Alchmund and Tilberht

ON SS. ALCHMUND AND TILBERHT, BISHOPS OF HEXHAM,

IN ENGLAND

In the years DCCLXXX and DCCLXXXIX.

PREVIOUS COMMENTARY.

Alchmund, bishop of Hexham in England (S.)

Tilberht, bishop of Hexham in England (S.)

BY C. S.

§ I. Their memory in the Calendars; the authors who have made mention of the Saints; their episcopal see.

[ ] Two bishops of the church of Hexham in Northumbria, a province of England, some of the Benedictine martyrologists announce on this day: Their memory Alchmund and Gilbert, who is more commonly called Tilberht, by others also Tilherus, and by a certain anonymous writer, of whom below, Albert. At Hexham in Northumbria, says Menard in the Martyrology of his Order, of the holy Alcmund and Gilbert, bishops and confessors. Gabriel Bucelin agrees in the Benedictine Menologium, writing thus: In England, of the Saints Alcmund and Gilbert, bishops. Each of them, for the exceeding worthiness of his life, was drawn from a sacred monastery and from a busy leisure to episcopal labors, and adorned with the insignia of the pontificate of Hexham in Northumbria; which honor each greatly adorned with excellent sanctity and merits, and, leaving an eternal longing for himself, ascended to eternal joys: whose illustriously accomplished deeds have perished by the injuries of the times, which is by no means lightly to be lamented.

[2] Bucelin had been preceded by Edward Maihew in the Trophies of the Benedictine Order, of the English Congregation, tome 2, at the VII day of September, in the sacred Calendars. where he has these words: At Hexham, commonly Hexam, in the county of Northumberland, of St. Alchmund, bishop of that place, of whom Roger Hoveden has these things in the earlier part of his Annals: In the year DCCLXXXI Alchmund, prelate of the church of Hexham, a man of exceeding religion and of great virtues, in the reign of the glorious king Elfwald, in the III year of his reign, on the seventh Ides of September passed to Christ, and St. Gilbert (otherwise Tilbert) succeeded him. He adds that the body of St. Alchmund was afterwards raised from the earth; concerning which matter we shall treat below. To these Benedictines is added Castellanus in the French Universal Martyrology, where at this day he says: At Hexham in England, St. Alchmund, bishop of that place. But besides these praised writers I have found no other among the martyrologists who announces our St. Alchmund or Gilbert: nay rather, the praised Maihew alone, as is plain, records St. Alchmund on this day, and merely narrates that St. Gilbert succeeded him; but whether he be venerated on this same day he does not declare. And Castellanus omits St. Gilbert altogether.

[3] Further, that St. Alchmund died on the VII of September we shall show below from the ancient writers of England, Why St. Tilberht is treated on this day. and therefore the memory of this Saint is rightly announced on this day: but I cannot assert the same about St. Gilbert, or Tilberht, as he is called by the English writers, since I nowhere find the day of his death expressed. But that the praised Menard and Bucelin refer him to this day, I suspect happened because, not knowing his proper day, they thought he must be joined to his Predecessor, perhaps led thereto by Maihew's announcement, who, as we have seen, commemorating St. Alchmund at the VII of September, had subjoined that St. Gilbert succeeded him. These things made me doubtful whether Gilbert should be treated of at this day: but since perhaps no occasion equally convenient for writing about him will offer itself at any other time, and since from other quarters his cult seems sufficiently established, I have judged that the few things which pertain to him may be delivered after the example of Menard and Bucelin: and since these are very few, and mixed with the affairs of St. Alchmund, I have preferred to enclose both Saints in the same Commentary, lest I be compelled to repeat the same things.

[4] An account of the authors who wrote about our Saints Bucelin rightly noted above that the illustriously accomplished deeds of both have perished: but whether this must be ascribed rather to the injuries of the times than to the carelessness of writers I cannot certainly affirm: it is not improbable, however, that Acts of them formerly existed, which perished in hostile fire during the Danish irruptions, by which England was frequently laid waste. This is made probable by an anonymous writer of the twelfth century, whose lucubration we shall print, who, treating of a certain devastation of Northumbria by the Danes, writes thus: In which devastation at last it is established that the monuments which the holy Fathers had transmitted with the pen concerning the life and miracles of the Saints to the knowledge of posterity were consumed. It only remains therefore that from the ancient writers of England we draw out the episcopal see of each holy Prelate, and the time of the episcopate begun and laid down by death, and whatever else may occur, and prove their immemorial and lawful cult. But before we do this, it will be useful to have given a brief account of the writers whom we shall use. Three writers of English affairs will bear the torch, who stand among the ten who in the year 1652 were published at London from ancient manuscripts. And first indeed there occurs the History of the church of Durham, printed under the name of Simeon, a monk of Durham, but which Ussher and Selden, and after them our Godfrey Henschen, have claimed for Turgot, Prior of that place and afterwards bishop of St. Andrews in Scotland, as may be seen in tome III of March, page 124 and following, where that history is said to have been written before the year 1107.

[5] More we shall draw from Simeon of Durham's History of the Deeds of the kings of the English, among whom an anonymous writer, concerning which writer I read these words in Selden in the preface prefixed to the praised collection: Simeon of Durham, a Benedictine monk there and precentor of the church, and deservedly to be numbered among the more learned men of that age, flourished about the middle part of the twelfth century. More about him the reader will find in the same place. The third writer whom we shall use is Richard Prior of Hexham (the words are Selden's) who wrote the historical matters of his own age. He flourished under king Henry the second: he died under Richard I, that is, about the year MCXC. Chiefly, however, we shall use the lucubration of a certain anonymous writer, which stands in Mabillon in the Acts of the Saints, third century, from page 228, with this heading: A book on the Saints of the church of Hexham and their miracles, by an anonymous author, a regular canon, in the middle of the twelfth century; and it is noted as drawn from the manuscript Bodleian library at Oxford in England. But since we are about to reprint this book for the greatest part, we must treat of it and its author a little more at large.

[6] That the writer of the little work was a Regular canon a regular canon, he himself more than once manifestly indicates, when he professes himself a foster-son of the monastery of Hexham, which at that time regular canons inhabited. Nor does he less clearly manifest his own age, when, treating of the translation of the holy Prelates of Hexham, which he writes was made in the year 1154, he says these things: Many years before this translation, when I was still a little boy, all the people, not hesitating at all, believed that Acca, Alchmund, Fredenbert, and Albert rested there together

cried out. From these things we have it that that anonymous writer was not only contemporary with the last translation which he describes, but also probably present at it, or at least could have been thoroughly informed about it. Further, the whole lucubration is a certain oration, delivered on the feast of the Translation, in which he exhorted his Brethren, the Regular canons, to place their hope and confidence in the holy Patrons of their church, whose patronage the people of Hexham have so often experienced. Hence his style is oratorical and here and there rather lengthy.

[7] Nor does he treat of Alchmund or Tilberht alone, he wrote certain miracles and translations, but of all the holy bishops of the church of Hexham whose sacred bodies were raised in that same translation. On that occasion he weaves certain miracles into the Work, and sets forth various vicissitudes of that same church, so that he may be said to have written a certain history of that place. I have judged that what does not pertain to our Saints or to their glory should be cut away: yet I could not do this with everything, because here and there various matters cohere so closely with one another that they cannot be passed over without mutilating the discourse. For the rest, he relates various translations or elevations of the holy Prelates, among which two are chief, and of which the first was solemnly performed a little after the middle of the eleventh century, the other in the year 1154 on the III day of March, at which he could have been present. The former Translation stands also in Simeon of Durham, where at the year 781, in which he judges that St. Alchmund died, the same things are reported, though in other words. Of the latter Simeon has nothing, because he carried his History of the Deeds of the kings of the English only to the end of the year 1129.

[8] which we shall reprint. But whence each learned it is uncertain; yet one may suspect that it was drawn out by Simeon from manuscript monuments. For John Selden in the Preface praised above, from the Life of Simeon written by John Leland, says thus of Simeon: At length, as he pondered many things, this above all occurred to him as both necessary and useful, that he should anxiously search out the remnants of the libraries despoiled by the Danes. For the monks of Lindisfarne, Coquet, Tynemouth, Jarrow, Wearmouth, Hexham, Strucphara, Whitby, Lastingham, Ripon, Deirwood, and lastly of York, miserably fleeing the tyranny of the Danes, had carried away with them some furniture of ancient history and of knowledge of the affairs of their own time, and had preserved them from day to day, hoping that they would at some time be more fortunate. All these things the curious diligence of Simeon sought out, found, and sifted, etc. Among these, I say, he could have found the aforesaid Translation: wherefore I should prefer to publish it from Simeon, had not the anonymous writer woven it into his oration, differing almost only in words: where, however, any difference occurs, I shall warn the reader in the Annotations. Let these things about the writers suffice: now let us approach the matter itself, and first inquire into the Saints' episcopal see.

[9] Hexham is by some That St. Alchmund and his successor Tilberht were bishops of the church of Hexham all who have made mention of them deliver, both ancient and more recent: but where Hexham was, later writers do not so well agree. Michael Baudrand in his Geography writes these things about it: Haugustaldium was a monastery and church of England in the island of Lindisfarne in Bede, Haugustaldia and Augustaldia in others, now called Holy Island, on the sea-coast of Northumbria, distinguished with episcopal dignity under the archbishop of York. And so Baudrand places Hexham in Lindisfarne or Holy Island. He does the same at the word Lindisfarnia, in which island he says that an episcopal see was established by Aidan, which is reported to have been called Augustaldia. Of the same opinion is Lubin in the Roman Martyrology illustrated with geographical Tables, where he says: Lindisfarni and Lindisfarnia, formerly Halig Eiland, now Holy Island, an island nearest to the island of Albion, adjacent to the coast of Northumbria and to the mouths of the river Tweed, with a city of the same name, which is called also Agustaldia and Hagustaldia. There formerly was a famous monastery and an episcopal see, whose bishops were sometimes called of Lindisfarne, sometimes of Hexham, under the archbishop of York; yet the see was afterwards translated to Durham: it is distant from the city of Berwick on the borders of the Scots IV miles to the South.

