No More Learning

infra_), was ordained priest by Bishop Hlothere
(Leutherius, _v. _ III, 7), and about the year 675 became Abbot of
Malmesbury, which under his rule grew to be a place of importance
and attracted crowds of students. On one occasion he went by
invitation of Pope Sergius to Rome. He became Bishop of Sherborne,
when in 705 the West Saxon diocese was divided (_v. infra_). He died
in 709 in the little church of Doulting in Somerset and was buried
in St. Michael’s Church at Malmesbury. He greatly strengthened the
Church in Wessex by his influence with King Ini and his zeal in
building churches and monasteries in various places. His widespread
influence, as well as his generous use of it, is shown by his letter
to Wilfrid’s clergy after the Council of Estrefeld, exhorting them
to remain faithful to their bishop (v. Haddan and Stubbs, III, 254).

872 In 705. The bishopric of the West Saxons was the only one which
Theodore did not subdivide. The delay may have been due to the
political disturbances of the time, and these had come to an end
under the rule of Ini. Haedde’s death removed a further difficulty.
He seems to have resisted Bertwald’s attempt to divide the diocese,
for we find in 704 a council threatening the West Saxons with
excommunication if the division is not carried out. Hampshire,
Surrey, and, for a time, Sussex, were assigned to Winchester;
Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and Somersetshire to Sherborne
(Haddan and Stubbs, III, 276), but the authorities differ on this
point. After the Conquest, the combined bishoprics of Sherborne and
Ramsbury (founded in 909 for Wiltshire) had their see established at
Old Sarum.

873 Cf. Preface, p. 3, and note, and IV, 16. In 744 he resigned his see
and died in 745. It appears from a letter of Boniface to him that he
became blind in his old age.

874 Malmesbury. It was founded by an Irish monk and scholar, Maildufus
(Irish “Maelduib”), as a small settlement living under monastic rule
(_v. s. _ note on Aldhelm).

875 His letter to Geraint or Gerontius, king of Dumnonia (Devon and
Cornwall). A West Saxon synod in 705 appointed Aldhelm to write a
book, “quo maligna haeresis Britonum destrueretur” (Faricius, Life
of Aldhelm). He appears to have influenced only those Britons who
were subject to the West Saxons. Devon and Cornwall did not finally
conform to the Catholic Easter till early in the tenth century.

876 Cf. IV, 10 (note on Hildilid).

877 A poet of the fifth century (circ. 450), author of a poem called
“Carmen Paschale. ” He translated it into prose and called it “Opus
Paschale. ” Aldhelm wrote his prose work first.

878 His style is turgid and grandiloquent, and, owing to the high
estimation in which he was held, his influence in this respect on
contemporary writing was harmful.

879 Cf. _infra_ c. 23. A letter to him from Archbishop Bertwald is
extant. We do not know how long he lived. We have his signature to a
charter of 739.

880 Cf. IV, 15. The see was established at Selsey. The date of this
event is not known (Matthew of Westminster is the only authority for
711). Bede indicates it very vaguely (“quibus administrantibus”),
and does not make it clear to whose administration he alludes. The
more obvious reference is surely to Daniel and Aldhelm, the passage
about Forthere being parenthetical, but the other view has the
authority of Haddan and Stubbs (III, 296), viz. , that he means
Daniel and Forthere, and that thus the date is fixed to some time
after Aldhelm’s death (709).

881 Selsey, cf. IV, 13, 14.

882 The vacancy was filled in 733 by the appointment of Sigfrid (_v. _
Continuation).

883 Cf. c. 18, _ad init. _ His fourth year was 709.

884 C. 13 and _infra_ c. 19 _ad fin. _, and c. 24. For a similar action,
cf. Caedwalla and Ini (_v. s. _ c. 7) and (_infra_) Offa.

885 Constantine I, 708-715.

886 709-716. St. Boniface (Letter to Ethelbald) gives Ceolred a very bad
character, and says that he died impenitent at a banquet, seized
with sudden madness. He alludes to him and Osred of Northumbria as
the first kings who tampered with the privileges of the Church.

887 III, 30, and IV, 6. Sighere reigned jointly with Sebbi. They were
succeeded by Sebbi’s sons, Sighard and Swefred (IV, 11). Offa
probably succeeded them just before this time (709); William of
Malmesbury says he reigned for a short time. He was succeeded by
Selred (d. 746).

888 St. Matt. , xix, 29; St. Mark, x, 30; St. Luke, xviii, 30.

889 Oundle in Northamptonshire, where he had a monastery on land given
him by Wulfhere of Mercia. For the form of the name, cf. _infra_,
“in provincia Undalum. ” Here the preposition is prefixed as often;
_v. _ II, 14, note. Wilfrid died on a Thursday in October: there is
some uncertainty about the day of the month.

