FOOTNOTES

“A.D.742. Now was a great synod gathered at Cloueshou, and there was Æthelbald, King of the Mercians, and Cutbert, Archbishop, and many other wise men.”

But something more is to be said concerning this passage itself of the Chronicle. It appears to be only contained in one manuscript; consequently in the five-column edition, this year is only filled in in the fifth column; the other four being blank. Sir T. D. Hardy says of this solitary manuscript, that it is “apparently of the twelfth century;” and that it contains “various peculiar additions, chiefly relating to Kentish ecclesiastical affairs.”[92]Professor Earle also says of it:“There is no external tradition informing us as to what home it belonged, but the internal evidence assigns it to Christ Church, Canterbury.”[93]This is much more to our purpose than if it had been in all the manuscripts: for if it had been a part of the usual and received text of the Chronicle, it would have here been a mere retranscription, for ages, with an indefinite locality. As it is, standing only in a Chronicle of Canterbury; it had evidently claimed the special attention of the Annalist, from its direct local Kentish interest; and especially its concern with a piece of land, which, we have seen, was owned by the Cathedral Church to which the writer belonged. What has been already said about the “Dr. Hethe” note[94]applies with still greater force to this; which is indeed the same Canterbury tradition; only that it is in hand-writing of four hundred years earlier date.

But “Hoo-St.-Werburgh” is a parish adjoining to Cliffe; and our argument is, that when, as recorded in the Canterbury copy of the Chronicle,A.D.742, there was a synod at Cloueshou, and that “Æthelbald was there;” he founded and dedicated this church, as we have found him to have done elsewhere. Added to this, we have seen reason, and shall presently see more, that the neighbouring church of Cliffe itself was founded by his great successor Offa,A.D.774. It has been said, and with great likelihood, that Cliffe and Hoo-St.-Werburgh were the two most ancient churches in the Hoo; and that they are the mother churches of the five or six others in the peninsula, that have sprung up at some later times; their segregated portions, which, in due course, have consolidated into separate parishes.

As before said, the church at Cliffe-at-Hoo itself, has the dedication of St. Helen; and it is believed that, by a similar foretaste of chivalry, to that of Æthelbald’s for St. Werburgh; Offa habitually planted his standard under the name of this other female saint. It is, therefore, no wonder that we find these two, close together, in that very district wherein, during two long reigns, Æthelbald and Offa are recorded as constantly performing acts of sovereignty. Of this there are many evidences, besides the councils about which we are engaged, in the accounts of theirdealings, in this district, and along the Medway, and throughout Kent, in the manner in which conquerors usually deal with newly-acquired land; as shewn in their numerous charters.

The reputed British-Roman nativity of St. Helen in Deira, appears to have given her name a prevalence in that province, with which the Anglian successors of the northern Britons were infected; like that of St. Alban, and the Kentish St. Martin, with his prolific eastern grafts.[95]And they accepted and improved the legacy. But the remains, of this acceptance, of a local aspect of religion, are the most conspicuous in Deira; and in Lindisse or Southumbria, a constituent of that kingdom. It did not extend to Bernicia. Of the known existing dedications of St. Helen, Durham contains only two, Northumberland one, Westmoreland and Cumberland none; and we learn from Bp. Forbes, that the name thinly re-appears beyond the border in Scottish Northumbria. But in Yorkshire we find twenty-two, and in Lincolnshire thirty; and these last, except two a little south of it, are all in Lindsey proper: Nottinghamshire also has ten. Lancashire has four or five. The tendency of Northumbrian hagiology to spread into Mercia proper, has been already mentioned; and a still pretty free, but reduced, scattering of St. Helens is found in that kingdom. Derbyshire has 5, Cheshire 3, Northants 6, Leicestershire 4, but Staffordshire none, Salop one—being near to [H]Elle[n]smere. Bedfordshire one at [H]El[len]stow. Herts one at Wheathampstead—near Offa’s St. Alban, and Essex (Colchester) one. The Wiccian counties, Warwick two, Worcester (city), and Gloucestershire (north) each one.

The above examples, of this dedication in England—about 96—have been recited, chiefly for the purpose of exhaustion. The residual seven or eight, still more scattered over the more southern counties, are what our lesson must be chiefly read from; that they are found in the footsteps of Offa, as marks of new possession; in a similar manner to the St. Werburghs in the tract of Æthelbald. No doubt each of the ninety six has its own story to tell, but it does not now concern us.

