Kenelm
Encyclopedia
Saint Kenelm was an Anglo-Saxon
saint
, venerated throughout medieval England
, and mentioned in the Canterbury Tales (the Nun's Priest's Tale, lines 290–301, in which the cock Chaunteecleer tries to demonstrate the reality of prophetic dreams to his wife Pertelote). William of Malmesbury
, writing in the 12th century, recounted that "there was no place in England to which more pilgrims travelled than to Winchcombe
on Kenelm's feast day".
In legend, St Kenelm was a member of the royal family of Mercia
, a boy king and martyr
, murdered by an ambitious relative despite receiving a prophetic dream warning him of the danger. His body, after being concealed, was discovered by miraculous intervention, and transported by the Monks of Winchcombe to a major shrine
. There it remained for several hundred years. The two locales most closely linked to this legend are the Clent Hills
, south of Birmingham
, England, identified as the scene of his murder, and the small Gloucestershire
town of Winchcombe
, near Cheltenham
, where his body was interred. The small church of St Kenelm, dating from the 15th century in a village called Kenelstowe, now stands with a handful of houses within the larger village of Romsley
in the Clent Hills. For many years, villagers celebrated St Kenelm's Day (July 17) with a village fair and the ancient custom of "crabbing the parson" - bombarding the unfortunate cleric with a volley of crab apples.
, which claims to be derived from an account given by a Worcester monk named Wilfin. Other accounts in chronicles are evidently derived from the same source. The story told by that manuscript is as follows:
In AD 819, King Kenwulph
of Mercia died leaving two daughters, Quendryda and Burgenhilda, and a son, a child of seven years old, named Kenelm who was chosen to succeed him. Quendryda envied her little brother and thought that, if he were killed, she might reign as Queen. She therefore conspired with her lover, Askobert, her brother's tutor and guardian, and gave him money, saying, 'Slay my brother for me, that I may reign'. In the Forests of Worcestershire
, on a hunting trip, the opportunity arose.
The night before the hunting trip, Kenelm had a dream in which he climbed a large tree decorated with flowers and lanterns. From on high, he saw all four quarters of his kingdom. Three bowed down before him, but the fourth began to chop away at the tree until it fell. Then Kenelm transformed into a white bird and flew away to safety. On waking, the young king related his dream to his nanny, a wise old woman gifted in interpreting dreams
. She wept, for she knew that the boy was destined to die.
In the middle of the hunt's first day, young Kenelm, tired and hot, decided to lie down beneath a tree to rest. Askobert began to dig a grave, in preparation for the murder, but the boy suddenly awoke and admonished him, 'You think to kill me here in vain, for I shall be slain in another spot. In token, thereof, see this rod blossom'. As he thrust his stick into the ground, it instantly took root and began to flower. It grew, in years after, to be a great ash tree, which was known as St Kenelm's Ash. Unperturbed by this turn of events, Askobert took the little king up to the Clent Hills
, and as the child began to sing the Te Deum, the assassin smote his head clean off and buried him where he fell.
Kenelm's soul rose in the form of a dove carrying a scroll, and flew away to Rome where it dropped the scroll at the feet of the Pope. The message on the scroll read: 'Low in a mead of kine under a thorn, of head bereft, lieth poor Kenelm king-born'.
Accordingly, the Pope wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury
, who commissioned a party from the Mercian capital, Winchcombe, to seek the body. As they walked, they saw a pillar of light shining over a thicket in Worcestershire and beneath it the body of Kenelm. As it was taken up, a rushing fountain burst out of the ground, and flowed away into a stream, which brought health to anyone who drank from it. The body was then solemnly carried towards Winchcombe, but at the ford called Pyriford over the River Avon
, the burial party was met by an armed band from Worcester Abbey
who also claimed title to the remains. The dispute was settled as follows: whichever party woke first on the following morning could take the prize. This proved to be the monks from Winchcombe. Despite their agreement, however, they were closely pursued by the Worcester party. Exhausted from their rapid march, they stopped just within sight of Winchcombe Abbey. As they struck their staffs into the ground, a spring burst forth, and this refreshed them so that they were able to press on to the Royal Mercian Abbey at Winchcombe, where the bells sounded and rang without the hand of man.
