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{{Short description|7th-century missionary, Archbishop of Canterbury, and saint}}
{{Short description|Archbishop of Canterbury from 619 to 624, Christian saint}}
{{other uses|Mellitus (disambiguation)}}
{{other uses|Mellitus (disambiguation)}}
⚫
{{featured article}}
{{bots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}}
{{bots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]
| type = archbishop
| type = archbishop
| name = Mellitus
| name = Mellitus
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| death_date = 24 April 624
| death_date = 24 April 624
| death_place = [[Canterbury]]
| death_place = [[Canterbury]]
| buried = [[St Augustine's Abbey]], [[Canterbury]]
| buried = [[St Augustine's Abbey]], Canterbury
| feast_day = 24 April<ref name=Days170>Holford-Strevens and Blackburn ''Oxford Book of Days'' p. 170</ref>
| feast_day = 24 April<ref name=Days170>Holford-Strevens and Blackburn ''Oxford Book of Days'' p. 170</ref>
| venerated = [[Roman Catholic Church]]<ref name=Walsh420/><br>[[Anglican Communion]]<ref name=Days170/><br>[[Orthodox Church]]<ref name=goc>[https://www.stgregoryoc.org/st-mellitus-bishop-and-confessor/ St. Gregory Orthodox Church - St. Mellitus, Bishop and Confessor]</ref>
| venerated = {{ubl|[[Roman Catholic Church]]<ref name=Walsh420 />|[[Anglican Communion]]<ref name=Days170 />|[[Eastern Orthodox Church]]}}
| canonized_date = [[Pre-congregation|Pre-Congregation]]
| canonized_date = [[Pre-Congregation]]
}}
}}


'''Mellitus''' (died 24 April 624) was the first [[bishop of London]] in the Saxon period, the third [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], and a member of the [[Gregorian mission]] sent to England to [[Christianization|convert]] the [[Anglo-Saxon]]s from [[Anglo-Saxon paganism|their native paganism]] to Christianity. He arrived in 601 AD with a group of clergy sent to augment the mission, and was consecrated as Bishop of London in 604. Mellitus was the recipient of a famous letter from [[Pope Gregory I]] known as the ''[[Epistola ad Mellitum]]'', preserved in a later work by the medieval chronicler [[Bede]], which suggested the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons be undertaken gradually, integrating pagan rituals and customs. In 610, Mellitus returned to Italy to attend a council of bishops, and returned to England bearing papal letters to some of the missionaries.
'''Mellitus''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ə|ˈ|l|aɪ|t|ə|s}}; died 24 April 624) was the first [[bishop of London]] in the Saxon period, the third [[archbishop of Canterbury]], and a member of the [[Gregorian mission]] sent to England to [[Christianization|convert]] the [[Anglo-Saxons]] from [[Anglo-Saxon paganism|their native paganism]] to Christianity. He arrived in 601 AD with a group of clergy sent to augment the mission, and was consecrated as Bishop of London in 604. Mellitus was the recipient of a famous letter from [[Pope Gregory I]] known as the ''[[Epistola ad Mellitum]]'', preserved in a later work by the medieval chronicler [[Bede]], which suggested the [[Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England|conversion of the Anglo-Saxons]] be undertaken gradually, integrating pagan rituals and customs. In 610, Mellitus returned to Italy to attend a council of bishops, and returned to England bearing papal letters to some of the missionaries.


Mellitus was exiled from London by the pagan successors to his patron, King [[Sæberht of Essex]], following the latter's death around 616. King [[Æthelberht of Kent]], Mellitus' other patron, died at about the same time, forcing him to take refuge in [[Gaul]]. Mellitus returned to England the following year, after Æthelberht's successor had been converted to Christianity, but he was unable to return to London, whose inhabitants remained pagan. Mellitus was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 619. During his tenure, he was alleged to have miraculously saved the cathedral, and much of the town of Canterbury, from a fire. After his death in 624, Mellitus was revered as a saint.
Mellitus was exiled from London by the pagan successors to his patron, King [[Sæberht of Essex]], following the latter's death around 616. King [[Æthelberht of Kent]], Mellitus' other patron, died at about the same time, forcing him to take refuge in [[Gaul]]. Mellitus returned to England the following year, after Æthelberht's successor had been converted to Christianity, but he was unable to return to London, whose inhabitants remained pagan. Mellitus was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 619. During his tenure, he was alleged to have miraculously saved the cathedral, and much of the town of Canterbury, from a fire. After his death in 624, Mellitus was revered as a saint.
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==Journey to England==
==Journey to England==
[[File:AugustineGospelsFolio125rPassionScenes.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A page divided into 12 sections, each section displaying a scene from the bible|Passion scenes from the [[St Augustine Gospels]], possibly brought by Mellitus to England]]
[[File:AugustineGospelsFolio125rPassionScenes.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A page divided into 12 sections, each section displaying a scene from the bible|Passion scenes from the [[St Augustine Gospels]], possibly brought by Mellitus to England]]
Pope Gregory I sent Mellitus to England in June 601,<ref name=Coming64>Mayr-Harting ''Coming of Christianity'' p. 64</ref> in response to an appeal from [[Augustine of Canterbury|Augustine]], the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Augustine needed more clergy to join the Gregorian mission that was converting the kingdom of Kent, then ruled by Æthelberht, from paganism to Christianity.<ref name=Brooks9>Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' p. 9</ref> The new missionaries brought with them a gift of books and "all things which were needed for worship and the ministry of the Church."<ref name=Bede85>Bede ''History of the English Church and People'' pp. 85–86</ref><ref name=Coming62>Mayr-Harting ''Coming of Christianity'' p. 62</ref> [[Thomas of Elmham]], a 15th-century Canterbury chronicler, claimed that in his day there were a number of the books brought to England by Mellitus still at Canterbury. Examination of the remaining manuscripts has determined that one possible survivor of Mellitus' books is the [[St Augustine Gospels]], now in Cambridge, as Corpus Christi College, MS (manuscript) 286.<ref name=DNB/>{{efn|Another possible survivor is a copy of the [[Rule of Saint Benedict]], now MS Oxford [[Bodleian Library|Bodleian]] Hatton 48.<ref name=Colgrave27>Colgrave "Introduction" ''Earliest Life of Gregory the Great'' pp. 27–28</ref> Another Gospel, in an Italian hand, and closely related to the Augustine Gospels, is MS Oxford Bodelian Auctarium D.2.14, which shows evidence of being held in Anglo-Saxon hands during the right time frame. Lastly, a fragment of a work by Gregory the Great, now held by the [[British Library]] as part of MS [[Cotton library|Cotton]] Titus C may have arrived with the missionaries.<ref name=Library24>Lapidge ''Anglo-Saxon Library'' pp. 24–25</ref>}} Along with the letter to Augustine, the missionaries brought a letter for Æthelberht, urging the King to act like the Roman Emperor [[Constantine I]] and force the conversion of his followers to Christianity. The king was also encouraged to destroy all [[shrine#Germanic paganism|pagan shrines]].<ref name=Strat34>Markus "Gregory the Great and a Papal Missionary Strategy" ''Studies in Church History 6'' pp. 34–37</ref>
Pope Gregory I sent Mellitus to England in June 601,<ref name=Coming64>Mayr-Harting ''Coming of Christianity'' p. 64</ref> in response to an appeal from [[Augustine of Canterbury|Augustine]], the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Augustine needed more clergy to join the Gregorian mission that was converting the kingdom of Kent, then ruled by Æthelberht, from paganism to Christianity.<ref name=Brooks9>Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' p. 9</ref> The new missionaries brought with them a gift of books and "all things which were needed for worship and the ministry of the Church."<ref name=Bede85>Bede ''History of the English Church and People'' pp. 85–86</ref><ref name=Coming62>Mayr-Harting ''Coming of Christianity'' p. 62</ref> [[Thomas of Elmham]], a 15th-century Canterbury chronicler, claimed that in his day there were a number of the books brought to England by Mellitus still at Canterbury. Examination of the remaining manuscripts has determined that one possible survivor of Mellitus' books is the [[St Augustine Gospels]], now in Cambridge, as Corpus Christi College, MS (manuscript) 286.<ref name=DNB/>{{efn|Another possible survivor is a copy of the [[Rule of Saint Benedict]], now [[Bodleian Library]] MS. Hatton 48.<ref name=Colgrave27>Colgrave "Introduction" ''Earliest Life of Gregory the Great'' pp. 27–28</ref> Another Gospel, in an Italian hand, and closely related to the Augustine Gospels, is MS Oxford Bodelian Auctarium D.2.14, which shows evidence of being held in Anglo-Saxon hands during the right time frame. Lastly, a fragment of a work by Gregory the Great, now held by the [[British Library]] as part of MS [[Cotton library|Cotton]] Titus C may have arrived with the missionaries.<ref name=Library24>Lapidge ''Anglo-Saxon Library'' pp. 24–25</ref>}} Along with the letter to Augustine, the missionaries brought a letter for Æthelberht, urging the King to act like the Roman Emperor [[Constantine I]] and force the conversion of his followers to Christianity. The king was also encouraged to destroy all [[shrine#Germanic paganism|pagan shrines]].<ref name=Strat34>Markus "Gregory the Great and a Papal Missionary Strategy" ''Studies in Church History 6'' pp. 34–37</ref>


