Æthelnoth

ON ST. ÆTHELNOTH, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY IN ENGLAND,

IN THE YEAR 1038.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Æthelnoth, archbishop of Canterbury in England. (S.)

BY R. D. B.

§ I. The cult of St. Æthelnoth. His functions before the episcopate. His journey into Italy.

At the preceding day we have pursued the deeds of St. Eadsige, archbishop of Canterbury; St. Æthelnoth is venerated now the Acts are to be cleared up of his immediate predecessor St. Ædelnodus or Agelnodus, surnamed the Good [Wm. of Malmesbury, De gestis regum Angliæ, lib. II, pag. 75, in Savile, Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores post Bedam. Roger of Hoveden, tom. I, part. I, pag. 87, London edit. 1868. Ralph de Diceto, in Wharton, Anglia sacra, tom. II, pag. 683.], whom the ancient writers sometimes call Agelnothus, Athelnodus, Ægelnothus, Ednodus, or even Æthelnotus. We shall call him Ædelnodus or Ægelnodus, since he himself named himself in this way, subscribing diplomas. In what age, whether immediately upon his death or afterwards, the cult of the saints began to be paid to him is less clear, since the more ancient documents show nothing of the kind. Yet shortly after his happy death Osbern, biographer of St. Elphege the martyr, called him a holy and good man Acta SS. Ordinis S. Benedicti, sæc. VI, part. I, pag. 124, Paris edit. 1701., which we shall see below; likewise the author of the Encomium of Emma, queen of the English, a man endowed with every virtue and wisdom In Duchesne, Scriptt. historiæ Normannorum, pag. 174.. In the most ancient obituaries of the Church of Canterbury he was proclaimed a man of pious memory Wharton, Anglia sacra, tom. I, pag. 54.. William of Malmesbury, a not ignoble writer of the twelfth century, wrote this praise of him De gestis regum Angl., pag. 75, in Savile.: There were then in England very great and very wise men, of whom the chief was Archbishop Egelnothus, after Living; he then much extols his holiness. But everyone sees that all these eulogies fall not above the person but above his manners Cf. Benedict XIV, De beatif. SS., lib. II, cap. 23, num. 1., and accordingly are signs of veneration rather than of cult. The first of the writers who meets us, Trithemius, a truly distinguished man, who died in the year 1516, calls him a saint, and does not indicate in what way the blessed archbishop was honored: but from this however it is gathered that ecclesiastical cult was paid to him a hundred years before the decrees of Urban VIII of the year 1634.

[2] on the 30th day of October. Trithemius in the Catalogue of illustrious men of the Order of St. Benedict, listing in book III the HOLY AND CANONIZED men of that Order, writes at cap. 247: Of St. Egelnothus, bishop. Egelnothus, from a monk made archbishop of Canterbury in England, a man most renowned in wisdom and holiness, usefully spent great labors in the Church of God, and left a good many traces of his holiness Works of Trithemius, pag. 103, Busæus edit.; indeed he adds, in the Chronicle of Hirsau, that he was renowned for holiness of life and learning in the scriptures, and afterwards made archbishop of the church of Canterbury, turned out distinguished in great holiness by the attestation of miracles Trithemius, Opera hist., tom. II, pag. 50, Marquard edit.. Trithemius, as no one will wonder, was followed, in assigning to St. Æthelnoth also the feast day of the 30th of October, by Mabillon Acta SS. Ordinis S. Benedicti, sæcul. VI, part. I, pag. 447, Paris edit. 1701., the author of the English Martyrology of which Alford speaks Annales Eccles. Anglic., tom. III, pag. 513., Ferrari in the Catalogue of Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology, Bucelin in the Benedictine Menology, Ghini in the work entitled Natal Days of the Holy Canons, Chastelain in the Universal Martyrology, Richard Challoner, vicar apostolic of London A memorial of ancient British piety, pag. 151., a man especially versed in the hagiological affairs of England, and others [John Pits, Relationum histor. tom. I, pag. 183. Nicolas, The chronol. of history, Roman and church Calendar, 30 Oct.]. Whether St. Æthelnoth was patron of any church or place I would dare neither to affirm nor to deny, since historical monuments on this matter are now wholly lacking. Yet I judge that Chastelain had some such thing under his eyes, who, as we said, named Æthelnoth a saint in the Universal Martyrology. For he notes in the Additions attached by him to this book that he gave the appellation of saint to no servant of God unless his cult was wholly lawful, either from the fact that a church or altar had been dedicated in his honor, or because his name in ancient calendars or

