to it together with the Isle of Wight Again how by the ministery of the Holy Preists Ceddand Ceadda the Province of the Mercians came to embrace the Faith of Christ before unknown to them and that of the East-Saxons to recover that Faith which once received was afterward reiected by them And likewise how those two Holy Fathers spent their lives in all Sanctity and how happily they dyed all these things wee learnt from the Religious Brethren of the Monastery of Lestingen built by them Moreover in the Province of the East-Angles the Ecclesiasticall Gests wee understood partly by writings and Tradition of their Ancestours and partly by the relation of the most Reverend Abbot Esius 5. But as touching the Province of Lindissi or Lincoln how the Faith of Christ 〈◊〉 spread there together with the Succession of Bishops we were informed in some part by Letters of the most Revered Bishop Cymbert or Kinebert or by discoursing with severall men of good credit To conclude the occurrents hapning in the Kingdom of the Northumbers and severall regions of it these I came to the knowledge of by the constant report not of a few but of allmost innumerable Witnesses who might well know or remember them besides many things to which I my self can give testimony Among which those things which I have written concerning our most holy Father and Bishop Saint Cuthbert either in this History or in a particular Book of his Gests those I received and transcribed out of certain writings compiled by the Religious Monks of the Church of Lindesfarn the sincerity of which I had no reason to suspect and to those I added with great care many other things which I my self learnt from the most sure attestation of severall faithfull and sincere persons 6. To conclude I humbly entreat the Reader that in case he find in those my Writings any particular passage swerving from Truth he would not impute that to mee as my fault since my only care has been simply and sincerely to commit by writing to posterity for their instruction such things as either from vulgar fame or writings of former ages I have collected Now it is against the generall Law of History that the Writer should be answerable for the mistakes of other men Thus much touching the Truth and sincerity of S. Beda's History XXIV CHAP. 1.2 c. The birth life and Gests of the Venerable Doctour of the Church S. Beda 1. WE will in the last place adde a Narration of the Life and blessed Death of this great Ornament of his age and glory of our Island S. Beda a man so admirably eminent in all kinds of learning so excellent a Poet an Oratour an Historian an Astronomer an Ariâ—hmetician a Chronographer a Cosmographer a Philosopher and a Divine that it was a common saying among the learned of his age That a man born in the utmost corner of the earth had dazeled the whole world with the luster of his Witt and learning And such use he made of all these great Talents in his life that according to his own testimony between the observances of Regular Disciplin and dayly singing the Divine Office in the Church he always found a great sweetnes in learning or teaching or writing some thing For which in his life time he was first by Pope Sergius and for that reason perhaps generally by all stiled Venerable and in that regard that Title since his death has by the whole Church been in a sort appropriated to him For though in all Histories and Martyrologes his Sanctity is celebrated yet he is seldom found written or named Saint but Venerable Beda so that perhaps I may incurr the censure of some Readers for not observing the same in this present History 2. How long he lived cannot certainly be determined Some as hath been said assign his death to this year in which he concluded his History But this is sufficiently disproved in that Saint Boniface fourteen years afther this writing to Egbert Arch-bishop of York and desiring some Books of Venerable Beda to be sent to him speaks of him as then newly dead for he entitles him a man as he had heard who of late had been much enriched with divine Grace and spirituall knowledge and shined gloriously in that Province c. And the like passage we find in an Epistle of the same Holy Bishop to Cuthbert Abbot and Disciple of S. Beda 3. Again others prolong his age beyond the year of Grace seaven hundred seaventy six grounding their opinion on an Epistle written as by him that year to a Preist called Withreda Vpon which account he should many years over-live Saint Boniface contrary to what was even now produced Moreover severall of our ancient Historians place his death four years after this But neither will S. Bonifaces expression well suit with that position 4. In this uncertainty without interposing mine own iudgment it seemd most expedient since we can no longer make use of the testimony and light of this so holy and faithfull an Historian to adioyn his own story to that which he wrote of his countrey especially considering that wee find no Gests of his hereafter inter-woven with the generall Ecclesiasticall affairs so that without any preiudice to order wee may treat of his end in this place conveniently enough 5. He was born in the year of Grace six hundred seaventy one as evidently appears in that himself affirms that he was this year in which he concluded his History fifty nine years old The place of his Birth was a little village not far from Durham called Girwy now Iarrow where the River Tine is ready to fall into the Sea A village then of no consideration though since ennobled not only by his birth but by its neighbourhood to the famous Monastery of Saint Peter founded by S. Benedict Biscop three years after S. Beda was born and it self being the Seat of another Monastery about eight years after built by the same Holy Abbot and dedicated to S. Paul 6. Who or of what condition his parents were hath not been recorded but in a poor village then so obscure we may expect to find inhabitants as obscure What ever condition they were of he was in his infancy deprived of them both and left to the care of his kinred who probably for want of subsistence recommended him being but seaven years old to the care and discipline of the foresaid S. Benedict by which means he in his tender years was imbibed in the rudiments of a Monasticall Life according to the Rule of the Great Patriark of Monasticall Instition S. BENEDICT which Rule as hath been declared was not long before this time introduced into the Province of the Northumbers by the famous Bishops S. Wilfrid 7. In this Monastery of S. Peter seated at Wiremouth S. Beda under so carefull and pious a Master spent his time in all innocence and devotion till he came to an age capable of Professing that Disciplin under
