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{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = 
| honorific_prefix = [[Saint]]
| name = Earconwald
| title = [[Bishop of London]]
| image = Wenceslas Hollar - St Erkenwald (monument) (State 2).jpg
| imagesize = 
| alt = 
| caption = Engraving of the lost shrine of St Erkenwald in [[Old St Paul's Cathedral]]: it was desecrated in the [[English Reformation|Reformation]] and destroyed in the [[Great Fire of London]] in 1666
| province = [[Province of Canterbury|Canterbury]]
| enthroned = 675
| ended = 693
| predecessor = [[Wine (bishop)|Wine]]
| successor = [[Waldhere (Bishop of London)|Waldhere]]
| other_post = [[Prince]], [[Abbot]] of [[Chertsey Abbey|Chertsey]]
| consecration = {{circa|675}}
| birth_date = {{circa|630}}
| birth_place = [[Kingdom of Lindsey]]
| death_date = 693
| death_place = [[Barking Abbey]]
| buried = [[Old St Paul's Cathedral]], London through the location and survival of his relics are debated
| religion = [[Roman Catholic Church]]
<!---------- Sainthood ---------->| feast_day = 13 May<br>24 April<br>30 April<br>14 November in England
| attributes = bishop in a small chariot, which he used for travelling his diocese; with Saint [[Ethelburga of Barking]]
| patronage = against gout, [[London]]
| shrine = [[Old St Paul's Cathedral]]: relics removed by 1550, lost in the Great Fire of London
}}
'''Saint Earconwald''' or '''Erkenwald'''{{efn|Also '''Ercenwald''', '''Eorcenwald''' or '''Erconwald'''}} (died 693) was a Saxon prince<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Erkenwald |url=https://sterkenwald2808.freemasons.london/st-erkenwald/ |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=St. Erkenwald Lodge 2808}}</ref> and [[Bishop of London]] between 675 and 693.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gollancz |first=Israel |title=St. Erkenwald |date=2018-04-23 |publisher=Forgotten Books |isbn=978-0-331-84084-1 |language=English}}</ref> He is the [[eponym]]ous subject of one of the most [[St. Erkenwald (poem)|important poems]] in the foundations of English literature<ref>{{Cite web |title=Middle English Alliterative Poetry |url=https://mediakron.bc.edu/alliterativepoetry/poems/st-erkenwald-1 |access-date=2023-09-18 |website=mediakron.bc.edu}}</ref> (thought to be by the [[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]] [[Pearl poet|Pearl Poet]]). He was called ''Lundoniae maximum sanctus'', 'the most holy figure of London',<ref name="ackroyd bio">{{Cite book |last=Ackroyd |first=Peter |title=London: The Biography |date=1900-01-01 |publisher=Anchor Books |isbn=978-0-385-49771-8 |edition=Illustrated |location=New York |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=London in the Not-so-Dark Ages |url=https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/london-not-so-dark-ages |access-date=2023-09-18 |website=www.gresham.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref> and ''Lux Londonie'', "the light of London".<ref name="statutes1">{{Cite web |title=Statutes (Baldock and Lisieux): Pars sexta {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/st-pauls-register/pp79-111 |access-date=2023-09-18 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref> [[Peter Ackroyd]] has said of him, "we may still name him as the patron saint of [[London]], [his]... cult survived for over eight hundred years, before entering the temporary darkness of the last four centuries".<ref name="ackroyd bio"/>

He is associated with a very early [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] phase of building at [[St Paul's Cathedral]], and [[William Dugdale]] says he began the building.<ref>William Dugdale, 'The History of St. Paul's Cathedral in London' (London, 2nd ed. 1716), p115.</ref>

In recent times he has been portrayed in novels and films, for example in the work of [[Bernard Cornwell]].

The early [[diocese of London]] was coterminous with the [[Kingdom of Essex]], making the Bishop of London the Bishop of the East Saxons.<ref>On the Diocese of London originally serving the East Saxons {{Cite web |date=7 May 2023 |title=Our History |url=https://ldbs.co.uk/history/ |access-date=7 May 2023 |website=London Diocesan Board for Schools |language=en}}</ref>

==Life==
[[File:Medieval Stained Glass Window depicting St. Peter Mancroft and St. William (likely Bishop William of London) in St. Peter Mancroft Church, Norwich.jpg|alt=Medieval Stained Glass Window depicting St. Peter Mancroft and St. William (likely Bishop William of London) in St. Peter Mancroft Church, Norwich.|left|thumb|Medieval Stained Glass Window depicting St. Erkenwald and St. William (likely Bishop William of London) in [[St Peter Mancroft|St. Peter Mancroft Church]], Norwich.]]

