EGBERT
325
EGBERT
Vincent Harold. Bishop Egan died worn out by his
struggles to maintain his episcopal authority.
Griffin, Hislor,/ of Biihop Eqan (Philadelphia, 1S93); Shea, History of the Catholic Church in the U. S. (New York. 1S90), III; Reuss, Biog. Cycl. of the Oath. Hierarchi/ of U. S. (Milwau- kee, 1S98). James F. Loughlin.
Egbert, Saint, a Northumbrian monk, born of noble parentage c. 639; d. 729. In his youth he went for the sake of study to Ireland, to a monastery, says the Venerable Bede, "called Rathmelsigi", identified by some with Mellifont in what is now County Louth. There, when in danger of death from pestilence, he prayed for time to do penance, vowing amongst other things to live always in exile from his own country. In consequence he never returned to England, though he lived to the age of ninety, and always fasted rigor- ously. Having become a priest, he was filled with zeal for the conversion of the still pagan German tribes related to the Angles, and would himself have become their apostle, if God had not shown him that his real calling was to other work. It was he, how- ever, who dispatched to Friesland St. Wigbert, St. Willibrord, and other saintly missionaries. St. Eg- bert's own mission was made known to him by a monk, who, at Melrose, had been a disciple of St. Boisil. Appearing to this monk, St, Boisil sent him to tell Egbert that the Lord willed him instead of preaching to the heathen to go to the monasteries of St. Columba, "because their ploughs were not going straight", in consequence of their schismatic practice in the celebration of Easter. Leaving Ireland there- fore in 716, Egbert crossed over to lona, where the last thirteen years of his life were spent. By his sweetness and humility he inthiced the lona monks to relinquish their erroneous mode of computation; in 729 they celebrated Easter with the rest of the Church upon 24 April, although their old rule placed it that year upon an earlier day. On the same day, after say- ing Mass and joining joyfully in their celebration, the aged Egbert died. Though he is now honoured sim- ply as a confessor, it is probable that St. Egbert was a bishop. By Alcuin he is expressly called antistes and episcopus, and an Irish account of a synod at Birra names him " Egbert Bishop", whilst the term sacerdos used by the Venerable Bede, is sometimes applied by him to bishops,
Bede, Hist. Eccles. Angl. (Ctford, 1896), III, iv, 27, V, ix. xxii; Alcuin, Dc Sanctis licclvsite Eboracensis in Historians of York, R. iS. (London, 1879); Tynemouth and Capgrave, Nova Legenda (O.xford, 1901); Ada SS., 24 April; Lingard, Anglo- ,^axon Church (London, 1845), nh. xiv; Stanton, Menotogy of England and Wales (London, 1892); Lanigan, Eccl. Hist, of Inland (Dublin, 1828), III, 95; Healt, .indent Irish Schools (Dublin, 1892); Bright in Did. Christ. Biog., s. v.
G. E. Phillips.
Egbert (Ecgberht or Ecgbryht), frequently though incorrectly called " First King of England ", d. A. D, 839. He styled himself in 828 Rex Anglorum, i. e. " Overlord of East Anglia", a title used by Offa fifty years before; in 830 he described himself as " lung of the West Saxons and Kentishmen", and in 833 he is " King of the West Saxons". He came of the royal race descended from Ine of Wessex and, owing to his pretensions to power, was exiled by the joint action of Beorhtric of Wesse.x and Offa of Mercia. The date and duration of his exile are unknown, but he returned in S02 and was chosen King of the West Saxons. In 81 5 he ravaged Cornwall and conquered the West Welsh who dwelt there. They rebelled in 825, when he again defeated them just in time to repel a Mercian in- vasion at the battle of Ellandune. Shortly after- wards Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Esse.x accepted him as king and East Anglia submitted to his overlordship. War with Mereia again liroke out, and ended in Egbert driving out Wiglaf and receiving the submission of tliat kingdom. In 829 ho attacked Northumbria, but the Norlliiunl)rians met him at Dore and recognized him as overlord.