among the stains and Errours of his writings they reckon these That he seems to maintain the libertie of mans will And that the law is possible for he sayes it is no impossible thing for men who have a good will to love God above themselves and their neighbours as themselves Yea moreover he denyes concupiscence to be sin Lastly in general they write that the doctrine of Iustification was delivered by the Doctours of this age too negligently and obscurely that is much otherwise than Luther delivered it 34. In the third Century they find yet more things to displease them The Doctours of this age say they for the greatest part admitt free will Thus Tertullian Origen Cyprian and Methodius Again the most sublime article of Iustification is for the most part obscured by Origen and Methodius And as for the doctrine touching Good works the Doctours of this age did yet more decline from the true Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles and Luther then those of the former For they invented and inculcated many voluntary observances Thus Tertullian doth immoderatly extoll chastity and continence Origen attributes to good workes that they are a preparation to salvation and consequently a cause And with the like errour was Cyprian misled who ascribes to good works that they are the Guardians of hope the stay of Faith and cause us to abide continually in Christ to live in God and to attain to heavenly promises and Rewards Then for Pennance the doctrine thereof hath been wonderfully depraved by the Writers of this age They impute remissions of sins to Contrition Cyprian expressely affirmes that sins are redeemed and washed away by penitentiall satisfaction Moreover the same Cyprian speakes dangerously not according to the Tradition of Christ and the Apostles concerning unction in Baptisme saying it is necessary that the person baptised should be annointed with Chrisme that thereby he may become the annointed of God and have the grace of Christ in him And concerning the Eucharist Cyprian does superstitiously faine that some vertue accrews thereto from the person administring it for he sayes the Eucharist sanctified on the altar And again The Priest doth execute the office of Christ and offers sacrifice to God the Father Which phrase of offring sacrifice is used also by Tertullian You may moreover say they observe in the writings of the Doctours of this age Origen and Cyprian not obscure signes of Invocation of Saints And lastly touching the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome Cyprian affirms expressely and without any foundation of holy scripture that the Roman Church ought to be acknowledged by all for the mother and root of the Catholick Church Likewise Origen sayes that Peter by vertue of Christs promise deserved to be made the foundation of the Church The foresaid Cyprian hath moreover on this subiect other dangerous opinions as where he tyes and limits the Pastorall office to ordinary succession And for bids inferiours to iudge Bishops and prelates of the Church 35. It is pitty to proceed any further in producing out of the following Centuries the sometimes sad but most often angry complaints acknowledgments made by these honest German Writers how generally their Patriark Luthers Doctrines have been preiudged and condemned by the fathers and Doctours of Gods Church and the Faith of the present Roman Church asserted The further they proceed in their collection a greater number of yet more Severe Iudges they discover till in short tyme they cannot find one to speake a good word for them And this like a conscionable Iury they attest In so much as one would be tempted almost to suspect that they had been secretly bribed by the Pope to publish their own condemnation 36. These things considered I cannot fore see any probabilitie of a Debate likely to ensue touching this Historie I mean for asmuch as concerns the doctrinall part of it nor any considerable arguments to proove against the result of it that the points of Catholick faith have not been taught through all the ages comprised within its limits And as for the ages following that is since the Conquest by the Normans it is out of all dispute that our forefathers have been Romans in a deeper degree perhaps then wee their children are now 37. But I must acknowledge I am not secure against quarrels for as much as concerns the Christian practises of pietie and vertue commended in the Saints whose Gests are heere related and the reason is because our modern sectaries have a quite different notion of vertue and pietie from that which Catholicks from the beginning to this age have entertained Therefore such Readers missing in this booke storyes of Exploits performed in old tymes such as they magnifie in their primitive red-lettred saints of their new fashioned Calendars and finding practises here exalted for vertues which with their good-will they would renounce in their Baptisme as works and pompes of Sathan I shall not want adversaries good store of all ages and sexes 38. For I confesse that among the hundreds of Saints commemorated in this book of whom not a few are acknowledged for Saints even by the Protestants and which is more for Workers of stupendious Miracles not one can be found of their new Mode Not one can be found magnified as Inventours of new Doctrines opposite to the Common faith of the Church Not one who to spread abroad such Doctrines armed subiects against their Princes demolished altars burnt Churches violated Holy Virgins or invaded the possessions of God Not one who thought his Christian libertie could iustifie sacrilegious lusts in breaking vowes of Chastity and soliciting others to doe the like Here we shall not read of somuch as one Good-wife of the citty or country not one chamber-maid Prentice or Groome disputing with Doctours and Bishops and confuting all the Fathers and Councils of Gods Church c. So that if for want of such qualifications as these all our antient Holy Bishops Martyrs Doctours and Virgins must be unsainted there remains for us no remedie but the old uncomfortable one Patience 39. Yet perhaps this defect or want of heroicall perfections will not so confidently at least in publick be obiected against our Worthies as the vertues for which we commend them A continuall macerating of the flesh with abstinences fastings Watchings Haire-cloathes lying on the cold hard ground and the like these austerities our moderne spiritualists will mock at as uselesse us voluntary self-afflictions concerning which they assure God wil say Who hath required these things at your hands And they will be yet more angry and doe hope that God will be so too against consecrating ones self to perpetuall Virginity or continence in Mariage against secluding ones selfe from all conversation with the world against almost all use of the tongue except speaking to God against an entire submission of the will to the Direction of another and specially against renouncing riches honours Pleasures c. 40. But such
