The twenty third April is St George’s Day but St George was not the unique patron saint of England, so who was? This is the story …
The original patron Saint of England
St George was known in Anglo-Saxon England, and was mentioned by the Venerable Bede. There were also some Saxon churches dedicated to St George, but St George was not the unique patron saint of England.
King Edmund
The original patron saint of England was in truth St Edmund, also called Edmund the Martyr, or St Edmund King and Martyr, who had been King of East Anglia within the ninth century. What we learn about him comes mainly from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and from the later writings of a French monk called Abbo of Fleury. According to Abbo, his source was St Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had heard the story from an old 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 eastern Angles formed the Kingdom of East Anglia, which was the easternmost a part of southern England. This included the North Folk (now called Norfolk) and the South Folk (now called Suffolk). Even today this area 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 death of his father King Æthelweard. Edmund was only fifteen years old when he was crowned on Christmas Day by Humbert, Bishop of Elmham.
Martyr
King Edmund was a Christian, who had reputedly learnt the entire Psalter by heart. In 869 he fought alongside King Alfred of Wessex against the Viking and Norse invaders, which the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle known as the Great Heathen Army.
When his forces were defeated, Edmund was captured near Thetford by Ivar Ragnarsson, which translates as Ivar the Boneless. Edmund was ordered to surrender his faith and share power with the pagan Vikings, but he refused.
He was killed by the Danes on 20 November 869, after refusing to surrender Christianity. The story goes that after being tied to a tree and shot filled 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 near to where he was killed. It isn’t known needless to say where that is, but one theory is that it may be modern-day Hellesdon in Norfolk, and one other theory is that it’s Hailesdon near Maldon in Essex. Another tradition is that it’s Hoxne in Suffolk, where there may be a monument which claims to mark the spot of his death. He was then buried nearby in a picket chapel at a spot called Suthtuna, which is Sutton in modern English, although again no-one is totally sure which Sutton.
Bury St Edmunds
In 902, Edmund’s stays were moved to Beodericsworth in Suffolk. In 925, King Athelstan founded a non secular community to take care of Edmund’s shrine. After King Canute became a Christian he ordered a recent stone abbey to be built over the location, which was accomplished in 1032. The Abbey of St Edmunds became certainly one of England’s major pilgrimage sites. Pilgrims got here from throughout Europe to the abbey, and the town is thought to today as Bury St Edmunds.
Patron Saint of England
England had plenty of saints which were considered patron saints, but St Edmund was the predominant one. The banner of St. Edmund was carried into battle by the English army into mediaeval times. However by the point of King Edward I, at the tip of the thirteenth century, his banner had been joined by the red cross banner of St. George.
Demoted by St George
In 1346, St George was credited with helping England to win the Battle of Crécy in France. In 1348, King Edward III of England, created a recent order of chivalry called the Noble Order of the Garter, which still exists today. King Edward III made St George the patron of the Order, and likewise declared him Patron Saint of England as an alternative of St Edmund. After that point, the cross of St George became related to England, and was later adopted as its flag.
St Edmund’s Day
Edmund’s shrine was destroyed in 1539 through 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 churches dedicated to St Edmund. The most well-known might be St Edmund the King and Martyr’s Church in Lombard Street in London. The original 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 quite than the day they were born (which is less prone to be known) and so St Edmund’s Day is on 20 November, the date of his martyrdom. The collect for St Edmund’s Day is “Eternal God, whose servant Edmund kept faith to the tip, each with you and together with his people, and glorified you by his death: grant us such steadfastness of religion that, with the noble army of martyrs, we may come to benefit from the fullness of the resurrection life; through 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.”
