by Bede
The epitaph was this: —
“High estate, wealth, offspring, a mighty kingdom, triumphs, spoils, chieftains, strongholds, the camp, a home; whatsoever the valour of his sires, whatsoever himself had won, Caedwal, mighty in war, left for the love of God, that, a pilgrim king, he might behold Peter and Peter’s seat, receive at his font pure waters of life, and in bright draughts drink of the shining radiance whence a quickening glory streams through all the world. And even as he gained with eager soul the prize of the new life, he laid aside barbaric rage, and, changed in heart, he changed his name with joy. Sergius the Pope bade him be called Peter, himself his father, when he rose born anew from the font, and the grace of Christ, cleansing him, bore him forthwith clothed in white raiment to the heights of Heaven. O wondrous faith of the king, but greatest of all the mercy of Christ, into whose counsels none may enter! For he came in safety from the ends of the earth, even from Britain, through many a nation, over many a sea, by many a path, and saw the city of Romulus and looked upon Peter’s sanctuary revered, bearing mystic gifts. He shall walk in white among the sheep of Christ in fellowship with them; for his body is in the tomb, but his soul on high. Thou mightest deem he did but change an earthly for a heavenly sceptre, whom thou seest attain to the kingdom of Christ.”
“Here was buried Caedwalla, called also Peter, king of the Saxons, on the twentieth day of April, in the second indiction, aged about thirty years, in the reign of our most pious lord, the Emperor Justinian, in the fourth year of his consulship, in the second year of the pontificate of our Apostolic lord, Pope Sergius.”
When Caedwalla went to Rome, Ini succeeded to the kingdom, being of the blood royal; and having reigned thirty-seven years over that nation, he in like manner left his kingdom and committed it to younger men, and went away to the threshold of the blessed Apostles, at the time when Gregory was pope, being desirous to spend some part of his pilgrimage upon earth in the neighbourhood of the holy places, that he might obtain to be more readily received into the fellowship of the saints in heaven. This same thing, about that time, was wont to be done most zealously by many of the English nation, nobles and commons, laity and clergy, men and women.
CHAP. 8
Anno autem post hunc, quo Caedualla Romae defunctus est, proximo, id est DCXC incarnationis dominicae, Theodorus beatae memoriae archiepiscopus, senex et plenus dierum, id est annorum LXXXVIII, defunctus est; quem se numerum annorum fuisse habiturum ipse iamdudum somni reuelatione edoctus, suis praedicere solebat.
Mansit autem in episcopatu annis XXII, sepultusque est in ecclesia sancti Petri, in qua omnium episcoporum Doruuernensium sunt corpora deposita; de quo una cum consortibus eiusdem sui gradus recte ac ueraciter dici potest, quia ‘corpora ipsorum in pace sepulta sunt, et nomen eorum uiuet in generationes et generationes.’ Ut enim breuiter dicam, tantum profectus spiritalis tempore praesulatus illius Anglorum ecclesiae, quantum numquam antea potuere, ceperunt.
Cuius personam, uitam, aetatem, et obitum, epitaphium quoque monumenti ipsius uersibus heroicis XXX et IIII palam ac lucide cunctis illo aduenientibus pandit; quorum primi sunt hi:
Hic sacer in tumba pausat cum corpore pracsul, Quem nunc Theodorum lingua Pelasga uocat.
Princeps pontificum, felix summusque sacerdos Limpida discipulis dogmata disseruit.
Ultimi autem hi:
Namque diem nonamdecimam September habebat, Cum carnis claustra spiritus egreditur.
Alma nouae scandens felix consortia uitae, Ciuibus angelicis iunctus in arce poli.
Successit autem Theodoro in episcopatum Berctuald, qui erat abbas in monasterio, quod iuxta ostium aquilonale fluminis Genladae positum, Racuulfe nuncupatur; uir et ipse scientia scripturarum inbutus, sed et ecclesiasticis simul ac monasterialibus disciplinis summe instructus, tametsi praedecessori suo minime conparandus; qui electus est quidem in episcopatum anno dominicae incarnationis DCXC secundo, die primo mensis Iulii, regnantibus in Cantia Uictredo et Suæbhardo; ordinatus autem anno sequente tertio die Kalendarum Iuliarum dominica a Goduine metropolitano episcopo Galliarum; et sedit in sede sua pridie Kalendarum Septembrium dominica; qui inter multos, quos ordinauit antistites, etiam Gebmundo Hrofensis ecclesiae praesule defuncto, Tobiam pro illo consecrauit, uirum Latina, Greca, et Saxonica lingua atque eruditione multipliciter instructum.
