The Story of Saint Kenelm
The Story of Saint Kenelm is a legendary account centered on St. Kenelm, a boy-king and the son of King Coenwulf of Mercia, who is believed to have been murdered at the age of nine by his sister Quendreda's lover. The narrative unfolds in the forests of Worcestershire, where Kenelm is killed at the behest of his sister, who covets the throne. Following his death, a white dove, said to embody Kenelm's soul, miraculously delivers a message of his murder to Rome, prompting a search for his remains. The discovery of his body leads to the establishment of a chapel at the site, marked by miraculous events, including the ringing of church bells and the emergence of a healing spring.
Historically, the account draws from twelfth-century manuscripts and reflects the cultural significance of St. Kenelm, who became a venerated figure in England, particularly in Worcestershire. His story intertwines with themes of innocence, betrayal, and divine intervention, with elements that suggest a blend of historical fact and legend, as scholarly debate continues regarding the authenticity of the tale. Today, the site of St. Kenelm's supposed martyrdom still honors his memory through annual feasts and local traditions, although his widespread following has diminished since the Reformation.
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The Story of Saint Kenelm
Author: Traditional
Time Period: 1001 CE–1500 CE
Country or Culture: England
Genre: Legend
PLOT SUMMARY
“The Story of Saint Kenelm” tells of the boy-king St. Kenelm (or Cynhelm), the son of King Coenwulf (Kenulf) and rightful ruler of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia in what is now the West Midlands of England. According to the legend, the lover of St. Kenelm’s ambitious sister Quendreda (Quendryth or Kendrida) murders Kenelm at her request when the boy is only nine years old. In the woods near the Clent Hills, the lover cuts off the boy’s head with a long knife and then buries the head along with the body and knife under a bush in the forest. St. Kenelm has hardly been buried when, a thousand miles away, a white dove flies into St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The dove carries a scroll in its bill and presents it on the high altar. The scroll tells of St. Kenelm’s murder and the body’s location.
The pontiff tells the churchmen of Mercia about the message and instructs them to make a thorough search for the prince’s body. Everyone from priests to the bishop of Mercia look diligently around the forest for the slain boy. Eventually, the search party comes across a cow mournfully standing near a patch of freshly turned sod. There, they dig and find the body of the murdered prince. When they lift the body, the bells of the neighboring churches begin ringing and a spring of water flows out from the excavated ground. Shortly after, the Chapel of St. Kenelm at Romsley is built beside the spring. On the doors of the chapel are carvings of a childlike figure wearing a crown and holding a book.
SIGNIFICANCE
“The Story of Saint Kenelm” concerns the legend of the murdered boy-king and the land where his body was allegedly found. The account of St. Kenelm come primarily from a twelfth-century manuscript found at Winchcombe Abbey, claiming to be based on the accounts of a Worcester monk. According to that manuscript, King Coenwulf of Mercia died in 819 CE and was survived by two daughters and a seven-year-old son named Kenelm. The boy was chosen to succeed his father, which made the daughter Quendreda envious. She plotted with her lover, Askeberd (Askobert), who was also Kenelm’s tutor and guardian, to kill her brother so she could become queen. While on a hunting trip in the forests of Worcestershire, Quendreda and Askeberd saw their opportunity when Kenelm rested beneath a tree. Askeberd dug a grave in preparation before assassinating the young boy.
Several fantastical elements surround the hagiography of St. Kenelm. The manuscript states that the night before the ill-fated hunting expedition, Kenelm has an ominous dream in which he climbs and sits atop a large tree from which he can see his whole realm. Three corners of the kingdom bow to him, but the fourth chops the tree down. Kenelm turns into a white bird and flies away. Before Askeberd can kill the sleeping prince, the legend states that Kenelm awakes and thrusts a stick into the ground, which later flowers and grows into a large ash tree, known as St. Kenelm’s Ash. Another part of the legend states that when Askeberd cuts Kenelm’s head off, Kenelm’s soul transforms into the white dove that carries the scroll to St. Peter’s Basilica. In some accounts, the boy martyr dies singing the hymn “Te Deum.” Later versions of the legend also relate that the cow that found Kenelm’s body produces double the usual milk, and the grass she eats replenishes itself nightly. Others recount that Quendreda’s eyes fall out as the bells ring for her brother’s passing, and she dies a terrible death.
This legend seems to bear little resemblance to the facts known about the real Kenelm. Kenelm in fact signed several of his father’s charters between 798 and 811 CE and owned land in Glastonbury, and some scholars believe that he died fighting the Welsh in 812. All of this would indicate that Kenelm would not have been a child at the time of his death. Local historians even argue that there were two Kenelms: the older may have been the one who died in battle, and the younger is believed to have been the son of his distant cousin and successor, Coenwulf of Mercia. Many believe that the younger was in fact the Kenelm who was canonized. Historical records also show that at the time of the king’s death, Kenelm’s sister Quendreda had already become an abbess.
The site of St. Kenelm’s supposed murder became the location of the annual St. Kenelm’s feast, held on July 17, and over time a hamlet grew around it, populated mainly with pilgrims. During the reign of King Edward I, folklorist Hugh Miller recounts, the hamlet’s population grew numerous and the chapel received many gifts of silver and gold. Pilgrimages to the location were frequent, and many travelers drank from the spring’s sacred water to cure their ills.
In holy art, St. Kenelm is sometimes depicted as a boy in royal robes holding a lily or as a young boy with a crown and a holy book. During the Middle Ages, he was a highly venerated saint throughout England, but in contemporary times, his following is essentially found in Worcestershire. When King Henry VIII initiated the age of Reformation, he seized Winchcombe Abbey, and gradually the hamlet dissolved. According to Miller’s account, Bishop Latimer broke down the well and pilgrimages to the location ceased, but the annual feast ran until 1784. In 1815, the foundations of an ancient monastery in Winchcombe were excavated. It was there that the body of St. Kenelm was said to be interred near his father. They found a small stone coffin beside a larger one, and inside were bone fragments, a half-grown human skull, and a long-bladed knife.
In literature, the prophetic dream and death of St. Kenelm are referenced in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale.” English poet Francis Brett Young penned the long-form poem “The Ballad of St. Kenelm, AD 821,” published in his 1944 collection The Island.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chambers, Roger. The Story of St. Kenelm: Prince, King, and Martyr. Cornwall: Exposure, 2007. Print.
De Voragine, Jacobus. “The Life of S. Kenelm.” The Golden Legend. Vol. 4. Trans. William Caxton. Ed. F. S. Ellis. London: Dent, 1900. 60–66. Print.
Hartland, Edwin Sidney. “The Legend of St. Kenelm.” Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society. U of California, Berkeley, 18 Mar. 2010. Web. 17 June 2013.
Love, Rosalind C., trans. Three Eleventh-Century Anglo-Latin Saints’ Lives: Vita S. Birini, Vite et Miracula S. Kenelmi, Vita S. Rumwoldi. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1996. Print.
Miller, Hugh. “The Story of Saint Kenelm.” English Fairy and Other Folk Tales. Ed. Edwin Sidney Hartland. London: Scott, 1890. Print.
Price, John. St. Kenelm’s Trail. Waltham Cross: John Merrill Foundation, 2008. Print.
Smith, Mike, and David Taylor. “The Crown and the Well: The Divine King and the Re-Discovery of a ‘Lost’ Well.” At the Edge. IndigoGroup.co.uk, 2001. Web. 16 July 2013.