Wilfrid, creator of the first cathedral

Wilfrid lived for 76 years, 634–710, and during his life became Abbot and Bishop of Ripon, Bishop of Northumbria, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Bishop of Deira/York, Bishop of Selsey, Bishop of Mercia and the Middle Angles.[1] He was the prime creator of the cathedral-church at Lichfield and pivotal in building the Roman church.[2]

 

Wilfrid in the Lambert Barnard mural, c. 1508–1536 in Chichester Cathedral

 

Wilfrid was born in 634, 3 to 7 years after Chad. Like Chad he came from a noble Northumbrian family.[3]  His mother possibly died early in his life and Wilfrid, aged 14, came under the guardianship of Queen Eanflæd of Northumbria.[4]  She arranged for him to enter the Celtic worshipping monastery at Lindisfarne and also to spend around a year in Canterbury where he encountered the Roman version of the Book of Psalms. In 654, aged 20 and again sponsored by Queen Eanflæd, he went on his first of three pilgrimages to Rome accompanied by the older Benedict Biscop (the founder of Wearmouth-Jarrow Priory). He spent many months in Rome visiting the shrines of saints and gradually being converted to the Roman form of worship. On his return he spent three years in a monastery at Lyon and became a convert to the Benedictine way of life. Many novices from Lindisfarne completed their training for the priesthood in the Celtic monasteries of Northern Ireland, but Wilfrid was different, he grew up to know the Roman monasteries in Paris and Rome and that set him apart.

Around 660–63, Wilfrid became the religious advisor to Alhfrith King of Deira, King Oswiu’s son, and in return was granted land containing the new monastery at Ripon, where he became the second abbot and the first to encourage a Roman theology. Bede reported Cuthbert and Irish-Celtic monks, including the abbot Eata, subsequently left.[5]

 

Wilfred in a small statue around the northwest doorway. He holds a scroll listing the Roman manner of worship and observance. One foot is on a head; is this an artistic reference to him forcing the removal of Celtic priests from Ripon? It is ironic that a small statue exists of a bishop that foundered the first church-cathedral and developed it into the ecclesiastical centre of Mercia.

 

In 664, Wilfrid acted as a spokesperson at the Synod of Whitby skilfully advocating a Roman style of worship. He was opposed by Bishop Colmán of Lindisfarne, who having lost the argument left for Iona. Wilfrid, aged 30, was then chosen to be the Bishop of Northumbria after the new incumbent suddenly died of the plague. His consecration needed three Roman bishops[6] and at that time three Roman bishops did not exist in England. Wilfrid was told by the king to go to France where he was consecrated, 665, in the royal city of Compiegne. Later writers described a lavish service with Bishop Agilbert and 11 more Frankish bishops carrying him in a golden chair. Wilfrid delayed returning, according to Bede, and stayed for some time in Canterbury where he learnt new liturgy and ways of singing the Roman rite. He did not return until 666 and in the meantime King Oswui had forced the uncanonical consecration of Chad as Bishop of Northumbria with two Celtic bishops in attendance. Having been usurped, and not having the patronage of King Alhfrith (he possibly had been killed) Wilfrid retired to Ripon as abbot for three years. He began to rebuild Ripon monastery to be a basilical church in 669. Bede stated the church from foundation to roofbeam was built of dressed stone, supported with various columns and complete with side porticuses, small, low roofed side chapels. Lavish furnishings and relics were added in a way Wilfrid had seen in Rome. The innovative church was dedicated in 672.[7]

 

The crypt at Ripon, accessed by 14 steps. It probably housed Wilfrid’s relics collection. It had a one-way passage down and out through another exit. Was it built to recall the catacombs below the basilicas in Rome? It is the oldest cathedral building in England and has been in use since its construction.

