Ælfheah of Canterbury

Ælfheah was born around 953,Rumble "From Winchester to Canterbury" Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church p. 165 and became a monk early in life. He first entered the monastery of Deerhurst, but then moved to Bath, where he became an anchorite. He was noted for his piety and austerity and rose to become abbot of Bath Abbey.Knowles, et al. Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales pp. 28, 241 The 12th-century chronicler, William of Malmesbury recorded that Ælfheah was a monk and prior at Glastonbury Abbey,Rumble "From Winchester to Canterbury" Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church p. 166 but this is not accepted by all historians. Indications are that Ælfheah became abbot at Bath by 982, perhaps as early as around 977. He perhaps shared authority with his predecessor Æscwig after 968.

Probably due to the influence of Dunstan, the Archbishop of Canterbury (959–988), Ælfheah was elected Bishop of Winchester in 984,Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 223Barlow English Church 1000–1066 p. 109 footnote 5 and was consecrated on 19 October that year. While bishop, he was largely responsible for the construction of a large organ in the cathedral, audible from over a mile (1600 m) away and said to require more than 24 men to operate. He also built and enlarged the city's churches,Hindley A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons pp. 304–305 and promoted the cult of Swithun and his predecessor, Æthelwold of Winchester. One act promoting Æthelwold's cult was the translation of Æthelwold's body to a new tomb in the cathedral at Winchester, which Ælfheah presided over on 10 September 996.Rumble "From Winchester to Canterbury" Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church p. 167

Following a Viking raid in 994, a peace treaty was agreed with one of the raiders, Olaf Tryggvason. Besides receiving danegeld, Olaf converted to ChristianityStenton Anglo-Saxon England p. 378 and undertook never to raid or fight the English again.Williams Æthelred the Unready p. 47 Ælfheah may have played a part in the treaty negotiations, and it is certain that he confirmed Olaf in his new faith.Leyser "Ælfheah" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

In 1006, Ælfheah succeeded Ælfric as Archbishop of Canterbury,Walsh New Dictionary of Saints p. 28Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 214 taking Swithun's head with him as a relic for the new location. He went to Rome in 1007 to receive his pallium—symbol of his status as an archbishop—from Pope John XVIII, but was robbed during his journey.Barlow English Church 1000–1066 pp. 298–299 footnote 7 While at Canterbury, he promoted the cult of Dunstan, ordering the writing of the second Life of Dunstan, which Adelard of Ghent composed between 1006 and 1011.Barlow English Church 1000–1066 p. 62 He also introduced new practices into the liturgy, and was instrumental in the Witenagemot's recognition of Wulfsige of Sherborne as a saint in about 1012.Barlow English Church 1000–1066 p. 223

Ælfheah sent Ælfric of Eynsham to Cerne Abbey to take charge of its monastic school.Stenton Anglo-Saxon England p. 458 He was present at the council of May 1008 at which Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York, preached his Sermo Lupi ad Anglos (The Sermon of the Wolf to the English), castigating the English for their moral failings and blaming the latter for the tribulations afflicting the country.Fletcher Bloodfeud p. 94

In 1011, the Danes again raided England, and from 8–29 September they laid siege to Canterbury. Aided by the treachery of Ælfmaer, whose life Ælfheah had once saved, the raiders succeeded in sacking the city.Williams Æthelred the Unready pp. 106–107{{efn|How exactly Ælfheah had saved Ælfmaer's life is not recorded in any source.}} Ælfheah was taken prisoner and held captive for seven months.Hindley Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons p. 301 Godwine (Bishop of Rochester), Leofrun (abbess of St Mildrith's), and the king's reeve, Ælfweard were captured also, but the abbot of St Augustine's Abbey, Ælfmær, managed to escape. Canterbury Cathedral was plundered and burned by the Danes following Ælfheah's capture.Barlow English Church 1000–1066 pp. 209–210

{{Main|Siege of Canterbury}}

File:Memorial to Saint Alfege in the Church of Saint Alfege, Greenwich.jpg

Ælfheah refused to allow a ransom to be paid for his freedom, and as a result was killed on 19 April 1012 at Greenwich, reputedly on the site of St Alfege's Church. The account of Ælfheah's death appears in the E version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: {{Blockquote|... the raiding-army became much stirred up against the bishop, because he did not want to offer them any money, and forbade that anything might be granted in return for him. Also they were very drunk, because there was wine brought from the south. Then they seized the bishop, led him to their "hustings"{{efn|"Hustings" derives from an Old Norse word that has the meaning of assembly or council, so there may have been some sort of trial that condemned Ælfheah.}} on the Saturday in the octave of Easter, and then pelted him there with bones and the heads of cattle; and one of them struck him on the head with the butt of an axe, so that with the blow he sank down and his holy blood fell on the earth, and sent forth his holy soul to God's kingdom.Swanton Anglo-Saxon Chronicle p. 142}}

