No More Learning

He was of noble birth and a
thegn of King Oswy, born in 628. He was the companion of Wilfrid on
his first journey to Rome (V, 19). In his native province of
Northumbria he founded the monasteries of Wearmouth (in 674) and
Jarrow (_circ. _ 681), where Bede’s life was passed, and enriched
them with furniture, vestments, relics, pictures, and a library of
valuable books which he brought from the Continent. The rule which
he framed for his monasteries was Benedictine, compiled from
seventeen different monasteries which he had visited. He died Jan.
12, 689.

655 Cf. V, 21. Bede’s “History of the Abbots,” and Anon. “History of the
Abbots. ” He added to Benedict’s library. He had been a monk at Ripon
under Wilfrid, became Abbot of Jarrow in 681, and of Wearmouth in
addition to Jarrow in 688. In 716 he resigned and set out for Rome,
but died at Langres in the same year. Bede was trained under him (V,
24) and was probably the little boy left alone with him to recite
the offices when the pestilence of 686 swept away the monks. (Anon.
Hist. Abb. § 14. )

656 Cf. II, 20, _ad fin. _, note.

657 Cf. c. 17, and note.

658 In the Council of Constantinople, 680-681 (_v. s. _ c. 17 _ad init. _,
note. )

659 To St. Martin’s own church at Tours, where, as Abbot of St. Martin’s
monastery at Rome, it was specially fitting that he should find
burial.

660 Cf. III, 7, note.

661 “Princeps,” A. S. Ealdorman. The county of the Southern Gyrwas was
South Cambridgeshire. Cf. III, 20, note.

662 Cf. c. 25. Bede tells us in the “Life of Cuthbert,” that she was a
half sister of Oswy’s on the mother’s side. Her name survives in
Ebchester on the Derwent, where she founded a nunnery; in St. Abb’s
Head, near which she afterwards founded the double monastery of
Coldingham; and in St. Ebbe’s, Oxford. She was the friend of
Cuthbert, and it was to her exhortations to Egfrid that Wilfrid owed
his release from prison.

663 Coldingham in Berwickshire. It was a mixed monastery. Cf. c. 25.

664 Ely. The Isle of Ely was her jointure from her first husband. She
received the help and support of Aldwulf, king of East Anglia (II,
15; IV, 17, 23), her cousin (he was the son of Ethelhere and nephew
of Anna). The monastery was founded in 673. It was exempted from the
jurisdiction of the East Anglian bishop, and subject to Wilfrid.

665 III, 8, cf. III, 7, note. After her husband’s death she acted as
regent for a time, then founded a monastery in the Isle of Sheppey,
and became abbess of it. Thence she retired to Ely, where, after
being a simple nun, she succeeded Ethelthryth as abbess. She was
herself succeeded first at Sheppey, and afterwards at Ely, by her
daughter Ermingild, widow of Wulfhere of Mercia.

666 Grantchester, near Cambridge.

667 A Roman sarcophagus. A number of fragments of very ancient stone
coffins have been found there, built into the wall of the church
(Mayor and Lumby).

668 “Audrey” is the popular form of the name Ethelthryth. A “tawdry
lace” (_i. e. _ St. Audrey lace) is a necklace; cf. “Winter’s Tale,”
iv. 3. Hence our word “tawdry,” which possibly only derives its
meaning from the cheap necklaces, etc. , sold at St. Audrey’s fair at
Ely on the saint’s day, October 17 (the day of her translation), but
may also be a reminiscence of this anecdote.

669 The poem is (1) alphabetical; _i. e. _, the first letters of the
hexameter lines form the alphabet, and there are four additional
couplets at the end, in which the first letters form the word
“Amen”; (2) “serpentine,” reciprocal or echoing; _i. e. _, the last
half of the pentameter repeats the first two and a half feet of the
hexameter. Such verses are common in mediaeval Latin, and are
doubtless a development from the occasional instances of echoing
lines which occur in the classical poets (_e. g. _, Martial VIII, xxi,
1-2; IX, 97; Ovid, Fasti IV, 365-366), as the extreme form of that
impulse to give emphasis by iteration which is a marked feature of
Latin poetry, particularly of the Ovidian elegiac.

