Leofric (before 1016–1072) was a medieval
Bishop of Exeter
The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The current bishop is Mike Harrison (bishop), Mike Harrison, since 2024.
From the first bishop until the sixteent ...
. Probably a native of
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, he was educated on the continent. At the time
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex.
Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...
was in exile before his succession to the English throne, Leofric joined his service and returned to England with him. After he became king, Edward rewarded Leofric with lands. Although a 12th-century source claims Leofric held the office of
chancellor
Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...
, modern historians agree he never did so.
Edward appointed Leofric as
Bishop of Cornwall and
Bishop of Crediton in 1046, but because Crediton was a small town, the new bishop secured papal permission to move the
episcopal seat to
Exeter
Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...
in 1050. At Exeter, Leofric worked to increase the income and resources of his cathedral, both in lands and in ecclesiastical vestments. He was a
bibliophile
A bookworm or bibliophile is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books. Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books.
Bibliophiles may have large, specialized book collections. They may highly value old editions, aut ...
, and collected many manuscripts; some of these he gave to the cathedral library, including a famous manuscript of poetry, the ''
Exeter Book''. Leofric died in 1072; although his remains were moved to the new
Exeter Cathedral
Exeter Cathedral, properly known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Exeter, Devon, in South West England. The presen ...
which was built after his death, their location is no longer known and the current tomb does not mark his resting place.
Early life
Little is known about Leofric, as his cathedral town was not a centre of historical writing, and he took little part in events outside his diocese. Little notice was taken of his life and activities; only a few charters originated in his household and there is only one listing of gifts to his diocese. No official acts from his episcopate have survived, and there is just a brief death notice in the ''
Leofric Missal'',
[Barlow "Leofric and his Times" ''Norman Conquest and Beyond'' p. 113] although no notice of his death occurs in the contemporary ''
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 ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...
''. He occurs as a witness to royal charters.
[Barlow "Leofric and his Times" ''Norman Conquest and Beyond'' p. 117]
Leofric was probably born in Cornwall, and his parents were English.
[Hindley ''Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons'' p. 239] Because canon law required that a bishop be 30 years old when consecrated, it is likely that Leofric was born before 1016.
[ The medieval chronicler Florence of Worcester referred to him as a ''Brytonicus'', which presumably meant that he was a native of Cornwall.][Barlow ''English Church'' pp. 83–84] He had a brother, Ordmaer, who acted as his steward and administered the family estates.[Barlow "Leofric (d. 1072)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''] Leofric was educated in Lotharingia
Lotharingia was a historical region and an early medieval polity that existed during the late Carolingian and early Ottonian era, from the middle of the 9th to the middle of the 10th century. It was established in 855 by the Treaty of Prüm, a ...
,[Barlow ''Feudal Kingdom'' p. 34] and may have been brought up abroad.[Huscroft ''Ruling England'' p. 50] Leofric may have gone into exile either in 1013 when Sweyn Forkbeard
Sweyn Forkbeard ( ; ; 17 April 963 – 3 February 1014) was King of Denmark from 986 until his death, King of England for five weeks from December 1013 until his death, and King of Norway from 999/1000 until 1014. He was the father of King Ha ...
, the king of Denmark
The monarchy of Denmark is a constitutional political system, institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes Denmark proper and the autonomous administrative division, autonomous territories of the Faroe Is ...
invaded England or in 1016, when Sweyn's son Cnut
Cnut ( ; ; – 12 November 1035), also known as Canute and with the epithet the Great, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway from 1028 until his death in 1035. The three kingdoms united under Cnut's rul ...
became king of England.[Barlow "Leofric and his Times" ''Norman Conquest and Beyond'' p. 114] His education possibly took place at the church of St Stephen's in Toul,[ where the future Pope Leo IX was a canon from 1017 to 1024 and bishop after 1027.][
]
Service to Edward the Confessor
Before Edward the Confessor became king of England, he was exiled to the continent. Leofric served as Edward's chaplain,[ although how or when exactly the two met is unknown.][Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 50] The historian Frank Barlow speculates that it may have been at Bruges
Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country.
