Ina
Acta Sanctorum, February 6
Source text: Public Domain. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://actasanctorum.org/february/day-06/ina.html
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ON SAINT INA, KING OF THE WEST SAXONS IN BRITAIN I,

After the year 728.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Ina, King of the West Saxons in Britain (Saint)

By G. H.

Section 1. The royal lineage of Saint Ina: his holy sisters: the monasteries of Abingdon and Wimborne built by him.

[1] The Saxons, peoples of northern Germany, came to Britain,
at first invited by the inhabitants to repel
the incursions of barbarians; but gradually,
having driven out the Britons themselves, [in the British Heptarchy] except for
Wales, they occupied the remaining dominions, and having established
the great-great-grandfather of Saint Ina, and his son Cynric, Ina's great-great-great-grandfather,
having landed in Britain in the year of Christ 495, after
various victories over the Britons, founded the kingdom
of the West Saxons, [the kingdom of the West Saxons,] in that part of the first Britain which in the time of the Romans
was possessed by the Damnoni, Durotriges, Belgae, Atrebatii;
and which later the English distributed into these provinces: Cornwall,
Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, Southampton,
Berkshire — nearly all situated opposite Gaul.
Now this Cerdic was the son of Elesa, grandson of Esla, great-grandson
of Gewis. And since Bede, in book 3 of the Ecclesiastical History of the English,
is the authority that the West Saxons were anciently called
"Gewisse," [called Gewisse,] we judge that they drew this name from Gewis,
the great-grandfather of Cerdic.
From this Gewis, however, to his great-grandfather Woden,
the lineage is traced in the ancient Anglo-Saxon Chronology,
[Cerdic, the great-great-grandfather of Saint Ina, was the founder; which was afterward held by Cynric the great-great-great-grandfather, Ceawlin the great-great-grandfather, and others of the same stock,]
published with the History of Bede at Cambridge. Moreover, Bede reports
in book 1, chapter 15, that the royal lineage of many provinces
traces its origin from the stock of this Woden. Cerdic, having died
in the year 534, his son Cynric, surviving until the year 560,
reigned, and his son Ceawlin, the great-great-grandfather of Saint Ina,
succeeded to the kingdom, and in the year 577 waged war against the Britons
with his son Cuthwin, the great-grandfather of Saint Ina. In the year 590
Ceola, in 597 Ceolwulf, in 611 Cynegils, all from the same stock,
reigned.

[2] Cynegils was the first to embrace the Christian religion, and was baptized
by Saint Birinus, Bishop of Dorchester, in the year 635, [Cynegils the first Christian,]
with Saint Oswald, King of the Northumbrians, receiving him
from the sacred font. Bede treats of this baptism in book 3, chapter 7.
The elder son of this Cynegils, Cuichelm, sharing the paternal kingdom
with his parent, died in the year after the baptism, leaving a son Cuthred,
baptized in the year 639 and dying in 661.
The other son of Cynegils, however, Kenwalch, succeeded his father in the year
643, [Kenwalch,] and himself baptized three years later, lived until the year
672. When he died, Bede says in book 4, chapter 12,
"the sub-kings received the kingdom of the nation, and, divided among
themselves, held it for about ten years." How many sub-kings,
however, ruled there simultaneously, he does not specify. That a trace of them
still existed in the time of the reign of Saint Ina will be established below.
Those who prevailed in authority among them are counted by others
in the series of Kings.
Thus in the Anglo-Saxon Chronology the next year after the death of King Kenwalch
is assigned to Sexburga his wife; then from the year
674 Escwin, from 676 Centwin from the same
stock, are reckoned as Kings. But Bede, making no mention of these,
says that, [Saint Ceadwalla, predecessor of Saint Ina:] with the sub-kings defeated and removed,
Ceadwalla assumed power: and when he had held this for two years,
at last, pierced by the love of the heavenly kingdom, he relinquished it,
and going to Rome, there ended his life. The same things
Bede reports more distinctly in book 5, chapter 7: namely that Saint Ceadwalla,
in the year 689, in the pontificate of Pope Sergius II,
under Emperor Justinian Augustus, in the fourth year of his Consulship,
Indiction 2, on the holy Saturday of Easter (which then fell on April 10),
was baptized, and while still wearing his white garments, on the 12th
day before the Kalends of May, released from the flesh, was
associated in the fellowship of the Blessed in heaven: on which day
we shall give these matters more carefully examined.
When Ceadwalla departed for Rome (these are Bede's words),
"Ina succeeded to the kingdom, of the royal stock,"
just as Ceadwalla also was, [the great-grandfather of this one was Cuthwin, the grandfather Ceowaldus,] both descended from the same
great-great-grandfather, King Ceawlin. That the other son of this one,
Cuthwin, was the great-grandfather of Saint Ina, we said above.
To this Cuthwin another son is assigned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronology,
Ceowaldus, the grandfather of Saint Ina, between
whom and Cuthwin the Wigorn and Chester chroniclers interpose Cutham,
omitted by the Huntingdon historian in book 4 of his Histories and by the
Westminster one in the Flowers of Histories. Ina had as father
Kenred, still surviving during the time of his reign, [father Kenred] by whose
persuasion and institution he states in the preface that he bore his laws,
which we shall soon treat, for his subjects.

