A HISTORY OF DORSET 



labourers are few,' they elected and constituted a bishop to every province of the West 

 Saxons and divided the district which formerly had two bishoprics into five. The 

 council being dismissed, the archbishop went to Rome with many presents and conciliating 

 the Pope with great humility recited the king's ordinance which gave the pontiff great 

 pleasure. And returning home, in one day he consecrated in the city of Canterbury 

 7 bishops to 7 churches, namely, Frithstan to Winchester, .(Ethelstan to Ramsbury, 

 Waerstan to Sherborne, Athelm to Wells, Eadulf to Crediton, also to other provinces he 

 constituted 2 bishops, Beornege to the South Saxons (Selsey) and to the Mercians Ceolwulf 

 whose see was at Dorchester.^* 



On critical examination many of the details in the above account are shown 

 to be inaccurate.^' The story of the negotiations of Edward the Elder with 

 Pope Formosus falls to the ground as his pontificate ended four years 

 before the king's reign began, while the immediate successor of Asser, 

 whose death is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the year 

 910,'" was not Waerstan but ^Ethelweard, who as bishop of Sherborne 

 attested a charter of King Edward in 909.*^ As to the tradition, dating 

 from the eleventh century, of the consecration of seven bishops at Canterbury 

 in one day, the story is said by its most eminent critic to contain ' no special 

 improbability although it would be unwise to risk a positive identification of 

 the persons consecrated.' ^^ The points to be retained are that the visit 

 of Archbishop Plegmund to Rome in 908 '^ was followed by the division of 

 the diocese of Winchester into two bishoprics,'* one remaining at Winchester 

 as before, the other fixed at Ramsbury, and comprising the two counties of 

 Wiltshire and Berkshire or such portion of them as belonged to the territory 

 of the West Saxons ; and that subsequently the diocese of Sherborne, as it 

 existed prior to 909, was divided into three bishoprics : Sherborne for the 

 county of Dorset, Wells for Somerset, and Crediton for Devonshire.'^ 



To return to the succession of bishops of Sherborne after the division of 

 the diocese : Waerstan, one of the seven prelates consecrated in one day by 

 Archbishop Plegmund, was killed, according to William of Malmesbury, in 

 937, on the eve of the battle of Brunanburh ; '° his signature is not found 

 attached to any genuine charter. An interpolation of Florence of Worcester 

 states that ' on the death of Waerstan, iEthelbald succeeded,' " and his name 

 follows in the list of bishops given by William of Malmesbury ; Sighelm, or 

 Sigelm, subscribed 925-932 ;'* Alfred, 933— 943 '^^ ; Wulfsige, said to have been 

 abbot of Westminster,*" signed 943, as Mlsius Dorsetensium Episcopus his death 

 is recorded in the year 958 ; *^ his successor ^Ifwold, designated in the same 

 manner,*^ died in 978 and was buried at Sherborne ; *' ^thelsige, 979—991, 

 was present at the consecration of Winchester Cathedral in 981 ; ** Wulfsige, 



-'' Gesta Regum (Rolls Ser.), i, 1 40-1. 



■' W. H. Jones, Early Annals of the Episcopate in Wilts and Dorset, 22-3. '" Op. cit. 77. 



'' Kemble, Codex Dipl. v, 1093. According to one account of William of Malmesbury the alms sent 

 by King Alfred to St. Thomas of India and Christians beyond sea were conveyed by Sighelm, bishop of 

 Sherborne, whom elsewhere he makes successor to Asser [Gesta Regum (Rolls Ser.), i, 130 ; Gesta Pontif. (Rolls 

 Ser.), 177]. But a bishop of the name of Sighelm does not occur until three successors of Asser had passed 

 away, and it is hardly probable that the two should be identical. 



'' Stubbs, Reg. Sacrum Anglic. 23. '^ Petrie, Monumenta Hist. Brit. 519. 



" Wm. of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 20 ; W. H. Jones, op. cit. 24-5. 



" Wm. of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 178. 



'* Ibid. ■" Chron. (Engl. Hist. Soc.) i, 128, note I ; 133, note 2. 



'' Stubbs. Reg. Sacrum Anglic. 25. " Ibid. p. 26. 



" Wm. of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 178. 



" Flor. Wore. Chron. (Engl. Hist. Soc), 137. *- Ibid, i, 146. 



" Angl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 178. " Arch. Journ. (Winchester), 15. 



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