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
his way to the prouince of the South Saxons which from kent reacheth southwarde and westward as far as the West Saxons contayning vij M. tenementes and was yet at that time lyuing in the paynimes lawe Vnto them did he minister the worde of faith and baptisme of saluation The king of the same countree whose name was Edilwach was christened not long before in the prouince of the Marshes in the presence and at the exhortatioÌ„ of king Wulfhere Who also at the fonte was his godfather and in signe of that adoption gaue him two prouinces that is to say the I le of wight and the prouince of Manures in the West parte of England By the permission therefore and great reioysing of the king this bishopp christened the chiefe Lordes and knightes of the countree And the reast of the people at thesame time or sone after were christened by the priestes Eappa Padda Bruchelin and Oidda The Quene also named Ebba was christened in her I le which was in the prouince of the Viccians for she was the doughter of Eanfride who was Eanberes brother whiche were both christen men and all their people But all the prouince of the South Saxons had neuer before that time heard of the name of God nor the faith Yet there was in the countree a certaine monke a Scot borne named Dicul which had a very litle monasterie in a place called Bosanham all compassed about with woddes and the sea and therein a v. or vj. bretherne seruing God in humble and poore life But none of the people there did giue them selues either to followe their lyfe or heare their preaching But when bishop Wilfride came and preached the gospel vnto them he not only deliuered theÌ„ from the miserie and perill of eternall damnation but also from an horrible morraine of this temporall death For in three yeares before his comming to that prouince it had not rayned one drop in all those quarters Whereby a very sore famine came vpon the common people and destroyed them by hole heapes in most pitifull wyse In so much that it is reported that diuerse and many times xl or l. men in a company being famished for hunger would go together to some rocke or sea banke and there wringing their handes in most miserable sort would cast themselues all downe either to be killed with the fall or drowned in the sea But on that very day on which the people receaued the baptisme and faith there fell a goodly and plentifull shoure of raine wherewith the earth florished againe and brought a most ioyfull and frutefull yere with goodly greene fieldes euery where Thus their old superstition being layed away and idolatrie blowen out and extincted the hartes and bodies of them all did reioyse in the liuing God knowing that he which is the true God had by his heauenly grace enryched them both with inwarde and outward giftes and goodes For this bishop also when he came into the countree and sawe so great a plage of famine there taught them to get their sustenaunce by fysshing For the sea and riuers there about them had great abundance of fysh But the people had no skill at all to fish for any thing els but eeles And therefore they of the bishops company gat somewhere a sort of eelenettes together and cast them into the sea and straight way by the helpe and grace of God they tooke CCC fishes of diuerse kindes The which they diuided into three partes and gaue one hundred to poore folke and an other to them of whom they had the nettes and the third they kept for themselues By the which benefit the bishop tourned the hartes of them all much to loue him and they began the more willingly to hope for heaueÌ„ly things at his preaching by whose helpe and succour they receaued the giftes and goodes of this worlde At this time did Edilwach giue vnto the most reuerend bishop VVilfrid the land of lxxxvij tenementes where he might place his company that were exiles with him The name of the place was Sâ—â—lâ—seâ—s The whiche place is compassed of the sea round about sauing on the west where it hath an entraunce into it as brode as a man may caste a stone with a slinge Which kinde of place is in Latin called Paeninsula and in Greke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When bishop VVilfride had receaued this place he founded a monasterie there which he did binde to monastical life and rule and did put therein monkes namely some of them that he had brought with him Whiche monasterie his successours are knowen to holde and kepe vnto this day For vntil the death of king Ecgbert which was v. yeares space he continewed still in those quarters in great honour and reuerence among all men for his good deseruing for he did the office of a bishop both in word and dede And bicause the king with the possession of the forsaid place had giueÌ„ him also al the goodes and demaynes of the same with the groundes and men to he instructed them all in the Christian faithe and baptised theÌ„ al. AmoÌ„g the which ther wer CCC bond men and bondwemen whome he did all not only deliuer by christening them from the bondage of the deuil but also