Editing Edward the Martyr (section)

== Legacy ==
=== Burial and translation ===
Edward's death deeply troubled contemporaries. Roach observes "Medieval kings were felt to be touched by divinity; not only had they been chosen by God, but like bishops they were anointed into their office with holy oil. Royal consecration was a well-established tradition and the reformers had done much to emphasize the [[Divine right of kings|God-given nature of royal authority]] further ... To kill a king was, therefore, more than a crime – it was a sin of the first order."{{sfn|Roach|2016|pp=74–75}} England had a long tradition of revering murdered kings as saints, and the circumstances of Edward's death made it almost certain that he would come to be seen as a martyr, but this did not occur immediately. He was not regarded as saintly in his lifetime and he did not die defending [[Christianity]]. It was almost a year before he received royal burial, and the delay suggests that there was an argument over what to do with his body, with the case for honourable burial gradually gaining ground.{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=2003|1p=14|2a1=Marafioti|2y=2014|2pp=162–164}} ''ASC D'' and ''ASC E'' say that Edward was initially buried at Wareham without royal honour.{{sfn|Whitelock|1979|pp=230–231}} Byrhtferth states that a year later "the renowned Ealdorman Ælfhere arrived with a great train"; he ordered Edward's body to be disinterred, and it was found to be [[incorrupt]], which was taken as a miraculous sign; the body was carried with great ceremony for burial in [[Shaftesbury Abbey]], a house of nuns.{{sfnm|1a1=Marafioti|1y=2014|1p= 162|2a1=Lapidge|2y=2009|2pp=140–143}} As the senior ealdorman, Ælfhere was probably charged with arranging the [[Translation (relic)|translation]] of Edward's body from [[Wareham, Dorset|Wareham]] to [[Shaftesbury]] for a proper burial to pave the way for Æthelred's coronation on 4 May.{{sfn|Keynes|1999|p=49}} The early eleventh century [[Archbishop of York]], [[Wulfstan (died 1023)|Wulfstan]], wrote that his body was burned, and Keynes comments that "the authority of Wulfstan is considerable",{{sfn|Keynes|1980|p=167}} but as political circumstances required that Edward be decently buried, Ælfhere may have been charged with finding another body for the purpose.{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=2012a|1p=124|2a1=Whitelock|2y=1979|2p=931}}

Post-Conquest accounts, such as the ''Passio,'' have more complicated and hagiographical narratives. The ''Passio'' says that Ælfthryth had Edward's body concealed in a marsh, where it was miraculously revealed in February 979 by a column of fire, and locals took it to Wareham church for burial. Ælfhere was filled with joy when he heard about the discovery of the body, and he took it to Shaftesbury for reburial in a more worthy place.{{sfnm|1a1=Marafioti|1y=2014|1pp=168–169|2a1=Ridyard|2y=1988|2p=155}} The ''Passio'' goes on to say that in 1001 Edward told "a certain religious" in a vision of his wish to be moved from the churchyard to a more secure place in the abbey. This information was conveyed to the abbess, who passed it to King Æthelred, and he joyfully gave instructions for the relics to be again [[translation (relics)|translated]]. He ordered [[Wulfsige III|Wulfsige]], the [[Bishop of Sherborne]], and another prelate, perhaps Ælfsige, the abbot of the [[New Minster, Winchester]], to carry out the ceremony. The translation took place on 20 June, but the King could not be present because he was preoccupied with a Danish invasion.{{sfnm|1a1=Ridyard|1y=1988|1p=156|2a1=Williams|2y=2003|2pp=15–16|3a1=Foot|3y=2000|3p=170}} However, the historian Paul Hayward points out that this second translation is not mentioned in contemporary sources and no pre-Conquest calendar prescribes a feast on 20 June; he argues that it was an invention.{{sfn|Hayward|1999|pp=86–87}}

