Beadwulf | |
---|---|
Bishop of Candida Casa | |
Church | Roman Catholic |
See | Candida Casa |
In office | 791 – after 803 |
Predecessor | Æthelberht |
Successor | none |
Personal details | |
Born | unknown unknown |
Died | after 803 unknown |
Previous post | unknown |
Beadwulf was the last Bishop of Candida Casa to be consecrated by the Northumbrian Archbishop of York. He appears in four years of the chronicles and nowhere else. Nothing else is known of him, and his sole historical significance is that he was a bishop of the short-lived Northumbrian See of Candida Casa at Whithorn.
Beadwulf (alternately spelled Baldwulf, Badulf, Badwulf, or Baldulf) enters the historical record at his consecration as the Bishop of Candida Casa by Archbishop Eanbald I on 17 July 791, after his predecessor at Candida Casa, Æthelberht, was made the Bishop of Hexham. On 26 May 795 he attended the consecration of King Eardwulf of Northumbria at York, and then on 14 August 796 he attended the consecration of Eanbald II at Sockburn as the new Archbishop of York. On 11 June 803 Baldwulf attended the consecration of Egbert at Bywell as the new Bishop of Lindisfarne. No further record exists, either of him or of the See of Candida Casa.
The latter part of the eighth century was a tumultuous era in Northumbrian history. During Beadwulf's tenure at Candida Casa, the nation was weakened by dynastic strife within its leadership, with kings regularly murdered, deposed, or exiled. Vikings were beginning their increasingly destructive raids on Northumberland, sacking Lindisfarne in 793 and Jarrow in 794. The bishoprics were also in decline and if there is any foundation for Alcuin's 796 letter to the clergy of York regarding simony, ecclesiastical offices were available for purchase. The kingdom was in its final throes, and in 827 when the appearance of Egbert of Wessex and his army at Dore was sufficient to obtain Northumbrian submission, the once-dominant Kingdom of Northumbria disappeared into history.