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
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
But how shal we proue sayd they that he is a man of God The Anchoret answered our Lord sayth take ye on yow my yooke and lerne ye of me For I am milde and humble of haerte Yf therfore this Austin be milde and humble of harte it is likely that him selfe beareth the yooke of Christ and will offer you the same to beare But if he be curst and proude it is certaine that he is not of God neither must we much esteme his wordes Then they enquired againe of him how they might know whether this Austin were proude or no Marry quoth he prouide ye that he with his compaine come firste to the place of the Synode or counsell house And if when ye approche nere he ariseth courteously to you thinke ye that he is the seruant of Christe and so heare ye him obediently But if he despise yow nor will vouchesafe to ryse at your presence which are the more in number let him likewise be despised of yowe And truly as this Anchoret bad them so did they For it happened that when they came thither S. Austin was alredy thereâ— and sate in his chayre Which when they sawe straight waye wexing wrothe they noted him of pride and therfore endeuored to ouerthwarte and gainsaye what soeuer he proposed His oracion briefly was thus Although though dere brethern in manie other points ye doe contrarie to our custome or rather contrarie to the custome of the vniuersall churche of Christe yet not withstanding if ye will in these 3. thinges consent and obey vnto me that is to celebrate the Easter in dew time to accomplish the ministerie of baptisme by which we are borne againe to God according to the maner of the holie Roman and Apostolike churche and last of all to preache with vs to this English natioÌ„ the word of our Lordâ—ll your other ceremonies rites fashions and customs though they be contrary to oures yet we will willingly suffer theÌ„ and be content to beare with theÌ„ But they answered that they would doe none of the thinges requested neither would compre him for their Archebishop sayeng with them selues Nay if he would not so muche as rise to vs truely the more we shoulde now subiecte our selues to him the more woulde he hereafter despise vs and set vs at naught To whome the good man of God S. Austen thretfully proficied that if they would not take peace and be at accord with their brethern they should receaue and feele warre from their enemies And yf they wold not preache to the English men the waye of lyfe they should suffer at their hande and by their power the vengeance of death Which thing in al pointes came so to passe as he forsayed by the secret working of Gods iudgement For it happened afterward that the most mighty king of English men Edilfrede of whome I haue spoken before gathering a greate armie made at the citie which the English men call Legacester but the Britons better Carlege a foule slaughter of this vnfaithfull and naughty people For being now redy to geue the onset of the fight when he had spidde their priestes which came together to praye to God for the souldiers warringe stand a parte from the rest in a sure and safe place he demaunded what they were and to what end they came thither Now the most parte of these priestes were of the monasterie of Bangor where was sayde to be so great a number of monkes that this monasterie being diuided in to seauen companies with eche companie his seuerall assigned ruler none of these compaines had lesse then 3. hundred persons who all did euer lyue by the labour of their owne handes Manie therefore of them after their 3. dayes fast came with the rest to thafforsaide armie to pray for the souldiers hauing also by them a defendour named Brockmal who should keape and preserue them from the weapons and strokes of their enemies while they were thus ernestly bent to their prayers This the cause of their comminge thither when king Edelfrede had vnderstoode he sayd Yf these men crie and call vppon their God against vs truly although they haue no armoure yet they fight against vs who with their wicked wordes and hatefull curses persecute vs. Therefore he commaunded his souldiers first to assault them And so he vanquished after the other parte of this detestable hoste but yet not without greate losse of his owne men It is reported that there were slaine in that warres of them which came to praye aboute a thousande and two hundred men and only fiftie to haue escaped by flight For Brockmale at the first comming of his ennemies fled straight with all his souldiers and whome he ought to haue defended lefte them all naked and bare to the strokes of the sworde So in this manner was fulfilled the prophetie of holye bishop Austin Who was himself longe before that taken out of this life to the kingdom of heauen And thus these vngratiouse and false people suffred the