Rumwold
Encyclopedia
Rumwold was a medieval infant saint
in England
, said to have lived for three days in 662. He is said to have been miraculously
full of Christian
piety despite his young age, and able to speak from the moment of his birth, professing his faith, requesting baptism
, and delivering a sermon prior to his early death. Several churches were dedicated to him of which about six survive.
His name has a number of alternative spellings: Rumoalde, Rumwald, Runwald, Rumbald, Rumbold, Romwold, Rombout.. Rumbold is the more common name used today, with streets in Buckingham and Lincoln being spelt this way.
According to the 11th century hagiography
, Vita Sancti Rumwoldi, he was the grandson of Penda of Mercia
(a pagan
, but incorrectly described in Rumwold's hagiography as having converted to Christianity) and the son of a king of Northumbria
. His parents are not actually named; Alhfrith, son of Oswiu of Northumbria
, did marry a daughter of Penda, Cyneburh, but Alhfrith was never king of Northumbria himself, although his father was (Alhfrith did rule the subkingdom of Deira for a time). There have, however, been doubts about whether these were his parents: for instance, the Northumbrian king is described as a pagan, but Alhfrith was a Christian (at least according to Bede
, who says Alhfrith convinced Penda's son Peada
to convert to Christianity). Although it has been stated that Cyneburh is not known to have had any children Northumbrian genealogy states she and Alhfrith had a further son Osric who subsequently became King of Northumbria himself (source: Stenton).
In the Vita, Rumwold's mother is described as a pious Christian who, when married to a pagan king, tells him that she will not consummate the marriage until he converts to Christianity; he does so, and she becomes pregnant. The two are called by Penda to come to him when the time of her birth is near, but she gives birth during the journey, and immediately after being born the infant is said to have cried out: "Christianus sum, christianus sum, christianus sum" ("I am a Christian, I am a Christian, I am a Christian"). He went on to further profess his faith, to request baptism, and to ask to be named "Rumwold", afterwards giving a sermon. He predicted his own death, and said where he wanted his body to be laid to rest, in Buckingham
.
Saint Rumwold is reported to have been born in Walton Grounds near King's Sutton
in Northamptonshire
which was at that time part of the Mercian royal estates possessing a court house and other instruments of government. The field in which he was born where a chapel once stood on the supposed spot may still be seen. King's Sutton parish church claims that its Saxon or Norman font may well have been the one Saint Rumwold was baptised in. There are two wells associated with his name in Astrop just outside Kings' Sutton and at Brackley
and Buckingham where his relics once lay. Church dedications largely follow the missionary activity of Saint Wilfrid
who was the personal chaplain of King Alhfrith (source: Bede) but once spread as far as North Yorkshire
, Lincoln
, Essex
and Dorset
.
Boxley Abbey
had a famous portrait of the saint. It was small and of a weight so small a child could lift it but at times became so heavy even strong people could not lift it. According to tradition the attempt to lift the portrait was a test of a woman's chastity. In practice, those who paid the priest well could lift the portrait with ease, while others could not. Upon the dissolution of the monasteries
in England, it was discovered that the portrait was held by a wooden pin by an unseen person behind the portrait.
In 2000 a complete Orthodox Christian service to Saint Rumwold was written along with a tone system (Orthodox musical system) with which to sing it which also has more general application. The service is performed on his two feast days which are November 3 (main feast) and August 28 (translation of relics). In 2005 the former church of Saint Rumwold in Lincoln which is now a college erected a plaque to celebrate the connection.
) by annotating "confessor" (fitting Rumwold who was no martyr), and that the original dedication of churches in Northern England appears uncertain, be it that "There is little sign that St Rombaut was venerated in Anglo-Saxon England. Certainly his feast is not mentioned in any surviving pre-conquest calendar".
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...
in 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...
, said to have lived for three days in 662. He is said to have been miraculously
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...
full of Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
piety despite his young age, and able to speak from the moment of his birth, professing his faith, requesting baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
, and delivering a sermon prior to his early death. Several churches were dedicated to him of which about six survive.
His name has a number of alternative spellings: Rumoalde, Rumwald, Runwald, Rumbald, Rumbold, Romwold, Rombout.. Rumbold is the more common name used today, with streets in Buckingham and Lincoln being spelt this way.
According to the 11th 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...
, Vita Sancti Rumwoldi, he was the grandson of Penda of Mercia
Penda of Mercia
Penda was a 7th-century King of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda took over the Severn Valley in 628 following the Battle of Cirencester before participating in the...
(a pagan
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
, but incorrectly described in Rumwold's hagiography as having converted to Christianity) and the son of a king of Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
. His parents are not actually named; Alhfrith, son of Oswiu of Northumbria
Oswiu of Northumbria
Oswiu , also known as Oswy or Oswig , was a King of Bernicia. His father, Æthelfrith of Bernicia, was killed in battle, fighting against Rædwald, King of the East Angles and Edwin of Deira at the River Idle in 616...
