Wherefore I rejoice,
rather for love of him than from confidence in my own power, to relate in
few words after what manner he departed out of this world, understanding
also that thou hast desired and asked this of me.
rather for love of him than from confidence in my own power, to relate in
few words after what manner he departed out of this world, understanding
also that thou hast desired and asked this of me.
bede
Cedd dies of the plague of 664.
Meanwhile, important political changes have taken place in the north: the
defeat and death of Penda at the Winwaed in 655 are followed by Oswy’s
rule, which established Christianity in Mercia, in spite of a successful
rebellion after three years, when the Mercians threw off the yoke of
Northumbria and set up Penda’s son, Wulfhere, as their king.
In Chapter 25 we come to the Synod of Whitby (664 A. D. ), which settled the
Easter question for the English Church. Wilfrid comes to the front as a
champion of the Catholic rules. The opposing party either retire or
conform. The self-denial and devotion of the Celtic missionaries are
highly praised, and some account of the life led by English students in
Ireland follows, with the story of the self-dedication of Egbert, who is
destined to play a prominent part afterwards in the history of the Church.
The consecration of both Wilfrid and Ceadda (664 A. D. ), as bishops of
Northumbria leads to complications in the episcopate. An important step
towards the unity of the English nation in ecclesiastical matters is taken
when Wighard is sent to Rome by the kings Oswy and Egbert, acting in
concert, to be consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury (667 A. D. ). Wighard
dies there, and Pope Vitalian undertakes to find an archbishop for the
English Church.
The book ends with a fresh apostasy in Essex during the miseries of the
great plague of 664. Mercia, so lately itself evangelized, becomes a new
missionary centre, King Wulfhere sending Bishop Jaruman to recall the East
Saxons to the faith.
BOOK IV. —In all but one of the kingdoms of England Christianity is now, at
least in name, established, and the Church settles down to the work of
organization. The man for this task is found in Theodore of Tarsus,
consecrated Archbishop of the English in 668. He arrives at Canterbury in
669. We hear at once of the vigorous impulse given by him and Abbot
Hadrian to the various departments of education there. Finding an
irregularity in Ceadda’s orders, he completes his ordination and makes him
Bishop of the Mercians (probably in 669), with his see at Lichfield.
Ceadda’s death (672 A. D. ), his character, and the miracles and visions
connected with him are described. Parenthetically we get an account of
Colman’s activity in Ireland after his retirement, in consequence of the
decision at Whitby. The most important political events at this time are
the death of Oswy and succession of Egfrid in Northumbria in 670 or 671,
and the death of Egbert and succession of Hlothere in Kent in 673.
In the same year the Council of Hertford, the first English provincial
council, is held, and marks the strength and independence of the Church.
Theodore proceeds with his reforms in the episcopate. Various events of
ecclesiastical importance follow; the East Anglian diocese is divided
about this time, and other changes are effected.
Essex, so long prone to lapses into paganism, becomes at this time a
centre of religious life under its Bishop Earconwald and its king Sebbi.
Earconwald, whose holiness is attested by many miraculous circumstances,
was the founder of the monasteries of Chertsey and Barking, the latter of
which was ruled by his sister, the saintly Ethelburg. Various miracles are
related in connection with her and her monastery. The king of the East
Saxons, Sebbi, is a man of unusual piety who resigns his kingdom and
receives the tonsure.
After a brief allusion to West Saxon history, the devastation of Kent by
Ethelred of Mercia in 676, and certain changes in the episcopate, we come
to an important step in the organization of the Church taken by Theodore.
In pursuance of his policy of increasing the number of bishops, he
subdivides the great Northumbrian diocese. Wilfrid is expelled (678 A. D. ).
From these events we pass summarily to the evangelization of the South
Saxons by Wilfrid, who extends his labours to the Isle of Wight, and thus
the last of the English provinces is won for the faith.
In the Council of Hatfield (680 A. D. ) the English Church asserts its
orthodoxy and unites with the continental Churches in repudiating the
heresy of the Monothelites. Turning to Northumbrian history, we have the
story of Egfrid’s queen, Ethelthryth, and a hymn composed in her honour by
Bede. The war between Mercia and Northumbria in 679 is ended by the
mediation of Theodore, and a miracle in connection with the battle of the
Trent is related.
The remainder of the book is occupied mainly with Northumbrian history,
the life and death of Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, the story of the poet
Caedmon, the destruction of Coldingham, prophesied by the monk Adamnan,
Egfrid’s invasion of Ireland (684 A. D. ) and of the country of the Picts
(685 A. D. ), his defeat and death in that year, the decline of Northumbria,
the flight of Bishop Trumwine from Abercorn, and the succession of Aldfrid
to the kingdom. The death of Hlothere of Kent (685 A. D. ) is followed by
anarchy in that province, till Wictred succeeds and restores peace.
In Chapters 27-32 we have an account of the life of St. Cuthbert and
stories of the miracles wrought by his relics.
BOOK V. —Book V opens with the story of the holy Ethelwald, who succeeded
Cuthbert as anchorite at Farne, and a miracle wrought through his
intercession. This is followed (cc. 2-6) by an account of John of
Beverley, Bishop of Hexham, and the miracles attributed to him. In Chapter
7 we have a piece of West Saxon history: Caedwalla, King of Wessex, after
a life of war and bloodshed, goes to Rome to receive baptism there, and
dies immediately after his admission into the Church (689 A. D. ). He is
succeeded by Ini, who in 725 likewise ended his days at Rome.
In 690 Theodore dies, after an episcopate of twenty-two years. Bertwald
succeeds him at Canterbury in 693.
At this time Englishmen begin to extend their missionary enterprise
abroad. Various missions are undertaken by men who have lived long in
Ireland and caught the Celtic zeal for the work of evangelization. The
story is told of the attempted mission of Egbert to Germany and the
unsuccessful venture of Witbert. Wilbrord (in 690) and others plant the
faith among the German tribes.
The vision of Drythelm is inserted here, probably on chronological grounds
(“his temporibus”), and other visions of the future world follow.
Apparently about the same time a change is effected in the attitude of the
greater part of the Celtic Church towards the Paschal question. The
Northern Irish are converted to the Roman usages by Adamnan, Abbot of
Iona, whose book on the “Holy Places” is here described (cc. 16-17).
The death of Aldfrid and succession of Osred in Northumbria in 705 are the
next events narrated.
About this time the division of the West Saxon diocese is carried out,
Aldhelm being appointed to Sherborne and Daniel to Winchester; the South
Saxons receive a bishop of their own for the first time. In 709 A. D.
Coenred of Mercia and Offa of Essex receive the tonsure at Rome, and in
the same year Bishop Wilfrid dies. The story of his life is told.
Not long after, Hadrian dies and is succeeded by Albinus as Abbot of St.
Augustine’s. Bede’s friend, Acca, succeeds Wilfrid as Bishop of Hexham.
His services to the Church are enumerated.
An important step is taken at this time by the Northern Picts in the
acceptance of the Roman rules with regard to Easter and the tonsure. The
letter of Abbot Ceolfrid of Wearmouth and Jarrow to the Pictish king
Naiton on this subject is quoted at length. Soon after, Iona yields to the
preaching of Egbert, and receives the Catholic usages. Egbert dies in 729.
In Chapter 23 a number of events are briefly mentioned; the death of
Wictred of Kent in 725, and the succession of his sons, the death of the
learned Tobias, Bishop of Rochester, in 726, the appearance of two comets
in 729, followed by the devastation of Gaul by the Saracens, the death of
the Northumbrian king Osric, and succession of Ceolwulf in 729; finally,
the death of Archbishop Bertwald in 731 and the succession of Tatwine.
Then follows an account of the state of the English episcopate in 731, the
year in which Bede finished the History. The relations of the English with
Picts, Scots, and Britons are described, and some allusion is made to the
growth of monasticism in this time of external peace.
The book closes in Chapter 24 with a chronological summary of the whole
work, an autobiographical sketch of the author, and a list of his works.
LIFE OF BEDE
Few lives afford less material for the biographer than Bede’s; few seem to
possess a more irresistible fascination. Often as the simple story has
been told, the desire to tell it afresh appears to be perennial. And yet
it is perhaps as wholly devoid of incident as any life could be. The short
autobiographical sketch at the end of the “Ecclesiastical History” tells
us practically all: that he was born in the territory of the twin
monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow; that at the age of seven he was sent by
his kinsfolk to be brought up, first under the Abbot Benedict, afterwards
under Ceolfrid; that in his nineteenth year (the canonical age was
twenty-five) he was admitted to the diaconate, and received priest’s
orders in his thirtieth year, in both instances at the hands of John,
Bishop of Hexham, and by order of the Abbot Ceolfrid; that he spent his
whole life in the monastery in learning, in teaching, and in writing, and
in the observance of the monastic rule and attendance at the daily
services of the Church. Of his family we know nothing; the name Beda
appears to have been not uncommon. The fact that he was handed over by
kinsmen (“cura propinquorum”) to Abbot Benedict would seem to imply that
he was an orphan when he entered the monastery at the age of seven, but it
was not unusual for parents to dedicate their infant children to the
religious life, in many cases even at an earlier age than Bede’s. We may
compare the story of the little boy, Aesica, at Barking, related by Bede,
and of Elfled, the daughter of Oswy, dedicated by her father before she
was a year old.
The epithet “Venerable,” commonly attached to his name, has given rise to
more than one legend. It was apparently first applied to him in the ninth
century, and is said to have been an appellation of priests. The best
known of these legends is Fuller’s story of a certain “dunce monk” who set
about writing Bede’s epitaph, and being unable to complete the verse, “Hic
sunt in fossa Bedae . . . ossa,” went to bed with his task unfinished.
Returning to it in the morning, he found that an angel had filled the gap
with the word “venerabilis. ” Another account tells how Bede, in his old
age, when his eyes were dim, was induced by certain “mockers” to preach,
under the mistaken belief that the people were assembled to hear him. As
he ended his sermon with a solemn invocation of the Trinity, the angels
(in one version it is the stones of a rocky valley) responded “Amen, very
venerable Bede. ”
The land on which Bede was born was granted by Egfrid to Benedict Biscop
for the foundation of the monasteries a short time after the birth of
Bede. Wearmouth was founded in 674, Jarrow in 681 or 682. Bede was among
those members of the community who were transferred to Jarrow under Abbot
Ceolfrid, and under his rule and that of his successor, Huaetbert, he
passed his life. With regard to the chief dates, the authorities differ,
Simeon of Durham and others placing his birth as late as 677. Bede himself
tells us that he was in his fifty-ninth year when he wrote the short
autobiography at the end of the History. That work was finished in 731,
and there seems to be no good reason to suppose that the autobiographical
sketch was written at a later time. We may infer then that he was born in
673, that he was ordained deacon in 691 and priest in 702. For his death,
735, the date given in the “Continuation,” seems to be supported by the
evidence of the letter of Cuthbert to Cuthwin (_v. infra_). From this it
appears that he died on a Wednesday, which nevertheless is called
Ascension Day, implying, doubtless, that his death occurred on the eve,
after the festival had begun, according to ecclesiastical reckoning. It is
further explained that Ascension Day was on the 26th of May (“VII Kal.
Junii”),(1) which was actually the case in the year 735.
Beyond the testimony borne to his exceptional diligence as a student in a
letter from Alcuin to the monks of Wearmouth and Jarrow, we hear nothing
of his childhood and early youth. One anecdote in the Anonymous History of
the Abbots may perhaps refer to him, though no name is given. It tells
how, when the plague of 686 devastated the monastery, the Abbot Ceolfrid,
for lack of fit persons to assist at the daily offices, decided to recite
the psalms without antiphons, except at vespers and matins. But after a
week’s trial, unable to bear it any longer, he restored the antiphons to
their proper place, and with the help of one little boy carried on the
services in the usual manner. This little boy is described as being, at
the time the History was written, a priest of that monastery who “duly,
both by his words and writings, commends the Abbot’s praiseworthy deeds to
all who seek to know them,” and he has generally been supposed to be Bede.
