CHA P. XII.

Haeddi fucceeds Lutherius in the Bishoprick of the Weft-Saxons; Quinchelm fucceeds Putta in that of the Church of Rochefter, and is himself fucceeded by Gebmund; and who were then Bishop's of the Northumbrians.

EUTHERIUS was the fourth Bishop

Leof the Wet-Saxons, for Birinus was the

firft, Agilbercht the fecond, and Wini the third. When Cenwalh, in whofe Reign the faid Leutherius was made Bifhop, dy'd, his under Rulers took upon them the Kingdom of the People, and dividing it among themfelves, held it ten Years; and during their Rule he dy'd, and Heddi fucceeded him in the Bishoprick, being confecrated by Theodore, in the City of London, during whofe Prelacy, Ceadwalla having fubdu'd and remov'd thofe Rulers, took upon him the Government. When he had held the fame two Years, being taken with the Love of the Hea→ venly Kingdom, he quitted it, the fame Bishop ftill governing the Church, and going away to Rome, ended his Days there, as fhall be faid more fully hereafter.

Ann. 676. In the Year of our Lord's Incarnation 676, when Ethilred, King of the Mercians, ravag'd Kent with a mighty Army, and profan'd Churches and Monafteries, without Regard to

t

Piety, or the Fear of God, he among the rest deftroy'd the City of Rochefter, where Putta was Bifhop, tho' abfent at that Time, which when he understood, viz. that his Church, all Things being taken away, was ravag'd, he went away to Sexulf, Bishop of the Mercians, and having receiv'd of him the Poffeffion of a certain Church, and a fmall Spot of Land, ended his Days there in Peace; no Way contriving to restore his Bifhoprick, because (as has been faid above,) he was more industrious in Ecclefiaftical, than in Worldly Affairs; ferving God only in that Church, and going wherefoever he was defir'd to teach the Church Song. Theodore confecrated Quichelm, Bifhop of Rochester in his ftead; but he, not long after, departing from his Bifhoprick for want of Neceflaries, and withdrawing to other Parts, he fubftituted Gebmund in his Place.

In the Year of our Lord's Incarnation, 678, Ann. 678. which is the eighth of the Reign of Ecgfrid, in the Month of Auguft, appear'd a Star, call'd a Comet, and continuing for three Months, rofe in the Morning, darting out, as it were a Pillar of radiant Flame. The fame Year Difcord breaking out between King Ecgfrid, and the moft Reverend Prelate Wilfrid, that Bishop was drove from his See, and two Bishops fubftituted in his ftead, to prefide over the Nation of the Northumbrians, that is, Bofa to prefide over the Nation of the Deiri; and Eata over that of the Bernicians; the latter having his See in the City of York, the former, in the Church of Hagulftad, or Lindisfarn; both of them promoted to the Epifcopal Dignity from the Community of Monks. With them alfo

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was

was Edhed ordain'd Bishop in the Province of Lindfey, which King Ecgfrid had but newly fubdu'd, having overcome and vanquish'd Wulfhere, and this was the first Bishop of its own that Province had; the fecond was Edilwin; the third Eadgar; the fourth Cymbercht; who is there at prefent. Before Edhed, Sexwulf was Bishop as well of that Province, as of the Mercians and Midland Angles; fo that being expell'd Lindsey, he continu'd in the Government of thofe Provinces. Edhed, Bofa, and Eata were ordain'd at York by Archbishop Theodore; who also three Years after the Departure of Wilfrid, added two Bishops to their Number, Trumbercht in the Church of Hagulftad, Eata ftill continuing in that of Lindisfarn; and Trumwine in the Province of the Picts, which at that Time was fubject to the Dominion, of the English. Edhed returning from Lindsey, on account that Ethilred had recover'd that Province, he plac'd him over the Church of a Rhipe.

a In the Latin, Rhypum, in King Alfred, hnýpræzna cynic, now Rippon in Yorkshire, where Wilfrid Archbofhop of York founded a stately Monaftery, curious, as Malmsbury obferv'd in his Time, for its arch'd Vaults, fine Pavements and winding Entries, this was burnt by the Danes, and afterwards rebuilt by Odo the Archbishop of Canterbury, where was St. Wilfred's Needle,

CHAP.

CHA P. XIII.

How Bishop Wilfrid converted the Province of the South-Saxons to CHRIST.

WH

ILFRID being expell'd his Bishoprick, and having travell'd in feveral Parts, went to Rome, and return'd to Britain; and tho' he could not, by reafon of the Enmity of the aforefaid King, be receiv'd into his own Country or Diocefe, yet he could not be reftrain'd from the Miniftry of preaching of the Gofpel; for taking his Way into the Province of the South-Saxons, which extends from Kent on the Weft and South, as far as the WeftSaxons, containing Land of feven Thousand Families, and ftill at that Time follow'd the Pagan Worship, he adminifter'd to them the Word of Faith, and the Lavre of Salvation. Edilwalch, then King of that Nation, had been, not long before, baptiz'd in the Province of the Mercians, in the Prefence of and by the Perfwafion of King Wulfhere, who was also his Godfather, and as fuch gave him two Provinces, viz. the Isle of Wight, and the Province of Meawara, in the Nation of the Hamp Weft-Saxons. The Bishop therefore, with the hire. King's Confent, or rather to his great Satiffaction, baptiz'd the prime Commander and Soldiers of that Country; and the Priests Eappa, and Padda, and Burghelm, and Eadda, either then, or afterwards baptiz'd the rest of

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the

the People. The Queen, whose Name was Ebba, had been chriften'd in her own Island, that is, the Province of the Wiccii. She was the Daughter of Eanfrid, the Brother of Eanher, who were both Chriftians, as were their People; but all the Province of the South-Saxons were Strangers to the Name and Faith of God. There was among them a certain Monk of the Scotish Nation, whose Name was Dicul, having a very fmali Monaftery, at the Place call'd Bofanham, encompafs'd with the Sea and Woods, and in it five or fix Brothers, ferving our Lord in a poor and humble Life; but none of the Natives car'd either to follow their Courfe of Life, nor hear their Preaching. But Bifhop Wilfrid preaching to them, did not only deliver them from the Mifery of perpetual Damnation, but also from an inexpreffible Calamity of Temporal Death; for no Rain had fallen in that Province in three Years before his Arrival, whereupon a dreadful Famine enfuing, cruelly deftroy'd the People. fhort, it is reported, that very often, forty or fifty Men being fpent with Want, would go together to fome Precipice, or the Sea Shore, and there, hand in hand, either perish by the Fall, or be fwallow'd up by the Waves. But

In

Now call'd Bofcham, in Suffex, this was the Archbishop of Canterbury's, till Earl Godwin taking a Fancy to it, requiring of the Archbishop to give him Bofham, i, e. a Kiss; the Archbishop reply'd, I give you Bolham, whereupon he took Poffeffion, and by Arms kept it. It was a Place of Retreat to his Son Harold, and from hence he fet out in a PleasureBoat, when the Wind drove him to Normandy, where Duke William oblig'd him to furrender his Right to the Crown.