THE MIRACLE TRADITIONS OF THE VENERABLE BEDE

BY C. GRANT LOOMIS 1

THE cult of the miraculous was well established in the Christian writing of Europe by the end of the sixth century, although the flourishing period for leg- ends, the full-length biographies of saints and other holy men, had to wait several centuries. The attachment of miracles to the progenitors of Christianity was a rather slow process, despite the records of benevolent magic in the Gospels and in the Old Testament. In the Historia Ecclesiastica of Eusebius, which reached its final form about 325, seven miracles are ascribed to early Christians; but an equal number of deeds of magic by pagans and heretics is also recorded. Ruinart's collection, Acta Martyrum Sincera, is not colored by superhuman deeds other than the amazing endurance shown under horrible tortures. The miracles in the Vitae Patrum written by Jerome and others, and introducing into the West the lives of the saints of the Egyptian desert and the near East, indicated the fu- ture trend of a continuous and eventually formulized accretion of the marvelous. The Vita S. Martini of Sulpicius Severus advanced the use of miracle motive in Western Europe in the fifth century. In the following century, Gregory of Tours, in his Liber de Miraculis, his De Gloria Martyrum, and the Historia Francorum, established the wonder cult. The four books of Dialogues of Pope Gregory the Great lent an authoritative stamp to the recognition of white magic. The lore of wonder lived among the people. The belief in a cult of heroes and supernatural men, coupled with a multitude of old religious formulas and superstitions, had a continuous tradition. Theoretical theology was forced to recognize the impossibil- ity of stamping out the belief in magic. A wise substitution of Christian magical elements was made wherever possible. Old beliefs were reinterpreted, and the cult of wonder served to capture the popular imagination. Christian dogma could not reach the mass of men, but marvelous incidents were convincing manifesta- tions in a thousand localities at once.

The Venerable Bede had a solid tradition behind him when he wrote his Historia Ecclesiastica. Eusebius and Gregory of Tours had written histories of Christianity in their areas. Gregory emphasized the miraculous whenever the indications were present. But Bede chose a greater authority for the type of miracle which he introduced into his history. Celtic Christanity in Great Britain had its own miracle lore, but traditions from that source were ignored by Bede in his revelations of the operations of benevolent magic in English Christianity. The papal authority of Gregory the Great could not be questioned, and the miracle types in the Dialogues lay ready at hand.

The miracles in the Historia Ecclesiastica show a cautious selectivity. The range of types is not extensive. Fifty-two miracles fall into seventeen categories. This division may be contrasted with the one-hundred nineteen miracles in Gregory's Dialogues, which display forty-five varieties of the miraculous. Bede's life of St Cuthbert, with its thirty-eight miracles, adds only five types to the miracles

404

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which appear in the Historia. Bede, as a recorder of white magic, is not reflective of general originality. The folklore traditions of his native scene can be seen in only a few instances.

Charles Plummer's exhaustive notes to his careful edition of Bede's Historial give the sources for the saints mentioned from the period prior to the appearance on English soil of Christian heroes among the Germanic tribes. The acts of the life of St Alban which were available to Bede are not known, but the account (i, 7) is brief, and mentions only two commonplace miracles, namely, the drying up of a stream for the safe passage of the saint (a business which is often only a tidal vagary), and the production of a living spring. The subsequent wonder- working of Alban receives a general comment: 'In quo videlicet loco (the scene of the martyrdom) ad hanc diem curatio infirmorum, et frequentium operatio virtutem celebrari non desinit' (I, 7).

The chapters (i, 17-21) dealing with the activities of St Germanus in Britain were taken from Constantius' life of this saint,2 and the miracles were derived from this source. Germanus quelled a stormy sea by means of holy water, cured blindness by means of saints' relics, caused fire to avoid the house where he was, scattered an enemy by the shout of Hallelujah, and healed a withered leg by his touch. Similar miracles appear in Gregory's Dialogues, except for the incident about the dispelling of the enemy by means of shouting.

After the account of the appearance of Germanus in Britain, Bede passed hur- riedly over the next century and a half to the Christianization of the English people at the instigation of Gregory the Great (i, 23). From this point on, he had numerous written and oral sources at his command, and the selection and com- pilation of materials lay more directly in his hands. In many instances, Bede is the single source for the miracles attributed to the various holy men who helped in the conversion of the pagan tribes. Which popular traditions were to be in- cluded in the history and which ones were to be omitted were problems of cau- tious editing. The weighed consideration of the reduction of extensive materials to the succinct form of historical documentation seems to have been constantly in Bede's mind.

Bede had written his prose life of St Cuthbert about 720, and had recorded thirty-eight miracles. Only five of Cuthbert's marvels appear in the Historia. Bede's orthodoxy led him to depend upon recognized parallels for the choice and range of the miracles which he selected, first for the composition of the life of St Cuthbert, and later for the compilation of his Historia. The evidence for this statement is seen in the relationship of Gregory's life of St Benedict as it appears in the second book of the Dialogues and Bede's portrayal of the life and miracles of St Cuthbert. The admission of the inspiration of the Dialogues is made at the end of the fourteenth chapter of St Cuthbert's life.3

1 Venerabilis Badae Historiam Ecclesiasticum Gentis Anglorum (Oxford, 1896), 2 vols. 2 See the Bollandists' Acta Sanctorum, July, vii, 201-221. 3 'Sicque in duobus miraculis duorum patrum est virtutes imitatus: in phantasticis quidem praevisis

et evacuatis incendiis, virtutem reverendissimi et sanctissimi patris Benedicti, qui simulatum ab antiquo hoste coquinie ardentis incendium ab oculis discipulorum orando pepulit: in veris vero wque

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The first fire-miracle of Cuthbert (chap. 13), where the element is of demonic origin, is not of frequent occurrence in the legends of the saints, certainly not this early. The application of the miracle is similar, although the setting and the background are unlike.4 The second fire-miracle, the model for which is attributed to Marcellinus, also appears in the Dialogues (i, 6). This type of miracle is much more common, and Bede used it several times in his Historia.5

Bede's treatment of the life of Cuthbert is, in the main, a loosely joined series of episodes, some realistic and some miraculous, which follow roughly the chronology of a human life. The pattern of legends eventually became stereo- typed. They began usually with parentage, prenatal marvels, and precocious infancy, but neither in Gregory's Benedict nor in Bede's Cuthbert are these genealogical details prefaced to the actual life. Bede noted Cuthbert's own reminiscence of his boyhood as he heard it from Trumwine, who quoted the saint. A child of three chided Cuthbert for boyish frolics which did not betoken a nature necessary for future priesthood and holiness. The words were effective, and Cuthbert mended his ways.

