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45-791: Goscelin of Saint-Bertin was born about 1040. According to William of Malmesbury , Goscelin was a monk of St Bertin's . On the other hand, as the author of the Vita Amalbergae virginis , written before 1062, Goscelin appears to be very well informed about the hagiographic tradition in Flanders and Brabant , more especially traditions related to Saint Peter's Abbey of Ghent . He probably stayed there at some time before 1062. According to William of Malmesbury , Goscelin arrived in England with Herman, bishop of Sherborne , who arrived in 1058. But, William of Malmesbury mistakenly claims that this

90-401: A "king who knew not Joseph". In the early 1080s, he was at Peterborough. Later, he wrote hagiography for the monastic communities of Ely, Barking, Ramsey, and St Augustine's, Canterbury, among other places. Goscelin is last recorded as the author of a life of St Wihtburh of Ely, completed following her translation in 1106. William of Malmesbury praises his industry in the highest terms. He

135-401: A banquet he invited the poor and not the rich. William of Malmesbury adds that, if Bishop Ealhstan of Sherborne was Æthelwulf's minister for temporal matters, Swithun was the minister for spiritual matters. Swithun's best-known miracle was his restoration on a bridge of a basket of eggs that workmen had maliciously broken. Of stories connected with Swithun the two most famous are those of

180-493: A beneficial local connection, combined with the positive reception of William's Gesta Regum , led to an offer of the position of abbot of Malmesbury in 1140, which William declined, preferring his duties as a librarian and scholar. His one public appearance was made at the council of Winchester in 1141, in which the clergy declared for the Empress Matilda . Beginning about 1140, William continued his chronicles with

225-744: A former pupil who went to Angers to live as a recluse, is a "letter of consolation", offering spiritual advice to Eve in her new vocation and conveying Goscelin's feelings about her sudden departure. One commentator feels that it reads like a private, even erotic, letter. According to William of Malmesbury, Goscelin was also a skilled musician . Also on Wikisource (in Latin) In addition, many other Lives have been ascribed to Goscelin, e.g. those of St Grimbald and St Mildburg, but many such cases now prove unlikely or unsatisfactory. The Vita S. Swithuni (life of St Swithun ) has traditionally been attributed to Goscelin, but Michael Lapidge has shown that this

270-404: A miracle happened. A story exists that the monks at some point got so fed up with this, because they sometimes had to wake up and go to the church three or four times each night, that they decided to stop going. St. Swithun then appeared in a dream to someone (possibly two people) and warned them that if they stopped going to the church, then miracles would cease. This person (or persons) then warned

315-705: A pattern which, in the majority of years, holds reasonably steady until the end of August. When the jet stream lies north of the British Isles then continental high pressure is able to move in; when it lies across or south of the British Isles, Arctic air and Atlantic weather systems predominate. The most false that the prediction has been, according to the Guinness Book of Records , was in 1924 when 13.5 hours of sunshine in London were followed by 30 of

360-509: Is best known today for a British weather lore proverb , which says that if it rains on St. Swithun's day, 15 July, it will rain for forty days. St. Swithun's day if thou dost rain For forty days it will remain St. Swithun's day if thou be fair For forty days 'twill rain nae mare A Buckinghamshire variation has: If on St. Swithun's day it really pours You're better off to stay indoors Swithun

405-582: Is dedicated to him. He is also commemorated at St Swithin's Lane in the City of London (site of the former church of St Swithin, London Stone , demolished after wartime damage in 1962), St Swithun's School for girls in Winchester and St Swithun's quadrangle in Magdalen College, Oxford . In Stavanger , Norway, several schools and institutions are named “St Svithun” after him. The name of Swithun

450-529: Is extracted from a late eleventh-century hagiography ascribed to Goscelin of St. Bertin's, a monk who came over to England with Hermann , bishop of Salisbury from 1058 to 1078. According to this writer Saint Swithun was born in the reign of Egbert of Wessex , and was ordained priest by Helmstan , bishop of Winchester (838-c. 852). His fame reached the king's ears, and he appointed him tutor of his son, Æthelwulf (alias Adulphus), and considered him one of his chief friends. However, Michael Lapidge describes

495-433: Is incorrect. William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury ( Latin : Willelmus Malmesbiriensis ; c.  1095  – c.  1143 ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century . He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede . Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in

