The Peterborough Chronicle, Volume 2: Translation, Indexes and Plates

By Bernard J. Muir

The book consists of three parts: I. Introduction, including the history of research, detailed paleographical and codicological analysis, and discussion of the other Anglo-Saxon Chronicle manuscripts, and their textual relations; II. The Critical Edition, presenting the text in its immediate seventeenth-century manuscript context, with notes; III. The Modern English Translation, including detailed historical and philological notes. A bibliography, indexes and extensive comparanda complete the book. This edition, translation and commentary greatly enhance the accessibility and research potential of one of the most important primary sources for the history, language and culture of Anglo-Saxon England.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anthem Press
• Release date: Dec 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9781839987038

Book preview

The Peterborough Chronicle, Volume 2

The Peterborough Chronicle

Oxford, Bodl. MS Laud misc. 636

ASC witness E

A critical edition in its seventeenth-century manuscript context

edited by

Bernard J Muir

and

Nicholas A Sparks

Volume 2

Translation, Indexes and Plates

© 2022

Anthem Press

An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company

www.anthempress.com

This edition first published in UK and USA 2023

by ANTHEM PRESS

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or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK

and

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© 2023 Bernard J. Muir and Nicholas A. Sparks editorial matter and selection; individual chapters © individual contributors

The moral right of the authors has been asserted.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022943357

A catalog record for this book has been requested.

ISBN-13: 978-1-83998-7-021 (Hbk)

ISBN-10: 1-83998-7-022 (Hbk)

Cover image: Oxford, Bodl. MS Laud misc. 636, f. 1r (detail)

This title is also available as an e-book.

The Peterborough Chronicle Witness E : Contents

VOLUME 2

Translation

Indexes

Personal Names

Places, People Names and Events

Plate Captions

Plates

The Peterborough Chronicle

Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud misc. 636

ASC E-witness: Translation¹

²

[1r] The island of Britain is eight hundred miles long and two hundred wide; and there are five languages here in this island: English and British and Welsh and Scottish and Pictish and 'scholarly-Latin'.³ The first inhabitants of this island were Britons, who came from Amorica⁴ and first settled in the southern part of Britain. Then it came to pass that Picts arrived from the south from Scythia,⁵ with not a great number of long ships and they first settled up in northern Ireland; and they asked the Scots⁶ if they might be allowed to live there. But they did not want to let them do that because they said that they could not all dwell there together in that place. And then the Scots said, 'we can, however, give you some advice. We know another island to the east of here where you can live if you want to, and if anyone opposes you we will support you.'

And then the Picts departed and travelled to the northern part of this island; and the British controlled the southern part, as we mentioned earlier. And the Picts sought wives for themselves from among the Scots on the understanding that they would always select their royal family from the wife's side – they honoured that agreement for a long time afterwards.⁷ And then it came to pass after a number of years that a certain number of the Scots left Ireland for England, and they occupied a part of that country. And their chieftain was called Reoda, after whom they are called Dál Riada.⁸

<60 BCE>⁹

Sixty years before Christ was born Gaius Julius Caesar of Rome approached Britain with eighty ships.¹⁰ He was at first challenged in grim warfare and led a great part of his invading force to ruin. And he then [1v] left his army behind to remain with the Irish and he himself went back among the Gallic people. And there he assembled a fleet of six hundred ships with which he afterwards returned to Britain. And when they first clashed together in battle an officer of Caesar called Labienus¹¹ was slain. Then the British went and staked the whole ford of a certain waterway – a river called the Thames – with great sharp piles beneath the surface. When the Romans discovered that, they did not want to cross over the ford; then the British of Wales took flight to the security of the woods. With tremendous effort, Caesar took a good number of the fortified towns and afterwards he returned to Gaul.

