 Aldfrith appears to have had the support of leading ecclesiastics , most notably his half @-@ sister Ælfflæd and the highly respected Bishop Cuthbert . He is known to have received confirmation at the hands of Aldhelm , later the Bishop of Sherborne in the south @-@ western Anglo @-@ Saxon Kingdom of Wessex . Aldhelm too had received an Irish education , but in Britain , at Malmesbury . Correspondence between the two survives , and Aldhelm sent Aldfrith his treatise on the numerology of the number seven , the Epistola ad Acircium . Aldfrith also owned a manuscript on cosmography , which ( according to Bede ) he purchased from Abbot Ceolfrith of Monkwearmouth @-@ Jarrow in exchange for an estate valued at eight hides . Aldfrith was a close friend of Adomnán , Abbot of Iona from 679 , and may have studied with him . In the 680s Aldfrith twice met with Adomnán , who came to seek the release of the Irish captives taken in Berht 's expedition of 684 . These were released and Adomnán presented Aldfrith with a copy of his treatise De Locis Sanctis ( " On the Holy Places " ) , a description of the places of pilgrimage in the Holy Land , and at Alexandria and Constantinople . Bede reports that Aldfrith circulated Adomnán 's work for others to read . 
