Date of birth unknown; died 810 or 812. He received his education in the famous School of York where he was Alcuin's pupil. On the death of Eanbald I he was chosen his successor. On 8 September, 797, having received the pallium from Rome, he was solemnly confirmed in the archbishopric.

He assisted Ethelhard, Archbishop of Canterbury, to recover the prerogatives of which he had been despoiled by Offa. In 798 he assembled his clergy in synod at Pinchenheale (Finchale, near Durham) and there enacted a number of wise regulations relating to the ecclesiastical courts and the observance of Easter. Some think he was the author of a volume of decrees and that he was the first to introduce the Roman Ritual in the church of York.