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
king entreated him to remaine with him enduing him with a bishoprik in his dominions which at the princes request he accepted and ruled the same people many yeres with priestly authoritie At the lenght the king who could only speake the Saxon tonge being wery of that foren language that Agilbertus vsed did priuely bring into the prouince an other bishop of his owne language named VVini the which also was made bishop in fraunce And diuiding the prouince into two dioceses gaue him a bishops see in the citie of Venta which the Saxons cal Vintancester Wherfor Agilbertus being highly displeased because the king did this without his counsayle returned againe into fraunce and after that he was aduanced to the bishoprike of the cite of Parris there he died an old man and very aged But not many yeres after his departure out of BritaÌ„ny Wini also was by the same king deposed from his bishoprike froÌ„ wheÌ„ce he departed to the king of the Marshes called Vulfhere and of him he bought with mony the see of the cite of LondoÌ„ and coÌ„tinued there bishopto the end of his lif Wherby the prouince of the west SaxoÌ„s lacked no small time a bishop At which time the forsaid king of the west Saxons being very often disquieted in his mind for the great losse and spoile which in his kingdome he susteined by his enemies called at last to his minde how he had wickedly expelled him out of his realme by whom he had receiued the faith of Christ vnderstanding withall that by want and lacke of a bisshop he wanted also the helpe and grace of almighty God Therfore he sent embassadours into fraunce to Agilbert beseeâ—hing him that he wold returne and resume againe his bishoprike offering with all to make satisfaction for that which was past But Agilbert excusing him selfe alleaged that he could in no wise repaire thither because he was bound to abyde at his bishoprike whiche he had in his owne countrey and diocesse Neuerthelesse to th eÌ„d he mought somwhat helpe him who did most earnestly desyre him he sent thither in his stede a certaine priest Eleutherius by name his own nephew who should be made a bishop for him if it were his plesure affirming that he deemed him to be well worthy of his bishoprike This Eleutherius was honourably receiued of the people and the kinge who entreated also Theodore then Archebishop of Caunterbury that Eleutherius should be consecrated their bishop In whiche function he liued and laboured many yeares beinge the only bishoppe of that prouince appointed so by a Synodall decree How Earconbert king of kent gaue commaundement to destroye ydolls and of his daughter Eeartongath and also of his kynse woman Edelburg virgins dedicated to God The. 8. Chap. IN the 640. yere of the incarnation of our Lord Eadbaldus king of kent passing out of this life left the gouernance of the realme to his sonne Earconbert Earconbert did prosperously raigne xxiiij yeres and certaine moneths This was the first king of England who of his princely authoritie commaunded that the idols which were in all his whole realme should be forsaken and destroyed and moreouer that the fast of fourty dayes should be kept And that this his authoritie mought not lightly be contemned of any man he appointed mete and conuenient punishments for the transgressours thereof Eartongath this princes daughter as a worthy childe of such a father was a virgin of greate vertu She serued god in a Monasterie all dayes of her life that was builded in the countree of Fraunce by an honourable Abbesse called Fara in a place named Brige For in those dayes when many monasteries were not yet builded in England many were wont for the loue of religious life to go to the religious houses of Fraunce sending also their daughters to the same to be brought vp and maried into heauenly bridegrome especially to the monasterie of BrigÌ„e and in Cale and also Andilegum Among whom was Sedrido daughter to the wife of Anna king of the east English of which king Anna we haue made mention before and Edelburg the sayd kinges naturall daughter who being straungers and alians were yet both made abbesses of the same monasterie in Brige by reason of their worthy vertues This kinges elder daughter Sexburg wife to Earconbert king of kent had a daughter named Eartongath and of her we will now treate The inhabitans of that place are wont euen at this day to tell of many vertuous dedes and miraculous signes wrought by this holv virgin We only will be contented to speke somewhat shortly of her departure out of this worlde and passage to a better lyfe The time and houre of her calling to God being at hand she began to visit in the monasterie the celles of the sicke especially of such her sisters as either for age or for vertuous conuersation were most notable Vnto whose prayers lowly commending her selfe signified vnto them the houre of her death approching according as she had learned by reuelation The reuelation as she reported was such She said she had seen a company of men apparelled in white enter into the same monasterye of whom asking what they sought for or what they would there it was answered her that they were sent thither to th end they might take with them that golden coyne which came from kent to that place And on the same night in the last part thereof that is to saye when the sonne began to rise she passing ouer the darkenesse of this present world went vp to the light that is aboue Many of the brethren of the same monasterie which were in other houses reported that they heard euen at the same moment the melodie of angels singing together and the noyse as though it were of a very greate multitude coming into the monastery whereuppon uppon they by and by going foorth to knowe what maner a thing it were saw that there was an exceading greate light sent downe from heauen which ledd and conducted that holy soule deliuered out of the pryson of the flesh to the euerlasting ioyes of the heauenly countrye Beside all this they reported of other miracles which were shewed by the hand of god that very night in the selfe same monastery But we passing to other miracles doe leue these to the religious persons of this monastery to report The honorable body of Christes virgin and spouse was buried in the church of S. Steuen that first blessed martyr And it was thought good three dayes after the buriall that the stone wherwith the graue was couered should be layed asyde and reered vp higher in the same place At the doing whereof so pleasaunt a smell and so swete a sauour came from the bottom of the earth that to all the brethern and sisters that stode by there semed as though there were storehouses and cellars of balme naturall opened Yea furthermore Edelburg aunte by the mothers side to this Eartongath of
the porche of his church vntell the church it selfe was consecrated in Perone Which being solemnely done within six and twēty daies after the body was brought thither and being remoued from the porche to be layed by the high aultar it was founde as whole and vncorrupted as if the man had but that houre departed Foure yeares after a litle chappell being erected at the east syde of the aultar wher the body shuld more honourably betoumed being takē vp againe to be transposed thither it was founde in like maner without any blemish of corruption In the which place it is well knowen that his merites haue much ben renowned by sundry miracles wrought by the allmighty power of God Thus much of the incorruption of his body we haue brefely touched that the reader might more clerely vnderstande of what excellency and vertu this man was All which thinges and of other his vertuous companyons in the booke writen of his life he that readeth shall finde more ample mencion made How after the death of Honorius Deusdedit succeded and who in that time were bishops of Rochester and in the east partes of England The. 20. Chap. IN this meane Felix the bishop of the east englishmen departing this worlde hauing ben their bishop 17. yeares Honorius the Archebishopp of Caunterbury created in his place Thomas one of his deacons borne in the prouince of Giruij after whose death liuing in that bishoprick fyue yeares he substituded in his roome Beretgilsus surnamed Bonifacius a kentishman borne Honorius also the Archebishop the measure of his life expired passed to a better in the yeare of our Lord 653. the last daye of October Whom Deusdedit a west Saxon borne succeded after a yeare and a halfe the see being vacant all that tyme. For whose creation and consecration Ithamar byshop of Rochester came to Cannterbury He was consecrated the. xxiiij of Marche and gouuerned that see ix yeares iiij moneths and two dayes After whose departure Ithamar consecrated in his place Damianus a Sussex man borne Howe the Marshes or vplandish englishmen that is the sheres of Lincolne Couentry Lichefield and worceter receaued the Christen faith vnder Penda their kinge The. 21. Chapter AT this time the Middelenglishmē that is of the sheres aboue named receiued the Christen faith and the sacramentes thereof vnder Penda their kinge sonne to Pendam that cruell and vnmercifull hethen This being a vertuous young man worthy of the name and person of a kinge was of his father put in gouuernement of that countre Who coming after to Oswin kinge of Northumberland requiring Alcfled his daughter to wife could in no other wise obtaine his suite vnlesse he would as that countre was receiue the Christen faith and be baptised Hereupon the ghospell was preached vnto him Who hearing the promis of euerlasting life the hope of resurrection and immortalite of the soule yelded him self gladly to be Christned though he shoulde not spede of his suite To this he was muche persuaded by Alcfrid king Oswins son who had maried his sister Cymburg kinge Pendan his daughter Thus then he with the Erles and kinghtes that waited vpon him and all their seruauntes were baptised of Finanus the bishopp in a famous towne of the kinges called Admurum From whence he returned home with much ioye and comfort accompained with foure priestes notable bothe for lerning and for vertue whiche shoulde instruct and baptise his people These priestes were called Cedda Adda Betti and Diuna who was a scottesman borne the other thre english Adda was brother to Vtta that holy and vertuous priest that we mencioned before and Abbot of the monastery called Cubeshead These foresaied priestes entring the prouince of the middleland with the Prince preached the worde of God and were gladly heard Whereby many daily as well noble as of the base forte renouncing the filth of idolatry were clensed in the fonte of life Neither king Pendam father to this young prince did withstande or gainsaie the preaching of the ghospell in his dominions yf any would heare it But hated in dede and persecuted all such as bearing the name of Christians liued not according to the faithe they professed saying commonly that suche men were wretched and worthely to be spited whiche regarded not to please their God in whom they beleued These thinges began two yeares before the death of kinge Penda the younger who being after slayne and Oswin a moste Christen kinge succeding him in the crowne Diuna one of the foure foresaied priestes was consecrated of Finanus and created bishop of all the middle or vplandish english men For the scarcety of priestes made that ouer all that people one Bishop was sett Who winning to the faith in short time a great multitude of people in Fepping died leauing for his successour Ceollach a Scottish man also borne Who not longe after leauing the bishoprike returned to his countre the Iland of Hij where the chief and principall monasteries of Scotland were To him succeded Trumher a vertuous man and brought vpp in religion an Englishman borne but consecrated byshopp of the Scottes in the raigne of kinge VVillher as we shall hereafter more at larg declare How the East Saxons at the preaching of Cedda receiued again the faith◠which vnder kinge Sigibert they had loste The 22. Chapter AT this very time the east Saxōs by the meanes of kinge Oswin receiued againe the faith which before expelling Melitus the first bishop of Londō out of the coūtre they abandonned Their kinge then was Sigbert succeding to Sigibert surnamed the litle This Sigbert being a nere and familiar frende of kinge Oswin then king of the Northumbrians came by that occasion oftentimes to Northumberland At which metinges the vertuous kinge Oswin vsed eftsoones to persuade with him that such could not be Gods which were made with mens handes that wodde or stone coulde not be any quicke matter to make a liuing God the pieces and remnants whereof either were wasted with fire or serued to make vessels for the vse of man or otherwise being naught worthe were caste forth troden vnder foote and turned into earth God rather saied he must be vnderstanded to be of maiesty incomprehensible to mens eyes vnuisible almighty and euerlasting who made bothe heauen and earth and all mankinde gouerned them also and should iugde the whole worlde in equite whose mansion place is euerlastinge Finally that al such as would lerne and perfourme the will of their Creatour should vndoubtedly receiue of him euerlasting rewarde therefore These and such other godly aduertissemtēs being frendly and brotherly from time to time made and repeted to king Sigbert by Oswin he began at lenght his other frendes agreing therunto to sauour them and beleue them Whereupon aduise being taken with his company and all bothe consenting and pricking him fore ward he was baptised of Finanus the bisshop in the cite of Admurum nigh vnto the walle wherewith the
