Martyred at the hands of Viking invaders in 869, King Edmund of East Anglia was a popular saint in medieval England. His shrine in the abbey at Bury St Edmunds was a major pilgrimage site throughout the Middle Ages. Established c.1020 by King Cnut, the Benedictine abbey itself was a major East Anglian landholder, controlling both vast estates (primarily around Bury in Suffolk) and the administration of local justice. It was one of just five English monasteries to be exempt from episcopal visitation and answerable directly to the pope. The regular patronage the abbey received, which included that of English kings from Cnut to Henry VI, in combination with the devotion and income received from Edmund’s shrine, made it one of the grandest and most powerful abbeys in medieval England.Footnote 1
At the centre of the abbey’s activities was Edmund. Their patron saint and protector, the monks ensured his continued importance through the development and promotion of Edmund’s cult, notably through a large body of hagiographical texts written over a five-hundred-year period. After the Norman Conquest, the cult also regularly gifted contact relics of the martyr as another way to further the cult, as well as using items of military significance.Footnote 2
Edmund’s cult often depicted him as a pacifist, suffering at the hands of pagans to save his people. Early hagiography tended to focus on his choice to give up fighting, and primarily on his death, a theme which remained prominent throughout the Middle Ages.Footnote 3 However, there were also strong military undertones to his cult. Many of the miracles recorded after his death involved knights and the punishment of those who harmed Edmund’s people. Later hagiography brought these military aspects to the fore by turning Edmund into a victorious warrior, with his cult being used in warfare by late medieval kings. The first instance of such use was at the battle of Fornham on 17 October 1173, where the saint’s banner is recorded as having been used, and where he was considered to have interceded to grant victory to the royalists. This article investigates the development of Edmund as a warrior saint through the hagiography and the use of relics, and argues that Fornham can be seen as the point at which Edmund’s warrior status began to gain wider acceptance, accelerating the development of the military aspects of his cult.
Fornham and the Great Rebellion
Fornham was one of the most significant battles fought in twelfth-century England, and an important part of the Great Rebellion of 1173–4. In 1173, there was widespread revolt against the rule of King Henry II. Led by Henry’s own sons, in combination with members of the nobility, the rebellion was supported by the kings of France and Scotland and by the counts of Flanders and Boulogne.Footnote 4 The conflict covered almost all the Angevin lands, with most of the fighting taking place in Normandy and England. Henry left the defence of England to his ministers, while he dealt with the rebellion on the continent. In England, this included defending the north against a series of Scottish invasions, attacking the lands of rebels primarily in the Midlands and especially the town of Leicester (controlled by the leading rebel Robert de Beaumont, earl of Leicester), while also defending East Anglia from the rebellion of Hugh Bigod, earl of Norfolk. In September 1173, the earl of Leicester landed with an army (primarily made up of Flemish mercenaries whom he had just recruited in Flanders) near Walton (Suffolk).Footnote 5 After supporting Bigod’s rebellion, Earl Robert prepared to march his army to Leicester. He attempted to cross the River Lark at Fornham St Genevieve, two miles north of Bury St Edmunds where royalist forces were gathering.Footnote 6
Large scale battles were uncommon in this period due to the risks involved in gambling everything on one decisive, but wholly unpredictable, encounter, yet this was precisely the type of war the royalists chose to fight during the Great Rebellion. On the continent, Henry II attempted to bring his opponents to open battle on several occasions; however, Henry the Young King (Henry II’s eldest son) and his supporters refused to take such a risk.Footnote 7 The rebels in England similarly tried to avoid open battle, instead preferring the customary tactics of raiding and sieges. On the three occasions the royalists were successful at forcing battle, Henry’s forces managed to surprise their enemies. At Dol, on 20 August 1173, the terrain hid the royalists until it was too late for the rebels to withdraw safely; while at Alnwick, on 13 July 1174, a daring raid caught King William the Lion off guard while most of his Scottish forces were away plundering. At Fornham, on 17 October 1173, Leicester miscalculated: the royalists (led by the king’s justiciar and constable) met the enemy in full force while the latter were trying to cross the River Lark. The result was a slaughter.Footnote 8 Leicester and his wife were both captured, while many of the Flemish were either slain in battle or drowned in the Lark trying to escape. Many more were killed by angry peasants who turned out in force to hunt the despised marauders. Those who survived were imprisoned in horrendous conditions, while the bodies of some of the dead were displayed at Bury, Colchester and Ipswich.Footnote 9
