ST. BOTULPH.
(Vol. v., pp. 396. 475.)
As no one has hitherto answered the inquiries of A. B. touching St. Botulph, I beg to forward you the following Notes. The earliest mention of him will be found in the Saxon Chronicle, at the year 654. He is said to have then commenced the building of a minster at Ycean-ho. The statement is repeated by Florence of Worcester, who writes the name of St. Botulph's convent Ikanho. Its locality is thus pointed out by Leland, Itinerary, i. 31, 32. ed. Hearne:—
"Some hold opinion that est of Lincoln were 2 suburbs, one toward S. Beges, a late [of late] a cell of S. Mari abbay at York; the which place I take be Icanno, wher was an house of monkes in S. Botolphes tyme, and of this speketh Bede[?]. It is scant half a mile from the minster."
The same writer has informed us (viii. 68.) that St. Botulph died in Icanno (15 Kal. Jun.), and that the monastery was soon afterwards destroyed by the Scandinavian vikings. The authority on which this latter statement will be found to rest is a "Life of St. Botulph," written or embellished by John Capgrave, and included in his Nova Legenda Angliæ. I have now before me a fine copy of the work (Lond. 1516); but very few of the events in which St. Botulph is there said to have played a part belong to the sphere of history. We learn that Botulphus and Adulphus were two noble brothers, who in early life were sent into "Old Saxony" to be instructed in monastic learning. Botulph there became acquainted with two sisters of an English king, named Ethelmund ("regis australium Anglorum"), who, at their wish, allotted to the monk a piece of barren ground, on which to build a convent ("locum quendam incultum et ab hominibus desertum Ykanho vocatum.") Like other marshy spots, in which the ignis fatuus abounded, it was thought to be infested by malignant spirits. These were soon, however, put to flight ("edito crucis signo"), and a convent, on the model of the house in which St. Botulph had been reared, was planted in the midst of their domain. It perished under Edmund (941-946); but the relics of St. Botulph, which had been enshrined in his own foundation, were preserved, and afterwards translated, in the time of Edgar (959-975), through the efforts of St. Ethelwold. The head was sent to Ely, and the body equally apportioned to the royal cabinet of relics and the abbey church of Thorne. The closing passage is as follows:
"In libro ecclesie Sancti Botulphi juxta Aldersgate London habetur quæ pars corporis Sancti Botulphi per bone memorie regem Edwardum ecclesie B. Petri Westmonasterii est collata. Eodem etiam tempore, ut in quibusdam locis scriptum inveni, per eundem monachum, jubente episcopo Ethelwoldo, translata sunt apud Thornense monasterium ossa Benedicti Biscop, abbatis venerabilis Wermuthensis, nutritoris Bede presbiteri. Construxit autem Sanctus Ethelwoldus non longe a monasterio Thornensi, in loco ubi beata virgo Christi Toua inclusa fuerat, lapideam ecclesiolam delicatissimis cameratam cancellulis et duplici area tribus dedicatam altaribus permodicis, undique usque ad eius muros vallatam arboribus diversi generis. Sedem ibi heremiticam, si permisisset Deus, sibi delegit."
Is there any other notice of this female solitary?
C. H.
St. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge.
[Leland notices this female solitary. St. Tova, or Tona, was a Saxon saint, to whose memory a fair chapel, called Thoveham, or Thona, half a mile from the abbey, was consecrated; and at this place was the oratory of the Heremites. Lelandi Collectanea, vol. i. p. 28.; Willis' Mitred Abbies, vol. i. p. 187.—Ed.]
The earliest mention found of this saint is in the Saxon Chronicle, under the year 654, when he began to build his minster at Ycean-ho, probably Boston or Botulph's-town in Lincolnshire. His
life was first put into regular form by Fulcard, a monk of Thorney, who was made abbot of that monastery in 1068. Fulcard tells us in his preface what his materials were:
"Reperta sunt quædam in veteribus libris vitiose descripta, quædam ab ipso præcipuo præsuli in privilegiis ejusdem cœnobii sunt breviter annotata, cætera ex relatione veterum ut ab antiquioribus sunt eis exhibita."
An early MS. of this life is in the Harleian collection, No. 3097. It was printed (somewhat curtailed) by Capgrave in the Legenda Nova, and seems to have furnished all that our antiquaries know about St. Botulph. Camden indeed refers to Bede, iv. 3., as containing some mention of him; but I can find no such passage, and I believe that Botulph is nowhere mentioned in the Historia Anglorum. The remains of Botulph were taken up in the days of King Edgar, and his head was allotted to Ely, while the rest of his bones were divided between the abbeys of Thorney and Westminster. The cause of his extended popularity it is difficult to discover. His fame even passed over to Denmark, and an office is allotted to him in the Sleswick Breviary, Britannia Sacra, vol. i. p. 370. It has been surmised that he was a patron saint of seamen, and that his name indicates this character, i. e. boat-help! See Allen's History of Lincoln, vol. i. p. 245. His brother Adulf was made Bishop of Trajectum, probably Utrecht. Your correspondents may be referred to Capgrave; to Leland, Collectanea, vol. i. p. 217., and vol. iii. p. 33.; and to Ellis's Monasticon, vol. ii. p. 596., and vol. vi. p. 1621. St. Botulph's day is the 17th of June.
C. W. G.