Further Excerpts From a History of the Anglish People;
By Bede of Jarway
1988 Translation, Eoforwick press.
Statue of St Aidan of Lindisfarne at Dunholm Priory, from the 13th Century
CHAPTER VII 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. [A.D. 635.]
THE same Oswald, as soon as he ascended the throne, being desirous that all his nation should receive the Christian faith, whereof he had found happy experience in vanquishing the barbarians, sent to the elders of the Scots, among whom himself and his followers, when in banishment, had received the sacrament of baptism, desiring they would send him a bishop, by whose instruction and ministry the Anglish nation, which he governed, might be taught the advantages, and receive the sacraments of the Christian faith. Nor were they slow in granting his request; but sent him Bishop Aidan, a man of singular meekness, piety, and moderation; zealous in the cause of God, though not altogether according to knowledge; for he was wont to keep Easter Sunday according to the custom of his country, which we have before so often mentioned, from the fourteenth to the twentieth moon; the northern province of the Scots, and all the nation of the Picts, celebrating Easter then after that manner, and believing that they therein followed the writings of the holy and praiseworthy Father Anatolius; the truth of which every skilful person can discern. So the people of Northumbria, long under rule of Pagan kings received the blessing of the church (1)
But the Scots which dwelt in the South of Ireland had long since, by the admonition of the bishop of the Apostolic See, learned to observe Easter according to the canonical custom. 98 On the arrival of the bishop, the king appointed him his episcopal see in the isle of Lindisfarne, as he desired. Which place, as the tide flows and ebbs twice a day, is enclosed by the waves of the sea like an island; and again, twice in the day, when the shore is left dry, becomes contiguous to the land. The king also humbly and willingly in all cases giving ear to his admonitions, industriously applied himself to build and extend the church of Christ in his kingdom; wherein, when the bishop, who was not skilful in the Anglish tongue, preached the gospel, it was most delightful to see the king himself interpreting the word of God to his commanders and ministers, for he had perfectly learned the language of the Scots during his long banishment.
From that time many of the Scots came daily into Britain, and with great devotion preached the word to those provinces of the Anglish, over which King Oswald reigned, and those among them that had received priest's orders, administered to them the grace of baptism. Churches were built in several places; the people joyfully flocked together to hear the word; money and lands were given of the king's bounty to build monasteries; the Anglish, great and small, were, by their Scottish masters, instructed in the rules and observance of regular discipline; for most of them that came to preach were monks. Bishop Aidan was himself a monk of the island called Hii, whose monastery was for a long time the chief of almost all those of the northern Scots, and all those of the Picts, and had the direction of their people. That island belongs to Britain, being divided from it by a small arm of the sea, but had been long since given by the Picts, who inhabit those parts of Britain, to the Scottish monks, because they had received the faith of Christ through their preaching.
CHAPTER VIII
WHEN THE NATION OF THE PICTS RECEIVED THE FAITH. [A.D. 565]
(As OTL’s Book II, Chapter IV, as it’s a jump back in the narrative
CHAPTER IX OF THE LIFE OF BISHOP AIDAN. [A.D. 635.]
FROM the aforesaid island, and college of monks, was Aidan sent to instruct the Anglish nation in Christ, having received the dignity of a bishop at the time when Segenius, abbot and priest, presided over that monastery; whence, among other instructions for life, he left the clergy a most salutary example of abstinence or continence; it was the highest commendation of his doctrine, with all men, that he taught no otherwise than he and his followers had lived; for he neither sought nor loved anything of this world, but delighted in distributing immediately among the poor whatsoever was given him by the kings or rich men of the world.
He was wont to traverse both town and country on foot, never on horseback, unless compelled by some urgent necessity; and wherever in his way he saw any, either rich or poor, he invited them, if infidels, to embrace the mystery of the faith or if they were believers, to strengthen them in the faith, and to stir them up by words and actions to alms and good works. His course of life was so different from the slothfulness of our times, that all those who bore him company, whether they were shorn monks or laymen, were employed in meditation, that is, either in reading the Scriptures, or learning psalms. This was the daily employment of himself and all that were with him, wheresoever they went; and if it happened, which was but seldom, that he was invited to eat with the king, he went with one or two clerks, and having taken a small repast, made haste to be gone with them, either to read or write.
At that time, many religious men and women, stirred up by his example, adopted the custom of fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays, till the ninth hour, throughout the year, except during the fifty days after Easter. He never gave money to the powerful men of the world, but only meat, if he happened to entertain them; and, on the contrary, whatsoever gifts of money he received from the rich, he either distributed them, as has been said, to the use of the poor, or bestowed them in ransoming such as had been wrong. Fully sold for slaves. Moreover, he afterwards made many of those he had ransomed his disciples, and after having taught and instructed them, advanced them to the order of priesthood.
It is reported, that when King Oswald had asked a bishop of the Scots to administer the word of faith to him and his nation, there was first sent to him another man of more austere disposition, who, meeting with no success, and being unregarded by the Anglish people, returned home, and in an assembly of the elders reported, that he had not been able to do any good to the nation he had been sent to preach to, because they were uncivilized men, and of a stubborn and barbarous disposition. They, as is testified, in a great council seriously debated what was to be done, being desirous that the nation should receive the salvation it demanded, and grieving that they had not received the preacher sent to them. Then said Aidan, who was also present in the council, to the priest then spoken of, "I am of opinion, brother, that you were more severe to your unlearned hearers than you ought to have been and did not at first, conformably to the apostolic rule, give them the milk of more easy doctrine, till being by degrees nourished with the word of God, they should be capable of greater perfection, and be able to practice God's sublimer precepts." Having heard these words, all present began diligently to weigh what he had said, and presently concluded, that he deserved to be made a bishop, and ought to be sent to instruct the incredulous and unlearned; since he was found to be endued with singular discretion, which is the mother of other virtues, and accordingly being ordained, they sent him to their friend, King Oswald, to preach; and he, as time proved, afterwards appeared to possess all other virtues, as well as the discretion for which he was before remarkable.
