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THE MIRACLE TRADITIONS OF THE VENERABLE BEDE
BY C. GRANT LOOMIS 1
THE cult of the miraculous was well established in the Christian
writing of Europe by the end of the sixth century, although the
flourishing period for leg- ends, the full-length biographies of
saints and other holy men, had to wait several centuries. The
attachment of miracles to the progenitors of Christianity was a
rather slow process, despite the records of benevolent magic in the
Gospels and in the Old Testament. In the Historia Ecclesiastica of
Eusebius, which reached its final form about 325, seven miracles
are ascribed to early Christians; but an equal number of deeds of
magic by pagans and heretics is also recorded. Ruinart's
collection, Acta Martyrum Sincera, is not colored by superhuman
deeds other than the amazing endurance shown under horrible
tortures. The miracles in the Vitae Patrum written by Jerome and
others, and introducing into the West the lives of the saints of
the Egyptian desert and the near East, indicated the fu- ture trend
of a continuous and eventually formulized accretion of the
marvelous. The Vita S. Martini of Sulpicius Severus advanced the
use of miracle motive in Western Europe in the fifth century. In
the following century, Gregory of Tours, in his Liber de Miraculis,
his De Gloria Martyrum, and the Historia Francorum, established the
wonder cult. The four books of Dialogues of Pope Gregory the Great
lent an authoritative stamp to the recognition of white magic. The
lore of wonder lived among the people. The belief in a cult of
heroes and supernatural men, coupled with a multitude of old
religious formulas and superstitions, had a continuous tradition.
Theoretical theology was forced to recognize the impossibil- ity of
stamping out the belief in magic. A wise substitution of Christian
magical elements was made wherever possible. Old beliefs were
reinterpreted, and the cult of wonder served to capture the popular
imagination. Christian dogma could not reach the mass of men, but
marvelous incidents were convincing manifesta- tions in a thousand
localities at once.
The Venerable Bede had a solid tradition behind him when he
wrote his Historia Ecclesiastica. Eusebius and Gregory of Tours had
written histories of Christianity in their areas. Gregory
emphasized the miraculous whenever the indications were present.
But Bede chose a greater authority for the type of miracle which he
introduced into his history. Celtic Christanity in Great Britain
had its own miracle lore, but traditions from that source were
ignored by Bede in his revelations of the operations of benevolent
magic in English Christianity. The papal authority of Gregory the
Great could not be questioned, and the miracle types in the
Dialogues lay ready at hand.
The miracles in the Historia Ecclesiastica show a cautious
selectivity. The range of types is not extensive. Fifty-two
miracles fall into seventeen categories. This division may be
contrasted with the one-hundred nineteen miracles in Gregory's
Dialogues, which display forty-five varieties of the miraculous.
Bede's life of St Cuthbert, with its thirty-eight miracles, adds
only five types to the miracles
404
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The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede 405
which appear in the Historia. Bede, as a recorder of white
magic, is not reflective of general originality. The folklore
traditions of his native scene can be seen in only a few
instances.
Charles Plummer's exhaustive notes to his careful edition of
Bede's Historial give the sources for the saints mentioned from the
period prior to the appearance on English soil of Christian heroes
among the Germanic tribes. The acts of the life of St Alban which
were available to Bede are not known, but the account (i, 7) is
brief, and mentions only two commonplace miracles, namely, the
drying up of a stream for the safe passage of the saint (a business
which is often only a tidal vagary), and the production of a living
spring. The subsequent wonder- working of Alban receives a general
comment: 'In quo videlicet loco (the scene of the martyrdom) ad
hanc diem curatio infirmorum, et frequentium operatio virtutem
celebrari non desinit' (I, 7).
The chapters (i, 17-21) dealing with the activities of St
Germanus in Britain were taken from Constantius' life of this
saint,2 and the miracles were derived from this source. Germanus
quelled a stormy sea by means of holy water, cured blindness by
means of saints' relics, caused fire to avoid the house where he
was, scattered an enemy by the shout of Hallelujah, and healed a
withered leg by his touch. Similar miracles appear in Gregory's
Dialogues, except for the incident about the dispelling of the
enemy by means of shouting.
After the account of the appearance of Germanus in Britain, Bede
passed hur- riedly over the next century and a half to the
Christianization of the English people at the instigation of
Gregory the Great (i, 23). From this point on, he had numerous
written and oral sources at his command, and the selection and com-
pilation of materials lay more directly in his hands. In many
instances, Bede is the single source for the miracles attributed to
the various holy men who helped in the conversion of the pagan
tribes. Which popular traditions were to be in- cluded in the
history and which ones were to be omitted were problems of cau-
tious editing. The weighed consideration of the reduction of
extensive materials to the succinct form of historical
documentation seems to have been constantly in Bede's mind.
Bede had written his prose life of St Cuthbert about 720, and
had recorded thirty-eight miracles. Only five of Cuthbert's marvels
appear in the Historia. Bede's orthodoxy led him to depend upon
recognized parallels for the choice and range of the miracles which
he selected, first for the composition of the life of St Cuthbert,
and later for the compilation of his Historia. The evidence for
this statement is seen in the relationship of Gregory's life of St
Benedict as it appears in the second book of the Dialogues and
Bede's portrayal of the life and miracles of St Cuthbert. The
admission of the inspiration of the Dialogues is made at the end of
the fourteenth chapter of St Cuthbert's life.3
1 Venerabilis Badae Historiam Ecclesiasticum Gentis Anglorum
(Oxford, 1896), 2 vols. 2 See the Bollandists' Acta Sanctorum,
July, vii, 201-221. 3 'Sicque in duobus miraculis duorum patrum est
virtutes imitatus: in phantasticis quidem praevisis
et evacuatis incendiis, virtutem reverendissimi et sanctissimi
patris Benedicti, qui simulatum ab antiquo hoste coquinie ardentis
incendium ab oculis discipulorum orando pepulit: in veris vero
wque
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406 The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede
The first fire-miracle of Cuthbert (chap. 13), where the element
is of demonic origin, is not of frequent occurrence in the legends
of the saints, certainly not this early. The application of the
miracle is similar, although the setting and the background are
unlike.4 The second fire-miracle, the model for which is attributed
to Marcellinus, also appears in the Dialogues (i, 6). This type of
miracle is much more common, and Bede used it several times in his
Historia.5
Bede's treatment of the life of Cuthbert is, in the main, a
loosely joined series of episodes, some realistic and some
miraculous, which follow roughly the chronology of a human life.