, did marry a daughter of Penda, Cyneburh, but Alhfrith was never king of Northumbria himself, although his father was (Alhfrith did rule the subkingdom of Deira for a time). There have, however, been doubts about whether these were his parents: for instance, the Northumbrian king is described as a pagan, but Alhfrith was a Christian (at least according to Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
, who says Alhfrith convinced Penda's son Peada
Peada of Mercia
Peada , a son of Penda, was briefly King of southern Mercia after his father's death in November 655 until his own death in the spring of the next year.In about the year 653 Peada was made king of the Middle Angles by his father...
to convert to Christianity). Although it has been stated that Cyneburh is not known to have had any children Northumbrian genealogy states she and Alhfrith had a further son Osric who subsequently became King of Northumbria himself (source: Stenton).
In the Vita, Rumwold's mother is described as a pious Christian who, when married to a pagan king, tells him that she will not consummate the marriage until he converts to Christianity; he does so, and she becomes pregnant. The two are called by Penda to come to him when the time of her birth is near, but she gives birth during the journey, and immediately after being born the infant is said to have cried out: "Christianus sum, christianus sum, christianus sum" ("I am a Christian, I am a Christian, I am a Christian"). He went on to further profess his faith, to request baptism, and to ask to be named "Rumwold", afterwards giving a sermon. He predicted his own death, and said where he wanted his body to be laid to rest, in Buckingham
Buckingham
Buckingham is a town situated in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire. The town has a population of 11,572 ,...
.
Saint Rumwold is reported to have been born in Walton Grounds near King's Sutton
King's Sutton
King's Sutton is a village and civil parish in South Northamptonshire, England in the valley of the River Cherwell. The village is about south-east of Banbury, Oxfordshire...
in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
which was at that time part of the Mercian royal estates possessing a court house and other instruments of government. The field in which he was born where a chapel once stood on the supposed spot may still be seen. King's Sutton parish church claims that its Saxon or Norman font may well have been the one Saint Rumwold was baptised in. There are two wells associated with his name in Astrop just outside Kings' Sutton and at Brackley
Brackley
Brackley is a town in south Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Oxford and miles form Northampton. Historically a market town based on the wool and lace trade, it was built on the intersecting trade routes between London, Birmingham and the English Midlands and between Cambridge and Oxford...
and Buckingham where his relics once lay. Church dedications largely follow the missionary activity of Saint Wilfrid
Wilfrid
Wilfrid was an English bishop and saint. Born a Northumbrian noble, he entered religious life as a teenager and studied at Lindisfarne, at Canterbury, in Gaul, and at Rome; he returned to Northumbria in about 660, and became the abbot of a newly founded monastery at Ripon...
who was the personal chaplain of King Alhfrith (source: Bede) but once spread as far as North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, Lincoln
Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
and Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
.
Boxley Abbey
Boxley Abbey
Boxley Abbey in Boxley, Kent, England was a Cistercian monastery founded in 1143-46 by William Ypres, Earl of Kent, and colonised by monks from Clairvaux Abbey in France. Some of its ruins survive, some four miles north-east of Maidstone.- Notable events :...
had a famous portrait of the saint. It was small and of a weight so small a child could lift it but at times became so heavy even strong people could not lift it. According to tradition the attempt to lift the portrait was a test of a woman's chastity. In practice, those who paid the priest well could lift the portrait with ease, while others could not. Upon the dissolution of the monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
in England, it was discovered that the portrait was held by a wooden pin by an unseen person behind the portrait.
In 2000 a complete Orthodox Christian service to Saint Rumwold was written along with a tone system (Orthodox musical system) with which to sing it which also has more general application. The service is performed on his two feast days which are November 3 (main feast) and August 28 (translation of relics). In 2005 the former church of Saint Rumwold in Lincoln which is now a college erected a plaque to celebrate the connection.
St. Rumbold of Mechelen
There has been some historical confounding between Rumwold of Buckingham and Rumbold of Mechelen. The latter is locally known by the Latin name Rumoldus and in particular his name in Dutch, Rombout (in French spelled as Rombaut), and assumedly never called Rumwold. His usual names in English are Rumold, Rumbold, Rombout, and Rombaut. A compilation about three saints' lives as translated by Rosalind Love shows that an unknown author 'corrected' a 15th century attribution as "martyr" (assumedly Rumbold who was murdered in MechelenMechelen
Mechelen Footnote: Mechelen became known in English as 'Mechlin' from which the adjective 'Mechlinian' is derived...
) by annotating "confessor" (fitting Rumwold who was no martyr), and that the original dedication of churches in Northern England appears uncertain, be it that "There is little sign that St Rombaut was venerated in Anglo-Saxon England. Certainly his feast is not mentioned in any surviving pre-conquest calendar".