[10] wrongly set in Holy Island: Into this opinion they perhaps went from an obscure passage of Bede badly understood. For Bede in book 4 of the History of the English people, chapter 12, has these words: A dissension having arisen between king Ecgfrid himself and the most reverend prelate Wilfrid, that prelate was driven from the see of his bishopric, and two bishops substituted in his place, who should preside over the people of the Northumbrians; namely Bosa, who should govern the province of Deira, and Eata, that of Bernicia; the latter having his episcopal see in the city of York, the former in the church of Hexham or of Lindisfarne. But that those words of Bede are not so to be taken as if Lindisfarne and Hexham were said to have been the same city, but so that it is signified that the episcopal see was fixed in one or the other place, is plain from the same Bede, who in the place cited, after a little, by no means obscurely distinguishes Hexham from Lindisfarne. And there were ordained, he says, Edhed, Bosa, and Eata at York by archbishop Theodore, who also, after the years of Wilfrid's departure, added two prelates to their number, Trumberht to the church of Hexham, Eata remaining at that of Lindisfarne, etc. Eata therefore retained the bishopric of Lindisfarne, while Trumberht was raised to that of Hexham, and so those churches are wrongly confused. Both churches other writers of England also expressly distinguish, of whom it will suffice to have adduced one, namely Turgot, in book 2, chapter 2, where he says: King Eadbert, being offended, seized Cynewulf bishop of Lindisfarne, and ordered him when taken to be held at Bamburgh, Frithubert bishop of Hexham administering the bishopric of Lindisfarne, until, the king being appeased, Cynewulf, released from captivity, should return to his own church. I forbear to say more, because the matter is clear.

[11] But the site of Hexham we learn from Richard the Prior, is shown to be in Northumbria, praised at number 5, who in book 1, chapter 1, On the state and bishops of that church, assigns the beginnings of that see in this manner: There is in the province of the Northumbrians, not far from the river Tyne, situated to the South, a certain villa, now indeed small and inhabited by few tillers, but, as the traces of antiquity testify, formerly ample and magnificent. And this, from a little stream running down there and sometimes overflowing after the manner of a torrent, Hestild by name, is called Hestoldesham, as it were the estate of Hestild. And the blessed queen Etheldreda … to St. Wilfrid, whom she greatly loved — to him, I say, being already bishop of York — gave the aforesaid villa with the surrounding region, about the year of the Lord's Incarnation DCLXXII, in perpetual alms, that he might exalt it with an episcopal see: which he first, and after him others, should occupy by ecclesiastical right. Then in the following chapters he treats at length of the erection of that bishopric, and of the distinguished structure of the church and monastery in that place. Whence it is concluded that Hexham may be set not far from the river Tyne in Northumbria.

[12] The same site of the place is solidly confirmed both from Simeon of Durham's History of the deeds of the kings of the English now called Hexham, and from the anonymous writer whom we shall print below: for each writer, narrating that the aforesaid church was divinely preserved from the impending plundering which Malcolm king of the Scots was threatening, each, I say, delivers that the river Tyne, on whose bank the hostile army had encamped, without any flood of rains, in one night so rose that it could not be crossed without the aid of a ship, and that thus Malcolm was hindered from approaching it and from the intended devastation. Further, the Tyne is twofold, the South and the North, and each flows through Northumbria, not through Holy Island. And the North indeed, on Camden's testimony, poured out from the mountains now on the borders of England and Scotland, glides through Northumbria; but the South rises near Alston Moor: at last below St. Oswald's both Tynes flow together, and then, bearing their joined waters, roll them into the Ocean near Tunocellum or Tynemouth.

[13] More rightly therefore Edward Maihew, reported at number 2, places Hexham in the county of Northumberland, and affirms that it is now called Hexam. The same Camden judges, of which some account is given. who in his Britannia, describing Northumbria, speaks thus: Now the Tyne, being increased, and thereupon still greater, urges its way to the Ocean in one channel, through Hexam, Bede's Hangulstad, in Saxon Hextoldesham, which in the Roman age was Axelodunum, where the first cohort of the Spaniards had its station, as the name persuades, and the higher situation on a hill (for the Britons called a hill Dunum). In confirmation of what has been said he subjoins the words of Richard already alleged by us, but he calls the little stream Hextold, not Hestild. After a little he thus continues the description of the place: But that dignity (the episcopal) after the eighth bishop, when the Danish wars thundered, wholly vanished. Thereafter it was held only as a villa of the archbishops, before the exchange made with Henry VIII, by which they yielded their right… But now all its glory is in that ancient monastery, part of which has been turned into the house of the first Forster, knight: but the church, the Western part alone being demolished, stands entire, and is indeed a magnificent structure, etc. Thus Camden; with whom as regards the site of the place I gladly agree; since all these things rightly agree with what we have reported above from the ancient writers, and with what Simeon of Durham relates at length about the structure of the church and monastery in the place assigned by us. Wherefore that the Hexham of today is that very ancient Hagustaldum and the episcopal see of SS. Alchmund and Tilberht appears to me by no means doubtful.

sublimaret*

§ II. The time of the episcopate taken up, and of the death met; their ancient cult.

[ ] That both were Benedictines is most likely. We have already warned the reader that the Acts of both Saints have formerly perished, or are wrapped in the darkness of antiquity: receive the few things which we have found about their age. That both were monks of the Order of St. Benedict Bucelin and Menard affirm, and Maihew asserts the same of Alchmund. Nor do we deny it, since the church and monastery of Hexham, founded by St. Wilfrid, were of the Benedictine Order, and so it is altogether likely that the praised holy Prelates were taken from it to the see of Hexham. Add that in other bishoprics of England also at that time that usage was frequent, that bishops should be chosen from among monks. And this is plain from Turgot, who in book 3, chapter 6, writes that Eadmund, a cleric of the church of Durham, when about the year 1021 he was being elected to the bishopric of the same, said that he could in no way ascend the see of his predecessors, who had been monks, unless he too imitated them in the monastic habit.

[15] St. Alchmund becomes bishop in the year 767, The time at which St. Alchmund was raised to the episcopate Simeon of Durham delivers, writing thus in the History of the Deeds of the kings of the English: In the year DCCLXVII Albercht of the city of York, and Alchmund of the church of Hexham, were ordained bishops on the VIII Kalends of May. About the year authors agree well enough; but about the day on which our Saint is said to have been consecrated a doubt might here deservedly be raised: for the VIII Kalends of May of the year 767 was neither a Sunday nor solemn with any more famous feast, one or the other of which

was nevertheless wont to be observed by the ancient discipline of the church. Hence Wharton in Anglia sacra, part 1, page 697, in Alchmund writes thus: Alhmund or Alcmund was consecrated in DCCLXVII, on the XXIV of April according to Richard of Hexham and Hoveden, although the day does not agree with the year, and it must be reckoned to have been the XXVI of April, unless rather Alcmund was elected in the year DCCLXVII and consecrated on the XXIV of April DCCLXVIII. The same difficulty occurs in St. Tilberht, who is said to have been ordained bishop on the 2nd of October in the year 780, or on the 2nd of October 779 or 781, as we shall see below. But since all writers agree about the year and day of St. Alchmund's consecration, and since it is not certain whether the Anglo-Saxon church at that time so exactly kept a Sunday or a solemn day in the ordinations of bishops, and since the assigned year of consecration coheres excellently with the number of years for which he is said to have presided over his church and with the year in which he is said to have died, nothing urges us to depart from Simeon of Durham and the other writers. If, however, anyone will have there to be an error in the day of the consecration of St. Alchmund, as also of St. Tilberht, I shall not much resist; but neither shall I discuss it at greater length, since those epochs make little or nothing for the elucidation of the deeds of either Saint.

[16] And St. Alchmund succeeded Frithuberht, whom I have found called also Friothuberht, Fridenbert, and Fredenbert, succeeding Fredenbert. and whose bones, together with the bodies of both holy Prelates and of others, were solemnly raised in the year 1154, on the testimony of the author of the Translation which we shall give. Of the same, to our present purpose, the praised Simeon has these words at the year 766: Frithuberht, prelate of the church of Hexham, in the same year passed from this mortal flesh to the perpetuity of the true light, on the X Kalends of January, in the XXXII year of his episcopate. In passing, however, I note that there seems to be an error here in the years of the episcopate: for in the inscription found with his body (which see in the Translation, number 39) he is also said to have died in the year DCCLXVI, on the X Kalends of January, but in the XXXIV year of his episcopate. As many years of episcopate also Richard attributes to him in book 1, chapter 16, although in the same place he binds his consecration to the year 734: perhaps he was first consecrated in that year, and the 34 years of the episcopate are counted from the withdrawal of St. Acca, his predecessor, who in the year 734 is said to have deserted his see either of his own accord or by compulsion.