890 Cf. the epitaph (_infra_) and c. 24, where Bede places his
consecration in 664. This is supported by William of Malmesbury, but
Eddius says he was bishop for forty-six years.

891 Ripon, _v. infra_, p. 56. In the tenth century, Odo, Archbishop of
Canterbury, removed certain relics to Canterbury, believing them to
be the body of Wilfrid. At Ripon it was maintained that the relics
were those of Wilfrid II.

892 Our main authority for the life of Wilfrid is Eddius (_v. _ IV, 2).
Bede’s account is remarkable for its omissions, though it gives a
few facts which Eddius omits.

893 His birth must be placed in 634 (cf. _infra_, his consecration at
the age of thirty). His father was a Northumbrian thegn. He is said
to have had an unkind stepmother. He was sent by his father to the
court of Oswy, thence, by Eanfled (cf. II, 9, 20; III, 15, 24, _et
saep. _) to Lindisfarne, at that time under the rule of Aidan.

894 III, 8. He was the son of Eadbald (II, 5, 6, 9, _et saep. _).
Eanfled’s mother was the sister of Eadbald, the Kentish princess
Ethelberg (“Tata”), wife of Edwin (II, 9, 11, 20).

895 II, 18 _et saep. _

896 IV, 18, and note.

897 Cf. III, 25. Annemundus was the name of the Archbishop. Dalfinus,
Count of Lyons, was his brother. Eddius makes the same mistake.

898 A daughter of the Count.

899 He presented Wilfrid to the Pope, Eugenius I. A leaden “bulla” with
the name of Boniface, Archdeacon, inscribed upon it was found at
Whitby not long ago.

_ 900 I. e. _, to Annemundus.

901 This seems to be another mistake in which Bede follows Eddius. It
was probably Ebroin (_v. _ IV, 1, note), Mayor of the Palace to her
infant son Clothaire III, who put Annemundus to death. Baldhild was,
however, regent at the time. Eddius calls her a Jezebel, but all
that we know of her shows her to have been a most pious and
charitable lady, and she has been canonized by the Church. She was
especially active in her efforts to stop the traffic in slaves. She
herself, though she is said to have been of noble English birth, had
been sold as a slave into Gaul. She was married first to Ercinwald,
Mayor of the Palace, the predecessor of Ebroin (_v. _ III, 19), and
afterwards to Clovis II, King of Neustria and Burgundy, 638-656.
Baldhild ended her life in the monastery of Chelles (_v. _ III, 8,
and note).

902 III, 14, 21, 24, 25, 28. He was a friend of Coinwalch of Wessex,
from whom, as Eddius says, he learned to love the Roman rules.

903 Possibly Stamford, in Lincolnshire; more probably, since the land
belonged to Alchfrid, Stamford Bridge, on the Derwent, in Yorkshire.

904 Cf. III, 25, where the extent is given as forty families, _i. e. _,
“hides. ”

905 Cf. III, 7, 25, 28; IV, 1, 12. For the Gewissae, _v. _ II, 5 and
note.

906 At the synod of Whitby, 664 (III, 25).

907 Tuda (III, 26) had died of the plague of 664. For Wilfrid’s
consecration, _v. _ III, 28, _ad init. _, and note. Agilbert was not
Bishop of Paris till 666 (cf. III, 25, p. 194, note).

908 Cf. III, 28, and note. Wilfrid did not return to Britain till 666.
Bede omits the story of his shipwreck on the coast of Sussex, and
says nothing of the three years spent as Abbot of Ripon, whither he
retired on finding Ceadda installed in his place. During this time
he acted occasionally as Bishop for Mercia, where the see was vacant
by the death of Jaruman in 667, and for Kent, during part of the
vacancy between the death of Deusdedit in 664 and Theodore’s arrival
in 669.

909 The same Witan which elected Wilfrid decided to transfer the
Northumbrian see from Lindisfarne back to York, where Paulinus had
originally established it.

910 In 678, _v. _ IV, 12, and note. Bede passes over nine years of
ceaseless activity in the diocese. It was during this time that
Wilfrid built his great churches.

911 Eddius says that he went there by his own wish. This is not the
occasion referred to in III, 13 (_v. _ note, _ad loc. _). Ebroin, from
motives of private enmity (Wilfrid had helped his enemy, Dagobert II
of Austrasia), attempted to bribe Aldgils to kill or surrender
Wilfrid, but his offer was indignantly rejected.