by succession Neither was it to be doubted but that he would conferr on thee supreme Power who had destind thee for his Son in Law before thou couldst request it 6. Hence appears the mistake of those Writers who affirm that Constantin was created Emperour in Brittany immediatly after the death of his Father For it certainly appeares that he took not that Title till the year after when he pass'd out of Brittanyâ—nto â—nto Gaule In the mean time he finish'd his Fathers Victories in Brittany aganist the Picts and Caledonians who rebelled and were repulsed by him beyond the Wall In which expedition he was assisted by a barbarous King of the Alamanni called Erocus by whose counsell likewise and endeavours he assum'd the Title of Emperour the year following as Aurelius Victor testifies II. CHAP. 1. Constantius overcoms two German Princes 2 Treats with Maxentius and is refused 3. Marries Maximians daughter Fausta and receives the Title of Emperour 4 c. Maximians treachery and punishment 1. THough Constantin at first refus'd the Title of Emperour yet he kepd a resolution to aspire to it either by agreement or force For which purpose he pass'd over with a great army into France Where his first exploit was to represse two barbarous Princes who fill'd the Countrey with factions inciting the Gaules to rebellion Their names were Ascaricus and Gaisus or Regaisus call'd his Comes Whom having overcome in battell for a terrour to others he expos'd them to be devoured by wild beasts This Victory of Constantin is celebrated by Eusebius in generall terms but with a notable errour in Chronology being placed by him before his voyage into Brittany 2. A firm peace being hereby restored to Gaule Constantin began to treat a league with Maxentius who the year before hauing been inform'd of the death of Constantius had possess'd himselfe of Rome and usurped the Title of Emperour being assisted by the Pretorian soldiers and hoping that Maximianus Herculius whose daughter he had maried would favour him in his ambition With which successe being puff'd up he rejected the motion of concord offred by Constantin whom he would not admitt into fellowship in the Empire 3. But Maximianus Herculius having heard the late glorious victory obtain'd by Constantin over the fore-mention'd barbarous Princes voluntarily bestow'd on him his daughter Fausta and with her the Imperiall Purple This is testified by a nameles Panegyrist of those times who expressly affirms that at this mariage the name of Emperour was given him and added to that of Caesar. 4. But presently after this mariage was celebrated Maximianus began to discover his treacherous mind and intention again to possesse himself of the Empire which he had voluntarily resigned and bound himself by a Solemne oath in the Capitol never to resume it This intention he had made known to his daughter Fausta before the mariage and for the execution of it he sent letters to solicite the armies and with promises of great rewards attempted the fidelity of the soldiers All these designs Fausta bearing a greater affection to her husband then her Father discovered to Constantin informing him that the Mariage was intended only to make him secure and that her Fathers purpose was to deprive him of the Empire and perhaps his life too 5. Hereupon Constantin found it necessary to prevent such treacherous designs of his Father in Law who presently after publickly resumed the Name and Authority of Emperour at Arles from whence retiring himself to Marseilles he was there beseiged by Constantin and afterwards made prisoner Whereupon he executed on himself the just vengeance of his perjury and treason by the most ignominious kind of death strangling himself with a halter Such a deserved end had this Tyrant who defiled the Western Empire with the blood of so many Christians Thus did Constantin a Brittish Emperour expiate the death of those glorious Martyrs S. Albanus and his companions who suffred in Brittany In which action Eumenius the Oratour though a Heathen elegantly frees him from all suspicion of cruelty 6. Constantin having composed affaires in Gaule prosecuted after ward his Victories into Germany into which he pass'd his army upon a bridge which he built over the Rhene about Triers There he subdued severall Nations especially the Bructeri which rebelled The Belgick Historians write that in Constantins army were many noble Brittains among which they name three Vncles of his Mother Helena Iohelin Traër and Marius Which gave occasion to the Panegyrist Eumenius to expatiate upon the praises of Brittany which he concludes thus O fortunate Brittany now happy beyond all other countreyes inasmuch as thou wast the first which didst see Constantin Caesar Nature did deservedly enrich thee with all the blessings of heaven and earth c. III. CHAP. 1.2.3 Monasteries builâ— in Brittany Namely Winchester and Abingdon 1. THough Constantin himself was not yet a Christian as appears by the Orations of Panegyrists to him in which he is extolled for his devotion to heathen Gods Mars Victoria and especially Apollo whose temples he visited to give them thanks for his Victories presenting there most magnificent Gifts and offrings Notwithstanding Christians enioyed the same peace and security through all his dominions and particularly in Brittany which had formerly been granted them by his Father Constantius 2. Hence it is that our ancient Records mention the rebuilding and replenishing severall Monasteries in this our Island Among which the most famous were the Monasteries of Winchester and Abingdon Concerning the former Bishop Godwin out of ancient Monuments testifies that it was begun and perfected with such admirable devotion and zeale that within the space of one year and thirty dayes both the Church the lodgings of the Monks and all other Offices and buildings for their severall uses were entirely finished And at the request of Deodatus the first Abbot of this New Monastery it was by Constans Bishop of Winchester consecrated to the memory of S. Amphibalus Martyr In which state it continued more then the space of two hundred years till Cerdicâ—s the first King of the Western Saxons driving away and killing some of the Monks turn'd it into a Temple of Idolatry The same account of it is given by Thomas Rudburn quoted by Bishop Vsher from Giraldus Cornubiensis and Vigilantius ancient Writers though he erre much in his Chronology placing this restitution in the year of our Lord two hundred ninety and three 3. As for the Monastery of Abingdon if the Chronicle of that place may be credited Constantin himselfe in his younger dayes had his education there And thereto belonged no fewer then five hundred Monks which liv'd by the labour of their hands in Woods and deserts and every Sunday and Sabbath day resorted to the Monastery to perform their devotions Besides which five hundred there remain'd constantly sixty Monks attending to dayly reciting of Psalms and holy Christian Sacrifices IV. CHAP.