Benedict at an early age deserted the pleasures of learning for the solitary's cell. The stories told about both men derive from their most active years, from a time when their fame had already been established. The ascription to both saints of powers over the forces of nature is evident in many ways. Their wonder-work- ing with fire has been illustrated. Bede found other miraculous analogues in the Dialogues. When Cuthbert was constructing his residence on the island of Farne (chap. 17), he lifted stones, 'angelico adjutus auxilio,' which four men would have found difficult to move. Benedict, when he was building his abbey, overcame handicaps of weight by blessing a stone which was hard to raise (ii, 9). Gregory tells of other suspensions of gravity by Nonnosus (i, 7) and Honoratus (i, 1)

victis ac retortis ignium globus, virtutem viri venerabilis Marcellini Anconitani antistitis, qui ardente eadem civitate, ipse contra ignem positus orando flammas compescuit, quas tanta civium manus aquam quae supersunt omnia,' J. A. Giles, Venerabilis Bedw,, opera quae supersunt omnia (London, 1843), iv, 250. Hereafter cited for the Vita Cuthberti.

4See the Dialogues, II, 10, Migne, Pat. Lat., IVI. 5 In the Vita Cuthberti (chap. 14), the saint prays and the wind shifts and saves the houses of the

village, particularly the one in which he was dwelling. The parallel to the miracle of Marcellinus is closer in the H.E., II, 7, where Bishop Mellitus ordered himself to be carried toward the raging fire which threatened to destroy Canterbury. The wind shifted from south to north. Similarly, Marcel- linus was carried out and set down against the flames. 'Quod ita factum est, atque in eo loco est po- situs, ubi tota vis flammae vicebatur incumbere. Coepit autem miro modo in semetipsum incendium retorqueri, ac si reflexione sui impetus exclamaret se episcopum transire non posse. Sicque factum est ut flamma incendii illo termino refrenata, in semetipsa refrigesceret, et contingere ulterius quidquam adificii non auderet,' Pat. Lat., Lxxvii, 181. Aidan operated the same miracle, H.E., III, 16, while Germanus, H.E., I, 19, had an experience similar to that of Cuthbert. The preservation of holy places and relics from the force of fire is illustrated by the Dialogues, III, 18, where the Goths tried to burn Benedict of Campania in his cell. The fire consumed all things around but spared the man and his habitation. The post upon which Aidan leaned when he died could not be consumed when the rest of the church was burned, H.E., III, 17, nor could the post be destroyed upon which hung earth taken from Oswald's grave, although the rest of the house burned. H.E., III, 10.

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Benedict created a well for his monastery on the top of a hill. The place was very unpromising, but after making a hollow a spring appeared (ii, 5). Similarly, Cuthbert dug in the middle of his hut in a dry and stony place. The next morning he had an adequate water supply.6

The power to call up or to allay storms became one of the common assets of a saint. This miracle was attached to many English wonder-workers, since sea- faring was so necessary for the life of the nation. The parallels in the Dialogues are not direct analogues but rather associated types of miracles. In order to keep her brother Benedict near her, Scholastica called up a storm (ii, 33), while Cuth- bert detained some disobedient brethren upon their sea-journey by producing a storm (chap. 36). Contrary magic appears in Cuthbert's calming of adverse weather in order to bring five scattered ships to port (chap. 3).7

Miraculous transportation by water is badly represented in both Gregory and Bede. In the Dialogues (iii, 36), we learn of a ship which, although filled with water, sailed eight days and reached port. The moment the holy man Maximianus stepped from the craft, it went to the bottom. Bede tells how the bodies of the Hewald brothers were carried against the river current forty miles (H.E., v, 10). When Cuthbert was building his house at Farne, he asked some of the brothers to bring him a beam. They forgot this chore, but the ocean washed ashore a tim- ber of the required length (chap. 21).

In the matter of unexpected or divine gifts, Bede found ample authority in the Dialogues. Benedict received one time a mysterious present of two hundred bushels of wheat (ii, 21), while an equally strange donation of money came to him upon another occasion (ii, 28).8 Gregory also tells how Honoratus of Funda re- ceived a fish drawn from a well where no fish life was known to be. Cuthbert upon three occasions received food under strange conditions.9

For the relationship of the human being and the world of creatures Bede did not need to look elsewhere than in the Dialogues in order to tell his wonders of this nature. St Benedict had a pet crow which obeyed him (ii, 8), and Cuthbert, 'in exemplum patris Benedicti,' also controlled a pair of crows. Upon one occa- sion he sent them away when they pulled thatch from a roof for their nest, but he allowed them to return when they showed the proper humility and brought with them a piece of hog's lard (chap. 920. See also chap. 12). When birds attacked Cuthbert's barley field (chap. 19), he sent them away. Similarly, Gregory tells how Bonifacius dismissed the worms which were consuming his garden (i, 9).

B See chap. 18. In the following chapter, Bede notes: 'in aqua, videlicet, alicita de rupe, factum beati patris Benedicti, qui idem pane et eodem modo legitur fecisse miraculum; sed idcirco uberius, quia plures erant, qui aqume inopia laborarent.' See also, H.E., Iv, 21.