===Origins===
Earconwald was of royal ancestry.<ref name="ODS1752">Farmer ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' p. 175</ref> [[William Dugdale]] states that he was a prince, a son of the house of King [[Offa of Essex|Offa]], King of  [[Kingdom of Essex|Essex or the East Saxons]].<ref>William Dugdale, 'The History of St. Paul's Cathedral in London' (London, 2nd ed. 1716), p. 115.</ref>

He may have been born in the [[Kingdom of Lindsey]] in modern [[Lincolnshire]].<ref name="Walsh1822">Walsh ''A New Dictionary of Saints'' p. 182</ref>

===Career===
In 666, he established two [[Benedictine]] abbeys, [[Chertsey Abbey]] in [[Surrey]]<ref name="Kirby83">Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 83</ref> for men, and [[Barking Abbey]] for women.<ref name="Walsh1822"/><ref name="Courts250">Yorke "Adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon Royal Courts" ''Cross Goes North'' pp. 250–251</ref> His sister, [[Æthelburg of Barking|Æthelburh]], was Abbess of Barking.<ref name="Walsh1822" /><ref name="Kirby102" /> Earconwald is said to have engaged [[Hildelith]] to instruct Æthelburh in the role of abbess.<ref>{{Cite DNB|wstitle= Hildilid |last= Kingsford |first= Charles Lethbridge |author-link= Charles Lethbridge Kingsford |volume=26 |page=386 |short=1}}</ref>

[[File:Chertsey Breviary - St. Erkenwald.jpg|thumb|Earconwald teaching monks in a historiated initial from the Chertsey Breviary (c.1300)]]

Earconwald himself served as [[Abbot]] of Chertsey.<ref name="Kirby95" /> A charter states that in the late 7th century, he and [[Frithwald]] gave land in [[Streatham]] and [[Tooting Graveney]] to Chertsey Abbey; this grant was confirmed in the time of [[Athelstan]] in 933.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Parishes: Tooting Graveney {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol4/pp102-107 |access-date=2023-02-19 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref>

A legend says that he often preached to the woodmen in the wild forests that lay to the north of London.<ref name="togreat">{{Cite web |title=St Paul's: To the Great Fire {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol1/pp234-248 |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref>

[[File: Wells Cathedral, window nV detail (50389684823).jpg|thumb|A window in Wells Cathedral. Mostly original glass; the heads depict Pope Stephen, St Blaise, St Earconwald, and Pope Marcellus.]]

===Bishop===
In 675, Earconwald became [[Bishop of London]], succeeding Bishop [[Wine (bishop)|Wine]].<ref name=Handbook219>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 219</ref> He was the choice of Archbishop [[Theodore of Canterbury]].<ref name=Kirby95>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' pp. 95–96</ref> It is also said that his selection as Bishop of London was at the insistence of [[Sæbbi of Essex|King Sebbi]].<ref name="catholic.org">{{Cite web |title=St. Erconwald - Encyclopedia Volume - Catholic Encyclopedia |url=https://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=4335 |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=Catholic Online |language=en}}</ref> An ancient epitaph says that Earconwald served as bishop of London for eleven years.<ref name="catholic.org"/>

He was granted the manor (landholding) of [[Fulham]] about the year 691 for himself and his successors as [[Bishop of London]]. The manor house was [[Fulham Palace]]. Nine centuries later, it was the summer residence of the Bishops of London.<ref>{{cite web |author=Walford, Edward |date=1878 |title=''Fulham: Introduction'', in Old and New London |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol6/pp504-521 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024025456/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol6/pp504-521 |archive-date=24 October 2016 |access-date=23 October 2016 |publisher=British History Online |pages=504–521 |volume=6 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>
[[File:Orthodox Image of St Erkenwald, Bishop of London.jpg|thumb|Orthodox Image of St Erkenwald: Erkenwald is considered a saint of the undivided church ]]
Earconwald was an important contributor to the reconversion of Essex, and the [[Bishop of London#List of Bishops|fourth Bishop of London since the restoration of the diocese]], and he was present at the reconciliation between Archbishop Theodore and [[Wilfrid|Wilfrith]].<ref name="catholic.org"/>

While bishop, he contributed to King [[Ine of Wessex]]'s law code, and is mentioned specifically in the code as a contributor.<ref name=Conversion235>Yorke ''Conversion of Britain'' p. 235</ref> King Ine named Earconwald as an advisor on his laws<ref name="Kirby103">Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 103</ref> and called Earconwald "my bishop" in the preface to his laws.<ref name="catholic.org"/>

Current historical scholarship credits Earconwald with a major role in the evolution of Anglo-Saxon charters, and it is possible that he drafted the charter of Caedwalla to Farnham.<ref name=Kirby102>Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 102</ref>[[File:Bishopsgate Hollar.PNG|thumb|The now lost Bishops Gate: a Roman gate in the walls of Roman London, repaired by St Earconwald and then named after him]]When [[Saint Fursey|St Fursey]] (a Celtic cleric who did much to establish [[Christianity]] throughout the [[British Isles]] and particularly in [[Kingdom of East Anglia|East Anglia]]) died in 650 he was buried in a church built specially by Earconwald in [[Péronne, Somme|Péronne]] which has claimed Fursey as patron ever since.<ref name="pilgrims">{{cite web |title=Who Was Fursey |url=http://www.furseypilgrims.co.uk/fursey.htm |access-date=2015-03-01 |publisher=Furseypilgrims.co.uk}}</ref>

===Building works===
[[Bishopsgate]], one of the eastern gates on [[London Wall|London's largely lost Roman and medieval city wall]], was said to have been repaired by Earconwald, and to have taken its name from him.<ref>Ben Weinreb and [[Christopher Hibbert]] (1983) The London Encyclopedia</ref>

[[File:Archbishop Matthew Parker.jpg|thumb|Archbishop Matthew Parker, who had the most important records on Earconwald at the end of the [[Counter-Reformation]] when they may otherwise have been lost]]

Earconwald is said to have spent a good deal on the early building of St Paul's, and in later times he almost occupied the place of a traditionary founder; the veneration paid to him was second only to that which was rendered to St Paul.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Secular canons: Cathedral of St. Paul {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/london/vol1/pp409-433 |access-date=2023-08-27 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref>

===Death and legacy===
Earconwald died in 693<ref name="Handbook219" /> while on a visit to Barking Abbey. His remains were buried at a pilgrimage shrine in [[Old St Paul's Cathedral]].

