Cynewulf of Lindisfarne was appointed as
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
of
Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne, also called Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important ...
in either 737 or 740. He resigned the see in 779 or 780 and died in 782 or 783.
[Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 219]
In 750 Cynewulf was imprisoned by
Eadberht of Northumbria[Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 126] for giving sanctuary to Prince Offa during a dynastic clash.
Some 19th-century scholars believed him to be
Cynewulf, the poet only known through the runic signature appearing in several Old English poems. Besides the fact that the dialect used in these poems shows features of
Northumbrian Old English
Northumbrian was a dialect of Old English spoken in the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria. Together with Mercian, Kentish and West Saxon, it forms one of the sub-categories of Old English devised and employed by modern scholars.
The dialect w ...
, there is no solid proof for this theory.
Citations
References
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780 deaths
Bishops of Lindisfarne
8th-century English bishops
Year of birth unknown
{{England-bishop-stub