martyrologies was inscribed, or because he had been honored as a saint in a certain place, or because he had been canonized according to the usual norm Martyrologe Universel, Avertissement..

[3] He was first a monk of Glastonbury, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury. The old writers who spoke of St. Eadsige for the most part also recorded St. Æthelnoth. To these add only Osbern of Clare, and the contemporary writer of the Encomium of Queen Emma, whose words we have just brought forward. Yet no one, except the moderns Parker, Godwin, Walter Hook, or perhaps other more recent authors, has written the Life of the blessed archbishop: and so we must gather what is indicated about his history among the old writers. Let us begin from his birth. Among others Florence of Worcester, Roger of Hoveden and Bartholomew Cotton report that he was the son of the nobleman Ægelmar; yet they do not add what functions Ægelmar discharged. When he was being baptized by blessed Dunstan, says the writer of the history of the monastery of Glastonbury Monasticon Anglic., tom. I, pag. 8, edit. 1655., he held up his hand, in the manner of a bishop blessing the people; whence blessed Dunstan, divinely inspired, foretold that he would be archbishop. Riper in age, he professed the monastic life in the convent of St. Mary at Glastonbury, of the Order of St. Benedict Ibid. Wm. of Malmesbury, De gestis regum Anglor., lib. II, pag. 75. in Savile.; then he was dean of Christ Church Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, at the year 1020., that is, of the cathedral of Canterbury; at length in the year 1020, on the death of Living, archbishop of Canterbury, he succeeded him. That his consecration was carried out on the ides of November we read in the Peterborough Chronicle Chron. Petrib., at the year 1020.. Ralph and Bartholomew Cotton add that before he was advanced to this surpassing dignity he was bishop of Lincoln Ralph, tom. II, pag. 197, Stubbs edit. Cotton, pag. 362, Luard edit.. But this no other ancient writer indirectly indicates; and Bartholomew, probably deceived by the likeness of names, must have taken Bl. Æthelnoth for Eadnoth, who, from the year 1034 to the year of his death, 1049, sat as bishop in the chair of Lincoln. The author of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle At the year 1020, in Mon. britt., pag. 427. and Roger of Hoveden Chronica, tom. I, pag. 87, Stubbs edit. narrate that he was ordained bishop by Wulfstan, archbishop of York: of which matter there survives as testimony a diploma of Wulfstan himself, saying that he carried out this ceremony at the command of King Cnut or Canute and Queen Emma; nor is this any wonder, since at that time the elections of bishops were in the hands of kings Lingard, The hist. and antiq. of the Anglo-Saxon Church, tom. I, pag. 85.. It was also the received custom that the archbishop of York should impart episcopal anointing to the archbishop of Canterbury, and vice versa.