For a period immediately after the Norman Conquest, St Earconwald was marginalised in religious practice.<ref name="miracles">{{Cite book |title=The Saint of London: The Life and Miracles of St.Erkenwald - Text and Translation: v. 58 |date=1989-01-01 |publisher=State University of New York at Binghamton, Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies |isbn=978-0-86698-042-5 |editor-last=Whatley |editor-first=E. Gordon |location=Binghamton, NY}}</ref> The Normans replaced most of the English ecclesiastical office holders, either immediately, or upon their death with the appointment of a Norman cleric as successor.<ref>{{cite book |author=Thomas, Hugh M. |title=The English and the Normans |year=2003 |location=Oxford, UK |publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=202–208 |isbn= 978-0-19-925123-0}}</ref>

The most important collection of early materials concerning Earconwald is the ''Miracula Sancti Erkenwaldi'', preserved as a 12th-century manuscript in the [[Matthew Parker]] collection (Parker 161) at [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]].<ref name="Gollancz1">{{Cite book |last=Gollancz |first=Sir Israel |title=Selected Early English Poems IV St Erkenwald |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1923}}</ref> The miracle in the poem is not in these materials, suggesting that the story post-dates this manuscript.

==The poem of St Erkenwald ==
[[File:A 1932 copy of the medieval poem 'Erkenwald'.jpg|alt=A 1932 copy of the medieval poem 'Erkenwald'|thumb|A 1932 copy of the medieval poem 'Erkenwald']]
Earconwald was the subject of the alliterative [[St. Erkenwald (poem)|St Erkenwald Poem]], written in the 14th century<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Savage |first1=Henry Lyttleton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zwlEAAAAYAAJ&q=Erkenwald+poem |title=St. Erkenwald, a Middle English Poem, Edited with Introduction, Notes, and Glossary |last2=Gollancz |first2=Israel |date=1926 |publisher=Yale University Press |language=en}}</ref> by a poet from the [[Cheshire]]/[[Shropshire]]/[[Staffordshire]] area.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Austin |first=Sue |date=2024-02-23 |title=Shropshire Day: Natural beauty and culture help county celebrate its own patron saint's day |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/shrewsbury/2024/02/23/reasons-why-shropshire-should-celebrate-its-very-own-day-named-after-the-countys-patron-saint/ |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=www.shropshirestar.com |language=en}}</ref> 

The text is thought to be the work of the [[Gawain Poet|Pearl Poet]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Benson |first=Larry D. |date=1965 |title=The Authorship of "St. Erkenwald" |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27714679 |journal=The Journal of English and Germanic Philology |volume=64 |issue=3 |pages=393–405 |jstor=27714679 |issn=0363-6941}}</ref> whose identity is debated and uncertain. If it is true that it is within the set of this author's work, that would mean that text shares its author with:

*''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]''
*''[[Pearl (poem)|Pearl]]''
*''[[Patience (poem)|Patience]]'' 
*''[[Cleanness]]''

{{multiple image
| width             = 120
| image1            = Sir Gawain first page 670x990.jpg
| alt1              = 
| image2            = Gawain and the Green Knight.jpg
| alt2              = Sir Gawain manuscript
| footer            = The text and an illustration from the only surviving manuscript of that work: St Erkenwald may have provided inspiration for the same writer as for this text
| align             = 
| direction         = 
| total_width       = 
| caption1          = Manuscript text in ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight''
| caption2          = An illustration in the oldest copy of the same poem
}}

The poem is significant in the way it deals with the spiritual welfare of people who could not hear the Christian message, and critics have compared it to the ''[[Beowulf]]'' poem in this regard.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Erkenwald Poet's Sense of History |date=2016 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/english-alliterative-verse/erkenwald-poets-sense-of-history/EAFB9EDE077EAB7EA338896BCD6E96B5 |work=English Alliterative Verse: Poetic Tradition and Literary History |pages=127–147 |editor-last=Weiskott |editor-first=Eric |access-date=2023-09-10 |series=Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781316718674.007 |isbn=978-1-316-76834-1|url-access=subscription }}</ref><!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Priorslee Hall.jpg|right|thumb|Priorslee Hall, one of the Shropshire addresses occupied by Sir Humphrey Pitt from whom the only known copy of the poem 'Erkenwald' was recovered]] --> The poem has survived in only one manuscript, [[British Library]] MS [[Harleian Library|Harley]] 2250.<ref>London, British Library, MS Harley 2250, ff. 72v to 75v.</ref>  

The document was discovered in 1757 by [[Thomas Percy (bishop of Dromore)|Thomas Percy]]; the manuscript had been in the possession of Sir Humphrey Pitt of Balcony House, Shifnal, and Priorslee, [[Shropshire]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Middle English Alliterative Poetry |url=https://mediakron.bc.edu/alliterativepoetry/st-erkenwald-1/timeline-of-poems |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=mediakron.bc.edu}}</ref> 

