294 Beoivulf and Widsith 



referred to, one bond at least growing out of the baptism of 

 Aldfrith, where Aldhehn was present as sponsor; but it is uncer- 

 tain whether this, or a later association of the two, is described as 

 having occurred a score of years earlier than the date of the letter. 

 If this was written in 690, or soon after, the date of twenty years 

 earlier might be that of their study together under Theodore and 



might be : 'I am in no doubt whatever, my revered son, for, giving the rein 

 to my unquestioning belief, I am assured that the Hveliness of your intellect 

 will recall how we, now some four periods of lustres ago, knit the 

 inextricable pledge of an indissoluble covenant, and, by the spiritual bond 

 of fellowship, established the intimacy of devoted affection ; for when, 

 now long ago, in the time of our earliest manhood, your talents were adorned 

 by the sevenfold bounty of spiritual gifts at the hands of the venerable 

 bishop, I remember that I received the name of father, and that you obtained 

 the designation of adoptive dignity, along with the prerogative of heavenly 

 grace.' Or, condensing it to something like its lowest terms : 'I am sure 

 you will remember how, twenty years ago, we established ties of close 

 friendship ; for, as I stood sponsor for you at your baptism and confirma- 

 tion, when you received the sevenfold gift of the Spirit, we became spirit- 

 ually related as father and son.' Whether we are to assume that the bond 

 created by sponsorship was an earlier one, and was afterward strengthened 

 by their close association as fellow-students, will depend upon the precise 

 meaning we assign to pridcm (above), which once in Aldhelm appears in 

 pridemquam (Ehwald 302.6) =/»rJrfi(? quam, antcquam. This might suggest 

 a meaning 'previously' for pridein. That the 'spiritali sodalitatis vinculo' 

 need not refer to the sponsorship appears from 'a sodali contubernio vestro' 

 of his letter to Hadrian (Ehwald, p. 478; Giles, p. 330). More decisive is 

 the phrase of William of Malmesbury (Gcst. Pout., p. 376), where, referring 

 to Aldhelm in relation to Berhtwald (see p. 309, note 5), he calls him 

 'veteris contubernii sodalem, nam et pariter litteris studuerant,' etc. 



For the sevenfold gift of the Spirit, compare the prayer of confirmation, 

 as given in the Pontifical of Archbishop Egbert (d. 766), and translated by 

 Lingard (i. 297) : 'Almighty and everlasting God, who hast granted to 

 this thy servant to be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, and hast 

 given to him remission of his sins, send down upon him thy sevenfold Holy 

 Spirit, the Paraclete from heaven. Amen. Give to him the spirit of wisdom 

 and understanding, Amen; the spirit of counsel and fortitude, .hiu-n; the 

 spirit of knowledge and piety. Amen. Fill him with the spirit of the fear 

 of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, and mercifully sign him with the sign 

 of thy holy cross for life eternal.' The eves of Easter and of Whitsuntide 

 were the regular times for the administration of baptism (Lingard i. 291 ; 

 Plummer 2. 95-6). In the primitive church, confirmation followed immedi- 

 ately on baptism (Plummer 2. 382) ; in this case there may be a doubt, 

 since, though the sevenfold gift implies the rite of confirmation, the sponsor- 

 ship which carries with it the relation of godfather and godson might have 



