Frideswide

ON ST. FRIDESWIDE, VIRGIN, PATRONESS OF OXFORD, IN ENGLAND,

TOWARDS THE MIDDLE OF THE VIII CENTURY.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Frideswide, Virgin, at Oxford in England. (S.)

B. B.

§ I. The antiquity of the city and University of Oxford. In what century St. Frideswide flourished there.

A timely moment for writing the Life of St. Frideswide. Not undeservedly do we seem able to congratulate ourselves that the publication of the Acts of St. Frideswide has fallen in these times, in which so great a favour towards the catholic cause is being reborn in the University of Oxford. For since through a long series of centuries this holy Virgin has been held the patroness of that illustrious city and of a university most celebrated throughout the world, what could happen more pleasing to hagiographers than to submit her deeds to the judgment of those who, examining the old monuments of the catholic church with a sincere mind, have at length come so far that, the preconceived opinions which long prevailed being set aside, they partly look upon this church with a kinder eye, partly are borne towards it with favourable minds, partly, the truth being acknowledged, have submitted themselves, and daily submit themselves, to the supreme Pastor. Truly, not even could a more opportune occasion have been wished for. Nor do we deny that these things have added courage to us, so that we might gather, with as great accuracy as we could, from the old monuments whatever seemed suitable for illustrating the Acts of this most holy Virgin; certain that by this labour we shall do a thing pleasing especially to those eminent men who in great number have either already returned into the bosom of apostolic truth, or who, the divine grace urging them, are seriously and maturely deliberating with themselves on this momentous business.

[2] The nobility and situation of the city of Oxford. The native place of Frideswide was Oxford. "At the confluence of the Cherwell and the Isis," says Camden, "where the waters of these rivers are sprinkled with numerous and most pleasant islands, there rises in the midst of a plain the celebrated University of Oxford; our most noble Athens, the seat of the muses, the nurse, or rather the sun, the eye, the soul of all England; the renowned fountain of learning and of the sciences, whence urbanity and the study of letters are spread through the whole kingdom. This city is beautiful and charming, whether you regard the comeliness of the private houses or the magnificence of the public buildings, or also the healthiness of the place and the pleasantness of the situation. The plain in which it is placed is walled about by wooded hills, by which either the unhealthiness of the south wind or the violence of the east is intercepted, so that access lies open only to the west winds, and to the north, which disperses any harmful exhalations.

[3] The origin of the name. "From this situation writers indeed have supposed that the city was formerly called Bellositum. Others think that it was anciently called in the British tongue Caer Vortigern and Caer Vember (Caer in the Celtic or British tongue means city), assuming for certain that Vortigern and Mempricius founded it. But by whatever name it was at last distinguished in the time of the Britons, the Saxons called it Oxenford, and evidently in the same sense in which both the Greeks had several Bosporuses of theirs, and the Germans their Ochenfort on the Oder, namely Fords of oxen (Ford of Oxen), and in which sense our Britons even today call Oxford Rhyd-ychen. Nevertheless Leland, with great probability, derives the name of that city from the river Ouse, in Latin Isis; and thinks it was called Ousford for the same reason that the islands formed there by the Isis are called Ousney." So Camden, whose words we have made Latin Britannia, Chronographical description, London 1769, vol. I, p. 287.. Peshall, however, notes that Leland's conjecture is ingenious enough, but little founded in the ancient charters; whence also it is rejected by Wood, Twyne, etc. History of the city of Oxford, p. 10, note b..

[4] An astonishing antiquity of the city is thrust upon us by many. Most have attributed an altogether fabulous antiquity to Oxford. "Concerning the first origin of the city of Oxford," says Wood, "these things for the most part occur among our writers. More than a thousand years before the birth of Christ Mempricius, king of the Britons, is said to have founded it, and to have called it from his own name Caer-Mempric: which was thereafter called Rhydychen, which in the British tongue means Ford of oxen, and afterwards Bellositum, a Latin word drawn from the pleasantness of the soil. After the incursion of the Saxons, Vortigern is said to have restored the fallen fortunes of Oxford: which, falling again, Alfred, the great stayer of the empire and of the sciences, established anew under most happy auspices, and such as will endure, we hope, for ever. Since we are pursuing the origins not so much of the city itself as of the University, it will be fitting to narrate the landing of letters at Greeklade, and thereafter their withdrawal to better seats, which indeed I observe has been done by most in this business according to solemn custom, who fetch the beginnings of the University of Oxford from scarcely anywhere else than Greeklade" [Ant. Wood, Historia et antiquitates universitatis Oxoniensis, book 1, p. 4. Oxford 1674.]. That so great an antiquity should be seriously attributed to the city of Oxford by a man without controversy learned would be scarcely credible, were not astonishing things, neither more nor less seriously, put forward about the beginnings of the University, not by Wood alone, but also by many other men of the most widely known name, namely where they discourse of Greeklade and Lechlade (according to them the cradles of the University).

[5] Fictions about Greeklade, David Wilkins, very well known for his splendid edition of the Councils of Great Britain and Ireland, attached a Preface to the Bibliotheca of Thomas Tanner, bishop of St. Asaph, in which he comprises at sufficient length and expressly the literary history of the Britons before the coming of Caesar; where among other things I find these Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica. London 1748. Preface, p. VII.: "There exists at Oxford a venerable monument of antiquity, inserted in the proctors' book, which the Isiac university religiously preserves, commonly called the Historiola Oxoniensis." In this Historiola, as it is recited by Wood, the following things are read bearing on our matter. "But of all the universities of studies now existing among the Latins, the University of Oxford is found prior in foundation, more general by a certain plurality of sciences, firmer in the profession of catholic truth, and more excellent by the multiplicity of its privileges, as the very ancient British histories of its foundation insinuate. For it is said that among the once warlike Trojans, when with their leader Brutus they triumphantly occupied the island then Albion, afterwards Britain" (derived from the very name of Brutus, as also the Britons, as Wilkins seriously notes Ibid., loc. cit., p. VI.), "and finally called England, certain philosophers, arriving, chose in that island a place of habitation suited to themselves, to which also they gave the name, namely, Grekelade. These philosophers, who had been Greeks, have left as it were a trace of themselves to the present day. Not far from which place indeed the municipium of Oxford is known to be situated, which on account of the pleasantness of the adjoining rivers, meadows and woods antiquity formerly named Bellositum, and the Saxon people afterwards Oxenfordia, so called from a certain neighbouring ford, and chose it as a place of study." Thus far Anthony Wood Historia et Antiquitates Oxoniensis, book 1, p. 4., and he adds: "These things, as they are observed here and there in other writings, so especially in our Historiola, which in the time of the kings Edward III" (who reigned from the year 1042 to the year 1066 L'Art de vérifier les dates, p. 775.) "and Henry IV" (from the year 1399 to the year 1413 Ibid., p. 784.) "was inserted in the codices of the Statutes pertaining to the chancellor and both proctors: to which, however, since some will judge that credit is to be lessened, either as false and spurious, or as giving testimony in its own cause, I will therefore bring forward other authors fighting for us either for exactly the same thing or for as much." And he cites John Brompton, head of the monastery of Jervaulx, in the time of Richard I (from the year 1189 to the year 1199 Ibid., p. 778.), Leland and others. In their place we shall cite a more recent writer, of great name in his country, namely the aforesaid David Wilkins.

[6] and Lechlade. "Brutus," he says Bibliotheca, p. VII., "exhorted the philosophers (whom he had made companions of his journeys from Greece and Italy) to put their hand to the work (of handing down the disciplines and arts), who opened two schools, of which the Greeks placed one at Greeklade (today Cricklade in Wiltshire) and there taught the Greek tongue. But the Latins placed the other at Latinelade (today Lechlade in the county of Gloucester), teaching the Latin tongue there, as John Brompton relates, a historian of great authority, who lived in the time of King Richard I, as the Oxford antiquary" (namely Anthony Wood) "notes. To whose testimony that venerable monument of antiquity adds greater strength, inserted in the proctors' book, which the Isiac university religiously preserves, commonly called the Historiola Oxoniensis. It is worthy of observation that some more recent writers have drawn the saw of contention back and forth about the foundation of the school of Lechlade (concerning that of Cricklade all, with unanimous consent with the learned Twyne, establish that the origin of the Greeklade schools is sufficiently clear), and assert that it was founded only after the coming of the Saxons. The origin of that error emanated from the authority of John Rous, the Warwick antiquary, who expressly says that in the company of learned men who had come from Greece with Brutus there were some physicians, who were skilled among them, to whom they appropriated a place suitable and healthy in situation, which to this day is called Lechlad from those physicians. But this confusion of time is too enormous: for anyone tinged even moderately with knowledge of the Saxon tongue knows that the first part of the word Lechlade, derived from the Saxon Leech, signifies a physician; but it can come into no one's mind, not even in a dream, that the Saxons came into England with Brutus: how then can a school founded in the time of Brutus be called by a Saxon name? But this lapse of judgment or of memory is worthy of pardon in Rous, who, according to Leland's opinion, was a man of greater diligence than judgment; whom, if you consider rightly what antiquaries have gained from his industry, I am unwilling to visit with so great an insult as to say with Caius: 'Indeed I certainly judge from his writings that the man was a babbler.' To say what the matter is, the lack of the various idioms of the British tongue gave occasion to Rous,

or to the original author of his prototype, to fashion this etymology; for if he had been versed even slightly in any of them, he could easily have divined that, just as Greeklade is a name in itself Latin-British, as the most learned Twyne noted, so Latinelade also is a Latin-British name; whence in the course of time Lathelade and Lechlade was formed without any help of the Saxon tongue." Thus far Wilkins.

[7] They are rejected. And these are the things which the older writers of English affairs relate with almost unanimous consent; astonishing indeed, and not such as will easily obtain assent among the learned in our days. Nevertheless men of no common, nay of most approved learning, have made all these things their own, among whom Leland (he indeed somewhat doubting), Wilkins and before others Anthony Wood, who undertook as it were expressly to establish the antiquity both of the city and of the University. But, by the leave of so great a man, we should say that he does not bring forward those arguments which carry away the assent of the mind: for he does scarcely anything else than set before the eyes the old monuments of British history, in which in very truth such things are proclaimed of the city and University of Oxford, but on what foundation they asserted them he does not say. Certainly a narrative does not deserve credit merely because it is found in a manuscript written some centuries ago, especially when in it events near the Trojan war are assumed as certain. It may be permitted moreover to add that that astonishing antiquity both of the city and of the University is defended especially by those who either were imbued at Oxford with letters and good arts or gave their labour there to teaching them. Whence it may at least be thought, without injury, that zeal and gratitude towards their kindly Mother brought it about that they showed themselves less severe in discussing either traditions or writings which made for her glory. Wherefore no one will wonder that among the learned of England not a few are found who do not fear to call all these things into doubt, nay even openly to number them among old wives' tales. Let Camden be an example, who moreover assigns a far different origin, or, as they say, etymology, to Greeklade and Lechlade.

[8] Camden's opinion about Greeklade In the description of Wiltshire Camden, Britannia, vol. I, p. 96., treating of Greeklade (which, situated on the bank of the Thames, is distant from Oxford about 25 miles towards the west, inclining towards the south), he has these words: "Crekelade is called by some Crecanford, Cricgelada, etc. The almost unanimous assertion of all our monkish historians (Monkish historians, nay and of others; for Wilkins, Leland, Wood, etc. were not monks) about a Greek school founded, or rather restored, there by Theodore, the most learned archbishop of Canterbury, seems to have no other foundation than a supposed affinity of the name (which is no less absurd than when from Lechlade Latinelade is formed). It was first called into doubt by Leland in the Life of Alfred, who suspects that on account of the marshy region the pupils migrated to Bellositum or Oxford; and the Ms. of the Library of Trinity, cited in the notes on Spelman, likewise in the Life of Alfred, writes Greekistake. It is enough to have given Oxford a fabulous antiquity, without there being need besides to found two universities surpassing it in age… The name would more happily be derived from the British word Cerigwlad, which indicates a stony region, which also agrees with the nature of the soil; or from two Saxon words which mean a little stream and a mouth, since two little streams (the Churn and Rey) run into the Thames there."

[9] and Lechlade And below, in the description of the county of Gloucester Camden, Britannia, vol. I, p. 282.: "Lechlade (on the bank of the Thames, distant from Oxford about 18 miles to the west, bending towards the south) was in Leland's age a charming and ancient village, having a church with a stone tower, now a town little conspicuous; it has its name from the stream called the Leche, which runs into the Thames there, and from the word lade, which in Latin means mouth. Nevertheless the monks" (certainly not they alone, as is established from what has been said) "contend, namely to establish their opinion about a Latin school or university founded there formerly (as also a Greek one at Crecklade or Greeklade), that it should be written Latinelade."

[10] What seems more probable in this question. However, anyone will easily grant that the city which was the birthplace of St. Frideswide is ancient, and that from all past time it has drawn its glory chiefly from its renowned University; nay, perhaps he will also gladly subscribe to those words of Christoph Cellarius: "Oxonia, commonly Oxford, the Athens of the English, is of uncertain antiquity, or what name it formerly used, because no ancient memory of it" (namely, worthy of credit) "is found in the ancient histories or in the lucubrations of the old geographers" [Notitia orbis antiqui. Edition enlarged by Conrad Schwartz. Leipzig 1773, vol. I, p. 339.].

[11] At what time the colleges and halls which are had at Oxford today began. What the more recent and present-day Oxford doctors think about the pretended antiquity of their kindly Mother is shown not obscurely from the Calendar which is published every year under their auspices with this title: The Oxford University Calendar. From which it will be well to have set some things before the eyes. Concerning University College (University college) these things are had: "This college is said to have been founded by Alfred the Great in the year 872. It was restored by William of Durham, who is said to have been likewise archdeacon of Durham. Little indeed worthy of credit about that man has come down to us. This only we know, that he was rector at Wearmouth, a place of the aforesaid county of Durham; and that he died in the year 1249, and left a certain sum of money for the perpetual sustenance of some masters, on this condition, that those who were sprung from places nearer to Durham should be preferred to the others. The first purchase, by the help of the aforesaid legacy, is known to have been made in the year 1253; and the original statutes were drawn up in the year 1280" The Oxford university calendar, 1848, p. 240.. — "Balliol College (Balliol college) was founded between the years 1263 and 1268 (the year of foundation is not certainly known) by John Balliol of Barnard Castle, in the county of Durham (he was the father of John Balliol, king of the Scots), and Dervorguilla, his wife" Ibid., p. 247.. — "Merton College (Merton college) was originally placed and founded in the year 1264 at Meandonia or Maldonia in the county of Surrey, by Walter de Merton, bishop of Rochester and chancellor of England. It was afterwards translated, namely before the year 1274, to Oxford under the name of the House of the scholars of Merton" Ibid., p. 253..

[12] The three more ancient colleges founded in the XIII century. These three colleges, each founded in the thirteenth century, come first in order of time. The remaining sixteen (for nineteen are numbered today, to which are to be added five Halls, which indeed do not differ much from the colleges properly so called) are of later age. Some belong to the fourteenth century, namely Exeter, Oriel, Queen's, otherwise New College of the Queen; others to the fifteenth century, namely Lincoln, All Souls, Magdalen; others to the sixteenth century, Aeneanasense, that is of the Brazen Nose (in the vernacular Brasenose), Corpus Christi, the Church or House of Christ, the Most Holy Trinity, St. John the Baptist; others to the seventeenth century, namely Jesus College, Wadham (so called from the name of its founder, Nicholas Wadham), Pembroke; another finally to the eighteenth century, namely Worcester.

[13] The Halls. As regards the Halls, Anthony Wood writes: "Of the immense number of Halls and Hostels which formerly appeared in the University, there survive today only seven, which indeed still serve the Gownsmen as lodgings, are subject to the jurisdiction of Principals, and are distinguished by names of this kind"

[14] [What the difference is between colleges and Halls, today surviving five in number.] And the Calendar of the University of Oxford praised above Calendar, p. 380.: "The only difference noted between Colleges and Halls is this, that the Halls are not, as it is said, incorporated in the University; whence it comes about that whatever the Halls possess, whether it be estates or anything else whatever, is judged to be and is pledged to the University. In ancient times the Halls were very many. Thus under Edward I, when only three Colleges properly so called existed, there are said to have been as many as three hundred Halls. And certainly John Peshall, relying on Wood's manuscript codices, enumerates two hundred. The number of Colleges then being increased, many of the Halls nearer to each were incorporated in them; others passed into the dwellings of private persons; so that in the reign of Elizabeth only eight remained; of which number three were afterwards again converted into Colleges. There survive accordingly today five Halls; namely St. Mary's, St. Mary Magdalen's, New Inn, St. Alban's and St. Edmund's. Which, joined to the seventeen colleges mentioned above, make in all twenty-four seats destined for the habitation either of gownsmen or of pupils. There are besides many other buildings belonging to the use of the University: the Schools, the Bodleian Library, etc. etc."

[15] Conclusion. And let these things be said of that most illustrious city, from which, as is acknowledged by all, the holy virgin Frideswide sprang, and which she illustrated by her virtues and miracles. Another question now presents itself: namely at what time she was born.

[16] St. Frideswide flourished in the middle of the eighth century. It is sufficiently agreed among authors that she flourished towards the middle of the eighth century. But as regards the year of her birth, as also of her death, nothing certain can be established: the writers disagree too much among themselves, as will become clear from what follows. "I pass to Frideswide," says Alford Annales ecclesiae Anglo-Saxonicae, at the year 740, vol. II, p. 552., "a better known virgin, born among the Anglo-Saxons, but honoured as much at home as abroad. Whose illustrious deeds and piously met death, although they cannot be consigned to certain years, yet authors agree that they fell in the times of Cuthred, king of the West Saxons. And since it is expressly put in the Martyrology that she flourished about the seven hundred and fortieth year of the Lord, therefore I have thought that the things which are said here and there and scatteredly about this Virgin are rather to be referred to this place." Cuthred reigned from the year 740 or 741 to the year 754 [Lingard, Hist. d'Angleterre, vol. I, p. 163. Louvain 1827. Likewise Art de vérifier les dates, p. 771. Paris 1770.]. But if Cuthred began to reign in the year 740, it is not easily seen on what reason Alford affirms that Frideswide's illustrious deeds and piously met death fell in the times of Cuthred. For if she died in the first year of this reign, there will scarcely be any room for illustrious deeds. Moreover, it is far from true that authors agree in referring the deeds of St. Frideswide to the times of Cuthred. In the Ms. History of John of Tynemouth in the Bodleian Library Book XVII, chapter CCX. there is read, on the testimony of Dugdale Monasticon Anglic., vol. II, p. 143.: "In the year DCCXXXV. Frideswide the virgin died at this time." In Leland's collectanea there is had: "About the year of the Lord DCCXXVII a certain Didanus, an under-king,

honoured the city of Oxford with the frequency of his residence. Safrida, wife of Didanus. Frideswide, daughter of Didanus and Safrida." These things are very indeterminate: for it is not defined whether that year is the year of birth, or of death, or of the foundation of the monastery; the last of which perhaps agrees better with the context. At the end is added: "St. Frideswide died on the XIIII before the Kalends of November." But no year is added. In the Register of Osney, in the Cottonian Library, Vitellius F. XVI, fol. 4 B: "It is to be noted that Didanus, king of Oxford, reigned in the year of the Lord's Incarnation about DCCXXVI" Dugdale, ibid.. The Ms. Life to be published below: "Now St. Frideswide flourished about the year of the Lord 750, and left the world on the XIV before the Kalends of November." Mabillon: "The Life of St. Frideswide, virgin of Oxford in England," and in the margin: "About the year DCCXXXV, Oct. XIX" Acta SS. Ordinis S. Benedicti, saec. III, part I, p. 561.. According to Dugdale, Didanus founded the monastery at Oxford towards the year 727; at which time Safrida, wife of Didanus, died. Frideswide was set over the monastery Monasticon Anglic., vol. II, p. 134.. Our Malbrancq De Morinis, book IV, chapter LXVI, vol. I, p. 582. refers the death of St. Frideswide to the year 749, the XIX of October. In a marginal note indeed the year 759 is read; but it is an error, as is clear from the later paragraph of this chapter, where is read: "In the same year, which was 749, Pippin etc." Godwin De Praesulibus Angliae commentarius. London 1616, p. 585., treating of the bishops of Oxford, begins thus: "About the year of salvation (if we believe our historians) 730 a certain under-king named Didan ruled at Oxford, etc." In the course he puts no other year. Baillet Vies des Saints. XIX Oct.: "The Roman Martyrology, which calls her Fredeswinda, makes mention of Frideswide at the XIX day of October, which is held as the day of her death, which happened in the year 735."

[17] Authors disagree about the year of birth and death; There is no need to linger longer in weaving this catalogue, since it sufficiently appears that, about the epoch in which our holy Virgin flourished, nothing else can be established except that her deeds do not extend much beyond the middle of the eighth century.

[18] they agree about the feast day Something more certain would be had about the day and month on which St. Frideswide departed from the living, if it were established that her death occurred on that day on which her festive memory is celebrated. For no discrepancy of opinions is here found among the writers. As many as I could see have the XIX day of October. So the Roman Martyrology; so Usuard in the Additions; so the Breviary and Missal of Salisbury. However, we gladly grant that from this alone a firm argument cannot be taken as to the day of death; since many reasons occur on account of which the days of a feast in the church or among the people frequently do not coincide with the days of deposition.

§ II. A summary of the Life of St. Frideswide. Its principal heads called to criticism. On the dread by which the kings of England were kept from entry into the city of Oxford.

A Synopsis of the Life, from Leland. The things which are recorded here and there among various writers about the life of St. Frideswide you have briefly and by way of synopsis in Leland's collectanea Vol. I, p. 342. "About the year of the Lord DCCXXVII a certain Didanus, an under-king, honoured the city of Oxford with the frequency of his residence. Safrida, wife of Didanus. Fridiswida, daughter of Didanus and Safrida. Algiva, a most religious woman, instructed Fridiswida." (Algiva perhaps the abbess of the monastery of St. Mary at Winchester.) "Fridiswida becomes a nun, and XII noble maidens followed her example. And so by the king's munificence lodgings most suited to religion are built beside the church. Didanus, struck with grief for his wife lately lost, built a church within the circuit of the city, and, dedicated in honour of St. Mary and All Saints, commended it to his daughter at her request.

[20] "King Algar, inflamed with love of Fridiswida, seeks her in marriage, although a nun. Fridiswida flees, seizing a small boat, by the Thames to the town of Benton, ten miles distant from here, and makes for the neighbouring wood, where she lay hidden in an abandoned swine-hut overgrown with ivy. Algar threatens destruction to the city of Oxford, Fridiswida not being found. Algar, in punishment of his tyranny, lost the light of his eyes by the power of those above. Hence a dread is innate in the kings of England, so that not one indeed of his successors presumes to enter Oxford. Fridiswida remained almost three years in the aforesaid solitude, but not unknown to the inhabitants. Fridiswida, having boarded a small boat, came quickly to an estate near the city of Oxford, which is called Buseneia, where she built an oratory and buildings. There was in the aforesaid estate a place called Thornebyri, solitary and suited to religion, where she built an oratory. By Fridiswida's prayers a spring burst forth at Thornebyri. St. Frideswide died on the XIIII before the Kalends of November. She was buried in the church of St. Mary at Oxford near the Thames." Thus Leland in Dugdale Monasticon Anglic., vol. II, p. 143. London 1819..

[21] Certain things are added from Malbrancq, These things are found here and there among the writers of English affairs, both ancient and more recent. Malbrancq De Morinis, book IV, chapter LX, LXII, LXVI. and Mabillon [Acta SS. Ordinis S. Benedicti, saec. III, part I, p. 561. Likewise in the Annals, book XXI, n. 33.] have the same things. Each coordinates the deeds a little differently from the other, assigning also a certain series of years; but on what foundation they do this, since they themselves do not indicate it, is not known to us either. Nay, as to the Chronology, it will appear sufficiently from the course of this commentary that nothing certain can be established either from the writers or from the ancient monuments. Moreover, Malbrancq, whom Mabillon followed, has certain other things about St. Frideswide which were either unknown to the writers of England or passed over. These, however, it will not be irksome to have written down in this place, since they rest on the very ancient tradition of Bomy (of which we shall treat expressly below). After, then, narrating De Morinis, book IV, chapter LX. Frideswide's victory over Algar, he continues Ibid., chapter LXII.:

[22] namely the holy Virgin's landing in Gaul and her Roman pilgrimage. "When she (Frideswide) had now been restored to herself, and, the prince having been overcome, all were proclaiming her happy victory, it displeased her more to have to undergo a contest with the applause of human praises. Wherefore she thought it better to lead a solitary life for some years, and … to cross over to the Morini. Cuthred was wielding the sceptre of the West Saxons in England … accompanied by two companions, she carried out the matter stealthily, and, having disembarked from the ship at Boulogne, entered upon that most direct Roman road … Her mind was to visit the sacred churches already furnished with the relics of so many Saints: but it pleased her, when they had gone almost as far as Thérouanne, to turn aside to the right; there pleased her also a little hill, distant from the road to the right a little more than a league, and clothed with a modest grove, from which the waters of a crystal spring, bubbling up, are charmingly drawn off into the neighbouring meadows… Meanwhile it was at times among her wishes to go to the Marian basilica of Thérouanne, and also to the pious seats round about … between which, in the middle, was that slender dwelling in the territory of Bomy. But the nearness of the English ports did not permit her to draw out longer years here. She thinks it more salutary to pursue the web of her pilgrimage and that road of Reims which would carry her on to the Roman one. Nor did she dread to cross both Gaul (sic) and the Alps, in order to go to all the shrines of the City: which she accomplished with so great a sense of piety and splendour of virtues that to this day a little church dedicated in her name is seen there. Now, therefore, anointed with so pleasant a sight of holy places, she has a mind to retrace her way; and, the shrines of the Morini which offered themselves on the way being again visited, at length she returned to Oxford; which admitted its foster-child more gratefully than once it had Algar: for she does not prepare to do violence by her entry, but to confer the very greatest benefits. The feverish heats of very many are extinguished, those bearing elephantiac skin are cleansed, and she does not shrink from giving a kiss to one of these, by which he at once obtained entire health.

[23] She is set over the monastery of nuns erected at Oxford by her father; "Even at that time Didanus her parent was surviving, dear to the people of Oxford beyond few on account of Frideswide: and not long after, he built at Oxford at his own expense a notable monastery, in a place very suitable for the dwellings of nuns. Scarcely had it received its roof when a great number of noble virgins flowed in, who sought the company of Frideswide alone, nay that she alone should be set over them. Therefore the bishops appointed her abbess, and she was received by all with unwonted congratulation, and was held daily in greater veneration: for there had not hitherto been seen among the people of Oxford anyone whose merits were weightier with all, whose holiness and zeal for monastic mortification were proved by more ample experiences, who also foretold future things with prophetic mind."

[24] and at length she dies holily. And again Ibid., chapter LXVI.: "Frideswide, who was foreknowing not only of the events of others but also of her own, was awaiting the message of her most loving spouse calling her to those above. Sickness compels her to take to her bed: whence she causes the sacred mysteries to be brought to her in readiness. Having received them, when she was now being brought to the last extremity, she sees standing by her couch the saints Catherine and Cecilia, and also a band of Angels mingled with them. These she had followed with special affection while living, and had trusted her contests, especially against Algar, to their aid. Exhilarated beyond what can be said by such a sight, she cries out that the delays are drawn out too long: she cannot but be joined to so happy a fellowship: which at once, the support of her strength failing, was granted. She departed from life on the XII (read XIV) before the Kalends of November."

[25] What is to be thought of Malbrancq's narrative. We have copied these things somewhat more fully from Malbrancq, both because they relate certain new things about our holy Virgin, and because they show what that author's manner of writing is. He amplifies easily, namely, introducing into the facts accompanying details or circumstances which he supposes were present rather than proves. However, this Malbrancq has in common with most writers of the same age, otherwise of no common merit.

[26] The name of St. Frideswide, Now come certain things to be noted, by which the things related in this synoptic account of the life may be partly developed, partly elucidated or subjected to criticism. The name of the holy Virgin is written in various ways by various writers. Most have Frideswida; others write: Fridiswida, Fritheswitha, Fredeswytha; the Roman Martyrology has Fredeswinda. On the testimony of Baillet Vies des Saints, XIX Oct. she is commonly called in France Frewisse, which name prevails especially in the district of Bomy.

[27] her parents. Didanus, the father of St. Frideswide, is called king, petty king, under-king, which here indeed seems to say nothing else than a principal man exercising some rule, after the manner of a toparch; but whether he had this power over the city of Oxford, as also how far this power extended, no one would easily say. The name of king seems to have been rather common in those times. In the very Acts of St. Frideswide her pursuer Algar is called king. And it is read of Alfred the Great that, while his brothers reigned, he presided over a certain smaller region with

the title of king Lingard, Histoire d'Angleterre, vol. I, p. 191. Louvain edition.. Perhaps from these one can gather what the name of king signified in this age. The mother of our holy Virgin is commonly called Safrida; Mabillon calls her Frideswide; I have not found another who called her by this name. She is presented by all as a matron of the greatest piety and merit. She seems to have died a long time before Didanus her husband, and while her daughter was in youthful age. Finally there is mentioned in Mabillon a certain Algina, under whose discipline Frideswide, five years having been spent in diligent education, was handed over to be instructed in the studies of letters.

[28] Algar. In the Ms. Life of St. Frideswide, from a codex preserved in Balliol College at Oxford, Algar is called king of Leicester. And in the Monasticon Anglicanum Vol. II, p. 134, note e. he is called king of the Mercians. Now the kingdom of the Mercians numbered among its principal cities Leicester, Lincoln, Oxford, etc. From these it would follow that the father of our holy Virgin was subject to Algar. La Martinière notes Dictionnaire Géographique, at the word: Leicester., citing another writer État présent de la Grande Bretagne, vol. I, p. 82., that the tract of Leicester was distinguished by the prerogative of a County before the age of William, duke of the Normans: for three counts of Leicester are found in the time of the Saxons: Leofrith, Algar, Edwin. Thus he. But what the prerogative or dignity of a county means no one would easily define. However, he who is here called Count, Algar, is called King in the Life of St. Frideswide. Camden treats a little more fully of the same counts. "The county of Leicester," he says, "has perpetually been eminent by a certain more excellent dignity of its princes. Since already in the Saxon age they enjoyed hereditary right, I shall here write down the series of succession, following Thomas Talbot, highly skilled in antiquarian matters, who wove it together from public documents. In the time of Ethelbald, king of the Mercians, in the year of the Lord 716, the count of Leicester was" (hence Algar would wrongly have been called king of the Mercians above, unless it be proved otherwise that he was at the same time both king and count) "Leofric, whom there succeeded in the direct line Algar I, Algar II, Leofric II, Leofstan, Leofric III (he was buried at Coventry), Algar III… The Saxon stock failing… Robert, a Norman by race, obtained the county of Leicester in the year 1102" Britannia, vol. II, p. 196.. All of which, if indeed they be judged worthy of credit, would indicate that Algar I or II was that very one who pursued St. Frideswide. In a matter so obscure, and with so great a scarcity of documents, it would be rash to affirm anything further.

[29] [The kings of England are related to have dreaded for many centuries to enter Oxford.] We said above that a certain dread had settled on the kings of England which kept them from entry into the city of Oxford, namely from the time when Algar, while he was pursuing St. Frideswide, passing under the gates, had been struck with blindness. The older writers make mention of that dread here and there. "Hence," says William of Malmesbury [De gestis Pontificum Anglor., book IV. On the bishops of Dorchester or Lincoln. See: Rerum Anglicarum scriptores post Bedam praecipui. London 1696, p. 166.], "a fear has grown up in the kings of England to beware of entry into that city and lodging in it, because it is said to be pestilent: each one shrinking from experiencing the truth of the matter at the cost of his own danger." Matthew Paris has the same, with the words a little changed Matthaei Paris. Historia Major, Zurich 1606, p. 62.: "Hence a fear has grown up in the kings of England to beware of entry into that city (Oxford) and lodging in it, because it is said to be pestilent to them, since they do not wish to experience the truth of the matter at their own cost and danger." In the same manner speaks the Ms. Life which we publish below: "On account of the punishment of which tyrant (Algar), indeed, a dread is innate in the kings of England, so that not one, as is said, presumes to enter the city of Oxford." Likewise Alford Annales ecclesiae Anglo-Saxon., at the year 740, vol. II, p. 552.: "This miracle of the young man struck and healed became so well known that not only do authors relate it here and there, but the kings themselves also scrupulously took care not to enter that gate of the city which Algar (this was the young man's name) felt to be fatal with great misfortune." It is worthy of note that the dread of those kings, according to Alford, is restricted to entry into the city through that gate under which Algar had been made blind: whereas the above-praised writers treat of any entry whatever. Malbrancq De Morinis, vol. I, p. 575., keeping to Alford's footsteps, thinks that the kings of England shrank not from any entry whatever, but only from having their principal entry into the city of Oxford through that gate: "Thenceforth the kings of England refrained from attempting their principal entry into the city through that gate, either auguring for themselves I know not what sinister thing therefrom, or deferring in that matter to the nods of Frideswide." In the chronicle of Thomas Wykes (who flourished under Edward the first, namely in the thirteenth century and the beginning of the fourteenth) is read at the year 1246 [Historiae Anglicanae scriptores, edited by Thomas Gale. Oxford 1691, vol. II, p. 60.]: "In the XLVIII year of the reign of King Henry (the third), on the Nones of April, namely on Saturday on the vigil of the Passion, that is, on the day on which the whole church throughout the world begins to sing 'Vexilla Regis prodeunt,' the king of England with his brother the king of Germany (Richard), with the Lord Edward his son, and a copious body of knights, coming from the parliament of Oxford, in which that king was the first king of the English after many past times boldly to enter the city of Oxford, scorning that old superstition which was commonly told, that the blessed virgin Fredeswytha had obtained by her prayers that no king could ever enter the aforesaid town without bodily peril."

[30] Nevertheless Henry III enters Oxford. Dugdale relates the same fact: "At that time" (namely when Robert, otherwise called John of Olney, was prior of the monastery of St. Frideswide) "King Henry the third, notwithstanding the tradition which represented entry into the monastery as dangerous to any king whatever, made his memorable visitation." And in a note are written down the words from the Greater history of Matthew Paris: "At that time King Henry, coming to Oxford in person for the sake of prayer, went to St. Fredeswide, which none of the kings of England before him dared to presume, not fearing the superstitious opinion of those who think it unlawful for the kings of the English to enter the town, the virgin exercising vengeance upon them" Matth. Paris, Hist. Angliae, Henry III, at the year 1264. Zurich 1606, p. 692.. It is to be noted, however, that these words were not written by Matthew of Paris, or Paris, but by William Rishanger, likewise a monk of St. Albans, who, as Thomas Tanner, bishop of St. Asaph, has it Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica, by Thomas Tanner. London 1718., "succeeded Matthew in the office of composing histories, also continued his history to the last year of Henry the Third, and died in the year of the Lord MCCCXIII." Namely, as the most learned Tanner notes in the same place, Paris had determined to stop at the XXXV year of Henry III, or 1250 of the Lord's incarnation, as is clear from those words: "Here end the chronicles of Brother Matthew of Paris, monk of St. Albans" Matth. Paris, where above, p. 780.. But afterwards, having changed his mind, he resumed his work and carried it on to the forty-third year of Henry III, which is 1259 of Christ, in which year also Matthew died. The Rishanger continuation extends itself to the death of Henry the third, as we said a little before.

[31] King Edward, about to enter Oxford, suddenly draws back. One thing may be added from the chronicle of Thomas Wykes At the year 1275. Where above, p. 102.. "On the Sunday next before the feast of St. Peter in Chains," he says, "the Lord King" (Edward I after the Conquest, otherwise the IV) "came to Oxford, there coming to meet him with inestimable solemnity and joy religious men of various orders, clerics, although then few were dwelling in the municipium, the Burgesses of the same town, with an innumerable multitude of both sexes; and the women, adorned with precious garments, had vied in preparing costly candles for themselves, and with the same lights kindled, on account of the royal honour, they were solemnly going out to meet the king and likewise the queen outside the gates of the town; and although the town itself, for the honour of so great a king, had been adorned in many ways for his first entry (for Edward was coming to Oxford for the first time since occupying the throne, namely in the third year of his reign), the king, led by the counsel of I know not whom, terrified, as could be believed, by the old ridiculous superstition that, through the prayers of the holy virgin Frideswythe, no king, his father alone excepted, had dared for many past times to enter the town itself, when he had come to the eastern gate, scorning the town, turning back his reins, riding outside the walls, entered the royal hall placed in the suburb."

[32] The kings feared for themselves the fate of Algar, who pursued the holy Virgin, And let these things adduced from various writers suffice, so that it may be evident to anyone that a dread was implanted for many centuries in the kings of England which held them back from entry into the city of Oxford; that this dread is derived by the ancient writers from the unlucky fate of Algar, who pursued St. Frideswide; that none of the kings before Henry the third (Wood, however, as will be seen below, judges that Henry II was present at the solemn translation of our Bl. Virgin in the year 1180) dared to enter Oxford, which Matthew Paris expressly relates, nor do Thomas Wykes and William of Malmesbury seem to differ from him; that the entry of this Henry into that city is recorded by all as a thing most worthy of note, and that for this reason, because that opinion was inveterate that Frideswide was hostile to an undertaking of this kind, although they charge with superstition both the kings yielding to this dread and the people trembling for the safety of the prince on account of his entry; finally that, notwithstanding the fact of Henry the third, who had scorned this dread, his son Edward was so imbued with this opinion that he did not fear to betray his fear before that innumerable multitude which was coming with immense pomp to meet its king as he prepared to enter the city for the first time.

[33] in whatever way they might enter the city. It cannot be denied, therefore, that this dread prevailed concerning the very entry into the city; nor accordingly do we easily make out whence both Alford and Malbrancq In the places cited. deduced that the kings of England feared only to enter Oxford by that gate under which Algar had been made blind, or to have their principal entry through that gate. Unless perhaps someone should say that they thought this opinion of theirs sufficiently founded in what we have related above about Henry and Edward; of whom the one entered the city, but by which gate I do not find; the other did not dare to enter. Which latter indeed, speaking in itself, could be reconciled with the opinion of Malbrancq, since it is a question of the eastern gate, and it is manifestly declared from the circumstances that this could deservedly have been called the principal entry. It is an obstacle, however, that Wykes, relating the fact of Edward, has nothing from which it may be concluded that the king would not have feared to enter by another gate than the eastern. It seems to us, therefore, that the older

writers of English affairs in no way support the opinion which restricts the aforesaid dread to a particular gate, or to the principal entry. Hence also neither Dugdale nor Camden nor Ant. Wood makes mention of this or any other restriction.

[34] [Whether King Henry II was present at the translation of the relics of St. Frideswide.] Nay, the last, namely Ant. Wood, at the year MCLXXX mentions that King Henry II came to Oxford. For so it is read Wood, Hist. et antiquit. univers. Oxon., p. 55.: "about these times the relics of St. Frideswide are carried from a more obscure place of the church named after her into a more conspicuous one; the king himself, the bishops and the nobles of the kingdom gracing that translation." If this be so, Paris rashly asserts that none of the kings before Henry the third dared to enter Oxford. Wood seems to make Philip, prior of St. Frideswide's, in his Ms. book on the miracles of the same Saint, the guarantor of his assertion. This book, preserved at Oxford and hitherto unpublished, we make public at the end of our Acts of St. Frideswide. Here we shall set down those words from which the learned reader may be able to determine by what right Wood asserts that Henry II, according to the mind of Prior Philip, was present in person at the aforesaid translation of the Relics. After, then, he had said that he would begin his writing on the Miracles of St. Frideswide from her Translation, which was made in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord MCLXXX, in the reign of the most illustrious king of the English Henry the second; and that he at that time, on account of the very great and arduous business of the kingdom, had called together at Oxford the Archbishop of Canterbury and many other bishops, also the nobles and magnates of the kingdom, Philip subjoins: "The aforesaid most invincible king, therefore, favouring the wishes, and most kindly giving his consent, at the prayers and instance of Philip, then prior, and of the whole convent, on the day before the Ides of February, the same venerable archbishop, having called together with him the Lord Richard of Winchester, Geoffrey of Ely, John of Norwich, bishops, there being present the venerable man master Alexius, at that time legate of Scotland by delegation of the Lord Pope, and master John, then indeed elect of St. Andrews, coming to the church of the same most glorious Virgin, … opening the tomb with the greatest devotion … translated the bones of the glorious Virgin from the tomb, and placed them in a shrine, etc." In these there is nothing which expressly indicates the presence of the king; the contrary seems to us more likely, and the words suggest it: "the king assenting to the wishes, and most kindly giving his consent": for if the king had been present at the Translation, why would Philip, who names the other assistants so accurately, not have indicated this with some more watchful word? Nor from the fact that Henry then held an assembly at Oxford, or rather near Oxford, does it follow that he entered the city, since the royal hall was placed in the suburb outside the walls. N. 31.

[35] It would be superfluous to discuss here at greater length in how far that dread was consonant with reason. It is called here and there in the ancient annals and chronicles an old and ridiculous superstition; nor does reason offer why we should give another opinion. Let it suffice to note that from that ancient dread, implanted from time immemorial in the kings of England, an irrefragable argument is had of a cult also shown from time immemorial to the holy virgin Frideswide in the city of Oxford, and of the opinion which had prevailed through the whole region of her power and favour with God.

[36] The Roman pilgrimage of St. Frideswide is not sufficiently proved; Malbrancq mentions a journey undertaken by St. Frideswide towards Rome; and adds that in his time also (the middle of the seventeenth century) there existed at Rome a chapel dedicated to the same holy Virgin. The writers of English affairs make no mention of that Roman pilgrimage; and Malbrancq seems to have asserted it relying only on conjecture. Hence also Mabillon (Preliminary Observations on the Life of St. Frideswide Acta SS. Ordinis S. Benedicti, saec. III, part I, p. 561.) shows that he does not much trust his assertion, since he writes: "At Rome she is said even now to have an oratory, according to Malbrancq … who therefore thinks that she at some time set out for Rome." The same Mabillon adds elsewhere Ann., vol. II, p. 94.: "It is read in the Saxon chronology: 'A certain Frithogita is said to have gone to Rome in the thirty-sixth year of that century'; if she is Frideswide, her death is to be deferred to the following year." I do not know what interpreter of the Saxon chronicle Mabillon used. Gibson P. 54. has thus: "In the year DCCXXXVII. In this year Forthere, bishop (of Sherborne), set out for Rome with Frithogitha, queen (of the West Saxons)." Something similar is read in Roger of Wendover [Chronica sive Flores Historiarum, now first edited by Henry O. Coxe, M.A., vol. I, p. 225. London 1841.], recently edited by the learned Henry Coxe, M.A., whom I never remember without an inward sense of gratitude. "In the year of the Lord DCCXXXVIII Forthere, bishop of Sherborne, with the queen of the West Saxons, having left splendid possessions, set out for Rome, because many in those days, kings, bishops, nobles and commoners, clerics and laymen with women, did these things." The name of the queen is wanting. Mr. Coxe notes, however, that it is recorded in the Saxon chronicle and in Florence at the preceding year, and that the queen is called Frithogita, but by Huntingdon Frigedida or Fridegia. In our age no trace of such an oratory survives; nor do I find mention of it either in the accounts of the ancient chapels in the City. To the same effect answer was made to us from Rome on repeated occasions. That journey across the Alps, therefore, is suspect to me on every side. I doubt very much whether such an oratory ever existed at Rome; and even if it were granted, it would not at once follow that St. Frideswide had made a pilgrimage there.

[37] nor her stay among the Morini at Bomy. Nay, neither is it established to me by any proved argument that she lived among the Morini while she was alive. For, however ancient and celebrated her cult among the people of Bomy (which will be proved below) may be; however much a chapel called by her name may have existed there from time immemorial; these things of themselves do not sufficiently prove that the holy Virgin came there, since there are many other reasons which could have given occasion or origin to her cult; especially as most of the Saints are honoured in many regions which they never visited during their mortal life. And all these things have so much the more force because the English writers, whether ancient or more recent, have no more mentioned a pretended pilgrimage among the Morini than among the Romans.

