Trumwine

ON SAINT TRUMWINE, OR TUMMA, BISHOP OF THE SOUTHERN PICTS, AT WHITBY IN ENGLAND

AROUND THE YEAR 700.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Trumwine, or Tumma, Bishop of the Picts in Britain (Saint)

By I. B.

Section I. Saint Trumwine, Abbot, Ordained Bishop of the Picts.

[1] The peoples in Britain who most fiercely resisted the Roman yoke, later celebrated by the name of Picts, were shut off by a wall drawn across the island — lest they wear out the provinces with perpetual incursions and raids — The Picts were cut off from the Britons by a wall at the River Tyne. extending on both sides to the end of the ocean, as Aurelius Victor writes. By this defense Hadrian first, then Septimius Severus, secured the public safety. This wall extended from the mouth of the Tyne in the east, to the estuary of the Ituna toward the west. Some say that Carausius, in the times of Diocletian and Maximian, erected another wall beyond this wall of Severus and fortified it with seven castles, between the two firths, Dumbarton and Edinburgh; and constructed a round house of polished stones (so says a certain writer in Ussher, page 586) on the bank of the River Carron, then by another, between the Firth of Edinburgh and Dumbarton, which received its name from his own, with a triumphal arch erected in memory of his victory. To him certainly, an Emperor sprung from Belgium, a citizen of Menapia, and most skilled in military affairs (as Eutropius says in book 9), the rule of the island was entrusted by the Emperors, as the same Aurelius Victor attests, after he was considered more suitable by his commands and the fortification of the inhabitants against warlike peoples. But whether that fortification consisted of a wall and castles, or in the skill of a Commander and the strength of soldiers, this much is certain from Bede's history, book 1, chapter 12: that after the enemies, Scots and Picts, had been driven beyond that place by a Roman legion, a hundred years after Carausius — that is, at the beginning of the fifth century from Christ's birth — by the counsel of the Roman commanders, a wall was built by the Britons between the two firths in the fifth century or gulfs (of which we have spoken) of the sea, extending for many miles: so that where the protection of water was lacking, they might defend their borders from the incursion of enemies by means of a rampart. ... "It begins at a distance of about two miles from the monastery of Abercorn, to the west, in a place which in the language of the Picts is called Peanuahel, but in the English tongue Penneltun, and extending toward the west it terminates near the city of Alcluith." Thus Bede in the cited passage.

[2] But the wall was of little avail here for the Britons, who were weakened by indolence. "The enemies, conveyed by ships, burst through the boundaries," says the same Bede. "... They seize the entire northern and outermost part of the island, in place of the natives, all the way to the wall." having crossed this wall, And having frequently crossed this very wall, they ravaged the nearer provinces as well. When Britain was afterward occupied by the Saxons, Otha and Ebusa, men of keen and proven experience, afterward subdued by the English, as the Malmesbury chronicler writes in book 1 of The Deeds of the Kings of England, chapter 3 — the latter being the son, the former the brother of Hengist — were sent by him to occupy the northern parts of Britain, and having frequently fought with the provincials and routed those who had thought to resist, they soothed the rest, who had been received into allegiance, with the favor of peaceful quiet. At length Oswiu, King of the Northumbrians, also, for the most part, subdued and made tributary the peoples of the Picts and Scots, who held the northern borders of Britain (as Bede says, book 2, chapter 5). especially by King Oswiu. When Oswiu died in the year 670, the Picts, as the Malmesbury chronicler writes in book 3 of The Deeds of the Bishops of England, making light of the tender infancy of the young King Egfrid his son, rebelling, they were defeated by King Egfrid, burst forth of their own accord and conspired against the Northumbrians. Against whom the royal youth, advancing with his sub-king Bernego, so destroyed the innumerable army of the Picts with his few soldiers that the fields, strewn with corpses, lost their level surface, and the rivers, their course intercepted, came to a standstill.

[3] Then indeed, that he might both establish his dominion and provide for the salvation of his subjects, Egfrid took care that a Bishop of their own be given to the Picts. and Trumwine was given to them as Bishop, For these southern Picts had been taught the Christian religion for two hundred years and more, through Saint Ninian the Bishop, a contemporary of Saint Martin of Tours: the northern Picts much later, through Saint Columba the Abbot, toward the end of the sixth century. A Bishop was therefore given to the southern Picts in the year of Christ 681. So Bede, book 4, chapter 12. Three years after the departure of Wilfrid (who was expelled from the See of York in the eighth year of Egfrid, the year of Christ 678), Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, ordained five Bishops, in the year 681, and among them Trumwine for the province of the Picts, which at that time was subject to the dominion of the English. That ordination is mentioned for the same year by the Worcester chronicler, who calls him Trunwine; by Ralph de Diceto in his Abbreviations of the Chronicles, who writes Trumwine, as also does John Brompton in his Chronicle, and Gervase in the Life of Saint Theodore, and other writers of the Ecclesiastical history of the English nation.