[17] The same Simeon assigns the death of St. Alchmund to the year 781 in these words: Authors vary somewhat about the year of his death Alchmund, prelate of the church of Hexham, a man of exceeding religion and of great virtues, after he had ruled the aforesaid church loftily for XIII years, in the reign of the most glorious king of the Northumbrians Elfwald, in the III year of his reign, on the VII Ides of September set a term to this life; who for his merits was made a partaker of eternal beatitude. And he was buried beside his predecessor, the holy bishop Acca of reverend memory; from which place after more than CCL years he was translated by a divine revelation. With Simeon agrees Richard in book 1 On the State and bishops of the church of Hexham, chapter 16, where he delivers the beginning and end of his episcopate in this manner: And following him (Fredbert or Fredenbert) St. Alcmund in the year of the Lord's Incarnation DCCLXVII, and the second of the reign of Alcred, on the VIII Kalends of May is consecrated as prelate. Who in the year of the Lord's Incarnation DCCLXXXI, and the IIII of the reign of Elfwald, and the XIII of his episcopate, on the VII Ides of September closed his last day in the Lord.

[18] somewhat vary: The same year Roger Hoveden, Nicholas Harpsfield, and Michael Alford assign as the year of his death, of whom the last, however, in the Annals of the Anglo-Saxon church observes that the Saint's death is set by some earlier, but by others later. Those various opinions about the time of his death are thus reported in Wharton, Anglia sacra, part 1, page 699: He died in DCCLXXXI, on VII September, on the faith of Richard, Hoveden, and the Melrose writer: DCCLXXX, VII September, according to the Saxon Annals of Peterborough; DCCLXXIX, VII September, on the authority of Florence. Richard's reckoning seems the more correct. Thus he: but to me the reckoning of Richard and of the others who are of his opinion seems by no means exact. For if, as they themselves confess, the Saint began his episcopate on the VIII Kalends of May in the year 767, and laid it down dying in the year 781 on the VII day of September, he must be said to have died in the XV year of his episcopate already begun four months since; whereas nevertheless both Richard and the rest limit his episcopate to only thirteen years.

[19] but he died I prefer therefore, with the Annals of Peterborough, to refer the holy Bishop's death to the year 780: first indeed because, counting thus from the XXIV of April of the year 767, on which all deliver that he was consecrated, he is shown to have died after thirteen years spent in the episcopate, that is, after a thirteenth year completed, and four months and some days: and that completed years must be counted will presently appear. Secondly, because it is so expressly expressed in the Saint's epitaph found in the year 1154 together with his body, in which there is read thus: In the year of the Lord seven hundred and eighty, Alchmund, prelate of the church of Hexham, over which he presided thirteen years, died on the seventh Ides of September, etc.: see in the Translation below, number 28. For the rest, that these years must be taken as completed is plain both from the words of the epitaph itself and from the words of Simeon given at number 17; for otherwise those four months with a few days which intervened between the anniversary day of his consecration, namely the XXIV of April, and the day of his death, the VII of September, would have been taken for a whole year, since he is said to have presided over his church thirteen years.

[20] in the year 780, on VII September. This year indeed does not agree with the epochs of the reign of Elfwald which Richard and Simeon add — it does not agree, I say, if Elfwald in fact did not enter upon his reign before the end of the year 778 or the beginning of the next, as is generally delivered: but besides that the one sets the third year of the reign, the other the fourth, they seem to have added that epoch to the year 781 at their own pleasure, and so they need not detain us. Yet with the consecration made in the year 767 the second year of king Alcred rightly agrees, the beginning of whose reign Simeon and Alford refer to the end of the year 765 or the beginning of 766. Nor does the death of Fredbert, whom Alchmund succeeded, stand in the way; for in his epitaph it is said to have happened in the year 766, on the X Kalends of January; and those four months which are said to have intervened between the predecessor's death and Alchmund's consecration suffice, so that a successor could conveniently be substituted in the dead man's place. For the rest, since I find nothing about matters accomplished by St. Alchmund either before his episcopate or in it, I proceed to St. Tilberht.

[21] Simeon of Durham assigns St. Tilberht as successor in the see of Hexham to St. Alchmund, who died, as he thinks, in the year 781, in these words: St. Tilberht succeeds The holy Tilberht is put in his place in the bishopric, is consecrated, and is raised on the throne of the episcopal see, in the place which is called Vulfeswelle, that is, the Wolf's Well. This was done on the VI Nones of October: but it is not certain enough whether he refers this to the year 781 or to the following. More clearly Richard speaks, when, having reported St. Alchmund's death, he thus continues: But after him the beloved father Tilbert is put into the bishopric in the same year, that is, of the Lord's Incarnation DCCLXXXI, and the IV of the reign of Elfwald, and is consecrated on the sixth Nones of October, and is raised on the throne of the episcopal see, in the place which is called Vulfeswelle, that is, the Wolf's Well. In Wharton, Anglia sacra, part 1, page 697, Hoveden agrees with Richard; but Florence will have him consecrated in the year 779: and the Annals of Peterborough in the year 780: in this, however, all agree, that they say he was consecrated in the same year in which St. Alchmund died. And if this be true, his consecration must be attached to the year 780, in which we have shown that his holy Predecessor died. We cannot, however, determine anything certain here, since St. Tilberht's epitaph has perished, nor have we anything surer from elsewhere.

[22] The Acts of this holy Prelate, as well as those of his Predecessor, are wholly hidden from us, He is present at the consecration of Aldulf, subscribes to a synod, dies. except one or two things, and those of small moment. Simeon at the year 786 mentions him thus: In the same year Aldulf was consecrated bishop by Eanbald the archbishop, and by the prelates Tilberht and Hygbald, in the monastery which is called Ft-Corabrige. Similarly Richard, but marking no year, says of the Saint: He, with Eanbald the archbishop and Higbald the prelate, consecrated Adulf as bishop in the monastery which is called Corabrige. He is also read to have subscribed to the synod celebrated in the year 787 in Northumbria, as may be seen in Alford in the Annals, tome 2, at the year cited, number 27; where he shows that he is faultily written Dilberchus by the Magdeburg Centuriators, whereas Gilbert, or Tilbert, or Tilher ought to have been written. The praised Wharton says that he was present at the synod of Chelsea gathered in the same year among the Mercians: but he seems to have confused this with the synod of the Northumbrians. The Saint's death the often-praised Simeon assigns to the year 789 or the following, when at 790 he says these words: But in the preceding year bishop Ethelberht, having left his own see, the holy bishop Tilberht being now at the point of death, the aforesaid prelate received the bishopric of the church of Hexham into his own lordship. More clearly Richard speaks in these words: Tilbert therefore presided over the church of Hexham VIII years, and in the year of the Lord's Incarnation DCCLXXXIX, and the first year of the reign of Osred, departed from this life, and was buried in the same church. Nothing further about the deeds of St. Tilberht have I been able to learn: wherefore I hasten to the cult and sacred relics of both holy Bishops.

[23] That the relics of St. Alchmund were held in veneration when the eleventh century was young The relics of SS. Alchmund and Tilberht we learn from the often-praised anonymous writer and Simeon of Durham, who write that they were found and translated at the Saint's own indication and command. This Translation we shall print below; and therefore I do not detain the reader here with more. Richard in book 2 On the State and bishops of the church of Hexham, chapter 4, is authority that the relics both of Alchmund and of Tilberht, after the aforesaid translation, down to his own times, that is, until after the middle of the twelfth century, notwithstanding the frequent devastation of that region, remained enclosed in the church of Hexham. And he writes thus: In the year MCXIII of the Lord's Incarnation the church of St. Andrew the apostle at Hexham was converted to religion. For although through the courses of many years, with the surrounding region, it had been very often plundered and laid waste and had long remained deserted, yet never was it, by the protection of divine goodness, destitute of the sacred relics of its patrons, the bishops of that same church, namely of the holy Eata and Acca and Alchmund, and of the other venerable prelates Fredbert and Tilbert; never, I say, was it destitute of their sacred relics.

[24] anciently For in a certain porch beside the sacristy of that same church, toward the southern part, the relics of St. Eata, decently placed in one casket, rested: but by whom, or at what time, from

the earth they were raised, is unknown to us. But of the holy Acca and Alchmund it is read that Elferd, son of Weston, a strenuous man indeed and sacristan of the church of Durham, in the time of Egelwin, bishop of the same church, being forewarned by a divine oracle, raised them from the earth, and placed them within the church in the more remote parts. But afterwards, as time went on, in the sacristy of that same church Acca indeed was placed at the right horn of the altar, and Alchmund at the left, more honorably and decently, in two arches. Then, the devotion of the faithful increasing, both together were placed much more suitably and honorably behind and beside the altar, as is now seen, in one casket.

[25] preserved with honor: why we should honor Tilberht The relics also of the venerable Fathers Fredbert and Tilbert are contained in the same coffer with them: but who raised them from the earth is not within our knowledge; but because they were everywhere found with the aforesaid Fathers, it is believed that they were raised together with them. And in that casket which is set toward the South are the relics of St. Eata; but in the other, set toward the North, the dust of the holy bodies of Acca and Alchmund is preserved. Thus far Richard; and since from his words some scruple might befall the reader, I have judged that a few things must here be noted. That writer constantly calls Alchmund a Saint, but Tilberht only Venerable: whence one might doubt whether the title of Saint is rightly ascribed to him: but since Simeon, either older than Richard or his contemporary, calls him Saint, as may be seen above at numbers 21 and 22, and since he delivers that his relics were exposed to the veneration of the faithful in the same coffer with the bodies of SS. Acca and Alchmund, and lastly implies clearly enough that their elevation was made from time immemorial, there is no reason why we should on that account deprive Tilbert of the title with which he is endowed by others; especially since Richard was not sufficiently accurate in this matter, inasmuch as in book 1, chapter 19, enumerating the bishops of Hexham, he calls only Acca and Alchmund Saints, whereas nevertheless he himself in the same and the following book expressly commemorates Wilfrid, Eata, and John with the title of Saint.

