Justus

File:AugsutineGospelsFolio129vStLuke.jpg of Luke, from the St Augustine Gospels ({{circa|6th century}}), which may have accompanied Justus to Britain]]

Justus was a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England by Pope Gregory I. Almost everything known about Justus and his career is derived from the early 8th-century Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum of Bede.Hunt "Justus" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography As Bede does not describe Justus's origins, nothing is known about him before he arrived in England. He probably arrived in England with the second group of missionaries, sent at the request of Augustine of Canterbury in 601.Stenton Anglo-Saxon England p. 109 Some modern writers describe Justus as one of the original missionaries who arrived with Augustine in 597,Hindley Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons p. 65 but Bede believed that Justus came in the second group.Blair World of Bede pp. 84–87Wallace-Hadrill Bede's Ecclesiastical History p. 43 The second group included Mellitus, who later became Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury.Brooks "Mellitus" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

If Justus was a member of the second group of missionaries, then he arrived with a gift of books and "all things which were needed for worship and the ministry of the Church".Bede History of the English Church and People p. 85–86Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity p. 62 A 15th-century Canterbury chronicler, Thomas of Elmham, claimed that there were some books brought to England by that second group still at Canterbury in his day, although he did not identify them. An investigation of extant Canterbury manuscripts shows that one possible survivor is the St Augustine Gospels, now in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Manuscript (MS) 286.{{efn|Another possible survivor is a copy of the Rule of St Benedict, now Bodleian Library MS. Hatton 48.Colgrave "Introduction" Earliest Life of Gregory the Great pp. 27–28 Another Gospel, in an Italian hand, and closely related to the Augustine Gospels, is MS Oxford Bodelian Auctarium D.2.14, which shows evidence of being held in Anglo-Saxon hands during the right time frame. Lastly, a fragment of a work by Gregory the Great, now held by the British Library as part of MS Cotton Titus C, may have arrived with the missionaries.Lapidge Anglo-Saxon Library pp. 24–25}}

Augustine consecrated Justus as a bishop in 604 over a province including the Kentish town of Rochester.Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury p. 221 The historian Nicholas Brooks argues that the choice of Rochester was probably not because it had been a Roman-era bishopric, but rather because of its importance in the politics of the time. Although the town was small, with just one street, it was at the junction of Watling Street and the estuary of the Medway and was thus a fortified town.Brooks "From British to English Christianity" Conversion and Colonization pp. 24–27 Because Justus was probably not a monk (Bede did not call him that),Smith "Early Community of St. Andrew at Rochester" English Historical Review p. 291 his cathedral clergy was very likely non-monastic too.Smith "Early Community of St. Andrew at Rochester" English Historical Review p. 292

File:Textus Roffensis f. 119r.jpg

A charter purporting to be from King Æthelberht, dated 28 April 604, survives in the Textus Roffensis, as well as a copy based on the Textus in the 14th-century Liber Temporalium. Written mostly in Latin but using an Old English boundary clause, the charter records a land grant near Rochester to Justus's church.Campbell Charters of Rochester p. c Among the witnesses is Laurence, Augustine's future successor, but not Augustine himself. The text turns to two different addressees. First, Æthelberht is made to admonish his son Eadbald, who had been established as a sub-ruler in the region of Rochester. The grant itself is addressed directly to Saint Andrew, the patron saint of the church,Morris Arthurian Sources vol. ii p. 90 a usage parallelled by other charters in the same archive.Levison England and the Continent pp. 223–225

Wilhelm Levison, writing in 1946, was sceptical about the authenticity of this charter. He felt that the two separate addresses were incongruous, suggesting that the first address, occurring before the preamble, may have been inserted by someone familiar with Bede to echo Eadbald's future conversion (see below). A more recent and more positive appraisal by John Morris argues that the charter and its witness list are authentic because they incorporate titles and phraseology that had fallen out of use by 800.Morris Arthurian Sources vol. ii pp. 97–98

Æthelberht built Justus a cathedral church in Rochester; the foundations of a nave and chancel partly underneath the present-day Rochester Cathedral may date from that time. What remains of the foundations of an early rectangular building near the southern part of the current cathedral might also be contemporary with Justus or may be part of a Roman building.

