by Bede
His course of life was so different from the slothfulness of our times, that all those who bore him company, whether they were tonsured or laymen, had to study either reading the Scriptures, or learning psalms. This was the daily employment of himself and all that were with him, wheresoever they went; and if it happened, which was but seldom, that he was invited to the king’s table, he went with one or two clerks, and having taken a little food, made haste to be gone, either to read with his brethren or to pray. At that time, many religious men and women, led by his example, adopted the custom of prolonging their fast on Wednesdays and Fridays, till the ninth hour, throughout the year, except during the fifty days after Easter. Never, through fear or respect of persons, did he keep silence with regard to the sins of the rich; but was wont to correct them with a severe rebuke. He never gave money to the powerful men of the world, but only food, if he happened to entertain them; and, on the contrary, whatsoever gifts of money he received from the rich, he either distributed, as has been said, for the use of the poor, or bestowed in ransoming such as had been wrongfully sold for slaves. Moreover, he afterwards made many of those he had ransomed his disciples, and after having taught and instructed them, advanced them to priest’s orders.
It is said, that when King Oswald had asked a bishop of the Scots to administer the Word of faith to him and his nation, there was first sent to him another man of more harsh disposition, who, after preaching for some time to the English and meeting with no success, not being gladly heard by the people, returned home, and in an assembly of the elders reported, that he had not been able to do any good by his teaching to the nation to whom he had been sent, because they were intractable men, and of a stubborn and barbarous disposition. They then, it is said, held a council and seriously debated what was to be done, being desirous that the nation should obtain the salvation it demanded, but grieving that they had not received the preacher sent to them. Then said Aidan, who was also present in the council, to the priest in question, “Methinks, brother, that you were more severe to your unlearned hearers than you ought to have been, and did not at first, conformably to the Apostolic rule, give them the milk of more easy doctrine, till, being by degrees nourished with the Word of God, they should be capable of receiving that which is more perfect and of performing the higher precepts of God.” Having heard these words, all present turned their attention to him and began diligently to weigh what he had said, and they decided that he was worthy to be made a bishop, and that he was the man who ought to be sent to instruct the unbelieving and unlearned; since he was found to be endued preeminently with the grace of discretion, which is the mother of the virtues. So they ordained him and sent him forth to preach; and, as time went on, his other virtues became apparent, as well as that temperate discretion which had marked him at first.
CHAP. 6
Huius igitur antistitis doctrina rex Osuald cum ea, cui praeerat, gente Anglorum institutus, non solum incognita progenitoribus suis regna caelorum sperare didicit; sed et regna terrarum plus quam ulli maiorum suorum, ab eodem uno Deo, qui fecit caelum et terram, consecutus est. Denique omnes nationes et prouincias Brittaniae, quae in IIII linguas, id est Brettonum, Pictorum, Scottorum, et Anglorum, diuisae sunt, in dicione accepit.
Quo regni culmine sublimatus, nihilominus, quod mirum dictu est, pauperibus et peregrinis semper humilis, benignus, et largus fuit.
Denique fertur, quia tempore quodam, cum die sancto paschae cum praefato episcopo consedisset ad prandium, positusque esset in mensa coram eo discus argenteus regalibus epulis refertus, et iamiamque essent manus ad panem benedicendum missuri, intrasse subito ministrum ipsius, cui suscipiendorum inopum erat cura delegata, et indicasse regi, quia multitudo pauperum undecumque adueniens maxima per plateas sederet, postulans aliquid elimosynae a rege. Qui mox dapes sibimet adpositas deferri pauperibus, sed et discum confringi, atque eisdem minutatim diuidi praecepit. Quo uiso pontifex, qui adsidebat, delectatus tali facto pietatis, adprehendit dexteram eius, et ait: ‘Numquam inueterescat haec manus.’ Quod et ita iuxta uotum benedictionis eius prouenit. Nam cum interfecto illo in pugna, manus cum brachio a cetero essent corpore resectae, contigit, ut hactenus incorruptae perdurent. Denique in urbe regia, quae a regina quondam uocabulo Bebba cognominatur, loculo inclusae argenteo in ecclesia sancti Petri seruantur, ac digno a cunctis honore uenerantur.
Huius industria regis Derorum et Berniciorum prouinciae, quae eatenus ab inuicem discordabant, in unam sunt pacem, et uelut unum conpaginatae in populum. Erat autem nepos Aeduini regis ex sorore Acha, dignumque fuit, ut tantus praecessor talem haberet de sua consanguinitate et religionis heredem et regni.
Chap. VI.
Of King Oswald’s wonderful piety and religion. [635-642 a.d.]
