Cuthbert was the 11th Archbishop of Canterbury, from 740 to 760. He is to be distinguished from his seventh-century namesake who was Bishop of Lindisfarne.
Cuthbert’s background is obscure, though historians credit him with noble origins. He may have become Abbot of Liminge in Kent; he may have been Bishop of Hereford.
He probably owed his selection for Canterbury to Aethelbald, King of Mercia from 716 to 757 and the most powerful figure in England.
In 746 St Boniface, the English apostle to Germany, wrote to Aethelbald complaining of the lax condition of the English Church.
