View source for Mellitus

{{Short description|Archbishop of Canterbury from 619 to 624, Christian saint}}
{{other uses|Mellitus (disambiguation)}}
{{featured article}}
{{bots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]
| type          = archbishop
| name          = Mellitus
| archbishop_of = [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]
| image         = 
| appointed      = 619
| ended          = 24 April 624
| predecessor    = [[Laurence of Canterbury|Laurence]]
| successor      = [[Justus]]
| consecration   = 604
| consecrated_by = [[Augustine of Canterbury|Augustine]]
| other_post     = [[Bishop of London]]
| death_date     = 24 April 624
| death_place    = [[Canterbury]]
| buried         = [[St Augustine's Abbey]], Canterbury
| feast_day      = 24 April<ref name=Days170>Holford-Strevens and Blackburn ''Oxford Book of Days'' p. 170</ref>
| venerated      = {{ubl|[[Roman Catholic Church]]<ref name=Walsh420 />|[[Anglican Communion]]<ref name=Days170 />|[[Eastern Orthodox Church]]}}
| canonized_date = [[Pre-Congregation]]
}}

'''Mellitus''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ə|ˈ|l|aɪ|t|ə|s}}; died 24 April 624) was the first [[bishop of London]] in the Saxon period, the third [[archbishop of Canterbury]], and a member of the [[Gregorian mission]] sent to England to [[Christianization|convert]] the [[Anglo-Saxons]] from [[Anglo-Saxon paganism|their native paganism]] to Christianity. He arrived in 601 AD with a group of clergy sent to augment the mission, and was consecrated as Bishop of London in 604. Mellitus was the recipient of a famous letter from [[Pope Gregory I]] known as the ''[[Epistola ad Mellitum]]'', preserved in a later work by the medieval chronicler [[Bede]], which suggested the [[Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England|conversion of the Anglo-Saxons]] be undertaken gradually, integrating pagan rituals and customs. In 610, Mellitus returned to Italy to attend a council of bishops, and returned to England bearing papal letters to some of the missionaries.

Mellitus was exiled from London by the pagan successors to his patron, King [[Sæberht of Essex]], following the latter's death around 616. King [[Æthelberht of Kent]], Mellitus's other patron, died at about the same time, forcing him to take refuge in [[Gaul]]. Mellitus returned to England the following year, after Æthelberht's successor had been converted to Christianity, but he was unable to return to London, whose inhabitants remained pagan. Mellitus was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 619. During his tenure, he was alleged to have miraculously saved the cathedral, and much of the town of Canterbury, from a fire. After his death in 624, Mellitus was revered as a saint.

==Early life==
The medieval chronicler Bede described Mellitus as being of noble birth.<ref name=DNB/><ref name=Bede111>Bede ''History of the English Church and People'' p. 111, or in other editions of Bede, at the end of chapter 6, Book 2.</ref> In letters, Pope Gregory I called him an [[abbot]], but it is unclear whether Mellitus had previously been abbot of a Roman monastery, or this was a rank bestowed on him to ease his journey to England by making him the leader of the expedition.<ref name=DNB/> The papal register, a listing of letters sent out by the popes, describes him as an "abbot in Frankia" in its description of the correspondence, but the letter itself only says "abbot".<ref name=Church164>Church "Paganism in Conversion-age Anglo-Saxon England" ''History'' p. 164</ref> The first time Mellitus is mentioned in history is in the letters of Gregory, and nothing else of his background is known.<ref name=DNB>Brooks "Mellitus" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref> It appears likely that he was a native of Italy, along with all the other bishops consecrated by Augustine.<ref name=Convert96>Higham ''Convert Kings'' p. 96</ref>

