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Chapter 9 Theodore’s Peace N.J. Higham Across her career, Barbara Yorke has massively advanced our understanding of early insular kingship, the territorial make-up of the Anglo-Saxon world and the establishment of Christianity in Britain.1 It is my purpose in this tribute to focus on a short sequence of interactions between kings and senior clerics of a kind which have often been central to her work, focussing particularly on a few months in the autumn 679. Of course, we do not have anything like as much information as we would like and there is of necessity much speculation in what follows, but the bare bones of what happened are plain enough. This essay is intended to compliment my treatment of this episode in my re- cent volume on King Ecgfrith,2 where I focus primarily on the battle and its consequences. Here I will concentrate less on the conflict than on the peace ne- gotiations through which Northumbrian/Mercian hostilities were concluded. The Synod of Hatfield We begin with the Council of the English Church convened and chaired by Archbishop Theodore at Hatfield on 17 September 679.3 Theodore had by then been in Britain for a little more than a decade, pushing forward major reforms of the Church with an urgency which reflected both the pressing need and his own advancing years (he was already 67 when he arrived).4 Bede preserved the 1 It is a great pleasure to contribute to a volume honouring Barbara Yorke. My own friendship with her dates back to a Workers’ Educational Association residential weekend at Horncastle from which she and I ‘escaped’ when formal sessions had ended to explore Anglo-Saxon Lindsey, bowling around country lanes with only a somewhat sketchy grasp of where we were at any moment but a shared fascination with the historical evolution of the Wolds land- scape. Ever since, I have valued her knowledge and diligent scholarship, her quick wit and gentle humour, her generosity as regards her time and energies and the care which she brings to all she does. 2 Nicholas J. Higham, Ecgfrith, King of the Northumbrians, High-King of Britain (Donington, 2015), pp. 180–82. 3 Bede, HE iv.17(15), pp. 384–87. 4 Michael Lapidge, “The Career of Archbishop Theodore,” in Archbishop Theodore: Commemo- rative Studies on his Life and Influence, ed. Michael Lapidge, Cambridge Studies in Anglo- Saxon England 2 (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 1–29. © N.J. Higham, ���� | doi:10.1163/97890044�1899_011 N.J. Higham - 9789004421899 This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-NDDownloaded 4.0 l icense.from Brill.com09/27/2021 11:28:44PM via free access <UN> 198 Higham record of his first synod, held at Hertford in 672, which provides the skeleton of his programme.5 However, the Hatfield meeting was for a very different purpose. Earlier in the same year Pope Agatho had given leave for John, ab- bot of St. Martin’s in Rome, to accompany Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrith on their return to Wearmouth to help in spreading up-to-date Roman practices in Northumbria. At Rome the central issue at this date was the Monothelete Controversy—specifically how to respond to a missive from the emperor on that subject and re-unify the Faith. Agatho instructed Abbot John that he should check in Britain for any sign of that “heretical contagion” and report back.6 On arrival he communicated this errand to Archbishop Theodore; the Hatfield meeting was his response. Its synodal book recorded the unequivocal commitment to the orthodox Roman stance of the archdiocese and its clergy.7 The location of this synod is a matter of debate. The main candidates are the places today named Hatfield in South Yorkshire and Hertfordshire (discount- ing as improbable others in Hereford and Worcester and Essex).8 That Theo- dore’s first council met at Hertford was probably what encouraged the assump- tion that the Hatfield meeting occurred nearby.9 However, Bede had only hitherto named the northern Hatfield, where King Edwin met his death in battle,10 and he made no effort to distinguish the location of Theodore’s synod from the battle site. In addition, the dating clause at the start of the synodal book implies a meeting within the sphere of influence of the Northumbrian king: Imperantibus dominis piissimis nostris Ecgfrido rege Humbronensium, anno decimo regni eius sub die xv kalendas Octobres indictione octaua, et Aedilredo rege Mercinensium, anno sexto regni eius, et Alduulfo rege Estranglorum, anno septimodecimo regni eius, et Hlothario rege Cantu- ariorum, regni eius anno septimo… (Our most pious lords ruling, Ecgfrith king of the Humbrenses, in the tenth year of his reign, on the seventeenth of September and the eighth 5 Bede, HE iv.5, pp. 348–55. 