Sexwulf

Seaxwulf
Bishop of Lichfield
Appointed	before 676
Term ended	c. 692
Predecessor	Winfrith
Successor	Headda
Other posts	Abbot of Medeshamstede
Orders
Consecration	before 676
Personal details
Died	c. 692
Denomination	Christian

Seaxwulf (before 676 – c. 692) was the founding abbot of the Mercian monastery of Medeshamstede, and an early medieval bishop of Mercia. Very little is known of him beyond these details, drawn from sources such as Bede's Ecclesiastical History. Some further information was written down in the 12th century at Peterborough Abbey, as Medeshamstede was known by that time. This suggests that he began his career as a nobleman, and that he may have had royal connections outside Mercia.

Seaxwulf's earliest appearance is in the Latinised form "Sexwlfus", in Stephen of Ripon's Vita Sancti Wilfrithi, or "Life of St. Wilfrid", of the early 8th century. As is common with proper nouns, this name is found in numerous different forms in medieval writings; but it is most commonly rendered into modern English as "Saxwulf" or "Sexwulf". An Old English name, it means "dagger wolf", or possibly "Saxon wolf".

It is not known when or where Seaxwulf was born, but Bede identifies him as founder and first abbot of Medeshamstede, later known as Peterborough Abbey, in a context dateable prior to the mid 670s. Bede also describes him as bishop "of Lindsey, [and] also of the Mercians and Middle Angles". He was consecrated as bishop, with his seat, or "see", at Lichfield, before 676 AD; he died about 692. During his episcopate, Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury split the into several smaller . In 676, Seaxwulf gave refuge to Bishop Putta of Rochester. In a similar development, Seaxwulf's near contemporary Stephen of Ripon mentions St. Wilfrid's period of exile in Mercia, "amid the profound respect of that bishopric which the most reverend Bishop [Seaxwulf] had formerly ruled".

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