Iustinus minor accepit, uenit de Hibernia presbyter et abbas habitu et uita monachi insignis, nomine Columba Brittaniam, praedicaturus uerbum Dei prouinciis septentrionalium Pictorum, hoc est eis quae arduis atque horrentibus montium iugis ab australibus eorum sunt regionibus sequestratae. Namque ipsi australes Picti, qui intra eosdem montes habent sedes, multo ante tempore, ut perhibent, relicto errore idolatriae, fidem ueritatis acceperant, praedicante eis uerbum Nynia episcopo reuerentissimo et sanctissimo uiro de natione Brettonum, qui erat Romae regulariter fidem et mysteria ueritatis edoctus; cuius sedem episcopatus, sancti Martini episcopi nomine et ecclesia insignem, ubi ipse etiam corpore una cum pluribus sanctis requiescit, iam nunc Anglorum gens obtinet. Qui locus, ad prouinciam Berniciorum pertinens, uulgo uocatur Ad Candidam Casam, eo quod ibi ecclesiam de lapide, insolito Brettonibus more fecerit.

[4] Indeed, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 565, at which time, after Justinian, Justin the Younger received the helm of the Roman empire, there came from Hibernia a presbyter and abbot, notable in the habit and life of a monk, by the name Columba, into Britain, to preach the word of God to the provinces of the northern Picts, that is, to those which are sequestered from their southern regions by the steep and bristling ridges of mountains. For the southern Picts themselves, who have their seats within those same mountains, had at a much earlier time, as they relate, having left the error of idolatry, received the faith of truth, the word being preached to them by Bishop Nynia, a most reverend and most holy man of the nation of the Britons, who at Rome had been regularly instructed in the faith and mysteries of the truth; whose episcopal see, distinguished by the name of Saint Martin the bishop and by a church, where he himself also rests in body together with many saints, the nation of the English now holds. Which place, pertaining to the province of the Bernicians, is in the common tongue called At the White House (Ad Candidam Casam), for the reason that there he made a church of stone, a fashion unusual among the Britons.

Uenit autem Brittaniam Columba, regnante Pictis Bridio filio Meilochon, rege potentissimo, nono anno regni eius, gentemque illam uerbo et exemplo ad fidem Christi conuertit; unde et praefatam insulam ab eis in possessionem monasterii faciendi accepit. Neque enim magna est, sed quasi familiarum quinque, iuxta aestimationem Anglorum; quam successores eius usque hodie tenent, ubi et ipse sepultus est, cum esset annorum LXXVII, post annos circiter XXX et duos, ex quo ipse Brittaniam praedicaturus adiit. Fecerat autem, priusquam Brittaniam ueniret, monasterium nobile in Hibernia, quod a copia roborum Dearmach lingua Scottorum, hoc est campus roborum, cognominatur.

But Columba came to Britain, while the Picts were ruled by Bridei son of Maelchon, a most powerful king, in the ninth year of his reign, and he converted that nation to the faith of Christ by word and by example; whence also he received the aforesaid island from them in possession for making a monastery. For it is not large, but as if of five households, according to the estimate of the English; which his successors hold to this day, where he also is buried, when he was 77 years old, after about 32 years from the time when he himself came into Britain to preach. Moreover, before he came to Britain, he had made a noble monastery in Ireland, which from the abundance of oaks is surnamed Dearmach in the language of the Scots, that is, the Field of Oaks.

Ex quo utroque monasterio plurima exinde monasteria per discipulos eius et in Brittania et in Hibernia propagata sunt, in quibus omnibus idem monasterium insulanum, in quo ipse requiescit corpore, principatum teneret.

From both of which monasteries, very many monasteries were thereafter propagated through his disciples both in Britain and in Ireland, in all of which the same island monastery, in which he himself rests in body, held the principate.

Habere autem solet ipsa insula rectorem semper abbatem presbyterum, cuius iuri et omnis prouincia, et ipsi etiam episcopi ordine inusitato debeant esse subiecti, iuxta exemplum primi doctoris illius, qui non episcopus, sed presbyter extitit et monachus; de cuius uita et uerbis nonnulla a discipulis eius feruntur scripta haberi. Uerum qualiscumque fuerit ipse, nos hoc de illo certum tenemus, quia reliquit successores magna continentia ac diuino amore regularique institutione insignes; in tempore quidem summae festiuitatis dubios circulos sequentes, utpote quibus longe ultra orbem positis nemo synodalia paschalis obseruantiae decreta porrexerat; tantum ea, quae in propheticis, euangelicis, et apostolicis litteris discere poterant, pietatis et castitatis opera diligenter obseruantes. Permansit autem huiusmodi obseruantia paschalis apud eos tempore non pauco, hoc est usque ad annum dominicae incarnationis DCCXV per annos CL.

But the island itself is accustomed to have as its rector always an abbot, a presbyter, to whose jurisdiction both the whole province and even the bishops themselves, by an unusual order, ought to be subject, after the example of that first teacher of theirs, who was not a bishop, but a presbyter and a monk; about whose life and words certain things are said to be held in writing by his disciples. Yet, of whatever sort he himself may have been, this we hold as certain about him: that he left successors distinguished by great continence and divine love and by regular institution; indeed, in the matter of the highest festivity, following doubtful cycles, inasmuch as, being situated far beyond the world, no one had extended to them the synodal decrees of the Paschal observance; only diligently observing the works of piety and chastity which they were able to learn in the prophetic, evangelical, and apostolic letters. Moreover, a Paschal observance of this kind remained among them for no short time, that is, up to the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 715, for 150 years.

At tunc ueniente ad eos reuerentissimo et sanctissimo patre et sacerdote Ecgbercto, de natione Anglorum, qui in Hibernia diutius exulauerat pro Christo, eratque et doctissimus in scripturis, et longaeua uitae perfectione eximius, correcti sunt per eum, et ad uerum canonicumque paschae diem translati; quem tamen et antea non semper in luna XIIIIa cum Iudaeis, ut quidam rebantur, sed in die quidem dominica, alia tamen, quam decebat, ebdomada celebrabant. Sciebant enim, ut Christiani, resurrectionem dominicam, quae prima sabbati facta est, prima sabbati semper esse celebrandam; sed ut barbari et rustici, quando eadem prima sabbati, quae nunc dominica dies cognominatur, ueniret, minime didicerant. Uerum quia gratia caritatis feruere non omiserunt, et huius quoque rei notitiam ad perfectum percipere meruerunt, iuxta promissum apostoli dicentis: ‘Et siquid aliter sapitis, et hoc quoque uobis Deus reuelabit.’ De quo plenius in sequentibus suo loco dicendum est.

But then, when there came to them the most reverend and most holy father and priest Ecgberct, of the nation of the English, who had long lived in exile in Ireland for Christ, and was both most learned in the Scriptures and outstanding by the perfection of a long life, they were corrected by him and transferred to the true and canonical day of Easter; which, however, even before they did not always celebrate on the 14th moon with the Jews, as some supposed, but indeed on the Lord’s Day, yet in a different week than was fitting. For they knew, as Christians, that the Lord’s resurrection, which was made on the first of the sabbath, must always be celebrated on the first of the sabbath; but, as barbarians and rustics, when that same first of the sabbath, which is now surnamed the Lord’s Day, should come, they had by no means learned. Yet because they did not cease to glow with the grace of charity, they also merited to receive to perfection the knowledge of this matter, according to the Apostle’s promise, saying: ‘And if you think anything otherwise, this also God will reveal to you.’ Of which more is to be said more fully in what follows in its own place.

[5] AB hac ergo insula, ab horum collegio monachorum, ad prouinciam Anglorum instituendam in Christo, missus est Aedan, accepto gradu episcopatus. Quo tempore eidem monasterio Segeni abbas et presbyter praefuit. Unde inter alia uiuendi documenta saluberrimum abstinentiae uel continentiae clericis exemplum reliquit; cuius doctrinam id maxime commendabat omnibus, quod non aliter, quam uiuebat cum suis, ipse docebat.

[5] From this island, therefore, from this college of monks, Aedan was sent to instruct the province of the English in Christ, having received the rank of the episcopate. At that time Segeni, abbot and presbyter, presided over the same monastery. Whence, among other documents of living, he left to the clerics a most salubrious example of abstinence or continence; what especially commended his doctrine to all was this: that he himself taught no otherwise than as he lived with his own.

Nil enim huius mundi quaerere, nil amare curabat. Cuncta, quae sibi a regibus uel diuitibus saeculi donabantur, mox pauperibus, qui occurrerent, erogare gaudebat. Discurrere per cuncta et urbana et rustica loca, non equorum dorso, sed pedum incessu uectus, nisi si maior forte necessitas conpulisset, solebat; quatinus ubicumque aliquos uel diuites uel pauperes incedens aspexisset, confestim ad hos diuertens, uel ad fidei suscipiendae sacramentum, si infideles essent, inuitaret; uel si fideles, in ipsa eos fide confortaret, atque ad elimosynas operumque bonorum exsecutionem, et uerbis excitaret et factis.

For he took care to seek nothing of this world, to love nothing. All the things that were bestowed upon him by kings or by the rich of the age, he rejoiced at once to distribute to the poor who met him. He used to run about through all places, both urban and rustic, carried not on the back of horses but by the gait of his feet, unless perchance some greater necessity had compelled him; so that wherever, as he went, he had caught sight of any persons, whether rich or poor, turning aside at once to these, he would invite them, if they were infidels, to the sacrament of receiving the faith; or, if faithful, he would strengthen them in that very faith, and to alms and the execution of good works he would rouse them both by words and by deeds.

In tantum autem uita illius a nostri temporis segnitia distabat, ut omnes, qui cum eo incedebant, siue adtonsi, seu laici, meditari deberent, id est, aut legendis scripturis, aut psalmis discendis operam dare. Hoc erat cotidianum opus illius et omnium, qui cum eo erant, ubicumque locorum deuenissent. Et si forte euenisset, quod tamen raro euenit, ut ad regis conuiuium uocaretur, intrabat cum uno clerico aut duobus; et, ubi paululum reficiebatur, adcelerauit ocius ad legendum cum suis, siue ad orandum egredi.

Moreover, his life was so far removed from the sloth of our time that all who walked with him, whether tonsured or laymen, had to meditate—that is, to give effort either to the reading of the Scriptures or to the learning of psalms. This was his daily work and that of all who were with him, wherever they had come. And if it happened—which, however, seldom happened—that he was called to the king’s banquet, he would enter with one cleric or two; and, when he had been refreshed a little, he hastened at once either to read with his own, or to go out to pray.

Cuius exemplis informati tempore illo religiosi quique uiri ac feminae consuetudinem fecerunt per totum annum, excepta remissione quinquagesimae paschalis, IIIIa et VIa sabbati ieiunium ad nonam usque horam protelare. Numquam diuitibus honoris siue timoris gratia, siqua delinquissent, reticebat; sed aspera illos inuectione corrigebat. Nullam potentibus saeculi pecuniam, excepta solum esca, siquos hospitio suscepisset, umquam dare solebat, sed ea potius, quae sibi a diuitibus donaria pecuniarum largiebantur, uel in usus pauperum, ut diximus, dispergebat, uel ad redemtionem eorum, qui iniuste fuerant uenditi, dispensabat.

Formed by his examples, at that time religious men and women alike made it a custom through the whole year, except for the relaxation of the paschal Fiftieth, to prolong the fast on the 4th and 6th weekday until the ninth hour. Never for the sake of honor or fear did he keep silence toward the rich, if they had done amiss; rather he corrected them with harsh invective. He was never accustomed to give any money to the potent ones of the age, except food only, if he had received any with hospitality; but he would rather disperse those money-donatives which were bestowed upon him by the rich either for the uses of the poor, as we have said, or he dispensed them for the redemption of those who had been unjustly sold.

Denique multos, quos pretio dato redemerat, redemtos postmodum suos discipulos fecit, atque ad sacerdotalem usque gradum erudiendo atque instituendo prouexit.

Finally, many whom he had redeemed for a price, once redeemed he afterwards made his own disciples, and by educating and instructing them he advanced them even to the sacerdotal grade.

Ferunt autem, quia, cum de prouincia Scottorum rex Osuald postulasset antistitem, qui sibi suaeque genti uerbum fidei ministraret, missus fuerit primo alius austerioris animi uir, qui, cum aliquandiu genti Anglorum praedicans nihil proficeret, nec libenter a populo audiretur, redierit patriam, atque in conuentu seniorum rettulerit, quia nil prodesse docendo genti, ad quam missus erat, potuisset, eo quod essent homines indomabiles, et durae ac barbarae mentis. At illi, ut perhibent, tractatum magnum in concilio, quid esset agendum, habere coeperunt; desiderantes quidem genti, quam petebantur, saluti esse, sed de non recepto, quem miserant, praedicatore dolentes. Tum ait Aedan, nam et ipse concilio intererat, ad eum, de quo agebatur, sacerdotem: ‘Uidetur mihi, frater, quia durior iusto indoctis auditoribus fuisti, et non eis iuxta apostolicam disciplinam primo lac doctrinae mollioris porrexisti, donec paulatim enutriti uerbo Dei, ad capienda perfectiora, et ad facienda sublimiora Dei praecepta sufficerent.’ Quo audito omnium, qui considebant, ad ipsum ora et oculi conuersi, diligenter, quid diceret, discutiebant, et ipsum esse dignum episcopatu, ipsum ad erudiendos incredulos et indoctos mitti debere decernunt, qui gratia discretionis, quae uirtutum mater est, ante omnia probabatur inbutus; sicque illum ordinantes ad praedicandum miserunt.

They report, moreover, that when from the province of the Scots King Oswald had asked for a bishop to minister the word of faith to himself and to his people, there was sent at first another man of a more austere spirit, who, since for some time preaching to the nation of the English he was making no progress, nor was he gladly heard by the people, returned to his homeland, and in the assembly of the elders reported that he could profit nothing by teaching the nation to which he had been sent, because they were men untamable, and of a hard and barbarous mind. But they, as is told, began to hold a great deliberation in council as to what ought to be done; desiring indeed to be for the salvation of the nation that was being asked for, but grieving over the preacher whom they had sent not being received. Then said Aidan— for he too was present at the council— to that priest about whom the matter was being handled: ‘It seems to me, brother, that you have been harsher than just to untaught hearers, and that you did not, according to apostolic discipline, first extend to them the milk of milder doctrine, until, little by little nourished by the word of God, they might be sufficient for receiving more perfect things and for doing the loftier precepts of God.’ On hearing this, the faces and eyes of all who were sitting turned to him; they carefully examined what he said, and they determine that he himself is worthy of the episcopate, that he himself ought to be sent to instruct the unbelieving and the untaught—he who, before all, was proved to be imbued with the grace of discretion, which is the mother of virtues; and so, ordaining him, they sent him to preach.

Qui ubi tempus accepit, sicut prius moderamine discretionis, ita postmodum et ceteris uirtutibus ornatus apparuit.

Who, when he received the time, appeared adorned, as before with the moderation of discretion, so afterwards also with the other virtues.

[6] HUIUS igitur antistitis doctrina rex Osuald cum ea, cui praeerat, gente Anglorum institutus, non solum incognita progenitoribus suis regna caelorum sperare didicit; sed et regna terrarum plus quam ulli maiorum suorum, ab eodem uno Deo, qui fecit caelum et terram, consecutus est. Denique omnes nationes et prouincias Brittaniae, quae in IIII linguas, id est Brettonum, Pictorum, Scottorum, et Anglorum, diuisae sunt, in dicione accepit.

[6] Therefore, by the doctrine of this bishop, King Oswald, together with the nation of the English over which he presided, having been instructed, learned not only to hope for the kingdoms of heaven unknown to his progenitors; but also obtained the kingdoms of the earth, more than any of his ancestors, from that same one God who made heaven and earth. Finally, all the nations and provinces of Britain, which are divided into 4 languages, that is, of the Britons, the Picts, the Scots, and the English, he received under his dominion.

Quo regni culmine sublimatus, nihilominus, quod mirum dictu est, pauperibus et peregrinis semper humilis, benignus, et largus fuit. Denique fertur, quia tempore quodam, cum die sancto paschae cum praefato episcopo consedisset ad prandium, positusque esset in mensa coram eo discus argenteus regalibus epulis refertus, et iamiamque essent manus ad panem benedicendum missuri, intrasse subito ministrum ipsius, cui suscipiendorum inopum erat cura delegata, et indicasse regi, quia multitudo pauperum undecumque adueniens maxima per plateas sederet, postulans aliquid elimosynae a rege. Qui mox dapes sibimet adpositas deferri pauperibus, sed et discum confringi, atque eisdem minutatim diuidi praecepit.

Raised to this summit of the kingdom, nonetheless—what is marvelous to say—he was always humble, benign, and bountiful toward the poor and the pilgrims. At length it is reported that, at a certain time, when on the holy day of Easter he had sat down to dinner with the aforesaid bishop, and a silver dish filled with regal viands had been set on the table before him, and they were now on the point of stretching forth their hands to bless the bread, his minister suddenly entered, to whom the care of receiving the needy had been delegated, and indicated to the king that a very great multitude of poor folk, arriving from every quarter, were sitting through the streets, asking for some alms from the king. He straightway ordered that the dishes set before himself be carried to the poor, and even that the dish be broken and distributed to the same persons piece by piece.

Quo uiso pontifex, qui adsidebat, delectatus tali facto pietatis, adprehendit dexteram eius, et ait: ‘Numquam inueterescat haec manus.’ Quod et ita iuxta uotum benedictionis eius prouenit. Nam cum interfecto illo in pugna, manus cum brachio a cetero essent corpore resectae, contigit, ut hactenus incorruptae perdurent. Denique in urbe regia, quae a regina quondam uocabulo Bebba cognominatur, loculo inclusae argenteo in ecclesia sancti Petri seruantur, ac digno a cunctis honore uenerantur.

Seeing this, the pontiff, who was sitting beside him, delighted by such a deed of piety, took hold of his right hand and said: ‘May this hand never grow old.’ And so it came to pass in accordance with the vow of his blessing. For when he had been slain in battle, and the hand with the arm had been cut off from the rest of the body, it happened that they remain incorrupt to this very day. Indeed, in the royal city, which is surnamed from a certain queen by the name Bebba, enclosed in a silver casket they are kept in the church of Saint Peter, and are venerated by all with worthy honor.

Huius industria regis Derorum et Berniciorum prouinciae, quae eatenus ab inuicem discordabant, in unam sunt pacem, et uelut unum conpaginatae in populum. Erat autem nepos Aeduini regis ex sorore Acha, dignumque fuit, ut tantus praecessor talem haberet de sua consanguinitate et religionis heredem et regni.

By the industry of this king, the provinces of the Deirans and the Bernicians, which hitherto were at variance with one another, were brought into one peace, and, as it were, were knit together into one people. He was moreover the nephew of King Edwin by his sister Acha, and it was fitting that so great a predecessor should have from his own consanguinity such an heir both of religion and of the kingdom.

[7] EO tempore gens Occidentalium Saxonum, qui antiquitus Geuissae uocabantur, regnante Cynigilso fidem Christi suscepit, praedicante illis uerbum Birino episcopo, quicum consilio papae Honorii uenerat Brittaniam, promittens quidem se illo praesente in intimis ultra Anglorum partibus, quo nullus doctor praecessisset, sanctae fidei semina esse sparsurum. Unde et iussu eiusdem pontificis per Asterium Genuensem episcopum in episcopatus consecratus est gradum. Sed Brittaniam perueniens, ac primum Geuissorum gentem ingrediens, cum omnes ibidem paganissimos inueniret, utilius esse ratus est ibi potius uerbum praedicare, quam ultra progrediens eos, quibus praedicare deberet, inquirere.

[7] At that time the nation of the West Saxons, who in antiquity were called the Gewisse, in the reign of Cynigils, received the faith of Christ, with Bishop Birinus preaching the word to them, who had come to Britain with the counsel of Pope Honorius, indeed promising, with him present, that in the inmost regions farther within the parts of the English, where no teacher had gone before, he would be scattering the seeds of the holy faith. Whence also, by the order of the same pontiff, he was consecrated into the grade of the episcopate by Asterius, bishop of Genoa. But arriving in Britain, and first entering the nation of the Gewisse, when he found all there most pagan, he judged it more useful to preach the word there rather than, going further, to seek those to whom he ought to preach.

Itaque euangelizante illo in praefata prouincia, cum rex ipse cathecizatus, fonte baptismi cum sua gente ablueretur, contigit tunc temporis sanctissimum ac uictoriosissimum regem Nordanhymbrorum Osualdum adfuisse, eumque de lauacro exeuntem suscepisse, ac pulcherrimo prorsus et Deo digno consortio, cuius erat filiam accepturus in coniugem, ipsum prius secunda generatione Deo dedicatum sibi accepit in filium. Donauerunt autem ambo reges eidem episcopo ciuitatem, quae uocatur Dorcic, ad faciendum inibi sedem episcopalem; ubi factis dedicatisque ecclesiis, multisque ad Dominum pio eius labore populis aduocatis, migrauit ad Dominum, sepultusque est in eadem ciuitate, et post annos multos, Haedde episcopatum agente, translatus inde in Uentam ciuitatem, atque in ecclesia beatorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli positus est.

Accordingly, as he was evangelizing in the aforesaid province, when the king himself, having been catechized, was being washed in the font of baptism together with his people, it happened at that time that the most holy and most victorious king of the Northumbrians, Oswald, was present, and that he received him as he came forth from the laver; and by a fellowship most fair and worthy of God—whose daughter he was about to receive in marriage—he first accepted him for himself as a son, dedicated to God by a second generation (regeneration). Moreover, both kings granted to the same bishop the city which is called Dorcic, for making there an episcopal seat; where, churches having been built and dedicated, and many peoples having been called to the Lord by his pious labor, he migrated to the Lord, and was buried in the same city; and after many years, with Haedde administering the episcopate, he was translated thence to the city of Venta, and was placed in the church of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul.

Defuncto autem et rege, successit in regnum filius eius Coinualch, qui et fidem ac sacramenta regni caelestis suscipere rennuit, et non multo post etiam regni terrestris potentiam perdidit. Repudiata enim sorore Pendan regis Merciorum, quam duxerat, aliam accepit uxorem; ideoque bello petitus, ac regno priuatus ab illo, secessit ad regem Orientalium Anglorum, cui nomen erat Anna; apud quem triennio exulans fidem cognouit ac suscepit ueritatis. Nam et ipse, apud quem exulabat, rex erat uir bonus, et bona ac sancta sobole felix, ut in sequentibus docebimus.

But when the king too had died, his son Coinualch succeeded to the kingdom, who refused to receive the faith and the sacraments of the heavenly kingdom, and not long after also lost the power of the earthly kingdom. For, having repudiated the sister of Penda, king of the Mercians, whom he had married, he took another wife; and therefore, attacked in war and deprived of his kingdom by him, he withdrew to the king of the East Angles, whose name was Anna; with whom, living in exile for three years, he came to know and received the faith of truth. For he also, with whom he was in exile, was a good man, a king, and fortunate in good and holy offspring, as we shall show in the following.

Cum uero restitutus esset in regnum Coinualch, uenit in prouinciam de Hibernia pontifex quidam nomine Agilberctus, natione quidem Gallus, sed tunc legendarum gratia scripturarum in Hibernia non paruo tempore demoratus, coniunxitque se regi, sponte ministerium praedicandi assumens. Cuius eruditionem atque industriam uidens rex, rogauit eum, accepta ibi sede episcopali, suae gentis manere pontificem; qui precibus eius adnuens, multis annis eidem genti sacerdotali iure praefuit. Tandem rex, qui Saxonum tantum linguam nouerat, pertaesus barbarae loquellae, subintroduxit in prouinciam alium suae linguae episcopum, uocabulo Uini, et ipsum in Gallia ordinatum; diuidensque in duas parrochias prouinciam, huic in ciuitate Uenta, quae a gente Saxonum Uintancæstir appellatur, sedem episcopatus tribuit; unde offensus grauiter Agilberctus, quod haec ipso inconsulto ageret rex, rediit Galliam, et accepto episcopatu Parisiacae ciuitatis, ibidem senex ac plenus dierum obiit.

But when Coinualch had been restored to the kingdom, there came into the province from Hibernia a certain pontiff named Agilberct, by nation indeed a Gaul, but then, for the sake of reading the Scriptures, having stayed in Hibernia for no small time; and he joined himself to the king, of his own accord assuming the ministry of preaching. Seeing his erudition and industry, the king asked him, after receiving there an episcopal see, to remain pontiff of his own people; and he, assenting to his prayers, for many years presided over the same nation by sacerdotal right. At length the king, who knew only the language of the Saxons, wearied with the barbarous speech, secretly brought into the province another bishop of his own language, by the name Wini, he too ordained in Gaul; and dividing the province into two parishes (dioceses), he granted to this man, in the city Venta, which by the nation of the Saxons is called Uintancæstir, the seat of a bishopric. Whereat Agilberct, being grievously offended that the king did these things without consulting him, returned to Gaul, and, having received the episcopate of the city of Paris, there, an old man and full of days, he died.

Non multis autem annis post abscessum eius a Brittania transactis, pulsus est et Uini ab eodem rege de episcopatu; qui secedens ad regem Merciorum uocabulo Uulfheri, emit pretio ab eo sedem Lundoniae ciuitatis, eiusque episcopus usque ad uitae suae terminum mansit. Sicque prouincia Occidentalium Saxonum tempore non pauco absque praesule fuit.

But not many years having elapsed after his departure from Britain, Wini too was driven out of the episcopate by the same king; and withdrawing to the king of the Mercians by the name Wulfhere, he bought for a price from him the see of the city of London, and remained its bishop until the end of his life. And thus the province of the West Saxons was for no small time without a prelate.

Quo etiam tempore rex praefatus ipsius gentis, grauissimis regni sui damnis saepissime ab hostibus adflictus, tandem ad memoriam reduxit, quod eum pridem perfidia regno pulerit, fides agnita Christi in regnum reuocauerit; intellexitque, quod etiam tunc destituta pontifice prouincia recte pariter diuino fuerit destituta praesidio. Misit ergo legatarios in Galliam ad Agilberctum, summissa illum satisfactione deprecans ad episcopatum suae gentis redire. At ille se excusans, et uenire non posse contestans, quia episcopatu propriae ciuitatis ac parrochiae teneretur adstrictus, ne tamen obnixe petenti nil ferret auxilii, misit pro se illo presbyterum Leutherium nepotem suum, qui ei, si uellet, ordinaretur episcopus; dicens, quod ipse eum dignum esse episcopatu iudicaret.

