them which faythe fully seeke therfore In this churche after Iustus departure hence vnto Christe Pawlyne consecrated Honorius Archebishopp of Caunterbury as I shall shewe more conueniently herafter Nowe as towching the faythe and belefe of this prouince a certaine preist and abbot a man of good credit and to be beleued whose name is Deda of the monasterie of Peartan told me that one of the elders of that couent as he reported him selfe was baptised with manie other of the people there at none daye by bishop Pawline in the presence of king Edwine and in the fludde of Trent nere the citie Thwolfing acester the which father and elderly man was wont to describe Paulinus personne saying that he was a taule man sumwhat crooked backe and blacke of heare lene in face and hauing a hooked and thinne nose in countenance bothe dredful and reuerent Who had in his chappel one Iames by name who was a deacoÌ„ and an industrious and diligent maÌ„ noble certes and of greate fame in Christ and the church Who liued also eueÌ„ vnto our time But in those dayes such was the peace and tranquillite through out all Britannie which waye soeuer king Edwynes dominions laye that as it is yet in a coÌ„mon prouerbe a weake womaÌ„ might haue walked with her new borne babe ouer al the yland euen from sea to sea without anie dammage or danger Moreouer this king did so muche tender his subiectes and the welth of the commons that in most places where he sawe fayâ—e clere wel springes breaking out by the highwaies syde he enclosed them in quicke sett boures for the refreshing of wayfaring men hauing by greate brasen basens to bathe or washe in Which basens either for feare of the kinges displeasure no man durst touche farder then to his owne present vse and necessite or no man wold take them awaye for the loue and good will they boore to their prince Who was for the time of his raigne so honoured and loued that the triumphing banners and flagges were borne before him not in warre only but in peace too whersoeuer he went abrode or rode with his garde in progresse aboute the greate cities townes and sheres of his dominions Yea euen when he passed through the stretes to any place there was carried before him that kinde of flag or stremer which the Romans calle Tufa and the English men now a Thuuffe How king Edwyne receaued letters of exhortation from Pope Honorius who sent therwith a palle to bishop Pauline The. 17. Chapter AT what time Honorius Boniface his successor was bishop of Rome and sate in the see Apostolike when he had vnderstoode that the kinge of Northumberland and all his subiectes in that countrie were conuerted to the faithe and confession of Christe by Paulinus preaching he sent the same bishop Pauline a palle and letters to king Edwyne exhorting him and his subiectes with fatherly loue and charite to persist or rather go forward in this true faithe which they had now receiued The tenor of which letters is suche To the most puissant prince and his most vertuous sonne in our Lorde Iesus Christe Edwyne king of the English men bishop Honorius seruant to them that serue God sendeth greating So is your Christian loue and integrite fyred with the flame of faith to the worshipping of your creator and maker that it shineth far and wyde and being declared through all the worlde bringeth furth fruyt of your doinge And truly so doe ye know your selfe best to be a king when that after ye are taught by the right and true preching ye beleaue in almightie God your king and creator Worshipping him adoring him and rendring vp to him the syncere deuotion of your hart as far forthe as mans weaknes and poore abilite can attaine vnto For what other thinge I praye you are we able to offer vnto our God then that persisting in good workes and confessing him to be the author of mankinde we worship him and spedely render our vowes and prayers vnto him Therfore we exhorte you our most derely beloued sonne in our Sauiour Christe Iesu as it is mete for a louing father to doe that ye endeuour al maner of wayes ye caÌ„ with ernest will and daily prayer to hold and kepe this that the mercy of God hath wrought in you calling you and all yours vnto his grace And so shall he which hath voucheâ—afed to bring you in this present world from all errour to the knowlege of his holy name prepare for you in the worlde to come a mansion place in heauen Be ye therfore often occupied in the reading of S. Gregories workes Who was a man certes of blessed memorie our good predecessour and your true precher and Apostle Haue before your eyes continually the greate zele of his doctrine and good affection which he gladly practised for your soules health and saluation That by this meanes his verâ—â—ouse prayer may both encrease your kingdome and also prosper yoâ—â—eople And that in the end he may represent you all as clene soules and without fault before the throne of almighty God Now as concerning these thinges which your grace desyred to be ordeined and appointed by vs for your priestes we haue without all delay prouided the same and truly the rather for your syncere and vnfayned faithes sake Which hath ben at diuers times and by diuers relatioÌ„s as also now by the bearers of these our presentes commendably declared vnto vs. We haue therfore with the rest of our rules and orders sent here ij palles for the ij metropolitans of your countre that is for bishop Honorius and bishop Pauline Willing and commaunding that when one of them is called out of this mortall lyfe to the mercie of God then shall his make and felowe which is yet a lyue subro gate by this our authorite an other bishop metropolitane in his place which is deceased which thinge we doe graunte vnto them as well for your good affection to vs and loue to the truthe as also for the distance of places and of so greate prouinces and cuntries as lye betwene Rome and Britannie And last to thintent that we might in all pointes shewe your highnes howe our consent and agrement is euer more redie at hand to your deuoute zele and ernest desyre of Gods glorie Who keape your grace alwaies in parfecte healthe and prosperite How bishop Honorius who succeded Iustus in the byshoprike of Caunterbury receiued from Pope Honorius a palle and letters The 18. Chapter NOW about this tyme died Archebishop Iustus the x. daie of Nouember And Honorius was chosen in his place Who comming to Archebishop Pauline to be appointed thereto met him at Lincolne And there was consecrated and instituted byshop of Caunterbury And is nowe numbred fifthe after S. Austin To whome also Pope Honorius sent a palle with letters in the which he commaunded the verie selfe same thinge that he wrote before in his epistle to king Edwine Which is
prepared holy vessels lightes and other necessaries appertaining to the better furniture and adorninge of the church of God Againe he sent for a cunning Musician named Mabam which was taught by the successours of Pope Gregory his schollars in Canterbury to teach him and his clergy to tune and singe For the which purpose he kept him xij yeares to the ende he might partly teach them certaine verses and songes of the church which they could not yet singe partly by his singular conninge bringe in vre againe suche songes and tunes as for lacke of vse had ben quite and cleane forgotten For bishop Acca him selfe was a very cunninge Musician wel lerned in holy scripture sounde and perfect in the Catholique faith expert and skilfull in all orders rules and disciplines of the churche and so continued vntil it pleased God to rewarde him for his good zeale and deuotion He was brought vp froÌ„ a childe in the most holy and vertuous prelate Bosa his clergy then bishop of yorke and afterward comminge to VVilfride vppon hope of some better lerning spent all his time in his seruice vntil deathe arrested him He went with him also to Rome and lerned many holy and necessary ordinaunces of the church which he could not attaine vnto in his own countrye How Abbot Ceolfride sent to the kinge of Pictes or Redshankes cunninge carpenters and workemen to builde him a churche and an epistle with all touchinge the Catholique celebration of the feast of Easter and after what maner priests and religious men should be shaâ—en The. 22. Chapter THE same time Naitane kinge of the Pictes which inhabit the Northe coaste of Britanny admonished by often meditation of holy scripture abandonned the errour which he and al his country had longe kept touching the keping of Easter and brought him selfe and al his subiectes to the catholike solemnising and dewe obseruation of the time of Christes resurrection Which that he might bring to passe with lesse difficulty and more authority he required ayde of the Englishmen whome he knewe to haue framed their religion after the counterpaine and example of the holy church of Rome and sea Apostolike For he sent ambassadoures to that Reuerend father Ceolfride Abbot of the monastery dedicated to the blessed Apostles Peter and Paule situated at the mouthe of the ryuer Were and not farre from the riuer Tyne in a place called Ingiruum where he ruled with great honour and admiration next after Benedict of whome we haue made mention before desyringe to receiue from him some earnest and forceable exhortation both to persuade him self and also to confute all other which wold presume to keape the fest of easter after their owne fansye and custome and not according to the ordinaunce of Christes churche He requested farder to haue instructions by his letters what maner of tonsure the clergy should vse Notwithstandinge he was partly already informed in many points requisite for that purpose With all he desired to haue some conninge and expert woork men to builde him a churche of great stone accordinge to the manner of building in Rome promising to dedicat the same in the honour of sainct Peter head and cheif of the apostles and to folowe euermore with all his wholle realme the ordre and fasshion of the churche of Rome and see Apostolique so farre forthe as men not knowing the Romayns tounge and farre distant from them might attaine to the knowledg thereof Vpon sight of these letters Ceolfride muche tendring his godly purpose and intent sent him such cunnyng and expert artificers as he required and withall letters indighted as it foloweth To the right honourable and moste renouned Prince Naitane Ceolfride Abbat sendeth greting in our Lorde The Catholik obseruation of holy Easter wherein you desire to be instructed right godly and renowned Prince we haue gladly and diligeÌ„ly endeuoured to set forth vnto you in these presents according as of the See Apostolique we haue our selues ben informed and taught Of whiche your zeale we thanke highly allmighty God knowing well that when princes and Lordes of the earth do employ their study to lerne to teache and to obserue the truth it is a singular benefit and speciall gift of God geuen vnto his Churche And most truly spake a heathen philosopher saying that the worlde should then be happy when either kinges embraced philosoply or els philosophers might beare the Soueraynte Now if by the philosophy of this world knowleadg of the worlde might be hadd where by the worlde might be beloued how much the more ought such as are cityzens of the heauenly countre aboue and but straungers in this worlde desire labour and with all meanes possible be suppliantes to God that the higher power and charge they beare in this world the more they applie them selues to harken after and vnderstande the will and pleasure of that highe Iudge which iudgeth all and bothe them selues obey gladly the same and moue also all other committed vnto their charge by their example and authoryte to fulfill and perfourme the same To come therefore to the matter wherein you require to be instructed you shall vnderstande we haue in holy scripture iij rules sett forthe vnto vs by the which the true and iust time of solemnising the feast of Easter is appointed which by no authorite of man can be chaunged Of the which rules two were taught by God in the lawe of Moyses the third is ioyned in the ghospell by the effecte off Christes passion and resurrection For the lawe off Moyses commaunded that in the first moneth of the yeare and in the third weke of that moneth that is from the fiftenth daye vntell the one and twentith Easter should be kept And it was added by the institution of the Apostles out of the ghospell that in the same third weke we should tary for the Sonday and in it celebrat our Easter This triple rule if a man diligently note and obserue he shall neuer misse in the cownte of Easter But if it be yower pleasure to haue euery particular poynte more pitthely and largely declared it is written in Exodus where the people of Israel ar commaunded to kepe the feast of Easter when they shulde be deliuered owte of Aegipte that God said to Moyses and Aaron This moneth shal be vnto yowe the begynninge of all monethes and cheafest in the hole yere Speake to all the children of Israel and tell them The x. day of this moneth lett euerye man take a lambe accordinge to their familiee and howseholde And a litle after he saith And you shall kepe him vntill the xiiij day of the same moneth And all the whole multitude of Israel shall offer the same vp in sacrifice at the euening By the which wordes it is euideÌ„t that in the obseruation of Easter though the fourtenth day of the first moneth be mentioned yet it is not so mentioned that on that day Easter should be kept but in the
his cattaile There is no noysom creping beast to be sene there no serpent that can liue there For many times serpentes which hath ben brought thether owt of Britanny the ship drawing nere vnto the land as sone as they ar towched wyth the smell of the ayer they dieth owt of hand Yea more then that all thing in maner that cometh from the sayd Iland is of souerayne vertue against poyson And this we sawe with oure eyes that wheÌ„ certain men that wer stinged of venemous serpents had taken the scraping of certaine leaues of bookes which had beÌ„ of IrelaÌ„d and had droÌ„ke it in water forthwyth all the force of the venim was staynched and the swelling of the stinged bodies vtterly asswaged This Iland is rich in milk and hony nor voyd of vines fish or foule and full of stagges This is properly the country of the Skottes owt of the which they isshuing hath inhabited BritaÌ„ny being before possessed of the Britons and the Pictes Ther is a great creke of the sea whiche seuered of ould time the Britons from the Pictes which from the west runneth far in to the laÌ„d Where vnto this day there is a citty of the Britons very stronge and well fensed called Alcuith At the north side of the which creke the Scottes hath come and made their dwelling country How that C. Iulius Cesar was the first of all the Romains that came in to Britanny The. 2. Chap. THe Romains had neuer accesse vnto BritaÌ„ny nor knoledge therof vntill Caius Iulius Cesars time Who the 593. yere from the buylding of Rome and the 60. before the incarnation of ower Sauiour Christ being Consul wyth L. Bibulus at the time that he had battell with Germany and Fraunce which two countres the riuer Rhene doth seuer cam into Picardy from whence is a very nigh and short passage in to BritaÌ„ny and wyth 80. ships charged wyth men and warfare prouision passeth ouer in to Britanny where he being receiued wyth a very sharpe and hotte byckering and after shaken wyth a contrary tempest was fayne to returne in to Fraunce wyth the losse of a great part of his nauy and no small number of his souldiars and of the most part of all his men of armes And so for that wynter he was forced to dimisse his army which being ouer past he sayleth againe in to Britanny wyth a nauy of 600. sayle one and other Where after he had arriued and was nowe marching toward his enemy wyth his mayne hoste his ships riding at the anker were with a violeÌ„t storme rent and cast either one vppon the other either vppon the quick sandes and there broken in peces in such sort that xl of them wer lost owt of hand and the rest wyth much a doe repaired Cesars horsemen at the first encounter wer ouerthrowen of the Britannes and Labienus one of his coronells slayne At the second encounter wyth great losse and daunger of his army he put the Britannes to flight From thence he went vnto the riuer of Tems which men say can be waded ouer but in one place where on the farder side a great number of the Britannes warded the bankes vnder Cassibellauno their capitayne which had stycked the bottom of the riuer and the bankes also thyck of great stakes wherof certayn remnantes vnto this day ar to be sene of piles of the bignes of a mans thyghe couered wyth lead styckyng fast in the bottome of the riuer Which when the Romans had espyed and eskaped the Britannes not able to staÌ„de the violence of the Romane Legions hidd them selues in the woddes owt of the which they ofte brekyng owt greatly endomaged the army of the Romaynes In this meane time Trinobantum a very stronge citty wyth their Capitain Androgorius yelded vnto Cesar deliuering xl hostages Which example other moe citties followyng fell in leage wyth the Romans by whose aduerâ—ising Cesar hauing intelligence of a stronge hold that Cassibelianus had buylded betwene two dykes or marishes well fensed wyth woddes on ech side farsed wyth plente of all thinges assayling wyth great force at lenght ouercomed After that returning in to FrauÌ„ce hauing dimissed his army for the wynter season he was sodenly besett wyth great tumultes of warres reised against him on euery side How Claudius the Emperour was the second that came in to Britanny which did also subdue the Iles Orcades And how Vespasian seâ— by â—im tooke the I le of wyte The. 3. Chap. THe 797. yere from the buylding of Rome Claudius the third Emperour after August being much desirours to shew him selfe a prince profitable vnto the common welth sought by all meanes battaile and conquest Whereuppon he made a viage in to Britanny which was all in a mute ny for that such as wer traytorously fled from them wer not restored He passed ouer in to the Iland whether nor before Iulius Cesar nor after any durst aduenture And there with out ether blud or battaile receiued by submission the greatest part of the Iland voluntaryly yelding them selues vnto him Also he brought in subiection to the Romaine empire the Iles Orcades which lieth in the Oceane aboue Britanny which don he returned to Rome the vj. moneth after that he departed thence and caused his son to be surnamed ' BritaÌ„nicus This battel was sought the foruth yere of his empire which was the yere of thincarnatioÌ„ of our lord 46. In the which yere also there fel a great famine thorough out al Syria which in the Actes of the Apostles is shewed to before spokeÌ„ by Agabus the prophet Vespasianus which after Nero was emperour being sent of the said Claudie in to Britanny subdued vnto the Seigneurie of the Romains the ile of Wite staÌ„digng nigh BritaÌ„ny westward Which is of length froÌ„ este to west about 30. miles froÌ„ south to North 12. being in the east part by sea 6. miles in the west 3. miles of froÌ„ the west shore of BritaÌ„ny Nero succeding Claudius in the empire neuer durst meddle with warfare matters Wherby among other many hindraunces which befel in his time vnto the empire one was that he had almost lost Britanny For vnder him two noble townes wer taken and ouerthrowen How that Lucius Kyng of Britanny sent to Eleutherius desiring to be Christened The. 4. Chap. THe yere of the incarnatioÌ„ of our Lord 156. Marcus Aurelius Verus the 14. Emperour after August gouerned the empire with his Brother Aurelius Commodus In whose time Eleutherius a holy maÌ„ being Pope of the church of Rome Lucius Kyng of BritaÌ„nes wrote vnto him desiring that by his commaundement he might be made christian which his request was graunted him Wherby the Britannes receiuing then the fayth kept it sounde and vndefiled in rest and peace vntill Dioclesian the Emperours time How Seuerus the Emperoure by a trench drawen ouerthwart seuered one part of Britanny from the other The. 5. Chap. THe yere of our Lord 189. Seuerus borne in Afrike at
country Writing thus Vnto his deare beloued son Mellitus abbat Gregorius the seruaunt of the seruauntes of God After the departure of you and the company which was with you we wer in dought what becam of you for that we could heare nothing how you sped in yower iourny When then God shall bring you vnto our reuerend brother Augustine bishop tell him what I haue of longe time deuised with my selfe of the cause of the English men That is to with that not the temples of the Idols but the Idoles which be in them be broken that holy water be made and sprinkled about the same temples altars buylded relikes placed For if the sayd churches be well made it is nedefull that they be altered frō the worshipping of diuels in to the seruice of God that whiles the people doth not see their temples spoiled they may forsaking their error be moued the more ofte to haunt their wont place to the honor and seruice of God And for that they are wōte to kill oxē in sacrifice to the diuells they shal vse the same slaughter now but chaunged to a better purpose It may therefore be permitted them that in the dedication dayes or other solemne daies of martyrs they maketh them bowers about their churches and feasting together after a good religious sorte kill their oxen now to the refreshing of them selues to the praise of God and encrease of charite which before they wer wont to offer vp in sacrifice to the diuells that whiles sum outward comfortes ar reserued vnto them they may thereby be brought the rather to the inward comfortes of grace in God For it is doutlesse impossible from men being so rooted in euell customes to cut of all their abuses vppon the sodaine He that laboreth to clim vpp vnto a highe place he goeth vpward by steppes and pases not by leapes So vnto the childrē of Israel being in Aegipt our Lord was wel knowē But yet he suffered them to doe sacrifice vnto him still in offring vp of beastes vnto him which otherwise they wold haue offered vpp vnto the diuels as they wer wont to doe in the land of Egypt that altering their intente they should leue sum and also kepe sum of their ould sacrifices that is that the beastes which they offred before they should now offer still But yet in offring them vnto the true God and not vnto the diuels they should not be the same sacrifices in all pointes as they wer before These be the thinges which I think expedient you declare vnto our sayd brother to th entent that he being there may consider with him selfe how ech thing is to be disposed God kepe you in helth dearly beloued son in Christ. Geuen the xv day of Iune The xix yere of the raigne of our soueraine Lord Mauricius Tyberius emperour and the xvij yere after his consulship Indictione quarta A letter of S. Gregorie to Augustine exhorting him that he should not glorie in him selfe of his vertues and miracles The. 31. Chap. ABout this time he sent Augustine an epistle touching such miracles as he had knowen to be done by the said Augustine In the which epistle he exhorteth him that he should take no pride of minde therefore I know saith he deare brother that it pleaseth god to shewe by thee great miracles amōg the people which by thee he hath called to his faith Wherevpon it is nedefull that of that heauenly gifte both thou ioyest with feare and fearest with ioye Thou hast to ioye for that by meanes of the said miracles the Englishmens soules are wonne to the faith Thou hast to feare leste through the miracles which be don by thee thy weake mind be lifted vp in presumption falling as farre inwardly by vaine glory as thou arte by outward praise puffed vp We must remember that the disciples returning with ioy from their preaching when they saied vnto their heauenly master Lorde in thy name the very diuells were obedient vnto vs it was by and by aunswered vnto them Doe you not reioyce tereat but rather reioyce for that your names are written in heauen For they had fastened their mind vppon a priuate and temporall ioye when they ioyed of their miracles But Christ calleth them backe from priuate ioy vnto commune and from temporall to eternall when he said Ioy for that your names are written in heauen For not all the chosen of god doth miracles but yet all their names are written in heauen For why They which be the disciples of the truth ought to ioye in nothing but only in that good thing which all other good shall haue as well as they and whereof they all shall haue ioy without ende This therefore remaineth deare beloued brother that of the thinges whiche by the power of god thou workest outwardly thou exactly euer discusse thy selfe inwardly and thourouly vnderstand both thy selfe who thou arte and what plenty of grace god hath bestowed vppon that countrie for whose sake to th entēt it might be the rather conuerted thou hast receiued the gift of working miracles And if thou remember that thou haste at any time ether by worde or dede offended god haue that euer in thy remembraunce that the ofte thinking vppon thy synne may presse doune the mounting pride of thy hart And what so euer grace thou ether hast or shalt receiue to worke miracles think it geuen thee not for thine owne sake but for theirs the minister of whose saluation thou art ordained How Saynt Gregorie sent letters and presentes to king Ethelberte The 32. Chapter THe said holy pope Gregorie at the selfe same time sent vnto king Ethelberte a letter with rich presentes of diuerse sortes doing vnto the king temporall honours which through his helpe was growē in knowledg of the glory of heauen The coppy of the said letter is this Vnto the right honorable and his most worthy sonne Ethelbert king of the English Gregorie bishop God almighty for this cause dothe calle good men to the gouernaunce of his people that by their handes he may distribute the giftes of his mercy and grace vnto all such ouer whom they haue the gouernaunce Which thing we know to haue ben done among the nation of the English ouer whom you are chosen to haue the rule that by the giftes of God employed vppon you the like benefites of grace might by your meanes be geuen to all such as are vnder your dominiō And therfor O Noble Son labour diligently to kepe the grace which you haue receiued from god and seeke with spede to set forth the faith of Christ to your subiectes Haue a good zele to procure the conuersion of as many as you can possibly forbid the worshipping of Idoles ouerthrow their temples edifie the maners of your people with exāple of your owne integrite with wordes of exhortation feare fayer speach and well doing that he may be your rewarder in heauen whose knowledg and name you make to be enlarged vppon the earth
and warmeth of diuine and heauenly faith maye inflame his vnderstandinge That it maye truly appere to be fullfilled in you which is spoken in holy scripture The infidel and vnbeleuing man shal be saued by the faithfull and beleauing woman For vnto this end you haue your selfe receiued mercye of our Lorde and fauour that you should render and yelde vnto him as your Redemer the multiplied fruyte of your fayth and other good giftes which he hath credited to you Which thinge that you may fulfill by the gratiouse healp of his goodnes we cease not to aske with our daylie prayers In these therfore our premises shewing you the deutye of our fatherly loue and charite we exhorte you that hauing the opportunitie of a bearer ye wil spedely declare vnto vs those thinges which the myghtie powre of God shall vouchesafe to worke merueylously by you in the conuersion of your husband and al your subiectes That we which carefully long and hartely looke for happy newes of the saluation of you and all yours by this your tydinges may be comforted and made glad and perfectly knowing the light and brightenes of Gods fauour and mercie to shyne amongest you we maie with ioyfull confession geaue full and whole thankes to God the geauer of all good thinges and to blessed S. Peter the chefest of his Apostles In the meane time we haue here sent you the blessing of S. Peter your patrone and heade of the apostles That is a looking glasse set in siluer and a combe of yuery gilted with golde Which we praie your goodnes as well to accept as ye vnderstand it is sent vnto you How king Edwine was prouoked to receiue the faith by a vision appearing to him in bannishment The. 12. Chap. THus much did Pope Boniface by his letters for the conuerting of king Edwine and all his countrie which king was also well holpen and almost forced to receaue the faithe and marke diligently the holesome preceptes of Christian doctrine by an oracle and vision from heauen Which the goodnes of God vowchesafed to shewe him while he laye bannished in kinge Redwaldes courte king of the east Englishmen For when bishop Pauline had well perceaued that the princes haughty courage could hardly be brought to the lowly humblenes of Christianite and that it would styfly be bowed and bent to beare the mysterie and burden of Christes crosse when he remembred also how he had nowe laboured a longe tyme bothe with preaching to the people and with praying to Gods mercie for the saluation of king Edwine and all his subiectes at the lenght hauing lerned in sprite for so it is most lykest to be what was that vision which had longe before ben shewed to the kinge from heauen he made no delayes at all but came spedely to the kinge and warned him to fulfill and accomplishe his vowe whiche in the vision that appeared to him he had promised to doe in case he were deliuered from his present miseries and restored againe to his raygne and kingdome Nowe was this vision suche as foloweth At what time king Edelfryde Edwines predecessour with greuouse pursuing put Edwine to flight and made him lye pryue and lurke in diuers places of other realmes for manie yeres space as a bannished man at the lenghth Edwine came to king Redwald besechinge him that he would saue him and defend his life from the traynes and ernest serche of this his dedly ennemie Who gladly entertained hym and promised to fullfill this his requeste and petitiō But after that king Edelfride had heard say that Edwine was seene in that prouince and vnderstood that he liued ther and dwelled familiarly with all his cōpany forthwith he sent out his Embassadours to king Redwald with a greate somme of monie to procure Edwines deathe But it preuailed nothing Thē sent he the second tyme and the thyrd tyme also offring greater gyftes and more plentifully bothe gold and syluer thretning him at the laste warres yf his request were accomplished Then king Redwald other dreading the threts or corrupted with the brybes graunted his request and promised that he would put Edwyne to death himselfe or els yealde him vp to thimbassadeurs Which thing when a certayne faythfull frend of Edwynes had marked and well vnderstoode he entred incontinent to the chamber where Edwyne purposed to take his rest For it was now an houre within nyght and calling him forth told him what the king had promised to doe against him sayeng in the end this muche I shall therfore yf it so please yowe leade yowe owt of this prouince and bryng yow into suche a place that nother king Redwald nor yet king Edelfryde shal be able to fynde yowe To whome Edwyne answered in this maner Sir I thanke yow most hartely for this your greate gentlenes But I can not folowe your counsell herin For first I must not breake my promesse which I haue made to so greate and mightie a Prince as is king Redwald especially wheras he hath done me no harme ne wronge nor hath as yet shewed anie hatred or displeasure towardes me And truly if I must of necessite dye thus I had rather he shuld put me to deathe then anie baser man or person of lesle nobilite Agayne whether I pray yow shuld I flee nowe who haue so many yeares and so long tyme walked lyke a vagabounde through all prouinces of this yle of Britannie only to auoyd and eschewe myne enemies snares and assaultes Now when this his frend was gone Edwyne remained without alone and sytting sadly before the palace begāne to be troubled with manie stormes and vexations of thoughts as a man not witting what to doe or whither to goe in this so ruefull case After he had ben longe vexed with inwarde and priuie troubles of mynde burning inwardly with close fyre of secret sorowe behold in the greate sylence and quyet of the mydde nyght he sawe a man vtterly vnknowen to him bothe for visage and countenaunce and also for his aray and apparell to approche and drawe toward him Whome bycause he had espyed thus at a blushe and so straungely desguised he was not a lytle a frayde The straunger cometh euen vnto him greteth him and asketh him wherfore he sate so soroufull on the stone abrode watching and all alone at that howre especially when other men were within at rest and in their depe sleape Then Edwyne lykewise demaundyd of him what he had to doe therwith yf he passed ouer the nyght within dore or els without To whome this mā answered and sayde Thinke ye not but that I know the cause of your heauynes and watche And also of this your solitarie syttinge with out dores For I know certainly who ye be and wherfore you are so sad and soroufull And also what myscheffe yow feare shortly shall befall you But tell me of fryndshippe what reward would you geaue him that shuld now rydde yowe quyte out of all these sorowes and trowbles and
and before he was yet baptised Layeng therfore depe foundations aboute this his first oratorie he began to buylde there a fayre churche fowre square But before the wall therof came to his iuste hyghnes the king was slayne by cruell deathe and lefte that royall worke to be endyd and parfyted by kyng Oswald his successour Now Pauline from that time 6. yeares after that is to the end of king Edwynes raygne preched the word of God continually by his good leaue and fauour throughe out all that prouince And they beleaued him and were Christened who were preordinated to lyfe euerlasting emongest whome was Offride and Eadfride king Edwynes sonnes Which he had in his banishement by dame Quenburge daughter to Cearle king of the Marshes After whome his other children which he had by Queene Edelburge were baptised as his sonne Edilhune his daughter Edilfride and an other of his sonnes called Buskfrea of which the ij first were taken oute of this mortall lyfe in their infancie or tender youthe and buryed in the church of Yorke Iffy also Offride his sonne was Christened too with manie other of the nobilitie and diuers honorable men And as it is reported then was the feruour of faithe and ernest desyre of holie baptisme so greate emongest the people of Northumberland that on a certaine time when bishop Pauline came with the kings and Quenes maiestie to the courte or princes palacie at Adregin he stayed there with them 36. dayes only occupied in catechising and instructing the people in Christe his faithe and afterward baptising them in eche of the which dayes he did nothing els from morning to euenynge but instructe them with the word of God and teach theÌ„ the faith and saluation in Christe Iesus which flocked thither out of all places and villages theraboute Whome after he had thus informed and taught he baptised in the fludde Elene For that was the next nere water which he could conueniently vse for baptim This towne Adregin in the time of the kinge and aftercommers waxed rude and deserte And an other was buylt vp for hit in a place called Melwyn And this muche dyd byshop Pawline in the Bernicians prouince But in the couÌ„trie of the Deires where he laie most coÌ„monly with the kinge he baptised in the fludde Suale which renneth fast by a village adioyned to Cataracte For as yet there could not be buylded oratories fountes or places of baptisme in this newe begon and late founded churche But yet was there buylte a greate church in the coast and champyon called Dâ—wne Where was an other of the kinges courtes and palace Which church the painims that slewe king Edwine bâ—rned afterward with the whole village In sted of the which palace the kinges euer after made their mansion place in the country called Loides But the aultar of the before mentioned churche eskaped the fire bycause it was made of stone And is kept to this present daye in the monasterie of the right reuerend Abbot and priest Trunwulfe standing in the wodde Elmete How the prouince of the Este English receiued the fayth of Christ. The. 15. Chap. NOw had king Edwine by common reporte suche a zele and ernest deuotion toward the Christian faithe that he perswadid Carpwald kinge Redwalds sonne and king of the Est English to leaâ—â— of the vaine superstition of idols and to come with his whole royalme and embrace the true faythe and receaue the sacramentes of Christe his churche For his father king Redwald before him was Christened in kent but alas in vaine For returning home againe he was seduced by his wyfe and certaine other peruerse doctours And being in suche wyse depraued from the sincerite and purenesse of fayth his end was worse then his beginning For he would seme after the maner of the olde Samaritanes to serue both Christe and his owne false Godes to as he dyd before And in one temple he had erectyd an aultar for the sacrifice of Christe and an other litle aultar for burnt sacrifices to his Idols and dyuels The which temple Aldwolfe kinge of that prouince after him who lyued in this ourâ—age sayde that it dured so vnto his time and witnessed that he sawe it himselfe in his childhoode Truly this before named king Redwald was a noble prince of byrthe althowgh vile and base in his actes and deades For he was king Tityls sonne whose fathers name was Woffa of whome the kinges of the east english men are called Woffinges But king Carpwald not long after he had ben Christened was slayne by a gentile and paynim named Richbert And froÌ„ that time 3. yeares after the prouince liued in gentâ—lite falling from Christian religion vntyll at the last Sibert king Carpwalds brother toke the kingdome a man in all pointes lerned and most Christian. Who whiles his brother was yet alyue lyuing bannished in Fraunce was Christened there and instructed in the holy mysteries of our faythe of which he went about to make all his royalme partakener as sone as he came to the crowne To whose good endeuour herin bishopp Felix dyd moste ernestly fauoure and with greate praise applie himselfe Who when he came from Burgundie where he was borne and toke holie orders into Britanny to Honorius tharchbishop and had opened this his desire and godly purpose vnto him the Archebishopp gladly gaue him licence and sent him furthe to preche the worde of God vnto the foresayde Este English Wher certes his zele and vertuous desire proued not in vayne For this holie husbande man and happie tiller of the spirituall filde founde in that nation plentifulnes of fruite and encrease of people that beleaued him For he browght all that prouince beinge now delyuered by his healpe from their long iniquite and vnhappines vnto the fayth and workes of iustice and in the end reward of perpetuall bâ—isse and happines for euer according to the good abodement of his name whiche in Lattin is called Felix and in our Englishe tounge soundeth happie He was Byshopp in the cite of Dummocke afterward Where when he had ruled the churche of Christe 17. yeares in that dignite and in that prouince he endyd his life in peace How Pawlyne preched in the prouince of Lindisse and of the state of king Edwynes raygne The. 16. Chap. BVt Byshopp Pawlyne continued styll and at this tyme preched the worde of God in the prouince of Lindisse which is the next toward the South bancke of Humber bending euen vnto the seas side where he first conuerted to our Lord the maior of Lincolne whose name was Blecca withal his howseholde In the which citie he buylt a well wrowght churche of stone the rouffe whereof eyther for long lacke of reparations or by the spoyle of enemies is nowe cast downe But the walles thereof stand yet to be seene at this present daie and yearly some or other miracles are wont to be showen ther to the greate good and comforte of
and prouide that the poysoned infection of so dedly an heresie sinke no farder into your myndes but labour as ye may vtterly to forgett it For ye ought to remembre howe this execrable heresie hath longe sithens ben condemned And hathe ben abolished and put owte of remembrance not only these ij hundred yeares but is also yet at this present daylie condemned of vs with continuall curses and all they excommunicated which folowe thesame We therfore exhorte and request yowe that ye suffer not their asshes to be stirred and blowen vp emongest yowe whose strength and weapons be burnt and consumed For what Christen harte is there whiche detesteth not to death and abhorreth their prowde intent and wicked wordes which dare affirme that a man maye lyue and be withowt synne euen of his owne voluntarie will and not throwghe the grace of God And then to consider againe the trueth hereof it is blasphemie and extreme foolishnes to saye that a man is withowt synne For he can not possibly be so Neither euer any was but only the mediator of God and man Christe Iesus our Lorde who was a verie and true man conceyued and borne withowt synne For as for other men they are all borne in oryginall sinne And doe beare the wytnes and token of Adams first preuarication and breaking of Godes commaundement yea althowghe they lyued without actuall synne accordinge to the Prophete saying Behold I was conceiued in iniquite and my mother hathe browght me forthe in sinne c. How after kinge Eduynes deathe bishop Pawlyne returned to kent and there toke the Bysshoprike of Rotchester The 20. Chapter WHen king Edwyne had moste triumphantly raygned ouer the English and Britons bothe the space of xvij yeares in some of whiche as abowt the number of 6. yeares he had himselfe ben subiecte to Christe and euer looked for his raygne and kingdome Cardwell king of the Britons made a rebellion against him hauing ayde and succor therunto of Penda a stowght man and of the kinges bloud of Marshland Ouer which nation afterward he had by dyuers chaunces and fortune rule and gouernance for the space of xxij yeares Nowe when they had thus ioyned battaile and entred fight with kinge Edwine in a great large and plaine field called thereof Hethfilde they slewe him there at the last the. 4. daye of October in the yeare of our Lorde 633. and of kinge Edwynes age the. 47. yeare whose whole hoste was other presently murdered there or shamefully put to flight In the which warres one of kinge Edwines sonnes that lustie and warlyke yonge prince Offryde was kylled before his father died The other sonne Edfryde of verie vrgent necessite fled vnto kinge Penda for succour Of whome afterward against the promised faythe and his solemne othe he was most cruellye put to deathe in the raygne of kinge Oswald At this tyme there was a verie greauouse persecution in the churche and a fowle murder of the Northumberlandes especially bicause that one of the Capitaines whiche caused this persecution and aduersite was a painim the other thowgh not a paynim yet more feerce and barbarouse thē was any heathen or paynim For kinge Penda with all the nation of the Marshland men was wholly geauen to Idolatrie and altogether heathen and vnchristened But king Cardwell althowgh he had the name of a Christian and professed that lyfe yet was he in mynde and maners so rude and owtrageouse that he woulde not spare eyther womens weaknes or childrens innocencie but put all to deathe withe greauous and bytter torments according to his bestly cruelty and vnmercyfull tyrannie Wasting a longe time and raging oure all the prouinces purposing moreouer with himselfe to exterminate out of the borders of Britannie the whole nation of Englishmen and to extinguish the verie name of them Neither did he ought esteme or anie thing reuerence and honor the Christian religion which the English men had So that vnto this daye the Britons maner and custome is to set light by the faithe and religion of English mē Neither will they in anie one pointe more communicate with them then they wold with heathens and painims Kinge Edwynes head was brought vnto Yorke And afterward carryed into S. Peters churche which churche he himselfe had begon to buylde but his successour king Oswald finished hit as we haue before declared And there layed in S. Gregories chappell By whose disciples and of whose preachers he had in his lyfe time receiued and lerned the word of true lyfe Thus was the state of Northumberlande muche troubled with this greate slaughter and cruell persecution Seing therfore there was none other remedie nor anie saftie could befounde but only by flight bishop Pauline accompaning the good Quene Edelburge with whome not longe before he came into that cuntrie tooke shipp and returned againe to kent And was there verie honorably receiued of Honorius the Archebishop and of kinge Edulbald His guide and gouerner in iorning vnto kent was Bassus one of the strongest of kinge Edwynes chiefe garde This bishop brought awaye with him from the cuntries of Northūberlande Eanfride king Edwynes daughter and Wulcfrea his sonne Iffy also Offrides sonne and nephue to king Edwyne Which ij yonge princely childrē this tender mother for feare of kinge Edbald and Oswald sent into Fraūce to be brought vp in king Dagoberts courte Wher they both died in their infancie And were buried in the high church with such honour as is mete for kinges sōnes and innocēt babes of Iesus Christe He brought moreouer away with him much pretious plate of king Edwynes amongest which was a greate goldē crosse and a goldē chalice cōsecrated for the ministerie of the aultar which are yet both reserued and to be seē at this day in the Cathedral church of Caunterbury Now was the see of Rotchester vacāt at this time For Romanus bishop therof sent frō the Archebishop Iustus legat to Pope Honorius was drowned in the tēpest going to Italie Thē bishop Pauline at the offer of bishop Honorius and at king Edubaldes request toke that charge on him and kept Rotchester dioces vntill at his full and rype age he quietly departed this transitorie lyfe and was receiued into the blesse of heauen with the godly fruite and reward of his labours and trauailes that he suffred here on earthe for Christe his truthe and Gospell Who at his decease lefte in his churche of Rotchester his palle which he had receifrom the Pope of Rome And in his Archebishoprike of Yorke he lefte Iames his deacon a good and godly mā Who liuing long after in that churche by preching and baptising toke manie prayes out of the diuels teathe and wonne manie soules vnto Christe Of whose name the village hath a name at this daye in which he for the most part abode and dwelled nere vnto Cataracte Who bycause he was conninge in songe and musycke and also in the office and seruice of the quyre when that contrie was
