St Alfege

Of noble birth, Alfege entered the Benedictine abbey of Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, and later became a hermit at Bath, Somerset, where followers elected him abbot. Alfege was a friend of Archbishop St. Dunstan of Canterbury, through whose influence he was named bishop of Winchester in 984. Aethelred II the Unready, king of the English, sent Alfege as ambassador to King Olaf I Tryggvason of Norway, who in 994 entered Britain and whom Alfege confirmed and allegedly persuaded not to invade England again.

In 1005 he became the 29th archbishop of Canterbury and immediately went to Rome to receive the pallium (symbol of metropolitan jurisdiction) from Pope John XVIII. Back in England, he called the Council of Enham (1009?) in a futile effort to halt the social demoralization caused by the devastating Danish invasions. 

Siege and Murder on Easter Day 1012

At this time, the Kent coast was subject to raids from Danish pirates.  On September 8th, 1011, the Danes began their sack of Canterbury and seized Alfege.

Alfege, betrayed by one of his own monks, was captured and taken in one of their ships round the Kent coast and up the River Thames to Greenwich.  There he was held for six months and a ransom of £3,000 was demanded.  Knowing that his people would be unable to afford this huge sum, Alfege refused to let them pay, and the captors carried out their threat to kill him. 

At a feast on Easter Day they bludgeoned Alfege with ox bones and the hafts of their axes until one of the Danes, out of compassion, killed him by a single blow to the head with his axe.

He was first buried at St. Paul's Cathedral, London, by order of King Canute of Denmark, England, and Norway; his body was removed to Canterbury in 1023 amid great splendour. From the earliest years after his death he was venerated as a martyr. 

The anniversary of his martyrdom (St Alfege's Day) is 19th April.  In 1078 Alfege was canonized; two churchmen, Archbishop Lanfranc and St Anselm agreed that sainthood had been achieved in the cause of divine justice. 

His last known words; to the Danish cries of "Give us gold", he had replied, "The gold I give you is the Word of God." 

The parish church of Greenwich is dedicated to him.

Links

• St Alfege in Greenwich