During the Middle Ages the relics of saints were often translated, or ‘re-buried’ – that is, they were moved to a different location or to another shrine within the same church. This process, which often included an elaborate public ceremony, was generally undertaken in order to provide a more impressive site for the remains. The translations, which were regarded as the outward recognition of heroic sanctity, were an important aspect of the cult of saints and the development of monastic establishments. Closely connected with the memory of particular church dedications, they often established continuity and enhanced the reputation of the monastery. Typically, the noble foundresses of nunneries such as Barking were culted as saints by their successors, and the liturgical celebrations of the translation of their remains required new liturgical readings. These accounts, which form a sub-genre of hagiographic writing, contain narratives about the transfer of relics which emphasize and provide testimony for the power of the saintly remains.

In late eleventh century England, translation liturgies were important vehicles for solidifying the Anglo-Saxon and Norman religious connections, which, as discussed below, became important to the leaders of the new regime. This article will provide an example of this historical phenomenon by exploring the liturgies for the translation of the remains of three of the earliest abbesses of Barking Abbey, written by Goscelin of Saint-Bertin.