[4] He goes to Rome to seek the pallium. Two years later he proceeded to Rome, to seek the pallium from Benedict VIII: which otherwise, as we saw in the Historical Commentary on St. Eadsige Cf. above, pag. 18., would not have been granted to him. Having received this on the nones of October Anglo-Saxon Chronicle at the year 1022, in Mon. britann., pag. 427., he had to pay a huge sum of money to the Roman curia. For such a tribute was imposed in that age on the archbishops of Canterbury and York asking for the pallium at Rome: which we gather from the letter which King Canute, returning from Rome in the year 1031, wrote to St. Æthelnoth and the other bishops of England and the whole English people: I complained again, he says, before the Lord pope (Benedict VIII) and pleaded that it greatly displeased me that my archbishops were so oppressed by the immensity of the money which was demanded of them, when for receiving the pallium, according to custom, they sought the apostolic see: and it was decreed that this should not take place thereafter [Ibid., pag. 596. Savile, pag. 74. Cf. R. of Cirencester, tom. II, pag. 180 et seq. Ralph de Diceto, Abbreviationes Chron., tom. I, pag. 175, Stubbs edit.]. Of the blessed man's Roman journey the author of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle also narrates: Bishop Æthelnoth set out for Rome, and was received by Pope Benedict (VIII) with great honor; and he with his own hand clothed him with his pallium, and honorably consecrated him archbishop. He afterwards, clothed in the same pallium, celebrated Masses, as the Pope had commanded him, and then refreshed himself with food with the Pope, and at length returned home with full blessing. The chronographer adds: Likewise Abbot Leofwin, who had been unjustly driven (from the monastery) at Ely, was his companion, and he cleared himself of every crime of which (as he had learned from the Pope) he had been accused, the archbishop and the whole company who were with him testifying Anglo-Saxon Chronicle at the year 1022, edit. 1692, pag. 152..

[5] From Pavia he brings with him to England the arm of St. Augustine. Returning home, says William of Malmesbury, at Pavia he bought the arm of St. Augustine the doctor for a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold, and sent it to Coventry Gesta regum Anglor., in Savile, pag. 75.. These things in the book of the Deeds of the kings of the English. The same William reports in book IV of the Deeds of the Bishops of the English: In Cheshire at Coventry is held the arm of the great Augustine, enclosed in a silver case, and in the chasing are seen letters of this kind: THIS ARM OF ST. AUGUSTINE ARCHBISHOP EGELNODUS, RETURNING FROM ROME, BOUGHT AT PAVIA FOR A HUNDRED TALENTS OF SILVER AND A TALENT OF GOLD [Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, pag. 311, Hamilton edit. Cf. John of Oxnead, pag. 19, Ellis edit. Cf. Acta SS., tom. VI of August, pag. 378.]. Shortly afterwards, that is in the year 1023, St. Æthelnoth translated the relics of St. Ælfheah to Canterbury from London Anglo-Saxon Chronicle at the year 1023.. This matter, as being most memorable, most old historians of England inscribed in their books, some referring it, like the author of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, to the month of June Mon. britann., pag. 428.; others to the month of March T. Duffus Hardy, Desc. Catalogue, tom. I, part. II, pag. 622., following Osbern, a contemporary author, an ear-witness, and a very sincere one. Of that writing, which our predecessors vehemently desired, in adorning with commentaries the Acts of St. Ælfheah or Elphege, martyr, they could insert only a summary in the Bollandian Work Acta SS., tom. II of April, pag. 641.: now it is permitted to show it whole.

§ II. The translation of St. Elphege. The friendship between St. Æthelnoth and King Cnut.

St. Æthelnoth translates the body of St. Elphege, First it must be called to memory that St. Elphege was killed by the Danes, who were laying waste Canterbury with fire and iron in the year 1012, and that before he met his death he said to them, unless they took up the Christian religion: You will indeed perish by a worse death than Sodom, nor will you strike root in this land forever [Ibid., pag. 640. Cf. Mabillon, Acta SS. O. S. B., tom. VIII, pag. 111 et seqq., edit. 1733.]. The truth of this prophecy the Danes perceiving in the year 1023, they made diligent effort that the holy martyr should turn away every calamity from them, and be propitiously at hand for them. Osbern narrates this, describing the translation of St. Elphege from London to Canterbury: But the prince of the Danes Cnut, he says, when he saw his people being most dreadfully slaughtered without ceasing by the army of the English, and that he was now almost compelled to surrender on account of the difficulty of affairs; summoning all the wiser English who had fled to him, consulted them on what might be the cause that so many adverse things had befallen him. All of whom answering with one voice said: "It is the prophecy of the venerable martyr Elphege; who, when he had been beset by your fathers with cruel interrogation, foretold to them that they would not strike root perpetually in the kingdom of the English, but would perish by a worse death than Sodom. Now therefore, if you wish to make him placable in your times, bind yourself to him by the covenant of this promise; that when the succession of affairs shall be happy, you will take the venerable relics of his body from the place in which they are laid, and strive to transfer them to the seat of his patriarchate, preserving the custom of the ancients." The prince therefore assented to the senators' counsel; on the counsel follows the declaration of divine propitiation. For not many days later Cnut obtained peace, after peace half the kingdom, after half the whole. And when rest had been given on all sides from every tumult of wars, recalling what he had once promised to blessed Elphege, he sent an embassy and called Archbishop Egelnothus, who at that time held the highest priesthood in the holy church of Canterbury: a holy and good man, and very acceptable to the king, because he had anointed him with holy Chrism. He, arriving at London on the Saturday of the vigils of Pentecost, sent word to the king, who happened to be going down to the baths, that he was present, and was awaiting in the church of blessed Paul the apostle what he wished to determine. On hearing this he without delay rose from the bath, covered his naked body only with a cloak, put simple slippers on his feet, and so made for the bishop with brisk step; ordering all the soldiers of his household, whom they call in the tongue of the Danes Huscarles, that some of them should stir up seditions by the outer gates of the city, others, armed, should beset the bridge and the banks of the river, lest the people of London should be able to hinder them as they went out with the body of the saint.

