DOCSLIB.ORG

The Holy Wells of Gloucestershire by Brian Torode (Copyright Rests with Richard Barton)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Holy Wells of Gloucestershire by Brian Torode (Copyright Rests with Richard Barton) The Holy Wells of Gloucestershire by Brian Torode (copyright rests with Richard Barton) It is worth remembering that in old English the word well includes everything that we would now describe as a spring, and the word originally referred to any water WELLING out of the hillside. The veneration of wells and rivers is one of the most ancient and universal forms of worship. Water was a necessity of life and because it moved and made a noise, it had a will of its own and nothing could control it. It appeared suddenly in unexpected places, life and fertility came from it and so did death – the cruel silent death of the angry tide or raging torrent, which killed Moses Egyptian pursuers. Naturally water one of the four elements, is such a necessity for life, that water and wells were considered to have curative properties – soothing, cool, cleansing – and indicated to primitive man a mysterious power. They believed that a special magic dwelt in the water and the tendency developed to personify this magic, and it became associated with some spiritual being – a goddess or similar. The great god Nodens had a temple or shrine at Lydney on the banks of the Severn, and here a mosaic pavement with a pattern of sea serpents and fishes has been found, as well as two bronze pieces. One bears the figure of the god himself, while the other has a triton and a grateful worshipper in the form of a fisherman catching a salmon. Nodens was a pre Roman god but was adopted by them when they conquered Britain. Wells and water have been objects of adoration and devotion – worshipped by the Druids, decorated with flowers by the Romans and sacrificed to even, by pagans after the departure of the Romans from our shores. Wanswell near Berkeley may be one such place. In order for the spirit to ensure the continuance of the water, gifts were offered, and if the water dried up, it was a sign of the displeasure of the spirit and it had therefore to be placated with sacrifice. In Roman times this practice was continued with coins being thrown into springs or wells to placate a deity and this custom may well have entered Britain with their arrival as did also decoration of wells. One of the oldest songs in the Bible describes how God told Moses to dig a well as the Israelites journeyed to Beer and ceremonies involving water became part of the religious ritual of many religions – the Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and of course Christianity. In the second Council of Arles, 452, it is recorded, If in the territory of a Bishop, infidels venerate trees or fountains or stones, and if he neglects to abolish this usage, the Bishop is guilty of sacrilege. Again, Pope Gregory commanded St Augustine, concerning the matter of the English, not to destroy their temples of the idols, but to destroy the idols only. Then the temples are to be sprinkled with Holy Water and altars erected to convert them from the worship of the devils to the worship of the true God. Then the Nation, seeing their temples not destroyed 1 may be encouraged to remove error from their hearts and adoring the true God may resort to the places to which they have been accustomed. A large number of pagan wells were thus hijacked by the early Church and became places of pilgrimage connected with the cult of a local saint. As Christianity advanced, and paganism was on the wane, the Church had to supply a substitute for the superstition, so nymphs and niaids became saints and angels. Pagan wells were blessed and became Holy Wells – often a stone cross being erected on or near the well. Many of the wells were renamed in memory of some local Saint and this has ensured the preservation of a local saint’s name that might otherwise have been forgotten. Also some well-loved and holy local Saint would baptise his converts in what had been a pagan well – St Paulinus baptised King Edwin of Northumbria in one such well in AD 627. Sudeley’s fountain became Kenelm’s Well. Nearly all the healing wells had their rituals which had to be followed in order to activate the power of the water. This usually involved visiting the site only on certain acknowledged days, and the Christianised wells or sainted wells almost always had to be visited on the Saint’s feast day, Easter or Whit Sunday. At one Holy Well in Perthshire, the patient was led three times round the well first in the name of the Father, second in the name of the Son and third in the name of the Holy Spirit. Finally, he was dipped in the water in the name of the Holy Trinity. These customs were intensified by Christianity, but old practices still survived and in 10th century, King Edgar and King Canute thought it necessary to forbid the worship of fountains but it was still being done 200 years later. Later c 1102, the Canons of St Anselm laid down a rule that no one was to attribute reverence or sanctity to a fountain without the bishop’s authority. But still pilgrims came on special fixed dates and despite the frowns and prohibitions of their bishops, the waters were drunk at night and again in the morning and prayers said – believing that they would surely be answered in good time. Parish priests often complained that these night time pilgrimages sometimes led to immoral activity but their real objection was that offerings were being directed away from the church. Wells were often known by the offering left there – pin wells, rag wells, button wells, bead wells etc, all signs of the pilgrim letting the Saint know, that ‘I have been here.’ (cf votive candles today) Pins were an offering usually to ward off evil spirits, bent pins an offering from those seeking good fortune. Sometimes the patient had to wipe the affected or afflicted part of the body with a rag dipped in the water or arrive at the site with a rag bound round the afflicted part of the body. After bathing in the water, the rag was left on the tree or bush to rot. Once this had happened the cure should have taken place – an indication that cures were not immediately wrought. So too many Marian shrines throughout Europe have crutches, bandages, jewels or pieces of clothing left at a shrine, as evidence of a cure having been effected. Boxwell has two large yew trees growing alongside the well and these were the trees usually to hold pieces of offering cloth- the tree being the symbol of the Cross. When I went to Flaxley, St Anthony’s well there were pieces of coloured cloth on the trees and so too at Glastonbury’s Chalice Well. 2 Holy Wells did come in for a lot of attack and denial at the Reformation and many sermons were preached against pilgrimage practice. Bishop Latimer preached against the superstition surrounding St Anne’s Well, Brislington, in 1536 and under Crowell’s persecution, wells were locked, so that nobody could use the water for miraculous washing, and places where shirts, petticoats and crutches had been left were defaced. There are probably many Holy Wells in our County about which published literature amounts to almost nothing, although RCS Walters’ Ancient Wells, Springs and Holy Wells of Gloucestershire (Bristol 1928) provides what appears to be an exhaustive account of most of them. The Wells and Springs of Gloucestershire, (HMSO 1930) attributes the title Holy Well to the following: Wishanger, near Miserden; Shepscombe; Hempsted; Wanswell nr Berkeley; St Chad, Twyning; St Kenelm, Winchcomb; St Edward’s Stow on the Wold; Holy Well, Chedworth; Oak Well, St Mary’s Well, Box Well, Down Ampney; Holywell, Wooton under Edge; Holy Well, Blaisdon; St Anthony’s Well East Dean (Flaxley); and St Aldhelm’s Well, Pucklechurch. Many of the Wells of our county – and our country it must be said, – are in danger – danger of being lost to human eye for ever. As the older generation dies, the local traditions and knowledge of sites of Holy Wells will die with them. Many Holy Wells are now on private land and farmers are reluctant to publicise their existence for fear of hordes of careless pilgrims trampling their crops or passing on disease – as at St Arild’s Well at Oldbury. So many wells are allowed to fall into ruin through neglect. If there is one near you, visit it, publicise it and do what you can through the countryside commission to maintain it as a place of public access. Now let us look at a few of the wells of Gloucestershire, remembering that Holy may not be what the committed Christian might understand by the word, nor would they bear comparison with such venerated and much visited places such as Lourdes, Fatima, Holywell in North Wales, or Walsingham in Norfolk all of which are still visited by Christians to this day. Hereford: St Ethelbert’s Well. Painswick: A town of wells but most commonly known and referred to is St Tibba’s or St Tabitha’s Well. St Tibba was a 7th century Anglo Saxon Saint who was a relative of St Kyneburga , Abbess of the Abbey in Gloucester. Her feast day is March 6th. Tradition has it that St Tibba actually died in Leicestershire and her relics were buried in Peterborough in 963. Why the well is named after her is unknown, but her name may be a derivation from Celtic Towy or Tibey.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Lives of the Saints of His Family
    'ii| Ijinllii i i li^«^^ CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Libraru BR 1710.B25 1898 V.16 Lives of the saints. 3 1924 026 082 689 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026082689 *- ->^ THE 3Ltt3e0 of ti)e faints REV. S. BARING-GOULD SIXTEEN VOLUMES VOLUME THE SIXTEENTH ^ ^ «- -lj« This Volume contains Two INDICES to the Sixteen Volumes of the work, one an INDEX of the SAINTS whose Lives are given, and the other u. Subject Index. B- -»J( »&- -1^ THE ilttieg of tt)e ^amtsi BY THE REV. S. BARING-GOULD, M.A. New Edition in i6 Volumes Revised with Introduction and Additional Lives of English Martyrs, Cornish and Welsh Saints, and a full Index to the Entire Work ILLUSTRATED BY OVER 400 ENGRAVINGS VOLUME THE SIXTEENTH LONDON JOHN C. NIMMO &- I NEW YORK : LONGMANS, GREEN, CO. MDCCCXCVIII I *- J-i-^*^ ^S^d /I? Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson &' Co. At the Ballantyne Press >i<- -^ CONTENTS The Celtic Church and its Saints . 1-86 Brittany : its Princes and Saints . 87-120 Pedigrees of Saintly Families . 121-158 A Celtic and English Kalendar of Saints Proper to the Welsh, Cornish, Scottish, Irish, Breton, and English People 159-326 Catalogue of the Materials Available for THE Pedigrees of the British Saints 327 Errata 329 Index to Saints whose Lives are Given . 333 Index to Subjects . ... 364 *- -»J< ^- -^ VI Contents LIST OF ADDITIONAL LIVES GIVEN IN THE CELTIC AND ENGLISH KALENDAR S.