Chap. VIII.
How, when Archbishop Theodore died, Bertwald succeeded him as archbishop, and, among many others whom he ordained, he made the learned Tobias bishop of the church of Rochester. [690 a.d.]
The year after that in which Caedwalla died at Rome, that is, 690 after the Incarnation of our Lord, Archbishop Theodore, of blessed memory, departed this life, being old and full of days, for he was eighty-eight years of age; which number of years he had been wont long before to foretell to his friends that he should live, the same having been revealed to him in a dream. He held the bishopric twenty-two years, and was buried in St. Peter’s church, where all the bodies of the bishops of Canterbury are buried. Of whom, as well as of his fellows of the same degree, it may rightly and truly be said, that their bodies are buried in peace, and their names shall live to all generations. For to say all in few words, the English Churches gained more spiritual increase while he was archbishop, than ever before. His character, life, age, and death, are plainly and manifestly described to all that resort thither, by the epitaph on his tomb, in thirty-four heroic verses. The first whereof are these:
“Here in the tomb rests the body of the holy prelate, called now in the Greek tongue Theodore. Chief pontiff, blest high priest, pure doctrine he set forth to his disciples.”
The last are as follow:
“For September had reached its nineteenth day, when his spirit went forth from the prison-bars of the flesh. Mounting in bliss to the gracious fellowship of the new life, he was united to the angelic citizens in the heights of Heaven.”
Bertwald succeeded Theodore in the archbishopric, being abbot of the monastery called Racuulfe, which stands at the northern mouth of the river Genlade. He was a man learned in the Scriptures, and perfectly instructed in ecclesiastical and monastic teaching, yet in no wise to be compared to his predecessor. He was chosen bishop in the year of our Lord 692, on the first day of July, when Wictred and Suaebhard were kings in Kent; but he was ordained the next year, on Sunday the 29th of June, by Godwin, metropolitan bishop of Gaul, and was enthroned on Sunday the 31st of August. Among the many bishops whom he ordained was Tobias, a man instructed in the Latin, Greek, and Saxon tongues, and otherwise of manifold learning, whom he consecrated in the stead of Gedmund, bishop of the Church of Rochester, who had died.
CHAP. 9
Eo tempore uenerabilis et cum omni honorificentia nominandus famulus Christi et sacerdos Ecgberct, quem in Hibernia insula peregrinam ducere uitam pro adipiscenda in caelis patria retulimus, proposuit animo pluribus prodesse; id est inito opere apostolico, uerbum Dei aliquibus earum, quae nondum audierant, gentibus euangelizando committere; quarum in Germania plurimas nouerat esse nationes, a quibus Angli uel Saxones, qui nunc Brittaniam incolunt, genus et originem duxisse noscuntur; unde hactenus a uicina gente Brettonum corrupte Garmani nuncupantur. Sunt autem Fresones, Rugini, Danai, Hunni, Antiqui Saxones, Boructuari; sunt alii perplures hisdem in partibus populi paganis adhuc ritibus seruientes, ad quos uenire praefatus Christi miles circumnauigata Brittania disposuit, siquos forte ex illis ereptos Satanae ad Christum transferre ualeret; uel, si hoc fieri non posset, Romam uenire ad uidenda atque adoranda beatorum apostolorum ac martyrum Christi limina cogitauit.
Sed ne aliquid horum perficeret, superna illa oracula simul et opera restiterunt. Siquidem electis sociis strenuissimis et ad praedicandum uerbum idoneis, utpote actione simul et eruditione praeclaris, praeparatis omnibus, quae nauigantibus esse necessaria uidebantur, uenit die quadam mane primo ad eum unus de fratribus, discipulus quondam in Brittania et minister Deo dilecti sacerdotis Boisili (cum esset idem Boisil praepositus monasterii Mailrosensis sub abbate Eata, ut supra narrauimus ,referens ei uisi
onem, quae sibi eadem nocte apparuisset: ‘Cum expletis,’ inquiens, ‘hymnis matutinalibus in lectulo membra posuissem, ac leuis mihi somnus obrepsisset, apparuit magister quondam meus, et nutritor amantissimus Boisil, interrogauitque me, an eum cognoscere possem. Aio: “Etiam; tu es enim Boisil.” At ille: “Ad hoc,” inquit, “ueni, ut responsum Domini Saluatoris Ecgbercto adferam, quod te tamen referente oportet ad illum uenire. Dic ergo illi, quia non ualet iter, quod proposuit, inplere; Dei enim uoluntatis est, ut ad Columbae monasteria magis docenda pergat.”’ Erat autem Columba primus doctor fidei Christianae transmontanis Pictis ad aquilonem, primusque fundator monasterii, quod in Hii insula multis diu Scottorum Pictorumque populis uenerabile mansit. Qui uidelicet Columba nunc a nonnullis conposito a cella et Columba nomine Columcelli uocatur. Audiens autem uerba uisionis Ecgberct, praecepit fratri, qui retulerat, ne cuiquam haec alteri referret, ne forte inlusoria esset uisio. Ipse autem tacitus rem considerans, ueram esse timebat; nec tamen a praeparando itinere, quo ad gentes docendas iret, cessare uolebat.
