Arriving at Beverley, Aethelstan besought the aid of the holy Bishop John, and placed his knife on the high altar as a pledge of the rewards that he would bestow upon the church if he were successful in his journey. Thereupon a vision of John of Beverley appeared before his eyes, and he heard the words, ‘Pass fearlessly with your army, for you shall conquer’—words which certainly came true enough. Believing that his success was due entirely to the power of the holy Bishop whose banner he had brought with him from Beverley, the King, on his return, liberally fulfilled his pledge, and endowed John’s church with grants of lands, tolls, and the right of Sanctuary. =Swa mickel fredom give i ye,= =Swa bert may think or egbe see=— is the way in which a charter of much later date than the time of Aethelstan describes the King’s gifts to John of Beverley’s church. [Illustration: BEVERLEY MINSTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, FROM THE NORTH-EAST.] So great after this became the fame of the miracles performed at the tomb of the founder of the church, that in 1037 the Pope ordered that John of Beverley should thenceforth be ranked as a Saint. His bones and other relics were then laid in a magnificent shrine in front of the high altar, and the story of the fate which came upon the sacrilegious Toustain in 1069 is sufficient evidence of their power.[33] Footnote 33: See page 152. * * * * * The charter of Aethelstan was renewed by Edward the Confessor, Henry I., and Stephen; and in the reign of the last-named King the banner of St. John was for the second time in the forefront of a battle against the Scots. This was the _Battle of the Standard_, when the banners of the four northern Saints—St. Peter of York, St. Cuthbert of Durham, St. Wilfrid of Ripon, and St. John of Beverley—brought victory to the English host. [Illustration: _Photo by_] [_C.W. Mason_ ‘Early English.’ Doorway in the South Transept of Beverley Minster. ] Once again an English King visited Beverley and carried north with him the banner of St. John. The King was Edward I., the ‘Hammer of the Scots,’ and the Household Accounts of his reign show that in 1299 there was paid: To master Gilbert de Grimsby, vicar of the collegiate church of St. John de Beverley, for his wages, from the 25th day of November, on which day he left Beverley to proceed, by command of the King, with the standard of St. John, in the King’s suite aforesaid, to various parts of Scotland, until the 9th day of January, both computed, 46 days, at 8½d. per diem ... £1 8s. 9d. [Illustration: _Photo by_] [_C.W. Mason_ Small ‘Decorated’ Doorway at the west end of Beverley Minster. ]