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540-573: Is now considered one of the great histories of England. William wrote of William the Conqueror in Historia Anglorum : He was of just stature, extraordinary corpulence, fierce countenance; his forehead was bare of hair; of such great strength of arm that it was often a matter of surprise, that no one was able to draw his bow, which himself could bend when his horse was in full gallop; he was majestic whether sitting or standing, although

585-539: Is scarcely mentioned in any document of his own time. His death is entered in the Canterbury manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MS F) under the year 861. He is recorded as a witness to nine charters, the earliest of which (S 308) is dated 854. More than a hundred years later, when Dunstan and Æthelwold of Winchester were inaugurating their church reform, Swithun was adopted as patron of

630-399: Is thought to derive from a first-hand account from Coleman, a contemporary of Wulfstan. William merely translated the document from Old English into Latin. William's works are still considered invaluable and, despite these shortcomings, he remains one of the most celebrated English chroniclers of the twelfth century. William's descriptions of religious communities, even though they "resort to

675-585: The British Museum and at Cambridge . His chief work was a life of St Augustine of Canterbury , professing to be based on older records and divided into two parts, -- an "Historia major" (Mabillon, Acta Sactorum . O.S.B., I) and an "Historia minor" (in Wharton, Anglia Sacra , I). His method seems to have been usually to take some older writer as his basis and to reproduce his work, in his own style. The Liber Confortatorius dedicated to Eve of Wilton ,

720-566: The Historia Novella , or "modern history", a three-book chronicle that ran from 1128 to 1142, including important accounts of the Anarchy of King Stephen 's reign. This work breaks off with an unfulfilled promise that it would be continued: presumably William died before he could redeem his pledge. William also wrote a history of his abbey and several saints' lives. William is considered by many, including John Milton , to be one of

765-414: The hagiographic ", especially about Benedictine convents such as Shaftesbury , Nunnaminster , and Wilton , give insights into the lives of nuns in England during the central Middle Ages. He observed their practices, which included their obedience to their leaders' directives, their care for and veneration of relics , their organization and participation in their practices of prayer and intercessions on

810-585: The 10th century writers, who all agreed that the move took place in accordance with the saint's desire expressed in a vision. James Raine suggested that the legend was derived from the tremendous downpour of rain that occurred, according to the Durham chroniclers, on St. Swithun's Day, 1315. John Earle suggests that the legend comes from a pagan or possibly prehistoric day of augury . In France , St. Medard (8 June), Urban of Langres , and St. Gervase and St. Protais (19 June) are credited with an influence on

855-544: The Glastonbury Church for his friend, the abbot Henry of Blois who was also the Bishop of Winchester. (Among the first works to mention SS   Fagan and Deruvian , its present form is notably marred by anachronistic forgeries and additions.) At a point before the onset of the Anarchy in 1139, William made the beneficial acquaintance of Roger, Bishop of Salisbury , who possessed Malmesbury Castle . Such

900-481: The Norman Conquest, but there is no evidence for this supposition, although it is possible. Goscelin's patron and companion was Herman, Bishop of Sherborne . He functioned as secretary to the bishop and as chaplain to the nuns of Wilton Abbey . His fortunes took a turn for the worse when Bishop Herman died in 1078 and was succeeded by Osmund of Sées , whom Goscelin in his Liber confortatorius describes as

945-548: The Winchester egg-woman and Queen Emma's ordeal. The former is to be found in the hagiography attributed to Goscelin, the latter in Thomas Rudborne 's Historia major (15th century), a work which is also responsible for the story that Swithun accompanied Alfred on his visit to Rome in the 850s. He died on 2 July 862. On his deathbed Swithun begged that he should be buried outside the north wall of his cathedral where passers-by should pass over his grave and raindrops from

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990-414: The behalf of those in and out of their communities, and their reputations among the laity and their peers in other religious communities. His extensive travels throughout England also allowed him to compare the communities he studied and to accurately assess these communities' "size, wealth, vibrancy, and rigour". According to medieval scholar and historian Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis, "He was clearly impressed by

