Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book IV Chapter XII
by Venerable Bede
HEDDA SUCCEEDS ELEUTHERIUS IN THE BISHOPRIC OF THE WEST SAXONS; CUICHELM SUCCEEDS PUTTA
IN THAT OF ROCHESTER, AND IS HIMSELF SUCCEEDED BY GERMUND; AND WHO WERE THEN BISHOPS OF
THE NORTHUMBRIANS.
[A. D. 673]
ELEUTHERIUS was the fourth bishop of the West Saxons; for Birinus was the first,
Agilbert the second, and Wini the third. When Kenwalk, in whose reign the said Eleutherius
was made bishop, died, his underrulers took upon them the kingdom of the people, and
dividing it among themselves, held it ten years; and during their rule he died, and Hedda
succeeded him in the bishopric, having been consecrated by Theodore, in the city of
London; during whose prelacy, Cadwalla, having subdued and removed those rulers, took upon
him the government. l~ hen he had reigned two years, and whilst the same bishop still
governed the church, he quitted his sovereignty for the love of the heavenly kingdom, and,
going away to Rome, ended his days there, as shall be said more fully hereafter.
In the year of our Lord's incarnation 676, when Ethelred, king of the Mercians, ravaged
Kent with a powerful army, and profaned churches and monasteries, without regard to
religion, or the fear of God, he among the rest destroyed the city of Rochester; Putta,
who was bishop, was absent at that time, but when he understood that his church was
ravaged, and all things taken away, he went to Sexwulfs bishop of the Mercians, and having
received of him a certain church, and a small spot of land, ended his days there in peace;
in no way endeavouring to restore his bishoprics because (as has been said above) he was
more industrious in spiritual than in worldly affairs; serving God only in that church,
and going wherever he was desired, to teach church music. Theodore consecrated Cuichelm
bishop of Rochester in his stead; but he, not long after, departing from his bishopric for
want of necessaries, and withdrawing to other parts, Gebmund was substituted in his place.
In the year of our Lord's incarnation, 678, which is the eighth of the reign of Egfrid,
in the month of August, appeared a star, called a comet, which continued for three months,
rising in the morning, and darting out, as it were, a pillar of radiant flame. The same
year a dissension broke out between King Egfrid and the most reverend prelate, Wilfrid,
who was driven from his see, and two bishops substituted in his stead, to preside over the
nation of the Northumbrians, namely, Bosa, to preside over the nation of the Deiri; and
Eata over that of the Bernicians, the former having his see in the city of York, the
latter in the church of Hagulstad, or else Lindisfarne; both of them promoted to the
episcopal dignity from a society of monks. With them also was Edhed ordained bishop in the
province of Lindsey, which King Egfrid had but newly subdued, having overcome and
vanquished Wulfhere; and this was the first bishop of its own which that province had; the
second was Ethelwin; the third Edgar; the fourth Cynebert, who is there at present. Before
Edhed, Sexwulf was bishop as well of that province as of the Mercians and Midland Angles;
so that, when expelled from Lindsey, he continued in the government of those provinces.
Edhed, Bosa, and Eata, were ordained at York by Archbishop Theodore; who also, three years
after the departure of Wilfrid, added two bishops to their number; Tumbert, in the church
of Hagulstad, Eata still continuing in that of Lindisfarne; and Trumwine in the province
of the Picts which at that time was subject to the English. Edhed returning from Lindsey,
because Ethelred had recovered that province, was placed by him over the church of Ripon.
