Biography of Bishop Æthelwine -1072
In 1041 Bishop Æthelwine was consecrated Archbishop of York. Possibly Bishop.
In 1056 Bishop Æthelwine was consecrated Bishop of Durham having been supported in his election by Tostig Godwinson Earl Northumbria (age 30).
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 16 Jun 1056. This year Bishop Egelric resigned his bishopric at Durham, and retired to Peterborough minster [Map]; and his brother Egelwine succeeded him. The worthy Bishop Athelstan died on the fourth before the ides of February; and his body lies at Hereford [Map]. To him succeeded Leofgar, who was Earl Harold's mass-priest. He wore his knapsack in his priesthood, until he was a bishop. He abandoned his chrism and his rood-his ghostly weapons-and took to his spear and to his sword, after his bishophood; and so marched to the field against Griffin the Welsh king.79 But he was there slain, and his priests with him, and Elnoth the sheriff, and many other good men with them; and the rest fled. This was eight nights before midsummer. Difficult is it to relate all the vexation and the journeying, the marching and the fatigue, the fall of men, and of horses also, which the whole army of the English suffered, until Earl Leofric, and Earl Harold (age 34), and Bishop Eldred, came together and made peace between them; so that Griffin swore oaths, that he would be a firm and faithful viceroy to King Edward. Then Bishop Eldred took to the bishopric which Leofgar had before eleven weeks and four days.
Note 79. This was no uncommon thing among the Saxon clergy, bishops and all. The tone of elevated diction in which the writer describes the military enterprise of Leofgar and his companions, testifies his admiration.
John of Worcester. 1065. Æthelwin, the reverend bishop of Durham, raised the bones of St. Oswin, formerly king of Bernicia, from the tomb in which they had lain for four hundred and fifteen years, in the monastery [Map] which stands at the mouth of the river Tyne, and placed them in a shrine with great ceremony.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1069. This year died Aldred, Archbishop of York; and he is there buried, at his see [Map]. He died on the day of Protus and Hyacinthus, having held the see with much dignity ten years wanting only fifteen weeks. Soon after this came from Denmark three of the sons of King Sweyne (age 50) with two hundred and forty ships, together with Earl Esborn and Earl Thurkill, into the Humber; where they were met by the child Edgar (age 18), and Earl Waltheof, and Merle-Sweyne, and Earl Gospatric with the Northumbrians, and all the landsmen; riding and marching full merrily with an immense army: and so all unanimously advanced to York; where they stormed and demolished the castle, and won innumerable treasures therein; slew there many hundreds of Frenchmen, and led many with them to the ships; but, ere that the shipmen came thither, the Frenchmen had burned the city, and also the holy minster of St. Peter [Map] had they entirely plundered, and destroyed with fire. When the king heard this, then went he northward with all the force that he could collect, despoiling and laying waste the shire withal; whilst the fleet lay all the winter in the Humber, where the king could not come at them. The king was in York on Christmas Day, and so all the winter on land, and came to Winchester at Easter. Bishop Egelric, who was at Peterborough, was this year betrayed, and led to Westminster; and his brother Egelwine was outlawed. This year also died Brand, Abbot of Peterborough, on the fifth before the calends of December.
Flowers of History. After 04 Apr 1070. Moreover, the whole Anglican Church held a great council in Easter week, at Winchester, Hampshire [Map], by the management of the king, where many of the things which concerned the kingdom were changed. At that council too, Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury, was ignominiously degraded, and his brother, Aylmer, bishop of East Anglia, and many other bishops and abbots were deposed at the same time. Aegelwin, bishop of Durham, alone, of all the prelates of England, seeing the unjust oppression of his brethren, and sympathizing with them, and feeling zeal for God, went of his own accord into banishment from England, wishing to entangle the oppressors in the knot of excommunication. Stigand was succeeded by Lanfranc (age 65), a monk, a man of elegant learning, and adorned with many and various other accomplishments, who, among other magnificent works, composed a treatise on the Sacrament of the Altar, confirming the Catholic Faith. Aylmer was succeeded by Arfast, the king's chaplain; and he transferred the seat of his diocese to Thetford.
John of Worcester. After 24 Jun 1070. Ethelwine, bishop of Durham, was taken by king William's (age 42) retainers, and thrown into prison, where, refusing all food in the depth of his distress, he died of grief and starvation.80 On the death of Siward, bishop of Rochester, Arnostus, a monk of Bee, succeeded him, and was himself succeeded by Gundulf, a monk of the same church.
Note 80. The death of Ethelwine is here anticipated, as we find him the following year with Morcar, Hereward (age 35), and their associates at Ely, and thrown into prison at Abingdon, where he died.
John of Worcester. 1071. Earls Edwin and Morcar escaped secretly from king William's (age 43) court, finding that he intended to arrest them, and they were for some time in arms against him; but seeing that their enterprise was not successful, Edwin resolved to go to Malcolm (age 39), king of the Scots, but, during the journey, he fell into an ambuscade laid by his own people, and was killed. Morcar and Ethelwine, bishop of Durham, Siward, surnamed Barn, and Hereward (age 36), a man of great bravery, with many others, took ship and went to the Isle of Ely [Map], intending to winter there. The king, hearing of this, blocked up every outlet on the eastern side of the island by means of his boatmen, and caused a bridge, two miles long, to be constructed on the western side. When they saw that they were thus shut in, they resisted no longer, and all surrendered themselves to the king, except the brave Hereward (age 36), who escaped through the fens with a few others. The king immediately sent bishop Ethelwine to Abingdon, where he was imprisoned, and died the same winter. The earl and the rest were dispersed in various parts of England, some being placed in confinement, and others set at liberty with the loss of their hands or eyes.
In 1072 Bishop Æthelwine died.
John of Worcester. After 15 Aug 1072. After the Assumption of St. Mary [15th August], William (age 44), king of England, attended by Edric the Forester, made an expedition into Scotland with a naval force and an army of cavalry, and reduced it under his own dominion; and Malcolm (age 41), king of Scots, met him at a place called Abernethy, and did him homage. Ethelric, formerly bishop of Durham, died at Westminster, where king William (age 44) had sent him into confinement, on Monday, the ides [the 15th] of October. Walchere, a native of Lorraine, succeeded Ethelwine in the see of Durham.