(architectos petiit qui juxta morem Romanorum ecclesiam de lapide in gente ipsius facerent)' Bede Hist. Eccl. v. 21.

16. On the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals see Neander Church History (Torrey's translation) vi. p. 1 sq. I A collection of ecclesiastical laws had been drawn up in the sixth century by Dionysius Exiguus containing the papal decrees from the time of Pope Siricius (384-398) downwards. This collection was widely circulated, and was added to from time to time by the admission of later ecclesiastical ordinances. One of the best known of these recensions was that of the learned Isidore of Seville (560-636). But in the ninth century suddenly appeared, under the name of Isidore, a collection no longer commencing from the fourth century, but comprising a complete series of decretals of the Roman bishops from Clement of Rome (c. 92—100) onwards. It was headed by five letters purporting to have been written by Clement, of which one was a Latin translation by Rufinus (c. 398–402) of a spurious letter to James, which is found in Greek prefixed to the Clementine Homilies, a work of the second century; the others later fabrications. The letters from subsequent bishops of Rome in this collection abound in anachronisms and blunders of such a kind that a less credulous age would have detected the imposture at once; and the whole series was designed to set forth in the completest way, and to invest with the authority of great antiquity, the inviolability of the Church, and the claim of the Pope, as the head of Christendom, to be the sole court of appeal in civil and religious matters alike.

17. John, surnamed the Faster, patriarch of Constantinople (585— 595) had assumed the title of 'oecumenical' or 'universal' bishop in the time of Pelagius, Gregory's predecessor. The title was not a novelty, nor did it apparently imply a claim for jurisdiction over the whole church; but Gregory remonstrated strongly in his letters. Writing to the emperor Maurice he declares (Ep. vii. 33), Ego fidenter dico quia quisquis se universalem episcopum vocat, vel vocari desiderat, in electione sua Antichristum praecurrit, quia superbiendo se caeteris proponit. Nec dispari superbia ad errorem ducitur quia, sicut perversus ille deus videri vult super omnes homines, ita quisquis iste est, qui solus sacerdos appellari appetit, super reliquos sacerdotes se extollit (I say confidently that whoever styles himself 'universal bishop,' or seeks to be so styled, becomes by his own choice a precursor of Antichrist; because by his proud vaunting he places himself above the rest. In a like spirit of pride he is being led away into error; for just as that false god wishes to seem superior to all men, so whoever this person is, who

covets to be called priest all to himself, he exalts himself above his fellow priests). Again in a letter addressed to Eusebius, bishop of Thessalonica and other bishops (Ep. ix. 60), after an allusion to superbum et pestiferum oecumenici, id est universalis, vocabulum (the proud and pestilent title of oecumenical' or 'universal'), he continues, Quia hoc jam, ut videmus, mundi hujus termino propinquante, in praecursione sua apparuit humani generis inimicus, ut ipsos, qui ei contradicere bene atque humiliter vivendo debuerunt per hoc superbiae vocabulum praecursores habeat sacerdotes, hortor et suadeo ut nullus vestrum hoc nomen aliquando recipiat (Since therefore with the end of this world approaching, as we see, in his due time of forerunning has appeared the enemy of the human race, so as to have as his precursors the very men who ought to have given him the lie by living good and humble lives, the priests, I advise and urge that none of you on any account admit this title). And later on in the same letter, Quis, rogo, in hoc tam perverso vocabulo nisi ille ad imitandum proponitur, qui, despectis angelorum legionibus secum sociabiliter constitutis, ad culmen conatus est singularitatis erumpere, ut et nulli subesse et solus omnibus praeesse videretur (Who, I ask, in this preposterous title is held up for imitation but he who despised the legions of angels which had been associated with himself on equal terms, and essayed to force his way to the topmost point of singularity, so that he might appear not merely inferior to none, but sole head above all)? Many equally strong passages might be quoted from Ep. v. 18, 20, 43; vii. 31, 33; viii. 30, ix. 68. See Robertson History of the Christian Church ii. 376 sq.

18. Tennyson The Passing of Arthur 1. 183.

19.