Then Quendryda asked what all this ringing meant and was told how her brother's body was brought in procession into the abbey. 'If that be true,' said she, 'may both my eyes fall upon this book', and then both her eyes fell out of her head upon the Psalter she was reading. Soon after, both she and her lover died wretchedly, and their bodies were cast out into a ditch. The remains of Saint Kenelm were buried with all honour and he has since been revered as a martyr. His feast day is celebrated on July 17, the date of his translation to Winchcombe.
, compiled during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It tells a similar story to the one in the twelfth century manuscript at Winchcombe Abbey, with the following addition: after the murder and secret burial of Saint Kenelm in the Clent Hills, a cow came and miraculously sat at Kenelm's grave, eating nothing all day and returning each night with her udders full. Quendryda had forbidden her murdered brother's name ever to be spoken, and as the memory of him faded, God caused this cow to sit there so that his memory would not disappear entirely. Everybody in the district grew to learn of this cow's strange behaviour, the animal was closely observed, seen to sit by a thorn tree and eat nothing all day but to be miraculously full of milk in the evening and again in the morning, and this went on for many years. The valley came to be known as Cowbach. Then one day, a white dove flew down into the Pope's chapel in Rome carrying a message that Saint Kenelm's body lay in a place called Cowbach, in the Clent Hills. Word was dispatched to Archbishop Wilfred of Canterbury, and a party was sent into Worcestershire where the local population were able to guess immediately where the body lay, because of the cow. When his body was disinterred, a spring miraculously appeared where Saint Kenelm had lain, as in the Winchcombe version, which is now followed faithfully once more.
, his son Ecgfrith of Mercia
was crowned but his reign lasted only 20 weeks and he was presumably killed in battle. He was succeeded by a distant cousin, Coenwulf of Mercia
, whose son was Kenelm (Cynehelm), and this would appear to be the reputed saint. It is likely that Coenwulf 'hallowed' Kenelm to the throne, for a letter dated 798, allegedly from Pope Leo III to "King Kenelm", names Kenelm and gives his age as 12. In 799, Kenelm witnessed a deed of gift of land to Christ Church, Canterbury, and from 803 onwards his name appears on a variety of charters. The year 811 sees no more mention of Kenelm; this was likely his death year. This all points to Kenelm being 25 years old when he died, not a mere child of 7 years old. Historical records also indicate that Kenelm's sister, Cwenthryth
(Quendryda), had entered the cloister at the time of her father's death and was the abbess of Minster-in-Thanet
.
's elegies. Francis Brett Young
wrote a long poem called The Ballad of St Kenelm, AD 821 and Geoffrey Hill
makes direct mention of St Kenelm and Romsley, Worcestershire
, in his book-length poem, The Triumph of Love.
A long distance walk called St Kenelm's Trail
links Clent and Winchcombe across the English countryside of Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. John Henry Newman made frequent pilgrimage
s to the shrine of St Kenelm's martyrdom.
There is a St Kenelm's Church in the small Gloucestershire village of Alderley
, adjacent to Alderley House
, the former home of Rose Hill School, Alderley
.
There is a St Kenelm's Church in the Gloucestershire village of Sapperton
.
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...
saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
, venerated throughout medieval England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and mentioned in the Canterbury Tales (the Nun's Priest's Tale, lines 290–301, in which the cock Chaunteecleer tries to demonstrate the reality of prophetic dreams to his wife Pertelote). William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. C. Warren Hollister so ranks him among the most talented generation of writers of history since Bede, "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in the literature of classical,...
, writing in the 12th century, recounted that "there was no place in England to which more pilgrims travelled than to Winchcombe
Winchcombe
Winchcombe is a Cotswold town in the local authority district of Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire, England. Its population according to the 2001 census was 4,379.-Early history:...
on Kenelm's feast day".
In legend, St Kenelm was a member of the royal family of 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...
, a boy king and martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
, murdered by an ambitious relative despite receiving a prophetic dream warning him of the danger. His body, after being concealed, was discovered by miraculous intervention, and transported by the Monks of Winchcombe to a major 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....
. There it remained for several hundred years. The two locales most closely linked to this legend are the Clent Hills
Clent Hills
The Clent Hills lie 9⅓ miles southwest of Birmingham city centre in Clent, Worcestershire, England. The closest towns are Stourbridge and Halesowen, both in the West Midlands conurbation. The Clent Hills range consists of, in order from north-west to south-east: Wychbury Hill, Clent Hill , and...