In the “Ecclesiastical History” (IV, 3) there is an allusion to Bede’s
teachers, one of whom, Trumbert, educated at Lastingham under Ceadda, is
mentioned by name. The monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow must have offered
exceptional facilities for study. Benedict had enriched it with many
treasures which he brought with him from his travels. Chief among these
was the famous library which he founded and which was enlarged by Abbot
Ceolfrid. Here Bede acquired that wide and varied learning revealed in his
historical, scientific, and theological works. He studied with particular
care and reverence the patristic writings; his theological treatises were,
as he says, “compiled out of the works of the venerable Fathers. ” He must
have had a considerable knowledge of Greek, probably he knew some Hebrew.
Though he is not wholly free from the mediaeval churchman’s distrust of
pagan authors, he constantly betrays his acquaintance with them, and the
sense of form which must unconsciously influence the student of classical
literature has passed into his own writings and preserved him from the
barbarism of monkish Latin. His style is singularly clear, simple, and
fluent, as free from obscurity as from affectation and bombast.
Thus was the foundation laid of that sound learning upon which his
widespread influence both as a teacher and writer was reared. “I always
took delight,” he tells us, “in learning, or teaching, or writing. ”
Probably his writing was, as is so often the case, the outcome of his
teaching; his object in both is to meet “the needs of the brethren. ” One
of his pupils was Archbishop Egbert, the founder of the school of York,
which gave a fresh impulse to learning, not only in England, but through
Alcuin in France, at a time when a revival was most to be desired.
It was to Egbert that he paid one of the only two visits which he records.
In the “Epistola ad Ecgbertum” he alludes to a short stay he had made with
him the year before, and declines, on account of the illness which proved
to be his last, an invitation to visit him again. He visited Lindisfarne
in connection with his task of writing the life of Cuthbert. Otherwise we
have no authentic record of any absence from the monastery. The story that
he went to Rome at the request of Pope Sergius, founded on a statement of
William of Malmesbury, is now regarded as highly improbable. The oldest
MS. of the letter of Sergius, requesting Ceolfrid to send one of his monks
to Rome, has no mention of the name of Bede. If such an event had ever
disturbed his accustomed course of life, it is inconceivable that he
should nowhere allude to it. Still less is the assertion that he lived and
taught at Cambridge one which need be seriously debated by the present
generation.
We may fairly assume that, except for a few short absences such as the
visits to York and Lindisfarne, his whole life was spent in the monastery.
It must have been a life of unremitting toil. His writings, numerous as
they are, covering a wide range of subjects and involving the severest
study, can only have been a part of his work; he had, besides, his duties
as priest, teacher, and member of a religious community to fulfil. Even
the manual labour of his literary work must have been considerable. He did
not employ an amanuensis, and he had not the advantages with regard to
copyists which a member of one of the larger monasteries might have had.
“Ipse mihi dictator simul notarius (= shorthand writer) et librarius (=
copyist),” he writes. Yet he never flags. Through all the outward monotony
of his days his own interest remains fresh. He “takes delight” (“dulce
habui”) in it all. It is a life full of eager activity in intellectual
things, of a keen and patriotic interest in the wider life beyond the
monastery walls, which shows itself sadly enough in his reflections on the
evils of the times, of the ardent charity which spends itself in labour
for the brethren, and, pervading the whole, that spirit of quiet obedience
and devotion which his own simple words describe as “the observance of
monastic rule and the daily charge of singing in the Church. ” We can
picture him, at the appointed hours, breaking off his absorbing
occupations to take his place at the daily offices, lest, as he believed,
he should fail to meet the angels there. Alcuin records a saying of his,
“I know that angels visit the canonical hours and the congregations of the
brethren. What if they do not find me among the brethren? May they not
say, ‘Where is Bede? ’ ”
It is probably here, in this harmony of work and devotion, that we may
find the secret of the fascination in the record of his uneventful days.
It reconciles the sharp antithesis between the active and the
contemplative life. It seems to attain to that ideal of “toil unsever’d
from tranquillity” which haunts us all, but which we have almost ceased to
associate with the life of man under present conditions. Balance,
moderation, or rather, that rare quality which has been well called “the
sanity of saintliness,”(2) these give a unity to the life of Bede and
preserve him from the exaggerations of the conventual ideal. With all his
admiration for the ascetic life, he recognizes human limitations. It is
cheering to find that even he felt the need of a holiday. “Having
completed,” he writes, “the third book of the Commentary on Samuel, I
thought I would rest awhile, and, after recovering in that way my delight
in study and writing, proceed to take in hand the fourth. ” Intellectual
power commands his homage, but his mind is open to the appreciation of all
forms of excellence. It is the unlearned brother, unfit for study and
occupied in manual labour, to whom, in his story, it is vouchsafed to hear
the singing of the angels who came to summon Ceadda to his rest. The life
of devotion ranks highest in his estimation, but he records with approval
how St. Cuthbert thought “that to afford the weak brethren the help of his
exhortation stood in the stead of prayer, knowing that He Who said ‘Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God,’ said likewise, ‘Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. ’ ” He tells us how St. Gregory bewailed his own loss
in being forced by his office to be entangled in worldly affairs. “But,”
adds the human-hearted biographer, “it behoves us to believe that he lost
nothing of his monastic perfection by reason of his pastoral charge, but
rather that he gained greater profit through the labour of converting
many, than by the former calm of his private life. ” Yet he holds that this
immunity from the evil influence of the world was chiefly due to Gregory’s
care in organizing his house like a monastery and safeguarding the
opportunities for prayer and devotional study, even while he was immersed
in affairs at the court of Constantinople, and afterwards, when he held
the most onerous office in the Church.
This quality of sanity shows itself again in an unusual degree of fairness
to opponents. The Paschal error, indeed, moves his indignation in a manner
which is incomprehensible and distasteful to the modern reader, but even
in the perverse and erring Celts he can recognize “a zeal of God, though
not according to knowledge. ” Aidan’s holiness of life wins from him a warm
tribute of admiration. In the monks of Iona, the stronghold of the Celtic
system, he can perceive the fruit of good works and find an excuse for
their error in their isolated situation. In the British Church it is the
lack of missionary zeal, rather than their attitude towards the Easter
question, which calls forth his strongest condemnation.
A characteristic akin to this is his love of truth. As a historian, it
shows itself in his scrupulous care in investigating evidence and in
acknowledging the sources from which he draws. Nowhere is his intellectual
honesty more apparent than in dealing with what he believes to be the
miraculous element in his history. In whatever way we may regard these
anecdotes, there can be no doubt that Bede took the utmost pains to assure
himself of their authenticity. He is careful to acquire, if possible,
first-hand evidence; where this cannot be obtained, he scrupulously
mentions the lack of it. He admits only the testimony of witnesses of high
character and generally quotes them by name.
These are but a few of the glimpses afforded us of the personality of
Bede, a personality never obtruded, but everywhere unconsciously revealed
in his work. Everywhere we find the impress of a mind of wide intellectual
grasp, a character of the highest saintliness, and a gentle refinement of
thought and feeling. The lofty spirituality of Bede, his great learning
and scholarly attainment are the more striking when we reflect how
recently his nation had emerged from barbarism and received Christianity
and the culture which it brought with it to these shores.
The letter in which he declines Egbert’s invitation on the plea of illness
is dated November, 734. If we may assume that his death took place on the
eve of Ascension Day in 735, no long period of enfeebled health clouded
the close of his life, and weakness never interrupted his work. His death
has been described by his pupil, Cuthbert, who afterwards became Abbot of
Wearmouth and Jarrow in succession to Huaetbert, in the letter quoted
below. He was first buried at Jarrow but, according to Simeon of Durham,
his relics were stolen by the priest, Elfred, and carried to Durham. In
1104, when the bones of Cuthbert were translated to the new Cathedral,
those of Bede were found with them. Not long after, Hugh de Puisac erected
a shrine of gold and silver, adorned with jewels, in which he placed them,
along with the relics of many other saints. The shrine disappeared at the
Reformation, and only the stone on which it rested remains. (3)
Letter of Cuthbert to Cuthwin.
“To his fellow-lector, Cuthwin, beloved in Christ, Cuthbert, his
fellow-student, greeting and salvation for ever in the Lord. I have very
gladly received the gift which thou sentest to me, and with much joy have
read thy devout and learned letter, wherein I found that which I greatly
desired, to wit, that masses and holy prayers are diligently offered by
you for our father and master Bede, beloved of God.
Wherefore I rejoice,
rather for love of him than from confidence in my own power, to relate in
few words after what manner he departed out of this world, understanding
also that thou hast desired and asked this of me. He was troubled with
weakness and chiefly with difficulty in breathing, yet almost without
pain, for about a fortnight before the day of our Lord’s Resurrection; and
thus he afterwards passed his time, cheerful and rejoicing, giving thanks
to Almighty God every day and night, nay, every hour, till the day of our
Lord’s Ascension, to wit, the twenty-sixth day of May, and daily gave
lessons to us, his disciples; and whatsoever remained of the day he spent
in singing psalms, as far as he was able; he also strove to pass all the
night joyfully in prayer and thanksgiving to God, save only when a short
sleep prevented it; and then he no sooner awoke than he straightway began
again to repeat the well-known sacred songs, and ceased not to give thanks
to God with uplifted hands. I declare with truth that I have never seen
with my eyes, or heard with my ears, any man so earnest in giving thanks
to the living God. O truly blessed man! He repeated the words of St. Paul
the Apostle, ‘It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God,’ and much more out of Holy Scripture; wherein also he admonished us
to think of our last hour, and to arise out of the sleep of the soul; and
being learned in our native poetry, he said also in our tongue, concerning
the dread parting of souls from the body:
Fore then neidfaerae
naenig uiuurthit
thonc suotturra
than him tharf sie
to ymb hycggannae
aer his hin iongae
huaet his gastae
godaes aeththa yflaes
aefter deothdaege
doemid uueorthae.
Which being interpreted is: “Before the inevitable journey hence, no man
is wiser than is needful that he may consider, ere the soul departs, what
good or evil it hath done and how it shall be judged after its departure. ”
“He also sang antiphons for our comfort and his own. One of these is, ‘O
King of Glory, Lord of all power, Who, triumphing this day, didst ascend
above all the heavens, leave us not comfortless, but send to us the
promise of the Father, even the Spirit of Truth—Hallelujah. ’ And when he
came to the words, ‘leave us not comfortless,’ he burst into tears and
wept much. And an hour after, he fell to repeating what he had begun. And
this he did the whole day, and we, hearing it, mourned with him and wept.