commendeth sayinge The vij daye shal be more solemne and hollye and no seruil wooâ—ke shal be done from morninge to eueninge no man can iustly reproue vs and say we kepe not the Ester soundaye which we toke of the gospel in the third weke of the first moneth apointed by the lawe as we shuld do Now theÌ„ seing the general cause which the Catholiques alleage for the obseruing of this feast of Easter is plainly set before your eyes the vnreasonable errour of those which rashly presume to passe or preueÌ„t with out any force of necessitie the time apointed in the lawe is manifest for al men to espye For they anticipate and preuent the time appointed in the lawe without any force of necessity which thinke that Easter day must be kepte from the xiiij moone of the firste moneth to the xx of the same For whereas they begynne the eue of that holy feast from the eueninge of the xiij it appereth that they appointe that day in the beginninge of their Easter wherof they finde no meÌ„tion in the law And whereas they refuse to kepe the Easter soundaye the xxj daye in it appereth truly that they exclude vtterly from their solemnity that day which the law coÌ„maundeth to be obserued and had in memory with ioy and mirth aboue al other And so they end their Easter after a peruerse ordre keping it somtimes altogether in the seconde weeke but neuer in the vij day of the third weeke Againe they which thinke they shuld kepe Easter from the xvj day of the saide moneth to the xxij day roue farre wide from the truth and runne though an other waie yet as farre out of the waie as the other did falling as the common prouerbe sayth in to the greate gulff and swalloing sandes of Charibdis while they seeke to escape the dangerous straites of Scilla For wheras they teach that we shulde beginne frgm the rising of the xvj moone of the first moneth that is from the eueninge of the xv day it is manifest that they vtterly seclude from their solemnity the xiiij day of the same moneth which the law doth principally and before the rest commend so that they scarse come to the eueninge at all of the xv day in the which the people of God were deliuered out of the bondage of Aegipt in the which our sauiour Christ delyuered the worlde from synne by sheding his precious blud in the which he being buried put vs in comfort and hope of resurrection and aeternall rest after deathe And these men by occasion of their former errour falling in to an other in punishment of the first whereas sometimes they kepe their Easter in the xxii day of the saied moneth they do expressely passe the bondes of Easter commaunded in the lawe For in the euening of that day they beginne their Easter in which euening they ought by the lawe cleane to haue ended and finished their Easter Againe by this meanes they make that day the first daye of Easter which in the lawe is not mentioned at all to wit the first day of the fourth weeke And both these sortes of men are deceaued not only in counting the age of the moone but also in finding out of the first moneth The debating of which matter is more tedious and loÌ„g then that either it can or may be coÌ„prised in an epistle Only this I say that the time being ones certainly knoweÌ„ wheÌ„ the day is as long as the night and the night as the day at the spring time of the yere it may infallibly be fouÌ„de which ought to be the first moneth of the yere after the accoÌ„ptâ— of the moon and which ought to be the last In the spring the day is as longe as the night and so the night as long as the day after the opinion of all lerned men in the East and specially of the Aegiptians which beare the price for calculation before all other Astronomers the xii calendes of Aprill as we also haue had experience by triall of the dyall Whatsoeuer moone therfor is at ful befor the day and night be of one leÌ„ght being xiiii or xv dayes olde that mone pertaineth to the last moneth the yere befor and therfor is not meet or conuenient for the feast of Easter But that mone which is at full either after the day and night be of one and equal lenght or in the very pointe of that equalitie in that doubtlesse because it is the full moone of the first moneth we must vnderstand that the olde auÌ„cients wer wount to kepe Easter and that we ought to kepe ours in leeke manner when the Sondaie cometh That it shuld be so this reason semeth somwhat to enforce In Genesis it is written that God made ii great lights the greater to rule the day and the lesser ouer the night or as some other translation hath the greater light was made to begynne the day and the lesser to beginne the night Therfore as at the first begin ning the son rising from the full middest of the East made by that his rising the equalite of day and night in the beginning of the yere and as the moone in the very first day of the worlde the son going downe folowed also at the full rising in the midst of the East so euery yere in leeke manner the first moneth of the moone must be obserued after the same rate so that she be not at the full before the day and night be of one length but either on the very same day as it was at the first creating of the worlde or when it is paste For if the ful mone go but one day befor the day and night be of one length the former reason proueth manifestly that the same mone must not be ascribed to the firste moneth of the yere but rather to the laste of the yere that is past and for that consideration not meete nor conuenient for the solemnisinge of Easter daye Els in one yere we should haue ij Easters Now if it like yow to heare also the mysticall reason hereof this it is In the firste moneth of the yere which is called mensis nouorum that is the moneth of new springe we are commaunded to kepe the feaste of Ester because our hartes and mindes being renewed toward the loue of heauenly thinges we ought to celebrate and honour the mysteries of Christes resurrection and our redemption We are coÌ„maunded to keepe the third weeke of the same moneth first because Christ him self promised vnto vs before the lawe and in the time of the lawe came in the thirde age off the worlde in the time of grace and was made our Easter and passeouer Secondarely becawse he risinge from deathe the third daye after his bitter passion vpon the crosse woulde haue that daye to be called the daye of our Lorde and all Christen men to kepe the feast of Easter yearly the very same day in honour of his glorious
resurrection The thirde cawse is because we do then truely keepe this solemne feast if we endeuour to the vttermost of our power to make our passeouer that is to saye ower passage owte of this wordle to God the father with the triple knot of faith hope and charytie After theequalite of the daye and night we are commaunded yet to tary for the full moone of the moneth in which Easter falleth to thend that first the sonne may make the day longer then the night and afterward the moone also may appeare to the world in her full light to signifie vnto vs that the son of righteousnesse in whose beames is our saluation that is to sayour Lorde Iesus Christe by the victory and triumphe which he had in his resurrection hath ouercomed the darknesse of deathe and so ascendinge to heauen hath replenished his churche whiche is ofte signified by the moone with the inwarde light of his grace by sendinge downe the goly ghoste The which ordre of ower saluation the prophete beholdinge said Eleuatus est sol luna stetit in ordine sno The sonne is lyfted vppe and the moone stode in her ordre They therefore which contendeth that the full moone of the moneth in which Easter should fall may come before the Son maketh the daye and night of equall length as they disagree in the celebration of most high and greate misteries from the doctrine of holy scripture so they seme well to agree with them which trust to be saued with owt the preuenting grace of Christe Which in dede presume to teache that man myght haue had perfecte iustification though Christ the trewe lyght had neuer ouercomed the blyndnesse off the world with his painefull death and glorious resurrection To conclude therefore we about the equinoctiall springe when the day and night be of one length and when the full moone of the firste moneth orderly folowing the same that is to saye after the xiiij daye of the said moneth is fully expired the obseruation of all which tymes is commaunded in the lawe do expecte yet in that thirde weeke accordinge as in the ghospel we lerne the next Sonday folowing and then we keepe the solemne feaste of Ester And that to th ende we may testyfie by ower doings that we cellebrat not this solemnytie with the old fathers in remembraunce that the children off Israel had the harde yoke of bondage shaken from their neckes in Aegipte but that we woorshipp with deuoute faith and perfecte charitie the redemption of all the world prefigured in that deliuerance off gods old people owte of thrauldome and fully ended in Christes resurrection to th ende we may signifie that we reioyse in the assured hope of ower resurrection which we beleue shal be on the same Sonday also This accompte of Easter which we haue here declared vnto you to be folowed is comprised in the compasse of xix yeres which of late that is to saye in the Apostles time beganne to be obserued in the churche especially at Rome and Aegipte as I haue specified before But by the industry of Eusebius who of the blessed Martyr Pâ—amphilus hathe his surname it is more playnly and distinctly set in ordre So that where as before the bishop of Alexandria was wonte euery yeare to send abrod to euery particular church the true time of the Easter that yeare to be obserued now from hence forth the course of the full moone being brought in to this order and certainly tried out euery church by itselfe can finde it without failing This counte of Easter so distincted by Eusebius Theophilus bishop of Alexandria made to serue for one hundred yeres at the request of Theodosius the Emperour Cyril his successour made it for 95. yeres more comprising it in v. circles of the saied compasse of 19. yeares After whome Dionisius the yownger added as many circles in leeke ordre and style whiche reached euen to ouer tyme. The which now approching nigh to the date and terme prefixed there is nowe adayes such store of calculatours that in our churches through owte all England there be many which can by the olde preceptes of the Aegiptians which they haue lerned and committed to memory extende and drawe forthe the circle and course of Easter in to as many yeares as them listeth euen to the numbre of 532. yeares Which number of yeares being expired all that appertaineth to the course of the son moone moneth and weke returneth into the same ordre it did before The calculation or directory of which time we haue not at this present sent vnto you because demaunding only to be instructed of the reason and cause of this time of Easter it semeth you are allready informed of the time it selfe Hauing now hetherto brefly and compendiously spoken concerning the dew obseruation of Easter accordinge to yower highnesse requeste we exhorte you most humbly to prouide that your clergy haue the same tonsure which the church doth receiue and vse as most agreable to the Christian faith wherof you required also our letters We know right wel that the Apostles were not shauen all after one sorte Neither now the whole catholique church as it agreeth in one faith one hope and one charite towardes God so vseth also one and the self same order of tonsure Againe that we may consider the time befor vs to wit the time of the holy patriarches Iob a perfect patterne of patience when his tribulation and aduersite beganne shore his head Wherby we learne that in time of prosperity he was accustomed to lett his heare growe Yet Ioseph a trewe teacher and practiser of chastity humility piety and al other vertues is written to haue bene shauen when he came out of preson Wherby it appeareth that in prison for the tyme of his induraunce he was wounte to remaine with longe heare nor clipte nor shorne Lo here two vertuous and godly men who inwardly in hart and mind wer one shewed yet in outward behauiour some diuersite and contrariete But though we may boldly saye that the diuersite of ecclesiasticall tonsure hurteth nothing at all such as haue a pure faith in God and perfecte charitie towarde their neighbour especially seing we reade no controuersie betwene the catholike writers touching the differeÌ„ce and diuersitie of shauing as ther hathe bene for the celebration of Easter yet notwithstanding amongest all kynde off tonsures which we finde to haue ben vsed or in the church or vniuersally amongest all other men I may well saye that none is rather to be folowed and receaued of vs than the very same which he ware on his head to whom Christ saied after he had confessed him to be the sonne of God Thou arte Peter and vppon this rocke I will builde my churche and hell gates shall not preuaile against it To the will I geue the kayes of the kingdome of heauen And contrarywise we may well beleue that none is more to be abhorred and detested of all
