Edmund the Martyr
Encyclopedia
St Edmund the Martyr (died 20 November 869 or 870) was a king of East Anglia, an Anglo-Saxon
kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk
, Suffolk
and Cambridgeshire
.D'Evelyn, Charlotte, and Mill, Anna J., (Eds.), 1956. Reprinted 1967. The South English Legendary: Edited from Corpus Christi College Cambridge MS 145 and British Museum MS Harley 2277. Published for the Early English Text Society by Oxford University Press. Saint Kenelm, from Corpus Christi College Cambridge MS 145, p 281: 'The king ek of Estlond, king was of North Folk, in the bissopriche of Northwich, and also of South Folk, in the bissopriche of Eoly, that the ile of Eoli is, and of Grante Brugge ssire [Cambridgeshire], that thereto [fell] iwis, of this lond was seint Edmond kyng bi olde dawe...' Contemporary evidence for King Edmund's existence is largely confined to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
and his coinage. In the late 10th century, Abbo of Fleury
was commissioned to write a life of the saint and became Edmund's earliest biographer. Written in 985, the work was translated into Old English by Ælfric of Eynsham
. According to Abbo, Edmund was captured and tortured by the Danish Great Heathen Army
and died the death of a Christian martyr
.
Edmund is venerated as a saint and a martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Church
, the Roman Catholic Church
and the Anglican Communion
. It is said that his body was ultimately interred at Beadoriceworth (modern Bury St Edmunds), where pilgrims
were encouraged to visit his shrine
. By the 12th century, the church had been enlarged. His popularity with the Anglo-Norman
nobility helped justify their claims of continuity with pre-Norman traditions: a banner of his arms was carried at the Battle of Agincourt
in 1415.
of whom almost nothing is known. The earliest authority for him is Abbo of Fleury
, who wrote Passio Santi Eadmundi for the monks of Ramsay
in the 980s. Abbo stated that Edmund came "ex antiquorum Saxonum nobili prosapia oriundus". This has confused later translators into thinking that he was of continental Old Saxon
origin, but according to the historian Steven Plunkett, Edmund was East Anglian, a country settled by Saxons.
Edmund's fictitious continental origins were later expanded into legends which spoke of his parentage, his birth at Nuremberg
, his adoption by Offa of Mercia
, his nomination as successor to the king and his landing at Hunstanton
on the North Norfolk coast to claim his kingdom.
De Infantia Sancti Edmundi, a fictitious 12th century hagiography
of Edmund's early life by Geoffrey of Wells
, represented him as the youngest son of 'Alcmund', a Saxon
king of Germanic descent. 'Alcmund' is a semi-historical figure who may never have existed.
Other accounts state that his father was the king he succeeded, Æthelweard of East Anglia
, who died in 854, apparently when Edmund was a boy of thirteen.
(Bishop Humbert of Elmham) on 25 December 855 at a location known as Burna (probably Bures St. Mary
in Suffolk
) which at that time functioned as the royal capital.
Later versions of his life recorded that he was a model king who treated all his subjects with equal justice and who was unbending to flatterers. It was also written that he withdrew for a year to his royal tower at Hunstanton and learned the whole Psalter
, so that he could recite it from memory.
In the year 869,The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
reports the following details and the defeat and death of Edmund under the year 869. the Danes who had wintered at York
, marched through Mercia
into East Anglia and took up their quarters at Thetford. Edmund engaged them fiercely in battle, but the Danes under their leaders Ubbe Ragnarsson
and Ivar the Boneless
had the victory, killed King Edmund, and remained in possession of the battlefield. The conquerors may have simply killed the king in battle, or shortly after. The more popular version of the story, which makes Edmund die as a martyr to Danish arrows when he had refused to renounce Christ or hold his kingdom as a vassal from heathen overlords, dates from comparatively soon after the event. It is not known which account is correct.
