Eddius

Eddius Stephanus is the traditional name of the author of the eighth-century Vita Sancti Wilfridi (Life of Saint Wilfrid). He is also known as Æddi Stephanus or Stephen of Ripon.

Life

Very little is known about Eddius Stephanus’ life. The author of the Life of Wilfrid identifies himself as “Stephen, a priest”. Bede mentions that Wilfrid brought a singing master from Kent, Aedde Stephanus, to Ripon in 669 to teach chant, and he has traditionally been thought to be the same person as the “Stephen” mentioned. However, there is no more solid evidence that the two names describe the same person. [Kirby, p.102] If the two were in fact the same, Eddius would have been at least twenty years old when he came north, placing him in his sixties or older at Wilfrid’s death in 709.

Regardless of whether or not Stephen the priest was Wilfrid’s singing master from Kent, he appears to have been a follower of Wilfrid and was able to consult individuals who had known Wilfrid closely as sources for the Life of Wilfrid. He wrote for the monks in Ripon, many of whom had known Wilfrid. Abels, p.13]

Writings

Life of Saint Wilfrid

Eddius Stephanus’ Life of Saint Wilfrid is our only source on Saint Wilfrid aside from Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica. It was written shortly after Wilfrid's death in 709. Eddius was asked to write the Life by Acca, one of Wilfrid’s followers who later became a bishop and succeeded Wilfrid in the See of Hexham. Although Eddius knew Wilfrid personally and had access to others who had known him, he recounts several extraordinary events and makes use of source materials in places. He even copies two lines directly from the Anonymous Life of Cuthbert, among other borrowings. [Heffernan, p.138] However, unlike many early medieval hagiographies which consisted of strings of miracles attributed to saints, Eddius’ Life takes the form of a chronological narrative and and includes specific names and events.

It is unknown exactly what Eddius Stephanus hoped to accomplish in writing the Life of Saint Wilfrid. Scholars have come up with several theories. It has been argued that Eddius’ use of lines from the Anonymous Life of Cuthbert was a way of outdoing the cult based around Cuthbert and replacing him with Wilfrid. However, Eddius’ borrowings only make up a tiny percentage of the whole and are entirely located in the early part of the work, making this theory appear unlikely. [Laynesmith, p.164]

The work is highly biased in favour of Wilfrid and includes explicit comparisons of Wilfrid to Old Testament figures and the Apostle Paul. [Laynesmith, p.175] Early on, Eddius explains that the community urged him to write the Life. Eddius’ goal in writing could simply have been to describe the community’s feelings on the holiness and goodness of the life of Wilfrid, who they had known personally. [Foley, p.99]

ignificance

Eddius Stephanus’ Life of Saint Wilfrid was one of the first Anglo-Saxon histories, and the earliest to survive. Bede evidently used it as a source for sections of his Historia Ecclesiastica, although he did not acknowledge it. [Kirby, p.3]

The Life of Saint Wilfrid is also significant in that it provides a contemporary perspective on events which transpired during Wilfrid’s lifetime. For instance, the Life gives an account of the Synod of Whitby which differs from Bede’s. While Eddius’ writing has come under more criticism than Bede’s, the account found in the Life of Wilfrid reveals political factors that may have affected the Synod alongside the religious controversies described by Bede. [Abels, p.2]

Notes

Bibliography

Abels, Richard. “The Council of Whitby: A Study in Early Anglo-Saxon Politics.” The Journal of British Studies, 23.1 (1983) pp.1-25.

Colgrave, Bertram, trans. The Life of Bishop Wilfrid by Eddius Stephanus. Cambridge University Press, 1927, 1985.

Foley, William Trent. Images of Sanctity in Eddius Stephanus’ “Life of Bishop Wilfred”, an Early English Saint’s Life. Lewiston, NY: The Edward Mellen Press. 1992.

Heffernan, Thomas J. Sacred Biography: Saints and Their Biographers in the Middle Ages. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Kirby, D.P. “Bede, Eddius Stephanus and the ‘Life of Wilfrid’.” The English Historical Review, 98.386 (1983) pp.101-114.

Kirby, D.P. “Problems of Early West Saxon History.” The English Historical Review, 80.314 (1965) pp.10-29.

Laynesmith, Mark D. “Stephen of Ripon and the Bible: allegorical and typological nterpretations of the Life of St Wilfrid.” Early Medieval Europe, 9.2 (2000) pp.163-182.

ee also

*Wilfrid

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