astonyd at the sight of so straunge a miracle and in all their harts the catholik fayth therby confirmed After that he preacheth to the people of the redresse of the said heresies And by the assent of them all the first authors thereof ar condemned to be banished the land and ar deliuered vnto the priestes to be coÌ„ueyed beyound the sea that by this punishement both the country might be ridd of them and they of their heresy Wherby it came to passe that in that places the fayth longe time after remayned sound and vndefiled All thinges thus ordered the holy priestes retourned with like good spede as they came Saynt Germane after this went to Rauenna to treate for peace for the people of litle Britanny in fraunce and there wyth great reuerence being receiued of Valentinian the emperour and Placidia his mother he deceased vnto Christ whose corps wyth an honorable company was conueyed vnto his owne church not wythout miracles donne by the way therby Not long after Valentinian is kylled of the souldiars of Etius patricius whom he had slayne before the syxt yere of Marcianus raygne with whom the west empire decayed and came to ruine How the Britannes being free from all foraine warres fell at warres with in them selues and to all other myscheifes The. 22. Chap. AT this time the Britannes wer at peace with all other forayne ennemies but yet at warres with in them selues Their citties and townes lay waste which the ennemies had destroyed and they which had eskaped the handes of the enemies wer slayne many of them of their owne felowes But hauing yet as freshe in mynd the late calamites and slawghters they sustayned their priestes peres and subiectes kept theÌ„ selues sumwhat in order But after their death the generation that followed litle knowing and lesse regarding the stormes paste in their fathers dayes and hauing respecte only to that present prosperous estate in the which they then liued wer so set to breake al good orders of truth and iustice that skant any tokeÌ„ or remembrance thereof remayned but only in few ant that in very few Among many other of their horrible doinges which their owne historiographer Gildas doth lamentably set forth in writing he sayeth of theÌ„ thus that they neuer tooke care to preache the gospell of Christ vnto the English and Saxons which inhabited the land among them But yet the goodnes of God did not so forsake his people whom he foreknew to be saued But prouided for the sayd nation of the English much more worthy preachers by whome they might be brought vnto his fayth How Saynt Gregory the Pope sent Saynt Augustine with certaine religious men to conuert the Englishmen and with letters of exhortation encouraged them in their enterprise The. 23. Chap. THe yere of chincarnatioÌ„ of our Lord 582. Mauritius the 54. Emperour after August raigned Emperour of Rome 21. yeres The x. yere of whose raygne Gregorius being a maÌ„ of the greatest vertu and learning of his time was theÌ„ bishop of the Romane and Apostolick see which he gouerned xiij yeres vj. monethes x. dayes Which the xiiij yere of the raygne of the sayd emperour and about the huÌ„dreth and fiftyth yere of the English meÌ„s coming in to BritaÌ„ny being moued by inspiratioÌ„ of god there vnto sent the seruaunt of God S. Augustine and certaine other moÌ„kes which feared god with him to preach the word of God vnto the nation of the English men Which obeying the bishops coÌ„maundement when they beganne to take the sayd enterprise in hand and had allready trauailed part of the way they bethought them selues it should be better for them to returne home againe then to goe vnto that barbarous and saluage countrie whose language they knew not And thus by common assent they determined to do as being the more surer way Wher vppon they sendeth Augustine backe againe to the Pope whom he had appoynted to be bishop ther if they wer receiued of the English men humbly to require him that they might not go forward in that so vncertaine so perilous and paynfull peregrination Whom he yet exhorted by letters that putting their trust in the helpe of God they should procede in their good purpose of the which letters this is the coppy Gregorius the sâ—ruaunt of the seruauntes of God c. For so much as better it wer neuer to begynne a good worke then after it is once begonne to goe from it againe yow must nedes my deare sonnes now fullfill the good worke which by the helpe of God yow haue taken in hand Let therfor neither the trauail of the iourney neither the talke of euil toÌ„gued meÌ„ dismay yow But with all force and feruour make vp that yow haue by the motioÌ„ of God begoÌ„ne assuring your selues that after your great labour eternal reward shal follow Be yow in al pointes obedieÌ„t vnto Augustine woÌ„h I haue sent back vnto yow and appoynted him to be yower Abbate knowyng that shall much profitt yower soules which yow shall do vpon obedience of his commaundement Ower almighty Lord defend yow with his grace and graunte me to see the frute of your labours in his kyngdom of heaueÌ„ and though I can not labour my selfe wyth yow yet I may enioy part of yower reward for that I haue a wil to labour God kepe yow helthy my deare beloued children dated the. 23. of Iuly ower Lord Mauricius Tiberius raigning ower most vertuous emperour in the xiiij yere of his empier the xiij yere after his Consullship Indictione 14. How he sent to the bishopp of Arells a letter to receiue them The. 24. Chap. HE sent also at the same time letters vnto Etherius archbishop of Arells that he should fauorably entertaine Augustine going in to BritaÌ„ny of the which letters this is the tenor To the Right Reuerend and most holy his brother and felowe bishop Etherius Gregory the seruaunte of the seruauntes of God Though with such priestes as loueth god religious men nedeth no commendation yet bycause oportunite to write did serue we thought it good to directe our letters to your brotherhood aduertising yow that we haue sent Augustine the bearer herof wyth other seruauntes of god accompanyeng him for the helth of soules whom it behoueth yower holines to helpe and comfort as the holy order of priesthood requireth Ant to th enteÌ„t yow may be the better willing so to doe I haue willed him to discouer vnto yow the cause of his iourney not dowting but that knowen yow wil gladly shew him what comfort you may We commend also vnto your charitie ower common son Candidus priest whom we haue sent to ouersee ower church belonging to ower patrymonye God kepe yow in safete reuereÌ„d brother Datum vt supra How that Augustine cumming in to Britanny first preached vnto the kyng of kent in the I le of Tenet and so being licenced of him cam after in to kent to preache The. 25. Chap. AVgustine being muche
gloriously gouerned the see of the Roman and Apostolique churche 13. yeares 6. moneths and. 10. dayes departed this lyfe and was translated to the eternall seate of the kyngdome of heauen Of whome it becometh me in this our historie of the churche of England more largely to speake bycause by his diligence he conuerted our nation that is the Engleshmen from the powre of Satan to the fayth of Christ. Whome we maye well and also must call our Apostle For as sone as he was high Bishop ouer the whole wordle and appointed gouerner of the churches lately conuerted to the belefe of the trueth he made our nation the churche of Christe which had ben euer vntill that time the bondsclaue of Idolls So that we maye lawfully pronownce of him the sayng of the Apostle That althowgh he were not an Apostle to others yet he was vnto vs. For the signet and token of his Apostleship we are in our Lorde This Gregory was a Roman borne his fathers name Gordian his pedegre of awncient stocke not only noble but also religiouse For Felix somtime bishop of that same see Apostolique a man of greate renomme in Christe and the churche was his greate grandfathers father This nobilite of religion he kept and maintayned with no lesse vertue and deuotion then his parents and auncient kinsfolke had done befor him But his woldly nobilite he forsoke alltogether and by the speciall grace of God turned the same to the purchasing of eternall glorie in heauen For changing sodenly his secular habite he wēt into a monasterie Where he began to lyue in such grace of perfection that vnto his mynde as often after he was wont to wytnes with weeping teares all transitorie things were already subiecte that he far surmounted al worldly workes that he was wont to thinke of nothing but heauenly things yea that being yet clogged with his erthly bodie he now by contemplation did passe the verie naturall bounds of his flesh and that he derely loued death also whiche to most men is a paynfull payne as an entraunce of lyfe to him and reward of his labour All which things he sayd of him selfe not craking of his encrease in vertues but rather lamenting the lacke and decaye of thē In which defecte as he was wont to saye he thought himselfe nowe to haue fallen by reason of his ecclesiasticall charge and occasion of greater care For talking on a time secretly with Peter his deacon when he had recompted the olde giftes and vertuous graces of his minde strayght way he sayde sorowfully But nowe alas by the meanes of this my ecclesiastical charges my mynde is encombred againe with secular affayres and after the good quyet and rest whiche it had is nowe defiled againe with the dust of earthly busines And when condescending to manie it wandereth and roueth aboute owtward matters after desiring inward good thowghtes it returneth therunto no dowbte the weaker Therfore I weigh with my selfe what I doe now suffer and I weigh also well what I haue forgone And when I behold what I haue lost this that I suffer wexeth more greueouse Thus sayde this holie man of a greate and passing humilitie But we must thinke that he lost none of his monasticall perfection by anye occasion or trowble of ecclesiasticall charge or office of a Bishop but rather that then he did much more good and profited more in vertue by the laboure of conuerting manye to the faythe then he hadd done before with the priuate quiet of his owne conuersation onlye For euen being bisshopp he ordered his house like a monasterye For as sone as he was taken owte of the monasterye and ordayned to the ministerye of the aulter being afterwarde sent as legate from the see Apostolike to Constantinople he for all that in the earthly princes palace liued so that he neuer intermitted his purpose of heauenly conuersation For he toke with him certaine brethern of the monasterie which for verie brotherly loue folowed him to that Imperiall citie for the better keping of his regular obseruance that alwaie by their example for so he writeth he might be fastned as with a stronge cable or anker to the pleasaunte porte of prayer when soeuer he were tossed withe the raging whaues of wordly cares and might also strengthen his