The First Age Our firstfather Adam reigned nine-hundred-thirty years and begat Cajn, Abel, and Seþ. Cajn slaughtered childless Abel and begat Enox the son also Enox the city. Enox Cajnson begat Irad who begat Mehujæl who begat Meþusæl who begat Lamex who begat Jabal and Jubal and Tubalcajn; and from this last generation sprang all of Cajnscyn who have continued upon the Earth after the First Age. Seth begat Enos and afterward reigned an-hundred-twelve years and begat others. Enos begat Cajnan and afterward reigned ninety-eight years and begat others. Cajnan begat Mahaleleo and afterward reigned an-hundred-fifteen years and begat others. Mahaleleo begat Jared and afterward reigned fifty-five years and begat others. Jared begat Enox the Prophet who begat Meþuselah and others, and afterward reigned Jared thirty-two years and begat others. Meþuselah begat Lamex who begat Noah and others, and afterward reigned Meþuselah two-hundred-thirty-two years and begat others. Noah begat the triplets Scem, Xam, and Japheþ; and upon the death of his grandfather did he begin his reign, the Great Flood beginning on the seventeenth day of the second month of the fifth year thereof and the arrival on Ararat falling exactly five months after. And during those five months did Noah beget Sceafa. Wherefore is it reckoned that the years of the First Age are An-Thousand-Five-Hundred- Seventy-Eight plus seven months and seventeen days. Since the age began in the midst of the seventh month, therefore is it meet to observe the new year of the following age at that time; but since we cannot be sure that this hath been the universal practice of the scribes who came before us, therefore we may deign to reckon the Age as fully completing the Seventy-Ninth. Fyrestyldu Ure fyrestfæder Adam nigon x undred um tƿelf jęrum ricsod and begęt him Cajn, Abel, and Seþ. Cajn him sunulęsne Abel slox and begęt himselfum Enox sunu and Enoxburg. Enox Cajnson begęt him Irad se begęt him Mehujæl se begęt him Meþusæl se begęt him Lamex se begęt him Jabal and Jubal and Tubalcajn; and fram þisne latoste begytoþe sprungon ęll Cajnescyn þa habbaþ on eorþan belifon æfter Fyrestreylde. Seþ begęt him Enos and æfterƿęrd xundredetƿelf jęrum ricsod and oþro begęt. Enos begęt him Cajnan and æfterƿęrd xundnigontijęx tan jęrum ricsod and oþro begęt. Cajnan begęt him Mahaleleo and æfterƿęrd xundredefiftyne jęrum ricsod and oþro begęt. Mahaleleo begęt him Jared and æfterƿęrd fiftijfif jęrum ricsod and oþro begęt. Jared begęt him Enox Ƿ itgan, se begęt himselfum Meþuselah and oþro, and æfterƿęrd þirtijtƿam jęrum ricsod Jared and oþro he begęt. Meþuselah begęt him Lamex, se begęt himselfum Noah and oþro, and æfterƿęrd tƿamxundredumþirtijtƿam jęrum ricsod Meþuselah and oþro he begęt. Noah begęt him þriocas Scem and Xam and Japheþ; and uppon dęþe his ęldfæderes dyde he ricsoþ bejinnan, bejinnende Grȩtflod on seofonteoþan dæje tƿaþmonaþes fiftan jęre þærof and cumoþ on Ararat fęllende fif monaþum ęllesƿelce æfter. And ƿiþinnan þam fifmonaþum dyde Noah him Scęfa begytan. Þærfore je is recenod þæt þa jęr Fyrestreylde beoþ þusand-fif-xundredu-xundseofontij-ęxt samod seafon monaþe and seafontij dagas. Descent of Woden Sceaf was born to Noah upon the Ark, so that his years are also the years of the Second Age. Sceaf begat Bedwig who begat Hwala who begat Hraþa who begat Itermon who begat Heremod who begat Scealdwa who begat Beaw who begat Tætwa who begat Geat who begat Godwulf who begat Fin who begat Frithuwulf who begat Freawine who begat Frealaf who begat Frithuwald who begat Woden. So the generations from Noah to Woden are reckoned seventeen; though there are an additional two generations inserted here or there by those who claim to know more on these matters. Descent of Penda Woden begat Weolthelgeat who begat Waga who begat Wihtlaeg who begat Eormund who begat Offa who begat Angengeat who begat Eomer who beget Icil who begat Cnebba who begat Cynewald who begat Creoda who begat Pybba who begat Penda. So the generations from Woden to Penda are thirteen. Offa was king of the Angles; and Cynewald was the first of this line to come to Britain. The Magonsaete Penda begat Wulfhere, Æþ elred, Peada, and Merewald, also perhaps Merchelm. Merewald begat St. Mildþryþ the Virgin and her sisters and also begat Merefin (or Meresin), a youth of excellent piety; and one man has it that Merchelm was also the son of Merewald: for it is said that St. Mildburh, one of the sisters and abbess of Wenlock Priory, left in her last will and testament some bounty to her brother Merchelm who was king of the Magonsaete at Hereford, though this document is unknown to us at this time. The mother of these and queen of Merewald was the Lady Domneva Eadbaldsdotter. Merewald was in his youth converted unto Christ, of gentle disposition