Putta

Putta
Bishop of Hereford
Appointed676
Term endedbetween 676 and 688
Predecessornew diocese
SuccessorTyrhtel
Other postBishop of Rochester
Personal details
Diedc. 688
DenominationChristian

Putta (died c. 688) was a medieval Bishop of Rochester and probably the first Bishop of Hereford. Some modern historians say that the two Puttas were separate individuals.

Bede says that in 676, Putta was driven from Rochester by King Æthelred of Mercia, or perhaps abandoning it, he fixed himself at Hereford (said to have been the centre of a diocese as early as the 6th century) and refounded Hereford Cathedral. He is thus recorded as Bishop of Uuestor Elih and may not have actually held the office of Bishop of Hereford, although was considered to have done so by about 800.[citation needed] After he left Rochester, Theodore of Tarsus, the Archbishop of Canterbury appointed Cwichelm as bishop of that see.

The medieval chronicler Bede says Putta learned Roman Chant from students of Pope Gregory the Great, and later taught this to the Mercians. The modern historian Henry Mayr-Harting describes Putta as "a mild old music master".

The usual dates given for Putta's time at Rochester are thought to have been about 669 to 676. His time at Hereford is considered to have started in 676 and ended sometime between 676 and 688. He died about 688.

Citations

  1. 1 2 Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 221
  2. 1 2 Sims-Williams "Putta (d. c.688)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  3. ↑ Smith "Early Community" English Historical Review p. 295
  4. 1 2 Brooks Early History p. 73
  5. ↑ Kirby Making of Early England p. 210
  6. ↑ Blair World of Bede p. 170
  7. ↑ Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity p. 131
  8. ↑ Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 217

References

  • Blair, Peter Hunter (1990). The World of Bede (Reprint of 1970 ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-39819-3.
  • Brooks, Nicholas (1984). The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066. London: Leicester University Press. ISBN 0-7185-0041-5.
  • Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
  • Kirby, D. P. (1967). The Making of Early England (Reprint ed.). New York: Schocken Books. OCLC 399516.
  • Mayr-Harting, Henry (1991). The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0-271-00769-9.
  • Sims-Williams, Patrick (2004). "Putta". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/22912. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  • Smith, R. A. L. (September 1945). "The Early Community of St. Andrew at Rochester, 604-c. 1080". The English Historical Review. 60 (238): 289–299. doi:10.1093/ehr/LX.CCXXXVIII.289. JSTOR 556594.