670 Agatha suffered 5th February, 251 A. D. , in the Decian persecution,
according to her “Acta” (the Diocletian, according to the
Martyrology and Aldhelm). Eulalia was burnt to death at the age of
twelve in the Diocletian persecution, having denounced herself. The
legend tells that a white dove hovered over her ashes till snow fell
and covered them. Tecla, the disciple of St. Paul, is said to have
been the first virgin martyr. She was miraculously saved from her
martyrdom and died in peace long after. Euphemia was torn by wild
beasts at Chalcedon in 307 A. D. in the Diocletian persecution.
Asterius, Bishop of Amasea, 400 A. D. , says that he saw a tablet in
the church at Chalcedon depicting her sufferings. We have thus very
early evidence for her history. Agnes is said to have been beheaded
in 304 A. D. , in the Diocletian persecution, at the age of twelve or
thirteen. The date of St. Cecilia is very uncertain; Fortunatus,
Bishop of Poitiers, says that she died _circ. _ 176-180 A. D. , but
another account places her martyrdom as late as the time of
Diocletian. Her connection with music does not appear in the
legends, and is probably due to the fact that Pope Paschal endowed
the monastery which he built in connection with her church at Rome
to provide for musical services at her tomb day and night.

671 She had not been a queen twelve years. The dates are probably these:
she was born about 630 at Ermynge (Ixning) in Suffolk, and married
to Tondbert in 652. Tondbert died in 655, and she was married to
Egfrid (who must then have been only fifteen) in 660. Egfrid
succeeded to the throne in 670 or 671, and it must have been in 672
that she retired to Coldingham. She was, therefore, queen for not
more than two years, though perhaps we may accept the statement of
the Liber Eliensis that Egfrid was sub-king of Deira for some years
before his accession.

_ 672 I. e. _, she had been buried sixteen years; _v. s. _ c. 19.

673 Literally the water snake, ὕδρος, used generally for any serpent,
and so = the Devil; _Chelydrus_ is similarly used (_v. _ Ducange).

674 The Battle of the Trent in 679 (cf. V, 24). It was on the
anniversary of Wilfrid’s expulsion; he is said to have foretold a
calamity. The place may, perhaps, be identified with
Elford-on-Trent, in Staffordshire; it is supposed that the name may
be a reminiscence of Aelfwine. By this battle Mercia regained
Lindsey, which never again became Northumbrian (cf. c. 12, _ad
fin. _).

675 Cf. c. 22, where he is called “King Aelfwine,” as also twice in
Eddius. He may have been sub-king of Deira.

676 III, 11; V, 24. When Wilfrid took refuge in Mercia in 681, she and
her husband expelled him “pro adulatione Egfridi regis” (Eddius).

677 The “Wergild,” _i. e. _, pecuniary value set upon every man’s life
according to his status (_v. _ Stubbs, “Constitutional History”).

678 “Comes,” A. S. “gesith. ” Above, Imma is described as “de militia ejus
juvenis,” _i. e. _, a young “king’s thegn” (the term applied to him in
the A. S. version).

679 Towcester (“Tovecester,” in Domesday Book) in Northamptonshire,
Doncaster, and Littleborough have all been suggested, but the place
has not been identified. The name indicates that it had been a Roman
station.

680 Sexburg. Cf. III, 8; IV, 19, p. 261, and note.

681 Cf. III, 24, 25; IV, 24; V, 24.

_ 682 Ibid. _

683 Cf. _infra_, this Chapter. He was the son of Edwin’s elder brother,
who died in exile after the invasion of Deira by Ethelric, king of
Bernicia, in 589.

684 II, 9, foll.

685 Her sister, Heresuid, had married Ethelhere, brother of Anna, of
East Anglia, whom he succeeded. In 647, when Hilda took the veil,
Anna was still king.

686 III, 8, note.

687 Cf. II, 15; IV, 17.

688 A small cell, not otherwise known.

689 Hartlepool, _v. _ III, 24, p. 190, note.

690 Bede is the sole authority for her life. A fifteenth century gloss
on one of the MSS. has led to her being wrongly identified with the
Irish Bega, the supposed foundress of St. Bees.

691 A Roman station on the Wharfe, now Tadcaster. Probably the nunnery
was at Healaugh (Heiu’s _laeg_ = territory), three miles north of
Calcaria. A gravestone bearing Heiu’s name has been found there.

692 Cf. c. 12.

693 His name does not appear in any of the lists of bishops. There is no
evidence that a see of Dorchester (cf. III, 7, and note) existed at
this time, except from this passage and the statement of Florence of
Worcester to the effect that a fivefold division of the Mercian
diocese took place in 679, that Dorchester was included in Mercia,
and that Aetla was appointed as its bishop. Probably this latter
statement is derived from Bede. It has been proposed to identify
Aetla with Haedde, Bishop of the West Saxons (III, 7; IV, 12; V,
18), but it seems unlikely that Bede should not have mentioned their
identity. The most probable explanation seems to be that a see was
established about 679 at Dorchester (which may have been under
Mercia at the time) and that Aetla was its bishop, but that it had
only a very short existence.

