Berhtwald


Berhtwald
Archbishop of Canterbury
Elected1 July 692
Term ended13 January 731
PredecessorTheodore of Tarsus
SuccessorTatwine
Other post(s)Abbot of Reculver
Orders
Consecration29 June 693
by Godwin
Personal details
Diedprobably 13 January 731
BuriedCanterbury
Sainthood
Feast day9 January[1]
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church[1]
CanonizedPre-Congregation

Berhtwald[a] (died 731) was the ninth Archbishop of Canterbury in England. His predecessor had been Theodore of Tarsus. Berhtwald begins the first continuous series of native-born Archbishops of Canterbury, although there had been previous Anglo-Saxon archbishops, they did not succeed each other until Berhtwald's successor Tatwine.

Berhtwald's period as archbishop coincided with the end of Wilfrid's long struggle to regain the Bishopric of York, and the two-year delay between Theodore's death in 690 and Berhtwald's election may have been due to efforts to select Wilfrid for Canterbury. After his election, Berhtwald went to Gaul for consecration and then presided over two councils that attempted to settle the Wilfrid issue, finally succeeding at the second council in 705. Berhtwald also was the recipient of the first surviving letter close in Western Europe.

  1. ^ a b c Farmer Oxford Dictionary of Saints p. 55
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference DNB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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