Hedda from Wessex

Saint Hedda of Wessex also Hedde or Haedde († July 7, 705 in Winchester ) was an English cleric and adviser to King Ine .

Hedda was initially a Benedictine monk , later abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of Whitby and was ordained Bishop of the Diocese of Wessex in 676 by Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury . He was the successor of Bishop Leutherius and held the office until his death in 705. His bishopric was first Dorchester , then Winchester .

During his thirty years as bishop, he saw Centwine , Saint Caedwalla and Saint Ine, one after the other , as Kings of Wessex . Hedda was one of the most important advisors to King Ine and had a great influence on his legislation. It is reported that he transferred the bones of St. Birinus , the first Bishop of Wessex, from Dorchester to Winchester. After Felix the monk, he consecrated St. Guthlac as a priest and finally buried him.

Bede reports of him that he was a good and just man who was guided in the exercise of his duty more by an innate love of virtue than by what he had read in books.

After his death, the Diocese of Wessex was divided into the Dioceses of Sherborne and Winchester. His successors were St. Aldhelm of Sherborne in Sherborne and Daniel of Winchester in Winchester .

The day of his death, July 7th, is commemorated.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Powicke & Fryde: Handbook of British Chronology. Second Edition, London, 1961, p. 257
2. ^ Felix, Vita Sancti Guthlaci

literature

• Farmer, David Hugh: Dictionary of Saints. Oxford, 2011, 5th edition, ISBN 978-0-19-959660-7 , p. 205

Web links

• Barbara Yorke, Hædde (d. 705/6) , Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 , as seen on July 16, 2012

predecessor	Office	successor
Leuthere	Bishop of Wessex 676 - 705	Daniel