Editing Wilfrid (section)

== Background ==
{{Main article|Heptarchy}}
[[File:British seventh century kingdoms.svg|thumb|upright|300px|Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the late 7th century|alt=Map of the island of Great Britain. At the far north are the Picts, then below them Strathclyde and Northumbria. In the middle western section are Gwynedd, Powys, Dyfedd, and Gwent. Along the southern shore are Dumnonia, the West and South Saxons, and Kent, running from west to east. In the centre of the island is Mercia. Along the eastern central coast are the East Angles and Lindsey.]]

During Wilfrid's lifetime Britain and Ireland consisted of a number of small kingdoms. Traditionally the [[English people]] were thought to have been divided into seven kingdoms, but modern historiography has shown that this is a simplification of a much more confused situation.<ref name=Hept>Keynes "Heptarchy" ''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England''</ref> A late 7th-century source, the [[Tribal Hidage]], lists the peoples south of the Humber river; among the largest groups of peoples are the West Saxons (later [[Wessex]]), the [[Kingdom of the East Angles|East Angles]] and [[Mercia]]ns (later the Kingdom of Mercia), and the [[Kingdom of Kent]]. Smaller groups who at that time had their own royalty but were later absorbed into larger kingdoms include the peoples of [[Magonsæte]], Lindsey, [[Hwicce]], the [[Kingdom of Essex|East Saxons]], the South Saxons,<ref name=Kings9 /> the Isle of Wight, and the [[Middle Angles]].<ref name=Earliest5>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' pp. 5–7</ref> Other even smaller groups had their own rulers, but their size means that they do not often appear in the histories.<ref name=Kings9>Yorke ''Kings and Kingdoms'' pp. 9–11</ref> There were also native Britons in the west, in modern-day Wales and [[Cornwall]], who formed kingdoms including those of [[Dumnonia]], [[Kingdom of Dyfed|Dyfed]], and [[Kingdom of Gwynedd|Gwynedd]].<ref name=Conv37>Yorke ''Conversion of Britain'' p. 37</ref>

Between the Humber and [[Firth of Forth|Forth]] the English had formed into two main kingdoms, [[Deira]] and Bernicia, often united as the Kingdom of Northumbria.<ref name=Kings74>Yorke ''Kings and Kingdoms'' p. 74</ref> A number of Celtic kingdoms also existed in this region, including [[Craven in the Domesday Book|Craven]], [[Elmet]], [[Rheged]], and [[Gododdin]]. A native British kingdom, later called the [[Kingdom of Strathclyde]], survived as an independent power into the 10th century in the area which became modern-day [[Dunbartonshire]] and [[Clydesdale (district)|Clydesdale]].<ref name=Conv38>Yorke ''Conversion of Britain'' p. 38</ref> To the north-west of Strathclyde lay the Gaelic kingdom of [[Dál Riata]], and to the north-east a small number of Pictish kingdoms.<ref name=Kings83>Yorke ''Kings and Kingdoms'' pp. 83–86</ref> Further north still lay the great Pictish kingdom of [[Fortriu]], which after the [[Battle of Dun Nechtain]] in 685 came to be the strongest power in the northern half of Britain.<ref>Charles-Edwards "'Continuation of Bede" ''Seanchas'' pp. 137–145</ref><ref>Woolf "Dun Nechtain" ''Scottish Historical Review'' pp. 182–201</ref><ref>Woolf "Verturian hegemony" ''Mercia'' pp. 106–112</ref> The Irish had always had contacts with the rest of the British Isles, and during the early 6th century they emigrated from the island of Ireland to form the kingdom of Dál Riata, although exactly how much conquest took place is a matter of dispute with historians. It also appears likely that the Irish settled in parts of Wales, and even after the period of Irish settlement, Irish missionaries were active in Britain.<ref name=Yorke50>York ''Conversion of Britain'' pp. 50–56</ref>

Christianity had only recently arrived in some of these kingdoms.<ref name=Earliest2>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 2</ref> Some had been converted by the [[Gregorian mission]], a group of Roman missionaries who arrived in Kent in 597 and who mainly influenced southern Britain. Others had been converted by the Hiberno-Scottish mission, chiefly Irish missionaries working in Northumbria and neighbouring kingdoms.<ref name=Conv123>Yorke ''Conversion of Britain'' pp. 123–124</ref> A few kingdoms, such as Dál Riata, became Christian but how they did so is unknown.<ref name=Conv114>Yorke ''Conversion of Britain'' pp. 114–115</ref> The native Picts, according to the medieval writer Bede, were converted in two stages, initially by native Britons under [[Saint Ninian|Ninian]], and subsequently by Irish missionaries.<ref name=Conv128>Yorke ''Conversion of Britain'' pp. 128–129</ref>

