Editing Lyfing (archbishop of Canterbury)

{{Short description|Archbishop of Canterbury from 1013 to 1020}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| name = Lyfing
| archbishop_of = [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]
| image =
| imagesize =
| alt =
| caption =
| appointed = 1013
| ended = 12 June 1020
| predecessor = [[Ælfheah of Canterbury|Ælfheah]]
| successor = [[Æthelnoth (Archbishop of Canterbury)|Æthelnoth]]
| consecration = 1013
| other_post = [[Abbot]] of [[Chertsey Abbey]]<br />[[Bishop of Wells]]
| birth_name = Ælfstan
| death_date = 12 June 1020
| buried = [[Canterbury Cathedral]]
}}

'''Lyfing'''{{efn|Sometimes '''Living''', or '''Ælfstan''', or '''Æthelstan'''<ref name=DNB/>}} (died 12 June 1020) was an Anglo-Saxon [[Bishop of Wells]] and [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]. He was abbot of [[Chertsey Abbey]] before becoming bishop at Wells. His appointment to Canterbury came at a time of [[Viking activity in the British Isles|Danish invasions]] of England, and he was unable to act as archbishop for a time due to Danish activity. When [[Cnut]], the Danish king, became king of England, Lyfing likely consecrated the new king. Lyfing was known as a wise man and gave gifts to his church and oversaw repairs to his cathedral before his death in 1020.

==Early career==

Lyfing was born "Ælfstan".<ref name=Trow165>Trow ''Cnut'' p. 165</ref> He was [[abbot]] of [[Chertsey Abbey]] from about 989.<ref name=DNB>Mason "Lyfing" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref><ref name=Heads38>Knowles, et al. ''Heads of Religious Houses'' pp. 38, 244</ref> He became Bishop of Wells in 998 or 999,<ref name=Handbook222>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 222</ref> and in 1013 King [[Æthelred the Unready]] appointed him to the [[see of Canterbury]].<ref name=Handbook214>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 214</ref>

==Archbishop==

Lyfing was unable to go to Rome for his [[pallium]], the symbol of archiepiscopal authority, during King Æthelred's reign, for every bishop that was consecrated during the remainder of the king's reign was consecrated by Archbishop [[Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York|Wulfstan]] of York.<ref name=William111>Williams ''Æthelred the Unready'' p. 111</ref> The reason for his inability to secure the pallium was most likely the disorder in England caused by [[Viking activity in the British Isles|Danish raids]] and attempts at conquest of the kingdom.<ref name=DNB/> By 1018, however, he was acting as archbishop, having returned to England from Rome with letters from Pope [[Pope Benedict VIII|Benedict VIII]],<ref name=Brooks287>Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' pp. 287–290</ref> some of which were for the new king, [[Cnut]],<ref name=Lawson86>Lawson ''Cnut'' pp. 86–87</ref> who became king in 1016.<ref name=Lawson82>Lawson ''Cnut'' p. 82</ref> These letters exhorted the new king to strive to be a better ruler.<ref name=Lawson120/> As Archbishop of Canterbury, Lyfing crowned two English kings: Ethelred's son [[Edmund II of England|Edmund Ironside]] in 1016 and Cnut in 1017.<ref name=DNB/> When the coronation of Cnut actually took place and where is unclear, but the 12th-century writer [[Ralph of Diceto]] states that Lyfing carried out the ceremony.<ref name=Houts79>van Houts "Cnut and William" ''Conquests in Eleventh-Century England'' p. 79</ref> He seems to have gone to Rome on behalf of Cnut at least once.<ref name=Emma122>O'Brien ''Queen Emma and the Vikings'' p. 122</ref>

A scribe at [[Canterbury Cathedral]] records a story that Lyfing was discussing church freedom with Cnut when the king offered to give the archbishop a new charter guaranteeing the church's freedom. Lyfing is said to have declined, lamenting that he and the church had a number of charters on those lines, but that did not mean anything so why should another help the situation. The king is then said to have confirmed the church's freedom in the same manner as previous kings had.<ref name=Lawson120>Lawson ''Cnut'' p. 120</ref> Lyfing also secured from the king lands for the cathedral as well as himself giving gifts to it to decorate the cathedral. He also oversaw the restoration of the cathedral's roof.<ref name=DNB/> The Lanalet Pontifical, an 11th-century [[pontifical]] in manuscript produced in England, has a note that it was once owned by Bishop "Lyfing", and it is possible that the Lyfing referred was the archbishop of Canterbury, although [[Lyfing of Winchester|Lyfing]] who was successively [[Bishop of Crediton]] and [[Bishop of Worcester]] is also a possible owner.<ref name=Gittos50>Gittos "Sources for the Liturgy" ''Transactions of the British Archaeological Association'' pp. 50–51</ref>

