Manuscript: Faustina B. IX

innouarent, & confirmarent, qui honorifice recepti sunt & remissi.
A[nno] dccolxxxoviio sinodus congregata est in Pincanhale. Albertus abbas Ripensis migrauit ad Christum, pro
quo Sigredus ordinatus est.
A[nno] dccolxxxoviiio Elfwaldus rex innocenter necatus est ab eius patricio Sigan nomine, & corpus ipsius in Hagus
taldensi ecclesia sepultum. In loco autem interfectionis eius cęlitus emissa lux uidebatur. Constructa est
ibidem ecclesia in honore Sanctorum Oswaldi & Cuthberti consecrata. Successit ei Osredus nepos ipsius.
A[nno] dccolxxxoixo Osredus prodicione suorum a regno fugatus est.
A[nno] dccoxco1 Ethelredus rex filius Moll de exilio liberatus est & regno suo restitutus. Qui Eardulfum ducem capi
ens & ad Ripum perducens ibi eum occidit extra porta2 monasterii. Delato autem corpore ipsius in ęcclesiam
& psallentibus circa eum & pro eo fratribus post mediam noctem uiuus inuentus est. Badulfus ad Candidam Casam ordinatur
A[nno] dccoxcio rex Ethredus3 filios Elfwaldi regis Ælf & Elwinum ab Eboraco ui abstractos ¶episcopus.
miserabiliter peremit in Wonwaldremere. Lambertus archiepiscopus Dorouernensis migrauit ad Christum,
cui successit Ethelredus4 Ludensis monasterii abbas;
A[nno] dccoxcoiio Osredus de exilio cum exercitu rediit, quo eum deserente captus occiditur iussu Ethelredi re
gis, & sepelitur apud Tynemutham. Ethelredus rex accepit Elfledam reginam5 Offe Merciorum regis
A[nno] dccoxcoiiio uisi sunt in aere flammei dracones, quod signum duę pestes subsecutę sunt, prius
intolerabilis fames, deinde seuicia gentis paganorum, Danorum scilicet & Norwagensium, qui eodem anno Lindis
farnense monasterium destruentes6 monachos occiderunt, & Northumbriam miserabili strage per
cusserunt. Eodem anno Sigga dux qui Elfwaldum regem occiderat propria sed prophana morte periit.
A[nno] dccoxcoiiiio Norhumbri occiderunt regem suum Eðelredum filium Moll. Osbaldus uero patricius in regnum elatus
post xxti vii dies a regno expellitur, qui suscepto relligionis habitu postea factus est abbas. Eardulfus
uero filius Earnulfi qui ut supradiximus post occisionem reuixit de exilio reuocatus rex est constitutus. Egfridus rex
Cant’ obiit, cui successit Eadbrich Pren. Adrianus sulleuatus est ad celi mansionem, cui Leo successit.
Gens predicta paganorum monasterium regis Egfridi apud Donemutham spoliauerunt, nec impune.
Nam beati Cuthberti meritis quidam eorum sunt occisi, quidam naufragati, quidam uiuentes capti
& mox ad litus interfecti.
A[nno] dccoxcovo rex Francorum Karolus Hunorum sibi gentem subiciens, fugato eorum principe & exercitu
superato - spolia pauperibus & ęcclesiis diuisit id est de auro & argento onera plaustrorum xv quorum singula
bis bini trahebant boues.
A[nno] dccoxcovio Offa rex Merciorum qui uallum magnum a mari usque ad mare fecerat - postquam xxxix annis
regnauerat defunctus est. Cui succedens filius suus Egfridus post v menses obiit. Deinde Cenwlfus reg
num suscepit, & xxvi annis pacifice tenuit. Iste etiam pater Kenelmi ma\r/tyris. Eanbaldus archi
episcopus Eborac’ obiit, cui successit alter Eanbaldus, ordinantibus eum episcopis, Eðelberto, Higbaldo, Badulfo.
A[nno] dccoxcoviio Eðelbertus episcopus defunctus est & in sua id est Hagustaldensi ecclesia sepultus, cui successit Headre
dus. Romani amputauerunt linguam Leoni pape & oculos eruerunt, & eum a sede apostolica fuga
uerunt. Sed ipse per uirtutem Dei iterum7 & loqui potuit, & in sede apostolica restitutus est.
A[nno] dccoxcoviiio interfectores Ethelredi regis cum duce Wada bellum inierunt contra Eardul
fum Eðelredi successorem, apud Billingahoh - iuxta Waleleie, in quo multi ceciderunt, sed duce Wa
da in fugam uerso uictoriam habuit Eardulfus. Lundonia repentino igne cum magna hominum
multitudine consumpta est. Cenwlf rex Merciorum Kentenses predacione crudelissima uastauit, re
gemque illorum comprehendens & dehonestans suo regnum ipsius adiecit, quod de eo Cuthredus tunc suscepit