=== Sources ===
The main sources for knowledge of Wilfrid are the medieval ''Vita Sancti Wilfrithi'', written by Stephen of Ripon soon after Wilfrid's death, and the works of the medieval historian Bede, who knew Wilfrid during the bishop's lifetime.<ref name=DNB /><ref name=World151>Blair ''World of Bede'' p. 151</ref> Stephen's ''Vita'' is a hagiography, intended to show Wilfrid as a saintly man, and to buttress claims that he was a saint.<ref name=Goffart285>Goffart ''Narrators of Barbarian History'' pp. 285–286</ref><ref name=Dict146>Coredon ''Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases'' p. 146</ref> The ''Vita'' is selective in its coverage, and gives short shrift to Wilfrid's activities outside of Northumbria. Two-thirds of the work deals with Wilfrid's attempts to return to Northumbria, and is a defence and vindication of his Northumbrian career.<ref name=Goffart285 /> Stephen's work is flattering and highly favourable to Wilfrid, making its use as a source problematic;<ref name=Brown28 /> despite its shortcomings however, the ''Vita'' is the main source of information on Wilfrid's life.<ref name=Laynes163>Laynesmith "Stephen of Ripon" ''Early Medieval Europe'' p. 163</ref><ref name=Barbarian175 /> It views the events in Northumbria in the light of Wilfrid's reputation and from his point of view, and is highly partisan.<ref name=Fraser266>Fraser ''From Caledonia to Pictland'' pp. 266–267</ref> Another concern is that hagiographies were usually full of conventional material, often repeated from earlier saints' lives,<ref name=Intro322>Blair ''Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 322</ref> as was the case with Stephen's work.<ref name=Saints137>Heffernan ''Sacred Biography'' pp. 137–142</ref> It appears that the ''Vita Sancti Wilfrithi'' was not well known in the Middle Ages, as only two manuscripts of the work survive.<ref name=Reread96>Higham ''(Re-)reading Bede'' pp. 98 and 237 footnote 200</ref>

Bede also covers Wilfrid's life in his ''[[Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum]]'', but this account is more measured and restrained than the ''Vita''.<ref name=Brown28>Brown "Royal and Ecclesiastical" ''Renascence'' p. 28</ref> In the ''Historia'', Bede used Stephen's ''Vita'' as a source, reworking the information and adding new material when possible. Other, more minor, sources for Wilfrid's life include a mention of Wilfrid in one of Bede's letters.<ref name=Goffart322>Goffart ''Narrators of Barbarian History'' p. 322</ref> A poetical ''Vita Sancti Wilfrithi'' by [[Frithegod]] written in the 10th century is essentially a rewrite of Stephen's ''Vita'', produced in celebration of the movement of Wilfrid's [[relic]]s to Canterbury.<ref name=DNB /> Wilfrid is also mentioned in the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'',<ref name=ASC>Under the years 656, 661, 664, 675, 678, 685, 709, and 710. See the index to [[Michael Swanton]]'s ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''</ref> but as the ''Chronicle'' was probably a 9th-century compilation, the material on Wilfrid may ultimately have derived either from Stephen's ''Vita'' or from Bede.<ref name=ASCxviii>Swanton "Introduction" ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' pp. xviii–xix</ref> Another, later, source is the ''Vita Sancti Wilfrithi'' written by [[Eadmer]], a 12th-century Anglo-Norman writer and monk from Canterbury. This source is highly influenced by the contemporary concerns of its writer, but does attempt to provide some new material besides reworking Bede.<ref name=Philpott101 />

Many historians, including the editor of Bede's works, [[Charles Plummer (historian)|Charles Plummer]], have seen in Bede's writings a dislike of Wilfrid. The historian Walter Goffart goes further, suggesting that Bede wrote his ''Historia'' as a reaction to Stephen's ''Vita Sancti Wilfrithi'', and that Stephen's work was written as part of a propaganda campaign to defend a "Wilfridian" party in Northumbrian politics.<ref name=Reread58 /> Some historians, including [[James E. Fraser (historian)|James Fraser]], find that a credible view,<ref name=Fraser266 /> but others such as Nick Higham are less convinced of Bede's hostility to Wilfrid.<ref name=Reread58>Higham ''(Re-)reading Bede'' pp. 58–63</ref>