78 The Life and Times of Aldhelm. 



Bishop of Wessex, two separate sees were constituted out of his ex- 

 tensive diocese, one of which was fixed at Winchester and the other at 

 Sherborne. To the latter, Aldhelm was consecrated by his friend, 

 and, as some will have it, his kinsman Archbishop Berhtwald. 

 The diocese attached to the See of Sherborne comprised the coun- 

 ties of Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.^ 



No sooner was Aldhelm appointed Bishop of Sherborne than he 

 expressed a wish to retire from the office which now for many 

 years he had held as Abbot of the monastery at Malmesbury and 

 its branch societies at Bradford and Frome. The members of the 

 various households prevailed upon him to permit them still to look 

 np to him as their superior. It speaks much for the respect and 

 love with which they regarded the good bishop. 



Aldhelm only held his see for the short space of four years. He 

 set himself earnestly to the great. task assigned to him by travelling 

 from place to place, and, wherever he had the opportunity, preaching 

 and exhorting others to preach the gospel faithfully to the people. 

 It is by no means improbable that in the name Bishopstrow, i.e., 

 Bishop' s-tree, a place but a few miles from Frome the site of one of 

 his monasteries, we have a memorial of one of his journeys through 

 his diocese, when, before a church was built, he collected the people 

 under a tree, and there proclaimed the truth to them. The church 



1 The following table gives a view of the formation of the various dioceses in 

 Wessex. 



"Wessex. The see first fixed (635) at Dorchester (Oxon), 

 I and removed ((383) to Winchester. 



"Winchester 705. Sherborne 705. 



■Winchester 909. Sherborne 909. Ramsbury 909. "Wells 909. Crediton 909. 

 These two sees united 1058. Bath 1075. Exeter 1049. 



^V / 



Old Sarum 1075. 

 New Sarum 1218. 



Salisbury. Bristol 1542—1836. 



