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Edmund the Martyr (841–20 November 869
869

Events...
) was a King
List of monarchs of East Anglia

This is a chronological list of the monarchs of Kingdom of the East Angles, formally known as The Kingdom of the East Angles, one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons Heptarchy....
 and martyr
Martyr

The term martyr is most commonly used today to describe an individual who sacrifices his or her life in order to further a cause or belief for many....
 of East Anglia
Kingdom of the East Angles

The Kingdom of the East Angles or Kingdom of East Anglia was one of the ancient Heptarchy. The kingdom was named after the homeland of the Angles, Angeln in northern Germany, and initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, names which possibly arose during or after the Danish settling ....
. He succeeded to the East Anglian throne in 855, while still a boy. The earliest and most reliable accounts represent Edmund as descended from the preceding kings of East Anglia of the Wuffing
Wuffing

The Wuffings were the ruling dynasty of East Anglia. They took their name from the early East Anglian king Wuffa. Due to the strong Scandinavian connections revealed in their graves at Sutton Hoo, has argued that they were probably a branch of the Geatish Wulfing dynasty....
 line. Other accounts state that his father was King Ęthelweard
Ęthelweard of East Anglia

?thelweard was of King of East Anglia in the middle of the 9th century.As with his predecessor ?thelstan of East Anglia, textual evidence for ?thelweard's reign is very limited....
. Geoffrey of Wells
Geoffrey of Wells

Geoffrey of Wells was a mid-twelfth-century English hagiographer, doubtless formerly a canon of Wells Cathedral, whose De Infantia Sancti Edmundi , part of the burgeoning library of twelfth-century Legend concerning Saint Edmund accounted the royal saint's childhood to have been full of adventure; he dedicated his "largely spurious accou...
 claimed that Edmund was the youngest son of Alcmund, a Saxon
Saxons

The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic peoples. Their modern-day descendants in Saxony are considered ethnic Germans; those in the eastern Netherlands are considered to be ethnic Dutch people; those in north eastern Belgium are considered to be ethnic Flemish people; and those in southern England ethnic English people ....
 king. Edmund was said to have been crowned by Bishop Humbert of Elmham
Humbertus

Humbertus was a medieval Bishop of Norwich.He was consecrated between 816 and 824. He died on 20 November 870. As he was martyr by the Danes , he was later venerated as Saint Humbert....
 on Christmas Day 855.

In 869, Edmund was defeated in battle by the Great Heathen Army
Great Heathen Army

The "Great Heathen Army", also known as the Great Army or the Great Danish Army, was a Viking army originating in Denmark which pillaged and conquered much of England in the late 9th century....
; he was captured, tortured and died the death of a martyr
Martyr

The term martyr is most commonly used today to describe an individual who sacrifices his or her life in order to further a cause or belief for many....
.






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Edmund the Martyr (841–20 November 869
869

Events...
) was a King
List of monarchs of East Anglia

This is a chronological list of the monarchs of Kingdom of the East Angles, formally known as The Kingdom of the East Angles, one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons Heptarchy....
 and martyr
Martyr

The term martyr is most commonly used today to describe an individual who sacrifices his or her life in order to further a cause or belief for many....
 of East Anglia
Kingdom of the East Angles

The Kingdom of the East Angles or Kingdom of East Anglia was one of the ancient Heptarchy. The kingdom was named after the homeland of the Angles, Angeln in northern Germany, and initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, names which possibly arose during or after the Danish settling ....
. He succeeded to the East Anglian throne in 855, while still a boy. The earliest and most reliable accounts represent Edmund as descended from the preceding kings of East Anglia of the Wuffing
Wuffing

The Wuffings were the ruling dynasty of East Anglia. They took their name from the early East Anglian king Wuffa. Due to the strong Scandinavian connections revealed in their graves at Sutton Hoo, has argued that they were probably a branch of the Geatish Wulfing dynasty....
 line. Other accounts state that his father was King Ęthelweard
Ęthelweard of East Anglia

?thelweard was of King of East Anglia in the middle of the 9th century.As with his predecessor ?thelstan of East Anglia, textual evidence for ?thelweard's reign is very limited....
. Geoffrey of Wells
Geoffrey of Wells

Geoffrey of Wells was a mid-twelfth-century English hagiographer, doubtless formerly a canon of Wells Cathedral, whose De Infantia Sancti Edmundi , part of the burgeoning library of twelfth-century Legend concerning Saint Edmund accounted the royal saint's childhood to have been full of adventure; he dedicated his "largely spurious accou...
 claimed that Edmund was the youngest son of Alcmund, a Saxon
Saxons