Other important ancient literary materials narrowly avoided being burnt as kindling by household staff in the circumstances in which Percy was discovering this important cultural survival.<ref name="Percy1">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/bishoppercysfoli01percuoft#page/n23/mode/2up |title=Percy's Folio Manuscript: Ballads and Romances |publisher=N. Trübner & Co. |year=1867 |editor-last=Hales |editor-first=John W. |volume=I |location=London |access-date=2017-11-20 |editor2-last=Furnivall |editor2-first=Frederick J.}}</ref>

The poem has been linked thematically and in plot terms with the Legend of [[Trajan]] and the Miracle of [[St Gregory]]; that legend itself being referred to in the ''[[Divine Comedy]]'' by [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] (''[[Purgatorio]]'' (x. 73-75) and [[Paradiso (Dante)|''Paradiso'']] (xx 106-117)).<ref name="Gollancz1"/>

Another possible inspiration for the plot in the poem is found in ''[[Kaiserchronik]]'', the [[Middle High German]] history of [[Roman Empire|Roman]] and [[German language|German]] emperors dating to around 1150.<ref name="Gollancz1"/> 

Some familiarity with the story is also contended for ''[[Thomas Aquinas|St Thomas Aquinas]]''.<ref name="Gollancz1" />

Within pictorial art, the Berne tapestry (copied from paintings by [[Rogier van der Weyden|Roger van der Wayden]] of the [[Brussels Town Hall]] in the mid-1400s, which were lost in the conflicts of the 1600s) and apparently repeated in the [[Cologne|Cologne Town Hall]] in the [[High Medieval]] period, provides a visual expression of the themes.<ref name="Gollancz1" /> 

The intention of this art was to remind judges to dispense impartial justice.

==Feast day and translation day==

[[File: St Alban's Abbey IMG 2742 (28883447381).jpg|thumb|right|Statue of Erkenwald at St Albans Cathedral]]

His [[feast day]] is 30 April, with successive [[translation (relic)|translation]]s (see below) being celebrated on 1 February, 13 May and 14 November.<ref name="ODS1752"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Erkenwald |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095756661 |access-date=2022-06-25 |website=Oxford Reference |language=en }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ridgway |first=Claire |title=14 November 1532 Archives - The Tudor Society |url=https://www.tudorsociety.com/tag/14-november-1532/ |access-date=2022-06-25 |website=www.tudorsociety.com |language=en-gb}}</ref> He is a [[patron saint]] of London.<ref>Farmer ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'' p. 494</ref>

Prior to the [[English Reformation|Reformation]], the anniversaries of his death as well as his translation were observed at St Paul's as feasts of the first class, by an ordinance of Bishop [[Robert Braybrooke|Braybroke]] in 1386.<ref name="catholic.org"/>

The following [[Antiphon]] and [[Collect]] for the Feast of St Erkenwald is recorded:

<blockquote>

"''De Sancto Erkenwaldo Episcopo. Antipho: O decus insigne, nostrum pastorumque benigne, O lux Londonie, pater Erkenwalde beate, Quem super astra Deum gaudes spectare per eum, Aspice letantes tua gaudia nos celebrantes, Et tecum vite fac participes sine fine. V. Ora pro nobis beate Erkenwalde. R. Ut digni efficiamur. "Oratio. Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, apud quem est continua semper Sanctorum festivitas Tuorum, presta, quesumus, ut qui memoriam beati Erkenwaldi pontificis agimus, ab hostium nostrorum eruamur nequitia: et ad eternorum nos provehi concedas premiorum beneficia. Per. Pater noster. Ave Ma"''

(Concerning Saint Erkenwald the Bishop.

Antiphon: O distinguished God, our kind shepherd, O light of London, blessed father Erkenwald, Whom above the stars you rejoice to behold God through him, Look upon us celebrating your joys, and live with you without end.

V. Pray for us blessed Erkenwald.

R. That we may become worthy.

Prayer. Almighty and everlasting God, with whom is the continual festival of Thy Saints, grant, we beseech, that we who commemorate the blessed high priest Erkenwald, may be delivered from the wickedness of our enemies: and grant us to advance to the eternal blessings of the first. Through [Jesus Christ]. Our Father. Ave Maria)<ref name="statutes1"/>
</blockquote>

==Relics and shrine==
The old St Paul's Cathedral's "greatest glory was the Shrine of St Erkenwald".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maclean |first=Margaret |title=The destruction of Old St Paul's |url=https://staffblogs.le.ac.uk/specialcollections/2016/09/01/the-destruction-of-old-st-pauls/ |access-date=2023-09-19 |language=en-US}}</ref> The shrine rivalled that of [[Edward the Confessor]] at [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Upon Paul's steeple . . . |url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2012/3-february/books-arts/book-reviews/upon-paul-s-steeple |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=www.churchtimes.co.uk}}</ref>[[File: Wenceslas Hollar - St Erkenwald (monument) (State 2).jpg|thumb|right|Shrine of St Erkenwald, relics removed 1550, lost as a monument in the Great Fire of London; engraving by [[Wenceslas Hollar]] (d. 1677)]]

It is said that on the death of St Erkenwald, there was a struggle between the canons of St Paul's and the monks of [[Chertsey]] as to who should bury him, during which the people of London brought his body to St Paul's. The people of London, bringing the body to the city, are supposed to have said:

 <blockquote>
"We are like strong and vigorous men who will... undermine and overturn cities heavily fortified with men and weapons before we give up the servant of God, our protector... we ourselves intend that such a glorious city and congregation shall be strengthened and honoured by such a patron."<ref name="ackroyd bio"/>
</blockquote>