According to Abbo of Fleury
, Edmund's earliest biographer, the story came to Abbo by way of St Dunstan
, who heard it from the lips of Edmund's own sword-bearer. Given accepted birth and death days, this is just chronologically possible. In Abbo of Fleury's alternative version of events, Edmund refused to meet the Danes in battle himself, preferring to die a martyr's death, with conscious parallels to the Passion of Christ:
The traditional date of his death, quoted by most reference works, is 870. However recent research has led to the claim that he actually died in 869, and this date is now accepted as fact in most new histories.
This uncertainty arose because the compilers of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
dated the start of the year from September, so an event that took place in November 869 according to the modern calendar would be considered by them to take place in 870. The Great Heathen Army
conquered the Kingdom of Northumbria in 866. They then invaded Wessex
, the English kingdom
whose history from that time is best documented, in December 870. The uncertainty raises the question of whether they did so within a few weeks of killing Edmund, or whether they spent a year pillaging and consolidating their position in East Anglia.
One possible location for the battle is at Hoxne
near Eye
in Suffolk
, some 20 miles east of Thetford.
Local legend has is that, after being routed in battle against the Danes, King Edmund of East Anglia hid under the Goldbrook bridge. The reflection of his golden spurs glinting in the water revealed his hiding place to a newly wed couple. They gave away his position to the Danes who promptly captured Edmund and demanded he renounce his faith. He refused and was tied to a nearby oak tree. After whipping him, the Danes shot spears at him until he was entirely covered with their missiles - like the bristles of a hedgehog. Even then he would not forsake Christ and so was beheaded and the head was thrown into the woods.
Another candidate is in Dernford, Cambridgeshire
, while Bradfield St Clare, near Bury St Edmunds is also a possible site for the martyrdom.
(924–939). Edmund's popularity among the English nobility was lasting. It is known that his banner was borne in the Irish expedition of the Anglo-Norman
s and also when Caerlaverock Castle
was taken in 1300. A banner with Edmund's crest was also carried at the Battle of Agincourt
.
Churches dedicated to his memory are found all over England, including Christopher Wren
's St Edmund the King and Martyr
in London
. There are also a number of colleges named after St Edmund
. His shrine at Bury St Edmunds was destroyed in 1539, during the English Reformation
.A painting, The Martyrdom of St Edmund by Brian Whelan hangs in the Lady Chapel of St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds. He is commemorated with a statue niche 195
on the west front of Salisbury Cathedral
. His feast day in the Orthodox, Roman and Anglican traditions is 20 November.
Abbo of Fleury's vita
continues the narration of Edmund's decapitation without a break. His severed head
was thrown into the wood. Day and night as Edmund's followers went seeking, calling out "Where are you, friend?" the head would answer, "Here, here, here," until at last, "a great wonder", they found Edmund's head in the possession of a grey wolf, clasped between its paws. "They were astonished at the wolf's guardianship".Edmund was the last of the Wuffinga line. The wolf, sent by God to protect the head from the animals of the forest, was starving but did not eat the head for all the days it was lost. After recovering the head, the villagers marched back to the kingdom, praising God and the wolf that served him. The wolf walked beside them as if tame all the way to the town, after which it turned around and vanished into the forest. This story is told also in the South English Legendary, a collection of saints' lives in Middle English, compiled in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
After giving the head and body a speedy burial, the kingdom rebuilt itself for several years before finally erecting a church worthy of Edmund's burial. Legend told that upon exhumation of the body, a miracle was discovered. All the arrow wounds upon Edmund's corpse were healed and his head reattached to his body. The only evidence of his previous decapitation was a thin, red line around his neck. Despite being buried for many years in a flimsy coffin, his skin was soft and fresh as if he were merely sleeping the entire time. These details induced the writers of the British Museum's account of the bog body
called Lindow Man
to suggest that the body of St Edmund recovered in the fen
s "was in fact a prehistoric bog body, and that in trying to find their murdered king, his people had recovered the remains of a sacred king of the old religion still bearing the marks of his ritual strangulation."
