Saint Botolph
Encyclopedia
Botwulf of Thorney was an English
abbot
and saint
. He is the patron saint
of travellers and the various aspects of farming. His feast day is celebrated either on 17 June (in England) or 25 June (in Scotland), and his translation
on 1 December.
. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
records for the year 6531: The Middle Angles, under earldorman Peada
, received the true faith. King Anna
was killed and Botulf began to build the church at Ikanho . There is no modern town named Icanho (which means 'ox
-island' or more strictly, 'ox hill', as in Plymouth Hoe
) and the location is disputed; it may be in southern Lincolnshire
, where some of the newly Christianized Middle Angles lived, but is most likely to have been by the estuary
of the Alde
in Suffolk
, where a church remains on top of an isolated hill in the parish of Iken
; just the place for an early monastery
.2. The Life of St Ceolfrith, written around the time of Bede
by an unknown author mentions an abbot named Botolphus in East Anglia
, "a man of remarkable life and learning, full of the grace of the Holy Spirit
". Suffolk is part of East Anglia.3
Botwulf is supposed to have been buried at his foundation of Icanho. In 970 King Edgar gave permission for his remains to be transferred to Burgh
, near Woodbridge
where they remained for some 50 years before being transferred, on the instructions of Cnut
, to their own tomb at the Abbey
of Bury St Edmunds.
His relics were later transferred (with those of his brother Adulf
) to Thorney Abbey
, although his head was transferred to Ely
and other portions to Westminster Abbey
and other houses.
and Sussex
are dedicated to him, with a concentration in East Anglia
, including Colchester
, Eynsford
, Hadstock
, Shepshed
and the Lincoln deanery called Christianity
. However, probably the best known is The Stump
in the Lincolnshire town of Boston
(Botwulf's town), from which the Massachusetts
city of Boston takes its name. The Oxford Dictionary of Saints states that 64 ancient English churches were dedicated to Saint Botwulf, but later research has suggested the true number may have been as large as 71.
In his guise as a patron saint of travellers, four City of London churches, near gates in the City walls, were dedicated to him - St Botolph Billingsgate
(destroyed in the Great Fire
and never rebuilt), St Botolph Aldersgate
, St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate
(where the poet Keats was baptised) and St Botolph's Aldgate
. This is attributed to providing places for incoming travellers to give thanks to him for safe arrival and for outgoing travellers to pray to him for a safe journey, and/or to relics of him coming through these four gates when King Edgar
moved them from Iken
to Westminster Abbey
.
He is remembered in the names of both the market town of Boston in Lincolnshire
(100 miles north of London), and Boston in Massachusetts, United States.
In Boston in Massachusetts, St Botolph is the name of a street (St. Botolph Street), a private club and the President's House at Boston College
.
There is also a St. Botolph Street in London, England, as well as its being the name of several churches dedicated to the saint.
Botolph gave his name to several English villages including Bottlebridge near Peterborough. Originally called Botulph’s Bridge, the village lost its identity when it became part of Orton Longueville parish in 1762.
Cambridge University
's poetry
journal in the 1950s was called St. Botolph's Review
, for which Ted Hughes
wrote. It was named for St. Botolph's Church in Cambridge, since one of its co-founders, Lucas Myers, lived on the grounds of its rectory. A second edition of the journal was published in 2006.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
and saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
. He is 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, clan, family, or person...
of travellers and the various aspects of farming. His feast day is celebrated either on 17 June (in England) or 25 June (in Scotland), and his translation
Translation (relics)
In Christianity, the translation of relics is the removal of holy objects from one locality to another ; usually only the movement of the remains of the saint's body would be treated so formally, with secondary relics such as items of clothing treated with less ceremony...
on 1 December.
Life and works
Little is known about his life, other than doubtful details in a surviving account written four hundred years after his death by the 11th-century monk FolcardFolcard
-Life:Folcard, a Fleming by race and birth, was a monk of St. Bertin's in Flanders, who is supposed to have come over to England in the reign of Edward the Confessor. He entered the monastery of the Holy Trinity or Christ Church, Canterbury, and was renowned for his learning, and especially for his...
. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
records for the year 6531: The Middle Angles, under earldorman Peada
Peada of Mercia
Peada , a son of Penda, was briefly King of southern Mercia after his father's death in November 655 until his own death in the spring of the next year.In about the year 653 Peada was made king of the Middle Angles by his father...
