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Alphege
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Alphege | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Archbishop of Canterbury  |
||
| Alphege in The Little Lives of the Saints, illustrated by Charles Robinson in 1904. | ||
| Birth name | Ælfheah | |
| Enthroned | 1006 | |
| Ended | April 19, 1012 | |
| Predecessor | Ælfric of Abingdon | |
| Successor | Lyfing | |
| Born | 954 |
|
| Died | April 19, 1012 |
|
| Buried | Canterbury | |
|
Sainthood |
|
|---|---|
| Venerated in | Roman Catholicism; Anglican Communion |
| Canonized | 1078 by Pope Gregory VII |
| Commemorated | 19 April |
| Attributes | Archbishop holding an axe |
| Patronage | Greenwich; Solihull; kidnap victims |
 Saints Portal |
|
Saint Alphege (also spelt "Alfege") is the commonly used name for Ælfheah (954–19 April 1012), an Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Winchester and subsequent Archbishop of Canterbury.
Contents |
Alphege was born in Weston in Somerset, of a noble family, but in early life gave up everything to become a monk. Having assumed the monastic habit in the monastery of Deerhurst, he then moved to Bath, where he became an anchorite and ultimately abbot of Bath Abbey there, distinguishing himself by his piety and the austerity of his life.[1] In 984, he was appointed, through Dunstan's influence, to the Bishopric of Winchester.[2] While bishop of Winchester, he was largely responsible for the building of a large organ that was audible over a mile away from the cathedral and said to require more than twenty-four men to operate. He also built and enlarged the city's churches.[3] After a Viking raid in 994, a peace treaty was arranged with Olaf Tryggvason in which not only danegeld was paid to Olaf, but Olaf was converted to Christianity.[4] Olaf also agreed to not raid or fight the English ever again.[5] There are indications that Alphege had a hand in negotiating the treaty, and it is certain that it was Alphege that confirmed Olaf in his new faith.[6]
In 1006, he succeeded Aelfric as Archbishop of Canterbury.[7][8] While at Canterbury, he furthered the cult of Saint Dunstan, as well as introducing new litrugical practices into the liturgy. He also brought Saint Swithun's head to Canterbury with him as a relic.[6] It was Alphege who sent Ælfric of Eynsham to Cerne Abbey to be in charge of the monastic school there.[9] Alphege was present at the council of May 1008 where Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York preached his sermon Sermo Lupi ad Anglos or The Sermon of the Wolf to the English.[10]
In 1011 the Danes once more raided into England, and from September 8 to September 29 they laid siege to Canterbury. The invaders eventually sacked the city through the treachery of a man named Ælfmaer, who had once been saved by Alphege.[11] During the sack, Alphege was captured and kept in captivity for seven months.[12] Captured along with him were Godwine, Bishop of Rochester, Leofrun, abbess of St Mildrith's, and the king's reeve Ælfweard. Ælfmaer, abbot of St Augustine's Abbey managed to escape.[11] Alphege refused to allow a ransom to be paid, and he was murdered at Greenwich, Kent[12] (now London), reputedly on the site of St Alfege's Church there, on 19 April 1012.[8][7]
An account of his death appears in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:
. . . for there was wine brought them from the south. Then took they the bishop . . . on the eve of the Sunday after Easter . . . They overwhelmed him with bones and horns of oxen; and one of them smote him with an axe-iron on the head; so that he sunk downwards with the blow; and his holy blood fell on the earth, whilst his sacred soul was sent to the realm of God.
[13] He was the first Archbishop of Canterbury owe his death to violence.[14]
Thorkell the Tall is alleged in a contemporary report to have been present and to have tried to bribe the mob with all his belongings and loot except his ship to spare Alphege, but the Anglo Saxon Chronicle does not mention his presence.[15] is Some sources record the final blow, with the back of an axe, being dealt by one Thrum as an act of kindness by a Christian convert. He was buried in St Paul's Cathedral,[16] whence his body was removed by King Canute to Canterbury, with all the ceremony of a great act of state, in 1023.[17][18] After Alphege's death, Thorkell the Tall was appalled at the brutality of his fellow raiders and switched sides to the English king.[16][19]
Alphege was canonised in 1078. An incised paving slab to the north of the present High Altar of Canterbury Cathedral marks the place where the medieval shrine is believed to have stood. His feast day is 19 April.[20]
His shrine, which was depreciated by Lanfranc, was rebuilt and expanded under Anselm of Canterbury in the early part of the twelfth century.[21] Along with Augustine of Canterbury, Alphege was the only pre-Conquest Anglo-Saxon archbishop of Canterbury who Lanfranc continued on the calendar of saints Lanfranc organized at Canterbury.[22] After the fire in Canterbury Cathedral in 1174, Alphege's remains were placed, along with Dunstan, around the high altar, where Thomas Becket is said to have commended his life into Alphege's care right before Thomas was martyred.[6]
Church dedications include: St Alphege the Martyr in Canterbury (now used as an urban studies centre), St Alfege's Church, Greenwich, the twin churches of St Alphege Whitstable and St Alphege Seasalter (chancel only surviving) and St Alphege in Solihull, the main town of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull. There is an unexpectedly charming 1920s Catholic church of Our Lady & St Alphege, closely modelled on a Roman basilica, at Oldfield Park, Bath, which the architect, Giles Gilbert Scott, declared was one of his favourite works. The capitals of the columns to the south aisle were carved by W. G. Gough to depict 16 scenes from the life of St Alphege. There is also an altar dedicated to St Alphege in Bath Abbey with a fine modern frontal designed by Jane Lemon.