 

Whilst rebuilding Ripon cathedral, Jaruman the fourth Bishop of Mercia died in 667, so King Wulfhere invited Wilfrid to advise him on growing the church of Mercia. For two to three years, under the patronage of Wulfhere, numerous monasteries were founded in Mercia (East and South Midlands) and Wilfrid picked out Lichfield (Licitfelda) for the centre of the see of Mercia.[8] Wilfrid’s church at Ripon was on rising ground above the river Skell, thus giving access to fresh water and within easy reach of the Roman road system. This was similar to the site at Licitfelda. Wulfhere appeared to want Wilfrid to be the fifth Bishop of Mercia and the first at Lichfield and Thacker is in no doubt the first cathedral-church at Licitfelda was given to Wilfrid, 667 or 8 to 669.[9] In 669, Archbishop Theodore intervened and picked Chad, who had been bishop of Northumbria for three years, to be bishop of Mercia. In May 669, Wilfrid returned as Bishop of Northumbria, based at York. It was a straight swap and was more appropriate for Wilfrid’s higher episcopal authority. Perhaps, Wilfrid persuaded Theodore to make this exchange; Wilfrid was favoured by the pope.

                                        A comparison of the early life of Chad and Wilfrid showing similarities.

 

Wilfrid as Bishop in York. Aidan Hart icon.

 

Between 669–678, Wilfrid brought in singers, masons, and artisans from Canterbury to develop his monastery in Ripon. He commissioned altar cloths made with gold thread and a Gospel book. This book, now lost,[10] had pages decorated with an expensive purple pigment, gold lettering, and illuminations (artwork). It was in a casing covered with precious gems (Ripon Jewel?) and intended to be yet another means of making a powerful statement of affinity with Rome. An early form of Benedictine Rule was introduced. When the church was consecrated, the celebration with feasting lasted days.

At the same time, he restored the church at York in the style of a Roman basilica. Around 670, Queen Etheldreda[11] of Northumbria gave a considerable amount of land, possibly 130 square miles, to build the church and monastery that became Hexham Abbey. Wilfrid’s diocese was further extended to include Lindsey, Lincolnshire. He oversaw the foundation and construction of Hexham abbey. It had three levels, was embellished with sculptures and paintings, and was said to be a church equal to any in Rome.

 

11 steps down to Hexham’s crypt.

Crypt at Hexham that once held relics. It was built using purloined Roman stone.

 

 Frith stool or Wilfrid’s seat at Hexham.

 

In 672, Chad died and replaced by Bishop Winfrith, but he was soon deposed by Theodore for disobedience.[12] He was succeeded by Bishop Seaxwulf from Peterborough and then, 691, by Headda, who was most likely consecrated by Wilfrid.[13] By now Wilfrid’s reach extended from Lincolnshire and Leicestershire to the Lothians making him a powerful bishop. Consequently, King Ecgfrith of Northumbria turned against Wilfrid; did he have a grudge concerning his wife leaving him having taken advice from Wilfrid? Archbishop Theodore divided Wilfrid’s diocese by consecrating three new bishops in three new sees. The date of 678 was given by Bede for Wilfrid’s expulsion.[14] In 678–9, Wilfrid travelled to Rome surviving several attempts to kill him on the journey. By October 679, the Lateran Council supported Wilfrid’s complaint of being driven out of York after more than ten years of service. So, in 680–1 Wilfrid presented his papal documents showing his right to the bishopric to King Ecgfrith, who then imprisoned him for nine months only to be released later by a petition from the queen. His release was conditional he went into exile and that led to missionary work in Wessex and Sussex. He became the first bishop of Selsey and resided there for five years.

 

Statue of Archbishop Theodore, born in Tarsus, Turkey, from northwest doorway.

 

In 686–7, Archbishop Theodore was dying and he confessed to Wilfrid, now in his early 50s, he had been wrong in the ways he had treated him and depriving him of his property. King Æthelræd of Mercia immediately restored all his properties, mostly monasteries. Once again Ripon and York come under his jurisdiction and remained so for five more years.

In 687–8, Wilfrid was made Bishop of Lindisfarne, but encountered difficulties with the king and again left Northumbria and took refuge in Mercia.[15] Bede stated Wilfrid became the Bishop of the Middle Angles, ?690–692.[16] Then, with Bishop Headda of Lichfield, c. 691 x 716–27, a close relationship with Mercia continued and lasted for eleven years, between 691/2 to 703.^[17] By the end of Wilfrid’s life there existed a  large network of monasteries in Mercia owned and influenced by him.^[18] There is good reason to believe St Peter’s cathedral, Lichfield, was in his ‘kingdom of churches’ and it is plausible he was directing Headda in growing the church in the way of Rome.

