Cynesige

Cynesige
Archbishop of York
Interior of Peterborough Cathedral. Cynesige was buried here when it was an abbey.
Appointed	1051
Term ended	22 December 1060
Predecessor
Successor	Ealdred
Orders
Consecration	1051
Personal details
Died	22 December 1060
Buried	Peterborough Cathedral

Cynesige (also Cynsige, Kynsige or Kinsius; died 22 December 1060) was a medieval English Archbishop of York between 1051 and 1060. Prior to his appointment to York, he was a royal clerk and perhaps a monk at Peterborough. As archbishop, he built and adorned his cathedral as well as other churches, and was active in consecrating bishops. After his death in 1060, the bequests he had made to a monastery were confiscated by the queen.

Cynesige perhaps came from Rutland, as he owned the manor of Tinwell there later in life. The Liber Eliensis claimed that he had been born by Caesarian section, but this is most likely a later accretion to his lifestory, added after his death because of efforts to have him declared a saint. The belief was that for an infant to survive a caesarian section was a miracle, and thus a fitting beginning for a future saint.

Cynesige had been a royal clerk prior to his appointment to York in 1051, although the monks of Peterborough Abbey maintained that he had been a monk in their house. It is possible he was both a monk and a royal clerk. He delayed his visit to Rome to receive his pallium until 1055, when he was given it by Pope Victor II. During his time as archbishop he was claimed to have consecrated both John and Magsuen as Bishops of Glasgow, although the two bishops probably never lived in their diocese. John may have ended up as the Bishop of Mecklenburg in Germany. Cynesige dedicated the church of the Abbey of Waltham Holy Cross in the presence of King Edward the Confessor around 3 May 1060. This was at the invitation of Earl Harold Godwinson of Wessex. The chronicle of Waltham Abbey states that Cynesige did the consecration because the archbishopric of Canterbury was vacant. However, there was an occupant of Canterbury, Stigand, but his election to Canterbury was not considered canonical by the papacy, and Harold may have excluded him because of concerns about Stigand's canonical status.