Complete Works of Bede

by Bede

  CHAP. 24

  His temporibus rex Osuiu, cum acerbas atque intolerabiles pateretur inruptiones saepe dicti regis Merciorum, qui fratrem eius occiderat, ad ultimum necessitate cogente promisit se ei innumera et maiora, quam credi potest, ornamenta regia uel donaria in pretium pacis largiturum, dummodo ille domum rediret, et prouincias regni eius usque ad internicionem uastare desineret. Cumque rex perfidus nullatenus precibus illius assensum praeberet, qui totam eius gentem a paruo usque ad magnum delere atque exterminare decreuerat, respexit ille ad diuinae auxilium pietatis, quo ab impietate barbarica posset eripi; uotoque se obligans: ‘Si paganus,’

  inquit, ‘nescit accipere nostra donaria, offeramus ei, qui nouit, Domino Deo nostro.’ Uouit ergo, quia, si uictor existeret, filiam suam Domino sacra uirginitate dicandam offerret, simul et XII possessiones praediorum ad construenda monasteria donaret; et sic cum paucissimo exercitu se certamini dedit. Denique fertur, quia tricies maiorem pagani habuerint exercitum; siquidem ipsi XXX legiones ducibus nobilissimis instructas in bello habuere, quibus Osuiu rex cum Alchfrido filio, perparuum, ut dixi, habens exercitum, sed Christo duce confisus, occurrit. Nam alius filius eius Ecgfrid eo tempore in prouincia Merciorum apud reginam Cynuise obses tenebatur; filius autem Osualdi regis Oidiluald, qui eis auxilio esse debuerat, in parte erat aduersariorum, eisdemque contra patriam et patruum suum pugnaturis ductor exstiterat, quamuis ipso tempore pugnandi sese pugnae subtraxerat, euentumque discriminis tuto in loco exspectabat. Inito ergo certamine fugati sunt et caesi pagani, duces regii XXX, qui ad auxilium uenerant, pene omnes interfecti; in quibus Aedilheri, frater Anna regis Orientalium Anglorum, qui post eum regnauit, auctor ipse belli, perditis militibus siue auxiliis interemtus est. Et quia prope fluuium Uinuaed pugnatum est, qui tunc prae inundantia pluuiarum late alueum suum immo omnes ripas suas transierat, contigit, ut multo plures aqua fugientes, quam bellantes perderet ensis.

  Tum rex Osuiu, iuxta quod Domino uouerat, pro conlata sibi uictoria gratias Deo referens dedit filiam suam Aelffledam, quae uixdum unius anni aetatem inpleuerat, perpetua ei uirginitate consecrandam; donatis insuper XII possessiunculis terrarum, in quibus ablato studio militiae terrestris, ad exercendam militiam caelestem, supplicandumque pro pace gentis eius aeterna, deuotioni sedulae monachorum locus facultasque suppeteret. E quibus uidelicet possessiunculis sex in prouincia Derorum, sex in Berniciorum dedit.

  Singulae uero possessiones X erant familiarum, id est simul omnes CXX. Intrauit autem praefata regis Osuiu filia Deo dedicanda monasterium, quod nuncupatur Heruteu, id est insula cerui, cui tunc Hild abbatissa praefuit. Quae post biennium conparata possessione X familiarum in loco, qui dicitur Streanæshalch, ibi monasterium construxit;

  in quo memorata regis filia primo discipula uitae regularis, deinde etiam magistra extitit, donec conpleto undeLX annorum numero, ad conplexum et nuptias sponsi caelestis uirgo beata intraret. In quo monasterio et ipsa, et pater eius Osuiu, et mater eius Aeanfled, et pater matris eius Aeduini, et multi alii nobiles in ecclesia sancti apostoli Petri sepulti sunt. Hoc autem bellum rex Osuiu in regione Loidis tertio decimo regni sui anno, XVIIa die Kalendarum Decembrium cum magna utriusque populi utilitate confecit. Nam et suam gentem ab hostili paganorum depopulatione liberauit, et ipsam gentem Merciorum finitimarumque prouinciarum, desecto capite perfido, ad fidei Christianae gratiam conuertit.

