“Like a Virgin”: The Reheading of St. Edmund and Monastic Reform in Late-Tenth-Century England

Abstract

[ Edmund, King of East Anglia, died fighting the Danes in 870; according to later accounts, he was beheaded. His cult did not rise to national importance until the late tenth century, when he was the subject of a Latin passio by a French monk, Abbo of Fleury, composed in or around 987, and an English life by the prolific vernacular homilist AElfric, written shortly after 988. For Abbo, Edmund is not actually a virgin but a the motif emphasizes the possibility of spiritual regeneration, a key topos of the tenth-century that attempted to make Benedictine monasticism the preeminent form of religious life in England. Abbo's Passio and AElfric's Life function on multiple levels. They chronicle Edmund's life and explain why he is worthy of veneration. Keywords:England; late-tenth-century; monastic reform; St. Edmund , Edmund, King of East Anglia, died fighting the Danes in 870; according to later accounts, he was beheaded. His cult did not rise to national importance until the late tenth century, when he was the subject of a Latin passio by a French monk, Abbo of Fleury, composed in or around 987, and an English life by the prolific vernacular homilist AElfric, written shortly after 988. For Abbo, Edmund is not actually a virgin but like a virgin, the motif emphasizes the possibility of spiritual regeneration, a key topos of the tenth-century Benedictine Reform that attempted to make Benedictine monasticism the preeminent form of religious life in England. Abbo's Passio and AElfric's Life function on multiple levels. They chronicle Edmund's life and explain why he is worthy of veneration. Keywords:England; late-tenth-century; monastic reform; St. Edmund ]