[4] His See seems to have been in the very monastery of Abercorn. He was certainly Abbot there. So the Huntingdon chronicler, book 4: "The man of the Lord Trumwine, Abbot of Abercorn, situated indeed in the region of the English, who was also Abbot of Abercorn near this most remote wall, but near the firth which separates the lands of the English and the Picts." John Major, book 2 of The Deeds of the Scots, chapter 1, calls it Abercornie. Camden says of it: "Further within the Firth of Forth sits Abercorn, a celebrated monastery in the age of Bede, which by the grace of James VI provided the honor of an Earldom to James Hamilton." It was situated at the mouth of the River Carron, as the very name indicates: for "Aber" signified the mouth of a river among the Britons, as the same Camden observes elsewhere. also before the episcopacy: Whether, moreover, Trumwine founded that monastery upon obtaining the episcopacy, whence the people might seek instruction in piety, or whether he had ruled it previously, is not related. The latter seems more likely to us, since for the building and stabilizing of it with structures and discipline, and for gathering monks to inhabit it, there would not seem to have been sufficient time from the year 681 to 685, when it was dissolved.

[5] Whether he followed the Rule of Saint Benedict is more doubtful. Most monasteries in that region were governed by Scottish customs, was he Benedictine? and the first to introduce the Rule of Saint Benedict was Saint Wilfrid: from whom Saint Hilda, instructed by the precepts of Saint Aidan, was rather estranged, and for some time Saint Elfleda as well. We intimated on February 8, in the latter's Life, section 4, number 23, that the monastery of Whitby during their lifetimes does not seem to have adopted Benedictine discipline. Whence it may rightly be concluded that Saint Trumwine, who retired there in exile and spent the rest of his life there, was not a Benedictine. Those Benedictine writers who assert this, however, can refute this argument with the words of Bede which we cited in the same place. For not only Saint Aidan, but however many Religious persons knew Hilda, were accustomed to visit her diligently, to love her earnestly, and to instruct her carefully, on account of her innate wisdom and love of the divine service: and much more so Elfleda. So that it should not seem surprising if a Benedictine Abbot and Bishop, turning aside to her in exile, was received and retained there.

Section II. The Deeds of Saint Trumwine During His Episcopacy.

[6] In the year 684, a Synod was held in that province of the Northumbrian kingdom which is now properly contained in the County of Northumberland, He is present at the Synod of Twyford in the year 684. at the River Aln, commonly called Alne, in the place called Twyford, as was said on February 8 in the Life of Saint Elfleda, section 5, number 41. Trumwine was present among the principal members. So Bede, book 4, chapter 28: "It happened that a Synod of no small size having been assembled, in the presence of King Egfrid, near the river Alne, in the place called At Twyford, which signifies At the Double Ford — over which Theodore the Archbishop of blessed memory presided — Cuthbert was chosen by the unanimous consent of all for the episcopacy of the Church of Lindisfarne. When by many legates and letters sent to him beforehand, he could in no way be drawn from his monastery; at last the aforementioned King himself, and with the King he leads Saint Cuthbert to it, together with the most holy Bishop Trumwine, as well as other religious and powerful men, sailed to the island. There assembled also from the island of Lindisfarne itself many of the Brothers for this very purpose; all bend the knee, adjure him by the Lord, shed tears, and beseech him, until they draw him also, filled with sweet tears, from his hiding places and drag him to the Synod. When he arrived there, who was there elected Bishop, although greatly resisting, he was overcome by the unanimous will of all, and compelled to submit his neck to receive the office of the episcopacy."

[7] And shortly after he writes that, once the winter that was impending had passed, the ordination was completed at York on the very solemnity of Easter, in the presence of the aforementioned King Egfrid, in the following year he was consecrated: with seven Bishops convening for his consecration, among whom Theodore of blessed memory held the primacy: and without doubt one of the six remaining was Trumwine. The same Bede, in the Life of Saint Cuthbert, describes his election in almost the same words.