  Primus autem in prouincia Merciorum, simul et Lindisfarorum ac Mediterraneorum Anglorum, factus est episcopus Diuma, ut supra diximus, qui apud Mediterraneos Anglos defunctus ac sepultus est;

  secundus Cellach, qui relicto episcopatus officio uiuens ad Scottiam rediit, uterque de genere Scottorum; tertius Trumheri, de natione quidem Anglorum, sed edoctus et ordinatus a Scottis, qui erat abbas in monasterio, quod dicitur Ingetlingum. Ipse est locus, ubi occisus est rex Osuini, ut supra meminimus. Nam regina Aeanfled propinqua illius, ob castigationem necis eius iniustae, postulauit a rege Osuio, ut donaret ibi locum monasterio construendo praefato Dei famulo Trumhera, quia propinquus et ipse erat regis occisi; in quo uidelicet monasterio orationes assiduae pro utriusque regis, id est et occisi, et eius, qui occidere iussit, salute aeterna fierent.

  Idem autem rex Osuiu tribus annis post occisionem Pendan regis, Merciorum genti necnon et ceteris australium prouinciarum populis praefuit; qui etiam gentem Pictorum maxima ex parte regno Anglorum subiecit.

  Quo tempore donauit praefato Peada filio regis Pendan, eo quod esset cognatus suus, regnum Australium Merciorum, qui sunt, ut dicunt, familiarum quinque milium, discreti fluuio Treanta, ab Aquilonaribus Merciis, quorum terra est familiarum VII milium. Sed idem Peada proximo uere multum nefarie peremtus est, proditione, ut dicunt, coniugis suae in ipso tempore festi paschalis.

  Conpletis autem tribus annis post interfectionem Pendan regis, rebellarunt aduersus regem Osuiu duces gentis Merciorum, Immin, et Eafa, et Eadberct, leuato in regem Uulfhere filio eiusdem Pendan adulescente, quem occultum seruauerant, et eiectis principibus regis non proprii, fines suos fortiter simul et libertatem receperunt;

  sicque cum suo rege liberi, Christo uero regi pro sempiterno in caelis regno seruire gaudebant. Praefuit autem rex idem genti Merciorum annis X et VII, habuitque primum episcopum Trumheri, de quo supra diximus, secundum Iaruman, tertium Ceaddan, quartum Uynfridum. Omnes hi per ordinem sibimet succedentes sub rege Uulfhere, gentis Merciorum episcopatu sunt functi.

  Chap. XXIV.

  How when King Penda was slain, the province of the Mercians received the faith of Christ, and Oswy gave possessions and territories to God, for building monasteries, as a thank offering for the victory obtained. [655 a.d.]

  At this time, King Oswy was exposed to the cruel and intolerable invasions of Penda, king of the Mercians, whom we have so often mentioned, and who had slain his brother; at length, compelled by his necessity, he promised to give him countless gifts and royal marks of honour greater than can be believed, to purchase peace; provided that he would return home, and cease to waste and utterly destroy the provinces of his kingdom. The pagan king refused to grant his request, for he had resolved to blot out and extirpate all his nation, from the highest to the lowest; whereupon King Oswy had recourse to the protection of the Divine pity for deliverance from his barbarous and pitiless foe, and binding himself by a vow, said, “If the pagan will not accept our gifts, let us offer them to Him that will, the Lord our God.” He then vowed, that if he should win the victory, he would dedicate his daughter to the Lord in holy virginity, and give twelve pieces of land whereon to build monasteries. After this he gave battle with a very small army: indeed, it is reported that the pagans had thirty times the number of men; for they had thirty legions, drawn up under most noted commanders. King Oswy and his son Alchfrid met them with a very small army, as has been said, but trusting in Christ as their Leader; his other son, Egfrid, was then kept as a hostage at the court of Queen Cynwise, in the province of the Mercians. King Oswald’s son Oidilwald, who ought to have supported them, was on the enemy’s side, and led them on to fight against his country and his uncle; though, during the battle, he withdrew, and awaited the event in a place of safety. The engagement began, the pagans were put to flight or killed, the thirty royal commanders, who had come to Penda’s assistance, were almost all of them slain; among whom was Ethelhere, brother and successor to Anna, king of the East Angles. He had been the occasion of the war, and was now killed, having lost his army and auxiliaries. The battle was fought near the river Winwaed, which then, owing to the great rains, was in flood, and had overflowed its banks, so that many more were drowned in the flight than destroyed in battle by the sword.

