He niwan geeode þa fyrran Fresan: Geographical Marker or Literary Topos in the Old English Bede?

Abstract

Abstract In his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, V.10, Bede apparently introduced a two- fold division of Frisia when he called Frisia citerior the region to where Ecgberht sent missionaries. Neither Bede nor the Old English translator of Bede’s work offer a precise identification of the region at issue; moreover, the passage does not mention a possible counterpart, that is, Frisia ulterior. While Bede uses Frisia citerior, the translator refers to fyrran Fresan. An analysis of possible sources does not yield any parallel to Bede’s reference, nor to the use of the term as a geographically identifiable territory. On the other hand, the use of Old English feorr in similar geographical contexts, whether in translations or original texts, vouches for a free and imaginative employment of the comparative fyrran, which was not used as a precise geographical marker. This essay suggests that the mission to Frisia, which was of great importance in both Bede’s narrative and the Lives of missionaries, such as that of Willibrord, had the effect of striking the translator’s imagination. He chose a suggestive term, rich in connotations, rather than supplying a geographical identifiable information.