St Edmund the Warrior
The victory at Fornham quickly began to be attributed to St Edmund.Footnote 10 The battle had been fought on his land, with the knights of St Edmund’s abbey, who were in the vanguard of the royalist forces, inspired to great deeds by the holy relic they carried: the banner that Edmund had himself carried into battle.Footnote 11 This victory helped establish the idea of Edmund as a warrior saint, zealous in the defence of his patrimony. There are no specific criteria for being labelled a warrior saint, and many saints were prayed to in battle or were linked to specific battles without being considered as such.Footnote 12 Most warrior saints, however, shared common attributes. The first was martyrdom. Some of the earliest Christian martyrs were soldiers who died for their faith, including Sts George and Sebastian, as well as the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, Roman soldiers who were frozen to death for not recanting their Christian beliefs.Footnote 13 Martyrdom was later expanded to include Christians who had died in battle against pagans, as well as those who died for a cause, such as Thomas Becket.Footnote 14 The second aspect was the invocation of the saint or the use of their relics in battle. The use of holy objects, such as St Cuthbert’s corporal cloth or Columba’s battle relic, enabled an army to physically take the saint into battle with them, supposedly ensuring protection and victory.Footnote 15 Similarly, a saint could be called upon for aid by a simple invocation, with the name of a favoured saint often becoming a war cry, such as the French cry of St Denis.Footnote 16 The final aspect related to miracles connected to war and violence. Although certainly not restricted to warrior saints, miracles involving soldiers, the defence of groups of people, or the deaths of enemies situated the saint in a military context, which could then be reinforced through the use of appropriate relics in situations involving violence and conflict. While not every warrior saint embodied all three aspects, many did. Edmund is one such case and an examination of his activities in both life and death can help us understand his position and influence as a warrior saint.
The historical Edmund is hard to decipher, with little evidence for his life, reign or death. The earliest written sources relating to him are the historical accounts in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and Asser’s Life of King Alfred. Footnote 17 Neither account provides much detail: both relate that in 869 the Danes made winter camp at Thetford, a battle was fought, and Edmund was killed.Footnote 18 The hagiographical tradition begins a century later when, between 985 and 987, Abbo of Fleury wrote his Passio of Edmund, which presents a more detailed picture of the saint’s death.Footnote 19 This was swiftly followed by Aelfric of Eynsham’s Old English adaptation of Abbo’s Passio, which was complete by 998. According to these accounts, Edmund received an ultimatum from the Viking leader Hinguar, who demanded that Edmund rule under him and surrender half his treasury. Edmund declared he would never submit to a pagan, but (to save his people from the horrors of war) neither would he fight; instead, he chose the path of Christ. Edmund was captured, bound and taken to Hinguar, who had him tied to a tree. While bound, Edmund repeatedly called on Christ as the Vikings shot him with arrows, beheaded him, and threw his head into Haegilisdun wood, the location of which is debated.Footnote 20
Abbo’s account of Edmund’s death bears a striking resemblance to the death of St Sebastian. Sebastian, like Edmund, was tied to a post and shot with arrows. In both cases, the arrows did not kill them, but it was further violence (for Sebastian, being cudgelled to death; for Edmund, beheading) which was the cause of their demise.Footnote 21 The connection was surely intentional: by linking him to Sebastian, Abbo was declaring Edmund to be a martyr in the traditional sense. However, by the late eleventh and twelfth centuries, when the miracle collections were being composed, asserting such a death had become unnecessary. Although Abbo and Aelfric may have needed to alter Edmund’s death to fit their understanding of martyrdom, for the eleventh- and twelfth-century miracle collections, Edmund’s death in battle at the hands of the pagan Vikings, as implied by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Asser, was enough to make Edmund a martyr and deserving of the title of warrior saint.
