History
as Literature in the Twelfth Century: A study of some of the
ways in which medieval historians used
and abused panegyric and diatribe,
Augustinian and Boethean postures, unstable genres (annals, history, chronicle,
romance, chanson de geste,
hagiography, satire, allegory), tri-functionality, Biblical exegesis, and every
rhetorical topos, scheme and trope
available, to provide partisan representations of historical reality in the
twelfth century; particular emphasis on the battle between Regnum et Sacerdotum in the times of Henry II, Beckett, Richard the Lion-Hearted, , and The Third
Crusade, with some consideration of
Continental historians, as well as figures from earlier times,
(Charlemagne, Arthur).
Beckett;
Regnum et sacerdotium. chronicle,
history, letter, chanson de geste. Materials for the history of Thomas Becket,
Archbishop of Canterbury Edited by James Craigie Robertson. Wiesbaden]
Kraus Reprint, 1965. Rerum Britannicarum
medii aevi scriptores ; DA25 .E58 no. 67 v. 1-7; Guernes de
Pont-Sainte-Maxence, 12th cent. La vie de
saint Thomas Becket, editée par Emmanuel Walberg. Paris, H. Champion, 1964.
PQ1477 .G45 1964M; Guernes de
Pont-Sainte-Maxence, Garnier's Becket, translated from the 12th-century Vie Saint Thomas le Martyr de
Cantorbire of Garnier of Pont-Sainte- Maxence by Janet Shirley. London :
Phillimore, 1975. PQ1477.G45 A27M; J. O'Reilly, "The Double Martyrdom of
Thomas Becket," Studies in Medieval
and Renaissance History 7 (1985) 185-247; B. Smalley, The Becket Controversy and the Schools (Oxford 1973); Knowles,
David, Thomas Becket. London, A.
& C. Black, 1970. DA209 .T4 F701; Timothy Peters, Garnier de Pont-Ste-Maxence's Vie de saint Thomas le martyr ,
Boston University, 1991.
[8th- 12th century]. Song of Roland, chansons de geste, Pseudo-Turpin. http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Roland/ ; RL,
A Thirteenth-century Life of Charlemagne,
New York, 1991 DC73.G55.1991; G.
Spiegel, ""Pseudo-Turpin etc.," Journal of Medieval History XII (1986) 207-23. J. Brault, The Song of Roland, University Park,
1978 PQ1521.E5.B7.1984; T.A. Jenkins, La
Chanson de Roland, Boston 1924; J. Ferrante, Guillaume d'Orange: four
twelfth-century epics, NY 1974 PQ1481.A3.F4. William, Count of Orange: four Old French epics, ed. G. Price,
London, 1975.A3.P75.1975; La Chanson de
Girart de Roussillon, tr. by Micheline de Combarieu du Gres and Gerard
Fouiran, Paris, 1993 PQ1463.G75.A32.1993; E.S. Firchow and E.H. Zeydel,
(Einhard's) The Life of Charlemagne,
with a facing English translation, Coral Gables, 1972 DC73.3.1972; Two Lives of Charlemagne, translated by
Lewis Thorpe, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1979 DC73.32.T45.1972; Raymond
D'Aguilers, Historia Francorum qui
Ceperunt Iherusalem, transl. Hill and Hill, Philadelphia, 1968 D161 F68;
Fulcher of Chartres, A History of the
Expedition to Jerusalem, trans. Ryan, ed. Fink, Knoxville, 1969 D161.1F69a;
Gesta Francorum, ed. and transl.
Hill, NY 1962 Theology 940-18.G33d; Guibert de Nogent, The Deeds of God through the Franks, tr. R. Levine, Woodbridge
1997. Runciman for overall assessment.
Some relevant secondary texts
Robert
F. Cook, The Sense of the Song of Roland,
Ithaca, 1987 PQ1522 C66 1987
Joseph J. Duggan, Song of Roland, Berkeley, 1973 PQ1525.D82
Eugene
Vance, Reading the Song of Roland,
Englewood Cliffs, 1970 PQ1522 F70
Pierre
LeGentil, The Chanson de Roland,
Cambridge, 1969 PQ1582.F69
Paul
Aebischer, Rolandia et Oliveriana,
Geneva, 1967
Ramon
Mendez Pidal, La Chanson de Roland et la
tradition épique des Francs, Paris, 1960, transl. by Irenée-Marcel Cluzel
E.T.
Mickel, Ganelon, Treason, Roland,
1989
J.W.
Bowers, "Ordeals, Privacy, etc.," JMRS
24 (1994), pp. 1-31 CB351.J68M;
Peter
Haidu, The Subject of Violence,
Bloomington 1993 PQ1522.H33.1993;
Sarah
Kay, The Chansons de Geste in the Age of
Romance Oxford 1995 PQ20.1K39 (reviewed by Peter Haidu, Speculum 73 (1998)
204-207
R.L.,
"The Pious Traitor: the Man who Betrayed Antioch," Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch XXXIII
(1998), pp. 59-80
D.D.R.
Owen, The Legend of Roland etc. London 1973 DC73.95.R609.
check the representation of the period in Manning's
Chronicle, Langtoft, and thirteenth and fourteenth-century chronicles in verse
and prose. Some point to looking at the period in Grandes Chroniques, and in Rigord (on line translation?) etc.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/williamofnewburgh-intro.html
Other primary texts that may be
helpful during and after the course:
Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi scriptores (Rolls Series), 99
volumes (many subdivided). DA25.
Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Berlin, 1877-1919 DD3 M8; also various collections in
folio, with other dates.
Bouquet,Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la
France, Paris, 1869-80 DC3.E69 (folios).
Gregory of Tours Gregory, Saint, Bishop of Tours, 538-594.The history of the Franks / [by] Gregory
of Tours, translated by Lewis Thorpe. Baltimore 1974. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gregory-hist.html
Gregory of Tours, Historia
Francorum. English.The history of the Franks, by Gregory of Tours.
Translated by O. M. Dalton. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1927.
(For the latest edition of the Latin text: [Historiarum libri decem] Gregorii Episcopi Turonensis Libri
historiarum X / editione altera curavit Bruno Krusch et Wilhelmus Levison.
Hannoverae : Impensis Bibliopolis Hahniani, 1937-1951.)
Fourth Book of Fredegar, London 1960 DC64
F60
Two of the
Saxon chronicles etc., Plummer
and Earle, Oxford, 1892-99. DA150 E92 http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/library/oe/texts/asc/a.html
The
Anglo-Saxon chronicle, translated
with an introd. by G.N. Garmonsway. 1954."
DA150 .A6 1954 Bede,
Ecclesiastical History, London 1935
BR746 B5 1935; Oxford 1969 BR746 B5 1969
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-book1.html
The Works of
Liudprand of Cremona, translated
by F.A. Wright, London, 1930 D117.A2.L5
Richer, Histoire de
France, Paris, 1967 DC70 A3R52 2 vols.
Dudo, Dean of St. Quentin, fl. 1030. De moribus et actis primorum
Normanniae ducum. History of the
Normans tr. by Eric Christiansen,.
Rochester, NY : Boydell Press, 1998.
DC611.N862 D8513 1998 (for
another translation see:
http://orb.rhodes.edu/libindex.html)
Benoit de
Saint-Maure, Chronique des Ducs de
Normandie, ed. Carin Fahlin, 2 vols., Upsala, 1951, 1954.
The Life of
King Edward the Confessor, ed. Barlow,
London, 1962 DA154.8 F62.
Raymond D'Aguilers, Historia Francorum qui Ceperunt Iherusalem,
transl. Hill and Hill, Philadelphia, 1968 D161 F68
Fulcher of Chartres, A
History of the Expedition to Jerusalem, trans. Ryan, ed. Fink, Knoxville,
1969 D161.1F69a (pp. 57-136).
Gesta
Francorum, ed. and transl.
Hill, NY 1962 Theology 940-18.G33d
Gildas,
516?-570? Liber querulus de excidio Britanniae, The ruin of Britain, and other works; ed,and trans. by Michael
Winterbottom. London, 1978. DA135
.G5413 1978 http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gildas-full.html
Guillaume de
Jumièges, Gesta Normannorum Ducum,
(ed.) Jean Marx, Paris, 1914.
RL,The Deeds of God through the Franks, a
translation of Guibert de Nogent's Gesta
Dei per Francos, Boydell and Brewer. Woodbridge, 1997. http://people.bu.edu/bobl/guibprol.htm
Henry of Huntingdon, Chronicle,
London, 1853 DA190 E53
Hugh of Poitiers, The
Vézelay Chronicle, translated by John Scott and John O. Ward, Binghamton,
1992. BX2615,V49H84 1992
Otto of Freising, Two
Cities, NY 1928 D17 F28
Matthew of Westminster,
Chronicle, London, 1853 (AMS
1968) DA220 E53 or DA130 P3313 1968, 2 vols.
Nennius, fl. 796. British history and the Welsh annals,
edited and translated by John Morris.
London :, c1980. DA135 .N44 http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/nennius-full.html
Philippe de Novare, Mémoires (1228-1243) ed. Charles Kohler,
Paris, 1970; translation by J. L. LaMonte,
The Wars of Frederick II against
the Ibelins, NY, 1936.
The Annals of
Roger Hoveden, London, 1853 DA200 E53 2 vols.
Roger of
Wendover's Flowers of History,
London, 1849 DA220 E49 2 vols.
The Chronicle
of Richard of Devizes, ed. J.T.
Appleby, London 1963
Florence of
Worcester's Chronicle, London,
1854 DA130 E54
Matthew Paris'
English History, London, 1852 DA220
E52 3 vols.
Historia
Novella of William of
Malmesbury, London, 1955 DA198.5 W52
William of
Malmesbury's Chronicle, London 1899
DA190 W716 1889 *
William of Newburgh,
History of English Affairs,
ed. and tr. P.G. Walsh and M.J. Kennedy, 1988 DA190.W72.1988. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/williamofnewburgh-intro.html
Pierre de Langtoft, Chronicle
RS 47 (1,2), ed. Thomas Wright, 1866. DA25 E58
Ordericus Vitalis, 1075-1143? The ecclesiastical history of Orderic Vitalis; edited and translated
with introduction and notes by Marjorie Chibnall. Oxford 1969- BR252 .O634
Itinerarium
Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi,
ed. William Stubbs, London, 1864 (RS 38.1)
(ed.)Hans Eberhard Mayer, Das Itinerarium peregrinorum, Stuttgart, 1962. DD3.M83.Bd. 18
Gaston Paris (ed.),
L'Estoire de la Guerre Sainte, Paris, 1897
Stone, E.N. Three Old
French chronicles of the crusades the History of the holy war, the History of
them that took Constantinople, the Chronicle of Reims, Seattle,1939.
Ambroise, Crusade
etc., New York 1941 D163.A3 F41.
Helen Nicholson, Chronicle
of the Third Crusade, Aldershot 1997
D151 .R52713 1997
RL, France before
Charlemagne, Lewiston, 1990. DC65.G73213
William of Tyre, History
of Deeds etc., New York, 1943, D152
RL, A
Thirteenth-Century Minstrel's Chronicle, a translation of the Récits
d'un ménestrel de Reims, Lewiston, 1990 PQ1505.R42.A25.1990
Chandos Herald, fl. 1350-1380 Life of the Black Prince / by the herald of Sir John Chandos;
Edited by M. K. Pope and E.C. Lodge. Oxford : Clarendon press, 1910.
