He was
probably
the first king to introduce
written law into Wessex, viz.
written law into Wessex, viz.
bede
William of Malmesbury tells us that it was a
flourishing monastery till it was destroyed by the Danes.
583 Barking in Essex, _v. infra_ cc. 7-10. For the preposition, _v. _ II,
14, p. 119, note 5.
584 The plague of 664 has been mentioned in III, 27; IV, 1, 3; but this
may have been a later visitation. Barking is generally supposed to
have been founded in 666.
585 Two different dates are given for her succession, 664 and 675. If
the former is right, the plague (c. 7) must have been that of 664,
and Ethelburg probably died of it. It appears from a letter of St.
Boniface that Hildilid was alive in 709. She was one of Aldhelm’s
numerous women-scholars. He dedicated the prose version of his work
in praise of virginity (_v. _ V, 18) to her and others of the
sisterhood, and speaks highly of their scholarly attainments.
586 Apparently a life of St. Ethelburg not known to exist now.
587 Cf. III, 30; IV, 6.
588 For Earconwald, _v. s. _ c. 6. Waldhere is the first of a long list of
undistinguished bishops of London given by William of Malmesbury. A
letter of his to Archbishop Bertwald survives, and there is a
charter in which Swefred (_v. _ next note) grants lands at Twickenham
to him in 704.
589 Cf. V, 8, note on Suaebhard.
590 St. Paul’s, London. Sebbi’s tomb is believed to have survived till
the fire of 1666.
591 For these bishops, cf. III, 7.
_ 592 Ibid. _ He died in 672 (Sax. Chron. ). Of the sub-kings the most
prominent were Aescwine and Centwine, a brother of Coinwalch. The
Saxon Chronicle gives a different account. According to it,
Coinwalch’s widow, Sexburg, reigned for one year after him and was
succeeded by Aescwine, who was succeeded by Centwine.
593 Cf. III, 7, and for his character, V, 18. The Saxon Chronicle says
he succeeded in 676 and died in 703. Bede places his death in 705
(V, 18).
594 Cc. 15, 16, and V, 7. He was of Ceaulin’s line (II, 5) and so
belonged to a younger branch of the West Saxon royal house. Welsh
writers confuse him with the British king, Caedwalla (II, 20), and
with his son, Cadwalader.
595 A son of Penda. He succeeded his brother Wulfhere in 675. In 704 he
became a monk (V, 24) and afterwards Abbot of Bardney Monastery (cf.
III, 11), which he is said to have founded. His invasion of Kent was
probably provoked by an attempt on the part of that kingdom, at
Wulfhere’s death, to resume a position of independence towards
Mercia. In spite of his conduct on this raid, Theodore, Florence of
Worcester, and others, speak of the saintliness of his character.
596 Cc. 2 (and note), 5.
597 C. 6, and note, and _infra_, p. 244.
598 The dates of these changes in the episcopate are uncertain. Probably
Gebmund was consecrated in 678. For his death, _v. _ V, 8 _ad fin. _,
and note.
599 This was Wilfrid’s first expulsion (_v. _ V, 19). Bede’s reticence on
the subject is noteworthy. Egfrid’s hostility to his former friend,
Wilfrid, was doubtless caused by Wilfrid’s encouragement of Queen
Ethelthryth (cc. 19, 20) in her desire to take the veil. It was
probably increased by Egfrid’s second wife, Eormenburg, who is said
to have resented Wilfrid’s power and magnificence. Theodore,
carrying out his policy of subdivision, availed himself of the
opportunity afforded by this dissension. He consulted some of his
suffragans (we do not know who they were; it was apparently at a
mixed council of ecclesiastics and laymen), but did not communicate
with Wilfrid, being, no doubt, conscious of the uselessness of
trying to get his consent. Wilfrid, after demanding an explanation
from the archbishop and the king in a Northumbrian “gemot,” and
receiving no satisfaction, appealed to Rome (cf. V, 19, p. 351). For
the importance of this step, _v. _ Bright, “Early English Church
History,” pp. 323-326.
600 Probably the intention was that Wilfrid should keep the larger part
of Deira, with his see at York, and that three new dioceses should
be formed. But, on his departure to appeal to Rome, it was assumed
that he had resigned his bishopric, and Bosa was consecrated Bishop
of Deira with his see at York, Eata, Bishop of the Bernicians, with
the option of fixing his see either at Lindisfarne or Hagustald
(Hexham). These two were “substituted for him. ” Lindsey, which at
this time belonged to Northumbria, became for the first time a
separate diocese. When it passed again to Mercia in 679 it was
included in the subdivision of the Mercian bishopric, and Ethelwin
(_v. infra_ note 6) became its bishop with his see at Sidnacaestir
(generally identified with Stow, but the locality is unknown).
601 He was one of the bishops educated in Hilda’s monastery (_v. _ c.
23). Bede speaks highly of him (V, 3, 20), and Alcuin calls him “vir
sine fraude bonus. ” He retired from York when Wilfrid was restored,
but appears to have been reinstated on Wilfrid’s second expulsion.
602 Abbot of Melrose, afterwards of Lindisfarne (III, 26, and note; IV,
27; V, 9).
