Editing Earconwald (section)

==Life==
[[File:Medieval Stained Glass Window depicting St. Peter Mancroft and St. William (likely Bishop William of London) in St. Peter Mancroft Church, Norwich.jpg|alt=Medieval Stained Glass Window depicting St. Peter Mancroft and St. William (likely Bishop William of London) in St. Peter Mancroft Church, Norwich.|left|thumb|Medieval Stained Glass Window depicting St. Erkenwald and St. William (likely Bishop William of London) in [[St Peter Mancroft|St. Peter Mancroft Church]], Norwich.]]

===Origins===
Earconwald was of royal ancestry.<ref name="ODS1752">Farmer ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' p. 175</ref> [[William Dugdale]] states that he was a prince, a son of the house of King [[Offa of Essex|Offa]], King of  [[Kingdom of Essex|Essex or the East Saxons]].<ref>William Dugdale, 'The History of St. Paul's Cathedral in London' (London, 2nd ed. 1716), p. 115.</ref>

He may have been born in the [[Kingdom of Lindsey]] in modern [[Lincolnshire]].<ref name="Walsh1822">Walsh ''A New Dictionary of Saints'' p. 182</ref>

===Career===
In 666, he established two [[Benedictine]] abbeys, [[Chertsey Abbey]] in [[Surrey]]<ref name="Kirby83">Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 83</ref> for men, and [[Barking Abbey]] for women.<ref name="Walsh1822"/><ref name="Courts250">Yorke "Adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon Royal Courts" ''Cross Goes North'' pp. 250–251</ref> His sister, [[Æthelburg of Barking|Æthelburh]], was Abbess of Barking.<ref name="Walsh1822" /><ref name="Kirby102" /> Earconwald is said to have engaged [[Hildelith]] to instruct Æthelburh in the role of abbess.<ref>{{Cite DNB|wstitle= Hildilid |last= Kingsford |first= Charles Lethbridge |author-link= Charles Lethbridge Kingsford |volume=26 |page=386 |short=1}}</ref>

[[File:Chertsey Breviary - St. Erkenwald.jpg|thumb|Earconwald teaching monks in a historiated initial from the Chertsey Breviary (c.1300)]]

Earconwald himself served as [[Abbot]] of Chertsey.<ref name="Kirby95" /> A charter states that in the late 7th century, he and [[Frithwald]] gave land in [[Streatham]] and [[Tooting Graveney]] to Chertsey Abbey; this grant was confirmed in the time of [[Athelstan]] in 933.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Parishes: Tooting Graveney {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol4/pp102-107 |access-date=2023-02-19 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref>

A legend says that he often preached to the woodmen in the wild forests that lay to the north of London.<ref name="togreat">{{Cite web |title=St Paul's: To the Great Fire {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol1/pp234-248 |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref>

[[File: Wells Cathedral, window nV detail (50389684823).jpg|thumb|A window in Wells Cathedral. Mostly original glass; the heads depict Pope Stephen, St Blaise, St Earconwald, and Pope Marcellus.]]

===Bishop===
In 675, Earconwald became [[Bishop of London]], succeeding Bishop [[Wine (bishop)|Wine]].<ref name=Handbook219>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 219</ref> He was the choice of Archbishop [[Theodore of Canterbury]].<ref name=Kirby95>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' pp. 95–96</ref> It is also said that his selection as Bishop of London was at the insistence of [[Sæbbi of Essex|King Sebbi]].<ref name="catholic.org">{{Cite web |title=St. Erconwald - Encyclopedia Volume - Catholic Encyclopedia |url=https://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=4335 |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=Catholic Online |language=en}}</ref> An ancient epitaph says that Earconwald served as bishop of London for eleven years.<ref name="catholic.org"/>