punishment of temporal death bicause they had refused and despised the holsome counsell of perpetuall life and saluation offered them How the saide Austin made Mellite and Iustus Byshops and of his death The. 3. Chap. IN the yere of thincarnation of our Lord. 604. Austin Archebishop of Britannie consecrated ij Byshops Mellite and Iustus The one that is Mellite to preache to the prouince of the Este Saxons which are separated from kent with the Tems And are fast ioyned to the Este sea Whose chiefe citie is London of situation nere sette vppon the banckes of the fludde called the Temsâ— a princely mart towne of manie people arriuing thither by sea and lande In the which countrie at that time raygned Sabereth Elberts nefue by his syster Ricula Although this Sabereth was himselfe vnder the dominion of the same Elbert who was as I haue before saide king ouer all the Englishmen euen vnto the end of the fludde Humber Kinge Elbert the first Christen king of Englishmen buildeth S. Poules in LondoÌ„ and S. An â—rewes in Rochester for the ij first bisshops of both those Secs Mellitus and Iustê° Wher also wer interred the bodies of all the Archebishops folowing except ij only that is Theodore and Berthwold Whose bodies were layed in the church it selfe bycause the porche could receiue no more This church hath almost in the middest of hit an aulter dedicated in the honour of S. Gregory the Pope at the whiche aulter euery saterday their memories are solemnely celebrated by the priest of that place In the tumbe of this same Austin was writen such and epitaphe as foloweth Here lyeth and resteth blessed S. Austin the first Archebisshop of Caunterbury who was sent hether of holye S. Gregory Bisshop of Rome and strengthened of God by working of miracles VVho conuerted king Elbert and his royaulme from the worshypping of idols to the faith of Christe and so fulfilling
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 But as sone as he had heard that for his owne healthes sake and saluation this bysshop had suffred so greueouse beatinges yea and that of the Apostle of Christe he feared much And afterward abandoning all worship and honour of ydols renouncinge also his vnlauful mariage he embraced the fayth of Christe and being baptised he endeuored to keape and mayntaine the state of the churche in all pointes to his vttermoste power Moreover he sent into Fraunce and called home Mellite and Iustus commaunding them to returne to their churches and freely instructe their flock Thus the yeare after their departure they returned againe Iustus to Rochester where he was bishop But as for Mellite the LoÌ„doners wold not receaue although he was their bysshop chosing rather to obey idolatrouse bysshops then him And truly king Edbald was not a Prince of so greate power and strenght as was his father that he might restore this bysshopp to his churche notwithstanding the paynim Londiners resistaunce but for his owne part and all his subiectes froÌ„ the daye that he was conuerted to our Lord he submitted himselfe to the precepts of God Moreouer he buylt a chappell in the honour of our ladie the blessed mother of God within the monasterie of S. Peter head of thappostles Which chappell Mellite the Archebisshop consecrated How bishop Mellite quenched with his prayer the fyre burning the citie of Caunterbury The. 7. Chap. FOr in the raygne of this king Edbald the holye Archebishop Laurence departing hence to the kyngdome of heauen and being buryed the seuenth daye of Februarie in the churche and monasterie of S. Peter thappostle fast by his predecessour Austin Mellite who was bishopp of London sate in the See of Caunterbury churche third Archebysshopp after S. Austin when as Iustus was yet a lyue and bishopp of Rochester Which ij Prelates because they dyd rule and gouerne the English churche with greate labour and diligence receiued eftsoones exhorting epistles from Boniface Bysshop of the Roman and Apostolique see Who after Dersdâ—dit otherwise wise called Theodatus gouuerned the Church in the yeare of our lord 618. Mellite was often troubled with infirmities of the bodie and muche greaued with the gowte yet notwithstanding euer hole and sounde of mynde Who passing ouer spedely all erthly thinges hyed him fast to the blysse of heauen which is euer to be beleued euer to be wysshed for and euer to be sowght for He was also noble by byrth but muche more noble for the excellencie of his mynde I will reherse one token of his vertue by which a man maye easely gesse the rest When vppon a certaine tyme the citie of Caunterbury by negligence was takeÌ„ with fyre and began to waste and consume awaye by muche encreasing of the flames so that no helpe of man no castinges of water theron was able to queÌ„che or staye it the greatest parte of the citie being at length nere burnt and the furiouse flashes extending them selues euen to