603 III, 28, and this Chapter, _ad fin. _, and note.
604 In 675. Lindsey which had been Northumbrian under Edwin and Oswald,
had passed through many vicissitudes. Penda conquered it, Oswy
recovered it (in 655), Wulfhere conquered it again, Egfrid recovered
it (675). It passed finally to Mercia under Ethelred in 679 (_v.
infra_ this Chapter, _ad fin. _).
605 III, 11, 27.
606 He was still Bishop of Lindsey in 706, when he signed a charter of
Ethelward, “subregulus” of the Hwiccas.
607 Preface, p. 4, and V, 23. Simeon of Durham says that he died in 732.
608 Lindsey was at that time subject to Mercia. Sexwulf was expelled
when Egfrid conquered it in 675. When the Mercian diocese was
subdivided, he retained his see at Lichfield (_v. s. _ c. 3, p. 219,
note) as Bishop of the Mercians proper.
609 By Theodore alone. The suffragans did not take part in the
consecration.
610 In 681 a fresh subdivision took place. The Bernician diocese was
divided, Eata retaining Lindisfarne and giving up Hexham to Tunbert.
Afterwards Eata retired from Lindisfarne in favour of Cuthbert and
took Hexham (_v. infra_ c. 28). Tunbert had been Abbot of Gilling
(In Getlingum, III, 14, 24). He was deposed by Theodore from Hexham
three years after his consecration (_v. infra_ c. 28), like Wynfrid,
“pro culpa cujusdam inobedientiae” (Vita Eatae in “Miscellanea
Biographica,” Surtees Society).
611 His see was not at Whitern among the Picts of Galloway, as has been
supposed (Florence of Worcester, Richard of Hexham, and others), but
at the monastery of Abercorn on the Forth (I, 12; IV, 26), the Picts
north of the Forth being at this time subject to Northumbria. After
Egfrid’s disastrous expedition in 685, they freed themselves from
Northumbrian rule, the see was abandoned, and Trumwine retired to
Whitby (c. 26). We hear of him as one of the deputation to Cuthbert
in 684 (c. 28).
612 In 679; _v. s. _, p. 243, note 5.
613 Whether Ripon became for a time an episcopal see seems doubtful. In
III, 28, Bede says distinctly that Eadhaed became “praesul” of the
church there, and it does not seem consistent with his use to
understand it as = abbot. Probably there was an attempt to subdivide
the diocese of Deira (Eddius mentions it as one of Wilfrid’s
grievances), but the scheme was abandoned when Wilfrid was restored
in 705. Ripon did not finally become an episcopal see till 1836.
614 For a fuller account, _v. _ V, 19, and notes.
615 For the early importance of this kingdom under Aelli, _v. _ II, 5. It
had become a small insignificant nation, cut off from its neighbours
by forests (the “Andredsweald”) and marshes, and though we read
(III, 20) that Damian, bishop of Rochester, was of the South Saxon
race, it was almost untouched by Christian influences.
616 Cf. _infra_ c. 15.
617 He also brought about the reconversion of the East Saxons by sending
Bishop Jaruman to them. Cf. III, 30.
618 Wulfhere had invaded Wessex, probably in 661 (Sax. Chron. ), and
conquered the Isle of Wight and the district of the Meanware,
_i. e. _, the district from Southampton Water to the South Downs. The
inhabitants were Jutes. The name survives in the hundreds,
Meonstoke, and East and West Meon. For the termination “ware” =
dwellers, cf. Lindisfari, Cantuarii, Boructuari, etc.
619 Cf. c. 14.
620 Cf. II, 2, p. 84, note 2.
621 They were probably joint kings of the Hwiccas.
622 “Scottish,” as usual, means Irish. There is another Dicul mentioned
in III, 19. Stevenson suggests the identification of this Dicul with
the Irish monk who wrote a geographical work, the “De Mensura Orbis
Terrae,” but he lived in the ninth century.
623 Bosham, near Chichester. It was the favourite South Saxon abode of
Harold and Godwine (Freeman, “Norman Conquest”).
624 Selsey, the island of the seal (“sea-calf”), south of Chichester. It
was a royal “vill. ” It became the episcopal see for the South Saxons
at some time about 709 (cf. V, 18, _ad fin. _ and note), transferred
to Chichester in 1075.
625 Egfrid fell at the battle of Nechtansmere in 685 (_v. _ c. 26), and
Wilfrid was restored to his bishopric “in the second year of
Aldfrid,” Egfrid’s successor (V, 19, p. 353). He was in Wessex with
Caedwalla for part of the year 686 (cf. c. 16).
626 III, 13, note.
627 C. 13.
628 This English equivalent for “viaticum” is used by Stapleton in his
translation (1565).
629 Calendars to show the proper days for commemorative Masses, cf.
_infra_ “chronicle” (“annale”). The burial was generally on the day
of death, hence “depositio” of the festival of a saint.
630 It must be remembered that this was a monastery of Northumbrians.
But Oswald is said to have held an “imperium” over all England
except Kent (II, 5).
631 C. 12, note.
632 The West Saxons, _v. _ II, 5 and note. Cf. III, 7.
633 C. 13.
_ 634 v. _ V, 7 _ad fin. _ Like Caedwalla, a descendant of Ceaulin, “A king
who deserves the name of great” (Bright), great both as a conqueror
and a legislator.
