How Edwin received letters of exhortation from Pope Honorius, who also sent the pall to Paulinus [634 A.D.G] | Book 2 | Chapter 17
AT that time Honorius, successor to Boniface, was Bishop of the Apostolic see. When he learned that the nation of the Northumbrians, with their king, had been, by the preaching of Paulinus, converted to the faith and confession of Christ, he sent the pall to the said...
How Honorius, who succeded Justus in the bishopric of Canterbury, received the pall and letters from Pope Honorius [634 A.D.] | Book 2 | Chapter 18
IN the meantime, Archbishop Justus was taken up to the heavenly kingdom, on the 10th of November, and Honorius, who was elected to the see in his stead, came to Paulinus to be ordained, and meeting him at Lincoln was there consecrated the fifth prelate of the Church...
How the aforesaid Honorius first, and afterwards John, wrote letters to the nation of the Scots, concerning the observance of Easter, and the Pelagian heresy [640 A.D.] | Book 2 | Chapter 19
THE same Pope Honorius also wrote to the Scots, whom he had found to err in the observance of the holy Festival of Easter, as has been shown above, with subtlety of argument exhorting them not to think themselves, few as they were, and placed in the utmost borders of...
How Edwin being slain, Paulinus returned into Kent, and had the bishopric of Rochester conferred upon him [633 A.D.] | Book 2 | Chapter 20
EDWIN reigned most gloriously seventeen years over the nations of the English and the Britons, six whereof, as has been said, he also was a soldier in the kingdom of Christ. Caedwalla, king of the Britons, rebelled against him, being supported by the vigorous Penda,...
How King Edwin’s next successors lost both the faith of their nation and the kingdom; but the most Christian King Oswald retrieved both [633 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 1
EDWIN being slain in battle, the kingdom of the Deiri, to which province his family belonged, and where he first began to reign, passed to Osric, the son of his uncle Aelfric, who, through the preaching of Paulinus, had also received the mysteries of the faith. But...
How, among innumerable other miracles of healing wrought by the wood of the cross, which King Oswald, being ready to engage against the barbarians, erected, a certain man had his injured arm healed [634 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 2
THE place is shown to this day, and held in much veneration, where Oswald, being about to engage in this battle, erected the symbol of the Holy Cross, and knelt down and prayed to God that he would send help from Heaven to his worshippers in their sore need. Then, we...
How the same King Oswald, asking a bishop of the Scottish nation, had Aidan sent him, and granted him an episcopal see in the Isle of Lindisfarne [635A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 3
THE same Oswald, as soon as he ascended the throne, being desirous that all the nation under his rule should be endued with the grace of the Christian faith, whereof he had found happy experience in vanquishing the barbarians, sent to the elders of the Scots, among...
When the nation of the Picts received the faith of Christ [565 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 4
IN the year of our Lord 565, when Justin, the younger, the successor of Justinian, obtained the government of the Roman empire, there came into Britain from Ireland a famous priest and abbot, marked as a monk by habit and manner of life, whose name was Columba,to...
Of the life of Bishop Aidan [635 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 5
FROM this island, then, and the fraternity of these monks, Aidan was sent to instruct the English nation in Christ, having received the dignity of a bishop. At that time Segeni,abbot and priest, presided over that monastery. Among other lessons in holy living, Aidan...
Of King Oswald’s wonderful piety and religion [635-642 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 6
KING OSWALD, with the English nation which he governed, being instructed by the teaching of this bishop, not only learned to hope for a heavenly kingdom unknown to his fathers, but also obtained of the one God, Who made heaven and earth, a greater earthly kingdom than...
How the West Saxons received the Word of God by the preaching of Birinus; and of his successors, Agilbert and Leutherius [635-670 A. D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 7
AT that time, the West Saxons, formerly called Gewissae,in the reign of Cynegils,received the faith of Christ, through the preaching of Bishop Birinus,who came into Britain by the counsel of Pope Honorius ; having promised in his presence that he would sow the seed of...
How Earconbert, King of Kent, ordered the idols to be destroyed, and of his daughter Earcongota, and his kinswoman Ethelberg, virgins consecrated to God [640 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 8
IN the year of our Lord 640, Eadbald,king of Kent, departed this life, and left his kingdom to his son Earconbert, who governed it most nobly twenty-four years and some months. He was the first of the English kings that of his supreme authority commanded the idols...
How miracles of healing have been frequently wrought in the place where King Oswald was killed; and how, first, a traveller’s horse was restored and afterwards a young girl cured of the palsy [642 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 9
OSWALD, the most Christian king of the Northumbrians, reigned nine years, including that year which was held accursed for the barbarous cruelty of the king of the Britons and the reckless apostacy of the English kings; for, as was said above,it is agreed by the...
How the dust of that place prevailed against fire [After 642 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 10
ABOUT the same time, another traveller, a Briton, as is reported, happened to pass by the same place, where the aforesaid battle was fought. Observing one particular spot of ground greener and more beautiful than any other part of the field, he had the wisdom to infer...
How a light from Heaven stood all night over his relics, and how those possessed with devils were healed by them [679-697 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 11
AMONG the rest, I think we ought not to pass over in silence the miracles and signs from Heaven that were shown when King Oswald’s bones were found, and translated into the church where they are now preserved. This was done by the zealous care of Osthryth, queen of...
