Dommoc, a place not certainly identified but probably within the modern county of Suffolk, was the original seat of the bishops of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of East Anglia. It was established by King Sigeberht of East Anglia for Saint Felix of Burgundy in c.629-31. It remained the bishopric of all East Anglia until c673, when Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, divided the see and created a second bishopric at Helmham (North Elmham, Norfolk, or South Elmham, Suffolk). The see of Dommoc continued to exist until the time of the Viking Wars of the 860s, after which it lapsed. Suffolk (pronounced ) is a large historic and modern non-metropolitan county in the East Anglia region of eastern England. ... The Anglo-Saxons refers collectively to the groups of Germanic tribes who achieved dominance in southern Britain from the mid-5th century, forming the basis for the modern English nation. ... Norfolk and Suffolk, the core area of East Anglia. ... Sigeberht of East Anglia (also known as Saint Sigebert) was King of East Anglia from AD 631-634. ... Saint Felix of Burgundy is a saint widely credited as the man who introduced Christianity to East Anglia in Eastern England. ... Theodore (602–September 19, 690) was the eighth archbishop of Canterbury. ... North Elmham is a village (population 1428) in Norfolk about 8 km (5 miles) north of East Dereham on the west bank of the River Wensum. ... The Saints are a group of villages in Suffolk, England, near the border with Norfolk. ...

Foundation

The primary authority for the foundation of the see of Dommoc is Bede's Historia ecclesiastica, ii.15. Following the assassination of King Eorpwald of East Anglia by Ricberht in c 627 the kingdom fell back into 'error' for three years, before Sigeberht, brother or half-brother of Eorpwald, took possession of the kingdom. Sigeberht had lived in exile in Gaul during his brother's lifetime, and had been initiated in the sacraments of the Faith, becoming a very Christian and very learned man. On his accession he resolved to ensure that the whole kingdom shared his faith, and he was very ably supported by Saint Felix. Felix had been born and consecrated in Burgundy. He came to Archbishop Honorius of Canterbury (Saint Honorius), and unfolded to him his desire to preach the Gospel of Life. Honorius sent him to the East Angles, where he found a fruitful multitude of believers, and brought that whole province to the faith and works of righteousness. He accepted the episcopal seat in the city (civitas) of Dommoc, and when he had governed it for seventeen years he died there in peace. An alternative account surviving in the much later work of William of Malmesbury relates that Sigeberht and Felix came to the kingdom together from Gaul. Bede (IPA: ) (also Saint Bede, the Venerable Bede, or (from Latin) Beda (IPA: )), (ca. ... Folio 3v from Codex Beda Petersburgiensis (746) The Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (in English: Ecclesiastical History of the English People) is a work in Latin by the Venerable Bede on the history of the Church in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between Roman... Eorpwald was the son of Redwald and reigned as king of East Anglia from 625-627. ... Events April 11 - Paulinus, a Roman missionary, baptizes King Edwin of Deira December 12 - Battle of Nineveh: Byzantine Emperor Heraclius defeats the Persians Births Deaths November 10 - Justus, Archbishop of Canterbury Categories: 627 ... Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (Latin: ) was the name given, in ancient times, to the region of Western Europe comprising present-day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... région of Bourgogne, see Bourgogne. ... Honorius (died September 30, 653) was an Archbishop of Canterbury (627 - 653). ... William of Malmesbury (c. ...