The area of the whole city amoun ...
in 1039.[ When Edward returned to England at the invitation of King ]Harthacnut
Harthacnut (; "Tough-knot"; – 8 June 1042), traditionally Hardicanute, sometimes referred to as Canute III, was King of Denmark from 1035 to 1042 and King of England from 1040 to 1042.
Harthacnut was the son of King Cnut the Great (wh ...
, Edward's half-brother, Leofric accompanied him, witnessing charters during Harthacnut's lifetime along with Herman who later became Bishop of Sherborne.[Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 53] Leofric remained a close supporter and friend of Edward for the king's entire life.[ In 1044, Edward granted him lands at ]Dawlish
Dawlish is a seaside resort town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Teignbridge district in Devon, England. It is located on the south coast of England at a distance of from the city of Exeter and a similar distance from the to ...
in Devon.[Powell and Wallis ''House of Lords'' p. 3]
Although a 12th-century monastic chronicler at Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engl ...
called Leofric Edward's chancellor, this is not correct, as Edward had no chancellor at this time.[Barlow "Leofric and his Times" ''Norman Conquest and Beyond'' pp. 115–116] Historians are divided on whether or not Edward ever had an official that could be called a chancellor,[Stafford ''Unification and Conquest'' pp. 148–149] but they are agreed that Leofric did not hold such an office.[Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' pp. 82–83]
Bishop
When Bishop Lyfing died in 1046, the king made Leofric Bishop of Cornwall as well as Bishop of Crediton.[Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 215][Barlow ''English Church'' pp. 213–215] The two sees, or bishoprics, held by Lyfing became the see of Exeter in 1050 when Bishop Leofric moved his episcopal seat
A cathedral is a church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations with an episcop ...
from Crediton
Crediton is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Mid Devon district of Devon, England. It stands on the A377 road, A377 Exeter to Barnstaple road at the junction with the A3072 road to Tiverton, Devon, Tiverton, north w ...
to Exeter
Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...
and combined it with Cornwall.[ The move of the see received the support of Pope Leo IX,][Barlow ''Feudal Kingdom'' p. 32] and dates from 1051.[Walker ''Harold'' p. 25] Although Leofric had been a royal clerk before he became bishop, after his elevation he managed to avoid entanglement in the various disputes taking place between the king and Godwin, Earl of Wessex
Godwin of Wessex (; died 15 April 1053) was an Anglo-Saxon 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 first ...
. Instead he spent his energies on the administration of his diocese, but remained on good terms with the king.[ Leofric's penitential, the ''Leofric Missal'', still survives, and it includes a prayer for a childless king, which probably referred to King Edward.][Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 82]
The abbey church of St. Peter's at Exeter became Leofric's cathedral
A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...
[Knowles, et al. ''Heads of Religious Houses'' p. 48] and he was enthroned as Bishop of Exeter there on St Peter's Day in 1050 with King Edward in attendance.[Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 106] The king, and his wife Edith
Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning ''wiktionary:strife, strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English language, Englis ...
took part in the ceremony of enthronement, with both of them leading the bishop to his cathedra
A ''cathedra'' is the throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...
, or episcopal chair. Edith had dower rights to the town of Exeter, which may explain her presence at the ceremony.[Stafford ''Queen Emma and Queen Edith'' p. 266]
Leofric replaced the monks with canons.[ The new community was given the Rule of Chrodegang by Leofric,][Blair ''Church in Anglo-Saxon Society'' p. 361 footnote 331 and p. 362] which rule he had probably learned in Lotharingia before his return to England.[ Leofric moved the seat of his see because Crediton was too poor and rural, and Exeter was a city with protective walls and an abandoned church that could be used as the new cathedral.][ Leofric claimed that he found his diocese lacking in episcopal vestments and the other items required for church services, and his surviving list of gifts to the church noted that he gave vestments, crosses, chalices, censers, altar coverings, and other furnishings to the cathedral.][Barlow "Leofric and his Times" ''Norman Conquest and Beyond'' pp. 124–125]
After the move to Exeter, Leofric worked to increase the endowment of the diocese, and especially the cathedral library,[ which he found almost empty upon his arrival. He later claimed that there were only five books owned by the cathedral chapter when he became bishop.][Lloyd "Leofric as Bibliophile" ''Leofric of Exeter'' p. 34] He still remained on good terms with the king, for he was present at Edward's Christmas court in 1065 that saw the consecration of Edward's Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...
