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regendis Divina præfecit auctoritas, ob generalis curam salutis latius propalari desideras.

Ut autem in his quæ scripsi, vel tibi, Magnanime Rex, vel ceteris auditoribus sive lectoribus hujus historiæ, occasionem dubitandi subtraham, quibus hæc maxime auctoribus didicerim breviter intimare curabo. Auctor ante omnes atque adjutor opusculi hujus Albinus abbas reverendissimus vir per omnia doctissimus exstitit; qui in ecclesia Cantuariorum a beatæ memoriæ Theodoro archiepiscopo et Hadriano abbate, viris venerabilibus atque eruditíssimis, institutus, diligenter omnia, quæ in ipsa Cantuariorum provincia, vel etiam in contiguis eidem regionibus, a discipulis beati papæ Gregorii gesta fuere, vel monimentis literarum vel seniorum traditione cognoverat; et ea mihi de his, quæ memoria digna videbantur, per religiosum Londoniensis ecclesiæ presbyterum Nothelmum, sive literis mandata, sive ipsius Nothelmi viva voce referenda, transmisit. Qui videlicet Nothelmus postea Romam veniens, nonnullas ibi beati Gregorii papæ simul et aliorum pontificum epistolas, perscrutato ejusdem sanctæ ecclesiæ Romanæ scrinio, permissu ejus, qui nunc ipsi ecclesiæ præest, Gregorii pontificis, invenit, reversusque nobis nostræ historiæ inserendas, cum consilio præfati Albini reverendissimi patris, attulit. A principio itaque voluminis hujus usque ad tempus quo gens Anglorum fidem Christi percepit, ex priorum maxime scriptis hinc inde collectis ea, quæ promeremus, didicimus. Exinde autem usque ad tempora præsentia, quæ in ecclesia Cantuariorum per discipulos beati papæ Gregorii, sive successores eorum, vel sub quibus regibus gesta sint, memorati abbatis Albini industria, Nothelmo, ut diximus, perferente, cognovimus. Qui etiam provinciæ Orientalium simul et Occidentalium Saxonum, nec non et Orientalium Anglorum atque Northanhumbrorum, a quibus præsulibus vel quorum tempore regum gratiam Evangelii percepe

and to those over whom the Divine Authority has appointed you governor, from your great regard to their general welfare. But that I may remove all occasion of doubting the truth of what I have written, both from yourself and other readers or hearers of this history, I will briefly intimate from what authors I chiefly learned the same.

Abbot of

Adrian.

My principal authority and aid in this work was the learned and reverend Abbot Albinus; who was educated in Albinus the Church of Canterbury by those venerable and learned Canterbury. men, Archbishop Theodore of blessed memory, and the Abbot Adrian, and transmitted to me by Nothelm, the Abbot pious priest of the Church of London, either in writing, Nothelm. or by word of mouth of the same Nothelm, all that he thought worthy of memory, that had been done in the province of Kent, or the adjacent parts, by the disciples of the blessed Pope Gregory, as he had learned the same either from written records, or the traditions of his ancestors. The same Nothelm afterwards went to Rome, and by permission of the present Pope Gregory, searched into the archives of the holy Roman Church, where he found some epistles of the blessed Pope Gregory, and other popes; and on his return home, by the advice of the aforesaid most reverend father Albinus, he brought them to me, to be inserted in my history. Thus, from the beginning of this volume to the time when the English nation received the faith of Christ, have we collected the writings of our predecessors, and from them gathered matter for our history; but from that time till the present, what was transacted in the Church of Canterbury, by the disciples of St. Gregory or their successors, and under what kings the same happened, has been conveyed to us by Nothelm through the industry of the aforesaid Abbot Albinus. They also partly informed me by what bishops and under what kings the provinces of the East and West Saxons, as also of the East Angles, and of the Northumbrians, received the

