Kings, Saints, and Monasteries in Pre-Viking Mercia

Abstract

From the first, men and women of royal birth formed a distinctive, indeed preponderant, class among Anglo-Saxon saints. At first sight it would appear that Mercia, whose royal family was converted relatively late, lacked early royal cults of the distinction of those of Northumbria, Kent, and East Anglia. Nevertheless, a considerable number of Mercian kings, princes, and princesses achieved sainthood in the late 7th and early 8th centuries, albeit generally in obscure and localized circumstances. The 7th-century pagan king, Penda, was (or was reputed) the progenitor of many saints, including his son, lEthelred, his daughters, Cyneburg and Cyneswith, and his granddaughter, Werburg, and more doubtfully Edith and Eadburg, his supposed daughters, and Rumwold, Wulflad, Rufinus, Osyth, and Mildburg, his reputed grandchildren. 1 In the 8th and 9th centuries Mercian interest in royal saints persisted. lEthelbald's relative, Guthlac, became the object of an important cult in the earlier 8th century, and two Mercian princes, Kenelm and Wigstan, attracted devotion in the 9th. Moreover, the Mercians accorded similar honours to members of other royal families: the Northumbrian king, Oswald, is a particularly notable example, but there were others, including the Northumbrian prince, Ealhmund (Alcmund), and the East Anglian king, lEthelberht. 2 This list is by no means exhaustive. The purpose of this paper is not, however, to add to it, but to consider the origins of some of the more important of these cults and their fortunes up to the final incorporation of Mercia into the West Saxon empire. In doing so, it is hoped to show that generally they were of ancient foundation, under royal auspices, and that often they had strong political overtones. Above all, it will be stressed that many are linked with royal administrative centres and in particular with the ancient minsters which were founded at such centres. The term 'minster' was applied by the Anglo-Saxons to all religious communities, whether of monks proper or of secular clergy, a usage which reflects the fact that many early Anglo-Saxon monasteries had assumed the pastoral role which was ultimately the principal distinction • I am very grateful to Dr D. W. Rollason, Dr J. Blair, and the Editor for many helpful suggestions and comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

The Character of the Treacherous Woman in the Passiones of Early Medieval English Royal Martyrs

“…Indeed, in his study of Mercian royal saints, Alan Thacker asserts that there is no definitive evidence for Kenelm's kingship of Mercia, nor for Cwoenthryth's involvement in a plot to murder her brother, nor even for a vernacular cult prior to 970. 18 Critically, in her examination of English royal saints' cults, Catherine Cubitt suggests that the literary transmission of Vita, so distant from the event it purports to describe, was inspired by the murder of King Edward the Martyr and a subsequent vogue for hagiographical biography. 19 It is not a leap to then suggest that the narrative similarities between the two hagiographies, as exemplified by the presence of the treacherous woman, similarly stem from popular interest in Edward's death and to then extend this argument to the thematically analogous Passio AEthelberhti.…”

“…Of our treacherous woman, Thacker has highlighted that the name Cynethryth in Passio is late eighth-century in form, whereas in later traditions her name is the same as that of Kenelm's traitorous sister, Cwoenthryth. 96 When considered alongside the established cult in Hereford and the narrative's local flavour, it seems that Passio retains a believable cultural memory of Offa's wife.…”