Eskil of Lund
ESKIL OF LUND
Archbishop; b. 1100; d. Clairvaux, Sept. 6, 1181. He was the son of high Jutish nobility, and was educated in the cathedral school of Hildesheim (Germany). In 1134, Eskil became bishop of Roskilde (Denmark); in 1138 he succeeded his uncle in the See of lund; and in 1156 was created primate of Sweden and papal legate for all Scandinavia. He freed his archdiocese from German influence, promoted the gregorian reform, converted the pagan Wends, supported alexander iii against frederick i barbarossa, and promoted the settlement of monastic orders, particularly those of the cistercians and premonstratensians. For his courageous stand on all these issues, Eskil suffered imprisonment, was forced into exile (1161–67), and, in 1177, retired for the last years of his life to Clairvaux, where he was venerated as a saint.
Bibliography: h. koch, Danmarks kirke i den begyndende Hojmiddelalder, 2 v. (Copenhagen 1936) 1:81–121. w. w. williams, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (Westminster, Md. 1952) 88–89. bernard of clairvaux, The Letters of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, tr. b. s. james (Chicago 1953) 493–494. a. otto, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche 2 3:1104.
[l. j. lekai]