church at Westminster.[Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' pp. 244–245] No evidence survives that Leofric was employed by the king in any diplomatic missions, nor does Leofric appear to have attended any papal councils or synod
A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...
s.[ He was a supporter of the cult of Leo IX, who was proclaimed a saint after Leo's death.][Barlow ''English Church'' p. 307]
Death and legacy
Leofric survived William the Conqueror's 1068 siege of Exeter unscathed,[ although there is no evidence that he was present in the city during the siege. Whether Leofric had originally supported King Harold against William or if he supported William from the start is unclear. The fact that he survived William's purge of the native English bishops in 1070 is evidence that he must not have been too outspoken against William.][ Leofric remained bishop until he died on 10 February or 11 February 1072.][Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 246] He was buried in the crypt of his cathedral. When the cathedral was rebuilt, his remains were moved to the new church, but the location of the tomb has been lost. The current tomb only dates from 1568 and does not mark Leofric's resting place.[
During Leofric's bishopric, his cathedral library was the fourth largest in England, and was an important ]scriptorium
A scriptorium () was a writing room in medieval European monasteries for the copying and illuminating of manuscripts by scribes.
The term has perhaps been over-used—only some monasteries had special rooms set aside for scribes. Often they ...
.[ He gave an important manuscript of ]Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
poetry, the ''Exeter Book'', to the cathedral library in 1072.[Fletcher ''Bloodfeud'' p. 11] Contained in the ''Exeter Book'' are a number of poems showing of all the principal types of poems composed in Old English. This manuscript is one of four main sources for modern knowledge of Anglo-Saxon poetry.[Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 199 and footnotes 1, 2, 3, and 4] Along with the ''Exeter Book'', he also gave a number of other manuscripts and books to the cathedral upon his death.[Dodwell ''Anglo-Saxon Art'' p. 224] Three versions of the donation list drawn up by Leofric survive, which is one of the earliest surviving cathedral library catalogues. The list consists of 31 books used to conduct cathedral services, 24 other ecclesiastical works, and 11 works that were secular. This last group included philosophical works as well as poetry.[Lloyd "Leofric as Bibliophile" ''Leofric of Exeter'' pp. 35–36] The number of manuscripts that he owned and bequeathed to his cathedral was quite large for his time.[ Besides the ''Exeter Book'' and the ''Leofric Missal'', Leofric's own copy of the Rule of Chrodegang also survives, although it is no longer at Exeter. Now it is at ]Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
, where it is Corpus Christi College MS 191.[Barlow "Leofric and his Times" ''Norman Conquest and Beyond'' p. 122] Another surviving manuscript from Leofric's collection is a Gospel book
A Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels ( Greek: , ) is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament – normally all four – centering on the life of Jesus of Nazareth and the roo ...
written in Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
now in the Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...
, which was probably acquired by Leofric while he was on the continent, as the manuscript was originally written for a Breton monastery. In all, about 20 of the manuscripts gifted by Leofric can be identified and are still extant, and only two remain at Exeter – including the ''Exeter Book''.[Lloyd "Leofric as Bibliophile" ''Leofric of Exeter'' pp. 37–38]
The notice in his cathedral's records recording his death stated that Leofric was active in his diocese as a preacher, that he built many churches in his bishopric, and was noted as a teacher of his clergy. The historian Frank Barlow describes Leofric as "an able administrator and a progressive force" and one who "exemplifies the foreign prelate at his best".[
]
Notes
Citations
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Further reading
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External links
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Digitised images of the Leofric Missal
Early Manuscripts at Oxford University.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leofric
11th-century births
1072 deaths
English chaplains
Catholic chaplains
Bishops of Crediton (ancient)
Bishops of Cornwall
Bishops of Exeter
Medieval Cornish people
11th-century English Roman Catholic bishops
Burials at Exeter Cathedral
Year of birth unknown