The Prologue to the Following Work Begins #

In the Time of the Kings #

¹ During the time of the kings, the region of the Northumbrians was the general name given to all the land from the river Humber as far as another river called Tweed.

² This region was divided into two provinces: Deira, which began at Humber and ended at the river Tees; and Bernicia, which extended from Tees to Tweed. Thus, some kings of the Northumbrians ruled only over the Deirans, such as Ælle; some ruled only over the Bernicians, such as Adda, son of the same Ælle; and some ruled over both, such as Edwin, son of that same Ælle, Saint Oswald, and, after him, his brother Oswiu. From the time of this Oswiu, both regions remained under one kingdom.

In the Time of the Consuls #

¹ Then, in the time of the consuls, the land between Tyne and Tweed began to be called Northumbria. At the present day, however, the province of the Northumbrians is the land beginning at the rivers Tyne and Derwent. These rivers form the boundary on that side between the holy land of Cuthbert and the county of Northumbria, which extends as far as Tweed, with Westmorland Cumberland on the west and, on the east, the sea called Ocean.

² The provinces mentioned above received the faith of Christ at different times. In the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 627, which was the eleventh year of his reign, King Edwin was baptised at York on Easter Day by blessed Paulinus, the disciple of Saint Pope Gregory, and Deira was converted to the catholic faith of Christ. In that same year, a church in honour of Saint Peter the Apostle was founded at York by those same men. Then, seven years later, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 634, Bernicia received Christianity through the preaching of Saints Oswald, king and martyr, and Aidan, bishop. Soon afterwards, in that same year, they founded the Lindisfarne church in honour of Saint Peter, prince of the Apostles. Then, after forty years had passed, around the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 674, the Hexham church was founded in honour of Saint Andrew the Apostle by Wilfrid of blessed memory, bishop of York. Thus, in ancient times, these three churches alone were initially renowned for episcopal dignity throughout the whole nation of the Northumbrians. Among them, Hexham, although founded later, was nevertheless not considered inferior in the abundance of its possessions, the richness of its ornaments or the glory of its dignities, except that York was always the metropolitan church. This was because the same father Wilfrid and blessed Queen Æthelthryth, being both exceedingly rich in earthly wealth and deeply devoted to the worship of God, strove to magnify and exalt it with the utmost concentration of mind and all the eagerness of their spirits.

³ Thus Saint Wilfrid was the first to occupy the episcopal see there. After he was expelled and went into exile, Tunberht, Eata and John succeeded him there in order. Then the father himself returned and fully recovered it. After his death there, he was succeeded by Saint Acca, his priest. These men, therefore, and other holy and venerable men who governed the same church with episcopal authority, made it illustrious and praiseworthy through their glorious lives and exemplary conduct. Moreover, they left behind very many memorable accounts of their deeds and sayings, both there and in other places. Almost all of these were destroyed by the region’s repeated devastation and the long passage of time. Nevertheless, we have gathered into one place, as far as we were able, the few things that we found scattered through the writings of the ancients. From these, those who are practised in judging greater things from the smallest may understand, at least in some measure, how great and of what character that church was in ancient times.

The Preface to the Following Work Ends #

The Chapters Begin #

¹ * Chapter One: How, by Whom and When the Hexham Church Was Built, and Why It Is Called Hexham.

