Æthelwold of Winchester

Infobox bishopbiog
name = Æthelwold


religion =Catholic
See =Diocese of Winchester
Title = Bishop of Winchester
Period = 963–984
Predecessor = Beorhthelm of Winchester
Successor =Aelfheah II
ordination =
bishops =
post =
date of birth = 909
place of birth =Winchester
date of death =August 1 984
place of death =Beddington, Surrey

Infobox Saint
name= Æthelwold
birth_date=909
death_date=August 1 984
feast_day=August 1
venerated_in=


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Saint Æthelwold of Winchester (also spelled Aethelwald, Ethelwold, etc) (909-984) was a 10th century Bishop of Winchester and leader of the monastic reform movement in Anglo-Saxon England.

Life

Æthelwold was born in Winchester of good parentage in about 909. After a youth spent at the court of King Athelstan, Æthelwold placed himself under Alphege the Bald, Bishop of Winchester, who gave him the tonsure and ordained him priest along with Saint Dunstan. Æthelwold became a monk at Glastonbury Abbey, where he was dean during Dunstan's abbacy, until about 955 when he was appointed Abbot of Abingdon. [ [http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+567 Anglo-Saxons.net Charter S567] accessed on September 5, 2007] [Kelly "Charters of Abingdon, part 1" "Anglo-Saxon Charters"]

On 29 November 963, he was consecrated Bishop of WinchesterPowicke "Handbook of British Chronology" p. 257] by Saint Dunstan, and with Oswald of Worcester, he worked zealously in combating the general corruption occasioned by the Danish inroads into the country. At Winchester, both in the Old and the New Minster, he replaced the secular clergy with monks and refounded the ancient nunnery known as Nunnaminster. His labours extended to Chertsey, Milton, Ely, Peterborough, Thorney and elsewhere; expelling the unworthy, rebuilding and restoring.Walsh "A New Dictionary of Saints" p. 184] The epithets "father of monks" and "benevolent bishop" summarize Æthelwold's character as reformer and friend of Christ's poor. [http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=3201 Catholic Online Saints and Angels: St. Ethelwold] accessed on September 5, 2007] Though he suffered much from ill-health, his life as scholar, teacher, prelate and Royal counsellor was ever austere, said to be "terrible as a lion" to the rebellious, yet "gentler than a dove" to the meek. He is said to have written a treatise on the circle and to have translated the "Regularis Concordia". He died on 1 August 984 at Beddington in Surrey.

Veneration

He was buried in the Old Minster at Winchester, his body being translated by Alphege, his successor, and then again into the new Cathedral. By the 12th century, Abingdon Abbey had acquired an arm and a leg. [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/churches/abrelic.html] His liturgical feast is kept on 1 August.

ee also

* List of bishops of Winchester

Notes

References

* [http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+567 Anglo-Saxons.net Charter S567] accessed on September 5, 2007
* [http://www.britannia.com/bios/aethelwd.html Britannia Bios St. Aethelwold]
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05555b.htm Catholic Encyclopedia, 1909: St. Ethelwold]
*Catholic Encyclopedia [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05555b.htm]
* [http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=3201 Catholic Online Saints and Angels: St. Ethelwold] accessed on September 5, 2007
* [http://www.uvm.edu/~hag/rhuddlan/images/970-aethelwold-d1.html Detail of St. Æthelwold, The Benedictional of St. Æthelwold]
* [http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/adversaries/bios/aethelwd.html Early British Kingdoms: St. Aethelwold, Bishop of Winchester (AD 909-984)]
* [http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/kids/aethelwold.html Early British Kingdoms for Kids: Aethelwold & Monastic Reforms]
*Fryde, E. B. and others, 1986. "Handbook of British Chronology", 3rd edition.
*Kelly, S. E. 2000. Charters of Abingdon, part 1. "Anglo-Saxon Charters" 7.
*Lapidge, M and Winterbottom, M, 1991. [http://www.oup.com/isbn/0-19-822266-1 Wulfstan of Winchester: Life of St AEthelwold.]
*Lambertson, Reader Isaac. [http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/servethe.htm Commemoration of Our Father among the Saints Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester]
*London, British Library, MS. Add. 49598 ("The Benedictional of St. Æthelwold")
*Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde "Handbook of British Chronology" 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961
*Walsh, Michael "A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West" London: Burns & Oates 2007 ISBN 0-8601-2438-X
*Yorke, Barbara 1997. [http://www.boydell.co.uk/5115705X.HTM Bishop Aethelwold: His Career and Influence]

External links

* [http://www.pase.ac.uk/pase/apps/persons/CreatePersonFrames.jsp?personKey=13937 Prosopography of Anglo Saxon England entry for Æthelwold]

Persondata
NAME=Æthelwold
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Bishop of Winchester; Abbot of Abingdon
DATE OF BIRTH=909
PLACE OF BIRTH=Winchester
DATE OF DEATH=August 1, 984
PLACE OF DEATH=Beddington, Surrey