[7] King Cnut willing it, The king therefore, entering the church, embraced the archbishop, kissing him; and at once, the doors being barred, he said with a glad and at the same time trembling voice: "Behold the day which the Lord has made, that on it the treasure of the relics of lord Elphege may be transferred from the house of his lodging to the house of his patriarchate." At which saying the priest, terrified beyond what can be said, for he did not know for what reason he had been called by the king, said in great anguish of mind: "May almighty God not impute it to you, my lord king, that you wished to do this, and did not indicate to me the counsel of your mind, that I might come better instructed and in all things more prepared; lest I should fall, slain, in the midst of this so great a city. Or if it has pleased you to begin so difficult a thing, why at least have you not brought men who could be ministers of this work? Since the stone placed at the entrance of the tomb is of so great a weight that it could hardly be moved by many pairs of oxen; much less should it be rolled back by two monks, who alone are present. This consideration is inept. Another time and other forces are to be considered." To whom the king, greatly strengthened in the Lord, said: "In this, holy Father, it will especially appear that that blessed man will wish to pass with us, if what is impossible to men he by his own power makes possible. For difficulty has always been accustomed to beget a miracle. Let your Holiness therefore prostrate himself to God in prayer; let the monks confidently come to open the entrance of the sepulchre. I will lean on the doors of the portals as doorkeeper."

[8] and the monks giving their effort, And so, the blessing of the Bishop being asked and received, the monks, of whom one was Godric, once disciple of the same martyr, and some years later dean of the Church of Canterbury, from whom these things

all that we narrate we have received after diligent inquiry; and the other was called Alfward, surnamed the tall, to whom it was given to have once attached himself to the great Dunstan. These therefore, having received the blessing, seized an iron candlestick which stood opposite, attempting to break open the upper structure, most firmly cemented with mason's work. And as those men have asserted, who invoked God as witness of their assertion, the monks had hardly lightly applied their hands, when the smaller stones, the mortar and whatever of the work stood out above fell, like the leaves of trees shaken at the first of winter. And when they had come to the stone, the cover of the open tomb, they knelt with bent knees on the ground, and putting their shoulders under it drove it, and soon tore it away to the other side with easy motion. Which is truly wondrous beyond what is credible: since, as we said before, what many pairs of oxen could not drag, that stone two monks alone rolled back with a light push. So the king and archbishop ran up, terrified with wonder, they looked within with tearful eyes, they saw that one-time organ of the Holy Spirit lying incorrupt, and that there was no rotten injury in the whole body. And reckoning the series of years, they found that that was the tenth * year since the same saint had been laid there. So the king cried out strongly for joy, and poured out such prayers mingled with tears: "Most holy Father, he said, most sweet above every delight, most blessed Father, most precious above all the treasures of the world, have mercy on this sinner; nor let either my former unworthiness stand in my way, or the cruelty of my parents carried out against you, against the just and good man. I confess you to be the most powerful friend of the eternal king; and thereafter as long as I live, I will establish you as my advocate. Save me, save all you, with eternal salvation; and deign to set out with us, to make great gladness for your sons."