On the journey to London with the body, the [[River Lea]] is said to have parted to make way for the dead saint.<ref name="togreat"/>

After a great fire in 1087 (one of several Erkenwald's relics are said to have survived){{clarify|date=September 2023}} the relics were put in a silver shrine.<ref name="ackroyd bio"/> This shrine was put in a new, vast crypt, specially built to hold the "valuable remains of St. Erkenwald" in the wider new building which was built to replace the lost St Paul's by Bishop Maurice.<ref name="togreat"/> The body was transferred to a shrine in the cathedral in 1140.<ref>Registrum S. Pauli (ed. W. St. Simpson), 11, 52, 81, 393–5; Newcourt, Repert. ii, 7</ref> In 1314, [[Gilbert Segrave|Bishop Gilbert de Segrave]] laid the first stone of a new shrine to which the relics of Erkenwald were translated twelve years later.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historyfish.net British Shrines, Wall, Chapter Four, part two |url=http://www.historyfish.net/shrines/cw_shrines_four2.html |access-date=2023-09-18 |website=www.historyfish.net}}</ref>

By accounts,{{clarify|date=September 2023}} the relics were sealed in a leaden casket fashioned in the form of "a gabled house or church".<ref name="ackroyd bio"/> By the time his relics were placed behind the high altar of St Paul's they were supposed to have been with the couch in which he was carried in his declining years, fragments of which were associated with miracles.<ref name="ackroyd bio"/> In the time of [[Bede]], it was recorded that miracles were effected by this couch.<ref name="Erkenwald">{{Cite web |title=Erkenwald |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095756661 |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=Oxford Reference |language=en }}</ref>

It is recorded that the servants of the church could only move the relics of St Erkenwald "clandestinely at night" because to do otherwise would have created hysteria among the crowds.<ref name="ackroyd bio"/>

[[File: The Curfew Tower of Barking Abbey - geograph.org.uk - 912683.jpg|thumb|right|The Curfew Tower of [[Barking Abbey]]. This was one of the three gateways to Barking Abbey, founded in 666 by Erkenwald, later Bishop of London.]]

The shrine was constantly enriched by canons and by the merchants of London, well into the 15th century, and miracles were reported at the site of the shrine into the 16th century.<ref name="Erkenwald"/> The citizens of London took special pride in the magnificent shrine, and had a special devotion to St Erkenwald.<ref name="catholic.org"/>

Amongst the Ashmole manuscripts in the [[Bodleian Library]] is the following entry in Ashmole's own hand that concerns work on the shrine in 1448:

<blockquote>
"''Pondus Cancelli ferrei ante Altare Sancti Erkenwaldi facti Ao Dni. 1448 per manus Stephani Clampard, fabri, sumptibus Decani et Capituli elevati ibidem vi. die Junii anno predicto, 3438 lb. precii cujuslibet lb. cum ferra 4d. Summa 641. 2s.''{{Fix|text=Suspect this is 64 ''l.'' 2''.s'', ie £64/2/0, but the sums still don't work.}}

''Expens. in ferro 3438 lb. precio cujuslibet vs. Summa	8 li. 16 s. 8 d.''

''Item in vasos ferri ixc precio ut supra. Summa	xlv s.''

''Item in Stannum ad dealban. Summa	viij. li.''

(The weight of the iron chancel in front of the Altar of St. Erkenwald made AD 1448 by the hands of Stephen Clampard, carpenter, at the expense of the Dean and Chapter raised there on 6 June of the aforesaid year, 3438 lb. the price of each lb. with iron 4d. Total 641. 2s.

Expense. in iron 3438 lb.{{dubious|date=September 2023}} price of each vs.{{clarify|date=September 2023}} Total £8 16s. 8d.

Also in vessels of iron at the same price as above. Total 45 shillings.

Also for tin for whitewash. The sum of £8<ref name="statutes1"/>

</blockquote>

[[Peter Ackroyd|Ackroyd]] notes<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Street in late medieval London- Trades and Noise {{!}} Carol McGrath Writer |url=https://carolcmcgrath.co.uk/the-street-in-late-medieval-london-trades-and-noise/ |access-date=2023-10-03 |website=carolcmcgrath.co.uk}}</ref> that:

<blockquote>"successful lawyers of London…on nomination as [[Serjeant-at-law|serjeants of law]], would walk in procession to St Paul’s in order to [[Veneration|venerate]] the physical presence of the saint."<ref>{{Cite web |title=London By Peter Ackroyd {{!}} Used {{!}} 9780099422587 {{!}} World of Books |url=https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/peter-ackroyd/london/9780099422587?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=18075688485&cq_con=&cq_med=pla&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&gclid=CjwKCAjw6p-oBhAYEiwAgg2PgoLusvcvHY0rR9XHDgppxAFnm-lmsr7phN9CSzrT9EzdvVfERO98ARoC0S8QAvD_BwE#GOR001391822 |access-date=2023-09-18 |website=www.wob.com}}</ref>
</blockquote>

[[File:Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536).jpg|thumb|Catherine of Aragon made an offering at St Erkenwald's shrine as an act of diplomacy ahead of her first marriage into the House of Tudor.]]