Notes

1 DB: The numeral xc has been written over an erasure.
2 DB: A suspension stroke may have been omitted: portam would be expected after extra.
3 DB: Read Ethelredus.
4 DB: Ethelredus is the form found in Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum (ed. Greenway, p. 256). Note also Cambridge Corpus Christi College MS 139 (Historia Regum) f. 65v has Ethelherdus, with herdus written over an erasure. British Library MS Royal 15 A VI (Historia post Bedam) has Æthelheardus.
5 JT: The scribe has used symbols (/.) to indicate an alternative word order: reginam Elfledam. Note also Cambridge Corpus Christi College MS 139 (Historia Regum) f. 65v has Elfledam filiam Offe.
6 DB: The second t has been corrected from an s.
7 DB: The Latin text is presumably missing uidere (‘to see’) here.
They were honourably received, and returned.
In the 787th year a synod was assembled at Pincanhalh. Æthelberht, abbot of Ripon, passed away to Christ, in whose place Sigred was ordained.
In the 788th year King Ælfwald, blamelessly, was slain by his courtier Sicga, and his body was buried in the church of Hexham. A light sent out from heaven, however, was seen at the scene of his killing.1 At the same place a church was built dedicated in honour of SS. Oswald and Cuthberht; Osred, his nephew, succeeded him.
In the 789th year Osred was driven away from his kingdom by the treachery of his people.
In the 790th year King Æthelred son of Moll was freed from exile, and restored to his kingdom. He, seizing the ealdorman Eardwulf, and bringing him to Ripon, slew him there outside the gate of the monastery. After his body was carried into the church, and the brothers singing psalms around him and for him, he was found after midnight to be alive. At Whithorn, Beadwulf is ordained ¶bishop.
In the 791st year King Æthelred dragged out Ælf and Ælfwine from York by force, and destroyed them pitiably in Wenwoldremere. Lambert, archbishop of Canterbury, passed away to Christ; Æthelred,2 abbot of Louth minster, succeeded him.
In the 792nd year Osred returned from exile with an army; by their deserting him, he was captured, and is killed by order of King Æthelred, and is buried at Tynemouth. King Æthelred took Ælfflæd, [daughter] of Offa king of the Mercians, as queen.
In the 793rd year dragons of flame were seen in the sky; two curses followed this sign immediately: first an unbearable famine, then the savagery of a race of pagans—Danes, that is, and Norwegians—who in this year tore down the monastery of Lindisfarne, slew monks, and smote Northumbria with pitiful slaughter. In this year the ealdorman Sicga, who had killed King Ælfwald, perished by a special, yet unholy, death.
In the 794th year the Northumbrians slew their king, Æthelred son of Moll. Osbald, a courtier raised to the kingship, is, moreover, expelled from the kingdom after 27 days; he, after taking a religious habit, afterwards was made abbot. Eardwulf son of Earnwulf—who, as we said above, revived after he was slain—was recalled from exile, and was made king. Ecgfrith, king of Kent, died; Eadberht Præn succeeded him. Adrian was raised up to the abode on high; Leo succeeded him. The aforesaid race of pagans plundered the monastery of King Ecgfrith at Donmouth, but not with impunity. For, by the merits of the blessed Cuthberht, some were killed, some were shipwrecked, some taken alive and then killed at the beach.
In the 795th year Charles, king of the Franks, subjugating the race of Huns to himself after their leader had been put to flight and their army overcome, apportioned the spoils—that is, 15 cartloads of gold and silver, each pulled by oxen twice two-by-two—to the poor and to churches.
In the 796th year Offa, king of the Mercians, who had made a great rampart from sea to sea, died after he had reigned for 39 years. His son, Ecgfrith, succeeding him, died after 5 months. Thereafter Cenwulf took up the kingship, and held it peacefully for 26 years. He is, besides, the father of Kenhelm the martyr. Eanbald, archbishop of York, died; another Eanbald succeeded him, with Bishops Æthelberht, Higbald and Beadwulf ordaining him.
In the 797th year Bishop Æthelberht died, and was buried in his church—that is, at Hexham; Headred succeeded him. The Romans cut off Pope Leo’s tongue and gouged out his eyes, and they put him to flight from the apostolic see. But he, through God’s help, was able [to see] and to speak again, and was reinstated in the apostolic see.
In the 798th year the killers of King Æthelred, along with the ealdorman Wada, entered into battle against Eardwulf, Æthelred’s successor, at Billingahoh, near Whalley, in which many fell; but Eardwulf had the victory after the ealdorman Wada had turned in flight. London was suddenly devoured by fire with a great multitude of men. Cenwulf, king of the Mercians, ravaged the men of Kent with the fiercest pillaging and, laying hands on their king and disparaging him, he added his kingdom to his, which Cuthred then received

Notes

1 DB: I am grateful to James Waddell’s translation for ‘at the scene of his killing’.
2 DB: This should be Æthelheard (see note in transcription).