minde by daylie conference and reading with them whensoeuer it shuld be shaken with secular affaires And truly he was by these mens companie not only defended from the assaultes of the worlde and earthly troubles but also more and more stirred vp to the exercises of heauenly life For they exhorted him that he would discusse and expound with some godly and misticall interpretation the booke of blessed Iob which was enwrapped with manie greate obscurities Neither could he denie them his paines which of brotherly loue moued him to this profitable laboure but hath therfore meruelously declared in 35. bookes of Expositions how this worke of Iobes historie first is to be vnderstāded according to the letter them how it may be referred to Christe and the sacramentes of the church last in what sense the same may be applied to euerie particular faithfull man Which worke he began to write while he was legate in Constantinople but he finished it afterward when he was Bisshop of Rome This blessed man being in Constantinople supressed an heresie of the state of our resurrectiō which then there arose in the very beginning by the force of catholike trueth and verite For Eutychius Bishop of Constantinople began to preache a false doctrine which was that our bodies in the glorie of the resurrection shuld be so subtile as is either the winde or ayer so that it should not be possible to feele ' or touche them Which when S. Gregory had heard he proued this opinion to be quite contrary to the right faith by the reason of truth and also by the example of the resurrection of our Lorde For the right and catholike faith beleueth that our bodies being exalted in the glorie of immortalitie shal in dede be subtile by the effect of spiritual poure but yet not withstāding able to befelt and touched for the truth of our nature according to the example of the bodie of our Lorde of which now rosen from death him selfe sayde to his disciples Touche ye and see for aspirite hath nor flesh nor bones as ye see me haue In the assertion of this faith the right reuerend father Gregory did laboure so much against this vpstert heresie quenched the same with such diligence and so vanquished it by the healp of the vertuous Emperour Tiberius Constantinus that from thence forth noman was founde which durst be a styrrer vp againe or mainteiner therof He made also an other excellent booke which is called the Pastorall Wherin he declareth plainly what manner of man he ought to be which should be chosen to rule the churche And how the rulers therof ought to lyue them selues and with what
and prouide that the poysoned infection of so dedly an heresie sinke no farder into your myndes but labour as ye may vtterly to forgett it For ye ought to remembre howe this execrable heresie hath longe sithens ben condemned And hathe ben abolished and put owte of remembrance not only these ij hundred yeares but is also yet at this present daylie condemned of vs with continuall curses and all they excommunicated which folowe thesame We therfore exhorte and request yowe that ye suffer not their asshes to be stirred and blowen vp emongest yowe whose strength and weapons be burnt and consumed For what Christen harte is there whiche detesteth not to death and abhorreth their prowde intent and wicked wordes which dare affirme that a man maye lyue and be withowt synne euen of his owne voluntarie will and not throwghe the grace of God And then to consider againe the trueth hereof it is blasphemie and extreme foolishnes to saye that a man is withowt synne For he can not possibly be so Neither euer any was but only the mediator of God and man Christe Iesus our Lorde who was a verie and true man conceyued and borne withowt synne For as for other men they are all borne in oryginall sinne And doe beare the wytnes and token of Adams first preuarication and breaking of Godes commaundement yea althowghe they lyued without actuall synne accordinge to the Prophete saying Behold I was conceiued in iniquite and my mother hathe browght me forthe in sinne c. How after kinge Eduynes deathe bishop Pawlyne returned to kent and there toke the Bysshoprike of Rotchester The 20. Chapter WHen king Edwyne had moste triumphantly raygned ouer the English and Britons bothe the space of xvij yeares in some of whiche as abowt the number of 6. yeares he had himselfe ben subiecte to Christe and euer looked for his raygne and kingdome Cardwell king of the Britons made a rebellion against him hauing ayde and succor therunto of Penda a stowght man and of the kinges bloud of Marshland Ouer which nation afterward he had by dyuers chaunces and fortune rule and gouernance for the space of xxij yeares Nowe when they had thus ioyned battaile and entred fight with kinge Edwine in a great large and plaine field called thereof Hethfilde they slewe him there at the last the. 4. daye of October in the yeare of our Lorde 633. and of kinge Edwynes age the. 47. yeare whose whole hoste was other presently murdered there or shamefully put to flight In the which warres one of kinge Edwines sonnes that lustie and warlyke yonge prince Offryde was kylled before his father died The other sonne Edfryde of verie vrgent necessite fled vnto kinge Penda for succour Of whome afterward against the promised faythe and his solemne othe he was most cruellye put to deathe in the raygne of kinge Oswald At this tyme there was a verie greauouse persecution in the churche and a fowle murder of the Northumberlandes especially bicause that one of the Capitaines whiche caused this persecution and aduersite was a painim the other thowgh not a paynim yet more feerce and barbarouse thē was any heathen or paynim For kinge Penda with all the nation of the Marshland men was wholly geauen to Idolatrie and altogether heathen and vnchristened But king Cardwell althowgh he had the name of a Christian and professed that lyfe yet was he in mynde and maners so rude and owtrageouse that he woulde not spare eyther womens weaknes or childrens innocencie but put all to deathe withe greauous and bytter torments according to his bestly cruelty and vnmercyfull tyrannie Wasting a longe time and raging oure all the prouinces purposing moreouer with himselfe to exterminate out of the borders of Britannie the whole nation of Englishmen and to extinguish the verie name of them Neither did he ought esteme or anie thing reuerence and honor the Christian religion which the English men had So that vnto this daye the Britons maner and custome is to set light by the faithe and religion of English mē Neither will they in anie one pointe more communicate with them then they wold with heathens and painims Kinge Edwynes head was brought vnto Yorke And afterward carryed into S. Peters churche which churche he himselfe had begon to buylde but his successour king Oswald finished hit as we haue before declared And there layed in S. Gregories chappell By whose disciples and of whose preachers he had in his lyfe time receiued and lerned the word of true lyfe Thus was the state of Northumberlande muche troubled with this greate slaughter and cruell persecution Seing therfore there was none other remedie nor anie saftie could befounde but only by flight bishop Pauline accompaning the good Quene Edelburge with whome not longe before he came into that cuntrie tooke shipp and returned againe to kent And was there verie honorably receiued of Honorius the Archebishop and of kinge Edulbald His guide and gouerner in iorning vnto kent was Bassus one of the strongest of kinge Edwynes chiefe garde This bishop brought awaye with him from the cuntries of Northūberlande Eanfride king Edwynes daughter and Wulcfrea his sonne Iffy also Offrides sonne and nephue to king Edwyne Which ij yonge princely childrē this tender mother for feare of kinge Edbald and Oswald sent into Fraūce to be brought vp in king Dagoberts courte Wher they both died in their infancie And were buried in the high church with such honour as is mete for kinges sōnes and innocēt babes of Iesus Christe He brought moreouer away with him much pretious plate of king Edwynes amongest which was a greate goldē crosse and a goldē chalice cōsecrated for the ministerie of the aultar which are yet both reserued and to be seē at this day in the Cathedral church of Caunterbury Now was the see of Rotchester vacāt at this time For Romanus bishop therof sent frō the Archebishop Iustus legat to Pope Honorius was drowned in the tēpest going to Italie Thē bishop Pauline at the offer of bishop Honorius and at king Edubaldes request toke that charge on him and kept Rotchester dioces vntill at his full and rype age he quietly departed this transitorie lyfe and was receiued into the blesse of heauen with the godly fruite and reward of his labours and trauailes that he suffred here on earthe for Christe his truthe and Gospell Who at his decease lefte in his churche of Rotchester his palle which he had receifrom the Pope of Rome And in his Archebishoprike of Yorke he lefte Iames his deacon a good and godly mā Who liuing long after in that churche by preching and baptising toke manie prayes out of the diuels teathe and wonne manie soules vnto Christe Of whose name the village hath a name at this daye in which he for the most part abode and dwelled nere vnto Cataracte Who bycause he was conninge in songe and musycke and also in the office and seruice of the quyre when that contrie was
whom we haue treated euen she also in great chastitie of body preserued the glory that god loueth which resteth in perpetuall virginitie and how vertuous a virgin she was it was better knowen after her death For when she was Abbesse she began in her monastery to build a church in the honour of all the Apostles wherein she willed her body to be buried But the worke being wel nere half done she died and was buried in that very place of the church though yet not finished where she desyred After whose death the Brethren more intending vpon other thinges the whole building of this churche ceased forseuen yeres space which being expired they determined vtterly to leaue of the buylding of it for the excessiue labour and charges therof yet they appointed to translate into the church which was builded vp and dedicated the bones of the Abbesse that were taken owt of that place for which purpose opening the graue they founde her body so vncorrupted as it was free from the corruption of carnall concupisence and so when they had wasshed it ons againe and cladde it in other attire they translated it into the church of S. Steuen the martyr The day of whose byrthe was there customably kept solemne in great glory the seuenthe daye of Iuly How that many miracles in doing of cures were wrought in the place where king Oswald was slaine The. 9. Chapter OSwald the moste Christian kinge of Northumberlande reigned nine yeres that yere also being reckened whiche both by the deadly crueltee of the king of Britaine and also throughe the wicked Apostasy of the two kinges of Englande is to be accursed and not to be had in memory For as we haue declared before it was agreed vpon by one accorde of all writers that the name and memory of those that forsoke Christ his fayth shuld be vtterly rased owt of the rolle of Christian kinges neither any yere of their raigne regestred At the full end of these nine yeres Oswald was slayne in the field in a cruell battaill by the same paynim people and paynim king of the Marshes by whom also his predecessour Edwyne was killed in a place whiche in the English tong is called Maserfelth in the eight and thirtith yere of his age on the first day of the moneth of August How great the fayth of this king was in God of how harty and feruent deuotion it well appeared after his death by sundry miracles for to this daye cures of the deseased both men and beastes are daily wrowght in that place where he was slayne of the miscreantes and hethen fighting for his countrey Hereof many caried awaie the very dust where his body fell downe on the earth whiche casting into water they cured therby many infirmites This was of so many and so ofte practised that by carying the earth awaye a hole was lefte so deepe that a man mought stand vpright right in it And no maruayle at all that sicke persons are healed in the place where he dyed who allwaies duryng his lyfe bestowed most of his time in almes geuing in comforting the needy and helpyng the poore And verely many and sundry miracles are reported to be done by the dust of the place where he dyed But we shall be contented to reherse only two which we haue heard of our auncitours