_of_edmund_the_martyr.jpg)
of numerous groups of people, places, kings and other causes, including:
's The Little Lives of the Saints, we are told of Edmund's posthumous revenge on the Danes:
Sweyn's
son, King Canute
, converted to Christianity and rebuilt the abbey at Bury St Edmunds. In 1020, he made a pilgrimage there and offered his own crown upon the shrine as atonement for the sins of his forefathers.
's book The Last Kingdom
, Edmund talks himself into martyrdom when he tries to persuade the Vikings, led by Ivar the Boneless, to be baptised. Ivar invokes the powers of Thor
and Wodan, but Edmund and his bishops try to convince the Danes of the greatness of God by citing the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. The Danes then amuse themselves by recreating Sebastian's death, shooting arrows against Edmund, to see if a miracle
would happen and God would protect the king from their arrows.
An account of Edmund shortly before his death and his martyrdom appears in The Namesake, a juvenile historical novel by C. Walter Hodges
.
and the East Anglian Daily Times
saw the failure of their campaign to get St Edmund named as the patron saint of England. Edward III
replaced Edmund as a national saint by associating Saint George
with the Order of the Garter
. The Bury St Edmunds MP
David Ruffley
had taken up the cause and helped deliver a large petition to the government in London
. BBC Radio Suffolk also called for a change of the English flag
from the Cross of St George
(Argent, a cross Gules or a red cross on a white field) to the new Flag of Suffolk
. This consists of three gold crowns on a field of blue (Azure, three crowns Or). This is a heraldic banner introduced during the Norman period. Prime Minister
Tony Blair
rejected the request, however their attempt was successful on another level:
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
and Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
.D'Evelyn, Charlotte, and Mill, Anna J., (Eds.), 1956. Reprinted 1967. The South English Legendary: Edited from Corpus Christi College Cambridge MS 145 and British Museum MS Harley 2277. Published for the Early English Text Society by Oxford University Press. Saint Kenelm, from Corpus Christi College Cambridge MS 145, p 281: 'The king ek of Estlond, king was of North Folk, in the bissopriche of Northwich, and also of South Folk, in the bissopriche of Eoly, that the ile of Eoli is, and of Grante Brugge ssire [Cambridgeshire], that thereto [fell] iwis, of this lond was seint Edmond kyng bi olde dawe...' Contemporary evidence for King Edmund's existence is largely confined to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
and his coinage. In the late 10th century, Abbo of Fleury
Abbo of Fleury
Abbo of Fleury , also known as Abbon or Saint Abbo was a monk, and later abbot, of the Benedictine monastery of Fleury sur Loire near Orléans, France....
was commissioned to write a life of the saint and became Edmund's earliest biographer. Written in 985, the work was translated into Old English by Ælfric of Eynsham
Ælfric of Eynsham
Ælfric of Eynsham was an English abbot, as well as a consummate, prolific writer in Old English of hagiography, homilies, biblical commentaries, and other genres. He is also known variously as Ælfric the Grammarian , Ælfric of Cerne, and Ælfric the Homilist...
. According to Abbo, Edmund was captured and tortured by the Danish Great Heathen Army
Great Heathen Army
The Great Heathen Army, also known as the Great Army or the Great Danish Army, was a Viking army originating in Denmark which pillaged and conquered much of England in the late 9th century...
and died the death of a Christian martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
.
Edmund is venerated as a saint and a martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
, the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
. It is said that his body was ultimately interred at Beadoriceworth (modern Bury St Edmunds), where pilgrims
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
were encouraged to visit his shrine
Shrine
A shrine is a holy or sacred place, which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated....
. By the 12th century, the church had been enlarged. His popularity with the Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
nobility helped justify their claims of continuity with pre-Norman traditions: a banner of his arms was carried at the Battle of Agincourt
Battle of Agincourt
The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 , near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France...
in 1415.