and pious faith. We must for now suppose what has been the consensus heretofore to be true: that this line of Magonsaete princes ended in Merchelm, who died sometime after his sister Mildburh feel asleep in the Lord which was in His Winter the Seven-Hundred-Twenty-Seventh. Now Wulfhere Pendason was king of Mercia seven years and left his kingdom to his son C œ nred who had two brothers Werburh and Berhtwald. C œ nred reigned five years and begat C œ nred, Werburh, and Berhtwald, and he left the kingdom to his brother Aþelred who reigned twenty-nine years and begat Ceolred and Ceolwald. C œnred succeeded his uncle in the kingdship for the space of five years and left it to his cousin Ceolred who reigned seven years. Cœnred had him two sons Wiglaf and Beornwine, the latter being known earl of Warwick and Worcester. We cannot say for sure whether Wiglaf and Beornwine may have been bastards; but we can say that neither ruled over the Mercians yet at least Beornwine held his nobility at Worcester, not far indeed from Magonsaet, in Hwicceland, which was by then part of Mercia. And Beornwine C œnredson begat Beornred, indeed, the very Beornred who was called king for a very short time before being driven out by Offa the Terrible, this in the Seven- Hundred-Fifty-Seventh Year of our Lord; and Beornnoþ Beornredson succeeded his father as earl. Sources Genesis, Authorized King James Version; Chapters 4-8 Cooper, Bill; After the Flood Chapters 6 & 7 Worcestor, Florence; Chronicle translated Forester, Thomas, A.M., London, MDCCCLIV (search in text: “Merewalh” and related subjects) Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ; published Project Gutenberg, Web (see entry: AD 656) Catholic Truth Society; Virgin Saints of the Benedictine Order, “St. Mildred and her Kinsfolk” London, 1903 https://anniewhitehead2.blogspot.com/2022/05/dial-m-for-merewalh-of-magonste-and-all.html Of Beornnoþ the Just Beornnoþ begat two sons: Beorþweald and Beornmund. He received the tonsure from Cynewulf of Lindinsfarne and spent much of his life in seclusion and prayer. Beorþweald married Lantsuinda Odacresdotter, Odacre the archbishop of Ualais; and she bore him Macchus the Hunchback and prince Sjuræoþ. King Offa came up against the Gewisse in strife that all the kings should know that he was bent on conquest. And Beornnoþ was suspicious of this king that he was a tyrant, so the earl was jealous to increase his own power that he might resist Offa. And Beornmund did marry Ifka the princess of Gradecs who later bore him sons. Now the British king of Wroxeter, which in our tongue is Wulfaburg, died; and his people agreed to raise his infant daughter to be their Queen. And this was such folly that the earl sent appeal to the city of Rome asking that he might conquer the city; and the Holy Father gave his assent. So Bearnnoþ came up to Wulfaburg and laid low the city and took posession of it. But the earl of Radnor in his mountain fortress yet recognised the infant queen and had a strong army. Bearnnoþ defeated him by this strategem: He withdrew most of his army to be refreshed at Worceaster but kept gaurds stationed very regularly and ready to send off a chain of signal-fires to send word when the British forces were seen to move. So the earl of Radnor came up against the Angles; but the whole of their army returned swiftly to Wulfaburg and laid low the Britons. Therefore was Beornnoþ crowned king of the Hecana during the Feast of the Dormition of our Lady in the twenty-second year since the deposition of Beornred, and he paid no tribute nor oath again to Offa of Leidceaster. But the girl, called Siwa, was by treaty allowed to remain lady of Wulfaburg. The next year did king Beornnoþ lay low the Hwicce at Glaufem and make them to pay tribute for the space of eight years, when they had afore been paying tribute to Offa. And Offa laid seige to Tomworthij but was made to quit the fight; and because of this he broke the pledge that his son should be the husband of Fremednyss Beornnoþsdotter, who was baptised Zenia. And Beornnoþ endowed the monks of the upper Severn with gold and workmen to build up Wenlock Priory. In the third year of Beornnoþ’s reign, during Great and Holy Lent, did the people of Cardigan facing the Irish Sea foment a revolt, desecrate the churches, loot the monasteries, and overthrow their government which was in the hands of a woman. Many British kings drew up their forces to stem the tide of revolution, but the peasants laid them low and set up one among them, Itor, as king and forbade any man of cloth, even the abbots, from owning land. And on the Feast of the Fifitieth Day did king Beornnoþ declare that the warband would proceed with all haste to Hereford and conquer the old stronghold of the Hecana from those British who occupied