As we have already seen,[96]A.D.774, Offa granted the land at Higham in Hoo, which includes the site of the church and town of Cliffe, to Jaenberht, Archbishop of Canterbury; exceptionally surrounded by lands of the Bishop of Rochester. At the same time, there can be no doubt, he founded and dedicated the church, which still bears the name of St. Helen. Again, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,A.D.777, it is written, “Now Cynewulf”—of Wessex—“and Offa fought around Bensington, and Offa took that town.” The church at Bensington on the left—or Offa’s—shore of the Thames is also a St. Helen at this day. At Albury, also in Oxfordshire, about nine miles north of Bensington, on the smaller river Thame, the church is St. Helen. Also, on the Thames, at Abingdon, as is well known, there is a St. Helen. With regard, however, to this last, the local monastic tradition gives an earlier origin, founded on a miraculous discovery of a Holy Rood. This must stand, against our use of this example, for whatever the tradition may be worth. Perhaps a fourth “Sancta Helena” is recorded,[97]as the sanctuary of a fugitive who had stolen a bridle,A.D.995. The land, given in conciliation, must have been close to the chalk ridge south of the White Horse Vale, Berks; as, among the boundaries, is “Cwicelmes hlæw,” well known to be on this ridge; and the “grenanweg,” still called by the neighbours “the Green Way;” being a part of what is called “the Drover’s Road,” by which, until outdone by the rail, cattle from the west were driven, for many miles, turnpike free, and with peripatetic grazing. The St. Helen here referred to may, however, have been Abingdon itself.

At any rate, here are three, out of the few existing southern St. Helens, in the line of frontier then realised by Offa against Wessex. The same line of St. Helens, both eastward and westward, is also extended across the island, from the extreme north of Kent, as we have seen; by the well-known one in London; and another formerly at Malmsebury, and another at Bath. These last three—making six—also probably resulted from the same campaign of Offa as the Berkshire and Oxfordshire ones.

That at Bath, however, has a special claim to our attention; having been in that same suburb outside the north gate, where also was found the St. Werburgh, within the fork of the Foss-way and that now called Via Julia. Here then, as already in the Hoo of Kent, we once more find a St. Werburgh and a St. Helen in immediate companionship. The seal of Æthelbald endorsed by that of Offa, the inheritor of his policy.[98]But what is the significance of these emblems of Mercian territory, being both found outside the Roman walled town on the north side? Did this suburb become specially a Mercian quarter? The monastery, of which Offa was a reputed founder or re-founder about this very time, must have been a chief occupant of the area within the walls; and its possessions extended, in the opposite direction, beyond the river, on the Wessex side. We have already seen[99]signs of Æthelbald’s further south-west progress along the Foss-way as far as into East Devon.

Besides this line of St. Helens, along the frontier, which was the result of the campaign recorded in the Chronicle, underA.D.777; there are still three outlying southward, along the south coast: the extreme natural limit of the Saxon nations. Although not recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an earlier excursion of Offa is mentioned by others.A.D.771, Simeon of Durham[100]says “His diebus Offa, rex Merciorum, Hestingorum gentem armis subegerat.” Dr. Lappenberg, in relating this feat of Offa’s, calls “the Hestingas, a people whose locality, like that of so many others among the Saxons, is not known with certainty. They have been sought for about Hastings in Sussex, and most probably inhabited the district around that town to which they gave their name.”[101]Roger of Wendover, however, reads “Anglorum gentem.”[102]Upon this, Sir F. Palgrave had already noted:“It is not easy to ascertain what people are meant. The name has inclined many writers to suppose that they were the inhabitants of Hastings, but they could scarcely be of sufficient importance. Perhaps we should readEast Anglorum.”[103]Other recent historians, with or without hesitation, adopt the present town of Hastings as the scene of the conquest.

Here then we have another fully ripe historic doubt; so evenly balanced in the judgments of the most specifically learned, that after what has already been shewn, of the local coincidences of dedications of St. Helen with the feats of Offa; if the like should be found also to apply to the one here recorded, would be sufficient to give a considerable bias to the scale. And this is what we do find.

