Anglo-Saxon Saints and Relics at the Post-Conquest Monastery of Whitby

Abstract

This article analyses the importance of saints associated with the Anglo-Saxon period monastery at Whitby for the identity and status of the later Benedictine abbey there. Using a wide range of documentary, architectural, artefactual, archaeological, and liturgical evidence, it is argued that the monks used the relics and cults of Anglo-Saxon saints, especially Hilda and Begu, to confer legitimacy upon and identity to their abbey. Appendices provide a translation of and a synthesis of the main liturgical sources.