authore MS. incerto de Ep. Wint. sic scriptum legimus." "Inter S. Swythunum et Frithstanum lapsum 49 annorum tres fuerunt Epi: viz. ALFRITHUS, cujus tempore Canonici venerunt in vetus monasterium Wynton : TRUMBERTUS (DUMBERT) qui manerium de Mestelying huic contulit ecclesiæ: DENEWLPHUS, deinde S. Frithstanus qui sedit 21 annis. Cui successit Brinstanus qui sedit 4 annis."* Swythun died 861, to which add 49 years, and we are brought to 910, the year fixed by the Sax. Chr. for the succession of Frithstan.

Rudborne thus notices our Prelate:--"Iste Frithestanus discipulus fuit Si. Grimbaldi, et ab eo suscepit habitum monachalem: fuit enim primitùs unus ex clericis sæcularibus, qui videns monachorum sanctissiman conversationem, sæculum reliquit et ad religionem convolavit : ut scribit Vigilancius in libro de basilica Petri, cap. 9. Hic beatus Frithestanus ob eximiam sanctitatem factus est Episcopus ; et 22 annis in omni sanctitate pontificavit, sed postea amore divinæ contemplationis, curam deserens pastoralem, ordinavit Sanctum Brynstanum loco sui, Episcopum, ac ipse pauperem et monasticam vitam usque in finem transegit," &c. Hist. Maj. Wint. lib, 3. cap. 7, and in the following chapter he adds, "Sanctus Frithestanus Wyntoniensis Ecclesiæ Præsul pontificabat XVII. annis temp. Edw. senioris et V. temp. Regis Athelstani : mortuus vero sepultus est in ecclesia cathedrali Wyntoniensi."

Placing his succession, therefore, as above, at 910, his resignation must have taken place in the year 932. But Godwin incorrectly has it 931, and his death in 932; whereas his death did not take place till 933. The Sax. Chron. thus records it: " An. DCCCCXXXIII. Hoc anno decessit Frithestanus Episcopus."

XXI. BRYNSTAN.

SUCCEEDED A. D. 932.-DIED A. D. 934.

He also had been Grimbald's disciple, and a secular.

This is incorrect. He sat Bishop only two years and a half. Saron Chron. Vid. Brinstan infra.

The Saxon Chronicle thus notices his succession: "An. DCCCCXXXII. Hoc anno consecratus est Byrnstanus [this metathesis is very common] ad Wintanceaster, IV. Kal. Junii et tenuit episcopatum duobus annis cum dimidio."-But Rudborne says, "" quatuor annis regens episcopatum." Wharton, in a note subjoined, observes, "Brinstanum episcopatum anno 932 iniisse Rudburnus in Hist: minori rectè tradit. Obiit autem anno 934, ad festum Omnium Sanctorum juxta chronologiam Saxonicam, Florentium, Hovedenum aliosque; ideoque biennio et quinque mensibus tantum sedit."

This prelate had a singular custom of going round the burial places near Winchester, nightly, saying, Placebo et Dirige. On one of these nocturnal perambulations, the holy man is recorded to have met with, not a ghost, but a singular adventure. Having concluded his prayers for the souls of the departed, with "requiescant in pace," a multitude of voices, as his biographer Rudborne gravely assures us, exclaimed-' Amen! How could a church stoop so low as to invent, or any individual be so infatuated as to propagate, or give credence to such monstrous and palpable absurdities!

Brynstan having distinguished himself in the mistaken piety of the times, has had the honour of fathering divers miracles.

William of Malmesbury thus draws his character :"Hic Dominici exempli ardentissimus executor, pedes egenis omni die, semotis arbitris lavabat, mensam et cibos apponens, nec minus pro disciplina famulantium reliquias abstergens. Obsequio consummato, pauperibusque dimissis, ad multas ibi remanebat horas, orationibus, ut creditur, vacans, Quadam ergo die pro consuetudine ingressus, nulla antea interpellatus molestia ægritudinis, subito clam omnibus spiritu vitali caruit.-De Pontif. lib. 2. fol. 138.

"An. DCCCCXXXIV. Byrnstanus Epüs decessit in Wintanceaster ad festum omn. sanct."-Sax. Chron. Bishop Tanner, on the authority of Leland (Itin. vol. 3. p. 61. vita S. Brinstani) observes, "an hospital was founded near one of the gates of this city (Winchester) by Brinstan, Bishop here, who died A.D. 935, [read 934,] but his editor queries whether this was not St. John's hospital, wherein was the image of this St. Brinstan.-See Leland Itin. vol. 3. p. 100. and Notitia Monastica under Winchester.

XXII. ELPHEGE, (the Bald).

SUCCEEDED A. D. 935.-DIED A. D. 951.

"An. DCCCCXXXV. Hoc anno capessit Ælfeagus Epus episcopatum in Winceastre." Chron. Sax. He had been a monk of Glaston. Rudborne, Hist. Maj. lib. 3. cap. 8. It appears that he ordained St. Dunstan and Bishop Ethelwold, one of his own successors in the see of Winton, Priests.-ibid. The monkish chroniclers, according to the foolish fancies of those times, assert that he was gifted with the prophetic spirit, and Rudborne, William of Malmesbury, Cressy, Capgrave and Matt. Westm. under the year 946, record some absurd stories respecting him He was uncle of the celebrated St. Dunstan, "by whom he was much promoted in the ways of piety."-Cressy's Ch: Hist: vol. 2. p. 822, or Book 31. ch. 2.