The historian Ian Wood has suggested that Mellitus' journey through Gaul probably took in the bishoprics of Vienne, Arles, Lyons, Toulon, Marseilles, Metz, Paris, and Rouen, as evidenced by the letters that Gregory addressed to those bishops soliciting their support for Mellitus' party. Gregory also wrote to the [[Franks|Frankish]] kings [[Chlothar II]], [[Theuderic II]], [[Theudebert II]], along with [[Brunhilda of Austrasia]], who was Theudebert and Theuderic's grandmother and regent. Wood feels that this wide appeal to the Frankish episcopate and royalty was an effort to secure more support for the Gregorian mission.<ref name=Wood6>Wood "Mission of Augustine" ''Speculum'' p. 6</ref> While on his journey to England, Mellitus received a letter from Gregory allowing Augustine to convert [[heathen hofs|pagan temples]] to Christian churches, and to convert [[blót|pagan animal sacrifices]] into Christian feasts, to ease the transition to Christianity.<ref name=DNB/> Gregory's letter marked a sea change in the missionary strategy,<ref name=Markus26>Markus "Gregory the Great's Europe" ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'' p. 26</ref> and was later included in Bede's ''[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People]]''.<ref name=Bede86>Bede ''History of the English Church and People'' pp. 86–87</ref> Usually known as the ''Epistola ad Mellitum'',<ref name=Tab2>Spiegel "'Tabernacula' of Gregory the Great" ''Anglo-Saxon England 36'' pp. 2–3</ref> it conflicts with the letter sent to Æthelberht, which the historian R. A. Markus sees as a turning point in missionary history, when forcible conversion gave way to persuasion.<ref name=Strat34/> This traditional view, that the ''Epistola'' represents a contradiction of the letter to Æthelberht, has been challenged by the historian and theologian George Demacopoulos, who argues that the letter to Æthelberht was mainly meant to encourage the King in spiritual matters, while the ''Epistola'' was sent to deal with purely practical matters, and thus the two do not contradict each other.<ref name=Dema>Demacopoulos "Gregory the Great and the Pagan Shrines of Kent" ''Journal of Late Antiquity'' pp. 353–369</ref>
The historian Ian Wood has suggested that Mellitus' journey through Gaul probably took in the bishoprics of Vienne, Arles, Lyons, Toulon, Marseilles, Metz, Paris, and Rouen, as evidenced by the letters that Gregory addressed to those bishops soliciting their support for Mellitus' party. Gregory also wrote to the [[Franks|Frankish]] kings [[Chlothar II]], [[Theuderic II]], [[Theudebert II]], along with [[Brunhilda of Austrasia]], who was Theudebert and Theuderic's grandmother and regent. Wood feels that this wide appeal to the Frankish episcopate and royalty was an effort to secure more support for the Gregorian mission.<ref name=Wood6>Wood "Mission of Augustine" ''Speculum'' p. 6</ref> While on his journey to England, Mellitus received a letter from Gregory allowing Augustine to convert [[heathen hofs|pagan temples]] to Christian churches, and to convert [[blót|pagan animal sacrifices]] into Christian feasts, to ease the transition to Christianity.<ref name=DNB/> Gregory's letter marked a sea change in the missionary strategy,<ref name=Markus26>Markus "Gregory the Great's Europe" ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'' p. 26</ref> and was later included in Bede's ''[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People]]''.<ref name=Bede86>Bede ''History of the English Church and People'' pp. 86–87</ref> Usually known as the ''Epistola ad Mellitum'',<ref name=Tab2>Spiegel "'Tabernacula' of Gregory the Great" ''Anglo-Saxon England 36'' pp. 2–3</ref> it conflicts with the letter sent to Æthelberht, which the historian R. A. Markus sees as a turning point in missionary history, when forcible conversion gave way to persuasion.<ref name=Strat34/> This traditional view, that the ''Epistola'' represents a contradiction of the letter to Æthelberht, has been challenged by the historian and theologian George Demacopoulos, who argues that the letter to Æthelberht was mainly meant to encourage the King in spiritual matters, while the ''Epistola'' was sent to deal with purely practical matters, and thus the two do not contradict each other.<ref name=Dema>Demacopoulos "Gregory the Great and the Pagan Shrines of Kent" ''Journal of Late Antiquity'' pp. 353–369</ref>
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Both Æthelberht and Sæberht died around 616 or 618, causing a crisis for the mission.<ref name=DNB/> Sæberht's three sons had not converted to Christianity, and drove Mellitus from London.<ref name=Hindley36>Hindley ''Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons'' p. 36</ref> Bede says that Mellitus was exiled because he refused the brothers' request for a taste of the [[Eucharist (Catholic Church)|sacramental bread]].<ref name=DNB/>{{efn|The historian James Campbell speculates that the brothers may have wanted a taste either because they thought it was magical or because the bread was white, which was rare at the time.<ref name=Campbell77>Campbell "Observations on the Conversion of England" ''Essays in Anglo-Saxon History'' pp. 77–78</ref>}} Whether this occurred immediately after Sæberht's death or later is impossible to determine from Bede's chronology, which has both events in the same chapter but gives neither an exact time frame nor the elapsed time between the two events.<ref name=Convert137>Higham ''Convert Kings'' p. 137</ref> The historian N. J. Higham connects the timing of this episode with a change in the "overkingship" from the Christian Kentish Æthelberht to the pagan East Anglian [[Raedwald]], which Higham feels happened after Æthelberht's death. In Higham's view, Sæberht's sons drove Mellitus from London because they had passed from Kentish overlordship to East Anglian, and thus no longer needed to keep Mellitus, who was connected with the Kentish kingdom, in office.<ref name=Empire202>Higham ''English Empire'' pp. 202–203</ref>
Both Æthelberht and Sæberht died around 616 or 618, causing a crisis for the mission.<ref name=DNB/> Sæberht's three sons had not converted to Christianity, and drove Mellitus from London.<ref name=Hindley36>Hindley ''Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons'' p. 36</ref> Bede says that Mellitus was exiled because he refused the brothers' request for a taste of the [[Eucharist (Catholic Church)|sacramental bread]].<ref name=DNB/>{{efn|The historian James Campbell speculates that the brothers may have wanted a taste either because they thought it was magical or because the bread was white, which was rare at the time.<ref name=Campbell77>Campbell "Observations on the Conversion of England" ''Essays in Anglo-Saxon History'' pp. 77–78</ref>}} Whether this occurred immediately after Sæberht's death or later is impossible to determine from Bede's chronology, which has both events in the same chapter but gives neither an exact time frame nor the elapsed time between the two events.<ref name=Convert137>Higham ''Convert Kings'' p. 137</ref> The historian N. J. Higham connects the timing of this episode with a change in the "overkingship" from the Christian Kentish Æthelberht to the pagan East Anglian [[Raedwald]], which Higham feels happened after Æthelberht's death. In Higham's view, Sæberht's sons drove Mellitus from London because they had passed from Kentish overlordship to East Anglian, and thus no longer needed to keep Mellitus, who was connected with the Kentish kingdom, in office.<ref name=Empire202>Higham ''English Empire'' pp. 202–203</ref>


