Agilbert ( 650–680) was the second bishop of the West Saxon kingdom and later

Bishop of Paris The Archdiocese of Paris (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is one of twenty-three archdioceses in France. The original diocese is traditionally thought to have been create ...

. He is venerated as a

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

within the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, with his

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

falling on 11 October. The date and place of Agilbert's birth are unknown, but evidence suggests it took place between 610 and 620.Hunter, 1985. Son of a

Neustria Neustria was the western part of the Kingdom of the Franks during the Early Middle Ages, in contrast to the eastern Frankish kingdom, Austrasia. It initially included land between the Loire and the Silva Carbonaria, in the north of present-day ...

n noble named Betto, he was a first cousin of

Audoin Alduin (Langobardic: ''Aldwin'' or ''Hildwin'', ; also called Auduin or Audoin) was List of kings of the Lombards, king of the Lombards from 547 to 560. Life Audoin was of the Gausian dynasty, Gausi, a prominent Lombard ruling clan, and accordin ...

and related to the Faronids and

Agilolfings The Agilolfings were a noble family that ruled the Duchy of Bavaria on behalf of their Merovingian suzerains from about 550 until 788. A cadet branch of the Agilolfings also ruled the Kingdom of the Lombards intermittently from 616 to 712. They ...

, and less certainly to the Merovingians. His name, the

Frankish language Frankish (language reconstruction, reconstructed endonym: *), also known as Old Franconian or Old Frankish, was the West Germanic language spoken by the Franks from the 5th to 10th centuries. Franks under king Chlodio settled in Roman Gaul ...

equivalent of Æthelberht, has been taken to suggest a link with the royal family of the

Kingdom of Kent The Kingdom of the Kentish (; ), today referred to as the Kingdom of Kent, was an Early Middle Ages, early medieval kingdom in what is now South East England. It existed from either the fifth or the sixth century AD until it was fully absorbed i ...

. Agilbert was consecrated as a bishop in

Francia The Kingdom of the Franks (), also known as the Frankish Kingdom, or just Francia, was the largest History of the Roman Empire, post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks, Frankish Merovingian dynasty, Merovingi ...

before he travelled to

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

. He arrived in the West Saxon kingdom after the return to power of King

Cenwalh of Wessex Cenwalh, also Cenwealh or Coenwalh, was King of Wessex from c. 642 to c. 645 and from c. 648 until his death, according to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', in c. 672. Penda and Anna Bede states that Cenwalh was the son of the King Cynegils ba ...

, who had been driven out by

Penda of Mercia Penda (died 15 November 655)Manuscript A of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' gives the year as 655. Bede also gives the year as 655 and specifies a date, 15 November. R. L. Poole (''Studies in Chronology and History'', 1934) put forward the theor ...

, either in the late 640s or 650s. He was appointed to succeed Birinus (also later canonised, and attributed with conversion of Wessex to Christianity) as bishop of the West Saxons, or the Wessex folk, who following their seizure of part of Christian

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

set up the first Wessex see as Bishop of Dorchester, near

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. Nothing remains above the surface of the Saxon cathedral, succeeded in the faith by Norman Dorchester Abbey church which has decorative memorials to the two early bishops. Agilbert, according to

Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...

's ''

Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum The ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' (), written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the growth of Christianity. It was composed in Latin, and ...

'', had "spent a long time in Ireland for the purpose of studying the Scriptures".Bede, ''HE'', Book III, Chapter 7. His appointment was due to Cenwalh.Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' pp. 48-49 From

, it appears that Agilbert did not speak Old English, and it is said that his see was divided in two, with

Wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

being given half, because King Cenwalh "tired of his barbarous speech", although this may be mistaken. This insult supposedly led to Agilbert's resignation. He then travelled north to

Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

, where he ordained

Wilfrid Wilfrid ( – 709 or 710) was an English bishop and saint. Born a Northumbrian noble, he entered religious life as a teenager and studied at Lindisfarne, at Canterbury, in Francia, and at Rome; he returned to Northumbria in about 660, and beca ...

. He was present at the

Synod of Whitby The Synod of Whitby was a Christianity, Christian administrative gathering held in Northumbria in 664, wherein King Oswiu ruled that his kingdom would calculate Easter and observe the monastic tonsure according to the customs of Roman Catholic, Ro ...

in 664, where he led the pro-Roman party, but he had the young Wilfrid speak on his behalf. Charter of Clotilde

Returning to Francia, Agilbert later took part in Wilfrid's consecration as a bishop at

Compiègne Compiègne (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Oise Departments of France, department of northern France. It is located on the river Oise (river), Oise, and its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois'' (). Administration Compiègne is t ...

.Eddius, ''VW'', chapters 11 & 12. Agilbert became bishop of Paris between 666 and 668, and hosted Theodore of Tarsus. He was later invited to return by Cenwalh, to become

Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' the offic ...

, but sent his nephew Leuthhere in his place.Fouracre; Riché. One modern historian, D. P. Kirby, is unsure if Agilbert actually went to Northumbria after being expelled from Dorchester, suggesting it is just as likely that he went directly to the continent. Agilbert died at some time after 10 March 673, on which date he witnessed Clotilde's foundation charter for the Abbey of Bruyères-le-Châtel, and probably between 679 and 690. He was buried at Jouarre Abbey where his sister Theodechildis was abbess. His fine sculpted

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek language, Greek wikt:σάρξ, σάρξ ...

can be seen there in the crypts, as can that of his sister.

Citations

References

, '' Ecclesiastical History of the English People.'' Translated by Leo Sherley-Price, revised R.E. Latham, ed. D.H. Farmer. London: Penguin, 1990. * Eddius, "Life of Wilfrid" in D.H. Farmer (ed.) & J.H. Webb (trans.), ''The Age of Bede.'' London: Penguin, 1998. IBN 0-140-44727-X * Fouracre, P., "Agilbert" in M. Lapidge, et al., (eds), ''The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England''. Oxford: Blackwell, 1999. * * Higham, N.J., ''The Convert Kings: Power and religious affiliation in early Anglo-Saxon England.'' Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997. * Hunter Blair, Peter. "Whitby as a Centre of Learning in the Seventh Century". ''Learning and literature in Anglo-Saxon England: Studies presented to Peter Clemoes on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth Birthday''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. pp. 3–32. * Kirby, D.P., ''The Earliest English Kings.'' London: Unwin Hyman, 1991. * Le Jan, Régine, ''Famille et Pouvoir dans le Monde Franc (VII^e–X^e Siècle). Essai d'anthropologie sociale.'' Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2003. * Riché, Pierre, ''Dictionnaire des francs. Les temps Mérovingiens.'' Paris: Bartillat, 1996.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Agilbert 7th-century births 7th-century deaths Bishops of Dorchester (Wessex) 7th-century Frankish bishops Bishops of Paris West Saxon saints 7th-century Frankish saints 7th-century English bishops Year of birth uncertain Year of death unknown