{{Short description|Archbishop of Canterbury from 1006 to 1012}} {{bots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}} {{Use British English|date=June 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}} {{Infobox Christian leader | honorific_prefix = Saint | name = Ælfheah | title = Archbishop of Canterbury | appointed = 1006 | ended = 19 April 1012 | predecessor = Ælfric of Abingdon | successor = Lyfing | consecration = 19 October 984 | other_post = {{plainlist| * Abbot of Bath Abbey * Bishop of Winchester}} | birth_date = {{circa|953|lk=yes}} | birth_place = Weston, Somerset, England | death_date = 19 April 1012 | death_place = Greenwich, Kent, England | buried = Canterbury Cathedral | feast_day = 19 April | venerated = {{plainlist| * Anglican Communion<ref name=OBD160>Holford-Strevens, et al. ''Oxford Book of Days'' pp. 160–161</ref> * Roman Catholic Church<ref name=DictSaint /> * Eastern Orthodox Church<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.goarch.org/chapel/search?month=4&day=19 |title=April 19th Feast Commemorations |publisher=Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America |accessdate=24 May 2025}}</ref>}} | canonized_date = 1078 | canonized_place = Rome | canonized_by = Pope Gregory VII | attributes = Archbishop holding an axe<ref name=CathOnl>{{cite web |url=http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1278 |title=St. Alphege |publisher=Catholic Online |access-date=18 February 2009 }}</ref> | patronage = Greenwich; Solihull; kidnap victims<ref>{{cite web |url=http://saints.sqpn.com/saintajw.htm |publisher=Saints. SPQN |title=Saint Alphege of Winchester |access-date=18 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090319010902/http://saints.sqpn.com/saintajw.htm |archive-date=19 March 2009 }}</ref> | shrine = Canterbury Cathedral }} '''Ælfheah'''{{efn|{{langx|ang|Ælfhēah}}, "elf-tall"}}{{efn|Officially remembered as '''Saint Alphege''' within some churches,<ref name=OBD160/> and also called '''Elphege''', '''Alfege''',<ref name=Rumble173>Rumble "From Winchester to Canterbury" ''Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church'' p. 173</ref> or '''Godwine'''.<ref name=Rumble165 />}} ({{circa|953|lk=yes}} – 19 April 1012), more commonly known today as '''Alphege''', was an Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Winchester, later Archbishop of Canterbury from 1006 to 1012. He became an anchorite before being elected abbot of Bath Abbey. His reputation for piety and sanctity led to his promotion to the episcopate and, eventually, to his becoming archbishop. Ælfheah furthered the cult of Dunstan and also encouraged learning. He was captured by Viking raiders in 1011 during the siege of Canterbury and killed by them the following year after refusing to allow himself to be ransomed. Ælfheah was canonised as a saint in 1078. Thomas Becket, a later Archbishop of Canterbury, prayed to Ælfheah just before his murder in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170.