and elders Not long after the death of this prince it fortuned a man on horsebacke to iourney that waie where the prince was slayne whose horse euen abowt that very place began sodenly to become tyred to stand styll to hang downe his hed to fome at the mouth and at the length after great and excessiue payne to fal down right the man lighted of and laying some strawe vnder his horse taryed by to see whether the horse would mend or els dye owtright The poore beast being of long tyme troubled withe greauous paine toumbling and turning it selfe nowe on the one side nowe on the other walowed at the length to that same place where this kinge of worthy memorie was slayne Incontinent the paine ceasing the horse leaft the inordinat motions of his body turning it selfe as if it had ben wery on the other side and foorth with as perfitly whole on bothe sides arose vp and began to grase at the sight wherof the owner of the horse as a man of a quick witt vnderstoode that some straunge and singular holinesse was in that place where his horse was vpon the soden so healed Putting therfore a marke in the place he leapt on horseback and rode to the ynne whither he purposed to trauaile Here he found a damsell neece to the good man of the house of a long time deseased with a greuous palsey whereof hearing his ofte and the whole house holde much complayning he began to tell them of the place where his horse was healed What nede many wordes They set her on a carte and brought her to that place laying her downe therin Wher hauing rested and slept for a small tyme waking she found her selfe whole and perfectly cured of that palsey She called for water she washed her face she dressed vp her heare she couered her head with a linnen clothe and with them who brought her on carte she retourned on foote How the dust of that place preuailed against fyre The. 10. Chap. AT that tyme a certayne other trauailer came out of Britaine as the brute is making his iourney ner to that same place wherin the forsaid battaile was fought Vewing the place he espied one plat more greene and pleasanter to the eye then was the residue of the field Wherof he gessed the cause should be that in that place some one man holyer then the rest of the armie had ben slayne Therfore he toke awaie withe him some of the dust of that earth knitting it vp in a lynnen cloth and demyng with him selue as in dede it came after to passe that the same dust might be medicinable for sicke persons This man ryding on his iourney came that euening to a certaine village where taking vpp his inne and finding the neighbours of the parish at feast with the ofte being required sate down also with thē at the banket hanging vpon on of the postes of the wal the linnen cloth with the dust which he had brought The feast and chere encresing cuppes walking apase the gestes with mirth so far forgott thē selues that a great fier in the middes of the house being made the sparkles flying vp aloft and euery man intending to mirth the roufe of the house being made but with slender twigges and thatched was sodenly sett all on a light fyre Wherat the gestes being disamaied rāne al out of dores not able to saue the poore house being now all on fyer and ready to consume To come to the purpose the whole house being consumed with this fyre that post alone wheron the dust hanged inclosed in a cloth continued safe from the fyre and therwith not
his owne sonne Alcfride did lykewise rebell and resist him Last of all Adilwalde his nephew sonne to Oswald withstoode him In the second yere of this Oswins raigne that is to witt in the. 644. yere after the incarnation of owr Lord the right reuerent father Pauline somtime bishope of yorke but then gouerning the diocese of Rochester went to God the twentieth day of October He was byshop 19. yeres and two monthes and one and twentie dayes and was buried in the chappell of the blessed Apostle S. Andrewe which king Edilbert builded vp euen from the foundation in the same cytee of Rochester In whose place the archebishop Honorius aduanced Thamar a kentish man a man comparable to any of his auncestours bothe in vertue of life and excellencie of learning Oswin at the beginnying of his reigne had a partaker of his estate royall named Osuuius who descended of kinge Edwines bloud that is to say the sonne of Osrike of whom we haue made mention before a maruaylous deuoute and godly man who seuen yeres together ruled the prouince of the Deirans in most pleÌ„ty of things and with the loue of al his subiects But Oswin who gouerned the other part of Northumberland toward the north to witt the prouince of the Bernicians cold not long liue peasibly with him but rather forging and encreasing causes of debate murdered him at leÌ„gth most cruelly For vpon these variaunces an armie beyng on bothe partes assembled Osuuius seyng hym self to weake to ioygne battayle withe Oswin thought it more expedient to breake of warr at that time and refrayne vntill better occasion serued Therfore he discharged the army which he had gathered together coÌ„maunding euery man to returne home againe The field where they met is called VVilfares downe and standeth almost ten myle from the village of Cataracton toward the west Osuuius conueighed him selfe out of the waye with only one that was his most faithfull souldiour named Condher to one Hunwald an Earle whom he toke for his very frend But alas he was much deceaued for being by the same Earle betrayed withe his forsaid souldiour vnto Oswin by by his lieutenant Edelwin he slew him most cruelly and traiterously This was done the xx of August in the ninthe yere of his reigne in a place whiche he called Ingethlâ—ng wher for the satisfaction of this heynous acte there was afterwarde a monastery buylded in the which daily prayers should be offered vp to God for the redemption of bothe the kinges soules as well the murderer as the partye murthered King Osuuius was of countenance beautifull of stature high in talke courtyous and gentle in all pointes ciuill and amiable no lesse honourable and bounttfull to the noble then free and liberall to persons of lowe degree Wherby it happened that for his outward personage inward hart and princely port he had the loue of all men Especially the nobilitie of all countres frequented his court and coueted to be receiued in his seruice Amonge other his rare vertues and princely qualites his humilitie and passing lowlynesse excelled Wherof we wil be contented to recite one most worthy example He had geuen to bishop Aidan a very faire and proper gelding which that vertuous bishop though he vsed most to trauail on foote might vse to passe ouer waters and ditches or when any other necessite constrained It fortuned shortly after a certain poore weake man met the bishop riding on his gelding and craued an almes of him The bishop as he was a passing pitefull man and a very father to needy persons lighted of and gaue the poore man the gelding gorgeously trapped as he was The king hearing after hereof talked of it with the bishop as they were entring the palace to diner and saied What meaned you my Lord to geue awaie to the begger that faire gelding which we gaue you for your owne vse Haue we no other horses of lesse price and other kinde of rewardes to bestowe vpon the poore but that you must geaue awaie that princely horse which we gaue you for your owne ryding To whom the bishop answered Why talketh your grace thus Is that broode of the mare derer in your sight then that sonne of God the poore man Which being said they entred for to dyne The bishop toke his place appointed But the knge coming then from hunting would stand a while by the fyre to warme him Where standing and musing with himselfe vpon the wordes which the bishop had spoken vnto him sodenly put of his sworde geuing it to his seruant and came in greate hast to the bishop falling downe at his feete and beseching him not to be displeased with him for the wordes he had spoken vnto him saying he would neuer more speake of it nor measure any more hereafter what or how much he should bestow of his goods vpon the sonnes of God the poore At which sight the bishop being much astonned arose sodenly and lifted vp the king telling him that he should quickely be pleased yf it would please him to fitt downe and cast awaie al heauynesse Afterward the kinge being at the bishops request mery the bishop contrary wise began to be heauy and sory in such sorte that the teares trickled downe by his chekes Of whom when his chapleyne in his mother tonge which the king and his court vnderstoode not had demanded why he wept I know said he that the king shall not lyue long For neuer before this time haue I seen an humble king Wherby I perceiue that he shall spedely be taken out of this life for this people is not worthy to haue such a prince and gouernour Shortly after the bishops dredful abodement was fullfilled with the kinges cruel death as we haue before declared Bishop Aidan him self also was taken awaie out of this world and receiued of God the euerlasting rewardes of his labours euen on the twelfthe day after the kinge whom he so much loued was slaine that is to wit the 30. daye of August How that bishop Aidan both tolde the shippemen of a storme that was to comeâ— and also gaue them holy oyle wherewith they did cease it The. 15. Chapter HOW worthy a man this bishop Aidan was God the high and secret iudge of mens hartes by sundry miracles the proper workes of his maiesty declared to all the world Thre of the which it shall be sufficient presently to recite for remembraunces sake A certaine priest called Vtta â— man of great grauitye and truth and one that for his qualites was much reuerenced and estemed of men of honour at what time he was sent into kent to fetch Eanflede kinge Edwines daughter who after the death of her father had ben sent thither to be maried to king Oswin appointing so his iourney that he minded to trauail thither by land but to retourne with the youÌ„g lady by water he weÌ„t to bishop AidaÌ„ beseching him to make his humble prayers to god to prosper
same maner obserued it And this obseruation that you maye not thinke it a light matter or easely to be reiected is the selfe same which S. Iohn the Euangelist the disciple whom Iesus specially loued with all the churches vnder him obserued These and such like wordes when bishop Colman had spoken the kinge commaunded Agilbert the bishop to speake his minde also and to bringe forthe the beginning and author of his maner of obseruing Easter vnto whom Agilbert answered Let I besâ—che you my scholer VVilfrid priest speake herein for me For we and all that here sitt be of one minde and obserue herein the ecclesiasticall tradition vniformly Beside he shal better expresse to your highnes the whole matter speaking him selfe the english tounge then I shall be able vsing an interpreter Then VVilfrid the kinge commaunding him spake in this wise The Easter which we obserue we haue sene in like maner to haue ben obserued at Rome where the blessed Apostles Peter and Paule liued and preached suffred and are buried This maner we haue sene to be obserued in all Italy and Fraunce passing through those countres partly for study partly on pilgrimage This maner we knowe to be obserued in Afrike in Asia in Aegypt in Grece and through out all nations and tounges of all the worlde where the church of Christ taketh place after the self same order and time beside only these fewe and other of like obstinacy the Pictes I meane and the Britons with whom these men from the two fardermost Ilondes of the OceaÌ„ sea and yet not all that neither do fondly contend against the whole worlde Here Colmanus the bishop interrupted and saied I maruail much you terme our doing a fond contention wherein we folow the example of so worthy an Apostle who only leaued vpon our Lordes brest and whose life and behauiour all the worlde accompteth to haue ben most wise and discrete Vnto whom Wilfrid answered and saied God forbid we shuld charge S. Iohn with fondnesse or lacke of wit For he in his obseruation kept yet the decrees of Moyses lawe literally according as the whole church folowed yet in many thinges the Iuish maner for why The Apostles were not able vpon the soden to blotte out all customes and rites of the lawe instituted of God him selfe as all that come to the faith must of necessite abandonne Idols inuented of the diuell And this forsothe they were forced to beare a time withall lest the Iewes which liued amonge the gentils might be offended For in the like consideration also S. Paul did