Origins
Edmund was a king of East Anglia,of whom almost nothing is known. The earliest authority for him is Abbo of Fleury
Abbo of Fleury
Abbo of Fleury , also known as Abbon or Saint Abbo was a monk, and later abbot, of the Benedictine monastery of Fleury sur Loire near Orléans, France....
, who wrote Passio Santi Eadmundi for the monks of Ramsay
Ramsey Abbey
Ramsey Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey located in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, England, southeast of Peterborough and north of Huntingdon, UK.-History:...
in the 980s. Abbo stated that Edmund came "ex antiquorum Saxonum nobili prosapia oriundus". This has confused later translators into thinking that he was of continental Old Saxon
Old Saxon
Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, is the earliest recorded form of Low German, documented from the 8th century until the 12th century, when it evolved into Middle Low German. It was spoken on the north-west coast of Germany and in the Netherlands by Saxon peoples...
origin, but according to the historian Steven Plunkett, Edmund was East Anglian, a country settled by Saxons.
Edmund's fictitious continental origins were later expanded into legends which spoke of his parentage, his birth at Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
, his adoption by Offa of Mercia
Offa of Mercia
Offa was the King of Mercia from 757 until his death in July 796. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æthelbald after defeating the other claimant Beornred. In the early years of Offa's reign it is likely...
, his nomination as successor to the king and his landing at Hunstanton
Hunstanton
Hunstanton, often pronounced by locals as and known colloquially as 'Sunny Hunny', is a seaside town in Norfolk, England, facing The Wash....
on the North Norfolk coast to claim his kingdom.
De Infantia Sancti Edmundi, a fictitious 12th century hagiography
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
of Edmund's early life by Geoffrey of Wells
Geoffrey of Wells
Geoffrey of Wells was a mid-twelfth-century English hagiographer, doubtless formerly a canon of Wells Cathedral, whose De Infantia Sancti Edmundi , part of the burgeoning library of twelfth-century legendaries concerning Saint Edmund accounted the royal saint's childhood to have been full of...
, represented him as the youngest son of 'Alcmund', a Saxon
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
king of Germanic descent. 'Alcmund' is a semi-historical figure who may never have existed.
Other accounts state that his father was the king he succeeded, Æthelweard of East Anglia
Æthelweard of East Anglia
Æthelweard was a 9th century king of East Anglia, the long-lived Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Little is known of Æthelweard's reign and even his regnal dates are not known for certain...
, who died in 854, apparently when Edmund was a boy of thirteen.
Reign
Edmund was said to have been crowned by St HumbertHumbertus
Humbertus was a medieval Bishop of Elmham.He was consecrated before 824. He was martyred by the Danes, and later venerated as Saint Humbert...
(Bishop Humbert of Elmham) on 25 December 855 at a location known as Burna (probably Bures St. Mary
Bures St. Mary
Bures St Mary is a civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England. In 2005 it had a population of 940.The parish covers the eastern part of the village of Bures, the western part being in the Bures Hamlet parish in Essex....
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
) which at that time functioned as the royal capital.
Later versions of his life recorded that he was a model king who treated all his subjects with equal justice and who was unbending to flatterers. It was also written that he withdrew for a year to his royal tower at Hunstanton and learned the whole Psalter
Psalter
A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the later medieval emergence of the book of hours, psalters were the books most widely owned by wealthy lay persons and were...
, so that he could recite it from memory.
Death
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
reports the following details and the defeat and death of Edmund under the year 869. the Danes who had wintered at York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, marched through Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
into East Anglia and took up their quarters at Thetford. Edmund engaged them fiercely in battle, but the Danes under their leaders Ubbe Ragnarsson
Ubbe Ragnarsson
Ubbe, Ubba or Hubba Ragnarsson was a Norse leader during the Viking Age. Ubbe Ragnarsson was one of the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok and, along with his brothers Halfdan and Ivar the Boneless, a leader of the Great Danish Army....
and Ivar the Boneless
Ivar the Boneless
Ivar Ragnarsson nicknamed the Boneless , was a Viking leader and by reputation also a berserker. By the late 11th century he was known as a son of the powerful Ragnar Lodbrok, ruler of an area probably comprising parts of modern-day Denmark and Sweden.-Invader:In the autumn of AD 865, with his...
had the victory, killed King Edmund, and remained in possession of the battlefield. The conquerors may have simply killed the king in battle, or shortly after. The more popular version of the story, which makes Edmund die as a martyr to Danish arrows when he had refused to renounce Christ or hold his kingdom as a vassal from heathen overlords, dates from comparatively soon after the event. It is not known which account is correct.
