Alchmund of Hexham

Eahlmund
Bishop of Hexham
Appointedbefore 24 April 767
Term ended7 September 780 or 781
PredecessorFrithubeorht
SuccessorTilbeorht
Orders
Consecration24 April 767
Personal details
Died7 September 780 or 781
Hexham, Northumberland
DenominationChristian
Sainthood
Feast day7 September
Venerated inCatholic Church; Anglican Communion
ShrinesHexham Abbey, Northumberland

Alcmund of Hexham[a] (died 7 September 780 or 781) became the 7th bishop of the see of Hexham in Northumberland when he was consecrated on 24 April 767;[1] the see was centred on the church there founded by Wilfrid.[2]

Alcmund died on 7 September 780 or 781[1] and was buried beside Acca outside the church. Virtually nothing is now known of his life, but he was apparently deeply venerated as one of the Hexham saints.

Relics

By the early 11th century, after the Danes had ravaged this part of the country, it seems that his tomb had been entirely forgotten. Symeon of Durham writes that Alcmund appeared in a vision to Dregmo, a man of Hexham, urging him to tell Alfred son of Westou, sacrist of Durham, to have his body translated (removed and re-buried as a relic). Alfred did so, but stole one of the bones to take back with him to Durham; the shrine however could not be moved by any strength of man until the bone was replaced.[3]

In 1154, the church, having been ruined again, was again restored, and the bones of the Hexham saints, including Alcmund, were gathered into a single shrine. The Scots however pillaged and finally destroyed both church and shrine in a border raid in 1296.[3]

Notes

  1. ^ Also spelt Ealhmund, Alhmund or Alchmund

Citations

  1. ^ a b Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 217
  2. ^ "Old ruins, new world". British Archaeology. Archived from the original on 23 May 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
  3. ^ a b Thurston, Herbert. "St. Alcmund." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 18 May 2013

References

Wikisource has the text of the 1885–1900 Dictionary of National Biography's article about Alchmund.
  • Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Thurston, Herbert (1907). "St. Alcmund". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Christian titles
Preceded by Bishop of Hexham
767–780 or 781 		Succeeded by