the porche of his church vntell the church it selfe was consecrated in Perone Which being solemnely done within six and twēty daies after the body was brought thither and being remoued from the porche to be layed by the high aultar it was founde as whole and vncorrupted as if the man had but that houre departed Foure yeares after a litle chappell being erected at the east syde of the aultar wher the body shuld more honourably betoumed being takē vp againe to be transposed thither it was founde in like maner without any blemish of corruption In the which place it is well knowen that his merites haue much ben renowned by sundry miracles wrought by the allmighty power of God Thus much of the incorruption of his body we haue brefely touched that the reader might more clerely vnderstande of what excellency and vertu this man was All which thinges and of other his vertuous companyons in the booke writen of his life he that readeth shall finde more ample mencion made How after the death of Honorius Deusdedit succeded and who in that time were bishops of Rochester and in the east partes of England The. 20. Chap. IN this meane Felix the bishop of the east englishmen departing this worlde hauing ben their bishop 17. yeares Honorius the Archebishopp of Caunterbury created in his place Thomas one of his deacons borne in the prouince of Giruij after whose death liuing in that bishoprick fyue yeares he substituded in his roome Beretgilsus surnamed Bonifacius a kentishman borne Honorius also the Archebishop the measure of his life expired passed to a better in the yeare of our Lord 653. the last daye of October Whom Deusdedit a west Saxon borne succeded after a yeare and a halfe the see being vacant all that tyme. For whose creation and consecration Ithamar byshop of Rochester came to Cannterbury He was consecrated the. xxiiij of Marche and gouuerned that see ix yeares iiij moneths and two dayes After whose departure Ithamar consecrated in his place Damianus a Sussex man borne Howe the Marshes or vplandish englishmen that is the sheres of Lincolne Couentry Lichefield and worceter receaued the Christen faith vnder Penda their kinge The. 21. Chapter AT this time the Middelenglishmē that is of the sheres aboue named receiued the Christen faith and the sacramentes thereof vnder Penda their kinge sonne to Pendam that cruell and vnmercifull hethen This being a vertuous young man worthy of the name and person of a kinge was of his father put in gouuernement of that countre Who coming after to Oswin kinge of Northumberland requiring Alcfled his daughter to wife could in no other wise obtaine his suite vnlesse he would as that countre was receiue the Christen faith and be baptised Hereupon the ghospell was preached vnto him Who hearing the promis of euerlasting life the hope of resurrection and immortalite of the soule yelded him self gladly to be Christned though he shoulde not spede of his suite To this he was muche persuaded by Alcfrid king Oswins son who had maried his sister Cymburg kinge Pendan his daughter Thus then he with the Erles and kinghtes that waited vpon him and all their seruauntes were baptised of Finanus the bishopp in a famous towne of the kinges called Admurum From whence he returned home with much ioye and comfort accompained with foure priestes notable bothe for lerning and for vertue whiche shoulde instruct and baptise his people These priestes were called Cedda Adda Betti and Diuna who was a scottesman borne the other thre english Adda was brother to Vtta that holy and vertuous priest that we mencioned before and Abbot of the monastery called Cubeshead These foresaied priestes entring the prouince of the middleland with the Prince preached the worde of God and were gladly heard Whereby many daily as well noble as of the base forte renouncing the filth of idolatry were clensed in the fonte of life Neither king Pendam father to this young prince did withstande or gainsaie the preaching of the ghospell in his dominions yf any would heare it But hated in dede and persecuted all such as bearing the name of Christians liued not according to the faithe they professed saying commonly that suche men were wretched and worthely to be spited whiche regarded not to please their God in whom they beleued These thinges began two yeares before the death of kinge Penda the younger who being after slayne and Oswin a moste Christen kinge succeding him in the crowne Diuna one of the foure foresaied priestes was consecrated of Finanus and created bishop of all the middle or vplandish english men For the scarcety of priestes made that ouer all that people one Bishop was sett Who winning to the faith in short time a great multitude of people in Fepping died leauing for his successour Ceollach a Scottish man also borne Who not longe after leauing the bishoprike returned to his countre the Iland of Hij where the chief and principall monasteries of Scotland were To him succeded Trumher a vertuous man and brought vpp in religion an Englishman borne but consecrated byshopp of the Scottes in the raigne of kinge VVillher as we shall hereafter more at larg declare How the East Saxons at the preaching of Cedda receiued again the faith◠which vnder kinge Sigibert they had loste The 22. Chapter AT this very time the east Saxōs by the meanes of kinge Oswin receiued againe the faith which before expelling Melitus the first bishop of Londō out of the coūtre they abandonned Their kinge then was Sigbert succeding to Sigibert surnamed the litle This Sigbert being a nere and familiar frende of kinge Oswin then king of the Northumbrians came by that occasion oftentimes to Northumberland At which metinges the vertuous kinge Oswin vsed eftsoones to persuade with him that such could not be Gods which were made with mens handes that wodde or stone coulde not be any quicke matter to make a liuing God the pieces and remnants whereof either were wasted with fire or serued to make vessels for the vse of man or otherwise being naught worthe were caste forth troden vnder foote and turned into earth God rather saied he must be vnderstanded to be of maiesty incomprehensible to mens eyes vnuisible almighty and euerlasting who made bothe heauen and earth and all mankinde gouerned them also and should iugde the whole worlde in equite whose mansion place is euerlastinge Finally that al such as would lerne and perfourme the will of their Creatour should vndoubtedly receiue of him euerlasting rewarde therefore These and such other godly aduertissemtēs being frendly and brotherly from time to time made and repeted to king Sigbert by Oswin he began at lenght his other frendes agreing therunto to sauour them and beleue them Whereupon aduise being taken with his company and all bothe consenting and pricking him fore ward he was baptised of Finanus the bisshop in the cite of Admurum nigh vnto the walle wherewith the
Romanes parted Britanie from the Scotes xij miles from the East sea Kinge Sigbert being nowe a citezen of the euerlasting kingdome returned to his earthly kingdome requiring of kinge Oswin to haue with him some lerned men and preachers to conuert his countre to the faithe Who sending for Cedda and an other vertuous priest out of the midle land directed them to the east Saxons to preache there the faith Where hauing through out the countre preached a longe time the worde of life and made vp a greate haruest to Christe Cedda departed home againe and came to holy Iland to talke with Finanus the bishop who hearing the prosperous successe of the ghospel and the free course it had calling vnto him two other bishops he consecrated and ordained Cedda bishop of the East Saxons Cedda being made bishop returned to his prouince and began with more authorite to perfit the worke he had begonne erecting in diuers places churches making priestes and Deacons who in preaching and baptising might aide him especially in the cities of Ithancester and Tileburg the one staÌ„ding vpoÌ„ the Tems the other vpoÌ„ a braÌ„che thereof called Pente In which two places assembling together diuers newly Christened he instructed them after the rulers of religious persons as farre as their tender capacite could then conceiue Thus when the heauenly discipline and holy deuotion daily increased to the great ioye of the prince and the comfort of all the people beholde by the instinct of the olde enemy of mankinde this vertuous Prince by the handes of his owne alliauÌ„ce was murthered The cruel executours of this hainous acte were two german brothers Who being examined vpon what motion they committed that detestable fact they answered for no other cause but for that they hated the prince for his ouermuch elemency and mekenes in pardoning his enemies and forgeuing al offences done at the intreating of the parties This lo was their grudge conceiued against the kinge for which they murthered him truly because deuoutely and sincerely he obserued the commaundements of God Though yet in this his giltlesse death a true faulte of his was punished according as the holy bishop Cedde had foretolde him For this Prince hauing in his courte one that liued in vnlauful wedlocke and being therfore excommunicated of the bishop not being able by any other meanes to let that wicked coupling or amend it and not onely he but all other also that would either kepe him company or eate with him the Prince neglected vtterly this sentence of the bishop It fortuned the prince being inuited of the excommunicated man to a feast going thither mette in the waie the bishop at whose sight the kinge being much afeared lighted of from his horse as the bishop also incontinently did falling downe before the bishops feet and asking pardon The bishop being offended with the kinge for the euill example he gaue touching him lying on the ground with the rodde he helde in his hande protested vnto him with a lowde voice and with biâ—hoply authorite saying I tell you bicause you woulde not refraine from the house of that wicked and damnable person in that house you shall die Yet it is to be thought that such a death of so vertuous a man did not only wipe awaie this fault but also increased his merit Bicause he was slaine for vertues sake and for obseruing Gods coÌ„maundements as by the coÌ„fession of those which slew him it appeared before To this Sigbert Suithelme sonne to Sexbald succeded in the kingdom and was baptised of the bisshop Cedda in the prouince of the east englishmen in a towne of the kinges called Rendlesham Edelwald kinge of the east english brother to Anna their former kinge was godfather to this Suidhelme How the same Bisshop Cedda obtaining a place to builde a monastery of kinge Oswald by fasting and praier did consecrat it to God and of his death The 23. Chap. THis man of God Cedda being bishop of the east Saxons vsed yet oftentimes to visit his owne countrie of Northumberland and preache the gospell there Edilwald sonne to kinge Oswald who raigned in parte of Northumberland ouer the people called Deiri perceauing this bisshop to be a holy wise and vertuous man required him to take of his gift a piece of ground toward the building of a monastery wherein he and his people might resort to heare the worde of God to praie and to bury their dead For he beleued he should much be comforted and holpen by their good prayers who should in that place serue God This kinge had in his house Celin brother to bishop Cedda a man of no lesse vertu who preached and ministred the sacramentes for he was a priest to him and all his court By whose meanes he came to the knowleadg of Cedda and was induced to loue him The holy bishop at the kinges request chose out a place to erect a monastery in the high and desert mountaines Where before that time were rather starting holes for theues or dennes for wilde bestes then mete mansion places for men Hereby the prophecy of Esaie semed to be accomplished saying that in the poisonned couches of dragons swete grasse and rushes should growe meaning that the frutes of good workes should blossom and springe where before bestes or men bestly liuing made their abode This vertuous bishop desiring by prayer and fasting to purge as though it were the place from the former filth of iniquites there committed and so to set vpon the foundation of the monastery obtained licence of the kinge all the Lent that then approched to remaine in that place to fast and praie there after his maner In all which time fasting euery daie except the Sondayes vntell the euening as the maner is he receiued then but a litle bread with one egge and a litle milke mingled with water For as he saied the custome of them of whom he lerned the trade of monasticall life was that in the new erecting of any monastery or church the places should be first consecrated to God with fasting and prayer In this his fast ten daies yet only remaining of the fourty the kinge sent for him vpon occasion of certain affaires But to the entent that so godly a purpose might not be interrupted by occasion of the Princes busines though he brake of him selfe yet he intreated Cinbellus his priest and naturall brother to make an ende of that he had begonne Which being of him gladly and vertuously fulfilled he erected the monastery now called Lesting geuing vnto it the same rules and order of religion as the monkes of Holy Iland vsed where he was brought vp in Thus gouuerning both his bishopricke and this monastery many yeares at the length as he visited the monastery in the time of a plage falling sicke there with other died He was first buried abrode but after a church being there builded of stone in the honour of our Lady he was taken
vp and layed at the right side of the aultar The bishop at his departure left the monastery to be gouuerned of his brother Ceadda who after also was made bishop as we shall anon declare For foure german brothers which is a rare thinge Cedd Cymbill Celin and Ceadda wer al vertuous priestes and two of them bishops When it was knowen in Northumberland that their bishop was dead and buried thirty brethern of the monastery which he erected amonge the east Saxons came to the place where he died Desiring by the body of their father either to liue or if it so pleased God to die and be buried there Who being gladly receiued of the brethern in that time of mortalite were all taken out of this life except one litle boye who as it is well knowen was saued by the praiers of the bisshop For liuing many yeares after and studying holy scripture he lerned at lenght that he had not ben yet baptised Whereuppon being forthwith christened afterward was promoted to priesthood and proued a profitable member to the church Of whom we doubt not to pronounce but that as I saied he was by the speciall intercession of that blessed bishop whose bodye of charite he came to visit saued from the danger of death bothe that he might thereby escape eternall death and might be occasion also of life and saluation to other by his doctrine How the prouince of the Marshes receiued the faythe of Christ Penda their kinge being sâ—aâ—en And howe Oswin vowed for the victory against Penda twelue farmeplaces to the building of monasteries The. 24. Chap. IN those daies king Oswin after often and cruell inuasions of the heathen vnmercifull Prince Penda forced of necessite offred him many and most precious iewells with an infinit summe of treasure to redeme quiet and peace to his countre and to cease the continuall wasting and cruel spoyles that he made But the heathen and barbarous tyran yelding nothing to his request and petition but pursuing his deadly enterprise and protesting vtterly to extinguish the whole nation from the highest to the lowest the vertuous kinge Oswald called for helpe of God against the barbarous impiete of his ennemie vowing and saying sith the infidell regardeth not our presentes let vs offer theÌ„ to our Lord God who will vndoubtedly regard them And withalâ— hâ— vowed that is he had the vpper hand of his enemy his young ' daughter should be consecrated to God in perpetuall virginite and twelue farme places withe the landes appertaining should be conuerted to the erecting of monasteries which being saied he prepared him self to battaill with a very small army The army of the heathen is reported to haue ben thirty tymes more in quantite conteyning thirty whole legions well appointed and gouuerned withe olde tried and valiaunt capitaynes Against all the which kinge Oswin with his sonne marched forth boldely though with a very smal army as we saied yet with a sure confidence in Christ. His other sonne Ecfrid was at that tyme kept in ostage in the prouince of the Mercians vnder Quene Cinwise Edelwald son to kinge Oswald who ought of all reason to haue stode withe his countre and vncle kinge Oswin forsoke bothe and became a capitain vnder the heathen prince Although when the field was begonne he departed a side and getting him to a holde by expected the euent of the battaill Thus meting and coupling together the thirty capitaines of the heathen prince were all put to flight and slaine and with them almost all other whiche from other countres came to aide them Amonge the which was Edilher brother to Anna Kinge of the east english then raigning after his brother who also had ben the chiefe and principall motiue of the battaill And whereas the field was fought nye to the riuer Iuuet it did at that tyme so ouerflowe al the bankes and fieldes about that in the flight more of the enemies were drowned in the water then slaine with the sworde This noble victory being by gods helpe so miracuiously obtained incontinently king Oswin rendring due thankes therefore and perfourming the vowe he had made gaue his daughter Elfled which was yet scant one yeare olde to be brought vp and consecrated to perpetuall virginite and the twelue possessions which he promised for the erecting of monasteries where in stede of worldly tillage and coÌ„modites religious monkes by continuall deuotion might labour to purchase eternall rest and peace for him and the countre Of the which twelue farmes six he appointed in the prouince of the Bernicians and six other in the prouince of the Deirans Eche farme contained ten housholdes which made in all six score The daughter of Oswin entred the monastery of Hartesilond there to be brought vp vnder Hilda the Abbesse in religioÌ„ and perpetuall virginite Who two yeres after purchasing a farme of ten housholdes builded for her selfe a monastery in a place called Stranshalch In the which monastery this kinges daughter was first brought vp as a lerner but was after her selfe a lady and teacher of monasticall life vntell at the age of threscore yeres this vertuous virgin passed to the blessed mariage of her heauenly and longe desired spouse Christ her Sauiour In this monastery she her father Oswin her mother Eanfled and her grandfather kinge Edwin and many other noble personages are buryed in the churche of S. Peter the Apostle This battaill kinge Oswin kept in the countre of Loide the thirtenth yeare of his raighn the xv daie of Nouember to the great quyet and commodite bothe of all his dominions and of the aduersary part also For his owne countre he set at rest and deliuered from the cruell inuasions of his deadly enemies and his aduersaries the Marshes and midleenglish men he brought to the faithe of Christ their wicked head being ones cutt of The first bishop as we saied before bothe of the Marshes and of all the midleenglishmen and also of those of holy Iland was Diuna whiche died in the countre of the middleenglish men The second bishop was Cellach who leauing at length his bishoprick yet liuing returned to ScotlaÌ„d Both these were Scottishmen The third bishop was Trumher an englishman borne but instructed and made byshopp of the Scottes who was also Abbat of Ingethling monastery builded in the place where kinge Osuuius was slaine For Quene Eanfled cousen and alliant to Osuuius required of kinge Oswin who hadkilled Osuuius in parte of satisfaction of his vniust murther the erecting of a monastery for the vse of the holy man Trumher who also was of kinne to Osuuius To th entent that in that monastery daily praier might be had for the helth and saluatioÌ„ of bothe kinges aswell the slaine as of him that slewe This kinke Oswin raigned thre yeares after the death of kinge Pendam ouer the Marshes and ouer the south people of England subduing also the nation of the Pictes for the most parte to the allegeaunce of the english men At what
meane tyme kinge Alcfrid sent VVilfrid his priest vnto the kinge of Fraunce that he might in his dominions be consecrated bishop Who sent him to be consecrated of Agilbert of whom we made mencion before being then bishop of Paris where he was consecrated withe great honour of him and many other bishops meting for that purpose together in a Manour of the kinge called In compendio Bishop VVilfrid making some abode in Fraunce after his consecration kinge Oswin folowing the example and diligence of his sonne kinge Alcfrid sent in to kent a holy man vertuous sufficiently lerned in holy scripture and a diligent perfourmer of that he had lerned to be created bishop of Yorke This man was a priest and called Ceadda brother to the most Reuerend bishop Ceddi of whom we haue often mencioned before and Abbat of the monastery of Lesting The king sent also withe him an other of his priestes Eadhed by name who after in the reign of kinge Ecfrid was bishop of Rhyppon But they at their arriuall to kent finding the Archebishop of Caunterbury Deusdedi◠departed and no man yet supplying his rowme stroke ouer to the west Saxons where VVini was bishop and of him this vertuous man Ceadda was consecrated bishop hauing withe him to assist and accompany him at the consecration two other bishops of the olde Britons who continewed yet in their accustomed obseruation of Easter beginning from the fourtenth daye of the chaunge contrary to the canonicall and right order as we haue often saied before There was not at this tyme beside this bishop VVini any one true bishop and rightly consecrated in all Britanny Ceadda then being thus created and consecrated bishop began seriously to sett forthe the truthe of gods word to leade his life in chastite humilite and abstinence to study and much teaching For the which intent he visited continually the cytes townes villages yea and priuat houses in his diocese and that not making his iourney on horsebacke but going allwaies on foote as the Apostles vsed All this he had lerned of the vertuous bishop Aidan and of his brother bishop Ceddi whose vertuous examples he endeuoured him selfe allwaies to folowe and to teache the same to other VVilfrid also returning to England nowe a bishop instructed much the church of England and reduced them to the Catholike vnite touching externall rites and obseruations in many pointes Whereby it came to passe that Catholike ordonaunces taking place and beginning daily to be more and more embraced the whole company of the Scottes which then liued amonge the english men either yelded to the same or els returned backe to their countre Howe Wighard priest was sent to Rome to be consecrated Archebishop of Caunterbury and how he died there according as by letters from the Pope it was specified The. 29. Chap. AT this tyme the most worthy and renouned kinges of England Oswin of the North countre and Ecgbert of kent and the places adioyning deliberating betwene them selues touching the paisible gouuernment of the church for kinge Oswin had nowe perfitly lerned though he were brought vp of the Scottes that the church of Rome was the Catholike and Apostolicall churche by the choyse and consent of the holy clergy of England called vnto them one Wighard a priest a man of great vertu and worthy to be a bishop one of the clergy vnder Deusdedit the deceased Archebishopp and sent him to Rome to be consecrated to the intent that he being made Archebishop might consecrat and order other byshops for the Catholike churches of Englishe men through out all Britanny But Wighard coming to Rome before he could be consecrated bishop departed this life whereupon the Pope sent backe to kinge Oswin these letters To our most honorable Son Oswin kinge of the Saxons Vitalianus Byshop the seruaunt of those which serue God We haue receiued your excellencies wishefull letters by the perusall whereof we perceiued your excellencies most godly deuotion and feruent zele to attaine euerlasting life hoping assuredly that as you now reigne ouer your people so in the life to come you shal reighn with Christ for as much as by his Souuerain helpe and grace you are nowe conuerted to the true right and Apostolike faith Blessed is that people ouer whom God hath placed a prince of such wisedom vertu and desire of Gods honour As the which not only serueth God him selfe incessantly but also laboureth to draw all his subiects to the right vnite of the Catholike and Apostolicke faith purchasing them thereby vndoubted saluation of their soules For who hearing this ioyefull report of such a Prince will not also reioyse thereat What Christen hart will not leape for ioye and cōceiue singular cōfort of so zelous furdering of the faith Truly cōsidering the happy cōuersion of your natiō to the seruing of almighty God I remēbre and see in you the oracles of the diuine prophets accōplished as it is written in Esay In that day the roote of Iesse standeth vp for a tokē to the people him the natiōs shal cal vpon And againe Heare o ye Ilandes and harkē ye people that dwell a farre of And within a few wordes after the prophet crieth to the church It is not enough that thou shalt serue me in restoring the tribes of Iacob and in cōuerting the dragges of Israel I haue geuen the for a light to the nations that thou be my saluation euen to the furdermost of the earth And againe Kinges shal see princes shall arise and shall adore And a litle after I haue geuen the for a leage of my people that thou shouldest raise vp the earth and possesse the scattered inheritages and saye to those which laye hounde come ye for the and to those wich sate in darcknes be ye opened And againe I the Lord haue called thee in righteousnes and haue taken thy hand and haue saued thee and haue set thee to be a light vnto nations and to be a leage betwene my people that thou maiest open the eyes of the blind and deliuer from bondes the bounde the man sitting in darckenes out of the prison Beholde most honourable Sonne by the verdit of the prophets it is most clere that not onely you but all nations shall beleue in Christ the maker of all thinges It behoueth therefor your highnes being now a parte of Christe to folow in all thinges and allwaies the sure rules and ordonnaunces of the head of the Apostles as well in obseruing your Easter as in all other thinges deliuered by the holy Apostles Peter and Paule Whose doctrine doth daily lighten the hartes of all true beleuers no lesse then the two lightes of the element geue light to the whole worlde And after many other wordes writen touching the vniforme obseruation of Easter through out the whole worlde it foloweth in the letter As touching one well furnished with lerning and other qualites mete to be your bishop according to the tenour of your letters we could
at Tarsus in Cilicia a maÌ„ bothe in prophane and diuine knowleadg and in the greke and latin tounge excellently lerned in maners and conuersation vertuous and for age reuerend being then lxvj yeres olde Him Adrian offered and presented to the pope and obtained that he was created bishop Yet with these conditions that Adrian should accompany him in to England bicause hauing twise before trauailed in to Fraunce for diuers matters he had therefore more experience in that iourney as also for that he was sufficiently fournished with men of his owne But chiefely that assisting him alwaies in preaching the ghospell he should geue diligent eye and waite that t is Theodore being a greke borne enduced not after the maner of the grekes any doctrine coÌ„trary to the true faith receaued in to the english church now subiect vnto him This man therfore being made subdeacon taried yet in Rome iiij moneths vnte â—l his heare was full growen to take the ecclesiasticall tonsure rounde which before he had taken like vnto the Last church after the maner of S. Paule whereof we shall hereafter treate more at large He was consecrated bishop of Vitalianus then Pope in the yeare of our Lorde 668. the xxvj daie of Marche vpon a Sonday After the xvij of May in the company of Adrian the Abbat he was directed to England Their iourney commenced first by see they arriued to Marsilia and so by lande to Arles where deliuering to Iohn the Archebishop letters of commendation from Vitalian the Pope they were receaued and enterteyned of him vntill that Ebroinus chief of the kinges Courte gaue them saulfeconduit to passe and go whither they entended and woulde Which being graunted them Theodore tooke his iourney to Agilbert bishop of Paris of whome we haue spoken before and was very frindly receaued of him and kept there a longe tyme. But Adrian went first to Emmeson and after to Faron bishop of Meldes and there continewed and rested withe them a good space For wynter was at hand and draue them to abyde quietly in such conuenient place as they could gett Now wheÌ„ word was browght to king Ecgbert that the bishop whom they had desired of the Pope of Rome was come and rested in Fraunce he sent thither straight waye Redfride his lieutenant to bringe and conducte him Who when he came thither tooke Theodore with the license of Ebroinus and browght him to the porte that is named Quentauic Where they continewed a space bicause Theodore was weake sicke and wery And as sone as he began to recouer health againe they sayled to England But Ebroinus with helde backe Adrian suspecting he had some embassie of the Emperours to the kinges of England against the realme of Fraunce wherof at that time he had speciall care and chardge But when he founde in dede that he had no such thinge he dimissed him and suffred him to go after Theodore Who as soone as Adrian came to him gaue him the monasterie of S. Peter thapostle where as I haue mentioned before the Archebishops of Cauntourbury are wonte to be buried For the Pope Apostolâ—que had required Theodore at his departinge to prouide and geane Adrian some place in his diocese where he and his company might commodiously continewe and liue together Howe Theodore visited the countree and howe the churches of England receaued the true Catholique faith and began also to studie the holy scriptures and how Putta was made bishop of Rochester for Damian The 2. Chap. THeodore came to his churche the 2. yere after his consecration the xxvij day of may being sonday and continewed in the same xxi yeres three moneths and xxvj daies And straight way he visyted all the countree ouer where soeuer any english people dwelled for all men did most gladly receaue him and heare him and hauing still with him the coÌ„panie and helpe of Adrian in all thinges dyd sowe abrode and teache the right wayes and pathes of good liuing and the canonical rite and order of keping the feast of Easter For he was the first Archebishop vnto whome all the whole churche of the English nation dyd consent to submit them selues And bicause both he and Adrian as we haue sayd were exceding well learned both in profane and holy literature they gathered a company of disciples or scholers vnto them into whose breastes they dayly dyd powre the flowing waters of holesome knowledge So that beside the expounding of holy scripture vnto them they dyd with al instructe their hearers in the sciences of musick Astronomie and Algorisme In the tounges they so brought vp their scholers that euen to this day some of theÌ„ yet liuing can speake both the Latin and Greeke tonge as well as their owne in which they were borne Neither was there euer since the English meÌ„ came first to Britaine any tyme more happie than at that present For England then had most valiant and Christian princes It was feared of all barbarowse and forrain nations The people at home was all wholly bent to the late ioyfull tydinges of the kingdome of heauen And if any man desired to be instructed in the reading of holy scriptures there lacked not men expert and cunning ready to teache him Againe at this time the tunes and notes of singing in the Churche whiche vntill than were only vsed and knowen in Kent began to be learned throwgh all the churches of EnglaÌ„d The first master of songe in the churches of Northumberland except Iames whome we spake of before was Eddi surnamed Stephen who was called and browght from kent by Wilfride a man most reuerend whiche first among all the byshops that were of the English nation dyd learne and deliuer the Catholique trade of life to the English Churches Thus Theodore vewing ouer and visiting eche where dyd in conuenient places appoynt bishops and with their helpe and assistance together amended such thinges as he found not well and perfecte And among all other when he reproued bisshopp Chaddâ— for that he was not rightly consecrated he made moste humble awnswer and sayde If yow thinke that I haue taken the office of a byshop not in dewe order and maner I am ready withe all my hart to giue vp the same for I did not thinke my selfe euer worthy therof but for obedience sake being so commaunded I dyd agree althowgh vnworthy to take it vpon me Whiche humble awnswere of his Theodore hearing sayd that he should not leaue his bisshopricque but dyd himselfe supplye and complete his consecration after the right and dewe Catholique maner The very same tyme in whiche after the death of Deusdedit an Archebysshopp of Caunterbury was sewed for consecrated and sent from Rome Wilfrid also was sent from England to Fraunce there to be consecrated Who bycause he retourned into kent before Theodore did make priestes and deacons vntill the time that the Archebisshop himselfe came to his see Who at his comming to the
predecessours had before him ouer the prouinces of the Marshes and myddle english and also of Lindisfar dioecese In all whiche countrees VVulpher who yet lyued dyd holde the crowne and scepter This VVinfrid was of the clergy of the same byshop whome he succeded and had executed the office of deacon vnder him no small tyme. Howe by shopp Colman leauing England made two monasteries in Scotland one for Scottes and an other for the English men that he had browght with him The. 4. Chap. IN the meane tyme byshop Colman who was a Scottish byshop lefte England and tooke with him all the Scottes that he had gathered together in the I le of Lindisfar and abowt xxx englysh men also which were all browght vp in the orders of monasticall lyfe and conuersation And leauing in his owne churche certaine bretherne he came first to the I le of Hij from whence he was first sent to preache the word of God to the English men Afterward he went to a certaine litle I le which lieth on the west syde cut of a good way from Ireland and is called in the Scottysh tonge Inhisbowinde that is to saye VVhitecalfe I le In to whiche he came and buylte a monasterie and placed the monkes in the same which he had browght with him and gathered of bothe nations Whiche bicawse they cowld not agree together for that the Scottes in somer tyme when haruest was getting in wold leaue the monasteries and go wander abrode in places of their acquayntaunce and than at winter wold come againe and require to enioy in cōmon such thinges as the english mē had prouided and layed vp Colman seking remedie for this discorde and vewing all places far and nere found at length in Ireland a mete place for his purpose called in the Scottish tonge Magio Of that grounde he bought a small parcell to buyld a monasterie therein of the Erle that possessed the same vppon this condition with all that the monkes there abydinge shoulde remembre in their praiers the Lorde of the soile who lett them haue that place Thus the monasterie being spedely erected by the helpe of the Erle and of all such as dwelled thereby he placed the Englishmen alone therein the Scottes being leafte in the foresaid Iland The which monasterie vnto this day is holden of Englishmen and is the same which is commonly called Iniugeo being nowe much enlarged and amplified of that it was at first This monastery also all thinges being since brought to a better order hath in it at this present a notable company of vertuous monkes that come thither out of England and liue after the example of the worthy olde fathers vnder their rule and appointed Abbat in great continencie and synceritie getting their lyuing with the labour of their owne handes Of the death of king Oswin aud king Egbert and of the Synode made at Hereford at which the Archebishop Theodore was chiefe and president The. 5. Chap. THe yere of the incarnation of our Lorde 670. whiche was the second yere after that Theodore came to England Oswy king of Northumberland was taken with a greuous sickenesse whereof he dyed the yere of his age lviij Who at that time bare such loue and affection to the Apostolike see of Rome that if he might haue scaped his sicknes he purposed to go to Rome and to end his lyfe in those holy places there hauing for that purpose intreated bishop Wilfride to be his guyde in his iourney and promised him a greate somme of mony to cōduct him thither But he departed this life in that sickenesse the xv day of Februarie and leafte Egfride his sonne enheritour of the realme In the third yeare of whose raigne Theodore gathered a Councell of bishops with many other doctours and prelates of the churche suche as diligently studied and knewe the canonicall statutes and ordinances of the fathers Who being assembled together he began with such minde and zeale as became a bishop to teache diligently to obserue those thinges that were conuenient for the vnitie and peace of the churche The forme and tenour of whiche Synode is this In the name of our Lorde God and Sauiour Christ Iesus who raigneth and gouuerneth his church for euer it semed good vnto vs to assemble our selues together according to the custome prescribed in the ecclesiasticall Canons to treate of necessarie affaires of the church we the bishops vndernamed that is I Theodore although vnworthy appointed by the See Apostolike Archebishop of Caunterbury our felowe priest and brother the most reuerend bishop of the Eastenglish B. Bisi our felow priest and brother VVilfrid bishop of the Northumbrians by his deputed legates present Also our felowe priestes and brethern Putta bishop of Rochester Leutherius bishop of the West Saxons and VVinfrid bishop of the Marshes or Middleenglish men we all being assembled together and placed euery one in order in the church of Hereforde the xxiiij of September in the first Indiction I beseke you saied I most derely beloued brethern for the feare and loue of our Redemer let vs all in common treate and debate such thinges as appertaine to the right faith keging vprightly and straighly the decrees and determinations of our lerned auncetours and holy fathers These and such like thinges for the preseruation of charite and vnite amonge vs and in the church when I had saied and made an end of that exhortation and preface I demaunded of eche of them in order whether they agreed to kepe those thinges which are canonically decreed of the auncient fathers of old time Whereto al our fellow priestes aunsweared and saied It pleaseth vs all very well that those things which the canons of the holy fathers haue defined and appointed we all do kepe and obserue the same And then straight way did I bringe furth vnto them the booke of canons and out of the same booke I shewed before them ten articles which I had noted out of diuerse places bycause I knew them to be most necessarie for vs and I besought them that the same mougthe be receaued and kepte diligently of all men The first article was that we al in common do kepe the holy feast of Ester on the sonday after the xiiij day of the moone in the moneth of Marche The second that no bishop should haue ought to do in an others diocese but be contented with the chardge of the people committed vnto him The third that no bishop should moleste or anye wise troble such monasteries as were consecrated and giuen to God nor violently take from thē ought that was theirs The fourth that monks shuld not go from place to place that is to say from one monasterie to an other onlesse by the leaue of their own abbot but should continew in the obedience which they promised at the time of their cōuersiō and entring into religiō The fift that none of the clergy forsaking his own bishop shuld runne vp
sepulchre as an aulter foure-square The greater parte standeth for an other aulter in the same churche in the manner of a quadrangle couered with faire white clothe The colour of the sayd sepulchre semeth to be white and read decently mixed together VVhat he wrote of the place of Christes ascension and the patriarches sepulchres The. 18. Chapter THe Author aboue mentioned writeth also in this wyse touching the place of Christes ascension The mounte Olyuete is as hye as the mounte Syon but not so brode nor so longe There growyth no trees but vynes and olyues wheate and barlye it bryngyth forth good stoore The vayne and soyle of that grounde is not shryueled nor fleaten but grene and full of grasse In the very toppe where Christ ascendyd to heauen standyth a greate rounde church with thre porches rownde in a circuite vawtyd and coueryd ouer The ynner chapell hauing an aultar toward the east with a goodly frount in the top could not be vauted nor coueryd ouer bicause the very place of Christes ascension might be kept open In the mydle of which churche the last prynte of Christes feete left vppon earth ar to be sene where he ascendyd into heauen openinge aboue and ready to embrace hym And although the earthe be fett away dayly of the Christians yet it remayneth still and kepyth the very figure and prynte made with the steppes of his holy feete when he ascended Rounde aboute the print of those blessed feete lyeth a brasen wheele as hygh as a mans neck hauynge an entraunce and way in vppon the east side and a greate lampe hanginge aboue it in a pullye whiche burneth day and night In the weast side of the same church be eyght windowes and so many lampes hanging in cordes directly ouer them They shine thorough the glasse to Ierusalem and their light is said to stirre the hartes of all that behold and see it with a certaine feruent zeale and compunction At the day of Christes ascension euery yere when Masse is done there cometh downe from heauen a greate gale of wynde and maketh all that ar in the churche prostrate them selfes downe flatt vppon the grownd Of the situation also of Hebron and monumentes of old auncient fathers there he writeth in this sorte Hebron somtimes the chiefest cytie in al Kinge Dauids realme shewing now only by her ruines howe princely and puissaunt she was in time paste hathe towarde the east with in a furlonge the double denne where the Patriarches sepulchres ar enuironed with a fowre square walle their hedds turned toward the northe Euery tumbe hath his stone Al the thre stones of the patriarches being all whyte squared as other stones are vsed in building of great churches Adam lieth aboute the north side and vttermost parte of the walle not farr from them in an obscure tumbe nor curiously wrought nor workmanly sett There ar besides base memorialls of thre simple weemen The hill Mambre also is a mile from these monumentes ful of grasse and pleasaunt flowres towarde the north and in the top it hath a goodly champion and playne fielde In the north parte wherof Abrahams Oke which is nowe but a stumpe as hygh as ij men can reache is compassed rounde abowt with a churche I haue thought it good for the profitt of the readers to intermingle in my historie these thinges taken out of the Authors bookes and comprised here in latin after the trewe meaning of his woordes but more brieflie and in fewer woordes If any man be desirous to knowe more of this matter either lett him reade the same booke or that litle abridgment which I drew owt of him but late How the South saxons receaued Eadbert and Collan for their bysshopps the weast Saxons Daniel and Aldethelme for theirs and of certaine writinges sett foorth by the same Aldethelme The. 19. Chap. THe yere of the incarnation off Christe 705. Alfride kinge of Northumberlande dyed the xx yere of his raigne not yet fully expired After hym sucdeded Osrede his sonne a child but eyght yeres olde and raigned xj yeares In the beginning of his raygne Hedde bysshop of the weast Saxons departed from this mortall life to immortal ioye For vndoubtedly he was a iuste man one that lyued vpryghtlye in all pointes leke a good bishoppe and preached sincerely leke a trewe pastour and that more of the loue of vertue naturally graffyd in him then of any instructours by often readinge taught him Furthermore the reuerend father and worthy prelate Pechtehlme of whom we must speake hereafter in place where he shall be mentioned who being but yet a deacon and younge monke liued familiarly a longe time with his successour Aldethelme was wounte to tell vs that in the place where the said Hedde died for reward of his holy life many great miracles and cures were don and that men of the same prouince vsed commonly to carry away dust from thence and mingle it with water for such as were deseased and sicke that also the drinking and sprinckling of the same did cure many sicke men and beastes also By which occasion for often carying away of the sacred dust a great deepe pitt was made there After his death that bisshopprick was diuided into ij dioceses The one was geuen to Daniell which he keapeth at this present the other to Aldethelme where he ruled the people very painefully for iiij yeares They were borhe lerned men skilfull in holy scripture and all ecclesiastical doctrine Aldethelme when he was priest and yet but Abbot of the monastery of Mailsbury wrote by the commaundement of the whole Synode of his countrye a booke against the errour of the Britons for not keping the fest of Easter in his dewe time and doing many thinges besides contrary to the trewe obseruation and vnite of the church By reading of the same book he reduced many Brytōs subiect at that time to the Weastsaxons to the catholike solemnisation of the feast of Easter He wrote also a notable booke of virginitie bothe in longe verse and prose with doble paines folowing the example of Sedulius He set forth also many other workes For he was notably well lerned very fine and eloquent in his talke and for knowledge as well in liberall sciences as in diuinite to be had in admiration After his death Forthere was made bishop in his place a man also much conuersant in holy scripture These ij hauing the gouuernaunce and whole rule of that diocese it was determined by a decree in the Synode that the prouince of South Saxons which to that present day appertained to the diocesse of Winchester where Daniel was bisshoppe should haue a see and bishopp of their owne seuerally Whereuppon Eadberte Abbot in the monasterie off that blessed bishoppe VVilfride was made and consecrated first bisshopp of that diocese After his death Ceolla toke the bisshoppricke vppon him Who not past iij. or iiij yeares past departing this life the see to this day is vacant
