Grimbald, St.

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GRIMBALD, ST.

Monk, teacher under alfred the great; b. Thérouanne (Flanders), c. 820830; d. Winchester, England, July 8, 901. Dedicated when seven years old in the nearby Benedictine Abbey of saint-bertin, Grimbald was ordained deacon by 867 and priest c. 868 to 873; he was chosen prior there before going to England at King alfred's invitation. Arriving c. 886, he participated in the Alfredian revival as a devout Churchman, skillful musician, and royal tutor and mass-priest. Grimbald apparently declined the Archbishopric of Canterbury (889). He encouraged Edward the Elder to build New Minster, Winchester, which Alfred had planned. Although said to have been New Minster's first abbot, he died before its dedication and was buried there.

Feast: July 8.

Bibliography: w. hunt, The Dictionary of National Biography from the Earliest Times to 1900 (London 18851900) 8:695697. p. grierson, English Historical Review 55 (1940) 529561.

[w. a. chaney]

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