About a mile north of the town, which still bears a name that has since acquired other claims to places in history, Hastings; is a village called Ore; of which the church has another of our southern outlying dedications of St. Helen. If Offa’s conquest, as recorded by Simeon of Durham, refers to Sussex, it needs only to say so much, in order to account for this one; and to fulfil the promise of our theory; that the name of this saint and the written witnesses of Offa’s progress, shall be found to mutually confirm each other as evidence of his active presence. This village is situated on an elevation commanding the town itself; and on the southern edge of a ridge, along which, and close to the village, runs one of those great roads, of which the straight line is significant of a long, ancient, and arterial use. In fact it must have been always the almost sole approach to the town, whether from Kent or from the centre of England. Moreover, at whatever point of the neighbouring beach, at a later time, William landed; this road must have been his principal means of reaching Battle. Here, therefore, upon the door itself of the town, still remains the usual seal of Offa’s conquests. Sir Francis Palgrave’s objection, of the insufficient importance of the Gens Hestingorum, would not, it is thought, have been raised, if he had remembered that the large territory, called the “Rap de Hastings” of Domesday, and theRape of Hastings of our own time, most likely had already existed from the first settlement of the South Saxons. Two or three years later, Offa is still found busy in that part of Kent which adjoins this most eastern of the Rapes of Sussex.

But although the Hæstingas only are mentioned, as the people first encountered, there are other evidences that he extended his conquests westward throughout Sussex. One of his St. Helens remains on the foot of the South Downs, between the peninsulated stronghold called The Devil’s Dike and the sea; and, within actual eyeshot, is another, on the opposite eastern coast of the Isle of Wight. Moreover he has, as was his practice in many parts of England, also left his own name along the line, in Offham, near Lewes, Offington, near Worthing, Offham, close to Arundel Park.

There are also one or two St. Helens or Elens, both in Cornwall and Wales: which would be in accordance with what otherwise has been said above, but as several local Celtic saints have names liable to become more familiar by corruption into this one, they will not be here called into evidence.

For the series of synods of which the acts are dated from Cloveshoe did not cease with the reign of Æthelbald. These, interspersed with occasional dates of Cealchythe and Aclea, continued throughout the other long and dominant Mercian reign of his successor Offa. Indeed they continued as long as Mercia remained supreme, and far into the ninth century: the date of “Clofeshoe” being last met with for a synod under Beornuulf,A.D.825: about the time when both Kent and Essex are found to have been annexed by Wessex.

It may seem difficult to realise that what is a small detached region—almost practically an island—now containing only four or five villages or decayed towns; was, for about a century and a half, the seat of one of the royal residences, where a succession of powerful kings held so many of their courts to which were convened the magnates of their own and of subject kingdoms. The truth is, that political centrality is not coincident with geographical; and is only partially dependent upon natural aspect or condition. London is very far from a geographical centre; and,if we could bring into view its original natural aspect; London, with its marshes would be as incredible as the place here concerned. Its present greatness is the outgrowth of the later supremacy of Wessex; and London was as much an outpost of Saxony into Mercia, as the Hoo had been of Anglia into Centland.

Those who expect a confirmation of this regal occupation of the Hoo, from substantial remains there, may remember that a thousand years of desertion have passed over it. As Fuller said, when writing of this controversy about Cloveshoe, already warm in his day:[104]“Nor doth the modern Meanness of the Place make anything against it; it might be a Gallant in that Age, which is a Beggar now-a-dayes.” Geographical and natural conditions have much to do with the choice and permanence of the seats of governments; but political needs and fortunes often over-rule or reverse them. The rise of Wessex turned the preference to other centres; and the exposure of this peninsula to the ravages of the Danes, just then becoming active, is sufficient to have brought desolation upon it. The site of New York seems very much like this; but its growth was not prevented by such a constant peril as this last in its front, nor by the ascendancy of a rival power in its rear. It is political causes that have surrounded the circular mound at Windsor with the regal associations, which have forsaken that of Tamworth; and the same political causes have covered with houses and palaces, not only the elevated spot upon which London was first planted, but the many miles of swamp that encompassed it. When cities, or settlements upon elevations, take to growing great, they no longer despise the alluvial levels which skirt them; but cover even these with buildings. This is the case with London itself, where even the supreme Aula Regia of the Saxon empire, that has inherited the “England” of Æthelbald and Offa; stands upon a similar alluvial appendage of the higher ground of the original settlement; to that which, projecting from the chalky heights of the Hoo, has been declared to be inconsistent with its history.