CHAPTER VI OF KING OSWALD'S WONDERFUL PIETY. [A.D. 635.]
KING OSWALD, with the nation of the Anglish which he governed being instructed by the teaching of this most reverend prelate, not only learned to hope for a heavenly kingdom unknown to his progenitors, but also obtained of the same one Almighty God, who made heaven and earth, larger earthly kingdoms than any of his ancestors. In short, he brought under his dominion all the nations and provinces of Britain, which are divided into four languages, viz. the Britons, the Picts, the Scots, and the Anglish. When raised to that height of dominion, wonderful to relate, he always continued humble, affable, and generous to the poor and Strangers.
In short, it is reported, that when he was once sitting at dinner, on the holy day of Easter, with the aforesaid bishop, and a silver dish full of dainties before him, and they were just ready to bless the bread, the servant, whom he had appointed to relieve the poor, came in on a sudden, and told the king, that a great multitude of needy persons from all parts were sitting in the streets begging some alms of the king; he immediately ordered the meat set before him to be carried to the poor, and the dish to be cut in pieces and divided among them. At which sight, the bishop who sat by him, much taken with such an act of piety, laid hold of his right hand, and said, "May this hand never perish." Which fell out according to his prayer, for his arm and hand, being cut off from his body, when he was slain in battle, remain entire and uncorrupted to this day, and are kept in a silver case, as revered relics, in St. Peter's church in the royal city, which has taken Its name from Bebba, one of its former queens. Through this king's management the provinces of the Deiri and the Bernicians, which till then had been at variance, were peacefully united and molded into one people. He was nephew to King Edwin by his sister Acha; and it was fit that so great a predecessor should have in his Own family so great a person to succeed him in his religion and sovereignty.
CHAPTER VII HOW THE EAST SAXONS RECIEVED THE FAITH AND A CHURCH WAS ESTABLISHED AT SULIS [A.D. 635.]
AT that time, the West Saxons, formerly called Gewissae, in the reign of Cynegils, had for some fourty years embraced the faith of Christ, at the preaching of Bishop Augustine and his successors. The king also dying, his son Coinwalch succeeded him in the throne for he put away the sister of Penda, king of the Mercians, whom he had married, and took another wife believing he could no remain married to a pagan regardless of any other matters political; (1) whereupon a war ensuing, he was by him expelled his kingdom, and withdrew to Anna, king of the East Saxons, where living three years in banishment and told Anna of the true faith for which he had risked and lost his kingdom. In these three years he converted Anna to the truth faith and saw him baptised though by chance it was a missionary sent by Aidan by way of Oswald of Northumbria rather than of the Augustine Church(3).
But when Coinwalch was restored to his kingdom, there came into that province out of Ireland, a certain bishop called Agilbert, by nation a Frenchman, but who had then lived a long time in Ireland, for the purpose of reading the Scriptures. This bishop came of his own accord to serve this king, and preach to him the word of life. The king, observing his erudition and industry, desired him to accept an episcopal see and travelled south and established a church upon the town which was called Wintancestir and set himself subservient to Glouwcester (4)
CHAPTER VIII HOW EARCONBERT, KING OF KENT RECEIVED THE FAITH FROM THE PRIESTS OF LINDISFARNE. [A.D. 640]
SEEING much of the south without the lightof rome, many priests went forth from Lindisfarne with the blessing of both Bishop Aidan and King Oswald. One such priest was Finian, an Irish priest who had followed Aidan from Iona to the Holy Island. He travelled south to the east Saxons, where he was welcomed by king Anna and for some time helped Anna build the church in its people within that kingdom. He travelled on, crossing the Thames to Canterbury, site of Augustine’s failure upon arrival in Angland. Seeing the conversion of both the Northumbrians , East Saxons and many others, Earconbert received Finian, who had learnt the tongues of the Anglish from Anna and Oswald and in the chapel of Augustine and Saint Martin baptised Earconbert.
Upon having reciieved the Holy Spirit, the Kentish King asked Finian to remain and re-establish St Martin’s as “a Lindisfarne of the south” and although Finian saw the King’s request perhaps coming from greed and a desire for greater royal stature with jealousy of Northumbria, he saw the idea was not without merit. So Finian began teaching the holy scripture in Canterbury and in the years that followed would build an abbey to be a hone to those who might give their life to Christ as his holy brother Aidan had in Bernicia.
- As OTL, but with a much lesser Christian presence in Britain, Aidan’s followers would have their work cut out for them, but have no competition, for want of a better way of putting it, from Catholic missionaries.
- Here in the original OTL text Bede comments on the followers of Columba not following Catholic Doctrine.
- In OTL Anna converted Coinwalch/Cenwalh, I’m having a little fun and reversing it. Though the missionary converting Anna is one of Aidans rather than from the Augustine church in Glecaster/Glowecester
- In this TL, Agilbert still travels to the west Saxons but his role is different given the smaller church
- In OTL Finian was the second bishop of Lindisfarne, with a slightly more expansionist feel to the church in Northumbria,
