Bishop
Berthun of Lichfield died in 777 or 779 and was succeeded by Bishop Higbert in
779.[1] In
787, he was raised to be archbishop, now signing himself as Hygeberht, and
continued to be prelate of much of Southumbria (apparently from the Thames to
the Humber [2]) until
799 when he was demoted. He died around 803. He was succeeded by Bishop
Ealdwulf[3]
(or Adulphus) at some time in the years 799 to 801. Therefore, there was an
archbishop for the northern part of Southumbria based at Lichfield for 12–14
years.
Hygeberht in
a floor roundel in the presbytery.
Hygeberht
signature on a charter, the third name, in 787. From BL Cotton MS
Augustus II 97
Reasons for transference of clerical power from
Canterbury to Lichfield are uncertain. Offa became the king of Mercia in 757
and continued, like Æthelbald his predecessor, to overpower other Anglo-Saxon (now known as Englisc or Early Medieval) kings and warlords until unopposed. By the 770s, he ruled over most of England
from the River Ribble southwards.
|
Offa’s dioceses |
He began
import/exporting through Chester and London and became wealthy. Coins were
issued and taxation became widespread.
|
Offa penny found at Elford. Courtesy of Yorkcoins.com |
Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor of west and central Europe
(Francia), called him his dearest
brother. Trade was negotiated between Francia and Mercia in goods, cloaks
and stones were mentioned, and people especially scribes. At one time, both
rulers had a silver coin of similar size and parity to enable this commercial
enterprise. Offa began to see himself as equivalent to Charlemagne and wanted
the same standing. This included having his son Ecgfrith anointed co-ruler and
securing his royal hereditary.[4] Archbishop
Jænberht of Canterbury, is
thought to have resisted this unusual protocol and Offa therefore by-passed
him. Despite Offa having control over Kent, he was not free to arrange a consecration
of his son.[5] With
Pope Hadrian’s permission Offa elevated his bishop to archbishop in 787 and in
788 had a coronation of his son, probably then aged around 17. After this,
Ecgfrith witnessed at least two of Offa's charters as ‘Ecgfrith king’ or ‘Ecgfrith
king of the Mercians’. After Offa's death and Ecgfrith’s early death[6]
his distant relative Coenwulf became king, and he petitioned the pope to have
Lichfield returned to a bishopric. The pope agreed to do so in 802 and it was confirmed
at the council of Clovesho in 803; by which time Hygeberht was no longer even
considered a bishop. He was listed as an abbot at the council that oversaw the
demotion of Lichfield in 803.[7]
More
reasons have been given to explain the events. Offa was the first English king
to hold a Council in 786 with papal legates attending and approving how Offa
was generously giving to the church. This gained Pope Hadrian’s support for
Offa’s request for a third archbishop; Canterbury and York[8]
remained, but Lichfield might have had pre-eminence. Consequently, Hygeberht,
probably a Mercian, officiated at the coronation of his son and heir in 788. It
was the first coronation in England with a king being holy oil-anointed and
probably the first ceremony with a religious element in the making of a king.
It must have been opulent and unprecedented.[9] Maybe,
Offa thought his kingship needed further confirmation[10]
and this was a way of continuing his royal lineage.[11]
Offa on the west front of Lichfield Cathedral. He is looking southwards
to Rome whilst holding his Archbishop’s mitre.
The new
archbishop of Canterbury appointed in 793 was consecrated by Archbishop Hygeberht. When
Offa had Ethelbert, king of the East Angles, executed in 794, Hygeberht,
with Offa's permission, buried the body in Lichfield cathedral in the presence
of his clerks and deacons.[12]
There are
other aspects. A letter to the papacy (Pope Leo III) written by Coenwulf, who
succeeded Offa's son Ecgfrith to the Mercian throne, claimed that Offa's
motives were his dislike of Jænberht
the archbishop and of the men of Kent; there was a personal enmity.[13] Furthermore,
Jænberht supported the Kentish king Egbert II,
who appeared not to be a firm supporter of Offa's. This might say more about
Coenwulf who was only distantly related to Offa; and later goes on to crush
Kent.[14] In
798, Alcuin writing from the Palace School of
Charlemagne in Aachen to Æthelheard, the new (792) Archbishop of
Canterbury, suggested that it would be good if the unity of the southern
English church could be restored, given that it was apparently torn asunder not
out of reasonable motives but out of a desire for power by Offa.