In 702, Wilfrid was summoned to the Council of Austerfield. He claimed he had been a bishop for nearly forty years and had followed papal commands for 22 years. Other bishops rebuked him and his followers and they were excommunicated. Wilfrid, with his followers, travelled again to Rome where in 703–4 the pope absolved them. Wilfrid asked to stay in Rome since he was not well, but was ordered to return home. On his return he might have suffered a stroke at Meaux, near Paris.

In 704, Wilfrid visited King Æthelræd on his retirement. In 706, he regained Ripon and Hexham, but not the see of York. In 709, Wilfrid knowing he did not have long to live handed over his properties in Mercia to their abbots. Early in 710, Wilfrid, aged c. 76, in front of ten witnesses at Ripon, including two Mercian monks, ordered his treasurer to open the church treasury, spread out the gold, silver and precious jewels and distribute them to his abbeys and monasteries in Northumbria.^[19] He died at Oundle monastery, Northamptonshire, 24 April, 710,^[20] with burial at Ripon. The cult of Wilfrid with pilgrimage to Ripon started immediately. In the 10th-century Canterbury claimed to have his relics and later some were supposed to have been translated to the early cathedral at Worcester. York claimed to have an arm bone. Sometime between July 712–March 714, Stephen of Ripon wrote his biography of the life of Wilfrid and it is this book which explains how the cathedral at Lichfield began.

 

The legacy of Bishop Wilfrid

Early antiquarian accounts of Wilfrid presented him as noble and arrogant; a priest who ignored those who stood in his way and placed much emphasis on ceremony and position. He is now seen as a pioneering bishop bringing the Roman rite to England and facing strong opposition from many people reluctant to change. There was a close and often a fractious relationship with Northumbrian kings, but a strong kinship with Mercian and Wessex rulers. Some writers have judged Bede to have disliked Wilfrid, but his hagiography of Wilfrid was the way Bede wrote to emphasise the Roman church. Bede knew Wilfrid (and mostly met), and generally understood what he was doing, even if Wilfrid’s ways appeared extravagant to Bede. Popes absolved him of wrongdoing on two occasions and eventually the archbishop pardoned him. In his struggles he spent 26 years away from his northern homeland. He gave much to the rich and powerful, but he also endowed and protected new monasteries. Stephen of Ripon’s biography gave him the highest praise, but his closest friend the bishop of Hexham, the abbot of Ripon and the community of Ripon asked for his extraordinary eulogy.

Wilfrid was pivotal in the 7th and early-8th century church and many innovations were orchestrated by him. He was a fixer and thus often in the centre of disagreements. Lichfield owes him much for he located with King Wulfhere the first cathedral and thus the seat of the diocese, then he nurtured the Middle Angle monasteries and secured the cult of Chad. It is neglectful he does not have a large statue on the west front and next to Chad.[21] Lichfield cathedral started as a daughter church of Lindisfarne and was part of the Wilfridian network.

 

Michelle Brown’s conjecture – Jarrow Lecture 2000[22]

Following Wilfrid's death, 710, a purple codex penned in gold and silver and enshrined in a jewelled case, was apparently the focus of attempts to establish a cult of Wilfrid at Ripon. Perhaps, it was at this time that the need for a similar adornment of the shrine of Cuthbert was commissioned, in the form of the Lindisfarne Gospels. It would now be plausible to think Wilfrid’s codex was the spur for the St Chad’s Gospels and, if so, suggests the Gospels were written around 720.

 

Both Lichfield and Ripon cathedrals have downplayed the role of Wilfrid and Chad in the formation of their churches. Image of Chad at Ripon found at the back of their new pulpit.

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[1] His life is known from his biography Victa Sancti Wilfridi I. Episcopi Eboracensis (hereafter VW) written by a monk at Ripon called Stephanus, published 712–3. Also, from Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (hereafter HE) published in 731.

[2] N. J. Higham (ed.), ‘Wilfrid, Abbot, Bishop, Saint.’ Papers from the 1,300th Anniversary Conference. (Donington: 2013), 1–390.

[3] Some historians believe it was in the province of Bernicia and some in Deira.

[4] Eanflæd was a princess from Deira (the area between the rivers Humber and Tees) and it is thought this is where Wilfrid came from.

[5] Bede, Vita Sancti Cuthberti, 8

[6] Needing three bishops for consecration was a pivotal difference with the Celtic church that require only one.

