Bregwin

ON ST. BREGWIN, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,

AT CANTERBURY IN ENGLAND,

IN THE YEAR DCCLXII.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Bregwin, bishop and confessor, at Canterbury in England (St.)

BY J. P.

§ I. His name, native land, bishopric, the year of his death, his deeds.

Canterbury, otherwise Dorobernia, etc., a most well-known city of England in the province of Kent, The Saint's name, adorned with the archiepiscopal dignity and with the primacy of all England, has, among several other of its metropolitan prelates distinguished by the gifts of nature and of grace and by holiness of life, St. Bregwin, whose name is written with more than one formation, as will be plain in the course of this Commentary. But strange above the rest is that by which our Saint is called Lyzegwinus in the Chronicle of John Brompton, which is contained among the Ten Writers of English History published at London in the year 1652, column 742. But, the Man's name being dismissed, let us undertake to illustrate his deeds and the course of his life, and let us first consider what can be said of him before his episcopate, and may serve as an aid to his Life written by Eadmer or Edmer, and hereafter to be reprinted by us. But these things are very few.

[2] That hagiographer, below in our work at number one, native land, parents, upbringing; whether he was a monk says: His parents were of the race of the Saxons, sprung, as is reported, of a noble stock. Likewise our holy Prelate, as the same writer affirms at number 2, was born in Saxony — in ancient Saxony, I say, properly so called, or German Saxony, as he there tacitly indicates, saying, on occasion of England, which he praises from the coming of St. Augustine: Whence the good odor, flowing forth also into foreign regions, drove many, their native soil being left, into England. Among whom Bregwin … coming thither, and presently obtaining a station, is dear to all, and is made a citizen of the country. See also the Annotations below after the Saint's Life, letter ii. But in what year he was born, he does not record. He praises him for his good character and his progress in study and knowledge. Then, that he set his mind upon the institute of the monastic life, he reports at number 3 in these words: And so, exchanging the secular life for the monastic life, etc.; but he does not add of what rule or profession he was. I should incline to the Benedictine, were there not something which creates a difficulty for me. This, therefore, I propose to be considered for a while.

[3] was a Benedictine: The Benedictine hagiologists Ménard and Bucelinus in the Fasti of their Order announce St. Bregwin on this XXVI day of August, as also Mayhew in his Trophies. But that I should not reckon the Saint to the Benedictine Order after their example, I was moved by the silence of Mabillon, who in the Acts of the Saints of his Order, century III, part 2, pages 395 and 396, makes mention indeed of Bregowin (so he is there named), of whom we here treat; but I do not find his life among the other Acts of the Benedictine Citizens of heaven published in that volume, much less whether he was a monk, and of what profession. And indeed Mabillon was not so illiberal that, if anything of this matter had become known to him, he would have excluded St. Bregwin from the series of the Saints of his Order. And this difficulty of which I spoke restrains me from reckoning the holy Man to the aforesaid Order without misgiving. Further, of the deeds done by him in the archbishopric, which he administered a few years, we do not know that many things have been transmitted to posterity.

[4] the day and year of his episcopal consecration. Eadmer at number 5 relates that he was consecrated at Canterbury on the III of the Kalends of October. The Saxon Chronicle, printed at Oxford in the year 1692, agrees, where the year also is added, page 59: In the year DCCLIX. In this year Bregowin was consecrated archbishop at the feast of saint Michael. Ralph de Diceto in his Abbreviations of the Chronicles, among the ten writers of English history published, of which above, says at column 444: Breowin becomes archbishop of Canterbury DCCLX. Florence of Worcester at the year 759 writes these things: Breogwin, after Cuthbert, is ordained archbishop on the day of the festival of saint Michael; which two notes of time Godwin also marks in his Commentary on the Prelates of England, under Bregwin. But since it is not certainly established for us which of the two years already assigned to the consecration comes nearer to the truth, it shall not rest with us but that the reader may choose either; for so small a difference of time ought not to cast a delay upon us, so that we should not proceed to other matters.

[5] The day of his cult rather than of his death is expressed by his biographer Edmer, when he thus records at the end of the Life: the day The memory of the passing of the most blessed Man is recalled on the VII of the Kalends of September. In Capgrave in the Life of this Saint, folio XLIII, the same day is said to have been that of his death: But at length … he ascended to heavenly things on the seventh of the Kalends of September. Others relate that he died on another day. For Florence of Worcester at the year 762 says: Breogwin, archbishop of the church of Canterbury, gave an end to his life on the IX of the Kalends of September. The same day, the XXIV of August, Godwin also has. Mabillon in volume 2 of the Benedictine Annals at the year of Christ 762, number 66, on occasion of Jambert, who next succeeded St. Bregwin in the chair of Canterbury, delivers this: In England there died this year Bregwin, archbishop of Canterbury, and indeed on the VIII of the Kalends of September; which day the Augustinian Chronology, presently to be cited, also marks. But which of these three days is to be preferred, we have nothing whence to determine, since documents are not at hand for us which should persuade one before the others as more probable.

[6] But what of the year of his death? Authors also vary in marking it. The hagiographer sets none, and the year of his death: either because he knew none determinately enough, or, if he knew one, omitted to note it. Let us therefore supply this from elsewhere. The Saxon Chronology, page 60, at the year 762, says: In this year died Bregwin the archbishop. The same year we just now saw assigned by Mabillon; which Alford our fellow also sets, writing at that year, number 6. Likewise the Augustinian Chronology, among the cited writers of England, column [ ], agrees in the same year. But Matthew of Westminster in the Flowers of the Histories sets the year 763. Simeon of Durham in the History of the Kings of the English, which is contained among the aforesaid English writers at column 106, indicates the year 765. For after he had related some things at this year, he thus goes on: And at the same season Bregwine, archbishop of the city of Kent, was taken away from this life. But since the Saint's death seems to be deferred by him longer than is right, according to what has been said from other writers, we, following the example of the majority of them, have above affixed it to the year 762, which is confirmed by what we subjoin concerning the duration of his see and his successor.

