“Off this language Hyngwar wex[2] nyh wood,[3] Made the Kyng strongly to be bonde,[4] And commanded afform him as he stood, Ffirst to be bete with shorte battis ronde.[5] His body brused with many mortal wounde, As ever the martyr among his peynes alle, Meekly to Jhu for helpe began to calle. The cheef refuge and supportacion In his sufferance was humble pacience, Loved to his herte gaff consolation, With ghostly feer quickid the fervence. Ffor charite feeleth no violence, Ffor wher charite afforceth a corage Ther is of peyne fonde non outrage. The cursed Danys of new cruelte, This martyr took, most gracious and benign, Of hasty rancour bound him to a tree, As for their mark to sheete[6] at and ther signe And in this wise ageyne him ther maline Made hym with arwis[7] of ther malis most wikked Rassemble an yrchon[8] fulfilled with spryngs[9] thkke.” His head was cast into a forest and, as the story goes, was miraculously discovered and found to be guarded by a wolf. It was then buried with the body at the village of Hoxne where it remained until 903. In this year, “the precious, undefiled, uncorrupted body of the glorious king and martyr” was translated to the care of the secular priests at Beodericsworth, since when the town has been called St Edmundsbury in memory of the sainted monarch. Other wonderful traditions are associated with the shrine of St Edmund. Sweyn, the violent Danish king, coming in hot pursuit of a woman who had claimed sanctuary, was miraculously killed by an imaginary spear which came out of the shrine when he was about to seize the woman who was clinging to its side. Bishop Herfastus, too, was struck blind, when on a visit to the abbot, in the attempt to establish his new See in the monastical demesne, and afterwards miraculously healed. For centuries the highest in the land brought gifts and laid them before the venerated shrine. Canute was the actual founder of the monastery proper, for in the 11th century he brought over Benedictine monks from Hulm, granting them a charter and many benefactions. The monastery yearly became more prosperous, and, with the exception of Glastonbury, exceeded in magnificence and privileges all other ecclesiastical establishments in the country. In the height of its glory it must have been a most beautiful and dignified structure. Leland writes:-- “A monastery more noble, whether one considers the endowments, largeness, or unparalleled magnificence, the sun never saw. One might think the monastery alone a city: it has three grand gates for entrances, some whereof are brass, many towers, high walls and a church than which nothing can be more magnificent.”