Waltheof ( – 1159) was a 12th-century English

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. Th ...

and

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Or ...

. He was the son of Simon I of St Liz, 1st Earl of Northampton and

Maud, 2nd Countess of Huntingdon Maud, Countess of Huntingdon ( 1074 – 1130/1131), or Matilda, was Queen of Scotland as the wife of King David I. She was the great-niece of William the Conqueror and the granddaughter of Earl Siward. Biography Maud was the daughter of Wa ...

, thus stepson to

David I of Scotland David I or Dauíd mac Maíl Choluim (Modern: ''Daibhidh I mac haoilChaluim''; – 24 May 1153) was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians from 1113 to 1124 and later King of Scotland from 1124 to 1153. The youngest son of Malco ...

, and the grandson of Waltheof, Earl of Northampton.Barlow ''The English Church 1066–1154'' p. 208-210 Whether as a result of being a younger son in the world of Norman succession laws, or being personally unsuited to court life, Waltheof chose a career in the church. Between 1128 and 1131 he entered

Nostell Priory Nostell Priory is a Palladian house in Nostell, West Yorkshire, England, near Crofton on the road to Doncaster from Wakefield. It dates from 1733, and was built for the Winn family on the site of a medieval priory. The Priory and its contents ...

to become an Augustinian

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

. His noble connections enabled him to rise quickly, and by 1139 he was

Prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be low ...

of Kirkham,

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four co ...

. Upon the death of

Thurstan :''This page is about Thurstan of Bayeux (1070 – 1140) who became Archbishop of York. Thurstan of Caen became the first Norman Abbot of Glastonbury in circa 1077.'' Thurstan or Turstin of Bayeux ( – 6 February 1140) was a medi ...

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 ...

, in 1140, Waltheof was nominated to be his successor.Barlow ''The English Church 1066–1154'' p. 96 His candidacy was supported by William of Aumale, the

Earl of York In Anglo-Saxon England, the Earl of York or Ealdorman of York was the ruler of the southern half of Northumbria. The titles ealdorman and earl both come from Old English. The ealdormanry (earldom) seems to have been created in 966 following a peri ...

.Dalton "William Earl of York" ''Haskins Society Journal'' pp. 162–163

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

, probably sensing his links to David and hence to the

Empress Matilda Empress Matilda ( 7 February 110210 September 1167), also known as the Empress Maude, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as ...

were too strong, rejected the nomination.British History Online Archbishops of York
accessed on 14 September 2007 William of Aumale withdrew his support after Waltheof refused to promise to give the earl the ecclesiastical manor of

Sherburn-in-Elmet Sherburn in Elmet (pronounced ) is a large village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England, west of Selby and south of Tadcaster. It was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. It is one o ...

in the West Riding of Yorkshire. William fitz Herbert was instead chosen by Stephen. Waltheof featured prominently among those opposing William's provision,Appleby ''The Troubled Reign of King Stephen'' p. 120 but by 1143 he had given up and become a

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint B ...

monk, first at

Wardon Abbey Wardon or Warden Abbey, Bedfordshire, was one of the senior Cistercian houses of England, founded about 1135 from Rievaulx Abbey. It is a Grade I listed building. History The patron was Walter Espec, who had founded the mother house and set ...

and then at Rievaulx Abbey. In 1148 he was elected to the abbacy of Melrose, a daughter house of Rievaulx. Waltheof remained in this position for the remainder of his life, even though he was offered of the bishopric of St Andrews in early 1159, which he declined. He died at

Melrose Abbey St Mary's Abbey, Melrose is a partly ruined monastery of the Cistercian order in Melrose, Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders. It was founded in 1136 by Cistercian monks at the request of King David I of Scotland and was the chief house of th ...

on 3 August 1159. Following the death of Waltheof, his successor as Abbot of Melrose, Abbot William, refused to encourage the rumours that were now spreading regarding Waltheof's

saintliness In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Orth ...

