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65-525: Hoxne ( / ˈ h ɒ k s ən / HOK -sən ) is a village in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk , England, about five miles (8 km) east-southeast of Diss , Norfolk and 1 ⁄ 2 mile (800 m) south of the River Waveney . The parish is irregularly shaped, covering the villages of Hoxne, Cross Street and Heckfield Green, with a 'tongue' extending southwards to take in part of

130-597: A hedgehog (just like St Sebastian was). When Ivar the impious pirate saw that the noble king would not forsake Christ, but with resolute faith called after Him, he ordered Edmund beheaded, and the heathens did so. While Edmund still called out to Christ, the heathen dragged the holy man to his death, and with one stroke struck off his head, and his soul journeyed happily to Christ." Ælfric of Eynsham, Old English paraphrase of Abbo of Fleury, 'Passio Sancti Eadmundi' Abbo named one of Edmund's killers as Hinguar, who can probably be identified with Ivarr inn beinlausi (Ivar

195-525: A long poem (now known as Metrical Lives of Saints Edmund and Fremund ) when Henry came to the town in 1433 and stayed at the abbey for four months. The book is now kept by the British Library in London. Edmund's martyrdom features on several medieval wall-paintings to be found in churches across England. The saint features in a romantic poem, Athelston , whose 15th-century author is unknown. In

260-456: A shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows: The leaders of the council since 2003 have been: Following the 2023 election and a subsequent by-election in May 2024, the composition of the council was: The next election is due in May 2027, where all seats of

325-526: Is a St Edmunds chapel at the East end of Tewkesbury Abbey In about 986, the monks of Ramsey Abbey commissioned Abbo of Fleury to write Edmund's passio , or account of his martyrdom. According to Abbo, St Dunstan , Archbishop of Canterbury, was the source of the story of the martyrdom, which he had heard told long before, in the presence of Æthelstan, by an old man who swore an oath that he had been Edmund's sword-bearer. In Abbo's version of events,

390-513: Is a relic list for Saint-Sernin of around 1425, which included St Edmund among the church's relics. In 1644, after the city was saved from the plague from 1628 to 1631, which the population ascribed to the intercession of a saint known to the church authorities as Aymundus , who they decided was Edmund. In gratitude for its deliverance, the city vowed to build a new reliquary for the saint's remains. Edmund's cult flourished there for over two centuries. The reliquary, designed by Jean Chalette ,

455-438: Is also covered by civil parishes , which form a third tier of local government. In 2011, Mid Suffolk and Babergh District Councils began working together, with one, fully integrated staff structure. The council has been under Green Party majority control since the 2023 election , being the first time that the party had taken majority control of any council. The first elections were held in 1973, initially operating as

520-478: Is composed of Abbo's hagiography, followed by Herman's. The hagiographer and musician, Goscelin , soon afterwards produced a revised version of Herman's Miracles , which was hostile to Herman personally. Both versions are printed and translated by Tom Licence . De Infantia Sancti Edmundi , a fictitious 12th-century hagiography of Edmund's early life by the English canon Geoffrey of Wells , represented him as

585-617: Is covered by civil parishes. The parish councils for Eye, Needham Market and Stowmarket have declared their parishes to be towns, allowing them to take the style "town council". Some of the smaller parishes have a parish meeting rather than a parish council. Edmund the Martyr Edmund the Martyr (also known as St Edmund or Edmund of East Anglia , died 20 November 869) was king of East Anglia from about 855 until his death. Few historical facts about Edmund are known, as

650-623: Is held at the British Library. The Wilton Diptych was painted during the reign of Richard II of England and is the most famous representation of Edmund in art. Painted on oak panels , it shows Edmund and Edward the Confessor as the royal patrons of England presenting Richard to the Virgin and Child . The poet John Lydgate (1370–1451), who lived all his life in Bury St Edmunds, presented his twelve-year-old king Henry VI of England with

715-454: Is known from coins minted by his moneyers , three of whom—Dudda, Eadmund, and Twicga—minted coins for Edmund's predecessor, Æthelweard which suggests that a smooth transition of power occurred. The number of coins issued in his name indicates that he reigned for a number of years, but the only contemporary documentary references to Edmund are the records of his death in Asser 's life of Alfred