• Chapter Two: Why, and for What Reasons, Two Bishops Were Consecrated to the York Church in the Time of Blessed Wilfrid, to Which He Himself Was Elected and Consecrated.
• Chapter Three: The Construction and Marvellous Workmanship of the Hexham Church.
• Chapter Four: The Other Churches of the Same Place, and a Deaf, Mute and Leprous Man Healed Through the Miracle of Saint John.
• Chapter Five: The Inviolable Peace for One Mile Around the Church; the Authorities and Confirmations of Archbishops and Bishops; the Privileges of the Apostolici; the Liberties Granted by Kings; the Gifts Bestowed upon the Church by Princes; and the Boundaries of the Bishopric of the Church Itself.
• Chapter Six: How Blessed Wilfrid Attained the Episcopate, and How He Conducted Himself as Bishop.
• Chapter Seven: How Saint Æthelthryth Gave Saint Wilfrid, Whom She Loved Familiarly and Especially, Hexham with the Surrounding Region, Which She Had Received from King Ecgfrith as Her Dowry, So That He Might Establish a Bishopric for Himself There.
• Chapter Eight: The First Expulsion of Saint Wilfrid, Archbishop of York.
• Chapter Nine: In Which Year after the Incarnation of the Lord Saint Cuthbert Was Converted; How Abbot Eata Received the Lindisfarne Church to Govern, as He Had the Melrose Church; How He Transferred Saint Cuthbert from Melrose to Ripon; and How He Afterwards Caused Him to Return to the Lindisfarne Church to Preside with the Authority of Prior.
• Chapter Ten: How Saint Cuthbert Was Elected to the Hexham Church, Why He Accepted Lindisfarne, and the Four Holy Bishops Who Were Contemporaries.
• Chapter Eleven: How Saint Wilfrid, after the Completion of the Eight Years of His First Expulsion, Received the Hexham Bishopric, While Saint John, Transferred from the Hexham Church, Received the York.
• Chapter Twelve: The Second Exile of Saint Wilfrid, His Recall and His Blessed Death.
• Chapter Thirteen: A Recapitulation of the Years of the Same Holy Bishops, John and Wilfrid.
• Chapter Fourteen: When Saint Acca, Priest, a Most Energetic Man, Great before God and Men, a Most Skilled Singer and Most Learned in Sacred Letters, Received the Hexham Church as the Church of His See; How He Adorned It with Marvellous and Varied Beauty, Enlarged It with Magnificent Gifts and Enriched It with Manifold Generosity.
• Chapter Fifteen: How Saint Acca the Bishop Was Driven from His See, and How, as Testimony to His Holiness, the Shroud, Chasuble and Tunic in Which His Body Had Been Wrapped Were Found after Many Years with Their Original Beauty and Strength.
• Chapter Sixteen: The Times of the Three Bishops, Namely Frithubeorht, Alchmund and Tilberht.
• Chapter Seventeen: The Miserable Death of Ælfwald, King of Northumbria; the Reign of King Osred; and the Synod at Aycliffe.
• Chapter Eighteen: The Course of the Years of the Three Bishops, Namely Æthelberht, Heardred and Eanberht; and How Æthelberht Left His See in Whithorn and Received the Hexham Church.
• Chapter Nineteen: The Order, Number and Course of Years of the Hexham Bishops before the Most Wretched Devastation and Utter Desolation of the Region of Northumbria, Carried Out by King Halfdan of Denmark.

The Chapters of the First Book End #

A Certain Brief Account by Richard of Blessed Memory, Prior of the Hexham Church, Concerning the Ancient and Modern State of that Church and its Bishops Begins #

Chapter One: How, by Whom and When the Hexham Church Was Built, and Why It Is Called Hexham. #

¹ In the province of the Northumbrians, not far from the river Tyne and situated to the south, there is a certain settlement which is now small and sparsely inhabited, but which, as the remains of antiquity testify, was once large and magnificent. It is called Hexham, meaning the estate of Hestild, after a stream named Hestild which flows there and sometimes swells like a torrent. The blessed Queen Æthelthryth, daughter of Anna, king of the East Angles, was first betrothed to a prince of the South Gyrwe named Tondberht; but after he died a short time later, she was then betrothed to Ecgfrith, king of the Northumbrians. Nevertheless, under God’s protection, she always preserved the glory of her virgin integrity untouched. She therefore gave the same settlement, together with the surrounding region, to Saint Wilfrid, whom she loved greatly and who was then bishop of York, around the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 674, as a perpetual alms, so that he might exalt it with an episcopal see, which he was the first to occupy and which others after him would occupy by ecclesiastical right.

Chapter Two: Why, and for What Reasons, Two Bishops Were Consecrated to the York Church in the Time of Blessed Wilfrid, to Which He Himself Was Elected and Consecrated. #

¹ It is therefore believed that he finally yielded the York church, to which he had first been elected and consecrated, to those other prelates who had been consecrated there in his place while he remained, or rather lived in exile, overseas. He himself devoted all his care and effort to constructing and building the same place: partly because of his love for his most beloved lady, namely the same queen; partly because of the more secluded and peaceful life that he could lead there; partly because the Christian religion in those parts was still young and newly established; partly also because he knew from the Decrees of the Fathers that, except in cases of great necessity, one bishop was not permitted to possess two bishoprics at the same time; and partly because Pope Agatho had advised at the Roman council that another bishop should be appointed in his place in the York church, and that he himself should possess and restore his new bishopric.

