Leofric, Bishop of Exeter

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Leofric
Denomination Catholic
Senior posting
See Diocese of Crediton
Diocese of Exeter
Title Bishop of Crediton
Bishop of Exeter
Period in office 1046–1072
Predecessor Lyfing of Winchester
Successor Osbern FitzOsbern
Personal
Date of birth 1016
Date of death 1072

Leofric (1016–1072 AD) was a medieval Bishop of Exeter.

Contents

[edit] Early life

He was probably born in Cornwall, and his parents probably were English.[1] He had a brother, Ordmaer, who acted as his steward and administered the family estates.[2] Leofric was educated in Lotharingia,[3] and may have been brought up abroad also.[4] His education may have taken place at the church of St Stephen's in Toul.[2]

He became King Edward the Confessor's chaplain while Edward was still in exile on the continent,[1] although how or when exactly the two met is unknown.[5] When Edward returned to England at the invitation of King Harthacnut, Edward's half-brother, Leofric accompanied him, witnessing charter's during Harthacnut's lifetime along with Herman who later became Bishop of Sherborne.[6] Leofric remained a close supporter and friend of Edward for the king's entire life.[7] In 1044, Edward granted him lands at Dawlish, Devonshire.[8]

[edit] Bishop

When Bishop Lyfing died in 1046, the king[citation needed] made Leofric Bishop of Crediton and St. Germans.[9] The two sees united by Lyfing became the see of Exeter when in 1050 Bishop Leofric moved his episcopal seat from Crediton to Exeter.[9] The move of the see received the support of Pope Leo IX,[10] and dates from 1051.[11] Although Leofric had been a royal clerk before he became bishop, after his elevation he managed to avoid entanglement in the various disputes taking place between the king and Earl Godwine of Essex. Instead he spent his energies on the administration of his diocese. He remained on good terms with the king, however.[2] Leofric's penitential, the Leofric Missal, includes a prayer for a childless king, which probably referred to King Edward.[7]

The abbey church of St. Peter's at Exeter became his cathedral[12] and he was enthroned as Bishop of Exeter there on St. Peter's Day in 1050 with King Edward in attendance.[13] Leofric replaced the monks with canons.[12] The new community was given the Rule of Chrodegang by Leofric.[14]

After the move to Exeter, he worked to increase the endowment of the diocese, and especially the library.[2] He still remained on good terms with the king, for he was present at Edward's Christmas court in 1065 that saw the consecration of Edward's church at Westminster.[15]

Bishop Leofric survived William the Conqueror's 1068 siege of Exeter unscathed[2] and remained bishop until he died on February 10 or February 11, 1072.[16] He was buried in the crypt of his cathedral. When the cathedral was rebuilt, his remains were moved to the new church, but the location of the tomb has been lost. The current tomb only dates from 1568 and does not mark Leofric's resting spot.[2] During his bishopric, his cathedral library was the fourth largest in England, and was an important scriptorium.[1] He gave an important manuscript of Old English poetry, the Exeter Book, to the cathedral library in 1072.[17]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c Hindley Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons p. 239
  2. ^ a b c d e f Barlow "Leofric (d. 1072)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  3. ^ Barlow Feudal Kingdom of England p. 34
  4. ^ Huscroft Ruling England p. 50
  5. ^ Barlow Edward the Confessor p. 50
  6. ^ Barlow Edward the Confessor p. 53
  7. ^ a b Barlow Edward the Confessor p. 82
  8. ^ Powell House of Lords p. 3
  9. ^ a b Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 215
  10. ^ Barlow Feudal Kingdom of England p. 32
  11. ^ Walker Harold p. 25
  12. ^ a b Knowles Heads of Religious Houses p. 48
  13. ^ Barlow Edward the Confessor p. 106
  14. ^ Blair Church in Anglo-Saxon Society p. 361 footnote 331 and p. 362
  15. ^ Barlow Edward the Confessor pp. 244-245
  16. ^ Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 246
  17. ^ Fletcher Bloodfeud p. 11

[edit] References

  • Barlow, Frank (1970). Edward the Confessor. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-01671-8. 
  • Barlow, Frank (1988). The Feudal Kingdom of England 1042-1216, Fourth Edition, New York: Longman. ISBN 0-582-49504-0. 
  • Barlow, Frank (2004). "Leofric (d. 1072)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved on 2008-04-08. 
  • Blair, John P. (2005). The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-921117-5. 
  • Fletcher, R. A. (2003). Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516136-X. 
  • Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology, Third Edition, revised, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X. 
  • Hindley, Geoffrey (2006). A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The Beginnings of the English Nation. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 978-0-78671-738-5. 
  • Huscroft, Huscroft (2005). Ruling England 1042-1217. London: Pearson/Longman. ISBN 0-582-84882-2. 
  • Powell, J. Enoch; Wallis, Keith (1968). The House of Lords in the Middle Ages: A History of the English House of Lords to 1540. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. 
  • Walker, Ian (2000). Harold the Last Anglo-Saxon King. Gloucestershire: Wrens Park. ISBN 0-905-778-464. 

[edit] External links

Roman Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Lyfing of Winchester		 Bishop of Crediton
1046–1050		 moved to Exeter
New title
moved from Crediton
 Bishop of Exeter
1050–1072		 Succeeded by
Osbern FitzOsbern
Persondata
NAME Leofric
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Bishop of Crediton; Bishop of Exeter
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH 1072
PLACE OF DEATH