I The beneficent action of holy men is more frequent than their storm-creating activity. Ethelwold, Cuthbert's successor, calmed the ocean (H.E., v, 1), while Bishop Aidan combined prediction with controlling power when he forecast a storm and gave some sailors holy oil with which to lay the sea. In a similar miracle, Germanus made use of holy water to quell the waves (H.E., i, 17). Rainmaking, which belongs to the category of weather control and is represented in the Dialogues by the use of a relic of St. Euthicius (iii, 15) does not appear in Bede. The business is rather frequent, however, in Celtic legends, and seems to indicate the preservation of primitive pagan magic.

' See also Dialogues, i, 9. 9 See chapters 5, 7, and 11.

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Bede's story (chap. 10) of the two sea-otters which came from the deep to warm and dry Cuthbert's feet is a happy example of the adaptation of local creatures to particular conditions. Gregory can only offer the helpful bear of Florentinus. The creature acted as shepherd and could tell time (III, 15).

In the struggle with the powers of darkness, very often merely the allegorical representation of worldly temptations, the Dialogues offered two models. Bene- dict overcame the stings of the flesh, symbolized by a bird (ii, 2), and St Datius drove out the demons which were haunting a house (iii, 4). Cuthbert expelled devils from the island of Farne before he made his habitation there (chap. 17).

In his description of the transformation of one substance into another, Bede was cautious in reporting that certain water which Cuthbert had set to his lips tasted later to others like the very best wine (chap. 35). Gregory reported that Sanctulus made water turn into oil (iii, 37).

A miracle which was often told in England is Bede's statement that Cuthbert's body was found undecayed nine years after it had been buried (chap. 42, H.E., IV, 30 has eleven years). Gregory noted a similar wonder about the body of Her- culanus, although the period of time was considerably less (iii, 13). Four other instances of uncorrupted bodies appear in the Historia, namely those of Oswald (iii, 6), Ethelberga (iii, 8), Fursey (iii, 19), and Etheldrida (iv, 19). The phe- nomenon, however, is not restricted to saints alone, but seems to depend upon natural causes when certain conditions of soil and atmosphere are present.'0 Often associated with this miracle is the marvelous odor which arises from the corpse of a holy person, either at death or when the body is translated in later years. The Dialogues (iv, 27) have one example, and Bede noted the miracle in respect to St Ethelberga (H.E., iII, 8).

Two miracles common to Bede and Gregory are often hard to distinguish, since the modus operandi may be the same for both manifestations. One deals with predictions and prophecies concerning future events or immediate knowledge of distant occurrences; the second is the matter of visions, often dreams, of super- natural or psychic phenomena. Sometimes the knowledge or foresight is revealed in a vision or dream. The accounts of miracles of these kinds are very numerous in the legends of the saints, and appear in the earliest recorded Christian lore. Pre- diction and knowledge of distant events may be accepted as common properties of magic in general. Visions and dreams lie in a realm somewhere between sleep and reality. Both Gregory and Bede accepted visions as miracles, and in some instances the addition of physical details make the incidents marvelous. Both Benedict (ii, 37) and Cuthbert (chap. 28, as also H.E. iv, 29) foretold the time of their own deaths. Benedict (ii, 15) prophesied to King Totila events which would happen to him. Cuthbert (chap. 24) did the same concerning the life of King Egfrid. In spirit he even saw the actual death of Egfrid which he had predicted (chap. 27).1"

10 The subject has been surveyed in more detail in my article, 'Folklore of the Uncorrupted Body,' The Journal of American Folklore, x'viii (1935), 374-378.

11 Cuthbert had his own future greatness predicted by Boisil as he lay dying (chap. 8). Cuthbert's weather prediction is less startling, for he stated the day when a storm would be over (chap. 11).

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Nearly the whole of the fourth book of Gregory's Dialogues is given up to vision lore. The largest portion of these miracles is concerned with other-world visions, glimpses of heaven or hell, or the transition of souls to those quarters. The commonest phenomenon is the witnessing of the flight of a soul to heaven. St Benedict saw the soul of his sister Scholastica ascending to the realm of bliss (ii, 34), and analogous miracles are told of other figures (ii, 35; IV, 9, 16, and 17). Upon two occasions, Cuthbert had a similar revelation (chaps 4 and 34). Much more interesting are the descriptions of the other world, particularly the graphic details of the regions and punishments of hell as they are related by the few mor- tals who were permitted to visit the hereafter. No one will forget Drithelm's vivid account (H.E., v, 192), that concentrated and brief outline which antici- pated Dante. Nothing quite comparable can be found in the Dialogues as an exact pattern for all the details of Bede's creation, although the experiences of a certain Stephen (iv, 36) have some resemblance. The dreadful valley of punishment and the fair field of bliss appear in both accounts, but Drithelm's tour was much more extensive, for he had an angelic guide and Stephen did not. Elsewhere (H.E., iv, 14), Bede tells of a man who saw his predestined place in hell; likewise Gregory (iv, 31. See also iv, 37) has an account of a certain Reparatus who saw the flames prepared for him. Nothing in the Dialogues suggests the vision of a man who saw the books of his good deeds and his bad ones (H.E., v, 13), - with the latter outweighing the former and indicating his doom. Likewise, Laurentius' account of his visitation by Peter the Apostle, who scourged him for his deser- tion of his duty and left visible marks of the lash upon his body, has no parallel in the Dialogues.

The largest number of miracles in both the Historia and the Vita relate miracu- lous cures. Nineteen of fifty-two wonders in the Historia and thirteen of thirty- eight marvels in the Vita fall into this category. Particular aspects of this thau- maturgy require more extensive consideration. It may be well, therefore, to note the other miracles first. Heavenly voices were heard singing beside the body of Hermigildus (iii, 31); St Chad also had this favor bestowed upon him (H.E., iv, 3). Bonds and chains fell from the bodies and members of certain captives, according to the statements of Gregory (ii, 31 and iv, 57) and Bede (H.E., Iv, 22). The appearance of mysterious lights which were attributed to divine sources ,ndicate the holiness of saints and their relics.'2 The Dialogues tell of a number of

Most of Benedict's revelations were of a kind. They were chiefly concerned with disclosures of lapses of conduct or bad secret thoughts. The monks who ate outside the monastery when they had been for- bidden to do so (ii, 12 and 13); the monk who accepted and concealed a gift (ii, 19); a man who dis- guised himself as the king (ii, 14); and the youth who felt too proud to serve at table, were all ex- posed by the knowledge of Benedict. Similar marvels were attributed by Gregory to other persons. Consult iii, 5, 14, and 26, as well as many selections in iv.