[38] Certain things regarding topography are explained. "Frideswide" (so Leland; see above, n. 20) "flees by the Thames to the town of Benton, ten miles distant from here (Oxford)… Frideswide remained almost three years in the aforesaid solitude (at Benton). Then, having boarded a small boat, she came to an estate near the city of Oxford, which is called Buseneia, where she built an oratory and buildings. There was in the aforesaid estate a place called Thornebyri, solitary and suited to religion, where she built an oratory. By Frideswide's prayers a spring burst forth at Thornebyri." In these, first certain things regarding topography are to be explained; then other things are to be added especially about the spring.

[39] The Thames. St. Frideswide is said to have fled from Oxford by the Thames. The city of Oxford is watered by two rivers, the Isis and the Cherwell, the latter of which runs into the former there. This thereafter pursues its course, keeping the name of Isis, until, coming to Dorchester (a town about twenty miles distant from Oxford if you follow the river, but ten if you go by the direct road), it flows together with another river called the Tame, and thenceforth is called the Thames, the names, as Camden notes acutely and not so improbably, of both rivers (Tame and Isis) being fused into a single word. These things, however, do not prevent the Isis, before its confluence with the Tame, from being rather often called the Thames, both among the old writers and among the more recent. "Oxford," says John Rous, "is situated between the rivers of the Thames and the Cherwell, which meet there" Wood, Hist. et Antiquitates, p. 6.. The legend, therefore, is not to be blamed for saying that St. Frideswide fled by the Thames.

[40] Bentona, or rather Bendona Bentona, as it is written in Leland and also in the legend to be published below, is now a place called Bensington or Benson, on the Thames or Isis; but distant more than ten miles from Oxford. Hence in the other Ms. Life of St. Frideswide, preserved at Oxford in Balliol College, in place of Bentona is read Bendona or Bendonia, which reading seems more correct and true: for by this word is indicated Abingdon (Abingdonwater), on the Thames and ten miles distant from Oxford. In the Monasticon Anglicanum Vol. II, p. 134, note c. the former reading, namely Bentona, is admitted. This note we owe to the said Henry Coxe (of whom more below). For he, when I was staying at Oxford, pointed out to me the variant reading of the Balliol codex, and subjoined the interpretation of it, as contained in this number, which was also approved by other learned men in the Bodleian Library.

[41] Buseneia; today Binsey. Buseneia, Binseye, Bunsey, today Binsey, is an ancient village next to the Isis, not far from Oxford. That name (on the authority of Somner, whom Peshall cites Antient and present state of the city of Oxford, in 4to, 1773, p. 319) seems to be derived from two Saxon words, bene and eu, which mean island of prayers, since very many used to go there to make supplication to St. Frideswide and her spring called Marywel (the spring of Margaret). On this occasion Peshall cries out "superstition," after the custom solemn among protestants or evangelicals. It might again, according to the same, be derived Bunsey from Bun and eu, and be interpreted island of rushes or bulrushes, since loosestrife grows there; or finally from Bin and eu, that is, in the midst of the water. Whatever of these be admitted matters little to us. In the time of the Saxons that place belonged to Divanus (more commonly Didanus), king or Lord of Oxford; who, asked by his daughter (Frideswide), gave this place with other adjoining estates to the monastery (which was afterwards the priory of St. Frideswide) erected by the same Didanus towards the year 727. Which donation indeed is read to have been confirmed by many kings and supreme pontiffs. "It is to be noted" (so in the register of St. Frideswide's) "that the estate called Bunseye, with the Hundred and other liberties, was given to the aforesaid monastery at the time when St. Frydeswide lived in the body, and afterwards honourably confirmed by charters of kings and of supreme pontiffs and others, as appears above." It is established also that in the reign of Edward I the prior of St. Frideswide's possessed a hamlet called Bunsey in the suburb of Oxford, "and it lies for half a hide of land," as is had in a Document of that age. The matter so remained until the dissolution of the priory, when all its goods were granted to the college founded by Wolsey. But now Binsey belongs to Christ Church Id. ibid.. The things which pertain to the vicissitudes of the priory, its dissolution, the foundation of Cardinal College, and the erection of the see of Oxford we shall treat expressly below.

[42] A chapel built there by St. Frideswide: Not far from Binsey Peshall, ibid., p. 320. (about a quarter of a mile) there formerly stood a church or chapel, now demolished. It had been woven of hurdles or osiers, with a shapeless framework of timbers set over it, and that indeed by St. Frideswide herself, in honour of St. Margaret, towards the year 730. And since she held this land or estate as her own, and was greatly delighted by its solitude, she added other buildings to the chapel, so that she herself, together with her nuns, with whom she lived at Oxford, might be able to withdraw from time to time from the tumult of the city. Afterwards she rebuilt the chapel and enlarged the buildings, so that at fixed times they might give themselves to solitude more suitably and quietly. In the course of time unruly persons were also sent there, to pay the penalty of their offences committed against the brothers and the prior, either shut up in a dark prison, or punished with the accustomed fare, and other things of that kind. In a repository or niche of the choir there was seen a splendid statue of St. Frideswide, adorned with much and precious ornament. To this flocked a superstitious crowd of people (so again Peshall, indulging the genius of the reformed religion); which by frequent falling on its knees wore down the pavement, such as is still seen now Ibid.. This church, or rather Chapel (for so it is read in the general taxation: "The Chapel of Binsey, belonging to the prior of St. Frideswide's, VI s. and VIII d."), is built of baked bricks, without spire or tower. It has sixteen rods (yards) in length, six in breadth. In the window of the choir, to the east, is seen painted Christ the Saviour with the cross; likewise a virgin bearing a cross, who is supposed to be either Margaret or St. Frideswide. Today it is a benefice, says Peshall, worth fifty English pounds; and dependent on Christ Church, to which it was annexed by Henry VIII.

[43] next to which is found a spring, At the side of the chapel, three or four paces distant, was the celebrated spring of St. Margaret, which, as is said, St. Frideswide opened by praying while she was building the aforesaid chapel. Peshall praises certain verses of an old English poet treating of that spring, which, if you please, see in the Work cited Peshall, Antient and present state of the city of Oxford, in 4to, 1773, p. 321.. A stone cover had been placed over the spring with an image of Frideswide, which the Oxford magistrate or alderman (Alderman) Sayre threw down in the year 1639.

[44] most celebrated through the concourse of the faithful. To the Spring, as also to the Image and the Relics kept in the chapel, people flocked frequently, with immense confidence of obtaining solace in straits, or counsel in doubtful matters. For that place was held like an oracle. When anyone, either maimed or weakened, was healed, whether by entering the waters or merely by drinking them, he left hanging the supports by which he had been accustomed to be propped up, in testimony of his recovered health. Wherefore, at the expense of the prior of St. Frideswide's, some priests stayed there, to receive the confessions of those who came and to administer the other divine things. Nay, Sackworth, a village (of which today not even one stone is to be seen) on the opposite bank of the river, almost half a mile distant, grew into a town not to be despised from the continual and frequent concourse of pilgrims. Twenty-four inns were numbered in it. A bridge was set over the river, by which access lay open to the chapel. Whence the road that way was customary for those going to Oxford from Eynsham and the surrounding region to the west. Only afterwards did the town called Botley arise, by which one now comes to Oxford from the aforesaid regions. Peshall also notes Ibid., p. 321 and 322. that stones, remains of the town and bridge, are dug up by the plough; very many are also found in the bottom of the river. Finally, for some centuries there was an immense concourse of pilgrims to the spring; so much indeed that almost a hundred years before the dissolution of the priory a locked gate had to be set up, although it had already before been girded about with a little building. Which little building, says Ant. Wood, was thrown down and taken away 25 years ago. But now the place so abounds with nettles and frogs that you would scarcely suspect a spring. When I was staying at Oxford, in the month of August of this year 1850, I went to the Chapel at Binsey. Things are still almost as Peshall relates. Traces of the spring scarcely, nay not even scarcely, any appear. The chapel consists of two parts: the sanctuary and a kind of quadrangle annexed to it. The sanctuary displays greater antiquity than the quadrangle. If credit is to be given to the inhabitants, the spring was at the part of the quadrangle opposite the Sanctuary; but now it is entirely filled up. On the right side of the Sanctuary there is a small niche, from which water drawn off from the spring was taken, so at least the tradition of the place holds. However, no pilgrims are seen today, and the spring of St. Frideswide has been altogether given over to oblivion.

[45] Thornebury. It remains that we add certain things about the word Thornebury. If credit is to be given to Leland, the estate of which we spoke above was called Buseneia; and in the estate was a place called Thornebury; where both an Oratory was built by Frideswide and a spring was opened by her prayers. It is worthy of note that in the Legend to be published below no mention is made of Buseneia. "At length, returning to Oxford, lest she should be burdensome to the sisters left in the monastery, she built an oratory and buildings in a certain place next to the city, planted with many trees, named Thornebury, and by her prayers and merits obtained a spring flowing continually to this day." And hence probably it is that Peshall asserts that originally, in the time of the Saxons, the estate was called Thornebury, as, he says, the book of St. Frideswide has it, but after the conquest was called Benseye or Bunsey; more frequently, however, Benseye, as is also read in a charter of Edward I in the year 1122. This is certain, that in the territory of Oxford no district or village or town is found called by this or a similar name. Bury, according to the Saxon etymology, means the same as mound, heap, hill, and thence Thornebury would signify a Mound or Hillock planted with thorns (Thorn) [See Etymologicon Saxonicum, seu explanatio vocum Anglicarum etymologica ex propriis fontibus, by Stephen Skinner, M.D. London 1671.]. According to Kennett the word Berie is not to be confused with the word Bury. Beria, in English Berie, indicates a level and vast field, and accordingly, supposing one must read Thornebery or Thorneberie, it would be a question of a field planted with thorns See Parochial antiquities by White Kennett, D.D. Oxford 1818. In the Glossary.. Nor is it at all repugnant to admit this origin of the word, since very many places in any region have obtained their name for the same reason. If, therefore, we stand with Leland, the name Buseneia would originally have fallen to the whole estate, and a part of it would have been called Thornebury. Others, like Peshall, keeping to the legend, in which no mention of Buseneia occurs, hold that the estate was from the beginning called Thornebury; but that afterwards the word Buseneia prevailed, likewise, as we saw above, taken either from the nature of the soil, or from the multitude of pilgrims going there for the sake of prayer. (Compare above, n. 41.)

[49] Certain things are added from the Register of Osney. Hither is referred what the Register of Osney has, namely of the abbey of canons of St. Augustine, whose last abbot, Robert King, was made bishop of Osney, the abbey namely being erected into an episcopal see by Henry VIII in the year 1542; then, in the year 1546, the same see being transferred by the same prince to Christ Church, the first bishop of Oxford. The dates cited above sufficiently indicate that those sees were erected when Henry had already fallen away from the Roman faith. Finally, it will not be beside the point to note beforehand that not far from Osney, proceeding towards the west, Binsey is found. Now let us come to the words of the Register. "It is to be noted that Didanus, formerly king of Oxford, reigned in the year of the Lord's incarnation about DCCXXVI. This king Didanus was the father of St. Frideswide, who gave her this place she desired, and caused the habit of nuns to be given her: he built a church, and lodgings most suited to religion beside it, as appears in the Life of the blessed Virgin. Likewise it appears there that that place, which was then called Thornebirie, but now Benseya, the same Virgin peaceably obtained; for, lying hidden there, she obtained a spring by her prayers, and freed one vexed by a demon, and another whose hand had stuck to an axe." From the register of Osney in the Cottonian Library, Vitellius E. XVI, fol. 4 b. Which words indeed openly favour the opinion of Peshall.

[57] Conclusion. And these things, drawn for by far the greatest part from Peshall's history of the city of Oxford, show that the legend of St. Frideswide is very accurate in its topographical notes, which everyone will judge certainly does not a little towards its commendation.

§ III. The Oxford Monastery of St. Frideswide. Its beginnings and vicissitudes. A fire at the beginning of the eleventh century; doubts concerning the Charter of King Ethelred, by which it is recorded. It becomes a Priory of monks of St. Augustine. It is suppressed by Clement VII in favour of the College to be founded by Wolsey, and at length erected into an Episcopal see by Henry VIII. On the Church of St. Frideswide.

The origin and beginnings of the Monastery of St. Frideswide. Dugdale sets out the origin of the monastery of St. Frideswide thus in a few words Monasticon Anglic., vol. II, p. 134.: "Frideswide or Fridiswida, who was formerly honoured as the patroness of the city of Oxford, is said to have been the daughter of Didanus, an under-king or lesser dynast (petty prince) in those parts, who towards the year 727, his wife Safrida having died, founded there a monastery of twelve noble maidens, over whom his daughter presided. When Frideswide had afterwards been buried there, and had later been enrolled in the number of the Saints, that monastery in the course of time was dedicated to her memory and called by her name." Similar things are related by as many among the learned of England as have written about this monastery. All with one accord trace its origin to Frideswide herself. "Then… (namely after Algar had been overcome) the blessed Virgin, a monastery having been built there (at Oxford) and virgins gathered together, pleasing God to the end of her life, presided over them with the name of Abbess." So Paris in Francis Godwin, who, as Godwin writes in the same place, seems to have drawn this narrative from William of Malmesbury De Praesulibus Angliae. London 1616, p. 585.. And in fact William of Malmesbury agrees De gestis pontificum anglorum, book IV. London 1696, p. 166.; for he has thus: "Hence a fear has grown up in the kings of England to beware of entry into that city (Oxford) and lodging in it: because it is said to be pestilent; each one shrinking from experiencing the truth of the matter at the cost of his own danger. There, therefore, the woman, having won the virgin's triumph, established a monastery, and in her days, her spouse calling her, underwent her fate." To the same effect speaks Alford Annales ecclesiae Anglo-Saxonicae. Liège 1663, vol. II, p. 552.: "The city of Oxford, having obtained celebrity through the gift of Frideswide, was known in this century by scarcely any other name. For there the pious virgin, a monastery having been erected, lived religiously, and, companions of the same institute having been attracted, presided by example, 'pleasing God to the end of her life,' says Paris. There finally she dies holily." Nor is there need to add more testimonies. From these it is sufficiently clear what the origin of the monastery of St. Frideswide is. It is established

also that it was inhabited by holy virgins from the beginning. But for how long a time they held it no one would so easily say. "Of Abbesses after St. Frideswide," says Peshall Antient and present state of Oxford, p. 21., "no mention is anywhere found."

[49] The nuns, dispersed by the Danes, give place to Canons. Dugdale Loc. cit. relates that they were dispersed in the time of the Danish wars (in the Danish wars). Which is very indeterminate as to years. Lingard Histoire d'Angleterre. Louvain 1827, vol. I, p. 171. notes a threefold incursion of the Danes already in the seventh century; afterwards, he says, at the end of the reign of Egbert (who died in the year 836) those pirates returned almost every year, and that always increased in number, until at length, towards the beginning of the eleventh century, they gained the mastery, their leader and king Canute being unanimously elected by all king of the English. Therefore from the words of Dugdale it cannot be certainly gathered in what year the nuns gave place to the canons. Mabillon Annal., book XXI, n. 23. asserts that the Monastery of St. Frideswide was given to canons regular in the eleventh century. Dugdale writes that the canons were secular (secular canons), and in confirmation adduces the Register of Osney (of which we spoke above at num. 49 Vitellius LXVI, fol. 4–6.), where among other things these are read: "After the glorious death of blessed Frideswide, at intervals of time, the nuns being removed, secular canons were introduced." Which introduction indeed took place, according to the same register, before the eleventh century, since immediately after the cited words is added: "Afterwards, in the year one thousand and four … all (the Danes) who had taken refuge there (in the monastery) were burned at Oxford, with the church, books and ornaments" See Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. II, p. 143.. Mabillon could be reconciled with Dugdale if it be said that the nuns had already been dispersed before the eleventh century, and that first secular canons succeeded them, and then regular ones. From what is to be said below it will be established that changes of this kind happened afterwards in the same monastery once and again.

[50] At the beginning of the XI century the monastery is burned, Among the various vicissitudes of the monastery of Frideswide, worthy of singular mention is the fire at the beginning of the eleventh century. William of Malmesbury gives its causes and effects De gestis regum Anglorum.: "At Oxford a great council of Danes and English was assembled, where the king (Ethelred) ordered the most noble of the Danes, Sigeferth and Morcar, to be killed on the denunciation of the traitor Edric, they having been charged before him with perfidy. He, having deceived them with favourable flatteries, enticed them into a dining-room, and, when they had drunk largely, stripped them of life by attendants prepared for this. The cause of the slaughter was said to be that he had coveted their goods. Their retainers, trying to avenge the death of their lords, were repulsed by arms and driven into the tower of the church of St. Frideswide at Oxford: whence, since they could not be cast out, they were consumed by fire. But soon, by the king's penitence, the defilement was removed and the sanctuary repaired. I have read a writing which is contained in the archive of the same church, the record of the deed" See rerum Anglic. scriptores post Bedam. London 1596, fol. 40.. And again the same William of Malmesbury De gestis Pontificum Anglorum, book IV.: "But in the time of Egelred" (elsewhere he writes Ethelred), "when Danes condemned to death had taken refuge in that monastery, they were consumed by flames together with the houses through the insatiable anger of the English. But soon, by the king's penitence, the sanctuary was purified, the monastery restored, the old lands given back, new possessions added" Rerum Angl. script., where above, fol. 166.. So likewise Paris Hist. Anglorum, p. 62.: "And this monastery, in the time of Ethelred, king of the English, when Danes condemned to death were also taking refuge in it for the sake of safety, was consumed with them by the flames running through it. But not long after it was built by the same king and enlarged with suitable estates." Here let us note in passing that neither William of Malmesbury nor Paris adduces even one word by which they insinuate whether nuns or canons, either secular or regular, then inhabited that monastery.

[51] [From the charter of Ethelred the slaughter of the Danes and the burning of the monastery fall in the year 1004.] But here especially must be considered the things which occur in the above-praised register of Osney. After the words described by us a little before there follows: "Afterwards, in the year of grace one thousand and four, King Ethelred ordered all the Danes dwelling in England of both sexes to be killed, and all who had taken refuge there were burned at Oxford with the church, books and ornaments, as appears by the charter of King Ethelred in this manner, which follows. 'In the year of the Lord's incarnation one thousand and four, in the second indiction, and in the twenty-fifth year of my rule, by the disposing providence of God, I, Adelred, governing the monarchy of all Albion, have established by royal authority, for the love of the Maker of all, with the liberty of privilege, a certain monastery situated in the city which is called Oxeneforde, where blessed Frideswide rests, and have recovered for Christ's monastery, by the restoration of a new little book, the territories which adjoin it; and to all who look upon this page I will unfold in a few signs of words for what reason this was done. For to all dwelling in this country it is sufficiently established as most well known that, when a decree went out from me, with the counsel of my nobles and great men, that all the Danes who had sprung up in this island, sprouting like cockle among the wheat, should be killed by a most just extermination, and this decree was being carried into effect even unto death, those Danes who were staying in the aforesaid city, striving to escape death, entering this sanctuary of Christ, the doors and bolts having been broken by force, decided to make for themselves there an asylum and bulwark against the townsmen and the suburban people: but when the whole people pursuing them, compelled by necessity, strove to cast them out and could not, fire having been thrown on the planks, they burned this church, as is plain, with its ornaments and books. Afterwards, by the help of God, it is established that it was renewed by me and mine, and, as I have said before, the dignity of the privilege being retained, with the territories adjoining it, strengthened in the honour of Christ, and endowed with all liberty, both in royal exactions and altogether in ecclesiastical customs. But if by any chance it should happen at any time that anyone of a mad mind, which God forbid, entangled in sloth, should at the instigation of the devil defraud the gift of this our donation, may the anathema of the holy church of God receive him to eternal death, unless before his departure he bring so calumnious a question to a desirable satisfaction.'"

[52] The aforesaid charter from the Osney register, This charter of King Ethelred is a most precious monument for the life of St. Frideswide. For from it are had both the antiquity of the monastery, and the celebrity of the cult, and the very seat of her relics. It is accordingly worth the trouble to examine it more diligently. And first indeed, in the tenor in which it is reported here by us, it is found cited in the Monasticon Anglicanum Vol. II, p. 144., from the Osney Register in the Cottonian Library (which is part of the British Museum), Vitellius E. XV. (In the Monasticon Anglicanum F. XVI is put erroneously.) It is well known, however, that this Library was consumed by fire in a fairly large part in the year 1731; and of those things which survive, many are found either mutilated or more or less corrupted. Hence also in the Catalogue of the Cottonian published in the year 1802 is read: "Vitellius E. XV: a parchment codex in 4to, shrivelled by fire and almost useless, preserved in a box. Its contents the celebrated Smith describes in this way: 1. Chronicles of the English from the year 1066 to the year 1179, by a certain monk of the monastery of Osney. 2. A series of the abbots of St. Mary of Osney. 3. A Register of the charters of the monastery of Osney, fol. 5–258." It is to be observed, however, that in these last years many manuscripts preserved in the same way in a box have been put in order, and are daily being put in order. I saw, in the month of August of the year 1850, in the British Museum, the Osney register, and in particular the charter of Ethelred: the extremities of its leaf are rather corrupted; the middle part well preserved. This, however, is observed in general, that the parchments, although either not at all or only partly burned, are greatly contracted by the heat of the fire, and together with them also the writing, which nevertheless is not on that account read less easily: nay, the strokes or letters for the most part appear almost more neat in consequence: such as some which the celebrated Mr. Holmes, with his usual courtesy and kindness, showed, colleague in preserving the Mss. of the British Museum of the celebrated Frederic Madden, who was then absent from London.

[53] This same charter of King Ethelred is found in two Ms. registers of the priory of St. Frideswide, and in two registers of St. Frideswide's. still to be seen today at Oxford. The one, of larger form, consisting of two hundred and fifty-one parchment leaves (not counting a few, blank at the beginning, but afterwards filled up in another hand), is preserved in the chapter house of Christ Church; the other, of smaller form and imperfect at the end, is found among the manuscripts of Brian Twyne, and is preserved in the private Library of Corpus Christi College. See the Monasticon Anglicanum Ibid., p. 142., where at the same time is had an index of the contents of both registers; and at the end it is noted that most of the documents are referred to the times of King Edward III, namely from the conquest, otherwise he would be the VI, and he reigned from the year 1327 to the year 1377 Art de vérifier les dates, p. 782..

[54] Variant Readings. In this threefold presentation of the aforesaid charter almost the same text recurs: the principal difference is that in both Oxford Registers, in place of "where blessed Frideswide rests," is read: "where the soma (body) of blessed Frideswide rests." The other things are of less, nay of scarcely any, moment: thus in place of "to all who look upon this page" is had: "who look upon this little page"; likewise for "strengthened in the honour of Christ" is put in the Greater Oxford one: "in the onoma of Christ," in the Lesser, "in the onomote of Christ"; and perhaps very few other things of this kind. The oldest of the three Registers seems to be that of Osney; which itself also is not so very old. However, it is nowhere indicated where the original or authentic document of the charter of Ethelred is, so that it borrows its whole authority from the aforesaid registers.

[55] [the charter of Ethelred becomes suspect from the massacre of the Danes, which is described from Alford] Now let us pursue the rest: for this charter raises a difficulty not to be despised, which I do not know whether it has already been either noticed or elucidated by another. It does not seem to agree with certain facts which otherwise are related indiscriminately by the historians; which therefore we set before the eyes here from the annals of Alford, who himself also collected them from various writers. "Ethelred," he says At the year 1002, n. 8 and following, vol. III, p. 431., "obtained the surname of the Unready, both for other causes and chiefly because he turned away the Danes, whom he ought to have kept off from the island by ancestral valour, with prayers, supplications and gifts, not with other arms. Never, however, did he more deserve the name of unready than when, in this year, he determined by new arts to cast all the Danes out of the provinces. They were indeed swelling, and carrying themselves more proudly than either a foreign guest ought or an inhabitant could patiently bear. And because Ethelred could not repress their arrogance in the way in which a king

ought, by hidden snares and a crime infamous to all memory he blotted out the name and fame of his ancestors, and acquired for himself the name of the Unready, when on light suspicions he ordered the Danes all to be slaughtered on one day throughout all England (William of Malmesbury speaks, and continues): 'where one might see misery, as each man was compelled to betray his dearest guests, whom even the closest bond had made sweeter, and to dash off their embraces with the sword.' So he, but briefly in view of the enormity of the crime. Huntingdon explains the circumstances of the deed somewhat more fully in this way: 'In the year one thousand and two, Emma, the gem of the Normans, came into England and took the diadem and name of queen; by which success King Adelred, puffed up into pride and carried forward into perfidy, caused all the Dacians (Danes) who were in England in peace to be slaughtered by secret treachery, on one and the same day, namely on the feast of St. Brice' (that is, the 13th of November). 'Of which crime, in our boyhood, we heard certain very old men speak: that the aforesaid king sent secret letters into each city, according to which the English either slaughtered all the Dacians, on the same day and the same hour, unforewarned, with swords, or burned them together with fire, suddenly seized.' So he, who lived in the century following this deed." Thus far Alford.

[56] and from the Florilegus. Then, certain other things being interposed which mark a still greater barbarity of this butchery, but which are drawn from writers who, as he himself says, flatter the Norman dukes too much and make the monstrous crime more monstrous, he thus continues towards the end of n. IX: "The Florilegus casts the odium of the most impious crime upon one counsellor of the king, whom he calls Huna, and narrates that this butchery was done ten years after, and more causes of the slaughter in this way: 'A certain Huna, chief of the soldiery of Ethelred, king of England, a vigorous and warlike man, who under the king had undertaken to arrange the business of the kingdom, seeing the insolence of the Danes, who already, after peace had been made, had grown so strong in pride throughout all England that they had presumed to violate by force the wives and daughters of noble men and to expose them everywhere to mockery, came disturbed to the king and laid a mournful complaint about these things. Then the king, not moderately moved, by the counsel of the same Huna, sent letters into all the borders of the kingdom, commanding each and every nation that on one day, namely on the feast of St. Brice the bishop, all the Danes established throughout England should be delivered to death by a stealthy attack; so that at once and once for all every race of the English might be freed from the Danish oppression. And thus the Danes, who ought to have dwelt peacefully with the English by a firm treaty sworn a little before on both sides, were too shamefully destroyed: the women, with their children, dashed against the doorposts of the houses, miserably poured out their souls. When, therefore, the sentence of this decree was being carried out without mercy at the city of the Londoners (?), many Danes fled to a certain church in the city, where all, standing at the very altars, were destroyed without pity.' So he.

[57] [Alford hesitates whether the burning should be referred to the year 1002 or to 1015.] "Not at London only" (Alford subjoins) "but in other places also, churches and holy places are defiled with fire, sword, blood… Thus at Oxford, the monastery of St. Frideswide … was consumed by fire: which Ethelred, soon repenting of the deed, restored more ornately, on the testimony of William of Malmesbury" (his words are recited, as above; Alford adds) "perhaps this burning of the monastery was later, as I shall say at the year 1015," in which place Num. 1, p. 469. these things are related: "There follows the thousand and fifteenth year of Christ, in which a new storm from the Ocean floods the Island, which the intemperance of our sky and soil seems to have caused. The princes of the Danes who stood by Ethelred and had remained in the Island, taken by the guile of Edric, are killed, which the man of Worcester narrates thus: 'In this year (1015), when a great plea (council) was being held at Oxford, the perfidious duke Edric Streona received craftily into his chamber the worthier and more powerful thanes of the Seven Boroughs, Sigeferth and Morcar, sons of Eargrim, and there ordered them secretly to be killed. Whose property King Ethelred took, and ordered Ealdgyth, Sigeferth's widow, to be led to the town of Maidulf. And while she was kept there, Edmund the Atheling came there, and, against the will of his father, took her to wife; and, setting out between the Assumption and the Nativity of St. Mary to the Five Boroughs, he invaded the lands of Sigeferth and Morcar, and subjugated their people to himself.' So he… That Sigeferth and Morcar were Danes William of Malmesbury clearly affirms; and he sets out the cause of their death, how great it was, thus." Next Alford sets down the words of William of Malmesbury, in which he indicates the flight into the monastery and its burning; who, however, does not seem altogether to agree with the man of Worcester as to the fate of Sigeferth's wife, whom he rather insinuates (at least if we keep to the letter) was violated by Edmund. "The wife of Sigeberd was led away into captivity to Malmesbury, a woman of remarkable nobility and beauty. Wherefore Edmund, the king's son, dissembling his intention, taking the road into those parts, desired her when seen, and had intercourse with her when desired." And these things, more fully perhaps than was fitting, from Alford, who finally leaves undecided, or at least did not dare expressly to pronounce, whether the burning of the monastery of Frideswide is to be ascribed to the year of Christ one thousand and two, or rather (which indeed pleases him more) to the year one thousand and fifteen.

[58] [A double slaughter of the Danes: one more general towards the year 1002, the other local towards the year 1015.] These things premised, let us now come to the matter chiefly ours. Without doubt, as is clear from the preceding, a double Danish slaughter under Ethelred is to be admitted; the one, as Lingard aptly observes Hist. d'Angleterre, vol. I, p. 282., more general and falling in the year 1002; the other about the year 1015, local, and, as the said writer says P. 292: "as it were a kind of recrudescence of the former, but extending less widely." And here he refers the burning of St. Frideswide's to the latter, as does also Hugh Cressy, who sets out the double butchery in the same way Church history of Britanny. Edition of 1668, p. 909 and 923.. How these things are to be reconciled with the charter of Ethelred no one would easily say: for the year 10048, which is noted at the head of this charter, stands in the way; there stands in the way moreover that it is manifestly shown from the text itself that the burning is to be referred to that general butchery which Ethelred had decreed: "That all the Danes who had sprung up in this island, sprouting like cockle among the wheat, should be killed by a most just extermination, and this decree was being carried into effect even unto death."

[59] [To this Lingard and others with William of Malmesbury refer the burning of the monastery.] What then? Did Hugh Cressy, Lingard, Alford (although he somewhat doubting), nay even William of Malmesbury himself, slip? For from his books on the deeds of the kings of the English it is undoubted that the monastery was burned after the death of Swein (Lingard writes Sweyn) and the return of King Ethelred into England from Normandy, whither he had fled. "Swein meanwhile, in the manner which we have said, was pressing England, which he had invaded, with plunderings and slaughters; the property of the provincials first scraped away, soon proscriptions made. In whole cities there was hesitation what should be done; if a rebellion were prepared, they would not have a champion; if subjection were chosen, they would lack a gentle ruler. So private and public wealth was carried to the ships with hostages, because he was not a lawful lord, but a most atrocious tyrant. But the propitious deity did not long suffer England to toss in so great a misery; since the invader forthwith, at the Purification of St. Mary, poured out his life by what death is uncertain… The Danes elect Cnut (Canute), son of Swein, as king. The English on the contrary, declaring their natural Lord dearer to them, if he would conduct himself more royally than he had been accustomed, summon King Ethelred from Normandy. He first sends Edward his son, to observe in person the faith of the princes and the favour of the people. Who, when he saw the wishes of all agreeing in a good sense, returns secure for his father. So the king, having returned, and soothed by the joyful applause of the English, so that he seemed to have shaken off his familiar sloth, hastened to collect an army against Cnut, etc." Thus William of Malmesbury Rerum anglicarum scriptores post Bedam, fol. 39 verso..

[60] The Saxon Chronicle agrees. But it is more certain than certain that both the death of Swein and the return of Ethelred into England after his flight are later than the year one thousand and four. There is read in the Saxon Chronicle at the year MXIII: "The king (Ethelred) then departed from the fleet at Christmas into the Isle of Wight, and there celebrated that feast; and after the feast he crossed over to Richard" (II, duke of Normandy, brother of his wife) "and stayed there with him until Swein died" Gibson, p. 144.. "In the year MXIV. In this year King Swein ended his life by death at the feast of Candlemas, the III before the Nones of February. And the whole fleet chose Canute as king. But all the nobles of the English nation, both clerics and laymen, decided to send to King Ethelred, saying: that no Lord was dearer to them than their natural Lord, if only he would govern them more rightly than he had governed before. Then the king sent his son Edward with his messengers into this land, and ordered them to greet all his people, promising that he would be a faithful Lord to them, and would amend each of those things which displeased them all: and would likewise pardon each of the things which had been either done or said against him; provided that all with one accord, without perfidy, would return to him. Then full friendship was confirmed by words and deeds, and by pledges (given) on both sides, and they declared any Danish king banished for ever from the land of the English. Then King Ethelred returned in Lent to his people, and was eagerly received by them all" Ibid., p. 144 and 145.. "In the year MXV. In this year there was a great council at Oxford: and there Duke Eadric betrayed Sigeferth and Morcar, noble thanes among the men of the Seven Boroughs: for he enticed them into his chamber, in which they were foully killed. Then the king took all their property, and ordered Sigeferth's widow (wife) to be seized and led to Mealdelmesbyrig" Ibid., p. 146.. No mention indeed occurs here of the burning of the monastery of St. Frideswide; but since it is established from elsewhere that its burning is connected with the death of Sigeferth and Morcar, it is clear that it is referred, according to the Saxon Chronicle, to the year MXV. Let us note here in passing that in the said Chronicle the slaughter of the Danes which with Lingard we have called local or later is not mentioned. But there is read at the year MII: "In the same year likewise, the king (Ethelred) ordered all the Danes who were in the English nation to be killed on Brice's feast; because it had been told the king that they were trying to deprive him of life, and then all his nobles, so that thus, no one resisting, they might occupy his kingdom" Ibid., p. 133.. According to Lingard's chronology the return of Ethelred coincides with the fourteenth year of the same century: "In the second week of the month of January Ethelred fled from England, leaving the throne to his competitor (Sweyn); in the first week of the month of February, the unexpected death of the same competitor

brought him back and restored him to the kingdom" Hist. d'Angleterre, ibid., p. 291.. The writers of the work on verifying dates agree L'Art de vérifier les dates. Paris 1770, p. 774., where that return is referred to the year 1015; all the rest have the same, with a small difference, arising for the most part from the limit which they put either at the beginning or at the end of the year.

[61] Whence the charter of Ethelred seems to totter. But if those writers have not slipped in determining the year of the fire, it would follow that the charter of Ethelred is spurious, or at least corrupted; since it is dated in the year one thousand and four, namely ten years before the said burning of the monastery of St. Frideswide. Moreover, it can scarcely be that the text of the charter is not to be interpreted of the General killing or butchery of the Danes which defiled England in the year one thousand and two, as is admitted by all: but thence there arises a new point by which its genuineness is vehemently shaken. Hence it would further follow that Dugdale erred, who seems to adduce it as authentic, when he says Monasticon Angl., vol. II, p. 134.: "From the tenor of Ethelred's charter it is evident that he both rebuilt the monastery of St. Frideswide and endowed it more largely." He subjoins in the lower margin of the page the words of William of Malmesbury: "I have read a writing which is contained in the archive of the same church"; by which Dugdale seems to signify that the charter of Ethelred is the one to which William of Malmesbury testifies. Compare, however, what we disputed more fully above (at this day in the Life of St. Maximus of Aquila, § II) about the notes, both intrinsic and extrinsic, which establish or shake the credit of Documents or diplomas, where at n. 45, from Muratori Antiquitates med. aevi, vol. VI, col. 79. and others, we said that erroneous dates and anachronisms are found in Documents whose genuineness otherwise cannot be called into doubt.

[62] The vicissitudes of the monastery before the dominion of the Normans. Before the Norman occupation (commonly the Conquest under William, duke of the Normans, in the year 1066), as Dugdale writes, relying on the testimony of Capgrave, a certain king is said to have expelled the canons, namely the secular ones, and to have handed over the monastery to the monks of Abingdon (of Abingdon), who held it for some years; afterwards the canons were restored again. The words of Capgrave are: "Before God had subjected England to the law of the Normans, the church of St. Frideswide with its possessions was given by a certain king to the abbot of Abingdon, and, the canons having been expelled, the property lay subject, assigned to the disposition of the monks, for some years, until, the will of a certain king being at length changed, all things were restored to the canons" Nova legenda Angliae. London, at Wynkyn de Worde's, 1516, fol. 152.. Dugdale further notes in this place that John Peshall Antient and present state of the city of Oxford, p. 121., without any appearance of reason (without any sort of authority), affirms that the secular canons of St. Frideswide's were cast out of the monastery in the year 1060 because they had brought women in for themselves, and that King Edward, at the prayers of Pope Nicholas II, ordered that regulars should succeed in their place. Nay, Peshall adds in the same place Ibid. that Nicholas II, who sat from the year 1058 to the year 1061, was the first of all the Roman Pontiffs to call the wives of priests harlots (Whores), and to declare their marriages perpetual fornication. How absurd this is no one, even the most slightly versed in ecclesiastical antiquities, fails to see. St. Siricius, in the year 395, in the letter to Himerius of Tarragona, who had complained that certain priests and deacons lived with wives, condemns them, and refutes the excuse which they brought from the Mosaic priests, both from the fact that those were ordered in the time of their course to dwell far from their homes, and from the fact that Christ willed the church, of which He is the spouse, to be purer than the old, and to shine with the splendour of chastity. And he subjoins: "By which sanctions all of us priests and levites are bound by an indissoluble law, that from the day of our Ordination we give over both our hearts and our bodies to sobriety and modesty." Then against those who rely on the excuse of an unlawful privilege he decrees the penalty of deposition: "Let them know that they are cast down by the authority of the Apostolic see from every ecclesiastical honour which they have unworthily used, and for the future, if any bishop, priest or deacon shall henceforth be found such, let him understand that every approach to indulgence through us is now barred to him." The discipline in force, which had the force of law, is shown in the aforesaid both by the complaints of Himerius, and by the confutation of the excuse, and especially by the penalty decreed against transgressors.

[63] Likewise after their dominion was established. After the occupation or Conquest the seculars were cast out again. Bishop Tanner supposes that this happened only after the census book (Domesday Book) had been completed (after the year 1086, therefore, in which the aforesaid book was finished Compare Hist. d'Angleterre, by Roujoux and Mainguet. Paris 1844, p. 124.). This is certain, that in Domesday Book, where the county of Oxford is enumerated, namely at folio 157, XIV, Canons are spoken of. Here are the words, copied by me from the original itself on the VI of August 1850 at London, in the old chapter house of Westminster, where the Census book is kept today: "The Land of the Canons of Oxeneford and of other Clerics. The Canons of St. Fridesvide, etc." Tanner adds that an abbot and monks remained there for some space of time. Then the seculars returned, until at the beginning of the twelfth century Roger, bishop of Salisbury, introduced Canons regular of the Order of St. Augustine, which we shall set out more fully below. And these things from Dugdale. Not all, however, present the various vicissitudes of this monastery in the same way. Some enumerate fewer, others more successions of inhabitants in it. Let Francis Godwin be an example, who comprises the matter thus. "After the restoration," he says, "of the burned monastery under Ethelred, about the coming of the Normans into England, that church with its possessions was given by a certain king to a certain abbot of Abingdon (on the testimony of Twyne, from the book of Frideswide). The secular canons, therefore, are recorded as despoiled of their goods and expelled from their seats, and the property, assigned to the monks for some years, served their disposition. Afterwards (as mortal things go), by the benefit of a certain king, their goods were restored to the aforesaid canons, and they presided over the same church until the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 1121. At which time" (says William of Malmesbury; Paris has IIII) "very few clerics remaining there, who lived as they pleased, that place was given by Roger, bishop of Salisbury, to Guimund, a canon of excellent learning and of religion not to be despised, who, toiling not idly at the office committed to him, brought forth there to God many canons to live according to rule." Thus far Fr. Godwin De praesulibus Angliae commentarius. London 1616, p. 586..

[64] Recapitulation. From these it may be seen that not all the things which pertain to the vicissitudes of the monastery of St. Frideswide from its origin to the beginning of the twelfth century are so clear. These things, however, are acknowledged by all: namely, that it was founded by St. Frideswide for holy virgins, who inhabited it from the beginning; that it was burned under Ethelred and repaired by the same king; that from that time it was inhabited by canons, now regular, now secular, the latter of whom at length had to give up the place in favour of monks of the Order of St. Augustine. How this was done Alford will teach from the book of Frideswide.

[65] At the beginning of the XII century the monks of St. Augustine obtain it; "In the year of the Lord one thousand one hundred and twenty-two, and the twenty-second of King Henry, Guimund (Peshall writes Gay Munday, otherwise Wynound), seeing that the king promoted his almost unlettered clerics to bishoprics, conferring on some dignities, on others no moderate revenues; while to himself, though he was lettered and of unblemished reputation, nothing was given by the king beyond food and clothing; indignant at this, on Rogation day, when the king was hearing Mass, he himself (Guimund) read the prophetic lesson, in which is written: 'it shall not rain upon the earth three years and six months,' pronouncing it thus: 'it shall not rain upon the earth years I.I.I. and months V.I.,' separating the numerals; all the clerics marvelling at this, and deriding him with sneers. Rebuked therefore after Mass by the king, and asked why he had done so, he answered with a smile: 'Because to those who read thus you confer bishoprics and ecclesiastical benefices. And therefore know that for the rest I shall serve Christ alone, the supreme king of kings, who knows how to bestow on those who serve Him not only temporal benefits, but also eternal.' Confounded by this answer, the king gave him the church of St. Frideswide at Oxford, belonging to his chapel, with all its appurtenances; who, soon casting out from there the secular canons, who had presided over the same church up to that time, gathered regular canons for himself, of whom he himself was the first Prior, happily ruling the said church for nineteen years" Alford, Annales, at the year 1111, n. V, vol. IV, p. 572. Alford notes that Guimund was chaplain to King Henry; that the cunning which he used to be substituted himself for the secular canons little became the king, and much less Guimund, a regular canon.

[66] over whom Guimund is set, with the name of Prior. Whether the narrative just given is in every respect worthy of credit it is not worth the trouble to inquire more diligently. Let it suffice that it is commonly found among grave writers. However, it is beyond controversy that Guimund at the beginning of the twelfth century was appointed Prior of the monastery of St. Frideswide, and brought into it with him canons regular of the Order of St. Augustine, over whom he presided until his death; that the same regulars held that monastery thereafter until the sixteenth century, when the priory of St. Frideswide was suppressed in favour of Wolsey, cardinal of York. It is undoubted also that Guimund obtained the priory by the goodwill and will of King Henry, whose chaplain he was, as is not obscurely gathered from three charters of the same Henry, which may be seen in Dugdale Monasticon Anglic., vol. II, p. 145.. Leonard Hutton adds (Letter on the Antiquities of Oxford): "The monastery had been given by William the Conqueror to the abbot and monks of Abingdon as a cell or grange, as might please them best. But that abbot and those monks, seeing that it was plainly ruinous, and therefore likely to be a burden rather than an honour to them, gave it to Roger, bishop of Salisbury, their Ordinary, having first obtained leave from King Henry to do what they pleased. Accordingly the bishop, understanding that the king, as far as lay in him, had already given it to Guimund his chaplain, a religious and eminently learned man, committed the monastery to the king's will, and he handed it over to Guimund." In the charter which is read in the first place in Dugdale, Henry affirms that that monastery belonged to his chapel: "Wherefore I will and grant that the aforesaid Prior and canons regular have and hold in perpetuity the aforesaid church of St. Frideswide, belonging to my chapel, with all lands, churches, etc."

[67] It is not clear in what precise year these things happened. We have said that these things happened at the beginning of the twelfth century; but it is not agreed among the learned in what precise year. Some put the eleventh year of that century,

others the twenty-first or second, according namely to the various manner of taking the beginning of the years. Paris favours the former, writing at the year 1111: "At the same time Roger, bishop of Salisbury, gave the place at Oxford in which the body of the blessed virgin Frithesweda rests to a certain canon named Wimund, who, establishing there many canons living according to rule and serving God most devoutly, acted over them in the place of Prior" Hist. Anglor. London 1606, p. 62.. The Register of St. Frideswide's supports the latter, as is clear from the narrative set down above, which begins with these words: "In the year of the Lord one thousand one hundred and twenty-two, and the twenty-second of King Henry." There is no reason why we should cling to these things longer, since monuments are lacking from which anything certain may be drawn.

[68] Guimund's successors. From Guimund to the beginning of the sixteenth century the canons regular of St. Augustine constantly held the priory of St. Frideswide. The names of those who presided may be seen in Dugdale Where above, p. 135–138.; where a catalogue of the Priors is woven according to the order of succession, with the addition of the things especially worthy of memory which happened under the priorate of each, and at the same time an indication of the gifts by which the property of the monastery was increased through the liberality either of kings or of others. In the year 1513 John Burton was raised to the priorate and confirmed in it, who was the last to obtain this dignity. For under his administration the monastery was suppressed by Clement VII.