Finan, the successor of S. Aidan and the predecessor of Colman in the bishopric of Lindisfarne (651—661), built the church at Lindisfarne 'after the manner of the Scots (Celts), not of stone but entirely of hewn oak, and thatched it with reeds (more Scottorum non de lapide sed de robore secto totam composuit atque harundine texit)' Bede Hist. Eccl. iii. 25. This may be considered the mother-church of the present cathedral at Durham, the chief intermediate links being bishop Eardulph's wooden church at Chester-le-Street (883) and bishop Aldhun's stone church at Durham completed 999, and pulled down to make room for the present structure. On Aug. 11, 1093 the foundation stone of Durham Cathedral was laid in the presence of William of Carileph, bishop of Durham, Turgot, prior of the monastery, afterwards bishop of S. Andrews, and perhaps also Malcolm, king of Scotland. The building went on rapidly, and at the death of William of Carileph

(Jan. 6, 1095-6) was completed from the east end of the choir as far as the first great bay of the nave, including the piers and arches which carry the central tower. Bishop Ralph Flambard (1099—1128) finished the nave, including the side aisles and their roofs as far as the vaultings, and also the western towers up to the height of the nave. Greenwell Durham Cathedral (2nd ed.) p. 21 sq.

See

20. Ecclesiasticus xlix. 4, 'All, except David and Ezekias and Josias, were defective: for they forsook the law of the most High, even the kings of Juda failed.'

21. The references are 2 Chron. xxxiii. 23, xxxiv. 2, 2 Kings xxi. 13, xxiii. 22, 25.

22. Zechariah xii. II 'In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.' 23. Revelation xvi. 16.

24. Ecclesiasticus xlix. 1-3.

25.

Elfric and Ella were brothers; Osric was the son of Elfric; Edwin and Acha the son and the daughter of Ella; Acha married Ethelfrid and became the mother of Eanfrid, Oswald and Oswy. Oswald was therefore younger brother of Eanfrid, and second cousin (through his mother) of Osric.

The union or separation of the two kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira was bound up with the varying fortunes of the Deiran dynasty of Yffi father of Ella, and the Bernician dynasty of Ida father of Ethelric. Of the Deiran dynasty, Ella, Osric, and Oswin ruled over Deira, and Edwin was strong enough to annex Bernicia also: of the Bernician dynasty, which was the more powerful, Ethelric, Ethelfrid, and Oswald governed Deira as well as Bernicia ; but Oswy until Oswin's death was obliged to be content with Bernicia.

26, 27. Infaustus ille annus et omnibus bonis exosus usque hodie permanet, tam propter apostasiam regum Anglorum qua se fidei sacramentis exuerant, quam propter vesanam Brettonici regis tyrannidem. Unde cunctis placuit regum tempora computantibus, ut ablata de medio regum perfidorum memoria idem annus sequentis regis, id est Osualdi, viri Deo dilecti, regno adsignaretur (This year remains to this day illomened and hateful to all good men, both by reason of the apostasy of the kings of the Angles, who had renounced the sacraments of the faith, and because of the mad tyranny of the British king. Wherefore it has seemed good to all who have computed the chronology of the kings to wipe out absolutely the memory of the renegade kings, and to assign the year in question to the reign of the following king, that is Oswald, the man beloved of God) Bede Hist. Eccl. iii. 1.

28. Bede Hist. Eccl. iii. 2. 'The battle seems to have been fought near S. Oswald's [seven miles north of Hexham]; but Cadwalla fell at a place, on the south and opposite side of the Tyne, called Denisesburna, from the rivulet Denis, now Rowley-water, which flows into the Devil's Water above Dilston.' Greenwell Durham Cathedral p. 3.

