Waltheof of Melrose

Infobox Archbishop of York
name = Waltheof


caption=19th century sketch of Waltheof's 12th century tomb
birth_name =
consecration = never consecrated
began = never enthroned
term_end = 1140
predecessor = Thurstan
successor = Henry de Sully
birth_date=c. 1095
birth_place=(probably} Huntingdon or Northamptonshire
death_date=death date|df=yes|1159|8|3
death_place=Melrose
tomb =Melrose Abbey

Infobox Saint
name=Waltheof
birth_date=
death_date=
feast_day=3 August
venerated_in=England, Scotland


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titles=Abbot
beatified_date=
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canonized_date=
canonized_place=
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patronage=Melrose Abbey, Northamptonshire
major_shrine=
suppressed_date=
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Waltheof (also Waldef or Waldeve; c. 1095–1159) was a 12th century English abbot and saint. He was the son of Simon I of St Liz, 1st Earl of Northampton and Maud, 2nd Countess of Huntingdon, thus stepson to David I of Scotland, and the grandson of Waltheof, Earl of Northampton.Barlow "The English Church 1066-1154" p. 208-210]

As a younger son in the world of Norman succession laws, Waltheof chose a career in the church. Between 1128 and 1131 he entered Nostell Priory to become an Augustinian canon. His noble connections enabled him to rise quickly. Within a few years he became Prior of Kirkham, North Yorkshire. Upon the death of Thurstan, Archbishop of York, in 1140, Waltheof was nominated to be his successor.Barlow "The English Church 1066-1154" p. 96] Stephen, probably sensing his links to David and hence to the Empress Matilda were too strong, rejected the nomination. [http://british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=8457 British History Online Archbishops of York] accessed on 14 September 2007] William fitz Herbert was instead chosen by Stephen. Waltheof featured prominently among those opposing William's provision,Appleby "The Troubled Reign of King Stephen" p. 120] but by 1143 he had given up and become a Cistercian monk at Rievaulx Abbey. In 1148 he ascended the abbacy of Melrose, a daughter house of Rievaulx. Waltheof remained in this position for the remainder of his life, supposedly refusing offers of other bishoprics. He died at Melrose Abbey in 1159. [For this paragraph, see Derek Baker, "Waldef (c. 1095–1159)", in "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28647, accessed 28 Nov 2006] ]

Following the death of Waltheof, his successor as Abbot of Melrose, Abbot William, refused to encourage the rumours that were now spreading regarding Waltheof's saintliness. Abbot William attempted to silence these rumours, and prevent the intrusiveness of would-be pilgrims. However, William was unable to get the better of Waltheof's emerging cult, and now his actions were alienating him from his brethren. As a result, in April 1170, William resigned the abbacy. [For the account of Abbot William and the cult of Waltheof, see Richard Fawcetts and Richard Oram, "Melrose Abbey", (Stroud, 2004), pp. 23-4.] In William's place, Jocelin, the prior of Melrose, became abbot. Jocelin had no such scruples. Jocelin embraced the cult without hesitation. Under the year of Jocelin's accession, it was reported in the "Chronicle of Melrose" that:

The tomb of our pious father, sir Waltheof, the second abbot of Melrose, was opened by Enguerrand, of good memory, the bishop of Glasgow, and by four abbots called in for this purpose; and his body was found entire, and his vestments intact, in the twelfth year from his death, on the eleventh day before the Kalends of June [22 May] . And after the holy celebration of mass, the same bishop, and the abbots whose number we have mentioned above, placed over the remains of his most holy body a new stone of polished marble. And there was great gladness; those who were present exclaiming together, and saying that truly this was a man of God ... ["Chronicle of Melrose", s.a. 1171, trans. A.O. Anderson, "Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286", 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922), vol. ii, pp. 274-5; translation slightly modernized in Fawcetts and Oram, "Melrose Abbey", p. 23; this entry was written after the year for which it was written, sometime after the death on 22 February 1174, of Enguerrand, Bishop of Glasgow.]

Promoting saints was something Jocelin would repeat as Bishop of Glasgow, where he would commission a hagiography of Saint Kentigern, the saint most venerated by the Celts of the diocese of Glasgow. It is no coincidence that Jocelin of Furness, who wrote the "Life of St. Waltheof", was the same man later commissioned to write the "Life of St. Kentigern". Jocelin's actions ensured Waltheof's posthumous "de facto" sainthood; and the need of Melrose Abbey to have its own saint's cult, ensured the cult's longevity.

Notes

References

* Anderson, Alan Orr, "Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286", 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922), vol. ii
* Appleby, John T. "The Troubled Reign of King Stephen 1135-1154" New York:Barnes & Noble 1969 reprint 1995 ISBN 1-56619-848-8
* Baker, Derek, "Waldef (c. 1095–1159)", in "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28647, accessed 28 Nov 2006]
* Barlow, Frank "The English Church 1066-1154" London:Longman 1979 ISBN 0-582-50236-5
* [http://british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=8457 British History Online Archbishops of York] accessed on 14 September 2007
* Fawcetts, Richard and Oram, Richard, "Melrose Abbey", (Stroud, 2004)

Persondata
NAME=Waltheof
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Waldef; Waldeve
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Archbishop of York-elect; Abbot of Melrose
DATE OF BIRTH=
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=3 August 1159
PLACE OF DEATH=