No More Learning

484 Really on the 1st.

485 Called the “Yellow Pest” from the colour of its victims. It was a
bubonic plague; it probably came from the East and was the same as
that which raged in Europe in Justinian’s reign. There were several
outbreaks in England in the seventh century, but this was the most
virulent. For subsequent visitations, cf. IV, 7, 14, 19.

486 Cf. c. 26, p. 201.

487 The Saxon Chronicle has “on Wagele,” which is supposed to be
Whalley, on the borders of Lancashire, Cheshire, and Yorkshire, but
the name varies greatly in different chroniclers. Smith considers
that Bede’s form “Paegnalaech” or “Paegnalech” points to Finchale
(Wincanheale, in Simeon of Durham, or Pincahala), near Durham.

488 Cf. c. 4.

489 Cf. c. 11; IV, 12.

490 Said, on doubtful authority, to be Melfont, or Mellifont, in County
Louth.

491 “Acceptum sacerdotii gradum,” A. S. “biscophade onfeng” = he received
the episcopate. Cf. c. 4, note.

492 In 664. This was the young “Fainéant” king of Neustria, Clothaire
III. Wilfrid was probably sent abroad at his own request. Doubtless
he desired to have the canonical number of three bishops at his
consecration, and Boniface of Dunwich (c. 20; IV, 5) was the only
prelate in England whose orders he would have regarded as entirely
satisfactory, for Wini might be considered a usurper, and Cedd and
Jaruman had been consecrated by schismatics. Archbishop Deusdedit
was dead (III, 20, note) and so probably was Damian of Rochester.

493 He was Wilfrid’s friend: _v. s. _ c. 25, pp. 194-5.

494 Cf. _ibid. _, note.

495 Compiègne, a royal “villa. ” For the preposition, _v. _ II, 14, note.
The ceremony was a specially magnificent one, Wilfrid being carried
in a golden chair by twelve bishops in choral procession, according
to an ancient custom of the Gallican Church.

496 Preface, III, 23, _et saep. _ Why Oswy, who had consented to
Wilfrid’s consecration (_v. _ V, 19) acted in this manner is not
clear. Probably it implies that the Celtic party, during Wilfrid’s
prolonged absence, had to some extent recovered their ascendency;
and, if it was at this time that Alchfrid (who is not heard of
again) rebelled against his father (_v. s. _ c. 14, _ad init. _) and
was deprived of his kingdom, Wilfrid would have lost his warmest
supporter.

497 He retired to Ripon from Lindsey, of which he was the first separate
bishop, when Ethelred recovered that province for Mercia in 679. But
cf. IV, 12, _ad fin. _, note, for the statement that he was “Bishop”
of Ripon.

498 King of Northumbria, _v. s. _ c. 24, p. 188, note 3.

499 It does not appear why Boniface (Bertgils) of Dunwich, Bishop of the
East Angles, 652-669 (c. 20, IV, 5), is ignored. Ceadda’s
consecration was afterwards regarded as of doubtful validity and was
completed by Theodore (_v. _ IV, 12). The British (probably Cornish)
bishops were schismatical, and Wini’s position was irregular.
Moreover, the see to which Ceadda was consecrated was not vacant.

500 IV, 1.

501 Consecrated in 657—died in 672.

502 Isaiah, xi, 10.

_ 503 Ibid. _, xlix, 1.

_ 504 Ibid. _, 6.

_ 505 Ibid. _, 7.

_ 506 Ibid. _, 8-9.

_ 507 Ibid. _, xlii, 6-7. The readings are from the Vulgate.

508 It has not been stated that Oswy and Egbert asked the Pope to
provide an archbishop, failing Wighard. But this seems to be implied
in IV, 1: “episcopum, quem petierant. ” Or, as is generally supposed,
Vitalian may have arbitrarily assumed this to be the intention of
their letter.

509 There were several martyrs of the name of Laurentius, but the best
known is the Roman deacon, St. Laurence, who suffered at Rome in 258
A. D. He was buried in the Via Tiburtina, where a church dedicated to
him is said to have been founded by Constantine the Great. On the
site stands the present Church of S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura, the
older part of which dates from the sixth century at least. One of
Aldhelm’s foundations (V, 18) was a little church dedicated to St.
Laurence at Bradford-on-Avon in 705, probably the small Saxon church
which still stands there. There were many martyrs named John and
Paul, and more than one Gregory. St. Pancras was a boy-martyr, a
Phrygian by birth, who suffered at Rome in 304 A. D. , when he was
only fourteen years of age. His martyrdom was widely celebrated, and
miraculous powers were attributed to his tomb outside the walls of
Rome. An old British church at Canterbury, which had been desecrated
by the heathen invaders, was restored for Christian use and
dedicated to St. Pancras by Augustine.