them more probably to any then to the pious Queen Aldiberga her Bishop Saint Lethardus and her Christian Family whose devout charitable peaceable and humble lives and conversation could not chuse but recommend the Religion which they professed 10. Particularly Queen Aldiberga had among her own Ancestors a worthy pattern to imitate which was her Great Aunt Saint Clotilda by whose prayers and exhortations her husband Clodoveus King of the Franks was powerfully moved to relinquish Idolatry and with his whole Nation to embrace Christianity as Baronius declares Now though Aldiberga's exhortations did not produce so ample an effect on her husband King Ethelberts mind yet that she effectually concurred to dispose him to hearken to Divine Truth when represented by one employd from a greater authority and enabled more powerfully to confirm it seems sufficiently clear from severall passages of Saint Gregories letter to her in the close whereof he seems to wonder that she had not long before enclined her husbands mind to follow that Faith which the professed And however he testifies that after Saint Augustins coming her diligence and zeale was extraordinary in consideration of which he uses this expression We gave thanks to Almighty God who in mercy has vouchsafed to reserve the Conversion of the English Nation for your merit and reward 11. And it is observable that oftimes in this age God was pleased to use that infirm Sexe in the great work of planting his Faith in severall kingdoms Thus four years before this by Queen Theodolinda the Longobards who were Pagans or Artans were brought into the bosome of the Catholick Church And not twenty years before that Ingundis daughter of Sigebert King of the Franks and Aunt to this Queen Aldiberga was an instrument of converting her husband the Spanish Prince S. Hermenegild from Arianism who became a glorious Martyr II. CHAP. 1.2.3 The first Missioners Names they were Monks 4.5 c. Whether Benedictins or Equitians 16. Whether the Brittish Monks were of the Egyptian Institut 1. THE notice which Saint Gregory had of the good inclination which King Ethelbert and his Saxons had to hearken to the Word of life in all probability came from his Queen And this no doubt encouraged him to hasten thither a Mission of devout and zealous Preists whom he chose out of his own Monastery Ad clivum Scauri Religious men well known by him to be eminent for learning and piety These he instructed with good admonitions and having furnished them with Letters of recommendation to Princes Bishops through whose territories they were to passe to be assistant to them in so holy a Work he dismissed them with spirituall authority to preach the Gospell particularly advising them in their passage through France to adjoyn to their company such as might be helpfull to them by their knowledge of the manners and language of the Saxons little differing from that of the Franks lately converted to Christianity 2. What the Names were of these first Missioners is not agreed on among our Modern Historians Baronius affirms that the principall of them were Augustin and Mellitus Others to Mellitus adjoyn Iustus and Iohn But they have not well distinguished times for a Second Mission four years after this was destined by Saint Gregory into Brittany to assist and cooperate with Saint Augustin when the number of Converts was multiplied and on that ground the names of the Missioners are confounded But Saint Beda sayes expressly that Mellitus a Roman Abbot went not at first with Saint Augustin but was sent afterward for supply and with him Paulinus and Ruffinianus In our authentick Records therefore we find onely these Missioners named at the first Delegation Augustin Laurence Peter and Iohn 3. That these first Preachers of Christianity among the Saxons in Brittany were Religious Monks in all regards the Predecessours of those which about a thousand years after were violently deprived of their Monasteries their countrey and many of them their lives also for continuing in the same Faith and a Profession of the like austerity of Discipline which they had from the beginning been taught is a truth so manifest in all our Records that only Passion can question it 4. But whether these Religious persons were peculiarly of the Family of Saint Benedict has of late been made a question Cardinal Baronius was the first who denyed it and his principall reason is because Saint Gregory out of whose Monastery they came assumed an Abbot to govern the same Monastery not from Mount Cassin where Saint Benedict had established his principall Convent but out of the Province of Valeria and schoole of S. Equitius 5. To clear this matter in which some partiall minds are willing to frame a difficulty wee are to take notice that in those more ancient and devout times the Masters and Instructours in a Monasticall life did utterly neglect the continuance and eternity of their names their principal and onely care being employed in cultivating the soules of their Disciples and purifying their affections Hence it came to passe that the Professours of a Solitary austere life under what Master soever were simply called Monks without any addition of the title or name of their prime Institutour Thus here in Brittany though Saint Patrick Saint Columba Saint Columban Saint David Saint Brindan and others had gathered many families of Religious men yet none of these or their Successours did distinctly call themselves by the names of their Masters or factiously pretend to any advantage or honour from being descended from any of those Saints So it was then in Italy and elsewhere And therefore no wonder if in Saint Gregories or long after in Saint Beda's Writings we find not the names of Benedictins Equitians c. 6. Moreover though most of the foresaid Institutours of Monks did no doubt prescribe certain Laws and Rules by which their Disciples were to be directed so we read that Saint Brindan received a Rule by an Angel dictating it Yet those Laws were not published nor known out of their particular Convents neither did they extend beyond the generall duties and exercises of their Religious Subjects very many things being reserved to the iudgement discretion and will of the Abbots Whereas Saint Benedict no doubt by a speciall direction of Gods Spirit composed an entire and perfect Rule comprehending the whole duty both of Superiours and Subjects and obliging both to conformity as well in the order of reciting the Ecclesiasticall Office and Psalmody as the duties of each respective Officer the managing of the Convents revenews the prescribed times of refection of working reading silence sleep c. Which Rule for the excellency and perfection of it became in a short time publickly known admited and generally accepted 6. Which generall admission of Saint Benedicts Rule among the professours of a Coenobiticall life found little or no difficulty after the said Rule had not only been highly commended in the Writings of so holy
