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Life of St Wilfrid
Eddius Stephanus, tr. Colgrave, 1927
d1
No apology is needed for a fresh edition of the text of Eddius Stephanus’s Life of St Wilfrid. The last two editions, that of Levison in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica and that of Raine in the Rolls Series, are accessible only on library shelves. In addition, the accuracy of the latter’s text leaves very much to be desired. It is therefore obvious that there is a real need for a fresh text which claims at least to be reasonably accurate and accessible. The translation is unpretentious and is intended only as a help to the increasing number of students who desire to study the history of the seventh century from the original documents but are hindered by the difficulties of Eddius’s crabbed style. This, together with the notes, may perhaps serve to introduce students to one of the most striking figures in the history of the Church in the North. The period in which he flourished was a time of great activity in Northumbria in the realms of religion, politics, art and literature, and a careful study of the life of St Wilfrid forms one of the best introductions that a student could have to the ecclesiastical and social history, not only of Northumbria, but of the other English kingdoms too, while Wilfrid’s ceaseless wanderings connect him closely with the history of contemporary Western Europe.
I have not attempted in the introduction to go into any details as to the character, influence and position of St Wilfrid. It may be possible later on to make a separate study of his life, putting him as far as possible in his true historical background and attempting to complete what Bishop Browne so ably began thirty years ago in his Theodore and Wilfrith.
I have received much help which I gladly acknowledge. In the first place my debt to the two great leaders in the study of this period, Plummer and Bright, will be obvious throughout In addition to my detailed acknowledgments in the proper places, it is only right to make here a general acknowledgment of the common debt which all students of the period owe to their labours. My thanks are also due to many friends for help of various kinds: to the Rev. Christopher Wordsworth of Salisbury; to my colleagues, Professor How, Mr E. V. Stocks the University Librarian and Mr J. Meade Falkner, Librarian of the Chapter Library, Durham; to the staff of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and especially to Dr Craster, who put into my hands a copy of the correspondence which enabled me to solve the puzzle of the lost Salisbury Ms; and to the staff of the Cambridge University Library, who were always ready to bring their expert knowledge to my aid. I have also to thank Mr T. G. Benson, Assistant Master at Harrow School, for help in difficult points in the translation, and Mr Bruce Dickins of Edinburgh University for many valuable suggestions.
But most of all my thanks are due first to Professor H. M. Chadwick of Clare College, Cambridge, for suggesting to me the task which I have attempted to fulfil and for constant advice throughout, and secondly, to my colleague Dr Edward Pace, Reader in Divinity in the University of Durham, for carefully revising my translation, for reading through the proofs and for continual encouragement and suggestions. Whatever value this little book may have, will be largely due to their help, so generously given.
Lastly, may I thank the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press for undertaking the publication of this work and for all the help given by the staff and the proof-readers in the course of its production.
BERTRAM COLGRAVE
HATFIELD COLLEGE
DURHAM
October 1926