Page:Historical Works of Venerable Bede vol. 2.djvu/362

 290 Etheldrida, a holy and ever chaste virgin in Christ, daughter of Anna, king of the Angles, given first in marriage to a great nobleman, and afterwards as wife to King Egfrid, after preserving her marriage-bed undefiled for twelve years, takes the veil, and from a queen becomes a holy virgin: then straightway, that she might become a pious mother and nurse to holy virgins, she erects a nunnery in a chosen spot, called Elge. Her undying merits were testified even by her mortal flesh, which, sixteen years after her burial, was found uncorrupted, together with the garment in which she had been wrapped.

A.M. 4649 [698].

Justinian, younger son of Constantine, reigned 10 years. He made a truce with the Saracens for ten years by sea and land; moreover the province of Africa was subjected to the Roman empire, whereas it was before held by the Saracens, who had even taken and destroyed Carthage itself. The Roman pontiff Sergius of blessed memory, having refused to countenance the synod which Justinian held at Constantinople, and to subscribe to its rambling decrees, the emperor sent his Prefect of the Law, Zachary, with orders to bring him to Constantinople; but the militia of the city of Ravenna and of the neighbouring parts withstood the impious prince, and repelled Zachary from Rome with loss and shame. The same Pope Sergius created that venerable man, Wilbrord, surnamed Clement, bishop of the Prisons, in which country, even unto this day, he labours for eternity; for being by birth a Briton, of the nation of the Angles, he has quitted his own land for ever, passing his time in combating the evil one, and