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Berhtwald (died 731) was the ninth
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
in England. His predecessor had been Theodore of Tarsus. Berhtwald begins the first continuous series of native-born Archbishops of Canterbury, although there had been previous Anglo-Saxon archbishops, they did not succeed each other until Berhtwald's successor Tatwine. Berhtwald's period as archbishop coincided with the end of Wilfrid's long struggle to regain the Bishopric of York, and the two-year delay between Theodore's death in 690 and Berhtwald's election may have been due to efforts to select Wilfrid for Canterbury. After his election, Berhtwald went to Gaul for consecration and then presided over two councils that attempted to settle the Wilfrid issue, finally succeeding at the second council in 705. Berhtwald also was the recipient of the first surviving letter close in Western Europe.


Early life

Little is known of Berhtwald's ancestry or his early life, but he was born around the middle of the seventh century.Stephens "Berhtwald" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' By 679, he was made abbot of the monastery at
Reculver Reculver is a village and coastal resort about east of Herne Bay on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. It is in the Wards of the United Kingdom, ward of the same name, in the City of Canterbury district of Kent. Reculver once o ...
in
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, and a
charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...
dated May 679 names Berhtwald as abbot. This charter, from Hlothere, King of Kent, is the earliest surviving original
Anglo-Saxon charter Anglo-Saxon charters are documents from the History of Anglo-Saxon England, early medieval period in England which typically made a grant of Real Estate, land or recorded a Privilege (legal ethics), privilege. The earliest surviving charters were ...
.


Election as archbishop

The see of Canterbury was vacant for two years after the death of Theodore before Berhtwald was elected to the office on 1 July 692.Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 104 The long vacancy resulted from the disturbed conditions in the kingdom of Kent at the time, as various kings fought for control. The succession to the kingdom was disputed between rival claimants Oswine and Wihtred, and various outside kings, including Caedwalla and Swaefheard raided and plundered Kent. Eventually, Wihtred secured the throne, around 691 or early 692, as Bede names Wihtred as King of Kent, along with Swaefheard, at the time of Berhtwald's election. Swaerfheard, however, is not named as king of Kent after this date.Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' pp. 104–105 The vacancy may also have occurred because Wilfrid, who was at that point having problems in Northumbria, desired to become Archbishop of Canterbury. A contemporary biographer of Wilfrid, Stephen of Ripon, says that Theodore had wished for Wilfrid to succeed Theodore at Canterbury.
Æthelred of Mercia Æthelred (; died after 704) was king of Mercia from 675 until 704. He was the son of Penda of Mercia and came to the throne in 675, when his brother, Wulfhere of Mercia, died from an illness. Within a year of his accession he invaded Kent, ...
may have supported Wilfrid's
translation Translation is the communication of the semantics, meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The English la ...
to Canterbury also, but despite these desires, the translation did not happen.Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' pp. 76–80 Berhtwald was consecrated on 29 June 693,Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 213 having travelled to France for his consecration as archbishop of Canterbury by Godwin,
Archbishop of Lyon The Archdiocese of Lyon (; ), formerly the Archdiocese of Lyon–Vienne–Embrun, is a Latin Church metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The archbishops of Lyon are also called Primate o ...
.Bede ''History of the English Church and People'' p. 282 Berhtwald went to the continent for consecration probably because he feared that his election was not supported by all of the kings and bishops. After his consecration, Berhtwald travelled to Rome to obtain the support of Pope Sergius I, who wrote to a number of Anglo-Saxon kings and bishops in support of the archbishop. Two of these letters survive, and their authenticity has been doubted, mainly because they are only preserved as part of the post-
Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
Canterbury-York dispute. Historians have since come to regard the two letters as genuine. Sergius also gave Berhtwald a
pallium The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : pallia) is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropolitan bish ...
, the symbol of an archbishop's authority.


