[70] "Hengest and Horsa ... were the sons of Wihtgils; Wihtgils was the son of Witta, Witta of Wecta, Wecta of Woden. From Woden sprang all our royal kin, and the Southumbrians also" (year 449, "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," Peterborough text). "Penda was the son of Pybba, Pybba of Cryda ... Wærmund of Wihtlæg, Wihtlæg of Woden" (Ibid. year 626). Orderic Vital, born in England, and writing in Normandy, in the twelfth century, continues to trace back the descent of the kings of England to Woden: "a quo Angh feriam [iv]am Wodenis diem nuncupant" ("Hist. Eccl.," ed. Le Prevost, vol. iii. p 161). "Wodenis dies" has become Wednesday. In the same fashion, and even more characteristically, the feast of the northern goddess Eostra has become "Easter": "Eostur-monath, qui nunc paschalis mensis interpretatur, quondam a dea eorum quæ Eostre vocabatur ... nomen habuit." Bede, "De Temporum Ratione" in Migne's "Patrologia," xc., col. 357. Similar genealogies occur in Matthew Paris, thirteenth century, "Chronica Majora," vol. i. pp. 188-9, 422 (Rolls).
[71] This unique monument seems to be of the eighth century. Cf. "Pre-Conquest Churches of Northumbria," an article by C. Hodges in the "Reliquary," July, 1893.
[72] For example, charter of Offa, dated 793, "Matthæi Parisiensis ... Chronica Majora," ed. Luard (Rolls), vol. vi., "Additamenta," pp. 1, 25, &c.: "Regnante Domino nostro Jesu Christo in perpetuum."
[73] "King Ceadwalla's tomb in the ancient basilica of St. Peter," by M. Tesoroni, Rome, 1891, 8vo.
[74] "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," year 855. The princess was Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald. Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, blessed the marriage.
[75] "Quid dicam de tot episcopis ..." &c. "Willelmi Malmesbiriensis.... Gesta regum Anglorum," ed. Hardy, London, 1840, 2 vols. 8vo, vol. ii. p. 417.
[76] See his will and various documents concerning him in Migne's "Patrologia," vol. lxxxix., col. 535 et seq.
[77] "Fraternitatis vestræ pietatem intimis obsecramus precibus ut nos inter feras et ignaras gentes Germaniæ laborantes, vestris sacrosanctis orationibus adjuvemur." Boniface to Cuthberht and others, year 735, in Migne's "Patrologia," vol. lxxxix., col. 735.
[78] "Ideo hæc Vestræ Excellentiæ dico ... ut aliquos ex pueris nostris remittam, qui excipiant nobis necessaria quæque, et revehant in Franciam flores Britanniæ: ut non sit tantummodo in Eborica hortus conclusus, sed in Turonica emissiones Paradisi cum pomorum fructibus, ut veniens Auster perflare hortos Ligeris fluminis et fluant aromata illius...." Migne's "Patrologia," vol. c., col. 208. Many among Alcuin's letters are directed to Anglo-Saxon kings whom he does not forbear to castigate, threatening them, if need be, with the displeasure of the mighty emperor: "Ad Offam regem Merciorum;" "Ad Cœnulvum regem Merciorum," year 796, col. 213, 232.
[79] Works in Migne's "Patrologia," vol. lxxxix. col. 87 et seq. They include, besides his poetry ("De laude Virginum," &c.), a prose treatise: "De Laudibus Virginitatis," and other works in prose. He uses alliteration in his Latin poems.