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Life of St Wilfrid
Eddius Stephanus, tr. Colgrave, 1927
25. How Bishop Winfrid Was Robbed
Bishop Wilfrid of blessed memory now prepared to embark with his companions and clergy, while many thousands of his monks were left, mourning and weeping, in the power of the newly ordained bishops, and praying God without ceasing to direct Wilfrid’s journey in accordance with His will. But the enemies of our prelate, mindful of their misdeeds, believed that he would be sailing south to Etaples and making his way by the most direct route to the Holy See, and so they sent ahead their messengers with bribes to Theodoric, King of the Franks, and to Ebroin, a wicked duke, to persuade them to condemn him to the greater exile, or to slay his comrades and rob him of all his substance. But the Lord freed him from the hands of his enemies, as though from the hands of Herod. For at that time the holy Winfrid the bishop, who had been driven out of Lichfield, was making his way by the same route and fell into the hands of these same enemies, as though into the jaws of a lion. He was immediately captured and robbed of all his money. Many of his companions were slain and the holy bishop was left naked and in the utmost straits of misery. They thought that he was the holy Bishop Wilfrid, which was not the case, being misled by a fortunate mistake in one syllable.