Chandos Herald, fl. 1350-1380. La vie du Prince Noir; ed. Diana B. Tyson, Tubingen : M. Niemeyer,
1975.
The Life and
campaigns of the Black Prince
: Black Prince, edited and translated
by Richard Barber. Woodbridge :
Boydell, 1986, c1979. DA234 .L53 1986
Jean Froissart, Oeuvres
de Froissart. Chroniques publiees avec les variantes des divers
manuscrits par M. le baron Kervyn de Lettenhove. Osnabruck Biblio Verlag, 1967. D113 .F7 1967 (see
edition by Simeon Luce as well) on the web at GALLICA (first download Acrobat
Reader).
Jean Froissart, Chronicles.
Transl. and ed. John Jolliffe. New York, [1968, c1967] Theo D113 .F77
Memoires of
Philippe de Commynes Columbia
1969-73 DC106.9 C7 F69 2 vols.
The Vows of
the Heron (Les Voeux du héron),
ed. by John L. Grigsby and Norris J. Lacy, NY 1992 PQ1545.V63.E5.1992
Le roman de
Brut de Wace Paris, Société des anciens textes français,
1938 1940
Wace, Le Roman de Rou,
Paris, Picard, 1970 3 v.
Saxo, Grammaticus, d. ca. 1204. Gesta Danorum. Hauniae, Levin & Munksgaard, 1931- DL147
.S27 http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/DanishHistory/
Li Chanson
Dermot
Some helpful secondary texts
Auerbach, Erich, Mimesis, Garden City, 1953. PN56 R3 F53
Bartlett, Robert, England
Under the Norman and Angevin Kings, Oxford 1999
Cambridge
Medieval History XD117.F11;
D117.C32; D117.F52 (abridged)
Collingwood, R.G. The Idea of History, Oxford, 1946. D13
C6 1956
Cronin, James E., And the Reapers are Angels, NYU 1973
D161.C7.1973a (pp. 83 ff. are a translation of Robert the Monk's Historia
Iherosolimitana)
Curtius, Ernst Robert,
European Literature and the Latin
Middle Ages, New York, 1953. PN674 F53
Damian-Grint, Peter, The
New Historians of the Twelfth-Century Renaissance, Woodbridge, 1999
Dembowski, Peter, "Literary Problems of Hagiography in
Old French," Medievalia et
Humanistica, VII (1976).
Duby, Georges, The Three Orders, Chicago, 1980. HN425
D78313
P. Edbury, The
Conquest of Jersualem and the Third Crusade, Vermont 1996 D163A3.C66
Frappier, Jean, Histoires,
mythes, et symboles, Geneva, 1976. PQ153 F7
Geary, Patrick, Before
France and Germany, Oxford, 1988 DC65.G43 1988
Gransden, Antonia Historical Writing in England, Cornell,
1973. DA129.5 G7 1974 v.1
Graves, Edgar B. A Bibliography of English History to 1485,
Oxford, 1975 XZ2016 G84
Gross, Charles The Sources and Literature of English
History, New York 1900 XZ2016 F00
Grundmann, Herbert, Geschichtsschreibung im Mittelalters,
Göttingen, 1965.
Guenée, Bernard, Histoire et culture historique dans
l'occident médiéval, Paris, 1980. D116 G79
Iogna-Prat, Religion
et culture autour de l'an mil, Paris, 1990
Leclerc, Jean, "Lettres de saint Bernard: historie ou
littérature," Studi medievali 12
(1971) 1-74.
Le Goff, Jacques The
Medieval Imagination, Chicago, 1988. PQ155 M27 L413 1988
Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel. Montaillou : the promised land of error, translated by Barbara
Bray, New York 1978 DC801.M753 L4713
R. Levine, "The Pious Traitor: the Man who Betrayed
Antioch," Mittellateinisches
Jahrbuch XXXIII (1998), pp. 59-80. For a version with translations of the
Latin passages type
lpr ~bobl/oldrice
at the Unix prompt and pick up copy at the batch window.
____, "Deadly Diatribe in the Récits d'un ménestrel de Reims,"
Res Publica Litterarum XIV (1991),
pp. 115-126.
____ , "Baptizing Pirates: Argumentum and Fabula in Norman Historia," Mediaevistik
4 (1991), pp. 157-178.
____, "Liudprand of Cremona: History and Debasement in
the 10th Century," Mittellateinisches
Jahrbuch XXVI (1991), pp.
70-84.
____, "Satiric Vulgarity in Guibert de Nogent's Gesta Dei per Francos," Rhetorica 7 (1989), pp. 261-273.
____, "How to read Walter Map," Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch XXIII
(1988), pp. 91-105.
"Why praise Jews; History and Satire in the Middle
Ages," Journal of Medieval History XII (1986), pp. 291-296.
____, "Myth and Anti-Myth in Cuvelier's La Vie Vaillante de Bertrand Du Guesclin,"
Viator XVI (1985), pp. 259-275.
http://people.bu.edu/bobl/cuvelier.htm
Suzanne Lewis, The Art of Matthew Paris, Berkeley, 1987
Morse, Ruth, Truth and
Convention in the Middle Ages Cambridge, 1991 PN185.M6.1991 (reviewed by W.
Wetherbee in Medium Aevum LXI (1992) 110-112).
Stephen Nichols, "The spirit of truth etc.'" NLH I
(1970) 365-386.
Monika Otter, "1066: The Moment of Transition in Two
Narratives of the Norman Conquest," Speculum
74 (1999) 565-585.
Otter, Monika. Inventiones
: fiction and referentiality in twelfth-century, Chapel Hill 1996. DA129.5
.O88 1996
Partner, Nancy, Serious
Entertainment, Chicago, 1977. DA130 H413 P37
Pizarro, Joaquin Martinez, A Rhetoric of the Scene,Toronto, 1989. PA8096.P59.1989. See also
the review by Michael Roberts in Speculum
67 (1992), pp. 1029-1030.
Ray, R.D., "Medieval Historiography through the Twelfth
Century," Viator V (1974), pp.
33-59. CB.F70
Robinson, I.S., The
Papacy 1073-1198, Cambridge, 1990, pp. 322-366.
Setton, Kenneth M., and Baldwin, M.W., A History of the Crusades, Madison, 1969, vol. I. Steven Runciman
did the section, "From Antioch to Ascalon."
Smalley, Beryl, Historians
in the Middle Ages, London, 1974. D116.S6
Spiegel, Gabrielle, The
Past as Text, Baltimore 1997
Van Engen, John, "The Christian Middle Ages as an
Historiographical Problem," American Historical Review, 91 (1986),
pp. 519-552.
Ward, John O., "Some Principles of Rhetorical
Historiography in the 12th Century," in Classical Rhetoric and Medieval Historiography, edited by Ernest
Breisach, Kalamazoo, 1985.
Royal Historical Society, Writings on British History 1901-1933 London 1968 vol. 2 450-1485
XZ2016 F37 1901-33 v.2
Yale French
Studies 70 on medieval
history: Images of Power, ed. Kevin Brownlee and S.G. Nichols. PQ1.F48
Dudone di San
Quintino / a cura di Paolo
Gatti e Antonella Degl'Innocenti.
Trento : Dipartimento di scienze filologiche e storiche, Universita degli studi
di Trento, 1995.
Koziol, Geoffrey, Begging
pardon and favor: ritual and political order in early medieval France, Ithaca,
N.Y. Cornell University Press, c1992.
Shopkow, Leah. History
and community : Norman historical writing in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Washington, D.C. : Catholic University
of America Press, c1997.
La Neustrie :
les pays au nord de la Loire de 650 a 850 colloque historique international / publie par Hartmut Atsma; Sigmaringen 1989.
see Jacques Fontaine, 349-363
Ewig, Eugen Spätantikes
und frankisches Gallien : gesammelte Schriften (1952-1973) / Eugen Ewig ;
hrsg. von Hartmut Atsma. Munchen : Artemis Verlag, 1976-1979.
Saxo
Grammaticus tra storiografia e letteratura
: Bevagna, 27-29 settembre 1990 / a
cura di Carlo Santini. Roma : Il calamo, 1992.
To begin a study of medieval rhetoric:
Ad Herrenium,
ed. Harry Caplan (Loeb Classical) PA6308 R7 F54; J.J. Murphy Medieval Eloquence PN185 M4;
___, Rhetoric in the
Middle Ages PN173 M8; Edmond Faral, Les
Arts Rhetoriques du xiie et du xiiie siécle, Paris, 1962;
M.F. Nims (trans.), Poetria
Nova of Geoffrey of Vinsauf, Toronto, 1967 PA8442.V5.P6E6.F67; Martin
Camargo, "Tria Sunt," Speculum
74 (1999) 935-955.
John, of Salisbury,
Policraticus Turnholti : Brepols, 1993 31675154
Policraticus John, of Salisbury Nederman, Cary J. Cambridge [England] ; New
York : Cambridge University Press, 1995 1990 41410940
V.H. Galbraith, Historical Research in Medieval England London 1951
Collingwood Idea of History 52-56
Chibnall Historia Pontificalis xxxiii "…Lucan's De Bello Civili, which, as Macaulay said, far from conforming to the laws of history, could scarcely be reconciled with the laws of fiction."
some other
useful sites for medievalists:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/newtrans.html
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html
http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm
To start exploring patristic exegesis see Migne, Patrologia Latina: http://pld.chadwyck.com/pld/search
I. 1. I BEGIN my
work with the time when Servius
Galba
was consul for the second time with Titus
Vinius for his colleague. Of the former period, the 820 years dating from the
founding of the city, many authors have treated; and while they had to record
the transactions of the Roman
people, they wrote with equal eloquence and freedom. After the conflict at Actium,
and when it became essential to peace, that all power should be centered in one
man, these great intellects passed away. Then too the truthfulness of history
was impaired in many ways; at first, through men's ignorance of public affairs,
which were now wholly strange to them, then, through their passion for
flattery, or, on the other hand, their hatred of their masters. And so between
the enmity of the one and the servility of the other, neither had any regard
for posterity. But while we instinctively shrink from a writer's adulation, we
lend a ready ear to detraction and spite, because flattery involves the
shameful imputation of servility, whereas malignity wears the false appearance
of honesty. I myself knew nothing of Galba,
of Otho,
or of Vitellius,
either from benefits or from injuries. I would not deny that my elevation was
begun by Vespasian,
augmented by Titus,
and still further advanced by Domitian;
but those who profess inviolable truthfulness must speak of all without
partiality and without hatred. I have reserved as an employment for my old age,
should my life be long enough, a subject at once more fruitful and less anxious
in the reign of the Divine Nerva
and the empire of Trajan,
enjoying the rare happiness [p. 420] of times, when we may think what we
please, and express what we think.
