Ælfheah the Bald explained

Ælfheah the Bald
Religion:Christian
Bishop of Winchester
Appointed:934 or 935
Ended:12 March 951
Predecessor:Byrnstan
Successor:Ælfsige I
Consecration:934 or 935
Birth Name:Ælfheah
Death Date:12 March 951
Buried:Old Minster in Winchester
Feast Day:12 March

Ælfheah the Bald is the commonly used name for Ælfheah (died 12 March 951), the first English Bishop of Winchester of that name. He is sometimes known as Alphege, an older translation of his Old English name.

Life

Ælfheah began his career as a monk and was made Bishop of Winchester in 934 or 935 .[1] He was a relative of Dunstan, and took the young man into his service,[2] and later ordained him priest.Ælfheah was an early mover towards the monastic reforms of the next generation[3] and was tutor of Aethelwold.[4] He died on 12 March 951[1] and was buried in Old Minster in Winchester. He was subsequently revered as a saint.[5] Following the Norman conquest, Archbishop Lanfranc downgraded a number of Anglo-Saxon saints, including Ælfheah, to bring the liturgical calendar more in line with that of Bec. However, under Anselm's influence, he was subsequently reinstated.[6]

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 223
  2. Web site: Toke, Leslie. "St. Dunstan." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 24 May 2013 . Newadvent.org . 1909-05-01 . 2018-09-18.
  3. https://www.wincathrecord.org/PDFViewer/web/viewer.html?file=%2FFilename.ashx%3FtableName%3Dta_record%26columnName%3Dfilename%26recordId%3D116 Watson, Tom. "Winchester’s Lesser Known Saints", Winchester Cathedral Record
  4. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8920?docPos=1 Yorke, Barbara, Æthelwold, Online Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004
  5. Walsh A New Dictionary of Saints p. 28
  6. https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgs039 Younge, George Ruder. "The Review of English Studies Prize Essay ‘Those were good days’: Representations of the Anglo-Saxon Past in the Old English Homily on Saint Neot", The Review of English Studies, Volume 63, Issue 260, June 2012, Pages 349–369