Book 6

Chapter VII.

At that time Felix, the uncle of my teacher Flavian was renowned in the grammatical art. The king loved him so much that he bestowed upon him among other gifts of his bounty, a staff decorated with silver and gold.


Chapter VIII.

During the same time also lived John the bishop of the church of Bergoma (Bergamo), a man of wonderful sanctity. [1] Since he had offended king Cunincpert while they were conversing at a banquet, the king commanded to be prepared for him when he was returning to his inn a fierce and untamed horse who was accustomed to dash to the earth with a great snorting those who sat upon him. But when the bishop mounted him he was so gentle that he carried him at an easy gait to his own house. The king, hearing this, cherished the bishop from that day with due honor and bestowed upon him in gift that very horse, which he had destined for his own riding.

[1]He took part in the council at Rome under Pope Agatho against the Monotheletes (Waitz).


Chapter IX.

At this time between Christmas and Epiphany there appeared at night in a clear sky a star near the Pleiades shaded in every way as when the moon stands behind a cloud. Afterwards in the month of February at noonday there arose a star in the west which set with a great flash in the direction of the east. Then in the month of March there was an eruption of Bebius (Vesuvius) for some days and all green things growing round about were exterminated by its dust and ashes.


Chapter X.

Then the race of Saracens, unbelieving and hateful to God, proceeded from Egypt into Africa with a great multitude, took Carthage by siege and when it was taken, cruelly laid it waste and leveled it to the ground.


Chapter XI.

Meanwhile the emperor Constantine died at Constantinople and his younger son Justinian [1] assumed the sovereignty of the Romans and held the control of it for ten years. He took Africa away from the Saracens and made peace with them on sea and land. He sent Zacharias his protospatarius [1] and ordered that Pope Sergius should be brought to Constantinople because he was unwilling to approve and subscribe to the error of that synod which the emperor had held at Constantinople. [3] But the soldiery of Ravenna and of the neighboring parts, despising the impious orders of the emperor, drove this same Zacharias with reproaches and insults from the city of Rome. [4]

[1] Here Paul misunderstands Bede from whom he took the statement. Bede (A. M. 4649) speaks of "Justinian the younger, a son of Constantine." He succeeded to the throne in 685.
[2] Captain of the imperial body guard, a high Byzantine dignity.
[3] The Quinisextan (Fifth - Sixth) council summoned by Justinian II in 691 (Hodgkin, VI, 354-356).
[4] A.D. 691 (Giansevero).


Chapter XII.

Leo seizing the imperial dignity, in opposition to this Justinian, deprived him of his kingdom, ruled the empire of the Romans three years and kept Justinian an exile in Pontus. [1]

[1] The reign of Justinian II had been marked by oppressive exactions and great cruelties. After ten years' misgovernment Leontius (the Leo mentioned in the text) a nobleman of Isauria, commander of the armies of the East, who had been imprisoned by the tyrant and then released, was proclaimed emperor in 695. A mob assembled in the Hippodrome and demanded Justinian's death. Leontius spared his life, but mutilated him by slitting his nose (whence he was called 'Rhinotmetus') and banished him to Cherson on the southwest coast of the Crimea (Hodgkin, VI, 359-361).


Chapter XIII.

Tiberius in turn rebelled against this Leo and seized his sovereignty and held him in prison in the same city all the time he reigned. [1]

[1] A naval armament under the command of the patrician John had delivered Carthage from the Saracens but the latter had retaken the city and the imperial troops on their return to Constantinople broke out in a mutiny against both their general and Leontius, and a naval officer named Apsimarwas proclaimed emperor. When the fleet reached Constantinople, Leontius was dethroned and Apsimar under the name of Tiberius III, reigned seven years, frcm 698 to 705 (Hcdgkin, VI, 362, 363).


Chapter XIV.

At this time [1] the council held at Aquileia, on account of the ignorance of their faith, hesitated to accept the Fifth General Council until, when instructed by the salutary admonitions of the blessed pope Sergius, it also with the other churches of Christ consented to approve of this. For that synod was held at Constantinople at the time of pope Vigilius under the emperor Justinian against Theodorus and all the heretics who were asserting that the blessed Mary had given birth to a man only and not to a God and a man. In this synod it was established as a Catholic doctrine that the blessed Mary ever virgin should be called Mother of God since, as the Catholic faith has it, she gave birth not to a man only, but truly to a God and a man. [2]

[1] A.D. 698 (Giansevero).
[2] Paul is in error in saying that it was the Synod of Constantinople at the time of pope Vigilius which declared the Virgin Mary the Mother of God. Such declaration was made at Ephesus. The Council of Constantinople was the one that condemned the Three Chapters and led to the long schism described in the previous notes (III, 20, 26; IV, 33 supra). The return of the schismatics to the church took place according to other authorities not at Aquileia but at Pavia (Waitz, Appendix, p. 245, 248), when they declared with shouts of triumph that they renounced the heresy of Theodore and his companions and asked to be restored to the church. Legates were sent to bear the news to Pope Sergius who ordered that the manuscripts of the schismatics should be burned (Hodgkin, V, 483, 484). Possibly one council was held at Aquileia and another at Pavia. Thus all the kingdom of the Langobards was now restored to full Catholic communion.


Chapter XV.

In these days [1] Cedoal king of the Anglo-Saxons who had waged many wars in his own country [2] was converted to Christ and set out for Rome, and when on the way he came to king Cunincpert he was magnificently received by him, and when he had come to Rome he was baptized by pope Sergius and called Peter and while dressed in white [3] he departed to the heavenly realms. His body was buried in the church of St. Peter and has inscribed above it this epitaph: [4]

Cedoal, mighty in arms, for the love of his God has forsaken
Eminence, riches and kin, triumphs and powerful realms,
Arms and nobles and cities and camps and gods of the household,
Things that the thrift of his sires gathered, or he for himself,
So that as king and a guest he might gaze on Peter and Peter's
Chair, and propitiously quaff waters unstained from his spring,
Taking in radiant draught the shining light whose refulgence,
Giving immortal life, floweth on every side!
Swift to perceive the rewards of a life restored by conversion,
Joyful, he casts aside heathenish madness, and then
Changes his name as well, and Sergius the pontiff commanded
Peter he should be called; until the Father himself,
Making him pure by the grace of Christ in the font of the new birth,
Lifted him, clothed in white, up to the stronghold of heaven!
Wonderful faith of the king, and of Christ the astonishing mercy!
His is the perfect plan - counsel that none can approach!
Coming in safety indeed from remotest regions of Britain,
Through many nations, along ways many, over the straits,
Bringing his mystical gifts, he gazed upon Romulus' city
Looked upon Peter's church, worthy of reverence due;
Clad in white will he go, in the flocks of Christ a companion;
Earth his body may hold, heaven his spirit will keep.
You may the rather believe he has changed the mere badge of the scepters
He whom your eyes have seen winning the kingdom of Christ.[5]

[1] This journey and conversion of king Cedoal (or Ceadwalla of Wessex) is incorrectly placed by Paul at the time of the synod at Aquileia, 698. It actually occurred in 689 (Hodgkin, VI, 318; V, 483).
[2] He had annexed Sussex, ravaged Kent and massacred the inhabitants of the Isle of Wight (Hodgkin, VI, 318).
[3] The garment of the neophytes, worn by those just baptized.
[4] The author of this epitaph was Archbishop Benedict of Milan, A.D. 681-725 (Waitz, p. 225).
[5] A version in rhyme, less literal than the foregoing, is found in Giles' translation of the Ecclesiastical History of Bede, Vol. I, p. 278.