Bishop Aldun

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ⁸⁹⁷
Sigrida, wife of Arkill and mother of Gospatric, was the daughter of the Yorkshire thane, Kilvert, son of Ligulf. She had been the wife of another Arkill, son of Fridgist, and also of earl Eadult. She was the granddaughter of bishop Aldun.

~ Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, Vol. IV, p. 385

• Background Information. ¹⁴⁷⁶
From The Bishops of Lindisfarne, Hexham, Chester-le-Street, and Durham, A.D. 635-1020, pp. 250-253

"Bishop Aldhun was a man of good family, and of no mean ability. He was probably a widower when lie joined the community, although clerical celibacy was the exception and not the rule in the North in the tenth and eleventh centuries.

"In 995 the monks were terrified at the threatened invasion of Northmen and fled to Ripon with their treasures, including the body of S. Cuthbert. When the panic was over they set out for their old home at Chester-le-Street, but when they reached a place known as Wrdelau the car upon which the body of their holy father Cuthbert rested became immovable. Willing helpers went to the assistance of the monks, but all to no purpose. In their perplexity Aldhun enjoined a three days' fast, and the brethren were urged to spend the time in watching and prayer so that they might be divinely guided as to their future abode.

"On the third day a monk, Eadmer, received a revela- tion to the effect that Dunholme (Durham) was to be the saint's resting-place. The announcement was made to the brethren, who received it with great joy. The revelation was confirmed by the fact that the car moved with ease. When they reached Durham a little chapel made of boughs of trees was speedily erected and the body placed therein.

"It was found that the place was uninhabitable, being covered with a dense wood. Bishop and monks. Earl (Uhtred) and people, willingly set to work to clear it. When this was done a residence was assigned by lot to each brother, and the Bishop lost no time in making plans for the erection of a fine church of wood \emdash the White Church, which was the second cathedral of Durham, the first being the temporary erection made of the boughs of the trees. When the monks were thhus settied the Bishop commenced a third church, which was dedicated on September 4, 998, and then, 'to the great joy of all, and to the honour of God, he (the Bishop) translated the incorrupted body of the most holy father Cuthbert, and deposited it with due honour in the place which had been prepared for its reception.'

"Aldhun seems to have realised the importance oi fortifying Durham. Invaders usually made their way to the walled city.

"Uhtred, who had rendered great assistance in the erection of the churches at Durham and had proved himself valiant in fight, married the Bishop's daughter Egfrida. He endowed her with certain Church lands, an uncanonical and invalid proceeding.

"Uhtred, however, soon divorced Egfrida and restoored the lands which had formed her dowry."