Offa died on
29 July 796, but his place of burial is unknown. It would be reasonable to
think Archbishop Hygeberht officiated at his funeral just as he had for King
Ethelbert two years previously. If so, it would be reasonable to assume this
also was in Lichfield Cathedral.
[1]
At a Mercian council he attended that year at Hartleford he
was styled electus praesul or bishop elect. H. Wharton, Anglia
Sacra. (1691), 430 calls him Higberthus.
[2]
Phrase used by M. W. Greenslade, 'Lichfield:
History to c.1500', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14,
Lichfield, (London, 1990), 4-14.
[3]
William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum
Anglorum Book 4, 311 (Cambridge:
1125), 467 has Ealdwulf being elevated to archbishop. Also, in William of
Malmesbury, Chronicle of the kings of England. From the earliest period to
the reign of King Stephen, c. 1090-1143; trans. J. Sharpe, 1769-1859; J. A.
Giles, 1808-1884, (1887), “Yet rebellious against God, he (Offa) endeavoured to
remove the archiepiscopal see formerly settled at Canterbury, to Lichfield,
envying forsooth, the men of Kent the dignity of the archbishopric: on which
account he at last deprived Lambert, the archbishop, worn out with continual
exertion, and who produced many edicts of the apostolical see, both ancient and
modern, of all possessions within his territories, as well as of the
jurisdiction over the bishoprics. From pope Adrian, therefore, whom he had
wearied with plausible assertions for a long time, as many things not to be
granted may be gradually drawn and artfully wrested from minds intent on other
occupations, he obtained that there should be an archbishopric of the Mercians
at Lichfield, and that all the prelates of the Mercians should be subject to
that province.” 80.
[4]
In 781, Charlemagne had his two sons oil anointed by the pope.
[5]
Perhaps as early as 786 the creation of a Mercian archbishopric was being
discussed at Offa's court.
[6]
Some think his death might not have been natural. One Chronicle stated he was
seized with a malady.
[7]
The Decree of the church council at Clofesho abolishing the archbishopric of
Lichfield is known from Cotton MS Augustus II 61. The list of witnesses begins
with two names: Æthelheard of Canterbury, who signed as archbishop, while
Ealdwulf attested this decree as bishop.
[8]
In 735, the papacy elevated another Anglo-Saxon bishopric to an archbishopric
when Ecgbert became the first Archbishop of York.
[9]
See the post on the Second Cathedral. A large basilical shaped church would
have been appropriate for this grand occasion. The order of service is unknown. The next order for a
coronation is thought to have been written in the mid-9th century and the
second was for the coronation of Edward the Elder, reigned 899‑924, in the year
900. These services were disregarded in 1066, but reimagined for the coronation
in 1953.
[10]
Unlike predecessors, Offa’s ancestry was not directly linked with earlier
kings.
[11]
See N. Brooks, The early history of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church
from 597 to 1066. (Leicester Uni. Press: 1984), 118–126.
[13]
The enmity between Offa and Jænberht raises the possibility that it was
Jænberht who started the rumour that surfaced in about 784 that Offa planned to
dethrone the pope, as part of a plan to discredit Offa in the Papal Curia and
ensure that any suggestion from the Mercian king about changing the arrangement
of bishoprics should fall on deaf (or enraged) ears. From N. Brooks, see note
5.
[14]
He requested the pope centre the archbishopric in London, but this was refused.
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