Wilfrid

(634–709)

   Saint and Bishop.

   Although educated at the Celtic monastery of Lindisfarne, Northumbria, Wilfrid studied Roman practices and he spent three years in Lyons. He was elected Abbot of Ripon where he introduced the Rule of St Benedict and at the Synod of Whitby in 664 he strongly supported the victorious Roman party. Subsequently he was consecrated Bishop of York in France, but, when he arrived at the see, he found chad already in residence. Although Archbishop theodore found for Wilfrid, Theodore and Wilfrid soon quarrelled and Wilfrid was imprisoned and then spent time as a missionary in Sussex. He was reinstated in 686, but then came into conflict with King Aldfrith. In 703 Archbishop Brihtwold insisted that he should resign from York and retire to his monastery. Wilfrid appealed to Rome who found in his favour, but none the less he did hand over the diocese to John of Beverley. Wilfrid is remembered as an important figure in leading the Church in England to obedience to Rome.

   E.S. Duckett, Anglo-Saxon Saints and Scholars (1948);

   A. Warin, Wilfrid: The Biography of an Outstanding Personality in Church and State (1992).