Hierarch10th century

Frithestan of Winchester

died 932 or 933

Also known as Frithestan, Bishop of Winchester

A disciple of St. Grimbald consecrated Bishop of Winchester by St. Plegmund, who loved the poor and prayed much for the departed (933)

September 10New Calendar

Feast Day

September 23Old Calendar

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Commemorated as

Our Father among the Saints Frithestan, Bishop of Winchester

Life

Frithestan was Bishop of Winchester in the early tenth century, holding the see from 909 until his resignation in 931. He governed one of the most significant and wealthy dioceses in Anglo-Saxon England during the reigns of Edward the Elder and Aethelstan, and is remembered in the Orthodox tradition as a disciple of St. Grimbald who was devoted to the poor and to prayer for the departed.

He is venerated as a saint, with limited historical cultus at Winchester, and his feast is kept on 10 September.

Timeline5 momentsReadHide

904Witnesses royal charters as deaconFrithestan first appears in the historical record in 904, when, as a deacon, he witnessed two charters by which King Edward the Elder granted land to the Old Minster at Winchester.
909Consecrated Bishop of WinchesterHe was one of seven bishops consecrated on a single day in 909 by Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury. He succeeded Bishop Denewulf in the see of Winchester.
c. 909Reorganization of the dioceseShortly after his elevation, the diocese of Winchester was reorganized, with Wiltshire and Berkshire transferred to the newly created bishopric of Ramsbury.
931ResignationFrithestan resigned the see between 23 March and 29 May 931. He was succeeded by Beornstan of Winchester.
932 or 933Death and burialHe died in 932 or 933 and was buried at the Old Minster, Winchester; the location of his tomb later became unknown during the medieval period.

Contributions & Legacy

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Episcopate

Frithestan's tenure spanned the reigns of two kings, Edward the Elder and his son Aethelstan. His relationship with Aethelstan appears to have been distant: he was absent from the king's coronation on 4 September 925, and despite his seniority among the episcopate he consistently attested royal charters in a lower position.

He governed Winchester, then among the foremost and wealthiest English sees, for more than two decades before resigning in 931.

Embroidered Vestments and St. Cuthbert's Shrine

Frithestan's name survives in connection with one of the most celebrated examples of early English embroidery. A stole and maniple, bearing inscriptions showing that they had been commissioned by Queen Aelfflaed, wife of Edward the Elder, for Bishop Frithestan of Winchester, were later given by King Aethelstan to the shrine of St. Cuthbert, probably in 934.

These vestments were rediscovered in 1827, when St. Cuthbert's tomb at Durham Cathedral was opened and the embroidered objects were found among its contents, their inscriptions preserving the association with Frithestan and the queen who had them made.

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