The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic peoples. Their modern-day descendants in Saxony are considered ethnic Germans; those in the eastern Netherlands are considered to be ethnic Dutch people; those in north eastern Belgium are considered to be ethnic Flemish people; and those in southern England ethnic English people ....
 king. Edmund was said to have been crowned by Bishop Humbert of Elmham
Humbertus

Humbertus was a medieval Bishop of Norwich.He was consecrated between 816 and 824. He died on 20 November 870. As he was martyr by the Danes , he was later venerated as Saint Humbert....
 on Christmas Day 855.

In 869, Edmund was defeated in battle by the Great Heathen Army
Great Heathen Army

The "Great Heathen Army", also known as the Great Army or the Great Danish Army, was a Viking army originating in Denmark which pillaged and conquered much of England in the late 9th century....
; he was captured, tortured and died the death of a martyr
Martyr

The term martyr is most commonly used today to describe an individual who sacrifices his or her life in order to further a cause or belief for many....
. He is venerated as a saint and a martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
, the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
 and the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion

The Anglican Communion is an international association of national Anglican churches. There is no single "Anglican Church" with universal juridical authority as each national or regional church has full autonomy....
. The king's body was ultimately interred at Beadoriceworth, the modern Bury St Edmunds, where the pilgrimage
Pilgrimage

File:Supplicating Pilgrim at Masjid Al Haram. Mecca, Saudi Arabia.jpgIn religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long quest or search of great moral significance....
 to his shrine
Shrine

A shrine, from the Latin scrinium is a holy or sacred place which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor veneration, hero, martyr, saint or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are veneration or worshipped....
 was encouraged by the 12th century
12th century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era/Common Era....
 monks' enlargement of the church. Edmund's popularity among the Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman

The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the conquest by William I of England in 1066, although a few Normans were already in England before the conquest....
 nobility helped justify claims of continuity with pre-Norman traditions; a banner of St. Edmund's arms was carried at the battle of Agincourt
Battle of Agincourt

The Battle of Agincourt was an English victory against a much larger French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday 25 October 1415 ...
.

One can find churches dedicated to his memory all over England, including Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren

Sir Christopher Wren was a 17th century England designer, astronomer, geometer, and one of the greatest English architects in history. Wren designed 53 London churches, including St Paul's Cathedral, as well as many secular buildings of note....
's St Edmund the King and Martyr
St Edmund the King and Martyr

St Edmund, King and Martyr is a former church building on Lombard Street, London, in the City of London. It was a Church of England church dedicated to Edmund the Martyr....
 in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
. There are a number of colleges named after St Edmund.

Life

Edmund was a King
List of monarchs of East Anglia

This is a chronological list of the monarchs of Kingdom of the East Angles, formally known as The Kingdom of the East Angles, one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons Heptarchy....
 of East Anglia
East Anglia

East Anglia is a region of eastern England. It was named after one of the ancient Heptarchy, the Kingdom of the East Angles, which was in turn named after the homeland of the Angles, Angeln, in northern Germany....
. According to Abbo of Fleury
Abbo of Fleury

Abbo of Fleury , also known as Abbon or Saint Abbo was a monk, and later abbot, of the Benedictine monastery of Fleury sur Loire near Orl?ans, France....
, followed by John of Worcester
John of Worcester

John of Worcester was an England monk and English historians in the Middle Ages. He is usually held to be the author of the Chronicon ex chronicis....
, he came "ex antiquorum Saxonum nobili prosapia oriundus," which when translated seems to mean that Edmund was of foreign origin and that he belonged to the Old Saxon
Old Saxon

Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German , is the earliest recorded form of Low German, documented from the 9th century until the 12th century, when it evolved into Middle Low German....
s of the continent. This is a very doubtful tradition, as there is no evidence that his alleged father, King Alcmund, ever existed. The earliest and most reliable accounts represent Edmund as descended from the preceding kings of East Anglia of the Wuffing
Wuffing

The Wuffings were the ruling dynasty of East Anglia. They took their name from the early East Anglian king Wuffa. Due to the strong Scandinavian connections revealed in their graves at Sutton Hoo, has argued that they were probably a branch of the Geatish Wulfing dynasty....
 line. Nevertheless, the story of Old Saxon origins was later expanded into a full legend which spoke of Edmund's parentage, his birth at Nuremberg
Nuremberg

Nuremberg is a city in the Germany State of Bavaria, in the Regierungsbezirk of Middle Franconia. It is situated on the Pegnitz River river and the Rhine?Main?Danube Canal and is Franconia's largest city....
 to the otherwise unknown Alcmund, his adoption by King Ęthelweard of East Anglia, his nomination as successor to the king, and his landing at Hunstanton
Hunstanton

Hunstanton, often pronounced by locals as , also known colloquially to locals as 'Sunny Hunny', is a seaside resort in Norfolk, England, facing The Wash....
 to claim his kingdom.

