THE LIFE

OF

VENERABLE BEDE.

CHAPTER I.

OF THE STATE OF BRITAIN IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY,

cia, which had recently been united by Oswald king of Bernicia. This excellent monarch having shewn himself, by his virtuous life, the father of his people, was canonised after death, and venerated as a Saint and Martyr. To Oswald succeeded his brother Oswy, by whom Oswin, the last heir of the rival house of Deira, was permitted to assume, in a tributary condition, the government of that province. This arrangement however was of no long continuance. Oswy

slew Oswin in the year of our Lord 651, and gave the sovereignty of Deira to his illegitimate son Alfrid. On the death of Oswy in A.D. 670, his son Egfrid became king of all Northumberland, comprehending probably the whole country from the Humber to the Frith of Forth.

In the centre of Britain, but within limits which have been very ill defined, was situated the kingdom of Mercia, the last, on account of its distance from the sea, of the Saxon monarchies established in this country. Its king at this time was Wulfhere, son of Penda, who had recently been raised to the throne by the Mercians after their revolt against Northumbria and the consequent recovery of their independence, but five years after he suffered a considerable diminution of his territory by the loss of the province of Lindsay or Lincolnshire, which was taken from him by Egfrid of Northumberland.

The kingdom of East Anglia, at all times, from its position, less disturbed than the others by war and commotions, was at this time governed by Aldulf, of whose life and reign few particulars are recorded.

Wessex, or West-Saxony, extended northward to the Severn and eastward as far as the borders of Surrey and Sussex. It was ruled by Cenwalch, who died soon after our present date, leaving his kingdom a spoil to his officers, who portioned it out among themselves and enjoyed possession of it for the space of ten years, after which it was recovered and restored to its former condition by Cadwalla his son.

Essex, or the kingdom of the East Saxons, and occupying a situation between the Thames on the south, and Mercia and East Anglia on the west and north, was at this time governed by two kings Sebbi and Sighere, but tributary to Wulfhere, king of Mercia. Within the last ten years immediately preceding our present subject, the latter of these kings, with all that part of the province which he governed, had abandoned the Christian faith and returned to idolatry: but by the intervention of the superior monarch Wulfhere, and the undeviating piety of the associate king Sebbi, this apostasy was crushed in the bud.

The kingdom of the South Saxons, comprehending the modern counties of Surrey and Sussex, was about this very period converted to Christianity, and Ethelwalch, its king, had recently received baptism at the court of Wulfhere, king of Mercia. This monarch, as godfather, answered for him at the font, and by way of a baptismal present, gave him the Isle of Wight and a district called Meanwara in the kingdom of Wessex.

Kent, the oldest of the Saxon kingdoms, was governed by Egbert, who, in the year of our Lord 673, died, leaving his dominions to Lothaire his son.

In the same year, Archbishop Theodore assembled a council of bishops, at the town of Hertford, to enforce the observance of the canons, and to treat of other matters tending to the well-ordering of religion and the prosperity of the Christian Church. At this council, which

met on the twenty-fourth of September, A.D. 673, were assembled Bisi Bishop of the East Angles, Wilfrid Bishop of Northumberland, Winfrid Bishop of Mercia, Eleutherius Bishop of Wessex, and Putta Bishop of Rochester.

CHAPTER II.

OF THE BIRTH OF VENERABLE BEDE.

ROM the foregoing sketch the reader will be enabled to form some idea of the state of things in Britain in the year of our Lord 673, but of all the events which then happened, none is of more interest to us than

the birth of that great teacher of religion, literature, and science, Venerable Bede.

The time of his birth has, however, been placed by some writers as late as A.D. 677, but this error arose from not perceiving that the last two or three pages of his Chronological Epitome, attached to the Ecclesiastical History, were added by another hand.'

Bede's own words appear decisive in fixing the date of his birth :-" This is the present state of Britain, about 285 years since the coming of the Saxons, and in the seven hundred and thirty

1 Mabill. in v. Bed. 2. Sim. | Eborac. Sparke's Hist. Ang. Dun. de Ecc. D. 8, and Ep. de Scrip. 1723. Surtee's H. of Archie. Ebor. Stubb's Act. Pont. Durham, II. p. 69.

first year of our Lord's incarnation." To this he subjoins a short Chronology which comes down to 731, and was continued to 734, either by another hand or by Bede himself, at a later period just before his death: he then gives a short account of the principal events of his own life, and says that he had attained (attigisse) the fiftyninth year of his life. Gehle, in his recent publication on the life of Bede, has not scrupled to fix the year 672, interpreting Bede's expression that he had attained his fifty-ninth year as implying that he was entering on his sixtieth. On the other hand, another learned critic,' whose opinion has been adopted by Stephenson in his Introduction [p. vii], has endeavoured to show that 674 is the true date. But in so unimportant a particular it is hardly worth while to weigh the conflicting opinions; and the intermediate date, so long ago settled by Mabillon, and apparently so naturally resulting from Bede's own words, is perhaps the best that can be adopted.

It is always to be regretted, when little is known of the early life of eminent men, as in all cases where many facts have been handed down to elucidate the early history of such, something or other has invariably broken forth significant of their future life and fortunes. So very little, however, is known of this great ornament of England and Father of the Universal Church, that except his own writings, the letter of Cuthbert his disciple, and one or two other almost

2 Pagi Critic. in Baron. Ann. A.D. 693. § 8.