, south of Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England, identified as the scene of his murder, and the small Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
town of Winchcombe
Winchcombe
Winchcombe is a Cotswold town in the local authority district of Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire, England. Its population according to the 2001 census was 4,379.-Early history:...
, near Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
, where his body was interred. The small church of St Kenelm, dating from the 15th century in a village called Kenelstowe, now stands with a handful of houses within the larger village of Romsley
Romsley, Worcestershire
Romsley is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire, England, on the east side of the Clent Hills about 4 miles south of Halesowen. As of 2001 it has a population of 1,601....
in the Clent Hills. For many years, villagers celebrated St Kenelm's Day (July 17) with a village fair and the ancient custom of "crabbing the parson" - bombarding the unfortunate cleric with a volley of crab apples.
Winchcombe Abbey
The earliest account of St Kenelm's legend lies in a manuscript copy from the 12th century at Winchcombe AbbeyWinchcombe Abbey
Winchcombe Abbey is a now-vanished Benedictine abbey in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, this abbey was once the capital of Mercia, an Anglo Saxon kingdom at the time of the Heptarchy in England. The Abbey was founded c. 798 for three hundred Benedictine monks, by King Offa of Mercia or King Kenulf. In...
, which claims to be derived from an account given by a Worcester monk named Wilfin. Other accounts in chronicles are evidently derived from the same source. The story told by that manuscript is as follows:
In AD 819, King Kenwulph
Coenwulf of Mercia
Coenwulf was King of Mercia from December 796 to 821. He was a descendant of a brother of King Penda, who had ruled Mercia in the middle of the 7th century. He succeeded Ecgfrith, the son of Offa; Ecgfrith only reigned for five months, with Coenwulf coming to the throne in the same year that Offa...
of Mercia died leaving two daughters, Quendryda and Burgenhilda, and a son, a child of seven years old, named Kenelm who was chosen to succeed him. Quendryda envied her little brother and thought that, if he were killed, she might reign as Queen. She therefore conspired with her lover, Askobert, her brother's tutor and guardian, and gave him money, saying, 'Slay my brother for me, that I may reign'. In the Forests of Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
, on a hunting trip, the opportunity arose.
The night before the hunting trip, Kenelm had a dream in which he climbed a large tree decorated with flowers and lanterns. From on high, he saw all four quarters of his kingdom. Three bowed down before him, but the fourth began to chop away at the tree until it fell. Then Kenelm transformed into a white bird and flew away to safety. On waking, the young king related his dream to his nanny, a wise old woman gifted in interpreting dreams
Dream interpretation
Dream interpretation is the process of assigning meaning to dreams. In many ancient societies, such as those of Egypt and Greece, dreaming was considered a supernatural communication or a means of divine intervention, whose message could be unravelled by people with certain powers...
. She wept, for she knew that the boy was destined to die.
In the middle of the hunt's first day, young Kenelm, tired and hot, decided to lie down beneath a tree to rest. Askobert began to dig a grave, in preparation for the murder, but the boy suddenly awoke and admonished him, 'You think to kill me here in vain, for I shall be slain in another spot. In token, thereof, see this rod blossom'. As he thrust his stick into the ground, it instantly took root and began to flower. It grew, in years after, to be a great ash tree, which was known as St Kenelm's Ash. Unperturbed by this turn of events, Askobert took the little king up to the Clent Hills
Clent Hills
The Clent Hills lie 9⅓ miles southwest of Birmingham city centre in Clent, Worcestershire, England. The closest towns are Stourbridge and Halesowen, both in the West Midlands conurbation. The Clent Hills range consists of, in order from north-west to south-east: Wychbury Hill, Clent Hill , and...
, and as the child began to sing the Te Deum, the assassin smote his head clean off and buried him where he fell.
Kenelm's soul rose in the form of a dove carrying a scroll, and flew away to Rome where it dropped the scroll at the feet of the Pope. The message on the scroll read: 'Low in a mead of kine under a thorn, of head bereft, lieth poor Kenelm king-born'.
