EGBERT (ECGBERT) OF YORK

Archbishop of York; d. Nov. 19, 766. He was a cousin of Ceolwulf (d. 760) and the brother of Edbert (d.768), who succeeded Ceolwulf as King of Northumbria. He was educated at Rome and was there ordained a deacon. He became bishop of york in 732, and a letter of bede in 734 urges him to seek the elevation of his see to an archdiocese, which was granted in 735 by Pope gregory iii. He fostered the school of York with ethelbert, later archbishop, at its head and alcuin as a pupil. Egbert corresponded with St. boniface and wrote a Pontifical (ed. W. Greenwell, London 1853), possibly a Penitential (PL 89:443–454), and a treatise De iure sacerdotali (PL 89:379–383). The Exceptiones of Canon Law can no longer be attributed to him. He was buried in the cathedral at York. Although he is mentioned in the Benedictine martyrologies, there is no approved cult.

Bibliography: bede, Opera historica, ed. c. plummer, 2 v. (Oxford 1896) 1:405–423, Bede's letter to Egbert. English Historical Documents 1:735–745. a. w. haddan and w. stubbs, eds., Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, v. 3 (Oxford 1871) 358–360, 388–390, letters of Boniface; 394–395, letter of Paul I; 403–413, De iure sacerdotali; 413–431, Penitential. alcuin, De pontificibus et sanctis ecclesiae eboracensis carmen in The Historians of the Church of York and Its Archbishops, ed. j. raine (RollsS 71; 1879) 386–387. Acta Sanctorum Nov. 3:744–745. h. dauphin, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques 14:1476–78. a. m. zimmerman, Kalendarium Benedictinum (Metten 1933–38) 3:334. k. weinzierl, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (Freiburg 1957–65) 3:668.

[v. i. j. flint]