Berhtwald

Berhtwald (died 731) was the ninth Archbishop of Canterbury in England. Documentary evidence names Berhtwald as abbot at Reculver before his election as archbishop. Berhtwald begins the first continuous series of native-born Archbishops of Canterbury, although there had been previous Anglo-Saxon archbishops, they had not succeeded each other until Berhtwald's reign.

Berhtwald
Archbishop of Canterbury
Elected1 July 692
Term ended13 January 731
PredecessorTheodore of Tarsus
SuccessorTatwine
Other post(s)Abbot of Reculver
Orders
Consecration29 June 693
by Godwin
Personal details
Diedprobably 13 January 731
BuriedCanterbury
Sainthood
Feast day9 January
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church
CanonizedPre-Congregation

Berhtwald's period as archbishop coincided with the end of Wilfrid's long struggle to regain the Bishopric of York, and the two-year delay between Theodore's death and Berhtwald's election may have been due to efforts to select Wilfrid for Canterbury. After his election, Berhtwald went to Gaul for consecration and then presided over two councils that attempted to settle the Wilfrid issue, finally succeeding at the second council in 705. Berhtwald also was the recipient of the first surviving letter close in Western Europe.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.