[3] According to Malmesbury in book 2 on the Deeds of the Bishops of England,
at Abingdon in the Berkshire district, the monastery was founded by
Cissa, father of Ina, [Saint Ina co-founder of the monastery of Abingdon,] and soon Ina himself, King of the West
Saxons, and many Kings from the beginning. Malmesbury is
transcribed by Harpsfield in century 7 of the Ecclesiastical History
of England, chapter 19. "The monastery of Abingdon," he says, "was also
born in this century, by the benefice of Cissa, father of
Ina." Now Abingdon is an elegant and populous town
on the river Isis, which, departing a little from there, receives the Tame
from the Oxford area: whence by a compound name the most celebrated
river Thames is named. The city of Abingdon itself, as Camden writes
from an ancient Abingdon book, among the Atrebatii, was "famous,
desirable in appearance, full of riches, surrounded by the most fertile
fields, flourishing meadows, expansive plains, and milk-flowing
flocks, formerly called Sheouesham. Here was a royal seat:
hither, when the chief and arduous affairs of the kingdom were treated,
there was a concourse of the people." Camden adds:
"As soon as Cissa, King of the West Saxons,
had built the monastery or Abbey," [with Cissa, the King] having gradually
laid aside the more ancient name "Abbandun" and "Abbington,"
that is, the town of the Abbey, it began to be called. Behold, he who
is called the father of Ina by others, [and his father, perhaps rather his uncle or godfather,] is here considered
who, according to Bede, held the kingdom divided among themselves,
and to be reckoned rather as an uncle or godfather than as the father
of Ina, unless we recognize that Kenred had two names,
whom, with the Saxon Chronology, the Wigorn, Chester, Westminster,
Huntingdon, and other writers, Ina himself writes to be his father.
This Abingdon monastery, therefore, we count as the first
that Saint Ina founded after this Cissa. He had a royal hall
in the southern part of Somerset at the river Pedred;
which gave it the name Pedridan — in the Life
of Saint Indract on February 5, number 3, Pedret — [he had a hall in Somerset and Hampshire] now,
according to Camden among the Belgae, Pedderton, famous only
for its market and fairs, which Henry Daubeny obtained from
King Henry VI.

[4] Concerning the brother and sisters of this Ina, these things are reported
in the Anglo-Saxon Chronology at the year 718. [his brother was Ingels, his sisters Saints Quenburga and Cuthburga:]
"Here Ingels, brother of Ina, died; whose sisters were Cuenburga
and Cutburga: this Kutburga established a monastery
for the monastic life at Wimborne."
She had been given in marriage to Alfrid, King of the Northumbrians:
but, while he was still alive, she was separated from him out of zeal
for the monastic life. The Wigorn and Westminster chronicles
say the same, and call both sisters Saints. Saint Quenburga,
called by others Cuenburga, Cneburgha, or Kineburga,
is venerated on September 12. Saint Cuthburga, or Kutburga, on August 31.

Concerning her marriage, this is read in her Life in Capgrave:
"The King of the Northumbrians, Alfrid, sent his
legates to King Ina of the West Saxons, asking that he give him
his sister Cuthburga as his wife. [she is betrothed to Alfrid, King of the Northumbrians:]
The King therefore, summoning his sister, indicated to her
the King's embassy. To which the Virgin responded: 'If I am permitted
to live according to my own vow, certainly no King in all Britain
can please me. But since Scripture says that
"he who resists authority resists the ordinance of God," whatever
your majesty ordains concerning me, will find me obedient
to itself, although not willingly. [Romans 13:2] For I trust in the Lord
that He will look upon the humility of His handmaid,
and will not suffer the cloister of my chastity to be violated; nor will He ever
separate me from the chaste embraces of His
love. The Lord and my Spouse is powerful to keep me incorrupt
for Himself even under marriage, and although
I may be married to someone according to the laws of men,
He can nevertheless preserve me inviolate for Himself.'"

[5] Meanwhile, yielding to the command, or at least the counsel, of her brother
King Ina, she was given in marriage to King Alfrid (the words are those of Malmesbury
in book 1 on the Deeds of the Kings of England, chapter 2), "but not
long after, the marriage being dissolved, first at Barking
under Abbess Hildelida, [then made a nun,] and soon herself as mistress of the Rule
at Wimborne, she spent a life pleasing to the Lord," and,
according to the Wigorn writer at the year 718 and others, she built
a monastery of Virgins devoted to God. Saint Hildelida is venerated
on December 22. Now Wimborne (Winburnminster to the English, from the monastery)
is a large town filled with a great multitude of inhabitants,
which is thought to have been the Roman Vindogladia, mentioned
by Antoninus in his Itinerary, situated in the County of Dorset,
on the river Stour: to which Saint Ina summoned his sister
from the monastery of Barking (which, below London, not far from
the river Thames, [afterward Abbess,] in the County of Essex, was then under the Kings
of the East Saxons) to his own kingdom, and for her either built
the Wimborne monastery or completed one previously begun.
This we gather from the Life of Saint Lioba, Virgin and Abbess,
which Rudolf, a Priest and Confessor of King Louis the Elder of Germany,
wrote, provoked by the command, as he prefaces, of the venerable
Father and master Rabanus, Abbot of Fulda, as was said in the Life
of Blessed Rabanus, afterward Archbishop of Mainz, on February 4, section 1.
Saint Lioba is venerated on September 28.
[he builds the monastery of Wimborne,] In her Life, therefore, the following is reported:
"At Wimborne two monasteries were anciently built by the Kings
of that nation, surrounded by high and strong walls,
and provided with every sufficiency of expenses by a reasonable arrangement:
one, namely, for Clerics and the other for women.
Both of which, from the beginning of their foundation,
were ordered by this rule of discipline: that neither of them
should be entered by the opposite sex." Behold, the Wimborne monastery was built
not so much by Saint Cuthburga as by the Kings of that nation,
namely Saint Ina and others, at least the sub-kings, with Cuthburga
assisting. For, as the same Rudolf adds, "over this place,
after some Abbesses and spiritual Mothers, was set
a devout Virgin, by the name of Tetta (or Tecla, as she is called
in the manuscript codices), over all the nuns who
were then about five hundred present: [500 nuns] among whom Lioba, when grown up,
was consecrated to God by her mother, and handed over
to the aforesaid Tetta to be imbued with divine studies:
who, after she had flourished in the studies of the heavenly life
in the monastery, was summoned to Germany by Saint Boniface,
Archbishop of Mainz, who sent legates with letters to Abbess Tetta,
around the year of Christ 748, as will be said on February 25
in the Life of Saint Walburga, Virgin, whom it is more probable
came to Germany together with Saint Lioba.
This is the second monastery built through the joint work of Saint Ina.
Saint Tetta is venerated on September 27.

Section 2. The Glastonbury monastery, renewed by the royal magnificence of Saint Ina, endowed, and protected by privilege.