[9] to Canterbury; The highest priest of God, drawing nearer to handle and lift the venerable body with his hands, was burning in mind, finding nowhere a board on which, placed, it might be carried to the ship. And when he stood in doubt, in great despair, he noticed a wooden board spread under the body, extended in length and breadth to the measure of the body, as if the first buriers had placed it there only for this, that the same saint might one day be lifted from there without any difficulty, the body untouched. Glad therefore and made joyful beyond hope, they took a linen cloth, which the minister Godric had brought with him for the service of the Bishop, and in it they wrapped the sacrosanct limbs together with the wood lying beneath. But since some part of the body still remained uncovered, the aforesaid monk ran to the altar of St. Paul the apostle, and seizing the cloth lying on it, placed in exchange for the cloth half a pound of gold, and returned with quick course to wrap what remained. Then the precious treasure of the precious body being lifted on the shoulders of the monks, they went down by a narrow route through the way that leads to the river Thames, the king and archbishop following them, each of them intent on God with the whole vigilance of his mind. And now they had begun to draw near to the river, when behold the royal ship, beaked with golden dragons, filled with armed soldiers, presented itself to meet the coming martyr. Leaping onto it sooner than can be said, the king with arms spread received the martyr, then with right hand stretched out brought in the Bishop. Soon, the ship being pushed from the shore, the king sat holding the rudder, directing the ship to the opposite bank of the river. You might have seen then the great power of God favoring the service of the martyr. While on the one side you beheld the bridge and all the banks of the river spread with mailed soldiers; on the other you heard pretended seditions stirred up by the outer gates of the city; you might attend to the king steering the ship, a noble oarsman pulling the oars, the archbishop praying, and the holy monks rendering service. From there at once the land being reached, the king was the first to go out of the ship, he took the body and placed it on a vehicle. After this he sent it ahead with a strong band of soldiers. But he himself sat with the archbishop on the far edge of the bridge, until those who had gone ahead were farther removed from the city. For he feared the irruptions of the citizens. Then rising, and playing on the archbishop with liberal jests, he said: "You have been freed, and by my gift, from the peril of death, from which you judged that you could not be freed. Now set out secure to the saint; and humbly pray that he may favor our times. I would go along with you, if I were not occupied, as you know, with the great business of the kingdom. The queen dwells in Kent with my son Harthacnut; I will order them to come to meet you with all the nobility."

[10] which there with great solemnity Separated therefore from the king, the archbishop followed those going ahead with a huge crowd of Huscarles. And when he had now come so near that the dust raised to heaven could be seen by those going ahead and ever turning their eyes back behind them; those same who were going ahead, suspecting that the citizens had come out of the city, promptly sent ahead with a few the monks, ministers and the martyr. And they themselves, coming to the village of Plumstead, beset the narrow places, setting three defenses * with three troops, having a soul ready to die for love of the blessed martyr. But seeing close at hand the banner of the cross, they recognized as companions those whom they feared as adversaries; and they found a greater joy than they had thought. So as they went on in this way, and stayed the same night at the estate which is called Earthea, there came to meet them an infinite multitude of Kent, footmen mingled with horsemen, women with men, young men with old; each by their troops leading choirs, striking harps, and as it were leading the ark of the Lord's covenant in jubilation. You might believe that not otherwise did the sons of Israel sing together, either when Moses the prophet of God led them out of the midst of the Red Sea with dry feet, or when King David transferred the ark of the Lord from the midst of Aminadab into his city.