The portrayal of Edmund’s death presents a fundamental dichotomy in Edmund’s story which requires consideration. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Asser indicate that Edmund was killed during the battle, or shortly after. In either case, the important point is that Edmund fought. As already noted, however, the early hagiographic tradition paints a different picture. Both Abbo’s Passio and Aelfric of Eynsham’s version of the story (complete by 998) depict Edmund as suffering martyrdom from a refusal either to submit to Viking rule, or to fight them. Both accounts state that Edmund had been cut off from his military forces by Viking attacks.Footnote 22 When Hinguar demands Edmund’s subservience, Edmund chooses martyrdom to spare his people more suffering. Abbo and Aelfric do nonetheless imply that Edmund had a military background. Abbo, for example, describes Edmund as a ‘keen soldier’, and implies that the Viking plan had been to cut Edmund off from his military forces to prevent him from fighting.Footnote 23 Both accounts also record that Edmund claimed never to have fled a battlefield and affirmed that it would be glorious to die fighting for his country.Footnote 24 Although the early hagiography portrays Edmund as choosing martyrdom in order to imitate Christ, it could also be said that this choice was forced upon him by his lack of military power, rather than constituting a true martyrdom for the faith.Footnote 25
The early hagiography, therefore, shows Edmund as a courageous man willing to fight, but in the end a military failure. The authors seem to structure their narrative in such a way as to show Edmund as a traditional martyr, whose success comes from spiritual prowess rather than from military glory, which should be eschewed by a martyr.Footnote 26 A significant number of early Christian martyrs were soldiers who gave up the violence of military life upon conversion, such as St Martin of Tours.Footnote 27 Sulpicius Severus’s Life of St Martin – one of the most influential hagiographical texts of the early Middle Ages – simply ignores Martin’s military activity.Footnote 28 Even though Martin remained in the army for two years after his baptism, and would therefore have been involved in fighting, the text focuses on other aspects of his life. Severus does mention a potential battle against barbarians during Martin’s military service; however, by the grace of God, the battle never happens, enabling Martin to refrain from violence and bear the mantle of martyr.Footnote 29 Severus’s style is reflected in Abbo and Aelfric, where the battle at Thetford recorded by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Asser does not take place, with Edmund instead treading the traditional path to martyrdom by refusing to fight or commit violence.Footnote 30
After the Norman Conquest, a change can be observed in the hagiography. Many of Edmund’s miracles begin to involve warriors and knights. For example, an unnamed knight whose arm had been crushed in the crowd during Edmund’s translation in 1094 was miraculously healed.Footnote 31 The increasing prevalence of knights in these miracle stories presumably reflects the changing situation at Bury after the Norman Conquest, with the abbey now required to provide knights for the king’s armies.Footnote 32 There is also a change to the narrative of Edmund’s martyrdom, with Edmund now depicted as having fought battles. In Geoffrey Gaimar’s verse chronicle Estoire des Engleis (written c.1136–7), Edmund meets the Danes in battle and loses due to their overwhelming numbers. He is then driven back to a castle where he is captured.Footnote 33 Gaimar was writing an epic history of England for a secular audience and suppressed as much ecclesiastical history as possible. Turning Edward into a warrior king (even a failed one) probably made him a more appealing character to Gaimar’s audience than a pious martyr.Footnote 34
By the early thirteenth century, we see a further change in the hagiographic tradition. Edmund is now presented as having been victorious in battle and Hinguar is put to flight after a bloody slaughter. The earliest extant example of this is in Roger of Wendover’s Flores Historiarum (written before 1236 and, importantly for this article, post-Fornham), where there is a section dedicated to the battle of Thetford.Footnote 35 Indeed, Roger resolves the dichotomy between martyrdom and warfare by having Edmund declare that he would rather die and become a soldier of Christ, ‘bear[ing] the standard of the Eternal King’, than submit to the Danes, even though he had just defeated them.Footnote 36 This interpolation enters the hagiographical tradition via the fourteenth-century text produced at Bury, now Oxford MS Bodley 240, where the section describing Edmund’s death is titled De bello inter sanctum Edmundum et Ingwarum prope Thefordiam et modo martirii sancti Edmundi (‘On the battle between Saint Edmund and Hinguar near Thetford and the manner of the martyrdom of Saint Edmund’).Footnote 37 Lydgate’s Life (c.1434–9) represents the culmination in this changed portrayal of Edmund’s character in the later hagiography. For Lydgate, Edmund is a great and successful warrior, but after seeing the horrors of the battle, Edmund swears an oath never to fight again.Footnote 38 The Edmund as described in Abbo and Aelfric, on the other hand, was a failure; he had no army to fight with because he had been outmanoeuvred by the Vikings. Flight or martyrdom were his only choices. There may have been a practical reason for this change in the tradition. Those promoting his cult (as with any saint’s cult) wanted to portray Edmund as a powerful saint to whom people could turn for aid. Few soldiers would have sought aid from a man who was a military failure (even if canonized). By shifting the emphasis to Edmund as a victorious warrior who chose to be martyred, the popularity and appeal of the cult could expand.
