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WILFRID (c. 634-709)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 641 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WILFRID (c. 634-709) , See also:English See also:archbishop, was See also:born of See also:good parentage in See also:Northumbria, c. 634. When serving in See also:King See also:Oswio's See also:court, he attracted the See also:notice of the See also:queen, Eanfled, who, fostering his inclination for a religious See also:life, placed him under the care of an old See also:noble, Cudda, now a See also:monk at Lindisfarne. Later on Eanfled enabled him to visit See also:Rome in the See also:company of See also:Benedict Biscop. At See also:Lyons Wilfrid's pleasing features and See also:quick intelligence made Annemund, the archbishop, See also:desire to adopt him and marry him to his niece. Resisting his offers, the youth went on to Rome, received the papal See also:benediction, and then, in accordance with his promise, returned to Lyons, where he stayed for three years, till the See also:murder of his See also:patron, whose See also:fate the executioners would not let him See also:share. On his return See also:home, Oswio's son Alchfrid gave him a monastery at See also:Ripon, and, before See also:long, Agilbert, See also:bishop of the Gewissae, or See also:West See also:Saxons, ordained him See also:priest. He was probably already regarded as the leading exponent of the See also:Roman discipline in See also:England when his speech at the See also:council of See also:Whitby determined the overthrow of the See also:Celtic party (664). About a See also:year later he was consecrated to the see of See also:York, not, however, in England, where perhaps he could not find the fitting number of orthodox prelates, but at See also:Compiegne, Agilbert being now bishop of See also:Paris. On his return See also:journey he narrowly escaped the See also:pagan wreckers of See also:Sussex, and only reached his own See also:country to find Ceadda (St See also:Chad) installed in his see. The See also:rest of his life is largely a See also:record of wandering and misfortune.

For three years (665-668) he ruled his monastery at Ripon in See also:

peace, though acting as bishop in See also:Mercia and See also:Kent during vacancies in See also:sees there. On Archbishop See also:Theodore's arrival (668) he was restored to his see, and spent in it nine years of ceaseless activity, especially in See also:building churches, only to be driven out through the anger of King See also:Ecgfrith's queen (677). Theodore now divided Wilfrid's large See also:diocese into three; and the aggrieved See also:prelate went to See also:lay his See also:case before the bishop of Rome. On his way a west See also:wind drove him to See also:Friesland, where he evangelized the natives and prepared the way for See also:Willibrord (q.v.). See also:Late in life he ordained Suidbert bishop of the See also:Frisians. A See also:synod held at Rome under See also:Agatho (68o) ordained his restitution ; but even this decision could not prevent his being See also:cast into See also:prison on his return home. When released he wandered first to Mercia, then to Wessex and finally to Sussex. Here he rescued the pagan folk from an impending See also:famine, sent preachers to the Isle of See also:Wight and founded a monastery at Selsey. After Ecgfrith's See also:death (loth May 685) Wilfrid was restored to York (much circumscribed), and Ripon (686-687). He was once more driven out in 691-692, and spent seven years in Mercia. A See also:great council of the English See also:Church held in Northumbria excommunicated him in 702. He again appealed to Rome in See also:person, and obtained another decision in his favour (703-704).

Despite the intercession of Brihwald, archbishop of See also:

Canterbury, Aldfrith king of Northumbria refused to admit the aged prelate into his See also:kingdom till his last illness (705). This year or the next a council was held near the See also:River Nidd, the papal letters were read, and, despite the opposition of the bishops, Wilfrid once more received the abbeys of Ripon and See also:Hexham. Not long after he died at See also:Oundle in See also:Northamptonshire as he was going on a visit to Ceolred, king of Mercia (709). He was buried at Ripon, whence, according to See also:Eadmer, his bones were afterwards removed to Canterbury. Wilfrid's is a memorable name in English See also:history, not only because of the large See also:part he played in supplanting the Celtic discipline and in establishing a precedent of See also:appeal to papal authority, but also by See also:reason of his services to See also:architecture and learning. At York he renewed See also:Paulinus's old church, roofing it with See also:lead and furnishing it with See also:glass windows; at Ripon he built an entirely new See also:basilica with columns and porches; at Hexham in See also:honour of St See also:Andrew he reared a still nobler church, over which Eddins grows eloquent. In the See also:early days of his bishopric he used to travel about his diocese attended by a little See also:troop of skilled masons. He seems to have also reformed the method of conducting the divine services by the aid of his skilled chanters, tEdde and eEona, and to have established or renewed the See also:rule of St Benedict in the monasteries. On each visit to Rome it was his delight to collect See also:relics for his native See also:land; and to his favourite basilica at Ripon he gave a See also:bookcase wrought in See also:gold and See also:precious stones, besides a splendid copy of the Gospels. Wilfrid's life was written shortly after his death by See also:Eddius at the See also:request of Acca, his successor at Hexham, and Tatbert, See also:abbot of Ripon—both intimate See also:friends of the great bishop. Other lives were written by Frithegode in the loth, by Folcard in the Iith, and by Eadmer early in the 12th See also:century. See also See also:Bede's Hist.

Eccl. v. 19, iii. 25, iv. 13, &c. All the lives are printed in J. Raine's Historians of the Church of York, vol. i. " Rolls " See also:

series.

End of Article: WILFRID (c. 634-709)

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