12 Gregory records the following: A light appeared at the death of Romula (iv, 15); mysterious lamps shone where the body of Hermigildus lay (iii, 31); and other lamps were kindled without human hands to indicate the orthodoxy of a certain church (iii, 30). Bede tells how heavenly lights showed where the bodies of SS. Hewald lay (H.E., v, 10). Likewise, when the priest Peter was drowned, his body was revealed to be that of no ordinary man by a ray from the skies (I.E., i, 33). Lights showed where

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cases where a small amount of some material was increased infinitely, such as one loaf which fed many (iii, 37), or a little oil which expanded into barrels of the liquid (i, 7 and ii, 29). Wine also had the same quality under the stimulus of the saint's presence (i, 9). Bede does not imitate these marvels, but he does tell how the stone coffin which was too short for Sebbi's body was suddenly found to be increased to ample size (H.E., iv, 11).

The story of Caedmon's remarkable gift of song (H.E., iv, 24), so familiar to students of Old English, holds an unusual place in the category of similar miracles, since we possess some of this divinely inspired poetry. The metrical gift is rare enough among the tutored. How much more astonishing it is that an unlettered man should be suddenly instructed, or, from the realistic point of view, suddenly be inspired to chant verses! Nevertheless, if the main thesis for the canon of Bede's miracles holds good, namely, that he had safe authority for the miracle types, the selection of which depended upon his choice and not upon written sources which he was following, we shall expect to find in Gregory some indica- tion of miracles of intellectual creation divinely inspired.

Without a previous pattern suggestion, we might not have had this utterly charming story at all. Gregory, however, has an account of mental stimulation, the main outlines of which have similarity to the visitation to Caedmon. A certain Equitius, although not in holy orders, nevertheless preached to many at various places. XYhen he was questioned, he gave the explanation that a young man had appeared to him in a dream and touched his tongue with a lancet used for letting blood, saying, 'Behold, I have put my word into your mouth! Go forth to your preaching.' From that day, even though he wished, he could not keep silent con- cerning God.'3

Gregory also gives an instance which may indicate the basically authoritative miracle for all Christian usage of this phenomenon. He tells how a certain boy fell into a trance and received the gift of speaking strange languages. When he awoke he conversed in the Bulgarian and the Greek idioms with which he was previously unfamiliar (iv, 26).14 If Bede had needed other sources for the confirmation of his inclusion of the Caedmon story in his Historia, he might have found examples in a work of Augustine's which was known to him.'" Although Paul the Deacon's certain nuns of Barking should be buried (H.E., iv, 17), and the sacredness of Oswald's relics was in- dicated by a pillar of radiance which lingered over them all night (H.E., iii, 11).

13 Dialogues, i, 4, Pat. Lat., Lxxvii, 169: 'Quidam vero, Felix nomine, Nursiae provinciae nobilis . . cum eumdem venerabilem virum Equitium sacrum ordinem non habere conspiceret, et per singula loca discurrere, atque studiose praedicere, eum quadam die familiaritatis ausu adiit, dicens: Qui sa- crum ordinem non habes, atque a Romano pontifice sub quo degis praedicationis licentiam non ac- cepisti, praedicare quomodo praesumis? Qua ejus inquisitione compulsus vir sanctus indicavit pradi- cationis licentiam qualiter accepit, dicens: Ea quoe mihi loqueris ego quoque mecum ipse pertracto. Sed quadam nocte speciosus mihi per visionem juvenis astitit, atque in lingua mea medicinale fer- ramentum, id est phlebotomum posuit, dicens: Ecce posui verba mea in ore tuo; egredere ad praedi- candum. Atque ex illo die etiam cum voluero, de Deo tacere non possum.'

14 The relationship of this miracle to the Acts of the Apostles, ii, 4, is obvious. 15 De Doctrina Christiana, Prologus, Pat. Lat., xxxiv, 17: 'nec propterea sibi ab Antonio sancto et

perfecto viro AEgypto monacho insultari debere, qui sine ulla scientia litterarum Scripturas divinas et memoriter audiendo tenuisse, et prudenter; aut ab illo servo Barbaro christiano, de quo a gravis-

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Life of Gregory the Great, written in the second half of the eighth century, was too late for Bede's use, he may have known an account by an unknown monk of VYhitby, whose Vita S. Gregorii is dated about 713.16 The great learning of Gregory was thought to be divinely inspired. A white dove dictated at his ear. The allegorical representation of vast wisdom has a long and constant tradition in the legends of the saints. No less than sixty-nine instances are cited by John Bagatta in his collectanea,'7 although most of these miracles are centuries later than Bede.

