Leofwin

Who is Leofwin?

Leofwin was a medieval Bishop of Lichfield.

Appointed to the see by King Edward the Confessor of England, Leofwin was a monk before becoming a bishop. For a time, he was abbot of the abbey of Coventry as well as bishop, but he was no longer abbot at the time of the Norman Conquest of England. He may have owed his promotion to Lichfield to Leofric, Earl of Mercia and Leofric's family. He was consecrated in 1053, but he went overseas to be consecrated because of the irregular election of Archbishop Stigand of Canterbury. Around 1068, he was the recipient of a writ from King William I of England, which shows that he had accommodated himself to the Conquest. He died in 1067, according to the Handbook of British Chronology, although most other historians, including Frank Barlow, says that he was deprived of his see in 1070 and died sometime after that. He was a married bishop, and it appears that knowing that he was unlikely to be allowed to retain his bishopric because of his marital status, instead of attending the Council of London in 1070, he resigned his see and retired to Coventry Abbey. The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc, had already denounced Leofwin's marriage.