Mellitus fled first to Canterbury, but Æthelberht's successor [[Eadbald of Kent|Eadbald]] was also a pagan, so Mellitus, accompanied by Justus, took refuge in Gaul.<ref name=DNB/> Mellitus was recalled to Britain by Laurence, the second Archbishop of Canterbury, after his conversion of Eadbald.<ref name=ASE/> How long Mellitus' exile lasted is unclear. Bede claims it was a year, but it may have been longer.<ref name=Convert137/> However, Mellitus did not return to London,<ref name=ASE>Lapidge "Mellitus" ''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England''</ref> because the East Saxons remained pagan.<ref name=DNB/> Although Mellitus fled, there does not seem to have been any serious persecution of Christians in the East Saxon kingdom.<ref name=Convert135>Higham ''Convert Kings'' pp. 135–136</ref> The East Saxon see was not occupied again until [[Cedd]] was consecrated as bishop in about 654.<ref name=Convert234>Higham ''Convert Kings'' pp. 234–237</ref>
Mellitus fled first to Canterbury, but Æthelberht's successor [[Eadbald of Kent|Eadbald]] was also a pagan, so Mellitus, accompanied by Justus, took refuge in Gaul.<ref name=DNB/> Mellitus was recalled to Britain by Laurence, the second Archbishop of Canterbury, after his conversion of Eadbald.<ref name=ASE/> How long Mellitus' exile lasted is unclear. Bede claims it was a year, but it may have been longer.<ref name=Convert137/> Mellitus did not return to London,<ref name=ASE>Lapidge "Mellitus" ''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England''</ref> because the East Saxons remained pagan.<ref name=DNB/> Although Mellitus fled, there does not seem to have been any serious persecution of Christians in the East Saxon kingdom.<ref name=Convert135>Higham ''Convert Kings'' pp. 135–136</ref> The East Saxon see was not occupied again until [[Cedd]] was consecrated as bishop in about 654.<ref name=Convert234>Higham ''Convert Kings'' pp. 234–237</ref>