[26] with the title of Saint To these things add first that, on the testimony of the author of the Translation, contemporary with the event, the bones of Tilberht, whom he himself calls Albert, were found shining with no less comeliness than the rest, laid up and wrapped with the same diligence: but those other bones, namely of SS. Acca, Alchmund, and Fredenbert, he asserts were found sparkling with heavenly comeliness, breathing forth manifest sanctity at once by color and by odor. Add secondly what he subjoins about the elevation of the body of that same St. Tilberht, in these words: These four (Acca, Alchmund, Fredenbert, Albert or Tilberht) with the greatest devotion, wrapped in most precious palls, as they were found together, they placed together in the greater coffer. Then, some things about the finding of St. Eata being interposed, he thus continues: And a table being erected beside the altar, resting on three columns, most decently varied with sculptures and paintings, they set in the midst the greater shrine, which contained the sacred pledges of four bishops… Which things being duly performed, and the solemnities of the Masses celebrated with due joy, the people are dismissed, and the company of the Brethren is restored to its wonted peace and quiet.

[27] Add thirdly that, on the testimony of the same anonymous writer, it was then decreed let us honor him. that the glory of that Translation should henceforth be celebrated in one solemnity: nay, that it was in fact celebrated yearly is plain from his Prologue, as will be evident to the reader. Lastly, Roger Hoveden, in part 1 of the Annals which he wrote at the beginning of the thirteenth century, when he makes mention of Tilbert, who is called by him Gilbert, adds the title of Saint. For at the year 781 he has these words: Alchmund, prelate of the church of Hexham, a man of exceeding religion and of great virtues, in the reign of the glorious king Elfwald, in the third year of his reign, on the seventh Ides of September passed to Christ, and St. Gilbert succeeded him. Again at the year 790 he says: But in the preceding year bishop Ethelbert, having left his own see, St. Gilbert being dead, received the bishopric of Hexham into his own lordship. Which words, although drawn from Simeon, sufficiently show that at the beginning of the thirteenth century he was held for a Saint. Therefore from what has been said thus far the lawful cult of Tilberht and his title of Saint seem sufficiently established.

sublimiter*

THE TRANSLATION AND ELEVATION

By an anonymous Regular Canon in the middle of the twelfth century

From the edition of Mabillon in the Acts of the Saints, 3rd century, part 1.

Alchmund, bishop of Hexham in England (S.)

Tilberht, bishop of Hexham in England (S.)

BHL Number: 3747

By an Anonymous author.

PROLOGUE.

The author stirs up his brethren to the cult of the holy Patrons of the church of Hexham.

The author exhorts his brethren to the feast The venerable festivity of the present day ^a, dearest Brethren, is to be undertaken by us the more devoutly and to be celebrated the more festively, the more especially our consolation, our hope, and moreover our glory is commended in it. For ours, ours especially is this festivity, who live in these most sacred places under the patronage of those to whose honor we have dedicated the joys of this day. For it is worthy that we should apply ourselves to their praises with voice, heart, act, and affection at every time indeed: but on this day above all, by the prerogative of a richer gladness, let us render the calves of our lips, that is, let us immolate to the Lord the fattest sacrifice of praise, on which experience has proved, sight has explored, the hand has handled, and the affection has tasted with a draught of inward sweetness the presence of the most sacred relics which hitherto faith ^b had held. Truly that prophetic sentence is proved true: The Just shall be in everlasting remembrance*, whose very bones, though dead, for the most part sprout forth from their place with frequent miracles, and cease not to perpetuate by manifest tokens their memory, which age had hidden or negligence had abolished.

[2] of the Translation to be celebrated, Hence it is that our holy Fathers, in the presence of whose relics we glory, cease not to heap new miracles upon the old, that the devotion of those who serve them may ever be increased, their hope made sure, their charity nourished, and that from the receiving of present gifts there may be a firm expectation of things to come. We know that the eyes of certain men, which the night of blindness had closed up, deserved by their merits the benefit of this light, that the lame resumed * the office of their feet, that those set in tribulation felt the swift solace of divine consolation, that men destined for punishment, in the very article of death, by a sudden deliverance perceived the effect of their prayers. Of which it is worth while to bring forth into the midst some few, to the glory of those whose solemnities we celebrate, that from bodily benefits we may hope for spiritual, from temporal for eternal, from earthly for heavenly.

[3] and teaches that a firm confidence must be placed in the holy Patrons. Hearing, dearest Brethren, that these Saints restored by their prayers the light snatched from the blind, if perchance the mist of folly shall have darkened the eyes of our mind, let us fly securely to their aid; that by their most holy merits, the blindness being wiped away and our eyes unbarred, we may drink in the true light of wisdom. So when our spiritual enemies shall have besieged us, and, shaking the wall of our virtues with the torments of temptations, shall have struck into us the fear of perpetual death, recalling how powerfully they once delivered in this church a besieged and helpless people from the hand of those stronger than they, the needy and poor from those who plundered them, we shall know that a spiritual siege none the less must be broken up, if we cry to them in the spirit of humility and with a contrite mind. If we are urged into vice by the stings of the flesh or by the goads of anger, let no despair blunt the voice of devout prayer, knowing that that goodness which snatched from the hand of the striker a man adjudged to death will snatch us also, though now on the point of being swallowed up by vices, when it is called upon by tears and prayers.

[4] Namely, the sacrosanct church of Hexham ^c, founded under the most ancient kings, long shone with the honor of an episcopal see, and, always abounding in most excellent Brethren, was a terror even to the secular powers themselves: but when the most blessed prelate Wilfrid, having brought with him craftsmen from parts beyond the sea, renewed it ^d with a wondrous flooring of stone, as you now behold, and, to win the devotion of a people still rude, adorned it in manifold ways with paintings and carvings, presently fame lifted it higher, and drew not only neighboring but also foreign nations to revisit its most sacred thresholds. And since that most holy prelate visited this church more often than the other churches over which he presided, and cherished it more devoutly, it came to pass that after his death also all the people fled to him in this church as to one living, consulted him in all their necessities as one present, and in tribulations and straits not so much asked as demanded his help. Favoring whose devotion and faith, the most holy prelate was ever at hand to those who invoked him, bestowing on those who asked, consoling the sorrowful, bringing aid to the wretched who labored: so much so that, his bodily presence being withdrawn, his spiritual grace flowed forth to them more abundantly. Whence not undeservedly we believe him to be a partaker of this most sacred festivity, whom by so many tokens we prove that we have present.

ANNOTATIONS.

read præsentiam*

read resumpsisse*

CHAPTER I.

A man about to be beheaded is marvellously delivered: the church of Hexham, and those who had fled into it, are divinely preserved from impending destruction: a sacrilegious man is punished.

[ ] A man about to suffer the extreme penalty, invoking the Saints A certain young man, when he was accused of theft and robbery in this city, being consigned to bonds by the governors and long kept, since there was no one who should offer surety on his behalf, at last, being adjudged to death, was being led to punishment. To the common refuge therefore, namely St. Wilfrid and the other Patrons of this church, since he could not with his body, he flew most devoutly with his heart, going forward indeed with his feet whither he was dragged, but turning back his eyes to the church with the greatest contrition of mind. At length they came to the place of punishment. There had flowed together to that spectacle no small multitude, who, encircling the wretched man in the manner of a crown, compel the executioner to hasten. He stands

terrible of countenance, strong of hand, cruel of mind, and lifting the sword with both hands, bids the captive stretch out his neck and await one effort of the striker. He, lifting his eyes a little and gazing at the church, said: Help now, Wilfrid, for if now thou wilt not, a little after thou wilt not be able. At the simplicity of which words, while all laughed and some mocked, the executioner himself also, dissolved in laughter, delayed to strike, lest, his savagery being laid aside for a time, that dissolution should retard the striker's effort.

[6] is marvellously delivered. In which little delay two young men, borne on the swiftest horses, fly up in haste, and, surety being given for him after the fashion of their country, snatch the young man from death, loose him from his bonds, and permit him to go free. And although in the very article of death he named only the most blessed Wilfrid, yet let no one think that the other Saints who rest in this present church were not cooperators in this miracle; since he invoked all in his heart, hoped in all, and lifted his eyes to all with pious faith. Let us consider therefore, dearest Brethren, with what hope we must flee to these most holy Fathers of ours in the perils of the soul, how we must not despair of their help in any vehemence of temptation whatsoever. If therefore, bound by the bonds of any depraved habit, we shall have been handed over to some spiritual lictor to be struck, and shall experience what Paul says: "Not what I will, do I do" and, "I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind and leading me captive into the law of sin"; then, our eyes being lifted to heaven and our tears poured out abundantly, let us ask the help of these Saints, knowing that they will take arms and shield and rise up to help us, and, the enemies being put to flight, will break asunder our bonds, that with free steps we may run the way of the Lord's commandments with an enlarged heart, saying with the Prophet to the Lord: "Thou hast broken my bonds, I will sacrifice to thee the sacrifice of praise." This miracle indeed came to the knowledge of so many that the young man's word, proved in so great a necessity, has been turned into a common proverb of the whole people.

