Ælfric Puttoc

Ælfric first appears in the historical record as the provost of New Minster, Winchester.Hunt "Ælfric" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography He was probably a native of Wessex.Cooper Last Four Anglo-Saxon Archbishops p. 14 He became Archbishop of York in 1023,Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 224 but did not hold the see of Worcester at the same time, which had been traditional for a number of years. He was consecrated by Æthelnoth, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Ælfric travelled to Rome in 1026 to receive his pallium from Pope John XIX. He was the first archbishop of York to travel to Rome for their pallium, all other palliums held by the archbishops previous to this having been sent to York. During King Cnut of England's reign, Ælfric received the manor of Patrington in Holderness from the king and his wife Emma of Normandy.Fletcher Bloodfeud p. 104 In 1036 he may have been the bishop who crowned Harold Harefoot king of England, since the Archbishop of Canterbury of the time was Æthelnoth, who supported Harold's rival Harthacnut.{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}}

However, when Harthacnut became king, Ælfric became a supporter of Harthacnut.Barlow English Church 1000–1066 pp. 72–74 During Harthacnut's reign, Ælfric was sent with others to disinter Harold's body and throw it away. In 1040, Lyfing, Bishop of Worcester, was accused of taking part in the murder of Alfred, and Ælfric used the temporary disgrace of Lyfing to acquire his see. In fact, the chronicler John of Worcester relates the story that it was Ælfric himself who accused Lyfing of being involved in Alfred's murder, although whether to curry favour with the new king Harthacnut or in order to acquire Worcester is unclear.Walker Harold p. 16 Ælfric was deprived of his Worcester see in 1041, and Lyfing was reinstated.

Ælfric's main political activities took place during Harthacnut's reign, although he attested charters of Cnut, Harold Harefoot and Edward the Confessor also.Cooper Last Four Anglo-Saxon Archbishops p. 16

Ælfric translated the relics of John of Beverley into a new shrine at Beverley in 1037, and worked to foster the cult of that saint, by providing new buildings and giving endowments to the church. An oddity of his time as archbishop was that instead of the normal descriptor {{lang|la|archiepiscopus}} on charters, Ælfric used {{lang|la|archipraesul}} instead.Barlow English Church 1000–1066 p. 234 He continued the work of his predecessor in founding houses of canons in his archdiocese. A late medieval source recorded by the early modern antiquarian John Leland claims that Ælfric created the offices of sacristan, chancellor, and precentor at Beverley.Cooper Last Four Anglo-Saxon Archbishops p. 17

Ælfric officiated with Archbishop Edsige of Canterbury at the coronation of Edward the Confessor at Winchester on 3 April 1043.Barlow Edward the Confessor p. 61

Ælfric died at Southwell on 22 January 1051Barlow Edward the Confessor p. 104 and is buried in Peterborough Cathedral.Knowles Monastic Order in England p. 73 While the later medieval chronicler William of Malmesbury felt that Ælfric deserved rebuke, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle called him "very venerable and wise".Quoted in Barlow English Church 1000–1066 p. 73 Ælfric left his vestments and altar to Peterborough Abbey.

Ælfric's nickname, or byname, "Puttoc" probably means "kite" (the type of bird; confer Old English pyttel, "kite; little hawk"), and may have been an invention by the monks of Worcester to belittle Ælfric. It may have meant "buzzard" also.Fletcher Bloodfeud p. 113-114 It never occurs without the Ælfric, so it is unlikely to have been a true second name.Cooper Last Four Anglo-Saxon Archbishops pp. 17–18 The Northumbrian Priests' Law which is usually attributed to Ælfric's predecessor Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York, might have been authored instead by Ælfric, or possibly Ælfric's successor Cynesige.Fletcher Bloodfeud p. 128

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• {{cite book |author=Barlow, Frank |author-link=Frank Barlow (historian) |title=Edward the Confessor |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, CA |year=1970 |isbn=0-520-01671-8 }}
• {{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 |year=1979 |isbn=0-582-49049-9 |edition=Second}}
• {{cite book |author=Cooper, Janet M. |title=The Last Four Anglo-Saxon Archbishops of York |series=Borthwick Papers |volume=38 |publisher=St Anthony's Press |location=York, UK |year=1970 |oclc= 656290}}
• {{cite book |author=Fletcher, R. A. |title= Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=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 |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |author=Hunt, William |title=Ælfric (d. 1051)|others= revised by Marios Costambeys |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/191 |access-date= 10 November 2007 |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/191|url-access=subscription }} {{ODNBsub}}
• {{cite book |author=Knowles, David |title=The Monastic Order in England: A History of its Development from the Times of St. Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council, 940–1216 |author-link=David Knowles (scholar) |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1976 |edition= Second reprint |isbn=0-521-05479-6 }}
• {{cite book |author=Walker, Ian |title=Harold the Last Anglo-Saxon King |publisher=Wrens Park |location=Gloucestershire, UK |year=2000|isbn=0-905778-46-4 }}

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• {{PASE|132690|Ælfric 105}}

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{{s-bef | before=Wulfstan }}

{{s-ttl| title=Archbishop of York | years=1023–1041}}

{{s-aft| after=Æthelric }}

{{s-bef | before=Lyfing }}

{{s-ttl| title=Bishop of Worcester | years=1040–1041}}

{{s-aft| after=Lyfing }}

{{s-bef | before=Æthelric }}

{{s-ttl| title=Archbishop of York | years=1042–1051}}

{{s-aft| after=Cynesige }}

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{{Archbishops of York}}

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Category:Archbishops of York

Category:1051 deaths

Category:11th-century archbishops

Category:Year of birth unknown

Category:Burials at Peterborough Cathedral

Category:11th-century English Roman Catholic bishops