circumcide Timothe offred bloudsacrifices in the temple shaued his head at Corinth with Aquila and Priscilla truly to no other intent but that the Iewes might not be offended Vpon this consideration Iames saied vnto Paule You see brother how many thousandes of the Iewes haue receiued the faith and all these are yet zelous folowers of the lawe Notwithstanding the light of the ghospell now shining through out the worlde it is not nowe necessary no it is not lawfull now for any Christen man to be circumcided or to offer vp bloudy sacrifices of bestes S. Iohn therefore according to the custome of the lawe in the fourtenth daie of the first moneth at the euening began to celebrat the feste of Easter not regarding whether it fell out the Sabaoth daie or any other fery of the weke But S. Peter preaching the gospell at Rome remembring that our Lorde arose the first daye after the Sabbaoth geuing thereby to vs certain and assured hope of our resurrection he vnderstode the obseruation of Easter in such sorte that according to the custome and commaundements of the lawe he looked for euen as S. Iohn did the rising of the Moone at euening in the fourtenth day of his aage in the first moneth And at the rising thereof at euening if the morow after were Sonday which then was called the first day after the Sabboth he began in that very euening to obserue the feste of Easter as all we do euen to this daye beginning on Easter eue But if Sonday were not the next morow after the fourtenth day of the chaunge of the Moone but the sixtenth seuenteth or any other daye of the Moone vntell the one and twentith he taryed for the Sonday and the Saterday before vppon the euening he began the most holy solemnite of Easter Thus it came to passe that Easter sonday was kept only either the fiftenth day of the chaunge of the Moone in the first moneth or the one and twentith or in some daye betwene as the sonday fell and no daye elles Neither dothe this new obseruation of the ghospell and of the Apostles breake the olde lawe but rather fulfill it For in the lawe it is commaunded that the passeouer shoulde be solemnised from the euening of the xiiij daye of the chaunge of the moone of the first moneth vntel the xxj daye of the same moone Whiche obseruation all the successours of S. Iohn in Asia after his death and the whole vniuersall church through out the whole worlde hath embraced and folowed Againe it was by the Nicene councell not newly decreed but confirmed as the ecclesiasticall history witnesseth that this is the true obseruation of Easter and of all Christen men after this accompt to be celebrated Whereby it is clere my Lord ColmaÌ„ that you neither folowe the example of S. Iohn as you suppose neither of S. Peter whose tradition wittingly you withstande nor the law nor the ghospel in the obseruation of your Easter For S. Iohn obseruing the Easter time according to the lawes of Moyses passed not vpon the Sonday as you do which kepe your Easter allwaies vpon a Sonday Againe S. Peter celebrated the Easter vpon the Sonday from the fiftenth daye of the chaunge of the moone vntell the xxj daye whiche you folow not which kepe it so vpon the Sonday that you reaken from the xiiij daie of the chaunge vnto the xx So that oftentimes you beginne your Easter in the xiij daie of the change at euening which neither the olde lawe obserued neither Christ in eating his passeouer and instituting that moste holy Sacrament in remembraunce of his passion vsed but on the xiiij daie Againe the xxj daye of the moone which the lawe expressely commaunded you do vtterly exclude from the celebrating of your Easter Thus as I said in the obseruation of that most excelleÌ„t festiuite you neither agree with S. Iohn neither with S. Peter neither with the law neither with the gospel To these Bishopp Colman replied and saied How thinke ye Did Anatholius that holy man and so much commended in the ecclesiasticall history before of you alleaged thinke or teache contrary to the lawe and the ghospell writing that Easter ought to be obserued from the xiiij daie of the moone vnto the xx Is it to be thought that our moste Reuerend Father Columba and his
at Tarsus in Cilicia a maÌ„ bothe in prophane and diuine knowleadg and in the greke and latin tounge excellently lerned in maners and conuersation vertuous and for age reuerend being then lxvj yeres olde Him Adrian offered and presented to the pope and obtained that he was created bishop Yet with these conditions that Adrian should accompany him in to England bicause hauing twise before trauailed in to Fraunce for diuers matters he had therefore more experience in that iourney as also for that he was sufficiently fournished with men of his owne But chiefely that assisting him alwaies in preaching the ghospell he should geue diligent eye and waite that t is Theodore being a greke borne enduced not after the maner of the grekes any doctrine coÌ„trary to the true faith receaued in to the english church now subiect vnto him This man therfore being made subdeacon taried yet in Rome iiij moneths vnte â—l his heare was full growen to take the ecclesiasticall tonsure rounde which before he had taken like vnto the Last church after the maner of S. Paule whereof we shall hereafter treate more at large He was consecrated bishop of Vitalianus then Pope in the yeare of our Lorde 668. the xxvj daie of Marche vpon a Sonday After the xvij of May in the company of Adrian the Abbat he was directed to England Their iourney commenced first by see they arriued to Marsilia and so by lande to Arles where deliuering to Iohn the Archebishop letters of commendation from Vitalian the Pope they were receaued and enterteyned of him vntill that Ebroinus chief of the kinges Courte gaue them saulfeconduit to passe and go whither they entended and woulde Which being graunted them Theodore tooke his iourney to Agilbert bishop of Paris of whome we haue spoken before and was very frindly receaued of him and kept there a longe tyme. But Adrian went first to Emmeson and after to Faron bishop of Meldes and there continewed and rested withe them a good space For wynter was at hand and draue them to abyde quietly in such conuenient place as they could gett Now wheÌ„ word was browght to king Ecgbert that the bishop whom they had desired of the Pope of Rome was come and rested in Fraunce he sent thither straight waye Redfride his lieutenant to bringe and conducte him Who when he came thither tooke Theodore with the license of Ebroinus and browght him to the porte that is named Quentauic Where they continewed a space bicause Theodore was weake sicke and wery And as sone as he began to recouer health againe they sayled to England But Ebroinus with helde backe Adrian suspecting he had some embassie of the Emperours to the kinges of England against the realme of Fraunce wherof at that time he had speciall care and chardge But when he founde in dede that he had no such thinge he dimissed him and suffred him to go after Theodore Who as soone as Adrian came to him gaue him the monasterie of S. Peter thapostle where as I haue mentioned before the Archebishops of Cauntourbury are wonte to be buried For the Pope Apostolâ—que had required Theodore at his departinge to prouide and geane Adrian some place in his diocese where he and his company might commodiously continewe and liue together Howe Theodore visited the countree and howe the churches of England receaued the true Catholique faith and began also to studie the holy scriptures and how Putta was made bishop of Rochester for Damian The 2. Chap. THeodore came to his churche the 2. yere after his consecration the xxvij day of may being sonday and continewed in the same xxi yeres three moneths and xxvj daies And straight way he visyted all the countree ouer where soeuer any english people dwelled for all men did most gladly receaue him and heare him and hauing still with him the coÌ„panie and helpe of Adrian in all thinges dyd sowe abrode and teache the right wayes and pathes of good liuing and the canonical rite and order of keping the feast of Easter For he was the first Archebishop vnto whome all the whole churche of the English nation dyd consent to submit them selues And bicause both he and Adrian as we haue sayd were exceding well learned both in profane and holy literature they gathered a company of disciples or scholers vnto them into whose breastes they dayly dyd powre the flowing waters of holesome knowledge So that beside the expounding of holy scripture vnto them they dyd with al instructe their hearers in the sciences of musick Astronomie and Algorisme In the tounges they so brought vp their scholers that euen to this day some of theÌ„ yet liuing can speake both the Latin and Greeke tonge as well as their owne in which they were borne Neither was there euer since the English meÌ„ came first to Britaine any tyme more happie than at that present For England then had most valiant and Christian princes It was feared of all barbarowse and forrain nations The people at home was all wholly bent to the late ioyfull tydinges of the kingdome of heauen And if any man desired to be instructed in the reading of holy scriptures there lacked not men expert and cunning ready to teache him Againe at this time the tunes and notes of singing in the Churche whiche vntill than were only vsed and knowen in Kent began to be learned throwgh all the churches of EnglaÌ„d The first master of songe in the churches of Northumberland except Iames whome we spake of before was Eddi surnamed Stephen who was called and browght from kent by Wilfride a man most reuerend whiche first among all the byshops that were of the English nation dyd learne and deliuer the Catholique trade of life to the English Churches Thus Theodore vewing ouer and visiting eche where dyd in conuenient places appoynt bishops and with their helpe and assistance together amended such thinges as he found not well and perfecte And among all other when he reproued bisshopp Chaddâ— for that he was not rightly consecrated he made moste humble awnswer and sayde If yow thinke that I haue taken the office of a byshop not in dewe order and maner I am ready withe all my hart to giue vp the same for I did not thinke my selfe euer worthy therof but for obedience sake being so commaunded I dyd agree althowgh vnworthy to take it vpon me Whiche humble awnswere of his Theodore hearing sayd that he should not leaue his bisshopricque but dyd himselfe supplye and complete his consecration after the right and dewe Catholique maner The very same tyme in whiche after the death of Deusdedit an Archebysshopp of Caunterbury was sewed for consecrated and sent from Rome Wilfrid also was sent from England to Fraunce there to be consecrated Who bycause he retourned into kent before Theodore did make priestes and deacons vntill the time that the Archebisshop himselfe came to his see Who at his comming to the
