If Mr. Bealby would like a copy of my etching of Baxter's pulpit (referred to at p. 363.), and would leave his address with the Publisher of "N. & Q.," I should be happy to forward one to him.
Cuthbert Bede, B.A.
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?