Howe Coenrede kinge of the Marsshes and Offa king of the East Saxons ended their liues in the habitt of religion and of the lyfe and death of bisshop VVilfride The 20. Chap. THe iiij yeare of Osredes raigne king Coenrede which kept the soueraintie in the countrie of Marshes honourably for a tyme did more honourably forsake it and all his dominions For vnder Constantine the Pope he went to Rome and receiuing there the tonsure and habitt of a religious man at the Apostles toumbes continued in praying fasting and dealing of almes vntill his dying daye Vnto this noble prince Coenrede succeded kinge Edilredes son which Edildred had the gouuernement of the same realme before him There went with him also to Rome Sigheres sonn king of the east Saxons called Offa whome we mentioned before a princely and beautefull gentleman and then in his first flowres and much desired of his subiectes to remaine and rule among them But he moued with leke deuotion and zeale as the other prince was forsoke his ladye his landes his kinsfolke and countrie for Christes sake and the ghospell that in this world he might receiue an hundred folde and in the world to come life euerlasting with Christ. When he came to the holy places att Rome he also was shoren into religion in the which he passed the rest of his life and came to the vision of the blessed Apostles in heauen as he had longe desired before The very selfe same yere that these ij princes went out of Britannie a worthy prelate and notable bishopp called VVilfride died the xlv yeare after he had ben made bisshoppe in the territory called Wundale And his body well chested was caried to the monastery of Rhippon wher he had before liued and with al honour and solemnitie worthy for so noble a bishopp was buried in Saincte Peters church at Rhyppon Of whose life and behahauiour let vs brieflly make mention what things were done returning as it were backe againe to that we haue spokeÌ„ before This Wilfride being but a childe was of such towardnesse and good nature induced with so many goodly qualities of such modest and honest behauiour in all pointes that all the elders and auncients did with a speciall good loue reuerence him After he was xiiij yere olde he more estemed a monasticall and solitarie lyfe than all secular and wordly wealth The which thing when he had communicated with his father for his mother was departed to the mercy of God he gladly condescended to his holly requestes and godly desires and exhorted him to persiste in that godly purpose which he had entended Hereuppon he came to the isle Lindisfarne and there atteÌ„ding vpoÌ„ the monks he diligeÌ„tly lerned and gladly practised al pointes of chastity and godlinesse required in a solitarie and religious man And because he had a goodly pregnant witt he lerned spedely psalmes and certain other bookes of prayers being not yet shoren in or professed but well garnished with those vertues which far surmounted the outward profession to witt of humility and obedience For the which he was wel loued and estemed bothe of the elders and also of his equals When he had serued God certaine yeares in that monastery he perceaued by litle and litle being growen in iudgement as a wife younge man that could quickly fore see the waye of trewe religion and vertue taught by the Scotts not to be altogether perfecte Whereuppon he fully determined to make a voyage to Rome only to see what riâ—es and ceremonies were obserued there as well of secular priestes as of religious personnes The which determination of his after notice geuen to his Bretherne by preuy conference eche man did well commeÌ„d it and persuaded him to go forward in his good purpose Incontinent coming to Quene Eamflede who knew him wel and by whose counsell and coÌ„mendation he was receaued into that monastery declared to her hyghnesse that he had an earnest and feruent desyre to visit the monuments of the holy Apostles The Quene much delited with the younge mans good purpose and zele sent him to Caunterbury to kinge Ercombert which was her vncles sonne requiring that it might please his highnesse to send him honorably to Rome at what time Honorius one of the blessed Pope Gregories schollers a man profoundly lerned in holy scripture was Archebishop there When this younge man lackinge nor good courage nor lyuely sprite had tarried there a space and employed his diligence to lerne and commit to memory that which he ouerloked there repaired thither an other younge gentilman whose name was Bishop and Christen name Benet one of the nobles of Englande desyrours to go to Rome of whom I haue mentioned before The kinge committed VVilfride to this younge gentilman and his company with chardge that he shuld conduct him safe to Rome When they came to Lyons in Fraunce VVilfrid was stayd there by Dalphine bishop of that city The gentleman went on his iourney to Rome The delight and pleasure which the bishop had in VVilfrides wyse talke aminable continaunce ioly actituity and graue inuention was the occasion why he was staied there For that cause also he gaue him and all his company frendfull intertainement as long as they continued there and furder offred him the gouernement of a greate parte of Fraunce the mariadge of his brothers daughter whiche was yet in the flower of her virginity brefely to adopte him for his heyr if he wolde make his abode there But he rendring lowly and harty thankes for so great courtesy and gentilnesse that the bishop vouchsafed to shew vnto him being but a straunger answered that he was fully determined to an other conuersation and trade of lyffe and therfore had forsaken his country and taken this iourney to Rome The which when the bishop heard he sent him to Rome with a guide to conducte him in the waye and gaue him mony sufficient to beare his chardges desyringe that at his returne he wolde remember to take his house by the waye VVilfride with in fewe dayes after cominge to Rome and occypuing him selfe in daily contemplation of heauenly thinges according to his first determination fel acquainted with a notable holy and lerned man called Boniface who was Archedeacon and one of the Apostolike Popes counsellers By whose instruction he lerned orderly the foure bookes of the Gospell and the trewe counte of Easter and many other godly lessons commodious and profitable to vnderstande the orders and disciplines of the churche which he could not attaine vnto in his owne country And when he had passed certaine monethes there in godly exercise and study he returned to Dalfine againe in Fraunce and after he had tarried with him iij. yeares he toke the inferiour orders of the bishop and was so entierly loued of him that the bishoppe fully determined to make him his successour But by cruel death he was preuented and VVilfride reserued to a bishoprike in his owne natyue country England For Brunechild
faithfull men than that whiche he had to whom desiring to bye the grace and gifte of the holye ghoste with monie saincte Peter saied Thy mony perishe with the because thou thinkest the gifte of God may be obtained with monye There is no part nor felowship for thee in the ministerye of this worde And truly we are not shauen or clipte rounde for that consideration onely that saincte Peter was so shauen But because he was so shauen in the remembraunce of Christes passion therefore we also desiring to be saued by the merites off the same passion do beare vppon the toppe of our crowne beinge the highest parte of our bodye the signe of Christes passion as Peter dyd For as euery congregation of faithfull men which by the death of him that quickeneth and relyueth them is made in very dede a holy congregation commonly accustometh to beare the signe of the crosse in their forhead that by the diuine power of the same they may be defeÌ„ded from all assaultes of the deuill and may by often remembraunce and admonition of it be instructed howe they ought to crucifie the fleshe with all her sinne and concupiscence so in leeke manner it behoâ—eth them which either being made by vowe monks or by profession of the clergy do binde them selfes more streytly with the bridle of continency for Chistes sake to beare in their head by clipping the fourme of a crowne as our mercifull Sauiour caried vppon his precious head at the tyme of his passion a crowne of thorne to the entent he might thereby carie yea and carie awaye the thornes and briers of our sinnes To the end also they may protest vnto the worlde eâ—en by their open head that they are ready and gladde to suffer all mockery irrision and obloquy for his sake Last of all to testifie that they looke for the crowne of aeternall glorie which God hath promised to all that loue him and that for the purchasing of this they contemne all wordly shame and wanton wealthe But touching that fassion of shauinge which Symon Magus ennemye of Christes faith vsed who dothe not euen streyte at the beginning detest and abhorre it with all his magyke Which to outwarde sight semeth to haue the leeknesse of a crowne in the ouermost parte off the head but when a man cometh nere and beholdeth the hinder parte he shall finde that which semed to be a crowne to come very short thereof And truly such manner as it is voide of Christian considerations so for Symons secte it is very conuenient Who in dede by their simoniacall hypocrisie seme in this life to certain deceiued persons worthy the glorye of euerlasting ioye but in the lyfe whiche foloweth the dissolution of this bodye ar not only depryued of all hope of the crowne of glorie but which is more are condemned to euerlasting tormentes and payne And here tuly I would not your highnes shoulde thinke that I prosequute and debate this matter so largely as though I iudged them worthy to be condemned which vse this manner of shauinge yff they tender in hart and dede the vnytie of Christes catholique churche Nay I boldly protest and affirme that many of them haue bene vertuous and holy men Of the which Adamannus priest and Abbot of the Columbines is one To whom amongest all other thinges when he was sent in embasie for his owne countrie to kinge Alfride and as he passed was desyrous to see our monasterie and shewed in his behauiour and talke much wisdome humilitye and godlynesse I saied these wordes vnto him I beseke you good brother Why do you beleuing that you shall passe hence to a crowne of lyfe that hath no ende weare in your head the proportioÌ„ and fourme of a crowne which hath an ende seming in behauiour to be contrary to your faith And if you seke the felowshipp off S. Peter why do you follow that manner of shauing which he vsed whom S. Peter did ex communicate and deliuer to the deuil and do not rather shewe that you loue entierly with al your harte his habite with whom you desire to lyue in eternall blysse Knowe you for a suerty my derely beloued brother quoth he that albeit I vse the same fasshion of shauing which Symon Magus did after the custome and manner of my country yet I vtterly detest and abandone the vnfaithfulnesse and infidelyty of SymoÌ„ Magus and desire with al my hart to follow the steppes of the most blessed head of the Apostles S. Peter so farre forthe as my poore habilitie wil serue To that I replyed and saied I beleue it is so in very dede Yet it may be a more manifest declaratioÌ„ that you embrace euen froÌ„ the bottom of your hart al that the holy Apostle Peter taught if you kepe that outwardly which you knew was vsed of him generally For I thinke your wisdoÌ„ do easely iudge it most conuenient vtterly to seclude froÌ„ your presence and face dedicated to God the habit proportioÌ„ and figure of his couÌ„tinaunce whoÌ„ you abhorte with all harte and minde And contrariwise as you desyre to folow his steps and counsell whome you looke to haue as a patrone before God the father so it besemeth you to follow his outward behauiour This for that time I spoke to Adamanus Who after well declared how much he had profited by seinge the ordinaunces and rules of our churche For after his returne to Scotland he reduced by his preaching many of the same cuntry to the catholique obseruation of Easter Albeit he coulde not reduce the monkes that liued in the Iland Hij where he was Abbat thereto as yet He thought also to redresse the maÌ„ner of ecclesiasticall tonsure amongst them if his authority could haue preuailed And I nowe also most puissant prince do exhorte you to endeuour with all the country where the kinge of kinges and lorde of lordes hathe geuen you the souerainte to obserue and kepe all that agreeth with the vnity of Christes catholike and Apostolike church So it will come to passe that after you haue had dominion and rule here vpon earth the primat and head of the blessed Apostles will gladly open to you and yowers the gates of heauen to rest with the holy angells and other dere freÌ„des of God The grace of God of our Euerlasting kinge and lord preserue you most derely beloued sonne in Christe and graunte you longe prosperous raigne to our quietnesse and peace When this epistle was reade in the presence of kinge Naitane with many other lerned men besides being truly translated into the kinges natiue tounge by them which did well vnderstande it he much reioysed at that exhortation as some make reporte euen so much that rising from the place where he and many of the nobility were sate he fell downe vppon his knees and gaue God thankes that he had deserued to receiue such a benefit out of Englande And treuly saied he I knewe before that this was the trewe celebration and
Princely hart the more be kindled and coÌ„firmed most humbly and lovvly I beseche the same to beholde a fevve examples of the most puissant Princes that haue ben in Christendom vvhich in that singular vertu haue principally excelled At vvhat time Princes and Emperours hauing certaine hundred yeares fought and striued all in vaine against the light of the ghospel and publishing of Christen religion beganne at length them selues to take the svvete yoke of Christe to submit their Sceptres to his holy Crosse and ioyning deuoute humilite vvith vvordly policie began to procure their soule helth and to prouide for the vvorlde to come then the prophecy of Esaie vvas in them fullfilled saying to the churche of Christ. Beholde I will stretche out mine hande to the gentils and sett vpp my token to the people They shall bringe thee thy sonnes in their lappes and cary their daughters vnto thee vppon their shoulders For kinges shall be thy nursing Fathers and Quenes shall be thy nursing mothers They shall fall downe before thee c et Then their chiefe endeuour and principall care hath ben to maintaine the only Catholike faith in their dominions and to chase eftesoones all schismes and heresies that from time to time sprange vp amonge Constantin the great vvorthely so called for sondry respects the Arrian heresy vnder him arising laboured by all meanes possible and semely to his princely vocation to queÌ„che the same For this purpose first he directed that lerned and vertuous Father Osius bisshop of Corduba in Spayne to the churches of AEgypte vvhere the terrible tragedy of that hainous heresie beganne vvith his letters of exhortation to reconcile them againe vvhich vvere diuided in matters of the faith He vvrote also to Arrius him selfe and Alexander the bisshop of Alexandria persuading vvith them to come to agreement and accorde After al this fuffising not at the motion and order of the vertuous bishops of that time and by their ordinary meanes he caused the truthe of the controuersy to be enquired examined and discussed in a full and generall Councell helde at Nice vvhere he presented him selfe bearing the charges of the bishops that dvvelled farre of After this councell according to the determination of those holy Fathers for quieting the church he banished Arrius Theognis Euâ—ebius of Nicomedia and other masters of that secte He talked also and commoned vvith Acesius a bishopp of the Nouatians labouring to vvinne him to the Catholike church againe Being troubled also vvith Donatus and his complices breding then a nevve secte in Christes church against Caecilianus their lavvfull bishop he vvrote vnto Miltiades then Pope of Rome to decide the matter and directed a commission out of his ovvne Courte for the better expedition of the same Thus laboured that vertuous and Christen Emperour Constantin the great to maintaine the vnite of Christes church and to abolish all heresies in the prouinces of the vvhole vvorld then subiect vnto him This glasse he lefte to his posterite other Christen Princes to looke on Valentinian the first the next catholike Emperour of any continuaunce after Constantin so earnestly tâ—Ì„dred the catholike religion that vvhen ValeÌ„s his brother the ArriaÌ„ Emperour of the East demaunded aide of him against the Gotthes then breaking in to the Romain empire he ansvvered that being an heretike it could not stande vvith his conscience and religion to helpe him fearing vvorthely the checke that God by the mouth of Iehu gaue to Iosaphat kinge of â—uda for aiding the Apostata and Idolater Achab kinge of Israell Theodosius successour of Valens in the East called also the great for his vvorthy and princely qualities for the maintenaunce of the catholike faith of Christes church published an edict against the Arrians and the Manichees vvherby he imbarred them all maner of assembles preaching or teaching banished theÌ„ out of cites and places of resorte commaunding also no man should company vvith them Againe the same Emperour after much disputations and conferences had vvith the Arrians perceauing at lenght by the aduise of Sisâ—nius that they agreed not amonge them selues nor approued the lerned vvriters in Christes churche before their time bothe vvhich great faultes are euident in the principal promoters of this nevv pretended religion vtterly to extinguish all heresy and for a finall extirping of schisme he vvith Gratian commaunded expressely that such doctrine and religion only shoulde take place as Damasus then Pope off Rome taughte and allovved Honorius and Arcadius sonnes to Theodosius folovved the godly steppes of the vertuous Prince their Father Thereupon Arcadius by the stoute aduise of Chrisostom vvould not graunt to Gainas a famous Scythian Captain vnder him one poore corner in all the East to practise his Arrian profession in Honorius likevvise hauing information of the horrible schismes of the Donatistes in Afrike directed in commission thither Marcellinus to be present at a general assemble in Carthage of the caholike bishops and the Donatistes as it appeareth by the conferences of that assemble yet extant in the vvorkes of S. Augustin Hovv diligent Theodosius the second next successour to the foresaied Emperours vvas in extirping the heresy of Nestorius and in setting forth the right doctrine touching the godhed of the holy Gost against Macedonius and his scholers the vvritings of Cyrillus ad Reginas and to Theodosius him selfe do euidently declare After these Marcianus the Emperour vvith that vertuous princesse Pulcheria laboured diligently to extinguish the heresy of Eutyches as it may appeare by sundry epistles of lerned Leo then Pope of Rome solliciting eftsoones the Emperour thereto and by the Actes of the fourth generall councell of Chalcedon VVhich not long after him Iustinus the Emperour vvith sâ—ch Christen zeale defended that he caused Seuerus the schismaticall bishop of Antioch to haue his touÌ„g cut out for the daily blasphemies he vttered against that councell Iustinian also his successour caused al the hereticall bookes and vvritinges of the saied Seuerus and other to be burned and made it death to any that kept or vsed any such books The Christen zeale of this Emperour tovvard the maintenaunce of Christen religioÌ„ is declaredin the fift general couÌ„cel kept at CoÌ„stantinople against sundry heresies Procopius coÌ„mending the earnest and vertuous zeale of this Emperour vvriteth that he vvould neuer admit Gelimerius a valiaunt Captain and one that had done him noble seruice ioyning vvith Belisarius in the vvarres against the VVandalls vnto the order of his Nobilite bicause he vvas infected vvith the Arrian heresy Such hath alvvaies beÌ„ most gracious Souuerain the vertuous zeale of the vvisest and most politicke Princes to extirpat heresies and false religioÌ„ out of their dominioÌ„s knovving right vvel that none are better subiects to the Prince than such as most deuoutly serue almighty God And again that nothing more highly pleaseth God thaÌ„ that a prince do farder and set forth the true seruice and vvorshipping of him Such
a one vvas kinge Dauid of vvhoÌ„ therfor God saied I haue fouÌ„d Dauid a maÌ„ according to my harts desire And these Emperours here specified as they teÌ„dred most the setting forth of true religioÌ„ and abolishment of the false so prospered they most of al other in vvorldly respectes For as vnder Constantin the great first by vs mencioned the empire most florished and vvas theÌ„ first placed in the East the cyte of Byzance being then magnificently enlarged and called Constantinople of that most mighty Emperours name as he had diuers and most glorious conquestes against the tyrans Maxentius Licinius and other forrain barbarous enemies so to lett passe the other Iustinian the last of vs mentioned vvas he that most gloriously restored vpp againe the Maiesty of the Romain empire then allmost fallen flatt dovvne chasing the VVandals out of Afrike cleering Italy and the vvest empire of the Gotthes extinguishing vtterly the Hunnes in Graece and hauing most noble victories against the Persians Longe it vvere particularly to discourse vpon the Princes of euery singular prouince in Christendom and to notise vnto your hignes the zeale diligence and endeuour of eche one in extirping haeresy and schismes Yet to th entent it may appeare that the one Imperiall Crovvne of Christendome being parted in to seuerall realmes and dominions the zeale of eche one in the particular prouinces vvas no lesse to maintaine the vnite off Christes church then vvhen the vvhole vvas vnder the monarchie of one Empire may it please your most gracious highnes to call to remembraunce that this Christen and godly zeale hath ben in the Princes of seuerall countrees so glorious and euident that in respect of the same most honourable titles haue ben appropriated to the royall Crovvnes of such personages To the Imperiall Crovvne of your Maiesty the Noble and glorious title of Defender of the faith hath ben of late yeares annexed and perpetually geuen by the Sâ—e Apostolike for the most godly and lerned vvorke of your highnes moste noble Father our late dread Souerain in defence of the seuen holy Sacraments of Christes Church off vvhich the scholers of Geneua haue taken avvay fiue and against the vvicked heresies of that levvde Apostata Martyn Luther To the crovvne of Spayne for the great zeale of kinge Alphonsus in extirping the Arrian heresy aboue 800. yeares past the title of Catholike vvas annexed and continueth yet hitherto vnblemished To the crovvne of the frenche kinge for the passing zeale of those princes namely of Clouis the first Chrsten kinge of Charlemain of Philippe surnamed Auguste in extirping heresies from time to time out of their dominions the title of Most Christian hath also ben appropriated from the time of Pipin and Charlemaign his Sonne hitherto Though I abstaine to auoide prolixite the farder recitall of particular Princes yet may it please your most excellent Maiesty fauorably to attend to one or tvvo examples more for the extirping of the heresies of Iohn vvicleff and the Bohems contayning in many pointes the doctrine novve preached for the very true vvorde off God In the history of Polidore vve read of that Noble prince and of most vvorthy memory Henry the fifte one of your highnes most noble lineall progenitours that hauing called a Parlement and decreed therein a voyage in to Fraunce for recouery of his right the mony being gathered souldiars pressed all thinges prepared for that enterprise yet the generall Coâ—ncell of Constance then beinge appointed he staied his priâ—at quarell for Gods cause directed his legaâ—s vnto the Councell expected the fine thereof and in the meane vvhile appeased the rebellion of Iohn Oldecastle labouring by force and disobedience against his Souuerain as the nevv VVicleffs do presently in Fraunce and Scotland to maintaine the heresy of VVicleff and pronounced traitâ—uâ—s all the adherents of that vvicked secte By this speedy diligence of that gratious Prince bothe that heresy vvas then quailed in your highnes dominions and as Polidore noteth the Noble victories of that valiaunt prince ensued God vndoubtedly prospering his affaires vvho had preferred the quarell of him before his ovvne prepared viage It is novv a hundred yeares and more sence the time that the kingdoÌ„ of Bemeland being greuously mangled and almost destroied vvith ciuill sedition through the schismes and heresies plaÌ„ted there by the same VVicleff and Huss vvas offred of the people it selfe to the king of Poole Vladislaus to haue and rule it as his ovvn setting amonge them some quiet order of gouernemeÌ„t But bicause of the heresies then praeuailing it vvas of that vertuous Prince vtterly refused Yea vvarre also vvas threatened them vnlesse they agreed and recoÌ„ciled them selues to the Catholike church If it may like your most excellent highnes after the patern and examples of these most puissaÌ„t and vertuous Princes to procede in your most gratious meaning to the publishing of the true christen faithe vvhich is but one and not nevv through your graces dominions as al Christendom hartely vvissheth the vevve and consideration of this present history a vvorthy and most authentike vvitnesse of the first and true Christen faith planted in your Graces dominions vvith that vvhich is annexed to proue it a right and vncorrupted faithe shal not a litle I trust in God in vvhose handes the hartes of Princes are moue and farder your highnes vertuous inteÌ„t to the spedy atchieuing of that it desireth For faith being one as the Apostle expressely saieth that one faithe being proued to be the same vvhich vvas firstgraffed in the harts of englishmeÌ„ and the many faithes of protestants being founde different from the same in more then fourty clere differeÌ„ces gathered out of this preseÌ„t history vvhiche reporteth not al but a fevv by occasion it must remaine vndoubted the pretended faith of proteâ—tants to be but a bastard slippe proceding of an other stocke as partly of old renevved heresies partly of nevv forged interpretations vpon the vvritten text of Gods vvorde and therefore not to be rooted in your graces dominions lest in time as heresies haue done in Grece and Afrike it ouergrovve the true braunches of the naturall tree coÌ„sume the springe of true Christianite and sucke oute the ioyse of al right religion leauing to the realme the barke and rine only to be called christians VVhich lamentable case the more euery Christen hart abhorreth and your highnes most gracious meaning especially detesteth the more it is of vs your highnes most lovvly and loyall subiectes to be vvished and daily to be praied for at the dreadful throne of Gods depe mercy that it may please his goodnesse so to direct the harte of your highnes so to inspire vvith his heauenly grace the most gracious meaning of your Maiesty that it may vvholy and perfectly be bent to the restoring of the one catholike and Apostolical faith of Christendom to the extirping of schisme and heresy and to the publishing of Gods true seruice Al to the honour of
a Brittain made wicked battail against the grace of God The. 10. Chap. THe yere of our Lord 394. Arcadius son vnto Theodosius with his brother Honorius being the xliij Emperour after August raigned xiij yeres In whose time Pelagius a Britan borne disperkled the venim of his faithlesse doctrine very far abroad holding that a man might liue well without the helpe of the grace of God vsing herein the ayde of Iulianus of Campania who was intemperatly sturred with the losse of his byshoprick To whom S. Austen and other catholick fathers also hath aunswered in most ample maÌ„ner but yet they would not be amended therby But being conuicted of their falshed they rather would encrease it by defending and mainteining it then amend it by retourning to the truth How that Honorius being Emperour Gratian and Constantine vsurped tyranny in Britanny where the first shortly after was slayne and the other in Fraunce The. 11. Chap. THe yere of our Lord 407. Honorius son of Theodosius the younger being emperour in the 44. place after August ij yere before that Rome was iuuaded by Alaricus Kyng of the Gothes when the nations of the Alanes the Sueâ—es and the Vandalls and many such other with them the frenchmen being beaten downe passing the Rhene raiged thorough out al Fraunce about that time Gratianus in BritaÌ„ny is created tyraÌ„ and is slayne In his place Constantine being but a coÌ„mon souldiour was chosen only for the names sake with out any desert of vertu which so sone as he had taken vppon him the empire passed ouer in to Fraunce where being ofte deluded of the barbarous nations as vnwisely and vncertainly making his leage with them greatly endomaged the common welth Wher vpoÌ„ Honorius sending Constantius the Counte in to Fraunce with an army Constantine was beseiged at Arells and there taken and slayne and Gerontius his partener slew his son CoÌ„stans at Vienna whom of a moÌ„ke he had made emprour Rome was destroyd of the Gothes the 1164. yere after it was buylded After which time the Romans lefte to rule in BritaÌ„ny after almost 470. yeres that C. Iulius Caesar first entered the sayd I le The Romanes dwelt with in the trench which as we haue sayd Seuerus drew ouerthwart the IlaÌ„d at the south part which thing may appeare by the citties temples bridges and paued stretes to this day remayning Not withstanding they had in possession and vnder their dominion the farder partes of Britanny and also the Ilandes which ar aboâ—e Britanny How the Britannes being spoyled of the Scottes and the Pictes sought ayde of the Romans which at the second time of their comming buylded a wall betwene the ij countries but they shortly after were oppressed with greater miseres then euer they wer in before The. 12. Chap. BY meanes the sayd tyrannes and capitaines of the Romans did vse to transport with them ouer in to Fraunce the flower of all the youthe of Britanny to serue them in their forayne warres their men of warre wer consumed and the country being all disarmed was not now able to defend them selues against the inuasion of their enemies Where vppon many yeares together they liued vnder the miserable seruage and oppression of ij most cruell outlandish nations the Scottes and the Pictes I cal them outlandish not for that they wer out of the circuit of Britanne but that they wer diuided from the land of Britanny by ij armes of the sea running betwext them of the which one froÌ„ the easte sea the other from the west ruÌ„neth in far and wyde in to the land of Britanny though they may one reach to the other In the middle of the east creeke there is a citte buylded called Guidi Aboue the west creeke towarde the right hand standeth a citte called Alcuith which in their language is as much to say as the Rock Cluith for it standeth by a fludd of the same name The Britannes then being thus afflicted by the sayd nations sent their embassadours wyth letters vnto Rome wyth lamentable supplications requiring of them ayde and succour promising them their continuall feaâ—te so that they would reskue them against the oppression of their sayd enemies where vppon there was sent vnto them a legion of armed souldiours from Rome which commyng in to the iland and encountering wyth the enemies ouerthrew a great number of them and draue the rest owt of the fruntiers of the couÌ„try and so setting them at liberte and fre from the misery wyth which they wer before so greuously ouercharged couÌ„seled them to make a wall betwene thâ— ij seas which might be of force to kepe out their euill neyghboures and that don they returned home with great triumph But the Britons buylding the wall which they wer bid to make not of stone as they wer willed but of turue as hauing none among them that had skyll there in made it so slender that it serued them to litle purpose This walle they made betwen the ij sayd armes or creekes of the sea many myles longe that wher as the fense of the water lacked there by the helpe of the treÌ„ch they might kepe their country from the breakyng in of their ennemies Of which pece of wurke there remayneh euen vnto this day most assured tokens yet to be seene This trench begynneth about two myles of from the monastery of AEbercuring Westward in a place which in the Pictes language is called Peanuakel and in English is called Penwelt and runnyng owt eastward is ended by the citty of Alâ—luith But the former enemies when they had once perceiued that the Roman legion was returned home againe furth with being sett on land by boates inuadeth the borders ouercometh the countrey and as it wer corne reddy to be cutt they moweth beateth and beareth downe all before them Where vpon Ambasadours be sent agayne to Rome wyth lamentable voyce requiring their succour beseching them they would not suffer their miserable country to be vtterly destroyed nor permitt that the name of the prouince which thorow them had so long â—lorished should now thus despirefully be extingueshid by the wycked crueltie of their forayne people Agayn there is sent an other legion which in the hâ—â—â—est time comyng vpon the sodayne made a great slawghter of the enemies and such as could eskape chased them ouer the seas in to their owne conntry which before wer wont to waste and spoyle the country of Britanny wythout resistance Then the Romans toulde the Brytans playne that it was not for their ease to take any more such trauaylous iourneis for their defence and bydd them to practise their armour them selues and learne to wythstande their enemy whom nothing els did make so strong but their faynt and cowardous hartes And forsomuch they thought that wold be sum helpe and strength vnto their loyal fellowes whom they wer now forced to forsake they buylded vp a walle of hard stone from sea to sea a right betwene the two citties
which there wer made to kepe owt the enemy in the felf same place where Seuerus before had cast the trench which walle euen to this day remaineth famous and to be seene with publick and priuat charges the Britannes also putting to their helping haÌ„des They then buylded it eight fote broade and xij high right as it wer by a line from east to weste as it doth to this day playnly appeare which being perfited they geue the people strayt warning to looke well to them selues they teach them to handle their wepon and instructe them in war like feates Also by the sea side southward where their ships lay at harbar least their enemyes should land there aboutes they makyth vp bullwarkes a longe one sum what distant from the other and this donne biddeth them fare well as mynded no more to retourne As sone as they wer gonne the Scottes and Pyctes hauing intelligence that they had made promisse they wold come no more they takyng hart of grace therof retourneth agayne to their wont busines And first all that was without the walle they taketh for their owne After that they came to geue assault vnto the walle where the Britannes with faynt hand and fearfull hart defending it wer with grapples which they had diuised pulled downe to the grownde and otherwise so assaulted that they leauing both the cytties and the wal also wer dispercled and put to flight The enemy followeth kylleth and sleyth more cruelâ—y then eâ—er he did before For euen as the lambes of the wilde beastes so were they torne and mangled of their ennemies Whereuppon being dreuen out of their owne houses and possessions they falleth a robbing and spoyling one the other of them encreasing their outward misery with inward tumult so far furth that all the whole country was brought to that exigent that they had none other sustenance but that they gotte by hunting and killing of wild beastes How in the time of Theodosius the younger the Britannes sowght helpe of Boëtius then consull of Rome but could not obtaine it and howe at that time Palladius was sent to the Scottes which beleyued in Christe to be their Byshop The 13. Chapter THe yere of the incarnation of our Lord 403. Theodosius the younger succeding Honorius was made Emperour of Rome which he gouerned 27. yeres being the xxv Emperour after August In the eight yere of whose Empire Palladius was sent of Celestinus bishop of the Roman church to the Scottes which had receiued the faith of Christe to be their first bishop And the 23 yere of his raigne Boetius one of the pears and patricians of Rome was now the third time made consul with Symmachus The poore leauing of the Britanes directed vnto him their letters where of this was the beginning To Boetius thrise consâ—ll the Mourning of the Britannes In the processe of which epistle they thus setteth furth their pittyfull estate The Barbarous enemy driueth vs vpon the sea the sea againe vppon the enemy betwene these twaine riseth two maner of deathes either we are killed or drowned And yet for all their sute they could obtaine no ayde of him as he which had then both his handes full of busines and battaile at home with Bleda and Attila kinges of the Hunnes And though the yere before Bleda was murdered by the wyhe treason of his brother Attila yet he alone remained so vntolerable an ennemy vnto the world that he wasted all most all Europe spoyling and ouerthrowing both cities and castles About the same time there arose a great famine in Constantinople after which folowed also the pestilence and a great part of the wal of the said citye fel vnto the grouÌ„de with 57. turrettes And many other cities also being ouerthrowen with earth quake hunger and pestilence beside consumed many a thousand both of men and beastes How the Britones being forced by hungar droue the Barbarous people owt of their country VVhereof ensewed plentif of corne riott pestilence and the losse of the whole country The 14. Chap. IN the meane season huÌ„gar more and more preuailing against the Britones in so much that many yeres after it left tokens and remembrance of the hurt it did in the country droue many of them to yelde them selues into the handes of the robbers Other there were which could neuer be brought there vnto but rather then they would so doe from the hilles and brakes where they luâ—ked many times inuaded their ennemies as trusting so much the more in the help of God how much the lesse hope they had of ayde of man And by such meanes first of all both resisted and ouerthrew them which many yeres together had liued by the spoyle of the couÌ„try Whereby for the time they drewe homeward with shame inough intending not longe after to returne The Pictes then and long time after kept them selues quiet at home saue only that they would make now and then inuasions into the land and driue away bouties of cattell After that they leauing their pilling and spoiling the country drew to a quietnes ther ensued such plentif of grayne as neuer was sene the like before as far as any man could remember whereof the people grew to lose and wanton liuing whereof all maner of lewdenes followed strait after specially cruelâ—â— hate of truth and loue of lying in so much that if any were gentler and more geuen to truth then other the other wold wurke him all the hurte and spite they could as a common enemy of the country This did not only the seculars but also the clergy it selfe and the heddes therof geuing them selues ouer to dronkennes pride contention enuy and such other wickednes casting vtterly from them the swete yoke of Christe In the meane season a bitter plage befell among them for their corrupt liuing consuming in short time such a multitude of people that the quicke wer not sufficient inough to bury the dead And yet for al that they remained so hardened in syn that neither their freÌ„des death nether the â—eare of their own could cure the moreyn of their soules which dayly perished thorow their synfull liuing Wherby a greater stroke of goddes vengaunce ensewed vppon the whole synfull nation For being now infested againe with their ould neighbours they deuised with them selues what was best to doe and where they might seeke reskew to withstaÌ„d and repell the force of the Northen nation And they agreed all with their kyng Vortigerius to demaund ayde of the Saxons beyonde the seas Which thing doutlesse was don by gods owne appointement that the wicked people might be therby plagued as by the ende it shall most manifestly appeare How the English and Saxons being sent for in to Britanny did first cleare the couÌ„try froÌ„ the Pictes and Scottes but shortly after ioyning them selues in leage with them turned their weapon vpon their fellowes that sent for them The. 15. Chap. THe yere of the incarnation of our Lord 4â—29 Marcianus