510 Eanfled, _v. s. _ c. 15 and note.

511 St. Matt. , vi, 33.

512 Cf. IV, 6. Sighere was the son, Sebbi the brother, of Sigbert the
Little (_v. s. _ c. 22, _ad init. _).

513 C. 22, _ad fin. _

514 C. 24, _ad fin. _; IV, 3.

515 664 A. D. : cf. III, 27, _ad init. _

516 Cf. III, 26, _ad init. _

517 Cf. III, 20 and note.

518 Cf. III, 8; V, 19, p. 348.

519 Cf. III, 29. From Bede’s “History of the Abbots” we learn that he
was a pupil of Pope Gregory’s Roman disciples in Kent.

520 III, 29.

_ 521 Ibid. _, and note.

522 Cf. Preface, p. 2, note 3.

523 He was probably chaplain of the nunnery.

524 Cf. Preface, p. 2, note 2.

525 Cf. Bright, cc. 252, 253. He sees here an allusion to the
Monothelite controversy.

_ 526 I. e. _, the Eastern, which consisted in shaving the whole head. This
method was supposed to have the authority of St. Paul (an idea
derived from Acts, xviii, 18), and of St. James “the Less. ” Cf. II,
2, p. 85, note.

527 They were accompanied by Benedict Biscop (_v. _ c. 18) whom Vitalian
had asked to act as their guide and interpreter (“Hist. Abb. ,” § 3).

528 Archbishop of Arles, 658-675.

529 From this it has been inferred that Arles belonged to Neustria. The
king was Clothaire III, king of Neustria. Ebroin had succeeded
Ercinwald (_v. _ III, 19, _ad fin. _) as Mayor of the Palace. He was
murdered in 681.

530 III, 7, 25, 26, 28.

531 Called also Emmo, or Haymo; Bishop of Sens, 658-675.

532 Or Burgundofarus, Bishop of Meaux, 626-672. He was brother of Fara,
mentioned III, 8.

533 “Praefectus. ”

534 Etaples in Picardy; “Quentae (or ‘ad Quantiam’) vicus” = the village
at the mouth of the Canche. It was an important commercial town and
port.

535 SS. Peter and Paul (St. Augustine’s): cf. I, 33. Theodore had placed
Benedict Biscop over it while Hadrian was still abroad.

536 II, 16, 20.

537 Eddius, the biographer of Wilfrid. He mentions himself (“Life of
Wilfrid,” Chapter XIV) as a “cantor. ”

538 Bede can scarcely mean to impeach the orthodoxy of the bishops of
native birth prior to Wilfrid. Probably the reference is mainly to
the prominent part he took in bringing about the decision at Whitby.

539 Cf. III, 28, note.

540 Cf. III, 20, and note.

541 Cc. 5, 12. Florence of Worcester mentions a Putta, Bishop of
Hereford, who died in 688, but it is very doubtful whether he can be
identified with the above. Bede’s words in Chapter 12 do not imply
that Putta, Bishop of Rochester, became Bishop of Hereford. Hereford
was not one of the five sees into which Florence tells us that
Theodore divided the great Mercian bishopric, but it appears soon
after as a separate see for Hecana (Herefordshire). Possibly Putta,
who is traditionally reckoned as its first bishop, may have acted as
Sexwulf’s deputy there.

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

543 III, 24, 30. He had probably died two years before Chad’s
appointment, _i. e.
_, in 667, and the see had been vacant in the
interval, for Wilfrid, then in retirement at Ripon, is said (by
Eddius) to have discharged episcopal functions for the Mercians.

544 Lastingham. Cf. Preface, p. 3; III, 23, 28.

545 Lindsey at this time belonged to Mercia. Cf. c. 12, p. 243, note 5.

546 Smith believed this place to be Barton-on-Humber. It is now
generally identified with Barrow in Lincolnshire. For the
preposition, cf. II, 14, p. 119, note 5.

547 It had not previously been an episcopal see, though Wulfhere had
wished to establish Wilfrid there during the vacancy in the Mercian
bishopric (p. 218, note 4). When the bishopric of Mercia and Lindsey
was subdivided by Theodore in 679, Lichfield remained the see of the
bishopric of Mercia proper. In 787, under Offa, King of Mercia, with
the consent of Pope Hadrian, it was raised into a separate
archbishopric for Mercia and East Anglia, but in 802 Canterbury was
re-established as the sole archbishopric for the Southern Province.
The popular derivation of the name, Lichfield (“Field of the Dead”)
is from _lic_ = a corpse, and the place is traditionally connected
with the martyrdom of a great number of British Christians. Another
derivation, however (from _leccian_ = to irrigate), points to the
meaning “the watered field. ”

548 Eccl. , iii. 5.

549 A stone which is believed to have formed part of Owini’s tomb was
found at the end of the eighteenth century at Haddenham, near Ely,
and is now in Ely Cathedral. It bears the inscription, “Lucem tuam
Ovino da Deus et requiem. Amen” (Mayor and Lumley).

