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In the year 754, Boniface,20 called also Winfrid, Bishop of the Franks, received the crown of martyrdom, together with fifty-three others; and Redger was consecrated archbishop in his stead, by pope Stephen.

In the year 757, Ethelbald, king of the Mercians, was treacherously and miserably murdered, in the night, by his own guards; Beornred21 began his reign; Cyniwulf,22 king of the West Saxons, died; and the same year, Offa, having put Beornred to flight, sought to gain the kingdom of the Mercians by bloodshed.

In the year 758, Eadbert, king of the Northumbrians, receiving St. Peter’s tonsure for the love of God, and to the end that he might take the heavenly country by force,23 left the kingdom to his son Oswulf.

In the year 755, Oswulf was wickedly murdered by his own thegns; and Ethelwald, being chosen the same year by his people, entered upon the kingdom; in whose second year there was great tribulation by reason of pestilence, which continued almost two years, divers grievous sicknesses raging, but more especially the disease of dysentery.

In the year 761, Oengus,24 king of the Picts, died; who, from the beginning to the end of his reign, continued to be a blood-stained and tyrannical butcher; Oswin25 was also slain.

In the year 765, King Aluchred came to the throne.26

In the year 766 a.d., Archbishop Egbert, of the royal race, and endued with divine knowledge, as also Frithbert, both of them truly faithful bishops, departed to the Lord.

← V.24 Chronological recapitulation of the whole work: also concerning the author himself. · Contents

Footnotes

  1. (Only names which have not occurred in the narrative are annotated; references for those already mentioned will be found in the Index.) The Continuation is by a later hand. But Mr. Plummer considers that the entries under the years 731, 732, 733 and 734, may have been added by Bede himself. They appear in the great Moore MS., and those for 733 and 734 also in another eighth century MS. The entries enclosed in square brackets are found in a fifteenth century MS. ↩

  2. He succeeded Wilfrid II, and two years later became Archbishop of York (v. infra under 735). It was to him that Bede addressed the “Epist. ad Egberctum.” ↩

  3. Bishop of Lindsey. ↩

  4. Bishop of Selsey. ↩

  5. I.e., of York. ↩

  6. Bishop of Hexham. ↩

  7. Bishop of Whitern. ↩

  8. The early authorities differ as to the year, but this is the traditional date, and is usually accepted. ↩

  9. King of Northumbria 737-758 (v. infra); died in 768. He was a son of Eata, called by Nennius, Eata “Glinmaur,” a descendant of Ida, and was the brother of Archbishop Egbert. Under him the Northumbrian power revived for a period. ↩

  10. He was the kinsman and predecessor of Cuthred (v. infra). ↩

  11. Archbishop of Canterbury in succession to Nothelm. The first archbishop not buried in St. Augustine’s, v. II, 3, p. 90, note. ↩

  12. Bishop of Lindisfarne in succession to Ethelwald (V, 12, ad fin., note). ↩

  13. Probably a son of that Eadwulf who usurped the throne of Northumbria at Aldfrid’s death (V, 18); cf. Simeon of Durham, II, 38 (Rolls Series), “Arwine filius Eadulfi.” ↩

  14. Not known. ↩

  15. Charles Martel. ↩

  16. Pippin the Short. Carloman resigned in 747, and became a monk. ↩

  17. There is a letter of Boniface (v. Haddan and Stubbs III, 358) to a priest, Herefrid, who is supposed to be the man mentioned here. ↩

  18. This seems confused and obscure. The West Saxons under Cuthred threw off the Mercian yoke in the insurrection which culminated in the battle of Burford (v. V. 23, p. 380, note 9). Oengus or Angus (the Brythonic form is Ungust), son of Fergus, was a Pictish king who crushed the Dalriadic Scots, and, in alliance with Eadbert of Northumbria, conquered the Britons of Strathclyde. But this does not explain the strange statement which brings him into connection with Ethelbald of Mercia. Nor is it told who Eanred was. Theudor was a king of the Britons of Strathclyde. Kyle is a district in Ayrshire. ↩

  19. Adopting the emendation “quinto Idus” (Hussey). The date is thus right for the eclipses, but the year is the sixteenth of Eadbert. Probably the numeral (XVI) has fallen out, and the passage ought to run: “anno regni Eadbercti XVI, quinto Id. Ian.” ↩

  20. The great missionary bishop of Germany, a West Saxon by birth. He crossed to the Continent circ. 716, and, supported by Charles Martel and his sons, evangelized Central Europe, became Archbishop of Mainz, and founded sees throughout Germany. Finally he was martyred in Frisland. Lul, a West Saxon, was his successor, not Redger, but it has been suggested that this may be another name for him. The pope is Stephen III. ↩

  21. He is said by William of Malmesbury to have been the murderer of Ethelbald. After a year of anarchy Offa succeeded, and retrieved the position of Mercia. ↩

  22. He was killed in an insurrection in 784. (Sax. Chron.) ↩

  23. St. Matt. xi, 12. After Eadbert, Northumbria fell into a state of anarchy, obscure kings contending for the throne. ↩

  24. Cf. supra, sub 750. ↩

  25. An aetheling killed by Moll, king of Northumbria, at a place called Edwin’s Cliff (Sax. Chron.). ↩

  26. Of Northumbria. ↩

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