Saint Bega
Encyclopedia
Saint Bega was reputedly a saint of the Early Middle Ages
; an Irish
princess who valued virginity
. Promised in marriage to a Viking
prince who, according to a medieval manuscript The Life of St Bega, was "son of the king of Norway
", Bega "fled across the Irish sea
to land at St. Bees on the Cumbria
n coast. There she settled for a time, leading a life of exemplary piety, then, fearing the raids of pirates which were starting along the coast, she moved over to Northumbria
". The most likely time for this would have been after 850, when the Vikings were settling Ireland.
and is dated to the mid 13th century. The Life continues:
So the account has Bega living in seclusion, and after a time travelling to Northumbria, where she was admitted to sacred vows. It also states that she founded a nunnery at Hartlepool
, but modern historians believe the writer of the Life created a composite St Bega, with events from the lives of Heui, who founded that nunnery, and Begu; who was mentioned in Bede
's life of St Hilda of Whitby
. This confusion put Bega into the 7th Century, which is suspect as the Vikings only started raiding Ireland from c. 795 onwards.
A version of the Snow miracle is also found in the Sandford manuscript, which was written in English after the Dissolution, and formerly in the Dean and Chapter archives at Carlisle Cathedral. This garbled account is a less probable version than that in the Life, and sets the miracle in the days of St Bega herself.
The Life contains accounts of nine miracles brought about by the influence of St Bega. They are earthy folk tales with miraculous interpretation.
The first concerns a raider from Galloway, who set out to steal a horse. His mother warned him against theft on the land of St Bega, but her son was scornful and moving his hands to the private parts of his buttocks, he tauntingly had said to his mother "what can that little old woman do to me?" As he escaped with the horse, arrows were fired after him as he crouched low on the horse, and the inevitable happened. The third concerns Godard of Millom, whose men would not remove their horses from the monks' pasture to which they had strayed. When the men came to saddle the horses, they found the hooves almost severed, and in penance Godard gave the field to the Monks. The seventh miracle tells of three men of Workington, who were imprisoned in Egremont Castle for killing a man in a drunken brawl, but having confessed their sins to St Bega, were rescued by her and found sanctuary at St Bees. The ninth miracle tells of two sick brothers who, after seeing a vision at Tynmouth, travelled to St Bees in a cart, and were healed; leaving the cart as thanks.
The register of St Bees Priory records several miracles by the power of prayer to St Bega. In 1310 "God worked many miracles by the prayers and merits of St Bega...to the edification of all the people with many eye-witnesses". In 1313 "A certain Irish boy received his sight in the chapel of St Bega through the merits and prayers of the said virgin, all the community seeing it" .
from the times of Henry II and Richard I, and the phraseology of the early charters indicates a pre-Norman church at St Bees dedicated to St Bega.
At the granting of the first charter of the Benedictine priory one of the witnesses was Gillebecoc; meaning devotee of Beghoc, indicating a Bega cult already in existence . The writer of the Life relates that St Bega was given a bracelet in Ireland by a heavenly being, which she left behind in St Bees when she travelled to Northumberland. It was described as having a holy cross upon it, which fits a style of the 9th and 10th Centuries. The bracelet is mentioned several times in the charters of St Bees Priory
; one instance is in the middle of the 13th Century when an oath was taken by John of Hale "having touched the sacred things..and upon the bracelet of St Bega". An account roll from as late as 1516/1517 records offerings of 67s. 9d to the bracelet of St Bega; so the cult and the relic were still a going concern at that late time.
from St Mary's records the day as 7 November. Since this discovery in the late 20th century, St Bega's day has been celebrated in St Bees on this date.
The 1999 edition of the Dictionary of National Biography
includes an article (by Professor Robert Bartlett
) that treats St Bega as a mythical figure. A 1980 paper by John Todd offers a comprehensive review of the historical references to that date, including a discussion on her existence. He finishes with the words "We must search for the historical St Bega, not in the glorious years of the Northumbrian Kingdom, but the dark years of its fall. But our search may well be disappointed" .
wrote the long historical novel Credo
, with St Bega as the central character. He telescoped the events and dates of several centuries into the lifespan of the saint. However, this is freely admitted as an artistic device; unlike the medieval writer of the Life. This stirring work has re-awakened interest in St Bega.
In 2000, local author Jill Hudson was commissioned by St Bees Priory
PCC to write a play about St Bega to celebrate the Millennium. This play, 'The Bracelet of St Bega' was staged in the Priory for three nights in November 2000. A fresh adaptation by Gus Kennedy was similarly staged in the Priory in November 2010 in the week of the feast of St Bega.
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
; an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
princess who valued virginity
Virginity
Virginity refers to the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. There are cultural and religious traditions which place special value and significance on this state, especially in the case of unmarried females, associated with notions of personal purity, honor and worth...
