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ftock of knowledge, ard became famous for h'n learning, 

 not only in Kiigland, hut in foreign countries; fo that 

 fcver:il Itsnied men fcnt him their writings, for his pcrufal 

 and corrcftion ; particularly prince Arcivil, a foil of the 

 king of Scotland, who iatrcatcd him to give his pieces 

 tlie lall j)oli(h, by rubbing olf the Scotch mil. Camden fays, 

 timt he was tlu- iirll Saxon who wrote in the I.alin language, 

 liulii in profe and verfe ; and he compolVd a book tor the 

 inllrudion of liis countiymcn in the prufody of that lan- 

 guage. Although another writer ]M-ccedtd him in Latin vcr- 

 fification, it is certain, fays Dr. AVarton, (Hill, of Englifh 

 Poetr)-, vol i. dilf. 2.) that Aldhchu's Latin conipofitions, 

 whether in vcrfc or profe, as novelties, were deemed extra- 

 ordinary performances, and excited tlie attention and ad- 

 mi atioii of fcholars in all other counlricp. A learned con- 

 temporary, who lived in a remote province of a Frankidi 

 territory,' in a letter to Aldlielm, has this remarkable ex- 

 preffion, — " Velh-JK Latinifatis panegyriens rumor;" has 

 readied us, even at this dillance. N'enerable Bcde gives the 

 following character of him : that, " he was a man of uni- 

 Yerfal erudition, having an elegant llyle, and being won- 

 'dcrfully well acquainted with books, both on philofophical 

 and religious fubjecls." King Alfred the Great declared, 

 that Aldhelm was the bell of all the Saxon poets, and 

 that a favourite fong, which was univerfally fung in his 

 time, near 200 years after the author's death, was of his com- 

 pofition. The charafter of Aldhelm is thus drawn by an 

 ancient chronicler : " he was an excellent harper, a moll 

 elegant Saxon and I^atin poet, a very flcilfnl clianter or 

 finger, a ' doctor egregius,' or doftor of Angular merit, 

 and admirably verfed in the fcriptures and the liberal Ici- 

 eiices." It is related of him, that when he was abbot of 

 Mi'.lmfbuiy, havirig a fine voice and great (kill in mufic as 

 well as poetry, and obfcrvlag the backwardnefs of his bar- 

 barous countrymen to liilen to grave inllruftions, he com- 

 pofed a numVjcr of little poems, whicli he fung to them after 

 mafs in the f.vtetell manner; and by thefe means they were 

 gradually inlln.fted and civilized. William of Malmfbury 

 bears this tellimony concerning him, that hisilyle is lefs lively 

 than may be defired by tluifc who are more attentive to lan- 

 gaage than matter ; but if you examine his writings atten- 

 tively, you will find in them Grecian acutenefs, Roman ele- 

 gance, and Englifh dignity. After Aldnelm had governed 

 the monaftery of Ma!rnfl>ury about 30 years, he is faid to 

 have retired to Shireburn, of which he had been confecrated 

 bifhop in 705, and where he died, May 25, A. 1). 709. 

 HiS treatife againll the millakes of the Britons coiiceniin<T 

 the celebration of Eafttr, was the means of reconciling 

 many of the Britons to the Catholic ufage on this point. 

 He alfo wrote ftveral other treatifes on various fubjefts, the 

 titles of which are recited in the Biog. Brit. ; fome of which 

 are left, and others publilhed by Martin Dclrio, at Mentz, 

 in 1601, in 8vo., andby Canifius in the Bibliotheca Patrum. 

 H;s book, written partly in profe and partly in hexameter 

 verfe. In praife of virginity, dedicated to Ethelbtirga, abbcfs 

 of Barkmg, wis publiihed among E-edt's Opufcula. Biog. 

 Brit. Henry's Hift. vol. iv. p. 10 — 13, 8vo. Cave Hiit. 

 Lit. f(<r. vii. vol. i. p. 575, ed. Oxon. 



ALDHUN, Alfhunus or Aldwinus, the firft biliop 

 of Durham, was promoted to the fee of Lindisfarne or Holy 

 Iflar.d, in 990, the izth year of the reign of king Ethelred. 