According to Abbo of Fleury
Abbo of Fleury
Abbo of Fleury , also known as Abbon or Saint Abbo was a monk, and later abbot, of the Benedictine monastery of Fleury sur Loire near Orléans, France....
, Edmund's earliest biographer, the story came to Abbo by way of St Dunstan
Dunstan
Dunstan was an Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, a Bishop of Worcester, a Bishop of London, and an Archbishop of Canterbury, later canonised as a saint. His work restored monastic life in England and reformed the English Church...
, who heard it from the lips of Edmund's own sword-bearer. Given accepted birth and death days, this is just chronologically possible. In Abbo of Fleury's alternative version of events, Edmund refused to meet the Danes in battle himself, preferring to die a martyr's death, with conscious parallels to the Passion of Christ:
The traditional date of his death, quoted by most reference works, is 870. However recent research has led to the claim that he actually died in 869, and this date is now accepted as fact in most new histories.
This uncertainty arose because the compilers of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
dated the start of the year from September, so an event that took place in November 869 according to the modern calendar would be considered by them to take place in 870. The Great Heathen Army
Great Heathen Army
The Great Heathen Army, also known as the Great Army or the Great Danish Army, was a Viking army originating in Denmark which pillaged and conquered much of England in the late 9th century...
conquered the Kingdom of Northumbria in 866. They then invaded Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
, the English kingdom
Heptarchy
The Heptarchy is a collective name applied to the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of south, east, and central Great Britain during late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, conventionally identified as seven: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Wessex...
whose history from that time is best documented, in December 870. The uncertainty raises the question of whether they did so within a few weeks of killing Edmund, or whether they spent a year pillaging and consolidating their position in East Anglia.
One possible location for the battle is at Hoxne
Hoxne
Hoxne is an anciently established village in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, about five miles east-southeast of Diss, Norfolk and one-half mile south of the River Waveney...
near Eye
Eye, Suffolk
Eye is a small market town in the county of Suffolk, East Anglia, England, south of Diss, and on the River Dove.Eye is twinned with the town of Pouzauges in the Vendée Departement of France.-History:An island...
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, some 20 miles east of Thetford.
Local legend has is that, after being routed in battle against the Danes, King Edmund of East Anglia hid under the Goldbrook bridge. The reflection of his golden spurs glinting in the water revealed his hiding place to a newly wed couple. They gave away his position to the Danes who promptly captured Edmund and demanded he renounce his faith. He refused and was tied to a nearby oak tree. After whipping him, the Danes shot spears at him until he was entirely covered with their missiles - like the bristles of a hedgehog. Even then he would not forsake Christ and so was beheaded and the head was thrown into the woods.
Another candidate is in Dernford, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, while Bradfield St Clare, near Bury St Edmunds is also a possible site for the martyrdom.
Legacy
The king's body was ultimately interred at Beadoriceworth, the modern Bury St Edmunds. The shrine of Edmund soon became one of the most famous and wealthy pilgrimage locations in England and the reputation of the saint became widespread. The date of his canonisation is unknown, although Archdeacon Hermann's Life of Edmund, written in the late 11th century, seems to state that it happened in the reign of AthelstanAthelstan of England
Athelstan , called the Glorious, was the King of England from 924 or 925 to 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder, grandson of Alfred the Great and nephew of Æthelflæd of Mercia...
