The Cult of St Æthelwold and its Context, c. 984 - c. 1400 Rebecca Browett Institute of Historical Research School of Advanced Study, University of London A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Ph.D in History September 2016 1 Declaration This thesis is submitted to the University of London in support of my application for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. I, Rebecca Browett, hereby confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own, carried out during the course of my studies. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without the consent of the author. Signed: Date: 2 Abstract This thesis documents the cult of St Æthelwold, a tenth-century bishop of Winchester, from its inception (c. 984) until the late Middle Ages. During his life, Æthelwold was an authoritative figure who reformed monasteries in southern England. Those communities subsequently venerated him as a saint and this thesis examines his cult at those centres. In particular, it studies how his cult enabled monasteries to forge their identities and to protect their rights from avaricious bishops. It analyses the changing levels of veneration accorded to Æthelwold over a five hundred year period and compares this with other well-known saints’ cults. It uses diverse evidence from hagiographies, chronicles, chartularies, poems, church dedications, wall paintings, and architecture. Very few studies have attempted to chart the development of an early English saint's cult over such a long time period, and my multidisciplinary approach, using history, art, and literary studies, offers insight into the changing role of native saints in the English church and society over the course of the Middle Ages. The thesis has five chapters, excluding the introduction and conclusion. Chapter 1 compares Æthelwold's early cult and the concepts of sanctity displayed in his hagiography with contemporary English and continental cults and their written saints' lives. Chapter 2 analyses the cult in the turbulent post-Conquest period. Chapter 3 demonstrates that c.1111 there was a hitherto unstudied revival of the cult, which spread Æthelwold's relics across southern England. Chapter 4 analyses Æthelwold in twelfth- century monastic literature, examining the different depictions of Æthelwold, and how and why Æthelwold was employed by monastic communities to protect their rights and lands. Chapter 5 examines the cult in the later Middle Ages, analysing the continued liturgical veneration of Æthelwold at monastic houses throughout England, and how the 3 community of Winchester used his cult to foster their internal monastic identity. The thesis places Æthelwold's cult in context and broadly examines how saints' cults, as a cultural phenomenon, developed and functioned in medieval society. 4 Acknowledgements This thesis could not have been completed without the generosity of many people and organisations. First of all, I would like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council for awarding me a full doctoral studentship, without which I could not have pursued this research. My heartfelt thanks must also go to my supervisor, Dr Alan Thacker, who provided much support and guidance throughout my studies. He has been a fantastic mentor and my thesis would have been bereft without his input and supervision. I am also grateful to the staff at the Institute of Historical Research and its Library, in particular Professor Matthew Davies who gave excellent feedback at my upgrade. I would also like to thank Dr Stephen Baxter for his advice and comments during my first year review. Thanks must also go to Dr Tom Licence, who not only examined my upgrade, but provided thoughtful comments, feedback and guidance on multiple drafts of papers in the final years of my studies. My studies would have been inordinately harder without the support of my friends. Thanks must go to Rebekah Moore and Charlie Berry who were sources of support, amusement and distraction (and tea!) throughout. To Emma Parr, Sara Newton and James Kidd, thank you for convincing me I could finish and keeping me sane. And last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my family. My thanks to my grandparents, Linda and Derrick Evans, who have helped and supported me in every way possible. My sister, Siân Schwar: thank you for believing in me, even when I did not. And finally, thank you to my parents, Helen and Eric Browett, who have supported and encouraged me, not just during my PhD, but my whole life. You inspired my love of history and gave me confidence to pursue it. For everything you have given me, I dedicate this thesis to you as a small token of my gratitude. 