==Life== Ælfheah was born around 953,<ref name=Rumble165>Rumble "From Winchester to Canterbury" ''Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church'' p. 165</ref> and became a monk early in life.<ref name=Knowles/> He first entered the monastery of Deerhurst, but then moved to Bath, where he became an anchorite.<ref name=DNB/> He was noted for his piety and austerity and rose to become abbot of Bath Abbey.<ref name=Knowles>Knowles, et al. ''Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales'' pp. 28, 241</ref> The 12th-century chronicler, William of Malmesbury recorded that Ælfheah was a monk and prior at Glastonbury Abbey,<ref name=Rumble166>Rumble "From Winchester to Canterbury" ''Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church'' p. 166</ref> but this is not accepted by all historians.<ref name=Knowles/> Indications are that Ælfheah became abbot at Bath by 982, perhaps as early as around 977. He perhaps shared authority with his predecessor Æscwig after 968.<ref name=Rumble166/>
Probably due to the influence of Dunstan, the Archbishop of Canterbury (959–988), Ælfheah was elected Bishop of Winchester in 984,<ref name=Handbook223>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 223</ref><ref name=1000Church109>Barlow ''English Church 1000–1066'' p. 109 footnote 5</ref> and was consecrated on 19 October that year.<ref name=DNB/> While bishop, he was largely responsible for the construction of a large organ in the cathedral, audible from over a mile (1600 m) away and said to require more than 24 men to operate. He also built and enlarged the city's churches,<ref name=Hindley304>Hindley ''A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons'' pp. 304–305</ref> and promoted the cult of Swithun and his predecessor, Æthelwold of Winchester.<ref name=DNB/> One act promoting Æthelwold's cult was the translation of Æthelwold's body to a new tomb in the cathedral at Winchester, which Ælfheah presided over on 10 September 996.<ref name=Rumble167>Rumble "From Winchester to Canterbury" ''Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church'' p. 167</ref>
Following a Viking raid in 994, a peace treaty was agreed with one of the raiders, Olaf Tryggvason. Besides receiving danegeld, Olaf converted to Christianity<ref name=ASE378>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 378</ref> and undertook never to raid or fight the English again.<ref name=Williams47>Williams ''Æthelred the Unready'' p. 47</ref> Ælfheah may have played a part in the treaty negotiations, and it is certain that he confirmed Olaf in his new faith.<ref name=DNB>Leyser "Ælfheah" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref>
In 1006, Ælfheah succeeded Ælfric as Archbishop of Canterbury, probably consecrated on 16 November.<ref name=Handbook214>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 214</ref> taking Swithun's head with him as a relic for the new location.<ref name=DNB/> He went to Rome in 1007 to receive his pallium—symbol of his status as an archbishop—from Pope John XVIII, but was robbed during his journey.<ref name=1000Church299>Barlow ''English Church 1000–1066'' pp. 298–299 footnote 7</ref> While at Canterbury, he promoted the cult of Dunstan,<ref name=DNB/> ordering the writing of the second ''Life of Dunstan'', which Adelard of Ghent composed between 1006 and 1011.<ref name=1000Church62>Barlow ''English Church 1000–1066'' p. 62</ref> He also introduced new practices into the liturgy, and was instrumental in the Witenagemot's recognition of Wulfsige of Sherborne as a saint in about 1012.<ref name=1000Church223>Barlow ''English Church 1000–1066'' p. 223</ref>
Ælfheah sent Ælfric of Eynsham to Cerne Abbey to take charge of its monastic school.<ref name=ASE458>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 458</ref> He was present at the council of May 1008 at which Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York, preached his ''Sermo Lupi ad Anglos'' (''The Sermon of the Wolf to the English''), castigating the English for their moral failings and blaming the latter for the tribulations afflicting the country.<ref name=Fletcher94>Fletcher ''Bloodfeud'' p. 94</ref>
