Editing Paulinus of York

{{Short description|Christian missionary and saint, first bishop of York}}
{{About|the 7th century missionary and saint||Saint Paulinus (disambiguation)|and|Paulinus (disambiguation)}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]
| type = Bishop
| name = Paulinus
| title = [[Archbishop of York|Bishop of York]]
| image = Paulinusofyork.jpg
| caption = Statue at [[Rochester Cathedral]]
| alt=Stone statue of a man wearing a mitre and holding a staff topped by a cross. His other hand is held upright, palm facing out.
| appointed = 627
| ended = 633
| predecessor = Founder
| successor = [[Chad of Mercia|Chad]]
| consecration = 21 July 625
| consecrated_by=[[Justus]]
| death_date = 10 October 644
| death_place = [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]], [[Kingdom of Kent]]
| tomb = [[Rochester Cathedral]]
|feast_day = 10 October
| venerated    = [[Eastern Orthodox Church]],<br>[[Roman Catholic Church]],<br>[[Anglican Communion]]
}}

'''Paulinus'''{{efn|{{IPAc-en|p|ɔː|ˈ|l|aɪ|n|ə|s}} {{respell|paw|LYNE|əss}}}} (died 10 October 644) was a Roman missionary and the first [[Archbishop of York|Bishop of York]].{{efn|York did not become an archbishopric until 735.<ref name=Ecgbert>Lapidge "Ecgbert" ''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England''</ref>}} A member of the [[Gregorian mission]] sent in 601 by Pope [[Pope Gregory I|Gregory I]] to [[Christianization|Christianize]] the [[Anglo-Saxons]] from their native [[Anglo-Saxon paganism]], Paulinus arrived in England by 604 with the second missionary group. Little is known of Paulinus's activities in the following two decades.

After some years spent in [[Kent]], perhaps in 625, Paulinus was [[Consecration|consecrated]] a bishop. He accompanied [[Æthelburg of Kent]], sister of King [[Eadbald of Kent]], on her journey to [[Northumbria]] to marry King [[Edwin of Northumbria]], and eventually succeeded in converting Edwin to Christianity. Paulinus also converted many of Edwin's subjects and built some churches. One of the women Paulinus [[baptism|baptised]] was a future saint, [[Hilda of Whitby]]. 

Following Edwin's death in 633, Paulinus and Æthelburg fled Northumbria, leaving behind a member of Paulinus's clergy, [[James the Deacon]]. Paulinus returned to Kent, where he became [[Bishop of Rochester]]. He received a [[pallium]] from the pope, symbolizing his appointment as Archbishop of York, but too late to be effective. After his death in 644, Paulinus was canonized as a saint and is now venerated in the [[Eastern Orthodox]], [[Roman Catholic]], and [[Anglican Communion|Anglican]] Churches.

==Early life==
Paulinus was a monk from Rome sent to the [[Kingdom of Kent]] by Pope Gregory I in 601, along with [[Mellitus]] and others, as part of the second group of missionaries sent to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. He was probably an Italian by birth.<ref name=DNB>Costambeys "Paulinus (St Paulinus)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref> The second group of missionaries arrived in Kent by 604, but little is known of Paulinus's further activities until he went to Northumbria.<ref name=DNB/>

Paulinus remained in Kent until 625, when he was consecrated as bishop by [[Justus]], the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], on 21 July.<ref name=Handbook224>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 224</ref> He then accompanied Æthelburg, the sister of King Eadbald of Kent, to Northumbria where she was to marry King Edwin of Northumbria. A condition of the marriage was that Edwin had promised that he would allow Æthelburg to remain a Christian and worship as she chose. [[Bede]], writing in the early 8th century, reports that Paulinus wished to convert the Northumbrians, as well as provide religious services to the new queen.<ref name=DNB/>

There is some difficulty with Bede's chronology on the date of Æthelburh's marriage, as surviving papal letters to Edwin urging him to convert imply that Eadbald only recently had become a Christian, which conflicts with Bede's chronology. The historian [[David Peter Kirby|D. P. Kirby]] argues that Paulinus and Æthelburh must therefore have gone to Northumbria earlier than 624, and that Paulinus went north, not as a bishop, but as a priest, returning later to be consecrated.<ref name=Earliest33/> The historian [[Henry Mayr-Harting]] agrees with Kirby's reasoning.<ref name=Coming66>Mayr-Harting ''Coming of Christianity'' p. 66</ref> Another historian, [[Peter Hunter Blair]], argues that Æthelburh and Edwin were married before 625, but that she did not go to Northumbria until 625.<ref name=Earliest33>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' pp. 33–34</ref> If Kirby's arguments are accepted, then the date of Paulinus's consecration needs to be changed by a year, to 21 July 626.<ref name=Earliest206>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 206 footnote 2</ref>