by giuing them their freedom did louse them from the yoke of the bondage of man How by the prayer and intercession of Saint Oswald the pestilent mortalitie was taken away The. 14. Chapter IN this monasterie att the same time there were shewed certaine giftes of heauenly grace by the holy Ghoste as in which place the tyrannye of the deuill being lately expelled Christ had newly begonne to raigne One of which thinges we thought good to put in writing to be remeÌ„bred hereafter the which in dede the most reuerend father Acca was ofte times wont to tell me and affirmed that be had it shewed him of the bretherne of the same monasterie a man most worthy to be credited About the same very time that this prouince receaued the name of Christ a sore plage and mortalitie raigned in many prouinces of England which plage by the pleasure of Gods dispensation and ordinaunce when it touched also the foresayed monasterie which at that time the most Reuerend and vertuouse priest of Christ Eappa did rule and gouerne and that many bothe of them that came thither with the bishop and also of such as had bene lately called to the faith in the same prouince of the South Saxons were taken daily out of this life it semed good to the bretherne to appoint themselues to faste three daies and humbly to beseke the mercy of God that he wold voutsafe to shew grace and mercy towarde them and deliuer them from this perilouse plage and present deathe or at least when they were taken out of this world to saue their soules from eternall damnation There was at that time in the same monasterie a certaine litle boye that was lately come
country Writing thus Vnto his deare beloued son Mellitus abbat Gregorius the seruaunt of the seruauntes of God After the departure of you and the company which was with you we wer in dought what becam of you for that we could heare nothing how you sped in yower iourny When then God shall bring you vnto our reuerend brother Augustine bishop tell him what I haue of longe time deuised with my selfe of the cause of the English men That is to with that not the temples of the Idols but the Idoles which be in them be broken that holy water be made and sprinkled about the same temples altars buylded relikes placed For if the sayd churches be well made it is nedefull that they be altered frō the worshipping of diuels in to the seruice of God that whiles the people doth not see their temples spoiled they may forsaking their error be moued the more ofte to haunt their wont place to the honor and seruice of God And for that they are wōte to kill oxē in sacrifice to the diuells they shal vse the same slaughter now but chaunged to a better purpose It may therefore be permitted them that in the dedication dayes or other solemne daies of martyrs they maketh them bowers about their churches and feasting together after a good religious sorte kill their oxen now to the refreshing of them selues to the praise of God and encrease of charite which before they wer wont to offer vp in sacrifice to the diuells that whiles sum outward comfortes ar reserued vnto them they may thereby be brought the rather to the inward comfortes of grace in God For it is doutlesse impossible from men being so rooted in euell customes to cut of all their abuses vppon the sodaine He that laboreth to clim vpp vnto a highe place he goeth vpward by steppes and pases not by leapes So vnto the childrē of Israel being in Aegipt our Lord was wel knowē But yet he suffered them to doe sacrifice vnto him still in offring vp of beastes vnto him which otherwise they wold haue offered vpp vnto the diuels as they wer wont to doe in the land of Egypt that altering their intente they should leue sum and also kepe sum of their ould sacrifices that is that the beastes which they offred before they should now offer still But yet in offring them vnto the true God and not vnto the diuels they should not be the same sacrifices in all pointes as they wer before These be the thinges which I think expedient you declare vnto our sayd brother to th entent that he being there may consider with him selfe how ech thing is to be disposed God kepe you in helth dearly beloued son in Christ. Geuen the xv day of Iune The xix yere of the raigne of our soueraine Lord Mauricius Tyberius emperour and the xvij yere after his consulship Indictione quarta A letter of S. Gregorie to Augustine exhorting him that he should not glorie in him selfe of his vertues and miracles The. 31. Chap. ABout this time he sent Augustine an epistle touching such miracles as he had knowen to be done by the said Augustine In the which epistle he exhorteth him that he should take no pride of minde therefore I know saith he deare brother that it pleaseth god to shewe by thee great miracles amōg the people which by thee he hath called to his faith Wherevpon it is nedefull that of that heauenly gifte both thou ioyest with feare and fearest with ioye Thou hast to ioye for that by meanes of the said miracles the Englishmens soules are wonne to the faith Thou hast to feare leste through