Ælfric of Abingdon

Infobox Archbishop of Canterbury
Full name = Ælfric


began=unknown
birth_name =
consecration = 995
term_end = 16 November 1005
predecessor = Sigeric the Serious
successor = Alphege
birth_date =
death_date = 16 November 1005
tomb = Canterbury Cathedral

Ælfric (also known as Aelfric of Abingdon or Aelfric of Wessex) (died 16 November 1005) was a late 10th century Archbishop of Canterbury, as well as previously holding the offices of abbot of St Albans and Bishop of Ramsbury, all of which are in England. He is often confused with famed Anglo-Saxon author Ælfric of Eynsham.

Life

He was the son of an earl of Kent,cite book |author=Barlow, Frank |authorlink=Frank Barlow (historian) |title=The English Church 1000-1066: A History of the Later Anglo-Saxon Church |publisher=Longman |location=New York |year=1979 |isbn=0-582-49049-9 |edition=Second Edition |pages=p. 125 footnote 3] before he became a monk of Abingdon Abbey in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire) as well as probably Abbot of AbingdonMason, Emma "Ælfric (d. 1005)" "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography" Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/185 Online Edition] accessed 7 November 2007] before becoming Abbot of St Albans Abbey around 975.cite book |author=Knowles, David |authorlink=David Knowles|coauthors=London, Vera C. M.; Brooke, Christopher |title=The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales, 940-1216|edition=Second Edition |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge|year=2001 |isbn=0-521-80452-3 |pages=p. 65] His brother, Leofric, became Abbot of St Albans in succession to him when he became bishop.Stafford, Pauline "Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries" London: Edward Arnold 1989 ISBN 0-7131-6532-4 p. 169] Between 991 and 993, he was raised to the bishopric of Ramsbury and Sonningcite book |author=Fryde, E. B. |coauthors=Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third Edition, revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X |pages=p. 220] and in 995 to the see of Canterbury. He was translated to Canterbury on 21 April 995cite book |author=Fryde, E. B. |coauthors=Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third Edition, revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X |pages=214] at a witenagemot held at Amesbury,Williams, Ann "Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King" London: Hambledon and London 2003 ISBN1-85285-382-4 p. 20] where he received the permission of "King Æthelred and all the witan".Quoted in cite book |author=Barlow, Frank |authorlink=Frank Barlow (historian) |title=The English Church 1000-1066: A History of the Later Anglo-Saxon Church |publisher=Longman |location=New York |year=1979 |isbn=0-582-49049-9 |edition=Second Edition |pages=p. 107 footnote 5] Ælfric continued to hold Ramsbury along with Canterbury until his death.Williams, Ann "Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King" London: Hambledon and London 2003 ISBN1-85285-382-4 p. 36] The story that his brother first was chosen for Canterbury but refused, stems from confusion on the part of Matthew of Paris and is generally held by historians to be untrue.

His appointment to Canterbury caused consternation with the clergy of the cathedral chapter, who sent two members to Rome ahead of Ælfric, attempting to secure the office for one of them. The pope, however, would not appoint either without royal permission,cite book |author=Barlow, Frank |authorlink=Frank Barlow (historian) |title=The English Church 1000-1066: A History of the Later Anglo-Saxon Church |publisher=Longman |location=New York |year=1979 |isbn=0-582-49049-9 |edition=Second Edition |pages=p. 103] and when Ælfric arrived in Rome, he received his pallium from Pope Gregory V in 997.Ortenberg, Veronica "The Anglo-Saxon Church and the Papacy" in Lawrence, C. H. ed. "The English Church and the Papacy in the Middle Ages" Stroud:Sutton Publishing reprint 1999 ISBN 0-7509-1947-7 p. 49] He also witnessed some miracles at the gravesite of Edward the Martyr at Shaftesbury Abbey, helping to lead to Edward's sainthood.O'Brien, Harriet "Queen Emma and the Vikings: A History of Power, Love and Greed in Eleventh-Century England" New York:Bloomsbury ISBN 1-58234-596-1 p. 52-53]

A story was told that he introduced monks into the cathedral church of Christ Church, Canterbury, replacing the secular clerks that had taken over the foundation during the ninth century.Stenton, F. M. "Anglo-Saxon England" Third Edition Oxford:Oxford University Press 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5 p. 453] Ælfric is said to have done this on the command of the pope. This story originally dates to soon after the Norman Conquest and the monastic historians of Canterbury, and its veracity is unclear.Knowles, David "The Monastic Order in England: A History of Its Development from the Times of St Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council 940-1216" Second Edition Cambridge:Cambridge University Press 1963 ISBN 0-521-05479-6 p. 50] He probably performed the marriage ceremony of King Ethelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy in 1002.O'Brien, Harriet "Queen Emma and the Vikings: A History of Power, Love and Greed in Eleventh-Century England" New York:Bloomsbury ISBN 1-58234-596-1 p. 31] A later tradition held that he consecrated a Bishop of Llandaff and two Bishops of St. David's in Wales.cite book |author=Barlow, Frank |authorlink=Frank Barlow (historian) |title=The English Church 1000-1066: A History of the Later Anglo-Saxon Church |publisher=Longman |location=New York |year=1979 |isbn=0-582-49049-9 |edition=Second Edition |pages=p. 232]

It was either Ælfric or his predecessor Sigeric who wrote a letter to Wulfsige, Bishop of Sherborne about the duties of bishops to make sure that the laity did not despoil churches and that they should be exhorted to better lives.cite book |author=Barlow, Frank |authorlink=Frank Barlow (historian) |title=The English Church 1000-1066: A History of the Later Anglo-Saxon Church |publisher=Longman |location=New York |year=1979 |isbn=0-582-49049-9 |edition=Second Edition| pages=p. 64] Ælfric also ordered the composition of the first "Life of Dunstan".cite book |author=Barlow, Frank |authorlink=Frank Barlow (historian) |title=The English Church 1000-1066: A History of the Later Anglo-Saxon Church |publisher=Longman |location=New York |year=1979 |isbn=0-582-49049-9 |edition=Second Edition |pages=p. 62] He also acted as a royal judge, once being ordered by King Æthelred to adjudicate a case between thegns.cite book |author=Barlow, Frank |authorlink=Frank Barlow (historian) |title=The English Church 1000-1066: A History of the Later Anglo-Saxon Church |publisher=Longman |location=New York |year=1979 |isbn=0-582-49049-9 |edition=Second Edition |pages=p. 147 footnote 4]

Ælfric died on 16 November 1005 and was buried in Abingdon Abbey, later being translated to Canterbury Cathedral. His will survives and is a most interesting document. He left ships to the people of Wiltshire and Kent, with his best one, equipped for sixty men, going to King Ethelred.Williams, Ann "Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King" London: Hambledon and London 2003 ISBN1-85285-382-4 p. 81-82] A life of St. Dunstan was dedicated to him.cite journal |last=Darlington |first=R. R. |year=1936 |title=Ecclesiastical Reform in the Late Old English Period |journal=The English Historical Review |volume=51 |issue=203 |pages=385-428 |url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266(193607)51%3A203%3C385%3AERITLO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y page 389]

References

External links

* [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/bios/aelfric.html Royal Berkshire History: Aelfric of Abingdon]
* [http://www.pase.ac.uk/pase/apps/persons/CreatePersonFrames.jsp?personKey=13742 Prosopography of Anglo Saxon England: Ælfric]

Persondata
NAME=Ælfric
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Ælfric of Abingdon; Aelfric of Wessex
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Archbishop of Canterbury
DATE OF BIRTH=
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=16 November 1005
PLACE OF DEATH=