Early chronology

The date of the foundation of Dommoc is estimated from the foregoing events, and from the duration of tenure of the first three bishops. Edwin of Northumbria was baptised by Paulinus of York at Easter 626, and they then undertook the conversion of Lindsey and of Eorpwald and his kingdom. Eorpwald was slain soon after his baptism, after which there was a reversal of faith for three years. Felix was bishop for seventeen years, his successor Thomas for five, and his successor Berhtgisl Boniface for a further seventeen (a total of 39 episcopal years). Both Thomas and Berhtgisl were consecrated by Archbishop Honorius, who died in 653 (Historia Ecclesiastica iii.20). After Berhtgisl's death Archbishop Theodore, who reached Canterbury in 669, appointed Bisi to Dommoc, and Bisi attended the Council of Hertford in 673. By then Bisi's health was declining so that he was unable to administer the diocese, and soon afterwards Theodore divided the see (Historia Ecclesiastica, iv.5). Since Berhtgisl cannot have died later than 670 the foundation of Dommoc should date to c630-31, and the assassination of Eorpwald to c 627. This would place the death of Felix c647 and of Thomas c 652. That would accord with the Liber Eliensis tradition that Felix baptized Saint Etheldreda in or soon after 631 at Exning, and with William of Malmesbury's statement that he baptized Cenwalh of Wessex in East Anglia before that king was restored to Wessex by King Anna in c647. Saint Edwin (alternately Eadwine or Æduini) ( 586–October 12, 632/633) was the King of Deira and Bernicia - which would later become known as Northumbria - from about 616 until his death. ... Saint Paulinus, (?-October 10, 644), was the first bishop of York. ... Events July 2 - In the early morning, Li Shimin, the future Emperor Tang Taizong of China, eliminated two of his brothers, Li Yuanji and the crown prince Li Jiancheng in a coup détat at the Xuanwu Gate in Changan. ... Lindsey was a unit of local government until 1974 in Lincolnshire, England, covering the northern part of the county. ... Events Pope Martin I arrested Sigeberht II the Good succeeds Sigeberht I the Little as king of Essex Aripert, nephew of Theodelinda, succeeds Rodoald as king of the Lombards Births Deaths Chindaswinth, king of the Visigoths Rodoald, king of the Lombards Abbas, uncle of Muhammad and his chief financial supporter. ... Canterbury is a cathedral city in east Kent in South East England and is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primate of All England, head of the Church of England and of the worldwide Anglican Communion. ... Events Theodore appointed Archibishop of Canterbury Births Justinian II, Byzantine emperor Deaths Hasan ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad and second Shia Imam Categories: 669 ... Events Hlothhere becomes king of Kent Maelduin becomes King of Dalriada Foundation of Ely, England Births Bede, English monk, writer and historian (or 672) Deaths Childeric II, Frankish king of Austrasia, Neustria and Burgundy Domangart II, King of Dalriada General Kim Yu-shin of Silla Heads of states Japan - Temmu... Events April 11 - Paulinus, a Roman missionary, baptizes King Edwin of Deira December 12 - Battle of Nineveh: Byzantine Emperor Heraclius defeats the Persians Births Deaths November 10 - Justus, Archbishop of Canterbury Categories: 627 ... Events The Cheomseongdae astronomical observatory is constructed in Silla around this time. ... Events Khazaria becomes an independent state (approximate date) Rodoald succeeds his father Rothari as king of the Lombards Births Clotaire III, king of the Franks Deaths Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, uncle of Muhammed, progenitor of the Abbasids Saint Ida of Nivelles, widow of Pippin of Landen, monastic foundress Rothari... Æthelthryth (also Etheldreda, Ediltrudis, Audrey or Awdrey) (c. ... Exning is a village in Suffolk, England. ... Cenwalh (died 674) was the king of Wessex from 643 to 674, except for a brief period (645 – 648) when he was driven out of his kingdom by Penda of Mercia. ... Anna can refer to a variety of people, objects, and ideas. ...

Location

Despite its former importance, the original location of Dommoc has been lost for many centuries and forms the subject of scholarly debate. This reflects rival claims staked during the 13th century by the monks of Eye, Suffolk, (for Dunwich, Suffolk) and of Rochester in Kent (for Walton, Suffolk) . The uncertainty therefore arose between the tenth and twelfth centuries. William Camden, in his Britannia, promoted general acceptance of the identification with Dunwich, formerly a splendid city on the Suffolk coast between Aldeburgh and Southwold, all but a tiny part of which has now been swept out to sea. The Rochester claim for Walton refers to the place near or in Felixstowe, Suffolk, at the tip of the Colneis peninsula between the River Deben and the River Orwell. This Walton is not to be confused with Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex, which stands on the south side of the Orwell and Stour estuary mouth, and which has never been seriously considered as a candidate for Dommoc. The scholarly revival of the claim for Walton as Dommoc was the work of Stuart Rigold. A human eye. ... Dunwich (IPA: ) is a town in the county of Suffolk in England, the remnant of what was once a prosperous seaport and centre of the wool trade during the early middle ages, with a natural harbour formed by the mouths of the River Blyth and the River Dunwich. ... In English literary history, the name Rochester refers to John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester. ... There are many people and places named Walton: Places In New Zealand: Walton, North Island In the United Kingdom: Walton, Buckinghamshire Walton, Cheshire Walton, Cumbria Walton, Derbyshire Walton-upon-Trent, Derbyshire Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex Walton, Leicestershire Walton, Merseyside Walton, Milton Keynes Walton, Peterborough Walton, Powys Walton, Somerset Walton... William Camden William Camden (May 2, 1551 - November 9, 1623) was an English antiquarian and historian. ... Map sources for Aldeburgh at grid reference TM4656 Aldeburgh is a town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England; it is located on the Alde river at 52° North, 1° East 1. ... Statistics Population: 1,458 (2001 Census) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TM510763 Administration District: Waveney Shire county: Suffolk Region: East of England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Suffolk Historic county: Suffolk Services Police force: Suffolk Constabulary Fire and rescue: {{{Fire}}} Ambulance: {{{Ambulance}}} Post office and... Statistics Population: 29,349 (2001 Census) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TM306345 Administration District: Suffolk Coastal Shire county: Suffolk Region: East of England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Suffolk Historic county: Suffolk Services Police force: Suffolk Constabulary Fire and rescue: {{{Fire}}} Ambulance: East of England... The River Deben is a medium length river in Suffolk stretching from the Estuary at Felixstowe, up inland through Melton and into smaller streams. ... The River Orwell from Suffolk Yacht Harbour The River Orwell is a river in the county of Suffolk, England. ... Statistics Population: 12,000 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TM251216 Administration District: Tendring Shire county: Essex Region: East of England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Essex Historic county: Essex Services Police force: {{{Police}}} Ambulance service: East of England Post office and telephone Post town: Postal... Stour is the name of several rivers in England: River Stour, East Anglia River Stour, Worcestershire River Stour, Warwickshire River Stour, Kent. ...