He was probably the first king to introduce
written law into Wessex, viz. , his famous “Dooms,” enacted by a West
Saxon witenagemot in the early years of his reign.
635 Winchester. At this time Haedde was bishop there (c. 12). For the
creation of a South Saxon bishopric _v. _ V, 18 _ad fin. _
636 Eddius says that Caedwalla sent for him and made him his counsellor;
Wilfrid had befriended him when in exile.
637 Roger of Wendover calls him a _subregulus_.
638 Cf. I, 15.
639 Stoneham on the Itchen, near Southampton. For the preposition, cf.
II, 14, p. 119, note 5.
640 Redbridge in Hampshire.
641 Pref. , p. 3 and note; V, 18.
642 The Solent.
643 The Hamble.
644 Eutyches was Archimandrite of a monastery near Constantinople. He
was condemned by the synod of Constantinople in 448, and by the
council of Chalcedon in 451. He was the originator of the
Monophysite heresy which denied the existence of the two natures,
the Divine and human, in the Incarnate Son. Monothelitism, which was
the subject of the controversy alluded to here, arose out of an
attempt to reconcile the Monophysites by the assertion of one will
and operation (activity, ἐνέργεια) in our Lord. It was condemned in
the General Council of Constantinople, 680-681. In anticipation of
this council various provincial synods were held, as well as the
synod at Rome assembled by Pope Agatho, at which Wilfrid represented
the English church (_v. _ V. 19).
645 The year was 680 (cf. V, 24), but it falls in the eighth year of
Hlothere of Kent, who succeeded in July, 673. For Egfrid, _v. s. _ c.
5, _ad init. _ Probably he succeeded in 671. Ethelred of Mercia
succeeded in 675 (V, 24), so that Sept. , 680, might easily fall in
his sixth year; Aldwulf, of East Anglia, in 663 or 664 (_v. _ II, 15;
IV, 23). The eighth indiction, whether Cæsarean or Pontifical
(_v. s. _ c. 5, note), includes Sept. 17, 680.
646 Generally identified with Hatfield in Hertfordshire, but T. Kerslake
(“Vestiges of the supremacy of Mercia”) supposes it to be Clovesho
(Cliff-at-Hoe); _v. s. _ c. 5, and note.
647 The five Oecumenical Councils which had been held before this time,
viz. , Nicaea, in 325; Constantinople, in 381-382; Ephesus, in 431;
Chalcedon, in 451; Constantinople, in 553. For the Arian heresy,
_v. _ I, 8 (and note), where “madness” (“vesania”) is, as here, the
word used to describe it. Macedonius was a “semi-Arian,” Eudoxius an
Arian; both were bishops of Constantinople. Nestorius was
consecrated Bishop of Constantinople in 428. He popularized the
heresy which originated with Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia,
392-428. It consisted in emphasizing the human element in our Lord’s
Nature to the practical exclusion of the Divine, as a reaction
against Apollinarianism which explained away His real Humanity. “The
Christ of Nestorius was, after all, simply a deified man, not God
incarnate” (Gore, “Bampton Lectures”). Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus in
Syria (died 457) and Ibas, Bishop of Edessa, 435-457, were disciples
of Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia, and opponents of Cyril of
Alexandria, who is accused of Apollinarianism in the letter of Ibas.
648 Justinian I, 527-565.
649 The first Lateran Council, in 649, against the Monothelites. Martin
I, Pope 649-655, died in the Crimea, exiled and imprisoned by the
Emperor Constans II in consequence of his resistance to the heresy.
650 Constantine IV, more generally known as Constans II, 641-688.
651 We have here, under the auspices of an Eastern Archbishop, a clear
enunciation of the doctrine which afterwards divided the east and
west: the Double Procession of the Holy Spirit. The “filioque”
clause, which formed no part of the Nicene Creed, nor of its
Constantinopolitan recension, had been formally adopted at the Third
Council of Toledo in 589 and at subsequent Spanish councils. The
English prelates at Hatfield were probably influenced by this
precedent.
652 Cf. Bede’s “History of the Abbots,” § 6.
_ 653 I. e. _, St. Peter’s at Rome. The Monastery of St. Martin was on the
Esquiline. It was founded by Pope Symmachus in honour of SS.
Sylvester and Martin.
654 Cf. c. 1, notes. (For his life, v. Bede’s “History of the Abbots,”
and the Anon. “History of the Abbots. ”) He has not been mentioned
before in this history. His ecclesiastical surname was Benedict,
“Baducing” was probably his patronymic. He was of noble birth and a
thegn of King Oswy, born in 628. He was the companion of Wilfrid on
his first journey to Rome (V, 19). In his native province of
Northumbria he founded the monasteries of Wearmouth (in 674) and
Jarrow (_circ. _ 681), where Bede’s life was passed, and enriched
them with furniture, vestments, relics, pictures, and a library of
valuable books which he brought from the Continent. The rule which
he framed for his monasteries was Benedictine, compiled from
seventeen different monasteries which he had visited. He died Jan.
12, 689.