6 Bede, HE iv.18(16), pp. 388–91. 7 Henry Chadwick, “The English Church and the Monothelete Controversy,” in Archbishop Theodore, ed. Lapidge, pp. 88–95. 8 For discussion see Higham, Ecgfrith, King of the Northumbrians, p. 180–81. 9 Sir Frank M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd ed. (Oxford, 1971), pp. 137, 749; see edito- rial comments for Bede, HE iv.17(15), pp. 384–87. 10 Bede, HE ii.20, pp. 202–07. N.J. Higham - 9789004421899 Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 11:28:44PM via free access <UN> Theodore’s Peace 199 indiction, and Æthelred king of the Mercians, in the sixth year of his reign, and Aldwulf king of the East Angles, in the seventeenth year of his reign, and Hlothhere king of the Kentings, in the seventh year of his reign…) That Ecgfrith is separated from the other three named kings in a way which seems intended subtly to advertise his superior status is unlikely to have been accidental. The record was written for the eyes of Pope Agatho so was almost certainly drafted by Theodore in person. It is difficult to imagine the archbish- op distinguishing Ecgfrith in this way if the meeting took place at Hatfield in Middle Anglia, which was almost certainly at this date under Mercian control. This is easiest reconciled, therefore, with the meeting taking place near the Humber.11 The Tribal Hidage suggests that the northern Hatfield was the name of a region,12 as much as a specific place. That the area was favoured as a meet- ing place is confirmed by the synod held at Austerfield (named by Stephen of Ripon as Aetswinapathe and Ouestraefelda) by Theodore’s successor, Bert- wald.13 It is, therefore, the more northerly Hatfield that should be preferred. Having described the meeting and quoted extracts from the synodal book, Bede shifted his focus in his next chapter to Abbot John, who, as the guest of Benedict and Ceolfrith, had been teaching at Wearmouth in the run-up to the synod, passing on his knowledge of the Roman Christian calendar and his ex- pertise in choral music. Having attended the synod, Abbot John then crossed back to the Continent with a copy of the synodal book for Pope Agatho. This copy eventually reached Rome but John did not, having died in Gaul en route. The Battle Near the River Trent With his account of John’s actions concluded, Bede turned his attention back to events in England. In HE, iv.19 (Chapter 17 in the c-text variants) he took the opportunity provided by her death in this year to promote the memory of Æthelthryth, Ecgfrith’s first queen and the founding abbess of Ely. He lauded her sanctity, promoted her cult and even offered in the following chapter a 11 Nicholas J. Higham, The Kingdom of Northumbria ad 350–1100 (Stroud, 1993), p. 139; Chad- wick, “English Church and the Monothelete Controversy,” p. 88, footnote 2; Nicholas J. Higham, Ecgfrith, King of the Northumbrians, High-King of Britain (Donington, 2015), p. 180. 12 David N. Dumville, “The Tribal Hidage: An Introduction to its Texts and their History,” in The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, ed. Steven Bassett (London, 1989), pp. 225–30. 13 VW, ch. 46, pp. 92–95. N.J. Higham - 9789004421899 Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 11:28:44PM via free access <UN> 200 Higham hymn which he had himself composed in her honour “many years before” (the virgin queen had clearly long been one of Bede’s heroes). Chapter 19 (17) has 110 lines in the modern edition, making it the third longest chapter in the book. Chapter 20 (18), which is focused tightly on the same subject, adds a further 60 lines, meaning that Bede’s account of Æthelthryth takes up almost eight per cent of book 4.14 There follows a description of the battle near the river Trent which is exceptionally brief; the shortest chapter in the book by far it has a mere 13 lines, only half those of the next shortest (Chapter 8). Bede sandwiched this between his lengthy treatment of Æthelthryth and another group of long passages on similar themes. Chapter 22 (20) describes a miracle which oc- curred in the aftermath of the battle (73 lines), then 23 (21) celebrates the life of Hild, abbess of Streanaeshalch, on the occasion of her death in 680 (at 167 lines the second longest chapter in the book). Finally 24 (22) provides further proof of the Godliness of her monastic regime, providing an account of the poet Cædmon (103 lines). Bede promised in his Preface that he would “tell of good men and their good estate” (de bonis bona referat), as well as “the evil ends of wicked men” (mala commemoret de prauis).
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