![Will of King Eadred - BL Add MS 82931, f](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Will_of_King_Eadred_-_BL_Add_MS_82931%2C_f._22r.jpg)
Oscytel (or Oskytel or Oscetel; died 971) was a medieval
Bishop of Dorchester and
Archbishop of York
The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...
.
Early life
Oscytel was probably of Danish ancestry.
[Duckett ''Alfred the Great'' p. 127][''Oscytel, Oskytel'' is the anglicized version of the Old Norse name ''Ásketill''] He was related to
Oswald Oswald may refer to:
People
*Oswald (given name), including a list of people with the name
*Oswald (surname), including a list of people with the name
Fictional characters
*Oswald the Reeve, who tells a tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbur ...
,
Bishop of Worcester and later Archbishop of York, and
Thurcytel
Thurcytel (or Thurkytel) (died 28 June 975?) was abbot of Crowland and perhaps also of Bedford Abbey.
Thurcytel of Crowland is known from the unreliable history of Crowland Abbey attributed to Pseudo-Ingulf, an account full of anachronisms in ...
, who was
abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The ...
of
Bedford Abbey
Bedford Abbey was a short-lived Benedictine monastery, recorded in 10th-century England. Bedford Priory, perhaps representing the same institution two centuries later, was an Augustinian priory that within two decades of its foundation moved to n ...
. All three men were landowners in the eastern midlands, with Oskytel owning lands at
Beeby
Beeby is a village and civil parish in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood district of Leicestershire, England, with a population of 115 according to the 2011 census. It is situated north-east of Leicester, nearer to the villages of Keyham, Lei ...
, in
Leicestershire. No other information about Oskytel's birth and upbringing is known.
[Barrow]
Oscytel (d. 971)
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' A legend stated that his father was a Dane who arrived in England as part of a pagan war band.
[Brooke "York Minster" ''Churches and Churchmen'' p. 38]
Bishop
Oscytel was selected to the see of Dorchester sometime between 934 and 951,
[Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 215] probably close to 951 for the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' says that he had been a bishop for twenty-two years when he died. 951 is also when he first attests a charter as bishop. A previous mention of an "Oscetel" as either a sacrist or treasurer in 949 may or may not be the same person. Oskytel only starts showing up consistently after the death of King
Eadred of England
Eadred (c. 923 – 23 November 955) was King of the English from 26 May 946 until his death. He was the younger son of Edward the Elder and his third wife Eadgifu, and a grandson of Alfred the Great. His elder brother, Edmund, was killed tryi ...
, who left the bishop some bequests in his will. At first Oskytel supported King
Eadwig of England
Eadwig (also Edwy or Eadwig All-Fair, 1 October 959) was King of England from 23 November 955 until his death in 959. He was the elder son of Edmund I and his first wife Ælfgifu, who died in 944. Eadwig and his brother Edgar were young ...
, but in about 958 he switched to supporting Eadwig's brother King
Edgar of England.
[
]
Archbishop
Oscytel became archbishop in 958.[Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 224] However, he continued to hold the see of Dorchester along with York, a practice known as pluralism. It is probably due to Oskytel's pluralism that Nottinghamshire was added to the see of York instead of remaining with Dorchester where it had been before. The ''Anglo Saxon Chronicle'' from Ramsey says that he went to Rome for his pallium
The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : ''pallia'') is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropol ...
, but no other sources say that he did so. While archbishop he advanced the career of his kinsman Oswald by bringing him to the attention of Dunstan, and encouraging Oswald's foundation of Ramsey Abbey. Oskytel also was a benefactor to the new monastic houses that were formed in the fens during his time as archbishop.[ The precise nature of Oskytel's and Oswald's relationship is unclear, but they were relatives.][Fletcher ''Bloodfeud'' p. 69]
Death
Oscytel died on 1 November 971[ or on 31 October 971 at ]Thame
Thame is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of the city of Oxford and southwest of Aylesbury. It derives its name from the River Thame which flows along the north side of the town and forms part of the county border wi ...
, and was buried at Bedford. The ancient minster of St Paul's Church, Bedford is accepted as the site of his grave.[
]
Citations
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Oscytel
971 deaths
Archbishops of York
Bishops of Dorchester (Mercia)
10th-century English archbishops
Year of birth unknown