their own confines and attempted nothing either openly or privily against the English Nation But from the Scotts we will passe to the Brittains and their contentions with the now Christian-Saxons about the Church and Ecclesiasticall Rites XVI CHAP. i. 2 c The death of S. Gregory the Great his admirable Sanctity c. 1. THE year of Grace six hundred and four is memorable to the whole Church but especially to Brittany for the death of S. Gregory the Supreme Pastor and the glorious Apostle of our Nation as likewise for the Generall Synod of Brittany convoked by S. Augustin in which there was a convention not only of Saxon and Brittish Bishops but likewise of severall from among the Picts and Scotts 2. As touching S. Gregory we read thus in S. Beda The blessed Pope Gregory after he had most gloriously governed the Roman and Apostolick Church thirteen years six months and ten days departed this life and was translated to an eternall Throne in the Kingdom of Heaven Whose memory we are obliged to celebrate in our History as being truly the Apostle of our Nation which by his industry was converted from the power of Satan to the Faith of Christ. For being elevated to the Pontificat over the whole world and made a Prelat of Churches already embracing the true Faith he made our Nation till his days enslaved to Idols a Church of Christ so that to him we may apply that of the Apostle For the seale of his Apostleship are we in our Lord. 3. His Memory is celebrated through the whole Chuch of God both Eastern and Western on the twelfth of March On which day we thus read in the Roman Martyrologe At Rome the commemoration of S. Gregory Pope and eminent Doctour of the Church who for many illustrious acts and converting the English Nation to the Faith of Christ hath the Title of Great and is called the Apostle of the English 4. The many glorious Gests of this Holy Pope not pertaining to our present subject I willingly omitt because either generally well known or easily to be found in Ecclesiasticall Historians and I will content my self with adioyning here a double Character given of him by two learned and Holy Bishops of Spain S. Isidor of Sevill and S. Ildefonsus of Toledo The former of which thus writes of him Pope Gregory Prelat of the Roman and Apostolick See was a Man full of compunction and fear of our Lord eminent in humility and endued with so great light of Divine knowledge by the grace of Gods Spirit that none was ever equall to him either in the times he lived in or any before him In the next place S. Ildefonsus gives this parallel description of the Pope He shone so bright saith he with the perfection of all vertues and merits that excluding all comparisons of any other illustrious persons Antiquity never shewed the world any one like to him He excelled S. Antony in Sanctity S. Cyprian in eloquence S. Augustin in wisedom c. 5. I ought to have bespoken the Protestant readers patience and now demand his pardon for representing this our Apostle reiected and disgraced by severall of them in the features and colours drawn by two such eminent Bishops who liv'd either in or near the same age with him and whose iudgment approv'd by the whole Christian world till this last age in reason deserves rather to be relyed upon then that of a few Apostats who liv'd almost a thousand years after him But I leave it to their consciences to determine whether this holy Pope deserv'd in England especially that such severe Laws should be enacted and such cruelties executed against him as have been against those who preach Christ as he did by the confession of Protestant Writers themselves And they must of necessity answer Yes for certainly if his Successours and disciples deserve these rigorous scourges he who seduced them deserved to be tormented with Scorpions XVII CHAP. 1. 2. c. A great Synod of Saxons Brittains c. assembled by S. Augustin 5.6 c. The place is uncertain 7.8 The Names of the Bishops 1. SAint Beda after recounting the death of this our Apostle S. Gregory proceeds to relate the actions of S. Augustin the same year in these words In the mean time Augustin by the assistance of King Ethelbert convoked to a Synod the Bishops or Doctours of the greatest and next Province of the Brittains who mett together in a place to this day in the English tongue calld Augustins-ac or Oake seated in the confines of the Wiccij or inhabitants of Worcester shire and the West-Saxons 2. Now this Synod having been a matter of great importance we will endeavour to frame with some diligence a Narration concerning it that is touching the place where it was celebrated the persons assembled in it and the speciall matters debated amongst them 3. The place though named with some Circumstances by S. Beda yet after such a vicissitude and chāge both of men and language is not at this day obvious or easy to be found It is doubtfull whether Augustins-Oke in S. Beda signifies simply a Tree only or a village among such trees that is Whether the Synod was held abroad in the open aire or in some house The former seems more probable to Sir H. Spelman for saith he It was an ancient custome in Brittany to hold their assemblies abroad for under a roof the Brittains apprehended danger by witch-craft or fascination as hath been formerly mentiond out of Beda at the meeting of King Ethelbert with this same S. Augustin Notwithstanding though by S. Beda's relation such was the Superstition of the Infidel Saxons no ground appears why it should be imputed to the Christian Brittains much lesse to S. Augustin and his companions who were Romans 4. It is therfore more likely that this Synod was celebrated within-dores in a place or village which had its appellation from an Oake and from this meeting obtaind the addition of S. Augustins name And herein it resembled an ancient Synod assembled by Theophilus against S. Iohn Chrysostom in the suburbs of the Citty of Chalcedon which was calld Ad quercum The Synod at the oak from some notable Oak which had stood near the Palace where the Bishops sate 5. But where to find this village is yet uncertain Camden with all his diligence and perspicacity leaves it in the dark For in his perambulation of the Province of the Wiccij mentiond by S. Beda he gives onely this account of it About this territory there is a place but the position of it is uncertain calld Augustins-ake or Oak at which Augustin the Apostle of England and the Brittish Bishops mett and after many hott disputes about celebrating Easter preaching the word of God to the Saxons and celebrating Baptism after the Roman rite they parted from one another with disagreeing minds 6. Notwithstanding if leave may be allowd to coniecture why
