Page "Athelm" Paragraph 2

Athelm was related to Dunstan, some sources say an uncle of Dunstan's.

He was a monk of Glastonbury Abbey and possibly Abbot of Glastonbury before his elevation in 909 to the see of Wells, of which he was the first occupant.

Between August 923 and September 925 he became archbishop.

His translation from the see of Wells set a precedent for the future, and marks a break with historical practice.

Previously the moving of a bishop from one see to another had been held to be against canon, or ecclesiastical, law.

Recently, however, the popes had themselves been translated, and this practice was to become common in England after Athelm's time.