Bede records that Sigeberht ruled East Anglia together with Ecgric, his relative or cognatus, who until Sigeberht's abdication had ruled over part of the Kingdom, and afterwards succeeded to the rule of all of it. The meaning of the arrangement is not clear, but there is no difficulty in accepting that during his own reign Sigeberht had the power to grant a coastal site to Felix either at Dunwich or Felixstowe, since it was he who granted the shore fort at Cnobheresburg to Saint Fursey (Historia Ecclesiastica, iii.17-18). Egric (died 634) was an East Anglian king. ...

Bede's use of the term civitas for Dommoc, (which is also occasionally called Domnoc or Dommoc-ceastre), suggests that the site had once been a Roman settlement, possibly fortified. The re-use of Roman forts or fortified enclosures for early Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical and monastic purposes is well-attested, for instance at Othona (Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex), Rochester and Reculver (Kent), Durobrivae (Castor, Cambridgeshire), and in East Anglia at Fursey's monastery (probably Burgh Castle or Garrianonum). It is certain that there was a stone fort at Walton, like other shore-forts of about six acres enclosure, and that it was adjacent to a large Roman settlement, most of which (including the fort) is now lost into the sea. The nature of Roman Dunwich is less well understood, for although some important Roman roads lead towards it, the site was lost to the sea too early for archaeological records. However it formerly had an important harbour which might have been protected by a fort. (Similarly Aldeburgh (which means 'old burgh' in Old English) may also have possessed a fort defending the Alde estuary.) The placename evidence is also indecisive. Basic ideal plan of a Roman castrum. ... Bradwell-on-Sea is the name of a village in Essex, England. ... Essex is a county in the East of England. ... In English literary history, the name Rochester refers to John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester. ... Reculver is a summer resort situated about 3 miles east of Herne Bay along the North Kent coast and is popular with visitors. ... This article is about the county in England. ... Castor is a village in the Soke of Peterborough in England. ... Burgh Castle walls, 1845 engraving Church of St Peter and St Paul at Burgh Castle Burgh Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. ... Section of Roman Fort wall Burgh Castle walls, 1845 engraving Garrianonum is a Roman fort near the village of Burgh Castle in Norfolk, one of several Roman forts that were built as a defence against Saxon raids up the rivers of the east and south coasts of southern Britain (the... A Roman road in Pompeii Road Construction on Trajans Column The Roman roads were essential for the growth of their empire, by enabling them to move armies. ...

G.E. Fox and C.E. Stevens suggested that the fort at Walton might be the Portus Adurni of the Notitia Dignitatum, usually identified as Portchester. Be that as it may, the existence of additional forts not mentioned in the Notitia presents no difficulty since that is not a list of all fortresses, but of military units and their stations under the command of the Count of the Saxon Shore. The Notitia Dignitatum is a unique document of the Roman imperial chanceries. ... View of Portchester from Portsdown Hill; castle keep on left, Portsmouth harbour and city in background Portchester is a small suburb to the northwest of Portsmouth, England. ... The Count of the Saxon Shore or comes litoris Saxonici was a military command of the later Roman Empire. ...

