by Bede
CHAP. 14
Igitur accepit rex Aeduini cum cunctis gentis suae nobilibus ac plebe perplurima fidem et lauacrum sanctae regenerationis anno regni sui XI, qui est annus dominicae incarnationis DCXXVII, ab aduentu uero Anglorum in Brittaniam annus circiter CLXXXmus. Baptizatus est autem Eburaci die sancto paschae pridie Iduum Aprilium in ecclesia Petri apostoli, quam ibidem ipse de ligno, cum cathecizaretur, atque ad percipiendum baptisma inbueretur, citato opere construxit. In qua etiam ciuitate ipsi doctori atque antistiti suo Paulino sedem episcopatus donauit. Mox autem ut baptisma consecutus est, curauit, docente eodem Paulino, maiorem ipso in loco et augustiorem de lapide fabricare basilicam, in cuius medio ipsum, quod prius fecerat, oratorium includeretur. Praeparatis ergo fundamentis in gyro prioris oratorii per quadrum coepit aedificare basilicam. Sed priusquam altitudo parietis esset consummata, rex ipse impia nece occisus, opus idem successori suo Osualdo perficiendum reliquit. Paulinus autem ex eo tempore sex annis continuis, id est ad finem usque imperii regis illius, uerbum Dei, adnuente ac fauente ipso, in ea prouincia praedicabat; credebantque et baptizabantur quotquot erant praeordinati ad uitam aeternam, in quibus erant Osfrid et Eadfrid filii regis Aeduini, qui ambo ei exuli nati sunt de Quoenburga filia Cearli regis Merciorum.
Baptizati sunt tempore sequente et alii liberi eius de Aedilberga regina progeniti, Aedilhun et Aedilthryd filia, et alter filius Uuscfrea, quorum primi albati adhuc rapti sunt de hac uita, et Eburaci in ecclesia sepulti. Baptizatus et Yffi filius Osfridi, sed et alii nobiles ac regii uiri non pauci. Tantus autem fertur tunc fuisse feruor fidei ac desiderium lauacri salutaris genti Nordanhymbrorum, ut quodam tempore Paulinus ueniens cum rege et regina in uillam regiam, quae uocatur Adgefrin, XXXVI diebus ibidem cum eis cathecizandi et baptizandi officio deditus moraretur; quibus diebus cunctis a mane usque ad uesperam nil aliud ageret, quam confluentem eo de cunctis uiculis ac locis plebem Christi uerbo salutis instruere, atque instructam in fluuio Gleni, qui proximus erat, lauacro remissionis abluere. Haec uilla tempore sequentium regum deserta, et alia pro illa est facta in loco, qui uocatur Maelmin.
Haec quidem in prouincia Berniciorum; sed et in prouincia Deirorum, ubi saepius manere cum rege solebat, baptizabat in fluuio Sualua, qui uicum Cataractam praeterfluit. Nondum enim oratoria uel baptisteria in ipso exordio nascentis ibi ecclesiae poterant aedificari. Attamen in Campodono, ubi tunc etiam uilla regia erat, fecit basilicam, quam postmodum pagani, a quibus Aeduini rex occisus est, cum tota eadem uilla succenderunt; pro qua reges posteriores fecere sibi uillam in regione, quae uocatur Loidis. Euasit autem ignem altare, quia lapideum erat; et seruatur adhuc in monasterio reuerentissimi abbatis et presbyteri Thryduulfi, quod est in silua Elmete.
Chap. XIV.
How King Edwin and his nation became Christians; and where Paulinus baptized them. [627 a.d.]
King Edwin, therefore, with all the nobility of the nation, and a large number of the common sort, received the faith, and the washing of holy regeneration, in the eleventh year of his reign, which is the year of our Lord 627, and about one hundred and eighty after the coming of the English into Britain. He was baptized at York, on the holy day of Easter, being the 12th of April, in the church of St. Peter the Apostle, which he himself had built of timber there in haste, whilst he was a catechumen receiving instruction in order to be admitted to baptism. In that city also he bestowed upon his instructor and bishop, Paulinus, his episcopal see. But as soon as he was baptized, he set about building, by the direction of Paulinus, in the same place a larger and nobler church of stone, in the midst whereof the oratory which he had first erected should be enclosed. Having, therefore, laid the foundation, he began to build the church square, encompassing the former oratory. But before the walls were raised to their full height, the cruel death of the king left that work to be finished by Oswald his successor. Paulinus, for the space of six years from this time, that is, till the end of the king’s reign, with his consent and favour, preached the Word of God in that country, and as many as were foreordained to eternal life believed and were baptized. Among them were Osfrid and Eadfrid, King Edwin’s sons who were both born to him, whilst he was in banishment, of Quenburga, the daughter of Cearl, king of the Mercians.
