Egbert was cousin of Ceolwulf, king of Northumbria. With his brother Ecgred he went to Rome and was ordained deacon there. He was appointed to the See of York probably in 732. Bede wrote to him a letter of advice about the life, doctrine and administration of a bishop, urging him to fulfil the scheme of Pope Gregory the Great for the erection of dioceses. He received the pallium from Gregory III in Rome in 735 and thus became the second Archbishop of York . The famous school, from which later Alcuin was to come, was founded by him. He died in 766 and was buried in a porch or chapel of the cathedral.
To his dear and reverend brother, Archbishop Egbert, Boniface, a servant of the servants of God, Legate of the Apostolic See in Germany, sincere greetings of spiritual brotherhood in Christ.
When I received your gifts and books I gave thanks to God for having found me such a friend in my journeys in these distant parts, one who helps me with material things and supports me spiritually with his prayers and the divine consolation of his friendship. From the depths of my heart I beg you to receive me, and those who work with me, into your fellowship, and to give me your advice and help in matters relating to ecclesiastical laws and decrees. Be assured that I am not trifling, but asking in all seriousness, without pride, arrogance or self-complacency. For when the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church sent me, an unworthy and lowly preacher, to the misguided pagan peoples of Germany, it laid an obligation upon me to use the authority of the Roman Pontiff and to strive with all my strength to recall to the way of salvation all those who were in error, or perverting the church laws by evil practices or led away from the Catholic faith.
In fulfilment of this obligation, and supported by the counsel and consent of the bishops who are working with me, I sent a letter of admonition and reproof to Aethelbald, King of Mercia. This letter was, by my orders, to be shown to you, so that you could correct what was ill-expressed or emphasize and confirm by your authority what was well said. Also, if you were aware that the same evils objected in the letter against the lung were rife amongst your own people you could check them immediately and root them out before they bore fruit and became like Sodom and Gomorrah, and their wine became the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps. It is an evil unheard-of in times past, and, as my colleagues here who are versed in Scripture say, three or four times worse than the corruption of Sodom, when a Christian people, flouting the custom of the whole world, nay more, the command of God, turns against lawful marriage and abandons itself to incest, lust, adultery and the seduction of veiled and consecrated women.
Have copied and sent to me, I pray you, some of the treatises of Bede, whom, we are told, God endowed with spiritual understanding and allowed to shine in your midst. We also would Eke to enjoy the light that God bestowed on you.
Meanwhile, I am sending to you as a token of affection a copy of the letters of St. Gregory, which I have received from the Roman archives, and which, so far as I know, have not yet reached Britain. If you wish, I will send more, for I have many from the same source.
I am sending also a cloak, and a towel to dry the feet of the brethren after you have washed them.
I pray that your Grace may enjoy good health and make progress in virtue.
Egbert was cousin of Ceolwulf, king of Northumbria. With his brother Ecgred he went to Rome and was ordained deacon there. He was appointed to the See of York probably in 732. Bede wrote to him a letter of advice about the life, doctrine and administration of a bishop, urging him to fulfil the scheme of Pope Gregory the Great for the erection of dioceses. He received the pallium from Gregory III in Rome in 735 and thus became the second Archbishop of York . The famous school, from which later Alcuin was to come, was founded by him. He died in 766 and was buried in a porch or chapel of the cathedral.
To his dear and reverend brother, Archbishop Egbert, Boniface, a servant of the servants of God, Legate of the Apostolic See in Germany, sincere greetings of spiritual brotherhood in Christ.
When I received your gifts and books I gave thanks to God for having found me such a friend in my journeys in these distant parts, one who helps me with material things and supports me spiritually with his prayers and the divine consolation of his friendship. From the depths of my heart I beg you to receive me, and those who work with me, into your fellowship, and to give me your advice and help in matters relating to ecclesiastical laws and decrees. Be assured that I am not trifling, but asking in all seriousness, without pride, arrogance or self-complacency. For when the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church sent me, an unworthy and lowly preacher, to the misguided pagan peoples of Germany, it laid an obligation upon me to use the authority of the Roman Pontiff and to strive with all my strength to recall to the way of salvation all those who were in error, or perverting the church laws by evil practices or led away from the Catholic faith.
