Plegmund of Canterbury

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PLEGMUND OF CANTERBURY

Archbishop; b. Mercia, England; d. Aug. 2, 914. A hermit at Plegmundham (now Plemstall), in Cheshire, he became tutor and adviser to alfred the great and participated in the literary revival. Appointed archbishop of Canterbury in 890, he received the pallium in Rome from Pope formosus (891). Plegmund, the recognized leader against pagan influences, crowned Edward the Elder at Kingston (901), consecrated the New Minster at winchester (c. 903), and after a second journey to Rome (908) aided in the subdivision of the two West Saxon sees into five, consecrating seven bishops in one day (probably c. 909).

Feast: Aug. 2.

Bibliography: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, tr. c. plummer and j. earle, 2 v. (Oxford 189299; repr. New York 1952) 890, 891, 923, erroneous death-date. j. m. kemble, ed., Codex diplomaticus aevi saxonici, 6 v. (London 183948). w. hunt, The Dictionary of National Biography from the Earliest Times to 1900, 63 v. (London 18851900; repr. with corrections, 21 v., 190809, 192122, 1938; suppl. 1901) 15:130607. e. barber, "St. Plegmund and His Connection with Cheshire," Journal of the Architectural, Archaeological and Historical Society for the County and the City of Chester and North Wales, NS 16 (1909) 5469. c. cotton, The Saxon Cathedral at Canterbury and the Saxon Saints Buried Therein (Manchester 1929).

[w. a. chaney]