Archbishop

Berhtwald appears to have been involved in the governance of the church, establishing the bishopric of
Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo (South Somerset), River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish include ...
in
Wessex The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Sa ...
and it was during his tenure that
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
, the last pagan kingdom in England, was converted to Christianity. He also consecrated the first
Bishop of Selsey The Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East Sussex, East and West Sussex. The Episcopal see, see is based in t ...
. During his time in office, King
Wihtred of Kent Wihtred () ( â€“ 23 April 725) was king of Kent from about 690 or 691 until his death. He was a son of Ecgberht I and a brother of Eadric. Wihtred ascended to the throne after a confused period in the 680s, which included a brief conque ...
in the Law of Wihtred exempted the church from taxation.Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' pp. 142–145 Berhtwald was a proponent of his predecessor's view of the archbishops of Canterbury as primates of the entire island of Britain.Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 18 Berhtwald co-operated closely with Wihtred in the kingdom, and secured the exemption of the church from taxation under Wihtred's laws issued in 695. The law code also dealt with other ecclesiastical matters, including marriage, Sunday observance, and pagan worship.Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 105 This law code resulted from a royal council that was held at Bearsted. Further privileges for the church were issued in 699, and may have been composed by Berhtwald before being promulgated. Another privilege, usually referred to as the "Privilege of Wihtred", is claimed to be a grant from Wihtred to the monasteries of Kent of exemption from non-clerical control. However, this is actually a ninth-century forgery. Much of Berhtwald's time in office coincided with the efforts of Wilfrid to regain the see of York, and to reverse the division of York into smaller dioceses. Berhtwald was opposed to Wilfrid's desire to restore some separated bishoprics to the bishopric of York as well as regaining his old see. Wilfrid's problems had begun during the archbishopric of Berhtwald's predecessor, Theodore of Tarsus, when Wilfrid had quarreled with the King of Northumbria, Ecgfrith, and was expelled from the north. Theodore had taken the opportunity to divide the large see of York into a number of smaller dioceses, and Wilfrid had appealed to the papacy in Rome.John ''Reassessing Anglo-Saxon England'' pp. 33–35 Berhtwald inherited the dispute and presided at the Council of Austerfield in 702, at which Wilfrid's biographer relates the story that King Aldfrith of Northumbria, Berhtwald, and the other enemies of Wilfrid conspired to deprive Wilfrid of all his offices and possessions. A more likely story is that Berhtwald managed to secure concessions from the Northumbrians, and tried to broker a compromise. The offer in the end was that Wilfrid would retire to Ripon and cease acting as a bishop. Wilfrid rejected this compromise and once more appealed to the pope. Three years later, at a further Council, it was arranged that Wilfrid should receive the Bishopric of Hexham in place of that of York. This was the Council of Nidd, usually dated to 706, and it was held in Northumbria.Cubitt ''Anglo-Saxon Church Councils'' p. 290 Bede also mentions that Berhtwald consecrated a number of bishops, including
Tobias Tobias is the transliteration of the , which is a Graecisation of the Hebrew biblical name . With the biblical Book of Tobit being present in the Deuterocanonical books and Biblical apocrypha, Tobias is a popular male given name for both Chri ...
as
Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester, Kent, Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Rochester Cathedral, Cathedral Chur ...
.Higham ''(Re-)reading Bede'' p. 175 One of Berhtwald's letters has been preserved, sent to Forthhere, Bishop of Sherborne, and asking Forthhere to intercede with Beorwold, the Abbot of Glastonbury, to ransom a slave. Another letter, this one addressed to Berhtwald, from Waldhere,
Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...
, also survives. The main interest in the second letter is that it is the oldest surviving letter close in Western Europe. This second letter also relates that Waldhere and Berhtwald had attended a synod which can be dated to sometime between 703 and 705, where the kingdom of Wessex was threatened with excommunication.Cubitt ''Anglo-Saxon Church Councils'' p. 260 A charter witnessed by Berhtwald which mentions a supposed 706 council, numbered 54 by Sawyer, is now known to be a fake, although the witness list may be based on a legitimate 8th century charter that no longer survives.Cubitt ''Anglo-Saxon Church Councils'' p. 262 Likewise, a charter with Berhtwald as a witness and relating to the 716 Council of Clofesho is also known to be a 9th-century forgery, although again it may have been based on actual documents from the council.Cubitt ''Anglo-Saxon Church Councils'' p. 264


Death and legacy

Berhtwald died on 13 January 731. An epitaph to him in verse survives, and may have been placed over his tomb,Lapidge "Berhtwald" ''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England'' which was at Canterbury.Blair "Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Saints" ''Local Saints and Local Churches'' p. 517 Subsequently he was
canonised Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sai ...
with a feast day of 9 January.Delaney ''Dictionary of Saints'' p. 90 Little evidence of extensive cult activity exists, however, and the main evidence for his sainthood is a late medieval entry in a St Augustine's calendar. Berhtwald is the first of the continuous series of native-born archbishops in England, although there had been two previous Anglo-Saxon archbishops at Canterbury— Deusdedit and Wighard.Blair ''Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 142


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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berhtwald 731 deaths 7th-century archbishops 7th-century births 7th-century Christian saints 8th-century archbishops 8th-century English writers 8th-century writers in Latin Archbishops of Canterbury Kentish saints Letter writers in Latin West Saxon saints Year of birth unknown