Synod of Twyford

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The Synod of Twyford was a synod of the early English church held in 684 and described by Bede in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, Book IV, ch. 28.

The synod was held at a place called "Adtwifyrdi", the location of which is unknown. Adtwifyrdi is the name used by the Venerable Bede to describe the meeting of river and tributary at the mouth of the River Aln at Northumberland. At that time there was an Anglo Saxon church at a place called Church Hill. However, coastal erosion and the Dissolution of the Monasteries means that the exact site is now lost. [1]

Archbishop Theodore presided over the synod in the presence of King Ecgfrith. The purpose of the meeting was to elect a new bishop. Previously Theodore had appointed Tunberht as the Bishop of Hexham and Eata as the Bishop of Lindisfarne. [2] Tunberht was deposed at the Synod. [3]

Cuthbert was elected Bishop of Hexham, but declined to come out of retirement and take the post. After a visit from King Ecgfrith and other delegates, he eventually agreed to swap with Eata and become the elected bishop of Lindisfarne. [4]

Notes

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Events from the 8th century in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7th century in England</span>

Events from the 7th century in England.

<i>Historia de Sancto Cuthberto</i>

The Historia de Sancto Cuthberto is a historical compilation finished some time after 1031. It is an account of the history of the bishopric of St Cuthbert—based successively at Lindisfarne, Norham, Chester-le-Street and finally Durham—from the life of St Cuthbert himself onwards. The latest event documented is a grant by King Cnut, c. 1031. The work is a cartulary chronicle recording grants and losses of property as well as miracles of retribution, under a loose narrative of temporal progression. The text survives in three manuscripts, the earliest of which dates from around 1100. The original version of the text is not thought to be extant; rather, all surviving manuscripts are thought to be copies of an earlier but lost exemplar. The Historia is one of the sources for the histories produced at Durham in the early 12th century, particularly the Historia Regum and Symeon of Durham's Libellus de Exordio.

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Alfred, son of Westou was a medieval English priest and relic collector, active in Northumberland. He is now best known for allegedly stealing the remains of Bede and bringing them in secret to the shrine of St Cuthbert in Durham, although some modern scholars consider this unlikely. He is also documented as having translated the remains of Boisil of Melrose Abbey, as well as numerous northern English minor saints of the 7th and 8th centuries: the anchorites Balther and Bilfrid; Acca, Alchmund and Eata, bishops of Hexham; Oswin, king of Deira; and the abbesses Ebba and Æthelgitha. He served as the sacristan at Cuthbert's shrine under three bishops, and was renowned for his devotion to the saint.

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