Saints and Relics in Anglo-Saxon England

The veneration of saints and relics is one of the most striking features of Anglo-Saxon society. A vast literature, produced by some of the foremost writers of the age such as Bede, developed to record the lives and miracles of saints. Their mortal remains were encased in sumptious reliquaries and housed in magnificent churches often built especially to honour them. Miracles allegedly occurred at the shrines of the saints, where pilgrims, the sick and crippled flocked to the relics in the hope of being cured. Kings and commoners alike carried out ruthless robberies and collecting campaigns on behalf of churches anxious to acquire the relics of saints from all over Christendom. This is an account of the saints and relics of Anglo-Saxon England. It explores all aspects of the phenomena - who the saints were, what evidence we have about them, how their relics were treated, and the shrines and churches constructed to honour those relics. David Rollason considers the cultural influences which made saints from some areas more popular at the expense of others, and which governed the development of such practical manifestations of the cult as reliquaries and shrines.
He also discusses the political background to saints' widespread popularity - why Royal saints were so ubiquitous in Anglo-Saxon England, why Kings took a keen interest in the relic cult, and how the Church itself exploited them in its relations with the laity. In doing so, he provides a range of insights not only into the saints and relics, but into the society and people to whom they were so significant.