Sweet, Henry, ed.; Cutler, Kenneth, trans., "The Martyrdom of St. Edmund, King of East Anglia" in Anglo-Saxon primer (9th edition. Oxford, Clarendon Press, pp. 81-87, 1961). View Source Online

Text name(s): The Martyrdom of St. Edmund, King of East Anglia

Number of pages of primary source text: 0

Medieval Author(s): Abbo of Fleury

Dates: 970 - 1000

Archival Reference:

Original Language(s): English - Anglo-Saxon / Old English;

Translation: English translation.

Translation Comments:

Geopolitical Region(s): England;

County/Region: East Anglia

Apparatus:

Comments:

Edmund was a 9th-century king of East Anglia, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom. According to Abbo of Fleury, a 9th-century monk who wrote his vita, Edmund’s kingdom was threatened by Viking raiders, and Edmund preferred to die the death of a martyr rather than fight the Danes. How much of this is true, we can never know. Edmund probably died in 870, and is often considered to be a patron saint of England. A translation of Abbo’s life of Edmund can be found on the Internet Medieval Sourcebook website.

Introduction Summary:

Cataloger: mk