Again, are there preserved, anywhere at all, any fragments whatever, of masonry of the time of Æthelbald and Offa, evenunder the most favourable circumstances? We have seen that many churches were founded in that age, that have continued in vital existence to this day. In these, if anywhere, remains of the first structures might have been found. Instead of this, the few præ-Norman relics that do exist can scarcely be said to approach that date; and when, later, they do crop up; they seem to bring with them an indication, why they are the earliest. They are found in places where stone is as plenty and as easily hewn as wood; and they appear to be worked and constructed by hands and heads that had been accustomed to work and construct in wood; and often with adze-like tool marks. The angry question whether the word “timber” was, by birth, a verb or a noun—a question of which some of the most eminent Anglo-Saxon scholars seem, on waking, to have found themselves on the wrong side—shall not here be roused; but the absence of earlier remains may be accounted for, by taking for granted, wood to have been, at the earlier time, the material mostly used. What then can we expect to find in a tract of land, ever since abandoned to its ordinary rural and pastoral condition? The cartular evidence of the importance of this small territory, during the time in question, is most abundant; and the many traces of antiquity, in the names of now inconsiderable spots, has been already referred to.

As the inferences, from the surviving examples of these dedications, and their topographical distribution, may have assumed the tone of exact or statistical inductions; it is but right that they should be qualified by an admission that, from that point of view, they are subject to some elements of discount. It has been already admitted that more extinct St. Werburghs may come to light; and of course it is impossible to foresee to what extent the inferences may be thereby disturbed; although it is not expected that they can be substantially over-balanced. Indeed, there are not wanting other spots which have names with a suspicious possibility of being corruptions of the name of Werburgh, similar to those that we have seen, where they are confirmed by the actual survival of the dedication itself; as in the cases of Warburton and Warbstow. Of these are two eminences, the situations ofwhich are strikingly similar to that at Wembury, as if chosen by the same eye. They are close to the sea shore, but in other parts of the south coast. These are a hill, called “Warberrys,” close to Torquay; and another called “Warbarrow,” in the isle of Purbeck. But neither of these have traces of the dedication, and both names are quite likely to have had other causes; nor can the places be directly connected with any known record of Æthelbald. Therefore they shall not be enlisted into the present enquiry. There is also a Wareberrewe near Wallingford, with the present dedication of S. Laurence.

The indications, that have been above induced, however, from the occurrences of the dedications of St. Werburgh in south England, as well as those of St. Cuthbert in Wessex, are very distinct and definite as guide-posts in historical topography; being strictly national or dynastic. But St. Helen, as compared with them, has the great disadvantage of being catholic and illustrious; and the possibility, of course, exists, for a catholic dedication to have had sometimes other causes besides that here attributed—the personal veneration of a conqueror. It is, however, thought that the comparative numbers in the different provinces, that have been offered, may help any judgment upon this point. One cause of aberration, in the case of the St. Helens may be, that some examples may have been “St. Helen and Holy Rood;” and, as often happens to a joint dedication, one half may have been worn off by grinding time: sometimes the first, sometimes the last; so that some of what are now only known as Holy Rood, or Holy Cross, may have been originally St. Helens. On the other hand, the dedication of Holy Rood may, in some cases, have been independently attached to churches, that have arisen where there had already been a cross of a martyr, which had brought a great resort to a spot of reputed eminent sanctity.[105]Or, as in the legendof Abingdon, where a cross, or a piece of the True Cross has been said to have been miraculously found: or a wonder-working Crucifix, as at Waltham Abbey. The local distribution of Holy Roods does not shew any estimable counter-balance of that of the St. Helens; and the Holy Roods themselves are believed to have had a tendency to pass into St. Saviour, or Christchurch.

One very general agent in the obliteration of those dedications that are national, or otherwise capable of rendering historical indications, has been particularly active in the English part of this island. This is the tendency to depose them, in favour of the greater saints, who are recognized and honoured throughout Christendom. This, as might have been expected, is more particularly the case of St. Mary. It is likely that many of the churches with this dedication are amplifications of sanctuaries of the more ancient and national kind. So strong was this tendency that, where it did not drown out the original tutelar name of a church; it must at least be satisfied by the addition of a “Lady Chapel.” Such a process of change may often be seen actually at work. The fine large church at Marden, Herefordshire, is said, both by Leland and Browne Willis, to have the dedication of St. Ethelbert; and so no doubt it has: but the present officers of the church, if asked, pronounce it to be of St. Mary. A glance at the building accounts for this. Within the church, at, perhaps, about twenty feet from the western wall, is preserved an uncommon relique, the well of St. Ethelbert; murdered by Offa, about a mile off, but whose shrine was at Marden, until translated to Hereford Cathedral. There can be no doubt that the well occupied the focus of the original small sanctuary that was first raised over the reliques of the martyr; and which was on the brink of the river, that flows near the western front of the church, and so prevented enlargement in that direction. The large increase of the church eastward, in accordance with the practice of the later age, having been devoted to the name of St. Mary. Another similar case, ofMiddleham in Richmondshire, has been kindly brought to notice by Mr. W. H. D. Longstaffe. The original dedication is St. Alkelda, whose martyrdom, being strangled by two female servants, is represented on glass. Her traditional altar-tomb, is westward of the chancel arch of the collegiate choir of St. Mary, founded by King Richard III. The only other traces of St. Alkelda is a church in her name at Giggleswick, some miles westward.