==Journey to England==
[[File:AugustineGospelsFolio125rPassionScenes.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A page divided into 12 sections, each section displaying a scene from the bible|Passion scenes from the [[St Augustine Gospels]], possibly brought by Mellitus to England]]
Pope Gregory I sent Mellitus to England in June 601,<ref name=Coming64>Mayr-Harting ''Coming of Christianity'' p. 64</ref> in response to an appeal from [[Augustine of Canterbury|Augustine]], the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Augustine needed more clergy to join the Gregorian mission that was converting the kingdom of Kent, then ruled by Æthelberht, from paganism to Christianity.<ref name=Brooks9>Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' p. 9</ref> The new missionaries brought with them a gift of books and "all things which were needed for worship and the ministry of the Church."<ref name=Bede85>Bede ''History of the English Church and People'' pp. 85–86</ref><ref name=Coming62>Mayr-Harting ''Coming of Christianity'' p. 62</ref> [[Thomas of Elmham]], a 15th-century Canterbury chronicler, claimed that in his day there were a number of the books brought to England by Mellitus still at Canterbury. Examination of the remaining manuscripts has determined that one possible survivor of Mellitus's books is the [[St Augustine Gospels]], now in Cambridge, as Corpus Christi College, MS (manuscript) 286.<ref name=DNB/>{{efn|Another possible survivor is a copy of the [[Rule of Saint Benedict]], now [[Bodleian Library]] MS. Hatton 48.<ref name=Colgrave27>Colgrave "Introduction" ''Earliest Life of Gregory the Great'' pp. 27–28</ref> Another Gospel, in an Italian hand, and closely related to the Augustine Gospels, is MS Oxford Bodelian Auctarium D.2.14, which shows evidence of being held in Anglo-Saxon hands during the right time frame. Lastly, a fragment of a work by Gregory the Great, now held by the [[British Library]] as part of MS [[Cotton library|Cotton]] Titus C may have arrived with the missionaries.<ref name=Library24>Lapidge ''Anglo-Saxon Library'' pp. 24–25</ref>}} Along with the letter to Augustine, the missionaries brought a letter for Æthelberht, urging the King to act like the Roman Emperor [[Constantine I]] and force the conversion of his followers to Christianity. The king was also encouraged to destroy all [[shrine#Germanic paganism|pagan shrines]].<ref name=Strat34>Markus "Gregory the Great and a Papal Missionary Strategy" ''Studies in Church History 6'' pp. 34–37</ref>

The historian Ian Wood has suggested that Mellitus's journey through Gaul probably took in the bishoprics of Vienne, Arles, Lyons, Toulon, Marseilles, Metz, Paris, and Rouen, as evidenced by the letters that Gregory addressed to those bishops soliciting their support for Mellitus's party. Gregory also wrote to the [[Franks|Frankish]] kings [[Chlothar II]], [[Theuderic II]], [[Theudebert II]], along with [[Brunhilda of Austrasia]], who was Theudebert and Theuderic's grandmother and regent. Wood feels that this wide appeal to the Frankish episcopate and royalty was an effort to secure more support for the Gregorian mission.<ref name=Wood6>Wood "Mission of Augustine" ''Speculum'' p. 6</ref> While on his journey to England, Mellitus received a letter from Gregory allowing Augustine to convert [[heathen hofs|pagan temples]] to Christian churches, and to convert [[blót|pagan animal sacrifices]] into Christian feasts, to ease the transition to Christianity.<ref name=DNB/> Gregory's letter marked a sea change in the missionary strategy,<ref name=Markus26>Markus "Gregory the Great's Europe" ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'' p. 26</ref> and was later included in Bede's ''[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People]]''.<ref name=Bede86>Bede ''History of the English Church and People'' pp. 86–87</ref> Usually known as the ''Epistola ad Mellitum'',<ref name=Tab2>Spiegel "'Tabernacula' of Gregory the Great" ''Anglo-Saxon England 36'' pp. 2–3</ref> it conflicts with the letter sent to Æthelberht, which the historian R. A. Markus sees as a turning point in missionary history, when forcible conversion gave way to persuasion.<ref name=Strat34/> This traditional view, that the ''Epistola'' represents a contradiction of the letter to Æthelberht, has been challenged by the historian and theologian George Demacopoulos, who argues that the letter to Æthelberht was mainly meant to encourage the King in spiritual matters, while the ''Epistola'' was sent to deal with purely practical matters, and thus the two do not contradict each other.<ref name=Dema>Demacopoulos "Gregory the Great and the Pagan Shrines of Kent" ''Journal of Late Antiquity'' pp. 353–369</ref>