655 Cf. V, 21. Bede’s “History of the Abbots,” and Anon. “History of the
Abbots. ” He added to Benedict’s library. He had been a monk at Ripon
under Wilfrid, became Abbot of Jarrow in 681, and of Wearmouth in
addition to Jarrow in 688. In 716 he resigned and set out for Rome,
but died at Langres in the same year. Bede was trained under him (V,
24) and was probably the little boy left alone with him to recite
the offices when the pestilence of 686 swept away the monks. (Anon.
Hist. Abb. § 14. )
656 Cf. II, 20, _ad fin. _, note.
657 Cf. c. 17, and note.
658 In the Council of Constantinople, 680-681 (_v. s. _ c. 17 _ad init. _,
note. )
659 To St. Martin’s own church at Tours, where, as Abbot of St. Martin’s
monastery at Rome, it was specially fitting that he should find
burial.
660 Cf. III, 7, note.
661 “Princeps,” A. S. Ealdorman. The county of the Southern Gyrwas was
South Cambridgeshire. Cf. III, 20, note.
662 Cf. c. 25. Bede tells us in the “Life of Cuthbert,” that she was a
half sister of Oswy’s on the mother’s side. Her name survives in
Ebchester on the Derwent, where she founded a nunnery; in St. Abb’s
Head, near which she afterwards founded the double monastery of
Coldingham; and in St. Ebbe’s, Oxford. She was the friend of
Cuthbert, and it was to her exhortations to Egfrid that Wilfrid owed
his release from prison.
663 Coldingham in Berwickshire. It was a mixed monastery. Cf. c. 25.
664 Ely. The Isle of Ely was her jointure from her first husband. She
received the help and support of Aldwulf, king of East Anglia (II,
15; IV, 17, 23), her cousin (he was the son of Ethelhere and nephew
of Anna). The monastery was founded in 673. It was exempted from the
jurisdiction of the East Anglian bishop, and subject to Wilfrid.
665 III, 8, cf. III, 7, note. After her husband’s death she acted as
regent for a time, then founded a monastery in the Isle of Sheppey,
and became abbess of it. Thence she retired to Ely, where, after
being a simple nun, she succeeded Ethelthryth as abbess. She was
herself succeeded first at Sheppey, and afterwards at Ely, by her
daughter Ermingild, widow of Wulfhere of Mercia.
666 Grantchester, near Cambridge.
667 A Roman sarcophagus. A number of fragments of very ancient stone
coffins have been found there, built into the wall of the church
(Mayor and Lumby).
668 “Audrey” is the popular form of the name Ethelthryth. A “tawdry
lace” (_i. e. _ St. Audrey lace) is a necklace; cf. “Winter’s Tale,”
iv. 3. Hence our word “tawdry,” which possibly only derives its
meaning from the cheap necklaces, etc. , sold at St. Audrey’s fair at
Ely on the saint’s day, October 17 (the day of her translation), but
may also be a reminiscence of this anecdote.
669 The poem is (1) alphabetical; _i. e. _, the first letters of the
hexameter lines form the alphabet, and there are four additional
couplets at the end, in which the first letters form the word
“Amen”; (2) “serpentine,” reciprocal or echoing; _i. e. _, the last
half of the pentameter repeats the first two and a half feet of the
hexameter. Such verses are common in mediaeval Latin, and are
doubtless a development from the occasional instances of echoing
lines which occur in the classical poets (_e. g. _, Martial VIII, xxi,
1-2; IX, 97; Ovid, Fasti IV, 365-366), as the extreme form of that
impulse to give emphasis by iteration which is a marked feature of
Latin poetry, particularly of the Ovidian elegiac.
670 Agatha suffered 5th February, 251 A. D. , in the Decian persecution,
according to her “Acta” (the Diocletian, according to the
Martyrology and Aldhelm). Eulalia was burnt to death at the age of
twelve in the Diocletian persecution, having denounced herself. The
legend tells that a white dove hovered over her ashes till snow fell
and covered them. Tecla, the disciple of St. Paul, is said to have
been the first virgin martyr. She was miraculously saved from her
martyrdom and died in peace long after. Euphemia was torn by wild
beasts at Chalcedon in 307 A. D. in the Diocletian persecution.
Asterius, Bishop of Amasea, 400 A. D. , says that he saw a tablet in
the church at Chalcedon depicting her sufferings. We have thus very
early evidence for her history. Agnes is said to have been beheaded
in 304 A. D. , in the Diocletian persecution, at the age of twelve or
thirteen. The date of St. Cecilia is very uncertain; Fortunatus,
Bishop of Poitiers, says that she died _circ. _ 176-180 A. D. , but
another account places her martyrdom as late as the time of
Diocletian. Her connection with music does not appear in the
legends, and is probably due to the fact that Pope Paschal endowed
the monastery which he built in connection with her church at Rome
to provide for musical services at her tomb day and night.
671 She had not been a queen twelve years. The dates are probably these:
she was born about 630 at Ermynge (Ixning) in Suffolk, and married
to Tondbert in 652. Tondbert died in 655, and she was married to
Egfrid (who must then have been only fifteen) in 660. Egfrid
succeeded to the throne in 670 or 671, and it must have been in 672
that she retired to Coldingham. She was, therefore, queen for not
more than two years, though perhaps we may accept the statement of
the Liber Eliensis that Egfrid was sub-king of Deira for some years
before his accession.