[7] Malcolm king of Scotland prepares destruction for the people of Hexham; At the time when Malcolm ^a king of the Scots laid waste Northumbria with cruel slaughter, he always kept peace with the church of Hexham out of reverence for the Saints who rest in it. But when once his messengers fell among robbers about the borders of that church, being despoiled and wounded and having returned to the king, they lay the crime of this cruelty upon an innocent people. At which accusation the king raged in anger, and swore that for so great ingratitude he would utterly overthrow that place together with the people ^b. Why say more? at the cruel king's command an army is at hand, ready for plunder, prompt for slaughter, prone to outrages; which neither obeys when entreated, nor would rest when sated. Nor was the king's anger hidden from the people of Hexham. But what should they do? no means of resisting, no safeguard of flight, no solace in the society of any men whatsoever. The one and only hope of all was the power of the Saints, so often experienced. There come together therefore to the church young men and maidens, old men with the younger, women with little ones, either to be delivered by divine power, or at least to be struck down before the relics of the Saints. Already the king was at hand with a strong force, already he had occupied the places near the river Tyne ^c, and would have done enough for his cruelty, had not the night coming on hindered the crossing.

[8] But the priest who presided over the church sends certain of the clerics with relics to the king, who, imploring the Saints' help, that they might both clear them of the crime objected and ask peace for an innocent people. The king, being indignant, calls the men of Galloway ^d, men crueller than the rest, and, while the messengers heard, said: As soon as the day dawns, cross the river and rush upon them: let not your eye spare, neither have mercy, neither on order, nor on sex, nor on age: whatever the sword cannot destroy, let fire consume, and leave not any remnant of them. Saying this, he in fury commanded the messengers to return. Who, having returned to the church and reported what they had heard, a miserable tumult arises, a huge outcry, much weeping and wailing. The women, with heads uncovered, tear their hair with their own hands, beat their breasts, and, uttering the wailing of a dreadful voice, offered a horrible spectacle to the beholders. The men, prostrate on the ground, prayed more moderately for the Saints' help. Further, the priests and clerics strove now with psalms, now with prayers, to appease the face of the Lord: some redouble with groaning and outcry the name of Wilfrid, some of Cuthbert ^e, others of Acca ^f, several of Alchmund.

[9] The priest, dissolved in sleep, deserved to be consoled by such a vision: are refreshed by the apparition of SS. Wilfrid and Cuthbert, he thought that, having gone out of the enclosure of the church, he was casting his eyes hither and thither for the sake of looking about: and behold there appeared two men in splendid raiment, of venerable countenance, in tonsure and habit bearing a pontifical appearance, sitting on horses, making their way to the church from the Southern side: and coming to where the priest stood, they leap down from their horses and say: Ho, good man, keep our beasts, until, prayer being made in the church, we return to thee. He consents, and not without great wonder awaits their return. After a little while therefore, when they were returning, one of them groaning more deeply said: Alas, whence this grief in the church, this groaning, this outcry, this dread? It is a pitiable spectacle, to be attended with deepest sighs and bitter tears. To whom the priest: Wonder not, most excellent father; for we have all been given over to punishment, destined to death, accounted by the king of Scotland as sheep for the slaughter. For, our clerics hearing it, he commanded his army without pity to destroy this most sacred place with those who dwell in it. Then the saint, looking upon him with a more serene countenance, said: Fear not, neither be dismayed at their face, since I am with you to deliver you. For seeing I have seen the affliction of those who are in the church, and I have heard their groaning, and I have come to free them. For behold, when the dawn whitens, I will stretch out my net from the rising of the river Tyne to its mouth ^g, which none of them shall be able to cross, nor to bring any evil upon you.

[10] Then the priest: Who then art thou, most blessed man, and Malcolm who hast come to the wretched with so needful an aid? He answered: I am called Wilfrid, and behold here with me is St. Cuthbert, whom, passing through Durham ^h, I brought, that coming together to our Brethren who rest in this church we might together preserve this place and people. He had spoken, and presently sleep together with the vision left the priest. Who, rising, commanded silence, and made an exhortatory discourse to the people, and bids them be of better courage, knowing that the Lord has regarded the prayer of the humble and has not despised their petition. For, he says, our hope will not confound us, which we have in the Saints of the Lord, under whose wings we live, since their eyes are upon us, and their ears to our prayers. Saying this, he asks the clerics to persist in psalms, the rest in prayers, with a more eager hope. But the priest, silently pondering the vision, tried to understand the parable of the net; and would indeed have interpreted it of the flooding of the neighboring river, had not the then little pleasant serenity of the air called him back from that judgment.

[11] being marvellously checked, they escape the peril: Why say more? Already the dawn was setting an end to the darkness of night, and, rising brighter than usual, had taken away the hope of the consolation conceived, when behold, a certain mist rising from the Western quarter occupied the whole channel of the aforesaid river from its rising to its mouth; which, gradually drawing itself together, so darkened, thickened into rain *, that if by chance anyone had stretched out his right hand somewhat far, that hand itself, swallowed up in the darkness, was rendered invisible to him. Therefore the men of Galloway, entering the darkness, and running through trackless places, crossed the Western stream by the road which leads to Cumbria, and about evening found themselves on the border of their own region ⁱ. But the king, awaiting both the men of Galloway whom he had sent, and the withdrawal of the mist at which he shuddered, doubted what he should do: but when the mist, lifting itself higher, had uncovered the light which it had hidden, by a sudden flood the river swelled, and hindered the king's attempt for three days. Then the king, coming to himself, called his nobles and said: What are we doing? Let us withdraw hence, since these Saints are at home. And so, the terrible people withdrawing, there resounded in the church of Hexham a giving of thanks and a voice of praise, tears succeeding tears, outcry succeeding outcries, but security succeeding fear, joy succeeding grief ^k. At last, the solemnities of the Masses being celebrated with great exultation, each returned with joy to his own.

[12] [hence the writer admonishes that their help must be sought for the salvation of the soul.] But we, dearest Brethren, upon whom it lies rather to care for souls than for bodies, and rather to beware of the powers of the air than of the earth, as often as he who is king over all the sons of pride shall have armed the satellites of his impious power to the peril of our salvation, and the terrible army of the vices shall have rushed upon us in a mass, let us come with confidence to the patronage of these Saints, entreating with deepest sighs that, after the manner of the prophet Elisha, they may strike all our enemies with blindness, and, the eyes of our heart being unbarred, may show us that there are more with us than with them. Let no one indeed think that the precious Saints of the Lord, whose relics are contained here, as though insufficient, called in others: but rather that the faith of believers might be confirmed, their devotion increased, and moreover the sanctity of the place commended, for which not only the Saints present, but also those who seem absent, might be proved by sure tokens to be present. But provision had also to be made for the devotion and faith of those who, being set in so great a necessity, had lifted up pious hands and sent forth prayers full of faith not only to those whom they believed to be present in their relics ^l, but also to those whom they did not doubt to be absent in body but present in spirit.

[13] An impure murderer, violator of churches There was moreover in the neighborhood of this church a noble man of great wealth, Aldan by name, having a great name after the name of the great who were then in this land. He was wont to frequent the holy church of Hexham chiefly on solemn days. And it happened that on a certain day he turned aside to a certain house, in which a certain maiden, comely of face and lovely to look upon, was living under the care of her parents. The man presently cast his eyes upon her, and, overcome by concupiscence, first tried the girl's constancy with words. And when the effect did not follow his wish, anger blazing up on this side and concupiscence on that, he is lifted into pride, is turned into fury; and as though driven by certain furies, forgetful of the Lord, forgetful of himself, neither reverencing the presence of the Saints nor sparing his own soul, he assails the girl and, dragging her by force from the house, like a wolf a sheep, carried her off to be subjected to his lust *.

[14] There is in the city of Hexham a church built in honor of the holy Mother of the Lord in the Eastern part of the greater church, is struck by God with a horrible punishment. divided by so great an interval that both a court lies between and a road open to passers-by is not wanting. When therefore that madman came, cruelly carrying off the prey which he had impiously seized, between these two basilicas of the highest veneration, the girl's brother, coming up, strove to rescue her, saying that he held the place in contempt *, and that he and his

had been robbed: but he, whose heart blood, name, and wealth had lifted into pride, whose marrow the flame of lusts had kindled, joined murder to incest, transfixing the pursuer with the reversed spear, turning back upon the defender of chastity the punishment which the unchaste man had deserved. But presently the avenging anger for violated chastity and for murder was at hand, and forced the proud man to return into himself: for at once his hand stiffened about the spear, and until the end of his life remained with all its fingers both withered and contracted; and at last, being deprived of hearing and sight, he closed a wretched life with a more wretched end.

ANNOTATIONS.

read in imbrem*

read libidini*

contemptui*

CHAPTER II.

A man laboring under a hernia is suddenly healed: the church of Hexham, laid waste by the Danes, is repaired and handed over to Regular canons: a twofold elevation of the relics.

[ ] A certain Brother laboring under a hernia, A certain lay Brother, renouncing the world, after the example of our father Abraham going out from his land and his kindred and his father's house, that he might more fully and perfectly exchange riches for poverty, delights for frugality, nobility of blood for voluntary subjection, preferred a seat in this Northern quarter to the Southern parts of England; and leaving both his own goods, in which he abounded, and the wealth of a certain most excellent man over which he presided in great authority, he consigned himself to the services of this monastery. He therefore for no small time, on account of the necessary labors at which he sweated vehemently, preferring to be wearied with labors in a humbler place than for the sake of a loftier order to be occupied with lesser usefulness, lived outside the congregation of the Brethren soberly, justly, and piously, unshorn and bearded: whence it came about that he was called by all Hugh with the beard.