2 The largest number of miracles in the whole agenda of wonder-working falls

into the category of cures. The ills of the human race, both mental and physical, were attributed to the operation of evil powers. Disease was in the province of the devil. The white magician, then, is naturally associated with the alleviation of all distress which has its origin in the black designs of bad spirits. In the catalogue of miraculous cures, we have in most cases only a simple statement of fact about a cure. The saintly intercessor breathes a prayer, gives a blessing, or merely by his presence effects a benefaction upon an ill or troubled body. Behind such obvi- ous and visible formulas, however, lies a world of belief and tradition. We catch sight of a more primitive magic when in the statements about some cures, the formulas become a little more detailed, and we are made aware of other factors. The saints in the accounts of Gregory and Bede work their curing magic in similar fashions. For example, the touch of Abundius (Dialogues, iii, 25) was sufficient to relieve a girl of her palsy. Mere contact with St Cuthbert cured one of his attendants of his diarrhoea (chap. 38). Similarly, Benedict by his touch dispelled poison from a man (ii, 27) and drove away leprosy from a boy (ii, 26). Bede noted analogous miracles on the part of Germanus (H.E., i, 18 and 21). Cuthbert's blessing was good against fever (chaps. 32 and 33) and Bishop John's blessing was efficacious in various ways. He cured a girl's swollen arm (H.E., v, 3), gave a dumb man speech (v, 2), caused a dying man to recover (v, 5), and restored a man who had fractured his skull (v, 6). These miracles, interesting manifestations as they are, belong to common thaumaturgic lore, and the accumulation of endless analogues would be of little revelatory value. The miracles of this kind which we find in Bede represent his reflection of authoritative recognition of the opera- tions of saintly medicine men. Even when the pattern is somewhat extended, and the power of relics and places sacred to holy men operates beneficently, Bede follows the established course. Gregory tells how a mad woman was cured by spending the night in Benedict's cave into which she had wandered uninten- tionally (ii, 38). The similarity of the cure of the man who fell asleep upon Cuthbert's tomb (H.E., iv, 31) is not hard to recognize. Equally efficacious are the

simis fideque dignissimis viris nuper accepimus, qui litteras quoque ipsas nullo docente homine, in plenam notitiam orando ut sibi revelarentur, accepit triduanis precibus impetrans ut etiam codicem oblatum, stupentibus qui aderant, legendo percurreret.'

16 See Francis A. Gasquet, A Life of Pope St Gregory the Great (Westminster, 1904). 17 Admiranda Orbis Christiani (Augsburg, 1695).

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places where holy men died. When a palsy-stricken girl was laid upon the spot where St Oswald was killed, she slept first for a while before she arose entirely well (H.E., iII, 9). Even animals were granted relief. A horse suffering from colic rolled upon the ground in anguish. When his actions brought him to Oswald's death-site, the pain ceased, and the animal arose completely cured (H.E., iII, 9).

The development of the cult of relics and of Christian talismanic lore is a fascinating history of adaptation and reinterpretation of pagan traditions, or, at least, a substitution of one kind of sacred and occult object for another. Relics in the most general sense are not only portions of a holy body but all materials which have had any contact or association with a sacred person. His very gar- ments have curative powers. Gregory tells how Libertinus carried with him one of Honoratus' stockings. One day he came to a woman whose son had just died. He drew the stocking from his bosom, laid it on the corpse, prayed, and restored the boy to life (i, 2). The abbess Elfled and two of her nuns were cured of various infirmities by wearing St Cuthbert's girdle (chap. 23). Similarly, when a paralytic put on Cuthbert's shoes, he was healed (chap. 45). Bede had ample authority for including miracles of this kind in his Historia and in his life of Cuthbert. When we examine the nature and kind of the relics and consecrated objects which Bede mentioned in the miraculous cures, we become conscious of the substitution process of Christian elements for older pagan beliefs and customs.

The Christianizers of the Germanic tribes in Britain did not, so far as can be seen, have to contend with a generally recognized religious hierarchy with a central deity at the head. Stopford Brooke noted that Woden was not a supreme god among the English;'8 and that in fact his name was not mentioned before Alfred's time in the whole corpus of Early English lore. The English seem rather to have had a host of tribal and household deities, as well as very numerous magi- cal formulas, charms, superstitions, and kindred beliefs. Some suggestion for the nature of the situation may be seen when we compare Bede's curative miracles with such pagan reminiscences as are preserved in the collections of Cockayne.'9 The pagan remedies and ancient curative magic, although of later manuscript dating than Bede, preserve intact in many instances the operative formulas for all sorts of exigencies in the daily life of the early Englishmen. The additional Christian elements are patently insertions which sought to hallow rather than to destroy the older and often potentially efficacious medicine.

So far as possible, Christian curative miracles were substituted for acts of pagan magic. In such miracles, the beneficence is attributed solely to the relic of the saint or to the power of hallowed objects. Whatever other factors may have been present, since man in his illness will leave nothing untried, they are passed over silently. Bede tells how Cuthbert was cured of a swollen knee by an angel. The saint met a man in white garments mounted upon a splendid horse. The mysterious stranger examined the afflicted member and recommended a poultice

18 The History of Early English Literature (New York, 1914), 464 ff. 19 Oswald Cockayne, Leechdoms, Wortcunning and Starcraft of Early England, Rolls Series (London,

1864-66), 3 vols.

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made of boiling wheat flour in milk.20 The knee was cured by the divine appear- ance of one who was thought to be an angel. The success of the poultice received no credit, according to the implication which Bede wished us to follow (chap. 2).

Earconwald, because of his deeds and conduct, was considered to be a very holy man. The horse-litter in which he was wont to be carried when he was sick was preserved by his disciples and served as an efficacious agent. In his day, Bede stated, it continued to cure many people of agues and other distempers, 'and not only sick persons who are laid in that litter, or close by it, are cured; but the very chips of it, when carried to the sick, are wont immediately to restore them to health' (I.E., iv, 6). Here again the actual formula for the cure is ig- nored, and the entire credit for the cures is attributed to the saint's former pos- session. No inherent power lay in the wood of the litter, but only in the transferred magic from the touch of the saint's body. In the older magic, the thing per se had curative attributes.

