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:''For his royal homonym, see Aethelheard of Wessex''

Saint 'Æthelhard' (also ''Aethelheard'' or ''Ethelhard'') was Bishop of Winchester then Archbishop of Canterbury from 793 to 12 May 805.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Bishop of Winchester

Archbishop of Canterbury

Death and afterward

Notes

References

See Also

External Links

Biography

Early life

Æthelhard was an abbott before being named to the diocese of Winchester, but the exact location of the monastery he was the head of is unknown.Catholic Encyclopedia Entry for Ethelhard retrieved on July 5, 2007

Bishop of Winchester

He was consecrated Bishop of Winchester sometime after 759 and before 778.Powicke ''The Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 257

Archbishop of Canterbury

He was translated from the episcopal see of Winchester to the Archbishopric of Canterbury in 793Powicke ''The Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 209 and was enthroned archbishop on July 21, 793. This enthronement was presided over by the then-senior bishop of the land: Higbert, Archbishop of Lichfield. This enthronement required King Offa of Mercia to consult Alcuin of York over proper procedure, the archbishopric of Lichfield being new to the ecclesiastical landscape of England. Around 797, Æthelhard was deposed by the Kentish king Eadbert II Praen because of Æthelhard's bias towards Mercia.Ashley ''British Kings & Queens'' p. 225 However, Pope Leo III gave encouragement to the new Mercian king Cenwulf to depose Eadbert and restore Æthelhard to the archiepiscopal see in 798.Ashley ''British Kings & Queens'' p. 259-260 After his restoration to the see, Æthelhard and Cenwulf clashed, leading Cenwulf to attempt to move the primary archiepsicopal see from Canterbury to London, but by 803 Cenwulf and Æthelhard were reconciled enough for Cenwulf to drop this plan. After his exile, Æthelhard resolved to go to Rome and consult with Pope Leo III about the decline in power of the Archbishopric. Leo sided with Canterbury and demoted Lichfield back down to a bishopric. Higbert was deprived of his pallium at the Council of Clovesho on October 12, 803.

Death and afterward

Æthelhard died in 805, possibly on May 12th. He was later revered as a saint, with a feast day of May 12.^[1]

Notes

1. Patron Saints Index: Ethelhard accessed on September 6, 2007

References

★ Ethelhard - Article from the Catholic Encyclopedia accessed on July 5, 2007

★ Ashely, Mike ''The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens'' New York: Carroll & Graff 1998 ISBN 0-7967-0692-9

★ Patron Saints Index: Ethelhard accessed on September 6, 2007

★ Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde ''Handbook of British Chronology'' 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961

See Also

List of Archbishops of Canterbury

External Links

★ Aethelheard at Patron Saints Index

★ Prosopography of Anglo Saxon England: Æthelheard