    [Show full text]
  • The Venerable Bede Ecclesiastical History of England (731 A.D.)1
    1 Primary Source 3.2 THE VENERABLE BEDE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND (731 A.D.)1 The Anglo-Saxon monk and author, known to posterity as the Venerable Bede (c. 672– 735), was apparently a deeply spiritual man described as constantly praising God, even at the last moments of his life, when he could scarcely breathe. A learned scholar with broad knowledge of ancient and early medieval theology and secular writings, he wrote a huge number of works on theology, biblical commentary, the lives of saints, and secular and religious history. His most famous work, excerpted here, recounts the historical development of Britain with a focus on the vibrant evolution of the church. The passage below concerns the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons from paganism to Christianity. Key themes are the care with which missionaries sought to transform customs without giving offense, Christian humility, and how the converts’ belief in miracles wrought in the name of Christ facilitated their conversion. For the complete text online, click here. For a freely accessible audio recording of the book, click here. BOOK I CHAPTER XVII How Germanus the Bishop,2 sailing into Britain with Lupus,3 first quelled the tempest of the sea, and afterwards that of the Pelagians, by Divine power. [429 A.D.] Some few years before their arrival, the Pelagian heresy,4 brought over by Agricola, the son of Severianus, a Pelagian bishop, had corrupted with its foul taint the faith of the Britons. But whereas they absolutely refused to embrace that perverse doctrine, and blaspheme the grace of Christ, yet were not able of themselves to confute the subtilty of the unholy belief by force of argument, they bethought them of wholesome counsels and determined to crave aid of the Gallican5 prelates in that spiritual warfare.
    [Show full text]
  • The Romans and York
    FACTSHEET 20 THE ROMANS AND YORK The Foundation of York Much of southern and eastern Britain had been The Romans are generally thought to have conquered by this time but Eboracum was to be founded the city of York, but it is possible that the main headquarters for the troops who were there was a native Celtic settlement here before trying to conquer the rest. It was defended by they arrived. The name that the Romans gave the two rivers and could be supplied by sea because site was Eboracum, which, to them, meant “Place it was possible to bring large vessels up the Ouse. of the wild boar”, but this is possibly a Later, the defences were strengthened by misunderstanding of an original Celtic name Govenor Agricola, but it was not until early in the meaning “Eburo’s place.” What is certain is that second century that the timber palisade was re‐ in AD 71 the Emperor Vespasian sent a new built in stone by the Sixth Legion. (Precisely what military governor to Britain, Petillius Cerialis, with happened to the Ninth has always been some‐ instructions to subdue the Brigantines, a thing of a mystery). These defences were again powerful tribe occupying much of what is now reconstructed in about AD 200. The final northern England. The Queen of the Brigantines, developments occurred about a century later Cartimundia, was facing rebellion led by her when most of the defences were remodelled. husband Venutius. The Romans took advantage This was when the great multiangular corner of the situation by intervening in order to tower, still visible in the Museum Gardens, was gain overall control.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 4 the Anglian Period: the Royal Ladies of Castor [1]
    Chapter 4 The Anglian Period: The Royal Ladies of Castor [1] St. Kyneburgha of Castor: from Mercian princess to Northumbrian queen Castor Parish Church stands upon an escarpment, which has been occupied from at least the Roman period. It bears a unique dedication to the seventh-century saint, Kyneburgha or Cyneburh, a Mercian princess and erstwhile queen of Northumbria who, according to local tradition, retired from court in order to establish a nunnery on the site of an abandoned early fourth-century villa. Reliable, near-contemporary information relating to Kyneburgha is limited to a single reference in Venerable Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica (c. 731), in which she was described as the sister of Peada, King of the Middle Angles, and the wife of Alhfrith, a Christian prince of Northumbria [2]. From this statement we may deduce that she was also the daughter of the unrepentant heathen king, Penda of Mercia (c. 626-c. 655), and his consort, Cynewise, whose stronghold was in the Tamworth area of the Trent Valley [3]. All subsequent references to Kyneburgha are either of post-Conquest date or survive only in the form of twelfth-century copies and, consequently, are much less trustworthy [4]. Nor are there any archaeological finds to substantiate Kyneburgha’s relationship with the Castor site. However, by examining all of the available sources, in conjunction with place-name and sculptural evidence, it may be possible to gain an insight into the life and times of this remarkable lady. Kyneburgha was born during an era when England was ruled by a few aristocratic families, both Christian and pagan, who intermarried in attempts to form alliances and to found dynasties in rival provinces.
