Council of Clovesho

The Councils of Clovesho or Clofesho were a series of synods attended by Anglo-Saxon kings, bishops, abbots and nobles in the 8th and 9th centuries. They took place at an unknown location in the Kingdom of Mercia.

The location of the place-name Clovesho has never been conclusively identified. Scholars believe that Clovesho must have been located in the kingdom of Mercia, or close to it, and close enough to the sees of the southern English bishops to travel to. It has been described by Clifford Offer as "the most famous lost place in Anglo-Saxon England".

The strongest candidate for the location of Clovesho has long been Brixworth in Northamptonshire, where the surviving Anglo-Saxon church of All Saints' Church, Brixworth is indicative of the importance of the settlement during the Anglo-Saxon period. Alternative locations have included Hitchin, Herfordshire, which has recently been suggested, as well as Cliffe (previously called Cliffe-at-Hoo), Abingdon and Tewkesbury.Arthur West Haddan and William Stubbs consider these theories to be based upon unreliable evidence.

The Councils' dates and their Acts are known. Those Councils of Clovesho for which authentic evidence exists are those of 742, 747, 794, 798, 803, 824 and 825.

When Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus held the Council of Hertford in 672 or 673, he declared to the assembled bishops that he had been "appointed by the Apostolic See to be Bishop of the Church of Canterbury". A canon was passed to the effect that in future yearly synods should be held on 1 August every year "in the place which is called Clofeshoch". This ruling represents the inauguration of the first parliamentary system known to have operated in the British Isles; "there had never before been a parliament with authority enough to decide on matters concerning all the English peoples". Meetings were held at Clovesho for more than 150 years.

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