At that same time the aforesaid king of that nation, most frequently afflicted by enemies with the most grievous losses of his realm, at length brought back to memory that formerly perfidy had expelled him from the kingdom, but the acknowledged faith of Christ had called him back into the kingdom; and he understood that even then, the province being bereft of a pontiff, it had rightly likewise been bereft of divine protection. Therefore he sent envoys into Gaul to Agilberct, beseeching him with humble satisfaction to return to the episcopate of his people. But he, excusing himself and asserting that he could not come, because he was held bound by the episcopate of his own city and parochy, yet, lest he should bring no help to one earnestly petitioning, sent thither in his stead the presbyter Leutherius, his nephew, to be ordained bishop for him, if he wished; saying that he himself judged him to be worthy of the episcopate.

Quo honorifice a populo et a rege suscepto, rogauerunt Theodorum, tunc archiepiscopum Doruuernensis ecclesiae, ipsum sibi antistitem consecrari; qui consecratus in ipsa ciuitate, multis annis episcopatum Geuissorum ex synodica sanctione solus sedulo moderamine gessit.

When he had been received with honor by the people and by the king, they asked Theodore, then archbishop of the church of Canterbury, that he himself be consecrated as their prelate; and he, consecrated in that very city, for many years, by synodic sanction, alone administered the episcopate of the Gewisse with assiduous governance.

[8] ANNO dominicae incarnationis DCXL, Eadbald rex Cantuariorum transiens ex hac uita, Earconbercto filio regni gubernacula reliquit; quae ille suscepta XXIIII annis et aliquot mensibus nobilissime tenuit. Hic primus regum Anglorum in toto regno suo idola relinqui ac destrui, simul et ieiunium XL dierum obseruari principali auctoritate praecepit. Quae ne facile a quopiam posset contemni, in transgressores dignas et conpetentes punitiones proposuit.

[8] In the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 640, Eadbald, king of the people of Kent, passing from this life, left the helms of the kingdom to his son Earconberht; which, once assumed, he held most nobly for 24 years and some months. He was the first of the kings of the English in his whole realm to command, by princely authority, that idols be abandoned and destroyed, and likewise that the fast of 40 days be observed. And, lest it might easily be despised by anyone, he set forth fitting and appropriate punishments for transgressors.

Cuius filia Earcongotæ, ut condigna parenti suboles, magnarum fuit uirgo uirtutum, seruiens Domino in monasterio, quod in regione Francorum constructum est ab abbatissa nobilissima uocabulo Fara, in loco, qui dicitur in Brige. Nam eo tempore necdum multis in regione Anglorum monasteriis constructis, multi de Brittania monachicae conuersationis gratia Francorum uel Galliarum monasteria adire solebant; sed et filias suas eisdem erudiendas, ac sponso caelesti copulandas mittebant; maxime in Brige, et in Cale, et in Andilegum monasterio; inter quas erat Saethryd, filia uxoris Annae regis Orientalium Anglorum, cuius supra meminimus, et filia naturalis eiusdem regis Aedilberg; quae utraque cum esset peregrina, prae merito uirtutum eiusdem monasterii Brigensis est abbatissa constituta. Cuius regis filia maior Sexburg, uxor Earconbercti regis Cantuariorum, habuit filiam Earcongotam, de qua sumus dicturi.

Whose daughter Earcongota, as an offspring worthy of her parent, was a maiden of great virtues, serving the Lord in a monastery which in the region of the Franks was constructed by a most noble abbess by the name Fara, in the place which is called in Brige. For at that time, with not yet many monasteries constructed in the region of the Angles, many from Britain, for the sake of monastic life, were accustomed to go to the monasteries of the Franks or of Gaul; but they also used to send their daughters to the same to be instructed, and to be joined to the heavenly spouse; especially to the monastery in Brige, and in Cale, and in Andilegum; among whom was Saethryd, the daughter of the wife of Anna, king of the East Angles, of whom we have made mention above, and the natural daughter of the same king, Aedilberg; each of whom, though a foreigner, was, by the merit of her virtues, constituted abbess of that same monastery of Brige. The elder daughter of which king, Sexburg, wife of Earconberct, king of the Cantuarians, had a daughter Earcongota, of whom we are about to speak.

Huius autem uirginis Deo dicatae multa quidem ab incolis loci illius solent opera uirtutum et signa miraculorum usque hodie narrari. Uerum nos de transitu tantum illius, quo caelestia regna petiit, aliquid breuiter dicere sufficiat.

Of this virgin dedicated to God, many indeed works of virtues and signs of miracles are wont by the inhabitants of that place to be narrated even to this day. But let it suffice for us to say briefly only about her transit, whereby she sought the heavenly kingdoms.

Inminente ergo die suae uocationis, coepit circuire in monasterio casulas infirmarum Christi famularum, earumque uel maxime, quae uel aetate prouectae, uel probitate erant morum insigniores. Quarum se omnium precibus humiliter commendans, obitum proxime suum, quem reuelatione didicerat, non celauit esse futurum. Quam uidelicet reuelationem huiusmodi esse perhibebat: uidisse se albatorum cateruam hominum idem monasterium intrare; hosque a se interrogatos, quid quaererent, aut quid ibi uellent, respondisse, quod ob hoc illo fuerint destinati, ut aureum illud nomisma, quod eo de Cantia uenerat, secum adsumerent.

Therefore, with the day of her calling impending, she began to go around in the monastery the little cells of the infirm handmaids of Christ, and most especially of those who were more distinguished either by advanced age or by probity of morals. Humbly commending herself to the prayers of them all, she did not conceal that her own death was at hand, which she had learned by a revelation would soon be. She declared that the revelation was of this sort: that she had seen a company of white-robed men enter that same monastery; and these, when asked by her what they were seeking or what they wished there, replied that for this purpose they had been sent thither, namely, that they might take with them that golden nomisma which had come there from Kent.

Ipsa autem nocte, in cuius ultima parte, id est incipiente aurora, praesentis mundi tenebras transiens supernam migrauit ad lucem, multi de fratribus eiusdem monasterii, qui aliis erant in aedibus, iam manifeste se concentus angelorum psallentium audisse referebant, sed et sonitum quasi plurimae multitudinis monasterium ingredientis; unde mox egressi dignoscere quid esset, uiderunt lucem caelitus emissam fuisse permaximam, quae sanctam illam animam carnis uinculis absolutam ad aeterna patriae caelestis gaudia ducebat. Addunt et alia, quae ipsa nocte in monasterio eodem diuinitus fuerint ostensa miracula; sed haec nos ad alia tendentes, suis narrare permittimus. Sepultum est autem corpus uenerabile uirginis et sponsae Christi in ecclesia beati protomartyris Stephani; placuitque post diem tertium, ut lapis, quo monumentum tegebatur, amoueretur, et altius ipso in loco reponeretur; quod dum fieret, tantae flagrantia suauitatis ab imis ebulliuit, ut cunctis, qui adstabant, fratribus ac sororibus, quasi opobalsami cellaria esse uiderentur aperta.

But on that very night, in the last part of it, that is, with dawn beginning, passing through the darknesses of this present world she migrated to the supernal light, many of the brothers of that same monastery, who were in other buildings, were already plainly reporting that they had heard the concert of angels psalling, and also the sound as of a very great multitude entering the monastery; whence, going out at once to discern what it was, they saw that a very great light had been sent forth from heaven, which was leading that holy soul, released from the bonds of flesh, to the eternal joys of the heavenly fatherland. They add also other miracles which that same night were divinely shown in the monastery; but these, as we are tending to other matters, we allow to be told by their own. But the venerable body of the virgin and bride of Christ was buried in the church of the blessed proto-martyr Stephen; and it pleased them that after the third day the stone by which the tomb was covered should be removed, and be set higher in that same place; and while this was being done, an ardor of such sweetness welled up from the depths, that to all the brothers and sisters who stood by it seemed as though the cellars of opobalsam had been opened.

Sed et matertera eius, de qua diximus, Aedilberg, et ipsa Deo dilectam perpetuae uirginitatis gloriam in magna corporis continentia seruauit; quae cuius esset uirtutis, magis post mortem claruit. Cum enim esset abbatissa, coepit facere in monasterio suo ecclesiam in honorem omnium apostolorum, in qua suum corpus sepelliri cupiebat. Sed cum opus idem ad medium ferme esset perductum, illa ne hoc perficeret, morte praerepta est, et in ipso ecclesiae loco, ubi desiderabat, condita.

But also her maternal aunt, of whom we have spoken, Aedilberg, she too, beloved of God, preserved the glory of perpetual virginity in great continence of body; and of what virtue she was became more evident after death. For when she was abbess, she began to build in her monastery a church in honor of all the apostles, in which she desired her body to be buried. But when that same work had been brought almost to the midpoint, she was snatched away by death before she could complete this, and in that very place of the church, where she desired, she was entombed.

Post cuius mortem, fratribus alia magis curantibus, intermissum est hoc aedificium annis VII, quibus conpletis statuerunt ob nimietatem laboris, huius structuram ecclesiae funditus relinquere, ossa uero abbatissae illo de loco eleuata, in aliam ecclesiam, quae esset perfecta ac dedicata, transferre. Et aperientes sepulchrum eius, ita intemeratum corpus inuenere, ut a corruptione concupiscentiae carnalis erat inmune; et ita denuo lotum, atque aliis uestibus indutum transtulerunt illud in ecclesiam beati Stephani martyris. Cuius uidelicet natalis ibi solet in magna gloria celebrari die Nonarum Iuliarum.

After whose death, as the brothers were caring more for other things, this edifice was intermitted for 7 years; and when these were completed, they resolved, on account of the excessiveness of the labor, to relinquish utterly the structure of this church, but to transfer the bones of the abbess, elevated from that place, into another church which was perfect and dedicated. And opening her sepulcher, they found the body so undefiled that it was immune from the corruption of carnal concupiscence; and thus, having washed it anew and clothed it with other garments, they transferred it into the church of blessed Stephen the martyr. The natal day of whom, to wit, is wont there to be celebrated in great glory on the day of the Nones of July.

[9] REGNAUIT autem Osuald christianissimus rex Nordanhymbrorum VIIII annos, adnumerato etiam illo, quem et feralis impietas regis Brettonum, et apostasia demens regum Anglorum detestabilem fecerat. Siquidem, ut supra docuimus, unanimo omnium consensu firmatum est, ut nomen et memoria apostatarum de catalogo regum Christianorum prorsus aboleri deberet, neque aliquis regno eorum annus adnotari. Quo conpleto annorum curriculo occisus est, commisso graui proelio, ab eadem pagana gente paganoque rege Merciorum, a quo et prodecessor eius Aeduini peremtus fuerat, in loco, qui lingua Anglorum nuncupatur Maserfelth, anno aetatis suae XXXVIII., die quinto mensis Augusti.

[9] Oswald, the most Christian king of the Northumbrians, reigned 9 years, counting also that one which both the deadly impiety of the king of the Britons and the demented apostasy of the kings of the English had made detestable. For indeed, as we have taught above, by the unanimous consent of all it was established that the name and memory of the apostates ought utterly to be abolished from the catalogue of Christian kings, and that no year be recorded to their reign. When this course of years was completed, he was slain, a grave battle having been joined, by the same pagan nation and the pagan king of the Mercians by whom also his predecessor Edwin had been slain, in the place which in the language of the English is called Maserfelth, in the 38th year of his age, on the fifth day of the month of August.

Cuius quanta fides in Deum, quae deuotio mentis fuerit, etiam post mortem uirtutum miraculis claruit. Namque in loco, ubi pro patria dimicans a paganis interfectus est, usque hodie sanitates infirmorum et hominum et pecorum celebrari non desinunt. Unde contigit, ut puluerem ipsum, ubi corpus eius in terram conruit, multi auferentes et in aquam mittentes suis per haec infirmis multum commodi adferrent.

How great his faith in God was, what devotion of mind he had, became evident even after death by miracles of power. For in the place where, fighting for his fatherland, he was slain by the pagans, healings of the sick, both of men and of cattle, do not cease to be celebrated even to this day. Whence it came to pass that many, taking away the very dust from where his body fell to the earth and casting it into water, brought much benefit by these means to their own sick.

Qui uidelicet mos adeo increbruit, ut paulatim ablata exinde terra fossam ad mensuram staturae uirilis altam reddiderit. Nec mirandum in loco mortis illius infirmos sanari, qui semper, dum uiueret, infirmis et pauperibus consulere, elimosynas dare, opem ferre non cessabat. Et multa quidem in loco illo uel de puluere loci illius facta uirtutum miracula narrantur; sed nos duo tantum, quae a maioribus audiuimus, referre satis duximus.

Which custom, to wit, grew so prevalent that, with the earth gradually taken away from there, it rendered a ditch deep to the measure of a man’s stature. Nor is it a wonder that in the place of his death the infirm are healed; for he always, while he lived, did not cease to care for the sick and the poor, to give alms, to bring aid. And many indeed miracles of power are recounted as having been wrought in that place, or from the dust of that place; but we have judged it sufficient to report only two, which we heard from our elders.

Non multo post interfectionem eius exacto tempore, contigit, ut quidam equo sedens iter iuxta locum ageret illum; cuius equus subito lassescere, consistere, caput in terram declinare, spumas ex ore demittere, et, augescente dolore nimio, in terram coepit ruere. Desiluit eques, et stramime subtracto coepit expectare horam, qua aut melioratum reciperet iumentum, aut relinqueret mortuum. At ipsum diu graui dolore uexatum, cum diuersas in partes se torqueret, repente uolutando deuenit in illud loci, ubi rex memorabilis occubuit.

Not long after the time had elapsed from his slaying, it befell that a certain man, sitting on a horse, was making a journey near that place; whose horse suddenly began to grow weary, to stand still, to bend its head to the ground, to let foam fall from its mouth, and, as the excessive pain increased, began to collapse to the ground. The horseman leapt down, and, the straw-litter removed, began to await the hour when he would either receive the jument (beast) restored for the better, or leave it dead. But it, long vexed by grievous pain, as it twisted itself in different directions, suddenly by rolling came into that spot where the memorable king fell.

Nec mora, quiescente dolore cessabat ab insanis membrorum motibus, et consueto equorum more, quasi post lassitudinem in diuersum latus uicissim sese uoluere, statimque exsurgens quasi sanum per omnia, uirecta herbarum auidius carpere coepit.

Nor was there delay: as the pain grew quiet, he ceased from the insane movements of his limbs, and, in the accustomed manner of horses, as if after lassitude, he rolled himself in turn onto the opposite side, and immediately, rising, as if sound in all respects, began to crop the green herbage more avidly.

Quo ille uiso, ut uir sagacis ingenii, intellexit aliquid mirae sanctitatis huic loco, quo equus est curatus, inesse; et posito ibi signo, non multo post ascendit equum, atque ad hospitium, quo proposuerat, accessit; quo dum adueniret, inuenit puellam ibi neptem patris familias longo paralysis morbo grauatam; et cum familiares domus illius de acerba puellae infirmitate ipso praesente quererentur, coepit dicere ille de loco, ubi caballus suus esset curatus. Quid multa? inponentes eam carro, duxerunt ad locum, ibidemque deposuerunt.

This having been seen by him, as a man of sagacious ingenium, he understood that something of wondrous sanctity inhered in this place where the horse had been cured; and, a sign having been set there, not long after he mounted the horse and came to the lodging which he had purposed; and when he arrived there, he found a girl there, the granddaughter of the paterfamilias, burdened with a long disease of paralysis; and when the household of that home, with him present, were lamenting the bitter infirmity of the girl, he began to speak about the place where his horse had been cured. Why say more? Placing her on a cart, they led her to the place, and there they set her down.

At illa posita in loco obdormiuit parumper; et ubi euigilauit, sanatam se ab illa corporis dissolutione sentiens, postulata aqua, ipsa lauit faciem, crines conposuit, caput linteo cooperuit, et cum his, qui se adduxerant, sana pedibus incedendo reuersa est.

But she, placed in the spot, fell asleep for a little while; and when she awoke, feeling herself healed from that dissolution of the body, after asking for water she herself washed her face, arranged her hair, covered her head with a linen cloth, and, with those who had brought her, returned, sound, proceeding on her feet.

[10] EODEM tempore uenit alius quidam de natione Brettonum, ut ferunt, iter faciens iuxta ipsum locum, in quo praefata erat pugna conpleta; et uidit unius loci spatium cetero campo uiridius ac uenustius; coepitque sagaci animo conicere, quod nulla esset alia causa insolitae illo in loco uiriditatis, nisi quia ibidem sanctior cetero exercitu uir aliquis fuisset interfectus. Tulit itaque de puluere terrae illius secum inligans in linteo, cogitans, quod futurum erat, quia ad medellam infirmantium idem puluis proficeret; et pergens itinere suo peruenit ad uicum quendam uespere, intrauitque in domum, in qua uicani caenantes epulabantur; et susceptus a dominis domus, resedit et ipse cum eis ad conuiuium, adpendens linteolum cum puluere, quem adtulerat, in una posta parietis. Cumque diutius epulis atque ebrietati uacarent, accenso grandi igne in medio, contigit uolantibus in altum scintillis culmen domus, quod erat uirgis contextum, ac foeno tectum, subitaneis flammis impleri.

[10] At the same time there came a certain other man, of the nation of the Bretons, as they say, making a journey near that very place in which the aforesaid battle had been completed; and he saw a stretch of ground in one spot more green and more lovely than the rest of the field; and he began, with a sagacious mind, to conjecture that there was no other cause of the unusual greenness in that place, except that there some man holier than the rest of the army had been slain. Therefore he took some dust of that soil with him, tying it up in a linen cloth, thinking what would come to pass, that the same dust would profit for the healing of the infirm; and going on his way he came to a certain village toward evening, and entered a house in which the villagers, dining, were feasting; and, received by the masters of the house, he too sat down with them at the banquet, hanging up the little linen cloth with the dust which he had brought on one post of the wall. And when for a long time they gave themselves to feasting and drunkenness, a great fire having been kindled in the middle, it happened, with the sparks flying aloft, that the roof of the house, which was woven with twigs and covered with hay, was filled with sudden flames.

Quod cum repente conuiuae terrore confusi conspicerent, fugerunt foras nil ardenti domui et iamiamque periturae prodesse ualentes. Consumpta ergo domu flammis, posta solummodo, in qua puluis ille inclusus pendebat, tuta ab ignibus et intacta remansit. Qua uisa uirtute mirati sunt ualde; et perquirentes subtilius, inuenerunt, quia de illo loco adsumptus erat puluis, ubi regis Osualdi sanguis fuerat effusus.

When the banqueters, confounded with terror, suddenly perceived this, they fled outside, able to avail nothing the burning house, now on the very point of perishing. Therefore, the house having been consumed by the flames, the post alone, on which that dust, enclosed, was hanging, remained safe from the fires and untouched. At this power seen they marveled greatly; and inquiring more minutely, they found that the dust had been taken from that place where King Oswald’s blood had been poured out.

Quibus patefactis ac diffamatis longe lateque miraculis, multi per dies locum frequentare illum, et sanitatum ibi gratiam capere sibi suisque coeperunt.

These miracles having been disclosed and broadcast far and wide, many began for days on end to frequent that place and to receive there the grace of healings for themselves and their own.

[11] INTER quae nequaquam silentio praetereundum reor, quid uirtutis ac miraculi caelestis fuerit ostensum, cum ossa eius inuenta, atque ad ecclesiam, in qua nunc seruantur, translata sunt. Factum est autem hoc per industriam reginae Merciorum Osthrydae, quae erat filia fratris eius, id est Osuiu, qui post illum regni apicem tenebat, ut in sequentibus dicemus.

[11] AMONG which things I judge it by no means to be passed over in silence, what of virtue and celestial miracle was shown, when his bones were found and transferred to the church in which they are now kept. Moreover, this was done through the industry of Osthryth, queen of the Mercians, who was the daughter of his brother, that is, Oswiu, who after him held the pinnacle of the kingdom, as we shall say in the following.

Est monasterium nobile in prouincia Lindissi, nomine Beardaneu, quod eadem regina cum uiro suo Aedilredo multum diligebat, uenerabatur, excolebat, in quo desiderabat honoranda patrui sui ossa recondere. Cumque uenisset carrum, in quo eadem ossa ducebantur, incumbente uespera, in monasterium praefatum, noluerunt ea, qui erant in monasterio, libenter excipere; quia etsi sanctum eum nouerant, tamen, quia de alia prouincia ortus fuerat, et super eos regnum acceperat, ueteranis eum odiis etiam mortuum insequebantur. Unde factum est, ut ipsa nocte reliquiae adlatae foris permanerent, tentorio tantum maiore supra carrum, in quo inerant, extenso.

There is a noble monastery in the province of Lindsey, by the name Beardaneu, which the same queen, together with her husband Æthelred, very much loved, venerated, and cultivated, in which she desired to lay up the bones of her paternal uncle to be honored. And when the cart had come, in which those same bones were being conveyed, with evening encroaching, to the aforesaid monastery, those who were in the monastery were not willing to receive them gladly; for although they knew him to be holy, nevertheless, because he had arisen from another province, and had received the kingship over them, they pursued him, even dead, with veteran hatreds. Whence it came about that that night the relics that had been brought remained outside, with only a larger tent stretched above the cart in which they were.

Sed miraculi caelestis ostensio, quam reuerenter eae suscipiendae a cunctis fidelibus essent, patefecit. Nam tota ea nocte columna lucis a carro illo ad caelum usque porrecta, omnibus pene eiusdem Lindissæ prouinciae locis conspicua stabat. Unde mane facto fratres monasterii illius, qui pridie abnuerant, diligenter ipsi petere coeperunt, ut apud se eaedem sanctae ac Deo dilectae reliquiae conderentur.

But the showing of the heavenly miracle made clear how reverently they were to be received by all the faithful. For the whole night a column of light, stretched from that cart up to heaven, stood visible in almost all places of that same province of Lindsey. Whence, when morning came, the brothers of that monastery, who the day before had refused, began diligently themselves to request that those same holy and God-beloved relics be laid to rest among them.

Lota igitur ossa intulerunt in thecam, quam in hoc praeparauerant, atque in ecclesia iuxta honorem congruum posuerunt; et ut regia uiri sancti persona memoriam haberet aeternam, uexillum eius super tumbam auro et purpura conpositum adposuerunt, ipsamque aquam, in qua lauerant ossa, in angulo sacrarii fuderunt. Ex quo tempore factum est, ut ipsa terra, quae lauacrum uenerabile suscepit, ad abigendos ex obsessis corporibus daemones gratiae salutaris haberet effectum.

Therefore, the bones having been washed, they brought them into the theca which they had prepared for this, and placed it in the church with fitting honor; and, that the royal personage of the holy man might have eternal remembrance, they set his vexillum, adorned with gold and purple, over the tomb, and the very water in which they had washed the bones they poured into a corner of the sacrarium. From which time it came to pass that the very earth which received the venerable lavacrum had the effect of saving grace for driving away demons from possessed bodies.

Denique tempore sequente, cum praefata regina in eodem monasterio moraretur, uenit ad salutandam eam abbatissa quaedam uenerabilis, quae usque hodie superest, uocabulo Aedilhild, soror uirorum sanctorum Aediluini et Alduini, quorum prior episcopus in Lindissi prouincia, secundus erat abbas in monasterio, quod uocatur Peartaneu, a quo non longe et illa monasterium habebat. Cum ergo ueniens illo loqueretur cum regina, atque inter alia, sermone de Osualdo exorto, diceret, quod et ipsa lucem nocte illa supra reliquias eius ad caelum usque altam uidisset, adiecit regina, quia de puluere pauimenti, in quo aqua lauacri illius effusa est, multi iam sanati essent infirmi. At illa petiit sibi portionem pulueris salutiferi dari; et accipiens inligatum panno condidit in capsella, et rediit.

Finally, in subsequent time, when the aforesaid queen was staying in the same monastery, there came to greet her a certain venerable abbess, who even to this day survives, by the name Aedilhild, sister of the holy men Aedilwin and Aldwin, of whom the former was bishop in the province of Lindsey, the latter was abbot in the monastery which is called Peartaneu, not far from which she too had a monastery. When therefore, coming there, she was speaking with the queen, and, among other things, as a discourse about Oswald having arisen, she said that she too had seen the light on that night above his relics, high up to heaven, the queen added that from the dust of the pavement, on which the water of that lavacrum was poured out, many infirm had already been healed. But she asked that a portion of the health-bearing dust be given to her; and receiving it tied up in a cloth, she stored it in a little casket, and returned.

Transacto autem tempore aliquanto, cum esset in suo monasterio, uenit illic quidam hospes, qui solebat nocturnis saepius horis repente ab inmundo spiritu grauissime uexari. Qui cum benigne susceptus post caenam in lecto membra posuisset, subito a diabolo arreptus, clamare, dentibus frendere, spumare, et diuersis motibus coepit membra torquere. Cumque a nullo uel teneri uel ligari potuisset, cucurrit minister, et pulsans ad ostium nuntiauit abbatissae.

After some time had passed, when she was in her own monastery, there came there a certain guest, who was wont, in the nocturnal hours rather often, to be suddenly and most grievously vexed by an unclean spirit. When he, kindly received, had, after supper, placed his limbs on the bed, suddenly seized by the devil, he began to cry out, to grind his teeth, to foam, and to twist his limbs with diverse motions. And when he could be held or bound by no one, the minister ran, and knocking at the door announced to the abbess.

At illa aperiens ianuam monasterii, exiuit ipsa cum una sanctimonialium feminarum ad locum uirorum, et euocans presbyterum, rogauit secum uenire ad patientem. Ubi cum uenientes uiderent multos adfuisse, qui uexatum tenere, et motus eius insanos conprimere conati nequaquam ualebant, dicebat presbyter exorcismos, et quaeque poterat, pro sedando miseri furore agebat. Sed nec ipse, quamuis multum laborans, proficere aliquid ualebat.

But she, opening the gate of the monastery, went out herself with one of the sanctimonial women to the men’s quarter, and, calling the presbyter, asked him to come with her to the patient. When, upon arriving, they saw that many had been present who, though they tried, were by no means able to hold the tormented man and to compress his insane motions, the presbyter was reciting exorcisms, and was doing whatever he could for sedating the wretch’s fury. But not even he, although laboring much, was able to achieve anything.

Cumque nil salutis furenti superesse uideretur, repente uenit in mentem abbatissae puluis ille praefatus; statimque iussit ire ministram, et capsellam, in qua erat, adducere. Et cum illa adferens, quae iussa est, intraret atrium domus, in cuius interioribus daemoniosus torquebatur, conticuit ille subito, et quasi in somnum laxatus deposuit caput, membra in quietem omnia conposuit.

And when it seemed that nothing of salvation remained for the raving man, suddenly there came into the abbess’s mind that aforesaid dust; and at once she ordered the attendant to go and bring the little casket in which it was. And when she, bringing what she had been ordered, entered the atrium of the house, in whose interiors the daemoniac was being tormented, he fell silent immediately, and, relaxed as if into sleep, he laid down his head and set all his limbs into quiet.