That sort of conviction, which arises from a gradual accumulation of facts, upon what had at first started as a suspicion or a guess; cannot be so vividly imparted to a reader. But even if what has been said above should have been successful; it will be very far from having exhausted the materials of this kind of enquiry: will only have served, by one or two examples, to shew the value of a neglected class of monuments, which, it is thought, have not yet been made to yield up their teaching. At the best, what has here been done, can be no more than the exposure of two or three fragments of a vast ruin, co-extensive with the land; of which the plan should be restored by a comparative registration or cartography of the whole. In the Celtic portions of these islands, the dedications of the churches retain much of their original or primitive topical distribution; shewing, as they have sometimes already been made to do, the maternity of missionary centres to offshoot churches. In the Teutonized portions of England, it is likely that they have another and greater lesson. They are here, in addition, believed to be able to shew, to a certain extent, what may be called an ethnical stratification; which, if carefully observed, would often mark out the extension of revolutions or conquests: more especially in those early times, of which written history is scanty or altogether wanting.

[1]Cod. Dip.CXLIII.

[2]Dr. Lappenburg (I. 38) describes the people of Warwickshire and Worcestershire as the “Gewissi.” But the “Gevissæ” was the ancient name of the southern main stem of the West Saxons, who made their way into Somerset and Devon (Bæda. H. E. III. 7), and plainly a name of distinction from the Huiccii. All the pre-Christian pedigrees of the West Saxon leaders have an early name “Gewis,” which has been, with great likelihood, supposed to have been the origin of the name of the Gevissæ. In some only of the pedigrees, this name is next preceded by “Wig.” This seems to point to a division of the leadership between two kinsmen, perhaps brothers; and the Wiccii or Wigornians to be derived from the latter.

[3]A.S. Chron., “Feathan leag”—Welsh Chronicles, “Ffery llwg.”

[4]Dr. Guest in Archæological Journal, vol. xix., p. 197.

[5]Thesaurus, I. 169.

[6]Dr. Guest and Mr. Freeman, and their followers, as the Saturday Review, and the various school histories, which, having adopted the innovation, are lauded in that journal.

[7]Prof. W. W. Skeat, Macmillan, Feb. 1879, p. 313.

[8]See “A Primæval British Metropolis,” Bristol, 1877, pp. 45-80.

[9]One of the obsolete ones was brought to mind by a paper read by Mr. C. E. Davis, at Bath, in 1857: another is printed from the Register of Worcester Cathedral in Thomas’s Survey, kindly pointed out by Mr. John Taylor; so that others, unreckoned, may possibly be brought to light.There is one, in addition to all those above mentioned, at Dublin; but, as the dedications in Strongbow’s Dublin are no more than a post-Norman colonisation of those at Bristol, it does not enter into our reckoning.

There is one, in addition to all those above mentioned, at Dublin; but, as the dedications in Strongbow’s Dublin are no more than a post-Norman colonisation of those at Bristol, it does not enter into our reckoning.

[10]The genealogical relation of St. Werburgh and Æthelbald will be seen in this extract from Dr. Lappenberg’s Pedigree of the Kings of Mercia:Wybba.|+--------+--------------------------------+| |Penda, last Pagan King of Eawa, diedA.D.642.Mercia, reignedA.D.626-655. (Called “Rex Merciorum.”?)| |+--------------+------------+ +-------+-----+| | | | |Peada, K. of M. | Æthelred, K. of Alweo. Osmod.A.D.655-656. | M.A.D.675-704, | || diedA.D.715. | || | | Eanwulf.Wulfhere, K. of M. | | |A.D.656-675. | | || | | Thingferth.+---------------+----+ | | || | | | | |Cenred, K. of M. | Beorhtwald, | | |A.D.704-709. | Sub-King of | | || WicciaA.D.| | || 636. | |Offa,| Coelred, K.Æthelbald, K. of M.St.Werburgh, of M.,A.D.K. of M.A.D.757-798.died about 709-716.A.D.716-757A.D.700.

