Trumwine () was the only ever

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 the

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 ...

see See or SEE may refer to: * Sight - seeing Arts, entertainment, and media * Music: ** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals *** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See'' ** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho * Television * ...

of the

Picts The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ea ...

, based at

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 ...

. Trumwine was a contemporary and friend of St. Cuthbert."Northern Saints", 'This is Durham', Durham County Council
/ref> In 681, during the reign of King

Ecgfrith of Northumbria Ecgfrith (; ang, Ecgfrið ; 64520 May 685) was the King of Deira from 664 until 670, and then King of Northumbria from 670 until his death in 685. He ruled over Northumbria when it was at the height of its power, but his reign ended with a dis ...

, Trumwine was appointed "Bishop of the Picts" by

Theodore of Tarsus Theodore of Tarsus ( gr, Θεόδωρος Ταρσοῦ; 60219 September 690) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 668 to 690. Theodore grew up in Tarsus, but fled to Constantinople after the Persian Empire conquered Tarsus and other cities. After ...

, then

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

("Bishop of those Picts who were then subject to English rule", i.e. those living north of the River Forth paying tribute to Northumbria). This was part of a more general division of the Northumbrian church by the Archbishop, who also divided the Bishopric of Hexham from the Bishopric of Lindisfarne. After the defeat and death of Ecgfrith at the

Battle of Nechtansmere The Battle of Dun Nechtain or Battle of Nechtansmere (Scottish Gaelic: ''Blàr Dhùn Neachdain'', Old Irish: ''Dún Nechtain'', Old Welsh: ''Gueith Linn Garan'', Modern Welsh: ''Gwaith Llyn Garan'', Old English: ''Nechtans mere'') was fought be ...

in 685, Trumwine and his monks fled and dispersed. He retired to the monastery at

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

, then ruled by Ælflæd, Ecgfrith’s sister and St. Hild's successor."Northern Saints", 'This is Durham', Durham County Council
/ref> It is possible that Trumwine was present at the aforementioned battle, and certainly he would have been a valuable source of advice for Ecgfrith. Whatever the case here, the Anglo-Saxons were defeated, expelled from Southern Pictland, and the episcopal establishment at Abercorn was hence abandoned and the diocese ceased to exist. The territory of modern

West Lothian West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its shires of Scotland, historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geogra ...

hence probably passed into the hands of the

Verturian Fortriu ( la, Verturiones; sga, *Foirtrinn; ang, Wærteras; xpi, *Uerteru) was a Picts, Pictish kingdom that existed between the 4th and 10th centuries. It was traditionally believed to be located in and around Strathearn in central Scotland, ...

kings, although it is also possible that the British of

Strathclyde Strathclyde ( in Gaelic, meaning "strath (valley) of the River Clyde") was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government et ...

took it over. In his days after 685, it is known that Trumwine interacted with

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

, and Bede's ''Life of Saint Cuthbert'' tells us that Trumwine was used as one of its sources. Trumwine is said to have related a story about

Saint Cuthbert Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Nor ...

's childhood, which in turn had supposedly been told to Trumwine by Cuthbert himself. He was buried in Saint Peter's church in Whitby.

Notes

References

* Colgrave (tr.), Bertam, ''Bede: The Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', (Oxford, 1969), Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Judith McClure & Roger Collins, (Oxford, 1994/1999) * Fraser, James E., ''The Battle of Dunnichen'', 685, (Gloucestershire, 2002) * Kirby, D.P., ''The Earliest English Kings'', (London, 1992), Revised Ed. (London, 2000) * Webb, J.F., & Farmer, D.H., (trs.), ''The Age of Bede'', (London, 1965)

External links

* {{authority control Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England Bishops of the Picts 7th-century Scottish bishops