Together with Mellitus, the bishop of London, Justus signed a letter written by Archbishop Laurence of Canterbury to the Irish bishops urging the native Celtic church to adopt the Roman method of calculating the date of Easter (the computus). This letter also mentioned the fact that Irish missionaries, such as Dagan, had refused to share meals with the missionaries.Stenton Anglo-Saxon England p. 112 Although the letter has not survived, Bede quoted from parts of it.Higham Convert Kings pp. 138–139

In 614, Justus attended the Council of Paris, held by the Frankish king, Chlothar II.Wood "Mission of Augustine of Canterbury" Speculum p. 7 It is unclear why Justus and Peter, the abbot of Sts Peter and Paul in Canterbury,{{efn|This was later renamed St Augustine's Abbey.}} were present. It may have been just chance, but the historian James Campbell has suggested that Chlothar summoned clergy from Britain to attend in an attempt to assert overlordship over Kent.Campbell "First Century of Christianity" Essays in Anglo-Saxon History p. 56 N. J. Higham offers another explanation for their attendance, arguing that Æthelberht sent the pair to the council because of shifts in Frankish policy towards the Kentish kingdom, which threatened Kentish independence, and that the two clergymen were sent to negotiate a compromise with Chlothar.Higham Convert Kings p. 116

A pagan backlash against Christianity followed Æthelberht's death in 616, forcing Justus and Mellitus to flee to Gaul. The pair probably took refuge with Chlothar, hoping that the Frankish king would intervene and restore them to their sees, and by 617 Justus had been reinstalled in his bishopric by the new king. Mellitus also returned to England, but the prevailing pagan mood did not allow him to return to London; after Laurence's death, Mellitus became Archbishop of Canterbury.Lapidge "Mellitus" Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England According to Bede, Justus received letters of encouragement from Pope Boniface V (r. 619–625), as did Mellitus, although Bede does not record the actual letters—the historian J. M. Wallace-Hadrill assumes both letters were general statements encouraging the missionaries.Wallace-Hadrill Bede's Ecclesiastical History pp. 64–65

Justus became Archbishop of Canterbury in 624, receiving his pallium—the symbol of the jurisdiction entrusted to archbishops—from Pope Boniface V, following which Justus consecrated Romanus as his successor at Rochester. Boniface also gave Justus a letter congratulating him on the conversion of King "Aduluald" (probably King Eadbald of Kent), a letter which is included in Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum.Kirby Earliest English Kings pp. 31–32 Bede's account of Eadbald's conversion states that it was Laurence, Justus's predecessor at Canterbury, who converted the king to Christianity, but D. P. Kirby argues that the letter's reference to Eadbald makes it likely that it was Justus.Kirby Earliest English Kings p. 33 Other historians, including Barbara Yorke and Henry Mayr-Harting, conclude that Bede's account is correct, and that Eadbald was converted by Laurence.Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity pp. 75–76 Yorke argues that there were two kings of Kent during Eadbald's reign, Eadbald and Æthelwald, and that Æthelwald was the "Aduluald" referred to by Boniface. Yorke argues that Justus converted Æthelwald back to Christianity after Æthelberht's death.Yorke Kings and Kingdoms p. 32

File:Staugustinescanterburygravejustus.jpg, Canterbury]]

Justus consecrated Paulinus as the first bishop of York, before the latter accompanied Æthelburg of Kent to Northumbria for her marriage to King Edwin of Northumbria. Bede records Justus as having died on 10 November, but does not give a year, although it is likely to have between 627 and 631.Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 213Wallace-Hadrill Bede's Ecclesiastical History p. 82 After his death, Justus was regarded as a saint, and was given a feast day on 10 November.Delaney Dictionary of Saints pp. 354–355 The 9th-century Stowe Missal commemorates his feast day, along with Mellitus and Laurence.Farmer Oxford Dictionary of Saints p. 366 In the 1090s, his remains were translated, or ritually moved, to a shrine beside the high altar of St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury. At about the same time, a Life was written about him by Goscelin, as well as a poem by Reginald of Canterbury.Hayward "Justus" Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England{{efn|None of these works appear to have been published or translated within the last 200 years.}} Other material from Thomas of Elmham, Gervase of Canterbury, and William of Malmesbury, later medieval chroniclers, adds little to Bede's account of Justus's life.