‘Conticuere omnes, intentique ora tenebant,’

‘All fell silent, and, intent, they held their faces still,’

quem res exitum haberet, solliciti exspectantes. Et post aliquantum horae spatium resedit qui uexabatur, et grauiter suspirans: ‘Modo,’ inquit, ‘sanum sapio, recepi enim sensum animi mei.’ At illi sedulo sciscitabantur, quomodo hoc contigisset. Qui ait: ‘Mox ut uirgo haec cum capsella, quam portabat, adpropinquauit atrio domus huius, discessere omnes, qui me premebant, spiritus maligni, et me relicto nusquam conparuerunt.’ Tunc dedit ei abbatissa portiunculam de puluere illo, et sic data oratione a presbytero, noctein illam quietissimam duxit; neque aliquid ex eo tempore nocturni timoris aut uexationis ab antiquo hoste pertulit.

anxiously awaiting what outcome the matter would have. And after some span of an hour the one who was being tormented subsided, and, heaving a deep sigh: ‘Just now,’ he said, ‘I am sane, for I have recovered the sense of my mind.’ But they diligently inquired how this had come to pass. He said: ‘As soon as this virgin, with the little casket which she was carrying, approached the atrium of this house, all the malign spirits who were pressing me withdrew, and, leaving me, appeared nowhere.’ Then the abbess gave him a small portion of that dust, and thus, a prayer having been offered by the presbyter, he passed that night most peaceful; nor from that time did he undergo any nocturnal fear or vexation from the ancient enemy.

[12] SEQUENTE dehinc tempore fuit in eodem monasterio puerulus quidam, longo febrium incommodo grauiter uexatus. Qui cum die quadam sollicitus horam accessionis exspectaret, ingressus ad eum quidam de fratribus: ‘Uis,’ inquit, ‘mi nate, doceam te, quomodo cureris ab huius molestia langoris? Surge, ingredere ecclesiam, et accedens ad sepulchrum Osualdi, ibi reside, et quietus manens adhere tumbae.

[12] In the time following there was in the same monastery a certain little boy, grievously vexed by a long inconvenience of fevers. As on a certain day, anxious, he was awaiting the hour of the accession, one of the brothers entered to him: ‘Do you wish, my son, that I teach you how you may be cured from the annoyance of this languor? Rise, enter the church, and, drawing near to the sepulcher of Oswald, sit there, and, remaining quiet, adhere to the tomb.’

Uide, ne exeas inde, nec de loco mouearis, donec hora recessionis febrium transierit. Tunc ipse intrabo, et educam te inde.’ Fecit, ut ille suaserat; sedentemque ad tumbam sancti infirmitas tangere nequaquam praesumsit; quin in tantum timens aufugit, ut nec secunda die, nec tertia, neque umquam exinde eum auderet contingere. Quod ita esse gestum, qui referebat mihi, frater inde adueniens adiecit, quod eo adhuc tempore, quo mecum loquebatur, superesset in eodem monasterio iam iuuenis ille, in quo tunc puero factum erat hoc miraculum sanitatis.

See to it that you do not go out from there, nor be moved from the place, until the hour of the recession of the fevers has passed. Then I myself will enter, and I will lead you out from there.” He did as he had advised; and the infirmity did not at all presume to touch him as he sat at the saint’s tomb; indeed, fearing so greatly it fled, that neither on the second day, nor on the third, nor ever thereafter did it dare to touch him. The brother who was reporting this to me, arriving from there, added that at that very time when he was speaking with me, that same person was still surviving in the same monastery, now a young man, in whom, when he was a boy, this miracle of health had been done.

Nec mirandum preces regis illius iam cum Domino regnantis multum ualere apud eum, qui temporalis regni quondam gubernacula tenens, magis pro aeterno regno semper laborare ac deprecari solebat.

Nor is it a marvel that the prayers of that king, now reigning with the Lord, prevail greatly with Him, who, once holding the helm of a temporal kingdom, was accustomed rather always to labor and to intercede for the eternal kingdom.

Denique ferunt, quia a tempore matutinae laudis saepius ad diem usque in orationibus persteterit, atque ob crebrum morem orandi, siue gratias agendi Domino semper ubicumque sedens, supinas super genua sua manus habere solitus sit. Uulgatum est autem, et in consuetudinem prouerbii uersum, quod etiam inter uerba orationis uitam finierit. Nam cum armis et hostibus circumseptus iamiamque uideret se esse perimendum, orauit pro animabus exercitus sui.

Finally, they relate that from the time of morning lauds he has very often persisted in prayers even up to day; and, on account of his frequent custom of praying, or of giving thanks to the Lord, that wherever he sat he was wont always to have his hands upturned upon his knees. Moreover, it has been spread abroad and turned into the usage of a proverb, that he even finished his life amid the words of prayer. For when, surrounded by arms and enemies, and now seeing that he was about to be slain, he prayed for the souls of his army.

Unde dicunt in prouerbio: ‘Deus miserere animabus, dixit Osuald cadens in terram.’

Whence they say in a proverb: ‘God, have mercy on souls,’ said Oswald, falling to the ground.

Ossa igitur illius translata et condita sunt in monasterio, quo diximus. Porro caput et manus cum brachiis a corpore praecisas iussit rex, qui occiderat, in stipitibus suspendi. Quo post annum deueniens cum exercitu successor regni eius Osuiu abstulit ea, et caput quidem in cymiterio Lindisfarnensis ecclesiae, in regia uero ciuitate manus cum brachiis condidit.

Thus his bones were transferred and deposited in the monastery which we have mentioned. Moreover, the king who had killed him ordered the head and the hands with the arms, cut off from the body, to be suspended on posts. Thither, after a year, coming with an army, his successor in the kingship, Oswiu, took them away, and the head indeed he placed in the cemetery of the church of Lindisfarne, but in the royal city he interred the hands with the arms.

[13] NEC solum inclyti fama uiri Brittaniae fines lustrauit uniuersos, sed etiam trans oceanum longe radios salutiferae lucis spargens, Germaniae simul et Hiberniae partes attigit. Denique reuerentissimus antistes Acca solet referre, quia, cum Romam uadens, apud sanctissimum Fresonum gentis archiepiscopum Uilbrordum cum suo antistite Uilfrido moraretur, crebro eum audierit de mirandis, quae ad reliquias eiusdem reuerentissimi regis in illa prouincia gesta fuerint, narrare. Sed et in Hibernia cum presbyter adhuc peregrinam pro aeterna patria duceret uitam, rumorem sanctitatis illius in ea quoque insula longe lateque iam percrebruisse ferebat; e quibus unum, quod inter alia rettulit, miraculum praesenti nostrae historiae inserendum credidimus.

[13] Nor did the fame of the renowned man traverse only all the borders of Britain, but also, far across the ocean, scattering the rays of health-bearing light, it reached parts of Germany as well as of Ireland. Finally, the most reverend bishop Acca is wont to report that, when on the way to Rome he stayed with the most holy archbishop of the Frisian people, Willibrord, together with his own bishop Wilfrid, he often heard him narrate of the wonders that had been wrought at the relics of that same most reverend king in that province. And in Ireland also, when, still a presbyter, he was leading a peregrine life for the sake of the eternal fatherland, he used to assert that the report of that man’s sanctity had by then spread far and wide even in that island; of which, one miracle that he related among others we judged should be inserted into our present history.

‘Tempore,’ inquit, ‘mortalitatis, quae Brittaniam Hiberniamque lata strage uastauit, percussus est eiusdem clade pestis inter alios scolasticus quidam de genere Scottorum, doctus quidem uir studio litterarum, sed erga curam perpetuae suae saluationis nihil omnino studii et industriae gerens. Qui cum se morti proximum uideret, timere coepit et pauere, ne mox mortuus ob merita scelerum ad inferni claustra raperetur, clamauitque me, cum essem in uicinia positus, et inter egra tremens suspiria, flebili uoce talia mecum querebatur: “Uides,” inquit, “quia iamiamque crescente corporis molestia ad articulum subeundae mortis conpellor; nec dubito me post mortem corporis statim ad perpetuam animae mortem rapiendum, ac infernalibus subdendum esse tormentis; quia tempore non pauco inter studia diuinae lectionis, uitiorum potius inplicamentis, quam diuinis solebam seruire mandatis. Inest autem animo, si mihi pietas superna aliqua uiuendi spatia donauerit, uitiosos mores corrigere, atque ad imperium diuinae uoluntatis totam ex integro mentem uitamque transferre.

‘In the time,’ he says, ‘of the mortality which laid waste Britain and Hibernia with broad slaughter, there was struck by the same calamity of the pest among others a certain scholastic of the race of the Scots, a man indeed learned by zeal for letters, but carrying nothing at all of zeal and industry toward the care of his perpetual salvation. When he saw himself near to death, he began to fear and to quail, lest, soon dead, on account of the merits of his crimes he be snatched to the bars of hell; and he called me, when I was placed in the vicinity, and amid sick, trembling sighs, with a weeping voice he was complaining with me such things: “You see,” he says, “that now already, as the bodily trouble increases, I am compelled to the article of death to be undergone; nor do I doubt that after the death of the body I shall straightway be snatched to the perpetual death of the soul, and be subjected to infernal torments; because for no short time, amid the studies of divine reading, I was accustomed to serve rather the entanglements of vices than the divine commandments. Yet it is in my mind, if supernal piety shall have granted me some spaces of living, to correct vicious habits, and to transfer wholly afresh both mind and life to the command of the divine will.

Uerum noui non hoc esse meriti mei, ut indutias uiuendi uel accipiam, uel me accepturum esse confidam, nisi forte misero mihi et indigno uenia, per auxilium eorum, qui illi fideliter seruierunt, propitiari dignatus fuerit. Audiuimus autem, et fama est creberrima, quia fuerit in gente uestra rex mirandae sanctitatis, uocabulo Osuald, cuius excellentia fidei et uirtutis, etiam post mortem, uirtutum frequentium operatione claruerit; precorque, si aliquid reliquiarum illius penes te habes, adferas mihi, si forte mihi Dominus per eius meritum misereri uoluerit.” At ego respondi: “Habeo quidem de ligno, in quo caput eius occisi a paganis infixum est; et, si firmo corde credideris, potest diuina pietas per tanti meritum uiri et huius uitae spatia longiora concedere, et ingressu te uitae perennis dignum reddere.” Nec moratus ille integram se in hoc habere fidem respondebat.

“Yet I know this is not of my merit, either to receive a reprieve of living or to be confident that I shall receive it, unless perhaps He should deign to be propitiated toward me—wretched and unworthy—by pardon, through the aid of those who have faithfully served Him. But we have heard, and there is a most frequent report, that in your nation there was a king of wondrous sanctity, by the name Oswald, whose excellence of faith and virtue, even after death, has shone forth by the operation of frequent miracles; and I beg you, if you have any of his relics by you, bring them to me, if perhaps the Lord may will to have mercy on me through his merit.” But I replied: “I do indeed have a piece of the wood on which his head, slain by the pagans, was fixed; and if you will believe with a firm heart, the divine piety, through the merit of so great a man, can both grant you longer spans of this life and render you worthy of entrance into life everlasting.” Without delay he answered that he had entire faith in this.

‘Tum benedixi aquam, et astulam roboris praefati inmittens obtuli egro potandum. Nec mora, melius habere coepit, et conualescens ab infirmitate, multo deinceps tempore uixit; totoque ad Deum corde et opere conuersus, omnibus, ubicumque perueniebat, clementiam pii Conditoris et fidelis eius famuli gloriam praedicabat.’

‘Then I blessed the water, and, sending in a little splinter of the aforesaid oak, I offered it to the sick man to drink. Without delay, he began to be better, and, convalescing from the infirmity, he lived for a much longer time thereafter; and, wholly turned to God in heart and in deed, to all, wherever he arrived, he proclaimed the clemency of the pious Creator and the glory of his faithful servant.’

[14] TRANSLATO ergo ad caelestia regna Osualdo, suscepit regni terrestris sedem pro eo frater eius Osuiu, iuuenis XXX circiter annorum, et per annos XXVIII laboriosissime tenuit, inpugnatus uidelicet et ab ea, quae fratrem eius occiderat, pagana gente Merciorum, et a filio quoque suo Alchfrido, nec non et a fratruo, id est fratris sui, qui ante eum regnauit, filio Oidilualdo.

[14] Therefore, Oswald having been translated to the heavenly realms, his brother Oswiu, a young man of about 30 years, took the seat of the earthly kingdom in his stead, and for 28 years he held it most laboriously, being assailed, namely, both by that pagan nation of the Mercians which had slain his brother, and also by his own son Alchfrid, and likewise by a paternal cousin—that is, by Oidilwald, the son of his brother who had reigned before him.

Cuius anno secundo, hoc est ab incarnatione dominica anno DCXLIIII, reuerentissimus pater Paulinus, quondam quidem Eburacensis, sed tunc Hrofensis episcopus ciuitatis, transiuit ad Dominum sexto Iduum Octobrium die; qui X et VIIII annos, menses duos, dies XXI episcopatum tenuit; sepultusque est in secretario beati apostoli Andreae, quod rex Aedilberct a fundamentis in eadem Hrofi ciuitate construxit. In cuius locum Honorius archiepiscopus ordinauit Ithamar, oriundum quidem de gente Cantuariorum, sed uita et eruditione antecessoribus suis aequandum.

In the second year of whose reign, that is in the year from the Lord’s Incarnation 644, the most reverend father Paulinus, formerly indeed bishop of York, but then bishop of the city of Rochester, passed on to the Lord on the sixth day before the Ides of October; he held the episcopate 19 years, 2 months, 21 days; and he was buried in the sacristy of the blessed apostle Andrew, which King Æthelberht built from the foundations in that same city of Rochester. In his place Archbishop Honorius ordained Ithamar, a native indeed of the people of Kent, but in life and erudition to be equalled to his predecessors.

Habuit autem Osuiu primis regni sui temporibus consortem regiae dignitatis, uocabulo Osuini, de stirpe regis Aeduini, hoc est filium Osrici, de quo supra rettulimus, uirum eximiae pietatis et religionis; qui prouinciae Derorum septem annis in maxima omnium rerum affluentia, et ipse amabilis omnibus praefuit. Sed nec cum eo ille, qui ceteram Transhumbranae gentis partem ab Aquilone, id est Berniciorum prouinciam, regebat, habere pacem potuit; quin potius, ingrauescentibus causis dissensionum, miserrima hunc caede peremit. Siquidem congregato contra inuicem exercitu, cum uideret se Osuini cum illo, qui plures habebat auxiliarios, non posse bello confligere, ratus est utilius tunc demissa intentione bellandi, seruare se ad tempora meliora.

Moreover, in the first times of his reign, Osuiu had as a consort of royal dignity one by the name Oswine, of the stock of King Edwin, that is, the son of Osric, of whom we have reported above, a man of outstanding piety and religion; who for seven years, in the greatest affluence of all things, also himself presided over the province of the Deirans, and was amiable to all. But not even with him could the one who was ruling the other part of the Trans-Humber people from the North, that is, the province of the Bernicians, have peace; rather, as the causes of dissensions grew more grievous, he took this man off by a most wretched slaughter. For, an army having been gathered against one another, when Oswine saw that he could not engage in battle with him who had more auxiliaries, he judged it more expedient then, his intention of warring laid aside, to preserve himself for better times.

Remisit ergo exercitum, quem congregauerat, ac singulos domum redire praecepit a loco, qui uocatur Uilfaræsdun, id est mons Uilfari, et est a uico Cataractone X ferme milibus passuum contra solstitialem occasum secretus; diuertitque ipse cum uno tantum milite sibi fidissimo, nomine Tondheri, celandus in domum comitis Hunualdi, quem etiam ipsum sibi amicissimum autumabat. Sed heu, pro dolor! longe aliter erat; nam ab eodem comite proditum eum Osuiu cum praefato ipsius milite per praefectum suum Ediluinum detestanda omnibus morte interfecit.

Therefore he dismissed the army which he had gathered, and ordered each man to return home from the place which is called Wilfaresdun, that is, the Mount of Wilfar, and it is about 10 miles distant from the village Cataracton toward the solstitial setting; and he himself turned aside with only one soldier most faithful to him, by name Tondhere, to be concealed in the house of Count Hunwald, whom he supposed to be most friendly to him. But alas, for sorrow! it was far otherwise; for, betrayed by that same count, Oswiu slew him, together with the aforesaid soldier of his, through his own prefect Ediluin, by a death detestable to all.

Quod factum est die XIIIa Kalendarum Septembrium, anno regni eius nono, in loco, qui dicitur Ingetlingum; ubi postmodum, castigandi huius facinoris gratia, monasterium constructum est; in quo pro utriusque regis, et occisi uidelicet, et eius, qui occidere iussit, animae redemtione cotidie Domino preces offerri deberent.

Which was done on the 13th day before the Kalends of September, in the 9th year of his reign, in the place which is called Ingetlingum; where afterwards, for the sake of chastising this crime, a monastery was constructed; in which, for the redemption of the soul of each king—namely, of the one slain, and of him who ordered the slaying—prayers ought to be offered to the Lord daily.

Erat autem rex Osuini et aspectu uenustus, et statura sublimis, et affatu iucundus, et moribus ciuilis, et manu omnibus, id est nobilibus simul atque ignobilibus, largus; unde contigit, ut ob regiam eius et animi, et uultus, et meritorum dignitatem ab omnibus diligeretur, et undique ad eius ministerium de cunctis prope prouinciis uiri etiam nobilissimi concurrerent. Cuius inter ceteras uirtutis et modestiae, et, ut ita dicam, specialis benedictionis glorias etiam maxima fuisse fertur humilitas, ut uno probare sat erit exemplo.

Moreover King Oswine was comely in aspect, lofty in stature, pleasant in address, civil in manners, and with his hand liberal to all, that is, to nobles as well as ignobles; whence it befell that, on account of his royal dignity of spirit, and of countenance, and of merits, he was loved by all, and from every side to his ministry there ran together men even most noble from almost all the provinces. Among the other glories of his virtue and modesty, and, so to speak, of special benediction, humility also is reported to have been the greatest, as it will be sufficient to prove by a single example.

Donauerat equum optimum antistiti Aidano, in quo ille, quamuis ambulare solitus, uel amnium fluenta transire, uel si alia quaelibet necessitas insisteret, uiam peragere posset. Cui cum paruo interiecto tempore pauper quidam occurreret elimosynam petens, desiliens ille praecepit equum, ita ut erat stratus regaliter, pauperi dari; erat enim multum misericors, et cultor pauperum, ac uelut pater miserorum. Hoc cum regi esset relatum, dicebat episcopo, cum forte ingressuri essent ad prandium: ‘Quid uoluisti, domine antistes, equum regium, quem te conueniebat proprium habere, pauperi dare?

He had donated an excellent horse to Bishop Aidan, on which he, although accustomed to walk, could either cross the currents of rivers, or, if any other necessity should press, complete the journey. When after a short interval a certain poor man met him asking alms, he, dismounting, ordered that the horse, just as it was royally caparisoned, be given to the poor man; for he was very merciful, and a patron of the poor, and as it were a father of the wretched. When this had been reported to the king, he said to the bishop, when by chance they were about to enter to dinner: ‘What did you intend, lord prelate, to give the royal horse, which it was fitting for you to have as your own, to a poor man?’

Numquid non habuimus equos uiliores plurimos, uel alias species, quae ad pauperum dona sufficerent, quamuis illum eis equum non dares, quem tibi specialiter possidendum elegi?’ Cui statim episcopus: ‘Quid loqueris,’ inquit, ‘rex? Numquid tibi carior est ille filius equae, quam ille filius Dei?’ Quibus dictis intrabant ad prandendum. Et episcopus quidem residebat in suo loco.

“Did we not have very many cheaper horses, or other kinds which would suffice for gifts to the poor, even if you did not give them that horse which I specially chose for you to possess?” To which the bishop at once: “What are you saying,” he said, “king? Is that son of a mare dearer to you than that Son of God?” With these things said they went in to dine. And the bishop indeed was sitting in his place.

Porro rex, uenerat enim de uenatu, coepit consistens ad focum calefieri cum ministris; et repente inter calefaciendum recordans uerbum, quod dixerat illi antistes, discinxit se gladio suo, et dedit illum ministro, festinusque accedens ante pedes episcopi conruit, postulans, ut sibi placatus esset, ‘quia numquam,’ inquit, ‘deinceps aliquid loquar de hoc aut iudicabo, quid uel quantum de pecunia nostra filiis Dei tribuas.’ Quod uidens episcopus, multum pertimuit, ac statim exsurgens leuauit eum, promittens se multum illi esse placatum, dum modo ille residens ad epulas tristitiam deponeret. Dumque rex, iubente ac postulante episeopo, laetitiam reciperet, coepit e contra episcopus tristis usque ad lacrimarum profusionem effici. Quem dum presbyter suus lingua patria, quam rex et domestici eius non nouerant, quare lacrimaretur, interrogasset: ‘Scio,’ inquit, ‘quia non multo tempore uicturus est rex; numquam enim ante haec uidi humilem regem.

Moreover the king—for he had come from the hunt—began, standing by the hearth, to be warmed with his ministers; and suddenly, while warming himself, remembering the word which the bishop had said to him, he ungirded himself of his sword and gave it to a minister, and, hastening, he advanced and fell before the bishop’s feet, begging that he be placated toward him: ‘for never,’ he said, ‘hereafter will I speak anything about this or judge how or how much of our money you allot to the sons of God.’ Which when the bishop saw, he was very much afraid, and immediately rising he lifted him up, promising that he was very much placated toward him, provided only that he, sitting at the banquet, should lay aside sadness. And while the king, at the bishop’s bidding and request, recovered gladness, on the contrary the bishop began to become sad even to the outpouring of tears. When his presbyter, in his native tongue—which the king and his domestics did not know—had asked why he was weeping, ‘I know,’ he said, ‘that the king will not live for much time; for never before these things have I seen a humble king.’

Unde animaduerto illum citius ex hac uita rapiendum; non enim digna est haec gens talem habere rectorem.’ Nec multo post dira antistitis praesagia tristi regis funere, de quo supra diximus, impleta sunt.

Whence I discern that he is to be snatched more quickly from this life; for this people is not worthy to have such a ruler.’ And not long after, the dire presages of the bishop were fulfilled by the sad funeral of the king, of which we spoke above.

Sed et ipse antistes Aidan non plus quam XIIo post occisionem regis, quem amabat, die, id est pridie Kalendas Septembres, de saeculo ablatus, perpetua laborum suorum a Domino praemia recepit.

But the bishop Aidan himself also, not more than the 12th day after the king’s slaying, whom he loved, that is, on the day before the Kalends of September, was taken from this world, and received from the Lord the perpetual rewards of his labors.

[15] QUI cuius meriti fuerit, etiam miraculorum signis internus arbiter edocuit, e quibus tria memoriae causa ponere satis sit. Presbyter quidam, nomine Utta, multae grauitatis ac ueritatis uir, et ob id omnibus, etiam ipsis principibus saeculi honorabilis, cum mitteretur Cantiam ob adducendam inde coniugem regi Osuio, filiam uidelicet Aeduini regis Eanfledam, quae occiso patre illuc fuerat adducta; qui terrestri quidem itinere illo uenire, sed nauigio cum uirgine redire disponebat, accessit ad episcopum Aidanum, obsecrans eum pro se suisque, qui tantum iter erant adgressuri, Domino supplicare. Qui benedicens illos ac Domino commendans, dedit etiam oleum sanctificatum: ‘Scio,’ inquiens, ‘quia, ubi nauem ascenderitis, tempestas uobis, et uentus contrarius superueniet; sed tu memento, ut hoc oleum, quod tibi do, mittas in mare; et statim quiescentibus uentis, serenitas maris uos laeta prosequetur, ac cupito itinere domum remittet.’ Quae cuncta, ut praedixerat antistes, ex ordine conpleta sunt; et quidem inprimis furentibus undis pelagi, temtabant nautae anchoris in mare missis nauem retinere, neque hoc agentes aliquid proficiebant.

[15] What his merit was, the inner Arbiter also taught by signs of miracles, of which it will be enough, for the sake of remembrance, to set down three. A certain presbyter, by name Utta, a man of much gravity and verity, and on that account honorable to all, even to the very princes of the age, when he was being sent to Kent to bring thence a wife for King Oswiu—namely Eanfled, daughter of King Edwin, who, after her father was slain, had been brought there—who planned to go thither by a land-journey indeed, but to return with the maiden by ship, came to Bishop Aidan, beseeching him to supplicate the Lord for himself and his men, who were about to undertake so great a journey. He, blessing them and commending them to the Lord, also gave sanctified oil: “I know,” he said, “that, when you board the ship, a storm and a contrary wind will come upon you; but do you remember to cast this oil, which I give you, into the sea; and straightway, the winds becoming quiet, the serenity of the sea will joyfully escort you, and will send you home by the desired journey.” All which, just as the bishop had foretold, were carried out in order; and indeed, at first, with the waves of the deep raging, the sailors were attempting to hold the ship fast by anchors cast into the sea, nor, doing this, were they making any progress at all.

Cumque uerrentibus undique et inplere incipientibus nauem fluctibus, mortem sibi omnes inminere, et iamiamque adesse uiderent, tandem presbyter reminiscens uerba antistitis, adsumta ampulla misit de oleo in pontum, et statim, ut praedictum erat, suo quieuit a feruore. Sicque factum est, ut uir Dei et per prophetiae spiritum tempestatem praedixerit futuram, et per uirtutem eiusdem spiritus hanc exortam, quamuis corporaliter absens, sopiuerit. Cuius ordinem miraculi non quilibet dubius relator, sed fidelissimus mihi nostrae ecclesiae presbyter, Cynimund uocabulo, narrauit, qui se hoc ab ipso Utta presbytero, in quo et per quem conpletum est, audisse perhibebat.

And when, with waves sweeping from every side and beginning to fill the ship, they all saw death threatening themselves, and already at hand, at length the presbyter, remembering the words of the bishop, having taken up the little flask, cast some of the oil into the deep; and immediately, as had been foretold, the sea ceased from its seething. And thus it came to pass that the man of God both through the spirit of prophecy had predicted the storm that would come, and by the power of the same Spirit, though bodily absent, lulled it once it had arisen. The course of this miracle was told not by some doubtful relator, but by a most faithful presbyter of our church, by name Cynimund, to me, who averred that he had heard this from the presbyter Utta himself, in whom and through whom it was accomplished.