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780-588: Is mentioned in a charter that was written when the church and chapel at Hoxne were granted to Norwich Priory in 1101. Place-name evidence has been used to link the name of Hoxne with Haegelisdun, named by Abbo of Fleury as the site of Edmund's martyrdom, but this evidence is dismissed by the historian Peter Warner. The association of Edmund's cult with the village has continued into modern times. Dernford in Cambridgeshire, and Bradfield St Clare (near Bury St Edmunds) are other possible sites for where Edmund

845-491: Is said to have given a great sapphire and a precious stone set in gold to the shrine, which he was permitted to keep upon the condition that it was returned to the abbey when he died. Edmund's shrine was destroyed in 1539, during the dissolution of the monasteries . According to a letter (now in the British Library 's Cotton Collection ), the shrine was defaced, and silver and gold to the value of over 5,000 marks

910-683: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , which relates that he was killed in 869 after the Great Heathen Army advanced into East Anglia. Medieval versions of Edmund's life and martyrdom differ as to whether he died in battle fighting the Great Heathen Army, or if he met his death after being captured and then refusing the Viking leaders' demand that he renounce Christ. A popular cult emerged after Edmund's death, and he

975-696: The Annales Bertiniani and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , a larger-scale attack occurred in c.  844 . By the end of the decade the Vikings had started to over-winter in England. In the autumn of 865 a force probably numbering over 5,000 combatants, described by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as "a great heathen army", came to East Anglia. Edmund made peace with them and gave them horses and other supplies, and they stayed there until

1040-625: The British Museum in London, where the most important pieces and a selection of the rest are on permanent display. In 1993, the Treasure Valuation Committee valued the hoard at £1.75 million (today £2.66 million). The village is also home to a 15th-century Grade II* listed lodge, formerly known as Bishops' Lodge, built in 1480 by the Bishop of Norwich . It is today a popular pub, The Swan. A local tradition concerns

1105-522: The Danelaw . They have mainly been found in the east of England, but the exact location of any of the mints they came from is not known with certainty, although scholars have assumed that they were made in East Anglia. Edmund's cult was promoted and flourished, but it declined, with the production of St Edmund coins ceasing after around 910. The saint did not reappear in liturgical calendars from

1170-532: The Early and High Middle Ages, and he and Edward the Confessor were regarded as the patron saints of medieval England until they were replaced by Saint George in the 15th century. Medieval manuscripts and works of art relating to Edmund include Abbo's Passio Sancti Eadmundi , John Lydgate 's 15th-century Life , the Wilton Diptych , and a number of church wall paintings . The existence of Edmund

1235-526: The Liberty of Saint Edmund , established by Edward the Confessor , and a larger church was built in 1095, into which Edmund's relics were translated. After the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, the abbot planned out over 300 new houses within a grid-iron pattern at a location that was close to the abbey precincts, a development which caused the town to more than double in size. King John

1300-438: The 9th century until the appearance of Abbo of Fleury's Passio Sancti Eadmundi three centuries later. In 1010, Edmund's remains were translated to London to protect them from the Vikings, where they were kept for three years before being returned to Bury. The Danish king Canute , who ruled England from 1016, converted to Christianity and was instrumental in founding the abbey at Bury St Edmunds. The new stone abbey church

1365-784: The Basilica of Saint-Sernin. The relics, believed at the time to be those of St Edmund, were intended for the high altar of London's Westminster Cathedral , which was then under construction. The acceptance of the relics required the intercession of Pope Leo XIII , after an initial refusal by the church in France. Upon their arrival in England they were housed in the Fitzalan Chapel at Arundel Castle prior to their translation to Westminster. Although their validity had been confirmed in 1874, when two pieces were given to Edward Manning, Archbishop of Westminster , concerns were raised about

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1430-551: The Boneless), son of Ragnar Lodbrok . After describing the horrific manner of Edmund's death, the Passio continued the story. His severed head was thrown into the wood. As Edmund's followers searched for him, calling out "Where are you, friend?" the head answered, Her, her, her ("Here! Here! Here!") until at last they found it, clasped between a wolf's paws, protected from other animals and uneaten. The followers then recovered