the Bysshops place this good bysshop seing mans healpe now to fayle and trusting only in the ayde and succoure of God commaundyd that the myght be carryed out of his howse and sette against these fierce flawes of fyre percing and flyeng all rounde aboute Now where the greatest rage of this burning was there was the place of martyrdome of the. 4. hollie crouned Saintes Whan then the byshop by his seruantes was brought forth and sette in this place here he began withe prayer sycke as he was to dryue awaye the peryll of fyre which the stowght strength of stronge men with muche labour could not before bryng to passe And beholde the wynde that blew froÌ„ the Southe wherby this fire was first kendled and blasted abrode now sodenly bent against the Southe first teÌ„pered his blastes for feare of hurting the places ouerryght in thother side and after quyte quenching the flames ceasing and extinguisshing the fyre made all calme and wel againe And truly this good man of God which dyd feruently alwaye burne with the fyre of inwarde charite and was wont with his often prayers and hollie exhortations to dryue from himselfe and al his the daunger of ghostly temtations and trowble by spryghtes of the ayre might now iustly preuaile against the wynde and easely cease these worldy flames and obtayne that they hurted nor him nor his Who after he had ruled the churche v. yeares deceased hence to heauen in the raygne of king Edbald and is buryed with his predecessours in the oftmentioned monasterie and churche of S. Peter the yeare of our Lord. 624. and the. 22. daye of Februarie How Pope Boniface sent Iustus Mellites successor a palle and an epistle The. 8. Chapter TO whome Iustus succeded inmediatly in the Byshoprike who was Bysshopp of Rotchester Ouer whiche church he appointed for him Romanus and consecrated him Byshop For nowe had Iustus receyued authoritie to ordeyne Byshops from the hygh Byshop Boniface successour of Deusdedit as we saied before The forme of which authorite is as foloweth To our derest beloued brother Iustus Boniface sendeth greating How godly and how ernestly yow haue dere brother laboured for the Gospell of Christ not only the tenour of your epistle directed vnto vs but also the perfection and end of your doinges haue well and fully declared For almightie God hath not forsaken eyther the glorie of his name or the fruyte of your labour Wheras himselfe faythfully haâ—h promised the prechers of his Gospell sayng Behold I am with yow alwayes euen vnto the end of the wordle Which thing especially his clemencie hath shewed in this your ministerie opening the hartes of the gentiles to receyue the singular mysterie of your preching For he hath made moste honorable the state of your dignitie by his grace and goodnes while that himselfe hath prepared you so fertell fruytes vsing moste prouidently his talentes committed to yowe geauing yowe this gyfte that yowe may now assigne and shewe whole countries plentifully multiplyed in the fayth by yow And this is geauen you in recompence bycause you persisted continually in this ministerie of preching appointed to yowe looking with lawdable pacience for the redemption of that people to whome yow were sent and that they might geate some good by your merytes and labour whose saluation is nowe begonne wytnessing our Lord sayeng He that shall stand and perseuere to the end he it is that shal be saued Ye are therfore saued by the hope of patience and by the vertue of longe suffring so that now the hartes of infidels being purged and healed from their naturall and superstitiouse desease may receyue the mercye of their Sauiour For after we had read the letters of oure dere son king Adelwald we vnderstode with what greate lerning and instruction of holy scrypture yow haue browght him to the belefe of thundowbted faithe and trewly conuerted him to Christe Wheruppon we presuming and putting sure affiaunce in the greate
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
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
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
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
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
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