Year 1. Octavian ruled for fifty-six years, and in the forty-second year of his reign Christ was born.¹²

Year 2. The wise astrologers came from the eastern region so that they might worship Christ. And the children of Bethlehem were slain in Herod's persecution; he died, stabbed by his own hand, and his son Archelaus succeeded to the kingdom.¹³

Year 3.

Year 4.

Year 5.

Year 6.

Year 7.

Year 8.

Year 9.

Year 10.

Year 11. There have been five thousand two hundred years from the creation of the world up to this year.

Year 12. Philip and Herod divided up Judea, splitting it into four kingdoms. Year 13.

Year 14.

Year 15.

Year 16. Here Tiberius came to power.¹⁴ Year 17.

Year 17.

Year 18.

Year 19.

Year 20.

Year 21.

Year 22.

Year 23.

Year 24.

Year 25.

Year 26. Here Pilate became governor of the Jews. [2r]

Year 27.

Year 28.

Year 29.

Year 30. Here Christ was baptized, and Peter and Andrew were converted, as were James and John and the rest of the twelve apostles.

Year 31.

Year 32.

Year 33. Here Christ was hanged on the cross, five thousand two hundred and twenty- six years from the beginning of the world.

Year 34. Here St Paul was converted and St Stephen was stoned to death.

Year 35. Here the blessed apostle Peter occupied the episcopal see in the city of Antioch.

Year 36.

Year 37.

Year 38.

Year 39.¹⁵ Here Gaius came to power.¹⁶

Year 40.

Year 41.

Year 42.

Year 43.

Year 44.

Year 45. Here blessed Peter the apostle occupied the episcopal see in Rome.¹⁷ Year 46. Here Herod died; he had slain James one year before his own death.

Year 47. Here Claudius¹⁸ king of the Romans went to Britain with an invading force and he conquered that island and made all the Picts and Welsh subject to the Roman Empire; he carried out this invasion in the fourth year of his reign. In that year there was a great famine in Syria, which had been foretold by Agabus the prophet in the Acts of the Apostles. Then after Claudius, Nero¹⁹ came to power; through his neglect he ultimately lost the island of Britain.

Year 48.

Year 49.

Year 50.

Year 51.

Year 52.

Year 53. [2v]

Year 54.

Year 55.

Year 56.

Year 57.

Year 58.

Year 59.

Year 60.

Year 61.

Year 62. Here James, the brother of our Lord, suffered martyrdom. Year 63.

Year 64.

Year 65.

Year 66.

Year 67.

Year 68.

Year 69. Here Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom. Year 70. Here Vespasian²⁰ came to power.

Year 71. Here Titus, the son of Vespasian, slaughtered one hundred and eleven thousand Jews in Jerusalem.

Year 72.

Year 73.

Year 74.

Year 75.

Year 76.

Year 77.

Year 78.

Year 79.

Year 80.

Year 81. Here Titus,²¹ who said that he counted as a loss the day on which he did nothing good, came to power.

Year 82.

Year 83.

Year 84. Here Domitian,²² the brother of Titus, came to power. Year 85.

Year 86.

Year 87. Here John the Evangelist wrote the book called the Apocalypse on the island of Patmos.

Year 88.

Year 89.

Year 90.

Year 91.

Year 92.

Year 93.

Year 94.

Year 95.

Year 96.

Year 97. [3r]

Year 98.

Year 99.

Year 100. Here the apostle Simon was hanged; and John the Evangelist died in Ephesus.

Year 101. Here Pope Clement²³ died. Year 102.

Year 103.

Year 104.

Year 105.

Year 106.

Year 107.

Year 108.

Year 109.

Year 110. Here Bishop Ignatius suffered martyrdom. Year 111.

Year 112.

Year 113.

Year 114. Here Alexander²⁴ decreed that water be blessed. Year 115.

Year 116.

Year 117.

Year 118.

Year 119.

Year 120.

Year 121.

Year 122.

Year 123.

Year 124. Here Pope Sixtus²⁵ decreed that the hymn 'Holy, Holy, Holy' be sung in the office of the Mass.