The pattern of legends eventually became stereo- typed. They began
usually with parentage, prenatal marvels, and precocious infancy,
but neither in Gregory's Benedict nor in Bede's Cuthbert are these
genealogical details prefaced to the actual life. Bede noted
Cuthbert's own reminiscence of his boyhood as he heard it from
Trumwine, who quoted the saint. A child of three chided Cuthbert
for boyish frolics which did not betoken a nature necessary for
future priesthood and holiness. The words were effective, and
Cuthbert mended his ways.
Benedict at an early age deserted the pleasures of learning for
the solitary's cell. The stories told about both men derive from
their most active years, from a time when their fame had already
been established. The ascription to both saints of powers over the
forces of nature is evident in many ways. Their wonder-work- ing
with fire has been illustrated. Bede found other miraculous
analogues in the Dialogues. When Cuthbert was constructing his
residence on the island of Farne (chap. 17), he lifted stones,
'angelico adjutus auxilio,' which four men would have found
difficult to move. Benedict, when he was building his abbey,
overcame handicaps of weight by blessing a stone which was hard to
raise (ii, 9). Gregory tells of other suspensions of gravity by
Nonnosus (i, 7) and Honoratus (i, 1)
victis ac retortis ignium globus, virtutem viri venerabilis
Marcellini Anconitani antistitis, qui ardente eadem civitate, ipse
contra ignem positus orando flammas compescuit, quas tanta civium
manus aquam quae supersunt omnia,' J. A. Giles, Venerabilis Bedw,,
opera quae supersunt omnia (London, 1843), iv, 250. Hereafter cited
for the Vita Cuthberti.
4See the Dialogues, II, 10, Migne, Pat. Lat., IVI. 5 In the Vita
Cuthberti (chap. 14), the saint prays and the wind shifts and saves
the houses of the
village, particularly the one in which he was dwelling. The
parallel to the miracle of Marcellinus is closer in the H.E., II,
7, where Bishop Mellitus ordered himself to be carried toward the
raging fire which threatened to destroy Canterbury. The wind
shifted from south to north. Similarly, Marcel- linus was carried
out and set down against the flames. 'Quod ita factum est, atque in
eo loco est po- situs, ubi tota vis flammae vicebatur incumbere.
Coepit autem miro modo in semetipsum incendium retorqueri, ac si
reflexione sui impetus exclamaret se episcopum transire non posse.
Sicque factum est ut flamma incendii illo termino refrenata, in
semetipsa refrigesceret, et contingere ulterius quidquam adificii
non auderet,' Pat. Lat., Lxxvii, 181. Aidan operated the same
miracle, H.E., III, 16, while Germanus, H.E., I, 19, had an
experience similar to that of Cuthbert. The preservation of holy
places and relics from the force of fire is illustrated by the
Dialogues, III, 18, where the Goths tried to burn Benedict of
Campania in his cell. The fire consumed all things around but
spared the man and his habitation. The post upon which Aidan leaned
when he died could not be consumed when the rest of the church was
burned, H.E., III, 17, nor could the post be destroyed upon which
hung earth taken from Oswald's grave, although the rest of the
house burned. H.E., III, 10.
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The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede 407
Benedict created a well for his monastery on the top of a hill.
The place was very unpromising, but after making a hollow a spring
appeared (ii, 5). Similarly, Cuthbert dug in the middle of his hut
in a dry and stony place. The next morning he had an adequate water
supply.6
The power to call up or to allay storms became one of the common
assets of a saint. This miracle was attached to many English
wonder-workers, since sea- faring was so necessary for the life of
the nation. The parallels in the Dialogues are not direct analogues
but rather associated types of miracles. In order to keep her
brother Benedict near her, Scholastica called up a storm (ii, 33),
while Cuth- bert detained some disobedient brethren upon their
sea-journey by producing a storm (chap. 36). Contrary magic appears
in Cuthbert's calming of adverse weather in order to bring five
scattered ships to port (chap. 3).7
Miraculous transportation by water is badly represented in both
Gregory and Bede. In the Dialogues (iii, 36), we learn of a ship
which, although filled with water, sailed eight days and reached
port. The moment the holy man Maximianus stepped from the craft, it
went to the bottom. Bede tells how the bodies of the Hewald
brothers were carried against the river current forty miles (H.E.,
v, 10). When Cuthbert was building his house at Farne, he asked
some of the brothers to bring him a beam. They forgot this chore,
but the ocean washed ashore a tim- ber of the required length
(chap. 21).
In the matter of unexpected or divine gifts, Bede found ample
authority in the Dialogues. Benedict received one time a mysterious
present of two hundred bushels of wheat (ii, 21), while an equally
strange donation of money came to him upon another occasion (ii,
28).8 Gregory also tells how Honoratus of Funda re- ceived a fish
drawn from a well where no fish life was known to be. Cuthbert upon
three occasions received food under strange conditions.9
For the relationship of the human being and the world of
creatures Bede did not need to look elsewhere than in the Dialogues
in order to tell his wonders of this nature. St Benedict had a pet
crow which obeyed him (ii, 8), and Cuthbert, 'in exemplum patris
Benedicti,' also controlled a pair of crows. Upon one occa- sion he
sent them away when they pulled thatch from a roof for their nest,
but he allowed them to return when they showed the proper humility
and brought with them a piece of hog's lard (chap. 920. See also
chap. 12). When birds attacked Cuthbert's barley field (chap. 19),
he sent them away. Similarly, Gregory tells how Bonifacius
dismissed the worms which were consuming his garden (i, 9).
B See chap. 18. In the following chapter, Bede notes: 'in aqua,
videlicet, alicita de rupe, factum beati patris Benedicti, qui idem
pane et eodem modo legitur fecisse miraculum; sed idcirco uberius,
quia plures erant, qui aqume inopia laborarent.' See also, H.E.,
Iv, 21.