go your waies to churche againe and speake vnto the bretherne that with their prayers they both commend vnto our Lorde my departing and remember also with fasting watching prayers and good workes to preuent their own departing the houre wherof is vncertaine And when he had spoken these and mo like wordes and that the brethern had taken his blessing and wer gone forth very heauy and sad he that only heard the heauenly song came in againe and casting himselfe flat on the ground sayed I beseke you good father may I be so bold as to aske you a question Aske what you will quod he Then quod the other I pray you tell me what was that song which I heard of that ioyfull company descending from heauen vpon this oratorie and after a time retourninge to heauen againe He aunswered and saied to him If you haue hearde the voice of the song and vnderstoode the comming of the heauenly compaines I commaund you in the name of our Lorde to tell no man herof before my death They were in dede the spirites of angelles which came to call me to the heauenly rewardes which I haue alway loued and longed for and after vij daies they haue promised to come againe and take me with them The which was in dede fullfilled euen as it was foretolde him For straight way was he taken with a feyntnes of bodye which daily grewe more greuouse vpon him and the vij daye as it had bene promised him after he had first forewarded his departing with the receiuing of the bodie and bloud of our Lord his holy soule loosed from the prison of the bodie was caried and lead as we may well beleue of the company of Angelles to the ioyes euerlastinge And it is no meruaile if he gladly behelde the day of death or rather the day of our Lorde which daye he did alwaies carefully looke for till it came For among his manifold merites of chastitie and abstinence of preaching of praier of wilfull pouertie and other vertues he was so far humbled to the feare of our Lorde so much mindful of his later end in all his workes that as a certaine brother named Trumbert was wont to tell me one of them that read the scriptures to me and was brought vp in his monasterie and gouernement if perhaps while he were reading or doing some other thing there rose any sodaine great blast of wind by and by wold he cal on the mercy of our Lord and beseke him to haue pitie on mākinde But and if there came a blast yet more vehement then wold he shut vp his booke and fall downe on his face and set him selfe more feruently to prayer And if any stronger storme or blustreing showre continewed long or that lightning and thunders did make both the earth and ayre to shake for feare then would he go to churche and earnestly set his mind to praier and saying of psalmes vntill the ayre waxed clere againe And when some of his companie asked him why he did so Haue ye not read quod he That our Lord hath thundred from heauen and the most high hath giuen his voice He hath sent out his arrowes and scattered them abrode he hath multiplied lighteninge and troubled them For our Lorde moueth the ayre reyseth vp windes shooteth out lighteninges thundreth from heauen to styrre vp the creatures of the earth to feare him to cal againe their hartes to the remembraunce of the iudgement to come to plucke downe their pride and abate their boldenes and thus to bringe to their mindes that terrible time when both heauens and earth shall burne and himselfe come vpon the clowdes with great power and maiestie to iudge both the quicke and the dead And therfore quod he it behoueth vs with dewe feare and loue to yelde and giue place to his warning from heauen that as ofte as he trowbleth the ayre and lyfteth vpp his hande as it were threatning to strike and doth not yet strike we strayght way call vpon his mercie and boulting owt the very botome of our hartes and casting owt the dregges and relikes of synne do carefully prouide that we neuer deserue to be striken at all With the reuelation and relation of the foresayd brother concerning the death of this bysshopp the wordes also of Ecgbert the most reuerend father do well agree of whome we spake before Whiche Ecgbert at the tyme whē the sayd Chadda was a youngman and himself of lyke age to dyd in Ireland strayghtly lead a monasticall lyfe both together in prayers continence and meditation of the holy scriptures But Chadda being afterward retourned to his countree Ecgbert abode there styll as a pilgrime for our Lordes sake vnto the end of his lyfe Nowe a long tyme after there came to visite him from England a certaine most holy and vertuous man named Higbalde who was an Abbot in the prouince of Lindisse And as they talked together of the lyfe of the former fathers as is the maner of such holy men to doo and gladly wold wysh to followe the same they fell vpon mention of the most reuerend byshop Chadda And than sayd Ecgbert I knowe a man yet remayning aliue in this Ilande which whē brother Chadda passed owt of the world dyd see a companye of Angelles descend from heauen and take vp his sowle withe them and retourned againe to the celestiall kingdomes Which vision whether Ecgbert meaned to be sene of himselfe or of some other it is to vs vncertaine yet while so worthy a man as he sayed that it was true the thing it self can not be vncertaine vnto vs. Thus dyed Chadda the vj. daye of Marche and was buryed first by S. Maries Churche but afterward his bones were remoued into the church of the most blessed Saint Peter chiefe of thapostles the same churche being finished In both