Ælfheah was the first Archbishop of Canterbury to die a violent death.Fletcher Bloodfeud p. 78 A contemporary report tells that Thorkell the Tall attempted to save Ælfheah from the mob about to kill him by offering everything he owned except for his ship, in exchange for Ælfheah's life; Thorkell's presence is not mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, however.Williams Æthelred the Unready pp. 109–110 Some sources record that the final blow, with the back of an axe, was delivered as an act of kindness by a Christian convert known as "Thrum". Ælfheah was buried in Old St Paul's Cathedral. In 1023, his body was moved by King Cnut to Canterbury, with great ceremony.Hindley Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons pp. 309–310{{efn|Except perhaps for a finger, which a later tradition held was given by Cnut to Westminster Abbey.Rumble "From Winchester to Canterbury" Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church p. 171}} Thorkell the Tall was appalled at the brutality of his fellow raiders, and switched sides to the English king Æthelred the Unready following Ælfheah's death.Stenton Anglo-Saxon England p. 383

File:Salisbury Cathedral St Alphege.jpg by James Redfern, showing Ælfheah holding the stones used in his martyrdom.]]

Pope Gregory VII canonised Ælfheah in 1078, with a feast day of 19 April.Delaney Dictionary of Saints pp. 29–30 Lanfranc, the first post-Conquest archbishop, was dubious about some of the saints venerated at Canterbury. He was persuaded of Ælfheah's sanctity,Williams English and the Norman Conquest p. 137 but Ælfheah and Augustine of Canterbury were the only pre-conquest Anglo-Saxon archbishops kept on Canterbury's calendar of saints.Stenton Anglo-Saxon England p. 672 Ælfheah's shrine, which had become neglected, was rebuilt and expanded in the early 12th century under Anselm of Canterbury, who was instrumental in retaining Ælfheah's name in the church calendar.Brooke Popular Religion in the Middle Ages p. 40Southern "St Anselm and his English Pupils" Mediaeval and Renaissance Studies After the 1174 fire in Canterbury Cathedral, Ælfheah's remains, together with those of Dunstan were placed around the high altar, at which Thomas Becket is said to have commended his life into Ælfheah's care shortly before his martyrdom during the Becket controversy. The new shrine was sealed in lead,Nilson Cathedral Shrines p. 33 and was north of the high altar, sharing the honour with Dunstan's shrine, which was located south of the high altar.Nilson Cathedral Shrines pp. 66–67 A Life of Saint Ælfheah in prose and verse was written by a Canterbury monk named Osbern, at Lanfranc's request. The prose version has survived, but the Life is very much a hagiography; many of the stories it contains have obvious Biblical parallels, making them suspect as a historical record.

In the late medieval period, Ælfheah's feast day was celebrated in Scandinavia, perhaps because of the saint's connection with Cnut.Blair "Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Saints" Local Saints and Local Churches p. 504 Few church dedications to him are known, with most of them occurring in Kent and one each in London and Winchester; as well as St Alfege's Church in Greenwich, a nearby hospital (1931–1968) was named after him.{{cite web|title=Greenwich District Hospital|url=http://www.ezitis.myzen.co.uk/greenwichdistrict.html|website=Lost Hospitals of London|access-date=25 October 2015}} In the town of Solihull in the West Midlands, St Alphege Church is dedicated to Ælfheah dating back to approximately 1277.{{Cite web|url=http://www.solihullparish.org.uk/churches/st-alphege|title=St Alphege – SolihullParish|website=www.solihullparish.org.uk|access-date=24 April 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425120214/http://www.solihullparish.org.uk/churches/st-alphege|archive-date=25 April 2017}} In 1929, a new Roman Catholic church in Bath, the Church of Our Lady & St Alphege, was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in homage to the ancient Roman church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, and dedicated to Ælfheah under the name of Alphege.{{cite web|url=http://www.saintalphege.org.uk/2building.html |title=St Alphege's Church: The Building |publisher=St Alphege's Church, Bath |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226145613/http://www.saintalphege.org.uk/2building.html |archive-date=26 February 2012 }} Accessed 30 August 2009

Artistic representations of Ælfheah often depict him holding a pile of stones in his chasuble, a reference to his martyrdom.Audsley Handbook of Christian Symbolism p. 125