[16] ALIUD eiusdem patris memorabile miraculum ferunt multi, qui nosse potuerunt. Nam tempore episcopatus eius, hostilis Merciorum exercitus Penda duce Nordanhymbrorum regiones impia clade longe lateque deuastans peruenit ad urbem usque regiam, quae ex Bebbae quondam reginae uocabulo cognominatur, eamque, quia neque armis neque obsidione capere poterat, flammis absumere conatus est; discissisque uiculis, quos in uicinia urbis inuenit, aduexit illo plurimam congeriem trabium, tignorum, parietum, uirgeorum, et tecti fenei, et his urbem in magna altitudine circumdedit a parte, quae terrae est contigua, et dum uentum oportunum cerneret, inlato igne conburere urbem nisus est. Quo tempore reuerentissimus antistes Aidan in insula Farne, quae duobus ferme milibus passuum ab urbe procul abest, morabatur.

[16] Another memorable miracle of the same father many relate, who were able to know it. For in the time of his episcopate, a hostile army of the Mercians, with Penda as leader, devastating with impious slaughter the regions of the Northumbrians far and wide, came even to the royal city which is surnamed from the name of Queen Bebba; and because he could take it neither by arms nor by siege, he endeavored to consume it with flames. Tearing apart the hamlets which he found in the neighborhood of the city, he brought thither a very great heap of beams, timbers, wattle-walls, and thatched roofing, and with these he encircled the city to a great height on the side which is contiguous to the land; and when he perceived a favorable wind, by applying fire he strove to burn the city. At which time the most reverend bishop Aidan was staying on the island of Farne, which is at a distance of almost two miles from the city.

Illo enim saepius secretae orationis et silentii causa secedere consuerat; denique usque hodie locum sedis illius solitariae in eadem insula solent ostendere. Qui cum uentis ferentibus globos ignis ac fumum supra muros urbis exaltari conspiceret, fertur eleuatis ad caelum oculis manibusque cum lacrimis dixisse: ‘Uide, Domine, quanta mala facit Penda.’ Quo dicto statim mutati ab urbe uenti in eos, qui accenderant, flammarum incendia retorserunt, ita ut aliquot laesi, omnes territi, inpugnare ultra urbem cessarent, quam diuinitus iuuari cognouerant.

For he had been accustomed often to withdraw for the sake of secret prayer and silence; and indeed even to this day they are wont to point out in the same island the place of his solitary seat. When he saw, with the winds bearing them, balls of fire and smoke being lifted above the walls of the city, he is said, with eyes and hands raised to heaven and with tears, to have said: ‘Behold, Lord, what great evils Penda is doing.’ At this saying, at once the winds, changed away from the city, turned back the blaze of the flames upon those who had kindled them, so that several were injured, all were terrified, and they ceased to assault the city any further, which they had recognized to be divinely aided.

[17] HUNC cum dies mortis egredi e corpore cogeret, conpletis annis episcopatus sui XVII erat in uilla regia non longe ab urbe, de qua praefati sumus. In hac enim habens ecclesiam et cubiculum, saepius ibidem diuerti ac manere, atque inde ad praedicandum circumquaque exire consueuerat; quod ipsum et in aliis uillis regiis facere solebat, utpote nil propriae possessionis, excepta ecclesia sua et adiacentibus agellis habens. Tetenderunt ergo ei egrotanti tentorium ad occidentalem ecclesiae partem, ita ut ipsum tentorium parieti hereret ecclesiae.

[17] When the day of death compelled this man to go forth from the body, the years of his episcopate completed 17, he was at a royal villa not far from the city of which we have previously spoken. For in this place, having a church and a chamber, he was accustomed often to turn aside and stay there, and from there to go out round about to preach; which same thing he used to do also in the other royal villas, inasmuch as he had nothing of private possession, except his church and the adjoining little fields. Therefore they pitched for him, being sick, a tent on the western side of the church, in such a way that the tent itself adhered to the wall of the church.

Unde factum est, ut adclinis destinae, quae extrinsecus ecclesiae pro munimine erat adposita, spiritum uitae exhalaret ultimum. Obiit autem septimo decimo episcopatus sui anno, pridie Kalendarum Septembrium. Cuius corpus mox inde translatum ad insulam Lindisfarnensium, atque in cymiterio fratrum sepultum est.

Whence it came about that, leaning against a buttress which had been set up outside the church for a muniment, he breathed out the last breath of life. He died, moreover, in the seventeenth year of his episcopate, on the day before the Kalends of September. His body was soon from there transferred to the island of the Lindisfarne folk, and was buried in the cemetery of the brethren.

At interiecto tempore aliquanto, cum fabricata esset ibi basilica maior, atque in honorem beatissimi apostolorum principis dedicata, illo ossa eius translata, atque ad dexteram altaris iuxta uenerationem tanto pontifice dignam condita sunt.

But after some time had intervened, when a larger basilica had been built there and dedicated in honor of the most blessed prince of the apostles, his bones were translated thither and, at the right hand of the altar, were laid to rest in a manner of veneration worthy of so great a pontiff.

Successit uero ei in episcopatum Finan, et ipse illo ab Hii Scottorum insula ac monasterio destinatus, ac tempore non pauco in episcopatu permansit. Contigit autem post aliquot annos, ut Penda Merciorum rex cum hostili exercitu haec in loca perueniens, cum cuncta, quae poterat, ferro flammaque perderet, uicus quoque ille, in quo antistes obiit, una cum ecclesia memorata flammis absumeretur. Sed mirum in modum sola illa destina, cui incumbens obiit, ab ignibus circum cuncta uorantibus absumi non potuit.

But Finan succeeded him in the episcopate, he too designated thither from the island of the Scots of Hii and its monastery, and he remained in the episcopate for no small time. It happened, however, after some years, that Penda, king of the Mercians, coming into these places with a hostile army, while he was destroying all that he could with sword and flame, that village also in which the bishop died, together with the aforesaid church, was consumed by flames. But in a wondrous manner that buttress alone, upon which, leaning, he died, could not be consumed by the fires that were devouring everything around.

Quo clarescente miraculo, mox ibidem ecclesia restaurata, et haec eadem destina in munimentum est parietis, ut ante fuerat, forinsecus adposita. Rursumque peracto tempore aliquanto, euenit per culpam incuriae uicum eundem et ipsam pariter ecclesiam ignibus consumi. Sed ne tunc quidem eandem tangere flamma destinam ualebat; et cum magno utique miraculo ipsa eius foramina ingrediens, quibus aedificio erat adfixa, perederet, ipsam tamen ledere nullatenus sinebatur.

As this miracle grew more renowned, at once the church there was restored, and this same beam was set, as a muniment of the wall, as it had been before, placed on the outside. And again, when some time had elapsed, it came about through the fault of negligence that the same village, and the church itself as well, were consumed by fires. But not even then was the flame able to touch that same beam; and, indeed with great marvel, though entering its very holes—by which it had been affixed to the building—and gnawing them through, yet it was by no means allowed to injure the beam itself.

Unde tertio aedificata ibi ecclesia, destinam illam non, ut antea, deforis in fulcimentum domus adposuerunt, sed intro ipsam ecclesiam in memoriam miraculi posuerunt, ubi intrantes genu flectere, ac misericordiae caelesti supplicare deberent. Constatque multos ex eo tempore gratiam sanitatis in eodem loco consecutos; quin etiam astulis ex ipsa destina excisis, et in aquam missis, plures sibi suisque langorum remedia conquisiere.

Whence, when the church had been built there for the third time, they did not, as before, set that post outside as a support of the house, but placed it inside the church itself in memory of the miracle, where those entering ought to bend the knee and supplicate heavenly mercy. And it is agreed that many from that time have obtained the grace of health in that same place; indeed, even with splinters cut from that very post and cast into water, many procured remedies for languors for themselves and their own.

Scripsi autem haec de persona et operibus uiri praefati; nequaquam in eo laudans aut eligens hoc, quod de obseruatione paschae minus perfecte sapiebat; immo hoc multum detestans, sicut in libro, quem de temporibus conposui, manifestissime probaui; sed quasi uerax historicus, simpliciter ea, quae de illo siue per illum sunt gesta, describens, et quae laude sunt digna in eius actibus laudans, atque ad utilitatem legentium memoriae commendans; studium uidelicet pacis et caritatis, continentiae et humilitatis; animum irae et auaritiae uictorem, superbiae simul et uanae gloriae contemtorem; industriam faciendi simul et docendi mandata caelestia, solertiam lectionis et uigiliarum, auctoritatem sacerdote dignam, redarguendi superbos ac potentes, pariter et infirmos consolandi, ac pauperes recreandi uel defendendi clementiam. Qui, ut breuiter multa conprehendam, quantum ab eis, qui illum nouere, didicimus, nil ex omnibus, quae in euangelicis uel apostolicis siue propheticis litteris facienda cognouerat, praetermittere, sed cuncta pro suis uiribus operibus explere curabat. Haec in praefato antistite multum conplector et amo, quia nimirum haec Deo placuisse non ambigo.

I have written these things about the person and the works of the aforesaid man; by no means in this praising or choosing that, namely that he was less perfectly wise in the observance of the Pasch; nay rather, greatly detesting this, as in the book which I composed on the Times I have shown most manifestly; but, as a truthful historian, simply describing the things which were done about him or through him, and praising the things in his acts that are worthy of praise, and commending to the memory, for the benefit of readers, his zeal for peace and charity, for continence and humility; a spirit victorious over wrath and avarice, a despiser likewise of pride and vain glory; diligence both in doing and in teaching the heavenly commandments, skill in reading and vigils, an authority worthy of a priest, in reproving the proud and the powerful, and likewise in consoling the weak, and a clemency for refreshing or defending the poor. Who, to gather up many things briefly, in so far as we learned from those who knew him, left nothing undone of all the things which he had come to know from the evangelical or apostolic or prophetic writings as to be done, but took care to fulfill them all by works according to his powers. These things in the aforesaid prelate I greatly embrace and love, because I do not at all doubt that these were pleasing to God.

Quod autem pascha non suo tempore obseruabat, uel canonicum eius tempus ignorans, uel suae gentis auctoritate ne agnitum sequeretur deuictus, non adprobo nec laudo. In quo tamen hoc adprobo, quia in celebratione sui paschae non aliud corde tenebat, uenerabatur, et praedicabat, quam quod nos; id est, redemtionem generis humani per passionem, resurrectionem, ascensionem in caelos mediatoris Dei et hominum hominis Iesu Christi. Unde et hanc non, ut quidam falso opinantur, XIIIIa luna in qualibet feria cum Iudaeis, sed die dominica semper agebat, a luna XIIIIa usque ad XXam; propter fidem uidelicet dominicae resurrectionis, quam una sabbati factam, propterque spem nostrae resurrectionis, quam eadem una sabbati, quae nunc dominica dies dicitur, ueraciter futuram cum sancta ecclesia credebat.

But that he did not observe the Pasch in its proper time, whether ignorant of its canonical time, or overcome by the authority of his nation not to follow it even when recognized, I neither approve nor praise. Yet in this I do approve, that in the celebration of his Pasch he held in his heart, venerated, and proclaimed nothing other than what we do; that is, the redemption of the human race through the Passion, the Resurrection, the Ascension into the heavens of the Mediator of God and men, the man Jesus Christ. Whence also he did not, as some falsely suppose, keep this with the Jews on the 14th moon on any weekday, but always on the Lord’s Day, from the 14th lunar day up to the 20th; namely on account of the faith in the Lord’s Resurrection, which he believed to have been accomplished on the first of the Sabbath, and on account of the hope of our resurrection, which on that same first of the Sabbath, which is now called the Lord’s Day, he believed, together with the holy Church, would truly be in the future.

[18] His temporibus regno Orientalium Anglorum, post Erpualdum Redualdi successorem, Sigberct frater eius praefuit, homo bonus ac religiosus; qui dudum in Gallia, dum inimicitias Redualdi fugiens exularet, lauacrum baptismi percepit, et patriam reuersus, ubi regno potitus est, mox ea, quae in Galliis bene disposita uidit, imitari cupiens, instituit scolam, in qua pueri litteris erudirentur; iuuante se episcopo Felice, quem de Cantia acceperat, eisque pedagogos ac magistros iuxta morem Cantuariorum praebente.

[18] In these times over the kingdom of the East Angles, after Eorpwald, Rædwald’s successor, his brother Sigeberht presided, a good and religious man; who formerly in Gaul, while, fleeing the enmities of Rædwald, he was in exile, received the laver of baptism, and, having returned to his fatherland, where he obtained the kingdom, at once, desiring to imitate those things which in Gaul he saw well arranged, instituted a school in which boys might be trained in letters; with Bishop Felix aiding him, whom he had received from Kent, and providing for them pedagogues and masters according to the custom of the Cantuarians.

Tantumque rex ille caelestis regni amator factus est, ut ad ultimum, relictis regni negotiis, et cognato suo Ecgrice commendatis, qui et antea partem eiusdem regni tenebat, intraret monasterium, quod sibi fecerat, atque accepta tonsura pro aeterno magis regno militare curaret. Quod dum multo tempore faceret, contigit gentem Merciorum duce rege Penda aduersus Orientales Anglos in bellum procedere, qui, dum se inferiores in bello hostibus conspicerent, rogauerunt Sigberctum ad confirmandum militem secum uenire in proelium. Illo nolente ac contradicente, inuitum monasterio eruentes duxerunt in certamen, sperantes minus animos militum trepidare, minus praesente duce quondam strenuissimo et eximio posse fugam meditari.

And so greatly did that king become a lover of the celestial kingdom, that at last, having left the affairs of the kingdom and committed them to his kinsman Ecgric, who also previously held part of the same kingdom, he entered the monastery which he had made for himself, and, having received the tonsure, took care to do military service for the eternal kingdom rather. While he was doing this for a long time, it befell that the nation of the Mercians, with King Penda as leader, advanced to war against the East Angles; who, when they saw themselves inferior to the enemies in war, asked Sigberct to come with them into battle to strengthen the soldiery. Although he was unwilling and gainsaying, dragging him out of the monastery against his will they led him into the contest, hoping that the spirits of the soldiers would tremble less, that, with the once most strenuous and exceptional leader present, they would be less able to meditate flight.

Sed ipse professionis suae non inmemor, dum opimo esset uallatus exercitu, nonnisi uirgam tantum habere in manu uoluit: occisusque est una cum rege Ecgrice, et cunctus eorum, insistentibus paganis, caesus siue dispersus exercitus.

But he, not unmindful of his profession, while he was surrounded by an opulent army, wished to have nothing in his hand except only a rod; and he was slain together with King Ecgric, and their entire army, with the pagans pressing on, was cut down or scattered.

Successor autem regni eorum factus est Anna filius Eni de regio genere, uir optimus, atque optimae genitor sobolis, de quibus in sequentibus suo tempore dicendum est; qui et ipse postea ab eodem pagano Merciorum duce, a quo et prodecessores eius, occisus est.

But the successor to their kingdom became Anna, son of Eni, of the royal stock, a most excellent man, and the begetter of most excellent progeny, of whom in what follows, at the proper time, it is to be spoken; who also himself afterwards was slain by the same pagan leader of the Mercians, by whom also his predecessors were slain.

[19] UERUM dum adhuc Sigberct regni infulas teneret, superuenit de Hibernia uir sanctus nomine Furseus, uerbo et actibus clarus, sed et egregiis insignis uirtutibus, cupiens pro Domino, ubicumque sibi oportunum inueniret, peregrinam ducere uitam. Qui cum ad prouinciam Orientalium peruenisset Anglorum, susceptus est honorifice a rege praefato, et solitum sibi opus euangelizandi exsequens, multos et exemplo uirtutis, et incitamento sermonis, uel incredulos ad Christum conuertit, uel iam credentes amplius in fide atque amore Christi confirmauit.

[19] But while Sigeberht still held the royal fillets, there arrived from Ireland a holy man named Fursey, renowned in word and deeds, and likewise marked by outstanding virtues, desiring for the Lord, wherever he might find it opportune, to lead a peregrine life. When he had come to the province of the East Angles, he was honorably received by the aforesaid king, and, carrying out his accustomed work of evangelizing, by both the example of virtue and the incitement of his discourse he turned many—either converting unbelievers to Christ, or further confirming those already believing in the faith and love of Christ.

Ubi quadam infirmitate corporis arreptus, angelica meruit uisione perfrui, in qua admonitus est coepto uerbi ministerio sedulus insistere, uigiliisque consuetis et orationibus indefessus incumbere; eo quod certus sibi exitus, sed incerta eiusdem exitus esset hora futura, dicente Domino: ‘Uigilate itaque, quia nescitis diem neque horam.’ Qua uisione confirmatus, curauit locum monasterii, quem a praefato rege Sigbercto acceperat, uelocissime construere, ac regularibus instituere disciplinis. Erat autum monasterium siluarum et maris uicinitate amoenum, constructum in castro quodam, quod lingua Anglorum Cnobheresburg, id est urbs Cnobheri, uocatur; quod deinde rex prouinciae illius Anna ac nobiles quique augustioribus aedificiis ac donariis adornarunt.

Where, seized by a certain infirmity of the body, he merited to enjoy an angelic vision, in which he was admonished to persist sedulously in the begun ministry of the word, and to bend unweariedly to his accustomed vigils and prayers; because a sure end was his, but the hour of that same end would be uncertain, the Lord saying: ‘Watch therefore, because you do not know the day nor the hour.’ Confirmed by this vision, he took care with all speed to construct the site of the monastery which he had received from the aforesaid king Sigberct, and to establish it with regular disciplines. The monastery, moreover, was pleasant by the nearness of woods and sea, built in a certain castrum, which in the language of the English is called Cnobheresburg, that is, the city of Cnobher; which thereafter Anna, king of that province, and all the nobles adorned with more august buildings and donations.

Erat autem uir iste de nobilissimo genere Scottorum, sed longe animo quam carne nobilior. Ab ipso tempore pueritiae suae curam non modicam lectionibus sacris simul et monasticis exhibebat disciplinis, et, quod maxime sanctos decet, cuncta, quae agenda didicerat, sollicitus agere curabat.

Now this man was of the most noble stock of the Scots, but far nobler in spirit than in flesh. From the very time of his boyhood he bestowed no small care upon sacred readings and likewise upon monastic disciplines, and, what especially befits the holy, he was solicitous to do all the things that he had learned were to be done.

Quid multa? Procedente tempore et ipse sibi monasterium, in quo liberius caelestibus studiis uacaret, construxit; ubi correptus infirmitate, sicut libellus de uita eius conscriptus sufficienter edocet, raptus est e corpore; et a uespera usque ad galli cantum corpore exutus, angelicorum agminum et aspectus intueri, et laudes beatas meruit audire. Referre autem erat solitus, quod aperte eos inter alia resonare audiret: ‘Ibunt sancti de uirtute in uirtutem’; et iterum: ‘Uidebitur Deus deorum in Sion.’ Qui reductus in corpore, et die tertia rursum eductus, uidit non solum maiora beatorum gaudia, sed et maxima malignorum spirituum certamina, qui crebris accusationibus inprobi iter illi caeleste intercludere contendebant; nec tamen, protegentibus eum angelis, quicquam proficiebant.

What need of many words? As time went on he too built for himself a monastery, in which he might more freely be at leisure for heavenly studies; where, seized by infirmity, as the little book written about his life sufficiently teaches, he was snatched out of the body; and from evening until cockcrow, stripped of the body, he merited to gaze upon the ranks of the angelic hosts and their aspects, and to hear blessed praises. He was wont to relate that he plainly heard them, among other things, resounding: 'The saints will go from virtue into virtue'; and again: 'The God of gods will be seen in Zion.' He, having been brought back into the body, and on the third day led out again, saw not only greater joys of the blessed, but also the greatest combats of malign spirits, who, shameless, were striving by frequent accusations to block that heavenly path for him; yet, with the angels protecting him, they made no progress at all.

De quibus omnibus siqui plenius scire uult (id est, quanta fraudis solertia daemones et actus eius, et uerba superflua, et ipsas etiam cogitationes quasi in libro descriptas replicauerint; quae ab angelis sanctis, quae a uiris iustis sibi inter angelos apparentibus laeta uel tristia cognouerit), legat ipsum, de quo dixi, libellum uitae eius, et multum ex illo, ut reor, profectus spiritalis accipiet.

Concerning all of which, if anyone wishes to know more fully (that is, how great a cunning of fraud the demons both of his acts and of his superfluous words, and even the thoughts themselves, as if written in a book, reviewed; what glad or sad things he learned from the holy angels, and from just men appearing to him among the angels), let him read the very little book of his life of which I spoke, and from it, as I think, he will receive much spiritual profit.

In quibus tamen unum est, quod et nos in hac historia ponere multis commodum duximus. Cum ergo in altum esset elatus, iussus est ab angelis, qui eum ducebant, respicere, in mundum. At ille oculos in inferiora deflectens, uidit quasi uallem tenebrosam subtus se in imo positam.

Among which, however, there is one that we too have deemed advantageous for many to set down in this history. Therefore, when he had been lifted on high, he was ordered by the angels who were leading him to look back, into the world. But he, turning his eyes to the lower regions, saw, as it were, a shadowy valley set beneath him in the depths.

Uidit et quattuor ignes in aere non multo ab inuicem spatio distantes. Et interrogans angelos, qui essent hi ignes, audiuit hos esse ignes, qui mundum succendentes essent consumturi. Unum mendacii, cum hoc, quod in baptismo abrenuntiare nos Satanae et omnibus operibus eius promisimus, minime inplemus; alterum cupiditatis, cum mundi diuitias amori caelestium praeponimus; tertium dissensionis, cum animos proximorum etiam in superuacuis rebus offendere non formidamus; quartum impietatis, cum infirmiores spoliare et eis fraudem facere pro nihilo ducimus.

He saw also four fires in the air, not far distant from one another in space. And asking the angels what these fires were, he heard that these were the fires which, setting the world ablaze, would consume it: one of mendacity, when we in no way fulfill this—that in baptism we promised to renounce Satan and all his works; a second of cupidity, when we prefer the riches of the world to love of heavenly things; a third of dissension, when we do not fear to offend the minds of our neighbors even in superfluous matters; a fourth of impiety, when we reckon it nothing to despoil the weaker and to commit fraud against them.

Crescentes uero paulatim ignes usque ad inuicem sese extenderunt, atque in inmensam adunati sunt flammam. Cumque adpropinquassent, pertimescens ille dicit angelo: ‘Domine, ecce ignis mihi adpropinquat.’ At ille: ‘Quod non incendisti,’ inquit, ‘non ardebit in te; nam etsi terribilis iste ac grandis esse rogus uidetur, tamen iuxta merita operum singulos examinat; quia uniuscuiusque cupiditas in hoc igni ardebit. Sicut enim quis ardet in corpore per inlicitam uoluptatem, ita solutus corpore ardebit per debitam poenam.’ Tunc uidit unum de tribus angelis, qui sibi in tota utraque uisione ductores adfuerunt, praecedentem ignes flammae diuidere, et duos ab utroque latere circumuolantes ab ignium se periculo defendere.

But the fires, growing little by little, extended themselves up to one another, and were united into an immense flame. And when they had drawn near, he, becoming afraid, says to the angel: 'Lord, behold, the fire is drawing near to me.' But he: 'What you did not ignite will not burn in you; for even if this pyre seems terrible and great, nevertheless it examines individuals according to the merits of their works; for the cupidity of each will burn in this fire. For just as one burns in the body through illicit voluptuousness, so, with the body loosed, he will burn through due penalty.' Then he saw one of the three angels, who had been present to him as guides in the whole twofold vision, going before to divide the flames of the fires, and two, flying around on either side, to defend him from the peril of the fires.

Uidit autem et daemones per ignem uolantes incendia bellorum contra iustos struere. Sequuntur aduersus ipsum accusationes malignorum, defensiones spirituum bonorum, copiosior caelestium agminum uisio; sed et uirorum de sua natione sanctorum, quos olim sacerdotii gradu non ignobiliter potitos, fama iam uulgante, conpererat; a quibus non pauca, quae uel ipsi, uel omnibus, qui audire uellent, multum salubria essent, audiuit. Qui cum uerba finissent, et cum angelicis spiritibus ipsi quoque ad caelos redirent, remanserunt cum beato Furseo tres angeli, de quibus diximus, qui eum ad corpus referrent.

He saw also demons flying through the fire contriving the conflagrations of wars against the just. There follow against him the accusations of the malign, the defenses of good spirits, a more copious vision of the celestial hosts; and also of men of his own nation, saints, whom, with the report now spreading abroad, he had ascertained to have formerly obtained the grade of priesthood not ingloriously; from whom he heard not a few things, which would be very healthful either to himself, or to all who would wish to hear. When they had finished their words, and they too were returning to the heavens with the angelic spirits, there remained with blessed Fursey three angels, of whom we have spoken, who would bear him back to the body.

Cumque praefato igni maximo adpropiarent, diuisit quidem angelus, sicut prius, ignem flammae. Sed uir Dei ubi ad patefactam usque inter flammas ianuam peruenit, arripientes inmundi spiritus unum de eis, quos in ignibus torrebant, iactauerunt in eum, et contingentes humerum maxillamque eius incenderunt; cognouitque hominem, et, quia uestimentum eius morientis acceperit, ad memoriam reduxit. Quem angelus sanctus statim adprehendens in ignem reiecit.

And when they were approaching the aforesaid very great fire, the angel, indeed, as before, divided the flame of the fire. But when the man of God came up to the opened gate amid the flames, the unclean spirits, seizing one of those whom they were roasting in the fires, hurled him at him, and, touching his shoulder and jaw, they set them ablaze; and he recognized the man, and recalled that he had received the garment of him as he was dying. The holy angel, immediately grasping him, threw him back into the fire.

Dicebatque hostis malignus: ‘Nolite repellere, quem ante suscepistis; nam sicut bona eius peccatoris suscepistis, ita et de poenis eius participes esse debetis.’ Contradicens angelus: ‘Non,’inquit, ‘propter auaritiam, sed propter saluandam eius animam suscepit’; cessauitque ignis. Et conuersus ad eum angelus: ‘Quod incendisti,’ inquit, ‘hoc arsit in te. Si enim huius uiri in peccatis suis mortui pecuniam non accepisses, nec poena eius in te arderet.’ Et plura locutus, quid erga salutem eorum, qui ad mortem poeniterent, esset agendum, salubri sermone docuit. Qui postmodum in corpore restitutus, omni uitae suae tempore signum incendii, quod in anima pertulit, uisibile cunctis in humero maxillaque portauit; mirumque in modum, quid anima in occulto passa sit, caro palam praemonstrabat.