which places in token of his vertu often miracles of healing sicke folke are wonte to be wrought And of late a certaine man that had a phrenesie and ranne vpp and downe wandring euery where came thither at an euening and by the ignorance or negligence of them that kept the place lay there all the night and the next morning came owt well in his wyt and declared to the great wonder and ioye of all men that there he had by the gyfte and goodnes of our Lorde gotten his health The place of the sepulchre is couered with a wodden tombe made like a litle howse hauing an hole in the syde at whiche they that come thither for deuocions sake are wont to put in their hand and take owt some of the dowste The whiche they put into water and than giue it to drinke to sicke beastes or men whereby the grief of their sickness is anon taken away and they restored to their ioyfull desired healthe In the place of B. Chadda Theodore consecrated and ordeyned VVinfrid a vertuowse and sober man to rule and haue the office of a byshop as his
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
the foresayd feare and shewed him moreouer on what day he shoulde ende this lyfe For he sawe as he after reported him selfe three men come to him araied in bright shining clothing and one of them while his felowes that came with him stode by and asked how the sicke man did whom they came to visite sate before his bed and sayed that his soule should departe from the bodie both without pain and also with great light and brightnesse And he farther also declared vnto him that he should die the third day after Both which things as he learned by the vision were so fulfilled in dede For the third day ensuyng when the ix houre was come sodainly as if he had fallen in to a softe slepe he gaue vp the ghoste without feeling any grief at all And whereas for the buriall of his body they had prepared a tombe of stone when they began to lay his bodie in it they found it to be longer then the tombe by the quantitie of an handbreadth They hewed therefore the stone as much as they might and made it longer than it was about two fingers breadth but yet it could not receaue the bodie not so neyther Whereupon bicause of this distresse of burying him they were minded eyther to seke an other tombe or els if they might to gather in the body by bowing of the knees that so it might be holden and receaued of the same tombe But a wonderfull case happened and not withowt the working of God from heauen the whiche kept them from doing any of those thinges For sodainly the byshopp standing by and the sayd kinges sonne a monke also Sighard by name which after him raigned with his brother Frede and also a great company of other men the very same tombestone was found to be of a fyt length for the quantitie of the bodie Yea and so much that at the head there might also a pillowe be layde betwene and at the feete there remained in the tombe bysyde the body about the quantitie of fowre fingers And thus was he buried and Layed in the Churche of the blessed doctour teacher of the gentiles S. Pawle by whose good lessons he being taught had learned to labour and longe for the ioyes of heauen Howe after Eleutherius Headd◠was made bishop of the west Saxons after Putta Quichelmus was made byshop of Rotchester and after him Gebmund and who were byshops in Northumberland at that tyme. The 12. Chap. THe fowrth byshop of the westsaxons was Eleutherius For the first was Birinus the second Agilbert the third VVini After the departure of kinge Cenwalch in whose raigne the sayd Eleutherius was made byshop certaine Lordes vsurped the kingdome and diuided it betwene them and so helde it about x. yeres In their raigne dyed this byshop and Headdy was put in his place and consecrated bishop by Theodore in the citie of London In the time of whom being byshop Ceadwalla dyd ouercome and put owt the sayd vsurpours and toke the kingdome to himselfe And when he had kept the same for the space of two yeres at last pricked and styrred with the loue of the kingdome of heauen he leafte it while the same bishop dyd yet gouerne the diocese and went vnto Rome and there ended his lyfe as it shal be tolde more at large hereafter In the yere of thincarnation of our Lorde 677. Edilred kinge of the Marshes or middleland englishmen came into kent with a terrible and fell hoste not only spoyling the countree and profaning the churches and monasteries withowt any respecte of pitie or feare of God but also ransacking with the same generall ruine the citie of Rotchester wherof Putta was byshop howebeit at that tyme he was not there Who when he heard hereof that his Churche was spoyled and all thinges taken away and ryffled he went vnto Sexwolfe byshop of the Marshes and receaued of him the possession of a certaine churche and a litle piece of grownd and there ended his lyfe in peace and reast not taking