[6] In the Anglo-Saxon Chronology the beginning of the reign of Saint Ina is described
in these words: "In the year 689 Ina took up the kingdom
of the West Saxons, and held it for thirty-seven
years: and he built the monastery of Glastonbury." [He builds anew the Glastonbury monastery,]
It is situated in the County of Somerset, concerning which Malmesbury
in book 2 on the Deeds of the Bishops of England, when he had treated of the Bishops
of Wells, writes this: "The entire tract of that bishopric
lies in the sole district of Somerset, and has three abbeys
of men: Glastonbury, Athelney, and Muchelney.
Glastonbury is a village, situated in a certain marshy recess,
which nevertheless is reached both on foot and on horse, neither delightful
in site nor in pleasantness. There first King Ina, on the counsel
of the most blessed Aldhelm, built a monastery, bestowing there
many estates, which are named even today." Camden,
the diligent investigator of British antiquity, having described the island
of Glastonbury, adds this: "Here flourished the monastery of Glastonbury,
which claims a very ancient origin,
namely from that Joseph of Arimathea, who had committed the body of Christ
to the sepulcher, [which is believed to have been begun by Saint Joseph of Arimathea,] whom Philip, the Apostle of the Gauls,
sent to Britain to preach Christ.
For both the most ancient documents of this monastery
testify to this, and Patrick, the Apostle of the Irish,
who spent thirty years of monastic life here, revealed it
in his epistle. Whence this place was called by our ancestors
'The First Land of God,' 'The First Land of the Saints in England,'
'The Origin and Font of all Religion in England,' 'The Tomb
of the Saints,' 'The Mother of the Saints,' 'Built
by the very disciples of the Lord.' Nor is there reason to doubt this matter,
since I have previously shown that the Christian religion
shone upon this our island in the first infancy of the nascent Church,"
etc. These documents are exhibited in the Glastonbury manuscript codex,
about which we shall treat below; some of them are produced by Henry Spelman
before the British Councils in the apparatus on the origins of the Christian
religion in Britain, numbers 8 and following: about which matters
more careful treatment will be needed in the Life of Saint Joseph of Arimathea
on July 27, and of Saint Patrick on March 17. But let us return to
Camden's account: "When the ancient little chapel," he says, [and restored by Saint David of Menevia and others,]
"built by Joseph, at last yielded to antiquity,
David, Bishop of Menevia (to others 'Deui,' who
lived with Cerdic, the great-great-grandfather of Saint Ina, whose feast day falls
on the Kalends of March), built a new one in that place; and when this
was now crumbling with age, twelve men from the northern part of Britain,
setting out, restored it: and finally King Ina,
having demolished this, built a most magnificent temple to Christ,
Peter, and Paul. In whose uppermost enclosure
he had these verses inscribed:

[7] "Starry mountains, beautiful summits of Zion, [he has verses inscribed in the temple,]
Twin cedars from Lebanon, with their foliage flourishing:
Gates of heaven, two lights of the wide world,
Paul thunders with his voice, Peter flashes from the citadel.
Among the Apostolic crowns radiant with light,
The one is more learned in counsels, the other more lofty in rank.
Through the one the hearts of men are opened, through the other the stars:
Those whom the one teaches with his pen, the other receives in heaven.
The one opens the way of heaven by teaching, the other by keys:
Paul is the way, Peter the faithful gate.
The one remains the firm Rock, the other is held as the Architect:
In them the temple rises, in which the altar pleases God.
England, applaud willingly; Rome sends you greetings;
The Apostolic splendor illuminates Glastonbury.
Against the hostile face two bulwarks arise,
As many towers of faith as the city, the head of the world, has.
These gifts the pious King Ina, filled with excellent love,
Gave to his people, not destined to die.
Wholly clinging to the affection of divine piety,
He amplified the perpetual riches of the Church.
Our Melchizedek, by merit both King and Priest,
Completed the work of true religion.
Governing public laws and maintaining the lofty palaces,
He was the singular glory and norm of Bishops.
Departing hence, he shines from there with the honor of his merits:
Here also he will be perpetual in the praise of his deeds."

A full century before Saint Ina took up the kingdom, [taken from Fortunatus:] Bishop Venantius Fortunatus
had died in Gaul among the Pictones, the eminent Poet of his time,
from whose poems these verses, with a few alterations, were transcribed,
and the first six couplets are read thus in full in book 3 of the Poems, number 7:
then, with two omitted, the following read thus:

"Gaul, applaud willingly; Rome sends you greetings:
The Apostolic splendor visits the Allobroges."

But the following couplet is appended with alterations. Fortunatus was treating there
of the Church of Nantes. The remaining verses are taken from the poem
on the Church of Paris, book 2, chapter 11: only where King Childebert
was read in the first verse, here "King Ina" is substituted.

[8] [he nourishes holy men at royal expense:] But Camden continues: "In these first times the most holy
men here kept vigil for God, and especially the Irish,
who were nourished by royal stipends, and instructed young men
in piety and liberal arts. They also embraced the solitary
life, so that with greater tranquility they might devote themselves
to sacred letters, and by a severe manner of life exercise themselves
for bearing the cross." These things Camden writes, to whom
should be joined Stow, the author of the English Annals, who in the Life
of Saint Ina the King, having most diligently inspected the public archives,
excerpted much, published in Latin by Clement Reyner in the Apostolate
of the Benedictines in England, treatise 1, section 1, paragraph 12:
but we give the same from the primary text, from the Glastonbury manuscript,
where they appear under this title: "Concerning the Silver Chapel
that Ina made there with its vessels." "The same King also had
a certain chapel built of gold and silver, [he builds a chapel with golden and silver furnishings:] with ornaments
and vessels likewise of gold and silver, and placed it within the aforesaid
ancient church. For building that chapel, therefore,
he gave two thousand six hundred and forty
pounds of silver. And the altar was of two hundred and
sixty-four pounds of gold. A chalice with a paten
of ten pounds of gold. A censer of eight pounds and twenty
mancuses of gold. A candelabrum of twelve and a half
pounds of silver: the covers of the Gospel books of
twenty pounds and forty mancuses of gold: water vessels
and other altar vessels of seventeen pounds of gold. Basins
of eight pounds of gold: a vessel for holy water of twenty
pounds of silver: an image of the Lord, and of Blessed Mary,
and of the Twelve Apostles, of one hundred and seventy-five
pounds of silver and twenty-eight pounds of gold: altar cloths
and priestly vestments everywhere subtly woven with gold and precious
stones." This treasure, therefore, out of love for the holy Mother
of God and the Virgin Mary, the said King most devoutly conferred
upon the monastery of Glastonbury. Moreover, by royal writ
he confirmed the lands, possessions, and liberties
of the same Church. There are listed therein
pounds or weights of silver, 2,847 and a half, and of gold
755 with 60 mancuses or marks, about which we shall treat below
at number 20.