And the malignant enemy was saying: ‘Do not reject the one whom you formerly received; for just as you received the goods of this sinner, so too you ought to be participants in his punishments.’ Contradicting, the angel said: ‘No,’ he said, ‘not on account of avarice, but for the saving of his soul he received it’; and the fire ceased. And the angel, turned toward him, said: ‘What you set ablaze, this has burned in you. For if you had not accepted the money of this man, dead in his sins, neither would his punishment burn in you.’ And having spoken more, he taught with a salubrious discourse what ought to be done regarding the salvation of those who repent at death. He, afterward restored in the body, for the whole time of his life carried the sign of the burning—which he had borne in his soul—visible to all, on his shoulder and jaw; and, in a wondrous manner, what the soul had suffered in occult, the flesh openly showed.

Curabat autem semper, sicut et antea facere consuerat, omnibus opus uirtutum et exemplis ostendere, et praedicare sermonibus. Ordinem autem uisionum suarum illis solummodo, qui propter desiderium conpunctionis interrogabant, exponere uolebat. Superest adhuc frater quidam senior monasterii nostri, qui narrare solet dixisse sibi quendam multum ueracem ac religiosum hominem, quod ipsum Furseum uiderit in prouincia Orientalium Anglorum, illasque uisiones ex ipsius ore audierit; adiciens, quia tempus hiemis fuerit acerrimum et glacie constrictum, cum sedens in tenui ueste uir ita inter dicendum, propter magnitudinem memorati timoris uel suauitatis, quasi in mediae aestatis caumate sudauerit.

He was always taking care, as he had been accustomed to do before, to show to all both the work of virtues and by examples, and to proclaim by sermons. But he was willing to set forth the order of his visions only to those who asked because of a desire for compunction. There still survives a certain senior brother of our monastery, who is wont to tell that a certain very truthful and religious man said to him that he had seen Fursey himself in the province of the East Angles, and had heard those visions from his very mouth; adding that the season of winter had been most severe and bound with ice, when, sitting in a thin garment, the man thus, in the very act of speaking, on account of the greatness of the aforesaid fear or sweetness, sweated as though in the heat of mid-summer.

Cum ergo, ut ad superiora redeamus, multis annis in Scottia uerbum Dei omnibus adnuntians, tumultus inruentium turbarum non facile ferret, relictis omnibus, quae habere uidebatur, ab ipsa quoque insula patria discessit; et paucis cum fratribus per Brettones in prouinciam Anglorum deuenit, ibique praedicans uerbum, ut diximus, monasterium nobile construxit. Quibus rite gestis, cupiens se ab omnibus saeculi huius. et ipsius quoque monasterii negotiis alienare, reliquit monasterii et animarum curam fratri suo Fullano, et presbyteris Gobbano et Dicullo, et ipse ab omnibus mundi rebus liber in anchoretica conuersatione uitam finire disposuit.

Therefore, to return to the earlier matters, when, proclaiming the word of God to all for many years in Ireland, he could not easily bear the tumult of inrushing crowds, leaving all things which he seemed to have, he departed also from his native island; and with a few brothers he came through the Britons into the province of the Angles, and there, preaching the word, as we have said, he built a noble monastery. These things duly done, desiring to alienate himself from all the affairs of this age. and even of the monastery itself, he left the care of the monastery and of souls to his brother Fullan, and to the presbyters Gobban and Dicull; and he himself, free from all the affairs of the world, resolved to end his life in an anchoritic way of life.

Habuit alterum fratrem uocabulo Ultanum, qui de monasterii probatione diuturna ad heremiticam peruenerat uitam. Hunc ergo solus petens, annum totum cum eo in continentia et orationibus, in cotidianis manuum uixit laboribus.

He had another brother by the name Ultan, who from the long probation of the monastery had come to an eremitical life. Therefore, seeking him alone, he lived a whole year with him in continence and prayers, in the quotidian labors of the hands.

Dein turbatam incursione gentilium prouinciam uidens, et monasteriis quoque periculum inminere praeuidens, dimissis ordinate omnibus nauigauit Galliam, ibique a rege Francorum Hloduio uel patricio Ercunualdo honorifice susceptus, monasterium construxit in loco Latineaco nominato, ac non multo post infirmitate correptus diem clausit ultimum. Cuius corpus idem Ercunualdus patricius accipiens, seruauit in porticu quodam ecclesiae, quam in uilla sua, cui nomen est Perrona, faciebat, donec ipsa ecclesia dedicaretur. Quod dum post dies XXVII esset factum, et corpus ipsum de porticu ablatum prope altare esset recondendum, inuentum est ita inlesum, ac si eadem hora de hac luce fuisset egressus.

Then, seeing the province troubled by the incursion of the gentiles, and foreseeing that danger was also threatening the monasteries, having set all things in order he sailed to Gaul, and there, honorably received by the king of the Franks Hloduio and by the patrician Ercunualdus, he built a monastery in a place named Latineacum, and not long after, seized by infirmity, he closed his last day. The same patrician Ercunualdus, receiving his body, kept it in a certain portico of the church which he was building in his villa, whose name is Perrona, until the church itself should be dedicated. And when this had been done after 27 days, and the body itself, taken from the portico, was to be laid near the altar, it was found so uninjured as if he had gone forth from this light at that very hour.

Sed et post annos IIII, constructa domuncula cultiore receptui corporis eiusdem, ad orientem altaris, adhuc sine macula corruptionis inuentum, ibidem digno cum honore translatum est; ubi merita illius multis saepe constat Deo operante claruisse uirtutibus. Haec et de corporis eius incorruptione breuiter attigimus, ut, quanta esset uiri sublimitas, legentibus notius existeret. Quae cuncta in libello eius sufficientius, sed et de aliis conmilitonibus ipsius, quisque legerit, inueniet.

But also after 4 years, a more ornate little house having been built for the reception of that same body, to the east of the altar, it was found still without stain of corruption, and there in the same place it was translated with worthy honor; where the merits of that man have often, it is agreed, shone forth with many virtues, God working. These things also about the incorruption of his body we have briefly touched upon, so that how great was the sublimity of the man might become more known to readers. All which things, in his booklet more sufficiently, and also about his other fellow-soldiers, whoever shall read will find.

[20] INTEREA, defuncto Felice Orientalium Anglorum episcopo post X et VII annos accepti episcopatus, Honorius loco eius ordinauit Thomam diaconum eius de prouincia Gyruiorum; et hoc post quinque annos sui episcopatus de hac uita subtracto, Berctgilsum, cognomine Bonifatium, de prouincia Cantuariorum, loco eius substituit. Et ipse quoque Honorius, postquam metas sui cursus inpleuit, ex hac luce migrauit anno ab incarnatione Domini DCLIII, pridie Kalendarum Octobrium; et cessante episcopatu per annum et sex menses, electus est archiepiscopus cathedrae Doruuernensis sextus Deusdedit de gente Occidentalium Saxonum; quem ordinaturus uenit illuc Ithamar, antistes ecclesiae Hrofensis. Ordinatus est autem die VIImo Kalendarum Aprilium, et rexit ecclesiam annos VIIII, menses IIII et duos dies; et ipse, defuncto Ithamar, consecrauit pro eo Damianum, qui de genere Australium Saxonum erat oriundus.

[20] Meanwhile, when Felix, bishop of the East Angles, had died after 17 years from receiving the bishopric, Honorius ordained in his place Thomas, his deacon, from the province of the Gyrwas; and when this man also, after five years of his episcopate, was withdrawn from this life, he substituted in his place Berctgils, by surname Boniface, from the province of the Cantuarians. And Honorius himself too, after he fulfilled the bounds of his course, migrated from this light in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 653, on the day before the Kalends of October; and with the episcopate ceasing for a year and six months, the sixth archbishop of the Dorovernian chair was elected, Deusdedit, of the people of the West Saxons; to ordain whom Ithamar, prelate of the church of Rochester, came thither. Moreover, he was ordained on the 7th day before the Kalends of April, and he ruled the church 9 years, 4 months, and two days; and he himself, Ithamar having died, consecrated in his stead Damian, who was of the stock of the South Saxons.

[21] HIS temporibus Middilangli, id est Mediterranei Angli, sub principe Peada filio Pendan regis fidem et sacramenta ueritatis perceperunt, Qui cum esset iuuenis optimus, ac regis nomine ac persona dignissimus, praelatus est a patre regno gentis illius; uenitque ad regem Nordanhymbrorum Osuiu, postulans filiam eius Alchfledam sibi coniugem dari. Neque aliter, quod petebat, inpetrare potuit, nisi fidem Christi ac baptisma cum gente, cui praeerat, acciperet. At ille audita praedicatione ueritatis, et promissione regni caelestis, speque resurrectionis ac futurae inmortalitatis, libenter se Christianum fieri uelle confessus est, etiamsi uirginem non acciperet; persuasus maxime ad percipiendam fidem a filio regis Osuiu, nomine Alchfrido, qui erat cognatus et amicus eius, habens sororem ipsius coniugem, uocabulo Cyniburgam, filiam Pendan regis.

[21] In these times the Middle Angles, that is, the Midland Angles, under the prince Peada, son of King Penda, received the faith and the sacraments of truth. Since he was an excellent youth, and most worthy of the name and person of a king, he was preferred by his father to the rule of that nation; and he came to Oswiu, king of the Northumbrians, asking that his daughter Alchfleda be given to him as wife. Nor could he obtain what he sought otherwise, unless he would accept the faith of Christ and baptism together with the people over whom he presided. But he, on hearing the preaching of truth and the promise of the heavenly kingdom, and the hope of the resurrection and future immortality, confessed that he was willing gladly to become a Christian, even if he should not receive the maiden; being especially persuaded to receive the faith by the son of King Oswiu, named Alchfrith, who was his kinsman and friend, having his sister as wife, by name Cyniburga, daughter of King Penda.

Baptizatus est ergo a Finano episcopo cum omnibus, qui secum uenerant, comitibus ac militibus, eorumque famulis uniuersis in uico regis inlustri, qui uocatur Ad Murum. Et acceptis IIII presbyteris, qui ad docendam baptizandamque gentem illius et eruditione et uita uidebantur idonei, multo cum gaudio reuersus est. Erant autem presbyteri, Cedd, et Adda, et Betti, et Diuma, quorum ultimus natione Scottus, ceteri fuere de Anglis.

He was baptized therefore by Bishop Finan together with all who had come with him, the companions and the soldiers, and all their servants, in the illustrious village of the king, which is called At the Wall. And, having received 4 presbyters, who for teaching and baptizing that nation’s people and by erudition and life seemed suitable, he returned with much joy. Now the presbyters were Cedd, and Adda, and Betti, and Diuma, of whom the last was by nation a Scot, the others were of the Angles.

Adda autem erat frater Uttan presbyteri inlustris, et abbatis monasterii, quod uocatur Ad Caprae Caput, cuius supra meminimus. Uenientes ergo in prouinciam memorati sacerdotes cum principe, praedicabant uerbum, et libenter auditi sunt, multique cotidie, et nobilium, et infirmorum, abrenuntiata sorde idolatriae, fidei sunt fonte abluti.

Now Adda was the brother of Utta, an illustrious presbyter and abbot of the monastery which is called At the Goat’s Head (Ad Caprae Caput), which we have mentioned above. Therefore, the aforesaid priests, coming into the province with the prince, preached the word, and were willingly heard; and many daily, both of the nobles and of the infirm, with the filth of idolatry renounced, were washed in the font of faith.

Nec prohibuit Penda rex, quin etiam in sua, hoc est Merciorum, natione uerbum, siqui uellent audire, praedicaretur. Quin potius odio habebat, et dispiciebat eos, quos fide Christi inbutos opera fidei non habere deprehendit, dicens contemnendos esse eos et miseros, qui Deo suo, in quem crederent, oboedire contemnerent. Coepta sunt haec biennio ante mortem Pendan regis.

Nor did King Penda prohibit that even in his own nation, that is, of the Mercians, the word should be preached, if any wished to hear. Rather, he hated and despised those whom, though imbued with the faith of Christ, he detected not to have works of faith, saying that they were to be contemned and pitied as wretched, who scorned to obey their God in whom they believed. These things were begun two years before the death of King Penda.

Ipso autem occiso, cum Osuiu rex Christianus regnum eius acciperet, ut in sequentibus dicemus, factus est Diuma unus ex praefatis IIII sacerdotibus episcopus Mediterraneorum Anglorum simul et Merciorum, ordinatus a Finano episcopo. Paucitas enim sacerdotum cogebat unum antistitem duobus populis praefici. Qui cum pauco sub tempore non paucam Domino plebem adquisisset, defunctus est apud Mediterraneos Anglos in regione, quae uocatur Infeppingum.

But when he himself had been slain, as King Oswiu, a Christian, received his kingdom, as we shall say in the following, Diuma, one of the aforesaid 4 priests, was made bishop of the Middle Angles and likewise of the Mercians, ordained by Bishop Finan. For the paucity of priests compelled one prelate to be set over two peoples. And he, though in a short time he had acquired no small people for the Lord, died among the Middle Angles in the region which is called Infeppingum.

Suscepitque pro illo episcopatum Ceollach, et ipse de natione Scottorum, qui non multo post, relicto episcopatu, reuersus est ad insulam Hii, ubi plurimorum caput et arcem Scotti habuere coenobiorum; succedente illi in episcopatum Trumheri, uiro religioso et monachica uita instituto, natione quidem Anglorum, sed a Scottis ordinato episcopo. Quod temporibus Uulfheri regis, de quo in sequentibus dicemus, factum est.

And Ceollach, also of the nation of the Scots, took up the episcopate in his stead; but he, not long after, leaving the episcopate, returned to the island of Hii, where the Scots had the head and citadel of very many coenobia; with Trumhere succeeding him in the episcopate, a religious man and trained in monastic life, of the nation indeed of the Angles, but ordained bishop by the Scots. This was done in the times of King Wulfhere, of whom we shall speak in what follows.

[22] EO tempore etiam Orientales Saxones fidem, quam olim, expulso Mellito antistite, abiecerant, instantia regis Osuiu receperunt. Erat enim rex eiusdem gentis Sigberct, qui post Sigberctum cognomento Paruum regnauit, amicus eiusdem Osuiu regis, qui, cum frequenter ad eum in prouinciam Nordanhymbrorum ueniret, solebat eum hortari ad intellegendum deos esse non posse, qui hominum manibus facti essent; dei creandi materiam lignum uel lapidem esse non posse, quorum recisurae uel igni absumerentur, uel in uasa quaelibet humani usus formarentur, uel certe dispectui habita foras proicerentur, et pedibus conculcata in terram uerterentur. Deum potius intellegendum maiestate inconprehensibilem, humanis oculis inuisibilem, omnipotentem, aeternum, qui caelum et terram et humanum genus creasset, regeret, et iudicaturus esset orbem in aequitate; cuius sedes aeterna non in uili et caduco metallo, sed in caelis esset credenda; meritoque intellegendum, quia omnes, qui uoluntatem eius, a quo creati sunt, discerent et facerent, aeterna ab illo praemia essent percepturi.

[22] At that time also the Eastern Saxons received back the faith which once, when Mellitus the bishop had been expelled, they had cast away, at the insistence of King Oswiu. For there was a king of that same people, Sigeberht, who reigned after Sigeberht surnamed the Little, a friend of that same King Oswiu; who, when he frequently came to him into the province of the Northumbrians, was wont to exhort him to understand that those could not be gods which had been made by the hands of men; that the material for creating a god could not be wood or stone, the cuttings of which either are consumed by fire, or are fashioned into whatever vessels of human use, or else, held in contempt, are thrown outside, and, trampled under foot, are turned into earth. Rather, God is to be understood as incomprehensible in majesty, invisible to human eyes, omnipotent, eternal, who created heaven and earth and the human race, governs, and is going to judge the world in equity; whose eternal seat is to be believed to be not in cheap and perishable metal, but in the heavens; and it is rightly to be understood that all who should learn and do his will, by whom they were created, would receive eternal rewards from him.

Haec et huiusmodi multa cum rex Osuiu regi Sigbercto amicali et quasi fraterno consilio saepe inculcaret, tandem iuuante amicorum consensu credidit, et, facto cum suis consilio, cum exhortatione, fauentibus cunctis et adnuentibus fidei, baptizatus est cum eis a Finano episcopo in uilla regia, cuius supra meminimus, quae cognominatur Ad Murum. Est enim iuxta murum, quo olim Romani Brittaniam insulam praecinxere, XII milibus passuum a mari orientali secreta.

These things and many of this sort when King Osuiu would often inculcate to King Sigberct by amicable and, as it were, fraternal counsel, at length, the consent of friends helping, he believed; and, counsel having been taken with his own, with exhortation, all favoring and assenting to the faith, he was baptized with them by Bishop Finan in the royal villa, of which above we have made mention, which is surnamed At the Wall. For it is next to the wall with which once the Romans girded the island of Britain, set apart 12 miles from the eastern sea.

Igitur rex Sigberct aeterni regni iam ciuis effectus, temporalis sui regni sedem repetiit, postulans ab Osuiu rege, ut aliquos sibi doctores daret, qui gentem suam ad fidem Christi conuerterent, ac fonte salutari abluerent. At ille mittens ad prouinciam Mediterraneorum Anglorum clamauit ad se uirum Dei Cedd, et dato illi socio altero quodam presbytero, misit praedicare uerbum genti Orientalium Saxonum. Ubi cum omnia perambulantes multam Domino ecclesiam congregassent, contigit tempore quodam eundem Cedd redire domum, ac peruenire ad ecclesiam Lindisfaronensem propter conloquium Finani episcopi.

Therefore King Sigberct, now made a citizen of the eternal kingdom, returned to the seat of his temporal kingdom, asking from King Osuiu that he give him some doctors, who would convert his people to the faith of Christ and wash them in the saving font. But he, sending to the province of the Middle Angles, called to himself the man of God, Cedd, and, a certain other presbyter being given to him as companion, sent him to preach the word to the nation of the East Saxons. There, as they went through everything, they gathered a great church for the Lord; and it befell at a certain time that the same Cedd returned home and came to the church of Lindisfarne on account of a colloquy with Bishop Finan.

Qui ubi prosperatum ei opus euangelii conperit, fecit eum episcopum in gentem Orientalium Saxonum, uocatis ad se in ministerium ordinationis aliis duobus episcopis. Qui accepto gradu episcopatus rediit ad prouinciam, et maiore auctoritate coeptum opus explens, fecit per loca ecclesias, presbyteros et diaconos ordinauit, qui se in uerbo fidei et ministerio baptizandi adiuuarent, maxime in ciuitate, quae lingua Saxonum Ythancaestir appellatur, sed et in illa, quae Tilaburg cognominatur; quorum prior locus est in ripa Pentæ amnis, secundus in ripa Tamensis. In quibus, collecto examine famulorum Christi, disciplinam uitae regularis, in quantum rudes adhuc capere poterant, custodiri docuit.

When he learned that the work of the evangel had prospered with him, he made him a bishop for the nation of the East Saxons, having called to himself two other bishops for the ministry of ordination. Who, having received the grade of the episcopate, returned to the province, and, completing the work begun with greater authority, made churches throughout the places; he ordained presbyters and deacons, who might aid him in the word of faith and in the ministry of baptizing, especially in the city which in the Saxons’ tongue is called Ythancaestir, and also in that which is surnamed Tilaburg; of which the former place is on the bank of the river Pentæ, the latter on the bank of the Thames. In these, having gathered a company of the servants of Christ, he taught that the discipline of the regular life be observed, in so far as they, still untrained, were able to grasp it.

Cumque tempore non pauco in praefata prouincia, gaudente rege, congaudente uniuerso populo, uitae caelestis institutio cotidianum sumeret augmentum, contigit ipsum regem instigante omnium bonorum inimico, propinquorum suorum manu interfici. Erant autem duo germani fratres, qui hoc facinus patrarunt; qui cum interrogarentur, quare hoc facerent, nil aliud respondere potuerunt, nisi ob hoc se iratos fuisse et inimicos regi, quod ille nimium suis parcere soleret inimicis, et factas ab eis iniurias mox obsecrantibus placida mente dimitteret. Talis erat culpa regis, pro qua occideretur, quod euangelica praecepta deuoto corde seruaret.

And when for no little time in the aforesaid province, with the king rejoicing and the whole people rejoicing together, the institution of heavenly life was taking a daily increase, it befell that the king himself, with the enemy of all good instigating, was slain by the hand of his own kinsmen. Now there were two brothers-german who perpetrated this deed; and when they were asked why they did this, they could answer nothing else, except that for this cause they had been angry and were enemies to the king, because he was wont too much to spare his enemies, and the injuries done by them, upon their beseeching, he would at once, with a placid mind, remit. Such was the fault of the king, for which he was killed: that he kept the evangelical precepts with a devout heart.

In qua tamen eius morte innoxia, iuxta praedictum uiri Dei, uera est eius culpa punita. Habuerat enim unus ex his, qui eum occiderunt, comitibus inlicitum coniugium; quod cum episcopus prohibere et corrigere non posset, excommunicauit eum atque omnibus, qui se audire uellent, praecepit, ne domum eius intrarent, neque de cibis illius acciperent. Contemsit autem rex praeceptum, et rogatus a comite, intrauit epulaturus domum eius.

In which, nevertheless, by his innocuous death, according to the prediction of the man of God, his true fault was punished. For one of those counts who killed him had an illicit coniugium; and when the bishop could not prohibit and correct it, he excommunicated him and enjoined upon all who were willing to heed him that they should not enter his house nor take of his foods. The king, however, contemned the precept, and, at the count’s request, entered his house to feast.

Qui cum abisset, obuiauit ei antistes. At rex intuens eum, mox tremefactus desiluit equo, ceciditque ante pedes eius, ueniam reatus postulans. Nam et episcopus pariter desiluit; sederat enim et ipse in equo.

When he had gone out, the bishop met him. But the king, looking at him, at once, trembling, leapt down from his horse and fell before his feet, asking pardon for his guilt. For the bishop likewise dismounted; for he too had been sitting on a horse.

Iratus autem tetigit regem iacentem uirga, quam tenebat manu, et pontificali auctoritate protestatus: ‘Dico tibi,’ inquit, ‘quia noluisti te continere a domu perditi et damnati illius, tu in ipsa domu mori habes.’ Sed credendum est, quia talis mors uiri religiosi non solum talem culpam diluerit, sed etiam meritum eius auxerit; quia nimirum ob causam pietatis, quia propter obseruantiam mandatorum Christi contigit.

Angry, he touched the king as he lay with the rod which he was holding in his hand, and, protesting with pontifical authority: ‘I tell you,’ he said, ‘because you were unwilling to keep yourself away from the house of that lost and damned man, you are to die in that very house.’ But it is to be believed that such a death of a religious man not only has washed away such a fault, but has even increased his merit; since surely it befell for a cause of piety, because it happened on account of the observance of the commandments of Christ.

Successit autem Sigbercto in regnum Suidhelm, filius Sexbaldi, qui baptizatus est ab ipso Cedde in prouincia Orientalium Anglorum, in uico regio, qui dicitur Rendlæsham, id est mansio Rendili; suscepitque eum ascendentem de fonto sancto Aediluald rex ipsius gentis Orientalium Anglorum, frater Anna regis eorundem.

And Swithhelm, son of Sexbald, succeeded Sigberct in the kingdom; and he was baptized by Cedde himself in the province of the East Angles, in the royal vill which is called Rendlesham, that is, the mansion of Rendil; and Aedilwald, king of that nation of the East Angles, brother of Anna, king of the same, received him as he was ascending from the holy font.

[23] SOLEBAT autem idem uir Domini, cum apud Orientales Saxones episcopatus officio fungeretur, saepius etiam suam, id est Nordanhymbrorum, prouinciam exhortandi gratia reuisere: quem cum Oidiluald, filius Osualdi regis, qui in Derorum partibus regnum habebat, uirum sanctum et sapientem, probumque moribus uideret, postulauit eum possessionem terrae aliquam a se ad construendum monasterium accipere, in quo ipse rex et frequentius ad deprecandum Dominum uerbumque audiendum aduenire, et defunctus sepeliri deberet. Nam et se ipsum fideliter credidit multum iuuari eorum orationibus cotidianis, qui illo in loco Domino seruirent. Habuerat autem idem rex secum fratrem germanum eiusdem episcopi, uocabulo Caelin, uirum aeque Deo deuotum, qui ipsi ac familiae ipsius uerbum et sacramenta fidei, erat enim presbyter, ministrare solebat, per cuius notitiam maxime ad diligendum noscendumque episcopum peruenit.

[23] Moreover, the same man of the Lord was accustomed, when he was discharging the office of the episcopate among the East Saxons, to revisit also his own province, that is, of the Northumbrians, more often for the sake of exhorting: whom, when Oidilwald, son of King Oswald, who held the kingdom in the parts of the Deiri, saw to be a holy and wise man, and upright in morals, he asked to receive from him some possession of land for building a monastery, in which the king himself both might more frequently come to beseech the Lord and to hear the word, and, when deceased, ought to be buried. For he also faithfully believed that he himself would be greatly helped by the daily prayers of those who served the Lord in that place. Moreover, that same king had with him the full brother of that same bishop, by name Caelin, a man equally devoted to God, who was accustomed to minister the word and sacraments of the faith to him and to his household—for he was a presbyter—through whose acquaintance he chiefly came to arrive at both loving and knowing the bishop.

Fauens ergo uotis regis antistes elegit sibi locum monasterii construendi in montibus arduis ac remotis, in quibus latronum magis latibula, ac lustra ferarum, quam habitacula fuisse uidebantur hominum; ut, iuxta prophetiam Isaiae, ‘in cubilibus, in quibus prius dracones habitabant, oriretur uiror calami et iunci,’ id est fructus bonorum operum ibi nascerentur, ubi prius uel bestiae commorari, uel homines bestialiter uiuere consuerant.

Therefore, favoring the king’s vows, the prelate chose for himself a place for constructing a monastery in steep and remote mountains, in which the hideouts of robbers and the lairs of wild beasts seemed rather to have been than the habitations of men; so that, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, ‘in the lairs where before dragons used to dwell, the verdure of reed and rush might arise,’ that is, the fruits of good works might be born there, where previously either beasts were wont to abide, or men to live bestially.

Studens autem uir Domini acceptum monasterii locum primo precibus ac ieiuniis a pristina flagitiorum sorde purgare, et sic in eo monasterii fundamenta iacere, postulauit a rege, ut sibi totum XLmae tempus, quod instabat, facultatem ac licentiam ibidem orationis causa demorandi concederet. Quibus diebus cunctis, excepta dominica, ieiunium ad uesperam usque iuxta morem protelans, ne tunc quidem nisi panis permodicum, et unum ouum gallinaceum cum paruo lacte aqua mixto percipiebat. Dicebat enim hanc esse consuetudinem eorum, a quibus normam disciplinae regularis didicerat, ut accepta nuper loca ad faciendum monasterium uel ecclesiam, prius orationibus ac ieiuniis Domino consecrent.

