Editing Æthelnoth (archbishop of Canterbury)

{{Short description|Archbishop of Canterbury from 1020 to 1038, Catholic saint}}
{{About|the 11th-century archbishop||Æthelnoth (disambiguation){{!}}Æthelnoth}}

{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]
| name = Æthelnoth
| archbishop_of = [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]
| image = 
| imagesize = 
| alt = 
| caption = 
| appointed = 1020
| ended = 1038
| predecessor = [[Lyfing (Archbishop of Canterbury)|Lyfing]]
| successor = [[Eadsige]]
| consecration =13 November 1020
| other_post = [[Dean of Canterbury]]
| death_date = 28, 29, 30 October or 1 November 1038
| buried = [[Canterbury Cathedral]]
| parents =[[Æthelmær the Stout]]
| feast_day = 30 October
| venerated = [[Roman Catholic Church]]<ref name=Saints/> [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
| canonized_date = [[Pre-congregation|Pre-Congregation]]<ref name=Saints/>
}}

'''Æthelnoth'''{{efn|Also '''Ethelnoth''', '''Ednoth''', or '''Eadnodus'''<ref name=ODS181/>}} (died 1038) was the [[archbishop of Canterbury]] from 1020 until his death. Descended from an earlier English king, Æthelnoth became a monk prior to becoming archbishop. While archbishop, he travelled to Rome and brought back saint's relics. He consecrated a number of other bishops who came from outside his archdiocese, leading to some friction with other archbishops. Although he was [[Canonization#Historical development of the process|regarded as a saint]] after his death, there is little evidence of his veneration or of a cult in Canterbury or elsewhere.

==Early life==

Æthelnoth was a son of the [[Æthelmær the Stout]] and a grandson of [[Æthelweard the Historian]],<ref name=DNB/> who was a great-great-grandson of King [[Æthelred of Wessex]]. In the view of the historian [[Frank Barlow (historian)|Frank Barlow]], Æthelnoth was probably the uncle of [[Godwin of Wessex]].<ref name=Godwins21>Barlow ''Godwins'' p. 21</ref> He was baptised by [[Dunstan]], and a story was told at [[Glastonbury Abbey]] that as the infant was baptised, his hand made a motion much like that an archbishop makes when blessing. From this motion, Dunstan is said to have prophesied that Æthelnoth would become an archbishop.<ref name=DNB>Mason "Æthelnoth" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref>

Æthelnoth became a [[monk]] at [[Glastonbury]], then was made dean of the monastery of [[Christ Church Priory]], at [[Canterbury]], the cathedral chapter for the diocese of Canterbury.<ref name=Knowles33>Knowles, et al. ''Heads of Religious Houses'' p. 33</ref> He was also a chaplain to King [[Cnut the Great|Cnut]] of England and Denmark as well as [[Dean of Canterbury]] when on 13 November 1020 Æthelnoth was consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury.<ref name=Handbook214>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 214</ref> Æthelnoth's elevation probably was a gesture of appeasement, as Æthelnoth's brother Æthelweard had been executed in 1017 by Cnut, who also banished a brother-in-law named Æthelweard in 1020. A later story stated that Cnut favoured Æthelnoth because Æthelnoth had bestowed [[chrism]] on the king. This may be a garbled account of Æthelnoth's participation in Cnut's [[confirmation]] as a Christian in 1016 or his coronation in 1017.<ref name=DNB/> There are some indications that he was a student of [[Ælfric of Eynsham]], the homilist.<ref name=1000Church72>Barlow ''English Church 1000–1066'' pp. 72–73</ref>

==Archbishop of Canterbury==

In 1022, Æthelnoth went to Rome to obtain the [[pallium]],<ref name=Ortenberg49>Ortenberg "Anglo-Saxon Church and the Papacy" ''English Church and the Papacy'' p. 49</ref> and was received by Pope [[Pope Benedict VIII|Benedict VIII]]. On his return trip, he bought a relic of St [[Augustine of Hippo]] for 100 silver talents and one gold talent.<ref name=DNB/> He gave the relic to Coventry Abbey.<ref name=Smith575>Smith, et al. "Court and Piety" ''Catholic Historical Review'' p. 575</ref> He also presided over the translation of the relics of [[Ælfheah of Canterbury|Ælfheah]], his predecessor at Canterbury who was regarded as a martyr and saint.<ref name=Brooks290>Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' pp. 290–298</ref> In 1022, Æthelnoth consecrated Gerbrand as bishop for the [[Diocese of Roskilde (Roman-Catholic)|Diocese of Roskilde]],<ref name=ASE463>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 463</ref> which was in Scandinavia. The archbishop of [[Hamburg-Bremen]] was the metropolitan of Roskilde, and the fact that Gerbrand was consecrated by an English archbishop later caused friction between the bishop and his metropolitan.<ref name=Brooks290/> Cnut was forced to concede that in the future he would not appoint bishops in [[Archdiocese of Bremen|Bremen's archdiocese]] without the metropolitan's advice.<ref name=1000Church232/> A later tradition held that Æthelnoth consecrated two Welsh bishops, one at [[Bishop of Llandaff|Llandaff]] and one at [[Bishop of St David's|St. David's]].<ref name=1000Church232>Barlow ''English Church 1000–1066'' pp. 232–234</ref> He also consecrated [[Dúnán]], the first [[bishop of Dublin]], and other Scandinavian bishops.<ref>Cooper, ''Monk-Bishops and the English Benedictine Reform Movement'', pp. 100, 160</ref>