[9] There survive several privileges of King Ina, granted to this monastery,
[by his own diploma] in the ancient manuscript codex of the same monastery, collected
by Walter de Monitoun, formerly Abbot there, in which
are said to be contained all the copies of the documents of the Church
of Glastonbury, and it is called the "Secret of the Abbot." Of these,
the first privilege we have not yet seen printed; Ussher produces
some words excerpted from it in his book on the Beginnings of the British
Churches, chapter 6. We therefore give it here in full, whose
title is this: "The First Charter of King Ina." "In the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ. I, Ina the King, by the decree and counsel
of our Bishop Aldhelm, and at the same time by the suggestion of all
the Priests of God, and the petition of the monks
who dwell in the diocese of the West Saxons, bestow this
liberty upon the monks [he frees the monastery from all tributes] who serve Almighty God
in the Church of the blessed Mother of God, Mary, and of Blessed
Patrick, under Abbot Hemgisl, in the ancient city called
Glastingay, and I place this dignity of privilege
upon the altar, so that without impediment of secular
affairs and without tribute of fiscal business, with free
minds they may serve God alone, and may regularly exercise
monastic discipline, with Christ bestowing His support,
and may deign to pour forth prayers before the sight
of the divine majesty for the stability and prosperity of our kingdom
and the indulgence of crimes committed, and, frequenting
the offices of prayers in the churches, may strive
to intercede for our frailty. But if anyone shall attempt to go against
the document of this decree, let him know that he will render an account
before Christ and the nine orders of Angels in the dreadful
examination. And for a greater testament of firmness, we have had
the Princes and Senators, Judges and Patricians subscribe.
Done publicly and confirmed in the wooden basilica, in the year
of the Incarnation of the Lord 704." "I, Aldhelm, subscribed."
The remaining subscriptions are lacking. In the diploma of King Cnut,
by which the donations of Saint Ina and other Kings are confirmed,
in the said manuscript codex and in Malmesbury, book 2 on the Deeds
of the Kings of England, chapter 11, a similar clause is employed:
"The donation of this privilege was written and promulgated in the wooden
basilica in the presence of King Cnut, in the year
of the Lord's Incarnation 1032." Concerning this wooden basilica,
this is written in the same Glastonbury manuscript codex and in the aforementioned
Ussher: "In the year of the Lord 625, Saint Paulinus, Archbishop
of the Northumbrians, came to Glastonbury for a stay.
He had the walls of the ancient church built with a wooden tabernacle,
and had it covered outside with lead on all sides from the top
down to the ground: and so that sacred oratory endured
in that same construction until the burning
of the same church." Saint Paulinus is venerated on October 10:
and Saint Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne, on May 25.
Concerning him we shall treat more often below.

Section 3. Other privileges given by Saint Ina to the same Glastonbury monastery.

[10] Another and chief privilege of Saint Ina was published by
Clement Reyner at the place indicated before, and by Spelman
among the British Councils at the year of Christ 725, which,
collated with the manuscript codex, we give here: [by another diploma] to which Spelman
prefixes this title: "Charter of Ina, King of the West Saxons,
conferred upon the monks of Glastonbury, in which estates,
immunities, and exemptions from the Bishop are granted."
And it thus begins: "Help us, O God of our salvation.
Whatever things are determined by salutary counsel according to the decrees
of the Canons and ecclesiastical institutions,
although speech alone without a written text would suffice, yet
since very often in our times the storms and whirlwinds
of secular affairs batter even the gates of the Church,
therefore we have judged it worthwhile, for the caution
of future generations, to annex to the pages of writings
those things that have been determined, lest, consigned to oblivion
in the future, they be unknown. Wherefore I, Ina,
relying on the royal dignity from the Lord, with the counsel
of Queen Ethelburga, and the permission of Berhtwald,
Bishop of the Church of Canterbury, [he praises the holy antiquity of the place,]
and of all his suffragans, and also
at the exhortation of the sub-kings Baldred and Athelard,
to the ancient church which is in the place called Glasteie
(which the great Priest and supreme Bishop of the Angels,
Christ, made known that He had long ago sanctified
for Himself and the perpetual Virgin Mary and Blessed David
by many and unheard-of miracles), from those things that I possess
by paternal inheritance and hold in personal dominion,
in continuous and suitable locations, I grant for the support of the regular
life and for the uses of the monks, [he grants estates,] at Brent ten
hides, at Sowy twelve hides, at Poulton twenty hides,
at Dulting twenty hides, at Bleadney one hide, together with
all those things that my predecessors conferred upon the same Church:
Kenwalch, who, [and confirms what was previously given,] with the intervention of Saint Theodore the Archbishop,
gave Ferlingmere, Beckery, Godney,
Martinsey, Edredsey: King Kentwin, who was accustomed
to call Glastonbury the 'Mother of the Saints,' and
established it as immune from all secular and ecclesiastical service,
and granted this dignity of privilege, that
the Brethren of the same place should have the power of electing and
appointing for themselves a Superior according to the Rule of Saint Benedict:
Bishop Hedde, who, with Ceadwalla consenting, and
confirming with his own hand, although a Pagan, gave Lantocai, that is, Leigh; Baldred who gave Pennard, six hides; Athelard,
who gave Polden, sixty hides, with my consent and confirmation.
To whose devotion and kind petition
I assent, and against the snares of malicious men
and barking dogs, I keep vigilant watch with the defense of royal
letters: so that the Church of our Lord
Jesus Christ and the perpetual Virgin Mary, just as
it is in the kingdom of Britain the first and the fount and origin of all religion,
so also may it obtain the preeminent dignity of privilege,
and may do no servile service to any man whatsoever on earth,
she who rules over the choirs of Angels in heaven.

