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.

Oswald of Worcester

We now come to Oswald of Worcester who, along with the recently explored Æthelwold and Dunstan, was considered one of the "Three English Holy Hierarchs."

Oswald was actually Danish, and a nephew of Archbishop of Canterbury Oda (mentioned during the clash between Dunstan and Eadwig). Oswald was taught by the Frankish scholar Frithegod, a clergyman who served Oda, then was sent to an abbey at Fleury in France to become a monk. Oda called Oswald back to England, but died (2 June 958) before Oswald arrived.

Oswald looked for a mentor, and found it in the Archbishop of York, Oskytel. Oswald worked at York until he was made Bishop of Worcester in 961, succeeding Dunstan. One of his acts as bishop was to invite to England a monk he knew at Fleury, Germanus of Winchester. He wanted Germanus to be prior of a new monastic community at Westbury-on-Trym.

The continent had experienced a revival of Benedictine Rule that was much more strict than what was going on in England's monasteries. Oswald (along with the efforts of Æthelwold and Dunstan) wanted to bring that stricter lifestyle to the island. He also wanted to expunge the secularism he saw in the English Church, where indulgences were sold and positions were given to lay people for the monetary advantage instead of to clergy.

There were married clergy at the time, and one tradition states that Oswald expelled any priests who would not give up their wives and replaced them with monks. An alternate story is that he established monasteries near the cathedrals, allowing the secular priests to maintain their duties until he had enough properly trained monks to take over the cathedral duties, pushing out the priests.

He founded Ramsey Abbey, and in 985 invited Abbo of Fleury to run its school. Abbo taught computus, the method used to calculate the dates of Easter.

Oswald was named Archbishop of York in 972 but stayed Bishop of Worcester, an unusual arrangement that applied to the Archbishops of York for the next 50 years. It aided York financially to have a very wealthy diocese added to its holdings.

Oswald's daily custom during Lent was to wash the feet of the poor. On 29 February 992, while doing so at Worcester, he died. He was buried at the Church of St. Mary at Worcester. Miracles were reported at his funeral and tomb. Ten years later, his remains were translated to a spot at Worcester Cathedral. 

The man who started him on his rise to fame, Archbishop Oda, has been named a few times in recent days, and we'll see what else he did, tomorrow.