² That the practice of the Christian faith was still young in those parts is especially clear from the fact that the region had received the faith of Christ only about forty years earlier. For the people of the Bernicians were converted to the faith of Christ through the preaching of Saints Oswald, king and martyr, and Aidan, bishop of Lindisfarne, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 634.

Chapter Three: The Construction and Marvellous Workmanship of the Hexham Church. #

¹ Thus Saint Wilfrid, around the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 674, when he was about forty years of age, in approximately the tenth year of his episcopate and the fourth year of the reign of Ecgfrith, built in the same settlement a church in honour of God and Saint Andrew the Apostle, in return for the benefit that he had obtained through his intercession, constructing it with the most skilful workmanship. For when he first came to Rome, he regularly attended the Apostle’s church and asked to be assured of the remission of his sins, for which he prayed most earnestly, by being delivered, through the Apostle’s intervention, from the slowness of his understanding and the roughness of his speech. Without delay, through the prayers of His beloved Apostle, the gracious goodness of God bestowed such grace upon His faithful servant that he became aware that he possessed a most ready quickness of mind for learning anything, and a fitting eloquence of speech for explaining anything he understood. Afterwards, through the salvation of innumerable souls whom he gained for God, he shone with the greatest distinction in the holy Church.

² Description of the Hexham Church. He therefore laid the foundations of the church to a great depth, with underground crypts and oratories and winding passages beneath, all constructed with great skill. He raised walls of immense length and height, supported by square, varied and finely polished columns, and divided into three storeys. He also adorned the walls, the capitals of the columns supporting them and the arch of the sanctuary with histories, images and various carved figures projecting from the stone, as well as with a pleasing variety of paintings and colours and marvellous beauty. He surrounded the main body of the church on every side with annexes and porticoes, which he divided above and below, through the walls and spiral stairways, with marvellous and indescribable craftsmanship. Within and above those spiral stairways, he caused stone staircases, galleries and various winding passages, now ascending and now descending, to be constructed with such extraordinary skill that an innumerable multitude of people could remain there and surround the main body of the church, yet could not be seen by anyone standing within it below. He also established, with the greatest diligence and care, very many secluded and beautiful oratories above and below within those porticoes. In them he caused altars, with all their furnishings, to be most honourably prepared in honour of the Blessed Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary, Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint John the Baptist, and the holy Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins. Consequently, even to this day, some of them rise above the rest like towers and battlements. Our poor little account is not sufficient to explain which relics, and of which Saints, he gathered there; which and how devout were the persons he assembled; how great was the number of ministers serving God there with devotion; or how magnificently and religiously he adorned the interior of the basilica with precious treasures of books, vestments, every kind of vessel and other ornaments suitable for the use of the holy Church. He also enclosed the courtyard of the church with a wall of great thickness and strength. In addition, an aqueduct in a stone channel ran through the middle of the settlement for the use of the service buildings. We pass over the many and exceedingly extensive structures of buildings that devastation and desolation have destroyed, although many foundations are still found scattered there. For, as the ancient Histories and Chronicles testify, among the nine monasteries over which the same prelate presided as father and patron, and among all the others throughout England, this one excelled in skilful design and exceptional beauty. Indeed, on this side of the Alps, no church like it could be found at that time.

Chapter Four: The Other Churches at the Same Place, and a Deaf, Mute and Scabby Man Healed Through a Miracle of Saint John. #

¹ Besides these, there are still two other churches in the same settlement. One, not far from the wall of the mother church, is itself a work of marvellous craftsmanship, built in the form of a tower and almost round, with four porticoes on its four sides, and dedicated in honour of Saint Mary, ever Virgin. The other, dedicated in honour of Saint Peter the Apostle, is somewhat further away.

² There is also an oratory dedicated in veneration of Saint Michael the Archangel, beyond the river Tyne, on a hill overlooking the bank of that same river and situated to the north. It is called Eagle Hill in Anglicè and Eagle Hill in Latinè. There, Saint John, first bishop of the same church and afterwards of York, is said to have healed a mute man afflicted with a skin disease. There also, through the mercy of God and the intercession of His Saints, miracles, wonders and cures of illnesses frequently occur to this day. Thus, in modern times, while David rex Scotland was devastating Northumbria in the course of fierce hostilities against Stephen regem England, two Picts from his army happened to come to that oratory, broke down its door and carried away with them what they found there. But the vengeance of God was not lacking, for they were immediately delivered to a demon and deprived of reason. As their madness drove them, they ran here and there through woods and fields in the sight of everyone. One first smashed his own face with stones and then cut off his thighs; the other drowned himself in the river Tyne. Both perished miserably, condemned to a twofold death. That place is therefore held in great veneration and, although it is very frequently visited at other times, it is especially attended on the vigil and feast day of Saint John the Baptist by innumerable crowds of both healthy and sick people. It lies about one mile from the same settlement.

