Ixx  INTRODUCTION

sed  et  eos^  ad  quos  eadem  nostra  opuscula  pervenire
feceris,  hoc  idem  facere  monueris.  Bene  vale^  semper
amantissime  in  Christo  pater  optime^

The  various  documents  quoted  by  Bede  in  re-
gard to  the  mission  of  Augustus  have  been  for  the
most  part  accepted  without  dispute,  except  the
one  containing  the  questions  of  Augustine  and
the  responsions  of  the  Pope  above  named.  Mr.
Plummer  has  shown  the  great  probability  that  the
letter  of  Boniface  to  Archbishop  Justus  has  been
put  together  from  two  separate  letters  by  conflation,
and  that  otherwise  it  is  a  genuine  document.^

In  regard  to  the  letters  quoted  by  Bede  as
having  been  written  by  Pope  Boniface  v.  to
iCdwin  and  iEthelberga  of  Northumbria,  there
is  a  considerable  difficulty.  There  is  no  reference
in  them  to  any  ecclesiastic,  whether  a  bishop  or
otherwise,  and  it  is  especially  noteworthy  that
Paulinus  should  not  be  named  in  them.  The
letters  have  previously  aroused  comment.  Thus
Stevenson  says  :  **  As  Pope  Boniface  v.  was  buried
25th  October  625,  this  letter  [i,e.  the  letter  to  iEdwin)
must  have  been  written  before  that  date.  There  is,
therefore,  some  little  inaccuracy  in  the  order  of  Bede's
narrative  at  this  point,  since  he  places  this  letter
after  events  which  occurred  in  the  previous  year."*

Again,  Bede  tells  us  Paulinus  was  consecrated
Bishop  by  Justus  on  the  21st  of  January  625,  and
iCdwin  was  probably  married  in  June  of  the  same
year.     On  the  20th  of  April  626  i£d win's  daughter

^  Plummer,  Bede^  ii.  92  and  93.  '  Op,  dt  p.  371,  note  i.
