Aelfric of Canterbury, St.
AELFRIC OF CANTERBURY, ST.
Archbishop; d. Nov. 16, 1005. A monk of Abingdon and possibly of Glastonbury, he was abbot of St. Alban's and bishop of Ramsbury and Wilton (c. 990) before his election to Canterbury on Easter Day 995. Installed in 996, he received gregory v's own pallium in Rome (997). The expulsion of secular clergy and the substitution of monks at Canterbury Cathedral are now generally attributed to either Aelfric (Alfrick) or his predecessor, Sigeric. Buried at Abingdon, his body was translated to St. John's, Canterbury, and (after 1067) to his Cathedral. His will is extant. Reference to Aelfric is found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Vita Dunstani auctore B (dedicated to Aelfric), in Florence of Worcester, the Chronicon monasterii de Abingdon, and the Chronicon monasterii sancti Albani. Matthew of Paris, however, is unreliable.
Feast: Nov. 16.
Bibliography: j. m. kemble, ed., Codex diplomaticus aevi saxonici, 6 v. (London 1839–48). c. cotton, The Saxon Cathedral at Canterbury and the Saxon Saints Buried Therein (Manchester 1929). d. knowles, The Monastic Order in England, 943–1216 (Cambridge 1962) 696–697.
[w. a. chaney]