it in those days. And Wenlock Priory was consecrated on the twelfth of November; and Father Eorcenberht was ordained to the episcopacy of the Hecana. And a dread plague swept across the coast of these disctricts that faces Gewissae which was brought by the heretics from Cardigan; and the walls of Clifford were surrendered in the springtime. Now that district was under the government of Broxfæl whose stronghold was Tafburg on the channel, and this king brought his army through Glaufem to lay seige of Tomworthij. And Beornnoþ defeated Broxfæl in the same wise that he had laid Radnor low: He brought the bulk of his force down to Tafburg and left a few men to build a fortress at the Wye crossing at Clifford; and Broxfæl made straight for that crossing to destroy the small army. But the signal-fires got through, and the Angles’ army arrived on-scene before the British could rout the skirmishers. This battle happened in July, at the end of Beornnoþ’s fifth year in the kingship, and the peace treaty was signed at the Feast of the Dormition wherefore did all the churchmen of the isle acclaim king Beornnoþ as the Just. At the feast of Pentacost in Beornnoþ’s eighth regnal year did he declare the conquest of the Silures of Uiscire, between Hereford and Tafburg, for the cause that their king Gwyrgant was accused a cannibal. The armies were raised quickly and made battle again at Clifford, this time farther to the south in the Erxenfeld. And the battle was very dire and close, but the Angles won the day and laid seige of Siluresburg, took it, deposed the cannibal and installed his son Arþur as earl. The following year did king Ecgberht Gewisse come up with an army to conquer Glaufem and could not be resisted. Now king Carl Franc had laid low his brother and taken posession of the whole of Gaul and Germany, and had died and left this power to his son, a youth of sixteen years. This king Leudast sent word about that he should need a royal wife befitting his power, and had his eye set upon our Fremednyss. So he took her to wife at Eostre in the Year of Our Lord the Seven- Hundred-Ninetieth, and sent a platoon of men to help Beornnoþ to conquer the Britons of Urfeh, who now were in posession of a tiny estate stuck between the Angles on one hand and the Cardigan heretics on the other. So they were by force made to be on our side of the line. In this time did Ifca Gradecs bear Cerdic ‘Anthony’ and Ealdwulf ‘Batolph’, and Fremenyss bore to Franc the daughters Alitrude and Rotrude. Now the Graecarice became hardpressed between the Mohammedan on one hand and the heathen Serbs on the other so that they were much affeared they would lose their whole empire, which empire indeed they reckon to be the same as Octafjan’s. And certain among the Greeks began to say that the Mohammedan was right when he would say that our sacred ikons are vain things and that the power of God and His Saints is not to be painted with human hands in any wise, pointing as they did at those Serbs with their idols of stone and wood and saying that we in Christ do appear more like unto them than unto the Mohammedan. And the drhyten Xristophoro inclined his ear toward these blasphemies; and those who supported the Catholic and True Faith bade him turn back in repentance to the ikons of Christ Allmighty and of the All-Holy Theotokos. And when he ordered those ikons destroyed, the Catholic faithful rallied behind the dryhten’s brother Eudocios in the country of Aflones, near to where certain of the Serbs and conquered and settled. But because all of the orthodox bishops, or most of them anyway, fled to the court of Eudocios, therefore did the dryhten Xristophoro call a robber council to condemn orthodoxy and proclaim the Iconoclasm; and this happened during the Paschal weeks of the Year of our Lord the Seven-Hundred-Ninety-Fourth. And a certain educated and orthodox layman called Rudolf fled from the imperial capital and came all the way to Britain where he was received by king Beornnoþ and made a teacher at the palace. In the fifteenth regnal year, which was the thirty-eighth since the deposition of Beornred, Beornnoþ came up once more to conquer Tafburg and the whole of that country, which was accomplished inside of a year. And Beornnoþ added to his titles: king of Siluresaete. Now Arþur was found out in a plot to murder a lady of Cent, and resisted arrest; wherefore was his castle besieged til it fell and the earl imprisoned. And Itor waged war against Rhos and was driven back. At this time Father Eugenius in Rome sent missionaries and converted the Serbs to Christ. Macchus Hunchback was wed to Brethoc the princess of the Picts; and Sjuraeoth to Rhiandrech, a Gællic lady who was later posessed by a dread demon. And Offa the Terrible drew up his army to revoke the earlshyp of