5 Table of Contents Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. 6 Figures ............................................................................................................................... 6 Tables ................................................................................................................................ 6 Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 1: The Vita s. Æthelwoldi and its Continental Context ..................................... 36 Chapter 2: The Cult of St Æthelwold after the Norman Conquest ................................. 82 Chapter 3: Revival of the Cult in 1111 ......................................................................... 114 Chapter 4: The Development of Æthelwold's Cult in the Twelfth Century.................. 169 Chapter 5: The Cult in the Later Middle Ages .............................................................. 217 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 268 Appendix A ................................................................................................................... 279 Appendix B ................................................................................................................... 292 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 307 Figures Figure 1 ………………………………………………………………………………264 Tables Table 1 ……………………………………………………………………………… 27 Table 2 ……………………………………………………………………………… 250 Table 3………………………………………………………………………………. 252 Table 4 ……………………………………………………………………………… 253 6 Abbreviations AHR American Historical Review ANS Anglo-Norman Studies AMW Annales Monasterii de Wintonia, ed. H. R. Luard, Annales Monastici, Rolls Series 3 (London, 1864-9), II ASC Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, eds. D. Whitelock, D. C. Douglas and S. I. Tucker (London, 1961) ASE Anglo-Saxon England ASL M. Lapidge (ed.), Anglo-Saxon Litanies of the saints, HBS 106 (London, 1991) B, VsD B., Vita s. Dunstani, ed. and trans. M. Winterbottom and M. Lapidge, The Early Lives of St Dunstan (Oxford, 2012) Brooks et al., St N. Brooks and C. Cubbit (eds.), St Oswald of Worcester: Life and Oswald of Worcester Influence (London, 1996) Byrhtferth, VsO Byrhtferth of Ramsey, Vita s. Oswaldi, ed. and trans. M. Lapidge, Byrhtferth of Ramsey: The Lives of St Oswald and St Ecgwine (Oxford, 2009) CHJ Cambridge Historical Journal CMA Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon, ed. J. Stevenson, 2 vols., Rolls Series 2 (London, 1858). Eadmer, MsD Eadmer, Miracula s. Dunstani, eds. A. J. Turner and B. J. Muir, Eadmer of Canterbury: Lives and Miracles of Saints Oda, Dunstan, and Oswald (Oxford, 2006) Eadmer, MsO Eadmer, Miracula s. Oswaldi, eds. A. J. Turner and B. J. Muir, Eadmer of Canterbury: Lives and Miracles of Saints Oda, Dunstan, and Oswald (Oxford, 2006) 7 Eadmer, VsD Eadmer, Vita s. Dunstani, eds. A. J. Turner and B. J. Muir, Eadmer of Canterbury: Lives and Miracles of Saints Oda, Dunstan, and Oswald (Oxford, 2006) Eadmer, VsO Vita s. Oswaldi, eds. A. J. Turner and B. J. Muir, Eadmer of Canterbury: Lives and Miracles of Saints Oda, Dunstan, and Oswald (Oxford, 2006) HER English Historical Review EHS English Historical Society Fasti:II Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066 – 1300, volume 2: Monastic Cathedrals, ed. J. Le Neve (London, 1971) Fasti:VII Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300: volume 7: Bath and Wells, ed. D. E. Greenway (London, 2001) HA Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis: The History of the Church of Abingdon, ed. and trans. J. Hudson, 2 vols (Oxford, 2002) HC Hugh Candidus, The Chronicle of Hugh Candidus, a Monk of Peterborough, trans. W. T. Mellows and C. T. Mellows (Oxford, 1941) HC (1966) Hugh Candidus, The Peterborough Chronicle of Hugh Candidus, ed. W. T. Mellows, revised edition (Oxford, 1966) Heads D. Knowles, C. N. L. Brooke, V. C. M. London, The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales, I, 940 – 1216 (Cambridge, 1972; 2nd edn., 2001) HBS Henry Bradshaw Society HHHA Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon: Historia Anglorum, The History of the English People, ed. D. Greenway (Oxford, 1996) HN Eadmer, Historia Novorum in Anglia, ed. M. Rule (London, 1884) HSJ Haskins Society Journal JEH Journal of Ecclesiastical History 8 JL Regesta Pontificum Romanorum, ed. P. Jaffé, 2nd edn. by W. Wattenbach et al., 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1885 – 1888) Lapidge, M. Lapidge, M. Winterbottom (eds), Wulfstan of Winchester: The Winterbottom, Life