==Archbishop and death==
==Archbishop and death==
Mellitus succeeded Laurence as the third Archbishop of Canterbury after the latter's death in 619.<ref name=Handbook213>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 213</ref> During his tenure as archbishop, Mellitus supposedly performed a miracle in 623 by diverting a fire that had started in [[Canterbury]] and threatened the church. He was carried into the flames, upon which the wind changed direction, thus saving the building.<ref name=Brooks30>Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' p. 30</ref> Bede praised Mellitus' sane mind, but other than the miracle, little happened during his time as archbishop.<ref name=Hindley43>Hindley ''Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons'' p. 43</ref> Bede also mentioned that Mellitus suffered from [[gout]].<ref name=Blair86/> Boniface wrote to Mellitus encouraging him in the mission, perhaps prompted by the marriage of [[Æthelburh of Kent]] to King [[Edwin of Northumbria]]. Whether Mellitus received a [[pallium]], the symbol of an archbishop's authority, from the pope is unknown.<ref name=DNB/>
Mellitus succeeded Laurence as the third Archbishop of Canterbury after the latter's death in 619.<ref name=Handbook213>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 213</ref> During his tenure as archbishop, Mellitus supposedly performed a miracle in 623 by diverting a fire that had started in [[Canterbury]] and threatened the church. He was carried into the flames, upon which the wind changed direction, thus saving the building.<ref name=Brooks30>Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' p. 30</ref> Bede praised Mellitus' sane mind, but other than the miracle, little happened during his time as archbishop.<ref name=Hindley43>Hindley ''Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons'' p. 43</ref> Bede also mentioned that Mellitus suffered from [[gout]].<ref name=Blair86/> Boniface wrote to Mellitus encouraging him in the mission, perhaps prompted by the marriage of [[Æthelburh of Kent]] to King [[Edwin of Northumbria]]. Whether Mellitus received a [[pallium]], the symbol of an archbishop's authority, from the pope is unknown.<ref name=DNB/>
[[File:Staugustinescanterburygravemellitus.jpg|thumb|Stone marking the site of Mellitus' grave]]
[[File:Staugustinescanterburygravemellitus.jpg|thumb|upright=1.23|Stone marking the site of Mellitus's grave in [[St Augustine's Abbey]], [[Canterbury]]]]
Mellitus died on 24 April 624,<ref name=Handbook213/> and was buried at [[St Augustine's Abbey]] in Canterbury that same day.<ref name=DNB/> He became revered as a saint after his death, and was allotted the feast day of&nbsp;24 April.<ref name=Walsh420>Walsh ''New Dictionary of Saints'' p. 420</ref> In the ninth century, Mellitus' feast day was mentioned in the [[Stowe Missal]], along with Laurence and Justus.<ref name=ODS366>Farmer ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' p. 366</ref> He was still venerated at St Augustine's in 1120, along with a number of other local saints.<ref name=Father>Hayward "Absent Father" ''Journal of Medieval History'' p. 217 footnote 72</ref> There was also a shrine to him at [[Old St Paul's Cathedral]] in London.<ref name=Shrines36>Nilson ''Cathedral Shrines of Medieval England'' p. 36</ref> Shortly after the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman Conquest]], [[Goscelin]] wrote a life of Mellitus, the first of several to appear around that time, but none contain any information not included in Bede's earlier works. These later medieval lives do, however, reveal that during Goscelin's lifetime persons suffering from gout were urged to pray at Mellitus' tomb.<ref name=DNB/> Goscelin records that Mellitus' shrine flanked that of Augustine, along with Laurence, in the eastern central chapel of the [[Presbytery (architecture)|presbytery]].<ref name=Gem8>Gem "Significance of the 11th-century Rebuilding" ''Medieval Art and Architecture at Canterbury'' p. 8</ref>
Mellitus died on 24 April 624,<ref name=Handbook213/> and was buried at [[St Augustine's Abbey]] in Canterbury that same day.<ref name=DNB/> He became revered as a saint after his death, and was allotted the feast day of&nbsp;24 April.<ref name=Walsh420>Walsh ''New Dictionary of Saints'' p. 420</ref> In the ninth century, Mellitus' feast day was mentioned in the [[Stowe Missal]], along with Laurence and Justus.<ref name=ODS366>Farmer ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' p. 366</ref> He was still venerated at St Augustine's in 1120, along with a number of other local saints.<ref name=Father>Hayward "Absent Father" ''Journal of Medieval History'' p. 217 footnote 72</ref> There was also a shrine to him at [[Old St Paul's Cathedral]] in London.<ref name=Shrines36>Nilson ''Cathedral Shrines of Medieval England'' p. 36</ref> Shortly after the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman Conquest]], [[Goscelin]] wrote a life of Mellitus, the first of several to appear around that time, but none contain any information not included in Bede's earlier works. These later medieval lives do, however, reveal that during Goscelin's lifetime persons suffering from gout were urged to pray at Mellitus' tomb.<ref name=DNB/> Goscelin records that Mellitus' shrine flanked that of Augustine, along with Laurence, in the eastern central chapel of the [[Presbytery (architecture)|presbytery]].<ref name=Gem8>Gem "Significance of the 11th-century Rebuilding" ''Medieval Art and Architecture at Canterbury'' p. 8</ref>