At post dies paucos rursum uenit ad eum praefatus frater, dicens, quia et ea nocte sibi post expletos matutinos Boisil per uisum apparuerit, dicens: ‘Quare tam neglegenter ac tepide dixisti Ecgbercto, quae tibi dicenda praecepi? At nunc uade et dic illi, quia, uelit nolit, debet ad monasteria Columbae uenire, quia aratra eorum non recte incedunt; oportet autem eum ad rectum haec tramitem reuocare.’ Qui haec audiens denuo praecepit fratri, ne haec cui patefaceret. Ipse uero, tametsi certus est factus de uisione, nihilominus temtauit iter dispositum cum fratribus memoratis incipere. Cumque iam naui inposuissent, quae tanti itineris necessitas poscebat, atque oportunos aliquot dies uentos expectarent, facta est nocte quadam tam saeua tempestas, quae perditis nonnulla ex parte his, quae in naui erant, rebus, ipsam in latus iacentem inter undas relinqueret; saluata sunt tamen omnia, quae erant Ecgbercti et sociorum eius. Tum ipse quasi propheticum illud dicens, quia ‘propter me est tempestas haec,’ subtraxit se illi profectioni, et remanere domi passus est.
At uero unus de sociis eius, uocabulo Uictberct, cum esset et ipse contemtu mundi ac doctrinae scientia insignis, (nam multos annos in Hibernia peregrinus anchoreticam in magna perfectione uitam egerat), ascendit nauem, et Fresiam perueniens, duobus annis continuis genti illi ac regi eius Rathbedo uerbum salutis praedicabat, neque aliquem tanti laboris fructum apud barbaros inuenit auditores. Tum reuersus ad dilectae locum peregrinationis, solito in silentio uacare Domino coepit; et quoniam externis prodesse ad fidem non poterat, suis amplius ex uirtutum exemplis prodesse curabat.
Chap. IX.
How the holy man, Egbert, would have gone into Germany to preach, but could not; and how Wictbert went, but because he availed nothing, returned into Ireland, whence he came. [Circ. 688 a.d.]
At that time the venerable servant of Christ, and priest, Egbert, who is to be named with all honour, and who, as was said before, lived as a stranger and pilgrim in Ireland to obtain hereafter a country in heaven, purposed in his mind to profit many, taking upon him the work of an apostle, and, by preaching the Gospel, to bring the Word of God to some of those nations that had not yet heard it; many of which tribes he knew to be in Germany, from whom the Angles or Saxons, who now inhabit Britain, are known to have derived their race and origin; for which reason they are still corruptly called “Garmans” by the neighbouring nation of the Britons. Such are the Frisians, the Rugini, the Danes, the Huns, the Old Saxons, and the Boructuari. There are also in the same parts many other peoples still enslaved to pagan rites, to whom the aforesaid soldier of Christ determined to go, sailing round Britain, if haply he could deliver any of them from Satan, and bring them to Christ; or if this might not be, he was minded to go to Rome, to see and adore the thresholds of the holy Apostles and martyrs of Christ.
But a revelation from Heaven and the working of God prevented him from achieving either of these enterprises; for when he had made choice of most courageous companions, fit to preach the Word, inasmuch as they were renowned for their good deeds and their learning, and when all things necessary were provided for the voyage, there came to him on a certain day early in the morning one of the brethren, who had been a disciple of the priest, Boisil, beloved of God, and had ministered to him in Britain, when the said Boisil was provost of the monastery of Mailros, under the Abbot Eata, as has been said above. This brother told him a vision which he had seen that night. “When after matins,” said he, “I had laid me down in my bed, and was fallen into a light slumber, Boisil, that was sometime my master and brought me up in all love, appeared to me, and asked, whether I knew him? I said, ‘Yes, you are Boisil.’ He answered, ‘I am come to bring Egbert a message from our Lord and Saviour, which must nevertheless be delivered to him by you. Tell him, therefore, that he cannot perform the journey he has undertaken; for it is the will of God that he should rather go to teach the monasteries of Columba.’ ” Now Columba was the first teacher of the Christian faith to the Picts beyond the mountains northward, and the first founder of the monastery in the island of Hii, which was for a long time much honoured by many tribes of the Scots and Picts. The said Columba is now by some called Columcille, the name being compounded from “Columba” and “Cella.” Egbert, having heard the words of the vision, charged the brother that had told it him, not to tell it to any other, lest haply it should be a lying vision. But when he considered the matter secretly with himself, he apprehended that it was true, yet would not desist from preparing for his voyage which he purposed to make to teach those nations.