_ 672 I. e. _, she had been buried sixteen years; _v.
flourishing monastery till it was destroyed by the Danes.
583 Barking in Essex, _v. infra_ cc. 7-10. For the preposition, _v. _ II,
14, p. 119, note 5.
584 The plague of 664 has been mentioned in III, 27; IV, 1, 3; but this
may have been a later visitation. Barking is generally supposed to
have been founded in 666.
585 Two different dates are given for her succession, 664 and 675. If
the former is right, the plague (c. 7) must have been that of 664,
and Ethelburg probably died of it. It appears from a letter of St.
Boniface that Hildilid was alive in 709. She was one of Aldhelm’s
numerous women-scholars. He dedicated the prose version of his work
in praise of virginity (_v. _ V, 18) to her and others of the
sisterhood, and speaks highly of their scholarly attainments.
586 Apparently a life of St. Ethelburg not known to exist now.
587 Cf. III, 30; IV, 6.
588 For Earconwald, _v. s. _ c. 6. Waldhere is the first of a long list of
undistinguished bishops of London given by William of Malmesbury. A
letter of his to Archbishop Bertwald survives, and there is a
charter in which Swefred (_v. _ next note) grants lands at Twickenham
to him in 704.
589 Cf. V, 8, note on Suaebhard.
590 St. Paul’s, London. Sebbi’s tomb is believed to have survived till
the fire of 1666.
591 For these bishops, cf. III, 7.
_ 592 Ibid. _ He died in 672 (Sax. Chron. ). Of the sub-kings the most
prominent were Aescwine and Centwine, a brother of Coinwalch. The
Saxon Chronicle gives a different account. According to it,
Coinwalch’s widow, Sexburg, reigned for one year after him and was
succeeded by Aescwine, who was succeeded by Centwine.
593 Cf. III, 7, and for his character, V, 18. The Saxon Chronicle says
he succeeded in 676 and died in 703. Bede places his death in 705
(V, 18).
594 Cc. 15, 16, and V, 7. He was of Ceaulin’s line (II, 5) and so
belonged to a younger branch of the West Saxon royal house. Welsh
writers confuse him with the British king, Caedwalla (II, 20), and
with his son, Cadwalader.
595 A son of Penda. He succeeded his brother Wulfhere in 675. In 704 he
became a monk (V, 24) and afterwards Abbot of Bardney Monastery (cf.
III, 11), which he is said to have founded. His invasion of Kent was
probably provoked by an attempt on the part of that kingdom, at
Wulfhere’s death, to resume a position of independence towards
Mercia. In spite of his conduct on this raid, Theodore, Florence of
Worcester, and others, speak of the saintliness of his character.
596 Cc. 2 (and note), 5.
597 C. 6, and note, and _infra_, p. 244.
598 The dates of these changes in the episcopate are uncertain. Probably
Gebmund was consecrated in 678. For his death, _v. _ V, 8 _ad fin. _,
and note.
599 This was Wilfrid’s first expulsion (_v. _ V, 19). Bede’s reticence on
the subject is noteworthy. Egfrid’s hostility to his former friend,
Wilfrid, was doubtless caused by Wilfrid’s encouragement of Queen
Ethelthryth (cc. 19, 20) in her desire to take the veil. It was
probably increased by Egfrid’s second wife, Eormenburg, who is said
to have resented Wilfrid’s power and magnificence. Theodore,
carrying out his policy of subdivision, availed himself of the
opportunity afforded by this dissension. He consulted some of his
suffragans (we do not know who they were; it was apparently at a
mixed council of ecclesiastics and laymen), but did not communicate
with Wilfrid, being, no doubt, conscious of the uselessness of
trying to get his consent. Wilfrid, after demanding an explanation
from the archbishop and the king in a Northumbrian “gemot,” and
receiving no satisfaction, appealed to Rome (cf. V, 19, p. 351). For
the importance of this step, _v. _ Bright, “Early English Church
History,” pp. 323-326.
600 Probably the intention was that Wilfrid should keep the larger part
of Deira, with his see at York, and that three new dioceses should
be formed. But, on his departure to appeal to Rome, it was assumed
that he had resigned his bishopric, and Bosa was consecrated Bishop
of Deira with his see at York, Eata, Bishop of the Bernicians, with
the option of fixing his see either at Lindisfarne or Hagustald
(Hexham). These two were “substituted for him. ” Lindsey, which at
this time belonged to Northumbria, became for the first time a
separate diocese. When it passed again to Mercia in 679 it was
included in the subdivision of the Mercian bishopric, and Ethelwin
(_v. infra_ note 6) became its bishop with his see at Sidnacaestir
(generally identified with Stow, but the locality is unknown).
601 He was one of the bishops educated in Hilda’s monastery (_v. _ c.
23). Bede speaks highly of him (V, 3, 20), and Alcuin calls him “vir
sine fraude bonus. ” He retired from York when Wilfrid was restored,
but appears to have been reinstated on Wilfrid’s second expulsion.
602 Abbot of Melrose, afterwards of Lindisfarne (III, 26, and note; IV,
27; V, 9).
