Editing Wilfrid (section)

=== Favourable outcome ===
Denied episcopal office, Wilfrid spent the three years from 665 to 668 as abbot of the monastery at Ripon.<ref name=Reassess34>John ''Reassessing Anglo-Saxon England'' pp. 34–35</ref> He occasionally performed episcopal functions in Mercia and Kent, but never did so north of the river [[Humber]].<ref name=Earliest87 /> The historian James Fraser argues that Wilfrid may not have been allowed to return to Northumbria and instead went into exile at the Mercian court,<ref name=Fraser193 /> but most historians have argued that Wilfrid was at Ripon.<ref name=DNB /><ref name=Earliest87 /><ref name=Reassess34 />

[[File:WulfhereGenealogy.svg|right|thumb|375px|Wulfhere of Mercia's family tree]]

Wilfrid's monasteries in Mercia may date from this time,<ref name=Earliest95>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 95</ref> as King [[Wulfhere of Mercia]] gave him large grants of land in Mercia.<ref name=DNB /> Wilfrid may have persuaded King [[Ecgberht of Kent]] in 669 to build a church in an abandoned Roman fort at [[Reculver]].<ref name=Society95>Blair ''Church in Anglo-Saxon Society'' p. 95</ref> When Theodore, the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, arrived in England in 669<ref name=Theo445>Lapidge "Theodore" ''Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 445</ref> it was clear that something had to be done about the situation in Northumbria. Ceadda's election to York was improper,<ref name=Reassess34 /> and Theodore did not consider Ceadda's consecration to have been valid.<ref name=Intro135>Blair,''Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 135</ref> Consequently, Theodore deposed Ceadda,{{efn|Theodore shortly afterwards reconsecrated Ceadda and gave him the [[Bishop of Lichfield|bishopric of Lichfield]].<ref name=Earliest90>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' pp. 90–93</ref> The ''Vita Sancti Wilfrithi'' says that Wilfrid urged Theodore to appoint Ceadda to Lichfield.<ref name=DNB />}} leaving the way open for Wilfrid,<ref name=Reassess34 /> who was finally installed in his see in 669,<ref name=Handbook224 /> the first Saxon to occupy the see of York.<ref name=Brown359>Brown ''Rise of Western Christendom'' Second Edition p. 359</ref> Wilfrid spent the next nine years building churches, including at the monastery at Hexham, and attending to diocesan business.<ref name=DNB /> He continued to exercise control over his monastic houses of Ripon and Hexham while he was bishop.<ref name=Earliest90 /> Oswiu's death on 15&nbsp;February 670 eliminated a source of friction and helped to assure Wilfrid's return.<ref name=Fraser197>Fraser ''Caledonia to Pictland'' p. 197</ref>

While at York, Wilfrid was considered the "bishop of the Northumbrian peoples"; Bede records that Wilfrid's diocese was contiguous with the area ruled by Oswiu.<ref name=Earliest21>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 21</ref> The diocese was restricted to north of the Humber, however.<ref name=Earliest22>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 22</ref> Wilfrid may also have sought to exercise some ecclesiastical functions in the [[Picts|Pictish kingdom]], as he is accorded the title "bishop of the Northumbrians and the Picts" in 669.<!-- by what? --> Further proof of attempted Northumbrian influence in the Pictish regions is provided by the establishment for the Picts in 681 of a diocese centred on [[Abercorn]], in the old territory of the British kingdom of Gododdin. The grants of land to Wilfrid west of the [[Pennines]] testify to Northumbrian expansion in that area.<ref name=Kings84>Yorke ''Kings and Kingdoms'' pp. 84–85</ref> The ''Vita Sancti Wilfrithi'' claims that Wilfrid had ecclesiastical rule over Britons and Gaels.<ref name=Earliest70>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' pp. 70–71</ref> In 679, while Wilfrid was in Rome, he claimed authority over "all the northern part of Britain, Ireland and the islands, which are inhabited by English and British peoples, as well as by Gaelic and Pictish peoples".<ref name=QFraser196>Quoted in Fraser ''Caledonia to Pictland'' p. 196</ref>