He also shall make your memory the more famous vnto your posterite whose honour you seke and maintaine among your people For so Constantinus being sometimes a most vertuous Emperour him selfe and calling his subiectes from the wicked worshipping of Idoles brought them all with him selfe vnder the obeysance of God almighty our Lord Iesus Christe Whereby it was brought to passe that his name was of higher renoune then any of the princes that went before him and so much in glorie excelled all his auncetours howe much also he passed them in well doing Wherfore let your highnes also seeke now to publish vnto the kinges and countries subiecte to your dominion the knowledg of one god the Father the Son and the holy Goste to th entent thereby you may passe in honorable fame the aūcient kinges of your natiō and how much the more you trauail to do away sinne in your subiectes you may haue so much the lesse fear of your own sinnes before the dreadful bench of Gods iustice Our right reuerend brother Augustine bishop being brought vp in rule of religiō hauing good knowledg in the holy scriptures and a man through the grace of god of much vertue what so euer he shall aduertise you to doe gladly heare it deuoutly doe it diligently remember it For if you will heare him in that he speaketh vnto yow in Gods behalfe God also shall the soner heare him speaking and entreating for yow If otherwise as God forbid yow refuse to geue eare and heede to his wordes how can God heare him praying for yow whom yow despise to heare speaking to yow from god Wherfor with all yowr harte ioyne yower selfe with him and assiste him in gods busynes with all such authorite that God hath geuen yow that he may make yow partaker of his kyngdom whose fayth yow in your kyngdom cause to be receiued and obserued We will also yower highnes to know that according as we ar taught in the holy scriptures by the very wordes of God the end of this world draweth onward and the kyngdom of the sayntes of God shall follow which neuer shall haue ende And the ende of the world approching many thinges shall fall vppon vs which haue not ben heard of before that is to witt chaunge of the ayer terrible sightes from heauen tempestes contrary to the order of the times All which shall not yet fall in ower dayes Wherfor if yow shall know any of these to happen in your land let not yower mynd be dismayed therwyth For therfor shall there be signes sent before the end of the world to th entent we should the more diligently tender the helth of ower soules liue euer in dowte and feare of death ready prepared by good workes for the cumming of Criste our Iudge Thus much haue I sayd in few wordes right honorable Son intending to speak more at large as I shall heare the fayth to be enlarged in your kyngdom Then shall I be so much the more encouraged to speake how much the greater comfort I shall conceiue by the conuersion of your country I haue sent yow small presentes which yet shall not seme small vnto yow if yow shall accepte them as halowed wyth the blessing of S. Peter All mighty god make perfecte in yow his grace according as he hath begonne And send yow both longe life here vppon the earthe and that ended eternall life in his kyngdom of heauen The grace of God kepe yower highnes in safte my dere Son Datum vt supra How Augustine repayred the church of our Sauiour and buylded the abbay of S. Peter the Apostle The. 32. Chap. AVgustine after he had obtayned to haue a bishops see appoynted him in the kinges citty as is aboue sayd through the ayd of the kyng he recouered there a churche which was there of owld buylt by the Romans which wer Christianes and did dedicate it to the name of our Sauiour Iesus Christ and there made a house for him and his successors And not far eastward from the citty he buylded a monastery in the which kyng Ethelbert through his aduise buylded a new church in the honor of Saynt Peter and Paule and enriched it with sundry gyftes in which both the body of Augustine him selfe and of all the bishops of Cātorbury and of all the kinges of kent wer wont to be enterred Which church yet not Augustine him selfe but Laurentius his successor did consecrat The first Abbat of that monastery was one Petrus a priest which being legat vnto Fraunce was drowned in a creake called Amflete and burned after a homly maner of the inhabitours of the same place But ower Lord entending to haue it knowen how worthy a man he was made that euery night there appeared a light from heauen vppon the place where he lay buried which when the neyghbours about had espyed gathering therby that he was some good and holy man and searching out what and from whence he was remoued his body from thence and buried it honorablye in the towne of Bulleyne in a place of the churche conuenient sor so worthy a person How Edilfrith kyng of the Northumbers wasted Britanny and conquered the Scottes The. 33. Chap. ABout this time Edilfrith a man very valiaunt and much desirous of renowne was king of Northumberland one that more wasted the Land of Brytanny then any of the English Princes So that it semed he might be cōpared vnto Saul kyng of the Iraelites saue only in that he was voide and ignorant of Gods religion For none of all the coronells none of all the kinges did conquer more of the lande of Britanny ether makyng them tributary ether dreuing them cleane owt of the countrye and planting the Englsh in their places then did this Edilfrith To whom that might be wel applyed that the Patriarke Iacob sayd when he gaue his sonne Beniamin his blessing in the person of Saul Beniamin like a rauening wolfe in the morning shall eate his pray and at night shall diuide the spoyle Wherby Edanaden kyng of Skottes much grudging to see him goe forward after this sorte assembled a mayne and a strong army agaynste him But the sayd Edelfrith encountering him in the field with a few men gaue him the ouerthrow and in that famous place of Degsastone disconfited his great army In which field Theobald brother to Edilfrith was slayne with that parte of the army wherof he was generall This battell was foughtē in the yere of our lorde 603. and the xj yere of his raygne which lasted xxiiij yeres and the first yere of the raigne of Phocas then Emperour of Rome From that time forward vnto this present neuer was there king of Scottes which durst meete the English men in the field THE SECOND BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF the churche of Englande Of the life lerning and death of blessed Pope Gregory The. 1. Chapter IN the yeare of the incarnation of our Lord 605. the hollie pope Gregory when he had most
in peace the dayes of his office he dyed the. 26. of Maye in the raygne of the same king Elbert How Laurence with his other Bysshops warned the Scottes of the vnitie of the catholike churche and specially to folowe the same in celebrating the Ester And how Mellite came to Rome The. 4. Chap. AFter the death of S. Austin Lawrence succeded in the Bysshoprik Whom S. Austin himselfe while he lyued had ordeyned therto lest that after he was deade the state of this churche rude as yet and lately conuerted mought begin to wauer and fall yf hit shuld haue lacked a Pastor and ruler neuer so lytle while Wherin he folowed the example of the first pastor of the churche that is of the moste blessed and Prince of thappostles S. Peter who when he had layed at Rome the foundation of Christes churche consecrated Clement for his successor who had euer before ben his healper in preching the gospell This Laurence being nowe Archebisshop sawe howe ioylely the fundations of this his churche dyd encrease which were wel and strongly layde And he endeuoured to lyfte vp the same to their perfayte highnes bothe by often wordes of holie exhortatiō and also cōtinual exāples of deuoute and godly workes And truly he hofully cared not only for the newe churche wich was now gathered of Englishemē but also for the churche of the old inhabitantes of Britannie and of the Scottes too who harboured in Ireland the next yle to Britanny for the which people also he laboured as a true pastour and prelat For as sone as he knewe the lyfe and profession of the Scottes in their forenamed cuntrie to be skarce Ecclesiasticall and well ordered in manie pointes lyke as was the Britons at that tyme in Britannie specially bycause they celebrated not the solennitie of Ester in dew tyme but as I haue before shewed thowght that they must obserue and celebrate the daye of our Lords rresurectiō from the. 4. mone to the. 20. he I saye with the other Bysshops wrote vnto them an exhorting epistle beseching and praying them to receaue and kepe the societe of peace and vnitie of Catholike obseruation with that churche of Christe which is spredde ouer all the whole wordle The beginning of this epistle was suche To our derest beloued brethern the Bysshops and Abbottes throwgh out all Scotland Laurence Mellite and Iustus Bysshops and seruantes to them that serue God greating VVhen as the see Apostolique according to thaccustomable maner therof to send into all places of the wordle directed and sent vs vnto these west quarters to preache the word of God to paynim people and to hethen men it happed vs to entre into this yle which is called Britannie VVhere thinking that all that dyd beare the name of Christen men walked according to the customed waye of the vniuer sall churche we honored with greate reuerence as wel the Britons as the Scottes But after we had wel proued and tryed the Britons to swarue from the same we yet iudged the Scottes for better men Marye nowe we haue lerned by Bysshop Dagamus comming to this before mentioned yland and we doe vnderstand by the Abbot Columban of Fraunce that the Scottes do nothing differ from the Britons in their cōuersation For Bysshop Dagamus coming to vs wold not only not eate with vs but not so muche as eate his meate in that house where we were ce This Laurēce with the other Bysshops sent also letters worthie and mete for his degree to the Briton priestes With which letters he hofully sowght and earnestly laboured to confirme and strenghthen thē in the catholike vnitie but how muche he hath auailed therin these present dayes do now well declare About this tyme came Mellite bysshop of London to Rome there to commune and counsell with the Apostolike Pope Boniface for necessarie causes of the the English churche And when as this right reuerent Pope had called a Synode of the Bishops of Italy to appointe some order as concerning the life of monkes and their quiet state Mellite him selfe sate amongest them the 8. yeare of the raigne of Focas the Emperour the 13. Indiction and the 27. daye of February that what thing so euer were regularly decreed the re he also subscribing therunto might confirme them with his authorite and returning to Britannie might bringe them with him to the English churche as precepts and rules to be kept and obserued As also beside these rules certain epistles which the same Bishop of Rome wrote and directed to the derely beloued in Christe Archebishop Laurence and all the clergy and with other letters which he wrote likewise to king Elbert and all the English men This is the same Boniface which was the 4. Bishop of Rome after S. Gregory Who by ernest suit obtained a temple of the Emperour Focas for the Christians Which temple of auncient time was euer called by a Greke name Pantheon as who wold saye the temple of all Goddes Out of which temple this Boniface casting forth all filthines and purging hit cleane made a church therof in the honour of our ladie the blessed mother of God and all the holy martyres of Christe that the number of diuels being shutte out thence the blessed companie of Saintes might haue there a perpetuall memorie How when the kinges Elbert and Sabareth were deade their successours brought vp againe idolatrie Whereuppon Mellite and Iustus depart out of Britannie The. 5. Chap. IN the yeare of thincarnation of our Lorde 613. which was the 21. after that bishop Austen aud his compaine were sent to the English nation to preache Elbert king of kent after his temporall reigne which he had kept most gloriously the space of 56. yeares entred into eternall blisse of the kingdome of heauen Who was the third king of the English men and reyned our all the South prouinces which are separated from the North by the fludde Humber and the borders adioyning therto But he was the first of all the kinges that entred in to the kingdome of heauen For the first English king was Elli king of the South Saxons the second Celin king of the VVest Saxons whome they called Cewlin The third as we haue sayde was Elbert king of Kēt After him the fourth was Redualt king of the Este English Who while king Elbert yet liued was chief gouerner of his countrie and royalme vnder him The fyueth was Edwine kinge of Northūberland that is king of all the inhabitants about the north parte of the fludd Hūber This king being a prince of greater powre thē all other that ruled in Britannie raigned both ouer the English men and Britons to except the people of Kent and added moreouer to the English dominions and kingdome the Briton Ilandes called Meuanie which lye betwex Ireland and Britannie The sixth was Oswald king also of Northūberland a most Christen prince Whose dominions were as large The seuenth
was Oswy his brother keping the kingdome almost within equall boundes for a certaine time But after he cōquered for the most part the Pictes and Scotte mē which dwelled in the North quarters of Britāny and made thē tributarie But we wil speak of that here after King Elbert died the 24. day of February the 2. yere after that he had receiued the faith being ful past and is layde in S. Martins porch within the church of the blessed Apostels Peter and Paul wher also Quene Bertha is buried Which king beside other his deades that he boūtefully bestowed vpō his subiectes gaue and appointed them by the coūsel of wise mē certaine lawes and iudicial decrees according to thexāple of the Romans which being writē in the English tōgue are vntil this day kept of thē and as occasiō serueth practised In which his lawes and decrees he first and chiefly ordeined what amends he ought to make which had by thefte taken away anie thinge from the churches bishops or other orders Wherein the king prouided a safegard aud surtie for them whom and whose doctrine he had now receiued This Elbert was the son of Irminrike whose father was Octa and Octaes father Orrich called also Oiske Of whom the kinges of kēt are wont to be called Oiskinges This Orriches fathers name was Hengist who with his Oiske being sent for of Vortiger first entred into Britannie as I haue shewed before But after the death of Elbert when Eadbald his sonne had taken on him the rule of the royalme he greately hindered and dammaged there the younge springes and tender encreases of the churche For he would not only not accept and mainteyne the faith of Christ but he was also polluted and defiled with suche a fornication as the Apostle witnesseth neuer to haue ben heard of amongest the gentils which is that he had married his fathers wife With which ij heynouse factes he gaue occasion to his subiectes to returne to their former filthe and vomit which vnder his fathers raigne or for fauour or feare of the king had yelded to the lawes of Christen faith and chastite But the scourges of God and vengaunce from heauen wanted not to the punishing and correcting of this vnfaithfull kinge For he was plaged with often frensy of minde and raging fury of an vncleane sprite Nowe besides all this the death also of king Sabareth king of the Este Saxons muche encreased the trouble and persecution of the churche Who departing hence to the euerlasting kingdome of heauen left his iij. sonnes remaining yet paynims heyres of his temporall kingdome in earth After the death of their father they began straightwaie and openly to folowe idolatrie which while their father liued they semed somewhat to haue relented geuing also free licence to al their subiects to worship idols These princes on a certaine time when they sawe the bisshop in the churche after he had celebrated the solemnites of the masse geaue the people the sacrament being puffed vpp with barbarouse and rude folie saide as the common reporte is thus vnto him Why doest thou not geaue vs also some of that white breade which thou diddest geue our father Saba for so they were wont to call their father Sabareth and which thou doest not yet cease to geaue the people in the churche To whome he answered Yf ye wil be washed in that holsome font wherein your father was ye maye likewise eate of this blessed breade whereof he was partakener But if ye contemne the lauetorie of life ye can in no wise taste the breade of life We will not said they enter into this font of water for we knowe we haue no nede thereof But yet neuertheles we will eate of that breade And when they had ben often and ernestly warned off the bishop that it could not be that without holy purging and clensing by baptisme any man might communicate of this most holie oblation they at last in their furie and rage sayde to the bishop well if thou wilt not consent to vs in so smalle a matter as we aske of the thou shalt not hensforth abide in our prouince and dominions And straightway they expelled him Commaunding him and all his companie to depart their royalme Who being expelled thence went into kent to common there with Laurence and Iustus his fellow bishops what were best to be done in this case And by cōmon consent it was concluded that better it were for them all to returne into their countries and there to serue God with a free minde and quiet conscience then to abide with those barbarouse men or liue amongest such rebelles of the faith without all fruit or profit Therfore Mellite and Iustus departed first and came to the coastes of Fraunce purposing there to expecte and attende for the issue of these matters So shortly after these kinges which had driuen from them this preacher of trueth fell freely to idolatrie and worshipping of diuells But yet not without the vengeance of God For on a time waging battaile against the Genissans they with their whole armie were slaine But although the authors of this misscheffe were thus destroied yet could not the common people ons stirred to naughtynes be amended and reuoked to the simplicite of faith and charite which is in Christ. How Lawrence chastened by S. Peter conuerted king Edbald to Christe who immediatly after called backe Mellite and Iustus to preache The. 6. Chap. WHen Laurence was now ready to forsake Britannie and goe after Mellite and Iustus he commaunded the night before he went his bed to be brought forth and layed in S. Peter and Paules churche of which churche we haue oftentimes spoken Where when after manie his praiers and teares powred out to God for the state of the church reposing his body to rest and sleaping in his bedde the blessed Apostle S. Peter appeared to him who scourging him with sharp stripes a greate while in the close and secret night chalenged him with Apostolicall auctorite and asked why he would forsake the flocke which he himselfe had committed vnto him and to what shepeherd renning now awaye he would leaue the sheape of Christe besette in the middest of wolfes Hast thou quoth he forgotte myne example who for the lytle ones of Christe which he commended to me in witnes and token of his loue dyd suffer fetters strypes enprisoninges afflictions and att the laste death it selfe yea the death of the crosse by infidels and the enemies of Christe that I mought be crowned with him By these S. Peters strypes and with these his exhortations Lawrence the seruant of Iesus Christe being styrred vp and encouraged came boldly to the king erly in the morning and loosing his garment shewed him how sore he was beaten and pitifully his flesh was torne The king amased therat meruayled much with himselfe And enquyred who durst be so bold as to whyp and scourge such a man as this Lawrence
mercie of God doe hope and beleaue that not only king Adelwaldes subiectes but also all the next dwellers and inhabitauntes abowt him shall receiue by your preching parfect saluation and life euerlasting To the entent that as it is writen the reward of your pâ—rfit and ended worke be geuen yowe from our Lorde the geauer of all good thinges And at the length the vniuersall confession of all nations receiuing the veritie of Christian fayth maye manifestly declare that their sounde hath gon for the ouer all the earth and their wordes euen to the vttermost partes of all the wordle Wherfore of our bounteousnes we haue sent yow by the bearers of our present letters a palle Which we geue yow lycence to vse only in the celebration of the moste holy mysteries graunting yow moreouer by the grace and mercye of our Lorde the ordeyning of Bishops when occasion shall require For so the gospell of Christe by the preching of manye maye the better be spredd ouer all nations that be not yet conuerted Let therefore your brotherly charite keape with a pure minde and sincere intention this authorite which it hath nowe receiued by the bountifulnes of the see Apostolique In remembrance and token whereof yowe shall here receiue to your vse as prelat there this Robe which we send you It remaineth that calling continually for the mercye and grace of our Lorde you endeuoure to be such a man as maie vse the rewarde of this our graunted and geauen autorite worthelye and not to anye daunger or losse of sowles but rather that yow maye be able to shewe and present thesame hereafter before the iudgement seate of the hiest and most assured Iudge to come with the gaine of manie sowles to God Who keape and preserue yow alwayes in healthe most derely beloued brother Of the raigne of king Edwyne and how Pauline comming thither to preche the gospell first baptised his daughter in Christian faith an others with her The. 9. Chapter ABout this time the people also of Northumberlande that is the English men which dwelled towarde the Northsyde of the fludde Humber receiued together with their king Edwyne the worde of faith by the preching of Pauline of whome I haue sumwhat spoken aboue To the which king in a good abodement of receiuing the faithe was graunted both possibilite of the kingdome of heauen and also greater poure by thincrease of his kingdome on earthe For he had subdued all the coastes of Britannie whersoeuer anie prouinces or of Englishmen or Britons were inhabited which thing no one kinge of English men had done before him Moreouer he added as we haue shewed before the Meuian yles to the Englishe kingdome Of which yles the first that is nerest the South and in situation larger and for the plentifulnes of corne more fertyle hath dwelling rome for the number of 960. families to the estimate of English men The seconde hath space of grounde but for 300. tenements or somwhat more Now the occasion that these peoples came to the faith was suche The before named king Edwine was ioyned in affinite to the kinge of kent by the marriage of Ladie Edelburge otherwise called Tate daughter to king Elbert Which Ladie when king Edwine woed sending thether his embassadours answer was geuen by her hrother Edbald then king of Kent that it was not lawfull for a Christian woman and virgin to be maried or spoused to a paynime leste the faith and sacramente of the king of heauen might be profaned by the companie of suche a king as knew not the trew worshipping of God Which answer when the embassadours brought backe to kinge Edwine he promised that in anie case he wold doe nothing that shuld be contrarie to the Christian faith which this virgin professed but rather permitte that she with all the men and women priestes or seruaÌ„ts which came with her shuld keape and obserue after the ChristiaÌ„s maner their faith and customes of their religion Neither did he denie but that himselfe also would receaue the same religion so that after the examination of wise men it were founde more holie then his and meter for God Then vppon these conditions this virgin was promised and sent also vnto kinge Edwine And according to appointment made the man of God Paulinus was ordained Bishop and chosen to goe with her to confirme her and her companie that they might not be polluted with the felowship of painimes Who did so by his daylie exhortations and ministringe the blessed sacrameÌ„te vnto theÌ„ This Paulinus was made bishop by Iustus tharchbishop of Caunterbury aboute the 21. daye of Iulie the yeare of our Lorde 625. Being ordained he is directed in company with the aboue mentioned virgin vnto king Edwine as if he had ben her bodely compagnion but the vertuous bishop entended wholly in his harte nought els then to call that countrie to which he weÌ„t to thacknowleadging of the truth that according to the sayeng of the Apostle he might exhibet and present hit as a chaste virgin to the true and only spouse which is Christe When he was now commen into this countrie with the healpe and ayde of God he laboured ernestly to keape them which came with him from falling froÌ„ their faith And sought also how he might possibly conuert by preching some of those painims to faith and grace But as the Apostle saith Although he loÌ„g laboured in preching the word of our Lord to them yet the God of this worlde so blinded the hartes of thâ—sâ— infidels that the light of the gospell and the glorie of Christe could not shyne before them The yeare folowing there came into this cuntrie a desperate ruffian named Ewmere sent thither by Euichelme kinge of the west Saxons Who entending to dispatche kinge Edwine both of his kingdome and life to brought priuely vnder his garment a double egged short swerd to this entent dipped in poyson that if the stroke of the swerde were not forceable enough to kill the king out of hand yet it might be healped forward with the infection of the poison He came therfore on Ester Sondaye vnto the king who laye at the ryuer Deruent where was the courte then He entred ther into the palace as an embassadour which had earnest message from his prince and when with craftie speache he had a litle made the prince attent to his fained embassaye he steppeth forth sodenly and drawing his swerd from vnder his garment flew to the kinge Which when Lilla the kinges moste faithful seruant sawe and hauing no buckler readie at hand wherewith he might defend the king from present deathe stept straightwaie with his owne bodie betwen the kinge and the stroke But this murderer strooke his swerd so farre and feercely in them bothe that through the bodie of this seruaunt now quight slayne he wounded the king himselfe greuously Which thing when he had thus donne being straightwaye besette with the weapons of the kinges garde
euen in that tumult to with the same bluddy swerd he slewe an other whose name was Fordhere Now it happened that the same night of holye Ester Sonday the Quene brought furth and was deliuered of a daughter whose name was Eanfled For the which childe when the king in presence of the bishop Pauline gaue thankes to his Goddes the bishop contraâ—ie wise began to praise and geaue thankes to our Lorde Christe and sayde to the kinge certainly that he had obtained by his prayers of Christe that the Quene might be deliuered safely and without greate griefe With which his wordes the king being much delyted promised that he would renounce all idols and euer after serue Christe if so be that Christe would nowe graunte him his life and health and victorie also in his warres whiche he purposed to haue against this king Euichelme who had sent in such sorte this Ruffian and manqueller that had wounded him And in pledge of perfourming this his promise he assigned and graunted to bishop Pauline this his daughter to be Christened Who was baptised first of all the Northumberlannes with xij other of the kinges familie vpon whitsondaye folowing At which time the king also being recouered of his wounde that he had lately taken made an armie and marched forth against the West Saxons at the whiche battayle he slewe or els tooke presonners all them whome he vnderstoode to haue conspired to his deathe So retourning home to his countrie victour and conquerour yet would he not by and by or without farder counsell receiue the Christian faithe although truly he worshipped not idols from that daye that he promised he would serue Christe But sought euer after diligently of the right reuerend father Pauline the reason and trade of faithe and conferred with his counsellers and nobles whom he knew to be wisest what were best as they thought to be done in these matters And moreouer as he was by nature a very wyse man sitting oftentymes alone for a great space in muche sylence of outward voyce but in his inward thought commoning with himselfe he discussed and debated in his mind dyuersly what he should doe in this case and what religion were best to be folowed How Pope Boniface exorted this king with his letters to the faythe The. 10. Chap. ANd beholde in the middest of these cogitations he happely receiued from Boniface bishop of the see Apostolique letters exhorting him to the faith The copie of which is suche To the most puissant prince Edwine king of the Englishmen Boniface Bishop and seruant to them that serue God c. Althowgh the hye secret powre of Gods diuinitie can not be expressed by wordes or speache of man for it consisteth by the greatnes therof of so vnspeakable and so vnserchable an eternitie that no force nor strength of wytte is able to comprise or compasse how great it is Yet for as muche as the goodnes of God opening the gates of our hartes to the knowlege of him dothe mercifully poore into mens myndes by secret inspiration suche thinges as he will shal be spoken of himselfe we haue thought good to exteÌ„de our priestly care and deutie in vttering vnto yow the riche store of our ChristeÌ„ belefe that bringing lykewyse vnto your vnderstanding the gospell of Christe which he commaunded to be preched to all nations we myght brinche vnto you the cuppe of life and saluatioÌ„ The goodnes therfore of the hyghest maiestie of God who with his only worde and commaundement hath made and created all thinges the heauen the earthe the sea and all that in them is setting a decent order wherin they shuld consiste by the counsell of his coeternall worde and the vnitie of the holie ghoste made man of a peece of earth to his owne image and lyknes and gaue him moreouer suche a prerogatiue of excellencie that he preferred him and set him ruler ouer all his other creatures assuring him beside of an euerlasting perpetuite so that he kept the bounde of his commaundements This God the father the sonne and the holie ghoste which is the inseparable Trinite all mankind from the Este to the weste worsshippeth with holsome confession and adoreth with a sure faythe as the creator of all thinges and their maker To the which God yea the hye honours of Empire and the puissant powres on earth are lowly subiecte bycause by his only ordenance and disposing all kingdoms be geauen and graunted Whose mercifull goodnes encreasing alwayes and ayding eche his creatures hath vouche safed most merueylously to enkendle with the heate aud feruour of the holie ghost the cold hartes of those nations which enhabite the vttermost partes of the earthe that they also mought knowe him and beleaue in him For we thinke your hyghnes hath fully heard and vnderstandeth by this tyme the cuntrie lyeng so nere howe our Redemer of his mercie hath wrought wonderfully in the illumining of the most excellent Prince our dere sonne kinge Audubald and all his subiectes And we with a certaine longlooking of heauenly hoope trust that the lyke miracle and gratiouse gyfte shal be geauen to yowe also from God aboue and specially wheras we vnderstande the Souerayne Ladie your wyfe who is a parte of your bodie to be illumenyd with the hope of eternall lyfe by the regeneration of holie baptisme Wherfore we haue thought it good to exhorte yowe in these our present letters most ernestly and with all affection of inward charite that abandoning all idoles detesting the worsshipp and honour of them forsaking the fond foolishnes of your Goddes temples and despising the deceytfull entisementes of your false sothsayinges ye wyll now beleue in God the father Almyghtie and his sonne Iesus Christe and in the holie ghoste that beleuing so ye maye be absolued and loosed by the working powre of this blessed and inseparable Trinite from the bondes and captiuite of the dyuel and herafter be made partakener of lyfe euerlastinge Now yf ye long to knowe in how great fault and offence they are which worshyppe idols and embrace the wicked superstition of them thexamples of their destroying and perditioÌ„ which are estemed as Gods can sufficiently informe yow of whome king Dauid in his psalmes sayth thus All the Godes of the gentyles are dyuels but our Lorde hath made the heauens And agayne They haue eyes and see not they haue eares and heare not they haue noses and smell not they haue handes ans feele not they haue feete and walke not Therfore all suche are made like vnto them as do put anie hope or confidence in them For how can they haue vertue or powre to healpe anie man which are made of a corruptible matter and wrowght by the haÌ„des of your inferiours and subiectes And how culd thei get anie abilite to hurt or healpe wheras mans arte and crafte only hath applyed a deadly similitude and lykenes of a bodie to theÌ„ who were they not moued by yowe themselfe coulde neuer
persuade king Redwald that neyther he himselfe shuld hurte yowe nor yealde yowe vp to your enemies that they myght slaye yow When Edwyne answered that he would geaue all that he possible could to anie suche a one for reward of so good a turne this maÌ„ added moreouer and sayde But what if besyde this he do warrant you that ye shal be a kinge and all your enemies vanquished yea and that in suche sorte that you shall not only excell all your auncient progenitours but also far passe in powre all the kinges of Englishemen which haue euer ben in this couÌ„trie Here Edwyne being made more firme and constant by ofte questioning doubted not to promis that in all pointes and at all tymes he wold be answerable with worthie thankes geauing to the man that shuld bestowe on him such greate benefites Then this man spake the thyrd tyme and sayde But tell me againe what yf besyde all this the same man which sheweth yow now before truly and vnfaynedly that yow shall hereafter surely and vndoubtedly doubtedly haue suche and so greate benefites can geaue yowe also better couÌ„sell and more profitable for your sowles health and saluation then euer any your parentes and auncesters heard of could ye then consent and obey him and harken to his holsome sayenges Here Edwyne promised owt of hand without anie lenger delaye that he would altogether followe his lerning and doctrine which both could and would deliuer him presently from so manie miseries and so greate daungers as he was in and exalte him afterward to the raygne and souerantie of his countrie Which his answer was heard and taken Then this man straightwaye which had so long talked with him layde his right hande vpon Edwines heade and said when these thinges therfore shall happen herafter in suche sorte to yowe remember well this tyme and this our talke And differ not at that time to fulfil and accomplishe this that yow do nowe promesse me Which being sayde by and by he vanished awaye To the entent that Edwine might vnderstand and perceaue that it was no man but a ghoste which appeared to him Now when this younge prince was lefte alone and sate there solitarie reioysing with himselfe for this gentle consolation and good comforte but yet very careful and muche counting with himselfe who it shuld be or whence he shuld come which had thus spoken and talked familiarly with him beholde his forsayd frende came againe and greating him cherfully Arise Edwine sayde he and come in Let passe this your carke and cares Set your harte at rest and take your quiet sleape For the kinges minde is chaunged Neither dothe he purpose nowe or intend to doe yow any wronge but ratheâ— to defend yowe and accomplishe his promised fayth vnto yowe For after he had shewed the Quene in secret that his purpose which I told yowe of before â—he dehorted him moste ernestly and withdrew him from so euill and so deadly an intention saying that it was in no wise mete for suche a king of so greate proweâ—e and honour as he was to sell his best and derest frend being now browght into straightes and miserie for a litle gold Nor that he should breake his faith and promesse which owght to be more estemed then al treasures or not bide by his word for the coueit and loue of monie But to be shorte the king did euen as his Ladie had counselled him to doe For he not only not betrayed and yelded to thembassadours this his banished man Edwine but helped him rather to the kingdome For as sone as these embassad ours were thus with deniall departed home againe he gathered incontineÌ„tly a myghtie armie to conquer king Edelfrede Whome he slewe without difficultie bicause he marched forth against him hastely and with a weake and vnordred oste in the borders of the Marchland men at the Este syde of the riuer called Idle For in deade kinge Edelfride had not time and space enowgh grawnted him to gather all his force together and to ioygne his powre with well disposing his hoste and sowldiers in order In this skirmishe Renier king Redwalds sonne was slayne And thus Edwin according to the oracle which he had receiued not only auoyded the dawnger of his most dedly enemie but also by his death succeded in thonor of his Souerainte and kingdome Now therfore to returne againe vnto my purpose thowgh Bishop Pawline seriously preched the word of God yet kinge Edwine slacked and lengered to beleaue him Vsing yet for a certaine space at diuers competent howres to sitte solitarie as I haue sayde before and diligently to compte with him selfe what were best to be donne and what religion was best to be folowed At which solitary meditation of the prince this good and godly bishoppe Pawline entred on a daye in to the palace and cominge to the kinge laied his right hand on his heade and asked hym whether he remembred that sygne or no The king sodenly trembled therat for feare And when he wold haue fallen downe at Paulinus feate the bishoppe lyfted him vppe and spake after a familiar sorte thus vnto him Behold o Soueraine Prince by the bountifull hand and powre of our Lorde and God you haue eskaped the hande and vengeance of your moste hated and dredfull enemie Behold also by his most gratiouse goodnes you haue obtained the Soueraintie of raigne and rule of the kingdome Remember now therfore the third thinge which yowe promised him and differ no lenger to performe and accomplishe the same by receauing his faithe and keaping his commaundements who hath deliuered you from your temporall aduersities and exalted you to the honour and maieste of a king Whose holy will yf you will hereafter obey and euer more doe his pleasure which by me he preacheth and declareth to yowe he will also deliuer you from the perpetuall tormente of hell and make you partakener with him in heauen of eternall kingdome and blesse without end What counsell king Edwyne had of the nobles and peares of his royalme for the receiuing of Christian faithe and how one of his Bisshops profaned and brake downe the Idols aulters The 13. Chapter WHich worde when the kinge heard he answered immediatly bothe that he would and also that he was bounde to receaue this faithe which B. Pauline had preched and taught But yet I thinke it good quoth he first to confer and common herof with my frendes the nobilitie and peares of my realme that if they shall happely thinke herein as I doe then we maye be Christened all together in the founte of lyfe Whereunto when Byshop Pauline agreed king Edwyne calling the states together consulted with them And asked seuerally eche of them what maner of doctrine this semed to be which vntill that daye had neuer ben head of before And how they liked the honour and worshipping of this new God whiche was preached nowe emongest them To whome Bishop Coyfi first of all his Bishops
more quiet and the companie of faithfull began a litle and litle to encrease againe set vp a schole emongest them and professed to be a master of church musyke and singinge according to the fashion and maner of the Romās and the Diocesans of Cāterbury Which thinge whē he had so don a longe time with greate profyt at the lenght that I may vse the worde of scripture being a man well strooken in age full of yeares and hauing seen manie good dayes he walked the wayes whiche his fathers went THE THIRD BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF THE CHVRCH OF ENGLAND How the first successours of kinge Edwin did both forsake the faith of their nacion and also lost their kingdome Moreouer how the most christen kinge Oswald restored bothe The. 1. Chapter KYnge Edwin beinge in battaile the sonne of Elfrike his vncle by his fathers syde called Osrich who after that he had hearde Paulin preache receaued the faith succeded him in the gouernance of the Deirans of the whiche prouince he had the petigree of his parentage and the firste beginninge of his kingdome But the realme of the Bernicians for the nation of Northumberland had been deuided of olde time into these two countries was ruled by Edelfrides sonne named Eanfride who had of that prouince the beginning of his kinred and kingdome For during all the time of Edwines raigne the sonnes of kinge Edelfride who as we saied before raigned before Edwin were banished with a greate numbre of noble young gentill men and so liued amonge the Scottes or Redshankes where they wer instructed accordinge to the Scottes doctrine and had receiued the grace of baptisme These younge princes after the death of their ennemie kinge Edwin retourninge in to their countrie Osrich the eldest of them toke the kingdome of the Deirans and Eanfride the seconde sonne the kingdome of the Bernicians but alas as bothe had now receiued the yles of an earthly kingdome so likewise bothe in geuing and abandoning them selfes to the diuell lost the diuine mysteries of the heauenly kingdome wherein they were instructed and yelded them selues againe to be defiled with the former olde filth of Idolatrie This apostasie remained not longe vnpunished For Kadwallader the king of Britons with wicked force but with worthy vengeaunce slew them both the next sommer ensuing sodeinly issuing out with all his host At what time he murdereth first Osrich vnprepared and his whole armie pending themselues miserably with in the suburbes of their owne citie Then afterward when by the space of a whole yere hauing possessed the prouinces of the people of Northumberland not as a king that were a conquerour but as an outragious cruell tyranne destroying them and with tragicall slaughter renting them in pieces he put Eanfride also to death coming vnto him very vnaduisedly with twelue chosen souldiers minding to intreate vppon peace That same yere continueth vntill this daye vnhappy and hatefull to all good men as well for the Apostasie of the English kinges forsaking the religion of Christe as also for the king of Britanes furiouse tyrannie Wherefor the historiographers and writers of that time haue thought it best that the memorie of those Apostate kinges being vtterly forgotten the selfe same yere should be assigned to the raigne of the king that folowed next which was Oswald a man dearely beloued of God Who after that his brother Eanfride was slaine coming vnlooked for with a small armie but fenced with the faith of Christe the Britons cursed capitaine and that victorius hoste whereof he made his auant that nothing coulde be able to withstand it was vanquished and slaine in a certain place which in the English tonge is called Denises Burna that is to say the riuer of Denise How by the signe of the Crosse which the same kinge set vp when he fought against the Barbarous Britons he cōquered thē and among diuers other miraculous cures a certaine yownge man was healed of a desease in his arme The. 2. Chap. THe place is shewed vntill this daye and is had in greate reuerence where Oswald when he should come to this battayle did set vp a signe of the holy crosse amd beseeched God humbly vppon his knees that with his heauenly helpe he would succour his seruauntes being in so great a distresse The report also is that the crosse being made with quicke spede and the hole prepared wherein it should be sette the kinge being feruent in faithe did take it in hast and did put it in the hole and held it with both his handes when it was sett vp vntill it was fastened to the earth with duste which the souldiars heaped about it Nowe when this was done he cried out a loude to his whole armie Let vs all kneele apon our knees and let vs all together pray ernestly the almighty liuing and true God mercifully to defend vs from the proude and cruell ennemy for he knoweth that we enterprise warres in a ryghtfull quarell for the saulfegard of our subiectes All did as he commaunded them And thus in the dawning of the day they marched forth encountred with their enemie and according to the merite of their faith atchieued and wonne the victorie In the place of which prayer manifold miraculous cures are knowen to be done questionlesse in token and remembraunce of the kinges faith For euen vntill this present day many men do customablye cut chyppes out of the veraye tree of that holy crosse which casting into waters and geuing thereoff to sick men and beastes to drinke or sprinckling them therwith many forthwith are restored to their helth That place is in the Englishe tongue named heauen feld and was so called long before not without a sure and a certaine fore sight of thinges to come as signifieng vndoubtedly that in the same place a heauenly memoriall was to be set vp a heauenly victorie should be gotte heauenly miracles should be wrought and remembred euen vnto our dayes This place is nere to that wal which stādeth toward the northeast wherwith the Romaines did ones in time past cōpasse all whole Britaine frō sea vnto sea to kepe of the inuasions of forenners as we haue declared before In the self same place the religious mē of Hagstalden church which is not far frō thēce haue now of long time been accustomed to come euery yere the eue and the day that the same king Oswald was afterward slaine to kepe Diriges there for his soule and in the morning after psalmes being saied solemnely to offer for him the sacrifice of holy oblation This good custome longe continuing the place was made more holy and is now much honoured of al men by the reason of the church that was lately builded and dedicated in the same place And not without a cause considering that no signe of the Christen faith no church no aultar was sett vpp in all the whole countrey of the Bernicians before that this vertuous warrier moued wyth harty deuotion of