==Bishop of London==
Exactly when Mellitus and his party arrived in England is unknown, but he was certainly in the country by 604,<ref name=DNB/> when Augustine consecrated him as [[bishop]]<ref name=Hanbook219>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 219</ref> in the province of the [[East Saxon]]s, making Mellitus the first Bishop of London after the Roman departure (London was the East Saxons' capital).<ref name=Brooks11>Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' pp. 11–13a</ref> The city was a logical choice for a new bishopric, as it was a hub for the southern road network. It was also a former Roman town; many of the Gregorian mission's efforts were centred in such locations. Before his consecration, Mellitus baptised Sæberht, Æthelberht's nephew, who then allowed the bishopric to be established. The episcopal church built in London was probably founded by Æthelberht, rather than Sæberht. Although Bede records that Æthelberht gave lands to support the new episcopate, a charter that claims to be a grant of lands from Æthelberht to Mellitus is a later forgery.<ref name=DNB/>

Although Gregory had intended London to be the southern archbishopric for the island, Augustine never moved his [[episcopal see]] to London, and instead consecrated Mellitus as a plain bishop there.{{efn|Although the historian S. Brechter argued that Augustine did in fact move the archbishopric to London, and that Mellitus was his successor there instead of Laurence, this has been shown to be unlikely.<ref name=Hadrill39>Wallace-Hadrill ''Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' p. 39</ref>}} After Augustine's death in 604, Canterbury continued to be the site of the southern archbishopric, and London remained a bishopric. It may have been that the Kentish king did not wish greater episcopal authority to be exercised outside his own kingdom.<ref name=DNB/>

Mellitus attended a council of bishops held in Italy in February 610, convened by Pope [[Pope Boniface IV|Boniface IV]].<ref name=DNB/> The historian N. J. Higham speculates that one reason for his attendance may have been to assert the English Church's independence from the Frankish Church.<ref name=Convert115>Higham ''Convert Kings'' p. 115</ref> Boniface had Mellitus take two papal letters back to England, one to Æthelbert and his people, and another to [[Laurence of Canterbury|Laurence]], the Archbishop of Canterbury.<ref name=Brooks13>Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' p. 13</ref> He also brought back the synod's decrees to England.<ref name=Blair86>Blair ''World of Bede'' pp. 86–87</ref> No authentic letters or documents from this synod remain, although some were forged in the 1060s and 1070s at Canterbury.<ref name=DNB/> During his time as a bishop, Mellitus joined with [[Justus]], the Bishop of Rochester, in signing a letter that Laurence wrote to the Celtic bishops urging the [[Celtic Christianity|Celtic Church]] to adopt the Roman method of calculating the [[Easter controversy|date of Easter]]. This letter also mentioned the fact that Irish missionary bishops, such as [[Dagan (bishop)|Dagan]], refused to eat with the Roman missionaries.<ref name=ASE112>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 112</ref>

Both Æthelberht and Sæberht died around 616 or 618, causing a crisis for the mission.<ref name=DNB/> Sæberht's three sons had not converted to Christianity, and drove Mellitus from London.<ref name=Hindley36>Hindley ''Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons'' p. 36</ref> Bede says that Mellitus was exiled because he refused the brothers' request for a taste of the [[Eucharist (Catholic Church)|sacramental bread]].<ref name=DNB/>{{efn|The historian James Campbell speculates that the brothers may have wanted a taste either because they thought it was magical or because the bread was white, which was rare at the time.<ref name=Campbell77>Campbell "Observations on the Conversion of England" ''Essays in Anglo-Saxon History'' pp. 77–78</ref>}} Whether this occurred immediately after Sæberht's death or later is impossible to determine from Bede's chronology, which has both events in the same chapter but gives neither an exact time frame nor the elapsed time between the two events.<ref name=Convert137>Higham ''Convert Kings'' p. 137</ref> The historian N. J. Higham connects the timing of this episode with a change in the "overkingship" from the Christian Kentish Æthelberht to the pagan East Anglian [[Raedwald]], which Higham feels happened after Æthelberht's death. In Higham's view, Sæberht's sons drove Mellitus from London because they had passed from Kentish overlordship to East Anglian, and thus no longer needed to keep Mellitus, who was connected with the Kentish kingdom, in office.<ref name=Empire202>Higham ''English Empire'' pp. 202–203</ref>