Now we read and now we lamented, nay, we wept even as we read. In such
rapture we passed the fifty days’ festival(4) till the aforesaid day; and
he rejoiced greatly and gave God thanks, because he had been accounted
worthy to suffer such weakness. And he often said, ‘God scourgeth every
son whom He receiveth’; and the words of St. Ambrose, ‘I have not so lived
as to be ashamed to live among you; but neither do I fear to die, because
we have a merciful Lord. ’ And during those days, besides the lessons we
had daily from him, and the singing of the Psalms, there were two
memorable works, which he strove to finish; to wit, his translation of the
Gospel of St. John, from the beginning, as far as the words, ‘But what are
they among so many? ’ into our own tongue, for the benefit of the Church of
God; and some selections from the books of Bishop Isidore, saying, ‘I
would not have my boys read a lie, nor labour herein without profit after
my death. ’
“When the Tuesday before the Ascension of our Lord came, he began to
suffer still more in his breathing, and there was some swelling in his
feet. But he went on teaching all that day and dictating cheerfully, and
now and then said among other things, ‘Learn quickly, I know not how long
I shall endure, and whether my Maker will not soon take me away. ’ But to
us it seemed that haply he knew well the time of his departure; and so he
spent the night, awake, in giving of thanks. And when the morning dawned,
that is, on the Wednesday, he bade us write with all speed what we had
begun. And this we did until the third hour. And from the third hour we
walked in procession with the relics of the saints, according to the
custom of that day. (5) And there was one of us with him who said to him,
‘There is still one chapter wanting of the book which thou hast been
dictating, but I deem it burdensome for thee to be questioned any
further. ’ He answered, ‘Nay, it is light, take thy pen and make ready, and
write quickly. ’ And this was done. But at the ninth hour he said to me, ‘I
have certain treasures in my coffer, some spices, napkins and incense; run
quickly and bring the priests of our monastery to me, that I may
distribute among them the gifts which God has bestowed on me. ’ And this I
did trembling, and when they were come, he spoke to every one of them,
admonishing and entreating them that they should diligently offer masses
and prayers for him, and they promised readily. But they all mourned and
wept, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, because they
thought that they should see his face no long time in this world. But they
rejoiced for that he said, ‘It is time for me, if it be my Maker’s will,
to be set free from the flesh, and come to Him Who, when as yet I was not,
formed me out of nothing. I have lived long; and well has my pitiful judge
disposed my life for me; the time of my release is at hand; for my soul
longs to see Christ my King in His beauty. ’ Having said this and much more
for our profit and edification, he passed his last day in gladness till
the evening; and the aforesaid boy, whose name was Wilbert, still said,
‘Dear master, there is yet one sentence not written. ’ He answered, ‘It is
well, write it. ’ Soon after, the boy said, ‘Now it is written. ’ And he
said, ‘It is well, thou hast said truly, it is finished. Take my head in
thy hands, for I rejoice greatly to sit facing my holy place where I was
wont to pray, that I too, sitting there, may call upon my Father. ’ And
thus on the pavement of his little cell, chanting ‘Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,’ and the rest, he breathed his
last.
“And without doubt we must believe that inasmuch as he had always been
devout and earnest on earth in the praise of God, his soul was carried by
angels to the joys of Heaven which he desired. And all who heard him or
beheld the death of our father Bede, said that they had never seen any
other end his life in so great devotion and peace. For, as thou hast
heard, so long as the soul abode in the body, he chanted the ‘Gloria
Patri’ and other words to the glory of God, and with outstretched hands
ceased not to give thanks to God.
“But know this, that much could be told and written concerning him, but my
want of learning cuts short my words. Nevertheless, with the help of God,
I purpose at leisure to write more fully concerning him, of those things
which I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears. ”
ERRATA
Page 9, headline, _for_ “54 A. D. ” _read_ “54 B. C. ”
Page 21, headline, _for_ “394 A. D. ” _read_ “395 A. D. ”
Page 214, note 4, _for_ “cc. ” _read_ “pp. ” [Transcriber’s Note: This is
the footnote to Bright. ]
Page 215, note 1, _for_ “St. James ‘the Less’ ” _read_ “James, ‘the Lord’s
brother. ’ ” [Transcriber’s Note: This is the footnote to “the Eastern. ”]
Page 220, note 2, _for_ “Lumley” _read_ “Lumby. ” [Transcriber’s Note: This
is the footnote starting “A stone. ”]
Page 254, note 1, line 4, _for_ “existence” _read_ “co-existence. ”
[Transcriber’s Note: This is the footnote starting “Eutyches was
Archimandrite. ”]
Page 316, line 7, _for_ “Gedmund” _read_ “Gebmund. ”
Page 346, note 6, _for_ “p. 56” _read_ “p. 356. ” [Transcriber’s Note: This
is the footnote starting “Ripon, _v. infra_”]
PREFACE
_To the most glorious king Ceolwulf. _(_6_)_ Bede, the servant of Christ
and Priest. _
I formerly, at your request, most readily sent to you the Ecclesiastical
History of the English Nation, which I had lately published, for you to
read and judge; and I now send it again to be transcribed, and more fully
studied at your leisure. And I rejoice greatly at the sincerity and zeal,
with which you not only diligently give ear to hear the words of Holy
Scripture, but also industriously take care to become acquainted with the
actions and sayings of former men of renown, especially of our own nation.
For if history relates good things of good men, the attentive hearer is
excited to imitate that which is good; or if it recounts evil things of
wicked persons, none the less the conscientious and devout hearer or
reader, shunning that which is hurtful and wrong, is the more earnestly
fired to perform those things which he knows to be good, and worthy of the
service of God. And as you have carefully marked this, you are desirous
that the said history should be more fully made known to yourself, and to
those over whom the Divine Authority has appointed you governor, from your
great regard to the common good. But to the end that I may remove all
occasion of doubting what I have written, both from yourself and other
readers or hearers of this history, I will take care briefly to show you
from what authors I chiefly learned the same.
My principal authority and aid in this work was the most learned and
reverend Abbot Albinus;(7) who, educated in the Church of Canterbury by
those venerable and learned men, Archbishop Theodore(8) of blessed memory,
and the Abbot Hadrian,(9) transmitted to me by Nothelm,(10) the pious
priest of the Church of London, either in writing, or by word of mouth of
the same Nothelm, all that he thought worthy of memory that had been done
in the province of Kent, or the adjacent parts, by the disciples of the
blessed Pope Gregory,(11) as he had learned the same either from written
records, or the traditions of his predecessors. The same Nothelm,
afterwards went to Rome, and having, with leave of the present Pope
Gregory,(12) searched into the archives of the Holy Roman Church, found
there some epistles of the blessed Pope Gregory, and other popes; and,
returning home, by the advice of the aforesaid most reverend father
Albinus, brought them to me, to be inserted in my history. Thus, from the
beginning of this volume to the time when the English nation received the
faith of Christ, we have acquired matter from the writings of former men,
gathered from various sources; but from that time till the present, what
was transacted in the Church of Canterbury by the disciples of the blessed
Pope Gregory or their successors, and under what kings the same happened,
has been conveyed to us, as we have said, by Nothelm through the industry
of the aforesaid Abbot Albinus. They also partly informed me by what
bishops and under what kings the provinces of the East and West Saxons, as
also of the East Angles, and of the Northumbrians, received the grace of
the Gospel. In short, I was chiefly encouraged to undertake this work by
the exhortations of the same Albinus. In like manner, Daniel,(13) the most
reverend Bishop of the West Saxons, who is still living, communicated to
me in writing some things relating to the Ecclesiastical History of that
province, and the adjoining one of the South Saxons, as also of the Isle
of Wight. But how, by the ministry of those holy priests of Christ,
Cedd(14) and Ceadda,(15) the province of the Mercians was brought to the
faith of Christ, which they knew not before, and how that of the East
Saxons recovered the faith after having rejected it, and how those fathers
lived and died, we learned from the brethren of the monastery, which was
built by them, and is called Laestingaeu. (16) Further, what ecclesiastical
matters took place in the province of the East Angles, was partly made
known to us from the writings and tradition of former men, and partly by
the account of the most reverend Abbot Esi. (17) What was done with regard
to the faith of Christ, and what was the episcopal succession in the
province of Lindsey,(18) we had either from the letters of the most
reverend prelate Cynibert,(19) or by word of mouth from other persons of
good credit. But what was done in the Church in the different parts of the
province of Northumbria from the time when they received the faith of
Christ till this present, I received not on the authority of any one man,
but by the faithful testimony of innumerable witnesses, who might know or
remember the same; besides what I had of my own knowledge. Wherein it is
to be observed, that what I have written concerning our most holy father,
Bishop Cuthbert,(20) either in this volume, or in my account of his life
and actions, I partly took from what I found written of him by the
brethren of the Church of Lindisfarne,(21) accepting without reserve the
statements I found there; but at the same time took care to add such
things as I could myself have knowledge of by the faithful testimony of
trustworthy informants. And I humbly entreat the reader, that if he shall
find in these our writings anything not delivered according to the truth,
he will not lay the blame of it on me, for, as the true rule of history
requires, withholding nothing, I have laboured to commit to writing such
things as I could gather from common report, for the instruction of
posterity.
Moreover, I beseech all men who shall hear or read this history of our
nation, that for my infirmities both of mind and body, they will offer up
frequent intercessions to the throne of Grace. And I further pray, that in
recompense for the labour wherewith I have recorded in the several
provinces and more important places those events which I considered worthy
of note and of interest to their inhabitants, I may for my reward have the
benefit of their pious prayers.
BOOK I
Chap. I. Of the Situation of Britain and Ireland, and of their ancient
inhabitants.
Britain, an island in the Atlantic, formerly called Albion, lies to the
north-west, facing, though at a considerable distance, the coasts of
Germany, France, and Spain, which form the greatest part of Europe. It
extends 800 miles in length towards the north, and is 200 miles in
breadth, except where several promontories extend further in breadth, by
which its compass is made to be 4,875 miles. (22) To the south lies Belgic
Gaul. To its nearest shore there is an easy passage from the city of
Rutubi Portus, by the English now corrupted into Reptacaestir. (23) The
distance from here across the sea to Gessoriacum,(24) the nearest shore in
the territory of the Morini,(25) is fifty miles, or as some writers say,
450 furlongs. On the other side of the island, where it opens upon the
boundless ocean, it has the islands called Orcades. Britain is rich in
grain and trees, and is well adapted for feeding cattle and beasts of
burden. It also produces vines in some places, and has plenty of land and
water fowl of divers sorts; it is remarkable also for rivers abounding in
fish, and plentiful springs. It has the greatest plenty of salmon and
eels; seals are also frequently taken, and dolphins, as also whales;
besides many sorts of shell-fish, such as mussels, in which are often
found excellent pearls of all colours, red, purple, violet and green, but
chiefly white. There is also a great abundance of snails, of which the
scarlet dye is made, a most beautiful red, which never fades with the heat
of the sun or exposure to rain, but the older it is, the more beautiful it
becomes. It has both salt and hot springs, and from them flow rivers which
furnish hot baths, proper for all ages and both sexes, in separate places,
according to their requirements. For water, as St. Basil says,(26)
receives the quality of heat, when it runs along certain metals, and
becomes not only hot but scalding. Britain is rich also in veins of
metals, as copper, iron, lead, and silver; it produces a great deal of
excellent jet, which is black and sparkling, and burns when put to the
fire, and when set on fire, drives away serpents; being warmed with
rubbing, it attracts whatever is applied to it, like amber. The island was
formerly distinguished by twenty-eight famous cities, besides innumerable
forts, which were all strongly secured with walls, towers, gates, and
bars. And, because it lies almost under the North Pole, the nights are
light in summer, so that at midnight the beholders are often in doubt
whether the evening twilight still continues, or that of the morning has
come; since the sun at night returns to the east in the northern regions
without passing far beneath the earth. For this reason the days are of a
great length in summer, and on the other hand, the nights in winter are
eighteen hours long, for the sun then withdraws into southern parts. In
like manner the nights are very short in summer, and the days in winter,
that is, only six equinoctial hours. Whereas, in Armenia, Macedonia,
Italy, and other countries of the same latitude, the longest day or night
extends but to fifteen hours, and the shortest to nine.