603 III, 28, and this Chapter, _ad fin. _, and note.
604 In 675. Lindsey which had been Northumbrian under Edwin and Oswald,
had passed through many vicissitudes. Penda conquered it, Oswy
recovered it (in 655), Wulfhere conquered it again, Egfrid recovered
it (675). It passed finally to Mercia under Ethelred in 679 (_v.
infra_ this Chapter, _ad fin. _).
605 III, 11, 27.
606 He was still Bishop of Lindsey in 706, when he signed a charter of
Ethelward, “subregulus” of the Hwiccas.
607 Preface, p. 4, and V, 23. Simeon of Durham says that he died in 732.
608 Lindsey was at that time subject to Mercia. Sexwulf was expelled
when Egfrid conquered it in 675. When the Mercian diocese was
subdivided, he retained his see at Lichfield (_v. s. _ c. 3, p. 219,
note) as Bishop of the Mercians proper.
609 By Theodore alone. The suffragans did not take part in the
consecration.
610 In 681 a fresh subdivision took place. The Bernician diocese was
divided, Eata retaining Lindisfarne and giving up Hexham to Tunbert.
Afterwards Eata retired from Lindisfarne in favour of Cuthbert and
took Hexham (_v. infra_ c. 28). Tunbert had been Abbot of Gilling
(In Getlingum, III, 14, 24). He was deposed by Theodore from Hexham
three years after his consecration (_v. infra_ c. 28), like Wynfrid,
“pro culpa cujusdam inobedientiae” (Vita Eatae in “Miscellanea
Biographica,” Surtees Society).
611 His see was not at Whitern among the Picts of Galloway, as has been
supposed (Florence of Worcester, Richard of Hexham, and others), but
at the monastery of Abercorn on the Forth (I, 12; IV, 26), the Picts
north of the Forth being at this time subject to Northumbria. After
Egfrid’s disastrous expedition in 685, they freed themselves from
Northumbrian rule, the see was abandoned, and Trumwine retired to
Whitby (c. 26). We hear of him as one of the deputation to Cuthbert
in 684 (c. 28).
612 In 679; _v. s. _, p. 243, note 5.
613 Whether Ripon became for a time an episcopal see seems doubtful. In
III, 28, Bede says distinctly that Eadhaed became “praesul” of the
church there, and it does not seem consistent with his use to
understand it as = abbot. Probably there was an attempt to subdivide
the diocese of Deira (Eddius mentions it as one of Wilfrid’s
grievances), but the scheme was abandoned when Wilfrid was restored
in 705. Ripon did not finally become an episcopal see till 1836.
614 For a fuller account, _v. _ V, 19, and notes.
615 For the early importance of this kingdom under Aelli, _v. _ II, 5. It
had become a small insignificant nation, cut off from its neighbours
by forests (the “Andredsweald”) and marshes, and though we read
(III, 20) that Damian, bishop of Rochester, was of the South Saxon
race, it was almost untouched by Christian influences.
616 Cf. _infra_ c. 15.
617 He also brought about the reconversion of the East Saxons by sending
Bishop Jaruman to them. Cf. III, 30.
618 Wulfhere had invaded Wessex, probably in 661 (Sax. Chron. ), and
conquered the Isle of Wight and the district of the Meanware,
_i. e. _, the district from Southampton Water to the South Downs. The
inhabitants were Jutes. The name survives in the hundreds,
Meonstoke, and East and West Meon. For the termination “ware” =
dwellers, cf. Lindisfari, Cantuarii, Boructuari, etc.
619 Cf. c. 14.
620 Cf. II, 2, p. 84, note 2.
621 They were probably joint kings of the Hwiccas.
622 “Scottish,” as usual, means Irish. There is another Dicul mentioned
in III, 19. Stevenson suggests the identification of this Dicul with
the Irish monk who wrote a geographical work, the “De Mensura Orbis
Terrae,” but he lived in the ninth century.
623 Bosham, near Chichester. It was the favourite South Saxon abode of
Harold and Godwine (Freeman, “Norman Conquest”).
624 Selsey, the island of the seal (“sea-calf”), south of Chichester. It
was a royal “vill. ” It became the episcopal see for the South Saxons
at some time about 709 (cf. V, 18, _ad fin. _ and note), transferred
to Chichester in 1075.
625 Egfrid fell at the battle of Nechtansmere in 685 (_v. _ c. 26), and
Wilfrid was restored to his bishopric “in the second year of
Aldfrid,” Egfrid’s successor (V, 19, p. 353). He was in Wessex with
Caedwalla for part of the year 686 (cf. c. 16).
626 III, 13, note.
627 C. 13.
628 This English equivalent for “viaticum” is used by Stapleton in his
translation (1565).
629 Calendars to show the proper days for commemorative Masses, cf.
_infra_ “chronicle” (“annale”). The burial was generally on the day
of death, hence “depositio” of the festival of a saint.
630 It must be remembered that this was a monastery of Northumbrians.
But Oswald is said to have held an “imperium” over all England
except Kent (II, 5).
631 C. 12, note.
632 The West Saxons, _v. _ II, 5 and note. Cf. III, 7.
633 C. 13.
_ 634 v. _ V, 7 _ad fin. _ Like Caedwalla, a descendant of Ceaulin, “A king
who deserves the name of great” (Bright), great both as a conqueror
and a legislator.
