Pope Formosus
Plegmund was selected for the see of Canterbury in 890 by King Alfred. His election to the Archbishopric of Canterbury is recorded in Manuscript E of the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle": "Here Archbishop Plegmund was elected by God and all the people." Fulk, Archbishop of Reims, praised the election of Plegmund, stating that he would help root out the last remnants of paganism in the people. However, there was a gap in time between the death of the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, Ethelred, and the consecration of Plegmund; this may have been because the see had been offered to Grimbald, a Flemish monk and scholar, who refused it. Plegmund was granted his pallium by Pope Formosus.