 The vacancy may also have occurred because Wilfrid , who was at that point having problems in Northumbria , desired to become Archbishop of Canterbury . A contemporary biographer of Wilfrid , Stephen of <unk> , says that Theodore had wished for Wilfrid to succeed Theodore at Canterbury . Æthelred of <unk> may have supported Wilfrid 's translation to Canterbury also , but despite these desires , the translation did not happen . Berhtwald was consecrated on 29 June <unk> , having travelled to France for his consecration as archbishop of Canterbury by <unk> , Archbishop of Lyon . Berhtwald went to the continent for consecration probably because he feared that his election was not supported by all of the kings and bishops . After his consecration , Berhtwald travelled to Rome to obtain the support of Pope Sergius I , who wrote to a number of Anglo @-@ Saxon kings and bishops in support of the archbishop . Two of these letters survive , and their authenticity has been doubted , mainly because they are only preserved as part of the post @-@ Norman Conquest Canterbury @-@ York dispute . Historians have since come to regard the two letters as genuine . Sergius also gave Berhtwald a pallium , the symbol of an archbishop 's authority . 