When [[Catherine of Aragon]] made her entry into London, two days before her marriage to [[Arthur, Prince of Wales|Prince Arthur]], heir to the throne, she visited St Paul's<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grose |first=Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WhtfAAAAcAAJ&dq=%22Erkenwald%22+%22pagent%22&pg=RA1-PA281 |title=The Antiquarian Repertory, a Miscellaneous Assemblage of Topography, History, Biography, Customs and Manners Intended to Illustrate and Preserve Several Valuable Remains of Old Times; Adorned with Numerous Views, Portraits, and Monuments; A New Edition with a Great Many Valuable Additions; In Four Volumes |date=1808 |publisher=Jeffery |language=en}}</ref> and made an offering there at the shrine of St Erkenwald.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Two days before the royal wedding, a medieval wedding story {{!}} History News Network |url=https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/136317 |access-date=2023-09-18 |website=historynewsnetwork.org}}</ref> The couple were married on St Erkenwald's Day, with the date likely selected to be in alignment with the saint's day.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tudor Times |url=https://tudortimes.co.uk/people/katharine-of-aragon-alhambra-to-the-fens |access-date=2023-09-20 |website=Tudor Times |language=en-gb}}</ref>

The St Paul's shrine had the relics removed during the [[English Reformation|Reformation]]; the empty shrine survived until the [[Great Fire of London]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=St.Paul's Cathedral in the early Middle Ages {{!}} The History of London |date=18 January 2015 |url=https://www.thehistoryoflondon.co.uk/st-pauls-cathedral-in-the-early-middle-ages/2/ |access-date=2023-09-18 |language=en-US}}</ref> In late 1549, at the height of the iconoclasm of the Reformation, [[Rowland Hill (MP)|Sir Rowland Hill]] altered the route of his Lord Mayor's day procession and said a [[Psalm 130|de profundis]] at the tomb of Erkenwald.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sharpe |first=Reginald R. (Reginald Robinson) |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19800 |title=London and the Kingdom - Volume 1A History Derived Mainly from the Archives at Guildhall in the Custody of the Corporation of the City of London. |date=2006-11-13 |language=English}}</ref>

There are differing accounts of what happened to his relics, with suggestions the relics were plundered<ref>{{Cite web |title=St Paul's Cathedral - Triforium Tour |url=https://programme.openhouse.org.uk/listings/1669 |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=programme.openhouse.org.uk}}</ref> or incinerated,<ref>{{Cite web |title=St Erkenwald, Light of London |url=https://englishlanguageandhistory.com/?id=erkenwald-london |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=englishlanguageandhistory.com}}</ref> or that he was reburied in St Paul's Cathedral at the east end of the choir,<ref name="catholic.org"/> or that they might have been "hidden to be recovered later".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Page 47 - AECA.org.uk ¦ Koinonia 63 |url=https://www.aeca.org.uk/koinonia/63/files/basic-html/page47.html |access-date=2023-09-18 |website=www.aeca.org.uk}}</ref>

One commentary on the location of his relics summarises the understanding of this point as follows: 
<blockquote>
"his relics were either destroyed or hidden in a secure place by the faithful from the bloodthirsty [[Iconoclasm|iconoclasts]]. There is a modern speculation that the relics... may still rest at the east end of the present Cathedral choir next to the east altar. Perhaps one day... will reveal the fate of this holy man’s bodily remains."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dmitry Lapa. Holy Hierarch Erconwald, Bishop of London |url=http://orthochristian.com/93295.html |access-date=2023-09-17 |website=OrthoChristian.Com}}</ref>
</blockquote>

One commentator has observed that "destruction of this major shrine, located behind the high altar, severed the last connection between St Paul’s and its Saxon predecessor ... (the precise whereabouts have yet to be discovered)."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schofield |first=John |title=St Paul's before Wren|journal=Current Archaeology |url=https://www.academia.edu/11402982}}</ref>

The burials of both Earconwald and [[Sæbbi of Essex|Sebbi]] quickly became the focus of saints’ cults and pilgrimages. This local mania for miracles and relics has been described as the first evidence that Londoners were becoming enthusiastic about Christianity and that newly returned religion had found its footing in the area.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

Erkenwald's grave was a popular place of pilgrimage{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}} up to the Reformation.<ref>Thornbury ''Old and New London: Volume 1'' p. 248</ref>

After the Great Fire of London, Christopher Wren made [[Archaeology|archaeological]] investigations into the ruins to St Paul's Cathedral looking for the Saxon building Erkenwald had had built.<ref name="togreat"/>

==State events==
So far back as 1431, the Masters of the [[Lincoln's Inn]] Bench restricted the number of annual revels to four: the feast of St Erkenwald, alongside the [[Purification of the Blessed Virgin|feast of the Purification of our Lady]]; [[Midsummer]] and [[Halloween]].<ref>"A BOOK ABOUT LAWYERS" BY JOHN CORDY JEAFFRESON</ref>

There were other examples of statecraft being associated with St Erkenwald in the Tudor period: in 1522, there was a state visit to London by [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]], [[Holy Roman Emperor]], hosted by [[Henry VIII]]. The entertainments included a pageant near [[Cheapside]], where [[Charlemagne]] greeted the two heads of state and gave them gifts; Erkenwald was incorporated into the performance, with [[St Dunstan]], [[Thomas Becket]], [[John the Baptist]], [[John of Gaunt]] all also featured.<ref>{{Cite thesis |title=From Court to Countryside: Aristocratic Women's Networks in Early Tudor England, 1509-1547 |publisher=Wesleyan University |first=Grace Catherine |last=Denton-Spalding|date=2015 |doi=10.14418/wes01.1.1187 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Henry VIII and [[Anne Boleyn]] are understood to have married on St Erkenwald's Day.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