=== Early cult ===
Edward was recognised as a saint soon after his death, and Æthelred appears to have been the chief sponsor of his brother's [[Veneration|cult]].{{sfn|Williams|2003|p=14}} It was promoted initially by the ecclesiastical and secular leadership to demonstrate the sanctity of the royal office, but as Viking raids intensified they came to be seen as punishment of the English people by God for a terrible crime, the killing of the Lord's anointed, for which they needed to make amends.{{sfn|Keynes|2012a|p=125}} [[Sigeric (archbishop)|Sigeric]], Archbishop of Canterbury from 990 to 994, persuaded Æthelred to establish a monastery at [[Cholsey Abbey|Cholsey]] in honour of Edward, and the king appointed [[Germanus of Winchester|Germanus]] as abbot. Edward's cult was also recognised at Canterbury and promoted by Wulfstan.{{sfn|Keynes|2012a|pp=119, 122}} In 1001, Æthelred granted a former minster church and land at [[Bradford on Avon]] in Wiltshire to God and "his saint, my brother Edward, whom, drenched with his own blood, the Lord has seen fit to magnify in our time with many miracles", to provide a refuge for the nuns and Edward's relics against Viking attack.{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=2003|1p=16|2a1=Ridyard|2y=1988|2pp=156–157|3a1=Charter S 899}} [[Sarah Foot]] describes the donation as "somewhat bizarre" as the Shaftesbury nunnery was in a fortified [[burh]], whereas Bradford was unprotected.{{sfnm|1a1=Foot|1y=2000|1pp=170–171|2a1=Kelly|2y=1996|2pp=119–120}} Byrhtferth says that the first miracles occurred at Edward's tomb eleven years after his death.{{sfnm|1a1=Lapidge|1y=2009|1pp=144–145|2a1=Williams|2y=2003|2p=15}}

Wulfstan's ''[[Sermon of the Wolf to the English]]'' of around 1014 cites the murder of Edward and Æthelred being forced into exile by [[Sweyn Forkbeard|Sweyn]]'s conquest of England in 1013 as examples of betrayals of lords by the English.{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=2003|1pp=122–123|2a1=Whitelock|2y=1979|2p=931}} Out of twenty-five calendars dating to before 1100, Edward's death date of 18 March is listed in eighteen; only nine saints were listed in more, and five also have a feast on 13 February commemorating his translation from Wareham to Shaftesbury.{{sfnm|1a1=Watson|1y=2021|1pp=10–11|2a1=Rollason|2y=1989|2pp=142–143}} Æthelred's eldest son, [[Æthelstan Ætheling|Æthelstan]] left £6 "to Holy Cross and St Edward at Shaftesbury" in his will, made on his deathbed in 1014. Cnut also patronised Edward's cult, and the law code V Æthelred of 1008 includes a clause, possibly inserted by [[Cnut]] in around 1018, which commands that the feast of Edward's martyrdom be celebrated on 18 March throughout England.{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=2003|1p=14|2a1=Thacker|2y=1996|2p=267|3a1=Wormald|3y=1978|3pp=53–54|4a1=Keynes|4y=1999|4pp=53, 70 n. 130|5a1=Keynes|5y=2012a|5p=123}} The historian [[David Rollason]] argues that Æthelred and Cnut promoted Edward's cult in order to heighten their prestige by emphasising the sanctity of their predecessor.{{sfn|Rollason|1989|p=144}} The killing of Edward led to greater interest in other murdered royal saints by Oswald and in his monasteries, especially Ramsey and [[Winchcombe Abbey|Winchcombe]].{{sfn|Cubitt|2000|p=67}}