This Bishop is not to be confounded with Elphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, tho' Cressy seems to identify them in the Index or Table at the end of vol. 2, but not so in the place there cited

The latter historian thus records the death of the Bishop. "But a more considerable losse came to the Kingdom by the death of the holy Bishop Elpheg, surnamed the Bald, Bishop of Winchester, and uncle to St. Dunstan. In the annals of the church of Winchester there is recorded a copy of the will made by him before his death, by which he disposed of his hereditary lands to the benefit of certain persons, men and woman of kindred, who were to enjoy the fruits of them during their lives only, after which they were to remain to several churches and monasteries in the citty of Winchester."-Ch. Hist. p. 847.

The date of his death is variously assigned. Matt. Westm. p. 188 says 946. But Mailros and the Saxon Chronicle more correctly 951 The latter thus notices that event. "An. DCCCCLI. Hoc anno decessit Elfeagus, Wint. Epus in festo S. Gregorii." And the former, thus: "Anno DCCCCLI Sanctus Elphegus Wint. Epüs huic mundo ereptus est."-Chronicain Gale Script. vol. 1. p. 148.

"In propria ecclesia Cathedrali corpus ejus traditur sepulturæ."-Rudb. Hist. Maj. lib. 3. cap. 10. 3,

XXIII. ELFSIN or ALFSY.

SUCCEEDED A. D. 951.-TRANSLATED TO CANTERBURY A.D. 961.-DIED A.D. 961.

Rudborne calls this Prelate "Vir regalis prosapiæ et egregiæ literatura.'-Hist. Maj. lib. 3. cap. X.

I can find no authority for the assertion made by Bishop Milner in his Hist. Winchest. that this see was offered to Dunstan, and on his refusal of it, fell a prey to Elfsin. For it happens that it was Canterbury, and not Winchester that was offered to and rejected by Dunstan, though the former was afterwards accepted by him. What he means by a Bishopric falling a prey,' I know not, as I hear of no spoliation of either Winchester or Canterbury by Elfsin. It is indeed said, but neither do I find any sufficient evidence of that fact, that Canterbury was simoniacally obtained by our Prelate; such charges must be received with caution, since it is much easier to traduce and vilify than to make out a case against the accused. Consult Osbernus de vit: S. Dunstani ap: Wharton Ang. Sac. 2. 109.

Being anxious to procure the papal confirmation to Canterbury and the archiepiscopal pall, without which, in Roman Catholic times, the archiepiscopal power was imperfect, he hastened to Rome in very unseasonable weather, for the accomplishment of those objects, when in crossing the Alps he experienced such intense cold as induced him to cause the bodies of the horses on which he and his retinue rode, to be cut open in order to preserve his own vital heat by plunging his feet into them; but this expedient failing, he died amidst the snow, and his body was brought home for interment. Rudborne and Will. Malms. The former tells a long and ridiculous story about the apparition of Archbishop Odo, his predecessor at Canterbury, &c. which the reader who has a relish for such Romish puerilities may find at p. 215 of the 2nd. volume of Wharton's Ang. Sacra.

In a note respecting the Pall (for an account of which see the Lives of the Bishops of Sarum, Pt. I. p. 93.) Bishop Milner in his Hist. Winton observes that the pallium is still "quartered" in the Arms of the See of Canterbury. He should have said is still "retained." It never was and never could, by possibility, be

quartered: for quarterings come by heiresses, as every one knows.

Bishop Godwin says he was translated to Canterbury in 958. But this is at variance with the Sax. Chron. which fixes Archbishop Odo's death at 961. This, therefore must be the earliest date we can assign to Bishop Elfsy's translation. A note in Bishop Gibson's edition of the Sax. Chron. p. 117 observes, "Post Odonem, Archpus factus est Alfsinus, (alii Elsinus) qui tamen a plerisque historicis omittitur, quippe haud multo postea, dum Roman ad Pallium petendum proficisceretur, in Alpinis montibus gelu constrictus periit."

XXIV. BRITHELM.

SUCCEEDED A. D. 961.-DIED A. D. 963.

Some writers have incorrectly placed this Prelate's succession at 958. But if Archbishop Odo died in 961, it follows, as Elfsin was his immediate successor, that this See could not have been vacated till that year. But little is recorded of this Bishop, and that little partakes of considerable uncertainty. Bishop Godwin says he sat here five years, and died in 963. This is evidently a confusion of chronology. The date he appears to have copied from Matt. Westm. but the Saxon Chronicle by stating that Bishop Althelwold suceeeded here in 963, virtually places his demise at least at, if not anterior to that year.

XXV. ETHELWALD.

SUCCEEDED A. D. 963.-DIED A. D. 984.

“ An.

DCCCCLXIII.

Eodem anno capessit Athelwoldus Abbas, Episcopatum in Wintanceaster, et consecratus est in vigilia Si. Andreæ quæ dies fuit dominica."-Sax. Chr.

This Prelate, who was decidedly the most distinguished and munificent yet recorded, was a native of Winchester