Mellitus fled first to Canterbury, but Æthelberht's successor [[Eadbald of Kent|Eadbald]] was also a pagan, so Mellitus, accompanied by Justus, took refuge in Gaul.<ref name=DNB/> Mellitus was recalled to Britain by Laurence, the second Archbishop of Canterbury, after his conversion of Eadbald.<ref name=ASE/> How long Mellitus's exile lasted is unclear. Bede claims it was a year, but it may have been longer.<ref name=Convert137/> Mellitus did not return to London,<ref name=ASE>Lapidge "Mellitus" ''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England''</ref> because the East Saxons remained pagan.<ref name=DNB/> Although Mellitus fled, there does not seem to have been any serious persecution of Christians in the East Saxon kingdom.<ref name=Convert135>Higham ''Convert Kings'' pp. 135–136</ref> The East Saxon see was not occupied again until [[Cedd]] was consecrated as bishop in about 654.<ref name=Convert234>Higham ''Convert Kings'' pp. 234–237</ref>

==Archbishop and death==
Mellitus succeeded Laurence as the third Archbishop of Canterbury after the latter's death in 619.<ref name=Handbook213>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 213</ref> During his tenure as archbishop, Mellitus supposedly performed a miracle in 623 by diverting a fire that had started in [[Canterbury]] and threatened the church. He was carried into the flames, upon which the wind changed direction, thus saving the building.<ref name=Brooks30>Brooks ''Early History of the Church of Canterbury'' p. 30</ref> Bede praised Mellitus's sane mind, but other than the miracle, little happened during his time as archbishop.<ref name=Hindley43>Hindley ''Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons'' p. 43</ref> Bede also mentioned that Mellitus suffered from [[gout]].<ref name=Blair86/> Boniface wrote to Mellitus encouraging him in the mission, perhaps prompted by the marriage of [[Æthelburh of Kent]] to King [[Edwin of Northumbria]]. Whether Mellitus received a [[pallium]], the symbol of an archbishop's authority, from the pope is unknown.<ref name=DNB/>
[[File:Staugustinescanterburygravemellitus.jpg|thumb|upright=1.23|Stone marking the site of Mellitus's grave in [[St Augustine's Abbey]], [[Canterbury]]]]
Mellitus died on 24 April 624,<ref name=Handbook213/> and was buried at [[St Augustine's Abbey]] in Canterbury that same day.<ref name=DNB/> He became revered as a saint after his death, and was allotted the feast day of&nbsp;24 April.<ref name=Walsh420>Walsh ''New Dictionary of Saints'' p. 420</ref> In the ninth century, Mellitus's feast day was mentioned in the [[Stowe Missal]], along with Laurence and Justus.<ref name=ODS366>Farmer ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' p. 366</ref> He was still venerated at St Augustine's in 1120, along with a number of other local saints.<ref name=Father>Hayward "Absent Father" ''Journal of Medieval History'' p. 217 footnote 72</ref> There was also a shrine to him at [[Old St Paul's Cathedral]] in London.<ref name=Shrines36>Nilson ''Cathedral Shrines of Medieval England'' p. 36</ref> Shortly after the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman Conquest]], [[Goscelin]] wrote a life of Mellitus, the first of several to appear around that time, but none contain any information not included in Bede's earlier works. These later medieval lives do, however, reveal that during Goscelin's lifetime persons suffering from gout were urged to pray at Mellitus's tomb.<ref name=DNB/> Goscelin records that Mellitus's shrine flanked that of Augustine, along with Laurence, in the eastern central chapel of the [[Presbytery (architecture)|presbytery]].<ref name=Gem8>Gem "Significance of the 11th-century Rebuilding" ''Medieval Art and Architecture at Canterbury'' p. 8</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of members of the Gregorian mission]]

==Notes==
{{notelist|60em}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist|40em}}