[7] The common opinion of the authors whom at least I have seen is the duration of his bishopric: that St. Bregwin presided over his chair for about three years. His biographer Edmer at number 8 says: He lived three years in the pontificate. The Saxon Chronicle, however, page 59

indicates that he sat four years. Alford at the year 762, number 6, says: There dies this year, having sat only three years, Bregwin, bishop of Canterbury. To these add the Life in Capgrave, folio XLIII: In the third year of his episcopate … he ascended to heavenly things. Wrongly, therefore, in the shorter Life of St. Bregwin in Wharton, of whom below, the holy Prelate's government is extended to seven years. For this, besides what we have said, is also refuted in the Augustinian Chronology cited, where these things stand at the year 762: The death of Bregwin, VIII Kalends of September, and presently is subjoined the election of Jambert on the day of the Purification. Add the Saxon Chronology at the year 763, where, after the death of Bregwin had been marked in the year immediately preceding, it records this concerning his successor: In this year Ambryth (that is, Jambert) was consecrated archbishop, on the fortieth day after the birthday of Christ. The aforesaid seven years, therefore, is convicted of being erroneous, if we add to these the death of Bregwin's predecessor; concerning which it will be said among the Annotations to the Life, letter p. Further, since the holy Man ruled his chair for so brief a time, we ought not to wonder that few of his deeds then came to the knowledge of posterity. Receive, then, the following, which are related of him.

[8] What deeds of the Saint are found Alford at the year 759, number 3, writes these things: There dies this year Eadburga, surnamed Bugga, a most choice woman, kinswoman of Ethelbert and Edbert, kings of Kent, of whom above often (as he indicates in the margin); for she wrote frequent letters to Boniface, and Boniface to her, and great tokens of mutual love in Christ. But she dies at the end of this year, on the twenty-seventh of December; and Bregwin, the new prelate of Canterbury, seems to have been present at her death, from whom the holy virgin earnestly asked suffrages for her soul after death, and by name that he would commend her when dead to Lull, bishop of Mainz, the successor of Boniface. All which are proved in the following year, in which Bregwin will signify this to Lull by letter. She seems to have been abbess of some monastery in Kent. For Boniface everywhere calls her abbess in those letters which he sent to her. And, I think, this is she who is named a Saint in our Martyrology on the XVIII of July; although she is there set as having died in the twentieth year of the preceding century, and buried at Aylesbury, thence translated to the town of the same name as herself, Edburton.

[9] in the time Alford brings forward that letter at the year 760, from number 4, and it is contained among the Bonifacian letters published by our Serarius, number 103. In it St. Bregwin renews the friendship contracted with Lull at Rome, etc., and sets an end to his letter with this clause: But we celebrate the day of the deposition of the religious handmaid of Christ Bugga, who was an honorable abbess; whose day of deposition also was the VI of the Kalends of January. She earnestly asked me, while she lived, that I should transmit this to your beatitude. And as she hoped and believed, so take care to do, since her father and patron in Christ was Boniface the bishop. St. Lull, to whom our Saint sent this letter, is entered in the Roman Martyrology on the XVI day of October, and in the Benedictine Acts in Mabillon, century 3, part 2, from page 392. Of St. Boniface, bishop and martyr, we have treated on the V day of June. As regards Eadburga, let the reader consult what is said in our work among the Passed Over on the XVIII day of July, volume IV of that month, page 349; and Mabillon, presently to be cited, at the year 758, number 42.

[10] of his bishopric. Mabillon in the Benedictine Annals, volume 2, at the year 760, number 60, page 198, sets the abbot Jambert as consecrated by our holy Archbishop: In England, he says, in this year there departed from among the living Aldhun, tenth abbot of the suburban monastery of saint Peter at Canterbury; whom there succeeded the venerable man Jambert, blessed by Bregwin the archbishop, in whose place he was afterward substituted; on what occasion this was done, we shall afterward set forth. The year of the said consecration is confirmed from William Thorne, whom we cited before, column 1775.

§ II. The Saint's burial, and his miracles.

Difficulties arisen first on account of the burial of the archbishop Cuthbert, Edmer in his Life at number 8 narrates this briefly concerning the burial: He was indeed buried in the aforesaid church of blessed John near the body of the reverend pontiff Cuthbert, the founder, as we said, of that church, and his own most worthy predecessor. Thus, I say, he briefly, keeping deep silence upon the history which came about on account of the burial of both the aforesaid prelates, which is not to be passed over by us in this place. Hear the matter from Mabillon, who describes it in volume 2 of the Benedictine Annals, at the year 758, number 41, treating first of the burial of Cuthbert: It was the custom in the first times of that church that the kings of Kent, and also the archbishops and the monks of the cathedral church of Christ — indeed the people also — should be buried in the courtyard of the suburban basilica of blessed Peter, according to the judgment of the first Roman preachers of that nation, who had judged that A CITY IS NOT OF THE DEAD, BUT OF THE LIVING. But it pleased Cuthbert to change this custom. And so, the term of his life drawing near, when he had decreed that the bishops of Canterbury should thenceforth be buried in the cathedral church, he bound all his household and the cathedral monks under an oath that his sickness or death should not be divulged by any sign before his body had been given to burial, namely in the basilica of saint John the Baptist, which he himself had built for this cause; which also was done.

[12] He being buried, when on the third day the bells were rung for him, and afterward Aldhun, abbot of the suburban monastery of saint Augustine, came with his monks to the episcopal buildings, meaning to carry the body of the deceased, according to custom, to his own church. But when he found him already buried, and understood that the ancient custom of burial had been changed by royal authority, being troubled in mind he returned to his own place. Gervase wrongly attributes this to Jambert, abbot and successor of Aldhun, and is to be corrected from Thorne (column [ ]) and the Augustinian Chronology (column [ ]). In Cuthbert's place there was substituted for three years Bregwin, a man of great religion, … who approved his predecessor's statute concerning the burial of the bishops, and took care that it should be confirmed by Apostolic authority. But what befell concerning his own burial the aforesaid Mabillon relates at the year 762 at the end.

