of which William of Malmesbury condemns as mediocre (Gesta Regum, i. 167; cf. Gesta Pontiff. p. 406). A prose life, without author's name, has been printed as Wulfstan's by Mabillon (‘Acta SS.’ v. 606), and by the Bollandists (‘Acta SS.’ Aug. vol. i.) and Migne (‘Patrologia,’ cxxxvii. col. 81), but it is so closely similar to that which is undoubtedly Ælfric's (printed in the Chronicon Abbendoniæ, ii. 255) that it is probably another version of that work. It is somewhat longer than Ælfric's, the style is as good as Ælfric's, and the mention of Wulfstan, the precentor, by name, is further against the idea of his authorship.
William of Malmesbury ascribes to Wulfstan a further work, ‘De tonorum harmonia’ (Gesta Regum, i. 167), which appears to be lost.
[Authorities cited.]
WULFSTAN (d. 1023), archbishop of York, a man of good family, whose sister's son was Brihtheah (d. 1038), bishop of Worcester, is said to have been brought into the world by an operation that cost his mother's life. He was a monk, probably of Ely, and an abbot, succeeded Aldulf [q. v.] or Ealdulf as archbishop of York in 1003, and, like his two predecessors, held the see of Worcester along with the archbishopric. His name occurs as present at various councils and royal acts during the reign of Ethelred the Unready, and specially as advising the king at the undated council held at Enham (Wilkins, Concilia, i. 285). Canute held him in esteem, and, the see of Canterbury probably being vacant at the time, caused him to dedicate his church at Achingdon in Essex in 1026. He died at York on 28 May 1023, and was buried according to his request at Ely, of which monastery he was a benefactor. When the new choir of Ely was built in 1106 his body was removed into it. The pastoral epistle and the epistle ‘Quando dividis Chrisma’ of Abbot Ælfric (fl. 1006) [q. v.] were written for Wulfstan and probably for the use of other bishops also (Thorpe, Ancient Laws, ii. 365–93). Wulfstan's homilies, written before 1000, have been ascribed to the archbishop, but not apparently for any convincing reason, as there is nothing to show that their author was in episcopal orders, though manuscript editions bear dates later than 1003; they have for the first time been printed by Professor Napier in ‘Sammlung englischer Denkmäler’ (Bd. 4, 1880); the most famous of them, however, ‘Lupi Sermo ad Anglos,’ had previously been printed with a translation by George Hickes [q. v.] in his ‘Thesaurus.’ Archbishop Wulfstan must not be confused (as in Freeman, Norman Conquest, i. 342) with Wulfstan, bishop of London, who was consecrated in 996.
[A.-S. Chron. E. an. 1023, ed. Plummer; Flor. Wig. i. 156, 183–4 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Will. of Malmesbury's Gesta Pontiff. p. 250; Liber Elien. ed. Stewart, i. 205–6; Raine's Fasti Ebor. pp. 131–4; Ramsay's Foundation of England, i. 349, 354, 362.]
WULFSTAN, St. (1012?–1095), bishop of Worcester, son of Æthelstan and Wulfgifu, people of good position, who both in later life entered religion at Worcester, was born at Long Itchington, near Warwick, in or before 1012, for he is described as past fifty in 1062. After receiving his education in monastic schools, first at Evesham and afterwards at Peterborough, where his teacher was Ervenius, a skilful scribe and illuminator, who wrote a sacramentary for Canute [q. v.] and a psalter for his queen Emma [q. v.], he lived for a while as a layman, taking part in the sports of other young men. Between 1033 and 1038 he was ordained deacon and priest by Brihtheah, bishop of Worcester, who highly esteemed him and offered him a well-endowed living near his cathedral city. As his mother had roused in him a desire to become a monk, he refused the offer, received the habit from Brihtheah, and was admitted a monk of the cathedral monastery, where he held office first as schoolmaster, and afterwards as precentor and sacristan, and finally as prior under the bishop. He was distinguished for his asceticism, devotion, and humility, was always ready to instruct all who came to him, and was wont to journey about the country baptising the children of the poor, for it is said that the secular clergy refused to baptise without a fee.
The prior's virtues became widely known; Godgifu or Godiva [q. v.], the wife of Earl Leofric [q. v.], was much attached to him, many nobles esteemed him, and among them Earl Harold (1022?–1066), afterwards king. Aldred [q. v.], archbishop of York, having been forced by the pope to promise to resign the see of Worcester, two legates who were in England in 1062 visited Worcester and exhorted the clergy and people to choose Wulfstan as their bishop, and, having secured his election there, attended the Easter meeting of the witan and proposed his election by the assembly. Many spoke in his favour, and all approved; he was sent for, and on his arrival vehemently declined the office. His objections were overborne by the legates, the archbishops, and finally by a hermit named Wulfsige. He was consecrated by Aldred at York on 8 Sept., without making