He was granted the manor (landholding) of [[Fulham]] about the year 691 for himself and his successors as [[Bishop of London]]. The manor house was [[Fulham Palace]]. Nine centuries later, it was the summer residence of the Bishops of London.<ref>{{cite web |author=Walford, Edward |date=1878 |title=''Fulham: Introduction'', in Old and New London |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol6/pp504-521 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024025456/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol6/pp504-521 |archive-date=24 October 2016 |access-date=23 October 2016 |publisher=British History Online |pages=504–521 |volume=6 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>
[[File:Orthodox Image of St Erkenwald, Bishop of London.jpg|thumb|Orthodox Image of St Erkenwald: Erkenwald is considered a saint of the undivided church ]]
Earconwald was an important contributor to the reconversion of Essex, and the [[Bishop of London#List of Bishops|fourth Bishop of London since the restoration of the diocese]], and he was present at the reconciliation between Archbishop Theodore and [[Wilfrid|Wilfrith]].<ref name="catholic.org"/>

While bishop, he contributed to King [[Ine of Wessex]]'s law code, and is mentioned specifically in the code as a contributor.<ref name=Conversion235>Yorke ''Conversion of Britain'' p. 235</ref> King Ine named Earconwald as an advisor on his laws<ref name="Kirby103">Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 103</ref> and called Earconwald "my bishop" in the preface to his laws.<ref name="catholic.org"/>

Current historical scholarship credits Earconwald with a major role in the evolution of Anglo-Saxon charters, and it is possible that he drafted the charter of Caedwalla to Farnham.<ref name=Kirby102>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 102</ref>[[File:Bishopsgate Hollar.PNG|thumb|The now lost Bishops Gate: a Roman gate in the walls of Roman London, repaired by St Earconwald and then named after him]]When [[Saint Fursey|St Fursey]] (a Celtic cleric who did much to establish [[Christianity]] throughout the [[British Isles]] and particularly in [[Kingdom of East Anglia|East Anglia]]) died in 650 he was buried in a church built specially by Earconwald in [[Péronne, Somme|Péronne]] which has claimed Fursey as patron ever since.<ref name="pilgrims">{{cite web |title=Who Was Fursey |url=http://www.furseypilgrims.co.uk/fursey.htm |access-date=2015-03-01 |publisher=Furseypilgrims.co.uk}}</ref>

===Building works===
[[Bishopsgate]], one of the eastern gates on [[London Wall|London's largely lost Roman and medieval city wall]], was said to have been repaired by Earconwald, and to have taken its name from him.<ref>Ben Weinreb and [[Christopher Hibbert]] (1983) The London Encyclopedia</ref>

[[File:Archbishop Matthew Parker.jpg|thumb|Archbishop Matthew Parker, who had the most important records on Earconwald at the end of the [[Counter-Reformation]] when they may otherwise have been lost]]

Earconwald is said to have spent a good deal on the early building of St Paul's, and in later times he almost occupied the place of a traditionary founder; the veneration paid to him was second only to that which was rendered to St Paul.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Secular canons: Cathedral of St. Paul {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/london/vol1/pp409-433 |access-date=2023-08-27 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref>

===Death and legacy===
Earconwald died in 693<ref name="Handbook219" /> while on a visit to Barking Abbey. His remains were buried at a pilgrimage shrine in [[Old St Paul's Cathedral]].

For a period immediately after the Norman Conquest, St Earconwald was marginalised in religious practice.<ref name="miracles">{{Cite book |title=The Saint of London: The Life and Miracles of St.Erkenwald - Text and Translation: v. 58 |date=1989-01-01 |publisher=State University of New York at Binghamton, Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies |isbn=978-0-86698-042-5 |editor-last=Whatley |editor-first=E. Gordon |location=Binghamton, NY}}</ref> The Normans replaced most of the English ecclesiastical office holders, either immediately, or upon their death with the appointment of a Norman cleric as successor.<ref>{{cite book |author=Thomas, Hugh M. |title=The English and the Normans |year=2003 |location=Oxford, UK |publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=202–208 |isbn= 978-0-19-925123-0}}</ref>

The most important collection of early materials concerning Earconwald is the ''Miracula Sancti Erkenwaldi'', preserved as a 12th-century manuscript in the [[Matthew Parker]] collection (Parker 161) at [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]].<ref name="Gollancz1">{{Cite book |last=Gollancz |first=Sir Israel |title=Selected Early English Poems IV St Erkenwald |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1923}}</ref> The miracle in the poem is not in these materials, suggesting that the story post-dates this manuscript.