[10]The genealogical relation of St. Werburgh and Æthelbald will be seen in this extract from Dr. Lappenberg’s Pedigree of the Kings of Mercia:

Wybba.|+--------+--------------------------------+| |Penda, last Pagan King of Eawa, diedA.D.642.Mercia, reignedA.D.626-655. (Called “Rex Merciorum.”?)| |+--------------+------------+ +-------+-----+| | | | |Peada, K. of M. | Æthelred, K. of Alweo. Osmod.A.D.655-656. | M.A.D.675-704, | || diedA.D.715. | || | | Eanwulf.Wulfhere, K. of M. | | |A.D.656-675. | | || | | Thingferth.+---------------+----+ | | || | | | | |Cenred, K. of M. | Beorhtwald, | | |A.D.704-709. | Sub-King of | | || WicciaA.D.| | || 636. | |Offa,| Coelred, K.Æthelbald, K. of M.St.Werburgh, of M.,A.D.K. of M.A.D.757-798.died about 709-716.A.D.716-757A.D.700.

[11]The birth, in the West of England, of this assiduous propagator of the great mediæval embodiment of civilisation, zealous devotee of the Church, and prominent European statesman, is so important a fact in our ethnical topography as to deserve a passing, though attentive, glance. On the authority of those who personally knew him, he was born near Exeter, about the year 680; but, although no Saxon Conquest had yet extended so far westward, he bore a Saxon name, although in the midst of a Celtic people. From this, and from other circumstances also mentioned of his early life, it may be inferred that his father was a peaceful Saxon colonist, in advance of conquest, and still a pagan; and that his mother was a British Christian. He is, therefore, the earliest recorded example of that irrepressible compound of the two races that has since made so many deep and broad marks upon the outer world. This fact, of a pacific international intercourse antecedent to conquest, was so directly in conflict with evolved history, that it has provoked an ineffectual attempt to subvert the testimony of it, by questioning the undoubted reading of the name as being that of Exeter. (E. A. Freeman, Esq., in Archæol. Journal, vol. xxx., or Macmillan M., Sep. 1873, p. 474).Another, but later, testimony gives us the name of the place near Exeter where he was born: Crediton, in a deep and most fertile valley of that middle district in Devon which is the interval between the highlands of Dartmoor and Exmoor, but rather to the south-west of that district. Here there is reason to believe Christianity had already been established at a much earlier time, by Croyde, or Creed, an Irish missionary virgin, who has left her name at other places throughout both Devon and Cornwall. The incredulity, that Crediton was the birthplace of S. Bonifatius, was vindicated by saying that it has “noancientauthority whatever.” It has not contemporary authority like that for “near Exeter,” which, however, it strongly confirms, and which, for English topography of so early a date, is almost unique in its explicitness, but it has an authority as ancient as we are obliged to be content with for nearly all we know of those times, and far more respectable than most of it. The authority is a church-service book, still preserved in Exeter Cathedral, compiled by Bp. Grandisson (diedA.D.1366), and attested by his autograph. If this had been a mere outdoor tradition, and had rested upon no more than the personal authority of this most distinguished man, it would even then have been the very highest evidence of its kind. But it does no such thing. Bp. Grandisson is not theauthorof the book any more than St. Osmund is the author of the Usages of Sarum. He is the codifier of the immemorial observances of the church, at which the contemporary biographer of St. Boniface attests that he received his earliest teaching; and of the very existence of which church their irreproachable attestation is by a long interval the earliest record.But there is another evidence that this great man of his age was known, to his compatriots in his own province, as one of themselves. Of this they have left a substantial monument in the dedications of two churches still remaining in Devon, not in his ecclesiastical name, by which the rest of the world knew him, but in his birth-name of “Winfrid” by which they had remembered him. The two more distant extant dedications of Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, and Banbury, Cheshire, on the contrary, in their dedications of “St. Boniface” are mere reflections of his realised continental greatness back upon his own island.Winfrith, near Lulworth, in Dorset, probably had a third western example of the dedication, for although the present church is of Norman structure, and with a different dedication (St. Christopher), most likely, as in many other cases, an earlier sanctuary existed in Winfrid’s name.

