The cult of St John of Beverley
The cult of St John of Beverley
This thesis traces the cult of St John of Beverley from its beginning in the eighth century through to the present day, with special emphasis on original hagiographical sources. It also contains a comparison of the various extant texts of St John's Vita and miracle stories, together with my own English translation of them.
As bishop of Hexham, and then of York, John was a senior ecclesiastical figure in the north until his death in 721. An attempt is made to determine his historical character from the sources available. As many of these are hagiographic in nature, they have had to be assessed in order to discriminate between what, if anything, may be relied upon as genuinely applying to the man, and that which clearly applied to the saint he was considered to have been.
An investigation is made of the legend which claims that King Athelstan sought, and received, divine assistance in his war against Scotland because of John's intercession. This legend arose from the tradition that Athelstan established a college of canons at Beverley together with renders of thraves to support it, and bestowed numerous liberties and privileges on Beverley, including that of sanctuary. The legend is important, not only for its relevance to Beverley's identity as a place of refuge for those who fled oppression, whether guilty or innocent of crime, but it also had national significance, with successive kings of England trying to harness the power and reputation of the saint on their own behalf for their political ends.
The texts relating to John's life are examined, starting with that written by Bede in the eighth century, which became the prototype for later accounts, including the official Vita written by Folcard in the mid-eleventh century. The changes and additions which were made to the Bedan account reveal the ways in which successive hagiographers continually re-created John in the image they, or John's community, required, and enhanced his reputation to conform to current perceptions of the saint. There are four collections of post-mortem miracle stories, as well as a number of individual stores of miracles attributed to John's intercession, almost all of which were recorded at Beverley. These are analyzed to identify how John's nature, and his relationship to his community, were perceived by his creators, and how the latter's changing requirements resulted in differences in the type of miracles being attributed to the saint. At the same time, it is evident that the self-identity of the community was closely linked with John's changing identity.
University of Southampton
Wilson, Susan Elizabeth
a81f69fe-3e79-4649-88b9-a2c5f8d61fb9
2000
Wilson, Susan Elizabeth
a81f69fe-3e79-4649-88b9-a2c5f8d61fb9
Wilson, Susan Elizabeth
(2000)
The cult of St John of Beverley.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
This thesis traces the cult of St John of Beverley from its beginning in the eighth century through to the present day, with special emphasis on original hagiographical sources. It also contains a comparison of the various extant texts of St John's Vita and miracle stories, together with my own English translation of them.
As bishop of Hexham, and then of York, John was a senior ecclesiastical figure in the north until his death in 721. An attempt is made to determine his historical character from the sources available. As many of these are hagiographic in nature, they have had to be assessed in order to discriminate between what, if anything, may be relied upon as genuinely applying to the man, and that which clearly applied to the saint he was considered to have been.
An investigation is made of the legend which claims that King Athelstan sought, and received, divine assistance in his war against Scotland because of John's intercession. This legend arose from the tradition that Athelstan established a college of canons at Beverley together with renders of thraves to support it, and bestowed numerous liberties and privileges on Beverley, including that of sanctuary. The legend is important, not only for its relevance to Beverley's identity as a place of refuge for those who fled oppression, whether guilty or innocent of crime, but it also had national significance, with successive kings of England trying to harness the power and reputation of the saint on their own behalf for their political ends.
The texts relating to John's life are examined, starting with that written by Bede in the eighth century, which became the prototype for later accounts, including the official Vita written by Folcard in the mid-eleventh century. The changes and additions which were made to the Bedan account reveal the ways in which successive hagiographers continually re-created John in the image they, or John's community, required, and enhanced his reputation to conform to current perceptions of the saint. There are four collections of post-mortem miracle stories, as well as a number of individual stores of miracles attributed to John's intercession, almost all of which were recorded at Beverley. These are analyzed to identify how John's nature, and his relationship to his community, were perceived by his creators, and how the latter's changing requirements resulted in differences in the type of miracles being attributed to the saint. At the same time, it is evident that the self-identity of the community was closely linked with John's changing identity.
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Published date: 2000
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Local EPrints ID: 464330
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/464330
PURE UUID: d57bd519-21af-48fc-936d-72dd7e035f4f
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 22:17
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 19:25
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Author:
Susan Elizabeth Wilson
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