any care at all for the restoring of his byshopricke for as we haue aboue sayd he was a man more giuen to ecclesiastical and spiritual than to worldly and temporall matters And so he liued quietly and only serued God in the same church going somtimes abrode where he was desired to teache verses and hymnes of the churche In his place dyd Theodore consecrate VVilliam bishop of Rotchester Who not long after for scarcitie and lacke of thinges necessarie departed frō the bishopricke and went his way thence in whose place Theodore ordeined Gebmund byshop The yere of thincarnation of our Lord 678. which was the viij yere of the raigne of kinge Ecgfride there appered in the moneth of August a blasing star the whiche continewed three moneths rysing in the morninges and giuing forth as it were an highe piller of a glistering flame In which yere also throwgh a certaine dissension that rose betwene king Ecgfride and the moste Reuerend byshop VVilfride the sayd reuerend father was put owt of his byshoprike and two other appointed byshops in his place ouer the prouince of Northumberlande the one named Bosa to gouerne the Deires and the other named Eata for the Bernices which Eata had his see at yorke and Bosa at the Cathedral churche of Hagulstald or Lindisfarne which two men were both taken owt of the cloyster of monkes and called to this degree And with them also was Eadhed made byshop ouer the prouince of Lindesfar which king Ecgfride had very lately conquered of VVulfhere whom he ouercame in battaile and put to flight In which prouince this man was the first bishop that they had of their owne the next was Ediluine the third Eadgar the fourth Emberth who is there at this present For before Eadhed came they were in the diocese of bysshopp Sexwolfe who was byshop both of the Marshes and the myddle english but nowe being put from the gouuernement of Lindisse he remayned only bishopp of the Marshes These bysshops Eadhed Bosa and Eata were cōsecrated byshops at yorke by Theodore tharchebishop who also the third yere of VVilfrides departing thence ioyned vnto them two byshops mo Trūbert at Hagustald Eata remayning at Lindesfar and Trumuin ouer the prouince of the Pictes which at that tyme was subiect to the dominion of the english men But bycause that Edilrede kinge of the Marshes recouered the sayd countree of Lindisse againe Eadhed came away thence and was by Theodore made byshop of the diocese of Rhyppon Howe byshop Wilfride conuerted the prouince of the Sowth Saxons to Christ. The. 13. Chap. WHen VVilfride was put out of his byshoprike he went and wandred in many places a longe tyme and came to Rome and from thence retourned into England againe And thoughe bicause of the displeasure of the said kinge he could not gett into his owne diocese againe yet he could not be kept from doing the office of preaching the ghospell For he went
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
captaine generall with an hoste of men into Scotland and miserably spoyled and destroyed the harmelesse seely people which had euer bene great frindes to the english nation in so muche that the hand and force of the enemie spared not the very churches and monasteries Yet the men of the I le as far as they were able dyd both resiste and withstand force with force and also calling on the ayd of Gods mercy dyd long with continuall cursinges make supplication to be reueÌ„ged from heauen And although such as curse cannot possesse the kingdome of heauen yet it is beleued that they which for their vnmercyfulnes were worthely accursed dyd shortly suffer the punyshmentes of their wickednes by the vengeance of God For the next yere after this the same king against the aduise and counsell of his frindes and specially of Cutbert a man of blessed memorie who of late had bene consecrated bysshopp dyd rashly and vndiscretly go forth with an armie to waste the prouince of the Redshankes Who making as thowghe they sled browght him vnto the straightes of the hilles where was no passage and there with the most parte of his hoste that he had browght with him he was slayne the xl yere of his age and xv yere of his raigne and xx day of maye And in dede as I sayd his frindes and counsell would not suffer him to begyn this war but euen as the yere before he wolde not giue eare to the most Reuerend father Ecgbert for settinge vpon Scotland that dyd him no harme so was this nowe giuen him for a punyshment of that syn that he wold not harken vnto them that labowred to call and staye him from his owne destruction After which time the hope and prowesse of the dominion of the English began much to decaye and go backeward For the Redshankes recouered againe their landes and possessions whiche the English men did hold and the Scottes that were in Britaine and also a certaine part of the Britons got againe their freedome and libertie which they