Surnamed:
"SAPIENS," OR THE WISE
I. THE PREFACE
1. WHATEVER in this my epistle I may write in my
humble but well-meaning manner, rather by way of lamentation than for display,
let no one suppose that it springs from contempt of others, or that I foolishly
esteem myself as better than they; -for, alas! the subject of my complaint is
the general destruction of every thing that is good, and the general growth of
evil throughout the land;- but that I would condole with my country in her
distress and rejoice to see her revive therefrom: for it is my present purpose
to relate the deeds of an indolent and slothful race, rather than the exploits
of those who have been valiant in the field. I have kept silence, I confess,
with much mental anguish, compunction of feeling and contrition of heart,
whilst I revolved all these things within myself; and, as God the searcher of
the reins is witness, for the space of even ten years or more, my inexperience,
as at present also, and my unworthiness preventing me from taking upon myself
the character of a censor. But I read how the illustrious lawgiver, for one
word's doubting, was not allowed to enter the desired land; that the sons of
the high-priest, for placing strange fire upon God's altar, were cut off by a
speedy death; that God's people, for breaking the law of God, save two only,
were slain by wild beasts, by fire and sword in the deserts of Arabia, though
God had so loved them that he had made a way for them through the Red Sea, had
fed them with bread from heaven, and water from the rock, and by the lifting up
of a hand merely had made their armies invincible; and then, when they had
crossed the Jordan and entered the unknown land, and the walls of the city had
fallen down flat at the sound only of a trumpet, the taking of a cloak and a
little gold from the accursed things caused the deaths of many: and again the
breach of their treaty with the Gibeonites, though that treaty had been
obtained by fraud, brought destruction upon many, and I took warning from the
sins of the people which called down upon then the reprehensions of the
prophets and also of Jeremiah, with his fourfold Lamentations written in
alphabetic order. I saw moreover in my own time, as that prophet also had
complained, that the city had sat down lone and widowed, which before was full
of people; that the queen of nations and the princess of provinces (i. e. the
church), had been made tributary; that the gold was obscured, and the most
excellent colour (which is the brightness of God's word) changed; that the sons
of Sion (i. e. of holy mother church), once famous and clothed in the finest
gold, grovelled in dung; and what added intolerably to the weight of grief of
that illustrious man, and to mine, though but an abject whilst he had thus
mourned them in their happy and prosperous condition, "Her Nazarites were
fairer than snow, more ruddy than old ivory, more beautiful than the
sapphire." These and many other passages in the ancient Scriptures I
regarded as a kind of mirror of human life, and I turned also to the New,
wherein I read more clearly what perhaps to me before was dark, for the
darkness deaf, and truth shed her steady light -I read therein that the Lord
had said, "I came not but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel;"
and on the other hand, "But the children of this kingdom shall be cast out
into outer darkness; there shal1 be weeping and gnashing of teeth:" and
again, "It is not good to take the children's meat and to give it to
dogs:" also, "Woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites!" I
heard how "many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven:" and on the
contrary, "I will then say to them, 'Depart from me, ye workers of
iniquity!'" I read, "Blessed are the barren, and the teats which have
not given suck;" and on the contrary, "Those, who were ready, entered
with him to the wedding; afterwards came the other virgins also, saying 'Lord,
Lord, open to us:' to whom it was answered, 'I do not know you.'" I heard,
forsooth, "Whoever shall believe and be baptized, shall be saved, but whoever
shall not believe shall be damned." I read in the words of the apostle
that the branch of the wild olive was grafted upon the good olive, but should
nevertheless be cut off from the communion of the root of its fatness, if it
did not hold itself in fear, but entertained lofty thoughts. I knew the mercy
of the Lord, but I also feared his judgment: I praised his grace, but I feared
the rendering to every man according to his works: perceiving the sheep of the
same fold to be different, I deservedly commended Peter for his entire
confession of Christ, but called Judas most wretched, for his love of
covetousness: I thought Stephen most glorious on account of the palm of
martyrdom, but Nicholas wretched for his mark of unclean heresy: I read
assuredly, "They had all things common:" but likewise also, as it is
written, "Why have ye conspired to tempt the Spirit of God ?" I saw,
on the other hand, how much security had grown upon the men of our time, as if
there were nothing to cause them fear. These things, therefore, and many more
which for brevity's sake we have determined to omit, I revolved again and again
in my amazed mind with compunction in my heart, and I thought to myself,
"If God's peculiar people, chosen from all the people of the world, the
royal seed, and holy nation, to whom he had said, 'My first begotten Israel,'
its priests, prophets, and kings, throughout many ages, his servant and
apostle, and the members of his primitive church, were not spared when they
deviated from the right path, what will he do to the darkness of this our age,
in which, besides all the huge and heinous sins, which it has in common with
all the wicked of the world committed, is found an innate, indelible, and
irremediable load of folly and inconstancy ?" "What, wretched man (I
say to myself) is it given to you, as if you were an illustrious and learned
teacher, to oppose the force of so violent a torrent, and keep the charge
committed to you against such a series of inveterate crimes which has spread
far and wide, without interruption, for so many years. Hold thy peace: to do
otherwise, is to tell the foot to see, and the hand to speak. Britain has
rulers, and she has watchmen: why dost thou incline thyself thus uselessly to
prate?" She has such, I say, not too many, perhaps, but surely not too
few: but because they are bent down and pressed beneath so heavy a burden, they
have not time allowed them to take breath. My senses, therefore, as if feeling
a portion of my debt and obligation, preoccupied themselves with such objections
and with others yet more strong. They struggled, as I said, no short time, in a
fearful strait, whilst I read, "There is a time for speaking, and a time
for keeping silence. At length, the creditor's side prevailed and bore off the
victory: if (said he) thou art not bold enough to be marked with the comely
mark of golden liberty among the prophetic creatures, who enjoy the rank as
reasoning beings next to the angels, refuse not the inspiration of the
understanding ass, to that day dumb, which would not carry forward the tiara'd
magician who was going to curse God's people, but in the narrow pass of the
vineyard crushed his loosened foot, and thereby felt the lash; and though he
was, with his ungrateful and furious hand, against right justice, beating her
innocent sides, she pointed out to him the heavenly messenger behold the naked
sword, and standing in his way, though he had not seen him.
Wherefore in zeal for the house of God and for his
holy law, constrained either by the reasonings of my own thoughts or by the
pious entreaties of my brethren, I now discharge the debt so long exacted of
me; humble, indeed, in style but faithful, as I think, and friendly to all
Christ's youthful soldiers, but severe and insupportable to foolish apostates;
the former of whom, if I am not deceived, will receive the same with tears
flowing from God's love; but the others will sorrow, such as is extorted from
the indignation and pusillanimity of a convicted conscience.
2. I will, therefore, if God be
willing, endeavour to say a few words about the situation of Britain, her
disobedience and subjection, her rebellion, second subjection and dreadful
slavery-of her religion persecution, holy martyrs, heresies of different
kinds-of her tyrants, her two hostile and ravaging nations-of her first
devastation, her defence, her second devastation and second taking vengeance-of
her third devastation, of her famine, and the letters to Agitius-of her victory
and her crimes-of the sudden rumour of enemies-of her famous pestilence-of her
counsels-of her last enemy, far more cruel than the first-of the subversion of
her cities, and of the remnant that escaped; and finally, of the peace which,
by the will of God, has been granted her in these our times.
I. THE PROLOGUE.
1. NENINIUS, the lowly
minister and servant of the servants of God, by the grace of God, disciple of
St. Elbotus, to all the followers of truth sendeth health.
Be it known to your charity, that being dull in intellect
and rude of speech, I have presumed to deliver these things in the Latin
tongue, not trusting to my own learning, which is little or none at all, but
partly from traditions of our ancestors, partly from writings and monuments of
the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans, and
the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymus, Prosper, Eusebius,
and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons, although our enemies, not
following my own inclinations, but, to the best of my ability, obeying the
commands of my seniors; I have lispingly put together this history from various
sources, and have endeavoured, from shame, to deliver down to posterity the few
remaining ears of corn about past transactions, that they might not be trodden
under foot, seeing that an ample crop has been snatched away already by the
hostile reapers of foreign nations. For many things have been in my way, and I,
to this day, have hardly been able to understand, even superficially, as was
necessary, the sayings of other men; much less was I able in my own strength,
but like a barbarian, have I murdered and defiled the language of others. But I
bore about with me an inward wound, and I was indignant, that the name of my
own people, formerly famous and distinguished, should sink into oblivion, and
like smoke be dissipated. But since, however, I had rather myself be the
historian of the Britons than nobody, although so many are to be found who
might much more satisfactorily discharge the labour thus imposed on me; I
humbly entreat my readers, whose ears I may offend by the inelegance of my
words, that they will fulfil the wish of my seniors, and grant me the easy task
of listening with candour to my history. For zealous efforts very often fail:
but bold enthusiasm, were it in its power, would not suffer me to fail. May,
therefore, candour be shown where the inelegance of my words is insufficient,
and may the truth of this history, which my rustic tongue has ventured, as a
kind of plough, to trace out in furrows, lose none of its influence from that
cause, in the ears of my hearers. For it is better to drink a wholesome draught
of truth from a humble vessel, than poison mixed with honey from a golden
goblet
2. And do not be loath,
diligent reader, to winnow my chaff, and lay up the wheat in the storehouse of
your memory:: for truth regards not who is the speaker, nor in what manner it
is spoken, but that the thing be true;; and she does not despise the jewel
which she has rescued from the mud, but she adds it to her former treasures.
For I yield to those who are
greater and more eloquent than myself, who, kindled with generous ardour, have
endeavoured by Roman eloquence to smooth the jarring elements of their tongue,
if they have left unshaken any pillar of history which I wished to see remain.
This history therefore has been compiled from a wish to benefit my inferiors,
not from envy of those who are superior to me, in the 858th year of our Lord's
incarnation, and in the 24th year of Mervin, king of the Britons, and I hope
that the prayers of my betters will be offered up for me in recompence of my
labour. But this is sufficient by way of preface. I shall obediently accomplish
the rest to the utmost of my power.
36. After the Saxons had continued some time in the
island of Thanet, Vortigern promised to supply them with clothing and
provision, on condition they would engage to fight against the enemies of his
country. But the barbarians having greatly increased in number, the Britons
became incapable of fulfilling their engagement; and when the Saxons, according
to the promise they had received, claimed a supply of provisions and clothing,
the Britons replied, "Your number is increased; your assistance is now
unnecessary; you may, therefore, return home, for we can no longer support
you;" and hereupon they began to devise means of breaking the peace
between them.
37. But Hengist,
in whom united craft and penetration, perceiving he had to act with an ignorant
king, and a fluctuating people, incapable of opposing much resistance, replied
to Vortigern, "We are, indeed, few in number; but, if you will give us
leave, we will send to our country for an additional number of forces, with
whom we will fight for you and your subjects." Vortigern assenting to this
proposal, messengers were despatched to Scythia, where selecting a number of
warlike troops, they returned with sixteen vessels, bringing with them the
beautiful daughter of Hengist. And now the Saxon chief prepared an
entertainment, to which he invited the king, his officers, and Ceretic, his
interpreter, having previously enjoined his daughter to serve them so profusely
with wine and ale, that they might soon become intoxicated. This plan
succeeded; and Vortigern, at the instigation of the devil, and enamoured with
the beauty of the damsel, demanded her, through the medium of his interpreter,
of the father, promising to give for her whatever he should ask. Then Hengist,
who had already consulted with the elders who attended him of the Oghgul race,
demanded for his daughter the province, called in English Centland, in British,
Ceint, (Kent.). This cession was made without the knowledge of the king,
Guoyrancgonus who then reigned in Kent, and who experienced no inconsiderable
share of grief, from seeing his kingdom thus clandestinely, fraudulently, and
imprudently resigned to foreigners. Thus the maid was delivered up to the king,
who slept with her, and loved her exceedingly.
