BOOK IV.1

"IN the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: in the reigns of our most pious lords, Egfrid, king of the Humbrians, his tenth year; Centwine, king of Wessex, the fifth year of his reign; Ethelred, king of the Mercians, the sixth year of his reign; Aldulf, king of the EastAngles, the seventeenth year of his reign; and Lothaire, king of Kent, the seventh year of his reign; on the 17th day of [the kalends of] October, the seventh indiction; Theodore, by the grace of God Archbishop of Canterbury and of the whole island of Britain, presiding, and the other bishops of the British Island, venerable men, sitting with him at the place which in the Saxon tongue is called Hethfeld; the holy gospels being placed before them.

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Having consulted together, we have set forth the true and orthodox belief, as our Lord Jesus Christ, when incarnate, delivered it to his disciples who saw him present and heard his words, and as it has been handed down to us by the creed of the holy Fathers, and, in general, by all the holy and universal councils, and with one voice by all the

1 Henry of Huntingdon, in this Fourth Book, returns to the general history of the English kings and people, the thread of which he had broken, to introduce in his Third Book an account of their conversion, and of ecclesiastical affairs generally, to the time when the last of the kings of the Heptarchy embraced the Christian faith; the period ranging from the arrival of St. Augustine and the conversion of Ethelbert and the kingdom of Kent, A.D. 597, to that of the South-Saxons, A.D. 681. Henry of Huntingdon, however, commences this Fourth Book by inserting a document, the synodal letter of the Council held at Hatfield [A.D. 680], which properly belongs to the subject of the Third Book; and as it would have formed a fitter conclusion to that part of his history, one does not see why it was reserved for the commencement of this. Henry of Huntingdon still follows Bede, as his main authority, to the point where Bede's History ends, in 731; making also occasional use of the Saxon Chronicle.

2 This Council was held A.D. 680, at Bishop's-Hatfield, in Hertfordshire.

approved doctors of the Catholic Church. We, therefore, following them religiously and orthodoxly, in conformity with their divinely-inspired doctrine, do profess that we firmly believe and confess, according to the holy Fathers, properly and truly, the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, a Trinity consubstantial in unity, and unity in trinity; that is, one God subsisting in three consubstantial persons of equal glory and honour."

And after more of this sort appertaining to the profession of the true faith, the holy Council added this to its synodal letter: " We accept the five holy and general councils of the blessed Fathers acceptable to God; viz., that of Nice, where 318 bishops were assembled against the heretic Arius and his most impious doctrines; that of Constantinople, composed of 150 bishops, against the insane tenets of Macedonius and Eudoxius; the first council of Ephesus, of 200 bishops, against the wicked subtlety of Nestorius and his doctrines, that of Chalcedon, composed of 430 bishops against Eutyches and Nestorius and their tenets; and the fifth council which was again assembled at Constantinople in the reign of Justinian the younger, against Theodore and Theodoret, as well as the epistles of Iba and their controversies with Cyril." And a little afterwards: "We receive also the council held at Rome, when the most holy Martin was Pope, the first indiction, and in the ninth year of the most pious Emperor Constantine: and we glorify our Lord Jesus Christ as the holy Fathers glorified Him, neither adding nor diminishing anything; and we anathematize with heart and mouth those whom they anathematized, and whom they received we receive, giving glory to God the Father, who was without beginning, and to his only-begotten Son, begotten by the Father before all ages, and to the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son in an ineffable manner, as they taught who have been already mentioned, the holy apostles, prophets, and doctors. We also, who with Theodore, archbishop, have thus set forth the Catholic faith, have subscribed our names thereto."

There were present at this synod, John, the precentor of the church of St. Peter at Rome, and abbot of the monastery of St. Martin, who had lately come from Rome by order of Pope Agatho, as also the venerable Abbot Bene

dict who had founded a monastery dedicated to St. Peter near the mouth of the river Were1. He had gone to Rome to obtain a confirmation of the privileges granted to that monastery by King Egbert, and now returned in company with the said John the precentor. Benedict was succeeded by Abbot Ceolfrid, under whom Bede lived. John taught them to sing in this monastery after the Roman practice. He also left there a copy of the decrees of the council held by Pope Martin, at which he was present. As he was returning to Rome, carrying with him the testimony of the conformity of the faith of the English bishops, he died on the way at Tours, where he was buried 2.

