I seem to be doing a lot of work on hagiographical texts at the moment, most recently with Ethiopian saints. This is because these texts are neglected. They are insanely neglected, for the most part. So even someone like me, can contribute something.
Hagiographical texts are not history, and tend to accumulate anecdotes over time. They are more like folk story, although they may often contain genuine information; or be complete invention. They are story, inspiring story, not documentation.
The medieval “Life” of St Botolph (BHL 1428), about an Anglo-Saxon saint from East Anglia, whom I have mentioned before, is prefixed in two of the manuscripts by a dedicatory letter composed by its author, a certain Folcard of St Bertin. He came over with the Norman conquest, and was abbot of Thorney Abbey in Cambridgeshire, which possessed some of the relics of St Botolph. This letter is interesting. I’ll give the Latin first, then a translation.
Desiderantissimo Patri et Domino suo, et aeque reverentissimo Praesuli, Uualcelino, monachorum minimus, frater Fulcardus, obsequia totius devotionis.
Nullo praecedente vitae merito, sed e contra, proh dolor! peccatis meis agentibus, sub specie pastoralis curae in coenobium Thornense incidi, ibique venustate illustrissimae habitationis captus, ipsa eadem loci delectatione inhaesi. Res diversae occurrebant quae nolentem iniquitatis animum ad affectum sui inclinabant; in primis, quia titulus ejusdem loci Beatae Dei Genitrici Mariae potissimum ascribitur, cui quia Mater misericordiae dinoscitur lapsis resurgere volentibus, sub optentu veniae prior et principalis respectus habetur. Deinde solitudo illa, sanctae religionis amica, nulli incuriae pervia, silvisque amoenissimis et continuis paludibus atque interfluentibus aquis irrigua; praeterea desiderio et affectu devotissimi Deo Praesulis Adeluuoldi illustrata, et tot Sanctorum pignoribus pio ipsius studio ditata; in qua, ut aiunt, et satis credi potest, cursum praesentis vitae finire delegerit in conversatione theorica. His enim infirmarum rerum causis alligatus sum, ut asinus vel bos ad praesepe Domini; apud quem, ut jumentum factus, semper adhaerere, donec transeat iniquitas ex ejus gratia, proposui.
Videns autem Sanctos in eadem basilica pausantes, nulla scriptorum memoria commendatos, indignatus antiquitati, quae de eis addiscere potui, tuis auribus primum offerre volui, ne rusticior sermo, nullo suffultus defensore, derisioni expositus, aemulorum cachinnum potius optineret quam auditum. Reperta sunt tamen quaedam in veteribus libris vitiose descripta, quaedam ab ipso praecipuo praesule in privilegiis ejusdem coenobii sunt breviter annotata, caetera ex relatione veterum, ut ab antiquioribus sunt, eis exhibita. Omnia tamen ex devotione cordis tibi, eximie pater, tuoque examini discutienda, exhibeo, ut si quis aemulus caninas erexerit cristas labori nostro, humilitatis nostrae opusculum tuae auctoritatis paterna contegat defensio.
To his most beloved Father and Lord, and likewise most reverend Bishop, Walkelin,[1] the least of monks, Brother Folcard,[2] offers the service of all devotion.
Without any previous merit in life, but on the contrary, alas! while living in my sins, I found myself, under the appearance of pastoral care, placed in the monastery of Thorney. There, captivated by the loveliness of its most distinguished building, I held fast to the very delight of that place. Various things happened which inclined my unwilling and sinful mind to love it; first of all, because the title of the same place is most especially ascribed to the Blessed Mary, the Mother of God, to whom, because she is known as the Mother of Mercy, the first and foremost application is made by those who have fallen and wish to be restored during a request for pardon. Next, that solitude, the beloved of holy religion, impervious to careless, and watered by the most pleasant woodlands, continuous marshes, and flowing streams. Moreover, it was ennobled by the desire and devotion of the most devout Bishop of God, Aethelwold,[3] and enriched by his pious effort with so many relics of the Saints; among whom, as they say, and it is quite believable, he chose to end the course of his present life in godly society. For I was tied there by these rather earthly reasons, like an ass or an ox to the Lord’s manger, to whom, having been made his donkey, I have resolved to stick, always, until my sins pass away through His grace.
But seeing the Saints resting in the same basilica, commended by no written record, and jealous for antiquity, I wanted to offer those things that I was able to learn about them to your ears first, lest an unlearned discourse, unsupported by any defender, exposed to mockery, should be subject of laughter of rivals rather than get a hearing. Yet certain things have been found in old books, albeit badly written, and some were briefly recorded by the principal bishop himself among the privileges of the same monastery. The rest were gathered from the narration of the older monks, as set forth by those older still. All these things, however, I present to you, distinguished Father, out of the devotion of my heart and for your judgment, so that, if any rival should raise his dog-like hackles against our effort, then the paternal shield of your authority may cover the little work of my humility.
Folcard was inspired to write the Lives of the saints venerated at Thorney Abbey because he saw that they were there, and could find no account of them. The materials that he used were:
- Whatever he could find in “old books”.
- Notes among the “privileges” of the abbey – i.e. its charters and other documents.
- Stories told to him by the older monks, as being handed down from their predecessors.
Out of this, he composed his Life of St Botolph.
- [1]Lit. Walcelinus. Norman bishop of Winchester after the conquest. See R. Browett, “The Fate of Anglo-Saxon Saints after the Norman Conquest of England: St Æthelwold of Winchester as a Case Study”, in: History 101, no. 2 (345) (2016), pp.183-200. JSTOR: “Importantly, Folcard’s text was dedicated to Walkelin. In manuscripts, the Translatio is prefaced by his dedicatory letter, and Folcard’s Life of St Botulph. The letter survives in two manuscripts: the century London, BL, Harley 3097, fos 61b-64b, and the thirteenth century London, BL, Cotton Tiberius D III, fos 223b-225b.”↩
- [2]Abbot of Thorney Abbey.↩
- [3]Founder of Thorney Abbey.↩