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Life of St Wilfrid
Eddius Stephanus, tr. Colgrave, 1927
How Hatred Was Aroused Against Our Bishop and How He Was Driven from His See
The tempter, “like a roaring lion,” according to the Apostle Peter, prowled round the sheepfold of God, seeking an entrance, always on the watch by day and by night and eagerly desiring to overthrow the bravest soldier first, in order that the fearful ones may be more easily overcome. So, taking his usual weapons he sought the weaker vessel, the woman, by whom he has constantly defiled the whole world. For Ecgfrith’s queen, named Iurminburg, was at that time tortured with envy owing to the persuasions of the devil, although, after the death of the king, from being a she-wolf she was changed into a lamb of God, a perfect abbess and an excellent mother of the community. Forthwith this sorceress shot poisoned arrows of speech from her quiver into the heart of the king, as the wicked Jezebel did when she slew the prophets of the Lord and persecuted Elijah. She eloquently described to him all the temporal glories of St Wilfrid, his riches, the number of his monasteries, the greatness of his buildings, his countless army of followers arrayed in royal vestments and arms. With such shafts as these the king’s heart was wounded. They both sought skilfully to humiliate the holy head of the Church to their own destruction and boldly to defraud him of the gifts which the kings had given him for God’s sake. Contrary to the will of God and as Balak summoned Balaam, they summoned the Archbishop Theodore with the aid of bribes to help them in their madness; for bribes blind the eyes even of wise men.
When the archbishop had come, they explained to him what they intended to do to bring about Wilfrid’s humiliation and he consented to condemn him unjustly—(Heaven save the mark!)—for no crime whatever. So in the absence of our bishop he consecrated, by himself, over parts of Wilfrid’s own diocese, irregularly and contrary to all precedent, three bishops who had been picked up elsewhere and were not subjects of this diocese.
When our holy bishop heard this, he went to see the king and the archbishop and asked for what reason, without any wrong-doing on his part, they, like robbers, should defraud him of the possessions with which the kings, for God’s sake, had endowed him. They made our bishop a scandalous reply before all the people:
“We do not,” they said, “ascribe to you any criminal offence in any injurious act, but we will not change our established decrees respecting you.”
But our bishop was not content with so fraudulent a judgment, and, on the advice of his brother-bishops, he sought the judgment of the Apostolic See, as the Apostle Paul, when he had been condemned by the Jews without cause, appealed to Caesar. Then the holy bishop, turning away from the royal tribunal, amid the mirthful laughter of the king’s flatterers, said, “On this day twelvemonth you who now laugh at my condemnation through malice, shall then weep bitterly over your own confusion.” And so it happened, in accordance with the prophecy of the saint. For on that day twelvemonth the body of the slain King Aelfwini was carried into York and all the people with bitter tears tore their garments and their hair, while his brother who survived him reigned, but gained no victory until the day of his death.