1495-707: The Catholic Church is 20 November. He is also remembered in the Church of England , with a Lesser Festival on this day of the year. Edmund's particular attributes are the arrow and the sword, being an English king, his attributes include the orb and sceptre . According to the Oxford Dictionary of Saints , his attribute can also be a wolf. A stone cross at Hoxne in Suffolk marks one supposed location of Edmund's death. The monument records that it

1560-685: The Danes at St Edmund's Memorial, Hoxne after refusing to disavow Christianity . Jean Ingelow 's poem 'The Tradition of the Golden Spurs' tells of this legend and she added the following note: For Hingvar, see Ivar the Boneless . Mid Suffolk Mid Suffolk is a local government district in Suffolk , England. The district is primarily a rural area, containing just three towns, being Stowmarket , Needham Market and Eye . Its council

1625-513: The Danish took the victory, and killed the king and conquered all that land". Where Edmund was killed and whether he died in battle or was murdered by the Danes afterwards is not known. The Great Heathen Army went on to invade Wessex in late 870, where they were confronted by Æthelred of Wessex and his brother, the future Alfred the Great . Edmund was buried in a wooden chapel near to where he

1690-575: The East Angles; the letters appear on Edmund's coins as part of the phrase + EADMUND REX AN[GLORUM] ("Edmund, King of the Angles"). Edmund's later coins read + EADMUND REX ("Edmund, King"). Otherwise, no chronology for his coins has been confirmed. For decades after the Viking raid on Lindisfarne in 793 , their attacks on England were mainly raids on isolated monastic communities . According to

1755-646: The Great and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle . The twelfth-century Annals of St Neots states that Edmund succeeded on Christmas Day 855 aged fourteen and was crowned by Bishop Hunberht on Christmas Day 856 at a royal vill in Burna in Suffolk, but no source is known for these statements. The devastation in East Anglia that was caused by the Vikings destroyed all the charters that may have referred to Edmund. Edmund cannot be placed within any ruling dynasty. The 10th century French monk Abbo of Fleury stated that Edmund

1820-654: The North Norfolk coast to claim his kingdom. Biographical details of Edmund in the Catholic Encyclopedia , published in 1913, include that "he showed himself a model ruler from the first, anxious to treat all with equal justice, and closing his ears to flatterers and untrustworthy informers". It was written that he withdrew for a year to his royal tower at Hunstanton and learned the whole Psalter , so that he could recite it from memory. Edmund may have been killed at Hoxne , in Suffolk. His martyrdom

1885-649: The Roman Catholic diocese of East Anglia , and Douai Abbey. England did not ever have a single patron saint before the Tudor period ; during the Middle Ages, several saints were considered to have a close association with England and to be nationally important: St Edmund; St Gregory the Great ; St Edward the Confessor ; St Thomas Becket ; and St George . Of these saints, Edmund was the most consistently popular with English kings, although Edward III raised

1950-617: The Roman Empire. Only fourteen years after the last dig by the University of Chicago team, on the same farm, only a few hundred metres south along the road, the Hoxne Hoard was discovered by a metal detectorist on 16 November 1992. The Hoard consists of 14,865 Roman gold, silver and bronze coins from the late fourth and early fifth centuries and approximately 200 items of silver tableware and gold jewelry. These objects are now in

2015-525: The Vikings on the battlefield, but she acknowledges the possibility that such later accounts belong to "the realm of hagiographical fantasy". "King Edmund, against whom Ivar advanced, stood inside his hall, and mindful of the Saviour, threw out his weapons. He wanted to match the example of Christ, who forbade Peter to win the cruel Jews with weapons. Lo! the impious one then bound Edmund and insulted him ignominiously, and beat him with rods, and afterwards led

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2080-674: The authenticity of the Arundel relics by Montague James and Charles Biggs in The Times . The relics remained at Arundel under the care of the Duke of Norfolk while a historical commission was set up by Cardinal Vaughan and Archbishop Germain of Saint-Sernin. They remain as of 1993 at Arundel. In 1966 three teeth from the collection of relics from France were given to Douai Abbey in Berkshire . The feast day of Edmund, King and Martyr in