38. Hengist, after this, said to Vortigern, "I
will be to you both a father and an adviser; despise not my counsels, and you
shall have no reason to fear being conquered by any man or any nation whatever;
for the people of my country are strong, warlike, and robust: if you approve, I
will send for my son and his brother, both valiant men who at my invitation
will fight against the Scots, and you can give them the countries in the north,
near the wall called "Gual." The incautious sovereign having assented
to this, Octa and Ebusa arrived with forty ships. In these they sailed round the
country of the Picts, laid waste the Orkneys, and took possession of many
regions, even to the Pictish confines.
39. In the meantime, Vortigern, as if desirous of
adding to the evils he had already occasioned, married his own daughter, by
whom he had a son. When this was made known to St. Germanus, he came, with all
the British clergy, to reprove him: and whilst a numerous assembly of the
ecclesiasties and laity were in consultation, the weak king ordered his
daughter to appear before the, and in the presence of all to present her son to
St. Germanus, and declare that he was the father of the child. The immodest
woman obeyed; and St. Germanus, taking the childc said, "I will be a
father to you, my son; nor will I dismiss you till a razor, scissors, and comb,
are given to me, and it is allowed you to give them to your carnal
father." The child obeyed St. Germanus, and going to his father Vortigern,
said to him, "Thou are my father; shave and cut the hair of my head."
The king blushed, and was silent; and, without replying to the child, arose in
great anger, and fled from the presence of St. Germanus, execrated and
condemned by the whole synod.
40. But soon after calling together his twelve wise
men, to consult what was to be done, they said to him, "Retire to the remote
boundaries of your kingdom; there build and fortify a city todefend yourself,
for the people you have received are treacherous; they are seeking to subdue
you by stratagem, and, even during your life, to seize upon all the countries
subject to your power, how much more will they attempt, after your death!"
The king, pleased with this advice, departed with his wise men, and travelled
through many parts of his territories, in search of a place convenient for the
purpose of building a citadel. Having, to no purpose, travelled far and wide,
they came at length to a province called Guenet; and having surveyed the
mountains of Heremus, they discovered, on the summit of one of them, a
situation, adapted to the construction of a citadel. Upon this, the wise men said
to the king, "Build here a city; for, in this place, it will ever be
secure against the barbarians." Then the king sent for artificers,
carpenters, stone-masons, and collected all the materials requisite to
building; but the whole of these disappeared in one night, so that nothing
remained of what had been provided for the constructing of the citadel.
Materials were, therefore, from all parts, procured a second and third time,
and again vanished as before, leaving and rendering every effort ineffectual.
Vortigern inquired of his wise men the cause of this opposition to his
undertaking, and of so much useless expense of labour? They replied, "You
must find a child born without a father, put him to death, and sprinkle with
his blood the ground on which the citadel is to be built, or you will never
accomplish your purpose."
41. In consequence of this reply, the king sent
messengers throughout Britain, in search of a child born without a father.
After having inquired in all the provinces, they came to the field of Aelecti,
in the district of Glevesing, where a party of boys were playing at ball. And
two of them quarrelling, one said to the other, "" boy without a
father, no good will ever happen to you." Upon this, the messengers
diligently inquired of the mother and the other boys, whether he had had a
father? Which his mother denied, saying, "In what manner he was conceived
I know not, for I have never had intercourse with any man;" and then she
solemnly affirmed that he had no mortal father. The boy was, therefore, led
away, and conducted before Vortigern the king.
42. A meeting took place the
next day for the purpose of putting him to death. Then the boy said to the
king, "Why have your servants brought me hither?" "That you may
be put to death," replied the king, "and that the ground on which my
citadel is to stand, may be sprinkled with your blood, without which I shall be
unable to build it." "Who," said the boy, "instructed you
to do this?" "My wise men," answered the king. "Order them
hither," returned the boy; this being complied with, he thus questioned
them: "By what means was it revealed to you that this citadel could not be
built, unless the spot were previously sprinkled with my blood? Speak without
disguise, and declare who discovered me to you;" then turning to the king,
"I will soon," said he, "unfold to you every thing; but I desire
to question your wise men, and wish them to disclose to you what is hidden
under this pavement:" they acknowledging their ignorance, "there
is," said he, "a pool; come and dig:" they did so, and found the
pool. "Now," continued he, "tell me what is in it;" but
they were ashamed, and made no reply. "I," said the boy, "can
discover it to you: there are two vases in the pool;" they examined, and
found it so: continuing his questions, "What is in the vases?" they
were silent: "There is a tent in them," said the boy; "separate
them, and you shall find it so;" this being done by the king's command,
there was found in them a folded tent. The boy, going on with his questions,
asked the wise men what was in it? But they not knowing what to reply,
"There are," said he, "two serpents, one white and the other
red; unfold the tent;" they obeyed, and two sleeping serpents were
discovered; "consider attentively," said the boy, "what they are
doing." The serpents began to struggle with each other; and the white one,
raising himself up, threw down the other into the middle of the tent and
sometimes drove him to the edge of it; and this was repeated thrice. At length
the red one, apparently the weaker of the two, recovering his strength,
expelled the white one from the tent; and the latter being pursued through the
pool by the red one, disappeared. Then the boy, asking the wise men what was
signified by this wonderful omen, and they expressing their ignorance, he said
to the king, "I will now unfold to you the meaning of this mystery. The
pool is the emblem of this world, and the tent that of your kingdom: the two
serpents are two dragons; the red serpent is your dragon, but the white serpent
is the dragon of the people who occupy several provinces and districts of
Britain, even almost from sea to sea: at length, however, our people shall rise
and drive away ;the Saxon race from beyond the sea, whence they originally
came; but do you depart from this place, where you are not permitted to erect a
citadel; I, to whom fate has allotted this mansion, shall remain here; whilst
to you it is incumbent to seek other provinces, where you may build a
fortress." "What is your name?" asked the king; "I am
called Ambrose (in British Embresguletic)," returned the boy; and in
answer to the king's question, "What is your origin?" he replied,
"A Roman consul was my father." Then the king assigned him that city,
with all the western provinces of Britain; and departing with his wise men to
the sinistral district, he arrived in the region named Gueneri, where he build
a city which, according to his name was called Cair Guorthegirn.
43. At length
Vortimer, the son of Vortigern, valiantly fought against Hengist, Horsa, and
his people; drove them to the isle of Thanct, and thrice enclosed them with it,
and beset them on the western side. The Saxons now despatched deputies to
Germany to solicit large reinforcements, and an additional number of ships:
having obtained these, they fought against the kings and princes of Britain,
and sometimes extended their boundaries by victory, and sometimes were
conquered and driven back.
44. Four times did Vortimer valorously encounter the
enemy; the first has been mentioned, the second was upon the river Darent, the
third at the Ford, in their language called Epsford, though in ours Set
thirgabail, there Horsa fell, and Catigern, the son of Vortigern; the fourth
battle he fought, was near the stone on the shore of the Gallic sea, where the
Saxons being defeated, fled to their ships.
After a short interval
Vortimer died; before his decease, anxious for the future prosperity of his
country, he charged his friends to inter his body at the entrance of the Saxon port,
viz. Upon the rock where the Saxons first landed; "for though," said
he, "they may inhabit other parts of Britain, yet if you follow my
commands, they will never remain in this island." They imprudently
disobeyed this last injunction, and neglected to bury him where he had
appointed.
45. After this the barbarians
became firmly incorporated, and were assisted by foreign pagans; for Vortigern
was their friend, on account of the daughter of Hengist, whom he so much loved,
that no one durst fight against him__in the meantime they soothed the imprudent
king, and whilst practicing every appearance of fondness were plotting with his
enemies. And let him that reads understand, that the Saxons were victorious,
and ruled Britain, not from their superior prowess, but on account of the great
sins of the Britons: God so permitting it.
For what wise
man will resist the wholesome counsel of God? The Almighty is the King of
kings, and the Lord of lords, ruling and judging every one, according to his
own pleasure.
After the death of Vortimer, Hengist being
strengthened by new accessions, collected his ships, and calling his leaders
together, consulted by what stratagem they might overcome Vortigern and his
army; with insidious intention they sent messengers to the king, with offers of
peace and perpetual friendship; unsuspicious of treachery, the monarch, after
advising with his elders, accepted the proposals.
46. Hengist, under pretence
of ratifying the treaty, prepared an entertainment, to which he invited the
king, the nobles, and military officers, in number about three hundred;
speciously concealing his wicked intention, he ordered three hungred Saxons to
conceal each a knife under his feet, and to mix with the Britons; "and
when,"said he, "they are sufficiently inebriated, &c.cry out,
''Nimed eure Saxes,''then let each draw his knife, and kill his man; but spare
the king on account of his marriage with my daughter, for it is better that he
should be ransomed than killed."
The king with his company, appeared at the feast;
and mixing with the Saxons, who, whilst they spoke peace with their tongues,
cheerished treachery in their hearts, each man was placed next his enemy.
After they had eaten and
drunk, and were much intoxicated, Hengist suddenly vociferated, "Nimed
eure Saxes!" and instantly his adherents drew their knives, and rushing
upon the Britons, each slew him that sat next to him, and there was slain three
hundred of the nobles of Vortigern.. The king being a captive, purchased his
redemption, by delivering up the three provinces of East, South, and Middle
Sex, besides other districts at the option of his betrayers.
47. St. Germanus
admonished Vortigern to turn to the true God, and abstain from all unlawful
intercourse with his daughter; but the unhappy wretch fled for refuge to the
province Guorthegirnaim, so called from his own name, where he concealed
himself with his wives: but St. Germanus followed him with all the British
clergy, and upon a rock prayed for his sins during forty days and forty nights.
The blessed man was
unanimously chosen commander against the Saxons. And then, not by the clang of
trumpets, but by praying, singing hallelujah, and by the cries of the army to
God, the enemies were routed, and driven even to the sea.
Again Vortigern ignominiously flew from St. Germanus
to the kingdom of the Dimetae, where, on the river Towy, he built a castle,
which he named Cair Guothergirn. The saint, as usual, followed him there, and
with his clergy fasted and prayed to the Lord three days, and as many nights.
On the third night, at the third hour, fire fell suddenly from heaven, and
totally burned the castle. Vortigern, the daughter of Hengist, his other wives,
and all the inhabitants, both men and women, miserably perished: such was the
end of this unhappy king, as we find written in the life of St. Germanus.
48. Others assure us, that being hated by all the
people of Britain, for having received the Saxons, and being publicly charged
by St. Germanus and the clergy in the sight of God, he betook himself to
flight; and, that deserted and a wanderer, he sought a place of refuge, till
broken hearted, he made an ignominious end.
Some accounts state, that the
earth opened and swallowed him up, on the night his castle was burned; as no
remains were discovered the following morning, either of him, or of those who
were burned with him.
Bed CHAPTER XV
THE ANGLES, BEING INVITED
INTO BRITAIN, AT FIRST OBLIGED THE ENEMY TO RETIRE TO A DISTANCE; BUT NOT LONG AFTER,
JOINING IN LEAGUE WITH THEM, TURNED THEIR WEAPONS UPON THEIR CONFEDERATES.
