[2] Bede says that in 676, Putta was driven from Rochester by King Æthelred of Mercia,[3] or perhaps abandoning it,[4] he fixed himself at Hereford (said to have been the centre of a diocese as early as the 6th century) and refounded Hereford Cathedral.
[citation needed] After he left Rochester, Theodore of Tarsus, the Archbishop of Canterbury appointed Cwichelm as bishop of that see.
[4] The medieval chronicler Bede says Putta learned Roman Chant from students of Pope Gregory the Great, and later taught this to the Mercians.
[5][6] The modern historian Henry Mayr-Harting describes Putta as "a mild old music master".
[7] The usual dates given for Putta's time at Rochester are thought to have been about 669 to 676.