Ælfwine from Winchester

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Ælfwine († August 29, 1047 ) was Bishop of Winchester from 1032 until his death. He was one of King Canute's priests before he was appointed bishop, and one of the most powerful and influential people at Knut's court.

Life

From 1033 onwards he was a frequent witness in notarizations, usually third after the two archbishops, and Goscelin von Saint-Bertin found that he was helping to obtain permission from King Canute to bring the relics of Mildred von Minsters to the Abbey of St. Augustine at Canterbury . He also supported the nuns of Winchester , in particular Ælfgiva, the daughter of Earl Æthelwold, who was referred to as the "Abbess of Cologne".

Ælfwine must have held his position in the early 1040s, when a charter from King Hardiknut granted him a piece of land at that time . According to a report from the 12th century, he and Godwin of Wessex were responsible for inviting the future King Edward the Confessor to return to England in 1041, and in 1042 he witnessed a document from Hardiknut along with Edward, Godwin, and the Mother of the two, Emma of Normandy . As a secular bishop in a monastery cathedral, he was unpopular, and this was likely a factor in the famous legend that he was Emma's lover. She is said to have refuted the allegation by walking barefoot unharmed over burning plowshares in the nave of Winchester Cathedral .

After Edward was appointed king in 1042, Ælfwine's career reached a new high. Edward was crowned at Ælfwine's own church in Winchester, attesting Edward's oldest surviving charter after Emma and the Archbishop of Canterbury in third place. From then until his death, he witnessed 20 of 22 documents, more than any other prelate. In 1044 Edward gave him the prized Witney mansion , endowed with 30 hide , as a gift to "his trusted bishop" and "a reward for the faithful service he has faithfully rendered to me." In the early years of Edward's reign, no other cleric came close to Ælfwine's position. He died on August 29, 1047.

literature

  • Edmund B. Fryde, Diana E. Greenway, Stephen Porter, Ian Roy (1996), Handbook of British Chronology (3rd revised edition), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-56350-X
  • John R. Maddicott (2004), Edward the Confessor's Return to England in 1041 , English Historical Review. Oxford University Press. CXIX (482, pp. 650–666)
  • Emma Mason (2004). Ælfwine (d. 1047) , Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Mary Frances Smith, CP Lewis, (Ed., 2001), The Preferment of Royal Clerks in the Reign of Edward the Confessor , Haskins Society Journal: Studies in Medieval History. 9 (1997). Woodbridge, UK: Boydell. Pp. 159-174. ISBN 0-85115-831-5 .
  • Pauline Stafford (2001), Queen Emma & Queen Edith: Queenship and Women's Power in Eleventh-Century England . Oxford: Blackwell.

Remarks

  1. ^ Smith, p. 164
  2. ↑ Maddicott, p 657
  3. ↑ a b Mason
  4. ↑ Maddicott, pp. 657-658
  5. ↑ Maddicott, S. 656, 658th
  6. ↑ Stafford, pp. 19-21
  7. ↑ Maddicott, p 658
  8. ↑ Maddicott, pp. 658-659
  9. ↑ Fryde et al., P. 223
personal data
SURNAME Ælfwine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Winchester
DATE OF BIRTH 10th century or 11th century
DATE OF DEATH August 29, 1047