, received the true faith. King Anna
Anna of East Anglia
Anna was King of East Anglia from the early 640s until his death. Anna was a member of the Wuffingas family, the ruling dynasty of the East Angles. He was one of the three sons of Eni who ruled East Anglia, succeeding some time after Ecgric was killed in battle by Penda of Mercia...
was killed and Botulf began to build the church at Ikanho . There is no modern town named Icanho (which means 'ox
Ox
An ox , also known as a bullock in Australia, New Zealand and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle; castration makes the animals more tractable...
-island' or more strictly, 'ox hill', as in Plymouth Hoe
Plymouth Hoe
Plymouth Hoe, referred to locally as the Hoe, is a large south facing open public space in the English coastal city of Plymouth. The Hoe is adjacent to and above the low limestone cliffs that form the seafront and it commands views of Plymouth Sound, Drake's Island, and across the Hamoaze to Mount...
) and the location is disputed; it may be in southern Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, where some of the newly Christianized Middle Angles lived, but is most likely to have been by the estuary
Estuary
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
of the Alde
River Alde
The River Alde is a river in Suffolk, England, with a source near Laxfield in the same area as the River Blyth. Initially a stream, it becomes tidal and widens considerably when it reaches Snape. It meanders east past Aldeburgh, after which this part of the river was named...
in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, where a church remains on top of an isolated hill in the parish of Iken
Iken
Iken is a small village and civil parish in the marshlands of the English county of Suffolk.It is near the estuary of the River Alde on the North Sea coast and is located south east of Snape and due north of Orford....
; just the place for an early monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
.2. The Life of St Ceolfrith, written around the time of 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...
by an unknown author mentions an abbot named Botolphus in East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, "a man of remarkable life and learning, full of the grace of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
". Suffolk is part of East Anglia.3
Botwulf is supposed to have been buried at his foundation of Icanho. In 970 King Edgar gave permission for his remains to be transferred to Burgh
Burgh, Suffolk
Burgh is a village and civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal district of Suffolk, England, about north-west of Woodbridge.St. Boltoph's church stands near the site of a Roman villa that stretches towards Clopton churchyard...
, near Woodbridge
Woodbridge, Suffolk
Woodbridge is a town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. It is in the East of England, not far from the coast. It lies along the River Deben, with a population of about 7,480. The town is served by Woodbridge railway station on the Ipswich-Lowestoft East Suffolk Line. Woodbridge is twinned with...
where they remained for some 50 years before being transferred, on the instructions of Cnut
Canute the Great
Cnut the Great , also known as Canute, was a king of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden. Though after the death of his heirs within a decade of his own and the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history, historian Norman F...
, to their own tomb at the Abbey
Abbey
An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...
of Bury St Edmunds.
His relics were later transferred (with those of his brother Adulf
Adulf
-Life:He is said to have been the brother of Saint Botolph, but virtually nothing is known about his life. The story, which originated with the monk Folcard's account of Botolph's life, that Adulf was at one time bishop of Maastricht, is now generally thought to rest on a confusion of names, and to...
) to Thorney Abbey
Thorney Abbey
Thorney Abbey was on the island of Thorney in The Fens of Cambridgeshire, England.- History :The earliest documentary sources refer to a mid-7th century hermitage destroyed by a Viking incursion in the late 9th century. A Benedictine monastery was founded in the 970s, and a huge rebuilding...
, although his head was transferred to Ely
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...
and other portions to Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
and other houses.
Church dedications
Many churches between YorkshireYorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
and Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
are dedicated to him, with a concentration in East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, including Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...
, Eynsford
Eynsford
Eynsford is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located on the River Darent, south of Dartford in Kent.-The village:...
, Hadstock
Hadstock
Hadstock is a village in Essex, England, about from Saffron Walden. It is on the county boundary with Cambridgeshire and about from Cambridge. The 2001 Census recorded a parish population of 320....
, Shepshed
St Botolph's Church, Shepshed
St Botolph's Church, Shepshed is the Church of England Parish Church in Shepshed, Leicestershire.-Background:It is the most westerly church dedicated to St Botolph. It is Grade I listed building....
and the Lincoln deanery called Christianity
Deanery of Christianity (Lincoln)
The Deanery of Christianity is a deanery in the Anglican Diocese of Lincoln in England immediately around the city of Lincoln.Parishes*Lincoln St Botolph*Boultham St Helen*Boultham St Matthew*Bracebridge*Lincoln St Giles*Lincoln St Faith...