1035-607: The best English historians of his time, and remains known for strong documentation and his clear, engaging writing style. A strong Latin stylist, he shows literary and historiographical instincts which are, for his time, remarkably sound. He is an authority of considerable value from 1066 onwards; many telling anecdotes and shrewd judgments on persons and events can be gleaned from his pages. Some scholars criticise him for his atypical annalistic form, calling his chronology less than satisfactory and his arrangement of material careless. Much of William's work on Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester ,

1080-707: The book was followed by the Gesta Pontificum Anglorum ( Deeds of the English Bishops ) in 1125. For this vivid descriptive history of abbeys and bishoprics, dwelling upon the lives of the English prelates saints, notably the learned wonder-working Aldhelm , abbot of Malmesbury, William travelled widely in England . He stayed at Glastonbury Abbey for a time, composing On the Antiquity of

1125-529: The course of his studies, he amassed a collection of medieval histories, which inspired in him the idea for a popular account of English history modelled on the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum ( Ecclesiastical History of the English People ) of Bede . William's obvious respect for Bede is apparent even within the preface of his Gesta Regum Anglorum , where he professes his admiration for

1170-733: The eaves drop upon it. Swithun's feast day in England is on 15 July and in Norway (and formerly in medieval Wales) on 2 July. He is also listed on 2 July in the Roman Martyrology . He was moved from his grave to an indoor shrine in the Old Minster at Winchester in 971. His body was probably later split between a number of smaller shrines. His head was certainly detached and, in the Middle Ages , taken to Canterbury Cathedral . Peterborough Abbey had an arm. His main shrine

1215-465: The education William received at Malmesbury Abbey included a smattering of logic and physics , moral philosophy and history were the subjects to which he devoted the most attention. The earliest fact which he records of his career is that he assisted Abbot Godfrey (1081–1105) in collecting a library for the use of the community, and the evidence shows that William had first-hand knowledge of at least four hundred works by two hundred-odd authors. During

1260-407: The legend was already well known in the 12th century. In 971 it was decided to move his body to a new indoor shrine, and one theory traces the origin of the legend to a heavy shower by which, on the day of the move, the saint marked his displeasure towards those who were removing his remains. This story, however, cannot be traced further back than the 17th or 18th century. Also, it is at variance with

1305-554: The literature of classical , patristic , and earlier medieval times as well as in the writings of his own contemporaries. Indeed William may well have been the most learned man in twelfth-century Western Europe." William was born about 1095 or 1096 in Wiltshire , England. His father was Norman and his mother English. He spent his whole life in England and his adult life as a monk at Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire. Though

1350-536: The man. In fulfilment of this idea, William completed in 1125 his Gesta Regum Anglorum ("Deeds of the English Kings"), consciously patterned on Bede , which spanned from AD 449 to 1120. He later edited and expanded it up to the year 1127, releasing a revision dedicated to Robert, Earl of Gloucester . This "second edition" of the Gesta Regum , "disclosing in his second thoughts the mellowing of age",

1395-467: The monks about the dream they had, and the monks then caved in and decided to go to the church each time a miracle happened again. Swithun is remembered in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival on 15 July . Swithun is regarded as one of the saints to whom one should pray in the event of drought. There are in excess of forty churches dedicated to St Swithun, which can be found throughout

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1440-410: The only thing on which he can deservedly be blamed. This he sought all opportunities of scraping together, he cared not how; he would say and do some things and indeed almost anything, unbecoming to such great majesty, where the hope of money allured him. I have here no excuse whatever to offer, unless it be, as one has said, that of necessity he must fear many, whom many fear. William's first edition of

1485-529: The practices of the women's monasteries he visited. By his telling, their sanctity and zeal equaled, if not surpassed, those of their male counterparts". Among these are: The manuscripts of these works are to be found some in the British Library , some in the Bodleian Library . St Swithun Swithun (or Swithin ; Old English : Swīþhūn ; Latin : Swithunus ; died 863)

1530-400: The protuberance of his belly deformed his royal person; of excellent health so that he was never confined with any dangerous disorder, except at the last; so given to the pleasures of the chase, that as I have before said, ejecting the inhabitants, he let a space of many miles grow desolate that, when at liberty from other avocations, he might there pursue his pleasures. His anxiety for money is