Afterwards other children of his, by Queen Ethelberg, were baptized, Ethelhun and his daughter Ethelthryth, and another, Wuscfrea, a son; the first two were snatched out of this life whilst they were still in the white garments of the newly-baptized, and buried in the church at York. Yffi, the son of Osfrid, was also baptized, and many other noble and royal persons. So great was then the fervour of the faith, as is reported, and the desire for the laver of salvation among the nation of the Northumbrians, that Paulinus at a certain time coming with the king and queen to the royal township, which is called Adgefrin, stayed there with them thirty-six days, fully occupied in catechizing and baptizing; during which days, from morning till night, he did nothing else but instruct the people resorting from all villages and places, in Christ’s saving Word; and when they were instructed, he washed them with the water of absolution in the river Glen, which is close by. This township, under the following kings, was abandoned, and another was built instead of it, at the place called Maelmin.
These things happened in the province of the Bernicians; but in that of the Deiri also, where he was wont often to be with the king, he baptized in the river Swale, which runs by the village of Cataract; for as yet oratories, or baptisteries, could not be built in the early infancy of the Church in those parts. But in Campodonum, where there was then a royal township, he built a church which the pagans, by whom King Edwin was slain, afterwards burnt, together with all the place. Instead of this royal seat the later kings built themselves a township in the country called Loidis. But the altar, being of stone, escaped the fire and is still preserved in the monastery of the most reverend abbot and priest, Thrydwulf, which is in the forest of Elmet.
CHAP. 15
Tamtum autem deuotionis Ãduini erga cultum ueritatis habuit, ut etiam regi Orientalium Anglorum, Earpualdo filio Redualdi, persuaderet, relictis idolorum superstitionibus, fidem et sacramenta Christi cum sua prouincia suscipere. Et quidem pater eius Reduald iamdudum in Cantia sacramentis Christianae fidei inbutus est, sed frustra; nam rediens domum ab uxore sua et quibusdam peruersis doctoribus seductus est, atque a sinceritate fidei deprauatus habuit posteriora peiora prioribus; ita ut in morem antiquorum Samaritanorum et Christo seruire uideretur et diis, quibus antea seruiebat; atque in eodem fano et altare haberet ad sacrificium Christi, et arulam ad uictimas daemoniorum. Quod uidelicet fanum rex eiusdem prouinciae Alduulf, qui nostra aetate fuit, usque ad suum tempus perdurasse, et se in pueritia uidisse testabatur.
Erat autem praefatus rex Reduald natu nobilis, quamlibet actu ignobilis, filius Tytili, cuius pater fuit Uuffa, a quo reges Orientalium Anglorum Uuffingas appellant.
Uerum Eorpuald non multo, postquam fidem accepit, tempore occisus est a uiro gentili nomine Ricbercto; et exinde tribus annis prouincia in errore uersata est, donec accepit regnum frater eiusdem Eorpualdi Sigberct, uir per omnia Christianissimus ac doctissimus, qui, uiuente adhuc fratre, cum exularet in Gallia, fidei sacramentis inbutus est, quorum participem, mox ubi regnare coepit, totam suam prouinciam facere curauit. Cuius studiis gloriosissime fauit Felix episcopus, qui de Burgundiorum partibus, ubi ortus et ordinatus est, cum uenisset ad Honorium archiepiscopum, eique indicasset desiderium suum, misit eum ad praedicandum uerbum uitae praefatae nationi Anglorum. Nec uota ipsius in cassum cecidere; quin potius fructum in ea multiplicem credentium populorum pius agri spiritalis cultor inuenit. Siquidem totam illam prouinciam, iuxta sui nominis sacramentum, a longa iniquitate atque infelicitate liberatam, ad fidem et opera iustitiae, ac perpetuae felicitatis dona perduxit, accepitque sedem episcopatus in ciuitate Domnoc; et cum X ac VII annos eidem prouinciae pontificali regimine praeesset, ibidem in pace uitam finiuit.
Chap. XV.
How the province of the East Angles received the faith of Christ. [627-628 a.d.]
