m THE COMPLETE WORKS OF VENERABLE BEDE, IN THE ORIGINAL LATIN, COLLATED WITH THE MANUSCRIPTS AND VARIOUS PRINTED EDITIONS, ACCOMPANIED BY A NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE HISTORICAL WORKS, AND A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. BY THE REV. J A. GILES. D.('.I, LATE FELLOW OF C.C.C._ OXFORD, VOL, II. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, BOOKS I. II. IlI. LONDON : WHITTAKEI! AND l'(_, AVE MARIA I,ANI,. ,%1DCCCXLI 1I. /I/77 VENERABILIS B E D_/E OPERA QUtE SUPERSUNT OMNIA, NUNC PRIMUM IN ANGLIA, OPE CODICUM MANUSCRIPTORUM, EDITIONUMQUE OPTIMARUM EDIDIT J. A, GILES, LL.D., ECCLESI/E ANGLICANtE PRESBYTER, ET COLL. CORP. CHR. OXON. OLIM SOCIUS. VOL. II. HISTORI_ ECCLESIASTICtE LIBRI I, II, III. LONDINI : VENEUNT API_,D _HI'VI'AKEB. ET SOCIOS. M_XLIII. THE MISCELLANEOUS WORKS OF VENERABI, E BEDE, IN THE ORIGINAL LATIN, COLLATED WITH THE MANUSCRIPTS, AND VARIOUS PRINTED EDITIONS, ACCOMPANIED BY A NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE HISTORICAL WORKS, AND A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. I_, _T_I.', P,F,V _ _ (-HI.E.g.D.C.I,. LATE FELLOW OF C.C.C., OXFORD. VOL. II. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. BOOKS I. II. III. LONDON : _ HIT'IAKE[_ AND CO., A\ l...',IAltl._ LANE. MDCCCX LIII. LON DON : _'ILI.IAql '_TEYX'_/$p PKI_TRR_ BEI.L YARD, TR$1 PLE BAR. PREFACE. of Venerable Bede has long been a desideratum in English litera- ture. That want is now likely to be supplied, and the publication of this volume, containing the First COMPLETEedition of the works Part of the Ecclesiastical History, Lnnounces that the whole works of England's first md most valuable writer will, ere long, be laid before public. Another volume, containing the last part f the same important historical record, will speedily .ppear : after which, a series of volumes will be pub- ished, which, when finished, will comprise all that is .nown to have proceeded from Bede's pen ; and the rst volume of the series will contain a Memoir of e Author and his Works, wherein will be collected ogether all that we know of the life and character of _s remarkable man. The Ecclesiastical History was first published on - Continent : the following is a list of the editions 'hich were there printed :-- 1. Una cure Petri Trecensis (alias Comestoris) _istoria Scholastica, et Eusebii Historia Ecclesiastica, __ Rufinum et cure additione Rufini, Argentinensi, ,500. b 6 PREFACE. 2. Ead. ed. repet. Hagenau, 1506. 3. Antverpi_e, 1550. 4. Lovanii, 1566. 5. In " Britannicarum return Scriptores, Heidel- berg_e, fol. 1587." 6. Lugduni, 1587. 7. Co]oniee, 1601. 8. In " Bedee Opera, &e. Parisiis, per Jametium, 1544." 9. Ead. ed. repet. 1554. 10. In "Bed_e Opera, &e. Basil., per Joannem Hervagium, 8 tom. fol. 1563." 11. Ead. ed. repet. Coloni_e, 1612. 12. Ead. ed. repet. 1688. It was first published in England by Wheloc, fol. Cantab. 1643-4, with an Appendix containing the Anglo-Saxon translation by King Alfred the Great, under the following title, "Historiam Eeelesiasticam gentis Anglorum, una cure adnotatione et analectis, e publieis veteris eeelesi_e Anglican_e homiliis aliisque MSS. Saxonieis exeerptis, nec antea Latine editis; ut et Saxonieam Chronologiam, seriem hujus imprimis historieam eompleetentem, e Bibl. publiea Cantab. ; aeeedunt Anglo-Saxonica_ leges, et ultimo leges Henriei I., edidit A Wheloeus. Cantab. 1644. The next critical edition was that of Chimet, toge- ther with Fredegarius Seholastieus, under this tide: mBed_e Presbyteri et Fredegarii Seholastiea Con- eordia ad senioris Dagoberti definiendam monarchise periodum, atque ad prim_e totius Regum Franeorum stirpis Chrouologiam stabiliendam, in duas partes divisa, quarum prior contlnet Historiam Ecelesias- tieam Gentis Anglorum, cure notis et Dissertatione de PREFACE. 7 auctore hujus Histori_e, posterior Dissertatio de annis Dagoberti Francorum Regis, eo nomine primi. Auctore P. F. Chii_etio, Soc. Jesu Presbyt. Parisiis, 1681. To this succeeded the edition of Smith, which superseded all the preceding. It is thus entitled :q Beda_ Venerabilis Hist. Eccl. gentis Anglorum, una cure reliquis ejus Operibus Historicis in unum volu- men collectis, cura Johannis Smith S. T. P. et Eccl. Dunelmensis non ita quidem Canonici. Cantabrigi_e, 1722. The basis of this edition was a MS. formerly belonging to More, Bishop of Ely, and now deposited in the public library at Cambridge. [Kk, 5, 16.] At the end of the volume, which is written in Anglo- Saxon letters, are the following notes in a somewhat later handwriting. ANNO DXLVII Ida regnare coepit a quo regalis Nordanhymbrorum prosapia originem tenet et X II annos in regno permansit. Post hunt Glappa I annum, Adda VIII, tEdilric IV, Theodric VII, Frid- wald VI, Hussa VII, Aldfrid XX, Osred XI, Coin- red I, Osric XI, Ceolwulf VIII. Baptizavit Paulinus ante an. CXI. Eclipsis ante an. LXXIII. Penda moritur ante an. LXXIX. Pugna Ecgfridi ante