[11] "Therefore, with the assent of the supreme Pontiff Gregory, and
receiving me, although unworthy, together with the Church itself,
into the bosom and protection of the holy Roman Church
as the Mother of his Lord;
with the consent also of all the Kings of Britain, [and grants privileges:]
Archbishops, Bishops, Dukes, and Abbots,
I establish and confirm: that all the lands and places
and possessions of Blessed Mary of Glastonbury
shall be free and from all royal exactions and works
that are customarily imposed, namely military service, and the building
of bridge or fortress, and from all the promulgations
and disturbances of Archbishops and Bishops,
as it is found to be confirmed in the ancient charters
of the same Church; and as it is known to have been confirmed
by my predecessors Kenwalch, Kentwin, Ceadwalla, and Baldred,
may they remain unshaken and inviolate:
and whatever cases may have arisen concerning homicides,
sacrileges, poisonings, thefts, robberies, in the disposition
and description of churches, in the ordination of Clerics,
in synodal assemblies, and in all judicial
examinations, without the prejudice of any man,
shall be determined by the disposition of the Abbot and the convent.
But upon all the Kings of my realm, Archbishops,
Bishops, Dukes, and Princes, upon their honor
and my love I command, and upon all of them
as well as their ministers upon the salvation of their bodies
I command, that none of them dare to enter the island
of our Lord Jesus Christ and the perpetual Virgin Mary of Glastonbury,
nor the possessions of the same Church, for the purpose of
pleading, searching, plundering, commanding, interdicting,
or doing anything that could be a scandal
to those serving God there.

[12] "But that thing I absolutely forbid, by the intercession
of Almighty God and the perpetual Virgin Mary and the Blessed
Peter and Paul and all the Saints, with an interdict,
in the Glastonbury Church itself, [he exempts it from the jurisdiction of the Bishop,] nor in the churches subject
to it, namely Sowy, Brent, Merlinge, Shapwick,
Street, Butleigh, Poulton, nor in their chapels;
but also not on the islands, on any intervening occasion:
the Bishop shall not presume to establish an episcopal chair for himself,
nor to celebrate solemn Masses, nor to consecrate altars, nor
to dedicate churches, nor to confer orders, nor to dispose of anything
at all, unless he shall have been invited by the Abbot or the Brethren.
But if he shall have been invited for these things,

[16] We therefore present the third privilege of Ina given to the Glastonians
from the same manuscript codex, to which this title is prefixed:
"Charter of King Ina concerning the manor of Sowy given to the Church." [Other charters of Saint Ina given to the Glastonians]
"Since we are instructed by salutary sayings that we must make
friends for ourselves of the Mammon of iniquity, who will receive us
into eternal tabernacles. Wherefore I, Ina, King
of the West Saxons, together with my wife Ethelburga, have decreed
to consign a small portion of land, which has been conferred upon us
by dispensation, to the uses of the servants of God, so that
a more ample portion may be granted to us in the inheritance of the just;
namely the land which is so called, Sowy, of twelve
manses, conferred with liberal munificence upon the household of Christ
which in Glastonbury renders the service of voluntary devotion
to the Almighty Lord, with the knowledge and consent
of the venerable Bishop Forthhere, we have given with an
irrevocable conferral to be possessed, and,
so that the aforesaid grant may be strengthened by more certain documents,
we confirm the title of this donation with our own subscriptions...
This little charter was written in the year of the Incarnation
of the Lord 725, Indiction 8... I, Ina,
subscribed. I, Forthhere, Bishop, consented and subscribed."

Another charter of the same Ina exists concerning Brent given to the Glastonians,
in which the year of Christ is annotated with a great error as 663,
which should be corrected to 693, leaving the Indiction 6, which agrees
with both. Bishop Hedda, then Bishop, subscribed, as did King Baldred,
King Athelbald, both sub-kings, of whom the latter
is perhaps called Athelard above: and finally the donation was made
to Hemgisl, then Abbot of Glastonbury. And so that charter was the first
of all to be granted.

Section 4. Bishoprics erected in the time of Saint Ina. The South Saxons with the Isle of Wight subjected. Laws enacted.

[17] The first Bishop of the entire kingdom of the West Saxons
was Saint Birinus, [Under King Ina] by whom we said above that King Cynegils
had been taught the mysteries of the Christian faith and washed
with sacred baptism. He had placed his See at Dorchester (or as Bede has it,
Dorcinia), a city situated in the County of Oxford on the river Thames.
[Bishop of the West Saxons, Saint Hedda:] Then, when that city was transferred to the kingdom of Mercia, the See
of the Bishops of the West Saxons was placed at Winchester, the most famous
city of the Britannic Belgae, in the County of Hampshire, which
was called Venta Belgarum by Ptolemy and Antoninus. Here the fifth
Bishop of that kingdom was Saint Hedda when Ina began his rule:
who subscribed to his last-mentioned privilege: but in the other one
given to the same Glastonians, this Bishop, with King Ceadwalla
confirming, granted a certain estate to the same monastery: of which
donation a special charter exists in the Glastonbury manuscript codex,
made in the year 680 on the day before the Nones of July. Ina says
he used his counsel in establishing his laws. Saint Hedda is venerated
on July 7.

