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A Misplaced Miracle: the origins of St Modwynn of Burton and St Eadgyth of Polesworth

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Abstract

The twelfth-century Life of St Modwynn of Burton upon Trent (Staffordshire) includes an episode in which St Modwynn and St Eadgyth of Polesworth (Warwickshire) resurrect a nun named Osgyth who had drowned in a river. Current scholarly consensus locates the origins of this miracle with the cult of St Osgyth of Aylesbury (Buckinghamshire). This article seeks to restore the earliest written version of the miracle to St Modwynn, and goes on to consider the place of the miracle in the early medieval cults of St Modwynn and St Eadgyth. It is suggested that the miracle was first part of St Eadgyth’s cult, and that St Modwynn was intruded at some point in the eleventh century during the early development of the Benedictine monastery at Burton.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 8, 2015
Publication Date May 9, 2016
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Midland History
Print ISSN 0047-729X
Publisher Maney Publishing
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 41
Issue 1
Pages 1-19
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/0047729X.2016.1159851
Keywords Hagiography, St Modwynn of Burton, St Eadgyth of Polesworth, Anglo-Saxon minsters
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0047729X.2016.1159851

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