550 Cf. c. 19.

551 Ps. xviii, 13, 14.

552 III, 4, 27.

553 He is said to have been Abbot of Bardney.

554 In 672. The original Church of St. Mary at Lichfield, said to have
been built by Oswy in 656-657, was replaced about 1140 by the new
Cathedral, and Ceadda’s relics were soon after removed to it.

555 Cf. III, 24, _ad fin. _, note.

556 Cf. III, 26, _ad init. _

557 Iona. Cf. III, 3, _ad fin. _, note.

558 Innisboffin, off the coast of Mayo. The annals of Ulster give 667 as
the date of his retirement to it.

559 Mayo, called from this settlement, “Mayo of the Saxons. ” It
continued to be an English monastery (_v. infra_), and after awhile
adopted those usages, to avoid which Colman had left England. It
became an episcopal see, which in 1559 was annexed to the
archbishopric of Tuam.

560 Hertford.

561 It seems probable that we ought to read 671; cf. Plummer _ad loc. _

562 Oswy is the last king in Bede’s list of those who held an “imperium”
(_v. _ II, 5). With the rise of Mercia under Wulfhere (III, 24), the
supremacy of Northumbria had virtually passed away. After Oswy’s
death, the position of Northumbria was an isolated one, and it was
by conquests over Britons, not Englishmen, that Egfrid enlarged the
bounds of his kingdom.

563 In his youth he had been a hostage at the court of Queen Cynwise,
wife of Penda (III, 24, p. 188).

564 This is of supreme importance as the first English provincial
Council and the first national assembly of the English. The rule
laid down at Nicaea and confirmed by later councils was that
provincial synods should meet twice a year to settle all
ecclesiastical matters which affected the province as a unity.

565 24th September, 673, falls in the first indiction, whether the
Pontifical or the “Caesarean” system is meant (_v. _ Haddan and
Stubbs, III, 121). Bede himself used the Caesarean indiction, of
which we get the first notice in his “De Temporum Ratione. ” It began
on 24th September. It does not, however, follow that Theodore also
used it. The oldest scheme, viz. , the Constantinopolitan, began on
1st September; the Roman or Pontifical, on New Year’s Day as
received at the time, _i. e. _, 25th December, 1st January, or 21st
March. For Indictions, _v. _ “Dictionary of Christian Antiquities. ”
They were cycles of fifteen years, a mode of reckoning dates which
appeared in the fourth century, based upon the Imperial fiscal
system, but which came to be used irrespective of taxation. “1st
indiction” stands for “1st year of the indiction. ”

566 Of the six suffragans only four were present. Wilfrid was at this
time (669-678) in possession of his see; why he did not appear in
person is not explained. Possibly his action foreshadows the future
troubles between him and Theodore. Wini, Bishop of London, was still
alive (_v. _ III, 7, and note). If the story of his retirement to
Winchester is true, this would account for his absence. For Bisi,
_v. infra_. His see was at Dunwich (cf. II, 15). For Putta, _v. s. _
c. 2 and note; for Leutherius, _v. _ III, 7; for Wynfrid, III, 24;
IV, 3, _ad fin. _

567 The collection of Canons approved by the Council of Chalcedon,
translated into Latin by Dionysius Exiguus (early in the sixth
century, cf. V, 21, p. 369, note) and adopted by the Western Church.

568 This place used to be identified with Cliff-at-Hoe near Rochester,
but the theory rests mainly on the similarity of name. As in the
recorded Councils of Clovesho the supremacy of Mercia is clearly
indicated, it is generally assumed that the place must have been
either in Mercia or a kingdom subject to it, as Kent was at the
time. Except one Council in 716, we find none mentioned as having
taken place at Clovesho till seventy years after this time (747),
but councils were held at other places.

569 The subdivision of the great bishoprics was an important part of
Theodore’s policy, and though at this Council he failed to carry his
point, possibly through the opposition of Wilfrid’s representatives,
in the succeeding years he effected a great change in the
organization of the episcopate, creating dioceses co-extensive with
tribal territories.