[69] Queen Catherine venerates the relics of St. Frideswide. At the beginning of the year 1518, namely about the end of Lent, as Anthony Wood has it, "the king and queen (Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon), with the most illustrious Wolsey and a splendid band of courtiers and magnates, came to Abingdon; and they were lodged in the monastery of the Benedictines. On the next day some of the gownsmen were sent over to profess the observance of the University. But a desire came upon Queen Catherine to visit Oxford itself, and above all St. Frideswyde, whom therefore, as she approached with Wolsey, the chief men of the University went out to meet (a not small throng of scholars accompanying), and received the queen with the greatest signs, as was fitting, of joy and reverence; who, when she had adored (read: venerated) the sacred relics of the aforesaid St. Frideswyde, deigned to dine at Merton, in favour and honour of the late Warden, at this time the king's almoner, the hope of the other colleges, by which she was vainly expected, being meanwhile disappointed; although she also visited other buildings of the University before she departed" Historia et Antiquitates Univ. Oxon., p. 245..

[70] The extinction of the Priory of St. Frideswide. Wolsey, cardinal and archbishop of York, formerly a pupil of the University of Oxford, had long since conceived in his mind to found a most ample college at Oxford, and to assign revenues to it, whereby two hundred scholars and seven lecturers might be honourably maintained for their studies Ibid., p. 248 and 249. Pope Clement VII, approached on this matter by Wolsey, in the first year of his pontificate, by the Bull "Quoniam per litterarum studia," given on the third before the Nones of April 1524, suppressed the priory of St. Frideswide, and assigned its revenues to the cardinal for the founding of a college under the name of the college of secular clerics Rymer, Foedera, vol. VI, part II, p. 8. The Hague edition 1741.. A little after, namely on the third before the Ides of September, the said pontiff Clement gave another Bull, likewise addressed to Wolsey, in which he first repeats almost word for word the things which regard the extinction of the priory of St. Frideswide; then adds a new concession, by which the faculty is imparted to the cardinal to dispose in the same way, in favour of his college, of the goods of certain other monasteries, whether of men or of women, yet with this condition added, that "the fruits, revenues and proceeds of all these together" (the words are those of Pope Clement), "beyond the value of the said monastery of St. Frideswide, should not exceed the annual value of three thousand gold ducats of the camera, according to common estimation." The Pontiff gives the reason for these concessions, that the affairs of the university of Oxford had so fallen that, if help were not brought to it, it was to be feared that it would perish altogether. "Long since," he says, "considering that most salutary fruits, and most necessary to the faithful of Christ, come from the studies of letters, and that the university of general study of Oxford seemed likely to be almost extinguished for lack of revenues, and desiring that that study might be fittingly continued and receive increase; of our own motion, etc." Henry signified that these letters were to be carried out by his rescript of the seventh of January of the following year 1525 Monasticon Anglic., vol. II, p. 151, n. XXXIV..

[71] When nothing was now wanting for a beginning to be given to the foundation, A new college is founded by Wolsey. the cardinal at once began to think of erecting the buildings necessary to his purpose, and on the XX day of March 1525 he came in person to lay the first stone, on which the following inscription is read: "The most Reverend father in Christ and Lord, the Lord Thomas Wulcy, by the divine mercy, of the title of St. Cecilia, Priest Cardinal of the Most Holy Roman Church, archbishop of York, primate of England, and legate of the Apostolic see, bishop of Durham, and perpetual commendatory of the exempt monastery of St. Alban, chancellor of England, and also legate a latere of the said Apostolic See for his life, laid this stone in honour of the holy and undivided Trinity, and of the most glorious virgin Mary, of St. Frideswide and of All Saints, on the 20th day of March, in the year of the Lord MDXXV." The royal letters, however, for the formal suppression of the monastery of Frideswide, in which the former Bull of Clement is contained in full, were given only on the X day of May of the same year 1525 Ibid., p. 152, n. XXXV.. Finally, in the following month of July, on the thirteenth day, the king drew up his letters patent, which are properly called the letters of foundation of the new college Ibid., p. 153 and following, n. XXXVI.. From which, among other things, it is gathered that for the former name of the college of secular clerics another, namely that of Cardinal college, was substituted by King Henry in testimony of his goodwill towards Wolsey: "Let it be called and named the College of Thomas Wolsey, cardinal of York, but in English Cardinall college." Fortified, therefore, with these both pontifical and royal faculties, Wolsey vigorously put his hand to the work, and founded a college in which there were to be a dean, a sub-dean, a hundred canons, thirteen chaplains, professors of theology, law, medicine and the liberal arts, and others to the number of one hundred and eighty-six; dedicated to the most holy Trinity, to the blessed Virgin Mary, to St. Frideswide, and to All Saints Dugdale, ibid., vol. II, p. 138..

[72] [After Wolsey's fall the constitution of the college is renewed. The erection of the See of Oxford.] "This constitution lasted from the year 1525 to the year 1529–30, when Wolsey was deprived of his dignity and goods; and so for two years, as it seems, it was interrupted, or rather dissolved… In the year 1532 it was renewed by the king under the title of the college of King Henry the eighth, by letters patent given on the VIII of the month of July, by which it is decreed that the said college be founded anew in the same place, ground and circuit, and dedicated to the most holy Trinity, to St. Mary and to St. Frideswide; that it have an annual endowment of two thousand pounds, for the sustenance of a dean and twelve canons, who together should make up the chapter… This second foundation continued until the XX of May 1545, when the former charter was surrendered into the hands of the king, who dismissed all, an annual pension being assigned to each until he should be otherwise provided for… At length the king changed that college into a Cathedral church, the see of Osney, which had been erected in the year 1542, being transferred to Oxford" [History of the Colleges, Halls, etc., of Oxford, by Chalmers. Oxford, vol. II, p. 301, in Dugdale, p. 139.]. The first bishop was Robert King; and the church, which from the first foundation was called the cathedral church of Christ and of the blessed Virgin Mary, was afterwards, by letters of the IV of November 1546, called the church of Christ (Christ-church), which name it keeps even today, as does the college itself The Oxford University Calendar 1843, p. 322.. And these are the fortunes which the monastery of St. Frideswide underwent at various times. Since it was a perpetual monument of the holiness and glory of that most holy Virgin, we have thought it worth while to follow out its vicissitudes somewhat more fully.

[73] The Church of St. Frideswide As regards the church, we saw above that its origin goes back to the times of St. Frideswide. For it is established from her Life that Didanus built a church or oratory for the sake of his daughter: "Didanus, struck with grief for his wife lately lost, built a church within the circuit of the city, and, dedicated in honour of St. Mary and All Saints, commended it to his daughter at her request." So Leland in the collectanea, of which above. Of the building of this church or oratory all those make mention who have gathered the Life of our holy Virgin from ancient monuments, although most are silent about the name under which Leland says it was originally dedicated. However, it is acknowledged by all that in the course of time the church was commonly called St. Frideswide's, though it cannot be determined on what occasion, or in what year, this appellation arose, or began to be in common use. This is certain, that at the beginning of the eleventh century that church was designated by no other name than that of St. Frideswide, as is clearly established from what we have related above about the slaughter of the Danes, of whom not a few were consumed by flames in the church of St. Frideswide, whither they had fled, together with the sacred building itself. But this was shortly after restored, nay and enlarged, by Ethelred.

[74] rebuilt in the XII century. The church seems to have remained in the same state until the monastery came into the hands of the canons regular of St. Augustine, through Guimund, who at the beginning of the twelfth century was appointed prior. To him, if credit is to be given to Dugdale, the present church of Christ is to be credited. "Willis," he says, "ascribes to him (Guimund) the building of the present cathedral church of Christ, which he then relates was completed by his immediate successors, Robert, otherwise Canute, and Philip, who in the year 1180 translated the relics of St. Frideswide." Whence it would follow that the church which is now called Christ's, but was formerly St. Frideswide's, begun at the beginning of the twelfth century, was finished at the end of the same century; and this is by far the more common opinion. Although King (Monumenta antiqua) contends that the structure of this church goes up higher, perhaps to the beginning of the eleventh century; but he brings no valid reason. Similarly Wood mentions a certain great conflagration at the year 1190. "In this year," he says, "by a miserable fate Oxford was almost swallowed up by flames, that venerable building of St. Frideswide also burning down together with it," and at the foot of the page he cites the Ms. Chronicle of Tho. Wykes. But he slips, as Dugdale has already observed Vol. II, p. 136., saying: "Wood, relying on a manuscript copy of the Wykes chronicle, relates that in the time of this abbot (Prior Philip)… A.D. 1190, the greatest part of the city was consumed by flames, together with the sacred building of St. Frideswide. But nothing similar is read in the Wykes chronicle edited by Gale, nor in any other of the ancient chronicles of our countrymen. Whence it is probable that this conflagration is fictitious." Moreover, Wood speaks of the venerable

building of St. Frideswide, which can be referred to the monastery, and does not necessarily indicate the church. Nowhere also do I find that the site of the church was changed; whence it is quite likely that the present cathedral of the see of Oxford rises in the same place in which the oratory had originally been built by Didanus. Finally, as regards the dedication, from what has been adduced above it is likely that the church was consecrated from the beginning in honour of blessed Mary and All Saints; then commonly called after St. Frideswide; afterwards, the see of Oxford having been erected by Henry VIII, called the cathedral of Christ and of the blessed Virgin Mary; finally, the tenets of the reformed religion creeping daily deeper, the name prevailed which it still holds today, of the church of Christ, in English Christ-church.

[75] Its present state We add here some things from various writers, especially Ant. Wood, regarding the present state of this church. "It is established that the church which today serves the sacred uses of this college, and is placed outside the eastern side of the great quadrangle, is the other part of the church of St. Frideswyde (there indeed she herself, as well as her parents, lies buried), which formerly belonged to the Priory: for we have said before that Wolsey pulled down as it were half of its nave, who had decreed that what remained should be assigned to the private prayers of the gownsmen and also to certain theological exercises. He caused the choir to be fortified and adorned with a handsome stone ceiling, beautifully carved; and the remaining part of the nave with a wooden one, joined together with firm framings; furthermore he caused the old bell-tower to be pulled down, and to be built up again, though of lesser height; the frame, moreover, supporting the bells being remade, and various places of the church itself here and there repaired. Which things indeed I have found out sufficiently from the account books of Cardinal college, already then coming into being. I may add that the cardinal had destined every more solemn sacred office of the society (nay, all public academic ones, as the report holds) to be celebrated in the most ample church which he was building at the northern part of the quadrangle; but that in this respect also the most salutary counsels of the great man fell to nothing (as is to be learned from what was said before)" Historia et Antiq. Oxonien., book II, p. 285.. A little before he had said: "The august work (his college) Wolsey had purposed to close with an immense church to be erected towards the north and the setting sun; which, however, was only begun, the foundations only being laid, and its very broad wall rising above the surface of the earth to three rods, or more in some places" Ibid..

[76] It is described. The church, as it now is, from the extreme apse, or from east to west, has in length one hundred and fifty-four feet (the part pulled down by the cardinal comprised three columns, or fifty feet); the Transept, from south to north, one hundred and two feet; the Nave, with the side aisles, is fifty-four feet broad, forty-one and a half high; the height of the choir thirty-seven and a half feet, the length eighty See Gutch, Fasti Oxonienses, p. 302.. This church remained in the same state in which it had been left by the cardinal almost until the year 1630, when the dean and canons began to think of new adornment. To this end, the old stalls being taken out of the choir, they placed others, as they now are; to make room for which they took away the sepulchral stones and various monuments erected between the columns separating the choir from the side aisles. They renewed the pavement everywhere, and in doing this the workmen destroyed very many sepulchral marbles, bearing here and there Saxon inscriptions: for these seemed to the dean and canons nourishment of superstition, and accordingly not to be inserted in their new floor; whence they were also thrown out; nay, not a few were used in building a channel by which water was led to their latrines. "To what do you not drive mortal hearts, mad lust of innovation?" [History and Antiquities of the Colleges and Halls in the University of Oxford by Ant. Wood, edited by John Gutch 1788, page 462.] Afterwards also the windows were thrown down (four only excepted in the theological chapel, Divinity chapel) formerly put in by the canons of the priory, partly showing the Life of St. Frideswide; others being substituted in their place, likewise adorned with painting, by which various subjects taken from scripture were rendered, the work of the eminent painter Abraham Van Linge, which, however, in the year 1648, as an antichristian, diabolical and papistical work, were again broken, and then, lest they be utterly destroyed by the raging presbyterians, were hidden away [History and Antiquities of the Colleges and Halls in the University of Oxford, by Ant. Wood, edited by John Gutch 1788, page 465.]. The following inscription (which, as is clear both from its form and its matter, is of a more recent age) is read in the upper part of the great window at the northern part of the transept:

FRIDESWIDE, V., FORMS AND RULES

A MONASTERY, A.D. 730.

THE NUNS DISPERSED, THERE SUCCEED

SECULAR CANONS.

GUIMUND, THE FIRST PRIOR,

BEGINS THE FABRIC OF THIS CHURCH.

ETHELDRED, K., ENLARGES

THE PRIVILEGES, etc. 1004.

CANONS REGULAR OF AUGUSTINE

INTRODUCED 1122.

THO. WOLSEY, CARD. OF YORK,

ESTABLISHES A COLLEGE OF SECULAR STUDENTS.

HENRY VIII, KING,

FOUNDED THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH WITH THE COLLEGE,

1546.

[77] Its age. The more common, as we have said above, and the truer, as it seems to us at least, opinion of the writers is that the church was begun by Guimund, the first prior, who died in the year 1149; and completed by Philip, the third prior, who presided in the year 1180. He wrote the book of the miracles of St. Frideswide, which you will find published below. He also, on the authority of Gutch, Fasti Oxon. Appendix to the History and Antiquit., etc., p. 304, note 3., caused to be erected the tomb or monument of St. Frideswide, which is still seen today in the theological or Latin chapel of Christ Church. But of this last more fully below.

§ IV. On the Relics of Bl. Frideswide, perpetually preserved at Oxford. Their various translations. The monuments of the cult perpetually shown to the holy Virgin and her sacred remains; as is had in particular from her Office and Liturgy; from the councils of Great Britain, and finally from the Census Book.

The Relics first laid up in the church of her monastery; There is no one who is seen to call into doubt that the holy Virgin was buried in the monastery or church which Didanus had erected at Oxford. Dugdale affirms it expressly Mon. Anglican., vol. II, p. 134., citing Leland, who writes in the collectanea: "she was buried in the church of St. Mary of Oxford near the Thames." Although not all who treat of St. Frideswide make express mention of this matter, there is nevertheless not one who is found to have raised a difficulty about her first burial. In the Acts which we make public below from the Ms. of Rouge-Cloître these things are read: "before God had subjected England to the law of the Normans, the church of St. Frideswide with its possessions was given by a certain king to the abbot of Abingdon; and, the canons having been expelled, the property lay subject, assigned to the disposition of the monks, for some years, until, the will of a certain king being at length changed, all things were restored to the canons. And with the help and assent of William the viscount, patron of the church of the holy Virgin, the bones of the most holy Frideswide were raised from the earth, and honourably placed in a shrine." In the charter of King Ethelred, of which above at n. 51, the same is had as regards the presence of the Relics: "A certain monastery situated in the city which is called Oxoneforde, where blessed Frideswide rests." Hither also, and indeed most of all, bears what Wood has from the Life of Alfred the Great. "Having obtained power, therefore" (Alfred, who reigned from the year 871 or 872 to the year 900), "he held nothing prior or preferable than that, by heaping learned men with honours and wealth, he might kindle the minds of his subjects to the studies of good letters. Since, therefore, a place was above all to be destined for the arts, none seemed more suitable than their old dwelling, Oxford, which had been given over almost to destruction and ruins by the Saxon and Danish storms (the last of which fell in the year DCCCLXXVI, the Danes namely then wintering there). For the calamities of that city did not only go so far that the muses were driven into exile, but, stripped already of its former beauty, it suffered such a loss of buildings and monuments that it seemed as it were utterly destroyed, and almost to be numbered among cities cut down; only those venerable buildings of St. Frideswyde standing, which might in some measure point out to future ages the ancient splendour of Oxford." Thus far Wood Hist. et Antiq. Univ. Oxon., p. 13.. From which it may be gathered that the Relics of the holy Virgin, from the day of her death until the beginning of the eleventh century, to which the charter praised above is referred, remained perpetually in the said church. Nor is there reason for us to say that they were likewise burned, or at least dispersed, when the church was burned under the same Ethelred with its ornaments and books, since this is found neither said nor written by anyone; nay, the contrary is shown from all the monuments of that and the following age which pertain to this matter, in which it is constantly supposed that the Relics were kept with due honour in the same church, restored both by the penitence and by the munificence of the king, and exposed to the veneration of the people. It is also expressly asserted in the book of the miracles of St. Frideswide (of which afterwards) that the relics of the holy Virgin, when they were translated in the year 1180, had lain hidden for almost four hundred and eighty years in the same tomb (which it is insinuated was then opened for the first time).

[79] [Their solemn translation in the year 1180, recorded in the chronicle of Thomas Wykes, etc.] There is had, therefore, a constant tradition of the Relics of St. Frideswide having been preserved until the beginning of the eleventh century in the sacred building which, built while she was living, was afterwards called by her name. This tradition becomes clearer in the following ages, because more abundantly committed to writing. To which especially regards the solemn translation of the Relics, mention of which occurs in various chronicles and annals at the year one thousand one hundred and eighty. Thus in the Chronicle of Thomas Wykes there is found: "In the year MCLXXX King Henry changed his money. The relics of Fritheswitha at Oxford were translated, and honourably laid up in a coffin" See Gale, vol. II, p. 33.. And a little more explicitly in the Annals of Waverley: "MCLXXX, in the XXVII year" (of King Henry II), "at Oxford St. Frideswide the virgin was translated on the II before the Ides of February, in the presence of Richard, archbishop of Canterbury, and of very many other bishops" Ibid., p. 161.. Let us note here in passing that Richard was the immediate successor of St. Thomas (Becket) of Canterbury, after whose martyrdom the church of Canterbury was vacant two years, five months, four days. He was elected (Richard, says Gervase) "at Westmonasterium (Westminster) in the year 1173, on Whit Sunday, the third before the Nones of June" See Anglia Sacra. London 1691, part I, p. 111.. Mabillon also, in the Life of St. Frideswide Acta SS. Ordinis S. Benedicti, saec. III, part I, p. 563., mentions the same Translation: "in the chronicle," he says, "of John Brompton is recorded: in the year MLXXX" (without doubt it is an error; the year MCLXXX is to be put) "the translation of Frideswide at Oxford." Whatever regards this translation Anthony Wood comprises in these words, from

which it will shine out that it was not performed without pomp. "About these times" (so he writes at the year of Christ MCLXXX) "the relics of St. Frideswyde are carried from a more obscure place of the church named after her into a more conspicuous one, the king himself, the bishops and the nobles of the kingdom gracing that translation; very many meanwhile, if you give credit to the narrator" (this according to the mind of the new religion introduced into England in the XVI century, which Wood professed), "from the number of laymen as well as of clerics, being wonderfully healed. And since Frideswyde was believed thereafter also to be strong in this power, her fame soon spread far and wide" Historia et Antiquitates Universit. Oxon., p. 55..

[80] The description of the same translation by Prior Philip, an eyewitness. But we have a far more precious monument of this translation in the Ms. book on the miracles of St. Frideswide, by Philip, prior of the monastery, at whose prayers and instance the relics were raised. Although we print the aforesaid book entire at the end of the Acts of St. Frideswide, by way of Appendix, yet the things which pertain to the Translation may not be passed over here. "Being about to write," he says, "the miracles which in our times the Lord has deigned to work through the merits of the most blessed virgin Frideswide, I have thought I should begin from her translation, which was made in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord MCLXXX, in the reign of the most illustrious king of the English Henry the second. Which indeed appears the more glorious because the Lord willed that it should not be hidden under a bushel, but set upon a candlestick, so that, as a lamp set upon a candlestick, it might pour out the rays of its light on every side. For at that time the same glorious king, on account of the very great and arduous business of the kingdom, had called together at Oxford our most reverend father Richard, archbishop of Canterbury, and also the Lord Richard of Winchester, Geoffrey of Ely, John of Norwich, Peter of St. David's, bishops, and a copious multitude of the Clergy, also the nobles and magnates of his kingdom from all parts of England; God indeed bringing it about that the precious Pearl, which had lain so long covered with earth, might be shown more gloriously to all, since at its revelation earthly business, and so great a multitude of both clergy and people, called together for this, the Lord as it were secretly prompting it, seemed to be in its service. The aforesaid most invincible king, therefore, favouring the wishes, and most kindly giving his consent, at the prayers and instance of Philip, then prior, and of the whole convent, on the day before the Ides of February" (that is, the XII day), "the same venerable archbishop, having called together with him the Lord Richard of Winchester, Geoffrey of Ely, John of Norwich, Peter of St. David's, bishops, there being present the venerable man master Alexius, at that time legate of Scotland by delegation of the Lord Pope, and master John, then indeed elect of St. Andrews, coming to the church of the same most glorious Virgin, a fast having first been proclaimed, opening with the greatest devotion the tomb where her most blessed body had rested for about four hundred and LXXX years, a copious multitude of clergy and people standing by and rejoicing together, translated the bones of the glorious virgin from the tomb, and placed them in a shrine, lest so precious a pearl should lie longer covered with earth, which by the celebrated glory of miracles testified that it lives in heaven. And a most sweet odour filled those standing by, and refreshed them after the manner of spices, so that not undeservedly it seemed to have been said of her: The odour of thy ointments is above all spices." Thus Philip. Above, namely at num. 34, we said that Wood is more likely mistaken where he asserts that the king was present. It is worthy of note also that the aforesaid translation falls in the times in which, as we have said above, the church of Christ, nearly as it now exists, was completed. Finally, of this translation there is read, on the day, not indeed the XII, but the XI of February, in the British martyrology: "At Oxford the translation of St. Frideswide, Virgin, Patroness of that city, celebrated on this day in the Breviary of Salisbury" A Memorial of antient British piety, or, a British Martyrology. London 1761..

[81] A second translation of the Relics in the year 1289. But mention must also be made here of another translation, held in the year of Christ one thousand two hundred and eighty-nine, the eighteenth of Edward the first, when, according to the Chronicle of Thomas Wykes, "on the Saturday next after the nativity of blessed Mary, namely the IV before the Ides of September, there being present the Lord William, bishop of Sarum, the Lord Edward, earl of Cornwall, and other men both religious and secular, the old shrine of St. Fritheswythe at Oxford was translated, and with the honour that was fitting was placed in a new and more precious shrine in the same church, and near the place where it was placed before. Which shrine indeed had been prepared long before" Gale, vol. II, p. 118.. But whether the shrine or tomb which is here mentioned remained until the times of Henry VIII, and accordingly whether it is the same which is seen today in Christ Church, is not established on every side (as we shall see below). This is certain, that in past centuries (it is not known at what precise time) the bones of the most holy Virgin were, at least in part, enclosed in two silk bags, and exhibited to the veneration of the faithful, as will be declared more fully from the narrative of Calfhill, to be subjoined here in the following paragraph.

[82] In how great honour those holy pledges were. In how great honour those sacred Relics were is shown in the Oxford annals by very many and almost continuous proofs. We shall add here only a few of the principal ones to those which we have already brought forward in the course of this commentary. The kings themselves came to Oxford to venerate the sacred remains of Frideswide, and testified the sentiments of their devout mind with various gifts. Which Paris relates not obscurely of Henry the third, saying: "At that time" (the year 1264) "King Henry, coming to Oxford in person for the sake of prayer, went to St. Frideswide." Before he departed he established a rent for the sustenance of a priest who should celebrate the divine offices every day, and that four lights should be kept burning perpetually day and night before the sacred relics. These things are established from the charter which we copy from Dugdale Mon. Anglican., vol. II, p. 149.: "Henry, by the grace of God king of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine, to all to whom the present letters shall come, greeting. Know that for the salvation of our soul and of the souls of our predecessors and successors we have granted for ourselves and our heirs to our beloved in Christ the prior and convent of St. Fritheswide of Oxford ten marks to be received every year at the feast of St. Michael by the hands of our sheriff of Oxford and Berks (Berkshire) for the time being, from the issues of the same counties, for the sustaining of a certain chaplain celebrating the divine offices every day in the aforesaid church of the virgin Fritheswide, and for the sustenance of four wax candles burning day and night around the shrine of the aforesaid Virgin in the church above said for ever. In testimony of which thing we have caused these our letters patent to be made. Witness myself at Oxford, the twenty-seventh day of March, in the forty-eighth year of our reign."

[83] The insolence of certain Jews and the punishment that followed. Hither also bear the things which Wood has at the year 1268. "On Ascension day, Nic. de Ewelme, the Chancellor, and the scholars of the University, the parish priests and the community of Oxford being also brought in, visited the relics of St. Frideswyde, according to the custom received since their translation; and moreover in that place the chancellor whom I have named, by a custom likewise growing strong, was purposing to hold a sermon. But there a Jew, with most abandoned audacity, meeting them as they went forward or perhaps returned, and impelled by the persuasion of his fellows, having seized the cross which was carried before them, dashed it to the ground in insult to Christ, and trampled it under his feet. That shameful deed, after it became known to the King through Edward his son, then staying at Oxford, a command was at once sent to the sheriff, by which he is ordered to seize all the Jews and thrust them into the closest custody; moreover to hold their real goods until they should find sureties who would guarantee that they would undergo the penalty imposed on them." What that penalty was, see in the same place Historia et Antiquitates Universitat. Oxon., book 1, p. 114., where he also adds that on this occasion a certain cross was laid up in the Treasury preserved at the monastery of St. Frideswyde.

[84] Nor is to be omitted what is noted in the same place at the year 1308, The academic chest named after St. Frideswide. The fairs. in these words: "On the Thursday next after the feast of the Holy Trinity, John de Sutton, the doorkeeper, and John Fykeys, the sub-sacristan, most wickedly plundered the academic chest named after St. Frideswyde (which namely had already been kept for LXVIII years in the church named after her). They say it was perpetrated at the ninth hour" (that is, towards midday, at which in that age the canons were accustomed to recite None), "the Prior namely dining with the canons; and that the sacrilegious men fled, and were not afterwards caught to pay the penalty due to so great a crime. That little chest I find to have been instituted by Hugh Walleys, Bishop of Lincoln, for keeping the money with which he had fined the city, for the use of the University, on account of three clerics hanged, in the year MCCIX. Which sum at any rate, with certain others, making up six marks and more yearly, was brought into it every year. And then Grosseteste, successor of Walleys, having called the constitutions concerning that money to examination, changed them somewhat: for besides the statutes which he drew up for paying out the same, he decreed that it should be transferred with the little chest to the church of St. Frideswyde, guardians being appointed from the number of the canons, whom it should rest with the chancellor to designate. After this Master John de Aveton left by will XL shillings for the use of the poorer scholars; and also (to say nothing of others) Master Will. de Grey V marks, and Master John de Manduit XL shillings, to be kept in this Frideswydian chest; in which, further, were accustomed to be laid up the fines imposed on disturbers of the peace, besides that silver cross with which (as was said above) the Jews were punished, for breaking a certain old one, together with the treasures or jewels (as they call them) belonging to the University." Thus far Anthony Wood Ibid., p. 149.. On the feast day of our blessed Virgin there were also accustomed to be held rather celebrated Fairs before the gates of the priory or college. Lest we be too prolix in pursuing these things, let there stand in place of many testimonies what Camden has: "In the Saxon age, when so many cities were destroyed, Oxford bore the common fate, and for a long space of time was celebrated only for the relics of St. Frideswide, enrolled among the Saints because she had vowed herself to God, and because Prince Algar, when he wished to have her in marriage, had wonderfully, as is said, been deprived of the light of his eyes" Britannia, vol. I, p. 287..

[85] The cult rendered to blessed Frideswide is also established from the most esteemed Breviary and Missal of the notable church of Sarum or Salisbury. The Office from the Breviary of Salisbury In the former there is assigned at the XIX day of October an office of nine lessons, which however are not proper. The office is noted further in these words: "All from the common according to the Pica of Sarum, although here there follows a prayer from the proper." Now the Pica is a kind of directory or perpetual Calendar for ordering the ecclesiastical office, under this inscription: "The Ordinal of Sarum, or Directory of priests, which is commonly called the Pica," at the head of which the following things are read, which we transcribe here for the sake of elucidation: "The present book, the directory of priests, which the clergy commonly call the pica of Sarum,

although it exists printed and composed many times within our own and overseas lands, has nevertheless nowhere been cancelled or corrected according to the true Ordinal of Sarum, nor worked out: but since there is one shepherd of the church and one fold, there will therefore be one order of canonical prayer of the sheep, namely of the clergy of Sarum: lest anyone, which God forbid, should say: I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost, etc. Hence it is, venerable and honourable lords, readers of these presents, which I wish you not to be ignorant of, that for that reason, and for the common good of necessity, and that the psaltery may agree with the harp in our holy church of the clergy of Sarum, the venerable and ever praiseworthy University of the study of disciplines of Cambridge entrusted and committed this burden of the labour of such correction and cancellation or collation of the Ordinal of Sarum, necessarily to be made, to the venerable man master Clerke, chanter of the King's college. Which master Clerke indeed of his own accord, for the cause aforesaid, undertook this burden of correction, emended, corrected, and collated it according to the true Ordinal of Sarum. Moreover it was printed anew by the honest man Wynkyn de Worde, dwelling in the city of London, at the sign of the sun, in the street called Fletestrete." At the end these words are had: "This present little work was finished and completed by me Wynkyn de Worde, dwelling in the city of London, in the street called (the Fletestrete), at the sign of the sun, in the year of the Lord MCCCCCIIII, the XXIII day of February." Further, in the aforesaid Pica is noted: "Of St. Frideswide; the whole from the common of one Virgin not a martyr, IX lessons."

[86] and from the Missal. And in the Missal (printed at Antwerp 1527), Sanctoral fol. 63, the following rubric is read: "Of St. Fredeswide, virgin not martyr, office." The Mass itself has nothing proper except the Collect, Secret and Postcommunion. The Collect is this: "Almighty, everlasting God, author of virtue and lover of virginity: grant us, we beseech Thee, to be commended by the merits, pleasing to Thee, of St. Fredeswide Thy virgin, whose life pleased Thee by the merit of chastity. Through our Lord, etc." The Secret: "We offer Thee, O Lord, prayers and gifts, rejoicing in honour of St. Fredeswide Thy virgin: grant, we beseech Thee, that we may be able both to do these things fittingly and to acquire an everlasting remedy. Through our Lord, etc." The Postcommunion: "May the mysteries received profit us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and likewise, Thy blessed virgin Fredeswide interceding, may they both strip us of sins and raise us up by the aids of Thy propitiation. Through our Lord, etc." There is moreover assigned a Sequence to be said before the Gospel, which, even when, as here, it is common, is not usually employed except by reason of some more solemn festival.

[87] The Statute of the Convocation of London on the feast of St. Frideswide. A splendid proof of the cult of Frideswide is also supplied by the council or convocation of the prelates and clergy of the province of Canterbury in the church of St. Paul at London. "The mandate of the most reverend for the Convocation having been read through" (so namely in David Wilkins Concilia Magnae Britanniae, vol. III, p. 612 and 613. London edition 1737.), "in which the royal Brief was inserted, and the power of receiving certificates and proxies and of continuing the convocation in his absence having been handed over by the archbishop, Mag. Will. Pykenham, elected prolocutor, is presented to the most reverend on the XXVI day of March MCCCCLXXXI… And the aforesaid prolocutor exhibited there another paper schedule, in this series of words: 'It is fitting that all worshippers of Christ should exult with immense joys, that through the great and most lofty merits of the most glorious Virgin Mary… and of the Saints Osmund the bishop, Frideswide and Ethelreda the virgins, the Lord Himself works many and evident miracles on earth, who are to be honoured both with the mind and with all veneration, so that, the more the divine clemency inclines the ear of its goodness to their prayers, the more effectually they themselves, who are mediators of God and men, may be induced to intercede for sins. And because we, therefore, taught by pious counsels and stirred by worthy zeal, since the most blessed Fathers, formerly supreme pontiffs in the apostolate, appointed by divine authority the feast of the Visitation of the most blessed Virgin Mary; and lately, the divine clemency assenting, their great merits requiring it, decreed that blessed Osmund the bishop, and Frideswide and Ethelreda the virgins, should be numbered in the Catalogue of the Saints and venerated by the faithful of Christ; therefore we will, decree and command, by the authority of this sacred council, that the feast of the Visitation of most holy Mary, after the manner of a double feast, according to the use of the church of Sarum, with full service, on the VI before the Nones of July, with an Octave, which are to be celebrated with rulers of the choir, and the feasts of Osmund on the XI before the Nones (sic) of December, of St. Frideswide on the XIV before the Kalends of November, and of Ethelreda on the XVI before the Kalends of November, with rulers of the choir and nine lessons, be devoutly celebrated throughout the province of Canterbury every year, for perpetual future times.'" When it is said that blessed Frideswide was only lately numbered by the Supreme Pontiffs in the Catalogue of the Saints, it is evident that there is no question here of a cult then first beginning to be rendered to the blessed Virgin: for it is clear from what precedes that, according to the custom of that time, the honours of the saints were shown to St. Frideswide immediately after her death. But in the course of time the custom prevailed more and more daily of approaching the holy See, so that a cult, not rarely already shown for centuries, might be confirmed and amplified in some more solemn manner. Which we see was done here also, since on this occasion the feast of St. Frideswide is declared to be celebrated every year throughout the whole province of Canterbury. Moreover, perhaps her office was then also inserted into the Breviary of Salisbury. Let Benedict XIV, On the beatification of the Servants of God, be looked at, where Book 1, chapters VII, VIII, IX and X. he disputes about the intervention of the Roman Pontiffs, before the times of Urban VIII, in decreeing cult towards martyrs and confessors. Many examples are reviewed there of Saints canonized by the Pope, either within or outside a council, who had long since been honoured by the faithful. Thus the king of England, Edward called the confessor (to distinguish him from another holy King of the same name and country, a martyr), who died in the year 1066, was canonized only in the year 1161 by Alexander III, as is clear from his bull, which see in our Work at the fifth day of January, on which Bolland gave the Acts of St. Edward the confessor.

[88] Mention of St. Frideswide in the Census Book. An account of it. Finally, by way of a coping-stone, we add the things which occur bearing on our matter in the Census book of England, commonly Domesday-Book, a brief account of it being premised. At the end of the whole work there is read, written in larger letters: "In the year one thousand and eighty-six from the Incarnation of the Lord, and the twentieth of King William, this description was made, not only through these three counties" (enumerated in the second volume) "but also through others." Henry Spelman writes in the Glossary: "Domesday, the monument of all Britain, I do not say the most ancient, but beyond controversy the most august. In two great volumes it contains the description of England, begun, according to the Annals of Waverley and others, in the year of the Lord 1083, that is the 16th of William the Elder; but according to the Red book of the Exchequer, in the 14th year of the same king; and finished (as the book itself testifies) in his 20th year, that is the last; and of our Lord 1087" (rather 1086). The Saxon Chronicle, in Gibson's recension and interpretation, treats of the same at the years 1085 and 1086. The more recent, like Lingard Histoire d'Angleterre. Louvain 1827, vol. II, p. 72. and August. Thierry Histoire de la conquête d'Angleterre. Brussels 1839, vol. II, p. 91 and 94., attach the beginning to the year 1080, the end to the year 1086. This monument comes under various names among various writers: the judicial book; the census book of England; the notice and survey of England; sometimes the roll of Winchester and the book of Winchester. "This book is called by the natives Domes-dei, that is, the day of judgment, by metaphor" (for Dome is to the English judgment, dag day; so du Cange in the Glossary). "For as the sentence of that last strict and terrible examination can be eluded by no art of evasion, so when a dispute has arisen in the kingdom about those things which are noted there, when one has come to the Book, its sentence cannot be made foolish or declined with impunity. For this reason we name it the judicial book; not because in it sentence is passed on any doubtful points proposed; but because from it, as from the aforesaid judgment, it is not permitted to depart for any reason." So Henry, bishop of Winchester, a contemporary and near in blood to the Conqueror himself Glossary of Hen. Spelman, at the word Domesdei.. Spelman briefly describes the book in this way: "In this, through the several counties, rapes, lathes and hundreds (which they call Wapentakes and Hundreds), the cities, boroughs, towns, castles, villages, etc. are described, what was contained in estates and houses; what in lands, which are called demesne and tenemental; what in arable fields, meadows, pastures, woods, glades, fisheries, marshes, commons, etc. How many men, and of what condition, knights, tenants, serfs, workmen (distinguished by the words of the age) each village supported; what in tribute, census, revenues, services and customs it was worth and rendered at present; what in the age passed under Edward the confessor" Idem, ibid.. More clearly and lucidly perhaps the census book is treated in the Saxon Chronicle at the year MLXXXV: "After these things the king (William) held a great council and had grave discourse with his nobles about this land, how it was inhabited and by what men. He therefore sent throughout the whole land of the English into the several counties his servants, whom he allowed to search out what hundreds of hides there were in the county, and what the king himself had of lands and cattle in that county, and how much annual census he ought to receive from that county. He allowed also to be described how much land his archbishops had, and the diocesan bishops, and his abbots, and his earls, and, not to be longer in this, what or how much each one had who possessed lands in the English nation, whether of lands or of cattle, and how much that was worth in money. So diligently did he allow the land to be surveyed that not a single hide, not even (which is shameful to say, but he did not think it shameful to do) an ox or a cow or a pig was passed over which he had not brought into the census. And all things written were afterwards referred to him" Gibson, p. 186.. The whole work consists of two separate volumes: in the one thirty counties are described: in the other, which was finished in larger letters, with fuller narration and in the last year of the king, only three counties are had: Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk. "The rest" (says Spelman Where above.), "namely Northumbria, Cumberland and Westmorland, and the bishopric of Durham (intercepted either by the death of the king, or by I know not what other misfortune), nowhere show themselves here. Nor is its own title designated for the district of Lancaster; but part of the same, which is called between the Ribble and the Mersey, is found either under Euruicscire (Yorkshire) or in Cestrescire."

[89] Now in the Census Book, where the County of Oxford (Oxenefscire, fol. 157) is enumerated, under this title: "The Land of the canons of Oxeneford and of other clerics," the following are read:

"The Canons of St. Fridesvide hold IIII Hides of the king near Oxeneford. They themselves held them in the time of King Edward. Land for V ploughs; there XVIII villeins have V ploughlands and CV acres of meadow and VII acres of thorn-thicket. It was and is worth XL shillings. This land never paid geld" (paid), "nor belongs nor belonged to any Hundred." (Now according to Spelman a Hundred is a portion of a county in which formerly there dwelt a hundred sureties of the king's peace: as a Decury in which there were ten: and so a Hundred comprised ten Decuries; and it means the same as a centuriate.) "Sinuard holds of the same canons II Hides in Codeslam. Land for II ploughs, which are now there. It was and is worth XL shillings. It was of the church." From which there results an authentic testimony of the cult of St. Frideswide in the eleventh century, either under the Conqueror (from the year 1066 to the year 1087) or already under St. Edward (from the year 1042 to the year 1066). Nay, it is natural to conclude that the lands there enumerated had long since been given to the monastery; which is also established from elsewhere. Let me be permitted to add to these one thing more from Spelman's Glossary: "This noble monument of ours is preserved at any rate in the treasury of the royal Exchequer" (that is, the archive of the fisc) "under a third key, namely of the Treasurer and the two Chamberlains; sufficiently at hand, however, for those who would inspect it, but after first paying 6 shillings and 8 pence for the inspection alone. For the transcription of each line a drachma is paid besides. But to me (for I will acknowledge a benefit received from one now dead) an old man most versed in the same, Arthur Agard, then deputy chamberlain, at one time gave a notable access to both this and other old Schedules which they call records; thereafter, also very gratefully, his successor J. Bradshawe and other most courteous officials (gave access)." Something similar happened to me when I was staying at London in the month of August of this year MDCCCL. Wherefore I too set down here a testimony of a grateful mind to Joseph Burt, whom it was given me to meet at Westminster, in the former chapter house, where Domesday-Book and other public documents of greater moment are preserved today.

[90] Recapitulation of what has been said. It is established, therefore, concerning the cult of St. Frideswide by every kind of testimony: by the church which, built while she was living on earth and called by her name shortly after her death, has remained to our times (Compare n. 73 and following); by the monastery, which from its erection until the sixteenth century perpetually bore the name of its holy Foundress; by the translations of the Relics; by the coming to Oxford of the kings of England, who venerated the holy Virgin with a singular sense of devotion, which they declared very often by innumerable foundations or gifts made in her honour; by the perpetuity of miracles, especially in healing those who were subject to the evil of leprosy and fevers, as Malbrancq says, the fame of which, spread far and wide, called together from every side innumerable pilgrims and devout persons to the tomb and spring (see n. 43 and 44) of the holy Virgin. All of which indeed are confirmed both from her office and liturgy, and from the decrees of councils, and from the Census Book itself.

§ V. The tomb of St. Frideswide is despoiled by Henry VIII. The profanation and mingling of her Relics. The monument of St. Frideswide which is still seen today at Oxford in Christ Church.

The tomb of St. Frideswide despoiled by Henry VIII. And these things so continued until the middle of the sixteenth century, when, the schism of England from the Roman see being consummated, Henry VIII, in the thirtieth year of his reign, the monasteries being broken up, among other things despoiled the tomb of St. Frideswide of its gifts and ornaments, and appropriated them to himself.

[92] Afterwards the Relics themselves were sacrilegiously profaned. A little after (shall I call it a crime, or madness?) something worse was undertaken against this sacred treasure, consecrated by the veneration of so many centuries, and so holy, if you regard even its antiquity alone, in the eyes of all sensible men, even dissidents; so that those venerable remains have as it were perished entirely for us. We shall set out the matter as it has been related either by catholics or by dissidents, taking our beginning from Burnet, who [Historia reformationis ecclesiae Anglicanae, part II, p. 228 and 229. Geneva edition 1689.] narrates in this way the mingling of the Relics of St. Frideswide.

[93] The history of this profanation, first from Burnet; "At the beginning of the year 1557 (Mary reigning) Pole wished the two universities to be visited. He sent Scot, bishop of Chester … to Cambridge … He also sent Ormaneto, Brooks, bishop of Gloucester, and certain other legates to Oxford to visit the University. They did the same as had been done at Cambridge. All the English Bibles which they found there, and all the protestant books which they could gather, they wished to be burned. They also condemned the body of Peter Martyr's wife, which lay in a certain church of the city. But since that woman had not known even a single little word of English, there was no witness to accuse her of having been heard uttering heresies. The cardinal (Pole), having heard this from the legates, answered that, since it was certain that that woman had been a nun, and had married against her vow, that sufficed for the body to be dug out of the earth and buried in the dunghill, the tomb of the excommunicated. That they carried out. But afterwards that body was dug out of so infamous a tomb in the reign of Elizabeth, and mingled with the bones of St. Frideswide, with which it is wished that it may obtain the same fate until the end of the ages." Thus far Burnet, a name not obscure among the writers of the Anglican church.

[94] then from Sander; incidentally certain things are touched on about Peter Martyr. Sander (commonly Sanders or Sauders), a catholic writer, formerly, while Mary reigned, professor of the sacred Canons in the University of Oxford, in the book whose title is "A True and sincere History of the Anglican schism" Book 2, p. 233. Cologne edition 1628., briefly advises that Mary ordered that all foreigners who neither bore a public character nor were enrolled among the citizens should leave the kingdom by a certain day, a most grave penalty being proclaimed. And more than thirty thousand heretics of various nations and sects are said to have gone away by this decree. In particular it was deliberated what had to be done about Peter Vermilio (Vermilius or Vermiglio, or also Vermigli, as Ranke has it Histoire de la Papauté.), a Florentine, who is commonly called Peter Martyr from the name of St. Peter the martyr, given him when he was baptized. He, at sixteen years of age, having been co-opted among the canons regular of St. Augustine, had in a short time acquired for himself a great fame of learning and knowledge, both by preaching and by teaching either philosophical instructions or the sacred letters, and had hence been taken up to the chief offices and dignities among his brethren. When more than forty, he left Italy, his country, and, perjured towards God and religion, passed over to the party of the innovators. He taught first at Strasbourg for five years; then, as was the custom among all, especially monks, falling away from the right faith, he took to wife a certain Catherine Dampmartin (so most call her by surname), sprung from Metz in Lorraine, who herself also had formerly vowed her virginity to God in the cloister. (Jurieu indeed denied this, or at least wished to call it into doubt, but without reason, as Chaufepié himself says openly enough.) After this, at the invitation of Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, he came into England in the year 1547; where at the beginning of the following year, promoted by Edward VI to the theological chair at Oxford, he won most abundant applause among the favourers of the reformed religion. Shortly after he obtained a canonical prebend in Christ Church, and besides a house belonging to the college, in which he might live with his pretended wife. Where the Calvinist Chaufepié aptly notes that this was the first woman who, from all past time, ever lived in any of the colleges of Oxford Chaufepié, Dictionnaire, Supplément de Bayle, at the word: Martyr..