Other accounts state that his father was King Ęthelweard. What is certain is that the king died in 854, and was succeeded by Edmund when the boy was a fourteen-year-old. Thus, his birthyear is 841. Edmund was said to have been crowned by St Humbert
Humbertus

Humbertus was a medieval Bishop of Norwich.He was consecrated between 816 and 824. He died on 20 November 870. As he was martyr by the Danes , he was later venerated as Saint Humbert....
 on 25 December 855
855

Events...
 at Burna (probably Bures St Mary
Bures St. Mary

Bures St. Mary is a civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England. In 2005 it had a population of 940.The parish covers the eastern part of the village of Bures, England, the western part being in the Bures Hamlet parish in Essex....
, Suffolk
Suffolk

Suffolk is a Non-metropolitan counties of England of Historic counties of England in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south....
), which at that time functioned as the royal capital.

Almost nothing is known of the life of Edmund during the next fourteen years. It was recorded that Edmund was a model king who treated all with equal justice and was unbending to flatterers. It was also written that he retired for a year to his royal tower at Hunstanton and learned the whole Psalter
Psalter

A Psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms and which often contains other devotional material. Various schemes for the arrangement of the Psalms are described in Latin Psalters....
, so that he could recite it from memory.

Death

In the year 869, the Danes who had wintered at York
York

York is a walled city, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire and River Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city status in the United Kingdom is noted for its rich heritage and it has played an important role throughout much of its almost 2,000 year existence....
, marched through Mercia
Mercia

Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands....
 into East Anglia and took up their quarters at Thetford. Edmund engaged them fiercely in battle, but the Danes under their leaders Ubbe Ragnarsson
Ubbe Ragnarsson

Ubbe, Ubba or Hubba Ragnarsson was a son of Ragnar Lodbrok. Along with his brothers Halfdan Ragnarsson and Ivar the Boneless, he was a leader of the Great Heathen Army....
 and Ivar the Boneless
Ivar the Boneless

Ivar Ragnarsson nicknamed the Boneless , was a Denmark Viking chieftain and by reputation also a berserker. By the late 11th century, he was known as a son of the powerful Ragnar Lodbrok, ruler of an area probably comprising parts of Denmark and Sweden....
 had the victory, killed King Edmund, and remained in possession of the battlefield. The conquerors may have simply killed the king in battle, or shortly after. The more popular version of the story, which makes Edmund die as a martyr to Danish arrows when he had refused to renounce Christ or hold his kingdom as a vassal from heathen overlords, dates from comparatively soon after the event. It is not known which account is correct.

According to Abbo of Fleury
Abbo of Fleury

Abbo of Fleury , also known as Abbon or Saint Abbo was a monk, and later abbot, of the Benedictine monastery of Fleury sur Loire near Orl?ans, France....
, Edmund's earliest biographer, the story came to Abbo by way of St Dunstan
Dunstan

Dunstan was an abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, a bishop of Worcester, a bishop of London, and an archbishop of Canterbury who was later canonization as a saint....
, who heard it from the lips of Edmund's own sword-bearer. Given accepted birth and death days, this is just chronologically possible. In Abbo of Fleury's alternative version of events Edmund refused to meet the Danes in battle himself, preferring to die a martyr's death, with conscious parallels to the Passion of Christ:

The traditional date of his death, quoted by most reference works, is 870. However recent research has led to the claim that he actually died in 869, and this date is now accepted as fact in most new histories.

