ERCONWALD
517
ERDINOTON
had recently been appointed Governor of Chile. Dur-
ing the succeeding two or three years he played a
brilliant part in combating an insurrection among
the natives of Arauco, a proWnce of Chile, suffering
great hardships, and distinguishing himself several
times in battle. After a severe illness he returned to
Spain in 1562, and for a time resumed his travels
through Europe. In 1570, he married Dona Maria de
Bazan, a woman of illustrious family and of intellec-
tual attainments. He died at Madrid neglected and
in great poverty.
Ercilla's great work is "La Araucana", an epic poem of thirty-.seven cantos, describing the difficulties encountered by the .Spaniards during the insurrection in Arauco, and the heroic deeds of the natives as well as his companions. The epic partakes of the character of history, and the author adheres with such strict fidelity to the truth, that subsequent historians characterize his work as thoroughly trustworthy. In it the difficult art of storj'-telling is carried to perfec- tion. Places are admirably described, dates are given with accuracy, and the customs of the natives faith- fully set forth, gi\ing to the narrative animation and colouring. The poem was published in three parts, the first appearing in 1569, the second in 1578, and the third in 1590. The best editions are those published by the Spanish Academy in 1776 and 1828.
Arana, Historia general de Chile (.Santiago, 1884); Ticknok, History of Spanish Literature (New York, 1854), II, III.
Ventura Fuentes.
Erconwald, S.^int, Bishop of London, d. about 690. He belonged to the princely family of the East Anglian Offa, and devoted a considerable portion of his patrimony to founding two monasteries, one for monks at Chertsey, and the other for nuns at Barking in Essex. Over the latter he placed his sister, .St. Ethelburga, as abbess. He himself discharged the duties of superior at Chertsey. Erconwald continued his monastic life till the death of Bishop Wini in 675, when he was called to the See of London, at the in- stance of King Sebbi and Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury. As monk and bishop he was renowned for holiness of life, and miracles were wrought in attes- tation of his sanctity. The sick were cured by con- tact with the litter on which he had been carried ; this we have on the testimony of Venerable Bede. He was present in 686 at the reconciliation between Arch- bishop Theodore and Wilfrith. King Ini in the pref- ace to his laws calls Erconwald "my bLshop". Dur- ing his episcopate he enlarged his church, augmented its revenues, and obtained for it special privileges from the king.
According to an ancient epitaph, Erconwald ruled the Diocese of London for eleven years. He is said to have eventually retired to the convent of his sister at Barking, where he died .30 .\pril. He was buried in ."^t. Paul's, and his tomb became renowned for mira- cles. The citizeiLs of Ixindon had a special devotion to him, and they regarded with pride the magnificence of his shrine. During the burning of the cathedral in 1087 it is related that the .shrine and its silken cover- ings remained intact. A solemn translation of St. Erconwald 's body took place 14 Nov., 1148, when it wa.s raised above the high altar. The shrine was robbed of its jewels and ornaments in the sixteenth century; and the bones of the saint are said to have been then buried at the east end of the choir. His feast Ls observed by English Catholics on 14 Novem- ber. Prior to the Reformation, the anniversaries of ,St. Erconwald's death and translation of his relics were observed at St. Paul 's a.s feasts of the first cI;lss, accord- ing to an ordinance of BLshop Braybroke in i;?86.
Bede, Historia Errl.. IV. 6; Acta SS., April, III; Butler. /.iiv.? of the Saints, 30 .\pnl; Stanton. Mi-noloffi/ of England and Wales (Ixindon. 18S7). 30 April; BHtannin Sancta (lyondon. 1745); Stubbs in Did. Chrvit. Hiog., 8. v. Erkenwaid; Hdnt in Diet- Sat. Biog., a. v. Erkenwaid.
COLfMBA EdmOND.S,
Erdely. See Tr.4:ssylv.\n"i.^.
