Bregowine

Bregowine (or Bregwine or Bregwin; died August 764) was a medieval Archbishop of Canterbury. Little is known of his origins or his activities as archbishop, although a number of stories were told about his possible origins after the Norman conquest in 1066. There are no records of him prior to his becoming archbishop. He possibly owed his elevation to the Kentish monarch. The records after his elevation to Canterbury are mainly about disputes over land, but knowledge of his time in office is hampered by the destruction of many of the contemporary records. After his death, he was considered a saint and a life about him was written in the 12th century.

Life

Various stories have been told about Bregowine's origins, including that he was a nobleman and a continental Saxon who converted to Christianity and came to Canterbury because of the saintly reputation of Theodore of Tarsus. Others say that he owed his elevation to King Æthelbert II of Kent, but all these stories rest on works that were written after the Norman conquest of England in 1066. There are no contemporary records of Bregowine before he was archbishop. It does not appear, however, that he was of Mercian origins like his predecessors Tatwin and Nothhelm.