Bede describes Paulinus as "a man tall of stature, a little stooping, with black hair and a thin face, a hooked and thin nose, his aspect both venerable and awe-inspiring".<ref name=Blair95>Quoted in Blair ''World of Bede'' p. 95</ref>

==Bishop of York==
[[File:Kingdoms in England and Wales about 600 AD.svg|thumb|left|upright|350px|Map of some of the kingdoms of Great Britain {{Circa|600|lk=yes}}| alt=Map showing the kingdoms of Dyfed, Powys, and Gwynedd in the west central part of the island of Great Britain. Dumnonia is below those kingdoms. Mercia, Middle Anglia and East Anglia run across the middle of the island from west to east. Below those kingdoms are Wessex, Sussex and Kent, also from west to east. The northern kingdoms are Elmet, Deira, and Bernicia.]]
Bede relates that Paulinus told Edwin that the birth of his and Æthelburg's daughter at Easter 626 was because of Paulinus's prayers. The birth coincided with a foiled assassination attempt on the king by a group of [[Wessex|West Saxons]] from Wessex. Edwin promised to convert to Christianity and allow his new daughter [[Eanflæd]] to be baptised if he won a victory over Wessex. He did not fulfill his promise immediately after his subsequent military success against the West Saxons however, only converting after Paulinus had revealed the details of a dream the king had before he took the throne, during his exile at the court of King [[Rædwald of East Anglia]]. In this dream, according to Bede, a stranger told Edwin that power would be his in the future when someone laid a hand on his head. As Paulinus was revealing the dream to Edwin, he laid his hand on the king's head, which was the proof Edwin needed. A late seventh-century [[hagiography]] of Pope Gregory I claims that Paulinus was the stranger in the vision;<ref name=DNB/> if true, it might suggest that Paulinus spent some time at Rædwald's court,<ref name=Kings28>Yorke ''Kings and Kingdoms'' p. 28</ref> although Bede does not mention any such visit.<ref name=DNB/>

It is unlikely that supernatural affairs and Paulinus's persuasion alone caused Edwin to convert. The Northumbrian nobles seem to have been willing and the king also received letters from Pope [[Pope Boniface V|Boniface V]] urging his conversion.<ref name=DNB/> Eventually convinced, Edwin and many of his followers were baptised at [[York]] in 627.<ref name=BSE>Lapidge "Paulinus" ''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England''</ref> One story relates that during a stay with Edwin and Æthelburg at their palace in [[Yeavering]], Paulinus spent 36&nbsp;days baptising new converts.<ref name=BSE/> Paulinus also was an active missionary in [[Kingdom of Lindsey|Lindsey]],<ref name=ASE115>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' pp. 115–116</ref> and his missionary activities help show the limits of Edwin's royal authority.<ref name=Kingship17>Williams ''Kingship and Government'' p. 17</ref>

Pope Gregory's plan had been that York would be England's second [[Metropolitan bishop|metropolitan]] [[diocese|see]], so Paulinus established his church there.<ref name=BSE/> Although built of stone, no trace of it has been found.<ref name=DNB/> Paulinus also built several churches on royal estates.<ref name=Conversion161>Yorke ''Conversion of Britain'' p. 161</ref> His church in [[Lincoln, Lincolnshire|Lincoln]] has been identified with the earliest building phase of the church of St Paul in the Bail.<ref name=DNB/>

Among those baptised by Paulinus were Hilda, later the founding abbess of [[Whitby Abbey]],<ref name=Blair147>Blair ''World of Bede'' p. 147</ref> and Hilda's successor, Eanflæd, Edwin's daughter.<ref name=Blair149>Blair ''World of Bede'' p. 149</ref> As the only Roman bishop in England, Paulinus also consecrated another Gregorian missionary, [[Honorius of Canterbury|Honorius]], as Archbishop of Canterbury after Justus' death, sometime between 628 and 631.<ref name=DNB/>