Having now treated of these [ecclesiastical] affairs, I return to a continuation of the history of the English kings, from which we broke off at the end of the Second Book and the sequel of our narrative must be connected with that context, that it may now proceed in regular order. [A.D. 686.] After the death of Kentwin, king of the West-Saxons, Ceadwall, who succeeded him, with the aid of his brother Mul, obtained by force possession of the Isle of Wight. This Mul, his brother, was a man of courteous and pleasing manners, of prodigious strength, and of noble aspect, so that he was generally esteemed, and his renown was very great. These two brothers made an irruption into the province of Kent for the sake of exhibiting their prowess and augmenting their glory. They were not yet baptized, though their predecessors, and the whole nation, had become Christians. They met with no opposition in their invasion of Kent, and plundered the whole kingdom. For, at this time, the throne was vacant by the death of Lothaire, king of Kent. This enterprising king had been wounded. in a battle with the East-Saxons, against whom he had marched in concert with Edric, son of Egbert, and so severe were his wounds, that he died in the hands of those who endeavoured to heal them. After him Edric reigned

1 Now Monk-Wearmouth, where Venerable Bede passed the early part of his monastic life.

2 Bede's Eccles. Hist., book iv. cc. 17, 18.

3 Book II. concludes with the year 681, the period of the conversion of the last of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and with a summary of the reigns of all the kings of the Heptarchy to that time. See p. 63.

one year in Kent without the love and respect of his people'. Meanwhile [A.D. 684] died Egfrid, king of Northumbria. The year before he had sent an army into Ireland under his general Beorht, who miserably wasted the inoffensive inhabitants, though they had been always friendly to the English. However, the Irish made all the resistance they could, and, imploring the aid of the divine mercy, invoked the vengeance of God on their enemies with continual imprecations. Those, indeed, who curse cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; but it is believed that those who were thus justly cursed, on account of their cruelty, did soon suffer the penalty of their guilt under the avenging hand of God. For the very next year afterwards, that same king, rashly leading his army to ravage the country of the Picts, much against the advice of his friends, and particularly of Cuthbert, of blessed memory, lately ordained bishop (for the same year the king had made him bishop of Lindisfarne), he was drawn by a feigned retreat of the enemy into the recesses of inaccessible mountains, where he was cut off with the greatest part of his army. It was his lot to fail of hearing the shouts for his recall raised by his friends, as he had refused to hear the voice of Father Egbert, dissuading him from the invasion of the Irish who had done him no wrong.

From that time the hopes and courage of the English began to fail, and, "tottering, to slide backwards:" for on the one hand, the Picts recovered that part of their territory which had been occupied by the English, and on the other, the Britons regained some degree of liberty, which they still enjoy. Among the fugitives was a man of God, named Trumwine, abbot of Abercorn, a place just within the English pale, but near the straits which divide the country of the English from that of the Picts. He retired to the monastery of Streneshalch 3, often mentioned before, and there he died. On King Egfrid's death he was succeeded by Alfrid, a man very learned in the Scriptures, who is reported to have been Egfrid's brother, and the son of

1 Bede, book iv. c. 26.

2 i. e. in the time of Bede, from whom Henry of Huntingdon is quoting; "which they have now enjoyed," says Bede, "for about 46 years.' Book iv. c. 26. 3 Whitby.

King Oswy: he nobly retrieved the ruined condition of the kingdom, though it was now reduced within narrower bounds.

[A.D. 687.] Ceadwall, in the second year of his reign, gave permission to his brother Mul, a brave warrior, to make a predatory excursion into Kent, followed by a band of brave youths. He was allured by the rich booty which had been gained the preceding year1, nor did he despise the reward of a glorious renown. On this irruption into Kent, finding no one able to resist him, the country was reduced to a solitude by his ravages, and he cruelly afflicted the inoffensive servants of Christ. But he was made to feel the justice of their curses. For believing the enemy to be quite enervated, and foreseeing no opposition to his violence, he made an attempt to plunder a certain mansion remote from his camp, followed by only twelve soldiers. Finding himself, however, here surrounded by numbers he had not expected, he fought desperately, and slew many of the enemy; but resistance was vain, for though he stood his ground against their assaults, they had recourse to setting fire to the house, and Mul, with every one of his twelve followers, perished in the flames. Thus fell the

flower of the youth of Wessex, upon which his band of young warriors dispersed; and thus it appears how vain is all confidence in human might, when opposed to the almighty power of God. When this reverse was reported to Ceadwall, he again entered Kent, and after a fearful slaughter and immense pillage, when there was no longer any one to slay or anything to plunder, he retired to his own dominions, exulting in his triumphant success and cruel revenge.

[A.D. 688.] After reigning two years 2, Ceadwall abdicated his kingdom for the sake of God, and of a kingdom which is everlasting, and went to Rome; considering that it would be a singular honour for him to be baptized there and then die. Accordingly, Pope Sergius baptized him, giving him the name of the apostle Peter. Seven days afterwards, on the 20th day of April, according to his wish, the

1 Ceadwall himself, attended by Mul, led the inroad the year before.-See Sax. Chron. 2 Bede, book v. c. 7.