Cuthbert (Old English: Cūþbeorht, Latin: Cuthbertus;[1][2] died 26 October 760) was a medieval Anglo-Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury in England.
Of noble birth,[3] Cuthbert is first recorded as the abbot of Lyminge Abbey, from where he was elevated to the see of Hereford in 736.
The contemporary record in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that Cuthbert was consecrated archbishop, where if he had been Bishop of Hereford, he would have been translated.
Given the nature of the sources, the identification of the bishop of Hereford with the archbishop of Canterbury, while likely, must not be regarded as proven.
[7][8] Whoever Cuthbert was prior to his election to Canterbury, he probably owed his selection as archbishop to the influence of Æthelbald, King of Mercia.
[10] Cuthbert was the recipient of a long letter from Boniface who complained about the lax morals of the clergy in the British Isles,[11] and too much drinking of alcohol by the Anglo-Saxon bishops.
[13] During Cuthbert's time as archbishop he no longer claimed authority over all of Britain, like his predecessor Theodore.
[21] His letters to the Anglo-Saxon missionaries on the European continent show him to have been highly educated.