==Death and legacy==
Lyfing died on 12 June 1020.<ref name=Handbook214/> He was buried in Canterbury Cathedral,<ref name=DNB/> and after his death his remains were first moved to the gallery of the north [[transept]] during the time of Archbishop [[Lanfranc]], before eventually being buried near the altar of St Martin.<ref name=Robinson59>Robinson ''Saxon Bishops of Wells'' p. 59</ref> The ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' called him "a sagacious man, both before God and before the world".<ref name=1000Church66>Quoted in Barlow ''English Church 1000–1066'' p. 66</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

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

==References==
{{refbegin|60em}}
* {{cite book |author=Barlow, Frank |title=The English Church 1000–1066: A History of the Later Anglo-Saxon Church |edition=Second |author-link=Frank Barlow (historian) |year=1979 |publisher=Longman |location=New York |isbn=978-0-582-49049-9 }}
* {{cite book |author=Brooks, Nicolas |title=The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066 |year=1984 |publisher=Leicester University Press |location=London |isbn=978-0-7185-0041-2 }}
* {{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology |edition=Third revised |year=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=978-0-521-56350-5 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Gittos, Helen |title=Sources for the Liturgy of Canterbury Cathedral in the Central Middle Ages |year=2013 |journal=Transactions of the British Archaeological Association |volume=35 |pages=41–58 |doi=10.4324/9781315091273-3 |isbn=978-1-315-09127-3 |s2cid=164219690 |url=https://kar.kent.ac.uk/31114/1/37-41-BAACant_03%20Gittos%20final.pdf }}
* {{cite book |author1=Knowles, David |author2=London, Vera C. M. |author3=Brooke, Christopher |title=The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales, 940–1216 |edition=Second |year=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |author-link1=David Knowles (scholar) |author-link3=Christopher N. L. Brooke |location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=978-0-521-80452-3 }}
* {{cite book |author=Lawson, M. K. |title=Cnut: England's Viking King |publisher=Tempus Publishing, Limited |location=Stroud |year=2000 |isbn=0-7524-2964-7 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Mason, Emma |title=Lyfing (d. 1020) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16798 |access-date=7 November 2007 |doi=  10.1093/ref:odnb/16798 }} {{ODNBsub}}
* {{cite book |author=O'Brien, Harriet |title=Queen Emma and the Vikings: A History of Power, Love and Greed in Eleventh-Century England |year=2005 |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=New York |isbn=978-1-58234-596-3 }}
* {{cite book |author=Robinson, J. Armitage |title=The Saxon Bishops of Wells: A Historical Study in the Tenth Century |authorlink=Armitage Robinson|publisher=British Academy |location=London |year=1918 |series=British Academy Supplemental Papers |volume=IV |oclc=13867248 }}
* {{cite book |author=Trow, M. J. |title=Cnut: Emperor of the North |publisher=Sutton |location=Stroud, UK |year=2005 |isbn=0-7509-3387-9 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=van Houts, Elisabeth |title=Cnut and William: A Comparison |encyclopedia=Conquests in Eleventh-Century England: 1016, 1066 |editor1=Ashe, Laura |editor2=Ward, Emily Joan |publisher=Boydell |location=Woodbridge, UK |year=2020 |pages=65–84 |doi=10.1017/9781787448360.005 |isbn=978-1-78327-416-1 |s2cid=218956864 }}
* {{cite book |author=Williams, Ann |title=Aethelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King |author-link=Ann Williams (historian) |year=2003 |publisher=Hambledon & London |location=London |isbn=978-1-85285-382-2 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{PASE|166001|Lyfing 9}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel| [[Christianity|Christian]] titles }}
{{s-bef|before=[[Ælfwine of Wells|Ælfwine]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Wells]]|years={{circa|999}}–1013}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Æthelwine of Wells|Æthelwine]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Ælfheah of Canterbury|Ælfheah]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Archbishop of Canterbury]]|years=1013–1020}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Æthelnoth (Archbishop of Canterbury)|Æthelnoth]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Bishops of Wells}}
{{Archbishops of Canterbury}}

{{Authority control}}
{{good article}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyfing}}
[[Category:10th-century births]]
[[Category:1020 deaths]]
[[Category:Archbishops of Canterbury]]
[[Category:Bishops of Wells]]
[[Category:11th-century English Roman Catholic archbishops]]
[[Category:11th-century English Roman Catholic bishops]]

[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]