    [Show full text]
  • The History of Freemasonry, Volume I, 1905
    Dr. ALBERT GALLATIN MACKEY THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY ITS LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS ITS CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY BY ALBERT GALLATIN MACKEY, M.D., 33 THE HISTORY OF THE SYMBOLISM OF FREEMASONRY THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE AND THE ROYAL ORDER OF SCOTLAND BY WILLIAM R. SINGLETON, 33 WITH AN ADDENDA BY WILLIAM JAMES HUGHAN P.·. S.·. G.·. D.·. OF G.·. L.·. OF ENGLAND—P.·. S.·. G.·. W.·. OF EGYPT, ETC. VOLUME ONE PUBLISHED BY THE MASONIC HISTORY COMPANY NEW YORK AND LONDON ———————— "There seems no human thought so primitive as to have lost its bearing on our own thought, nor so ancient as to have broken its connexion with our own life." TYOR, Primitive Culture. ———————— PREFACE O comprehensive a title as the one selected for the present work would be a vain assumption if the author's object was not really to embrace in a series of studies the whole cycle of Masonic history and science. Anything short of this would not entitle the work to be called THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Freemasonry as a society of long standing, has of course its his- tory, and the age of the institution has necessarily led to the mixing in this history of authentic facts and of mere traditions or legends. We are thus led in the very beginning of our labors to divide our historical studies into two classes. The one embraces the Leg- endary History of Freemasonry, and the other its authentic annals. The Legendary History of Freemasonry will constitute the sub- ject of the first of the five parts into which this work is divided.
    [Show full text]
  • (Died 704) Ælfric, Abbot of Eynsham
    People ADALBERO, BISHOP OF LAON (FRANCE; 977-1030) Adalbero was very involved in the politics of the end of Carolingian dynasty in Western Frankia and its replacement by the Capetians, with the accession of Hugh Capet as king in 987. He was one of the writers who expressed the concept of society divided between the three orders. ADOMNÁN , ABBOT OF IONA (DIED 704) Adomnán was the ninth abbot of the monastery of Iona, founded on the island of that name in the Hebrides by Columba. He is particularly noted by Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People for having promoted the Roman dating of Easter. His best-known work is his Life of St Columba. ÆLFRIC, ABBOT OF EYNSHAM (1005-C. 1010) Ælfric joined the monastery of Cerne Abbas (Dorset) around 987. He may have been in charge of the school there, and he certainly produced a series of writings, including works in Old English, principally homilies for reading and preaching and lives of saints, and a grammar of Latin written in Old English. In 1005, he became the first abbot of the reformed abbey of Eynsham near Oxford, where he died around 1010. ÆTHELEBERHT I, KING OF KENT (DIED 616) Ætheleberht, who had married the Christian, Frankish princess, Bertha, some while before, welcomed the mission of St Augustine when it arrived in Kent in 597. He permitted the conversion of his subjects, and was himself converted, perhaps soon after Augustine's arrival. Bede identified him as one of the seven overlords of southern England (Bede, Eccl. History, II.15) and attributed to him a code of laws 'in the manner of the Romans', which is extant.
