Twiketal of Croyland

Twiketal of Croyland

(THURCYTEL, TURKETUL).

Died July, 975. He was a cleric of royal descent, who is said to have acted as chancellor to Kings Athelstan (d. 940), Edmund (d. 946), and Edred (d. 955), but as this statement rests on the authority of the pseudo-Ingulf, it must be received with caution. Leaving the world in 946 he became a monk of Croyland Abbey, which had been devastated by the Danes and lay in a ruinous and destitute state. He endowed it with six of his own manors, and, being elected abbot, restored the house to a flourishing condition. He was a friend both of St. Dunstan and St. Ethelwold of Winchester, and like them a reformer. The real authority for his life is Ordericus Vitalis; for no reliance can be placed on the long and fictitious account in the fourteenth-century forgery which is published under the name of Ingulf of Croyland (q.v.).

EDWIN BURTON