There are in the island at present, following the number of the books in
which the Divine Law was written, five(27) languages of different nations
employed in the study and confession of the one self-same knowledge, which
is of highest truth and true sublimity, to wit, English, British,
Scottish, Pictish, and Latin, the last having become common to all by the
study of the Scriptures. But at first this island had no other inhabitants
but the Britons, from whom it derived its name, and who, coming over into
Britain, as is reported, from Armorica,(28) possessed themselves of the
southern parts thereof. Starting from the south, they had occupied the
greater part of the island, when it happened, that the nation of the
Picts, putting to sea from Scythia,(29) as is reported, in a few ships of
war, and being driven by the winds beyond the bounds of Britain, came to
Ireland and landed on its northern shores. There, finding the nation of
the Scots, they begged to be allowed to settle among them, but could not
succeed in obtaining their request. Ireland is the largest island next to
Britain, and lies to the west of it; but as it is shorter than Britain to
the north, so, on the other hand, it runs out far beyond it to the south,
over against the northern part of Spain, though a wide sea lies between
them. The Picts then, as has been said, arriving in this island by sea,
desired to have a place granted them in which they might settle. The Scots
answered that the island could not contain them both; but “We can give you
good counsel,” said they, “whereby you may know what to do; we know there
is another island, not far from ours, to the eastward, which we often see
at a distance, when the days are clear. If you will go thither, you can
obtain settlements; or, if any should oppose you, we will help you. ” The
Picts, accordingly, sailing over into Britain, began to inhabit the
northern parts thereof, for the Britons had possessed themselves of the
southern. Now the Picts had no wives, and asked them of the Scots; who
would not consent to grant them upon any other terms, than that when any
question should arise, they should choose a king from the female royal
race rather than from the male: which custom, as is well known, has been
observed among the Picts to this day. (30) In process of time, Britain,
besides the Britons and the Picts, received a third nation, the Scots,
who, migrating from Ireland under their leader, Reuda, either by fair
means, or by force of arms, secured to themselves those settlements among
the Picts which they still possess. From the name of their commander, they
are to this day called Dalreudini; for, in their language, Dal signifies a
part. (31)
Ireland is broader than Britain and has a much healthier and milder
climate; for the snow scarcely ever lies there above three days: no man
makes hay in the summer for winter’s provision, or builds stables for his
beasts of burden. No reptiles are found there, and no snake can live
there; for, though snakes are often carried thither out of Britain, as
soon as the ship comes near the shore, and the scent of the air reaches
them, they die. On the contrary, almost all things in the island are
efficacious against poison. In truth, we have known that when men have
been bitten by serpents, the scrapings of leaves of books that were
brought out of Ireland, being put into water, and given them to drink,
have immediately absorbed the spreading poison, and assuaged the swelling.
The island abounds in milk and honey, nor is there any lack of vines,
fish, or fowl; and it is noted for the hunting of stags and roe-deer. It
is properly the country of the Scots, who, migrating from thence, as has
been said, formed the third nation in Britain in addition to the Britons
and the Picts.
There is a very large gulf of the sea, which formerly divided the nation
of the Britons from the Picts; it runs from the west far into the land,
where, to this day, stands a strong city of the Britons, called
Alcluith. (32) The Scots, arriving on the north side of this bay, settled
themselves there.
Chap. II. How Caius Julius Caesar was the first Roman that came into
Britain.
Now Britain had never been visited by the Romans, and was entirely unknown
to them before the time of Caius Julius Caesar, who, in the year 693 after
the foundation of Rome, but the sixtieth year(33) before the Incarnation
of our Lord, was consul with Lucius Bibulus. While he was making war upon
the Germans and the Gauls, who were divided only by the river Rhine, he
came into the province of the Morini, whence is the nearest and shortest
passage into Britain. Here, having provided about eighty ships of burden
and fast-sailing vessels, he sailed over into Britain; where, being first
roughly handled in a battle, and then caught in a storm, he lost a
considerable part of his fleet, no small number of foot-soldiers, and
almost all his cavalry. Returning into Gaul, he put his legions into
winter-quarters, and gave orders for building six hundred sail of both
sorts. With these he again crossed over early in spring into Britain, but,
whilst he was marching with the army against the enemy, the ships, riding
at anchor, were caught in a storm and either dashed one against another,
or driven upon the sands and wrecked. Forty of them were lost, the rest
were, with much difficulty, repaired. Caesar’s cavalry was, at the first
encounter, defeated by the Britons, and there Labienus, the tribune, was
slain. In the second engagement, with great hazard to his men, he defeated
the Britons and put them to flight. Thence he proceeded to the river
Thames, where a great multitude of the enemy had posted themselves on the
farther side of the river, under the command of Cassobellaunus,(34) and
fenced the bank of the river and almost all the ford under water with
sharp stakes: the remains of these are to be seen to this day, apparently
about the thickness of a man’s thigh, cased with lead, and fixed immovably
in the bottom of the river. This being perceived and avoided by the
Romans, the barbarians, not able to stand the charge of the legions, hid
themselves in the woods, whence they grievously harassed the Romans with
repeated sallies. In the meantime, the strong state of the
Trinovantes,(35) with their commander Androgius,(36) surrendered to
Caesar, giving him forty hostages. Many other cities, following their
example, made a treaty with the Romans. Guided by them, Caesar at length,
after severe fighting, took the town of Cassobellaunus,(37) situated
between two marshes, fortified by sheltering woods, and plentifully
furnished with all necessaries. After this, Caesar returned from Britain
into Gaul, but he had no sooner put his legions into winter quarters, than
he was suddenly beset and distracted with wars and sudden risings on every
side.
Chap. III. How Claudius, the second of the Romans who came into Britain,
brought the islands Orcades into subjection to the Roman empire; and
Vespasian, sent by him, reduced the Isle of Wight under the dominion of
the Romans.
In the year of Rome 798,(38) Claudius, fourth emperor from Augustus, being
desirous to approve himself a prince beneficial to the republic, and
eagerly bent upon war and conquest on every side, undertook an expedition
into Britain, which as it appeared, was roused to rebellion by the refusal
of the Romans to give up certain deserters. No one before or after Julius
Caesar had dared to land upon the island. Claudius crossed over to it, and
within a very few days, without any fighting or bloodshed, the greater
part of the island was surrendered into his hands. He also added to the
Roman empire the Orcades,(39) which lie in the ocean beyond Britain, and,
returning to Rome in the sixth month after his departure, he gave his son
the title of Britannicus. This war he concluded in the fourth year of his
reign, which is the forty-sixth from the Incarnation of our Lord. In which
year there came to pass a most grievous famine in Syria, which is recorded
in the Acts of the Apostles to have been foretold by the prophet Agabus.
Vespasian,(40) who was emperor after Nero, being sent into Britain by the
same Claudius, brought also under the Roman dominion the Isle of Wight,
which is close to Britain on the south, and is about thirty miles in
length from east to west, and twelve from north to south; being six miles
distant from the southern coast of Britain at the east end, and three at
the west. Nero, succeeding Claudius in the empire, undertook no wars at
all; and, therefore, among countless other disasters brought by him upon
the Roman state, he almost lost Britain; for in his time two most notable
towns were there taken and destroyed.
Chap. IV. How Lucius, king of Britain, writing to Pope Eleutherus, desired
to be made a Christian.
In the year of our Lord 156, Marcus Antoninus Verus,(41) the fourteenth
from Augustus, was made emperor, together with his brother, Aurelius
Commodus. In their time, whilst the holy Eleutherus presided over the
Roman Church, Lucius, king of Britain, sent a letter to him, entreating
that by a mandate from him he might be made a Christian. (42) He soon
obtained his pious request, and the Britons preserved the faith, which
they had received, uncorrupted and entire, in peace and tranquillity until
the time of the Emperor Diocletian.
Chap. V. How the Emperor Severus divided from the rest by a rampart that
part of Britain which had been recovered.
In the year of our Lord 189, Severus, an African, born at Leptis, in the
province of Tripolis, became emperor. (43) He was the seventeenth from
Augustus, and reigned seventeen years. Being naturally of a harsh
disposition, and engaged in many wars, he governed the state vigorously,
but with much trouble. Having been victorious in all the grievous civil
wars which happened in his time, he was drawn into Britain by the revolt
of almost all the confederated tribes; and, after many great and severe
battles, he thought fit to divide that part of the island, which he had
recovered, from the other unconquered nations, not with a wall, as some
imagine, but with a rampart. (44) For a wall is made of stones, but a
rampart, with which camps are fortified to repel the assaults of enemies,
is made of sods, cut out of the earth, and raised high above the ground,
like a wall, having in front of it the trench whence the sods were taken,
with strong stakes of wood fixed above it. Thus Severus drew a great
trench and strong rampart, fortified with several towers, from sea to sea.
And there, at York, he fell sick afterwards and died, leaving two sons,
Bassianus and Geta;(45) of whom Geta died, adjudged an enemy of the State;
but Bassianus, having taken the surname of Antonius, obtained the empire.
Chap. VI. Of the reign of Diocletian, and how he persecuted the
Christians.
In the year of our Lord 286,(46) Diocletian, the thirty-third from
Augustus, and chosen emperor by the army, reigned twenty years, and
created Maximian, surnamed Herculius, his colleague in the empire. In
their time, one Carausius,(47) of very mean birth, but a man of great
ability and energy, being appointed to guard the sea-coasts, then infested
by the Franks and Saxons, acted more to the prejudice than to the
advantage of the commonwealth, by not restoring to its owners any of the
booty taken from the robbers, but keeping all to himself; thus giving rise
to the suspicion that by intentional neglect he suffered the enemy to
infest the frontiers. When, therefore, an order was sent by Maximian that
he should be put to death, he took upon him the imperial purple, and
possessed himself of Britain, and having most valiantly conquered and held
it for the space of seven years, he was at length put to death by the
treachery of his associate Allectus. (48) The usurper, having thus got the
island from Carausius, held it three years, and was then vanquished by
Asclepiodotus,(49) the captain of the Praetorian guards, who thus at the
end of ten years restored Britain to the Roman empire.
Meanwhile, Diocletian in the east, and Maximian Herculius in the west,
commanded the churches to be destroyed, and the Christians to be
persecuted and slain. This persecution was the tenth since the reign of
Nero, and was more lasting and cruel than almost any before it; for it was
carried on incessantly for the space of ten years, with burning of
churches, proscription of innocent persons, and the slaughter of martyrs.
Finally, Britain also attained to the great glory of bearing faithful
witness to God.
Chap. VII. The Passion of St. Alban and his companions, who at that time
shed their blood for our Lord.
At that time suffered St. Alban,(50) of whom the priest Fortunatus,(51) in
the Praise of Virgins, where he makes mention of the blessed martyrs that
came to the Lord from all parts of the world, says:
And fruitful Britain noble Alban rears.
This Alban, being yet a pagan, at the time when at the bidding of
unbelieving rulers all manner of cruelty was practised against the
Christians, gave entertainment in his house to a certain clerk,(52) flying
from his persecutors. This man he observed to be engaged in continual
prayer and watching day and night; when on a sudden the Divine grace
shining on him, he began to imitate the example of faith and piety which
was set before him, and being gradually instructed by his wholesome
admonitions, he cast off the darkness of idolatry, and became a Christian
in all sincerity of heart. The aforesaid clerk having been some days
entertained by him, it came to the ears of the impious prince, that a
confessor of Christ, to whom a martyr’s place had not yet been assigned,
was concealed at Alban’s house. Whereupon he sent some soldiers to make a
strict search after him. When they came to the martyr’s hut, St. Alban
presently came forth to the soldiers, instead of his guest and master, in
the habit or long coat which he wore, and was bound and led before the
judge.
It happened that the judge, at the time when Alban was carried before him,
was standing at the altar, and offering sacrifice to devils. When he saw
Alban, being much enraged that he should thus, of his own accord, dare to
put himself into the hands of the soldiers, and incur such danger on
behalf of the guest whom he had harboured, he commanded him to be dragged
to the images of the devils, before which he stood, saying, “Because you
have chosen to conceal a rebellious and sacrilegious man, rather than to
deliver him up to the soldiers, that his contempt of the gods might meet
with the penalty due to such blasphemy, you shall undergo all the
punishment that was due to him, if you seek to abandon the worship of our
religion. ” But St. Alban, who had voluntarily declared himself a Christian
to the persecutors of the faith, was not at all daunted by the prince’s
threats, but putting on the armour of spiritual warfare, publicly declared
that he would not obey his command. Then said the judge, “Of what family
or race are you?