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==References==
==References==
{{refbegin|colwidth=60em}}
{{refbegin|60em}}
* {{cite book |author=Bede |author-link=Bede |editor= Sherley-Price, Leo (translator) |title=A History of the English Church and People |publisher=Penguin Classics |location=New York |year=1988 |isbn=0-14-044042-9 }}
* {{cite book |author=Bede |title=A History of the English Church and People |author-link=Bede |translator=[[Leo Sherley-Price]] |publisher=Penguin Classics |location=New York |year=1988 |isbn=0-14-044042-9 }}
* {{cite book |author=Blair, Peter Hunter|author-link= Peter Hunter Blair |title=The World of Bede |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1990 |edition=Reprint |orig-year=1970 |isbn=0-521-39819-3}}
* {{cite book |author=Blair, Peter Hunter |title=The World of Bede |author-link=Peter Hunter Blair |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1990 |edition=Reprint |orig-year=1970 |isbn=0-521-39819-3}}
* {{cite book |author=Brooks, Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Brooks |title=The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066 |publisher=Leicester University Press |location=London |year=1984 |isbn=0-7185-0041-5}}
* {{cite book |author=Brooks, Nicholas |title=The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066 |author-link=Nicholas Brooks (historian) |publisher=Leicester University Press |location=London |year=1984 |isbn=0-7185-0041-5 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Brooks, N. P. |title=Mellitus (d. 624) |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |publisher= Oxford University Press |year= 2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/18531 |edition=October 2005 revised|doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/18531}} {{ODNBsub}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Brooks, N. P. |title=Mellitus (d. 624) |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/18531 |edition=October 2005 revised |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/18531 }} {{ODNBsub}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Campbell, James |title=Observations on the Conversion of England |encyclopedia =Essays in Anglo-Saxon History |publisher=Hambledon Press |location=London |isbn=0-907628-32-X |pages=69–84}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Campbell, James |title=Observations on the Conversion of England |encyclopedia=Essays in Anglo-Saxon History |year=1986 |publisher=Hambledon Press |location=London |isbn=0-907628-32-X |pages=69–84 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Church, S. D. |title=Paganism in Conversion-age Anglo-Saxon England: The Evidence of Bede's ''Ecclesiastical History'' Reconsidered |journal =[[History (The Journal of the Historical Association)|History]] |volume=93 |issue=310 |pages=162–180 |doi= 10.1111/j.1468-229X.2008.00420.x |date=April 2008}}
* {{cite journal |author=Church, S. D. |title=Paganism in Conversion-age Anglo-Saxon England: The Evidence of Bede's ''Ecclesiastical History'' Reconsidered |journal=[[History (The Journal of the Historical Association)|History]] |volume=93 |issue=310 |pages=162–180 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-229X.2008.00420.x |date=April 2008 |s2cid=159496086 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Colgrave, Bertram |author-link= Bertram Colgrave |editor=Colgrave, Bertram |title=Introduction |encyclopedia=The Earliest Life of Gregory the Great |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |edition=Paperback reissue |orig-year=1968 |year=2007|isbn=978-0-521-31384-1}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Colgrave, Bertram |title=Introduction |author-link=Bertram Colgrave |editor=Colgrave, Bertram |encyclopedia=The Earliest Life of Gregory the Great |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |edition=Paperback reissue |orig-year=1968 |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-31384-1 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Demacopoulos, George |title=Gregory the Great and the Pagan Shrines of Kent |journal= [[Journal of Late Antiquity]] |date=Fall 2008 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=353–369 |doi= 10.1353/jla.0.0018}}
* {{cite journal |author=Demacopoulos, George |title=Gregory the Great and the Pagan Shrines of Kent |journal=[[Journal of Late Antiquity]] |date=Fall 2008 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=353–369 |doi=10.1353/jla.0.0018 |s2cid=162301915 }}
* {{cite book| author=Farmer, David Hugh |title=Oxford Dictionary of Saints |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |edition=Fifth |location=Oxford, UK |isbn= 978-0-19-860949-0}}
* {{cite book |author=Farmer, David Hugh |title=Oxford Dictionary of Saints |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |edition=Fifth |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-0-19-860949-0 }}
* {{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-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 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Gem, Richard |title=The Significance of the 11th-century Rebuilding of Christ Church and St Augustine's, Canterbury, in the Development of Romanesque Architecture |encyclopedia=Medieval Art and Architecture at Canterbury Before 1220 |series = British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions |volume=V |publisher= Kent Archaeological Society |year=1982 |isbn=0-907307-05-1 |pages=1–19 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Gem, Richard |title=The Significance of the 11th-century Rebuilding of Christ Church and St Augustine's, Canterbury, in the Development of Romanesque Architecture |encyclopedia=Medieval Art and Architecture at Canterbury Before 1220 |series=British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions |volume=V |publisher=Kent Archaeological Society |year=1982 |isbn=0-907307-05-1 |pages=1–19 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Hayward, Paul Antony |title=An Absent Father: Eadmer, Goscelin and the Cult of St Peter, the First Abbot of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury |journal=[[Journal of Medieval History]] |volume=29 |year=2003|pages= 201–218 |doi=10.1016/S0304-4181(03)00030-7 |issue=3}}
* {{cite journal |author=Hayward, Paul Antony |title=An Absent Father: Eadmer, Goscelin and the Cult of St Peter, the First Abbot of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury |journal=[[Journal of Medieval History]] |volume=29 |year=2003 |pages=201–218 |doi=10.1016/S0304-4181(03)00030-7 |issue=3 |s2cid=159827773 }}
* {{cite book |author=Higham, N. J. |title=The Convert Kings: Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester, UK |year=1997 |isbn=0-7190-4827-3 }}
* {{cite book |author=Higham, N. J. |title=The Convert Kings: Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=N. J. Higham |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester, UK |year=1997 |isbn=0-7190-4827-3 }}
* {{cite book |author=Higham, N. J. |title=An English Empire: Bede and the Early Anglo-Saxon Kings |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester, UK |year=1995 |isbn=0-7190-4423-5}}
* {{cite book |author=Higham, N. J. |title=An English Empire: Bede and the Early Anglo-Saxon Kings |author-link=N. J. Higham |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester, UK |year=1995 |isbn=0-7190-4423-5 }}
* {{cite book |author= Hindley, Geoffrey |title=A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The Beginnings of the English Nation |year= 2006|publisher= Carroll & Graf Publishers |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7867-1738-5 }}
* {{cite book |author=Hindley, Geoffrey |title=A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The Beginnings of the English Nation |year=2006 |publisher=Carroll & Graf Publishers |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7867-1738-5 }}
* {{cite book |author1=Holford-Strevens, Leofranc |author2=Blackburn, Bonnie J. |title=The Oxford Book of Days |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=2000 |isbn=0-19-866260-2 }}
* {{cite book |author1=Holford-Strevens, Leofranc |author2=Blackburn, Bonnie J. |title=The Oxford Book of Days |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=2000 |isbn=0-19-866260-2 }}
* {{cite book |author=Lapidge, Michael |author-link=Michael Lapidge |title=The Anglo-Saxon Library |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=2006 |isbn=0-19-926722-7}}
* {{cite book |author=Lapidge, Michael |title=The Anglo-Saxon Library |author-link=Michael Lapidge |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=2006 |isbn=0-19-926722-7 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia|author=Lapidge, Michael |author-link=Michael Lapidge |title=Mellitus|pages=305–306 |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |editor1=Lapidge, Michael |editor2=Blair, John |editor3=Keynes, Simon |editor-link3= Simon Keynes |editor4= Scragg, Donald |year=2001 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA |isbn=978-0-631-22492-1 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia|author=Lapidge, Michael |title=Mellitus |author-link=Michael Lapidge |pages=305–306 |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |editor1=Lapidge, Michael |editor1-link=Michael Lapidge |editor2=Blair, John |editor2-link=John Blair (historian) |editor3=Keynes, Simon |editor-link3=Simon Keynes |editor4=Scragg, Donald |year=2001 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA |isbn=978-0-631-22492-1 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Markus, R. A. |title=Gregory the Great and a Papal Missionary Strategy |encyclopedia=Studies in Church History 6: The Mission of the Church and the Propagation of the Faith |year=1970 |location=Cambridge, UK |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=29–38 |oclc= 94815 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Markus, R. A. |title=Gregory the Great and a Papal Missionary Strategy |encyclopedia=Studies in Church History 6: The Mission of the Church and the Propagation of the Faith |year=1970 |location=Cambridge, UK |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=29–38 |oclc=94815 }}
* {{cite journal|author=Markus, R. A. |title=Gregory the Great's Europe |journal = Transactions of the Royal Historical Society |series=Fifth Series|volume=31 |year=1981 |pages=21–36|doi=10.2307/3679043 |jstor= 3679043}}
* {{cite journal |author=Markus, R. A. |title=Gregory the Great's Europe |journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society |series=Fifth Series |volume=31 |year=1981 |pages=21–36 |doi=10.2307/3679043 |jstor=3679043 |s2cid=162807003 }}
* {{cite book |author=Mayr-Harting, Henry| author-link= Henry Mayr-Harting |title=The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |location=University Park, PA |year=1991 |isbn=0-271-00769-9 }}
* {{cite book |author=Mayr-Harting, Henry |title=The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=Henry Mayr-Harting |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |location=University Park, PA |year=1991 |isbn=0-271-00769-9 }}
* {{cite book |author=Nilson, Ben |title=Cathedral Shrines of Medieval England |publisher=Boydell Press |year=1998 |location=Woodbridge, UK |isbn=0-85115-540-5}}
* {{cite book |author=Nilson, Ben |title=Cathedral Shrines of Medieval England |publisher=Boydell Press |year=1998 |location=Woodbridge, UK |isbn=0-85115-540-5 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Spiegel, Flora |title=The 'tabernacula' of Gregory the Great and the Conversion of Anglo-Saxon England |encyclopedia =Anglo-Saxon England 36 |doi= 10.1017/S0263675107000014 |pages=1–13|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, UK |year=2007 |volume=36 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Spiegel, Flora |title=The 'tabernacula' of Gregory the Great and the Conversion of Anglo-Saxon England |journal=Anglo-Saxon England |doi=10.1017/S0263675107000014 |pages=1–13 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=2007 |volume=36 |s2cid=162057678 }}
* {{cite book |author=Stenton, F. M. |author-link= Frank Stenton |title= Anglo-Saxon England |year= 1971|publisher= Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |edition=Third |isbn=978-0-19-280139-5 }}
* {{cite book |author=Stenton, F. M. |title=Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=Frank Stenton |year= 1971 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |edition=Third |isbn=978-0-19-280139-5 }}
* {{cite book |author= Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. |author-link=J. M. Wallace-Hadrill | title= Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People: A Historical Commentary |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=1988 |series= Oxford Medieval Texts |isbn=0-19-822269-6}}
* {{cite book |author=Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. |title=Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People: A Historical Commentary |author-link=J. M. Wallace-Hadrill |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=1988 |series=Oxford Medieval Texts |isbn=0-19-822269-6 }}
* {{cite book |author=Walsh, Michael J. |title= A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West |year=2007 |publisher= Burns & Oats |location=London |isbn=0-86012-438-X }}
* {{cite book |author=Walsh, Michael J. |title=A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West |year=2007 |publisher=Burns & Oats |location=London |isbn=978-0-86012-438-2 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Wood, Ian |title=The Mission of Augustine of Canterbury to the English |journal=[[Speculum (journal)|Speculum]] |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=1–17 |date=January 1994 |doi=10.2307/2864782 |jstor= 2864782 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Wood, Ian |title=The Mission of Augustine of Canterbury to the English |author-link=Ian N. Wood |journal=[[Speculum (journal)|Speculum]] |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=1–17 |date=January 1994 |doi=10.2307/2864782 |jstor=2864782 |s2cid=161652367 }}
{{refend}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==

