No apology is needed for a fresh edition of the text of Eddius Stephanus's Life of St Wilfrid. The last two editions, that of Levison in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica and that of Raine in the Rolls Series, are accessible only on library shelves. In addition, the accuracy of the latter's text leaves very much to be desired. It is therefore obvious that there is a real need for a fresh text which claims at least to be reasonably accurate and accessible. The translation is unpretentious and is intended only as a help to the increasing number of students who desire to study the history of the seventh century from the original documents but are hindered by the difficulties of Eddius's crabbed style. This, together with the notes, may perhaps serve to introduce students to one of the most striking figures in the history of the Church in the North. The period in which he flourished was a time of great activity in Northumbria in the realms of religion, politics, art and literature, and a careful study of the life of St Wilfrid forms one of the best introductions that a student could have to the ecclesiastical and social history, not only of Northumbria, but of the other English kingdoms too, while Wilfrid's ceaseless wanderings connect him closely with the history of contemporary Western Europe.