[16] And it happened on a certain day that the same venerable man, with a certain Brother, was trying to carry a felled tree of great bulk from the steep of a valley to a place more accessible for wagons; before the relics of the Saints and when the weight of the load exceeded the strength of those pushing, that most fervent man, not sparing himself, gathering all his strength into himself and pushing the mass with vehemence, incurred a rupture of the sac by which the vital parts are covered, so that in the opening itself a passage of three fingers lay bare. The very great pain which followed threatened perpetual languor to the Lord's servant. He, revolving within himself that the poverty of the place would be burdened by his infirmity, that he would be deprived of the fruit of the labor he desired, his heart is pricked with inward sadness, his mind is contrite, his eyes are dissolved in weeping. Recalling at last how present he had those to whom it was very easy by their holy prayers to restore in him his former strength, being brought forth to the church, out of a pure heart and a good conscience and a faith unfeigned, he set forth before the relics of the Saints with the greatest sorrow his own trouble, the burden to the Brethren, the loss to the church, and asked with great devotion that they would have mercy on him.

[17] is suddenly healed. The man rose from prayer whole, and, returning to the necessary labors of the monastery, found not even the least token of any infirmity in his body thereafter: for he lived afterwards many years. And he was sparing in word, sober in food, moderate in dress; diligently taking care of the poor, of strangers, of orphans, faithfully and usefully disposing the goods of the church, the care of which was assigned to him. For when the house had emerged from the poverty which it had endured in its beginnings, he subjected himself to the cloistral disciplines, and having for a long time discharged the office of cellarer, in a good old age and full of days he fell asleep in the Lord. These are a few miracles out of many, which are shown to be common to all of this church, by which the sanctity of this place is commended, by which the faith of the inhabitants may be increased and their devotion stirred. Whence, allowing our mind to breathe for a little while, let us pass on to unfolding those things by which the virtue of each may appear, as we have learned by a true account ^a.

[18] The church laid waste by the Danes, After the desolation of the Northumbrians, which they miserably incurred when the Danes ^b burst into England, like the other churches of this region, this of Hexham, to use prophetic words, sat groaning a long time without priest, without ephod, without teraphim. Then weeping she wept in the night, and her tears were on her cheeks. Whatever was of wood, the fire consumed: that most noble library which the holy prelate ^c had founded utterly perished. In which devastation at last it is established that the monuments which the holy fathers had transmitted with the pen concerning the life and miracles of the Saints to the knowledge of posterity were consumed. Then, when the rage of the persecution having cooled the serenity of peace smiled, there flourished in the church of Durham a certain priest adorned with many virtues, who was reverenced in a father's place by all the Northern English, who so gaped after his discourses that whatever they heard from him they received as a divine oracle. And he was called Aluredus ^d, son of Westau, whom also, on account of the grace of his learning and wisdom,

they named Alured Larwa, that is, the Teacher. He, being warned by a divine revelation, running through the sacred places which the savagery of the barbarians had laid waste, drawing the relics of many Saints out of their tombs, translated them to the church of Durham.

[19] but not bereft of the relics of the Saints, at last But coming to the holy church of Hexham, when he had taken up the relics of the most holy Acca, foreseeing perhaps in the spirit (for he is said to have had also the spirit of prophecy) what religion and what honor that very church was to have, he would not, or could not ^e, carry away those sacred relics: but laying them up honorably within the church, he provided, by the disposing of divine grace, for the veneration of the places, for the devotion of those present, and for the profit of those to come. Further, when under king Edward ^f Northumbria had breathed a little, and the remnants of the dispersion, being received in their own seats, had girded themselves to build up the ruins, again, in the reign of William, when bishop Walcher had been killed by the English, a flight from calamity and desolation followed ^g. To Walcher succeeded William, a monk by habit, who, expelling the clerics from the church of Durham, put monks in their place ^h; and to some indeed he ordered a possession outside the church, others, who scorned to receive this, he did not delay to drive out. Among whom the son of the aforesaid Alured, who presided over the rest ⁱ, since he deigned to receive nothing from the bishop, went to the venerable archbishop Thomas ^k, who first of the Normans ruled the church of York, asking that he would grant him the church of Hexham to rebuild. The venerable pontiff assented to his wishes, and committed the aforesaid church to him to be governed.

[20] Coming to the place, the man found everything desolate, is restored the walls of the church without a roof, foul with hay, bristling with woods overgrowing them, the plaster cast down by rains and tempest, retaining nothing of its former comeliness. And such was the desolation of that land that for nearly two years he sustained himself and his household from hunting and fowling alone. He set his mind therefore to renew the church: and beginning first from the Eastern part, he erected an altar and fittingly prepared it for the heavenly Sacrifices. But he himself, the business being left unfinished a little after, departing from life left the fruit of his labor to his son ^l: who, although he lived as a sinner otherwise than he ought, yet about renewing, adorning, and serving the churches of Christ showed himself devout and solicitous. He therefore, bestowing all his mind and care on renewing the church of Hexham, the wood which had overgrown being cut down, and the walls cleansed from all filth, roofed the whole church with tiles, and, the walls being plastered within and without, adorned it with the ancient painting and beauty. And a pavement of squared stones being laid in the Eastern part, he placed the altar, supported on columns, in a fitting place.

[21] But bearing it unworthy that the sacred relics should be buried in a lower place, and the relics are elevated: some of which it pleased him, when they were drawn from the tomb, to lay them up more honorably with worthy honor behind the high altar in a casket covered with a pall. The bones therefore being drawn from the tomb, until the necessary things should be prepared about the place in which they were to be laid, he set them in the Southern porch upon the altar of St. Michael with linen cloths spread beneath, and left for their guarding his younger brother, afterwards a canon of most excellent life and good morals in this church, by name Aldred, being secure of his simplicity. The young man, gazing on the sacred relics in his presence, being pricked with a certain inward sweetness, coveted some little particle of those relics: For, said he, this church alone ought not to glory in so great a gift, since so great a multitude of bones could be enough for many churches.

[22] Yet shuddering to touch such a sanctuary with his hand, wishing to steal, he is divinely hindered. he first said the seven penitential psalms with tears and compunction: and thus, prayer being made, coming to the porch he met at the very entrance so great a burning of heat that at the door of a burning furnace he would have thought he could endure nothing like it. Terrified, he goes back, believing himself unworthy of so great a benefit: he prostrates himself again, weeps, beats his breast, and repeating the sacred psalms attempted an approach: but presently a more vehement heat, issuing from the porch, drove back him who was entering, and took away also the hope of entering: for he did not presume to attempt it a third time. Hearing these things, his brother, who presided over the church, dissolved in tears, with great devotion and compunction laid up with due honor those most sacred relics, wrapped in a most precious pall and placed in a most fitting shrine, upon the stone table which he had decently prepared for this.

[23] The repaired monastery is handed over to Regular canons. Afterwards, the devotion of that priest toward the Saints increasing, he began to think more strictly within himself about his own unworthiness, about the sanctity of the church, about reverence for the Saints: and judging himself unworthy of the approach of so great Fathers, and fearing besides lest after his death the church should be handed over to men, if not less worthy, at least less solicitous, being kindled with zeal for the house of the Lord, he went to the venerable man Thomas the younger, archbishop of York ^m, and suppliantly asked that he would commit the church to Regular canons, and that he might hand over to them himself and his goods. And when the venerable prelate had assented to his wishes, he built with his own hands the workshops * suitable to religion, though of wood, and at the nod of the aforesaid pontiff first brought into the church of Hexham two Brethren of honorable life, of whom the one had lived praiseworthily in the church of York, the other in that of Beverley ⁿ, ^o. But after the death of Thomas, Thurstan [p] succeeding him committed the care of that church to a certain Asketil, a canon of the monastery of Huntingdon [q], and enacted in perpetuity that the regular life should be kept there.

[24] And that man was elegant and affable, learned to conform himself to the manners of all, and to win for himself the favor of the rich, the poor, clerics, soldiers, and countrymen. In his times the house of the Lord so advanced both in spiritual and in temporal things that in a short time it abounded in good and honorable men professing the regular life: and the regular workshops, decently built of stones and roofed with wooden tiles, afforded a pleasing shelter to the inhabitants. Moreover the church itself, adorned with precious ornaments and enriched with the relics of St. Andrew and of other Saints, increased the devotion both of those coming and of those dwelling there. Whom there succeeded a certain religious and most excellently lettered man, Robert, surnamed Biset, professed in the same church: who, being more fitted for religion than for the administration of outward things, after some years renounced the pastoral care, having as successor Richard [r], a man indeed of honorable life and gravity from his very adolescence; who also, when he was in the world, on account of his signal chastity and sobriety was thought almost a monk.

[25] Precious caskets being prepared, in the year 1154 Meanwhile in the Brethren, to whom the power of the Saints had so often shone forth, an inward devotion grew, and their love was more stirred. They felt that they were present not only in their relics but also in their miracles, by whom they were consoled in sad things, governed in glad; when they were tempted they were lifted up, when persecution arose they were defended, and in any necessity whatsoever, fleeing to them, they were heard. And because by their merits they were daily increased in temporal riches, they emulated also their temporal glory. They were indignant that those covered with cheap wood should set nothing of glory and honor before the sight of the people, which was often gladdened by their * benefits. And first the heart of each grew warm within them, and in their meditation a fire burned: at length, conferring speech with one another, they kindled one another mutually, and inquired more diligently how the thing might be carried into effect. At last, meeting the Prior upon this discourse, by their desire they stirred up the holy man's devotion to the same thing. All wills therefore agreeing in one, they set about the desired work, those whose concern it was furnishing what was necessary with willing mind and prompt heart. A casket of fitting size is prepared, and clothed with silver and gold: gems are set in fitting places, and by the craftsman's industry the work is varied with the highest comeliness. Two smaller ones also are put together, of no small comeliness, though not of the same value.

