The church and monastery of St. Mary, built by Oswald, were on the site of the existing cathedral, and were pulled down by Wulfstan to make way for his new minster. (See _post_, WULFSTAN.) During the construction of St. Oswald’s monastery, says Eadmer, one large squared block of stone became all at once immoveable, and in spite of the exertions of the workmen, could not be brought to the place prepared for it. St. Oswald, after praying earnestly, beheld “Ethiopem quendam” sitting upon the stone, and mocking the builders. The sign of the cross removed him effectually.
A life of St. Oswald, by Eadmer of Canterbury, will be found in Wharton’s _Anglia Sacra_, vol. ii. This, however, is a compilation from a far more important life by an unknown monk of Ramsey, written within twenty or thirty years after Oswald’s death, and hitherto unprinted. This life (of which there is a MS. in the British Museum, MSS. Cotton, Nero, E. 1) is quoted among Mr. Raine’s numerous authorities for the very interesting life of St. Oswald contained in his “Lives of the Archbishops of York.” (London, 1863.) Oswald died at Worcester, and was interred in his own church there. His relics were translated, and placed in a rich shrine, by Aldulf, his successor in both sees. The portiphor of St. Oswald is still preserved in the library of C.C.C., Cambridge.
The two immediate successors of Oswald, Aldulf and Wulfstan I., held the see of York together with that of Worcester, probably because, Northumbria being ravaged by the Danes, the possession of the southern bishopric was found to be necessary for the maintenance of the northern primate. Wulfstan succeeded in 1003, and died in 1023. In 1016, seven years before his death, LEOFSIN was appointed to the bishopric of Worcester; Wulfstan retaining York.
[A.D. 992-1062.] Between the death of Oswald and the accession of Wulfstan II., the only remarkable bishops of Worcester were LIVING, the friend and minister of Canute, who held the see of Worcester together with that of Crediton; and ALDRED, his successor, who was translated to York in 1061, and as archbishop of that see crowned successively both Harold and the Conqueror. In 1062 Edward the Confessor made a grant to Aldred of the church of Worcester, on account of the desolate condition of the see of York. The grant was, however, personal, and not in perpetuity; and Bishop Wulfstan of Worcester only remained a suffragan of York until the death of Aldred. The deed is to be found in Thomas’s “Worcester,” Appendix I.