Accordingly, the Pope wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, who commissioned a party from the Mercian capital, Winchcombe, to seek the body. As they walked, they saw a pillar of light shining over a thicket in Worcestershire and beneath it the body of Kenelm. As it was taken up, a rushing fountain burst out of the ground, and flowed away into a stream, which brought health to anyone who drank from it. The body was then solemnly carried towards Winchcombe, but at the ford called Pyriford over the River Avon
River Avon, Warwickshire
The River Avon or Avon is a river in or adjoining the counties of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire in the Midlands of England...
, the burial party was met by an armed band from Worcester Abbey
Worcester Cathedral
Worcester Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Worcester, England; situated on a bank overlooking the River Severn. It is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Worcester. Its official name is The Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Mary the Virgin of Worcester...
who also claimed title to the remains. The dispute was settled as follows: whichever party woke first on the following morning could take the prize. This proved to be the monks from Winchcombe. Despite their agreement, however, they were closely pursued by the Worcester party. Exhausted from their rapid march, they stopped just within sight of Winchcombe Abbey. As they struck their staffs into the ground, a spring burst forth, and this refreshed them so that they were able to press on to the Royal Mercian Abbey at Winchcombe, where the bells sounded and rang without the hand of man.
Then Quendryda asked what all this ringing meant and was told how her brother's body was brought in procession into the abbey. 'If that be true,' said she, 'may both my eyes fall upon this book', and then both her eyes fell out of her head upon the Psalter she was reading. Soon after, both she and her lover died wretchedly, and their bodies were cast out into a ditch. The remains of Saint Kenelm were buried with all honour and he has since been revered as a martyr. His feast day is celebrated on July 17, the date of his translation to Winchcombe.
South English Legendary
The legend of Saint Kenelm is included in a medieval collection of saints' lives in Middle English known as the South English LegendarySouth English Legendary
The South English Legendary is a Middle English hagiographic manuscript, best preserved in MS Harley 2277 and CCCC 145, which contain 92 narrative lives, extremely varied in length, usually including one of two prologues and often including a life of Christ and/or temporal items...
, compiled during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It tells a similar story to the one in the twelfth century manuscript at Winchcombe Abbey, with the following addition: after the murder and secret burial of Saint Kenelm in the Clent Hills, a cow came and miraculously sat at Kenelm's grave, eating nothing all day and returning each night with her udders full. Quendryda had forbidden her murdered brother's name ever to be spoken, and as the memory of him faded, God caused this cow to sit there so that his memory would not disappear entirely. Everybody in the district grew to learn of this cow's strange behaviour, the animal was closely observed, seen to sit by a thorn tree and eat nothing all day but to be miraculously full of milk in the evening and again in the morning, and this went on for many years. The valley came to be known as Cowbach. Then one day, a white dove flew down into the Pope's chapel in Rome carrying a message that Saint Kenelm's body lay in a place called Cowbach, in the Clent Hills. Word was dispatched to Archbishop Wilfred of Canterbury, and a party was sent into Worcestershire where the local population were able to guess immediately where the body lay, because of the cow. When his body was disinterred, a spring miraculously appeared where Saint Kenelm had lain, as in the Winchcombe version, which is now followed faithfully once more.
Factual Records of Kenelm's Life
Like many medieval hagiographies, St Kenelm's legend appears to bear little relation to any known facts. It can be ascertained from the wider historical record that, on the death of Offa of MerciaOffa 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 son Ecgfrith of Mercia
Ecgfrith of Mercia
Ecgfrith was a King of Mercia who briefly ruled in the year 796. He was the son and heir of King Offa of Mercia and his wife Cynethryth. In 787, Offa had Ecgfrith crowned as co-ruler. He succeeded his father in July 796, but despite Offa's efforts to secure his son's succession, it is recorded...
was crowned but his reign lasted only 20 weeks and he was presumably killed in battle. He was succeeded by a distant cousin, Coenwulf of Mercia
Coenwulf of Mercia
Coenwulf was King of Mercia from December 796 to 821. He was a descendant of a brother of King Penda, who had ruled Mercia in the middle of the 7th century. He succeeded Ecgfrith, the son of Offa; Ecgfrith only reigned for five months, with Coenwulf coming to the throne in the same year that Offa...