    [Show full text]
  • Lives of the British Saints
    LIVES OF THE BRITISH SAINTS Vladimir Moss Copyright: Vladimir Moss, 2009 1. SAINTS ACCA AND ALCMUND, BISHOPS OF HEXHAM ......................5 2. SAINT ADRIAN, ABBOT OF CANTERBURY...............................................8 3. SAINT ADRIAN, HIEROMARTYR BISHOP OF MAY and those with him ....................................................................................................................................9 4. SAINT AIDAN, BISHOP OF LINDISFARNE...............................................11 5. SAINT ALBAN, PROTOMARTYR OF BRITAIN.........................................16 6. SAINT ALCMUND, MARTYR-KING OF NORTHUMBRIA ....................20 7. SAINT ALDHELM, BISHOP OF SHERBORNE...........................................21 8. SAINT ALFRED, MARTYR-PRINCE OF ENGLAND ................................27 9. SAINT ALPHEGE, HIEROMARTYR ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY ..................................................................................................................................30 10. SAINT ALPHEGE “THE BALD”, BISHOP OF WINCHESTER...............41 11. SAINT ASAPH, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH’S ................................................42 12. SAINTS AUGUSTINE, LAURENCE, MELLITUS, JUSTUS, HONORIUS AND DEUSDEDIT, ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY ..............................43 13. SAINTS BALDRED AND BALDRED, MONKS OF BASS ROCK ...........54 14. SAINT BATHILD, QUEEN OF FRANCE....................................................55 15. SAINT BEDE “THE VENERABLE” OF JARROW .....................................57 16. SAINT BENIGNUS (BEONNA)
    [Show full text]
  • The North Aisle Windows
    Saint Michael the Archangel, Kirkby Malham The North Aisle Windows The Northern Saints “In this year, Pope Gregory sent Augustine to Britain with very many monks who preached God’s word to the English nation”. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records this for the year 595. But it was not all plain sailing (even Augustine turned back at first) and the religious history of the next century saw a struggle between the pagan and Christian traditions. The efforts of the early saints who were essential in the development of Christianity in the north were celebrated not only in their time but for centuries after and the windows in the north aisle reflects this tradition. Encouraged by the local Vicar of the time, Rev.W.Baron, the windows were commissioned by local families and produced by A.K.Nicholson in the 1920s at his Westminster studios in London*. Bradford Cathedral also has some of Nicholson’s memorial stained glass tucked away depicting the Northern Saint St Hilda. Nicolson was a follower of the Arts and Crafts movement which looked back to medieval times for inspiration. The stained glass has a jewel like quality which is richer in effect than the glass of the St Columba window found in the chantry at the far end of the ‘Northern Saints’ row. *The guidebook to the church incorrectly suggests the North Aisle windows were made by Alexander Strachan in Edinburgh Follow each window in turn from the tower moving towards the chancel... Saint Bede Saint Bede (or “The Venerable Bede”) was born near Jarrow and, at the age of 7, he entered the Benedictine monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow.
    [Show full text]
  • Missionary Saints of Europe
    Missionary Saints of Europe The historical saints listed below, most of whom lived between 500 and 1000 A.D. are associated with the conversion of a nation or people of Europe to the Catholic faith. Many are monarchs or chieftains who accepted Christianity and encouraged their subjects to convert. Others are missionaries who founded monasteries in pagan lands. The list also includes saints associated with early medieval kingdoms. Saints of England (Anglo-Saxon) Many of the most important missionary saints in Europe went forth from the Celtic and Benedictine monasteries of medieval Britain. From the fifth to ninth centuries, British monasteries were centers of scholarship and missionary activity. A more thorough discussion of British monasteries and the saints associated with them can be found on the Monks and Monasteries of Britain page. The following list of British saints covers only a few of the monarchs, bishops, and evangelists who influenced the earliest kingdoms of the British Isles. KINGDOM OF KENT Augustine of Kent (d. 604) Sent by St. Gregory to Britain to preach to the Angles and Saxons. Bertha of Kent (d. 601) Christian queen of Kent who encouraged her pagan husband Ethelbert to welcome Augustine to his realm as missionary to the Anglo-Saxons. KINGDOM OF NORTHUMBRIA (ANGLES) Edwin of Northumbria (d. 633) First Christian king of Diera, defeated by a union of Pagan kings. Oswald Northumbria (d. 642) Christian king of Northumbria who defeated a pagan ruler of Briton. Aidan (d. 651) Irish monk and missionary who traveled throughout Northumbria spreading the gospel before founding the famous monastery at Lindisfarne.