selected therefore and assembled out of diverse Monasteries twelve Apostolicall men firmly established in the Faith to preach Catholick Doctrine to the Germans 3. Now the names of those zealous Missioners were these Willebrord Swibert Acca Wigbert Willibald Winnibald Lebwin two Brethren called Ewald Werenfrid and my self the meanest of all called Marcellin who am the Writer of this History as likewise of the Gests of S. Willebrord All these forenamed were Preists and to them was adioyned the holy Deacon Adelbert Son of the King of the Deirs or Yorkshire who for the love of Christ quitted his Royall Patrimony and refused not a voluntary banishment in the company of the foresaid holy Preists having been elected thereto by S. Egbert 4. And because these Holy Doctours born in England were descended from Progenitours who were Frisons and Saxons by that means they were enabled to preach the Gospell of Christ in the German tongue Some of these were afterward crownd with Martyrdom others persisted to their death in laborious preaching among Barbarous Nations and some were substituted Bishops in Episcopall Sees when they were vacant 5. When all necessaries therefore were prepared the foresaid Twelve Apostolicall Missioners after they had taken leave of their freinds and kinred and received the holy Prelats benediction took ship and by Gods blessing having a prosperous wind they made a quick voyage and landed safely at Wiltemberg or Vtrect Traiectum in the year six hundred and ninety after our Lords Incarnation which was the third year of the Pontificat of Pope Sergius Iustinian then being Emperour and the most glorious King Alfrid then raigning over the Northumbers a Prince zealously affectionat in observing the Laws of Holy Church 5. Cornelius Kempius in his Treatise concerning the Writers of Friseland affirms that those Twelve Apostles were elected out of the whole English-Saxon Nation being the most eminent for learning and piety that could be found But most of them were furnished out of the Kingdom of the Northumbers which certainly was the Native soyle of S. Egbert as likewise of Saint Willebrord S. Swibert and S. Adelbert III. CHAP. 1.2 c. The rudiments of S. Swibert 1. THese were the names of the Twelve English Missioners and glorious Apostles of the German Nation whose memorieâ— remain in benediction in many Provinces of that vast Continent and are moreover celebrated in most of the Martyrologes of the Western Church It would be a blameable ingratitude to neglect the recording whatsoever particular actions or occurrents pertaining to any of them have hitherto escaped the injury of time Since therefore our Ecclesiasticall Monuments have delivered to us very little concerning any of them before they laboured in this Mission except of Saint Willebrord and Saint Swibert wee must of force content our selves with an account of the birth descent and Gests of these two glorious Prelats 2. Of these S. Swibert was the elder whose Life and actions have been recorded by his companion in the Mission S. Marcellin as likewise by Saint Ludger Bishop of Munster From both whose relations Haraeus thus breifly recounts his descent and wonderfull birth In the year of Grace six hundred forty seaven the blessed child Swibert was born in the Kingdom of the Northumbers His parents were Sigebert Count of Nortingraâ— and the pious Countesse Bertha who before she brought him forth was favoured with a Divine Vision and heavenly light 3. Assoon as he was come to the fifteenth year of his age preferring a Religious before a secular life he was gratiously received into the Monastery of Berdeney In which having spent nine years in great continence and mortification having by the grace of compunction his mind elevated to celestiall â—hings employing himself withall in Sacred Lections and Monasticall Disciplines and thereto adioyning rigorous Fasts Prayers and unwearied watchings he was advanced to the dignity of Preisley Order Thus breifly writes the said Authour 4. But as touching the wonderfull prodigy attending his birth by which was portended his future Apostolicall employment it is thus more particularly related by S. Marcellinus S. Ludger The pious and Noble countesse Bertha frequently meditating with inward ioy how that the children of severall Princes adorned with the luster of many vertues had made the people partakers of the fruits of their piety to the great happines and peace of the whole kingdom she became inflamed with an incredible desire of enioying the like favour and thereupon with dayly prayers she solicited our Lord to bestow upon her a Son whom she promised to consecrate to his service 5. Not long after it hapned on a certain night when she was falln into a quiet sleep she seemed to behold in the firmament a star of a wonderfull magnitude and luster from â—he â—ast side of which proceeded two beams of admiâ—able brightnes one of which regarded Germany and the other France At last after she had with great wonder contemplated this star it seemed to her that it fell from heaven into her bed At which being extremely affrighted she shreekd out aloud with the noyse awaked her husband Sigebert who trembling all over at this unusuall clamour of his wife with great solicitude demanded of her the cause of her fear which she plainly declared to him The next morning they sent for Aidan Bishop of Lindesfarn to whom they discovered the manner and order of the Vision At the relating of which he by a celestiall Light illustrating his mind gave them a confident hope of a child which by the luster of his learning and piety should enlighten the soules of many with the beams of Divine Truth 6. The event proved him to be a true interpreter of the Vision for the child whose coming into the world was attended with so prodigious a sign from his very infancy gave proofs of most sublime vertues And being arrived at the fifteenth year of his age out of a care least worldly tentations and alurements should draw him among the dangerous rocks of vice and errour he took refuge in the secure port of Religion And after he had spent nine years in the dayly contemplation of divine things he attained the Degree of Preist-hood Which he administred the space of seaven years with so great sanctity that he drew severall Kings and Princes into a great admiration of him Such were the rudiments of S. Swiberts sanctity concerning whose admirable actions and miracles we shall frequently be obliged to treat hereafter VI. CHAP. 1.2 Of S. Wilgis the Father of S. Willebrord 3. 4. c. The Nativity and rudimenâ—s of S. Willebrord 1. ELeaven years after the birth of S. Swibert S. Willebrord by divine Providence designed his companion in the Apostolick Office was born whose Nativity likewise was attended by the like celestiall prodigies His life has been written by S. Marcellin and also by our learned Alcuin in the preface where of he thus describes the quality and piety of his Parents 2. In the