Meanwhile, important political changes have taken place in the north: the
defeat and death of Penda at the Winwaed in 655 are followed by Oswy’s
rule, which established Christianity in Mercia, in spite of a successful
rebellion after three years, when the Mercians threw off the yoke of
Northumbria and set up Penda’s son, Wulfhere, as their king.
In Chapter 25 we come to the Synod of Whitby (664 A. D. ), which settled the
Easter question for the English Church. Wilfrid comes to the front as a
champion of the Catholic rules. The opposing party either retire or
conform. The self-denial and devotion of the Celtic missionaries are
highly praised, and some account of the life led by English students in
Ireland follows, with the story of the self-dedication of Egbert, who is
destined to play a prominent part afterwards in the history of the Church.
The consecration of both Wilfrid and Ceadda (664 A. D. ), as bishops of
Northumbria leads to complications in the episcopate. An important step
towards the unity of the English nation in ecclesiastical matters is taken
when Wighard is sent to Rome by the kings Oswy and Egbert, acting in
concert, to be consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury (667 A. D. ). Wighard
dies there, and Pope Vitalian undertakes to find an archbishop for the
English Church.
The book ends with a fresh apostasy in Essex during the miseries of the
great plague of 664. Mercia, so lately itself evangelized, becomes a new
missionary centre, King Wulfhere sending Bishop Jaruman to recall the East
Saxons to the faith.
BOOK IV. —In all but one of the kingdoms of England Christianity is now, at
least in name, established, and the Church settles down to the work of
organization. The man for this task is found in Theodore of Tarsus,
consecrated Archbishop of the English in 668. He arrives at Canterbury in
669. We hear at once of the vigorous impulse given by him and Abbot
Hadrian to the various departments of education there. Finding an
irregularity in Ceadda’s orders, he completes his ordination and makes him
Bishop of the Mercians (probably in 669), with his see at Lichfield.
Ceadda’s death (672 A. D. ), his character, and the miracles and visions
connected with him are described. Parenthetically we get an account of
Colman’s activity in Ireland after his retirement, in consequence of the
decision at Whitby. The most important political events at this time are
the death of Oswy and succession of Egfrid in Northumbria in 670 or 671,
and the death of Egbert and succession of Hlothere in Kent in 673.
In the same year the Council of Hertford, the first English provincial
council, is held, and marks the strength and independence of the Church.
Theodore proceeds with his reforms in the episcopate. Various events of
ecclesiastical importance follow; the East Anglian diocese is divided
about this time, and other changes are effected.
Essex, so long prone to lapses into paganism, becomes at this time a
centre of religious life under its Bishop Earconwald and its king Sebbi.
Earconwald, whose holiness is attested by many miraculous circumstances,
was the founder of the monasteries of Chertsey and Barking, the latter of
which was ruled by his sister, the saintly Ethelburg. Various miracles are
related in connection with her and her monastery. The king of the East
Saxons, Sebbi, is a man of unusual piety who resigns his kingdom and
receives the tonsure.
After a brief allusion to West Saxon history, the devastation of Kent by
Ethelred of Mercia in 676, and certain changes in the episcopate, we come
to an important step in the organization of the Church taken by Theodore.
In pursuance of his policy of increasing the number of bishops, he
subdivides the great Northumbrian diocese. Wilfrid is expelled (678 A. D. ).
From these events we pass summarily to the evangelization of the South
Saxons by Wilfrid, who extends his labours to the Isle of Wight, and thus
the last of the English provinces is won for the faith.
In the Council of Hatfield (680 A. D. ) the English Church asserts its
orthodoxy and unites with the continental Churches in repudiating the
heresy of the Monothelites. Turning to Northumbrian history, we have the
story of Egfrid’s queen, Ethelthryth, and a hymn composed in her honour by
Bede. The war between Mercia and Northumbria in 679 is ended by the
mediation of Theodore, and a miracle in connection with the battle of the
Trent is related.
The remainder of the book is occupied mainly with Northumbrian history,
the life and death of Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, the story of the poet
Caedmon, the destruction of Coldingham, prophesied by the monk Adamnan,
Egfrid’s invasion of Ireland (684 A. D. ) and of the country of the Picts
(685 A. D. ), his defeat and death in that year, the decline of Northumbria,
the flight of Bishop Trumwine from Abercorn, and the succession of Aldfrid
to the kingdom. The death of Hlothere of Kent (685 A. D. ) is followed by
anarchy in that province, till Wictred succeeds and restores peace.
In Chapters 27-32 we have an account of the life of St. Cuthbert and
stories of the miracles wrought by his relics.
BOOK V. —Book V opens with the story of the holy Ethelwald, who succeeded
Cuthbert as anchorite at Farne, and a miracle wrought through his
intercession. This is followed (cc. 2-6) by an account of John of
Beverley, Bishop of Hexham, and the miracles attributed to him. In Chapter
7 we have a piece of West Saxon history: Caedwalla, King of Wessex, after
a life of war and bloodshed, goes to Rome to receive baptism there, and
dies immediately after his admission into the Church (689 A. D. ). He is
succeeded by Ini, who in 725 likewise ended his days at Rome.
In 690 Theodore dies, after an episcopate of twenty-two years. Bertwald
succeeds him at Canterbury in 693.
At this time Englishmen begin to extend their missionary enterprise
abroad. Various missions are undertaken by men who have lived long in
Ireland and caught the Celtic zeal for the work of evangelization. The
story is told of the attempted mission of Egbert to Germany and the
unsuccessful venture of Witbert. Wilbrord (in 690) and others plant the
faith among the German tribes.
The vision of Drythelm is inserted here, probably on chronological grounds
(“his temporibus”), and other visions of the future world follow.
Apparently about the same time a change is effected in the attitude of the
greater part of the Celtic Church towards the Paschal question. The
Northern Irish are converted to the Roman usages by Adamnan, Abbot of
Iona, whose book on the “Holy Places” is here described (cc. 16-17).
The death of Aldfrid and succession of Osred in Northumbria in 705 are the
next events narrated.
About this time the division of the West Saxon diocese is carried out,
Aldhelm being appointed to Sherborne and Daniel to Winchester; the South
Saxons receive a bishop of their own for the first time. In 709 A. D.
Coenred of Mercia and Offa of Essex receive the tonsure at Rome, and in
the same year Bishop Wilfrid dies. The story of his life is told.
Not long after, Hadrian dies and is succeeded by Albinus as Abbot of St.
Augustine’s. Bede’s friend, Acca, succeeds Wilfrid as Bishop of Hexham.
His services to the Church are enumerated.
An important step is taken at this time by the Northern Picts in the
acceptance of the Roman rules with regard to Easter and the tonsure. The
letter of Abbot Ceolfrid of Wearmouth and Jarrow to the Pictish king
Naiton on this subject is quoted at length. Soon after, Iona yields to the
preaching of Egbert, and receives the Catholic usages. Egbert dies in 729.
In Chapter 23 a number of events are briefly mentioned; the death of
Wictred of Kent in 725, and the succession of his sons, the death of the
learned Tobias, Bishop of Rochester, in 726, the appearance of two comets
in 729, followed by the devastation of Gaul by the Saracens, the death of
the Northumbrian king Osric, and succession of Ceolwulf in 729; finally,
the death of Archbishop Bertwald in 731 and the succession of Tatwine.
Then follows an account of the state of the English episcopate in 731, the
year in which Bede finished the History. The relations of the English with
Picts, Scots, and Britons are described, and some allusion is made to the
growth of monasticism in this time of external peace.
The book closes in Chapter 24 with a chronological summary of the whole
work, an autobiographical sketch of the author, and a list of his works.
LIFE OF BEDE
Few lives afford less material for the biographer than Bede’s; few seem to
possess a more irresistible fascination. Often as the simple story has
been told, the desire to tell it afresh appears to be perennial. And yet
it is perhaps as wholly devoid of incident as any life could be. The short
autobiographical sketch at the end of the “Ecclesiastical History” tells
us practically all: that he was born in the territory of the twin
monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow; that at the age of seven he was sent by
his kinsfolk to be brought up, first under the Abbot Benedict, afterwards
under Ceolfrid; that in his nineteenth year (the canonical age was
twenty-five) he was admitted to the diaconate, and received priest’s
orders in his thirtieth year, in both instances at the hands of John,
Bishop of Hexham, and by order of the Abbot Ceolfrid; that he spent his
whole life in the monastery in learning, in teaching, and in writing, and
in the observance of the monastic rule and attendance at the daily
services of the Church. Of his family we know nothing; the name Beda
appears to have been not uncommon. The fact that he was handed over by
kinsmen (“cura propinquorum”) to Abbot Benedict would seem to imply that
he was an orphan when he entered the monastery at the age of seven, but it
was not unusual for parents to dedicate their infant children to the
religious life, in many cases even at an earlier age than Bede’s. We may
compare the story of the little boy, Aesica, at Barking, related by Bede,
and of Elfled, the daughter of Oswy, dedicated by her father before she
was a year old.
The epithet “Venerable,” commonly attached to his name, has given rise to
more than one legend. It was apparently first applied to him in the ninth
century, and is said to have been an appellation of priests. The best
known of these legends is Fuller’s story of a certain “dunce monk” who set
about writing Bede’s epitaph, and being unable to complete the verse, “Hic
sunt in fossa Bedae . . . ossa,” went to bed with his task unfinished.
Returning to it in the morning, he found that an angel had filled the gap
with the word “venerabilis. ” Another account tells how Bede, in his old
age, when his eyes were dim, was induced by certain “mockers” to preach,
under the mistaken belief that the people were assembled to hear him. As
he ended his sermon with a solemn invocation of the Trinity, the angels
(in one version it is the stones of a rocky valley) responded “Amen, very
venerable Bede. ”
The land on which Bede was born was granted by Egfrid to Benedict Biscop
for the foundation of the monasteries a short time after the birth of
Bede. Wearmouth was founded in 674, Jarrow in 681 or 682. Bede was among
those members of the community who were transferred to Jarrow under Abbot
Ceolfrid, and under his rule and that of his successor, Huaetbert, he
passed his life. With regard to the chief dates, the authorities differ,
Simeon of Durham and others placing his birth as late as 677. Bede himself
tells us that he was in his fifty-ninth year when he wrote the short
autobiography at the end of the History. That work was finished in 731,
and there seems to be no good reason to suppose that the autobiographical
sketch was written at a later time. We may infer then that he was born in
673, that he was ordained deacon in 691 and priest in 702. For his death,
735, the date given in the “Continuation,” seems to be supported by the
evidence of the letter of Cuthbert to Cuthwin (_v. infra_). From this it
appears that he died on a Wednesday, which nevertheless is called
Ascension Day, implying, doubtless, that his death occurred on the eve,
after the festival had begun, according to ecclesiastical reckoning. It is
further explained that Ascension Day was on the 26th of May (“VII Kal.
Junii”),(1) which was actually the case in the year 735.
Beyond the testimony borne to his exceptional diligence as a student in a
letter from Alcuin to the monks of Wearmouth and Jarrow, we hear nothing
of his childhood and early youth. One anecdote in the Anonymous History of
the Abbots may perhaps refer to him, though no name is given. It tells
how, when the plague of 686 devastated the monastery, the Abbot Ceolfrid,
for lack of fit persons to assist at the daily offices, decided to recite
the psalms without antiphons, except at vespers and matins. But after a
week’s trial, unable to bear it any longer, he restored the antiphons to
their proper place, and with the help of one little boy carried on the
services in the usual manner. This little boy is described as being, at
the time the History was written, a priest of that monastery who “duly,
both by his words and writings, commends the Abbot’s praiseworthy deeds to
all who seek to know them,” and he has generally been supposed to be Bede.