1575-543: The restored church at Winchester, formerly dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul . His body was transferred from its almost forgotten grave to Æthelwold's new basilica on 15 July 971; according to contemporary writers, numerous miracles preceded and followed the move. The revival of Swithun's fame gave rise to a mass of legendary literature. The so-called Vita S. Swithuni of Lantfred and Wulfstan , written about 1000, hardly contains any biographical fact; all that has in later years passed for authentic detail of Swithun's life

1620-541: The south of England, especially in Hampshire – see this list . An example is St Swithun's, Headbourne Worthy , to the north of Winchester. This church is surrounded on three sides by a brook that flows from a spring in the village; the lych gate on the south side is also a bridge over the brook, which is unusual. Other churches dedicated to St Swithun can be found at Walcot , Lincoln , Worcester , Cheswardine, Shropshire and western Norway , where Stavanger Cathedral

1665-581: The weather almost identical with that attributed to St. Swithun in England. In Flanders , there is St. Godelieve (6 July) and in Germany the Seven Sleepers ' Day (27 June). In Russia it is the day of Sampson the Hospitable (27 June old style ). There is a scientific basis to the weather pattern behind the legend of St. Swithun's day. Around the middle of July, the jet stream settles into

1710-493: The work as "pure fiction" and shows that the attribution to Goscelin is false. Under Æthelwulf, Swithun was appointed bishop of Winchester, to which see he was consecrated by Archbishop Ceolnoth . In his new office he was known for his piety and his zeal in building new churches or restoring old ones. At his request Æthelwulf gave the tenth of his royal lands to the Church. Swithun made his diocesan journeys on foot; when he gave

1755-654: The work to St Anselm . A Canterbury obituary , quoted by Henry Wharton in Anglia Sacra , gives 15 May as the day of death of a certain Goscelin, who may have been this man, but does not name the year. His works consist of the lives of many English saints , chiefly of those connected with Canterbury, where he spent his last years. Some of them have been printed by the Bollandists , by Jean Mabillon , and by Jacques-Paul Migne . Others are contained in manuscripts in

1800-462: Was an Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester and subsequently patron saint of Winchester Cathedral . His historical importance as bishop is overshadowed by his reputation for posthumous miracle-working. According to tradition, if it rains on Saint Swithun's bridge (Winchester) on his feast day (15 July) it will continue for forty days. St. Swithun was Bishop of Winchester from his consecration on 30 October 852 until his death on 2 July 863. However, he

1845-422: Was at Ely sometime after 1082, where he wrote a life of St Æthelthryth . Between 1087 and 1091 he was at Ramsey , and compiled there a life of the abbot St Ivo , or Ives. In the 1090s, he went to Canterbury , where he wrote his account of the translation of the relics of St Augustine and his companions, which had taken place in 1091. He wrote it in the octave year after that event, i.e. in 1098-99, and dedicated

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1890-426: Was initially buried outdoors, rather than in his cathedral, apparently at his own request. William of Malmesbury recorded that the bishop left instructions that his body should be buried outside the church, ubi et pedibus praetereuntium et stillicidiis ex alto rorantibus esset obnoxius [where it might be subject to the feet of passers-by and to the raindrops pouring from on high], which has been taken as indicating that

1935-537: Was only moved into the retrochoir itself in 1476. It was demolished in 1538 during the English Reformation . A modern representation of it now stands on the site. The shrine of Swithun at Winchester was supposedly a site of numerous miracles in the Middle Ages. Æthelwold of Winchester ordered that all monks were to stop whatever they were doing and head to the church to praise God every time that

1980-575: Was the year in which Herman became bishop of Sherborne, an appointment he did not take up until the death of Sherborne's resident bishop Ælfwold in 1062–65. It is doubtful, therefore, that his information about Goscelin's arrival is reliable. In fact, Goscelin states, himself, in his Liber confortatorius , that 'he first came to the bishop' at Potterne or Canning (in Wiltshire), implying that he did not travel to England in his company, but joined him there instead. It used to be thought that he arrived before

2025-463: Was transferred into the new Norman cathedral at Winchester in 1093. He was installed on a 'feretory platform' above and behind the high altar. The retrochoir was built in the early 13th century to accommodate the huge numbers of pilgrims wishing to visit his shrine and enter the 'holy hole' beneath him. His empty tomb in the ruins of the Old Minster was also popular with visitors. The shrine

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