[95] Sander's narrative is continued. Of him, then, after it had been deliberated for some time whether he should be handed over to the flames, "it was decided," says Sander, "that, because he had come under public faith, he should rather be dismissed with his people… But the body of Bucer, buried a little before at Cambridge, was ordered according to the laws to be exhumed and burned with the corpse of Paul Fagius; and the impure bones of Peter Martyr's wife to be thrown out of the cemetery into a dunghill at Oxford." Then in book III, which is entitled Elizabeth, and, Sander being already dead, was prepared by another, as is established from the preface, it is related (namely under Elizabeth Ibid., p. 275.) that public and most celebrated funeral rites were performed anew for the ashes, or rather shades, of Bucer and his companion; and it is added: "Just as at Oxford the bones of the harlot wife of Peter Martyr, collected with the greatest zeal from the dunghill into which they had been thrown, are carried back into the neighbouring church where they had first been buried: but no longer into their former tomb, but, with the greatest wickedness, the most ancient monument of the most holy virgin Frideswide, the titular Saint of that church and place, being opened, they are carried into her sacred tomb, and so mingled with the venerable relics of the same Saint that in future it could not be distinguished between the one carcass and the other, this impious epitaph being added: Here rests religion with superstition. So will Christ discern of the living and the dead."

[96] The same from Anthony Wood. Almost the same things are related in Dugdale Ibid., p. 275., who in the same place makes mention of a book written specially on this matter, as is clear from the title: for it is inscribed: "History of the exhumation of Katherine, late wife of Peter Martyr, in 8vo, 1562." Its author, J. Calfhill, had the chief parts in this pitiable event. From this writing of Calfhill, which without doubt he had before his eyes, Ant. Wood describes the mingling of the Relics thus Hist. et Antiq. Oxon., p. 279.. "Among these things," he says, "the visitors were advised" (sent to Oxford by Cardinal Pole, whose names you have at n. 92) "to make inquiry into the morals and religion of Catherine Cathie (that is not properly a surname, but a certain corruption of the word Catherine) or Dampmartin, formerly married to Martyr, but who had died four years before, and was buried in the church of Christ Church, not far from the sacred relics of St. Frideswide. These, therefore, summon to themselves some Oxford people with whom they knew the deceased woman had had acquaintance; having this at any rate in mind, that if from any indications whatever they found that she was to be convicted of heretical depravity, they would burn with flames the woman's corpse dug out of the tomb. However, those whom they had summoned answering that they had been ignorant of the language which Catherine had used, and accordingly had never perceived anything as regards her opinion in sacred matters, the delegates write back to the cardinal with the matter unaccomplished… And he sent letters to Doctor Martiall (Marshall), dean of Christ Church, the sum of which was: that since Catherine Cathie, a woman of abominable memory, had contracted marriage with Peter Martyr, a heretic, although both had long since been bound by a vow of chastity; since also she had passed her life in detestable fornication with the aforesaid, who impugned the truth of the sacred Eucharist at Oxford, and, dying, near the tomb of the glorious Virgin

had been buried, he should therefore dig up the body hateful to all good men, and, as should seem to him most advisable, send it far away from the church and its bounds. Having received, therefore, the cardinal's letters, Marshall carried out the man's commands, and caused the woman's corpse to be buried in a dunghill next to his stables. There it is clear that it rotted for a whole five years. But afterwards, the rule having devolved upon Elizabeth, some of the Prelates, especially the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of London, ordered that it should be laid in a more honourable place. That business master James Calfhill, sub-dean of the aforesaid House, undertook before all, who, the corpse having been dug up by servants, ordering the bones to be put into a fairly handsome coffin, laid them by St. Frideswyde, waiting for a more opportune time, in which the rites of the obsequies might be paid with solemn pomp, as was fitting. Meanwhile Calfhill diligently searched out the Frideswydian Relics, understanding that they had been taken out of their repository (as they call it) by certain papists and hidden elsewhere in the church, to be carried, as occasion should offer, into a safer place; which indeed he found in two silk bags (darkened with a certain blackness by the injury of time and the kisses of worshippers), and mingled them with the bones of Catherine of whom I have spoken; which namely he was planning to bury together likewise. On the third before the Ides of January MDLXI, a great throng of men flocking together, Catherine was praised in a sermon (some jibes meanwhile being cast at St. Frideswyde), and she is granted burial now for the third time; of which on the next day (it was a Sunday) Robert Rogerson, a student of the House just named, made mention full of honour while he was announcing the gospel to the people. And in this way we have been freed from a superstitious dread arising from some ancient prophecy: for the old people believed that if the Frideswydian relics (which were always most religiously preserved by the canons of the same priory) were transferred elsewhere, the church itself would speedily fall… But, these things being omitted, someone of the academics composed for both (for, as I have said before, the women had been buried together) an epitaph in these words: HERE RESTS RELIGION WITH SUPERSTITION."

[97] Conclusion on the preceding. Who can read these things without a sense of indignation? So far, namely, does the mad lust of innovation carry mortals away that they neither indulge the most precious treasures of their country nor spare the most commended monuments of antiquity. Then, to whose good was a profanation of this kind? At any rate in our times you would find no sensible man who does not disapprove of it, does not blame it. However, from the threefold narrative which we have set out, it is seen that the writers, though of different religion, are unanimous in relating the principal fact, the mingling of the Relics; they also agree sufficiently about the epitaph, insulting to the catholics even to injury, after the custom of the time; although Burnet does not have mention of it. As regards the silk bags, in which the bones of St. Frideswide had been enclosed, there is no reason why we should hold the credit of Wood and Dugdale suspect, as will become more clearly known from what is presently to be said.

[98] A notice on the following history of Calfhill on the Exhumation of Catherine. We had collected these things about the mingling of the Relics from various writers, when afterwards it befell us to go to Oxford (which had long been among our wishes), in the month of August of the year 1849; chiefly with this design, that we might inquire more diligently into Frideswidian matters. And may it be permitted to us here before all to set down a testimony of a grateful mind towards all the officials of the Bodleian Library together, but especially towards the most illustrious and most learned Mr. Bandinel, Keeper of the Library (who had no small part in the recent edition of the Monasticon Anglicanum), and Mr. Coxe, to whom the care of the Mss. is especially entrusted, for the very great kindness and courtesy with which they deigned both to receive and to help us while staying at Oxford. Among other things which it was granted us to gather for our matter in this most vast and most celebrated arsenal of erudition and sciences, we hold not in the last place the writing of Calfhill (mention of which occurred above), long sought by us before, but in vain. Nor is it a wonder: although it was printed, yet since it comprises only a few pages, and treats a matter peculiar to the city of Oxford, it is not difficult to understand how, especially in so great a whirlwind of those times, it almost entirely perished. And yet in those few pages is contained a document especially authentic of a fact most to be regarded in the Frideswidian acts. For it is a Letter by which Calfhill renders an account to the bishop of London of the things which he undertook and accomplished in searching out and laying up again the bones of Catherine. Although, therefore, we have already treated of this subject at length, we do not at all hesitate to subjoin the words of Calfhill entire, keeping entire also the things we have disputed hitherto. For these latter, besides leading to a fuller knowledge of what was done, will bring, to our mind, chiefly this advantage, that they correct most of the things thrown by Calfhill against the catholics much more harshly than is fitting. Certainly from the whole complex of our narrative it will clearly result that there is no reason why the preachers of the reformed religion should charge the catholics with cruelty and barbarity; since they themselves, when they accuse their adversaries, afford ample matter for retorting. These things being premised, it remains that we set out Calfhill's Letter, with the title which it bears in the printed copy, namely the following:

The History of the Exhumation of Catherine, late wife of the most learned theologian Dr. Peter Martyr, and of her restitution to honourable burial, made at Oxford on the III before the Ides of January in the year MDLXI.

[99] James Calfhill to Edmund Grindal, most worthy bishop of London, Preface. everlasting greeting in the Lord. By the letters which you gave us with the commission we have been variously affected. For it was not so pleasant (things having been changed by the divine goodness) to have spent no bad labour in a pious cause, as it was troublesome both to have seen the iniquity of the former time and to have recalled to our memory the atrocity of all the deeds. For who is there that bears with moderation the grievous and unbearable injuries of the pious in that storm? Who does not shudder at the very remembrance of that tyrannical power? Certainly, when I embrace in mind and thought that savage interregnum of our Antichrist, and the unhappy domination of our commonwealth, although I rub open the old grief, yet I am both impelled to give thanks to God, and to proclaim ourselves now at last truly blessed. For as the gravity of a disease makes us love the medicine more: so the wretched wound inflicted through the loss of the divine word makes us hold the cure much dearer. We ought therefore to be wholly bent on this, that we may seem worthy of present goods rather than grieving over past evils. Wherefore, lest I rub open the scar drawn over pious minds, I pass over all the things which were done for almost the whole six years with all dreadfulness and savagery. I will touch only on this, which you both wish to be written out by me, and which has been most recently renewed.

[100] Pole After, then, Cardinal Pole, cast out from the borders of his country as he had deserved, had wandered through many foreign nations for several years, he was recalled home in the reign of Mary, with the consent of the queen and the senate. In the year of the Lord 1554, therefore, he so returned that he seemed to have brought home from Rome nothing else than the monstrous cruelty of that city, and an insatiable thirst for the blood of innocent men. (Did perhaps Henry VIII, Elizabeth, James I also carry away from Rome their deadly edicts against the catholics?) He, set in supreme power of affairs, sent to Oxford certain men, especially dear to him and chosen, partly on account of likeness of religion, partly of morals, with this commission: that they should restore the pontifical rights and diplomas which had been abrogated in the times of King Edward the sixth; and should diligently inquire whether there were any who neglected the pontifical ceremonies and counted them as nothing: if any such were found, about whom even the slightest suspicion of this thing clung, they should, all delay being cast aside, take care that they be cast out at the very first opportunity.

[101] He sends Visitors. There come with command and power Brooks, bishop of Gloucester, Nicholas Ormaneto, whom they commonly called the Datary, Robert Morwen, president of Corpus Christi college: Henry Cole, and Wright, doctors of civil law. There was in Brooks no common learning, an eloquence not to be despised, an acute wit, a gentleness of manners lovable enough, if the iniquity of those times and the company of evil men had not changed his nature. There was in Ormaneto nothing notable except an intolerable arrogance, in which he so wonderfully excelled that nothing more arrogant could even be feigned or thought. (That these things were said too bitterly, nay altogether injuriously, against Ormaneto, there will certainly be no one who will not judge even from Calfhill's own words. Far otherwise indeed did St. Charles Borromeo think of Ormaneto, and the writer of his Life: "There lived," he says [Life of St. Charles, by Giussano, rendered into Latin by Rossi, illustrated with notes by Oltrocchi, Milan edition 1751, col. 44.], "at that time Nicholas Ormaneto, most skilled in human and divine law, who had both rendered vicarial service to Matteo Giberti in the bishopric of Verona, and, having followed Reginald Pole, the cardinal of most well known name, into England, had given an eminent proof of probity and wisdom in reforming the studies of that kingdom. Now, returned from the council of Trent, he was leading a quiet life in an obscure parish, the more illustrious for his contempt of renown, and having won a greater celebrity through his desire of lying hidden. Him Charles, having obtained leave from the prelate of Verona, summons to Rome, and, having conversed with him in repeated meetings, destined him as president and his vicar for the synod of Milan." And St. Charles himself, writing to the cardinal of Alessandria when he was sending Ormaneto to Rome in the month of June of the year 1566: "you have," he says, "one in the conduct of affairs altogether upright, learned, brave, candid, and scarcely ever resting in promoting the business entrusted to him" [Life of St. Charles, by Giussano, rendered into Latin by Rossi, illustrated with notes by Oltrocchi, Milan edition 1751, col. 85, note a.]. And yet this is the man of whom Calfhill did not fear to write: "There was in Ormaneto nothing notable except an intolerable arrogance, in which he wonderfully excelled." Calfhill continues): "Cole was of learning eminent in his own opinion, but in that of others mediocre, of a nature so notably morose that it is no wonder if neither the sacred bible, which he had burned, nor the favourers of Christ, whom he had harassed, could please him. He could bear nothing worse than that even Cicero himself, or Plato, should be read by anyone. Why he did this we plainly do not know, unless perhaps because he was too much delighted with that ingenious paradox of his (that lack of knowledge and ignorance of things is the mother of true piety and religion). Morwen was a fairly aged father and a sparing old man, a good householder for looking after property, a judge little fit for settling controversies of doctrine and religion, yet a most keen defender of his antiquity. There were, and are, in Wright many ornaments of nature and learning; nor would you miss anything in that man except constancy, which, as it most befits good men, so especially pastors, whose part it is to have a stable and certain, not an erring and wandering, opinion about Religion." (Be it so; but what of Cranmer, whom the people of Oxford, a monument having been very recently erected, proclaim as a martyr of the new doctrine, who even in his very death exhibited most clear proofs of a perpetually fluctuating, unless you prefer to say dissembling, mind? See Bossuet Histoire des Variations, book VII, passim.. What of most of the prelates of England,

who professed one doctrine under Henry VIII, another under Edward VI, another under Mary, another under Elizabeth? Certainly, if any are to be branded with the mark of inconstancy, the standard-bearers of the reformed church, both earlier in order and denser in number, will meet us in crowds. However, it is evident that all the aforesaid men are here censured by Calfhill far more bitterly. Which not only does not favour his cause, but rather harms it very much.)

[102] They inquire into Catherine's religion. "These, after they had raged long enough at their pleasure against very many, and had burned an almost infinite number of Bibles, and of other books openly and salutarily explaining the sense of the doctrine of the Gospel, brought together into one public place by the market, came at length to such a pitch of madness that they vomited out the poison of cruelty not on the living only, but also on the dead and buried." (The same bitterness perpetually in style and words.) "There had been at Oxford in the times of Edward Peter Martyr Vermilius, a Florentine, royal professor of theology, a man of such elegance in teaching, subtlety in disputing, courtesy of manners, and finally innocence of his whole life, that by his genius, learning and piety he gathered into the fold of Christ very many who a little before, wallowing in the papal mud, had strayed from the truth. His wife, fearing God above all, living soberly and modestly at home and abroad with those of her own age, exchanged life for death in the year MDLII: certainly to the very great grief of the needy, whose poverty she had always munificently relieved with her means. How pious a woman she was, how dear to all good men, was shown by the mourning at her funeral." (The lower Calfhill strives to put down his adversaries, the higher he strives to extol his own. This is not the way of acting of a fair judge.) "Suspecting that she had been imbued with the same religion as her husband, and desiring to draw out the truth of this matter, they ordered each person between whom and either Peter or his wife they thought some familiarity had existed to be set before them: so that, if they found any such thing, they might burn the body of this deceased woman also at Oxford, not otherwise than they had done at Cambridge to the body of the most distinguished Bucer. All are brought in: being brought in, they are bound by oath to dissemble or conceal nothing of the things about which they should be questioned. Asked about her religion, all to a man answered that on account of the foreignness of the language which she used they did not indeed know what religion she professed. Therefore, disappointed in their hope, because they could not subject her, convicted of heresy by no witnesses, to a second death (which is the fury of the papists), they return to the cardinal, they report what they have done, that is, how shamelessly they had behaved, how many they had thrust out of the colleges unheard, how wickedly they had burned the most holy Bibles, finally how diligently they had searched out everything about Martyr's wife: that they had nevertheless found nothing why the body should by law be burned. The cardinal, however, thinking that he ought not to rest thus, or supposing that the very dogmas which Peter had at one time taught would never be made sufficiently void unless the bones of his deceased wife were consumed by the same flames in which he would have seen her husband himself burning with much greater pleasure, after some interval of time had elapsed, writes letters to Marshall, the most unworthy Dean of Christ Church, with this direction: That, since next to the body of the most holy Frideswide there lay the body of Catherine, the wife of Peter Martyr, he should cause it to be exhumed and cast out." Here again moderation, the companion of truth, is lacking. Calfhill is continually carried away by party zeal, as is abundantly established even from his words, swollen with injury. Whoever does not agree with him is either inept or impious or disgraceful. However, it is duly to be noted that in the commands of Cardinal Pole, on the testimony of Calfhill himself, there is no question of throwing Catherine's bones either into dung or into a dunghill. Then, did the innovators themselves spare the bones of blessed Frideswide? Did they not disturb them, profane them? And yet these had been held worthy of all veneration from many past centuries. There is therefore no reason why they should inveigh so bitterly against their adversaries, when they cut their own throats by their own deeds.

[103] Catherine is ordered to be exhumed. "The matter could not have been committed to a more suitable man. For he was a man both little sober and furious: so that he was very terrible not to the living only, but also to the buried and those lying in the bosom of the earth. He, when it had now grown evening, interrupting for some time his monstrous cups, accompanied by his porters and boon-companions, comes to the tomb: he orders workmen to be called together, tools to be got ready. When the battle line seemed to him sufficiently drawn up for the fight, he attacks the business, digs up the body, puts it when dug up on the shoulders of a certain porter, orders it, so placed, to be carried out and buried in a dunghill. And this farce was so acted by these impure men in those times in which impiety had so occupied the island of England that the more disgraceful and cruel anyone was, the better and holier a man he was held." These words truly you would rightly call those of a mind little sober. Calfhill does not perceive that mockeries of this kind are not worthy of a sensible man, and are to be relegated to the lowest rabble. Nor would he have found a grave man whom he could persuade of such things about Marshall.

[104] In the reign of Elizabeth, "But the merciful father God, Best and Greatest, who is wont to afflict His own for a time, lest, if they perpetually enjoyed prosperous things flowing according to their will, they should trust too much in themselves and forget the divine goodness (for such is human infirmity that it can scarcely bear either adverse or prosperous things with moderation), at length, moved by the continual prayers of the pious, snatched His servants from the jaws of lions panting daily for slaughter and destruction. He cast down the despisers of His most holy word from the seat of dignity, He raised up His chosen vessel Elizabeth, a most chaste and most accomplished virgin, to govern our commonwealth piously and prudently." (This indeed is mere and rotten adulation. We know what even the Anglicans themselves thought of the most chaste virgin Elizabeth, or what the learned think today.)

[105] Catherine's body is ordered "She, a few days after she had entered upon the kingdom, prudently appointed you, O most grave and most accomplished men, Matthew, archbishop of Canterbury, Edmund of London, Richard Goodrich (let others too be interposed, if you please), whom I name each for honour's sake, and gave you this authority, that you should take cognizance of causes regarding the worship and religion of God, and should do according to your prudence all things which pertained to establishing the light of the gospel and freeing the commonwealth from the papal dregs. Understanding, therefore, in what unworthy ways these greedy and rapacious beasts had treated the dead body of an innocent woman, you gave to certain of us who are at Oxford, and could learn the truth of the matter, this business, that we should take care that this mark of infamy be washed out, and that the body, drawn out of the dung and filth, be solemnly buried in some honourable place with a numerous people." (Let these things pass, except, however, the papal dregs and the greedy and rapacious beasts, which every prudent writer would have omitted.)

[106] to be dug up. "Therefore, after we had called together to us all who were either partners of the crime, or its agents, or at least by surer indications knew the honourable place of the pious monument and the foul manner of the wicked violation, we are led to the tomb of Frideswide, and not far from that place, in the northern part of the church, the grave that was is shown. The body (of Catherine) itself had been carried elsewhere, and through certain informers the place where it had been laid was indicated. We come, therefore, to Marshall's stable, and out of the rotten dung the corpse is dug up, the flesh not yet entirely consumed. There were in the skull the longer hairs, and the whole brain. To the bones, joined by no framework of limbs among themselves, there adhered white and consumed flesh. But we order them, just as they were, collected into one vessel, to be diligently kept by the sacristans in the sacred building, until the opportunity of a more celebrated feast should provide a more numerous people for the spectacle.

[107] Her bones are mingled with the relics of St. Frideswide. "Meanwhile, while, according to the duty of my office, I was diligently preparing all things which seemed to pertain to honouring the funeral, in the most hidden place of the church, by good fortune, I found certain darkish bones, carefully covered and wrapped in two silk bags. These the dull and old-fashioned canons of the same house were accustomed to keep religiously, and on the more solemn feasts to place openly upon the altar and in the sight of all, that they might be worshipped with great reverence and honour by the unskilled multitude. For the old opinion is that they were those of that virgin Frideswide, in which doting old men, and men infatuated by the tricks of the papists, thought there was such power and holiness that they cried out that the structure of the church would be entirely dissolved if they were moved from their place. But I, thinking nothing less the part of a good man than to imitate the hateful impiety and importunate cruelty of the papists, by no means wished to allow anything to be done unseemly and insultingly in this matter." (And for this we sincerely congratulate Calfhill; who would certainly have received much greater thanks from us if he had kept the precious treasure of the Relics inviolate.) "I was devising, therefore, a way by which both the bones might be treated humanely, and at the same time all foolish superstition taken away. Wherefore, mingled and confused with the bones of Peter Martyr's wife, in the upper part of the church facing the east, a discourse having first been held to the people, by which the reason of our counsel was shown, they were buried in the same monument with a great celebrity and concourse of men, on the third before the Ides of Jan." (that is, the IX day) "in the year MDLXI." It is worthy of note that the inscription of which we spoke above is not reported by Calfhill: Here lies religion with superstition. Nor does Burnet mention it. But it is related by Sander, with whom Anthony Wood almost entirely agrees, as is established from what was related above at n. 96.

[108] On the following day Catherine is praised in a sermon. "On the day after that day, which was a Sunday (for one day was not judged sufficient for performing so many things together), our Rogerson held from the pulpit a sermon to the people, pious indeed and learned: in which, after he had said many things about the common lot of men: about breaking the itch and burying the fury of our flesh: about Christ Himself, who by His death fortified for us the way to life: at length he made sufficiently honourable mention both of other most illustrious men whom the wicked tyranny of the papists took out of the way while living: and also of this most accomplished woman, whom, dead and buried a whole two years, the cruel men dragged from her tomb. He touched a worn wound, which caused grief, although he also brought causes why it ought to have caused less. For he set forth the life of an honourable matron as a pattern to be imitated: the cruelty of the worst men as rocks to be avoided, not so that he might wound pious hearts by the renewal of that tyrannical power: but rather that he might kindle them to set our God in the highest praise and glory, and to bring all their forces to the overthrow of that wicked power. But in that which ought to have been chief in the oration, that he should adorn with her praises her for whose sake they had flocked together in numbers, he was moderate, lest either by heaping up immoderate praises he should increase the regret of the good, or by saying nothing in adorning virtue he should neglect the part and office of a good man. Wherefore he so spoke that he restored her, too injuriously treated by the papists, to her former fame, inflamed many hearers to piety: to the Roman see's

authority and superstition to be taken away he stirred up very many of every kind.

[109] Calfhill's Conclusion. "But lest I myself also should seem to undertake either a praise of piety or a censure of madness, since it was decided to write out the acts of a certain small business and time, I will make an end. Meanwhile I pass over in silence the congratulating wills and judgments of men, who gave a splendid indication of their mind not only by their countenance and presence, but also by verses fixed to the doors. Receive, therefore, best of prelates, our zeal towards the dead woman whom living we deservedly and always esteemed. Receive a monument, such as it is, of your virtue and piety, since we hold you to have both such authority that you can, and such care of holiness and religion that you will, for the cause of promoting Christ and His gospel, not only reward the living, but also vindicate the dead and those lacking breath from the monstrous injury of furious men."

[110] Calfhill's writing, partly to be praised, partly to be blamed. Let it be said in general of the whole writing of Calfhill that there is lacking in it a more peaceable mind, more alien from party zeal. Which things nevertheless do not prevent its being held in great value as to substance. But it would be esteemed much more by sensible men if the author had used a less bitter form. Far more moderately at any rate do the Doctors of Oxford think and write today, as many as there are, men eminent in notable learning or doctrine. Let the Inscription be a proof which they caused to be set on the monument, truly most splendid, which some years ago they erected in memory of Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer, and which therefore, turned from English into Latin, I have thought should be written down here.

TO THE GLORY OF GOD

AND IN * GRATEFUL MEMORY

OF HIS SERVANTS

THOMAS CRANMER

NICHOLAS RIDLEY

HUGH LATIMER

PRELATES OF THE CHURCH

OF ENGLAND

WHO NEAR THIS SPOT

YIELDED THEIR BODIES

TO BE BURNED,

BEARING WITNESS

TO THE SACRED TRUTHS

WHICH THEY

HAD AFFIRMED AND MAINTAINED

AGAINST THE ERRORS

OF THE CHURCH OF ROME;

AND REJOICING

THAT TO THEM IT WAS GIVEN

NOT ONLY TO BELIEVE IN CHRIST

BUT ALSO * TO SUFFER FOR HIS NAME.

THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED

BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION,

IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD GOD

MDCCCXLI.

Let them say: the errors of the Roman church; since this is their opinion. But they refrain from reproaches and insults: for these are exceedingly far from their minds, which are not only excellently imbued with learning, but splendidly formed to every courtesy.

[111] A brief account of Calfhill. Not so Calfhill, a summary of whose life from Anthony Wood it will not be beside the point to have subjoined here. "James Calfhill, born in Shropshire, came forth as a pupil or student of that House (of Christ), from that most recent foundation of Henry VIII; and, having acquired the knowledge of logic and philosophy in the usual course of studies, was adorned with the master's degree in the year MDLII. From the time when he first began to drink in letters there, he gave the highest hope that he would at length arrive at great things; for he was endowed both with a disposition composed to gravity, and with an acute wit and a lively vigour of mind. In the year LX he entered upon a prebend (namely that of sub-dean) from the very institution of the church, and five years after he incepted in the faculty of sacred theology. Afterwards he shone forth as Rector of Bocking, in Essex, and also archdeacon of Colchester, and was designated by the queen (Elizabeth) successor of Sandys, translated from the see of Worcester to that of London; but he appears to have been prevented by the intervention of death from being consecrated bishop. He was held among the first poets, and especially comic ones, of the century in which he lived. He also knew accurately the art of disputation, and in sermons no less than in familiar conversation he showed himself a by no means ineloquent orator. He wrote, to omit other things:

The history of the exhumation of Catherine, late wife of Peter Martyr. Edition of 1562, Latin.

Progne, a Tragedy, Latin.

Various Poems, Latin.

An Answer to John Martiall, on the Cross. London 1565, English.

He died at Bocking on the XX of August in the year of the Lord MDLXX, in the XL of his age, and received a tomb in the church of that village, in which year also he had voluntarily resigned his canonry" Antiq. Oxon., book 2, p. 263..

[112] The Monument of St. Frideswide in Christ Church, Oxford. There still exists today in Christ Church, in the theological or Latin chapel, at the northern side of the choir, the tomb or monument of St. Frideswide, or, as the inscription has it (written by a yawning hand on a stone slab, not even fixed, but only laid on the tomb): the Shrine of S. Frideswide, died in the year 740 (the tomb of St. Frideswide, who died in the year 740). It is a structure of fair size and height, consisting of three stages; of which the lowest is of stone; both upper ones of wood. The stone stage (on whose upper flat part may be seen the traces of two statues which the Cromwellian whirlwind took away) is a little higher than the lower wooden one, and this than the upper, likewise of wood. The length of the monument takes roughly fifteen feet, the breadth about eight. One ascends to the upper flat part of the stone stage by eight steps likewise of stone, inserted in the monument itself on the left side, on the part of the theological chapel. Those steps are very much worn and hollowed out; from which it seems to follow by no improbable conjecture that the faithful and pilgrims were formerly accustomed to go up and down there in very great numbers for the sake of devotion; since something similar commonly holds in almost all places where a more celebrated concourse of the people has been had to the relics or tomb of the Saints.

[113] The various parts of that monument are described. It is evident to me that the wooden part of the monument was made for this purpose, that it might be placed upon the stone part, although lately (when I was at Oxford for the second time, in the month of August 1850) I heard from some that this is called into doubt today. The ornaments of both parts fit each other too aptly for me to believe that this happened by chance. The niches also, in the same number in each stage, correspond perfectly to each other. Each wooden stage has fairly notable cuttings in that part, on both sides along its length, where the monument touches the two columns between which it is seen placed today. These cuttings, since they were made by a light, or rather careless, hand, sufficiently betray that the wooden stages were originally destined for another seat: for it would not easily be understood that a work of this kind was so finished that it could not be placed in its own seat without being disfigured. The stone part fits better with the two columns: yet I should not think that it stood from the beginning where it is now seen. Nor does the opinion please me of a man otherwise most skilled in architecture, Mr. Willis, who thinks that the wooden part was placed on the stone mass only so that it might serve the monks or canons of Frideswide's as a watching-loft, from which they might observe what was done in the church, or might keep watch over the tomb of their holy Virgin. I do not know by what reason a conjecture of this kind would be proved. However, since the celebrated Mr. Willis proposes to write expressly about Christ Church and in particular about the tomb of St. Frideswide, perhaps he will bring for his opinion arguments (of which, however, by the leave of so great a man I would say, I strongly doubt) which may carry away the assent of the learned.

[114] Whether the relics of St. Frideswide are still found there? The common opinion among the people of Oxford is that the relics of St. Frideswide, mingled with the bones of Catherine, have remained hidden under this monument to this day. This, however, is not clearly shown from Calfhill's narrative, which is not altogether clear in this place (above, num. 107). It appears, however, that only those relics of the holy Virgin were mingled with the bones of Catherine which were contained in the two silk bags. Hence there arises another question also, namely whether the entire remains of Frideswide, or only notable parts of them, were enclosed in the aforesaid bags? For my part I should believe the entire ones, moved chiefly by these words of Prior Philip: "He (Richard of Canterbury) translated the bones of the glorious Virgin from the tomb, and placed them in a shrine" (which I interpret as a Reliquary), "lest so precious a pearl should lie longer covered with earth" (Compare n. 80). More and more certain things cannot be brought: for this it would be necessary to penetrate into the interior of the Monument, which perhaps (at least as to the stone part) was originally built over the tomb itself; unless you prefer that it was erected from the beginning for raising and exhibiting the shrine or reliquary. And to this bear the things which are had in the Wykes Chronicle at the year 1289: "The old shrine" (of which we have just spoken) "of St. Fritheswyte was translated, and placed in a new and more precious shrine in the same church, and near the place where it was before placed; which shrine indeed had been prepared long before." Some difficulty, however, is made by the words: "near the place where it had before been placed"; which are not so easily interpreted of a simple coffin, or chest or casket. It might be said, however, that on this occasion the Monument itself was also moved from its place, and new ornaments added.

[115] The age of the Monument uncertain. From these it is now clear that the age of the Monument is uncertain. Gutch indeed asserts Fasti Oxonienses, p. 504, note 3. that it was erected by Prior Philip, who, he says, "completed the church, and set up that magnificent tomb of his patroness, still to be seen today, into which he himself in the year 1180 brought her relics, and wrote of her life and miracles." These things Gutch relates very confidently. But a difficulty arises from the form of the tomb as it is now seen. The recent Handbook for travellers Handbook for Visitors to Oxford 1847., where it treats of Christ Church: "among the monuments," it says, "that which is commonly called the shrine of St. Frideswide is especially eminent. The form of the work is certainly (certainly) referred to the fifteenth century, and it is probable that it only later occupied the place which it now holds." From which it would follow that it is falsely ascribed to Prior Philip, nor was it erected on the occasion of the translation at the end of the thirteenth century. Unless we say that ornaments were afterwards added to the original structure, or (which perhaps could more easily be admitted) that the stone part of the monument was set up in the twelfth or thirteenth century, but the wooden part in the fifteenth century. Which, however, is mere conjecture. Nor is it to be passed over that the celebrated Mr. Willis expressly pronounced (as several assured me of those who lately, namely in this summer of the year 1850, had been present at the lecture which he gave on architecture in Christ Church itself before almost the whole university) that this also is his opinion, namely that the whole monument or tomb of St. Frideswide is of a more recent age; and that this is clearly shown from the form or style of the work and the kind of ornaments. No one at any rate will easily depart from the opinion of a man, by the consent of all, most versed in this matter. Whether perhaps the tomb of St. Frideswide was renewed on the occasion of the new celebration appointed, of which we said more above, at n. 87, where we were treating expressly of the cult: namely, in the year 1481, in the council of London, it was decreed that thenceforth the feast of St. Frideswyde should be kept throughout the whole province of Canterbury, with rulers of the choir and nine lessons; because, namely, the supreme pontiff had lately decreed that that holy Virgin should be numbered in the catalogue of the Saints and venerated by the faithful of Christ

had decreed Wilkins, Concil., vol. III, p. 613.. Without doubt the festival of St. Frideswide will then have been celebrated at Oxford with more solemn rite: nor is it at all repugnant, among other proofs of more fervent devotion, to admit a restoration or renewal of that monument. If this be granted, the opinion of the celebrated Willis would indeed stand firm, since the tomb of St. Frideswide, as it is now seen, would have to be referred to the end of the fifteenth century. I should not think, however, that it was placed from the beginning in the place where it stands today; nor either that the wooden part, which was perhaps added later, was placed on top by the canons as a watching-loft. And these are the things which in a matter not a little obscure it has been permitted us to investigate and attain by conjecture. Perhaps in future a clearer light will arise.

[116] Some things about the monument from Wood Whatever may be the case about these things, let it suffice for our purpose to have added certain things from the Oxford historiographer Anthony Wood, and his editor and continuator John Gutch, from which the value of the most splendid monument will be more clearly declared. "That tomb is a neat and elegant structure, placed upon the grave. Formerly it bore brazen effigies of a man and a woman, but now they have been taken away" (this was done in the time of Cromwell). "They are said to have represented Didanus and Safrida, the parents of St. Frideswide, whose bones had been laid together with their daughter's relics in the aforesaid church. The tomb stood from the beginning in a chapel at the southern part of the church, where it remained some centuries, almost given over to oblivion, and much disfigured by age and fire: but in the year 1180 (others have the year 1179) it was translated hither with great pomp, the king and other magnates being present; at which time very many miracles are said to have happened. In the year 1289, the old tomb or shrine being almost entirely eaten away, another was prepared, in which the bones were laid by William (de la Corner), bishop of Salisbury, etc. Nor was anything changed thereafter until the overthrow of the monasteries in England. For then (namely in the thirtieth year of Henry VIII) the monument was despoiled, and the offerings carried into the royal treasury; so that the bones left within, and then preserved until the times of Elizabeth, were only fictitious or spurious." What these words mean I should not easily say. For nowhere have I read that the tomb was opened by Henry VIII and the sacred remains taken out. Then Gutch continues:

[117] and from John Gutch. "Barten Holyday, D.D., archdeacon of Oxford, told Anthony Wood in the year 1661 that the aforesaid monument stood in the northern part of the choir, in the middle between two columns, where the chanters are accustomed to sit; surrounded by iron gratings, with her (St. Frideswyde's) image placed above, showing the appearance of one praying, two angels supporting the head; that it was taken away under Dean Duppa (who was designated and installed in the year 1629); that while it was being removed it was opened, and there appeared a perfect or entire effigy, bound with ribbons and leaves of different colours and other things of this kind (were they saw a perfect effigies, with many ribbons about it)." What the words "perfect effigies" here indicate is not so very clear, especially since it is said to have been surrounded with ribbons and similar things. It seems, however, from what follows, that a statue is meant. However, whatever may be the case, there is no question of the relics of St. Frideswide, both because the words of themselves sound nothing of the kind, and because they regard a time at which the mingling with the bones of Catherine had long since preceded. Which things would suggest that in the aforesaid there is not even question of the tomb of St. Frideswyde, as Gutch also deduces, but from another head: for so, after the words just cited, he continues: "He (the said Barten Holyday) added then that the monument so removed is among those which are seen today in the Theological chapel. If this be so" (Gutch subjoins), "it would not be a question of the monument of St. Frideswide, but rather of the tomb of Lady Montacute, which of all that are found in the said place is the only one furnished with the effigy of a woman. Probably the monument of St. Frideswide rose in the upper part of the choir to the south, where some trace of an arch or vault appears." Thus far Gutch, whose words we have made Latin [See History and Antiquities of the colleges and Halls in the University of Oxford, by Ant. Wood, with a continuation to the present time by the editor John Gutch. Oxford 1786. Likewise the Appendix to the aforesaid history, Fasti Oxonienses, p. 306 and 307.].

* "gratiful" (grateful).

* "Sake," for the cause.

§ VI. The Cult of St. Frideswide outside the borders of England; especially at Bomy, a village of Artois not far from Thérouanne. The Acts.

The holy Virgin is honoured in France, and according to some also at Rome Thus far of the cult of our holy Virgin at Oxford and in its neighbourhood. But, as Mabillon notes in her Life: "Frideswide is honoured in many places, not only in England, but also in France and in the city of Rome. In France indeed, a mile and a half from Thérouanne, there is a certain village, commonly called Bomy, in which Frideswide is honoured as patroness. Our people of Fontenelle (Benedictines) also venerated her with a certain proper office. And at Rome also she is said even now to have an oratory, according to Malbrancq in book IV on the Morini, chapters LXI and LXII and in the Scholia, who therefore thinks that she at some time set out for Rome. In the Saxon Chronology a certain Frithogita is related to have gone to Rome in the year DCCXXXVI; was it Frideswide?" Acta SS. Ordin. S. Benedicti, saec. III, part I, p. 561. As regards the oratory and the Roman journey, there is nothing that we may add to what we related above at n. 36, where we called both into doubt. Concerning the cult of the people of Fontenelle we have found nothing which deserves special mention here. Concerning the cult among the people of Bomy it is worth while to call some things to criticism more fully.

[119] The cult of Bononia. For this matter a certain little book will serve us very much, whose title is Vie de S. Frewisse (Life of St. Frideswide), published at Saint-Omer in the year 1720, by the Rev. M. de Neufville, curé or parish priest of the church of St. Aldegund in the same city. This little book is today very rare; perhaps a single copy exists, which the very noble M. de Vilmaret lent us for a time, when he received us with the greatest courtesy and kindness, while we were visiting Bomy to investigate the Relics of St. Frideswide. The writer of the said Life, as far as one may conjecture from that little work, was a fairly learned man. The things which regard the deeds of our Virgin he drew chiefly from Malbrancq and from the writings of the Rev. M. Le Heudre, a learned and prudent man, who for many years presided over the church of Bomy. Before all, the Rev. M. de Neufville had in mind by his writing to sharpen the piety of the people of Bomy towards Frideswide, whence he is chiefly occupied in searching out the things which bear on the origin, antiquity and spiritual advantages of her cult in that place. If the things which he adduces are accurate, it would follow that the cult among the people of Bomy is contemporary with St. Frideswide herself, or at least very near to her age. However, the learned reader will judge from the narrative subjoined, which we make Latin from the French.

[120] At Bomy there is an Oratory of St. Frideswide. "Bomy," these are the words of the Rev. M. de Neufville, "is a village of the diocese of Boulogne (now Arras) in the district of Artois, about one mile distant from Thérouanne, where the count (de Trazegnies) d'Armuyden, lord of the village, has his residence" (the house today belongs to the aforesaid M. de Vilmaret). "That place became celebrated from the truce agreed there on the XXX of July of the year 1537 between Francis I, king of France, and the emperor Charles V, who was besieging Thérouanne, and by virtue of which this city was freed from the siege. That village, however, is far more venerable to the faithful on account of the cult shown to St. Frideswide. Although she is no longer the principal patroness of this church, since from the end of the XII century it has been dedicated to St. Vedast, bishop of Arras, she is nevertheless held in the greatest honour, and is honoured most devoutly not only by the people of Bomy but also by the surrounding peoples, who frequently come to her oratory for the sake of religion. That oratory is part of a hermit's cell, which, situated on the top of a hill and adjoining a wood, is most suitable for cultivating solitude. From time immemorial it is called the Oratory or Chapel of St. Frideswide, and is subject to the spiritual jurisdiction of the curé of Bomy, who there twice every year sings first vespers and celebrates the holy sacrifice, namely on Low Sunday or Quasimodo, the day of the dedication of the oratory, and on the XIX of October, on which St. Frideswide died and her festival recurs; and there is there a benefice having annual revenues, from which Mass is to be said several times every week. The lords of Bomy, as being its founders, enjoy the right of patronage or collation." There follow certain things less pertinent to our matter.

[121] The antiquity of the Oratory is proved from Malbrancq, Then the antiquity of the oratory is proved from the Geographical Map which Malbrancq exhibits De Morinis, vol. I. under this title: "The extent of the Morini under Caesar, and the nomenclature of places from the year 800." In this map, so de Neufville rightly reasons, are read these words: "Sancta Frideswidis," with a sign indicating a village having a church, situated not far from Thérouanne; but the name Bomy is nowhere found; whence one may argue that the village which today is called Bomy was formerly called Sancta Frideswidis. And hence it is further inferred that the holy Virgin was very well known there. For if from the year 800 the oratory and the village were called by her name, it follows that the inhabitants already then acknowledged her as patroness and pursued her with singular devotion. Which indeed would prove the cult at Bomy to be in fact contemporary with the age of St. Frideswide; since she died towards the middle of the eighth century. This whole deduction flows rightly, if the principle from which it proceeds be assumed as certain, namely that the map exhibited by Malbrancq is accurate and undoubted; which I should not easily affirm of each and every stroke of it, so much the more because the sources are not indicated from which the author drew his names and marks; and moreover the authority of Malbrancq, though a not unlearned, nay laborious, writer, is not of itself so great that his assertions cannot reasonably be called into doubt by anyone.

[122] from local tradition, Hence also de Neufville continues in this way: "So indeed holds the tradition of that place. And although I do not give complete faith to popular opinions, which for the most part lack a sufficiently suitable foundation, I will say, however, that the tradition of which there is question here, in so far as it regards the antiquity of the oratory, does not lack the support of writers who are not to be despised in this question. The Rev. M. Le Heudre speaks in these words Life of St. Frideswide, p. 12.: 'We rejoice in the memory of St. Frideswide by help of the aforesaid oratory, which is a sacred place among the most ancient of all Artois.'" He subjoins

that it is a most likely conjecture that the holy Virgin, while she lived, stayed for some time in the territory of Bomy; whence he not obscurely intimates, in his opinion, that the oratory was either begun by her, or at least founded at no great interval after her death, though perhaps not in exactly the same place where it now rises, yet not far distant.

[123] by the grant of Bishop Milo, and the letters of Desiderius. Then de Neufville continues: "No less clearly speaks Malbrancq, who shows that the parish of St. Frideswide belonged to the diocese of the Morini (Thérouanne); that Milo, the first of this name, the thirtieth in the series of bishops of that church" (he is the thirty-first among the compilers of the New Gallia Christiana Vol. X, col. 1546., and sat from the year 1131 to the year 1158), "granted the said parish to the abbey of St. Augustine" (of the Premonstratensian Order, near Morinum or Thérouanne, of which Milo himself was the founder, and its patron St. Augustine, apostle of the English, from whom the abbey obtained its name); "that afterwards the abbot of the said monastery ceded it back to Walter Butri, lord of Bomy, as is established from the letters of Desiderius, bishop of the Morini, given in the year 1187" (of these letters we shall inquire below). "Malbrancq treats of this parish, as also of the oratory and spring of St. Frideswide, as if they were things smelling of the greatest antiquity, and intimates quite openly that all these things are contemporary with the time of the death of St. Frideswide herself." If, therefore, we assume with them (Le Heudre and Malbrancq) that the Saint really lived for some time in the territory of Bomy, we shall without difficulty grant also that the highest antiquity occurs here. But since we above, at n. 36 and 37, called into doubt this pilgrimage of St. Frideswide among the Morini, the force of the reasoning set out above is either struck down or at least very much weakened thereby. Those authors seem to move in a perpetual circle, as they say; while on the one hand they deduce the antiquity of the cult from the pilgrimage; and on the other the pilgrimage from the antiquity of the cult. However, whoever has attentively considered the documents brought forward thus far will easily grant that the cult at Bomy bears marks of antiquity by no means to be despised, and that we do not lose our labour while we weigh these things more diligently.