King Oswald, with the English nation which he governed, being instructed by the teaching of this bishop, not only learned to hope for a heavenly kingdom unknown to his fathers, but also obtained of the one God, Who made heaven and earth, a greater earthly kingdom than any of his ancestors. In brief, he brought under his dominion all the nations and provinces of Britain, which are divided into four languages, to wit, those of the Britons, the Picts, the Scots, and the English. Though raised to that height of regal power, wonderful to relate, he was always humble, kind, and generous to the poor and to strangers.
To give one instance, it is told, that when he was once sitting at dinner, on the holy day of Easter, with the aforesaid bishop, and a silver dish full of royal dainties was set before him, and they were just about to put forth their hands to bless the bread, the servant, whom he had appointed to relieve the needy, came in on a sudden, and told the king, that a great multitude of poor folk from all parts was sitting in the streets begging alms of the king; he immediately ordered the meat set before him to be carried to the poor, and the dish to be broken in pieces and divided among them. At which sight, the bishop who sat by him, greatly rejoicing at such an act of piety, clasped his right hand and said, “May this hand never decay.” This fell out according to his prayer, for his hands with the arms being cut off from his body, when he was slain in battle, remain uncorrupted to this day, and are kept in a silver shrine, as revered relics, in St. Peter’s church in the royal city, which has taken its name from Bebba, one of its former queens. Through this king’s exertions the provinces of the Deiri and the Bernicians, which till then had been at variance, were peacefully united and moulded into one people. He was nephew to King Edwin through his sister Acha; and it was fit that so great a predecessor should have in his own family such an one to succeed him in his religion and sovereignty.
CHAP. 7
Eo tempore gens Occidentalium Saxonum, qui antiquitus Geuissae uocabantur, regnante Cynigilso fidem Christi suscepit, praedicante illis uerbum Birino episcopo, quicum consilio papae Honorii uenerat Brittaniam, promittens quidem se illo praesente in intimis ultra Anglorum partibus, quo nullus doctor praecessisset, sanctae fidei semina esse sparsurum. Unde et iussu eiusdem pontificis per Asterium Genuensem episcopum in episcopatus consecratus est gradum. Sed Brittaniam perueniens, ac primum Geuissorum gentem ingrediens, cum omnes ibidem paganissimos inueniret, utilius esse ratus est ibi potius uerbum praedicare, quam ultra progrediens eos, quibus praedicare deberet, inquirere.
Itaque euangelizante illo in praefata prouincia, cum rex ipse cathecizatus, fonte baptismi cum sua gente ablueretur, contigit tunc temporis sanctissimum ac uictoriosissimum regem Nordanhymbrorum Osualdum adfuisse, eumque de lauacro exeuntem suscepisse, ac pulcherrimo prorsus et Deo digno consortio, cuius erat filiam accepturus in coniugem, ipsum prius secunda generatione Deo dedicatum sibi accepit in filium. Donauerunt autem ambo reges eidem episcopo ciuitatem, quae uocatur Dorcic, ad faciendum inibi sedem episcopalem; ubi factis dedicatisque ecclesiis, multisque ad Dominum pio eius labore populis aduocatis, migrauit ad Dominum, sepultusque est in eadem ciuitate, et post annos multos, Haedde episcopatum agente, translatus inde in Uentam ciuitatem, atque in ecclesia beatorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli positus est.
Defuncto autem et r
ege, successit in regnum filius eius Coinualch, qui et fidem ac sacramenta regni caelestis suscipere rennuit, et non multo post etiam regni terrestris potentiam perdidit. Repudiata enim sorore Pendan regis Merciorum, quam duxerat, aliam accepit uxorem;
ideoque bello petitus, ac regno priuatus ab illo, secessit ad regem Orientalium Anglorum, cui nomen erat Anna; apud quem triennio exulans fidem cognouit ac suscepit ueritatis. Nam et ipse, apud quem exulabat, rex erat uir bonus, et bona ac sancta sobole felix, ut in sequentibus docebimus.
Cum uero restitutus esset in regnum Coinualch, uenit in prouinciam de Hibernia pontifex quidam nomine Agilberctus, natione quidem Gallus, sed tunc legendarum gratia scripturarum in Hibernia non paruo tempore demoratus, coniunxitque se regi, sponte ministerium praedicandi assumens. Cuius eruditionem atque industriam uidens rex, rogauit eum, accepta ibi sede episcopali, suae gentis manere pontificem; qui precibus eius adnuens, multis annis eidem genti sacerdotali iure praefuit. Tandem rex, qui Saxonum tantum linguam nouerat, pertaesus barbarae loquellae, subintroduxit in prouinciam alium suae linguae episcopum, uocabulo Uini, et ipsum in Gallia ordinatum; diuidensque in duas parrochias prouinciam, huic in ciuitate Uenta, quae a gente Saxonum Uintancæstir appellatur, sedem episcopatus tribuit; unde offensus grauiter Agilberctus, quod haec ipso inconsulto ageret rex, rediit Galliam, et accepto episcopatu Parisiacae ciuitatis, ibidem senex ac plenus dierum obiit. Non multis autem annis post abscessum eius a Brittania transactis, pulsus est et Uini ab eodem rege de episcopatu; qui secedens ad regem Merciorum uocabulo Uulfheri, emit pretio ab eo sedem Lundoniae ciuitatis, eiusque episcopus usque ad uitae suae terminum mansit.