[21] Saint Willibald, Bishop of Eichstatt in Germany, in the
Life of Saint Boniface, Archbishop of Mainz, on June 5, reports a Synod
held under King Ina in chapter 4 with these words: [Saint Ina is present at an Ecclesiastical Synod of his kingdom:]
"Under the reign of Ina, King of the West Saxons, a certain sudden necessity had pressed in,
with a certain new sedition having arisen, and immediately
a synodal Council of the servants of God was held
by the primates of the Churches, with the counsel of the aforesaid
King: and soon, with all coming together as one, a most salutary
inquiry of counsel concerning this recent dissension
wisely arose among the priestly grades of the ecclesiastical order,
and having entered upon a more prudent deliberation, they appointed
faithful legates in the Lord to be sent to the Archbishop
of the city of Canterbury, by the name of Berhtwald, lest it should
be ascribed to their presumption or rashness, if
they should do anything without the counsel of so great a Bishop. [he sends Saint Boniface to the Archbishop of Canterbury:] And when
the entire Senate, and the whole order of Clerics
consented after so provident a conference was concluded, immediately
the King addressed all the servants of Christ, and inquired
upon whom they would impose the commission of this aforesaid embassy.
Then suddenly the supreme Archimandrite in Christ,
who presided over the aforesaid monastery, by the name of Wynberch;
and Wintra, who presided over the monastery called Dissesburg;
and Beorwald, who governed by divine governance the monastery
called by the name of the ancients Glestingaburg;
and also many other Fathers of this holy resolution,
brought this holy man summoned before the King, and the King
imposed upon him the commission and the knowledge of the embassy,
and with companions assigned to him, directed him
in peace. Who also, with the commission imposed upon him according
to the mandate of the Elders, arrived by a prosperous journey at Kent,
and wisely revealed to the Archbishop, endowed with the mitre
of the supreme pontificate, all things, just as he had been taught
by the King, in order: [he receives a response] and thus, having received a voluntary response,
after not many days he returned to his homeland,
and with the aforesaid King and the aforesaid servants of God
assisting with him, he knowingly brought back from the venerable
Archbishop the voluntary response, and conferred great
joy upon all." These things Saint Willibald, ordained Bishop by Saint Boniface,
born under King Ina, with his brother Saint Wunibald, Abbot
of Heidenheim, and his sister Saint Walburga, Virgin, as we shall say
in the Life of Saint Richard, their parent, on February 7. Beorwald
succeeded as Abbot of Glastonbury the above-mentioned Hemgisl.
But Abbot Wynbert presided over the new, or Nursling, monastery
in Hampshire, and perhaps the city of Winchester, in which this
Synod was held, and which was the other royal seat of Saint Ina.
From that monastery, the above-mentioned Saint Daniel, Bishop of Winchester,
gave commendatory letters to Saint Boniface as he was about to depart for Rome
to Pope Gregory II; who, when Wynbert died, placed
Abbot Stephen over the monks; and at that time had only Hampshire
from the provinces of this Saxon kingdom in his diocese.

[26] Hence, first, Geoffrey of Monmouth is to be rejected, who
in book 12, chapter 18, reports that Ina was descended from the Britons: "Then Alan,"
he says, "suggested to Cadwallader that he should obey the divine dispensation,
and, setting Britain aside, accomplish what the angelic
admonition had commanded him. [and is falsely invented as descended from them,] He should direct his son
Ivor, and his nephew Ina, to rule the remnants
of the Britons on the island, lest the nation, born of their ancient
race, should lose its liberty by a barbaric invasion.
Then Cadwallader, having cast aside worldly things, [the nephew of Cadwallader confused with Saint Ceadwalla:] for the sake of
God and the perpetual kingdom, came to Rome and was confirmed
by Pope Sergius; also seized by an unexpected illness,
on the twelfth day before the Kalends of May,
in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 689, released from the contagion
of the flesh, he entered the hall of the heavenly kingdom."
These same things Bede narrates in book 5, chapter 7, about Saint Ceadwalla,
the predecessor of Saint Ina, who departed this life holily at Rome
under Pope Sergius, on the day, month, and year indicated.
But Geoffrey continues in chapter 19:
"When Ivor and Ina had gathered ships for themselves, [and that the King of Wales warred against the English:] they
associated with themselves whomever they could and landed on the island,
and for forty-nine years afflicted the English nation
with the most savage harassment: but it did not avail much...
Also with the barbarian invasion, they were no longer called Britons
but Welsh, drawing the name either from Gualon, their leader,
or from Wales, their Queen, or from barbarism."

[27] This Queen of Wales is said to be the wife of Saint Ina in the supplement to
the laws of King Edward, canon 35: where these equally fabulous things are added: [he did not receive Cambria with his wife Wallia:]
"King Ina took as his wife one named Guala,
on account of whom that land, which was formerly
called Cambria, was called Wallia: for he was a bigamist. He took,
moreover, with his last wife, Cambria and Cornwall,
and the blessed crown of Britain, which had belonged
to the last Cadwallader, King of Britain. And all the English,
who existed at that time, took their wives
from the race of the Britons, and the Britons took their wives from the illustrious
blood and race of the English, [nor did he command mutual marriages of the English, Britons, and Scots:] that is, from the race
of the Saxons. For this was done by the common counsel
and assent of all the Bishops, and Princes,
Nobles, Counts, and all the wise, elders,
and peoples of the whole kingdom, and by the precept
of the aforesaid King Ina. Many English indeed took their wives
from the blood and race of the Scots. The nobles
of the Scots, and nearly all the Scots, took their wives
from the best race and blood of the English of Germany,
and thus at that time throughout the whole kingdom
of Britain they were two in one flesh. And so he established lawful
marriage (and abolished fornication and uncleanness
from the kingdom) and righteous judgments for the stability of the kingdom and
the confirmation of the peoples, with kindly diligence: and in such
a manner they became one race and one people throughout the whole
kingdom of Britain by divine mercy. Then
all called the kingdom the kingdom of the English, which had previously
been called the kingdom of Britain. [nor attacked by the Danes and Norwegians,] All the aforesaid
always thereafter for the common benefit of the crown of the kingdom stood together
and as one against the Danes and Norwegians,
and fought with the most fierce and unanimous will
against the enemies, and waged the most fierce wars.
For the aforesaid King Ina was the best, generous,
wise, prudent, moderate, vigorous, just, spirited,
and warlike for the place and time, [he defended the kingdom] and in divine laws
and in secular institutions, writings, and exhibitions
of good works he shone gloriously, and he ruled
the kingdom, confederated and consolidated it, and pacified it
as one with great wisdom and prudence, and where the occasion
arose, by force and armed hand." These things are given there: which, since they are
contrary to those things we produce from ancient and excellent
historians of proven faith and authority, anyone will dismiss them as futile.
Among fables we also reckon the second marriage of Saint Ina with
Guala, or Wallia, the daughter of Cadwallader, King of the Britons, of whom there is no
mention among others. He had as wife Ethelburga, occasionally called
Sexburga in the manuscript codex by error, descended from the West Saxons,
as he himself was, sister of Adelard the sub-king: whom
we shall say below left the kingdom with him.

