Introduction
St Bega gave her name to the former Priory at St Bees, on the Cumbrian coast. Later biographers buried her life under conventional mediaeval romance, and confused her with St Begu, founder of a monastery at Hartlepool in the 7th century. But beneath it all lies a ninth-century Irish princess, and a mysterious bracelet.
IN 853, Dublin came under the control of the great Viking chieftain Olaf the White who, according to the Norse Sagas and the Irish Annals alike, married Irish royalty. Not all Irish princesses, however, yearned for a warrior-husband. Some were Christians, for whom Norse religion was a step back into darkness.*
One young woman of royal blood was placed under house arrest by her father for refusing such a marriage, but she managed to escape across the Irish Sea to Cumbria. There, alone in woodland somewhere between the coast and the western fells of the Lake District, she was free to choose a life of enlightened prayer and simple contentment.*
Her sole possession was a bracelet, marked with a small cross; indeed she was known only as Bega, from the Old English word for a bracelet.* People said that during her escape an angel from heaven had given her that bracelet, and that the hand that wore it opened every door her father might lock.
Of course, it was all very different if the Norse warrior in question was also a Christian. See The Wooing of Olaf Tryggvason.
The Norman-era seaside Priory of St Bees is usually assumed to have been founded at or near Bega’s hermitage. However, the much older tenth-century parish church at Bassenthwaite further north, in a secluded lakeside setting known in the 13th century as Beokirke, is another possibility.
‘Beage’ (bracelet) was also a lady’s name. Wilfrid, Bishop of Worcester from 718 to about 743, leased church-owned land in Gloucestershire to Earl Leppa and his daughter Beage (‘bracelet’). That place is now called Bibury, ‘manor or stronghold of Beage’. So Bega may have taken her name from the bracelet she always wore, or she may have been given the bracelet because it went with her name.
Précis
After the Vikings began their invasion of Ireland in 853, an Irish princess known to history as Bega fled to Cumbria. She owned little apart from a bracelet, said to have been given to her by an angel to aid her escape. A devout Christian, Bega chose to become an anchorite, living alone in woods near the Cumbrian coast. (59 / 60 words)
After the Vikings began their invasion of Ireland in 853, an Irish princess known to history as Bega fled to Cumbria. She owned little apart from a bracelet, said to have been given to her by an angel to aid her escape. A devout Christian, Bega chose to become an anchorite, living alone in woods near the Cumbrian coast.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, despite, just, may, or, since, unless, who.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Fall. Sole. Such.
2 Back. During. Marry.
3 Royal. There. Yearn.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
strt (6)
saturate. start. strait. strata. street. strut.
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