[11] is received. But the citizens of Canterbury, when they had heard that the father of their life and the companion of their death had arrived, like Jacob on account of Joseph as if roused from a heavy sleep, and melting into tears for joy, sprang forth to meet him; glad that they could see again him whose manifold benefits their parents had felt both in life and in death. Above all men the monks of Christ Church bore the greater gladness, as they adorned the church with solemn rite, put on levitical and priestly vestments; some drew the bells, rattling with frequent movements; others carried in their hands lamps, gospels, jeweled crosses, and with tuneful voices went forward to meet him beyond the long city boundary. Then received with the ineffable dancing of the whole city of Canterbury, he was translated to the church not of the Teacher of the nations as formerly, but of the Saviour of all, which while living he had always cultivated with love, strengthened with power, for which also and with which he had borne death, and in the same, not as one newly lamented, but honored as living with God forever, he was placed. And when the third day dawned, Queen Emma arrived with all the nobility that was with her; and offering gifts in various kinds of dear things, she blessed the living God, who to the honor and glory of his name brought back with such great magnificence him whom the enemy to his blasphemy led away with such great reproach. And that the same most sacred Father might show his sons some crumb of his grace, after seven days he restored speech to a certain mute; a little later he returned another, bound in iron, loosed, the iron being broken In Wharton, part. II, pag. 144 et seq..

[12] He was very acceptable to King Cnut; In which historical document we see that St. Æthelnoth was very acceptable to King Cnut, because he had anointed him with holy Chrism (as king of the English). This Gervase also reports In Twysden, Historiæ Anglicanæ Scriptores, col. 1651., using nearly the same words as Osbern. But that the cause of the bond between St. Æthelnoth and Cnut was another will be the opinion of those who have read in Brompton Ibid., pag. 906., Ingulph In Savile, Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores, pag. 892. and Ralph de Diceto [In Wharton, Anglia sacra, tom. II, pag. 683. Cf. Langebek, Scriptt. rerum Danicarum, tom. II, pag. 454.] that Cnut was consecrated king by Living, the immediate predecessor of St. Æthelnoth. The bond itself is made beyond doubt by the words of William of Malmesbury, saying: Egelnothus … did many works worthy of praiseworthy memory, soothing the king himself by the authority of his holiness in good acts, terrifying him in excesses Wm. of Malmesbury, De gestis regum Anglorum, lib. II, pag. 75, in Savile.. Hence at the blessed archbishop's admonition the king, sending money to churches overseas, especially enriched Chartres; where at that time Bishop Fulbert flourished, most renowned in holiness and philosophy Ibid., pag. 76. Ralph de Diceto, in Wharton, tom. II, pag. 683.. Here too is to be referred what the same William narrates of the contention between the king and the bishop concerning the holiness of St. Edith: To Æthelred, he says, succeeded Cnut, a Dane by nation, an effective man, but one who for ancestral enmities did not love the English saints. More contumacious by this habit, when one Pentecost he was at Wilton, he poured out solemn guffaws at the virgin herself (Edith): "That he would never believe that the daughter of King Edgar was holy, who, given to vices and especially a slave of lust, had been closer to a tyrant toward his subjects." While he was belching these things in barbaric crudity, serving his stomach, Archbishop Ednodus, who was present, contradicted him. Cnut, more stirred up, ordered the sepulchre to be opened, to see what of holiness the dead virgin might bring. The mausoleum being broken open, the deceased, with a veil spread before her face, was seen to rise up to the waist and make an attack on the contumacious king. Disturbed with fear at this, his head drawn far back and the stiffness of his knees weakened, he slipped and fell to the ground. The fall bruised his body, so that, his breath being long cut off, he was thought lifeless. But his vigor gradually returning, he blushed at his death *, in that though severely chastised, he had been kept for repentance [Wm. of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, pag. 190, Hamilton edit. Cf. Ranulf Higden, Polychronicon, tom. VI, pag. 476. Brompton, in Twysden, col. 909.].