[A.D. 450-456.]
IN the year of our Lord 449,
Martian being made emperor with Valentinian, and the fortysixth from Augustus,
ruled the empire seven years. Then the nation of the Angles, or Saxons, being
invited by the aforesaid king, arrived in Britain with three long ships, and
had a place assigned them to reside in by the same king, in the eastern part of
the island, that they might thus appear to be fighting for their country,
whilst their real intentions were to enslave it. Accordingly they engaged with
the enemy, who were come from the north to give battle, and obtained the
victory; which, being known at home in their own country, as also the fertility
of the country, and the cowardice of the Britons, a more considerable fleet was
quickly sent over, bringing a still greater number of men, which, being added
to the former, made up an invincible army. The newcomers received of the
Britons a place to inhabit, upon condition that they should wage war against
their enemies for the peace and security of the country, whilst the Britons
agreed to furnish them with pay. Those who came over were of the three most
powerful nations of Germany Saxons, Angles, and Jutes. From the Jutes are
descended the people of Kent, and of the Isle of Wight, and those also in the
province of the West Saxons who are to this day called Jutes, seated opposite
to the Isle of Wight. From the Saxons, that is, the country which is now called
Old Saxony, came the East Saxons, the South Saxons, and the West Saxons. From
the Angles, that is, the country which is called Anglia, and which is said,
from that time, to remain desert to this day, between the provinces of the
Jutes and the Saxons, are descended the East Angles, the Midland Angles,
Mercians, all the race of the Northumbrians, that is, of those nations that
dwell on the north side of the river Humber, and the other nations of the
English. The two first commanders are said to have been Hengist and Horsa. Of
whom Horsa, being afterwards slain in battle by the Britons, was buried in the
eastern parts of Kent, where a monument, bearing his name, is still in
existence. They were the sons of Victgilsus, whose father was Vecta, son of
Woden; from whose stock the royal race of many provinces deduce their original.
In a short time, swarms of the aforesaid nations came over into the island, and
they began to increase so much, that they became terrible to the natives themselves
who had invited them. Then, having on a sudden entered into league with the
Picts, whom they had by this time repelled by the force of their arms, they
began to turn their weapons against their confederates. At first, they obliged
them to furnish a greater quantity of provisions; and, seeking an occasion to
quarrel, protested, that unless more plentiful supplies were brought them, they
would break the confederacy, and ravage all the island; nor were they backward
in putting their threats in execution. In short, the fire kindled by the hands
of these pagans proved God’s just revenge for the crimes of the people; not
unlike that which, being once lighted by the Chaldeans, consumed the walls and
city of Jerusalem. For the barbarous conquerors acting here in the same manner,
or rather the just Judge ordaining that they should so act, they plundered all
the neighbouring cities and country, spread the conflagration from the eastern
to the western sea, without any opposition, and covered almost every part of
the devoted island. Public as well as private structures were overturned; the
priests were everywhere slain before the altars; the prelates and the people,
without any respect of persons, were destroyed with fire and sword; nor was
there any to bury those who had been thus cruelly slaughtered. Some of the
miserable remainder, being taken in the mountains, were butchered in heaps;
others, spent with hunger, came forth and submitted themselves to the enemy for
food, being destined to undergo perpetual servitude, if they were not killed
even upon the spot some, with sorrowful hearts, fled beyond the seas. Others,
continuing in their own country, led a miserable life among the woods, rocks,
and mountains, with scarcely enough food to support life, and expecting every
moment to be their last.
CHAPTER XVI
THE
BRITONS OBTAINED THEIR FIRST VICTORY OVER THE ANGLES, UNDER THE COMMAND OF
AMBROSIUS, A ROMAN
WHEN the victorious army,
having destroyed and dispersed the natives, had returned home to their own
settlements, the Britons began by degrees to take heart, and gather strength,
sallying out of the lurking places where they had concealed themselves, and
unanimously imploring the Divine assistance, that they might not utterly be
destroyed. They had at that time for their leader, Ambrosius Aurelius, a modest
man, who alone, by chance, of the Roman nation had survivcd the storm, in which
his parents, who were of the royal race, had perished. Under him the Britons
revived, and offering battle to the victors, by the help of God, came off
victorious. From that day, sometimes the natives, and sometimes their enemies,
prevailed, till the year of the siege of Baddesdownhill, when they made no
small slaughter of those invaders, about fortyfour years after their arrival
in England. But of this hereafter.
CHAPTER XVII
HOW
GERMANUS THE BISHOP, SAILING INTO BRITAIN WITH LUPUS, FIRST QUELLED THE TEMPEST
OF THE SEA, AND AFTERWARDS THAT OF THE PELAGIANS, BY DIVINE POWER, [A.D. 429.]
SOME
few years before their arrival, the Pelagian heresy brought over by Agricola,
the son of Severianus, a Pelagian bishop, had sadly corrupted the faith of the
Britons But whereas they absolutely refused to embrace that perverse doctrine,
so blasphemous against the grace of Christ, and were not able of themselves to
confute its subtlety by force of argument, they thought of an excellent plan,
which was to crave aid of the Gallican prelates in that spiritual war. Hereupon
having gathered a great synod, they consulted together what persons should be sent
thither, and by unanimous consent, choice was made of the apostolical priests,
Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, and Lupus of Troyes, to go into Britain to confirm
it in the faith. They readily complied with the request and commands of the
holy Church, and putting to sea, sailed half way over from Gaul to Britain with
a fair wind. There on a sudden they were obstructed by the malevolence of
demons, who were jealous that such men should be sent to bring back the Britons
to the faith. They raised storms, and darkened the sky with clouds. The sails
could not bear the fury of the winds, the sailors’ skill was forced to give
way, the ship was sustained by prayer, not by strength, and as it happened,
their spiritual commander and bishop, being spent with weariness, had fallen
asleep. Then the tempest, as if the person that opposed it had given way,
gathered strength, and the ship, overpowered by the waves, was ready to sink.
Then the blessed Lupus and all the rest awakened their elder, that he might
oppose the raging elements. He, showing himself the more resolute in proportion
to the greatness of the danger, called upon Christ, and having, in the name of
the Holy Trinity, sprinkled a little water, quelled the raging waves,
admonished his companion, encouraged all, and all unanimously fell to prayer.
The Deity heard their cry, the enemies were put to flight, a calm ensued, the
winds veering about applied themselves to forward their voyage, and having soon
traversed the ocean, they enjoyed the quiet of the wished for shore. A
multitude flocking thither from all parts, received the priests, whose coming
had been foretold by the predictions even of their adversaries. For the wicked
spirits declared what they feared, and when the priests afterwards expelled
them from the bodies they had taken possession of, they made known the nature
of the tempest, and the dangers they had occasioned, and that they had been
overcome by the merits and authority of the saints.
In
the meantime, the apostolical priests filled the island of Britain with the
fame of their preaching and virtues; and the word of God was by them daily
administered, not only in the churches, but even in the streets and fields, so
that the Catholics were everywhere confirmed, and those who had gone astray,
corrected. Likewise the apostles, they had honour and authority through a good
conscience, obedience to their doctrine through their sound learning, whilst
the reward of virtue attended upon their numerous merits. Thus the generality
of the people readily embraced their opinions; the authors of the erroneous
doctrines kept themselves in the background, and, like evil spirits, grieved
for the loss of the people that were rescued from them. At length, after mature
deliberation they had the boldness to enter the lists, and appeared for public
disputation, conspicuous for riches, glittering in apparel, and supported by
the flatteries of many; choosing rather to hazard the combat, than to undergo
the dishonour among the people of having been silenced, lest they should seem
by saying nothing to condemn themselves. An immense multitude was there
assembled with their wives and children. The people stood round as spectators
and judges; but the parties present differed much in appearance; on the one
side was Divine faith, on the other human presumption; on the one side piety,
on the other pride; on the one side Pelagius on the other Christ. The holy
priests, Germanus and Lupus, permitted their adversaries to speak first, who
long took up the time, and filled the ears with empty words. Then the venerable
prelates poured forth the torrent of their apostolical and evangelical
eloquence. Their discourse was interspersed with scriptural sentences, and they
supported their most weighty assertions by reading the written testimonies of famous
writers. Vanity was convinced, and perfidiousness confuted; so, that at every
objection made against them, not being able to reply, they confessed their
errors. The people, who were judges, could scarcely refrain from violence, but
signified their judgment by their acclamations.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE
SAME HOLY MAN GAVE SIGHT TO THE BLIND DAUGHTER OF A TRIBUNE, AND THEN COMING TO
ST. ALBAN’S, THERE RECEIVED SOME OF HIS RELICS AND LEFT OTHERS OF THE BLESSED
APOSTLES, AND OTHER MARTYRS
AFTER
this, a certain man, who had the quality of a tribune, came forward with his
wife, and presented his blind daughter, ten years of age, for the priests to
cure. they ordered her to be set before their adversaries, who, being convinced
by guilt of conscience, joined their entreaties to those of the child’s
parents, and besought the priests that she might be cured. The priests,
therefore, perceiving their adversaries to yield, made a short prayer, and then
Germanus, full of the Holy Ghost, invoked the Trinity, and taking into his
hands a casket with relics of saints, which hung about his neck, applied it to
the girl’s eyes, which were immediately delivered from darkness and filled with
the light of truth. The parents rejoiced, and the people were astonished at the
miracle; after which, the wicked opinions were so fully obliterated from the
minds of all, that they ardently embraced the doctrine of the priests.
This
damnable heresy being thus suppressed, and the authors thereof confuted, and
all the people’s hearts settled in the purity of the faith, the priests
repaired to the tomb the martyr, St. Alban, to give thanks to God through him.
There Germanus, having with him relics of all the Apostles, and of several
martyrs, after offering up his prayers, commanded the tomb to be opened, that
he might lay up therein some precious gifts; judging it convenient, that the
limbs of saints brought together from several countries, as their equal merits
had procured them admission into heaven, should he preserved in one tomb. These
being honourably deposited, and laid together, he took up a parcel of dust from
the place where the martyr’s blood had been shed, to carry away with him, which
dust having retained the blood, it appeared that the slaughter of the martyrs
had communicated a redness to it, whilst the persecutor was struck pale. In
consequence of these things, an innumerable multitude of people was that day
converted to the Lord.
CHAPTER XIX
HOW
THE SAME HOLY MAN, BEING DETAINED THERE BY AN INDISPOSITION, BY HIS PRAYERS
QUENCHED A FIRE THAT HAD BROKEN OUT AMONG THE HOUSES, AND WAS HIMSELF CURED OF
A DISTEMPER BY A VISION. [A.D. 429.]
AS
they were returning from thence, Germanus fell and broke his leg, by the
contrivance of the Devil, who did not know that, like Job, his merits would be
enhanced by the affliction of his body. Whilst he was thus detained some time
in the same place by illness, a fire broke out in a cottage neighbouring to
that in which he was; and having burned down the other houses which were
thatched with reed, was carried on by the wind to the dwelling in which he lay.