 The legends of the time fay, that he was adnumillied by 

 heaven to quit ttiis iUtiou, in which he was haraffcd by 

 the incnrfions of the Daniih pirates ; and that he and the 

 monks, who accompanitd him, took with them the body 

 of Kt. Cuthbcrt, whlcii h;.d been buried there 1 1 3 years, 

 and after wandering about for fome time, fettled at Dunelm, 

 now called Durham, where he tftabliflied a city and a ca- 



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tliedral church. Before this time, the town confifled only 

 of a few fcattered cottages, and the fpot which he feltfted 

 for the eliablifhmeut of his colony was covered with wood, 

 which was foon cleared away by the bifhop and his followers. 

 In three years the church was completed and dedicated to 

 St. Cutlibert, whofe bones were depofited within its walls. 

 From tliis time the epifcopal fee was fixed at Durham, 

 Alfred and Edward, the ions of king Ethelred, were edu- 

 cated by this prelate ; and when their father was driven 

 from the throne bv Swain, king of Denmark, he condni'^td 

 thcni, together with queen Emma, into Normandy, to duke 

 Richard, the queen's brother, A. D. 1017. In the next 

 year the bifliop was fo affefted with the news of the defeat of 

 the Engliih by the Scots, that he died a few days after, hav- 

 ing eiiioyed the prelacy 29 vcars. Aldhun was of- a noble 

 familv, but, according to Simeon of Durham, was more 

 ennobled by his virtues and religious deportment. Biog. Brit. 



ALDil, in ^'hitiquity, fervants who attended their mnf- 

 ters in expeditions to the wars. They were othcrwife called 

 Ald'tonrs, AWi'jnu, and Ald'wnai'd. 



Ai^DPORT, iu Geography, an ancient name for Man- 

 cheller. 



ALDRED, in Biography, an Englifh prelate of the 

 llth centurv, was a man of an enterprifing and ambitious 

 fpirit, and gradually rofe from being a monk of Wincheiler 

 and abbot of Tavillock, to the lee of Worceller and the 

 archbilhopric of York. Four years after he was promoted 

 to the fee of AVorcefter, which he obtained in 104^, he 

 took a journey through Hungary to Jeruialcm, the firft ad- 

 venture of the kind which any EngUfliman had performed; 

 and upon his return he was deputed by Edward, the Con- 

 feflor, on an important embaffy to the emperor Henry 11. 

 On his arrival in England, after fome Hay in Germany, 

 where he acquainted himfelf with the church difcipline, 

 which he introduced into his own countiy, he procured the 

 adminillration of the fee of Wilton for three years, during 

 the abfcnce of its bidiop, and that of Hereford for four 

 years, after the death of its incumbent. In 1061 he was 

 advanced to the archbifliopric of York, and allowed, as it 

 has been faid, by means of bribery, to hold the fee of Wor- 

 celler in commendam. Pope Nicholas II., having heard of 

 his fimoniaeal praftices, not only refufed him the pall, for 

 which he applied, but deprived him of his other preferments, 

 but being robbed in his way home over the Alps, he was 

 imder a necelTity of returning to Rome, and by the bold 

 interference of earl Tolli, the pope was prevailed upon to 

 grant him the pall, on condition of his refigning the fee of 

 Worceller. Afterwards the king, confidering the depre- 

 dations which the fee of York had fuffered by the incur- 

 fions of the Barbarians, permitted Aldred to retain I2 towns 

 or manors belonoing to the fee of Worceller for his own ufe. 

 Others, however, fay, that he detained them by violence 

 and injuftice. The following inftance of refolution, and of 

 prieflly arrogance, is recorded by his panegyrill Stubbs. 

 The high Ihcrill having intercepted fome proviiions, which 

 the archbifliop's fervants were conveying to the palace at 

 York, and leized them for the king's ufe, Aldred, inftead 

 of teeking legal redrefs, fent a deputation of clergy and 

 citizens to demand reflitution, and enforced the demand by 

 threats of excommunication. Upon the flieriff's refuful, the 

 archbifnop, with a train of ecclefiallics, hallened to the king, 

 who was then fitting in council at W^eftminftcr, and abruptly 

 addreiled him in this imperious lan<juasre. " Hear me, 

 William I when thou wert an alien, and God had permitted 

 thee, for our fins, and through much blood, to reign over 

 us, I annointed thee king, and placed the crown upon thy 

 bead with a bleJmg ; but now, becaufe thou dcfervell it 

 not, I will change that bkffing into a curfe againft thee, as 

 I a per- 