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |author1=Audsley, William |author-link1=William Audsley |author2=Audsley, George Ashdown |author-link2=George Ashdown Audsley |title=Handbook of Christian Symbolism |date=1865 |location=London |publisher=Day & Son Limited }}
• {{cite book |author=Barlow, Frank |author-link=Frank Barlow (historian) |title=The English Church 1000–1066: A History of the Later Anglo-Saxon Church |publisher=Longman |location=New York |date=1979 |isbn=0-582-49049-9 |edition=Second }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |author=Blair, John |author-link= John Blair (historian) |title=A Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Saints |encyclopedia=Local Saints and Local Churches in the Early Medieval West |editor=Thacker, Alan |editor2=Sharpe, Richard |editor2-link=Richard Sharpe (historian) |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |date=2002 |pages=495–565|isbn=0-19-820394-2 }}
• {{cite book |author1=Brooke, Christopher |author-link1= Christopher N. L. Brooke |author2=Brooke, Rosalind |title= Popular Religion in the Middle Ages: Western Europe 1000–1300 |date=1996 |publisher=Barnes & Noble |location=New York |isbn=0-7607-0093-1 |edition= Reprint }}
• {{cite book |author=Delaney, John P. |title=Dictionary of Saints|edition=Second |publisher=Doubleday |location=Garden City, NY |date=1980 |isbn=0-385-13594-7 }}
• {{cite book |author=Fletcher, R. A. |author-link=Richard A. Fletcher |title= Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |date=2003 |isbn=0-19-516136-X }}
• {{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |date=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }}
• {{cite book |author= Hindley, Geoffrey |title=A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The Beginnings of the English Nation |date=2006 |publisher=Carroll & Graf |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7867-1738-5 }}
• {{cite book |author=Holford-Strevens, Leofranc |author2=Blackburn, Bonnie J. |title=The Oxford Book of Days |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |date=2000 |isbn=0-19-866260-2 }}
• {{cite book |author1=Knowles, David |author2=London, Vera C. M. |author3=Brooke, Christopher |title=The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales, 940–1216 |author-link1=David Knowles (scholar) |author3-link=Christopher N. L. Brooke |edition=Second |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |date=2001 |isbn=0-521-80452-3 }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |author=Leyser, Henrietta |title=Ælfheah (d. 1012) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |author-link= Henrietta Leyser |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2006 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/181 |edition=October 2006 |access-date=7 November 2007 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/181 |url-access=subscription }} {{ODNBsub}}
• {{cite book |author=Nilson, Ben |title=Cathedral Shrines of Medieval England |publisher=Boydell Press |date=1998 |location=Woodbridge, UK |isbn=0-85115-540-5 }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |author=Rumble, Alexander R. |title=From Winchester to Canterbury: Ælheah and Stigand – Bishops, Archbishops and Victims |encyclopedia=Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church: From Bede to Stigand |date=2012 |publisher=Boydell Press |editor=Rumble, Alexander R. |location=Woodbridge, UK |isbn=978-1-84383-700-8 |pages=165–182 }}
• {{cite book |author=Stenton, F. M. |title= Anglo-Saxon England |date=1971 |publisher=Oxford University Press |author-link=Frank Stenton |location=Oxford, UK |edition=Third |isbn=978-0-19-280139-5 }}
• {{cite journal |author=Southern, Richard |title=St Anselm and His English Pupils |journal=Mediaeval and Renaissance Studies |author-link=R. W. Southern |volume=I | page= 5 |date=1941 }}
• {{cite book |translator=Swanton, Michael James |title=The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle |translator-link=Michael Swanton |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |date=1998 |isbn=0-415-92129-5 }}
• {{cite book |author=Walsh, Michael J. |title=A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West |date=2007 |publisher=Burns & Oats |location=London |isbn=978-0-86012-438-2 }}
• {{cite book |author=Williams, Ann |title=Aethelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King |author-link=Ann Williams (historian) |publisher=Hambledon & London |location=London |date=2003 |isbn=1-85285-382-4 }}
• {{cite book |author=Williams, Ann |title=The English and the Norman Conquest |author-link=Ann Williams (historian) |publisher=Boydell Press |location=Ipswich, UK |date=2000 |isbn=0-85115-708-4 }}

{{refend}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite journal|last=McDougal |first=I.|date=1993|title=Serious Entertainments: an examination of a peculiar type of Viking atrocity|journal=Anglo-Saxon England |volume=22|pages=201–25|doi=10.1017/s0263675100004385|s2cid=162748686}}

{{Refend}}

• {{PASE|75435|Ælfheah 44}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-rel| Christian titles }}

{{s-bef | before=Æthelwold }}

{{s-ttl| title=Bishop of Winchester | years=984–1006}}

{{s-aft| after=Cenwulf of Winchester }}

{{s-bef | before=Ælfric of Abingdon }}

{{s-ttl| title=Archbishop of Canterbury | years=1006–1012}}

{{s-aft| after=Lyfing }}

{{s-end}}

{{Anglo-Saxon saints}}

{{Bishops of Winchester}}

{{Archbishops of Canterbury}}

{{Subject bar|portal1=Saints|portal2=Middle Ages|portal3=Catholicism |portal4=England |portal5=Biography |auto=1}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Featured article}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aelfheah}}

Category:950s births

Category:1012 deaths

Category:Clergy from Bath, Somerset

Category:Anglo-Saxon saints

Category:Archbishops of Canterbury

Category:Bishops of Winchester

Category:Martyred Roman Catholic priests

Category:11th-century Christian saints

Category:11th-century Christian martyrs

Category:Incorrupt saints

Category:Year of birth uncertain

Category:11th-century English Roman Catholic archbishops

Category:Anglican saints

Category:Canonizations by Pope Gregory VII

Category:English saints