A few days after the aforesaid brother came again to him, saying that Boisil had that night again appeared to him in a vision after matins, and said, “Why did you tell Egbert so negligently and after so lukewarm a manner that which I enjoined upon you to say? Yet, go now and tell him, that whether he will or no, he must go to Columba’s monasteries, because their ploughs are not driven straight; and he must bring them back into the right way.” Hearing this, Egbert again charged the brother not to reveal the same to any man. Though now assured of the vision, he nevertheless attempted to set forth upon his intended voyage with the brethren. When they had put aboard all that was requisite for so long a voyage, and had waited some days for fair winds, there arose one night so violent a storm, that part of what was on board was lost, and the ship itself was left lying on its side in the sea. Nevertheless, all that belonged to Egbert and his companions was saved. Then he, saying, in the words of the prophet, “For my sake this great tempest is upon you,” withdrew himself from that undertaking and was content to remain at home.
But one of his companions, called Wictbert, notable for his contempt of the world and for his learning and knowledge, for he had lived many years as a stranger and pilgrim in Ireland, leading a hermit’s life in great perfection, took ship, and arriving in Frisland, preached the Word of salvation for the space of two whole years to that nation and to its king, Rathbed; but reaped no fruit of all his great labour among his barbarous hearers. Returning then to the chosen place of his pilgrimage, he gave himself up to the Lord in his wonted life of silence, and since he could not be profitable to strangers by teaching them the faith, he took care to be the more profitable to his own people by the example of his virtue.
CHAP. 10
Ut autem uidit uir Domini Ecgberct, quia nec ipse ad praedicandum gentibus uenire permittebatur, retentus ob aliam sanctae ecclesiae utilitatem, de qua oraculo fuerat praemonitus; nec Uictberct illas deueniens in partes quicquam proficiebat, temtauit adhuc in opus uerbi mittere uiros sanctos et industrios, in quibus eximius Uilbrord presbyteri gradu et merito praefulgebat. Qui cum illo aduenissent, erant autem numero XII, diuertentes ad Pippinum ducem Francorum, gratanter ab illo suscepti sunt; et quia nuper citeriorem Fresiam expulso inde Rathbedo rege ceperat, illo eos ad praedicandum misit; ipse quoque imperiali auctoritate iuuans, ne qui praedicantibus quicquam molestiae inferret; multisque eos, qui fidem suscipere uellent, beneficiis adtollens; unde factum est, opitulante gratia diuina, ut multos in breui ab idolatria ad fidem conuerterent Chri
sti.
Horum secuti exempla duo quidam presbyteri de natione Anglorum, qui in Hibernia multo tempore pro aeterna patria exulauerant, uenerunt ad prouinciam Antiquorum Saxonum, si forte aliquos ibidem praedicando Christo adquirere possent. Erant autem unius ambo, sicut deuotionis, sic etiam uocabuli; nam uterque eorum appellabatur Heuuald; ea tamen distinctione, ut pro diuersa capillorum specie unus Niger Heuuald, alter Albus Heuuald diceretur; quorum uterque pietate religionis inbutus, sed Niger Heuuald magis sacrarum litterarum erat scientia institutus. Qui uenientes in prouinciam intrauerunt hospitium cuiusdam uilici, petieruntque ab eo, ut transmitterentur ad satrapam, qui super eum erat, eo quod haberent aliquid legationis et causae utilis, quod deberent ad illum perferre. Non enim habent regem idem Antiqui Saxones, sed satrapas plurimos suae genti praepositos, qui ingruente belli articulo mittunt aequaliter sortes, et, quemcumque sors ostenderit, hunc tempore belli ducem omnes sequuntur, huic obtemperant; peracto autem bello, rursum aequalis potentiae omnes fiunt satrapae. Suscepit ergo eos uilicus, et promittens se mittere eos ad satrapam, qui super se erat, ut petebant, aliquot diebus secum retinuit.