How a little boy was cured of a fever at his tomb | Book 3 | Chapter 12
SOME time after, there was a certain little boy in the said monastery, who had been long grievously troubled with a fever; he was one day anxiously expecting the hour when his fit was to come on, when one of the brothers, coming in to him, said, "Shall I tell you, my...
How a certain person in Ireland was restored, when at the point of death, by his relics | Book 3 | Chapter 13
NOR was the fame of the renowned Oswald confined to Britain, but, spreading rays of healing light even beyond the sea, reached also to Germany and Ireland. For the most reverend prelate, Acca,is wont to relate, that when, in his journey to Rome,he and his bishop...
How on the death of Paulinus, Ithamar was made Bishop of Rochester in his stead; and of the wonderful humility of King Oswin, who was cruelly slain by Oswy [644-651 A. D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 14
OSWALD being translated to the heavenly kingdom, his brother Oswy,a young man of about thirty years of age, succeeded him on the throne of his earthly kingdom, and held it twenty-eight years with much trouble, being attacked by the pagan nation of the Mercians, that...
How Bishop Aidan foretold to certain seamen that a storm would arise, and gave them some holy oil to calm it. [Between 642 and 645 AD.] | Book 3 | Chapter 15
How great the merits of Aidan were, was made manifest by the Judge of the heart, with the testimony of miracles, whereof it will suffice to mention three, that they may not be forgotten. A certain priest, whose name was Utta, 2 a man of great weight and sincerity, and...
How the same Aidan, by his prayers, saved the royal city when it was fired by the enemy [Before 651 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 16
ANOTHER notable miracle of the same father is related by many such as were likely to have knowledge thereof; for during the time that he was bishop, the hostile army of the Mercians, under the command of Penda, cruelly ravaged the country of the Northumbrians far and...
How a prop of the church on which Bishop Aidan was leaning when he died, could not be consumed when the rest of the Church was on fire; and concerning his inward life [651 A. D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 17
AIDAN was in the king’s township, not far from the city of which we have spoken above, at the time when death caused him to quit the body, after he had been bishop sixteen years; for having a church and a chamber in that place, he was wont often to go and stay there,...
Of the life and death of the religious King Sigbert [Circ. 631 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 18
AT this time, the kingdom of the East Angles, after the death of Earpwald, the successor of Redwald, was governed by his brother Sigbert, a good and religious man, who some time before had been baptized in Gaul, whilst he lived in banishment, a fugitive from the...
How Fursa built a monastery among the East Angles, and of his visions and sanctity, to which, his flesh remaining uncorrupted after death bore testimony [Circ. 633 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 19
WHILST Sigbert still governed the kingdom, there came out of Ireland a holy man called Fursa, renowned both for his words and actions, and remarkable for singular virtues, being desirous to live as a stranger and pilgrim for the Lord’s sake, wherever an opportunity...
How, when Honorius died, Deusdedit became Archbishop of Canterbury; and of those who were at that time bishops of the East Angles, and of the church of Rochester [653 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 20
IN the meantime, Felix, bishop of the East Angles, dying, when he had held that see seventeen years, Honorius ordained Thomas his deacon, of the province of the Gyrwas,in his place; and he being taken from this life when he had been bishop five years, Bertgils,...
How the province of the Midland Angles became Christian under King Peada [653 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 21
AT this time, the Middle Angles, that is, the Angles of the Midland country (probably Leicestershire) under their Prince Peada, the son of King Penda, received the faith and mysteries of the truth. Being an excellent youth, and most worthy of the name and office of a...
How under King Sigbert, through the preaching of Cedd, the East Saxons again received the faith, which they had before cast off [653 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 22
AT that time, also, the East Saxons, at the instance of King Oswy, again received the faith, which they had formerly cast off when they expelled Mellitus, their bishop.For Sigbert,who reigned next to Sigbert surnamed The Little, was then king of that nation, and a...
How Bishop Cedd, having a place for building a monastery given him by King Etheiwald, consecrated it to the Lord with prayer and fasting; and concerning his death [659-664 A. D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 23
THE same man of God, whilst he was bishop among the East Saxons, was also wont oftentimes to visit his own province, Northumbria, for the purpose of exhortation. Oidilwald, the son of King Oswald, who reigned among the Deiri, finding him a holy, wise, and good man,...
How when King Penda was slain, the province of the Mercians received the faith of Christ, and Oswy gave possessions and territories to God, for building monasteries, as a thank offering for the victory obtained [655 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 24
AT this time, King Oswy was exposed to the cruel and intolerable invasions of Penda, king of the Mercians, whom we have so often mentioned, and who had slain his brother; at length, compelled by his necessity, he promised to give him countless gifts and royal marks of...
How the question arose about the due time of keeping Easter, with those that came out of Scotland [664 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 25
IN the meantime, Bishop Aidan being taken away from this life, Finan, who was ordained and sent by the Scots, succeeded him in the bishopric, and built a church in the Isle of Lindisfarne, fit for the episcopal see; nevertheless, after the manner of the Scots, he made...
How Colman, being worsted, returned home, and Tuda succeeded him in the bishopric, and of the state of the church under those teachers [664 A.D.] | Book 3 | Chapter 26
THE disputation being ended, and the assembly broken up, Agilbert returned home. Colman, perceiving that his doctrine was rejected, and his party despised, took with him those who wished to follow him, to wit, such as would not accept the Catholic Easter and the...