A better example of reattributed power may be seen in a group of miracles in which holy earth or dust is the effective agent. Earth taken from the place where St Oswald was killed served for many sorts of cures, and even the dust from the place where the water was thrown with which the saint's bones were washed acquired beneficent force (H.E., iII, 11. See also Cuthbert's Vita, chap. 41). The use of the earth or dust is told more specifically in respect to St Chad. His sepul- chre was a wooden monument made in the shape of a little house, 'covered, having a hole in the wall, through which those that go thither for devotion usually put in their hand and take out some of the dust, which they put into water and give to sick cattle or men to drink, upon which they are presently eased of their in- firmity and restored to health' (H.E., iv, 3). Both in the Old English charms and in some of the leechdoms we learn that mother earth had strong powers and was often appealed to directly or made use of in conjunction with other materials. In a charm for making the land more fertile the cry was uttered: 'erce, erce, erce, eor}an modor,' and again 'hal wes Pu folde fira modor beo pu growende on godes fawme foZre gefylled firum to nytte.'2' Earth in medicine may be noted in the charm which must be sung over and over again: 'eor4e Pe on bere eallum hire

20 In Caxton's Golden Legend, Temple Classics (London, 1900), iii, 95, this recipe is expanded. The angel 'bade them take the milk of a cow of one colour, and the juice of small plantain, and fair wheat flour, and make thereof a plaister.' Cows of one color were valued particularly by the Celts. The interesting point to be observed is that we have a combination of white magic and old medicine. Usually the mention of a specific medicine is omitted. See my article, 'Hagiological Healing,' Bulletin of the History of Medicine, viii (1940), 636-642.

21 Cockayne, op. cit., i, 398-404: 'Hail to thee, mother earth, mortals maintaining; be growing and fertile, by the goodness of God, filled with fodder our folk to feed.' In the same charm, the direction appears to take meal of every kind and to bake a broad loaf, 'as big as will lie within two hands, and knead it with milk and with holy water, and lay it under the first furrow.' The Christian insertions 'by the goodness of God,' and 'with holy water' were certainly not in the original formula. In a charm for catching a swarm of bees, the efficacy of the earth for its own sake, unmixed with Christian addi- tions, reveals the belief in the power of the ancient mother: 'Nim eorpan oferweorp mid Pinre swipran handa under swipran fet and cwet fo ic under fot funde ic hit hweet eorpe maeg wib ealra wihta gewhilc and wib andan and aeminde and wib pa micelan mannes tungan and wib on,' etc. I, 384.

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414 The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede

mihtum and magenum. pas galdor mon moeg singan on wunde.'22 The chips from the wood of Earconwald's horse-litter were used for cures, as

has been noted. Likewise, splinters from the oak stake upon which St Oswald's head was placed, when put into water which had been blessed, cured a sick man (H.E., III, 14). Also wood from Oswald's cross, at the place where he was killed, served those who came for cures. According to Bede, 'many are wont to cut off small chips from the wood of the holy cross, by which when put into water men or cattle drinking thereof or sprinkled with that water are immediately restored to health' (H.E., III, 2). Both charms and leechdoms suggest that wood served both as a talisman and in the preparation of medicines. A charm used to cure cattle has the directions to take two four-edged sticks and to write on either stick, on each edge, the paternoster to the end.23

In a cure for fellons, a hazel or elder stick or spoon is taken upon which one's name is to be written. After the fellon is scarified three times, the name is covered over with blood and then the stick is thrown away into running water either by a cast over the shoulder or between the legs.24 Oak bark taken from the north side of the tree is used in a preparation against cancer.25 Old moss taken from Oswald's cross cured a man who had a fractured arm (H.E., III, 2). Moss or lichens must have played a part in heathen medicine, for in an elaborate recipe for curing a fiend-ridden man, church lichen or lichen from a cross is among the ingredients.26 Originally, the moss may have been plucked from a pagan shrine or sacred tree. Some of Cuthbert's hair, when put upon a swollen eye, cured that organ (H.E., IV, 32). In old leechdoms we are told of the use of bits of hare's wool,27 or the shavings taken from the skin of a hart.28 The last agent is reminiscent of the use of the calfskin which had served as a wall-covering in the cell of the hermit Felgeld. A piece of this hide, steeped in water, made a wash which reduced a man's swollen face (Vita, chap. 46).

A final group of curative miracles recorded by Bede centers upon the use of holy water or oil and consecrated bread. Gregory noted a miracle in which holy water was the healing element. Fortunatus cured a Goth's broken thigh by sprin- kling holy water all over the man's body (i, 10). Upon two occasions, Cuthbert employed the same liquid (chaps. 25 and 29). In one case, he not only sprinkled

22 Ibid., i, 852: 'May earth bear on thee with all her might and main. These charms a man may sing over a wound.' The earth which the dung beetle casts up is good for the bellyache (ii, 818). Shav- ings from an agate stone when put into wine are good against an elf (ii, 296). The virtues of agate were widely known. See ii, 298 and my article, 'Lapidary Medicine,' Bulletin of the History of Medicine, xvi (1944), 819-824.

23 Ibid., i, 886: 'genim twegen lante sticcan feterecgede. and writ on Eegberne sticcan be hwaelcere ecge.' It is not unlikely that the paternoster was merely a substitute for magic runes.

24 Cockayne, ii, 104. A similar formula served for spider bite, ii, 142. 25 Ibid., ii, 108. In a concoction against the 'dry disease' ash, aspen, elm, and quickbeam barks are

used. See ii, 116, and iII, 28. Crab apple and sloe thorn bark (ii, 266) as well as holly bark (iii, 48) served in medicinal brews. The holly bark when boiled in goat's milk aids oppression of the breast. The holly as well as the oak have place in pagan rituals. Elsewhere we learn of chips of oak bark steeped in cow's milk as useful for dry dysentery (II, 292).

26 Ibid., II, 186-188. 27 Ibid., ii, 354. 28 Ibid., iii, 44: Eft heoretes sceafepan of felle.

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The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede 415

the sick woman and her bed but gave her some of the water to drink. Bishop John likewise prescribed a drink of holy water and ordered the sick person to be washed in the sacred liquid (H.E., v, 4). Cuthbert cured a pain in a girl's head by anointing her with oil (chap. 30). He also strengthened an infirm man by giving him a cup of water into which he had crumbled a little consecrated bread (chap. 31).