I The beneficent action of holy men is more frequent than their
storm-creating activity. Ethelwold, Cuthbert's successor, calmed
the ocean (H.E., v, 1), while Bishop Aidan combined prediction with
controlling power when he forecast a storm and gave some sailors
holy oil with which to lay the sea. In a similar miracle, Germanus
made use of holy water to quell the waves (H.E., i, 17).
Rainmaking, which belongs to the category of weather control and is
represented in the Dialogues by the use of a relic of St. Euthicius
(iii, 15) does not appear in Bede. The business is rather frequent,
however, in Celtic legends, and seems to indicate the preservation
of primitive pagan magic.
' See also Dialogues, i, 9. 9 See chapters 5, 7, and 11.
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408 The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede
Bede's story (chap. 10) of the two sea-otters which came from
the deep to warm and dry Cuthbert's feet is a happy example of the
adaptation of local creatures to particular conditions. Gregory can
only offer the helpful bear of Florentinus. The creature acted as
shepherd and could tell time (III, 15).
In the struggle with the powers of darkness, very often merely
the allegorical representation of worldly temptations, the
Dialogues offered two models. Bene- dict overcame the stings of the
flesh, symbolized by a bird (ii, 2), and St Datius drove out the
demons which were haunting a house (iii, 4). Cuthbert expelled
devils from the island of Farne before he made his habitation there
(chap. 17).
In his description of the transformation of one substance into
another, Bede was cautious in reporting that certain water which
Cuthbert had set to his lips tasted later to others like the very
best wine (chap. 35). Gregory reported that Sanctulus made water
turn into oil (iii, 37).
A miracle which was often told in England is Bede's statement
that Cuthbert's body was found undecayed nine years after it had
been buried (chap. 42, H.E., IV, 30 has eleven years). Gregory
noted a similar wonder about the body of Her- culanus, although the
period of time was considerably less (iii, 13). Four other
instances of uncorrupted bodies appear in the Historia, namely
those of Oswald (iii, 6), Ethelberga (iii, 8), Fursey (iii, 19),
and Etheldrida (iv, 19). The phe- nomenon, however, is not
restricted to saints alone, but seems to depend upon natural causes
when certain conditions of soil and atmosphere are present.'0 Often
associated with this miracle is the marvelous odor which arises
from the corpse of a holy person, either at death or when the body
is translated in later years. The Dialogues (iv, 27) have one
example, and Bede noted the miracle in respect to St Ethelberga
(H.E., iII, 8).
Two miracles common to Bede and Gregory are often hard to
distinguish, since the modus operandi may be the same for both
manifestations. One deals with predictions and prophecies
concerning future events or immediate knowledge of distant
occurrences; the second is the matter of visions, often dreams, of
super- natural or psychic phenomena. Sometimes the knowledge or
foresight is revealed in a vision or dream. The accounts of
miracles of these kinds are very numerous in the legends of the
saints, and appear in the earliest recorded Christian lore. Pre-
diction and knowledge of distant events may be accepted as common
properties of magic in general. Visions and dreams lie in a realm
somewhere between sleep and reality. Both Gregory and Bede accepted
visions as miracles, and in some instances the addition of physical
details make the incidents marvelous. Both Benedict (ii, 37) and
Cuthbert (chap. 28, as also H.E. iv, 29) foretold the time of their
own deaths. Benedict (ii, 15) prophesied to King Totila events
which would happen to him. Cuthbert (chap. 24) did the same
concerning the life of King Egfrid. In spirit he even saw the
actual death of Egfrid which he had predicted (chap. 27).1"
10 The subject has been surveyed in more detail in my article,
'Folklore of the Uncorrupted Body,' The Journal of American
Folklore, x'viii (1935), 374-378.
11 Cuthbert had his own future greatness predicted by Boisil as
he lay dying (chap. 8). Cuthbert's weather prediction is less
startling, for he stated the day when a storm would be over (chap.
11).
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The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede 409
Nearly the whole of the fourth book of Gregory's Dialogues is
given up to vision lore. The largest portion of these miracles is
concerned with other-world visions, glimpses of heaven or hell, or
the transition of souls to those quarters. The commonest phenomenon
is the witnessing of the flight of a soul to heaven. St Benedict
saw the soul of his sister Scholastica ascending to the realm of
bliss (ii, 34), and analogous miracles are told of other figures
(ii, 35; IV, 9, 16, and 17). Upon two occasions, Cuthbert had a
similar revelation (chaps 4 and 34). Much more interesting are the
descriptions of the other world, particularly the graphic details
of the regions and punishments of hell as they are related by the
few mor- tals who were permitted to visit the hereafter. No one
will forget Drithelm's vivid account (H.E., v, 192), that
concentrated and brief outline which antici- pated Dante. Nothing
quite comparable can be found in the Dialogues as an exact pattern
for all the details of Bede's creation, although the experiences of
a certain Stephen (iv, 36) have some resemblance. The dreadful
valley of punishment and the fair field of bliss appear in both
accounts, but Drithelm's tour was much more extensive, for he had
an angelic guide and Stephen did not. Elsewhere (H.E., iv, 14),
Bede tells of a man who saw his predestined place in hell; likewise
Gregory (iv, 31. See also iv, 37) has an account of a certain
Reparatus who saw the flames prepared for him. Nothing in the
Dialogues suggests the vision of a man who saw the books of his
good deeds and his bad ones (H.E., v, 13), - with the latter
outweighing the former and indicating his doom. Likewise,
Laurentius' account of his visitation by Peter the Apostle, who
scourged him for his deser- tion of his duty and left visible marks
of the lash upon his body, has no parallel in the Dialogues.
The largest number of miracles in both the Historia and the Vita
relate miracu- lous cures. Nineteen of fifty-two wonders in the
Historia and thirteen of thirty- eight marvels in the Vita fall
into this category. Particular aspects of this thau- maturgy
require more extensive consideration. It may be well, therefore, to
note the other miracles first. Heavenly voices were heard singing
beside the body of Hermigildus (iii, 31); St Chad also had this
favor bestowed upon him (H.E., iv, 3). Bonds and chains fell from
the bodies and members of certain captives, according to the
statements of Gregory (ii, 31 and iv, 57) and Bede (H.E., Iv, 22).