570 III, 29; IV, 1.

571 Cc. 22, 26.

572 His original name was Bertgils, _v. _ III, 20.

573 Theodore availed himself of this opportunity for subdivision. Aecci
was appointed to Dunwich and Badwin to the new see of Elmham.
Suffolk and Norfolk thus each received a separate bishopric. The
Danish invasions broke up this arrangement; Dunwich disappeared as
an episcopal see, and the succession to Elmham was interrupted for a
time. In 1075 the see of the single East Anglian bishopric was
removed to Thetford, and in 1094 to Norwich.

574 It has been conjectured that he resisted the subdivision of his
diocese. For his subsequent adventures, _v. _ III, 24, p. 192, note
4.

575 This was probably in 675 (Flor. of Wor. ). Sexwulf (_v. infra_ c. 12)
had been a rich thegn who became a monk and was made first abbot of
Medeshamstead.

576 Peterborough, as the town which grew up around the monastery came to
be called in the tenth century, the monastery being dedicated to St.
Peter. Peada is said to have planned the foundation (_v. _
Peterborough additions to the Saxon Chronicle), but the accounts are
late and untrustworthy.

577 III, 20, note.

578 C. 3, p. 219, note 2.

579 He succeeded Wini (III, 7) in 675 and died about 693. He was
canonized. It was in his house that the reconciliation between
Theodore and Wilfrid took place. It is said that as a boy he had
heard Mellitus preach in London. He was present at the West Saxon
Witenagemot which enacted the “Dooms of Ine” (c. 15 and V, 7), and
is spoken of as one of Ine’s bishops, Essex being probably subject
to Wessex at that time.

580 In III, 30.

581 Cc. 7-10. She is not to be confused with Ethelberg, daughter of Anna
(III, 8), Abbess of Faremoûtier-en-Brie.

582 Chertsey in Surrey. William of Malmesbury tells us that it was a
flourishing monastery till it was destroyed by the Danes.

583 Barking in Essex, _v. infra_ cc. 7-10. For the preposition, _v. _ II,
14, p. 119, note 5.

584 The plague of 664 has been mentioned in III, 27; IV, 1, 3; but this
may have been a later visitation. Barking is generally supposed to
have been founded in 666.

585 Two different dates are given for her succession, 664 and 675. If
the former is right, the plague (c. 7) must have been that of 664,
and Ethelburg probably died of it. It appears from a letter of St.
Boniface that Hildilid was alive in 709. She was one of Aldhelm’s
numerous women-scholars. He dedicated the prose version of his work
in praise of virginity (_v. _ V, 18) to her and others of the
sisterhood, and speaks highly of their scholarly attainments.

586 Apparently a life of St. Ethelburg not known to exist now.

587 Cf. III, 30; IV, 6.

588 For Earconwald, _v. s. _ c. 6. Waldhere is the first of a long list of
undistinguished bishops of London given by William of Malmesbury. A
letter of his to Archbishop Bertwald survives, and there is a
charter in which Swefred (_v. _ next note) grants lands at Twickenham
to him in 704.

589 Cf. V, 8, note on Suaebhard.

590 St. Paul’s, London. Sebbi’s tomb is believed to have survived till
the fire of 1666.

591 For these bishops, cf. III, 7.

_ 592 Ibid. _ He died in 672 (Sax. Chron. ). Of the sub-kings the most
prominent were Aescwine and Centwine, a brother of Coinwalch. The
Saxon Chronicle gives a different account. According to it,
Coinwalch’s widow, Sexburg, reigned for one year after him and was
succeeded by Aescwine, who was succeeded by Centwine.

593 Cf. III, 7, and for his character, V, 18. The Saxon Chronicle says
he succeeded in 676 and died in 703. Bede places his death in 705
(V, 18).

594 Cc. 15, 16, and V, 7. He was of Ceaulin’s line (II, 5) and so
belonged to a younger branch of the West Saxon royal house. Welsh
writers confuse him with the British king, Caedwalla (II, 20), and
with his son, Cadwalader.

595 A son of Penda. He succeeded his brother Wulfhere in 675. In 704 he
became a monk (V, 24) and afterwards Abbot of Bardney Monastery (cf.
III, 11), which he is said to have founded. His invasion of Kent was
probably provoked by an attempt on the part of that kingdom, at
Wulfhere’s death, to resume a position of independence towards
Mercia. In spite of his conduct on this raid, Theodore, Florence of
Worcester, and others, speak of the saintliness of his character.

596 Cc. 2 (and note), 5.

597 C. 6, and note, and _infra_, p. 244.

598 The dates of these changes in the episcopate are uncertain. Probably
Gebmund was consecrated in 678. For his death, _v.