  Then King Oswy, according to the vow he had made to the Lord, returned thanks to God for the victory granted him, and gave his daughter Elfled, who was scarce a year old, to be consecrated to Him in perpetual virginity; bestowing also twelve small estates of land, wherein the practice of earthly warfare should cease, and place and means should be afforded to devout and zealous monks to wage spiritual warfare, and pray for the eternal peace of his nation. Of these estates six
were in the province of the Deiri, and the other six in that of the Bernicians. Each of the estates contained ten families, that is, a hundred and twenty in all. The aforesaid daughter of King Oswy, who was to be dedicated to God, entered the monastery called Heruteu, or, “The Island of the Hart,” at that time ruled by the Abbess Hilda, who, two years after, having acquired an estate of ten families, at the place called Streanaeshalch, built a monastery there, in which the aforesaid king’s daughter was first trained in the monastic life and afterwards became abbess; till, at the age of fifty-nine, the blessed virgin departed to be united to her Heavenly Bridegroom. In this monastery, she and her father, Oswy, her mother, Eanfled, her mother’s father, Edwin, and many other noble persons, are buried in the church of the holy Apostle Peter. King Oswy concluded this war in the district of Loidis, in the thirteenth year of his reign, on the 15th of November, to the great benefit of both nations; for he delivered his own people from the hostile depredations of the pagans, and, having made an end of their heathen chief, converted the Mercians and the adjacent provinces to the grace of the Christian faith.

  Diuma was made the first bishop of the Mercians, as also of Lindsey and the Midland Angles, as has been said above, and he died and was buried among the Midland Angles. The second was Ceollach, who, giving up his episcopal office before his death, returned into Scotland. Both these bishops belonged to the nation of the Scots. The third was Trumhere, an Englishman, but educated and ordained by the Scots. He was abbot of the monastery that is called Ingetlingum, and is the place where King Oswin was killed, as has been said above; for Queen Eanfled, his kinswoman, in expiation of his unjust death, begged of King Oswy that he would give Trumhere, the aforesaid servant of God, a place there to build a monastery, because he also was kinsman to the slaughtered king; in which monastery continual prayers should be offered up for the eternal welfare of the kings, both of him that was murdered, and of him that commanded the murder. The same King Oswy governed the Mercians, as also the people of the other southern provinces, three years after he had slain King Penda; and he likewise subdued the greater part of the Picts to the dominion of the English.

  At this time he gave to the above-mentioned Peada, son to King Penda, because he was his kinsman, the kingdom of the Southern Mercians, consisting, as is said, of 5,000 families, divided by the river Trent from the Northern Mercians, whose land contains 7,000 families; but Peada was foully slain in the following spring, by the treachery, as is said, of his wife, during the very time of the Easter festival. Three years after the death of King Penda, the Mercian chiefs, Immin, and Eafa, and Eadbert, rebelled against King Oswy, setting up for their king, Wulfhere, son to the said Penda, a youth whom they had kept concealed; and expelling the ealdormen of the foreign king, they bravely recovered at once their liberty and their lands; and being thus free, together with their king, they rejoiced to serve Christ the true King, for the sake of an everlasting kingdom in heaven. This king governed the Mercians seventeen years, and had for his first bishop Trumhere, above spoken of; the second was Jaruman; the third Ceadda; the fourth Wynfrid. All these, succeeding each other in order under King Wulfhere, discharged episcopal duties to the Mercian nation.