The charms and recipes mingle the old and the new magic. Particularly illus- trative of the intermixture of ideas is a recipe which was especially good for those troubled by a demon:

Drene wi6 feondseocum men of ciriebellan to drincanne. gyjrife. glaes. gearwe. elehtre. betonice. attorlaje. carruc. fane. finul. ciricragu. cristes maeles ragu. lufestice. gewyrc tone drenc of hlattrum eala6 gesinge seofen maessan ofer 6am wyrtum do garleac and halig waeter to and drype on aelene drincan tone drenc je he drincan wille oft. and singe tone sealm. Beati Immaculi ... etc. and tone drinc tone drenc of ciricbellan and se maesse proest him singe aefter jam drenc Jis ofer. Domine Sancte pater omnipotens.29

Since the recognition of demonology, fiends, elf, dwarf, etc., was already existent in the older religion among the English, the Christianizing of the formulas against such attacks was an easy and a natural business. The efficacy of the sign of the Cross, the use of the sacred materials of the mass, the invocation of the saints, and all the written authority of the sacred books, were thrown into the struggle against the innumerable pagan superstitions and true and magical formulas which the apostles of the new religion found permeating through all the people whom they sought to convert.30

29 Ibid., II, 186-188: 'A drink for a fiend sick man, to be drunk out of a church bell; githrife, cyno- glossum, yarrow, lupin, betony, attorlothe, cassock, flower de luce, fennel, chirch lichen, lichen of Christ's mark or cross, lovage; work up the drink off clear ale, sing seven masses over the worts, add garlic and holy water, and drip the drink into every drink which he will subsequently drink, and let him sing the psalm, Beati immaculati, etc., and then let him drink the drink out of a church bell, and let the mass priest after the drink sing this over him, Domine, sancte pater omnipotens.' Another recipe includes the use of consecrated bread as well as holy water (ii, 884). Consult further ii, 844, 846, 850, and iII, 56.

30 The saints who were invoked were not particularly numerous. The Apostles, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John appear in a charm for general well-being. See Cockayne, i, 890 and iii, 288. Against fevers and warty eruptions, the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus (Maximianus, Malchus, Johannes, Martin- ianus, Dionysius, Constantius, and Seraphion) were invoked. Others to whom appeal was made are: Longinus for a stitch in the side, i, 898; Peter for toothache, i, 894; Veronica against heathen charms, ii, 188 and 848; and Nicasius for small-pox, iii, 295. A prayer against small-pox mingles Celtic, native, and continental saints: 'Brigitarum ancillarum tuarum malint uoarline dearnabda murde murrunice domur brio rubebroht. Sc-e rehhoc. & sce ehwalde. & Sce cassiane. & sce germane. & sce sigismundi regis . . . ' iii, 78. The sense or possibly nonsense of the opening sentence is obscure, but, with the exception of rehhoc who may be Rioch, a nephew of St Patrick, the other names are recognizable: ehwalde is Ewald (Hewald) of whom there were two. See Bede, H.E., v, 10. Cassian appears in Gregory of Tours, De Gloria Martyrum, chap. 48. Germanus' part in English Church History is told in Bede, H.E., I, 17-21, while the account of Sigismund is given in Gregory of Tours, Historia Fran- corum, chaps. 5 and 6. In another recipe against convulsions or dwarf SS. Machutus and Victricius are invoked, iii, 88. The former, more commonly known as St. Malo, was one of St Brendan's com- panions. See P. Guerin, Les Petits Bollandists, xiii, 414. Victricius was archbishop of Rouen in the fourth century. Ibid., ix, 367.

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416 Thze Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede

3 The scope which English hagiography eventually reached is best revealed in

the collection of John of Tynemouth, the Sanctilogium Angliae, dating from the second quarter of the fourteenth century-" Bede can be called with all fairness the father of English hagiography, without detracting from the prior fame of either Adamnan with his life of St Columba, Ealdhelm for his creation of his De Laudibus Virginitatis, or a few other less known creators of legends. All of Bede's contributions were absorbed into John of Tynemouth's collection, and the weight of his authority is evident in numerous legends. The cautious selective instinct which made the venerable one choose his miracle lore with an eye to the authority of Gregory is apparent when we note the nature of the expanded ver- sions of several legends.

The Irish tradition for the parentage of St Cuthbert which is contained in the Libellus de ortu S. Cuthberti32 and prefaced to the expanded life, supplies informa- tion about the birth and youth of the saint. Bede in his preface to his Vita ad- dressed Bishop Eadfrid and the brothers dwelling in the Isle of Lindisfarne, the seat of Cuthbert's bishopric. He admitted that he had left out information which they had given him and hinted at the reasons.33 If the stories which the Lindis- farne monks reported about Cuthbert's early life were either the same stories or similar to those in the Libellus, we can understand Bede's hesitancy. In the first place, he would have had to admit the Celtic origin of the saint, whereas he says nothing about the area of Cuthbert's origin or his parentage.

The Libellus made Cuthbert the son of an Irish chieftain by the name of Muriardachus; his mother was Sabina. Wonders accompanied his birth, particu- larly the appearance of a splendid light. As a boy he made a marvelous forecast. Beholding a black cow, he predicted that the calf she carried was red in color and bore a white star on its forehead. 'Emittente fetum vacca, sicut puer pre- dixerat reperitur.' The bishop under whom Cuthbert was studying having died,

31 This compilation, expanded by both Capgrave and Wynkyn de Worde, was published by the latter in 1516. See Carl Horstman, Nova Legenda Anglie (Oxford, 1901), 2 vols.