2145-528: The body of Mary of Egypt was said to have been guarded by a lion . The English medievalist Antonia Gransden described Abbo's Passio as "little more than a hotch-potch of hagiographical commonplaces" and argues that Abbo's ignorance of what actually happened to Edmund would have led him to use aspects of the Lives of well-known saints such as Sebastian and Denis as models for his version of Edmund's martydom. Gransden acknowledged that there are some aspects of

2210-578: The campaign stated their hopes that a petition could be used to force Parliament to debate the issue. The veneration of Edmund throughout the centuries has created a legacy of noteworthy works of art. An illustrated copy of Abbo of Fleury's Passio Sancti Eadmundi , made at Bury St Edmunds in around 1130, is now kept at the Morgan Library in New York City . The copy of John Lydgate 's 15th-century Life , written for Henry VI of England ,

2275-702: The council inherited offices in Elmswell , Eye, Stowmarket and Needham Market from its predecessors. It initially used the former Hartismere Rural District Council offices on Castleton Way in Eye as its headquarters, retaining the former Gipping Rural District Council offices in Needham Market and Stowmarket Urban District Council offices at Red Gables on Ipswich Road as secondary offices. The council initially decided to consolidate its offices in Stowmarket, being

2340-475: The council will be up for election. Since the last boundary changes in 2019 the council has comprised 34 councillors representing 26 wards , with each ward electing one or two councillors. Elections are held every four years. Since 2017 Babergh and Mid Suffolk councils have their combined headquarters at Endeavour House in Ipswich, sharing the building with Suffolk County Council . When first created

2405-757: The cycle of warming and cooling and defined the stages of the Great Interglacial. Teams headed by the University of Chicago made extensive excavations at Frere's site for five years between 1971 and 1978. They confirmed the date of the handaxes as ca 400,000 years BP, coincident with the Swanscombe finds, which, unlike the Hoxne, include human remains. Subsequent research by the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain team has confirmed

2470-400: The death of Saint Edmund , King of East Anglia . It is said he hid under Goldbrook Bridge to elude the pursuing Danes . A newly married couple saw the king's gold spurs and gave his location away to his enemies. According to the legend, Saint Edmund put a curse on all couples who cross the bridge on their way to get married. The account continues, explaining how he was subsequently killed by

2535-481: The death of the Danish Guthrum , king of East Anglia, in around 890, the same moneyers who had minted his coins started to produce money in commemoration of Edmund. The coins, whose design was based upon those produced during Edmund's reign, provide the earliest evidence that he was venerated as a saint. All the pennies and (more rarely) half-pennies that were produced read SCE EADMVND REX —'O St Edmund

2600-474: The devout king to a firm living tree, and tied him there with strong bonds, and beat him with whips. In between the whip lashes, Edmund called out with true belief in the Saviour Christ. Because of his belief, because he called to Christ to aid him, the heathens became furiously angry. They then shot spears at him, as if it was a game, until he was entirely covered with their missiles, like the bristles of

2665-489: The district's largest town and a central location, but no suitable site could be found there. Instead it decided to extend the former Gipping Rural District Council's headquarters in Needham Market. The original building there was a large eighteenth century house called "Hurstlea" at 131 High Street. A large modern extension was built behind the original building, which was formally opened in January 1982. The whole district

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2730-742: The former RAF Horham airfield. In geology, Hoxne gives its name to the Hoxnian Stage , a British regional subdivision of the Pleistocene Epoch . The area around the village is of significant archaeological importance, as the find-spot of the Hoxne Hoard of Roman treasure, very early finds of handaxes and as the type site for the Hoxnian Stage ("Hoxnian Interglacial"). In 1797, John Frere (1740-1807) found flint hand tools twelve feet deep in Hoxne Brick Pit , and he