Another, but later, testimony gives us the name of the place near Exeter where he was born: Crediton, in a deep and most fertile valley of that middle district in Devon which is the interval between the highlands of Dartmoor and Exmoor, but rather to the south-west of that district. Here there is reason to believe Christianity had already been established at a much earlier time, by Croyde, or Creed, an Irish missionary virgin, who has left her name at other places throughout both Devon and Cornwall. The incredulity, that Crediton was the birthplace of S. Bonifatius, was vindicated by saying that it has “noancientauthority whatever.” It has not contemporary authority like that for “near Exeter,” which, however, it strongly confirms, and which, for English topography of so early a date, is almost unique in its explicitness, but it has an authority as ancient as we are obliged to be content with for nearly all we know of those times, and far more respectable than most of it. The authority is a church-service book, still preserved in Exeter Cathedral, compiled by Bp. Grandisson (diedA.D.1366), and attested by his autograph. If this had been a mere outdoor tradition, and had rested upon no more than the personal authority of this most distinguished man, it would even then have been the very highest evidence of its kind. But it does no such thing. Bp. Grandisson is not theauthorof the book any more than St. Osmund is the author of the Usages of Sarum. He is the codifier of the immemorial observances of the church, at which the contemporary biographer of St. Boniface attests that he received his earliest teaching; and of the very existence of which church their irreproachable attestation is by a long interval the earliest record.

But there is another evidence that this great man of his age was known, to his compatriots in his own province, as one of themselves. Of this they have left a substantial monument in the dedications of two churches still remaining in Devon, not in his ecclesiastical name, by which the rest of the world knew him, but in his birth-name of “Winfrid” by which they had remembered him. The two more distant extant dedications of Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, and Banbury, Cheshire, on the contrary, in their dedications of “St. Boniface” are mere reflections of his realised continental greatness back upon his own island.

Winfrith, near Lulworth, in Dorset, probably had a third western example of the dedication, for although the present church is of Norman structure, and with a different dedication (St. Christopher), most likely, as in many other cases, an earlier sanctuary existed in Winfrid’s name.

[12]What may be presumed to be another dedication of St. Werburgh has since been traced to its place, and may be reckoned as an eighth of those in the home kingdom, at its southern frontier. Among the land-marks (A.D.849) of a place called “Coftun,” is Werburgh’s cross (“in Wærburge rode”) Cod. Dip.CCLXII.This has been found to be Cofton Hackett, in that north point of Worcestershire that abuts upon Staffordshire and Shropshire.

[13]Lib. v.

[14]See Warner p. 228. Collinson’s Som., vol. I. Bath, p. 53.

[15]Thomas, Worc. Cath., 1736, Append. No. 9. p. 6. It might be worth while to search for remains of it in plantations thereabout. It is distinct from the chapel of St. Blaise, and on a different eminence.

[16]Saturday Rev., Ap. 24, 1875, p. 533.

[17]Reg. Worc. Priory, Camden Soc.

[18]Page 105.

[19]1846. Glaston. No.LXXXV.

[20]Cod. Dip., No.XCII.

[21]An account of A.S. Coins, &c. Communicated to the Numismatic Society of London, by Jonathan Rashleigh, Esq., 1868.

[22]Wessexonicè“vvrasseling.”

[23]No matter about their names. Their ethnical pedigree is distinctly blazoned in their portraits.