Erdeswicke, S.\mpson, antiquarian, date of birth unknown; d. 160-3. He was bom at Sandon in Staf- fordshire, his father. Hugh Erdeswicke. being de- scended from Richard de Vernon, Baron of Shipbrook, in the reign of WilUam the Conqueror. The family resided originally at Erdeswicke Hall, in Cheshire, afterwards at Leighton and finally in the reign of Edw-ard III settled at Sandon. Hugh Erdeswicke was a staunch Catholic who suffered much for the Faith. In 1582 he was reported to the Privy Council by the .Ajiglican Bishop of Coventry as "the sorest and dangerousest papist, one of them in all England". His son, Sampson, bom in the reign of Henrj- VIII, entered Brasenose College, Oxford, as a gentleman- commoner in 1553. Leaving Oxford, he returned to Sandon where he spent the rest of his life as a country gentleman under the usual disabilities of a recusant. He devoted himself to antiquarian studies, particu- larly to the thorough "Survey of Staffordshire". By this work his name is chiefly remembered, but it was not published during his lifetime, and considerable mystery exists as to the original MS., because the numerous existing copies differ much from one an- other. A description of these was published by Wil- iam Salt, F..S.A., in 1844. The "Surrey" itself was published by Degge (1717 and 1723). by Shaw in his Staffordshire (1798), and la.stly by Harwbod (1820 and 1844). Other unpublished MSS. by Erdeswicke are in the British Museum and the College of Arms. Lat- terly he employed as amanuensis, William Wyrley, a youth whom he had educated and who afterwards published writings of his own. One of these. "The True L'se of Armorie ' ', was claimed by Erdeswicke as his own work, but he told William Burton the anti- quary, that he had given Wyrley leave to publish it under his own name; but .\ntony a Wood denies this, adding that "Erdeswicke being oftentimes crazed, especially in his last day, and fit then for no kind of serious business, would say anj-thing which came into his mind, as 'tis verj- well known at this day among the chief of the College of.\rms"(Ath. Oxon., Bliss ed., II, 217-18). Erdeswicke married first Elizabeth Dix- well, .secondly Mary Digby (24 April, 1593). He died in 1603, but the date usuallj' given, 11 April, must be erroneous, as his will is dated 15 Maj'. He is buried in Sandon Church, beneath an elaborate monument representing his own recumbent figure. Camden and other antiquaries praise his knowledge and industry, and he is believed to have been elected a member of the Society of Antiquaries founded by Archbishop Parker in 1572.
Harwood. Erdeswicke's Survey of Staffordshire (London, 1S44). pp. 36-43: Wood, .ilhena Oxoniense^, Buss ed. I. 736-7; II. 217-19; Historical MSS. Commi.'wion. Reports (1874). II, V(1876).\'I (lS77).and \TII (lS.81t; Cillow, Bibt. Diet. Eng. Cath. (London. 1S.S6). II. 174: Goodwin in Diet. Nat. Biog. (London. 1889). XVII: Birt. Erdeswicke Family. Some Hit- torical Notes from the Margins of a Manuscript in Dublin He- view, CXXIV (London, 1899).
Edwin Burton.
Erdington Abbey, situated in a suburb of Birming- ham, \\':iruick<hire. England, belongs to the Benedic- tine congregation of .St. Martin of Beuron, Germany, and is dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury. Driven from Germany by the Falk laws, four of these exiled monks went to Erdington at the request of Bishop Ullathorae, O.S.B., and of the Rev. Daniel Haigh, M..\., a convert .\nglican clergyman who gave them the splendid Gothic church which he had built and embellished out of his own private fortune, as a thank- offering to Almighty God for the gift of the true Faith. Father Haigh's modest presbytery was the first mon- astery, and here Dom Placid W;i"ltcr, .\rch-.\bbot of the Beuron Congregation, Dom Hildebrand de Hcmi)- tine, later .\bbot Primate of the Benedictine Order, Dorn Leo Linse, afterwards .-^bbot of Fort August u.s in
