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Nothhelm

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This article is about the Archbishop of Canterbury. For the King of Sussex, seeNothhelm of Sussex.
Saint

Nothhelm
Archbishop of Canterbury
Appointed735
Term ended17 October 739
PredecessorTatwine
SuccessorCuthbert
Other post(s)archpriestof St Paul's, London
Orders
Consecration735
Personal details
Died17 October 739
BuriedCanterbury, Kent
Sainthood
Feast day17 October[1]
Venerated in
CanonizedPre-Congregation

Nothhelm(sometimesNothelm;[3]died 739) was a medieval Anglo-SaxonArchbishop of Canterbury.A correspondent of bothBedeandBoniface,it was Nothhelm who gathered materials fromCanterburyfor Bede's historical works. After his appointment to the archbishopric in 735, he attended to ecclesiastical matters, including holding church councils. Although laterantiquariesfelt that Nothhelm was the author of a number of works, later research has shown them to be authored by others. After his death he wasconsidered a saint.

Early life

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Nothhelm was a contemporary ofBonifaceandBede,whom he supplied with correspondence from the papal library following a trip to Rome.[4]He also researched the history ofKentand the surrounding area for Bede, supplying the information through the abbot ofSt Augustine's Abbeyin Canterbury.[5]Before his appointment to thearchbishopric,he was thearchpriestof theSaxon-builtSt Paul's Cathedral,London.[6]

Archbishop

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Named to thesee of Canterburyin 735, Nothhelm was consecrated the same year.[7]PopeGregory IIIsent him apalliumin 736.[8]He may have been appointed byÆthelbald,King of Mercia,whose councilor he was.[4]Whether or not he owed his appointment to Æthelbald, Nothhelm was one of a number of Mercians who became Archbishop of Canterbury during the 730s and 740s, during a time of expanding Mercian influence.[9]He held asynodin 736 or 737, which drew nine bishops;[8]the meeting adjudicated a dispute over the ownership of a monastery located atWithington.[10][a]A significant feature of this synod was that no king attended, but yet the synod still rendered judgement in the ownership even without secular oversight, which was more usual.[11]

Nothhelm oversaw the reorganisation of theMerciandioceses which took place in 737. The archbishop consecratedWittaasBishop of LichfieldandTottaasBishop of Leicester.[8]Thediocese of Leicesterwas firmly established by this action,[12]although earlier attempts had been made to establish a bishopric there.[13]In 738, Nothhelm was a witness on thecharterofEadberht I,theKing of Kent.[8]

Bede addressed his workIn regum librum XXX quaestionesto Nothhelm, who had asked the thirty questions on thebiblicalbook ofKingsthat Bede answered.[8]Bede's workDe VIII Quaestionibusmay have been written for Nothhelm.[5]While he was archbishop, Boniface wrote to him, requesting a copy of theLibellus responsionumof PopeGregory Ifor use in Boniface's missionary efforts.[14]Boniface also asked for information on when theGregorian missionto England arrived in England.[5]This text of theLibellus responsionumhas been the subject of some controversy, with the historian Suso Brechter arguing that the text was a forgery created by Nothhelm and a Roman archdeacon. The historian Paul Meyvaert has refuted this view, and most historians incline towards the belief that the text is genuine, although it is not considered conclusively proven.[8]

Death and legacy

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Nothhelm died on 17 October 739[7]and was buried inCanterbury Cathedral.[8]He is considered a saint, and hisfeast dayis 17 October.[1]Theantiquariesand writersJohn Leland,John Bale,andThomas Tannerall felt that Nothhelm was the author of various works, but later research has shown them to be authored by other writers. A verse eulogy for Nothhelm, of uncertain date, survives in a 16th-century manuscript now at theLambeth Palacelibrary.[8]

Notes

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  1. ^The resolution of the dispute is given in a surviving charter, Sawyer 1429.[10]A synopsis of the charter is available onlinehere.

Citations

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  1. ^abWalshNew Dictionary of Saintsp. 453
  2. ^abFarmerOxford Dictionary of Saintspp. 391-392
  3. ^Mayr-HartingComing of Christianityp. 69
  4. ^abHindleyBrief History of the Anglo-Saxonsp. 93
  5. ^abcKeynes "Nothhelm"Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England
  6. ^YorkeKings and Kingdomsp. 31
  7. ^abFryde, et al.Handbook of British Chronologyp. 214
  8. ^abcdefghHunt and Mayr-Harting "Nothhelm"Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  9. ^WilliamsKingship and Governmentp. 24
  10. ^abCubittAnglo-Saxon Church Councilsp. 18
  11. ^CubittAnglo-Saxon Church Councilsp. 56
  12. ^BlairIntroduction to Anglo-Saxon Englandp. 169
  13. ^BlairIntroduction to Anglo-Saxon Englandp. 136
  14. ^BrooksEarly History of the Church of Canterburypp. 83–84

References

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  • Blair, Peter Hunter;Blair, Peter D. (2003).An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England(Third ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-53777-0.
  • Brooks, Nicholas(1984).The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066.London: Leicester University Press.ISBN0-7185-0041-5.
  • Cubitt, Catherine (1995).Anglo-Saxon Church Councils c.650-c.850.London: Leicester University Press.ISBN0-7185-1436-X.
  • Farmer, David Hugh (2004).Oxford Dictionary of Saints(Fifth ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-860949-0.
  • Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996).Handbook of British Chronology(Third revised ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-56350-X.
  • Hindley, Geoffrey (2006).A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The Beginnings of the English Nation.New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers.ISBN978-0-7867-1738-5.
  • Hunt, William;Harting-Mayr, Henry(revised) (2004)."Nothhelm (d. 739)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20368.Retrieved7 November2007.(subscription orUK public library membershiprequired)
  • Keynes, Simon(2001). "Nothhelm". InLapidge, Michael;Blair, John;Keynes, Simon;Scragg, Donald (eds.).The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England.Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 335–336.ISBN978-0-631-22492-1.
  • Mayr-Harting, Henry(1991).The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England.University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.ISBN0-271-00769-9.
  • Walsh, Michael J. (2007).A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West.London: Burns & Oats.ISBN978-0-86012-438-2.
  • Williams, Ann(1999).Kingship and Government in Pre-Conquest England c. 500–1066.London: MacMillan Press.ISBN0-333-56797-8.
  • Yorke, Barbara(1997).Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England.New York: Routledge.ISBN0-415-16639-X.
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Christiantitles
Preceded by Archbishop of Canterbury
735–739 		Succeeded by

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