, whose son was Kenelm (Cynehelm), and this would appear to be the reputed saint. It is likely that Coenwulf 'hallowed' Kenelm to the throne, for a letter dated 798, allegedly from Pope Leo III to "King Kenelm", names Kenelm and gives his age as 12. In 799, Kenelm witnessed a deed of gift of land to Christ Church, Canterbury, and from 803 onwards his name appears on a variety of charters. The year 811 sees no more mention of Kenelm; this was likely his death year. This all points to Kenelm being 25 years old when he died, not a mere child of 7 years old. Historical records also indicate that Kenelm's sister, Cwenthryth
Cwenthryth
Cwenthryth was an early 9th century Mercian princess, the daughter of Coenwulf of Mercia and sister of Saint Cenelm. After Coenwulf's death, his son was killed fighting the Welsh, possibly due to Cwenthryth's treachery....
(Quendryda), had entered the cloister at the time of her father's death and was the abbess of Minster-in-Thanet
Minster-in-Thanet
Minster-in-Thanet, also known as Minster, is a village and civil parish in the Thanet District of Kent, England. The village is situated to the west of Ramsgate and to the north east of Canterbury; it lies just south west of Kent International Airport and just north of the River Stour...
.
Other associations with St Kenelm
In the field of literature, St Kenelm is alluded to in Chaucer's The Nun's Priest's Tale and his tale is told in one of William ShenstoneWilliam Shenstone
William Shenstone was an English poet and one of the earliest practitioners of landscape gardening through the development of his estate, The Leasowes.-Life:...
's elegies. Francis Brett Young
Francis Brett Young
Francis Brett Young was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and composer.-Life:Brett Young was born in Halesowen, Worcestershire. He schooled first at a private school in Sutton Coldfield...
wrote a long poem called The Ballad of St Kenelm, AD 821 and Geoffrey Hill
Geoffrey Hill
Geoffrey Hill is an English poet, professor emeritus of English literature and religion, and former co-director of the Editorial Institute, at Boston University. Hill has been considered to be among the most distinguished poets of his generation...
makes direct mention of St Kenelm and Romsley, Worcestershire
Romsley, Worcestershire
Romsley is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire, England, on the east side of the Clent Hills about 4 miles south of Halesowen. As of 2001 it has a population of 1,601....
, in his book-length poem, The Triumph of Love.
A long distance walk called St Kenelm's Trail
St Kenelm's Trail
St Kenelm’s Trail is a walk originally devised by John Price, which links the two places most commonly associated with the legend of St Kenelm. These are the Clent Hills, south of Birmingham, identified as the scene of his supposed murder and the small Gloucestershire town of Winchcombe, near...
links Clent and Winchcombe across the English countryside of Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. John Henry Newman made frequent pilgrimage
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...
s to the shrine of St Kenelm's martyrdom.
There is a St Kenelm's Church in the small Gloucestershire village of Alderley
Alderley, Gloucestershire
Alderley is a village and civil parish in the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England, about fourteen miles southwest of Stroud and two miles south of Wotton-under-Edge. It lies underneath Winner Hill, between two brooks, the Ozleworth and Kilcott...
, adjacent to Alderley House
Alderley House
The present day Alderley House is a mid-19th century Grade II listed country house designed by Lewis Vulliamy and built for Robert Blagden Hale in the small Cotswold village of Alderley, near Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire...
, the former home of Rose Hill School, Alderley
Rose Hill School (Alderley)
Rose Hill School, Alderley was a co-educational, boarding and day, Pre-preparatory and Preparatory School for children aged 2-14 years old. It was situated in Cotswold countryside in the village of Alderley, near to Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, England. Its motto, 'conando floreamus',...
.
There is a St Kenelm's Church in the Gloucestershire village of Sapperton
Sapperton, Gloucestershire
Sapperton is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire in England, about west of Cirencester. It is most famous for Sapperton canal tunnel and its connection with the Cotswold Arts and Crafts Movement in the early 20th century. It has a population of 424.The parish...
.
External links
- The Legend of St Kenelm.
- Document - probably copied from Amphlett.
- Book - The Story of Saint Kenelm, Prince, King & Martyr. Aims 'to merge legend and history without changing either'.
- South English Legendary Saint Kenelm, from Corpus Christi College Cambridge MS 145. Modern English prose translation.