Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ceolwulf
CEOLWULF (d. 764), king of the Northumbrians, was the son of Cutha (A.-S. Chron. an. 731; Symeon, De Dunelm. Eccl.), and the brother of Coenred, king of the Northumbrians. On the death of Coenred in 718, Osric succeeded to the throne. Before he died he appointed Ceolwulf as his successor, who accordingly began his reign on 9 May 729. His chief claim to remembrance is that Bæda dedicated his 'Historia Ecclesiastica' to him ('gloriosissimo regi Ceoluuolpho') in a prefatory letter in which he says that he has sent him his book that he may read and test it and have it transcribed, and speaks of the king's delight in the study of the Scriptures, in history, and especially in the records of famous Englishmen. Bæda ends his history with an account of the flourishing state of the kingdom of Northumbria in 731, noticing the large number of men of all ranks who at that time retired from the world to adopt a monastic life. It seems, however, as though a strong party in Northumbria disliked the increase of the ecclesiastical power, and was impatient of the rule of the studious king, for the next year an insurrection broke out, and Ceolwulf was seized and tonsured. He was restored to the throne the same year, the tonsure thus forced upon him being held therefore to be no impediment to the resumption of the kingly office. As Bishop Acca [q. v.] was banished at this time, it has been suggested that the troubles in Northumbria may have been connected with some change in the arrangement of the northern dioceses. Ceolwulf made his cousin Ecgberht bishop of York in 734, and Bæda, writing to Ecgberht, reminds him that he would find the king a ready helper in the ecclesiastical reforms he was urging on him, and especially in the increase of the episcopate. Ceolwulf resigned the throne in 737, and became a monk of Lindisfarne. He richly endowed the monastery with treasures and lands. From the time of his entrance into the house the monks were allowed to drink wine or beer instead of water or milk. He died in 764 (Symeon, 760, A.-S. Chron.), and was buried at Lindisfarne. His body was afterwards translated to Norham, where miracles are said to have been wrought at his tomb; his head was preserved among the relics deposited in the church of St. Cuthbert at Durham. Ceolwulf has a place in the calendar, his day being 15 Jan.
[Bæda's Hist. Eccl. prolog. v. 23. Epistola ad Ecgberctum ap. Op. Hist. Minora, p. 214 (Eng. Hist. Soc.); Anglo-Saxon Chron.; Symeon de Dunelm. Ecclesia, col. 7, 9, de Sto Cuthberto, col. 70, de Gestis Regum, col. 100, 106. Twysden; William of Malmesbury, i. 64; Raine's History of North Durham, p. 68; Dixon and Raine, Fasti Ebor. 94.]