Earconwald
Saint Earconwald or Erkenwald (died 693) was a Saxon prince and Bishop of London between 675 and 693. He is the eponymous subject of one of the most important poems in the foundations of English literature (thought to be by the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Pearl Poet). He was called Lundoniae maximum sanctus, 'the most holy figure of London', and Lux Londonie, "the light of London". Peter Ackroyd has said of him, "we may still name him as the patron saint of London, [his]... cult survived for over eight hundred years, before entering the temporary darkness of the last four centuries".
Saint Earconwald | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of London | |
The lost shrine of St Erkenwald in St Paul's Cathedral: desecrated in the Reformation and destroyed in the Great Fire of London | |
| Province | Canterbury |
| Installed | 675 |
| Term ended | 693 |
| Predecessor | Wine |
| Successor | Waldhere |
| Other post(s) | Prince, Abbot of Chertsey |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | c. 675 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 630 |
| Died | 693 Barking Abbey |
| Buried | Old St Paul's Cathedral, London through the location and survival of his relics are debated |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic Church |
| Sainthood | |
| Feast day | 13 May 24 April 30 April 14 November in England |
| Attributes | bishop in a small chariot, which he used for travelling his diocese; with Saint Ethelburga of Barking |
| Patronage | against gout, London |
| Shrines | St. Paul's, London: relics removed 1550, lost in the Great Fire of London |
He is associated with a very early Anglo Saxon phase of building at St Paul's Cathedral, and William Dugdale says he began the building.
In recent times he has been portrayed in novels and films, for example in the work of Bernard Cornwell.
The diocese of London was coterminous with the Kingdom of Essex, making the Bishop of London the Bishop of the East Saxons.