(924–939). Edmund's popularity among the English nobility was lasting. It is known that his banner was borne in the Irish expedition of the Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
s and also when Caerlaverock Castle
Caerlaverock Castle
Caerlaverock Castle is a moated triangular castle, built in the 13th century, in the Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve area at the Solway Firth, south of Dumfries in the southwest of Scotland. In the Middle Ages it was owned by the Maxwell family. Today, the castle is in the care of Historic...
was taken in 1300. A banner with Edmund's crest was also carried at the Battle of Agincourt
Battle of Agincourt
The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 , near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France...
.
Churches dedicated to his memory are found all over England, including Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
's St Edmund the King and Martyr
St Edmund the King and Martyr
St Edmund, King and Martyr is an Anglican church in Lombard Street, in the City of London dedicated to St Edmund the Martyr.-History:In 1292, the church is first recorded as 'Saint Edmund towards Garcherche', and it reappears in 1348 as 'Saint Edmund in Lombardestrete'...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. There are also a number of colleges named after St Edmund
St. Edmund's College
There are a number of colleges named after Saint Edmund. These include:*St Edmund's College, Cambridge, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge*St Edmund's College, Ware*St Edmund's College, Canberra*St. Edmund's College, Shillong...
. His shrine at Bury St Edmunds was destroyed in 1539, during the English Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
.A painting, The Martyrdom of St Edmund by Brian Whelan hangs in the Lady Chapel of St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds. He is commemorated with a statue niche 195
Table of the Statuary of the West Front of Salisbury Cathedral
This article tabulates the statues to be found on the Great West Front of Salisbury Cathedral, in Salisbury, England. It names all the statues and their dates of installation, sculptors where known and the attributes and identifying features of the statues...
on the west front of Salisbury Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England, considered one of the leading examples of Early English architecture....
. His feast day in the Orthodox, Roman and Anglican traditions is 20 November.
Martyrdom
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
continues the narration of Edmund's decapitation without a break. His severed head
Cephalophore
A cephalophore is a saint who is generally depicted carrying his or her own head; in art, this was usually meant to signify that the subject in question had been martyred by beheading....
was thrown into the wood. Day and night as Edmund's followers went seeking, calling out "Where are you, friend?" the head would answer, "Here, here, here," until at last, "a great wonder", they found Edmund's head in the possession of a grey wolf, clasped between its paws. "They were astonished at the wolf's guardianship".Edmund was the last of the Wuffinga line. The wolf, sent by God to protect the head from the animals of the forest, was starving but did not eat the head for all the days it was lost. After recovering the head, the villagers marched back to the kingdom, praising God and the wolf that served him. The wolf walked beside them as if tame all the way to the town, after which it turned around and vanished into the forest. This story is told also in the South English Legendary, a collection of saints' lives in Middle English, compiled in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
After giving the head and body a speedy burial, the kingdom rebuilt itself for several years before finally erecting a church worthy of Edmund's burial. Legend told that upon exhumation of the body, a miracle was discovered. All the arrow wounds upon Edmund's corpse were healed and his head reattached to his body. The only evidence of his previous decapitation was a thin, red line around his neck. Despite being buried for many years in a flimsy coffin, his skin was soft and fresh as if he were merely sleeping the entire time. These details induced the writers of the British Museum's account of the bog body
Bog body
Bog bodies, which are also known as bog people, are the naturally preserved human corpses found in the sphagnum bogs in Northern Europe. Unlike most ancient human remains, bog bodies have retained their skin and internal organs due to the unusual conditions of the surrounding area...
called Lindow Man
Lindow man
Lindow Man, also known as Lindow II and as Pete Marsh, is the preserved bog body of a man discovered in a peat bog at Lindow Moss near Wilmslow in Cheshire, North West England. The body was found on 1 August 1984 by commercial peat-cutters...
to suggest that the body of St Edmund recovered in the fen
Fen
A fen is a type of wetland fed by mineral-rich surface water or groundwater. Fens are characterised by their water chemistry, which is neutral or alkaline, with relatively high dissolved mineral levels but few other plant nutrients...
s "was in fact a prehistoric bog body, and that in trying to find their murdered king, his people had recovered the remains of a sacred king of the old religion still bearing the marks of his ritual strangulation."