. Promised in marriage to a Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
prince who, according to a medieval manuscript The Life of St Bega, was "son of the king of Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
", Bega "fled across the Irish sea
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...
to land at St. Bees on the Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
n coast. There she settled for a time, leading a life of exemplary piety, then, fearing the raids of pirates which were starting along the coast, she moved over to 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...
". The most likely time for this would have been after 850, when the Vikings were settling Ireland.
The life of St. Bega
The account of Bega's flight from Ireland is found in the Life of St Bega; which was part of a collection of various English saints' lives that belonged to Holmcultram AbbeyHolmcultram Abbey
Holmcultram Abbey was a Cistercian monastery founded in 1150 in what is now the village of Abbeytown in Cumbria in England but at the time of foundation was in territory in the possession of David I of Scotland, who together with his son, Henry, founded it in 1150...
and is dated to the mid 13th century. The Life continues:
So the account has Bega living in seclusion, and after a time travelling to Northumbria, where she was admitted to sacred vows. It also states that she founded a nunnery at Hartlepool
Hartlepool
Hartlepool is a town and port in North East England.It was founded in the 7th century AD, around the Northumbrian monastery of Hartlepool Abbey. The village grew during the Middle Ages and developed a harbour which served as the official port of the County Palatine of Durham. A railway link from...
, but modern historians believe the writer of the Life created a composite St Bega, with events from the lives of Heui, who founded that nunnery, and Begu; who was mentioned in 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...
's life of St Hilda of Whitby
Hilda of Whitby
Hilda of Whitby or Hild of Whitby was a Christian saint and the founding abbess of the monastery at Whitby, which was chosen as the venue for the Synod of Whitby...
. This confusion put Bega into the 7th Century, which is suspect as the Vikings only started raiding Ireland from c. 795 onwards.
The miracles
Bega is associated in legend with a number of miracles, the most famous being the "Snow miracle", which is described in the Life of St Bega:- "Ranulf le Meschin (sic) had endowed the monastery with its lands, but a lawsuit later developed about their extent. The monks feared a miscarriage of justice. The day appointed for a perambulation of the boundaries arrived - and, lo and behold, there was a thick snowfall on all the surrounding lands but not a flake upon the lands of the priory."
A version of the Snow miracle is also found in the Sandford manuscript, which was written in English after the Dissolution, and formerly in the Dean and Chapter archives at Carlisle Cathedral. This garbled account is a less probable version than that in the Life, and sets the miracle in the days of St Bega herself.
The Life contains accounts of nine miracles brought about by the influence of St Bega. They are earthy folk tales with miraculous interpretation.
The first concerns a raider from Galloway, who set out to steal a horse. His mother warned him against theft on the land of St Bega, but her son was scornful and moving his hands to the private parts of his buttocks, he tauntingly had said to his mother "what can that little old woman do to me?" As he escaped with the horse, arrows were fired after him as he crouched low on the horse, and the inevitable happened. The third concerns Godard of Millom, whose men would not remove their horses from the monks' pasture to which they had strayed. When the men came to saddle the horses, they found the hooves almost severed, and in penance Godard gave the field to the Monks. The seventh miracle tells of three men of Workington, who were imprisoned in Egremont Castle for killing a man in a drunken brawl, but having confessed their sins to St Bega, were rescued by her and found sanctuary at St Bees. The ninth miracle tells of two sick brothers who, after seeing a vision at Tynmouth, travelled to St Bees in a cart, and were healed; leaving the cart as thanks.
The register of St Bees Priory records several miracles by the power of prayer to St Bega. In 1310 "God worked many miracles by the prayers and merits of St Bega...to the edification of all the people with many eye-witnesses". In 1313 "A certain Irish boy received his sight in the chapel of St Bega through the merits and prayers of the said virgin, all the community seeing it" .
The cult
The name of the village Kirkeby Becok used in the charters of St Bees PriorySt Bees Priory
St Bees Priory is the parish church of St Bees, Cumbria. The Benedictine priory was founded by William le Meschin, Lord of Egremont on an earlier religious site, and was dedicated by Archbishop Thurstan of York sometime between 1120 and 1135...
from the times of Henry II and Richard I, and the phraseology of the early charters indicates a pre-Norman church at St Bees dedicated to St Bega.
At the granting of the first charter of the Benedictine priory one of the witnesses was Gillebecoc; meaning devotee of Beghoc, indicating a Bega cult already in existence . The writer of the Life relates that St Bega was given a bracelet in Ireland by a heavenly being, which she left behind in St Bees when she travelled to Northumberland. It was described as having a holy cross upon it, which fits a style of the 9th and 10th Centuries. The bracelet is mentioned several times in the charters of St Bees Priory
St Bees Priory
St Bees Priory is the parish church of St Bees, Cumbria. The Benedictine priory was founded by William le Meschin, Lord of Egremont on an earlier religious site, and was dedicated by Archbishop Thurstan of York sometime between 1120 and 1135...
