EGN NEWS DESK
The twenty third April is St George’s Day however St George was not the unique patron saint of England, so who was? This is the story …
The unique patron Saint of England
St George was identified in Anglo-Saxon England, and was talked about by the Venerable Bede. There have been additionally some Saxon church buildings devoted to St George, however St George was not the unique patron saint of England.
King Edmund
The unique patron saint of England was the truth is St Edmund, additionally known as Edmund the Martyr, or St Edmund King and Martyr, who had been King of East Anglia within the ninth century. What we find out about him comes primarily from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and from the later writings of a French monk known as Abbo of Fleury. According to Abbo, his supply was St Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had heard the story from an outdated man who had been Edmund’s sword-bearer.
East Anglia
Before England was unified within the tenth century, it was a patchwork of kingdoms of the Germanic tribes of the Angles and Saxons. The japanese Angles fashioned the Kingdom of East Anglia, which was the easternmost a part of southern England. This included the North Folk (now known as Norfolk) and the South Folk (now known as Suffolk). Even at the moment this space remains to be often known as East Anglia.
Edmund was born within the 12 months 840 or 841, and succeeded to the throne of East Anglia in 854 or 855, after the demise of his father King Æthelweard. Edmund was solely fifteen years outdated when he was topped on Christmas Day by Humbert, Bishop of Elmham.
Martyr
King Edmund was a Christian, who had apparently learnt the entire Psalter by coronary heart. In 869 he fought alongside King Alfred of Wessex towards the Viking and Norse invaders, which the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle known as the Great Heathen Army.
When his forces have been defeated, Edmund was captured close to Thetford by Ivar Ragnarsson, which interprets as Ivar the Boneless. Edmund was ordered to resign his religion and share energy with the pagan Vikings, however he refused.
He was killed by the Danes on 20 November 869, after refusing to resign Christianity. The story goes that after being tied to a tree and shot stuffed with arrows he was then beheaded. He was then succeeded as King of East Anglia by King Oswald
Edmund’s tomb
According to Abbo of Fleury, Edmund died at Haegelisdun, which was close to to the place he was killed. It isn’t identified for certain the place that is, however one concept is that it is likely to be modern-day Hellesdon in Norfolk, and one other concept is that it’s Hailesdon close to Maldon in Essex. Another custom is that it’s Hoxne in Suffolk, the place there’s a monument which claims to mark the spot of his demise. He was then buried close by in a wood chapel at a spot known as Suthtuna, which is Sutton in trendy English, though once more no-one is totally certain which Sutton.
Bury St Edmunds
In 902, Edmund’s stays have been moved to Beodericsworth in Suffolk. In 925, King Athelstan based a spiritual group to take care of Edmund’s shrine. After King Canute turned a Christian he ordered a brand new stone abbey to be constructed over the positioning, which was accomplished in 1032. The Abbey of St Edmunds turned one in every of England’s main pilgrimage websites. Pilgrims got here from throughout Europe to the abbey, and the city is understood to this present day as Bury St Edmunds.
Patron Saint of England
England had quite a few saints which have been thought-about patron saints, however St Edmund was the principle one. The banner of St. Edmund was carried into battle by the English military into mediaeval occasions. However by the point of King Edward I, on the finish of the thirteenth century, his banner had been joined by the purple cross banner of St. George.
Demoted by St George
In 1346, St George was credited with serving to England to win the Battle of Crécy in France. In 1348, King Edward III of England, created a brand new order of chivalry known as the Noble Order of the Garter, which nonetheless exists at the moment. King Edward III made St George the patron of the Order, and in addition declared him Patron Saint of England as a substitute of St Edmund. After that point, the cross of St George turned related to England, and was later adopted as its flag.
St Edmund’s Day
Edmund’s shrine was destroyed in 1539 throughout the dissolution of the monasteries. St Edmund is a saint within the Catholic Church, and can also be remembered within the Church of England.
There are many church buildings devoted to St Edmund. The most well-known might be St Edmund the King and Martyr’s Church in Lombard Street in London. The unique was burnt down within the Great Fire of London and the present one was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and accomplished in 1679.
Traditionally saints’ days are remembered on the day they died reasonably than the day they have been born (which is much less more likely to be identified) and so St Edmund’s Day is on 20 November, the date of his martyrdom. The acquire for St Edmund’s Day is “Eternal God, whose servant Edmund saved religion to the tip, each with you and along with his individuals, and glorified you by his demise: grant us such steadfastness of religion that, with the noble military of martyrs, we might come to benefit from the fullness of the resurrection life; by way of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who’s alive and reigns with you, within the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”
