Æthelric (died ) was the second to last medieval
Bishop of Selsey
The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's sea ...
in England before the see was moved to
Chichester
Chichester () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publi ...
.
Consecrated a bishop in 1058, he was deposed in 1070 for unknown reasons and then imprisoned by King
William I of England
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...
. He was considered one of the best legal experts of his time, and was even brought from his prison to attend the trial on
Penenden Heath where he gave testimony about English law before the
Norman Conquest of England.
Early life
Æthelric was a monk at
Christ Church Priory
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the Ch ...
at
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...
prior to his becoming a bishop.
[Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 198] Several historians opine that he might have been the same as the Æthelric who was a monk of Canterbury and a relative of
Godwin, Earl of Wessex
Godwin of Wessex ( ang, Godwine; – 15 April 1053) was an English nobleman who became one of the most powerful earls in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great (King of England from 1016 to 1035) and his successors. Cnut made Godwin the ...
. That Æthelric was elected by the monks of Canterbury to be
Archbishop of Canterbury in 1050, but was not confirmed by King
Edward the Confessor who insisted on
Robert of Jumièges
Robert of Jumièges (died between 1052 and 1055) was the first Norman archbishop of Canterbury.Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 50 He had previously served as prior of the Abbey of St Ouen at Rouen in Normandy, before becoming abbot of Jumi� ...
becoming archbishop instead.
[Barlow ''Godwins'' p. 56][Mason ''House of Godwine'' p. 93] The evidence is not merely that they shared the same name, because the name was a relatively common one in Anglo-Saxon England. Other evidence pointing to the possibility of them being the same person includes the fact that he was felt to have been unfairly deposed in 1070 as well as the bishop's great age in 1076.
[Walker ''Harold'' p. 203]
Æthelric was consecrated bishop in 1058 by
Stigand
Stigand (died 1072) was an Anglo-Saxon churchman in pre-Norman Conquest England who became Archbishop of Canterbury. His birth date is unknown, but by 1020 he was serving as a royal chaplain and advisor. He was named Bishop of Elmham in 10 ...
, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
[Greenway ''Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: volume 5: Chichester: Bishops''] Æthelric was consecrated by Stigand, unlike most of the English bishops of the time period, because at that point, Stigand held a valid
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 ...
, or symbol of an archbishop's authority and ability to consecrate bishops.
[Walker ''Harold'' pp. 137-138]
Deposition
Æthelric was deposed by the
Council of Windsor on 24 May 1070
[ and imprisoned at Marlborough, being replaced by ]Stigand
Stigand (died 1072) was an Anglo-Saxon churchman in pre-Norman Conquest England who became Archbishop of Canterbury. His birth date is unknown, but by 1020 he was serving as a royal chaplain and advisor. He was named Bishop of Elmham in 10 ...
(not the same as the archbishop), who later moved the seat of the diocese to Chichester. It is possible, that his deposition was tied to the fact that about that time, King Harold of England's mother and sister took refuge with the count of Flanders. If Æthelric was related to the Godwins, King William I of England
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...
may have feared that the bishop would use his diocese to launch a rebellion.[Walker ''Harold'' p. 193] Other reasons put forward include the fact that Æthelric had been consecrated by Stigand, but the other bishop that Stigand had consecrated, Siward the Bishop of Rochester was not deposed.[ Æthelric was a monk, and while not having a great reputation for sanctity, he was not held to be immoral either.][Stafford ''Unification and Conquest'' p. 105] The pope did not feel that his deposition had been handled correctly,[Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 661] so his deposition was confirmed at the Council of Winchester on 1 April 1076.[ It continued to be considered uncanonical, but Æthelric was never restored to his bishopric.][Williams ''English and the Norman Conquest'' p. 46]
Penenden Heath
Æthelric was carted from imprisonment to the Trial of Penenden Heath of Odo of Bayeux, earl of Kent
The peerage title Earl of Kent has been created eight times in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. In fiction, the Earl of Kent is also known as a prominent supporting character in William Shakespeare's tragedy K ...
.[ This took place sometime between 1072 and 1076.][O'Brien "Forgery and the Literacy" ''Albion'' p. 10] At that time, he was the most prominent legalist in England.[Hindley ''Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons'' p. 347][Stafford ''Unification and Conquest'' p. 107] He helped clarify Anglo-Saxon land laws, as the trial was concerned with the attempts of Lanfranc to recover lands from Odo.[Lyon ''Constitutional and Legal History'' p. 182] The medieval writer Eadmer
Eadmer or Edmer ( – ) was an English historian, theologian, and ecclesiastic. He is known for being a contemporary biographer of his archbishop and companion, Saint Anselm, in his ''Vita Anselmi'', and for his ''Historia novorum in ...
also consulted Æthelric for information on Eadmer's ''Life of St Dunstan''.[Walker ''Harold'' p. 95]
Presumably Æthelric died soon after the trial, as he was already an old man when he attended the trial.[Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 153]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Aethelric 2
1070s deaths
Bishops of Selsey
11th-century English Roman Catholic bishops
Year of birth unknown
People from Selsey