the miracles which be don by thee thy weake mind be lifted vp in presumption falling as farre inwardly by vaine glory as thou arte by outward praise puffed vp We must remember that the disciples returning with ioy from their preaching when they saied vnto their heauenly master Lorde in thy name the very diuells were obedient vnto vs it was by and by aunswered vnto them Doe you not reioyce tereat but rather reioyce for that your names are written in heauen For they had fastened their mind vppon a priuate and temporall ioye when they ioyed of their miracles But Christ calleth them backe from priuate ioy vnto commune and from temporall to eternall when he said Ioy for that your names are written in heauen For not all the chosen of god doth miracles but yet all their names are written in heauen For why They which be the disciples of the truth ought to ioye in nothing but only in that good thing which all other good shall haue as well as they and whereof they all shall haue ioy without ende This therefore remaineth deare beloued brother that of the thinges whiche by the power of god thou workest outwardly thou exactly euer discusse thy selfe inwardly and thourouly vnderstand both thy selfe who thou arte and what plenty of grace god hath bestowed vppon that countrie for whose sake to th entēt it might be the rather conuerted thou hast receiued the gift of working miracles And if thou remember that thou haste at any time ether by worde or dede offended god haue that euer in thy remembraunce that the ofte thinking vppon thy synne may presse doune the mounting pride of thy hart And what so euer grace thou ether hast or shalt receiue to worke miracles think it geuen thee not for thine owne sake but for theirs the minister of whose saluation thou art ordained How Saynt Gregorie sent letters and presentes to king Ethelberte The 32. Chapter THe said holy pope Gregorie at the selfe same time sent vnto king Ethelberte a letter with rich presentes of diuerse sortes doing vnto the king temporall honours which through his helpe was growē in knowledg of the glory of heauen The coppy of the said letter is this Vnto the right honorable and his most worthy sonne Ethelbert king of the English Gregorie bishop God almighty for this cause dothe calle good men to the gouernaunce of his people that by their handes he may distribute the giftes of his mercy and grace vnto all such ouer whom they haue the gouernaunce Which thing we know to haue ben done among the nation of the English ouer whom you are chosen to haue the rule that by the giftes of God employed vppon you the like benefites of grace might by your meanes be geuen to all such as are vnder your dominiō And therfor O Noble Son labour diligently to kepe the grace which you haue receiued from god and seeke with spede to set forth the faith of Christ to your subiectes Haue a good zele to procure the conuersion of as many as you can possibly forbid the worshipping of Idoles ouerthrow their temples edifie the maners of your people with exāple of your owne integrite with wordes of exhortation feare fayer speach and well doing that he may be your rewarder in heauen whose knowledg and name you make to be enlarged vppon the earth
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
Howe Coenrede kinge of the Marsshes and Offa king of the East Saxons ended their liues in the habitt of religion and of the lyfe and death of bisshop VVilfride The 20. Chap. THe iiij yeare of Osredes raigne king Coenrede which kept the soueraintie in the countrie of Marshes honourably for a tyme did more honourably forsake it and all his dominions For vnder Constantine the Pope he went to Rome and receiuing there the tonsure and habitt of a religious man at the Apostles toumbes continued in praying fasting and dealing of almes vntill his dying daye Vnto this noble prince Coenrede succeded kinge Edilredes son which Edildred had the gouuernement of the same realme before him There went with him also to Rome Sigheres sonn king of the east Saxons called Offa whome we mentioned before a princely and beautefull gentleman and then in his first flowres and much desired of his subiectes to remaine and rule among them But he moued with leke deuotion and zeale as the other prince was forsoke his ladye his landes his kinsfolke and countrie for Christes sake and the ghospell that in this world he might receiue an hundred folde and in the world to come life euerlasting with Christ. When he came to the holy places att Rome he also was shoren into religion in the which he passed the rest of his life and came to the vision of the blessed Apostles in heauen as he had longe desired before The very selfe same yere that these ij princes went out of Britannie a worthy prelate and notable bishopp called VVilfride died the xlv yeare after he had ben made bisshoppe in the territory called Wundale And his body well chested was caried to the monastery of Rhippon wher he had before liued and with al honour and solemnitie worthy for so noble a bishopp was buried in Saincte Peters church at Rhyppon