*{{Cite book |last=Lapidge |first=Michael |title=The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England |date=2014 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-31606-1 |editor-last=Lapidge |editor-first=Michael |edition=2nd |location=Chichester, West Sussex, UK Malden, MA |chapter=Mellitius |editor-last2=Blair |editor-first2=John |editor-last3=Keynes |editor-first3=Simon |editor-last4=Scragg |editor-first4=Donald}}
*{{Cite journal |last=Shaw |first=Richard |date=2016 |title=When Did Augustine of Canterbury Die? |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022046915003395/type/journal_article |journal=The Journal of Ecclesiastical History |language=en |volume=67 |issue=3 |pages=473–491 |doi=10.1017/S0022046915003395 |issn=0022-0469}}


==External links==
==External links==
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Latest revision as of 02:48, 23 November 2024

For other uses, see Mellitus (disambiguation).

Saint

Mellitus
Archbishop of Canterbury
Appointed619
Term ended24 April 624
PredecessorLaurence
SuccessorJustus
Other post(s)Bishop of London
Orders
Consecration604
by Augustine
Personal details
Died24 April 624
Canterbury
BuriedSt Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury
Sainthood
Feast day24 April[1]
Venerated in
CanonizedPre-Congregation

Mellitus (/məˈlaɪtəs/; died 24 April 624) was the first bishop of London in the Saxon period, the third archbishop of Canterbury, and a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism to Christianity. He arrived in 601 AD with a group of clergy sent to augment the mission, and was consecrated as Bishop of London in 604. Mellitus was the recipient of a famous letter from Pope Gregory I known as the Epistola ad Mellitum, preserved in a later work by the medieval chronicler Bede, which suggested the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons be undertaken gradually, integrating pagan rituals and customs. In 610, Mellitus returned to Italy to attend a council of bishops, and returned to England bearing papal letters to some of the missionaries.

Mellitus was exiled from London by the pagan successors to his patron, King Sæberht of Essex, following the latter's death around 616. King Æthelberht of Kent, Mellitus' other patron, died at about the same time, forcing him to take refuge in Gaul. Mellitus returned to England the following year, after Æthelberht's successor had been converted to Christianity, but he was unable to return to London, whose inhabitants remained pagan. Mellitus was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 619. During his tenure, he was alleged to have miraculously saved the cathedral, and much of the town of Canterbury, from a fire. After his death in 624, Mellitus was revered as a saint.