The appearance of mysterious lights which were attributed to divine
sources ,ndicate the holiness of saints and their relics.'2 The
Dialogues tell of a number of
Most of Benedict's revelations were of a kind. They were chiefly
concerned with disclosures of lapses of conduct or bad secret
thoughts. The monks who ate outside the monastery when they had
been for- bidden to do so (ii, 12 and 13); the monk who accepted
and concealed a gift (ii, 19); a man who dis- guised himself as the
king (ii, 14); and the youth who felt too proud to serve at table,
were all ex- posed by the knowledge of Benedict. Similar marvels
were attributed by Gregory to other persons. Consult iii, 5, 14,
and 26, as well as many selections in iv.
12 Gregory records the following: A light appeared at the death
of Romula (iv, 15); mysterious lamps shone where the body of
Hermigildus lay (iii, 31); and other lamps were kindled without
human hands to indicate the orthodoxy of a certain church (iii,
30). Bede tells how heavenly lights showed where the bodies of SS.
Hewald lay (H.E., v, 10). Likewise, when the priest Peter was
drowned, his body was revealed to be that of no ordinary man by a
ray from the skies (I.E., i, 33). Lights showed where
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410 The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede
cases where a small amount of some material was increased
infinitely, such as one loaf which fed many (iii, 37), or a little
oil which expanded into barrels of the liquid (i, 7 and ii, 29).
Wine also had the same quality under the stimulus of the saint's
presence (i, 9). Bede does not imitate these marvels, but he does
tell how the stone coffin which was too short for Sebbi's body was
suddenly found to be increased to ample size (H.E., iv, 11).
The story of Caedmon's remarkable gift of song (H.E., iv, 24),
so familiar to students of Old English, holds an unusual place in
the category of similar miracles, since we possess some of this
divinely inspired poetry. The metrical gift is rare enough among
the tutored. How much more astonishing it is that an unlettered man
should be suddenly instructed, or, from the realistic point of
view, suddenly be inspired to chant verses! Nevertheless, if the
main thesis for the canon of Bede's miracles holds good, namely,
that he had safe authority for the miracle types, the selection of
which depended upon his choice and not upon written sources which
he was following, we shall expect to find in Gregory some indica-
tion of miracles of intellectual creation divinely inspired.
Without a previous pattern suggestion, we might not have had
this utterly charming story at all. Gregory, however, has an
account of mental stimulation, the main outlines of which have
similarity to the visitation to Caedmon. A certain Equitius,
although not in holy orders, nevertheless preached to many at
various places. XYhen he was questioned, he gave the explanation
that a young man had appeared to him in a dream and touched his
tongue with a lancet used for letting blood, saying, 'Behold, I
have put my word into your mouth! Go forth to your preaching.' From
that day, even though he wished, he could not keep silent con-
cerning God.'3
Gregory also gives an instance which may indicate the basically
authoritative miracle for all Christian usage of this phenomenon.
He tells how a certain boy fell into a trance and received the gift
of speaking strange languages. When he awoke he conversed in the
Bulgarian and the Greek idioms with which he was previously
unfamiliar (iv, 26).14 If Bede had needed other sources for the
confirmation of his inclusion of the Caedmon story in his Historia,
he might have found examples in a work of Augustine's which was
known to him.'" Although Paul the Deacon's certain nuns of Barking
should be buried (H.E., iv, 17), and the sacredness of Oswald's
relics was in- dicated by a pillar of radiance which lingered over
them all night (H.E., iii, 11).
13 Dialogues, i, 4, Pat. Lat., Lxxvii, 169: 'Quidam vero, Felix
nomine, Nursiae provinciae nobilis . . cum eumdem venerabilem virum
Equitium sacrum ordinem non habere conspiceret, et per singula loca
discurrere, atque studiose praedicere, eum quadam die
familiaritatis ausu adiit, dicens: Qui sa- crum ordinem non habes,
atque a Romano pontifice sub quo degis praedicationis licentiam non
ac- cepisti, praedicare quomodo praesumis? Qua ejus inquisitione
compulsus vir sanctus indicavit pradi- cationis licentiam qualiter
accepit, dicens: Ea quoe mihi loqueris ego quoque mecum ipse
pertracto. Sed quadam nocte speciosus mihi per visionem juvenis
astitit, atque in lingua mea medicinale fer- ramentum, id est
phlebotomum posuit, dicens: Ecce posui verba mea in ore tuo;
egredere ad praedi- candum. Atque ex illo die etiam cum voluero, de
Deo tacere non possum.'
14 The relationship of this miracle to the Acts of the Apostles,
ii, 4, is obvious. 15 De Doctrina Christiana, Prologus, Pat. Lat.,
xxxiv, 17: 'nec propterea sibi ab Antonio sancto et
perfecto viro AEgypto monacho insultari debere, qui sine ulla
scientia litterarum Scripturas divinas et memoriter audiendo
tenuisse, et prudenter; aut ab illo servo Barbaro christiano, de
quo a gravis-
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The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede 411
Life of Gregory the Great, written in the second half of the
eighth century, was too late for Bede's use, he may have known an
account by an unknown monk of VYhitby, whose Vita S. Gregorii is
dated about 713.16 The great learning of Gregory was thought to be
divinely inspired. A white dove dictated at his ear. The
allegorical representation of vast wisdom has a long and constant
tradition in the legends of the saints. No less than sixty-nine
instances are cited by John Bagatta in his collectanea,'7 although
most of these miracles are centuries later than Bede.
2 The largest number of miracles in the whole agenda of
wonder-working falls
into the category of cures. The ills of the human race, both
mental and physical, were attributed to the operation of evil
powers. Disease was in the province of the devil. The white
magician, then, is naturally associated with the alleviation of all
distress which has its origin in the black designs of bad spirits.
In the catalogue of miraculous cures, we have in most cases only a
simple statement of fact about a cure. The saintly intercessor
breathes a prayer, gives a blessing, or merely by his presence
effects a benefaction upon an ill or troubled body. Behind such
obvi- ous and visible formulas, however, lies a world of belief and
tradition. We catch sight of a more primitive magic when in the
statements about some cures, the formulas become a little more
detailed, and we are made aware of other factors. The saints in the
accounts of Gregory and Bede work their curing magic in similar
fashions. For example, the touch of Abundius (Dialogues, iii, 25)
was sufficient to relieve a girl of her palsy. Mere contact with St
Cuthbert cured one of his attendants of his diarrhoea (chap. 38).
