Some researchers believe that these texts refer to Bishop Ædiluald/Æthelwold (721-740 CE) of Lindisfarne in Northumbria, while others have suggested that the name refers to Bishop Ædeluald (818-830 CE) of Lichfield in Mercia.
A further style of textile is a vestment illustrated in a miniature portrait of Saint Aethelwold in his Benedictional, which shows the edge of what appears to be a huge acanthus "flower" (a term used in several documentary records) covering the wearer's back and shoulders.
Æthelwold of Winchester | Benedictional of St. Æthelwold | Æthelwold of East Anglia | Æthelwold |
The Liber Eliensis specifies that the meeting of King Edgar at which Bishop Æthelwold bought land at Gransden, was attended by Ælfhere, Æthelwine and Ælfric Cild.
His father, Manne, had owned land at Chatteris and Wold, both on Ely, while the Libellus Æthelwoldi Episcopi ("Little Book of Bishop Æthelwold") associated a priest named Manne with land at Haddenham, a place only a few miles distant.
In 973 Æthelwold placed Godeman in the new foundation at Thorney, either as Æthelwold's representative with Æthelwold being the nominal abbot, or as abbot in his own right.