  CHAP. 25

  Interea Aidano episcopo de hac uita sublato, Finan pro illo gradum episcopatus a Scottis ordinatus ac missus acceperat. Qui in insula Lindisfarnensi fecit ecclesiam episcopali sedi congruam; quam tamen more Scottorum non de lapide, sed de robore secto totam conposuit, atque harundine texit; quam tempore sequente reuerentissimus archiepiscopus Theodorus in honore beati apostoli Petri dedicauit. Sed et episcopus loci ipsius Eadberct ablata harundine, plumbi lamminis eam totam, hoc est et tectum, et ipsos quoque parietes eius, cooperire curauit.

  His temporibus quaestio facta est frequens et magna de obseruatione paschae, confirmantibus eis, qui de Cantia uel de Galliis aduenerant, quod Scotti dominicum paschae diem contra uniuersalis ecclesiae morem celebrarent. Erat in his acerrimus ueri paschae defensor nomine Ronan, natione quidem Scottus, sed in Galliae uel Italiae partibus regulam ecclesiasticae ueritatis edoctus. Qui cum Finano confligens, multos quidem correxit, uel ad solertiorem ueritatis inquisitionem accendit, nequaquam tamen Finanum emendare potuit; quin potius, quod esset homo ferocis animi, acerbiorem castigando et apertum ueritatis aduersarium reddidit. Obseruabat autem Iacob diaconus quondam, ut supra docuimus, uenerabilis archiepiscopi Paulini, uerum et catholicum pascha cum omnibus, quos ad correctiorem uiam erudire poterat. Obseruabat et regina Eanfled cum suis, iuxta quod in Cantia fieri uiderat, habens secum de Cantia presbyterum catholicae obseruationis, nomine Romanum. Unde nonnumquam contigisse fertur illis temporibus, ut bis in anno uno pascha celebraretur, et cum rex pascha dominicum solutis ieiuniis faceret, tum regina cum suis persistens adhuc in ieiunio diem palmarum celebraret. Haec autem dissonantia paschalis obseruantiae uiuente Aidano patienter ab omnibus tolerabatur, qui patenter intellexerant, quia, etsi pascha contra morem eorum, qui ipsum miserant, facere non potuit, opera tamen fidei, pietatis, et dilectionis, iuxta morem omnibus sanctis consuetum, diligenter exsequi curauit. Unde ab omnibus, etiam his, qui de pascha aliter sentiebant, merito diligebatur; nec solum a mediocribus, uerum ab ipsis quoque episcopis, Honorio Cantuariorum, et Felice Orientalium Anglorum, uenerationi habitus est.

  Defuncto autem Finano, qui post illum fuit, cum Colmanus in episcopatum succederet, et ipse missus a Scottia, grauior de obseruatione paschae, necnon et de aliis ecclesiasticae uitae disciplinis controuersia nata est. Unde merito mouit haec quaestio sensus et corda multorum, timentium, ne forte accepto Christianitatis uocabulo, in uacuum currerent aut cucurrissent.

  Peruenit et ad ipsas principum aures, Osuiu uidelicet regis, et filii eius Alchfridi. Quia nimirum Osuiu a Scottis edoctus ac baptizatus, illorum etiam lingua optime inbutus, nil melius, quam quod illi docuissent, autumabat; porro Alchfrid magistrum habens eruditionis Christianae Uilfridum uirum doctissimum (nam et Romam prius propter doctrinam ecclesiasticam adierat, et apud Dalfinum archiepiscopum Galliarum Lugdoni multum temporis egerat, a quo etiam tonsurae ecclesiasticae coronam susceperat), huius doctrinam omnibus Scottorum traditionibus iure praeferendam sciebat; unde ei etiam donauerat monasterium XL familiarum in loco, qui dicitur Inhrypum.

