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Wulfstan (d.1023)

WULFSTAN (d. 1023), archbishop of York, a man of good family, whose sister's son was Brihtheah (d. 1038), bishop of Worcester, is said to have been brought into the world by an operation that cost his mother's life. He was a monk, probably of Ely, and an abbot, succeeded Aldulf [q. v.] or Ealdulf as archbishop of York in 1003, and, like his two predecessors, held the see of Worcester along with the archbishopric. His name occurs as present at various councils and royal acts during the reign of Ethelred the Unready, and specially as advising the king at the undated council held at Enham (WILKINS, Concilia, i. 285). Canute held him in esteem, and, the see of Canterbury probably being vacant at the time, caused him to dedicate his church at Achingdon in Essex in 1026. He died at York on 28 May 1023, and was buried according to his request at Ely, of which monastery he was a benefactor. When the new choir of Ely was built in 1106 his body was removed into it. The pastoral epistle and the epistle ‘Quando dividis Chrisma’ of Abbot Ælfric (fl. 1006) [q. v.] were written for Wulfstan and probably for the use of other bishops also (THORPE, Ancient Laws, ii. 365–93). Wulfstan's homilies, written before 1000, have been ascribed to the archbishop, but not apparently for any convincing reason, as there is nothing to show that their author was in episcopal orders, though manuscript editions bear dates later than 1003; they have for the first time been printed by Professor Napier in ‘Sammlung englischer Denkmäler’ (Bd. 4, 1880); the most famous of them, however, ‘Lupi Sermo ad Anglos,’ had previously been printed with a translation by George Hickes [q. v.] in his ‘Thesaurus.’ Archbishop Wulfstan must not be confused (as in FREEMAN, Norman Conquest, i. 342) with Wulfstan, bishop of London, who was consecrated in 996.

[A.-S. Chron. E. an. 1023, ed. Plummer; Flor. Wig. i. 156, 183–4 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Will. of Malmesbury's Gesta Pontiff. p. 250; Liber Elien. ed. Stewart, i. 205–6; Raine's Fasti Ebor. pp. 131–4; Ramsay's Foundation of England, i. 349, 354, 362.]

1. 1. Wulfstan (1012?-1095) ##

WULFSTAN, ST. (1012?–1095), bishop of Worcester, son of Æthelstan and Wulfgifu, people of good position, who both in later life entered religion at Worcester, was born at Long Itchington, near Warwick, in or before 1012, for he is described as past fifty in 1062. After receiving his education in monastic schools, first at Evesham and afterwards at Peterborough, where his teacher was Ervenius, a skilful scribe and illuminator, who wrote a sacramentary for Canute [q. v.] and a psalter for his queen Emma [q. v.], he lived for a while as a layman, taking part in the sports of other young men. Between 1033 and 1038 he was ordained deacon and priest by Brihtheah, bishop of Worcester, who highly esteemed him and offered him a well-endowed living near his cathedral city. As his mother had roused in him a desire to become a monk, he refused the offer, received the habit from Brihtheah, and was admitted a monk of the cathedral monastery, where he held office first as schoolmaster, and afterwards as precentor and sacristan, and finally as prior under the bishop. He was distinguished for his asceticism, devotion, and humility, was always ready to instruct all who came to him, and was wont to journey about the country baptising the children of the poor, for it is said that the secular clergy refused to baptise without a fee.

The prior's virtues became widely known; Godgifu or Godiva [q. v.], the wife of Earl Leofric [q. v.], was much attached to him, many nobles esteemed him, and among them Earl Harold (1022?–1066), afterwards king. Aldred [q. v.], archbishop of York, having been forced by the pope to promise to resign the see of Worcester, two legates who were in England in 1062 visited Worcester and exhorted the clergy and people to choose Wulfstan as their bishop, and, having secured his election there, attended the Easter meeting of the witan and proposed his election by the assembly. Many spoke in his favour, and all approved; he was sent for, and on his arrival vehemently declined the office. His objections were overborne by the legates, the archbishops, and finally by a hermit named Wulfsige. He was consecrated by Aldred at York on 8 Sept., without making indeed women also, and selling them as slaves to the Irish. The Conqueror having tried in vain to put down this practice, Wulfstan often visited the town, staying there two or three months at a time, and preached against the slave trade, with such good effect that the people entirely abandoned it.