[24]A remarkable cluster of four or five names, with the form “-hoe,” occurs on the coast of North Devon, in that part where we have already pointed to the unrecorded Mercian descents upon the Damnonian Britons (see before pp.119-121). This is very faraway from the much more numerous assemblages of it, which are in the Anglian parts of England. It has been contended that this name-form is a vestige of the Danes, and, on this North Devon coast, the Danes might quite as likely have left their mark, as the Mercians. But one of them, “Martinhoe,” is formed by the addition of “-hoe” to the Christian dedication of the church: not likely, therefore, to have been named by a pagan colony. Another place, in East Devon not many miles from the Mercian Widworthy-St. Cuthbert already mentioned, (p. 125), called “Pinhoe,” is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,A.D.1001, to have been burntbythe Danes in revenge of a Saxon defeat. Would this revenge have fallen upon their own countrymen? Also, close to the South Devon dedication of St. Werburgh (p. 121), at Wembury, before mentioned, are two examples of this name-form. One, the well-known “Hoe,” of Plymouth; another, the village of “Hooe,” in the promontory itself, where Wembury stands. Again, we have seen above that this very “regio,” in Kent, which now engages us, was so named “Hogh” so early asA.D.738. Very early for the Danes. Add to this: contemporary with the first appearance of the Danes in Northumbria, at Lindisfarne, there was already a place called “Billingahoh,” now “Billingham,” near Stockton.It is, therefore, evident that “-hoe” was here before the Danes, and can be no other than an Anglian peculiarity. It is, therefore, an additional evidence, and very strong confirmation, of what has been already said of the great Mercian descent upon Devon, that this Anglianism is found strewed in the very path of it.It will presently be seen that, besides Simeon of Durham, and other early chroniclers, both Somner and Camden took it for granted that “-hoe” is only another form, or dialect of “-ham.” It is however not unlikely, that, as in many other cases, a second mark of names “-haw” or “-haugh,” said to be Danish, has been concurrent with and undistinguished from this.

It is, therefore, evident that “-hoe” was here before the Danes, and can be no other than an Anglian peculiarity. It is, therefore, an additional evidence, and very strong confirmation, of what has been already said of the great Mercian descent upon Devon, that this Anglianism is found strewed in the very path of it.

It will presently be seen that, besides Simeon of Durham, and other early chroniclers, both Somner and Camden took it for granted that “-hoe” is only another form, or dialect of “-ham.” It is however not unlikely, that, as in many other cases, a second mark of names “-haw” or “-haugh,” said to be Danish, has been concurrent with and undistinguished from this.

[25]Cod. Dip., No.LXXXV.

[26]8b.

[27]First mentioned by Beda as “Clofeshoch,” and in K. Alfred’s translation “Clofeshooh.”

[28]See Cod. Dip.passim, for other varieties of the name.

[29]Two S. Chronicles, Oxford, 1565.

[30]It is to be regretted that editors of ancient texts, have not more generally extended their care to the preservation of marginal and other adventitious notes, even when they are of comparatively much later date than the texts, which of course are their chief care. Such valuable fragments are in imminent peril at the present day; for whenever a new discovery of ancient books or records is now brought to the notice of the most distinguished experts, the very first piece of advice is that they shall be “cleaned,” “repaired,” and “skilfully” rebound. See, among others, examples in the Historical Manuscripts Commission,passim. Why the binding, and even thestatus quoitself, is a part of the essence of such things, as monuments. But manuscripts, with far less excuse, are following the churches on the broad way to refaction, as it may be mildly called.When the fanciers of books, especially in London, as well as experts in manuscripts, make a fortunate acquisition of anything, both fine and unique; after the usual notes of admiration, such as “truly marvellous,” etc., they go on to say, “but it deserves a better jacket.” And at once order it to be stripped of its monumental covering, and scoured of the autumnal tints of many ages; its pedigree, contained in ancient shelf-marks, and autographs, is discarded; often valuable notarial records of events that have for safety, like monuments in churches, been entered on the covers and fly-leaves, are lost; and it is finally converted into a monument of nineteenth century skill in smooth morocco, “antique style,” &c. All that is really wanted, however, is either a box-case, or other apparatus for protection. Keep charters or papers nearly as you do Bank of England Notes. These are never bound for safe-keeping. On the outsides of these unattached bindings, or other provisions for safe-keeping, can be lavished whatever munificence, or luxury of modern art, may be thought to be a sufficient tribute of admiration to the object contained.

When the fanciers of books, especially in London, as well as experts in manuscripts, make a fortunate acquisition of anything, both fine and unique; after the usual notes of admiration, such as “truly marvellous,” etc., they go on to say, “but it deserves a better jacket.” And at once order it to be stripped of its monumental covering, and scoured of the autumnal tints of many ages; its pedigree, contained in ancient shelf-marks, and autographs, is discarded; often valuable notarial records of events that have for safety, like monuments in churches, been entered on the covers and fly-leaves, are lost; and it is finally converted into a monument of nineteenth century skill in smooth morocco, “antique style,” &c. All that is really wanted, however, is either a box-case, or other apparatus for protection. Keep charters or papers nearly as you do Bank of England Notes. These are never bound for safe-keeping. On the outsides of these unattached bindings, or other provisions for safe-keeping, can be lavished whatever munificence, or luxury of modern art, may be thought to be a sufficient tribute of admiration to the object contained.

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