[7] J. Hill, ‘Rome in Ripon. St Wilfrid’s inspiration and legacy’. The Journal of the Historical Association. (2020), 105, 603–625.

[8] T. Harwood, The history and antiquities of the church and city of Lichfield. (London: 1806), 129, expresses it as ‘At his death (Jaruman), in 667, the care of this diocese was committed to Wilfrid, who had been deprived of his (arch)bishopric of York, for his long absence from his own diocese’. This shows Harwood thought Wilfrid was more than an occasional adviser.

[9] A. Thacker, ‘Wilfrid, his cult and his biographer.’ Wilfrid Abbot, Bishop, Saint. Papers from the 1300th Anniversary Conference, ed. N. J. Higham. (Donington, 2013), 6. If Wilfrid was Bishop of Lichfield, 667‑9, then Chad was the 6th bishop of Mercia.

[10] Wilfrid’s great dedication Gospel Book was replaced by Archbishop Oswald when he rebuilt the basilica in Ripon after its destruction in 948. This sumptuous tenth-century replacement has recently been identified as a manuscript now owned by the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York.

[11] Hexham Abbey call her Etheldreda, Stephen and Bede name her Æthelthryth and at Ely she is also known as Audrey. She gave Wilfrid the estate at the time of her departure to a monastery at Coldingham. Providing the land and separating from King Oswiu might be connected.

[12] Cubitt dates this in 673 with HE Book 4, chapter 6. It could have been anytime between 672 and 676.

[13] M. Capper, ‘Prelates and politics: Wilfrid, Oundle and the Middle Angles’. Wilfrid Abbot, Bishop, Saint. Papers from the 1300th Anniversary Conference, ed. N. J. Higham. (Donington, 2013), 262.

[14] HE Book 4 chapter 12.

[15] VW 45.

[16] HE Book 4, chapter 23. This is often stated to be centred on Leicester, but there is no evidence for a see at Leicester before 737. It is unclear why Bede confined Wilfrid’s activity to the Middle Angles in the early 690s. See A. Thacker, ‘Wilfrid, his cult and his biographer.’ Wilfrid Abbot, Bishop, Saint. Papers from the 1300th Anniversary Conference, ed. N. J. Higham. (Donington, 2013), 8.

[17] M. Capper, (2013), 262. See note 12.

[18] S. Foot, ‘Wilfrid’s monastic Empire. Wilfrid Abbot, Bishop, Saint. Papers from the 1300th Anniversary Conference, ed. N. J. Higham. (Donington, 2013), 31. At least six have been suggested between AD 691/2 and 703, see P. Coulstock, The Collegiate Church of Wimborne Minster (Woodbridge, 1993). Capper, ‘Prelates and politics: Wilfrid, Oundle and the Middle Angles, 263, mentioned Bath, Oundle, Ripple, possibly Inkberrow and Chester. Evesham and Wing have some claim, see D. Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, fifth ed.’ (Oxford, 2011), 448. Also, Worcester, Leicester and Medeshamstede (Peterborough) with its satellite minsters at Breedon-on-the-hill, Woking, Bermondsey and perhaps Hoo (Kent) and Brixworth, see Blair, The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society, 83. Foot, Monastic life in Anglo-Saxon England c. 600–900, 258–269, included Repton and Thorney. Mercian monks were regarded as part of the Ripon Community according to Stephen, Vita Sancti Wilfrithi, chapter 64,138.

[19] Vita Sancti Wilfrithi, 63, 136–137. See A. Thacker, ‘Wilfrid, his cult and his biographer.’ Wilfrid Abbot, Bishop, Saint. Papers from the 1300th Anniversary Conference, ed. N. J. Higham. (Donington, 2013), 10.

[20] C. Stancliffe, Dating Wilfrid’s death and Stephen’s life’ Wilfrid Abbot, Bishop, Saint. Papers from the 1300th Anniversary Conference, ed. N. J. Higham. (Donington, 2013), 21.

[21] Clearly reflects the old Victorian view of Wilfrid.

[22] M. P. Brown, ‘In the beginning was the Word: books and faith in the age of Bede’. The Jarrow Lecture 2000. The Heroic Age (2001), 4. See https://heroicage.org/issues/4/Brown.html