Patronage
Edmund is seen as the patron saintPatron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
of numerous groups of people, places, kings and other causes, including:
- various kings
- pandemics
- tortureTortureTorture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
victims - wolves
- the Roman Catholic diocese of East Anglia
- the English county of SuffolkSuffolkSuffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
- Douai AbbeyDouai AbbeyDouai Abbey is a Benedictine Abbey at Woolhampton, near Thatcham, in the English county of Berkshire, situated within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth. Monks from the monastery of St. Edmund's, in Douai, France, came to Woolhampton in 1903 when the community left France as a result of...
- the French city of ToulouseToulouseToulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
- The Orthodox and Catholic Churches have considered him patron saint of England,
Relics
Until the middle of the 19th century, an old tree stood in Hoxne Park and it was believed that it was the tree on which Edmund had been martyred. In 1849, the old tree fell down and was chopped up. According to the story, in the heart of the tree an arrow head was found. Pieces of the tree were kept and one of them was used to form part of the altar of a church which was dedicated to Edmund.Revenge
In Percy DearmerPercy Dearmer
Percy Dearmer, was an English priest and liturgist best known as the author of The Parson's Handbook, a liturgical manual for Anglican clergy. A lifelong socialist, he was an early advocate of the public ministry of women and concerned with social justice...
's The Little Lives of the Saints, we are told of Edmund's posthumous revenge on the Danes:
- ...the last heathen Danish king, Sweyen (the father of Canute), tried to destroy (Bury St Edmunds). He laid siege to it, and demanded all the treasure of the church, else he threatened to destroy the church and kill all the clergy; and this he said with many taunting words about the saint who lay buried there. But as he was sitting on his war–horse, waiting to attack the town, he saw in the sky St Edmund coming towards him, a crown on his head and a long bright lance in his hand. 'Help, friends!' he cried. 'Edmund is coming to kill me!' Then he fell down, and died in convulsions.
Sweyn's
Sweyn I of Denmark
Sweyn I Forkbeard was king of Denmark and England, as well as parts of Norway. His name appears as Swegen in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and he is also known in English as Svein, Swein, Sven the Dane, and Tuck.He was a Viking leader and the father of Cnut the Great...
son, King Canute
Canute the Great
Cnut the Great , also known as Canute, was a king of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden. Though after the death of his heirs within a decade of his own and the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history, historian Norman F...
, converted to Christianity and rebuilt the abbey at Bury St Edmunds. In 1020, he made a pilgrimage there and offered his own crown upon the shrine as atonement for the sins of his forefathers.
Edmund in fiction
In Bernard CornwellBernard Cornwell
Bernard Cornwell OBE is an English author of historical novels. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe which were adapted into a series of Sharpe television films.-Biography:...
's book The Last Kingdom
The Last Kingdom
The Last Kingdom is the first book in The Saxon Stories series by Bernard Cornwell. The series follows the wars between King Alfred the Great and the Danes or Vikings. The Last Kingdom focuses on Uhtred's upbringing and early adulthood. The book begins when Uhtred marches with his father to war...
, Edmund talks himself into martyrdom when he tries to persuade the Vikings, led by Ivar the Boneless, to be baptised. Ivar invokes the powers of Thor
Thor
In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...
and Wodan, but Edmund and his bishops try to convince the Danes of the greatness of God by citing the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. The Danes then amuse themselves by recreating Sebastian's death, shooting arrows against Edmund, to see if a miracle
Miracle
A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...
would happen and God would protect the king from their arrows.
An account of Edmund shortly before his death and his martyrdom appears in The Namesake, a juvenile historical novel by C. Walter Hodges
C. Walter Hodges
Cyril Walter Hodges, known as C. Walter Hodges , was an English illustrator and author. Born in Beckenham, Kent and educated at Dulwich College and Goldsmiths' College, he spent most of his career as a freelance illustrator....