Year 125.

Year 126.

Year 127.

Year 128.

Year 129.

Year 130.

Year 131.

Year 132.

Year 133.

Year 134 Pope Telesphorus²⁶ decreed that the angelic hymn 'Glory to God in the Highest' be sung on feast days.

Year 135.

Year 136.

Year 137.

Year 138.

Year 139.

Year 140.

Year 141.

Year 142.

Year 143.

Year 144. [3v]

Year 145.

Year 146.

Year 147.

Year 148.

Year 149.

Year 150.

Year 151.

Year 152.

Year 153.

Year 154.

Year 155. Here Mark²⁷ Antony and his brother Aurelius took control of the empire. Year 156.

Year 157.

Year 158.

Year 159.

Year 160.

Year 161.

Year 162.

Year 163.

Year 164.

Year 165.

Year 166.

Year 167. Here Eleutherius received the episcopal see in Rome and he held it worthily for fifteen years. Lucius king of the British sent men to him asking for baptism and he immediately sent it to him; and thereafter he lived in the true faith until Diocletian²⁸ came to power.

Year 168.

Year 169.

Year 170.

Year 171.

Year 172.

Year 173.

Year 174.

Year 175.

Year 176.

Year 177.

Year 178.

Year 179.

Year 180.

Year 181.

Year 182.

Year 183.

Year 184.

Year 185.

Year 186.

Year 187.

Year 188.

Year 189. Here Severus²⁹ came to power, and he went to Britain with an invading force and he conquered a great portion of that island in battle. Then [4r] he built a wall³⁰ from sea to sea out of turf with a palisade on top of it as protection against the British. He ruled for seventeen years and then died at York. His son Bassianus³¹ then came to power. His second son, who was called Geta, perished.

Year 190.

Year 191.

Year 192.

Year 193.

Year 194.

Year 195.

Year 196.

Year 197.

Year 198.

Year 199.

Year 200.

Year 201.

Year 202. Here Pope Victor,³² like his predecessor Eleutherius, decreed that Easter be celebrated on Sunday.

Year 203.

Year 204.

Year 205.

Year 206.

Year 207.

Year 208.

Year 209.

Year 210.

Year 211.

Year 212.

Year 213.

Year 214.

Year 215.

Year 216.

Year 217.

Year 218.

Year 219.

Year 220.

Year 221.

Year 222.

Year 223.

Year 224.

Year 225.

Year 226.

Year 227.

Year 228.

Year 229.

Year 230.

Year 231.

Year 232.

Year 233.

Year 234.

Year 235.

Year 236.

Year 237. [4v]

Year 238.

Year 239.

Year 240.

Year 241.

Year 242.

Year 243.

Year 244.

Year 245.

Year 246.

Year 247.

Year 248.

Year 249.

Year 250.

Year 251.

Year 252.

Year 253.

Year 254. Here Pope Cornelius³³ removed the bodies of the apostles from the catacombs during the night; he placed that of Paul on the Via Ostia, where he had been beheaded, and Peter's near the place where he had been crucified.

Year 255.

Year 256.

Year 257.

Year 258.

Year 259.

Year 260.

Year 261.

Year 262.

Year 263.

Year 264.

Year 265.

Year 266.

Year 267.

Year 268.

Year 269.

Year 270.

Year 271.

Year 272.

Year 273.

Year 274.

Year 275.

Year 276.

Year 277.

Year 278.

Year 279.

Year 280.

Year 281.

Year 282.

Year 283.

Year 284.

Year 285.

Year 286. Here St Alban³⁴ suffered martyrdom. Year 287.

Year 288.

Year 289.

Year 290. [5r]

Year 291.

Year 292.

Year 293.

Year 294.

Year 295.

Year 296.

Year 297.

Year 298.

Year 299.

Year 300.

Year 301.

Year 302.

Year 303.

Year 304.