. Abbot William attempted to silence these rumours, and prevent the intrusiveness of would-be pilgrims. However, William was unable to get the better of Waltheof's emerging cult, and now his actions were alienating him from his brethren. As a result, in April 1170, William resigned the abbacy. In William's place, Jocelin, the prior of Melrose, became abbot. Jocelin had no such scruples. Jocelin embraced the cult without hesitation. Under the year of Jocelin's accession, it was reported in the ''

Chronicle of Melrose The ''Chronicle of Melrose'' is a medieval chronicle from the Cottonian Manuscript, Faustina B. ix within the British Museum. It was written by unknown authors, though evidence in the writing shows that it most likely was written by the monks at ...

'' that:

The tomb of our pious father, sir Waltheof, the second abbot of Melrose, was opened by Enguerrand, of good memory, the
bishop of Glasgow The Archbishop of Glasgow is an archiepiscopal title that takes its name after the city of Glasgow in Scotland. The position and title were abolished by the Church of Scotland in 1689; and, in the Scottish Episcopal Church, it is now part of th ...
, and by four abbots called in for this purpose; and his body was found entire, and his vestments intact, in the twelfth year from his death, on the eleventh day before the Kalends of June
2 May Events Pre-1600 *1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter. *1230 – William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great. *1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned ...
And after the holy celebration of
mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...
, the same bishop, and the abbots whose number we have mentioned above, placed over the remains of his most holy body a new stone of polished marble. And there was great gladness; those who were present exclaiming together, and saying that truly this was a man of God ...''Chronicle of Melrose'', s.a. 1171, trans. A.O. Anderson, ''Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286'', 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922), vol. ii, pp. 274–5; translation slightly modernized in Fawcetts and Oram, ''Melrose Abbey'', p. 23; this entry was written after the year for which it was written, sometime after the death on 22 February 1174, of
Enguerrand Enguerrand (or Engrand, Ingrand) is a medieval French name, derived from a Germanic name ''Engilram'' (''Engelram'', ''Ingelram''), from ''Angil'', the tribal name of the Angles, and ''hramn'' "raven". The Old Frankish name is recorded in various ...
,
Bishop of Glasgow The Archbishop of Glasgow is an archiepiscopal title that takes its name after the city of Glasgow in Scotland. The position and title were abolished by the Church of Scotland in 1689; and, in the Scottish Episcopal Church, it is now part of th ...
.

Promoting saints was something Jocelin would repeat as Bishop of Glasgow, where he would commission a

hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...

Saint Kentigern Kentigern ( cy, Cyndeyrn Garthwys; la, Kentigernus), known as Mungo, was a missionary in the Brittonic Kingdom of Strathclyde in the late sixth century, and the founder and patron saint of the city of Glasgow. Name In Wales and England, this ...

, the saint most venerated by the

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

of the diocese of Glasgow. It is no coincidence that

Jocelin of Furness Jocelyn of Furness ( fl. 1175–1214) was an English Cistercian hagiographer, known for his Lives of Saint Waltheof, Saint Patrick, Saint Kentigern and Saint Helena of Constantinople. He is probably responsible for the popular legendary associa ...

, who wrote the ''Life of St. Waltheof'', was the same man later commissioned to write the ''Life of St. Kentigern''. Jocelin's actions ensured Waltheof's posthumous ''de facto'' sainthood; and the need of Melrose Abbey to have its own saint's cult, ensured the cult's longevity.

Notes

Citations

References

* Anderson, Alan Orr, ''Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286'', 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922), vol. ii * Appleby, John T. ''The Troubled Reign of King Stephen 1135–1154'' New York:Barnes & Noble 1969 reprint 1995 * Baker, Derek, "Waldef (c. 1095–1159)", in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 28 Nov 2006
* Barlow, Frank ''The English Church 1066–1154'' London:Longman 1979
British History Online Archbishops of York
accessed on 14 September 2007 * * Fawcetts, Richard and Oram, Richard, ''Melrose Abbey'', (Stroud, 2004) {{DEFAULTSORT:Waltheof Anglo-Normans Abbots of Melrose Augustinian canons Cistercians People from Northamptonshire 1090s births 1159 deaths Burials at Melrose Abbey Medieval English saints English Roman Catholic saints Incorrupt saints