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Sanctity in Tenth-Century Anglo-Latin Hagiography: Wulfstan of Winchester's Vita Sancti Eethelwoldi and Byrhtferth of Ramsey's Vita Sancti Oswaldi

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Sanctity in Tenth-Century Anglo-Latin Hagiography: Wulfstan of Winchester's Vita Sancti Eethelwoldi and Byrhtferth of Ramsey's Vita Sancti Oswaldi Sanctity in Tenth-Century Anglo-Latin Hagiography: Wulfstan of Winchester's Vita Sancti EEthelwoldi and Byrhtferth of Ramsey's Vita Sancti Oswaldi Nicola Jane Robertson Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds, Centre for Medieval Studies, September 2003 The candidate confinns that the work submitted is her own work and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr Mary Swan and Professor Ian Wood for their guidance and support throughout the course of this project. Professor Wood's good-natured advice and perceptive comments have helped guide me over the past four years. Dr Swan's counsel and encouragement above and beyond the call of duty have kept me going, especially in these last, most difficult stages. I would also like to thank Dr William Flynn, for all his help with my Latin and useful commentary, even though he was not officially obliged to offer it. My advising tutor Professor Joyce Hill also played an important part in the completion of this work. I should extend my gratitude to Alison Martin, for a constant supply of stationery and kind words. I am also grateful for the assistance of the staff of the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. I would also like to thank all the students of the Centre for Medieval Studies, past and present, who have always offered a friendly and receptive environment for the exchange of ideas and assorted cakes. In particular I would like to thank Alexandra Domingue, Melanie Brunner, Suzanne Paul, Philip Shaw, Yuichi Akae and James Roberts for their assistance, both personal and academic, throughout the duration of my studies. On a personal note I would like to thank Aileen Kozsdiy and Abigail Gometz for making me laugh even in the darkest times. My thanks also go to Pakom Phornnarit for technical support and more cakes! To Marta Cobb, there aren't enough words to express the thanks lowe you; you have been a constant source of support, encouragement and amusement and kept me going when I believed I could go no further. I could not have made it through the final stages of my thesis without you. Finally I would like to express my love and gratitude to my family. They have always believed in me, even when I did not. My thanks to my sister Fran, for all her encouragement and for helping to keep me sane. I would particularly like to thank my parents who have supported me emotionally and financially throughout the last four years. Even now I am not fully aware of all the sacrifices they made to give me this opportunity. I dedicate this thesis to them as a small token of my gratitude. ABSTRACT This thesis examines central examples of sanctity in the hagiography of late tenth- and early eleventh-century England in order to determine whether or not there are any common themes to be found. It considers specific moments and examples from the broad context of 'the Benedictine Reform' in order to investigate the ways in which texts and ideas were manipulated or negotiated to promote particular political and ecclesiastical interests. These include the influence of certain types of narrative, for example, hagiography and other documentary sources such as charters, setting them in the context of, and also interrogating them for what they can show us about, the contemporary ideology. The specific focal points of the study are encapsulated by the two main thesis chapters, Winchester and Ramsey. The primary focus is on .tEthelwold and Oswald, and the contemporary hagiography associated with their cults: Wulfstan of Winchester's Vita S. &thelwoldi and Byrhtferth of Ramsey's Vita S. Oswaldi. In addition, Dunstan and Edward the Martyr are examined, and Edmund of East Anglia whose cult was promoted and received its first hagiography during this period. The texts in question are closely examined in order to determine what other figures and themes the saint in question is associated with and the ways that these associations contributed to the characterisation of the saint and thereby to the construction of their sanctity. It is evident that whilst the two primary texts under consideration - the Vita S. &thelwoldi by Wulfstan of Winchester and the Vita S. Oswaldi by Byrhtferth of Ramsey - do have certain ideas in common, there are also significant contrasts between the two, leading to the conclusion that Winchester and Ramsey valued different qualities in the depiction of, and perhaps even qualifications for, sainthood, and constructed the sanctity of their monastic patrons accordingly. The fundamental basis for both .tEthelwold's and Oswald's claim to sanctity is the same: it was their roles as Benedictine monks and promoters of Benedictine monasticism which placed them in the ranks of confessors, thereby qualifying them for sanctity. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................... iii 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 1 2. POLITICS ........................................................................................................... 13 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 13 Methodology ........................................................................................................ 16 Analysis ................................................................................................................ 19 Conclusions .......................................................................................................... 35 3. WINCHESTER ................................................................................................... 37 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 37 WULFSTAN OF WINCHESTER'S VITA SANeTI JETHELWOLDI ................. 49 Secular Associations ......................................................................................... 49 Ecclesiastical Associations ............................................................................... 72 Associations with the Divine ............................................................................ 86 iELFRIC'S VITA S. iETHELWOLDI ................................................................. 92 Secular Associations ......................................................................................... 92 Ecclesiastical Associations ............................................................................. 110 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................ 119 4. RAMSEY ........................................................................................................... 124 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 124 BYRHTFERTH'S VITA SANCTI OSWALDI. ................................................ 136 Associations with the Divine .......................................................................... 137 Biblical Associations ...................................................................................... 144 Secular Associations ....................................................................................... 153 Ecclesiastical Associations ............................................................................. 170 ABBO OF FLEURY'S PASSIO SANCTI EADMDNDI. ................................. 180 Edward the Martyr .............................................................................................. 196 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................ 209 5. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................... 220 APPENDIX A ........................................................................................................ 225 Table 1: Number of Attestations in charters listed for each reign and each rank ....................................................................................................... 225 Table 2: Number of attestations for each reign, regardless of rank as a figure .................................................................................................... 226 Table 3: Number of attestations for each reign, regardless of rank as a percentage ............................................................................................. 226 APPENDIX B ......................................................................................................... 227 Graph 1: Total Number of Charters Witnessed as a Figure ............................... 227 Graph 2: Total Number of Charters Witnessed as a Percentage ........................ 227 Graph 3: Total Number of Charters Witnessed from the reigns of Edgar to Athelred as a Figure ............................................................................ 228 Graph 4: Total Number of Charters Witnessed from the reigns of Edgar to Athelred as a Percentage ................................................................. 228 Graph 5: Subscriptions of Archbishops of Canterbury and York as Figures ..... 229 Graph 6:
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