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Having assumed the monastic habit in the monastery of Deerhurst, he passed thence to Bath, where he became an anchorite and ultimately abbot, distinguishing himself by his piety and the austerity of his life. In 984 he was appointed through Dunstan's influence to the bishopric of Winchester, and in 1006 he succeeded Aelfric as Archbishop of Canterbury.
At the sack of Canterbury by the Danes in 1011 Ælfheah was captured and kept in prison for seven months. Refusing to pay a ransom, he was murdered at Greenwich, London on April 19, 1012 ( St Alfege's Church reputedly marks the place he died). He was buried in St Paul's, whence his body was removed by Canute to Canterbury with all the ceremony of a great act of state in 1023.
An incised paving slab to the north of the present High Altar of Canterbury CathedralCanterbury Cathedral is one of the oldest Christian structures in England. It is the Cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primate of All England and leader of the Church of England. As well as being as the mother church of East Kent it is also t marks the place where the mediaeval shrine is believed to have stood.
Dedications include: St. Alphege the Martyr, Canterbury (now used as an urban studies centre), St. Alfege's Church , Greenwich (?site of martyrdom) and the twin churches of St. Alphege Whitstable and St. Alphege Seasalter (chancel only surviving).
Feast Day: April 19th.
Lives of St. Alphege in prose (which survives) and in verse were written by command of LanfrancLanfranc (d. 1089), archbishop of Canterbury, was a Lombard by extraction. He was born in the early years of the 11th century at Pavia, where his father, Hanbald, held the rank of a magistrate. Lanfranc was trained in the legal studies for which northern by the Canterbury monk Osborn (d. c. 1090Events Granada captured by Yusuf Ibn Tashfin, King of the Almoravides Beginnings of troubadours in Provence Bejaia becomes the capital of the Hammadid dynasty in Algeria Births William of Malmsbury Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Saint Famianus Eliezer ben Nat), who says that his account of the solemn translation to Canterbury in 1023 was received from the dean, Godric, one of Alphege's own scholars.
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica
| Preceded by: | Archbishop of Canterbury | Followed by: LyfingLyfing (d. 12 June 1020) was born "Aelfstan" and took his ecclesiastical name from leof-carus ( "darling"). He became Bishop of Wells in 999, and in 1013 King Ethelred the Unready appointed him Archbishop of Canterbury. Lyfing was taken captive by Vikings |