Ecgbert, Archbishop of York

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Ecgbert
Archbishop of York
Enthroned {{{began}}}
Ended November 19, 766
Predecessor Wilfrid II
Successor Ethelbert
Consecration about 734
Born unknown
Died November 19, 766
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Ecgbert or Ecgberht or Ecgbeorht (died 766) was an eighth century Archbishop of York and correspondent of Bede and Saint Boniface.

Contents

[edit] Life

He was the son of Eata, who was descended from the founder of the kingdom of Bernicia. His brother Eadberht was king of Northumbria from 737 to 758. Ecgbert went to Rome with another brother, and was ordained deacon while still in Rome.[1] Ecgbert was made bishop of York in 734[2] by his cousin and fellow-Leodwalding Ceolwulf of Northumbria, succeeding Wilfrid II on the latter's resignation. The pallium was sent him in 735 by Pope Gregory III[1] and he became the first northern archbishop after Paulinus of York.[3] Alcuin as a child was given to Ecgbert, and was educated at the school at York that Ecgbert founded.[4][1] Liudger, later the first bishop of Munster, and Aluberht, another bishop in Germany, both studied at the school in York.[5] He was the recipient of a famous letter of Bede, dealing with the evils arising from spurious monasteries as well as the problems of large dioceses. Bede urged Ecgbert to study Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care.[1] Bede's admonition to divide up dioceses, however, fell on deaf ears, as Egbert did not break up his large diocese.[6] The problem of the spurious monasteries came from the secular practice of families setting up monasteries that were totally under their control as a way of making the family lands book-land or land free from secular service. Book-land was exclusively a right of ecclesiastical property, and by transferring land to a family controlled monastery, the family would retain the use of the land without having to perform any services to the king for the land.[7] Ecgbert himself wrote a Dialogus ecclesiasticae institutionis, a Penitentiale and a Pontificale, although the Penitentiale may have had many later additions. The Dialogus was basically a legal law code for the clergy, setting forth the proper procedures for many clerical and eccleisastical issues including weregild for clerics, entrance to clerical orders, deposition from the clergy, criminal monks, clerics in court, and other matters.[1] It details a code of conduct for the clergy and how the clergy was to behave in society.[8] He was a correspondent of Saint Boniface, who asked him to support his censure of Ethelbald of Mercia. Boniface also asked the archbishop for some of Bede's books, and in return sent wine to be drunk "in a merry day with the brethern."[9]

Ecgbert died on November 19, 766.[2]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Mayr-Harting "Ecgberht (d. 766)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online Edition accessed November 9, 2007
  2. ^ a b Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 224
  3. ^ Ashley Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens p. 288-290
  4. ^ Hindley A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons p. 85
  5. ^ Stenton Anglo Saxon England 3rd ed. p. 175
  6. ^ Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity p. 241-243
  7. ^ Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity p. 252-253
  8. ^ Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity p. 251-252
  9. ^ quoted in Hindley A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons p. 143

[edit] References

  • This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
  • Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, years 734, 735, 738, 766
  • Ashely, Mike The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens New York: Carroll & Graff 1998 ISBN 0-7967-0692-9
  • Bede, Continuatio, years 732, 735, 766, and Epistola ad Ecgberctum
  • Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology, Third Edition, revised, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X. 
  • Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, Oxford, 1869–1878, iii. 403-431
  • Hindley, Geoffrey A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The beginnings of the English nation New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers 2006 ISBN 978-0-78671738-5
  • Mayr-Harting, Henry (1991). The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0-271-00769-9. 
  • Mayr-Harting, Henry "Ecgberht (d. 766)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press, 2004 Online Edition accessed November 9, 2007
  • Proceedings of Surtees Society, Durham, 1853.
  • Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition Oxford:Oxford University Press 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5

[edit] External links

Roman Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Wilfrid II		 Bishop of York
734–735		 Office upgraded to archbishopric
New title
Office upgraded from bishopric
 Archbishop of York
735–766		 Succeeded by
Ethelbert
Persondata
NAME Ecgbert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ecgbeorht; Ecgberht
SHORT DESCRIPTION Archbishop of York
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 766
PLACE OF DEATH
Languages