³ These three churches are believed to have been begun by Saint Wilfrid, but Acca pontifex of blessed memory, his successor, completed them: one, as stated above, in honour of Saint Mary, ever Virgin, and another in honour of Saint Michael, because through the intercession of that same Lady and the visitation of the Archangel himself, he recovered from a very serious illness that he suffered in Gaul near Meaux; and the third in honour of Saint Peter the Apostle, because whenever he returned to that Apostle’s see on account of his own needs, he was honourably received by the Apostle’s successors through his aid and was delivered with great honour from all the accusations of those who unjustly opposed him. Besides these, many other churches have been destroyed by repeated hostile devastation and the passage of many ages.

Chapter Five: The Inviolable Peace for One Mile All Around the Church, the Authorities and Confirmations of Archbishops and Bishops, the Privileges of the Apostolici, the Liberties of Kings, the Gifts Bestowed upon the Church by Princes, and the Boundaries of the Bishopric of the Church Itself. #

¹ The same father also, through the generosity and authority of kings and princes, greatly distinguished this monastery by granting it peace. For all who came and went within one mile around the church, he caused inviolable peace to be observed in his own time and ordained that it should be maintained by future generations. This institution was confirmed by the authority and privileges of the Apostolici of the Roman see, and of archbishops, bishops, kings and princes of both Scotland England. These privileges are preserved in the same church, which even at the present time maintains this institution unchanged and, by God’s favour, will preserve it for ever. There are also certain places on the four sides of the church which are commonly known by name among the people as signs and boundaries of this public peace. Within them, no one is permitted rashly to attack another person. Should any reckless person dare to violate this institution, he will both incur a heavy financial penalty and be separated from the Church for ever by the sword of anathema, unless he comes before the church itself and makes appropriate satisfaction. Thus, as may be found in accounts both ancient and modern, it has preserved innumerable companies of people, together with their possessions, from hostile invasion and the sword in times of peace and war.

² As some relate, the boundaries of the Hexham bishopric were the sea to the east, the river Tees to the south, Wetheral to the west and the river Aln to the north.

³ It was easy for the same father to meet so many and such great expenses in the work of God. For, as father of nine monasteries and possessor of many extensive regions and great riches, he was held in such honour and reverence that very many abbots and abbesses placed themselves and their monasteries under his protection and entrusted them to him. Others appointed him to succeed them after their deaths and to govern their communities. Moreover, the nobility of the most distinguished princes entrusted their sons and dearest relatives to his refinement and holiness, so that, having been ennobled in later life by the instruction of his teaching, they might either serve God for ever according to the teaching and counsel of the most holy prelate, or succeed by hereditary right to the dignities of their ancestors. He had also retained stonemasons and every other kind of skilled craftsman whom he could find in Rome, Italy, the Frankish kingdom and other lands, and had brought them with him to England to carry out his works.

⁴ For greater clarity, let us now briefly and concisely recount how the same father attained the episcopate and how he conducted himself as a bishop.

Chapter Six: How Blessed Wilfrid Attained the Episcopate and Conducted Himself as Bishop. #

¹ In the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 664, during the reign of Oswiu, Colman, bishop of the Northumbrians, was defeated by Saint Wilfrid, who was then a priest, in a general council concerning the observance of Easter, and therefore returned to his own country. Tuda was ordained bishop in his place, but died soon afterwards. In that same year, namely 664 of the Lord’s Incarnation, the twenty-second year of the reign of Oswiu and about the thirtieth year of his own age, Saint Wilfrid was elected to the York church by the unanimous consent of the same king and his son Alhfrith, and of the wise men of the kingdom, with the clergy and people agreeing in the same decision. He was sent by Alhfrith to Gaul so that he might receive canonical episcopal consecration there, which at that time he could not receive in England. At the command of the king of Francia, to whom he had been sent, he was consecrated with great honour at Compiègne, the king’s town, by Agilbert, formerly bishop of the Gewisse but then bishop of the city of Paris, together with eleven other bishops who had assembled with him.