Similarly, Benedict by his touch dispelled poison from a man (ii,
27) and drove away leprosy from a boy (ii, 26). Bede noted
analogous miracles on the part of Germanus (H.E., i, 18 and 21).
Cuthbert's blessing was good against fever (chaps. 32 and 33) and
Bishop John's blessing was efficacious in various ways. He cured a
girl's swollen arm (H.E., v, 3), gave a dumb man speech (v, 2),
caused a dying man to recover (v, 5), and restored a man who had
fractured his skull (v, 6). These miracles, interesting
manifestations as they are, belong to common thaumaturgic lore, and
the accumulation of endless analogues would be of little revelatory
value. The miracles of this kind which we find in Bede represent
his reflection of authoritative recognition of the opera- tions of
saintly medicine men. Even when the pattern is somewhat extended,
and the power of relics and places sacred to holy men operates
beneficently, Bede follows the established course. Gregory tells
how a mad woman was cured by spending the night in Benedict's cave
into which she had wandered uninten- tionally (ii, 38). The
similarity of the cure of the man who fell asleep upon Cuthbert's
tomb (H.E., iv, 31) is not hard to recognize. Equally efficacious
are the
simis fideque dignissimis viris nuper accepimus, qui litteras
quoque ipsas nullo docente homine, in plenam notitiam orando ut
sibi revelarentur, accepit triduanis precibus impetrans ut etiam
codicem oblatum, stupentibus qui aderant, legendo percurreret.'
16 See Francis A. Gasquet, A Life of Pope St Gregory the Great
(Westminster, 1904). 17 Admiranda Orbis Christiani (Augsburg,
1695).
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412 The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede
places where holy men died. When a palsy-stricken girl was laid
upon the spot where St Oswald was killed, she slept first for a
while before she arose entirely well (H.E., iII, 9). Even animals
were granted relief. A horse suffering from colic rolled upon the
ground in anguish. When his actions brought him to Oswald's
death-site, the pain ceased, and the animal arose completely cured
(H.E., iII, 9).
The development of the cult of relics and of Christian
talismanic lore is a fascinating history of adaptation and
reinterpretation of pagan traditions, or, at least, a substitution
of one kind of sacred and occult object for another. Relics in the
most general sense are not only portions of a holy body but all
materials which have had any contact or association with a sacred
person. His very gar- ments have curative powers. Gregory tells how
Libertinus carried with him one of Honoratus' stockings. One day he
came to a woman whose son had just died. He drew the stocking from
his bosom, laid it on the corpse, prayed, and restored the boy to
life (i, 2). The abbess Elfled and two of her nuns were cured of
various infirmities by wearing St Cuthbert's girdle (chap. 23).
Similarly, when a paralytic put on Cuthbert's shoes, he was healed
(chap. 45). Bede had ample authority for including miracles of this
kind in his Historia and in his life of Cuthbert. When we examine
the nature and kind of the relics and consecrated objects which
Bede mentioned in the miraculous cures, we become conscious of the
substitution process of Christian elements for older pagan beliefs
and customs.
The Christianizers of the Germanic tribes in Britain did not, so
far as can be seen, have to contend with a generally recognized
religious hierarchy with a central deity at the head. Stopford
Brooke noted that Woden was not a supreme god among the English;'8
and that in fact his name was not mentioned before Alfred's time in
the whole corpus of Early English lore. The English seem rather to
have had a host of tribal and household deities, as well as very
numerous magi- cal formulas, charms, superstitions, and kindred
beliefs. Some suggestion for the nature of the situation may be
seen when we compare Bede's curative miracles with such pagan
reminiscences as are preserved in the collections of Cockayne.'9
The pagan remedies and ancient curative magic, although of later
manuscript dating than Bede, preserve intact in many instances the
operative formulas for all sorts of exigencies in the daily life of
the early Englishmen. The additional Christian elements are
patently insertions which sought to hallow rather than to destroy
the older and often potentially efficacious medicine.
So far as possible, Christian curative miracles were substituted
for acts of pagan magic. In such miracles, the beneficence is
attributed solely to the relic of the saint or to the power of
hallowed objects. Whatever other factors may have been present,
since man in his illness will leave nothing untried, they are
passed over silently. Bede tells how Cuthbert was cured of a
swollen knee by an angel. The saint met a man in white garments
mounted upon a splendid horse. The mysterious stranger examined the
afflicted member and recommended a poultice
18 The History of Early English Literature (New York, 1914), 464
ff. 19 Oswald Cockayne, Leechdoms, Wortcunning and Starcraft of
Early England, Rolls Series (London,
1864-66), 3 vols.
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The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede 413
made of boiling wheat flour in milk.20 The knee was cured by the
divine appear- ance of one who was thought to be an angel. The
success of the poultice received no credit, according to the
implication which Bede wished us to follow (chap. 2).
Earconwald, because of his deeds and conduct, was considered to
be a very holy man. The horse-litter in which he was wont to be
carried when he was sick was preserved by his disciples and served
as an efficacious agent. In his day, Bede stated, it continued to
cure many people of agues and other distempers, 'and not only sick
persons who are laid in that litter, or close by it, are cured; but
the very chips of it, when carried to the sick, are wont
immediately to restore them to health' (I.E., iv, 6). Here again
the actual formula for the cure is ig- nored, and the entire credit
for the cures is attributed to the saint's former pos- session. No
inherent power lay in the wood of the litter, but only in the
transferred magic from the touch of the saint's body. In the older
magic, the thing per se had curative attributes.
A better example of reattributed power may be seen in a group of
miracles in which holy earth or dust is the effective agent. Earth
taken from the place where St Oswald was killed served for many
sorts of cures, and even the dust from the place where the water
was thrown with which the saint's bones were washed acquired
beneficent force (H.E., iII, 11. See also Cuthbert's Vita, chap.