[13] His death being made known, Jambert, abbot of the suburban monastery of saint Peter, or of saint Augustine, on account of the burial of saint Bregwin where before Cuthbert the prelates of Canterbury were wont to be buried, came with an armed band to the episcopal palace, meaning to take away by force the body of the deceased Prelate, if it were not freely permitted. But when he found it already buried, being now for the second time frustrated, he returned home with empty hands, an appeal being interposed to the supreme Pontiff for the right and grievance of his monastery. The cathedral monks of saint Salvator, fearing his constancy, petitioned for that same Jambert in the place of the dead pastor; which being done, the Augustinian monks desisted from the prosecution of the appeal out of reverence for the man elected. Thus far Mabillon. This dissension Thorne narrates at sufficient length from column [ ], who afterward at column 1774 subjoins how the monks of St. Augustine lost forever the aforesaid burial of the bishops.

[14] There may moreover be consulted what Alford records and weighs upon the present argument at the year 758; that arose: where among other things he indicates that the bishops and kings might indeed have been buried among the aforesaid monks, but were not bound to be, and that it was free for them to be buried elsewhere; nay, that they were in fact so buried. But however that controversy may stand, I do not interpose myself as arbiter in it. Thorne, cited, wishes to oppose himself to these things, who complains of a right injured in this matter, saying that it is against the tenor of justice, and also against the institution, he says, of our blessed father Augustine, and the decrees of the supreme Pontiffs, namely Gregory, Boniface the fourth, Adeodatus, Agatho, and the rest; of which, however, he brings forward none. But this is more than enough. Let us return to our purpose by recounting the miracles which are recorded to have befallen after the death of St. Bregwin.

[15] miracles Wharton omitted them in the second Life of the Saint, sending the reader to the first. They are also contained in Capgrave. We subjoin them from Wharton's edition; in whom, the Saint's death and burial being related, there follows this history of them: But when a few years had passed, the Danes, hearing that the English in almost every class of men were straying from their former condition, and were giving themselves to riches and pleasures more than was their wont, the Danes began to try, three ships being directed thither, what they might be able to accomplish. And when they had prospered, a fleet being prepared, they took a sight\ of coming to England either once or twice.\ Note well. At a certain time, therefore, when they had landed in Kent, they carried their goods to the holy places at Canterbury. One of whom set a chest filled with grain upon the sepulcher of blessed Bregwin the archbishop. For the sepulcher was flat, and built a little higher than the pavement. But on the following day the man found the chest cast some distance from the place, and, thinking that he had set it there less carefully, he replaced it with more diligent care. But returning on another day he found the chest driven yet farther from the place, the grain being scattered here and there most widely over the pavement. The deed done resounded through the neighboring places, and now with another order the common people began to visit the sepulcher of the Servant of God. What Alford narrates concerning the irruption of the Danes into Britain at the year of Christ 794, number 7 and following, may be read. Other irruptions of theirs in the ninth century you will find in the historians. See also the Annotations to the Life, letter aa. These things being briefly observed, let us return to the Saint's miracles.

[16] wrought after his death A certain man lacking the office of walking, and leaning with his hands upon little stools, and using his knees for feet, most miserably dragging his twisted legs and feet behind him, came to the tomb of saint Bregwin, and forthwith, his feet being repaired and all his limbs stretched out, obtained the benefit of entire health. Certain boys, fearing the severity of their master, fled to the tomb of saint Bregwin, imploring the aid and protection of his loving-kindness; whom the masters, searching for and not finding, walking about the tomb of saint Bregwin where they lay prostrate, nevertheless could not see them, nor perceive that they were those whom they sought. And thus, their severity being frustrated, the boys were freed by the merits of saint Bregwin.

[17] performed A certain one of the clerics of the archbishop Stigand, swelling in spirit, and esteeming himself no small man among his fellows on account of the abundance of riches in which he abounded, on a certain occasion ordered a bed to be built for himself above the resting-place of saint Bregwin the archbishop. For, thinking highly of himself, he judged it a disgrace to lie in a low place on a level with the others. But when he had given himself to sleep, he was shaken out with his bed and cast from the place, and by a profitable\ requital of his rashness both he and his like were taught. Further, that Stigand was made bishop of Canterbury in the year 1052 I read there in the Saxon Chronicle*, page 168; of whose intrusion into that see and of whose depraved character Alford writes at

the same year, number 9. Let us subjoin the other matters indicated by Wharton, and referred to the shorter Life.

[18] These things being thus disposed, one of the brethren named Elias, sitting upon a bench, are recounted. irreverently turned his hinder parts toward the sepulcher of blessed Bregwin, before that sepulcher of the blessed Man, and gave himself wholly to a certain work of no great profit. And, behold, being unexpectedly struck between the shoulders, he is unwillingly compelled to cease from his work. Terrified, therefore, he raised himself, wishing to know who had struck him. But when he saw no one, he sits back, and, as before, gave his attention to his ill labor. And, behold, a second time he was so grievously struck on the neck that what he had between his hands fell down and was lost, and he himself fell to the ground in a swift fall. Then he understood that he himself had not given honor to saint Bregwin in a holy place, and that what he had suffered had befallen him by the just judgment of God. The same accident is related to have befallen also another brother, a German.

\ Read haud; Capgrave non*.

\ Read usum* with Capgrave.

\ Capgrave talique*.

§ III. The Saint's Acts, and his public veneration; the copy of the Life which we here give.