32 See Horstman, op. cit., i, 216, n. 33 Giles, op. cit., iv, 204: 'Sed et alia multa nec minora his, quae scripsimus, praesentibus nobis,

adinvicem conferentes, de vita et virtutibus beati viri superintulistis, quae prorsus memoriae digna videbantur, si non deliberato ac perfecto operi nova interserere vel superadjicere, minus congruum atque indecorum esse constaret.' These last words have been overlooked by translators. They con- tain the thought that Bede considered some of the miracles unsuited for inclusion in his work. Giles translation, taken word for word by Vida D. Scudder in the Everyman Library edition, runs: 'But you also, in my presence, added many other facts of no less importance than what I had written, concern- ing the life and virtues of that blessed man and which well deserved to be mentioned, if I had not thought it unmeet to insert new matter into a work, which, after due deliberation, I considered to be perfect.' This rendering is certainly free and shifts the emphasis. Bede did not so much think that his work was perfect as he was convinced that the new matter 'is certain to be less suited and (even) in- decorous, he having already weighed the evidence and brought an end to his work.' Earlier in the preface he had made it clear that he had examined the evidence with care and had discarded the wilder stories. ' . . . quia nec sine certissima exquisitione rerum gestarum aliquid de tanto viro scribere, nec tandem ea, quie scripseram, sine subtilissima examinatione testium indubiorum passim transcribenda quibusdam dare praesumsi.'

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The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede 417

his mother sailed to Bishop Columba in Scotland. On the trip across the sea, the boy lost his book of psalms overboard. An accommodating sea-calf (vitulus ma- rinus) swallowed the volume and deposited it uninjured on the shore where the boy landed.

Cuthbert decided at an early age to choose the solitary life and selected a high mountain, 'Doilwem, id est "area pulchra," ' for his residence. He expelled the demons from this place, produced a spring from the hard rock, and spent his nights in prayer. The devil constructed at the edge of the mountain a very large stone bath for the destruction of Cuthbert. The saint took a very large stick with which he broke the bath and caused the water to run down the mountain. The trace of this emptying is still visible, as well as the devil's foot-print. This place was taboo to women. Upon another occasion, a young local princess ac- cused Cuthbert of being the father of her child. When he was brought before the king, he denied the allegation and prayed that the true culprit might be shown. Whereupon, the ground swallowed up the girl's seducer.

Such items make up the miracles which Bede hesitated to include in his work. These wonders follow the amazing Celtic miracle tradition rather than the con- tinental heritage of saints' lore. The expanded Cuthbert legend also includes other miracles which were of a nature not to meet Bede's approval. For example, a demonic illusion in the form of a beautiful woman came to tempt the saint and his monks. 'Omnem siquidem humanam effigiem sua pulchritudine excellebat, et ornatus ipsius omnis texture mundane peritiam separabat. Unde quicunque vultum ipsius inspexerant, pre nimie cupidinis lascivia pene seipsos excesserant.' Cuthbert cast holy water upon this phantasm and it disappeared, tearing out part of the church walls and leaving behind a malodorous smell. Bede consistently avoided the association and relationship of women to the saints of whom he chose to write.

The same cautious selectivity appears in Bede's reporting about other figures. Caxton, in his version of the Golden Legend, tells of Augustine's miracles both on his trip across the continent from Rome and during his various peregrinations in England while carrying on his efforts to convert the Germanic tribes. Bede does not mention any specific miracle. The only suggestions that he worked any wonders are found in a letter from Pope Gregory to Augustine, warning him nolt to glory in the miracles which he was doing, so that he might not become puffed up by pride (H.E., i, 31), and again a sentence of Bede to the effect that Augustine did many miracles (I, 26). It is not unlikely that Bede knew the story of Augus- tine's journey among the men of Dorsetshire. The natives of that region did not receive the monks in a kindly fashion, but mocked them and threw fish-tails at them. In punishment, their children were born with tails. This kind of story, as we have seen, did not fall to the grave historian's liking. Other miracles of similar nature were also attached to Augustine's name. In the case of St Earconwald, Bede gave a few miracles but passed over the more startling items, such as the one which told how the saint's cart ran upon one wheel (Horstman, i, 394), or the wonder of the saint and his sister who between them stretched a short beam of wood to the length which they desired (i, 3992).

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418 The Miracle Traditions of the Venerable Bede

The miracle traditions of the Venerable Bede reveal certain definite policies on the part of the first great English scholar and historian. For years he amassed materials for his Historia. Both written and oral facts and fictions came to his hand. The items of native wonder-lore must have been very numerous. Faced with the task of selection, and fully aware of the miracle traditions of the Celts, he turned for guidance to the Dialogues of Gregory, whose authority and fame, both as the progenitor of English Christianity and as an unimpeachable historian of Church lore, were incontestably established. When Bede found English mira- cles too much tinged with the colors of a primitive and unbridled imagination, he chose to lay them quietly aside. In some of the miracles which he told he softened the exaggerative claims, often, indeed, to a point where the marvelous element depended upon a happy coincidence or unique combination of circum- stances. The incident of the tide bringing to Cuthbert a timber which he needed for his building (chap. 21), or the story of how he found food in an isolated shep- herd's hut (chap. 5) are miracles within the bounds of likelihood. The reproduc- tion of other miracles which were less in the realm of reason have the qualification that they were done in imitation of St Benedict or some other holy men. Bede preferred not to depend upon his own authority when he had to deal with any marvelous event.4 He felt reassured when he could find the miracle previously recorded in Gregory. It is well to note that when Bede wrote The Lives of the Holy Abbots of Weremouth and Jarrow, he did not mention a single miracle at- tributed to the five men whose histories he gives. Upon home ground and with the local records at hand, Bede chose to be altogether realistic. He was not like the author who in after years wrote about him. At the conclusion of a sermon when he had reached the words 'Per omnia secula seculorum' the very stones 'alta voce clamauerunt: "amen, venerabilis pater." '35

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY.

34 'One of the brothers from whose mouth I received this narrative' (chap. 8); 'I learned these particulars from a religious man' (chap. 5); 'They say that (Boisil) foretold' (chap. 7); 'The man took care to tell it (the miracle) to many persons' (chap. 10); ' . . . many eyewitnesses, one of whom, Ethelwold, now abbot of ... Melrose' (chap. 30); 'I give this on the authority of one of them' (chap. 35); 'this I did not pick up from any chance authority, but I had it from one of those who were present' (chap. 36); 'This story was also told me by some of those who had heard it related by the person himself to whom it happened' (H.E., iv, 22), etc.

35 Horstman, op. cit., 'De venerabili Beda presbitero et doctore,' i, 111.

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