Saint Edmund

When King Edmund of East Anglia bought off the Vikings of the Great Heathen Army in 865, he might have thought he was safe from that point on. They returned to East Anglia in 868, however. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:

...here the army rode across Mercia into East Anglia, and took winter-quarters at Thetford; and that winter King Edmund fought against them, and the Danish took the victory, and killed the king and conquered all that land.

Originally buried at a chapel near the site of his death, years later it was removed and taken to a place then called Beodricesworth, but is now appropriately called Bury St. Edmunds.

About 890, moneyers who were responsible for minting the coins during Edmund's reign started minting new commemorative coins for Edmund. The coins (see illustration) are proof that a cult was cropping up around veneration of Edmund's burial place and his reputation. They are mostly half-pennies, but also include pennies with the inscription SCE EADMVND REX, "O St. Edmund King."

The coins were minted in numerous locations. The Cuerdale Hoard found in 1840 includes over 1800 commemorative Edmund coins.

The importance of Edmund as a saint did not attach him to liturgical calendars until three centuries after his reign. Abbo of Fleury (c. 945 – 13 November 1004), while running the school at Ramsey Abbey,  wrote the Passio Sancti Eadmundi ("Passion of Saint Edmund") that is no doubt highly fictitious, but nevertheless brought Edmund into prominence. Abbo depicts the Vikings as emissaries of the devil, there to make Edmund fall into despair. Edmund resists and is put to death (not dying in battle).

Whatever the strength of the Edmund cult was, the minting of coins declined by 910. In 1010, Edmund's remains were considered important enough (probably thanks to Abbo's account, which survives in several manuscripts) to translate them to London to keep them out of the hands of invading Vikings. They were kept there for three years before being returned to Bury St. Edmunds.

Edmund remained a symbol worthy of veneration, however, and was promoted by kings to come along, one of which was Canute. I'll explain what Canute did for the saint next time.

The Cuerdale Hoard

The Vale of York Hoard was the largest hoard since the Cuerdale Hoard. So what was special about Cuerdale? Well, the York Hoard had over 600 items; the Staffordshire Hoard about 4600; Cuerdale, found in 1840, contained more than 8600, the largest Viking hoard ever in the United Kingdom, and surpassed by only one other in the world.

Cuerdale is a parish in the Duchy of Lancaster with very few buildings nowadays. Some workmen repairing an embankment of the nearby River Ribble found a lead box protruding from a bend. It was claimed by the local bailiffs who kept it intact and gave it to Queen Victoria, owner of the Duchy, who in turn gave it to the British Museum. After examining the contents, they were distributed to museums and others, with the greater part kept by the British Museum in the Coins and Medals Department.

The majority of the hoard was silver coins (over 7000) from different areas: the Viking kingdoms of eastern England, Alfred the Great's Wessex, and coins from overseas (one Byzantine coin, early Scandinavian coins, Islamic dirhams, Papal and North Italian coins, and 1,000 Frankish Carolingian coins). Many of the coins probably came from raids on other kingdoms. Besides coins the hoard contained jewelry and hacksilver.

The dates on the coins suggest that it was buried by 910CE but not much before 905. The Ribble flows into the Irish Sea and was a frequent landing spot for those coming from Ireland. The Vikings had been expelled from Dublin in 902, and this hoard might have been buried by Vikings on their way from Ireland for temporary safekeeping because transporting such a large collection made the traveler a target. It may have been intended to finance a re-conquest of Ireland. Why they never returned we will never know.

There is a curious legend in the area, that "Anyone who stood on the south bank of the River Ribble at Walton le Dale, and looked up river towards Ribchester, would be within sight of the richest treasure in England." When and how this legend began no one could say, but it suggests vague knowledge of the treasure, as if it were a more recent stashing in memory. One theory is that, during the reign of Richard II, a Sir Thomas de Molyneux who lived nearby and intended to use it to support Richard, possessed it and hid it there. It is possible that comments made in the late 14th century led to the legend.

After three posts on "largest" hoards, we now will turn to the absolute, unconditionally largest Viking hoard ever uncovered. For this we turn from England to Sweden, and the Spillings Hoard...next time.