==Bishop of Rochester==
Edwin was defeated by an alliance of Gwynedd Welsh and Mercian Angles, being killed at the [[Battle of Hatfield Chase]], on a date traditionally given as 12 October 633.<ref name=DNB/> One problem with the dating of the battle is that Pope [[Pope Honorius I|Honorius I]] wrote in June 634 to Paulinus and Archbishop Honorius saying that he was sending a [[pallium]], the symbol of an archbishop's authority, to each of them.<ref name=Earliest56/> The pope's letter shows no hint that news of Edwin's death had reached Rome, almost nine months after the supposed date of the battle. The historian D. P. Kirby argues that this lack of awareness makes it more likely that the battle occurred in 634.<ref name=Earliest56>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 56</ref>

Edwin's defeat and death caused his kingdom to fragment into at least two parts.<ref name=DNB/> It also led to a sharp decline in Christianity in Northumbria<ref name=ASE116/> when Edwin's immediate successors reverted to paganism.<ref name=DNB/> Widowed queen Æthelburg fled to her brother [[Eadbald of Kent|Eadbald]]'s Kent kingdom. Paulinus went with her, along with Edwin and Æthelburg's son, daughter, and grandson. The two boys went to the continent for safety, to the court of King [[Dagobert I]]. Æthelburg, Eanflæd, and Paulinus remained in Kent, where Paulinus was offered the see, or bishopric, of [[Diocese of Rochester|Rochester]], which he held until his death. Because the pallium did not reach Paulinus until after he had left York, it was of no use to him.<ref name=DNB/> Paulinus's deputy, [[James the Deacon]], remained in the north and struggled to rebuild the Roman mission.<ref name=ASE116>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 116</ref>

==Death and veneration==
Paulinus died on 10 October 644 at Rochester,<ref name=Handbook221>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 221</ref>{{efn|If Kirby's arguments on the date of Paulinus's consecration are accepted, this date would be 10 October 645 instead.<ref name=Earliest206/>}} where he was buried in the [[sacristy]] of the church.<ref name=Blair97>Blair ''World of Bede'' pp. 97–98</ref> His successor at Rochester was [[Ithamar (bishop)|Ithamar]], the first Englishman consecrated to a Gregorian missionary see.<ref name=Ithamar889>Sharpe "Naming of Bishop Ithamar" ''English Historical Journal'' p. 889</ref> After Paulinus's death, Paulinus was [[Canonization#Historical development of the process|revered]] as a saint, with a [[Calendar of saints|feast day]] on 10 October. When a new church was constructed at Rochester in the 1080s his [[relic]]s, or remains, were [[Translation (relics)|translated]] (ritually moved) to a new shrine.<ref name=DNB/> There also were shrines to Paulinus at Canterbury, and at least five churches were dedicated to him.<ref name=Farmer418>Farmer ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' p. 418</ref> Although Rochester held some of Paulinus's relics, the promotion of his cult there appears to have occurred after the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman Conquest]].<ref name=Rollason>Rollason  "Shrines of Saints" ''Archaeology Data Services''</ref> He is considered a saint by the [[Roman Catholic Church]], the [[Anglican Communion]], and the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]].<ref name=OBD409>Holford-Stevens and Blackburn ''Oxford Book of Days'' p. 409</ref><ref name=Walsh475>Walsh ''Dictionary of Saints'' p. 475</ref>

Paulinus's missionary efforts are difficult to evaluate. Bede implies that the mission in Northumbria was successful, but there is little supporting evidence, and it is more likely that Paulinus's missionary efforts there were relatively ineffectual. Although [[Osric of Deira|Osric]], one of Edwin's successors, was converted to Christianity by Paulinus, he returned to paganism after Edwin's death. Hilda, however, remained a Christian, and eventually went on to become abbess of the influential Whitby Abbey.<ref name=DNB/> Northumbria's conversion to Christianity was mainly achieved by [[Hiberno-Scottish mission|Irish missionaries]] brought into the region by Edwin's eventual successor, [[Oswald of Northumbria|Oswald]].<ref name=Mayr68>Mayr-Harting ''Coming of Christianity'' p. 68</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of members of the Gregorian mission]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist|60em}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist|colwidth=40em}}