² When he delayed his return, certain men who envied blessed Wilfrid because of the victory he had gained over Colman persuaded King Oswiu to have another bishop consecrated in his place. The king, misled by their counsel, summoned Chad, abbot of the monastery of Lastingham, and sent him to Kent to be ordained. But because Archbishop Deusdedit had died, he turned aside to the West Saxons and was ordained bishop by Wine, their bishop. He then returned and governed the York church with distinction for three years.

³ When Saint Wilfrid returned in the second year after his election and learned by report that Chad had already occupied the episcopal chair of his see, he was not at all disturbed, but with a calm expression and a cheerful heart returned to his monastery at Ripon. There, with great steadfastness of mind, he served God devoutly in greater seclusion for three years, except when he was occasionally invited with earnest entreaties by Wulfhere, king of the Mercians, and Ecgberht, king of the people of Kent, to perform episcopal duties in their regions, which at that time had no bishops.

⁴ After four years had passed, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 669, the twenty-seventh year of the reign of Oswiu and the sixth year of the episcopate of Saint Wilfrid, Theodore, who had been consecrated to the archbishopric of Canterbury by Pope Vitalian, came to England. At his command, in that same year, Chad was removed from the episcopate and returned to his monastery at Lastingham, while Saint Wilfrid took charge of his own bishopric, namely York, as well as all the bishoprics of the Northumbrians.

⁵ Thus, at that time, he was the only bishop in the whole kingdom of King Oswiu, that is, among the entire people of the Deirans and Bernicians, and also over the Britons, the Scots of the island of Lindisfarne and the Picts, because Whithorn did not yet have a bishop of its own.

Chapter Seven: How Saint Æthelthryth Gave Saint Wilfrid, Whom She Loved Familiarly and Especially, Hexham, with the Surrounding Region, Which She Had Received from King Ecgfrith as Her Dowry, So That He Might Establish a Bishopric for Himself There. #

¹ Meanwhile, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 670, the seventh year of the episcopate of Saint Wilfrid and the twenty-ninth year of his reign, King Oswiu died, and in that same year his son, King Ecgfrith, succeeded him in the kingdom. As stated above, he had taken blessed Æthelthryth as his wife in name only. With the consent of the king, her husband, around the third year of his reign, the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 674 and the tenth year of his episcopate, she gave Saint Wilfrid, whom she loved familiarly and especially, Hexham with the surrounding region, which she is believed to have received from King Ecgfrith as her dowry, so that he might establish a bishopric for himself there. This he did, as stated above. She herself preserved the integrity of perpetual virginity and, after being joined in this manner to the same king for twelve years, obtained his permission only with difficulty, received the religious habit from Saint Wilfrid and became a nun in the monastery of Æbbe, the king’s aunt.

² After her, the king took Ermenburh as his wife. In her heart Satan kindled the embers of hatred and envy against the same bishop and, through her tongue, inflamed the king’s mind until the pontiff was expelled.

Chapter Eight: The First Expulsion of Saint Wilfrid, Archbishop of York. #

¹ In the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 678, the eighth year of the reign of Ecgfrith and the fifteenth year of his pontificate, Saint Wilfrid was driven from his bishopric by King Ecgfrith and remained in exile for eight years. Meanwhile, Theodore ordained two bishops in his place: Bosa to York, and Eata to Hexham and also to Lindisfarne. He governed both together for three years. When those three years had ended, he remained at Lindisfarne alone and governed it for three and a half years.

² This Eata was a man of great holiness and religious devotion, and abbot of the monastery of Melrose. He was held in great veneration and authority both among the servants of God and among the powerful of the age. There were also very many holy men in the community over which he presided, but Boisil, who served under him in the office of provost, excelled the other brothers in the heights of virtue and the spirit of prophecy.

Chapter Nine: In Which Year after the Incarnation of the Lord Saint Cuthbert Entered the Religious Life, How the Holy Abbot Eata Received the Lindisfarne Church to Govern, as He Governed the Melrose, How He Transferred Saint Cuthbert from Melrose to Ripon, and Then Caused Him to Return to the Lindisfarne Church to Preside There with the Authority of Prior. #

¹ Thus, when Saint Cuthbert learned of their reputation for goodness, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 651 and the ninth year of the reign of Oswiu, he became a monk in the Melrose monastery, desiring to be instructed by their example and teaching. Because of the reverence due to the goodness and holiness of this Eata, King Oswiu, after the death of Bishop Tuda, had entrusted the brothers of the Lindisfarne church to him, so that he might preside over the Lindisfarne monastery with the authority of an abbot, just as he did over the Melrose. Therefore, he first transferred Saint Cuthbert, as his own monk, from Melrose to his church at Ripon, which King Alhfrith had given him, and then to the Lindisfarne church, so that he might preside there with the authority of Prior, as is related in his Life.