Year 305.

Year 306.

Year 307.

Year 308.

Year 309.

Year 310.

Year 311. St Silvester³⁵ was the twenty-third pope; during his reign the Council of Nicaea³⁶ was held and also the first at Arles, which was attended by Avitianus archbishop of Rouen.

Year 312.

Year 313.

Year 314.

Year 315.

Year 316.

Year 317.

Year 318.

Year 319.

Year 320.

Year 321.

Year 322.

Year 323.

Year 324.

Year 325.

Year 326.

Year 327.

Year 328.

Year 329.

Year 330.

Year 331.

Year 332.

Year 333.

Year 334.

Year 335.

Year 336.

Year 337.

Year 338.

Year 339.

Year 340.

Year 341.

Year 342.

Year 343.

Year 344.

Year 345. [5v]

Year 346.

Year 347.

Year 348.

Year 349.

Year 350.

Year 351.

Year 352.

Year 353.

Year 354.

Year 355.

Year 356.

Year 357.

Year 358.

Year 359.

Year 360.

Year 361.

Year 362.

Year 363.

Year 364.

Year 365.

Year 366.

Year 367.

Year 368.

Year 369.

Year 370.

Year 371.

Year 372.

Year 373.

Year 374.

Year 375.

Year 376.

Year 377.

Year 378.

Year 379. Here Gratian ³⁷ came to power.

Year 379b.³⁸ At this time the Council of Constantinople³⁹ attended by one hundred and fifty-nine Fathers was held under Damasus⁴⁰ against Macedonius and Eunomius.

Year 380. Here Maximus⁴¹ came to power. He was born in the land of Britain and went from there to live among the Gallic people. And there he killed the emperor Gratian and drove his brother, who was called Valentinian, from that land. And afterwards that Valentinian gathered together a troop and killed Maximus and he seized control of the empire. And in those times the Pelagian⁴² heresy established itself throughout the world.

Year 381.

Year 382.

Year 383.

Year 384.

Year 385.

Year 386. [6r]

Year 387.

Year 388.

Year 389.

Year 390.

Year 391.

Year 392.

Year 393.

Year 394.

Year 395.

Year 396.

Year 397.

Year 398.

Year 399.

Year 400.

Year 401.

Year 402.

Year 403. Here Pope Innocent⁴³ sent a letter of decree to Vitricius archbishop of Rouen. And here it was established that Saturday should be a day of fasting because on that day the Lord lay in the sepulchre.

Year 404.

Year 405.

Year 406.

Year 407.

Year 408.

Year 409. Here the fortress of Rome was destroyed by the Goths,⁴⁴ about eleven hundred and ten years after it had been built.⁴⁵ And afterwards beyond that point the Roman kings no longer ruled in Britain. In total they had ruled for four hundred and seventy years since Gaius Julius had first sought out that land.⁴⁶

Year 410.

Year 411.

Year 412.

Year 413.

Year 414.

Year 415.

Year 416.

Year 417.

Year 418. Here the Romans gathered together all the gold-hoards that were in Britain and they hid some in the earth so that no one afterwards might find it,⁴⁷ and they took some with them to Gaul.

Year 419.

Year 420.

Year 421.

Year 422. [6v]

Year 423. Here Theodosius the Younger came to power.⁴⁸ Year 424.

Year 425. At this time the beginnings of the kings of the Franks were established, and the first of these was Faramund.⁴⁹

Year 426.

Year 427.

Year 428.

Year 429.

Year 430. Here Patrick was sent by Pope Celestine⁵⁰ to preach baptism to the Irish.

Year 431. At this time the Devil appeared to the Jews in Crete in the form of Moses and promised to lead them dry-shod across the sea into the Promised Land;⁵¹ and thus after many were killed the rest were converted to the grace of Christ.

Year 432.

