Botolph

Botolph , also Botulph , in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Botulf , was a 7th century English monk . He is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches .

Testimonies

Little is known about Botolph's life. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that he began building a monastery in Icanho in 654 . An almost contemporary source is the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum des Beda Venerabilis . Beda reports here that his teacher Ceolfrid traveled to East Anglia to be instructed by Botolph, widely praised for his erudition and righteousness. A Vita Botolph did not emerge until the 11th century, around 400 years after his death. According to this script written by Folcard , abbot of Thorney Monastery , Botulph came from a Saxon noble family. Together with his brother Adulph , he is said to have been sent by his Christian parents to a monastery on the European mainland for monastic education; Adulph remained on the continent and was finally ordained Bishop of Utrecht . Botolph, however, returned to England and was able to enjoy the patronage of Æthelmund, a king of the Angles . Æthelmund allowed Botulph to build a monastery in a desert. Botulph is said to have died around 680. Towards the end of the 10th century, Æthelwold , Bishop of Winchester , is said to have divided the bones of Botulph as relics among the monasteries of Ely , Westminster and Thorney.

The exact location of Botolph's monastery is controversial; the majority of research today assumes that Icanho (literally "ox island") was on the site of the present-day village of Iken in Suffolk. During excavations in 1977, the remains of an early medieval church were uncovered. The lexicon of the Middle Ages , however, states that the thesis that the monastery was in what is now the village of Hadstock in Essex is "comparatively convincing". After all, the city of Boston claims to have been the place where the monastery was founded; the place name Boston is said to be derived from an abbreviation of Botolph's town . The parish church of Boston, the famous high Gothic St. Botolph's Church , is dedicated to Botolph, as are numerous other churches in England, especially in Norfolk . Botolph was widely venerated in the Middle Ages as a result of the Christianization of Scandinavia, which was also carried out to a considerable extent by English missionaries, in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Web links

• St. Botolph - Excerpt from Kenneth Keenan: St Botolph, His Life and Times.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Parker MS; Corpus Christ College, Cambridge MS 173 ( Memento of November 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ): Botulf ongon mynster timbran æt Icanho
2. ↑ Peruenit et ad Anglos Orientales, ut uideret instituta Botuulfi abbatis, quem singularis uitae et doctrinae uirum, gratiaque Spiritus plenum, fama circumquaque uulgauerat; instructusque abundanter, quantum breui potuit, domum rediit, adeo ut nemo per id temporis uel in aecclesiastica, uel in monasteriali regula, doctior illo posset inueniri.