==References==
{{Refbegin|60em}}
* {{cite book |author=Blair, Peter Hunter |title=The World of Bede |publisher=Cambridge University Press |author-link= Peter Hunter Blair |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1990 |edition=Reprint of 1970 |isbn=0-521-39819-3 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Costambeys, Marios |title=Paulinus (St Paulinus) (d. 644) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |edition=October 2005 revised |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/21626 |access-date=6 March 2009 |doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/21626}} {{ODNBsub}}
* {{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, UK |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X}}
* {{cite book |author=Kirby, D. P. |title=The Earliest English Kings |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=2000 |isbn=0-415-24211-8 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Lapidge, Michael |title=Ecgberht |author-link=Michael Lapidge |page=157 |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |editor1=Lapidge, Michael |editor2=Blair, John |editor2-link=John Blair (historian) |editor3=Keynes, Simon |editor-link3=Simon Keynes|editor4=Scragg, Donald  |year=2001 |publisher=Blackwell |location=Malden, MA |isbn=978-0-631-22492-1 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Lapidge, Michael |title=Paulinus |author-link=Michael Lapidge |page=359 |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |editor1=Lapidge, Michael |editor2=Blair, John |editor2-link=John Blair (historian) |editor3=Keynes, Simon |editor-link3=Simon Keynes |editor4=Scragg, Donald |year=2001 |publisher=Blackwell |location=Malden, MA |isbn=978-0-631-22492-1 }}
* {{cite book |author=Mayr-Harting, Henry |title=The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=Henry Mayr-Harting |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |location=University Park, PA |year=1991 |isbn=0-271-00769-9 }}
* {{cite web |author=Rollason, David |title=The Shrines of Saints in later Anglo-Saxon England: Distribution and Significance |url=http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/cbaresrep/pdf/060/06002001.pdf |author-link=David Rollason |work=Archaeology Data Services |publisher=Department of Archaeology, University of York |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613151752/http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/cbaresrep/pdf/060/06002001.pdf |access-date=29 March 2009 |archive-date=13 June 2011 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Sharpe, R. |title=The Naming of Bishop Ithamar |author-link=Richard Sharpe (historian) |journal=[[The English Historical Review]] |volume=117 |issue=473 |date=September 2002 |pages=889–894 |doi=10.1093/ehr/117.473.889 |jstor= 3489611 |s2cid=159918370 }}
* {{cite book |author=Stenton, F. M. |title=Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=Frank Stenton |year=1971 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |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 }}
* {{cite book |author=Williams, Ann |title=Kingship and Government in Pre-Conquest England c. 500–1066 |author-link=Ann Williams (historian) |publisher=MacMillan |location=London |year=1999 |isbn=0-333-56797-8 }}
* {{cite book |author=Yorke, Barbara |title=The Conversion of Britain: Religion, Politics and Society in Britain c. 600–800 |author-link=Barbara Yorke |publisher=Pearson/Longman |location=London |year=2006 |isbn=0-582-77292-3 }}
* {{cite book |author=Yorke, Barbara |title=Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Routledge |author-link=Barbara Yorke |location=New York |year=1997 |isbn=0-415-16639-X }}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite DNB|wstitle=Paulinus (d.644) |volume=44|first=William |last=Hunt}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|author=Mayr-Harting, H. M. R. E. |author-link= Henry Mayr-Harting |title=Paulinus of York |encyclopedia=Studies in Church History IV: The Province of York |editor-link=Geoffrey Cuming |editor=G. J. Cuming | location = Leiden |publisher =Brill |year=1967 |pages=15–21 }}

==External links==
* {{PASE|7734|Paulinus 1}}&nbsp;– listing of most contemporary and close to contemporary mentions of Paulinus in the [[primary source]]s. Includes some spurious charter listings.

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel| [[Christianity|Christian]] titles}}
{{s-new|diocese}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[Archbishop of York|Bishop of York]] | years=627–633}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Chad of Mercia|Chad]]}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Romanus (Bishop of Rochester)|Romanus]] }}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Bishop of Rochester]] | years=633–644}}
{{s-aft| after=[[Ithamar (bishop)|Ithamar]] }}
{{s-end}}

{{Archbishops of York}}
{{Bishops of Rochester}}
{{Gregorian mission}}
{{Anglo-Saxon saints}}

{{Subject bar|portal1=England|portal2=Middle Ages|portal3=Catholicism |portal4=Biography|portal5=Saints}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Paulinus Of York}}
[[Category:644 deaths]]
[[Category:7th-century English bishops]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Bishops of York]]
[[Category:Bishops of Rochester]]
[[Category:Burials at Rochester Cathedral]]
[[Category:Gregorian mission]]
[[Category:History of Northumberland]]
[[Category:Northumbrian saints]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Yorkshire saints]]