Aldfrith and Beoivulf 321 



hardly be any one else than Wilfrith. We must not forget that 

 Aldfrith believed he had just grounds for disapproving of that 

 prelate, and that his disapprobation and resentment were publicly 

 and officially manifested on more than one occasion. Seven or 

 eig'ht years before Aldfrith's accession to the throne, bitter 

 accusations were launched against Wilfrith, of a tenor which, if 

 they could be substantiated, would go far to justify Hrothgar's 

 charges of insolence, baleful rancor, and arrogance^ (1740, 1758, 

 1760). These accusations are put by the historians into the 

 mouth of Eormenburh, Ecgfrith's wife, thovigh William of 

 Malmesbury believes that she was not alone in her denunciations. 

 In the words of Montalembert,^ she represented to the king 



the shameless pomp and luxury displayed on every occasion by the 

 Bishop of York — his immense riches, his services of gold and silver, 

 the increasing number of his monasteries, the vast grandeur of his 

 buildings, his innumerable army of dependents and vassals, better armed 

 and better clothed, perhaps, than those of the king. . . . The moment 

 might be foreseen when all those estates, given by the generosity of 

 the Northumbrians to the sanctuaries of the new religion, would become 

 the appanage of one man. 



Another of Wilf rith's biographers" makes her say : 'Your whole 

 kingdom is his bishopric. What if in time of war he should 

 keep back his men from fighting on your side?' At one time 

 Aldhelm felt that he had to write a letter to certain of Wilfrith's 

 clergy,* to keep them true to their allegiance. Bede, we are told,^ 

 had the warmest admiration for the kings who expelled Wilfrith. 

 Oman*^ calls him 'a great lover of state and dignity, a very stiff- 

 backed adversary, who always stood upon his rights. . . . He 

 has been compared in character, and not inaptly, to Becket.' And 

 Raine says^ : 'Throughout his life he was far too careless of the 

 opinions and feelings of others.' 



^ Contrast the Ulysses of Od. 4. 689-693. 



^4. 25. Cf. Eddi. chaps. 24, 21 ; Wm. Malm., Gcst. Pont., p. 219; Bright, 

 p. 281. 



^ Eadmer, chap. 26 (Histor. Church York i. 187). 

 * Giles, pp. 334-5 ; Montalembert 4. 225-6. 

 ' Plummer 2. 316. 



"P. 304. 



"Histor. Church York i. xxviii. The evil trait against which Hrothgar's 

 warning is directed is thus described by Aldhelm (De Virg. 2712-6) : 