One reason why a victorious Edmund did not appear in Abbo and Aelfric’s works can be found in the events of the late tenth century. Both Abbo and Aelfric were writing at a time of increased instability in the English realm: Viking raids had resumed in 980, with the English unable to defend themselves. The defeat at Maldon in 991 was a major blow to the kingdom and caused faith in its military strength to suffer. Further defeats on land and sea resulted in King Aethelred’s policy of paying tribute to the Vikings to prevent further attacks (starting with £10,000 shortly after Maldon) and showed the kingdom to be incapable of protecting itself militarily.Footnote 39 With this prevailing atmosphere of defeatism and impending doom, it is understandable why the hagiographers did not focus on Edmund as a warrior. Depicting Edmund as a military failure would have provided no hope for those living through these disastrous events; however, an emphasis on Edmund’s Christlike characteristics not only avoided focussing on his lack of military success, but directed contemporaries towards a hope of spiritual salvation at a time when they themselves were militarily incapable of resisting Viking assault. In addition, it had the effect of showing Edmund to be an exemplary Christian who directly followed the teachings of Christ, such as his instructions to Peter in the garden of Gethsemane.Footnote 40
From the eleventh century, however, there was a gradual rehabilitation of warfare and religion, combined with the militarization of the church, especially through the crusading movement and the granting of indulgences for participation in such endeavours.Footnote 41 Developing Edmund’s story to fit this new world of pious knights was an effective way to maintain Edmund’s relevance and garner further devotees to his cult.Footnote 42 Although there are some earlier examples, such as St Oswald of Northumbria, from the eleventh century the increasing use and acceptance of the term ‘martyr’ in relation to Christians dying in battle against pagans can be observed.Footnote 43 This developing link between martyrdom and death while fighting the enemies of the church enabled the hagiography of Edmund to reconcile his Christ-like nature, focused upon by early hagiographers, with the chronicle evidence (and contemporary views of kingship) depicting Edmund as a warrior.
The culmination of this can be seen in Lydgate’s Life, which includes illuminations of Edmund fighting in armour, the first extant images of Edmund so garbed, although not the first time he is described as such.Footnote 44 The idea and images of battle are prevalent throughout the text. When describing the meeting between Edmund and Ragnar Lothbrok, for example, Lydgate describes Edmund as having ‘prowesse and knyhtly disciplyne’.Footnote 45 More importantly, in this version, Edmund takes his army into the field and fights the Danes:
Furthermore, Edmund is praised for his prowess and slaughter of the pagans:
For Lydgate therefore, Edmund could be a victorious warrior, covered in the blood of his enemy, while still following the teachings of Christ. It is through these ideas that the late medieval hagiography resolves the conflict between Edmund as a victorious warrior and earlier accounts where he is portrayed as a failure. As with earlier accounts, Hinguar demands Edmund’s surrender, and a bishop advises Edmund to flee due to the lack of military forces. As he is a good knight, Edmund refuses to run, but he has also sworn to not take up arms again. He therefore chooses martyrdom.Footnote 48
This reconciliation of religion and warfare can also be seen through the types of miracles performed by Edmund: a third of the miracles recorded by Herman the Archdeacon, whose collection was completed c.1098, can be classed as vengeance miracles, a substantially higher proportion than for most saints.Footnote 49 To these can be added later vengeance miracles. The Barnwell Chronicle, compiled in the early thirteenth century, records a miracle from the Fifth Crusade (1217–21) in which the knight, Richard de Argentyne, had dedicated a converted mosque in Damietta to St Edmund. A Fleming, seeing the dedication, insulted Edmund, who then punished him by dropping a stone on his head.Footnote 50 The saint’s determination to use violence to defend his people from aggressors appears in many of these miracles, and emerges as a central part of Edmund’s cult. The most famous example of this would be the death of King Sweyn Forkbeard in 1014. According to Herman, the people of East Anglia, faced with Forkbeard’s invasion and the imposition of a new tax, fled to Bury and prayed to the saint to intervene on their behalf. Edmund visited Sweyn in a vision, demanding that he cease his hostility towards Edmund’s people.Footnote 51 In Samson of Bury’s revised version of the miracle, written at the end of the twelfth century, Sweyn refused to heed the advice and so Edmund came to him one last time:
