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Leofwin (or Leofwine; died after 1071) was a medieval
Bishop of Lichfield.
Appointed to the see by King
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066.
Edward was the son of Æth ...
of England, Leofwin was a monk before becoming a bishop.
[Knowles ''Monastic Order'' p. 71 footnote 2] For a time, he was abbot of the abbey of Coventry as well as bishop, but he was no longer abbot at the time of the
Norman Conquest of England
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, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...
.
[Knowles ''Monastic Order'' p. 111 footnote 4] He may have owed his promotion to Lichfield to
Leofric, Earl of Mercia and Leofric's family.
[Barlow ''English Church'' p. 109 footnote 3] He was consecrated in 1053, but he went overseas to be consecrated because of the irregular election of Archbishop
Stigand of Canterbury.
[Powell and Wallis ''House of Lords'' p. 13 footnote 8] Around 1068, he was the recipient of a writ from King
William I of England, which shows that he had accommodated himself to the Conquest.
[Powell and Wallis ''House of Lords'' p. 14] According to the ''Handbook of British Chronology'', he died in 1067,
[Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 219] but he continues to appear in documentary evidence, and most historians, such as
Frank Barlow, believe that he was deprived of his see in 1070 and died sometime after that.
[Barlow ''Feudal Kingdom of England'' p. 93] He was a married bishop,
[Huscroft ''Ruling England'' p. 45] and it appears that he was aware that he was unlikely to be allowed to retain his bishopric because of his marital status. He refused to appear at the council held in London on 7 April 1070, despite being summoned to answer charges for his marriage. He was condemned as contumacious in his absence, and a year later he officially resigned his see and retired to
Coventry Abbey
The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The curren ...
.
[Powell and Wallis ''House of Lords'' p. 34][Douglas ''William the Conqueror'' p. 324][Williams ''English and the Norman Conquest'' p. 45 footnote 3] The new
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
,
Lanfranc
Lanfranc, OSB (1005 1010 – 24 May 1089) was a celebrated Italian jurist who renounced his career to become a Benedictine monk at Bec in Normandy. He served successively as prior of Bec Abbey and abbot of St Stephen in Normandy and then ...
, had already denounced Leofwin's marriage.
Leofwin was a nephew of
Leofric, Earl of Mercia.
[Knowles ''Monastic Order'' p. 103] The see of Lichfield remained vacant until 1072, when a successor was appointed.
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Citations
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Leofwin
Bishops of Lichfield
11th-century deaths
11th-century English Roman Catholic bishops
Year of birth unknown