912 Cc. 10, 11; cf. III, 13.

913 On the way he visited Dagobert II of Austrasia, and Perctarit, king
of the Lombards.

914 At a council of fifty bishops held in the Lateran in 679. Theodore
had sent documents stating his side of the case in charge of a monk
named Coenwald. For Agatho, _v. _ IV, 18. The decision was that
Wilfrid should be reinstated in his bishopric and the intruding
bishops removed, but that afterwards he should appoint coadjutors
who should be consecrated by the Archbishop.

915 This council was held in 680 in preparation for the Council at
Constantinople in 680-681, against the Monothelites (cf. IV, 17, 18,
and notes).

916 In 680. Here Bede strangely omits important events. On Wilfrid’s
return to Northumbria he was accused of having procured his
acquittal by bribery and was imprisoned for nine months, first at
Bromnis (unidentified) and then at Dunbar. Being released at the
request of Aebba, Abbess of Coldingham (_v. _ IV, 19, 25), who was
Egfrid’s aunt, he went first to Mercia and then to Wessex, but was
expelled from both provinces. Egfrid’s sister Osthryth was the wife
of Ethelred of Mercia, and in Wessex the king, Centwine, had married
a sister of the Northumbrian queen, Eormenburg.

917 IV, 13.

918 IV, 13, 16. His connection with Caedwalla of Wessex is to be placed
here (IV, 16).

919 In 686 he was restored to the bishopric of York and the monastery of
Ripon. The diocese over which he was now placed was greatly
circumscribed. Lindsey and Abercorn, besides having been detached by
the subdivision, had both ceased to belong to Northumbria;
Lindisfarne and Hexham were separate bishoprics and were merely
administered by Wilfrid till the appointment of Eadbert to
Lindisfarne and of John to Hexham. The restoration of Wilfrid was
brought about by Theodore who had become reconciled to him and
induced Aldfrid to allow him to be reinstated.

920 This was his second expulsion, in 691. Dissensions had arisen about
various matters. The most important were the attempt, resisted by
Wilfrid, to form Ripon into a separate see, and the requirement that
he should accept the decrees of Theodore of 678. To accept these
would have been equivalent to a rejection of the Pope’s judgement in
his case.

921 Bede omits here Wilfrid’s second sojourn in Mercia (eleven years),
when he acted temporarily as Bishop of the Middle English (he
alludes to it in IV, 23), and the great Council, representative of
the whole English Church, summoned by Aldfrid in 702 and held at a
place in Northumbria (unidentified; possibly Austerfield in the West
Riding of Yorkshire) called by Eddius “Ouestraefelda” and
“Aetswinapathe” (supposed to mean “at the swine’s path,” or
“Edwinspath”).
At this Council Wilfrid was excommunicated and
deprived of all his possessions except the monastery of Ripon. He
appealed again to the Apostolic see and returned to Mercia. Probably
in the following year he set out for Rome, visiting Wilbrord in
Frisia by the way (cf. III, 13).

922 John VI, 701-705. Bertwald had sent envoys to represent Wilfrid’s
opponents. The investigation took four months, during which seventy
sittings of the Council were held.

923 Bertwald was admonished to hold a synod and come to an agreement
with Wilfrid. In the event of failure, both parties were to appear
in Rome. The letter is cautious and conciliatory in tone.

924 Cf. _supra_, p. 352.

925 Cf. _supra_, p. 349.

926 Meaux, cf. IV, 1 (Meldi).

927 III, 13, and note; _infra_ c. 20.

928 Ethelred of Mercia had resigned his throne and was now Abbot of
Bardney; cf. III, 11, and IV, 12, p. 241, note.

929 Cc. 13 and 19, _ad init. _; cf. c. 24.

930 Cf. c. 18, _ad init. _ He received his envoys courteously, but
refused to alter his decision for any “alleged writings from the
Apostolic see. ” But Eddius says he repented on his deathbed.

_ 931 Ibid. _

932 In 705. It was a Northumbrian council, not, like Estrefeld,
representative of the whole Church. Bertwald was present and adopted
a conciliatory line.

933 He was restored only to Hexham and to his monastery at Ripon. Bishop
John, on the death of Bosa about this time, was transferred to York;
_v. s. _ c. 3, _ad init. _

934 Oundle, _v. s. _ p. 346, note 4.

935 Or Cudwald. A Cuthbald succeeded Sexwulf (IV, 6) as Abbot at
Medeshamstead. He is, perhaps, identical with the Abbot of Oundle.

936 Cf. _supra_, p. 346, and III, 25.

_ 937 I. e. _ 710. But Hadrian left Rome in 668 (_v. _ IV, 1), and Bede says
he died forty-one years after that event. This would be in 709.

