Ethelwin

Ethelwin (also Egelwin, Aethelwyne, Aethelwine, Aethelwyn, Æthelwine, or Aethelwin) was the last Anglo-Saxon bishop of Durham (1056–1071), the last who was not also a secular ruler, and the only English bishop at the time of the Norman Conquest who did not remain loyal to King William the Conqueror.

Life

He was consecrated bishop in 1056. He was installed as bishop by Tostig earl of Northumbria and was the choice of King Edward the Confessor. Ethelwin was the brother of the previous bishop, Ethelric, who had been forced to resign after a financial scandal. In 1059, Ethewin, along with Tostig and Cynesige archbishop of York, accompanied King Malcolm III of Scotland to King Edward's court, where Malcom may have acknowledged Edward as Malcom's overlord. Ethewin oversaw the translation of the relics of Saint Oswine of Deira to Durham in 1065.

He was initially loyal to King William after the Norman Conquest, and in the summer of 1068 he submitted to William at York. The submission followed on the heels of William building the first castle at York and receiving the submission of most of the northern thegns. Ethelwin also brought word from King Malcolm that the Scottish king wished to live in peace with the new English king. King William sent Ethewin back to Malcolm's court with William's terms, which were accepted. In 1069, when the new earl of Northumbria Robert de Comines came north to begin governing, it was Ethelwin who warned the new earl about an English army loose in the area. Unfortunately, the new earl did not pay heed to the warning, and was surprised and burned to death in the bishop's house on 29 January 1069. When King William marched north in retaliation on the scorched earth campaign generally known as the Harrying of the North, Ethelwin tried to flee with many Northumbrian treasures (including the body of Saint Cuthbert) to Lindisfarne, but he was caught, outlawed, imprisoned, and later died in confinement in the winter of 1071–1072; his see being temporarily left vacant until William appointed the native of Lorraine William Walcher, the first prince-bishop.

Notes

References

• Barlow, Frank Edward the Confessor Berkeley: University of California Press 1970 ISBN 0-520-01671-8
• British History Online Bishops of Durham accessed on 25 October 2007
• Fletcher, Richard Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England Oxford: Oxford University Press 2003 ISBN 0-19-516136-X
• Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology. Third Edition, revised, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition Oxford:Oxford University Press 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5
• Walker, Ian Harold: The Last Anglo-Saxon King Wrens Park Publishing 2000 ISBN 0-905-778-464
• Williams, Ann (2000). The English and the Norman Conquest. Ipswich: Boydell Press.

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