Botolph of Thorney (also called Botolph, Botulph or Botulf; later known as Saint Botolph; died around 680) was an English

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. Th ...

and saint. He is regarded as the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholic Church, Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocacy, advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, ...

of boundaries, and by extension, of trade and travel, as well as various aspects of

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

. His feast day is celebrated either on 17 June (England) or 25 June (Scotland).

Life and works

Little is known about the life of Botolph, other than doubtful details in an account written four hundred years after his death by the 11th-century monk

Folcard Folcard or Foulcard (fl. 1066) was a Flemish hagiographer. 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. He ente ...

. Botolph was born sometime in the early seventh century to noble Saxon parents who were Christians. He and his brother Adulph were educated by

Saint Fursey Saint Fursey (also known as Fursa, Fursy, Forseus, and Furseus: died 650) was an Irish monk who did much to establish Christianity throughout the British Isles and particularly in East Anglia. He reportedly experienced angelic visions of the a ...

Cnobheresburg Cnobheresburg was a ''castrum'' in East Anglia, where in about 630 the first Irish monastery in southern England was founded by Saint Fursey, as part of the Hiberno-Scottish mission described by Bede. The Venerable Bede mentions Cnobheresburg in ...

monastery. They were then sent to study on the Continent, where they became Benedictines.Spencer-Thomas, Owen. "Botulph – East Anglian Saint", Diocese of Ely
/ref> Adulph remained abroad, where he is said to have become a Bishop. Botolph, returning to England, found favour with a certain "King of the southern Angles", whose sisters he had known in Germany, and was by him permitted to choose a tract of desolate land upon which to build a monastery. 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 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of A ...

'' records for the year 654: "The Middle Angles, under earldorman Peada, received the true faith. King Anna was killed and Botolph began to build the church at Ikanho".Thurston, Herbert. "St. Botulph." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 3 September 2022 Botolph founded the monastery of Icanho. Icanho, which means 'ox hill', has been identified as

Iken Iken is a small village and civil parish in the sandlands of the English county of Suffolk, an area formerly of heathland and sheep pasture. It is near the estuary of the River Alde on the North Sea coast and is located south east of Snape an ...

, located by the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

of the

River Alde The River Alde and River Ore form a river system in Suffolk, England passing by Snape and Aldeburgh. The River Alde and River Ore meet northwest of Blaxhall. From there downriver the combined river is known as the River Alde past Snape and A ...

in Suffolk; a church still remains on top of an isolated hill in the parish. At the time, the site was a tidal island all but surrounded by water, but Botolph attracted other monks and hermits and together they turned areas of marsh and scrub into productive grazing and farm land. The monks built several structures, and the monastery grew. Botolph also worked as an itinerant missionary in East Anglia, Kent and Sussex. The Life of St

Ceolfrith Saint Ceolfrid (or Ceolfrith, ; c. 642 – 716) was an Anglo-Saxon Christians, Christian abbot and saint. He is best known as the warden of Bede from the age of seven until his death in 716. He was the Abbot of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey, and a m ...

, written around the time of

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom ...

by an unknown author, mentions an abbot named Botolph in

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

, "a man of remarkable life and learning, full of the grace of the

Holy Spirit In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts ...

". Ceolfrith visited him about the year 670. Botolph is supposed to have been originally buried at his foundation of Icanho, but in 970

Edgar I of England Edgar ( ang, Ēadgār ; 8 July 975), known as the Peaceful or the Peaceable, was King of the English from 959 until his death in 975. The younger son of King Edmund I and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, he came to the throne as a teenager following ...

gave permission for the remains of Botolph to be transferred to

Burgh A burgh is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. ...

, near Woodbridge, to prevent them from being destroyed by invading Danes. They remained for some fifty years before being transferred to their own tomb at Bury St Edmunds Abbey on the instructions of

Cnut Cnut (; ang, Cnut cyning; non, Knútr inn ríki ; or , no, Knut den mektige, sv, Knut den Store. died 12 November 1035), also known as Cnut the Great and Canute, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway ...

. The saint's relics were later transferred again, along with those of his brother Adulph, to

Thorney Abbey Thorney Abbey, now the Church of St Mary and St Botolph, was a medieval monastic house established on the island of Thorney in The Fens of Cambridgeshire, England. History The earliest documentary sources refer to a mid-7th century hermita ...

, although his head was transferred to Ely Abbey and various body parts to other houses, including

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

Church dedications

Many English churches are dedicated to Botolph. According to the ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'', 64 ancient English churches were dedicated to him, but later research has suggested the true number may have been as high as 71, with a high concentration of dedications in East Anglia. St Botolph's Church in

Boston, Lincolnshire Boston is a market town and inland port in the borough of the same name in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Boston is north of London, north-east of Peterborough, east of Nottingham, south-east of Lincoln, south-southeast of Hull ...