² Thus, after the blessed father and venerable bishop Eata had remained, as stated above, to govern the Lindisfarne bishopric alone, Tunberht was ordained to the Hexham in his place. After presiding over it for three years, Tunberht was deposed.

Chapter Ten: How Saint Cuthbert Was Elected to the Hexham Church, Why He Accepted the Lindisfarne, and the Four Holy Bishops Who Were Contemporaries. #

¹ Thus, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 683, the fourteenth year of the reign of Ecgfrith, the thirty-fifth year of his monastic life and the ninth year of his life as an anchorite, being the year immediately following the deposition of Tunberht, Saint Cuthbert was elected in his place, around winter, to that same church, namely the Hexham. But because he preferred to preside over the church in which he had lived, his venerable bishop and abbot Eata returned to the Hexham, to which, as stated above, he had first been ordained bishop, while Cuthbert was ordained by Theodore to the Lindisfarne church at York during the Easter festival, in the presence of King Ecgfrith.

² In that same year, after King Ecgfrith was killed around Pentecost, his illegitimate brother Aldfrith immediately reigned in his place. At the beginning of his reign, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 685, the venerable Eata died and was honourably buried in the Hexham church. Saint John then received his bishopric and presided over it for one year.

³ In the second year of the reign of Aldfrith, which was also the second year of the ordination of Saint Cuthbert, Saint Cuthbert and Saint Wilfrid were contemporary bishops. For these four holy bishops lived at the same time: Wilfrid of York, Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, Eata of Hexham and John, who succeeded him.

Chapter Eleven: How Saint Wilfrid, after the Completion of the Eight Years of His First Expulsion, Received the Hexham Bishopric, While Saint John, Transferred from the Hexham Church, Received the York. #

¹ Thus, in that same year, after the eight years of his first expulsion had been completed, Saint Wilfrid returned from Rome to Britain and, when the letters of Apostolici Agatho had been heard, received his see and bishopric of the Hexham church. Saint John, however, was transferred from Hexham and received the York church to govern in place of the deceased Bosa, and governed it commendably for thirty-three years.

² Then, when his advanced age made him less capable of fulfilling the episcopal office, he ordained Wilfrid, his priest, to the bishopric of the York church, and withdrew to his monastery, which is at Beverley in the forest of the Deirans. There, living in greater peace for three years in a manner worthy of God, he came to a blessed end and rested in the Lord on the Nones of May, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 721 and the third year of the reign of Osric. He was buried in the same monastery, in the portico of Saint Peter.

Chapter Twelve: The Second Expulsion of Saint Wilfrid, His Exile and Recall, and His Blessed Death. #

¹ But after five years, the same Wilfrid of blessed memory was again driven from his episcopate when the aforementioned king, namely Aldfrith, and many bishops falsely accused him of transgressing the commands of Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury. Meanwhile, Saint John administered both churches, namely York and Hexham. But after he had endured his second exile for thirteen years, he returned once more from the Roman see to England. When the letters of Pope John had been read, Aldfrith having died and his son Osred reigning in his place, he honourably recovered his episcopate in the Hexham church in the first year of Osred’s reign. Thus, after spending four years in peace and having held the episcopate for forty-five years, he happily completed his struggle in the Lord at his monastery in the province of Oundle, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 709 and the fifth year of the reign of Osred. His body was carried to his church at Ripon and placed there to the south, beside the altar of blessed Peter the Apostle.

Chapter Thirteen: A Recapitulation of the Years of the Same Holy Bishops, John and Wilfrid. #

¹ Saint Wilfrid lived for about seventy-five years. He preceded the above-mentioned Saint John in the episcopate by twenty-two years, and they remained bishops together for twenty-three years. After Saint Wilfrid died, Saint John survived as bishop for ten years, six months and thirteen days. The months and days are not mentioned in the calculation of years in the Historia Anglorum, perhaps because they do not constitute a full year. After he relinquished the episcopate, as stated above, he lived a private life for three years.