41). The use of the earth or dust is told more specifically in
respect to St Chad. His sepul- chre was a wooden monument made in
the shape of a little house, 'covered, having a hole in the wall,
through which those that go thither for devotion usually put in
their hand and take out some of the dust, which they put into water
and give to sick cattle or men to drink, upon which they are
presently eased of their in- firmity and restored to health' (H.E.,
iv, 3). Both in the Old English charms and in some of the leechdoms
we learn that mother earth had strong powers and was often appealed
to directly or made use of in conjunction with other materials. In
a charm for making the land more fertile the cry was uttered:
'erce, erce, erce, eor}an modor,' and again 'hal wes Pu folde fira
modor beo pu growende on godes fawme foZre gefylled firum to
nytte.'2' Earth in medicine may be noted in the charm which must be
sung over and over again: 'eor4e Pe on bere eallum hire
20 In Caxton's Golden Legend, Temple Classics (London, 1900),
iii, 95, this recipe is expanded. The angel 'bade them take the
milk of a cow of one colour, and the juice of small plantain, and
fair wheat flour, and make thereof a plaister.' Cows of one color
were valued particularly by the Celts. The interesting point to be
observed is that we have a combination of white magic and old
medicine. Usually the mention of a specific medicine is omitted.
See my article, 'Hagiological Healing,' Bulletin of the History of
Medicine, viii (1940), 636-642.
21 Cockayne, op. cit., i, 398-404: 'Hail to thee, mother earth,
mortals maintaining; be growing and fertile, by the goodness of
God, filled with fodder our folk to feed.' In the same charm, the
direction appears to take meal of every kind and to bake a broad
loaf, 'as big as will lie within two hands, and knead it with milk
and with holy water, and lay it under the first furrow.' The
Christian insertions 'by the goodness of God,' and 'with holy
water' were certainly not in the original formula. In a charm for
catching a swarm of bees, the efficacy of the earth for its own
sake, unmixed with Christian addi- tions, reveals the belief in the
power of the ancient mother: 'Nim eorpan oferweorp mid Pinre
swipran handa under swipran fet and cwet fo ic under fot funde ic
hit hweet eorpe maeg wib ealra wihta gewhilc and wib andan and
aeminde and wib pa micelan mannes tungan and wib on,' etc. I,
384.
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414 The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede
mihtum and magenum. pas galdor mon moeg singan on wunde.'22 The
chips from the wood of Earconwald's horse-litter were used for
cures, as
has been noted. Likewise, splinters from the oak stake upon
which St Oswald's head was placed, when put into water which had
been blessed, cured a sick man (H.E., III, 14). Also wood from
Oswald's cross, at the place where he was killed, served those who
came for cures. According to Bede, 'many are wont to cut off small
chips from the wood of the holy cross, by which when put into water
men or cattle drinking thereof or sprinkled with that water are
immediately restored to health' (H.E., III, 2). Both charms and
leechdoms suggest that wood served both as a talisman and in the
preparation of medicines. A charm used to cure cattle has the
directions to take two four-edged sticks and to write on either
stick, on each edge, the paternoster to the end.23
In a cure for fellons, a hazel or elder stick or spoon is taken
upon which one's name is to be written. After the fellon is
scarified three times, the name is covered over with blood and then
the stick is thrown away into running water either by a cast over
the shoulder or between the legs.24 Oak bark taken from the north
side of the tree is used in a preparation against cancer.25 Old
moss taken from Oswald's cross cured a man who had a fractured arm
(H.E., III, 2). Moss or lichens must have played a part in heathen
medicine, for in an elaborate recipe for curing a fiend-ridden man,
church lichen or lichen from a cross is among the ingredients.26
Originally, the moss may have been plucked from a pagan shrine or
sacred tree. Some of Cuthbert's hair, when put upon a swollen eye,
cured that organ (H.E., IV, 32). In old leechdoms we are told of
the use of bits of hare's wool,27 or the shavings taken from the
skin of a hart.28 The last agent is reminiscent of the use of the
calfskin which had served as a wall-covering in the cell of the
hermit Felgeld. A piece of this hide, steeped in water, made a wash
which reduced a man's swollen face (Vita, chap. 46).
A final group of curative miracles recorded by Bede centers upon
the use of holy water or oil and consecrated bread. Gregory noted a
miracle in which holy water was the healing element. Fortunatus
cured a Goth's broken thigh by sprin- kling holy water all over the
man's body (i, 10). Upon two occasions, Cuthbert employed the same
liquid (chaps. 25 and 29). In one case, he not only sprinkled
22 Ibid., i, 852: 'May earth bear on thee with all her might and
main. These charms a man may sing over a wound.' The earth which
the dung beetle casts up is good for the bellyache (ii, 818). Shav-
ings from an agate stone when put into wine are good against an elf
(ii, 296). The virtues of agate were widely known. See ii, 298 and
my article, 'Lapidary Medicine,' Bulletin of the History of
Medicine, xvi (1944), 819-824.
23 Ibid., i, 886: 'genim twegen lante sticcan feterecgede. and
writ on Eegberne sticcan be hwaelcere ecge.' It is not unlikely
that the paternoster was merely a substitute for magic runes.
24 Cockayne, ii, 104. A similar formula served for spider bite,
ii, 142. 25 Ibid., ii, 108. In a concoction against the 'dry
disease' ash, aspen, elm, and quickbeam barks are
used. See ii, 116, and iII, 28. Crab apple and sloe thorn bark
(ii, 266) as well as holly bark (iii, 48) served in medicinal
brews. The holly bark when boiled in goat's milk aids oppression of
the breast. The holly as well as the oak have place in pagan
rituals. Elsewhere we learn of chips of oak bark steeped in cow's
milk as useful for dry dysentery (II, 292).
26 Ibid., II, 186-188. 27 Ibid., ii, 354. 28 Ibid., iii, 44: Eft
heoretes sceafepan of felle.
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The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede 415
the sick woman and her bed but gave her some of the water to
drink. Bishop John likewise prescribed a drink of holy water and
ordered the sick person to be washed in the sacred liquid (H.E., v,
4). Cuthbert cured a pain in a girl's head by anointing her with
oil (chap. 30). He also strengthened an infirm man by giving him a
cup of water into which he had crumbled a little consecrated bread
(chap. 31).
The charms and recipes mingle the old and the new magic.
