Chapter III

Summary

The third chapter begins

We will next discuss the third era of the kingdom, but first let us tell how, after the line of pagan kings of Britain had run its course, the fair days of the Christian faith arrived. For this, it is necessary to go back a little and consider with due care how, just as the rulership of Britain had to change because after King Lucius's time there were no more successors to the crown of British stock, so too religious practice and rites had to change because, through the zeal of that same king, the cult of pagan superstition had been rejected.

Lucius, therefore, once he had been honoured with the crown of the kingdom in succession to his father, continued all his father's good deeds. Wishing to put first things first, he sent letters to Pope Eleutherius asking him for instruction in the Christian religion, for his soul had been illuminated by the miracles which Christ's soldiers were performing in various lands. Lucius's eager desire for the true faith meant that his pious prayer was answered, for, on learning of his devotion, the holy pontiff sent him two religious instructors, Faganus and Duvianus. Through their preaching and ministry, King Lucius and nearly all his people received the faith of Christ. This is according to Britannicus. Bede, too, agrees with this account. In the fourth chapter of his first book he states: ‘In the year of Our Lord 156, Marcus Antoninus Verus became emperor, together with his brother Aurelius Commodus. He was the fourteenth after Augustus. In their time, while a holy man Eleutherius held the office of pope in the Church of Rome, Lucius, king of the Britons, sent him a letter beseeching him to issue an order making him a Christian. His pious request was soon granted and the Britons preserved the faith which they had adopted, Britanni usque in tempora Diocletiani principis inuiolatam integramque quieta pace seruabant.’ Haec Beda.

Fueruntque tunc in Britannia .xxviii. flamines, necnon et tres archiflamines. Itaque ubi flamines fuerant episcopos, ubi archiflamines archiepiscopos praefati doctores posuerunt. Sedes autem archiflaminum in tribus nobilioribus ciuitatibus constituerunt, uidelicet Lundoniis atque Eboraci, et in urbe Legionum, quam super Oscham fluuium in Glamorgantia ueteres muri et aedificia sitam fuisse testantur. Hiis igitur tribus uiginti octo episcopi subduntur. Diuisis quoque parochiis subiacuit metropolitano Eboraci, Deira et Albania, quas magnum flumen Humbre secernit a Loegria.