[13] to whom after death he kept faith, To Cnut, taken from the living in the year 1036, St. Æthelnoth kept faith: of which matter he gave distinguished testimony, unwilling to confer the royal anointing on any other than the son of the king born of Emma. Namely after Cnut's death the kingdom of England, says Ingulph In Savile, pag. 895., was divided between two brothers (sons of Cnut, of whom one) Harthacnut … (born of Emma), received the southern provinces beyond the river Thames, Harold (sprung from another marriage), the northern with London, and the whole land around the said river. Harthacnut therefore, having received his portion, went to Denmark; where when he was drawing out delays longer than was right, Harold was raised as king over all England: which things being done, Harold asked St. Æthelnoth to place the royal crown of England on his head; but the holy archbishop refused, because he had promised King Cnut that he would do no such thing while the sons of Emma were living. This matter the contemporary writer committed to letters in the Encomium of Queen Emma, saying: Who, being elected (Harold), and fearing what was to come, soon summons Archbishop Ælnotus, a man endowed with every virtue and wisdom: and commands and begs to be blessed as king, and for himself

that there be handed over with the crown the royal sceptre committed to his keeping, and that he be led by him, since it was not lawful by another, to the lofty throne of the kingdom. The archbishop refused, asserting under oath that he would approve or bless no one else as king (while the sons of Queen Emma were living): "These Cnut committed to my faith, to these I owe faith, and to these I will keep fidelity. I place the sceptre and crown on the sacred altar, and this I neither refuse you nor deliver: but I forbid all the bishops by apostolic authority that any of them should take them, or deliver them to you, or bless you. But you, if you presume, seize what I have committed to God and his table." What the wretch should do, whither he should turn, he did not know. He held out threats, and gained nothing. He paid out gifts, and profited nothing; he grieved, because the apostolic man could neither be cast down by threats nor bent by gifts. At length he went away in despair, and so spurned the episcopal blessing that he not only hated the blessing itself, but also fled the whole religion of Christianity In Duchesne, Histor. Normannorum Scriptt., pag. 174..

[14] unwilling to crown any but the sons of Emma. Yet that he was afterwards crowned is reported both by others and by Richard of Cirencester, where he says Speculum histor., tom. II, pag. 186, Mayor edit.: In the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1036 at Westminster he was distinguished with the diadem of the kingdom of England. The same had long before been recorded by Ingulph, a contemporary writer: Harold, he says, gave to our monastery (of Croyland) the cloak of his coronation, of silk, woven with golden flowers, which the sacristan afterwards changed into a cope: and he would have done us more good things (so great a favor had the lord abbot Brithmer found with him), had not a swift death too hastily taken him away, as he was still creeping at the doors of the kingdom In Savile, pag. 905.. Although this very ancient writer does not hand down which bishop bound Harold with the royal insignia, Walter Hook indicates blessed Eadsige, while others, like Ralph de Diceto In Wharton, tom. II, pag. 683., the popular Peter of Ickham Le Livere de Reis de Britannie, pag. 114, Glover edit., and Brompton Chronicon, in Twysden, col. 932., blessed Æthelnoth. It is well to copy out Peter's words: This Harold was crowned by Ethelnoth, archbishop of Canterbury, at Kingston. Some say that he was made king by King Canute, when the latter returned from Rome, or in the year 1032. To which notation of the times we may not assent, seeing that it conflicts with what was handed down by that excellent and contemporary author of the Encomium of Queen Emma J. Langebek, Scriptt. rerum Danicarum, tom. II, pag. 472.. Nor on Harold only, if we wish to listen to the same Peter and Ralph de Diceto, but on Harthacnut himself did blessed Æthelnoth place the diadem, and that at London, in the year 1040. But these things again are to be rejected, as they conflict with the narratives both of other historians and of Ralph himself: for he had said a little before that Bl. Æthelnoth died in the year 1038.

