Moyra Caldecott (28 page)

Names

Some differences in the spelling of names found among the authorities:

Etheldreda – Aethelthryth
(In the Middle Ages this became Audrey. The word ‘tawdry’ comes from the necklaces sold in memory of her at the Pilgrim Fairs.)

Saxberga – Seaxburgh – Sexberga

Egfrid – Ecgfrith

Eorconbert – Eorconberht

Ethelberga – Aethelburh

Ethelred – Aethelraed

Hlothere – Lothere

Eanfleda – Eanflaed

Redwald – Raedwald

Oswy – Oswiu

Sigbert – Sigeberht

Egric – Ecgric

Fursey – Fursa

Ethelwald – Aethelwald

Ovin – Owini

Cenwahl – Cenwalh

Place names

I have invariably used the place name that would be most familiar to the modern reader. In the list below, the present name is followed by the old name:

Coldingham – Coludi

Ely – Elge

Hexham – Hagulstad

Ripon – Inhrypum

Melrose – Mailros

Chelles – Cale

Whitby – Streanaeshalch

Bamburgh – Bebba

Iona – Hii

Lichfield – Lyccidfelth

Bury St. Edmunds – Beodricsworth

Notes

[1]
Psalm 119.

[2]
Bede: A
History of the English Church and People,
iii.14, translation by Leo Sherley-Price, Penguin Classics, 1955.

[3]
Ibid. iii.19.

[4]
Ibid, iv.23.

[5]
Psalm 119 v.18.

[6]
Jeremiah 29.v.13.

[7]
Mark

[8]
Bede, op. cit., iii.17.

[9]
Isaiah 55.v.8

[10]
At Sutton Hoo, Suffolk. See magnificent grave goods in the British Museum.

[11]
From the fragment of an Anglo Saxon poem,
The Ruin
, translated and quoted by Michael Alexander in
The Earliest English Poems
, Penguin Classics, 1966.

[12]
Psalm 119 v.19

[13]
Bede, op.cit. iii.25.

[14]
Information taken from
Mastering Herbalism
by Paul Huson, Abacus, 1974.

[15]
Bede, op.cit., iv.2,3.

[16]
The Heresy of Eutyches
.

[17]
From
Beowulf
, a verse translation by Michael Alexander, Penguin Classics, 1973.

[18]
Bede, op.cit., iv.24.

[19]
John 14.v.25-26.

[20]
Bede, op.cit.

[21]
ibid., iv.3.

[22]
The broken stump of Ovin’s cross is still to be seen at Ely Cathedral.

[23]
Bede, op.cit., iv.22.

[24]
Psalm 119.