Sicque prouincia Occidentalium Saxonum tempore non pauco absque praesule fuit.
Quo etiam tempore rex praefatus ipsius gentis, grauissimis regni sui damnis saepissime ab hostibus adflictus, tandem ad memoriam reduxit, quod eum pridem perfidia regno pulerit, fides agnita Christi in regnum reuocauerit; intellexitque, quod etiam tunc destituta pontifice prouincia recte pariter diuino fuerit destituta praesidio.
Misit ergo legatarios in Galliam ad Agilberctum, summissa illum satisfactione deprecans ad episcopatum suae gentis redire. At ille se excusans, et uenire non posse contestans, quia episcopatu propriae ciuitatis ac parrochiae teneretur adstrictus, ne tamen obnixe petenti nil ferret auxilii, misit pro se illo presbyterum Leutherium nepotem suum, qui ei, si uellet, ordinaretur episcopus;
dicens, quod ipse eum dignum esse episcopatu iudicaret. Quo honorifice a populo et a rege suscepto, rogauerunt Theodorum, tunc archiepiscopum Doruuernensis ecclesiae, ipsum sibi antistitem consecrari; qui consecratus in ipsa ciuitate, multis annis episcopatum Geuissorum ex synodica sanctione solus sedulo moderamine gessit.
Chap. VII.
How the West Saxons received the Word of God by the preaching of Birinus; and of his successors, Agilbert and Leutherius. [635-670 a.d.]
At that time, the West Saxons, formerly called Gewissae, in the reign of Cynegils, received the faith of Christ, through the preaching of Bishop Birinus, who came into Britain by the counsel of Pope Honorius; having promised in his presence that he would sow the seed of the holy faith in the farthest inland regions of the English, where no other teacher had been before him. Hereupon at the bidding of the Pope he received episcopal consecration from Asterius, bishop of Genoa; but on his arrival in Britain, he first came to the nation of the Gewissae, and finding all in that place confirmed pagans, he thought it better to preach the Word there, than to proceed further to seek for other hearers of his preaching.
Now, as he was spreading the Gospel in the aforesaid province, it happened that when the king himself, having received instruction as a catechumen, was being baptized together with his people, Oswald, the most holy and victorious king of the Northumbrians, being present, received him as he came forth from baptism, and by an honourable alliance most acceptable to God, first adopted as his son, thus born again and dedicated to God, the man whose daughter he was about to receive in marriage. The two kings gave to the bishop the city called Dorcic, there to establish his episcopal see; where having built and consecrated churches, and by his pious labours called many to the Lord, he departed to the Lord, and was buried in the same city; but many years after, when Haedde was bishop, he was translated thence to the city of Venta, and laid in the church of the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul.
When the king died, his son Coinwalch succeeded him on the throne, but refused to receive the faith and the mysteries of the heavenly kingdom; and not long after he lost also the dominion of his earthly kingdom; for he put away the sister of Penda, king of the Mercians, whom he had married, and took another wife; whereupon a war ensuing, he was by him deprived of his kingdom, and withdrew to Anna, king of the East Angles, where he lived three years in banishment, and learned and received the true faith; for the king, with whom he lived in his banishment, was a good man, and happy in a good and saintly offspring, as we shall show hereafter.
But when Coinwalch was restored to his kingdom, there came into that province out of Ireland, a certain bishop called Agilbert, a native of Gaul, but who had then lived a long time in Ireland, for the purpose of reading the Scriptures. He attached himself to the king, and voluntarily undertook the ministry of preaching. The king, observing his learning and industry, desired him to accept an episcopal see there and remain as the bishop of his people. Agilbert complied with the request, and presided over that nation as their bishop for many years. At length the king, who understood only the language of the Saxons, weary of his barbarous tongue, privately brought into the province another bishop, speaking his own language, by name Wini, who had also been ordained in Gaul; and dividing his province into two dioceses, appointed this last his episcopal see in the city of Venta, by the Saxons called Wintancaestir. Agilbert, being highly offended, that the king should do this without consulting him, returned into Gaul, and being made bishop of the city of Paris, died there, being old and full of days. Not many years after his departure out of Britain, Wini was also expelled from his bishopric by the same king, and took refuge with Wulfhere, king of the Mercians, of whom he purchased for money the see of the city of London, and remained bishop thereof till his death. Thus the province of the West Saxons continued no small time without a bishop.