² That the lives of these fathers followed this course may be proved most clearly both from the years of their episcopates and of the kings, and from the years given above concerning the ordination of Saint Wilfrid and the death of Saint John, which are also recorded in the Historia Anglorum. Anyone who desires to know their lives more fully should endeavour to read or hear either the Historia Anglorum or the books written about their lives.

Chapter Fourteen: When Saint Acca the Priest, a Most Energetic Man, Magnificent Before God and Men, Received the Hexham Church, and How He Adorned It with Marvellous and Manifold Beauty and Enlarged It with Magnificent Gifts. #

¹ In that same year, namely the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 709 and the fifth year of the reign of Osred, Acca, his priest, succeeded Saint Wilfrid in the episcopate of the Hexham church. He too was a most energetic man, magnificent before God and men, and he enlarged the building of his church, which was consecrated in honour of blessed Andrew the Apostle, with manifold adornment and magnificent works.

² He took care to acquire from every quarter relics of the blessed Apostles and Martyrs of Christ, and to establish altars in their veneration within separate porticoes built for that purpose inside the walls of the same church. He also gathered accounts of their martyrdoms, together with other ecclesiastical volumes, with the greatest diligence, and created there a most extensive and distinguished library. He likewise provided sacred vessels, lights and other such things belonging to the adornment of the house of God with the greatest care.

³ He also summoned a singer named Maban, who had been taught the melodies of chant in Kent by the successors of the disciples of blessed Pope Gregory, to instruct him and his people, and retained him for twelve years. He was to teach them the ecclesiastical chants they did not know and, through his instruction, restore to their former condition those which had once been known but had begun to fall into disuse through long neglect or lack of practice. The venerable Bishop Acca was himself a most skilful singer, as he was also most learned in sacred letters, most pure in his confession of the Catholicæ faith and most accomplished in the rules of ecclesiastical discipline. He continued so until he received the rewards of his devout service, for from childhood he had been raised and educated among the clergy of the most holy and God-beloved Bosa, archbishop of York. Afterwards, seeking a better way of life, he came to Bishop Wilfrid and spent the remainder of his life in his service until Wilfrid’s death. He also accompanied him to Rome, where he learned many things useful for the ordering of the holy Church which he had been unable to learn in his homeland, and passed them on to those subject to him.

⁴ Thus far are the words of the Venerable Bede the priest concerning the man whom he honoured and cherished with a marvellous affection of reverence and love. It is also known that, moved by the prayers and written exhortation of that bishop, and both for him and addressed to him, he wrote an Explanatio on the Evangelists Luke and Mark, together with certain other works. Acca governed the same church for twenty-four years.

Chapter Fifteen: How Saint Acca the Bishop Was Driven from His See, and How, as Testimony to His Holiness, the Sudarium, Casula and Tunica in Which His Body Had Been Wrapped Were Found after Many Years with Their Original Beauty and Strength. #

¹ In the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 732, the fourth year of the reign of Ceolwulf and the twenty-fourth year of his episcopate, he was driven from his see and, as some believe, lived for another eight years. For, as the Histories testify, he was taken from this present world on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of November, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 740 and the fourth year of the reign of Eadbert; and his spirit was conducted by angels to the prize of heavenly happiness [Philippians 3:14].

² I have not found it written what urgent necessity caused him to be driven out or where he went. Some, however, say that at that time he began and prepared an episcopal see in Whithorn.

³ His sacred body was committed to burial with the honour befitting so great a father, beside the secretarium of his own church, namely the Hexham.

⁴ But when God willed to reveal the merits of His beloved servant, his tomb was opened after many years. As proof his great holiness and testimony to his unchanging glory, the linen sudarium and the silken casula and tunica in which that sacred body had been clothed and wrapped were found to have preserved not only their beauty but, far more marvellously, their original strength without alteration. These great works of God, still enduring as though incorruptible in the same condition and beauty, are displayed in that church even to this day for those who desire to see them.

⁵ We pass over here the mighty works and miracles that God frequently performs through him and through His other faithful servants whose relics are contained there, intending to relate them elsewhere as He grants us the ability.

Chapter Sixteen: The Times of Three Bishops, Namely Frithubeorht, Alchmund and Tilberht. #

¹ After him, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 732 and the sixth year of the reign of Ceolwulf, on the sixth day before the Ides of September, Frithubeorht was ordained and received the episcopate of the Hexham church. In the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 766, the second year of the reign of Alhred and the thirty-fourth year of his episcopate, on the tenth day before the Kalends of January, he departed to the Lord with a glorious end.

