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According to Abbo of Fleury, followed by Florence of Worcester, he came "ex antiquorum Saxonum prosapia," which apparently means that he was of foreign origin and that he belonged to the Old Saxons of the continent. This very doubtful tradition expanded later into a fuller legend which spoke of his Old Saxon parentage, his birth at Nuremberg, his nomination as successor to Offa, king of East Anglia, and his landing at Hunstanton to claim his kingdom. His coronation took place in the next year at "Burna" (probably Bures St Mary, Suffolk), which then functioned as the royal capital.
Of the life of St Edmund during the next fourteen years we know nothing. In the year 870 the Danes, who had wintered at York, marched through Mercia into East Anglia and took up their quarters at Thetford. Edmund engaged them fiercely in battle, but the Danes under their leaders Ubba and Ivar the Boneless had the victory and remained in possession of the battlefield.
We do not know whether the conquerors slew the king on the actual field of battle or in a later martyrdom episode, but the widely current version of the story, which makes him fall a martyr to Danish arrows when he had refused to renounce his faith or hold his kingdom as a vassal from heathen overlords, may very probably have some basis in truth. The story dates from very early times, and according to Abbo of Fleury ( 945Events Saint Dunstan abbot at Glastonbury Edmund I of England conquers Strathclyde Howell the Good convenes a conference at Whitland, which reforms the laws of Wales Births Deaths Igor of Kiev 945.- 1004Events December: End of the Samanid dynasty in Bokhara. Boleslaus I of Poland loses Bohemia after having become duke the previous year. He is succeeded as duke of Bohemia by Jaromir. Sancho III becomes king of Navarre. Sweyn destroys Norwich. Aberdeen bec), St Edmund's earliest biographer, it came to him (Abbo) via DunstanDunstan is also a village in Northumberland George Cruikshank Dunstan ( 909 May 19 988) was an Archbishop of Canterbury ( 961 980) who was later canonized as a saint. He gained fame for the many stories told about his cunning in dealing with the Devil., who heard it from the 1ips of Edmund's own standard-bearer. This is chronologically just possible, but that is all.
The battle took place at Hoxne, some 20 miles south-east of Thetford, and the king's body was ultimately interred at Beadoriceworth, the modern Bury St EdmundsBury St Edmunds is a town in the county of Suffolk, England. It is the main town in the borough of St Edmundsbury and is probably most famous for the ruined abbey which stands near the town centre. The abbey is a shrine to Saint Edmund, the Saxon King of. The shrine of Edmund soon became one of the most famous in England and the reputation of the saint became Europe-wide. The date of his canonizationCanonization is the process used in traditional Christianity of recognizing those persons who have lived exemplary lives suitable of identifying them as Christian Saints. It is currently practiced by the Roman Catholic Church and its appendages, by the Ea is unknown, but churches dedicated to his memory are found all over England.
See Asser's Life of Alfred, ed. W.H. Stevenson; Annals of St Neots; Saxon Chronicle; Memorials of St Edmund's Abbey (Rolls Series), including the Passio Sancti Edmundi of Abbo of Fleury; and the Corolla Sancti Eadmundi, edited by Lord Francis Hervey (1907).
This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.