During which time, the aforesaid king of that nation, sustaining repeatedly very great losses in his kingdom from his enemies, at length bethought himself, that as he had been before expelled from the throne for his unbelief, he had been restored when he acknowledged the faith of Christ; and he perceived that his kingdom, being deprived of a bishop, was justly deprived also of the Divine protection. He, therefore, sent messengers into Gaul to Agilbert, with humble apologies entreating him to return to the bishopric of his nation. But he excused himself, and protested that he could not go, because he was bound to the bishopric of his own city and diocese; notwithstanding, in order to give him some help in answer to his earnest request, he sent thither in his stead the priest Leutherius, his nephew, to be ordained as his bishop, if he thought fit, saying that he thought him worthy of a bishopric. The king and the people received him honourably, and asked Theodore, then Archbishop of Canterbury, to consecrate him as their bishop. He was accordingly consecrated in the same city, and many years diligently governed the whole bishopric of the West Saxons by synodical authority.
CHAP. 8
Anno dominicae incarnationis DCXL, Eadbald rex Cantuariorum transiens ex hac uita, Earconbercto filio regni gubernacula reliquit; quae ille suscepta XXIIII annis et aliquot mensibus nobilissime tenuit. Hic primus regum Anglorum in toto regno suo idola relinqui ac destrui, simul et ieiunium XL dierum obseruari principali auctoritate praecepit. Quae ne facile a quopiam posset contemni, in transgressores dignas et conpetentes punitiones proposuit. Cuius filia Earcongotæ, ut condigna parenti suboles, magnarum fuit uirgo uirtutum, seruiens Domino in monasterio, quod in regione Francorum constructum est ab abbatissa nobilissima uocabulo Fara, in loco, qui dicitur in Brige. Nam eo tempore necdum multis in regione Anglorum monast
eriis constructis, multi de Brittania monachicae conuersationis gratia Francorum uel Galliarum monasteria adire solebant; sed et filias suas eisdem erudiendas, ac sponso caelesti copulandas mittebant; maxime in Brige, et in Cale, et in Andilegum monasterio; inter quas erat Saethryd, filia uxoris Annae regis Orientalium Anglorum, cuius supra meminimus, et filia naturalis eiusdem regis Aedilberg; quae utraque cum esset peregrina, prae merito uirtutum eiusdem monasterii Brigensis est abbatissa constituta. Cuius regis filia maior Sexburg, uxor Earconbercti regis Cantuariorum, habuit filiam Earcongotam, de qua sumus dicturi.
Huius autem uirginis Deo dicatae multa quidem ab incolis loci illius solent opera uirtutum et signa miraculorum usque hodie narrari.
Uerum nos de transitu tantum illius, quo caelestia regna petiit, aliquid breuiter dicere sufficiat.
Inminente ergo die suae uocationis, coepit circuire in monasterio casulas infirmarum Christi famularum, earumque uel maxime, quae uel aetate prouectae, uel probitate erant morum insigniores. Quarum se omnium precibus humiliter commendans, obitum proxime suum, quem reuelatione didicerat, non celauit esse futurum. Quam uidelicet reuelationem huiusmodi esse perhibebat: uidisse se albatorum cateruam hominum idem monasterium intrare; hosque a se interrogatos, quid quaererent, aut quid ibi uellent, respondisse, quod ob hoc illo fuerint destinati, ut aureum illud nomisma, quod eo de Cantia uenerat, secum adsumerent. Ipsa autem nocte, in cuius ultima parte, id est incipiente aurora, praesentis mundi tenebras transiens supernam migrauit ad lucem, multi de fratribus eiusdem monasterii, qui aliis erant in aedibus, iam manifeste se concentus angelorum psallentium audisse referebant, sed et sonitum quasi plurimae multitudinis monasterium ingredientis; unde mox egressi dignoscere quid esset, uiderunt lucem caelitus emissam fuisse permaximam, quae sanctam illam animam carnis uinculis absolutam ad aeterna patriae caelestis gaudia ducebat. Addunt et alia, quae ipsa nocte in monasterio eodem diuinitus fuerint ostensa miracula; sed haec nos ad alia tendentes, suis narrare permittimus. Sepultum est autem corpus uenerabile uirginis et sponsae Christi in ecclesia beati protomartyris Stephani; placuitque post diem tertium, ut lapis, quo monumentum tegebatur, amoueretur, et altius ipso in loco reponeretur; quod dum fieret, tantae flagrantia suauitatis ab imis ebulliuit, ut cunctis, qui adstabant, fratribus ac sororibus, quasi opobalsami cellaria esse uiderentur aperta.
