Ælfsige

For the 11th century bishop of Winchester, see Ælfsige II (bishop of Winchester).

For the bishop of Lindesfarne, see Ælfsige (bishop of St Cuthbert).

Ælfsige (or Aelfsige, Ælfsin or Aelfsin; died 959) was Bishop of Winchester before he became Archbishop of Canterbury in 959.

Ælfsige
Archbishop of Canterbury
Appointed	958
Term ended	959
Predecessor	Oda
Successor	Byrhthelm
Other post(s)	Bishop of Winchester
Orders
Consecration	951
Personal details
Born	unknown
Died	959 the Italian Alps

Life

Ælfsige became Bishop of Winchester in 951. In 958, with the death of the previous Archbishop Oda, he was translated from the see of Winchester to become archbishop of Canterbury. He is said by Arthur Hussey to have trampled contemptuously on Oda's grave, "with reproaches for having so long kept himself out of that dignity".

Ælfsige died of cold in the Alps as he journeyed to Rome to be given his pallium by Pope John XII. In his place King Eadwig nominated Byrhthelm. Ælfsige's will survives and shows that he was married, with a son, Godwine of Worthy, who died in 1001 fighting against the Vikings.

References

• 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.
• Ortenberg, Veronica (1999) [1965]. "The Anglo-Saxon Church and the Papacy". In Lawrence, C. H. (ed.). The English Church and the Papacy in the Middle Ages (Reprint ed.). Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing. pp. 29–62. ISBN 0-7509-1947-7.
• Stafford, Pauline (1989). Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries. London: Edward Arnold. ISBN 0-7131-6532-4.
• Yorke, Barbara (2004). "Ælfsige (d. 959)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/192. Retrieved 7 November 2007.(subscription or UK public library membership required)

External links

• Ælfsige 30 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England