Page:Historical Works of Venerable Bede vol. 2.djvu/267

 Rh serve in my church, that they may receive subsistence from it, and not suffer from want. Bid him furthermore make my church a place of asylum flee to it, so that whoever shall, for any cause, take refuge with my corpse, shall have peace for thirty days, on no account to be infringed."

§ 11. His faithful messenger, the abbot, having told this to the king, both Guthred himself, and the powerful King Alfred, of whom we have made mention above, proclaimed it to their subjects, and established it as a law for ever, with the consent and approbation not only of the English, but also of the Danish army. They ordained that those who in any manner whatever broke the saint's peace, should pay, as a fine, a sum of money equal to that which they paid for breaking the peace of the king, namely, ninety-six pounds at least. Moreover, the land, lying between the two rivers above-mentioned, was afterwards given to him as he commanded, and a decree was passed, with the concurrence both of the kings above-named and of the whole people, that if any one should give land to St. Cuthbert, or if land should have been bought with the saint's money, no one, from that time, should claim from it any service or custom whatever, but the church alone should possess it for ever in peace, with all its liberties and customs, and, as the saying is, with sac and socn, and infangentheof. It was determined by all, that, if any one should in any way infringe these laws and statutes, they should be consigned for ever, unless they behaved better for the future, to fire in hell and the malediction of the church. A short time after, the Scots assembled a large army, and, among other deeds of cruelty, attacked and plundered the monastery of Lindisfarne; and whilst King Guthred, strengthened by the help of St. Cuthbert, was fighting against them, on a sudden the earth yawned and swallowed up all the enemy alive. Thus was re-enacted a miracle of ancient times, whereby