Botwine (died 785 or 786) was a

Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

venerated at Ripon and

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

. He is well documented as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

, and latter

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of Ripon. The ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...

'' recension E, recorded his death in the 780s (probably for 786) in one of three Ripon abbatial obits derived from a chronicle of Northumbrian origin. Following the death of St Botwine in 786AD, his replacement, Ealdberht was elected and consecrated Abbot. Ealdberht died in 788AD, and was himself succeeded as Abbot by St. Sigered of Ripon. The late 10th- and early 11th-century writer Byrhtferth of Ramsey in his ''Vita sancti Oswaldi'' claimed that Oswald of Worcester,

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...

, discovered Botwine's relics at the monastery of Ripon. Oswald made a magnificent

reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', ''Chasse (casket), chasse'', or ''phylactery'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary, or the room in which one is stored, may also be called a ''feretory''. Relics may be the purported ...

in which he placed the relics of Botwine with Wilfrid, Tiatberht, Alberht, Sigered and Vilden. This account is described by historian

Michael Lapidge Michael Lapidge, FBA (born 8 February 1942) is a scholar in the field of Medieval Latin literature, particularly that composed in Anglo-Saxon England during the period 600–1100 AD; he is an emeritus Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, a Fellow ...

as "problematical" on other points. as it is known that in the 12th-century Peterborough Abbey also possessed some relics of Botwine.Blair, "Handlist", p. 518

Notes

References

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External links

* (Peterborough) and (Ripon) at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England {{authority control 780s deaths 8th-century Christian saints English abbots English Christian monks History of Peterborough History of Northumberland History of North Yorkshire Northumbrian saints Christianity in Cambridgeshire Religion in Northumberland Religion in North Yorkshire Year of birth unknown Burials at Peterborough Cathedral 8th-century Christian abbots