Æthelwold of Winchester
| Æthelwold | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Winchester | |
| Church | Christian |
| Appointed | 29 November 963 |
| Term ended | 1 August 984 |
| Predecessor | Beorhthelm of Winchester |
| Successor | Ælfheah II |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | 29 November 963 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | between 904 and 909 Winchester |
| Died | 1 August 984 Beddington, Surrey, England |
Æthelwold of Winchester (also spelled Aethelwald, Ethelwold, etc.), (904/9 – 984) was Bishop of Winchester from 963 to 984 and one of the leaders of the tenth-century monastic reform movement in Anglo-Saxon England.
Monastic life had declined to a low ebb in England in the ninth century, partly due to the ravages caused by Viking attacks, and partly because of a preference for secular clergy, who were cheaper and were thought to better serve the spiritual needs of the laity. Kings from Alfred the Great onwards took an interest in the Benedictine rule, but it was only in the middle of the tenth century that kings became ready to commit substantial funds to its support. Æthelwold became the leading propagandist for the monastic reform movement, although he made enemies by his ruthless methods, and he was more extreme in his opposition to secular clergy than his fellow reformers, Saint Dunstan and Oswald of Worcester. He is nevertheless recognised as a key figure in the reform movement, who also made a major contribution to the revival of learning and the arts. He was an important political figure, backing Ethelred the Unready against Edward the Martyr, and playing a major advisory role during Ethelred's minority.
Æthelwold was born to noble parents in Winchester. From the late 920s he served in a secular capacity at the court of King Athelstan, and according to Æthelwold's biographer, Wulfstan, "he spent a long time in the royal burh there as the king's inseparable companion, learning much from the king's witan that was useful and profitable to him". The king arranged for him to be ordained a priest by Ælfheah the Bald, Bishop of Winchester, on the same day as Saint Dunstan. After a period in the late 930s studying under Ælfheah at Winchester, Æthelwold moved to Glastonbury Abbey, where Dunstan had been made abbot. Here Æthelwold studied grammar, metrics and patristics, subsequently being made dean. During the reign of King Eadred (946-955), Æthelwold wished to travel to Europe to learn more about the monastic life, but Eadred refused permission, and instead appointed him abbot of the former monastic site of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, which was then served by secular priests. The years he spent in Abingdon were extremely productive, and he undertook the building of a church, the rebuilding of the cloister and the establishment at Abingdon of the Benedictine Rule.
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