.
Campaign to restore Edmund as the patron saint of England
In 2006, a group that included BBC Radio SuffolkBBC Radio Suffolk
BBC Radio Suffolk is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Suffolk, commencing broadcasts on 12 April 1990. Its studios are at Broadcasting House in St Matthews Street, Ipswich on 95.5 , 95.9 , 103.9 and 104.6 FM...
and the East Anglian Daily Times
East Anglian Daily Times
The East Anglian Daily Times is a British local newspaper for Suffolk and Essex, based in Ipswich.It started publication on 13 October 1874, incorporating the Ipswich Express, which had been published since 13 August 1839...
saw the failure of their campaign to get St Edmund named as the patron saint of England. Edward III
Edward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
replaced Edmund as a national saint by associating Saint George
Saint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
with the Order of the Garter
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...
. The Bury St Edmunds MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
David Ruffley
David Ruffley
David Laurie Ruffley is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He is the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, which encompasses Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, having been first elected in 1997.A solicitor by profession, Ruffley served as...
had taken up the cause and helped deliver a large petition to the government in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. BBC Radio Suffolk also called for a change of the English flag
Flag of England
The Flag of England is the St George's Cross . The red cross appeared as an emblem of England during the Middle Ages and the Crusades and is one of the earliest known emblems representing England...
from the Cross of St George
St George's Cross
St George's Cross is a red cross on a white background used as a symbolic reference to Saint George. The red cross on white was associated with St George from medieval times....
(Argent, a cross Gules or a red cross on a white field) to the new Flag of Suffolk
Flag of Suffolk
The flag of Suffolk, , is a modern proposal for a county flag for the English county of Suffolk, designed by Bill Bulstrode...
. This consists of three gold crowns on a field of blue (Azure, three crowns Or). This is a heraldic banner introduced during the Norman period. Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
rejected the request, however their attempt was successful on another level:
- St Edmund (was) named patron saint of Suffolk...the high point of a successful campaign which was launched by Breakfast show presenter Mark Murphy and producer Emily Fellows in the autumn of 2006. St Edmund was originally the English patron saint but was ousted by St George.
Other sources
- Whitelock, Dorothy. From Bede to Alfred: Studies in Early Anglo-Saxon Literature and History. London: Variorum Reprints, 1980.
Further reading
- Bale, Anthony, editor. St Edmund, King and Martyr: Changing Images of a Medieval Saint. (Woodbridge, 2009), essays on various aspects of the cult of St Edmund, from the early Middle Ages to the seventeenth century.
- Cavill, Paul. The Vikings.
- Hervey, Francis. Corolla Sancti Eadmundi. London: J. Murray, 1907.
- Gransden, Antonia. Legends, traditions, and history in medieval England, 1992.
- Grant, Judith, editor. La Passiun de Seint Edmund. London: Anglo–Norman Text Society, 1978. ISBN 0-905474-04-X
- Holt Wilson, Tim and Whelan,Brian. King Edmund Saint and Martyr - a casket of wonders. Suffolk: Roseberry Crest, 2008. ISBN 978-0-9555048-1-5
External links
- The history of the legend of Saint Edmund at the St Edmundsbury Borough Council's website.
- Medieval Sourcebook: Abbo of Fleury: The Martyrdom of St. Edmund, King of East Anglia, 870 (Fordham University). Part of the Internet Medieval Source Book.
- The Prime Minister's rejection letter (BBC Radio Suffolk).
- St Stephens Chapel Bures, the site of Saint Edmund's Coronation (Bures' community website)
- The legend of Edmund described in a copy of the South English Legendary from eleusinianm.
- Official website of Brian Whelan, painter of The Martyrdom of St. Edmund and illustrator in King Edmund, Saint and Martyr - a casket of wonders, by Holt Wilson.
- Official website of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, situated on part of the site of the abbey that was dedicated to St Edmund.