29. The battle of Maserfield was fought on Aug. 5, 642, eight years after Heavenfield (Bede Hist. Eccl. iii. 9). S. Oswald had reconquered Lindsey from Penda, hence his quarrel with the Mercian king. After his victory, Penda struck off S. Oswald's head (as he had struck off Edwin's head nine years before at Hatfield), and set it up on a pole on the battle-field. It was rescued, carried to Lindisfarne, and buried by S. Aidan; but afterwards exhumed and taken to Bamborough, where it remained till S. Cuthbert's time. In 875 when the monks of Lindisfarne retired before the Danes, it was placed in S. Cuthbert's coffin, and accompanied the wanderings of that saint. The historian of the translation of S. Cuthbert's remains in 1104 states that the head was found and left with them (so also Reginald of Durham c. 42, and Malmesb. Gest. Pontif. iii. 134). In 1827 when S. Cuthbert's grave was opened the skull was still there (Raine S. Cuthbert p. 187). S. Oswald's body was removed by his niece Osthryd to the monastery of Bardney (Bede Hist. Eccl. iii. 11), and in the tenth century taken to Gloucester and placed in a shrine.

30. Adamnan Vita Columbae i. 1. Oswald told the dream to the abbot Seghine.

31. Plato Republic v. 473 (Davies and Vaughan's translation p. 186).

་

32.

Collect in the Sarum use for August 5.

'Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui hujus diei jocundam sanctamque laetitiam in sancti servi tui Oswaldi passione consecrasti; da cordibus nostris tui timoris caritatisque augmentum, ut cujus in terris sancti sanguinis effusionem celebramus, illius in caelo collata patrocinia sentiamus. Per Dominum nostrum.' Procter and Wordsworth Breviarium ad Usum Sarum. Fasc. iii. p. 589.

34. Cadwalla, king of Gwynedd or North Wales, defeated by Edwin in his thirst for vengeance allied himself, Briton and Christian as he was, with a Saxon prince who combined in his own person the fiercest energy of a Teuton warrior with the sternest resistance to the progress of the new creed: who, succeeding to power at fifty years old, was for thirty years the prop and the

sword of Heathenism, and also came near to reducing the various kingdoms to a monarchy centred in the youngest of them all. This was Penda the Strenuous, king of the Mercians, whose name was long a terror to the inmates of cell and minster in every Christianised district. There is a sort of weird grandeur in the career of one who in his time slew five kings, and might seem as irresistible as destiny.' Bright Early English Church History p. 132.

He slew Edwin at Hatfield (633), Egric and Sigebert, kings of East-Anglia (635), Oswald at Maserfield (642), Anna, king of EastAnglia (654), and was himself slain by Oswy at Winwidfield (Nov. 15, 655). 'With Penda fell paganism.' Penda's son, Peada, had been baptized by Finan, bishop of Lindisfarne, two years before his father's death, and when the great kingdom of Mercia became free and united again under Penda's son Wulfhere, the teaching of the Celtic bishops Diuma and Cellach had won its way, and monarch and people embraced Christianity.

35. Bede Hist. Eccl. ii. 16.

36. Bede Hist. Eccl. iii. 5. The name of the first missionary sent was Corman (Bellenden's Boece ix. 20, vol. ii. p. 105).

37. The chief passages in Bede in praise of S. Aidan are Hist. Eccl. iii. 3, 5, 14, 17.

38. 'Quid loqueris, rex? Numquid tibi carior est ille filius equae, quam ille filius Dei?' Bede Hist. Eccl. iii. 14. 'It seems probable from the gender of this word [equae] that the tradition which represents the bishop as playing in his answer on the words 'mare' and 'Mary' gives the correct version of the story, the former portion of which play on words is given in the Saxon 'myran sunu.' See Higden Polychronicon v. 15.' Mayor and Lumby Bede p. 247.

39. Cedd (Cedda) was one of four Celtic missionaries sent (653) by Oswy into Mid-Anglia (the part of Mercia which lay between the Trent and the Bedford district) at the request of his son-in-law, the convert Peada,—the first mission to the Midlands. The missionaries also preached in Mercia proper. Cedd however did not remain there many months, being summoned by Oswy to head a mission to the East Saxons, where king Sigebert, who had been baptized by Finan the same year as Peada, was asking for Christian teachers. The next year, being thirty-eight years after the failure of the Roman mission there by the expulsion of Mellitus from London,-Cedd was consecrated by Finan to be bishop of the East Saxons, but his seat was Tilbury, not London. Bishop Cedd paid many visits to Northumbria and founded