Lives of St. Alphege in prose—which survives—and in verse were written by command of Lanfranc by the Canterbury monk, Osborn (d. c. 1090),[6] who says that his account of the solemn translation to Canterbury in 1023 was received from the dean, Godric, one of Alphege's own scholars.
- ^ Knowles, David; Brooke C. N. L.; and London, Vera C. M. The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales 940-1216 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1972 ISBN 0-521-08367-2 p. 28
- ^ Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde Handbook of British Chronology 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961 p. 257
- ^ Hindley, Geoffrey A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The beginnings of the English nation New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers 2006 ISBN 978-0-78671738-5 p. 304-305
- ^ Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition Oxford:Oxford University Press 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5 p. 378
- ^ Williams, Ann Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King London: Hambledon and London 2003 ISBN1-85285-382-4 p. 47
- ^ a b c d Leyser, Henrietta "Ælfheah (d. 1012)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; Online Edition, October 2006 accessed November 7, 2007
- ^ a b Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde Handbook of British Chronology 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961 p. 210
- ^ a b Walsh, Michael A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West London: Burns & Oats 2007 ISBN 0-8601-2438-X p. 28
- ^ Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition Oxford:Oxford University Press 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5 p. 458
- ^ Fletcher, Richard Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England Oxford: Oxford University Press 2003 ISBN 0-19-516136-X p. 94
- ^ a b Williams, Ann Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King London: Hambledon and London 2003 ISBN1-85285-382-4 p. 106-107
- ^ a b Hindley, Geoffrey A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The beginnings of the English nation New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers 2006 ISBN 978-0-78671738-5 p. 301
- ^ Anglo Saxon Chronicle for 1012 accessed on November 4, 2007
- ^ Fletcher, Richard Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England Oxford: Oxford University Press 2003 ISBN 0-19-516136-X p. 78
- ^ Williams, Ann Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King London: Hambledon and London 2003 ISBN1-85285-382-4 p. 109-110
- ^ a b O'Brien, Harriet Queen Emma and the Vikings: A History of Power, Love and Greed in Eleventh-Century England New York:Bloomsbury ISBN 1-58234-596-1 p. 75-76
- ^ Hindley, Geoffrey A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The beginnings of the English nation New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers 2006 ISBN 978-0-78671738-5 p. 309-310
- ^ O'Brien, Harriet Queen Emma and the Vikings: A History of Power, Love and Greed in Eleventh-Century England New York:Bloomsbury ISBN 1-58234-596-1 p. 129-130
- ^ Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition Oxford:Oxford University Press 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5 p. 383
- ^ Delaney, John J. Dictionary of Saints Second Edition Doubleday: New York 2003 ISBN 0-385-13594-7 p. 29-30
- ^ Brooke, Rosalind and Christopher Popular Religion in the Middle Ages: Western Europe 1000-1300 New York: Barnes & Noble Books (reprint) 1996 ISBN 0-76070-093-1 p. 40
- ^ Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition Oxford:Oxford University Press 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5 p. 672
- Early British Kingdoms: St. Aelfheah of Canterbury
- The Martyrdom of Ælfheah, from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
- Catholic Encyclopedia: St Alphege
- Prosopography of Anglo Saxon England: Ælfheah
| Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Æthelwold |
Bishop of Winchester 984–1006 |
Succeeded by Cenwulf of Winchester |
| Preceded by Ælfric of Abingdon |
Archbishop of Canterbury 1006–1012 |
Succeeded by Lyfing |
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "Alphege, St.", a publication now in the public domain.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alphege |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ælfheah |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Bishop of Winchester; Archbishop of Canterbury; Saint |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 954 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 19, 1012 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Greenwitch, Kent |