During the rebellion of 1075 he joined Urse, the sheriff, in calling out the force of his diocese, and posting it so as to prevent the rebel Earl of Hereford from crossing the Severn [see FITZOSBERN, WILLIAM]. In 1085 he assisted the commissioners for Worcestershire in taking the survey for Domesday, and at that time gained a suit against the abbot of Evesham as to the right of his church to the hundred of Oswaldslaw. When the rebels and their Welsh allies marched against Worcester in 1088, the bishop, who was faithful to William Rufus, armed his followers, and at the request of the garrison took up his abode in the castle. With his blessing, the loyal troops marched to battle, and the defeat of the rebels was attributed to his anathema. He strongly disapproved of the custom of wearing long hair, adopted by the vicious youths of the court, and when he had the chance would cut their locks with his pocket-knife. Nevertheless, the king held him in honour, as did also the nobles generally. Irish kings sought his favour; Malcolm III [q. v.] of Scotland and his queen, Margaret (d. 1093) [q. v.], desired his prayers; and among his correspondents were the pope, the archbishop of Bari, and the patriarch of Jerusalem. He was disabled by infirmity from attending the consecration of Anselm [q. v.] in December 1093. Early in 1094 his decision was requested with reference to a dispute between Archbishop Anselm and Maurice (d. 1107) [q. v.], bishop of London, as he was the only one left of the old English episcopate and was skilled in the English customs: he decided in favour of the archbishop. He fell sick at Easter, and at Whitsuntide sent for his friend, Robert Losinga (d. 1095) [q. v.], bishop of Hereford, confessed to him, and received the discipline. At the beginning of 1095 Robert again visited him, and he again confessed. He died on 18 Jan., and was believed at the moment of his death to have appeared to Bishop Robert, who was then with the king at Cricklade in Wiltshire. He was buried amid general lamentation in his church at Worcester. He was, so far as is known, a faultless character, and, save that he knew no more than was absolutely necessary for the discharge of his duties, a pattern of all monastic and of all episcopal virtues as they were then understood. Some miracles and prophecies are attributed to him. Immediately on his death he was reckoned as a saint, though less than fifty years later William of Malmesbury complains that the incredulity of the age slighted his miraculous power. He was canonised by Innocent III in 1203; his day in the calendar is 19 Jan. King John, when dying, commended his soul and body to God and St. Wulfstan, and was buried between Wulfstan and St. Oswald. Wulfstan's tomb escaped destruction in the fire of 1113; his shrine was melted down in 1216 to provide money for a payment demanded of the convent, and his body was translated to a new shrine on the dedication of the restored cathedral on 7 June 1218. Some of his relics were then divided and probably sold; a rib was obtained by William, abbot of St. Albans, who encased it in gold and silver, and dedicated an altar to St. Wulfstan (Gesta Abbatum S. Albani, i. 283; Chronica Majora, iii. 42).

[A Life of Wulfstan, written by Hemming, his sub-prior and the compiler of the Worcester Chartulary, is in Anglia Sacra, i. 541; another Life in English, by Coleman, a monk of Worcester and prior of Westbury, is not now known to exist. Florence of Worcester gives several biographical notices. William of Malmesbury's Life, founded on Coleman's work and written about 1140, is in Anglia Sacra, ii. 241; he also gives notices in Gesta Pontiff. and Gesta Regum; Eadmer's Hist. Nov., ed. Migne, supplies one or two facts. Many later writers give notices of him, and a Life was written by Capgrave, see AA. SS., Bolland, Jan. ii.; Freeman's Norman Conquest vols. ii–v. passim, Will. Rufus i. and ii. 475–81.]