[28] In the British Heptarchy the kingdom of Mercia was illustrious,
about which we shall treat on February 13 in the Life of Saint Ermenilda,
Queen and wife of King Wulfhere: to him succeeded Saint Ethelred,
his brother (whose feast day falls on May 4), then Cenred,
and when he departed for Rome in the year 709, Ceolred came to power,
[he fights with the King of Mercia in the year 715:] "heir," says Huntingdon, "of his native and ancestral valor."
"Ina, in the twenty-sixth year of his reign, fought against
Ceolred, King of the Mercians, son of King Ethelred,
at Wonebirih: and it was fought so horribly
on both sides that it is not known to whom the more detestable disaster befell."
Thus Huntingdon. The same battle is referred to the year of Christ
715 by the Anglo-Saxon Chronologer, the Wigorn and
Chester chroniclers, and to the following year by the Westminster chronicler.
The place of the battle is called by them Wodnesburh, Wodnesbirch, Wodnesbeorh,
Wodemobirgh. Malmesbury passes over this war in silence,
and in its place reports that the East Anglians
received the hereditary hatred, with all their nobility first driven out,
then also scattered in war. Toward the end of this century, with King
Saint Ethelbert killed, who is venerated on May 20, the East Anglians were subjected
to the Kings of Mercia. Ethelwerd also treats of these wars
in book 2, chapter 12.

[29] "In the year 721 Ina killed Cynewulf." Thus
the Anglo-Saxon Chronologer and the Wigorn writer, who calls him
Cynewulf the Clito: by which, Spelman observes, it is indicated
that he was a King's son. The Chronologer continues: "In the year 722
Queen Ethelburga destroyed the castle of Taunton, which
Ina had previously built; and Aldbriht perished as an exile
in Surrey and Sussex. And Ina fought against the South Saxons."
The Wigorn writer briefly summarizes these things. More copiously the Westminster writer:
"Ina," [and with the South Saxons] he says, "advanced a great army into Sussex,
and in the same battle killed Eadbert, whom
he had previously put to flight from the castle called Taunton:
because Ina had built the aforesaid castle."
The Anglo-Saxon Historian refers his death to the year 725.
"And Ina," he says, "fought against the South Saxons, and there
routed Aldbrith." Huntingdon sheds some light: "Ina," he says,
"in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, advanced an army into Sussex,
and fought powerfully and victoriously against the South Saxons,
and killed in the same battle Ealdbrith,
whom he had previously put to flight from the castle called
Taunton, which indeed King Ina had built; but
because the aforesaid young man Ealdbrith had entered the castle,
who was a royal enemy, Queen Ethelburga, wife of Ina,
took the castle by arms, and, once taken, destroyed it, and compelled him
to flee into Surrey." Polydore Vergil calls this Eadbert
Aldinus, King of the South Saxons.
Taunton is an elegant town at this time in the County of Somerset,
on the river Thone, which gave it its name.

[Annotation]

* Supply "volentes" (wishing).

Section 6. Various pious works of Ina at home and in Rome.

[30] When the bodies of Saints Indract and his companion Martyrs, about
whom we treated on February 5, had been hidden in a certain deep pit
by robbers, [he finds the bodies of Saints Indract and his companion Martyrs by divine revelation,]
"King Ina," says the author of the Life, "on a certain night, looking
into the sky, saw a column like a visible fire,
extending from the place where the holy bodies
were hidden into the sky, whose splendor
followed his eyes wherever he turned them. And when
he had perceived the same vision for three nights, taking certain persons
with him, he came to the place, and finding
the bodies of the Martyrs, had them buried with great honor
at Glastonbury." [and transfers them:] These things are given there.

[31] "Ina, a man of great counsel and virtue" (these are the words of Polydore
Vergil, Archdeacon of Wells), "famous at home and abroad,
devoted to good arts and a lover of justice and equity in all things,
when he perceived that through the administration of public
affairs he was not permitted to be at peace, took up
his Cross and followed Christ Himself. But,
before he did this, he wished to assist religion with his fortune:
for that most wise man considered it the basest and most foolish
thing to entrust to another's faith riches to be distributed
for various uses, which he who had acquired them could himself bestow."
"Therefore at Wells he built a church with magnificent
apparatus, [he builds the church of Saint Andrew at Wells,] and dedicated it to the Apostle Saint Andrew:
in which he had an Episcopal See placed,
and afterward enriched it with many possessions."
"Wells is a city in that part of the island which looks toward the western
sun, situated at the foot of the mountain
which they call Mendip." These are the words of Polydore. But what he reports
about the Episcopal See does not rest on sufficiently firm and solid authority.
Certainly Malmesbury thinks otherwise in book 2 on the Deeds of the Bishops
of England: "The third Bishopric of the West Saxons," he says,
"was at Wells, a village in the Somerset district. There, from
the time of the elder King Edward, there were Bishops." Harpsfield adds
in century 8, chapter 8, that it is certain that before the times
of Edward the Elder, no Bishop had sat there. Camden,
among the Belgae, [and a college] says that it has a church and College founded by King Ina
in honor of Saint Andrew. Then in the year 766, Cynewulf,
King of the West Saxons, as is read in his charter in Godwin,
"with the consent of the Bishops and Satraps, humbly
gave by assignment a certain portion of land to the Apostle
of God and His minister Saint Andrew, for the increase
of the monastery [or monastery] which is situated near the great spring
which they call Wielea." Ussher reports from the Glastonbury Chronicle,
chapter 5, that with King Ina consenting, Daniel, Bishop of the Britons,
sat there.

[32] According to the manuscript codex of Glastonbury, Saint Ina went
to Rome twice. About the first journey these things are reported there:
"After the diplomas were given to the monastery of Glastonbury, the aforesaid
King Ina directed letters sealed with the royal signet
to the supreme Pontiff, [he gives the Roman Pope a golden cup,] in which all the aforesaid things,
together with the possessions and liberties of the Glastonbury Church,
were contained in writing, and at the same time,
together with a certain cup of the purest gold,
and with other royal gifts, which the same King transmitted to the aforesaid
Pontiff, he petitioned, and by petitioning
obtained, [privileges confirmed for the Glastonians] that he should receive the Church of Glastonbury
with its appurtenances and liberties into the bosom and protection
of the holy Roman Church, and confirm it by Apostolic
authority in perpetuity. When all these things were accepted
by the supreme Pontiff, and with his assenting and
receiving, he gloriously confirmed the royal pension
by Apostolic writings. [returning from Rome he brings back:] And in the same year the same King
went to Rome in person, and returning, brought back to Glastonbury
the privilege corroborated by the Apostolic seal."

