Walkelin or Walchelin, (died 1098), first Norman bishop of Winchester. Arms of the Bishop of Winchester The diocese of Winchester is one of the oldest and most important in England. ...

Life

Early life

He was of noble birth and related to the Conqueror. He took up office at Winchester in 1070. A year later, in 1071, the monk Ealdred of Abingdon died in Walkelin's custody, and the following year he signed the Accord of Winchester, formulated in the city. Events Hereward the Wake begins a Saxon revolt in the Fens of eastern England. ... Events Byzantine Empire loses Battle of Manzikert to Turkish army under Alp Arslan. ... Events William I of England invades Scotland, and also receives the submission of Hereward the Wake. ... The signatures of William I and Maud (beside the first two large Xs) on the Accord of Winchester from 1072. ...

Nepotism

He made his brother Simeon Prior of Winchester and then influenced his being made Abbot of Ely in 1082, where he began the new Ely Abbey there in 1093 ^[1] before dying the following year. Walkelin also advanced his nephew Gerard. Abbots coat of arms The word abbot, meaning father, has been used as a Christian clerical title in various, mainly monastic, meanings. ... Events England - The Rochester Cathedral was completed Europe - The German Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor besieges Rome and gains entry, a synod is agreed upon by the Romans to rule on the dispute between Henry and Pope Gregory VII Styria - Ottokar II succeeds his brother Adalbero (died 1086 or 1087... Front of Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral (in full, The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely) is the principal church of the diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Ely. ... // Events Donald III of Scotland comes to the throne of Scotland. ... // Events May - El Cid completes his Christian reconquest of Valencia, Spain from the Muslims. ... Gerard, Preceptor of Rouen (d. ...

Cathedral builder

Beginning work on a new cathedral church in 1079 (the current Winchester Cathedral). His transepts and crypt, though little else, are retained in the present building. King William Rufus granted Walkelin half a hide in the Isle of Wight, with license to search for and excavate stone for his new cathedral "per planum et silvam: si silva tantae parvitatis fuerit ut per eam transeuntes cornua cervi appareant." ^[2], and St Giles's Fair for the town. Events Persian astronomer, Omar Khayyám, computed the length of the year as 365. ... Winchester Cathedral as seen from the Cathedral Close View along the nave of Winchester Cathedral to the west door A plan published in 1911 Winchester Cathedral in Winchester, Hampshire is one of the largest cathedrals in England. ... William II (called Rufus, perhaps because of his red-faced appearance) (c. ... The hide was a variable unit of land area used in medieval England, defined according to its arable yield and taxable potential rather than its exact dimensions. ... The Isle of Wight is an English island and county, off the southern English coast, to the south of the county of Hampshire. ... Saint Giles (Latin Ægidius) was a 7th-8th century Christian hermit saint. ...

William I also granted him as much timber for the building and its scaffolding from the Forest of Hempage Wood (on the old Alresford Road in Hampshire) as his carpenters could take in four days and nights. However, in the words of the Winchester annalist ^[3], William of Normandy (French: Guillaume de Normandie; c. ... Categories: UK geography stubs | Towns in Hampshire ... Hampshire is a county on the south coast of England. ... Annalists (from Latin annus, year; hence annales, sc. ...

"the Bishop collected an innumerable troop of carpenters and within the assigned time cut down the whole wood and carried it off to Winchester. [Soon afterwards the King], passing by Hempage, was struck with amazement and cried out, "Am I bewitched or have I taken leave of my senses? Had I not once a most delectable wood upon this spot?" But when he understood what had happened, he was violently enraged. Then the Bishop put on a shabby vestment and made his way to the King's feet, humbly begging to resign the episcopate and merely requesting that he might retain his royal friendship and chaplaincy. The King was thus appeased, only observing, "I was as much too liberal in my grant as you were too greedy in availing yourself of it."

The new cathedral was completed in 1093. Walkelin had // Events Donald III of Scotland comes to the throne of Scotland. ...

caused [its] tower ... to be made as it is still to be seen [at the annalist's time, though the present tower is a later Norman construction], and rebuilt it, with its four columns, from the foundations in the middle of the choir.

On April 8th that year, in the presence of nearly all the bishops and abbots of England, the monks removed from Saxon cathedral churches of the Old Minster to the new one, "with great rejoicing and glory". Then, on the feast-day of Saint Swithun (July 15) they processed from the new church to the old, and processed the feretrum of St. Swithun from it to the new church "with all honour". Then, on July 16th, the bishop's men began demolishing the old church. Demolition work was complete within the year, except for one porticus and the great altar and the following year, more relics "of St. Swithun and of many other saints" were found under that altar and translated to the new church. April 8 is the 98th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (99th in leap years). ... A mitre is used as a symbol of the bishops ministry. ... Abbots coat of arms The word abbot, meaning father, has been used as a Christian clerical title in various, mainly monastic, meanings. ... The Old Minster was the Anglo-Saxon cathedral for the diocese of Wessex and then Winchester from 660 to 1093. ... St. ... For the band Reliquary, click here. ... This article is about an architectural feature; for the astronomical term see apsis. ... // Events May - El Cid completes his Christian reconquest of Valencia, Spain from the Muslims. ...

Reformer

Walkelin also reformed the monastic community there, as did all Norman bishops in their new dioceses. In the words of the annalist of Winchester: Annalists (from Latin annus, year; hence annales, sc. ...

"He greatly improved the Church of Winton in devotion, in the number of its monks and in the buildings of the house (monastery)."

Death

He died 3rd January 1098, at Winchester, and was buried in the nave of his cathedral, "before the steps under the rood-loft (pulpitum), in which stands the silver cross of Stigand, with the two great silver images; and he lies at the feet of William Giffard [his successor], having over him a marble stone" under the following inscription: January 3 is the 3rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events First Crusade: end of the siege of Antioch. ... A rood is an old English ( Anglo-Saxon) unit equal to quarter an acre, i. ... William Giffard was the Lord Chancellor of England of William II, from 1093 to 1101. ...

Praesul Walklynus istic requiescit humatus - Walkelin lies buried beneath here

Tempore Willelmi Conquestoris cathedratus - cathedral-builder in the time of William the Conqueror

External links

• Britannia biographies
• The cathedral's construction
• The Annalist

References

1. ^ The same year as Walkelin completed his new building at Winchester.
2. ^ Throughout the plain and the forest: if the forest is sufficiently small that the horns of a deer may be seen passing through it.
3. ^ All subsequent quotes are this annal unless otherwise noted)