St Edmund Patron Saint Of England

Description

A limited edition of 100 giclée prints (375 x 297mm) from the original 30″ x 24″ oil painting of St Edmund entitled ‘Shrine of the King, Cradle of the Law’ This portrait forms part of a new exhibition of 12 portraits under the theme of ‘Poets, Saints & Rebels’. The portraits are of a poet, a saint and a rebel of each of the four countries of Great Britain and Ireland.

Please contact me here for details of how to commission an original portrait or to express interest in this painting.

About St Edmund

St Edmund (841 – 20 November 869 AD) was born in Nuremburg, Germany. He is recognised as the martyred king of the East Angles. Edmund was elected king in 855 at the tender age of fourteen and began ruling Suffolk, England, the following year. In 869 or 870, the Danes invaded Edmund’s realm, and he was captured at Hone, Suffolk. After extreme torture, Edmund was beheaded and died calling upon Jesus. His shrine brought about the town of Bury St. Edmund’s.

Edmund is acknowledged as the original Patron Saint of England and many support his reinstatement as such. It’s important to note that it was only centuries later—during the Crusades—that St George replaced him. This was despite the fact that St George never set foot in the country.

It’s chronicled that Edmund was crowned King of East Anglia at Bures in Essex on Christmas Day 855. Unfortunately few historical facts about Edmund are known, the kingdom was devastated by the Vikings and contemporary evidence was destroyed. Coins minted by Edmund indicate that he succeeded Æthelweard of East Anglia.

Edmund’s martyrdom

Edmund died on 20 November 869, now marked as St Edmund’s Day. He had refused to give up his Christian faith. Consequently he was tied to a tree by the Danes and shot him full of arrows before being beheaded. Then in 903 his body was moved to the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Beodericsworth (later Bury St Edmunds).
The town of Bury St Edmunds’ motto is ‘Shrine of the King, Cradle of the Law’. Significantly, the motto refers to the historic links with King (St) Edmund when Henry I and the Barons created the Charter of Liberties in 1214—a forerunner of the Magna Carta.

The County flag of Suffolk is St Edmund’s flag. It is a banner of arms bearing a golden crown ‘pierced’ by two golden arrows against a blue background.

The site of Edmund’s martyrdom is claimed to be Hoxne. Following his death his body is said to have rested in the Greensted Church in 1013 whilst on its way to Beodericsworth.  The church—proper name the Church of St Andrew—is near Chipping Ongar in Essex. It is the oldest wooden church in England and features in this oil painting.

The shrine at the Abbey of St Edmund in Bury St Edmunds became one of the most famous and wealthy pilgrimage locations in England. For centuries the shrine was visited by various kings of England, many of whom gave generously to the abbey.

Edmund is the patron of Kings, pandemics, the Roman Catholic diocese of East Anglia, Douai Abbey, wolves, torture victims, protection from the plague.