vnfained fayth dyd sett vpp this baner of the holy Crosse when he should fight agaynst his cruell ennemie It shall not be beside owr purpose to recounte of many which were done yet one miracle more mightely wrought at this holy Crosse. One of the religiouse men of the foresaide church of Hagstalden called Bothelme who lyueth yet at this daye a few yeres past when by chaunce in the night he went vnwares on the yse sodaynely falling downe brake his arme and began to be so vexed with greauous anguishe thereof that for vehemency of payne he was not able to bryng his arme to his mouth This man hearing that one of the brethren had appointed to go vp to the place of the same holy crosse prayed him that at his returne he would bring him a piece of that blessed wood saying that he beleeued that by Gods grace he might haue his helth thereby He dyd so as he was desired and when he was come home agayne about euening the brethren being sett at the table to eate he gaue the deseased party some of the old mosse wherewyth the ouermoste part of the wodde was couered Who sitting also then at table and hauing at hand no better place to laie vp the gift wherewith he was presented put it in to his bosome After going to bed and forgetting to laye it a side he lett it lye all night in his bosome At midnight he waked and feling a colde thing lying nere to his side sturring him selfe to finde what that should be sodenly he findeth his arme and hand hole and sounde as if he had neuer had the desease Howe the same kinge at his owne request receiued Aidan of the Scottishe nacion and gaue him a byshops see in the yle of Lindisfarne Now called Holy Ilond The. 3. Chap. SHortly after that the same Oswald was come to the Crowne he being desirous that all the people which he began to rule should be instructed in the grace of Christē faith wherof now he had very great proufes in vanquishing his forein ennemies he sente to the Peeres of Scotland among whome he lyuing in banishment and the souldiours whiche wer with him wer Christened making a request vnto thē that thei wold send him a prelate by whose doctrine and ministerie the realme of Englād which he ruled might both learne the giftes and also receiue the sacramēts of our Lordes faith Neither was this godly request denied him For bishop Aidan was directed straight vnto him a mā of maruailous mekenesse godlinesse and modestie and one that had a zele in Gods quarrell although not in euery point according to knouledg For he was wont to kepe Easter sunday from the fourtenth day after the chaūge of the mone vntil the twētith according to the custome of his country wherof we haue diuers times made menciō For the north part of Scotlād and al the Redshanks did in that maner euen at the same time solemnise Easter sunday thinking that in this keeping of Easter they folowed the aduertisement writen by the holy praise worthy father Anatholius which how well it was done of them the skilfull in Christen religion are not ignorant Truly the Scottes which dwelt in the southe coastes of the yle of Ireland had long a gone learned to keepe the fest of Easter by the Canonicall approued custome being aduised thereto by the Pope sitting in the see Apostolike To this bishop Aidan king Oswald appointed holye Ilond for his see and bishoprick according as he had him selfe desyred This place with flowing and ebbing is twyse euery daye like an yle enuyroned with the surges of the sea twyse made to stand as maine lande the bankes being voided againe of the sea waues By the vertuous aduise of this good bishop the kinge glad and ready to follow the same muche enlarged the Church of Christe throughe his dominions And in this most godly endeuour bothe of the Prince and of the bishop this was a gracious and pleasaunt sight that whereas the bishop was vnskillfull of the English tonge and the kinge by reason of his longe banishement in Scotland vnderstode and spake the scottish very well when the bisshop preached the faith of Christ the king was interpreter of the heauenly worde to his dukes and subiectes Hereupon for the space of a longe time people flocked out of Scotland into Britaine and such as were called to the high degree of priesthod began with great and feruent deuotion to preache the worde of faith to those prouinces of England which king Oswalde gouerned baptising all such as beleued Therefore churches wer builded in places conuenient the people reioycing assembled together to heare the woord of God possessions and territories wer geuen by the kinges bountifulnesse for the foundation of religiouse houses the litle children of England and elder folkes wer by the Scottes their instructours trained and traded vp in obseruation of regular discipline For they wer for the most parte mōkes all such as came to preache Aidan the bishop himselfe was a monke of the yle which is called Hydestinate The house of his religion was no small time the head house of all the monasteries almost of the northren Scottes and of abbyes of all the Redshankes and had the soueraintie in ruling of their people Which yle in very deede belongeth to the right of Britaine being seuered from it with a narow sea but by the free gifte of the Redshankes who inhabited those partes of Britanie it was now lately bestowed vpon the Scottishe monkes in consideration of their vertuous sermons and painefull preaching whereby they receiued the faith of Christ. When the nacion of the Pictes otherwise Redshankes receaued the Christen faith The. 4. Chapter FOr in the fiue hundreth three score and fifte yere of our Lordes incarnation at which time Iustine the younger succeding I ustinian had receiued the gouernaunce of the Romayne empire a priest and abbot notable by his habit and religious life called Columban cam from Ireland into Britany to preache the woord of God to the Redshankes that dwelt in the North that is to say to those that by high and hideous ridges of hylles wer disseuered from such Redshankes as dwelt in the south quarters For the southerne Redshankes who had there dwelling places in the same mountaines did long before as they say receiue the true faith and abandonned idolatry at what time the woord was preached vnto them by the right reuerend bishop and blessed man Ninia a Briton borne Who was at Rome perfitly taught the faith and misteries of the truthe Whose see the English nacion hath enen now notable for the name and church of Saint Martin the bishop where he also doth rest together with many holy men Which place appertaining to the Bernicians prouince is commonly called Ad candidam casam at the white cottage for somuch as ther he made a church of stone after an other facion then the Britons wer wont to builde Columban came
to Britanie when the most puissaunt king Bride Meilocheus sonne raigned ouer the Redshanks in the ninth yere of his raigne and did by his learning and example of life conuert that nacion to the faith of Christ. In consideration whereof the aforsay de yle was geuen him in possessioÌ„ to make a monasterie For the yle is not greate but as though it wer of fiue families by estimatioÌ„ His successours kepe it vntil this day wher also he lieth buried dying at the age of lxxvij yeres about xxxij yeres after that he cam into Britain to preach But befor that he trauailed to Britaine he made a famous monasterie in IrelaÌ„d whiche for the great store of okes is in the Scottish tong called Dearmach that is to say a fild of okes of both the which monasteries very many mo religious houses were afterward erected by his scholars both in Britaine and also in Ireland Of all the which the same abbey that is in the yle where in his bodye lieth buried is the head house This yle is alwayes wont to haue an Abbat that is a priest to be the ruler to whoÌ„ both the wholle countrey and also the bishops them selfes ought after a strauÌ„ge and vncustomed order to be subiect according to the example of the first teacher who was no bishop but a priest and a monke The report is that some things ar written by his scholars coÌ„cerning his lyfe and sayings but yet what maner of man so euer he was we know this of him for a surety that he left successours men that excelled in great continence in passing charite and vertuous trade of religious lyfe In obseruing the high feast of Easter they trusted to vncertaine compasses and no maruaile consydering that no man sent vnto them the decrees made in generall counsayles for the keping thereof Yet they diligently obserued all such workes of deuotion and chast conuersation as they could learne in the prophets in the ghospels and the Apostles writings This keping of Easter continued no small time with them that is to witt vntill the seuen hundreth and sixteneth yere of our Lordes incarnation by the space of an hundreth and fiftie yeres after they receiued the faith But when the right reuerend and holy father and priest Egbert came to them from England liuing in Christes quarell in exile in Ireland being a man very well learned in the holy scripture and singular for the perfett lyfe which he had lead many yeres together they were reformed by him and brought to kepe Easter on the true right and laufull day Neuerthelesse they did not alway before that time solemnise and keepe the feast of Easter vppon the fourtenth daye after the chaunge of the moone according to the Iewes custome as some men supposed but on the same day though in an other weke then it was conuenient For they knewe as Christen men do that the resurrection of our Lorde whiche was on the firste daye of the weke ought allwayes to be celebrated on the first daye of the weke also but as ignoraunt and highvplandysh men they had not learned when the same first daye of the weke whiche nowe is named Sounday shoulde come Yet for as muche as they continued in perfecte charitye they deserued to attaine the perfitte knowledg of this thing according as the Apostle promiseth saying And yff ye be off an other mynds God will reueile that also vnto yowe But hereof we shall treate more at large hereafter in a place conuenient Of the lyfe of Aidan the bishop The 5. Chap. FROM this yle therefore and from this couent of monkes founded by holy Columban Aidan was sent and consecrated bishop to instructe Englande in the fayth of CHRISTE at what tyme Segenius abbot and priest was head of the same monasterie Wherein among other lessons of liuing he left the Clerkes a most holsome example of abstinence and continence This thing did chiefely commend his doctrine to all men that the learning whiche he taught was correspondent to the life that he lead And why He was not desyrous after wordly goods he was not enamoured with present Vanitees His ioye and comforte was foorthwyth to distribute to the poore that mette him all that was geuen him of kinges or other wealthy men of the worlde He vsed to trauayle continually bothe in the citye and in the countrey neuer on horse backe but allwayes on foote except peraduenture greate neede had forced him to ryde And in his trauaile what dyd he Forsoothe whome so euer he mette riche or poore incontinent abyding for a time with them either he allured them to receiue the faythe if they were out of the faythe or strengthened them in the faythe if they were in it exhorting them eftsoones no lesse in workes then wordes to almesse geuing and other good deedes And his religious lyfe so farre passed the slackenes and key colde deuotion of oure time that all they whiche went with him were they professed into religion or were they laye brethern gaue them selfes continually to contemplation that is to saye bestowed all their tyme either in reading scripture or in learning the psalter This was the dayly exercise of him and his brethren to what place so euer they came And if by chaunce it had happenned whiche yet happened seldome that he were bidden to the kinges banket he went in accompained with one or two clerkes and taking a shorte repast he made spedely hast to read with his brethren or els weÌ„t other where forth to pray Euery deuout maÌ„ and womaÌ„ being at that time taught by his ensamples tooke vp a custome al the whole yere through sauing betwene Easter and whitsontyâ—e apon wensday and friday to continew in fasting vntill three of the clocke in the after none If rych men had done any thing amysse he neuer for hope of honour or feare of displeasure spared to tel them of it but with sharpe rebuking amended them If any gesse or straunger had come vnto him were he neuer so worshipful he neuer gaue mony but only made them good chere As for suche gyftes as in monye were liberally geuen him by ryche men he dyd eyther as we haue sayed geue them in a dole for the reliefe of the poore or els he layed it out for the raunsomyng of those that had been wrongfully solde finally many of such as by mony he had redemed he made after his scholers bringing them vpp in learning and vertue and exalting them to the highe dignite of priesthod The report is that when kynge Oswald desired first to haue a Prelate out of Scotland who might preach the fayth to him and his people an other man of a more austere stomacke was first sent Who when after a lyttell while preaching to the Englishe nacion he did nothing preuaile ne yet was wyllingly heard of the people he returned into his country and in the assemble of the elders he made relacion how that in teaching he could do the
people no good to the which he was sent for as much as they were folkes that might not be reclaymed of a hard capacite and fierce nature Then the elders as they say began in counsaile to treate at lōge what were best to de done being no lesse desyrous that the people should attayne the saluation whiche they sought for then sory that the preacher whom they sent was not receiued When Aidan for he also was present at the coūsaile replyed against the priest of whom I spake saying Me thinketh brother that you haue ben more rigorous then reason would with that vnlerned audience and that you haue not according to the Apostles instruction first geuen them milke of milde doctrine vntell being by litle and litle nourished and weaned with the worde of God they were able to vnderstand the more perfect misteries and fulfill the greater commaundementes of God This being saied al that were at the assemble looking vpon Aidan debated diligently his saying and concluded that he aboue the rest was worthy of that charge and bishopricke and that he shoulde be sent to instruct those vnlerned paynims For he was tried to be chiefely garnished with the grace of discretion the mother of all vertues Thus making him bishop they sent him forthe to preach Who when he had taken his time euen as before he was knowen to be endued withe discretion so did he afterward shewe him selfe to be beautified with all other vertues Of kinge Oswaldes wonderfull religion and passing piete The. 6. Chap. KInge Oswald and that parte of the Englishe nation of whome he was the Soueraine gouuernour beinge from thence forthe instructed by this right Reuerend prelats doctrine did not only learne to hope for the heauenly kingdome vnknowen to his graundfathers but also cōquered more then any of his auncetours did earthly kingdomes by the power of the same one almighty God who made heauen and earth Brefely all the nations and prouinces of Britanny which spake foure diuers languages that is to saie the Britons the Redshankes the Scottes the English became subiect vnto him And yet being aduaunced to so royall maiesty he was euer notwithstanding which is maruailous to be reported lowly to all gracious to the poore and bountifull to all pilgrimes and straungers The report is that at a certain time when on the holy day of Easter the kinge and the foresaied bishop were sitt downe to diner and a siluer dish replenished with princely deintees was sett on the table before them being now ready to saie grace sodenly entered in his seruaunt to whom was committed the charge to receiue the needy and tolde the king that a very great numbre of poore people flockinge from all places did sitt in the Courte looking for some almes from the kinge Who by and by gaue commaundement that the delicates whiche were sett before his owne person should be bestowed on the poore and the dishe of siluer broken and by peecemeale parted amonge them At the sight whereof the bishop who sate by the kinge being delited withe such a worke of mercy toke him by the right hand and saied I praie God this hande be neuer consumed Which thinge came euen so to passe as in his blessing he desired For where as after that he being slaine in battail his handes with his arme were cut of from the residew of his body so it is that his handes to this time continue vncorrupted◠and are reserued in a siluer shrine in S. Peters church wher with worthy honour they are worshipped of all men in the kinges cyte whiche hathe his name of a lady sometime Quene called Bebba By this kinges trauail the prouinces of the Deirans and the Bernicians which did so deadly hate one the other were reconciled and ioyned together in one allegeaunce and amitie like as they were one people This kinge Oswald was kinge Edwines nephew by his sister Achas side And it was mete that so noble a predecessour shuld haue so worthy an heyre as wel of his religion as of his realme and that of his owne kinred How the cuntry of west Saxons receiued the worde of God by Berinus preaching and Agilbertus and Eleutherius his successour The. 7. Chapter THe west Saxons who of old time were called Genisse receiued the faith of Christ in the raign of Cynigilsus Berinus the bishop preaching to them the worde who came into Britanie by Pope Honorius appointment promising in his presence that he wold sowe the seedes of the holy faith in the hart of the vttermost coastes of England whether no teacher had of any time gone before him In consideration wherof at the commaundement of the same Pope Asterius the bishop of Geane did consecrat him bishop But at his arriuall into Britany and first entering into Geuisse finding that al the inhabitants there were very paynims he thought it more expedient to preach the word of God among them rather then in trauailing further to serche for such as he shuld preach vnto And thus at his preaching of the gospell in the forsaid prouince when the king him selfe being newly taught the faith was Christened with his nation it happened at that tyme that Oswald the most holy and very victorious king of Northumberland was present Who coming then to take his daughter to wife toke him first out of the holy font for his godson not without the meruailous and swete prouisiō of almighty God After this solemnitie both the kinges gaue the same bishop the citie of Dorcinca for his bishoprike where after that he had builded and dedicated churches and by his paines brought much people to our Lord he went to God and was buried in the same citie Many yeares after when Hedde was bishop he was translated from thens to the citee of Venta and laid in the churche of the blessed Apostles S. Peter and Paule After the death of this kinge his sonne Senwalch succeded him in his kingdome who refused to receiue the faith and sacramentes of the kingdome of heauen and shortly after lost the greate rule of his wordly kingdome also For taking an other wife and casting of the sister of Penda kinge of the Marshes his true wedded wif he was by Penda assauted with battaile deposed from his kingdome and constrained to flye to the king of the east English men who was called Anna with whom liuing in banishment by the space of three yeres he learned the faith For this kinge with whom he lyued in banishment was a vertuous man and blessed of God with plentifull and holy issue as we shall declare hereafter But when Senwalch was restored to his kingdome there came out of Irelande into his prouince a certaine prelate named Agilbertus a frenche man borne yet hauing made long abode in Ireland because he read there the scriptures This bishop of his owne accorde came to serue the prince and to preach him the word of life Such was his lerning and industry that the
king entreated him to remaine with him enduing him with a bishoprik in his dominions which at the princes request he accepted and ruled the same people many yeres with priestly authoritie At the lenght the king who could only speake the Saxon tonge being wery of that foren language that Agilbertus vsed did priuely bring into the prouince an other bishop of his owne language named VVini the which also was made bishop in fraunce And diuiding the prouince into two dioceses gaue him a bishops see in the citie of Venta which the Saxons cal Vintancester Wherfor Agilbertus being highly displeased because the king did this without his counsayle returned againe into fraunce and after that he was aduanced to the bishoprike of the cite of Parris there he died an old man and very aged But not many yeres after his departure out of BritaÌ„ny Wini also was by the same king deposed from his bishoprike froÌ„ wheÌ„ce he departed to the king of the Marshes called Vulfhere and of him he bought with mony the see of the cite of LondoÌ„ and coÌ„tinued there bishopto the end of his lif Wherby the prouince of the west SaxoÌ„s lacked no small time a bishop At which time the forsaid king of the west Saxons being very often disquieted in his mind for the great losse and spoile which in his kingdome he susteined by his enemies called at last to his minde how he had wickedly expelled him out of his realme by whom he had receiued the faith of Christ vnderstanding withall that by want and lacke of a bisshop he wanted also the helpe and grace of almighty God Therfore he sent embassadours into fraunce to Agilbert beseeâ—hing him that he wold returne and resume againe his bishoprike offering with all to make satisfaction for that which was past But Agilbert excusing him selfe alleaged that he could in no wise repaire thither because he was bound to abyde at his bishoprike whiche he had in his owne countrey and diocesse Neuerthelesse to th eÌ„d he mought somwhat helpe him who did most earnestly desyre him he sent thither in his stede a certaine priest Eleutherius by name his own nephew who should be made a bishop for him if it were his plesure affirming that he deemed him to be well worthy of his bishoprike This Eleutherius was honourably receiued of the people and the kinge who entreated also Theodore then Archebishop of Caunterbury that Eleutherius should be consecrated their bishop In whiche function he liued and laboured many yeares beinge the only bishoppe of that prouince appointed so by a Synodall decree How Earconbert king of kent gaue commaundement to destroye ydolls and of his daughter Eeartongath and also of his kynse woman Edelburg virgins dedicated to God The. 8. Chap. IN the 640. yere of the incarnation of our Lord Eadbaldus king of kent passing out of this life left the gouernance of the realme to his sonne Earconbert Earconbert did prosperously raigne xxiiij yeres and certaine moneths This was the first king of England who of his princely authoritie commaunded that the idols which were in all his whole realme should be forsaken and destroyed and moreouer that the fast of fourty dayes should be kept And that this his authoritie mought not lightly be contemned of any man he appointed mete and conuenient punishments for the transgressours thereof Eartongath this princes daughter as a worthy childe of such a father was a virgin of greate vertu She serued god in a Monasterie all dayes of her life that was builded in the countree of Fraunce by an honourable Abbesse called Fara in a place named Brige For in those dayes when many monasteries were not yet builded in England many were wont for the loue of religious life to go to the religious houses of Fraunce sending also their daughters to the same to be brought vp and maried into heauenly bridegrome especially to the monasterie of BrigÌ„e and in Cale and also Andilegum Among whom was Sedrido daughter to the wife of Anna king of the east English of which king Anna we haue made mention before and Edelburg the sayd kinges naturall daughter who being straungers and alians were yet both made abbesses of the same monasterie in Brige by reason of their worthy vertues This kinges elder daughter Sexburg wife to Earconbert king of kent had a daughter named Eartongath and of her we will now treate The inhabitans of that place are wont euen at this day to tell of many vertuous dedes and miraculous signes wrought by this holv virgin We only will be contented to speke somewhat shortly of her departure out of this worlde and passage to a better lyfe The time and houre of her calling to God being at hand she began to visit in the monasterie the celles of the sicke especially of such her sisters as either for age or for vertuous conuersation were most notable Vnto whose prayers lowly commending her selfe signified vnto them the houre of her death approching according as she had learned by reuelation The reuelation as she reported was such She said she had seen a company of men apparelled in white enter into the same monasterye of whom asking what they sought for or what they would there it was answered her that they were sent thither to th end they might take with them that golden coyne which came from kent to that place And on the same night in the last part thereof that is to saye when the sonne began to rise she passing ouer the darkenesse of this present world went vp to the light that is aboue Many of the brethren of the same monasterie which were in other houses reported that they heard euen at the same moment the melodie of angels singing together and the noyse as though it were of a very greate multitude coming into the monastery whereuppon uppon they by and by going foorth to knowe what maner a thing it were saw that there was an exceading greate light sent downe from heauen which ledd and conducted that holy soule deliuered out of the pryson of the flesh to the euerlasting ioyes of the heauenly countrye Beside all this they reported of other miracles which were shewed by the hand of god that very night in the selfe same monastery But we passing to other miracles doe leue these to the religious persons of this monastery to report The honorable body of Christes virgin and spouse was buried in the church of S. Steuen that first blessed martyr And it was thought good three dayes after the buriall that the stone wherwith the graue was couered should be layed asyde and reered vp higher in the same place At the doing whereof so pleasaunt a smell and so swete a sauour came from the bottom of the earth that to all the brethern and sisters that stode by there semed as though there were storehouses and cellars of balme naturall opened Yea furthermore Edelburg aunte by the mothers side to this Eartongath of
hurt at al. At the sight of this miracle al maruailed much and with diligent enquire and examination founde out that this dust came from that place where king Oswaldes bloud was shed After that the miracles were manifestly knowen and bruted abrode much people began to resort therto where after much haunting many obteined helth and cures of deseases both for them selues and for others How that a light sent downe froÌ„ heauen stoode al a whole night vpon king Oswalds reliques and how that they which were possessed with euill spirites were healed by the same relikes The. 11. Chapter OF all other miracles I suppose it must in no wise be left vnwritten how heauenly a miracle was shewed when king Oswalds bones were found out and translated to the church wherin they are now reserued This was done by the industry of the queene of the Marshes Offride by name who was his brother Oswines daughter which Oswin after Oswalds raigne came to the croune as we shall declare in the processe that foloweth Ther is a famous monastery in the prouince Lindissi named Beardanan which the same quene and her husband Adilrede did greatly loue honour and reuerence wherin she desyred to lay vp her vncles honorable bones When the chariot was come wherin the same bones were brought toward the euening the men that were in the monastery would not gladly receiue these bones into the forsaid monastery because although they had knowen that he was a blessed man notwithstanding forasmuch as he was a forrain borne and toke vpon him to be their king they hated him also after his death like as they did of long time by his lyfe Wherby it came to passe that that same night the relikes that were brought thither did remaine still without yet was there a great pauilion stretched out ouer the chariot wherin the relikes were but the shewing of heauenly miracle did manifestly declare with how great reuerence those bones ought to be receiued of all faith full people For all that night long a pillour of light reaching from that chariot vnto he auen stoode so that it was plainly seen in al places almost of the same prouince of Lindisse Wherfore when the morning was come the brethern of that monastery who on the day before had denied began now to desyre earnestly that the same holy relikes might be laied vp in their house These bones were after enclosed in a shrine which they had prouided for that purpose The shrine also was placed in the church with honour conuenient And to th end that the holy mans princely personage might alwaie be remembred they erected ouer his tuÌ„be his standerd made of gold and purple Also whereas the very water wherin they washed his bones they poored out into a corner of the vestrey from that day forward it came to passe that the earth it selfe which receiued that holy washing had also especiall grace to driue awaie diuels from the bodies that were possessed Furthermore in processe of time when the forsaide Quene abode in the same monastery there came to salute her a certaine honorable Abbesse which liueth vntill this day her name is Edilhild sister to the blessed man Edelwin and Aldewin the first of the which was a bishop in the prouince Lindisse the second was the Abbot of a monastery the which is called Peartane not far from the place where that Abbesse had her monastery This abbesse coÌ„moning with the Quene after they begaÌ„ to fal in talke of Oswalde among other matters she saied that she also had seene on the very same night a light vpon his relikes whiche in height reached vp to heauen Wherunto the Quene added that many sicke folckes were now healed with the very dust of the pauiment on the which the water of his wasshing was poured out Then the Abbesse desyred to haue some deale of the dust geuen her and as sone as she receiued it she knit it vp in a cloth laied it vp in a litle casket and retourned Not longe after when she was in her owne monastery a certaine straunger came thither who in the night was wonte diuers times sodenly to be troubled with a foule sprite and that most greuously This geste when he had ben liberally entertayned after supper went to bedd and sodenly being possessed with the diuell began to crye out to gnash with his teeth to fome at the mouth and to cast fourth his body violently flinging some partes one waye and some an other And when no man was able either to hold or to binde him a seruant ranne and knocking at the gate tolde the abbesse Who forth with going forth with one of the nunnes to the place where the brethern laye she called forth a priest requiring him to go with her to the pacient Wher when at their coming they sawe many men present labouring to kepe downe the partty vexed and to stay his inordinat motions and yet preuailing nothing the priest adiured hym and did what he could for the appeasing of the rage that this piteous creature was in but the priest himselfe for ought he could doe auailed the party nothing At last when it semed ther remained no health or hope of amendement in the madde body the Abbesse by and by remembring the aforesaid dust commaunded forthwith a maide who serued her to go and bring her a little coffer wherein the dust was reserued who going as she was commaunded as sone as she entred into the court of the house in the inward part wherof the maÌ„ that was possessed with the euill sprit was tormented bringing the saide dust the person possessed sodenly helde his peace and layed downe his head as though he were fallen a sleape setting euery part of his body as though he wolde rest Al they who stode about the patient were whist aud being attentiue kept sylence carefully looking wâ—at end the matter would haue And behold after a quarter of an houre or there about the man that was before disquieted arose vp all quiet and with fetching a greate sigth said euen now I fele my selfe whole and now I come to my witte againe They which stode by demaunding how this had happened he answered Incontinent as sone as this virgin with the little coffer whiche she brought was come nigh to the court of this house all the wicked sprites that troubled me departed and appeared no more Then did the Abbesse geue him a litle piece of that dust The priest prayed ouer him and departed He passed thus the rest of that night in most quiet rest neither did he suffer all the night after any trouble or vexation at all How a litle childe sitting hard by Oswaldes tombe was healed of an ague The 12. Chap. SHortly after this time there was a certaine little boye in the same monastery who had a great while ben sore sicke of a feuer Who on a day looking heauely for the course of his feuer one of the brethern coming to him sayd
wilt thou my son that I shall teache the how thou maist be deliuered of the griefe of this sickenesse Ryse goe into the church and when thou comest to Oswalds sepulture sit downe there and abiding quietly cleaue vnto the tumbe beware thou goe not from thence nor stirre out of the place vntill the fitt of feuer shall be past then will I come and bringe the foorth from thens The childe did as the religious man had counsailed him And when he was sitting hard by the holy mans tumbe the sicknes did in no wise presume to attache him but fled incontinently from him as daring not kepe any course with him neither the next daye nor the third daye no yet any time afterward That this was so done the religious man who came from thence reported to me and saith furthermore that at the tyme of his talke with me that younge man on whom when he was but a child this miracle of health was done was yet alyue in the same monastery And it is not to be wondered at that the prayers of that king now reigning with God maye doe muche with him Who hauing sometime the gouernance of a temporall realme accustomed him selfe to continuall and earnest prayer for the euerlasting kingdome Finally men report that he had oftentimes continued in prayer from midnight mattins vntill it were day and by the reason of his common custome of praying or geuing god thankes he was wont alwaies whersoeuer he did sitt to haue his handes vpright vppon his knees Yea it is is said also that he ended his life as he was saying his deuotions For whiles he was compassed about with the artillary and assayled of his ennemies and sawe that he should be slaine immediatly he made his prayer to god to saue those souldiers soules which were in his armye Of the which occasion came vp this prouerbe God haue mercy on their soules quoth Oswald when he died him selfe His bones were conueyghed and buried in the monastery whereof we speake And whereas the king who killed him commaunded that his head and his handes with his armes cut of from the body shuld be hanged vp on poles a yeare after Oswine his successour in the kingdom came with his armie and toke them away burying his head in the churcheyarde of holy Iland churche and laying vpp his handes with his armes in the cytee of Bebba How a certaine man in Ireland being at the pointe of death was by his relikes restored to life The. 13. Chap. THe renowne of this famous man hath passed not only ouer all the borders of Britaine but also spreading the beames of holesome light farre beyonde the Occean sea came to the coastes of Germany and Ireland likewise The right reuerent bishop Acca was wonte to tell that in his iourney to Rome as he passed through Friselande and abode sometime there in the house of VVillibrorde that holy bishop of Friselande with his prelate VVilsride he heard him oftentymes reporte what were done in that prouince by the meanes of the religious relikes of this most vertuous king At what tyme also he being but yet a priest ledde a pilgrimes life in Ireland for the loue he had to the euerlasting countrey he reported that the bruite of this kings holines was then farr abrode sowen in that yle also One miracle whiche he rehersed among other we haue thought good to write in this owr present historye In a tyme of mortalytie sayd this man which by a greate death destroyed Britayne and Ireland a certayne scholer whose auncetours were scottes was stroken with the same pestilence a man skilfull certesse in the studye of learning but one that vsed no diligence and tooke no labour at all for the attayning of his owne euerlasting saluation Who when he saw him selfe to be at deaths doore trembled and was troubled in sprite for death so nye approching fearing as his lewde life deserued to be throwen down into the doungeon of hell And therwith he cryed to me being lodged not far of and fetching depe and sorowfull sighes in a trembling and lamentable voyce made thus his mone vnto me Yow see quoth he that now by the increase of my bodely greefe I draw to the poynt of deathe And I know surely that by and by after the deathe of this my body I shall be taken awaie to the euerlasting death of the soule and that I must endure the torments of hell for that trauayling in the reading of holy writt and occupied alwaies in diuine study I became yet rather a slaue of sinne then a keper of gods holy commaundements But if God of his mercifull goodnes will graunt me any leysure to liue I purpose to amēd my sinfull manners and dispose from hence foorth my whole life to the will and pleasure of almightye God Yet I knowe that I haue not deserued either to haue or to hope for so much truce and respyte to liue except peraduenture by the help of such as haue faithfully serued God he will of his tender mercy vouchsafe to forgeue me so wretched and miserable a synner For we haue heard it commonly reported that there hath ben in your nacion a king of wonderfull holinesse called Oswalde the excellencie of whose faith and vertue yea after his deathe was well knowen by working of many miracles I besech yow therfore if yow haue any of his relikes left with yowe in your keping bring it to me because it may so be that God will haue mercy vpon me through his merits To whome I made this answere forsooth I haue of the tree whereupon his head was sticked after that he was flayne of the paynims and if thou wilt beleue assuredly the mercifull goodnes of God by the merite of so worthye a person may both graunt the longer tyme to leade this life and also make the a meete man to enter into the life euerlasting Who answering me incontinent that he did perfectly beleue so I called for water and blessing it I cast in a chyppe of the forsayde oken tree geuing of the water the sicke man to drinke Foorthwith he began to amend and recouering his health lyued along tyme after and being tourned to God in al hart and deede did openly declare to all men wher euer he came the graciousnesse of our mercifull maker and the glory of his faithful seruaunt How that Thamar when Pauline was deade succeded him in the bishoprike of Rochester and of the meruaylous humilitie of Osuuius whom Oswin killed cruelly The 14. Chapter THis blessed kinge being exalted to the kingdome of heauen his brother Oswin a young man about thirty yeres old toke on him in his steede the gouernaunce of the earthly kingdome and ruled the realme withe greate disquietnesse and trouble the space of eight and twenty yeres For first the paynim and mighty king Penda had warre against him Then the paynim people of the Marshes which slewe his brother made him battaile Also
his owne sonne Alcfride did lykewise rebell and resist him Last of all Adilwalde his nephew sonne to Oswald withstoode him In the second yere of this Oswins raigne that is to witt in the. 644. yere after the incarnation of owr Lord the right reuerent father Pauline somtime bishope of yorke but then gouerning the diocese of Rochester went to God the twentieth day of October He was byshop 19. yeres and two monthes and one and twentie dayes and was buried in the chappell of the blessed Apostle S. Andrewe which king Edilbert builded vp euen from the foundation in the same cytee of Rochester In whose place the archebishop Honorius aduanced Thamar a kentish man a man comparable to any of his auncestours bothe in vertue of life and excellencie of learning Oswin at the beginnying of his reigne had a partaker of his estate royall named Osuuius who descended of kinge Edwines bloud that is to say the sonne of Osrike of whom we haue made mention before a maruaylous deuoute and godly man who seuen yeres together ruled the prouince of the Deirans in most pleÌ„ty of things and with the loue of al his subiects But Oswin who gouerned the other part of Northumberland toward the north to witt the prouince of the Bernicians cold not long liue peasibly with him but rather forging and encreasing causes of debate murdered him at leÌ„gth most cruelly For vpon these variaunces an armie beyng on bothe partes assembled Osuuius seyng hym self to weake to ioygne battayle withe Oswin thought it more expedient to breake of warr at that time and refrayne vntill better occasion serued Therfore he discharged the army which he had gathered together coÌ„maunding euery man to returne home againe The field where they met is called VVilfares downe and standeth almost ten myle from the village of Cataracton toward the west Osuuius conueighed him selfe out of the waye with only one that was his most faithfull souldiour named Condher to one Hunwald an Earle whom he toke for his very frend But alas he was much deceaued for being by the same Earle betrayed withe his forsaid souldiour vnto Oswin by by his lieutenant Edelwin he slew him most cruelly and traiterously This was done the xx of August in the ninthe yere of his reigne in a place whiche he called Ingethlâ—ng wher for the satisfaction of this heynous acte there was afterwarde a monastery buylded in the which daily prayers should be offered vp to God for the redemption of bothe the kinges soules as well the murderer as the partye murthered King Osuuius was of countenance beautifull of stature high in talke courtyous and gentle in all pointes ciuill and amiable no lesse honourable and bounttfull to the noble then free and liberall to persons of lowe degree Wherby it happened that for his outward personage inward hart and princely port he had the loue of all men Especially the nobilitie of all countres frequented his court and coueted to be receiued in his seruice Amonge other his rare vertues and princely qualites his humilitie and passing lowlynesse excelled Wherof we wil be contented to recite one most worthy example He had geuen to bishop Aidan a very faire and proper gelding which that vertuous bishop though he vsed most to trauail on foote might vse to passe ouer waters and ditches or when any other necessite constrained It fortuned shortly after a certain poore weake man met the bishop riding on his gelding and craued an almes of him The bishop as he was a passing pitefull man and a very father to needy persons lighted of and gaue the poore man the gelding gorgeously trapped as he was The king hearing after hereof talked of it with the bishop as they were entring the palace to diner and saied What meaned you my Lord to geue awaie to the begger that faire gelding which we gaue you for your owne vse Haue we no other horses of lesse price and other kinde of rewardes to bestowe vpon the poore but that you must geaue awaie that princely horse which we gaue you for your owne ryding To whom the bishop answered Why talketh your grace thus Is that broode of the mare derer in your sight then that sonne of God the poore man Which being said they entred for to dyne The bishop toke his place appointed But the knge coming then from hunting would stand a while by the fyre to warme him Where standing and musing with himselfe vpon the wordes which the bishop had spoken vnto him sodenly put of his sworde geuing it to his seruant and came in greate hast to the bishop falling downe at his feete and beseching him not to be displeased with him for the wordes he had spoken vnto him saying he would neuer more speake of it nor measure any more hereafter what or how much he should bestow of his goods vpon the sonnes of God the poore At which sight the bishop being much astonned arose sodenly and lifted vp the king telling him that he should quickely be pleased yf it would please him to fitt downe and cast awaie al heauynesse Afterward the kinge being at the bishops request mery the bishop contrary wise began to be heauy and sory in such sorte that the teares trickled downe by his chekes Of whom when his chapleyne in his mother tonge which the king and his court vnderstoode not had demanded why he wept I know said he that the king shall not lyue long For neuer before this time haue I seen an humble king Wherby I perceiue that he shall spedely be taken out of this life for this people is not worthy to haue such a prince and gouernour Shortly after the bishops dredful abodement was fullfilled with the kinges cruel death as we haue before declared Bishop Aidan him self also was taken awaie out of this world and receiued of God the euerlasting rewardes of his labours euen on the twelfthe day after the kinge whom he so much loued was slaine that is to wit the 30. daye of August How that bishop Aidan both tolde the shippemen of a storme that was to comeâ— and also gaue them holy oyle wherewith they did cease it The. 15. Chapter HOW worthy a man this bishop Aidan was God the high and secret iudge of mens hartes by sundry miracles the proper workes of his maiesty declared to all the world Thre of the which it shall be sufficient presently to recite for remembraunces sake A certaine priest called Vtta â— man of great grauitye and truth and one that for his qualites was much reuerenced and estemed of men of honour at what time he was sent into kent to fetch Eanflede kinge Edwines daughter who after the death of her father had ben sent thither to be maried to king Oswin appointing so his iourney that he minded to trauail thither by land but to retourne with the youÌ„g lady by water he weÌ„t to bishop AidaÌ„ beseching him to make his humble prayers to god to prosper
