CHAP. VL A.D. 653. Missionary surname of "Lamngwin," "he fair or free of hand,” had perished in battle against his restless foe the savage Penda, who, with pagan ferocity, ordered his head and arms to be severed from the trunk and fixed upon poles. On his death a division of the kingdom took place. Oswiu became king of Bernicia, and, after a lapse of two years, Oswin, son of Osric, of Deira. But the reign of the latter was brief, and he was murdered by the command of Oswiu. The new king strove to live on peaceable terms with the champion of paganism, the terrible Penda, and thinking thereby to strengthen his cause, accepted for his son the hand of Penda's daughter, and gave his own daughter to Peada, the son of the great chief, and ealdorman of the Middle Angles. This prince did not refuse to comply with the conditions which his father-in-law annexed to their union, and together with all his thanes and followers was baptized by Finan, the successor of Aidan in the see of Lindisfarne. After receiving the rite, Peada returned into Mercia with four missionaries to evangelize the Mercian people. These were Cedd, Adda, Betti, and Diuma'; they preached the word with much success, and many both high and low renounced their idolatry, and were received into the Church. Even Penda did not oppose their work. He had no objection, he said, to their preaching, he only hated and despised those who professed the faith of Christ without his works, and thought they were miserable creatures who were above obeying the God in whom they professed to believe 2. His own devotion to the "God of Battles" was at least sincere. Though his son had married the daughter of Oswiu, he still continued his inroads into the Northumbrian territory, till at last the king gave him one of his 1 An Irishman, see Lanigan, II. 428. "Quin potius odio habebat, et despiciebat eos, quos fide Christi imbutos, opera fidei non habere depre hendit, dicens contemnendos esse eos et miseros qui Deo suo in quem crederent obedire contemnerent." Bede, III. 21. CHAP. VI. A.D. 655. sons as a hostage, and promised innumerable royal ornaments and other presents, if he would only withdraw his devastating bands. But all was in vain. The old pagan king summoned his allies, the king of East Anglia, the king of Deira, and the king of Gwynedd, and marched against him, determined to gain the sovereignty of the whole island. Oswiu on his side prepared for the battle, and bade his little band put their trust in Christ. "Since the heathen," Defeat of Pen at Winiced fiord. he cried, "refuses to receive our presents, let us offer them to Him who will, the Lord our God'," and he vowed, if victorious, to give twelve estates for the erection of monasteries, and to devote his daughter to perpetual virginity and a cloister life. The battle began, and terminated in the complete rout of the pagans. The king of East Anglia, Penda himself, and nearly all his thirty auxiliary chiefs, were slain. The king of Gwynedd escaped under the veil of night, and the swollen stream of the Aire swept away multitudes of the rest. Oswiu fulfilled his vows. His daughter was devoted to perpetual celibacy, twelve estates were given up to the foundation of monasteries, and the new faith was firmly established in Mercia. Diuma, one of the missionaries who had accompanied Peada from Oswiu's court, was consecrated by Finan, the first bishop of the Middle Angles and the Mercians, the paucity of ecclesiastics making it necessary to place the two people under a single bishop. Diuma laboured with success, but dying before long at Reppington was succeeded by Ceollach, who also was an Irish-Scot3. He likewise held the see for but a brief period, and retired to the monastery of Iona, leaving in his place an Anglo-Saxon named Trum 1 "Si paganus nescit accipere nostra donaria offeramus ei qui novit, Domino Deo nostro." Bede, III. 24. At Winwéd field near Leeds. Or Cellach, a Scot or Irishman from Hy. Bede, III. 21, 24. Lanigan, 4 He had been instructed and or- CHAP. VI. here, who was a monk, but ordained bishop by the IrishScots. A.D. 655. Conversion of Essex also felt the influence of Oswiu's supremacy. Its king Sigebert was a friend of the king of Northumbria, and made frequent visits to his kingdom. During these the subject of the new faith was often discussed between them, and at length, moved by the earnest remonstrances of his friend, Sigebert abjured idolatry, was baptized by Finan, together with a number of his courtiers, and returned to Essex with Cedd, who was, after proof of successful labour, consecrated by Finan, bishop of the East Saxons'. Not many years before, on the death of Paulinus, Ithamar, an Anglo-Saxon of the province of Canterbury, was consecrated by Honorius bishop of Rochester, the first example of an Anglo-Saxon being raised to the episcopate; the same archbishop also nominated Thomas, from the province of the Gyrwas, to the bishopric of Dunwich, on the death of Felix, and on his own death, in 653, he was, after