Eadsige (died 29 October 1050), was

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 ...

from 1038 to 1050. He crowned

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...

as king of England in 1043.

Early career

Eadsige was a royal priest for King

Cnut Cnut ( ; ; – 12 November 1035), also known as Canute and with the epithet the Great, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway from 1028 until his death in 1035. The three kingdoms united under Cnut's rul ...

before Cnut arranged for him to become a

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

Christ Church, Canterbury Canterbury Cathedral is the cathedral of the archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Located in Canterbury, Kent, it is one of the oldest Christianity, Ch ...

about 1030. About 1035, he served as a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

to Archbishop Æthelnoth of Canterbury, with his see located at the church of St Martin in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

.Hunt "Eadsige" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' He was translated to the Archbishopric of Canterbury in 1038 after Æthelnoth's death.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 214 In 1040, he journeyed to Rome to receive his

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 ...

from Pope Benedict IX.

Archbishop

Eadsige may have crowned

Harthacnut Harthacnut (; "Tough-knot"; – 8 June 1042), traditionally Hardicanute, sometimes referred to as Canute III, was King of Denmark from 1035 to 1042 and King of England from 1040 to 1042. Harthacnut was the son of King Cnut the Great (wh ...

in 1040, but he definitely crowned Edward the Confessor on 3 April 1043 along with

Ælfric Puttoc Ælfric Puttoc (died 22 January 1051) was Archbishop of York from 1023 to his death, and briefly Bishop of Worcester from 1040 to 1041. He may have crowned Harold Harefoot in 1036, and certainly assisted in that king's disinterment in 1040 and ...

, the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...

.Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 61 In 1044, Eadsige, wishing to withdraw from his see because of ill-health, appears to have approached King Edward and

Godwin, Earl of Wessex Godwin of Wessex (; died 15 April 1053) was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman who became one of the most powerful earls in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great (King of England from 1016 to 1035) and his successors. Cnut made Godwin the first ...

, about temporarily consecrating Siward, abbot of Abingdon in Eadsige's place.Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 78 This retirement lasted until 1048,Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 104 when Siward became ill and returned to Abingdon to die within eight weeks. While he was archbishop, he also was

sheriff of Kent The high sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown (prior to 1974 the office previously known as sheriff)."Sheriffs appointed for a county or Greater London shall be known as high sheriffs, and any reference in any enactment or instru ...

.Barlow ''Edward the Confessor'' p. 115

William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury (; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as "a gifted historical scholar and a ...

relates a story that Siward deprived Eadsige of food during Eadsige's illness and because of this Siward was not allowed to succeed Eadsige, but had to settle for the

see of Rochester See or SEE may refer to: * Visual perception Arts, entertainment, and media * Music: ** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals *** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See'' ** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho * Televisio ...

instead. However this probably is a fabrication to account for the fact that Siward did not become archbishop after Eadsige, for William had confused Siward, the abbot, with a different Siward, this one Siward of Rochester, who was

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 ...

from 1058 to 1075. The see of Worcester preserved a tradition that in about 1047 it was Eadsige, along with Lyfing the

Bishop of Worcester The Bishop of Worcester is the Ordinary (officer), head of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Worcester, Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title can be traced back to the foundation of the diocese in the ...

, who forced

Sweyn Godwinson Sweyn Godwinson () ( 1020 – 1052), also spelled Swein, was the eldest son of Earl Godwin of Wessex, and brother of Harold II of England. Early life In 1043 Sweyn was raised to an earldom which included Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Oxf ...

to give up his wife who had been the

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa'') is the female superior of a community of nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Lutheran and Anglican abbeys, the mod ...

of Leominster Abbey before Sweyn abducted her.Barlow ''Godwins'' p. 53

Death and legacy

Eadsige died on 29 October 1050 or possibly just sometime in October 1050.Hindley ''Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons'' p. 324 During his occupation of the see, many of the lands of the see were either leased, sold or given to Godwin, Earl of Wessex, an action that angered the monks of the cathedral, and may have contributed to William of Malmesbury's dislike of the archbishop and willingness to fabricate a story about him being mistreated. Eadsige is considered a saint, 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 ...

on 28 October.Catholic Online Entry for Edsige
accessed on 4 November 2007

Notes

Citations

References

* * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eadsige Archbishops of Canterbury 1050 deaths 11th-century English Roman Catholic archbishops High sheriffs of Kent Year of birth unknown