Æthelred's failure as a king has been seen by post-Conquest writers and some modern historians as a result of Edward's murder. [[Goscelin]] wrote in his life of Edith that Æthelred was unworthy to rule because "his succession had been purchased with his brother's blood".{{sfn|Ridyard|1988|p=158}} Stenton comments that Æthelred "began to reign in an atmosphere of suspicion which destroyed the prestige of the Crown. It was never fully restored in his lifetime ... Much that has brought the condemnation of historians on King Æthelred may well be due in the last resort to the circumstances under which he became king." His ineffective conduct as king suggests "the reaction of a weak king to the consciousness that he had come to power through what his subjects regarded as the worst crime committed among the English peoples since their first coming to Britain".{{sfn|Stenton|1971|pp=373–374}} Æthelred's support for his brother's cult has been seen as an attempt to dispel the cloud of suspicion which hung over him, but this view has been challenged since the late twentieth century by historians who have argued that contemporaries do not appear to have blamed Æthelred or his mother for the murder.{{sfn|Ridyard|1988|pp=159–162}} Keynes argues that if the royal family had been blamed for Edward's death, glorification of him would have drawn attention to the crime and undermined Æthelred's position.{{sfn|Keynes|1980|p=171}}

Several religious communities claimed to have acquired parts of Edward's body during Cnut's reign, but William of Malmesbury stated that half of Edward's body was taken to [[Leominster Abbey|Leominster]] and half to Abingdon, where they both crumbled, and only the lung remained at Shaftesbury, where it was displayed, continuing to throb.{{sfnm|1a1=Bugyis|1y=2019|1p=225 and n. 1|2a1=Winterbottom|2y=2007|2pp=294–297 (ii.86.6)|3a1=Marafioti|3y=2014|3pp=214–215}}

=== Later cult ===
Edward was the only tenth century king to be buried in a nunnery. Shaftesbury, which had been founded by Alfred the Great for one of his daughters, had strong royal connections,{{sfn|Yorke|2021|p=68}} and the cult of Edward was valuable to it, giving it a high status among Wessex monasteries. At the end of the Anglo-Saxon period it was the richest Benedictine nunnery and Glastonbury the richest monastery of all. Later in the Middle Ages there was a saying that "If the abbot of Glastonbury might marry the abbess of Shaftesbury, their heir would have more land than the King of England".{{sfn|Keynes|1999|pp=55–56}} Edward's cult was important for the prosperity of the nunnery and town of Shaftesbury in the later Middle Ages, and in some medieval documents the town is called ''Edwardsstowe'', "the holy place of Edward".{{sfn|Yorke|1999|p=99}}

[[Lanfranc]], the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury, denied the sanctity of many Anglo-Saxon saints. Edward's cult survived but it was regarded as "rustic" and relegated to a minor status only to be honoured in establishments with a particular reason to honour him, such as Shaftesbury. His cult revived in the later Middle Ages, although almost wholly in the southern half of the country. He was regarded as one of the English national saints until they were relegated by the Plantagenets' preference for the more martial figure of [[Saint George]]. Edward survived the [[English Reformation]], but as a low key figure only remembered on his feast day.{{sfn|Watson|2021|pp=9–10, 14–17}} Edward's feast of 18 March is still listed in the festal calendar of the [[Book of Common Prayer (1662)|1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'']] of the [[Church of England]].{{sfn|Watson|2021|p=1}} The historian [[Frank Barlow (historian)|Frank Barlow]] comments that popular detestation of the crime led people to transform an unpleasant youth into a royal martyr.{{sfn|Barlow|1997|p=4}} The historian Tom Watson commented, "For an obnoxious teenager who showed no evidence of sanctity or kingly attributes and who should have been barely a footnote, his cult has endured mightily well."{{sfn|Watson|2021|p=19}}