Of what sort the writer of the Life was, Henry Wharton in part 2 of the Anglia Sacra from page 184 published in print the Acts of our Saint under this title: The Life of Bl. Bregwin, archbishop of Canterbury, by Eadmer. The Life begins, etc. William Cave in his Literary History, page 457, narrates this concerning the same author: Eadmer, or Edmer, or Edinerus, or Emundus, an Englishman by nation, a monk of Canterbury of the Order of St. Benedict. He flourished in the year MCXXI. A disciple of the archbishop Anselm, and the inseparable companion of all his labors and journeys — indeed also the corrector of his life, sought by Anselm and given by Urban II. At length, as Simeon of Durham witnesses, he was made bishop of St. Andrews in Scotland. But in that Bale, Pits, and others following them deliver that he was abbot of the monastery of St. Alban, they plainly hallucinate; since that Eadmer, head of the community of St. Alban's, was older than ours by more than a whole century, and departed from among the living about the year DCCCCLXXX. For the rest, Eadmer, after he had obtained the mitre in Scotland, for the reasons related by the said bibliographer Cave at the place cited, sent back the ring and pastoral staff to king Alexander, about the year MCXXIV resigned his bishopric, and, returning to Canterbury, grew old in his former monastery. Then by the same bibliographer at page 458, treating of his writings, is set The Life of St. Bregwin, archbishop.

[20] That biographer is praised in our work, volume 11 of April, and of what name: he writes from hearsay. on the XXI day of that month, page 865, on occasion of St. Anselm, whose Life also he composed; and it was there indicated that he is wrongly called Edinerus, and that this formation of the name arose from the mere error of copyists, the letter m being divided by them, and in its place the letters i and n set. Whether anything like this happened in the name Emundus it is not ready for me to say. But Eadmerus and Edmerus are the same, as was shown in the same place by the example of other names in which Ea was among the ancient English a diphthong. But since this author of the Life wrote so many centuries after the death of St. Bregwin, he indicates whence he received what he wrote, speaking thus at the end of the Life: These things concerning blessed Bregwin I, being less wise, have published, which I learned from my elders and from truthful men. And these indeed deliver that some things they experienced upon themselves; others they received either from those who were present, or from those present, and they report that they received them, and recount them with steadfast attestation. Lest, therefore, I should offend the minds of my friends, who urged me to this work, I yielded to their will. What therefore I have written, I have written for them: let them see to it. Further, concerning Eadmer or Edmer Wharton also collected various things in the Preface of part 2 alleged, from page XII.

[21] Observations Besides that Life there stands another in Capgrave from folio XLIII, or rather a compendium of the former; which Wharton, designated before, also brings forward from page 75, by (as it seems) Osbern, as the title prefixed there declares. But in the Appendix which is contained after Cave's Literary History, page 286, it is indicated that this Life was wrongly ascribed to Osbern. Indeed Wharton himself, being afterward better taught, adjudged it away from Osbern in the Preface just designated, page XVI: It was written, he says, (the Life) after the death of the archbishop Ralph, who died in the year MCXXII. An epitome of this was put together by John of Tynemouth, which, wrongly inscribed to Osbern, appears in this volume. Afterward, a copy of the Cambridge codex being made available to us, we were unwilling to withdraw from the public light the fuller Life of Bregwin written by Eadmer. But whence that error arose he had frankly confessed at page X: I received the short Life of Bl. Bregwin from the same Lambeth codex, placed between the Lives of Odo and Elphege. Hence there arose in me the opinion that it might be owed to Osbern. But afterward I found it in the Sanctilogium of John of Tynemouth at the end of the Golden History in the Lambeth library.

[22] concerning the shorter Life: Of Osbern Cave treats in the second part of his History, page 201, where he sets him as having flourished about the year 1070; but of John of Tynemouth in the Appendix already mentioned from page 284, where it is written that he flourished in the year 1366. But from this writer's Sanctilogium John Capgrave carried off, not some few clusters, but, as they say, a full vintage, in his Catalogue of the Saints of England, of which work he deserved to be called not so much the author as the transcriber, as is noted in the same place, page 286; so that it is no wonder that the compendium of the Life of St. Bregwin was taken by Capgrave from him — which nevertheless was of use to us for supplying the miracles, and for various readings taken thence, as we noted above in the margin of the text. But, these observations being dismissed, the public cult of our holy Archbishop calls us to our last labor.

[23] the Saint's public cult: For indeed the hagiologists, though more recent, gave him what he deserved when they wove him into their sacred Fasti on this and on other days of this month. Our manuscript Florarium announces him on the XIX with his name slightly changed; Castellanus on the XXIV, and among the Ahemeri, page 765, whose cult, he says, lasted down to Henry VIII; on the XXVI, Wilson in his second edition, Mayhew in the Benedictine Trophies, volume 2, Ménard, and Bucelinus. But that the name of Saint was deservedly given him by the hagiologists is proved from older documents. In the clause which is appended at the end of the shorter Life in Wharton, page 77, are these words: Here ends the Life of our holy patron Bregwin, etc. Among the miracles related above in §2, number 15, his sepulcher is said to have been built a little higher than the pavement. Public invocation is indicated in the same place, and indeed a great increase of that former invocation, as seems to be intimated by these words: The deed done, of which there, resounded through the neighboring places; and now with another order the common people began to visit the sepulcher of the Servant of God. To this are added the things narrated among the said miracles concerning irreverence toward the sepulcher punished, and the marvels wrought at it; and what stands in the biographer Edmer concerning the monk Lambert punished with death because he wished to carry off the body of our Prelate elsewhere; the honor paid to him by Lanfranc, bishop of Canterbury; and finally the translation of his bones, and their deposition at the altar of St. Gregory — which are recounted one by one by the aforesaid Edmer.