In 1011, the Danes again raided England, and from 8–29 September they laid siege to Canterbury. Aided by the treachery of Ælfmaer, whose life Ælfheah had once saved, the raiders succeeded in sacking the city.<ref name=Williams106>Williams ''Æthelred the Unready'' pp. 106–107</ref>{{efn|How exactly Ælfheah had saved Ælfmaer's life is not recorded in any source.<ref name=DNB/>}} Ælfheah was taken prisoner and held captive for seven months.<ref name=Hindley301>Hindley ''Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons'' p. 301</ref> Godwine (Bishop of Rochester), Leofrun (abbess of St Mildrith's), and the king's reeve, Ælfweard were captured also, but the abbot of St Augustine's Abbey, Ælfmær, managed to escape.<ref name=Williams106/> Canterbury Cathedral was plundered and burned by the Danes following Ælfheah's capture.<ref name=1000Church209>Barlow ''English Church 1000–1066'' pp. 209–210</ref>
==Death== {{Main|Siege of Canterbury}} thumb|right|Memorial to Saint Ælfheah inside the Church of Saint Alfege, Greenwich Ælfheah refused to allow a ransom to be paid for his freedom, and as a result was killed on 19 April 1012 at Greenwich,<ref name=Hindley301/> reputedly on the site of St Alfege's Church.<ref name=Saints>Walsh ''New Dictionary of Saints'' p. 28</ref><ref name=Handbook214/> The account of Ælfheah's death appears in the E version of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'': {{Blockquote|... the raiding-army became much stirred up against the bishop, because he did not want to offer them any money, and forbade that anything might be granted in return for him. Also they were very drunk, because there was wine brought from the south. Then they seized the bishop, led him to their "hustings"{{efn|"Hustings" derives from an Old Norse word that has the meaning of assembly or council, so there may have been some sort of trial that condemned Ælfheah.<ref name=ASC/>}} on the Saturday in the octave of Easter, and then pelted him there with bones and the heads of cattle; and one of them struck him on the head with the butt of an axe, so that with the blow he sank down and his holy blood fell on the earth, and sent forth his holy soul to God's kingdom.<ref name=ASC>Swanton ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' p. 142</ref>}}
Ælfheah was the first Archbishop of Canterbury to die a violent death.<ref name=Fletcher78>Fletcher ''Bloodfeud'' p. 78</ref> A contemporary report tells that Thorkell the Tall attempted to save Ælfheah from the mob about to kill him by offering everything he owned except for his ship, in exchange for Ælfheah's life; Thorkell's presence is not mentioned in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', however.<ref name=Williams109>Williams ''Æthelred the Unready'' pp. 109–110</ref> Some sources record that the final blow, with the back of an axe, was delivered as an act of kindness by a Christian convert known as "Thrum". Ælfheah was buried in Old St Paul's Cathedral.<ref name=DNB/> In 1023, his body was moved by King Cnut to Canterbury, with great ceremony.<ref name=Hindley309>Hindley ''Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons'' pp. 309–310</ref>{{efn|Except perhaps for a finger, which a later tradition held was given by Cnut to Westminster Abbey.<ref name=Rumble171>Rumble "From Winchester to Canterbury" ''Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church'' p. 171</ref>}} Thorkell the Tall was appalled at the brutality of his fellow raiders, and switched sides to the English king Æthelred the Unready following Ælfheah's death.<ref name=ASE383>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 383</ref>
==Veneration== [[File:Salisbury Cathedral St Alphege.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|An 1868 statue on the West Front of Salisbury Cathedral by James Redfern, showing Ælfheah holding the stones used in his martyrdom.]] Pope Gregory VII canonised Ælfheah in 1078, with a feast day of 19 April.<ref name=DictSaint>Delaney ''Dictionary of Saints'' pp. 29–30</ref> Lanfranc, the first post-Conquest archbishop, was dubious about some of the saints venerated at Canterbury. He was persuaded of Ælfheah's sanctity,<ref name=Conquest137>Williams ''English and the Norman Conquest'' p. 137</ref> but Ælfheah and Augustine of Canterbury were the only pre-conquest Anglo-Saxon archbishops kept on Canterbury's calendar of saints.<ref name=ASE672>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 672</ref> Ælfheah's shrine, which had become neglected, was rebuilt and expanded in the early 12th century under Anselm of Canterbury, who was instrumental in retaining Ælfheah's name in the church calendar.<ref name=PopularReligion40>Brooke ''Popular Religion in the Middle Ages'' p. 40</ref><ref>Southern "St Anselm and his English Pupils" ''Mediaeval and Renaissance Studies''</ref> After the 1174 fire in Canterbury Cathedral, Ælfheah's remains, together with those of Dunstan were placed around the high altar, at which Thomas Becket is said to have commended his life into Ælfheah's care shortly before his martyrdom during the Becket controversy.