Particularly illus- trative of the intermixture of ideas is a
recipe which was especially good for those troubled by a demon:
Drene wi6 feondseocum men of ciriebellan to drincanne. gyjrife.
glaes. gearwe. elehtre. betonice. attorlaje. carruc. fane. finul.
ciricragu. cristes maeles ragu. lufestice. gewyrc tone drenc of
hlattrum eala6 gesinge seofen maessan ofer 6am wyrtum do garleac
and halig waeter to and drype on aelene drincan tone drenc je he
drincan wille oft. and singe tone sealm. Beati Immaculi ... etc.
and tone drinc tone drenc of ciricbellan and se maesse proest him
singe aefter jam drenc Jis ofer. Domine Sancte pater
omnipotens.29
Since the recognition of demonology, fiends, elf, dwarf, etc.,
was already existent in the older religion among the English, the
Christianizing of the formulas against such attacks was an easy and
a natural business. The efficacy of the sign of the Cross, the use
of the sacred materials of the mass, the invocation of the saints,
and all the written authority of the sacred books, were thrown into
the struggle against the innumerable pagan superstitions and true
and magical formulas which the apostles of the new religion found
permeating through all the people whom they sought to
convert.30
29 Ibid., II, 186-188: 'A drink for a fiend sick man, to be
drunk out of a church bell; githrife, cyno- glossum, yarrow, lupin,
betony, attorlothe, cassock, flower de luce, fennel, chirch lichen,
lichen of Christ's mark or cross, lovage; work up the drink off
clear ale, sing seven masses over the worts, add garlic and holy
water, and drip the drink into every drink which he will
subsequently drink, and let him sing the psalm, Beati immaculati,
etc., and then let him drink the drink out of a church bell, and
let the mass priest after the drink sing this over him, Domine,
sancte pater omnipotens.' Another recipe includes the use of
consecrated bread as well as holy water (ii, 884). Consult further
ii, 844, 846, 850, and iII, 56.
30 The saints who were invoked were not particularly numerous.
The Apostles, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John appear in a charm for
general well-being. See Cockayne, i, 890 and iii, 288. Against
fevers and warty eruptions, the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus
(Maximianus, Malchus, Johannes, Martin- ianus, Dionysius,
Constantius, and Seraphion) were invoked. Others to whom appeal was
made are: Longinus for a stitch in the side, i, 898; Peter for
toothache, i, 894; Veronica against heathen charms, ii, 188 and
848; and Nicasius for small-pox, iii, 295. A prayer against
small-pox mingles Celtic, native, and continental saints:
'Brigitarum ancillarum tuarum malint uoarline dearnabda murde
murrunice domur brio rubebroht. Sc-e rehhoc. & sce ehwalde.
& Sce cassiane. & sce germane. & sce sigismundi regis .
. . ' iii, 78. The sense or possibly nonsense of the opening
sentence is obscure, but, with the exception of rehhoc who may be
Rioch, a nephew of St Patrick, the other names are recognizable:
ehwalde is Ewald (Hewald) of whom there were two. See Bede, H.E.,
v, 10. Cassian appears in Gregory of Tours, De Gloria Martyrum,
chap. 48. Germanus' part in English Church History is told in Bede,
H.E., I, 17-21, while the account of Sigismund is given in Gregory
of Tours, Historia Fran- corum, chaps. 5 and 6. In another recipe
against convulsions or dwarf SS. Machutus and Victricius are
invoked, iii, 88. The former, more commonly known as St. Malo, was
one of St Brendan's com- panions. See P. Guerin, Les Petits
Bollandists, xiii, 414. Victricius was archbishop of Rouen in the
fourth century. Ibid., ix, 367.
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416 Thze Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede
3 The scope which English hagiography eventually reached is best
revealed in
the collection of John of Tynemouth, the Sanctilogium Angliae,
dating from the second quarter of the fourteenth century-" Bede can
be called with all fairness the father of English hagiography,
without detracting from the prior fame of either Adamnan with his
life of St Columba, Ealdhelm for his creation of his De Laudibus
Virginitatis, or a few other less known creators of legends. All of
Bede's contributions were absorbed into John of Tynemouth's
collection, and the weight of his authority is evident in numerous
legends. The cautious selective instinct which made the venerable
one choose his miracle lore with an eye to the authority of Gregory
is apparent when we note the nature of the expanded ver- sions of
several legends.
The Irish tradition for the parentage of St Cuthbert which is
contained in the Libellus de ortu S. Cuthberti32 and prefaced to
the expanded life, supplies informa- tion about the birth and youth
of the saint. Bede in his preface to his Vita ad- dressed Bishop
Eadfrid and the brothers dwelling in the Isle of Lindisfarne, the
seat of Cuthbert's bishopric. He admitted that he had left out
information which they had given him and hinted at the reasons.33
If the stories which the Lindis- farne monks reported about
Cuthbert's early life were either the same stories or similar to
those in the Libellus, we can understand Bede's hesitancy. In the
first place, he would have had to admit the Celtic origin of the
saint, whereas he says nothing about the area of Cuthbert's origin
or his parentage.
The Libellus made Cuthbert the son of an Irish chieftain by the
name of Muriardachus; his mother was Sabina. Wonders accompanied
his birth, particu- larly the appearance of a splendid light. As a
boy he made a marvelous forecast. Beholding a black cow, he
predicted that the calf she carried was red in color and bore a
white star on its forehead. 'Emittente fetum vacca, sicut puer pre-
dixerat reperitur.' The bishop under whom Cuthbert was studying
having died,
31 This compilation, expanded by both Capgrave and Wynkyn de
Worde, was published by the latter in 1516. See Carl Horstman, Nova
Legenda Anglie (Oxford, 1901), 2 vols.
32 See Horstman, op. cit., i, 216, n. 33 Giles, op. cit., iv,
204: 'Sed et alia multa nec minora his, quae scripsimus,
praesentibus nobis,
adinvicem conferentes, de vita et virtutibus beati viri
superintulistis, quae prorsus memoriae digna videbantur, si non
deliberato ac perfecto operi nova interserere vel superadjicere,
minus congruum atque indecorum esse constaret.' These last words
have been overlooked by translators. They con- tain the thought
that Bede considered some of the miracles unsuited for inclusion in
his work. Giles translation, taken word for word by Vida D. Scudder
in the Everyman Library edition, runs: 'But you also, in my
presence, added many other facts of no less importance than what I
had written, concern- ing the life and virtues of that blessed man
and which well deserved to be mentioned, if I had not thought it
unmeet to insert new matter into a work, which, after due
deliberation, I considered to be perfect.' This rendering is
certainly free and shifts the emphasis. Bede did not so much think
that his work was perfect as he was convinced that the new matter
'is certain to be less suited and (even) in- decorous, he having
already weighed the evidence and brought an end to his work.'