[24] The Life which will presently be given is here reprinted from the edition of Henry Wharton, The copy of the Life is given from Wharton. and is contained in his Anglia Sacra, page 184 and following, which he illustrated with notes. Its editor received this Life from a Cambridge codex, as has just been said a little before; which we have furnished with another division, as is our custom, and have endeavored to elucidate with not a few Annotations, both reminding the reader of what has been said in the Preliminary Commentary and supplying him with knowledge of other things which are not there explained. And these things indeed we have judged should be premised to the same Life in the course of this Commentary. Now here for you, reader, is the copy itself.

THE LIFE

By Eadmer or Edmer the monk,

From the edition of Henry Wharton, part 2 of the Anglia Sacra, page 184 and following.

Bregwin, bishop and confessor, at Canterbury in England (St.)

BHL Number: 1449

A. By Edmer the monk.

The author writes at the request of others, and implores the help of God. The beginning of my purpose and its course, in which, being asked by certain of my friends, I have undertaken to write concerning blessed Bregwin, pontiff of the men of Canterbury, I commend to the grace of the Holy Spirit, praying that by the abundance of his bounty he would reveal what is to be said, and would mercifully open my heart and tongue to bring them forth according to the good pleasure of his will. Now that Blessed one was himself chosen by God in his mother's womb, having happily obtained that same election before all ages in the disposition of God's predestination. His parents, of the nation of the Saxons, sprung, as is reported, of a noble stock, deserved this, that the Creator of all should give them such a son; whom by uprightness of manners, by skill in the discipline of heavenly teachings, he is approved worthily to have obtained both the highest degree in ecclesiastical dignities and the kingdom of everlasting glory. Amid these works of God there reigned in Kent a vigorous and noble man, ^a Wihtred by name, imbued with a most sacred religion toward God, ever holding in high esteem before himself the servants of God in God, and God in his servants. In his time the father of praiseworthy memory ^b Birhtwald had succeeded blessed Theodore in the patriarchate of the ^c first metropolis of the English, and administered it worthily to God in all things. At his prompting and exhortation the aforesaid king in a general council established that all the churches of his kingdom should be free forever from all dominion and exaction of kings, or of any earthly power whatsoever. ^d

[2] The Saint's native land, upbringing, and the state of England. In these days [he] of whom we have proposed to write was born in ^e Saxony, and was surnamed by his parents Bregwin, and thereafter regenerated in the sacred font in the Christian faith; and having passed his infant years he began to be a boy of good disposition, and by the modesty of his manners to exhibit to his own the confidence of a holy hope concerning himself. Hence he is given over to letters, and is nurtured in the Lord's school. The zeal of sacred progress increases in him from day to day; and, according to the tenor of his age, he becomes, after no long interval of time, perfect in the science of letters. There flourished then still everywhere throughout England the exercises and studies of letters, which from the tradition of blessed ^f Theodore, pontiff of the men of Canterbury, and of his disciples, magnificently watered the whole land. No less did the Christian religion, which from the preaching of the glorious Father ^g Augustine, worthy of God, Kent had received, flourish very greatly in it; inasmuch as by his most holy and most vigorous successors, whom Rome had sent, and who had succeeded him in the patriarchate of Canterbury down to the aforesaid Birhtwald,

it was pressed on with vigilant solicitude that it should not waver in anything. For indeed from the coming of Father Augustine into England down to that time the island itself lay open to the irruption of barbarians not so much as we have learned that it afterward lay open — and that justly. For the yoke of Christianity, newly received, was borne with greater diligence by many; and for that reason Christ the Lord protected with a readier clemency those who clove to him. Whence the good odor, flowing forth also into foreign regions, drove many, their native soil being left, into England. Among whom Bregwin, supported by the grace of Jesus Christ, coming thither, and presently obtaining a station, is dear to all, and is made a citizen of the country.

[3] From a monk, Then, being free from envy, he teaches others what he knew, and learns from others what he did not know. Therefore, as in age and knowledge, so, by the inspiration of God's providence, he advanced likewise in holy manners and in heavenly wisdom. Since therefore he had read it written, He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth also labor, he saw that he must the more labor in this life, lest, walking among the innumerable snares of the devil, he should be in any degree hindered by them from eternal life; for endowed with the greater knowledge he understood whither he was walking, if, ensnared by none of their hindrances, he should be kept in the way of rectitude. Using, therefore, a salutary counsel, he despised the world and all the delights of the world, desiring to follow the examples of those who, having followed the Lord, left themselves and all their own. And so, exchanging the life of the world for the monastic life, the secular habit being cast off, he joined himself to the college of monks who have nothing. His outer man, therefore, being made a ^h monk, his inner man embraced all things which are of true monks, namely the ornaments of the virtues. And these he took to himself one by one in his youth, knowing that according to the word of the divine oracle even when he grew old he would not depart from them. Nor did he. Therefore, persevering in the service of the Lord, he continually commended the heavenly purpose which he had received from the gift of God's grace to that same grace to be preserved.

[4] In those days the prelate Birhtwald, ⁱ being taken from the present life, was brought into life everlasting. But the place which, departing from the world, he left vacant, in that same year a certain ^k Tatwin, exalted in the degree of the priesthood, a man of surpassing religion, and, what is chief, distinguished by the profession and habit of a monk, after other bishops of Canterbury, being made archbishop by the most sacred election of the whole church, filled. This is that Tatwin whom the venerable ^l Bede in his History — that is, of the nation of the English, which he published — sets as the last pontiff of the men of Canterbury; and in his own time he set an end both to that History and to his own life. Now the aforesaid most Christian king Wihtred, having some years before this obtained his last day, left the reins of the kingdom to Eadbert. In the ^m eleventh year of whose reign the archbishop Tatwin rested with a blessed end, namely in the fourth year in which he had undertaken the archbishopric of ⁿ all England to be governed. Whom ^o Nothelm following ruled the church of Christ nobly for five years. And so after these things, namely in the seven hundred and forty-second year of the Lord's Incarnation, [p] Cuthbert was elected to the see of the aforenamed pontiffs: a man sprung of the illustrious stock of the nation of the English, of a famous lineage, and himself wholly made up of virtues. He, among other good things by which he made the whole time of his life illustrious before God and men, made a church on the Eastern side of the greater church, almost adjoining it, and solemnly dedicated it in honor of blessed John the Baptist. This church he built with this regard: that the baptisms and the examinations of the judgments appointed for various causes, which are wont to be held in the Church of God for the correction of the wicked, should be celebrated there, and that the bodies of the archbishops should be buried in it — the ancient custom being taken away, by which hitherto they were wont to be entombed outside the city in the church of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, where the bodies of all his predecessors are placed. He, the term of the present life being run through, was gathered to his fathers in the fifteenth year of his prelacy, and was becomingly buried in the aforesaid church of blessed John.

