King Edmund

King Edmund – the man

The legend of St Edmund, king and martyr, is familiar to many in East Anglia but perhaps less well known elsewhere. To those living in other parts of the country it can come as a surprise to learn that King Edmund once held the status of Patron Saint of England before St George, and indeed many today still consider St Edmund to be the rightful, spiritual protector of England.

There are over thirty accounts of King Edmund from the medieval period however, over time, through possible errors in translations and some omissions, his life and death can best be described as legend. It has been hard for subsequent researchers and authors to “disentangle fact from enthusiasm”.

King Edmund was a Christian king of the East Angles, the last of the East-Anglian dynasty, during the middle of the 9th century (AD 841-69). Sources suggest that he was only fourteen years old when chosen to lead his people, but certainly by 865 he was crowned on a Christmas Day.

One account of King Edmund’s life is given by Abbo of Fleury, a French Benedictine monk who came to Ramsey Abbey (Cambridgeshire) in AD 985. He wrote Passio Sancti Edmundi for Archbishop Dunstan who relayed to him a testimony Dunstan had heard as a boy of King Edmund’s life from an old man, said to be the late king’s standard bearer.

The Victorian Royal historian Agnes Strickland romantically summarises King Edmund’s reign and character: “He encouraged industry, laboured to improve the arts and sciences, and studied to afford a bright example of virtue, to the people committed to his charge. His mildness, temperance, and benevolence, charmed both high and low, and he deservedly became the chosen darling of the good men of East Anglia.”

It was the meeting of King Edmund’s unwavering Christian faith with the might of the Great Heathen Army that ensured King Edmund’s story would be retold, but it was the extraordinary posthumous tales that elevated him to sainthood and bestowed legendary status.

The Vikings had been regularly raiding Scottish and English towns and settlements since the end of the 8th century however it was during King Edmund’s reign that these violent coastal incursions became invasions. These raiders were turning their attention to conquering and the creation of Danelaw.

King Edmund’s kingdom

King Edmund’s kingdom covered what is today Norfolk and Suffolk and included parts of North Essex and East Cambridgeshire, bounded by the Fens, Devil’s Dyke, and the River Stour. The Great Heathen Army, led by Hinguar (Ingvar), Halfdene and Hubba (Ubbi), arrived in AD 865. Hinguar (sometimes referred to as Ivan the Boneless) came south and, accepting a gift of horses from King Edmund, settled for a short time in the Breckland area. Hinguar and his army eventually left but made a violent return four years later with an ultimatum for King Edmund stating that he must give Hinguar half of his wealth, renounce his Christian faith and serve Hinguar. King Edmund’s bishop, Humbert, advised him to flee or submit but King Edmund refused to do either:

It is not certain if King Edmund died in the ensuing battle near Thetford or at a later date but it was recorded that he was captured by Hinguar at Haegelisdun, tied to a tree, whipped and his body shot with arrows. It is said that Edmund continued to call out in prayer which incited Hinguar to cut off his head and throw it into nearby bushes. Legend has it that when Edmund’s supporters went looking for his head it called out to them and was discovered being guarded by a wolf.

It has long been accepted that Haegelisdun is the small village of Hoxne, south-east of Diss, where a commemorative stone can be found marking the spot of the fabled tree. However, there have been other suggestions in more recent years based on research into language and place-names and these include Hellesdon in Norfolk, Hellesden Ley (Bradfield St Clare) in Suffolk and Halesdun (Maldon) in Essex.

King Edmund’s remains and shrine

Lord Francis Hervey, youngest son of Frederick Hervey, 2nd Marquess of Bristol, studied and published a number of books about St Edmund in the 1920s and 30s. He considered there to be four periods in the legend of the saint following his death in AD 870:

According to one legend the relics of St Edmund were stolen by French soldiers who fought in the Battle of Lincoln in 1217 and taken back to France. However, relics that were eventually brought back into this country in the early 20th century were reasoned not to be authentic by a number of scholars including M.R. James. These relics, wherever they came from, are currently kept at Arundel Castle.

If the relics of St Edmund were not stolen by the French, then it is possible that his shrine was left untouched until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. While it is recorded that the king’s Commissioners took many valuable items from the Abbey and tried to deface St Edmund’s shrine there is no mention of any relics or a body.

St Edmund in the 21st Century

Of course, the legend does not end there. Recent research by Dr Francis Young suggests that King Edmund’s body was removed from his shrine during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and buried elsewhere within the Abbey grounds, possibly under what are now the tennis courts within the Abbey Gardens. It is hoped that in the Abbey’s millennial year an archaeological excavation of the site may finally provide an answer.

The discovery of St Edmund may help to increase national interest and reinvigorate the efforts to reinstate King Edmund as England’s patron saint. There are strong arguments in favour of this:

There have also been calls for making St Edmund’s Day, 20th November, a much-welcomed bank holiday!