six hundred ninety four In which Council the most Clement King of Kent Withred presided likewise Bertwald the most Reverenâ— Arch-bishop oâ— Brittany together with Tobias Bishop of the Church of Rochester and other Abbots Abbesses Preists Deacons Dukes and Lords all which meâ—t together and in common with great diligence and solicitude we advised and consulted what ordinances were to be made and established for perpetuity touching the state oâ— Gods Churches and Monasteries within the Kingdom of Kent and the Revenews of them given by devout Kings my Predecessours and kinsmen for a perpetuall possession 5. Therefore I Withred earthly King being touched with compunction and inflamed with a love of Iustice by the King of Kings have learnt from the Ancient Traditions and Precepts of the Holy Fathers that it is not lawfull for any lay-person to draw and usurp to himself as his own proper possession any lands or Revenews formerly given to our Lord and consecrated or established with the Crosse of Christ for wee know and by experience find that whatsoever thing any man hath thus taken into his own power from the Church our Lord will not suffer such sacrilege to passe without Divine vengeance It is a horrible crime therefore to robb the living God or to mangle his coat and inheritance When therefore any part of our earthly substance has been offred to God to the end that thereby wee may expect an eternall retribution in Heaven it is manifestly declared that the lesse cautiously a secular person shall invade the inheritance of the Eternall King the more severely shall he be punished by him 6 These things being seriously considered we doe ordain decree and in the Name of the Omnipotent God and all his Saints we doe command all our Successours Kings Princes and all persons whatsoever of secular state that not any of them presume to usurp the Demeans or rights of any Church or Monastery which either by my self or any of my Predecessours in ancient times have been offred for a perpetuall inheritance to our Lord Iesus Christ to his Holy Apostles as likewise to the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of our Lord. 7. Great care moreover is to be observed according as is commanded in the Ecclesiasticall Canons that whensoever any Prelat Bishop Abbot or Abbesse shall dye intimation thereof be given to the Arch-bishop of that Province and with his counsell and consent let another be chosen whose life hath by examination been found to be pure and unblameable And without the advice and consent of the said Arch-bishop Let none be promoted For things of this nature doe not at all pertain to the command or disposition of the King 8. Now if any one either through ignorance or malice shall doe otherwise let his Election be voyd and himself deposed without delay Neither let secular King interpose their authority in the spiritual matters for it belongs not to them to ordain Ecclesiasticall persons but secular Princes Prefects and Officers Whereas to govern the Churches of God to constitute Abbots Abbesses Preists and Deacons to consecrate establish or depose such persons and to have a care that not any of our Lords sheep should wander from his flock all this belongs to the Office of the Metropolitan Bishop This our Precept we ordain shall be observed with regard of these Monasteries here named the Monastery of Saint Peter Prince of the Apostles called Vpminster Raculf Sudminster Dofras Folcanstan Hymminque Scepeys and Hor. We doe utterly forbid any lay-person whatsoever to usurp or take into his own possession any thing belonging to any of these Monasteries And let this Law in behalf of all the Churches of God in our Kingdom remain and be in force for ever for the eternall health of my own soule and the soules of my Predecessours and the hope of an everlasting Kingdom 9. We further add in this place the concession of a greater liberty to the Church In the first place let the whole Church of Canterbury with possessions thereto belonging and in like manner the Church of Rochester with her possessions and all the other foresaid Churches be subject to God For the salvation therefore oâ— mine own soule and my Predecessours and for the hope of an heavenly kingdom from this day hence forth we give and grant unto them that they be free from all difficulties of secular service from all provision to be given to the King Princes oâ— Counts likewise from all labours all greivances greater or lesser from all claims violence and censures of Kings Which liberty is to continue for ever except of their own free will and abundance they shall think good to contribute any thing Which if they doe such free contributions shall not oblige them for the future to the like nor advantage be made from them to bring in an ill custom But on the contrary let them remain in all security to the end they may offer to Almighty God worthy Sacrifices for us and by their immaculate Oblations wash away our sins that by their intercessions we may becom worthy to hear that happy Sentence Come ye blessed of my Father receive the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world 10. Now if any King hereafter to be raised to this Throne or any Bishop Abbott or Count or any other in authority shall attempt to contradict or infringe this Charter Let him know that he is sequestred from the Body and Blood of our Lord Iesus Christ and that he is so excommunicated that he is uncapable of remission of his sins in this world and the world to come except he first make full satisfaction according to the judgment of the Church 11. Let this our Writing irrefragably confirmed be kept and preserved for ever in the Church of our Saviour seated in the Citty of Canterbury where the Primat resides for an Example and Defence of all Churches in the Kingdom Let this Law remain unviolable to the end of the world For these Priviledges are not given to any earthly man for they are all granted and given into the hands of the Omnipotent God and all Saints 12. This is the tenour of the Charter made in this Assembly of the Clergy and Nobility of Kent To which are adioyned in order these subscriptions following †I Withred by the aid of Christ have subscribed to these Laws constituted by mee for my self for the Queen Werburga and our Son Alric †I Bertwald by the Grace of God Arch-bishop have subscribed to these Laws constituted by us †The sign of the hand of Ethelbart for himself and his Brother Eadbert †The sign oâ— the hand of Tobia Bishop †The sign of the hand of Etheldride Abbesse †The sign of the hand of Wilnolda Abbesse †The sign of the hand of Redemptus Preist †The sign of the hand of Bothred Bishop †The sign of the hand of Walch Prâ—â—st †The sign of the hand of Mildreda Abbesse †The sign of the hand of Aete
