Library › Eddius Stephanus › Life of St Wilfrid

Life of St Wilfrid

Eddius Stephanus, tr. Colgrave, 1927

40. How Berhtwald Received the Holy Bishop

So Wilfrid the bishop, the beloved of God, set out with his companions, and, leaving his fatherland, he sought the southern kingdoms as an exile. But the Lord, who is with His saints when they are tried, sent a man of noble race and kind heart to meet him, a reeve called Berhtwald, nephew of Aethilred, King of the Mercians. As soon as he saw such honourable men and heard the reason of their wanderings, as our holy teacher described them, he begged them, in the name of the Lord, to stay with him, and with all earnestness he requested the servants of God to dwell in some part of his estate. Our holy bishop gave thanks to God, because he had granted him some solace and rest, and forthwith he founded a little monastery on that land which had been given for God’s sake, and his monks possess it to this day. But the hatred of the ancient enemy was ever on the alert; when King Aethilred and his queen, the sister of King Ecgfrith, heard that the man of God had been driven from his land and was staying there and was at peace for a little while, they forbade the reeve Berhtwald, if he valued his own safety, to remain for a single day under his direction. This they did to flatter King Ecgfrith. Then, when our bishop had been driven out by hatred, though his monks were left behind, he made his way to the King of the West Saxons named Centwini. There he remained but a short time owing to the persecution that followed him. For Centwini’s queen was the sister of Queen Iurminburg and hated him greatly, so that on account of the friendship of the three kings we have spoken of, he was driven away and departed thence.