124 ROGER OF AVENDO VER. [A.D. 703. fasting, till the.day when he was called away ; and he forwarded the salvation of many by his works, as well as by his example. Earl Brithric is slain. In the year of grace 700, Brithric, earl of the Northumbrians, desiring to avenge his lord king Egfrid, invaded the territory of the Picts ; but as his lord perished, experiencing the curses of the Irish, so he was slain by the Picts. A t the same time, thè Romans overran Syria, and slew two hundred thousand of the Saracens. Abbat Adaman flourishes. In the year of grace 701, flourished the good and learned Adaman, presbyter, and abbat of the monks in the Isle of Hii. Being sent on an embassy to king Aldfrid, he was speedily led to approve of the mode of the ecclesiastical in stitutions, and of the observance of Easter, which he then witnessed ; and on his return home, he sought, though with out success, to bring his people in the Isle of Hii into the true way ; after which he sailed into Ireland, and persuaded them almost universally to observe the proper time of keep ing Easter. The same man of God also wrote an account of the places of our Lord's nativity, passion, and ascension, and gave a wonderful description of the holy land. In the year of grace 702, John sat in the chair of Rome three years, two months, and thirteen days ; after which it remained vacant one month and thirteen days. Of St. Benedict the English abbat. In the year of grace 703, St. Benedict, an abbat of England, came to a glorious end, after a praiseworthy life, and rested in the Lord. This man of God was sprung from a noble stock of the English race : in his youth he learned the rudiments of warfare, and became a minister of king Oswy, who rewarded him with no small possessions ; but despising for Christ's sake all the perishing things of this world, he went to Rome, to be instructed in the discipline of the church, that so he might enter on the spiritual warfare, and be able thereby to profit both himself and others, and be found a useful servant in culture of the Lord's vineyard. Returning