[8] The monk of Lindisfarne, who wrote the Life of Saint Cuthbert in four books while Alfrid, King of Northumbria, who died in the year 705, was still living, seems to call him Tumma, he was also called Tumma, since he has this in book 3: "He soon recalled concerning Alfrid, who now reigns in peace." He therefore writes thus concerning Cuthbert's elevation to the episcopacy: "After he was chosen for the episcopacy of our Church of Lindisfarne, at the request of King Egfrid and the Bishops of the Saxons and all the senate. For then, with the aforesaid King and Bishop Tumma of holy memory and the choicest men of our household coming to him, who was shut within, with the counsel of the senate, falling on their knees and adjuring him by our Lord Jesus Christ, he was drawn out, unwilling, compelled, weeping and lamenting, while the senate also waited with Archbishop Theodore."

[9] The same Author indicates that he had been previously familiar with Cuthbert, familiar with Cuthbert, and privy to his secrets: in book 1 with these words: "First indeed we set forth what we learned from the account of many had happened in his earliest age: among whom is Tumma, Bishop of holy memory, who, hearing from Saint Cuthbert, learned of the spiritual election predestined by God; and Elias, a Priest of our Church, saying: When therefore he was a boy of eight years old, and so forth."

[10] After the history of Simeon the monk of Durham there survives a certain Donation of King Egfrid with this title: "Estates given by Egfrid, King of the Northumbrians, to Saint Cuthbert He induces the King to pious donations, and his successors." After narrating Saint Cuthbert's summoning from his island by Egfrid himself and Bishop Trumwine, in almost the same words that we have reported from Bede, this is added: "To whom and to all his successors, on the counsel of Archbishop Theodore and Trumwine, and of the whole Council, for the salvation of my soul and of my successors, I have given the estate called Creic, and three miles around the same estate. I have also given the city called Lugubalia, and fifteen miles around it: so that both he and his successors may have these in perpetuity for the service of God, just as I have had them, free and undisturbed, and to be disposed according to their will. I Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, have signed. ... I Trumwine, Bishop of the Picts, have signed." and signs under these. Camden mentions the same donation in his description of Cumberland, page 641, where however it must be corrected that he says it was made in the year of Christ 619: for it should be restored, as Ussher observed, to 684.

[11] Whether, however, that copy of the donation is authentic, is the instrument of these donations that is adduced authentic? it will be permissible to investigate at the Life of Saint Cuthbert on March 20. For those things do not seem to us to agree with one another: namely, what is said at the beginning, "In the year of the Lord's Incarnation 685, a Synod having been assembled near the river Alne, in the place called Etetuiford," and so forth; and what is at the end, "This donation was confirmed in the time of Pope Agatho, in the fortieth year of the age of King Egfrid, and the fifteenth of his reign." That Synod was held, as we said before, when winter was approaching: therefore in the year 684. For in the following year 685, on Easter Day, Cuthbert was ordained. Moreover, since Oswiu died on February 15 of the year 670, the end of 684 pertained to the fifteenth year of Egfrid. Although the Worcester chronicler, cited above at the Life of Saint Elfleda, section 6, number 42, and Bede in book 4, chapter 26, write that Egfrid perished in the fifteenth year of his reign, when the sixteenth had already been begun for a quarter year: but they seem to assign the entire year 670 to the reign of Oswiu, who died at its beginning. Nor did Pope Saint Agatho live until the year 684, as we showed in his Life on January 10. But these matters belong to the Life of Saint Cuthbert, where we shall also treat of Lugubalia.

[12] Thomas Dempster asserts in the Ecclesiastical History of the Scottish Nation, book 18, that Saint Trumwine wrote the Decrees writings of Trumwine. of the Synod over which Saint Theodore presided. He cites no authority who reports that those Decrees were written by Saint Trumwine. But it is customary for Dempster to exalt almost every ancient Saint who pertains in any way to Scotland with the glory of having written books.

Section III. The Monastic Life of Saint Trumwine After His Expulsion from the Episcopacy, His Death, Elevation, and Feast Day.

[13] In the year 685, as Bede relates in book 4, chapter 26, when King Egfrid had rashly led his army to ravage the province of the Picts, When King Egfrid was slain by the Picts, with his friends very much forbidding it, and especially Cuthbert of blessed memory, who had recently been ordained Bishop, he was drawn (with the enemies feigning flight) into the narrows of inaccessible mountains, and was destroyed with the greatest part of the forces he had brought with him, in the fortieth year of his age and the fifteenth of his reign, on the thirteenth of the Kalends of June. ... "From which time the resources and strength of the English kingdom began to ebb and slide backward. many shake off the English yoke: For the Picts recovered the land of their possession which the English had held, and the Scots who were in Britain, and also a not insignificant part of the Britons, recovered their liberty: which they also have to this day, for about forty-six years."

