Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants
With God on Our Side: Promoting the Cults of Murdered Royal Innocents in Anglo-Saxon Mercia and East Anglia
Department
English Department
College
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Date Range
2013-2014
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities
Abstract
In his Vita Sancti Oswaldi, Byrhtferth of Ramsey was the first to describe the murder of King Edward the Martyr (d. 978) in hagiographic terms. Edwards cult, centered in Shaftesbury (Dorset), soon rose to prominence and helped Shaftesbury become one of the wealthiest monastic institutions in England. However, the geographic genesis of much of Edwards hagiographic life is to be found not in Shaftesbury, nor even in Corfe, where he was murdered. Instead, one must look to the small Mercian hamlet of Winchcombe, and the cult of another murdered royal innocent, St. Kenelm. This paper will thus explore the ideological and textual connections between the cults of Edward and Kenelm and the role of Ramsey and Byrhtferth in the late tenth century propagation of the murdered royal innocent within saintly rhetoric.
Conference Name
Biennial Conference - Dublin 2013
Conference Location
Dublin, Ireland
ScholarWorks Citation
Anderson, Rachel S., "With God on Our Side: Promoting the Cults of Murdered Royal Innocents in Anglo-Saxon Mercia and East Anglia" (2014). Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants. 986.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/fsdg/986