  Quem uidelicet locum paulo ante eis, qui Scottos sequebantur, in possessionem monasterii dederat. Sed quia illi postmodum data sibi optione magis loco cedere, quam suam mutare consuetudinem uolebant, dedit eum illi, qui dignam loco et doctrinam haberet, et uitam.

  Uenerat eo tempore Agilberctus Occidentalium Saxonum episcopus, cuius supra meminimus, amicus Alchfridi regis et Uilfridi abbatis, ad prouinciam Nordanhymbrorum, et apud eos aliquandiu demorabatur;

  qui etiam Uilfridum rogatu Alchfridi in praefato suo monasterio presbyterum fecit. Habebat autem secum ipse presbyterum nomine Agathonem. Mota ergo ibi quaestione de pascha, uel tonsura, uel aliis rebus ecclesiasticis, dispositum est, ut in monasterio, quod dicitur Strenashalc, quod interpretatur sinus Fari, cui tunc Hild abbatissa Deo deuota femina praefuit, synodus fieri, et haec quaestio terminari deberet. Ueneruntque illo rcges ambo, pater scilicet et filius; episcopi, Colman cum clericis suis de Scottia, Agilberctus cum Agathone et Uilfrido presbyteris. Iacobus et Romanus in horum parte erant; Hild abbatissa cum suis in parte Scottorum, in qua erat etiam uenerabilis episcopus Cedd, iamdudum ordinatus a Scottis, ut supra docuimus, qui et interpres in eo concilio uigilantissimus utriusque partis extitit.

  Primusque rex Osuiu praemissa praefatione, quod oporteret eos, qui uni Deo seruirent, unam uiuendi regulam tenere, nec discrepare in celebratione sacramentorum caelestium, qui unum omnes in caelis regnum expectarent; inquirendum potius, quae esset uerior traditio, et hanc ab omnibus communiter esse sequendam; iussit primo dicere episcopum suum Colmanum, qui esset ritus et unde originem ducens ille, quem ipse sequeretur. Tum Colmanus: ‘Pascha,’ inquit, ‘hoc, quod agere soleo, a maioribus meis accepi, qui me huc episcopum miserunt, quod omnes patres nostri, uiri Deo dilecti, eodem modo celebrasse noscuntur. Quod ne cui contemnendum et reprobandum ess
e uideatur, ipsum est, quod beatus euangelista Iohannes, discipulus specialiter Domino dilectus, cum omnibus, quibus praeerat, ecclesiis celebrasse legitur.’ Quo haec et his similia dicente, iussit rex et Agilberctum proferre in medium morem suae obseruationis, unde initium haberet, uel qua hunc auctoritate sequeretur. Respondit Agilberctus: ‘Loquatur, obsecro, uice mea discipulus meus Uilfrid presbyter, quia unum ambo sapimus cum ceteris, qui hic adsident, ecclesiasticae traditionis cultoribus; et ille melius ac manifestius ipsa lingua Anglorum, quam ego per interpretem, potest explanare, quae sentimus.’ Tum Uilfrid, iubente rege, ut diceret, ita exorsus est: ‘Pasca, quod facimus,’

