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Died 705. In 676, Saint Hedda, an Anglo-Saxon monk and abbot, probably of Whitby where he had been educated, was consecrated bishop of the divided diocese of Wessex by Saint Theodore. He moved his see from Dorchester, near Oxford, to Winchester, corresponding to the emergence of Southampton-based Saxons as more powerful than the settlers of the Thames Valley. He was a great benefactor of Malmesbury and King Ina's chief advisor, who acknowledged Hedda's help in framing his laws.

Hedda ruled the diocese for about 30 years, spanning the reigns of King Centwine, Saint Caedwalla, and Ina. Little, however, is known of his episcopate except that he translated the relics of his predecessor, Saint Birinus, and was highly esteemed by his contemporaries. Saint Bede said that he was a good and just man, who in carrying out his duties was guided rather by an inborn love of virtue than by what he had read in books.

There were many cures at his tomb; others occurred when dust taken from it was mixed with water. Hedda's relics can still be found in Winchester Cathedral. His name was added to the Roman Martyrology by Baronius in the 16th century, although his feast was already kept at Crowland Abbey and in the monasteries of Wessex (Attwater, Benedictines, Farmer).

He may be shown in art ordaining Saint Guthlac of Croyland (Crowland) (Roeder).


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