 |
 |
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture A scion of lesser nobility in Northumbria, Wilfrid spent much of his early life at the royal courts of Northumbria and Kent with a few years' training at Lindisfarne in between. In the 650s he went as a lay pilgrim to Rome where, according to his Vita by Stephen of Ripon (BHL 8889), he daily visited shrines of the martyrs, was instructed in Roman liturgical practices by the archdeacon of Rome, was presented to the pope, and left with a collection of relics. Reaching Lyon, Wilfrid halted there, made his monastic profession, and studied for several years. When he returned to England royal patronage made him abbot at Ripon. Wilfrid was ordained priest in 663. In 664 he helped to secure the victory of the Roman party at the Synod of Whitby. Shortly thereafter Wilfrid was named bishop of Northumbria. Making sure that his consecration would be both splendid and perfectly canonical, Wilfrid traveled to the Merovingian capital at Compiègne, where in the royal palace he was enthroned in a ceremony attended by twelve bishops. But he stayed too long abroad. When he returned in 666 Wilfrid found that he had lost favor at court and had been replaced as bishop by St. Ceadda. He withdrew to Ripon and with the help of friendly kings acted as bishop in Mercia and in Kent until archbishop St. Theodore restored him to his see in 669. Over the course of the next decade Wilfrid restored the cathedral of York, founded new churches and the monastery of Hexham, and extended his episcopal influence across the north of England. In 678 Wilfrid again lost royal favor; between then and 706 he was twice deposed and twice restored to a considerably smaller diocese. During the interims he again functioned as bishop in other kingdoms and had a leading role in the conversion of Sussex to Christianity. He seems to have been both outspoken and genuinely committed to missionary activity. Wilfrid died either in 709 or, more probably, in 710. He was laid to rest in his minster at Ripon. His cult, immediate in the North, spread slowly elsewhere. In 948 his relics at Ripon were removed when king Eadred, campaigning to end Scandinavian rule in Northumbria, sacked and burned the minster. Some wound up in Canterbury, where they were enshrined in 1067. Another set, possibly secondary relics, is said to have stayed in Ripon and to have been returned to the minster when it was rebuilt. Today, Wilfrid's probable _dies natalis_, is the day of his earliest known feast. One on 12. October is recorded from the tenth century onward. Wilfrid's daily visits to the martyrs in Rome bore fruit in his construction of the surviving dressed stone crypts for his now vanished abbatial churches at Ripon and and Hexham. Herewith some views of the one beneath the much later cathedral at Ripon, North Yorkshire: http://www.ripon-internet.com/Photo/1069.html http://www.ripon-internet.com/Photo/1067.html http://www.ripon-internet.com/Photo/1068.html An amateur video with the merit of showing the crypt in darkness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-el8f86KvTw Some views of Wilfrid's crypt beneath the much later St Andrew's Church at Hexham in Northumberland: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/731652 http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/731646 http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/731634 Three expandable black-and-white views: http://tinyurl.com/3ghorp Best, John Dillon ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: unsubscribe medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religion