    [Show full text]
  • Conversion and Unification Form Shortly After A.D
    26 Roman Britain and the Anglo-Saxon Settlements , I .. The English midlands were dominated by the kingdom of Mercia, I which first emerges into the light of history with the accession of its great ! king, Penda, in 632. Like Wessex, Mercia could expand westward toward Wales at the expense of the Britons ( or, as we should by now call them, the Welsh) and, like Wessex also, Mercia was destined to become one of the three dominant kingdoms of England in the centuries to follow. Indeed, throughout most of the eighth century the kings of Mercia were the most powerful monarchs in the land. The third of these potentially dominant kingdoms was Northumbria -the land north of the Humber River. The kingdom of Northumbria took Conversion and Unification form shortly after A.D. 600 from the unification of two smaller, older, king­ doms, Deira and Bernicia, under a single dynasty. In the later seventh and early eighth centuries Northumbria became the setting of a splendid intel­ lectual and artistic revival stimulated by a resurgence of Celtic culture and conversion to Christianity. Perhaps the greatest ornament of this Northum­ brian renaissance was the historian Bede, whose writings have done so much to illuminate the dark epoch when his own savage forebears were ravaging By the time of the British victory at Mount Badon and subduing Britain. ( c. 500) Roman2 political authority had collapsed in the West. But although By the early seventh century the chaos of the invasion age had given the Western Roman Empire was a thing of the past, Roman political insti­ way to a more stable regime dominated by reasonably coherent Anglo-Saxon tutions survived, in altered but recognizable form, in the organization of kingdoms such as the seven described above: Kent, Sussex, vVessex, Essex, the Roman Catholic Church.
    [Show full text]
  • ABSTRACT Whitby, Wilfrid, and Church-State Antagonism in Early
    ABSTRACT Whitby, Wilfrid, and Church-State Antagonism in Early Medieval Britain Vance E. Woods, M.A. Mentor: Charles A. McDaniel, Ph.D. In 664, adherents of the Dionysian and Celtic-84 Easter tables gathered at the Northumbrian abbey of Whitby to debate the proper calculation of Easter. The decision to adopt the former, with its connections to the papacy, has led many to frame this encounter in terms of Roman religious imperialism and to posit a break between the ecclesiastical culture of Northumbria prior to the Synod of Whitby and afterward. This study will propose a different interpretation of the change that took place in the Northumbrian Church after 664. Rather than focusing solely on matters of religion, this project will seek also to demonstrate Whitby’s political implications. Instead of the end of alienation between the Celtic Church and the balance of Christendom, the Synod of Whitby will be identified, in the person of its main protagonist Wilfrid, as the beginning of alienation between the Northumbrian state and the hierarchy of the Church. Whitby, Wilfrid, and Church-State Antagonism in Early Medieval Britain by Vance E. Woods, B.A. A Thesis Approved by the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies ___________________________________ Christopher Marsh, Ph.D., Chairperson Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Baylor University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Approved by the Thesis Committee ___________________________________ Charles A. McDaniel, Ph.D., Chairperson ___________________________________ Beth Allison Barr, Ph.D. ___________________________________ Daniel Payne, Ph.D. Accepted by the Graduate School May 2009 ___________________________________ J.
    [Show full text]
  • Saints and Their Function in the Kingdom of Mercia, 650-850
    SAINTS AND THEIR FUNCTION IN THE KINGDOM OF MERCIA, 650-850 By WILLIAM MICHAEL FRAZIER Bachelor of Science Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma 1995 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS December, 1998 SAINTS AND THEIR FUNCTION IN THE KINGDOM OF MERCIA, 650-850 Thesis Approved: Dean ofthe Graduate College ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my advisor, Dr. J. Paul Bischoff, for his guidance throughout the creation ofthis thesis. Without his suggestions and criticisms, I would have never completed a work worth submitting. To Dr Bischoff I also owe thanks for giving me something I have rarely had in my life: a challenge. I would also like to thank my other commi.ttee members, Dr. Eldevik and Dr. Petrin, who gave me many valuable suggestions during the revision ofthe thesis. Any mistakes that remain after their help are without a doubt my own. I truly appreciate the support which the History department extended to me, especially the financial support ofthe Teaching Assistantship I was generously given. To the wonderful people of the interlibrary loan department lowe an enormous debt. I simply could not have completed this work without the many articles and books which they procured for me. I would also like to thank my parents, Ron and Nancy, for their constant support. Anything good that I achieve in this life is a reflection on them. They have made me who I am today. Finally, I would like to extend my greatest appreciation to my wife, Cindy, who has stayed supportive throughout what has seemed an eternity of research and writing.
    [Show full text]