an interval of a year and six months, succeeded by an Anglo-Saxon, Deusdedit, of Wessex, who received his consecration at the hands of the Kentish bishop Ithamar, and lived to consecrate Damianus, a south Saxon, to the see of Rochester". This rapid growth of a native episcopate was a sign that the first stage in the missionary work was reached, and that a national English Church would be formed before long. As yet, however, there was one considerable obstacle to complete union between the different dioceses. Two rival bands had hitherto been employed in the evangelization of England; the Roman, assisted by their 1 "Ubi cum omnia perambulantes multam Domino ecclesiam congregasset,... contigit redire domum ac pervenire ad ecclesiam Lindisfaronensem, propter colloquium Finani episcopi; qui ubi prosperatum ei opus evangelii comperit, fecit eum episcopum in gentem orientalium Saxonum, vocatis ad se in ministerium ordinationis aliis duobus epis copis." Bede, III. 22. 2 Bede, III. 20. the Irish and sionaries. converts and some teachers from France, and the Irish, CHAP. VI who were plainly the larger body. Between the two A.D. 664. there were the old differences respecting the time of keep- Conflict between ing Easter, on which point, we have seen how an Irish Roman Mis bishop felt so keenly, as to refuse all communion with his brethren, who followed the Roman custom1. There was also a difference respecting the form of the clerical tonsure; the missionaries from Iona shaved the fore part of the head in the shape of a crescent, those from Rome shaved the crown of the head, which was surrounded by a circle of hair, supposed to represent the Saviour's crown of thorns. It is true that these differences affected externals only; but amongst a people only just weaned from idolatry, and as yet acquainted with little more than the externals of Christianity, such differences were fraught with much danger. They penetrated the palaces of the different kings, and produced no doubt considerable misunderstanding. Thus, while Oswiu was celebrating Easter, according to the custom he had learnt at Iona, his queen Eanfleda, a daughter of Edwin, who had spent her youth at the Kentish court, was still practicing the austerities of Lent. Again, his son and co-regent Ealhfrith, being influenced by Wilfrid, a priest of Northumbrian birth, strongly favoured the Roman party, and even expelled some Scotch monks from the monastery of Ripon, to make way for others of the party of his friend. It was plain that the scandal could not be allowed to continue, and it was arranged that an amicable conference on the points in dispute should be held at Whitby, in a monastery presided over by the abbess Hilda. Accordingly, Oswiu and his son repaired to the ap- Synod of Stre pointed place, and met the representatives of both parties. Whitby. 1 Bp. Dagan. See above p. 108. 2 The tonsure of the secundus ordo was ab aure ad aurem, the anterior half of the head being made bare, but the occiput left untouched. This usage existed in St Patrick's onesheath or CHAP. VI. A.D. 664. Wilfrid. On the side of the missionaries from Iona appeared Colman, who had succeeded Finan in the bishopric of Lindisfarne, Cedd bishop of Wessex, and the abbess Hilda herself. On the other side were Agilbert, who, as we have seen, had been promoted to the see of Dorchester, accompanied by a priest Agatho, Jacob, the deacon of Paulinus, Romanus, a Kentish priest belonging to the queen's household, and last, not least, Wilfrid, the friend of the king's son and co-regent. The future bishop of Yorkʻ was a Northumbrian, of noble birth; in his thirteenth year he had resolved to renounce the world, and through the influence of Oswiu's queen had been received into the monastery of Lindisfarne. There he had distinguished himself by his humility, devotion, and mental endowments, and above all by an earnest longing to behold and pray in the Church of the Apostle Peter at Rome. The first of the many converted Anglo-Saxons over whom at this period the mystic city on the Tiber exercised a strange fascination, he found an eager promoter of his wishes in the queen Eanfleda, who sent him to her brother the king of Kent. At his court the ardent Northumbrian became acquainted with the doctrines of the Roman Church, and hence in company with the eminent Benedict Biscop he embarked for the Continent. Arrived at Lyons, he so won the favour of the archbishop Delphinus that he might have married his brother's daughter, and occupied a high position in France. But he was bound for Rome, and nothing could turn him from his purpose. In the holy city, whither he was to be followed by many of his fellowcountrymen, he employed himself diligently in mastering the rules of ecclesiastical discipline, the Roman computation of Easter, and other points proper to be known by a priest of that Church. Returning thence a devoted adherent of the Roman see, he stayed three years at Lyons, and received the Roman tonsure from the archbishop. |