[15] He consecrated a good many bishops and is reported to have written books. Nor did St. Æthelnoth, sitting in the primatial chair of Canterbury, forget that he had once been a nursling of the monastery of Glastonbury. Wherefore, when King Cnut made for the church of the monastery of Glastonbury, to pray to God at the tomb of St. Edmund the king, there stood by the king's side the aforesaid Edelnothus, who was the seventh from the convent of Glastonbury to preside over the chair of Canterbury. Having found this opportunity, he showed the king the privileges of his predecessors granted to the convent of Glastonbury, asked, and by asking obtained that he should confirm them by royal writing … This decree William of Malmesbury recites after the words brought forward In Savile, pag. 75. Kemble, Codex diplom., tom. IV, pag. 40.. He is also reported to have dedicated to God in the year 1032 the church of St. Edmund, king and martyr Bartholomew Cotton, pag. 363, Luard edit. John of Oxnead, Chronica, pag. 20., in honor of the Mother of God and of St. Edmund Matthew Paris, Chronica majora, tom. I, pag. 508., and also to have consecrated at Canterbury Joseph of Llandaff and Bleduc, bishop of St. David's Barth. Cotton, pag. 363. Cf. W. Rees, The liber Landavensis, pag. 241 and 518.. Likewise he ordained also Gerbrand as bishop, to preach the Christian religion in the northern kingdoms [Adam of Bremen, Gesta pontificum Hamburgensis Ecclesiæ, lib. II, cap. 92, col. 539, Migne edit.]. He himself gave a certain demesne land of the monastery of St. Mary of Reculver, namely 50 acres, on annual precarial grant to two ministers (of his) Ælfwold and Eadred, with the consent of our brother Guichard, dean of the same church of the holy mother of God, that they might have that land no longer than it should please the dean himself or his successor Codex diplom., tom. IV, pag. 53.. Nor have writers ancient or recent handed down other deeds of Bl. Æthelnoth. Add however that in the Chronicle of Hirsau, at the year 1043, Trithemius praises his learning in the Scriptures; and in the book on Ecclesiastical writers Opp. hist., part. I, pag. 262, Marquard Freher's edit.: Egelnotus, he says, archbishop of the Church of Canterbury in England, a man learned in the divine Scriptures, and not ignorant of secular letters, … is said to have written a beautiful work to the honor of God almighty; in praise of St. Mary, one book; of letters to various persons, one book; and certain other things. Nearly the same says Pits, who attributes to the holy bishop a book to Leofric, consul of Chester, on the arm of St. Augustine which he had brought with him from Italy; likewise one book to the said count; likewise one book to Fulbert, bishop of Chartres, on the praises of the Blessed Virgin Mary; moreover a book of Letters to various persons [Relationum historicarum de rebus Anglicis, tom. I, pag. 183. Cf. François, Dictionn. des écrivains de l'Ordre de S. Benoît, pag. 280. Dupin, Nouvelle biblioth. des auteurs ecclés., siècle XI, Paris edit. 1696.]. But, says Mabillon, whether those books exist anywhere, or whether they are in fact genuine offspring of blessed Egelnothus, we cannot assert, since none of the old writers, that we at least know of, has written of them.

[16] He died in the year 1038. That Bl. Æthelnoth departed from life in the year 1038 is reported (though with a few others Trithemius contradicts, who sets the year 1043) by the older writers: whom it is superfluous to name, since they are the same who narrate that St. Eadsige was created archbishop in the year 1038. Roger of Hoveden, Florence of Worcester, Brother Walter of Coventry Memoriale, pag. 54, Stubbs edit. and others [Cf Canon of Lichfield, in Wharton, tom. I, pag. 106. Ralph de Diceto, in Wharton, tom. II, pag. 683.] add that he died on the 4th before the kalends of November (29th of October). But not a few writers depart from this view: for a certain Canterbury obituary assigns as the day of death of St. Æthelnoth the 5th before the kalends of November (28th of October) In Wharton, tom. I, pag. 54.; Stephen Birchington the 3rd before the kalends of April (30th of March) Ibid., pag. 5.; a manuscript Martyrology which our predecessors recorded in the Bollandian Acts the 3rd before the kalends of November (30th of October) Acta SS., tom. II of April, pag. 642.. We learn from the chronicles that on the seventh day from Bl. Æthelnoth's death Egelric, bishop of Sussex, died: for he had asked of God that after the death of his most beloved father Egelnothus he should not live long in this light [Cf. Wharton, tom. II, pag. 683. Roger of Hoveden, tom. I, pag. 90, Stubbs edit. Walter of Coventry, tom. I, pag. 54, Stubbs edit.]. This distinguished friendship is praised by Brother Walter of Coventry, Roger of Hoveden and a good many others.

* rather XI, says Wharton.

* is it not præsidia?

* read lætus