The Medieval Church · c. 985–987
The Passion of Saint Edmund
Abbo of Fleury · c. 945 – 1004
What it is
The killing of the East Anglian king by a Danish army in 869, written a century later from a story Dunstan had heard from Edmund's own armour-bearer as an old man. The head, thrown into brambles, calls out to the searchers until they find it, guarded by a wolf.
Why it lasted
The chain of transmission is stated openly — an eyewitness to Dunstan to Abbo — which is rare in hagiography. Ælfric turned it into Old English, and Edmund became England's patron saint until Edward III replaced him with George.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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