==Memorialisation of St Erkenwald==
[[File:Battersea Millennium Cross 20200625 101621 (50043201896).jpg|thumb|373x373px|Cross in Battersea Park, erected to mark the year 2000. It stands on the site of a manor granted by King Caedwalla to St Erkenwald which is believed to have been the home of St Ethelburga.]]
[[File:St Erkenwald's Church, Barking - geograph.org.uk - 1210635.jpg|thumb|280px|[[St Erkenwald's Church, Barking]]]]
St Erkenwald has also been commemorated in the following ways:

* In the 1932 Barking Pageant<ref>{{Cite web |title=Valence House Museum |url=https://valencehousecollections.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Infosheet8BarkingPageant.doc&ved=2ahUKEwigqbn0kbqBAxX4_rsIHXoJCz4QFnoECCMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1QuR_fa3Tl0JfKgTOWhm7h |access-date=2023-09-20 |website=www.google.com}}</ref>
* in the Chapel of St Erkenwald and St Ethelburga at St Paul's Cathedral
* with a cross in [[Battersea Park]] erected in the year 2000, which was placed on the site of a manor granted to St Erkenwald by [[Cædwalla of Wessex|King Ceadwalla]], believed to the site of the home of St Æthelburg<ref>{{Cite web |title=Millennium Cross at Battersea manor |url=https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/millennium-cross-at-battersea-manor/ |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=London Remembers |language=en}}</ref>
* [[St Erkenwald's Church, Barking]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Church {{!}} St Erkenwald's church {{!}} Barking |url=https://www.sterkenwaldschurch.org/ |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=mysite |language=en}}</ref>
* St Erkenwald's Church, [[Southend-on-Sea]] (demolished)<ref>{{Cite web |title=St Erkenwald, Southend-on-Sea Church, Essex |url=https://www.essexchurches.info/church.aspx?p=Southend-on-Sea |access-date=2023-08-28 |website=www.essexchurches.info}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sir Walter Tapper & The Forgotten 'Cathedral' of Southend-on-Sea |url=https://www.sir-walter-tapper-churches.co.uk/ForgottenCathedral.asp |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=www.sir-walter-tapper-churches.co.uk}}</ref>
* St Erconwald's Catholic Church [[Walton-on-Thames]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=St Erconwald's Walton on Thames Home Page |url=https://www.sterconwalds.org.uk/ |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=St Erconwalds |language=en}}</ref> 
* St Erconwald's Roman Catholic Church, Wembley 
* St Paul's Cathedral holds a sung [[Eucharist]] for Erkenwald, conducted by the [[Bishop of London]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sung Eucharist for the Feast of Erkenwald, Bishop of London |url=https://www.stpauls.co.uk/whats-on/sung-eucharist-for-feast-of-erkenwald-bishop-of-london |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=St Paul's Cathedral |language=en}}</ref>
* Between 1931 and 1990 a senior school in Barking was called Erkenwald School.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Erkenwald School - GOV.UK |url=https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/126719 |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk |language=en}}</ref>  It is now a campus of Mayesbrook Park School. 
* In a statue in [[Wells Cathedral]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hope |first1=W. H. St John |last2=Lethaby |first2=W. R. |date=January 1904 |title=IX.—The Imagery and Sculptures on the West Front of Wells Cathedral Church |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/archaeologia/article/abs/ixthe-imagery-and-sculptures-on-the-west-front-of-wells-cathedral-church/26D160C9B27290F77876E8645AEB6AAC |journal=Archaeologia |language=en |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=143–206 |doi=10.1017/S026134090001153X |issn=2051-3186|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* In a window at [[St Albans Cathedral]]
* In an imaginatively-named Essex League [[Basketball]] team<ref>{{Cite web |title=September 2009 |url=https://tomhalltravel.com/2009/09/ |access-date=2023-10-03 |website=Tom Hall: travel, London, other things |language=en}}</ref>

==In contemporary culture==
In 1997 the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]] performed a play called ''Erkenwald''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Search {{!}} RSC Performances {{!}} SAI199707 - Saint Erkenwald {{!}} Shakespeare Birthplace Trust |url=https://collections.shakespeare.org.uk/search/rsc-performances/sai199707 |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=collections.shakespeare.org.uk}}</ref> in The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon.

Erkenwald is a supporting character in the [[Bernard Cornwell]] stories:

* ''[[The Saxon Stories]]'' novel series
* ''[[The Last Kingdom]]'' books

and in the associated 2018 [[The Last Kingdom (TV series)|television series]]. In that fictional world he is in service to [[Alfred the Great|King Alfred]].  The actor [[Kevin Eldon]] has portrayed him.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

The British children's writer [[Abi Elphinstone]] chose "Erkenwald" as the name of a mythical kingdom in her 2021 book ''Sky Song''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sky Song |url=https://www.abielphinstone.com/book/sky-song/ |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=Abi Elphinstone |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==Miracles==
[[File:Battersea Millennium Cross 20200625 101704 (50042641683).jpg|alt=carved stone plaque of grey stone|thumb|A 2000 stone plaque in London honouring St Erkenwald]]