[33] Then perhaps Ina offered to the Pontiff the most celebrated alms
which they call Peter's Pence. "King Ina," says the Chester chronicler,
"is reported to have been the first of all Kings to have granted a penny
from each house of his kingdom to Blessed Peter,
which was long called by the English 'Romescot,' and in Latin, 'Peter's Pence.'"
[having offered Peter's Pence to the Pontiff,] Polydore says he himself first came to England
for the purpose of performing this office, and managed this collection
for several years, which he explains thus: "The services
of the piety of that King (Ina, that is) are reported to be infinite:
and this especially, that he made his kingdom tributary
to the Roman Pontiff, [he subjects his kingdom to him:] with individual silver coins,
which they call denarii, imposed upon each household.
The same thing was done, following his example, I think, by Offa,
King of the Mercians, who reigned not long after that time.
That was the year of salvation 740. This tribute, as
some write, was afterward increased by King Ethelwulf, or Athulf,
who obtained the rule of nearly the whole island.
All of England at this time pays this tribute to the Roman Pontiff
for the sake of piety and religion, collected from house to house,
and those silver coins are commonly called
'Peter's Pence,' which the Papal collector,
whom they not unknowingly call the Collector, exacts."
What besides Ina intended by this alms of his, we add from
the Westminster writer: "King Ina," he says at the year 727,
"made a house at Rome, with the consent and will of Pope Gregory,
which he had called the School of the English. [he builds the School of the English at Rome:] To which
the Kings of England and the royal family, with Bishops, Priests,
and Clerics, would come to be instructed in Catholic doctrine and faith,
lest anything sinister or contrary to Catholic unity
should be taught in the English Church, and thus, strengthened in firm faith, they would return to their own lands. For
the doctrine and schools of the English had been forbidden from the times
of Saint Augustine by the Roman Pontiffs on account of the persistent
heresies that had arisen in Britain at the arrival of the English,
while pagans, mixed with Christians, had corrupted
the grace of holy life in the Christian faith.
Moreover, he had a church built [and a church of Saint Mary] near the aforesaid house,
in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in which the divine mysteries
would be celebrated for the English arriving at Rome:
and in which any of the English who might happen to die at Rome
could be buried. And so that all these things might obtain the strength
of perpetual firmness, it was decreed by a general decree
throughout the whole kingdom of the West Saxons, in which
the aforesaid Ina reigned, that a single penny from each household,
which in English is called 'Romescot,' should be sent
to Blessed Peter and the Roman Church, so that the English dwelling there
might have a vital subsidy therefrom." These are the words of the Westminster writer:
which may have been conceived and arranged during his first visit to the City,
but brought to perfect execution during the second.

[43] His sisters Saint Cuthburga and Quenburga had professed the monastic life under the same Rule of Saint Benedict. Finally, she who is praised by all as the leader of so great an undertaking was his wife, Queen Ethelburga, [Queen Ethelburga his wife] a most prudent and most devout woman, who, when the King set out for Rome, herself also (these are the words of Baronius at the year of Christ 740, no. 14), displaying a courage no less than her husband's, though in the weaker sex, gave a most excellent example of contempt for the world. For having embraced the monastic life, she consigned herself to perpetual enclosure, [a nun,] having entered a monastery of holy nuns, where she transformed herself from a Queen into a handmaid, and chose to exercise authority over herself alone, knowing well that he is truly a King who, for the love of Christ, makes himself subject to others, and that he truly rules who masters his own passions. Spelman notes at the year 725 that this Queen Ethelburga first became a nun at the aforementioned monastery of Barking in Essex, near the river Thames, and was afterward Abbess there. [then Abbess at the monastery of Barking, she rested in a blessed end.] The same is related by Harpsfield, Matthew, and others. Another Ethelburga, sister of Saint Erconwald, Bishop of London, sprung from the Kings of the East Angles, had presided there in the previous century; she is numbered among the holy Virgins and venerated on the eleventh of October. The Chester chronicler says that Ethelburga, wife of Saint Ina, withdrew to the monastery of Barking, where her sister had been Abbess, and she herself afterward, having been placed over those Virgins, rested in a blessed end.

[44] In ordering the years of Ina's reign, the following must be observed. We have assigned the beginning to the year of Christ 689, following the ancient authorities; yet that year, not being completed, is not reckoned in the computation. Hence what is for the Huntingdon chronicler the twenty-sixth year of the reign, is for others the year of Christ 718, [Years of his reign,] in which his battle with Ceolred, King of the Mercians, is recorded; what is for the same chronicler the thirty-sixth year of the reign is given by the Anglo-Saxon Chronologist as the year of Christ 727, when the famous victory over the South Saxons was won. Bede and others universally assign thirty-seven years to his reign, which according to the given reckoning we end at the year of Christ 726, and thus the Westminster writer says: "In the year of grace 727, Ina, a fortunate and powerful King, leaving his kingdom to his kinsman Aethelheard, set out for Rome, that he might exchange a temporal kingdom for an eternal one." Others, however, refer these events to the following year 728, [time of pilgrimage.] perhaps on account of some interregnum whose duration is attributed to him. Thus the Anglo-Saxon Chronologist at that year: "Here Ina went to Rome and there breathed his last." The Worcester chronicler: "Having relinquished his rule and commended it to Aethelheard, who was descended from the stock of King Cerdic, King Ina set out for the shrines of the blessed Apostles, while Gregory held the pontificate, desiring to sojourn for a time near the holy places on earth, that he might more familiarly deserve to be received by the Saints in heaven." These last words are taken from the passage of Bede quoted above. After he had described in the same chapter how Saint Caedwalla had been carried off by a sudden death at Rome, [and life spent at Rome.] he allows Saint Ina some period of pilgrimage; and thus the Malmesbury writer records that he grew old in obscurity at Rome, surviving for some time after the year 728.
