Chad, fantasy and folklore

Summary.  The life of St Chad, as told by Bede, has been much embellished and exaggerated. Writers have wanted a saint to perform extraordinary feats.

     It was inevitable the saintly stories of Chad, the founder of the early church, would be embellished and made exceptional.

Fantasy

Chad retreated to a small oratory erected in a wood by a pool. One day a chased hart (adult male deer) drank at the pool and lay down exhausted. Chad in pity covered the hart with boughs. A boy arrived who was hunting the hart. Chad told the boy the hart had led him to the water-of-life and went on to teach him the truths of the Gospel. That evening he baptised the boy and the following morning gave him Communion. The boy was Wulfad, the son of King Wulfhere of Mercia. The boy fetched his brother, Rufin, to see Chad and he too was baptised. Both secretly visited Chad for some days, but their secret was discovered by Wulfhere’s steward called Werbod spying on them. Werbod had previously persuaded Wulfhere to revert from his Christian faith and become a pagan. He informed Wulfhere, who in a rage killed his sons with a sword at Chad’s oratory. This was said to be on July 24 c. 658, which has been kept as a commemoration for the martyred sons. This led to Werbod going mad and Wulfhere being inconsolable with grief. Erminilda, Wulfhere’s wife, suggested he should visit Chad and seek forgiveness and spiritual healing. In penitence he set himself to build the Christian faith in Mercia and to endow the monastery at Peterborough.

The story has been told by many writers, sometimes with added touches.[1] Perhaps, it has more to say about King Wulfhere than Chad, particularly on the choice of being Christian or pagan. It became the founding myth for Peterborough Cathedral and originated from monks and lines traced on a medieval window at the early Medehamstede Abbey. At Stone Priory, reputedly built by Erminilda, it is said the two murdered sons were buried. The Sacrist’s Roll[2] of the cathedral in 1345 listed a relic of Wulfhad.

 

Folklore and Fantasy

About ⅓ mile north-east of the cathedral is St Chad’s church near the edge of Stowe Pool. It is late 12th (1190?) or early 13th-century. The myth that Chad preached at the church dates to the 13th-century. To the west of the church is St Chad’s well and since the 16th-century is supposed to be where Chad would stand naked in the water for a long time with arms outstretched in prayer and contemplation.[3] Furthermore, this was the site Chad had his oratory mentioned by Bede. Stukeley, 1756, added this is where Chad’s assistant Owine heard the angels singing as Chad lay dying.[4] It has also been cited as the burial place for Chad. This is a confusion of the early layout of Lichfield with the area around the west end of Stowe pool and even the Cathedral Close both being called Stowe. Stone wrote, “There is a tradition that the site chosen for the first church was selected as having been the spot where a great martyrdom of Christians had taken place. This church probably, although this is not certain, occupied the site of that now dedicated to St Chad, at the upper end of the lake.[5] The location of the murdered sons of Wulfhere has been placed at Stowe and somehow this could have morphed into Stone, another location.                                                                               

 

Altar frontal at St Chad's church, Stowe, Lichfield and the well within the cemetery.

Invention

Some writers have imagined Chad knew King Wulfhere of Mercia before he was invited to be the fifth bishop of Mercia in 669. The presumption is that only this way could he have achieved his worthiness for coming to Lichfield (Licitfelda).[6] Bede stated Chad was a novice trained by Aiden at Lindisfarne. He says many went to Ireland for religious study or to live an ascetic life, c. 651.[7] One of these was Chad’s friend Egbert and Chad was with him.[8] Bede does not state when he returned and he is not mentioned again until c. 664.[9] Such a long stay in Ireland (13 years?) is odd, so the presumption was he returned to England in 653/4. Possibly, two years later in 656 he was consecrated a bishop (some writers assume this was Bishop of York, since that is where he was consecrated, but more likely he became Bishop of Northumbria).[10] Bede stated Chad then visited cities, country districts, towns, houses and strongholds on foot. Savage thought he visited Mercia. The proposition is credible, but does not fit with King Wulfhere wanting Bishop Wilfrid to help him and possibly be the fifth Bishop of Mercia. The early church of Mercia was Celtic in its rite of worship and Chad was appropriate, whereas Wulfhere wanted the Roman church and Wilfrid was appropriate. Only when Chad converted to the Roman church was he then a suitable candidate for the new bishopric. Alternatively, Wilfrid was senior to Chad so maybe Wulfhere wanted the more senior bishop for Mercia.

Adding stories to Chad’s history has a long tradition. Even Chad must have been subject to much folklore and pagan persuasions in his life. Aldhelm, bishop of Sherbourne, c. 639‑709, did his best to caution a student named Heahfrith against travelling to Ireland with its ‘honeycomb of doctrine’ and exposure to a surfeit of pagan mythology.[11] Aldfrith, king of Northumbria, 685‑705, wrote works in Irish, encouraged monks at Iona and presided over a time when Northumbrian culture increased, including when the Lindisfarne Gospels was produced. All suggests much fantasy and folklore from Gaelic sources were pervading early churches and influencing priests.

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[1] H. Bradshaw, The Holy Lyfe of Saynt Werburge (1513), Edition C. Horstmann (London: 1887), xi. W. Dugdale, ‘A history of the Abbies and other Monasteries’, Monasticon Anglicanum (London: 1817), Volume 1, 377. R. H. Warner, Life and legends of St Chad, (London and Cambridge:1871), 99–102. H. E. Savage. Dean’s address on St Chad’s Day 1926, 19–20 (deposited in Cathedral Library).. S. Zaluckyj, Mercia. The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of central England. (Logaston: 2001), 76.

[2] Also J. C. Cox and W. H. S. J. Hope, ‘Sacrist's Roll of Lichfield Cathedral A.D. 1345’, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal (1882), 4, 107–138.

[3] John Leland, vol.2, 99. See L. T. Smith, The Itinerary of John Leland. (Southern Illinois: 1964).

[4] W. Stukeley, Itinerarium Curiosum: or an account of the antiquities and remarkable curiosities in nature and art observed in travels through Great Britain, (London: 1776).

[5] J. B. Stone, A history of Lichfield Cathedral from its foundation to the present time. (London: 1870), 3.

[6] See note 1, H. E. Savage, (1926),1.

[7] Bede Historia Ecclesiastica, Book 3, 27. See J. McClure and R. Collins, Bede. The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, (Oxford: 2008), 161. Bede listed this work as Historiam ecclesiasticam nostræ insulæ ac gentis in libris V, which translates to The ecclesiastical history of our island and nation in five books.

[8] Ibid Book 4, 3. McClure and Collins, 178.

[9] Ibid Book 4, 3. McClure and Collins, 174.

[10] Ibid Book 3, 28. McClure and Collins, 164. He was reconsecrated a bishop in the Roman church in 664.

[11] C. Breay and J. Story, (eds.), Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms. Art, Word, War. (London: 2018), 42.