hitherto haue yet these xlvj yeres or thereabowt Where among many of the englishmen that were eyther slaine with the swearde or made bondmen or scaped froÌ„ the land of the Redshankes by fleeing the most reuerend man Trumwini which had bene byshop ouer them there departed with his company that were in the monasterie of Ebbercune the which standeth in the Englysh region but nighe vnto the straight that diuideth the landes of the english and the Redshankes And commending his felowes to his frendes abrode in diuerse monasteries where he best might himselfe went to the ofte mentioned monasterie of Gods seruantes and handmaydes named Streaneshalch and there chose him his abyding place where with a fewe other of his company he lead his lyfe a long time of yeres in monasticall straightnesse very profitably not to himselfe only but to many other also At which time there gouerned the same monasterie a certaine virgin of the kinges blood named Elflet and their mother Eanflede togither of whome we haue before made mention But when this byshop came thither the good and vertuouse Abbesse found thereby not only great helpe in her chardge and gouernaunce but also comforte to her owne lyfe and conuersation After king Ecgfride succeded in the kingdome Altfrit a man very well learned in the scriptures who was said to be Ecgfrides brother and sonne to king Oswine This man dyd nobly and worthely recouer the decayed and destroyed estate of the kingdome thowghe the boundes and greatenes thereof were nowe more narowe This same yere which was from thincarnarion of owr Lorde DClxxxv dyed Lothere king of kent the vj. daye of February when he had raigned xij yeres after his brother Ecgbert who raigned jx yeres For this Lother was wounded in the battaile of the South SaxoÌ„s the which Edrich the sonne of Egbert fowght against him and while he was at surgerie in curing he dyed After whome the sayd Edrich raigned one yere and an halfe Who departing without issue that kingdome was for a space throwghe vncertaine and foraine kinges sore decayed and destroyed vntyll the lawfull and legitimat king Victred who was Egberts sonne came and was quietly settled therin who both by good religion and princely prowesse deliuered his people from foraine forse and inuasion Howe Cutbert the man of God was made bisshop and howe he liued and tawght while he yet was in his monasterie and monasticall conuersation The. 27. Chapter IN that same yere that king Egbert ended his lyfe he caused as we haue sayd Cutbert an holy and reuerend man to be consecrated bishop of the church of Lindesfarre who had lyued a solitarie lyfe many yeares in great continencie bothe of body and mynde in a very smal yle called Farne whiche lyeth distant from the said churche of Lindisfarme almost ix myles a good waye in the mayne Ocean sea This man from the first beginning of his childhode was alwaies feruently desyrouse of religiouse lyfe and when he was growen somewhat toward mans state he tooke both the name and habite of a monke For he entred first into the monasterie of Mailâ—os which standeth on the banke of the riuer Tyne and was at that time gouuerned of Abbot Eata the mekest and mildest man of a thousand Afterward he was taken from thence and made bishopp of the diocese of Hagulstald or Lindisfarne as we haue a foresaide The which see was before gouuerned by Boisill a man of great vertues and graces and of a propheticall spirite Whose humble and diligent scholer Cutbert had bene and learned of him the knowledge of the holy scriptures and examples of good workes Which man after he was gone to God Cutbert was made head of the same monasterie where both by the authoritie of his master and example of his owne dooing he instructed and brought many vnto regular lyfe and discipline Neither did he only giue vnto the monasterie both admonishementes and examples of vertuouse and regular lyfe but also laboured to tourne the common people far and nere thereabout from the lyfe of their carelesse conuersation to the loue and longing of the ioyes of heauen For many folke at that time did profane and defyle the fayth that they had with wicked workes and dooinges some also in the time of the great death and plage setting at nought the sacramentes of fayth wherewith they were endewed ranne to the erroneous medicins and sorceries of idolatrie as though they wer able by enchantementes or withcrafte or any other secrete arte and coning of the deuill to staye and kepe of the plage sent from God the creatour Both which sortes of people to correcte and reproue their erroneouse and yll dooing this good father would go out of the monasterie somtime on horsebacke but moo times on fote and come to the villages lyeng thereabout and preache the way of truthe to them that were astraye Which thing also Boisill was wont to doo in
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