rint, nonnulla mihi ex parte prodiderunt. Denique, hortatu præcipue ipsius Albini, ut hoc opus aggredi auderem, provocatus sum. Sed et Daniel, reverendissimus Occidentalium Saxonum episcopus, qui nunc usque superest, nonnulla mihi de historia ecclesiastica provinciæ ipsius, simul et proxima illi Australium Saxonum, nec non et Vectæ insulæ, literis mandata declaravit. Qualiter vero per ministerium Cedd et Ceaddæ, religiosorum Christi sacerdotum, vel provincia Merciorum ad fidem Christi, quam non noverat, pervenerit, vel provincia Orientalium Saxonum fidem, quam olim exsufflaverat, recuperaverit, qualis etiam ipsorum patrum vita vel obitus exstiterit, diligenter a fratribus monasterii, quod ab ipsis conditum Lestingau cognominatur, agnovimus. Porro in provincia Orientalium Anglorum quæ fuerint gesta ecclesiastica, partim ex scriptis vel traditione priorum, partim reverendissimi abbatis Esii relatione, comperimus. At vero in provincia Lindissi, quæ sint gesta erga fidem Christi, quæve successio sacerdotalis exstiterit, vel literis reverendissimi antistitis Cuneberti, vel aliorum fidelium virorum viva voce, didicimus. Quæ autem in Northanhumbrorum provincia, ex quo tempore fidem Christi perceperunt usque ad præsens, per diversas regiones in ecclesia sint acta, non uno quolibet auctore, sed fideli innumerorum testium, qui hæc scire vel meminisse poterant, assertione cognovi, exceptis his quæ per me ipsum nosse poteram. Inter quæ notandum, quod ea quæ de sanctissimo patre et antistite Cuthberto vel in hoc volumine vel in libello gestorum ipsius conscripsi, partim ex eis quæ de illo prius a fratribus ecclesiæ Lindisfarnensis scripta reperi, assumsi, simpliciter fidem historiæ, quam legebam, accommodans; partim vero ea, quæ certissima fidelium virorum attestatione per me ipse cognoscere potui, solerter adjicere curavi. Lectoremque suppliciter obsecro ut, si qua in his quæ scripsimus aliter quam se veritas

faith of Christ. In short, I was chiefly encouraged to undertake this work by the persuasions of the same Albinus. In like manner, Daniel, the most reverend Bishop of the West Saxons, who is still living, communicated to me in writing some things relating to the Ecclesiastical History of that province, and the next adjoining to it of the South Saxons, as also of the Isle of Wight. But how, by the pious ministry of Cedd and Ceadda, the province of the Mercians was brought to the faith of Christ, which they knew not before, and how that of the East Saxons recovered the same, after having expelled it, and how those fathers lived and died, we learned from the brethren of the monastery, which was built by them, and is called Læstingau. What ecclesiastical transactions took place in the province of the East Angles, was partly made known to us from the writings and tradition of our ancestors, and partly by relation of the most reverend Abbot Esius. What was done towards promoting the faith, and what was the sacerdotal succession in the province of Lindsey, we had either from the letters of the most reverend prelate Cunebert, or by Bishop word of mouth from other persons of good credit. But what was done in the Church throughout the province of the Northumbrians, from the time when they received the faith of Christ till this present, I received not from any particular author, but by the faithful testimony of innumerable witnesses, who might know or remember the same; besides what I had of my own knowledge. Wherein it is to be observed, that what I have written concerning our most holy father, and Bishop Cuthbert, St. Cuthbert. either in this volume, or in my treatise on his life and actions, I partly took, and faithfully copied from what I found written of him by the brethren of the Church of Lindisfarne; but at the same time took care to add such things as I could myself have knowledge of by the faithful testimony of such as knew him. And I humbly entreat the reader, that if he shall in this that we have

Cunebert.

habet posita repererit, non hoc nobis imputet, qui, quæ vera lex historiæ est, simpliciter ea quæ, fama vulgante, collegimus, ad instructionem posteritatis literis mandare studuimus.

Præterea omnes ad quos hæc eadem historia pervenire poterit nostræ nationis legentes sive audientes suppliciter precor, ut pro meis infirmitatibus et mentis et corporis apud Supernam clementiam sæpius intervenire meminerint; et in suis quique provinciis hanc mihi suæ remunerationis vicem rependant, ut, qui de singulis provinciis sive locis sublimioribus, quæ memoratu digna atque incolis grata credideram, diligenter annotare curavi, apud omnes fructum piæ intercessionis inveniam.

CAP. I. DE SITU BRITANNIE VEL HIBERNIE, ET PRISCIS

EARUM INCOLIS.

RITANNIA, oceani insula, cui quondam Albion nomen fuit, inter septentrionem et occidentem locata est, Germaniæ, Galliæ, Hispaniæ, maximis Europæ partibus, multo intervallo adversa; quæ per millia passuum octingenta in Boream longa, latitudinis habet millia ducenta, exceptis duntaxat prolixioribus diversorum promontoriorum tractibus, quibus efficitur ut circuitus ejus quadragies octies septuaginta quinque millia compleat. Habet a meridie Galliam Belgicam, cujus proximum litus transmeantibus aperit civitas quæ dicitur Rutubi Portus, a gente Anglorum nunc corrupte Reptacestir vocata, interposito mari a Gessoriaco Morinorum gentis litore proximo, trajectu millium quinquaginta, sive, ut quidam scripsere, stadiorum quadringentorum quinquaginta. A tergo autem, unde oceano infinito patet, Orcadas insulas habet. Opima frugibus atque arboribus insula, et alendis apta pecoribus ac jumentis; vineas

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