Editing Wilfrid (section)

== Return to Northumbria and exile ==

=== Return from exile ===
In 686 Wilfrid was recalled to Northumbria after the death of Ecgfrith in battle with the Picts.<ref name=Handbook224 /><ref name=ASE139>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 139</ref> During the 680s Theodore had created two more dioceses in Northumbria, at Ripon, and at Abercorn in the Pictish kingdom, but both were short-lived.<ref name=Making48 /> After Ecgfrith's death, Theodore wrote to the new king of Northumbria, Aldfrith, and to [[Æthelred of Mercia|Æthelred]], king of Mercia and the Abbess of Whitby, Ælfflæd, suggesting that an agreement be made allowing Wilfrid's return to Northumbria. Aldfrith agreed, Wilfrid returned to the north, and Bosa was removed from York. Wilfrid did not recover the whole of his previous bishopric however, as Hexham and Lindisfarne remained separate sees.<ref name=DNB />{{efn|The only authority for the expulsion of Bosa is Stephen of Ripon's ''Vita Sancti Wilfrithi'', and it is possible that Bosa was not expelled, as he was still bishop at his death in 706.<ref name=Usurp20>Cubitt "Wilfrid's "Usurping Bishops"" ''Northern History'' pp. 20–21</ref>}}

Wilfrid appears to have lived at Ripon, and for a time he acted as administrator of the see of Lindisfarne after Cuthbert's death in 687.<ref name=ASE139 /> In 691, the subdivision issue arose once more, along with quarrels with King Aldfrith over lands,<ref name=DNB /> and attempts were made to make Wilfrid either give up all his lands or to stay confined to Ripon.<ref name=Society96 /> A proposal to turn Ripon into a bishopric was also a source of dispute. When no compromise was possible Wilfrid left Northumbria for Mercia, and Bosa was returned to York.<ref name=DNB />

Something of the reception to Wilfrid's expulsion can be picked up in a Latin letter which has survived only in an incomplete quotation by [[William of Malmesbury]] in his ''[[Gesta pontificum Anglorum]]''. We have it on William's authority that the letter was written by [[Aldhelm]] of Malmesbury and addressed to Wilfrid's abbots. In it, Aldhelm asks the clergymen to remember the exiled bishop "who, nourishing, teaching, reproving, raised you in fatherly love" and appealing to lay aristocratic ideals of loyalty, urges them not to abandon their superior.<ref>Ehwald (ed.) ''Aldhelmi Opera'' pp. 500–502</ref><ref>Whitelock ''English Historical Documents'' no. 165</ref> Neither William nor the citation itself gives a date, but the letter has been assigned to Wilfrid's exile under Aldfrith in the 690s.<ref>Foley ''Images of Sanctity'' p. 53.</ref>

=== Mercia ===
During his stay in Mercia Wilfrid acted as bishop with the consent of King Æthelred.<ref name=Earliest120>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' pp. 120–121</ref> Information on Wilfrid's life at this time is meagre, as the ''Vita Sancti Wilfrithi'' says little of this period.<ref name=Bede105>Kirby "Bede" ''English Historical Review'' p. 105</ref> He is generally considered to have been [[Bishop of Leicester (ancient)|Bishop of Leicester]] until about 706, when he is held to have been transferred to Hexham.<ref name=Handbook218>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 218</ref> Wilfrid became involved in the missionary efforts to the [[Frisians]], which he had started in 678 during his stay in Frisia. Wilfrid helped the missionary efforts of [[Willibrord]], which were more successful than his own earlier attempts.<ref name=Hindley121>Hindley ''Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons'' pp. 121–122</ref> Willibrord was a monk of Ripon who was also a native of Northumbria.<ref name=Barbarian199>Fletcher ''Barbarian Conversion'' p. 199</ref>

Wilfrid was present at the exhumation of the body of Queen Æthelthryth at Ely Abbey in 695. He had been her spiritual adviser in the 670s, and had helped the queen become a nun against the wishes of her husband King Ecgfrith of Northumbria. The queen had joined Ely Abbey, where she died in 679. The ceremony in 695 found that her body had not decayed, which led to her being declared a saint.<ref name=Narr260>Goffart ''Narrators'' pp. 260–261</ref> Wilfrid's testimony as to the character and virginity of Æthelthryth was recorded by Bede.<ref name=Narr322>Goffart ''Narrators'' p. 322</ref>

In about 700, Wilfrid appealed once more to [[Pope Sergius I]] over his expulsion from York, and the pope referred the issue back to a council in England. In 702 King Aldfrith held a [[Council of Austerfield|council]] at [[Austerfield]] that upheld Wilfrid's expulsion, and once more Wilfrid travelled to Rome to appeal to the pope.<ref name=ASE143 /> The ''Vita Sancti Wilfrithi'' gives a speech, supposedly delivered by Wilfrid there, in defence of Wilfrid's record over the previous 40&nbsp;years.<ref name=Narr263>Goffart ''Narrators'' pp. 263–264</ref> The council was presided over by [[Berhtwald]], the new archbishop of Canterbury, and the decision of the council was that Wilfrid should be deprived of all his monasteries but Ripon, and that he should cease to perform episcopal functions. When Wilfrid continued his appeal to the papacy, his opponents had him and his supporters [[excommunicated]].<ref name=DNB />

=== Rome and final return to Northumbria ===
On his way to Rome Wilfrid stopped in Frisia to visit Willibrord.<ref name=Levinson50 /> Following Wilfrid's arrival in Rome [[Pope John VI]] held a council, which declared that the King of Northumbria should follow the earlier papal decrees restoring Wilfrid to his see.<ref name=ASE143>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 143</ref> Wilfrid was disconcerted to find that the [[Roman Curia|papal court]] spoke Greek, and his biographer noted that Wilfrid was displeased when the pope discussed the appeal with advisers in a language Wilfrid could not understand.<ref name=West57 /> The pope also ordered another council to be held in Britain to decide the issue, and ordered the attendance of Bosa, Berhtwald and Wilfrid. On his journey back to England Wilfrid had a seizure at [[Meaux]], but he had returned to Kent by 705.<ref name=DNB />

Aldfrith died soon after Wilfrid's arrival back in England. The new king, [[Eadwulf I of Northumbria|Eadwulf]], had been considered one of Wilfrid's friends, but after his accession to the throne he ordered Wilfrid to stay out of Northumbria. Eadwulf's reign lasted only a few months before he was expelled to make way for Aldfrith's son [[Osred I of Northumbria|Osred]],<ref name=DNB /> to whom Wilfrid acted as spiritual adviser.<ref name=EncASE /> Wilfrid may have been one of Osred's chief supporters, along with Oswiu's daughter Abbess Ælfflæd of Whitby,<ref name=Kings88>Yorke ''Kings and Kingdoms'' p. 88</ref> and the nobleman [[Beornhæth]].<ref name=Kings92>Yorke ''Kings and Kingdoms'' p. 92</ref> Once Osred was secure on the throne Wilfrid was restored to Ripon and Hexham in 706. When Bosa of York died, Wilfrid did not contest the decision to appoint John of Beverley to York. This appointment meant John's transfer from Hexham, leaving Wilfrid free to perform episcopal functions at Hexham,<ref name=DNB /> which he did until his death.<ref name=Narr271>Goffart ''Narrators'' p. 271</ref>