Eanbald (died 796) - Life

Life

Eanbald was a fellow student at York with Alcuin under Æthelbert, his predecessor at York. Alcuin called him a "brother and most faithful friend." Ethelbert put Alcuin and Eanbald in charge of rebuilding York Minster, as the duties of archbishop kept Ethelbert from handling the details.

Eanbald was elected Archbishop of York in 780. Alcuin was sent by King Ælfwald I of Northumbria to retrieve Eanbald's pallium from Pope Adrian I in Rome.

In 786 Eanbald presided over a church synod held in Northumbria with two papal legates from Adrian I and the king. Among the canons adopted were ones that debarred illigetimate children from inheriting kingdoms, that priests must not celebrate Mass while bare-legged, that bishops should not debate secular affairs at church councils, that there should be a clear difference between canons, monks, and laymen in dress and deportment, and that tithes must be given by all men to the Church. He also probably presided over councils held in 782, 787, and 788. Shortly before his death, he consecrated the new king, Eardwulf of Northumbria.

Eanbald's time as archbishop was a time of political instability in the Northumbrian kingdom. The synod of 786 condemned regicide, probably because of the number of kings and royal kin that had been killed in the political struggles taking place in the kingdom of Northumbria. His archbishorpric also witnessed the first attacks of the Danes on Northumbria. The country was so widely ravaged, that in 790, the Yorkist scholar, Alcuin, deserted the city for the Frankish Court of Charlemagne.

On 26 May 796, Eanbald consecrated Eardwulf of Northumbria as king at York. Eanbald died at the monastery of Etlete or Edete on 10 August 796, the monastery's exact location has not be determined. He was buried in York Minster.

Read more about this topic:  Eanbald (died 796)

Famous quotes containing the word life:

    We realize that we are laggards from the past century, still living in what Marx kindly calls ‘the idiocy of rural life,’ and we know that our rural life is like that of the past, not like that of much of the present.
    —For the State of Vermont, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    Why should not our whole life and its scenery be actually thus fair and distinct? All our lives want a suitable background. They should at least, like the life of the anchorite, be as impressive to behold as objects in a desert, a broken shaft or crumbling mound against a limitless horizon.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    You have nothing more to fear. Not death nor decay. Here in this cup is my gift of life to you. I’m going to make you immortal. And I, too, shall drink and be immortal. We will not return to Egypt. Our world shall be wide, our time shall be without end. Has any man before offered a gift of eternal life to his bride?
    Griffin Jay, and Reginald LeBorg. Yousef Bey (John Carradine)