He was killed with an arrow by Vikings from the Great Heathen Army in 869. He was trying to convert them to Christianity, and they were trying to do the opposite. So, fed up, they tied him to a tree, shot him full of arrows and then beheaded him.
Afterwards, the English set up a search party to find their King. As they passed nearby, his head shouted ‘Here! Here! Here!’ So they were able to retrieve his head. His remains were eventually taken to Bury which was renamed Bury St Edmunds. It became one of the most famous places of pilgrimage in England.
As a Royal martyr he was, with St Edward the Confessor, the saint of the monarchy. Being Kings themselves, they could explain to St Peter how difficult it was to be a King. Kings, they would explain, have to undertake actions which might be strictly against the Ten Commandments. King Edmund and King Edward could thus speed the King through to heaven from purgatory.
To hear about life after a beheading please read my post on St Winifred and her head.
St Edmund, King & Martyr Church
The City of London has a church dedicated to St Edmund, King, and Martyr. It is in Lombard Street, coincidentally, right above the South West corner of the Roman Forum. St Peter’s (29) top right corner is above the NE corner of the Forum, and St Michael’s which I think is no 27, above the North West corner. It is entirely possible their positioning original owed something to the masonry of the original Roman building. (click here to read my post about St Lucius and St Peter’s Church.)
St Edmunds is first mentioned in 1292, and rebuilt by Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London. It was hit by bombs dropped from a German Gotha bombing on On 7 July 1917. It was also damaged in World War 2.
November 20th the day to Grow Garlic
Set garlic and beans, at St Edmund the King
Quoted in Perpetual Almanac of Folklore Charles Kightly
The moon in the wane, therefore hangeth a thing.
Garlic is either a wondrous ‘healall’ for the rustics as Galen said. Or a foul herb detested by right-thinking people, (such as Horace and Shakespeare; ‘The breath of Garlic-eaters’ Coriolanus). In 1916, the British Government called for as much Garlic as could be produced at a good price for use as antiseptic for wounds. (Mrs Grieve’ A Modern Herbal’).
Garlic ….. mingled with soft cheese ‘stauncheth’ the falling down of humours called catarrh and so is good against hoarseness’.
William Turner Herbal 1568
On this Day
1917 Tanks were used effectively for the first time in warfare at the Battle of Cambrai. For more on Cambrai read my post here🙂
1947 Princess Elizabeth married her distant cousin Philip Mountbatten (He was created the Duke of Edinburgh on the evening before the wedding) Philip was renowned for his gaffes: ‘Do you still throw spears at each other?‘ he said to native Australians. And of himself he said: As so often happens, I discovered that it would have been better to keep my mouth shut.’ For more of Philip’s gaffes please look at The BBC’s page here.
1945 The Nuremberg Trials began. (Fascinating new film called Nuremberg currently showing! I ‘can recommend it. And it has clear lessons for future generations in how to deal with totalitarian evil).
2024 the Cambridge Dictionary announced that ‘manifest’ was the word of the year. The reason is that the word has been used in a very different way, and acquired a whole new definition and receiving many more mentions on the internet.
The new definition of the word is:
“To manifest” in the sense of “to imagine achieving something you want, in the belief doing so will make it more likely to happen”.
As in:
I’m manifesting my belief that this blog will go viral next year with the help of all my loyal readers who will recommend it to all their friends and, particularly, their acquaintances, and social media contacts!
For more information on the word of the year, have a look at this page on the BBC.
2025 This year the Cambridge Dictionary word of the year is ‘Parasocial’. They define it as:
‘involving or relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, TV series, etc, or an artificial intelligence’.
First Published Nov 20th 2022. Republished Nov 20th 2023, 2024,2025