Tidfrith or Tidferth was an early 9th-century

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

n prelate. Said to have died on his way to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, he is the last known

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

bishop of Hexham The Bishop of Hexham was an episcopal title which took its name after the market town of Hexham in Northumberland, England. The title was first used by the Anglo-Saxons in the 7th and 9th centuries, and then by the Roman Catholic Church sinc ...

. This bishopric, like the bishopric of Whithorn, probably ceased to exist, and was probably taken over by the authority of the bishopric of Lindisfarne. A

runic inscription A runic inscription is an inscription made in one of the various runic alphabets. They generally contained practical information or memorials instead of magic or mythic stories. The body of runic inscriptions falls into the three categories of El ...

on a

standing cross A high cross or standing cross ( ga, cros ard / ardchros, gd, crois àrd / àrd-chrois, cy, croes uchel / croes eglwysig) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval traditi ...

found in the cemetery of the church of

Monkwearmouth Monkwearmouth is an area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear in North East England. Monkwearmouth is located at the north side of the mouth of the River Wear. It was one of the three original settlements on the banks of the River Wear along with Bisho ...

is thought to bear his name.

Dates

The dates of his episcopate are unclear, but

Richard of Hexham Richard of Hexham ( fl. 1141) was an English chronicler. He became prior of Hexham about 1141, and died between 1155 and 1167. He wrote ''Brevis Annotatio'', a short history of the church of Hexham from 674 to 1138, for which he borrowed from Bede ...

says that he died 54 years before the great Scandinavian invasion in 875, a claim which if specifically true would mean his episcopate was over by either 821 or 822. It is uncertain when he was born or when he gained office. Surviving lists of Hexham bishops give Tidfrith's predecessors

Heardred Heardred (Proto-Norse *''Harðurāðaz''), died c. 530, is the son of Hygelac, king of the Geats, and his queen Hygd, in ''Beowulf''. After Hygelac's death, in Frisia, Hygd wants to make Hygelac's nephew Beowulf, king of Geatland, as she fears tha ...

and

Eanberht Eanberht was king of Hwicce, he reigned jointly with Uhtred and Ealdred. In 757 Eanberht, Uhtred, and Ealdred, granted land to Bishop Milred, and in 759 to Abbot Headda. See also *Hwicce Hwicce () was a tribal kingdom in Anglo-Saxon Englan ...

three years and thirteen years respectively. As Heardred's consecration as bishop can be synchronised with the ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...

'' entry for 797—assuming both sources to be accurate on the point—Tidfrith became bishop . However, the date is also sometimes given as 806. According to a tradition preserved in

, Tidfrith died on his way to Rome. There is an engraved stone, discovered in the 19th century in the cemetery of Wearmouth, which has the name "Tidfrith" in runic characters; it may be in reference to the bishop, as Wearmouth was in the diocese. Historian James Raine suggested that his death may have occurred there, waiting to take a ship from the mouth of the

river Wear The River Wear (, ) in North East England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers, wends in a steep valley through th ...

Disappearance of Hexham bishopric

It is unclear what became of the bishopric of Hexham after Tidfrith's episcopate, one suggestion being that it was absorbed by the bishopric of Lindisfarne. Another explanation is that given by

William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury ( la, Willelmus Malmesbiriensis; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as "a ...

in his '' Gesta Pontificum Anglorum'', namely that Modern historian,

David Rollason David W. Rollason is an English historian and medievalist. He is a Professor in history at Durham University. He specialises in the cult of saints in Anglo-Saxon England, the history of Northumbria and in the historical writings of Durham, most n ...

, wrote that Hexham's disappearance was "unlikely to have had anything to do with Viking activity".Rollason, ''Northumbria'', p. 247 Despite what William of Malmesbury wrote, Hexham's demise is "utterly obscure". Another Northumbrian diocese, that based at

Whithorn Whithorn ( �ʍɪthorn 'HWIT-horn'; ''Taigh Mhàrtainn'' in Gaelic), is a royal burgh in the historic county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about south of Wigtown. The town was the location of the first recorded Christian ...

, disappeared in the same era, meaning that the Northumbrian church went from having 5 bishoprics at its height (Lindisfarne, Hexham, Whithorn,

Abercorn Abercorn (Gaelic: ''Obar Chùirnidh'', Old English: ''Æbbercurnig'') is a village and civil parish in West Lothian, Scotland. Close to the south coast of the Firth of Forth, the village is around west of South Queensferry. The parish had a p ...

and York) to only two. Hexham was however, along with Lindisfarne and

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

, sacked by Scandinavians in 875. In the later 9th-century the Lindisfarne diocese was able to relocate to

Chester-le-Street Chester-le-Street (), also known as Chester, is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England, around north of Durham and also close to Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located on the River Wear, which runs out to sea at Sun ...

, a site that lay within the old diocese of Hexham. The community of St Cuthbert were able to take possession of Hexham and its churches, and Hexham remained in the possession of the community of St Cuthbert until it was granted away by Bishop

Walcher Walcher (died 14 May 1080) was the bishop of Durham from 1071,Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 241 a Lotharingian and the first Prince-bishop (appointed by the King, not the Pope). He was the first non-Englishman to hold tha ...

to Prior Aldwin in 1075.Aird, ''St Cuthbert'', p. 36, n. 99

Citations

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tidfrith of Hexham Bishops of Hexham 9th-century English bishops