Bertelin
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Beorhthelm (also Bertelin, Bertram and Bettelin) was an Anglo-Saxon saint about whom the only evidence is legendary. He is said to have had a hermitage on the island of Bethnei, which later became the town of
Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...
. Later he went to a more hilly area, possibly near Ilam, where he died. Beorhthelm (Bertram) of Stafford is venerated as a saint in the
Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...
and
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, with a
feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...
on 10 August.


Name

Beorhthelm's name appears in a very wide range of spellings, partly reflecting
scribal error A typographical error (often shortened to typo), also called a misprint, is a mistake (such as a spelling or transposition error) made in the typing of printed or electronic material. Historically, this referred to mistakes in manual typesetting ...
, partly
folk-etymological Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...
identification with other names prominent in Christian tradition, such as ''
Bartholomew Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Most scholars today identify Bartholomew as Nathanael, who appears in the Gospel of John (1:45–51; cf. 21:2). New Testament references The name ''Bartholomew ...
''.Jane Crawford, 'St Bertellin of Stafford', ''The Downside Review'', vol. 86, issue 282 (January 1968), 56-67. Jane Crawford concluded that his name was either ''Bertelm'' or ''Bertelin''. More recently, John Blair has preferred the former option, using the standardised
Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
spelling ''Beorhthelm''. Nonetheless, some scholars stick with the spelling ''Bertellin'' this is used in the ''Life'' of this saint.


Early sources

An early-eleventh-century Anglo-Saxon litany mentions a
confessor In a number of Christian traditions, including Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism, a confessor is a priest who hears the confessions of penitents and pronounces absolution. History During the Diocletianic Persecut ...
as 'Sancte Byrhthelm', while a list of saints' resting-places put together by
Hugh Candidus Hugh Candidus (c. 1095 – c. 1160) was a monk of the Benedictine monastery at Peterborough, who wrote a Medieval Latin account of its history, from its foundation as Medeshamstede in the mid 7th century up to the mid 12th century. . ...
in
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 ...
in the twelfth century and is thought to have drawn on earlier sources places 'sanctus Berthelmus martyr' in 'Stefford'.Lindy Brady, 'An Analogue to ''Wulf and Eadwacer'' in the Life of St Bertellin of Stafford', ''The Review of English Studies'', vol. 67, issue 278 (February 2016), 1–20, . Several churches were dedicated to him in the Middle Ages, and Alan Thacker has argued that these dedications date back to the tenth century, though the evidence is only circumstantial.


Hagiography

The earliest account of Beorhtelm's life is a ''Vita Bertellini'', found in the '' Nova Legenda Angliae'' printed in 1516 by
Wynkyn de Worde Wynkyn de Worde (; died , London) was a printer and publisher in London known for his work with William Caxton, and is recognised as the first to popularise the products of the printing press in England. Name Wynkyn de Worde was a German immi ...
, but scholars agree that this is based on a lost manuscript and that the text as we have it originated around the twelfth century. Bertram is said to have lived some time in the eighth century. The son of a
Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...
n king, he was a friend and pupil of
Saint Guthlac Saint Guthlac of Crowland (; ; 674714AD) was a Christian hermit and saint from Lincolnshire in England. He is particularly venerated in the Fens of eastern England. Hagiography Early life Guthlac was the son of Penwalh or Penwald, a noble ...
. After Guthlac's death around 715, Beorthelm established a hermitage on the peninsula named Betheney. This account shows the conflation with the story of Beorhthelm with that of Beccel, a minor character in the ''
Vita sancti Guthlaci Saint Guthlac of Crowland (; ; 674714AD) was a Christian hermit and saint from Lincolnshire in England. He is particularly venerated in the Fens of eastern England. Hagiography Early life Guthlac was the son of Penwalh or Penwald, a noble ...
'' (added into the account of Bertram via a now-lost adaptation of the ''Vita'' composed by
Peter of Blois Peter of Blois (; French: ''Pierre de Blois''; ) was a French cleric, theologian, poet and diplomat. He is particularly noted for his corpus of Latin letters. Early life and education Peter of Blois was born about 1130. Earlier opinion tended t ...
in the twelfth century). Bertram is said to have converted many to
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
, and reputedly was able to work miraculous cures through his prayers. The ill-will of jealous detractors led him to relocate to Ilam, in
Dovedale Dovedale is a valley in the Peak District of England. The land is owned by the National Trust and attracts a million visitors annually. The valley was cut by the River Dove, Central England, River Dove and runs for just over between Milldale ...
,
Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...
, where he eventually died. The most unusual miracle in this ''vita'' is the following story (as translated by Lindy Brady):
Bertellin, of pious, royal, and English descent, noble in lineage and appearance, even nobler in his orthodox faith, not wanting to stain his life with the wantonness of his father, he crossed the sea. And after he had stayed with a certain Irish king, he earned the favour of his affection more than any other man. But since for the sake of greater future penance, our Father—you who are in heaven—sometimes does not prevent some men from sinning, Bertellin was pierced by love for the king’s daughter, and he carried her off into a part of England since she was pregnant. (I mention this so that sinners will be familiar with the cause of his miraculous penance.) When they were hiding in the thick woods, as you might expect, behold! the time for giving birth appeared, then the end to the pain, and a river of grief followed for them. Oh, how mournful is childbirth! When Bertellin was seeking out the necessary aid of a midwife, the woman, together with her newborn, died in the teeth of wolves.)
This scene is thought to be depicted on the medieval
fonts In movable type, metal typesetting, a font is a particular #Characteristics, size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) inclu ...
of the Church of the Holy Cross in
Ilam, Staffordshire Ilam () is a village in the Staffordshire Peak District of England, lying on the River Manifold. The population of the civil parish as taken at the 2011 census was 402. Ilam village Ilam is best known as the location of the neo-Gothic Ila ...
, and of
Tissington Tissington is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Tissington and Lea Hall, in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England. In 2001 the parish had a population of 158. The population "Tissington and Lea Hall" at the 20 ...
church.


Veneration

His
shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...
is in the Church of the Holy Cross, Ilam, and became a point of
pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...
in the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
. He is the
patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...
of Stafford. There are some remains of the medieval shrine of St Beorhthelm near the west end of St Mary's Collegiate Church in Stafford. The priory of Augustinian canons founded in 1115 on the south bank of the
River Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ...
at
Runcorn, Cheshire Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...
, initially dedicated to Beorhthelm, was adopted from the dedication to him of a Saxon church already existing on the site. This priory was the predecessor of
Norton Priory Norton Priory is a historic site in Norton, Runcorn, Cheshire, England, comprising the remains of an abbey complex dating from the 12th to 16th centuries, and an 18th-century country house; it is now a museum. The remains are a scheduled ...
. In
Barthomley Barthomley is a village and ancient parish, and is now a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 and the 2011 census' the parish had a population of 202.
, now in Cheshire, there stands the only church dedicated to the saint,
St Bertoline's Church, Barthomley St Bertoline's Church is in the village of Barthomley, Cheshire, England. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Ch ...
.


Identity with St Bertelme of Fécamp

Some modern sources speak of a St Bertelme of Fécamp, understood to be a different saint from St Beorhthelm. Lindy Brady, however, has shown that this figure is in fact St Beorhthelm himself, who was duplicated by scholarly confusion over the spelling of his name.


Sources

* Bowkett, L.C. (1986) ''The Stafford Hinterland – An archaeological review from the Roman Invasion to circa 850 AD''


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beorhthelm Mercian saints