Year 433. Celestine was pope; and in his time a synod of two hundred bishops was gathered at Ephesus;⁵² there the Bishop Cyril of Alexandria was in charge of proceedings against Nestorius bishop of Constantinople.

Year 434.

Year 435.

Year 436.

Year 437.

Year 438.

Year 439. Leo⁵³ was pope – he blessed the Synod of Chalcedon. Year 440.

Year 441.

Year 442.

Year 443. Here the inhabitants of Britain sent over the sea to Rome and asked them for help against the Picts, but they got no help there because they were at war with Attila king of the Huns. And then they sent to the continental Angles and asked the same thing of the athelings⁵⁴ of the Angle race.

Year 444.

Year 445.

Year 446.

Year 447. [7r]

Year 448.

Year 449. At this time the Council of Calcedon,⁵⁵ attended by six hundred and thirty bishops, was convened against Abbot Eutyches⁵⁶ and Dioscorus.

Here Martianus and Valentinian⁵⁷ came to power and ruled for seven years. And in their day Vortigern invited the Angle race to come here, and they came hither to Britain in three ships to the place called Ebbsfleet.⁵⁸ Vortigern⁵⁹ the king gave them land in the southeast of this land on the understanding that they should fight against the Picts. Then they fought against the Picts and had victory wherever they went.

Afterwards they sent to Angeln, ordering them to send more help; they ordered the messengers to tell them of the worthlessness of the British⁶⁰ and the excellence of the land. They immediately sent a larger force here to reinforce the first. Those men came from three tribes of Germany: from the Old Saxons, from the Angles, and from the Jutes. The people of Kent and of the Isle of Wight come from the Jutes – that is, the tribe that now lives on Wight – and that race in Wessex that is still called the 'Jutish people.' From the Old Saxons came the East Saxons, the South Saxons, and the West Saxons. From Angeln, which has ever afterwards stood waste between the Jutes and the continental Old Saxons, came the East Angles, the Middle Angles, the Mercians and all the Northumbrians. Their chieftains were two brothers, Hengest and Horsa⁶¹ – these were the sons of Wihtgils. Wihtgils was the son of Witta, Witta the son of Wecta, Wecta the son of Woden; from that Woden sprang all our royal race and also that of the Southumbrians.⁶²

Year 450.

Year 451.

Year 452.

Year 453.

Year 454.

Year 455. Here Hengest and Horsa fought against King Vortigern [7v] in the place which is called Aylesford, and his brother Horsa was slain. And afterwards Hengest took control of the kingdom with his son Æsc.

Year 456. Here Hengest and Æsc fought against the British in the place that is called Crayford⁶³ and there they slaughtered four troops of men. The British abandoned the land of Kent and in great terror fled to the fortification at London.

Year 457.

Year 458.

Year 459.

Year 460.

Year 461.

Year 462.

Year 463.

Year 464.

Year 465. Here Hengest and Æsc fought against the Welsh-British at Wipped's Creek and there they killed twelve Welsh chieftains⁶⁴ and one of their thegns whose name was Wipped.

Year 466.

Year 467.

Year 468.

Year 469.

Year 470.

Year 471.

Year 472.

Year 473. Here Hengest and Æsc fought against the Welsh-British and seized a countless amount of war-booty; and the Welsh being severely pressed fled the English.⁶⁵

Year 474.

Year 475.

Year 476.

Year 477. Here Ælle came to Britain in three ships with his three sons Cymen, Wlencing and Cissa at that place which is called Cymen's Shore;⁶⁶ and there they killed many Welshmen and drove others in flight into the wood that is called Anderitum.⁶⁷

Year 478.

Year 479.

Year 480. [8r]

Year 481.

Year 482.

Year 483.

Year 484.

Year 485. Here Ælle fought against the Welsh-British near the site of Mearcred's Burn.

Year 486.

Year 487.

Year 488. Here Æsc took control of the kingdom and was king for thirty-four years. Year 489.

