Bregowine

Bregowine
Archbishop of Canterbury
Appointed	759
Term ended	764
Predecessor	Cuthbert
Successor	Jænberht
Orders
Consecration	27 September 761
Personal details
Died	August 764
Buried	Canterbury
Sainthood
Feast day	26 August
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church^[1] Anglican Communion^[2]
Canonized	Pre-Congregation

Bregowine (or Bregwine^[2] or Bregwin;^[1] died August 764) was a medieval Archbishop of Canterbury. Little is known of his origins or his activities as archbishop, although a number of stories were told about his possible origins after the Norman conquest in 1066. There are no records of him prior to his becoming archbishop. He possibly owed his elevation to the Kentish monarch. The records after his elevation to Canterbury are mainly about disputes over land, but knowledge of his time in office is hampered by the destruction of many of the contemporary records. After his death, he was considered a saint and a life about him was written in the 12th century.

Life

Various stories have been told about Bregowine's origins, including that he was a nobleman and a continental Saxon who converted to Christianity and came to Canterbury because of the saintly reputation of Theodore of Tarsus. Others say that he owed his elevation to King Æthelbert II of Kent, but all these stories rest on works that were written after the Norman conquest of England in 1066. There are no contemporary records of Bregowine before he was archbishop. It does not appear, however, that he was of Mercian origins like his predecessors Tatwin and Nothhelm.^[1]

Whatever his upbringing, Bregowine was consecrated as archbishop on 27 September 761.^[3] His election took place in a brief period when Kent was free of Mercian dominance between 756 and 764, so the story that he owed his election to Æthelbert does fit with the time frame.^[4] He wrote letters to Archbishop Lul of Mainz which still exist, and which discuss an earlier meeting between the two men. Other activities as archbishop are recorded in surviving charters. One records that he protested at the loss of a church at Cookham that was confiscated by King Cynewulf of Wessex sometime after 760. Another surviving charter from Dunwald, a thegn of King Æthelbert, concerning land in Canterbury, records that Bregowine consented to the gift of land. Unfortunately, many of the early charters of the diocese of Canterbury are lost, which restricts knowledge of Bregowine's activities as archbishop.^[1]

Bregowine died in 764^[3] and was originally buried in the baptistry in Canterbury, but his remains were moved to the choir of Canterbury Cathedral in 1123. This followed an attempt in around 1121 to remove his remains to another monastery, which came to nothing.^[1] The remains were placed by the altar of St Gregory in the south transept, after having been briefly placed in the north transept.^[2] Bregowine was later considered a saint, with a feast day of 26 August, although Florence of Worcester, a 12th-century writer, recorded his death date as 24 August.^[2] Other sources record the death date as 25 August. His life was later written by Eadmer in the 12th century.^[1]

Citations

1 2 3 4 5 6 Williams "Bregowine" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
1 2 3 4 Farmer Oxford Dictionary of Saints p. 75
1 2 Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 214
↑ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury p. 80

References

Brooks, Nicholas (1984). The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066. London: Leicester University Press. ISBN 0-7185-0041-5.
Farmer, David Hugh (2004). Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Fifth ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860949-0.
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.
Williams, Ann (2004). "Bregowine (d. 764)" ((subscription or UK public library membership required)). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/3310. Retrieved 7 November 2007.

External links

Bregowine 1 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England

Christian titles
Preceded by Cuthbert	Archbishop of Canterbury 759–764	Succeeded by Jænberht

Archbishops of Canterbury

Pre-Conquest	Augustine Laurence Mellitus Justus Honorius Deusdedit Wighard Theodore of Tarsus Berhtwald Tatwine Nothhelm Cuthbert Bregowine Jænberht Æthelhard Wulfred Feologild Ceolnoth Æthelred Plegmund Athelm Wulfhelm Oda Ælfsige Byrhthelm Dunstan Æthelgar Sigeric the Serious Ælfric of Abingdon Ælfheah Lyfing Æthelnoth Eadsige Robert of Jumièges Stigand

Conquest–Reformation	Lanfranc Anselm Ralph d'Escures William de Corbeil Theobald of Bec Thomas Becket Roger de Bailleul Richard of Dover Baldwin of Forde Reginald Fitz Jocelin Hubert Walter Reginald John de Gray Stephen Langton Walter d'Eynsham Richard le Grant Ralph Neville John of Sittingbourne John Blund Edmund of Abingdon Boniface William Chillenden Robert Kilwardby Robert Burnell John Peckham Robert Winchelsey Thomas Cobham Walter Reynolds Simon Mepeham John de Stratford John de Ufford Thomas Bradwardine Simon Islip William Edington Simon Langham William Whittlesey Simon Sudbury William Courtenay Thomas Arundel Roger Walden Thomas Arundel Henry Chichele John Stafford John Kemp Thomas Bourchier John Morton Thomas Langton Henry Deane William Warham Thomas Cranmer Reginald Pole

Post-Reformation	Matthew Parker Edmund Grindal John Whitgift Richard Bancroft George Abbot William Laud William Juxon Gilbert Sheldon William Sancroft John Tillotson Thomas Tenison William Wake John Potter Thomas Herring Matthew Hutton Thomas Secker Frederick Cornwallis John Moore Charles Manners-Sutton William Howley John Sumner Charles Longley Archibald Tait Edward Benson Frederick Temple Randall Davidson Cosmo Lang William Temple Geoffrey Fisher Michael Ramsey Donald Coggan Robert Runcie George Carey Rowan Williams Justin Welby

Italics indicate a person who was elected but not confirmed.

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