But the man of the Lord, striving first to purge the place received for the monastery from the former sordidness of crimes by prayers and fastings, and thus to lay the foundations of the monastery in it, asked the king to grant him the whole time of Lent, which was at hand, the means and license to remain there for the sake of prayer. On all those days, except the Lord’s Day, prolonging the fast until evening according to custom, not even then did he take anything except a very small portion of bread, and one hen’s egg with a little milk mixed with water. For he used to say that this was the custom of those from whom he had learned the norm of regular discipline: that, when places have been newly received for the making of a monastery or a church, they first consecrate them to the Lord with prayers and fastings.

Cumque X dies XLmae restarent, uenit qui clamaret eum ad regem. At ille, ne opus religiosum negotiorum regalium causa intermitteretur, petiit presbyterum suum Cynibillum, qui etiam frater germanus erat ipsius, pia coepta conplere. Cui cum ille libenter adquiesceret, expleto studio ieiuniorum et orationis, fecit ibi monasterium, quod nunc Laestingaeu uocatur, et religiosis moribus iuxta ritus Lindisfarnensium, ubi educatus erat, instituit.

And when 10 days of the Forty (Lent) remained, there came one to summon him to the king. But he, lest the religious work be interrupted on account of royal business, asked his priest Cynibill, who also was his own full brother, to complete the pious undertakings. And when he gladly assented to him, with the course of fastings and prayer completed, he made a monastery there, which is now called Laestingaeu, and he instituted it with religious customs according to the rites of the Lindisfarnenses, where he had been brought up.

Qui cum annis multis et in praefata prouincia episcopatum administraret, et huius quoque monasterii statutis propositis curam gereret, casu contigit, ut ad ipsum monasterium tempore mortalitatis adueniens, tactus ibidem infirmitate corporis obiret. Qui primo quidem foris sepultus est; tempore autem procedente, in eodem monasterio ecclesia est in honorem beatae Dei genetricis de lapide facta, et in illa corpus ipsius ad dexteram altaris reconditum.

Who, when for many years he administered the episcopate in the aforesaid province and also bore care for this monastery, with its statutes set forth, it befell by chance that, coming to that monastery at a time of mortality, he was there touched by infirmity of body and passed away. He was at first indeed buried outside; but as time went on, in the same monastery a church was made of stone in honor of the blessed Mother of God, and in it his body was laid up at the right of the altar.

Dedit autem episcopus regendum post se monasterium fratri suo Ceadda, qui postea episcopus factus est, ut in sequentibus dicemus. IIII siquidem hi, quos diximus, germani fratres, Cedd, et Cynibill, et Caelin, et Ceadda, quod raro inuenitur, omnes sacerdotes Domini fuere praeclari, et duo ex eis etiam summi sacerdotii gradu functi sunt. Cum ergo episcopum defunctum ac sepultum in prouincia Nordanhymbrorum audirent fratres, qui in monasterio eius erant in prouincia Orientalium Saxonum, uenerunt illo de suo monasterio homines circiter XXX, cupientes ad corpus sui patris, aut uiuere, si sic Deo placeret, aut morientes ibi sepeliri.

Moreover, the bishop gave the monastery to be governed after him to his brother Ceadda, who afterwards was made bishop, as we shall say in what follows. For indeed these 4, whom we have mentioned, full brothers—Cedd, and Cynibill, and Caelin, and Ceadda—which is rarely found, were all distinguished priests of the Lord, and two of them also served in the grade of the highest priesthood. When therefore the brethren who were in his monastery in the province of the East Saxons heard that the bishop had died and had been buried in the province of the Northumbrians, there came thither from their monastery about 30 men, desiring at the body of their father either to live, if it should so please God, or, dying, to be buried there.

Qui libenter a suis fratribus et conmilitonibus suscepti, omnes ibidem superueniente praefatae pestilentiae clade defuncti sunt, excepto uno puerulo, quem orationibus patris sui a morte constat esse seruatum. Nam cum multo post haec tempore uiueret, et scripturis legendis operam daret, tandem didicit se aqua baptismatis non esse regeneratum, et mox fonte lauacri salutaris ablutus, etiam postmodum ad ordinem presbyterii promotus est, multisque in ecclesia utilis fuit; de quo dubitandum non crediderim, quin intercessionibus, ut dixi, sui patris, ad cuius corpus dilectionis ipsius gratia uenerat, sit ab articulo mortis retentus, ut et ipse sic mortem euaderet aeternam, et aliis quoque fratribus ministerium uitae ac salutis docendo exhiberet.

Who, being gladly received by their own brethren and fellow-soldiers, all there, upon the supervening onset of the aforesaid plague, died, except for one little boy, whom it is agreed was preserved from death by his father’s prayers. For when he lived on long after these things, and applied himself to reading the Scriptures, at length he learned that he had not been regenerated by the water of baptism; and soon, washed in the font of the salutary laver, he was afterwards promoted to the order of the presbyterate, and was useful to many in the Church. Of whom I would not believe it to be doubted that, by the intercessions, as I said, of his father—at whose body, for the sake of his love, he had come—he was held back from the article of death, so that he himself might thus escape eternal death, and might also render to other brethren a ministry of life and salvation by teaching.

[24] HIS temporibus rex Osuiu, cum acerbas atque intolerabiles pateretur inruptiones saepe dicti regis Merciorum, qui fratrem eius occiderat, ad ultimum necessitate cogente promisit se ei innumera et maiora, quam credi potest, ornamenta regia uel donaria in pretium pacis largiturum, dummodo ille domum rediret, et prouincias regni eius usque ad internicionem uastare desineret. Cumque rex perfidus nullatenus precibus illius assensum praeberet, qui totam eius gentem a paruo usque ad magnum delere atque exterminare decreuerat, respexit ille ad diuinae auxilium pietatis, quo ab impietate barbarica posset eripi; uotoque se obligans: ‘Si paganus,’ inquit, ‘nescit accipere nostra donaria, offeramus ei, qui nouit, Domino Deo nostro.’ Uouit ergo, quia, si uictor existeret, filiam suam Domino sacra uirginitate dicandam offerret, simul et XII possessiones praediorum ad construenda monasteria donaret; et sic cum paucissimo exercitu se certamini dedit. Denique fertur, quia tricies maiorem pagani habuerint exercitum; siquidem ipsi XXX legiones ducibus nobilissimis instructas in bello habuere, quibus Osuiu rex cum Alchfrido filio, perparuum, ut dixi, habens exercitum, sed Christo duce confisus, occurrit.

[24] In these times King Osuiu, when he was suffering bitter and intolerable inruptions from the oft-mentioned king of the Mercians, who had killed his brother, at last, compelled by necessity, promised that he would lavish upon him innumerable and greater regal ornaments and donaries (gifts) than can be believed as the price of peace, provided only that he would return home and cease to lay waste the provinces of his kingdom to the point of internecine destruction. And when that perfidious king by no means would grant assent to his entreaties—he who had decreed to destroy and exterminate all his people from small to great—Osuiu looked to the help of divine piety, by which he might be snatched from barbaric impiety; and binding himself by a vow, he said: “If the pagan does not know how to receive our donaries, let us offer to Him who knows, to the Lord our God.” He vowed, therefore, that, if he should come forth victorious, he would offer his daughter to the Lord to be dedicated in sacred virginity, and likewise would grant 12 possessions of estates for building monasteries; and so with a very small army he committed himself to the contest. Finally, it is reported that the pagans had an army thirty times larger; indeed, they themselves had 30 legions drawn up under most noble leaders for war, against whom King Osuiu, with his son Alchfrid, having, as I said, a very small army, but trusting Christ as his leader, advanced to meet them.

Nam alius filius eius Ecgfrid eo tempore in prouincia Merciorum apud reginam Cynuise obses tenebatur; filius autem Osualdi regis Oidiluald, qui eis auxilio esse debuerat, in parte erat aduersariorum, eisdemque contra patriam et patruum suum pugnaturis ductor exstiterat, quamuis ipso tempore pugnandi sese pugnae subtraxerat, euentumque discriminis tuto in loco exspectabat. Inito ergo certamine fugati sunt et caesi pagani, duces regii XXX, qui ad auxilium uenerant, pene omnes interfecti; in quibus Aedilheri, frater Anna regis Orientalium Anglorum, qui post eum regnauit, auctor ipse belli, perditis militibus siue auxiliis interemtus est. Et quia prope fluuium Uinuaed pugnatum est, qui tunc prae inundantia pluuiarum late alueum suum immo omnes ripas suas transierat, contigit, ut multo plures aqua fugientes, quam bellantes perderet ensis.

Now another son of his, Ecgfrid, at that time in the province of the Mercians was held as a hostage with Queen Cynwise; but the son of King Oswald, Oidilwald, who ought to have been a help to them, was on the side of the adversaries, and for those same, about to fight against their country and his uncle, had become a leader, although at the very time of fighting he had withdrawn himself from the battle, and was awaiting the outcome of the crisis in a safe place. Therefore, the battle having been joined, the pagans were routed and cut down, the 30 royal leaders who had come to help being almost all slain; among whom Aedilheri, brother of Anna, king of the East Angles, who reigned after him, himself the author of the war, with his soldiers or auxiliaries lost, was killed. And because it was fought near the river Winwaed, which then, on account of the inundation of the rains, had widely gone beyond its channel, indeed beyond all its banks, it befell that the water destroyed many more who were fleeing than the sword did those fighting.

Tum rex Osuiu, iuxta quod Domino uouerat, pro conlata sibi uictoria gratias Deo referens dedit filiam suam Aelffledam, quae uixdum unius anni aetatem inpleuerat, perpetua ei uirginitate consecrandam; donatis insuper XII possessiunculis terrarum, in quibus ablato studio militiae terrestris, ad exercendam militiam caelestem, supplicandumque pro pace gentis eius aeterna, deuotioni sedulae monachorum locus facultasque suppeteret. E quibus uidelicet possessiunculis sex in prouincia Derorum, sex in Berniciorum dedit. Singulae uero possessiones X erant familiarum, id est simul omnes CXX.

Then King Osuiu, according to what he had vowed to the Lord, returning thanks to God for the victory conferred upon him, gave his daughter Aelffled, who had scarcely completed the age of one year, to be consecrated to Him in perpetual virginity; and he furthermore donated 12 little holdings of land, in which, with zeal for earthly soldiery laid aside, for the exercising of the heavenly soldiery, and for making supplication for the eternal peace of his nation, there might be supplied to the diligent devotion of the monks both place and means. Of which holdings, namely, he gave six in the province of the Deiri, six in that of the Bernicians. And each holding was of 10 households, that is, altogether 120.

Intrauit autem praefata regis Osuiu filia Deo dedicanda monasterium, quod nuncupatur Heruteu, id est insula cerui, cui tunc Hild abbatissa praefuit. Quae post biennium conparata possessione X familiarum in loco, qui dicitur Streanæshalch, ibi monasterium construxit; in quo memorata regis filia primo discipula uitae regularis, deinde etiam magistra extitit, donec conpleto undeLX annorum numero, ad conplexum et nuptias sponsi caelestis uirgo beata intraret. In quo monasterio et ipsa, et pater eius Osuiu, et mater eius Aeanfled, et pater matris eius Aeduini, et multi alii nobiles in ecclesia sancti apostoli Petri sepulti sunt.

Moreover, the aforesaid daughter of King Osuiu, to be dedicated to God, entered the monastery which is called Heruteu, that is, the island of the hart, over which at that time Hild was abbess. After two years, having obtained a possession of 10 families in the place which is called Streanæshalch, she built a monastery there; in which the aforesaid daughter of the king was at first a disciple of the regular life, and then even a mistress, until, the number of 59 years completed, the blessed virgin might enter to the embrace and nuptials of the heavenly bridegroom. In which monastery both she herself, and her father Osuiu, and her mother Aeanfled, and the father of her mother, Edwin, and many other nobles, were buried in the church of the holy apostle Peter.

Hoc autem bellum rex Osuiu in regione Loidis tertio decimo regni sui anno, XVIIa die Kalendarum Decembrium cum magna utriusque populi utilitate confecit. Nam et suam gentem ab hostili paganorum depopulatione liberauit, et ipsam gentem Merciorum finitimarumque prouinciarum, desecto capite perfido, ad fidei Christianae gratiam conuertit.

Now this war King Osuiu in the region of Loidis, in the 13th year of his reign, on the 17th day before the Kalends of December (November 15), brought to a close with great advantage for both peoples. For he both freed his nation from the hostile depredation of the pagans, and the very nation of the Mercians and the neighboring provinces, the perfidious head having been cut off, he converted to the grace of the Christian faith.

Primus autem in prouincia Merciorum, simul et Lindisfarorum ac Mediterraneorum Anglorum, factus est episcopus Diuma, ut supra diximus, qui apud Mediterraneos Anglos defunctus ac sepultus est; secundus Cellach, qui relicto episcopatus officio uiuens ad Scottiam rediit, uterque de genere Scottorum; tertius Trumheri, de natione quidem Anglorum, sed edoctus et ordinatus a Scottis, qui erat abbas in monasterio, quod dicitur Ingetlingum. Ipse est locus, ubi occisus est rex Osuini, ut supra meminimus. Nam regina Aeanfled propinqua illius, ob castigationem necis eius iniustae, postulauit a rege Osuio, ut donaret ibi locum monasterio construendo praefato Dei famulo Trumheræ, quia propinquus et ipse erat regis occisi; in quo uidelicet monasterio orationes assiduae pro utriusque regis, id est et occisi, et eius, qui occidere iussit, salute aeterna fierent.

First, moreover, in the province of the Mercians, and likewise of the Lindisfaras and the Middle Angles, Diuma was made bishop, as we said above, who among the Middle Angles died and was buried; second, Cellach, who, leaving the office of the episcopate, returned alive to Scotia, both of the race of the Scots; third, Trumhere, indeed of the nation of the Angles, but taught and ordained by the Scots, who was abbot in the monastery which is called Ingetlingum. This is the place where King Oswine was slain, as we have mentioned above. For Queen Aeanfled, his kinswoman, for the chastisement of his unjust killing, asked of King Oswiu that he grant there a place for constructing a monastery to the aforesaid servant of God, Trumheræ, because he too was a kinsman of the slain king; in which monastery, namely, assiduous prayers might be made for the eternal salvation of both kings, that is, both of the one slain and of him who ordered the slaying.

Idem autem rex Osuiu tribus annis post occisionem Pendan regis, Merciorum genti necnon et ceteris australium prouinciarum populis praefuit; qui etiam gentem Pictorum maxima ex parte regno Anglorum subiecit.

But the same King Osuiu, for three years after the slaying of King Penda, presided over the people of the Mercians as well as the other peoples of the southern provinces; he also subjected the nation of the Picts, for the most part, to the kingdom of the Angles.

Quo tempore donauit praefato Peada filio regis Pendan, eo quod esset cognatus suus, regnum Australium Merciorum, qui sunt, ut dicunt, familiarum quinque milium, discreti fluuio Treanta, ab Aquilonaribus Merciis, quorum terra est familiarum VII milium. Sed idem Peada proximo uere multum nefarie peremtus est, proditione, ut dicunt, coniugis suae in ipso tempore festi paschalis. Conpletis autem tribus annis post interfectionem Pendan regis, rebellarunt aduersus regem Osuiu duces gentis Merciorum, Immin, et Eafa, et Eadberct, leuato in regem Uulfhere filio eiusdem Pendan adulescente, quem occultum seruauerant, et eiectis principibus regis non proprii, fines suos fortiter simul et libertatem receperunt; sicque cum suo rege liberi, Christo uero regi pro sempiterno in caelis regno seruire gaudebant.

At which time he granted to the aforesaid Peada, son of King Penda—because he was his kinsman—the kingdom of the Southern Mercians, who are, as they say, of five thousand families, separated by the river Trent from the Northern Mercians, whose land is of 7 thousand families. But this same Peada in the next spring was very nefariously slain, by the treachery, as they say, of his wife, at the very time of the Paschal feast. And when three years had been completed after the killing of King Penda, the leaders of the nation of the Mercians—Immin, and Eafa, and Eadberht—rebelled against King Oswiu, having raised to be king Wulfhere, the adolescent son of that same Penda, whom they had kept hidden; and, the chieftains of a king not their own having been cast out, they stoutly recovered both their borders and their liberty together; and thus, free with their own king, they rejoiced to serve Christ the true King for an everlasting kingdom in the heavens.

Praefuit autem rex idem genti Merciorum annis X et VII, habuitque primum episcopum Trumheri, de quo supra diximus, secundum Iaruman, tertium Ceaddan, quartum Uynfridum. Omnes hi per ordinem sibimet succedentes sub rege Uulfhere, gentis Merciorum episcopatu sunt functi.

Moreover, the same king presided over the nation of the Mercians for 17 years, and he had as first bishop Trumhere, of whom we have spoken above; second, Jaruman; third, Chad; fourth, Winfrid. All these, succeeding one another in order under King Wulfhere, exercised the episcopate of the nation of the Mercians.

[25] INTEREA Aidano episcopo de hac uita sublato, Finan pro illo gradum episcopatus a Scottis ordinatus ac missus acceperat. Qui in insula Lindisfarnensi fecit ecclesiam episcopali sedi congruam; quam tamen more Scottorum non de lapide, sed de robore secto totam conposuit, atque harundine texit; quam tempore sequente reuerentissimus archiepiscopus Theodorus in honore beati apostoli Petri dedicauit. Sed et episcopus loci ipsius Eadberct ablata harundine, plumbi lamminis eam totam, hoc est et tectum, et ipsos quoque parietes eius, cooperire curauit.

[25] MEANWHILE, with Bishop Aidan taken up from this life, Finan had received, having been ordained and sent by the Scots, the degree of the episcopate in his stead. He made on the island of Lindisfarne a church suitable for an episcopal see; which, however, in the manner of the Scots, he constructed entirely not of stone, but of hewn oak, and covered it with reed; which, at a later time, the most reverend Archbishop Theodore dedicated in honor of the blessed apostle Peter. But also the bishop of that same place, Eadberct, the reed having been removed, took care to cover it all with plates of lead, that is both the roof, and the very walls themselves.

His temporibus quaestio facta est frequens et magna de obseruatione paschae, confirmantibus eis, qui de Cantia uel de Galliis aduenerant, quod Scotti dominicum paschae diem contra uniuersalis ecclesiae morem celebrarent. Erat in his acerrimus ueri paschae defensor nomine Ronan, natione quidem Scottus, sed in Galliae uel Italiae partibus regulam ecclesiasticae ueritatis edoctus. Qui cum Finano confligens, multos quidem correxit, uel ad solertiorem ueritatis inquisitionem accendit, nequaquam tamen Finanum emendare potuit; quin potius, quod esset homo ferocis animi, acerbiorem castigando et apertum ueritatis aduersarium reddidit.

In these times a frequent and great question was raised about the observance of Pascha, with those who had arrived from Kent or from Gaul affirming that the Scots celebrated the Lord’s day of Pascha contrary to the custom of the universal Church. Among these there was a most keen defender of the true Pasch named Ronan, by nation indeed a Scot, but in the parts of Gaul or Italy taught in the rule of ecclesiastical truth. He, contending with Finan, corrected many, or kindled them to a more diligent inquiry of the truth; yet he could by no means amend Finan; nay rather, because he was a man of fierce spirit, by chastising he made him more bitter and an open adversary of the truth.

Obseruabat autem Iacob diaconus quondam, ut supra docuimus, uenerabilis archiepiscopi Paulini, uerum et catholicum pascha cum omnibus, quos ad correctiorem uiam erudire poterat. Obseruabat et regina Eanfled cum suis, iuxta quod in Cantia fieri uiderat, habens secum de Cantia presbyterum catholicae obseruationis, nomine Romanum. Unde nonnumquam contigisse fertur illis temporibus, ut bis in anno uno pascha celebraretur, et cum rex pascha dominicum solutis ieiuniis faceret, tum regina cum suis persistens adhuc in ieiunio diem palmarum celebraret.

Now James the deacon, once, as we have taught above, of the venerable archbishop Paulinus, observed the true and catholic Easter with all whom he was able to instruct to the more correct way. The queen Eanfled also observed it with her own, according to what she had seen done in Kent, having with her from Kent a presbyter of catholic observance, named Romanus. Whence it is said sometimes to have happened in those times that Easter was celebrated twice in a single year; and when the king, with the fasts ended, would keep the Lord’s Easter, then the queen, with her household, still persisting in fasting, would celebrate Palm Sunday.

Haec autem dissonantia paschalis obseruantiae uiuente Aidano patienter ab omnibus tolerabatur, qui patenter intellexerant, quia, etsi pascha contra morem eorum, qui ipsum miserant, facere non potuit, opera tamen fidei, pietatis, et dilectionis, iuxta morem omnibus sanctis consuetum, diligenter exsequi curauit. Unde ab omnibus, etiam his, qui de pascha aliter sentiebant, merito diligebatur; nec solum a mediocribus, uerum ab ipsis quoque episcopis, Honorio Cantuariorum, et Felice Orientalium Anglorum, uenerationi habitus est.

Moreover, this dissonance of paschal observance, while Aidan was alive, was patiently tolerated by all, who had plainly understood that, although he could not celebrate Easter contrary to the custom of those who had sent him, nevertheless he took care diligently to execute works of faith, piety, and dilection, according to the manner customary among all the saints. Whence he was deservedly loved by all, even by those who thought otherwise about Easter; and he was held in veneration not only by people of middling rank, but even by the bishops themselves, Honorius of the people of Canterbury, and Felix of the East Angles.

Defuncto autem Finano, qui post illum fuit, cum Colmanus in episcopatum succederet, et ipse missus a Scottia, grauior de obseruatione paschae, necnon et de aliis ecclesiasticae uitae disciplinis controuersia nata est. Unde merito mouit haec quaestio sensus et corda multorum, timentium, ne forte accepto Christianitatis uocabulo, in uacuum currerent aut cucurrissent. Peruenit et ad ipsas principum aures, Osuiu uidelicet regis, et filii eius Alchfridi.

But when Finan, who had followed him, died, and Colman was succeeding to the episcopate—he also sent from Scotia—a graver controversy arose about the observance of Pascha, and likewise about other disciplines of ecclesiastical life. Whence this question rightly moved the minds and hearts of many, fearing lest, after receiving the name of Christianity, they might be running or have run in vain. It reached even the very ears of the princes, namely of King Oswiu and his son Alchfrid.

Quia nimirum Osuiu a Scottis edoctus ac baptizatus, illorum etiam lingua optime inbutus, nil melius, quam quod illi docuissent, autumabat; porro Alchfrid magistrum habens eruditionis Christianae Uilfridum uirum doctissimum (nam et Romam prius propter doctrinam ecclesiasticam adierat, et apud Dalfinum archiepiscopum Galliarum Lugdoni multum temporis egerat, a quo etiam tonsurae ecclesiasticae coronam susceperat), huius doctrinam omnibus Scottorum traditionibus iure praeferendam sciebat; unde ei etiam donauerat monasterium XL familiarum in loco, qui dicitur Inhrypum. Quem uidelicet locum paulo ante eis, qui Scottos sequebantur, in possessionem monasterii dederat. Sed quia illi postmodum data sibi optione magis loco cedere, quam suam mutare consuetudinem uolebant, dedit eum illi, qui dignam loco et doctrinam haberet, et uitam.

For indeed Osuiu, instructed and baptized by the Scots, and excellently imbued with their language, maintained that nothing was better than what they had taught; moreover Alchfrid, having as his master in Christian erudition Wilfrid, a most learned man (for he had earlier gone to Rome for ecclesiastical doctrine, and had spent much time at Lyon with Dalphinus, archbishop of the Gauls, from whom also he had received the crown of ecclesiastical tonsure), knew that this man’s doctrine ought by right to be preferred to all the traditions of the Scots; whence he had also donated to him a monastery of 40 families in the place which is called Inhrypum. Which place indeed he had a little before given, into possession of a monastery, to those who followed the Scots. But because they, afterward, when an option was given them, were willing rather to yield the place than to change their own custom, he gave it to him who had both a doctrine and a life worthy of the place.

Uenerat eo tempore Agilberctus Occidentalium Saxonum episcopus, cuius supra meminimus, amicus Alchfridi regis et Uilfridi abbatis, ad prouinciam Nordanhymbrorum, et apud eos aliquandiu demorabatur; qui etiam Uilfridum rogatu Alchfridi in praefato suo monasterio presbyterum fecit. Habebat autem secum ipse presbyterum nomine Agathonem. Mota ergo ibi quaestione de pascha, uel tonsura, uel aliis rebus ecclesiasticis, dispositum est, ut in monasterio, quod dicitur Strenœshalc, quod interpretatur sinus Fari, cui tunc Hild abbatissa Deo deuota femina praefuit, synodus fieri, et haec quaestio terminari deberet.

At that time Agilberct, bishop of the West Saxons—whom we have mentioned above—had come to the province of the Northumbrians, and was staying among them for some while; he also, at the request of Alchfrid, made Uilfrid a presbyter in his aforesaid monastery. He had with him, moreover, a presbyter named Agatho. Therefore, a question having been raised there about the Pasch (Easter), or the tonsure, or other ecclesiastical matters, it was arranged that in the monastery which is called Strenœshalc, which is interpreted “the bay of the lighthouse,” over which at that time Hild, an abbess, a woman devoted to God, presided, a synod should be held, and this question should be brought to a conclusion.

Ueneruntque illo rcges ambo, pater scilicet et filius; episcopi, Colman cum clericis suis de Scottia, Agilberctus cum Agathone et Uilfrido presbyteris. Iacobus et Romanus in horum parte erant; Hild abbatissa cum suis in parte Scottorum, in qua erat etiam uenerabilis episcopus Cedd, iamdudum ordinatus a Scottis, ut supra docuimus, qui et interpres in eo concilio uigilantissimus utriusque partis extitit.

And the kings both came there, namely father and son; the bishops—Colman with his clerics from the Scots, Agilbert with Agathon and Wilfrid, presbyters. Jacob and Romanus were on the side of these; Hild the abbess with her own were on the side of the Scots, in which there was also the venerable bishop Cedd, long since ordained by the Scots, as we have taught above, who also in that council stood forth as the most vigilant interpreter for both parties.

Primusque rex Osuiu praemissa praefatione, quod oporteret eos, qui uni Deo seruirent, unam uiuendi regulam tenere, nec discrepare in celebratione sacramentorum caelestium, qui unum omnes in caelis regnum expectarent; inquirendum potius, quae esset uerior traditio, et hanc ab omnibus communiter esse sequendam; iussit primo dicere episcopum suum Colmanum, qui esset ritus et unde originem ducens ille, quem ipse sequeretur. Tum Colmanus: ‘Pascha,’ inquit, ‘hoc, quod agere soleo, a maioribus meis accepi, qui me huc episcopum miserunt, quod omnes patres nostri, uiri Deo dilecti, eodem modo celebrasse noscuntur. Quod ne cui contemnendum et reprobandum esse uideatur, ipsum est, quod beatus euangelista Iohannes, discipulus specialiter Domino dilectus, cum omnibus, quibus praeerat, ecclesiis celebrasse legitur.’ Quo haec et his similia dicente, iussit rex et Agilberctum proferre in medium morem suae obseruationis, unde initium haberet, uel qua hunc auctoritate sequeretur.