There are 19 miracles associated with Erkenwald:<ref name="miracles"/>

* a boy, who took refuge from his angry school master at the tomb of St Erkenwald, received a message he had not known until then
* a man punished with sudden death for scorning the feast day of the saint 
* concerning a prisoner who was set free
* how, amid the great burning of the city and church the pall on his tomb survived unharmed 
* concerning the building of a more splendid church in London, and concerning the mobility impaired person, who after journeying to many tombs of famous saints throughout the world, obtained healing from St Erkenwald 
* concerning the man who prevented his wife from honouring the saint, his punishment, and the restoration of his health in accordance with the saint's instructions 
* how he demonstrated, with the wonderful largesse of his merciful acts, that he was pleased with the honour being shown to him
* concerning the blind girl whose sight was speedily restored 
* concerning the death of the drunken buffoon who got inside the shrine of St Erkenwald when it was under construction 
* concerning the doctor, healed of deadly sickness 
* concerning the blind woman who received her sight 
* concerning the man who was cured of his fever by the saint, who visited him in person
* how one of the saint's painters (from when his body was in the crypt) violated his festival, was punished, the saint himself appertaining to him and declaring the reason for the punishment 
* concerning the deformed nun who was visited by St Ethelburga and St Erkenwald and made whole and undeformed 
* concerning the deaf girl whose hearing was restored
* Other miracles associated with an invisible wheel and growing a construction beam are recorded.<ref>{{Cite web |title=53. SAINTS ERKENWALD, BISHOP OF LONDON, AND ETHELBURGA, ABBESS OF BARKING, A century of English sanctity - Vladimir Moss |url=https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/world/a-century-of-english-sanctity/53 |access-date=2023-09-18 |website=azbyka.ru |language=ru}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[St. Erkenwald (poem)]]
* [[Old St Paul's Cathedral]] 
* [[Bishop of London]] 
* [[Barking Abbey]] 
* [[Æthelburh of Barking|St Æthelburg]]
* [[Chertsey Abbey]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==Further reading==
* Pearl and St. Erkenwald: Some Evidence for Authorship C. J. Peterson The Review of English Studies. New Series, Vol. 25, No. 97 (Feb., 1974), pp.&nbsp;49–53
* BROWETT, R. (2017). Touching the Holy: The Rise of Contact Relics in Medieval England. The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 68(3), 493–509. doi:10.1017/S0022046916001494
* E. Gordon Whatley, 'The Saint of London: The Life and Miracles of St. Erkenwald'. 1989, Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies.
* Mary Boyle, 'Converting Corpses: The Religious Other in the Munich Oswald and St Erkenwald'. Merton College, Oxford University 
* OLD ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL By WILLIAM BENHAM, D.D., F.S.A.
* Hagiography into Art: A Study of "St. Erkenwald", T. McAlindon. Studies in Philology. Vol. 67, No. 4 (Oct., 1970), pp.&nbsp;472–494.
* Heathens and Saints: St. Erkenwald in Its Legendary Context, Gordon Whatley. Speculum Vol. 61, No. 2 (Apr., 1986), pp.&nbsp;330–363
* "New Werke": St. Erkenwald, St. Albans, and the medieval sense of the past. Monica Otta. 
* Saint Erkenwald: Bishop and London archaeologist, John Clark. Published 1980

==Citations==
{{Reflist|40em}}

==References==
* Andrew, Malcolm. "The Saint of London: The Life and Miracles of St. Erkenwald." Notes and Queries, vol. 41, no. 4, Dec. 1994, pp.&nbsp;541+.

{{refbegin|60em}}
* {{cite book| author=Farmer, David Hugh |title=Oxford Dictionary of Saints |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |edition=Fifth |location=Oxford, UK |isbn= 978-0-19-860949-0}}
* {{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }}
* {{cite book |author=Kirby, D. P. |title=The Earliest English Kings |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=2000 |isbn=0-415-24211-8 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Thornbury |first1=Walter |author-link1=George Walter Thornbury |year=1887 |title=Old and New London. Volume 1 |location=London |publisher=Cassell }}
* {{cite book |title= A New Dictionary of Saints: East and West |last=Walsh |first=Michael J. |year=2007 |publisher= Burns & Oats |location=London |isbn=978-0-86012-438-2 }}
* {{cite conference |author=Yorke, Barbara | author-link= Barbara Yorke |title=The Adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon Royal Courts to Christianity |conference=The Cross Goes North: Processes of Conversion in Northern Europe AD 300–1300 |publisher=Boydell Press |location=Woodbridge, UK |editor=Martin Carver |editor-link=Martin Carver |year=2003 |isbn=1-84383-125-2 |pages=244–257 }}
* {{cite book |author=Yorke, Barbara|author-link= Barbara Yorke |title=The Conversion of Britain: Religion, Politics and Society in Britain c. 600–800 |publisher=Pearson/Longman |location=London |year=2006 |isbn=0-582-77292-3 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{PASE|7933|Eorcenwald 1}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel| [[Christianity|Christian titles]]}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Wine (bishop)|Wine]]}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Bishop of London]] |years=675–693}}
{{s-aft| after=[[Waldhere (Bishop of London)|Waldhere]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Bishops of London}}
{{Anglo-Saxon saints}}
{{Authority control}}

{{Use British English|date=August 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}

{{Short description|7th-century Bishop of London and saint}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Earconwald}}
[[Category:630s births]]
[[Category:693 deaths]]
[[Category:Abbots of Chertsey]]
[[Category:Mercian saints]]
[[Category:Anglo-Saxon Benedictines]]
[[Category:Bishops of London]]
[[Category:7th-century English bishops]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:7th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:7th-century English writers]]
[[Category:Burials at St Paul's Cathedral]]
[[Category:7th-century Christian abbots]]