Agilbert

Agilbert (fl. c. 650–680) was the second bishop of the West Saxon kingdom and later bishop
of Paris.
 Saint Agilbert

Bishop of Paris

Diocese Diocese of Paris

In office c. 667 - c.680

Predecessor Importunus

Successor Sigefrid

Other post(s) Bishop of Dorchester (the precursor role to

Winchester) (c. 650–660)

Orders

Consecration c. 640s–650s

Personal details

Died after 10 March 673

Francia

Buried Jouarre Abbey, in modern Ile de France

Denomination Catholic

Sainthood

Feast day 11 October

Venerated in Roman Catholic Church

Eastern Orthodox Church

Shrines Jouarre Abbey

The date and place of Agilert's birth are unknown, but evidence suggests it took place
between 610 and 620.[1][2] Son of a Neustrian noble named Betto, he was a first cousin of
Audoin and related to the Faronids and Agilolfings,[3] and less certainly to the Merovingians.[4]
His name, the Frankish language equivalent of Æthelberht, has been taken to suggest a link
with the royal family of the Kingdom of Kent.[5]

Agilbert was consecrated as a bishop in Francia before he travelled to Britain. He arrived in

the West Saxon kingdom after the return to power of King Cenwalh of Wessex, who had been
driven out by Penda of Mercia, either in the late 640s or 650s. He was appointed to succeed
Birinus (also later canonised, and attributed with conversion of Wessex to Christianity) as
bishop of the West Saxons, or the Wessex folk, who following their seizure of part of
Christian Mercia set up the first Wessex see as Bishop of Dorchester, near Oxford. Nothing
remains above the surface of the Saxon cathedral, succeeded in the faith by Norman
Dorchester Abbey church which has decorative memorials to the two early bishops. Agilbert,
according to Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, had "spent a long time in Ireland
for the purpose of studying the Scriptures".[6] His appointment was due to Cenwalh.[7]

From Bede, it appears that Agilbert did not speak Old English, and it is said that his see was
divided in two, with Wine being given half, because King Cenwalh "tired of his barbarous
speech",[6] although this may be mistaken.[8] This insult supposedly led to Agilbert's
resignation. He then travelled north to Northumbria, where he ordained Wilfrid.[9] He was
present at the Synod of Whitby in 664, where he led the pro-Roman party, but he had the
young Wilfrid speak on his behalf.[10]

The charter of Clotilde, 10 March 673, endowing the monastery of Bruyères-le-Châtel; witnessed by Agilbert, this is his
last appearance in year-dated records

Returning to Francia, Agilbert later took part in Wilfrid's consecration as a bishop at

Compiègne.[11] Agilbert became bishop of Paris between 666 and 668, and hosted Theodore
of Tarsus. He was later invited to return by Cenwalh, to become bishop of Winchester, but
sent his nephew Leuthhere in his place.[12]

One modern historian, D. P. Kirby, is unsure if Agilbert actually went to Northumbria after
being expelled from Dorchester, suggesting it is just as likely that he went directly to the
continent.[7]

Agilbert died at some time after 10 March 673, on which date he witnessed Clotilde's
foundation charter for the Abbey of Bruyères-le-Châtel, and probably between 679 and 690.
He was buried at Jouarre Abbey where his sister Theodechildis was abbess. His fine sculpted
sarcophagus can be seen there in the crypts, as can that of his sister.[12]

Citations

1. Hunter, 1985.

2. The abstract of Hammer 2011 gives his birth date as 610.

3. Le Jan, pp. 382, notes 6, 388, & 390–391, table 48. Le Jan shows that Agilbert's first cousins included
Saints Audoin and Dado, the future Bishop Ebregisil of Meaux, and Agilberta, the second abbess of
Jouarre.

4. Fouracre.

5. Fouracre states: "[h]is very name was the Frankish form of Æthelberht...". Le Jan, however, takes his
name to indicate kinship with the Agilolfings; Le Jan, p. 388.

6. Bede, HE, Book III, Chapter 7.

7. Kirby Earliest English Kings pp. 48-49

8. Higham, p. 255.

9. Eddius, VW, chapter 9.

10. Bede, HE, Book III, Chapter 25; Eddius, VW, chapter 10.

11. Eddius, VW, chapters 11 & 12.

12. Fouracre; Riché.

References

Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Translated by Leo Sherley-Price, revised R.E.
Latham, ed. D.H. Farmer. London: Penguin, 1990. ISBN 0-14-044565-X

Eddius, "Life of Wilfrid" in D.H. Farmer (ed.) & J.H. Webb (trans.), The Age of Bede. London: Penguin,
1998. IBN 0-140-44727-X

Fouracre, P., "Agilbert" in M. Lapidge, et al., (eds), The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England.
Oxford: Blackwell, 1999. ISBN 0-631-22492-0

Hammer, Carl I. (2011–2012). " 'Holy Entrepreneur': Agilbert, a Merovingian Bishop between Ireland,
England and Francia". Peritia. 22–23: 53–82. doi:10.1484/J.PERIT.1.103280 (https://doi.org/10.148
4%2FJ.PERIT.1.103280) .

Higham, N.J., The Convert Kings: Power and religious affiliation in early Anglo-Saxon England.
Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-7190-4828-1

Hunter Blair, Peter. "Whitby as a Centre of Learning in the Seventh Century". Learning and literature in
Anglo-Saxon England: Studies presented to Peter Clemoes on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth Birthday.
 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. pp. 3–32.

Kirby, D.P., The Earliest English Kings. London: Unwin Hyman, 1991. ISBN 0-04-445691-3

Le Jan, Régine, Famille et Pouvoir dans le Monde Franc (VIIe–Xe Siècle). Essai d'anthropologie sociale.
Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2003. ISBN 2-85944-268-5

Riché, Pierre, Dictionnaire des francs. Les temps Mérovingiens. Paris: Bartillat, 1996. ISBN 2-84100-
008-7

External links

Agilbert 1 (http://www.pase.ac.uk/jsp/persons/CreatePersonFrames.jsp?personKey=214
0) at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England

Catholic Church titles

Preceded by
Bishop of Dorchester Succeeded by

Birinus c. 650–660 Ætla

Preceded by
Bishop of Paris
Succeeded by

Importunus 666x668 – 679x690 Sigefrid

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