Of bishop Wimund, his life unbecoming a bishop, and
how he was deprived of his sight
Below is the only source of
possibly the only time a bishop has turned to piracy. The child in me came back
when I read this. I remembered playing at pirates when I was but a boy. A
pirate bishop is beyond anything I would have thought of as a child. I’m hoping
that, if they ever make another Pirates of the Caribbean film that Wimund gets
a major part in it.
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| Medieval Bishop |
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| Pirates Attack! |
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| Pirate Bishop Wimund tells his story |
This person was born in
England, of the meanest origin and after acquiring the first elements of
literature, not having wherewith to support himself at school, he undertook, as
he had some knowledge of the art of writing, for a maintenance the office of
scribe to certain monks. After this, he received the tonsure at Furness, and
professed the monastic life; when he had obtained access to a sufficient number
of books, with adequate leisure, and assisted with three admirable requisites
-- an ardent temper, a retentive memory, and competent eloquence -- he advanced
so rapidly that the highest expectations were formed of him. After a time,
being dispatched with his brethren to the Isle of Man, he so pleased the
barbarous natives with the sweetness of his address, and openness of his
countenance, being also of a tall and athletic make, that they requested him to
become their bishop, and obtained their desire.
He now became inflated with
success, and began to conceive great designs. Not content with the dignity of
his episcopal office, he next anticipated in his mind how he might accomplish
great and wonderful things; for he possessed a haughty speaking mouth with the
proudest heart. At last, having collected a band of needy and desperate men,
and not fearing the judgment of truth, he feigned himself to be the son of the
earl of Moray and that he was deprived of the inheritance of his fathers by the
king of Scotland. He affirmed that it was his intention not merely to assert
his rights, but to avenge his wrongs, that he wished them to be partakers both
of his dangers and of his fortunes; and though the matter might be attended
with some labour and peril, still much glory and great advantage were attached
to it. All the people being incited, and having taken an oath to him, he began
his mad career throughout the adjacent islands; and became, like Nimrod, a
mighty hunter before the Lord, forgetting that his episcopal office required of
him to be, with Peter, a fisher of men. Every day he was joined by troops of
adherents, among whom he was conspicuous above all by the head and shoulders;
and, like some mighty commander, he inflamed their desires. He then made a
descent on the provinces of Scotland, wasting all before him with rapine and
slaughter; but whenever the royal army was dispatched against him, he eluded
the whole warlike preparation, either by retreating to distant forests, or
taking to the sea; and when the troops had retired, he again issued from his
hiding-places to ravage the provinces.
But, while he was thus
successful in everything, and had become an object of terror even to the king,
a certain bishop -- a man of singular simplicity -- repressed his audacity for
a time. When this bishop was threatened with extermination by war, if he did
not pay him tribute, he replied, "God's will be done; but from my example no
one bishop shall ever become tributary to another." Whereupon spiriting up
his people, superior only in faith, for in other respects he was greatly
inferior, he met him as he was furiously advancing, and himself striking the
first blow in the battle, by way of animating his party, he threw a small
hatchet, and, by God's assistance, he felled his enemy to the earth, as he was
marching in the van. Gladdened at this event, the people rushed desperately
against the marauders, and killing vast numbers of them, compelled their
ferocious leader shamefully to fly.
Wimund himself used
afterwards, with much pleasantry, boastingly to relate among his friends, that
God alone was able to vanquish him by the faith of a simple bishop. This
circumstance I learnt from a person who had been one of his soldiers, and had
fled with those who had made their escape. Recovering his forces, however, he
ravaged the islands and provinces of Scotland, as he had done before. The king
was, therefore, compelled to soothe the plunderer, adopting the wise counsel of
acting by stratagem against a proud and crafty foe; for this was a case in
which strength was of no avail. Therefore, yielding a certain province to him,
together with the monastery of Furness, he suspended his incursions for a while;
but whilst he was proudly proceeding through his subject province, surrounded
by his army, like a king, and severe to a degree against the very monastery
where he had been a monk, some of the people, who were unable to endure either
his power or his insolence, with the consent of the nobles, laid a snare for
him. Obtaining a favourable opportunity, when he was following slowly, and
almost unattended, a large party which he bad sent forward to procure
entertainment, they took and bound him, and as both eyes were wicked, deprived
him of both; and, providing against all future excess, they made him an eunuch
for the sake of the kingdom of Scotland, not for that of Heaven. Afterwards he
came to us at Byland, and quietly continued there many years till his death.
But he is reported even there to have said, that had he only the eye of a
sparrow his enemies should have little occasion to rejoice at what they had
done to him.