In the “Ecclesiastical History” (IV, 3) there is an allusion to Bede’s
teachers, one of whom, Trumbert, educated at Lastingham under Ceadda, is
mentioned by name. The monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow must have offered
exceptional facilities for study. Benedict had enriched it with many
treasures which he brought with him from his travels. Chief among these
was the famous library which he founded and which was enlarged by Abbot
Ceolfrid. Here Bede acquired that wide and varied learning revealed in his
historical, scientific, and theological works. He studied with particular
care and reverence the patristic writings; his theological treatises were,
as he says, “compiled out of the works of the venerable Fathers. ” He must
have had a considerable knowledge of Greek, probably he knew some Hebrew.
Though he is not wholly free from the mediaeval churchman’s distrust of
pagan authors, he constantly betrays his acquaintance with them, and the
sense of form which must unconsciously influence the student of classical
literature has passed into his own writings and preserved him from the
barbarism of monkish Latin. His style is singularly clear, simple, and
fluent, as free from obscurity as from affectation and bombast.
Thus was the foundation laid of that sound learning upon which his
widespread influence both as a teacher and writer was reared. “I always
took delight,” he tells us, “in learning, or teaching, or writing. ”
Probably his writing was, as is so often the case, the outcome of his
teaching; his object in both is to meet “the needs of the brethren. ” One
of his pupils was Archbishop Egbert, the founder of the school of York,
which gave a fresh impulse to learning, not only in England, but through
Alcuin in France, at a time when a revival was most to be desired.
It was to Egbert that he paid one of the only two visits which he records.
In the “Epistola ad Ecgbertum” he alludes to a short stay he had made with
him the year before, and declines, on account of the illness which proved
to be his last, an invitation to visit him again. He visited Lindisfarne
in connection with his task of writing the life of Cuthbert. Otherwise we
have no authentic record of any absence from the monastery. The story that
he went to Rome at the request of Pope Sergius, founded on a statement of
William of Malmesbury, is now regarded as highly improbable. The oldest
MS. of the letter of Sergius, requesting Ceolfrid to send one of his monks
to Rome, has no mention of the name of Bede. If such an event had ever
disturbed his accustomed course of life, it is inconceivable that he
should nowhere allude to it. Still less is the assertion that he lived and
taught at Cambridge one which need be seriously debated by the present
generation.
We may fairly assume that, except for a few short absences such as the
visits to York and Lindisfarne, his whole life was spent in the monastery.
It must have been a life of unremitting toil. His writings, numerous as
they are, covering a wide range of subjects and involving the severest
study, can only have been a part of his work; he had, besides, his duties
as priest, teacher, and member of a religious community to fulfil. Even
the manual labour of his literary work must have been considerable. He did
not employ an amanuensis, and he had not the advantages with regard to
copyists which a member of one of the larger monasteries might have had.
“Ipse mihi dictator simul notarius (= shorthand writer) et librarius (=
copyist),” he writes. Yet he never flags. Through all the outward monotony
of his days his own interest remains fresh. He “takes delight” (“dulce
habui”) in it all. It is a life full of eager activity in intellectual
things, of a keen and patriotic interest in the wider life beyond the
monastery walls, which shows itself sadly enough in his reflections on the
evils of the times, of the ardent charity which spends itself in labour
for the brethren, and, pervading the whole, that spirit of quiet obedience
and devotion which his own simple words describe as “the observance of
monastic rule and the daily charge of singing in the Church. ” We can
picture him, at the appointed hours, breaking off his absorbing
occupations to take his place at the daily offices, lest, as he believed,
he should fail to meet the angels there. Alcuin records a saying of his,
“I know that angels visit the canonical hours and the congregations of the
brethren. What if they do not find me among the brethren? May they not
say, ‘Where is Bede? ’ ”
It is probably here, in this harmony of work and devotion, that we may
find the secret of the fascination in the record of his uneventful days.
It reconciles the sharp antithesis between the active and the
contemplative life. It seems to attain to that ideal of “toil unsever’d
from tranquillity” which haunts us all, but which we have almost ceased to
associate with the life of man under present conditions. Balance,
moderation, or rather, that rare quality which has been well called “the
sanity of saintliness,”(2) these give a unity to the life of Bede and
preserve him from the exaggerations of the conventual ideal. With all his
admiration for the ascetic life, he recognizes human limitations. It is
cheering to find that even he felt the need of a holiday. “Having
completed,” he writes, “the third book of the Commentary on Samuel, I
thought I would rest awhile, and, after recovering in that way my delight
in study and writing, proceed to take in hand the fourth. ” Intellectual
power commands his homage, but his mind is open to the appreciation of all
forms of excellence. It is the unlearned brother, unfit for study and
occupied in manual labour, to whom, in his story, it is vouchsafed to hear
the singing of the angels who came to summon Ceadda to his rest. The life
of devotion ranks highest in his estimation, but he records with approval
how St. Cuthbert thought “that to afford the weak brethren the help of his
exhortation stood in the stead of prayer, knowing that He Who said ‘Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God,’ said likewise, ‘Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. ’ ” He tells us how St. Gregory bewailed his own loss
in being forced by his office to be entangled in worldly affairs. “But,”
adds the human-hearted biographer, “it behoves us to believe that he lost
nothing of his monastic perfection by reason of his pastoral charge, but
rather that he gained greater profit through the labour of converting
many, than by the former calm of his private life. ” Yet he holds that this
immunity from the evil influence of the world was chiefly due to Gregory’s
care in organizing his house like a monastery and safeguarding the
opportunities for prayer and devotional study, even while he was immersed
in affairs at the court of Constantinople, and afterwards, when he held
the most onerous office in the Church.
This quality of sanity shows itself again in an unusual degree of fairness
to opponents. The Paschal error, indeed, moves his indignation in a manner
which is incomprehensible and distasteful to the modern reader, but even
in the perverse and erring Celts he can recognize “a zeal of God, though
not according to knowledge. ” Aidan’s holiness of life wins from him a warm
tribute of admiration. In the monks of Iona, the stronghold of the Celtic
system, he can perceive the fruit of good works and find an excuse for
their error in their isolated situation. In the British Church it is the
lack of missionary zeal, rather than their attitude towards the Easter
question, which calls forth his strongest condemnation.
A characteristic akin to this is his love of truth. As a historian, it
shows itself in his scrupulous care in investigating evidence and in
acknowledging the sources from which he draws. Nowhere is his intellectual
honesty more apparent than in dealing with what he believes to be the
miraculous element in his history. In whatever way we may regard these
anecdotes, there can be no doubt that Bede took the utmost pains to assure
himself of their authenticity. He is careful to acquire, if possible,
first-hand evidence; where this cannot be obtained, he scrupulously
mentions the lack of it. He admits only the testimony of witnesses of high
character and generally quotes them by name.
These are but a few of the glimpses afforded us of the personality of
Bede, a personality never obtruded, but everywhere unconsciously revealed
in his work. Everywhere we find the impress of a mind of wide intellectual
grasp, a character of the highest saintliness, and a gentle refinement of
thought and feeling. The lofty spirituality of Bede, his great learning
and scholarly attainment are the more striking when we reflect how
recently his nation had emerged from barbarism and received Christianity
and the culture which it brought with it to these shores.
The letter in which he declines Egbert’s invitation on the plea of illness
is dated November, 734. If we may assume that his death took place on the
eve of Ascension Day in 735, no long period of enfeebled health clouded
the close of his life, and weakness never interrupted his work. His death
has been described by his pupil, Cuthbert, who afterwards became Abbot of
Wearmouth and Jarrow in succession to Huaetbert, in the letter quoted
below. He was first buried at Jarrow but, according to Simeon of Durham,
his relics were stolen by the priest, Elfred, and carried to Durham. In
1104, when the bones of Cuthbert were translated to the new Cathedral,
those of Bede were found with them. Not long after, Hugh de Puisac erected
a shrine of gold and silver, adorned with jewels, in which he placed them,
along with the relics of many other saints. The shrine disappeared at the
Reformation, and only the stone on which it rested remains. (3)
Letter of Cuthbert to Cuthwin.
“To his fellow-lector, Cuthwin, beloved in Christ, Cuthbert, his
fellow-student, greeting and salvation for ever in the Lord. I have very
gladly received the gift which thou sentest to me, and with much joy have
read thy devout and learned letter, wherein I found that which I greatly
desired, to wit, that masses and holy prayers are diligently offered by
you for our father and master Bede, beloved of God.
Wherefore I rejoice,
rather for love of him than from confidence in my own power, to relate in
few words after what manner he departed out of this world, understanding
also that thou hast desired and asked this of me. He was troubled with
weakness and chiefly with difficulty in breathing, yet almost without
pain, for about a fortnight before the day of our Lord’s Resurrection; and
thus he afterwards passed his time, cheerful and rejoicing, giving thanks
to Almighty God every day and night, nay, every hour, till the day of our
Lord’s Ascension, to wit, the twenty-sixth day of May, and daily gave
lessons to us, his disciples; and whatsoever remained of the day he spent
in singing psalms, as far as he was able; he also strove to pass all the
night joyfully in prayer and thanksgiving to God, save only when a short
sleep prevented it; and then he no sooner awoke than he straightway began
again to repeat the well-known sacred songs, and ceased not to give thanks
to God with uplifted hands. I declare with truth that I have never seen
with my eyes, or heard with my ears, any man so earnest in giving thanks
to the living God. O truly blessed man! He repeated the words of St. Paul
the Apostle, ‘It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God,’ and much more out of Holy Scripture; wherein also he admonished us
to think of our last hour, and to arise out of the sleep of the soul; and
being learned in our native poetry, he said also in our tongue, concerning
the dread parting of souls from the body:
Fore then neidfaerae
naenig uiuurthit
thonc suotturra
than him tharf sie
to ymb hycggannae
aer his hin iongae
huaet his gastae
godaes aeththa yflaes
aefter deothdaege
doemid uueorthae.
Which being interpreted is: “Before the inevitable journey hence, no man
is wiser than is needful that he may consider, ere the soul departs, what
good or evil it hath done and how it shall be judged after its departure. ”
“He also sang antiphons for our comfort and his own. One of these is, ‘O
King of Glory, Lord of all power, Who, triumphing this day, didst ascend
above all the heavens, leave us not comfortless, but send to us the
promise of the Father, even the Spirit of Truth—Hallelujah. ’ And when he
came to the words, ‘leave us not comfortless,’ he burst into tears and
wept much. And an hour after, he fell to repeating what he had begun. And
this he did the whole day, and we, hearing it, mourned with him and wept.