Of whose life and behahauiour let vs brieflly make mention what things were done returning as it were backe againe to that we haue spokeÌ„ before This Wilfride being but a childe was of such towardnesse and good nature induced with so many goodly qualities of such modest and honest behauiour in all pointes that all the elders and auncients did with a speciall good loue reuerence him After he was xiiij yere olde he more estemed a monasticall and solitarie lyfe than all secular and wordly wealth The which thing when he had communicated with his father for his mother was departed to the mercy of God he gladly condescended to his holly requestes and godly desires and exhorted him to persiste in that godly purpose which he had entended Hereuppon he came to the isle Lindisfarne and there atteÌ„ding vpoÌ„ the monks he diligeÌ„tly lerned and gladly practised al pointes of chastity and godlinesse required in a solitarie and religious man And because he had a goodly pregnant witt he lerned spedely psalmes and certain other bookes of prayers being not yet shoren in or professed but well garnished with those vertues which far surmounted the outward profession to witt of humility and obedience For the which he was wel loued and estemed bothe of the elders and also of his equals When he had serued God certaine yeares in that monastery he perceaued by litle and litle being growen in iudgement as a wife younge man that could quickly fore see the waye of trewe religion and vertue taught by the Scotts not to be altogether perfecte Whereuppon he fully determined to make a voyage to Rome only to see what riâ—es and ceremonies were obserued there as well of secular priestes as of religious personnes The which determination of his after notice geuen to his Bretherne by preuy conference eche man did well commeÌ„d it and persuaded him to go forward in his good purpose Incontinent coming to Quene Eamflede who knew him wel and by whose counsell and coÌ„mendation he was receaued into that monastery declared to her hyghnesse that he had an earnest and feruent desyre to visit the monuments of the holy Apostles The Quene much delited with the younge mans good purpose and zele sent him to Caunterbury to kinge Ercombert which was her vncles sonne requiring that it might please his highnesse to send him honorably to Rome at what time Honorius one of the blessed Pope Gregories schollers a man profoundly lerned in holy scripture was Archebishop there When this younge man lackinge nor good courage nor lyuely sprite had tarried there a space and employed his diligence to lerne and commit to memory that which he ouerloked there repaired thither an other younge gentilman whose name was Bishop and Christen name Benet one of the nobles of Englande desyrours to go to Rome of whom I haue mentioned before The kinge committed VVilfride to this younge gentilman and his company with chardge that he shuld conduct him safe to Rome When they came to Lyons in Fraunce VVilfrid was stayd there by Dalphine bishop of that city The gentleman went on his iourney to Rome The delight and pleasure which the bishop had in VVilfrides wyse talke aminable continaunce ioly actituity and graue inuention was the occasion why he was staied there For that cause also he gaue him and all his company frendfull intertainement as long as they continued there and furder offred him the gouernement of a greate parte of Fraunce the mariadge of his brothers daughter whiche was yet in the flower of her virginity brefely to adopte him for his heyr if he wolde make his abode there But he rendring lowly and harty thankes for so great courtesy and gentilnesse that the bishop vouchsafed to shew vnto him being but a straunger answered that he was fully determined to an other conuersation and trade of lyffe and therfore had forsaken his country and taken this iourney to Rome The which when the bishop heard he sent him to Rome with a guide to conducte him in the waye and gaue him mony sufficient to beare his chardges desyringe that at his returne he wolde remember to take his house by the waye VVilfride with in fewe dayes after cominge to Rome and occypuing him selfe in daily contemplation of heauenly thinges according to his first determination fel acquainted with a notable holy and lerned man called Boniface who was Archedeacon and one of the Apostolike Popes counsellers By whose instruction he lerned orderly the foure bookes of the Gospell and the trewe counte of Easter and many other godly lessons commodious and profitable to vnderstande the orders and disciplines of the churche which he could not attaine vnto in his owne country And when he had passed certaine monethes there in godly exercise and study he returned to Dalfine againe in Fraunce and after he had tarried with him iij. yeares he toke the inferiour orders of the bishop and was so entierly loued of him that the bishoppe fully determined to make him his successour But by cruel death he was preuented and VVilfride reserued to a bishoprike in his owne natyue country England For Brunechild