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Folcard or Foulcard () was a Flemish
hagiographer A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an wiktionary:adulatory, adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religi ...
.


Life

Folcard, a Fleming by birth, was a monk of St. Bertin's in Flanders (now Northern France), and is supposed to have come over to England in the reign of
Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...
. He entered the monastery of
Christ Church, Canterbury Canterbury Cathedral is the cathedral of the archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Located in Canterbury, Kent, it is one of the oldest Christianity, Ch ...
, and was renowned for his learning, and especially for his knowledge of grammar and music; his manners were affable and his temper cheerful. Soon after the
Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
the king set him over
Thorney Abbey Thorney Abbey, now the Church of St Mary and St Botolph, was a medieval English Benedictine Congregation, English Benedictine monastery at Thorney, Cambridgeshire, Thorney, Cambridgeshire in The Fens of Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom Histor ...
in
Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...
; but he was never strictly
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 ...
, for he did not receive the benediction. After holding the abbey about sixteen years Folcard retired, after a dispute with the
Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of Nort ...
,
Remigius de Fécamp Remigius de Fécamp (sometimes Remigius; died 7 May 1092) was an 11th century religious leader. He was a Benedictine monk who was a supporter of William the Conqueror and was appointed Bishop of Dorchester and Bishop of Lincoln. Early life ...
; and returned, as may be inferred from
Ordericus Vitalis Orderic Vitalis (; 16 February 1075 – ) was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England.Hollister ''Henry I'' p. 6 Working out of ...
, to his own country. Either while he was a monk at Canterbury, or during his residence at Thorney, which seems more probable, he and his monastery were in some trouble, and were helped by Aldred,
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 ...
, who persuaded the queen either of the Confessor or of the Conqueror to interest herself in their cause. In return Folcard wrote the ''Life of Archbishop John of Beverley'' for Aldred. Folcard is one of two writers proposed as the author of the ''
Vita Ædwardi Regis The ''Vita Ædwardi Regis qui apud Westmonasterium Requiescit'' () or simply ''Vita Ædwardi Regis'' is a Latin biography of King Edward the Confessor completed by an anonymous author 1067 and suspected of having been commissioned by Queen Edit ...
'', the life of
Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...
, commissioned by his wife
Edith Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning ''wiktionary:strife, strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English language, Englis ...
. The historian
Tom Licence Tom Oliver Licence FSA, FRHistS, is a British historian specialising in the period 950–1200, with an additional interest in Victorian consumer waste. He is Professor of Medieval History and Consumer Culture at the University of East Anglia and ...
defends Folcard's authoriship, but other scholars favour
Goscelin Goscelin of Saint-Bertin (or Goscelin of Canterbury, born c. 1040, died in or after 1106) was a Benedictine hagiographical writer. He was a Fleming or Brabantian by birth and became a monk of St Bertin's at Saint-Omer before travelling to Engla ...
.


Works

* ''Vita S. Bertini'' (
Saint Bertin Bertin (; 615 – ''c''. 709 AD), also known as Saint Bertin the Great, was the Frankish abbot of a monastery in Saint-Omer later named the Abbey of Saint Bertin after him. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Th ...
), dedicated to Bovo, abbot of St. Bertin's from 1043 to 1065, and printed in
Mabillon Dom Jean Mabillon , (; 23 November 1632 – 27 December 1707) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He is considered the founder of the disciplines of palaeography and diplomatics. Early life Mabillon w ...
's ''Acta SS. O. S. B''. III. ii. 104, and in
Migne Jacques Paul Migne (; 25 October 1800 – 24 October 1875) was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias, and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a ...
's ''Patrologia'', cxlvii. 1082. * ''Vita Audomari'' (
Saint Audomar Audomar (died 670), better known as Omer, was a bishop of Thérouanne, after whom nearby Saint-Omer in northern France was named. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Biography Audomar was born of a disti ...
), in Mabillon, ii. 557, and Migne. * A poem ''in honorem S. Vigoris Episcopi'' (
Saint Vigor Saint Vigor (; ) (died circa 537 AD) was a French bishop and Christians, Christian missionary. Life Born into the nobility in Artois, he studied at Arras under Saint Vedast. His father would not grant approval for him to become a priest, so he r ...
), written between 1045 and 1074, in Achery's ''Spicilegium'', iv. 576, and Migne. * ''Vita S. Oswaldi'' (
Oswald of Worcester Oswald of Worcester (died 29 February 992) was Archbishop of York from 972 to his death in 992. He was of Danish ancestry, but brought up by his uncle, Oda of Canterbury, who sent him to France to the abbey of Fleury to become a monk. After a ...
), in Mabillon, i. 727, the
Bollandists The Bollandist Society (; ) is an association of scholars, philologists, and historians (originally all Jesuits, but now including non-Jesuits) who since the early seventeenth century have studied hagiography and the cult of the saints in Christia ...
' ''
Acta Sanctorum ''Acta Sanctorum'' (''Acts of the Saints'') is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, organised by the saints' feast days. The project was conceived and ...
'', Capgrave, and Migne. * ''Responsoria for the Festival of St. John of Beverley'', composed before ''Vita S. Johannis Episcopi Eboracensis'', which was written before 1070, and is printed in the Bollandists' 'Acta SS.' May, ii. 165, Migne, and ''Historians of York'' (Rolls Ser.), i. 238. * ''Vita S. Botulfi'' (
Botwulf of Thorney Botolph of Thorney (; also called Botolph, Botulph or Botulf; later known as Saint Botolph; died ) was an English abbot and saint. He is regarded as the patron saint of boundaries, and by extension, of trade and travel, as well as various aspec ...
), suggested by the fact that the relics of the saint were at Thorney, dedicated to
Walkelin Walkelin () was the first Norman Bishop of Winchester. He began the construction of Winchester Cathedral in 1079 and had the Old Minster demolished. He reformed the cathedral's administration, although his plan to replace the monks with pr ...
,
Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' the offic ...
, and therefore written in or after 1070, in Mabillon, III. 1, the Bollandists' ''Acta SS''. June iv. 324, and Migne.


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Folcard Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 11th-century English writers 11th-century Christian monks Flemish priests Hagiographers English Christian monks 11th-century writers in Latin