Repton and its neighbourhood

by F. C. Hipkins

The 17th. Guthlac appears to King Æthelbald.

The 18th. Before an altar stand thirteen principal benefactors of Crowland Abbey. Each one, beginning with King Æthelbald, carries a scroll on which is inscribed their name, and gift.

The Abbey of Crowland was built, and flourished till about the year 870, when the Danes burnt it down, four years later they destroyed Repton.

Guthlaxton Hundred in the southern part of Leicestershire, and four churches, dedicated to him, retain his name. The remains of a stone at Brotherhouse, bearing his name, and a mouldering effigy, in its niche on the west front of the ruins of Crowland Abbey, are still to be seen. His “sanctus bell” was at Repton, and as we shall see, in the account of the Priory, acquired curative powers for headache.

ST. WYSTAN.

Among “the Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages,” published by the authority of Her Majesty’s Treasury, under the direction of the Master of the Rolls is the “Chronicon Abbatiæ de Evesham,” written by Thomas de Marleberge or Marlborough, Abbot of Evesham. In an appendix to the Chronicle he also wrote a life of St. Wystan from which the following facts, &c., have been gathered.

Wystan was the son of Wimund, son of Wiglaf, King of Mercia, his mother’s name was Elfleda. Wimund died of dysentery during his father’s life-time, and was buried in Crowland Abbey, and, later on, his wife was laid by his side. When the time came for Wystan to succeed to the crown, he refused it, “wishing to become an heir of a heavenly kingdom. Following the example of his Lord and master, he refused an earthly crown, exchanging it for a heavenly one,” and committed the kingdom to the care of his mother, and to the chief men of the land. But his uncle Bertulph conspired against him, “inflamed with a desire of ruling, and with a secret love for the queen-regent.” A council was assembled at a place, known from that day to this, as Wistanstowe, in Shropshire, and to it came Bertulph and his son Berfurt. Beneath his cloak Berfurt had concealed a sword, and (like Judas the traitor), whilst giving a kiss of peace to Wystan, drew it and smote him with a mortal wound on his head, and so, on the eve of Pentecost, in the year 849, “that holy martyr leaving his precious body on the earth, bore his glorious soul to heaven. The body was conveyed to the Abbey of Repton, and buried in the mausoleum of his grandfather, with well deserved honour, and the greatest reverence. For thirty days a column of light, extending from the spot where he was slain to the heavens above, was seen by all those who dwelt there, and every year, on the day of his martyrdom, the hairs of his head, severed by the sword, sprung up like grass.” Over the spot a church was built to which pilgrims were wont to resort, to see the annual growth of the hair.

The remains of St. Wystan rested at Repton till the days of Canute (1016-1035), when he caused them to be transferred to Evesham Abbey, “so that in a larger and more worthy church the memory of the martyr might be held more worthily and honourably.” In the year 1207 the tower of Evesham Abbey fell, smashing the presbytery and all it contained, including the shrine of St. Wystan. The monks took the opportunity of inspecting the relics, and to prove their genuineness, which some doubted, subjected them to a trial by fire, the broken bones were placed in it, and were taken out unhurt and unstained. The Canons of Repton hearing of the disaster caused by the falling tower, begged so earnestly for a portion of the relics, that the Abbot Randulph granted them a portion of the broken skull, and a piece of an arm bone. The bearers of the sacred relics to Repton were met by a procession of prior, canons, and others, over a mile long, and with tears of joy they placed them, “not as before in the mausoleum of his grandfather, but in a shrine more worthy, more suitable, and as honourable as it was possible to make it,” in their Priory church, where they remained till it was dissolved in the year 1538.

In memory of St. Wystan, the first Parish Church of Repton was dedicated to him, as we shall see in our account of Repton Church.