  inquit, ‘uidimus Romae, ubi beati apostoli Petrus et Paulus uixere, docuere, passi sunt, et sepulti, ab omnibus celebrari; hoc in Italia, hoc in Gallia, quas discendi uel orandi studio pertransiuimus, ab omnibus agi conspeximus; hoc Africam, Asiam, Aegyptum, Greciam, et omnem orbem, quacumque Christi ecclesia diffusa est, per diuersas nationes et linguas, uno ac non diuerso temporis ordine geri conperimus; praeter hos tantum et obstinationis eorum conplices, Pictos dico et Brettones, cum quibus de duabus ultimis oceani insulis, et his non totis, contra totum orbem stulto labore pugnant.’ Cui haec dicenti respondit Colmanus: ‘Mirum quare stultum appellare uelitis laborem nostrum, in quo tanti apostoli, qui super pectus Domini recumbere dignus fuit, exempla sectamur; cum ipsum sapientissime uixisse omnis mundus nouerit.’ At Uilfridus: ‘Absit,’ inquit, ‘ut Iohannem stultitiae reprehendamus, cum scita legis Mosaicae iuxta litteram seruaret, iudaizante adhuc in multis ecclesia, nec subito ualentibus apostolis omnem legis obseruantiam, quae a Deo instituta est, abdicare (quomodo simulacra, quae a daemonibus inuenta sunt, repudiare omnes, qui ad fidem ueniunt, necesse est), uidelicet ne scandalum facerent eis, qui inter gentes erant Iudaeis. Hinc est enim, quod Paulus Timotheum circumcidit, quod hostias in templo immolauit, quod cum Aquila et Priscilla caput Chorinti totondit; ad nihil uidelicet utile, nisi ad scandalum uitandum Iudaeorum. Hinc quod eidem Paulo Iacobus ait: “Uides, frater, quot milia sunt in Iudaeis, qui crediderunt; et omnes hi aemulatores sunt legis.” Nec tamen hodie clarescente per mundum euangelio necesse est, immo nec licitum fidelibus uel circumcidi, uel hostias Deo uictimarum offerre carnalium. Itaque Iohannes secundum legis consuetudinem XIIIIa die mensis primi ad uesperam incipiebat celebrationem festi paschalis, nil curans, utrum haec sabbato, an alia qualibet feria proueniret. At uero Petrus cum Romae praedicaret, memor, quia Dominus prima sabbati resurrexit a mortuis, ac mundo spem resurrectionis contulit, ita pascha faciendum intellexit, ut secundum consuetudinem ac praecepta legis XIIIIam lunam primi mensis, aeque sicut Iohannes, orientem ad uesperam semper exspectaret; et hac exorta, si dominica dies, quae tunc prima sabbati uocabatur, erat mane uentura, in ipsa uespera pascha dominicum celebrare incipiebat, quomodo et nos omnes hodie facere solemus. Sin autem dominica non proximo mane post lunam XIIIIam, sed XVIa aut XVIIa aut alia qualibet luna usque ad XXIam esset uentura, exspectabat eam, et praecedente sabbato, uespere, sacrosancta paschae sollemnia inchoabat; sicque fiebat, ut dominica paschae dies nonnisi a XVa luna usque ad XXIam seruaretur. Neque haec euangelica et apostolica traditio legem soluit, sed potius adimplet, in qua obseruandum pascha a XIIIIa luna primi mensis ad uesperam usque ad XXIam lunam eiusdem mensis ad uesperam praeceptum est; in quam obseruantiam imitandam omnes beati Iohannis successores in Asia post obitum eius, et omnis per orbem ecclesia conuersa est. Et hoc esse uerum pascha, hoc solum fidelibus celebrandum, Niceno concilio non statutum nouiter, sed confirmatum est, ut ecclesiastica docet historia. Unde constat uos, Colmane, neque Iohannis, ut autumatis, exempla sectari, neque Petri, cuius traditioni scientes contradicitis, neque legi, neque euangelio in obseruatione uestri paschae congruere. Iohannes enim ad legis Mosaicae decreta tempus paschale custodiens, nil de prima sabbati curabat; quod uos non facitis, qui nonnisi prima sabbati pascha celebratis. Petrus a XVa luna usque ad XXIam diem paschae dominicum celebrabat; quod uos non facitis, qui a XIIIIa usque ad XXam lunam diem dominicum paschae obseruatis; ita ut XIIIa luna ad uesperam saepius pascha incipiatis, cuius neque lex ullam fecit mentionem, neque auctor ac dator euangelii Dominus in ea, sed in XIIIIa uel uetus pascha manducauit ad uesperam, uel noui testamenti sacramenta in commemorationem suae passionis ecclesiae celebranda tradidit. Item lunam XXIam, quam lex maxime celebrandam commendauit, a celebratione uestri paschae funditus eliminatis; sicque, ut dixi, in celebratione summae festiuitatis neque Iohanni, neque Petro, neque legi, neque euangelio concordatis.’