him and his who were then taking their iourney The bishop blessing them and committing them to the goodnes of god gaue them also hallowed oyle saying I know that when you shall haue shipping a tempest and a contrary winde shall rise vpon you sodeinly But remember that you cast into the sea this oyle that I geue you and anon the winde being laied comfortable fayer weather shall ensue on the sea which shall send you home againe with as pleasaunt a passage as you haue wished All these thinges were fulfilled in order as the bishop prophesied Truly at the beginning of the tempest when the waues and surges of the sea did chiefely rage the shipmen assayed to cast ancar but all in vaine For the tempest encreased the whaues multiplied so faste and water so filled the shippe that nothing but present death was looked for In this distresse the priest at the length remembring the bishop wordes toke the oyle pot and did cast of the oyle into the sea which being done according as the vertuous bishop had forsaide the sea calmed the bright sonne appeared the ship passed on with a most prosperous viage Thus the man of God by the sprit of prophecy forshewed the tempest to come and by the same holy Spirit though bodely absent appaised the same No common reporter of vncertain rumours but a very credible man a priest of our church Cynimund by name shewed me the processe of this miracle who saied that he had hearde it of that same Vtta the priest in whome the miracle was wrought How the same man by prayer ceased the fyre that ennemies had put to the kinges citee The. 13. Chap. AN other miracle worthy temembraunce wrought by the same father is reported of many such as were moste likely to haue perfect knowledge of it At what time Penda capitain of the Marshes inuaded the prouince of Northumberland this Aidan being bishop and wasting and spoyling the whole countre euen vnto Bebba the cite of the kinges owne abode being not able neither by battaile neither by siege to winne it minded to sett it a fire and had for that purpose caried thither in certaine chaines and gables cut of by mayne force in the suburbes of the cyte a great quantitye of beames rafters postes and small twigges wherewith he had compassed that part of the cyte that adioyneth to the land in a great height and the winde now seruing at will the fire was kindled and the cite began to consume this reuerent prelate Aidan being then in holy Ilond about two myles from the cite whether oftentimes he vsed to departe to kepe his secret trade of deuotions and solitary contemplacions as euen to this day the place is well knowen beholding the flakes of fire and great smoke ouer the cyte lifting vp his eyes and handes to heauen with teares as it is reported cryed out and sayed Behold O Lorde how great mischeif Penda worketh Which wordes of that blessed man being pronounced the windes being turned from the cyte turned backe the light fyre againe vppon them who had kindled it In so much that some being hurte all made afraied they were fayne to leaue the assault of the cyte which they sawe to be holpen by the hande of God How the post of the church whereunto that holy bishop leaning departed this life could not be burned when all the rest of the church burned and of his inward life The. 16. Chap. THis vertuous bishop Aidanus at what tyme he shoulde depart this worlde hauing laboured in the office of a bishop xvij yeres remained in a village of the kinges not far from the cyte of Bebba for hauing there a church and a chamber he vsed oftentimes to stay and abyde there taking from thence his yourney rounde about the countre to preache the word of God as he did in al other tounes subiect to the kinge not resting longe in any place as hauing no possessions of his owne but his church only and a small plotte of grounde lying there aboute Being therfore sicke they pitched him a pauilion fastening it hard to the church wall on the west syde thereof In this pauilion leaning to a post ioyned to the out side of the church to fortefy it he gaue vp the ghost in the xvij yere of his bishopricke the last day of August His body was from thence caryed to holy Iland and in the church yarde of the monastery buried But shortly after a greater church there being erected and dedicated in the honour of the most blessed prince of the Apostles S. Peter his bones were transposed thither and layed at the right side of the aultar with much honour as that vertuous bishop deserued Finanus a holy man directed thither from the Ilond and monastery of Hij in Scotland succeded Aidan and was bishop a long tyme. It fortuned not long after that Penda king of the Marshes or Vplandish english men inuading the coastes of Northumberland with a mighty armie destroying with fire and sworde all that he mette burned also that village and the church wherein that holy man Aidan died But behold al the rest of the church burning that only poste whereunto this holy man leaned at the moment of his departure could by no force of fyre be consumed The miracle being knowen and ◠the church was builded vp againe in the selfe same place and the post also to fortefy the wall as before Which being done not long after by the ouersight of the inhabitants the village and churche also chaunced to be sett all on fyre that poste yet escaping the flame and fyre as before And wheras the fyre passed through the holes of the post whereby it was fastened to the churche wall yet the church burning the poste could not be hurt Whereupon a third churche being builded that poste was no more sett withowt to bolster vpp the wall as before but for remembraunce of the miracle it was had into the church and layed as a threshold for people to knele vpon and make their deuoute prayers to almighty God And it is well knowen that sithen that tyme diuers haue in that place ben cured of deseases and with water wherein chippes cut from that poste haue ben dipped many haue recouered health This much haue I written of this holy man and of his workes not yet commending in him his wronge and euill accustomed obseruation of Easter according to the coūte of the Iewes but detesting that in hym vtterly as also I haue euidently declared in my booke De temporibus But as it behoueth a true historiographer I haue reported of him and of his doings suche thinges as were cōmendable and might profit the readers As that he was a man of greate charity and quyet of great contynency and humilitie a conquerer of wrathe and couuetousnes and one that was far from all pride and vaine glory Againe I commend in him his greatindustry both in keping and in teaching the
commaundements of God his diligent reading continuall watching his priestly grauitye in rebuking the proude and haughty and mild demeanour in comforting the weake and refreshing the nedy And to be short I commend him as one that laboured all dayes of his life as of his most nere acquaintance I vnderstaÌ„d to obserue and fulfill all that was writen and commaunded in holy scriptures the Prophets and Apostles These thinges in that holy prelate I do much embrace and commend as things vndoubtedly pleasing almighty God But that he obserued not Easter in his due time either as ignorant therof or witting it well yet being lead with the authoritye of his countre not acknowleadging it this I neither commend nor allowe Yet in this very point this I allowe in him that in his manner of obseruing Easter he beleued reuerenced and preached no other thing then we doe that is the redemption of mankynde by the passion resurrection and ascension of Christ Iesus the mediatour betwene God and man And therfore he obserued his Easter not as many falsely do suppose altogether with the Iewes that is the fourtenth day of the moone what so ever day it fell vpon but he kept it euer vpon a sonday reakoning from the fourtenth day of the moone to the twentith and that for the faith vndoubtedly which he had in our lordes resurrectioÌ„ beleuing it to be in the first fery after the sabooth day in hope of our resurrection to come which the holy churche beleueth shall happen vpon the same first fery that is vpon a Sonday euen as owr lorde arose vpon a sonday as the scripture testifieth Of the life and death of the vertuous kinge Sigebert The. 18. Chap. ABout this tyme after Carpwalde Redwaldes successor Sigibert his brother a vertuous and deuoute man raigned ouer the East english natioÌ„ This prince while he liued in Fraunce flying the emmyte of kinge Redwald was there baptised Wherevpon after his returne coming to the Crowne and desyring to folow that godly order and trade which he had sene practised in Fraunce set vp a schole to bring vp children by the helpe and ayde of Byshopp Felix whom he toke owt of kent for that purpose appoynting them masters and teachers after the maner of the kentish men This kinge was so flamed with the loue of heauen that leauing at the laste all affaires of his realme to the gouuernement of his cosen Egrick who also before had part of his dominion with him he entred to a monastery whiche he had made for him selfe where being shoren in he bestowed his tyme to the atchieuing of the eternall kingdome of heauen Wherein hauing with much deuotion warfared a longe time to God the vplandishe english men withe their olde Capitain Penda inuaded his dominions His people after long resistaunce finding them selues to weake beseched Sigibert for the encouraging of their souldiars to come forth in to the field with theÌ„ Which when of his owne accorde he woulde not agree vnto they plucked him by force owt of the monastery and brought him against his wil vnto the field hoping that the souldyars in the presence of their olde valiaunt Capitain would lesse think vpon flight and running away Notwithstanding the vertuous man remembring his profession being sett in the middest of the army caryed only a litle rodde in his hande Thus of the cruel hethen he was killed withe kinge Egrick and the whole army discomfited Anna sonne to Guido of the kinges bloude succeded in the kingdome a man of great vertu and the father of a blessed issue as we shall hereafter in his place declare This kinge also was afterward slayne of the selfe same Penda Capitain of the Marshes or vplandish enhlishmen then heathen and vnchristned How Furseus builded a monastery amonge the Eastenglish men and of his visions and holynesse which also his â—â—esh remaining after his death vncorrupted dothe witnesse The. 19. Chapter IN the time that Sigibert gouuerned yet the east partes of England a holy man called Furseus came thither out of Ireland a man notable bothe for his sayings and doings of great vertu and much desiring to wander and trauail in Gods quarell where so euer occasion serued Coming therefore to the east coastes of England he was reuerently receiued of the saied kinge where poursuing his godly desire of preaching the worde of God he bothe conuerted many infidels and confirmed the faithefull in the faith and loue of Christ by his painefull preaching and vertuous examples Falling here in to sicknes he had from God a vision by the ministery of Angels wherin he was warned to go forth cherefully in his paine full preaching of the ghospell and perfeuere in his accustomed watching and praying bicause his ende and death was certain though the houre thereof were most vncertain according to the saying of our Lorde VVatch therfore bicause ye knowe not the daye nor the houre With this vision being much confirmed and encouraged he hastened with all spede to builde vp the monastery in the place kinge Sigibert had geuen him and to instruct it with regular discipline This monastery was pleasauÌ„tly situated for the woddes and sea adioyning being erected in the village of Cnobherburg and enriched afterward by Anna kinge of that prouince and many other noble men with sundry faire houses and other ornaments This Furseus came of the noblest race of the Scottish nation nobler yet of minde then of bloud From the very time of his childehood he gaue him selfe to reading of holy scripture and monastical discipline Especially as it becoÌ„meth holy and perfit men what soeuer he lerned to be acceptable to God he was hoful and dili gent to execut and perfourme Brefely in processe of time he builded him selfe a monastery wherein he might with more leasure and liberty attend to coÌ„templation and spiritual deuotion In the which monastery being striken with sicknesse he was taken out of his body as the booke writen of his life doth sufficiently testifie In the which traunce continuing from euening vntil the next morning he was brought to the sight of the Angelicall company and to the hearing of their blessed praises and thankes geuings to God Among other thinges which he heard them singe he was wonte to tell of the versicle I bunt sancti de virtute in virtutem Holy men shall procede from vertu to vertu And againe Videbitur Deus dcorum in Syon The God of Goddes shall be sene in Syon This holy man being restored againe to his body was within three daies after taken out againe at what time he sawe not only greater ioyes of the blessed company of heauen but also beside great conflictes of the wicked sprits which very busely went about to stoppe him of his iourney toward heauen with their often accusations auailing yet nought against him the holy Angels warding him and defending him Of all the which thinges who listeth more at large to be instructed as with what
time he gaue to Penda sonne to Pendam the hethen because by mariage he was now his cosen the kingdome of the south Marshes contayning as men saie fyue thousand familes diuided by the riuer Trent from the Northmarshes whose lande contayneth 7000. familes or housholdes But the same Penda the next spring after was trayterously slayne by the treason as they saie of his owne wife in the very tyme of Easter Thre yeares after the victory of Oswin and the death of Pendam the hethen the Nobilitie of the Marshes Immin Eaba and Eadbert rebelled against kinge Oswin auauncing to the crowne VVulfher sonne to Pendam a younge man whom vntell that tyme they had kept preuy Thus expelling the gouuernours sett ouer them by kinge Oswin who was not their naturall kinge they recouered agayne valiauntlye their liberty and their landes liuing from that time forewarde free vnder a kinge of their owne bloude and seruing ioyefully the true king of all kinges Christe our Sauiour to be at lenght partakners of his euerlasting kingdom in heauen This VVulfher raigned ouer the Marshes xvij yeres His first bishop as we saied before was Trumber the second Iaroman the third Ceadda the fourth VVinfride All these in continual succession were bishops of the Marshes vnder kinge Wulf her How the controuersy about the obseruation of Easter was moued against those which came out of Scotland The. 25. Chapter IN the meane while after the death of Aidan FinaÌ„ succeded in the bishoprik of Northumberland sent and consecrated of the Scottes Who in holy Iland builded a church mete for a bishops see Yet not of stone but of oken tymber and thatche worke as the maner of Scottes was This church afterward the most reuerend father Theodore Archebishop of Caunterbury dedicated in the honour of S. Peter the Apostle Eadbert also the bishop after of that place couered the churche bothe the ruffe and the walles with lead About this time a great controuersy was moued touching the obseruation of Easter The bishops of Fraunce and kent affirmed that the Scottes obserued the Sonday of Easter contrary to the accustomed maner of the vniuersall church And amonge them one Roman a Scott borne but yet instructed in the truthe in Fraunce and Italie and therefore an earnest and stoute defender of the true obseruation of Easter Who couplingand disputing of this matter with Finanus the bishop induced many to the truthe and enflamed other to a farder serche and examination of the question but with Finanus him self he could nothinge preuaile but rather exasperated him being a hasty nature man and made him an open aduersary to the cause Iames that reueâ—ent deacoÌ„ of tharchbishop Paulin with al such as he coÌ„uerted to the faith obserued the true and catholike time of Easter EaÌ„ fled also the quene king Oswins wife with al her train and coÌ„pany obserued after the same maner according as she had sene it practised in keÌ„t bringing with her one RomaÌ„ out of keÌ„t a catholike priest By this variaunce it happened ofteÌ„times that in one yere two Esters wer kept As the king breaking vp his fast and soleÌ„nising the feste of easter the Quene with her coÌ„pany cotinued yet the fast and kept palme SuÌ„day Yet this diuersite of obseruing Easter as longe as Aidan liued was of all men tolerated knowing very well that though in obseruing easter he folowed the custome of those with whom he was brought vp yet he beleued as al holy men did and kept vnitie and loue with al. Vpon which consideration he was beloued of all men euen those which varied from him in that opinion and was reuerenced not only of the meane and common sort but also of Honorius the Archebishop of Caunterbury and of Felix the bishop of the east english But after the death of Finanus which succeded him Colman being made bishop sent also out of Scotland the controuersy began to increase and other variaunces touching externall trade of life were stirred vp By occasion wherof many begaÌ„ to fear and doubt lest bearing the name of ChristiaÌ„s they did ruÌ„ne as the Apostle saieth or had runne in vaine This controuersy reached euen to the princes theÌ„ selues to king Oswin and his sonne Alcfrid For Oswin being brought vp and baptised of the Scottes and skilfull also of their tounge thought the maner which they obserued to be the best and most agreable to truthe Contrary wise Alck frid the kinges sonne being instructed of the lerned man VVilfrid preferred worthely his iudgement before al the traditions of the Scottes This VVilfrid for better instruction and lerninges sake had trauailed to Rome and liued also a longe time with Dalphinus the Archebishop of Lyons in Fraunce of whom also he tooke benet and collet To this lerned Prince Alcfrid gaue a monastery of fourty families in a place which is called Humpum The Scottes before were in possessioÌ„ of that monastery But bicause after the decision of this controuersie they chose rather of their owne accorde to departe and yelde vp the place then to chaunge their accustomed maner of obseruing the Easter it was geuen by the prince to him who bothe for lerning and vertu was worthy thereof About this time Agilbert bishop of the west saxoÌ„s a freÌ„de of Prince Alcfrid and VVilfrid the Abbot came to the prouince of Northumberland and staied there with them for a space Who in the meane while at the request of Alc srid made VVilfride a priest He had in his company also at that time one Agatho a priest At their presence therfore the question being renewed and much talked of they agreed on bothe sides that in the monasterie of Stranshalch where that deuout and vertuous woman Hilda was Abbesse a Synod should be kept for the decidyng of this question and other then in controuersy To this Synod came bothe the kinges Oswin the father and Alcfrid the sonne With king Oswin stode bishop Colman with his clergy of Scotland Hilda also the Abbesse with her company among whom was Cedda that reuereÌ„t bishop lately consecrated of the Scottes as we haue touched before who in that assemble was a most diligent interpreter on both sides For the other opinion which kinge Alcfrid folowed Agilbert the bishop stode with Agatho and VVilfrid priestes Iacobus and also Romanus two other lerned men stode of that side First then kinge Oswin premising that it behoued those which serued one God to kepe one order and rule in seruing the same nor to vary here in celebrating the heauenly sacramentes who looked all for one kingdom in heauen but rather that the truthe ought to be serched out of all and folowed vniformely of euery one commaunded his bisshop Colman first to declare what his obseruation was whence he receiued it and whom he folowed therein The bishop aunswered and saied The Easter which I obserue I haue receiued of my forefathers of whom I was sent hether bishop who all being vertuous and godly men haue after the
successours vertuous and godly men who after the same maner kept their Easter either beleued or liued contrary to holy Scripture especially their holynesse being such that God hath confirmed it with miracles Truly as I doubt not but they were holy men so I wil not feare to folow allwaies their life maners and trade of discipline In good sothe quoth VVillfrid It is well knowen that Anatholius was a right holy man very well lerned and worthy of much praise But what is that to you who vary also from his decrees and doctrine For Anatholius in his Easter according to the truth accompted the vsuall compasse of xix yeres whiche you either vtterly are ignorant of or if ye know it yet though it be through all Christendom obserued ye sett light by it Againe thoughe he obserued the Easter Sonday sometime vpon the xiiij daye of the moone yet he accompted the same daye at euening to be the fiftenth of the chaunge after the accompt of the Aegyptians So vpon the xx daye he kept the Easter that at the sonne setting he reaconed it for the xxj Which his rule and distinction that ye be ignorant of it is manifest by this that same time ye kepe your Easter cleane before the full of the moone euen the xiij daye of the chaunge As touching your father Columba and those whiche folowed him whose holy steppes ye pretend to folow as the which haue ben confirmed by miracles to this I may answer that in the daye of iudgment whereas many shall saie vnto Christ that they haue prophecyed cast out diuells and wrought miracles in his name our Lord wil answer that he knoweth them not But God forbidd that I shoulde so iudge of your fathers For it is our duty of such as we knowe not to deme the best Therefore I deme not but they were men of God and acceptable in his sight as the whiche loued God though in rude simplicite yet withe a godly intention Neither do I thinke that the maner of their obseruation coulde be much preiudiciall against them as longe as they had yet receiued no instructions to the contrary But rather I verely suppose seing such cōmaundemēts of God as they knew they willingly folowed they would also haue conformed thēselues to the Catholik iudgemēt if they had ben so informed But nowe Sir you and your cōpanions if hearing the decrees of the Apostolike see or rather of the vniuersall church and that also confirmed in holy write you folow not the same you offend and sinne herein vndoubtedly For though your fathers were holy mē could yet those few of one so smal corner of the vttermost ilond of the earth preiudicat the whole church of Christ dispersed through the vniuersall worlde And if your father Columba yea and our father if he were the true seruaunt of Christe were holye and mightye in miracles yet can he by any meanes be preferred to the moste blessed prince of the Apostles to whom our Lorde sayed Thou arte Peter and vppon this rocke I will builde my churche and hell gates shall neuer preuaile against her and to thee I will geue the kayes off the kingdome of heauen Thus when VVilfrid concluded the kinge saied vnto bishop Colman Were these thinges in dede spoken to Peter of our Lorde To whom the bishop answered yea Can you then saieth the kinge geue euidence of so speciall authoritie geuen to your father Columba The bishop answering No the kinge spake vnto bothe parties and sayed Agree ye bothe in this without any controuersy that these wordes were principally spoken vnto Peter and that vnto him the kayes of the kingdome of heauen were geuen When bothe had answered yea the kinge concluded and saied Then I saye vnto you that I will not gainsaie such a porter as this is but as farre as I knowe and am able I will couet all pointes to obey his ordinaunces lest perhaps when I come to the dores of the kingdome of heauen I finde none to open vnto me hauing his displeasure whiche is so clerely proued to beare the kayes thereof Thus when the kinge had sayed all that sate and stode by of all sortes and degrees abandonning their former vnperfectenesse confourmed them selues to the better instructions whiche they had nowe lerned How bishop Colman being ouercomed retourned home and Tuda succeded in the bishopricke Also what trade of life those gouernours of the church lead The. 26. Chap. THe controuersy being thus ended and the assemble dissolued bishop Agilbert returned home Bishop Colman also seing his doctrine and secte reprouued taking with him such as would folow him that is such as refused to accept the Catholike obseruation of Easter and the bearing of a rounde shauen crowne for of that matter also much disputation then was had returned vnto Scotland minding to deliberat there with his countremen what to folow herein Bisshop Cedda forsaking the Scottes embraced the catholike tradition and returned to his bishoprick This controuersie was moued in the yeare of our Lorde 664. in the 22. yeare of kinge Oswin and in the xxx yeare after the Scottes had ben bisshops ouer the englishmen For Aidan gouuerned the churche 17. yeares Finanus ten and Colman thre After the departure of Colman in to his countre Tuda was sett bishop ouer the Northumberlandmen instructed and created bishop amonge the South Scottes bearing after the maner of that countre a rounde shauen crowne and obseruing the Easter after the Catholike maner He was a man of great vertu and holynesse but he gouuerned the church a small time For he came out of Scotland whiles Colman was yet bishop teaching bothe in worde and with example diligently the true faith in Christ. In holy Ilond at the departure of the Scottes Eata a reuerend father and most meke person was made Abbat ouer the rest of the monkes which remained Who before had ben Abbat of Mailros at the suite of bishop Colman obtaining it of kinge Oswin at his departure bicause the same Eata had ben one of the xij scholers of bishop Aidan which at his first coming in to England he brought vp For this bishop Colman was derely loued of kinge Oswin for his rare wisedome and vertu This Eata not longe after was made bishop of holy Ilond Bishop Colman at his departing toke with him certain of the bones off bishop Aidan Part also he lefte in the church which he was bishop of laying them vp in the vestry thereof But how sparefull personnes he and his predecessours were and how greatly they absteined from all pleasures euen the place where he bare rule did witnesse In the whiche at their departure fewe houses were founde beside the church that is to saye those houses only without the which ciuill conuersation could no wise be maintained They had no mony but cattaill For if they tooke anye mony of riche men by and by they gaue it to poore people Neither was it nedefull that either mony
yet so sodenly finde none ready the iourney being so longe to you Truly as soone as we shall espie out a mete person and and worthy of that vocation we shall direct him spedely to your countre That by his preaching and holy scripture he may thouroughly roote oute all the wicked darnel of the enemy out of your Ilond by the helpe and grace of allmighty God The presents which your highnes directed to the blessed prince of the Apostles for his perpetuall memory we haue receiued thanking therefore your highnes beseching with all our clergy incessantly the goodnes of God for your highnes preseruatiō and good estat The bringer of your presents is departed this life and is laied at the entry of the blessed Apostles towmes we much lamenting and bewailing at his departure here Notwithstanding by the bearers of these our presents we haue sent the iewels of holy Martyrs that is the relikes of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paule and of the holy Martyrs S. Laurens Iohn and Paule of S. Gregory and of Pancratius all to be deliuered to your highnes To your Lady and bedfelowe our spiritual daughter we haue sent by the saied bearers a crosse of golde hauing in it a nayle taken out of the most holy chaines of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paule Of whose godly behauiour we vnderstanding haue all as farre reioysed as her vertuous dedes are before God pleasaunt and acceptable We beseche therefore your highnes to furder and sett forward the conuersation of your whole Ilond to the faith of Christ. You shall not vndoubtedly lacke herein the speciall protection of our Lorde Iesus Christ the redemer of all mankinde who will prosper you in all thinges to the encreasing of his true beleuers and planting of the catholike and Apostolike faith For it is written Seke ye first the kingdome of God and the righteousnes thereof and all these thinges shall be cast vnto you Truly your highnes seketh and shall no doubt obtaine and all partes of your Ilond as we wish and desire shall be brought vnder your allegeaunce We salute your highnes with most fatherly affection beseching continually the mercy of God that it will vouchesafe to assist you and all yours in the perfourmance of all good workes that in the worlde to come ye may all liue and raigne with Chrst. The heauenly grace frō aboue preserue alwaies your highnes In the next booke folowing we shall haue occasion to declare who was founde and appointed bishop in place of Wighard that died at Rome How the people of Essex and London in a time of plage retourning to Idolatry by the diligence of Iarumanus their bishop were soone brought home againe The 30. Chap. AT this time Sigher and Sebbi kinges ruled ouer the people of Essex and London after the death of Guidhelme of whom we haue spoken before althoughe these were also vnder the allegeannce of Wulfher king of the Middlelād englishmen This prouince being visited with that greate plague and mortalite which we mencioned before Sigher with the people ouer whom he ruled forsaking the sacramentes of Christes religion fell to Apostasie For bothe the kinge him selfe and many as well of the people as of the nobles louing this present life and not seking after the life to come or els not beleuing any such life at al begā to renew their temples which stode desolat and to worship idols as though they could therby escape the mortalite But Sebbi his cōpanion with al vnder him perseuered deuoutly in the faith and ended his life in great felicite as we shal herafter declare Wulfher the king vnderstanding parte of his dominions to fal from the faith for to call thembacke againe sent vnto them bishop Iarumannus the successor of Trumher who by much labour and diligence being a man of great vertu painfull and zelous as a certain priest waiting then vpō him and helping him in preaching the ghospell reported vnto me brought them to the faith againe bothe the kinge and all his people So that abandoning and throwing downe their tēples and altars they opened againe the churches confessed gladly the name of Christ and chose rather in hope of resurrection to dye then in the filth of idolatry to liue Which being so brought to passe their priestes and instructers returned home withe muche ioye and comfort THE FOVRTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF THE CHVRCH OF ENGLAND How after the death of Deusdedit Wighart being sent to be made bishop and dying there Theodore was consecrated Archebishop and sent in to England with a certain Abbat named Adrian The. 1. Chapter THe same yeare of the foresaied eclipse and pestilence that soone after folowed in which also bishop Colman ouercommed by the generall and vniforme sentence of the Catholikes returned home to his countre Deusdedit the sixt Archebishop of Caunterbury died the xiiij daye of Iuly Ercombert also kinke of kent departed this world the very same moneth and day and left to his sonne Ecgbert the Crowne and kingdom which he receiued and held by the space of ix yeres At that time the See of Caunterbury being vacant a great while and the diocese desirous of a bishop VVighart a vertuous priest a man very well lerned skilfull of the Canons rules and disciplines of the church and an english man borne was sent to Rome bothe by Ecgbert and also Oswin kinge of Northumberland as we haue mencioned before and with him certain presents to the Pope Apostolike as great store of plate bothe siluer and golde Being arriued to Rome in the time that Vitalianus gouuerned the Apostolike see and hauing declared the cause of his coming to the saied Pope within short space he and almost all his company were taken with the pestilence and died Whereupon the Pope with aduise and counsell enquired diligently whom he might direct for Archebishop ouer the churches of England In the monasterie of Niridan not farre from Naples in Campania there was an Abbat named Adrian an African borne a man very well lerned in the scriptures thouroughly instructed bothe in monasticall discipline and in ecclesiasticall gouuernement very skilfull of the greke and latin tounges This man being called to the Pope was willed of him to take the bishoprike vpon him and trauail vnto England But he answering that he was no mete man for so high a degree promised yet to bringe forth one which bothe for his lerning and for his age were more worthy of that vocation And offred to the Pope a certain monke liuing in a Nunnery there by called Andrew who though he were of all that knewe him estemed worthy of tke bishoprike yet for the impediment of his weake and sickely body it was not thought good to sende him Then Adrian being required againe to take it vpon him desired certain daies of respit if happely in the meane time he could finde any other mete to supplie that roume At this time there was in Rome a certain monke of Adriās acquaintaūce named Theodore borne
citie of Rotchester where the see had bene nowe longe vacant by the death of Damian did appoint and consecrat byshop there a man better skilled in the ecclesiasticall discipline and more geuen to plaine and simple sinceritie of lyfe than any thinge politike in worldly affayres His name was Putta a good churche man and cunning in musike after the Romaine vse which he had learned of Pope Gregories scholers How Chadda afore mentioned was appointed bishop of the Marshes or middleenglishmen and of his lyfe death and buriall The 3. Chap. AT that time was VVulpher king of the Marshes who after the death of Iaruman desired of Theodore to haue an other bishop appointed for him and his But Theodore would not consecrate them a newe bishop but desyred king Oswin that Chadde might be their bishop who at that time liued quietly in his monasterie at Lesting and VVilfrid ruled the diocese of yorke and also of all Northumberlande and of the Pictes to as far as king Oswines dominion dyd reache And bicause the said most reuerend bishop Chadde was wonte alwaies to preache and doo the worke of the ghospell more walking a fote wher he went than on horsebacke Theodore willed him to ryde when so euer he had any iourney to take But he refusing vtterly so to doo for the exceding desire and loue that he had of that holy labour and trauaile Theodore himselfe did lifte him on horsebacke with his owne handes knowing him in dede to be a very holy man and so cōpelled him to ride whether nede required Chadd heing thus made bishop of the Marshes the middle english men and of Lindisse he diligently gouerned the same after the examples of the auncient fathers in great perfection of life Vnto whom also king VVulpher gaue the land of L. tenements to build a monasterie with all in the place which is called Etbeare which is by a wood in the prouince of Lindisse where vntill this daye the steppes of monasticall lyfe which he began and placed there do yet remaine The seate and chiefe mansion of the diocese he held at Lichfield where he dyed also and was buried and where vntill this day cotineweth the see of the bishops that succede in the same prouince This man had made himselfe not far from the churche a certaine closet and priuate mansion in which as often as he was at leysure from the busynesse and ministerie of the ghospell he was wont to pray and reade secretly with a fewe that is to saye vij or viij bretherne with him And when he had gouerned the church most worthely in that prouince two yeres and an halfe by the dispensation and appointement of God aboue that time came which the Ecclefiastes speaketh of There is a time to lay abrode stones and a time to gather them together againe For there came a plage sent from God which by the death of the body remoued the liue stones of the churche from the earthly places to the celestiall building in heauen For very many of the churche of this most reuerend bisshop were taken out of this life And when his howre was come to that he should passe out of this worlde to our Lorde it happened on a certaine day that he abode in the foresayd closet and had no mo but one brother with him whose name was Owen all the reast of his felowes being retourned to churche as the cause and houre required This same Owen was a monke of great perfection and one that had forsaken the world with pure intent and hope of the rewarde of heauen a man for all pointes worthy to whome God in speciall wise might reuele and shewe his secrettes and well worthy to whose wordes the hearers may giue credit For coming with Quene Edildride from the prouince of the East English and being the chief off her seruauntes and gouernour of her house for the great zeale of faith that encreased in him determining with himselfe to renounce the world did in dede accomplysh the same not slackely and negligently but in such sort vncladd himself of worldly matters that forsaking all that euer he had being clothed but with plaine and poore apparayl and bearing an hatchet or axe in his hand came to the monasterie of the same most reuerend father called Lestinghe For he signified that he would entre into the monasterie not for ease and idlenesse as some do but to trauaile and labour which thing he well shewed and proued in his doinges for the leasse able and apte that he was for the studie and meditatiō of the scriptures the more diligēt and painfull he was to worke with his handes Finally his reuerence and deuotion was such that the bishop accepted him for one of his brethern to accompany him with the other fewe in the foresaid closet Where while they with in were occupied in reading and prayer he without dyd those thinges abrode that were necessarie to be done And on a certaine day as he was dooing some such thing abrode the reast being gone to churche as I began to say and the bishop being alone in the oratorie of the house occupied in reading or prayer this Owen heard sodainly as he after told a most swete noyse of voyces singing and reioysinge comming downe from heauen to the earth the which voice he sayd he first heard begynning from the south east that is from whence the depth of winter comes and then by litle and litle drawinge nere him vntill it came to the roofe of the oratorie where the bishop was where it entred filled it within and compassed it all rownd about Whereat geuing earnestly mind to marke the thinge that he heard he did againe as it were about an houre after heare the same ioyfull song go vp and ascend from the roofe of the said oratorie and retourne vp to the heauens the very same way that it came with vnspeakeable swetenes Whereat as he mused a space and was as it were astouned imagining and deuising depely in his minde what this might be the bishop opened the oratorie windowe and as he vsed to doo made a noyse and signe with his hand and bad some man come into him if there were any body without Then came he straight way to whome the bisshop said Go to the churche quickely and cause those vij bretherne to come hither and come you with them to And when they were come first he admonished them to kepe among them selues and toward all faithfull folke the vertue of charitie and peace and also with vnweary continuance to folowe the rules and orders of monastical discipline which they had either learned of him and sene in him or founde in the doings or sayings of the former fathers And then did he tell them moreouer that the day of his departing was very nigh at hand For that most louely geast quod he who was wonte to visit our bretherne hath voutsafed this day to come to me also and to call me out of this world Wherefore
petition was heard and graunted for xij dayes after she was taken out of this life also and receaued euerlasting rewarde in chaunge of those temporall afflictions Nowe when Torithgid the foresaid handmayd of Christe had lyued three yeare more after the death of the Abbesse she was so far pyned away with the sickenesse that we spake of before that the skyn and bones did scant cleaue together And at last the time of her departing being nowe at hand she could not only styr none of all her limmes but was speachelesse and could not moue her tongue In which case as she lay three daies and as many nightes sodainly being relieued with a ghostly vision she opened her mouthe and eyes and looking vp to heauen begaÌ„ thus to speake to the vision which she sawe Thy comminge is to me moâ—â— ioyfull and thou arte hartely wellcome And when she had so sayd she held her peace a litle as it were abyding for an aunswere of him whome she sawe and spake to And then as it were a litle angerly she sayed againe I can not gladly suffer this And straightway holding her peace a litle she spake the third tyme and sayd If it may not by any meanes be to day I beseche the that the meane time be not longe delayed wherewith holding her peace a litle as she had done before she ended and concluded her talke thus And if it be fully so appointed and that this sentence and order can not be changed I beseke thee that there be no more but only this next night betwene After which wordes being demaunded of them that sate about her to whom she spake forsoth quoth she to my most dere mother Edilburge Whereby they vnderstode she came to bringe her word that the time of her passing hence was nye For euen as she made request after one day and one night passed she was deliuered both of the bond of the flesh and of her sickenesse and entred into the ioyes of eternall blesse How a certaine blynd woman praying in the Churchyard of the same monasterie receaued her sight The. 10. Chap. IN the place and office of Abbesse Edelburg succeded a deuout handmayd of God named Hildilhid the which many yeares euen till her very great and extreme age gouerned the same monasterie exceding diligently bothe in keping of regular discipline and order and also in prouiding such thinges as apperteined to daily vses This woman bicause of the straightnesse of the place wherein the monasterie was built thought good to haue the bones of the holy monkes and handmaydes of Christ which were there buried taken vp and remoued all to the churche of the blessed mother of God and there to be buried and laid in one place In which place how often the brightenes of the heauenly light appered howe often and howe great a flagrant odour of a meruailouse swete sauour and what other miracles were there shewed who so will know and reade he shal fynd the same aboundantly in that booke out of which we haue taken these thinges Yet my thinke I can in no case let passe a miracle of one that was healed which miracle as the same booke declareth was wrought in the Churcheyard of the sayd religiouse house There dwelled an Erle therby whose wyfe had a certaine darkenes sodainly comen ouer her eyes the griefe whereof daily encreasing she was so farre troubled and molested therewith that she could not see any litle light at all This lady remaining a space in this blindnesse it came sodainly to her mind on a time that if she were brought to the monasterie of the holy virgins and there prayed at the reliques of the Saintes she might receaue her sight againe And she made no delay till she had straight fulfilled that which she had ones conceaued in her mind For being lead by her maydes to the monasterie being hard by adioyning where she had full belefe to be holpeÌ„ and healed she was straight brought into the churchyard And as she praied ther for a space on her knees her petition was heard and obtained anon For rising vp from her prayer before she went out of the place she receaued the benefit of her sight that she sought And where she was lead thither by the handes of her wayting maydes she went ioyfully home by herselfe without any guide so that it might seme that she had lost the light of this world only for this end that she might shewe by her healinge what and howe great the light is that Christes Saintes haue in heauen and what grace of power and vertue How Sebbi king of the same prouince ended his lyfe in monasticall conuersation The. 11. Chapter AT that time as also the foresayd booke sheweth there raigned ouer the East Saxons a man very deuout and godly named Sebbi of whome we made mention aboue For he was very much geuen to exercises of religion and vertu to much and often praier and to charitable almesdedes esteming the solitarie and monastical life before all the rychesse and honours of a kingdome Which kinde of lyfe he had taken long time before and giuen vp his kingdome had not the selfewilled mind of his wife refused to separate from him And therfore some men thought as it had bene often sayed that a man of such a nature and well disposed mind was more mete to be made a bishop then a king Nowe when this souldiour of the ecclesiasticall kingdome had passed ouer xxx yeres in his temporall reigne at lenght he died But first he admonished his wife that then at least they should wholly geue themselues both together to serue God whereas they could no lenger now enioye or rather serue the world together Which thing when he had with much a doo obtained of her he came to the bisshop of London named Waldher who had succeded Erconwald and at his hand and blessing receaued the habit of religion which he had long desyred To which bishop he brought a great somme of mony to be bestowed and giueÌ„ to the poore reseruing nothing at all for him selfe but rather desyring to remaine poore in spirite for the kingdome of heauen And when he perceaued the day of his death to be at hand bicause the foresayd sicknesse grewe on still vpon him for the princely haught courage that he had he began to feare least at his death throughe the bitter pange of the same he might hap either to vtter with his mouth or with some other part of his body doo any thing that were not mete and comly for his person And therefore he sent for the bishop of London where he also then continewed and desyred him that at his departing and passing out of this world there should be no mo present but the bishop himselfe and two of his chapplens Which thing when the bishop had promised moste gladly to doo not long after the said man of God setting him selfe to slepe sawe a comfortable vision which toke from him all care of