[26] And in the year from the Lord's Incarnation one thousand one hundred and fifty-four, The bones of the Saints are found fragrant and shining. all things being prepared, the Prior appointed the solemn day on which the sacred relics should be translated, the fifth of the Nones of March. Meanwhile the Brethren prepared themselves for so great a work with psalms and prayers and spiritual exercises. And already the appointed day was at hand, when about the third hour, the Prior with the Brethren meeting in the church, they prostrate themselves barefoot before the holy altar, and, joining fitting prayers to the penitential psalms, chant with high-sounding voice the responsory which is used in the Church in honor of the holy Confessors. And a solemn prayer being finished after the chant, the Brethren go forth clothed in white and unshod, and setting forth the reverend relics with the coffer in which they had hitherto been kept [s] before the step of the altar, and drawing out thence the most sacred pledges, they placed them with the highest veneration upon palls honorably spread on the pavement. And the bones of the four Saints were divided singly from one another and wrapped in most ancient palls: which, when they had begun to unwrap, there met them a fragrance of wondrous odor, which affected the nostrils of all, and soothed the hearts of all. Astonished at which divine visitation, the Brethren at first judged that they had been buried with spices; but when no token of this appeared, they understood that the Saints of the Lord had imparted this grace to their own holy relics out of the odors of paradise which they enjoy for ever.

[27] Being therefore greatly consoled by these things, they explore the sacred remains of the first of them. The bodies of SS. Acca The bones were found sparkling with heavenly comeliness, breathing forth manifest sanctity at once by color and by odor: which so turned the gaze of all upon themselves and stirred their affection that they did not doubt that he was spiritually present whose relics they perceived to be suffused with so great grace and to be venerated with so great majesty. And lest there should be hesitation among posterity about the name of the holy confessor, he who had laid him up had purged away every scruple by the attestation of a writing. For they find in the very wrapping a slip containing:

In the year of the Lord's Incarnation seven hundred and forty, Acca the bishop, of reverend memory, on the thirteenth Kalends of November passed from the world to heaven, in the twenty-fourth year of his episcopate, and here his relics rest in peace.

By this most sacred sight therefore, though not satiated, yet greatly refreshed, wrapping the heavenly pledges again in most clean cloths, they lay them up with worthy honor: and lest, the slip failing in future times, the name and merit of the saint should be withdrawn from memory, writing and engraving the same things at once on parchment and on a plate of lead, they set them with the relics.

[28] Then they betook themselves to inspecting the relics of St. Alchmund: and of Alchmund are found. which being found with like glory and honor, they read the slip which contained his name and office; and the text of that writing was:

In the year of the Lord seven hundred and eighty [t], Alchmund, prelate of the church of Hexham, over which he presided thirteen years, died on the seventh Ides of September, who for his merits was made a partaker of eternal beatitude, and here rests in peace.

And the Brethren stood about that * heavenly treasure, and, intently examining everything, they found all the coverings [u] by which the human body is framed together. And because those who once had laid up the Saints had taken away some little fragments from the bones of the blessed Acca out of devotion, they wondered that nothing of the sort had been done [x] about the relics of blessed Alchmund. For why this had happened had slipped from the memory of some, and others had not even heard: whence we

shall not be loath, adding his ancient translation to the new, to unfold the cause of this integrity.

ANNOTATIONS.

p Thurstan, succeeding Thomas in the year 1114, enriched the church of Hexham with sacred furniture and with many goods, as the aforecited Richard teaches, chapter XI.

q Huntingdon (in the inhabitants' speech Huntington) is a town on the river Ouse in England, and the head of the county of Huntingdon.

r John Prior of Hexham, continuator of Simeon of Durham, published among the ten Writers of England, has these words about Richard: In the year MCKLIII Richard was confirmed Prior of Hexham, according to the election of the Brethren, by the hand of William the dean and the chapter of York. But that here we must read In the year MCXLII our Papebroch shows in tome 2 of June, page 136. This is another man than Richard the historian.

s Both from this passage and from what is to be said below it is plain that SS. Alchmund and Acca were found in the same coffer when this elevation was undertaken: yet Richard writes the contrary in book 1, chapter 4, where, after relating the first translation made in the eleventh century, which see at chapter 3, he says thus: But afterwards, as time went on, in the sacristy of that same church Acca indeed was placed at the right horn of the altar, and Alchmund at the left, more honorably and decently, in two arches. Then, the devotion of the faithful increasing, both together were placed much more suitably and honorably behind and beside the altar, as is now seen, in one casket. Thus he: yet I should prefer in this part to believe the anonymous writer, who describes this translation laboriously, rather than Richard, who mentions it only in a few words: and I should the more prefer it because the anonymous writer's narration seems to have been delivered by way of an oration before his own Brethren, of whom, if not all, at least some, it is altogether likely, were present at the event, and whom therefore he could not deceive. Perhaps also Richard wrote these things before the last translation instituted in the year 1154.

t Go to the Commentary, number 19.

u Perhaps bones.

x According to these things the body of St. Alchmund was found so entire that not even a little fragment was wanting: but this does not sufficiently cohere with what Richard the Prior has in book 2, chapter 9. For he says that Eillan the priest, who had detained certain goods of the church of Hexham, afterwards repenting of the deed restored them to Robert Biset, at the time Prior, and gave a silver cross in which relics of St. Alchmund were enclosed. He made therefore, he says, that (restitution) with a certain beautiful phylactery, namely a silver cross, in which were contained relics of the holy confessors and bishops Acca and Alchmund. But since above at letter r we have already said that Richard succeeded the aforesaid Robert in the year 1142, it follows that before the year 1154, in which this translation was made, some little fragment was already wanting to the sacred body. Wherefore it remains that we should say either that those relics set upon the cross were of the Saint's garments or of some like thing which he had formerly used, or at least that they were so small that they by no means came into consideration.

read ossium*

officinas convenientes*

read eorum*

read illum cælestem*

CHAPTER III.

The earlier translation of St. Alchmund made in the eleventh century: a benefit obtained by his patronage: the remaining matters pertaining to the later translation.

A certain pious man, bidden by St. Alchmund At that time when the priest Alured, of whom we have made mention above ^a, was reverenced in a father's place by all the churches of the Northumbrians, and by the princes also and the people, a certain man ^b of the nobles of the lesser order, dwelling in a possession of the church of Hexham, was held with great devotion toward the Patrons of that place. And he was a simple man, endowed rather with faith than with knowledge. He, when on a certain night he had given his limbs to sleep, there stood by him in a vision an Elder of reverend countenance, adorned with pontifical insignia, gleaming with heavenly light: who, when he had touched the man with a light stroke of the pastoral staff which he bore in his hand, as though rousing him from sleep, said: Go quickly and tell Alured the priest of Durham that, the people of Hexham being gathered into one, he should draw my body from the tomb, and, having lifted it, should lay it up higher in the church in a more honorable place: for honor would justly be shown on earth by men to those whom Christ has judged worthy to be glorified among the angels in heaven. He, being astounded, and astonished both by the splendor of the light and by the authority of that voice, when he had recovered his breath a little, humbly and reverently asks who he might be.

[30] Then the Saint said: I am Alchmund, who was the fourth from blessed Wilfrid to preside over the church of Hexham ^c, seeks his body with the priest Alured, who, after the contest which I contended, after the course which I have finished, after the faith which I have kept, having obtained by the grace of Christ the crown of justice, was buried beside my venerable and holy predecessor Acca: where let the aforesaid priest, thou standing by, seek my body more diligently, being without doubt about to find it. Saying this, he withdrew into his own invisible and incomprehensible felicity. The man, being awakened, hesitating nothing about the oracle, went to the priest, and, relating the vision in the order in which it had befallen, made known what the Saint had commanded. He, not incredulous of the vision, obeys the commands, and on the appointed day, when the people whom he had summoned had solemnly come, prayer being first made, he approached with the clerics to the place which the Saint had appointed ^d: where, when they had already dug deeper, they found no trace of a tomb: and now the third hour had come, and they had accomplished nothing. He to whom these things had been revealed from heaven stood by unmoved: he exhorted the rest by his faith not to despair. Persisting therefore at the work until the sixth hour, they perceived no fruit of so great labor. Then some of the people, who now stood by wearied with long waiting, began to laugh, and certain, as though frustrated of so great hope, in their grief jested that the other man had been deluded by phantasms; others silently blamed the priest for having given credit to dreams.

[31] and at last finds it and raises it from the earth: But that man, moved by none of these things, persisted in his own opinion, and, full of faith, maintained that the Saint's body must be found in that same place: and seizing a tool, and rousing to digging the others whom weariness had already unstrung, he said: Here, here without doubt, here lies Alchmund, hence today we shall draw out his sacred relics. So great a hope did not deceive the man; but he whose faith had not failed, whose love had not grown lukewarm, having obtained about the ninth hour the treasure he desired, made good his promises. The most sacred bones therefore being gathered, the venerable priest, wrapping them in most clean cloths, placed them in a fitting shrine: and because the lateness of the hour did not permit the sacred solemnities of the Masses to be celebrated, they determine that the heavenly gift which they had received should that night be set down and kept in the Eastern porch of the church, where the memory of blessed Peter the apostle is frequented ^e.