[5] It was sought, therefore, with the utmost zeal by the church of God he is set over that see: who, being not inferior in life and in holiness of manners, might be substituted in the place of the deceased. There held at that season the right of the kingdom in Kent [q] Ethelbert, [son] of the above-mentioned king Wihtred, [r] Eadbert, who had succeeded him, being now long dead. Which Ethelbert, having blessed Bregwin very well known to him from the loftiness of his holy purpose and the gravity of his manners, conferred with those to whom the general disposition in the election of a pastor chiefly had regard, urging that they, considering in common the man's diligence, the rule of his holy conversation, the perseverance of his begun purpose, and setting the will of God foremost, should confirm the ecclesiastical election upon him, if by concordant assent they should judge him fit for the government of all the churches of the whole of Britain. There is set forth, therefore, the Man's conversation from boyhood worthy of God, his gentleness toward all, his humility in all things, the gravity of his life, and in each of these and at once in all a continual fortitude with discretion. It is reported to the people; all consent in one, namely that such a Servant of the Lord would be a most worthy priest of so great a church. What more? He is seized, and although greatly resisting, and also objecting his great age with what efforts he could, he is invested with the patriarchate of Canterbury. God is praised together in his lofty promotion by the voice of the whole clergy flowing together, and by the jubilation of the body and of the heart. Then, being [s] consecrated at Canterbury on the III of the Kalends of October with the highest honor, he ascends the pontifical chair to rule the church of God, all rejoicing.

[6] [which the Saint illustrates by his virtues; although it is not known that, while he lived,] Being therefore appointed by God a mirror to all, he shone forth so bright in holy works that those who wished to walk the path of light might clearly enough see in his life by what way they should walk. If anyone inquires concerning the showing forth of miracles, which are wont rather to demonstrate sanctity than to beget it, I say what I think. Indeed, whether he did any of this kind or not, I confess has not come to my knowledge hitherto. But if he did, either the want of writers, or age, or at any rate some event of various chances, has taken them from our knowledge; yet those things which after his death we have learned by sure report to have been done at his sacred body intimate more clearly than light what he could do while living in the body, if reason or necessity had led him to the doing of such things. But those times, in which the faith of Christ was everywhere founded, had no need of the signs of miracles; which, as blessed Gregory says, are rather of unbelievers than of believers. And a miracle would vainly be shown outwardly if that were wanting which should work within.

[7] he wrought miracles: And, as reason at least persuades me, it seems established that it is a greater thing for each one continually to have within himself the Author of all miracles through cleanness of flesh and spirit, than to exhibit at men's pleasure and for their admiration miracles which the Truth says are common even to the reprobate. Peace also flourished in the whole kingdom in the days of his pontificate, nor did anyone fear hostile inroads. So long, therefore, as all things stood in the peace of God, the God of peace was all things to all, and through all. The blessed and happy Father in these matters, when he preached the word of life among the people, was heard with a gentle and modest mind; and what he enjoined to be done in his exhortations they carried out with a peaceable result. That the true faith might either increase, or, when wavering, might receive strength and stability, the Father's voice alone, fortified with the increase which the Lord grants, sufficed; nor did anyone demand any miracle to prove it. But these good things did not long remain. For, the blessed Man being taken shortly from this life, by whose merits they came about, after a very few years they too were taken away.

[8] the time of his see, his death, burial, successor. For [t] three years he lived in the pontificate, full of God in all things, and endowed with all the virtues with unfailing constancy. But in the second year of his patriarchate king Ethelbert, son, as we said, of the most vigorous king Wihtred, closed his last day. And in the year after this there was a most severe [u] winter, binding all things with the excessive harshness of the cold, and destroying animals of various kinds both by the thickness of the snows and by the monstrous roughness of the winter. But when, according to the words of the true Solomon speaking in the Song of Songs, the winter had passed, the rain had gone and departed, the Lord's flowers appeared. Whence also the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth, putting forth a flower of most sweet fragrance, at the voice of the turtledove and of the bridegroom saying, Arise, make haste, my love, come from Lebanon, come, thou shalt be crowned — the soul of the most happy Father, the sweet love of the highest Father, arose, that is, to be crowned by her spouse Jesus Christ; she left the world and the body, and, supported by the help of angels, ascended [x] rejoicing and glad, where she might eternally behold the very God of gods in Sion. He was indeed [y] buried in the aforesaid church of blessed John the Baptist near the body of the reverend pontiff Cuthbert, the founder, as we said, of that church, and his own most worthy predecessor. After him there was taken into the pontificate of the church he had left [z] Jambert, father and abbot of the neighboring and aforenamed abbey of the glorious Apostles Peter and Paul.

[9] Hence, a very few years having passed, the [aa] Danes, a savage nation, Miracles: learning thoroughly that England in almost every class of men was straying from its former condition, and was giving itself to riches and pleasures more than was its wont, began as it were step by step to make trial, three ships being at first directed thither, what they might be able to accomplish if they should send more, if more should come. And when they heard that these had prospered in some matters, they were emboldened, and, a fleet being prepared, took up the practice of coming to England not once or twice, but very often. At a certain time, therefore, etc. [bb] More things are reported in this manner concerning the blessed Man, all which it would be of too great a burden to write. Tending therefore to other matters, we set this measure to these.

