The papal petitions of Bishop Wilfrid

Bishop Wilfrid was a key figure in the early history of the Northumbrian Church. He twice travelled to Rome to appeal his deposition at the papal court. The two petitions drawn up for these hearings, which are preserved by his biographer, offer our nearest access to the bishop’s voice as articulated in writing. After contextualizing the texts in relation to wider European petitioning practices, this article analyses each of them in turn. The article suggests that a sophisticated intellectual environment was maintained in Wilfrid’s presence, and that his team of administrators were highly skilled at producing formal legal documents.