Thus for the first time he had united the whole Eng-
lish race under one overlordship, in this way substan-
tially justifying the title King of England, though the
idea of territorial kingship had not at that time come
into being. Nor was he actually king of all the sub-
ject tribes, for the under-kings still ruled, though they
were under him as Bretwalda. Thus he restored Wig-
laf to the throne of Mercia and made his own son Ethel-
wulf Iving of the Kentishmen. In his own Kingdom of
Wessex he developed the shire system, carefully regu-
lating the relations of the ealdorman and the bishop to
the shire. He also organized the Fyrd, or militia.
His ecclesiastical policy was very favourable to the
Church, and at the Council of Kingston, in 838, he gave
the archbishop assurances of friendship and certain
privileges which considerably strengthened the pri-
matial see. In 831 he forced the North Welsh (the
people of Wales) to accept his overlordship, but three
years later he had to defend his realm from Scandina-
vian pirates who were invading Sheppey. He beat
them off, but they returned in 835 and defeated him at
Charmouth in Dorsetshire. In 837 he again had to
meet a great fleet of Northmen, who on this occasion
were helped by an insurrection of the West Welsh.
He, however, won a great victory over the allies at
Hengestdune, on the borders of Cornwall, after which
he remained at peace till his death.
The chronology of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle is often two, and sometimes three, years out with regard to the events of his reign. His coins, which are rare, though specimens from nineteen different mints are known, bear his name and the title Rex, the additions Saxo, " M ", or " A " denoting Wessex, Mercia, and East Anglia respectively.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in R. S., XXIII (London, 1861); Florence op Worcester, Chronicon ex Chronicis (Eng. Hist. Soc, London, 1848-9), XIII ; Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum in Rolls Series (London, 1874); William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum (Eng. Hist. Soc, London, 1840), VI; Kemble, Codex Diplomaticus ^vi Saxonici (Eng. Hist. Soc, London, 1839-48), VII; Stubbs, s. v.. in Did. ClirislianBiog. (London, 1877-87); Id., Constitutional History of England (Oxford, 1875-78), I; Id. (especially for the chronol- ogy'). Introduction to Roger Hoveden in R. S. (London, 1868-71); Haddan and Stubbs. Ecclesiastical Documents (O.xford, 1869- 78); Green, The Making of England (London, 1885); Hunt, s. v., in Did. Nat. Biog. (London, 1889).
Edwin Burton.
Egbert, Archbishop of Trier, d. 8 or 9 December, 993. He belonged to the family of the Counts of Hol- land. His parents, Coimt Theodoric I and Countess Hildegarde,sent him to be educated in the Abbey of Eg- mont, located within their dominions. Egbert is first mentioned in history as head of the imperial chancery, then under Archbishop Willigis of Mainz, Docu- ments of 976 and 977 record him as holding this office. In 977 he was made Archbishop of Trier, which see was vacant by the death of Theodoric. Here he re- mained till 993. He sought particularly to remove from this great diocese all traces of the ravages caused by the Northmen at the end of the ninth century, and to foster the ecclesiastical reforms that had been pro- gressing since the days of Otto I. He completed the restoration, begun by his predecessor, of the Abbey of S. Maria ad Martyres near Trier. Just outside the city he built the abbey-church of St. Eucharius (St, Mathias), to which Otto 11 contributed gener- ously. On this occasion the body of St. Celsus was discovered. The abbey itself was richly en- dowed and its monastic school flourished again. The collegiate church of St. Paulinus, near Trier, was simi- larly endowed, a regular income for its clergy as- sured, and a fitting solemnity in Divine worship made possible. Abbot Hetzel of Mettlach was de- posed for conduct unworthy of his vows and station. The monastery was reformed, and its school became an active centre of studious occupations. In Miin- sterniaifeld St. Martin's was raised to the dignity of a collegiate church and was correspondingly en-