Now we read and now we lamented, nay, we wept even as we read. In such
rapture we passed the fifty days’ festival(4) till the aforesaid day; and
he rejoiced greatly and gave God thanks, because he had been accounted
worthy to suffer such weakness. And he often said, ‘God scourgeth every
son whom He receiveth’; and the words of St. Ambrose, ‘I have not so lived
as to be ashamed to live among you; but neither do I fear to die, because
we have a merciful Lord. ’ And during those days, besides the lessons we
had daily from him, and the singing of the Psalms, there were two
memorable works, which he strove to finish; to wit, his translation of the
Gospel of St. John, from the beginning, as far as the words, ‘But what are
they among so many? ’ into our own tongue, for the benefit of the Church of
God; and some selections from the books of Bishop Isidore, saying, ‘I
would not have my boys read a lie, nor labour herein without profit after
my death. ’
“When the Tuesday before the Ascension of our Lord came, he began to
suffer still more in his breathing, and there was some swelling in his
feet. But he went on teaching all that day and dictating cheerfully, and
now and then said among other things, ‘Learn quickly, I know not how long
I shall endure, and whether my Maker will not soon take me away. ’ But to
us it seemed that haply he knew well the time of his departure; and so he
spent the night, awake, in giving of thanks. And when the morning dawned,
that is, on the Wednesday, he bade us write with all speed what we had
begun. And this we did until the third hour. And from the third hour we
walked in procession with the relics of the saints, according to the
custom of that day. (5) And there was one of us with him who said to him,
‘There is still one chapter wanting of the book which thou hast been
dictating, but I deem it burdensome for thee to be questioned any
further. ’ He answered, ‘Nay, it is light, take thy pen and make ready, and
write quickly. ’ And this was done. But at the ninth hour he said to me, ‘I
have certain treasures in my coffer, some spices, napkins and incense; run
quickly and bring the priests of our monastery to me, that I may
distribute among them the gifts which God has bestowed on me. ’ And this I
did trembling, and when they were come, he spoke to every one of them,
admonishing and entreating them that they should diligently offer masses
and prayers for him, and they promised readily. But they all mourned and
wept, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, because they
thought that they should see his face no long time in this world. But they
rejoiced for that he said, ‘It is time for me, if it be my Maker’s will,
to be set free from the flesh, and come to Him Who, when as yet I was not,
formed me out of nothing. I have lived long; and well has my pitiful judge
disposed my life for me; the time of my release is at hand; for my soul
longs to see Christ my King in His beauty. ’ Having said this and much more
for our profit and edification, he passed his last day in gladness till
the evening; and the aforesaid boy, whose name was Wilbert, still said,
‘Dear master, there is yet one sentence not written. ’ He answered, ‘It is
well, write it. ’ Soon after, the boy said, ‘Now it is written. ’ And he
said, ‘It is well, thou hast said truly, it is finished. Take my head in
thy hands, for I rejoice greatly to sit facing my holy place where I was
wont to pray, that I too, sitting there, may call upon my Father. ’ And
thus on the pavement of his little cell, chanting ‘Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,’ and the rest, he breathed his
last.
“And without doubt we must believe that inasmuch as he had always been
devout and earnest on earth in the praise of God, his soul was carried by
angels to the joys of Heaven which he desired. And all who heard him or
beheld the death of our father Bede, said that they had never seen any
other end his life in so great devotion and peace. For, as thou hast
heard, so long as the soul abode in the body, he chanted the ‘Gloria
Patri’ and other words to the glory of God, and with outstretched hands
ceased not to give thanks to God.
“But know this, that much could be told and written concerning him, but my
want of learning cuts short my words. Nevertheless, with the help of God,
I purpose at leisure to write more fully concerning him, of those things
which I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears. ”
ERRATA
Page 9, headline, _for_ “54 A. D. ” _read_ “54 B. C. ”
Page 21, headline, _for_ “394 A. D. ” _read_ “395 A. D. ”
Page 214, note 4, _for_ “cc. ” _read_ “pp. ” [Transcriber’s Note: This is
the footnote to Bright. ]
Page 215, note 1, _for_ “St. James ‘the Less’ ” _read_ “James, ‘the Lord’s
brother. ’ ” [Transcriber’s Note: This is the footnote to “the Eastern. ”]
Page 220, note 2, _for_ “Lumley” _read_ “Lumby. ” [Transcriber’s Note: This
is the footnote starting “A stone. ”]
Page 254, note 1, line 4, _for_ “existence” _read_ “co-existence. ”
[Transcriber’s Note: This is the footnote starting “Eutyches was
Archimandrite. ”]
Page 316, line 7, _for_ “Gedmund” _read_ “Gebmund. ”
Page 346, note 6, _for_ “p. 56” _read_ “p. 356. ” [Transcriber’s Note: This
is the footnote starting “Ripon, _v. infra_”]
PREFACE
_To the most glorious king Ceolwulf. _(_6_)_ Bede, the servant of Christ
and Priest. _
I formerly, at your request, most readily sent to you the Ecclesiastical
History of the English Nation, which I had lately published, for you to
read and judge; and I now send it again to be transcribed, and more fully
studied at your leisure. And I rejoice greatly at the sincerity and zeal,
with which you not only diligently give ear to hear the words of Holy
Scripture, but also industriously take care to become acquainted with the
actions and sayings of former men of renown, especially of our own nation.
For if history relates good things of good men, the attentive hearer is
excited to imitate that which is good; or if it recounts evil things of
wicked persons, none the less the conscientious and devout hearer or
reader, shunning that which is hurtful and wrong, is the more earnestly
fired to perform those things which he knows to be good, and worthy of the
service of God. And as you have carefully marked this, you are desirous
that the said history should be more fully made known to yourself, and to
those over whom the Divine Authority has appointed you governor, from your
great regard to the common good. But to the end that I may remove all
occasion of doubting what I have written, both from yourself and other
readers or hearers of this history, I will take care briefly to show you
from what authors I chiefly learned the same.
My principal authority and aid in this work was the most learned and
reverend Abbot Albinus;(7) who, educated in the Church of Canterbury by
those venerable and learned men, Archbishop Theodore(8) of blessed memory,
and the Abbot Hadrian,(9) transmitted to me by Nothelm,(10) the pious
priest of the Church of London, either in writing, or by word of mouth of
the same Nothelm, all that he thought worthy of memory that had been done
in the province of Kent, or the adjacent parts, by the disciples of the
blessed Pope Gregory,(11) as he had learned the same either from written
records, or the traditions of his predecessors. The same Nothelm,
afterwards went to Rome, and having, with leave of the present Pope
Gregory,(12) searched into the archives of the Holy Roman Church, found
there some epistles of the blessed Pope Gregory, and other popes; and,
returning home, by the advice of the aforesaid most reverend father
Albinus, brought them to me, to be inserted in my history. Thus, from the
beginning of this volume to the time when the English nation received the
faith of Christ, we have acquired matter from the writings of former men,
gathered from various sources; but from that time till the present, what
was transacted in the Church of Canterbury by the disciples of the blessed
Pope Gregory or their successors, and under what kings the same happened,
has been conveyed to us, as we have said, by Nothelm through the industry
of the aforesaid Abbot Albinus. They also partly informed me by what
bishops and under what kings the provinces of the East and West Saxons, as
also of the East Angles, and of the Northumbrians, received the grace of
the Gospel. In short, I was chiefly encouraged to undertake this work by
the exhortations of the same Albinus. In like manner, Daniel,(13) the most
reverend Bishop of the West Saxons, who is still living, communicated to
me in writing some things relating to the Ecclesiastical History of that
province, and the adjoining one of the South Saxons, as also of the Isle
of Wight. But how, by the ministry of those holy priests of Christ,
Cedd(14) and Ceadda,(15) the province of the Mercians was brought to the
faith of Christ, which they knew not before, and how that of the East
Saxons recovered the faith after having rejected it, and how those fathers
lived and died, we learned from the brethren of the monastery, which was
built by them, and is called Laestingaeu. (16) Further, what ecclesiastical
matters took place in the province of the East Angles, was partly made
known to us from the writings and tradition of former men, and partly by
the account of the most reverend Abbot Esi. (17) What was done with regard
to the faith of Christ, and what was the episcopal succession in the
province of Lindsey,(18) we had either from the letters of the most
reverend prelate Cynibert,(19) or by word of mouth from other persons of
good credit. But what was done in the Church in the different parts of the
province of Northumbria from the time when they received the faith of
Christ till this present, I received not on the authority of any one man,
but by the faithful testimony of innumerable witnesses, who might know or
remember the same; besides what I had of my own knowledge. Wherein it is
to be observed, that what I have written concerning our most holy father,
Bishop Cuthbert,(20) either in this volume, or in my account of his life
and actions, I partly took from what I found written of him by the
brethren of the Church of Lindisfarne,(21) accepting without reserve the
statements I found there; but at the same time took care to add such
things as I could myself have knowledge of by the faithful testimony of
trustworthy informants. And I humbly entreat the reader, that if he shall
find in these our writings anything not delivered according to the truth,
he will not lay the blame of it on me, for, as the true rule of history
requires, withholding nothing, I have laboured to commit to writing such
things as I could gather from common report, for the instruction of
posterity.
Moreover, I beseech all men who shall hear or read this history of our
nation, that for my infirmities both of mind and body, they will offer up
frequent intercessions to the throne of Grace. And I further pray, that in
recompense for the labour wherewith I have recorded in the several
provinces and more important places those events which I considered worthy
of note and of interest to their inhabitants, I may for my reward have the
benefit of their pious prayers.
BOOK I
Chap. I. Of the Situation of Britain and Ireland, and of their ancient
inhabitants.
Britain, an island in the Atlantic, formerly called Albion, lies to the
north-west, facing, though at a considerable distance, the coasts of
Germany, France, and Spain, which form the greatest part of Europe. It
extends 800 miles in length towards the north, and is 200 miles in
breadth, except where several promontories extend further in breadth, by
which its compass is made to be 4,875 miles. (22) To the south lies Belgic
Gaul. To its nearest shore there is an easy passage from the city of
Rutubi Portus, by the English now corrupted into Reptacaestir. (23) The
distance from here across the sea to Gessoriacum,(24) the nearest shore in
the territory of the Morini,(25) is fifty miles, or as some writers say,
450 furlongs. On the other side of the island, where it opens upon the
boundless ocean, it has the islands called Orcades. Britain is rich in
grain and trees, and is well adapted for feeding cattle and beasts of
burden. It also produces vines in some places, and has plenty of land and
water fowl of divers sorts; it is remarkable also for rivers abounding in
fish, and plentiful springs. It has the greatest plenty of salmon and
eels; seals are also frequently taken, and dolphins, as also whales;
besides many sorts of shell-fish, such as mussels, in which are often
found excellent pearls of all colours, red, purple, violet and green, but
chiefly white. There is also a great abundance of snails, of which the
scarlet dye is made, a most beautiful red, which never fades with the heat
of the sun or exposure to rain, but the older it is, the more beautiful it
becomes. It has both salt and hot springs, and from them flow rivers which
furnish hot baths, proper for all ages and both sexes, in separate places,
according to their requirements. For water, as St. Basil says,(26)
receives the quality of heat, when it runs along certain metals, and
becomes not only hot but scalding. Britain is rich also in veins of
metals, as copper, iron, lead, and silver; it produces a great deal of
excellent jet, which is black and sparkling, and burns when put to the
fire, and when set on fire, drives away serpents; being warmed with
rubbing, it attracts whatever is applied to it, like amber. The island was
formerly distinguished by twenty-eight famous cities, besides innumerable
forts, which were all strongly secured with walls, towers, gates, and
bars. And, because it lies almost under the North Pole, the nights are
light in summer, so that at midnight the beholders are often in doubt
whether the evening twilight still continues, or that of the morning has
come; since the sun at night returns to the east in the northern regions
without passing far beneath the earth. For this reason the days are of a
great length in summer, and on the other hand, the nights in winter are
eighteen hours long, for the sun then withdraws into southern parts. In
like manner the nights are very short in summer, and the days in winter,
that is, only six equinoctial hours. Whereas, in Armenia, Macedonia,
Italy, and other countries of the same latitude, the longest day or night
extends but to fifteen hours, and the shortest to nine.