• List of members of the Gregorian mission

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• {{cite book |author=Bede |title=A History of the English Church and People |author-link=Bede |translator=Sherley-Price, Leo |publisher=Penguin Classics |location=New York |year=1988 |isbn=0-14-044042-9 }}
• {{cite book |author=Blair, Peter Hunter |title=The World of Bede |author-link=Peter Hunter Blair |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1990 |edition=Reprint |orig-year=1970 |isbn=0-521-39819-3 }}
• {{cite book |author=Brooks, Nicholas |title=The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066 |author-link=Nicholas Brooks (historian) |publisher=Leicester University Press |location=London |year=1984 |isbn=0-7185-0041-5 }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |author=Brooks, Nicholas |title=From British to English Christianity: Deconstructing Bede's Interpretation of the Conversion |author-link=Nicholas Brooks (historian) |editor1=Howe, Nicholas |editor2=Karkov, Catherine |encyclopedia=Conversion and Colonization in Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies |location=Tempe, AZ |year=2006 |pages=1–30 |isbn=0-86698-363-5 }}
• {{cite encyclopedia|author=Brooks, N. P. |title=Mellitus (d. 624) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |author-link=Nicholas Brooks (historian) |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/18531 |edition=October 2005 revised |access-date=7 November 2007 |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/18531 |url-access=subscription }} {{ODNBsub}}
• {{cite book |editor=Campbell, A. |title=Charters of Rochester |editor-link=Alistair Campbell (academic) |series=Anglo-Saxon Charters |volume=1 |publisher=British Academy/Oxford University Press |location=London |year=1973 |isbn=0-19-725936-7 }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |author=Campbell, James |title=The First Century of Christianity in England |encyclopedia=Essays in Anglo-Saxon History |publisher=Hambledon Press |location=London |year=1986 |isbn=0-907628-32-X |pages=49–68 }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |author=Colgrave, Bertram |title=Introduction |encyclopedia=The Earliest Life of Gregory the Great |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |edition=Paperback reissue |orig-year=1968 |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-31384-1 }}
• {{cite book |author=Delaney, John P. |title=Dictionary of Saints |edition=Second |publisher=Doubleday |location=Garden City, NY |year=1980 |isbn=0-385-13594-7 }}
• {{cite book |author=Farmer, David Hugh |title=Oxford Dictionary of Saints |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |edition=Fifth |location=Oxford, UK |isbn= 978-0-19-860949-0 }}
• {{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=Hayward, Paul Anthony |title=Justus |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |pages=267–268 |editor1=Lapidge, Michael |editor1-link=Michael Lapidge |editor2=Blair, John |editor2-link=John Blair (historian) |editor3=Keynes, Simon |editor-link3=Simon Keynes |editor4=Scragg, Donald |year=2001 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA |isbn=978-0-631-22492-1 }}
• {{cite book |author=Higham, N. J. |title=The Convert Kings: Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=N. J. Higham |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester, UK |year=1997 |isbn=0-7190-4827-3 }}
• {{cite book |author=Hindley, Geoffrey |title=A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The Beginnings of the English Nation |year= 2006|publisher= Carroll & Graf Publishers |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7867-1738-5 }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |author1=Hunt, William |author2=Brooks, N. P. |title=Justus (St Justus) (d. 627x31) |author1-link= William Hunt (priest) |author2-link=Nicholas Brooks (historian) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15176 |edition=October 2005 revised |access-date=7 November 2007 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/15176 |url-access=subscription }} {{ODNBsub}}