Year 490. At that time blessed Mamertus bishop of Vienne instituted the solemn litanies of the Rogations.⁶⁸

Year 491. Here Ælle and Cissa besieged the fortress of Anderitum. They slaughtered everyone that dwelt there – there was not a single surviving Briton there.

Year 492.

Year 493.

Year 494.

Year 495. Here two chieftains Cerdic and his son Cynric came to Britain with five ships in the place that is called Cerdic's Shore; and on that same day they fought against the Welsh.

Year 496.

Year 497.

Year 498.

Year 499.

Year 500.

Year 501. Here Port came to Britain with his two sons, Bieda and Mægla, in two ships at the place that [8v] is known as Portsmouth, and they immediately seized some land and killed a young British man of very noble birth.

Year 502.

Year 503.

Year 504.

Year 505.

Year 506.

Year 507.

Year 508. Here Cerdic and Cynric slaughtered a certain British king whose name was Nazaleod, and with him five thousand men. And the land all the way to Charford was named Netley after him.

Year 509.

301

Year 510.

Year 511.

Year 512.

Year 513.

Year 514. Here the West Saxons came to Britain in three ships in the place that is known as Cerdic's Shore, and Stuf and Wihtgar fought against the British and put them to flight.

Year 515.

Year 516.

Year 517.

Year 518.

Year 519. Here Cerdic and Cynric came to power in the kingdom of the West Saxons.⁶⁹ And in the same year they fought against the British at a place now called Cerdic's Ford; and afterwards, from that day onwards, the royal offspring of the West Saxons ruled.

Year 520.

Year 521. [9r]

Year 522.

Year 523.

Year 524.

Year 525.

Year 526.

Year 527. Here Cerdic and Cynric fought against the British in the place that is called Cerdic's Ford.

Year 528. At this time Dionysius drew up the Easter Cycle in the city of Rome. Then too Priscian investigated the intricacies of grammar.

Year 529.

Year 530. Here Cerdic and Cynric seized control of Wight-land and they slaughtered many men in Wihtgar's Stronghold.⁷⁰

Year 531.

Year 532.

Year 533.

Year 534. Here Cerdic died, and his son Cynric ruled after him for twenty-six years; and they gave all Wight to their two nephews,⁷¹ Stuf and Wihtgar.

Year 535.

Year 536.

Year 537.

Year 538. Here on 16 February the sun was dark from very early morning until later in the morning.

Year 539.

Year 540. Here on 20 June, the sun was eclipsed and stars appeared for nearly half an hour after mid-morning.

Year 541.

Year 542.

Year 543. [9v]

Year 544. Here Wihtgar died and he was buried at Wihtgar's Stronghold. Year 545.

Year 546.

Year 547. Here Ida, from whom the royal family of the Northumbrians first sprang, came to power and ruled for twelve years. And he built Bamburgh, which was at first enclosed by a stockade but afterwards by a rampart.⁷²

Year 548.

Year 549.

Year 550.

Year 551.

Year 552. Here Cynric fought against the British in the place which is called Salisbury and he put the British to flight.

Year 553.

Year 554.

Year 555.

Year 556. Here Cynric and Ceawlin fought against the British at Barbury.⁷³ Year 557.

Year 558.

Year 559.

Year 560. Here Ceawlin seized control of the kingdom of the West Saxons, and Ælle took control of the Northumbrian kingdom after Ida died; and each of them ruled for thirty years.

Year 561.

Year 562.

Year 563.

Year 564.

Year 565. Here⁷⁴ Æthelberht came to power in the kingdom of Kent [10r] and he ruled for fifty-three years.⁷⁵ And during his lifetime, Gregory⁷⁶ sent baptism to us; and the mass-priest Columba went among the Picts, who dwell on the northern moors, and converted them to belief in Christ. And their king gave them the island that is called Hy, where men say there are five hides. That Columba built a monastery there, where he was abbot for thirty-two years; and he died there when he was seventy-seven years old. His successors are still in possession of that place. The South Picts were baptized much earlier – Ninian the bishop, who had been instructed in Rome, preached baptism to them; his church and monastery, where he lies at rest with many holy men, is at Whithorn and is consecrated in the name of St Martin. Now there must always be an abbot, not a bishop, at Hy and all the bishops of the Scots must be subservient to him, because Columba was an abbot and not a bishop.