The people all flocked to the prelate, entreating that they might lift him in
their arms, and save him from the impending danger. He, however, rebuked them,
and relying on faith, would not suffer himself to be removed. The multitude, in
despair, ran to oppose the conflagration; however, for the greater
manifestation of the Divine power, whatsoever the crowd endeavoured to save,
was destroyed; but what he who was disabled and motionless occupied, the flame
avoided, sparing the house that gave entertainment to the holy man, and raging
about on every side of it; whilst the house in which he lay appeared untouched,
amid the general conflagration. The multitude rejoiced at the miracle, and
praised the superior power of God. An infinite number of the poorer sort
watched day and night before the cottage; some to heal their souls, and some
their bodies. It is impossible to relate what Christ wrought by his servant,
what wonders the sick man performed: for whilst he would suffer no medicines to
be applied to his distemper, he one night saw a person in garments as white as
snow, standing by him, who reaching out his hand, seemed to raise him up, and
ordered him to stand boldly upon his feet; from which time his pain ceased, and
he was so perfectly restored, that when the day came on, he, without any
hesitation, set forth upon his journey.
CHAPTER XX
HOW
THE SAME BISHOPS PROCURED THE BRITONS ASSISTANCE FROM HEAVEN IN A BATTLE, AND
THEN RETURNED HOME. [A.D. 429.]
IN
the meantime, the Saxons and Picts, with their united forces, made war upon the
Britons, who, being thus by fear and necessity compelled to take up arms, and
thinking themselves unequal to their enemies, implored the assistance of the
holy bishops; who, hastening to them as they had promised, inspired so much
courage into these fearful people, that one would have thought they had been
joined by a mighty army. Thus, by these holy apostolic men, Christ Himself
commanded in their camp. The holy days of Lent were also at hand, and were
rendered more religious by the presence of the priests, insomuch that the
people being instructed by daily sermons, resorted in crowds to be baptized;
for most of the army desired admission to the saving water; a church was prepared
with boughs for the feast of the resurrection of our Lord, and so fitted up in
that martial camp, as if it were in a city. The army advanced, still wet with
the baptismal water; the faith of the people was strengthened and whereas human
power had before been despaired of, the Divine assistance was now relied upon.
The enemy received advice of the state of the army, and not questioning their
success against an unarmed multitude, hastened forwards, but their approach
was, by the scouts, made known to the Britons; the greater part of whose forces
being just come from the font, after the celebration of Easter, and preparing
to arm and carry on the war, Germanus declared he would be their leader. He
picked out the most active, viewed the country round about, and observed, in
the way by which the enemy was expected, a valley encompassed with hills. In
that place he drew up his inexperienced troops, himself acting as their
general. A multitude of fierce enemies appeared, whom as soon as those that lay
in ambush saw a Pp roaching, Germanus, bearing in his hands the standard
instructed his men all in a loud voice to repeat his words, and the enemy
advancing securely, as thinking to take them by surprise, the priests three
times cried, Hallelujah. A universal shout of the same word followed, and the
hills resounding the echo on all sides, the enemy was struck with dread,
fearing, that not only the neighbouring rocks, but even the very skies were
falling upon them and such was their terror, that their feet were not swift
enough to deliver them from it. They fled in disorder, casting away their arms,
and well satisfied if, with their naked bodies, they could escape the danger;
many of them, in their precipitate and hasty flight, were swallowed up by the
river which they were passing. The Britons, without the loss of a man, beheld
their vengeance complete, and became inactive spectators of their victory. The
scattered spoils were gathered up, and the pious soldiers rejoiced in the
success which heaven had granted them. The prelates thus triumphed over the
enemy without bloodshed, and gained a victory by faith, without the aid of
human force and, having settled the affairs of the Island, and restored
tranquillity by the defeat, as well as of the invisible; as of the carnal
enemies, prepared to return home. Their own merits, and the intercession of the
holy martyr Alban, obtained them a safe passage, and the happy vessel restored
them in peace to their rejoicing people.
CHAPTER XXI
THE
PELAGIAN HERESY AGAIN REVIVING, GERMANUS, RETURNING INTO BRITAIN WITH SEVERUS,
FIRST HEALED A LAME YOUTH, THEN HAVING CONDEMNED OR CONVERTED THE HERETICS,
THEY RESTORED SPIRITUAL HEALTH TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD. [A.D. 447.]
NOT
long after, advice was brought from the same island that certain persons were
again attempting to set forth and spread abroad the Pelagian heresy. The holy
Germanus was entreated by all the priests, that he would again defend the cause
of God, which he had before asserted. He speedily complied with their request;
and taking with him Severus, a man of singular sanctity who was disciple to the
most holy father, Lupus, bishop of Troyes, and afterwards, as bishop of Treves,
preached the word of God in the adjacent parts of Germany, put to sea, and was
calmly wafted over into Britain.
In
the meantime, the wicked spirits flying about the whole island, foretold by
constraint that Germanus was coming, insomuch that one Elafius, a chief of that
region, hastened to meet the holy men, without having received any certain
news, carrying with him his son, who laboured under a weakness of his limbs in
the very flower of his youth; for the nerves being withered, his leg was so
contracted that the limb was useless, and he could not walk. All the country
followed this Elafius. The priests arrived, and were met by the ignorant
multitude, whom they blessed, and preached the word of God to them. They found
the people constant in the faith as they had left them; and learning that but
few had gone astray, they found out the authors, and condemned them. Then
Elafius cast himself at the feet of the priests, presenting his son, whose
distress was visible, and needed no words to express it. All were grieved, but
especially the priests, who put up their prayers for him before the throne of
mercy; and Germanus, causing the youth to sit down, gently passed his healing
hand over the leg which was contracted; the limb recovered its strength and
soundness by the power of his touch, the withered nerves were restored, and the
youth was, in the presence of all the people delivered whole to his father. The
multitude was amazed at the miracle, and the Catholic faith was firmly planted
in the minds of all; after which, they were, in a sermon warned and exhorted to
make amends for their errors. By the judgment of all, the spreaders of the
heresy, who had been expelled the island, were brought before the priests, to
be conveyed up into the continent, that the country might be rid of them, and
they corrected of their errors. Thus the faith in those parts continued long after
pure and untainted. All things being settled, he blessed prelates returned home
as prosperously as they came.
But
Germanus, after this, went to Ravenna to intercede for the tranquillity of the
Armoricans, where, being very honourably received by Valentinian and his
mother, Placidia, he departed to Christ; his body was conveyed to his own city
with a splendid retinue, and numberless deeds of charity accompanied him to the
grave. Not long after, Valentinian was murdered by the followers of Ætius, the
Patrician; whom he had put to death, in the sixth year of the reign of
Marcianus, and with him ended the empire of the West.
CHAPTER XXII
THE
BRITONS, BEING FOR A TIME DELIVERED FROM FOREIGN INVASIONS, WASTED THEMSELVES
BY CIVIL WARS, AND THEN GAVE THEMSELVES UP TO MORE HEINOUS CRIMES
IN the meantime, in Britain,
there was some respite from foreign, but not from civil war. There still
remained the ruins of cities destroyed by the enemy, and abandoned; and the
natives, who had escaped the enemy, now fought against each other. However, the
kings, priests, private men, and the nobility, still remembering the late
calamities and slaughters, in some measure kept within bounds; but when these
died, and another generation succeeded, which knew nothing of those times, and
was only acquainted with the present peaceable state of things, all the bonds
of sincerity and justice were so entirely broken, that there was not only no
trace of them remaining, but few persons seemed to be aware that such virtues
had ever existed. Among other most wicked actions, not to be expressed, which
their own historian, Gildas, mournfully takes notice of, they added this that
they never preached the faith to the Saxons, or English, who dwelt amongst
them; however, the goodness of God did not forsake his people whom He foreknew,
but sent to the aforesaid nation much more worthy preachers, to bring it to the
faith.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The island Britain (1) is 800 miles long, and 200 miles broad. And there are in the island five nations; English, Welsh (or British) (2), Scottish, Pictish, and Latin. The first inhabitants were the Britons, who came from Armenia (3), and
first peopled Britain southward. Then happened it, that the Picts came south from Scythia, with long ships, not many; and, landing first in the northern part of Ireland, they told the Scots that they must dwell there. But they would not give them leave; for the Scots told them that they could not all dwell there together; "But," said the Scots, "we can nevertheless give you advice. We know another island here to the east. There you may dwell, if you will; and whosoever withstandeth you, we will assist you, that you may gain it." Then went the Picts and entered this land northward. Southward the Britons possessed it, as we before said. And the Picts obtained wives of the Scots, on condition that they chose their kings always on the female side (4); which they have continued to do, so long since. And it happened, in the run of years, that some party of Scots went from Ireland into Britain, and acquired some portion of this land. Their leader was called Reoda (5), from whom they are named Dalreodi (or Dalreathians).
Sixty winters ere that Christ was born, Caius Julius, emperor of
the Romans, with eighty ships sought Britain. There he was first
beaten in a dreadful fight, and lost a great part of his army.
Then he let his army abide with the Scots (6), and went south
into Gaul. There he gathered six hundred ships, with which he
went back into Britain. When they first rushed together,
Caesar's tribune, whose name was Labienus (7), was slain. Then
took the Welsh sharp piles, and drove them with great clubs into
the water, at a certain ford of the river called Thames. When
the Romans found that, they would not go over the ford. Then
fled the Britons to the fastnesses of the woods; and Caesar,
having after much fighting gained many of the chief towns, went
back into Gaul (8).
((B.C. 60. Before the incarnation of Christ sixty years, Gaius
Julius the emperor, first of the Romans, sought the land of
Britain; and he crushed the Britons in battle, and overcame them;
and nevertheless he was unable to gain any empire there.))
A.D. 1. Octavianus reigned fifty-six winters; and in the forty-
second year of his reign Christ was born. Then three astrologers
from the east came to worship Christ; and the children in
Bethlehem were slain by Herod in persecution of Christ.
A.D. 3. This year died Herod, stabbed by his own hand; and
Archelaus his son succeeded him. The child Christ was also this
year brought back again from Egypt.
A.D. 6. From the beginning of the world to this year were agone
five thousand and two hundred winters.
A.D. 11. This year Herod the son of Antipater undertook the
government in Judea.
A.D. 12. This year Philip and Herod divided Judea into four
kingdoms.
((A.D. 12. This year Judea was divided into four tetrarchies.))
A.D. 16. This year Tiberius succeeded to the empire.
A.D. 26. This year Pilate began to reign over the Jews.
A.D. 30. This year was Christ baptized; and Peter and Andrew
were converted, together with James, and John, and Philip, and
all the twelve apostles.
A.D. 33. This year was Christ crucified; (9) about five thousand
two hundred and twenty six winters from the beginning of the
world. (10)
A.D. 34. This year was St. Paul converted, and St. Stephen
stoned.
A.D. 35. This year the blessed Peter the apostle settled an
episcopal see in the city of Antioch.
A.D. 37. This year (11) Pilate slew himself with his own hand.
A.D. 39. This year Caius undertook the empire.
A.D. 44. This year the blessed Peter the apostle settled an
episcopal see at Rome; and James, the brother of John, was slain
by Herod.
A.D. 45. This year died Herod, who slew James one year ere his
own death.
A.D. 46. This year Claudius, the second of the Roman emperors
who invaded Britain, took the greater part of the island into his
power, and added the Orkneys to rite dominion of the Romans.