==References==
{{refbegin|60em}}
* {{cite book |author=Bede |title=A History of the English Church and People |author-link=Bede |translator=[[Leo Sherley-Price]] |publisher=Penguin Classics |location=New York |year=1988 |isbn=0-14-044042-9 }}
* {{cite book |author=Blair, Peter Hunter |title=The World of Bede |author-link=Peter Hunter Blair |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1990 |edition=Reprint |orig-year=1970 |isbn=0-521-39819-3 }}
* {{cite book |author=Brooks, Nicholas |title=The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066 |author-link=Nicholas Brooks (historian) |publisher=Leicester University Press |location=London |year=1984 |isbn=0-7185-0041-5 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Brooks, N. P. |title=Mellitus (d. 624) |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/18531 |edition=October 2005 revised |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/18531 |url-access=subscription }} {{ODNBsub}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Campbell, James |title=Observations on the Conversion of England |encyclopedia=Essays in Anglo-Saxon History |year=1986 |publisher=Hambledon Press |location=London |isbn=0-907628-32-X |pages=69–84 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Church, S. D. |title=Paganism in Conversion-age Anglo-Saxon England: The Evidence of Bede's ''Ecclesiastical History'' Reconsidered |journal=[[History (The Journal of the Historical Association)|History]] |volume=93 |issue=310 |pages=162–180 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-229X.2008.00420.x |date=April 2008 |s2cid=159496086 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Colgrave, Bertram |title=Introduction |author-link=Bertram Colgrave |editor=Colgrave, Bertram |encyclopedia=The Earliest Life of Gregory the Great |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |edition=Paperback reissue |orig-year=1968 |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-31384-1 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Demacopoulos, George |title=Gregory the Great and the Pagan Shrines of Kent |journal=[[Journal of Late Antiquity]] |date=Fall 2008 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=353–369 |doi=10.1353/jla.0.0018 |s2cid=162301915 }}
* {{cite book |author=Farmer, David Hugh |title=Oxford Dictionary of Saints |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |edition=Fifth |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-0-19-860949-0 }}
* {{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology |edition=Third revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Gem, Richard |title=The Significance of the 11th-century Rebuilding of Christ Church and St Augustine's, Canterbury, in the Development of Romanesque Architecture |encyclopedia=Medieval Art and Architecture at Canterbury Before 1220 |series=British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions |volume=V |publisher=Kent Archaeological Society |year=1982 |isbn=0-907307-05-1 |pages=1–19 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Hayward, Paul Antony |title=An Absent Father: Eadmer, Goscelin and the Cult of St Peter, the First Abbot of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury |journal=[[Journal of Medieval History]] |volume=29 |year=2003 |pages=201–218 |doi=10.1016/S0304-4181(03)00030-7 |issue=3 |s2cid=159827773 }}
* {{cite book |author=Higham, N. J. |title=The Convert Kings: Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=N. J. Higham |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester, UK |year=1997 |isbn=0-7190-4827-3 }}
* {{cite book |author=Higham, N. J. |title=An English Empire: Bede and the Early Anglo-Saxon Kings |author-link=N. J. Higham |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester, UK |year=1995 |isbn=0-7190-4423-5 }}
* {{cite book |author=Hindley, Geoffrey |title=A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The Beginnings of the English Nation |year=2006 |publisher=Carroll & Graf Publishers |location=New York |isbn=978-0-7867-1738-5 }}
* {{cite book |author1=Holford-Strevens, Leofranc |author2=Blackburn, Bonnie J. |title=The Oxford Book of Days |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=2000 |isbn=0-19-866260-2 }}
* {{cite book |author=Lapidge, Michael |title=The Anglo-Saxon Library |author-link=Michael Lapidge |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=2006 |isbn=0-19-926722-7 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Lapidge, Michael |title=Mellitus |author-link=Michael Lapidge |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England |editor1=Lapidge, Michael |editor1-link=Michael Lapidge |editor2=Blair, John |editor2-link=John Blair (historian) |editor3=Keynes, Simon |editor-link3=Simon Keynes |editor4=Scragg, Donald |year=2001 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA |pages=305–306 |isbn=978-0-631-22492-1 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia |author=Markus, R. A. |title=Gregory the Great and a Papal Missionary Strategy |encyclopedia=Studies in Church History 6: The Mission of the Church and the Propagation of the Faith |year=1970 |location=Cambridge, UK |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=29–38 |oclc=94815 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Markus, R. A. |title=Gregory the Great's Europe |journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society |series=Fifth Series |volume=31 |year=1981 |pages=21–36 |doi=10.2307/3679043 |jstor=3679043 |s2cid=162807003 }}
* {{cite book |author=Mayr-Harting, Henry |title=The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=Henry Mayr-Harting |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |location=University Park, PA |year=1991 |isbn=0-271-00769-9 }}
* {{cite book |author=Nilson, Ben |title=Cathedral Shrines of Medieval England |publisher=Boydell Press |year=1998 |location=Woodbridge, UK |isbn=0-85115-540-5 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Spiegel, Flora |title=The 'tabernacula' of Gregory the Great and the Conversion of Anglo-Saxon England |journal=Anglo-Saxon England |doi=10.1017/S0263675107000014 |pages=1–13 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |year=2007 |volume=36 |s2cid=162057678 }}
* {{cite book |author=Stenton, F. M. |title=Anglo-Saxon England |author-link=Frank Stenton |year=1971 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |edition=Third |isbn=978-0-19-280139-5 }}
* {{cite book |author=Wallace-Hadrill, J. M. |title=Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People: A Historical Commentary |author-link=J. M. Wallace-Hadrill |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford, UK |year=1988 |series=Oxford Medieval Texts |isbn=0-19-822269-6 }}
* {{cite book |author=Walsh, Michael J. |title=A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West |year=2007 |publisher=Burns & Oats |location=London |isbn=978-0-86012-438-2 }}
* {{cite journal |author=Wood, Ian |title=The Mission of Augustine of Canterbury to the English |author-link=Ian N. Wood |journal=[[Speculum (journal)|Speculum]] |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=1–17 |date=January 1994 |doi=10.2307/2864782 |jstor=2864782 |s2cid=161652367 }}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==