Dunwich

The similarity of sound between Dommoc and Dunwich may be misleading. Dommoc is a difficult name to construe, but could derive from the Latin dominicum, a church, possibly in an Irish-assimilated form domnhac, as Fletcher notes. The name Dunwich (in c 1200 Donewic or Donewiz) should mean the wic (market, possibly from vicus, often riverine or estuarine) at the hill. The important wic names of Ipswich and Norwich are comparable. If the name Dommoc became Dunwich, its original meaning was lost in the shift and a different etymological structure was adopted to explain and replace it, between the tenth and twelfth centuries. Timber framed buildings in St Nicholas Street The Ancient House is decorated with a particularly fine example of pargeting Ipswich (pronounced Ip-Switch) is the county town of Suffolk and a non-metropolitan district in East Anglia, England on the estuary of the River Orwell. ... Norwich is a city in East Anglia, in Eastern England. ...

There was no known church dedicated to Saint Felix at Dunwich, but that is no objection since the founder could not have commemorated himself and would likely have made an apostolic dedication. Dunwich was thriving at Domesday, but following sea encroachments many of its ecclesiastical possessions were granted to the rising Priory of Eye in north Suffolk. The seal-matrix of the last-known bishop of Dommoc, Ethilwald, was discovered about two hundred years ago at Eye. Eye also possessed in post-mediaeval times a book now lost, known as the 'Red Book of Eye', written in Lombardic majuscule and presumably with purple-stained pages, reputed to have belonged to Saint Felix. These may have reached Eye from Dunwich, but they might also have been taken to Hoxne, close to Eye, during the tenth or eleventh centuries from any centre in East Anglia, when Hoxne was temporarily the episcopal seat. A line drawing entitled Domesday Book from Andrew Williamss Historic Byways and Highways of Old England. ... The Lombards or Longobards or Langobards were the Germanic tribe who gave their name to Lombardy, an administrative entity in Northern Italy. ... Majuscules or capital letters (in the Roman alphabet: A, B, C, ...) are one type of case in a writing system. ... Hoxne is a village in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, about five miles east of Diss. ...

During the fifteenth century, when the Dunwich identification had taken hold, a series of glass windows depicting Saint Fursey, Saint Felix, Saint Etheldreda, and other Anglo-Saxon subjects existed at Blythburgh church, not far from Dunwich. However that site had its own independent Wuffing tradition connected with the grave of King Anna of East Anglia (d. 653), but (conversely) its position at the fordable headwaters of the Blyth estuary, controlling the Blyth and its watershed hinterland suggests the likely existence of a royal dwelling in that neighbourhood in the time of Anna himself, and of Saint Felix. If so, the siting of an episcopal seat at Dunwich would be readily explicable. Holy Trinity church Blythburgh is an English village in the coastal Suffolk marshes, under a hundred miles from London, and four miles from the North Sea at Southwold. ... The Wuffings were the ruling dynasty of East Anglia. ... Anna (d. ... The River Blyth is a river in Suffolk, England, with a tidal estuary between Southwold and Walberswick. ...

Felixstowe

The apparent connection between Felixstowe and the name of Felix is suggestive, but the placename Felixstowe is not recorded before the thirteenth century and its origin is disputed. A Stow may be a holy site, but the Domesday name for the Walton fort is Burch, a form of the word Burgh. A priory dedicated to St Felix was founded within the fort at Walton around the end of the eleventh century by Roger Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk, who invited monks from Rochester to establish themselves there. During the twelfth century the powerful Bigod family also had a castle at Walton and a separate large residence there (the Manor, or Old Hall), at which King John issued the Ipswich Town Charter in 1200. Roger Bigod (d. ... John deer hunting, from a manuscript in the British Library. ... Timber framed buildings in St Nicholas Street The Ancient House is decorated with a particularly fine example of pargeting Ipswich (pronounced Ip-Switch) is the county town of Suffolk and a non-metropolitan district in East Anglia, England on the estuary of the River Orwell. ...

The church site at nearby Falkenham (overlooking the river Deben between Hemley and Felixstowe Ferry) may have early Wuffing associations, for it is dedicated to the royal martyr Saint Æthelberht (d.794). Falkenham was at Domesday a sub-manor or berewick of Walton, and in the time of Archbishop Lanfranc it was claimed by Rochester as one of a group of possessions which had been taken from it into royal keeping during the Viking Wars. Lanfranc (d. ... The term Viking commonly denotes the ship-borne explorers, traders, and warriors of the Norsemen (literally, men from the north) who originated in Scandinavia and raided the coasts of the British Isles, France and other parts of Europe as far east as the Volga River in Russia from the late...