This was in the fourth year of his reign. And in the same year
(12) happened the great famine in Syria which Luke mentions in
the book called "The Acts of the Apostles". After Claudius Nero
succeeded to the empire, who almost lost the island Britain
through his incapacity.
((A.D. 46. This year the Emperor Claudius came to Britain, and
subdued a large part of the island; and he also added the island
of Orkney to the dominion of the Romans.))
A.D. 47. This year Mark, the evangelist in Egypt beginneth to
write the gospel.
((A.D. 47. This was in the fourth year of his reign, and in this
same year was the great famine in Syria which Luke speaks of in
the book called "Actus Apostolorum".))
((A.D. 47. This year Claudius, king of the Romans, went with an
army into Britain, and subdued the island, and subjected all the
Picts and Welsh to the rule of the Romans.))
A.D. 50. This year Paul was sent bound to Rome.
A.D. 62. This year James, the brother of Christ, suffered.
A.D. 63. This year Mark the evangelist departed this life.
A.D. 69. This year Peter and Paul suffered.
A.D. 70. This year Vespasian undertook the empire.
A.D. 71. This year Titus, son of Vespasian, slew in Jerusalem
eleven hundred thousand Jews.
A.D. 81. This year Titus came to the empire, after Vespasian,
who said that he considered the day lost in which he did no good.
A.D. 83. This year Domitian, the brother of Titus, assumed the
government.
A.D. 84. This year John the evangelist in the island Patmos
wrote the book called "The Apocalypse".
A.D. 90. This year Simon, the apostle, a relation of Christ, was
crucified: and John the evangelist rested at Ephesus.
A.D. 92. This year died Pope Clement.
A.D. 110. This year Bishop Ignatius suffered.
A.D. 116. This year Hadrian the Caesar began to reign.
A.D. 145. This year Marcus Antoninus and Aurelius his brother
succeeded to the empire.
((A.D. 167. This year Eleutherius succeeded to the popedom, and
held it fifteen years; and in the same year Lucius, king of the
Britons, sent and begged baptism of him. And he soon sent it
him, and they continued in the true faith until the time of
Diocletian.))
……..
A.D. 435. This year the Goths sacked the city of Rome; and never
since have the Romans reigned in Britain. This was about eleven
hundred and ten winters after it was built. They reigned
altogether in Britain four hundred and seventy winters since
Gaius Julius first sought that land.
A.D. 443. This year sent the Britons over sea to Rome, and
begged assistance against the Picts; but they had none, for the
Romans were at war with Atila, king of the Huns. Then sent they
to the Angles, and requested the same from the nobles of that
nation.
A.D. 444. This year died St. Martin.
A.D. 448. This year John the Baptist showed his head to two
monks, who came from the eastern country to Jerusalem for the
sake of prayer, in the place that whilom was the palace of Herod.
(15)
A.D. 449. This year Marcian and Valentinian assumed the empire,
and reigned seven winters. In their days Hengest and Horsa,
invited by Wurtgern, king of the Britons to his assistance,
landed in Britain in a place that is called Ipwinesfleet; first
of all to support the Britons, but they afterwards fought against
them. The king directed them to fight against the Picts; and
they did so; and obtained the victory wheresoever they came.
They then sent to the Angles, and desired them to send more
assistance. They described the worthlessness of the Britons, and
the richness of the land. They then sent them greater support.
Then came the men from three powers of Germany; the Old Saxons,
the Angles, and the Jutes. From the Jutes are descended the men
of Kent, the Wightwarians (that is, the tribe that now dwelleth
in the Isle of Wight), and that kindred in Wessex that men yet
call the kindred of the Jutes. From the Old Saxons came the
people of Essex and Sussex and Wessex. From Anglia, which has
ever since remained waste between the Jutes and the Saxons, came
the East Angles, the Middle Angles, the Mercians, and all of
those north of the Humber. Their leaders were two brothers,
Hengest and Horsa; who were the sons of Wihtgils; Wihtgils was
the son of Witta, Witta of Wecta, Wecta of Woden. From this
Woden arose all our royal kindred, and that of the Southumbrians
also.
((A.D. 449. And in their days Vortigern invited the Angles
thither, and they came to Britain in three ceols, at the place
called Wippidsfleet.))
A.D. 455. This year Hengest and Horsa fought with Wurtgern the
king on the spot that is called Aylesford. His brother Horsa being there slain, Hengest afterwards took to the kingdom with his son Esc.
A.D. 457. This year Hengest and Esc fought with the Britons on
the spot that is called Crayford, and there slew four thousand
men. The Britons then forsook the land of Kent, and in great
consternation fled to London.
A.D. 465. This year Hengest and Esc fought with the Welsh, nigh
Wippedfleet; and there slew twelve leaders, all Welsh. On their
side a thane was there slain, whose name was Wipped.
A.D. 473. This year Hengest and Esc fought with the Welsh, and
took immense Booty. And the Welsh fled from the English like
fire.
Gregory of Tours (539-594):
History of the Franks
PREFACE
HERE BEGINS GREGORY'S FIRST
PREFACE
With liberal culture on the
wane, or rather perishing in the Gallic cities there were many deeds being done
both good and evil: the heathen were raging fiercely; kings were growing more
cruel; the church. attacked by heretics, was defended by Catholics; while the
Christian faith was in general devoutly cherished, among some it was growing
cold; the churches also were enriched by the faithful or plundered by
traitors-and no grammarian skilled in the dialectic art could be found to
describe these matters either in prose or verse; and many were lamenting and
saying: "Woe to our day, since the pursuit of letters has perished from
among us and no one can be found among the people who can set forth the deeds
of the present on the written page." Hearing continually these complaints
and others like them I [have undertaken] to commemorate the past, order that it
may come to the knowledge of the future; and although my speech is rude, I have
been unable to be silent as to the struggles between the wicked and the
upright; and I have been especially encouraged because, to my surprise, it
has often been said by men of our day, that few understand the learned words of
the rhetorician but many the rude language of the common people. I have decided
also that for the reckoning of the years the first book shall begin with the
very beginning of the world, and I have given its chapters below.
IN CHRIST'S NAME
HERE BEGINS THE FIRST BOOK OF
THE HISTORIES
As I am about to describe the
struggles of kings with the heathen enemy, of martyrs with pagans, of churches
with heretics, I desire first of all to declare my faith so that my reader may
have no doubt that I am Catholic. I have also decided, on account of those who
are losing hope of the approaching end of the world, to collect the total of
past years from chronicles and histories and set forth clearly how many years
there are from the beginning of the world. But I first beg pardon of my readers
if either in letter or in syllable I transgress the rules of the grammatic art
in which I have not been fully instructed, since I have been eager only for
this, to hold fast, without any subterfuge or irresolution of heart, to that
which we are bidden in the church to believe, because I know that he who is
liable to punishment for his sin can obtain pardon from God by untainted faith.
I believe, then, in God the
Father omnipotent. I believe in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord God, born
of the Father, not created. [I believe] that he has always been with the
Father, not only since time began but before all time. For the Father could not
have been so named unless he had a son; and there could be no son without a
father. But as for those who say: "There was a time when he was not,"
[note: A leading belief of Arian Christology.] I reject
them with curses, and call men to witness that they are separated from the
church. I believe that the word of the Father by which all things were made was
Christ. I believe that this word was made fresh and by its suffering the world
was redeemed, and I believe that humanity, not deity, was subject to the
suffering. I believe that he rose again on the third day, that he freed sinful
man, that he ascended to heaven, that he sits on the right hand of the Father,
that he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe that the holy
Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son, that it is not inferior and is
not of later origin, but is God, equal and always coeternal with the Father
and the Son, consubstantial in its nature, equal in omnipotence, equally
eternal in its essence, and that it has never existed apart from the Father and
the Son and is not inferior to the Father and the Son. I believe that this holy
Trinity exists with separation of persons, and one person is that of the
Father, another that the Son, another that of the Holy Spirit. And in this
Trinity confess that there is one Deity, one power, one essence. I believe that
the blessed Mary was a virgin after the birth as she was a virgin before. I
believe that the soul is immortal but that nevertheless it has no part in
deity. And I faithfully believe all things that were established at Nicæa by
the three hundred and eighteen bishops. But as to the end of the world I hold
beliefs which I learned from our forefathers, that Antichrist will come first.
An Antichrist will first propose circumcision, asserting that he is Christ;
next he will place his statue in the temple at Jerusalem to be worshipped, just
as we read that the Lord said: "You shall see the abomination of
desolation standing in the holy place." But the Lord himself declared that
that day is hidden from all men, saying; "But of that day and that hour
knoweth no one not even the anger in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father
alone." Moreover we shall here make answer to the heretics [note:
the Arians] who attack us, asserting that the Son is inferior to the Father
since he is ignorant of this day. Let them learn then that Son here is the name
applied to the Christian people, of whom God says: "I shall be to them a
father and they shall be to me for sons." For if he had spoken these words
of the onlybegotten Son he would never have given the angels first place. For
he uses these words: "Not even the angels in heaven nor the Son," showing
that he spoke these words not of the only-begotten but of the people of
adoption. But our end is Christ himself, who will graciously bestow eternal
life on us if we turn to him.
As to the reckoning of this
world, the chronicles of Eusebius bishop of Cæsarea, and of Jerome the priest,
speak clearly, an they reveal the plan of the whole succession of years.
Orosius too, searching into these matters very carefully, collects the
whole number of years from the beginning of the world down to his own time.
Victor also examined into this in connection with the time of the Easter
festival. And so we follow the works of the writers mentioned above and desire
to reckon the complete series of years from the creation of the first man down
to our own time, if the Lord shall deign to lend his aid. And this we shall
more easily accomplish if we begin with Adam himself.
1.
In the beginning the Lord shaped the heaven and the
earth in his Christ, who is the beginning of all things, that is, in his son;
and after creating the elements of the whole universe, taking a frail clod he
formed man after his own image and likeness, and breathed upon his face the
breath of life and he was made into a living soul. And while he slept a rib was
taken from him and the woman, Eve, was created. There is no doubt that this
first man Adam before he sinned typified the Redeemer. ….
William of Newburg
[1] The history of our
English nation has been written by the venerable Bede, a priest and monk, who,
the more readily to gain the object he had in view, commenced his narrative at
a very remote period, though he only glanced, with cautious brevity, at the
more prominent actions of the Britons, who are known to have been the
aborigines of our island. The Britons, however, had before him a historian of
their own, from whose work Bede has inserted an extract; this fact I observed
some years since, when I accidentally discovered a copy of the work of Gildas.
His history, however, is rarely to be found, for few persons care either to
transcribe or possess it, his style being so coarse and unpolished; his
impartiality, however, is strong in developing truth, for he never spares even
his own countrymen; he touches lightly upon their good qualities, and laments
their numerous bad ones: there can be no suspicion that the truth is disguised,
when a Briton, speaking of Britons, declares, that they were neither courageous
in war, nor faithful in peace.