Edwin was so zealo
us for the true worship, that he likewise persuaded Earpwald, king of the East Angles, and son of Redwald, to abandon his idolatrous superstitions, and with his whole province to receive the faith and mysteries of Christ. And indeed his father Redwald had long before been initiated into the mysteries of the Christian faith in Kent, but in vain; for on his return home, he was seduced by his wife and certain perverse teachers, and turned aside from the sincerity of the faith; and thus his latter state was worse than the former; so that, like the Samaritans of old, he seemed at the same time to serve Christ and the gods whom he served before; and in the same temple he had an altar for the Christian Sacrifice, and another small one at which to offer victims to devils. Aldwulf, king of that same province, who lived in our time, testifies that this temple had stood until his time, and that he had seen it when he was a boy. The aforesaid King Redwald was noble by birth, though ignoble in his actions, being the son of Tytilus, whose father was Uuffa, from whom the kings of the East Angles are called Uuffings.
Earpwald, not long after he had embraced the Christian faith, was slain by one Ricbert, a pagan; and from that time the province was in error for three years, till Sigbert succeeded to the kingdom, brother to the same Earpwald, a most Christian and learned man, who was banished, and went to live in Gaul during his brother’s life, and was there initiated into the mysteries of the faith, whereof he made it his business to cause all his province to partake as soon as he came to the throne. His exertions were nobly promoted by Bishop Felix, who, coming to Honorius, the archbishop, from the parts of Burgundy, where he had been born and ordained, and having told him what he desired, was sent by him to preach the Word of life to the aforesaid nation of the Angles. Nor were his good wishes in vain; for the pious labourer in the spiritual field reaped therein a great harvest of believers, delivering all that province (according to the inner signification of his name) from long iniquity and unhappiness, and bringing it to the faith and works of righteousness, and the gifts of everlasting happiness. He had the see of his bishopric appointed him in the city Dommoc, and having presided over the same province with pontifical authority seventeen years, he ended his days there in peace.
CHAP. 16
Preadicabat autem Paulinus uerbum etiam prouinciae Lindissi, quae est prima ad meridianam Humbre fluminis ripam, pertingens usque ad mare, praefectumque Lindocolinae ciuitatis, cui nomen erat Blaecca, primum cum domu sua conuertit ad Dominum. In qua uidelicet ciuitate et ecclesiam operis egregii de lapide fecit; cuius tecto uel longa incuria, uel hostili manu deiecto, parietes hactenus stare uidentur, et omnibus annis aliqua sanitatum miracula in eodem loco solent ad utilitatem eorum, qui fideliter quaerunt, ostendi. In qua ecclesia Paulinus, transeunte ad Christum Iusto, Honorium pro eo consecrauit episcopum, ut in sequentibus suo loco dicemus.
De huius fide prouinciae narrauit mihi presbyter et abbas quidam uir ueracissimus de monasterio Peartaneu, uocabulo Deda, retulisse sibi quendam seniorem, baptizatum se fuisse die media a Paulino episcopo, praesente rege atduino, et multam populi turbam in fluuio Treenta, iuxta ciuitatem, quae lingua Anglorum Tiouulfingacastir uocatur; qui etiam effigiem eiusdem Paulini referre esset solitus, quod esset uir longae staturae, paululum incuruus, nigro capillo, facie macilenta, naso adunco pertenui, uenerabilis simul et terribilis aspectu.
Habuit autem secum in ministerio et Iacobum diaconum, uirum utique industrium ac nobilem in Christo et in ecclesia, qui ad nostra usque tempora permansit.
Tanta autem eo tempore pax in Brittania, quaquauersum imperium regis arduini peruenerat, fuisse perhibetur, ut, sicut usque hodie in prouerbio dicitur, etiam si mulier una cum recens nato paruulo uellet totam perambulare insulam a mari ad mare, nullo se ledente ualeret. Tantum rex idem utilitati suae gentis consuluit, ut plerisque in locis, ubi fontes lucidos iuxta puplicos uiarum transitus conspexit, ibi ob refrigerium uiantium, erectis stipitibus, aereos caucos suspendi iuberet, neque hos quisquam, nisi ad usum necessarium, contingere prae magnitudine uel timoris eius auderet, uel amoris uellet. Tantum uero in regno excellentiae habuit, ut non solum in pugna ante illum uexilla gestarentur, sed et tempore pacis equitantem inter ciuitates siue uillas aut prouincias suas cum ministris, semper antecedere signifer consuesset; nec non et incedente illo ubilibet per plateas, illud genus uexilli, quod Romani tufam, Angli appellant thuuf, ante eum ferri solebat.
Chap. XVI.
How Paulinus preached in the province of Lindsey; and of the character of the reign of Edwin. [Circ. 628 a.d.]