And first King Osuiu, with a preface set forth beforehand, that it was fitting that those who served the one God should hold one rule of living, nor disagree in the celebration of the celestial sacraments, who all expected one kingdom in the heavens; that rather inquiry should be made as to what tradition was truer, and that this was to be followed in common by all; ordered first that his bishop Colman say what the rite was, and whence drawing its origin, that which he himself followed. Then Colman said: ‘This Pasch, which I am accustomed to celebrate, I received from my elders, who sent me hither as bishop, which all our fathers, men beloved by God, are known to have celebrated in the same manner. Lest it seem to anyone that this is to be despised and rejected, it is the very thing which the blessed Evangelist John, the disciple specially beloved by the Lord, is read to have celebrated with all the churches over which he presided.’ When he spoke these things and the like, the king also ordered Agilberct to bring forward into the midst the manner of his observance, whence it had its beginning, and by what authority he followed it.

Respondit Agilberctus: ‘Loquatur, obsecro, uice mea discipulus meus Uilfrid presbyter, quia unum ambo sapimus cum ceteris, qui hic adsident, ecclesiasticae traditionis cultoribus; et ille melius ac manifestius ipsa lingua Anglorum, quam ego per interpretem, potest explanare, quae sentimus.’ Tum Uilfrid, iubente rege, ut diceret, ita exorsus est: ‘Pasca, quod facimus,’ inquit, ‘uidimus Romae, ubi beati apostoli Petrus et Paulus uixere, docuere, passi sunt, et sepulti, ab omnibus celebrari; hoc in Italia, hoc in Gallia, quas discendi uel orandi studio pertransiuimus, ab omnibus agi conspeximus; hoc Africam, Asiam, Aegyptum, Greciam, et omnem orbem, quacumque Christi ecclesia diffusa est, per diuersas nationes et linguas, uno ac non diuerso temporis ordine geri conperimus; praeter hos tantum et obstinationis eorum conplices, Pictos dico et Brettones, cum quibus de duabus ultimis oceani insulis, et his non totis, contra totum orbem stulto labore pugnant.’ Cui haec dicenti respondit Colmanus: ‘Mirum quare stultum appellare uelitis laborem nostrum, in quo tanti apostoli, qui super pectus Domini recumbere dignus fuit, exempla sectamur; cum ipsum sapientissime uixisse omnis mundus nouerit.’ At Uilfridus: ‘Absit,’ inquit, ‘ut Iohannem stultitiae reprehendamus, cum scita legis Mosaicae iuxta litteram seruaret, iudaizante adhuc in multis ecclesia, nec subito ualentibus apostolis omnem legis obseruantiam, quae a Deo instituta est, abdicare (quomodo simulacra, quae a daemonibus inuenta sunt, repudiare omnes, qui ad fidem ueniunt, necesse est), uidelicet ne scandalum facerent eis, qui inter gentes erant Iudaeis. Hinc est enim, quod Paulus Timotheum circumcidit, quod hostias in templo immolauit, quod cum Aquila et Priscilla caput Chorinti totondit; ad nihil uidelicet utile, nisi ad scandalum uitandum Iudaeorum. Hinc quod eidem Paulo Iacobus ait: “Uides, frater, quot milia sunt in Iudaeis, qui crediderunt; et omnes hi aemulatores sunt legis.” Nec tamen hodie clarescente per mundum euangelio necesse est, immo nec licitum fidelibus uel circumcidi, uel hostias Deo uictimarum offerre carnalium.

Agilbert answered: ‘Let my disciple Wilfrid the presbyter speak, I beseech, in my stead, since we both are of one mind with the others who sit here, cultivators of ecclesiastical tradition; and he can explain better and more plainly in the very tongue of the English than I through an interpreter can set forth what we think.’ Then Wilfrid, at the king’s bidding to speak, thus began: ‘The Pasch, which we observe,’ he said, ‘we saw at Rome, where the blessed apostles Peter and Paul lived, taught, suffered, and are buried, being celebrated by all; this in Italy, this in Gaul, which we traversed for the zeal of learning or of praying, we observed to be done by all; this in Africa, Asia, Egypt, Greece, and the whole world, wherever the Church of Christ is diffused, through diverse nations and tongues, we have found conducted with one and not a different order of time; except only these and the accomplices of their obstinacy, I mean the Picts and the Britons, with whom, from the two farthest islands of the Ocean, and not even these in their entirety, they fight with foolish labor against the whole world.’ To him saying these things Colman replied: ‘A marvel why you should wish to call our labor foolish, in which we follow the examples of so great an apostle, who was worthy to recline upon the breast of the Lord; since the whole world knows that he himself lived most wisely.’ But Wilfrid: ‘Far be it,’ he said, ‘that we should reprove John of foolishness, since he observed the enactments of the Mosaic Law according to the letter, the Church still judaizing in many things, nor were the apostles able suddenly to abdicate every observance of the Law, which was instituted by God (just as it is necessary that all who come to the faith repudiate idols, which were invented by demons), namely, lest they should cause scandal to the Jews who were among the nations. Hence it is that Paul circumcised Timothy, that he offered victims in the Temple, that with Aquila and Priscilla he shaved his head at Corinth; evidently to nothing useful, except to avoid the scandal of the Jews. Hence that James said to the same Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed; and all these are zealots for the Law.” Nor yet today, the Gospel shining through the world, is it necessary, nay nor lawful, for the faithful either to be circumcised, or to offer to God sacrifices of carnal victims.’

Itaque Iohannes secundum legis consuetudinem XIIIIa die mensis primi ad uesperam incipiebat celebrationem festi paschalis, nil curans, utrum haec sabbato, an alia qualibet feria proueniret. At uero Petrus cum Romae praedicaret, memor, quia Dominus prima sabbati resurrexit a mortuis, ac mundo spem resurrectionis contulit, ita pascha faciendum intellexit, ut secundum consuetudinem ac praecepta legis XIIIIam lunam primi mensis, aeque sicut Iohannes, orientem ad uesperam semper exspectaret; et hac exorta, si dominica dies, quae tunc prima sabbati uocabatur, erat mane uentura, in ipsa uespera pascha dominicum celebrare incipiebat, quomodo et nos omnes hodie facere solemus. Sin autem dominica non proximo mane post lunam XIIIIam, sed XVIa aut XVIIa aut alia qualibet luna usque ad XXIam esset uentura, exspectabat eam, et praecedente sabbato, uespere, sacrosancta paschae sollemnia inchoabat; sicque fiebat, ut dominica paschae dies nonnisi a XVa luna usque ad XXIam seruaretur.

And so John, according to the custom of the Law, began the celebration of the Paschal feast on the evening of the 14th day of the first month, caring nothing whether this fell on the Sabbath or on any other weekday. But Peter, when he was preaching at Rome, mindful that the Lord rose from the dead on the first of the Sabbath (i.e., Sunday) and bestowed on the world the hope of resurrection, understood that the Pasch should be kept thus: that, according to the custom and precepts of the Law, he should always await, just as John did, the 14th moon of the first month rising at evening; and when this had risen, if the Lord’s Day, which then was called the first of the Sabbath, was going to come the next morning, he began to celebrate the Lord’s Pasch on that very evening, as we all are wont to do today. But if the Sunday was going to come not on the next morning after the 14th moon, but on the 16th or 17th or on any other moon up to the 21st, he awaited it, and, when the Sabbath had preceded, in the evening he began the most sacrosanct solemnities of Pascha; and thus it came about that the Sunday of Pascha was observed only from the 15th moon up to the 21st.

Neque haec euangelica et apostolica traditio legem soluit, sed potius adimplet, in qua obseruandum pascha a XIIIIa luna primi mensis ad uesperam usque ad XXIam lunam eiusdem mensis ad uesperam praeceptum est; in quam obseruantiam imitandam omnes beati Iohannis successores in Asia post obitum eius, et omnis per orbem ecclesia conuersa est. Et hoc esse uerum pascha, hoc solum fidelibus celebrandum, Niceno concilio non statutum nouiter, sed confirmatum est, ut ecclesiastica docet historia. Unde constat uos, Colmane, neque Iohannis, ut autumatis, exempla sectari, neque Petri, cuius traditioni scientes contradicitis, neque legi, neque euangelio in obseruatione uestri paschae congruere.

Nor does this evangelical and apostolic tradition dissolve the Law, but rather fulfills it, in which it has been prescribed that the Pascha be observed from the 14th moon of the first month at evening up to the 21st moon of the same month at evening; into the imitation of which observance all the successors of the blessed John in Asia after his death, and the whole church throughout the world, have been converted. And that this is the true Pascha, this alone to be celebrated by the faithful, was not newly decreed at the Nicene council, but was confirmed, as ecclesiastical history teaches. Whence it is evident that you, Colman, neither follow the examples of John, as you suppose, nor of Peter, whose tradition you knowingly contradict, nor agree with the Law nor with the Gospel in your observance of your Pascha.

Iohannes enim ad legis Mosaicae decreta tempus paschale custodiens, nil de prima sabbati curabat; quod uos non facitis, qui nonnisi prima sabbati pascha celebratis. Petrus a XVa luna usque ad XXIam diem paschae dominicum celebrabat; quod uos non facitis, qui a XIIIIa usque ad XXam lunam diem dominicum paschae obseruatis; ita ut XIIIa luna ad uesperam saepius pascha incipiatis, cuius neque lex ullam fecit mentionem, neque auctor ac dator euangelii Dominus in ea, sed in XIIIIa uel uetus pascha manducauit ad uesperam, uel noui testamenti sacramenta in commemorationem suae passionis ecclesiae celebranda tradidit. Item lunam XXIam, quam lex maxime celebrandam commendauit, a celebratione uestri paschae funditus eliminatis; sicque, ut dixi, in celebratione summae festiuitatis neque Iohanni, neque Petro, neque legi, neque euangelio concordatis.’

For John, keeping the Paschal season according to the decrees of the Mosaic Law, cared nothing about the first of the sabbath (Sunday); which you do not do, who celebrate Pascha only on the first of the sabbath. Peter celebrated the Lord’s Pascha from the 15th moon up to the 21st day; which you do not do, who observe the Lord’s day of Pascha from the 14th up to the 20th moon; so that on the 13th moon at evening you often begin Pascha—of which neither the Law made any mention, nor did the Lord, author and giver of the Gospel, either eat the old Pascha at evening on it, or hand over to the Church the sacraments of the New Testament to be celebrated in commemoration of His Passion on it. Likewise the 21st moon, which the Law most especially commended to be celebrated, you utterly remove from the celebration of your Pascha; and thus, as I said, in the celebration of the highest festival you agree neither with John, nor with Peter, nor with the Law, nor with the Gospel.’

His contra Colmanus: ‘Numquid,’ ait, ‘Anatolius uir sanctus, et in praefata historia ecclesiastica multum laudatus, legi uel euangelio contraria sapuit, qui a XIIIIa usque ad XXam pascha celebrandum scripsit? Numquid reuerentissimum patrem nostrum Columbam et successores eius uiros Deo dilectos, qui eodem modo pascha fecerunt, diuinis paginis contraria sapuisse uel egisse credendum est? cum plurimi fuerint in eis, quorum sanctitati caelestia signa, et uirtutum quae fecerunt miracula testimonium praebuerunt; quos ipse sanctos esse non dubitans, semper eorum uitam, mores, et disciplinam sequi non desisto.’

Against these things Colman: ‘Surely,’ he said, ‘did Anatolius, a holy man and much praised in the aforesaid ecclesiastical history, think things contrary to the Law or the Gospel, he who wrote that pascha was to be celebrated from the 14th up to the 20th? Surely it is not to be believed that our most reverend father Columba and his successors, men beloved by God, who kept pascha in the same way, thought or did things contrary to the divine pages? since there were very many among them, to whose sanctity celestial signs, and the miracles of the virtues which they performed, bore testimony; whom I myself, not doubting that they are saints, do not cease always to follow in their life, morals, and discipline.’

At Uilfridus: ‘Constat,’ inquit, ‘Anatolium uirum sanctissimum, doctissimum, ac laude esse dignissimum; sed quid uobis cum illo, cum nec eius decreta seruetis? Ille enim in pascha suo regulam utique ueritatis sequens, circulum X et VIIII annorum posuit, quem uos aut ignoratis, aut agnitum et a tota Christi ecclesia custoditum pro nihilo contemnitis. Ille sic in pascha dominico XIIIIam lunam conputauit, ut hanc eadem ipsa die more Aegyptiorum XVam lunam ad uesperam esse fateretur.

But Wilfrid: ‘It is established,’ he says, ‘that Anatolius is a most holy man, most learned, and most worthy of praise; but what have you to do with him, since you do not even observe his decrees? For he, in his pascha, assuredly following the rule of truth, set a cycle of 19 years, which you either are ignorant of, or, though recognized and kept by the whole Church of Christ, you despise as nothing. He thus computed the 14th moon for the Lord’s pascha, so that he acknowledged that this, on that very same day, after the manner of the Egyptians, is the 15th moon at evening.’

Sic item XXam die dominico paschae adnotauit, ut hanc declinata eadem die esse XXIam crederet. Cuius regulam distinctionis uos ignorasse probat, quod aliquoties pascha manifestissime ante plenilunium, id est in XIIIa luna, facitis. De patre autem uestro Columba et sequacibus eius, quorum sanctitatem uos imitari, et regulam ac praecepta caelestibus signis confirmata sequi perhibetis, possem respondere; quia multis in iudicio dicentibus Domino, quod in nomine eius prophetauerint, et daemonia eiecerint, et uirtutes multas fecerint, responsurus sit Dominus, quia numquam eos nouerit.

S thus likewise he noted the 20th on the Lord’s Day of Pascha, so that, with the same day having declined, he believed it to be the 21st. That you have been ignorant of his rule of distinction is proved by this, that at times you most manifestly keep Pascha before the full moon, that is, on the 13th moon. But about your father Columba and his followers, whose sanctity you profess to imitate, and whose rule and precepts you assert to follow as confirmed by heavenly signs, I could reply; for to many who in the Judgment will be saying to the Lord that they have prophesied in his name, and cast out demons, and done many miracles, the Lord will be about to reply that he never knew them.

Sed absit, ut hoc de patribus uestris dicam, quia iustius multo est de incognitis bonum credere quam malum. Unde et illos Dei famulos ac Deo dilectos esse non nego, qui simplicitate rustica, sed intentione pia Deum dilexerunt. Neque illis multum obesse reor talem paschae obseruantiam, quamdiu nullus aduenerat, qui eis instituti perfectioris decreta, quae sequerentur, ostenderet; quos utique credo, siqui tunc ad eos catholicus calculator adueniret, sic eius monita fuisse secuturos, quomodo ea, quae nouerant ac didicerant, Dei mandata probantur fuisse secuti.

But far be it that I should say this about your fathers, since it is much more just to believe the good rather than the ill about unknown things. Whence I do not deny that they were servants of God and beloved by God, who, with rustic simplicity yet with pious intention, loved God. Nor do I think that such an observance of Pascha harmed them much, so long as no one had arrived who might show them the decrees of a more perfect institute to follow; and I surely believe that, if at that time some Catholic computist had come to them, they would have followed his admonitions just as they are shown to have followed the mandates of God which they knew and had learned.

Tu autem et socii tui, si audita decreta sedis apostolicae, immo uniuersalis ecclesiae, et haec litteris sacris confirmata sequi contemnitis, absque ulla dubietate peccatis. Etsi enim patres tui sancti fuerunt, numquid uniuersali, quae per orbem est, ecclesiae Christi eorum est paucitas uno de angulo extremae insulae praeferenda? Et si sanctus erat, ac potens uirtutibus ille Columba uester, immo et noster, si Christi erat, num praeferri potuit beatissimo apostolorum principi, cui Dominus ait: “Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam, et portae inferi non praeualebunt aduersus eam, et tibi dabo claues regni caelorum”?’

But you, however, and your associates, if, having heard the decrees of the apostolic see—nay, of the universal church—and these confirmed by sacred letters, you contemn to follow them, without any dubiety you sin. For even if your fathers were holy, is their paucity from one corner of the farthest island to be preferred to the universal church of Christ which is through the world? And if that Columba of yours—nay, ours as well, if he was Christ’s—was holy and potent in virtues, could he be preferred to the most blessed prince of the apostles, to whom the Lord said: “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven”?’

Haec perorante Uilfrido, dixit rex: ‘Uerene, Colmane, haec illi Petro dicta sunt a Domino?’ Qui ait: ‘Uere, rex.’ At ille: ‘Habetis,’ inquit, ‘uos proferre aliquid tantae potestatis uestro Columbae datum?’ At ille ait: ‘Nihil.’ Rursum rex: ‘Si utrique uestrum,’ inquit, ‘in hoc sine ulla controuersia consentiunt, quod haec principaliter Petro dicta, et ei claues regni caelorum sint datae a Domino?’ Responderunt: ‘Etiam,’ utrique. At ille ita conclusit: ‘Et ego uobis dico, quia hic est ostiarius ille, cui ego contradicere nolo; sed, in quantum noui uel ualeo, huius cupio in omnibus oboedire statutis; ne forte, me adueniente ad fores regni caelorum, non sit qui reserat, auerso illo, qui claues tenere probatur.’

As Wilfrid was concluding these things, the king said: ‘Truly, Colman, were these things said to that Peter by the Lord?’ He said: ‘Truly, king.’ But he: ‘Have you,’ he says, ‘to bring forth anything of such power given to your Columba?’ And he said: ‘Nothing.’ Again the king: ‘If both of you,’ he says, ‘agree in this without any controversy, that these things were said principally to Peter, and that to him the keys of the kingdom of the heavens were given by the Lord?’ They answered: ‘Yes,’ both. But he thus concluded: ‘And I say to you, that this is that doorkeeper, to whom I am unwilling to contradict; but, in so far as I know or am able, I desire to obey his statutes in all things; lest perchance, when I come to the doors of the kingdom of the heavens, there be no one to unbar them, he being turned away, who is proved to hold the keys.’

Haec dicente rege, fauerunt adsidentes quique siue adstantes maiores una cum mediocribus, et abdicata minus perfecta institutione, ad ea, quae meliora cognouerant, sese transferre festinabant.

As the king was saying these things, both those sitting and those standing, the greater together with the middling, showed favor, and, the less perfect institution having been abdicated, they were hastening to transfer themselves to those things which they had recognized as better.

[26] FINITOQUE conflictu, ac soluta contione, Agilberctus domum rediit. Colman uidens spretam suam doctrinam, sectamque esse dispectam, adsumtis his, qui se sequi uoluerunt, id est qui pascha catholicum et tonsuram coronae (nam et de hoc quaestio non minima erat) recipere nolebant, Scottiam regressus est, tractaturus cum suis, quid de his facere deberet. Cedd, relictis Scottorum uestigiis, ad suam sedem rediit, utpote agnita obseruatione catholici paschae.

[26] And with the conflict finished and the assembly dissolved, Agilbert went home. Colman, seeing his own doctrine spurned and his sect held in contempt, took up those who wished to follow him—that is, those who were unwilling to receive the catholic Pasch and the tonsure of the crown (for about this too there was no small question)—and returned to Scotia, to discuss with his own what he ought to do about these matters. Cedd, leaving behind the usages of the Scots, returned to his own see, since the observance of the catholic Pasch had been acknowledged.

Facta est autem haec quaestio anno dominicae incarnationis DCLXIIIIo, qui fuit annus Osuiu regis XXIIus, episcopatus autem Scottorum, quem gesserunt in prouincia Anglorum, annus XXXus; siquidem Aidan X et VII annis, Finan decem, Colman tribus episcopatum tenuere.

Moreover, this question was dealt with in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 664, which was the 22nd year of King Oswy, and the 30th year of the episcopate of the Scots, which they administered in the province of the English; since Aidan held the episcopate for 17 years, Finan for 10, and Colman for 3.

Reuerso autem patriam Colmano, suscepit pro illo pontificatum Nordanhymbrorum famulus Christi Tuda, qui erat apud Scottos austrinos eruditus, atque ordinatus episcopus, habens iuxta morem prouinciae illius coronam tonsurae ecclesiasticae, et catholicam temporis paschalis regulam obseruans; uir quidem bonus ac religiosus, sed permodico tempore ecclesiam regens. Uenerat autem de Scottia, tenente adhuc pontificatum Colmano, et diligenter ea, quae ad fidem ac ueritatem pertinent, et uerbo cunctos docebat, et opere. Porro fratribus, qui in Lindisfarnensi ecclesia, Scottis abeuntibus, remanere maluerunt, praepositus est abbatis iure uir reuerentissimus ac mansuetissimus Eata, qui erat abbas in monasterio, quod dicitur Mailros; quod aiunt Colmanum abiturum petisse et inpetrasse a rege Osuiu, eo quod esset idem Eata unus de XII pueris Aidani, quos primo episcopatus sui tempore de natione Anglorum erudiendos in Christo accepit.

But when Colman had returned to his native land, in his place the servant of Christ Tuda took up the pontificate of the Northumbrians; he had been trained among the southern Scots and ordained bishop, having, according to the custom of that province, the crown of ecclesiastical tonsure, and observing the catholic rule of the Paschal time; a man indeed good and religious, but governing the church for a very short time. He had come from Scotia (Ireland) while Colman was still holding the pontificate, and he diligently taught all, both by word and by deed, the things that pertain to faith and truth. Moreover, over the brothers who in the church of Lindisfarne, the Scots departing, preferred to remain, there was set, with the right of abbot, a most reverend and most gentle man, Eata, who was abbot in the monastery which is called Melrose; which, they say, Colman, being about to depart, asked for and obtained from King Oswiu, for this reason: that this same Eata was one of the 12 boys of Aidan, whom, at the beginning of his bishopric, he received from the nation of the Angles to be instructed in Christ.

Multum namque eundem episcopum Colmanum rex pro insita illi prudentia diligebat. Ipse est Eata, qui non multo post eidem ecclesiae Lindisfarnensi episcopus factus est. Abiens autem domum Colman adsumsit secum partem ossuum reuerentissimi patris Aidani; partem uero in ecclesia, cui praeerat, reliquit, et in secretario eius condi praecepit.

For the king greatly cherished that same bishop Colman, for the prudence inborn in him. This is Eata, who not long after was made bishop of that same church of Lindisfarne. But departing home, Colman took with him a part of the bones of the most reverend father Aidan; but a part he left in the church which he presided over, and he ordered it to be interred in its sacristy.

Quantae autem parsimoniae, cuius continentiae fuerit ipse cum prodecessoribus suis, testabatur etiam locus ille, quem regebant, ubi abeuntihus eis, excepta ecclesia, paucissimae domus repertae sunt, hoc est illae solummodo, sine quibus conuersatio ciuilis esse nullatenus poterat. Nil pecuniarum absque pecoribus habebant. Siquid enim pecuniae a diuitibus accipiebant, mox pauperibus dabant.

And of how great parsimony, of what continence he himself had been along with his predecessors, that very place which they governed also bore witness, where, upon their departing, except for the church, very few houses were found—namely only those without which civil way of life could nowise exist. They had nothing of monies apart from livestock. For if they received any money from the rich, they straightway gave it to the poor.

Nam neque ad susceptionem potentium saeculi, uel pecunias colligi, uel domus praeuideri necesse fuit, qui numquam ad ecclesiam nisi orationis tantum et audiendi uerbi Dei causa ueniebant. Rex ipse, cum oportunitas exegisset, cum V tantum aut VI ministris ueniebat, et expleta in ecclesia oratione discedebat. Quod si forte eos ibi refici contingeret, simplici tantum et cotidiano fratrum cibo contenti, nil ultra quaerebant.

For neither, for the reception of the potentates of the age, was it necessary that monies be collected or houses be provided in advance, since they never came to the church except for the sake of oration only and of hearing the word of God. The king himself, when opportunity required, came with only 5 or 6 ministers, and, the oration completed in the church, departed. But if by chance it befell that they were refreshed there, content with only the simple and daily food of the brothers, they sought nothing further.

Tota enim fuit tunc sollicitudo doctoribus illis Deo seruiendi, non saeculo; tota cura cordis excolendi, non uentris. Unde et in magna erat ueneratione tempore illo religionis habitus; ita ut, ubicumque clericus aliqui aut monachus adueniret, gaudenter ab omnibus tamquam Dei famulus exciperetur. Etiam si in itinere pergens inueniretur, adcurrebant, et flexa ceruice uel manu signari, uel ore illius se benedici gaudebant; uerbis quoque horum exhortatoriis diligenter auditum praebebant.

For the whole solicitude then of those doctors was of serving God, not the age; the whole care was of cultivating the heart, not the belly. Whence also in that time the habit of religion was in great veneration; so that, wherever any cleric or monk might arrive, he was gladly received by all as a famulus of God. Even if he were found going on the road, they would run up, and with neck bent they rejoiced either to be signed by his hand, or to be blessed by his mouth; and they also gave diligent hearing to their exhortatory words.

Sed et diebus dominicis ad ecclesiam siue ad monasteria certatim, non reficiendi corporis, sed audiendi sermonis Dei gratia confluebant; et siquis sacerdotum in uicum forte deueniret, mox congregati in unum uicani uerbum uitae ab illo expetere curabant. Nam neque alia ipsis sacerdotibus aut clericis uicos adeundi, quam praedicandi, baptizandi, infirmos uisitandi, et, ut breuiter dicam, animas curandi causa fuit; qui in tantum erant ab omni auaritiae peste castigati, ut nemo territoria ac possessiones ad construenda monasteria, nisi a potestatibus saeculi coactus, acciperet. Quae consuetudo per omnia aliquanto post haec tempore in ecclesiis Nordanhymbrorum seruata est.

But also on the Lord’s days they flocked together eagerly to the church or to the monasteries, not for the refreshing of the body, but for the sake of hearing the sermon of God; and if any one of the priests should perchance come down into a village, the villagers, soon gathered together into one, took care to seek from him the word of life. For there was for those priests or clerics no other cause of going to the villages than preaching, baptizing, visiting the infirm, and, to speak briefly, the cure of souls; who were chastened so far from every plague of avarice that no one would accept territories and possessions for constructing monasteries, unless compelled by the powers of the age (secular authorities). Which custom in all respects was observed for some time after these things in the churches of the Northumbrians.

Sed de his satis dictum.

But about these matters, enough has been said.