This uncertainty arose because the compilers of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English language chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The annals were created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great....
 dated
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English language chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The annals were created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great....
 the start of the year from September, so an event that took place in November 869 according to the modern calendar would be considered by them to take place in 870. The Great Heathen Army
Great Heathen Army

The "Great Heathen Army", also known as the Great Army or the Great Danish Army, was a Viking army originating in Denmark which pillaged and conquered much of England in the late 9th century....
 conquered the Kingdom of Northumbria
Kingdom of Northumbria

#REDIRECT Northumbria...
 in 866. They then invaded Wessex
Wessex

West Saxon redirects here. For other meanings of Wessex or West Saxon see Wessex .Wessex , from the Old English Westseaxe , was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of the English state in the 9th century, under the Wessex dynasty....
, the English kingdom
Heptarchy

Heptarchy is a collective name applied to the supposed seven Anglo-Saxons kingdoms of south, east, and central Great Britain during late antiquity and the early Middle Ages which eventually unified into England ....
 whose history from that time is best documented, in December 870. The uncertainty raises the question of whether they did so within a few weeks of killing Edmund, or whether they spent a year pillaging and consolidating their position in East Anglia.

One possible location for the battle is at Hoxne
Hoxne

Hoxne is an anciently established village in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, about five miles east-southeast of Diss, Norfolk and one-half mile south of the River Waveney....
 near Eye
Eye, Suffolk

Eye is a small market town in the county of Suffolk, East Anglia, England, south of Diss, and on the River Dove, Suffolk.Eye is twinned with the town of Pouzauges in the Vendee Departement of France...
 in Suffolk
Suffolk

Suffolk is a Non-metropolitan counties of England of Historic counties of England in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south....
, some 20 miles east of Thetford. Another candidate is in Dernford, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a Counties_of_the_United_Kingdom#England in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex, England and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west....
, while Bradfield St Clare, near Bury St Edmunds is also a possible site for the martyrdom.

Legacy

The king's body was ultimately interred at Beadoriceworth, the modern Bury St Edmunds. The shrine of Edmund soon became one of the most famous and wealthy pilgrimage locations in England and the reputation of the saint became universal. The date of his canonisation is unknown, although Archdeacon Hermann's Life of Edmund, written in the late 11th century
11th century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century is the period from 1001 to 1100 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era/Common Era....
, seems to state that it happened in the reign of Athelstan
Athelstan of England

Athelstan , called the Glorious, was the List of English monarchs from 924/925 to 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder, and nephew of Ethelfleda of Mercia....
 (924–939). Edmund's popularity among the English nobility was lasting. It is known that his banner was borne in the Irish expedition of the Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman

The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the conquest by William I of England in 1066, although a few Normans were already in England before the conquest....
s and also when Caerlaverock Castle
Caerlaverock Castle

Caerlaverock Castle is a 13th-century triangular moated castle in the Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve area at the Solway Firth, south of Dumfries in the south west of Scotland....
 was taken in 1300. A banner with Edmund's crest was also carried at the Battle of Agincourt
Battle of Agincourt

The Battle of Agincourt was an English victory against a much larger French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday 25 October 1415 ...
. Churches dedicated to his memory are found all over England, including Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren

Sir Christopher Wren was a 17th century England designer, astronomer, geometer, and one of the greatest English architects in history. Wren designed 53 London churches, including St Paul's Cathedral, as well as many secular buildings of note....
's St Edmund the King and Martyr in London. There are a number of colleges named after St Edmund
St. Edmund's College

There are a number of colleges named after Saint Edmund. These include:*St Edmund's College, Cambridge*St. Edmund's College, Ware*St Edmund's College, Canberra...
. His shrine at Bury St Edmunds was destroyed in 1539, during the English Reformation
English Reformation

The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th century England by which the Church of England first broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
. His feast day in the Orthodox, Roman and Anglican traditions is 20 November.

Martyrdom

Abbo of Fleury's vita
Vita

Vita or VITA may refer to:*Vita , a brief biography, often that of a saint * A curriculum vitae* Beta , the 2nd letter of the Greek alphabet...
  continues the narration of Edmund's decapitation without a break. His severed head
Cephalophore

A cephalophore is a saint who is generally depicted carrying his head in his hands; in art, this was usually meant to signify that the subject in question had been martyred by decapitation....
 was thrown into the wood. Day and night as Edmund's followers went seeking, calling out "Where are you, friend?" the head would answer, "Here, here, here," until at last, "a great wonder", they found Edmund's head in the possession of a grey wolf, clasped between its paws. "They were astonished at the wolf's guardianship". The wolf, sent by God to protect the head from the animals of the forest, was starving but did not eat the head for all the days it was lost. After recovering the head the villagers marched back to the kingdom, praising God and the wolf that served him. The wolf walked beside them as if tame all the way to the town, after which it turned around and vanished into the forest.