, known locally as "The Stump", is one of the most famous. Boston, or 'Botolph's town' also gave

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

, Massachusetts its name.

St Botolph's Priory St. Botolph's Priory was a medieval house of Augustinian canons in Colchester, Essex, founded c. 1093. The priory had the distinction of being the first and leading Augustinian convent in England until its dissolution in 1536.Ashdown-Hill, Jo ...

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colc ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, the first Augustinian

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

in England, was built on an earlier Saxon church dedicated to Botolph. St Botolph's Church in

Hardham Hardham is a small village in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is on the A29 road southwest of Pulborough. It is in the civil parish of Coldwaltham. Archaeology The village is on the line of Stane Street Roman road, which ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an a ...

, houses some of the most ancient surviving wall paintings in Britain, including the earliest known depiction of

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

in England. In Botolph's role as a patron saint of travellers, four

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

churches were dedicated to him, all of which were close to gates in the City walls: St Botolph

Billingsgate Billingsgate is one of the 25 Wards of the City of London. This small City Ward is situated on the north bank of the River Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge in the south-east of the Square Mile. The modern Ward extends south to th ...

, which was destroyed in the Great Fire and never rebuilt;

St Botolph's, Aldersgate St Botolph without Aldersgate (also known as St Botolph's, Aldersgate) is a Church of England church in London dedicated to St Botolph. It was built just outside Aldersgate; one of the gates on London's wall in the City of London. The chur ...

St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate is a Church of England church in the Bishopsgate Without area of the City of London, and also, by virtue of lying outside the city's (now demolished) eastern walls, part of London's East End. Adjoining the build ...

, where the poet

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...

was

baptised Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

, and

St Botolph's Aldgate St Botolph's Aldgate is a Church of England parish church in the City of London and also, as it lies outside the line of the city's former eastern walls, a part of the East End of London. The full name of the church is St Botolph without Aldga ...

. It is believed that these dedications were made because the churches provided places for incoming travellers to give thanks for their safe arrival and for outgoing travellers to pray for a safe journey. An alternative possibility is that the churches were dedicated to the saint because his relics came through the four gates when Edgar moved them from Iken to Westminster Abbey. Beyond the North Sea,

Budolfi Church Budolfi Church (''Budolfi Kirke'') is the cathedral church for the Lutheran Diocese of Aalborg in north Jutland, Denmark. History Aalborg was already a town in the mid-10th century, with a fine position on the east-west Limfjord that served ...

(''Sankt Budolfi kirke'') in

Aalborg Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an urban population of 143,598 (1 July 2022). As of 1 July 2022, the Municipality of ...

, Denmark, originally a smallish building, grew to be the major church of the town by the late Middle Ages and is now the cathedral church of the diocese of Aalborg.

Secular connections

Botolph is remembered in the names of both the market town of

in the United Kingdom and

, Massachusetts, in the United States. Boston was originally ''Botolphston'' (from "Botolph's stone" or "Botolph's town"). In Boston, Massachusetts, Botolph gives his name to the St Botolph Club, a private club, a street in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, and the President's House at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifi ...

. There is also a St Botolph Street in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...

journal in the 1950s was called '' St Botolph's Review''. It was named for

St Botolph's Church, Cambridge St Botolph's Church, Cambridge is a Church of England parish church in the city of Cambridge, England. The church is a Grade I listed building. History The church is dedicated to Botolph, a seventh-century abbot in East Anglia, who is a patron s ...

as one of its founders, Lucas Myers, lived at the

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically o ...

of St Botolph's Church in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

. A second edition of the journal was published in 2006. "St Botolph's College" has been used as a hypothetical college in Cambridge University communications and

Tripos At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...

examinations. The parish of Buttsbury in

was initially called ''Botolfvespirie'',Eilert Ekwall. ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names''. 4th ed. meaning Botolph's Pear Tree. It is sometimes surmised that the name refers to a tree under which St Botolph preached.

Footnotes

References

Sources

* Attwater, D., ''The Penguin Dictionary of Saints'', London (1965) * Care Evans, A., ''The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial'', London (1986) * Ryan, George E., ''Botolph Of Boston'', Christopher Publishing House (1971) * Savage, A., ''The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles'', Godalming (1995)

External links

Church of St Botolph, Cambridge

Society of St Botolph
{{DEFAULTSORT:Botolph of Thorney 7th-century births 680 deaths 7th-century Christian saints Mercian saints East Anglian saints