Early life

[edit]

The medieval chronicler Bede described Mellitus as being of noble birth.[3][4] In letters, Pope Gregory I called him an abbot, but it is unclear whether Mellitus had previously been abbot of a Roman monastery, or this was a rank bestowed on him to ease his journey to England by making him the leader of the expedition.[3] The papal register, a listing of letters sent out by the popes, describes him as an "abbot in Frankia" in its description of the correspondence, but the letter itself only says "abbot".[5] The first time Mellitus is mentioned in history is in the letters of Gregory, and nothing else of his background is known.[3] It appears likely that he was a native of Italy, along with all the other bishops consecrated by Augustine.[6]

Journey to England

[edit]
A page divided into 12 sections, each section displaying a scene from the bible
Passion scenes from the St Augustine Gospels, possibly brought by Mellitus to England

Pope Gregory I sent Mellitus to England in June 601,[7] in response to an appeal from Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Augustine needed more clergy to join the Gregorian mission that was converting the kingdom of Kent, then ruled by Æthelberht, from paganism to Christianity.[8] The new missionaries brought with them a gift of books and "all things which were needed for worship and the ministry of the Church."[9][10] Thomas of Elmham, a 15th-century Canterbury chronicler, claimed that in his day there were a number of the books brought to England by Mellitus still at Canterbury. Examination of the remaining manuscripts has determined that one possible survivor of Mellitus' books is the St Augustine Gospels, now in Cambridge, as Corpus Christi College, MS (manuscript) 286.[3][a] Along with the letter to Augustine, the missionaries brought a letter for Æthelberht, urging the King to act like the Roman Emperor Constantine I and force the conversion of his followers to Christianity. The king was also encouraged to destroy all pagan shrines.[13]

The historian Ian Wood has suggested that Mellitus' journey through Gaul probably took in the bishoprics of Vienne, Arles, Lyons, Toulon, Marseilles, Metz, Paris, and Rouen, as evidenced by the letters that Gregory addressed to those bishops soliciting their support for Mellitus' party. Gregory also wrote to the Frankish kings Chlothar II, Theuderic II, Theudebert II, along with Brunhilda of Austrasia, who was Theudebert and Theuderic's grandmother and regent. Wood feels that this wide appeal to the Frankish episcopate and royalty was an effort to secure more support for the Gregorian mission.[14] While on his journey to England, Mellitus received a letter from Gregory allowing Augustine to convert pagan temples to Christian churches, and to convert pagan animal sacrifices into Christian feasts, to ease the transition to Christianity.[3] Gregory's letter marked a sea change in the missionary strategy,[15] and was later included in Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People.[16] Usually known as the Epistola ad Mellitum,[17] it conflicts with the letter sent to Æthelberht, which the historian R. A. Markus sees as a turning point in missionary history, when forcible conversion gave way to persuasion.[13] This traditional view, that the Epistola represents a contradiction of the letter to Æthelberht, has been challenged by the historian and theologian George Demacopoulos, who argues that the letter to Æthelberht was mainly meant to encourage the King in spiritual matters, while the Epistola was sent to deal with purely practical matters, and thus the two do not contradict each other.[18]

Bishop of London

[edit]

Exactly when Mellitus and his party arrived in England is unknown, but he was certainly in the country by 604,[3] when Augustine consecrated him as bishop[19] in the province of the East Saxons, making Mellitus the first Bishop of London after the Roman departure (London was the East Saxons' capital).[20] The city was a logical choice for a new bishopric, as it was a hub for the southern road network. It was also a former Roman town; many of the Gregorian mission's efforts were centred in such locations. Before his consecration, Mellitus baptised Sæberht, Æthelberht's nephew, who then allowed the bishopric to be established. The episcopal church built in London was probably founded by Æthelberht, rather than Sæberht. Although Bede records that Æthelberht gave lands to support the new episcopate, a charter that claims to be a grant of lands from Æthelberht to Mellitus is a later forgery.[3]

Although Gregory had intended London to be the southern archbishopric for the island, Augustine never moved his episcopal see to London, and instead consecrated Mellitus as a plain bishop there.[b] After Augustine's death in 604, Canterbury continued to be the site of the southern archbishopric, and London remained a bishopric. It may have been that the Kentish king did not wish greater episcopal authority to be exercised outside his own kingdom.[3]

Mellitus attended a council of bishops held in Italy in February 610, convened by Pope Boniface IV.[3] The historian N. J. Higham speculates that one reason for his attendance may have been to assert the English Church's independence from the Frankish Church.[22] Boniface had Mellitus take two papal letters back to England, one to Æthelbert and his people, and another to Laurence, the Archbishop of Canterbury.[23] He also brought back the synod's decrees to England.[24] No authentic letters or documents from this synod remain, although some were forged in the 1060s and 1070s at Canterbury.[3] During his time as a bishop, Mellitus joined with Justus, the Bishop of Rochester, in signing a letter that Laurence wrote to the Celtic bishops urging the Celtic Church to adopt the Roman method of calculating the date of Easter. This letter also mentioned the fact that Irish missionary bishops, such as Dagan, refused to eat with the Roman missionaries.[25]

Both Æthelberht and Sæberht died around 616 or 618, causing a crisis for the mission.[3] Sæberht's three sons had not converted to Christianity, and drove Mellitus from London.[26] Bede says that Mellitus was exiled because he refused the brothers' request for a taste of the sacramental bread.[3][c] Whether this occurred immediately after Sæberht's death or later is impossible to determine from Bede's chronology, which has both events in the same chapter but gives neither an exact time frame nor the elapsed time between the two events.[28] The historian N. J. Higham connects the timing of this episode with a change in the "overkingship" from the Christian Kentish Æthelberht to the pagan East Anglian Raedwald, which Higham feels happened after Æthelberht's death. In Higham's view, Sæberht's sons drove Mellitus from London because they had passed from Kentish overlordship to East Anglian, and thus no longer needed to keep Mellitus, who was connected with the Kentish kingdom, in office.[29]

Mellitus fled first to Canterbury, but Æthelberht's successor Eadbald was also a pagan, so Mellitus, accompanied by Justus, took refuge in Gaul.[3] Mellitus was recalled to Britain by Laurence, the second Archbishop of Canterbury, after his conversion of Eadbald.[30] How long Mellitus' exile lasted is unclear. Bede claims it was a year, but it may have been longer.[28] Mellitus did not return to London,[30] because the East Saxons remained pagan.[3] Although Mellitus fled, there does not seem to have been any serious persecution of Christians in the East Saxon kingdom.[31] The East Saxon see was not occupied again until Cedd was consecrated as bishop in about 654.[32]

Archbishop and death

[edit]

