Everything about Waltheof totally explained
Waltheof (also
Waldef or
Waldeve; c.
1095–
1159) was a
12th century English abbot and
saint. He was the son of
Simon I of St Liz, 1st Earl of Northampton and
Maud, 2nd Countess of Huntingdon, thus stepson to
David I of Scotland, and the grandson of
Waltheof, Earl of Northampton.
As a younger son in the world of Norman succession laws, Waltheof chose a career in the church. Between 1128 and 1131 he entered
Nostell Priory to become an
Augustinian canon. His noble connections enabled him to rise quickly. Within a few years he became
Prior of
Kirkham,
North Yorkshire. Upon the death of
Thurstan,
Archbishop of York, in 1140, Waltheof was nominated to be his successor.
Stephen, probably sensing his links to David and hence to the
Empress Matilda were too strong, rejected the nomination.
William fitz Herbert was instead chosen by Stephen. Waltheof featured prominently among those opposing William's provision, but by 1143 he'd given up and become a
Cistercian monk at
Rievaulx Abbey. In 1148 he ascended the
abbacy of Melrose, a daughter house of Rievaulx. Waltheof remained in this position for the remainder of his life, supposedly refusing offers of other bishoprics. He died at
Melrose Abbey in 1159. In William's place,
Jocelin, the
prior of Melrose, became abbot. Jocelin had no such scruples. Jocelin embraced the cult without hesitation. Under the year of Jocelin's accession, it was reported in the
Chronicle of Melrose that:
The tomb of our pious father, sir Waltheof, the second abbot of Melrose, was opened by Enguerrand, of good memory, the bishop of Glasgow, and by four abbots called in for this purpose; and his body was found entire, and his vestments intact, in the twelfth year from his death, on the eleventh day before the Kalends of June [22May]. And after the holy celebration of mass, the same bishop, and the abbots whose number we've mentioned above, placed over the remains of his most holy body a new stone of polished marble. And there was great gladness; those who were present exclaiming together, and saying that truly this was a man of God ...
Promoting saints was something Jocelin would repeat as Bishop of Glasgow, where he'd commission a
hagiography of
Saint Kentigern, the saint most venerated by the
Celts of the diocese of Glasgow. It is no coincidence that
Jocelin of Furness, who wrote the
Life of St. Waltheof, was the same man later commissioned to write the
Life of St. Kentigern. Jocelin's actions ensured Waltheof's posthumous
de facto sainthood; and the need of Melrose Abbey to have its own saint's cult, ensured the cult's longevity.
Further Information
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