694 Cf. _infra_, notes.

695 John of Beverley, “Inderauuda” (_v. _ V, 2). He and Berthun (_ibid. _)
are said to have founded Beverley. He was consecrated Bishop of
Hexham, probably in 687, transferred to York 705, when Wilfrid was
restored to Hexham, and died in 721, soon after his retirement to
Beverley (V, 6, _ad fin. _). As Bishop of Hexham he ordained Bede
both deacon and priest (V. 24). He had been a pupil of Archbishop
Theodore (cf. V. 3).

696 Wilfrid II, Bishop of York.
He succeeded John (V, 6) in 718, and was
still Bishop of York in 731 when Bede finished the History (cf. V,
23). In 732 he resigned and was succeeded by Egbert (to whom Bede
addressed the Ep. ad Egb. , and who in 735 received the pallium as
Archbishop of York). Wilfrid died in 745 (_v. _ Continuation, 732,
735, and 745). His character is highly praised by Alcuin (De Sanct.
Ebor. ).

697 Hartlepool and Whitby, both apparently double monasteries.

698 Cf. II, 2, p. 84.

699 Dr. Stubbs suggests that this sub-king of the Hwiccas may possibly
be the same as Osric of Northumbria, _v. _ V, 23, and note.

700 The see was at Worcester. The foundation of the bishopric is
assigned by Florence of Worcester to the year 679, the date of the
alleged fivefold division of the Mercian diocese (_v. s. _ p. 272,
note 2), Bosel being appointed bishop.

701 Cf. c. 12 and note.

702 The consecration of Oftfor is generally placed in 691. It was after
Wilfrid’s second expulsion, when he was acting as Bishop of
Leicester. Theodore had died in 690, and Bertwald was not
consecrated till 693 (_v. _ V, 8).

703 So Florence of Worcester.

704 He was king of the Britons of Loidis and Elmet. It was probably to
avenge the death of his nephew, Hereric, that Edwin conquered Loidis
and drove out Cerdic.

705 Cf. c. 14, note.

706 Hackness, thirteen miles from Whitby and three to the west of
Scarborough. It was a cell belonging to Whitby. At the dissolution
under Henry VIII, it contained only four monks, of the Benedictine
order (Dugdale, “Monasticon”).

707 She has been confused with Heiu and with Bega, _v. s. _ p. 271, note
7.

_ 708 I. e. _, the Prioress.

709 Obviously ballads, probably of a warlike character, existed before
Caedmon, but he is regarded as the father of English sacred poetry.
It is a question how far the new impulse arose independently among
the Anglo-Saxons, or is to be connected with Old Saxon religious
poetry of which the “Heliand” is the only extant specimen (cf.
Plummer, _ad loc. _). Of the mass of poetry attributed to Caedmon,
much must be regarded as not his actual work. The fragment
translated here by Bede has been accepted as genuine by most
critics. It exists in the Northumbrian dialect at the end of the
Moore MS. of Bede, and in a West Saxon form in other MSS. , as well
as in the Anglo-Saxon translation of Bede’s History, the
Northumbrian version being the oldest.

710 “Villicus,” A. S. “tun-gerefa” = town-reeve, _i. e. _, headman of the
township. Cædmon was apparently a herdsman on a farm belonging to
the monastery.

711 Cf. Levit. , xi, 3, and Deut. , xiv, 6.

712 Apparently reserved and kept in the Infirmary for the Communion of
the dying.

713 Matins were sung soon after midnight.

714 Coldingham, _v. s. _ c. 19 and note.

715 Not the Abbot of Iona who wrote the the life of St. Columba (V, 15,
21). This Adamnan is found in the Martyrology of Wilson, in Colgan’s
“Lives of the Irish Saints,” and in Bollandus, “Acta Sanctorum. ”

716 From the Vulgate, Ps. xciv, 2. (xcv in our Psalter. )

717 C. 19 and note.

718 The detached dwellings built round the principal buildings of the
community. Irish monasteries were built after this fashion.

719 Wearmouth and Jarrow.

720 For Berct, cf. V, 24 (_sub_ 698), note. The circumstances which led
to the invasion are not known.

721 The Picts north of the Forth, cf. c. 12, _ad fin. _ Their king at
this time was Bruide mac Bili, who was Egfrid’s distant kinsman. In
672 Egfrid had crushed a rising of Picts under the same king.