2795-410: The head. Abbo failed to date these events surrounding Edmund's translation to Beodericsworth , although from his text it can be seen that he believed that the relics had been taken to Beodericsworth by the time that Theodred became Bishop of London in around 926. Upon exhumation of the body, a miracle was discovered. All the arrow wounds upon Edmund's undecayed corpse had healed and his head

2860-640: The importance of George when he associated him with the Order of the Garter . In 2006, BBC Radio Suffolk radio presenter Mark Murphy and David Ruffley , the Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds , failed in their campaign to reinstate Edmund as the patron saint of England. In 2013, BBC News reported a new campaign launched by Murphy and the brewer Greene King , which is based in Bury St Edmunds, to reinstate St Edmund as England's patron saint. Supporters of

2925-408: The king refused to meet the Danes in battle, preferring to die a martyr's death. According to Ridyard, Edmund's martyrdom cannot be proven and the nature of his fate—whether he died fighting or was murdered after the battle—cannot be read from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle . Ridyard notes that the story that Edmund had an armour-bearer implies that he would have been a warrior king who was prepared to fight

2990-538: The king!'. Some of them have a legend that provides evidence that the Vikings experimented with their initial design. The St Edmund memorial coins were minted in great quantities by a group of more than 70 moneyers, many of whom appear to have originated from continental Europe; over 1800 specimens were found when the Cuerdale Hoard was discovered in Lancashire in 1840. The coins were widely used within

3055-413: The kingdom of East Anglia was devastated by the Vikings , who destroyed any contemporary evidence of his reign. Coins minted by Edmund indicate that he succeeded Æthelweard of East Anglia , as they shared the same moneyers . He is thought to have been of East Anglian origin, but 12th century writers produced fictitious accounts of his family, succession and his rule as king. Edmund's death was mentioned in

3120-529: The presence of these ancestors of the Neanderthals as occurring towards the terminal, cooling phase of the Interglacial period, which, according to Chris Stringer , "came to an end,...taking with it the lush river valleys, forests and grasslands on which the herds of horses and deer, and their hunters, relied. Ice sheets returned...to the north-west of Europe...and a new pattern of episodic occupation

3185-478: The same time: Thedwastre Rural District had been in the administrative county of West Suffolk prior to the reforms; the other districts had all been in East Suffolk . The new district was named Mid Suffolk, reflecting its position within the wider county. Mid Suffolk District Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Suffolk County Council . The whole district

3250-582: The site of what is now known to be a Middle Pleistocene lake formed during the Great Interglacial geological warming period in Europe. Accordingly, in Britain that entire period is called "Hoxnian," signifying its identification there, based on evidence from undisturbed layers of pollens from plants and trees found at Frere's site in the 1950s (notably by Richard Gilbert West ), which established

3315-530: The story—such as the appearance of the wolf that guards Edmund's head—that do not have exact parallels elsewhere. Herman the Archdeacon , who was an excellent Latinist, wrote another hagiography of Edmund, the Miracles of St Edmund , at the end of the eleventh century. His original text does not survive, but a shortened version is part of a book dating to around 1100 produced by Bury St Edmunds Abbey, which

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3380-512: The summer of 866, when they moved on to York. The army attacked Mercia by the end of 867 and made peaceful terms with the Mercians; a year later the Vikings returned to East Anglia. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , which generally described few matters relating to the East Angles and their rulers, relates that "here the army rode across Mercia into East Anglia, and took winter-quarters at Thetford; and that winter King Edmund fought against them, and

3445-434: The youngest son of 'Alcmund', a Saxon king of Germanic descent. 'Alcmund' may never have existed. Edmund's fictitious continental origins were later elaborated upon in the 15th century by the poet John Lydgate in his The Lives of Saints Edmund and Fremund . Lydgate spoke of his parentage, his birth at Nuremberg , his adoption by Offa of Mercia , his nomination as successor to the king and his landing at Old Hunstanton on

3510-399: Was ex antiquorum Saxonum nobili prosapia oriundus , which according to Ridyard "was probably Abbo's rather verbose way of saying he was descended from the ancient nobility of his race". A variety of different coins were minted by Edmund's moneyers during his reign. The letters AN , standing for 'Anglia', appear on the coins of only Edmund and Æthelstan , another 9th century king of

