Koenwald

Koenwald
Church	Catholic
See	Bishop of Worcester
In office	929–957
Predecessor	Wilfrith II
Successor	St. Dunstan
Personal details
Died	957

Koenwald (floruit 929–958) (Template:Lang-ang) was an Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Worcester of Mercian origins.

Life

Koenwald succeeded Bishop Wilferth at some time between 16 April 928, when Wilferth is last known to have witnessed a charter, and 15 October 929, when Koenwald is known to been at the Abbey of St. Gall and is called Bishop of Worcester.

Koenwald was a trusted servant of King Athelstan, and probably served as royal household priest. His first appearance is as Athelstan's ambassador to Germany. The visit to St. Gall followed a mission to escort two of Athelstan's half-sisters to the court of German King Henry the Fowler. This resulted in the marriage of Eadgyth to Henry's son Otto, the future Holy Roman Emperor. While at St Gall, he was received into the confraternity of that monastery, and asked at that time that his king as well as a number of his fellow English bishops be also entered into the monastery's confraternity.

Koenwald's visit to St. Gall and to Reichenau is thought to be connected to the rise of the monastic reform movement in 10th century England. Dunstan and Æthelwold of Winchester, the leading ecclesiastical proponents of reform, were associated with Athelstan's court, and Dunstan would eventually succeed Koenwald. Several charters witnessed by Koenwald also describe him as monk, as well as bishop, "suggesting a respect for the condition which set him apart from other bishops".

Koenwald appears to have been responsible for the "alliterative charters" which were issued between 940 and 956. These are described as "drawn up in a self-consciously 'literary' style (replete with alliterative and rhythmical phrases)". These have some features of earlier charters of King Athelstan, from the period 928–935, with which Koenwald may also be associated. The author of some of these may be one Ælfric, later a priest and deacon in the service of Bishop Oswald of Worcester, a strong supporter of Dunstan, and the monastic reform movement. The difficult Latin entry inserted into the Mac Durnan Gospels, which Æthelstan donated to Christ Church, Canterbury, has been ascribed to Koenwald and may be seen as a prelude to the convoluted style of this alliterative group.

Koenwald was succeeded by Dunstan in 958 or 959. Keynes quotes John of Worcester's Chronicle where Koenwald is called "a man of great humility". The year of his death is not known, but the date, and a further link between Koenwald and Dunstan, may have been kept in the records of Glastonbury Abbey. Bishop Koenwald, a monk of Glastonbury, was commemorated on 28 June, the anniversary of his death.

Powicke, in The Handbook of British Chronology, second edition, gives his death date as 957.

References

• Keynes, Simon, "Koenwald" in Michael Lapidge et al., The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Blackwell, 1999. ISBN 0-631-22492-0
• Lawrence, C. H. (2001). Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages (Third Edition ed.). New York: Longman. ISBN 0-582-40427-4. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde Handbook of British Chronology 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961

External links

• Prosopography of Anglo Saxon England entry for Cenwald