There are in the island at present, following the number of the books in
which the Divine Law was written, five(27) languages of different nations
employed in the study and confession of the one self-same knowledge, which
is of highest truth and true sublimity, to wit, English, British,
Scottish, Pictish, and Latin, the last having become common to all by the
study of the Scriptures. But at first this island had no other inhabitants
but the Britons, from whom it derived its name, and who, coming over into
Britain, as is reported, from Armorica,(28) possessed themselves of the
southern parts thereof. Starting from the south, they had occupied the
greater part of the island, when it happened, that the nation of the
Picts, putting to sea from Scythia,(29) as is reported, in a few ships of
war, and being driven by the winds beyond the bounds of Britain, came to
Ireland and landed on its northern shores. There, finding the nation of
the Scots, they begged to be allowed to settle among them, but could not
succeed in obtaining their request. Ireland is the largest island next to
Britain, and lies to the west of it; but as it is shorter than Britain to
the north, so, on the other hand, it runs out far beyond it to the south,
over against the northern part of Spain, though a wide sea lies between
them. The Picts then, as has been said, arriving in this island by sea,
desired to have a place granted them in which they might settle. The Scots
answered that the island could not contain them both; but “We can give you
good counsel,” said they, “whereby you may know what to do; we know there
is another island, not far from ours, to the eastward, which we often see
at a distance, when the days are clear. If you will go thither, you can
obtain settlements; or, if any should oppose you, we will help you. ” The
Picts, accordingly, sailing over into Britain, began to inhabit the
northern parts thereof, for the Britons had possessed themselves of the
southern. Now the Picts had no wives, and asked them of the Scots; who
would not consent to grant them upon any other terms, than that when any
question should arise, they should choose a king from the female royal
race rather than from the male: which custom, as is well known, has been
observed among the Picts to this day. (30) In process of time, Britain,
besides the Britons and the Picts, received a third nation, the Scots,
who, migrating from Ireland under their leader, Reuda, either by fair
means, or by force of arms, secured to themselves those settlements among
the Picts which they still possess. From the name of their commander, they
are to this day called Dalreudini; for, in their language, Dal signifies a
part. (31)
Ireland is broader than Britain and has a much healthier and milder
climate; for the snow scarcely ever lies there above three days: no man
makes hay in the summer for winter’s provision, or builds stables for his
beasts of burden. No reptiles are found there, and no snake can live
there; for, though snakes are often carried thither out of Britain, as
soon as the ship comes near the shore, and the scent of the air reaches
them, they die. On the contrary, almost all things in the island are
efficacious against poison. In truth, we have known that when men have
been bitten by serpents, the scrapings of leaves of books that were
brought out of Ireland, being put into water, and given them to drink,
have immediately absorbed the spreading poison, and assuaged the swelling.
The island abounds in milk and honey, nor is there any lack of vines,
fish, or fowl; and it is noted for the hunting of stags and roe-deer. It
is properly the country of the Scots, who, migrating from thence, as has
been said, formed the third nation in Britain in addition to the Britons
and the Picts.
There is a very large gulf of the sea, which formerly divided the nation
of the Britons from the Picts; it runs from the west far into the land,
where, to this day, stands a strong city of the Britons, called
Alcluith. (32) The Scots, arriving on the north side of this bay, settled
themselves there.
Chap. II. How Caius Julius Caesar was the first Roman that came into
Britain.
Now Britain had never been visited by the Romans, and was entirely unknown
to them before the time of Caius Julius Caesar, who, in the year 693 after
the foundation of Rome, but the sixtieth year(33) before the Incarnation
of our Lord, was consul with Lucius Bibulus. While he was making war upon
the Germans and the Gauls, who were divided only by the river Rhine, he
came into the province of the Morini, whence is the nearest and shortest
passage into Britain. Here, having provided about eighty ships of burden
and fast-sailing vessels, he sailed over into Britain; where, being first
roughly handled in a battle, and then caught in a storm, he lost a
considerable part of his fleet, no small number of foot-soldiers, and
almost all his cavalry. Returning into Gaul, he put his legions into
winter-quarters, and gave orders for building six hundred sail of both
sorts. With these he again crossed over early in spring into Britain, but,
whilst he was marching with the army against the enemy, the ships, riding
at anchor, were caught in a storm and either dashed one against another,
or driven upon the sands and wrecked. Forty of them were lost, the rest
were, with much difficulty, repaired. Caesar’s cavalry was, at the first
encounter, defeated by the Britons, and there Labienus, the tribune, was
slain. In the second engagement, with great hazard to his men, he defeated
the Britons and put them to flight. Thence he proceeded to the river
Thames, where a great multitude of the enemy had posted themselves on the
farther side of the river, under the command of Cassobellaunus,(34) and
fenced the bank of the river and almost all the ford under water with
sharp stakes: the remains of these are to be seen to this day, apparently
about the thickness of a man’s thigh, cased with lead, and fixed immovably
in the bottom of the river. This being perceived and avoided by the
Romans, the barbarians, not able to stand the charge of the legions, hid
themselves in the woods, whence they grievously harassed the Romans with
repeated sallies. In the meantime, the strong state of the
Trinovantes,(35) with their commander Androgius,(36) surrendered to
Caesar, giving him forty hostages. Many other cities, following their
example, made a treaty with the Romans. Guided by them, Caesar at length,
after severe fighting, took the town of Cassobellaunus,(37) situated
between two marshes, fortified by sheltering woods, and plentifully
furnished with all necessaries. After this, Caesar returned from Britain
into Gaul, but he had no sooner put his legions into winter quarters, than
he was suddenly beset and distracted with wars and sudden risings on every
side.
Chap. III. How Claudius, the second of the Romans who came into Britain,
brought the islands Orcades into subjection to the Roman empire; and
Vespasian, sent by him, reduced the Isle of Wight under the dominion of
the Romans.
In the year of Rome 798,(38) Claudius, fourth emperor from Augustus, being
desirous to approve himself a prince beneficial to the republic, and
eagerly bent upon war and conquest on every side, undertook an expedition
into Britain, which as it appeared, was roused to rebellion by the refusal
of the Romans to give up certain deserters. No one before or after Julius
Caesar had dared to land upon the island. Claudius crossed over to it, and
within a very few days, without any fighting or bloodshed, the greater
part of the island was surrendered into his hands. He also added to the
Roman empire the Orcades,(39) which lie in the ocean beyond Britain, and,
returning to Rome in the sixth month after his departure, he gave his son
the title of Britannicus. This war he concluded in the fourth year of his
reign, which is the forty-sixth from the Incarnation of our Lord. In which
year there came to pass a most grievous famine in Syria, which is recorded
in the Acts of the Apostles to have been foretold by the prophet Agabus.
Vespasian,(40) who was emperor after Nero, being sent into Britain by the
same Claudius, brought also under the Roman dominion the Isle of Wight,
which is close to Britain on the south, and is about thirty miles in
length from east to west, and twelve from north to south; being six miles
distant from the southern coast of Britain at the east end, and three at
the west. Nero, succeeding Claudius in the empire, undertook no wars at
all; and, therefore, among countless other disasters brought by him upon
the Roman state, he almost lost Britain; for in his time two most notable
towns were there taken and destroyed.
Chap. IV. How Lucius, king of Britain, writing to Pope Eleutherus, desired
to be made a Christian.
In the year of our Lord 156, Marcus Antoninus Verus,(41) the fourteenth
from Augustus, was made emperor, together with his brother, Aurelius
Commodus. In their time, whilst the holy Eleutherus presided over the
Roman Church, Lucius, king of Britain, sent a letter to him, entreating
that by a mandate from him he might be made a Christian. (42) He soon
obtained his pious request, and the Britons preserved the faith, which
they had received, uncorrupted and entire, in peace and tranquillity until
the time of the Emperor Diocletian.
Chap. V. How the Emperor Severus divided from the rest by a rampart that
part of Britain which had been recovered.
In the year of our Lord 189, Severus, an African, born at Leptis, in the
province of Tripolis, became emperor. (43) He was the seventeenth from
Augustus, and reigned seventeen years. Being naturally of a harsh
disposition, and engaged in many wars, he governed the state vigorously,
but with much trouble. Having been victorious in all the grievous civil
wars which happened in his time, he was drawn into Britain by the revolt
of almost all the confederated tribes; and, after many great and severe
battles, he thought fit to divide that part of the island, which he had
recovered, from the other unconquered nations, not with a wall, as some
imagine, but with a rampart. (44) For a wall is made of stones, but a
rampart, with which camps are fortified to repel the assaults of enemies,
is made of sods, cut out of the earth, and raised high above the ground,
like a wall, having in front of it the trench whence the sods were taken,
with strong stakes of wood fixed above it. Thus Severus drew a great
trench and strong rampart, fortified with several towers, from sea to sea.
And there, at York, he fell sick afterwards and died, leaving two sons,
Bassianus and Geta;(45) of whom Geta died, adjudged an enemy of the State;
but Bassianus, having taken the surname of Antonius, obtained the empire.
Chap. VI. Of the reign of Diocletian, and how he persecuted the
Christians.
In the year of our Lord 286,(46) Diocletian, the thirty-third from
Augustus, and chosen emperor by the army, reigned twenty years, and
created Maximian, surnamed Herculius, his colleague in the empire. In
their time, one Carausius,(47) of very mean birth, but a man of great
ability and energy, being appointed to guard the sea-coasts, then infested
by the Franks and Saxons, acted more to the prejudice than to the
advantage of the commonwealth, by not restoring to its owners any of the
booty taken from the robbers, but keeping all to himself; thus giving rise
to the suspicion that by intentional neglect he suffered the enemy to
infest the frontiers. When, therefore, an order was sent by Maximian that
he should be put to death, he took upon him the imperial purple, and
possessed himself of Britain, and having most valiantly conquered and held
it for the space of seven years, he was at length put to death by the
treachery of his associate Allectus. (48) The usurper, having thus got the
island from Carausius, held it three years, and was then vanquished by
Asclepiodotus,(49) the captain of the Praetorian guards, who thus at the
end of ten years restored Britain to the Roman empire.
Meanwhile, Diocletian in the east, and Maximian Herculius in the west,
commanded the churches to be destroyed, and the Christians to be
persecuted and slain. This persecution was the tenth since the reign of
Nero, and was more lasting and cruel than almost any before it; for it was
carried on incessantly for the space of ten years, with burning of
churches, proscription of innocent persons, and the slaughter of martyrs.
Finally, Britain also attained to the great glory of bearing faithful
witness to God.
Chap. VII. The Passion of St. Alban and his companions, who at that time
shed their blood for our Lord.
At that time suffered St. Alban,(50) of whom the priest Fortunatus,(51) in
the Praise of Virgins, where he makes mention of the blessed martyrs that
came to the Lord from all parts of the world, says:
And fruitful Britain noble Alban rears.
This Alban, being yet a pagan, at the time when at the bidding of
unbelieving rulers all manner of cruelty was practised against the
Christians, gave entertainment in his house to a certain clerk,(52) flying
from his persecutors. This man he observed to be engaged in continual
prayer and watching day and night; when on a sudden the Divine grace
shining on him, he began to imitate the example of faith and piety which
was set before him, and being gradually instructed by his wholesome
admonitions, he cast off the darkness of idolatry, and became a Christian
in all sincerity of heart. The aforesaid clerk having been some days
entertained by him, it came to the ears of the impious prince, that a
confessor of Christ, to whom a martyr’s place had not yet been assigned,
was concealed at Alban’s house. Whereupon he sent some soldiers to make a
strict search after him. When they came to the martyr’s hut, St. Alban
presently came forth to the soldiers, instead of his guest and master, in
the habit or long coat which he wore, and was bound and led before the
judge.
It happened that the judge, at the time when Alban was carried before him,
was standing at the altar, and offering sacrifice to devils. When he saw
Alban, being much enraged that he should thus, of his own accord, dare to
put himself into the hands of the soldiers, and incur such danger on
behalf of the guest whom he had harboured, he commanded him to be dragged
to the images of the devils, before which he stood, saying, “Because you
have chosen to conceal a rebellious and sacrilegious man, rather than to
deliver him up to the soldiers, that his contempt of the gods might meet
with the penalty due to such blasphemy, you shall undergo all the
punishment that was due to him, if you seek to abandon the worship of our
religion. ” But St. Alban, who had voluntarily declared himself a Christian
to the persecutors of the faith, was not at all daunted by the prince’s
threats, but putting on the armour of spiritual warfare, publicly declared
that he would not obey his command. Then said the judge, “Of what family
or race are you?