3575-587: Was canonised by the Church. A series of coins commemorating him was minted from around the time East Anglia was absorbed by the kingdom of Wessex in 918, and in about 986, the French monk Abbo wrote of his life and martyrdom. During the 10th century, Edmund's remains were translated from an unidentified location in East Anglia to Beodricesworth (modern Bury St Edmunds ); they were temporarily moved to London for safekeeping in 1010. Edmund's cult flourished during

3640-455: Was based in Needham Market until 2017 when it moved to shared offices with neighbouring Babergh District Council in Ipswich , outside either district. In 2021 it had a population of 103,417. The neighbouring districts are East Suffolk , Ipswich , Babergh , West Suffolk , Breckland and South Norfolk . The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 , covering five former districts which were all abolished at

3705-400: Was built on the site of an ancient oak tree which fell in 1848 and was found to have an arrow head embedded in its trunk. Some fifty-five Church of England parish churches are dedicated to Edmund, perhaps the most notable being the Church of St Edmund, King and Martyr , Lombard Street in the City of London . The Benedictine community of Douai Abbey also has Edmund as its patron. There

3770-405: Was completed in 1032, having possibly been commissioned by Canute in time to be consecrated on the 16th anniversary of the Battle of Assandun , which took place on 18 October 1016. Edmund's shrine became one of the most famous and wealthy pilgrimage locations in England. The abbey's power grew upon being given jurisdiction over the western half of the county of Suffolk by the creation in 1044 of

3835-410: Was killed. At a date generally assumed by historians to have been during the reign of Æthelstan , who became king of the Anglo-Saxons in 924, Edmund's body was translated from Haegelisdun —the location of which has never been conclusively identified—to Beodricesworth , now modern Bury St Edmunds . In 925 Æthelstan founded a religious community to take care of Edmund's shrine . Following

3900-444: Was martyred. In a preface to Lydgate's Life , in which Edmund's banner—depicting three crowns set on a blue background—is described, the crowns are said to represent Edmund's martyrdom, virginity and kingship. The ancient wooden St Andrew's Church, Greensted-juxta-Ongar in Essex, is said to have been a resting place for his body on the way to Bury St Edmunds in 1013. Edmund is the patron saint of pandemics as well as kings,

3965-404: Was reattached. The last recorded inspection of the body whilst at Bury St Edmunds was in 1198. The resemblance between the deaths of St Sebastian and St Edmund was remarked upon by Abbo: both saints were attacked by archers , although only Edmund is supposed to have been decapitated. His death bears some resemblance to the fate suffered by other saints: St Denis was whipped and beheaded and

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4030-411: Was set in motion," lasting over three hundred thousand years. Hoxne Brick Pit is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest , but it has been filled in and a house been built on part of it. The Hoxne Hoard, found in 1992, is the largest hoard of late Roman silver and gold discovered in Britain, and the largest collection of gold and silver coins of the fourth and fifth century found anywhere within

4095-464: Was silver and adorned with solid silver statues. In 1644, the relics were verified and catalogued for interment in the newly-completed shrine, by which time the cult's origins had been forgotten. Edmund's shrine was removed in 1794 during the French Revolution . The saint's relics were restored to the Basilica of Saint-Sernin in 1845 and placed in a new reliquary. In 1901 the Archbishop of Westminster , Herbert Vaughan , received "certain relics" from

4160-412: Was taken away. The abbot and his monks were expelled and the abbey was dissolved. In 1664, a lawyer from the French city of Toulouse publicized a claim that Edmund's remains had been taken from Bury by the future Louis VIII of France following his defeat at the Battle of Lincoln in 1217. The relics had then been donated by Louis to the Basilica of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse . The first record of this

4225-500: Was the first person to recognise ancient tools as being man-made. One of his hand axes is in the British Museum . His letter to the Society of Antiquaries , read on 22 June 1797 and published in the Society's journal Archaeologia in 1800, argued for the antiquity of these handaxes as "even beyond the present world," in a period now recognised as belonging to the Lower Paleolithic Age . Frere argued that these "weapons" were coincident with nearby extinct elephant fossils, in strata at

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