And calling the king by his own name [Edmund] said, ‘Do you want to have a tribute O King, from the land of Saint Edmund? Rise up, behold, take it.’ He who was rising up sat down again in his bed, but soon began to cry out dreadfully when he saw the weapons. As soon as the knight [miles, i.e. Edmund] made the attack, he left him, pierced through with a lance, dying. Stirred up by his shout, we [Sweyn’s guards] ran to him and found him defiled with his own blood, his soul belched forth.Footnote 52
Here, Edmund is shown to have conquered the conqueror, achieving a victory he could not win in life. The use of the word miles here implies that Edmund was wearing the trappings of a knight, thereby placing the saint in the military realm. Furthermore, this miracle, placed near the beginning of the two collections (it is the fourth recorded miracle in Samson’s work, and the second in Herman’s) indicates the central importance to Edmund’s cult of the martyr’s portrayal as a vengeful saint and defender of his people, once again highlighting the saint’s military status.
Examples of Edmund’s defence of his people continued after the Norman Conquest. One such instance, recorded by both Herman and Goscelin of St Bertin (writing 1099 x 1100), is the case of Robert de Curzon, who wanted the vill of Southwold which belonged to the abbey of St Edmund. Successful in attaining it from the sheriff, Robert rode out with ‘two equally crazed and reckless companions’ to take possession.Footnote 53 Edmund, however, created a terrible storm, forcing Robert to cease his attempt on the vill. Robert’s knights, ‘blinded with obsession’, chose to attack the tenants.Footnote 54 Once more a terrible storm fell upon them, causing one to go mad and the other to have a fit.Footnote 55 The vill remained Edmund’s.
Edmund did not just punish knights; he also helped them. A sizeable number of recorded miracles, particularly in Herman’s collection, concern knights, indicating that the knightly class saw Edmund as a valuable patron of the military elite and a saint deserving of special reverence.Footnote 56 One such occasion is the case of Ranulf, a knight in the household of William I. Ranulf suffered a period of madness for seven days. On the eighth:
He dreamed that he was fleeing on horseback and the holy martyr Edmund galloped after him, armed. A spear hung down, lodged in his back, until his pursuer unhorsed him on to a hedge, and loomed over him like a warrior about to kill him … . The wretch begged forgiveness and sought the saint’s mercy, that he might be spared. Looming over him, the saint touched the top of his head with the full breadth of his right hand. Then, marking him out from above with the sign of the cross, he spoke to him gently, saying: ‘If you allow this to happen to you, you will be freed.’Footnote 57
Ranulf agreed, and after sleeping and giving thanks to Edmund, ‘putrid matter flowed from both his ears and he believed that the saint had truly cured him with the touch of his holy right hand’.Footnote 58 Fulfilling his vow to Edmund, Ranulf went to Bury where he took the tonsure.Footnote 59
The depiction of Edmund in these miracles is important. In the death of Sweyn and the healing of Ranulf, Edmund is depicted in the trappings of a knight, with lance, horse and armour. This identifies Edmund as a member of the knightly class, with the duty of protection to the oratores et labores (those who pray and those who work) in society, both as a knight and, in Edmund’s case, as a king. The adoption of Edmund as a knight by the elites, shown through his presentation in military garb along with the sizeable number of miracles connected to knights and violence, testifies to the acceptance of Edmund as a warrior saint.
