Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book V Chapter XI
by Venerable Bede
HOW THE VENERABLE SWIDBERT IN BRITAIN, AND WILBRORD AT ROME, WERE ORDAINED BISHOPS FOR
FRISLAND. [A.D. 692.]
AT their first Coming into Frisland, as soon as Wilbrord found he had leave given him
by the prince to preach, he made haste to Rome, where Pope Sergius then presided over the
apostolical see, that he might undertake the desired work of preaching the Gospel to the
Gentiles, with his licence and blessing; and hoping to receive of him some relics of the
blessed apostles and martyrs of. Christ; to the end, that when he destroyed the idols, and
erected churches in the nation to which he preached, he might have the relics of saints at
hand to put into them, and having deposited them there, might accordingly dedicate those
places to the honor of each of the saints whose relics they were. He was also desirous
there to learn or to receive from thence many other things which so great a work required.
Having obtained all that he wanted, he returned to preach.
At which time, the brothers who were in Frisland, attending the ministry of the word,
chose out of their own number a man, modest of behavior, and meek of heart, called
Swidbert, to be ordained bishop for them. He, being sent into Britain, was consecrated by
the most reverend Bishop Wilfrid, who, happening to be then driven out of his country,
lived in banishment among the Mercians; for Kent had no bishop at that time, Theodore
being dead, and Berthwald, his successor, who was gone beyond the sea, to be ordained, not
having returned.
The said Swidbert, being made bishop, returned from Britain not long after, and went
among the Boructuarians; and by his preaching brought many of them into the way of truth;
but the Boructuarians being not long after subdued by the Ancient Saxons, those who had
received the word were dispersed abroad; and the bishop himself repaired to Pepin, who, at
the request of his wife, Blithryda, gave him a place of residence in a certain island on
the Rhine, which, in their tongue, is called Inlitore; where he built a monastery, which
his heirs still possess, and for a time led a most continent life, and there ended his
days.
When they who went over had spent some years teaching in Frisland, Pepin, with the
consent of them all, sent the venerable Wilbrord to Rome, where Sergius was still pope,
desiring that he might be consecrated archbishop over the nation of the Frisons; which was
accordingly done, in the year of our Lord's incarnation 696. He was consecrated in the
church of the Holy Martyr Cecilia, on her feastday; the pope gave him the name of Clement,
and sent him back to his bishopric, fourteen days after his arrival at Rome.
Pepin gave him a place for his episcopal see, in his famous castle, which in the
ancient language of those people is called Wiltaburg, that is, the town of the Wilts; but,
in the French tongue, Utrecht. The most reverend prelate having built a church there, and
preaching the word of faith far and near, drew many from their errors, and erected several
churches and monasteries. For not long after he constituted other bishops in those parts,
from among the brethren that either came with him or after him to preach there; some of
which are now departed in our Lord; but Wilbrord himself, surnamed Clement, is still
living, venerable for old age, having been thirty-six years a bishop, and sighing after
the rewards of the heavenly life, after the many spiritual conflicts which he has waged.