=== Dispute over Edward's bones ===
Shaftesbury Abbey was [[Dissolution of the monasteries|dissolved]] in 1539 and the buildings were almost wholly dismantled. Between 1930 and 1932, an amateur historian, John Wilson-Claridge, conducted excavations in the ruins of the abbey. No report of the excavations was ever published, but he claimed to have found the bones of Edward the Martyr in the north transept. The discovery was praised in ''[[The Times]]'' as one of the greatest historical discoveries of the century.{{sfnm|1a1=Keen|1y=1999|1pp=5–7|2a1=Parlby|2y=2003|2p=37}} In 1963, the bones were examined by the forensic pathologist [[Thomas E. A. Stowell|Thomas Stowell]], who concluded that they were of a young man between the ages of seventeen and nineteen who had suffered injuries consistent with the description of the murder in Byrhtferth's account. Stowell concluded that beyond reasonable doubt the bones were of Edward the Martyr.{{sfnm|1a1=Stowell|1y=1971|1p=160|2a1=Lavelle|2y=2008|2p=44}} One of the bones was carbon-dated and found to date to the correct period.{{sfn|Keynes|1999|pp=55, 70 n. 132}} Historians' accounts of Stowell's findings usually mention that they were contradicted by the British Museum osteoarchaeologist [[Don Brothwell]], who is believed to have examined the bones and concluded that they were of an older man and that the damage was probably post-mortem, although no report of his examination was ever published.{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=1999|1pp=54–55|2a1=Rahtz|2y=1989|2p=17|3a1=Gem|3y=1984|3p=11}}

Wilson-Claridge negotiated with several churches to take the bones, but none was willing to agree to his requirement that they would be housed and revered as the true relics of the saint.{{sfn|Stowell|1971|p=141}} In 1980, Wilson-Claridge met, in his own words, "by divine providence" a Mr Pobjoy, who was a member of the [[Russian Orthodox Church Abroad]] (ROCA), which agreed to accept the bones on Wilson-Claridge's terms.{{sfn|Rahtz|1989|p=17}} Wilson-Claridge's brother strongly objected to the bones going to ROCA, arguing that they should go back to Shaftesbury. The dispute was debated in letters to ''The Times'', including one from Keynes which objected to the bones going to a Russian Orthodox church: "No Saxon can have deserved that fate". In 1988, a High Court hearing ruled that the bones could go to the ROCA [[Church of St Edward the Martyr, Brookwood]], which had been established for the purpose.{{sfnm|1a1=Rahtz|1y=1989|1p=17|2a1=Keynes|2y=1984|2p=11}} Historians are very sceptical that the bones in the Brookwood church are those of Edward the Martyr, both because the body taken to Shaftesbury in 979 was probably not Edward's, and because the bones found in 1931 were probably not the ones believed by contemporaries to be his.{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=1999|1pp=54–55|2a1=Yorke|2y=1999|2pp=112–113|3a1=Watson|3y=2021|3pp=17–18}}

=== Churches dedicated to Edward the Martyr ===
[[File:St Edward's church, Goathurst - geograph.org.uk - 3156834.jpg|thumb|[[Church of St Edward King and Martyr, Goathurst|Church of St Edward King and Martyr]], Goathurst, Somerset]]
[[File:St Edward King and Martyr, Cambridge (exterior).jpg|thumb|[[St Edward King and Martyr, Cambridge|Church of St Edward King and Martyr]], Cambridge]]

Churches dedicated to Edward the Martyr are the [[Church of St Edward King and Martyr, Goathurst|Church of St Edward King and Martyr]], in [[Goathurst]], [[Somerset]],{{sfn|Historic England, Church of St Edward the Martyr, Goathurst}} the Church of [[St Edward King and Martyr, Cambridge|St Edward King and Martyr]] in [[Peas Hill]], [[Cambridge]],{{sfn|Historic England, Church of St Edward the Martyr, Cambridge}} the Church of St Edward, King and Martyr, Corfe Castle,{{sfn|Church of St Edward, King and Martyr, Corfe Castle}} the Church of St Edward King & Martyr, [[Castle Donington]],{{sfn|Church of St Edward King & Martyr, Castle Donington}} and the Church of St Edward the Martyr, New York.{{sfn|Church of St. Edward the Martyr, New York}}