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Monke of those partes, he there hatched his heresie, which according to his
name was called the heresie of the Pelagians: which was, that manne was
borne without sinne, and might be saued by the power of his owne will
without grace, that so the miserable man might take away faith and
baptisme. With this and the like dregges of false doctrine, he returned
againe into Wales, and there by the meanes of the two false Prelates Iulian
and Celestine, who fauoured his heresie, hee infected the whole Countrey
with it. But before his fall and Apostasie from the faith, he exercised
himselfe in the best studies, as Gennadius, Beda, Honorius, and other
authors doe report of him, and wrote many bookes seruing not a litle to
Christian vtilitie: but being once fallen into his heresie, hee wrote many
more erroneous bookes, then he did before honest, and sincere: whereupon,
at the last his owne Countreymen banished him, as Walden testifieth in his
Epistle to Pope Martine the fift. He flourished in the yere after the
Incarnation, 390. Maximus being then King of Britaine.
* * * * *
A testimonie of the sending of Sighelmus Bishop of Shirburne, by King
Alphred, vnto Saint Thomas of India in the yeare of our Lord 883,
recorded by William of Malmesburie, in his second booke and fourth
Chapter de gestis regum Anglorum.
Eleemosynis intentus priuilegia ecclesiarum, sicut pater statuerat,
roborauit; et trans mare Romam, et ad sanctum Thomam in Indiam multa munera
misit. Legatus in hoc missus Sighelmus Shirburnensis Episcopus cum magna
prosperitate, quod quiuis hoc seculo miretur, Indiam penetrauit; inde
rediens exoticos splendores gemmarum, et liquores aromatum, quorum illa
humus ferax est, reportauit.
The same in English.
King Alphred being addicted to giving of almes, confirmed the priuileges of
Churches as his father had determined; and sent also many giftes beyond the
seas vnto Rome, and vnto S. Thomas of India. His messenger in this
businesse was Sighelmus bishop of Schirburne; [Footnote: Sherborne, in
Dorsetshire, where an abbey was founded in 700.] who with great prosperitie
(which is a matter to be wondered at in this our age) trauailed thorough
India, and returning home brought with him many strange and precious vnions
and costly spyces, such as that countrey plentifully yeeldeth.
* * * * *
A second testimony of the foresaid Sighelmus his voyage vnto Saint Thomas
of India &c. out of William of Malmesburie his second booke de gestis
pontificum Anglorum, cap. de episcopis Schireburnensibus,
Salisburiensibus, Wiltunensibus.
Sighelmus trans mare, causa eleemosynarum regis, et etiam ad Sanctam Thomam
in Indiam missus mira prosperitate, quod quiuis in hoc seculo miretur,
Indiam penetrauit; indeque rediens exotici generis gemmas, quarum illa
humus ferax est, reportauit. Nonnullae illarum adhuc in ecclesiae monumentis
visuntur.
The same in English.
Sighelmus being for the performance of the kings almes sent beyond the
seas, and trauailing vnto S. Thomas of India, very prosperously (which a
man would woonder at in this age) passed through the sayde countrey of
India, and returning home brought with him diuers strange and precious
stones, such as that climate affourdeth. Many of which stones are as yet
extant in the monuments of the Church.
* * * * *
The trauailes of Andrew Whiteman alias Leucander, Centur. 11. [Footnote:
This is misprinted "Centur. 2" in the original edition, but as Ramsey
Abbey (in Huntingdonshire) was only founded by Ailwin the Saxon, A.D.
969-74, the 11th Century is probably meant, as further on Whiteman is
said to have flourished in 1020. Ramsey is so called from _Ram's Ey_, an
island in the fens.]
Andraeas Leucander alias Whiteman (iuxta Lelandum) Monachus, & Abbas
Ramesiensis Coenobij tertius fuit. Hic bonis artibus studio quodam
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