Many English saints were commemorated in Scandinavia, but one – St Botulph from East Anglia – stands out. He survives in the liturgy and dedications of three countries, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and during the Middle Ages was as well known there as in his homeland. Even after the reformation Botulph remained in the Scandinavian folk memory. In this chapter I summarise the evidence and ask what was significant about this link with England for the conversion period further north (see also Lager, Chapter 31 in this volume).

Botulph appears in history as the founder of a monastery in East Anglia in AD 654, at Icanhoe, now generally agreed as identifiable with Iken near Aldeburgh in Suffolk. Recent archaeological work there has suggested a seventh century use of the site, and part of a late ninth/early tenth-century cross-shaft was discovered built into the base of the church tower (Fig. 36.1). The monastery perished in the Viking invasions but by the tenth century Botulph relics were preserved at Thorney, Bury St Edmunds and Westminster. In the eleventh century his life was written by Folcard. Botulph was thus a seventh-century saint who was enjoying a revival in the tenth–eleventh century.

During the Middle Ages 64 churches were under his patronage, most, apart from some overspill to the south-east, in just those parts of England most influenced by Viking settlement. His feast day, 17 June, was observed in many places in Medieval England, but with high grades only in East Anglia. The observance died out when it was excluded from the Sarum tradition which came to dominate the liturgy in later medieval England.

Details of the cult of St Botulph in the Nordic lands are summarised in Oloph Odenius’ article in the the Kulturhistoriskt Lexicon för Nordisk Medeltid. Twelve churches are known to have been under his patronage: in Denmark, these are Alborg, Viborg, Roskilde, Lund, Tirstrup, Tømmerby, Ängelholm (Luntertun) and Bodilisker on Bornholm; in Norway, Slagn and Ignabakke; and in Sweden Kråkerum and Gränna. Two bell inscriptions (one using a text from the Proper Office, see below), a Botulph Guild, Botulf fairs and market days are also known. There seem to have been relics in Broddetorp, since the golden altar has an inscription about the relics of three saints, the third being Botulph. The inscription is now illegible to the naked eye, although it could be recovered under infra-red light.