[124] On the spring of St. Frideswide at Bomy. De Neufville treats especially Life of St. Frideswide, chapter V, p. 101. of the spring which adjoins the hermit's cell, and whose waters, not far from there, gather into a stream, which, called the Laquette, after a course of some miles runs into the Lys near Aire. "That spring is commonly named after St. Frideswide (La fontaine de sainte Frewisse), which name it keeps from time immemorial, and under this title it is equal in age to the oratory of which we have spoken above. In the diploma or letters of Desiderius, bishop of the Morini, of the year 1187, mention is made of this spring as of an object of the greatest veneration, since Walter Butri, as a special favour, grants to the abbot and monks of St. Augustine the free use of that spring, 'and all common ways, and especially to the spring of St. Frideswide…' The writers who mention that spring seem to attribute to it a certain heavenly efficacy. 'It brings,' says Le Heudre, 'no little solace to those who drink of it, when pilgrims come with a sincere affection of devotion.'" The oft-mentioned de Neufville subjoins: "Malbrancq has similar things, affirming that even in his time healings of this kind were obtained: 'The waters of that spring, drunk, have been made salutary to very many, and to these times the favour of the Virgin becomes propitious to those who come.'" We add that the same Malbrancq, after the words just cited by de Neufville, at once subjoins: "As the Lord de Le Heudre, licentiate of S.T., dean and curé there" (in the village of Bomy), "is now a witness of long standing, who has fruitfully collected the things piously done by the Saint, both from the English seminary of Saint-Omer and with the help of ancient writers" De Morinis, vol. I, book IV, chapter LXVI.. The same author explains his mind more fully in the Scholia or Notes on book IV Ibid., p. 684.. Since there especially is set out, and indeed not inelegantly, in what state the devotion to Frideswide was in his time, we judge it worthy to write down his words here entire.

[125] A description of the shrine and devotion of Frideswide from Malbrancq, "Fredeswide or Fredeswidis is she who is honoured today in the district called Bomy, a mile and a half distant from the city of Thérouanne, where is one head of the little river Vuellula or Laquette; in French they call her Sainte Frewisse. Her acts relate that she left her country by voluntary exile with two companions, the sea having been crossed, and that for the space of three years. And since that village of Bomy has from all memory had a church sacred to that Saint, recalling her festive day every year on the XIX of October: and also there sits nearby a little shrine with a hermit's cell, inhabited hitherto by anchorites, with water bubbling up beneath, a wood overshadowing it above: where also every year, on the first Sunday after the Paschal solemnity, the celebrated dedication of the place recurs: one may gather that Fredeswide sought that retreat as most suited to her wishes: for since she was exceedingly desirous of visiting the places marked by the footsteps of the Saints, as her acts relate, she was settled here as it were in their midst, as we have said. If further it is argued from her little shrine there that she undertook the Roman journey by this way; at the same time clearer marks appear that she settled here, and especially the water drunk at her spring, which extinguishes the heats of fevers almost at the very moment, or for the most part shortly after, on the testimony of the present curé himself (Le Heudre), a learned and upright man, argues that the Saint once worked something there by which she not only drew pilgrims to herself, but they themselves sought remedy for themselves from the place, in some manner the heir of her virtues. For no relics are said to be in it. Then she could have been attracted by the use and pious custom of the notable ascetics and nuns who had come from Britain into these monasteries (neighbouring on every side to the territory of Bomy, at the time at which Frideswide is supposed to have come into the lands of the Morini); and especially of Erkembodo, who in that year 739, in which her coming is recorded, was in the mouth and the praise of all. Besides the authors cited in the margins, the Roman Martyrology, the Breviary of Salisbury, and Molanus in the Additions to Usuard at the XIX of October make mention of Frediswide."

[126] [whose opinion, however, on the stay of our holy Virgin among the Morini is not proved.] These things Malbrancq, where he heaps up whatever he could collect to establish his opinion on the stay of St. Frideswide among the Morini. All his arguments seem merely conjectural. But as regards the acts of St. Frideswide to which he appeals, one may rightly ask why he did not bring them to light? To us at any rate acts are altogether unknown from which a solid proof could be drawn that the holy Virgin, while she was among the living, came into these regions. However, from what has been said thus far the venerable antiquity of the cult of Frideswide remains undoubted. Which is proved both by that old oratory with the hermit's cell sacred to her honour from time immemorial, and by the spring which a most ancient and perpetually self-consistent tradition makes contemporary with the oratory in celebrity.

[127] On the letters of Bishop Desiderius. It remains that we look a little more attentively at the letters of Bishop Desiderius, of which mention has already fallen several times. First, therefore, we shall set them out here in full; then we shall investigate their genuineness or authenticity; finally we shall state the principal things which can be deduced from them for our matter. The letters are found in our Malbrancq, On the Morini Vol. III, p. 520.. And they are of this kind: "Desiderius, bishop of the Morini. When the abbot of St. Augustine's of Thérouanne had much besought the Lord Walter Butri that he would transfer his court of Fredeswide, in the same parish, to the valley of Wigelm and of Walter Butri, in my presence the abbot, with the consent of the chapter, granted to Walter Butri whatever right he had in his mill, and the whole court of St. Fredeswidis, with the orchards and with the land contiguously adjoining. Besides these things, the abbot granted that, within a year after the chapel of St. Fredeswidis should be removed by the Lord Walter Butri, he would transfer it to the valley of Wigelm and build it, and would institute a priest serving there perpetually at the expense of the abbot. The bodies also of the dead he would transfer from the former place (to) the new chapel, at the good pleasure of Walter Butri. And Walter Butri, in exchange, gave to the church of St. Augustine ten measures near the new court, wherever they wished: likewise six times twenty measures of new land to be cultivated and marled (manured), without seed and every exception. And whatever land in the parish of Bomi they should buy, or receive in alms, they should freely possess and cultivate, and all common ways, and especially to the spring of St. Fredeswidis, and likewise all pastures, and the brothers should remain free from every exaction of milling-dues. Done in the year 1187."

[128] What is to be thought of their authenticity; Malbrancq affirms that these letters are recorded in the cartulary of the monastery of St. Augustine; and confesses that those Records suggested to him a useful knowledge of many places. It is established moreover that he was very diligent in searching out and copying the cartularies or records or registers of the neighbouring abbeys, which appears also from a certain letter of his to Fr. Heribert Rosweyde (a name venerable to Hagiographers); where among other things he writes these words: "The severity of the cold and the lack of letter-carriers have caused me to write back a little late to your Reverence: add that there was scarcely material for writing back. For whatever you may scrape together from every side, your Reverence had left nothing untouched either among the monks of Saint-Bertin or among those of Saint-Winnoc … having been made heir only of your leavings, and that for a time. This indeed the monks themselves boasted… What I have and hope for besides are antiquities scraped and to be scraped together from various districts; from curés, from parchments, little touching the life of the Saints of Belgium. I send, however, the life of St. Frigesvida, which I should not think is in your Reverence's hands… I shall see what the later years will bring and what that chronicle of Andres." This letter was given at Aire on the IV of March 1622; and it is found among the Mss. formerly collected by the Hagiographers our predecessors. I note in passing that the subscription bears: Jacobus Mallebrancq; whereas that name is generally read printed: Malbrancq. The Life of St. Frideswide, which is here corruptly written Fregesvida, is taken word for word from the commentary of Francis Godwin On the Prelates of England, of which we have already made mention rather often.

[129] which is confirmed from other almost contemporary documents; Since at the time at which Malbrancq was writing his history of the Morini the monastery of St. Augustine was flourishing, there is no room for doubting that he found the letters of Desiderius in the cartulary. Hence no one would easily contradict their authenticity. Otherwise the other things of this kind which the said writer drew from the same records will for the same cause have to be either rejected or at least held as suspect. But if mention of the grant or Exchange contained in those letters is not made among the compilers of the Gallia Christiana, although many other things of the same kind are enumerated there, both in the Life of Milo I (who is held the founder of the said monastery about the year 1131) and in the Life of Desiderius

Nova Gallia Christiana, vol. X, col. 1546 and 1549.; a silence of this kind, being something altogether negative, which can arise from manifold causes, proves nothing of itself against the credit of that document; for not all things need be recorded by all in order to be held faithful and genuine. Let the same judgment be passed on the Premonstratensian Annals, where also the letters of Desiderius are not set out, nor is mention made of them directly, although in the Proofs (or Collection of documents), which are found most abundantly in the second part of the first volume, many charters are brought forward regarding the monastery of St. Augustine. Many things, however, are contained in the documents cited there which are evidently connected with the grant or Exchange recorded in the letters of Desiderius, and accordingly prove indirectly the credit of these letters.

[130] namely from the charter of Milo II, Thus Annales Praemonstratenses, in the Proofs, CXXXIII. in the charter which is inscribed: "Confirmation of the goods and rights of the church of St. Augustine by Milo II, Bishop of Thérouanne, in the year 1168," is read: "We strengthen and confirm by the impression of our seal the things which we have thought worthy to be expressed by name: the altar of Stavela … one carucate of land" (that is, according to Du Cange's glossary, as much land as can be cultivated with one plough in a year) "which Hugh Bouterius gave you in the parish of Bomii. The third part of the whole mill which is situated in the lower part to the north of Bomii, which Bernard and Hugh his son had given you in perpetuity, for six raseria to be paid annually, by the hand of their Lord Walter Butrius." And again in the charter of the same Desiderius, confirmatory of prior donations, of the year 1174, which accordingly precedes in age his letters described above: "The land also which … Walter Botri, free from every exaction, gave you in exchange by the hand of his Lord Count Anselm, namely for the land which his father Hugh had given to your church" Ibid., CXXXV..

[131] and from a rescript of Pope Alexander III. The same things are read in the charter of Alexander III for the confirmation of the rights and goods of St. Augustine's of Thérouanne in the year 1170: "One carucate of land which Hugh Botrius gave you in the parish of Bomi. The third part of the whole mill which is situated on the inner side to the north of Boucy, which Bernard and Hugh his son gave you in perpetuity, for six Raseria to be paid annually by the hand of their Lord Walter Botrius." It is a repetition of the words of Milo II, some words being vitiated, either by the fault of the printer or by the error of the copyist. Finally, in the confirmatory charter of Adam, Bishop of Thérouanne, in the year 1223, these words are had: "The land also which … Walter Botry, free from every exaction, gave you in exchange by the hand of his Lord Count Anselm, namely for the land which his father had given to your church in alms."

[132] [What in the aforesaid confirms or impugns the credit of the letters of Desiderius.] In these, two things occur which can be referred to vindicating the authenticity of the letters of Desiderius. The first is the donation of the carucate; the other the grant of the third part of the Mill. As to the carucate, its donation, made by Hugh Butri, is confirmed by Milo II, Bishop of the Morini, in the year 1168, likewise by Pope Alexander III in the year 1170; then from the charter of Desiderius of 1174 it is had that for that carucate given by Hugh other land was substituted by his son Walter by exchange. Thus far all things cohere with one another: for nothing prevents Walter Butri in the year 1189 from having recovered from the monks of St. Augustine, a new transaction intervening, the same land which he had handed over to them fifteen years before. But a difficulty is raised by the charter of Bishop Adam of the year 1223: for in this it is supposed that the land which is treated in the earlier letters of Desiderius, namely of the year 1174, was in the possession of the monks also in the year 1223. It might be replied that it is not repugnant that what had been taken from the monks in the year 1189 came again afterwards into their hands, although this is established from no surviving document. But if anyone refuses to admit this, it will follow that in the letters of Desiderius given in the year just indicated there is no question of that land which the charters of Milo and Adam, or the earlier letters of Desiderius himself, regard; nor accordingly can anything be deduced from those for our matter. As to the Mill, it is beyond doubt that the third part of it was given to the abbot of St. Augustine's by Hugh Butri, the father of Walter. Nor in the above-said charters later than the year 1168 (I do not speak of the confirmation of Alexander III, since this makes one thing with the charter of Milo) is any further mention made of the Mill; whence one may gather that it remained in the hands of the abbot until in the year 1189 it came into the share of the exchange of which the letters of Desiderius of that year speak. And this being posited, an argument not to be despised is had for establishing the credit of those letters. Certainly there are very many monuments of antiquity, everywhere approved, which display far fewer marks of genuineness. And thus far of the authenticity. It remains that we deduce from these the things which bear on the antiquity of the cult of Fredeswide.

[133] [Consequences from the letters of Desiderius: the Shrine of St. Frideswide long like a parish;] After the cited letters of Desiderius, Malbrancq subjoins this note: "From this exchange it is argued that the shrine of St. Frideswidis was formerly held as a parish church with a cemetery, where the bodies of the citizens of Bomy were buried, and that that shrine was not transferred elsewhere: but that a new parish chapel, as they call it, was erected elsewhere, and a curé instituted where it is now seen. And Walter Butri, Dynast of Bomy, receives the court or villa of St. Frideswidis transferred from the Augustinians into his right, and in exchange makes over the acres there mentioned and fruitful rights." De Neufville, who himself also recites the letters of Desiderius, but turned from Latin into French, concludes similar things, but more explicitly. "That pact of exchange," he says, "between the abbot of St. Augustine's and the lord of Bomy is an indication that the oratory of St. Frideswide was the parish church of that place, inasmuch as it had a cemetery in which the bodies of the dead were buried, of which undeniable traces remain to the present day. For the Hermits who today have the care of that oratory affirm that in digging the earth of their garden they have many times struck upon human bones; which is a peremptory argument that there formerly existed there the cemetery of the church which was called after St. Frideswide. Those letters teach moreover that the title of parish church, with which the old oratory of St. Frideswide had remained distinguished for a long time, was transferred to another church, to be built within a year, as the pact of exchange held, in the valley of the same village of Bomy, whither the bodies buried in the old cemetery were to be carried.

[134] The Title then transferred to Bomy. "At that time, therefore, namely in the year 1188, the oratory of St. Frideswide lost its parochial rights, and thence is recognized the time from which the present parish church of Bomy was erected." Nor does it stand in the way that in the charter of Milo of the year 1168 mention is made of a carucate situated in the Parish of Bomii: for from this it is only legitimately inferred that the village which, if credit is to be given to Malbrancq (compare n. 121), was called after St. Frideswide from the year 800, was called by the name of Bomy at the end of the twelfth century. Which change of name could have arisen in the lapse of time from manifold causes. De Neufville adds that this parish was numbered among the principal ones even before the said translation of the title, which is established from all the things which the lord of Bomy granted to the abbot of St. Augustine's in order that he might obtain a right over it. He then deduces another commendation of that parish from the person of Gilbert, whom he calls the first curé and Dean of the translated church, who was a man of no common merit, and in great esteem with all, as shines out from a charter which he is found to have subscribed in the year 1188. Since this is short, and contains certain things regarding Walter Butri, it will not be beside the point to write it down here. "I, William, castellan of Saint-Omer, make known that Symon de Wal, the man of Walter Boterus, gave back to the same Walter the whole county lying in the land of Saint-Bertin in the village of Aquin, and Walter, with my consent, of whom he held it in fee, gave it to Saint-Bertin, with both the greater and the lesser justice, in free and absolute alms. Done in the year 1188, there writing John, master of Walter the castellan's son, William de Porte, William de Wimes, William de Squerdes, Gilbert, Dean of Bomy."

[135] It is established, therefore, that the cult at Bomy is most ancient. From all the things which we have disputed in the present paragraph it is evidently clear that the cult of St. Frideswide among the people of Bomy is most ancient. No one will deny that the documents we have brought forward at least show this, that that cult flourished solemnly there at the end of the twelfth century, and that, according to those very monuments, it already prevailed in the same village from time immemorial. But if in the recited charters or letters certain things occur which are not so easily reconciled with one another, it is to be recalled to mind that there is scarcely any historical question regarding times so remote from us which does not bring similar difficulties with it. The reason is that it almost never happens that all the monuments have come down to us entire. For the most part we have only a few out of many; and not rarely among those which survive, some are mutilated, others interpolated at least in part. The chief thing is that among the documents or diplomas which have come down to us there exists no contradiction: if this is not found, as in fact holds in this question which we are treating, the learned judge, and not undeservedly indeed, that the fact itself is established, although the several accompaniments or circumstances of it do not produce irrefragable credit.

[136] Its present state is set out. As regards the present cult of St. Frideswide among the people of Bomy, I find these things in a report sent by the curé of Bomy a few years ago to the Most Eminent Cardinal de la Tour d'Auvergne, Bishop of Arras, lately deceased in the Lord, in whose diocese the said parish is situated today. There is to be seen in the church of Bomy a statue of St. Frideswide (sainte Frewisse) and an arm (that form is common enough for enclosing relics of the Saints exposed to public veneration), in which a particle from the bones is seen encrusted. But no document exists by which the genuineness of these relics is proved. Before the revolution of affairs in France at the end of the eighteenth century, the feast of St. Frideswide was celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter; which feast indeed remained suppressed, notwithstanding the restoration of worship throughout France made at the beginning of this century. At the same time the old oratory and the adjoining hermit's cell were overthrown. And these things from the letters of the curé of Bomy to the Bishop or chancery of Arras.

[137] The Relics at Bomy do not seem authentic. I add what I myself saw and heard when I was at Bomy on the IX of April 1847. The arm of which I spoke above is of wood. The relics, which are fairly notable, are contained in an oblong little case which, in the middle part of the arm,

is seen inserted. The people have venerated them from time immemorial. But no authentic writing, nay none at all, is had which gives credit to those relics. Since, moreover, we have it from Malbrancq that they were unknown at Bomy in his time: for he writes in the Scholia on book IV De Morinis, vol. I, p. 684.: "For no relics are said to be in it" (namely the place or village); it sufficiently appears what is to be judged of the particle which is exhibited there today, without its being said whence and how it was received, without any document being produced, either ancient or recent, by which at least some mark of authenticity may be impressed on that particle.

[138] Pilgrims visiting the spring of St. Frideswide. Many pilgrims come to drink the water from the spring of St. Frideswide; far fewer, however, than in past centuries. Some also are said to have obtained healing, especially from fevers: but there is none about which, inquiry having been made, it is established. It is worthy of note that this spring is never dried up at any time of the year, whereas all the others which are found in the territory of Bomy are every year for the space of some days destitute of water. So the Rev. Parish Priest asserts. There prevails also commonly the opinion that this spring gushed forth when the holy Virgin's staff was fixed in the ground, as a certain curé of Bomy (probably the Rev. M. Le Heudre himself) already wrote to the hagiographers, our predecessors; whose letter exists, but somewhat mutilated, in the Mss. of the royal Library at Brussels. Finally, the little river issuing from that spring, in the part where it runs down towards the parish church, has its name among the people from St. Frideswide (Fleuve de Ste Frewisse); but the rest, namely from the neighbourhood of the said church until it enters the Lys not far from the town of Aire, is called the Laquette.

[139] The Acts of St. Frideswide. We publish the Acts of St. Frideswide from Capgrave, collated with the Ms. of Rubea Vallis (Rouge-Cloître near Brussels). They are fairly old: written, however, after the burning of the monastery of St. Frideswide, which we have said happened at the beginning of the eleventh century. For mention is made of this fire in the Acts. Nay, that they were written after the Norman occupation (which falls in the year 1066) the words declare quite openly: "Before God had subjected England to the law of the Normans." For so one may read towards the end of the legend. It is worthy of note that from the aforesaid words to the end it is no longer a question of the life of St. Frideswide, but of the fortunes or history of the monastery founded by her. Hence it may perhaps occur to someone that this latter part was added later by another hand. Which, however, is mere conjecture, nor proved by any sufficiently suitable argument. Among the Bollandian Mss. there exists also another Life of blessed Frideswide. It is very short, composed by Mr. Wilson, an English priest, who, as one of our predecessors has noted there, has an English martyrology prepared in English. Moreover, we found two other manuscript Lives of St. Frideswide at Oxford. One composed in prose, the other in hexameter verse. The former is preserved among the Mss. of Balliol College 228, fol. 300 (E. 2, 7), and seems, regarding the form of the letters, to be referred to the XV century. It is indeed shorter, but in general agrees with the legend published by us. There are, however, things which are rendered a little more distinctly in it, and one or another proper name is indicated which is found neither in the legend nor in the other Lives of the same holy Virgin. However, the principal differences between the two are pointed out either in the Annotations or in this preliminary commentary. The other consists of one hundred and forty-eight hexameter verses, by no means elegant, nay for the most part rather barbarous and metrically faulty. It is preserved in the Rawlinson Mss. c. 558, fol. 153 b, under this inscription: "Here begins a treatise on the birth and life of St. Frideswide and on her miracles." Some fragments you will find described below.

THE LIFE OF ST. FRIDISWIDE, VIRGIN.

From Capgrave and the Ms. of Rubea Vallis.

Frideswide, Virgin, at Oxford in England. (S.)

BHL Number: 3165

FROM CAPGRAVE AND THE MSS.

The birth of St. Frideswide. St. Frideswide was the daughter of Didanus, an under-king ^a, and of Safrida his wife, who, dwelling in the city of Oxford, caused their daughter to be brought up in every uprightness of morals. And her infancy being past, overcome by sleep she used to lie upon the bare ground: she wore it down assiduously with her knees bent, when she poured out prayers to the Lord. With a pottage of common vegetables and a little barley bread she overcame the wantonness of hunger, and quenched her thirst with water.

[2] She renounces the world. At length, with the assent of her parents, she took the habit of religion, by whose example twelve maidens born of noble birth, having left all things, followed the Lord ^b. And so by the king's munificence she built a monastery; she pressed on with continual fasts and prayers, and a hundred times through the night with bent knees she besought God ^c.

[3] She is harassed by the demon. But who can succeed in being good, whom he does not envy who is singularly evil? For he tries to cast down all, he who first was able to drive man out of the joys of paradise. He showed to her bodily eyes a bodily appearance, and, lifted up into the madness of his ancient presumption, by which he promised himself that he would be like the Most High, he falsely pretends that he is Christ, and, thronged by a great band of Demons, they falsely put on the appearance of Angels of light. He accosts the Virgin with these words: "Come, my beloved, come, for it is time that you receive the unfading crown of eternal glory which you have merited: come, and, fallen down at the footprints of My feet, which you have long desired to adore; for I have willed to appear to you for this purpose, that you might behold Me, for whom you sigh with such eagerness, even in this mortal life, and, having adored Me, might be able to enter into the possession of eternal life without the discomfort of the body." To whom the Virgin, taught by the holy spirit, said: "Why, most wretched one, do you presume to promise to others what you do not have, nor can have, on account of your pride? What have you to do with immortal life? you who, living, are dead, and remain always tending to destruction: but I too, a most wretched and unhappy sinner, would have been a partaker of your destruction, had not the mercy of my redeemer Christ, whom you falsely say you are, gone before me. For He is my hope from my youth." That proud spirit, not bearing these most humble words of the virgin, vanished, and filled the air with a horrible howling and a pestilent stench. But the blessed Virgin, persevering in prayer, was of an even mind, and remained intrepid.

[4] Algar is inflamed with love of her, For not so did the ancient enemy, although he had departed conquered and confounded, rest from the art of his attack; for he inflames King ^d Algar, touched with an unchaste love of the Virgin. For this king, frenzied by the goads of the enemy's suggestions, ordered messengers to be hastened in all speed to bring Frideswide, and to compel her, unwilling as well as willing, to hasten. Without delay, the messengers coming to the virgin and declaring the will of the king, she answered: "If I had determined to join myself to the companionship of a man, I would by no means gainsay the petition of King Algar: now, because I have been espoused to the immortal king Christ, I certainly judge it abominable that, despising Him, I should give assent to a mortal, to perish with him." And they: "This cunning cannot help you, since, if you will not acquiesce and obey the king's will, dragged to a brothel you will suffer many injuries, made against your will a plaything to pimps, and, ignominiously corrupted, you will be taught that it is not of a sound head to despise royal dignity of this kind." To this the Virgin: "Truly the body cannot be defiled by any contagion of pollution except by consent of the mind."

[5] whose messengers are struck with blindness and healed. Having heard these things, when they were preparing to use force and carry her off, St. Frideswide, taking refuge in God her protector, stretched out prayers with tears on high, and behold, the messengers, suddenly losing their sight, are compelled, even unwilling, to desist from injuring her. People run together from every side of the city, all are stunned and afraid, and, falling at the feet of the virgin from compassion for the blinded, they suppliantly begged that by her prayers they might receive their sight. And when the Virgin had poured out prayers to God for them, and they had received the benefit of sight, they fell humbly at her feet, begging pardon. And after this, returning home, they announced to the king in order the things which had been done.

[6] Mad with fury, Algar himself comes to Oxford. To whom he: "By no means," he said, "shall her enchantments or false teachings, or magic art, snatch her from my hands: but since she has dared to despise me, after I have abused her as I please, she shall be handed over to the mockery of pimps to be polluted." He spoke, and, driven by fury, proceeds to the city ^e in which the Virgin was staying. And behold, to St. Frideswide, applying herself to prayer according to her custom that night, an angel appeared, saying: "Do you not know, O Virgin, that King Algar will be before the gates of this city tomorrow, to satisfy his lust, if the possibility be given of breaking in upon the chastity of your integrity? Do not fear," he said; "the Lord Jesus Christ will guard the pleasant dwelling which you have prepared in your virginity, and the king, mocked and disappointed in his hope, will return, and will pay the penalty of perpetual blindness. But do you hasten, and enter upon the path which leads to the river Thames: for you will find a skiff prepared by God, and in it a boatman as guide of the journey."

[7] At the angel's admonitions St. Frideswide leaves the city. And the holy Virgin, giving thanks to God, taking with her two sisters, arrived in haste, and, having entered the little boat which she found, they are carried by a youth in a splendid white habit and with a most beautiful face, within the space of one hour, ten miles, and are put ashore under a village named Bentona ^f. And when they had been put ashore, they nowhere saw either the ship or the guide of the journey. The virgins, entering the depth of the grove, go into a shelter for swine built against the intemperance of the air, covered with ivy growing up on every side.

[8] Algar rages at Oxford. Meanwhile King Algar, coming to Oxford, tried by threats, prayers and rewards to find out from the inhabitants whither Frideswide had turned aside: and when the citizens asserted with an oath that they did not know, the angry king swore to the overthrow of the city. But when he was approaching the North gate, he was at once struck with the plague of blindness. The fool was therefore terrified at the sudden vengeance of the divine power upon him, and, not desisting from the obstinacy of his malignity, carried back a heart of Pharaoh to his own home: on account of the punishment of which tyrant, indeed, a dread ^g is innate in the kings of England, so that not one, as is said, presumes to enter the city of Oxford.

[9] St. Frideswide builds an oratory near the city. Miracles. And St. Fridiswide for almost three years in that solitude gave herself to God in great abstinence, vigils, and assiduous prayers. A certain girl struck with blindness by the ancient enemy she enlightened, her eyes being anointed with the water of the washing of her hands. At length, returning to Oxford, lest she should be burdensome to the sisters left in the monastery, she built an oratory and buildings in a certain place next to the city, planted with many trees, named Thornebury, and by her prayers and merits obtained a spring flowing continually to this very day ^h. When a certain youth, not deferring to the Lord's day, was cutting wood, his hand, at once adhering to the handle, is so burned that from the vehemence of the pain he cried out terribly; for he could neither loosen his hand nor free his fingers from the handle;

at length he is brought to Fridiswide, and by her prayers is freed. A certain fisherman seized by a demon the Virgin devoted to God restored to his former health, a prayer having been poured out to God. When on a certain occasion she was entering the city of Oxford, the whole city at once rushed out to meet her, and behold, among the crowd of both sexes there was present a youth disfigured ⁱ over his whole body with a most monstrous leprosy and with pustules, so that there seemed to be almost nothing of the form of a man in him except the outward lineaments. For so had ulcers, so tumours, so a foul colour covered everything, that he would be thought a monster rather than a man. And when he approached the holy Virgin, with as great a voice as he could, horribly hoarse, he uttered a rather confused sound, yet expressing words, saying thus: "I adjure you, virgin Frideswide, by God almighty, that you give me a kiss in the name of Jesus Christ His only-begotten son." And she, kindled with the fire of charity, at once approached, and, having first impressed the sign of the Cross, gave the leper a kiss. For by the mouth of the Virgin the mouth of the leper is touched, and at once he is cleansed in his whole body. The rough skin is loosed after the manner of scales, and is put off like the slough of serpents, and at once his flesh is made like the flesh of a little child ^k.

[10] She dies most holily. When at length the time of her dissolution was at hand, behold, an angel of the Lord stands by her as she prays, saying: "On the fourteenth before the Kalends of November, Frideswide, the end of your contest is decreed for you by God, and an everlasting reward is prepared." And saying these things he departed, and a most grievous fever seized Frideswide, whence also she began to be deprived of the strength of the body, and, her eyes intent on things above, she saw coming to her thence the virgins whom she always held in the greatest veneration: namely Catherine and Cecilia, to whom also she said: "I am coming now, my Ladies, I am coming now." And bidding farewell to those standing by, she passed to the Lord. For a light sent from heaven, suddenly illuminating the house, so filled the whole city with an inestimably most sweet odour that it was not doubted that the Only-begotten of the Father of lights was present, whose name, an ointment poured out, has filled the whole world.

[11] The Church of St. Frideswide. Before ^l God had subjected England to the law of the Normans, the church of St. Frideswide with its possessions was given by a certain king to the abbot of Abingdon; and, the Canons having been expelled, the property lay subject, assigned to the disposition of the monks, for some years, until, the will of a certain king being at length changed, all things were restored to the Canons.

[12] The Relics. And with the help and assent of William the viscount, patron of the church of the holy Virgin, the bones of the most holy virgin Frideswide were raised from the earth ^m, and honourably placed in a shrine: but on account of the sins of the inhabitants the monastery of the holy Virgin was consumed, first by the Danes, afterwards by devouring flame.

[14] A certain cleric, carrying off the ornaments of the church of St. Frideswide, is accused before the judge: and when he offered to clear his innocence, it pleased all that he should first hear mass, and afterwards make his purgation. And when, bound, he stood intrepid before the tomb of the holy Virgin until the gospel of the mass, he suddenly began to give wonderful leaps on high, saying: "I confess, Lady; I confess, Lady": and at once falling, he seemed lifeless. Having at length recovered his breath, he said to those standing around: "Do you not see this lady, the holy Virgin, how she has not only beaten me with two handfuls of rods with her own hands, but cruelly compels me to confess this theft? I cannot therefore conceal it: I confess the sacrilege": and, his garments being taken off, the skin of his shoulders and of the whole back, belly and breast, and of both sides being torn at intervals, he moved the impious (the very?) accusers to mercy. Now St. Frideswide flourished about the year of the Lord 750, and left the world on the XIV before the Kalends of November.

ANNOTATIONS.

The beginnings of St. Frideswide are rendered in this way in the Ms. of Balliol College: "There was a certain virgin named Frideswide, born at Oxford. When she was five years old, learning letters, within VII months she knew the psalter; and, advancing, she made herself lovable to all. She always used a hair shirt; she had barley bread with small vegetables and water for food. She asked her father, therefore, to permit her to become a nun in the church of St. Mary the Virgin, which King Didanus built at Oxford. The king, therefore, rejoicing at her purpose, called Edgar, Bishop of Lincoln, and caused his daughter to be consecrated with twelve other Virgins." Nowhere else, where the life of St. Frideswide is treated, have I found mention of Edgar, Bishop of Lincoln, except here, and perhaps also in the metrical life, which has thus:

He (Didanus), favouring his daughter, soon prepared fitting dwellings, Giving estates far and wide, to which he joined fields. At the hands of the prelate Orger she is soon consecrated; As he taught it to be done, a company of twelve is joined, Maidens in the same habit for her service, Fulfilled the office, surveying the lights of the cell.

And in very truth in the catalogues of the bishops of Lincoln there occurs, between the year 679 and the year 731, a prelate named Edgar. However, the beginnings of the aforesaid see, on account of various divisions and translations, are very obscure. See the Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. VI, page 1266 and following, where the bishops of Lincoln are treated expressly.

In the Balliol Ms. a fourth miracle is added. "A certain girl in Bendonica was blind for VII years. She anointed her eyes with the water which dripped from the hands of Frydeswide when she washed herself, and she was healed." Likewise in the metrical life:

By the water of the hands with which the blessed Virgin is washed A blind girl is proved to have her sight again.

FRAGMENTS FROM THE METRICAL LIFE OF ST. FRIDESWIDE.

According to the Oxford Ms. Rawlinson c. 558, fol. 154b.

Frideswide, Virgin, at Oxford in England. (S.)

BHL Number: 3168

Didanus, born of the line of kings, or of their blood, And magnified by lordship of the city of Oxford; Happy in his wife Sefrida. From whose stock The virgin Fredeswida came forth, a little plant of virtues; A harvest soon grown in the flood of holy baptism, With the merit of faith. Her blessed father and mother Applauded God, exceedingly gladdened. Death snatched away the mother, whose funeral the husband wept; The daughter grieved with him; one grief held both. The illustrious offspring of the king learned the songs of the psalms, And the words of the Saints, the sacred governance of the law; Learning the whole psalter in the space of six months.

An early crop, she tightened the reins of the flesh. She who was wont, Aelveva, to suckle the tender one at her breasts, At length, grown old, zealously taught the girl.

The daughter, bowing, entreats her begetter That she may despise the empty honour of the world, And, clothed in the garb of nuns, may live, And thus, dwelling safe, may serve Christ honourably. Moreover she asks for a church to be built first, In which she may pay to Christ the worship she had planned. He, favouring his daughter, soon prepared fitting dwellings, Giving estates far and wide, to which he joined fields. At the hands of the prelate Orger ^b she is soon consecrated; As he taught it to be done, a company of twelve is joined, Maidens in the same habit for her service, Fulfilled the office, surveying the lights of the cell.

England is then proved to have had many kings. Through various laws the law is blinded with the region. There was a king, called by the common name Algar, Ignorant of the Godhead, overcome by the itch of the flesh, A robber, desiring to violate the modesty of the chastity Of the eminent virgin, he feigned a false love. He sent nobles of pompous nobility, Envoys of wickedness, who should change the vow Of holy virginity, and confirm the bonds Of a nuptial tie. Nor did such action profit.

Those whom the king sent before, the serene virgin despised; She laughed at the dowry, full of the holy charism. It is foul, she says, to widow the king of the heavens; I count as mud the proclamations of the promisers. I shall not be able to marry while my former spouse lives; Nor will I subject myself to a sceptre-bearer, a worse one. It will not be harmless to despise the first spouse. I think him foolish who prefers the lowest to the highest ^c. As many as tried to do * violence to the virgins, At once the divine power blinded in their eyes; And those who showed themselves violent to the houses, All grieved that they were deprived of their eyes. She herself by her prayers released the eyes of the blinded, And, merciful, repaid good deeds for crimes. The king, repulsed, blazed into swelling wrath. Trying to compel her by dire penalties, He attacks Oxford, which he threatens to lay waste, Unless by wickedness he may in some way enjoy his wishes. While the horse is spurred, the gate shut itself headlong. The king groaned, blind; the people of the city, free, applauded. The people, in harmony, rejoiced together in songs of gladness; The author of wickedness went from the city confounded. Kings, fearing after these things to enter Oxford, Turned aside their way, though mighty through their kingdoms. Which King Henry ^d first reverently approached, A peaceful prince, he returned with prosperity. An angel carried the Saint and her companions on the river, Whom Bamptona ^e (sic) secretly hid with her by the vessel.

An infinite grace of signs favoured her. By the water of the hands with which the blessed virgin is washed A blind girl is proved to have her sight again. At the touch of her mouth a leper is cleansed. Through this deed her fame is multiplied through the ages. A certain fisherman, vexed by the wrath of a demon, Bound with ropes, endured dire chains. She impressed on him the memorable sign of Christ, In the power of God driving out malignant Satan. On the festal day of God, to a certain man who cut wood, The handle of the axe glued itself to his hands: On bent knees the pious Virgin prays the Lord; The little handle is at once disjoined from his hands. By the virgin's merits, He who alone (sic: solus?) created all things Made firm the paralytic limbs of a rich man.

The coffin alone contains the bones, buried in seemly fashion ^f; The kindly soul seeks heaven, reigning with the Almighty. A certain Jew, whom savage madness moved, Knew often to provoke Frideswide with (sic: by?) insults, Mocking her signs, blaspheming with proud voice, He uttered unworthy words about the sacred Virgin. The worthy vengeance of God, which punishes by reason, Paid to him the worthy condition of his deserts.

A girdle bound his blasphemous throat in place of a rope. He prepared for himself a last death without end. A barking crowd of dogs, accompanying the dog-like body, Clamorous, led it to the fire-vomiting furnace of Styx. One contracted in the hams (sic), compelled to creep on his hands, Made whole, becomes fit for every act. As many as laid down their complaints to her, believing well, The bodies of the sick merited the remedies of their disease. The Fount of divine goodness cures the sick Whom defect of belief does not harden. Virgin, ornament of virtues, who have merited heaven, Guard this choir, loving mother, little handmaid of Christ.

ANNOTATIONS.

* Quotquot ("as many as").

** fecere ("did").

APPENDIX TO THE ACTS OF ST. FRIDESWIDE. ON THE BOOK OF HER MIRACLES,

By Philip the Prior.

Frideswide, Virgin, at Oxford in England. (S.)

BHL Number: 3169

B. B.

BY PHILIP THE PRIOR.

Why we treat here of the miracles of St. Frideswide. We should depart from the aim set before us, and from the rules established by our predecessors, if we did not subjoin to the Acts of Frideswide the Book of Philip, Prior of the Monastery named after our holy Virgin, on her miracles. For that writing is a most precious monument of the cult shown to blessed Frideswide, and of her immense favour with God.

[2] Philip the Prior, author and witness of the book of Miracles. The author of the aforesaid work becomes known from its very inscription, conceived in these words: "The History of the miracles of St. Frideswide, virgin, with a Prologue, by Philip, Prior of the same monastery." He namely is the very one at whose prayers and instance the Translation of the relics was made in the year 1180; and accordingly he was an eyewitness of the things which he briefly relates about the said Translation before he begins to treat of the miracles. Moreover, the miracles themselves, which he describes in great number, all happened in his age; at very many he stood by as a spectator present, so that he could truly say: what we have seen we testify. Others again were wrought before an immense multitude of people, in the church of blessed Frideswide, the canons regular of St. Augustine being present, for the most part during the divine office or the solemnities of Masses, so that not rarely the whole people, struck with amazement, burst out into words, or rather cries, of admiration and gratitude. Nor is credit given to the words of the sick alone; but the disease must be established by suitable testimonies, so that the healing that followed, proved by irrefutable arguments, may be judged as given divinely by miracle. The evils which are cured are for the most part such as have no human remedy unless a long one: but at the tomb of blessed Frideswide health is obtained either suddenly, or at least in that space of time which would plainly not suffice for the efficacy of the art of healing.

[3] These things at any rate show how much the multitude of miracles contained in the book of Prior Philip, and accurately and at length described, makes for the glory of St. Frideswide; whence not undeservedly we congratulate ourselves that we have obtained both the occasion and the means of publishing that writing. For after this it will seem a wonder to no one, what we said in our preliminary commentary, namely that the city of Oxford borrowed very much celebrity from its holy Patroness, nay for a long course of years was made illustrious from scarcely anything else than from the relics of St. Frideswide, to which, on account of the perpetual fame of prodigies, the faithful flocked from every side with immense confidence and a salutary sense of devotion.

[4] The historical importance and authenticity of the aforesaid book. But that book has another merit also, not to be despised. Since, as we have already intimated, the single healings are described at length and accurately, the names of the persons being added and the places indicated from which they came, it is clear that all these things have no small importance for the history of those times. For from these we learn what manners were in force in that age; particular diseases also are indicated; many things regarding geography, nay even some regarding the art of healing, become known. However, here happens what happens in any authentic writing of this kind; namely that the disposition, or, as they say, the moral character, of the age to which it refers is exhibited to the reader. Now as regards authenticity, there is no doubt that that book was written by Prior Philip. You would find no sensible man who has ever hesitated even slightly on this matter. "A copy," says Dugdale, "of the work written by Prior Philip on the miracles of St. Frideswide is preserved among the Digby manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, n. 177." Anthony Wood mentions it more than once in his splendid work, Antiquitates Oxonienses. But also Mr. H. O. Coxe, of the present librarians of the Bodleian, with his usual courtesy and kindness deigned to send us the following note.

[5] Description and age of the ms. codex. "Ms. Digby 177. The History of the miracles of St. Frideswide, Virgin, with a prologue, by Philip, Prior of the same Monastery. The Prologue begins: 'The power and wisdom of our Lord and Saviour by so much the greater.' The History begins: 'Being about to write, therefore, the miracles which in our times the Lord has deigned to work through the merits of the most blessed Virgin Frideswide.' It ends: 'And they showed us the stone cut out by him in testimony of so great a miracle.' This codex contains thirty leaves, and is written in two columns, about the year 1200; of the best note." We were permitted, when we were at Oxford, to judge with our own eyes how accurate this note is. That codex, therefore, is scarcely distant from the age of the author, since, according to Dugdale, Prior Philip was still alive in the year 1189.

[6] The book of Prior Philip now first published. And this is also the codex which we caused to be copied. The transcript, accurately collated with the original, and sent to us from Oxford to Brussels by the labour and kindness of the same Henry Coxe, we make public. And indeed, as far as is established to us, the Book of Prior Philip is now for the first time committed to print. We have not judged it necessary to separate the text into chapters and paragraphs. We have preferred to present it to the learned reader in one tenor, as we received it; yet so that, according to the rule established by Bolland, the attention of the reader may be helped by the sight, we have divided it by numbers, accurately noting in the margin what is contained in each.

Here begins the Prologue of the Lord Philip the Prior, on the Miracles of St. Frideswide.

(Mss. of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, Digby 177.)

God works wonders on earth in His Saints, The power and wisdom of our Lord and Saviour is extolled by so much the greater heralds of praise as it appears more wonderful in His Saints, when He makes them wonderful even after death. For when, living in the flesh beyond the flesh, they happily pass to things above, freed from human affairs, they testify by signs and prodigies that they live in heaven. And although unbelief is roused to believe the miracles, by this very thing faith is strengthened, so that in a wonderful manner the believer is animated from that whereby the unbeliever is confuted. For in the present the chaff mixed with the grains cannot be separated except by the winnowing-fan of divine visitation, and it sometimes happens that the chaff is converted into wheat, and is afterwards laid up in the eternal granaries. So also the net of the church receives good and bad fish, and it often happens that, the deadly savour being put off, the bad are gathered to the good, and injustice is converted into justice, so that with the psalmist we may rightly say: this is the change of the right hand of the Most High. To the praise of the creator at any rate the creature is created again [b], while nature ^c… … What had been taken from it is restored, while by the divine hand the form taken away is reformed, so that the creature seems to be created again. Human prudence gives way when the divine power flashes out by secret dispensation; secular philosophy is silent when privation is turned into possession, so that, while to man created to the image of God either what had not been given before is conferred, or what had been taken away is given back, the divine goodness seems to exercise itself with its creature in the manner of one at play, as if the grace of re-creation were of greater power than the benefit of the first creation. Amid these things human weakness is instructed, so that it may be roused to worship and love Him who is wonderful and glorious in His saints. Nor is it a wonder if outward signs inform the inner man, since the eye also announces to the soul the forms comprehended by sight, so that it may consider and apprehend them as it were by means of a mirror.

[2] while they themselves are blessed in heaven. With this reward the Most High endows His servants, with these stipends He blesses His soldiers, that, snatched from labours and hardships, He may receive them into the eternal tabernacles, and may attest by miracles how pleasing to God is a chaste soul. A happy exchange indeed, to purchase perpetual life with a brief gain. Blessed the servitude which is endowed with perennial liberty, which snatches from a perverse dominion and leads to a kingdom, so that human frailty, compacted of a mass of clay, may be snatched into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God. This is the one thing which the psalmist testifies he asked of the Lord, for the attaining of which the praiseworthy number of the prophets and the glorious choir of the apostles sighed. For this the purpled multitude of the martyrs fought, and to this the white-robed army of virgins dedicated its purity.