Year 566.

Year 567.

Year 568. Here Ceawlin and Cutha fought against Æthelberht and put him to flight into Kent; and they slaughtered two aldermen, Oslac and Cnebba on Wibba's Hill.

Year 569.

Year 570.

Year 571. Here Cutha fought against the British at Biedcanford and seized four villages – Limbury and Aylesbury and Benson and Eynsham; and in the same year he died – he was the brother of Ceawlin.

Year 572.

Year 573.

Year 574.

Year 575.

Year 576. [10v]

Year 577. Here Cuthwine and Ceawlin fought against the British, and they killed three kings – Coinmagil and Candidan and Farinmagil – in the place which is called Dyrham;⁷⁷ and they captured three cities – Gloucester and Cirencester and Bath.

Year 578.

Year 579.

Year 580.

Year 581.

Year 582.

Year 583. Here Maricius took control of the Roman Empire.⁷⁸

Year 584. Here Ceawlin and Cutha fought against the British in the place which is called Fethanlea, and Cutha was slain; and Ceawlin seized many villages and a countless amount of war-booty.

Year 585.

Year 586.

Year 587.

Year 588. Here King Ælle died, and after him Æthelric ruled for five years. Year 589.

Year 590.

Year 591. Here Ceol ruled for six years.

At this time Pope Gregory added into the recitation of the Canon of the Mass, 'May you order our days in your peace.'

Year 592. Here Gregory succeeded to the papacy in Rome. And there was great slaughter this year in Britain at Woden's Barrow, and Ceawlin was driven out.

Year 593. Here Ceawlin and Cwichelm and Crida perished. And Æthelfrith came to power in Northumbria; [11r] he was the son of Æthelric, Æthelric the son of Ida.

Year 594.

Year 595.

Year 596. At this time the monastery of St Benedict was destroyed by the Lombards.

Here Pope Gregory sent Augustine to Britain with a large number of monks; they preached the word of God to the English people.

Year 597. Here Ceolwulf began to rule in Wessex, and he continually fought and struggled against the Angle race or the Welsh or the Picts or the Scots.⁷⁹

Year 598.

Year 599.

Year 600.

Year 601. Here Pope Gregory sent the pallium⁸⁰ to Archbishop Augustine in Britain, and also many spiritual instructors to assist him; and Bishop Paulinus directed King Edwin of Northumbria towards baptism.

Year 602.

Year 603. Here Aedán king of Dál Riada fought with Dæl Reoda⁸¹ and against Æthelfrith king of the Northumbrians at Dægsanstan, and a great part of Aedán's army was slain. Theobald, Æthelfrith's brother, was slain with his whole army. Thereafter, no king of the Scots dared to lead a raiding-army against this nation. Hering the son of Hussa led the raiding-army there.

Year 604. Here Augustine consecrated two bishops, Mellitus and Justus. He sent Mellitus to preach baptism to the East Saxons, where the king, whom Æthelberht had installed there, was called Sæberht, the son of Ricola, Æthelberht's sister. And Æthelberht gave Mellitus the episcopal see of London; [11v] and to Justus he gave Rochester, which is twenty-four miles from Canterbury.

Year 605. Here Pope Gregory died. And here also Æthelfrith led his army to Chester and there he slaughtered a countless number of Welsh; and so the prophecy of Augustine was fulfilled when he said, 'If the Welsh do not wish for peace with us, they shall perish at the hands of the Saxons.' Two hundred priests who had come there that they might pray for the Welsh raiding-army were also slain there; their leader was called Brocmail; he was among fifty who escaped from there.