Seaxbald in Lindsey, wherefore did the Hecana come up against him and lay seige to Leiceaster and take the whole household of Offa’s hostage. But the war was several years in fighting till Offa died on his throne, and prince Ecgfrith was let go from the prison to reign in his stead and in peace with Seaxbald. But Ecgfrith was envious of Beornnoþ and designed to make war for Tomsaete, wherefore the latter king did conspire to have Ecgfrith killed that the royal line of Offa would die out. So after a short time was Ecgfrith shot and killed while travelling, and all of the princes of the isle knew who had ordered the deed. And lady Æþ elburh, his sister, took the throne of Leiceaster along with her husband Arleid the Gæl. In the twenty-third regnal year was born to prince Macchus a son Beor h tsige ‘Procopius’. Then did another revolt occur in Rhos led by anticlerical heretics and toppled that power. And the Greeks sent missionaries unto the Morafy and taught them the Iconoclastic heresy. Macchus was ordained to the episcopacy at St. Illtud in Silur a saete. In the twenty-eighth regnal year, Cerdic married Alitrude and Eadwulf married Rotrude. And Æ þelburh came up against the heretics of Rhos to drive them out of the country facing the Isle of Man, to which they were aided by the Hecana. Beornnoþ began building a church in Hereford, and announced the conquest of Cardagan, which in our tongue is Diganburg. Meantime an army was come from Ireland under Flann of Mead also to conquer those heretics under Itor. The result of this war was that Diganscir became Anglisc and those districts facing Somrsaete became Gællisc. Eadwulf begat a son Eadwulf ‘Ephraim’. Prince Beorhtwald died on the twentieth of December in the thirty-second regnal year, and Sjuræoþ became the new crown-prince. Then Beornnoþ brought the army up against the country of Rhos itself to topple those heretics from power. The armies met at Wenlock and, by the intervention of St. Mildburh, the Englisc won the field and, pursuing the heretics back to the sea, captured their leader and banished him. So Beornnoþ took that that country and gave it to Sjuræoþ. And the Greeks sent missionaries also to Bohemia and made them Iconoclasts. Now there came a great heathen army across the seas from the ancient homelands of the Angles and Danes and laid waste to Lindsey; and all the Christian princes of the isles came up and conducted a war with these. Lindsey was taken by the foe and taken back again, but there did not stand a whole army in one place that was meet to meet this foe. And on the nineteenth day of January in the thirty-fourth year of his reign over the Hecana, which was the fifty-seventh year since he had been made earl of Worceaster and Tomsaete, the king fell asleep in the Lord, aged and full of years. O f Sjuræoþ Drythroat Immediately Sjuræoþ took his army west to Urfeh to arrest Rhydderx for his involvement in a treacherous plot against Beornnoþ. Rhydderx rose the black flag, and not long after was he joined by Dafydd of Wulfaberg. This Dafydd died of a flu in the course of things and his son Cado succeeded to the revolt. And the rebellion was some months in quelling, both earls being arrested. And the heathen armies were driven back across the sea by the allied forces. Æ lfweard was made earl of Silures; Æ lfwig earl of Tomsaete; and Simon Innsbrucc was appointed royal chaplain. The king, having no son, arranged for his daughter, who was then but a wee lass, to be betrothed to his nephew Beorhtsige. The king’s sister was then married to prince Carl Franc Twath. The king was tonsured by Cardinal Ninnian the Pict. Rodolf was made metropolitan and ruler of Cardagan; and Beorhtsige the prince was made earl of Rhos. The king at this time was sick from the measles. A spy found out the queen had been sleeping with Cerdic the bishop of royal race; he was defrocked and his see made part of Rodolf’s, and the king’s marriage was annulled. He married Lydia Galbaio in a private ceremony and bought her a falcon. In the sixth summer of his reign, Sjuræoþ sent to Father Honorius in Rome and had him brought to Hereford where, on the twenty-second of October, he crowned him King of the Britons. The king’s sister Wihtburh was abducted from France by a Daneviking on whom the king swore revenge. And at this time Leudast styled himself Emperor of the Franks and was also crowned by the Roman Father. In the eighth autumn, the king underwent a secluded penance for his many sins which he had done in prosecuting Rhydderx and Cado. And while he was praying for the health and salvation of the Angles and the Britons there came a knock at his chamber door; and behold it was his sister Wihtburh who had compelled her captor by the God of Heaven and His fearful prodigies to let her go home. And