Botwine
Abbot of Ripon
Diedc. 785
Major shrineRipon and Peterborough
Feastunknown

Botwine (died 785 or 786) was a Northumbrian saint venerated at Ripon and Peterborough. He is well documented as a priest,[1] and latter Abbot of Ripon.[2][3][4][5] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recension E, recorded his death in the 780s (probably for 786) in one of three Ripon abbatial obits derived from a chronicle of Northumbrian origin.[6] Following the death of St Botwine in 786AD, his replacement, Ealdberht was elected and consecrated Abbot. Ealdberht died in 788AD,[7] and was himself succeeded as Abbot by St. Sigered of Ripon.[8][9]

The late 10th- and early 11th-century writer Byrhtferth of Ramsey in his Vita sancti Oswaldi claimed that Oswald of Worcester, Archbishop of York, discovered Botwine's relics at the monastery of Ripon. Oswald made a magnificent reliquary in which he placed the relics of Botwine with Wilfrid, Tiatberht, Alberht, Sigered and Vilden.[10] This account is described by historian Michael Lapidge as "problematical" on other points.[11] as it is known that in the 12th-century Peterborough Abbey also possessed some relics of Botwine.[12]

Notes

  1. ^ Byrhtferth.VitOswaldi v.9
  2. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (versions D, & E),785
  3. ^ Byrhtferth.VitOswaldi v.9
  4. ^ Botwine.Ep.T131(Letter to Lull)
  5. ^ Northern Annals.First Set 53.
  6. ^ Lapidge (ed.), Byrhtferth, p. 171, n. 99; Whitelock (ed.), English Historical Documents, p. 180
  7. ^ Historia Regum (NorthernAnnals).FirstSet 53 (786)
  8. ^ Byrhtferth.VitOswaldi v.9
  9. ^ NorthernAnnals.FirstSet 54
  10. ^ Byrhtferth.VitOswaldi v.9
  11. ^ Blair, "Handlist", p. 518; Lapidge (ed.), Byrhtferth, pp. 170–71, comment at n. 97
  12. ^ Blair, "Handlist", p. 518

References

  • Blair, John (2002), "A Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Saints", in Thacker, Alan; Sharpe, Richard (eds.), Local Saints and Local Churches in the Early Medieval West, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 495–565, ISBN 0-19-820394-2
  • Lapidge, Michael, ed. (2009), Byrhtferth of Ramsey: The Lives of St Oswald and St Ecgwine, Oxford Medieval Texts, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN 978-0-19-955078-4
  • Whitelock, Dorothy, ed. (1979), English Historical Documents. [Vol.1], c.500–1042, London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, ISBN 0-19-520101-9

External links

Saints of Anglo-Saxon England
Categories