Event: Alms-giving, Culting/venerating saint(s), Imprisonment, Interrogation, Miracle, Persecution, Pilgrimage, PrayingSwithhun 5.post-mortem intercession for liberation of Anonymous 626
Scholarly Info
| Description |
Anonymous 626 (a poor wayfarer) approached Anonymi 1641 to beg them for a few sheaves with which he could feed himself and his family. Anonymi 1641 gave him some wheat but he was caught by the king's reeve (Anonymous 627) who questioned him as to how he had obtained the wheat. Anonymous 626 did not want to betray those who had been generous to him and therefore said nothing. Anonymous 627 was furious and had Anonymous 626 bound with shackles on each foot and detained him day and night under the watch of guards (Anonymi 1642). During one night of Anonymous 626's incarceration, he asked one of the guards (Anonymi 1642) for a small knife by which he might pick the dirt from his fingernails. When sleep had overcome Anonymi 1642, Anonymous 626 begged Swithhun 5 to help him escape so that he could avoid being tortured. Swithhun 5 enabled Anonymous 626 to cut through the hollow log which he was shackled to with the small knife and he also cut through the rigid metal. Anonymous 626 was astonished and Swithhun 5 helped him further by allowing him to pass through a door which had been locked shut by a rectangular bolt. Only when it became day again did the guards (Anonymi 1642) realise that Anonymous 626 had escaped and they were amazed. Anonymous 626 went to Winchester to give thanks to Swithhun 5 for so great a miracle. |
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Notes:
*As Lapidge notes (p. 519), this event is based on chapter 27 of Lantfred's 'Translatio et miracula S. Swithuni'.
*Lapidge (p. 519) says that Kingsclere was a royal estate which had belonged to King Alfred, since it is listed as one of the possessions bequeathed to his eldest daughter in his will. Modern Kingsclere is some 18 miles north of Winchester.
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