esteem Saints Yet neither their Sanctity nor learning could secure their Lives from the present sanguinary Laws now in force 7. Some Writers affirm that S. Aldelm was a Scott but his name meerly Saxon does disprove them which signifies an ancient Helmet And generally our Historians acknowledge him to have been of the English-Saxon progeny Capgrave B. Godwin and others affirm that he was Brothers son to King Ina. Brian Twine says he was son to King Ina himself And William of Malmsbury that he was from â—is ancient Progenitours nearly allied in blood to King Ethelstan 8. There succeeded him in the Episcopall See of Shirborn a devout Preist named Forther who by the testâ—mony of Saint Beda his contemporaney is described to have been a man well versed in the study of Divine Scriptures Little more is extant concerning him in our Ecclesiasticall Monuments Onely Bishop Godwin relates of him that almost thirty years after this he attended a Queen of the West-Saxons in her pilgrimage to Rome 9. Probably this is the same person to whom Brithwald at this time Archbishop of Canterbury wrote an Epistle extant among those of Saint Boniface the Apostle of Germany with this Inscription To the most Reverend and most Holy our Fellow-Bishop Fortherey Berthwald a Servant of the Servants of our Lord sendeth health in our Lord. The Epistle it self because it gives some Light to the practise of that age wee will here adioyn as followeth 10. Since the request which in your presence I made to the Venerable Abbot Beorwald took no effect which was that he would sett at liberty a young captive mayd whose kinred dwell near to this Citty being importuned by them I thought fitt to direct once more these Letters to you by a Brother of the same mayd whose name is Eppa Hereby therefore I doe earnestly entreat you that you would by all means obtain from the foresaid Abbot that he would from this bearers hands accept three hundred shillings solidos for the ransome of the sayd young mayd and consign her into his hands to be brought hither to the end she may spend the rest of her age in ioyfull freedome among her freinds This affaire if you will bring to good effect you will not fayle to receive a good reward from God and many thanks from mee Besides this I conceive that our Brother Beorwald receiving this money will be no looser I ought to have made my first request that you would be mindfull of mee in your dayly Prayers Our Lord Iesus Christ preserve your Reverence in health many years 11. The slavery of this young mayd mentioned here denotes the ancient custome of the Saxons continued a long time after by the Normans of buying slaves and annexing them to certain Mannors or Lands which were therefore called Villains which without a ransome could not be restored to freedome 12. As for Beorwald mentioned in this Letter he was probably Abbot of Glastonbury who succeded Hemgisle in the year of Grace seaven hundred and five as the Antiquities of that Monastery declare And he it was who wrote the life of the Holy Bishop Egwin and not as some mistakingly affirm Brithwald Arch-bishop of Canterbury who sate above four and twenty years in that See before S. Egwin died IX CHAP. 1.2 c. The Martyrdom of S. Indractus an Irish Prince his murder miraculously discovered 1. ABout this time hapned the Martyrdom of a son of a certain Irish King who returning from a Pilgrimage to Rome by Brittany in his way from Glastonbury towards Ireland was together with seaven of his companions barbarously murdred by robbers His name was Indractus and his Memory is celebrated in our Martyrologe on the fifth of February 2. Concerning him thus writes the Authour of his life in Capgrave After that Saint Patrick had converted the Irish Nation to the Faith of Christ by many signs and wonders he passed over the Sea thence into Brittany and at Glastonbury he happily ended his days in a good old age For this cause many devout persons of Ireland have accustomed in devotion to visit the sayd Monastery Now there was in Ireland the son of a certain King his name was Indractus a young man well imbued with learning adorned with vertues and favoured both by God and man This young Prince aspiring only to heavenly ioyes for a more secure obtaining them resolved to despise yea to fly from all the snares of Princely palaces and delicacies Taking therefore with him nine companions together with his Sister named Dominica our Martyrologe calls her Drusa he in devotion undertook a pilgrimage to Rome Having therefore a prosperous passage by Sea he arrived at a Haven in Brittany named Tamerunt And there this devout assembly built an Oratory and spent a long space of time in the service of God and mortification At length leaving his Sister there he with his other Companions pursued their pilgrimage to Rome As for the frequent Miracles wrought by the Holy man in Brittany or in his iourney I omitt them the curious Reader may have recourse for them to the Authour who thus prosecutes his Story 3. Returning after some time from Rome into Brittany he had a resolution to goe to Glastonbury and there at the Monument of Saint Patrick to pour forth his Prayers to God Now at that time Inas King of the West-Saxons held his Court neer that place in a town called Pedret in the villages round about which many of his Servants and attendants were dispersed Among whom there was a certain son of iniquity named Hona This man curiously observing Indractus and his companions in their way from Glastonbury that their baggs and purses were well stuffed with money Whereupon the Minister of Satan with his complices following them overtook them at a Village named Shapwick and violently breaking into the house while they were sleeping there murdred them all Which having done they took their Sacred Bodies and cast them into a deep pitt to the end no man might find them 4. Now it fortuned that King Inas whose abode was near that place on a certain night being afflicted with great pain in his bowells to assâ—age the same went abroad into the open aire and looking towards heaven he saw a pillar as it were of fire issuing out of the place in which the sacred bodies were hidden the splendour of which was always in his eyes which way soever he turned them The same spectacle offred it self to him three nights consequently whereupon taking some of his Courtiers with him he went to the place and having found the bodies of the holy Martyrs he took care that they should be buried at Glastonbury with great honour The Body of S. Indractus was placed on the left side of the Altar opposite to the Monument of S. Patrick and his companions under the pavement round about As for the Murderers they having the impudence to be present at the buriall were visibly seysed