; one instance is in the middle of the 13th Century when an oath was taken by John of Hale "having touched the sacred things..and upon the bracelet of St Bega". An account roll from as late as 1516/1517 records offerings of 67s. 9d to the bracelet of St Bega; so the cult and the relic were still a going concern at that late time.
St Bega's Day
About 1400 it is recorded that St Bega's day was celebrated 'in albs' (for a lesser saint) at the mother house of St Mary's Abbey, York. A fifteenth century Book of Hours in the Bodleian LibraryBodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
from St Mary's records the day as 7 November. Since this discovery in the late 20th century, St Bega's day has been celebrated in St Bees on this date.
Hymn to St Bega
The Hymn to St Bega, "Oracio ad Sanctam Begam", was discovered in the late 20th century in the 15th century book of hours mentioned above. It would undoubtedly have been sung on St Bega's day, and the full text is printed in John Todd's article reproduced on the St Bees websitehttp://www.stbees.org.uk/publications/bega/index.htm. The Hymn received its first modern performance on St Bega's Day 1981 at St Bees Priory, using an original composition for orchestra and choir by Hugh Turpin.Cult or person?
Present day scholarship tends to treat St Bega not as a historical personage but a cult. As one scholar states; "The discovery of inconsistencies between these medieval texts, coupled with the significance attached to her jewellery (said to have been left in Cumbria on her departure for the north-east), now indicate that the abbess never existed. ... More plausible is the suggestion that St Bega was the personification of a Cumbrian cult centred on ‘her’ bracelet (Old English: beag)" .The 1999 edition of the Dictionary of National Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
includes an article (by Professor Robert Bartlett
Robert Bartlett (historian)
Robert Bartlett FRHistS, FBA, FRSE, FSA is a historian and medievalist. Bartlett is English, though his academic interests cover the whole of Europe....
) that treats St Bega as a mythical figure. A 1980 paper by John Todd offers a comprehensive review of the historical references to that date, including a discussion on her existence. He finishes with the words "We must search for the historical St Bega, not in the glorious years of the Northumbrian Kingdom, but the dark years of its fall. But our search may well be disappointed" .
The modern legend
The 16th century historian John Leland seems to have been responsible for starting the "nunnery" legend by reference to a "humble little monastery". Unfortunately some 19th century local historians unquestioningly accepted the pre-Viking era date given in the Life, and presumably prompted by Leland, they embellished the tale with the founding of a nunnery. In the words of John Todd writing in 1980, "Local historians in the last century had no doubt about the answer. She was an Irish saint who crossed the sea about 650 to found a nunnery at St Bees, which was destroyed in the Viking invasion. But there is no evidence in the Life or elsewhere that Bega's life at St Bees was other than solitary" . Regrettably the 7th century date and the imaginary nunnery live on today in some guidebooks, including the pages of Pevsner..St. Bega in modern writing
Melvyn BraggMelvyn Bragg
Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg FRSL FRTS FBA, FRS FRSA is an English broadcaster and author best known for his work with the BBC and for presenting the The South Bank Show...
wrote the long historical novel Credo
Credo (novel)
Credo is a novel by British author and broadcaster Melvyn Bragg, published in 1996. An epic story of the Christian faith set in 7th Century Britain, it centres around the life of a young Celtic Princess torn between her dedication to God's service and her love for Padric, a Prince of Rheged...
, with St Bega as the central character. He telescoped the events and dates of several centuries into the lifespan of the saint. However, this is freely admitted as an artistic device; unlike the medieval writer of the Life. This stirring work has re-awakened interest in St Bega.
In 2000, local author Jill Hudson was commissioned by St Bees Priory
St Bees Priory
St Bees Priory is the parish church of St Bees, Cumbria. The Benedictine priory was founded by William le Meschin, Lord of Egremont on an earlier religious site, and was dedicated by Archbishop Thurstan of York sometime between 1120 and 1135...
PCC to write a play about St Bega to celebrate the Millennium. This play, 'The Bracelet of St Bega' was staged in the Priory for three nights in November 2000. A fresh adaptation by Gus Kennedy was similarly staged in the Priory in November 2010 in the week of the feast of St Bega.
See also
- BegnetBegnetSt. Begnet , also Begneta, Begnete, Begnait or Becnait is a patron saint of Dalkey, Ireland. She is noted as a "virgin, not a martyr." Her feast day is November 12...
, patron saint of DalkeyDalkeyDalkey is suburb of Dublin and seaside resort in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County, Ireland. It was founded as a Viking settlement and became an important port during the Middle Ages. According to John Clyn, it was one of the ports through which the plague entered Ireland in the mid-14th century...
, whose stories may have become conflated with those of Bega