[14] "Whereupon, among the very many of the English nation who were either slain by the sword, or consigned to servitude, or fled in flight from the land of the Picts, even the most reverend man of the Lord, Trumwine, who had received the episcopacy over them, withdrew with his followers who were in the monastery of Abercorn, Trumwine the monk flees with his followers: situated indeed in the region of the English, but in the vicinity of the firth which separates the lands of the English and the Picts. And commending them, wherever he could, to friends in monasteries, he himself chose a place of residence in the aforementioned monastery of the servants and handmaids of God, which they call Whitby: he lives holily at Whitby, and there with a few of his own, in monastic strictness, he led a life useful not to himself alone but to many, for a very long period of years. Where, having died, he was buried in the church of Blessed Peter the Apostle, in a manner worthy of the honor owed to his life and rank. At that time the royal Virgin Elfleda presided over that monastery, together with her mother Eanfleda, of whom we have made mention above. But upon the arrival of the Bishop, and is a consolation to Saint Elfleda the Abbess: the devout teacher of God found the greatest assistance in governing, and at the same time the solace of her life." The Worcester chronicler records somewhat more briefly the same things from Bede.

[15] Trithemius writes of him thus in book 4, chapter 167: "Trumwine, a monk of Whitby and Bishop of the Picts, a man greatly venerable for his learning and holiness; was he previously a monk there? after many labors, abandoning the episcopacy, he returned to the monastic life dear to him," and so forth. He seems, moreover, to intimate that he was previously a monk of Whitby before he was promoted to the episcopacy: which Bede's words do not indicate.

[16] Wion has the same in book 2 of the Tree of Life, chapter 39: "Dom Trinwinus," he says, "or Trunwinus, an Englishman, a monk of Whitby, was created and consecrated Bishop of the Picts, or of Candida Casa, in the city of Whithorn, he was not Bishop of Candida Casa, by Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 678: who, after he had shown the way of salvation to his sheep for some years, first by example, then by word, leaving his prelacy out of love for solitude, returned to his monastery, in which, not without the reputation of sanctity, he departed to the Lord."

[17] But he was not Bishop of Candida Casa, or Whithorn, but of Abercorn on the Firth of Edinburgh, as we have said above. Candida Casa, moreover, which is called Whit-herne by the English and Scots with the same meaning, is situated in Galloway, which is now in Scotland, a western province of Scotland near the English, as we shall say on September 16 in the Life of Saint Ninian or Ninianus, the first Bishop of that place, whom the Scots call Ringen, as Ussher writes, page 661. The See of that episcopacy, moreover, as Bede says in book 3, chapter 4, "distinguished by the name and church of Saint Martin the Bishop (where he also rests in body together with many Saints), is now held by the English nation." then under the English, This place, belonging to the province of the Bernicians, is commonly called Candida Casa, because there he built a church of stone, in a manner unusual for the Britons. But the English nation did not hold the See of Saint Trumwine's episcopacy when Bede was writing his history: therefore this was not Candida Casa. and Saint Trumwine's See was under the Picts. Furthermore, Saint Trumwine was consecrated in the year 681, as we said before, not 678 as Wion maintains: nor did he retire to the monastery of Whitby out of love for solitude, but was driven from his episcopacy by enemies.

[18] He died around the year 700, Saint Trumwine died around the year 700 perhaps. For the shorter Life of Saint Cuthbert, which was written while King Alfrid was living, before the year 705, calls him "of blessed memory," as we have already reported in section 2, number 8 — an expression which is customarily said only of the deceased. Concerning the site, foundation, and varying fortune of the monastery of Whitby we treated on February 8 in the Life of Saint Elfleda, in the twelfth century he was elevated along with other Saints, and concerning the bodies of Saints Trumwine, Elfleda, and others that were discovered and translated in the twelfth century of Christ, in which William of Malmesbury lived, who in book 3 of The Deeds of the Bishops of England, page 272, writes that they were newly discovered and elevated to a place of prominence.

[19] The name of Trumwine is inscribed in the Benedictine Martyrology by Hugh Menard under the day of February 9: inscribed in Martyrologies. under which day an epitome of his Life is presented by Edward Mayhew in his English Trophies. On February 10 his feast is recorded by Jerome Porter in his Flowers of the Saints of England, and by John Wilson in the second edition of the English Martyrology. That he was held as a Saint from antiquity is established by the Malmesbury chronicler, who enumerates Trumwine first among the Saints whose bodies he attests were discovered.