sepulchre as an aulter foure-square The greater parte standeth for an other aulter in the same churche in the manner of a quadrangle couered with faire white clothe The colour of the sayd sepulchre semeth to be white and read decently mixed together VVhat he wrote of the place of Christes ascension and the patriarches sepulchres The. 18. Chapter THe Author aboue mentioned writeth also in this wyse touching the place of Christes ascension The mounte Olyuete is as hye as the mounte Syon but not so brode nor so longe There growyth no trees but vynes and olyues wheate and barlye it bryngyth forth good stoore The vayne and soyle of that grounde is not shryueled nor fleaten but grene and full of grasse In the very toppe where Christ ascendyd to heauen standyth a greate rounde church with thre porches rownde in a circuite vawtyd and coueryd ouer The ynner chapell hauing an aultar toward the east with a goodly frount in the top could not be vauted nor coueryd ouer bicause the very place of Christes ascension might be kept open In the mydle of which churche the last prynte of Christes feete left vppon earth ar to be sene where he ascendyd into heauen openinge aboue and ready to embrace hym And although the earthe be fett away dayly of the Christians yet it remayneth still and kepyth the very figure and prynte made with the steppes of his holy feete when he ascended Rounde aboute the print of those blessed feete lyeth a brasen wheele as hygh as a mans neck hauynge an entraunce and way in vppon the east side and a greate lampe hanginge aboue it in a pullye whiche burneth day and night In the weast side of the same church be eyght windowes and so many lampes hanging in cordes directly ouer them They shine thorough the glasse to Ierusalem and their light is said to stirre the hartes of all that behold and see it with a certaine feruent zeale and compunction At the day of Christes ascension euery yere when Masse is done there cometh downe from heauen a greate gale of wynde and maketh all that ar in the churche prostrate them selfes downe flatt vppon the grownd Of the situation also of Hebron and monumentes of old auncient fathers there he writeth in this sorte Hebron somtimes the chiefest cytie in al Kinge Dauids realme shewing now only by her ruines howe princely and puissaunt she was in time paste hathe towarde the east with in a furlonge the double denne where the Patriarches sepulchres ar enuironed with a fowre square walle their hedds turned toward the northe Euery tumbe hath his stone Al the thre stones of the patriarches being all whyte squared as other stones are vsed in building of great churches Adam lieth aboute the north side and vttermost parte of the walle not farr from them in an obscure tumbe nor curiously wrought nor workmanly sett There ar besides base memorialls of thre simple weemen The hill Mambre also is a mile from these monumentes ful of grasse and pleasaunt flowres towarde the north and in the top it hath a goodly champion and playne fielde In the north parte wherof Abrahams Oke which is nowe but a stumpe as hygh as ij men can reache is compassed rounde abowt with a churche I haue thought it good for the profitt of the readers to intermingle in my historie these thinges taken out of the Authors bookes and comprised here in latin after the trewe meaning of his woordes but more brieflie and in fewer woordes If any man be desirous to knowe more of this matter either lett him reade the same booke or that litle abridgment which I drew owt of him but late How the South saxons receaued Eadbert and Collan for their bysshopps the weast Saxons Daniel and Aldethelme for theirs and of certaine writinges sett foorth by the same Aldethelme The. 19. Chap. THe yere of the incarnation off Christe 705. Alfride kinge of Northumberlande dyed the xx yere of his raigne not yet fully expired After hym sucdeded Osrede his sonne a child but eyght yeres olde and raigned xj yeares In the beginning of his raygne Hedde bysshop of the weast Saxons departed from this mortall life to immortal ioye For vndoubtedly he was a iuste man one that lyued vpryghtlye in all pointes leke a good bishoppe and preached sincerely leke a trewe pastour and that more of the loue of vertue naturally graffyd in him then of any instructours by often readinge taught him Furthermore the reuerend father and worthy prelate Pechtehlme of whom we must speake hereafter in place where he shall be mentioned who being but yet a deacon and younge monke liued familiarly a longe time with his successour Aldethelme was wounte to tell vs that in the place where the said Hedde died for reward of his holy life many great miracles and cures were don and that men of the same prouince vsed commonly to carry away dust from thence and mingle it with water for such as were deseased and sicke that also the drinking and sprinckling of the same did cure many sicke men and beastes also By which occasion for often carying away of the sacred dust a great deepe pitt was made there After his death that bisshopprick was diuided into ij dioceses The one was geuen to Daniell which he keapeth at this present the other to Aldethelme where he ruled the people very painefully for iiij yeares They were borhe lerned men skilfull in holy scripture and all ecclesiastical doctrine Aldethelme when he was priest and yet but Abbot of the monastery of Mailsbury wrote by the commaundement of the whole Synode of his countrye a booke against the errour of the Britons for not keping the fest of Easter in his dewe time and doing many thinges besides contrary to the trewe obseruation and vnite of the church By reading of the same book he reduced many Brytōs subiect at that time to the Weastsaxons to the catholike solemnisation of the feast of Easter He wrote also a notable booke of virginitie bothe in longe verse and prose with doble paines folowing the example of Sedulius He set forth also many other workes For he was notably well lerned very fine and eloquent in his talke and for knowledge as well in liberall sciences as in diuinite to be had in admiration After his death Forthere was made bishop in his place a man also much conuersant in holy scripture These ij hauing the gouuernaunce and whole rule of that diocese it was determined by a decree in the Synode that the prouince of South Saxons which to that present day appertained to the diocesse of Winchester where Daniel was bisshoppe should haue a see and bishopp of their owne seuerally Whereuppon Eadberte Abbot in the monasterie off that blessed bishoppe VVilfride was made and consecrated first bisshopp of that diocese After his death Ceolla toke the bisshoppricke vppon him Who not past iij. or iiij yeares past departing this life the see to this day is vacant
prepared holy vessels lightes and other necessaries appertaining to the better furniture and adorninge of the church of God Againe he sent for a cunning Musician named Mabam which was taught by the successours of Pope Gregory his schollars in Canterbury to teach him and his clergy to tune and singe For the which purpose he kept him xij yeares to the ende he might partly teach them certaine verses and songes of the church which they could not yet singe partly by his singular conninge bringe in vre againe suche songes and tunes as for lacke of vse had ben quite and cleane forgotten For bishop Acca him selfe was a very cunninge Musician wel lerned in holy scripture sounde and perfect in the Catholique faith expert and skilfull in all orders rules and disciplines of the churche and so continued vntil it pleased God to rewarde him for his good zeale and deuotion He was brought vp froÌ„ a childe in the most holy and vertuous prelate Bosa his clergy then bishop of yorke and afterward comminge to VVilfride vppon hope of some better lerning spent all his time in his seruice vntil deathe arrested him He went with him also to Rome and lerned many holy and necessary ordinaunces of the church which he could not attaine vnto in his own countrye How Abbot Ceolfride sent to the kinge of Pictes or Redshankes cunninge carpenters and workemen to builde him a churche and an epistle with all touchinge the Catholique celebration of the feast of Easter and after what maner priests and religious men should be shaâ—en The. 22. Chapter THE same time Naitane kinge of the Pictes which inhabit the Northe coaste of Britanny admonished by often meditation of holy scripture abandonned the errour which he and al his country had longe kept touching the keping of Easter and brought him selfe and al his subiectes to the catholike solemnising and dewe obseruation of the time of Christes resurrection Which that he might bring to passe with lesse difficulty and more authority he required ayde of the Englishmen whome he knewe to haue framed their religion after the counterpaine and example of the holy church of Rome and sea Apostolike For he sent ambassadoures to that Reuerend father Ceolfride Abbot of the monastery dedicated to the blessed Apostles Peter and Paule situated at the mouthe of the ryuer Were and not farre from the riuer Tyne in a place called Ingiruum where he ruled with great honour and admiration next after Benedict of whome we haue made mention before desyringe to receiue from him some earnest and forceable exhortation both to persuade him self and also to confute all other which wold presume to keape the fest of easter after their owne fansye and custome and not according to the ordinaunce of Christes churche He requested farder to haue instructions by his letters what maner of tonsure the clergy should vse Notwithstandinge he was partly already informed in many points requisite for that purpose With all he desired to haue some conninge and expert woork men to builde him a churche of great stone accordinge to the manner of building in Rome promising to dedicat the same in the honour of sainct Peter head and cheif of the apostles and to folowe euermore with all his wholle realme the ordre and fasshion of the churche of Rome and see Apostolique so farre forthe as men not knowing the Romayns tounge and farre distant from them might attaine to the knowledg thereof Vpon sight of these letters Ceolfride muche tendring his godly purpose and intent sent him such cunnyng and expert artificers as he required and withall letters indighted as it foloweth To the right honourable and moste renouned Prince Naitane Ceolfride Abbat sendeth greting in our Lorde The Catholik obseruation of holy Easter wherein you desire to be instructed right godly and renowned Prince we haue gladly and diligeÌ„ly endeuoured to set forth vnto you in these presents according as of the See Apostolique we haue our selues ben informed and taught Of whiche your zeale we thanke highly allmighty God knowing well that when princes and Lordes of the earth do employ their study to lerne to teache and to obserue the truth it is a singular benefit and speciall gift of God geuen vnto his Churche And most truly spake a heathen philosopher saying that the worlde should then be happy when either kinges embraced philosoply or els philosophers might beare the Soueraynte Now if by the philosophy of this world knowleadg of the worlde might be hadd where by the worlde might be beloued how much the more ought such as are cityzens of the heauenly countre aboue and but straungers in this worlde desire labour and with all meanes possible be suppliantes to God that the higher power and charge they beare in this world the more they applie them selues to harken after and vnderstande the will and pleasure of that highe Iudge which iudgeth all and bothe them selues obey gladly the same and moue also all other committed vnto their charge by their example and authoryte to fulfill and perfourme the same To come therefore to the matter wherein you require to be instructed you shall vnderstande we haue in holy scripture iij rules sett forthe vnto vs by the which the true and iust time of solemnising the feast of Easter is appointed which by no authorite of man can be chaunged Of the which rules two were taught by God in the lawe of Moyses the third is ioyned in the ghospell by the effecte off Christes passion and resurrection For the lawe off Moyses commaunded that in the first moneth of the yeare and in the third weke of that moneth that is from the fiftenth daye vntell the one and twentith Easter should be kept And it was added by the institution of the Apostles out of the ghospell that in the same third weke we should tary for the Sonday and in it celebrat our Easter This triple rule if a man diligently note and obserue he shall neuer misse in the cownte of Easter But if it be yower pleasure to haue euery particular poynte more pitthely and largely declared it is written in Exodus where the people of Israel ar commaunded to kepe the feast of Easter when they shulde be deliuered owte of Aegipte that God said to Moyses and Aaron This moneth shal be vnto yowe the begynninge of all monethes and cheafest in the hole yere Speake to all the children of Israel and tell them The x. day of this moneth lett euerye man take a lambe accordinge to their familiee and howseholde And a litle after he saith And you shall kepe him vntill the xiiij day of the same moneth And all the whole multitude of Israel shall offer the same vp in sacrifice at the euening By the which wordes it is euideÌ„t that in the obseruation of Easter though the fourtenth day of the first moneth be mentioned yet it is not so mentioned that on that day Easter should be kept but in the
