Editing Wilfrid (section)

=== Time at Rome and Lyon ===
[[File:7th-century Hexham crypt.jpg|250px|thumb|7th-century [[crypt]] at [[Hexham Abbey|Hexham monastery]], where Wilfrid may have deposited any relics he brought back from the continent|alt=An underground stone lined crypt.]]
Wilfrid left Kent for Rome in the company of Benedict Biscop,<ref name=EncASE>Thacker "St. Wilfrid" ''Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 474–476</ref> another of Eanflæd's contacts.<ref name=DNB /> This is the first pilgrimage to Rome known to have been undertaken by English natives,<ref name=Herrin267>Herrin ''Formation of Christendom'' pp. 267–268</ref> and took place some time between 653 and 658.<ref name=Barbarian175 /> According to Wilfrid's later biographer, Stephen of Ripon, Wilfrid left Biscop's company at [[Lyon]], where Wilfrid stayed under the patronage of [[Annemund]], the archbishop. Stephen says that Annemund wanted to marry Wilfrid to the archbishop's niece, and to make Wilfrid the governor of a Frankish province, but that Wilfrid refused and continued on his journey to Rome.<ref name=DNB /> There he learned the Roman method of [[Computus|calculating the date of Easter]], and studied the Roman practice of relic collecting.<ref name=Brown29>Brown "Royal and Ecclesiastical" ''Renascence'' pp. 29–31</ref> He developed a close friendship with [[Boniface Consiliarius]] during his time in Rome. After an audience with the pope, Wilfrid returned to Lyon.<ref name=DNB />

Stephen of Ripon says that Wilfrid stayed in Lyon for three years, leaving only after the archbishop's murder. However, Annemund's murder took place in 660 and Wilfrid returned to England in 658, suggesting that Stephen's chronology is awry.<ref name=DNB />{{efn|Annemund was murdered at the command of [[Balthild]], the regent of [[Chlothar III]].<ref name=Levinson10>Levison ''England and the Continent'' p. 10</ref>}} Stephen says that Annemund gave Wilfrid a clerical [[tonsure]], although this does not appear to mean that he became a monk, merely that he entered the clergy. Bede is silent on the subject of Wilfrid's monastic status,<ref name=Cubitt277>Cubitt "Clergy in Early Anglo-Saxon England" ''Historical Research'' p. 277</ref> although Wilfrid probably became a monk during his time in Rome, or afterwards while he was in Gaul.<ref name=Farmer22>Farmer "Introduction" ''Age of Bede'' p. 22</ref> Some historians, however, believe that Wilfrid was never a monk.<ref name=Cubitt277 /> While in Gaul, Wilfrid absorbed Frankish ecclesiastical practices, including some aspects from the monasteries founded by [[Columbanus]]. This influence may be seen in Wilfrid's probable adoption of a Frankish ceremony in his consecration of churches later in his life, as well as in his employment of Frankish masons to build his churches.<ref name=Sanc1>Coates "Construction of Episcopal Sanctity" ''Historical Research'' pp. 1–2</ref> Wilfrid would also have learned of the ''[[Rule of Saint Benedict]]'' in Gaul, as Columbanus' monasteries followed that monastic rule.<ref name=Ceolfrid76>Coates "Ceolfrid" ''Journal of Medieval History'' pp. 76–77</ref>