his way to the prouince of the South Saxons which from kent reacheth southwarde and westward as far as the West Saxons contayning vij M. tenementes and was yet at that time lyuing in the paynimes lawe Vnto them did he minister the worde of faith and baptisme of saluation The king of the same countree whose name was Edilwach was christened not long before in the prouince of the Marshes in the presence and at the exhortatioÌ„ of king Wulfhere Who also at the fonte was his godfather and in signe of that adoption gaue him two prouinces that is to say the I le of wight and the prouince of Manures in the West parte of England By the permission therefore and great reioysing of the king this bishopp christened the chiefe Lordes and knightes of the countree And the reast of the people at thesame time or sone after were christened by the priestes Eappa Padda Bruchelin and Oidda The Quene also named Ebba was christened in her I le which was in the prouince of the Viccians for she was the doughter of Eanfride who was Eanberes brother whiche were both christen men and all their people But all the prouince of the South Saxons had neuer before that time heard of the name of God nor the faith Yet there was in the countree a certaine monke a Scot borne named Dicul which had a very litle monasterie in a place called Bosanham all compassed about with woddes and the sea and therein a v. or vj. bretherne seruing God in humble and poore life But none of the people there did giue them selues either to followe their lyfe or heare their preaching But when bishop Wilfride came and preached the gospel vnto them he not only deliuered theÌ„ from the miserie and perill of eternall damnation but also from an horrible morraine of this temporall death For in three yeares before his comming to that prouince it had not rayned one drop in all those quarters Whereby a very sore famine came vpon the common people and destroyed them by hole heapes in most pitifull wyse In so much that it is reported that diuerse and many times xl or l. men in a company being famished for hunger would go together to some rocke or sea banke and there wringing their handes in most miserable sort would cast themselues all downe either to be killed with the fall or drowned in the sea But on that very day on which the people receaued the baptisme and faith there fell a goodly and plentifull shoure of raine wherewith the earth florished againe and brought a most ioyfull and frutefull yere with goodly greene fieldes euery where Thus their old superstition being layed away and idolatrie blowen out and extincted the hartes and bodies of them all did reioyse in the liuing God knowing that he which is the true God had by his heauenly grace enryched them both with inwarde and outward giftes and goodes For this bishop also when he came into the countree and sawe so great a plage of famine there taught them to get their sustenaunce by fysshing For the sea and riuers there about them had great abundance of fysh But the people had no skill at all to fish for any thing els but eeles And therefore they of the bishops company gat somewhere a sort of eelenettes together and cast them into the sea and straight way by the helpe and grace of God they tooke CCC fishes of diuerse kindes The which they diuided into three partes and gaue one hundred to poore folke and an other to them of whom they had the nettes and the third they kept for themselues By the which benefit the bishop tourned the hartes of them all much to loue him and they began the more willingly to hope for heaueÌ„ly things at his preaching by whose helpe and succour they receaued the giftes and goodes of this worlde At this time did Edilwach giue vnto the most reuerend bishop VVilfrid the land of lxxxvij tenementes where he might place his company that were exiles with him The name of the place was Sâ—â—lâ—seâ—s The whiche place is compassed of the sea round about sauing on the west where it hath an entraunce into it as brode as a man may caste a stone with a slinge Which kinde of place is in Latin called Paeninsula and in Greke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When bishop VVilfride had receaued this place he founded a monasterie there which he did binde to monastical life and rule and did put therein monkes namely some of them that he had brought with him Whiche monasterie his successours are knowen to holde and kepe vnto this day For vntil the death of king Ecgbert which was v. yeares space he continewed still in those quarters in great honour and reuerence among all men for his good deseruing for he did the office of a bishop both in word and dede And bicause the king with the possession of the forsaid place had giueÌ„ him also al the goodes and demaynes of the same with the groundes and men to he instructed them all in the Christian faithe and baptised theÌ„ al. AmoÌ„g the which ther wer CCC bond men and bondwemen whome he did all not only deliuer by christening them from the bondage of the deuil but also by giuing them their freedom did louse them from the yoke of the bondage of man How by the prayer and intercession of Saint Oswald the pestilent mortalitie was taken away The. 14. Chapter IN this monasterie att the same time there were shewed certaine giftes of heauenly grace by the holy Ghoste as in which place the tyrannye of the deuill being lately expelled Christ had newly begonne to raigne One of which thinges we thought good to put in writing to be remeÌ„bred hereafter the which in dede the most reuerend father Acca was ofte times wont to tell me and affirmed that be had it shewed him of the bretherne of the same monasterie a man most worthy to be credited About the same very time that this prouince receaued the name of Christ a sore plage and mortalitie raigned in many prouinces of England which plage by the pleasure of Gods dispensation and ordinaunce when it touched also the foresayed monasterie which at that time the most Reuerend and vertuouse priest of Christ Eappa did rule and gouerne and that many bothe of them that came thither with the bishop and also of such as had bene lately called to the faith in the same prouince of the South Saxons were taken daily out of this life it semed good to the bretherne to appoint themselues to faste three daies and humbly to beseke the mercy of God that he wold voutsafe to shew grace and mercy towarde them and deliuer them from this perilouse plage and present deathe or at least when they were taken out of this world to saue their soules from eternall damnation There was at that time in the same monasterie a certaine litle boye that was lately come
to the faith a Saxon borne which was taken with the same sickenesse and had kept his bed no small time And when the second day of the said fasting and praying was nowe come it happened that about vij a clocke in the morning as the boy was leafte al alone in the place where he lay sicke sodainly by the appointement of God there vowtsafed to appere vnto him the most blessed two chiefe Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul For the boy was of a very innocent and meke mind and nature and with sincere deuocion kepte the sacramente of faith which he had receaued In this vision the Apostles first saluted him with most gentle wordes saying Feare not Sonne the death for which thou art so pensife for we wil this day bring thee to the kingdom of heauen But first thou must tary til the Masses be said and after thou hast receaued thy viage prouisioÌ„ the body and bloud of our Lord being so released both of sickenes and death thou shalt be lifted vp to the euerlasting ioyes in heauen Therefore doo thou call for priest Eappa vnto thee and tell him that our Lorde hath heard your prayers and deuocion and hath mercifully looked vpon your fastinge neither shall there any one more dye of this plage either in this monasterie or in any of the possessions that adioyne to the same But as many as belonge to you any where and lye sicke shall rise againe from their sickenes and be restored to their former health saue only thow which this daye shalt be deliuered from death and be brought to heauen to the vision of our Lord Christ whome thow haste faithfully serued Which thing it hath pleased the mercy of God to doo for you through the intercession of the godly and dere seruant of God king Oswald which sometime gouerned the countre of Northumberland most nobly both with the authoritie of this temporall kingdome and also in holynesse and deuotion of Christen pietie which leadeth to the euerlasting kingdom For on this very day the same king being bodely slaine in battaile of the infidels and miscreants was straight takeÌ„ vp to heaueÌ„ to the eternal ioyes of the soule and felowship of the chosen and electe companies Let them seke in their booke that haue the notes of the departing of the dead and they shall fynd that he was takeÌ„ out of the world on this selfe day as we haue sayd And therfor let theÌ„ say Masses and geue thankes that their prayer is heard and also for the memory of the sayd king Oswald which sometime gouerned their nation For therefore did he humbly pray our Lord for them as being strauÌ„gers and exiles of his people And when all the bretherne are come together to the churche let them all be houselled and so fynish their faste and refresh their bodies with sustenaunce All the which wordes when the boy had declared to the priest being called vnto him the priest enquired of him what maner of aray and lykenes the men had which appeared vnto him He aunsweared they were very notable and goodly in their aray and countenaunces and exceding ioyfull and beautifull such as he neuer had sene before nor beleued that any men could be of so great comlynesse and beautie The one was shauen like a priest the other had a long beard And they sayd that the one of them was called Peter and thother Paul and that they were the ministers and seruantes of our Lorde and Sauiour Iesus Christ of whome they were sent from heauen for the sauing and defense of our monasterie Wherefore the priest belieued the wordes of the boye and went out by aud by and sought in his booke of Cronicles and found that king Oswald was slaine on that very day Then called he the bretherne together and commaunded dyner to be prouided and masses to be sayd and that they should all communicat after the accustomed maner And also willed a parte of the same sacrifice of our Lordes oblation to be brought to the sicke boye which thinge so done not loÌ„g after the boy died the very same day and proued by his death that the wordes were true which he had heard of Christes Apostles And this morouer gaue witnesse to his wordes that at that time no creature of the same monasterie was taken out of the world except him only By which vision many that might heare of the same were meruaylowsly styrred and enflamed both to praye and call for Gods mercy in aduersitie and also to vse the holesome helpes and medicines of fastinge And from that time not in that monasterie only but in very many other places to the birthe day of the sayd kinge and champion of Christ began yearely to be kept holy with masses and deuout seruice most reuerently Howe king Ceadwall â—lew Edilwach king of the Genisses and wasted that prouince with cruell death and ruyn The. 15. Chap. IN this meane time Ceadwall a valiant yong man of the royall blood of the Genisses being bannyshed from his countre came with an hoste of men and slewe king Edilwach of Sussex and wasted that prouince cruelly murdering and spoyling euery where But he was sone after driuen owt by two Capitaines of the kinges Berthun and Authun whiche from that tyme dyd holde and kepe the dominion of the prouince The chief of whiche two was afterward slaine of the same Ceadwall being then kinge in the west countre and the prouince subdued and browght into more greuouse subiection then it was before Againe he that raigned after Ceadwall oppressed it with lyke miserie and bondage a great many yeres Whereby it came to passe that the people of Sussex in all that time could haue no bishop of their own but were faine their first byshop VVilfride being called home againe to be vnder the diocese of the byshop of the Genisses which belongeth to the VVest Saxons as many as were in the territory of Selsee Howe the Ile of Wyght receaued christen inhabitantes in which I le two childerne of the kinges blood as sone as they were Christened were slayne The. 16. Chap. AFter that Ceadwall had thus obtayned the kingdome of the Geuisses or west Saxons he tooke the I le of Wight also which was so all giuen to the worshipping of idols that he entended vtterly to bannysh and dryue owt thence all the old natiue inhabitantes and to put people of his owne countre in their place For thowghe he was not yet at that time christened and regenerated in Christ him selfe at it is sayd yet he bownd him selfe with a vowe that if he tooke the Iland he wold giue vnto God the fourth part therof and of all the pray Which thing he so perfourmed that bishop VVilfride happening to be there at that time a man of his own countree he gaue and offred the same vnto him to the vse and seruice of our Lorde The sayd Iland conteyned as the English doo rate it M. CC. tenementes Whereof was giuen to
the byshop the possession of the land of CCC tenementes Whiche portion the Bishop gaue and committed to one of his clerkes named Bernwini his sisters sonne and appointed there to a priest named Hildila to minister the worde and baptisme of lyfe to all that would be saued And here I thinke it not to be passed ouer in silence that for the first frutes of them that were saued throwgh beleuing in the same I le two children of the blood royall being bretherne to Aruald king of the Iland were crouned with a speciall grace of God For when the ennemies came on the Iland they â—led and scaped to the next prouince of the Vites And there they gat to a place called Stonestat hoping to hyde themselues from the face and sighte of the king that had conquered their countree but they were betrayed and fownd owt and commaunded to be put to death Which thing when a certaine abbat and priest named Cimberth had heard of whose monasterie was not far from thence at a place called Redford he came to the king which was than in the same parties lying secretly to be cured of his woundes that he had taken fighting in the I le of Wighte and desired of him that if he would nedes haue the childerne put to death yet they might first receaue the sacramentes of the Christian fayth The kinge graunted his request and than he tooke them and catechised them in the right faith of Christe and wasshing them withe the holesome fonte of baptisme made them sure and in perfyt hope to enter into the kingdome euerlasting Anon after came the hangeman to put them to death which death of this world they ioyfully toke by the which they douted not but they should passe to the eternall life of the soule When after this order all the prouince of great Britaine had receaued the faythe of Christe the I le of Wight receaued the same also in whiche notwitstanding bicause of the miserie and state of forayne subiection no man tooke the degree of the ministerie and place of a bysshopp before Daniel who nowe is bysshopp of the west Saxons and of the Geuisses The situation of this I le is ouer against the middes of the South Saxons and Geuisses the sea comming betwene of the breadth of three myles which sea is called Solent in which two armes of the Ocean sea that breake out from the maine north sea about Britanie do dayly mete and violently ronne together beyond the mouth of the riuer Homelea which ronneth along by the countree off the Vites that belong to the prouince of the Genisses and so entreth into the foresaid sea And after this meting and striuing together of the two seas they goe backe and flowe againe into the Ocean from whence they came Of the Synode made at Hetdfield Theodore the Archebishop being there president The 17. Chap. AT this time Theodore hauing worde that the faith of the church at CoÌ„stantinople was sore troubled through the heresie of Eutiches and wishing that the churches of the english nation ouer which he gouuerned might continew free and clere from such a spot gathered an assemble of Reuerend priestes and many doctours and enquired diligently of eche of them what faith they were of where he found one consent and agrement of them all in the catholique faith Which consent he procured to set forth and commende with letters sent from the whole Synode for the instruction and remembrance of the aftercommers the beginning of which letters was this In the name of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ and in the raignes of our most good and vertuouse Lordes Ecgfride king of the Humbers the x. yere of his raigne the viij yere of the Indiction and the xvij day of September and Edilrede king of the Marshes in the vj. yeare of his raigne and Aldulphe king of the Estenglish in the xvij yere of his raigne and Lothar king of kent in the vij yeare of his raigne being there president and chief Theodore by the grace of God Archebishop of the I le of Britanie and of the citie of Caunterbury and with him sitting in assemblee the other bishops of the same land most Reuerend men and prelates hauing the holy ghospelles set before them at a place called in the Saxon tong Hedtfield after commoning and conference together had thereuppon we haue expounded and set fourth the right and true catholique faith in such sort as our Lorde Iesus being incarnate in this worlde deliuered it to his disciples which presently sawe and heard his wordes and doctrine and as the crede of the holy fathers hath leaft by tradition and generally as all holy men all generall Councells and all the whole company of the authentique doctours of the catholique churche haue taught and deliuered Whome we following in good dewe godly and rightbeleuing maner according to their doctrine inspired into them from God do professe and beleue and stedfastly do confesse with the holy fathers the Father and the Sonne and the holy ghoste most verily and in true and formall proprietie the Trinitie in the vnitie of one substance and the vnitie in Trinitye that is to saye one God in three persons of one substance and of equall glorie and honour And after many like thinges pertaining to the confession of the right faith the holy Synode dyd also adde to their letters these thinges folowing We haue receaued the fiue holy and generall Synodes of the blessed and derebeloued fathers of God that is to saye of CCC xviij which wer asseÌ„bled at Nice against the most wicked and blasphemous Arrius and his opinions And of Cl. at Constantinople against the madenesse and fond secte of Macedonius and Eudoxius and their opinions And at Ephesus the first time of CC. against the most wicked Nestorius and his opinions And at ChalcedoÌ„ of CCxxx against Eutiches and Nestorius and their opinions And at Constantinople the second time where was assembled the fifte Councell in the time of the emperour Iustinian the yonger against Theodore and Theodorete and Ibe and their epistles and their opinions And a litle after against Cyrill Also we receaue and admit the Synode made at the citie of Rome in the time of the most holy and blessed Pope Martin the viij yere of the Indiction and the ix yere of the most godly and good Emperour Constantine And we worship and glorifie our Lorde Iesus Christ in such sort as these men haue done adding or diminishing nothing and we accurse with hart and mouth them whome these fathers haue accursed and whome they haue receaued we receaue glorifyeng God the father without beginning and his only begotten sonne begotten of the father before all ages and times and the holy ghost proceding of the father and the sonne in vnspeakeable wise according as these aboue mentioned holy Apostles and prohetes and doctours haue preached and taught And all we that with Theodore the Archebishop haue set forth and declared
the catholique faith do hereunto subscribe with our owne handes How Iohn the Chantour of the sea Apostolique came into Englande to teache his conninge The. 18. Chap. AT this Synode there was present and also confirmed the decrees of the catholique faith a most reuerēd man named Ihon the chief Chantour of S. Peters churche and abbot of the monasterie of S. Martyns whiche was come of late from Rome by the commaundement of Pope Agatho hauing for his guyde the most reuerend Abbot Bishop surnamed Benedict of whome we spake before For when the sayed Benedict had buylt a monasterie in England in the honour of the most bessed chief of thapostles S. Peter by the mouth of the riuer Were he came to Rome as he had ofte bene wont to do before with his felowe and helper in the same worke Ceolfride who after him was abbot of the same monasterie and was receaued most honourably of Pope Agatho of worthy memorie of whome he desyred and obtained for the warrant and assurance of the libertie of the monasterie that he had erected a letter of priuilege confirmed by the authoritie Apostolique in such forme as he knewe the will and graunt of king Ecgfride to be by whose leaue and liberall gyfte of possession and land he had made the sayd monasterie He obtained also to haue with him the foresayd Abbot Ihon into England to the entente he might teache in his monasterie the yearly course and order of singing as it was in S. Peters at Rome And so the sayd Abbot Ihon did as sone as he had commaundemente by the Pope both with his owne voyce and presence teaching the chantours and singing men of the saied monastery the order and forme of singing and reading and also putting in writing those thinges that appertained to the celebration of highe feastes and holy dayes for the whole cōpasse of the yere Which things of his writing haue bene hitherto kept in the same monastery and are now euery wher copied out by diuerse And the same Ihon did not only teache the brethren of that monasterie but such as were skilled in songe came together to here him almost from all the monasteries of the same prouince And many to did earnestly desyre and entreat him in such places where he taught to come to them him selfe Beside this office and skill to teache synging and reading he had also an other charge in commaundement from the Pope Apostolike which was that he should diligently learne of what faith the churche of England was and bring worde thereof at his retourne to Rome For not longe before there had ben kepte at Rome a Synod by the holy Pope Martin of the consent of Cv. bishops against them principally that preached one only working and will in Christe Which Synode he brought with him and gaue it to be writen and copyed out in the foresayd monasterie of the moste vertuouse Abbot Benedict For such men had at that time very sore troubled the faith of the churche of Constantinople but by the goodnes and gyfte of our Lorde they were anon espied out and conuicted at the same time Wherefore Agatho the Pope minding as in other prouinces so also in England to be enformed what the Churche was and howe clere it was from the pestilent contagions of heretikes committed this charge and busynes to the most Reuerend Abbot Ihon being nowe appointed to go to England And therefore when the synode which we spake of before was called together in England for this purpose the catholike faith was in them all found clere sownd and vncorrupted And a copie of the same was geuen him to carie to Rome But in his retourning homewarde not long after he passed the sea he fell sicke by the way and died His body for the loue of S. Martin whose monasterie he gouerned was by his frendes brought vnto Tours and there buried honorably For as he went toward England he was gentelly receaued and lodged in that churche and desired earnestly of the bretherne ther that whē he retourned to Rome he wold come that way and lodge with them Finally he toke with him from thence certaine to helpe and succour him both in his iourney and also in his busynes that he was charged withall who althoughe he thus died by the way yet neuerthelesse the copie of the Catholique faith of England was brought to Rome and receaued most gladly and ioyfully of the Pope apostolike and of al that heard or read the same How quene Edildred continewed a perpetuall virgin whose body could not be corrupted nor rot in her tombe The. 19. Chapter KIng Egfride tooke to wife a woman named Edildride the doughter of Anna king of the East english of whom we haue ofte made mention a man meruailouse godly and in al pointes notable for vertu both of thought and dede This sayd woman had bene wedded to an other man before him that is to saye to the prince of the South Giruians named Tonbert But he died a litle after he had maried her and then she was geuen to wife to the foresayd kinge With whome she liued xij yeres and yet remained continually a pure and glorious virgin euen as bishop Wilfrid a man of blessed memorie did shewe me enquiring of purpose of the matter bicause many did doubte thereof and saied vnto me that he coulde of all men be a very sure witnesse of her virginitie for so much as kinge Ecgfrid promised to geue him landes and much money if he coulde persuade the quene to vse his companie though yet he knewe well that she loued no man in the world more then him And it is not to be mystrusted but that the same thinge may be done in our time also which hathe ben sometime done in times paste as trewe histories do witnesse whereas one and the same lorde geueth the grace which promiseth to abyde with vs vnto the end of the world For besyde this the signe and token of the diuine miracle in that the flesh of the same virgin buryed could not be corrupted and putrefied doth well shewe that she lyued alway vncorrupted and vntouched of any man Againe it is well knowen she besowght the king very much and a long time that she mighte forsake the cares of the world and haue leaue to go into a monasterie and ther◠only to serue Christ the true king Which when she had at last obtayned she entred into the monasterie of Abbesse Ebbe who bare a good affection to kinge Ecgfride The monasterie standeth in a towne called Coludi and the aforesayd byshop VVilfride gaue her the veale and habit of a nonne Within a yere after whiche she was herselfe made an Abbesse in the I le of Ely in which place there was built a monastery of virgins dedicated to God amonge whom she began to be a very good mother and virgin bothe in examples and also good lessons of heauenly lyfe Of her it is sayd that after the
in the historie whereof many songes and psalmes are put in amonge which were as is well knowen made in meter and verse A song or sonnet in praise of virginitie and in the honour of S. Edildred O God o gloriouse Trinitie in whome all rule doth alway stande O gloriouse God all one in three ayde thou the thinges we take in hand Of wars let Virgils verse endite sing we the plesant frutes of peace Aeneas fights let Virgil write Christs gifts to sing let vs not cease My verse is chast it is not made to tell of â—ynfull Helens stelth My verse is chast such wanton trade write they that liue in wanton welth Of heaueÌ„ly giftes to speake I long not of thassaults of ruinous Troy Of heauenly giftes shal be my song the which the earth dothe nowe enioye Behold highe God commes from aboue the virgiÌ„ns pure wombe to possesse Behold high God commes for mens loue them to redeme from death endlesse A maydeÌ„ mother bringes sorth a childe who is the father of al that is Borne is a son of a mayden myld Marie the gate of God and blys The blessed flocke in her delight mayd and mother of the Deitie The blessed flocke most pure and bright in pure and chast virginitie Her worthinesse hath made mo spring of this chast virgin stocke and bowe Her worthinesse doth daily bring mo virgin flowers to bud and blowe The fyry flames the virgin pure S. Agathe neuer shranke to byde The fyry flames dyd eke endure Eulalya as gold in fornace tried The vgly beastes with gaping iawes chast Teâ—la conquered gloriously The vgly beastes with ramping pawes chast Eufeme lead victoriously The bloddy sweard with laughing looke Agnes more strong than stele nere drad The blooddy sweard S. Cicilie tooke great ioy therein no harme she had The world wyde hath flowed in such triumphing actes of sober harts The world wyde hath flowed in much loue of like chaste and sober partes And eke our dayes with one are blest a noble virgin verilie Our Edildride doth shine addrest with like bright perfit puritie Of royall spirite and stocke she came her father a famouse worthy wighte Her royall spirite and noble name was much more noble in God his sighte She had also the soueraintie of Queene and raigne terrestriall But she had an higher maiestie of raigne and blysse celestiall O virgin bright what sekst thee a man which hast already thy spouse aboue VVhat other husband sekst thee than Christ is thyne only spouse and loue I thinke that thou â—erein mighst doo as dyd the mother of the heauenly king That thou both wyfe and virgin too mighst be like her in that ilke thing For when this spowse of God had past xij yeres in secular life and raigne This spouse of God herselfe did hast in life monasticall to remaine VVher she to heauen wholly bent florisht in vertues many and hye FroÌ„ theÌ„ce her soul to heaueÌ„ went to which she did her wholly apply This virgins body pure in ground had lyen the space of xvj yere Yet was the same as swete and sound as when it first was layed on bere O Christ this was thy worke most true the very clothes about the corse O Christ were faire and hole and newe long time on them had lost his force The dropsy eke that foul disease these holy shrouds did heale and cure And diuerse had by theÌ„ their ease of sundrie griefs they did endure The furiouse fend that erst beguyld our mother Eue maliciously This fend so fell a virgin myld did put to flight victoriously Lo bride of God see and behold what honour in earthe to thee done is O spouse of Christ a thousand folde is done thee more in heaueÌ„s blys The ioyfull gifte thou doest possesse a bride full bright for thy bridegrome The ioyfull gifte that neuer cesse lo Christ him selfe to thee is come And thou to him melodiously doest sing with swete and tuning voice To him with hymnes and harmony new and swete spouse thou doest reioyce The laÌ„bes high throne and coÌ„pany follow thou shalt for euer and euer His loue and bonde is such to thee noman there fro shall thee disseuer How bishop Theodore made peace betwene the two kinges Ecgfrid and Edilfride The. 21. Chapter THe ix yere of the raigne of Ecgfride a battaile was fought betwene him and Edilfride king of the Marshes by the riuer of Trent in which was slaine Elbuine king Ecgfrides brother a yoÌ„g maÌ„ of about xviij yeres of age and very well beloued of both the countries For a syster of his named Osthride was wife vnto king Edilred And whereas hereupon there semed to ryse an occasion and matter of sharper war and longer enmitie betwene the two kings and the fierse peoples Gods derebeloued bishop Theodore trusting in the helpe of our lord did by his holesome exhortation vtterly quenche the fyre of so great a perill begonne in such sorte that the kinges and people beinge pacified on both sydes the lyfe of no man perished for the death of the kinges brother but only a dewe amercement of mony was geuen and payd to the other kinge for amendes The bondes of which peace did a longe time after endure betwene the sayd kinges and their dominions How the fetters of a certaine prisoner were lowsed when masses were songe for him The. 22. Chapter IN the foresayd battaile in which was slaine king Elbuine a certaine notable thing and wel knowen of many happened which we in no wise may leaue vntolde bothe for the profit of the reader and for the glory of God In the battaill aboue mencioned among other of the souldiers a certaine yonge man named Imma was left for dead which when he had all that day and night following lyen among the bodies of the slayne men lyke as he had bene dead also at laste receaued ayre and breath and reuiued againe and sate vp and bound his woundes him selfe as well as he could resting himself a litle After he arose vp and begaÌ„ to go his way seeking where he might fynd some fryndes to see to him and helpe him But as he so did he was found and taken of his enemies of the other campe and brought vnto their Lord who was an Erle subiecte to king Edilred Of whome being demaunded what he was he feared to coÌ„fesse that he was a souldier and thought better to answer that he was a poore husband man of the countre and one that had wyfe and children and that he came forth with such other as he was to bring vittailes to the souldiers But for all this the sayd Lorde suspected him and willed his wouÌ„des to be looked vnto and when he began to wex hole he coÌ„maunded him at night season to be kept in bondes least he should scape away but beholde no bondes could holde him but as sone as they were gone that had bound him his bondes and fetters wer straight way loosed For he had a brother whose name was TuÌ„na
a priest and Abbot of a monastery in the citie which of his name is called vnto this day Tunnacester who when he heard that his brother was slaine in the battaile came to seeke if he might happely fynd his bodie Where he finding one that was in all pointes like him and thinking it to be him in dede brought him to his monasterie and buried him honorably and did often times cause masse to be saied for his soule By the saying of which masses that which I sayd came to passe that noman could bynd him but that he was straight way loused againe Then the Erle that kepte him began to wonder here at and to enquire of him what the cause was that he coulde not be bound and whether perhaps he had about him any loosing letters such as men talke of that he could not be bound by the vertue of them But he aunsweared that he knewe no such arte nor conning but I haue a brother quod he in my countre one that is a priest and I knowe that he thinkes I am slaine and therefore doth oft saye masse for me and if I were nowe in an other world my sowle showld be there loused from paynes throughe his intercessions and prayers as my body is here from bondes And while he was thus kept a certaine space in the Erles howse some that marked him more diligently sawe by his countenaunce behauiour and talke that he was not as he had sayd of the common poore sort of people but of some good house and degree Therefore the Erle called him secretly and examined him more straightly of whence he was Promising that he wold doo him no harme in the world if he wold playnly vtter and shewe himselfe what he was Which thing when he had done and declared himselfe to be one of the kinges seruauntes wel quoth the Erle I knewe by thy wordes and awnsweres that thow were no husbandman of the countre And thou art well worthy to dye nowe for that all my bretherne and kynnesmen were slaine in that battaile yet I will not put the to death for breaking of my faith and promyse And therfore as soone as he was full cured the Erle sent him to London and solde him to a marchant of Friseland But neither he nor any man els as he was lead thither could bynd him by any meanes And yet his enemies dyd lay on him many and sundry kindes of fetters which yet allwaies were loosed When he that hadd bowght him sawe that he cowld be kept and holden in no bondes he gaue him leaue to ransome himselfe if he were able For after abowt viij a clocke in the morning when masses began to be sayd his bondes and fetters were euer lowsed And thus vpon his othe either to come againe or els to send his ransome he was let go and came to kent to kinge Lodhere who was sonne to the sister of Quene Edildrede of whom we haue spoken before and himselfe had bene sometime a seruaunt of the sayd Queenes There he sued to the kinge for so much as wold pay his ransome which he obtained and sent it as he had promised to him whose prisoner he was Afterward he retourned to his countree and came to his brother and declared him in order all the aduersities that had happened vnto him and also what comfortes and succours he had had in the same And he knewe by that his brother told him that his bondes were loosed at those times specially in which masses were said and songe for him He vnderstoode also that the other helpes and succours that happened to him in his danger came of the heauenly gyfte and grace throwgh his brothers intercessions and offring of the holy holsome hoste and sacrifice Many that heard these thinges of this man were styrred vp and enflamed in fayth and godly deuotion vnto prayer vnto almesse and charitable dedes and to offer to our Lorde hostes of the holy oblation and sacrifice for the deliuery and reliefe of their frindes that were departed this worlde For they vnderstood thereby and knewe that the holesome blessed sacrifice was effectuous to the euerlasting redemption and ransoming bothe of sowle and bodie This storie was told me of one of them that heard it of the very man in whome it was done and therfore knowinge it to be true and certaine I dowbted no whit to put it into this our ecclesiasticall historie Of the lyfe and death of Abbesse Hilda The 23. Chap. THe yere following after this which was the yere of thincarnation of our Lorde DClxxx the most deuowt and godly seruaunt of Christe Hilda Abbesse of the monasterie that is called Streanes halch as we before mentioned after many heauenly dedes that she did in this world passed owt of this lyfe to receaue the rewardes of the lyfe of heauen the xvij day of Nouember when she was three score and six yeres of age The which nomber of yeres equally diuided into two partes she lyued the first xxxiij in secular lyfe withe most noble and worthy conuersatiō and as many after did she dedicate to our Lord more nobly and worthely in monastical life For she was come of noble birth and was the dawghter of kinge Edwins nephewe named Hererike with which kinge also at the preaching of Paulinus of blessed memorie the first bysshopp of Northumberland she receaued the fayth and sacramentes of of Christe and dyd syncerely kepe the same vntill she deserued to come to his sight and vision whome only to serue after she had determined and forsaken this secular lyfe and world she went to the prouince of the East english For she was allied to the king there and from thence she desyred if she might by any meanes to forsake her countre and al that euer she had and go into Fraunce and there in the monasterie named Cate to leade a pilgrimes and exuls lyfe for our Lordes sake that she might the more easyly deserue to enioye an euerlasting countre in heauen For in the same monasterie her syster Hereswide mother to Adulphe king of the East english did at the same very tyme lyue vnder rules and disciplines of religion abyding and looking for the crowne euerlasting whose example she mynding to followe and liue a straunger out of her owne countree dyd abyde in the said prouince one hole yeare After which being called home againe into her countree by bisshopp Aidan she had deliuered her the landes of one Lordeship at the north coast of the riuer Were in which she liued also the space of one yeare and lead a monasticall lyfe with a fewe other of her companie After this she was made Abbesse in the monasterie that is called Heortheu which monasterie had bene builte not long before of the godly and deuout handmayed off Christ Heiu Which is said to be the first woman in the prouince of Northumberland that tooke the vowe and habit of a Nonne being blessed and consecrated by bisshop Aidan But not long
time after the making of the monasterie she departed thence to the citie of Calcaria whiche is called of the english men Calcacester and there she appointed to abyde and continewe Now this other handmayd of Christ Hilda being placed to rule this monasterie dyd strayght procure to order and dispose the same in all pointes with regular lyfe and discipline in such wise as she could be best enstructed of them that were learned For both bishop Aydan and as many religious persons as knewe her for the great wysedome and loue to serue God that was in her were wont ofte times to visit her louingly to helpe her and diligently to instructe her Thus when she had certaine yeres gouuerned this monasterie in great obseruation and straighnes of regular lyfe and order it was her chaunce to take in hand the buylding and disposing of a monasterie in the place called Straneshalch which busynes committed vnto her she finished with all speede and diligence For she fournished and framed it with the same rules and orders of regular lyfe with which she had disposed the other monasterie before And truly she dyd there teache singularly the workes of righteousnes deuotion chastitie and other vertues but specially of peace and charitie in such wise that after the example of the primitiue church there was none riche there none poore but all thinges common to all for nothing semed peculiar and priuate to any one She was of such wysedome that not only all meane persons in their necessities but also kinges and princes dyd seke and find counsel of her Such religious men as liued vnder her gouernaÌ„ce she made to bestow their time in the reading of the holy scriptures and in the exercise of the workes of vertue that out of her monastery many might easely be founde mete and worthy meÌ„ to serue the church and the aultar And in dede we haue sene in a short space fiue bishops oute of the same monasterie all men of singular merite and holynesse whose names are these Bosa Adda Ostfor Iohn and VVilfride Of the first we haue spoken before howe he was consecrated bishop of Yorke Of the second to speake shortly he was made bishop of Dorcister Of the two last we shall speake afterwarde of which the one was consecrated bishop of Hagulstad and the other of Yorke Of the middlemost let vs nowe say somewhat When he had in both the monasteries of Abbesse Hilda diligently applied the reading and studieng of the scriptures at last desiring more perfecte exercises he came to keÌ„t to the Archebishop Theodore of blessed memorie Where hauing continewed a certaine space and spent his time in holy studies and reading he found also the meanes to go to Rome which at that time was counted a thing of great vertue and deuotion From thence retourning home againe to England he went vnto the prouince of the Victians ouer which king Osric raigned than and there he remained a long time preaching the word of faithe and also giuing himselfe for an example of life to all that knewe and heard him At which time the bishop of that prouince named Boselus being so sicke and weake that he could not himselfe fullfill the office a bishop by all mens iudgement and consent the foresaid man was elected and chosen bishop in his place and at the coÌ„maundment of king Edilred was consecrated by bishop VVilfride of blessed memorie who at that time was byshop of the Middleenglish For Theodore tharchebisshop was than dead and none other as yet made bishop for him In which prouince a litle befor that is to wytt before that foresaid man of God Boselus one Taâ—frid a man most stout couragiouse and well learned and of an excellent wyt was elected bishoppe out of the monasterie of the said Abbesse but he was taken away and died before his time ere that he might be consecrated This foresaid handmayde of Christ Abbesse Hilda whome all that knewe her were wont to call mother for her notable grace and godlinesse was not only in her owne monasterie an example of lyfe to them that were with her but also to many other that were far of the ministred occasion of saluation and amendement to whom the happy report of her doing and vertuous liuing came And so was fulfilled the dreame that her mother Bregoswid had when this was but an enfant For when her husband Heriric was out of his couÌ„tre as an outlawe vnder Cerdix kinge of the Britons where also he was att last poysonned she sawe in a dreame that he whom she sought with al diligeÌ„ce was as it wer sodainly takeÌ„ out of her sight that no signe aud token of him any where did appere But as she yet busily sought for him she fouÌ„d by and by a very pretious ouch and iewel vnder his garmeÌ„t which as she did wel marke and coÌ„sider it semed to shine and glister with brightnesse of so great a lighte that it filled all the borders of Britannie with the grace thereof The which dreame was proued true in her doughter whome we speake of Whose lyfe not to her selfe only but to many other that wold lyue well did geue examples of the workes of light But nowe when she had many yeres ruled this monasterie it pleased the mercifull worker of our saluation that her holy soule should also be examined and tried with long sicknesse of the body that after thexample of the Apostle her vertue might be made perfect in infirmitie and weakenesse For she was striken with feuers and begaÌ„ to be greuously vexed with the heate and was in the same wise sicke and deseased for the space of vj. yeres In all which time she did neuer omit and let passe both to giue thankes to her creatour and also to teache and enstructe openly and priuatly the flocke coÌ„mitted to her charge For by her owne example she warned them all both to serue our Lorde dewly when he geueth them their bodely health and also thanke him continually and faithfully in worldly aduersities or bodely infirmities and sickenesse And thus the seuenth yere of her sicknesse the grief and paine tourning toward the hart and inward partes she came to her ende and last day in this worlde and about the crowing of the cocke after she had receaued the viage prouision of holy howsell she called vnto her he handmaides of Christ that were in the same monasterie whome as she admonished and counselled to kepe the euangelicall vnite amonge them selues and with other at the very last worde and making of this her exhortatioÌ„ she gladly and willingly saw the houre of her death yea rather to speke with Christs owne wordes she passed from death vnto lyfe In which very night our almightie Lord vouchesafed to reuele her death and departing by a manifest and plaine vision in an other monasterie that was a good way of named Hacanes the which she had buylt the same yere For there was in the same monasterie a certaine Nonne