the king embraced his sister; and she was later married to Gorgant Uisc. Now the king commanded that his armies should go unto Land’s End, that is Westheafod, what the Britisc call Daffed, and seize that country inasmuch as the government of Meath, like that of Wulfaburg afore, had fallen into the hands of an infant girl and was in no wise fit to govern the Britons. After capturing the fortress at Westheafod, the Angles defeated the Gaels crossing over the sea using the same feint which they had used to destroy Radnor and Bræxfal. So before the dawn of the ninth Eostre of his reign did Sjuræoþ, returned from his penance, arrive at St. David’s by the sea and meet the Gælla at the sea. And though they were caught off guard by the sudden Englics reinforcements, still their army was large and had many good bow-arms among them; and the fighting was fierce and went all day and night till the Gæls lost their beachhead and fled over the sea. And the foolisc Gæls tried to cross the sea again in July and were defeated in the same fashion at the land’s end fortress, in which battle was Sjuræoþ come up against by their war-leader and fought with him and was wounded with his great scar. So the king retired to Hereford and sent Æ lfweard over the sea to hunt down the Gæls. And they were hunted down and made to surrender their coast-lands in Brytland. Now Antine, the cloth-son of Rodolf who had fallen asleep in the Lord, was made highbishop and governor of Digan and Westheafod; and Æ lfweard was made heretoga of Silurasæte. But this Æ lfweard was found out to be scheming to rape the queen and was requested for single combat with the king, in which combat was he ran through in the gut and left to die slowly on the field. So his young son Eadwig obtained the heretogscyp. And having spent five years under house-confinement, prince Beorhtsige’s treasury waxed full enough to pay his ransom, and he was freed and returned to Rhos. In the twlefth year, during Great Lent, the lady Ysbail, a Briton, revolted against the government of the boy-king Ruadan who had succeeded to Offa’s throne; and Sjuræoþ took advantage of the war to invade Ysbail’s own district of Tegeinglscir and conquered it. The king withdrew from the front to attend the wedding of his daughter to prince Beorhtsige on Eostre morning. Ruadan’s troops had captured Anglesea from Ysbail and confronted the Hacana troops while crossing back onto the mainland, and they were defeated. The following year, the king did travel on pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James in Spain, which district, God be praised, had been taken back from the Mohammaden by king Carl. Shortly after his return did the king hear word that Beorhtric of Eborc had raised another revolt against Ruadan; and Sjuræoþ ordered that henceforth the Middle Angles should be subject to his own rule since they could not keep order in their districts. And at this time the Gewisse came up and conquered Oxford since it had been abandoned by Ruadan for these other wars. Now the war was a long time in fighting, since Ruadan had many earls under him. A great battle was fought, and won, by the Hecana against Beorhtric’s forces at Derby. Father Honorius died in the following year, and Macchus travelled to Rome along with many other high prelates of the Roman communion. And on the ecclesiastical new year was inaugurated the pontificate of Victor Twath; and Macchus was elected to fill Victor’s now- vacant seat on the cardinals’ bench. In the seventeenth year, while the Hecana were fighting the Middle Angles, the Danes returned to the isle to attack the Northumbermen, and were eventually defeated. On the thirteenth of May, queen Lydia bore a son called Penda and baptised as Martin; and he was sent to Diganburg to be raised in the archbishop’s court. And Beorhtric gave up his rebellion against Ruadan and joined forces with him against Sjuræoþ. Cardinal Macchus died sometime afterward and was buried at the church of St. Illtud. At the beginning of the twenty-first year, Ruadan’s court surrendered. Beorhtric was named heretoga of Deira, Nuadu of Eastseaxna from Northampton, and the earl of Middleseaxna also received Sjuræoþ as king. But the court at Leidceaster refused to give up their own rule over Bedford and Maldon and immediately began another revolt, in which they were joined by Siluresaete. A large battle was then fought at Worceaster which the Hecana won handily. After subduing Leidceaster, they laid seige to Siluresburg and also to Merseceaster. Ruadan was handed over in chains in deprived of all power, and Nuadu was given rule over Bedford and Maldon. So king Sjuræoþ was acclaimed as Bretwalda in the twenty-first year of his reign over the Hecana, which was the fifteenth year from his anointing as King of the Britons.