In fulfilment of this obligation, and supported by the counsel and consent of the bishops who are working with me, I sent a letter of admonition and reproof to Aethelbald, King of Mercia. This letter was, by my orders, to be shown to you, so that you could correct what was ill-expressed or emphasize and confirm by your authority what was well said. Also, if you were aware that the same evils objected in the letter against the lung were rife amongst your own people you could check them immediately and root them out before they bore fruit and became like Sodom and Gomorrah, and their wine became the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps. It is an evil unheard-of in times past, and, as my colleagues here who are versed in Scripture say, three or four times worse than the corruption of Sodom, when a Christian people, flouting the custom of the whole world, nay more, the command of God, turns against lawful marriage and abandons itself to incest, lust, adultery and the seduction of veiled and consecrated women.
Have copied and sent to me, I pray you, some of the treatises of Bede, whom, we are told, God endowed with spiritual understanding and allowed to shine in your midst. We also would Eke to enjoy the light that God bestowed on you.
Meanwhile, I am sending to you as a token of affection a copy of the letters of St. Gregory, which I have received from the Roman archives, and which, so far as I know, have not yet reached Britain. If you wish, I will send more, for I have many from the same source.
I am sending also a cloak, and a towel to dry the feet of the brethren after you have washed them.
I pray that your Grace may enjoy good health and make progress in virtue.
◆
Egbert was cousin of Ceolwulf, king of Northumbria. With his brother Ecgred he went to Rome and was ordained deacon there. He was appointed to the See of York probably in 732. Bede wrote to him a letter of advice about the life, doctrine and administration of a bishop, urging him to fulfil the scheme of Pope Gregory the Great for the erection of dioceses. He received the pallium from Gregory III in Rome in 735 and thus became the second Archbishop of York . The famous school, from which later Alcuin was to come, was founded by him. He died in 766 and was buried in a porch or chapel of the cathedral.
To his dear and reverend brother, Archbishop Egbert, Boniface, a servant of the servants of God, Legate of the Apostolic See in Germany, sincere greetings of spiritual brotherhood in Christ.
When I received your gifts and books I gave thanks to God for having found me such a friend in my journeys in these distant parts, one who helps me with material things and supports me spiritually with his prayers and the divine consolation of his friendship. From the depths of my heart I beg you to receive me, and those who work with me, into your fellowship, and to give me your advice and help in matters relating to ecclesiastical laws and decrees. Be assured that I am not trifling, but asking in all seriousness, without pride, arrogance or self-complacency. For when the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church sent me, an unworthy and lowly preacher, to the misguided pagan peoples of Germany, it laid an obligation upon me to use the authority of the Roman Pontiff and to strive with all my strength to recall to the way of salvation all those who were in error, or perverting the church laws by evil practices or led away from the Catholic faith.
In fulfilment of this obligation, and supported by the counsel and consent of the bishops who are working with me, I sent a letter of admonition and reproof to Aethelbald, King of Mercia. This letter was, by my orders, to be shown to you, so that you could correct what was ill-expressed or emphasize and confirm by your authority what was well said. Also, if you were aware that the same evils objected in the letter against the lung were rife amongst your own people you could check them immediately and root them out before they bore fruit and became like Sodom and Gomorrah, and their wine became the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps. It is an evil unheard-of in times past, and, as my colleagues here who are versed in Scripture say, three or four times worse than the corruption of Sodom, when a Christian people, flouting the custom of the whole world, nay more, the command of God, turns against lawful marriage and abandons itself to incest, lust, adultery and the seduction of veiled and consecrated women.
Have copied and sent to me, I pray you, some of the treatises of Bede, whom, we are told, God endowed with spiritual understanding and allowed to shine in your midst. We also would Eke to enjoy the light that God bestowed on you.
Meanwhile, I am sending to you as a token of affection a copy of the letters of St. Gregory, which I have received from the Roman archives, and which, so far as I know, have not yet reached Britain. If you wish, I will send more, for I have many from the same source.
I am sending also a cloak, and a towel to dry the feet of the brethren after you have washed them.
I pray that your Grace may enjoy good health and make progress in virtue.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.