[3] It is fitting to make manifest the works of God. To keep silent about the divine works is indeed pernicious, since taciturnity often represents ingratitude, especially when the psalmist admonishes to sing a new song to the Lord, because He has done wonderful things. And when He bestows His gifts on us beyond our merits, He binds us the more to praise Him the less our merits support their being conferred. And although the splendour of the sun is not brightened by the foreign aids of lights, yet it shines less upon the place from which it is excluded. The divine power also is not increased in itself by the proclamations of praises, yet it receives increase while it is spread abroad, and the more it is published, the more pleasingly it gives forth its fragrance, which is weighed from the very words of the Lord, when it was commanded the cleansed lepers that they should show their faces to the priests ^d.

[4] The relics are translated in the year 1680, Being about to write, therefore, the miracles which in our times the Lord has deigned to work through the merits of the most blessed virgin Frideswide, I have thought I should begin from her Translation, which was made in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord MCLXXX, in the reign of the most illustrious King of the English Henry the second. Which indeed appears the more glorious because the Lord willed that it should not be hidden under a bushel, but set upon a candlestick, so that, as a lamp set upon a candlestick, it might spread the rays of its light on every side. For at that time the same glorious king, on account of the very great and arduous business of the kingdom, had called together at Oxford our most reverend father Richard, archbishop of Canterbury, and also the Lord Richard of Winchester, Geoffrey of Ely, John of Norwich, Peter of St. David's, bishops, and a copious multitude of the clergy, also the nobles and magnates of his kingdom from all parts of England, God indeed bringing it about that the precious Pearl, which had lain so long covered with earth, might be shown more gloriously to all, since

at its revelation earthly business, and so great a multitude of both clergy and people, called together for this, the Lord as it were secretly prompting it, seemed to be in its service. The aforesaid most invincible king, therefore, favouring the wishes, and most kindly giving his consent, at the prayers and instance of Philip, then Prior, and of the whole convent, a great crown of Bishops and nobles being present. on the day before the Ides (that is, the twelfth day) of February, the same venerable archbishop, having called together with him the lord Richard of Winchester, Geoffrey of Ely, John of Norwich, Peter of St. David's, Bishops; there being present the venerable man master Alexius, at that time legate of Scotland by delegation of the Lord Pope, and master John, then indeed elect of St. Andrews, coming to the church of the same most glorious Virgin, a fast having first been proclaimed, opening with the greatest devotion the tomb The tomb is opened in which the bones had lain hidden for 480 years. where her most blessed body had rested for about four hundred and LXXX years, a copious multitude of clergy and people standing by and rejoicing together, translated the bones of the glorious Virgin from the tomb, and placed them in a shrine, lest so precious a Pearl should lie longer covered with earth, which by the celebrated glory of miracles testified that it lives in heaven. And a most sweet odour filled those standing by and refreshed them after the manner of spices, so that not undeservedly it seemed to have been said of her: The odour of thy ointments is above all spices. There had indeed preceded her Translation very frequent admonitions, very many visions, most glorious revelations, some of which it is pleasing to insert in the present little work, that the holiness of the blessed Virgin may be the more closely impressed on the memory of posterity ^e.

[5] A ray of light flashing by night from the tower of St. Frideswide's. In the town of Oxford there was a certain man named Martin, who, travelling through the markets of saleable goods for the sake of trade, when once he was returning from London, and was approaching Oxford, night already coming on and the darkness altogether shutting out the light, saw from afar as it were a fiery ray rising from the fabric of the tower of the church of the glorious Virgin and reaching to heaven, whose light illuminated both the neighbouring parts and the remote ones with an ineffable brightness. Astonished, he thought the city was being burned with the flames of fires, not yet understanding, as afterwards, the light which through the merits of the glorious Virgin has been spread everywhere; thinking a material burning of the city what was the spiritual irradiation of the whole province, which was shown beforehand by a sign of this kind.

[6] A shining column above the tomb of the holy Virgin. In the same town a certain matron named Editha, as far as regards human judgment of unblemished reputation and honourable conduct, about eight years before the Translation of the blessed Virgin, when one night she had given her limbs to sleep, saw in her sleep a golden column of wonderful size and incomparable splendour fixed in the tomb of the glorious Virgin, whose summit, rising above the whole fabric of the tower, illuminated with the rays of its light not only the city but also all the surrounding regions. And at the very summit of the column she beheld a heaven ^f of wonderful size, clear with flashing rays, from whose incomparable splendour the whole earthly region seemed afire; the Lord indeed showing beforehand what the event of the matter afterwards proved, when in the western parts of the world the brightness of a new sun arose.

[7] Another vision. The above-named Prior Philip had a certain servant, joined to him by kinship, named Robert, who had toiled very much in the same Prior's service. When, therefore, in the first year of his priorate he had gone to the city of London on the business of his church, and was compelled to make a rather long stay there, one night the same Robert was admonished in a vision to take pains that the Translation of the most blessed Virgin should be hastened. And it seemed to him that, when he had approached the tomb, it being opened without any difficulty, a fiery ray reaching to heaven came forth from the tomb, and, all the things which had lain hidden within being laid open, there suddenly appeared a Lady of incomparable beauty sitting in the middle of the tomb, who, soon rising thence, sat down beside the tomb, asking where the aforesaid Prior was, or what he was doing. At once she orders him to be called, rebuking the delay, blaming the sloth, admonishing that he be not weighed down any longer by torpor. And when he had come, being called: "Act," said the Lady to him, "that, translated from the earth, I may be placed in a shrine, and prepare for me a fitting banquet, because today I am going to dine with you." When the said Lady had said these and other things, he, awakened from sleep, when morning came, related what he had seen, anxiously admonishing the Prior to obey the commands. Finally, to very many others not only visions but also revelations were shown beforehand, which I omit for the present, lest the present page grow to an immense size, especially since my intention hastens to describe her miracles ^g.

Here begins the book of Miracles.

[8] When, therefore, as has been said before, the solemnity of the glorious Translation had been completed on the day before the Ides of February, of what merit the blessed Virgin was with Him, A little girl is healed. the divine Goodness showed on the following night. For a certain citizen of Oxford, Geoffrey, surnamed Padi, had a little daughter of about iiij years, whose neck, not without the greatest pain, had so swollen that she was believed about to be taken from human affairs without any hope of recovering health. The father, therefore, measuring his daughter with a wick, and pressing wax upon the wick, offered a candle at the shrine of the blessed Virgin. Nor was faith disappointed in its vow, but as soon as the girl drank the blessed water, the swelling gradually subsiding and decreasing every moment, not without the wonder and joy of those looking on, within a short time she was restored to health in every respect.

[9] Sight is restored to another little girl. There was in the same town a certain young girl named Adelitia, living outside the walls of the same town ^h, who some time before the Translation of the blessed Virgin had been seized with such an affliction that, her eyelids being weighed down by excessive swelling, she could neither open her eyes nor see anything for the excessive heaviness of the eyelids. Her mother, therefore, sympathizing with her daughter with a mother's tenderness, consults physicians for her daughter's health, in vain spending on the physicians the little that she had, the sickness continually growing heavier, and the affliction declining from day to day to worse. At length the mother flies to the asylum of the divine mercy, leading her daughter for many days to the church of the blessed Virgin, and most devoutly supplicating for her health. Nor does delay beget weariness; hope banishes distrust; faith perseveres in importuning, so that the divine power might supply the defect of human help. Nor did devotion suffer repulse; the effect of the thing desired consoles the one desiring. For on the fifth weekday, on the Lord's Supper, before the solemnities of Masses were performed, when the young girl was persisting in prayer prostrate upon the tomb of the blessed Virgin, suddenly the whole heaviness of her eyelids being wiped away as by a scraping hand, the swelling little by little subsided, and she perfectly recovered the function of seeing. And a discharge flowed for a rather long time from her eyes, and not long after, some time having intervened, she was so cured by the benefit of the divine hand that no traces at all of her former sickness remained in her.

[10] A man, already bent double for two years, is made upright. There had come thither in those days from the parts of Wales a certain man named William, who for almost two years was so bent double that he could in no way raise himself, nor direct his steps anywhere except with the support of a staff. He, having in purpose to go to the Lord's sepulchre, had impressed on himself the sign of the life-giving Cross; but the pitiable condition of his miserable affliction delayed the effect. When, therefore, the fame of the glorious Virgin had come to his ears, supported by faith, strengthened by hope, though bent in his whole body, his shins trembling from excessive weakness, he went to the place from which the bones of the glorious Virgin were translated, passing the night in prayer and continually imploring the divine mercy; you might hear him with tearful voices bend even stony hearts to pity, while both the monstrousness of the pain compelled him to utter groans, and faith prayed for him and perseverance pleaded to the end. One night, therefore, refreshing his weariness with the quiet of sleep, he saw in his sleep a certain virgin, comely in face, charming in dress, grave in bearing, covering herself with a white skin after the manner of a bearskin. Awakened, he perceived that he had found relief from the pain he had had, and, a few days having passed, he who before was compelled to go bent double so fully recovered that he set out unharmed on the journey to go to the Lord's sepulchre.

[11] Another, afflicted with various infirmities at once, is healed. There was in a certain village whose name is Herduluesleie a certain man named William, of good reputation as regards men, merciful to the poor, liberal to guests. Now that village is distant about four miles from Bracheleia. He for about XXX years had been so deprived of his left eye that he could scarcely see with it whither he should direct his steps. And for the space of a year and more before the Translation of the glorious Virgin he had entirely lost his right eye, so that he did not see even the light of heaven with it in any degree. And plague was laid upon plague, and the hand of the Lord was so heavy upon him that, bent double, his sinews being contracted, he could scarcely go to church with a staff supporting his steps. Having heard, therefore, of the reputation of the blessed Virgin, believing in hope against hope, hoping in the divine power, but almost despairing of his own weakness, being by no means able to sit on a horse unless two supported him on this side and that, neglecting the counsel of his parents and friends, he took the road towards Oxford. For since he had in vain spent much on physicians, he foresaw that nothing remained to him but divine help. And on the journey, wearied to the point of breathing out his spirit, his friends accompanying him and urging his return: "Let me," he said, "if I am to be taken from human affairs, at least, in going to so blessed a Virgin, if it is not given me from above to arrive there, enter upon the way of all flesh." Indeed he reckoned himself happy if in a purpose of this kind he should fulfil the office of fate. Brought, therefore, to the church of the holy Virgin, he cast himself in prayer upon her tomb, necessity stirring up devotion, and despair, born of the defect of human counsel and help, heaping up a fountain of tears. At once the constancy of his faith felt divine help; nature returns to its beginning; the sight of both eyes is so restored that he saw more keenly with the one of which he had been entirely deprived. He marvels, astonished, that the divine power has come so quickly, not knowing that the grace of the Holy Spirit knows no slow efforts. And still wavering between hope and opinion, he raised himself up, and, feeling the contraction of his former bending entirely done away with, looking at his wife, brothers, friends, who had come with him, and protesting that he saw them most keenly, he stirred both those present and those absent to the praises of God. We saw him afterwards several times, and learned by the very experience of the facts that he had been entirely relieved of the above-named afflictions ⁱ.

[12] [A knight, blind and deaf, and rigid in his right hand, makes for Canterbury in vain,] About the same time this also, wonderful and worthy of memory, happened. A certain knight sprung from Brittany, called Hamo of St. Ciriacus, for almost three years and a half, as he set out to us, had lost the function both of seeing and of hearing. For he set out that, having first been seized with a most grievous fever, he had come to an affliction of this kind, and that afterwards pain had been added to pain, so that he was entirely deprived of the use of his right hand and arm, so that he could not even bring his hand to his mouth. To

memory, therefore, recalling the miracles which God was working for our most glorious father and martyr Thomas, although he was worn out by ill health and exhausted by old age, he decided to go to his threshold. But when he had come to Canterbury, seized with a grave sickness, he was compelled to stay there for fifteen days. But he could by no means receive health there: God indeed providing this, that in his cure it might become openly known to all of how great merit with Him was the blessed Virgin, who, withdrawn from the present life many times ago, had lately merited to be adorned with the glory of a Translation. Coming, therefore, to the parts of Oxford for the sake of visiting the illustrious man Hugh de Plugenei and Oliver his brother, to whom he was joined by the line of kinship, he stayed with them for some time. And noticing that very many went to the threshold of the blessed Virgin for the sake of recovering health, at the paschal solemnity he hastened to her church and, armed with faith, prostrated himself before her shrine. Without delay; while he persisted in prayer with the greatest devotion and constancy of faith, he is seized as it were by a light sleep, and a short interval of time having elapsed, awakened, he received at once both sight and hearing, the Lord restoring them. at the tomb of St. Frideswide he recovers entire health. And the power of his hand and arm, which he had lost, he recovered there in its entirety. These three things the Saviour deigned to work in one man through the merits of His Virgin, that He might magnify her by these wonders of prodigies, which are therefore worthy of greater admiration because both the length of his age and the long duration of the disease seemed altogether to deny hope of cure, and they are to be proclaimed with so much the greater praise as they are more difficult by human judgment, so that in a man from whom defect of nature was withdrawing abundance of strength, the divine hand might work the grace of healing above nature. Lest human weakness should judge anything impossible to the divine power. For, as he himself constantly set forth and asserted with witnesses, he was in the ninetieth year of his age and more. To this thing the aforesaid noble men, and also their servants, constantly bore testimony, whom, while they were frequently compelled to wait on him, the monstrousness of his calamities had vexed and wearied [k].

[13] When, therefore, the fame of such signs was growing more frequent round about, A woman is freed from dropsy. people beset by various infirmities flocked thither from every side for the favour of recovering health. A certain woman, therefore, of Estropa, named Winneva, poor as regards the riches of the world but rich in abundance of faith, had laboured for the space of a year with the disease of dropsy. When she had visited the thresholds of very many Saints to recover health, when also she had spent her whole little substance on physicians and had not profited, passing the night with the greatest devotion at the tomb of the blessed Virgin, where her glorious bones had been laid up, after the third day after she had kept watch at the tomb she was restored to her former health. For her belly, which had so swollen that for the immensity of the swelling it could scarcely be contained within her garments, so subsided when she had drunk the blessed water that, in sign of health received, she showed openly to all, the people rejoicing, her belly which had entirely gone down.

[14] The healing of the womb and of other pains. At the same times a certain woman of Abingdon, named Remildis, who for almost three continuous years had laboured with a fault of the womb, so much that, her sinews being contracted, she had been entirely bent double, a hump standing out disgracefully on her back, went with her husband to the threshold of the blessed Virgin. She had laboured moreover with shut-in wind so much that, each of her limbs also swelling with the greatest pain, she was sometimes also shaken with a feverish trembling. When, therefore, she persisted most devoutly in prayer with her husband in the church of the blessed Virgin, restored to health by the mercy of God and the merits of His Virgin, she publicly protested that she had been freed from each affliction, and she who had come bent double, upright and walking stiffly and blessing God, who is glorious in His Saints, returned to her home. Still, however, in memory of the sickness she had had, the hump on her back stood out a little, which nevertheless afterwards, in process of time, was entirely done away with.

[15] A girl is healed in the sight of very many There came also, for the favour of recovering health, a certain girl of Burford, named Raganilda, who had been incessantly wearied for a continuous three years with pain of the bowels, her hands also swelling foully. Accompanied, therefore, by both parents, when piety and devotion together directed her steps, at once on her entry into the church she was cured, entirely free from both afflictions at once, not without the wonder of all who were then present.

[16] likewise two others But this also seems not undeservedly to be annexed to the praises of Him who, existing before all ages, at the end of the ages worked salvation in the midst of the earth. A certain poor woman of Awrulla, named Brithiva, seeing less clearly with both eyes for almost XX years, received through the grace of God and the merits of the blessed Virgin the gift of seeing clearly. And also a certain girl of Gaiteshamtone, named Eva, had for about iiij months her right hand contracted, so that from the very kind of sickness no hope of recovering health remained, except by His overcoming who is able even of stones to raise up children to Abraham. So, therefore, that the divine power might shine out more in her, when she had once been perfectly cured, and afterwards, beyond doubt by her merits requiring it, had fallen back into the same calamity, she was freed again through the grace of God, which frees those believing in it both from the first and from the second death, here indeed in hope, but in the future in reality.

[17] Two sisters are freed from blindness. There were in the village whose name is Eynsham two sisters, of whom the one was called Jurkiva, the other Rilda, wasting away for many times past with the unhappiness both of poverty and of blindness, so that neither (sic) of them could go anywhere without a guide. Both, therefore, with no less constancy of faith than of mind, took the road to go to the blessed Virgin. When, therefore, they were now approaching the town of Oxford, suddenly on the very road Jurkiva, the Lord having mercy, received her sight. The woman exults, abundance of seeing being restored to her; she protests that she sees clearly not only things near but also things remote, and she who had directed her steps helped by the service of a guide, now with no one going before, giving thanks to God and the blessed Virgin, hastened to her church. And that the joy of both might be equal, the Lord deigned to visit her sister Rilda also. The woman passes the night at the tomb of the Virgin, rejoicing at the health of her sister, and most devoutly beseeching God for her own, conceiving from this a most certain hope that she too could be cured by the same power as her sister. When morning came, therefore, after many showers of tears, the Lord looked upon His handmaid, and, first with an itching, a discharge flowing from her eyes, she recovered the function of seeing. There are very many witnesses worthy of credit of both facts, tenants of the same village, who had had the fullest knowledge of the former blindness, and who saw, not without wonder and joy, those whom they had before seen blind, now cured by the Lord.

[19] A woman paralysed for ten years is restored to health. At the same time a certain virgin sprung from Normandy, adult indeed in age, but paralysed for many times past, named Azelina, came with her mother, as she could, to the church of the holy Virgin. She lived in a certain village not far from Warwick, whose name is Pilasdentona. For when she was about eight years old, she was entirely deprived of the right part of her body, and, deprived both of the power of working and of walking, as well by the slackness of her hand as by the contraction of her foot, she had laboured with such an affliction for almost ten years. Casting herself, therefore, in prayer at the tomb of the blessed Virgin, she invoked most devoutly with tears Him who saves those who hope in Him. And as is read in the Gospel of the boy whom an unclean spirit had possessed, and had frequently cast both into fire and into water, that, crying out and tearing him much, it departed from him; so also the Lord permitted His handmaid, in whom He had decided to exercise the might of His power, to be vexed with great and long-lasting torments, that the furnace of tribulation might smelt out the rust of sin in her. Nor let it seem a wonder to anyone if the goads of torments precede the grace of healing, since most of the just do not come to the joy of the heavenly city except through the purgatorial fire, so that what has been less punished here, that fire may consume to purity. But the grace of health followed the pain of the torments by the divine mercy. The powerlessness of the right part returns to natural power, and health, which is given by the Lord's command, is conferred all at once, so that no traces at all of the old weakness remained in her, the limbs however being still numb from the newness of the cure. The faithful people, who had seen her a little before paralysed, and now wondered at her suddenly healed, burst into the praise of God.

[19] On the same day, the healing of another woman. There happened moreover in the same church of the blessed Virgin on the same day another notable miracle also. For a certain woman named Matilda obtained health from a certain most grievous sickness with which she had laboured continuously for the space of a year. For, as we learned both from her own account and from the testimony of her neighbours, she had lain for almost half a year on a bed of pain, entirely deprived of the use of all her limbs, the gift of seeing alone being still reserved to her for some solace of her unhappiness. At length pain was added to pain. And she laboured with pain of the bowels for more than half a year so much that the very vehemence of the pain brought all who knew her to despair. And when she had spent in vain on physicians the little substance she had had, persisting continually in prayer at the tomb of the most blessed Virgin, after many and lamentable torments she obtained, by the intervention of the glorious Virgin, by the gift of the divine hand, the health which she could not obtain by human hand. Freed, therefore, from both ills with which she had before wasted away, she invited the minds of all who were present to the praises of God, who made His holy Virgin wonderful with so great a glory of miracles.

[20] A girl bent double from the cradle is at once healed. A certain girl named Raganildis, from the land of our glorious father and martyr King Edmund, had from the cradle so laboured with pain of the loins that, her kidneys being disfigured by the enormity of the swelling, she was deprived of the power of walking, the spine of her back being contracted, and the lower parts entirely powerless with bitterness of pain. She had gone to the thresholds of very many Saints, and although the virtue and power of God is equal everywhere, He acts nevertheless by a secret dispensation, so that what is by no means granted by the merit of one of the Saints is conferred by the intervention of another. Coming, therefore, to the church of the holy Virgin, and prostrating herself in prayer before her tomb, some time having intervened, she obtained health. And who would not be astonished that a girl bent from the cradle, weak in her feet, lacking strength of the shins, so felt in a moment the benefit of the divine hand that she who had come bent double and altogether feeble, now entirely free and immune from every ill, to

returned rejoicing to her own home? But this is not difficult for Him who weighs with three fingers the mass of the earth, and has weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance.

[21] The use of her limbs is restored to a woman; the torments of the kidneys vanish. In these days a certain woman of Ameneia, named Christina, had been so tormented for the space of one year with pain of the kidneys that the distress of the torment in no way allowed her to bend down to the earth. And the sinister ill grew so strong that she could not even give herself water to drink with her hands, as she herself set forth and constantly asserted with witnesses. Having heard, therefore, of the miracles of the blessed Virgin, her spirit had no rest until she should visit her threshold, placing all hope of her health in her. And because, according to the Apostle, hope does not confound, the wished-for effect of the thing followed the confidence of hope. As she approached her church, she at once began to be most vehemently tormented, as she saw it. And scarcely had she entered the church when she was so pierced both by the vehemence of the sickness and by the faintness of the torment that she could in no way arrive at the place in which the shrine of the holy Virgin stood. But not even so did devotion rest; the woman presses on in prayer, when, visited by a sudden regard of the divine mercy, she was restored to her former health. And she who before, the sickness hindering, could neither bend herself to the earth nor carry water with her hand, while we saw it and all who were then present marvelled, bent herself to the earth freely and without any difficulty, to declare more manifestly the power of God; impressing her healing on the minds of those looking on by bendings repeated very often.

[22] A woman is freed from dropsy. A certain poor woman named Emma, from the parts of Exeter, when she was bringing forth a child with excessive distress, not long after, some time having intervened, was struck with the disease of dropsy, her belly swelling, her legs, shins and feet together scarcely contained within the skin for the swelling. She took refuge, therefore, in divine help, going, as she could, to many thresholds of the Saints without the benefit of a cure. At length, the sickness continually growing heavier, wearied by the greatness of her toil, confounded by the enormity of the swelling, supporting her powerless steps with the help of a staff, when she had come to the church of the blessed Virgin, the swelling leaving her body, she was restored to health. Only in the shins and feet certain traces of the swelling appeared, in sign of the ill she had had, which frequently happens also in most of those on whom the grace of health is conferred, that they may know how to have the help of the divine mercy always before their eyes.

[23] A boy is wonderfully freed from a long contraction of the limbs, To the praise, moreover, of the divine goodness there happened the astonishing miracle which is subjoined. A certain boy named William, born of Lincoln, in the fourth year or more before the Translation of the most blessed Virgin, seized with the heat of fevers, and wearied continually for a year without remedy, was brought almost to the last exhaustion. And the hand of the Lord was heavy upon him, and, the spine of his back being now bent back, a not small hump standing out, he could in no way raise himself. He had also his left shin so contracted that, his sinews being dried up, he could in no way touch the earth with his foot; for the shin was drawn back by the measure of three fingers more than the other. At length a certain priest named William, who lived in the same city, sympathizing with his pain, in view of divine charity, bestowed on the boy the stipends of life. And with two staffs placed under each armpit he was compelled to direct his powerless steps. And his mother, named Christiana, loving her son with a mother's tenderness, continually wept for her son's calamity. She brought her son to very many places of the Saints, not knowing that the Lord had foreseen that His Virgin was to be glorified in his cure. And he was so wearied by the immensity of the journey and the toil that under each armpit, in the tender flesh, there was shown a certain hollow which the tops of the staffs had made, although their hardness was kept off as far as possible by the softness of cloths. At length the mother, strong in faith, wonderful in piety, since maternal compassion overcame in her the weariness of the toil, as though she purposed to wrest the divine benefit by importunity itself, having learned the fame of the glorious Virgin, brought her son to her church. Nor did the Supremely Merciful long keep the woman's vow in suspense: the hastened cure of the son banished delay. You might hear in his straightening the sinews crack, both shins now corresponding to each other in equal proportion. And although afterwards there stood out on his back a hump which had grown with him from his very birth, he nevertheless received the power of walking rightly and of raising himself. You might see an innumerable multitude of the people run together to so unwonted a spectacle, before an innumerable multitude of the people. and testify their inward joy outwardly with tears. The boy at once rises unharmed, offering to the blessed Virgin as it were for a gift the staffs on which he had leaned. For many days indeed, on account of the unaccustomedness of walking, his ankles, soft as pulp, compelled him to limp: but in process of time, from the habit of walking, he was freed from limping. And when afterwards, his mother taking him back, he had returned to his native soil, he overcame his mother with tears that he might be brought back to the blessed Virgin, so grateful to God and His Virgin for the benefit of health that he never wished to be separated from her, embracing that place before all where he had received the gift of healing.

[24] Something similar happened to a little girl, at the time of the evening office. There happened on the same day another wonder also worthy of relating. For a certain woman of the city of Winchester, named Richildis, had a little daughter a year and a half of age, who from birth had been so contracted that, her ankles firmly and inseparably cleaving to her buttocks, she was miserably rolled about in the manner of a little ball ^l. Deprived not only of the power of walking but also of sitting, she pierced her mother's heart with the goad of grief. The little girl, therefore, was carried on her mother's shoulders to the church of the blessed Virgin, and at once the eyes of the Lord looked upon her, and His ears heard her prayers. For, the sinews cracking not without noise, the ankles were loosed from the buttocks, and the girl's body received by the divine hand the straightness which nature had denied. Finally, the ankles being loosed, where the ankles had clung little hollows were shown; and, wonderful to say, feeling herself being healed, she put her little hand to the aching place, as though scratching with her nails the biting itches, and at once, clapping her hands to her mother, she tried as she could to raise herself, so that by these very gestures her tiny age seemed to praise God. At that time the canons were singing the evening office, when, suddenly roused by the cries of the people, and running there, seeing the thing with their own eyes as it had been done, they not undeservedly heaped praises upon praises.

[25] [A youth driven by horrible fury is wonderfully calmed during the solemnities of Mass.] This also I judge worthy of relating, which, on the splendid feast of the Finding of the saving cross, while the solemnities of Masses were being performed, the Lord deigned to work in the same basilica of the glorious Virgin. There was in a certain village whose name is Coleshill a certain youth named Eustace, who half a year and more before had come into such madness that the monstrousness of his fury struck fear and horror alike into all his neighbours. By horrible gnashings of the teeth, by grim and threatening eyes, by continual shaking of the head, and also by savage attempts, he showed the onset of fury. For he shook his head with continual motions without any interval day and night, as if a reed were shaken by the wind or a leaf of a tree were tossed, so that no one's sound head could ever bear motions of this kind. Brought, therefore, to the church, he struck dread into all who were present by his vehemence. For he threw off from himself without any difficulty the very great beams of timber placed about him, and kept off the surrounding crowd with horrible gestures, sometimes even drove them out of the church: for no one dared either to wait for him or to touch him. The rage of fury compels him to utter terrible cries, to fill the church with clamours, nor does the vehemence of such and so great an evil allow the Creator to be acknowledged by the creature. He applies neither mouth nor mind to entreating the clemency of the saviour; nothing appears in him that savours of a man, the vehemence of his fury surpassing even wild beasts. He is ordered to be driven out of the church, when suddenly one of the canons, coming up, threw a wave of blessed liquid in his face, which, flowing down within his bosom, bedewed his body somewhat. At once the fury began somewhat to subside, and the signs of fury gradually to diminish. Finally, the solemnities of Masses being completed, he is made master of his mind, and recognizes that he has been relieved of the affliction with which he had laboured. He puts off the mark of his former madness, and resumes the long-lost garment of human reason. He stands devoutly invoking God, no longer, as before, provoking Him with blasphemies, but appeasing Him with genuflections. People flock together from every side to so wonderful a spectacle, astonished at so sudden a change. And he who a little before, devoid of human sense, had terrified all who were present with his terrifying gapings, having obtained the grace of health, set out to all both the disease and the manner in which it had happened to him, the people bursting into the praises of God, and blessing Him who is glorious in His saints. And a little time having passed, the shaking of the head so subsided that no traces at all of his former vexation remained in him. There was present at that time the lady of that very village, who, paralysed for a long time, had come for the favour of recovering health. Many also who had known him were present, constantly asserting that he had been vexed with so great a monstrousness of fury that his madness was a horror both to those near and to those far off. We often saw him afterwards, entirely free and immune from every trouble of fury and shaking of the head.

[26] Of a boy vexed by innumerable ills and already dead But also concerning this sign which happened on the same day the power and wisdom of God is to be proclaimed, whose power is great, and of whose wisdom there is no number. A certain notable man named Fulk, who took his surname from the place which is called Grava, had had a son by his wife, now in the third year of his age. He, about the solemnities of the Lord's nativity, seized with a sickness, his belly being constipated, could by no remedy of purgation put off the superfluities of nature. As time went on, the stomach loathing food, the boy's belly so hardened that it presented not the matter of flesh but the hardness of stone. Brought, therefore, to the last exhaustion, his body wasted with excessive leanness, his bones scarcely holding together, he was thought to be about to be taken from human affairs without any hope of cure. When, therefore, the vital spirit scarcely animated the lifeless body, he was carried by his mother to the church of the glorious Virgin, she placing all her hope in Him who does not forsake those who hope in Him, and humbles those who glory in their own strength. The mother persists in prayer, deploring her son's calamity with a mother's affection. At length the boy, having drunk of the blessed water more than * his tender age would be believed to bear, began to be purged through the upper region, and the hardness of the belly was a little softened. But since, from the excessive weakness with which he was wasting away, the soul was scarcely contained within the body, and the animal powers were failing in him, in process of time, by the judgment of all who saw him, he entered upon the way of all flesh. For all the signs which are wont to precede death concurring in him, the limbs of his whole body growing stiff, his whole body already growing cold, he was believed to have paid the debt of human nature. The mother is bathed in tears, she weeps for him lost whom she hoped to recover. She grieves that things have turned out contrary to her wishes, nor

does the vigour of faith yet grow lukewarm in her. She believes that He who had raised up one four days stinking in the tomb can call back to life the little boy lately dead. Her friends console her in her mourning, setting before her that the fruitfulness of youthful age will rejoice in a number of offspring. The father is persuaded to prepare the obsequies of the funeral; to procure a hair-cloth in which the body of the dead may be wrapped, and that the earthly mass be given back to the earth. The mother resists those persuading, asserting that the clemency of the divine power is still to be waited for. And truly wonderful is the power of faith, which even unnerves the forces of nature, and makes impossible things to be possible. There was fulfilled here beyond doubt that saying of the gospel: If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, remove into the sea, and it shall be removed. For the space of three or four hours having passed, one of the canons, coming up, of whose sister the little boy had been born, a wonderful healing. strengthened by faith, opening as he could the mouth already closed, poured into the mouth the liquid of blessed water. Whence it came about that not long after, the soul returning, he filled the ears of those standing round with a subdued voice, and after a little, a loud voice being uttered, he showed openly the gift of life restored to him. At length, opening his eyes, and looking piteously at his mother, he testified by the movements of his arms and also of his other limbs that he was alive. The lifeless body resumes its native warmth, and the stiffening limbs return to their former suppleness. And he to whom the bitterness of sickness had denied the nourishment of food, while all who were present saw it, strengthened his heart that had died with the food of an apple. The parents marvel at the greatness of the divine power, they rejoice that he is restored whom they had wept as lost. And having stayed two days in the church, they brought back home with joy, sound and unharmed, the son whom they had carried lifeless, his strength returning little by little, the power of Him who created all things out of nothing reforming every moment the forces of nature which had entirely failed in him.

[27] The calling back to health of a woman foully afflicted. A certain woman named Leviva, of the village which is called Wrokestan, which is next to Banbury, had for a continuous three ^m years so laboured with a continual swelling of the belly and a swelling inflation that, all her limbs failing for the distress of pain, her shoulders depressed as by some weight, she could fit her hands to no necessary work. And so great was the inflation of the belly that it presented the likeness of a pregnant woman near to childbirth; even the swollen limbs were scarcely contained by the garments in which she was clothed. Not seldom the swelling occupied her hands and feet with the rest of the body, and most of all when the moon was waning. And she said that she had incurred (sic) an affliction of this kind through the severity of the cold while she was intent on necessary work, so that sometimes she uttered dogs' barkings from her mouth, so that she was judged mad by all, and like a madwoman was visited with blows and bound with chains. For this * also despised by her husband, she led an unhappy life with increased miseries. Going, therefore, to the church of the blessed Virgin, and pressing on most devoutly in prayer through the night, after many torments and unheard-of tremblings, freed by belchings and yawnings from the noxious humours with which she was burdened, she obtained health. For the swelling of the belly went down, and all pain of the limbs departed, and the weakness of the hands and feet returned to natural power.

[28] Another is freed in a similar way. In the same days also the wife of a certain man of Ennestan, named Childiva, who for six years had laboured with pain of the bowels, and could be cured by no benefit of medicine, obtained through the merits of the glorious Virgin the grace of health.

[29] Likewise another girl. And also a certain girl of Dencheswitha, named Constance, went with her mother to the church of the blessed Virgin. For from the cradle, and before she had received the grace of baptism, she was so incessantly tortured with pain of the head that, from the vehemence of the pain, sometimes seven times, not seldom eight times, her mind being estranged, she was believed to be taken from human affairs, meanwhile altogether devoid of human reason, and entirely ignorant of the things which were being done. Frequently also for a whole week not even a word came out of her mouth, so that she was believed to be perpetually deprived of the function of speaking. By the merits, therefore, of the blessed Virgin helping her, she found relief from every ill, presenting in herself nothing of her former misfortune, but showing to all as they marvelled, both by words and by gestures, the benefit of the cure received.

[30] A woman despaired of on every side is healed. A certain woman also named Leviva, born of the village which is called Shoram, at the same times recovered the grace of health, God granting it. She confessed that for long times she had stayed at Oxford, and had there brought up a numerous offspring, and she asserted that five of her children were buried in the cemetery of the blessed Virgin. She was staying at that time at Sifford, and relieved the hardships of her poverty by begging the alms of whom she could. And plague was laid upon plague, and bruise added to bruise, and a double tribulation came upon her. For, shaken for a year and a half by the most bitter vexation of fevers, her sinews being dried up, she was so bent double that she could in no way direct her steps anywhere except with the support of staffs, a not small hump standing out on the top of her back. And for two weeks the pain had been so heaped up that she was compelled to lie continually on a bed of pain, wishing only for death as the last remedy of all ills. Coming, therefore, to the church of the blessed Virgin, as soon as she touched her threshold, tormented for some time, pierced with anguish, at length she is raised up, and the contraction of her bent body receives the benefit of straightening. The woman rejoices that at least in this her calamity had been provided for, that she made up for the losses of her poverty by the gift of health obtained. Truly in the very gift of the cure the noise of her back cracking was heard, and by the very kind of the cure both the vexation of the old ill and the manner of the remedy became openly known to all, the mouth of the faithful resounding with the praises of God, who is always and everywhere wonderful in His saints.

[31] [A girl, mad with fury, throws herself into the waters, is rescued by the miller; is brought by her mother to the tomb of St. Frideswide; at length is healed.] A certain girl named Emelina, of adult age, born of a certain village by name Edivetona, which belongs to the church of the blessed Virgin, in the autumn next before her glorious Translation, struck with alienation of mind, came into such madness that she wished to procure death for herself with her own hands, as it were the last remedy of all ills. One night, therefore, having secretly gone out of her mother's house, although she had a deadly purpose, she nevertheless armed her forehead with the sign of the cross, and hastened to the neighbouring water whose name is the Kennet. When, therefore, seduced by the suggestion of diabolical depravity, she stood upon the bank, and proposed to end her unhappy life by drowning, she nevertheless first uttered with her mouth, as she knew it, the salutation made by the angelic voice to the blessed and glorious Mother of God: "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb"; and so, again fortifying her forehead with the sign of the cross, she threw herself into the water head first. And carried by the force of the stream beneath the wheel of a working mill, which was next to her leap, since, as she asserted, not a drop of water had flowed either into her mouth or into her ears, she settled unharmed at a certain place of the river where the land stood up a little. And the miller, named Alfred, resting in his house, which was a little distant from the mill, was admonished in his sleep to hasten to the mill and at once draw out what he should find in the water. Without delay: awakened from sleep, he hastens there, finds the girl to his astonishment, drew her out of the waters unwilling, and gave her back to her mother, who was seeking her daughter with lamentation, she desiring death rather than life. And in process of time the sickness so increased that about the feast of blessed Michael she was a little deprived of the function of the tongue, and so it came about that, growing more and more dumb from day to day, at length, as the solemnity of the Lord's Nativity drew near, she lost entirely both the use and the power of speaking, and, continuing in that alienation of mind until the times of the month of May, she remained dumb. Brought, therefore, by her mother and a certain brother of hers to the church of the blessed Virgin, she passed the night at the tomb where her glorious bones had been laid up. At length, wearied with toil and pain together, when she had given her limbs to sleep, she was admonished in sleep to press on in prayer, and by the angelic salutation to win for herself the mercy of the blessed virgin Mary, and to have full security about recovering health. Staying, therefore, in the church for four or five days, when no sign of the divine mercy appeared in her, the mother was affected with weariness at the delay of the cure. She prepares to return home and to take her daughter back, urging that the power of the almighty acts equally everywhere. The daughter resists as she could; yet she follows unwilling her who compelled her, when suddenly by the divine mercy the girl's steps were hindered. Dashed at length to the ground, wearied with frequent sobs, and shaken for a rather long time as with a feverish trembling, she is at length seized by a light sleep, and a little time after, beyond hope, her tongue quivering, she began at first to speak hoarsely, and as it were stammering to form words with difficulty, so that she could scarcely be heard by those standing round. And the divine mercy always advancing the grace of its goodness for the better, three days not yet having elapsed, the bond of the tongue was so loosed that she recovered the function of speaking distinctly and openly, and set out openly to all the things written above. There was present at that time the venerable man the Lord John, bishop of Norwich, in whose presence the aforesaid girl set out both the disease and the accident by which it had happened to her. Made, therefore, mistress of her mind, the gift of speaking being received, she gave herself over to the service of the blessed Virgin and of her church, cleaving to the service of her healer both in body and in affection.

[32] A paralytic is freed. A certain carpenter of the city of Winchester, named Picard, while one day he was intent at Winchester on necessary work, was suddenly struck with paralysis, the axe falling from his hand, and the power of speaking entirely taken away. His right hand, therefore, being for a whole year closed and at the same time contracted, from the powerlessness of his natural strength, he could neither stretch out his fingers, nor bring his hand to his mouth, scarcely even separate his arm from his breast, nor bring his hand further than to his flank. He had also the whole right part of his body so weakened that he could in no way go anywhere except with a staff supporting him. Staying, therefore, three days in the church of the blessed Virgin, he most devoutly supplicated the divine goodness for his health. The Lord looked with the eye of His mercy upon the faith of the suppliant, and fulfilled the desire of the petitioner, the effect following. The power of speaking is restored to the man, and the slackness of the limbs receives natural firmness, and he who had come a paralytic, having now obtained health, a few days having intervened, returned to his native soil without the support of a staff.

[33] A youth afflicted with pain of the bowels, blindness and other ills is freed. In the same days a certain youth named Alexius, born near Hereford, had been vexed for seven years with a continual sickness and pain of the bowels, and, the bitterness of the pain continually growing heavier, he could perform no work. A swelling also obstructed the passage of his throat, and, as an abscess standing out within, he could taste food only with difficulty, and sometimes could not drink even a cup of water. The vehemence of the sickness was also increased,

and, that the regard of the divine mercy might appear more wonderful, he was deprived of both eyes. The left indeed he could not even open, and with the right he saw the brightness of light, but did not distinguish or discern the quality of outward forms. Wearied with this affliction for almost four months, he went to the church of the holy Virgin; and when he was devoutly pouring out prayers to the Lord at the tomb, the pain of the bowels subsided, and the goads of the torments were mitigated. The passage of the throat also, which had been shut, was opened and relaxed, the faculty of passing food into the body being restored. And the keenness of clear sight also returned, so that with both eyes he discerned, God granting it, the smallest things, such as hairs and locks.

[34] Speech restored to a mute. And also a certain youth of Wathnesfelda, named Godwin, when by the misfortune of a sudden accident he had lost his hearing for four months, became so deaf that he could not even hear the voices of those shouting. The miserable affliction went further, and, his tongue being drawn back into his throat, so that its tip was scarcely seen, he was made mute for almost a whole week, and could neither take food nor swallow water. With his mother, therefore, and friends he went to the church of the blessed Virgin, and, pressing on in prayer at her tomb, after being tormented for some time, he received the function of seeing * and of speaking together. The bond of the tongue being loosed, the drawn-back tongue obtains the place due to it from nature, and the taking of food which had been denied is restored. When, therefore, the bells were rung for the morning lauds, having at once obtained health, bursting into the praises of God: "Thanks be to God," he said, "since I have been freed from every ill, and have found relief from the calamities by which I was oppressed." So, therefore, when morning came, he protested that he was sound and unharmed through the merits of the blessed Virgin, men above all exception bearing testimony to his assertion. His mother also testified that before he was deprived of the function of speech, he by no means heard the voices of those shouting, seeing without the benefit of hearing the lips of those speaking formed to speak, but not distinguishing the words of the speakers.

[35] A woman praying at the shrine of Bl. Virgin is freed from a hectic fever. A certain woman named Isabella, of Beckhampton near Buckingham, when she had been joined to her husband eight years before, being pregnant and near childbirth, entered the house of a certain woman with whom her husband was committing adultery. She, kindled with the fury of malignity, as the outcome of the thing declared, offered her bread, which as soon as she tasted she seemed to herself to grow so cold through her upper parts as if cold water were poured over her head. And when she had given birth, the grace of baptism being received, the child at once died. And the woman's sickness grew heavier, and, both her belly swelling and her shoulders weighed down as by some weight, she began to be so weakened that sometimes she could not even bring her hand to her mouth. She went afterwards to the threshold of our most blessed father and martyr Thomas, and, having drunk the blessed water, felt her sickness mitigated. But in truth, the divine clemency beyond doubt providing that the merit of the most blessed Virgin also might become known in her, she was shaken for almost two continuous years with a hectic fever so much that sometimes seven times a day her limbs were shaken with a natural trembling. When, therefore, she was praying before the shrine of the blessed Virgin, suddenly placed as it were in an ecstasy, and agitated with long-lasting torments, she burst three times into immense vomitings, vomiting indeed the noxious humours with which she was burdened, and when morning came she testified that she was entirely free both from the heaviness of the shoulders and from all feverish heat.

[36] Another woman is cured. On the same day a certain woman named Beatrix, joined to a husband of Ellendona, had been vexed with pain of the head for more than two years, and was so tortured with pain of the bowels that she was compelled to lie on a bed of pain almost every moment. Coming, therefore, to the church of the glorious Virgin, and persisting in prayer, when morning came she showed to all that she was free from all pain.

