Æthelric (bishop of Durham)

Æthelric (or Ethelric; died 1072) was Bishop of Durham from 1041 to 1056 when he resigned.[1]

Æthelric
Bishop of Durham
Appointedbefore 11 January 1041
Term ended1056
PredecessorEadred
SuccessorÆthelwine
Orders
Consecration11 January 1041
Personal details
Died15 October 1072
Westminster
DenominationChristian

Æthelric was a monk at Peterborough Abbey before Bishop Eadmund of Durham brought him to Durham to instruct the Durham monks in monastic life.[2] Æthelric was consecrated as bishop on 11 January 1041[1] at York.[Note 1] Æthelric may have owed his advancement to Siward, Earl of Northumbria, who later restored Æthelric to Durham after Æthelric was forced to flee during a quarrel with the Durham monks.[2] Two reasons are given for why Æthelric resigned his see.[5] One story has it happening after a scandal in which he appropriated treasure hoard that was discovered at Chester-le-Street in the process of replacing the old church with a new one.[6] Æthelric allegedly sent the money to his former monastery of Peterborough to finance some building work there.[7] Another reason given was that Æthelric was unable to protect the diocese against locals encroaching on its rights. Æthelric also resigned within a year of the death of Earl Siward, who had been one of the bishop's main supporters.[5] His brother, Æthelwine, who had helped Æthelric to appropriate the treasure, succeeded Æthelric as bishop.[6]

Æthelric retired to Peterborough Abbey, where he remained until the Norman Conquest.[8] He was arrested by the King William I of England after May 1070, and died in captivity at Westminster,[8][9][10] on 15 October 1072.[1]

Notes
  1. In Manuscript D of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle it is commented that he was consecrated as the Archbishop of York and became the Bishop of Durham after being deprived of this title.[3] He is listed as archbishop in the 1961 edition of the Handbook of British Chronology but not in later editions.[4]

Citations
  1. Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 216
  2. Fletcher Bloodfeud p. 137
  3. Points, Combined Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, p. 93
  4. Powicke & Fryde, Handbook of British Chronology, 2nd Edition, p. 264.
  5. Kapelle Norman Conquest of the North pp. 89–90
  6. Fletcher Bloodfeud p. 156
  7. Mason House of Godwine pp. 124–125
  8. Williams English and the Norman Conquest p. 45
  9. Fletcher Bloodfeud p. 185
  10. Stafford Unification and Conquest p. 104

References
  • Fletcher, R. A. (2003). Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516136-X.
  • Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
  • Kapelle, William E. (1979). The Norman Conquest of the North: The Region and Its Transformation. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-1371-0.
  • Mason, Emma (2004). House of Godwine: The History of Dynasty. London: Hambledon & London. ISBN 1-85285-389-1.
  • Points, Guy (2013). The Combined Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. ISBN 978-0-9557679-6-8.
  • Powicke, F. Maurice; Fryde, E. B. (1961). Handbook of British Chronology (2nd ed.). London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society.
  • Stafford, Pauline (1989). Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries. London: Edward Arnold. ISBN 0-7131-6532-4.
  • Williams, Ann (2000). The English and the Norman Conquest. Ipswich, UK: Boydell Press. ISBN 0-85115-708-4.

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