<ref name=DNB/> The new shrine was sealed in lead,<ref name=Shrines33>Nilson ''Cathedral Shrines'' p. 33</ref> and was north of the high altar, sharing the honour with Dunstan's shrine, which was located south of the high altar.<ref name=Shrines66>Nilson ''Cathedral Shrines'' pp. 66–67</ref> A ''Life of Saint Ælfheah'' in prose and verse was written by a Canterbury monk named Osbern, at Lanfranc's request. The prose version has survived, but the ''Life'' is very much a hagiography; many of the stories it contains have obvious Biblical parallels, making them suspect as a historical record.<ref name=DNB/>
In the late medieval period, Ælfheah's feast day was celebrated in Scandinavia, perhaps because of the saint's connection with Cnut.<ref name=Blair504>Blair "Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Saints" ''Local Saints and Local Churches'' p. 504</ref> Few church dedications to him are known, with most of them occurring in Kent and one each in London and Winchester;<ref name=Rumble173/> as well as St Alfege's Church in Greenwich, a nearby hospital (1931–1968) was named after him.<ref name=Lost>{{cite web|title=Greenwich District Hospital|url=http://www.ezitis.myzen.co.uk/greenwichdistrict.html|website=Lost Hospitals of London|access-date=25 October 2015}}</ref> In the town of Solihull in the West Midlands, St Alphege Church is dedicated to Ælfheah dating back to approximately 1277.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.solihullparish.org.uk/churches/st-alphege|title=St Alphege – SolihullParish|website=www.solihullparish.org.uk|access-date=24 April 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425120214/http://www.solihullparish.org.uk/churches/st-alphege|archive-date=25 April 2017}}</ref> In 1929, a new Roman Catholic church in Bath, the Church of Our Lady & St Alphege, was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in homage to the ancient Roman church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, and dedicated to Ælfheah under the name of Alphege.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintalphege.org.uk/2building.html |title=St Alphege's Church: The Building |publisher=St Alphege's Church, Bath |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226145613/http://www.saintalphege.org.uk/2building.html |archive-date=26 February 2012 }} Accessed 30 August 2009</ref>
Artistic representations of Ælfheah often depict him holding a pile of stones in his chasuble, a reference to his martyrdom.<ref>Audsley ''Handbook of Christian Symbolism'' p. 125</ref>
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
==Citations== {{reflist|40em}}
==References== {{refbegin|60em}} * {{cite book |author1=Audsley, William |author2=Audsley, George Ashdown |title=Handbook of Christian Symbolism |author-link1=William Audsley |author-link2=George Ashdown Audsley |date=1865 |location=London |publisher=Day & Son Limited }} * {{cite book |author=Barlow, Frank |title=The English Church 1000–1066: A History of the Later Anglo-Saxon Church |author-link=Frank Barlow (historian) |publisher=Longman |location=New York |date=1979 |isbn=0-582-49049-9 |edition=Second }} * {{cite encyclopedia |author=Blair, John |title=A Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Saints |encyclopedia=Local Saints and Local Churches in the Early Medieval West |author-link=John Blair (historian) |editor=Thacker, Alan |editor2=Sharpe, Richard |editor2-link=Richard Sharpe (historian) |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |date=2002 |pages=495–565|isbn=0-19-820394-2 }} * {{cite book |author1=Brooke, Christopher |author2=Brooke, Rosalind |title=Popular Religion in the Middle Ages: Western Europe 1000–1300 |author-link1=Christopher N. L. Brooke |date=1996 |publisher=Barnes & Noble |location=New York |isbn=0-7607-0093-1 |edition=Reprint }} * {{cite book |author=Delaney, John P. |title=Dictionary of Saints |edition=Second |publisher=Doubleday |location=Garden City, NY |date=1980 |isbn=0-385-13594-7 }} * {{cite book |author=Fletcher, R. A. |author-link=Richard A. Fletcher |title=Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |date=2003 |isbn=0-19-516136-X }} * {{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology |edition=Third revised |author1-link=Edmund Fryde |author2-link=Diana Greenway |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |date=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }} * {{cite book |author= Hindley, Geoffrey |title=A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The Beginnings of the English Nation |date=2006 |publisher=Carroll & Graf |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7867-1738-5 }} * {{cite book |author=Holford-Strevens, Leofranc |author2=Blackburn, Bonnie J. |title=The Oxford Book of Days |author1-link=Leofranc Holford-Strevens |author2-link=Bonnie J. Blackburn |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |date=2000 |isbn=0-19-866260-2 }} * {{cite book |author1=Knowles, David |author2=London, Vera C. M. |author3=Brooke, Christopher |title=The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales, 940–1216 |author-link1=David Knowles (scholar) |author3-link=Christopher N. L. Brooke |edition=Second |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |date=2001 |isbn=0-521-80452-3 }} * {{cite encyclopedia |author=Leyser, Henrietta |title=Ælfheah (d. 1012) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |author-link=Henrietta Leyser |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2006 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/181 |edition=October 2006 |access-date=7 November 2007 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/181 |url-access=subscription }} {{ODNBsub}} * {{cite book |author=Nilson, Ben |title=Cathedral Shrines of Medieval England |publisher=Boydell Press |date=1998 |location=Woodbridge, UK |isbn=0-85115-540-5 }} * {{cite encyclopedia |author=Rumble, Alexander R. |title=From Winchester to Canterbury: Ælheah and Stigand – Bishops, Archbishops and Victims |encyclopedia=Leaders of the Anglo-Saxon Church: From Bede to Stigand |date=2012 |publisher=Boydell Press |editor=Rumble, Alexander R. |location=Woodbridge, UK |isbn=978-1-84383-700-8 |pages=165–182 }} * {{cite book |author=Stenton, F. M. |title=Anglo-Saxon England |date=1971 |publisher=Oxford University Press |author-link=Frank Stenton |location=Oxford, UK |edition=Third |isbn=978-0-19-280139-5 }} * {{cite journal |author=Southern, Richard |title=St Anselm and His English Pupils |journal=Mediaeval and Renaissance Studies |author-link=R. W. Southern |volume=I |page=5 |date=1941 }} * {{cite book |translator=Swanton, Michael James |title=The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle |translator-link=Michael Swanton |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |date=1998 |isbn=0-415-92129-5 }} * {{cite book |author=Walsh, Michael J. |title=A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West |date=2007 |publisher=Burns & Oats |location=London |isbn=978-0-86012-438-2 }} * {{cite book |author=Williams, Ann |title=Aethelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King |author-link=Ann Williams (historian) |publisher=Hambledon & London |location=London |date=2003 |isbn=1-85285-382-4 }} * {{cite book |author=Williams, Ann |title=The English and the Norman Conquest |author-link=Ann Williams (historian) |publisher=Boydell Press |location=Ipswich, UK |date=2000 |isbn=0-85115-708-4 }} {{refend}}
==Further reading== {{Refbegin}} * {{cite journal |author=McDougal, I. |title=Serious Entertainments: An Examination of a Peculiar Type of Viking Atrocity |journal=Anglo-Saxon England |date=1993 |volume=22 |pages=201–225 |doi=10.1017/s0263675100004385 |s2cid=162748686 }} {{Refend}}
==External links== * {{PASE|75435|Ælfheah 44}}
{{s-start}} {{s-rel| Christian titles }} {{s-bef | before=Æthelwold }} {{s-ttl| title=Bishop of Winchester | years=984–1006}} {{s-aft| after=Cenwulf of Winchester }} {{s-bef | before=Ælfric of Abingdon }} {{s-ttl| title=Archbishop of Canterbury | years=1006–1012}} {{s-aft| after=Lyfing }} {{s-end}}
{{Anglo-Saxon saints}} {{Bishops of Winchester}} {{Archbishops of Canterbury}}
{{Subject bar|portal1=Saints|portal2=Middle Ages|portal3=Catholicism |portal4=England |portal5=Biography |auto=1}} {{Authority control}} {{Featured article}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aelfheah}} Category:950s births Category:1012 deaths Category:Clergy from Bath, Somerset Category:Anglo-Saxon saints Category:Archbishops of Canterbury Category:Bishops of Winchester Category:11th-century Christian saints Category:11th-century Christian martyrs Category:Incorrupt saints Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:11th-century English Roman Catholic archbishops Category:Canonizations by Pope Gregory VII Category:English martyrs Category:Christian feast days