. However, probably the best known is The Stump
The Stump
St Botolph's Church is a parish church in the Church of England in Boston, Lincolnshire. It is famous for its extraordinarily tall tower, known as the Boston Stump.-Background:...
in the Lincolnshire town of Boston
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...
(Botwulf's town), from which the Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
city of Boston takes its name. The Oxford Dictionary of Saints states that 64 ancient English churches were dedicated to Saint Botwulf, but later research has suggested the true number may have been as large as 71.
In his guise as a patron saint of travellers, four City of London churches, near gates in the City walls, were dedicated to him - St Botolph Billingsgate
Billingsgate
Billingsgate is a small ward in the south-east of the City of London, lying on the north bank of the River Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge...
(destroyed in the Great Fire
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
and never rebuilt), St Botolph Aldersgate
St Botolph Aldersgate
St Botolph's-without-Aldersgate is a Church of England church on Aldersgate Street in the City of London, dedicated to St Botolph. The church is renowned for its beautiful interior and historic organ....
, St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate
St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate
St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate is a Church of England church in the City of London, first mentioned in 1212 and dedicated to St Botolph.The nearest London Underground station is Liverpool Street.-History:...
(where the poet Keats was baptised) and St Botolph's Aldgate
St Botolph's Aldgate
St Botolph's Church, Aldgate, St Botolph-without-Aldgate, or just Aldgate Church, is a Church of England liberal and inclusive parish church in the City of London, standing at the junction of Houndsditch and Aldgate High Street. The current 18th century church is made of brick with stone quoins...
. This is attributed to providing places for incoming travellers to give thanks to him for safe arrival and for outgoing travellers to pray to him for a safe journey, and/or to relics of him coming through these four gates when King Edgar
Edgar of England
Edgar the Peaceful, or Edgar I , also called the Peaceable, was a king of England . Edgar was the younger son of Edmund I of England.-Accession:...
moved them from Iken
Iken
Iken is a small village and civil parish in the marshlands of the English county of Suffolk.It is near the estuary of the River Alde on the North Sea coast and is located south east of Snape and due north of Orford....
to Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
.
Lists
Lists of churches dedicated to him can be found:Secular connections
St. Botolph founded the monastery of Ikanhoe in East Anglia, and the place name was "Botolphston" (from "Botolph's stone" or "Botolph's town"), later shortened to "Boston".He is remembered in the names of both the market town of Boston in Lincolnshire
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...
(100 miles north of London), and Boston in Massachusetts, United States.
In Boston in Massachusetts, St Botolph is the name of a street (St. Botolph Street), a private club and the President's House at Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
.
There is also a St. Botolph Street in London, England, as well as its being the name of several churches dedicated to the saint.
Botolph gave his name to several English villages including Bottlebridge near Peterborough. Originally called Botulph’s Bridge, the village lost its identity when it became part of Orton Longueville parish in 1762.
Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
's poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
journal in the 1950s was called St. Botolph's Review
St. Botolph's Review
St Botolph's Review was the student-made poetry journal from Cambridge University, England in 1956, which saw the first publication of Ted Hughes' poetry, at the launch of which Hughes met Sylvia Plath. A copy of the original journal was stored in the British Library in 2010 . A second edition...
, for which Ted Hughes
Ted Hughes
Edward James Hughes OM , more commonly known as Ted Hughes, was an English poet and children's writer. Critics routinely rank him as one of the best poets of his generation. Hughes was British Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death.Hughes was married to American poet Sylvia Plath, from 1956 until...
wrote. It was named for St. Botolph's Church in Cambridge, since one of its co-founders, Lucas Myers, lived on the grounds of its rectory. A second edition of the journal was published in 2006.
Sources
- Attwater, D., The Penguin Dictionary of Saints, London (1965)
- Care Evans, A., The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial, London (1986) ISBN 0-7141-0544-9
- Ryan, George E., Botolph Of Boston, Christopher Publishing House (1971) ISBN 0815802528
- Savage, A., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Godalming (1995) ISBN 1-85833-478-0
External links
- Life of St Botolph
- Catholic Encyclopaedia - Life of Botulph
- Botulph - East Anglian Saint
- Icon of St. Botolph
Footnotes
- Note 1: But see Penda footnote 1.
- Note 2: See Life of St Botolph external link.
- Note 3: For a summary of the politics of East Anglia in the transition between PaganismPaganismPaganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
and ChristianityChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, see Care Evans, A., Chapters 13 and 14.