• {{cite book |author=Kirby, D. P. |title=The Earliest English Kings |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=2000 |isbn=0-415-24211-8 }}
• {{cite book |author=Lapidge, Michael |title=The Anglo-Saxon Library |author-link= Michael Lapidge |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=2006 |isbn=0-19-926722-7 }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |author=Lapidge, Michael |title=Mellitus |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |pages=305–306 |author-link=Michael Lapidge |editor1=Lapidge, Michael |editor1-link=Michael Lapidge |editor2=Blair, John |editor2-link=John Blair (historian) |editor3=Keynes, Simon |editor-link3=Simon Keynes |editor4=Scragg, Donald |year=2001 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA |isbn=978-0-631-22492-1 }}
• {{cite book |author=Levison, Wilhelm |title=England and the Continent in the Eighth Century: The Ford Lectures Delivered in the University of Oxford, 1943 |author-link=Wilhelm Levison |publisher=Clarendon Press |place=Oxford, UK |year=1946 }}
• {{cite book |author=Mayr-Harting, Henry |title=The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=Henry Mayr-Harting |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |location=University Park, PA |year=1991 |isbn=0-271-00769-9 }}
• {{cite book |author=Morris, John |title=Arthurian Sources, Vol. 2: Annals and Charters |series=Arthurian Period Sources |publisher=Phillimore |location=Chichester, UK |year=1995 |isbn=0-85033-757-7 }}
• {{cite journal |author=Smith, R. A. L. |title=The Early Community of St. Andrew at Rochester, 604–c. 1080 |journal=The English Historical Review |date=September 1945 |volume=60 |issue=238 |pages=289–299 |doi=10.1093/ehr/LX.CCXXXVIII.289 |jstor= 556594 }}
• {{cite book |author=Stenton, F. M. |title=Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=Frank Stenton |year=1971 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |edition=Third |isbn=978-0-19-280139-5 }}
• {{cite book |author=Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. |title=Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People: A Historical Commentary |author-link=J. M. Wallace-Hadrill |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=1988 |series=Oxford Medieval Texts |isbn=0-19-822269-6 }}
• {{cite book |author=Walsh, Michael J.|title=A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West |year=2007 |publisher=Burns & Oats |location=London |isbn=978-0-86012-438-2 }}
• {{cite journal |author=Wood, Ian |title=The Mission of Augustine of Canterbury to the English |journal=Speculum |author-link=Ian N. Wood |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=1–17 |date=January 1994 |doi=10.2307/2864782 |jstor=2864782 |s2cid=161652367 }}
• {{cite book |author=Yorke, Barbara |title=Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=Barbara Yorke |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=1997 |isbn=0-415-16639-X }}

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• {{PASE|10049|Justus 1}}

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{{s-rel| Christian titles }}

{{s-bef | before=(diocese created)}}

{{s-ttl| title=Bishop of Rochester || years=604–624}}

{{s-aft| after=Romanus }}

{{s-bef | before=Mellitus }}

{{s-ttl| title=Archbishop of Canterbury | years=624 – {{circa|627|lk=yes}}}}

{{s-aft| after=Honorius }}

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{{Bishops of Rochester}}

{{Archbishops of Canterbury}}

{{Gregorian mission}}

{{Anglo-Saxon saints}}

{{Subject bar|portal1=England|portal2=Middle Ages|portal3=Christianity|portal4=Saints |portal5=Biography |commons=y |commons-search=Saint Justus of Canterbury |s=y |s-search= Justus (DNB00)}}

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Category:7th-century archbishops

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Category:7th-century deaths

Category:Archbishops of Canterbury

Category:Bishops of Rochester

Category:Gregorian mission

Category:Kentish saints

Category:Clergy from Rome

Category:7th-century English bishops

Category:Year of birth unknown

Category:Year of death uncertain

Category:7th-century Christian clergy