24 Facts About Aldhelm

Aldhelm is said to have been the son of Kenten, who was of the royal house of Wessex.

Aldhelm was certainly not, as his early biographer Faritius asserts, the brother of King Ine.

Aldhelm received his first education in the school of the Irish scholar and monk Maeldub, who had settled in the British stronghold of Bladon on the site of the town called Mailduberi, Maldubesburg, Meldunesburg, etc.

Aldhelm was one of his disciples, for he addresses him as the 'venerable preceptor of my rude childhood.

Aldhelm's studies included Roman law, astronomy, astrology, the art of reckoning and the difficulties of the calendar.

Aldhelm learned, according to the doubtful statements of the early lives, both Greek and Hebrew.

Aldhelm certainly introduces many Latinized Greek words into his works.

Ill health compelled Aldhelm to leave Canterbury and he returned to Malmesbury Abbey, where he was a monk under Maeldub for fourteen years, dating probably from 661 and including the period of his studies with Hadrian.

When Maeldub died, Aldhelm was appointed in 675, according to a charter of doubtful authenticity cited by William of Malmesbury, by Leuthere, Bishop of Winchester, to succeed to the direction of the monastery, of which he became the first abbot.

Aldhelm introduced the Benedictine rule and secured the right of the election of the abbot by the monks themselves.

The community at Malmesbury increased, and Aldhelm was able to found two other monasteries as centres of learning, at Frome, Somerset and at Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire.

Aldhelm held this post until circa 705 when he became Bishop of Sherborne.

Aldhelm was deputed by a synod of the church in Wessex to remonstrate with the Britons of Dumnonia on the Easter controversy.

Aldhelm wrote a long and rather acrimonious letter to king Geraint of Dumnonia achieving ultimate agreement with Rome.

Sherborne was the new see, of which Aldhelm became the first bishop around 705.

Aldhelm wished to resign the abbey of Malmesbury which he had governed for thirty years, but yielding to the remonstrances of the monks he continued to direct it until his death.

Aldhelm was now an old man, but he showed great activity in his new functions.

Aldhelm was buried in the church of St Michael at Malmesbury Abbey.

Aldhelm's biographers relate miracles due to his sanctity worked during his lifetime and at his shrine.

Aldhelm is commemorated by a statue in niche 124 of the West Front of Salisbury Cathedral.

Aldhelm was the first Anglo-Saxon, so far as is known, to write in Latin verse, and his letter to Acircius is a treatise on Latin prosody for the use of his countrymen.

Aldhelm's fame reached Italy, and at the request of Pope Sergius I he paid a visit to Rome, of which there is no notice in his extant writings.

Aldhelm wrote in elaborate, grandiloquent and very difficult Latin, known as hermeneutic style.

Aldhelm's works became standard school texts in monastic schools, until his influence declined around the time of the Norman Conquest.