Swa mickel fredom give i ye,
Swa bert may think or egbe see—
is the way in which a charter of much later date than the time of Aethelstan describes the King’s gifts to John of Beverley’s church.
Beverley Minster in the Eighteenth Century, from the North-East.
So great after this became the fame of the miracles performed at the tomb of the founder of the church, that in 1037 the Pope ordered that John of Beverley should thenceforth be ranked as a Saint. His bones and other relics were then laid in a magnificent shrine in front of the high altar, and the story of the fate which came upon the sacrilegious Toustain in 1069 is sufficient evidence of their power.[[33]]
The charter of Aethelstan was renewed by Edward the Confessor, Henry I., and Stephen; and in the reign of the last-named King the banner of St. John was for the second time in the forefront of a battle against the Scots. This was the Battle of the Standard, when the banners of the four northern Saints—St. Peter of York, St. Cuthbert of Durham, St. Wilfrid of Ripon, and St. John of Beverley—brought victory to the English host.
| Photo by] | [C.W. Mason |
| ‘Early English.’ Doorway in the South Transept of Beverley Minster. | |