Cuthbert (Old English:Cūþbeorht,Latin:Cuthbertus;^[1][2] died 26 October 760) was a medieval Anglo-SaxonArchbishop of Canterbury in England. Prior to his elevation to Canterbury, he was abbot of a monastic house, and perhaps may have beenBishop of Hereford also, but evidence for his holding Hereford mainly dates from after theNorman Conquest of England in 1066. While Archbishop, he held church councils and built a new church in Canterbury. It was during Cuthbert's archbishopric that theDiocese of York was raised to an archbishopric. Cuthbert died in 760 and was later regarded as a saint.

Of noble birth,^[3] Cuthbert is first recorded as theabbot ofLyminge Abbey, from where he was elevated to thesee of Hereford in 736.^[4] The identification of the Cuthbert who was Bishop of Hereford with the Cuthbert who became archbishop, however, comes fromFlorence of Worcester and other post-Conquest sources. The contemporary record in theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle says that Cuthbert wasconsecrated archbishop, where if he had been Bishop of Hereford, he would have beentranslated. No consecration is needed when a bishop is translated from one see to another. Given the nature of the sources, the identification of the bishop of Hereford with the archbishop of Canterbury, while likely, must not be regarded as proven.^[5]

If Cuthbert was at Hereford, he served in that capacity for four years before his elevation to theSee of Canterbury in 740.^[6] He is credited with the composition of an epitaph for the tomb of his three predecessors at Hereford. The cathedral church of the see may not even have been located at Hereford by Cuthbert's time.^[7][8]

Whoever Cuthbert was prior to his election to Canterbury, he probably owed his selection as archbishop to the influence ofÆthelbald, King of Mercia.^[9] A number of Mercians were appointed to Canterbury during the 730s and 740s, which suggests that Mercian authority was expanding into Kent.^[10]

Cuthbert was the recipient of a long letter fromBoniface who complained about the lax morals of the clergy in the British Isles,^[11] and too much drinking of alcohol by the Anglo-Saxon bishops.^[12] Cuthbert also sent letters toLull who wasArchbishop of Mainz and a native of England.^[13] During Cuthbert's time as archbishop he no longer claimed authority over all of Britain, like his predecessor Theodore. PopeGregory III in 735 had sent apallium to the bishop of York, raising the see of York to the status of an archbishopric. As a sign of the enhanced status of York, Cuthbert only consecrated bishops south of theHumber and his synods were attended only by bishops from the south of England.^[5]

Cuthbert presided over theCouncil of Clovesho in 747 along with Æthelbald of Mercia.^[14] This gathering mandated that all clergy should explain the basic tenets of Christianity to the laity,^[3] as well as legislating on clerical dress, control of monasteries, and the behavior of the clergy. It also mandated that each diocese hold a synod to proclaim the decisions of the council.^[14] Cuthbert sent hisdeacon Cynebert to Pope Gregory III after the council with a report on the council and its resolutions. This action may have been taken in response to Boniface's complaints about Cuthbert and Æthelbald to the papacy.^[3] The actions of the council were also gathered into a collection at Cuthbert's command.^[15]

After the council, Cuthbert continued to correspond with Boniface up until Boniface's martyrdom in 754, and then sent condolences to Boniface's successor. Cuthbert held a second synod in 758, but nothing is known of any enactments it made. He also built the church of St. John the Baptist inCanterbury, which was destroyed by fire in 1067. He was buried in his new church.^[16] The new church was located on the west side of the cathedral, and was used as abaptistery.^[17][18] The church also became a burial site for many of the archbishops, and later was used for trials by ordeal. There is no explicit contemporary reference that states that these uses were intended by Cuthbert, but the fact that the church was dedicated to St. John the Baptist argues strongly that Cuthbert at least intended the new building as a baptistery.^[19]

The burial practices of the archbishops did change after Cuthbert, but it is not clear whether this was intended by Cuthbert, as a Post-Conquest Canterburycartulary has it, or due to other reasons, unconnected with Cuthbert. AlthoughSonia Hawkes argues that the change in burial customs, which extended over most of Britain, resulted from Cuthbert's mandating burial in churchyards, instead of outside the city limits as had been the custom previously. However, the main evidence for this theory is a 16th-century tradition at Canterbury and the archaeological evidence of a change in burial patterns. Although a change did occur, the archaeological evidence does not give a reason why this change happened, and given the late date of the Canterbury tradition, the theory cannot be considered proven.^[5]

Cuthbert died on 26 October 760,^[6] and was later considered a saint with a feast day of 26 October.^[20] He was buried in his church of St. John, and was the first Archbishop of Canterbury that was not buried inSt Augustine's Abbey.^[21] His letters to theAnglo-Saxon missionaries on the European continent show him to have been highly educated.^[22]

• Cuthbert 7 atProsopography of Anglo-Saxon England; probably alsoCuthbert 6

• Archbishops of Canterbury
• Bishops of Hereford
• 8th-century archbishops
• 760 deaths
• English abbots
• Kentish saints
• 8th-century English clergy
• 8th-century writers in Latin
• 8th-century English writers
• Letter writers in Latin
• 8th-century Christian abbots

• Use dmy dates from October 2024
• Use British English from July 2017
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Good articles
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages with invalid birth or death dates
• Articles containing Old English (ca. 450-1100)-language text
• Articles containing Latin-language text
• Year of birth unknown