lfheah is also known as Alphege. He was born c.953 and joined a monastery early in life, then a little later moving to another monastery and becoming an anchorite, removing himself from the world to devote himself to prayer while residing in a very confined space.
His reputation for piety eventually caused him to be offered the position of abbot of Bath Abbey (the Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul) by 982. In 984 he was elected Bishop of Winchester, it is believed to be with the influence of the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Dunstan. As bishop, Ælfheah added a large organ to the cathedral, supposedly requiring two dozen men to operate and able to be heard a mile away.
He promoted the cult of St. Swithin and of Æthelwold of Winchester, Ælfheah's predecessor, bringing Æthelwold's body to a new tomb in the cathedral.
A Viking raid in 994 resulted in one of the raiders, Olaf Tryggvason, converting to Christianity. He was baptized by Ælfheah in one account, but another historian claims Olaf was already a Christian prior to this. In either case, Olaf vowed never to fight the English again.
In 1005, Archbishop of Canterbury Ælfric of Abingdon died, and Alfheah was chosen to succeed him in 1006. He needed to receive the pallium from Pope John XVIII. Ar archbishop he promoted Dunstan's cult and ordered the writing of a biography of the man. He also helped convince the Anglo-Saxon witenagemot to recognize Wulfsige of Sherborne as a saint.
Then came 1011 and a Danish raid on Canterbury in September. Ælfheah was captured, along with Bishop of Rochester, the abbess of St. Mildrith's. The abbot of St. Augustine's Abbey, Ælfmaer, managed to escape, and there is some suspicion that he betrayed the others. We'll talk about Ælfheah's end tomorrow.