[27] EODEM autem anno dominicae incarnationis DCLXIIIIo, facta erat eclipsis solis die tertio mensis Maii, hora circiter Xa diei; quo etiam anno subita pestilentiae lues, depopulatis prius australibus Brittaniae plagis, Nordanhymbrorum quoque prouinciam corripiens, atque acerba clade diutius longe lateque desaeuiens, magnam hominum multitudinem strauit. Qua plaga praefatus Domini sacerdos Tuda raptus est de mundo, et in monasterio, quod uocatur Pægnalaech, honorifice sepultus. Haec autem plaga Hiberniam quoque insulam pari clade premebat.

[27] In the same year of the Lord’s Incarnation 664, an eclipse of the sun occurred on the third day of the month of May, at about the 10th hour of the day; in that same year also, a sudden pestilential plague, after the southern tracts of Britain had first been depopulated, seizing the province of the Northumbrians as well, and raging with bitter slaughter for a long time far and wide, laid low a great multitude of men. By this plague the aforesaid priest of the Lord, Tuda, was snatched from the world, and was honorably buried in the monastery which is called Pægnalaech. This plague moreover was also pressing the island of Hibernia (Ireland) with an equal calamity.

Erant ibidem eo tempore multi nobilium simul et mediocrium de gente Anglorum, qui tempore Finani et Colmani episcoporum, relicta insula patria, uel diuinae lectionis, uel continentioris uitae gratia illo secesserant. Et quidam quidem mox se monasticae conuersationi fideliter mancipauerunt, alii magis circueundo per cellas magistrorum, lectioni operam dare gaudebant; quos omnes Scotti libentissime suscipientes, uictum eis cotidianum sine pretio, libros quoque ad legendum, et magisterium gratuitum praebere curabant.

There were there at that time many of the nobles and likewise of the middling sort from the nation of the English, who, in the time of the bishops Finan and Colman, leaving their native island, had withdrawn thither either for the sake of divine reading or of a more continent life. And certain indeed straightway entrusted themselves faithfully to the monastic life, others rather, by going around the cells of teachers, took joy in giving diligence to reading; all of whom the Irish, receiving them most gladly, took care to provide with daily sustenance without price, and also with books for reading and free instruction.

Erant inter hos duo iuuenes magnae indolis de nobilibus Anglorum, Edilhun et Ecgberct, quorum prior frater fuit Ediluini, uiri aeque Deo dilecti, qui et ipse aeuo sequente Hiberniam gratia legendi adiit, et bene instructus patriam rediit, atque episcopus in prouincia Lindissi factus, multo ecclesiam tempore nobilissime rexit. Hi ergo cum essent in monasterio, quod lingua Scottorum Rathmelsigi appellatur, et omnes socii ipsorum uel mortalitate de saeculo rapti, uel per alia essent loca dispersi, correpti sunt ambo morbo eiusdem mortalitatis, et grauissime adflicti; e quibus Ecgberct, sicut mihi referebat quidam ueracissimus et uenerandae canitiei presbyter, qui se haec ab ipso audisse perhibebat, cum se aestimaret esse moriturum, egressus est tempore matutino de cubiculo, in quo infirmi quiescebant, et residens solus in loco oportuno, coepit sedulus cogitare de actibus suis, et conpunctus memoria peccatorum suorum faciem lacrimis abluebat, atque intimo ex corde Deum precabatur, ne adhuc mori deberet, priusquam uel praeteritas neglegentias, quas in pueritia siue infantia commiserat, perfectius ex tempore castigaret, uel in bonis se operibus habundantius exerceret. Uouit etiam uotum, quia adeo peregrinus uiuere uellet, ut numquam in insulam, in qua natus est, id est Brittaniam, rediret; quia praeter sollemnem canonici temporis psalmodiam, si non ualetudo corporis obsisteret, cotidie psalterium totum in memoriam diuinae laudis decantaret; quia in omni septimana diem cum nocte ieiunus transiret.

Among these were two youths of great endowment from the nobles of the English, Edilhun and Ecgberct, of whom the former was the brother of Ediluin, a man equally beloved by God, who also in the following age went to Ireland for the sake of reading, and, well instructed, returned to his fatherland, and, made bishop in the province of Lindissi, ruled the church most nobly for a long time. Therefore, when these were in the monastery which in the language of the Scots is called Rathmelsigi, and all their companions were either snatched from the world by the mortality or scattered through other places, both were seized by the disease of the same mortality and most grievously afflicted; of whom Ecgberct, as a most truthful presbyter of venerable hoariness related to me—who declared that he had heard these things from the man himself—when he thought that he was about to die, went out at morning time from the cubicle in which the infirm were resting, and, sitting alone in a suitable place, began assiduously to consider his deeds; and, pierced with compunction by the memory of his sins, he was washing his face with tears, and from his inmost heart he was beseeching God that he ought not yet to die, before he should either more perfectly from that time correct the past negligences which he had committed in boyhood or infancy, or exercise himself more abundantly in good works. He also vowed a vow, that he would live so as a pilgrim that he would never return to the island in which he was born, that is, Britain; that, besides the solemn psalmody of canonical time, if the health of the body did not stand in the way, he would every day chant the whole Psalter in remembrance of divine praise; that in every week he would pass a day with its night fasting.

Cumque finitis lacrimis, precibus, et uotis domum rediret, inuenit sodalem dormientem; et ipse quoque lectulum conscendens, coepit in quietem membra laxare. Et cum paululum quiesceret, expergefactus sodalis respexit eum, et ait: ‘O frater Ecgbercte, o quid fecisti? Sperabam, quia pariter ad uitam aeternam intraremus.

And when, tears, prayers, and vows finished, he was returning home, he found his companion sleeping; and he too, mounting the little bed, began to loosen his limbs into rest. And when he was resting a little, the companion, awakened, looked at him, and said: ‘O brother Ecgberct, oh what have you done? I was hoping that we would enter together into eternal life.’

Uerumtamen scito, quia, quae postulasti, accipies.’ Didicerat enim per uisionem et quid ille petisset, et quia petita inpetrasset. Quid multa? Ipse Edilhun proxima nocte defunctus est; at uero Ecgberect decussa molestia egritudinis conualuit, ac multo postea tempore uiuens, acceptumque sacerdotii gradum condignis ornans actibus, post multa uirtutum bona, ut ipse desiderabat, nuper, id est anno dominicae incarnationis DCCXXVIIIIo, cum esset ipse annorum XC, migrauit ad regna caelestia.

‘Nevertheless know that you will receive the things which you asked.’ For he had learned through a vision both what he had asked, and that he had obtained the things asked. Why say more? Edilhun himself died the next night; but indeed Ecgberect, the annoyance of illness shaken off, recovered, and living for a much longer time thereafter, and adorning the received grade of priesthood with condign acts, after many good things of virtues, as he himself desired, recently, that is, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 729, when he himself was 90 years old, migrated to the heavenly kingdoms.

Duxit autem uitam in magna humilitatis, mansuetudinis, continentiae, simplicitatis, et iustitiae perfectione. Unde et genti suae et illis, in quibus exulabat, nationibus Scottorum siue Pictorum, exemplo uiuendi, et instantia docendi, et auctoritate corripiendi, et pietate largiendi de his, quae a diuitibus acceperat, multum profuit. Addidit autem uotis, quae diximus, ut semper in XLma non plus quam semel in die reficeret, non aliud quam panem ac lac tenuissimum, et hoc cum mensura gustaret; quod uidelicet lac pridie nouum in fiala ponere solebat, et post noctem ablata superficie crassiore, ipse residuum cum modico, ut diximus, pane bibebat.

He led his life in great perfection of humility, mansuetude, continence, simplicity, and justice. Whence he was of much profit both to his own people and to those among whom he lived as an exile, the nations of the Scots or the Picts, by the example of living, and the insistence of teaching, and the authority of correcting, and by the piety of largessing from those things which he had received from the wealthy. Moreover, he added to the vows which we have mentioned, that always in the 40-day fast (Lent) he would take refreshment not more than once in a day, with nothing other than bread and very thin (skimmed) milk, and this he would taste in measure; namely, he was wont to place the milk, fresh the day before, in a bowl, and after the night, the thicker surface having been removed, he himself drank the remainder with a small portion of bread, as we have said.

Cuius modum continentiae etiam XL diebus ante natale Domini, totidem quoque post peracta sollemnia pentecostes, hoc est Lmae, semper obseruare curabat.

The pattern of which continence he also took care always to observe for 40 days before the Nativity of the Lord, and likewise for just as many after the solemnities of Pentecost had been completed, that is, a forty-days’ fast.

[28] INTEREA rex Alchfrid misit Uilfridum presbyterum ad regem Galliarum, qui eum sibi suisque consecrari faceret episcopum. At ille misit eum ordinandum ad Agilberectum, de quo supra diximus, qui, relicta Brittania, Parisiacae ciuitatis factus erat episcopus; et consecratus est magno cum honore ab ipso, conuenientibus plurimis episcopis in uico regio, qui uocatur In Conpendio. Quo adhuc in transmarinis partibus propter ordinationem demorante, imitatus industriam filii rex Osuiu misit Cantiam uirum sanctum, modestum moribus, scripturarum lectione sufficienter instructum, et ea, quae in scripturis agenda didicerat, operibus solerter exsequentem, qui Eburacensis ecclesiae ordinaretur episcopus.

[28] Meanwhile King Alchfrith sent Wilfrid the presbyter to the king of the Gauls, to have him consecrated bishop for himself and his own people. But that king sent him to be ordained by Agilberct, of whom we spoke above, who, having left Britain, had been made bishop of the city of Paris; and he was consecrated with great honor by him, with very many bishops assembling in the royal vill which is called In Conpendio. While he was still lingering in the overseas parts on account of the ordination, imitating the diligence of his son, King Oswiu sent to Kent a holy man, modest in manners, sufficiently instructed in the reading of the Scriptures, and skillfully carrying out in works the things which he had learned from the Scriptures ought to be done, to be ordained bishop of the church of York.

Erat autem presbyter uocabulo Ceadda, frater reuerentissimi antistitis Ceddi, cuius saepius meminimus, et abbas monasterii illius, quod uocatur Laestingaeu. Misitque cum eo rex presbyterum suum uocabulo Eadhaedum, qui postea regnante Ecgfrido, Hrypensis ecclesiae praesul factus est. Uerum illi Cantiam peruenientes, inuenerunt archiepiscopum Deusdedit iam migrasse de saeculo, et necdum alium pro eo constitutum fuisse pontificem.

But the presbyter was by the name Ceadda, brother of the most reverend prelate Cedd, of whom we have often made mention, and abbot of that monastery which is called Laestingaeu. And the king sent with him his own presbyter by the name Eadhaed, who afterwards, Ecgfrith reigning, was made prelate of the church of Ripon. But they, arriving in Kent, found that the archbishop Deusdedit had now migrated from the world, and that not yet had another pontiff been appointed in his place.

Unde deuerterunt ad prouinciam Occidentalium Saxonum, ubi erat Uini episcopus; et ab illo est uir praefatus consecratus antistes, adsumtis in societatem ordinationis duobus de Brettonum gente episcopis, qui dominicum paschae diem, ut saepius dictum est, secus morem canonicum a XIIIIa usque ad XXam lunam celebrant. Non enim erat tunc ullus, excepto illo Uine, in tota Brittania canonice ordinatus episcopus. Consecratus ergo in episcopum Ceadda maximam mox coepit ecclesiasticae ueritati et castitati curam inpendere; humilitati, continentiae, lectioni operam dare; oppida, rura, casas, uicos, castella propter euangelizandum, non equitando, sed apostolorum more pedibus incedendo peragrare.

Whence they turned aside to the province of the West Saxons, where Wine was bishop; and by him the aforesaid man was consecrated prelate, two bishops of the nation of the Britons being taken into the fellowship of the ordination, who celebrate the Lord’s day of Easter, as has been said often, contrary to canonical custom, from the 14th up to the 20th moon. For there was then no bishop canonically ordained in all Britain, except that Wine. Therefore, Ceadda having been consecrated as bishop, he straightway began to expend the greatest care upon ecclesiastical truth and chastity; to give diligence to humility, continence, and reading; to traverse towns, fields, houses, villages, and strongholds for the sake of evangelizing, not by riding, but going on foot after the manner of the apostles.

Erat enim de discipulis Aidani, eisdemque actibus ac moribus iuxta exemplum eius ac fratris sui Ceddi suos instituere curauit auditores. Ueniens quoque Brittaniam Uilfrid iam episcopus factus et ipse perplura catholicae obseruationis moderamina ccclesiis Anglorum sua doctrina contulit. Unde factum est, ut, crescente per dies institutione catholica, Scotti omnes, qui inter Anglos morabantur, aut his manus darent, aut suam redirent ad patriam.

For he was of the disciples of Aidan, and he took care to instruct his hearers in the same practices and morals, according to the example of him and of his brother Cedd. Wilfrid also, coming into Britain, already made a bishop, likewise by his teaching contributed very many regulations of catholic observance to the churches of the English. Whence it came about that, as catholic instruction increased day by day, all the Scots who were dwelling among the Angles either gave their hands to them, or returned to their own fatherland.

[29] HIS temporibus reges Anglorum nobilissimi, Osuiu prouinciae Nordanhymbrorum, et Ecgberct Cantuariorum, habito inter se consilio, quid de statu ecclesiae Anglorum esset agendum, intellexerat enim ueraciter Osuiu, quamuis educatus a Scottis, quia Romana esset catholica et apostolica ecclesia, adsumserunt cum electione et consensu sanctae ecclesiae gentis Anglorum, uirum bonum et aptum episcopatu, presbyterum nomine Uighardum, de clero Deusdedit episcopi, et hunc antistitem ordinandum Romam miserunt; quatinus accepto ipse gradu archiepiscopatus, catholicos per omnem Brittaniam ecclesiis Anglorum ordinare posset antistites.

[29] In these times the most noble kings of the English, Osuiu of the province of the Northumbrians, and Ecgberct of the Cantuarians, having held counsel between themselves about what ought to be done concerning the state of the church of the English—for Osuiu had truly understood, although brought up by the Scots, that the Roman was the catholic and apostolic church—took, with the election and consent of the holy church of the nation of the English, a good man and fit for the episcopate, a presbyter named Wighard, from the clergy of Bishop Deusdedit, and sent him to Rome to have this prelate ordained; to the end that, having himself received the rank of the archiepiscopate, he might be able to ordain catholic bishops throughout all Britain for the churches of the English.

Uerum Uighard Romam perueniens, priusquam consecrari in episcopatum posset, morte praereptus est, et huiusmodi litterae regi Osuiu Brittaniam remissae:

But Uighard, arriving at Rome, before he could be consecrated to the episcopate, was snatched away by death, and letters of this sort were sent back to King Osuiu into Britain:

Domino excellenti filio Osuio regi Saxonum Uitalianus cpiscopus, seruus seruorum Dei.

To the lord, the excellent son Oswiu, king of the Saxons, Vitalian, bishop, servant of the servants of God.

Desiderabiles litteras excellentiae uestrae suscepimus; quas relegentes cognouimus eius piissimam deuotionem, feruentissimumque amorem, quem habet propter beatam uitam; et quia dextera Domini protegente, ad ueram et apostolicam fidem sit conuersus, sperans, sicut in sua gente regnat, ita et cum Christo de futuro conregnare. Benedicta igitur gens, quae talem sapientissimum et Dei cultorem promeruit habere regem; quia non solum ipse Dei cultor extitit, sed etiam omnes subiectos suos meditatur die ac nocte ad fidem catholicam atque apostolicam pro suae animae redemtione conuerti. Quis enim audiens haec suauia non laetetur?

We have received the desirable letters of your Excellency; rereading them, we have come to know his most pious devotion, and the most fervent love which he has for the blessed life; and since, with the right hand of the Lord protecting, he has been converted to the true and apostolic faith, he hopes that, just as he reigns among his own people, so also to co-reign with Christ in the future. Blessed, therefore, the nation which has merited to have such a most wise man and worshipper of God as king; because not only has he himself been a worshipper of God, but he also meditates day and night that all his subjects be converted to the catholic and apostolic faith for the redemption of his soul. For who, hearing these sweet things, would not rejoice?

Quis non exultet et gaudeat in his piis operibus? Quia et gens uestra Christo omnipotenti Deo credidit secundum diuinorum prophetarum uoces, sicut scriptum est in Isaia: ‘In die illa radix Iesse, qui stat in signum populorum, ipsum gentes deprecabuntur.’ Et iterum: ‘Audite insulae, et adtendite populi de longe.’ Et post paululum: ‘Parum,’ inquit, ‘est, ut mihi sis seruus ad suscitandas tribus Iacob, et feces Israel conuertendas. Dedi te in lucem gentium, ut sis salus mea usque ad extremum terrae.’ Et rursum: ‘Reges uidebunt, et consurgent principes, et adorabunt.’ Et post pusillum: ‘Dedi te in foedus populi, ut suscitares terram, et possideres hereditates dissipatas, et diceres his, qui uincti sunt: “Exite,” et his, qui in tenebris: “Reuelamini.”’ Et rursum: ‘Ego Dominus uocaui te in iustitia, et adprehendi manum tuam, et seruaui, et dedi te in foedus populi, in lucem gentium, ut aperires oculos caecorum, et educeres de conclusione uinctum, de domo carceris sedentes in tenebris.’ Ecce, excellentissime fili, quam luce clarius est, non solum de uobis, sed etiam de omnibus prophetatum gentibus, quod sint crediturae in Christo omnium conditore.

Who would not exult and rejoice in these pious works? For even your nation has believed in Christ, almighty God, according to the voices of the divine prophets, as it is written in Isaiah: ‘On that day the root of Jesse, who stands as a sign for the peoples, him the nations will beseech.’ And again: ‘Hear, O islands, and attend, peoples from afar.’ And a little after: ‘“It is too little,” he says, “that you should be my servant for the raising up of the tribes of Jacob, and for converting the dregs of Israel. I have given you as a light of the nations, that you may be my salvation unto the extremity of the earth.”’ And again: ‘Kings will see, and princes will arise, and they will adore.’ And after a little: ‘I have given you as a covenant of the people, that you might raise up the land, and possess the dissipated inheritances, and say to those who are bound: “Come out,” and to those who are in darkness: “Be revealed.”’ And again: ‘I, the Lord, have called you in justice, and I have taken hold of your hand, and I have kept you, and I have given you as a covenant of the people, as a light of the nations, that you might open the eyes of the blind, and lead out from confinement the prisoner, from the house of the prison those sitting in darkness.’ Behold, most excellent son, how clearer than light it is, that not only concerning you, but also concerning all the nations, it has been prophesied that they will believe in Christ, the Creator of all.

Quamobrem oportet uestram celsitudinem, utpote membrum existens Christi, in omnibus piam regulam sequi perenniter principis apostolorum, siue in pascha celebrandum, siue in omnibus, quae tradiderunt sancti apostoli Petrus et Paulus, qui ut duo luminaria caeli inluminant mundum, sic doctrina eorum corda hominum cotidie inlustrat credentium.’

Wherefore it behooves your Highness, as being a member of Christ, in all things to follow perennially the pious rule of the prince of the apostles, whether in celebrating Pascha, or in all things which the holy apostles Peter and Paul handed down, who, as two luminaries of heaven, illuminate the world; thus their doctrine daily illuminates the hearts of the believing.’

Et post nonnulla, quibus de celebrando per orbem totum uno uero pascha loquitur:

And after some things, in which he speaks about the one true Pascha to be celebrated throughout the whole world:

‘Hominem denique,’ inquit, ‘docibilem et in omnibus ornatum antistitem, secundum uestrorum scriptorum tenorem, minime ualuimus nunc repperire pro longinquitate itineris. Profecto enim dum huiusmodi apta reppertaque persona fuerit, eum instructum ad uestram dirigemus patriam, ut ipse et uiua uoce, et per diuina oracula omnem inimici zizaniam ex omni ucstra insula cum diuino nutu eradicet. Munuscula a uestra celsitudine beato principi apostolorum directa pro aeterna eius memoria suscepimus, gratiasque ei agimus, ac pro eius incolumitate iugiter Deum deprecamur cum Christi clero.

‘A man, in fine,’ he says, ‘teachable and in all things an adorned prelate, according to the tenor of your writings, we have by no means been able now to find, on account of the length of the journey. Indeed, once a person of this sort, apt and found, has been found, we will send him, equipped, to your country, so that he himself, both by living voice and through divine oracles, may, with the divine nod, root out all the enemy’s tares from all your island. The little gifts from your Highness, directed to the blessed prince of the apostles for his eternal memory, we have received, and we render thanks to him, and for his safety we unceasingly beseech God together with the clergy of Christ.

Itaque qui haec obtulit munera, de hac subtractus est lucc, situsque ad limina apostolorum, pro quo ualde sumus contristati, cum hic esset defunctus. Ucrumtamen gerulis harum nostrarum litterarum uestris missis, et beneficia sanctorum, hoc est reliquias beatorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli, et sanctorum martyrum Laurentii, Iohannis, et Pauli, et Gregorii, atque Pancratii eis fecimus dari, uestrae excellentiae profecto omnes contradendas. Nam et coniugi uestrae, nostrae spiritali filiae, direximus per praefatos gerulos crucem clauem auream habentem de sacratissimis uinculis beatorum Petri et Pauli apostolorum; de cuius pio studio cognoscentes, tantum cuncta sedes apostolica una nobiscum laetatur, quantum eius pia opera coram Deo flagrant et uernant.

Accordingly, the one who offered these gifts has been taken from this light, and laid at the thresholds of the apostles, for which we were very much saddened, since he died here. Nevertheless, with the bearers of these our letters sent to you, we had the benefits of the saints—that is, the relics of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and of the holy martyrs Lawrence, John, and Paul, and Gregory, and Pancras—given to them, to be delivered, assuredly all, to your Excellency. For even to your spouse, our spiritual daughter, we sent by the aforesaid bearers a cross having a golden key from the most sacred chains of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul; and learning of her pious zeal, the whole apostolic see rejoices together with us as much as her pious works blaze and bloom before God.

Festinet igitur, quaesumus, uestra celsitudo, ut optamus, totam suam insulam Deo Christo dicare. Profecto enim habet protectorem, humani generis redemtorem Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, qui ei cuncta prospera inpertiet, uti nouum Christi populum coaceruet, catholicam ibi et apostolicam constituens fidem. Scriptum est enim: ‘Quaerite primum regnum Dei et iustitiam eius, et haec omnia adicientur uobis.’ Nimirum enim quaerit et inpetrabit, et ei omnes suae insulae, ut optamus, subdentur.

Let your Highness therefore hasten, we beseech you, as we desire, to dedicate his whole island to God Christ. For indeed it has a protector, the redeemer of the human race, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will impart to it all prosperous things, so as to gather together a new people of Christ, establishing there the catholic and apostolic faith. For it is written: ‘Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.’ Assuredly, then, he seeks and will obtain, and to him, as we desire, all of his island will be subjected.

Paterno itaque affectu salutantes uestram excellentiam, diuinam precamur iugiter clementiam, quae uos uestrosque omnes in omnibus bonis operibus auxiliari dignetur, ut cum Christo in futuro regnetis saeculo. Incolumem excellentiam uestram gratia superna custodiat.’

Therefore, with paternal affection saluting your excellence, we continually beseech the divine clemency, who may deign to aid you and all yours in all good works, that you may reign with Christ in the future age. May supernal grace keep your excellence unharmed.’

Quis sane pro Uighardo reppertus ac dedicatus sit antistes, libro sequente oportunius dicetur.

Who, indeed, was found and consecrated as bishop in place of Uighard will be said more opportunely in the following book.

[30] EODEM tempore prouinciae Orientalium Saxonum post Suidhelmum, de quo supra diximus, praefuere reges Sigheri et Sebbi, quamuis ipsi regi Merciorum Uulfheræ subiecti. Quae uidelicet prouincia cum praefatae mortalitatis clade premeretur, Sigheri cum sua parte populi, relictis Christianae fidei sacramentis, ad apostasiam conuersus est. Nam et ipse rex et plurimi de plebe siue optimatibus, diligentes hanc uitam, et futuram non quaerentes, siue etiam non esse credentes, coeperunt fana, quae derelicta erant, restaurare, et adorare simulacra, quasi per haec possent a mortalitate defendi.

[30] At the same time the province of the East Saxons, after Suidhelm, of whom we spoke above, was presided over by the kings Sighere and Sebbi, though they themselves were subject to Wulfhere, king of the Mercians. And this province, when it was pressed by the disaster of the aforesaid mortality, Sighere, with his own party of the people, having left the sacraments of the Christian faith, was turned to apostasy. For both the king himself and very many of the commons as well as the nobles, loving this life and not seeking the future one, or even believing it not to exist, began to restore the fanes which had been abandoned, and to adore simulacra, as if by these they could be defended from the mortality.

Porro socius eius et coheres regni eiusdem, Sebbi, magna fidem perceptam cum suis omnibus deuotione seruauit, magna, ut in sequentibus dicemus, uitam fidelem felicitate conpleuit. Quod ubi rex Uulfheri conperit, fidem uidelicet prouinciae ex parte profanatam, misit ad corrigendum errorem, reuocandamque ad fidem ueritatis prouinciam Iaruman episcopum, qui successor erat Trumheri. Qui multa agens solertia, iuxta quod mihi presbyter, qui comes itineris illi et cooperator uerbi extiterat, referebat, erat enim religiosus et bonus uir, longe lateque omnia peruagatus, et populum et regem praefatum ad uiam iustitiae reduxit; adeo ut relictis siue destructis fanis arisque, quas fecerant, aperirent ecclesias, ac nomen Christi, cui contradixerant, confiteri gauderent, magis cum fide resurrectionis in illo mori, quam in perfidiae sordibus inter idola uiuere cupientes.

Furthermore his associate and coheir of the same kingdom, Sebbi, kept the faith he had received with great devotion with all his people, and, as we shall say in what follows, completed his faithful life with great felicity. When King Wulfhere learned that the faith of the province had been in part profaned, he sent Bishop Iaruman, who was the successor of Trumhere, to correct the error and call the province back to the faith of truth. He, exercising much solertia, according to what a presbyter—who had been his companion on that journey and a cooperator of the word—told me (for he was a religious and good man), ranged everywhere far and wide and brought back both the people and the aforesaid king to the way of righteousness; to such an extent that, with the shrines and altars they had made either abandoned or destroyed, they opened the churches and rejoiced to confess the name of Christ, which they had gainsaid, desiring rather, with the faith of the resurrection, to die in him than to live among idols in the filth of perfidy.

Quibus ita gestis, et ipsi sacerdotes doctoresque eorum domum rediere laetantes.

With these things thus done, the priests themselves and their doctors returned home rejoicing.