euening of that daye That is that the lambe should be offred when the moone is fiften dayes olde whiche fyftenth daye off the moone is the begynning of the third weke of the monthe And that it is the selfe same night of the xv daie of the moone in which God stroke the Aegiptians and deliuered the children of Israel it appeareth by that he saithe Seuen dayes ye shall eate sweete bred With which wordes also all the third weke of the first moneth is commaunded to be kept solemne and holye not only the first daye of the weke And that we shoulde not thinke those seuen dayes to be counted from the xiiij to the xx he added by and by The firste day there shall be no leauen bred in your houses VVhosoeuer shall eate in any of your houses any leauen bred his soule shall perishe out of the companye of Israel from the first day vntyll the vij c. Vntill he saith For in the same daye he saith after I will bring and conducte your hoste oute of the lande of Aegypte First of all then He called that the first day of sweete bred in the which he would conducte and bringe their hoste out of Aegipte But it is manifest that they were not delyuered oute of Aegipte the xiiij daye when the lambe was offred in the euening which night was properly called the passeouer but the xv daye as it is euidently written in the booke of numbers where we reade thus VVherefore when the children off Israel were gone from Ramesse the xv day of the firste monethe the nexte daye after they kepte the Passeouer with a myghty power Ergo the seuen dayes of swete bred in the first of the which seuen the children of God were deliuered oute of Aegipte must be counted as I said before from the beginning of the thirde weeke that is from the xv of the firste moneth to the xxj fully complete and ended Now that the xiiij daye is not numbred amongest these seuen wher Easter beginneth that which foloweth in Exodus doth euident declare Where after it was saied For in the vij daye I will delyuer thy hoste oute of the lande of Aegipte it was added streytwayes And you shall keape holy this daye from generation to generation after one perpetuall rite and ceremonye The xiiij daye off the first moneth at the euening you shall eate sweete bredd vntill the euening of the xxj in the same monethâ— Seuen dayes shall no leauen bred be founde in your houses Now who doth not plainly see that from the xiiij day to the xxj be nott only seuen dayes but also eight yf the xiiij day be reakoned for one But if we will counte from the euening of the xiiij daye to the euening of the xxi as the veritie of holy scripture diligently searched oute doth declare we shall well perceiue that the xiiij daye so beginneth the feast of Easter in the euening that all the whole weeke hath no more but vii dayes and vij nightes Wherefore our proposition is proued trew wherin we saied that Easter must be kepte in the first moneth of the yere and the thirde weeke of that moneth And that is in dede truly solemnised in the third weeke the solennite where of beginneth in the euening of the xiiij daye and is complete and ended in the euening of the xxj daye Now after that Christ our trewe paschall lambe was offred vpp in sacrifice and had made the Sondaie called amongest the auncient writers â—na vel prima sabbati one of the sabothe or firste of the sabothe solemne and holy to vs for ioye of his resurrection the tradition of the Apostles hath so put this Sounday in the feaste of Easter that they fully decreed nether to preuent the time of Easter in the olde lawe nor to diminishe any on daye but commaunded according to the precepte geuen in the lawe that the same first monethe of the yeare the same xiiij daye and the same eueninge should be expected and taried for In which euening when it fell vppon the saboth daye euery man should take a lambe according to their families and householdes and offer him vpp in sacrifice at the euening That is to saye all christian churches through out the whole world which all ioyned together maketh but one catholike church should prepare bred and wyne for the mysterie of the fleshe and precious bloud of that immaculate lambe which tooke awaye the synnes of the world and when all lessons prayers rites and ceremonies vsed in the solemne feast of Easter were done shoulde offer the same to god the father in hope of their redemption to come For this is the selffe same night that the people of Israell were deliuered oute of Aegypte by the bloude of the lambe This is the same night in whiche the people of God were delyuered from aeternall death by Christes glorious resurrection In the morning folowing being Sondaye the solemne feast of Easter should be celebrated For that is the day wherein our Sauiour opened the glory of his resurrection appearing diuers times in that one day to his disciples to their vnspeakeable comfort and ioye This is the first daye of the swete bread of the which clere mention is made in the Leuiticus wher we reade thus The xiiij daye of the first moneth at euening is our Lordes passeouer and the xv day of the same his soleÌ„ne feast of swete bred vij dayes shal ye eate sweete bred the firste daye shall be most solemne and holye Wherefore if it were possible that the soundaye might alwaies falle vppon the xv daye of the firste moneth that is to saye vpon the fifteneth day of the age of the moone we might celebrate and keepe the feaste of Easter alwaies at one time with the olde auncient people of god as we do in one faith albeit they differ from vs in the kinde of externall sacramentes But because the weeke dayes do not runne equally with the course off the moone the tradition of the Apostles preached at Rome by S. Peter and confirmed at Alexandria by the Euangelist Saint Marke his interpreter hath decreed that when the first moneth is come and the eueninge of the xiiij daye of the same the next sounday also should be expected and looked for from the xv day to the one and twentyth off the same monethe For in which so euer off those it shall be founde Easter shal be kept in the same And that because it appertaineth to the number of these vij daies in which the feast of sweete bred is commaunded to be kept Wherefore it cometh to passe that our Easter neuer passeth the thirde weeke of the thirde moneth nor ouer nor vnder but ether it hath the whole weke that is to say vij daies of sweet bred according to the old lawe or at the lest some of them If of all them it compryseth but one to witt the vij daie which the holy scripture so highlye
were iustly punished in the same countree for their spoyling The same yeare that the holy and good father Ecgbert died as we saied before on Easter streyt after Easter king Osric hauinge the Souerainte in Northumberlande departed outâ— of this lyfe the 9. off Maye after that he had appointed Ceolwulff brother to kinge Coenrede his predecessour to be his successour in the kingedome hauing raigned xj yeares The beginning and processe of whose raigne is so full of troublesâ— hath had such diuerse successe of thinges contrary one to the other that we can not yet well tell what may be written of them nor what ende euery thinge will haue The yeare of our Lorde 731. Archebisshoppe Berthwalde worne oute with olde age died the 8. of Ianuary 37. yeares 6. moneths and xiiij daies after he had ben bisshoppe In his place the same yeare Tacwine of the prouince off the Marshes was made archebisshop a longe time after he had bene prieste in the monastery of Bruiden He was consecrated in Caunterbury by the reuerend fathers Daniel bishop of Winchester Ingualde bishoppe of London Alduine bishoppe of Lichfelde and Aldwulff bishoppe of Rochester the x. of Iune beinge the soundaye a man certes notable for his godlynesse and wisedome and well conuersaunt in holy scriptures Wherefore at this present Tacwine and Aldwulff are bishoppes of kent Ingualde of the east Saxons Eadbert and Hadulac of the east english Daniel and Forthere of the Weast Saxons Aldwine of the Marshes and VValstode of them which dwell beyonde the ryuer Seuerne towarde the Weast VVilfrid of the Viccij Cymbert of Lindisfarne The isle of Wight is vnder the iurisdiction of Daniel bishop of Winchester The prouince off the Sowthsaxons continuinge certaine yeares without a bishoppe is gouuerned of the bishoppe of the Westsaxons in suche cases as the bishoppes helpe is necessarye Al these prouinces and others of the south eueÌ„ to Humber with their kinges are in subiection and owe homage to Edilbalde kinge of the Marshes But of Northumberlande where Ceolwulff is kinge there ar but iiij bishops Wilfride of Yorke Edilwalde of Lindisfarne Acca of Hagulstalde Pethchelme of Whitchurch which being made a bishopps see of late when the faithfull people beganne to multiplie hath now this Pechthelme for their first bishop The Pictes also at this time are in leage with the Englishemen and in vnite with the catholike church The Scottes which inhabitt Brytannye content to keape their owne lymittes and bordres worke no treason towardes England The Britons albeit for the most parte euen of pryuie malice and grudge they maligne the Englishmen and impugne with their lewde manner the tyme of Easter ordained by the catholique churche yet the allmightye power off God and man resistinge their malyce they can haue their purpose in neither off them For thoughe they are in some parte free yet for the more parte they are insubiection to englishmen And now all warre and tumult ceasing all thinges being brought to an vnity and concorde many in Northumberlande as well noble men as poore layinge away al armour and practise of chiualry become both they and their children religious men Which what successe it is leeke to haue al the posterity shal see Thus for this present standeth the whole state of Britanny The yere sence the English men came into Britanny 285. and 733. sence the incarnation of Christe In whose raigne let the earth alwaies reioyse And seing Britanny taketh ioye and comfort now in his faith let many ilandes be glad and sing praise to the remembraunce of his holy name THVS ENDETH THE FIFTE AND LAST BOOKE OF THE Historie of the Church of England The wordes of Venerable Bede folowing after the abridgement of this whole history in the 3. Tome of his workes which we haue thought good to place here at the ende of the History it selfe THIS much touching the ecclesiasticall history of the Britons and especially of the english nation as I could lerne by the writinges of my aunceters by the tradition of my elders or by my owne knowleadg I haue by the helpe of God brought vnto this order and issue I Bede the seruaunt of God and priest of the monasterie of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul at Weimouth Which being borne in the territorie of the same monastery when I was seuen yeares of age I was deliuered by the handes of my frendes and kinsfolkes to be brought vp of the most Reuerend Abbat Benet and afterward to Ceolfrid From the which time spending all the daies of my life in the mansion of the same monastery I applied all my study to the meditation of holy scripture and obseruing withal the regular discipline and keping the daily singing of Gods seruice in the church the rest of my time I was delighted alwaies to lerne of other to teache my selfe or els to write In the xix yere of my age I was made deacon and in the xxx yeare Priest Bothe which orders I receaued by the handes of the most Reuerend bishop Iohn of Beuerlake at the commaundement of Ceolfrid my Abbat From which time of my priesthood vntell the yere of my age lix I haue vpon holy scripture for my owne instruction and others partly brestly noted and gathered what other holy fathers haue writen partly I haue at large expounded after the maner of their interpration and meaning FINIS A TABLE OF THE SPECIAL MATTERS The figure signifieth the leafe A. B. the first and second side A A Buses of religious persons punished by God from heauen 144. b An army of infidels put to flight by singing Alleluia 27. b. The martyrdom of S. Alban and miracles thereat befalling 17. b. 18. Apostafie from the faith punished 76. a. 82. b. The life of our Apostles and first preachers 32. a. Arrian heresies in Britanny 19â— a. S. Augustin sent by S. Gregory to preach the faith to englishmen 29. b. S. Augustin preacheth the faith to Ethelbert or Elbert kinge of kent 31. a. b. he was a monke 33. a. made bishop in Fraunce 32. b. he prophecieth the destruction of the Britons 50. b. S. Augustin the first bishop of CaÌ„terbury created of the bishops of Fraunce by the commaundement of Pope Gregory 32. b. The death of S. Augustin our Apostle 51. b. An Epitaphe vpon him 52. a. The life and vertu of S. Edilrede now called S. Audery 133. a. Miracles and cures doâ—e at her tombe 134. b. A songin the praise of virginite and in the honour of S. Audery 135. a Aultar of stone 68. b. B Of the Author of this History Venerable Bede reade the preface to the Reader Berkinge abbay in Essex 120. b King Elbert the first Christen kinge of englishmen endued the Bisshoprikes of Caunterbury of London and Rochester with landes and possâ—ssions 51. b Consecration of bishops with a number of bishops 910. a. 149. a. The deuotioÌ„ of bishops in the primitiue church of englaÌ„d 151. a. 109. 113. b The example of a