The situation of Walton fort, overlooking the seaward reaches of the Deben estuary towards the former island of Bawdsey on the north bank, was of prime importance to the control of that river and lay directly within the sphere of Rendlesham, the Wuffinga royal dwelling known to have existed a little above the fordable headwaters of the Deben estuary in c 660. The Sutton Hoo cemetery demonstrates the outstanding importance of this river as a seat of regnal power shortly before Sigeberht's time, during the period of Raedwald's reign, and as the centre of a regio or province spreading from the Orwell to beyond the River Alde and across the tributary hinterlands of the Alde and Deben rivers. Bawdsey is a village in Suffolk, England near Felixstowe. ... Rendlesham is a village in Suffolk in England. ... Sutton Hoo parade helmet (British Museum, restored). ... Rædwald (died c. ... Orwell (or Orwellian) can refer to: The writer George Orwell (pen name for Eric Blair). ... The River Alde is a wide tidal estuary river in Suffolk, England, United Kingdom. ...

It is strongly inferred that St Paulinus, from the Canterbury mission, was present in East Anglia at Raedwald's court in around 616, and it seems likely that the dedication of Rendlesham church to Saint Gregory the Great belongs to the early phases of that mission into East Anglia. After his escape from York in 632-3, Paulinus became Bishop of Rochester until his death in c644, during the first decade of Felix's episcopacy of Dommoc. Bede records that Felix obtained teachers from Kent to supply the school founded in East Anglia by Sigeberht. Rochester was then the closest bishopric to East Anglia by the sea-route to Kent from the Deben. It is therefore possible that when Roger Bigod founded a priory at Walton fort he was consciously renewing a connection between Rochester and Walton which had been developed in the time of Felix and Paulinus. Canterbury is a cathedral city in east Kent in South East England and is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primate of All England, head of the Church of England and of the worldwide Anglican Communion. ... Saint Gregory redirects here. ... York is a city in North Yorkshire, England, at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss. ... This article is about the county in England. ...

Rochester's claim is expressed thus: 'b. Felix fundavit eccl'iam q'e m'o Felixstowe uocatur et in ea sedit xvji annis' (The blessed Felix founded the church which is now called Felixstowe and sate in that (place) 17 years). It appears in the monastic register compiled before 1251 (Harleian MS 261), under the annal for 633. The 16th century antiquary John Leland noted sources supporting both the claims of Eye for Dunwich and of Rochester for Walton. However it must be remembered that there are several East Anglian sites associated with the work of Saint Felix. Although one of these two seems most likely, there is no absolute certainty that it was either. John Leland (September 13, 1502–April 18, 1552) was an English antiquary. ...

Sources

• Bede (The Venerable), Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, Ed. B. Colgrave and R.A.B. Mynors (Oxford 1969).
• J. Fairclough and S.J. Plunkett, 2000, 'Drawings of Walton Castle and other Monuments in Walton and Felixstowe', Proc. Suffolk Inst. Archaeol. 39 Part 4, 419-459.
• R. Fletcher, The Conversion of Europe from Paganism to Christianity 371-1386 AD (London 1997).
• G.E. Fox, 1911, 'Romano-British Suffolk', VCH Suffolk, I, 279-323.
• J. Haslam, 1992, 'Dommoc and Dunwich: a reappraisal,' in W. Filmer-Sankey (Ed.), Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 5, 41-46 (Oxford).
• T. Pestell, Landscapes of Monastic Foundation. The Establishment of Religious Houses in East Anglia, c650-1200 (Woodbridge 2004).
• S.J. Plunkett, Suffolk in Anglo-Saxon Times (Stroud 2005).
• S.E. Rigold, 1961, 'The Supposed See of Dunwich,' J. Brit. Archaeol. Ass. 24, 5-59.
• S.E. Rigold, 1974, 'Further Evidence about the Site of Dommoc,' J. Brit. Archaeol. Ass. 37, 97-102.
• N. Scarfe, Suffolk in the Middle Ages (Woodbridge 1986).
• C.E. Stevens, 1941, 'The British Sections of the Notitia Dignitatum,' Archaeological Journal 97, 125-54.
• S.E. West, A Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Material from Suffolk, East Anglian Archaeology 84.
• D. Whitelock, 1972, 'The Pre-Viking Church in East Anglia,' Anglo-Saxon England 1, 1-22.