Æthelric (bishop of Durham)
Æthelric | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Durham | |
| Appointed | before 11 January 1041 |
| Term ended | 1056 |
| Predecessor | Eadred |
| Successor | Æthelwine |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | 11 January 1041 |
| Personal details | |
| Died | 15 October 1072 Westminster |
| Denomination | Christian |
Æthelric (or Ethelric; died 1072) was Bishop of Durham from 1041 to 1056 when he resigned.[1]
Æthelric was a monk at Peterborough Abbey before Bishop Eadmund of Durham brought him to Durham to instruct the Durham monks in monastic life.[2] Æthelric was consecrated as bishop on 11 January 1041[1] at York. Æthelric may have owed his advancement to Siward, Earl of Northumbria, who later restored Æthelric to Durham after Æthelric was forced to flee during a quarrel with the Durham monks.[2] Two reasons are given for why Æthelric resigned his see.[3] One story has it happening after a scandal in which he appropriated treasure hoard that was discovered at Chester-le-Street in the process of replacing the old church with a new one.[4] Æthelric allegedly sent the money to his former monastery of Peterborough to finance some building work there.[5] Another reason given was that Æthelric was unable to protect the diocese against locals encroaching on its rights. Æthelric also resigned within a year of the death of Earl Siward, who had been one of the bishop's main supporters.[3] His brother, Æthelwine, who had helped Æthelric to appropriate the treasure, succeeded Æthelric as bishop.[4]
Æthelric retired to Peterborough Abbey, where he remained until the Norman Conquest.[6] He was arrested by the King William I of England after May 1070, and died in captivity at Westminster,[6][7][8] on 15 October 1072.[1]
Citations
- ^ a b c Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 216
- ^ a b Fletcher Bloodfeud p. 137
- ^ a b Kapelle Norman Conquest of the North pp. 89–90
- ^ a b Fletcher Bloodfeud p. 156
- ^ Mason House of Godwine pp. 124–125
- ^ a b Williams English and the Norman Conquest p. 45
- ^ Fletcher Bloodfeud p. 185
- ^ Stafford Unification and Conquest p. 104
References
- Fletcher, R. A. (2003). Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516136-X.
- Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
- Kapelle, William E. (1979). The Norman Conquest of the North: The Region and Its Transformation. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-1371-0.
- Mason, Emma (2004). House of Godwine: The History of Dynasty. London: Hambledon & London. ISBN 1-85285-389-1.
- Stafford, Pauline (1989). Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries. London: Edward Arnold. ISBN 0-7131-6532-4.
- Williams, Ann (2000). The English and the Norman Conquest. Ipswich, UK: Boydell Press. ISBN 0-85115-708-4.