Today it’s believed that St George is the Patrol Saint of England, and his flag is associated
with the country and its various sporting teams.
However, St George was not the first saint of England, and the man who was was St Edmund,
also known as Edmund the Martyr who was the King of East Anglia in the 9th century.
However he was made a martyr following a brutal execution at the hands of the Vikings.
So join us today as we look at ’The BRUTAL Execution of King Edmund, the Martyr of East
Anglia.’
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Edmund was born in 841, and there are differing stories as to who his father was.
It’s believed he descended from the kings of East Anglia, and when King Ethelweld died
in 854, Edmund aged around 14 years old succeeded onto the throne.
Very little is known about his early life and reign, mostly due to the fact that the
Vikings when they devastated East Anglia destroyed all of the charters that talked about Edmund,
and documented his life and what he did.
It was thought that he was a good king, and was a model ruler.
It has been said that he treated all of his people with equality and equal justice, and
that he was strong willed.
It’s believed that he spent a year living in the coastal settlement of Hunstanton, and
here he was devoted to his religion.
It was against the Vikings that his downfall came.
In the year 793, the Viking’s raided Lindisfarne, and pillaged the monastery there.
They devastated the monastic community there, burning down the abbey and massacring the
monks who lived there, stealing all the wealth.
The raids on isolated monastic communities continued, but in 844 there was a significant
large scale attack that took place in England.
The Viking’s began to settle over winter in England, and a larger force appeared in
England around the year 865.
This saw a huge invasion force hit the country, and specifically they landed off the east
coat of England.
The Viking’s spent their first winter in East Anglia before moving on and heading north
to Northumbria the following year.
It’s believed that Edmund fought alongside King Alfred of Wessex against the Viking and
Norse invaders, until 869.
It was said in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle that, ‘here the Heather army rode across Mercia
into East Anglia, and took winter-quarters at Thetford, and that winter king Edmund fought
against them.’
It was said that during the battle against the Vikings, ‘the Danish took the victory,
and killed the King and conquered all that land.’
It’s believed that against the Vikings, King Edmund was killed by the invaders, but
the circumstances of his death are said to have been particularly brutal.
Edmund was told to renounce his christian faith, and he refused to do so, and allegedly
he was then executed in terrifying fashion.
It was said in a 10th century account, that Edmund the King of East Anglia was tied to
a tree by the Vikings.
He had been beaten badly, and he cried out for Christ, however whilst tied to the tree,
the Vikings fired many different arrows to the King, peppering his body with arrows from
bows.
This almost killed him, and after this he was then cut away from the ropes and was then
beheaded by the Danes.
Another account says how, ‘King Edmund, against whom Ivar advanced, stood inside his
hall, and mindful of the Saviour, threw out his weapons.
The impious one then bound Edmund and insulted him, and beat him with rods, and afterwards
led the devout king to a firm living tree, and tied him there with strong bonds, and
beat him with whips.
In between the whip lashes, Edmund called out with true belief in the Saviour Christ.
Because of his belief, because he called to Christ to aid him, the heathens became furiously
angry.
They then shot spears at him, as if it was a game, until he was entirely covered with
their missiles, like the bristles of a hedgehog (just like St Sebastian was).
When Ivar the impious pirate saw that the noble king would not forsake Christ, but with
resolute faith called after Him, he ordered Edmund beheaded, and the heathens did so.
While Edmund still called out to Christ, the heathen dragged the holy man to his death,
and with one stroke struck off his head, and his soul journeyed happily to Christ."
The Vikings after conquering East Anglia and killing the King then went on to invade Wessex.
Edmund was then buried in a wooden chapel near to where he was killed, and during the
reign of Aethelstan his body was moved to modern day Bury St Edmunds.
A stone Abbey was built on the site that became a site of pilgrimage, and a cult around St
Edmund grew throughout the Medieval period.
His shrine became a site of great wealth, but it was destroyed during the Dissolution
of the Monasteries in 1539 and the English Reformation.
The shrine was defaced, and silver and gold work over 5000 marks was stolen and taken,
with the abbots and monks of the abbey thrown out.
Edmund the Martyr’s death and execution is a brutal part of history that is rather
forgotten.
He was a King of East Anglia, and was considered a patrol saint of England.
He’s believed to have been a good king, and a devoted one to his religion, however
he met his end in a very brutal and bloody manner being shot with arrows by the Vikings
before being beheaded.
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