Swithun, St

Hayward, Paul Antony (2017) Swithun, St. In: Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain. Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Literature . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford. ISBN 9781118396988

Abstract

A product of the late tenth-century monastic reformation, the cult of St Swithun was developed for the purpose of validating the reform of the Old Minster, Winchester. Though it was re-worked many times, in no less than twelve hagiographical works, the core ideas of the saint’s legend can be traced to Lantfred’s Translatio et miracula sancti Swithuni, a work composed between 971 and 975.