The final aspect that showed Edmund to be a warrior saint was the use of his relics. As a warrior king, Edmund had relevant military items, including his sword, spear and banner, which could serve this function. These three items were kept at his shrine, clearly linking the saint to the idea of war. The connection was also emphasized in the way the relics were used by the monks. The Bury Rituale, which contains the details of the religious ceremonies observed at the monastery, indicates that the sword was carried in the procession on the feast of the translation of St Edmund on 29 April, although it does not appear to have been used in warfare.Footnote 60 The banner was supposedly the one carried into battle by Edmund himself and was kept near the shrine. As well as this particular relic, banners were often placed near shrines so that they could absorb the saint’s power.Footnote 61 This power could then be taken into battle as the physical embodiment of the saint. This is exactly what Edward I did in 1300, when he brought his own banners to be touched by St Edmund’s relics before departing for his campaign in Scotland.Footnote 62
Unfortunately, Edmund’s banner does not survive, but it is depicted in Lydgate’s Life. Footnote 63 Made of red fabric, it portrayed Adam and Eve eating from the Tree of Knowledge, with the Lamb of God above them. No contemporary source explains the significance of this scene to Edmund, or the choice of Adam and Eve for the banner. Lydgate’s image, which depicts the banner at the battle of Thetford, shows a military banner hanging from a lance, rather than a processional banner hanging from a crossbar.Footnote 64 This is an important distinction for, as Richard Sharpe has demonstrated, many of the religious banners taken to war were processional banners.Footnote 65 While such banners were considered to carry the power of the saint, and could therefore still bring protection and victory, they were arguably not as powerful as an actual military relic such as Edmund’s banner, and they were also less practical in combat. Processional banners were generally larger and hung lower, whereas war banners were elevated to a greater height, enabling them to be more visible during combat.Footnote 66 Edmund’s banner is therefore somewhat different to many of the religious banners being carried into battle during the period, since it was both a holy relic and a banner designed for war.
There are two recorded cases of Edmund’s own banner being taken to war in the twelfth century: the first was at Fornham in 1173; the second was the siege of Windsor in 1193, when Abbot Samson personally led the abbey knights on campaign. In neither case is the banner described in any detail.Footnote 67 There is also no clear evidence of the banner being carried into battle before the twelfth century. The use of the banner at Fornham was probably due to the battle’s being on abbey lands, while Samson’s use of the relic in 1193 was presumably connected to his efforts to promote the cult.Footnote 68 In the thirteenth century, Edmund was retrospectively given a coat of arms in the form of three gold crowns on a blue (azure) field. This coat of arms is first linked with St Edmund in 1282 in the Segar’s roll containing the coats of arms of more than 200 individuals; in the fourteenth century, it became associated with royal control of Ireland, probably due to Richard II’s personal devotion to the saint, although the exact reason for the association is unclear.Footnote 69 It was an armorial banner that was raised over Caerlaverock Castle in 1300, with additional banners commissioned in 1331–2 by Edward III (who also made Edmund a patron of the Order of the Garter), which would, nearly a century later, be displayed at Cornhill during Henry V’s victory parade in 1415.Footnote 70 These would probably have been war banners rather than processional banners, due to the fact they were linked to the king’s household and military campaigns, rather than a parish or church; and although in that sense they were not holy, there was the belief that the carrying of such a banner would bring the support of the saint.Footnote 71 It also demonstrates the adoption of Edmund as a royal patron by the kings of England, particularly in the conquest of other British territories. In Ireland, for example, Edmund’s coat of arms became the symbol of English rule over Ireland, with Robert de Vere, upon becoming duke of Ireland in 1386, being granted the right to quarter his arms with those of Edmund.Footnote 72
Another significant difference between Edmund’s banner and processional banners used in war was the choice of standard bearer: Edmund’s banner was carried by a knight. Indeed, in some periods the right to carry the banner was disputed. Thus, in the late twelfth century, the earl of Clare claimed the honour of carrying the banner in connection with the 5s. he received from the hundred of Risbridge. Clare’s claim however was disputed both by Thomas de Mendham, a knight of Bury, and by Roger Bigod, who in 1173 is recorded as having ‘carried it when the Earl of Leicester was taken and the Flemings destroyed’.Footnote 73 The carrying of Edmund’s banner by knights contrasts with the use of processional banners, which were carried by churchmen. The monk William de Gretham, for example, is known to have carried St Cuthbert’s banner, kept at his shrine in Durham cathedral on at least four campaigns.Footnote 74 That knights acted as the bearer of Edmund’s banner gives a distinctly military aspect to the saint and his relic, emphasizing his warrior status.