[32] a part of which when the priest had stolen, But in the silence of the untimely night, the priest himself with his clerics, keeping sacred watch about the Saint's relics, being kindled with devotion, determined to carry some little portion of the holy bones with him to Durham, that thus his affection might be provided for, and an increase added to the honor of that Saint. But he judged also that this was owed to him, that to one whom that Saint had appointed the executor of so great a work he should not deny a worthy reward. The rest therefore being weighed down with deep sleep, he approached the coffer, and, taking away one of the bones by which, with sinews intervening at certain joints, a finger had been framed together by the creating art, he took care to lay it aside and reserve it for himself. Meanwhile the dawn set an end to the darkness of night, and the expectation of the sacred celebration roused the people earlier than usual. There ran up no small multitude of both sexes, desiring to be commended by the prayers of so great a Patron, and wishing to offer something of their own service to the sacred relics.

[33] it could by no force be carried into the church. But at the Third hour ^f, all things being prepared which seemed suitable to so great a solemnity, the venerable priest designated those who were thought fit for so great a work, that they should bear the coffer on their shoulders: who, coming forward for the time, when with hands applied they tried to lift the most holy [ ], it remained immovable as though fixed to the ground. The common people after their manner, imputing this to their sins, judged that they should be removed. Others are chosen, and their effort, lacking effect, strikes the people with astonishment. And lest perchance these too should be thought unworthy, others succeed; who, themselves also laboring in vain, withdraw without the fruit of their desire. All therefore, astounded and dismayed in mind, awaited what the priest should determine. He, wondering, and not observing that he himself was the cause, judged that they must pass the night in prayers, must supplicate the Saint with the highest devotion, and must seek an oracle of his sanctity, that the reason for this immobility might not lie hidden. He spoke, and so it was done.

[34] The clergy therefore and the people watching and praying about the relics, The Saint, appearing, commands what was taken to be restored: the Saint appeared to the same man to whom he had before appeared (for sleep had already crept over him as he watched in the church), and looking upon him with a sterner eye, said: What is this that you have wished to do? Have you thought fit to bring me into the church thus lacking a member, that mutilated I should stand before blessed Andrew the apostle and his sacred altar, whom for so many years I served with body and mind entire? And showing him a hand from which as it were the middle part of one finger seemed to have been cut off, he said: Rise, and testify among the people that he who took it should restore my finger, so that my members may rest in the place of their repose with their integrity, and that these who have so devoutly assembled in my honor may obtain the desired fruit of their labor ^g. And when morning came, the man rising in the midst of the people, when all had gazed upon him with the more curiosity, published with a clear voice the heavenly oracle, adding that he who had inflicted so great an injury upon the Saint must be smitten with great vengeance. Then the venerable priest, although he perceived that those dear pledges must be restored to the Saint, yet exulting that he had been detected with so great a miracle to the Saint's honor, silence being made among the people, without any delay set forth all that he had done and with what intention he had done it; and when in the presence of the people he had brought forth what he had reserved for himself, all congratulating and proclaiming the Lord wonderful in his Saints, he restored it to its place ^h.

[35] Then at last, prayer and worthy satisfaction being made, [which being done, it is easily carried into the church: an annual feast is instituted.] at the priest's bidding the clerics, lifting the bier with light motion, carried it into the church with hymns and spiritual canticles, as befitted so great a Pontiff, on the fourth of the Nones of August ⁱ; and, the saving office of the Sacrifice being solemnly celebrated after the custom with devotion, each returned to his own with joy. From that day and thereafter no one dared to carry off anything from his sacred relics, but they preserved them untouched and entire for the knowledge of posterity, as the Brethren found them. That day was held famous by the people every year: but because, this new translation being performed, it was decreed that the glory of both should be kept in one celebration ^k, we have believed that both histories should be joined, adding what miracle formerly happened by the merits of the blessed Man on this solemnity of his.

[36] A certain one of the Brethren, namely the venerable Hugh, of whom we made mention above ^l, Hastening to the feast of the Translation, being drowned in the river, having set out to neighboring places for the profit of the monastery, when the solemn day itself was now impending, was hastening to return. He had in his company a certain servant of the church, faithful and devout, and most useful to the Brethren in all things which pertained to him. And coming to the river which flows beneath the city, the horses on which they had ridden being placed in a little boat, Uthred (for this was the man's name), seizing the rudder and standing in the after part, was steering the boat: and behold, one horse, leaping from the fore part, almost brought the boat under the waves: for the beast, pressing more strongly upward with its hind feet, forced the prow down into the depths; but presently springing back by the rebound of its own lightness, when it had lifted itself higher, it plunged beneath the waves that part in which the steersman of the boat sat. He, slipping from the stern *, is swallowed by the river. Those who were present cry out, run up, lament, run hither and thither, attesting their misfortune with sighs and tears. But what could they do? They had no cord, no rod, no branch, nothing at all with which to succor the wretched man: they only grieved, and he lay hidden beneath the waves. What alone was left of hope, they lift their eyes to the church and prayed that the merits of the Saints might be present to them, but chiefly they prayed blessed Alchmund, to whose solemnities they had been hastening, that he would deliver him from these perils.

[37] the Saint being invoked, he lives long beneath the waves, Meanwhile the young man, whom they now thought suffocated, sunk to the depths, sound in memory, undisturbed in his senses, perceived with clear hearing whatever they said on the bank, and made his confession, as though he were speaking with a priest, to him who is everywhere present. At last, directing his whole mind to blessed Alchmund, so far as such a necessity permitted, he besought him to have mercy on him. Further, those who were running about on the bank, as though certain of his death *, were now thinking of drawing out and burying the corpse: and behold, they see a man standing at a distance, holding a lance in his hand and as it were wondering at their running to and fro. All cry out that he should come near; and he runs up not slothfully. One, seizing the lance, thrust it into the waves where he had last been seen; which he presently beholding with his eyes, and forgetting nothing of himself, laying hold of it with both hands, by his own weight gave token of the corpse found.

[38] and being drawn thence, gives thanks to his Preserver. The others run up to help; and behold, the man, emerging from the depths, comes down upon the bank, where, resting a little and spitting out the waters which he had swallowed, he hastened with his companions to the monastery. There, being set by the fire, when the natural warmth, which the cold had taken from his limbs, had returned to them at the approach of material fire, his strength being recovered, he entered the church to give thanks to the Lord and to St. Alchmund: where by the merits of blessed Alchmund he so recovered that on the same day, the river being crossed, he returned unhurt to his own. From that time every year, as long as he lived, coming to the church on the same day with an offering, he did not omit to repay to his Deliverer with such gifts as he could a fitting return for the benefits received. These things being perhaps not uselessly inserted, let us return to the order of the translation.

[39] The bodies of SS. Fridenbert and Tilberht are found, And coming to the third, when they had found him also with no unequal glory, they seek the slip which should disclose his name and merit: and behold, they found one containing these words:

In the year from the Lord's Incarnation seven hundred and sixty-six, Fridenbert ^m prelate of the church of Hexham passed from this mortal flesh to the perpetuity of the true light, on the tenth Kalends of January, in the thirty-fourth year of his episcopate, and here he is in peace.

That attestation therefore being renewed, as in the former cases, they set him also, most honorably wrapped, beside those whom they had inspected. And when they likewise explored the riches of the fourth bundle, they find bones shining with no less comeliness than the rest, laid up and wrapped with the same diligence: but why he who laid him up did not set the name we hold uncertain. But perhaps because all the common people knew that there had been four bishops there, whose names by no means lay hidden from them: for many years before this translation, when I was still a little boy ⁿ, all the people, not hesitating at all, cried out that Acca, Alchmund, Fredenbert, and Albert ^o rested there together. Perhaps therefore, when he had set the names of three, he believed it sufficient; since, the others being named, no other could be thought than Albert [p].

[40] These four, with the greatest devotion, wrapped in most precious palls, as also those of St. Eata, all of which are solemnly elevated. as they were found together, they placed together in the greater coffer. Lastly, opening the shrine with which the relics of the venerable bishop Acca [q] were covered, they find his bones breathing forth a heavenly odor: which when all who were present, terrified and astounded, had drawn in, dissolved in tears, they most devoutly commended themselves to the prayers of so great a patron. They found in the same casket a leaden vessel containing certain little fragments of the blessed Fredenbert *, and giving forth the fragrance of the same odor. Then there sounded in the mouth of all a giving of thanks and a voice of praise: and applying the smaller casket which they had adorned, they placed in it the relics of the blessed pontiff with the leaden vessel which they had found: but in the inner one, likewise adorned, they placed a certain part of the dust from the body of St. Eata the bishop, with the sacred relics of St. Babylas, bishop and martyr. And a table being erected beside the altar, resting on three columns, most decently varied with sculptures and paintings, they set in the midst the greater shrine, which contained the sacred pledges of four bishops; on its Southern side that which covered the venerable bones of St. Eata, and toward the North the third, with those things which they had set within. Which things being duly performed and the solemnities of the Masses celebrated with due joy, the people are dismissed, and the company of the Brethren is restored to its wonted peace and quiet.

ANNOTATIONS.

p This reason appears to me by no means likely: wherefore I should rather believe that St. Tilberht's inscription fell out by chance when toward the end of the eleventh century the relics of the Saints of Hexham were laid up in a more seemly place, as the anonymous writer narrated at number 21.

q Mabillon rightly warns that we must read Eatæ; for this is manifest from what precedes and what follows. He is inscribed in the Benedictine Martyrology of Menard at the 26th day of October.

read quem*

read dolere*

read alii*

understand body*

puppi*

supply certi*

supply corpore*