Paulinus also preached the Word to the province of Lindsey, which is the first on the south side of the river Humber, stretching as far as the sea; and he first converted to the Lord the reeve of the city of Lincoln, whose name was Blaecca, with his whole house. He likewise built, in that city, a stone church of beautiful workmanship; the roof of which has either fallen through long neglect, or been thrown down by enemies, but the walls are still to be seen standing, and every year miraculous cures are wrought in that place, for the benefit of those who have faith to seek them. In that church, when Justus had departed to Christ, Paulinus consecrated Honorius bishop in his stead, as will be hereafter mentioned in its proper place. A certain priest and abbot of the monastery of Peartaneu, a man of singular veracity, whose name was Deda, told me concerning the faith of this province that an old man had informed him that he himself had been baptized at noon-day, by Bishop Paulinus, in the presence of King Edwin, and with him a great multitude of the people, in the river Trent, near the city, which in the English tongue is called Tiouulfingacaestir; and he was also wont to describe the person of the same Paulinus, saying that he was tall of stature, stooping somewhat, his hair black, his visage thin, his nose slender and aquiline, his aspect both venerable and awe-inspiring. He had also with him in the ministry, James, the deacon, a man of zeal and great fame in Christ and in the church, who lived even to our days.
It is told that there was then such perfect peace in Britain, wheresoever the dominion of King Edwin extended, that, as is still proverbially said, a woman with her new-born babe might walk throughout the island, from sea to sea, without receiving any harm. That king took such care for the good of his nation, that in several places where he had seen clear springs near the highways, he caused stakes to be fixed, with copper drinking-vessels hanging on them, for the refreshment of travellers; nor durst any man touch them for any other purpose than that for which they were designed, either through the great dread they had of the king, or for the affection which they bore him. His dignity was so great throughout his dominions, that not only were his banners borne before him in battle, but even in time of peace, when he rode about his cities, townships, or provinces, with his thegns, the standard-bearer was always wont to go before him. Also, when he walked anywhere along the streets, that sort of banner which the Romans call Tufa, and the English, Thuuf, was in like manner borne before him.
CHAP. 17
Quo tempore praesulatum sedis apostolicae Honorius Bonifatii successor habebat, qui, ubi gentem Nordanhymbrorum cum suo rege ad fidem confessionemque Christi, Paulino euangelizante, conuersam esse didicit, misit eidem Paulino pallium; misit et regi atduino litteras exhortatorias, paterna illum caritate accendens, ut in fide ueritatis, quam acceperant, persistere semper ac proficere curarent.
Quarum uidelicet litterarum iste est ordo:
Domino excellentissimo atque praecellentissimo filio atduino regi Anglorum Honorius episcopus seruus seruorum Dei salutem.
Ita Christianitatis uestrae integritas circa sui conditoris cultum fidei est ardore succensa, ut longe lateque resplendeat, et in omni mundo adnuntiata uestri operis multipliciter referat fructum. Sic enim uos reges esse cognoscitis, dum regem et Creatorem uestrum orthodoxa praedicatione cdocti Deum uenerando creditis, eique, quod humana ualet condicio, mentis uestrae sinceram deuotionem exsoluitis. Quod enim Deo nostro aliud offerre ualebimus, nisi ut in bonis actibus persistentes, ipsumque auctorem humani generis confitcntes, eum colere, eique uota nostra reddere festinemus? Et ideo, excellentissime fili, paterna uos caritate, qua
conuenit, exhortamur, ut hoc, quod uos diuina misericordia ad suam gratiam uocare dignata est, sollicita intentione et adsiduis orationibus seruare omnimodo festinetis; ut, qui uos in praesenti saeculo ex omni errore absolutos ad agnitionem sui nominis est dignatus perducere, et caelestis patriae uobis praeparet mansionem.
Praedicatoris igitur uestri domini mei apostolicae memoriae Gregorii frequenter lectione occupati, prae oculis affectum doctrinae ipsius, quem pro uestris animabus libenter exercuit, habetote; quatinus eius oratio et regnum uestrum populumque augeat, et uos omnipotenti Deo inreprehensibiles repraesentet. Ea uero, quae a nobis pro uestris sacerdotibus ordinanda sperastis, haec pro fidei uestrae sinceritate, quae nobis multimoda relatione per praesentium portitores laudabiliter insinuata est, gratuito animo adtribuere ulla sine dilatione praeuidemus; et duo pallia utrorumque metropolitanorum, id est Honorio et Paulino, direximus, ut, dum quis eorum de hoc saeculo ad auctorem suum fuerit arcessitus, in loco ipsius alter episcopum ex hac nostra auctoritate debeat subrogare.