After giving the head and body a speedy burial, the kingdom rebuilt itself for several years before finally erecting a church worthy of Edmund's burial. Legend told that upon exhumation of the body, a miracle was discovered. All the arrow wounds upon Edmund's corpse were healed and his head reattached to his body. The only evidence of his previous decapitation was a thin, red line around his neck. Despite being buried for many years in a flimsy coffin, his skin was soft and fresh as if he were merely sleeping the entire time. These details induced the writers of the British Museum's account of the bog body
Bog body

Bog bodies, also known as bog people, are preserved human bodies found in bogs in Northern Europe, Great Britain and Ireland. Unlike most ancient human remains, bog bodies have retained their skin and internal organ due to the unusual conditions of the surrounding area....
 called Lindow Man
Lindow man

Lindow Man, also known as Lindow II and Pete Marsh, is the name given to the naturally-preserved bog body of an Iron Age man, discovered in a peat bog at Lindow Moss, Mobberley side of the border with Wilmslow, Cheshire, northwest England, on 1 August 1984 by commercial peat-cutters....
 to suggest that the body of St Edmund recovered in the fen
Fen

A fen is a type of wetland fed by surface and/or groundwater. Fens are characterized by their water chemistry, which is pH or alkaline. Fens are different from bogs, which are acidic, fed primarily by rainwater and often dominated by Sphagnum mosses....
s "was in fact a prehistoric bog body, and that in trying to find their murdered king, his people had recovered the remains of a sacred king of the old religion still bearing the marks of his ritual strangulation."

Patronage

One can find churches dedicated to his memory all over England, including Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren

Sir Christopher Wren was a 17th century England designer, astronomer, geometer, and one of the greatest English architects in history. Wren designed 53 London churches, including St Paul's Cathedral, as well as many secular buildings of note....
's St Edmund the King and Martyr
St Edmund the King and Martyr

St Edmund, King and Martyr is a former church building on Lombard Street, London, in the City of London. It was a Church of England church dedicated to Edmund the Martyr....
 in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
. There are a number of colleges named after St Edmund. Edmund is seen as the patron saint
Patron saint

A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, or person. Patron saints, because they have already transcended to the metaphysical, are able to intercede effectively for the needs of their special charges....
 of various kings, pandemics, torture victims
Torture

Torture, according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, is:In addition to state-sponsored torture, individuals or groups may be motivated to inflict torture on others for similar reasons to those of a state; however, the motive for torture can also be for the sadism gratification of the torturer, as was the case in the Moors M...
, and wolves, the Roman Catholic diocese of East Anglia, the English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 county of Suffolk
Suffolk

Suffolk is a Non-metropolitan counties of England of Historic counties of England in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south....
, Douai Abbey
Douai Abbey

Douai Abbey is a Benedictine Abbey at Woolhampton, near Thatcham, in the England county of Berkshire, situated within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth....
 and the French city of Toulouse
Toulouse

Toulouse is a commune of France in southwest France on the banks of the Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea....
. The Orthodox and Catholic Churches have considered him patron saint of England, but he is no longer mentioned in the national liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church in England. In 2006, a group that included BBC Radio Suffolk
BBC Radio Suffolk

BBC Radio Suffolk is the BBC Local Radio service for the England Counties of England of Suffolk, commencing broadcasts on 12 April 1990. Its studios are at Broadcasting House in St Matthews Street, Ipswich on 95.5 , 95.9 , 103.9 and 104.6 FM....
 and the East Anglian Daily Times
East Anglian Daily Times

The East Anglian Daily Times is a Great Britain local newspaper for Suffolk and Essex, based in Ipswich.It started publication on 13 October 1874...
 saw the failure of their campaign to get St Edmund named as the patron saint of England. Edward III
Edward III of England

Edward III was one of the most successful List of the monarchs of the Kingdom of Englands of the Britain in the Middle Ages. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II of England, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into the most efficient military power in Europe....
 replaced Edmund as a national saint by associating Saint George
Saint George

Saint George of Lydda was according to tradition, a Roman soldier in the Guard of Emperor Diocletian, venerated as a Christian martyr.In Hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Anglican Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, and the Eastern Catholic Churches....
 with the Order of the Garter
Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry, or knighthood, originating in medieval England, and presently bestowed on recipients in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms; it is the pinnacle of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom....
. The Bury St Edmunds MP
Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators....
 David Ruffley
David Ruffley

David Laurie Ruffley is a politician in the United Kingdom. He is Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds , which encompasses Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, and was first elected in 1997....
 had taken up the cause and helped deliver a large petition to the government in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
. BBC Radio Suffolk also called for a change of the English flag
Flag of England