² Saint Alchmund succeeded him and was consecrated bishop in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 767 and the second year of the reign of Alhred, on the eighth day before the Kalends of May. In the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 781, the fourth year of the reign of Ælfwald and the thirteenth year of his episcopate, on the seventh day before the Ides of September, he ended his last day in the Lord.

³ After him, the beloved father Tilberht was raised to the episcopate in that same year, namely the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 781 and the fourth year of the reign of Ælfwald. He was consecrated on the sixth day before the Nones of October and was raised to the throne of the episcopal chair at the place called Wolf’s Well, that is, Wolf’s Well. Together with Archbishop Eanbald and Bishop Higbald, he consecrated Aldwulf as bishop in the monastery called Corbridge.

Chapter Seventeen: The Miserable Death of Ælfwald, King of the Northumbria, the Reign of King Osred, and the Synod at Aycliffe. #

¹ In the eighth year of this bishop’s episcopate and the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 788, Ælfwald, king of the Northumbrians, after reigning for ten years, was miserably killed on the eleventh day before the Kalends of October, beside the wall at the place called Cithlescester, in a conspiracy formed by his patrician, named Siga.

² Osred, son of King Alhred and nephew of that same Ælfwald, reigned in his place for one year. In that same year, on the third day before the Kalends of October, a synod was held at the place called Aycliffe.

³ At the place where the same king was killed, a light sent from heaven was very often seen by many people. Therefore, the faithful of that place built a church there and consecrated it in honour of God and of Saints Cuthbert the bishop and Oswald the king and martyr. The body of the distinguished king was carried to Hexham with great companies of monks and clerics, and was buried with great honour in the church of Saint Andrew the Apostle.

⁴ Tilberht therefore presided over the Hexham church for eight years and, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 789 and the first year of the reign of Osred, departed from this life and was buried in that same church.

Chapter Eighteen: The Course of the Years of Three Bishops, Namely Æthelberht, Heardred and Eanberht; and How Æthelberht Left His See in Whithorn and Received the Hexham Church. #

¹ In that same year, namely the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 789, Æthelberht left his see in Whithorn and received the Hexham bishopric, over which he presided for eight years. In the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 797, the second year after Eardwulf was restored to the kingdom, he died on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of November at the place called Barton. His body was carried to Hexham and reverently buried by the brothers of that monastery.

² In that same year, Heardred was elected in his place to the Hexham bishopric. A few days later, on the third day before the Kalends of November, he was ordained by Archbishop Eanbald and Bishop Higbald at the place called Wudaford. After governing the same church for three years, he died in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 800, the fourth year after Eardwulf reigned again.

³ In his place, Eadbert, or Osbert, was elected and ordained at the place called Ethingham in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 800, and presided over that church for fourteen years.

Chapter Nineteen: The Order, Number and Course of the Years of the Hexham Bishops Before the Most Wretched Devastation and Utter Desolation of the Region of Northumbria by Halfdan, King of Denmark. #

¹ The order of the Hexham bishops, and how many years they were bishops.

² * First, Wilfrid - 45 years

• Second, Eata - 7 years
• Tunberht - 3 years
• Fourth, John - 1 year

³ These three succeeded one another while Saint Wilfrid, driven out by King Ecgfrith, was in exile for eight years on the first occasion.

⁴ * Fifth, Saint Acca - 24 years

• Sixth, Frithubeorht - 34 years
• Seventh, Saint Alchmund - 13 years
• Eighth, Tilberht - 8 years
• Ninth, Æthelberht - 7 years
• Tenth, Heardred - 3 years
• Eleventh, Eanberht, or Osbert - 13 years
• Twelfth, Tidfrith. But the length of his episcopate is unknown.

⁵ Thus, the episcopate of the Hexham church, beginning around the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 674, lasted for 144 years, excluding the final bishop, whose period is unknown, namely until the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 814.

⁶ And note that it remained vacant for fifty-four years before the devastation of the province of the Northumbrians, which was carried out by Halfdan the Dane in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 875. Taking a third part of the pagan army that had occupied the whole of England, he entered Tyne with a great fleet and landed near Tynemouth; then, advancing from there, he destroyed everything with fire and sword.

The First Book Ends #