[37] [The daughter of a certain knight, vexed with scrofula, is brought to the tomb of Bl. Virgin; she is consoled, and, her strength recovered, returns home joyful.] A certain knight named Roger, son of Ralph, of the village whose name is Stretton, had a daughter of about XIV years, by name Margaret, entirely free from carnal pollution. She, after the feast of blessed Michael before the Translation of the glorious Virgin, began to be vexed under the jaws with scrofula, which they commonly call glands, which are said to be cured by the touch of the royal hand. Taken, therefore, by her father to the most illustrious king of the English, Henry the second, the scrofula was put to flight by the touch of his hand. Returned home, therefore, within a short space she is seized with a most vehement sickness, and through each part of the body the pain grew so strong that neither could she herself handle her feet and shins, nor for the greatness of the pain bear to be handled by another, so that she was compelled to utter piteous cries if her feet were touched even by a straw. Wearied with this affliction without any interval until the vigil of the Lord's Ascension, she fell into such weakness that her bones, their joints scarcely holding together, her body worn with excessive leanness, seemed to be only on the surface of the skin. And if at any time it was perhaps necessary for her to be moved anywhere, she could in no way tread the earth, nor even so much as touch it; all her friends strongly thinking that an end would be put to this disease by death alone, without any remedy of medicine. And having heard of the miracles of the blessed Virgin, she began to burn with the greatest desire to be brought to her church. Her parents, therefore, satisfying the virgin's desire, trusting in the divine power, since she could in no way ride, caused her to be carried in a certain carriage to the church of the most blessed Virgin. And they themselves, accompanying her, soon arrived there, bringing their daughter to the tomb: through the whole night of the Lord's Ascension they besought the Lord's mercy for their daughter's health. And, wonderful to say, when morning came, the virgin, little by little recovering, protested to her parents that she was freed from her former pain, and offered her feet and hands and shins to them to handle, and so the limbs which she could not bear to be touched by a straw she rejoiced not only to have handled but also rubbed with hands. And the solemnities of Masses being completed, while we and all who were present saw it and burst into the praises of God, raised up by her parents, treading the earth firmly with both feet, she confessed to all that she was entirely free from pain, except that she had not yet recovered from the excessive weakness with which she had laboured. And when she was asked by her parents to bear to be carried home in the carriage in which she had been brought: "Far be it from me," she said, "that I should be taken back in a carriage: if you desire my return, bring me horses, that, sitting on a horse, I may return home with joy." Three days having passed, therefore, rejoicing and giving thanks for the health obtained, she was conducted home by her parents, carried on a horse, her strength returning little by little, and the robustness of her limbs growing together every moment by the benefit of the divine cure. When, therefore, she had now recovered both from the pain and from the weakness, and the faculty of walking freely had been restored to her, not long after, lest wickedness should alter her mind, or deceit beguile her soul, seized with illness she passed from the world.

[38] The no less astonishing healing of another woman. On the same day, when the solemnities of Masses were being performed, a certain woman of Sifford, named Mabilia, received through the merits of the glorious Virgin the healing of a certain most grievous infirmity. For when she had incurred a slip of modesty, her womb swelling, the time of giving birth was pressing, and in the autumn time she brought forth her child with the greatest pain and torment. But a heavier trouble followed the torment had in childbirth. For, the pain she had had and the felicity * of poverty concurring in one, her sinews being dried up and contracted, the spine of her back bent back, when the time of purification came, she was so bent double that she could neither raise herself nor walk rightly in any degree, nor direct her steps anywhere otherwise than with her hands placed on her knees supporting the rest of her body. Carried, therefore, to the church of the glorious Virgin, as soon as she heard that her shrine would be carried out in procession, she went out of the church as she could, having in purpose to pass beneath the shrine, hoping beyond doubt that through this she would be restored to health: strengthened indeed by that faith by which that woman in the gospel who suffered a flow of blood is read to have touched the hem of the Lord's garment and to have been cured by this. Faith at any rate was working in her what the Holy Spirit worked in believers in the acts of the Apostles, when the sick were placed in the streets, that, Peter coming, at least his shadow might overshadow any of them, and they might be freed from their infirmities. But, an abundance of rain flooding down, neither could the procession go out of the church nor the shrine be carried out. Seeing, therefore, crowds of men flocking together from every side, she feared to re-enter the church lest she should be suffocated by the crowds pressing on her. But the divine mercy, which is ready everywhere, did not fail so great a faith, but the merciful and compassionate Lord looked piously upon His handmaid. For when she was lying outside the door of the church, continually invoking the goodness of God, suddenly, shaken as it were with a feverish trembling for about the space of half an hour, before the solemnities of Masses were completed, with no one supporting her, still indeed but a little bent, her hands not placed on her knees as she was wont, but entirely removed, she entered the church carrying a candle in her hand, and hastened to the shrine of the blessed Virgin, all who were then present congratulating her and with one voice praising God, who is blessed for ever; and after a few days she returned home rejoicing.

[39] The horrible punishment of a Jew blaspheming the holy Virgin. Nor is the vengeance to be passed over in silence by which the Lord, in the city of Oxford itself, on the following night, avenged the injuries of His Virgin on a certain man of Jewish depravity. A certain Jew, by name God-may-he-increase (for so the Jews use sentences in place of proper names), son of Moses of Wallingford, a man indeed less to be detested than the other Jews, driven by a most abominable spirit, insulting the devotion of the Christian people, mocked the divine miracles with blasphemous words, derisively contracting his hands, then opening them, first limping on his feet, afterwards walking rightly. And thus he boasted that he could perform miracles as well as our Frideswide, and therefore said that offerings should be bestowed and oblations made to him as to her. Whence it came about that the faithful people imprecated an evil on him, which afterwards also was declared by the effect following. Finally, sitting at his father's table and heaping up blasphemies, gravely rebuked by his father, he would not desist from what he had begun, asserting that Frideswide could do nothing, and that her miracles were no cause of fear to him. At length his father, with the greatest indignation, imprecated upon him that he might soon obtain the place assigned to him after the space of a hundred years. At this word the blasphemer somewhat quieted down, and not long after, some time having intervened, slipping into sloth, he was wholly dismayed in spirit as if alienated in mind: the providence of God indeed bringing it about that he who had been given over to a reprobate sense should be handed over to the attendants of Satan. Invited to supper by his father,

he refused, affected with weariness of living, and anxious about hastening his death. When, therefore, the following night came on, and the rest of the night was refreshing the labours of the day, in the silence of the dead of night the unhappy man rises from his bed, enters his father's kitchen, and, lest the deadly purpose which he had conceived in his mind should be hindered, sealed the door within with wax. The girdle with which he was girded supplies a noose, which, binding it round a beam and his neck, in this like Judas the traitor, he ended his unhappy life by such a hanging. And in this truly a thing worthy of wonder was shown, that a delicate strap held the mass of so great a body for so long a time. When morning came, the father, anxious about his son, seeks his son, and not finding him after long seeking, at length breaking open the door of the kitchen, he found him hanged. Made to tremble by this sight, he secretly calls his accomplices, lest a misfortune of this kind should come out in public, but should be concealed especially from the Christian people. And as their fathers tried in vain to suppress the glory of the Lord's resurrection, so also the impious people strove in vain to hide the severity of the divine vengeance, because what the power and wisdom of God manifests, human cunning cannot conceal. The city is at once filled with the fame of this thing; the confusion of the unbelievers brings joy to the faithful. The Saviour is magnified in His Virgin, while He did not permit her to be provoked by injuries with impunity. And when, as is the custom, the detestable body was being carried in a carriage, to be given burial at London, a numerous multitude of dogs followed the corpse with barkings in dog's fashion, showing a funeral procession to the blasphemer. Men most worthy of credit testified that afterwards, in the middle of the journey, the wheel of the cart being broken, the corpse fell to the ground, and, both from its own weight and from the violence of the fall, the neck from which blasphemous words had come forth was broken in the very fall, and deservedly: since his iniquity had come forth from fatness, and had passed into the affection of the heart. And because he had provoked God with blasphemies, and had spoken * on high, taken from life by the unhappy kind of death which he had prepared for himself with his own hand, he merited to be crushed with a double crushing, reserved for the day of perdition, and to be led to the day of vengeance with those who have rejected from themselves the knowledge of God, who have hated God without cause.

[40] [People run from every side to the protection of Bl. Virgin. Which a man also experiences, afflicted with many ills, and already near death.] While with these and other wonders of signs the Lord announced to His people the power of His works, the fame of the blessed Virgin was spread daily far and wide, and the mouths of the peoples resounded with the glory of her name. The faithful run together from every side to venerate her, desiring to be fortified with the patronage of so great a patroness. Finally, a certain man named John, of the village whose name is Chadelitone, of fairly illustrious lineage, vigorous in bodily strength, so that in robustness of strength he surpassed not a few, came thither in these days. For a few days before the Translation of the glorious virgin, he was pierced by the goad of adverse health, so that, his back being contracted, weighed down by the heaviness of his shoulders, he was compelled to walk bent. And he was also struck with such powerlessness of the right hand and arm that if at any time he wished to fortify his forehead with the sign of the cross, he could bring his right hand up to his head only with the support of the left hand, being able neither to bring the benefit of food to his mouth nor to give himself the liquid of drinks. Powerless, therefore, with this weakness for almost four months, he both wept and blushed for the hardships of his calamity. He consults physicians, pouring out in vain on physicians no small portion of his substance. For the mind, from greed of bodily health, sometimes becomes prodigal of wealth, and makes little of its outpouring, provided only it hope that some remedy may come to it from this. But when human help was now failing, he judged that divine help must be sought, and decided to go to the blessed virgin of God, that by her intervention the Lord might be propitious to him. He is persuaded that, since he was too much weakened by the length of the disease, he should have a horse saddled for himself, so that he could thus more conveniently bring his purpose into effect. But by no means acquiescing in those persuading him, he took the road on foot, asserting that it was beyond his strength to show fitting honour to so great a Virgin, and that his labours were unequal to her merits. Accompanied, therefore, by his wife and also by a band of very many friends, worn out by the toil of the journey and wearied by the faintness of long-continued vexation, his several limbs already failing, his steps already slipping, it was by no means hoped that he would go on any further. His eyes growing dim, the strength of his whole body also dead, when he was now believed to be about to fall to the ground, he invokes the help of the Patroness to whom he was going, he asks that he be not defrauded of the effect of his vow. At once the divine mercy is present; it raises up him who was near to falling, strengthens him who was failing, supports and advances him as he walks. When, therefore, he had arrived at the desired place, he implored with tears and prayers relief for his need. The Lord heard him invoking, and when morning came he felt his former strength present to him. And he who had come bent walked upright, his body now straight, his shoulders stiff, and in sign of health obtained he represented without any difficulty the gestures of athletes exercising themselves with the arm which he could by no means bring to his mouth, most devoutly blessing God, who is blessed for ever.

[41] [To his wife, in labour amid horrible pains, Bl. Virgin appears; by whose help she brings forth a happy birth.] The same John had a wife named Cecilia, sprung from an illustrious birth. She, her womb swelling, was believed to be near childbirth. But when her belly was distended immensely, and the bringing forth of the birth was held back, by the judgment of her mother and parents she was thought not pregnant, but oppressed by another disease. She is compelled to lie on a bed of pain; she reveals the bitterness of her vexation by piteous groans; by laments and sighs she bends the minds of the hearers to pity. The time of giving birth was believed to have passed, and nothing else to remain except that death alone should put an end to the pain. Held in suspense by a sad expectation of this kind, when also the monstrousness of the torments compelled her to wish for death, suddenly on the night of the Lord's Resurrection she is seized by a light sleep, and saw a lady of elegant form, comely face, and habit, uttering words of consolation. "Do not fear," she said, "daughter; cast your thought upon the Lord, and He will nourish you. A male son will be born to you next Friday about the first hour of the day. But you, after the days of your purification, will come to me at once, as soon as you can, at Oxford. For I am Frideswide, whom the Lord has deigned to reveal to mortals in these days." The woman, awakened, tells her husband what she had seen, sets out what had been promised her, awaiting with most certain hope the visitation of the divine mercy. The outcome of the thing declared the truth of the promises; eye-witnessed faith bore testimony to the vision. For on the same day and hour, as the lady who had appeared had foretold in sleep, a son was born to the woman. And a few days having afterwards elapsed, to show to the blessed Virgin the due gift of her stewardship, with her husband and friends she obeyed the admonitions of her instructress, announcing openly to all the mercy of the divine goodness, which calls the unbelieving out of darkness into its marvellous light.

[42] A youth is freed from quinsy. There was at the same time a certain youth named Walter, given over to the service of the blessed Virgin, drawing his origin from her land. He, struck unexpectedly with the disease of quinsy, the passage of his throat being shut, deprived of the benefit of swallowing, betook himself to the help of the divine goodness. He prostrates himself in prayer before the shrine of the Virgin; necessity stirs up devotion; he is held in suspense by the delay of his desire, so that you would believe that faith was fighting against itself under the doubtful lot of a duel. For he had now been brought so far that he could not even swallow his own saliva. He drank, however, as he could, the blessed water, which soon, like a salutary antidote, mitigated the vehemence of the vexation, and as though the disease fled the benefit of so great a remedy, and could by no means bear it, vomiting follows the draught of water. Whence it came about that, as though from an abscess, a discharge flowing down through his mouth, he was restored to his former health, the power of taking food, which he had entirely lost, being at once restored to him.

[43] When, therefore, the fame of such signs was growing more frequent, [Archbishop Richard comes to Oxford, celebrates Mass, during which a woman recovers health.] the venerable man the Lord Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury, came to Oxford for the sake of prayer, rejoicing in the Lord that the Lord thus deigned to magnify His Virgin, whose most holy bones he had merited to translate from the tomb. Being about, therefore, to celebrate the solemnities of Masses for the fuller honour of the holy Virgin, he adorned himself with the pontifical insignia. The people run up to hear the mass of so great a father, and to be fortified with his blessing. When, therefore, the bells were being rung, as is the custom, to call the people together, at the first ringing of the bells a certain woman of Abingdon, named Wlirva, who had been deaf for five years, so that she could not hear at all, receives the function of hearing: the Lord indeed showing by this that the same venerable father had shown Him a pleasing service in the Translation of His Virgin.

[44] Another woman, at the very entrance of the church, is freed from blindness. On the same day a certain woman came from the parts of London to recover health, who for five years past had laboured with the misfortune of blindness. Nevertheless she had borne with an even mind the plague inflicted on her from heaven, and, that she might win for herself more abundantly the grace of the divine propitiation, walking continually with bare feet, she also macerated her body with fasting. For, abstaining from the eating both of flesh and of fish, she showed her inner devotion by outward works. And truly in her cure it was shown that the Lord is near to all who call upon Him in truth, and that He does not despise the prayers of the orphan, nor of the widow if she pour out the speech of her groaning. For, beholding the woman's devotion, He did not permit her to be tortured by a long suspense of her vow, but as soon as she entered the church, at the very entrance she at once received the keenness of sight which she had lost. She hastens to the shrine with no one leading her, she directs her steps at will without a guide, and she who had come blind, returning thanks to God and His Virgin, departed unharmed.

[45] [The wonderful cure of a girl from blindness; while, on the feast day of Pentecost, the shrine of the holy Virgin is solemnly carried round, Abbot Roger and innumerable other witnesses being present.] Nor is the notable miracle void of the Virgin's praise which (happened) on the holy day of Pentecost while the solemnities of Masses were being performed. A certain girl named Matilda, from the parts of Northampton, of about seventeen years, had been deprived of both eyes for six years. Despised, therefore, by her parents and friends on this account, she sought the supports of life by begging. And since she lacked human help, she took refuge in Him who both makes poor and enriches, humbles and raises up. She went to the threshold of the holy Virgin, devoutly awaiting the divine mercy. She perseveres in prayer, she pleads with tears the calamity of her misery. The solemn day of Pentecost dawned; the time was pressing for the celebration of Masses to be completed. The shrine of the glorious Virgin is ordered to be carried in procession, so that the joy of so great a day might be kept more solemnly. At once the power of the Holy Spirit is present; the Supremely Merciful visits His handmaid, that His wonders might be manifested to the sons of men. For when she was awaiting her consolation in a certain place within the church through which the procession had its passage, suddenly, the shrine being set before her, blood bursting from both eyes watered her face instead of tears, the goads of prickings drawing out the blood. Those looking on marvel at the outcome of such a thing, not understanding the craft of the divine working.

A new manner of healing beyond doubt, where bloody tears precede the benefit of sight. And also during the solemnities of Masses blood again burst from the girl's eyes, and the benefit of sight is restored somewhat. Finally, after the celebration of Masses, she testified that she saw the canons passing before her, clothed as they were in white garments. A third time also, while the evening office was being sung, the blood flowing out reddened the virgin's face, her eyes being now suffused with redness from the excessive flow of blood. On the following night, refreshed by the benefit of rest, when the girl's eyes were still tormented by the goads of prickings, when morning came, opening her eyes, comprehending by sight even small things, she proved by the very fact that the gift of sight had been restored to her. Indeed, she discerned without difficulty each thing that was set before her to be judged, the pain little by little subsiding, and the keenness of her eyes knowing nothing of the darkness of blindness. And lest the gift of God should be suppressed by the ingratitude of silence, when at the same time the venerable man the Lord Roger, Abbot of Abingdon, had come thither for the sake of prayer, the whole series of the matter having been set out to him in detail, so that it might be fully established to him about the grace done to the girl, while all who were present looked on, he held out a coin to her, asking what he was holding out in his hand. She answered without hesitation that it was a coin. Proved by this and very many other experiments, she provoked the affection of the whole people to sing the praises of God. There stood by then, and bore testimony to her, certain of the citizens of Oxford, to whom the girl was related by the bond of kinship, strengthening the faith of all in her assertion by their testimony.

[46] [A woman, guilty of violated chastity, is kept from entering the basilica until she is reconciled by the sacrament of penance.] Wonders succeed wonders by the frequency of signs, the joys of the faithful people are renewed: and that praise is truly not comely in the mouth of a sinner the Lord declared by the testimony of an admirable miracle. A certain woman, burning with the heat of youthful age, with the other companions of both sexes whom she had, had a certain youth as partner both of the journey and of lust, going with like step with her companions, but with unlike devotion, to the threshold of the glorious Virgin; and since it was not permitted to quench the ardour of wicked desire at home, lust furnished a reason for devotion, so that the bypaths of the roads might grant what was denied at home. At length, opportunity being found, the purpose of lustful pleasure is carried out by an enticing act. With rash daring she provokes the clemency of the Saviour, which she ought to have appeased by the devotion of the pilgrimage undertaken. Bearing thus a conscience wounded by the brand of lust, she hastens to the Virgin's church, as though what is hidden from men could escape the eyes of Him who sees all things. When she was already before the forecourt with her companions, her conscience bringing back to her mind the slip of the slippery flesh, she is struck with fear, and when the doors of the basilica lay open to the crowds flocking together in bands, by no means seeing the doors, she thinks the walls consist of the continuity of one solid mass. The unhappy woman is astonished that entry and exit are granted to others, which she was not permitted even to see. She tries to enter with her companions, but, while they enter, her steps are hindered; she is shut out by the divine power, wearying herself with vain attempts. She saw a copious multitude of the people entering the church on the north side; she at once makes for there, if in any way an entrance denied her might at least lie open to her there. But she was permitted neither to see the door, still less (much less) to enter, wretchedly at once both seeing and blind, powerless to enter but able to go back. At length the transgressor returns to her heart, recalls the crime committed, ascribes her calamity to the fault committed. She sets before the eyes of her mind the clemency of the supreme judge; she judges that the wound of sin must be healed by confession. She seeks a priest, shows the bond by which she was bound, reveals with shame the excess which she had shamelessly committed. The priest consoles her hesitating, showing that in true contrition of heart every sin is forgiven. He admonishes her to follow him confidently; he promises that what had been denied to her unclean is to be granted to her cleansed. Without delay; she follows him going before, enters the basilica with nothing holding her back, and, hastening to the shrine, venerates the blessed Virgin of God with what gift she then could, and, no longer as before tortured by the worm of an evil conscience, but loosed from the bond of impiety, she returned home. Let sinners learn by her example to amend their consciences from dead works, nor think that they can redeem by alms the sins which they have not put away. For the Most High does not approve the gifts of the wicked, nor is He appeased by the victims which the criminal immolates, since every uncleanness displeases Him who is supremely clean. Let them learn, I say, to merit pardon by confession, because by the antidote of confession the pain of any wound whatever is taken away.

[47] [A sacrilegious cutpurse is divinely prevented from going out of the same basilica until he has restored what he took.] And as she of whom it has been said above was not permitted to enter the church before the correction of her crime, so also on the same day a certain man guilty of sacrilege experienced exit denied him. How this happened will be clear from what follows. For while the voices of clergy and people together were resounding with the praise of the Lord on account of the signal miracles, a certain youth from the parts of Gloucester came thither, who had purposed to go to St. James for the sake of prayer. He asks the cause of the joy; it is answered by those standing round that the great miracles which the Lord was working through the merits of His Virgin were the matter of their joys. Delighted by this novelty, when he had drawn out his talk at length, suddenly, the crowds pressing on one another, a certain son of iniquity with sacrilegious daring attacks him. He brings his hand to the youth's purse, in which there were five solidi, and with wicked craft cuts off the purse with the coins without his knowing. Glad of the sacrilege, rejoicing at the gain which he had made with another's loss, as though conscious of nothing, he tries to go out of the church, lest by some chance he should be deprived of the money acquired. But the divine power opposes his attempts, nor does it permit this pilgrim of His Virgin to be affected by this loss. For where the wretch believes he will find the door, he finds the fellowship of the walls, and with frequent blows, like a ram, strikes his forehead against the columns, and, groping, finds no way by which to go out. Those standing round are astonished at the novelty of the occurrence, by no means perceiving what * this portended. The youth, still unaware of the loss inflicted on him, hastens to the shrine that he might honour the blessed Virgin at least with a small gift. Putting his hand, therefore, to his purse, then for the first time he perceives with grief the loss which had befallen him; wasting away with sadness at this, that in so great a crowd of people he despaired that a remedy could come to him. He turns himself wholly, therefore, to supplication; he invokes the blessed Virgin, that his devotion be not turned to his prejudice. He beseeches that so pernicious a loss be not made the reward of the labour and affection with which he had come to her, not understanding that the power of the blessed Virgin was serving him. He goes out into public, lays his complaint about what was lost, begs that it be restored to him if it had been found by anyone. Then, walking about hither and thither in the crowd, he bends the minds of the hearers to pity with his complaints, and now despairing, since he found no consoler, he prepares to return. He had already arrived at the doors of the church, heaping up with mournful voice the bitterness of the unlucky accident, when suddenly the sacrilegious man, hindered by the divine power, stunned by the frequent blows of the knocks, going out of his mind from stupor, crying out with his voice, since he could not with words, held out the purse with the coins to him who sought it, and, soon withdrawing himself among the crowds lest he should be recognized, secretly went out of the church. The evildoer is sought in the crowd, but, providing for himself by the benefit of flight, he did not appear there any more. The youth rejoices at his loss being made good, and gives thanks to his Consoler, who mercifully assisted him in his tribulation, and for the rest he devotes himself to her service. The faithful people is filled with astonishment and joy; the numerous multitude of the crowds proclaims the novelty of the sign. For they believed that the sacrilegious man was agitated by the onset of some hidden disease, so as to strike himself, and they were bent to mercy towards him, until the divine power became openly known to all by the very outcome of things.

[48] A woman recovers her hearing at the spring of Bl. Virgin A certain woman from the parts of Northampton, named Brichtiva, had lost the hearing of her right ear for a whole year and ten weeks. When she had come to the church of the holy Virgin for the favour of recovering health, admonished by those standing round to go to the spring ⁿ which the blessed Virgin had obtained from the Lord by prayers in her life, which is a mile distant from the city, she at once directed her foot thither, and poured into her ears water drawn from the spring. At once a ringing of the ears and the distress of itchings followed, and, putting a straw into her ear, she drew out a little portion of flesh. The gift of hearing perfectly received, returning to the church and blessing God, she showed to all who were present that she was cured.

[49] A girl is healed of a long sickness; A certain man of Sipford had a daughter by name Hawisa, of about fifteen years, who, weighed down for two years with continual sickness, had lain on a bed of pain, and could not move herself anywhere, whatever need pressed, without the help of another. Carried, therefore, by her father to the church of the glorious Virgin, and staying there eight days, having drunk somewhat of the blessed water, she began to recover, and at length, returning with her father and using for some time the benefit of the blessed liquid, she was entirely relieved of her former sickness. With no one, therefore, supporting her, propped by no one's aid, returning to Oxford that she might give thanks for the grace conferred on her, while the people were astonished, she showed herself freed from all sickness through the merits of the Virgin.

[50] A paralysed woman also; There had come in almost the same days from the parts of Shrewsbury a certain woman named Margaret, loosened by paralysis for about the space of a year, so that she was compelled to sustain her failing steps with the help of a staff. Staying, therefore, for some time in the church of the blessed Virgin, she obtained health, and the weakness (sic) of all her limbs returns to its former strength.

[51] likewise a young cleric; There was staying at that time at Oxford for the sake of studies a certain cleric named Stephen, sprung from the region of York, flourishing in youthful age, and illustrious for elegance of form. He, seized with a quotidian fever, took refuge in the help of physicians, disembowelling himself with vain expenses, the bitterness of the sickness growing heavier every day. He flew, therefore, to divine help as to the last, since human help was now failing, and when, now worn out with excessive leanness, his limbs scarcely held together, with livid eyes and pale face, he implored the patronage of the glorious Virgin. As soon, therefore, as he drank a cup of the blessed water, the feverish fatigue for the rest subsided, and, his strength returning little by little, he recovered fully in a short time.

[52] and a woman; And also a certain woman of Stoches, named Wimarcha, when for about half a year she was so wearied with pain of the bowels that the appetitive power had entirely failed in her; as soon as she drank the blessed water, she began by the benefit of vomiting to be freed from the noxious humours, and, returning thanks to God and the blessed Virgin, she went away entirely sound.

[53] likewise a Priest; A certain priest also of Handeura, named Ralph, when for about half a year he had been vexed with the disease which they call the wandering gout, and could not be cured by the benefit of human medicine, commending himself wholly to the Virgin, bound himself by a vow that he would go to her threshold, and, measuring himself with a wick ^o in sign of the vow, with God's help he was relieved of every affliction.

[54] And also the son [p] of the same priest, vexed with a feverish trembling for a whole month, his son; named Robert, using the same benefit of vowing and of measuring himself,

was at once freed through the merits of the blessed Virgin.

[55] and another, a subdeacon. A certain subdeacon also of the same village, named Thomas, wasting away for four years with the same ill as the above-said priest, who, as he asserted, had spent much money on physicians; providing for himself by the same remedy as the former, he joyfully proclaimed that he had been freed by the divine hand from what the human could not.

[56] A woman paralysed for five years is freed. To the praise, moreover, and glory of His Virgin the Lord deigned to work this also, that from the quality of the signs the greatness of her merits might shine out. A certain paralysed woman named Emma, of Southamptonshire, deprived for about five years of the strength of all her limbs, her hands powerless for working, her feet denying her walking, when she had been vexed in the church of the blessed Virgin with great and long-lasting torments, having stayed there some days, at length returned home unharmed, and afterwards, returning to Oxford, professed with constant voice that she was sound, all who were present blessing with one voice God who is glorious in His Saints.

[57] The healing of a certain man; In these days also a certain man of Warminster, named Thomas, who had been vexed with an intercutaneous windiness hindering the function of all his limbs, having drunk the blessed water, when he had stayed for a little time in the church, was cured. He testified that he had laboured with this affliction for more than the space of a year. At length, after the grace of health was obtained, we saw him sound and unharmed, who also protested to us with living voice that he had obtained full and perfect remedy of his weakness through the merits of the glorious Virgin.

[58] likewise of a woman. A certain woman also of Brighton, named Adelicia, when for a long time she had had her skin distended by noxious humours, and her hands also and feet numb from the immensity of the swelling, all the swelling entirely subsiding, rejoiced that she had been restored to her former health.

[59] A woman blind in both eyes obtains the use of one. This also is not to be passed over, which the merciful and compassionate Lord deigned to work in a certain woman of the village whose name is Dunstiu, named Agnes. For when (she had been deprived) of both eyes, she went with her father to the church of the blessed Virgin. But when, her sins beyond doubt requiring it, the divine working was delayed, the father, as if despairing, went away without his daughter's knowledge. The woman perseveres in knocking, knowing nothing of feminine inconstancy: she uses the hardness of stones for the softness of beds; the roughness of the rocks refreshes her wearied limbs. He who saves those who hope in Him is present to her asking, and perseverance obtains what faith demands. The woman's right eye is restored, and, the darkness being driven out, the keenness of clear sight returns. But why both eyes were not restored to the woman, He knows whose judgments are a great deep.

[60] The holy Virgin succours a woman suffering in both hands; At that time also a certain woman of Bristol, named Agnes, went to the church of the holy Virgin, that she might be freed from the sickness by which she was held. For when she was a young girl, she was suddenly deprived of the use of her right hand, the whole hand swelling, so that she could fit it to no necessary work. When, therefore, she was wearied for two years with this weakness without any remedy, sickness was added to sickness, and, the left hand now swelling, she wept for the powerlessness of both hands, and the sickness grew so strong that she could not even put on her shoes. Powerless with an ill of this kind for four years, she took refuge wholly in divine help, humbly appealing to the blessed Virgin for her health. Nor did the divine mercy fail the believer; for as soon as she washed her hands with the blessed water, all the swelling departed, and the lost ability of the hands returned.

[61] likewise another, weakened in the right arm. A certain girl from the land of blessed Alban, protomartyr of the English, named Emma, had her right arm with the hand so weakened that she could neither raise the arm nor bring the hand to her mouth. And she had laboured with this misfortune for about a year. And if at any time she wished to arm her forehead with the sign of the holy Cross, she could raise her right hand upward to some degree only with the help of her left hand. Staying, therefore, for some time in the church of the glorious Virgin, she was perfectly restored to health, natural power returning, and the divine power reforming the defect of nature.

[62] The wonderful healing of a youth. But neither do I judge this to be passed over in silence, which the Lord deigned to show to a certain youth of Marlborough whose name was Peter. For when he had been wearied for some time with the sciatic passion, one day as he was making a journey, it happened by chance that, falling from the horse on which he was sitting, he was vexed much more grievously than before. And the trouble of the vexation grew so strong that, the sinews of the right thigh and shin being dried up, he was compelled, with the support of a staff, to walk on the joints of his right foot. Having heard, therefore, of the miracles of the blessed Virgin, his spirit had no rest until he arrived at her church, imputing a weariness of this kind to his deserts, because, when he had vowed to go to the Lord's sepulchre, he had long delayed the fulfilment of the vow. When, therefore, he was awaiting the divine mercy there for some days, one night, when before the shrine of the blessed Virgin the canons were singing the office of matins in her praise, and he was persisting continually in prayer, as soon as they came to the prayer which was being said by the priest in her memory, he pressed his foot on the ground. At once he felt the benefit of the divine hand, and, the sinews now returning to their natural condition, he who for a long time before scarcely touched the earth with the joints of his feet now trod the earth with his whole foot. Without delay: he throws away his staff, fills the church with cries, proclaims openly the grace of health restored to him, and, not containing himself for joy, began to run about sound hither and thither, showing by his very gestures that he was cured. Whence it came about that, when morning came, the people rejoicing, he showed openly his hands, which the staff on which he had leaned had made callous and full of fresh blisters, returning thanks to God and the blessed Virgin for the benefit conferred. When, therefore, sound and unharmed, he had returned home with joy, that he might fulfil the vow by which he had bound himself, the sign of the cross being impressed on his shoulders, he went again to the threshold of the blessed Virgin, so proclaiming the benefit of the health obtained that he publicly protested that nothing of his former weakness or pain remained in him.

[63] A knight's son is cured of blindness. Illustrious with these and other portents of signs, (the Virgin) spread the glory of her fame far and wide. The faithful rush from every side in bands to her church, stirred by the fame of her name and miracles. The sick flock together asking the grace of medicine. The son, therefore, of a certain knight, of boyish age, from the parts of Leicester, sprung from illustrious parents, when he was in the first year of his age, was entirely deprived of the left eye. But not even so did the envy of the unlucky accident rest: for when he was in about the fifteenth year of his age, he was also deprived of the right. For first the darkness of blindness coming on little by little, the affliction continually growing heavier, the physicians labouring in vain at his cure, he was entirely deprived of the function of seeing. Wasting away, therefore, for almost three months in the darkness of his blindness, he struck grief into his parents, despair into all. The father, therefore, sympathizing with his son's calamity with a father's tenderness, having heard of the miracles of the most blessed Virgin, strong in faith, decided to cast all his hope on the Lord. Taking, therefore, a coin, he bent it over his son's head, namely in sign of this, that he was going to send him to the threshold of the glorious Virgin for the favour of recovering health. At once the divine mercy is present; the Lord looks upon the father's devotion, who, according to the Psalmist, is near to all who call upon Him in truth. And, wonderful to say, soon, the darkness little by little departing, the keenness of sight returns: the right eye is restored to the boy, the left, which he had lost from infancy, being still covered with the darkness of the old blindness. And so much did the Lord will His power and the merits of His Virgin to be declared in the cure of the boy that, the benefit of sight returning every moment, when morning came he directed his steps freely whither he would without a guide, so that no trace of the former blindness could be detected in him: his parents indeed and all who knew him praising, not without wonder at so great a miracle, God, who is blessed for ever. That he might fulfil, therefore, his father's vow, and that the son might return thanks for the health obtained, he went to the church of the blessed Virgin, proclaiming with public voice the working of the divine hand, which it was very easy to recognize with eye-witnessed faith.

[64] A fuller fallen into the fury of madness is healed. To the aforesaid is to be added this notable miracle also, by which the Lord willed the name of His glorious Virgin to be magnified in the city of Oxford, lest the people which had merited to be distinguished before others by so great a patroness should seem to remain as it were fasting from the prodigies of the divine power. In the village, then, whose name is Halilvella (Holywell), outside the walls of Oxford, there was a certain youth named Thurben, young in age, robust in body, a fuller by craft. He, when one day he was busy at polishing garments, suddenly greatly wearied by pain of the head, judged that a remedy should be sought for himself by the benefit of blood-letting. But the mind greedy of gain strives to seek profits even with loss to the body. The youth nonetheless presses on with his necessary work; the vehemence of the pain denies the support of food. The stomach loathing food, weakened both by the withdrawal of blood and by the trouble of fasting, he is suddenly alienated in mind. And so, driven by a spirit of fury, with horrible gapings, grim and threatening eyes, furious gestures, he struck fear and horror alike into those standing by. He tries to put those standing by to death with a pole which he carried in his hand, when, crowds flocking from every side to the miserable spectacle, he is bound with chains, that at least by such a tie the savagery of the raging man might be checked. He is dragged unwilling to the church of the blessed Virgin, he is set before the shrine; the youth persists in fury, entirely devoid of human reason; he bends all who were there to pity. He stands ignorant of his maker, showing his very vexation by horrible gapings of the mouth, refusing with detestation the cup of blessed water which was offered him. The liquid of the blessed water is thrown in the face of the furious man, and, by the rebound, some drops being sent into his gaping mouth and passed into his body, the fury somewhat subsided. And having afterwards drunk the blessed water, made master of his mind, he is loosed from the chains, and left to his own power. Loosed, he approaches to kiss the shrine of the holy Virgin, from approaching which, when bound, he had drawn himself back as far as he could. He asked those standing round with the greatest devotion whither two swans had gone, of wonderful size, of ineffable whiteness, which he confessed he had seen on the top of the shrine. They answer, wondering, that they had by no means seen swans, giving thanks to God, who hides the secrets of His wisdom from the wise and prudent, and reveals them to little ones. The youth returns home sound and unharmed, showing in himself no trace at all of his former fury, and having stayed for some time afterwards in the same village, at length, to show a more pleasing service to the Lord, he took the road to go to the Lord's sepulchre.

[65] A father together with his daughter are cured of pains of the bowels. At the same time a certain man of Aweltona, named Richard, came to the church of the blessed Virgin, imploring the help of the divine mercy.

For for a continuous four years the Lord had scourged him with a very great plague, so much that, his skin distended with excessive swelling, he was vexed with pain of the bowels without any remedy of human hand. And that the virtue of faith and of patience together might shine out in him, a certain daughter of his of about seven years, wearied with the same affliction as her father, followed her father in the steps of faith, so that by the cure of both the great works of God might be proclaimed more wonderfully. At length, as soon as he drank the blessed water, removing through the upper region the noxious humours with which he was burdened, he was freed, God having mercy, from every affliction of swelling and of the bowels. And that he might be the more grateful for the divine benefit conferred on him most fully, the Lord had mercy on his daughter also, lest the father, rejoicing at his own cure, should mourn the hardships of his daughter.

[66] The healing of a woman from madness and foul pains of the body. And also a certain woman of the village whose name is Piritona, by name Emma, had laboured for about two years continually with such ill health that, when all her limbs were swelling with disgrace and pain, she was also dismayed in mind, so devoid of reason that she was judged to be likened to brute animals lacking sense. And although the aforesaid village is distant by no long interval of land from the town of Oxford, yet, the unevenness of her body hindering her steps, after a course of fifteen days had passed she arrived at the desired place. Passing the night, therefore, in the church of the blessed Virgin for almost three weeks, and devoutly invoking the name of God for her health, at length, having drunk the blessed water, she was entirely healed by the benefit of vomiting.

[67] Another is freed from dropsy; And as to those near, so also to those far off, the Creator of the universe deigned to reveal the merits of His Virgin by benefits of healing. For a certain woman named Agnes was sprung from the parts of Southamptonshire, who, that she might seek for herself the necessaries of life, toiled in the service of another. She, one night when she was labouring with excessive thirst, quenched the heat of thirst with a cup of water, longed-for indeed but immoderate. When morning came, therefore, when she had prepared herself to show to her lord the service due, seized with an unexpected sickness and dismayed in mind, she began to be weighed down with so great a weight of swelling that for the enormity of the swelling she could scarcely be contained within her garments. Wearied, therefore, with the disease of dropsy for more than three months, at length she was brought to the church of the holy Virgin, where, having drunk the wave of the beneficent liquid, vomiting out the noxious humours through the upper region, the swelling subsiding, the pain resting, blessing God, she returned home sound and unharmed with joy.

[68] likewise another from fever. The daughter also of a certain knight, named Robert of Wavera, when she had been vexed for a long time with the fires of fevers, and could in no way be cured by the work of physicians, was perfectly cured in the church of the blessed Virgin.

[69] A girl freed from madness and the epileptic evil. A certain girl moreover from Warwickshire came thither to recover health. For, having gone out of the house at night at her father's command to do some work, seized with excessive fear, as soon as she touched the threshold of her father's house, alienated in mind, she began to be wearied with the epileptic disease. And the monstrousness of the sickness so increased that, wearied sometimes twice a day with the trouble of this ill, she was entirely deprived of human sense; dreading neither the heat of fire nor the liquidity of waters when she was seized by the affliction of the above-said ill. Her parents, therefore, pierced with fear and grief together, go to the threshold of the blessed Virgin, take their daughter with them, placing their only refuge in the mercy of God. Nor was faith defrauded in its vows: for at once on entering the church, vexed sharply and for a rather long time, yet not in the manner in which she was wont, she returned home with her parents, for the rest entirely free and immune from her former disease. Whence it came about that, having stayed with her parents for two months or more, when she rejoiced that she had entirely recovered from the sickness which she had suffered, she went again to the blessed Virgin, that she might return thanks to her for her cure.

[70] [A woman advanced in age recovers her sight; together with her a little boy is loosed from contraction of the limbs.] A certain woman of Wanborough, named Ediva, displaying the appearance of religion in her habit, had lost the use of her eyes for fifteen years and more. And she said that this misfortune had happened to her in this way. When one day, the day being already declining, she was going on, suddenly it seemed to her as though warm water were thrown in her face, and at once, her eyes thickening, and her eyelids as it were cleaving to each other, she entirely lost the power of seeing. And when she had gone to the thresholds of very many Saints, and the Dayspring from on high had not visited her, coming to the church of the blessed Virgin and passing the night at her tomb, she received her sight, the Lord having mercy. And, wonderful to say, the Lord deigned to restore her sight to her when she was now so aged and so advanced in her days that, nature failing in her, she seemed about to be deprived of the grace and power of light. And also with her came a certain little boy of the same village, named Henry, of about ten years, who for almost three years and a half had had his right hand so contracted that, the thumb cleaving between the fingers, the fingers contracted, his arm also powerless and weakened, he could by no means raise it to his head. And he had also his right foot so contracted that he could walk only limping on the joints of the right foot. The Most High, therefore, looking piously upon the innocence of unripe age, cured him through the merits of His Virgin, and reformed the fingers and the contracted hand into natural straightness, and restored also the weakness of the arm and foot by gratuitous goodness, without the interval of any delay, to its former strength. What, therefore, we have seen we testify, and men of the same village worthy of credit bore testimony to us, who had known both the woman's blindness and also the boy's weakness, and gave thanks to God with us for the cure of both.

[71] Healing from dropsy. A certain woman of Dorchester, named Alvitha, when she was labouring with the pain of fevers, and thought to quench the heat of thirst with a draught of water, her belly swelling, her shins and legs thickening, incurred the disease of dropsy. When, therefore, she had hastened to (the church) of the blessed Virgin, and had stayed some days there, she was entirely cured, God having mercy.

[72] [To a youth exhausted of his strength by a long fever Bl. Frideswide appears and gives him health.] A certain youth of Wycombe, named Jurstin, had been wearied with the torment of fevers for a whole two years, so that he had come almost to the last exhaustion, pale in face, lean in body, and already presenting the likeness of a dead man. When, therefore, he had gone to the church of the blessed Virgin, and had stayed there for almost three weeks, one day, when he had given his limbs to sleep, he saw, as he asserted, a certain lady of elegant form, clothed in white garments, who, as it seemed to him, tearing open the tunic in which he was clothed from one side to the other through the middle of the body, drew out as it were a certain sinew, and without any pain and hurt applied a remedy to his former pain. Awakened, therefore, from sleep, he rejoiced that all pain had entirely departed from him, and afterwards, having stayed there for a whole week, he protested publicly, all who were present hearing and praising the divine power, that he had entirely recovered from all the feverish pain with which he had laboured.

[73] [A little boy deprived of both eyes receives sight. By what means and with what diligent industry the miracle was proved.] In the same days a certain little boy of two years was carried to the church of the blessed Virgin by his parents living in the borders of Wycombe. For when the gift of seeing had grown up with him from his very birth, a little time having intervened, he was deprived of both eyes. His parents, disturbed by the misfortune of this unhappy event, distrusting human help, ask for divine help, and humbly appeal to the blessed Virgin of God for their son's health. The Lord, therefore, piously regarding the devotion of the parents, restored to the little boy the keenness of sight, and through the merits of His Virgin turned into joy the grief they had had over their son's blindness. And since his tender age could not make words for itself, nor give proof by deed, although the parents seemed worthy of credit by reason both of honesty and of maturity, that it might be more fully established to all about the grace conferred on the boy, we judged that faith should be strengthened by an experiment, so that eye-witnessed truth might do away with every doubt. For in the sight of many a certain canon, taking an egg from the boy's hand, now moved it about hither and thither, now threw it to a distance, rolling it over the ground. And when the little boy followed it without doubt, and without hesitation seized it when carried further by its rolling, he unknowingly bore testimony by deed, what his tongue could not, to the grace conferred on him.

[74] [Three men making a journey together, one of them persuading, put off going to the threshold of the holy Virgin; the author of the counsel falls into sickness; St. Frideswide appears to him, at whose persuasion they visit the tomb; and the sick man is healed.] By this sign also which is subjoined, the Lord declared that the devotion pleases Him which stirs the minds of the faithful to go to the thresholds of His Saints. For when the necessity of the road had brought three fellow-travellers from the parts of Winchester to Oxford, and the nature of their business compelled them to go on further, two wishing to visit the church of the blessed Virgin for the sake of prayer, the third, putting forward that the day was declining and a great road remained, held back the purpose of devotion, persuading them to carry out together on their return what they had conceived in mind, not heeding that counsel of Solomon: Do not forbid him to do good who is able; if you are able, do good yourself also. For in doing good haste is always useful, and delay is dangerous, because what the morrow may bring forth human ignorance cannot know. And human nature is more prone to consent to him who draws back from good than to him who invites to good; acquiescing in the one dissuading, they continue the journey begun. And when they were scarcely now half a mile distant from the town of Oxford, suddenly he who had been an impediment to the others began to be so sick that, for the greatness of the pain, two miles having been passed with the greatest difficulty, he was compelled to enter a lodging where he might lay his head. And when he had been tortured continually the whole night without any rest by the bitterness of the disease, at length, the day stealing upon the earth, the excess of weariness brought the benefit of sleep, and it seemed to him that a certain lady of incomparable comeliness stood before him and most gravely rebuked him because he had hindered his companions wishing to go to her church; and that he would not otherwise be restored to health unless he hastened with his companions to her church, and by this as it were satisfaction the bond of so great a vexation would be loosed. Awakened, he tells the vision to his companions, entreating them with prayers to go with him, in turn most humbly persuading what he had obstinately dissuaded. They at once acquiesce in their colleague's persuasions, and, when morning came, while the goad of sickness was still piercing him, they go with the greatest devotion to the threshold of the blessed Virgin, imploring the clemency of the Lord, together with him, for the health of their companion, that He would turn away from him through the merits of His Virgin the scourge which He had inflicted on him, to whom vexation had now given understanding. The Lord therefore heard the prayers of His servants, and the health which He had withdrawn from the obstinate servant He mercifully gave back to him contrite and humbled, and to accomplish

the business that was pressing them, restored his strength in its entirety.