The Flag of England is the St George's Cross. The red cross appeared as an emblem of England during the Middle Ages and the Crusades and is one of the earliest known emblems representing England....
 from the Cross of St George
St George's Cross

The St George's Cross is a centred red cross on a white background. Originally the flag of the Republic of Genoa, it is the national flag of England and Georgia , the provincial flag of Huesca, Zaragoza and Teruel as well as the municipal flag for numerous cities, including Montreal, Barcelona, Almer?a, Milan, Genoa, Padua and Freiburg im B...
 (Argent, a cross Gules or a red cross on a white field) to the new Flag of Suffolk
Flag of Suffolk

The Flag of Suffolk, , is a modern proposal for a county flag for the English county of Suffolk, designed by Bill Bulstrode. The flag bears a shield of the arms attributed to Saint Edmund the Martyr on a Cross of Saint George....
. This consists of three gold crowns on a field of blue (Azure, three crowns Or). This is an heraldic banner introduced during the Norman period. Prime Minister
Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of Cabinet in the Executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician....
 Tony Blair
Tony Blair

Anthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair is a British politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007....
 rejected the request, however their attempt was successful on another level:

Relics

Until the middle of the 19th century, an old tree stood in Hoxne Park and it was believed that it was the tree on which Edmund had been martyred. In 1849, the old tree fell down and was chopped up. According to the story, in the heart of the tree an arrow head was found. Pieces of the tree were kept and one of them was used to form part of the altar of a church which was dedicated to Edmund. Another piece of this tree is in the collection of Moyse's Hall Museum. A dentist volunteered to x-ray
X-ray

X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 10 to 0.01 nanometers, corresponding to frequency in the range 30 Hertz to 30 Hertz and energies in the range 120 Electron volt to 120 keV....
 this piece and found that it contained a bent nail.

Revenge

In Percy Dearmer's The Little Lives of the Saints, we are told of Edmund's posthumous revenge on the Danes:

Sweyn's
Sweyn I of Denmark

Sweyn I Forkbeard, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in English Sven the Dane, also known as Swegen and Tuck , was king of Denmark and England, as well as parts of Norway....
 son, King Canute
Canute the Great

Canute the Great, also known as Cnut in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, or Knut was a Viking king of England, Denmark, Norway, and parts of Sweden ....
, converted to Christianity and rebuilt the abbey at Bury St Edmunds. In 1020, he made a pilgrimage there and offered his own crown upon the shrine as atonement for the sins of his forefathers.

Edmund in fiction

In the Bernard Cornwell
Bernard Cornwell

Bernard Cornwell Order of the British Empire is an England author of historical novels. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe which were adapted into a series of Sharpe ....
 book The Last Kingdom
The Last Kingdom

The Last Kingdom is the first book in The Saxon Stories series by Bernard Cornwell. The series follows the wars between King Alfred the Great and the Danes or Vikings....
 King Edmund talks himself in to martyrdom when he tries to convince Ivar the Boneless
Ivar the Boneless

Ivar Ragnarsson nicknamed the Boneless , was a Denmark Viking chieftain and by reputation also a berserker. By the late 11th century, he was known as a son of the powerful Ragnar Lodbrok, ruler of an area probably comprising parts of Denmark and Sweden....
 of the greatness of God. The Danes recreate the maytyrdom of Saint Sebastian to see if a miracle
Miracle

File:Folio 171r - The Raising of Lazarus.jpgA miracle is a sensibly perceptible interruption of the laws of nature, such that can only be explained by divine intervention, and is sometimes associated with a miracle-worker....
 would happen and God would protect Edmund from the arrows.

See also

  • List of monarchs of East Anglia
    List of monarchs of East Anglia

    This is a chronological list of the monarchs of Kingdom of the East Angles, formally known as The Kingdom of the East Angles, one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons Heptarchy....


Further reading

  • Hervey, Francis. Corolla Sancti Eadmundi. London: J. Murray, 1907.
  • Grant, Judith, editor. La Passiun de Seint Edmund. London: Anglo–Norman Text Society, 1978. ISBN 0–905474–04–X
  • The life of St Edmund king and martyr. John Lydgate's illustrated verse life presented to Henry VI. A facsimile of British Library MS Harley 2278. Introduction by A. S. G. Edwards. London: The British Library, 2004, Pp. v, 23, 117 pl.


External links