to almighty God father of our Lorde Iesus Christ to deliuer vs from that present daunger of death And when he had ended his prayer he appeased the rage of the sea in such sorte that the violence of the storme all together ceasing we had winde and wether at will without any surges of the sea or greate waues of water vntill we came to lande When we were on grounde and had layde our shippe at ancre streytwayes the same storme and tempest which for our sakes was a litle whyle alayed beganne againe and ceased not his rage all that daye to th ende it might be geuen vs to vnderstand that the litle caulme which happened was geuen of God from heauen at the contemplation of that godly mans prayer to deliuer vs oute of daunger This vertuous man high in fauour with God continued in Farne island xij yeares and there died but he is buried in Lindisfarne island Nere to the place where the bodyes of the forementioned bishops lye in saincte Peter the Apostle his church These thinges were done in kinge Elfrides raigne who was kinge of Northumberlande xviij yeares after his brother Eâ—gfride Howe bysshoppe Iohn cured a dumme man with blessinge of hym The 2. Chap. IN the beginninge off this kinge his raigne when bisshoppe Eata was dead Iohn famous for his integritie and pure lyfe tooke the bishoppricke of Hagulstald vppon him of whome his neare and familiar acquaintaunce were wonte to reporte many straunge miracles aud vertues wrought at diuerse seuerall tymes and specially amongest all other Berethum sometime his deacon but nowe Abbot of the monastery caulled Inderwodde a man woorthy of all reuerence and credit for his truethe off the which I haue thought good to committ one or two to your memories There is a secrett and solytary mansion place compassed aboute with a greate wood and closed rownde with a deeke distant from Hagulstalde not paste a myle and a halffe but diuided with the riuer Tine whiche runneth betwixte them boothe hauing a churche yard off saincte Michael the archangell where this holy man was wounte to seiourne and make his abode very often as occasion and time serued with a fewe of his companions and geue him selffe most earnestly to prayer and studie but specially in the Lent And when att a certaine tyme lent being at hand he came thither to abyde after his accustomed manner he commaundid those that were aboute him to seeke some poore begger and impotent Lazar whome he might haue wyth him all the time of his continuaunce there to extende his charitie and deale his almes vnto There was in a towne not farre off a younge man that was dumme well knowen of the bisshoppe for he vsed to come before him oftentimes to receiue his almes the which was neuer able to speake so much as one worde Besides he had such an vnsemely sore in his head that in the crowne and hyer partes there coulde not a heare take roote only a fewe euill fauored rough heares stoode staringe rounde about his temples This impotent Lazar the bishop commaunded to be brought thither and a harbour made for him within the precinct of his house where he might ordinarilye euery day receiue his almes And when one weke of Lent was past the next sounday he willed the poore man to come into him when he was come he bydd him put oute his tounge and shewe it vnto him and takinge him by the chinne made a signe of the holy crosse vppon his tounge and when he had so signed and blessyd it he commaunded him to plucke it in againe and speake sayinge speake me one worde say gea gea which in the english tounge is a worde off affirmation and consent in such signification as yea yea Incontinent the stringes of his tounge were loosed and he sayd that whiche he was commaunded to saye The bishoppe added certaine letters by name and bid him say A he said A. say B. he said B. and when he had said and recited after the bishop the wholle crosse rewe he put vnto him sillables and hole wordes to be pronounced Vnto which when he aunsered in all pointes orderly he commaunded him to speake longe sentences and so he did and ceased not all that day and night folowing so longe as he coulde hold vpp his head from sleape as they make reporte that were present to speake and declare his secret thoughtes and purposes the which before that day he could neuer vtter to any man in leeke manner as that longe lamed Lazar who restored by the Apostles Peter and Iohn to the vse of his legges agayne stode vpp and walked and entred into the temple with other walkinge and leppinge and praysing God with muche ioy and myrthe that he could nowe go vppon his legges the whiche benefit he had lacked longe time before The bisshoppe also reioysing that he had his speache againe commaunded the phisicion to take the sore of his head in cure Which he did and by helpe of the bisshopps benediction and holy prayer the skinne came againe and heares grewe as fightly to see as any other maÌ„s So he that was before euil fauoured dumme and a lothesome creature to looke to he was nowe made a hansome younge man his countinuance amyable and pleasaunt to beholde his tounge ready and expedit to speake his heare curled and faire to see And so reioysing for the recouery of his healthe he returned home notwithstanding the bisshop offred him lodginge and gentyll entertaynement amongest his owne familye Howe the sayd bysshoppe healed a sycke mayden by prayer The 3. Chap. THe same good Abbot Berecht tolde me an other greate miracle done by the sayd bisshop and this it was When that lerned prelate and Reuerend father VVilfride after longe exile and banishement was recouered againe to the bisshopricke of Hagulstalde and the same bishop Iohn translated to Yorke after Bosa a man full of all godlynesse and humilitie was departed oute of this transitory lyfe he came on a certaine time to a Nunnerie in a toune called Vetade wher Herebuge was abbesse When we were there said he and intertained gently with good harte and chereful countinence of al the abbesse tolde vs that one of her couent and younge nonnes whiche was her owne daughter beinge sicke lay languishinge and pininge awaye because she was lett blood off late in her arme and while she was thinking off it in her fonde and foolyshe fantasye the sodayne payne made her very weake whiche growing vppon her more and and more the arme where the vaine was opened waxed very sore and so pitefully swollen that a man coulde scarse clippe it with bothe his handes and she lyinge in her bed for the greate intolerable paine semed to be almost dead and at the pitts brimme Wherefore the Abbesse besought this good bishop to go in and blesse her Because she beleued stedfastly that if he did other blesse her or touche her the vehemency of her desease wolde cease
for the time made their abode there Notwithstandinge I durst not be so bold as to demaunde or aske any question of my conductour or guide but in the midest of these meditatioÌ„s I perceued by what meanes I can not tell that I was in the world again and liued as other meÌ„ did These sightes and many other thinges ells this vertuous and holy man wold not report to sleuthfull sluggards and idell folkes men that had no regard of their owne life but to such only as either dismayed with feare of torments or rauished with hope of eternall ioye wolde gladly receiue and sucke oute of his woordes some heauenly comforte and encrease of piety Wel to be shorte in the same rewe where is celle stoode dwelled a monke called Hengils promoted to the holy ordre of priesthod which he honoured much with his vertuous woorkes This man remaineth yet a lyue and leeke a solitary heremitein Ireland fedeth his old impotent body with browne bred and cold runninge water This monke resorting to the saied holy man oftentimes vnderstode by certaine questions which he propounded what sightes he sawe after his body and soule were departed and by his relation all which I haue brefly declared came to our knowledge Moreouer he communicated his visions with kinge Alfride a man excellently lerned in all good literature who hearde him with such comfort and attention that at his desyre he was placed at the length in the same monastery and shoren in religion In the which monastery at that time Edilwald priest of most godly and modest life was Abbot but now he is made bishop of Lindisfarn which church he gouerneth in right good ordre both with holsome doctrine and good example of lyfe semely for his vocation This holy man toke after in the same monastery a more secret celle vnto him where with more liberty he might serue his maker in continuall praier without intermission And because the place was situated vpon a riuers side he was wont to dippe and plungâ— him self in the flowinge water oftentimes for greate desyre he had to chastise his body and coÌ„tinue ther singing of psalmes and other duout prayers as longe as he coulde abyde for cold the water now and then comming vp to his hippes and now and then to his chinn And when he came out of the water he neuer chauÌ„ged his clothes being wet and cold but taried vntil they wer warmed and dryed by the natural heat of his body In the winter season wheÌ„ peaces of yce half brokeÌ„ dropt down on euery syde of him which of purpose he had broken to plounge into the riuer and diuerse men seeing him sayd it is a maruelous matter and straunge case brother Drithelme for so he was called that you can possibly suffer such bitter and sharpe colde he answered simplye for he was but a simple and sober spryted man I haue sene places colder then this is And when they said vnto him we maruel that you wil liue so coÌ„tinent and auster a lyf he answered I haue sene more austeryte and hardnesse then this is So vntill the day of his calling hence owte of this wretched world for the ernest desire he had of heauenly felycitie he punyshed his old impotent bodye with dayly fastinge and was by good fruteful instruction and godly conuersation a great comforte to manye Howe an other contrary wise dyinge founde all the synnes that euer he had donne written in a booke brought vnto hym by the deuill The. 14. Chapter BVt contrary wyse there was a man in the countre and prouince of the Marshes whose visions talk and manner of life dyd profitt many but not hym selfe In the time of Coenrede which raygned after king Edilrede there was a certaine lay man taken vpp for a souldiar and put in office in the campe who for his dyligence and actyuitie in feates of armes was greate in fauour with the kinge but for the negligence and improuident care concerninge the state of his owne sowle in displeasure with the princâ—â— Wherefore the kynge charged him eftesoones to make humblâ— confession of his sinnes and amend his former lyfe and vtterly to forsake al his detestable actes and haynous offenses lest by deathes sodayne preuention he loste tyme of repentaunce and amendment of his life but he notwithstandinge this gentyll admonition and fryndly exhortation of his souerayne contemned and set naught by those comfortable wordes of saluation and promised that he wolde do penaunce afterwarde In the meane season beinge vysited with sycknesse he toke his bedd and beganne to be more and more vexed with the vehement pangs of his dysease The kinge came to his chamber for he louyd hym tenderly and exhorted and counseled him that at the lest nowe he wolde falle to penaunce for his naughty lyfe and sinfull actes before he died Na quoth he I wyll not be confessed now but when I am well recoueryd and able to go abrode agayne than I wyll lest if I should now do it my felowes would saye that I dyd it now for feare of deathe which in my prosperyty and health I wold neuer vouchsafe to do Wherein he spake to his owne leekinge stowtly and leeke a man but certes as yt appeared after he was myserably deceuyd with the crafty illusions of the deuyll WheÌ„ the kynge came to visite hym agayne and geue him good counsell because his desease grewe more vehemently vpon him euery daye he cryed oute incontynent with a pytyfull and lamentable voyce saying Alas what meane yow my liege why come you hither Yowe are nether able to profitt nor pleasure me nor do me any good The kynge answeryd streytways Ah say not so see ye play the wyse mans parte Nay sayth he I am not madde but I haue here vndoutedly before my eies a wicked conscience all woundyd and mangled And what is this said the kinge Yf yt please yower hyghnesse quoth he a litle before yower grace came ij bewtyfull and hansome yownge men came into the howse and sate downe by me One at my head the other at my feete and one of them toke a goodly faire booke owte of his bosome but litle in quantytye and gaue yâ— me to reade In the which when I looked a litle whyle I founde all the good dedes that euer I had done fayre written and god knoweth they were fewe in number and litle in effecte when I had done they toke the booke of me againe and said nothing Then sodainly came there abowte me an whole legion of wicked sprytes and beseaged the howse rownde abowte in the vtter side and sittinge downe replenisshed euery corner within Than he which for his fowle euyll fauouryd blacke face and hyghest seate apperyd to be greatyst amongst them takyng out a booke terrible to all mens sight vnmeasurable for greatnesse and for weyght importable coÌ„mauÌ„dyd one of his blacke garde to bringe yt to me to reade When I had read a litle I founde all the enormous detestable sinnes
of his owne countrie to Alfride kinge of the Englishmen and tarying a certain time in the countrie sawe the Canonicall rites and ceremonies of the church and besides was sharpely admonished by the lerned that he should not presume to lyue contrary to the vniuersall church nor in keping the feast of Easter nor in any other decrees what so euer they were with his countrie men fewe in number and dwelling also in one of the furmost corners of all the world he so chaunged his minde hereuppon that what so euer he had heard or sene in the english church he most gladly preferred it before the custome and manner of his owne For he was vertuous wise and very ready in the knowledge of holy scripture After his returne therefore into the countrie he-endeuoured diligently to reduce all the isle Hu to the brode beaten pathe of truethe which he knew very wel and had embraced with all his harte but he was not able to bringe it to passe Whereuppon he sayled into Ireland and preaching there and shewing them with gentill exhortations the trewe and laufull obseruation of Easter he wanne many that were not in the dominion of the saied Iland of Hu from errous to vnitie receiued vniuersally of the catholike church and taught theÌ„ to obserue the trewe time of Easter This Adamannus wheÌ„ the feast of Easter was now kept by his meanes in Ireland after the institution of Christes catholique church he returninge to his islande agayne and preaching to his bretherne in the monasteryes this generall obseruation and kepinge of Easter as he had don before and yet being not able to compasse his purpose it fortuned he fell sicke and departed out of this worlde before the yeare was complete and fully ended And that by the greate prouidence of almighty God so disposing it swetely to the ende such a vertuous man desirous of vnity and peace should be taken hence to aeternall life before easter came againe for obseruation of which feaste he should haue bene forced to much variaunce and discorde by such as wold not embrace the truthe This same vertuous man wrote a booke of holy places very profitable for the readers which he lerned at the lectures and expositions of Archwulf a bishop in Fraunce who to see holy places and monuments went to Hierusalem and when he had wandred ouer all the lande of promesse and had gone to Damascum Constantinople Alexandria and other many isles of the sea was driuen in his returne by tempest to the weast coastes of Britanny Who within fewe dayes after reforting to that worthy seruaunt of our Sauiour Christes Adamannus aboue mentioned he was receaued with all kinde of humanitie and frendefull intertainement specially when he was knowen to be lerned in scripture and skilfull in description of holy places For Adamannus so estemed him that he put in writing what soeuer notable thing worthy of remembraunce the bishop testified that he had sene in those holy places and made a booke as I said thereof profitable to many but most of all to those which lye farre from the place where the Apostles and Patriarches liued and knowe nothing of them but what they may picke oute with longe study and often reading This boke Adamanus dedicated to Alfride and by his liberality and charges it was geuen to other inferiour persons to be read the author him selfe being rewarded with many goodly giftes and sent to his country againe Out of whose writings to gather some certain thinges and place them in this our history I haue thought it good and profitable to the readers herof What thinges he mentioned in the same booke touchinge the place of the natiuitie passion and resurrection of Christe The. 17. Chapter OF the place of Christes natiuity he reporteth in this sorte Bethleem a city of Dauid situated in a narrow and streyt mounte compassed with vallies of euery side is a myle in lenght from the weast to the East very base and plaine without any toures or turrets The walles are builded flatt without any battelments In the east corner there is as it were a denne not laboured of maÌ„ but framed of nature The vtter most parte of it is saied to be the place of Christes natiuity the innermost the maunger where he lay This denne couered somwhat farre inwarde with goodly precious marble hath ouer the place where our Lorde was borne a great church of the blessed virgin Mary builded vppon it Of the place of his passion and resurrection he wrote after this sorte As ye enter into the citie of Ierusalem on the North side to come to the holy places ye must by ordre of streetes first go to the church of Constantine which is called Martyrium that is to saye the Martirdome or place where the witnesse of our redemption was founde This church the Emperour Constantine builded very gorgeously because our sauiour Christes crosse was fouÌ„de in that place by his mother Helena Going froÌ„ thence on the weast side you shall see a church builded in Golgotha where that rocke is to be sene which bore Christes crosse and his blessed Body fast nailed to the same and beareth now also a mighty crosse of siluer with a greate brasen whele hanging ouer it ful of lamps and torches Within the coÌ„passe and place where Christes crosse stode was a vaute cut out of the rocke In the which vppon an aulter there made masse is wonte to be saide for honorable men that dieth the dead corps standing with oute in the strete At the weast side of the same church was also a rownde chappel of Christes resurrection enuironned with thre walles and borne vp with xij pillers hauing betwixte euery walle a fayre brode waye which hathe with in his compasse and circuite thre aulters in three places of the midle walle south northe and weast This chappell hath eight doores and places of entreaunce directly ouer the three walles of the which iiij stande northeest and iiij weast In the midle of this chappell â—as laied the rounde tumbe of our sauiour Christ cut oute of the rocke to the toppe of which a man standing within may reach with his hande It openeth on the east side and hathe that greate stone that was layed vppon which vntil this day sheweth the print and signe of the yron tooles with which it was hewed and cut With in euen to the very toppe all is couered with marble The toppe it selfe al gilted with golde beareth a greate golden crosse vpon it In the northe parte of that monument Christes sepulchre was cut oute of the same rocke and made seuen foote longe and thre handfull higher then the pauiment The coming in is on the south side where continually day and night twelue ampes burne foure with in the sepulchre and eight aboue in the right side The stone which was put vppon the brimme of the sepulchre is nowe clouen The lesse parte notwithstanding standeth at the doore of the same
sayed that a man of such authoritie which had bene bisshoppe xl yeares ought not to be condemned but once agayne dischardged and quitted from the false accusations and malicious surmises of his enemies and sent home againe with honour to his countrie With this iudgement returning towardes England he fell sodainly sicke when he came to Fraunce and was so weakened the desease growing vppon him more and more that he could not ryde nor kepe his horse but was caried in a bed by strength of his seruauntes Being thus brought to Meldune a citye in Fraunce he lay iiij dayes and iiij nights as though he had byn dead Only declaring by a litle breath which he drewe very fayntly and short that he was a lyue Thus continuing iiij dayes without meate and drinke as speachelesse and past hearing he rose the fifte daye and sate vppe in his bed as a man awaked out of a deape sleepe and when his eyes were open he sawe a company of his brethern aboute him some singing some weaping and fetting a litle sigthe asked for his chaplyn Acca By and by he was called Who entring into the chambre and seing his bishoppe somewhat better amended and able to speake he fell downe vpon his knees and gaue thankes to God with all the company that was present And when they had sate together a litle while and entred talke fearefully of the high iudgements of God the bishop commaunded al to auoide the chambre for an houre and beganne to talke after this manner to his chaplin Acca There appeared vnto me euen now a terrible vision the which I wil haue thee heare and concele withal vntill I know knowe furder the pleasure of almighty God what shal become of me A certaine man clothed all in white stode by me saying I am Michael the Archangell sent hither for this only purpose to deliuer thee from daunger of death For our Lord hathe geuen the longer tyme to lyue for the earnest prayers and lamentations which thy scholars and bretherne here haue made and also for the intercession of the blessed virgin Marie his mother Wherefore I say vnto the that presently thou shalt be healed of this infirmitie and sickenesse but yet be in a readynesse for after iiij yeares I will returne againe and visit the. Agayne as sone as thou art returned to thy countrye the greatest part of thy possessions that haue ben taken away from the thou shalt receiue againe and ende thy life in tranquillitie and peace Vppon which comfortable wordes the bisshoppe recouered to the greate ioye of all men reioysing and praysing God for him Thus going forward on his iourney he came to England When the letters brought from the see Apostolique were reade Berechtwald archebisshop and Edilrede sometimes kinge but then made an Abbot receiued him gladly in fauour againe Edilred also entreating Coenrede whom he had made kinge in his place to come and speake with him requested him to be a good and gratious Lord to the saied bisshopp which also he obtained But Aldfride king of Northumberland which would not receiue him died within a while after By which occasion it fel out in the raigne of kinge Osred his sonne that in a Synode assembled by the riuer Nid after greate contention and reasoning in both partes he was receiued into his church and bisshopprike againe with all fauour they coulde shewe him So iiij yeres space to witt to his dying daye he liued in peace and died the xij daye of October in a monasterie which he had in the prouince of Wundale vnder the gouuernement of Abbot Cudbalde From whence by the handes of the couent he was caried to his owne monasterie in Rhyppon and interred in the blessed Apostle S. Peter his churche harde by the aultar towarde the Sowth side as we signified before and ouer him is written this epitaphe An Epitaphe vppon Bisshop VVilfride VVilfrid that worthy prelat lyeth bodely in this graue VVho moued with godly zeale to Christ this temple gaue And of the Apostle Peters name S. Peters church did it call To whom the kayes of heauen Christ gaue cheaf gouernour of all He guilted it with golde most fyne and hanged it with scarlat rouÌ„d And sett vp there a Crucifix of golde euen from the ground The foure bookes of Christes ghospell in golden letters are wrote At his coÌ„maundmeÌ„t and charges eke right worthy to read and note A couer for the same also of beaten golde he did fitt The price and valew was great but his hart surmounted it Touching the course of Easter in dew time to be kept Bicause by wronge tradition many it ouerlept He taught the catholike order all England thourough out Extirping the contrary errour by authorite most stoute A numbre of religious men he assembled in this place Instructing them vertuously in the holy Fathers race VVith miseries and perills eke much vexed of longe time And of his owne dere countremen charged with many a crime But when fiue and fourty yeares he had kept a bishops state To heauen be past his bretherns cause with Christ for to debate And that with all alacrite with mirth and ioyfull hart Now graunto Christ that after his trace we folowe thee on our part How Albine succeded the holy Abbot Adrian and Acca the good bishop VVilfride The 21. Chapter THE next yere after the death of that forsaid holy father which was the fifte of king Oâ—rede his raigne the Reuerend and worthy father Adrian Abbot and coadiutour to Theodore Bishop of most blessed memory in preachinge the worde of God passed oute of this transitory lyff and was interred in his owne monastery in our ladyes church the one and fourtith yeare after he was directed from Pope Vitalian and made coadiutor to Theodore and the 39. after he came to Englande Of whose profounde knowledge and lerninge amongest other thinges this may be a sufficient testimony that Albine his schollar who had the gouernaunce of the Abbay after his decesse was so well practised in exercise of holy scripture that he had greate knowledge in the greeke tounge and did speake latin as eloquently withoute staggering or staying as he did english which was his naturall language After the death of bishop VVilfride Acca his priest succeded in the bishoprik of Hagulstad a man of a ioly courage and honorable in the sight of God and of men who enlarged his Cathedrall church dedicated in the honour of saincte Andrewe and set forth the buildinges with diuers comely and sightfull workes and moreouer imployed all his diligence and endeuour to gather together oute of all places the holy Apostles and Martirs reliques to the ende he might in honour of them builde certaine aultars a parte by them selues in litle chapels made for the same purpose within the precincte and walles of the same churche Besides he sought with al possible diligence the histories of their martyrdome and other ecclesiastical writers and made vp a very large and worthy library Moreouer he zelously
were iustly punished in the same countree for their spoyling The same yeare that the holy and good father Ecgbert died as we saied before on Easter streyt after Easter king Osric hauinge the Souerainte in Northumberlande departed outâ— of this lyfe the 9. off Maye after that he had appointed Ceolwulff brother to kinge Coenrede his predecessour to be his successour in the kingedome hauing raigned xj yeares The beginning and processe of whose raigne is so full of troublesâ— hath had such diuerse successe of thinges contrary one to the other that we can not yet well tell what may be written of them nor what ende euery thinge will haue The yeare of our Lorde 731. Archebisshoppe Berthwalde worne oute with olde age died the 8. of Ianuary 37. yeares 6. moneths and xiiij daies after he had ben bisshoppe In his place the same yeare Tacwine of the prouince off the Marshes was made archebisshop a longe time after he had bene prieste in the monastery of Bruiden He was consecrated in Caunterbury by the reuerend fathers Daniel bishop of Winchester Ingualde bishoppe of London Alduine bishoppe of Lichfelde and Aldwulff bishoppe of Rochester the x. of Iune beinge the soundaye a man certes notable for his godlynesse and wisedome and well conuersaunt in holy scriptures Wherefore at this present Tacwine and Aldwulff are bishoppes of kent Ingualde of the east Saxons Eadbert and Hadulac of the east english Daniel and Forthere of the Weast Saxons Aldwine of the Marshes and VValstode of them which dwell beyonde the ryuer Seuerne towarde the Weast VVilfrid of the Viccij Cymbert of Lindisfarne The isle of Wight is vnder the iurisdiction of Daniel bishop of Winchester The prouince off the Sowthsaxons continuinge certaine yeares without a bishoppe is gouuerned of the bishoppe of the Westsaxons in suche cases as the bishoppes helpe is necessarye Al these prouinces and others of the south eueÌ„ to Humber with their kinges are in subiection and owe homage to Edilbalde kinge of the Marshes But of Northumberlande where Ceolwulff is kinge there ar but iiij bishops Wilfride of Yorke Edilwalde of Lindisfarne Acca of Hagulstalde Pethchelme of Whitchurch which being made a bishopps see of late when the faithfull people beganne to multiplie hath now this Pechthelme for their first bishop The Pictes also at this time are in leage with the Englishemen and in vnite with the catholike church The Scottes which inhabitt Brytannye content to keape their owne lymittes and bordres worke no treason towardes England The Britons albeit for the most parte euen of pryuie malice and grudge they maligne the Englishmen and impugne with their lewde manner the tyme of Easter ordained by the catholique churche yet the allmightye power off God and man resistinge their malyce they can haue their purpose in neither off them For thoughe they are in some parte free yet for the more parte they are insubiection to englishmen And now all warre and tumult ceasing all thinges being brought to an vnity and concorde many in Northumberlande as well noble men as poore layinge away al armour and practise of chiualry become both they and their children religious men Which what successe it is leeke to haue al the posterity shal see Thus for this present standeth the whole state of Britanny The yere sence the English men came into Britanny 285. and 733. sence the incarnation of Christe In whose raigne let the earth alwaies reioyse And seing Britanny taketh ioye and comfort now in his faith let many ilandes be glad and sing praise to the remembraunce of his holy name THVS ENDETH THE FIFTE AND LAST BOOKE OF THE Historie of the Church of England The wordes of Venerable Bede folowing after the abridgement of this whole history in the 3. Tome of his workes which we haue thought good to place here at the ende of the History it selfe THIS much touching the ecclesiasticall history of the Britons and especially of the english nation as I could lerne by the writinges of my aunceters by the tradition of my elders or by my owne knowleadg I haue by the helpe of God brought vnto this order and issue I Bede the seruaunt of God and priest of the monasterie of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul at Weimouth Which being borne in the territorie of the same monastery when I was seuen yeares of age I was deliuered by the handes of my frendes and kinsfolkes to be brought vp of the most Reuerend Abbat Benet and afterward to Ceolfrid From the which time spending all the daies of my life in the mansion of the same monastery I applied all my study to the meditation of holy scripture and obseruing withal the regular discipline and keping the daily singing of Gods seruice in the church the rest of my time I was delighted alwaies to lerne of other to teache my selfe or els to write In the xix yere of my age I was made deacon and in the xxx yeare Priest Bothe which orders I receaued by the handes of the most Reuerend bishop Iohn of Beuerlake at the commaundement of Ceolfrid my Abbat From which time of my priesthood vntell the yere of my age lix I haue vpon holy scripture for my owne instruction and others partly brestly noted and gathered what other holy fathers haue writen partly I haue at large expounded after the maner of their interpration and meaning FINIS A TABLE OF THE SPECIAL MATTERS The figure signifieth the leafe A. B. the first and second side A A Buses of religious persons punished by God from heauen 144. b An army of infidels put to flight by singing Alleluia 27. b. The martyrdom of S. Alban and miracles thereat befalling 17. b. 18. Apostafie from the faith punished 76. a. 82. b. The life of our Apostles and first preachers 32. a. Arrian heresies in Britanny 19â— a. S. Augustin sent by S. Gregory to preach the faith to englishmen 29. b. S. Augustin preacheth the faith to Ethelbert or Elbert kinge of kent 31. a. b. he was a monke 33. a. made bishop in Fraunce 32. b. he prophecieth the destruction of the Britons 50. b. S. Augustin the first bishop of CaÌ„terbury created of the bishops of Fraunce by the commaundement of Pope Gregory 32. b. The death of S. Augustin our Apostle 51. b. An Epitaphe vpon him 52. a. The life and vertu of S. Edilrede now called S. Audery 133. a. Miracles and cures doâ—e at her tombe 134. b. A songin the praise of virginite and in the honour of S. Audery 135. a Aultar of stone 68. b. B Of the Author of this History Venerable Bede reade the preface to the Reader Berkinge abbay in Essex 120. b King Elbert the first Christen kinge of englishmen endued the Bisshoprikes of Caunterbury of London and Rochester with landes and possâ—ssions 51. b Consecration of bishops with a number of bishops 910. a. 149. a. The deuotioÌ„ of bishops in the primitiue church of englaÌ„d 151. a. 109. 113. b The example of a
Sussâ—x and HaÌ„pshere The west couÌ„trie suffolck nortfolck and CaÌ„bridgshere Temporall awes oâ— kinge 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 christen kinge of kent Reuolting from the faith in kent VengeauÌ„ce from God The people do coÌ„municat 〈◊〉 Masse The blessed sacrament bread of life Mellit the first Christen bishop of London expelled from theÌ„ce Reuoltig from the faith in Londonâ— The vengeauÌ„ce of God ensuing Kent returneth to the faith An. 618. Martyrium heat orum quatuor Coronatorum The praier of the righteous man much auaileth Iacob 5. At the Augustines â—n Caunterbury Authâ—rite fromâ— Rome to make Byshops A letter of Pope Bonâ—â—ace to Iustus the. iiij Archeb of Cauâ—â— terb Mattb. 2â— â— atth 10. Psal. 8. Hebrideâ— Insulae An. 625. 2. Cor. 11. 2. Cor. 4. A traiterous facte ExaÌ„ple of a trusty subiect The first Christening of Englishmen in Northâ—mberland A letter of Pope Boniface to kings Edwin exhorting him to the faith Matt. 28. Genes 1. 2. Psal. 95. A letter of Pope Boniface vnto Edelburge Quene of â—orthumberberland â—â— 2. 1. Cor. 7. A vision by the which Edwin the first Christen king of NorthuÌ„berland was called to the faithe A carnall reâ—pâ—ct of â—n aâ—hen Bishop occasiâ—n oâ— good The first Christendom of the English Prince in NorthuÌ„berland or in the North countre An. 627. The Cathedrall church of Yorke * In northuÌ„â—erlaÌ„d * In yorkeshere Aultar of stone The couÌ„tres of Suffolk Norfolck and of CaÌ„bridg sheres then called the East english counerted to the faith DuÌ„mocke Lincolne shere Prefectum Lindecoliâ—ae ciuitatis The epistle of Pope Honorius to Edwyn the first christen kinge of NorthuÌ„berland CoÌ„stitutions froÌ„ Rome touching the clergy The epistle of Pope Honorius to Honorius the Archebisshop of Caunterbury Matth. 11. Matth. 24. The copie of a letter froÌ„ the clergy of Rome to the clergy of Scotland Primicerâ— Against the pelagian heresie Psal. 50. An. 633. Crosse and chalice of good Churche musike first practised in the North. Apostasie from the faith punished A crosse erected by king Oswald Diriges ouer night and Masse in the morning for the dead Holy Ilond A rare zele to the preaching of Gods word in a wordly prince An. 563. Philip. 2. The exaÌ„ple of a true preacher and avertuous Bishop Siue adioÌ„si siue Laici VVensday and fridayes fast That Cite is now called BaÌ„brough The west countre of EnglaÌ„d as the dio ceses of Salisbury of Exceter of Bathe and VVelles and of HaÌ„psher The first Christening in the west countre Dorchester in Bar keshere VVinchester Apostasie from the faith punished VVinchester An. 640. Idols first threwen downe in England Virgins in Monanasteries The like is writen of S. Antony beholdiÌ„g in coÌ„pany of other the soule of Amos 2 religious eremite caried vp into heauen the Angels accoÌ„payniÌ„g with melody Hist. tri part lib. 1. cap. 11. S. Hierom also writeth the like of S. Antony in the life of Paule the Eremite Opera illo rum sequuÌ„tur illos Their workes de folow them Apoca. 14 Miracles at the place where kinge Oswald was slaine Lincoiâ—eshere Gregory B. of Nisso brother to S. Basill reporteth of miracles wrought by the duste lying vpon Martyrs tumâ—â—s In vita Theodori Martyrâ—s Paulinus a lerned bisshop of Nola in S. Augustins time reporteth sundry miracles of health restored to sick persoÌ„s at the tuÌ„be of S. Felix Natali 6. the like writeth S. Basill of the 40. Martyres S. Ambrose of the bodies of S. Geruasius and Protasius li. 10. epist. ad sororem epist. 85. et serm 19. All lerned stories arâ— full of such examples Kinge Oswalda greate praierâ— Holy men worke miracles by intercession O rare example of a Christen Prince An olde uerbe BaÌ„brough A lesson for vngodly studeÌ„ts The goodnes of God and our faithe worketh miracles by holy relikes An. 644. * Yorke shere Omnisque potestas impatiens consortis erit Lucanus lib. 1. Praier for the dead The commendatiâ— of kinge Osuuius Bishop And an â—â—ero S. Martinâ— who gaue halfe his doke to a naked poore man * A charitable saying but now more like to be mocked at then to be folowed A rare and straÌ„ge humilite of a kinge The deuotioÌ„ of our primitiue church BaÌ„brough Theodoret in his Philotheus reporteth of a great army of the PersiaÌ„s destroyed at Nisiba by the praier only of lames then a holy Bisâ—hop of that cite In vita lacâ—bi Nisibensis BaÌ„orough God whiche by the shadowe of Peter healed the sicke worketh the like in the dead relâ— kes of holy men Act. 5. Ioan. 20. Norfolck Suffolck and Cambridg shere King Sigibert becometh a monke S. Paule was comforted also by a vision from God to be stedfast in preaching the worde Act. 2â— Mat. 25. Psal. 83. Note the scâ—â—â—â— spirituall fires whiche shall burne theâ—wde Euery maÌ„ shall receiue according to the workes of his body 2. co 5. The paines of Purgatory The diuel fighteth with sinn against man Reade S. Paul Ephes. 6. b. 12. c. 16. As God is said in scripture to bende his bowe to strik with sword etc. Psal. 7 so here the writer applieth carnal termes to spiritual matters the names of fire to sinne of throwing by the diuels to the charge of sinne c. An. 653. The first Christening of the Marshes or middle-land english men An. 6â—0 By Barwick Ad Capreae Caput A true saying of an Heathen The couÌ„tre about London The persuasion of kinge Oswin vvith the heathen kinge Sigbert By Barwick Cedda the secoÌ„d Bishop of London and Essex Chemes-ford and Tilberi Vertu per secuted of the euill euen to death Enormous crimes in the righteous sooner punished Excommunication So Peter pronouÌ„ced Ananias to death Act. 5. The foundation of monasteries Esaiae 35. Fasting in Lent vntell euening Consecration of holy places IntercessioÌ„ of Saints Vowes to God The foundation of monasteries VVitby A coÌ„trouersic about theob seruatioÌ„ of Easter Gal. 2. Tonsurae ecclesiasticaecoronaÌ„ susceperaâ— Vniuersalitie prescribeth The primitiue church at the firste did not abrogat all Iuish ceremoâ—â—ies Actor 16. 21. 18. Act. 21. Eâ—â—o 12. Ioâ—n 20. This maner is obserued nowe vnifor mely in al Christendome Exod. 12. Russinus lib. 10. â—â— Eusab lib. 7. cap. 28. Hiâ—â—o Vide Eusâ—bium lib. 7 cap. 28. Hisâ— eccle Matâ—h 7. Math. 16. Note the conclusioÌ„ of the kinge An. 664. CoÌ„mendation of the Scottisâ— monkes which gouerned first the ongâ—â—â— church in the Northe couâ—tre Vertu winneth autâ—orite viceleseth Religious men in our primittiue church reuerenced The behauiour of priestes in our primitiue church An. 664. Lincolne shere Vowes in sickenesse Cononicall houres Consecration of Bisshops with a number of other Bysâ—ops The duty of a Byshop The churche of Rome A letter of Vitalianus the Pope to king Oswin Esaiâ— 11. Matth. 6. An. 668. The couÌ„tre abowt Lyons The Augustins in Caunterbury Dominus Papâ— Apostolicus The duty of a Byshop Theodore the first Primat of all England The felicite of the english churche vnâ—er Theodor the Archebishop of Canterb Singing in
churches through out all England Byshop Chadd a man of great huÌ„blenesse Lincolne diocese and Lichfield and VVorceter * Lincolne shere Eccles. 3. How seling before death The great feare of God in B. Chadd Psal. 17. Lincolne shere Charite beleueth all things 1. Cor. 13. Miracles at the tombe of S. Chead Lincolne dyocese Holy IloÌ„d An. 670. The first Synode or Conuocation of the english church The determinations of the holy fathers to be folowed Vowe of obedience â— religioÌ„ An. 673. Theodore the Archebishop of Caunterbury deposeth VVinfride bishop of Lichefilde c. Essex Saint Erkenwalde the 4. bishop of London Berking in Essex Children browght vp in NoÌ„â—eries 2. Câ— 1â— Sinne purged by paine in this lyfe Good workes * The like maner of deuotion vsed Constantia a holy woman at the â—â—mbe of Hilarion the monk as S. Hierom recordeth in the life of Hilarion writen by him Tom. 1. Beholde how farre differeÌ„t the faith of our primitiue church is from the false faith of protestants Note the iudgemeÌ„t of S. Bede An. 677. An. 678. The dioceâ—es of Yorke Carlele and Dyrham Holy â—â—nd Lincolne shere The first bishops of Lincolne The CoÌ„uersion of Sussex to the faith Sussex In Bosam a monasterie before the faith openly receiued in Sussex A miserable famine in Sussex before the faith receaued The first christeniÌ„g in Sussex miraculous Selsee Selsee the first monasterie in Sussex now brought to the faith Miracles in the monasterie of Sâ—â—â—ee in Sussex Fasting against the plage Intercession of Saintes Masse in the memory of Saints That is of Hampshere The Vites inhabited HaÌ„pshere as the Saxons Sussex Sussex and HaÌ„psphere The secoÌ„d Synode of the church of EnglaÌ„de The v. firste general councels receaued by a coÌ„moÌ„ consent of the church of EnglaÌ„d about 800 yeares past The 5â— In this monasterie S. Bede was brought vp Priuilege from Rome for the libertie of monasteries Order of singing and churche seruice from Rome The heresy of the Monotholite The Pope is informed of the state of the church Lege Cipr. lib. 1. epist 3. et Aug. ep 92. 93. VVhy the miracles here reported ought not to be mistrusted Luc. 22. Nonnes coÌ„secrated of bishops The I le of Eelye VVhat burdens are borne now a dayes of lesse then kinges children and yet no grief felt at all * The napkins and partlets taken from S. Paules body healed the sicke and expelled diuels Act. cap. 19. c. In Cambridge shere An example for the coÌ„firmatioÌ„ of purgatory The sacrifice of the Masse propitiatory An. 680â— Vow and habit monasticall Colchester Dorchester in Barkeshere In holy Ilond Going to Rome accompted a matter of deuotion in our primitiue church 2. Cor. 22. The ferâ—â—ry Reseruation of the blessed Sacrament Howseling befoer death Blessing with the signe of the crosse A Nunnerie burned for the sinnes of the inhabitaÌ„s CoÌ„fessioÌ„ to the priest Psal. 94. Penaunce enioyned Abuses of religious persons punished by God from heauen An. 684. The welâ—hmen An. 635. Holy IloÌ„de The I le of Cochette The life of S. Cutbert being yet a monke In the first booke the. 27. chap. The life of S. Cutbert writen by S. Bede is ex tant in the. 3. tome of his workes The third Synod of the english church CoÌ„secration of bishops with a number of bisshops S. Cutbert the example of a good Bisshoppe S. Cutberts deuotion at masse time Quomodo in vâ—â—asua dilexerunt se iâ—a in merâ—e noÌ„ sunt separati As they loued in their lyfe so in their death they were not seuered Holy Ilond The deuotion of bisshops in times past In the third tome of S. Bedes workes If they which now preach only faith had such faith they should see such miracles now Holy Ilond Of S. Iohn of Beuerlake Act. cap. 3. Dedication of churches The faith of our primitiue church An. 689. Pilgrimage to Rome a woÌ„t matter in our primitiue church An. 690. An. 692. * People of high Allemaigne about the cyte of Camin * People of the higher part of â—â—iseland VVe reade in the Actes of the Apostles that S. Paul and Stlas were forbidden of the holy Ghost which was by reuelatioÌ„ to preache the worde in Asia and in Bithinia Act. cap. 16. The Redshankes Friseland conuerted to the faithe The gouuernemeÌ„t of the old Saxons The martyrâ—ome o◠〈◊〉 english priests in Saxony * People of the higher Frisia An. 696. VVilbrord an english man the first Archebishop of Vltraict in FrisselaÌ„d Let the Christian reader here aduise him self whether he may scorne at this vision bicause in heathen writers as in the Menippus of Lucian and other such fonde tales are fained or rather to beleue it bicause so lerned and holy a man râ—porteth it the time also of our first coming to the faith considered Truly I thinke therefore the heathen and infidell faineth such thinges in his false religion bycause he knoweth thaâ— God reueleth the lâ—ke to such as serue him in true religion Euen as S. Augustin noteth that therefore the diuell is delighted with externall sacrifice of man bicause he knoweth that kinde of worship to be due and proper to God him selfe Lib. 10. de Ciuit. dei Cap. 19. Holy Ilond A true and necessary doctrine for this wicked time Psal. 13. A old prouerbe Actor 7. In Northumberland Catholike â—osâ—ruations to be preferrâ—d The place of Christes natiuite * Of this church erected by Helena mother of Constantin Paulinus Nolensis maketh mention Epist. 11. ad Seuerum The deuotion of the Christians in Ierusalem aboue a thousand yeres past Et erit sepulchrum eius glorisum And the place of his buriall shall be glorious sayth the prophet Esaie Cap. 11. * VVho thinketh this incredible lett him geue a reason of the pathe way by Salisbury called S. Thomas pathe by Clarengdon parke * This abridgement is extant in the 3. tome of S. Bedes workes An. 705. * In the borders of VVilshere The dioceses of Sussex and HaÌ„pshere diuided Celse fouÌ„ded by Eadbert the first bishop of Celse in Sussex by Chichester Lib. 3. cap. 52. The lyfe of bishop VVilfrid the Apostle of Sussex Holy Ilond * The countre about Salisbury Lib. 3. cap. 28. Lib. 4. cap. 12. The heresie of the monothelites condemned The See Apostolique Bishopp VVilfride the Apostle of Sussex * Now called weimouth in which Abâ—by vnder this Ceolfrid S. Bede was brought vp and liued al daies of his life A lerned letter of the Abbat Ceolfridâ— vnto Naitan kinge of the Peyghtes or Redshankes A proufe out of holy Scripture of the Catholique obseruation off Easter Exodi 12. a. 2 c. 18. This first moneth beginneth in the first moone after the Aequiuâ—ctium Exodi 12. a. 2. Exod. 12. c. 15. Nume 33. a. 3. Exod. 12. c. 17. It is so called Act. 20. and Ioan. 20. The B. Sacrament is offred vp to god the father Leuit. 23. a. 5. Leuit. 23. The contrary opinion is refuted * The xxj daie of marche Gene. 1. * The moneth of Aprill * Dies Dominicâ— He meaneth the Pelagians The inuention of the golden number Matt. 16. Act. 8. They did beare the signe of the crossâ— in their so rehead which vsed to bleâ—se them selues therewith This accompt is now called the golden numbre An. 716. Rom. 10. An. 728. An. 725. An. 729. An. 731. * Of Yorke * Of holy Iland and al NorthuÌ„berland