722 Cf. cc. 27-32. He had a mysterious intimation of the disaster at the
hour of the king’s defeat and death, and warned the queen
(Eormenburg), who was with him at Carlisle (_v. _ Bede’s Life of
Cuthbert, and the Anonymous Life). He is also said to have
prophesied the king’s death a year before to Elfled, Egfrid’s sister
(_v. _ III, 24).

723 At Nechtansmere or Dunnechtan, identified with Dunnichen, near
Forfar. Egfrid was buried in Iona, where Adamnan, the friend of his
successor, was Abbot.

724 Cf. c. 5 _ad init. _, note. If he succeeded in February, 670, this
would be his sixteenth year.

725 III, 4, 27; IV, 3; V, 9, 10, 22, 24. His English birth and long
residence in Ireland fitted him to be a mediator.

726 Vergil, Aen. II, 169.

727 The Dalriadic Scots (Cf. I, 1, note; I, 34) and the Britons of
Strathclyde.

728 Cf. c. 12.

729 Abercorn on the Forth, cf. I, 12; IV, 12, and note.

730 III, 24, 25; IV, 23; V, 24.

731 Cf. III, 24, p. 190.

732 III, 24, and note. Elfled succeeded Hilda as abbess, and apparently
ruled jointly with her mother.

733 Cf. V, _passim_, and Bede’s two lives of Cuthbert. His mother’s name
is said by the Irish authorities to have been Fina. He had lived
among the Irish islands (“in insulis Scottorum,” and “in regionibus
Scottorum”) for the sake of study, according to Bede, but William of
Malmesbury implies that Egfrid may have been responsible for his
exile. He was a man of great learning and of scholarly tastes. In
Bede’s “History of the Abbots,” we are told that he gave eight hides
of land for a MS. which Benedict Biscop had brought from Rome.

734 Cc. 5, 17, 22.

735 Cc. 1, 5.

736 Apparently at one time joint-king with Hlothere. Certain dooms are
ascribed to them both. According to Thomas of Elmham, he was killed
in war against Caedwalla, king of Wessex, and his brother, Mul, who
were at this time encroaching on Kent.

737 Mul seems to have usurped the throne for a time.

738 In 692 we find him reigning as joint-king with Swaebhard (V, 8 _ad
fin. _). He must have succeeded in 690, if Bede’s dates are correct;
cf. V, 23, where it is said that he died on April 23, 725, after a
reign of thirty-four and a half years.

_ 739 I. e. _, 685.

740 C. 26 and note.

741 Cf. III, 16 and note.

742 As a boy he had been remarkable for his high spirits and love of
athletic exercises. The rebuke of a little boy of three is said to
have turned his thoughts to a more serious life, and a vision which
he saw as he watched his sheep on the Lammermuir Hills on the night
of Aidan’s death, led him to form the resolve of entering a
monastery. (Bede’s Life of Cuthbert. )

743 Melrose; cf. III, 26 and note.

_ 744 Ibid. _ and V, 9.

745 C. 12, p. 243, note 1.

746 C. 28; V, 9. Probably here “sacerdos” = priest, A. S. version:
“masse-preost. ” But Aelfric calls him bishop. The town of St.
Boswells on the Tweed is called after him. For an instance of his
prophetic spirit, _v. infra_, c. 28. It was his fame which drew
Cuthbert to Melrose. When he saw the youth on his arrival, he
exclaimed, “Behold a servant of the Lord! ” He is generally supposed
to have been carried off by the plague of 664. For an account of his
last days spent in reading the Gospel of St. John with Cuthbert, v.
Bede’s Prose Life of Cuthbert. The “codex” which they used was
extant in Durham in Simeon of Durham’s time.

747 Cf. III, 3, p. 139, note 3.

748 Cf. I, 27 _ad init. _

749 Much of the account given here is from the prose life.

750 The synod of Twyford, a mixed assembly of clergy and laity, met in
the autumn of 684. The place is “perhaps where the Aln is crossed by
two fords near Whittingham” (in Northumberland) (Bright). This is
another instance of the preposition prefixed to the name, cf. II,
14, p. 119, note 5.

751 Cc. 12, 26.

752 Cf. c. 27, p. 288.

753 In 685.

754 Cf. c. 12 and note.

_ 755 Ibid. _

756 Soon after Christmas, 686. In February, 687, his last illness began.

757 St. Herbert’s Island in Derwentwater. Strictly speaking, the Derwent
flows through Derwentwater: it rises in Borrowdale.