AD 869–70
Lakenheath: St Edmund
In the winter of AD 869/70, King Edmund of the East Angles was killed by an invading pagan Danish army. He was soon after venerated as a martyred saint and his remains were buried in a monastery at Beadricesworth, which, by 1038, had been renamed Bury St Edmunds in his honour. Until the Reformation, his shrine was the major feature of the abbey.
This 14th-century wall painting of St Edmund can be seen in Lakenheath Church:
http://www.lakenheathwallpaintings.org.uk/
Further reading
Collected essays on the legend, coinage, abbey and body of St Edmund in the 'St Edmund Commemorative Issue 869-1969', Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History vol. XXXP pt 3, 1969.
Briggs, K., 'Was Hægelisdun in Essex? A new site for the martyrdom of Edmund', Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History, vol. XLII pt. 3, 2011, 277-291.