[75] A girl scarcely able to walk is relieved of her infirmity. A certain virgin named Albreia, of a certain village whose name is Fulbrook, sprung from illustrious and honourable parents, had been deprived for almost ten years of the function of walking, so that, her shins as it were chained to each other, she was compelled to come to a stop altogether if even the smallest obstacle met her. She walked without the help of a staff, but, from the excessive slackness of the lower parts, she could scarcely lift her feet even a little from the ground. When, therefore, her parents accompanying her, she had gone to the church of the blessed Virgin, and was most devoutly beseeching the mercy of God for her health, she at once so recovered by the divine mercy that, having obtained the natural faculty, she directed her steps freely whither she would, the weakness of the shins and legs returning to its old power. To the parents, therefore, whom the long weakness of the virgin had made sad, her cure ministered joy, when they suddenly saw conferred on the virgin by the gift of God what she could recover neither by the benefit of age nor by the art of physicians.

[76] [A woman suffering vehemently from the spleen goes to the tomb of St. Thomas; she is indeed consoled; but, the ill breaking out afresh, she is brought to extremity; Bl. Frideswide appears to her, whose relics she visits, and she perfectly recovers.] A certain cleric named Geoffrey, of the village whose name is Collingbourne, had a daughter by name Margaret, whom he had given in marriage to a certain man of the village whose name is Burefelda, named William. She, in process of time, vexed for more than two years with a fault of the spleen, fell into such weakness that, the sickness hindering, she could scarcely do any work. But afterwards, lying on a bed of pain, her limbs loosened by sickness, coming to extremity, she received the last anointing after the manner of Christians. Bringing back to memory, therefore, the merits of our blessed and most glorious Father and martyr Thomas, although weighed down by the heat of her suffering, she vowed that she would go to his threshold, if the Supremely merciful would visit her in so great an ill. And at once she began to be better. Restored, therefore, from that sickness, her strength being somewhat resumed, the fault of the spleen not yet resting, pain of the head and ringing of the ears so followed that, from the excessive vexation, death was her desire and life her loathing. For, her body also worn with excessive leanness, her face suffused with pallor, she presented nothing living to the eyes of the beholders, since she could not even breathe except with pain and the greatest difficulty. Abandoned by physicians without remedy, she was believed about to be taken from human affairs. When, therefore, one night the quiet of sleep was refreshing her wearied limbs, she saw in her sleep a certain lady of most serene face, clothed in most white garments, exhorting her to go to a certain city unknown to her, and there to seek medicine, promising health if she obeyed the admonitions. Having heard, therefore, the fame of the glorious Virgin Frideswide, she recalls the vision to memory, remembers the admonitions, interpreting as Oxford the unknown city which she had been admonished to go to. That she might, therefore, offer a more pleasing sacrifice to God and the blessed Virgin, she decided to go to her church on foot, but, excessive weakness delaying her purpose, what she could not do by a journey on foot she accomplished by mounting a carriage. When, therefore, by night she was praying over the tomb of the blessed Virgin, compelled at length to indulge herself in the benefit of sleep, she saw a certain lady of wonderful charm and gravity anxiously going round the tomb, sprinkling in order the faces of each of the sick who lay there, and afterwards wiping them. And when she had come to her, she washed not only her face but also her head, as it seemed to her, and fortified her with the sign of the cross. Awakened by this vision, she perceived that she had found relief from all pain of the head and of the rest of the body, and on the morrow she who had been carried in a carriage, as she was admonished by the same lady who had appeared to her, went rejoicing and exulting by a journey on foot to the threshold of the most blessed martyr Thomas, and, returning anew, restored to full health, visited her healer.

[77] The arm and hands of a nobleman are healed of paralysis. A certain knight, Richard, surnamed Pantefot, illustrious in lineage, endowed with ample possessions, struck with powerlessness of the left hand and arm, was also deprived of feeling, even though his fingers were handled most roughly, so that he feared that dissolution by paralysis threatened him. For he could neither bring his hand to his mouth except with the help of the right hand, nor do any work, nor touch any of his fingers with his thumb. For, as he himself testified, he had his hand so dead and his fingers so insensible that he could in no way feel the trouble of prickings, even if he were pricked with iron styluses. And he set out that, vexed with such an affliction for about half a year, he could be cured by no art of physicians, although he was vigorous in strength of body and flourished in the vigour of youthful age; nay rather, the sickness growing heavier continually heaped up the fuel of powerlessness. Coming, therefore, to Oxford, since not devotion but the necessity of the journey had brought him there, having learned the fame of the glorious Virgin, which he had not yet known, he passed the night sleepless before her shrine, devoutly invoking the patronage of the blessed Virgin for his health. Having summoned to him, therefore, a certain youth, he asks him to wash his feeble hand with blessed water, hoping that through this a saving dew would be conferred on him from heaven. At once a sweat bursting out moistened the hand long dead and entirely deprived of the nourishment of natural heat, and already without knowing it he was recovering. And on the following day, perceiving the power of God about him, he alleged with tears that he was restored to health. For, the fingers returning to their natural flexibility, he closed and opened his hand freely at will, and moved his arm whither he would without any difficulty, without the help of the right hand. And he who on the day before could not even carry the smallest things for the excessive trembling of hand and arm, his strength now restored, with untrembling hands balanced even heavy things, and so stirred the hearts of the faithful to the praises of God.

[78] [A girl blind for five years goes to the tomb, and does not obtain what she sought; she returns, and obtains her wish.] There was in the village whose name is Faringdon a certain girl named Hawisa, who, suddenly blinded, had been entirely deprived of the benefit of seeing for a continuous five years. She, as soon as she heard of the Translation of the most blessed Virgin, went to her church for the favour of recovering health, invoking God suppliantly, that He who had opened the eyes of the man born blind would deign to open her eyes also. But almighty God, who knows what is expedient for each, did not at once turn away His scourge from His handmaid, because scourges in the present make the just more approved. For He does not forthwith grant bodily health to one asking, although He never denies the health of the soul to one asking faithfully, since also to the apostle asking three times that the sting of his flesh, the angel of satan who buffeted him, might be taken from him, the answer was made by the Lord: My grace is sufficient for thee, for power is made perfect in infirmity. But not long after she returned to Oxford for the same cause, as though she proposed to win the clemency of the merciful judge by importunity alone. Pressing on most devoutly in prayer, therefore, for three days in the church of the blessed Virgin, on the fourth day, while she was praying over the tomb of the blessed Virgin, awakened from sleep, recovering little by little the light of her eyes, the divine clemency having mercy, she at length so recovered in process of time that she could both see and discern the smallest things offered to her.

[79] Innumerable healings obtained. A little girl recovers the health of her eyes. By these and other wonders of His works the Lord revealed to the nations the merits of His Virgin, declaring even after death how precious in His sight her life had been. Finally, how many fever-stricken persons escaped the heat of fevers by her protection it is not in my power to unfold. And also very many beset by various sicknesses, having at once obtained the grace of health, telling no one anything about the gift of health conferred on them, returned home with joy. Some (some persons) also, whom, the benefit of God being known, we ordered to wait, that the due sacrifice of praise might be offered to the divine mercy, went away without waiting for the unfolding of the praises. And although taciturnity is often invited (sic; perhaps: testifies to) ingratitude, holy simplicity nevertheless has an excuse, because it does not know what is most expedient. But, these things being omitted, let us relate other things, especially since the number of the miracles makes copious matter. A certain girl of the village which is called Wedburna, in the third year of her age, for about half a year, her eyelids weighed down as with a leaden heaviness, her eyes continually closed, could by no means look up. And when at times her girlish eyes were opened by her mother, she saw only the brightness of light, but did not perceive by sight bodies or any outward forms. Her parents, saddened by the unhappy outcome of this thing, carried their little daughter to the church of the blessed Virgin, beseeching the goodness of the divine mercy for the girl's health. At once, vexed beyond the strength of her tender age, that the might of the divine power might shine out in her, the heaviness of the eyelids being wiped away, she received sight, and by the gift of God recovered the function of seeing clearly, all who were present exulting and resounding with joy the great works of God.

[80] A woman healed of leprosy. To these I judge must be added what the Lord deigned to work in a certain widow named Goda, from the parts of Warwick. For, suffused for eight years past with the contagion of leprosy, she so burned with an inner heat as if she were kindled with the heat of material fire. For by the falling of her hair, the hoarseness of her voice, the livid colour, the itching of the pustules, the swelling of her hands and feet and also of her other limbs, she showed by evident signs the stain of leprosy. And also, as she constantly asserted, for a long time the hand of the Lord was so heavy upon her that, if at any time she trod the ground with bare feet, she was compelled to utter terrible cries, so that by the complaints of her clamours she could bend even hearts of stone to pity. When, therefore, in the church of the glorious Virgin she was suppliantly imploring divine help, at once the divine mercy was present to her asking, which does not despise the prayers of the orphan, nor of the widow if she pour out the speech of her groaning. For, the swelling of each limb subsiding, the natural colour returning, the lividness of the pustules receding, the burning of the heat also subsided. And, the skin which had been distended now being relaxed, the discharge of the ulcers drying up, she afforded to all looking on her the hope of a perfect cure through the intervention of the blessed Virgin.

[81] A boy of twelve is healed. A certain man named Malger, from the parts of Gloucester, had a son of about twelve years, who for a long time, loosened by paralysis, the right part of his body dead, his arm powerless, his fingers bent back and inflexible, had his hand somewhat closed and contracted. Finally, the strength of his limbs being benumbed, he could lift his hand or arm no more than a mass of lead. When, therefore, the father, sympathizing with his son with a father's tenderness, had brought his son to the church of the blessed Virgin, he strove by what works of mercy he could to win for his son the mercy of the Lord. He therefore diligently gave his service to the sick who lay here and there in the church, reckoning beyond doubt that in this he was showing a pleasing service to the Lord, who says: What you did to one of my least, you did to me. Nor did his faith and humble devotion deceive him. For, a few days having elapsed, he merited to receive his son sound and entirely immune from all sickness. For, the limbs which had fallen asleep returning to their natural power, stretching out the fingers which he had before had contracted, with the sign of the cross,

all who were present wondering, he armed his forehead, and, raising his arm as he wished, now closed, now opened his hand without any difficulty, so that no traces of the former slackness remained in him, except that, from the sudden newness of the cure, he had not yet fully recovered from the numbness he had had.

[82] A woman from ulcers, A certain woman of the village whose name is Inglesham was so beset with ulcers over her whole body that, a discharge flowing down with itching, she was believed to labour with a continual scab. When, therefore, before the shrine of the blessed Virgin she was invoking the divine clemency for her health, at once, the goads of the itchings resting, the discharge of the ulcers dried up, she protested, as far as modesty permitted, by the very showing of her body, that she was restored to health.

[83] A girl freed from a hectic fever. A girl also named Cecilia, of the village which is called Saldena, was freed from the hectic fever with which she had laboured for a continuous four years; and she whom the bitterness of the disease had so wearied that she could rise to no necessary work returned home sound and unharmed, presenting nothing in herself of the former ill.

[84] The faculty of walking is restored to a woman, There had come thither in the same days the wife of a certain man, named Agnes, of the village which is called Ferningeho, who, entirely deprived of the function of walking for three years and more, was carried by her friends to the church of the blessed Virgin in a carriage. For if it was necessary for her to be moved anywhere, she was supported by two, as one who had entirely lost the lower parts of the body. Passing the night devoutly in prayer, therefore, she was restored to health, so that with no one supporting her she directed her steps freely whither she would.

[85] Hearing to another. And also a certain woman of the village whose name is Wothnesberia, deaf for seven years with a ringing of the ears, as soon as she entered the church received her hearing, and, recovering little by little, entirely freed from the ringing of the ears, she both heard and discerned with all ease the words of those speaking low.

[86] Freedom from madness and fury. And also a certain woman named Alveva, joined to a husband, had laboured for three years with the madness of fury, devoid of all reason, and likened to wild beasts with a bestial mind. For not only to her husband, but also to all her neighbours her madness was a horror. For she was otherwise so agitated by a spirit of fury that it was necessary for her to be bound with chains, or she would attack some with savage attempts. Bound, therefore, with iron chains, as soon as she understood, as far as the rage of fury permitted, that she was to be brought to the church of the blessed Virgin, she asked to be freed from the chains, and at once the fury began somewhat to subside, so that through the several moments of time she understood the divine working. At once, therefore, hastening with bare feet to the church, she was entirely relieved of all fury, and, giving thanks to God, returned home sound and unharmed.

[87] To a girl one ear is restored by St. Thomas, the other by St. Frideswide. There is a village not far distant from the town of Oxford, whose name is Jacheleia. There was in the same village a certain girl named Adelicia, who, three weeks after she had been born, was deprived of the hearing of both ears; and also, a discharge flowing from her ears, an intolerable stench came forth, so that the horror of the stench kept those placed near further off. And she went to the threshold of the blessed father and martyr Thomas, and, his merits supporting her, recovered the hearing of the left ear, although not fully. But in truth, by the divine mercy, which had foreseen that in the cure of this girl also His Virgin was to be made glorious, she was admonished by a vision to hasten forthwith to her threshold for the favour of recovering health. And so it came about that, obeying the admonitions, she obtained health perfectly, the gift of hearing being received, the flow of discharge restrained, and the horror of the stench utterly repressed.

[88] The healing of a girl; In the same days also a certain girl named Havisa, of the village whose name is Wlwarda, obtained the remedy of a certain most grievous ill. For she was miserably tortured with pain about the spine, a swelling distending the limbs of her body, so that sometimes from the distress of the pain she was dismayed in mind, and was almost out of herself. When, therefore, she had once gone to the Virgin's church, and had gone away without obtaining health, at length returning, she was at once entirely freed by the benefit of vomiting.

[89] likewise of another. On the same day a certain other girl named Adelicia, of the village which is called Asseberia, was restored to health by the working of the divine hand. For she had lain for about half a year on a bed of pain, and was so worn out by the bitterness of the sickness that, powerless in all her limbs, her whole body impotent, she could not even give herself a draught of drink. Brought, therefore, to the church of the blessed virgin Frideswide, the noxious humours with which she was burdened being expelled by vomiting, she was restored to her former health, and not long after recovered from the excessive weakness by which she had been long oppressed.

[90] Another is healed of fever and pain of the kidneys. A certain virgin of the village whose name is Bertuna, near Aylesbury, by name Swethiva, for about half a year had been so vexed both by the force of fevers and by pain of the kidneys that she could in no way rise by herself, nor direct her steps anywhere except with the support of a staff or stick; and she was compelled to walk not straight but bent. And so, the heat of the fevers resting, beyond hope, arriving at the church of the blessed Virgin, she stayed there three days, placing the hope of her cure in Him who heals the contrite of heart and binds up their bruises. Nor did the Supremely Merciful, who is both faithful in all His words and holy in all His works, disappoint His handmaid asking. For, three days having elapsed, she who had come bent returned with joy to her native soil, now upright and immune from all pain and trouble of the kidneys [q].

[91] A woman vexed with foul ills is restored to health. A certain woman named Godiva, of a certain village near Cricklade [r], which is called Lustella, had for almost ten continuous years endured pain of the head, and was sometimes so vexed by the bitterness of the sickness that, dismayed in mind, she was also deprived of sense, the strength and vigour of all her limbs being benumbed. The monstrousness of the pain went further, so that for a long time, the lower parts of the body being dead, she was deprived of the function both of standing and of walking. The dead force of the shins and feet had fallen asleep, so that she could in no way tread the earth unless a staff gave her service. A discharge, therefore, flowing most copiously from her eyes, she publicly professed that she had entirely recovered from the pain of the head. And also the strength of the lower parts so returned that, throwing away the staff on which she had leaned, she professed both by standing and by walking that she had received the gift of health; alleging the grace conferred on her from heaven not by words only but by deeds. And so it came about that, her bases and soles being made firm, the woman trod the earth most firmly with both feet, walking about freely hither and thither, so that the habit of walking banished the unaccustomedness of walking. Stirred by this miracle, the faithful people burst forth, rejoicing and exulting, into the praises of God.

[92] Both eyes are restored to a woman. Still the multitude of signs shows the merits of the glorious Virgin, and brings the minds of the faithful to admiration, while, the tongue outwardly being silent, the great works of the miracles speak of what kind and how great she was. Finally, a certain woman named Hawisa, of the town whose (name) is Newbury, had been deprived of the left eye for three continuous years. And although she had the pupil of the right eye unharmed, she was so burdened by the heaviness of the eyelids that she was compelled to open the eye by putting her hand to it, so that she might obtain the grace of light. Pressing on in prayer, therefore, in the church of the blessed Virgin, she obtained, the hand of the eternal physician dispensing it, what bodily medicine could not confer on her. For, the darkness being entirely driven out, she received the left eye beyond the hope of all who knew her, the gift of sight being most fully restored to her. And also, the blemish of the right eye being purged, the deformity of the eyelids wiped away, she obtained entire health, God having mercy.

[93] Likewise the healing of another woman. Not far from the town of Oxford, a certain virgin named Hugelina, wearied by the heat of fevers, while she thought to check the heat of thirst with the coolness of water, was supplying fuel to her affliction. But at length, freed from the fevers, she began to be most sharply wearied with pains of the bowels, so that the bitterness of the torments compelled her to utter groans and piteous cries, so that every hour she was believed about to send forth her spirit. At length she took refuge in the help of the divine mercy, and visiting the threshold of His Virgin, although the Lord did not at once assent to the prayers of her invoking Him, yet, a little time having intervened, the goads of the torments resting, she was freed from all pain.

[94] A girl freed from pains of the kidneys. And also a certain girl named Agnes, of the village which is called Sicherestan, experienced in her cure the working of the divine hand through the intervention of the blessed Virgin. For, vexed for eight years with pain of the kidneys, the restlessness of the pain growing miserably heavier, at length she was deprived of the power of walking. The physicians, therefore, failing in her cure, at the last she took refuge in Him who, that He might heal sicknesses, voluntarily took on human sicknesses. At length, looking piously upon His handmaid, He restored her to her former health, and permitted her, cured, to return home with joy, no traces at all of the vexation she had had remaining in her.

[95] [A woman is healed of a long and bloody disease when she reaches the threshold of Bl. Virgin.] There was in the village whose name is Tecche a certain virgin, sick for three years, named Christiana, wasting away by the length of the disease, so that she presented the likeness of a dead rather than a living person. Sometimes, however, the sickness was intermitted, and she so enjoyed lucid intervals that she could do some work. But sometimes for eight, five or fifteen days the pain was so continued that, according to the intensity of the sickness, her limbs now swelling, now, according to its remission, subsiding, rejecting even the nourishment of food, she led an unhappy life. And at the last, wearied for three continuous months, she was compelled to deplore the hardships of continual pain, awaiting the end of life without the remedy of a cure, if the divine goodness did not afford her the help of medicine. But that the divine power might be made clear to all by the swiftness of the cure, as soon as she reached the threshold of the blessed Virgin, her merits intervening, she was cured both of all pain and of the swelling. Nor containing herself for joy, she announced openly to all what had happened to her, and by public profession made the joy of the singular benefit a common gladness.

[96] A woman is cured once and again of foul ills. There was in the village whose name is Wendover a certain woman by name Sibilla, who for seven years had been vexed with the disease which they call chiragra. Her hands, therefore, thickening and deprived of feeling, their strength benumbed, she could not apply them to necessary uses. Her arms also being deformed with swelling as far as the elbow, she displayed her hands also disfigured with a black colour. And sometimes, according to the waning of the moon, the swelling so occupied each limb that you would believe the flesh could scarcely be contained by the skin, with the greatest pain and the heat of an unnatural burning. Coming, therefore, to the church of the blessed Virgin, first smelted out by the purgatory of long torment, at length by the grace of God she was entirely cured. The fingers also which she had had inflexible and useless received natural flexibility and motion, so that

she could even sew without any difficulty. The deformity of the black colour also being wiped away, the unnatural burning which she had continually suffered resting, the swelling of each limb also subsided. And also, the irritation of the sinews and joints being driven off, she was granted the restoration of her old strength. Afterwards also, when by an unlucky chance she had fallen back into the same disease, she was cured again by the grace of God and the patronage of the blessed Virgin.

[97] [A woman, guilty of a crime, is vexed with dire ills; and by the help of Bl. Virgin she obtains health of mind and body.] A certain woman named Helena, from the borders of the castle whose name is Lutegareshala, corrupted by a certain priest, persisting for almost three months in concubinage and the companionship of the wicked deed, had stayed with him. But the bitterness of sickness followed the pleasure of the enticing deed. Whence it came about that she displeased the eyes of the priest who had assailed her chastity, and at length, repudiated, she was spurned. And she was tortured within by a miserable torment of the bowels, and she said that she was continually pierced by the goads of prickings, as though she were pricked through her whole body with iron styluses. And while the quiet of night affords recreation to human labours, the vexation of the torments made her nights sleepless, nor could she rest in bed; but by continual walking about she sought for herself as it were a remedy of the pain and torments. Wearied with this affliction for half a year, ascribing the cause to her deserts, when she had visited the church of the blessed Virgin with a contrite heart and a humbled spirit, she drank a cup of blessed water. That, therefore, the furnace of tribulation might burn out the dross of sin in her, after most bitter torments she professed with public voice that she had most fully recovered both from her former sickness and from the prickings. Thus in the woman vexation destroyed the occasion of sinning, and the trouble of sickness restored the understanding which the gift of health had snatched away.

[98] [A youth afflicted with many diseases goes first to Bl. Frideswide, then to St. Thomas; both in vain; returning to St. Frideswide he is healed.] And also to a certain youth named William, of the village which is called Shrivenham, the gift of health came by the divine mercy and also by the intervention of the blessed Virgin. He, his head being continually sick for some time, his other limbs being vigorous in vain, was also wounded by a defect of the heart, which the physicians call syncope, so that sometimes, dismayed in mind, he was several times by no means master of himself. When, therefore, with his mother, who followed her son with a mother's affection, he had visited the church of the Virgin beloved of God, by no means obtaining health, he went to the most blessed father and martyr Thomas, archbishop of the English. But not yet having obtained his wish, as though he purposed to overcome the Virgin of God by persistence, he hastened again to her basilica. He pleads his need with tears; what he asks for, even with his tongue silent, his heart murmurs; the remembrance of the health he had had, and the hope and desire of recovering it, stir up devotion. The Lord, therefore, regarding the devotion of His servant, looked upon him with His inborn goodness, as though proving by works what He had foretold in the gospel: Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. That, therefore, pain might be put to flight by pain, and torment kept off by torment, first most grievously tortured, he was fully restored to health, the strength of his body being repaired, the hardships of the former weakness and defect departing entirely.

[99] A girl deprived of the use of her feet and hands is restored. Nor let the number of the miracles seem burdensome to anyone, since to keep silent about the working of the divine hand is to derogate from its power. And therefore what we have seen we touch upon one by one, counting it of very little moment if it brings weariness to the undevout, since it begets for the devout an incentive of inner sweetness. While, therefore, the sound and also the sick were flocking from every side to the memorial of so great a Virgin, a certain virgin from the parts of Winchester, Christiana, of the village which is called Dena, rejoiced that she had escaped the trouble of a long ill. For, weak in the feet for two years, so that many times she was also deprived of walking, at the last, for about half a year, without any intermission, she lost the function and power of walking. And also, her hands disfigured by the enormity of swelling, deprived of the use of working, she led an unhappy life, as one who perceived that on account of her calamity she was both useless for performing necessary things and despicable to men; having a desire either to be dissolved quickly or to be loosed the sooner from the bond of such a reproach. And since she could not come there otherwise, she was carried to Oxford in a carriage, and carried into the church by two men. Staying there, therefore, some days, lest she should be held longer in suspense by the delay of her desire, she obtains her wish. She is loosed from the bond by which she had been bound; the enervation of the sinews returns to natural power. The contracted hands receive straightening, and are made fit for working. The contraction of the feet also obtains its former straightness, and the faculty of walking at will is repaired. Thus, therefore, endowed with the gift of health, the woman, giving thanks to God and her Healer, returned home unharmed.

[100] A man is cured of madness. A certain man from the parts of Shrewsbury, named Hugh, burning for almost four months with the heat of fevers, on the advice of certain persons, that he might more easily escape the disease, having used baths in the time of the attack, incurred alienation of mind, so that, very often dashed to the ground, he was believed to labour with the epileptic disease. Weighed down also by the heaviness of his shoulders, his head being unweariedly sick, he was compelled to walk bent. And he set out that, if at any time he fasted, the vice of great alienation dominated in him, whence also he said that the arts of the physicians had failed about him. Staying, therefore, two days in the church of the blessed Virgin, he protested with living voice that he had been relieved of each affliction. And that he might experience the gift of God in himself more effectually, the grace of health being obtained, he stayed there for some time, testing whether he would be vexed by the accustomed calamity even by fasting. But when he had perfectly recognized the gift of God, rejoicing and exulting and blessing God, he went away.

[101] A woman, her foot healed, offers her staff to Bl. Frideswide. A certain woman of the village which is called Lakinges, named Leviva, deprived of the use of her left foot, deformed by the enormity of pain and swelling together, could by no means direct her steps anywhere except with the support of a staff. With the unhappiness of this event she had wasted away for a continuous two years. She went, therefore, to the church of the blessed Virgin, and, a little time having intervened, what had been denied her before for two years, throwing away the staff with which she had supported her steps, treading the earth firmly with both feet, she protested by repeated walking about the grace of health conferred on her, and was entirely relieved of the unevenness of swelling and pain. In sign, therefore, of so sudden a change, she offered the staff on which she had leaned to the blessed Virgin as it were for a gift.

[102] Many things are passed over. Some also of both sexes, whom pain of the bowels miserably tortured, returned having obtained the grace of health, of whom we must not speak one by one, lest occasion be given to faulty hearers of detracting (sic), that an end came to the diseases not by miracle, but according to the usual course of nature.

[103] [Not only to the common people were benefits granted, but also to more distinguished men. John, Constable of Chester, binds himself by a vow to go to the threshold of Bl. Virgin, and at once is loosed from all sickness.] But although, as scripture testifies, God has chosen the ignoble things of this world that He might confound all the strong, and has hidden the secrets of His wisdom from the wise that He might reveal them to little ones, He willed nevertheless to succour the needs of nobles also through the merits of His Virgin, lest she whom the dignity of royal stock and the nobility of birth had made illustrious on earth should seem propped up as it were by the begged testimonies of the poor. Finally, a certain illustrious man named John, Constable of Chester, from the dignity which he had obtained by hereditary right, weighed down for a long time with noxious humours, testified by the pallor of his face the defect of his languishing nature. The nourishment of food was a loathing to him, and the excessive distension of repletion had entirely subdued the appetitive power in him. The help of physicians being sought, wearied by frequent evacuations of purgations, he complained of * the vain loss of expense, without hope of recovering health or any remedy of former health. Whence it came about that, considering the impotence of human defect, he decided to invoke the supreme physician, who heals the contrite of heart and binds up their bruises. Delighted, therefore, by the novelty of the recent fame which was growing frequent on every side about the miracles of the blessed Virgin, he bound himself by a vow that he would visit her threshold as quickly as possible. At once the bond of the vow loosed the knot of the sickness, and the benefit of a sudden vomiting rooted out the malice of the noxious humours. Having obtained, therefore, by the divine hand the health which the human could not give, he went rejoicing to the church of his Healer, impressing with public voice on the ears of the faithful the benefit conferred on him from heaven.

[104] [A matron carries with her a flask full of St. Frideswide's water; having recourse to the flask, in place of water she finds milk of wonderful fragrance.] And as the hand of almighty God creates new essences daily, so, to declare the merits of His Saints, He often converts substances already created into others by the same power by which He had created them, that the multiplicity of miracles may proclaim the prerogative of their merits. A certain noble matron, formerly the wife of the illustrious man Richard son of Gerold, named Margaret, not long after the Translation of the most blessed Virgin, went to her church for the sake of prayer, and, in sign of devotion, returning home carried with her the liquid of blessed water in a certain flask in which the water of our most blessed father and martyr Thomas had formerly been contained, then indeed altogether empty, providing by this remedy against future dangers, if at any time the bitterness of an unlucky ill should vex her. The little vessel, therefore, carried home, she reverently hung above her bed, that she might have in readiness the remedy of imminent necessity, hoping beyond doubt that the onset of all ills could be kept further from her if she bore the hope of deliverance before her eyes. Nor did the fervour of faith deceive the believer, for what she had preconceived in mind she consequently experienced. At length, one day, seized with a sickness, she began to be most sharply wearied, so that for the immensity of the pain she was believed about to be taken from human affairs. Raising her eyes at length, she orders the flask which she had brought to be handed to her, that she might experience in herself of what efficacy was that which she had procured for the preservation of her health. When, therefore, she thought she was pouring water out of the little vessel, she found milk, which, beyond the nature of milk, filled the house with the sweetness of an inestimable odour; astonished at this beyond what can be believed, she orders a priest to be called at once, sets out the outcome of the matter, and, lest his faith should waver in anything, strengthens his faith by the showing of the thing itself. The priest, marvelling at the novelty of such an outcome, advises that so great a treasure be laid up in a more fitting place, setting forth that private places are less worthy of the laying up of so precious a thing. At once acquiescing in the priest's counsel, she laid up the little vessel in her chapel, to be of profit to the needs of the sick. Forthwith she vowed that she would go to the threshold of the Virgin if the grace of health were restored to her. Refreshed, therefore, both by the fragrance of the wonderful odour and by the joy of the admirable miracle, at once recovering after the vow, a little time having passed, she fulfilled what she had vowed, setting out in detail the things which had happened to her, not without the wonder of the hearers. Frequently afterwards, wishing to test whether the grace granted to her persevered about her, she opened the little vessel, and, as before, in place of water she found the appearance of milk, of admirable whiteness and inestimable odour; and deservedly: because by the whiteness of chastity she spread the odour of her name far and wide.

[105] [The author, fearing ingratitude, will relate the benefits which he himself received;] Since, therefore, my mouth speaks of the remedies of cure shown to others, I fear lest I be found an ungrateful praiser, if the regard of the divine mercy in others

I proclaim, but keep silent about it in myself; for, as we are taught by the sacred scriptures, the vice of ingratitude is most to be fled, because on account of this the wrath of God comes upon the children of unbelief. For it both makes forgiven sins return, and perfected donations be revoked, and liberties conferred be withdrawn.

[106] He sets out how he himself, by the help of the holy Virgin, recovered health. Among other things, therefore, which I set forth about others, I have thought I should relate what I experienced in myself. In the autumn time, then, in which feverish heat is wont to be more feared, seized with a tertian fever, I began to be most grievously vexed, and because much matter of sickness lay beneath, the bitterness of the attack was heavier and longer. For, immoderate heat succeeding the cold, I was compelled to pass the whole night sleepless. The trouble was also increased by loathing of food, and, the forces of nature being very much weakened, both strength took loss and weakness took increase. On this I judged that physicians should be consulted, that by their counsel the feverish heat might be kept off, or at least mitigated. They assert that I must abstain from food, use diuretics, and, after the trouble of the fifth attack, apply myself to the benefit of cure; and since I had already been wearied by the affliction of the third vexation, the remembrance of the past struck fear of the future. I began to recall to mind the miracles which I had seen, and I wept that the light of faith was extinguished in me which I considered was shining in others. I brought back to memory that rich and poor, small with great, had escaped the yoke of sickness through the intervention of the blessed Virgin, and I grieved that there was denied me from heaven what I perceived had been conferred from above on little ones and on the poor of both sexes. Therefore both the desire of health and the horror of the vexation I had had stirred up devotion, that I should implore the help of Him who by His word alone restores all things. When, therefore, the vexation of the fourth accession was coming on, the hour of vexation pressing, I prostrated myself before the shrine of the blessed Virgin, committing myself to her protection, whom I did not doubt intervened for others. Hope, fighting with fear, kept drowsiness far off, and amid doubtful fluctuations of mind I passed the whole night sleepless. But when the times of the attack had passed, and I had gone through the whole night without any disquiet, faith overcame distrust, and the certainty born of obtaining health resolved doubt; but, that I might experience the gift of God in me more certainly, when the night was at hand in which I dreaded the trouble of the fifth vexation, I cast myself before the shrine, that the health conferred might be confirmed by repeated vigils. And truly I learned by experience what I had heard before, that health which is given by the Lord's command returns all at once. Thus by the gift of God I fully recovered, so that the physicians called together afterwards could in no way apprehend any indication of the former ill, either by feeling the pulse or by considering the urine. My faith, therefore, was strengthened by this benefit of God, so that I believed more easily in others the grace of God which I had experienced in myself.

[107] How the wife of a goldsmith was healed. A certain goldsmith named Ivo, of the town of Leicester, had a wife named Agnes, sprung from an illustrious birth. She, seized with the heat of fevers, the trouble of the vexation growing heavier, incurred alienation of mind, and, devoid of human reason, affected her friends and acquaintances with grief. When, therefore, the long duration of so great a calamity altogether denied hope of cure, the matter of grief was heaped up, until oblivion, born of the length of time, brought solace. Very many, therefore, returning from visiting the blessed Virgin, and turning aside to her husband for the sake of lodging, were recounting to one another the great works which they had seen. The unhappy woman listened to what was said, and it was granted her from heaven to perceive the words with understanding. Without delay: as though rejoicing at an intermission of her unhappiness, she bound herself by a vow that she would go to the threshold of the Virgin whose miracles she heard. At once, beyond hope, the alienation being driven off, she is made mistress of her mind; she resumes little by little every moment the sight of reason which she had lost. Having laid down, therefore, the bestial burden, when by the grace of God she had entirely recovered from her former hardships, she at length fulfilled by the execution of works the vow which she had made, and announced openly to the peoples the power of God.

[108] The healing of a certain noble matron is described. But neither is it just to keep silent about the power of the divine work which the Saviour deigned to show in a certain noble woman named Mabilia, who had formerly been the wife of the illustrious man William Achard. She, seized with a sickness for almost a continuous four years, an inordinate swelling distending her limbs, presented the appearance of dropsy. The nourishment of food was a loathing to her, and, lacking due nourishment, her belly swelled with disgrace with noxious humours. The physicians, therefore, despairing of her health, she refreshed her wearied limbs with the miserable rest of her bed, awaiting with anxious expectation the day of her departure. At length, affected with weariness of the long sickness, measuring her dead body with a wick, she began to burn with great desire that the faculty of visiting the threshold of the most blessed Virgin might be given her; and drawing sighs from the inmost affection of her heart, she was tortured by the delay of her vow, while distrust fought against hope, and the inner man entered into conflict with itself. At once, nausea following, she began to be purged beyond measure through the upper region, and, wearied to the dissolution of flesh and soul, at length she comforted her almost dissolved limbs with the benefit of sleep. Awakened from sleep, recognizing that the appetitive power had been restored to her in its entirety, she ordered food to be set before her. And so, hunger being driven off, she again gave her limbs to sleep. At length awaking, burning intolerably with the torment of hunger, she satisfied her gullet with a repeated meal. And indulging in sleep a third time, as soon as she awoke she refreshed for a third time her belly rumbling with hunger. Soon, therefore, the swelling of each limb being relaxed, the lifeless body returned to its former comeliness and suppleness. Her strength also being repaired as quickly as possible, she visited rejoicing the church of her glorious Visitor, setting forth constantly with clear voice the benefit conferred on her from heaven.

[109] [Another noble woman is relieved again and a third time in the church of St. Frideswide, but, as she goes out, the ill breaks out afresh; at length she is perfectly restored.] Another notable woman also, named Emma, lady of the village whose name is Wateleia, had been vexed for a long time with pain of the spine with deformity of swelling. And the vexation grew so heavy that, worn out by excessive leanness, her limbs scarcely held together, and pallor clouded the grace of her face. Abandoned, therefore, by physicians, she took refuge in the supreme physician, who saves those who hope in Him. Brought by her friends to the church of the glorious Virgin, she prostrates herself in prayer before her shrine. And at once the Lord looked upon the devotion of His handmaid with His inborn goodness, and as long as she stayed in the church the bitterness of the pain rested. Thinking herself restored to health, she returns home, but soon, in the middle of the journey, she is tortured by a returning pain. Whence it came about that, a few days having afterwards elapsed, returning to the church of the blessed Virgin, she invoked the divine mercy with repeated prayers and tears. And as before, so then also she was entirely free and immune from pain while she stayed in the church. But as she went out of the city, the pain she had had returned, and flooded her with her companions with grief. And although the delay of the desired health tortured her, yet, returning to herself and bringing back to mind each thing that had happened to her, she purposed to stay and remain with the blessed Virgin for a longer time, because she considered that health had been continued with her staying. At length, therefore, arriving there, she committed herself wholly to the protection of the blessed Virgin, heaping up prayers with more abundant devotion and appealing to her protection; and since the woman's spirit had been disturbed by the returning pain, the Supremely Merciful would not have her saddened longer, but that joy might come from swiftness, and the gift of God might be the more pleasing the more quickly it came, she at once obtained the fullest health, and, giving thanks to God, returned home with joy. And so, rejoicing at the obtaining of continued health, she proclaimed the grace of God with her mouth and her mind.

[110] [The astonishing healing of a boy bitterly vexed with the pains of the stone. The cruelty and monstrous crime of the surgeon in cutting. The boy dies under it. The despair of the parents. They take refuge in St. Frideswide. The boy revives; he relates that the holy Virgin appeared to him. He is perfectly healed; testimonies of the miracle.] This miracle also, how astonishing, I do not judge to be passed over in silence, which almighty God, of whose omnipotence there is no end, deigned to work through the merits of His glorious Virgin in the city of Oxford even in our times. For a certain citizen, the half-brother on the mother's side of a certain canon of ours, notable indeed in lineage, but far more notable in faith, Benedict by name and by grace, surnamed Repherin, had a son about five years of age named Laurence, who from his very cradle was tortured with a fault of the bladder, and fell into so great a sickness that, the vehemence of the anguish compelling him, he was sometimes compelled to emit blood in place of urine. All his limbs, moreover, being worn out by excessive leanness, his face suffused with pallor, he presented nothing living to the eyes of the beholders. For he could not even breathe except with pain and the greatest difficulty. For he had, as the physicians asserted, a stone in the bladder, and could be cured by no benefit of medicine except by incision. When, therefore, both on account of the weakness of boyish age and on account of the bitterness of the disease itself he had been entirely abandoned by the physicians despairing of his health, his father, sympathizing with his son's miserable calamity with a father's tenderness, although he had poured out in vain no small money on physicians, having nevertheless the desire that he should either be dissolved quickly or be loosed from the bond of so great an anguish, at length approached a certain surgeon, skilled as he himself thought, giving him many gifts and promising greater, that he would cure his son of the aforesaid ill by which he was vexed. And the surgeon, greedy beyond measure of most abominable gain, although too indiscreetly and rashly, nevertheless thrust himself of his own accord into so great a danger. For his mind, entirely blinded by the dark greed of detestable gain, seemed devoid of all reason. What more? The whole stipend of the cure being received in hand, the parents departing for horror of the blood, he alone apart in a certain house bound the little boy stretched out upon a table, as is the custom in such cases, cut him when bound, and, when cut, while he was extracting the stone unskilfully and too roughly, miserably killed him. For when he had extracted the stone in some fashion from the cut infant, there at once followed so great a flood of blood that the incision of the veins could be restrained by no skill, until with the gore there followed also the breathing out of the soul itself. When that abominable surgeon had seen this, fearing indeed vehemently to be charged with homicide, placed almost out of himself with fear and stupor at once, he was entirely ignorant of what he should do or whither he should go. At length distress gave him counsel at the strait moment of so great a danger, and, the wound of the incision scarcely sewn up, to make excuses in excuses with words of lying, he fraudulently devised for himself an occasion of flight. Pretending, therefore, that he had forgotten his ointments at home, and that he would go to bring them back and return as quickly as possible, that he might prepare for himself a safer flight and a freer opportunity of escaping, he cunningly forbade that anyone should presume to enter the house where the dead boy lay until he returned. The parents, therefore, being deceived by falsehood of this kind, and the boy being left alone in the house as he lay, carrying off with him all the things that he could have, providing for himself by the benefit of flight, he secretly went out of the city, nor did he appear in it any more. Meanwhile the boy's mother, the space of almost two hours having passed, when beyond what could be believed

she wondered why that madman was making so long a delay, all her bowels being indeed moved over her son, she entered the house in which the miserable body lay, and found no one in it except her son alone, and him, as has been written above, having already entered the way of all flesh. Astonished, therefore, most vehemently and beyond what can be reckoned, she approached the boy, approaching she called him, having called him she boldly felt him, and having felt him she more boldly unbound him, but there was now in him neither life nor sense. With what pains she was then at last pressed, or with how great anguish, as one who saw her own bowels so cruelly torn and so bloodied before her, it is not in my power to unfold. For, made as it were mad by the anguish of grief, she was compelled to utter piteous laments and terrible cries. "Alas," she said, "my son, why did I bear you in my womb, why did I receive you on my knees, why did I suckle you at my breasts, since you are to me the cause of so great grief?" What more? Returning at length to herself, she calls her husband to so miserable a spectacle, and sets out to him the order of the miserable event, and also earnestly persuades and suppliantly asks that he promise to give the boy to God and to His blessed virgin Frideswide, if the Lord should deign to raise him up through her merits. The father, at once hearing these admonitions, struck with no less grief than the mother over his son, most gladly acquiesced in his wife's pious persuasions and devout petitions. Having poured out, therefore, not without an abundance of tears, prayers to the Lord for a very long time, they both bound themselves by a vow that they would give the boy to serve God and His blessed Virgin if the Lord should raise him up. Trusting indeed in the divine power, they believed that He who through His servant Elisha raised up the Shunammite's son could also, through the merits of His Virgin, call back to life their son lately dead. And truly wonderful is the power of prayer and faith, which not only overcomes the powers of nature, but also works full certainty out of things not to be hoped for. There was fulfilled here beyond doubt that saying of the Apostle James: If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all abundantly, and does not reproach, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he who wavers is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind. Whence, lest so great a faith and devotion of theirs should be held in suspense by a long delay, what they ask with unfeigned faith they obtain by perseverance of prayer. For while they persisted devoutly in prayer, suddenly the soul returned into the body of the dead boy, and the boy showed by evident signs the gift of life restored to him. For he first opened the left eye as though roused from sleep, and after a short interval he opened the right also. And so little by little reviving, and drawing * his hands and feet to himself, not a few yawnings and heavy groans going before, at length with a tearful voice he called his mother as he could, and asked for morsels as is usual. When he had been somewhat strengthened by the eating of these, his mother feeding him, the lifeless body at once resumed its native warmth, all the limbs, a little before entirely dead, returning little by little to their former suppleness. Asked afterwards by his mother where he had been or what he had seen, he answered that a certain lady had come there, most elegant, of wonderful beauty, who signed with the sign of the cross not only the place of the wound, but also all his limbs, beginning from the forehead to the feet, and so disappeared. Having heard, therefore, not without wonder, so great a vision of the boy, the parents burst forth into the praise of God, and, not containing themselves for joy, sad and rejoicing at once in a wonderful manner, they weep again for gladness for him whom just now they were mourning for grief as lost, since they see him restored to them by so great a power. And that they might fulfil their vow the sooner, they handed him over, perfectly restored to health in a short time, to be imbued with sacred letters. Moreover, lest so great a gift of God should be suppressed by the ingratitude of silence, giving thanks to God and the blessed Virgin, and protesting with public voice the working of the divine hand, which it was most easy to recognize with eye-witnessed faith, they showed us, in testimony of so great a miracle, both the very scar of the wound on the boy and the stone cut out of him.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. I suppose this son was begotten before the sacred Orders were received by his father. For it is more certain than certain that at that time, in England as in the whole catholic world, the law of celibacy held. But if that priest had been guilty of a broken pledge, Prior Philip would probably either not have mentioned his priesthood, or would have added some note either of reprehension or of excuse.

q. See the Prelim. Comm., n. 8.

r. Compare what was said above at letter p.

* supply "part."

* sic; "hoc" or "haec."

* sic; read "audiendi" (of hearing).

* sic.

* "excelsum."

* sic; "quid."

* sic; "de"?

* sic; "trahens"?