Edmund, Fornham and the Start of his Military Career
At the battle of Fornham, it was the knights of Bury carrying the banner of St Edmund who led the royalist attack. A common tactic of monasteries at the time was to portray all the properties of their house as belonging to their patron saint to prevent alienations and give heavenly support in lawsuits. The same can be observed at Bury, including with the knights, implying that they were in the service of the saint, instead of the abbey. The cleric and historian Jordan Fantosme (fl. 1170–80) in his verse chronicle, for example, says that: ‘Saint Edmund had knights of the greatest prowess. He has them armed speedily without delay’.Footnote 75 Fantosme’s acceptance that the knights were St Edmund’s, rather than the abbey’s, may simply mean that the monks were successful in their attempt at placing themselves under Edmund’s protection; however, the second line ‘He has them armed’ suggests that it was Edmund himself who was arming the knights, implying that Fantosme believed Edmund to have been important in the victory at Fornham through his support of the knights.Footnote 76 The miracles place a similar emphasis on Edmund. For example, when, as discussed above, Sweyn Forkbeard and Robert de Curzon were punished for trying to harm the lands and people of St Edmund, the abbey was not specifically mentioned, but the focus was entirely on the saint.Footnote 77 In addition, in some accounts the victory at Fornham was directly awarded to Edmund by the defeated. According to the Barnwell Chronicle, the Flemish ‘[held] the martyr in detestation because of the disaster which overtook them in England during the reign of Henry II’, and it was for this reason that the Fleming insulted the saint (implying that Edmund was responsible for the defeat) and was then punished by a stone falling upon his head.Footnote 78
Edmund’s defeat of the rebels at Fornham arguably does most to emphasize not only his status as a warrior saint, but his effectiveness. The focus on the Flemish in the contemporary chronicles, and especially Fantosme, is particularly important. They were the main enemy at Fornham and could be seen as the contemporary Danes: foreign invaders ravaging good Christian lands.Footnote 79 In a parallel to his slaying of Sweyn Forkbeard, Edmund defended his later people by slaughtering the Flemish. However, Edmund also gave his protection to those Flemings who repented.Footnote 80 Two men, fleeing the battle, made it to the monastery and sought sanctuary at the saint’s feretory; by praying to Edmund, they were able to preserve their lives and their freedom.Footnote 81
Edmund’s status as a warrior and as a king made him particularly attractive to royalty. English kings made regular visits to his shrine at Bury, bringing gifts to the saint. Between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, a close relationship also developed between Edmund and royal military endeavours. In 1177, Henry II visited Bury before heading to Geddington to receive the homage of the Welsh.Footnote 82 Henry III, for example, made at least fifteen trips.Footnote 83 A similar submission of the Welsh took place at Bury on 20 November 1296, the feast of St Edmund, under Edward I; while Henry VI received the submission of Gruffydd ap Nicholas there in 1449.Footnote 84 The connection between St Edmund and Welsh submission across almost three hundred years indicates a strong belief amongst English kings that Edmund was a protector of the English against their neighbours.