The medieval chronicler [[William of Malmesbury]] praised Æthelnoth's wisdom. A story of doubtful authenticity tells how he refused to crown King [[Harold Harefoot]],<ref name=Emma167>O'Brien ''Queen Emma and the Vikings'' pp. 167–168</ref> as he had promised Cnut to crown none but a son of the king by his wife, [[Emma of Normandy|Emma]].<ref name=DNB/> He was a leading figure in the third generation of the [[English Benedictine Reform]].<ref>Cooper, ''Monk-Bishops and the English Benedictine Reform Movement'', p. 88</ref>

==Death and legacy==

Æthelnoth died in 1038, on either 28 October,<ref name=DNB/><ref name=Handbook214/> 29 October,<ref name=Handbook214/><ref name=Saints>Walsh ''New Dictionary of Saints'' p. 184</ref> 30 October,<ref name=ODS181/> or 1 November.<ref name=DNB/><ref name=Handbook214/> Prior to his death, some of his episcopal functions were performed by a royal priest, Eadsige. He was buried in [[Canterbury Cathedral]].<ref name=DNB/> He is considered a saint,<ref name=Saints/> with a feast day of 30 October. While he is listed in [[Jean Mabillon]]'s ''Lives of the Benedictine Saints'' and in the ''[[Acta Sanctorum]]'', there is no contemporary or later evidence of a cult being paid to him at Canterbury or elsewhere.<ref name=ODS181>Farmer ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' p. 181</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==Citations==
{{reflist|40em}}

==References==
{{refbegin|60em}}
* {{cite book |author=Barlow, Frank |author-link=Frank Barlow (historian) |title=The English Church 1000–1066: A History of the Later Anglo-Saxon Church |publisher=Longman |location=New York |year=1979 |isbn=0-582-49049-9 |edition=Second}}
* {{cite book |author=Barlow, Frank |author-link=Frank Barlow (historian)|title=The Godwins: The Rise and Fall of a Noble Dynasty |publisher=Pearson/Longman |location=London |year=2003 |isbn=0-582-78440-9}}
* {{cite book |author=Brooks, Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Brooks (historian) |title=The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066 |publisher=Leicester University Press |location=London |year=1984 |isbn=0-7185-0041-5 }}
* {{cite book|last=Cooper |first=Tracy-Anne  |title=Monk-Bishops and the English Benedictine Reform Movement |publisher=Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies |location =Toronto, Canada |year=2015|isbn=978-0-88844-193-5}}
* {{cite book| author=Farmer, David Hugh |title=Oxford Dictionary of Saints |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |edition=Fifth |location=Oxford, UK |isbn= 978-0-19-860949-0}}
* {{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }}
* {{cite book |author1=Knowles, David |author-link1=David Knowles (scholar)|author2=London, Vera C. M. |author3-link=Christopher N. L. Brooke|author3=Brooke, Christopher |title=The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales, 940–1216|edition=Second |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge|year=2001 |isbn=0-521-80452-3 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Mason, Emma |title=Æthelnoth (d. 1038) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year= 2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8912|access-date= 7 November 2007 |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/8912}}{{ODNBsub}}
* {{cite book |author=O'Brien, Harriet |title= Queen Emma and the Vikings: A History of Power, Love and Greed in Eleventh-Century England |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |location=New York |year= 2005|isbn=1-58234-596-1 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia | author = Ortenberg, Veronica |encyclopedia= The English Church and the Papacy in the Middle Ages |title= The Anglo-Saxon Church and the Papacy | editor-last = Lawrence| editor-first =C. H.| pages =29–62 | place = Stroud| publisher = Sutton Publishing|isbn=0-7509-1947-7 | year =1965 |edition=1999 reprint}}
* {{cite journal |author1=Smith, Mary Frances|author2=Fleming, Robin  |author-link2=Robin Fleming|author3=Halpin, Patricia | title=Court and Piety in Late Anglo-Saxon England | journal= The Catholic Historical Review  |number=4| date=October 2001 |pages=569–602  | doi=10.1353/cat.2001.0189 | volume=87 |jstor= 25026026|s2cid=159900538 }}
* {{cite book |author=Stenton, F. M. |author-link= Frank Stenton |title= Anglo-Saxon England  |year= 1971|publisher= Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |edition=Third |isbn=978-0-19-280139-5 }}
* {{cite book |author=Walsh, Michael J. |title= A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West |year=2007 |publisher= Burns & Oats |location=London |isbn=978-0-86012-438-2 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{PASE|81462|Æthelnoth 43}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel| [[Christianity|Christian]] titles }}
{{s-bef | before=[[Lyfing (Archbishop of Canterbury)|Lyfing]] }}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Archbishop of Canterbury]] | years=1020–1038}}
{{s-aft| after=[[Eadsige]] }}
{{s-end}}

{{Archbishops of Canterbury}}
{{Anglo-Saxon saints}}
{{Authority control}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2013}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aethelnoth}}
[[Category:1038 deaths]]
[[Category:West Saxon saints]]
[[Category:Kentish saints]]
[[Category:Archbishops of Canterbury]]
[[Category:11th-century English Roman Catholic archbishops]]
[[Category:11th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Place of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Deans of Canterbury]]