ECGBERT or ECGBERHT (d. 766), archbishop of York, was made bishop of that see in 732 by his cousin Ceolwulf, king of Northumbria, succeeding Wilfrid II. on the latter's resignation. The pall was sent him in 735 and he became the first northern archbishop after Paulinus, none of his predecessors having re ceived the vestment. He was the brother of Eadberht, who ruled Northumbria 737-758. He was the recipient of the famous letter of Bede, dealing with the evils arising from the corrupt state of the monasteries. Ecgbert himself wrote a Dialogus Ecclesiasticae Institutionis, a Penitentiale and a Pontificale. He was a corre spondent of St. Boniface. His brother Eadberht succeeded to the throne of Northumbria in 738, and Ecgbert, whose power was certainly increased by this relationship, used his authority wisely for the welfare of his see. He gave generously to the churches of his diocese, and, in particular, founded the Cathedral School of York. He died on Nov. 19, 766.
See Bede, Continuatio, sub. ann. 735, 766, and Epistola ad Ecg berctum (ed. Plummer, 1896) ; Chronicle, sub. ann. 734, 735, 738, 766 (ed. Earle and Plummer, 1899) ; Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents , iii. Proceedings of Sur tees Society (Durham, 1853).