[10] Many years passed; and his body remained unmoved in its place with the veneration of many. the burning of the church of Canterbury, Some also of his successors, departing this life, received a place of burial in that same basilica. [cc] After these things, many evils increasing everywhere throughout England, it happened that the city of Canterbury, through the carelessness of certain persons who tended their own affairs too little heedfully, was set on fire, and that, as the flames grew, the burning was carried into the mother church standing there. [dd] What shall I say? It was burned entire, with almost all the offices of the monks dwelling there, and at the same time the church also of blessed John the Baptist, where, as has been said before, the remains of the archbishops lay buried. In which conflagration, what or how great losses that place suffered, no man can declare. Yet, that we may touch upon some of them: whatever it had that was more precious in gold, in silver, in the various ornaments of other kinds, in divine and secular books, the devouring tongue of fire swallowed up almost all. Yet concerning these, since they were recoverable, there is perhaps less to be grieved for. But a monstrous grief, to be closed by no end, presses that same church down to this day: since the privileges of the Roman Pontiffs, the privileges of kings and princes of the realm, carefully sealed and conferred upon that church, by which

it ought to have fortified and protected itself and its own by a perpetual right, being reduced entirely to nothing, perished. But if any of them have been recovered, they were found and received in various places where they had been copied out; the bulls and seals, which could not be made again, having been consumed by fire together with the church in which they were kept. From which the strength and force of its enemies has grown even to the present against equity; and many [ ] evils,\* oppressions, and scandals of rising sons against it [ ] it has built up.

[11] But these things, being most well known to all, we vainly [ ] as though we were writing for the knowledge of others. and its restoration; irreverence toward the Saint punished. Wherefore, these things being omitted, let us say that after that [ ] conflagration the bodies of the pontiffs above mentioned rested unmoved in their coffins, until that most vigorous of men, to be named with all honor, [ee] Lanfranc, namely abbot of the monastery of Caen,\ discharged the archbishopric of Canterbury. For he, leveling with the ground all that he found of the buildings of the burned monastery, or the worn-away monuments of the buildings, and digging out the foundations which were under the earth, built all things new, and appointed that the aforesaid prelates should be raised and placed in safety, until that church which he had begun should be finished, in which they might becomingly be laid. And so it was done. After some years they were carried into the church now founded, and were placed on the northern side above the vault,\ each in his own wooden coffer, where daily the mystery of the salutary Sacrifice is celebrated. These things being thus disposed, it happened on a certain day that one of the brethren of the church, sitting on a bench before the sepulcher of blessed Bregwin, etc. [ff] And indeed, as many affirm, the Saxons hold this custom among themselves more strictly: that they honor their elders more worthily, and do not spare the irreverence of subordinates, lest these grow insolent. The good Father, therefore, even when taken from the world, took care to show the custom of his nation to his sons, that he might admonish them with what reverence they ought to bear themselves toward their elders.

[12] A certain monk wishing to carry off his body, Among such deeds of the most holy Man, there came to Canterbury a certain monk from the land of the [gg] German emperor, Lambert by name, known to the queen whom king [hh] Henry, his first wife being dead, had taken to wife from Saxony.\* This Lambert for a long time dwelt at Canterbury with the brethren at the queen's request, and was held by all as almost a monk of the place. Whence, having also obtained familiarity, he began to frequent the place in which the remains of the pontiffs rested, to pray there, to celebrate Masses there, to converse there familiarly. He asked this man and that who this or that one was, or by what name he was called who was enclosed in this or that coffer. But when he heard of blessed Bregwin, he was kindled with the desire of having him and of translating him into his own land, remembering perhaps the ancient fame of his goodness, which he had learned of him in his own country. [ii] But when he saw that it was impossible for him, secretly or openly, to obtain by himself the effect of his desire, he suggested to the archbishop who then was, and who was grievously oppressed with the disease of paralysis, named [kk] Ralph, that he would grant him the bones of the aforesaid father, asserting to him that a place for building a monastery had been granted by the chief men of his nation, which he and his had proposed to build under the patronage of father Bregwin, and in every way to order it fit for the service of God. What more? The pontiff acquiesces; for he did not know what was being dealt with, and therefore was moved with easy assent to the prayers of the petitioner. The matter is brought to the hearing of the monks; and some most fully approve that the pontiff's grant should be carried out, others on the contrary refuse in every way.

[13] dies an unlooked-for death: After some days the archbishop dies. And so many of those who, while he lived, had approved that what he had granted to the brother's request should be done, on the turn acquiesced with those who contradicted; and with one mind alike they urged that the church should not be deprived of its pastor, whom while living in the flesh it had loved with pious affection. Yet lest the prelate's grant should seem to be altogether despised, it was resolved by common consent — in which some testified that the archbishop had also consented — that one bone, namely the left arm of the sacred body, should be conferred upon the brother. Which he, esteeming it too little, and not bearing to be frustrated of what he said had been promised him, supposed that he could through the queen bring it about with the king that he by royal power should wrest from the monks by force that they should grant him what he sought. About to speak to the queen, therefore, concerning the business, and to go to her while she was staying with the king in the park of [ll] Woodstock, he came to London; and there, being seized with a violent sickness, he could go no further. His weakness increasing day by day, he was carried back to Canterbury, where, living a short time, he dies, and is buried among the dead brethren. Hence on the following night there stood in a vision by a certain Brother of the congregation — a man well religious and fearing God — a certain Man of middling stature, of remarkable person, a monk in habit, unknown in face, saying to him: Do you know for what cause that Lambert the Saxon was thus carried off by an unlooked-for death? And when he answered that he did not know, Know, he said, that it is because he attempted to carry away the body of Bregwin from its seat and to claim it for himself. For he was not of such merit in the eyes of God that he ought by right to obtain the presence or the possession of so great a Pontiff.