[2] For the
purpose of washing out those stains from the character of the Britons, a writer
in our times has started up and invented the most ridiculous fictions
concerning them, and with unblushing effrontery, extols them far above the
Macedonians and Romans. He is called Geoffrey, surnamed Arthur, from having
given, in a Latin version, the fabulous exploits of Arthur, drawn from the
traditional fictions of the Britons, with additions of his own, and endeavored
to dignify them with the name of authentic history; moreover, he has
unscrupulously promulgated the mendacious predictions of one Merlin, as if they
were genuine prophecies, corroborated by indubitable truth, to which also he
has himself considerably added during the process of translating them into
Latin. He further declares that this Merlin was the issue of a demon and woman,
and, as participating in his father's nature, attributes to him the most exact
and extensive knowledge of futurity; whereas, we are rightly taught, by reason
and the holy scriptures, that devils, being excluded from the light of God, can
never by meditation arrive at the cognizance of future events; though by the
means of some types, more evident to them than to us, they may predict events
to come rather by conjecture than by certain knowledge. Moreover, even in their
conjectures, subtle though they be, they often deceive themselves as well as
others. Nevertheless, they impose on the ignorant by their feigned divinations,
and arrogate to themselves a prescience which, in truth, they do not possess.
The fallacies of Merlin's prophecies are, indeed, evident in circumstances
which are known to have transpired in the kingdom of England after the death of
Geoffrey himself, who translated these follies from the British language, to
which, as is truly believed, he added much from his own invention.
[3] Besides,
he so accommodated his prophetic fancies, as he easily might do, to
circumstances occurring previous to, or during, his own times, that they might
obtain a suitable interpretation. Moreover, no one but a person ignorant of
ancient history, when he meets with that book which he calls the History of the
Britons, can for a moment doubt how impertinently and impudently he falsifies
in every respect. For he only who has not learnt the truth of history
indiscreetly believes the absurdity of fable. I omit this man's inventions
concerning the exploits of the Britons previous to the government of Julius
Caesar, as well as the fictions of others which he has recorded, as if they
were authentic. I make no mention of his fulsome praise of the Britons, in
defiance of the truth of history, from the time of Julius Caesar, when they
came under the dominion of the Romans, to that of Honorius, when the Romans
voluntarily retired from Britain, on account of the more urgent necessities of
their own state.
[4] Indeed, the Britons, by
the retreat of the Romans, becoming once more at their own disposal -- nay,
left to themselves for their own destruction, and exposed to the depredation of
the Picts and Scots -- are said to have had Vortigern for king, by whom the
Saxons, or Angles, were invited over for the defense of the kingdom: they
arrived in Britain under the conduct of Hengist, and repelled the irruptions of
the barbarians for a time; but afterward, having discovered the fertility of
the land, and the supineness of its inhabitants, they broke their treaty, and
turned their arms against those by whom they bad been invited over, and
confined the miserable remains of the people, now called the Welsh who had not
been dispersed -- within inaccessible woods and mountains. The Saxons,
moreover, had, in the course of succession, most valiant and powerful kings;
among whom was Ethelberht, great-grandson of Hengist, who, having extended his
empire from the Gallic ocean to the Humber, embraced the easy yoke of Christ at
the preaching of Augustine. Alfred, too, king of Northumberland, subdued both
the Britons and the Scots with excessive slaughter. Edwin, who succeeded
Alfred, reigned at the same time over the Angles and Britons; Oswald, his
successor, governed all the nations of Britain.
[5] Now,
since it is evident that these facts are established with historical
authenticity by the venerable Bede, it appears that whatever Geoffrey has
written, subsequent to Vortigern, either of Arthur, or his successors, or
predecessors, is a fiction, invented either by himself or by others, and
promulgated either through an unchecked propensity to falsehood, or a desire to
please the Britons, of whom vast numbers are said to be so stupid as to assert
that Arthur is yet to come, and who cannot bear to hear of his death. Lastly,
he makes Aurelius Ambrosius succeed to Vortigern (the Saxons whom he had sent
for being conquered and expelled), and pretends that he governed all England
superexcellently; he also mentions Utherpendragon, his brother, as his
successor, whom, he pretends, reigned with equal power and glory, adding a vast
deal from Merlin, out of his profuse addiction to lying. On the decease of
Utherpendragon, he makes his son Arthur succeed to the kingdom of Britain --
the fourth in succession from Vortigern, in like manner as our Bede places
Ethelberht, the patron of Augustine, fourth from Hengist in the government of
the Angles. Therefore, the reign of Arthur, and the arrival of Augustine in
England, ought to coincide.
[6] But how much plain
historical truth outweighs concerted fiction may, in this particular, be
perceived even by a purblind man through his mind's eye. Moreover, he depicts
Arthur himself as great and powerful beyond all men, and as celebrated in his
exploits as he chose to feign him. First, he makes him triumph, at pleasure,
over Angles, Picts, and Scots; then, he subdues Ireland, the Orkneys, Gothland,
Norway, Denmark, partly by war, partly by the single terror of his name. To
these he adds Iceland, which, by some, is called the remotest Thule, in order
that what a noble poet flatteringly said to the Roman Augustus, "The
distant Thule shall confess thy sway," might apply to the British Arthur.
Next, he makes him attack, and speedily triumph over, Gaul -- a nation which
Julius Caesar, with infinite peril and labor, was scarcely able to subjugate in
ten years -- as though the little finger of the British was more powerful than
the loins of the mighty Caesar. After this, with numberless triumphs, he brings
him back to England, where he celebrates his conquests with a splendid banquet
with his subject-kings and princes, in the presence of the three archbishops of
the Britons, that is London, Carleon, and York -- whereas, the Britons at that
time never had an archbishop. Augustine, having received the pall from the
Roman pontiff, was made the first archbishop in Britain; for the barbarous
nations of Europe, though long since converted to the Christian faith, were
content with bishops, and did not regard the prerogative of the pall. Lastly,
the Irish, Norwegians, Danes, and Goths, though confessedly Christians, for a
long while possessed only bishops, and had no archbishops until our own time.
[7] Next this fabler, to
carry his Arthur to the highest summit, makes him declare war against the
Romans, having, however, first vanquished a giant of surprising magnitude in
single combat, though since the times of David we never read of giants. Then,
with a wider license of fabrication, he brings all the kings of the world in
league with the Romans against him; that is to say, the kings of Greece,
Africa, Spain, Parthia, Media, Iturea, Libya, Egypt, Babylon, Bithynia,
Phrygia, Syria, Boeotia, and Crete, and he relates that all of them were
conquered by him in a single battle; whereas, even Alexander the Great,
renowned throughout all ages, was engaged for twelve years in vanquishing only
a few of the potentates of these mighty kingdoms. Indeed, he makes the little
finger of his Arthur more powerful than the loins of Alexander the Great; more
especially when, previous to the victory over so many kings, he introduces him
relating to his comrades the subjugation of thirty kingdoms by his and their
united efforts; whereas, in fact, this romancer will not find in the world so
many kingdoms, in addition to those mentioned, which he had not yet subdued.
Does he dream of another world possessing countless kingdoms, in which the
circumstances he has related took place? Certainly, in our own orb no such
events have happened. For how would the elder historians, who were ever anxious
to omit nothing remarkable, and even recorded trivial circumstances, pass by
unnoticed so incomparable a man, and such surpassing deeds? How could they, I
repeat, by their silence, suppress Arthur, the British monarch (superior to
Alexander the Great), and his deeds, or Merlin, the British prophet (the rival
of Isaiah), and his prophecies? For what less in the knowledge of future events
does he attribute to this Merlin than we do to Isaiah, except, indeed, that he
durst not prefix to his productions, "Thus saith the Lord" and was
ashamed to say, "Thus saith the Devil," though this had been best
suited to a prophet the offspring of a demon.
[8] Since, therefore, the
ancient historians make not the slightest mention of these matters, it is plain
that whatever this man published of Arthur and of Merlin are mendacious
fictions, invented to gratify the curiosity of the undiscerning. Moreover, it
is to be noted that he subsequently relates that the same Arthur was mortally
wounded in battle, and that, after having disposed of his kingdom he retired
into the island of Avallon, according to the British fables, to be cured of his
wounds; not daring, through fear of the Britons, to assert that he was dead --
he whom these truly silly Britons declare is still to come. Of the successors
of Arthur he feigns, with similar effrontery, giving them the monarchy of
Britain, even to the seventh generation, making those noble kings of the Angles
(whom the venerable Bede declares to have been monarchs of Britain) their slaves
and vassals.
[9] Therefore, let Bede, of
whose wisdom and integrity none can doubt, possess our unbounded confidence, and let this fabler, with his
fictions, be instantly rejected by all.
[10] There were not wanting,
indeed, some writers after Bede, but none at all to be compared with him, who
detailed from his days the series of times and events of our island until our
own recollection; men deserving of praise for their zealous and faithful
labors, though their narrative be homely. In our times, indeed, events so great
and memorable have occurred, that, if they be not transmitted to lasting memory
by written documents, the negligence of the moderns must be deservedly blamed.
Perhaps a work of this kind is already begun, or even finished, by one or more
persons, but, nevertheless, some venerable characters, to whom we owe
obedience, have deigned to enjoin such a labor, even to so insignificant a
person as myself, in order that I, who am unable to make my offerings with the
rich, may yet be permitted, with the poor widow, to cast somewhat of my poverty
into the treasury of the Lord: and, since we are aware that the series of
English history has been brought down by some to the decease of king Henry the
first, beginning at the arrival of the Normans in England, land, I shall
succinctly describe the intermediate time, that, by the permission of God, I
may give a more copious narrative from Stephen, Henry's successor, in whose
first year I, William, the least of the servants of Christ, was born unto death
in the first Adam, and born again unto life in the second.
HERE BEGINS THE FIRST BOOK
Chapter 1: Of William the
Bastard, first Norman king of England.
[1] In the year one thousand and
sixty-six from the fullness of time, in which the Word was made flesh and dwelt
amongst us, William, surnamed the Bastard, duke of Normandy, either through a
lawless desire of dominion, or a yearning to avenge the injuries which he had
received, waged war against Harold, king of England. The latter falling by the
chance of battle, and the English being defeated and subdued, William united
the kingdom of England to the duchy of Normandy. On the completion of his
victory -- as he abominated the name of an usurper, and was anxious to assume
the character of a legitimate sovereign -- he commanded Stigand, at that time
archbishop of Canterbury, to consecrate him king in due form. This prelate,
however, would not by any means consent to lay hand's on a man who, to use his
own expression, was stained with blood, and the invader of another's right. But
Aldred, archbishop of York, a worthy and prudent man, wisely foreseeing the
necessity of yielding to the times, and observing that God's appointment was
not to be resisted, performed the office of consecration. By these means he
conciliated William, who was still breathing threatenings and slaughter against
the people, and bound him by a sacred oath to preserve and defend the civil and
ecclesiastical government. After this, he regarded Aldred in such a parental
light, that although he governed others, yet he calmly suffered himself to be
ruled by him. Once, indeed, it happened that this pontiff, meeting with a
repulse from the king relative to some petition which he had urged, angrily
turned his back in retiring, and threatened him with a curse instead of a
blessing. The king, unable to bear his displeasure, fell at his feet,
entreating forgiveness, and promising amendment; and when the nobles, who stood
by, besought the bishop to raise the prostrate monarch, he replied, "Let
him lie at the feet of Peter." This circumstance plainly indicates the
high respect which this ferocious prince entertained for the prelate, as well
as the authority, aid ascendancy which Aldred possessed over him. …