Mellitus succeeded Laurence as the third Archbishop of Canterbury after the latter's death in 619.[33] During his tenure as archbishop, Mellitus supposedly performed a miracle in 623 by diverting a fire that had started in Canterbury and threatened the church. He was carried into the flames, upon which the wind changed direction, thus saving the building.[34] Bede praised Mellitus' sane mind, but other than the miracle, little happened during his time as archbishop.[35] Bede also mentioned that Mellitus suffered from gout.[24] Boniface wrote to Mellitus encouraging him in the mission, perhaps prompted by the marriage of Æthelburh of Kent to King Edwin of Northumbria. Whether Mellitus received a pallium, the symbol of an archbishop's authority, from the pope is unknown.[3]

Stone marking the site of Mellitus's grave in St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury

Mellitus died on 24 April 624,[33] and was buried at St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury that same day.[3] He became revered as a saint after his death, and was allotted the feast day of 24 April.[2] In the ninth century, Mellitus' feast day was mentioned in the Stowe Missal, along with Laurence and Justus.[36] He was still venerated at St Augustine's in 1120, along with a number of other local saints.[37] There was also a shrine to him at Old St Paul's Cathedral in London.[38] Shortly after the Norman Conquest, Goscelin wrote a life of Mellitus, the first of several to appear around that time, but none contain any information not included in Bede's earlier works. These later medieval lives do, however, reveal that during Goscelin's lifetime persons suffering from gout were urged to pray at Mellitus' tomb.[3] Goscelin records that Mellitus' shrine flanked that of Augustine, along with Laurence, in the eastern central chapel of the presbytery.[39]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Another possible survivor is a copy of the Rule of Saint Benedict, now Bodleian Library MS. Hatton 48.[11] Another Gospel, in an Italian hand, and closely related to the Augustine Gospels, is MS Oxford Bodelian Auctarium D.2.14, which shows evidence of being held in Anglo-Saxon hands during the right time frame. Lastly, a fragment of a work by Gregory the Great, now held by the British Library as part of MS Cotton Titus C may have arrived with the missionaries.[12]
  2. ^ Although the historian S. Brechter argued that Augustine did in fact move the archbishopric to London, and that Mellitus was his successor there instead of Laurence, this has been shown to be unlikely.[21]
  3. ^ The historian James Campbell speculates that the brothers may have wanted a taste either because they thought it was magical or because the bread was white, which was rare at the time.[27]

Citations

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Holford-Strevens and Blackburn Oxford Book of Days p. 170
  2. ^ a b Walsh New Dictionary of Saints p. 420
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Brooks "Mellitus" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  4. ^ Bede History of the English Church and People p. 111, or in other editions of Bede, at the end of chapter 6, Book 2.
  5. ^ Church "Paganism in Conversion-age Anglo-Saxon England" History p. 164
  6. ^ Higham Convert Kings p. 96
  7. ^ Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity p. 64
  8. ^ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury p. 9
  9. ^ Bede History of the English Church and People pp. 85–86
  10. ^ Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity p. 62
  11. ^ Colgrave "Introduction" Earliest Life of Gregory the Great pp. 27–28
  12. ^ Lapidge Anglo-Saxon Library pp. 24–25
  13. ^ a b Markus "Gregory the Great and a Papal Missionary Strategy" Studies in Church History 6 pp. 34–37
  14. ^ Wood "Mission of Augustine" Speculum p. 6
  15. ^ Markus "Gregory the Great's Europe" Transactions of the Royal Historical Society p. 26
  16. ^ Bede History of the English Church and People pp. 86–87
  17. ^ Spiegel "'Tabernacula' of Gregory the Great" Anglo-Saxon England 36 pp. 2–3
  18. ^ Demacopoulos "Gregory the Great and the Pagan Shrines of Kent" Journal of Late Antiquity pp. 353–369
  19. ^ Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 219
  20. ^ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury pp. 11–13a
  21. ^ Wallace-Hadrill Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People p. 39
  22. ^ Higham Convert Kings p. 115
  23. ^ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury p. 13
  24. ^ a b Blair World of Bede pp. 86–87
  25. ^ Stenton Anglo-Saxon England p. 112
  26. ^ Hindley Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons p. 36
  27. ^ Campbell "Observations on the Conversion of England" Essays in Anglo-Saxon History pp. 77–78
  28. ^ a b Higham Convert Kings p. 137
  29. ^ Higham English Empire pp. 202–203
  30. ^ a b Lapidge "Mellitus" Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England
  31. ^ Higham Convert Kings pp. 135–136
  32. ^ Higham Convert Kings pp. 234–237
  33. ^ a b Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 213
  34. ^ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury p. 30
  35. ^ Hindley Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons p. 43
  36. ^ Farmer Oxford Dictionary of Saints p. 366
  37. ^ Hayward "Absent Father" Journal of Medieval History p. 217 footnote 72
  38. ^ Nilson Cathedral Shrines of Medieval England p. 36
  39. ^ Gem "Significance of the 11th-century Rebuilding" Medieval Art and Architecture at Canterbury p. 8

References

[edit]
  • Bede (1988). A History of the English Church and People. Translated by Leo Sherley-Price. New York: Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044042-9.
  • Blair, Peter Hunter (1990) [1970]. The World of Bede (Reprint ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-39819-3.
  • Brooks, Nicholas (1984). The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066. London: Leicester University Press. ISBN 0-7185-0041-5.
  • Brooks, N. P. (2004). "Mellitus (d. 624)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (October 2005 revised ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/18531. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  • Campbell, James (1986). "Observations on the Conversion of England". Essays in Anglo-Saxon History. London: Hambledon Press. pp. 69–84. ISBN 0-907628-32-X.
  • Church, S. D. (April 2008). "Paganism in Conversion-age Anglo-Saxon England: The Evidence of Bede's Ecclesiastical History Reconsidered". History. 93 (310): 162–180. doi:10.1111/j.1468-229X.2008.00420.x. S2CID 159496086.
  • Colgrave, Bertram (2007) [1968]. "Introduction". In Colgrave, Bertram (ed.). The Earliest Life of Gregory the Great (Paperback reissue ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-31384-1.
  • Demacopoulos, George (Fall 2008). "Gregory the Great and the Pagan Shrines of Kent". Journal of Late Antiquity. 1 (2): 353–369. doi:10.1353/jla.0.0018. S2CID 162301915.
  • Farmer, David Hugh (2004). Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Fifth ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860949-0.
  • 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.
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Further reading

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[edit]
Christian titles
Preceded by Bishop of London
604–619 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Archbishop of Canterbury
619–624 		Succeeded by
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