an. LXIII. __Elfvini ante an. LVIII. Monasterium _t Wir_emoda ante an. LXIV. Cometee visa_ ante an. VIII. Eodem anno pater Eegberct transivit ad Christum. Angli in Brittania ante an. CCXCII. By calculating these dates it wotdd appear that the volume was copied in the year 737, i. e. two years a4"ter Bede's death, and probably from the author's original manuscript. b2 8 PREFACE. In addition to More's MS., Smith collated two others from the Cottonian Library ['rib. C, II and A, XIV-J, and one in the King's Library, besides referring to a large number of others. His text, however, appears to be almost a fac-simile of More's MS., and he has given the readings of the other copies, which he collated, at the bottom of the page. The last edition of this celebrated and valuable work is that of Stevenson, published by the English Historical Society, Loud. 8vo. 1838. The editor pro- fesses to have used the same MS. of Bishop More, and to have occasionally collated four others [Cotton. Tib. C, II, Tib. A, XIV., Harl. 497_, and King's MS. 13 C, V.]. Prefixed to the volume is a copious and valuable notice of the author and his work, from which we take the liberty of making the following long extract, as containing the most judicious account of this our author's greatest work, and of the aids which he enjoyed in executing it. "The scope of the Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum is su_ciently indicated by its title. After some observations upon the position, inhabitants and natural productions of Britain, the author gives a rapid sketch of its history from the earliest period until the arrival of Augustine in A.D. 597, at which tara, in his opinion, the Ecclesiastical History of our nation had its commencement. After that event, he treats, as was to be expected, for a time exclusively of the circumstances which occurred in Kent; but, as Christianity extended itself over the other kingdoms into which England, was then divided, he gradually in- cludes their history in his narrative, until he reaches the year 731. Here he concludes his work, which embraces a space of one hundred and thirty-four years, PREFACE. 9 with a general out]ine of the ecclesiastical state of the island. "The Introduction, which extends from the com- mencement of the work to the conversion of the Saxons to Christianity, is gleaned, as Beda himself informs us, from various writers. The chief sourees for the description of Britain are Pliny, Solinus, Oro- sius and Gildas; St. Basil is also cited; and the tra- ditions which were current in Beda's own day are Oecasionally introduced. The history of the Romans in Britain is founded ehiefly upon Orosius, Eutropius, and Gildas, corrected, however, in some places by the author, apparently from tradition or local information, and augmented by an account of the introduction of Christianity under Lucius, of the martyrdom of St. Alban, copied apparently from some legend, and of the origin of the Pelagian heresy,--all of them cir- cumstances intimately connected with the ecclesiastical history of the island. The mention of Hengist and Horsa, and the allusion to the tomb of the latter at Horstead, render it probable that the account which Beda gives of the arrival of the Teutonie tribes, and their settlement in England, was communicated by Albinus and Nothhelm. It is purely fabulous, being, in fact, not the history, but the tradition, of the Jutish kingdom of Kent, as appears from circum- stances mentioned elsewhere in this work, as well as from the authorities there quoted. The two visits of Germanas to England, so important in the history of its religion, are introduced in the very words of Constantius Lugdunensis, and must therefore have been copied from that author. The ante-Augustine portion of the history is terminated by extracts from ]0 PREFACE. Gildas, relative to the conflicts between the Saxons and Britons. As the mission of Augustine in A.D. 596 is the period at which Beda ceases to speak of himself as a compiler, and assumes the character of an Historian, it becomes incumbent upon us to examine into the sources upon which he has founded this, by far the most interesting portion of his History. The materials which he employed seem to have con- sisted of 0.) written documents, and (IL) verbal infor- mation. 0.) The written materials may be divided into (1.) Historical information drawn up and com- municated by his correspondents for the express pur- pose of being employed in his work ; (2.) documents pre-existing in a narrative form, and (3.) transcripts of official documents. "(1.) That Beda's correspondents drew up and com- municated to him information which he used when writing this History, is certain from what he states in its Prologue; and it is highly probable that to them we are indebted for many particulars connected with the history of kingdoms situated to the south of the river Humber, with which a monk of Jarrow, from his local position, was probably unacquainted.