[4] It appears to be impossible to identify the site of the cell of Wilgils. The local idea is that Kilnsea may be the place. But then the local idea is that Kilnsea means “the cell by the sea”. [5] The church of St. Andrew in Rome was the first church which Wilfrith in his youth visited on his first appearance in that city. It was on the altar of that church that he first saw a magnificent copy of the Gospels, which so fired his enthusiasm that he had a similar copy made, written in letters of gold on purple parchment and adorned with gems, for his church at Ripon. His great church at Hexham, the finest church north of the Alps, he dedicated to St. Andrew, and the dedication thus became a favourite one in Northumbria. See my _Theodore and Wilfrith_, p. 17. [6] Horreense, the Germans think; now Oeren. [7] Epternach. [8] See my _Conversion of the Heptarchy_, pp. 202-4. [9] See my _Conversion of the Heptarchy_, p. 190. [10] iii. 20, plate xiii. [11] Ps. lxxvii. 11. [12] The relative numbers of these three “sides” of the School of York may possibly be indicated by the _quidam_, _alii_, _nonnulli_, of the author. [13] Biscop. [14] After a parenthetical paragraph the writer continues, “Cuius iam, ut dictum est, sequens Hechbertus vestigia.” [15] Gregory, it must be supposed. If one of the Apostles of the Lord had been meant, much more honorific words would have been used. [16] Used antiphrastically for malediction: see Job i. 5. [17] Deut. xxxii. 11. [18] Chapter viii of the Rule of St. Benedict directs that a monk shall not conceal from his abbat evil thoughts which come into his heart. [19] John xiii. 25 to xviii. 1 inclusive. [20] Sigulf, as we have seen, told the writer the facts of Alcuin’s life which he recorded. [21] Dial. ii. 85. Benedict there narrates that he saw the whole world collected into one ray of the sun, in which the soul of Germanus, bishop of Capua, ascended to the heavens. [22] Ps. cvi. 1. [23] _Francia_, both here and in Alcuin’s Letter 35, where he writes as if with these words in his mind: “I came to France, under pressure of ecclesiastical need, and to confirm the reason of the Catholic Faith.” [24] There is a tradition that Alcuin wrote the Office for the Mass on Trinity Sunday. See Appendix A. [25] The “hereditary right” seems to indicate that by these “benedictions” the library of York is meant, of which more will be said later on. [26] “Talentum sui domini”, sc. Elcberti? [27] The perpetual presence of Sigulf was needed for the celebration of masses, Alcuin remaining a deacon. There is a curious mention of Alcuin’s part in the administration of Holy Communion, and of the action of the young King Louis when receiving at his hand; see p. 32. [28] We can date this meeting fairly closely by the fact that Karl granted a privilegium to Parma on March 15, 781.