He was probably the first king to introduce
written law into Wessex, viz. , his famous “Dooms,” enacted by a West
Saxon witenagemot in the early years of his reign.
635 Winchester. At this time Haedde was bishop there (c. 12). For the
creation of a South Saxon bishopric _v. _ V, 18 _ad fin. _
636 Eddius says that Caedwalla sent for him and made him his counsellor;
Wilfrid had befriended him when in exile.
637 Roger of Wendover calls him a _subregulus_.
638 Cf. I, 15.
639 Stoneham on the Itchen, near Southampton. For the preposition, cf.
II, 14, p. 119, note 5.
640 Redbridge in Hampshire.
641 Pref. , p. 3 and note; V, 18.
642 The Solent.
643 The Hamble.
644 Eutyches was Archimandrite of a monastery near Constantinople. He
was condemned by the synod of Constantinople in 448, and by the
council of Chalcedon in 451. He was the originator of the
Monophysite heresy which denied the existence of the two natures,
the Divine and human, in the Incarnate Son. Monothelitism, which was
the subject of the controversy alluded to here, arose out of an
attempt to reconcile the Monophysites by the assertion of one will
and operation (activity, ἐνέργεια) in our Lord. It was condemned in
the General Council of Constantinople, 680-681. In anticipation of
this council various provincial synods were held, as well as the
synod at Rome assembled by Pope Agatho, at which Wilfrid represented
the English church (_v. _ V. 19).
645 The year was 680 (cf. V, 24), but it falls in the eighth year of
Hlothere of Kent, who succeeded in July, 673. For Egfrid, _v. s. _ c.
5, _ad init. _ Probably he succeeded in 671. Ethelred of Mercia
succeeded in 675 (V, 24), so that Sept. , 680, might easily fall in
his sixth year; Aldwulf, of East Anglia, in 663 or 664 (_v. _ II, 15;
IV, 23). The eighth indiction, whether Cæsarean or Pontifical
(_v. s. _ c. 5, note), includes Sept. 17, 680.
646 Generally identified with Hatfield in Hertfordshire, but T. Kerslake
(“Vestiges of the supremacy of Mercia”) supposes it to be Clovesho
(Cliff-at-Hoe); _v. s. _ c. 5, and note.
647 The five Oecumenical Councils which had been held before this time,
viz. , Nicaea, in 325; Constantinople, in 381-382; Ephesus, in 431;
Chalcedon, in 451; Constantinople, in 553. For the Arian heresy,
_v. _ I, 8 (and note), where “madness” (“vesania”) is, as here, the
word used to describe it. Macedonius was a “semi-Arian,” Eudoxius an
Arian; both were bishops of Constantinople. Nestorius was
consecrated Bishop of Constantinople in 428. He popularized the
heresy which originated with Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia,
392-428. It consisted in emphasizing the human element in our Lord’s
Nature to the practical exclusion of the Divine, as a reaction
against Apollinarianism which explained away His real Humanity. “The
Christ of Nestorius was, after all, simply a deified man, not God
incarnate” (Gore, “Bampton Lectures”). Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus in
Syria (died 457) and Ibas, Bishop of Edessa, 435-457, were disciples
of Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia, and opponents of Cyril of
Alexandria, who is accused of Apollinarianism in the letter of Ibas.
648 Justinian I, 527-565.
649 The first Lateran Council, in 649, against the Monothelites. Martin
I, Pope 649-655, died in the Crimea, exiled and imprisoned by the
Emperor Constans II in consequence of his resistance to the heresy.
650 Constantine IV, more generally known as Constans II, 641-688.
651 We have here, under the auspices of an Eastern Archbishop, a clear
enunciation of the doctrine which afterwards divided the east and
west: the Double Procession of the Holy Spirit. The “filioque”
clause, which formed no part of the Nicene Creed, nor of its
Constantinopolitan recension, had been formally adopted at the Third
Council of Toledo in 589 and at subsequent Spanish councils. The
English prelates at Hatfield were probably influenced by this
precedent.
652 Cf. Bede’s “History of the Abbots,” § 6.
_ 653 I. e. _, St. Peter’s at Rome. The Monastery of St. Martin was on the
Esquiline. It was founded by Pope Symmachus in honour of SS.
Sylvester and Martin.
654 Cf. c. 1, notes. (For his life, v. Bede’s “History of the Abbots,”
and the Anon. “History of the Abbots. ”) He has not been mentioned
before in this history. His ecclesiastical surname was Benedict,
“Baducing” was probably his patronymic. He was of noble birth and a
thegn of King Oswy, born in 628. He was the companion of Wilfrid on
his first journey to Rome (V, 19). In his native province of
Northumbria he founded the monasteries of Wearmouth (in 674) and
Jarrow (_circ. _ 681), where Bede’s life was passed, and enriched
them with furniture, vestments, relics, pictures, and a library of
valuable books which he brought from the Continent. The rule which
he framed for his monasteries was Benedictine, compiled from
seventeen different monasteries which he had visited. He died Jan.
12, 689.
655 Cf. V, 21. Bede’s “History of the Abbots,” and Anon. “History of the
Abbots. ” He added to Benedict’s library. He had been a monk at Ripon
under Wilfrid, became Abbot of Jarrow in 681, and of Wearmouth in
addition to Jarrow in 688. In 716 he resigned and set out for Rome,
but died at Langres in the same year. Bede was trained under him (V,
24) and was probably the little boy left alone with him to recite
the offices when the pestilence of 686 swept away the monks. (Anon.
Hist. Abb. § 14. )
656 Cf. II, 20, _ad fin. _, note.
657 Cf. c. 17, and note.
658 In the Council of Constantinople, 680-681 (_v. s. _ c. 17 _ad init. _,
note. )
659 To St. Martin’s own church at Tours, where, as Abbot of St. Martin’s
monastery at Rome, it was specially fitting that he should find
burial.
660 Cf. III, 7, note.
661 “Princeps,” A. S. Ealdorman. The county of the Southern Gyrwas was
South Cambridgeshire. Cf. III, 20, note.
662 Cf. c. 25. Bede tells us in the “Life of Cuthbert,” that she was a
half sister of Oswy’s on the mother’s side. Her name survives in
Ebchester on the Derwent, where she founded a nunnery; in St. Abb’s
Head, near which she afterwards founded the double monastery of
Coldingham; and in St. Ebbe’s, Oxford. She was the friend of
Cuthbert, and it was to her exhortations to Egfrid that Wilfrid owed
his release from prison.
663 Coldingham in Berwickshire. It was a mixed monastery. Cf. c. 25.
664 Ely. The Isle of Ely was her jointure from her first husband. She
received the help and support of Aldwulf, king of East Anglia (II,
15; IV, 17, 23), her cousin (he was the son of Ethelhere and nephew
of Anna). The monastery was founded in 673. It was exempted from the
jurisdiction of the East Anglian bishop, and subject to Wilfrid.
665 III, 8, cf. III, 7, note. After her husband’s death she acted as
regent for a time, then founded a monastery in the Isle of Sheppey,
and became abbess of it. Thence she retired to Ely, where, after
being a simple nun, she succeeded Ethelthryth as abbess. She was
herself succeeded first at Sheppey, and afterwards at Ely, by her
daughter Ermingild, widow of Wulfhere of Mercia.
666 Grantchester, near Cambridge.
667 A Roman sarcophagus. A number of fragments of very ancient stone
coffins have been found there, built into the wall of the church
(Mayor and Lumby).
668 “Audrey” is the popular form of the name Ethelthryth. A “tawdry
lace” (_i. e. _ St. Audrey lace) is a necklace; cf. “Winter’s Tale,”
iv. 3. Hence our word “tawdry,” which possibly only derives its
meaning from the cheap necklaces, etc. , sold at St. Audrey’s fair at
Ely on the saint’s day, October 17 (the day of her translation), but
may also be a reminiscence of this anecdote.
669 The poem is (1) alphabetical; _i. e. _, the first letters of the
hexameter lines form the alphabet, and there are four additional
couplets at the end, in which the first letters form the word
“Amen”; (2) “serpentine,” reciprocal or echoing; _i. e. _, the last
half of the pentameter repeats the first two and a half feet of the
hexameter. Such verses are common in mediaeval Latin, and are
doubtless a development from the occasional instances of echoing
lines which occur in the classical poets (_e. g. _, Martial VIII, xxi,
1-2; IX, 97; Ovid, Fasti IV, 365-366), as the extreme form of that
impulse to give emphasis by iteration which is a marked feature of
Latin poetry, particularly of the Ovidian elegiac.
670 Agatha suffered 5th February, 251 A. D. , in the Decian persecution,
according to her “Acta” (the Diocletian, according to the
Martyrology and Aldhelm). Eulalia was burnt to death at the age of
twelve in the Diocletian persecution, having denounced herself. The
legend tells that a white dove hovered over her ashes till snow fell
and covered them. Tecla, the disciple of St. Paul, is said to have
been the first virgin martyr. She was miraculously saved from her
martyrdom and died in peace long after. Euphemia was torn by wild
beasts at Chalcedon in 307 A. D. in the Diocletian persecution.
Asterius, Bishop of Amasea, 400 A. D. , says that he saw a tablet in
the church at Chalcedon depicting her sufferings. We have thus very
early evidence for her history. Agnes is said to have been beheaded
in 304 A. D. , in the Diocletian persecution, at the age of twelve or
thirteen. The date of St. Cecilia is very uncertain; Fortunatus,
Bishop of Poitiers, says that she died _circ. _ 176-180 A. D. , but
another account places her martyrdom as late as the time of
Diocletian. Her connection with music does not appear in the
legends, and is probably due to the fact that Pope Paschal endowed
the monastery which he built in connection with her church at Rome
to provide for musical services at her tomb day and night.
671 She had not been a queen twelve years. The dates are probably these:
she was born about 630 at Ermynge (Ixning) in Suffolk, and married
to Tondbert in 652. Tondbert died in 655, and she was married to
Egfrid (who must then have been only fifteen) in 660. Egfrid
succeeded to the throne in 670 or 671, and it must have been in 672
that she retired to Coldingham. She was, therefore, queen for not
more than two years, though perhaps we may accept the statement of
the Liber Eliensis that Egfrid was sub-king of Deira for some years
before his accession.
_ 672 I. e. _, she had been buried sixteen years; _v.
