 |
| Vikings looting and plundering a local monastery |
Early in the 8th century vikings would go east, but in 789 three ships from Hordaland, Norway raided Isle of Portland on the Dorset coast, they were approached on the coast by a royal reeve from Dorchester, whose job it was to identify all foreign merchants entering the kingdom, but they killed him. And in 792 Offa of Mercia began to make arrangements for the defense of Kent from viking attacks and the next year 793, the monastery Lindisfarne (Holy Island) on the Northumbrian coast of England was plundered on the 8th June.
The assault made the alarm bells ring all over the christian world, where people never expected a naval attack over the ocean, and the coasts lay totally unprotected. Vikings acted quickly they looted the monastery, killed some monks and took the rest as thralls. The Lindisfarne attack has made a prominent place in the history books as the beginning of the epoch of the vikings. " Never before has such an atrocity been seen " ,whined Alcuin in a letter he wrote to the court of Charlemagne.
 |
| Raban Maur and Alcuin dictates to Otgar, the Archbishop of Mainz |
In this year fierce, foreboding omens came over the land of the Northumbrians, and the wretched people shook; there were excessive whirlwinds, lightning, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the sky. These signs were followed by great famine, and a little after those, that same year on 6th ides of January, the ravaging of wretched heathen people destroyed God's church at Lindisfarne.
 |
| 9th century 28.5 cm commemorative stone from Lindisfarne showing "Doomsday" Alcuins letter to the bishop of Lindisfarne Higbald 793
To the best sons in Christ of the most blessed father, St. Cuthbert
the bishop, Bishop Higbald and all the congregation of the church of
Lindisfarne, Alcuin the deacon sends greeting with celestial benediction
in Christ.
The intimacy of your love used to rejoice me greatly when I was with
you; but conversely, the calamity of your tribulation saddens me greatly
every day, though I am absent; when the pagans desecrated the
sanctuaries of God, and poured out the blood of saints around the altar,
laid waste the house of our hope, trampled on the bodies of saints in
the temple of God, like dung in the street. What can we say except
lament in our soul with you before Christ's altar, and say: “Spare, O
Lord, spare thy people, and give not thine inheritance to the Gentiles,
lest the pagan say, ‘Where is the God of the Christians?’” What
assurance is there for the churches of Britain, if St. Cuthbert, with so
great a number of saints, defends not his own? Either this is the
beginning of greater tribulation, or else the sins of the inhabitants
have called it upon them. Truly it has not happened by chance, but is a
sign that it was well merited by someone. But now, you who are left,
stand manfully, fight bravely, defend the camp of God. Remember Judas
Maccabaeus, how he cleansed the temple of God, and set free the people
from foreign servitude. If anything ought to be corrected in your
Grace's habits, correct it quickly. Call back to you your patrons who
have left you for a time. They lacked not power with God's mercy; but,
we know not why, they kept silence. Do not glory in the vanity of
raiment; this is not a glory to priests and servants of God, but a
disgrace. Do not in drunkenness blot out the words of your prayers. Do
not go out after luxuries of the flesh and worldly avarice, but continue
steadfastly in the service of God and in the discipline of the regular
life, that the most holy fathers, who begot you, may not cease to be
your protectors. Treading in their footsteps, you may remain secure by
their prayers. Be not degenerate sons of such great fathers. In nowise
will they cease from defending you if they see you follow their example.
Yet be not dismayed in mind by this calamity. God chastiseth every
son whom he receiveth; and thus he perhaps chastised you more harshly,
because he loved you more. Jerusalem, the city loved by God, perished
with the temple of God in the flames of the Chaldeans. Rome, encircled
by a crown of holy apostles and innumerable martyrs, was shattered by
the ravages of pagans, but by the pity of God soon recovered. Almost the
whole of Europe was laid desolate by the fire and sword of the Goths
and Huns; but now, by God's mercy, it shines adorned with churches, as
the sky with stars, and in them the offices of the Christian religion
flourish and increase. Exhort yourselves in turn, saying:”Let us return
to the Lord Our God, for he is bountiful to forgive, and never deserts
them that hope in him”.
And you, holy father, leader of the people of God, shepherd of the
holy flock, physician of souls, light set upon a candlestick, be the
pattern of all goodness to all who see you; be the herald of salvation
to all who hear you. Let your company be of decent behaviour, an example
to others unto life, not unto perdition. Let your banquets be in
soberness, not in drunkenness. Let your garments be suitable to your
order. Do not adapt yourself to the men of the world in any vain thing.
Empty adornment of clothing, and useless elegance, is to you a reproach
before men and a sin before God. It is better to adorn with good habits
the soul which will live for ever, than to deck in choice garments the
body which will soon decay in the dust. Let Christ be clothed and fed in
the person of the poor man, that doing this you may reign with Christ.
The redemption of man is true riches. If we love gold, let us send it before us to heaven, where it will be kept for us, and we have that which we love. Let us love what is eternal, and not what is perishable. Let us esteem true riches, not fleeting ones, eternal, not transitory. Let us acquire praise from God, and not from men. Let us do what the saints did whom we praise. Let us follow their footsteps on earth, that we may deserve to be partakers of their glory in the heavens. May the protection of the divine pity guard you from all adversity, and set you with your fathers in the glory of the celestial kingdom, O dearest brothers.
When our lord King Charles returns home, having by the mercy of God
subdued his enemies, we plan, God helping us, to go to him; and if we
can then be of any profit to your Holiness, regarding either the youths
who have been led into captivity by the pagans or any other of your
needs, we will take diligent care to bring it about. Farewell in Christ,
most beloved, and ever advancing, be strengthened.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment