Sanctity in Tenth-Century Anglo-Latin Hagiography: Wulfstan of Winchester's Vita Sancti Æthelwoldi and Byrhtferth of Ramsey's Vita Sancti Oswaldi

This thesis examines central examples of sanctity in the hagiography of late tenth- and
early eleventh-century England in order to determine whether or not there are any
common themes to be found. It considers specific moments and examples from the
broad context of 'the Benedictine Reform' in order to investigate the ways in which
texts and ideas were manipulated or negotiated to promote particular political and
ecclesiastical interests. These include the influence of certain types of narrative, for
example, hagiography and other documentary sources such as charters, setting them
in the context of, and also interrogating them for what they can show us about, the
contemporary ideology.

The specific focal points of the study are encapsulated by the two main thesis
chapters, Winchester and Ramsey. The primary focus is on Æthelwold and Oswald,
and the contemporary hagiography associated with their cults: Wulfstan of
Winchester's Vita S. Æthelwoldi and Byrhtferth of Ramsey's Vita S. Oswaldi. In
addition, Dunstan and Edward the Martyr are examined, and Edmund of East Anglia
whose cult was promoted and received its first hagiography during this period. The
texts in question are closely examined in order to determine what other figures and
themes the saint in question is associated with and the ways that these associations
contributed to the characterisation of the saint and thereby to the construction of their
sanctity. It is evident that whilst the two primary texts under consideration - the Vita
S. Æthelwoldi by Wulfstan of Winchester and the Vita S. Oswaldi by Byrhtferth of
Ramsey - do have certain ideas in common, there are also significant contrasts
between the two, leading to the conclusion that Winchester and Ramsey valued
different qualities in the depiction of, and perhaps even qualifications for, sainthood,
and constructed the sanctity of their monastic patrons accordingly. The fundamental
basis for both Æthelwold's and Oswald's claim to sanctity is the same: it was their
roles as Benedictine monks and promoters of Benedictine monasticism which placed
them in the ranks of confessors, thereby qualifying them for sanctity.