*{{Cite book |last=Lapidge |first=Michael |title=The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England |date=2014 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-31606-1 |editor-last=Lapidge |editor-first=Michael |edition=2nd |location=Chichester, West Sussex, UK Malden, MA |chapter=Mellitius |editor-last2=Blair |editor-first2=John |editor-last3=Keynes |editor-first3=Simon |editor-last4=Scragg |editor-first4=Donald}}
*{{Cite journal |last=Shaw |first=Richard |date=2016 |title=When Did Augustine of Canterbury Die? |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022046915003395/type/journal_article |journal=The Journal of Ecclesiastical History |language=en |volume=67 |issue=3 |pages=473–491 |doi=10.1017/S0022046915003395 |issn=0022-0469}}

==External links==
* {{PASE|10033|Mellitus 1}}&nbsp;– a listing of known mentions of Mellitus in contemporary and near contemporary literature.  Contains some forged charters.
* [http://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Epistola_ad_Mellitum ''Epistola ad Mellitum'' on Wikisource]&nbsp;– complete [[Latin]] text of the letter to Mellitus from Pope Gregory I.
* [http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1913&chapter=112691&layout=html&Itemid=27 ''Epistola ad Mellitum'' English translation] at libertyfund.org

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel| [[Christianity|Christian]] titles }}
{{s-bef | before=[[Theonus]]}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Bishop of London]]| years=604–619}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Cedd]] }}
{{s-bef | before=[[Laurence of Canterbury|Laurence]] }}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Archbishop of Canterbury]]| years=619–624}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Justus]] }}
{{s-end}}

{{Bishops of London}}
{{Archbishops of Canterbury}}
{{Gregorian mission}}
{{Anglo-Saxon saints}}

{{subject bar|portal1=England|portal2=Middle Ages|portal3=Christianity |portal4=Biography|portal5=Saints |s=y}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mellitus}}

[[Category:6th-century births]]

[[Category:624 deaths]]

[[Category:Archbishops of Canterbury]]
[[Category:Italian saints]]
[[Category:Kentish saints]]
[[Category:7th-century archbishops]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Gregorian mission]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Bishops of London]]
[[Category:7th-century English clergy]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian clergy]]
[[Category:Anglican saints]]