Year 606.

Year 607. Here Ceolwulf fought against the South Saxons. Year 608.

Year 609.

Year 610.

Year 611. Here Cynegils came to power in Wessex and he ruled for thirty-one years.⁸² Year 612.

Year 613.

Year 614. Here Cynegils and Cwichelm fought on Bean's Hill, and they slaughtered two thousand and sixty-five Welsh.

Year 615.

Year 616. Here Æthelberht king of the Kentish people died; he had ruled for fifty-six years; and after him his son Eadbald succeeded to the kingdom. He forsook his baptism and lived following heathen customs insofar as he took his father's widow for his wife. Laurence, who was archbishop in Kent, decided to go south over the sea and to give up everything. But in the night the apostle Peter scourged him terribly because he wished to forsake God's flock in this manner; and he ordered him to go to the king and to preach the true faith to him. And this he did, and the [12r] king was converted and baptized. And during the reign of this king, Archbishop Laurence, who was in Kent after Augustine, died and he was buried next to Augustine on 2 February.

Afterwards, Mellitus, who was formerly bishop of London, was appointed to the office of archbishop. At that time the inhabitants of London, where Mellitus had earlier been, were heathen. And about five years after this, while Eadbald was still ruling, Mellitus went to Christ. Then Justus was appointed to the office of archbishop, and he consecrated Romanus to Rochester, where he himself had earlier been bishop.

Year 617. Here Æthelfrith king of the Northumbrians was slain by Rædwald king of the East Angles; and Edwin, the son of Ælle, took control of the kingdom; and he conquered the whole of Britain, except for the people of Kent, and he drove out the athelings,⁸³ the sons of Æthelfrith – the first was Eanfrith, and then Oswald and Oswy, Oslac, Oswudu, Oslaf and Offa.

Year 618.

Year 619.

Year 620.

Year 621.

Year 622.

Year 623.

Year 624. Here Archbishop Mellitus died.

Year 625. Here Archbishop Justus consecrated Paulinus bishop on 21 July.

At this time the Cycle of Dionysius,⁸⁴ consisting of five nineteens – that is, ninety-five years – was adopted. And it has its beginning in the year of our Lord 30 and ends in the year 626. This nineteen-year cycle, which the Greeks call enneakaidekaeterida,⁸⁵ in which the fourteenth day of the Paschal moon was fixed for every year without any uncertainty, was instituted by the Holy Fathers at the Council of Nicaea. [12v]

Year 626. Here Eomer came from Cwichelm king of the West Saxons; he intended to stab King Edwin, but he stabbed his thegn Lilla and Forthhere, and he wounded the king. And on the same night a daughter was born to Edwin, and she was called Eanflæd. Then the king promised Paulinus that he would give his daughter to God, if Paulinus would ask God in his prayers that he might destroy his enemy who had earlier sent the assassin there. And then he went against the West Saxons with his army, and there he laid low five kings and slaughtered a great number of that people. And Paulinus baptized his daughter and eleven others at Pentecost; and within twelve months the king and all his nobles were baptized at Easter – that Easter was on 12 April. This happened at York, where earlier he had ordered a church to be built of wood – it was consecrated in the name of St Peter. There the king gave Paulinus a bishopric, and afterwards he ordered a larger church of stone to be built there. And here Penda took control of the kingdom and ruled for thirty years.

Year 627. Here King Edwin was baptized by Paulinus; and this Paulinus also preached baptism in Lindsey, where a certain man called Blecca first accepted the faith with all his senior followers. And at that time Honorius,⁸⁶ who had sent the pallium here to Paulinus, was elected to the papacy after Boniface.⁸⁷ And Archbishop Justus died on 10 November and Honorius was consecrated by Paulinus in Lincoln, and the pope also sent a pallium to Honorius. And he sent a written command to the Scots that they were to follow the