Biography
Alphege the Bald
About Alphege the Bald
Alphege the Bald was a monk and bishop of Winchester in the tenth century. Also known by the Old English name Aelfheah, he succeeded Byrnstan in the 930s. His importance lies especially in his influence on Dunstan and Aethelwold, two figures associated with the renewal of English monastic life. Details of his own early monastic formation remain uncertain.
The New Catholic Encyclopedia describes him as a kinsman of King Athelstan who served as a royal chaplain and secretary. He encouraged Dunstan to become a monk and ordained Dunstan and Aethelwold to the priesthood on the same day. The tradition also attributes to him a prediction that both would become bishops; that belongs to the devotional account of their beginnings.
His responsibilities included land and the future support of the church. The Acta Sanctorum prints a testament attributed to him that distinguishes property belonging to the bishopric from inherited family estates. Some lands were assigned to relatives for their lifetimes, with later possession passing to Winchester’s Old Minster. The same commentary records his appearance as a witness to royal grants.
The editors distinguish this Alphege from the later bishop of Winchester who became archbishop of Canterbury and was killed in 1012. They cite manuscript martyrologies remembering the earlier bishop on March 12 as a confessor, rather than a martyr. They also acknowledge uncertainty about the monastery in which he first lived. These distinctions matter because the two bishops’ shared name has encouraged confusion.
Alphege died on March 12, 951. His successor at Winchester was Aelfsige. The Catholic Church in France’s Nominis account records his continuing veneration at Winchester and St Albans. His remembrance centers on the formation of other monks and priests: the guidance he offered became part of the stories of Dunstan and Aethelwold as well as his own.
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