This belief had been extended to more distant enemies in the twelfth century by Richard I, who had a particular affinity with the cult of Edmund, seeing himself, like the saint, as a warrior king who fought against the infidel.Footnote 85 In 1190, Richard dedicated his crusading fleet to Edmund, and in 1191, after his conquest of Cyprus, sent the captured banner of Isaac Comnenus to the saint’s shrine. It was not unknown for the banners of a defeated enemy to be given to a saint who was thought to have played an important part in winning the battle,Footnote 86 and the implication is therefore that Richard believed Edmund to have had a significant role in his capture of Cyprus from a Greek Orthodox ruler, viewed in some ways as another infidel. Subsequently captured himself, on his release, Richard made a pilgrimage to St Edmund in March 1194, to give thanks for his safe return, thereby cementing Edmund’s role as a patron and protector of English warriors.Footnote 87
In 1275, Edward I would repeat Richard’s action.Footnote 88 Indeed, it was Edward I who arguably made the greatest use of Edmund in warfare. In 1292, he set out from Bury for his campaign in Scotland and later that year, the newly crowned Scottish king, John Balliol, swore fealty to Edward on the feast of St Edmund.Footnote 89 In 1296, Edward was at Bury before marching back to Scotland for his first military campaign to subdue the kingdom; later that year, he returned to the abbey to give thanks for his triumph.Footnote 90 In 1300, Edward forbade his justices from violating the privileges of Bury on account that ‘I believe without doubt that he [i.e. St Edmund] will be in Scotland to protect me and mine and to conquer the enemy.’Footnote 91 During the same visit, Edward had his banners blessed by the relics of St Edmund.Footnote 92 This included the banner bearing Edmund’s coat of arms, recorded in the wardrobe accounts, which was raised over Caerlaverock Castle later that year.Footnote 93
Edmund also became a symbol of English control of Ireland. As has already been seen, his coat of arms was in use by the fourteenth century, but prior to that Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin had a chapel dedicated to St Edmund, founded sometime between 1181 and 1212. Roger Stalley argues that this dedication reflected Edmund’s popularity amongst English kings, while Nicholas Vincent suggests that the importing of English saints was a way to displace the native Irish saints, and an affirmation of the subjection of Ireland to English rule.Footnote 94 There also appears to be an attempt to establish a direct link to Fornham. The Song of Dermot and the Earl (written after c.1225) avers that an Irish contingent led by Robert Fitz Bernard and including Robert Fitz Stephen fought at Fornham.Footnote 95 This supports Fantosme, who records the deeds of Fitz Bernard in his Chronicle. Footnote 96 Furthermore, in the fourteenth-century Black Book of Christ Church (containing a collection of historical, legal and administrative records), Robert Fitz Stephen is credited with establishing the chapel of St Edmund; while the annals of Christ Church, also preserved in the Black Book, record, incorrectly, that the chapel was completed in the 1170s.Footnote 97 The connection to Fitz Stephen, as well as the misdating of the chapel to the 1170s, suggests that Edmund’s chapel may have been understood (incorrectly) as having been founded to commemorate the victory at Fornham.
The battle of Fornham thus emerges as an important yet largely overlooked episode in the development of Edmund’s cult and reputation. While the hagiography was gradually becoming more militarized, Fornham established Edmund as a successful warrior. Through the use of his banner in the battle, and the focus upon fighting infidels and barbarians, Edmund developed a reputation as a protector of the English and a saint who could bring victory over the foreigner. Importantly, Edmund was also a royal saint, making him a particularly attractive patron for English kings. It was these kings who, after Fornham, helped develop Edmund’s reputation as a warrior saint, on whose power they called in their conquests, both within the British Isles and further afield. At the same time, while there may have been a special reverence for Edmund, he was rarely seen in battle alone. Both Thomas Becket and Edward the Confessor also became favoured patrons of English kings, while in terms of warfare St George became a central figure.Footnote 98 At Caerlaverock, it was the banners of St Edmund, St George and St Edward which were raised over the castle, even if the Song of Carlaverock does give pride of place to Edmund.Footnote 99 This can also be seen during Henry V’s victory procession into London, where images of Sts Edmund, Edward and George were placed side by side on Cornhill.Footnote 100
Apart from his use by English kings, Edmund’s military image was somewhat restricted. Accounts of him throughout the Middle Ages tended to focus more on the earlier accounts of his death and on his choice to give up fighting, as evidenced by medieval wall-paintings and pilgrim badges. The dichotomy in Edmund’s cult, of pacifist martyr versus victorious warrior, was never truly resolved, but arguably this was also a strength of the cult. It enabled Edmund to appeal to a wider audience, enabling kings to use him as a symbol of Englishness and a defender of the realm against its enemies, while also testifying that choosing not to fight could still lead to victory.
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