Earlier in the preface he had made it clear that he had examined
the evidence with care and had discarded the wilder stories. ' . .
. quia nec sine certissima exquisitione rerum gestarum aliquid de
tanto viro scribere, nec tandem ea, quie scripseram, sine
subtilissima examinatione testium indubiorum passim transcribenda
quibusdam dare praesumsi.'
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The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede 417
his mother sailed to Bishop Columba in Scotland. On the trip
across the sea, the boy lost his book of psalms overboard. An
accommodating sea-calf (vitulus ma- rinus) swallowed the volume and
deposited it uninjured on the shore where the boy landed.
Cuthbert decided at an early age to choose the solitary life and
selected a high mountain, 'Doilwem, id est "area pulchra," ' for
his residence. He expelled the demons from this place, produced a
spring from the hard rock, and spent his nights in prayer. The
devil constructed at the edge of the mountain a very large stone
bath for the destruction of Cuthbert. The saint took a very large
stick with which he broke the bath and caused the water to run down
the mountain. The trace of this emptying is still visible, as well
as the devil's foot-print. This place was taboo to women. Upon
another occasion, a young local princess ac- cused Cuthbert of
being the father of her child. When he was brought before the king,
he denied the allegation and prayed that the true culprit might be
shown. Whereupon, the ground swallowed up the girl's seducer.
Such items make up the miracles which Bede hesitated to include
in his work. These wonders follow the amazing Celtic miracle
tradition rather than the con- tinental heritage of saints' lore.
The expanded Cuthbert legend also includes other miracles which
were of a nature not to meet Bede's approval. For example, a
demonic illusion in the form of a beautiful woman came to tempt the
saint and his monks. 'Omnem siquidem humanam effigiem sua
pulchritudine excellebat, et ornatus ipsius omnis texture mundane
peritiam separabat. Unde quicunque vultum ipsius inspexerant, pre
nimie cupidinis lascivia pene seipsos excesserant.' Cuthbert cast
holy water upon this phantasm and it disappeared, tearing out part
of the church walls and leaving behind a malodorous smell. Bede
consistently avoided the association and relationship of women to
the saints of whom he chose to write.
The same cautious selectivity appears in Bede's reporting about
other figures. Caxton, in his version of the Golden Legend, tells
of Augustine's miracles both on his trip across the continent from
Rome and during his various peregrinations in England while
carrying on his efforts to convert the Germanic tribes. Bede does
not mention any specific miracle. The only suggestions that he
worked any wonders are found in a letter from Pope Gregory to
Augustine, warning him nolt to glory in the miracles which he was
doing, so that he might not become puffed up by pride (H.E., i,
31), and again a sentence of Bede to the effect that Augustine did
many miracles (I, 26). It is not unlikely that Bede knew the story
of Augus- tine's journey among the men of Dorsetshire. The natives
of that region did not receive the monks in a kindly fashion, but
mocked them and threw fish-tails at them. In punishment, their
children were born with tails. This kind of story, as we have seen,
did not fall to the grave historian's liking. Other miracles of
similar nature were also attached to Augustine's name. In the case
of St Earconwald, Bede gave a few miracles but passed over the more
startling items, such as the one which told how the saint's cart
ran upon one wheel (Horstman, i, 394), or the wonder of the saint
and his sister who between them stretched a short beam of wood to
the length which they desired (i, 3992).
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418 The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede
The miracle traditions of the Venerable Bede reveal certain
definite policies on the part of the first great English scholar
and historian. For years he amassed materials for his Historia.
Both written and oral facts and fictions came to his hand. The
items of native wonder-lore must have been very numerous. Faced
with the task of selection, and fully aware of the miracle
traditions of the Celts, he turned for guidance to the Dialogues of
Gregory, whose authority and fame, both as the progenitor of
English Christianity and as an unimpeachable historian of Church
lore, were incontestably established. When Bede found English mira-
cles too much tinged with the colors of a primitive and unbridled
imagination, he chose to lay them quietly aside. In some of the
miracles which he told he softened the exaggerative claims, often,
indeed, to a point where the marvelous element depended upon a
happy coincidence or unique combination of circum- stances. The
incident of the tide bringing to Cuthbert a timber which he needed
for his building (chap. 21), or the story of how he found food in
an isolated shep- herd's hut (chap. 5) are miracles within the
bounds of likelihood. The reproduc- tion of other miracles which
were less in the realm of reason have the qualification that they
were done in imitation of St Benedict or some other holy men. Bede
preferred not to depend upon his own authority when he had to deal
with any marvelous event.4 He felt reassured when he could find the
miracle previously recorded in Gregory. It is well to note that
when Bede wrote The Lives of the Holy Abbots of Weremouth and
Jarrow, he did not mention a single miracle at- tributed to the
five men whose histories he gives. Upon home ground and with the
local records at hand, Bede chose to be altogether realistic. He
was not like the author who in after years wrote about him. At the
conclusion of a sermon when he had reached the words 'Per omnia
secula seculorum' the very stones 'alta voce clamauerunt: "amen,
venerabilis pater." '35
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY.
34 'One of the brothers from whose mouth I received this
narrative' (chap. 8); 'I learned these particulars from a religious
man' (chap. 5); 'They say that (Boisil) foretold' (chap. 7); 'The
man took care to tell it (the miracle) to many persons' (chap. 10);
' . . . many eyewitnesses, one of whom, Ethelwold, now abbot of ...
Melrose' (chap. 30); 'I give this on the authority of one of them'
(chap. 35); 'this I did not pick up from any chance authority, but
I had it from one of those who were present' (chap. 36); 'This
story was also told me by some of those who had heard it related by
the person himself to whom it happened' (H.E., iv, 22), etc.
35 Horstman, op. cit., 'De venerabili Beda presbitero et
doctore,' i, 111.
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