Indract of Glastonbury
Indract | |
---|---|
Confessor and martyr | |
Born | unknown Ireland |
Died | unknown, but traditionally either Dissolution of the Monasteries , 1539 |
Indract or Indracht was an Irish
The cult seems to date from the late 10th or early 11th century, though this is uncertain. There is one main extant account, the anonymous 12th century Passio sancti Indracti. An earlier text written in
Early evidence
The body of Indract supposedly lay in a stone shrine, with
There is however a strong similarity between the story of the Glastonbury Indract and that of a 9th-century
There is no evidence however that Indract's cult existed at Glastonbury before the 11th century.
Passio sancti Indracti
His story in its earliest form is told in the 12th century Passio sancti Indracti or "Passion of St Indract" (Oxford Bodleian Library MS Digby 112).[9] The Passio's anonymous author claims that he used an earlier life in Old English as his source.[11] This earlier work has not survived.[11]
According to the Passio, Indract was a deacon and the son of an Irish king.[12] He and his nine companions had gone to Rome on pilgrimage and on their return journey they decided to visit Glastonbury and the shrine of St Patrick there, staying for a night at a place called Huish Episcopi (Hywisc).[12] As it happened, the ruler of the region, King Ine, was staying nearby at South Petherton (Pedred).[12] A king's thegn named Husa, with some followers, attacked and killed the Irish pilgrims, believing they possessed gold.[12] After a posthumous miracle, King Ine had the bodies of most of the martyrs buried in the church of St Mary.[12] The body of one companion is said not to have been found, but on their feast day, 8 May, a column of light is said to emanate from his place of burial.[12] The text proceeds to recount some more posthumous miracles, including a vision by Guthlac of Glastonbury, a future abbot of Glastonbury.[12]
William of Malmesbury
The 16th century antiquarian
Indract is however mentioned by William of Malmesbury in three surviving works.[16] Notable "discrepancies" [Lapidge] between the Passio and William's assertions in these works include his failure to associate Indract with Abbot Guthlac (despite making mention of this abbot in other contexts), failure to name the location of the martyring, and giving the number of Indract's companions as seven.[17] Historian Michael Lapidge believed that the source for William of Malmesbury's work was Old English text, and that differences between the Passio and William of Malmesbury can be accounted for by embellishments added by the Passio author.[18]
Later evidence
John Seen of Glastonbury, writing around 1342, is the next important source of information about Indract and his cult.[19] He repeats more or less the same story as the Passio, but his account differs in various details.[19] The martyrdom takes place at Shapwick (Schapwik), not Huish Episcopi (Hywisc), and he follows William of Malmesbury in giving the number of companions as seven.[19] Michael Lapidge suggested, on the basis of similarities with William of Malmesbury, that John Seen had probably consulted William's lost work.[19]
The
The chronicler William Worcester, writing in 1478, claimed that Indract and his companions lay at Shepton Mallet, five miles from Glastonbury.[22] This may be a misunderstanding, perhaps based on a commemoration stone at Shapwick, which William has confused with Shepton.[23] Indract's relics are listed in two 14th century Glastonbury lists of relics (BL Cotton Titus D vii fols. 2r–13v and Cambridge Trinity College MS R.5.33 (724) fols. 104r–105v).[23]
As an indication of the local nature of his cult, his name occurs in only one English calendar of saints, a 15th-century manuscript probably written at Glastonbury (Up Holland College, MS 98). There is a small modern chapel dedicated to St Indract at Halton Quay near St Dominic.
Notes
- ^ Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", p. 419
- ^ Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", p. 427
- ^ Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", pp. 427–32
- ^ Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", p 431
- ^ Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", p. 433
- ^ Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", pp. 431–32
- ^ Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", pp. 423–24
- ^ Blair, "Handlist", p. 540; Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", pp. 423–24
- ^ a b Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", p. 424
- ^ Blair, "Handlist", p. 540
- ^ a b Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", p. 425
- ^ a b c d e f g Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", p. 423
- ^ Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", pp. 434–35
- ^ Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", p. 434
- ^ Winterbottom and Thomson, William of Malmesbury, pp. 310–12
- ^ Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", p. 435
- ^ Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", pp. 435–36
- ^ Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", pp. 436–37
- ^ a b c d Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", p. 436
- ^ a b c Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", p. 437
- ^ Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", pp. 437–38; see additional note in Lapidge, Anglo-Latin Literature, p. 491, n. for p. 437, where historian Oliver Padel is referenced as arguing that Tamerunta was a mistake for Tamertuna, i.e. Tamerton, of which there are three
- ^ Blair, "Handlist", p. 540; Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", p. 438
- ^ a b c Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", p. 438
- ^ Blair, "Handlist", p. 40; Lapidge, "Cult of St Indract", p. 437, n. 96
- ^ Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; p. 86
References
- Blair, John (2002), "A Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Saints", in Thacker, Alan; ISBN 0-19-820394-2
- Lapidge, Michael (1993), "The Cult of St Indract at Glastonbury", in Lapidge, Michael (ed.), Anglo-Latin Literature, 900–1066, London: The Hambledon Press, pp. 419–52, ISBN 0-521-23547-2
- Winterbottom, M.; Thomson, R. M., eds. (2002), William of Malmesbury. Saints' Lives: Lives of SS. Wulfstan, Dunstan, Patrick, Benignus and Indract, Oxford Medieval Texts, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN 0-19-820709-3