EIGHTH CENTURY.
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the liasins for the offertoiv, eig^ht pounds of gold; fot die vessels for the holy water, twenty pounds of silver; for images of our Lord, and the Virgin Man-, and the Twelve Apostles, a hundred and serentT-five pounds of silver, and thirty^ight
Cnds of gold,the twelve apostles being in silver, our Lord and the Virgin Mary in gold; the pall for the altar, and the vestments for the priests were also artfully interwoven on Iwth sides with gold and precious stones. — IVhilaiar.
7:15, .1/fly 26. Died the venerahle Beda, or Bede, a monk of Weannouth, in the bishopric of Durham, who was a sort of universal genius, wrote Upon all subjects, and whose works, still in existence, are supposed to contain all of learning, science, and art, tnen known in the world. He translated the ptalter and the gospel into the An^lo-Saxon, and is said to have finished the last chapter of the gospel as he expired.
" He was called the Wite Saxon by his cotem- poraries," says Dr. Henry, " and Venerable Bede by his posterity; and as long as great modesty, piety, and learning, united in one character, are the objects of veneration amongst mankind, the memory of Bede must be revered." Several other eminent men, chiefly Englishmen, dis- tinguished for their zeal and love of learning and the scriptures, flourished about the same period. There was a Saxon poet in this era, CaBoman,* on whom Bede liestows 'the highest praises. A 6afnnent of him is preseri'ed by Alfred. Next to Bede in reputation was Aldhelmf who was «nnething before him in point of time, and as Bede was the luminary of the north, so Aldhelm wa-i the chief ornament of the south of England. It iras universally agreed that he was the fii-st Eiurlishman who composed in Latin; none having heretofore done it in this island, but such ts were either foreigners from the continent, or Irish, orScotch, or Britons. He has, likewise, himself assured ns, that he was the first who btroduced poetry among the Saxons, and who wrote upon the measure of verses. After Bede, and his cotemporaries, what little of literature there was in England declined apace, and be- came almost annihilated. Instead of growing more and more enlightened, the nation was plunged into deeper ignorance and error; and •uch was the state of tilings when Egbert put as end to the seven kingdoms, and united them aadet one sovereign. Bede complains again and again, in his writings, that the monasteries in his time, were little else than the arcades of wickedness, and were in so corrupt a state, that wch persons as desired to be sincerely pious, were obliged to go abroad for education. But
• CiediiUQ a pinos monk of Strcanahalch or Whitby, who emjiloyed bis poetical ^enios in the composition of a ftnpfanacical and metrical version of some of the most KnarkaMe portions of the sacred Histoo'. HLi works were poUished by Jnnlns, at Amsterdam, 1665, 4to.
t Adlielm was a near relation to King; Ina, and for thirty jevi abbot of Malmsbary, in Wiltshire; in "0-i he was appointed bishop of Sherbom, in Dorsetshire. He died May 2J, 7»9. The principal prose work of Adhelm Is his treatise on the Praist of Virginity. One of his poems was on a writing pen. A tmrtion of his works were published bytbeBer. H. l.Todd,!!! 18U.
the grand circumstances which destroyed the very traces of knowledge, and cut it up by the roots were the invasions of the Danes; which so soon succeeded the abolition of the heptarchy, that there was no time to bring the kingdom into order. In consequence of the numerous and re- peated attacks of that people, who were more barbarous than the Saxons, an universal ruin was spread through the island, and the monks were totally dispersed.
741, June }H. The emperor Leo III. in order to destroy all the monuments that might be quoted, in proof against his opposition to the worship of images, commanded the library, which had been founded by order of C<mstautine the Great, at Constantinople, to be destroyed. In this library was deposited the only authentic copy of the council of Nice, which was unfortunately consumed, together with a magnificent copy of the Four Gos-pcls, bound in plates of gold, to the weight of 15lbs. and enriched with precious stones, which had been given by Pope Gregory III. to the church dedicated to our Saviour.
756. One of the most distinguished characters of this age was Winfrid, afterwards called Boni- face. He was an Englishman, born at Kirton, in Devonshire, about the year 680, and was etlucated in the monastery of Escancester or Exeter, under the abbot Walphard. At the age of thirty he was ordained pnest, and about the year 716 he went, with two other monks, over mto Friesland, as a missionary in the conversion of pagans, where he did not remain long, but retunied with his companions to England to his monastery. Paying a visit to Rome, he obtained from Pope Gregory II. an unlimited commission to promote the conversion of infidels. With this commission he went into Bavaria and Thuringin. In 732 he received the title of arch- bishop from Gregory III., who supported his mission with the same spirit as his predecessor Gregory II. In 746, he laid the foundation of the great abbey of Fuld or Fulden, which con- tinued long the most renowned seminary of piety and learning in all that part of the world. His principal residence he fixed at Mentz, from which he has nsually been called the archbishop of that city. On the eve of Whit-sunday, in the year 755, he pitched a tent on the bank of the Bordue, a river which then divided east and west Friesland, for the purpose of baptizing some converts; and whilst waiting in prayer tie ar- rival of the friends he expected, a ban4 of en- raged Pagans, armed with shields and lances, rushed furiously upon them, and slew Boniface and his companions, fifty-two in number. This was in the 75th year of his age. The barbarians, instead of the valuable booty of gold and silver which they expected, fouud nothing of any value but o few books, which they scattered about the fields and marshes.
A collection of Boniface's letters has been preserved and published. In one of them to Nithardus, he writes, " Nothing can you search after more honourable in youth, or enjoy more comfortably in old age, than the knowledge of
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