Repton and its neighbourhood : $b a descriptive guide of the archæology, &c. of the districtHipkins, F. C. (Frederick Charles)
History
Repton and its neighbourhood : $b a descriptive guide of the archæology, &c. of the district
Hipkins, F. C. (Frederick Charles)
Repton (England) -- Description and travel; Repton (England) -- History
The 15th. Beccelm and an attendant in a boat, into which Pega, sister of
Guthlac, is stepping on her way to perform the obsequies of her brother.
The 16th. Guthlac, in his shroud, is being placed in a marble sarcophagus
by Pega and three others, one of whom censes the remains.
The 17th. Guthlac appears to King Æthelbald.
The 18th. Before an altar stand thirteen principal benefactors of
Crowland Abbey. Each one, beginning with King Æthelbald, carries a scroll
on which is inscribed their name, and gift.
The Abbey of Crowland was built, and flourished till about the year 870,
when the Danes burnt it down, four years later they destroyed Repton.
Guthlaxton Hundred in the southern part of Leicestershire, and four
churches, dedicated to him, retain his name. The remains of a stone at
Brotherhouse, bearing his name, and a mouldering effigy, in its niche on
the west front of the ruins of Crowland Abbey, are still to be seen. His
“sanctus bell” was at Repton, and as we shall see, in the account of the
Priory, acquired curative powers for headache.
ST. WYSTAN.
Among “the Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during
the Middle Ages,” published by the authority of Her Majesty’s Treasury,
under the direction of the Master of the Rolls is the “Chronicon Abbatiæ
de Evesham,” written by Thomas de Marleberge or Marlborough, Abbot of
Evesham. In an appendix to the Chronicle he also wrote a life of St.
Wystan from which the following facts, &c., have been gathered.
Wystan was the son of Wimund, son of Wiglaf, King of Mercia, his
mother’s name was Elfleda. Wimund died of dysentery during his father’s
life-time, and was buried in Crowland Abbey, and, later on, his wife
was laid by his side. When the time came for Wystan to succeed to the
crown, he refused it, “wishing to become an heir of a heavenly kingdom.
Following the example of his Lord and master, he refused an earthly
crown, exchanging it for a heavenly one,” and committed the kingdom to
the care of his mother, and to the chief men of the land. But his uncle
Bertulph conspired against him, “inflamed with a desire of ruling, and
with a secret love for the queen-regent.” A council was assembled at
a place, known from that day to this, as Wistanstowe, in Shropshire,
and to it came Bertulph and his son Berfurt. Beneath his cloak Berfurt
had concealed a sword, and (like Judas the traitor), whilst giving a
kiss of peace to Wystan, drew it and smote him with a mortal wound on
his head, and so, on the eve of Pentecost, in the year 849, “that holy
martyr leaving his precious body on the earth, bore his glorious soul
to heaven. The body was conveyed to the Abbey of Repton, and buried in
the mausoleum of his grandfather, with well deserved honour, and the
greatest reverence. For thirty days a column of light, extending from the
spot where he was slain to the heavens above, was seen by all those who
dwelt there, and every year, on the day of his martyrdom, the hairs of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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