938 Cf. Preface and IV, 1.

_ 939 Ibid. _

940 St. Augustine’s, Canterbury; cf. IV, 1, _ad fin. _

941 Cf. Preface and note.

942 III, 13, and note.

943 A. S. version: Mafa. For the Roman style of Church music, cf. II, 20,
_ad fin. _

944 IV, 12, 23; V, 3.

945 In 710. Naiton, or Nechtan mac Derili, succeeded in 706. The
northern Picts had received Christianity through Columba (III, 4).
Naiton is said to have been converted to Roman usages by a
missionary named Boniface, who was probably an Irishman, St.
Cuiritin. Naiton did not succeed in forcing all his people to adopt
them, but in 717 he expelled the Columban clergy who refused to
conform.

946 IV, 18 and note.

947 Wearmouth (_ibid. _) and Jarrow, Bede’s own monastery (_v. infra_, c.
24). Though they were some distance apart, Wearmouth and Jarrow
formed together one monastery.

948 IV, 18.

949 II, 2, p. 85, note.

950 Wood being the usual material, cf. III, 4, “Candida Casa. ” The
locality of the church is not known. Rosemarkie, on the Moray Frith,
and, more probably, Restennet, near Forfar, have been suggested.

951 The letter has been supposed to have been written by Bede himself.

952 Plato, Rep. 473, D.

953 Exod. , xii, 1-3. (The quotations are from the Vulgate. )

954 Exod. , xii, 6.

_ 955 Ibid. _, xii, 15.

956 Exod. , xii, 15.

_ 957 Ibid. _, xii, 17.

958 Numbers, xxxiii, 13.

959 Exod. , xii, 17-19.

960 1 Cor. , v, 7.

961 St. John, i, 29.

962 Levit. , xxiii, 5-7.

963 Cf. Bede’s “Expositio in Marci Evangelium” (Opp. X, 2), where he
says that St. Mark founded the Church in Alexandria, and taught the
canonical observance of Easter; and Opp. VI, 235 (De Temp. Rat. ).

964 Levit. , xxiii, 8.

965 This was an error of the Latins in the fifth century. The object was
to make it possible for Good Friday to fall on the fourteenth of the
month Nisan, which they believed to be the actual day of the
Crucifixion, and to keep Easter Day entirely clear of the Jewish
festival.

_ 966 I. e. _ Alexandrians.

967 Gen. , i, 16.

968 The Itala.

969 Mal. , iv, 2.

970 Habak. , iii, 11 (from the Itala).

971 The Pelagians; I, 10, and note; cf. I, 17.

972 The reference must be to p. 364, “the apostolic tradition. ” For the
nineteen years’ cycle, cf. III, 3 (Anatolius).

973 The celebrated Bishop of Caesarea, called also Eusebius Pamphili, a
name which he adopted from devotion to his friend, Pamphilus. How
much he had to do with the nineteen years’ cycle seems altogether
uncertain. He took a leading part in the Council of Nicaea (325
A. D. ), but there is no proof that the Council formally adopted the
cycle, as has been supposed. It had been in use long before, but it
may have received authoritative sanction at Nicaea. Eusebius wrote a
treatise on Easter, of which a fragment is extant.

974 A presbyter of Caesarea, the founder of the famous library in that
place. He was martyred in 309 A. D. Eusebius wrote his life, but the
work is lost.

975 Archbishop of Alexandria, 385-412. He made a cycle of 418 years (19
× 22) for Theodosius, and reckoned the days on which Easter would
fall for 100 years from the first year of the consulate of
Theodosius (380 A. D. ).

976 The great Archbishop of Alexandria, 412-444. He shortened the cycle
of Theophilus, making a cycle of ninety-five years (19 × 5), for the
sake of convenience. Part of his “Computus Paschalis” remains.

977 A monk of the Western Church in the sixth century. The surname,
“Exiguus,” refers, not to his stature, but to his humbleness of
heart. Our method of dating from the Birth of Christ was begun by
him. He revived the cycle of Victorius (or Victorinus) of Aquitaine
(463 A. D. ), hence called Dionysian. It was a cycle of 532 years,
_i. e. _ the lunar cycle of 19 × the solar cycle of 28.

978 Cf. p. 369, note 5.

979 Job, i, 20.

980 Gen. , xli, 14.

981 St. Matt. , xvi, 18.

982 Acts, viii, 20 (Vulgate). The origin of this form of tonsure was
attributed to Simon Magus.

983 Gal. , v, 24.

984 St. James, i, 12.

985 Cf. c. 15 and notes. It is uncertain whether this incident is to be
connected with Adamnan’s first or second visit to King Aldfrid.

_ 986 I. e. _, Ireland; cf. c. 15.

987 Cf. _supra_, p. 359, note 1.

988 Cf. c. 18 and note; cc. 19, 20, 24. He was killed in battle, but
neither the locality nor the war is known.