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Life of St Wilfrid
Eddius Stephanus, tr. Colgrave, 1927
47. How Their Snares Were Revealed to Him
Meanwhile, before they had found any proper or formal method of reply, one of the thegns of the king who was greatly devoted to our bishop, one whom he had brought up from babyhood’s tender years, from the cradle indeed, stole out of the king’s tent; he disguised his appearance and mingled with the crowds standing around, as though he were a stranger, until at last he reached our bishop. Then he clearly explained to him the reason of their decision, saying, “They are attempting by this treachery to deceive you utterly, in order that at the outset you may confirm by your own signature their sole judgment, so as to support whatever they may settle and decide: so that after you have been bound by this chain of constraint, for the rest you will never be able to make a change afterwards in any way. This will be the upshot of their judgment, that you shall surrender all which you were seen to possess in the land of Northumbria, whether bishopric or monasteries or aught else; and whatever you have gained in Mercia under King Aethilred, you will surrender it all by force to the archbishop that he may give it to whom he wishes; and finally, by condemning yourself you will degrade yourself, by your own signature, from your holy office.” When he had said these words, he departed by stealth.
Then the holy man, being extremely brave and firm, when he heard these things, perceived the proof of their deception and became more cautious about signing anything further. They asked him to return an answer on the spot, threatening at length that if he would not quickly acknowledge his submission to their judgment he would forthwith find himself placed under sentence of condemnation. His answer was, “I will first hear the decision of the archbishop, and if he is acting in agreement with the definite rules of the holy fathers, I am determined to submit with my whole heart.”
Finally, when they could no longer hide their plan, seeing that so many saw what it was, they declared at first that they were determined to despoil our holy bishop of all his possessions so completely that he should not possess one fragment of a single cottage in Northumbria or Mercia. But the ruthlessness of the decision laid down by the archbishop and the king horrified even his very enemies, who said that it was impious to deprive of all his possessions a man who was so famous throughout all the nations and was not convicted of any capital offence. Finally, acting with a little more humanity, they decided that they would give into his possession the monastery only, which he had built at Ripon and had long ago consecrated to St Peter with all that belonged to it, and allow him the privilege granted by St Agatho the Pope to whatever abbot and brotherhood dwelt there; they added the proviso however that he should sign the strongest undertaking that he would remain quietly there; that he would not pass beyond the bounds of the monastery without permission from the king; that he would not in any way exercise the episcopal office. Thus they sought with the utmost urgency to compel him, under oath, to strip himself of his own accord (horrible to relate) of his honourable rank.
When St Wilfrid heard this he firmly replied in fearless tones: “Why do you force me to turn upon myself the sword of dire destruction to work mournful and miserable disaster, that is to say, to subscribe to my own condemnation? Shall I not, without any guilt of mine, make suspicion to be a stumblingblock to all who hear the report of my name, seeing that for nearly forty years I have been called by the name of bishop, however unworthy I may have been? Was I not the first, after the death of the first elders who were sent by St Gregory, to root out the poisonous weeds planted by the Scots? Did I not change and convert the whole Northumbrian race to the true Easter and to the tonsure in the form of a crown, in accordance with the practice of the Apostolic See, though their tonsure had been previously at the back of the head, from the top of the head downwards? And did I not instruct them in accordance with the rite of the primitive Church to make use of a double choir singing in harmony, with reciprocal responsions and antiphons? And did I not arrange the life of the monks in accordance with the rule of the holy father Benedict which none had previously introduced there? And now how shall I pass a hurried sentence against myself, being unconscious of any crime? But now concerning this freshly-mooted scruple by which you are attempting to violate my sacred office, I appeal in all confidence to the Apostolic See, and let any one of you who presumes to lower my sacred episcopal dignity go to judgment with me there; I challenge him this day. For the wise Romans ought to investigate carefully for what fault you wish to degrade me, before I consent to that course at your bidding alone.”
When the king and the archbishop heard this they said, “Now at any rate he is guilty; therefore let him be branded by us and condemned because he chooses their judgment rather than ours.” To this proposal of the archbishop, the king added, “I will compel him, if you bid me, by force through the pressure of my army, and that without any delay or hesitation, to confess this time that he is prepared to accept our judgment.” But the other bishops in council said, “We must remember that he came here under our safe conduct, without which he would not have ventured; let us all return home in peace and prosperity.”