[14] Considering these things, therefore, the provident solicitude of the servants of God, another is healed of a vomiting of blood. and weighing by consideration, from what that brother attempted to do, that in time to come something like this might be attempted by foreign men coming hither, lest they should obtain an easier result, translated the relics of that Father from the aforesaid place, together with the relics of blessed [mm] Plegmund the archbishop, into the southern part of the church, and most becomingly entombed them behind the altar of blessed Gregory the Pope. But a certain one of the monks, named William, with the consent of the others, made himself the chief agent of all these things above the rest; and by his industry and foresight almost all that was expended in that transferring of the relics or in the arranging of the sepulchers was procured. He, at a certain solemnity after these things, giving himself with all his effort to the service of the church, and putting forth his voice in singing beyond his strength, was ruptured in his inward parts; and presently he was vehemently afflicted with a vomiting of blood and with other grievous troubles. What, therefore, he should do he knew not. For he knew that this had already befallen some in that same church, and from the same cause, of whom, all ambiguity being removed, he knew that some had been punished with death, others harassed for many years with much sickness. But it came into his mind what service, what solicitude, what honor he had very lately bestowed upon those two pontiffs Bregwin and Plegmund. And so with contrite heart, with humbled spirit, his cheeks bathed in tears, he prays them to have mercy on him; so that, his former bodily health being obtained for him from Christ Jesus, he might understand what should henceforth be thought of them by himself and by others, and with what confidence he might call upon them to intervene for his eternal salvation. Wondrous the goodness of God, wondrous his power! Presently, as he himself relates, he felt himself cured of all sickness, nor did he suffer thereafter any trouble of new pain or discomfort.

[15] These things concerning blessed Bregwin I, being less wise, have published, The author's epilogue. which I learned from my elders and from truthful men. And these indeed deliver that some things they experienced upon themselves; others they received either from those who were present, or from those present, and they report that they received them, and recount them with steadfast attestation. Lest therefore I should offend the minds of my friends, who urged me to this work, I yielded to their will. What therefore I have written, I have written for them: let them see to it. If in anything I have proceeded well, thanks be to God; if otherwise in anything, let them pray the more earnestly, I beseech, for my sin. The memory of the passing of the most blessed Man is recalled on the VII of the Kalends of September, that there the name of the Lord, who honored him, may the more readily be magnified. Let him therefore who lives, has dominion, and reigns through all, be blessed unto the ages of ages and beyond. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. The Saxon Chronicle at the year 741 says: Cuthbryth was consecrated archbishop. But Alford, writing at the year 740, number 2, records that in this year he ascended to the see of Canterbury; and he gathers various things concerning his burial at the year 758, in which, after eighteen years of his see, he relates that he departed this life, as

also the Saxon Chronicle. See what the Preliminary Commentary has concerning the said burial.

q. The Saxon Chronicle at the year 748: Ethelbert, son of king Wihtred, takes the kingdom of Kent. He died in the year 760, in the same place at that year, where Alford at number 1 affirms that Eadbert should be set for Ethelbert.

r. The same Chronicle had premised in the same place: Eadbryth, king of the men of Kent, departed. Alford may be consulted at the said year 748, number 1, where he calls him Ethelbert.

s. Of the day and year of the consecration we have spoken in the Preliminary Commentary, number 4.

t. Of the duration of his see, in the same place, number 7.

u. The Saxon Chronicle at the year 761: In this year there was a harsh winter.

x. Namely in the year 762. See our Commentary, number 6.

y. The difficulties raised concerning the Saint's burial we have narrated in the same place, §2.

z. Of whom in the same place, number 13.

aa. Of the destruction and devastation brought by the pagans upon the churches of Lindisfarne the Saxon Chronicle makes mention at the year 793. Consult Pagi at the same year, number 6, and the Preliminary Commentary, number 15.

bb. The editor of this Life inserts these words in different type: There follow several miracles, of which the Life of Bregwin, wrongly ascribed to Osbern above, page 76, gave an epitome in Eadmer's abbreviated words. Would that Wharton had left Edmer's text entire and untouched; but since he did otherwise, we have been compelled to supply the miracles from the shorter Life, as may be seen in the Preliminary Commentary, §2.

cc. Of the Saint's burial, the Commentary, §2.

dd. Thorne, column [ ]: In the year of the Lord, he says, MCLXXIV the church of Christ at Canterbury was burned on the day of saint Bertin the abbot. He is honored on the V day of September.

ee. Alford treats of him at the year 1050.

ff. The two miracles which Wharton does not here narrate in Edmer's text, again sending the reader to the other Life of St. Bregwin, we have supplied in our Commentary, number 18.

gg. Of the Teutonic emperor, that is, of the German emperor.

hh. Henry, son of William the Conqueror, was made king of England in the year 1100, in which also he took Mahald, otherwise Matilda, to wife. But in the year 1121 there fell to him as wife Athelis, otherwise Atheleida, daughter of the Duke of Louvain (of Louvain, not of Lorraine, although she is called Lotharinga), from the Saxon Chronicle, which, with the notes added to it, may be seen at the years just cited.

ii. Hence our opinion is confirmed, that St. Bregwin was born in ancient or German Saxony.

kk. He was made archbishop in the year 1114; he died in 1122, from the Saxon Chronicle at those years. The History of the antiquity of the British church may also be read from page 123.

ll. Commonly Woodstock; of which the Monasticon Anglicanum makes mention, volume 2, pages 318 and 396.

mm. The Saxon Chronicle at the year 990: In this year Plegmund was chosen by God and by all his Saints to the archbishopric of Canterbury. Alford at the year 989 praises him, and treats of his consecration. But that he is a saint in the strict sense I have not hitherto found delivered by hagiological writers.

\* These words, and the next, are faded in our copy.

\* Caen in Normandy.

\* That is, the vault.

\* Lotharingia.