Chronology of Aldfrith's Life 295 



Hadrian^ — with whom at least Aldhchn did study — in which case 

 the baptism might liave been some years previous; if it is the 

 baptism that Aldhehii refers to as twenty years earher, the letter 

 could hardly have been written much after 685. In 665 Aldhelm 

 would have been twenty-six years old, and the 'tempore puber- 

 tatis nostras' might indicate no more than that Aldhelm was of 

 the statutory age required in a sponsor ; but in any case the phrase 

 suggests something like an equality of age between the two men.^ 

 The result, then, of our scrutiny of Aldhelm's two letters to 



been that of confirmation, not that of baptism, since there might be different 

 sponsors for each (Plummer 2. 383; Haddan and Stubbs 3. 193: 4. 8). 

 'Son of adoption' was used by Asser {Life of Alfred, ed. Stevenson, p. 47) 

 of Guthrum's relation to King Alfred, at the baptism of the former in 878 : 

 'Quem /Elfred rex in fiHum adoptionis sibi suscipiens, de fonte sacro bap- 

 tismatis elevavit.' A deacon was sometimes chosen as sponsor {Diet. Chr. 

 Biog. 2. 1924), so tliis possibility is not excluded with respect to Aldhelm. 

 For the requirement with respect to the age of puberty, see the Realencyc. 

 f. Prot. Theol. 11. KircJic 19. 449; for sponsors in the case of adults, ibid. 

 19. 447. 



^ Almost certainly, if at all, in 670, since the Canterbury school can hardly 

 have begun before that year, and the banishment of Aldfrith would probably 

 have occurred soon after his father's death on Feb. 25, 671. 



^ When Aldlielm, in writing to Aldfrith, refers to the relation of father 

 and son, as in the phrase 'prsestantissime et amantissime fili' (Giles, p. 228), 

 or 'paterna sollicitudine coactus' (Giles, p. 328), he is always, presumably, 

 referring to his sponsorship ; though Bede, it may be remarked, when still 

 under thirty, addressed his fellow-deacon. Cuthbert, as 'dulcissime fili' 

 (Plummer i. cxlv) ; and Oswald first became sponsor for Cynegils in 635, 

 and then married his daughter {Sax. Chr.; Eeel. Hist. 3. 7). But, as is 

 natural, Aldhelm stresses the fraternal relation elsewhere : 'sodalitatis 

 fraternse cliens' (Giles, p. 91) ; 'fraternae ironia dilectionis' (Giles, p. 95) ; 

 'priscse fraternitatis memor' (Giles, p. 228). In particular, he explains that 

 he writes the second letter to Aldfrith to revive their fraternal affection 

 Cpristini fraternitatis affectus'), though assured, for his own part, that 

 neither time nor space can diminish perfect love (Giles, p. 228). 



Aldhelm's 'tempore pubertatis nostrse' is probably to be taken in a rather 

 loose sense, if we may judge from tlie 'infantise' in the heading of his letter 

 to Hadrian in 674 or 675 (Giles, p. 330), in which he refers to his cor- 

 respondent as the teacher of his untrained childhood ('rudis infantiie . . . 

 prseceptori'), Hadrian having reached England only four or five years before. 

 By a strict interpretation of 'infantise,' Aldhelm would have been only seven 

 years old in 670; yet he was abbot of Malmesbury in 675, after having 

 been ordained priest, probably at or beyond the canonical age of thirty 

 (Giles, p. 359; cf. Bonhoff, pp. 55, 56, 100, 104). 



